CHAPTER XXIII. THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOSTON MASSACRE. FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1775. 1775. THE French minister judged rightly; the less discerning English government was deceived by men who had undertaken to secure New York to the crown, if their intrigues could be supported by a small military force. Feb. But the friends of the British system in that colony were not numerous, and were found only on the surface. The Dutch Americans formed the basis of the population, and were in a special manner animated by the glorious example of their fathers, who had proved to the world that a small people under great discouragements can found a republic. The story of their strife with Spain, their successful daring, their heroism during their long war for freedom, was repeated on the banks of the Hudson and the Mohawk. It was remembered, too, that England herself owed her great revolution, the renovation of her own political system, to Holland. How hard, then, that the superior power which had been the fruit of that restoration should be employed to impair the privileges of colonists of Dutch descent! By temperament moderate but inflexible, little noticed by the government, they kept themselves noiselessly in reserve; but their patriotism was inflamed and guided by the dearest recollections of their nationality. Many of the Anglo-Americans of New York were from New England, whose excitement they shared; and the mechanics of the city were almost to a man enthusiasts for decisive measures. The landed aristocracy was divided; but the Dutch and the Presbyterians, especially Schuyler of Albany, and the aged Livingston of Rhinebeck, never hesitated to risk their vast estates in the cause of inherited freedom. The latter had once thought of emigrating to Switzerland, if he could nowhere else escape oppression. In no colony did English dominion find less of the sympathy of the people than in New York. In Virginia, the Blue Ridge answered British menaces with defiance. "We cannot part with liberty but with our lives," said the inhabitants of Botetourt. "Our duty to God, our country, ourselves, and our posterity, all forbid it. We stand prepared for every contingency." The dwellers on the waters of the Shenandoah, meeting at Staunton, commended the Virginia delegates to the applause of suc 1775. Feb. ceeding ages, their example to the hearts of every Virginian and every American. "For my part," said Adam Stephen, "before I would submit my life, liberty, and property to the arbitrary disposal of a venal aristocracy, I would sit myself down with a few friends upon some rich and healthy spot, six hundred miles to the westward, and there form a settlement which in a short time would command attention and respect.' The valleys of Kentucky laughed as they heard the distant tread of clustering troops of adventurers, who, under a grant from the Cherokees, prepared to take possession of the meadows and undulating table land that nature has clothed with its richest grásses. Their views extended to planting companies of honest farmers, and erecting iron works, a salt manufactory, grist-mills, and saw-mills; and the culture of the rich region was to be fostered by premiums for the heaviest crop of corn, and for the emigrant who should drive out the greatest number of sheep. The men who are now to occupy "that most desirable territory” will never turn back, but, as we shall see, will carry American independence to the Wabash, the Detroit, and the Mississippi. At Charleston, South Carolina, the association was punctually enforced. A ship-load of near three hundred slaves was sent out of the colony by the consignee; even house hold furniture and horses, though they had been in use in England, could not be landed; and, on the twenty-fifth, the cargo of the "Charming Sally" was thrown into Hog Island Creek. The winter at Boston was the mildest ever known; and in this "the gracious interposition of Heaven was recognised." All the towns in Massachusetts, nearly all in New England, and all the colonies ministered to the wants of Boston. Some relief came even from England. "Call me an enthusiast," said Samuel Adams; "this union among the colonies and warmth of affection can be attributed to nothing less than the agency of the Supreme Being. If we believe that he superintends and directs the affairs of empires, we have reason to expect the restoration and establishment of the public liberties." On Sunday the twenty-sixth of February, two or three hundred soldiers, under the command of Leslie, sailed from Castle William, landed clandestinely at Marblehead, and hurried to Salem in quest of military stores. Not finding them there, the officer marched towards Danvers; but at the river he found the bridge drawn up, and was kept waiting for an hour and a half, whilst the stores, insignificant in amount, were removed to a place of safety. Then, having pledged his honor not to advance more than thirty yards on the other side, he was allowed to march his troops across the bridge. The alarm spread through the neighborhood; but Leslie hastily retraced his steps, and re-embarked at Marblehead. 1775. March. At this time, the British ministry received news of the vote in the New York assembly, refusing to consider the resolutions of congress. The confidence of the king reached its climax; and he spared no pains to win the colony. In an ostensible letter from the secretary of state, New York was praised for its attempts towards a reconciliation with the mother country; in a private letter, Dartmouth enjoined upon Colden to exert his address to facilitate the acceptance of Lord North's conciliatory resolutions. Like directions were sent to the governors of every colony except Connecticut and Rhode Island. 1775. How complete was the general confidence that the great majorities in parliament would overawe the colonies, Mar. 6. appeared on Monday the sixth of March, when the bill depriving New England of her fisheries was to be engrossed. Even Lord Howe advocated it as the means of bringing the disobedient provinces to a sense of their duty, without involving the empire in a civil war. "Now," replied Fox, "as by this act all means of acquiring a liveli hood, or of receiving provisions, is cut off, no alternative is left but starving or rebellion. If the act should not produce universal acquiescence, I defy anybody to defend the policy of it. Yet America will not submit. New York only differs in the modes." "The act," said Dundas, the solicitor-general of Scotland, "is just, because provoked by the most criminal disobedience; is merciful, because that disobedience would have justified the severest military execution. As to the famine, which is so pathetically lamented, I am afraid it will not be produced by this act. When it is said no alternative is left to them but to starve or rebel, this is not the fact; for there is another way, to submit." The king, on receiving an account of "the languor of opposition" during the debate, was convinced the line adopted in American affairs would be crowned with success." These words fell from George III. on the day on which Boston commemorated the "massacre " of its citizens. The orator was Joseph Warren, who understood the delusion of the king, and resolved to prove that "the Americans would make the last appeal rather than submit to the yoke prepared for their necks; that their patience had no alloy of cowardice." The commemoration was a public affront to Gage, both as general of the army and as governor of the province; for the subject of the oration was the baleful effects of standing armies in time of peace; and it was to be delivered to the town in a town-meeting, contrary to an act of parliament which he came to Boston to enforce. In the crowd which thronged to the Old South meeting-house appeared about forty British officers of the army and navy; these Samuel Adams, the moderator, received with studied courtesy, placing them all near the orator, some of them on the platform above the pulpit stairs. There they sat conspicuously, and listened to a vivid picture of the night of the massacre, after which Warren proceeded: Mar. 6. "Our streets are again filled with armed men, our 1775. harbor is crowded with ships-of-war; but these cannot intimidate us; our liberty must be preserved; it is far dearer than life; we hold it dear as our allegiance; we cannot suffer even Britons to ravish it from us. Should America be brought into vassalage, Britain must lose her freedom also; her liberty, as well as ours, will eventually be preserved by the virtue of America. The attempt of parliament to raise a revenue from America, and our denial of their right to do it, have excited an almost universal inquiry into the rights of British subjects and of mankind. The malice of the Boston port bill has been defeated in a very considerable degree, by benefactions in this and our sister colonies; and the sympathetic feelings for a brother in distress, and the grateful emotions of him who finds relief, must for ever endear each to the other, and form those indissoluble bonds of friendship on which the preservation of our rights so evidently depends. The mutilation of our charter has made every other colony jealous for its own. Even the sending troops to put these acts in execution is not without advantages to us. The exactness and beauty of their discipline inspire our youth with ardor in the pursuit of military knowledge. Charles the Invincible taught Peter the Great the art of war; the battle of Pultowa convinced Charles of the proficiency Peter had made. "Our country is in danger. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, and, determining to be free, Heaven and earth will aid the resolution. You are to decide the important question, on which rests the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves. The faltering tongue of hoary age calls on you to support your country. The lisping infant raises its suppliant hands, imploring defence against the monster slavery. Your fathers look from their celestial seats with smiling approbation on their sons, who boldly stand forth. in the cause of virtue. |