CHAP. and by the highest officers of the British Army and Navy on the Station. XLIII. 1770. March Hutchinson had done his utmost to get Samuel Adams shipped to England as a traitor; at this most important moment in their lives, the patriot and the courtier stood face to face. "It is the unanimous opinion of the Meeting," said Samuel Adams to him in the name of all, "that the reply made to the vote of the inhabitants in the morning, is unsatisfactory; nothing less will satisfy than a total and immediate removal of all the troops." "The troops are not subject to my authority," repeated Hutchinson; "I have no power to remove them." Stretching forth his arm which slightly shook as if "his frame trembled at the energy of his soul," in tones not loud, but clear and distinctly audible, Adams rejoined: "If you have power to remove one regiment, you have power to remove both. It is at your peril if you do not. The meeting is composed of three thousand people. They are become very impatient. A thousand men are already arrived from the neighborhood, and the country is in general motion. Night is approaching; an immediate answer is expected." As he spoke, he gazed intently on his irresolute adversary. "Then," said Adams who not long afterwards described the scene, "at the appearance of the de 8 1 1 John Adams to Jedediah Morse, and Same to Tudor. 2 These are the words as I received them traditionally from John Quincy Adams, and they agree with Hutchinson to Bernard of the 18th of March, except that Hutchinson represented them as addressed to Dalrymple who stood at his side. But the Town and S. Adams addressed Hutchinson himself, and would not release him from his responsibility. 4 Andrew Oliver's Narrative. Dalrymple's Narrative of the Late Transactions at Boston. XLIII. 1770. March termined citizens, peremptorily demanding the re- CHAP. dress of grievances, I observed his knees to tremble; I saw his face grow pale; and I enjoyed the sight."1 As the Committee left the Council Chamber, Hutchinson's memory was going back in his reverie to the days of the Revolution of 1688.2 He saw in his mind, Andros seized and imprisoned, and the people instituting a new government; he reflected that the citizens of Boston and the country about it were become four times as numerous as in those days, and their "spirit full as high." He fancied them insurgent, and himself their captive; and he turned to the Council for advice. "It is not such people as formerly pulled down your House, who conduct the present measures;" said Tyler, "but they are people of the best characters among us, men of estates, and men of religion. It is impossible for the troops to remain in town; there will be ten thousand men to effect their removal, be the consequence what it may." Russell of Charlestown, and Dexter of Dedham, a man of admirable qualities, confirmed what was said. They spoke truly; men were ready to come down. from the hills of Worcester County, and from the vale of the Connecticut. The Council unanimously advised sending the troops to the Castle forthwith. "It is impossible for me," said Dalrymple again and again, weakening the force of what he said by frequently repeating it," to go any further lengths in this matter. The information given of the intended rebellion is a 'Samuel Adams to James War- 2 Hutchinson to Lord Hillsboren, of Plymouth, 25 March, 1771. rough, 12 March, 1770. CHAP. sufficient reason against the removal of his Majesty's forces."1 XLIII. March 1770. "You have asked the advice of the Council," said Gray to the Lieutenant Governor; "they have given it unanimously; you are bound to conform to it." "If mischief should come, by means of your not joining with us," pursued Irving, "the whole blame must fall upon you; but if you join with us, and the commanding officer after that should refuse to remove the troops, the blame will then be at his door." Hutchinson finally agreed with the Council, and Dalrymple assured him of his obedience. The Town's Committee, being informed of this decision, left the State House to make their welcome report to the Meeting. The inhabitants listened with the highest satisfaction; but, ever vigilant, they provided measures for keeping up a strong military watch of their own, until the Regiments should leave the town.8 It was a humiliation to the officers and soldiers to witness the public funeral of the victims of the fifth of March; but they complained most of the watch set over them. The Colonel of the town militia had, however, taken good legal advice, and showed the old Province. Law under which he kept it; and the Justices of the Peace in their turns attended every night during its continuance. The British officers gnashed their teeth in anger at the contempt into which they had been brought. The troops came to overawe the people, and maintain the laws; 1 Dalrymple's Narrative. 2 Andrew Oliver's Narrative. Report of a Committee of. Council, reporting March 6, 7. XLIII 1770. and they were sent as law-breakers to a prison rather CHAP. than to a garrison. "There," said Edmund Burke, "was an end of the spirited way we took, when the question was, whether Great Britain should or should not govern America." 1 March 'E. Burke's Speech, Monday, 7 March, 1774. NOTE. The questions that the inquirer, on examining the evidence, may raise, are three. I. Were the soldiers or the townsmen the aggressors? II. Did Preston give the order to fire? III. Were the soldiers pelted and struck before firing? There would never have been any difficulty in answering these questions, but for the trials which followed. The lawyers employed were skilful in constructing hypotheses to suit their purpose. "The Case" of Preston is confessedly false. It was written by some royalist lawyer, and was published for purposes to be answered in England. The ex parte affidavits secretly taken and sent to England, are not trustworthy. The Depositions published in the Boston Narrative, were taken openly and in the presence of persons representing all parties. The evidence taken on Preston's trial, has, I believe, never been fairly or fully printed. I have seen only parts of it. The report of the soldiers' trial is valuable though imperfect. In using it, care must be taken to separate the evidence of known and responsible persons from that of the feebleminded, the biassed, and those who evidently spoke falsely. I have seen many unpublished private letters of persons in the interest of the officers, as well as the official papers on the subject. I. As to the first question, all the evidence agrees that the townspeople acted on the defensive, and made no resistance till attacked. On this point we have also the emphatic statement of James Bowdoin, Samuel Pemberton, and Joseph Warren, as well as the uncontroverted reasoning of Samuel Adams. II. Did Preston give the order to fire? I think he did. 1. Disciplined men in the regular army were not likely to fire without orders. Preston himself said to T. Bliss, "They cannot fire without my orders." See the Testimony of T. Bliss. 2. The men said positively they had his orders to fire. 3. There were many witnesses to his giving the word to fire. 4. He himself owned it to Hutchinson when he said "I did it to save CHAP. XLIII. my men." 1770. March 5. Afterwards he was obliged to confess he said Fire, yet pretending that he preceded the word by Don't; but first, this is not the word an officer would give to men whose guns were levelled, and whom he wished to prevent firing. Second, there was time between the first gun and the last to have stopped the procedure, which he did not do. 6. Hutchinson in his first report, does not clear him of the order to fire. 7. Gage does not clear him of the order. 8. His counsel, a determined royalist, was convinced he gave the order. "I am afraid poor Preston has but little chance. Mr. Auchmuty who is his counsel, tells me the evidence is very strong to prove, the firing upon the inhabitants was by his order, and he doubts whether the assault would be an excuse for it." Hutchinson to Sir Francis Bernard, 30 March, 1770. Considering the relations of the parties this is most significant language. The opposite views were the hypothesis for the trial. 9. As Auchmuty before the trial believed that Preston gave the order, so Josiah Quincy, Jr. has left on record his opinion that the verdict of the jury was an unjust one. Callisthenes, in Boston Gazette, 28 Sept. 1772; 912, 3, 1; and again, Edward Sexby, 12 Oct. 1772; Boston Gazette, 914, 1, 2. But this is not so decisive as the opinion, at the time, of Auchmuty and Hutchinson. 10. The monstrously false insinuations in the "Case of Captain Preston." If Preston had given no orders, the offensive falsehoods would have been superfluous. III. Were the soldiers pelted and struck while on duty before firing? The necessities of the defence naturally exaggerated the provocation, and the statements respecting it are contradictory. When were boys together after a newly fallen snow without throwing snowballs? A little discrimination as to the character of the witnesses and the effect of the testimony on those best able to judge, will show whether the soldiers were endangered. 1. Auchmuty's opinion of the insufficiency of the assault to justify the soldiers has already been cited. 2. Hutchinson, whose testimony as given at the time, is of the highest importance, writes of the firing: "I think, admitting every thing in favor of it, that the action was too hasty, though the great provocation may be some excuse." Hutchinson to Sir Francis Bernard, 12 March, 1770. "How far the affronts and the abuse offered by the inhabitants may avail to excuse this action, is uncertain." Hutchinson to Lord Hillsborough, 12 March, 1770. 3. Rev. Dr. Cooper's opinion is worthy of great attention. "Soldiers &c. fired without the least reason to justify so desperate a step." Dr. S. Cooper to Gov. Pownall, 26 March, 1770. |