oldest American commonwealth, and the effect on the other colonies was like the shock of a battery.

Similar resolutions were adopted by the assemblies of New York and Massachusetts-in the latter State before the action of Virginia was known. At Boston, James Otis successfully agitated the question of an American Congress. It was proposed that each colony, acting without leave of the king, should appoint delegates, who should meet in the following autumn and discuss the affairs of the nation. The proposition was favorably received; nine of the colonies appointed delegates; and on the 7th of October THE FIRST COLONIAL CONGRESS assembled at New York. There were twenty-eight representatives: Timothy Ruggles of Massachusetts was chosen president. After much discussion A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS was adopted setting forth in unmistakable terms that the American colonists, as Englishmen, could not and would not consent to be taxed but by their own representatives. Memorials were also prepared and addressed to the two houses of Parliament. A manly petition, professing loyalty and praying for a more just and humane policy toward his American subjects, was directed to the king.

The 1st of November came. On that day the Stamp Act was to take effect. During the summer great quantities of the stamped paper had been prepared and sent to America. Ten boxes of it were seized by the people of New York and openly destroyed. In Connecticut, the stamp-officer was threatened with hanging. In Boston, houses were destroyed and the stamps given to the winds and flames. Whole cargoes of the obnoxious paper were reshipped to England; and every stampofficer in America was obliged to resign or leave the country. By the 1st of November there were scarcely stamps enough remaining to furnish after times with specimens. The day was kept as a day of mourning. The stores were closed; flags were hung at half mast; the bells were tolled; effigies of the authors and abettors of the Stamp Act were borne about in mockery, and then burned. The people of New Hampshire formed a funeral procession and buried a coffin bearing the inscription of LIBERTY. A cartoon was circulated hinting at union as the remedy for existing evils. The picture represented a snake broken into sections. Each joint was labeled with the initials of a colony; the head was marked "N. E." for New England; and the title was Join or Die!

At first, legal business was almost entirely suspended. The courthouses were shut up. Society was at a standstill; not even a marriage license could be legally issued. By and by, the people breathed more freely; the offices were opened, and business went on as before; but was not transacted with stamped paper. It was at this juncture that the

patriotic society known as THE SONS OF LIBERTY was organized. The members were pledged to oppose British tyranny to the utmost, and to defend with their lives the freedom of the colonies. Equally important was the action of the colonial merchants. The importers of New York, Boston and Philadelphia entered into a solemn compact to purchase no more goods of Great Britain until the Stamp Act should be repealed. And the people, applauding the action of their merchants, cheerfully denied themselves of all imported luxuries.

Great was the wrath of the British government when the news of these proceedings was borne across the ocean. But a large party of English tradesmen and manufacturers sided with the colonists. Better still, some of the most eminent statesmen espoused the cause of America. Even Lord Camden in the House of Lords spoke favorably of colonial rights. Before the House of Commons Mr. Pitt delivered a powerful address. "You have," said he, "no right to tax America. I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of our fellow-subjects so lost to every sense of virtue as tamely to give up their liberties would be fit instruments to make slaves of the rest." The new Whig prime minister, the marquis of Rockingham, was also a friend of the colonies, and looked with disfavor on the legislation of his predecessor. On the 18th of March, 1766, the Stamp Act was formally repealed. As a kind of balm to soothe the wounded feelings of the Tories-as the adherents of Grenville were now called-a supplemental resolution was added to the repeal declaring that Parliament had the right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.

The joy both in England and America was unbounded. The vessels in the river Thames were decked with flags, and the colonial orators spoke to enthusiastic crowds gathered around bonfires. There was a great calm in all the country; but it was only the lull before the coming of a greater storm. A few months after the repeal of the Stamp Act the ministry of Rockingham was dissolved and a new cabinet formed under the leadership of Pitt, who was now made earl of Chatham. Unfortunately, however, the prime minister was for a long time confined by sickness to his home in the country. During his absence, Mr. Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, in a moment of unparalleled folly, brought forward a new scheme for taxing America. On the 29th of June, 1767, an act was passed imposing a duty on all the glass, paper, painters' colors and tea which should thereafter be imported into the colonies. At the same time a resolution was adopted suspending the powers of the general assembly of New York until that body should vote certain supplies for the royal troops stationed in the province. A more rash and disastrous piece of legislation never was enacted.

All the smothered resentment of the colonies burst out anew. Another agreement not to purchase British goods was immediately entered into by the American merchants. The newspapers were filled with bitter denunciations of Parliament. Early in 1768 the assembly of Massachusetts adopted a circular calling upon the other colonies for assistance in the effort to obtain redress of grievances. The ministers were enraged and required the assembly in the king's name to rescind their action, and to express regret for that "rash and hasty proceeding." Instead of that, the sturdy legislature reaffirmed the resolution by a nearly unanimous vote. Thereupon Governor Bernard dissolved the assembly; but the members would not disperse until they had prepared a list of charges against the governor and requested the king to remove him.

In the month of June fuel was added to the flame. A sloop, charged with attempting to evade the payment of duty, was seized by the custom-house officers. The people rose in a mob; attacked the houses of the officers, and obliged the occupants to seek shelter in Castle William, at the entrance of the harbor. The governor now appealed to the ministers for help; and General Gage, commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, was ordered to bring from Halifax a regiment of regulars and overawe the people. On the 1st of October the troops, seven hundred strong, marched with fixed bayonets into the capital of Massachusetts. The people were maddened by this military invasion of their city. When the governor required the selectmen of Boston to provide quarters for the soldiers, he was met with an absolute refusal; and the troops were quartered in the state-house.

In February of 1769, Parliament advanced another step toward The people of Massachusetts were declared rebels, and the governor was directed to arrest those deemed guilty of treason and send them to England for trial. The general assembly met this additional outrage with defiant resolutions. Scenes almost as violent as these were at the same time enacted in Virginia and North Carolina. In the latter State a popular insurrection was suppressed by Governor Tryon; the insurgents, escaping across the mountains, obtained lands of the Cherokees, and became the founders of Tennessee.

The

Early in 1770 a serious affray occurred in New York. soldiers wantonly cut down a liberty pole which had stood for several years in the park. A conflict ensued, in which the people came out best; another pole was erected in the northern part of the city. On the 5th of March a more serious difficulty occurred in Boston. An altercation had taken place between a party of citizens and the soldiers. A crowd gathered, surrounded Captain Preston's company of the city guard, hooted

at them, and dared them to fire. At length the exasperated soldiers discharged a volley, killing three of the citizens and wounding several others. This outrage, known as the Boston Massacre, created a profound sensation. The city was ablaze with excitement. Several thousand men assembled under arms. Governor Hutchinson came out, promising that justice should be done and trying to appease the multitude. The brave Samuel Adams spoke for the people. An immediate withdrawal of the troops from the city was demanded, and the governor was obliged to yield. Captain Preston and his company were arrested and tried for murder. The prosecution was conducted with great spirit, and two of the offenders were convicted of manslaughter.

On the very day of the Boston massacre, Lord North, who had become prime minister, secured the passage by Parliament of an act repealing all the duties on American imports except that on tea. The exception was made only to show that the right of taxing the colonies was not relinquished. The merchants of New York and Boston at once relaxed their non-importation agreement except so far as it related to tea; to that extent the compact was retained; and the people voluntarily pledged themselves to use no more tea until the duty should be unconditionally repealed. The antagonism toward the mother country was abating somewhat, when in 1772 an act was passed by Parliament requiring that the salaries of the governor and judges of Massachusetts should be paid out of the colonial revenues without consent of the assembly. That body retaliated by a declaration that the parliamentary statute was a violation of the chartered rights of the people, and therefore void. About the same time the Gaspee, a royal schooner which had been annoying the people of Providence, was boarded by a company of patriots and burned.

In 1773 the ministers attempted to enforce the tea-tax by a stratagem. Owing to the duty, the price of tea in the American market had been doubled. But there was no demand for the article; for the people would not buy. As a consequence the warehouses of Great Britain were stored with vast quantities of tea, awaiting shipment to America. Parliament now removed the export duty which had hitherto been charged on tea shipped from England. The price was by so much lowered; and the ministers persuaded themselves that, when the cheaper tea was offered in America, the silly colonists would pay their own import duty without suspicion or complaint.

To carry out this scheme English ships were loaded with tea for the American market. Some of the vessels reached Charleston; the tea was landed, but the people forbade its sale. The chests were stored in

mouldy cellars, and the contents ruined. At New York and Philadelphia the ports were closed and the ships forbidden to enter. At Boston the vessels entered the harbor. The tea had been consigned to Governor Hutchinson and his friends; and special precautions were taken to prevent a failure of the enterprise. But the authorities stubbornly stood their ground, and would not permit the tea to be landed. On the 16th of December the dispute was settled in a memorable manner. There was a great town-meeting at which seven thousand people were assembled. Adams and Quincy spoke to

to

the multitudes. Evening came on, and the meeting was about to adjourn, when a warwhoop was heard, and about fifty men disguised as Indians passed the door of the Old South Church. The crowd followed Griffin's wharf, where the three tea-ships were at anchor. Then everything became quiet. The disguised men quickly boarded the vessels, broke open the three hundred and forty chests of tea that composed the cargoes, and poured the contents into the sea.

Such was THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

Parliament made haste to find revenge. On the last day of March,. 1774, THE BOSTON PORT BILL was passed. It was enacted that no kind of merchandise should any longer be landed or shipped at the wharves of Boston. The custom-house was removed to Salem, but the people of that town refused the benefits which were proffered by the hand. of tyranny. The inhabitants of Marblehead tendered the free use of their warehouses to the merchants of Boston. The assembly stood stoutly by the cause of the people. When the news of the passage of the Port: Bill reached Virginia, the burgesses at once entered a protest on the: