ubscriptions were set on foot for the relief of those Bostonians who
should be deprived of the means of subsistence by the operations of the
act; while in Virginia the assembly which was then sitting, adopted
a proposal that the first day of June, on which the Post Bill was
to commence, should be a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, to
implore heaven to avert the evils of civil war, to inspire the Americans
with firmness in support of their rights, and to turn the hearts of king
and parliament to moderation and justice. For this vote, Lord Dunmore,
the governor of the province of Virginia, dissolved the assembly, and
the members then repaired to a tavern, where they agreed to articles
of association, in which they pronounced the Boston Port Bill to be
the result of a system having for its object the reduction of the
inhabitants of British America to slavery. At this meeting it
was declared that tea ought not to be used by any well-wisher to
constitutional liberty; and that from the course pursued by the East
India Company in favour of arbitrary taxation, the people ought not to
purchase any of their commodities, except saltpetre and spices, until
their grievances should be redressed. It was also declared that an
attack on one colony was an attack upon all, and that it should be
resisted by their united councils. Acting upon this opinion, which was
by no means logical, they recommended to the committee of correspondence
to communicate with all the other committees, "on the expediency of
appointing deputies from the several colonies of British America, to
meet in general congress, at such place, annually, as should be thought
most convenient, to deliberate on the measures required by their common
interests." Finally, this meeting of the dissolved assembly of Virginia,
agreed that the members who should be elected under the new writs then
issuing, should meet in convention at Williamsburgh, on the first of
August, for the purpose of appointing delegates to sit in congress.
This was a monster stride in the march of revolution, and it was easy to
foresee its ultimate and awful consequences.

The first of June was not only observed as a day of fasting and
humiliation in Virginia, but also at Philadelphia, Boston, and other
places. Shops were closed, and the church-bells tolled dolefully; but
whether prayer was offered in sincerity and truth, and in calm devotion,
demands a doubt; for when men's passions are inflamed, the