CHAPTER XXV. VIRGINIA PREPARES FOR SELF-DEFENCE. MARCH-APRIL, 1775. XXV. 1775. Mar. 20. FROM prejudice, habit, and affection, the members of CHAP. the convention of Virginia, in which even the part~~~ of Augusta county, west of the Alleghany mountains, M was represented, cherished the system of limited 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 XXV. 1775. CHAP. fanaticism drove them to a restless love of change. They had, on the contrary, the greatest aversion to a Ma revolution, and abhorred the dangerous experiment of changing their form of government without some absolute necessity. Mar. 20. 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 XXV. principles;" and the convention of the Old Dominion CHAP. renewed their assurances, "that it was the most ardent wish of their colony and of the whole continent of 1775. 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 Mar. Mar. CHAP. justify hope? Are fleets and armies necessary to a XXV. work of love and reconciliation? These are the imple1775. ments 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 purchased 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." XXV. April. His transfigured features glowed as he spoke, and CHAP. his words fell like a doom of fate. He was supported by Richard Henry Lee, who made an estimate of the 1775. 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 |