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177s] The rising in Virginia. 169 this case the British were too much exhausted to press the enemy effectually ; and the main body of the provincials, on whom the defenders retreated, were close at hand. But they were harassed in their passage of the Neck by a flanking fire ; and that they should have crossed it in good order is no slight proof of their instinctive discipline and self- control. The British loss was reckoned at 226 killed, and 828 wounded ; the American at 150 killed, and 300 wounded. Gage was under no delusion as to the lessons to be learnt from the battle. His letter to the Secretary of State a week later contained these words : " The rebels are shown not to be the disorderly rabble too many have supposed. In all their wars against the French they have showed no such conduct and perseverance as they do now." Next to Massachusetts, Virginia had been the chief stronghold of disaffection, and it was now the next colony to take up arms. The governor, Dunmore, had lately increased his unpopularity by reporting to the home government that the disaffection of the colony was largely due to the financial embarrassments of the planters. He had also, as a measure of precaution, removed the gunpowder from the public magazine at Williamsburg and placed it on shipboard. With Henry and his allies openly inciting to violence, and with other colonies in arms, this was no more than a needful measure of precaution ; yet it was treated by the Assembly as an act of high-handed tyranny. In June, 1775, Dunmore, finding that the Assembly refused even to consider North's scheme, and learning that Henry was in the field at the head of a large armed force, withdrew from Williamsburg. After some disputes with the rebels, he set up the royal standard, proclaimed martial law and promised liberty to any slaves who would join him. Finally, on December 8, he dispatched a force against the rebels, which was repulsed. He then went on ship- board. After some desultory operations, in which the town of Norfolk was burnt and much injury inflicted on the river-side plantations, Dunmore and his followers sailed to New York. For the destruction of property it is clear that both sides were in a measure to blame ; but, in the existing state of opinion, it was certain that the whole discredit of it would fall on Dunmore and the British government. A somewhat similar incident took place in New England in the following October. A British vessel bombarded and wholly destroyed the town of Falmouth, on the coast of Maine. In the two Carolinas the symptoms of rebellion were so alarming that the governors of both provinces took refuge on British ships. We have already seen how the unauthorised action of a party of volunteers had placed the Americans in a position for a successful attack on Canada. The expediency of such measures might be doubted. If there was any hope of a peaceful solution still left, that hope must be seriously impaired, if not destroyed, by such an attack. In theory, no CH. V.