The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-07-13

The Virginia committee of corresponds
ence met the day after the dissolution
of the house and began its labors. They
dispatched a copy of their resolutions and
a circular letter to the other colonies,
requesting the appointment of persons to
communicate with the Virginia commit
tee. When each colony should act upon
this appeal and appoint its committee,
and these thirteen eommttees should be-
gin to consult. mutually agree. and act III
concert. confederation would have taken
place. 1t would only remain for the c9m-
mittee TO meet in general conference for
a congress to have been created
That huge corporation. the British East
India Company, being in financial dis
tress, its directors came to parliament
begging relief-it being a popularity of
huge corporations to consider government
as having been instituted for their own
special behoof. Parliament, as is usual
In such cases. gave the corporation what
1t wanted, relieving it of tea duties IN
order that it might sell tea in America
cheaper than even the smuggIers would
care TO sell Il. behold then the ships Of
Great Britain bringing over the celebrated
tea.
on December ., 1913. the London appears
at Charleston. with two hundred and
came excited.
mass meeting was held; resolutions
We're adopted; the consignees of the tea
were asked to resign. They did so amid
great applause. A committee was formed
TO manage the opposition of the people to
the landing of the tea No Consignees
calling for the London's tea, customs Off
GERS seized and stored it in the cellar I'M
der the exchange. where it lay until I116,
when 1t was sold under legislative direc-
tion and the proceeds applied to public
purposes Tie statement so often made
by Bancroft and others that the tea was
stored in damp cellars where it rotted is
not correct Even Mr.. Sydney George
Fisher writing THE True History of the
American Revolution" heedlessly follows
the legend of the damp cellar. DR.. Wood
row Wilson, seeming danger, stops with
rare sagacity, at the word Stored
leaving the final fate OF the luckless tea
to the imagination of the reader.
at Philadelphia a tea ship hove In sight.
a mass meeting was held. a committee
was appointed, and this committee man
aged so well that the vessel sailed back to
England,
The same thing happened in New York;
and also at Portsmouth. New Hampshire
II Boston, however, the consignees OF
the tea refused to resign, and the town
was soon rocking with excitement. Once
more Sam Adams was in his element.
On the night of the 10th of December.
1913, some forty or fifty patriots. prudent
ly screening their patriotism behind the
war paint Of Mohawk Indians, wearing
blankets like Indians, carrying hatchets
like Indians boarded the unressting tea
ships, 5urst the helpless boxes ana
emptied the contents into the submissive
ocean.
The value Of the cargoes destroyed in
this manner was nearly eighty thousand
dollars.
Great Britain's answer to the challenge
was prompt: she closed the port of Bos
ton a step which meant ruin and almost
starvation to hundreds, perhaps thousands
of innocent persons.
This measure Of retaliation was to go
into effect June l. 1774. The spring session
Of the Virginia assembly convened while
the country was agitated by news Of what
was happening in Boston. Messengers
sent by the Massachusetts committee
came riding into Williamsburg bringing
fun details from the north. and the two
great sections we're now able to act in
concert
Again the younger members Of the Nir-
ginia house took the lead. Henry, Jeher-
SON Richard Henry Lee and Francis
Lightfoot Lee.
These ardent tribunes believed that
nothing would prove so effectual in arous-
ing and uniting the people as the naming
of June / as q day for fasting and prayer
Usually il pleased Mr.. jefferson very
much to draw up papers. lie delightsl In
it: he was proficient in It; he never tired
for o11ro 1a va C Tl1ZZlad The
drawing up Of devotional papers was not
where his strength lay. His flowing pen
and creative faculty failed him sadly. Be
hold him. therefore, rummaglng an old
English book, full OF Puritan forms hunt
ing about for a style. pious formal, scrip
tural-which would suit for June !, liza
when Virginia was going to fast at
preach against, and PR for its king =
George III.
After some difficulty Mr. jefferson
cooked up" resolution which he
thought would answer. put it into the
hands of the venerable and religious Mr.
Nicholas, and that gentleman offered it
to the house 1t passed. of course and
June / was appointed as the day upon
which Virginia should fast, pray and
humliate itself in the hope that heaven
would turn the hearts of king and paria
ment to moderation and justice.
Lord Dunmore knew we'll enough what
all this parade of pety meant. He recog- |
nized 1t as another method of agitating
and uniting the people against Great
Britain.
Hence he again dissolved the house, and
again the members assembled at the
Raleigh to consult and to adopt meas
ures Denouncing the aggressive methods
of Great Britain and declaring that an
attack on one colony was an attack upon
all, they instructed their committee of
correspondence to confer with the other
colonies on the expediency of holding a
general annual congress. They further !
agreed that a convention should be held
at williamsburg on August l, so that If I
the other colonies agreed to the PROPOSE |
ton for a congress. Virginia could appoint |
her delegates thereto.
Mr. jefferson was chosen to the house |
of burgesses. and also to the convention. |
on his way to attend this he was stricken !
down by sudden and painful Illness, but |
ne forwarded a lengthy paper, which was |
afterwards well known in England, $
we'll as II America, under the name of |
"A Summary View Of the Rights of Brit |
ish America.
In this paper. as in the Albemarle in |
structions, Mr.. Jefferson boldly advanced |
to the proposition that the colonies were |
not subject 10 any legislative power save I
their own that the British parliament has |
30 ri,ht 10 exercise authority over us