The expedition against the capital of Canada was the most daring and important. Strong by nature, and still stronger by art, Quebec had obtained the appellation of the Gibraltar of America; and every attempt against it had failed. It was now commanded by Montcalm, an officer of distinguished reputation; and its capture must have appeared chimerical to any one but Pitt. He judged rightly, however, that the boldest and most dangerous enterprises are often the most successful, especially when committed to ardent minds glowing with enthusiasm, and emulous of glory. Such a mind he had discovered in general Wolfe, whose conduct at Louisbourg had attracted his attention. He appointed him to conduct the expedition, and gave him for assistants brigadier-generals Monckton, Townshend, and Murray; all, like himself, young and ardent. Early in the season he sailed from Halifax with eight thousand troops, and, near the last of June, landed the whole army on the island of Orleans, a few miles below Quebec. From this position he could take a near and distinct view of the obstacles to be overcome. These were so great, that even the bold and sanguine Wolfe perceived more to fear than to hope. In a letter toMr.Pitt, written before commencing operations, he declared that he saw but little prospect of reducing the place.Quebec stands on the north side of theSt.Lawrence, and consists of an upper and lower town. The lower town lies between the river and a bold and lofty eminence, which runs parallel to it far to the westward. At the top of this eminence is a plain, upon which the upper town is situated.Below, or east of the city, is the riverSt.Charles, whose channel is rough, and whose banks are steep and broken. At a short distance farther down is the Montmorency; and between these two rivers, and reaching from one to the other, was encamped the French army, strongly entrenched, and at least equal in number to that of the English. General Wolfe took possession of Point Levi, on the southern bank of theSt.Lawrence, and there erected batteries against the town. The cannonade which was kept up, though it destroyed many houses, made but little impression on the works, which were too strong and too remote to be materially affected; their elevation, at the same time, placing them beyond the reach of the fleet.Siege of Quebec.Convinced of the impossibility of reducing the place, unless he could erect batteries on the north side of theSt.Lawrence, Wolfe soon decided on more daring measures. The northern shore of theSt.Lawrence, to a considerable distance above Quebec, is so bold and rocky as to render a landing in the face of an enemy impracticable. If an attempt were made below the town, the river Montmorency passed, and the French driven from their entrenchments, theSt.Charles would present a new, and perhaps an insuperable barrier. With every obstacle fully in view, Wolfe, heroically observing that ‘a victorious army finds no difficulties,’ resolved to pass the Montmorency, and bring Montcalm to an engagement. In pursuance of this resolution, thirteen companies of English grenadiers, and part of the second battalion of royal Americans, were landed at the mouth of that river, while two divisions, under generals Townshend and Murray, prepared to cross it higher up. Wolfe’s plan was to attack first a redoubt, close to the water’s edge, apparently beyond reach of the fire from the enemy’s entrenchments, in the belief that the French, by attempting to support that fortification, would put it in his power to bring on a general engagement; or, if they should submit to the loss of the redoubt, that he could afterwards examine their situation with coolness, and advantageously regulate his future operations.On the approach of the British troops the redoubt was evacuated; andthe general, observing some confusion in the French camp, changed his original plan, and determined not to delay an attack. Orders were immediately despatched to the generals Townshend and Murray to keep their divisions in readiness for fording the river; and the grenadiers and royal Americans were directed to form on the beach until they could be properly sustained. These troops, however, not waiting for support, rushed impetuously toward the enemy’s entrenchments; but they were received with so strong and steady a fire from the French musketry, that they were instantly thrown into disorder, and obliged to seek shelter at the redoubt which the enemy had abandoned. Detained here awhile by a dreadful thunder storm, they were still within reach of a severe fire from the French; and many gallant officers, exposing their persons in attempting to form the troops, were killed, the whole loss amounting to nearly five hundred men. The plan of attack being effectually disconcerted, the English general gave orders for repassing the river, and returning to the isle of Orleans.Compelled to abandon the attack on that side, Wolfe deemed that advantage might result from attempting to destroy the French fleet, and by distracting the attention of Montcalm with continual descents upon the northern shore. General Murray, with twelve hundred men in transports, made two vigorous but abortive attempts to land; and though more successful in the third, he did nothing more than burn a magazine of warlike stores. The enemy’s fleet was effectually secured against attacks, either by land or by water, and the commander-in-chief was again obliged to submit to the mortification of recalling his troops. At this juncture, intelligence arrived that Niagara was taken, that Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been abandoned, but that general Amherst, instead of pressing forward to their assistance, was preparing to attack the Isle-aux-Noix.While Wolfe rejoiced at the triumph of his brethren in arms, he could not avoid contrasting their success with his own disastrous efforts. His mind, alike lofty and susceptible, was deeply impressed by the disasters at Montmorency; and his extreme anxiety, preying upon his delicate frame, sensibly affected his health. He was observed frequently to sigh; and, as if life was only valuable while it added to his glory, he declared to his intimate friends, that he would not survive the disgrace which he imagined would attend the failure of his enterprise. Nothing, however, could shake the resolution of this valiant commander, or induce him to abandon the attempt. In a council of his principal officers, called on this critical occasion, it was resolved, that all the future operations should be above the town. The camp at the isle of Orleans was accordingly abandoned; and the whole army having embarked on board the fleet, a part of it was landed at point Levi, and a part higher up the river. Montcalm, apprehending from this movement that the invaders might make a distant descent and come on the back of the city of Quebec, detached M. de Bougainville with fifteen hundred men, to watch their motions, and prevent their landing.Baffled and harassed in all his previous assaults, general Wolfe seems to have determined to finish the enterprise by a single bold and desperate effort. The admiral sailed several leagues up the river, making occasional demonstrations of a design to land troops; and, during the night, a strong detachment in flat-bottomed boats fell silently down with the stream, to a pointabout a mile above the city. The beach was shelving, the bank high and precipitous, and the only path by which it could be scaled, was now defended by a captain’s guard and a battery of four guns. Colonel Howe, with the van, soon clambered up the rocks, drove away the guard, and seized upon the battery. The army landed about an hour before day, and by daybreak was marshalled on the heights of Abraham.Montcalm could not at first believe the intelligence; but, as soon as he was assured of its truth, he made all prudent haste to decide a battle which it was no longer possible to avoid. Leaving his camp at Montmorency, he crossed the riverSt.Charles with the intention of attacking the English army. No sooner did Wolfe observe this movement, than he began to form his order of battle. His troops consisted of six battalions, and the Louisbourg grenadiers. The right wing was commanded by general Monckton, and the left by general Murray. The right flank was covered by the Louisbourg grenadiers, and the rear and left by Howe’s light infantry. The form in which the French advanced indicating an intention to outflank the left of the English army, general Townshend was sent with the battalion of Amherst, and the two battalions of royal Americans, to that part of the line, and they were formeden potence, so as to present a double front to the enemy. The body of reserve consisted of one regiment, drawn up in eight divisions, with large intervals. The dispositions made by the French general were not less masterly. The right and left wings were composed about equally of European and colonial troops. The centre consisted of a column, formed of two battalions of regulars. Fifteen hundred Indians and Canadians, excellent marksmen, advancing in front, screened by surrounding thickets, began the battle. Their irregular fire proved fatal to many British officers, but it was soon silenced by the steady fire of the English.About nine in the morning the main body of the French advanced briskly to the charge, and the action soon became general. Montcalm having taken post on the left of the French army, and Wolfe on the right of the English, the two generals met each other where the battle was most severe. The English troops reserved their fire until the French had advanced within forty yards of their line, and then, by a general discharge, made terrible havoc among their ranks. The fire of the English was vigorously maintained, and the enemy everywhere yielded to it. General Wolfe, who, exposed in the front of his battalions, had been wounded in the wrist, betraying no symptom of pain, wrapped a handkerchief round his arm, and continued to encourage his men. Soon after, he received a shot in the groin; but, concealing the wound, he was pressing on at the head of his grenadiers with fixed bayonets,when a third ball pierced hisbreast.102The army, not disconcerted by his fall, continued the action underMonckton, on whom the command now devolved, but who, receiving a ball through his body, soon yielded the command to general Townshend. Montcalm, fighting in front of his battalions, received a mortal wound about the same time; and general Senezergus, the second in command also fell.The British grenadiers pressed on with their bayonets. General Murray, briskly advancing with the troops under his direction, broke the centre of the French army. The Highlanders, drawing their broadswords, completed the confusion of the enemy; and after having lost their first and second in command, the right and centre of the French were entirely driven from the field; and the left was following the example, when Bougainville appeared in the rear, with the fifteen hundred men who had been sent to oppose the landing of the English. Two battalions and two pieces of artillery were detached to meet him; but he retired, and the British troops were left the undisputed masters of the field. The loss of the French was much greater than that of the English. The corps of French regulars was almost entirely annihilated. The killed and wounded of the English army did not amount to six hundred men. Although Quebec was still strongly defended by its fortifications, and might possibly be relieved by Bougainville, or from Montreal, yet general Townshend had scarcely finished a road in the bank to get up his heavy artillery for a siege, when the inhabitants capitulated, on condition that during the war they might still enjoy their own civil and religious rights. A garrison of five thousand men was left under general Murray, and the fleet sailed out of theSt.Lawrence.The fall of Quebec did not immediately produce the submission of Canada. The main body of the French army, which, after the battle on the plains of Abraham, retired to Montreal, and which still consisted of ten battalions of regulars, had been reinforced by six thousand Canadian militia, and a body of Indians. With these forces M. de Levi, who had succeeded the marquis de Montcalm in the chief command, resolved to attempt the recovery of Quebec. He had hoped to carry the place by acoup de mainduring the winter; but, on reconnoitring, he found the outposts so well secured, and the governor so vigilant and active, that he postponed the enterprise until spring. In the month of April, when the upper part of theSt.Lawrence was so open as to admit a transportation by water, his artillery, military stores, and heavy baggage, were embarked at Montreal, and fell down the river under convoy of six frigates; and M. de Levi, after a march of ten days, arrived with his army at Point au Tremble, within a few miles of Quebec.General Murray, to whom the care of maintaining the English conquest had been intrusted, had taken every precaution to preserve it; but his troops had suffered so much by the extreme cold of the winter, and by the want of vegetables and fresh provisions, that instead of five thousand, theoriginal number of his garrison, there were not at this time above three thousand men fit for service. With this small but valiant body he resolved to meet the enemy in the field; and on the28thof April marched out to the heights of Abraham, where, near Sillery, he attacked the French under M. de Levi with great impetuosity. He was received with firmness; and, after a fierce encounter, finding himself outflanked, and in danger of being surrounded by superior numbers, he called off his troops, and retired into the city. In this action the loss of the English was near a thousand men, and that of the French still greater. The French general lost no time in improving his victory. On the very evening of the battle he opened trenches before the town, but it was the11thof May before he could mount his batteries, and bring his guns to bear on the fortifications. By that time general Murray, who had been indefatigable in his exertions, had completed some outworks, and planted so numerous an artillery on his ramparts, that his fire was very superior to that of the besiegers, and in a manner silenced their batteries. A British fleet most opportunely arriving a few days after, M. de Levi immediately raised the siege, and precipitately retired to Montreal. Here the marquis de Vaudreuil, governor-general of Canada, had fixed his head-quarters, and determined to make his last stand. For this purpose he called in all his detachments, and collected around him the whole force of the colony.The English, on the other hand, were resolved upon the utter annihilation of the French power in Canada; and general Amherst prepared to overwhelm it with an irresistible superiority of numbers. Almost on the same day, the armies from Quebec, from lake Ontario, and from lake Champlain, were concentrated before Montreal; a capitulation was immediately signed; Detroit, Michilimackinac, and, indeed, all New France, surrendered to the English. The French troops were to be carried home; and the Canadians to retain their civil and religious privileges.The history of modern Europe, with whose destiny that of the colonies was closely interwoven, may be designated as the annals of an interminable war. Her sovereigns, ever having the oily words of peace on their lips, have seldom had recourse to the olive branch but as the signal of a truce, the duration of which should be coeval with the reinvigoration of military strength. It was thus with France on the present occasion. Equally unsuccessful on both continents, and exhausted by her strenuous and continued efforts, she was at length induced to make overtures of peace; and every thing seemed to be in a fair train for adjustment, when the treaty was suddenly broken off by an attempt of the court of Versailles to mingle the politics of Spain and of Germany with the disputes between France and Great Britain. A secret family compact between the Bourbons to support each other through evil and good, in peace and in war, had rendered Spain desirous of war, and induced France once more to try her fortune. As the interests of the two nations were now identified, it only remained for England to make a formal declaration of hostility against Spain. The colonies of New England, being chiefly interested in the reduction of the West India islands, furnished a considerable body of troops to carry on the war. A large fleet was despatched from England; the land forces amounted to sixteen thousand; and before the end of the second year, Great Britain had taken the important city of Havannah, thekey of the Mexican gulf, together with the French provinces of Martinique Grenada,St.Lucia,St.Vincent, and the Caribbee islands.The progress of the British conquests, which threatened all the remaining colonial possessions of their opponents, was arrested by preliminary articles of peace, which, towards the close of 1762, were interchanged at Fontainbleau between the ministers of Great Britain, France, and Spain. On the10thof February in the following year, a definitive treaty of peace was signed at Paris, and soon after ratified. France ceded to Great Britain all the conquests which the latter had made in North America; and it was stipulated between the two crowns, that the boundary line of their respective dominions in the new hemisphere should run along the middle of the Mississippi, from its source as far as the Iberville, and along the middle of that river, and of lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain.Thus terminated a war, which originated in an attempt on the part of the French to surround the English colonists, and chain them to a narrow strip of country along the coast of the Atlantic; and ended with their giving up the whole of what was then their only valuable territory in North America. The immediate advantage the colonies derived from the successful issue of the contest was great and apparent. Although, for a short period after the conquest of Canada had been effected, they were subject to attacks from the Indian tribes attached to the French, and also from the Cherokees on their south-western borders, they were soon enabled to visit their cruelties with severe retribution, and to procure a lasting repose, as the Indians had no forts to which to repair for protection or aid. But the indirect results, though almost unperceived at first, were far more important, and prepared the way for those momentous efforts which issued in the loss to Great Britain of the fairest portion of her colonies, and the establishment of her vassal as a rival. The colonists became inured to the habits and hardships of a military life, and skilled in the arts of European warfare; while the desire of revenge for the loss of Canada, which France did not fail to harbor, was preparing for them a most efficient friend, and making way for the anomalous exhibition of a despotic sovereign exerting all his power in the cause of liberty and independence.COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION.Our limits will not permit us to enter into any speculations as to the remote origin of the American revolution. The immediate and exciting causes of the spirit of opposition to the government were twofold; the rigorous execution of the navigation laws, which destroyed a most important and profitable, though contraband and illegal trade; and the assertion by the British parliament of its right to tax the colonies. The latter so speedily followed the former, and afforded so preferable a ground on which to make a stand, that the navigation laws were seldom exhibited as one of the chief grievances; although, had not the stamp act and other similar measures been brought forward, the laws affecting the trade of the colonies would inevitably have excited the same opposition.The attempt to hold a people, circumstanced as were the American colonists, under the legislation of Great Britain, was as irrational as it wasunjust. Financial embarrassments called forth the erroneous policy into action, which, as often happens in private life, deeply aggravated the evil it was designed to remedy; and the attempt to wring a few thousands per annum from the colonists, terminated in plunging Great Britain into debt, and in depriving her of an immense territory, which, under a just and liberal management, might still have continued one of the most illustrious appendages of the British crown.Plans of laying internal taxes, and of drawing a revenue from the colonies, had been at various times suggested to the ministry, and particularly to Sir Robert Walpole. This statesman, however, was too wise and sagacious to adopt them. ‘I will leave the taxation of the Americans,’ Walpole answered, ‘for some of my successors, who may have more courage than I have, and be less friendly to commerce than I am. It has been a maxim with me,’ he added, ‘during my administration, to encourage the trade of the American colonies to the utmost latitude; nay, it has been necessary to pass over some irregularities in their trade with Europe; for, by encouraging them to an extensive and growing foreign commerce, if they gain five hundred thousand pounds, I am convinced that, in two years afterwards, full two hundred and fifty thousand of this gain will be in his majesty’s exchequer by the labor and product of this kingdom, as immense quantities of every kind of our manufactures go thither; and as they increase in the foreign American trade, more of our produce will be wanted. This is taxing them more agreeably to their own constitution and laws.’ The first Pitt, also, in his celebrated speech on the repeal of the stamp act, referring to the conduct of the several preceding administrations, says, ‘None of these thought, or even dreamed, of robbing the colonies of their constitutional rights. That was reserved to mark an era of the late administration; not that there were wanting some, when I had the honor to serve his majesty, to propose to me to burn my fingers with an American stamp act. With the enemy at their back, with our bayonets at their breasts, in the day of their distress, perhaps the Americans would have submitted to the imposition; but it would have been taking an ungenerous and unjust advantage.’Whatever might have been the views or wishes of any individual of the British cabinet, at any period, relative to drawing a revenue directly from the colonies, no one had been bold enough to make the attempt until after the reduction of the French power in America. This was deemed a favorable moment to call upon the Americans for taxes, to assist in the payment of a debt, incurred,as was alleged, in a great measure, for their protection against a powerful enemy, now no longer an object of theirdread.103A British statesman should have reflected, that, if the Americans were relieved from the dread of their ancient enemy, they no longer required the protection of the parent country against that enemy; and that the strongest hold on their dependence was gone when Canada was gained.The conquest of Canada had scarcely been effected, when rumors were extensively prevalent that a different system of government was about to be adopted by the parent state; that the charters would be taken away, and the colonies reduced to royal governments. The officers of the customs began to enforce with strictness all the acts of parliament regulatingthe trade of the colonies, several of which had been suspended, or had become obsolete. Governor Bernard, of Massachusetts, who was always a supporter of the royal prerogative, appears to have entered fully into these views, and to have indicated, by his appointment of confidential advisers, that his object would be to extend the power of the government to any limits which the ministry might require. The first demonstration of the new course intended to be pursued, was the arrival of an order in council to carry into effect the acts of trade, and to apply to the supreme judicature of the province for writs of assistance, to be granted to the officers of the customs. According to the ordinary course of law, no searches or seizures can be made without a special warrant, issued upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly designating the place to be searched and the goods to be seized. But the writ of assistance was to command all sheriffs and other civil officers to assist the person to whom it was granted in breaking open and searching every place where he might suspect any prohibited or uncustomed goods to be concealed. It was a sort of commission, during pleasure, to ransack the dwellings of the citizens, for it was never to be returned, nor any account of the proceedings under it rendered to the court whence it issued. Such a weapon of oppression in the hands of the inferior officers of the customs might well alarm even innocence, and confound the violators of the law.The mercantile part of the community united in opposing the petition, and was in a state of great anxiety as to the result of the question. The officers of the customs called uponMr.Otis for his official assistance, as advocate-general, to argue their cause: but as he believed these writs to be illegal and tyrannical, he resigned the situation, though very lucrative, and if filled by a compliant spirit, leading to the highest favors of government. The merchants of Salem and Boston applied to Otis and Thacher, who engaged to make their defence. The trial took place in the council chamber of the old town-house, in Boston. The judges were five in number, including lieutenant governor Hutchinson, who presided as chief justice; and the room was filled with all the officers of government and the principal citizens, to hear the arguments in a cause that inspired the deepest solicitude. The case was opened byMr.Gridley, who argued it with much learning, ingenuity, and dignity, urging every point and authority that could be found, after the most diligent search, in favor of the custom-house petition; making all his reasoning depend on this consideration,—‘if the parliament of Great Britain is the sovereign legislator of the British empire.’ He was followed byMr.Thacher on the opposite side, whose reasoning was ingenious and able, delivered in a tone of great mildness and moderation. ‘But,’ in the language of president Adams, ‘Otis was a flame of fire; with a promptitude of classical allusion, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him. American independence was then and there born. The seeds of patriots and heroes to defend theNon sine Diis animosus infans, to defend the vigorous youth, were then and there sown. Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance. Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Independence wasborn. In fifteen years,i. e.in 1776, he grew up to manhood and declared himselffree.’104In consequence of this argument, the popularity of Otis was without bounds, and at the next election he was for the first time chosen a member of the house of representatives, by an almost unanimous vote. Some idea of the state of public sentiment at that period may be derived from the following remarkable language of the governor, in his speech at the commencement of the session. ‘Let me recommend to you to give no attention to declamations tending to promote a suspicion of the civil rights of the people being in danger. Such harangues might suit well in the times of Charles and James, but in the times of the Georges they are groundless and unjust. Since the accession of the first George, there has been no instance of the legal privileges of any corporate body being attacked by any of the king’s ministers or servants, without public censure ensuing. His present majesty has given uncommon assurances how much he has at heart the preservation of the liberty, rights, and privileges of all his subjects. Can it be supposed that he can forfeit his word; or that he will suffer it to be forfeited by the acts of any servant of his with impunity? An insinuation so unreasonable and injurious I am sure will never be well received among you.’In the following session governor Bernard informed the house of representatives, that, during the recess of the legislature, he had appropriated a small sum towards fitting out the sloop Massachusetts to protect the fishery. The committee appointed to prepare an answer reported to the house a message, in which, after desiring his excellency to restore the sloop to her former condition, they add, ‘Justice to ourselves and to our constituents obliges us to remonstrate against the method of making or increasing establishments by the governor and council. It is in effect taking from the house their most darling privilege, the right of originating all taxes. It is, in short, annihilating one branch of the legislature. And when once the representatives of a people give up this privilege, the government will very soon become arbitrary. No necessity, therefore, can be sufficient to justify a house of representatives in giving up such a privilege; for it would be of little consequence to the people whether they were subject to George or Louis, the king of Great Britain or the French king, if both were arbitrary, as both would be if both could levy taxes without parliament.’ ‘Treason, treason!’ cried one of the members when these words were read; but the report was accepted, and the message sent unaltered to the governor. The same day he returned it, accompanied by a letter requesting that a part of it might be expunged, as disrespectful to the king. It was then proposed to insert an amendment in the message, expressive of loyalty; but a certain member crying ‘Rase them, rase them,’ the obnoxious words, which had been underlined by the governor, were erased; ‘it being obvious that the remonstrance would be the same in effect with or without them.’ The governor sent a vindication of his conduct to the house, and prorogued the assembly before there was time to answer it.The year 1764 was prolific in measures calculated to agitate and arouse the spirit of the Americans. Early in March an act was passed, whichdeclared that the bills which had been issued by the several colonial governments, should no longer be regarded as legal currency; an enactment which, although in some cases it might have the beneficial effect of preventing an injurious excess of paper, was very prejudicial to the interests, as well as galling to the feelings, of the colonists. On the10thof March the house of commons passed eighteen resolutions for imposing taxes and duties on the colonies. The execution of that which declared that it might be proper to impose certain stamp duties on them, was deferred to the next session; but the others were immediately enforced by ‘An Act for granting certain Duties in America;’ which, after stating that it was just and expedient to raise a revenue there, imposed duties on silks and colored calicoes from Persia, India, or China, and on sugar, wines, coffee, and pimento, made the sugar and molasses act perpetual, reducing the duty on molasses from six-pence to three-pence per gallon; and this for the express and sole purpose of raising a revenue. The same act increased the number of enumerated commodities, laid new and harsh restrictions on commerce, re-enacted many of the obsolete laws of trade, and provided that all penalties and forfeitures, accruing under any of them, might be sued for, at the election of the informer, in any court of record or of admiralty, or in that of vice-admiralty to be established over all America. The declaration which was made, that all these duties should be devoted to the maintenance of an army for the defence of the colonies, was by no means satisfactory: it was indeed urged by the ministry, to prove to Americans that the money which was raised from them would ultimately be spent again among their own inhabitants; but the colonists sagaciously conjectured, that now they had no other enemy than a few exhausted tribes of Indians, there must be some other design than that of defence in maintaining a standing army among them; and they could attribute the plan to no other source than a desire on the part of the ministry to secure the destruction of their liberties by military force.The direct assertion by the British parliament of its right to tax the colonies, accompanied, as it evidently was, by a determination to carry the principle into almost immediate effect, excited the most extensive clamor and agitation, not only among individuals, but in the minds of the constituted authorities. ‘Taxation without representation is tyranny,’ was the universal watchword; the proposed exaction was everywhere the topic of conversation, and the subject of the severest animadversion. Every day beheld the affection of the Americans for the parent country sensibly diminish, while the disposition to resist by force was silently but effectually fostered. Several of the provincial assemblies sent instructions to their agents in London to employ every means to prevent the obnoxious measure being carried into effect.The people of Boston, at their meeting in May, instructed their representatives to the general court on this important subject. In these instructions, (which were drawn up by Samuel Adams, one of the committee appointed for that purpose,) after commenting on the sugar and molasses act, they proceed to observe: ‘But our greatest apprehension is, that these proceedings may be preparatory to new taxes; for if our trade may be taxed, why not our lands? why not the products of our lands, and every thing we possess or use? This, we conceive, annihilates our charter rights to govern and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privilegeswhich, as we have never forfeited, we hold in common with our fellow-subjects who are natives of Britain. If taxes are laid upon us, in any shape, without our having a legal representation where they are laid, we are reduced from the character of free subjects, to the state of tributary slaves. We, therefore, earnestly recommend it to you to use your utmost endeavors to obtain from the general court all necessary advice and instruction to our agent, at this most critical juncture. We also desire you to use your endeavors that the other colonies, having the same interests and rights with us, may add their weight to that of this province; that by united application of all who are aggrieved, all may obtain redress.’This was the first act in the colonies, in opposition to the ministerial plans of drawing a revenue directly from America; and it contained the first suggestion of the propriety of that mutual understanding and correspondence among the colonies, which laid the foundation of their future confederacy. The house of representatives of Massachusetts, in June following, declared, ‘That the sole right of giving and granting the money of the people of that province, was vested in them, or their representatives, and that the imposition of duties and taxes by the parliament of Great Britain upon a people not represented in the house of commons, is absolutely irreconcilable with their rights; that no man can justly take the property of another, without his consent; upon which original principles, the power of making laws for levying taxes, one of the main pillars of the British constitution, is evidently founded.’ The same sentiments are expressed, though in stronger language, in their letter of instructions to their agent. ‘If the colonists are to be taxed at pleasure,’ they say, ‘without any representatives in parliament, what will there be to distinguish them, in point of liberty, from the subjects of the most absolute prince? If we are to be taxed at pleasure, without our consent, will it be any consolation to us, that we are to be assessed by a hundred instead of one? If we are not represented, we are slaves.’ The house, also, at the same time, appointed a committee, to sit during the recess of the court, to write to the other colonies, requesting them to join in applying for a repeal of the sugar act, and in endeavoring to prevent the passage of the act laying stamp duties, or any other act imposing taxes on the American provinces.In addition to the acts and declarations of the colonial legislatures, various individuals enlightened and animated the colonists by numerous publications both in the newspapers and by separate pamphlets. Among the latter, ‘The Rights of the Colonists asserted and proved,’ byMr.Otis, and ‘The Sentiments of a British American,’ by Oxenbridge Thacher, were particularly distinguished.Mr.Otis, among other things, declared, ‘That the imposition of taxes, whether on trade or on land, on houses or ships, on real or personal, fixed or floating property in the colonies, is absolutely irreconcilable with the rights of the colonists, as British subjects and as men.’ On the subject of the sugar and molasses act,Mr.Thacher stated his objections, the first of which was, ‘That a tax was thereby laid on several commodities, to be raised and levied in the plantations, and to be remitted home to England. This is esteemed,’ he said ‘a grievance, inasmuch as the same are laid without the consent of the representatives of the colonists. It is esteemed an essential British right, that no man shall be subject to any tax but what, in person or by his representative, he hath a voice in laying.’In the winter of 1765, at the request of the other agents of the coloniesDr.Franklin, Jared Ingersoll,Mr.Jackson, andMr.Garth, had a conference withMr.Grenville, on the subject of the stamp duty.Mr.Ingersoll was from Connecticut, and had been requested to assistMr.Jackson in any matters relating to that colony;Mr.Garth was agent for South Carolina, and he andMr.Jackson were members of parliament. These gentlemen, and particularlyDr.Franklin andMr.Ingersoll, informed the minister of the great opposition to the proposed tax in America, and most earnestly entreated him, that if money must be drawn from the colonies by taxes, to leave it with the colonists to raise it among themselves in such manner as they should think proper, and best adapted to their circumstances and abilities.Dr.Franklin informed the minister, that the legislature of Pennsylvania had by a resolution declared, ‘That as they always had, so they always should, think it their duty to grant aids to the crown, according to their abilities, whenever required of them in the usual constitutional way.’Neither the remonstrances of the colonists, however, nor the entreaties of their agents, were of any avail with the ministry or parliament. The bill for laying the stamp and other duties was soon brought before the house, and petitions from the colonies of Virginia, Connecticut, and South Carolina, were offered in opposition to it. The house, however, refused to receive them; in the first place, because they questioned or denied the right of parliament to pass the bill; and in the second place, because it was contrary to an old standing rule of the house,—‘that no petition should be received against a money bill.’ The majority against receiving the petitions was very large, and those from the other colonies were not offered. The petition from New York was expressed in such strong language, that no member of the house could be prevailed upon to present it. The admirable speech of colonel Barré in reply to Charles Townshend, so familiar to all of us, although it produced a profound impression, did not of course defeat the measure; and the colonial petitions and remonstrances, with the petition of the London merchants trading to America, were equally unavailing. In the house of commons there were about two hundred and fifty for, and only fifty against it. In the lords it passed without debate, with entire unanimity; and on the22dof March it obtained the royal assent.This enactment, which was to come into operation on the1stof 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,’ saysMr.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 younginexperienced, 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 beingsoon levelled with the ground, the rioters next attackedMr.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 the26ththe 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 whichMr.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 hundredpounds.105The 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 the24thof August a gazette extraordinary was published at Providence, withVox 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 thetown-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,agedCXLV.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‘LIBERTYREVIVED;’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, andMr.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 ofstamps 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 the7thof 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. GeorgeIII.had ascended the throne not long after the capture of Quebec and in the following October, the patriot Pitt, who had devised and executedthe 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 appointedMr.Pitt’s successor; and under his brief administration the peace of Paris was concluded. He was succeeded byMr.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 withMr.Pitt, who expressed his unwillingness to go toSt.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 the19thof 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 ofMr.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 thesecond plan for taxing the colonies, for he was ever urging the subject on the newministers.106The 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 the29thof 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 countenancethe 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 ofMr.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 kindof 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 ofMr.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 the22dof 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 the31stof 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 the6thof 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 the10thof 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 fromMr.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 thepeople;107while, on the other,the populace are declared to be the aggressors, and the military to have acted on thedefensive.108Early in the evening of the5thof 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.
The expedition against the capital of Canada was the most daring and important. Strong by nature, and still stronger by art, Quebec had obtained the appellation of the Gibraltar of America; and every attempt against it had failed. It was now commanded by Montcalm, an officer of distinguished reputation; and its capture must have appeared chimerical to any one but Pitt. He judged rightly, however, that the boldest and most dangerous enterprises are often the most successful, especially when committed to ardent minds glowing with enthusiasm, and emulous of glory. Such a mind he had discovered in general Wolfe, whose conduct at Louisbourg had attracted his attention. He appointed him to conduct the expedition, and gave him for assistants brigadier-generals Monckton, Townshend, and Murray; all, like himself, young and ardent. Early in the season he sailed from Halifax with eight thousand troops, and, near the last of June, landed the whole army on the island of Orleans, a few miles below Quebec. From this position he could take a near and distinct view of the obstacles to be overcome. These were so great, that even the bold and sanguine Wolfe perceived more to fear than to hope. In a letter toMr.Pitt, written before commencing operations, he declared that he saw but little prospect of reducing the place.
Quebec stands on the north side of theSt.Lawrence, and consists of an upper and lower town. The lower town lies between the river and a bold and lofty eminence, which runs parallel to it far to the westward. At the top of this eminence is a plain, upon which the upper town is situated.Below, or east of the city, is the riverSt.Charles, whose channel is rough, and whose banks are steep and broken. At a short distance farther down is the Montmorency; and between these two rivers, and reaching from one to the other, was encamped the French army, strongly entrenched, and at least equal in number to that of the English. General Wolfe took possession of Point Levi, on the southern bank of theSt.Lawrence, and there erected batteries against the town. The cannonade which was kept up, though it destroyed many houses, made but little impression on the works, which were too strong and too remote to be materially affected; their elevation, at the same time, placing them beyond the reach of the fleet.
Siege of Quebec.
Siege of Quebec.
Convinced of the impossibility of reducing the place, unless he could erect batteries on the north side of theSt.Lawrence, Wolfe soon decided on more daring measures. The northern shore of theSt.Lawrence, to a considerable distance above Quebec, is so bold and rocky as to render a landing in the face of an enemy impracticable. If an attempt were made below the town, the river Montmorency passed, and the French driven from their entrenchments, theSt.Charles would present a new, and perhaps an insuperable barrier. With every obstacle fully in view, Wolfe, heroically observing that ‘a victorious army finds no difficulties,’ resolved to pass the Montmorency, and bring Montcalm to an engagement. In pursuance of this resolution, thirteen companies of English grenadiers, and part of the second battalion of royal Americans, were landed at the mouth of that river, while two divisions, under generals Townshend and Murray, prepared to cross it higher up. Wolfe’s plan was to attack first a redoubt, close to the water’s edge, apparently beyond reach of the fire from the enemy’s entrenchments, in the belief that the French, by attempting to support that fortification, would put it in his power to bring on a general engagement; or, if they should submit to the loss of the redoubt, that he could afterwards examine their situation with coolness, and advantageously regulate his future operations.
On the approach of the British troops the redoubt was evacuated; andthe general, observing some confusion in the French camp, changed his original plan, and determined not to delay an attack. Orders were immediately despatched to the generals Townshend and Murray to keep their divisions in readiness for fording the river; and the grenadiers and royal Americans were directed to form on the beach until they could be properly sustained. These troops, however, not waiting for support, rushed impetuously toward the enemy’s entrenchments; but they were received with so strong and steady a fire from the French musketry, that they were instantly thrown into disorder, and obliged to seek shelter at the redoubt which the enemy had abandoned. Detained here awhile by a dreadful thunder storm, they were still within reach of a severe fire from the French; and many gallant officers, exposing their persons in attempting to form the troops, were killed, the whole loss amounting to nearly five hundred men. The plan of attack being effectually disconcerted, the English general gave orders for repassing the river, and returning to the isle of Orleans.
Compelled to abandon the attack on that side, Wolfe deemed that advantage might result from attempting to destroy the French fleet, and by distracting the attention of Montcalm with continual descents upon the northern shore. General Murray, with twelve hundred men in transports, made two vigorous but abortive attempts to land; and though more successful in the third, he did nothing more than burn a magazine of warlike stores. The enemy’s fleet was effectually secured against attacks, either by land or by water, and the commander-in-chief was again obliged to submit to the mortification of recalling his troops. At this juncture, intelligence arrived that Niagara was taken, that Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been abandoned, but that general Amherst, instead of pressing forward to their assistance, was preparing to attack the Isle-aux-Noix.
While Wolfe rejoiced at the triumph of his brethren in arms, he could not avoid contrasting their success with his own disastrous efforts. His mind, alike lofty and susceptible, was deeply impressed by the disasters at Montmorency; and his extreme anxiety, preying upon his delicate frame, sensibly affected his health. He was observed frequently to sigh; and, as if life was only valuable while it added to his glory, he declared to his intimate friends, that he would not survive the disgrace which he imagined would attend the failure of his enterprise. Nothing, however, could shake the resolution of this valiant commander, or induce him to abandon the attempt. In a council of his principal officers, called on this critical occasion, it was resolved, that all the future operations should be above the town. The camp at the isle of Orleans was accordingly abandoned; and the whole army having embarked on board the fleet, a part of it was landed at point Levi, and a part higher up the river. Montcalm, apprehending from this movement that the invaders might make a distant descent and come on the back of the city of Quebec, detached M. de Bougainville with fifteen hundred men, to watch their motions, and prevent their landing.
Baffled and harassed in all his previous assaults, general Wolfe seems to have determined to finish the enterprise by a single bold and desperate effort. The admiral sailed several leagues up the river, making occasional demonstrations of a design to land troops; and, during the night, a strong detachment in flat-bottomed boats fell silently down with the stream, to a pointabout a mile above the city. The beach was shelving, the bank high and precipitous, and the only path by which it could be scaled, was now defended by a captain’s guard and a battery of four guns. Colonel Howe, with the van, soon clambered up the rocks, drove away the guard, and seized upon the battery. The army landed about an hour before day, and by daybreak was marshalled on the heights of Abraham.
Montcalm could not at first believe the intelligence; but, as soon as he was assured of its truth, he made all prudent haste to decide a battle which it was no longer possible to avoid. Leaving his camp at Montmorency, he crossed the riverSt.Charles with the intention of attacking the English army. No sooner did Wolfe observe this movement, than he began to form his order of battle. His troops consisted of six battalions, and the Louisbourg grenadiers. The right wing was commanded by general Monckton, and the left by general Murray. The right flank was covered by the Louisbourg grenadiers, and the rear and left by Howe’s light infantry. The form in which the French advanced indicating an intention to outflank the left of the English army, general Townshend was sent with the battalion of Amherst, and the two battalions of royal Americans, to that part of the line, and they were formeden potence, so as to present a double front to the enemy. The body of reserve consisted of one regiment, drawn up in eight divisions, with large intervals. The dispositions made by the French general were not less masterly. The right and left wings were composed about equally of European and colonial troops. The centre consisted of a column, formed of two battalions of regulars. Fifteen hundred Indians and Canadians, excellent marksmen, advancing in front, screened by surrounding thickets, began the battle. Their irregular fire proved fatal to many British officers, but it was soon silenced by the steady fire of the English.
About nine in the morning the main body of the French advanced briskly to the charge, and the action soon became general. Montcalm having taken post on the left of the French army, and Wolfe on the right of the English, the two generals met each other where the battle was most severe. The English troops reserved their fire until the French had advanced within forty yards of their line, and then, by a general discharge, made terrible havoc among their ranks. The fire of the English was vigorously maintained, and the enemy everywhere yielded to it. General Wolfe, who, exposed in the front of his battalions, had been wounded in the wrist, betraying no symptom of pain, wrapped a handkerchief round his arm, and continued to encourage his men. Soon after, he received a shot in the groin; but, concealing the wound, he was pressing on at the head of his grenadiers with fixed bayonets,when a third ball pierced hisbreast.102The army, not disconcerted by his fall, continued the action underMonckton, on whom the command now devolved, but who, receiving a ball through his body, soon yielded the command to general Townshend. Montcalm, fighting in front of his battalions, received a mortal wound about the same time; and general Senezergus, the second in command also fell.
The British grenadiers pressed on with their bayonets. General Murray, briskly advancing with the troops under his direction, broke the centre of the French army. The Highlanders, drawing their broadswords, completed the confusion of the enemy; and after having lost their first and second in command, the right and centre of the French were entirely driven from the field; and the left was following the example, when Bougainville appeared in the rear, with the fifteen hundred men who had been sent to oppose the landing of the English. Two battalions and two pieces of artillery were detached to meet him; but he retired, and the British troops were left the undisputed masters of the field. The loss of the French was much greater than that of the English. The corps of French regulars was almost entirely annihilated. The killed and wounded of the English army did not amount to six hundred men. Although Quebec was still strongly defended by its fortifications, and might possibly be relieved by Bougainville, or from Montreal, yet general Townshend had scarcely finished a road in the bank to get up his heavy artillery for a siege, when the inhabitants capitulated, on condition that during the war they might still enjoy their own civil and religious rights. A garrison of five thousand men was left under general Murray, and the fleet sailed out of theSt.Lawrence.
The fall of Quebec did not immediately produce the submission of Canada. The main body of the French army, which, after the battle on the plains of Abraham, retired to Montreal, and which still consisted of ten battalions of regulars, had been reinforced by six thousand Canadian militia, and a body of Indians. With these forces M. de Levi, who had succeeded the marquis de Montcalm in the chief command, resolved to attempt the recovery of Quebec. He had hoped to carry the place by acoup de mainduring the winter; but, on reconnoitring, he found the outposts so well secured, and the governor so vigilant and active, that he postponed the enterprise until spring. In the month of April, when the upper part of theSt.Lawrence was so open as to admit a transportation by water, his artillery, military stores, and heavy baggage, were embarked at Montreal, and fell down the river under convoy of six frigates; and M. de Levi, after a march of ten days, arrived with his army at Point au Tremble, within a few miles of Quebec.
General Murray, to whom the care of maintaining the English conquest had been intrusted, had taken every precaution to preserve it; but his troops had suffered so much by the extreme cold of the winter, and by the want of vegetables and fresh provisions, that instead of five thousand, theoriginal number of his garrison, there were not at this time above three thousand men fit for service. With this small but valiant body he resolved to meet the enemy in the field; and on the28thof April marched out to the heights of Abraham, where, near Sillery, he attacked the French under M. de Levi with great impetuosity. He was received with firmness; and, after a fierce encounter, finding himself outflanked, and in danger of being surrounded by superior numbers, he called off his troops, and retired into the city. In this action the loss of the English was near a thousand men, and that of the French still greater. The French general lost no time in improving his victory. On the very evening of the battle he opened trenches before the town, but it was the11thof May before he could mount his batteries, and bring his guns to bear on the fortifications. By that time general Murray, who had been indefatigable in his exertions, had completed some outworks, and planted so numerous an artillery on his ramparts, that his fire was very superior to that of the besiegers, and in a manner silenced their batteries. A British fleet most opportunely arriving a few days after, M. de Levi immediately raised the siege, and precipitately retired to Montreal. Here the marquis de Vaudreuil, governor-general of Canada, had fixed his head-quarters, and determined to make his last stand. For this purpose he called in all his detachments, and collected around him the whole force of the colony.
The English, on the other hand, were resolved upon the utter annihilation of the French power in Canada; and general Amherst prepared to overwhelm it with an irresistible superiority of numbers. Almost on the same day, the armies from Quebec, from lake Ontario, and from lake Champlain, were concentrated before Montreal; a capitulation was immediately signed; Detroit, Michilimackinac, and, indeed, all New France, surrendered to the English. The French troops were to be carried home; and the Canadians to retain their civil and religious privileges.
The history of modern Europe, with whose destiny that of the colonies was closely interwoven, may be designated as the annals of an interminable war. Her sovereigns, ever having the oily words of peace on their lips, have seldom had recourse to the olive branch but as the signal of a truce, the duration of which should be coeval with the reinvigoration of military strength. It was thus with France on the present occasion. Equally unsuccessful on both continents, and exhausted by her strenuous and continued efforts, she was at length induced to make overtures of peace; and every thing seemed to be in a fair train for adjustment, when the treaty was suddenly broken off by an attempt of the court of Versailles to mingle the politics of Spain and of Germany with the disputes between France and Great Britain. A secret family compact between the Bourbons to support each other through evil and good, in peace and in war, had rendered Spain desirous of war, and induced France once more to try her fortune. As the interests of the two nations were now identified, it only remained for England to make a formal declaration of hostility against Spain. The colonies of New England, being chiefly interested in the reduction of the West India islands, furnished a considerable body of troops to carry on the war. A large fleet was despatched from England; the land forces amounted to sixteen thousand; and before the end of the second year, Great Britain had taken the important city of Havannah, thekey of the Mexican gulf, together with the French provinces of Martinique Grenada,St.Lucia,St.Vincent, and the Caribbee islands.
The progress of the British conquests, which threatened all the remaining colonial possessions of their opponents, was arrested by preliminary articles of peace, which, towards the close of 1762, were interchanged at Fontainbleau between the ministers of Great Britain, France, and Spain. On the10thof February in the following year, a definitive treaty of peace was signed at Paris, and soon after ratified. France ceded to Great Britain all the conquests which the latter had made in North America; and it was stipulated between the two crowns, that the boundary line of their respective dominions in the new hemisphere should run along the middle of the Mississippi, from its source as far as the Iberville, and along the middle of that river, and of lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain.
Thus terminated a war, which originated in an attempt on the part of the French to surround the English colonists, and chain them to a narrow strip of country along the coast of the Atlantic; and ended with their giving up the whole of what was then their only valuable territory in North America. The immediate advantage the colonies derived from the successful issue of the contest was great and apparent. Although, for a short period after the conquest of Canada had been effected, they were subject to attacks from the Indian tribes attached to the French, and also from the Cherokees on their south-western borders, they were soon enabled to visit their cruelties with severe retribution, and to procure a lasting repose, as the Indians had no forts to which to repair for protection or aid. But the indirect results, though almost unperceived at first, were far more important, and prepared the way for those momentous efforts which issued in the loss to Great Britain of the fairest portion of her colonies, and the establishment of her vassal as a rival. The colonists became inured to the habits and hardships of a military life, and skilled in the arts of European warfare; while the desire of revenge for the loss of Canada, which France did not fail to harbor, was preparing for them a most efficient friend, and making way for the anomalous exhibition of a despotic sovereign exerting all his power in the cause of liberty and independence.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION.
Our limits will not permit us to enter into any speculations as to the remote origin of the American revolution. The immediate and exciting causes of the spirit of opposition to the government were twofold; the rigorous execution of the navigation laws, which destroyed a most important and profitable, though contraband and illegal trade; and the assertion by the British parliament of its right to tax the colonies. The latter so speedily followed the former, and afforded so preferable a ground on which to make a stand, that the navigation laws were seldom exhibited as one of the chief grievances; although, had not the stamp act and other similar measures been brought forward, the laws affecting the trade of the colonies would inevitably have excited the same opposition.
The attempt to hold a people, circumstanced as were the American colonists, under the legislation of Great Britain, was as irrational as it wasunjust. Financial embarrassments called forth the erroneous policy into action, which, as often happens in private life, deeply aggravated the evil it was designed to remedy; and the attempt to wring a few thousands per annum from the colonists, terminated in plunging Great Britain into debt, and in depriving her of an immense territory, which, under a just and liberal management, might still have continued one of the most illustrious appendages of the British crown.
Plans of laying internal taxes, and of drawing a revenue from the colonies, had been at various times suggested to the ministry, and particularly to Sir Robert Walpole. This statesman, however, was too wise and sagacious to adopt them. ‘I will leave the taxation of the Americans,’ Walpole answered, ‘for some of my successors, who may have more courage than I have, and be less friendly to commerce than I am. It has been a maxim with me,’ he added, ‘during my administration, to encourage the trade of the American colonies to the utmost latitude; nay, it has been necessary to pass over some irregularities in their trade with Europe; for, by encouraging them to an extensive and growing foreign commerce, if they gain five hundred thousand pounds, I am convinced that, in two years afterwards, full two hundred and fifty thousand of this gain will be in his majesty’s exchequer by the labor and product of this kingdom, as immense quantities of every kind of our manufactures go thither; and as they increase in the foreign American trade, more of our produce will be wanted. This is taxing them more agreeably to their own constitution and laws.’ The first Pitt, also, in his celebrated speech on the repeal of the stamp act, referring to the conduct of the several preceding administrations, says, ‘None of these thought, or even dreamed, of robbing the colonies of their constitutional rights. That was reserved to mark an era of the late administration; not that there were wanting some, when I had the honor to serve his majesty, to propose to me to burn my fingers with an American stamp act. With the enemy at their back, with our bayonets at their breasts, in the day of their distress, perhaps the Americans would have submitted to the imposition; but it would have been taking an ungenerous and unjust advantage.’
Whatever might have been the views or wishes of any individual of the British cabinet, at any period, relative to drawing a revenue directly from the colonies, no one had been bold enough to make the attempt until after the reduction of the French power in America. This was deemed a favorable moment to call upon the Americans for taxes, to assist in the payment of a debt, incurred,as was alleged, in a great measure, for their protection against a powerful enemy, now no longer an object of theirdread.103A British statesman should have reflected, that, if the Americans were relieved from the dread of their ancient enemy, they no longer required the protection of the parent country against that enemy; and that the strongest hold on their dependence was gone when Canada was gained.
The conquest of Canada had scarcely been effected, when rumors were extensively prevalent that a different system of government was about to be adopted by the parent state; that the charters would be taken away, and the colonies reduced to royal governments. The officers of the customs began to enforce with strictness all the acts of parliament regulatingthe trade of the colonies, several of which had been suspended, or had become obsolete. Governor Bernard, of Massachusetts, who was always a supporter of the royal prerogative, appears to have entered fully into these views, and to have indicated, by his appointment of confidential advisers, that his object would be to extend the power of the government to any limits which the ministry might require. The first demonstration of the new course intended to be pursued, was the arrival of an order in council to carry into effect the acts of trade, and to apply to the supreme judicature of the province for writs of assistance, to be granted to the officers of the customs. According to the ordinary course of law, no searches or seizures can be made without a special warrant, issued upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly designating the place to be searched and the goods to be seized. But the writ of assistance was to command all sheriffs and other civil officers to assist the person to whom it was granted in breaking open and searching every place where he might suspect any prohibited or uncustomed goods to be concealed. It was a sort of commission, during pleasure, to ransack the dwellings of the citizens, for it was never to be returned, nor any account of the proceedings under it rendered to the court whence it issued. Such a weapon of oppression in the hands of the inferior officers of the customs might well alarm even innocence, and confound the violators of the law.
The mercantile part of the community united in opposing the petition, and was in a state of great anxiety as to the result of the question. The officers of the customs called uponMr.Otis for his official assistance, as advocate-general, to argue their cause: but as he believed these writs to be illegal and tyrannical, he resigned the situation, though very lucrative, and if filled by a compliant spirit, leading to the highest favors of government. The merchants of Salem and Boston applied to Otis and Thacher, who engaged to make their defence. The trial took place in the council chamber of the old town-house, in Boston. The judges were five in number, including lieutenant governor Hutchinson, who presided as chief justice; and the room was filled with all the officers of government and the principal citizens, to hear the arguments in a cause that inspired the deepest solicitude. The case was opened byMr.Gridley, who argued it with much learning, ingenuity, and dignity, urging every point and authority that could be found, after the most diligent search, in favor of the custom-house petition; making all his reasoning depend on this consideration,—‘if the parliament of Great Britain is the sovereign legislator of the British empire.’ He was followed byMr.Thacher on the opposite side, whose reasoning was ingenious and able, delivered in a tone of great mildness and moderation. ‘But,’ in the language of president Adams, ‘Otis was a flame of fire; with a promptitude of classical allusion, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him. American independence was then and there born. The seeds of patriots and heroes to defend theNon sine Diis animosus infans, to defend the vigorous youth, were then and there sown. Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance. Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Independence wasborn. In fifteen years,i. e.in 1776, he grew up to manhood and declared himselffree.’104
In consequence of this argument, the popularity of Otis was without bounds, and at the next election he was for the first time chosen a member of the house of representatives, by an almost unanimous vote. Some idea of the state of public sentiment at that period may be derived from the following remarkable language of the governor, in his speech at the commencement of the session. ‘Let me recommend to you to give no attention to declamations tending to promote a suspicion of the civil rights of the people being in danger. Such harangues might suit well in the times of Charles and James, but in the times of the Georges they are groundless and unjust. Since the accession of the first George, there has been no instance of the legal privileges of any corporate body being attacked by any of the king’s ministers or servants, without public censure ensuing. His present majesty has given uncommon assurances how much he has at heart the preservation of the liberty, rights, and privileges of all his subjects. Can it be supposed that he can forfeit his word; or that he will suffer it to be forfeited by the acts of any servant of his with impunity? An insinuation so unreasonable and injurious I am sure will never be well received among you.’
In the following session governor Bernard informed the house of representatives, that, during the recess of the legislature, he had appropriated a small sum towards fitting out the sloop Massachusetts to protect the fishery. The committee appointed to prepare an answer reported to the house a message, in which, after desiring his excellency to restore the sloop to her former condition, they add, ‘Justice to ourselves and to our constituents obliges us to remonstrate against the method of making or increasing establishments by the governor and council. It is in effect taking from the house their most darling privilege, the right of originating all taxes. It is, in short, annihilating one branch of the legislature. And when once the representatives of a people give up this privilege, the government will very soon become arbitrary. No necessity, therefore, can be sufficient to justify a house of representatives in giving up such a privilege; for it would be of little consequence to the people whether they were subject to George or Louis, the king of Great Britain or the French king, if both were arbitrary, as both would be if both could levy taxes without parliament.’ ‘Treason, treason!’ cried one of the members when these words were read; but the report was accepted, and the message sent unaltered to the governor. The same day he returned it, accompanied by a letter requesting that a part of it might be expunged, as disrespectful to the king. It was then proposed to insert an amendment in the message, expressive of loyalty; but a certain member crying ‘Rase them, rase them,’ the obnoxious words, which had been underlined by the governor, were erased; ‘it being obvious that the remonstrance would be the same in effect with or without them.’ The governor sent a vindication of his conduct to the house, and prorogued the assembly before there was time to answer it.
The year 1764 was prolific in measures calculated to agitate and arouse the spirit of the Americans. Early in March an act was passed, whichdeclared that the bills which had been issued by the several colonial governments, should no longer be regarded as legal currency; an enactment which, although in some cases it might have the beneficial effect of preventing an injurious excess of paper, was very prejudicial to the interests, as well as galling to the feelings, of the colonists. On the10thof March the house of commons passed eighteen resolutions for imposing taxes and duties on the colonies. The execution of that which declared that it might be proper to impose certain stamp duties on them, was deferred to the next session; but the others were immediately enforced by ‘An Act for granting certain Duties in America;’ which, after stating that it was just and expedient to raise a revenue there, imposed duties on silks and colored calicoes from Persia, India, or China, and on sugar, wines, coffee, and pimento, made the sugar and molasses act perpetual, reducing the duty on molasses from six-pence to three-pence per gallon; and this for the express and sole purpose of raising a revenue. The same act increased the number of enumerated commodities, laid new and harsh restrictions on commerce, re-enacted many of the obsolete laws of trade, and provided that all penalties and forfeitures, accruing under any of them, might be sued for, at the election of the informer, in any court of record or of admiralty, or in that of vice-admiralty to be established over all America. The declaration which was made, that all these duties should be devoted to the maintenance of an army for the defence of the colonies, was by no means satisfactory: it was indeed urged by the ministry, to prove to Americans that the money which was raised from them would ultimately be spent again among their own inhabitants; but the colonists sagaciously conjectured, that now they had no other enemy than a few exhausted tribes of Indians, there must be some other design than that of defence in maintaining a standing army among them; and they could attribute the plan to no other source than a desire on the part of the ministry to secure the destruction of their liberties by military force.
The direct assertion by the British parliament of its right to tax the colonies, accompanied, as it evidently was, by a determination to carry the principle into almost immediate effect, excited the most extensive clamor and agitation, not only among individuals, but in the minds of the constituted authorities. ‘Taxation without representation is tyranny,’ was the universal watchword; the proposed exaction was everywhere the topic of conversation, and the subject of the severest animadversion. Every day beheld the affection of the Americans for the parent country sensibly diminish, while the disposition to resist by force was silently but effectually fostered. Several of the provincial assemblies sent instructions to their agents in London to employ every means to prevent the obnoxious measure being carried into effect.
The people of Boston, at their meeting in May, instructed their representatives to the general court on this important subject. In these instructions, (which were drawn up by Samuel Adams, one of the committee appointed for that purpose,) after commenting on the sugar and molasses act, they proceed to observe: ‘But our greatest apprehension is, that these proceedings may be preparatory to new taxes; for if our trade may be taxed, why not our lands? why not the products of our lands, and every thing we possess or use? This, we conceive, annihilates our charter rights to govern and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privilegeswhich, as we have never forfeited, we hold in common with our fellow-subjects who are natives of Britain. If taxes are laid upon us, in any shape, without our having a legal representation where they are laid, we are reduced from the character of free subjects, to the state of tributary slaves. We, therefore, earnestly recommend it to you to use your utmost endeavors to obtain from the general court all necessary advice and instruction to our agent, at this most critical juncture. We also desire you to use your endeavors that the other colonies, having the same interests and rights with us, may add their weight to that of this province; that by united application of all who are aggrieved, all may obtain redress.’
This was the first act in the colonies, in opposition to the ministerial plans of drawing a revenue directly from America; and it contained the first suggestion of the propriety of that mutual understanding and correspondence among the colonies, which laid the foundation of their future confederacy. The house of representatives of Massachusetts, in June following, declared, ‘That the sole right of giving and granting the money of the people of that province, was vested in them, or their representatives, and that the imposition of duties and taxes by the parliament of Great Britain upon a people not represented in the house of commons, is absolutely irreconcilable with their rights; that no man can justly take the property of another, without his consent; upon which original principles, the power of making laws for levying taxes, one of the main pillars of the British constitution, is evidently founded.’ The same sentiments are expressed, though in stronger language, in their letter of instructions to their agent. ‘If the colonists are to be taxed at pleasure,’ they say, ‘without any representatives in parliament, what will there be to distinguish them, in point of liberty, from the subjects of the most absolute prince? If we are to be taxed at pleasure, without our consent, will it be any consolation to us, that we are to be assessed by a hundred instead of one? If we are not represented, we are slaves.’ The house, also, at the same time, appointed a committee, to sit during the recess of the court, to write to the other colonies, requesting them to join in applying for a repeal of the sugar act, and in endeavoring to prevent the passage of the act laying stamp duties, or any other act imposing taxes on the American provinces.
In addition to the acts and declarations of the colonial legislatures, various individuals enlightened and animated the colonists by numerous publications both in the newspapers and by separate pamphlets. Among the latter, ‘The Rights of the Colonists asserted and proved,’ byMr.Otis, and ‘The Sentiments of a British American,’ by Oxenbridge Thacher, were particularly distinguished.Mr.Otis, among other things, declared, ‘That the imposition of taxes, whether on trade or on land, on houses or ships, on real or personal, fixed or floating property in the colonies, is absolutely irreconcilable with the rights of the colonists, as British subjects and as men.’ On the subject of the sugar and molasses act,Mr.Thacher stated his objections, the first of which was, ‘That a tax was thereby laid on several commodities, to be raised and levied in the plantations, and to be remitted home to England. This is esteemed,’ he said ‘a grievance, inasmuch as the same are laid without the consent of the representatives of the colonists. It is esteemed an essential British right, that no man shall be subject to any tax but what, in person or by his representative, he hath a voice in laying.’
In the winter of 1765, at the request of the other agents of the coloniesDr.Franklin, Jared Ingersoll,Mr.Jackson, andMr.Garth, had a conference withMr.Grenville, on the subject of the stamp duty.Mr.Ingersoll was from Connecticut, and had been requested to assistMr.Jackson in any matters relating to that colony;Mr.Garth was agent for South Carolina, and he andMr.Jackson were members of parliament. These gentlemen, and particularlyDr.Franklin andMr.Ingersoll, informed the minister of the great opposition to the proposed tax in America, and most earnestly entreated him, that if money must be drawn from the colonies by taxes, to leave it with the colonists to raise it among themselves in such manner as they should think proper, and best adapted to their circumstances and abilities.Dr.Franklin informed the minister, that the legislature of Pennsylvania had by a resolution declared, ‘That as they always had, so they always should, think it their duty to grant aids to the crown, according to their abilities, whenever required of them in the usual constitutional way.’
Neither the remonstrances of the colonists, however, nor the entreaties of their agents, were of any avail with the ministry or parliament. The bill for laying the stamp and other duties was soon brought before the house, and petitions from the colonies of Virginia, Connecticut, and South Carolina, were offered in opposition to it. The house, however, refused to receive them; in the first place, because they questioned or denied the right of parliament to pass the bill; and in the second place, because it was contrary to an old standing rule of the house,—‘that no petition should be received against a money bill.’ The majority against receiving the petitions was very large, and those from the other colonies were not offered. The petition from New York was expressed in such strong language, that no member of the house could be prevailed upon to present it. The admirable speech of colonel Barré in reply to Charles Townshend, so familiar to all of us, although it produced a profound impression, did not of course defeat the measure; and the colonial petitions and remonstrances, with the petition of the London merchants trading to America, were equally unavailing. In the house of commons there were about two hundred and fifty for, and only fifty against it. In the lords it passed without debate, with entire unanimity; and on the22dof March it obtained the royal assent.
This enactment, which was to come into operation on the1stof 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,’ saysMr.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 younginexperienced, 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 beingsoon levelled with the ground, the rioters next attackedMr.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 the26ththe 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 whichMr.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 hundredpounds.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 the24thof August a gazette extraordinary was published at Providence, withVox 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 thetown-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,agedCXLV.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‘LIBERTYREVIVED;’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, andMr.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 ofstamps 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 the7thof 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. GeorgeIII.had ascended the throne not long after the capture of Quebec and in the following October, the patriot Pitt, who had devised and executedthe 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 appointedMr.Pitt’s successor; and under his brief administration the peace of Paris was concluded. He was succeeded byMr.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 withMr.Pitt, who expressed his unwillingness to go toSt.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 the19thof 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 ofMr.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 thesecond plan for taxing the colonies, for he was ever urging the subject on the newministers.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 the29thof 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 countenancethe 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 ofMr.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 kindof 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 ofMr.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 the22dof 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 the31stof 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 the6thof 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 the10thof 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 fromMr.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 thepeople;107while, on the other,the populace are declared to be the aggressors, and the military to have acted on thedefensive.108Early in the evening of the5thof 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.