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not, to wish well to the scheme, namely, they who live genteelly and hospitably on clear estates. Such as these, were they not to consider the valuable object in view, and the good of others, might think it hard to be curtailed in their living and enjoyments. As to the penurious man, he would thereby save his money and his credit, having the best plea for doing that, which before, perhaps, he had the most violent struggles to refrain from doing. The extravagant and expensive man has the same good plea to retrench his expenses. He would be furnished with a good pretext to live within bounds, and would embrace it. Prudence dictated economy before, but his resolution was too weak to put it in practice. For how can I,' says he, who have lived in such and such a manner, change my method? I am ashamed to do it, and, besides, such an alteration in the system of my living will create suspicions of the decay of my fortune, and such a thought the world must not harbour.' He continues his course, till at last his estate comes to an end, a sale of it being the consequence of his perseverance in error. This, I am satisfied, is the way that many, who have set out in the wrong track, have reasoned, till ruin has stared them in the face. And in respect to the needy man, he is only left in the same situation he was found in, better, I may say, because, as he judges from comparison, his condition is amended in proportion as it approaches nearer to those above him.

"Upon the whole, therefore, I think the scheme a good one, and that it ought to be tried here, with such alterations as our circumstances render absolutely necessary. But in what manner to begin the work, is a matter worthy of consideration. Whether it can be attempted with propriety or efficacy, further than a communication of sentiments to one another before May, when the court and Assembly will meet at Williamsburg, and a uniform plan can be concerted, and sent to the different counties to operate at the same time, and in the same manner everywhere, is a thing upon which I am somewhat in doubt, and I should be glad to know your opinion."

The reply of Mr. Mason to this letter of Colonel Washington may safely be regarded as an exposition of the feelings and intentions of the great mass of the colonists.

"I entirely agree with you," he replies, "that no regular plan of the sort proposed can be entered into here, before the meeting of the general court at least, if not of the Assembly. In the mean time, it may be necessary to publish something preparatory to it in

our gazettes, to warn our people of the impending danger, and to induce them the more readily and cheerfully to concur in the proper measures to avert it; and something of this sort I had begun, but am unluckily stopped by a disorder which affects my head and eyes. As soon as I am able, I shall resume it, and then write you more fully, or endeavour to see you. In the mean time, pray commit to writing such hints as may occur.

"Our all is at stake, and the little conveniences and comforts of life, when set in competition with our liberty, ought to be rejected, not with reluctance, but with pleasure. Yet it is plain, that in the tobacco colonies we cannot at present confine our importations within such narrow bounds as the northern colonies. A plan of this kind, to be practicable, must be adapted to our circumstances, for if not steadily executed it had better have remained unattempted. We may retrench all manner of superfluities, finery of all descriptions, and confine ourselves to linens, woollens, &c., not exceeding a certain price. It is amazing how much this practice, if adopted in all the colonies, would lessen the American imports, and distress the various traders and manufacturers in Great Britain.

This would awaken their attention. They would see, they would feel the oppressions we groan under, and exert themselves, to procure us redress. This once obtained, we should no longer discontinue our importations, confining ourselves still not to import any articles that should hereafter be taxed by act of parliament for raising revenue in America; for, however singular I may be in my opinion, I am thoroughly convinced, that, justice and harmony happily restored, it is not the interest of these colonies to refuse British manufactures. Our supplying our mother country with gross materials, and taking her manufactures in return, is the true chain of connection between us. These are the bands, which, if not broken by oppression, must long hold us together, by maintaining a constant reciprocation of interest. Proper caution should, therefore, be used in drawing up the proposed plan of association. It may not be amiss to let the ministry understand, that, until we obtain a redress of grievances, we will withhold from them our commodities, and particularly refrain from making tobacco, by which the revenue would lose fifty times more than all their oppressions could raise here.

"Had the hints which I have given with regard to taxation of goods imported into America, been thought of by our merchants

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before the repeal of the Stamp Act, the late American revenue acts would probably never have been attempted."

Mr. Mason drew up a series of resolutions, otherwise called associations, or non-importation agreements, which he, not being a member of the Assembly, gave to Colonel Washington, who carried them with him to Williamsburg, whither he went in May, to attend to his duty as a member of the House of Burgesses. That body had been in session only a few days when they passed a series of strong resolutions, asserting their rights alone to impose taxes upon the people of the province of Virginia; and declaring that it was the privilege of the inhabitants to request the other colonies to unite with them in petitioning the king for a redress of grievances. They also prepared a petition to the king, remonstrating in strong and feeling language against the execution of the old law, by which persons accused of any crime whatever might be seized, and sent to places beyond the seas to be tried.

Lord Botetourt, the governor of Virginia, being informed of the proceedings of the house, immediately dissolved the Assembly. As soon as the burgesses left the public hall, they met at a private house, and choosing their late speaker, Peyton Randolph, moderator, adopted, with a slight modification, the agreement which had been drawn up by George Mason, and intrusted by him for presentation and support to Colonel Washington. These resolu tions against the importation of any articles that were taxed by the parliament of Great Britain were signed by every member of the Assembly present, and then sent through the country for the signatures of the people.

That Washington was sincere in the support of the principles which were now generally adopted by his countrymen, will be clearly seen from the following extract from a letter to his London correspondent, in sending out his customary orders :-“You will perceive, in looking over the several invoices, that some of the goods there required are upon condition that the act of parliament, imposing a duty on tea, paper, &c., for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, is totally repealed, and I beg the favour of you to be governed strictly thereby, as it will not be in my power to receive any articles contrary to our non-importation agreement, which I have subscribed, and shall religiously adhere to, and should, if it were as I could wish it to be, ten times as strict."

Thus did Washington heartily join with the colonists in every measure of opposition to the encroachments of the British ministry from 1769, until, in 1773, more active and warlike proceedings

were required by America from all her children. While engaged in the House of Burgesses in resisting the claim of Great Britain to tax the colonies at pleasure, and during the recesses of the Assembly, at his plough, he did not forget his old friends, the officers and soldiers who had served with him in the French War. Governor Dinwiddie, as a reward for their services, had promised these men two hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio. This claim was long opposed, first by the English ministry, and afterwards by the authorities of Virginia, and it was only by the unwearied exertions of Washington, that the matter was finally, in 1773 or 1774, adjusted.

Washington even undertook a journey, in the autumn of the year 1770, for the express purpose of selecting such tracts of land as would be most valuable to the future owners, when the government should think fit to fulfil its pledge to his fellow-soldiers. Some months afterwards, Lord Dunmore, then governor of the province, solicited his company in an excursion to the western country, and Washington began his preparations for once more visiting the scenes of his early renown. The death of Mrs. Washington's only daughter, however, prevented him from accompanying the governor.

The crisis of the Revolution was now fast approaching. Already had blood been shed in the sacred cause of liberty. The two royal. regiments stationed at Boston, had, from the first, been a source of constant annoyance to the inhabitants. Frequent quarrels arose between them and the townsmen; and at length, on the 5th of March, 1770, an affray took place in which a party of soldiers fired upon their opponents, and four men were killed. The alarm-bells were immediately rung, a mob assembled, who became infuriated at the sight of the dead bodies, and far more serious mischief might have been the result, had not the lieutenant-governor assured them, that the law should be strictly enforced on the perpetrators of the offence. Accordingly, Captain Preston, who had commanded, and several soldiers who had fired, were brought to trial; on which occasion. Mr. Quincy and Mr. Adams, two of the most zealous patriots, actuated by a sincere regard to justice, undertook the defence. The accused were honourably acquitted, it having been proved that the people first insulted the soldiers, and then commenced an attack, while the officer made every exertion to prevent the catastrophe. Such urgent representations, however, were now made by the council and the citizens, that the commander agreed to remove

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the troops, quartering them in Castle William and in barracks erected near it.

At this time public indignation was excited against Governor Hutchinson, and Oliver the lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, in consequence of the publication of letters written by them to a secretary of the treasury in England. These letters, which had been transmitted to Boston by Dr. Franklin, contained a strong reprobation of the course pursued by the popular leaders, and recommendations that they should be put down at once, by coercive measures if necessary. Such was the public resentment excited by the publication of these letters, that the government chose rather to recall Hutchinson, and appoint General Gage as his successor, than run the risk of submitting to the fury of the populace.*

The following account of the affair of the letters is from the Pictorial History of England :

"Before these proceedings, and even before the arrival of the intelligence of the tea riot, Dr. Franklin, the agent for the colony or house of representatives of Massachusetts, had met with a severe castigation from the sharp tongue of a crown lawyer, for his conduct in the affair of the letters. That affair, moreover, had led to bloodshed in England, for a duel had been fought in Hyde Park, between Mr. Whately, banker in Lombard street, and brother to Mr. Thomas Whately, late secretary to the treasury, and member for Castle Rising, and Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Temple, lieutenantgovernor of New Hampshire; and the unfortunate banker had been dangerously wounded. Upon this event, which caused considerable excitement, Franklin wrote and published a letter, declaring that neither Mr. Whately nor the lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire had any thing to do with the mischievous letters, and that both of them were totally ignorant and innocent of that transaction. I think it incumbent on me,' wrote Franklin, to declare, for the prevention of further mischief, that I alone am the person who obtained and transmitted to Boston the letters in question. Mr. Whately could not communicate them, because they were never in his possession; and, for the same reason, they could not have been taken from him by Mr. Temple. They were not of the nature of private letters between friends; they were written by public officers to persons in public stations, on public affairs, and intended to procure public measures; they were, therefore, handed to other public persons, who might be influenced by them to produce those measures: their tendency was to incense the mother country against her colonies, and, by the steps recommended, to widen the breach, which they effected. The chief caution expressed with regard to privacy was, to keep their contents from the colony agents, who, the writers apprehended, might return them, or copies of them, to America. That apprehension was, it seems, well founded; for the first agent who laid his hands on them thought it his duty to transmit them to his constituents.'

"This letter was signed B. Franklin, agent for the house of representatives of Massachusetts Bay,' and was dated Craven street, December 25th, 1773. As a matter of course, it left in mystery the means by which the philosopher had got possession of the letters. But the secret has since transpired. It is only within these seven years,' says the writer of the History of the American Revolution, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, in 1830, that it has been ascertained that Governor Hutchinson's letters were put into Franklin's hands by a Dr. Williamson, who, without any suggestion on his part, had procured them by stratagem from the office where they had been deposited. This curious fact is stated, with many particulars, in a Memoir of Dr. Williamson, by Dr. Hosack of New York.'

"On Saturday, the 29th of January, Franklin, with Mr. Dunning as counsel to speak