XLI. 1769. its strong hold; and an issue was made up between CHAP the hereditary Senate of the modern Imperial Rome, and the lawyers and farmers to whom the annual election of Massachusetts entrusted legislative power. One or the other must give way. After grave deliberation in a most unusually numerous House of one hundred and seven, and as it were, in the presence of the human race and ages to come, they made answer:1 "As Representatives, by the royal Charter and the nature of our trust; we are only empowered to grant such aids as are reasonable, of which we are free and independent judges, at liberty to follow the dictates of our own understanding, without regard to the mandates of another.-Your Excellency must, therefore, excuse us in this express declaration, that, as we cannot, consistently with our honor, or interest, and much less with the duty we owe our constituents, so we shall NEVER make provision for the purposes mentioned in your messages." 2 "To his Majesty," rejoined Bernard in his last words, "and if he pleases, to his Parliament, must be referred your invasion of the rights of the Imperial Sovereignty. By your own acts you will be judged. Your publications are plain and explicit, and need no comment." And he prorogued the General Court to the tenth of January. "Their last message," he wrote to Hillsborough, "exceeds every thing." Newport, Rhode Island, witnessed still bolder resistance. A vessel with a cargo of prohibited goods July. 1 Answer of the House of Representatives to the Governor's Messages of July 6 and July 12, 1769-15 July, 1769. VOL. VI.-25 "Bradford's Massachusetts State Papers, 187. CHAP. was rescued from the revenue officers, whose ship named Liberty, was destroyed.' XLI. 1769. July. Just as this was heard of at Boston, Hillsborough's Circular promising relief from all "real" grievances and a repeal of the duties on glass, paper and colors, as contrary to the true principles of commerce, was received by Bernard, and was immediately made public. At once the merchants, assembling on the twenty-seventh of July, voted unanimously, that this partial repeal was insufficient, since the duty on tea was to be retained to save "the right" of taxing; and it was resolved to send for no more goods from Great Britain, a few specified articles excepted, unless the revenue Acts should be repealed. The inhabitants of the town were to purchase nothing from violators of this engagement; the names of recusant importers were to be published; and the Acts of Trade themselves came under the consideration of a committee, appointed to prepare a statement of the embarrassments to commerce, growing out of the late regulations.* In the midst of this commotion Bernard, having completed his pecuniary arrangements with Hutchinson to his own satisfaction," on the evening of the last day of July left Boston to sail for Europe. "He was Hulton, Temple, Paxton, to 2 See Vote in Boston Gazette, 31 Francès to the Duke of Choi- * Observations on Several Acts of Parliament, passed in the 4th, 6th and 7th years of his present Majesty's reign, &c. &c.; published by the Merchants of Boston, 1769. For the preceding jealousy of Bernard, see Andrew Oliver to Hutchinson, 22 June, 1769. Letters passed between Hutchinson and Bernard. Compare I. Williams of Hatfield to T. Hutchinson, 3 May, 1769. XLI. to have sent home whom he pleased," said the Boston- CHAP. eers; "but the die being thrown, poor Sir Francis Bernard was the rogue to go first.”1 Trained as a wrangling proctor in an ecclesiastical court, he had been a quarrelsome disputant rather than a statesman. His parsimony went to the extreme of meanness; his avarice was insatiable and restless. So long as he connived at smuggling, he reaped a harvest in that way; when Grenville's sternness inspired alarm, it was his study to make the most money out of forfeitures and penalties. Professing to respect the Charter, he was unwearied in zeal for its subversion; declaring his opposition to taxation by Parliament, he urged it with all his power. Asserting most solemnly that he had never asked for troops, his letters reveal his perpetual importunities for ships of war and an armed force. His reports were often false, partly with design, partly from the credulity of panic. He placed every thing in the most unfavorable light, and was ready to tell every tale and magnify trivial rumors into acts of Treason. He desponded when conciliation prevailed in England. The officers of the army and the navy despised him for his cowardice and duplicity, and did not conceal their contempt. "He has essentially served us," said the patriot clergyman Cooper; "had he been wise, our liberties might have been lost." 2 As he departed from Boston, the bells were rung, and cannon fired from the wharves; Liberty Tree was gay with flags; and at night a great bonfire was kindled upon Fort Hill. When he reached 1769. July. 1769. July. CHAP. England, he found that the Ministry had promised XLI. the London merchants never to employ him in America again. And yet he was the Governor whom they had most trusted; for bad men fit bad ends; and the selfish oligarchy by which England was then governed, feeling themselves rebuked by the noble and the free, hated them as dangerous to their rule.2 8 While Boston was advancing steadily towards Republicanism, the enthusiasm which had made the revolution at New Orleans, could not shape for that Colony a secure and tranquil existence. A new petition to France expressed the inflexible resolve of the inhabitants to preserve the dear and inviolable name of French citizens at the greatest peril of their lives and fortunes. They sought communication with the English; but the Governor at Pensacola abstained from of fending powers with which his Sovereign was at peace. The dread of Spain and its Government occasioned the daring design of founding a Republic with a Council of forty, to be elected by the people, and an executive chief to be called a protector. It was even proposed, if Louisiana was to be given up to his Catholic Majesty, to burn New Orleans to the ground, and leave to an unwelcome master, nothing but a desert. When near the end of July, it was told that O'Reilly had arrived at the Balise with an overwhelming force, despair prevailed for a moment; and white cockades were dis Francès to Choiseul, 11 August, 1769. 2 Aristotle's Politics, v. c. ix. Brown to Secretary of State, Pensacola, 1 Dec. 1768. "I am told the whole province of Louisiana have deputed fifty of the prin cipal inhabitants to make a representation to me of their grievan ces, which is now preparing for the press, demanding to become English subjects, and to settle at the Natchez." * Gayarré, Hist. ii. 837. XLL. 1769. tributed by the Republicans. "O'Reilly is not CHAP. come to ruin the Colony," said Aubry, who had received instructions to feign ingenuous candor. "If July. you submit," he repeated publicly and by authority, "the General will treat you with kindness, and you may have full confidence in the clemency of his Catholic Majesty." These promises won faith; and with Aubry's concurrence a committee of three, Lafrénière for the Council, Marquis for the colonists, and Milhet for the merchants, waited on O'Reilly at the Balise, to recognise his authority and implore his mercy. O'Reilly, who had no fear except lest the lead- Aug. ing insurgents should escape into the English territory, welcomed the deputies with treacherous politeness and the fairest promises, detained them to dine, and dismissed them full of admiration for his talents and confident of a perfect amnesty. So general was the persuasion of security, that Villeré who had escaped upon the Mississippi and was on his way to an English post, returned to the city. On the morning of the eighth of August, the Spanish squadron of four and twenty vessels, bearing three thousand chosen troops, anchored in front of New Orleans; and before the day was over, possession was taken in behalf of the Catholic King, and the Span 'Acte d'Accusation in Gayarré. J'avais prévenu cet officier des observations qu'il devait faire et de certaines choses sur lesquelles il devait se lâcher avec une espèce de candeur et d'ingénuité pour exagerer les forces que j'avais à mes ordres, et ranimer l'espérance du public. Il s'acquittat parfaitement de sa commission. O'Reilly to Grimaldi, N. O. 31 Aug. 1769. Don Alexander O'Reilly to the 1 August, 1769, in a second Postscript to the Letter from J. Campbell to Lieut. Gov. Brown of 30 July, 1769. |