Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/107

 LIFE OF HENRY. 83.

ble necessity. The legislature of that state also, re- solved on a circular letter to their sister colonies, invit- ing their concurrence and co-operation towards pro- curing relief, in a constitutional way, from the griev- ances under which they were all suffering. This mea- sure having been reported by governor Bernard with his usual embellishments, to the earl of Hilsborough, the British minister for the American department, that minister required the governor to demand of the legis- lature an immediate recision of their resolution, on pain of being forthwith dissolved. They refused to rescind, and were dissolved accordingly. The same minister also addressed a circular letter to the governors of the other colonies, exhorting them to crush this correspond- ence and concert amongst the colonial legislatures, in the bud, by exacting from them an assurance that they would not answer the circular of Massachusetts. They refused to give such assurance, and were in their turn dissolved.

These violent measures however, produced an effect very different from that which was expected to flow from them. The dissolution of their legislatures swelled the catalogue of their w rongs, and ministered additional fuel to the resentments of the people. The non-im- portation agreement became general; and, by means of committees established in the several colonies, its execu- tion was guarded with a vigilance which could not be eluded. A breach of it was infamy, inevitable and un- pardonable. Its observance was a badge of honour, by which the patriot colonist was proud to be distinguish- ed. The privation was, indeed, in many respects se- vere; but the sufferers were upheld by that kind of holy fortitude, which enabled the Christian martyrs to smile amidst the flames, and to triumph, even in the agonies of

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