The report of the committee, which was signed by eighty-eight men is a document of the greatest importance in the history of the clash between the American colonies and Great Britain. It spoke of the "grievances and distresses" with which the people were oppressed, of the evils which threatened their ruin and the ruin of their posterity by reducing them "from a free and happy people to a wretched and miserable state of slavery." They denounced "the restrictions, prohibitions, and ill-advised regulations in several late acts of Parliament," and declared that the "unconstitutional act imposing duties on tea, paper, glass, etc. for the sole purpose of raising a revenue in America is injurious to property, and destructive to liberty."[5] Those who signed the association promised to discourage luxury and extravagance, agreed not to import goods taxed by Parliament or any of a long list of commodities, until the hated duties were removed.
After all had affixed their signatures, they gathered around the punch bowl to drink a series of toasts—to the King, the Queen and the Royal Family, Lord Botetourt, A Speedy and lasting Union between Great Britain and her Colonies, The Constitutional British Liberty in America and all true Patriots, the Supporters thereof, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Shelburne, Colonel Barré, the late Speaker, etc. At last, either because the liquor or the toasts gave out, the meeting came to an end.[6]
It was while the Assembly was in session that Secretary Hillsborough wrote Botetourt assuring him that the King's ministers would soon propose the repeal of the obnoxious duties. Whereupon the Governor called an Assembly and laid the joyous news before them. But the Burgesses must have seen the joker in the announcement when they noted that the repeal would be based, not on any illegality in the duties, but on the fact that they had been laid "contrary to the true principles of commerce."[7]
Yet Botetourt was all optimism. "I will be content to be declared infamous if I do not to the last hour of my life ... exert every power with which I am or ever shall be legally invested ... to obtain and maintain for the continent of America that satisfaction which I have been authorized to promise by the confidential servant of our gracious sovereign." Some months later, when the Virginians learned just how the Ministry had carried out this promise, Botetourt had reason to think that he had been led into deceiving them. It is true that all the duties had been taken off save that on tea. But so far from considering this a favor, the colonists resented it as a bait to make them acknowledge the right of Parliament to tax them. The resentment of the people was all the greater because of their disappointment. Hillsborough's promise had made them lax in enforcing the association, so in June, 1770, they organized a new one. A long list of imported goods were to be boycotted, industry was to be encouraged, prices were not to be advanced. To see that the agreement was carried out committees were to be organized in every county to examine invoices and expose violators.
It was unfortunate for Virginia that Botetourt's administration was short. He died October 15, 1770. "Truly and justly to express the many great virtues and amiable qualities which adorned this noble lord, as well in his public as private character, would demand the skill of the ablest penman," stated the death notice in the Gazette. "Virginia, in his fall, sorely laments the loss of the best of Governors and the best of men."[8]
A few days later a sorrowful procession moved from the Palace to Bruton Parish Church, amid the tolling of the bells in the church, the college, and the Capitol. In front of and beside the hearse were eight mourners carrying staffs draped in black, around them were the pallbearers—six Councillors and the Speaker of the House. Then followed the Governor's servants, the clergy, the professors of the college, the Williamsburg officials preceded by the city mace, and many others, all having white hatbands and gloves. After the service in the church the procession moved to the Wren Building where the lead casket, covered with a crimson velvet cloth, was placed in a vault below the floor of the chapel.[9]
As a token of affection the Assembly employed Richard Hayward, of London, to make a marble statue of Botetourt, which arrived in 1773 and was set up in the piazza of the Capitol. Later it was mutilated by a crowd of vandals as an expression of their hostility to all things British. In 1801 the College of William and Mary acquired it and removed it to the campus in front of the Wren Building, where it stands today an object of veneration for faculty, students, and alumni.
The grief of the people at the loss of Botetourt would have been all the greater had they known who was to be his successor. At the time John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, was Governor of New York, where he was regarded with contempt. At a feast of the Sons of St. Andrew he got drunk, acted like "a damned fool," and "sank himself" so low with vile language that the entire company was abashed. When word reached him that he was to be transferred to Virginia, he expressed resentment. "Damn Virginia!" he cried. "Why is it forced on me? I asked for New York. New York I love and they have robbed me of it." At a farewell dinner given in his honor, "he took too cheerful a glass," and got into a fight.[10]
The people of Virginia were probably not aware of Dunmore's character, for they greeted him cordially upon his arrival in Williamsburg, late in September, 1771. In the evening the city was illuminated, with a candle in every window, as a testimony of joy at his Excellency's safe arrival.[11]
The time was auspicious, for there was a lull in the controversy with the mother country. Though the duty on tea had not been removed, there was general hope that all differences could be adjusted. It is true that Dunmore aroused suspicion by trying to create new fees with which to pay his secretary, but his promptness in relinquishing them soon dissipated it. "A ball and elegant entertainment" at the Capitol given by the Burgesses in his honor testified to a spirit of cordiality.