... I cannot satisfy the burgesses unless I
prostitute the rules of government. I have gone through monstrous
fatigues. Such wrong-headed people, I thank God, I never had to do with
before."[164] A few weeks later he was comforted; for, having again
called the burgesses, they gave him the money, without trying this time
to humiliate him.[165]
[Footnote 164: _Dinwiddie to Hamilton, 6 Sept., 1754. Ibid. to J.
Abercrombie, 1 Sept., 1754._]
[Footnote 165: Hening, VI. 435.]
In straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel, aristocratic Virginia was
far outdone by democratic Pennsylvania. Hamilton, her governor, had laid
before the Assembly a circular letter from the Earl of Holdernesse
directing him, in common with other governors, to call on his province
for means to repel any invasion which might be made "within the
undoubted limits of His Majesty's dominion."[166] The Assembly of
Pennsylvania was curiously unlike that of Virginia, as half and often
more than half of its members were Quaker tradesmen in sober raiment and
broad-brimmed hats; while of the rest, the greater part were Germans who
cared little whether they lived under English rule or French, provided
that they were left in peace upon their farms. The House replied to the
Governor's call: "It would be highly presumptuous in us to pretend to
judge of the undoubted limits of His Majesty's dominions;" and they
added: "the Assemblies of this province are generally composed of a
majority who are constitutionally principled against war, and represent
a well-meaning, peaceable people.
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