Ch. 19. THE Legislation of 1774, brought the quarrel between America and Great Britain to an issue. The people of Massachusetts had from the first fought the battle of the Colonists, and if they were now to be abandoned to the vengeance of the mother country, the Colonial cause itself must be abandoned. The revolutionary party at Boston were undismayed by the proceedings of the British Government; the leaders of that party were prepared for the extremity which they had long sought; and they made an earnest appeal to their fellow-colonists to support them in their resistance to the parent State. The sufferings and privations inflicted upon the port of Boston by their exclusion from commercial privileges, far from mortifying the rebellious spirit of the inhabitants, only inflamed their FORTIFICATION OF BOSTON CREEK. resentment, and tended still further to widen a breach, already, perhaps, irreparable. The Provincial Congress, assembled in defiance of the Governor's proclamation, openly invited the people to assume arms, and to acquire military discipline; while they denounced as enemies of their country, all persons who should presume to supply His Majesty's troops with stores or military muniments. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut and Maryland followed the example of Massachusetts. 227 Ch. 19. 1774 Gen. Gage. General Gage, on the other hand, soon after Proceedings of his assumption of the Government, in the preceding summer, had taken the precaution of fortifying a narrow isthmus, called Boston Creek, which commanded the principal communication between the town and the open country. To this place also he withdrew his troops, who had already been tampered with by the people. At the same time, he represented to the Home Government the dangerous state of the province; and urged, that such a force should be placed at his disposal, as would enable him to crush the rebellion at its first outbreak. But he was told by Ministers at home that he had only a rabble to encounter, and that it was not worth while to raise an army to a war complement for the purpose of suppressing a disturbance so insignificant. The same despatch which contained the refusal of adequate military reinforcements, instructed the Governor to take a step 228 Ch. 19. 1774 Preparations of the Militia. HOSTILE PREPARATIONS. calculated to bring the quarrel to an immediate The Governor, however, pressed by a more immediate exigency, made no attempt to carry this order into execution. The provincial militia, in obedience to the injunctions of the Assembly, were making vigorous preparations to oppose the regular troops; and as any further forbearance on the part of the Government would have been imbecile affectation, Gage began to take measures for seizing the militia stores. He sent a small detachment to take possession of some guns at Salem, but through mismanagement or misinformation, the officer in command of the party was forced to retire without effecting his object. A larger and better appointed force was sent up the country to Concord, which it was understood had been made a depôt for military and naval stores by the agents of the Assembly. Precautions were taken to keep this expedition secret; but surrounded as the Government was by open or disguised enemies, all its movements were known. The troops were sent up the river St. Charles at night, and marched at day-break; but they had not advanced far, when it became evident that the country was already alarmed; and at a place called Lexington, only fifteen miles from Boston, they came up with a body of militia apparently on parade. These men were ordered BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 229 Ch. 19. 1774 troops to lay down their arms and disperse. Instead of obeying, they retired behind walls and houses, from which positions they fired upon the King's The British troops. The detachment pushed on to Concord, worsted. and having captured some stores, hastily retired towards Boston, harassed at every step by the American marksmen, who hung upon the flank and rear. Few of them, probably, would have reached the capital, had they not been joined at Lexington by the other division. Of the whole force, amounting to eighteen hundred men, nearly three hundred were killed and wounded. while the loss of the insurgents, as the provincial levies must henceforth be called, was under a hundred. emboldened. Although Gage's troops had in this affair The Colonists evinced the pertinacity and fortitude which distinguish British soldiers, and had even partially succeeded in performing the particular service upon which they had been detached, the expedition to Concord was vaunted by the Colonists as a discomfiture of the British arms. The immediate effect was to diminish that deference for the military predominance of the mother country which had hitherto deterred the provinces from proceeding to extremities. In a few days, Boston was invested by a provincial army of twenty thousand men. England. While the Colonists were making active prepa- Party spirit in rations for war, and after the conflict had begun, the American question afforded fitting materials 230 Ch. 19. 1774 Propositions to the Pennsylvania. PARTY STRIFE IN PARLIAMENT. for party strife and the display of eloquence in the imperial parliament. Lord Chatham introduced a bill for the settlement of the dispute. The minister moved a string of conciliatory propositions. Mr. Burke moved rival resolutions. These motions severally gave rise to acrimonious and lengthened debates. Burke introduced his scheme, with one of those philosophical and eloquent dissertations which are read with admiration, but were listened to with apathy. Fox denounced the Government in declamations which carried away the audience, but which will not bear perusal. Chatham alone, recommended the policy of a statesman, in a speech which combined the better part of oratory with an elevation and force of style, far surpassing the great contemporaries of his youth or later age. I shall presently review these several propositions: those of the minister were of course adopted by Parliament; but it was idle at this juncture, to devise any means of amicable accommodation. When the vote of the British Parliament arrived in America, the battle of Lexington had been fought, and many of the colonies were in open revolt. The British propositions were, in the first Assembly of instance, laid before the Assembly of Pennsylvania; a colony in which the Society of Friends predominated, and one, therefore, favourable to pacific counsels; she had taken no active part in the demonstration against them other |