XXXV. 1768. July. not need the support of the troops, nor was it for his CHAP. Majesty's service or the peace of the Province, that any should be required. Bernard dared not avow his own opinion; but, in his spite, he wrote to Hillsborough for "positive orders " not to call "a new Assembly until the people should get truer notions of their rights and interests." The advice of the Council was inspired by loy Aug. alty. All attempts at a concert to cease importations had hitherto failed; the menace of the arrival of troops revived the design, and early in August, most of the merchants of the town of Boston subscribed an agreement, that they would not send for any kind of merchandise from Great Britain, some few articles of necessity excepted, during the year following the first day of January, 1769; and that they would not import any tea, paper, glass, paints or colors, until the act imposing duties upon them should be repealed.3 On the anniversary of the fourteenth of August," the streets of Boston resounded with songs in praise of freedom; and its inhabitants promised themselves that all ages would applaud their courage. Come, join hand in hand, brave Americans all, 'Bernard to Hillsborough, 6 August, 1768. 'Bernard to Gage, 30 July, 1768. State of the Disorders, Confusions, &c. Bernard to Hillsbo rough, 9 August, 1768; and Hutch- Francès to Choiseul, 29 Sept. CHAP. 1768. Aug. Our purses are ready, Not as slaves, but as freemen, our money. we'll give. 2 The British administration was blind to its dangers, and believed union impossible.1 "You will learn what transpires in America infinitely better in the city than at court;" wrote Choiseul to the French Minister in England. "Never mind what Lord Hillsborough says;" he wrote again; "the private accounts of American merchants to their correspondents in London are more trustworthy." 3 The obedient official sought information in every direction-especially of Franklin, than whom no man in England uttered more prophetic warnings, or in a more benign or more loyal spirit. "He has for years been predicting to the Ministers the necessary consequences of their American measures," said the French envoy ; 4 "he is a man of rare intelligence and welldisposed to England; but, fortunately, is very little consulted." While the British Government neglected the opportunities of becoming well-informed respecting America, Choiseul collected newspapers, documents, resolves, instructions of towns, and even sermons of the Puritan clergy, and with clear sagacity and candid diligence, proceeded to construct his theory. "The forces of the English in America are scarcely ten thousand men, and they have no cavalry;" thus reasoned the dispassionate statesmen of France; "but 'Francès to Choiseul, 5 August, 1768. 2 Choiseul to Francès, Compiegne, 6 August, 1768. 3 Choiseul to Francès, 27 August, 1768. • Francès to Choiseul, 12 August, 1768. XXXV. 1768. the militia of the Colonies numbers four hundred CHAP. thousand men, and among them several regiments of cavalry. The people are enthusiastic for liberty, and Aug. have inherited a republican spirit, which the consciousness of strength and circumstances may push to extremities. They will not be intimidated by the presence of troops, too insignificant to cause alarm." It was, therefore, inferred that it would be hazardous for England to attempt reducing the Colonies by force. "But why," asked Choiseul," are not deputies from each Colony admitted into Parliament as members?" And it was answered that "the Americans objected to such a solution, because they could not obtain a representation proportioned to their population, and so would be whelmed by superior numbers; because the distance made their regular attendance in Parliament impossible; and because they knew its venality and corruption too well to be willing to trust it with their affairs. They had no other representatives than agents at London, who kept them so well informed, that no project which would turn to their disadvantage could come upon them by surprise." By this reasoning Choiseul was satisfied, that an American representation in Parliament was not practicable; but also that "no other method of conciliation" would prove less difficult, and that unanimity in America would compel the British Government to risk the most violent measures, or to yield. Francès to Choiseul, 26 August, VOL. VI.-16 CHAP. 1768. Aug Sept. When, on the nineteenth of August, England heard that Massachusetts had, by a vast majority of its representatives, refused to rescind the resolutions of the preceding winter, Lord Mansfield was of the opinion that all the members of the late Legislative Assembly at Boston should be sent for, to give an account of their conduct, and that all the rigors of the law should be exercised against those who should persist in refusing to submit to Parliament. "Where rebellion begins," said he, "the laws cease, and they can invoke none in their favor."2 To the ambassador of Spain, he expressed the opinion that the affair of the Colonies was the gravest and most momentous that England had had since 1688, and saw in America the beginning of a long and even infinite series of revolutions. "The Ameri-. cans," he insisted, "must first be compelled to submit to the authority of Parliament; it is only after having reduced them to the most entire obedience that an inquiry can be made into their real or pretended grievances." The subject interested every court in Europe, was watched in Madrid, and was the general theme of conversation in Paris, where Fuentes, the Spanish Minister, expressed the hope that "the English might master their Colonies, lest the Spanish Colonies also should catch the flame."4 "I dread the event," said Camden; "because the Colonies are more sober and consequently more determined in their present opposition than they were upon the Stamp Act." "What is to be done?" asked 'Francès to Choiseul, 29 Sept. 1768. Francès to Choiseul, 23 Sept. 1768. 2 Francès to Choiseul, 16 Sept. XXXV. Grafton; and Camden answered, "Indeed, my dear CHAP. Lord, I do not know. The Parliament cannot repeal 1768. the Act in question, because that would admit the Sept. American principle to be right, and their own doctrine erroneous. Therefore it must execute the law. How to execute it, I am at a loss. Boston is the ringleading Province; and if any country is to be chastised, the punishment ought to be levelled there." 1 But the system which made government subordinate to the gains of patronage, was every where producing its natural results. In South Carolina, the profits of the place of Provost-Marshal were enjoyed under a patent as a sinecure by a resident in England, whose deputy had the monopoly of serving processes throughout the Province, and yet was bound to attend courts nowhere but at Charleston. As a consequence the herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes and REGULATED their own police, even at the risk of a civil war.3 The blood of "rebels" against oppression was first shed among the settlers on the branches of the Cape Fear River. The emigrants to the upland glades of North. Carolina, though occupying rich lands, had little coin or currency; yet as the revenue of the Province was raised by a poll-tax,* the poorest laborer among them must contribute towards it as much as the richest merchant. The 'Grafton's Autobiography, Camden to Grafton, 4 Sept. 1768. Campbell, v. 279, dates the Letter 4 Oct. See the Letters on the subject between the Committee of Corres pondence of South Carolina and 3 Ramsay's History of South Carolina, i. 214, ii. 125. Boston Chronicle for Nov. 714, 1768. Tax in Orange for 1768, as stated by Edward Fanning. |