Whereas, I have received information that many of His Majesty's faithful subjects have been so far overcome by apprehensions of danger, as to fly before His Majesty's Army as from the most inveterate enemy; to remove which, as far as lies in my power, I have thought it proper to publish this Manifesto, declaring that I shall take the proper steps to prevent any injury being done, either to the person or properties of His Majesty's subjects; and I do further declare it to be my determined resolution, that no violence shall be used to women and children, as viewing such outrages to be inconsistent with humanity, and as tending, in their consequences, to sully the arms of Britons and of soldiers. I therefore in His Majesty's name, generally invite every well wisher to that form of Government under which they have so happily lived, and which, if
justly considered, ought to be esteemed the best birth-right of Britons and Americans, to repair to His Majesty's Royal standard, erected at Cross-Creek, where they will meet with every possible civility, and be ranked in the list of friends and fellow-soldiers, engaged in the best and most glorious of all causes, supporting the rights and Constitution of their country. Those, therefore, who have been under the unhappy necessity of submitting to the mandates of Congress and Committees—those lawless, usurped, and arbitrary tribunals—will have an opportunity, (by joining the King's Army,) to restore peace and tranquillity to this distracted land—to open again the glorious streams of commerce—to partake of the blessings inseparable from a regular administration of justice, and be again reinstated in the favourable opinion of their Sovereign.Kenn. McDonald, P. S.