When King George, or any one else, denied this principle, he denied an essential without which Anglo-Saxon polity could not survive, but neither King George nor Lord North accepted the premises.

If they had condescended to reply at all, they might have sung the hymn of their successors a hundred years later: "We don't want to fight, But by jingo! if we do, We've got the men, we've got the ships, We've got the money too." Meanwhile, the Virginia Planter watched the course of events, pursued his daily business regularly, attended the House of Burgesses when it was in session, said little, but thought much.

He did not break out into invective or patriotic appeals.

No doubt many of his acquaintances thought him lukewarm in spirit and non-committal; but persons who knew him well knew what his decision must be.

As early as April 5, 1769, he wrote his friend, George Mason: At a time, when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke, and maintain the liberty, which we have derived from our ancestors.