Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/123

 On the tirst of August, accordingly, the first conven- tion of Virginia delegates assembled in Williamsburg;

deliberation is exceedingly gi-eat ; and when it is considered that the effect of the measures you may adopt will reach our latest posterity, you will ex- cuse us for giving you our sentiments, and pointing out some particulars^ proper for that plan of conduct we wish you to obsei-ve.

We are free men ; we have a right to be so ; and to enjoy all the privi- leges and immunities of our fellow-subjects in England ; and while we retain a just sense of that freedom, and those rights and privileges necessary for its safety and security, we shall never give up the right of taxation. Let it suffice to say, once for all, ~cve xvill neiier be taxed but by our own representatives; this is the great iat^^e of freedom, and British America hath hitherto been distinguished by it ; and when we see the British parliament tramphng upon that jight, and acting, with determined resolution to destroy it, we would wish to see the united wisdom and fortitude of America collected for its defence.

The sphere of life in which we move, hath not afforded us lights sufficient to determine with certainty, concerning those things from which the troubles at Boston originated. Whether the people there were warranted by jus- tice, when they destroyed the tea, we know not ; but this we know, that the parliament, by their proceedings, have made us and all North America parties in the present dispute, and deeply interested in the event of it; inso- much, that if our sister colony of Massachusetts Bay is enslaved, we cannot long remain free.

Our minds are filled with anxiety when we view the friendly regards of our parent state turned into enmity ; and those powers of government, for- merly exerted for our aid and protection, formed into dangerous efforts fot our destruction. We read our intended doom in the Boston port bill, in that for altering the mode of trial in criminal cases, and finally in the bill for altering the fonn of government in the Massachusetts Bay. These several acts are replete with injustice and oppression, and strongly expressive of the future policy of Britain towards all her colonies ; if a full and uncontrouled operation is given to this detestable system in its earlier stages, it will pro- bably be fixed upon us for ever.

Let it, therefore, be your great object to obtain a speedy repeal of those acts ; and for this purpose we recommend the adoption of such measures as may produce the hearty union of all our countrymen and sister colonies.

rrjflTED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL.

To attain this wished-for union, we declare our readiness to saxirifice any lesser interest arising from a soil, climate, situation, or productions peculiar to as.

We judge it conducive to the interests of America, that a general con- gress of deputies from all the colonies be held, in order to form a plan for guarding the claim of the colonists, and their constitutional rights, from future encroachment, and for the speedy relief of our suffering brethren at Boston. For the present, we think it proper to form a general association against the purchase of all articles of goods imported from Great Britain,

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