Proceedings of the Committee for the County of Balitmore

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Information being made to the Committee that many misrepresentations of the Proceedings of the Continental

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Resolved, unanimously, That it is the duty of this Committee, and of every Member thereof, and that we will, collectively and separately, persevere to carry strictly into execution the Association of the Continental Congress, and enforce an observance of the same, and that any attempt to defeat such purpose will, with its author, be exposed to the publick.

The Congress, by the Third Article of the Association, having recommended the disuse of all East-India Tea, the Committee request that their constituents, in their several families, will strictly adhere to this Resolution; and, however difficult the disuse of any article which custom has rendered, familiar, and, to many, almost necessary, may be, yet they are induced to hope the ladies will cheerfully acquiesce in this self-denial, and thereby evince to the world a love to their friends, their posterity, and country.

A very extraordinary arrangement having been lately made in the Magistracy of this County, the Committee, reflecting on the conclusions which may probably be drawn from it in distant places, to the disadvantage of the gentlemen superseded, cheerfully embrace the opportunity afforded by the present meeting, to testify in favour of their conduct while they were in office. From personal acquaintance we know them to have been irreproachable in private, faithful and impartial in publick life, and deservedly entitled to the thanks of the whole County for the conscientious discharge of the trust reposed in them.

Resolved, therefore, unanimously, That this Committee ought, and we hereby do in our own names, and in the names of our constituents, sincerely thank those worthy gentlemen, whose abrupt dismission, with all the circumstances attending it, does them the greatest honour. They return to a private station with the general approbation of the County, and the pleasing satisfaction of having honourably acquitted themselves of their obligations during their continuance in office. Their dismission is a real loss; it is the more to be regretted, as from the manner of it, we can hardly expect that any of equal worth and character will hereafter be prevailed on to undertake the troublesome, unprofitable employment, now rendered distasteful to men of independent spirit and firmness, and evidently exposing them to unmerited insult.