the low, touching wail from the
stricken heart of the nation. And then, the louder and the longer for
the delay, came the cry for vengeance, which burst from the lips of a
whole people. The promptness and dispatch with which the British frigate
acted indicated deliberate design; and the suspicion instantly flashed
across the public mind that the consular authorities of England in our
port were privy to its execution. The outbreak in Norfolk was terrible.
Had Col. Hamilton, the consul, not been long and intimately known and
loved by the people, he would have been taken from his house and
gibbeted on the square, as an expiation of the blood of our countrymen,
wantonly shed, in a time of peace, by a British captain. An unfortunate
British officer, who came up from one of the four frigates in the bay,
had well-nigh been torn in pieces by the infuriated people. In such a
conjuncture the ordinary forms of government were overlooked, and the
citizens in full assembly, the venerable Mathews in the chair,
appointed, as in the days of the Revolution, a Committee of Safety. A
preamble, setting forth in becoming terms the outrage on the Chesapeake,
was adopted, and it was resolved that there should be no intercourse
with the British frigates in our waters, or with their agents, until the
decision of the federal government was known, under the penalty of being
deemed infamous; and the Committee of Safety, consisting of fourteen of
our most worthy citizens, some of whose descendants are now within the
sound of my voice, were authorized to take such measures as the
emergency demanded.[6]

As soon as Commodore Douglas read the resolves of the Norfolk meeting,
he addressed an insolent note to the mayor of the borough, in which he
declared that if the resolutions were not _instantly annulled_, he would
prohibit every vessel bound in or out of Norfolk from proceeding to her
place of destination. This letter was written on board the Bellona
frigate, on the third of July. "You are aware," said this haughty
Briton, "that the British flag never has, nor ever will be insulted
with impunity." After some further remarks, he adds: "It therefore rests
with the inhabitants of Norfolk either to engage in a war, or remain on
terms of peace." And he closed his letter by saying that he had
proceeded with his squadron, which consisted of four fifty-gun frigates,
to Hampton Roads, to await the answer of the mayor of Norfolk, which he
hoped would be forw