No More Learning

? Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Dec. 22, 1774; Jan. 5, 26, 1775.
? Writings (Hunt), vol. i, pp. 28-29.
1 Pa. Gas. , Nov. 30, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 972-973.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
ber 6 that the whole trading body of the province had
cheerfully subscribed to the Association. 1 Whether or not
the motive of the merchants at this early time was to gain
the good will of the radical planters who owned them large
sums of money, the facts are clear that they had to regulate
their conduct ultimately by the instructions of the English
houses they represented or, in any case, be tempted almost
beyond endurance by the prospect of obtaining monopoly
prices during the suspension of importation.
Suspicion of the good faith of the Scotch merchants had
too deep a hold on many radicals to permit acceptance of
their protestations at face value. "It is generally believed,
by this time, that the Scotch have all signed the associa-
tion," declared one newspaper writer. "If they have, I
would ask if it is not through compulsion? " He urged
that, while there was still time, the province should be
purged of such filth by withdrawing all trade from them. 2
Another writer deplored "that antipathy to the Scotch,
which appears to be so general amongst us," and showed
that despite their personal predilections they must as a
matter of duty defer to their British employers with re-
spect to the Association. 8 When the period for enforcing
the non-importation arrived, the Scotch as a class proved to
be the most numerous offenders. The climax came when
Purdie's Virginia Gazette of December 22 and 29, 1775,
published a number of intercepted letters, which showed
that the leading Scotch merchants were as unprincipled as
the most skeptical radicals had believed them to be. A
letter was printed, written by Andrew Sprowle, chairman
of the Williamsburg trade, who had headed the merchants
1 4 M. H. S. Colls. , voL iv, pp. 160-161.
* Charles M'Carty, of Richmond County, in Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Jan.
* "A Citizen of th<< World" in ibid. , Jan. 26, 1775.
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? IN THE PLANTATION PROVINCES
when they signed the Association in November, 1774. In
this letter Sprowle ordered some invoices of goods from
Greenock, Scotland, and declared further: "I would have
no fear in bringing in a vessel with Osnabrugs, Irish linen,
and other sortable goods, [as they] would be protected by
a man of war. " Robert Shedden of Portsmouth had writ-
ten to his Glasgow correspondent: "Depend upon it you
will never have such another opportunity to make money
by dry goods in this country. Osnabrugs, canvass, &c and
every necessary article; a large and full assortment of
goods, nails, &c; bring as many as you can get credit for.
. . . If you bring 20,000 1. in goods, they will sell to ad-
vantage. " Wrote the Norfork merchant, John Brown, to
London: " You are hereby ordered to ship, by the first op-
portunity, ? 1000 sterling value in linen goods, &c. "
Meantime, the merchants and factors had been taking
advantage of their position in another way--they had been
hastening to press their debtors for the payment of long-
outstanding obligations before the latter became entirely
bankrupt from the suspension of trade. This prudent busi-
ness transaction worked a grievous hardship on many plan-
ters, and estates were sold for debt in divers places. 1 A de-
mand arose for a boycott against merchants who used ex-
cessive caution in extending credit; and Peyton Randolph
felt impelled to declare in a public statement that the Asso-
ciation furnished no remedy, that it did not empower com-
mittees to dictate to merchants to whom they should sell
on credit or for what time they should give credit. 1
Unless the radicals could devise effective counter-
measures, the merchants seemed about to cut the ground
from under them. The radicals had foreseen this situation,
to some extent, and their course of action was designed to
1 "A Scotchman" in Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Mch. 23, 1775.
1 Ibid. , Feb. 2, 9, 1775.
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? S12 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
cripple, if not to destroy, the economic power of the mer-
chants. The provincial convention of August, 1774, closed
up the county courts of justice on the ground that the last
session of the Assembly had not renewed the Fee Act; and
"the men of fortune and pre-eminence joined equally with
the lowest and meanest" in bringing this to pass, averred
Governor Dunmore. 1 They also recommended that lawyers
and witnesses stay away from the approaching General
Court of Judicature, except in criminal cases; and they suc-
ceeded in carrying their point. On March 25, 1775, a later
provincial convention gave their sanction to the suspension
of judicial proceedings. They declared that, on account of
the unsettled state of public affairs, the lawyers, suitors
and witnesses ought not to take part in civil cases at the
next General Court; that county courts ought not to hear
any suits on their dockets, except attachments, nor give
judgment, save in the case of sheriffs or other collectors
for money or tobacco received by them, or in cases where
judgment should be voluntarily confessed or in amicable
proceedings for the settlement of estates. 2 Though ex-
horted by Governor Dunmore, the House of Burgesses in
June refused "to interpose legislative authority in order
to compel the Magistrates to open the courts of civil juris-
diction, and thereby expose the people to cruel exactions. "
They justified their refusal as an answer to the act of Par-
liament, recently passed, restraining their trade, and de-
clared it was best for the courts to remain closed until wis-
dom had returned to the British administration. 3
These measures afforded an effective shield against the
merchant-creditors and saved the situation for the radicals.
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 775, 1062.
1Ibid. , vol. ii, pp. 16B-16o; also Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Mch. 30, 1775.
*4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 1188, 1190-1191.
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? TN THE PLANTATION PROVINCES
513
Indeed, on August 25, a petition was presented to the Vir-
ginia convention by sundry factors and mercantile agents,
complaining of the ill-grounded prejudices which had been
aroused against them as natives of Great Britain and pledg-
ing their aid in the civil contest with the parent country in
every respect except that of taking up arms against the
people among whom they had been born. The convention
resolved unanimously that the petition was reasonable and
instructed the local committees "to treat all natives of
Great Britain resident here, as do not show themselves
enemies to the common cause of America, with lenity and
friendship. . . . " *
In carrying out the Association in Virginia, the plan was
adopted of requiring all the inhabitants to attach their sig-
natures to the document. Other provinces had been willing
and anxious to let sleeping dogs lie; the Virginia radicals
were so confident of the power of public opinion behind
them that they carried this challenge to every inhabitant, so
far as it proved practicable. 2 Thus, the Northampton com-
mittee divided the county into seven districts with sub-
committees appointed to present the Association to all the
inhabitants. * The committee for Princess Anne County
delivered a list of non-associators to every merchant in the
county and posted other copies at various public places and
at Norfolk, with the recommendation that all commercial
intercourse with the delinquents be stopped. When Ben-
jamin Gray, one of the proscribed, was reported to have
called the committee " a pack of damn'd rascals," his addi-
tional offense was also given publicity. 4 In Nansemond
14 Am. Arch. vol. iii, pp. 391-392; also Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Aug.
31. 1775-
1 Madison, Writings (Hunt), vol. i, pp. 28-29.
'4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 1045.
4 Ibid. , vol. ii, pp. 76-77; also Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Mch. 23, 1775.
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? 514
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
County, the Reverend John Agnew was held up to public
censure for roundly condemning the Association in his ser-
mons and private conversations; and a man who rented a
"flatt" from the parson was obliged to give it up. 1 Ex-
amples like this abounded. The Virginia plan forced every
inhabitant into a position of either active friendship or open
hostility; and since it was entirely possible for a man to
disapprove of the Association without ever violating its
provisions, the number of those subject to neglect and boy-
cott was vastly greater than in other provinces. The Vir-
ginia radicals thus took an advanced stand--a stage which
the other provinces did not reach until the bloodshed of
April, 1775, had occurred.
In early November, 1774, a mob at Yorktown went on
board the Virginia and dumped into the river two half-
chests of tea, with the entire approval of the county com-
mittee. The London shippers and the consignees at Wil-
liamsburg were both held up for neglect by the York com-
mittee and the adjoining Gloucester County committee. *
This little "tea party" exceeded the provisions of the
Association, but marked the enthusiasm which character-
ized the execution of the non-importation regulation. Pub-
lic sales of cargoes that arrived between December 1, 1774^
and February 1, 1775, were reported at Norfolk and Wil-
liamsburg and in fourteen counties. 8 Many of these sales
showed small profits or none at all; but occasionally a ship-
ment brought a substantial advance, like Andrew Wod-
row's in King George County, which yielded a profit of
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 226-228; N. C. Col. Recs. , vol. ix, p. 1164.
1 Pinkney's Va. Co*. , Nov. 24, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp.
964-965.
6Charles City, Dinwiddie, Elizabeth City, Essex, Fairfax, Gooch-
land. Henrico, Isle of Wight, King George, Nansemond, New Kent,
Princess Anne, Spotsylvania and Surry. Vide files of the three Vir-
ginia Gasettes, edited by Pinkney, by Purdie, and by Dixon & Hunter.
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? IN THE PLANTATION PROVINCES
515
? 19 14s. for the Boston needy.
1 For this reason, it is im-
probable that the Scotch merchants felt tempted to with-
hold importations from committee auction.
One interesting case of defiance occurred. Late in Jan-
uary an importation of medicines worth ? 200 Sterling ar-
rived for Dr. Alexander Gordon, a well-known physician
of Norfolk; and he requested that he might be allowed to
receive the goods agreeable to the terms of the provincial
association of August, 1774. The committee informed
him that their rule of conduct now was the Continental
Association, and advised him to submit the medicines for
sale in accordance with Article x, as had been done by
other physicians. He expressed a preference for storing
the goods under charge of the committee; but while ar-
rangements were being made for this purpose, he quietly
landed the medicines and took possession of them himself.
It proved impossible for the committee to get the merchan-
dise away from him, and with very evident reluctance they
held him up for public censure. 2
The regulation against the importation of slaves had
caused very little difficulty in the northern provinces; but
the Norfolk committee found it necessary to proscribe John
Brown, a Scotch merchant who had been in Virginia since
1762, for being concerned in the importation of twenty
slaves in the brig Fanny from Jamaica. He stoutly pro-
tested his innocence, but his letter-books proved the con-
trary. 8
1 Dixon & Hunter's Va. Gas. , Jan. 28, 1775.
1 Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Feb. 16, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp.
1217-1278.
1Ibid. , vol. ii, pp. 33-34; also Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Mcl1. 23, 1775.
Vide also memorial of the Browns in A. O. no. 55: N. Y. Loyalist
Claims Transcripts, vol. xxvii, pp. 459, 467-471. The Chesterfield
County committee also took occasion to voice their indignation and to
declare the suspension of all dealings with him. Purdie's Va. Gaus. ^
May 5, 1775.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
After February 1 the number of incoming vessels fell
off, and when goods were brought contrary to the Associa-
tion they were almost invariably re-shipped. In one case,
that of the brigantine Muir from Antigua, the captain had
sold some merchandise before he learned of the Associa-
tion; and the Essex County committee absolved him from
public censure when he signed the Association and re-
shipped the goods, including the portion sold. 1 On the
other hand, the Norfolk committee declared Captain Samp-
son, of the snow Eliaabeth from Bristol, an enemy to his
country for practising deception in landing a cargo of salt
and then seeking protection of a man-of-war. 2 The non-
consumption regulations required little attention from the
committees, except the prohibition of tea drinking, which
was effectively administered. 8
The upward trend of prices gave more trouble. Accord-
ing to the Continental Association prices were not to ad-
vance beyond the customary charge for articles during the
twelve months preceding. A disgusted radical of North-
umberland County averred that, when it came to the inves-
tigation of prices, one Scotch merchant would swear to
another's lies--they were "determined to be clannish, even
at the expence of their souls! "* This practice was prob-
ably not restricted entirely to the Scotch traders. At any
rate, it quickly caused the committees to adopt the practice
of examining the daybooks and invoices of any merchant
under suspicion. Should he refuse access to his accounts,
he was deemed to be guilty by the very fact. For example,
in December, 1774, the committee of Caroline County in-
1 Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Mch. 16, 1775.
1 Ibid. , Apr. 6, 17/5; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 174-175.
* E. g. , Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Dec. 1, 1774, June 1, 1775; Dixon &
Hunter's Gas. , Feb. 4; Purdie's Gas. , July 7.
4 Charles M'Carty in Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Jan. 19, 1775.
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? IN THE PLANTATION PROVINCES
5*7
spected the books of four merchants, declaring them inno-
cent, and pronounced six others subject to boycott because
they had withheld their books. Within less than a month
the six permitted their accounts to be examined; and the
committee declared that they also had adhered to the Asso-
ciation. 1 In Gloucester County, Captain Charles Marshall,
who had been acting consistently with his avowal that
"every man has a right to sell his goods for as much as he
could get," was disciplined by the committee; whereupon
he signed the Association, and issued a confession in which
he said: "These are offenses I am (as have been some other
North Britains) taught to know, at this time, deserve
severe punishment. " 2 Great activity in the regulation of
prices was also recorded in other counties, especially Prince
William, Charlotte, Spotsylvania, Hanover, Richmond and
Fairfax. 8
The promotion of local manufacturing met with ready
response, partly no doubt because it contributed to the
weakening of the economic position of the factors and mer-
chants. Interest centered in the production of cotton and
woolen textiles, and of gunpowder. The Northampton
County committee in January, 1775, offered a bonus of ? 40
sterling to the first person who in the next eighteen months
should make one thousand pairs of wool-cards in the prov-
ince and agreed to buy them at the rate of 2s. a pair. A
premium of ? 40 was also offered to the first person who
should manufacture five thousand pounds of gunpowder in
the province in the next eighteen months. The committee
appealed to other counties to add to these premiums, so that
1 Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Jan. 12, 1775; and Dixon & Hunter's Va. Gas. ,
Feb. 4.
1 Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Jan. 19, 1775.
14 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 1034, 1138-1139; Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Jan.
19, Feb. 2, May 18, 1775; Purdie's Gas. , Feb. 17, Apr. a1.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
the total sum would foster a widespread interest in manu-
facturing. 1 Other counties quickly acted on the sugges-
tion; 2 and on March 27 the provincial convention outlined
a comprehensive program of industrial development by
adopting bodily the main resolutions passed by the Penn-
sylvania convention in January. After May 1 no sheep
were to be killed under four years of age, except in cases of
necessity. Woolen, cotton and linen manufactures should
be established; steel, woolcombs, paper, gunpowder, etc. ,
should be manufactured. These various undertakings
should be promoted by the formation of local societies for
that purpose and by the offering of premiums. 1 In Sep-
tember, James Stewart returned to Virginia after eighteen
months' stay in England where he had been studying the
culture and preparation of dyes and machines for manu-
facturing cotton. He brought with him a large quantity
of seeds and roots of the standard dyes, for planting in
various parts of the province, and planned to instruct per-
sons in the construction of cotton machines. 4 What suc-
cess he met with we do not know.
In no province was the practice of gambling more deeply
rooted than in Virginia; and determined efforts were made
to discourage this wasteful manner of living. Thus, infor-
mation was received by the Northumberland County com-
mittee that William Lewis had violated the Association by
gaming with Anthony McKenley of Maryland. Witnesses
were called, sworn and examined; and the evidence showed
1 Dixon & Hunter's Va. Gas. , Feb. 4, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i,
pp. 1045-1046-
*E. g. , Isle of Wight, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester and Bedford;
ibid. , vol. i, p. 1247; vol. ii, pp. 13-14, 387-388; Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Feb.
13, I77S-
1 Ibid^ Mch. 30, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 170-171.
4 /Wrf, vol. iii, p. 716; also Purdie's Va. Gas. , Sept. 15, 1775.
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? IN THE PLANTATION PROVINCES 519
that Lewis had won " a Silver Watch, two pair of Leather
Breeches, and two men's fine Hats. " Both men were ad-
judged guilty and were publicly advertised as violators of
the Association. 1 The Southampton County committee
recommended four men, who had been gaming, to the
mercy of the public, upon their offer to refund all they had
won and to observe the Association strictly in the future. *
In another instance, the Hanover County committee " hon-
ourably acquitted" Samuel Overton of the charge of en-
couraging horse-racing. 1
The degree of efficiency attained by the committees in
executing the Association aroused Governor Dunmore to
righteous indignation in his well-known letter of December
24, 1774, to Lord Dartmouth. His conclusions in that
epistle were that the Association was being enforced " with
the greatest rigour" and that "the Laws of Congress"
received from the Virginians "marks of reverence which
they never bestowed on their legal Government, or the Laws
proceeding from it. " By way of pathetic afterthought he
added: "I have discovered no instance where the inter-
position of Government, in the feeble state to which it is
reduced, could serve any other purpose than to suffer the
disgrace of a disappointment, and thereby afford matter of
great exultation to its enemies and increase their influence
over the minds of the people. " 4
In North Carolina the development of events was influ-
enced by the example of nearby Virginia. The old Regu-
1 Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Mch. 2, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp.
1178-1179.
1 Ibid. , vol. ii, pp. 299-300.