CHAP. ple that invasion was at hand, energized their endeavours VIII. to be prepared to repel it. Early in April, Capt. James Barron took a small vessel, dispatched by Lord Dunmore to Annapolis, in Maryland, for the purpose of conveying to Governor Eden of that Colony, letters addressed to him by the British Secretary of State. These letters were found in custody of a Mr. Ross, formerly an associate of the infamous Connelly, and now a faithful and zealous emissary of the Ex-Governor; and immediately brought to Williamsburg. One of these, dated Whitehall, Dee. 23, 1775, contained the following passage: "An armament, consisting of seven regiments with a fleet of Frigates and small ships, is now in readiness to proceed to the Southern Colonies, in order to attempt the restoration of regular government, in that part of America. It will proceed, in the first place, to North-Carolina, and thence either to South-Carolina, or Virginia, as circumstances of greater or less advantage shall point out. If to the lat ter, it may have consequences very important to the Colony under your government; and, therefore, you will do well to consider of every means by which you may, in conjunction with Lord Dunmore, give facility and assistance to its operations." Thus were the Southern Colonies fortunately warned and inspirited to assume a respectable defensive attitude. On the 18th of April, the Ann and Isabella, with part of the 17th regiment, arrived at CapeFear; thirteen transports soon reached the same point; and, on the 3d of May, twenty more sail arrived with Sir P. Parker, Lord Cornwallis, General Vaughan, and other officers of distinction. Upon intelligence of this, General Lee immediately resolved to fly to the protection of NorthCarolina. He was, however, inclined to think that either Ceneral Lee South-Carolina or Virginia, would be the object of the e marches o nemy's first attack, though rage and revenge might prompt N. Carolina. them to make an attempt against Wilmington, where he

May 12.

Arrives at Newbern.

hoped that Brigadier Moore was sufficiently prepared for successful opposition. He, therefore, meant to take post at Newbern, to watch the determination of the invaders, and meet them at any point they might select for the theatre of their meditated hostilities. On the 12th of May, he began to march for Newbern, directing his route through Halifax. Brigadier General Howe attended him, with his brave Carolinians; and Colonel Mulenburg's regiment was ordered to follow with all possible speed. On his arrival at Newbern, General Lee received another tribute of public confidence and gratitude. A committee, selected bythe inhabitants of that Town, waited upon him, to express the high sense universally entertained of his generous and manly exertions in defence of American rights and liberties; to offer him their cordial congratulations for his appearance among them, at a time when their Province was actually invaded by a powerful fleet and army;

CHAP.

VIII.

Military

Dunmore

quits his Gwynn's

station for

Island

and to assure him of their happiness at finding the command of the troops destined for their protection, placed in the hands of a gentleman of his distinguished character. By his directions, Kemp's Landing had been evacuated,. immediately after his departure from Virginia; 400 men stationed at the Great Bridge, where an Engineer of ac- measures in knowledged skill, had erected such works as the occasion Virginia. required; a battalion posted at Suffolk, and part of the 4th and 5th regiments ordered to relieve the troops under Woodford, who had undergone a long and fatiguing service, and were now recalled to Williamsburg. One hundred and fifty men took post at Smithfield; and the military concerns of Virginia devolved, during General Lee's absence, on Brigadier-General Andrew Lewis. Colonel Dangerfield was stationed near the mouth of the Rappahannock, with a small portion of his regiment. A reinforcement of two hundred men was soon after sent to him from Williamsburg, upon undoubted intelligence that Dunmore's fleet had been observed running up into the Bay. We have already noticed the energetic measures adopted to preclude the British from obtaining supplies in the vicinity of their strong holds, and along the banks of those waters which their Fiotilla infested. By those measures, they were compelled to abandon their intrenchments, and, after burning the barracks which they had erected, near the ruins of Norfolk, to seek a refuge within their wooden walls, where disease, hunger, and other sufferings still pursued them. On the 23d of May, they were scen maneuvring in Hampton roads, with about 103 sail. Various were the reports concerning their destination. Some deserters stated that they were going to Halifax ; others, that Cape Fear was the rendezvous assigned to them; by many it was expected that they would effect a landing, and make a new attack on Hampton. Preparations to receive them were in a vigorous train, when, after several movements, they were suddenly seen to sail up the Bay as be fore mentioned-appeared at the mouth of the Rappahannock, and finally landed and intrenched themselves on Gwynn's Island, in the county of Gloucester. This spot, naturally pleasant and fertile, and considerably improved and embellished by the labors of husbandry, abounding in eattle, escullent vegetables, and excellent water, and enjoying the additional advantage of a comparatively salubrious atmosphere, presented to them a desirable asylum; but the seal of reprobation was now imprinted on their foreheads, and they were doomed soon to be hunted out of this Eden.

May 23,

In the meanwhile, the Convention did not lose sight of Declaration the transcendant objects which the singular situation of of rights. their country, and the confidence of their fellow-citizens, had made it their task to accomplish. Conformably to

CHAP.

one of the memorable resolutions of the 15th of May, a committee, consisting of 28 members prepared a "Declaration of rights," which was reported, fully discussed, and finally adopted by the Convention, on the 12th of June.June 12. Upon this foundation the superstructure of the new goConstitution vernment was raised, on the 29th of the same month, when

Mr. Jeffer

ble.

the Constitution was unanimously adopted. Early in March, South Carolina had framed a Constitution virtual- ́ ly independent, it is true, but only temporary, since it was to exist" till a reconciliation between Great Britain and the Colonies should take place, and no longer." Virginia was foremost in absolutely and irrevocably throwing off the galling and disgraceful yoke of British oppression, and in erecting, on the immutable base of natural and social rights, a fabric of civil government, originating in the will of the people, and sanctioned by their approbation; two characters which the Constitution cannot be denied to have possessed at the time of its birth, whether it be considered as the act of an ordinary Legislature, or as the offspring of special delegated authority.*

The preamble, reciting the various acts of misrule by son's pream which the Government of Virginia, as formerly exercised under the Crown of Great-Britain, was now totally dissolved, had been transmitted by Thomas Jefferson, from Philadelphia, where that illustrious patriot was then attending the General Congress, together with a plan of a new Constitution, or form of Government; his valuable communication reached the Convention just at the moment when the plan originally drawn up by Colonel George Mason, and afterwards discussed and amended, was to receive the final sanction of that venerable body. It was now too late to

It is foreign to the Province of the Historian to consider whether the Constitution was merely " a temporary organization of Government, framed by men possessing no powers above those of ordinary Legislators," or the act of a body, superior to an ordinary Legislature, and appointed for the special purpose of giving to the people a form of Government, intended to be permanent, fundamental, and unalterable, except by the people themselves, through their immediate Deputies. The acknowledged defects of that Constitution, defects which originated in novelty, inexperience and haste, (for letters from distinguished members of the Convention, and other respectable characters of that day, at this very moment before us, prove that an ardent, and even zealous desire of creating a national government, prevented adequate discussion and maturity) rather than the informality of its birth, require, if not a total change, at least, considerable amendments. And, indeed, the mere circumstance of its being a problem "Whether Virginia has a Constitution, or not," is sufficient to induce the call of a Convention, to establish genuine fundamentals of government. Mr. Jefferson and Judge Tucker have ably discussed this subject-They differ in opinion, as to the original and nature of the Constitution; but they nearly agree as to its defects, by far the most important part of the question. Let every Virginian, who has at heart the honour and happiness of his country, deeply meditate the observations of those distinguished Gentlemen, upon points so closely connected with both; and let the remedy be promptly and wisely applied! (See Jefferson's notes on Virginia, and Tucker's Blackstone.)

retrace previous steps ;* the session had already been un- CHAP. commonly laborious; and considerations of personal deli- VIII. cacy hindered those, to whom Mr. Jefferson's ideas were imparted, from proposing or urging new alterations. Two or three parts of his plan, and the whole of his preamble, however, were adopted; and to this circumstance must be ascribed the strong similitude between that preamble, and the Declaration of Independence, subsequently issued by the Continental Congress, both having been traced by the same pen.

tution.

This Constitution is in the hands of every Virginian; Outlines of it will, therefore, suffice to trace here its outlines. It the Constilodges the Executive power in a Governor, chosen annually by the Legislature, and incapable of acting, in this public capacity, more than three years in seven. Eight Counsellors assist in the administration of the government. The Judiciary powers are tested in several courts. Legislation is exercised by a General Assembly, consisting of two houses-the one called the House of Delegates, two Delegates representing each county, and being annually chosen by such citizens as possess an estate for life, in 100 acres of uninhabited land, or 25 acres, with a house on the same, or in a house and lot in some town; the other called the Senate, composed of 24 members, chosen every 4 years, by the same electors, the several counties being distributed into 24 Senatorial Districts. Besides the Governor, the Privy Counsellors, the Judges of the Superior Courts, and most of the Executive officers, are appointed by the General Assembly. All laws originate in the House of Delegates; the Senate approves or rejects them, or amends them with the consent of the House of Delegates. Money-bills are, in no instance, altered by the Senate, but entirely approved or rejected.

former

The encroachments upon the original extent of Virgi- Constituti nia, by the charters erecting the Colonies of Pennsylvania, onal clause Maryland, North and South-Carolina, had always been respecting subjects of protestation and complaint. To obviate all grants by subsequent claims, tending to disturb the harmony, so ne- the Crown cessary for the triumph of the common cause, the territo- to adjacent ries contained within those charters were, by a solemn constitutional clause, "ceded, released, and. forever con

"When I came here the plan of government had been committed to the whole house. To those who had the chief hand in forming it, the one you put into my hands was shewn. Two or three parts of this, were with little alteration, inserted in that; but such was the impatience of sitting long enough to discuss several important points in which they differ, and so many other matters were necessarily to be dispatched before the adjournment, that I was persuaded the revision of a subject the members seemed tired of, would at that time have been unsuccessfully proposed.-The system agreed to, in my opinion, requires reformation. In October, I hope you will effect it.".

G. Wythe, to Thomas Jefferson, 27th July, 1776.

Colonies.

CHAP. firmed to the people of those Colonies, respectively, with VIII. all the rights of property, jurisdiction, and government,

and all other rights whatever, which might at any time heretofore have been claimed by Virginia, except the free navigation and use of the rivers Potomack and Pokomoke, with the property of the Virginia shores, or strands, bordering on either of the said rivers."

The last article of the Constitution declared that, “in order to introduce the new government, the Representatives of the people, met in Convention, should choose a Governor, and Privy-Council, and such other officers, directed to be chosen by both Houses, as might be judged Appoin necessary, to be immediately appointed. In pursuance of ments under that article, the following officers were unanimously apthe newCon- pointed, immediately upon the adoption of the new mode of government.

stitution.

June 29.

Patrick Henry, junr. Governor.

John Page, Dudley Digges, John Tayloe, John Blair, Benjamin Harrison, of Berkeley; Bartholomew Dandridge, Charles Carter, of Shirley; and Benjamin Harrison, of Brandon, Counsellors of State.

Thomas Whiting, John Hutchings, Champion Travis, Thomas Newton, jr. and George Webb, Commissioners of Admiraity.

Thomas Everard, and James Cocke, Commissioners for Settling Accounts.

Edmund Randolph, Attorney-General.

The return of Henry to public life, and his appearanec upon a theatre so favorable to the display of his patriotic zeal and rare abilities, were greeted by the people and by the army with that pure and vivid satisfaction, which is at all times the best reward of genius and virtue. A Committee of the House was nominated to wait upon him, with the notification of his appointment. Through this Committee, he transmitted to the Convention the following letter:

To the Honorable the President,

and House of Convention.

GENTLEMEN,

The vote of this day, appointing me Governor of the Commonwealth, has been notified to me in the most polite and obliging manner by George Mason, Henry Lee, Dudley Digges, John Blair, and Bartholomew Dandridge, Esquires.

A sense of the high and unmerited honor conferred upon me by the Convention. fills my heart with gratitude, which I trust my whole life will manifest. I take this earliest opportunity to express my thanks, which I wish to convey to you, gentlemen, in the strongest terms of ac. knowledgment.