CHAP. but of an empire more extensive than that of Rome; not of three legions, but of whole nations."1 XXV. 1766. May. No party in England could prevent an instantaneous reaction. Pitt had erected no stronger bulwark for America than the shadowy partition which divides internal taxation from imposts regulating commerce; and Rockingham had leapt over this slight defence with scorn, declaring the power of Parliament to extend of right to all cases whatsoever. But they who give absolute power, give the abuse of absolute power; -they who draw the bolts from the doors and windows, let in the robber. When the opinions of Bedford and Grenville became sanctioned as just principles of constitutional law, no question respecting their policy remained open but that of its expediency; and country gentlemen, if they had a right to raise a revenue from America, were sure that it was expedient to ease themselves of one fourth of their land-tax by exercising the right. The Administration were evidently without vitality; "they are dead and only lying in state," was the common remark. Conway avowed himself eager to resign; and Grafton not only threw up his office, but, before the House of Lords, addressing the Prime Minister, who regarded the ascendency of the old whig aristocracy as almost a part of the British constitution, called on him to join in a willingness to be content with an inferior station, for the sake of accomplishing a junction of the ablest and most experienced statesmen of the country. 2 On the resignation of Grafton, Conway, with his accustomed indecision, remained in office, but seized 1 Lloyd's Conduct of the Late 2 Conway to Grafton, 23 April, 1766, in Grafton's Autobiography. See Grafton's own account of the incident in his Autobiography. XXV. 1766. May. the occasion to escape from the care of America1 to CHAP. the Northern Department. There appeared a great and general backwardness to embark with Rockingham. Lord North had hardly accepted a lucrative post, before he changed his mind and excused himself. Lord Howe would not serve unless under Pitt.* Lord Hardwicke also refused the place left vacant by Grafton; so did his brother, Charles Yorke; and so did Egmont; till at last it fell to the husband of Conway's step-daughter, the liberal, self-confident Duke of Richmond; who added grace and courtesy of manners to firm affections, but was swayed by a violent and undiscerning ambition, that far outran his ability. He, too, shunned the conduct of American affairs, and they were made over to a new Department of State, which Dartmouth was to accept, and which Charles Townshend avowed his hope of obtaining from a future Administration. Once, to delay his fall, Rockingham suggested a coalition with the Duke of Bedford. In saloons, female politicians, at their game of loo, divined the ruin of the Ministry, and were zealots for governing the colonies by the hand of power.? In America half suppressed murmurs mingled with the general transport. Arbitrary taxation by Parliament 10 began to be compared with restrictions on in Rigby to Bedford, in Bedford 10 Philalethes in Holt's Gazette, XXV. 1766. May. CHAP. dustry and trade, and the latter were found to be "the more slavish thing of the two," and "the more inconsistent with civil liberty." The protesting Lords had affirmed, that if the provinces might refuse obedience to one statute, they might to all,-that there was no abiding place between unconditional universal submission and independence. Alarmed that such an alternative should be forced upon them, the colonists, still professing loyalty to a common sovereign, drew nearer and nearer to a total denial of the power of the British Legislature. "I will freely spend nineteen shillings in the pound," said Franklin, "to defend my right of giving or refusing the other shilling; and, after all, if I cannot defend that right, I can retire cheerfully with my little family into the boundless woods of America, which are sure to afford freedom and subsistence to any man who can bait a hook or pull a trigger."1 "The Americans," said the press of Virginia," "are hasty in expressing their gratitude, if the repeal of the Stamp Act is not at least a tacit compact that Great Britain will never again' tax us;" and it advised "the different Assemblies, without mentioning the proceedings of Parliament, to enter upon their journals as strong declarations of their own rights as words could express." 8 To the anxious colonies, Boston proposed union as the means of security. While within its own borders it sought "the total abolishing of slavery," and encouraged learning, as the support of the constitution 'Franklin's Hints for a Reply to the Protests of Certain Members of the House of Lords against the Repeal of the Stamp Act. 2 Gage to Conway, 1766. A British American, Virginia, 20 May, 1766, reprinted in Holt's Gazette, 1226; 3 July, 1766. Compare Moore to the Secretary of State, 11 July, 1766. XXV. 1766. and the handmaid of liberty, its representatives1 were CHAP. charged to keep up a constant intercourse with the other English governments on the continent, to con- May. ciliate any difference that should arise; ever preferring their friendship and confidence to the demands of rigorous justice. Henceforth its watchword was union, which the rash conduct of the dismayed officers of the crown contributed to establish. Bernard was elated at having been praised in the House of Lords by Camden for one set of his opinions, and quoted in the Bedford Protest as an oracle for the other. There was even a rumor that he was to be made a baronet. His superciliousness rose with his sense of personal safety; and he gave out, that on the meeting of the legislature, he should play out his part as Governor. 3 In choosing the new House in Massachusetts, many towns, stimulated by the "rhapsodies" of Otis, put firm patriots in the places of the doubtful and the timid. Plymouth sent James Warren, the brother-inlaw of Otis; and Boston, at the suggestion of Samuel Adams, gave one of its seats to John Hancock, a young merchant of large fortune and a generous nature. At their organization, on the last Wednesday in May, the Representatives elected James Otis their Speaker, and Samuel Adams their Clerk. Otis was still the most influential Member of the House; had long been held in great esteem throughout the province; had been its Delegate to the New-York Congress; and had executed that trust to universal acceptance. Though irritable, he was also placable, 'Records of the Town of Boston for 26 May, 1766. Boston Gazette, 2 June, 1766; 583, 2, 1. * Hutchinson to Richard Jack son, 11 June, 1766. Diary of Oakes Angier. • Advertisement by Otis, 14 April, 1766. John Adams: Diary, 208. XXV. 1766. CHAP. and at heart was truly loyal. Bernard ostentatiously negatived the choice. The negative, as unwise as it May. was unusual, excited in the whole colony1 undefined apprehensions of danger; but the House, deferring to legal right, acquiesced without complaint, and substituted as its Speaker the respectable but irresolute Thomas Cushing. In the afternoon of the same day, at the choice of the Council, the four Judges of the Supreme Court, of whom Hutchinson was the Chief, the King's Attorney, and Oliver, the Secretary and late Stamp-master, all Members of the last year's Board, were not reelected; for, said Samuel Adams, "upon the principle of the best writers, a union of the several powers of government in one person is dangerous to liberty."2 The ballot had conformed strictly to the charter3 and to usage, and the successful candidates were men of prudence, uprightness, and loyalty. But Bernard "resented" the exclusion of the crown officers, and from the whole number of twenty-eight he rejected six of the ablest "friends of the people in the board." He had the legal right to do so; and the Legislature submitted without a murmur.? Here the altercation should have terminated. But on the following day, Bernard-an "abject" coward, where courage was needed, and now insolent when 'Compare Boston Gazette, 17 November, 1766; 607, 1, 1. 2 Samuel Adams to Dennys De Berdt, 1766. 3 Compare the Answer of the Compare Bernard to Hillsbor- Thomas Hutchinson to his son, then in England, 29 May, 1766. John Adams: Diary in Works, ii. 204. 'Samuel Adams to Arthur Lee, 19 April, 1771. * See the Journal of Captain Conner of the Romney, and the letters of Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, Commodore Hood, &c., &c., as well as the Boston Gazette.-Grenville Papers, iv. 375. |