The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

LONDON.

"Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in Virginia, to his correspondent in Bristol, June 5, 1765.

SINCE I have mentioned our Assembly to you,
I cannot help informing you of the quarrel it
has had with our Governor.

The shackles which
are forging
for the American colonies, by the imposition of the Stamp
Duties, and other acts of power equally destructive of
the right of the people in the plantations, were men-
tioned with freedom in the House of Burgesses, who
entered into some resolves, testifying their dissatisac-
tion at those measures: This gave the Governor great
offence, and brought on a dissolution of the Assembly on
Saturday last. What the consequence will be, cannot
be determined at this time: but this colony, as well as
all the other colonies on the continent, are in a ferment,
and from being closely attached to their mother king-
dom, are become full of resentment, and look upon her
no longer as a parent, but as a hard and cruel task
master; so that if the same spirit continues among the
plantations (and I verily believe it will increase to a
degree which no true friend to the colonies could wish
to see) your M-y will find it difficult, if not im-
possible, to execute their arbitrary schemes; and your
C-n of the E--(who with Re--fe--l-ve N%***
was going to be burnt in effigy in the public market
place of this metropolis, if it had not been prevented,
will find it necessary to govern with a military force,
if he is determined to persevere in his present measures.
In short, our affections are alienated through oppres-
sion; we are full of discontent: trade is ruined;
merchants must break, as they cannot recover their
debts here without great loss. Our Courts of Justice
will be shut up, as no Magistrate thinks he can en-
force Acts of Parliament, imposing taxes upon the peo-
ple, which are not granted by their own representa-
tives; and men who derive their original from Britons,
are become slaves. The subject is too melancholy, and
has too dreadful appearances, to dwell any longer upon
it. I wish you would give this paragraph, rough as
it is, and wrote in a hurry, a place in your public
news papers, that the good people of England, may be
informed, in some sort, of our dismal situation."