380 RESOLUTIONS OF THE ASSEMBLY. each colony should have one vote, whatever might be the number of its representatives. They made a declaration of rights; resolved on an address to the king; a memorial to the people of British America; and an address to the people of Great Britain. These papers had a great effect both in America and England. They inspired the people with confidence in their delegates; and their decency, firmness, and wisdom, caused a universal feeling of respect for the congress, which extended even to England. Lord Chatham, speaking of them in the House of Lords, said, that "for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under such complication of circumstances, no nation, or body of men, can stand in preference to the general congress at Philadelphia." The appearance of things in Massachusetts was far from being auspicious. Soon after General Gage's arrival, two regiments of foot, with a small detachment of artillery, and some cannon, landed at Boston, and encamped on the common; and they were gradually reinforced by several regiments from Ireland, New York, Halifax, and Quebec. General Gage excited the jealousy of the townsmen by employing some of the troops in repairing and manning the fortifications on Boston Neck. He stationed a guard there, with a view to prevent the desertion of the soldiers; a measure which the people understood as intended to cut off communication between the town and the country. On the 1st of September, General Gage sent two companies to Charlestown arsenal, and removed the powder which had been deposited there, amounting to two hundred and fifty or three hundred barrels. The powder in the magazine of Boston was also withholden from the legal authorities. These obnoxious measures rendering consultation necessary, delegates assembled for the purpose, from the neighbouring towns. This assembly passed a series of resolutions, containing a detail of the particulars of their intended opposition to the late acts of parliament, and ended with declaring "that no obedience is due from the province to either or any part of the said acts; but that they should be rejected as the attempts of a wicked administration to enslave America." These resolutions, which in boldness exceeded any that had been hitherto adopted, were immediately forwarded to the continental congress, which body explicitly sanctioned them. An agreement was also entered into to abstain from all importations from Great Britain and Ireland, after the 1st of December; and also not to export to Great Britain, Ireland, or the West Indies, any commodities whatever, except rice. In Massachusetts, peace and reconciliation seemed to be daily further removed. Gage had issued writs for the assembling of a convention at Salem, on the 5th of October; but alarmed by the symptoms of increased discontent, he judged it expedient to countermand the writs, by a proclamation, suspending the meeting. This proclamation was declared illegal; and ninety representatives assembling, and neither the governor nor his substitute attending, they formed themselves into a provincial congress and adjourned to Concord. Here they appointed a committee to request General Gage to desist from fortifying the entrance into Boston, and to restore that place to its neutral state, as before. The governor expressed the warmest displeasure at the supposition of danger from English troops, to any but enemies of England, and warned the congress to desist from their illegal proceedings. The provincial congress then adjourned to Cambridge, where they appointed a committee to prepare a plan for the immediate defence of the province; gave orders for the enlistment of a number of the inhabitants to be in readiness, at a minute's warning,* to appear in arms; elected three general officers, Preble, Ward, and Pomeroy, to command these minute-men; and adjourned to the 23d of November. On their second assembling, they passed an ordinance for the equipment of twelve thousand men, to act on any emergency, and the enlistment of onefourth part of the militia as minute-men, and appointed two more officers, Prescott and Heath. They also secured the co *The militia organized in this manner, received the appellation of minute-men. 382 CHATHAM'S RESOLUTION. operation of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, in raising an army of twenty thousand men. Towards the close of the year, a proclamation from the king reached America, prohibiting the exportation of military stores from Great Britain. The inhabitants of Rhode Island no sooner received notice of this occurrence, than they removed from the public battery about forty pieces of cannon; and the assembly of the province gave orders for procuring arms and military stores, and for the immediate equipment of a military force. In December, 1774, John Langdon, a merchant of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with the aid of two or three other influential citizens, raised a troop of four hundred men, and suddenly and secretly leading them to Fort William and Mary, on Great Island, surprised and disarmed the garrison, and carried away the arms and ammunition to a place of safety. This bold act was accomplished while a British man-of-war was lying in the harbour; and the hundred barrels of gunpowder taken on the occasion were subsequently used with effect in the battle of Breed's Hill. Langdon was threatened with prosecution for heading the attack on the fort; but the royal governor, Wentworth, was deterred from acting, by the resolution of the people of New Hampshire to protect the spirited patriot at all hazards. The new parliament met on the 30th of November, 1774, and were addressed by the king, who referred in strong terms to the rebellious conduct of the people in Massachusetts and the other colonies. Addresses, echoing the royal sentiments, were made by both houses, though not without much opposition. During the Christmas holidays, intelligence of the proceedings of the American Congress reached Great Britain. Opportunely, Lord Chatham, after a long retirement, now took his seat in the House of Lords, to combat for the interests of America. He offered a resolution that Gage should be ordered to remove the troops from Boston; it was, however, lost. Massachusetts was soon after declared to be in a state of rebellion; and a bill for the restriction of the colonial com APPROACH OF THE REVOLUTION. 383 merce and fisheries, was also passed by parliament. The ministerial agents began to hold conferences with Franklin in regard to some means of reconciliation; but these ended in nothing. In February, Mr. Burke introduced a conciliatory plan for the government of the colonies, proposing to repeal all the offensive acts; but it was objected to and voted down. Mr. Hartley then introduced a bill, calculated to remove some of the objections to Mr. Burke's measure; but this too was rejected, and a deceptive plan proposed by the premier, was adopted. That portion of the revolution which could be accomplished in the council-halls, may here be considered to have been brought to a close. The colonists had taken their position. They had repeatedly declared their grievances. They had peaceably petitioned for redress, and had met new acts of aggression by unavailing remonstrance. The purpose of resistance had acquired consistency and firmness; and only awaited the resort of tyranny to physical force in order to display its strength. The occasion was soon to arrive, when the pen was to be laid aside, and the sword unsheathed. COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. THE purpose of the colonists, in the approaching struggle with the mother country, appears to have been to place their powerful adversary in the wrong, throwing upon her the responsibility of the first appeal to arms. In this purpose they were com pletely successful. The first blood was shed by the act of the British. A considerable quantity of military stores having been deposited at Concord, an inland town, about eighteen miles from Boston, General Gage resolved to destroy them. For the execution of this design, he, on the night preceding the 19th of April, detached Lieutenant-Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, with eight hundred grenadiers and light-infantry, |