the maintenance of any religious opinions, the forbearance of repairing to church, or the exercise of any mode of worship:  and further, to exempt dissenters from contributions to the support of the established church; and to suspend, only until the next session, levies on the members of the church for the salaries of their own incumbents.  For although the majority of our citizens were dissenters, as has been observed, a majority of the legislature were churchmen.  Among these, however, were some reasonable and liberal men, who enabled us, on some points, to obtain feeble majorities.  But our opponents carried, in the general resolutions of the committee of November 19, a declaration, that religious assemblies ought to be regulated, and that provision ought to be made for continuing the succession of the clergy, and superintending their conduct.  And in the bill now passed, was inserted an express reservation of the question, Whether a general assessment should not be established by law, on every one, to the support of the pastor of his choice; or whether all should be left to voluntary contributions:  and on this question, debated at every session from ’76 to ’79 (some of our dissenting allies, having now secured their particular object, going over to the advocates of a general assessment), we could only obtain a suspension from session to session until ’79, when the question against a general assessment was finally carried, and the establishment of the Anglican church entirely put down.  In justice to the two honest but zealous opponents, who have been named, I must add, that although, from their natural temperaments, they were more disposed generally to acquiesce in things as they are, than to risk innovations; yet, whenever the public will had once decided, none were more faithful or exact in their obedience to it.

The seat of our government had been originally fixed in the peninsula of Jamestown, the first settlement of the colonists; and had been afterwards removed a few miles inland to Williamsburg.  But this was at a time when our settlements had not extended beyond the tide waters.  Now they had crossed the Allegany; and the centre of population was very far removed from what it had been.  Yet Williamsburg was still the depository of our archives, the habitual residence of the Governor, and many other of the public functionaries, the established place for the sessions of the legislature, and the magazine of our military stores:  and its situation was so exposed, that it might be taken at any time in war, and, at this time particularly, an enemy might in the night run up either of the rivers, between which it lies, land a force above, and take possession of the place, without the possibility of saving either persons or things.  I had proposed its removal so early as October, ’76; but it did not prevail until the session of May, ’79.

Early in the session of May, ’79, I prepared, and obtained leave to bring in a bill, declaring who should be deemed citizens, asserting the natural right of expatriation, and prescribing the mode of exercising it.  This, when I withdrew from the house on the 1st of June following, I left in the hands of George Mason, and it was passed on the 26th of that month.