CHAPTER XVIII
RODNEY RIDES WITH DISPATCHES
Rodney had been at home but a short time when he realized that important events had occurred in his absence.
“Mother,” he said one day, “it looks as though the king will have to send over a new governor in place of Lord Dunmore, or there’ll be trouble. You know, Colonel Lewis and his men were mad enough to fight both him and the Indians because, instead of punishing the Indians, he made peace with ’em. I hear he had trouble before he left Virginia on the expedition over the mountains, and is having it now.”
“Yes, he dissolved the Assembly because, out of sympathy with Boston, it appointed a fast day. England, you know, closed the port of Boston. The year before Governor Dunmore dissolved the Assembly because it expressed sympathy with Massachusetts. I fear he is too arbitrary.”
“Well, they do as they have a mind to after all. Last year, I understand, Mr. Jefferson and Colonel Washington and others met at the old Raleigh Tavern 153 and arranged to have correspondence with all the colonies so they could all act together if necessary.”
“Yes, they also met there five years ago and resolved not to import goods from England, and, before they went home last June, they met at the same place and planned for the Colonial Congress they held in Philadelphia last September. I believe these meetings were in what is called the Apollo room. I remember dancing there when I was a girl. It is a large room with a big fireplace at one end. I expect the king’s ears would tingle if he could hear all the angry words that have been spoken against tyranny in that room. Oh, I don’t know what it all will come to. There must be faults on both sides. I think Patrick Henry is too impetuous for a safe leader. I’ve been told that he believes the colonies should declare themselves independent of England. That would mean a terrible war. I do hope we may escape such a calamity.”
The king had heard of the words spoken in the Apollo room of the old tavern. Governor Dunmore, an irritable, haughty Scotch nobleman, with little respect for the people, also had heard enough to fill his heart with rage. He sent the legislators, many of whom had ridden many miles to the capital at Williamsburg, back home with his disapproval. He would teach them submission!
On their part, the people had no thought of submission. Wherever they met there was a sound as of angry bees.