help, therefore, of Rushworth,
whom we rummaged over for the revolutionary precedents and forms of
the Puritans of that day, preserved by him, we cooked up a resolution,
somewhat modernizing their phrases, for appointing the 1st day of
June, on which the port bill was to commence, for a day of fasting,
humiliation, and prayer, to implore Heaven to avert from us the evils of
civil war, to inspire us with firmness in support of our rights, and to
turn the hearts of the King and Parliament to moderation and justice.
To give greater emphasis to our proposition, we agreed to wait the next
morning on Mr. Nicholas, whose grave and religious character was more in
unison with the tone of our resolution, and to solicit him to move it.
We accordingly went to him in the morning. He moved it the same day; the
1st of June was proposed; and it passed without opposition. The Governor
dissolved us, as usual. We retired to the Apollo, as before, agreed
to an association, and instructed the committee of correspondence
to propose to the corresponding committees of the other colonies, to
appoint deputies to meet in Congress at such place, annually, as should
be convenient, to direct, from time to time, the measures required by
the general interest: and we declared that an attack on any one colony
should be considered as an attack on the whole. This was in May. We
further recommended to the several counties to elect deputies to meet
at Williamsburg, the 1st of August ensuing, to consider the state of
the colony, and particularly to appoint delegates to a general Congress,
should that measure be acceded to by the committees of correspondence
generally. It was acceded to; Philadelphia was appointed for the place,
and the 5th of September for the time of meeting. We returned home, and
in our several counties invited the clergy to meet assemblies of the
people on the 1st of June, to perform the ceremonies of the day, and
to address to them discourses suited to the occasion. The people met
generally, with anxiety and alarm in their countenances, and the effect
of the day, through the whole colony, was like a shock of electricity,
arousing every man and placing him erect and solidly on his centre. They
chose, universally, delegates for the convention. Being elected one for
my own county, I prepared a draught of instructions to be given to the
delegates whom we should send to the Congress, which I meant to propose
at our meeting. [See Appendix, note