The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

ET. 37.] LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 119
to consider the late doings of Parliament, and passed
several bold and pointed resolves, denying the authority
of Parliament to impose taxes and enact laws hostile
to the ancient liberties of the colonists. The governor,
Lord Botetourt, deservedly popular for his amiable
manners and the real interest he felt in the welfare of
the people, and at heart opposed to the ministerial
pretensions, could not, in justice to his sovereign and
the trust reposed in him, silently witness these symptoms of disaffection and disobedience. He went the
next day to the Capitol, summoned the Burgesses to
meet him in the council-chamber, and there dissolved
the Assembly. Not intimidated by this exercise of
the prerogative, although a virtual reprimand, they forthwith repaired in a body to a private house, and unanimou'sly adopted the non-importation agreement, which
had been prepared by George Mason, and presented
by Washington. Every member subscribed his name
to it, and it was then printed and dispersed in the
country for the signatures of the people.
Washington was scrupulous in observing this agreement; and, when he sent his customary annual orders
to London for goods to be used in his family, he
strictly enjoined his correspondents to forward none
of the enumerated articles, unless the offensive acts
of Parliament should in the mean time be repealed.
In the midst of his public engagements, another
affair, extremely vexatious in its details, employed much
of his attention. The' claims of the officers and soldiers to lands, granted by Governor Dinwiddie as a
reward for their services at the beginning of the French
war, met with innumerable obstacles for a long time,
first from the ministry in England, and next from the
authorities in Virginia. By his unwearied exertions,
however, and by these alone, and mostly at his own