n had at that time with Lord
Dunmore; but two days afterward his lordship, having given to Patrick
Henry ample time to withdraw to a more agreeable distance, sent
thundering after him this portentous proclamation:--

Whereas I have been informed from undoubted authority that a
certain Patrick Henry, of the county of Hanover, and a
number of deluded followers, have taken up arms, chosen
their officers, and styling themselves an independent
company, have marched out of their county, encamped, and put
themselves in a posture of war, and have written and
dispatched letters to divers parts of the country, exciting
the people to join in these outrageous and rebellious
practices, to the great terror of all his majesty's faithful
subjects, and in open defiance of law and government; and
have committed other acts of violence, particularly in
extorting from his majesty's receiver-general the sum of
three hundred and thirty pounds, under pretence of replacing
the powder I thought proper to order from the magazine;
whence it undeniably appears that there is no longer the
least security for the life or property of any man:
wherefore, I have thought proper, with the advice of his
majesty's council, and in his majesty's name, to issue this
my proclamation, strictly charging all persons, upon their
allegiance, not to aid, abet, or give countenance to the
said Patrick Henry, or any other persons concerned in such
unwarrantable combinations, but on the contrary to oppose
them and their designs by every means; which designs must,
otherwise, inevitably involve the whole country in the most
direful calamity, as they will call for the vengeance of
offended majesty and the insulted laws to be exerted here,
to vindicate the constitutional authority of government.

Given under my hand and the seal of the colony, at
Williamsburg, this 6th day of May, 1775, and in the
fifteenth year of his majesty's reign.

DUNMORE.

God save the king.[184]

Beyond question, there were in Virginia at that time many excellent
gentlemen who still trusted that the dispute with Great Britain might
be composed without bloodshed, and to whom Patrick Henry's conduct in
this affair must have appeared foolhardy, presumptuous, and even
criminal. The mass of the