Introduction. xxiii

mander of one of His Majesty's ships on the Virginia station be requested to
receive the papers on board, until they might be landed in safety (pp. 13-14).
The Lower House, on the other hand, refused to offer any advice in their
address to the Governor, declaring in reply that it was "a matter of Importance
and such as we do not think ourselves at Liberty to Advise in without the
Instruction of our Constituents which we cannot now obtain" (pp. 35-36).

On the last day of the session the Lower House sent an address to the Gov-
ernor thanking him for the speech which he had delivered at the opening of
the session and apologizing for not replying to it before. The Upper House
had been more prompt in its reply (p. 5). The Lower House declared in its
reply that it felt that it was its indispensable duty to its constituents to appoint
certain of its members to attend the meeting in New York to implore relief
against the act [the Stamp Act] recently passed by Parliament, and that this
matter had so absorbed its attention that it had been unable to transact the
ordinary business of the session. The message added that in view of the fact
that several of its members in the month of October would be engrossed with
the affairs of the various adjourned county courts which would then be in
session, it was hoped that the Governor would consent to a short recess of a
few weeks, after which the Assembly could proceed to the consideration of
various measures tending to promote the general welfare (pp. 33-34). The
Governor replied in a message in which he said that he would comply with
the request of the house for a short recess, and thereupon prorogued the
Assembly to meet again on October 31 next (pp. 35, 36). It did not meet,
however, until the day following.

SESSION OF NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1765

After a recess of a month and two days the Assembly, which had had its
last sitting on September 29, 1765, and had then been prorogued to meet on
October 31, did not actually begin the session until November i, a day's delay
doubtless due to an insufficient number of delegates being present. It met the
first day of November with only twenty-seven of its fifty-eight members in
attendance, the journal then recording that there were now "a. sufficient Num-
ber of delegates to compose the Lower House". Additional delegates drifted
in from day to day, although the recorded vote does not indicate that there
was at any time a full attendance. The usual ritual observed at the opening
of a session was followed. The Governor summoned the Lower House to the
upper chamber, but omitting the usual formal opening speech, merely "signi-
fied to Mr. Speaker and the Lower House of Assembly that as it appeared
from their Address delivered him near the Close of the last Session that it
would be agreeable to them after a short Recess to proceed on public Business
he had now met them for that purpose" (p. 132).

Preoccupied with Stamp Act matters and because of lack of time at the Sep-
tember meeting, the house had failed to adopt various routine measures cus-
tomary in the organization of a new house. The usual rules of order were now
first adopted, identical with those in use at recent sessions. The journal of the
Lower House recorded the selection of "the Rev.^d M.^r Love" to read prayers