WILLIAMSBURG, September 23, 1776.
By his Excellency PATRICK HENRY, Junior, Esq; Governour or Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth of Virginia:
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas it is expedient and necessary to advise and prosecute in behalf of the said commonwealth in the different counties within the same, I have therefore thought fit, by and with the advice of the Council of State, to issue this my proclamation, hereby empowering the several deputy attornies under the late constitution to continue to officiate as such under the present government, and to enjoy all emoluments and privileges which to the said office may of right appertain.
And I do farthermore request, that the justices of the peace for those counties in which the former deputy attornies may either refuse to continue to act, be dead, or otherwise incapacitated, will inform Edmund Randolph, esq; attorney-general for the said commonwealth, of the same, that the vacancies may be immediately supplied.
Given under my hand and seal, this 23rd day of September, in the year of our Lord 1776.
PATRICK HENRY, junior.
Virginia Gazette (Purdie) October 11, 1776
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About this entry:
Patrick Henry, first governor of independent Virginia, asks that those men assigned to keep the peace in British Virginia should continue to keep their posts unless they do not wish to work for the new government or have some ailment that keeps them from serving. Twenty-three-year-old Edmund Randolph, Attorney General of Virginia, is to be contacted so he will know which counties need a justice of the peace.
Sources: WAR: E. Randolph
