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Address of the Magistrates and Council of the Burgh of Kirkwall, presented to His Majesty by Thomas Dundas, Esq˙, Representative in Parliament for Stirlingshire.
Most Gracious Sovereign:
We, your Majesty' s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Provost, Magistrates, and Council of the Burgh of Kirkwall, beg leave to approach the Throne with unfeigned hearts and real zeal for the many blessings we have enjoyed by the dispensation of Providence during your Majesty' s reign, which we wish may be long and prosperous. We at the same time declare our abhorrence and detestation of the unhappy and unnatural disputes of the Colonists in America with their mother country, fomented and promoted by divisions at home, and carried on and supported by the enthusiastick spirit and overgrown wealth of the Colonists themselves, insomuch that their unbounded liberties have increased not only to licentiousness, but to open rebellion.
We will not pretend to prescribe rules or methods for terminating these miseries; but we earnestly wish that your Majesty, assisted by the Parliament of Great Britain, will endeavour to suppress this rebellion, and to bring the troubles and calamities thereby occasioned, to as speedy an issue as your Majesty' s wisdom, the spirit of the nation, and the welfare of Great Britain, shall permit; and to effectuate and bring about this happy and desirable end we will always be ready to contribute to the utmost of our power.
Signed in name, presence, and appointment of the Council, the 12th day of December, 1775 years, by JOHN RIDDOCH, Provost.
Address of the Magistrates and Council of the Burgh of Kirkwall to the King
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