Louisa. He was hailed as a powerful acquisition to the reform party. The members flocked around him, greeted him with praises which spoke fervently in their countenances, and congratulated themselves on the accession of such a champion to their cause. But soon were

these proud anticipations blighted. Brief was the career of the eloquent and lamented Carr. In two months from the occasion which witnessed this, his first and last triumph, he was no more.

Nearly half a century afterwards, Mr Jefferson reverts to the transaction in a letter to a friend, with a freshness which shows a heart yet warm with the feeling it excited.

'I well remember the pleasure expressed in the countenance and conversation of the members generally, on this debut of Mr Carr, and the hopes they conceived, as well from the talents as the patriotism it manifested. But he died within two months after, and in him we lost a powerful fellow laborer. His character was of a high order. A spotless integrity, sound judgment, and fine imagination, enriched by education and reading, quick and clear in his conceptions, of correct and ready elocution, impressing every hearer with the sincerity of the heart from which it flowed. His firmness was inflexible in whatever he thought was right: but when no moral principle stood in the way, never had man more of the milk of human kindness, of indulgence, of softness, of pleasantry in conversation and conduct. The number of his friends, and the warmth of their affection, were proofs of his worth, and of their estimate of it. To give to those now living, an idea of the affliction produced by his death, in the minds of all who knew him, I liken it to that lately felt by themselves, on the death of his eldest son, Peter Carr, so like him in all his endowments and moral qualities, and whose recollection can never recur without a deep-drawn sigh from the bosom of any one who knew him.'

The resolutions were adopted the 12, 1773, without a dissenting voice.

same day, March They had been

my for dead the great muestion. Tetter they would alunit to taxation without representanon. or brave the

pences of some decisive movement, winch might lequate to relieve them from the emergency. If thy wye permitted to he landed, it would be sold, jid, and all they had gained be lost. They

I therefore, that it should not be landed; and duti:t was no sooner formed, than executed, by Eestion of the entire cargo.

44-lignes of this spirited stroke in vindication jubur right an exasperated the British ministry, de it theated to a measure which fixed the irrevocatend dismemberment upon the British empire.

the tone Boston Port Bill, by which the harchat great city was closed against the importation cole, wares o merchandise whatsoever, from the day of June, 1774.

made how wwww cod and the world.

With out the impending calamity reachsong of the inhabitants was called; , dy moved we cruel and flagitious; they Numerous of the dot were posted and dispersed over the and to make a deeper impression on the mulhippies were pood on mourning paper, borWick lines and they were cried through the Varrosi unguinary and inhuman

The Legislature of Virginia was in session when the news of this interdict was received, to wit, in May, 1774. Mr Jefferson was still a member, and his sympathies for the north, rose to a point before unequalled. Perceiving the advantages to be derived from the popular excitement, which he foresaw would be created, he as quickly devised the means for using it with effect for the benefit of the common cause. Fearful to trust the cause, at this propitious moment, to the tardy pace of the old members, he again rallied the little council of chiefs with whom he had confederated on the former occasion, and concerted a private meeting, the same evening, at the council chamber of the library, to consult on the proper measures to be taken.' Punctual at the hour, they met; and mutually ripe in sentiment, unanimously agreed that they must boldly take an unequivocal stand in the line with Massachusetts.' They were also impressed with the necessity of arousing the people from the apathy into which they had fallen, as to passing events; and for this purpose, Mr Jefferson proposed the appointment of a day of general fasting and prayer throughout the colony, as most likely to call up and alarm their attention.' The proposition met enthusiastic acceptance with his colleagues; and he was requested to prepare the necessary instrument, to be presented to the House.

'No example,' says Mr Jefferson, of such a solemnity had existed since the days of our distress in the war of '55, since which a new generation had grown up. With the 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 first 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

drafted so dexterously, and in such guarded terms, as not to awaken a suspicion against them in the old and cautious members.

But the House of Burgesses had no sooner placed them upon record, than they were dissolved, as usual, by the Governor, then Lord Dunmore. For although clothed in the most plausible and inoffensive language, that watchful Executive had too much sagacity not to perceive, that they gave occasion for a more formidable resistance than had yet been apprehended.

But the sentence of dissolution had no effect but to give a popular impulse to the proceedings that led to it; and to excite those who were designated in the resolutions for putting the machine into operation to greater zeal and promptitude. The very next day, the Committee of Correspondence assembled, organized themselves, and proceeded to business. They adopted a circular letter, prepared by Mr Jefferson, to the Speakers of the other Colonies, enclosing to each a copy of the resolutions; and left it in charge with their chairman, Peyton Randolph, to transmit them by expresses. The chief mover thus had the happiness to see his favorite measure in course of execution.

of

Although the result of the Raleigh consultation had a more decisive bearing upon the subsequent movements of the country, than any recommendation that had preceded it, we find no mention of the occurrence in any the numerous histories of our revolution. But the history of the American Revolution has not been written, so said John Adams in 1815, in a letter to Mr Jefferson; the latter echoes the sentiment of his correspondent, and declares it never can be written. On the subject,' says he, of the history of the American Revolution, you ask, who shall write it? Who can write it? And who will ever be able to write it? Nobody; except merely its external facts; all its councils, designs, and discussions were conducted in secret, and no traces of them were

preserved. These, which are the life and soul of history, must forever be unknown.'

The recommendation of the Virginia Legislature was answered with alacrity by the sister Colonies, and similar Committees of Correspondence were appointed by them all. By this means, a channel of direct communication was established between the various provinces ; which, by the interchange of opinions and alarms, maintained a steady equalization of purpose and action throughout the Colonies, and consolidated the phalanx which breasted the power of Britain.' The operations of this great institution were incalculably beneficial to the American cause. Its precise influence upon the course and management of the Revolution has never been critically ascertained. Its mighty cabinet has never been broken open, yet it is supposed, that the publication of its voluminous correspondence would exhibit some of the most interesting productions of Mr Jefferson's pen, as he bore an active agency in its operations; and it is generally believed that the revelation of its transactions and counsels, would develope to the world the secret causes of many movements, the knowledge of which would reflect accumulated glory on the chiefs of that age.

As was predicted by Mr Jefferson and his confederates, the establishment of Corresponding Committees resulted in the convocation of a general Congress; which event followed the ensuing year. The intermediate steps to that result, require a summary notice, to show the connection of the prophecy with its fulfilment.

The resistance to the revenue impositions had been conducted with such inflexibility and general concert, as to have checked the regular current of importation into the Colonies, and occasioned a prodigious surcharge of the dutied commodities in England. Immense quantities of tea, in particular, had accumulated in the warehouses of the East India Company a monopoly, which