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Chapter 25:
Virginia Prepares for self-defence.
March—April, 1775.
from prejudice, habit, and affection, the members of
Chap. XXV} 1775. Mar. 20. |
the convention of Virginia, in which even the part of
Augusta county, west of the
Alleghany mountains, was represented, cherished the system of limited 20.
monarchy under which they had been born and educated in their land of liberty.
They were accustomed to associate all ideas of security in their political rights with the dynasty of
Hanover, and had never, even in thought, desired to renounce their allegiance.
They loved to consider themselves an integral part of the great British empire.
The distant life of landed proprietors in solitary mansion houses, favored independence of thought; but it also generated an aristocracy, which differed widely from the simplicity and equality of
New England.
Educated in the Anglican church, no religious zeal had imbued them with a fixed hatred of kingly power; no deep seated antipathy to a distinction of ranks, no theoretic zeal for the introduction of a republic, no speculative
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fanaticism drove them to a restless love of change.
Chap. XXV.} 1775. Mar. 20. |
They had, on the contrary, the greatest aversion to a revolution, and abhorred the dangerous experiment of changing their form of government without some absolute necessity.
Virginia was, moreover, wholly unprepared for war. Its late expedition against the
Shawanese Indians had left a debt of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds; its currency was of paper and it had no efficient system of revenue.
Its soil, especially in the low country, was cultivated by negro slaves, so that the laborers in the field could not furnish recruits for an army.
Except a little powder in a magazine near
Williamsburg, it was destitute of warlike stores; and it had no military defences.
Of all the colonies it was the most open to attack; the magnificent bay of the
Chesapeake and the deep water of the
James, the
Potomac, and other rivers, bared it to invasions from the sea.
The people had been quick to resent aggressions, but they had not been willing to admit the thought of making that last appeal which would involve independence.
Such was the
state of Virginia, when on the twentieth of March its second convention assembled.
The place of meeting was the old church in
Richmond.
The proceedings of the continental congress were approved, and the delegates of the colony in congress were applauded with perfect unanimity.
On the twenty-third, the mediating interposition of the assembly of Jamaica was considered, and was recognised as a proof of their generous and affectionate interest, and ‘their patriotic endeavors to fix the just claims of the colonists upon permanent constitutional
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principles;’ and the convention of the Old Dominion
renewed their assurances, ‘that it was the most ardent wish of their colony and of the whole continent of
North America, to see a speedy return of those halcyon days when they lived a free and happy people.’
To
Patrick Henry this language seemed likely to lull the public mind into confidence, at a time when the interruption of the sessions of the general assembly left them ‘no opportunity, in their legislative capacity, of making any provision to secure their rights from the further violations with which they were threatened.’
He therefore proposed ‘that this colony be immediately put into a posture of defence, and that a committee prepare a plan for the embodying, arming, and disciplining such a number of men, as may be sufficient for that purpose.’
The resolution was opposed by
Bland,
Harrison, and
Pendleton, three of the delegates of
Virginia in congress, and by
Nicholas, who had been among the most resolute in the preceding May.
The thought of an actual conflict in arms with
England was new; they counted on the influence of the friends of liberty in the parent country, the interposition of the manufacturing interests, or the relenting of the sovereign himself.
‘Are we ready for war?’
they asked; ‘are we a military people?
Where are our stores, our soldiers, our generals, our money?
We are defenceless; yet we talk of war against one of the most formidable nations in the world.
It will be time enough to resort to measures of despair when every well-founded hope has vanished.’
‘What,’ rejoined Henry,
has there been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to
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justify hope?
Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation?
These are the implements of subjugation, sent over to rivet upon us the chains which the British ministry have been so long forging.
And what have we to oppose to them?
Shall we try argument?
We have been trying that for the last ten years; have we any thing new to offer?
Shall we resort to entreaty and supplication?
We have petitioned—we have remonstrated—we have supplicated—and we have been spurned from the foot of the throne.
In vain may we indulge the fond hope of reconciliation.
There is no longer room for hope.
If we wish to be free, we must fight!
I repeat it sir, we must fight!
An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!
They tell me, that we are weak; but shall we gather strength by irresolution?
We are not weak.
Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. We shall not fight alone.
A just God presides over the destinies of nations; and will raise up friends for us. The battle is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
Besides, we have no election.
If we were base enough to desire it, it is too late to retire from the contest.
There is no retreat, but in submission and slavery.
The war is inevitable—and let it come!
let it come!
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be pur— chased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God!—I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.
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His transfigured features glowed as he spoke, and
his words fell like a doom of fate.
He was supported by
Richard Henry Lee, who made an estimate of the force which Britain could employ against the colonies, and after comparing it with their means of resistance, proclaimed, that the auspices were good; adding, that
Thrice is he armed, who hath his quarrel just!
The resolutions were adopted.
To give them effect, a committee was raised, consisting of
Patrick Henry,
Richard Henry Lee,
Washington,
Jefferson, and others, who in a few days reported a plan for the establishment of a well-regulated militia by forming in every county one or more volunteer companies and troops of horse, to be in constant training and readiness to act on any emergency.
Whatever doubts had been before expressed, the plan was unanimously accepted.
Nicholas would even have desired the more energetic measure of organizing an army.
The convention also voted to encourage the manufacture of woollen, cotton, and linen; of gunpowder; of salt, and iron, and steel; and recommended to the inhabitants to use colonial manufactures in preference to all others.
Before dissolving their body, they elected their former delegates to the general congress, in May, adding to the number
Thomas Jefferson, ‘in case of the non-attendance of
Peyton Randolph.’
To intimidate the Virginians,
Dunmore issued various proclamations, and circulated a rumor that he would excite an insurrection of their slaves.
He also sent a body of marines in the night preceding the twenty-first of April, to carry off the gunpowder, stored at
Williamsburg in the colony's magazine.
The party
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succeeded; but as soon as it was known, drums were
Chap. XXV.} 1775.
April. 21. |
sent through the city to alarm the inhabitants, the independent company got under arms, and the people assembled for consultation.
At their instance the mayor and corporation asked the governor upon what motives the powder had been carried off privately ‘by an armed force, particularly at a time when they were apprehensive of an insurrection among their slaves;’ and they peremptorily demanded that it should be restored.
The governor at first answered evasively; but on hearing that the citizens had reassembled under arms, he abandoned himself to passion.
‘The whole country,’ said he, ‘can easily be made a solitude, and by the living God!
if any insult is offered to me, or those who have obeyed my orders, I will declare freedom to the slaves, and lay the town in ashes.’
The offer of freedom to the negroes came very oddly from the representative of the nation which had sold them to their present masters, and of the king who had been displeased with the colony for its desire to tolerate that inhuman traffic no longer; and it was but a sad resource for a commercial metropolis, to keep a hold on its colony by letting loose slaves against its own colonists.
The seizure of the powder startled
Virginia.
‘This first public insult is not to be tamely submitted to,’ wrote
Hugh Mercer and others from
Fredericksburg to
Washington; and they proposed, as a body of light-horsemen, to march to
Williamsburg for the honor of
Virginia.
Gloucester county would have the powder restored.
The
Henrico committee would be content with nothing less.
Bedford offered
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a premium for the manufacture of gunpowder.
The
independent company of
Dumfries could be depended upon for any service which respected the liberties of
America.
The
Albemarle volunteers ‘were ready to resent arbitrary power, or die in the attempt.’
‘I expect the magistrates of
Williamsburg, on their allegiance,’ such was
Dunmore's message, ‘to stop the march of the people now on their way, before they enter this city; otherwise it is my fixed purpose to arm all my own negroes, and receive and declare free all others that will come to me. I do enjoin the magistrates and all loyal subjects, to repair to my assistance, or I shall consider the whole country in rebellion, and myself at liberty to annoy it by every possible means; and I shall not hesitate at reducing houses to ashes, and spreading devastation wherever I can reach.’
To the
secretary of state he wrote: ‘With a small body of troops and arms, I could raise such a force from among
Indians, negroes, and other persons, as would soon reduce the refractory people of this colony to obedience.’
On Saturday, the twenty-ninth of April, there were at
Fredericksburg upwards of six hundred well armed men. A council of one hundred and two weighed the moderating advice received from
Washington and
Peyton Randolph, and they agreed to disperse; yet not till they had pledged to each other their lives and fortunes, to reassemble at a moment's warning, and by force of arms to defend the law, the liberty, and rights of
Virginia, or any sister colony, from unjust and wicked invasion.
Did they forebode that the message from a sister colony was already on the wing?
