CHAP. idea of taxation, internal or external, for raising a XII. revenue on the subjects in America without their

1774

Sept.

consent."

This article was contrary to the principles of Otis at the commencement of the contest; to the repeated declarations of Samuel Adams; to the example of the congress of 1765, which had put aside a similar proposition, when offered by Livingston, of New York. Not one of the committee was fully satisfied with it; yet, as the ablest speaker from Massachusetts was its advocate, the concession was irrevocable. It stands as a monument that the congress harbored no desire but of reconciliation. "I would have given every thing I possessed for a restoration to the state of things before the contest began;" said John Adams at a later day. His resolution accepted that badge of servitude, the British colonial system.

During these discussions, Galloway, of Pennsylvania, in secret concert with the governor of New Jersey and with Colden of New York, proposed for the government of the colonies a president-general, to be appointed by the king, and a grand council to be chosen once in three years by the several assemblies. The British parliament was to have the power of revising the acts of this body; which in its turn was to have a negative on British statutes relating to the colonies. "I am as much a friend to liberty as exists," blustered Galloway, as he presented his insidious proposition, "and no man shall go further in point of fortune or in point of blood, than the man who now addresses you." His scheme held out a hope of a continental union, which was the long cherished policy of New York; it was seconded by

XII.

Sept.

Duane, and advocated by Jay; but opposed by Lee CHAP. of Virginia. Patrick Henry objected to entrusting the power of taxation to a council to be chosen not 1774. directly by the people, but indirectly by its representatives; and he condemned the proposal in all its aspects. "The original constitution of the colonies," said he, "was founded on the broadest and most generous base. The regulation of our trade compensates all the protection we ever experienced. We shall liberate our constituents from a corrupt house of commons, but throw them into the arms of an American legislature, that may be bribed by a nation which in the face of the world avows bribery as a part of her system of government. Before we are obliged to pay taxes as they do, let us be as free as they; let us have our trade open with all the world." "I think the plan almost perfect," said Edward Rutledge. But not one colony, unless it may have been New York, voted in its favor; and no more than a bare majority would consent that it should even lie on the table. Its mover boasted of this small courtesy as of a triumph, though at a later day the congress struck the proposal from its record.

1.

With this defeat, Galloway lost his mischievous importance. At the provincial elections in Pennsyl- Oct. vania, on the first day of October, Dickinson, his old opponent, was chosen almost unanimously a representative of the county. Mifflin, though opposed by some of the Quakers as too warm, was elected a burgess of Philadelphia by eleven hundred votes out of thirteen hundred, with Charles Thomson as his colleague. The assembly, on the very day of its organi

CHAP. zation, added Dickinson to its delegation in congress, XII. and he took his seat in season to draft the address of 1774. that body to the king.

Oct.

During the debates on the proper basis of that address, letters from Boston announced that the gov. ernment continued seizing private military stores, suffering the soldiery "to treat both town and country as declared enemies," fortifying the place, and mounting cannon at its entrance, as though he would hold its inhabitants as hostages, in order to compel a compliance with the new laws. As he had eluded the meeting of the general court, they applied to congress for advice; if the congress should instruct them to quit the town, they would obey. The citizens, who, as a body, had been more affluent than those of any other place of equal numbers in the world, made a formal offer, to abandon their homes, and throw themselves, with their wives and children, their aged and infirm, on the charity of the country people, or build huts in the woods, and never revisit their native walls until re-established in their rights and liberties. The courage of Gadsden blazed up the thought, and he proposed that Gage should be attacked and routed before reinforcements could arrive; but the congress was resolved to exhaust every means of redress, before sanctioning an appeal

to arms.

at

The spirit of the people was more impetuous; confident in their strength they scorned the thought of obedience, except on conditions that should be satisfactory to themselves. About the middle of October the brig Peggy Stewart, from London, arrived at Annapolis, with two thousand three hun

XII.

1774.

Oct.

dred and twenty pounds of tea, on which the owner CHAP. of the vessel made haste to pay the duty. The people of Maryland resented this voluntary submission to the British claim which their delegates to the general congress were engaged in contesting. The fidelity and honor of the province seemed in question. A committee therefore kept watch, to prevent the landing of the tea; successive public meetings drew throngs even from distant counties; till the two importers and the ship owner jointly expressed their contrition, asked forgiveness in the most humiliating language, and offered to expiate their offence by burning the "detestable article" which had been the cause of their misconduct. When it appeared that this offer did not wholly satisfy the crowd, the owner of the brig, after a little consultation with Charles Carroll, himself proposed to devote that also to the flames. The offer was accepted. The penitent importers and owner went on board the vessel, and with her sails and colors flying, in the presence of a large multitude of gazers, they themselves set fire to the packages of tea, all which, together with the Peggy Stewart, her canvas, cordage, and every appurtenance, was consumed.

CHAPTER XIII.

XIII.

1774.

CONGRESS WILL MAKE THE LAST APPEAL IF NECESSARY.

OCTOBER, 1774.

CHAP. WASHINGTON was convinced that not one thinking man in all North America desired independence. He Oct. ardently wished to end the horrors of civil discord, and restore tranquillity upon constitutional grounds, but his indignation at the wrongs of Boston could be appeased only by their redress; and his purpose to resist the execution of the regulating act was unalterable. "Permit me," said he, addressing a British officer, then serving under Gage, "with the freedom of a friend, to express my sorrow that fortune should place you in a service, that must fix curses to the latest posterity upon the contrivers, and if success (which by the by is impossible) accompanies it, execrations upon all those who have been instrumental in the execution. The Massachusetts people are every day receiving fresh proofs of a systematic assertion of an arbitrary power, deeply planned to overturn the laws and constitution of their country, and to violate the most essential and valuable rights