in amount twenty thousand pounds; but the colonies suspected the
mildness of the measure to be only a lure to inveigle them into the net.
The new act was to take effect in November, 1767. The flame of
resistance, smothered for awhile by the repeal of the stamp act, now
burst forth afresh: associations were everywhere organized to defeat the
duties; altercations between the people and the king's officers grew
frequent; the passions of the conflicting parties were exasperated. Two
British regiments and some armed vessels arrived at Boston.

In Virginia, the assembly, encountering no opposition from the mild and
patriotic Blair, remonstrated loudly against the new oppressions.
Opposition to the arbitrary measures of the British administration broke
forth in England, and in London the fury of civil discord shook the
pillars of the government.

Francis Fauquier, lieutenant-governor, died early in 1768, at the age of
sixty-five years, ten of which he had passed in Virginia. He brought
with him the frivolous tastes and dissipated habits of a man of fashion
and a courtier; he was addicted to gaming, and by his example diffused a
rage for play. He was generous and elegant, an accomplished scholar,
and, in Mr. Jefferson's opinion, the ablest of the governors of
Virginia. A county is named after him. His death devolved the duties of
government upon John Blair, president of the council. He was a nephew of
Commissary Blair, whom he had succeeded in the council. He had long
represented Williamsburg in the house of burgesses, having been a member
as early as 1736. During the trying period of his presidency, his
vigilance and discretion were displayed in protecting the frontier from
Indian invasion.[553:A]

In 1714 some English emigrant Baptists settled in southeast Virginia,
and in 1743 another party settled in the northwest; but the most
important accession came from New England, about the period of "the New
Light stir." Those who had left the established church were called
Separates, the rest Regulars. Their preachers, not unfrequently
illiterate, were characterized by an impassioned manner, vehement
gesticulation, and a singular tone of voice. The hearers often gave way
to tears, trembling, screams, and acclamations. The number of converts
increased rapidly in some counties. The preachers were imprisoned and
maltreated by magistrates and mobs; but persecution stimulated their
zeal and redoubled their influence: they sang hymns wh