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Chapter 3:
Voices from the
South.
May, 1774, continued.
hearts glowed more warmly on the banks of the
Patapsco.
That admirable site of commerce, whose river side and hill-tops are now covered with stately warehouses, mansions and monuments, whose bay sparkles round the prows of the swiftest barks, whose wharfs receive to their natural resting-place the wealth of the
West Indies and
South America, and whose happy enterprise sends across the mountains its iron pathway of many arms to reach the
valley of the Mississippi, had for a century been tenanted only by straggling cottages.
But its convenient proximity to the border counties of
Pennsylvania and
Virginia had at length been observed by Scotch Irish Presbyterians, and other bold and industrious men; and within a few years they had created the town of
Baltimore, which already was the chief emporium within the
Chesapeake Bay, and promised to become one of the most opulent and populous cities of the world.
When the messages from the old committee
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of New York, from
Philadelphia, and from
Boston, reached its inhabitants, they could not ‘see the least grounds for expecting relief from a petition and remonstrance.’
They called to mind the contempt with which for ten years their petitions had been thrust aside, and were ‘convinced that something more sensible than supplications would best serve their purpose.’
After consultation with the men of Annapolis, to whom the coolness of the Philadelphians seemed like insulting pity, and who promptly resolved to stop all trade with Great Britain, the inhabitants of the city and county of Baltimore advocated suspending commerce with Great Britain and the West Indies, chose deputies to a colonial convention, recommended a continental congress, appointed a numerous committee of correspondence, and sent cheering words to their ‘friends’ at Boston, as sufferers in the common cause.
‘The Supreme Disposer of all events,’ said they, ‘will terminate this severe trial of your patience in a happy confirmation of American freedom.’
For this spirited conduct Baltimore was applauded as the model; and its example kindled new life in New York.
On the twenty-eighth, the assembly of New Hampshire, though still desiring to promote harmony with the parent land, began its organization for resisting encroachments on American rights.
Three days later the people of New Jersey declared for a suspension of trade and a congress, and claimed ‘to be fellow-sufferers with Boston in the cause of liberty.’
On South Carolina the restrictive laws had never
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pressed with severity.
They had been beneficially
modified in favor of its great staple, rice; and the, character of the laborers on its soil forbade all thought of rivalling British skill in manufactures.
Its wealthy inhabitants, shunning the occupations of city life, loved to reside in hospitable elegance on their large and productive estates.
Its annual exports to the northern provinces were of small account, while to
Great Britain they exceeded two millions of dollars in value.
Enriched by this commerce, its people cherished a warm affection for the mother country, and delighted in sending their sons ‘home,’ as
England was called, for their education.
The harbor of
Charleston was almost unguarded, except by the sand-bar at its entrance.
The
Creeks and Cherokees on the frontier, against whom the
English government had once been solicited by
South Carolina herself to send over a body of troops as a protection, were still numerous and warlike.
The negro slaves who, in the country near the ocean very far outnumbered all the free, were so many hostages for the allegiance of their masters.
The trade of
Charleston was in the hands of British factors, some of whom speculated already on the coming confiscation of the rice swamps and indigo fields of ‘many a bonnie rebel.’
The upland country was numerously peopled by men who felt no grievances, and were blindly devoted to the king.
And yet the planters, loving their civil rights more than security and ease, refused to take counsel of their interests or their danger.
‘
Boston,’ said they, ‘is but the first victim at the altar of tyranny.’
Reduced to the dilemma either to consent to hold their liberties only
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as tenants at will of the
British house of commons,
or to prepare for resistance, their choice was never in doubt.
‘The whole continent,’ they said, ‘must be animated with one great soul, and all
Americans must resolve to stand by one another even unto death.
Should they fail, the constitution of the mother country itself would lose its excellence.’
They knew the imminent ruin which they risked; but they ‘remembered that the happiness of many generations and many millions depended on their spirit and constancy.’
The burgesses of Virginia sat as usual in May.
The extension of the province to the west and northwest was their great ambition, which the governor, greedy of large masses of land, and of fees for conniving at the acquisitions of others, selfishly seconded, in flagrant disregard of his instructions.
To Lady Dunmore, who had just arrived, the assembly voted a congratulatory address, and its members joined to give her a ball.
The feeling of loyalty was still predominant; the thought of revolution was not harbored; but they none the less held it their duty to resist the systematic plan of parliamentary despotism, and without waiting for an appeal from Boston, they resolved on its deliverance.
First among them as an orator stood Patrick Henry, whose words had power to kindle in his hearers passions like his own. But eloquence was his least merit; he was revered as the ideal of a patriot of Rome in its austerest age. The approach of danger quickened his sagacity, and his language gained the boldness of prophecy.
He was borne up by the strong support of Richard Henry Lee and Washington.
It chanced that George Mason
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also was then at Williamsburg, a man of strong
and true affections; learned in constitutional law; a profound reasoner; honest and fearless in council; shunning ambition and public life, from desponding sorrow at the death of his wife, for whom he never ceased to mourn; but earnestly mindful of his country as became one whose chastened spirit looked beyond the interests of the moment.
After deliberation with these associates,
Jefferson prepared the measure that was to declare irrevocably the policy of
Virginia; and its house of burgesses, on the twenty-fourth, on motion of
Robert Carter Nicholas, adopted the concerted resolution, which was in itself a solemn invocation of God as the witness of their deliberate purpose to rescue their liberties even at the risk of being compelled to defend them with arms.
It recommended to their fellow-citizens that the day on which the
Boston port-act was to take effect should be set apart ‘as a day of fasting and prayer, devoutly to implore the Divine interposition for averting the dreadful calamity which threatened destruction to their civil rights, and the evils of a civil war; and to give to the
American people one heart and one mind firmly to oppose by all just and proper means, every injury to American rights.’
The resolve, which bound only the members themselves, was distributed by express through their respective counties as a general invitation to the people.
Especially
Washington sent the notice to his constituents; and
Mason charged his little household of sons and daughters to keep the day strictly, and attend church clad in mourning.
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On the morning which followed the adoption of
this measure,
Dunmore dissolved the
House.
The burgesses immediately repaired to the
Raleigh tavern, about one hundred paces from the
capitol, and with
Peyton Randolph, their late
speaker, in the chair, voted that the attack on
Massachusetts was an attack on all the colonies, to be opposed by the united wisdom of all. In conformity with this declaration, they advised for future time an annual continental congress.
They named
Peyton Randolph, with others, a committee of correspondence to invite a general concurrence in this design.
As yet social relations were not embittered.
Washington, of whom
Dunmore sought information respecting western affairs, continued his visits at the governor's house; the ball in honor of
Lady Dunmore was well attended.
Not till the offices of courtesy and of patriotism were fulfilled, did most of the burgesses return home, leaving their committee on duty.
On the afternoon of Sunday the twenty-ninth, the letters from Boston reached Williamsburg.
So important did they appear, that the next morning, at ten o'clock, the committee having called to their aid Washington and all other burgesses who were still in town, inaugurated a revolution.
As they collectively numbered but twenty-five, they refused to assume the responsibility of definite measures of resistance; but as the province was without a legislature, they summoned a convention of delegates to be elected by the several counties, and to meet at the capital on the first day of the ensuing August.
The rescue of freedom even at the cost of a civil war, a domestic convention of the people for their
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own internal regulation, an annual congress of all
the colonies for the perpetual assertion of common rights, were the policy of
Virginia.
When the report of her measures reached
England, the king's ministers were startled by their significance; and called to mind how often she had been the model for other colonies.
Her influence continued undiminished; and her system was promptly adopted by the people of
North Carolina.
‘Lord North had no expectation that we should be thus sustained,’ said Samuel Adams; ‘he trusted that Boston would be left to fall alone.’
But the love of liberty in America did not flash like electricity on the surface; it penetrated the mass with magnetic energy.
The port-act had been received son the tenth of May; and in three weeks, less time than was taken by the unanimous British parliament for its enactment, the continent, as ‘one great commonwealth,’ made the cause of Boston its own.
