A few days later, when word went round that a certain Captain William Smith had been responsible for the seizure of several vessels in the Elizabeth River, he was arrested by a group of leading citizens. Hurrying him to the County Wharf, they tarred and feathered him, set him in the ducking stool, and pelted him with stones and rotten eggs. They next marched him through the town with drums beating, ducked him again, and at last threw him headlong into the water. Had not a passing boat pulled him out, more dead than alive, he would have been drowned.[47] At Hobb's Hole, Essex County, a merchant named Ritchie barely escaped similar treatment. A number of men, hearing that he had boasted that he could secure stamps and was determined to clear his ship with them, marched on the town and drew up along the main street. They brought Ritchie out and threatened to strip him to the waist, tie him to the tail of a cart, and then fix him in the pillory. This was too much for him. Reluctantly he swore on "the holy Evangels" that no vessel of his would clear "on stamped paper." Thereupon most of the crowd dispersed, and those living nearby went to the tavern "where they spent the evening with great sobriety."[48] The people of the colony were encouraged in their resistance to the Stamp Act by articles in British gazettes and magazines, which were reprinted in the _Virginia Gazette_. A writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ contended that the act violated the British constitution, which "declared that no Englishman is to be taxed without his own consent." "I know very well I shall be told that though the Americans are not immediately represented in the English Parliament, they are nevertheless represented virtually.... But why, in the name of common sense, if the mother country judged herself the virtual representative of all her various dependencies, did she grant a provincial legislature to her colonies, and from the time of their first existence invest this legislature with the sole power of internal taxation?" For the colonists to yield, he thought, would be to confess themselves slaves.[49] And when the Virginians read the _Gazette_ they noted with satisfaction that the disruption of trade was causing great distress in England. A dispatch from Birmingham stated that unless the Stamp Act were repealed twenty thousand persons would be out of work.[50] The merchants of London petitioned the Commons for relief. Their trade with the colonies, which was of such great importance to the nation, faced utter ruin, they said. They could not collect debts due them in America, because the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act had thrown the colonies into confusion and brought on many bankruptcies. Unless these acts were repealed a multitude of workers would become a burden on the community or else seek their bread in other countries.[51]