LXI.
LXI. JOHN BLAIR.
LXI. President of the Council.
LXI. January, 1758, to June 7, 1758.
The successes of the French over the English during the
year 1757 had left the Colonies in a somewhat despondent
state, but the animating spirit of Pitt infused hope in America,
and the Colonies, rising in full proportion to the occasion,
prepared for the coming contest. Notwithstanding the pressure
of events at this juncture, the Colony of Virginia exported,
in 1758, the largest quantity of tobacco ever yet produced
in that Colony in one year; 70,000 hogsheads of this
staple were shipped to foreign ports.
As Governor Dinwiddie had, at his own request, been
relieved from the post of Governor of Virginia, his place was
taken in that important office by John Blair, President of the
Council.
John Blair was the son of Dr. Archibald Blair, and a
nephew of the Rev. James Blair, former President of William
and Mary College. He was born in Williamsburg, Virginia,
in 1689. He occupied many important positions in the government;
was a Burgess from James City County, in 1736,
later, a member of the Council, and as President of that body,
succeeded to the direction of affairs on the departure of Governor
Dinwiddie for England, in January, 1758, and held the
position until the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Francis
Fauquier, June 7th, 1758.
During Governor Blair's administration an Act was passed,
"augmenting the forces in the pay of this Colony to two
thousand men," and further recites that "whereas by reason
of the great scarcity of gold and silver in this Colony, the
taxes imposed by this Act cannot be collected in time to
answer the purposes hereby intended: Be it enacted, by the
authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for the
said Treasurer, or the Treasurer for the time being, appointed
as aforesaid, to issue and emit treasury notes, to answer the
demands that shall be made upon him for the purposes aforesaid,
so as the whole sum of such notes, so to be issued,
shall not exceed the sum of thirty-two thousand pounds;
which notes, so to be issued, shall be prepared, printed,
engraved, and numbered, in such form and after such method
as the said Treasurer shall judge most safe from counterfeits
and forgeries," etc., etc.
Thus, while Virginia was bracing herself for the conflict,
whereby she might establish Great Britain's claim to sovereignty
in the New World, little did she realize that she was
calling into play forces, which would, ere long, make her the
untrammeled arbiter of her own destiny.
