Address Delivered at the Conference

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Which being ended, the House was resumed:

And the Lord President reported, "That they had met the Managers for the Commons at the Conference," which, on the part of the Commons, was managed by the Lord North; who acquainted the Managers for the Lords "That they having taken into their consideration the state of his Majesty' s Colonies in North America, have agreed upon an Address to be presented to his Majesty;" to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

Then his Lordship read the Address delivered at the said Conference, as follows:

Most Gracious Sovereign:

"We, your Majesty' s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the ****************** Commons, in Parliament assembled, return your Majesty our most humble thanks for having been graciously pleased to communicate to us the several Papers relating to the present state of the British Colonies in America, which, by your Majesty' s commands, have been laid before us: we have taken them into our most serious consideration, and we find that a part of your Majesty' s subjects, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, have proceeded so far to resist the authority of the supreme Legislature, that a rebellion at this time actually exists within the said Province; and we see, with the utmost concern, that they have been countenanced and encouraged by unlawful combinations and engagements entered into by your Majesty' s subjects in several of the other Colonies, to the injury and oppression of many of their innocent fellow-subjects, resident within the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the rest of your Majesty' s Dominions. This conduct, on their part appears to us the more inexcusable when we consider with how much temper your Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament have acted in support of the Laws and Constitution of Great Britain. We can never so far desert the trust reposed in us as to relinquish any part of the sovereign authority over all your Majesty' s Dominions, which by law is vested in your Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament; and the conduct of many persons in several of the Colonies, during the late disturbances, is alone sufficient to convince us how necessary this power is for the protection of the lives and fortunes of all your Majesty' s subjects.

We ever have been, and always shall be, ready to pay attention and regard to any real grievances of any of your Majesty' s subjects which shall, in a dutiful and constitutional manner, be laid before us; and whenever any of the Colonies shall make a proper application to us, we shall be ready to afford them every just and reasonable indulgence. At the same time we consider it as our indispensable duty humbly to beseech your Majesty that you will take the most effectual measures to enforce due obedience to the laws and authority of the supreme Legislature; and we beg leave, in the most solemn manner to assure your Majesty that it is our fixed resolution, at the hazard of our lives and properties, to stand by your Majesty against all rebellious attempts in the maintenance of the just rights of your Majesty, and the two Houses of Parliament."