England and Pennsylvania had imported nearly one half as much as usual; New York alone had been true to its engagement, and its imports had fallen off more than five parts in six. It was impatient of a system of voluntary renunciation which was so unequally kept. Merchants of New York, therefore, consulted those of Philadelphia on a general importation of all articles except of tea; the Philadelphians favored the proposition, till a letter arrived from Franklin, urging them to persevere on their original plan. Sears and Macdougall in New York resisted concession; but men went from ward to ward to take the opinions of the people, and it was found that eleven hundred and eighty against three hundred were disposed to confine the restriction to tea alone. "If any merchant should presume to break through the non-importation agreement, except in concert with the several provinces, the goods imported should be burnt as soon as landed; and I am ready to peril my life in the attempt." Such were the words of Isaac Sears, at a public meeting of the resolute patriots. The decision was on the balance; an appeal was again taken to the people; and, as the majority favored resuming importations, the July packet, which had been detained for a few days, sailed before the middle of the month, with orders for all kinds of merchandise excepting tea. "Send us your old liberty pole, as you can have no further use for it," said the Philadelphians. The students at Princeton, one of whom was James Madison, appearing in their black gowns, and the bell tolling, burned the New York merchants' letter in the college yard. Boston tore it into pieces and threw it to the winds. South Carolina, whose patriots had just raised the statue to Chatham, read it with disdainful anger. But there was no help; so far Lord North had reasoned correctly; the non-importation agreement had been enforced by New York alone, and now trade between America and England was open in every thing but TEA.

1770.

July.

CHAPTER XLV.

HILLS

MARTIAL LAW INTRODUCED INTO MASSACHUSETTS. BOROUGH'S ADMINISTRATION OF THE COLONIES CONTINUED.

1770. July.

JULY-OCTOBER, 1770.

GREAT joy prevailed in London at the news that America was resuming commercial intercourse The occasion invited corresponding concessions, which Lord North would have willingly made; but the majority of his colleagues had been led to consider "the state of the colony of Massachusetts Bay more desperate than ever;" and, on the sixth of July, the king in council gave an order, making a beginning of martial law within that province, and preparing the way for closing the port of Boston.

Hutchinson in July once more summoned the legislature to Cambridge, for which he continued to offer no other excuse than the king's will. The highest advocate for the divine right of regal power had never gone so far as to claim that it might be used at caprice, to inflict wanton injury. There was no precedent for the measure but during the worst of times in England, or in France, where a parliament had sometimes been worried into submission by exile.

The assembly expressed in the strongest terms the superiority of the legislative body to royal instructions; and, in answer to the old question of what is to be done upon the abusive exercise of the prerogative, they went back to the principles of the revolution, and the words of Locke: "In this as in all other cases, where they have no judge on earth, the people have no remedy but to appeal to Heaven." They drew a distinction between the king and his servants; and attributed to "wicked ministers" the encroachments on their liberty, as well as "the impudent mandate" to one assembly "to rescind an excellent resolution of a former one."

1770.

Aug.

On the third of August, Hutchinson communicated to the house that the instruction to rescind, which they had called an impudent mandate, was an order from the king himself, whose "immediate attention,” he assured them, they would not be able "to escape." In this manner, the royal dignity and character were placed on trial before a colonial assembly, and monarchy itself was exposed to contempt.

Sept.

The session had passed without the transaction of any business, when, near the evening of the eighth of September, Hutchinson received the order which had been adopted in July by the king in council, and which marks the beginning of a system of measures having for their object the prevention of American independence. The harbor of Boston was made "the rendezvous of all ships stationed in North America," and the fortress which commanded it was to be delivered up to such officer as Gage should appoint, to be garrisoned by regular troops, and put into a respectable state of defence. But the charter of Massachusetts reserved to its governor the command of its militia and of its forts; the castle had been built and repaired and garrisoned by the colony, at its own expense; to take the command from the civil governor, and bestow it on the commander in chief, was a violation of the charter, as well as of immemorial usage. For a day, Hutchinson hesitated; but, on second thoughts, he resolved to obey the order. Enjoining secrecy on the members of the council upon their oaths, he divulged to them his instructions. The council was struck with amazement; for the town was very quiet, and the measure seemed a wanton provocation. "Does not the charter," they demanded of him, "place the command of the castle in the governor?" After a secret discussion, which lasted for two hours, he entered his carriage which was waiting at the door, hurried to the Neck, stole into a barge, and was rowed to the castle. The officers and garrison were discharged without a moment's warning; he then delivered up the keys to Dalrymple, and in the twilight retired to his country house at Milton. But he was in dread of being waylaid; and the next day fled for safety to the

castle, as he and Bernard had done five years before, and remained there every night for the rest of the week. The breach of the Massachusetts charter by the delivery of the castle was a commencement of civil war; yet the last appeal was not to be made without some prospect of success.

"As a citizen of the world," cried Turgot, "I see with joy the approach of an event which, more than all the books of the philosophers, will dissipate the puerile and sanguinary phantom of a pretended exclusive commerce. I speak of the separation of the British colonies from their metropolis, which will soon be followed by that of all America from Europe. Then, and not till then, will the discovery of that part of the world become for us truly useful. Then it will multiply our enjoyments far more abundantly than when we bought them by torrents of blood."

1770.

To prevent that separation, Hillsborough thought Oct. it necessary, without loss of time, to change "the constitution of the Massachusetts Bay." Conspiring with fierce zeal against the liberties of his native country, Hutchinson advised not a mere change of the mode of electing the council, but "a bill for the vacating or disannulling the charter in all its parts, and leaving it to the king to settle the government by a royal commission." As Hillsborough and the king seemed content with obtaining the appointment of the council, Hutchinson forwarded lists from which the royal councillors were to be named. "If the kingdom," said he, "is united and resolved, I have but very little doubt we shall be as tame as lambs; and he presented distinctly the option, either to lay aside taxation as inexpedient or to deal with the inhabitants as being "in a state of revolt." After that should be decided, he proposed to starve the colony into obedience, by narrowing its commerce and excluding it from the fisheries. If this should fail, the military might be authorized to act by their own authority, free from the restraints of civil government. Boston, he thought, should be insulated from the rest of the colony, and specially dealt with; and he recommended the example of Rome, which, on one occasion, seized the leading men in rebellious colonies, and detained them in the metropolis as hostages. An

act of parliament curtailing Massachusetts of all the land east of the Penobscot was a supplementary proposition.

Less occasion never existed for martial rule than at Boston. At the ensuing trial of Preston, every indulgence was shown him by the citizens. Auchmuty, his counsel, had the assistance of John Adams and Quincy. The prosecution was conducted with languor and inefficiency, the defence with consummate ability; important witnesses were sent out of the way; the judges were the partisans of the prisoner; and selected talesmen were put upon the jury. As the slaughter of the citizens took place at night, it was not difficult to raise a plausible doubt whether it was Preston or some other person who had given the command to the soldiers to fire; and on that doubt a verdict of acquittal was obtained. Quincy, who had taken part in the defence, afterwards denied the propriety of the verdict. The public acquiesced, but was offended at the manifest want of uprightness in the court. "The firmness of the judges' was vaunted, to obtain for them all much larger salaries, to be paid directly by the crown. The chief justice, who was a manufacturer, wanted, moreover, money in the shape of pay for some refuse cannon-balls, which the province had refused to buy.

1770.

Oct.

The trial of the eight soldiers who were with Preston followed a few weeks after. Two of them were proved to have fired, and were found guilty of manslaughter. As seven guns only were fired, the jury acquitted the other six; choosing that five guilty should escape rather than one innocent be convicted.

In selecting an agent to lay their complaints before the king, Samuel Adams and about one third of the house, following the advice of Joseph Reed, of Philadelphia, gave their suffrages for Arthur Lee; but, by the better influence of Bowdoin and of the minister Cooper, Benjamin Franklin, greatest of the sons of Boston, was elected. Arthur Lee was then chosen as his substitute. Franklin held under the crown the office of deputy postmaster-general for America, and his son was a royal governor; but his mind reasoned on politics with the same freedom from prejudice which