CHAP. ants and freeholders of the towns, and conferred on VIII. the sheriffs of the several counties within the prov1774. ince. This regulating act, moreover, uprooted the

Aug.

dearest institution of New England, whose people,
from the first settlement of the country, had been
accustomed in their town meetings to transact all
business that touched them most nearly as fathers, as
freemen, and as Christians. There they adopted local
taxes to keep up their free-schools; there they regu-
lated all the municipal concerns of the
year; there
they instructed the representatives of their choice;
and as the limits of the parish and the town were
usually the same, there most of them took measures
for the invitation and support of ministers of the gos-
pel in their congregations; there, whenever they were
called together by their selectmen, they were accus-
tomed to express their sentiments on all subjects con-
nected with their various interests, their rights and
liberties, and their religion. The regulating act,
sweeping away the provincial law which had received
the approval of William and Mary, permitted two
meetings annually in which town officers and repre-
sentatives might be chosen, but no other matter be
introduced; every other assembling of a town was
forbidden except by the written leave of the gov-
ernor, and then only for business expressed in that
leave. A wise ruler respects the feelings, usages, and
opinions of the governed. The king trampled under
foot the affections, customs, laws, and privileges of the
people of Massachusetts. He was willing to spare
them an explicit consent to the power of parliament
in all cases whatever; but he required proof that
Boston had compensated the East India company,

VIII.

that the tax on tea could be safely collected, and CHAP. that the province would peacefully acquiesce in the change of their charter.

With the regulating act Gage received copies of two other acts which were to facilitate its enforcement. He was surrounded by an army; had been enjoined repeatedly to arrest the leading patriots, even at the risk of producing a riot; and had been instructed that even in time of peace he could of himself order the troops to fire upon the people. By one of the two additional acts, he was authorized to quarter his army in towns; by the other, to transfer to another colony or to Great Britain any persons informed against or indicted for crimes committed in supporting the revenue laws or suppressing riots.

The regulating act complicated the question between America and Great Britain. The country, under the advice of Pennsylvania, might have indemnified the East India company; might have obtained by importunity the repeal of the tax on tea; or might have borne the duty as it had borne that on wine; but parliament, after ten years of premeditation, had exercised the power to abrogate the laws, and to change the charter of a province without its consent; and on this arose the conflict of the American revolution. The act went into effect on the moment of its being received; and of necessity precipitated the choice between submission and resistance. Within a week, eleven of the mandamus councillors took the oath of office, and were followed in a few days by fourteen more. They were persuaded that the province could by no possibility hold out; the promise of assistance from other colonies was scoffed at as a VOL. VII. 9

1774.

Aug.

Aug.

CHAP. delusion, intended only to keep up the spirit of the VIII. mob. No assembly existed in the province to remon1774. strate; and Gage might delay or wholly omit to send out writs for a new election. But a people who were trained to read and write; to discuss all political questions, privately and in public; to strive to exhibit in their lives the Christian system of ethics, the beauty of holiness, and the unselfish nature of virtue; to reason on the great ends of God in creation; to believe in their own immortality; and to venerate their ancestry as above all others pure, enlightened, and free, could never forego the civil rights which were their most cherished inheritance.

The committee of Boston, exasperated by a military camp in the heart of their town, acknowledged themselves unable to deliberate "as the perils and exigencies of the times might demand." "Being stationed by Providence in the front rank of the conflict," such was their letter to all the other towns in the province, "we trust we shall not be left by Heaven to do any thing derogatory to our common liberties, unworthy of the fame of our ancestors, or inconsistent with our former professions. Though surrounded with a large body of armed men, who, having the sword, have also our blood in their hands, we are yet undaunted. To you, our brethren and dear companions in the cause of God, we apply. From you we have received that countenance and aid which have strengthened our hands, and that bounty, which hath occasioned smiles on the face of distress. To you, therefore, we look for that advice and example, which, with the blessing of God, shall save us from destruction."

VIII.

Aug.

The earnest message was borne to the northern CHAP. border of the province, where the brooks run to the Nashua, and the upland farms yielded but scanty re- 1774. turns to the hardest toil. The husbandmen in that region had already sent many loads of rye to the poor of Boston. In the coming storm they clustered. round William Prescott, of Pepperell, who stood as firm as Monadnoc, that rose in sight of his homestead; and on the day after the first mandamus councillors took their oath of office, they put their soul into his words as he wrote for them to the men of Boston: "Be not dismayed nor disheartened in this day of great trials. We heartily sympathize with you, and are always ready to do all in our power for your support, comfort, and relief; knowing that Providence has placed you where you must stand the first shock. We consider we are all embarked in one bottom, and must sink or swim together. We think if we submit to these regulations, all is gone. forefathers passed the vast Atlantic, spent their blood and treasure, that they might enjoy their liberties, both civil and religious, and transmit them to their posterity. Their children have waded through seas of difficulty, to leave us free and happy in the enjoyment of English privileges. Now if we should give them up, can our children rise up and call us blessed? Is a glorious death in defence of our liberties better than a short infamous life, and our memories to be had in detestation to the latest posterity? Let us all be of one heart, and stand fast in the liberties wherewith Christ has made us free; and may he of his infinite mercy grant us deliverance out of all our troubles." Such were the cheering words of

Our

CHAP. Prescott and his companions, and they never forgot VIII. their pledge.

1774. Aug.

Everywhere the rural population of Massachusetts were anxiously weighing the issues in which they were involved. One spirit moved through them all. From the hills of Berkshire to the Penobscot, they debated the great question of resistance as though God were hearkening; and they took counsel reverently with their ministers, and the aged, the pious, and the brave in their villages. Adjoining towns held conferences. The shire of Worcester in August set the example of a county congress, which disclaimed the jurisdiction of the British house of commons, asserted the exclusive right of the colonies to originate laws respecting themselves, rested their duty of allegiance on the charter of the province, and declared the violation of that charter a dissolution of their union with Britain.

Thomas Gardner, a Cambridge farmer, promised a similar convention of the county of Middlesex. "Friends and brethren," he wrote to Boston, as if at once to allay anxiety and prophesy his own approaching end, "the time is come that every one that has a tongue and an arm is called upon by their country to stand forth in its behalf. I consider the call as the call of God, and desire to be all obedience. The people will choose rather to fall gloriously in the cause of their country than meanly submit to slavery." The passion for liberty was felt to be so hallowed, that in a land, remarkable for piety, a father of a family in his last hour would call his sons about his death-bed and charge them on his blessing to love freedom more than life.