Chapter XX: ――history (6)

This enactment, which was to come into operation on the 1st of November, excited the most serious alarm throughout the colonies. It was viewed as a violation of the British constitution, and as destructive of the first principles of liberty; and combinations against its execution were everywhere formed. The house of burgesses in Virginia, which was in session when intelligence of the act was received, passed several spirited resolutions, asserting the colonial rights, and denying the claim of parliamentary taxation. The resolutions were introduced into the Virginia assembly by the eloquent Patrick Henry, who, on the envelope of a copy of them in his own hand-writing, has given the following interesting particulars: ‘They formed,’ says Mr. Henry, ‘the first opposition to the stamp act, and the scheme of taxing America by the British parliament. All the colonies, either through fear, or want of opportunity to form an opposition, or from influence of some kind or other, had remained silent. I had been for the first time elected a burgess a few days before, was young inexperienced, unacquainted with the forms of the house, and the members that composed it. Finding the men of weight averse to opposition, and the commencement of the tax at hand, and that no person was likely to step forth, I determined to venture; and alone, unadvised, and unassisted on a blank leaf of an old law book wrote the within. Upon offering them to the house, violent debates ensued. Many threats were uttered, and much abuse cast on me, by the party for submission. After a long and warm contest, the resolutions passed by a very small majority, perhaps of one or two only. The alarm spread throughout America with astonishing quickness, and the ministerial party were overwhelmed. The great point of resistance to British taxation was universally established in the colonies. This brought on the war, which finally separated the two countries, and gave independence to ours. Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation.’

‘It was in the midst of this magnificent debate,’ says his biographer, Mr. Wirt, ‘while he was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, that he exclaimed in a voice of thunder, “Cæsar had his Brutus――Charles the First his Cromwell――and George the Third”――(“Treason,” cried the speaker; “Treason, treason,” echoed from every part of the house: it was one of those trying moments which are decisive of character. Henry faltered not for an instant; but rising to a loftier attitude, and fixing on the speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished his sentence with the firmest emphasis,)――“_may profit by their example_. If this be treason, make the most of it.”’

In the province of Massachusetts the dissatisfaction at the passing the stamp act was strong, and was strongly manifested. On the meeting of the legislature in May, it was recommended that there should be an early meeting of committees from the houses of representatives or burgesses in the several colonies, to consult together on their grievances and devise some plan for their relief. In accordance with the views of the Massachusetts legislature, the proposed convention was held at New York in October, and consisted of twenty-eight delegates from the assemblies of the colonies, excepting the assemblies of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, which were either not in session, or were otherwise prevented from sending representatives. Timothy Ruggles of Massachusetts was chosen president. A declaration of rights and grievances was adopted. A petition to the king, and a memorial to each house of parliament were also agreed on; and it was recommended to the several colonies to appoint special agents, who should unite their utmost endeavors in soliciting redress.

The populace in various parts of the colonies were unwilling to wait for the effect of the constitutional measures their representatives were adopting. One day in the month of August the effigy of Andrew Oliver, the proposed distributor of stamps in Massachusetts, was found hanging on a tree, afterwards well known by the name of Liberty tree, in the main street of Boston. At night it was taken down, and carried on a bier, amidst the acclamations of an immense collection of people, through the court-house, down King street, to a small brick building, supposed to have been erected for the reception of the detested stamps. This building being soon levelled with the ground, the rioters next attacked Mr. Oliver’s house, and having broken the windows, entered it, and destroyed part of the furniture. The next day, however, Mr. Oliver authorized several gentlemen to announce on the exchange, that he had declined having any concern with the office of stamp master; but in the evening a bonfire was made, and a repetition of this declaration exacted of him. On the 26th the tumults were renewed. The rioters assembled in King street, and proceeded to the house of the deputy register of the court of admiralty, whose private papers, as well as the records and files of the court, were destroyed. The house of Benjamin Hallowell, jun., comptroller of the customs, was next entered; and elevated and emboldened by liquors found in his cellar, the mob, with inflamed rage, directed their course to the house of lieutenant-governor Hutchinson, who, after vainly attempting resistance, was constrained to depart to save his life. By four in the morning one of the best houses in the province was completely in ruins, nothing remaining but the bare walls and floors. The plate, family pictures, most of the furniture, the wearing apparel, about nine hundred pounds sterling, and the manuscripts and books which Mr. Hutchinson had been thirty years collecting, besides many public papers in his custody, were either carried off or destroyed. The whole damage was estimated at two thousand five hundred pounds.[105]

The town of Boston the next day voted unanimously, that the selectmen and magistrates be desired to use their utmost endeavors, agreeably to law, to suppress the like disorders for the future, and that the freeholders and other inhabitants would do every thing in their power to assist them. The officer appointed to receive the stamped paper, which was daily expected, having resigned his commission, the governor determined to receive the paper into his own charge at the castle; and, by advice of council, he ordered the enlistment of a number of men to strengthen the garrison. This caused great murmur among the people. To pacify them he made a declaration in council, that he had no authority to open any of the packages, or to appoint a distributor of stamps; that his views in depositing the stamped paper in the castle, and in strengthening the garrison there, were to prevent imprudent people from offering an insult to the king; and to save the town, or province, as it might happen, from being held to answer for the value of the stamps, as they certainly would be if the papers should be taken away. This declaration the council desired him to publish, but it did not stop the clamor. He was forced to stop the enlistment, and to discharge such men as had been enlisted. The first day of November, on which the stamp act was to begin its operation, was ushered in at Boston by the tolling of bells; many shops and stores were shut; and effigies of the authors and friends of that act were carried about the streets, and afterwards torn in pieces by the populace.

Nor was Massachusetts alone;――the obnoxious act received similar treatment in the other colonies. On the 24th of August a gazette extraordinary was published at Providence, with _Vox Populi vox Dei_, for a motto; effigies were exhibited, and in the evening cut down and burnt. Three days afterwards, the people of Newport conducted effigies of three obnoxious persons in a cart, with halters about their necks, to a gallows near the town-house, where they were hung, and after a while cut down and burnt amidst the acclamations of thousands. On the last day of October, a body of people from the country approached the town of Portsmouth, (New Hampshire,) in the apprehension that the stamps would be distributed; but on receiving assurance that there was no such intention, they quietly returned. All the bells in Portsmouth, Newcastle, and Greenland, were tolled, to denote the decease of Liberty; and in the course of the day, notice was given to her friends to attend her funeral. A coffin, neatly ornamented, and inscribed with ‘LIBERTY, aged CXLV. years,’ was prepared for the funeral procession, which began from the state-house, attended with two unbraced drums; minute guns were fired until the corpse arrived at the grave, when an oration was pronounced in honor of the deceased: but scarcely was the oration concluded, when, some remains of life having been discovered, the corpse was taken up; and the inscription on the lid of the coffin was immediately altered to ‘LIBERTY REVIVED;’ the bells suddenly struck a cheerful sound, and joy appeared again in every countenance. In Connecticut, Mr. Ingersoll, the constituted distributor of stamps, was exhibited and burnt in effigy in the month of August; and the resentment at length became so general and alarming, that he resigned his office.

The spirit manifested by the citizens of New York produced a similar resignation; and the obnoxious act was contemptuously cried about the streets, labelled, ‘The Folly of England and Ruin of America.’ The stamp papers arriving toward the end of October, lieutenant-governor Colden took every precaution to secure them. On the first of November, many of the inhabitants of New York, offended at the conduct and disliking the political sentiments of the governor, having assembled in the evening, broke open his stable, and took out his coach; and after carrying it through the principal streets of the city, marched to the common, where a gallows was erected, on one end of which they suspended his effigy, with a stamped bill of lading in one hand, and a figure of the devil in the other. When the effigy had hung a considerable time, they carried it in procession suspended to the gallows to the gate of the fort, whence it was removed to the bowling green, under the muzzle of the guns, and a bonfire made, in which the whole pageantry, including the coach, was consumed, amidst the acclamations of several thousand spectators. The next day, the people insisting upon having the stamps, it was agreed that they should be delivered to the corporation, and they were deposited in the city hall. Ten boxes of stamps, which arrived subsequently, were committed to the flames.

At Philadelphia, on the appearance of the ships having the stamps on board, all the vessels in the harbor hoisted their colors half-mast high, the bells were muffled, and continued to toll until evening. The body of Quakers, with a part of the church of England and of the Baptists, seemed inclined to submit to the stamp act; but great pains were taken to engage the Dutch and the lower class of people in the opposition, and Mr. Huges, the stamp master, found it necessary at length to resign. In Maryland, Mr. Hood, the stamp distributor for that colony, to avoid resigning his office, fled to New York; but he was constrained by a number of freemen to sign a paper, declaring his absolute and final resignation. In Virginia, when the gentleman who had been appointed distributor of stamps arrived at Williamsburg, he was immediately urged to resign: and the next day he so handsomely declined acting in his office, that he received the acclamations of the people; at night the town was illuminated, the bells were rung, and festivity expressed the universal joy.

Associations had already been formed in the colonies, under the title of the Sons of Liberty, and were composed of some of the most respectable of their citizens. The association in New York held a meeting on the 7th of November, at which it was determined that they would risk their lives and fortunes to resist the stamp act. Notice of this being sent to the Sons of Liberty in Connecticut, an union of the two associations was soon after agreed upon, and a formal instrument drawn and signed; in which, after denouncing the stamp act as a flagrant outrage on the British constitution, they most solemnly pledged themselves to march with their whole force whenever required, at their own proper cost and expense, to the relief of all who should be in danger from the stamp act or its abettors; to be vigilant in watching for the introduction of stamped paper, to consider all who are caught in introducing it as betrayers of their country, and to bring them if possible to condign punishment, whatever may be their rank; to defend the liberty of the press in their respective colonies from all violations or impediments on account of the said act; to save all judges, attorneys, clerks, and others from fines, penalties, or any molestation whatever, who shall proceed in their respective duties without regard to the stamp act; and lastly, to use their utmost endeavors to bring about a similar union with all the colonies on the continent. In pursuance of this plan, circular letters were addressed to the Sons of Liberty in Boston, New Hampshire, and as far as South Carolina, and the proposal was received with almost universal enthusiasm.

Societies were formed also in most of the colonies, including females, and those of the highest rank and fashion, of persons who resolved to forego all the luxuries of life, sooner than be indebted for them to the commerce of England under the restrictions imposed upon it by parliament. These societies denied themselves the use of all foreign articles of clothing; carding, spinning, and weaving became the daily employment of ladies of fashion; sheep were forbidden to be used as food, lest there should not be found a sufficient supply of wool; and to be dressed in a suit of homespun was to possess the surest means of popular distinction. So true were these patriotic societies to their mutual compact, that the British merchants and manufacturers soon began to feel the necessity of uniting with the colonies in petitioning parliament for the repeal of the obnoxious law; and the table of the minister was loaded with petitions and remonstrances from most of the manufacturing and mercantile towns in the kingdom.

PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTION.

While the colonies were thus brought into a state bordering on insurrection by the injudicious and unjust measures of the Grenville administration, the administration itself was rapidly hastening to its dissolution. George III. had ascended the throne not long after the capture of Quebec and in the following October, the patriot Pitt, who had devised and executed the grand scheme of expelling the French from North America, resigned the seals of office. Lord Bute, who appears to have been a personal friend of the new king, was appointed Mr. Pitt’s successor; and under his brief administration the peace of Paris was concluded. He was succeeded by Mr. Grenville, whose name will always bear an unhappy notoriety as the author of the stamp act; and whose measures have formed the subject of the preceding division. However the king might approve his political sentiments, and the king was a decided tory, Grenville was not personally in favor with his majesty; and the result was, (after some unsuccessful negotiation with Mr. Pitt, who expressed his unwillingness to go to St. James’ ‘without he could carry the constitution along with him,’) the formation of the Rockingham administration.

On the twenty-second of February, 1766, a bill was introduced in the house of commons for a repeal of the stamp act. The mover of the bill was general Conway, the same individual who in the first instance had denied the authority of parliament to impose it. On the proposed repeal a warm and interesting debate ensued, and it was finally carried by a large majority. In the upper house it was carried by a vote of one hundred and five to seventy-one.

On the 19th of March, his majesty went to the house of peers, and passed the bill for repealing the American stamp act, as also that for securing the dependency of the colonies on the British crown. On this occasion the American merchants made a most numerous appearance to express their gratitude and joy; ships in the river displayed their colors; the city was illuminated; and every method was adopted to demonstrate the sense entertained of the wisdom of parliament in conciliating the minds of the people on this critical occasion. In America, the intelligence was received with acclamations of the most sincere and heart-felt gratitude by all classes of people. Public thanksgivings were offered up in all the churches. The resolutions which had been passed on the subject of importations were rescinded, and their trade with the mother country was immediately renewed with increased vigor. The homespun dresses were given to the poor, and once more the colonists appeared clad in the produce of British looms.

The administration of the marquis of Rockingham terminated in July, 1766, and a new ministry was formed, under the direction of Mr. Pitt, composed of men of different political principles and parties. The duke of Grafton was placed at the head of the treasury; lord Shelburne was joined with general Conway, as one of the secretaries of state; Charles Townshend was made chancellor of the exchequer; Camden lord chancellor; Pitt had the privy seal, and was made a peer, with the title of the earl of Chatham; and lord North and George Cooke were joint paymasters. Under this chequered administration, the scheme of taxing America was revived. In May, 1767, the new chancellor of the exchequer submitted a plan of this kind to parliament. Charles Townshend was a man of genius and talents, but of high passions, eccentric, and versatile. He had warmly supported Grenville in the passage of the stamp act, and had voted with the marquis of Rockingham in its repeal. The ex-minister Grenville may indeed be considered the real author of the second plan for taxing the colonies, for he was ever urging the subject on the new ministers.[106]

The measure proposed by Townshend to the house was for imposing duties on glass, paper, pasteboard, white and red lead, painters’ colors, and tea, imported into the colonies. The preamble declared, ‘that it was expedient to raise a revenue in America, and to make a more certain and adequate provision for defraying the charge of the administration of justice and the support of the civil government in the provinces, and for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing them.’ The earl of Chatham was then confined by sickness in the country; the bill passed both houses without much opposition, and on the 29th of June received the royal assent.

The conduct of the assemblies of Massachusetts and New York had given great dissatisfaction in Great Britain. The refusal of the assembly of the latter to comply with the requisitions of the mutiny act, in particular, had excited the indignation of the ministry and parliament to such a degree, that three days after the passage of the new tax bill an act was passed restraining the legislature of that province from passing any act whatever, until they had furnished the king’s troops with all the articles required by the mutiny act. The ministry at the same time determined to establish a new board of custom-house officers in America. An act was therefore passed, enabling the king to put the customs and other duties in America, and the execution of the laws relating to trade there, under the management of commissioners to be appointed for that purpose, and to reside in the colonies. This, as the preamble declares, would ‘tend to the encouragement of commerce, and to better securing the rates and duties, and the more speedy and effectual collection thereof.’ These three acts arrived in America about the same time.

The appropriation of the new duties to the support of crown officers and to the maintenance of troops in America, was a subject of serious complaint. It had long been a favorite object of the British cabinet to establish in the colonies a fund, from which the salaries of the governors, judges, and other officers of the crown, should be paid, independent of the annual grants of the colonial legislatures. As these officers held their places during the pleasure of the king, the people of Massachusetts, it will be remembered, had uniformly resisted such establishment, though repeatedly urged on the part of the crown. On this subject the house of representatives maintained, in resolutions indicative of great firmness, their former purpose. The house also, during this session, addressed a circular letter to the other colonies, stating the difficulties to be apprehended by the operation of the late acts of parliament, and requesting their co-operation for redress. When the question of addressing a circular to the colonies was first presented to the house it was opposed, as seeming to countenance the meeting of another congress, heretofore so offensive to the British government; and the motion was negatived. The subject was afterwards reconsidered, and the letter so worded as to satisfy a large majority of the house. The other colonies approved of the proceedings of Massachusetts, and joined in applying to the king for relief.

The circular letter of Massachusetts created no little alarm in the British cabinet. Directions were issued by the secretary of state to the governor of this colony, requiring him to demand of the house of representatives a recantation of that offensive measure. This the house peremptorily refused. They viewed the letter of lord Hillsborough as an unwarrantable attempt on their rights; and in their answer to the communication of the governor on this subject, express themselves with no little warmth. ‘If the votes of the house were to be controlled by the direction of a minister,’ they say, ‘we have left us but a shadow of liberty!’ On the question to rescind, Mr. Otis, one of the representatives from Boston, said――‘When lord Hillsborough knows that we will not rescind our acts, let him apply to parliament to rescind theirs. Let Britain rescind their measures, or they are lost forever.’ On receiving information of the decision of the house, the governor immediately dissolved the assembly. This ministerial mandate to the other colonies was equally disregarded.

Americans looked with astonishment at such a system of policy proceeding from a ministry of which lord Chatham constituted a part. They found it impossible to reconcile the conduct now adopted towards them with their ideas of his lordship’s character. They had heretofore regarded him as a friend, in whose honest and liberal principles they might securely trust the management of all that concerned the colonies; but here was a melancholy evidence before their eyes of the insincerity of ministerial professions. In justice to the character of lord Chatham, however, it must be observed, that he was not in parliament during any part of the time that these measures of Mr. Townshend were under discussion. The state of his health was such as not only to detain him from his seat in the house, but to render him incapable of attending to any of the duties of his high station; and it appears that his opinion weighed but little with the men whom he had raised to power.

Charles Townshend, from whom all the troubles and commotions that were now rapidly spreading through the colonies in a great measure originated, did not live to witness their effects. He died in September, 1767, and was succeeded as chancellor of the exchequer by Frederick lord North, a young nobleman, then but little known in the political world, but who will be found to make a conspicuous figure in the sequel of this history. Very soon afterwards, lord Chatham, disgusted at the corrupt influence which manifested itself in every act of the court, and sick of the political world, resigned the privy seal.

The colonists meanwhile were adopting all the peaceable means in their power to show their sense of the wrongs heaped upon them. Petitions, memorials, and remonstrances to the king and parliament, and letters to the individual friends of America, were addressed from all the legislatures; but the most favorable reply which any of them received was an exhortation to suffer with patience and in silence. To suffer tamely, and without seeking redress, however, was not the character of the sturdy sons of freedom who inhabited the colonies. They entered into the same kind of resolutions of non-importation, the effects of which had been so severely felt by the traders in England under the stamp act. Boston, as before, took the lead. At a town meeting held in October, it was voted that measures should be immediately taken to promote the establishment of domestic manufactures, by encouraging the consumption of all articles of American manufacture. They also agreed to purchase no articles of foreign growth or manufacture, but such as were absolutely indispensable. New York and Philadelphia soon followed the example of Boston; and in a short time the merchants themselves entered into associations to import nothing from Great Britain but articles that necessity required.

The new board of commissioners of the customs established at Boston had now entered on the duties of their office. From the great excitement at that place, a collision between the new custom-house officers and the people was by no means improbable. The indignation of the people of Boston was at length excited to open opposition by the seizure of Mr. Hancock’s sloop Liberty, for a violation of the revenue laws. Under the idea that the sloop would not be safe at the wharf in their custody, the custom-house officers had solicited aid from a ship of war which lay in the harbor, the commander of which ordered the sloop to be cut from her fastenings and brought under the guns of his ship. It was to prevent this removal that the mob collected; many of the officers were severely wounded in the scuffle, and the mob, being baffled in their attempts to retain the sloop at the wharf, repaired to the houses of the collector, comptroller, and other officers of the customs, where they committed many acts of violence and injury to their property. This riotous disposition continued for several days, during which the commissioners applied to the governor for assistance, but his excellency not being able to protect them, advised them to remove from Boston; they consequently retired, first on board the Romney man-of-war, and then to castle William. The excitement at Boston was greatly increased about this time by the impressment of some seamen belonging to that town by order of the officers of the Romney. The inhabitants of Boston were assembled on this occasion, and their petition to the governor, praying his interference to prevent such outrages for the future, shows to what a state of alarm, anxiety, and even despair, they were then reduced. ‘To contend,’ they said, ‘against our parent state, is, in our idea, the most shocking and dreadful extremity; but tamely to relinquish the only security we and our posterity retain for the enjoyment of our lives and properties without one struggle, is so humiliating and base, that we cannot support the reflection.’

The general court of Massachusetts having been dissolved by governor Bernard, who refused to convene it again without his majesty’s command, on the proposal of the selectmen of Boston to the several towns in the colony, a convention met in that town on the 22d of September, to deliberate on constitutional measures to obtain redress of their grievances. The convention, disclaiming legislative authority, petitioned the governor; made loyal professions; expressed its aversion to standing armies, to tumults and disorders, its readiness to assist in suppressing riots, and preserving the peace; recommended patience and good order; and, after a short session, dissolved itself.

The day before the convention rose, advice was received that a man-of-war and some transports from Halifax, with about nine hundred troops, had arrived at Nantasket harbor. On the day after their arrival, the fleet was brought to anchor near castle William. Having taken a station which commanded the town, the troops, under cover of the cannon of the ships, landed without molestation, and, to the number of upwards of seven hundred men, marched, with muskets charged, bayonets fixed, martial music, and the usual military parade, into the common. In the evening, the selectmen of Boston were required to quarter the two regiments in the town; but they absolutely refused. A temporary shelter, however, in Faneuil hall, was permitted to one regiment that was without its camp equipage. The next day, the state-house, by order of the governor, was opened for the reception of the soldiers; and, after the quarters were settled, two field-pieces, with the main guard, were stationed just in its front. Every thing was calculated to excite the indignation of the inhabitants. The lower floor of the state-house, which had been used by gentlemen and merchants as an exchange, the representatives-chamber, the court-house, Faneuil hall――places with which were intimately associated ideas of justice and freedom, as well as of convenience and utility――were now filled with troops of the line.

Guards were placed at the doors of the state-house, through which the council must pass in going to their own chamber. The common was covered with tents. Soldiers were constantly marching and countermarching to relieve the guards. The sentinels challenged the inhabitants as they passed. The Sabbath was profaned, and the devotion of the sanctuary disturbed, by the sound of drums and other military music. There was every appearance of a garrisoned town. The colonists felt disgusted and injured, but not overawed, by the presence of such a body of soldiery. After the troops had obtained quarters, the council were required to provide barracks for them, agreeably to act of parliament; but they resolutely declined any measure which might be construed into a submission to that act. In a few weeks several more transports arrived at Boston from Cork, having on board part of the sixty-fourth and sixty-fifth British regiments, under colonels Mackey and Pomeroy.

The general court of Massachusetts was at length convened, on the 31st of May, and their first act was to send a committee to the governor, assuring him of their intention to make a thorough inquiry into the grievances of the people, and to have them redressed; and demanding of his excellency to order the removal of the forces from the harbor, and from the gates of the capital, during the sitting of the assembly. To this message the governor replied, ‘that he had no control of the king’s troops stationed in the town or province, and that he had received no orders for their removal.’

The assembly proved to be independent and resolute, and came to an open breach with governor Bernard. This body was accordingly removed to Cambridge, and the troops retained possession of the capital. On the 6th of July, the assembly received a message from the governor, desiring funds for the expenditures of his majesty’s troops, and provision for their further quartering in Boston and Castle island, according to act of parliament. This measure was strenuously resisted, and all provision of the kind was peremptorily refused. The prorogation of the assembly to the 10th of January following immediately ensued.

In August, 1769, Sir Francis Bernard was recalled, and left the administration to lieutenant-governor Hutchinson. The occasion of his taking leave was one of great joy to Boston. The bells were rung, guns were fired from Mr. Hancock’s wharf, Liberty tree was covered with flags, and in the evening a great bonfire was made upon Fort hill.

In 1770, lord North was elevated to the premiership; and his administration will ever be celebrated by the fact, that it cost the country more money, and lost it more territory, than that of any other man. His first measure was for the repeal of the port duties of 1767, with the exception of the duty on tea; this was to be retained in token of the supremacy of parliament. This single reservation was of course sufficient to frustrate all hopes of making this bill a peace-offering to the Americans.

The public mind in the colonies was still farther agitated by the continuance of the troops of the line in Boston. The inhabitants felt that their presence was designed to overawe and control the expression of their sentiments, and the military appear to have viewed their residence in the town in the same light. Under the excitement that was thus occasioned, affrays were frequently occurring between the populace and the soldiers; and it would appear that, as might be expected, neither party conducted themselves with prudence or forbearance. On the one hand, the soldiers are represented as parading the town, armed with heavy clubs, insulting and seeking occasion to quarrel with the people;[107] while, on the other, the populace are declared to be the aggressors, and the military to have acted on the defensive.[108] Early in the evening of the 5th of March, the inhabitants were observed to assemble in different quarters of the town; parties of soldiers were also driving about the streets, as if both the one and the other had something more than ordinary upon their minds.

About eight o’clock, one of the bells of the town was rung in such manner as is usual in case of fire. This called people into the streets. A large number assembled in the market-place, not far from King street, armed with bludgeons, or clubs. A small fray between some of the inhabitants arose at or near the barracks at the west part of the town, but it was of little importance, and was soon over. A sentinel who was posted at the custom-house, not far from the main guard, was next insulted, and pelted with pieces of ice and other missiles, which caused him to call to the main guard to protect him. Notice was soon given to captain Preston, whose company was then on guard, and a sergeant with six men was sent to protect the sentinel; but the captain, to prevent any precipitate action, followed them himself. There seem to have been but few people collected when the assault was first made on the sentinel; but the sergeant’s guard drew a greater number together, and they were more insulted than the sentinel had been, and received frequent blows from snowballs and lumps of ice. Captain Preston thereupon ordered them to charge; but this was no discouragement to the assailants, who continued to pelt the guard, daring them to fire. Some of the people who were behind the soldiers, and observed the abuse of them, called on them to do so. At length one received a blow with a club, which brought him to the ground; but, rising again, he immediately fired, and all the rest, except one, followed the example.

This seems, from the evidence on the trials and the observation of persons present, to have been the course of the material facts. Three men were killed, two mortally wounded, who died soon after, and several slightly wounded. The soldiers immediately withdrew to the main guard, which was strengthened by additional companies. Two or three of the persons who had seen the action ran to the lieutenant-governor’s house, which was about half a mile distant, and begged he would go to King street, where they feared a general action would come on between the troops and the inhabitants. He went immediately, and, to satisfy the people, called for captain Preston, and inquired why he had fired upon the inhabitants without the direction of a civil magistrate. The noise was so great that his answer could not be understood; and some persons, who were apprehensive of the lieutenant-governor’s danger from the general confusion, called out, ‘The town-house, the town-house!’ when, with irresistible violence, he was forced up by the crowd into the council chamber.

There demand was immediately made of him, to order the troops to withdraw from the town-house to their barracks. He refused; but calling from the balcony to the great body of people who remained in the street, he expressed his great concern at the unhappy event; assured them he would do every thing in his power to obtain a full and impartial inquiry, that the law might have its course; and advised them to go peaceably to their homes. Upon this there was a cry――‘Home, home!’ and a great part separated, and went home. He then signified his opinion to lieutenant-colonel Carr, that if the companies in arms were ordered to their barracks, the streets would be cleared and the town in quiet for that night. Upon their retiring, the rest of the inhabitants, except those in the council chamber, retired also.

Lieutenant-colonel Dalrymple, at the desire of the lieutenant-governor, came to the council chamber, while several justices were examining persons who were present at the transactions of the evening. From the evidence it was apparent that the justices would commit captain Preston, if taken. Several hours passed before he could be found, and the people suspected that he would not run the hazard of a trial; but at length he surrendered himself to a warrant for apprehending him, and, having been examined, was committed to prison. The next morning the soldiers who were upon guard surrendered also, and were committed. This was not sufficient to satisfy the people, and early in the forenoon they were in motion again. The lieutenant-governor caused his council to be summoned, and desired the two lieutenant-colonels of the regiments to be present. The selectmen of Boston were waiting the lieutenant-governor’s coming to council, and, being admitted, made their representation, that, from the contentions arising from the troops quartered in Boston, and, above all, from the tragedy of the last night, the minds of the inhabitants were exceedingly disturbed; that they would presently be assembled in a town meeting; and that, unless the troops should be removed, the most terrible consequences were to be expected.

The justices also of Boston and several of the neighboring towns had assembled, and desired to signify their opinion, that it would not be possible to keep the people under restraint, if the troops remained in town. The lieutenant-governor acquainted both the selectmen and the justices, that he had no authority to alter the place of destination of the king’s troops; but that he expected the commanding officers of the two regiments, and would let them know the applications which had been made. Presently after their coming, a large committee from the town meeting presented an address to the lieutenant-governor, declaring it to be the unanimous opinion of the meeting that nothing could rationally be expected to restore the peace of the town, ‘and prevent blood and carnage,’ but the immediate removal of the troops. The committee withdrew into another room to wait for an answer. Some of the council urged the necessity of complying with the people’s demand; but the lieutenant-governor declared that he would, upon no consideration whatever, give orders for their removal. Lieutenant-colonel Dalrymple then signified, that, as the twenty-ninth regiment had originally been designed to be placed at the castle, and was now peculiarly obnoxious to the town, he was content that it should be removed to the castle, until the general’s pleasure should be known. The committee was informed of this offer, and the lieutenant-governor rose from council, intending to receive no further application upon the subject; but the council prayed that he would meet them again in the afternoon, and colonel Dalrymple desiring it also, he complied.

Before the council met again, it had been intimated to them that the ‘desire’ of the governor and council to the commanding officer to remove the troops, would cause him to do it, though he should receive no authoritative ‘order.’ As soon as they met, a committee from the town meeting attended with a second message, to acquaint the lieutenant-governor that it was the unanimous voice of the people assembled, consisting, as they said, of near three thousand persons, that nothing less than a total and immediate removal of the troops would satisfy them. Ultimately the scruples of the lieutenant-governor were overcome, and he expressed his desire that the troops should be wholly withdrawn from the town to the castle, which was accordingly done. The funeral of the victims was attended with extraordinary pomp. Most of the shops were closed, all the bells of the town tolled on the occasion, and the corpses were followed to the grave by an immense concourse of people arranged six abreast, the procession being closed by a long train of carriages belonging to the principal gentry of the town. Captain Preston and the party of soldiers were afterwards tried. The captain and six of the men were acquitted, and two were brought in guilty of manslaughter; a result which reflected great honor on John Adams and Josiah Quincy, the council for the prisoners, and on the jury.

During the year 1771, nothing of moment occurred either in Boston or the colonies. The encouragement given by the agreement of the merchants to smuggling, occasioned continual contests with revenue officers; and it appears that the magistrates, when appealed to, refused to interfere. One circumstance, however, transpired, which must not be omitted. Early in this year, Mr. Hutchinson received his appointment to the office of governor of Massachusetts, an office which his political opponents allege to have always been the darling object of his ambition; while he maintains, that, however in ordinary times he might have desired it, he now ‘determined, not only to desire to be excused from the honor intended for him, but to be superseded in his place of lieutenant-governor; and he wrote to the secretary of state accordingly.’

The occurrences of the year 1772, afforded new sources of mutual animosity. The destruction of his majesty’s revenue schooner Gaspee, was one of those popular excesses which highly incensed the British ministry. Lieutenant Doddington, who commanded that vessel, had become very obnoxious to the inhabitants of Rhode Island, by his extraordinary zeal in the execution of the revenue laws. On the 9th of June, the Providence packet was sailing into the harbor of Newport, and lieutenant Doddington thought proper to require the captain to lower his colors. This the captain of the packet deemed repugnant to his patriotic feelings, and the Gaspee fired at the packet to bring her to: the American, however, still persisted in holding on her course, and by keeping in shoal water, dexterously contrived to run the schooner aground in the chase.

As the tide was upon the ebb, the Gaspee was set fast for the night, and afforded a tempting opportunity for retaliation; and a number of fishermen, aided and encouraged by some of the most respectable inhabitants of Providence, being determined to rid themselves of so uncivil an inspector, in the middle of the night manned several boats, and boarded the Gaspee. The lieutenant was wounded in the affray; but, with every thing belonging to him, he was carefully conveyed on shore, as were all his crew. The vessel, with her stores, was then burnt; and the party returned unmolested to their homes. When the governor became acquainted with this event, he offered a reward of five hundred pounds for the discovery of the offenders, and the royal pardon to those who would confess their guilt. Commissioners were appointed also to investigate the offence, and bring the perpetrators to justice; but, after remaining some time in session, they reported that they could obtain no evidence, and thus the affair terminated; a circumstance which forcibly illustrates the inviolable brotherhood which then united the people against the government.

Active resistance to the measures of the British government in relation to the colonies, had for some time been principally confined to Massachusetts. The other colonists, however, had not been idle or indifferent spectators of the scenes that had passed in Massachusetts. To remain long in their present state seemed impossible; and in the event of an opposition by force, unity of action, as well as of sentiment, was all important. To promote this object, the house of burgesses in Virginia originated what ultimately proved a powerful engine of resistance――a committee for corresponding with the legislatures of the several colonies; and by this means a confidential communication and interchange of opinions was kept up between them.

The British government determined to carry the duty on tea into effect, and the East India company were authorized to export their tea free of duties to all places whatever; by which means it could be furnished more cheaply in America than before it had been made a source of revenue.

Confident of finding a market at their reduced prices, the company freighted several ships with that article, and appointed agents for the disposal of it. Cargoes were sent to New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Boston. The inhabitants of the two former cities sent the ships back to London; and in the latter the tea was unloaded and stored in cellars, where it finally perished.

At Boston, before the vessels arrived with it, a town meeting was called to devise measures to prevent the landing and sale within the province. The agreement not to use tea while a duty was imposed was now solemnly renewed; and a committee was chosen to request the consignees of the East India company neither to sell nor unlade the tea which should be brought into the harbor. They communicated the wishes of the town to the merchants, who were to have the custody and sale of the tea; but they declined making any such promise, as they had received no orders or directions on the subject. On the arrival of the vessels with the tea in the harbor of Boston, another meeting of the citizens was immediately called. ‘The hour of destruction,’ it was said, ‘or of manly opposition, had now come;’ and all who were friends to the country were invited to attend, ‘to make an united and successful resistance to this last and worst measure of the administration.’ A great number of the people assembled from the adjoining towns, as well as from the capital, in the celebrated Faneuil hall, the usual place of meeting on such occasions, but the meeting was soon adjourned to one of the largest churches in the town. Here it was voted, as it had been at a meeting before the tea arrived, that they would use all lawful means to prevent its being landed, and to have it returned immediately to England.

After several days spent in negotiations, the consignees still refused to return the tea, and, fearing the vengeance of an injured people, they retired to the castle. The owner of the ship which brought the tea was unable to obtain a pass for her sailing, as the officer was in the interest of the British ministers. Application was then made to the governor, to order that a pass be given for the vessel; but he declined interfering in the affair. When it was found no satisfactory arrangement could be effected, the meeting broke up; but, late in the evening, a number of men, disguised as Mohawk Indians, proceeded to the vessels, then lying at the wharf, which had the tea on board, and in a short time every chest was taken out, and the contents thrown into the sea; but no injury was done to any other part of their cargoes. The inhabitants of the town, generally, had no knowledge of the event until the next day. It is supposed, the number of those concerned in the affair was about fifty; but who they were has been only a matter of conjecture to the present day.

PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTION.

The British ministry appear to have been highly gratified that the town of Boston, which they ever regarded as the focus of sedition in America, had rendered itself, by the violent destruction of the property of the East India company, obnoxious to their severest vengeance. On the 7th of March lord North presented a message from his majesty to both houses of parliament, commenting on the outrageous proceedings at the town and port of Boston. In a few days a bill was introduced ‘for the immediate removal of the officers concerned in the collection of customs from Boston, and to discontinue the landing and discharging, lading and shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise, at Boston, or within the harbor thereof.’ The bill also levied a fine upon the town, as a compensation to the East India company for the destruction of their teas, and was to continue in force during the pleasure of the king. The opposition to this measure was very slight, and it was finally carried in both houses without a division.

This, however, was only a part of lord North’s scheme of coercion. He proposed two other bills, which were intended to strike terror into the province of Massachusetts, and to deter the other colonies from following her example. By one of these, the constitution and charter of the province were completely subverted, all power taken out of the hands of the people, and placed in those of the servants of the crown. The third scheme of lord North was the introduction of ‘a bill for the impartial administration of justice in Massachusetts.’ By this act, persons informed against or indicted for any act done for the support of the laws of the revenue, or for the suppression of riots in Massachusetts, might by the governor, with the advice of the council, be sent for trial to any other colony, or to Great Britain; an enactment which, in effect, conferred impunity on the officers of the crown, however odious might be their violations of the law.

These plans of the administration were opposed by Burke, lord Chatham, Barré, and others, in language of the highest indignation. They originated in mistaken views of the opinion and temper of the people. The government, too, maintained that any measures were justifiable for supporting the authority of the king and parliament, and calculated on bringing the refractory and disaffected to submission by severity and force.

As a measure indicative of a determination to conduct the proceedings against the refractory colonists with the utmost vigor, general Gage was appointed, with powers of the most unlimited extent, to supersede governor Hutchinson. The offices of governor of the province of Massachusetts and commander of his majesty’s forces in America were united in his person. The intelligence of the passing of the Boston port bill had preceded general Gage a few days. On the day after his arrival, the general court having been dissolved by the late governor, a town meeting was convened and very numerously attended. They declared and resolved, ‘that the impolicy, injustice, inhumanity, and cruelty of the act, exceed all their powers of expression; and therefore,’ they say, ‘we leave it to the censure of others, and appeal to God and the world.’ They also declared it as their opinion, that, ‘if the other colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importation from, and exportation to, Great Britain, and every part of the West Indies, till the act be repealed, the same would prove the salvation of North America and her liberties.’

The idea was probably entertained by the British ministry, that the other colonies would be inclined rather to avail themselves of the commercial advantages which the closing of one of the chief sea-ports would open to them, than to make common cause with Boston, at the hazard of incurring a similar penalty. In this instance, as in most others, the government made a great miscalculation of American character. The several colonies lost no time in expressing the deepest sympathy for the sufferings of the inhabitants of Boston, and in contributing to their pecuniary necessities, as well as in affording them moral countenance. In this patriotic course Virginia took the lead.

The convention of Virginia recommended to the committee of correspondence, that they should communicate with their several corresponding committees, on the expediency of appointing deputies from the several colonies of British America, to meet in general congress at such place annually as might be deemed most convenient; there to deliberate on those general measures which the united interests of America might from time to time require.

Similar expressions of determined opposition to the port bill, and assurances of support to the disfranchised citizens of Boston, were made wherever the act became known. In some places it was printed upon mourning paper, and hawked about the streets; in others it was publicly burned, with every demonstration of abhorrence. At New York there was a considerable struggle between the friends of administration and the friends of liberty, but the latter at length prevailed, by the influence and management of two individuals, who had on several occasions manifested great activity and zeal in their opposition to the obnoxious measures of the ministry. Addresses were also sent from Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, and some other provinces, to the committee of Boston, assuring them of support, and declaring that they considered the cause of Boston as the common cause of the country.