“Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses: I have in my hand a paper, published by order of your House, conceived in such terms as reflect highly upon his majesty and the parliament of Great Britain, which makes it necessary for me to dissolve you; and you are dissolved accordingly.”[73]
Thus the House of Burgesses was entirely broken up. It had no longer any legal existence. The members were sent to their homes. A new House of Burgesses must be formed, by another election.
This hostile act, on the part of the governor, excited, of course, great indignation. There was, in the vicinity, a public house which had long been known as the Old Raleigh Tavern. To a large hall in this house the members adjourned. They were now merely private citizens, with no official power. As a convention, however, they passed resolutions strongly denouncing the acts of parliament, recommending to all the colonies to desist from the use of tea, and all other European commodities, and recommending the assembly of a General Congress, to be composed of deputies from the several colonies.
This all-important measure met with prompt concurrence, the 5th of September was appointed for the meeting of the first Congress in Philadelphia.
Still the gentlemen of Virginia remained on courteous terms with Lord Dunmore. The ball was attended with great spirit. It is said that the Earl was very marked in his attentions to Washington. He appreciated his lofty character, and the influence he was capable of exerting. On the very day when the governor dissolved the Assembly, Washington dined with him, and spent the evening in his company. The governor also soon accompanied Washington to Mount Vernon, breakfasted with him, and, by his side, rode over the splendid estate.
Two days after the ball, letters reached Williamsburg, from Boston, recommending a general league of the colonies and the suspension of all trade with Great Britain. Most of the members of the dissolved Assembly had returned to their homes. But twenty-five remained. They held a convention at which Peyton Randolph presided. It was voted to call a meeting of all the members of the late House of Burgesses, to take steps for the formation of such a league.
On the 1st of June the Boston Port Bill was to be enforced. The day was observed in Williamsburg and elsewhere as a season of fasting and prayer.[74] All business ceased. Flags were draped in crape, and hung at half-mast. Funeral bells were tolled. Less than three million of people were rising in opposition to the despotism of one of the most powerful empires on the globe. Every thoughtful man must have been pale with apprehension. The odds against the colonies were fearful. The king and his courtiers felt that they had but to close the hand that grasped the throat of the colonies, and inevitable strangulation would ensue. The awful cloud was growing blacker every day. There was no alternative for the Americans, but to bow their necks to the yoke of the cruel taskmaster, and surrender all their liberties, or to engage in a conflict where it would seem that the chances were hundreds to one against them. Issues awful beyond conception were at stake. Solemnity sat on all countenances.
The king of England appointed General Thomas Gage to command the military forces in Massachusetts. The general had said to the king:
“The Americans will be lions only so long as the English are lambs. Give me five regiments and I will keep Boston quiet.”
Gage issued a proclamation denouncing the contemplated league as traitorous, and as consequently justly consigning all who should join it, to the scaffold. He ostentatiously encamped a force of artillery and infantry on the Common; and prohibited all public meetings, except the annual town meetings in March and May.