66
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
the French and Indians proved very disas-
trous. In the attempt to take h'ort Duciuesne,
as the French called the captured post at the
forks of the Monongahela and Alleghany,
Braddock's army was destroyed, and in the
north the TVench captured Oswego and l-"ort
William Henry. For four years the evil days
followed one another, hut amid the most dis-
heartening conditions, Robert DinwidcUe re-
mained undismayed. The ardent task of rais-
ing unwilling troops and directing the defense
of 350 miles of frontier fell to him, and while
he did not escape th.e charge of imjiroper inter-
ference at times, on the whole, he discharged
his duties ably and nobly.
To the excitement in the colony produced by the French war more was added by the pas-
sage m i;
of the first of the Two Penny
/\ct by the assembly, making the tax for sal-
aries of the ministers payable either in tobacco
or in money at two pence per pound, at the
option of the tax payer. The ministers tried
to get Governor Dinwiddle to veto the bill, but
he was beginning to learn the lesson of non-
interference with the legislature, and he de-
clined. Worn out at length with the harassing
duties of his office, he solicited from the
authorities in England permission to return,
and so in January, 1758, he departed from the
colony, bearing with him the commendations
of the assembly and the peojile of \'irginia in
general. He marked his interest in the colony
by contributing many books to the College
Library. lie survived his return to England
by twelve years, and finally died at Clifton,
Bristol, whither he had gone for the benefit of
the baths, July 27, 1770. in the 78th year of
his age. His brother John was a merchant on
the Rappahannock river in Virginia. He mar-
ried Rosa Enfield Mason, of Stafford county,
and is innneronsly represented in the South.
Blair, John, president of the council, and
as such acting governor of Virginia from
the departure for England of Governor Din-
widdle, January. 1758, till the arrival of Gov-
ernor Francis Fauquier, June 7, 1758, and
from the time of (iovernor F^auquier's death,
March 3, 1768, till the arrival of Lord Bote-
tourt, October. 1768. He was son of Dr.
.Vrchibald lUair, brother of Dr. James Blair,
president of the College of William and Mary,
and was born in \'irginia in 1687. He was
educated at William and Mary College, and
was a burgess from Williamsburg in 1736-
1740, and in 1743 became a member of the
council, an office which he held till his death.
During his first administration, which hap-
|:ened during the French and Indian war, the
assembly augmented the forces in the pay of
the colony to 2,000 men and issued' £32,000
in treasury notes to defray the expenses of the
increased defences of the colony. In the trou-
bles which led to the American Revolution,
Ijlair was always on the popular side. As a
judge of the general court in April, 1764, he
upheld the Tw^o Penny Act, and as president
of the committee of correspondence he voted
to condemn the Stamp Act in June, 1764.
When he became acting governor the second
time he promptly called the general assembly
together to consider the new revenue measures
passed by parliament. \\'hen the assembly
convened, March 31, 1768, he concurred with
the council and house of burgesses in the bold
resolutions unanimously adopted that only the
general assembly could make any laws regard-
ing ""thie internal policy or taxation of the
colony." Blair was the source through which
they were transmitted to England, and Lord
Hillsborough, the secretary of colonial afifairs,
expressed himself amazed especially at the
action of the council and its president, who
