"Wee," they protested, "the Inhabitants of Northampton Countie doe complanye that from tyme to tyme wee have been submitted & bine obedient unto the paymt of publeq taxacons. Butt after ye yeare 1647, since yt tyme wee Conceive & have found that ye taxes were very weightie. But in a more espetiall manner ... the taxacon of fforty sixe pounds of tobacco p. poll (this present yeare). And desire yt ye same bee taken off ye charge of ye Countie; furthermore wee alledge that after 1647, wee did understand & suppose or Countie or Northampton to be disioynted & sequestered from ye rest of Virginia. Therefore that Llawe wch requireth & inioyneth Taxacons from us to bee Arbitrarye & illegall; fforasmuch as wee had neither summons for Ellecon of Burgesses nor voyce in their Assemblye (during the time aforesd) but only the Singular Burgess in September, Ano., 1651. Wee conceive that wee may Lawfullie ptest agt the pceedings in the Act of Assemblie for publiq Taxacons wch have relacon to Northmton Countie since ye year 1647."[360]
Thus early in the history of the colony was enunciated the principle that taxation without representation is unjust and illegal. The men of Northampton do not speak of the doctrine as something new, but as a thing understood and recognized. Certain it is that the people of Virginia, in all periods of their colonial history, realized the vast importance of confining the power of taxation to their own Assembly.
But the leaders of the new government did not receive the petition with favor. They were willing to give Northampton her due quota of Burgesses, but they were angered at the suggestion of separation. Moreover, the disorders on the Eastern Shore became more pronounced and the justices were compelled to seek aid from the Council in protecting the Dutch. In June, 1653, the turbulent people met and, amid scenes of disorder, denounced the action of the authorities. When a voice from the crowd cried out that the justices were a "company of asses and villyanes", the people roared out their approval. The Assembly, at its meeting in June, 1653, was forced to take active steps to suppress the agitation and to restore order upon the peninsula. Mr. Bennett with several members of the Assembly, was sent to Northampton, "for the settlement of the peace of that countie, and punishinge delinquents". In this he seems to have been entirely successful, for we hear no more of disorders upon the Eastern Shore during this period.[361]