CHAP. right of deliberating freely, and would only proXXV. mise at its next session to act as should then appear 1766. just and reasonable.1 June. Connecticut, overjoyed at the repeal of the Stamp Act and applauding its connection with Great Britain, elected as its Governor the discreet and patriotic William Pitkin, in place of the loyalist Fitch. The Legislature of South Carolina, retaining, like Georgia, its avowed sentiments on internal taxation, marked its loyalty by granting every requisition, even for doubtful purposes; at the same time, it asked for the pictures of Lynch, Gadsden, and Rutledge; and on the motion of Rawlins Lowndes, remitted a thousand pounds towards a statue of Pitt. Still they felt keenly that they were undeservedly distinguished from their happier fellow-subjects in England by the unconstitutional tenure of their judges during the King's pleasure. They complained, too, that ships, laden with their rice for ports north of Cape Finisterre, were compelled, on their outward and return voyage, to touch at some port in England; and they prayed for modifications of the Navigation Act, which would equally benefit Great Britain and themselves. At New-York, on the King's birthday, the bells rang merry peals to the strains of martial music and House to the Governor, 25 Sir James Wright (nephew to the Lord Chancellor, Northington) to the Secretary, 23 July, 1766. South Carolina Committee of Correspondence to Garth, a Member of Parliament, their Agent, 2 July, 1766. Compare his answer of 26 September, 1766. XXV. June. the booming of artillery; the Fields near the Park CHAP. were spread for feasting; and a tall mast was raised to George the Third, William Pitt, and Liberty. At 1766. night enormous bonfires blazed; and all was as loyal and happy, as though freedom had been brought back with ample pledges for her stay. The Assembly came together in the best spirit. They passed over the claims of Colden,1 who was held to have been the cause of his own griefs; but resolved by a majority of one to indemnify James.3 They also voted to raise on the Bowling Green an equestrian statue of George the Third, and a statue of William Pitt, twice the Preserver of his Country. But the clause of the Mutiny or Billeting Act, directing colonial legislatures to make specific contributions towards the support of the army, placed New-York, where the head-quarters were established, in the dilemma of submitting immediately and unconditionally to the authority of Parliament, or taking the lead in a new career of resistance. The rescript was, in theory, worse than the Stamp Act. For how could one legislative body command what another legislative body should enact? And, viewed as a tax, it was unjust, for it threw all the burden on the colony where the troops chanced to be collected. The Requisition of the General, made through the Governor, "agreeably to the Act of Parliament," was therefore declared to be unprecedented in its character and unreasonable in its amount; yet in the exercise of the right of free CHAP. deliberation, every thing asked for was voted, except XXV. such articles as were not provided in Europe for 1766. British troops which were in barracks. June. The General and the Governor united in accepting the grant; but in reporting the affair, the wellmeaning, indolent Moore reflected the opinions of the army, whose officers still compared the Americans to the rebels of Scotland, and wished them a defeat like that of Culloden.1 "My message," said he at the end of his narrative, "is treated merely as a Requisition made here; and they have carefully avoided the least mention of the Act on which it is founded. It is my opinion, that every Act of Parliament, when not backed by a sufficient power to enforce it, will meet with the same fate."" From Boston, Bernard, without any good reason, chimed in with the complainers. "This Government," said he, "quickened and encouraged by the occurrences at New-York, cannot recover itself by its own internal powers." "The making the King's Council annually elective, is the fatal ingredient in the constitution. The only anchor of hope is the sovereign power, which would secure obedience to its decrees, if they were properly introduced and effectually supported." And he gave himself no rest in soliciting the interposition of Parliament, and the change of the Charter of Massachusetts.* 1 Leake's Life of John Lamb. 2 Gov. Moore to Conway, 20 June, 1766. Bernard to Lords of Trade, 7 July, 1766. Bernard to Conway, 19 July, 1766. CHAPTER XXVI. COALITION OF THE KING AND THE GREAT COMMONER AGAINST JULY-OCTOBER, 1766. XXVI. THE obnoxious clauses of the Billeting Act had CHAP. been renewed inadvertently by Ministers, who had 1766. designed to adopt a system of lenity. They pro- July. posed to remove Bernard from Massachusetts, in favor of Hutchinson,1 whom Conway had been duped into believing a friend to colonial liberty. Reviving against Spain the claim for the ransom of the Manillas, they suggested in lieu of it a cession of the island of New Orleans; though the Spanish ambassador took fire at the thought, saying, "New Orleans is the key to Mexico."" With equally vain endeavors, they were forming new and milder instructions for the government of Canada, in the hope to combine respect for the municipal customs and religion of its old inhabitants, with the safeguards of the English criminal law. The conquest of New France 'Thos. Hutchinson, jr., to Thos. Hutchinson, July, 1766. Durand to Choiseul, 27 June, 1766. 2 Hardwicke's Memorial. 4 Paper in the Lansdowne House XXVI. 1766. At CHAP. subjected to England one more country, whose people had not separated from the Church of Rome. July. first, the English penal laws were extended to the banks of the St. Lawrence; but the British Government was soon compelled to take initiatory steps towards Catholic emancipation. Canadians, without altering their faith, were permitted to serve as jurors,1 and it was proposed to make them eligible as Justices of the Peace and as Judges. But Northington, in very ill humor, thrust forward vague objections; & and as his colleagues persevered, he repaired to the King to advise their change.* 8 The time was now come for the eclipse of the genius and of the glory of William Pitt. Unrelenting disease and the labors of the winter session had exhausted his little strength, and irreparably wrecked his constitution. Had he remained out of place, and appeared at intervals in the House of Commons, he would have left a name needing no careful and impartial analysis of facts for his apology. As it is, I have to record, how unsuccessfully he labored to diminish the aristocratic ascendency in England; to perpetuate colonial liberty; to rescue India from the misrule of commercial cupidity; how, as he rose to guide the destinies of a great people in the career of freedom, along the unknown future, he appeared Like one who had been led astray Through the Heaven's high pathless way. Farming, grazing, haymaking, and all the charms of rural life in Somersetshire could not obliterate 1 Additional Instructions to the Governor of Quebec, of 24 Feb. 1766. Dr. Adam Mabane to General Murray, 26 August, 1766. 2 Duke of Richmond's Journal, in Albemarle, i. 853. 3 Duke of Richmond's Journal, in Albemarle, i. 351. Rockingham to C. Yorke, 4 July, 1766, in Albemarle, i. 357. |