164 SKETCHES OF THE
power lies, do you right upon just and equitable terms.
" First. We, on behalf of the community, require from you the restitution of a certain Joseph Harris, the property* of a gentleman of our town, and all other our slaves whom you may have on board; which said Harris, as well as other slaves, hath been long harboured, and often employed, with your knowledge, (as appeared to us by the confession of Ruth and others, and is well known to all your men) in pillaging us under cover of night, of our sheep and other live stock.
" Secondly. We require that you will send on shore all boats, with their hands, and every other thing you have detained on this occasion^
" And lastly. That you shall not by your own arbi- trary authority, undertake to insult, molest, interrupt or detain, the persons or property of any one passing to and from this town, as you have frequently done for some time past.
" Upon complying with those requisitions, we will endeavour to procure every article left on our shore, and shall be ready to deliver them to your pilot and gunner, of whose good behaviour we have had some proofs. We are, &c.
" TJie Committee of Elizabeth City county and totmi of Hampton.
In the mean time Squire^s threat against Hampton was not an empty one, as is proven by the following ac- count of the attempt to execute it: the article is extract- ed from a supplement to Purdie's paper of October 27th, 1775.
" After lord Dunmore, with his troops and the navy, had been for several weeks seizing the persons and pro-
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