42. CHAPTER XLII.
THE “APOLLO” ROOM IN THE RALEIGH TAVERN.
Deus nobis hœc otia fecit.
It was the morning of the 27th of May, 1774, a day which,
like the 22d of February, 1732, and the 4th of July, 1776,
belongs to history.
As before, the sun rose, bright and serene, through a
cloudless heaven, and at ten o'clock the members of the
late House of Burgesses met in the “Apollo” room of the
Raleigh tavern. On the same evening, the ball given by
the Burgesses, in honor of Lady Dunmore, was to be held
at the capitol.[1]
Our brethren of other States have carefully collected the
dates of revolutionary occurrences, at this period, when so
many colonies were jostling each other, as it were, in the
noble struggle for precedence in bidding defiance to the
oppression of the home government. For this reason we
rigidly adhere to history in narrating events at Williamsburg.
It was at four in the evening, on the 26th of May, 1774,
that the Virginia House of Burgesses were dissolved for their
action on the bill closing Boston harbor. It was at ten in the
morning, on the 27th of May, the next day, that they met
in the Raleigh tavern to enter their solemn protest against
the act of the Governor, and send their words of cheer to
their brethren. It was at nine o'clock at night, on the same
evening, that the Burgesses and gentlemen of Virginia met
to honor with splendid entertainment the wife and daughters
of Lord Dunmore.
It was an act very characteristic of the men of Virginia—
those courtly gentlemen whose portraits we now gaze on
with so much affection and admiration. They bowed low
to Lord Dunmore on that evening; but it was the bow of
the swordsman, who salutes his adversary as he places himself
on guard.
The “Apollo” room was a plain apartment, with whitewashed,
walls, numerous windows, and a pine wainscotting,
painted lead color, running around the whole extent of the
room.
A door at one end afforded entrance, and at the other end
an old-fashioned fire-place was flanked by two other doors,
leading by winding stair-cases to the dormitories above.
A long table and a number of benches and chairs, hastily
provided, were the sole furniture of the apartment when the
Burgesses assembled.
Our chronicle aims rather to give colors and social peculiarities
than public events, and in preceding pages we have
endeavored to trace some of the traits of the period, and to
exhibit the effect, in a social point of view, of those events
upon the minds especially of men leading that remote country
life, where the true character of movements and things
is caught more vividly and accurately, perhaps, than in other
localities. We have shown how the intelligence of the Boston
Port bill was received at Vanely, and we have just witnessed
the scenes which attended the resolves of the Burgesses
on the same subject.
We shall, therefore, leave to the imagination of the reader
the meeting at the Raleigh of those true and noble patriots
—leave, also, to imagination, the countenances and words of
those men who did so much for their descendants; who, in
the long galleries of history, will hang the noblest pictures,
the heroes, of the dark and stormy days of our Revolution.
For him who writes, there seems ever to rest upon those
splendid figures and imperial brows a richer splendor than
we see to-day—the glory and beauty of a purer patriotism,
and a more serene and changeless devotion to the cause of
truth and the happiness of their species. They were true as
steel amid the fury of the storm, and sent their great voices
to their brethren without fear.
[2]
Tout Seigneur, tout honneur!
Of this body of men who threw down the gauntlet to a
wicked oppression, pledging life and fortune, and sacred
honor in the struggle; of these men who met at the old
Raleigh, Virginia will ever be proud. Not a head but is dear
to her still, for there is not a name but is an echo of truth
and courage, and devotion to a noble cause.
The meeting in the “Apollo” room soon terminated.
Its deliberations had been marked by the utmost calmness,
the most immovable decision, and a dignity and moderation
which gave its action the effect of a decree emanating
from the flower of the patriotism and strength of the
colony.
The convention had agreed upon a proclamation to the
people of Virginia, headed, “An Association signed by
eighty-nine members of the late House of Burgesses.”
It declared that the Burgesses, “having been deprived, by
the sudden interposition of the executive part of the government,
from giving their countrymen the advice they wished
to convey to them in a legislative capacity, they found
themselves under the hard necessity of adopting this, the
only method they had left, of pointing out to their countrymen
such measures as in their opinion were best fitted to
secure their dear rights and liberty from destruction, by
the heavy hand of power now lifted against North America.”
The paper went on to declare that the application of the
colonies to Great Britain for justice had been disregarded;
that a determined system was being pressed to reduce them
to slavery, by taxing them without representation, and that
the Boston Harbor bill was unconstitutional and “most violent
and arbitrary”—a “dangerous attempt to destroy the
liberties of America.” That tea should be used by no person
wishing well to his country, and that no other East India
Company commodity whatsoever, but absolute necessaries,
should be purchased or used.
“We are further clearly of opinion,” said the paper, “that
an attack made on one of our sister colonies, to compel submission
to arbitrary taxes, is an attack made on all British
America, and threatens ruin to the rights of all, unless the
united wisdom of the whole be applied. And for this purpose
it is recommended to the committee of correspondence,
that they communicate with their several corresponding
committees, on the expediency of appointing deputies from
the several colonies of British America, to meet in general
congress at such place, annually, as shall be thought most
convenient; there to deliberate on those general measures
which the united interests of America may, from time to
time, require.”
The paper ended by declaring that a persistence in the
designs of Parliament would produce an “end of all commercial
intercourse with Great Britain,” and then were affixed
the signatures of the eighty-nine Burgesses.
Thus, in this paper, the members of the late House of
Burgesses:
I. Protested against their arbitrary dissolution by Lord
Dunmore.
II. Declared the Boston Port bill unconstitutional, and a
blow at the liberties of the North American provinces.
III. That they and their countrymen would use no tea
or other English commodities until the act was repealed.
IV. That an attack on the sister province of Massachusetts
was regarded as an attack upon Virginia.
V. That persistence in these measures would terminate
all intercourse with Great Britain.
VI. That steps should at once be taken for a general
congress to meet annually, and deliberate on such measures
as the united interests of the country at large might demand.
Thus the Burgesses of Virginia accurately and clearly defined
the oppressions of England, and proclaimed the rights
of the people of North America. They declared common
cause with the sister colonies, and pointed out the strength
to be derived from union. Thus Virginia was at her post,
as always, in the van of the great army of resistance. All
eyes were directed toward her, and her voice of good cheer
was heard through the gathering storm, as her sisters had
heard it in the past.[3]
In the burning oratory of Patrick Henry in '65, the
gauntlet was thrown down to the originators of the Stamp
Act.
In the protests of the Burgesses in '74, the issue was joined
on the Boston Port bill.
The hot metal, for nine years, growing hotter and hotter
in the cauldron, was thus poured into the mould of revolution.
