urg, early in 1772, he found that he had
already incurred suspicion on account of the appointment of Captain Foy
as his clerk, or private secretary, with a salary of five hundred
pounds, to be derived from new-created fees. Foy had distinguished
himself at the battle of Minden, and had been afterwards governor of New
Hampshire. Dunmore summoned the assembly which met in February; and his
apparent haughtiness at the first rather heightened the prejudice
against him. He, however, relinquished the objectionable fees, and thus
conciliated so good a feeling that the assembly expressed their
gratitude in warm and affectionate terms. Some important acts were
passed during this session, including several for the promotion of
internal improvement--for improving the navigation of the Potomac; for
making a road from the Warm Spring to Jenning's Gap; for clearing the
Matapony; for circumventing the falls of James River by a canal from
Westham; and for cutting a canal across from Archer's Hope Creek to
Queen's Creek, through Williamsburg, to connect the James River with the
York. The Counties of Berkley and Dunmore were carved out from
Frederick.[569:B]

The assembly was prorogued to the tenth of June. Dunmore,
notwithstanding his recent complaisance, evinced his distaste for
assemblies by proroguing them from time to time, until at length a
forgery of the paper-currency of the colony compelled him to call the
legislature together again, by proclamation, March 4th, 1773--the
thirteenth year of the reign of George the Third. His lordship's
measures in apprehending the counterfeiters had been more energetic than
legal, and the assembly, not diverted by their care for the treasury
from a regard to personal rights, requested that his proceedings might
not be drawn into a precedent.

The horizon was again darkened by gathering clouds. A British armed
revenue vessel having been burnt in Narraganset Bay, an act of
parliament was passed making such offences punishable by death, and
authorizing the accused to be transported to England for trial. Virginia
had already, in 1709, remonstrated against this last measure. The
conservatives, the _statu quo_ party in the assembly, as usual, differed
with the movement party as to the proper measure to be adopted. Patrick
Henry, Mr. Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Francis L. Lee, Dabney Carr,
and perhaps one or two others were at this gloomy period in the habit of
meeting together in the evening in a p