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150

MEASURES IN THE SEVERAL PROVINCES. [CHAP. II.

In Connecticut and Rhode Island, the Governors being chosen by the people under their old charters from Charles the Second, there was no collision between them and the people of those colonies.

In the middle colonies the unwillingness to separate from Great Britain was greater than in the colonies either to the north or south. One reason probably was that in this division were the towns of New York and Philadelphia, which greatly profited by their trade to England, and which contained a larger proportion of English and Scotch merchants, who, with few exceptions, were attached to the royal cause.

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Governor Tryon, of New York, took refuge on board a man-of-war in September or October, 1775.

In Virginia, the Governor, Lord Dunmore, having withdrawn the gunpowder from the magazine belonging to the colony, a great ferment was thereby excited, and Patrick Henry, at the head of some volunteers, marched towards Williamsburg, and compelled the king's receiver to give bills of exchange to the value of the powder removed.

The popular excitement in Williamsburg induced Dunmore to betake himself to the Fowey man-of-war in York river. On his refusal to return, at the instance of the House of Burgesses, that body proceeded to act as an independent Legislature.

After Dunmore retreated to the man-of-war, and was joined by such of the inhabitants of Virginia as had taken sides with Great Britain, he endeavored to exercise his remnant of power in annoying those whom he could no longer govern. By offering freedom to the slaves, he induced many to run away from their masters and repair to his standard. He furnished them with arms, and with this motley force, aided by the ships at his command, he

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LORD DUNMORE.

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carried on a predatory war against the country lying on the Chesapeake Bay and the great rivers. He attempted to get possession of the town of Hampton, but the inhabitants, being reinforced from Williamsburg, repulsed him.

He then proclaimed martial law, and declared all who did not repair to his standard traitors. A body of troops, under Colonel Woodford, was despatched to oppose him; and they had an engagement at the Great Bridge on Elizabeth river. A company of British grenadiers, attempting to storm a breastwork, were repulsed, and every man was killed or wounded. Dunmore then thought it prudent to evacuate Norfolk, and to betake himself to his ships. The American soldiers having provoked the British ships in the harbor of Norfolk by firing at them, they in return, under the cover of a heavy cannonade from their ships, landed a force, and set fire to the houses near the river from which they had been annoyed. The fire extending, about three-fourths of the town were thus consumed; and the remainder was destroyed by American troops to prevent it from affording a shelter, or becoming a convenient port to the enemy. This was by far the largest and most commercial town in Virginia. Dunmore still continued his ravages, until wearied with efforts as unprofitable as inglorious, he sent off his colored adherents to Florida.

Governor Martin, of North Carolina, to defend himself from the rising spirit of the people of that colony, first fortified his house at Newbern; then fled to the fort at the mouth of Cape Fear River, and lastly to a manof-war. He left his government in July, 1775.

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Lord William Campbell, the Governor of South Carolina, lost the popular favor he had once possessed by tampering with the Cherokee Indians, and by his intrigues

152

ROYAL AUTHORITY TERMINATED.

[CHAP. II.

with disaffected colonists. He also took refuge in a ship-of-war.

Sir James Wright, the Governor of Georgia, was made a prisoner in his own house in January, 1776, but subsequently effected his escape to a ship in Savannah River.

In New Jersey and Pennsylvania a majority of the people were at first not only opposed to independence, but also opposed to the leading measures of Congress. Yet in each province a local legislature was established, which finally superseded the royal authority. In Pennsylvania the people, in 1775, elected members to a Convention, which was at first opposed by the Legislature, and for a time both bodies continued to meet, until at last the Legislature could not obtain a quorum. Early in 1776, William Temple, the Governor of New Jersey, who was the son of Dr. Franklin, was made a prisoner in his own house by the Provincial Congress. He was subsequently released, was again imprisoned, and sent to Connecticut.

Thus in the beginning of 1776 all the representatives of royalty in those colonies had abdicated their governments, and ceased to exercise any authority, except on an insignificant number of adherents.

How were these proceedings of Congress received in England? Parliament met on the twenty-sixth of October, 1775. The king stated to the two Houses that he had called them together on account of the present state of things in America; that the people there had been, by gross misrepresentations, deceived into open revolt and rebellion, raised troops, and exercised all the powers of government,1 that they had sought to amuse by ex

1 Annual Register for 1775, page 269.

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PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

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pressions of attachment to the parent state, and of loyalty but that their purpose was to establish an independent empire. It was necessary to put a speedy end to these disorders by decisive exertions. He had augmented his forces by sea and land, and had received offers of foreign assistance. He should authorise persons to give pardons and indemnities, and receive the submission of any province disposed to return to its allegiance.

The minister asked for and obtained a grant of twenty-eight thousand seamen and fifty-five thousand land forces; twenty-five thousand of whom were to be employed in America.

A large majority were disposed to support the course taken by the ministry on various motions made by the majority, after warm debates, in which all the facts - asserted in the speech were denied, and its policy resisted. The majority was one hundred and seventysix to seventy-two. In the Lords, seventy-six to thirtythree.

Members of both Houses strenuously but unavailingly denounced the employment of foreign troops.

Mr. Penn, Governor of Pennsylvania, having presented the petition from Congress to the king, he was, on the motion of the Duke of Richmond, in the opposition, examined in the House of Lords. He personally knew most of the members of Congress, and he positively asserted that they had no designs of independency; that the members were men of character, and had conveyed the sense of their constituents; that the war was merely defensive; that they would submit to the regulations of their trade, but were generally opposed to the authority of Parliament in taxa

154

BURKE'S RESOLUTIONS.

[CHAP. II.

tion. None of the ministers put any question to the witness.

In the course of the debate, the ministers, by way of obtaining the support of the country gentlemen with whom the plan of drawing a revenue from America was popular, declared that the purpose of taxing America was not abandoned, though it might for a time not be executed. 2

On the sixteenth of November, Edmund Burke again offered conciliatory propositions. His plan was by concession, and it was modelled after an act passed in the thirty-fifth of Edward the First. In a speech of three hours he exhibited great knowledge of American affairs; and he considered in succession the different plans of putting an end to the dispute with the colonies. These were-first, simple war; second, a mixture of war and treaty; third, peace grounded on concession: and he maintained that the last alone would be efficient; and taking the statute of Edward, he alleged, as his guide, ・he would be silent about the right, and only forbear to exercise the power.

The ministers contended that while the bill conceded too much for England, it did not concede enough to satisfy the Americans as they showed by reference to their public documents. It was rejected by two hundred and ten to one hundred and five, which was the largest minority yet obtained by the opposition.

The ministers then introduced a bill for interdicting all trade and intercourse with the thirteen united colonies-all property of Americans captured at sea to be lawful prize. This bill repealed the Boston port bill, as well as the fishery and restraining acts, as inconsis

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1 Annual Register for 1776, p. 95.

2 Ibid. p. 100. 3 November 20th.

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