Washington occupied his seat in the House of Burgesses, when, on the 29th of May, the stamp act became a subject of discussion. We have seen no previous opinions of his on the subject. His correspondence hitherto had not turned on political or speculative themes; being engrossed by either military or agricultural matters, and evincing little anticipation of the vortex of public duties into which he was about to be drawn. All his previous conduct and writings show a loyal devotion to the crown, with a patriotic attachment to his country. It is probable that on the present occasion that latent patriotism received its first electric shock. Among the Burgesses sat Patrick Henry, a young lawyer who had recently distinguished himself by pleading against the exercise of the royal prerogative in church matters, and who was now for the first time a member of the House. Rising in his place, he introduced his celebrated resolutions, declaring that the General Assembly of Virginia had the exclusive right and power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants, and that whoever maintained the contrary should be deemed an enemy to the colony. The speaker, Mr. Robinson, objected to the resolutions, as inflammatory. Henry vindicated them, as justified by the nature of the case; went into an able and constitutional discussion of colonial rights, and an eloquent exposition of the manner in which they had been assailed; wound up by one of those daring flights of declamation for which he was remarkable, and startled the House by a warning flash from history: "Caesar had his Brutus; Charles his Cromwell, and George the Third--('Treason! treason!' resounded from the neighborhood of the Chair)--may profit by their examples," added Henry. "Sir, if this be treason (bowing to the speaker), make the most of it!" The resolutions were modified, to accommodate them to the scruples of the speaker and some of the members, but their spirit was retained. The Lieutenant-governor (Fauquier), startled by this patriotic outbreak, dissolved the Assembly, and issued writs for a new election; but the clarion had sounded. "The resolves of the Assembly of Virginia," says a correspondent of the ministry, "gave the signal for a general outcry over the continent. The movers and supporters of them were applauded as the protectors and assertors of American liberty." [Footnote: Letter to Secretary Conway, New York, Sept. 23.--_Parliamentary Register_.] CHAPTER XXVIII. WASHINGTON'S IDEAS CONCERNING THE STAMP ACT--OPPOSITION TO IT IN THE COLONIES--PORTENTOUS CEREMONIES AT BOSTON AND NEW YORK--NON-IMPORTATION AGREEMENT AMONG THE MERCHANTS--WASHINGTON AND GEORGE MASON--DISMISSAL OF GRENVILLE FROM THE BRITISH CABINET--FRANKLIN BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS-- REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT--JOY OF WASHINGTON--FRESH CAUSES OF COLONIAL DISSENSIONS--CIRCULAR OF THE GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS--EMBARKATION OF TROOPS FOR BOSTON--MEASURES OF THE BOSTONIANS.