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1774.

EFFECTS OF THE BOSTON PORT BILL.

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no sooner struck twelve than the custom-house was closed and all legal business was suspended. The revenueofficers were removed to Salem, where the Assembly had already been convened for the week ensuing. But General Gage in the execution of his appointed duty found almost insuperable difficulties from the resolute and wide-spread resentment of the people. When the Assembly did meet according to his order it displayed such a spirit as in his opinion to require its immediate Dissolution. He received an adverse Address even from the merchants and freeholders of Salem, commiserating the fate of Boston, and declining to raise their fortunes on the ruin of their neighbours. Other Resolutions betokening in their terms no slight ferment of the public mind were passed at various meetings of the towns and counties. But far beyond them all in vehemence were the Resolutions of the delegates from the towns in the county of Suffolk, of which towns Boston was the chief. These purported: that no obedience was due to the late Acts of Parliament; that no taxes should be paid to Government; that the persons who had accepted seats in the Council by nomination from the King had acted in direct violation of their public duty; that the late Act establishing the Roman Catholic religion in Canada was dangerous in an extreme degree to the Protestant Religion, and to the rights and liberties of all America; that the inhabitants of the towns should use their utmost diligence to acquaint themselves with the art of war, and for that purpose should appear under arms at least once in every week.

According to the terms of the recent Act of Parliament thirty-six persons had been named by the Crown as members of the Council for this province, but only twenty-four would consent to take the oaths, and of these one half under the dread of personal violence speedily resigned. The superior Court of Justice met in due form at Boston with the Chief Justice at its head, but the juries to a man refused to serve. Throughout the Colony the sheriffs, magistrates, and clerks either made their peace with the people by solemnly promising not to act under the new law, or else fled for shelter to the wellguarded town of Boston. That town indeed appeared

the sole remaining spot within the province where the King's government was obeyed, or where its officers and adherents were secure. General Gage having received large reinforcements had now under his command in Massachusetts no less than six regiments with a train of artillery. These troops for the most part he encamped on the Common close to Boston; and desertion becoming frequent and much encouraged, he stationed a strong guard on Boston Neck, the narrow isthmus which alone connected the town and Common with the open country. Some time afterwards, seeing the necessity of keeping the soldiers separate from the people, he began to fortify that neck of land, and also to build temporary barracks. As the time approached for the general muster of the Militia he deemed it essential in that state of public feeling to deprive them of their stores and ammunition, which he removed from the provincial arsenal at Cambridge to his own custody at Boston. Such measures, however, and above all his intrenchments on Boston Neck, could not be adopted without greatly adding to the exasperation of the province. A cry was raised that he designed to blockade the town, and reduce the inhabitants by famine. He found his intended works obstructed at every turn; his supplies of straw were set on fire; his boats conveying bricks were sunk; his waggons laden with timber were overturned. Nothing but his watchful care and brave forbearance still prevented (and could they always prevent?) some bloody conflict.

It is a characteristic of such times as these in Massachusetts that even the gravest personages no longer frown on even the most lawless proceedings. We find, for instance, a Minister of the Gospel in one of his familiar letters record with manifest glee a scheme of wanton assault, and a jocular pretext assigned for it, upon a gentleman who had no otherwise offended than through the office which he held: "Commissioner Hallowell passed through Cambridge while the people were assembled "there. He had gone by some time, when it was stated by somebody that it might be proper to have a con"ference with him. A number of men on horseback instantly set out to bring him back, but they were dis"suaded. A single horseman of his own head

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1774.

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CONGRESS AT PHILADELPHIA.

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“went on, and coming up to him in a chaise with a companion and servant on horseback told him he must stop and go back. Hallowell snapped his pistol twice "at him, got upon his servant's horse, and rode with the "utmost speed to town, followed by the horseman till he came within call of the guard at the entrance of the "town."*

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During this time the idea of a General Congress spread rapidly through the Colonies, and was carried into effect mainly by means of the lately appointed Committees of Correspondence. Then it was that the importance of such Committees became apparent; without them it seems certain that the scheme would never have ripened into fruit. They selected Philadelphia for the place, and the beginning of September for the time of meeting. The Colonies which agreed to send delegates to the Congress were twelve; namely, the four New England States and the two Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. In all these the mode of appointing the delegates was by no means the same. Thus in Massachusetts they were appointed by the legitimate Assembly just before its Dissolution, and with a race for time against the Governor. In Virginia they owed their nomination to a new House of Burgesses elected for that object without the Governor's authority, and bearing the name of a Convention. In two or three other provinces the vote of a Committee, or even the cry of a multitude, was deemed sufficient. Nor was the number of the delegates uniform; it varied in the several Colonies from eight to two. This disparity, however, did not affect the votes, since it was agreed that each Colony should have one vote, whatever might be the number of its deputies. In the directions and instructions which each Colony gave its representatives on this occasion there was also much

* Dr. Cooper to Dr. Franklin, Sept. 9. 1774. See also the Ame rican Archives, vol. i. p. 764.

The latter was the case in New York where, as Chief Justice Marshall says, "it is probable that no legislative act authorizing an "election to Congress could have been obtained." Yet the members thus chosen contrary to law" were very readily received into Congress." (Life of Washington, note to vol. ii. p. 157. ed. 1805.)

variety; some being couched in moderate, some in violent, others again in vague and general, terms.

When fully assembled the members of Congress amounted to fifty-five. Most of them were lawyers. On the 4th of September nearly all appeared in Philadelphia. Next day they met for public business at the Carpenters' Hall; and as their first step they unanimously chose for President Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, the late Speaker of the House of Burgesses. The Virginian deputies indeed, among whom were Henry and Washington, seem to have been much superior to their brethren from the other provinces. Thus speaks of them a gentleman of Philadelphia: "There are some fine fellows come from Virginia, but they are very high. The Bostonians are mere milksops to them. We understand they are the capital men of their Colony both in fortune and under"standing."*

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Having selected their President, the Congress next determined that their deliberations should take place with closed doors, and that their proceedings, except such as they might themselves choose to publish, should be kept inviolably secret. By this system they added greatly to the effect of their final measures, and bore on all public occasions the appearance of entire concord and undivided vigour; while on the contrary, if we may trust the disclosures of one of their own members, Mr. Joseph Galloway, long irresolution and numerous controversies had prevailed among them. It is clear indeed that at this period in America there were even on the patriotic side two opposite parties in presence. The first, and as I believe by far the smaller, though comprising a large part of Virginia and nearly the whole of Massachusetts, was already ripe for civil war. To the other party belonged such men as Mr. Dickinson of Pennsylvania, the author of the "Farmer's Letters." These men felt as yet no disaffection to the Throne, no enmity to England; they had hitherto, in their own opinion and intention, opposed only her encroachments but not her just authority; and while firmly determined to have redress for

* Life and Correspondence of President Reed, by his grandson William Reed, vol. i. p. 75., an authentic and important contribution to general history.

1774.

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

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their grievances, they were no less firmly determined to uphold their connection.-An Englishman viewing these things after the event cannot but observe with pain, and also in a national sense with self-reproach, how strong had been, and was still, the tie of duty and affection which (always excepting Massachusetts) bound the Colonies to England. During the Session and from the seat of the first Congress we find an American statesman and patriot, as yet a friend to the mother country, but afterwards Adjutant General to Washington, write as follows to Lord Dartmouth: "Believe me, my Lord, no King ever had more loyal subjects, or any country more affectionate Colonists, than the Americans WERE. "I who am but a young man well remember when the King was always mentioned with a respect approaching "to adoration; and to be an Englishman was alone a suf"ficient recommendation for any office of friendship or

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civility. But I confess with the greatest concern that "these happy days seem passing swiftly away; and "unless some scheme of accommodation can be speedily "formed the affection of the Colonists will be irrecoverably lost."*

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In the further course of this General Congress the extreme Anti-English party gave way to the less forward. They wisely felt that all their hopes depended on united action, and determined not indeed to relinquish but postpone their ulterior views. By their concessions the measures of the Congress all apparently unanimous were upon the whole marked by moderation, combined with dignity and firmness. They indeed go the length of approving in word the Resolves of the Suffolk County meeting, but themselves avoided the violence which that meeting had displayed. They drew up an able Declaration of Rights, claiming for themselves all the liberties of Englishmen, which they said they had neither surrendered, forfeited, nor lost, by emigration. From these premises they deduced that several recent Acts of Parliament, and more especially those of the last Session against the province of Massachusetts, were violations of their rights, and that the repeal of such Acts was es

*Mr. Reed to the Earl of Dartmouth, Sept. 25. 1774.

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