inquire into the various violations of their constitutional rights by the British ministry. While Virginia was employed in animating her sister states to resistance, her governor was employed in the ignoble occupation of fomenting jealousies and feuds between the province, which it should have been his duty to protect from such a calamity, and Pennsylvania, by raising difficult questions of boundary, and exciting the inhabitants of the disputed territory to forswear allegiance to the latter province; hoping thus, by affording a more immediately exciting question, to draw off the attention of these two important provinces from the encroachments of Great Britain. This scheme, as contemptible as it was iniquitous, wholly failed, through the good sense and magnanimity of the Virginia council. Lord North, full of his feeble and futile schemes of cheating the colonies out of their rights, took off the obnoxious duties with the exception of three pence per pound on tea; and, with the ridiculous idea that he might fix the principle upon the colonies by a precedent, which should strip it of all that was odious, offered a draw-back equal to the import duty. This induced the importation of tea into Boston harbor, which, being thrown overboard by some of the citizens, called down upon their city all the rigor of the celebrated Boston port bill. A draft of this bill reached the Virginia legislature while in session; an animated protest, and a dissolution of the assembly by the governor, of course followed. On the following day the members convened in the Raleigh tavern, and, in an able and manly paper, expressed to their constituents and their government those sentiments and opinions which they had not been allowed to express in a legislative form. This meeting recommended a cessation of trade with the East India Company, a Congress of deputies from all the colonies, declaring their opinion, that an attack upon one of the colonies was an attack upon all British America,' and a convention of the people of Virginia. The sentiments of the people accorded with those of their late delegates; they elected members who met in convention at Williamsburg, on the 1st of August, 1774. This convention went into a detailed view of their rights and grievances, discussed measures of redress for the latter, and declared their determination never to relinquish the former; they appointed deputies to attend a general Congress, and they instructed them how to proceed. The Congress met in Philadelphia, on the 4th of September, 1774. While Virginia was engaged in her efforts for the general good, she was not without her peculiar troubles at home. The Indians had been for some time waging a horrid war upon the frontiers, when the indignation of the people at length compelled the reluctant governor to take up arms, and march to suppress the very savages he was thought to have encouraged and excited to hostility by his intrigues.

Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney Carr, Archibald Carey, and Thomas Jefferson.

"Lord Dunmore marched the army in two divisions: the one under Col. Andrew Lewis he sent to the junction of the Great Kanawha with the Ohio, while he himself marched to a higher point on the latter river, with pretended purpose of destroying the Indian towns and joining Lewis at Point Pleasant; but it was believed with the real* object of sending the whole Indian force to annihilate Lewis' detachment, and thereby weaken the power and break down the spirit of Virginia. If such was his object he was signally defeated through the gallantry of the detachment, which met and defeated the superior numbers of the enemy at Point Pleasant, after an exceeding hard-fought day, and the loss of nearly all its officers. The day after the victory, an express arrived from Dunmore with orders for the detachment to join him at a distance of 80 miles, through an enemy's country, without any conceivable object but the destruction of the corps. As these orders were given without a knowledge of the victory, Col. Lewis was proceeding to the destruction of the Shawanese villages, when he was informed the governor had made peace.

"When the treaty was commenced, Cornstalk, the celebrated Shawanese chieftain, made a speech, in which he charged upon the whites the cause of the war, in consequence, principally, of the murder of Logan's family. Logan was a Mingo chief. For magnanimity in war, and greatness of soul in peace, few, if any, in any nation, ever surpassed Logan.' His form was striking and manly, his countenance calm and noble, and he spoke the English language with fluency and correctness.' Logan did not make his appearance among the Indian deputies. He disdained to be seen among the suppliants. But, lest the sincerity of a treaty should be disturbed, from which so distinguished a chief absented himself, he sent, by Gen. John Gibson,† the following speech, to be delivered to Lord Dunmore.'

"I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat: if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed, as they passed, and said, Logan is the friend of white men.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it: I have killed many: I have fully glutted my vengeance for my country I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ?-Not one.'”

The affairs between Britain and her American colonies were now verging to a crisis. The hostile attitude of the latter, soon occasioned orders to be issued to their governors to remove the military stores out of their reach. Accordingly, on the 20th of April, 1775, Dunmore secretly removed the gunpowder from the

* Sec Memoir of Indian wars, &c., by the late Col. Stuart of Greenbrier, presented to the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society by Charles A. Stuart, of Augusta county, and the Chronicles of Border Warfare, by Alexander C. Withers, for a strong corroboration of these suspicions.

The authenticity of this speech has been much questioned. The reader will find the deposition of Gen. Gibson in the American Pioneer, which gives full and satisfactory confirmation of its genuineness.

Various evidence is given, in the Pioneer, that it was Capt. Michael Cresap, not Col. Cresap, who murdered the Indians on the Ohio.

magazine at Williamsburg, to the Magdalen man-of-war, anchored off Yorktown. Thereupon, the volunteers of Williamsburg immediately flew to arms, and could with difficulty be restrained from seizing the person of the governor. The people of the town sent a deputation to Dunmore, who remonstrated with him for this act, especially at a time when they feared an insurrection of the slaves. His reply "was everywhere considered as a mean and scandalous evasion." Fearful of the consequences of his conduct, he established a guard of negroes at his palace. Exasperated to the highest degree, he openly swore," by the living God," that if any injury was offered to himself, or the officers who had acted under his direction in the affair of the gunpowder, he would proclaim freedom to the slaves, and reduce Williamsburg to ashes. These savage threats wrought the indignation of the people to the highest pitch, which spread like electricity throughout the colony. Over six hundred people of the upper country armed themselves, assembled at Fredericksburg, and offered their services to defend, if necessary, Williamsburg from the threatened attack of Dunmore. Thousands also, in all parts of Virginia, stood ready, at a moment's warning, to lend their aid. In the mean time, those ardent patriots, Peyton Randolph and Edmund Pendleton, transmitted their advice to the Fredericksburg meeting to abstain, for the present, from hostilities, until Congress should decide on a general plan of resist

ance.

"On the receipt of this advice, they held a council, consisting of over one hundred members, who, by a majority of one only, concluded to disperse for the present. They, however, drafted an address, which was almost tantamount to a declaration of independence, in which they firmly resolved to resist all attempts against their rights and privileges, from whatever quarter they might be assailed. They pledged themselves to each other to be in readiness, at a moment's warning, to reassemble, and, BY FORCE OF ARMS, to defend the laws, the liberties, and the rights of this or any SISTER COLONY, from unjust and wicked invasion. They then sent dispatches to troops assembled in Caroline, Berkeley, Frederick, and Dunmore counties, thanking them for their offer of service, and acquainting them with their determinations. The address was read at the head of each company, and unanimously approved. It concluded with these impressive words GOD SAVE THE LIBERTIES OF AMERICA !”

The volunteers of Hanover, however, determined to recover the powder, or perish in the attempt. With Patrick Henry at their head, they marched from Hanover town to Doncastle's ordinary, within 16 miles of the capitol, their numbers swelled by accessions of volunteers from King William and New Kent. They here disbanded, (May 4th,) and returned to their homes, Patrick Henry having received ample compensation for the powder from Richard Corbin, the king's receiver-general. Two days after the above, Dunmore issued a proclamation against "a certain Patrick Henry, of the county of Hanover, and a number of deluded followers," and forbade all persons to countenance him, or others concerned in like combinations. On the 11th, Henry left Virginia to attend the Continental Congress, of which he was a member.

By this time, every county in Virginia was fairly aroused to the dangers that beset them. County committees were formed, who

anticipated measures of defence, by arming and raising minutemen, and taking all practicable means to make an effectual resistance. The people sympathized with the sufferings of the Bostonians, and the citizens of Williamsburg assembled, and unanimously resolved to subscribe money for their aid. The news of the battle of Lexington reached Virginia about this time.

The proclamation of Dunmore had scarce made its appearance, when some persons privately entered the magazine and carried away a great number of arms and military equipments. New causes of irritation between the governor and the people were continually arising.

When Patrick Henry marched down to make reprisals for the gunpowder, Dunmore dispatched a messenger to the Fowey manof-war, anchored off Yorktown, for aid. A detachment of 40 marines and sailors was sent to Williamsburg, where they remained about 10 days. Previous to their landing at Yorktown, Capt. Montague sent a letter from on board the Fowey to Col. Thomas Nelson, threatening to fire upon the town if the troops were molested or attacked, a message which still further increased the indignation of the people.

On the 1st of June the governor convened the Assembly, and addressed them in a speech. With this commenced a political correspondence between him and the House of Burgesses, which was, on the part of the latter, a clear and forcible defence of the rights of the colonies. On the 8th of June, the governor, with his family, fled on board the Fowey, off Yorktown, from ill-grounded apprehensions of his safety at Williamsburg. Several communications passed between him and the Assembly, relative to public business generally, the late disturbances respecting the removal of the gunpowder, and the governor's proclamation and course of conduct.

Dunmore "refused, upon invitation of the Assembly, to return to his palace or to sign bills of the utmost importance to the colony, and refused to perform this branch of duty, unless the Assembly would come and hold their meetings under the guns of his ship at Yorktown. In this emergency, the governor was declared to have abdicated, and the president of the council appointed to act in his place. His lordship, on the termination of the intercourse between himself and the Assembly, which was towards the close of June, sailed down the river." Thus ended the royal government in Virginia.

The Assembly now dissolved, and, pursuant to agreement, the delegates, on the 17th of July, met in convention at Richmond, to organize a provincial form of government and a plan of defence. The following illustrious characters composed the committee of safety-Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, James Mercer, Carter Braxton, William Cabell, and John Tabb. The convention made arrangements to raise troops for defence,

and the general committee met at Hanover Town, in Hanover county, on business connected with the military establishment, and then adjourned to Williamsburg about the last of September.

Previously, the committee of safety recommended to the district committees to direct the contractors in each district to provide, among other things, a stand of colors, bearing on one side the name of the district, on the other," Virginia for Constitutional Liberty."

In October, by Dunmore's orders, a party of men, under cover of their men-of-war, landed at Norfolk, and forcibly carried on board their vessels the press and types of a newspaper imbued with the patriotic principles of the day. Shortly after, Dunmore marched to Kempsville, in Princess Anne, destroyed some fire-arms deposited there, and took prisoner Capt. Matthews, of the minute-men. About this time an attack was made on Hampton, by some vessels commanded by Capt. Squires, who had threatened to burn the town. The enemy were beaten off with loss, while not a single Virginian was killed.

In the mean time, numbers of armed people from the upper country were arriving at Williamsburg. Dunmore, hearing that the 2d Virginia Regiment and the Culpeper Battalion had been ordered to Norfolk, directed the Kingfisher and three large tenders to move up to Burwell's Ferry, to prevent their crossing the James. These vessels, on their arrival, finding an American skipper at the landing, commenced firing upon her, and in a peremptory tone ordered her to come alongside the Kingfisher. Some Virginian riflemen, on the bank, directed her master not to obey the order. Upon this the man-of-war commenced a brisk fire upon the vessel, but without effect. Twice the Kingfisher sent a large boat full of men to take possession, and twice they were beaten off by the unerring aim of the riflemen. Foiled in this attempt, the enemy the next day attempted to land a boat filled with armed men at Jamestown. They were again repulsed by some rifle sentinels on the shore. In this month (November) Dunmore, with a superior force, surprised about 200 militia of Princess Anne, on their march to join the troops. Their colonel, with several others, was made prisoner.

Under date of November 7th, Dunmore issued his proclamation, in which he proclaimed martial law, declared all capable of bearing arms who did not resort to his majesty's standard traitors, and offered freedom to all slaves "appertaining to rebels" who would join his majesty's troops. On this Dunmore had staked his best hopes. Had he had a formidable force at hand to execute his threats, some apprehensions might have been excited. But as it was, it only harmonized public opinion, increased public irritation, and engendered a burning detestation of the means to which their late governor unblushingly stooped to awe them into submission. His lordship set up his standard in Norfolk and Princess Anne, issued orders to the militia captains to raise a body of troops to oppose