СНАР. LI. 1774. At Boston itself on the morning of the 1st of June all eyes were anxiously turned to the townclock which had no sooner struck twelve than the custom-house was closed and all legal business was suspended. The revenue-officers 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, LI. 1774. and to the rights and liberties of all America; CHAP. 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 their 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 well-guarded 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 LI. 1774. CHAP. 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 LI. "might be proper to have a conference with him. CHAP. "A number of men on horseback instantly set "out to bring him back, but they were dissuaded. 66 66 A single horseman of his own head 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."* 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 * Dr. Cooper to Dr. Franklin, Sept. 9. 1774. See also the American Archives, vol. i. p. 764. 1774. CHAP. Governor. In Virginia they owed their nomination LI. to a new House of Burgesses elected for that 1774. 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 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 *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 irregularly chosen "were very readily "received into Congress." (Life of Washington, note to vol. ii. p. 157. ed. 1805.) |