terms, the several obnoxious acts of parliament. In this he prevailed. A resolution was next offered by Delancey, declaring, with all deferential allegiance, the right of parliament to regulate the trade of the colonies, and to impose duties on any imports that may interfere with the products of his majesty's dominions. It passed, Schuyler and Clinton voting in the negative. An amendment was then moved by Schuyler, to exclude "every idea of taxation, internal or external, for the purpose of raising a revenue," by the king, "on his subjects in America without their consent." It was defeated by the previous question. By these successive moves the proceedings of the late Congress were marshalled in review. The vote condemning the Boston Port Bill, and the act violating the charter of Massachusetts, were carried in a thin house by a majority of two. A request that the colonial judges should be appointed during good behavior, as in England, not during the pleasure of the king, was rejected. Schuyler now moved a declaration, that “our commotions are honest struggles for maintaining our constitutional liberty, and not dictated by a desire of independence." This also was defeated by a large majority. He then proposed an amendment to the petition to the king, "although your majesty's subjects have, in some instances, submitted to the power exercised by the parent state, they nevertheless consider themselves entitled to an equal participation of freedom with their fellow-subjects in Great Britain." Even this was lost by a similar vote. The several adopted resolves were embodied in a petition to the Lords and to the Commons, toned down to accord with the feelings of the majority, and were transmitted to Edmund Burke.

On the third of April the colonial assembly adjourned, never to meet again.

No option remained to the patriots. Redress was not to be obtained through what claimed to be the legitimate assembly, yet redress must be had. The people must be represented. A new popular committee had been formed, and during the session of the assembly a public meeting was called to consider of the mode of electing delegates to the second Congress.

The ultra loyalists objected to the measure, for the assembly had rejected a proposition to that effect. Their vote ought to be decisive.

On the appointed day, the meeting assembled at the Liberty Pole, and under a banner inscribed with the words, "Constitutional Liberty," moved in procession to the Exchange.

The ministerial party, with several of the members of the council at their head, the leaders of the majority in the assembly, a few officers of the army, navy, and customs, appeared in a compact body. There were symptoms of an affray, but quiet was preserved, by a conscious sense of the strength of the good cause; and a resolution was passed to choose deputies to a convention of the colony, to elect delegates to the Congress. The election was held, and by an immense majority the popular movement succeeded. Notice of this result was given to the other counties. A provincial congress of forty members was chosen, who met on the twentieth of April, and appointed delegates to the general Congress. Thus New York, the head-quarters of its army, the future archiepiscopal see; her college intended to be the university of North America, her library, founded by private munificence,* called the "Union Society Library," all indicating it as the contemplated seat of its western empire, was wrested from the crown, to fulfil a higher destiny.

Charles Ward Apthorp was a chief promoter.

A meeting, over which Lamb and Willett presided, men who proceeded from words to actions, was again held in the city. Its object was to stop supplies for the troops near Boston. This was effected; and with a clear vision of the near future, Sears, who had been displaced from a small office in punishment of his zeal, proposed that the people provide themselves with arms and ammunition. This was agreed to. Sears was arrested for imputed treason, and carried before the mayor. Refusing to give bail, he was committed; but the people wrested their bold leader from the officers. He passed in triumph through the city.*

Not less expressive indications of the popular feeling were given elsewhere. In his own county of Fairfax WASHINGTON presided. Resolutions were then adopted to raise money by poll, to be handed to a committee with a list of those refusing to subscribe; and all the freemen of Virginia between the ages of sixteen and fifty were invited to form themselves into companies, and to exercise themselves in arms.

The provincial congress of Massachusetts took the same measure, urging also the manufacture of arms, in which Connecticut likewise promptly engaged.

Never were a people more patiently loyal than were a large majority of the British American colonists. All their affections and all their pride had been associated with the welfare and with the glory of England. They discriminated between a great and glorious people, with whom there is still every motive to cultivate amicable and liberal relations, and the policy of rulers who did not represent the real sentiments of the people. Thus they yearned for an accommodation of the disputes, and were waiting anxiously for tidings of the course of the govern ment at home.

*Life of John Lamb, 100, 101.

The parliament which had passed the offensive laws had been dissolved. A new parliament was to meet in January of this year. In that great arena of freedom its honest voice might yet prevail. Pitt, now Lord Chatham, proposed an address at the opening of its session, asking the recall of the troops near Boston, as the first step in a course of conciliation. The first advance, he said, should come from them. The objectionable acts should be repealed. In a lofty tone the ministry replied, coercion is unavoidable. If ever, now, Parliament must assert its supremacy. This not sustained, all is given up. The opposition denounced the Boston port bill as a wanton tyranny. The claim of supremacy, they averred, was to gratify national pride, and to delude Parliament and the people. Their efforts were fruitless. The motion was defeated by a large vote.* Petitions from London and from the great towns produced acrimonious debates, but led to no result. The petition of the Continental Congress was stigmatized as the act of an "illegal body." The Commons voted it down by an immense majority.†

On the first of February, Chatham, bowed under physical infirmities, introduced a conciliatory bill. It declared as a compromise, that no tax be levied in America without the consent of the colonial assemblies; asserted the right of the king to send his armies every where; legalized the ensuing session of Congress for the purposes of recognizing the supreme legislative authority and superintending power of Parliament, and of making a free grant to the king and to his successors of a certain and perpetual revenue, subject to their disposal. It revoked the acts in controversy, and would have secured to the colonies all the immunities of their charters.

* 68 to 18.

† 218 to 68.

This bill of compromise was not permitted even to lie upon the table. Its consideration was refused by a vote of two to one. Petitions came from the West Indies praying an accommodation. They were disregarded, and the minister announced his policy. It was to increase the armed force, to put an end to the foreign trade of New England, to stop the fisheries.

An address to this effect was adopted in both houses by a vote of nearly two-thirds; and a law was enacted to carry these restrictions into effect, in which the other colonies, except New York, were after included.

Edmund Burke also sought to effect a conciliation. He presented the memorial of the loyal assembly of New York. Nothing, he observed, could be more proper than its tone, though all its views might not be incontrovertible. Never was there a more fair opportunity of ending these disputes. It presented claims, was the reply, inconsistent with the declared authority of Parliament. On that ground its reception was refused.*

The memorial to the Lords shared the same fate, as did petitions from the British inhabitants of Canada against the bill altering the government of that province.

Franklin, as a last hope, had been engaged in preparing "a plan of permanent union." Conferences were held with the ministers and modifications suggested. The Boston port bill might be repealed, but the other acts relating to Massachusetts were "improvements of her constitution," and must therefore continue, "as well to be a standing example of the power of the Parliament!"

Finding every effort abortive, Franklin returned to his country, where he was advised, that "whatever specious pretences were offered, they were all hollow, and that to

* 186 to 67.