pressed its conviction, that Parliament had no right to tax the colonies. These expressions were in response to a circular issued by Massachusetts [Feb., 1768] to the several Assemblies, asking their co-operation in obtaining a redress of grievances. That circular greatly offended the Ministry; and the governor of

Massachusetts was instructed to command the Assembly, in the king's name, to rescind the resolution adopting it. The Assembly, on the 30th of June following, passed an almost unanimous vote not to rescind,' and made this very crder an evidence of the intentions of government to enslave the colonists, by restraining the free speech and action of their representatives.

The British Ministry, ignorant and careless concerning the character and temper of the Americans, disregarded the portentous warnings which every vessel from the New World bore to their ears. Having resolved on employing physical force in the maintenance of obedience, and not doubting its potency,

later [note 4, page 250], these Letters produced a wide-spread and powerful effect on the public mind. James Otis asserted, in a pamphlet, that "taxes on trade [tariffs], if designed to raise a revenue, were as much a violation of their rights as any other tax." John Dickenson was born in Maryland, in November, 1732. He studied law in England for three years, and made his first appearance in public life, as a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. He was a member of the Stamp Act Congress [page 215], and of the Continental Congress [page 226]. He was an eloquent speaker, and elegant writer. He was opposed to the independence of the colonies, but acquiesced, and was an able member of the convention that framed the Federal Constitution. He remained long in public life, and died in 1808, at the age of seventy-five years.

James Otis and Samuel Adams were the principal speakers on this occasion. "When Lord Hillsborough [colonial secretary] knows," said the former, "that we will not rescind our acts, he should appeal to Parliament to rescind theirs. Let Britons rescind their measures, or the colonies are lost to them forever."

they became less regardless of even the forms of justice, and began to treat the colonists as rebellious subjects, rather than as free British brethren. Ministers sent orders to the colonial Assemblies, warning them not to imitate the factious disobedience of Massachusetts; and the royal governors were ordered to enforce submission by all means in their power. The effect of these circulars was to disgust and irritate the Assemblies, and to stimulate their sympathy for Massachusetts, now made the special object of displeasure.

2

It was in the midst of the general excitement, in May, 1768, that the new commissioners of customs arrived at Boston. They were regarded with as much contempt as were the tax-gatherers in Judea, in the time of our Saviour.' It was difficult to restrain the more ignorant and excitable portion of the population from committing personal violence. A crisis soon arrived. In June, 1768, the sloop Liberty, belonging to John Hancock, one of the leaders of the popular mind in Boston, arrived at that port with a cargo of Madeira wine. The commissioners demanded the payment of duties, and when it was refused, they seized the vessel. The news spread over the town, and the people resolved on immediate and effectual resistance. An assemblage of citizens soon became a mob, who dragged a custom-house boat through the town, burned it upon the Common, assailed the commissioners, damaged their houses, and compelled them to seck safety in Castle William, a small fortress at the entrance to the harbor. Alarmed by these demonstrations of the popular feeling, Governor Bernard unwisely invited General Gage, then in command of British troops at Halifax, to bring soldiers to Boston to overawe the inhabitants. They came in September [Sept. 27, 1768], seven hundred in number, and on a quiet Sabbath morning, landed under cover of the cannons of the British ships which brought them, and with drums beating, and colors flying, they marched to the Common, with all the parade of a victorious army entering a conquered city. Religion, popular freedom, patriotism, were all outraged, and the cup of the people's indignation was full. The colonists were taught the bitter, but necessary lesson, that armed resistance must oppose armed oppression."

Like the Assembly of New York, that of Massachusetts refused to afford

The publicans, or toll-gatherers of Judea, being a standing monument of the degradation of the Jews under the Roman yoke, were abhorred. One of the accusations against our Saviour was, that he did "cat with publicans and sinners." 2 Page 231.

About three miles south-east from Boston. The fortress was ceded to the United States in 1798; and the following year it was visited by President Adams, and named Fort Independence, its present title. In connection with Castle William, we find the first mention of the tune of "Yankee Doodle." In the Boston Journal of the Times, September 29, 1768, is the following: "The fleet was brought to anchor near Castle William; that night there was throwing of sky-rockets; and those passing in boats observed great rejoicings, and that the Yankee Doodle Song was the capital piece in the band of music." Page 186. The British ministry had already resolved to send troops to Boston to subdue the rebellious propensities of the people.

A large public park on the southern slope of Beacon Hill.

7 As the people refused to supply the troops with quarters, they were placed, some in the State House, some in Faneuil Hall [page 225], and others in tents on the Common. Cannons were planted at different points; sentinels challenged the citizens as they passed; and the whole town had the appearance of a camp.

8

arms.

There were, at that time, full two hundred thousand men in the colonies capable of bearing

food and shelter for the royal troops in that province, and for this offense, Parliament, now become the supple instrument of the crown, censured their disobedience, approved of coercive measures, and, by resolution, prayed the king to revive a long obsolete statute of Henry the Eighth, by which the governor of the refractory colony should be required to arrest, and send to England for trial, on a charge of treason, the ringleaders in the recent tumults. The colonial Assembly indignantly responded, by re-asserting the chartered privileges of the people, and denying the right of the king to take an offender from the country, for trial. And in the House of Commons a powerful minority battled manfully for the Americans. Burke pronounced the idea of reviving that old statute, as "horrible." "Can you not trust the juries of that country?" he asked. "If you have not a party among two millions of people, you must either change your plans of government, or renounce the colonics forever." Even Grenville, the author of the Stamp Act, opposed the measure, yet a majority voted in favor of the resolution, on the 26th of January, 1769.

The British troops continued to be a constant source of irritation, while, month after month, the colonies were agitated by disputes with the royal governors, the petty tyranny of lesser officials, and the interference of the imperial government with colonial legislation. The Assembly of Massachusetts, encouraged by the expressed sympathy of the other colonies, firmly refused to appropriate a single dollar for the support of the troops. They even demanded their withdrawal from the city, and refused to transact any legislative business while they remained. Daily occurrences exasperated the people against the troops, and finally, on the 2d of March, 1770, an event, apparently trifling in its character, led to bloodshed in the streets of Boston. A rope-maker quarreled with a soldier, and struck him. Out of this affray grew a fight between several soldiers and rope-makers. The latter were beaten, and the result aroused the vengeance of the more excitable portion of the inhabitants. A few evenings afterward [March 5], about seven hundred of them assembled in the streets, for the avowed purpose of attacking the troops.' A sentinel was assaulted near the custom-house, when Captain Preston, commander of the guard, went to his rescue with eight armed men. The mob dared the soldiers to fire, and attacked them with stones, pieces of ice, and other missiles. One of the soldiers who received a blow, fired, and his six companions also discharged their guns. Three of the citizens were killed, and five were danger

ously wounded.

The mob instantly retreated, when all

These were addressed by a tall man, disguised by a white wir and a scarlet cloak, who closed his harangue by shouting, "To the main guard! to the main guard!" and then disappeared. It was always believed that the tall man was Samuel Adams, one of the most inflexible patriots of the Revolution, and at that time a popular leader. He was a descendant of one of the early Puritans [page 75], and was born in Boston in 1722. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; was afterward governor of Massachusetts; and died in 1803. A purer patriot than Samuel Adams, never lived.

2

SAMUEL ADAMS.

The leader of the mob was a powerful mulatto, named Crispus

Attucks. He and Samuel Gray and James Caldwell, were killed instantly; two others received mortal wounds.

the bells of the city rang an alarum, and in less than an hour several thousands of exasperated citizens were in the streets. A terrible scene of blood would have ensued, had not Governor Hutchinson assured the people that justice should be vindicated in the morning. They retired, but with firm reselves not to endure the military despotism any longer.

The morning of the 6th of March was clear and frosty. At an early hour Governor Hutchinson was called upon to fulfill his promise. The people demanded the instant removal of the troops from Boston, and the trial of Captain Preston and his men, for murder. These demands were complied with. The troops were removed to Castle William [March 12, 1770], and Preston, ably defended by John Adams and Josiah Quincy, two of the popular leaders, was tried and acquitted, with six of his men, by a Boston jury. The other two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter. This result was a comment on the enforcement of the statute of Henry the Eighth, highly favorable to the Americans. It was so regarded in England, and was used with good effect by the opposition in Parliament. It showed that in the midst of popular excitement. the strong conservative principles of justice bore rule. The victims of the riot. were regarded as martyrs to liberty,' and for many years, the memory of the "Boston Massacre," as it was called, was kept alive by anniversary orations in the city and vicinity.

2

Perceiving the will and the power of the colonists in resisting taxation without their consent, the British ministry now wavered. On the very day of the bloody riot in Boston [March 5], Lord North, who was then the English prime minister, proposed to Parliament a repeal of all duties imposed by the act of 1767, except that upon tea. An act to that effect was passed a month afterward [April 12]. This concession was wrung from the minister partly by the clamor of English merchants and manufacturers, who again felt severely the operations of the non-importation associations in America. As tea was a luxury, North supposed the colonists would not object to the small duty laid upon that article, and he retained it as a standing assertion of the right of Parliament to impose such duties. The minister entirely mistook the character of the people he was dealing with. It was not the petty amount of duties of which they complained, for all the taxes yet imposed were not in the least. burdensome to them. They were contending for a great principle, which lay at the foundation of their liberties; and they regarded the imposition of a duty upon one article as much a violation of their sacred rights, as if ten were included. They accepted the ministerial concession, but, asserting their rights, continued their non-importation league against the purchase and use of tea.'

2

They were buried with great parade. All the bells of Teston and vicinity tolled a funeral knell while the procession was moving; and as intended, the affair made a deep impression on the public mind. Page 218. 3 Even before North's proposition was made to Parliament, special agreements concerning the disuse of tea, had been made. Already the popular feeling on this subject had been manifested toward a Boston merchant who continued to sell tea A company of half-grown boys placed an effigy near his door, with a finger upon it pointing toward his store. While a man was attempting to pull it down, he was pelted with dirt and stones. He ran into the store, and seizing a gun, discharged its contents among the crowd. A boy named Snyder was killed, and Christopher Gore

The spirit of opposition was not confined to the more northern and eastern colonies. It was rife below the Roanoke, and was boldly made manifest when occasion required. In 1771, the Carolinas, hitherto exempted from violent outbursts of popular indignation, although never wanting in zeal in opposing the Stamp Act, and kindred measures, became the theater of great excitement. To satisfy the rapacity and pride of royal governors, the industry of the province of North Carolina, especially, was enormously taxed.' The oppression was real, not an abstract principle, as at the North. The people in the interior at length formed associations, designed to resist unjust taxation, and to control public affairs. They called themselves Regulators; and in 1771, they were too numerous to be overawed by local magistrates. Their operations assumed the character of open rebellion; and in the spring of that year, Governor Tryon marched into that region with an armed force, to subdue them. They met him upon Alamance Creek, in Alamance county, on the 16th of May, and there a bloody skirmish ensued. The Regulators were subdued and dispersed, and Tryon marched back in triumph to the sea-board, after hanging six of the leaders, on the 19th of June following. These events aroused, throughout the South, the fiercest hatred of British power, and stimulated that earnest patriotism so early displayed by the people below the Roanoke, when the Revolution broke out."

The upper part of Narraganset Bay exhibited a scene, in the month of June, 1772, which produced much excitement, and widened the breach between Great Britain and her colonies. The commander of the British armed schooner Gasp, stationed there to assist the commissioners of customs' in enforcing the revenue laws, annoyed the American navigators by haughtily commanding them to lower their colors when they passed his vessel, in token of obedience. The William Tells of the bay refused to bow to the cap of this of this petty Gesler." For such disobedience, a Providence sloop was chased by the schooner. The latter grounded upon a low sandy point; and on that night [June 9, 1772], sixty-four armed men went down from Providence in boats, captured the people on board the Gasp?, and burned the vessel. Although a large reward was offered for the perpetrators (who were well known in Providence), they were never betrayed.

(afterward governor of Massachusetts) was wounded. The affair produced great excitement. At about the same time, three hundred "mistresses of familics" in Boston signed a pledge of total abstinence from the use of tea, while the duty remained upon it. A few days afterward a large nuinber of young ladies signed a similar pledge.

1 Governor Tryon caused a palace to be erected for his residence, at Newbern, at a cost of $75,000, for the payment of which the province was taxed. This was in 1768, and was one of the principal causes of discontent, which produced the outbreak here mentioned.

* Gesler was an Austrian governor of one of the cantons of Switzerland. He placed his cap on a pole, at a gate of the town, and ordered all to bow to it, when they should enter. William Tell, a brave leader of the people, refused. He was imprisoned for disobedience, escaped, aroused his countrymen to arms, who drove their Austrian masters out of the land, and achieved the independence of Switzerland.

One of the leaders was Abraham Whipple, a naval commander during the Revolution [page 310]. Several others were afterward distinguished for bravery during that struggle. Four years afterward, when Sir James Wallace, a British commander, was in the vicinity of Newport, Whipple became known as the leader of the attack on the Gaspè. Wallace sent him the following letter: "You, Abraham Whipple, on the 9th of June, 1772, burned his majesty's vessel, the Gaspè, and I will hang you at the yard-arm." To this Whipple replied: "To Sir James Wallace. Sir: Always catch a man before you hang him.-JAMES WHIPPLE."