XIX.

1775.

CHAP. not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunFeb. beam, in the whole volume of human nature by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power. Civil liberty cannot be wrested from any people without the most manifold violation of justice, and the most aggravated guilt. The nations Turkey, Russia, France, Spain, and all other despotic kingdoms in the world, have an inherent right, whenever they please, to shake off the yoke of servitude, though sanctioned by immemorial usage, and to model their government upon the principles of civil liberty.

So reasoned the gifted West Indian, as though the voices of the Puritans had blended with the soft tropical breezes that rocked his cradle; or rather as one who had caught glimpses of the divine archetype of freedom. The waves of turbulent opinion dashed against the obstacles to their free course; New York still desired a constitutional union, embracing Great Britain and America, but was resolved, at all events, to make common cause with the continent.

CHAPTER XX.

!

PARLIAMENT DECLARES MASSACHUSETTS IN REBLLLION.

JANUARY 23-FEBRUARY 9, 1775.

XX.

Jan.

THE confidence of the ministry reposed more and CHAP. more on the central provinces, and Dartmouth took for granted the peaceful settlement of every question; 1775. yet six sloops of war and two frigates were under orders for America, and it was ostentatiously heralded that seven hundred marines from England, and three regiments of infantry with one of light horse from Ireland, making a reinforcement of two thousand four hundred and eighteen men, were to be prepared for embarkation; "less to act hostilely against the Americans, than to encourage the friends of government."

In the house of commons, the various petitions in behalf of America, including those from London and Bristol, were consigned to a committee of oblivion, and ridiculed as already "dead in law." Hayley, of London, rebuked the levity of the house. "The rejection of the petitions of the trading interests," said he, on the twenty-sixth of January, "must drive on a

VOL. VII. 19

Jan.

CHAP. civil war with America." "The Americans," argued XX. Jenkinson, "ought to submit to every act of the 1775. English legislature." "England," said Burke, "is like the archer that saw his own child in the hands of the adversary, against whom he was going to draw his bow." Fox charged upon North, that the country was on the point of being involved in a civil war by his incapacity." North complained: "The gentleman blames all my administration; yet he defended and supported much of it; nor do I know how I have deserved his reproaches." "I can tell the noble lord how," cried Fox; "by every species of falsehood and treachery." Sir George Savile asked that Franklin might be heard at the bar in support of the address of the American continental congress to the king; and after a violent debate, the house, by the usual majority, refused even to receive Franklin's petition.

The ministry were self-willed and strangely confident. The demand of Gage for twenty thousand men was put aside with scorn. "The violences committed by those who have taken up arms in Massachusetts Bay," wrote Dartmouth, in the king's name, "have appeared to me as the acts of a rude rabble, without plan, without concert, and without conduct; and therefore I think that a smaller force now, if put to the test, would be able to encounter them. The first and essential step to be taken towards re-establishing government, would be to arrest and imprison the principal actors and abettors in the provincial congress, whose proceedings appear in every light to be treason and rebellion. If means be devised to keep the measure secret until the moment of execu tion, it can hardly fail of success, Even if it cannot

XX.

1775.

Feb.

be accomplished without bloodshed, and should be a CHAP signal for hostilities, I must again repeat, that any efforts of the people, unprepared to encounter with a regular force, cannot be very formidable. The imprisonment of those who shall be made prisoners will prevent their doing any further mischief. The charter for the province of Massachusetts Bay empowers the governor to use and exercise the law martial in time of rebellion. The attorney and solicitor-general report that the facts stated in the papers you have transmitted, are the history of an actual and open rebellion in that province, and therefore the exercise of that power upon your own discretion is strictly justifiable."

"The minister must recede," wrote Garnier to Vergennes, "or lose America forever." "Your chief dependence," such were Franklin's words to Massachusetts, "must be on your own virtue and unanimity, which, under God, will bring you through all difficulties."

There was no hope in England but from Chatham, who lost not a moment in his endeavor to prevent a civil war before it should be inevitably fixed; saying, "God's will be done, and let the old and new world be my judge." On the first day of February, he presented his plan for "true reconcilement and national accord." It was founded substantially on the proposal of the American congress; parliament was to repeal the statutes complained of, and to renounce the power of taxation; America in turn was to recognise its right of regulating the commerce of the whole empire, and by the free grants of her own assemblies, was to defray the expenses of

Feb.

CHAP. her governments. This was the true meaning of his XX. motion, though clauses were added to make it less 1775. unpalatable to the pride of the British legislature. Franklin was persuaded that he sincerely wished to satisfy the Americans; Jefferson, on reading the bill, hoped that it might bring on a reconciliation; but Samuel Adams saw danger lurking under even a conditional recognition of the supremacy of parliament. "Let us take care," said he, "lest, instead of a thorn in the foot, we have a dagger in the heart."

No sooner had Chatham concisely invited the assistance of the house in adapting his crude materials to the great end of an honorable and permanent adjustment, than Dartmouth spoke of the magnitude of the subject, and asked his consent that the bill should lie on the table for consideration. "I expect nothing more,” was the ready answer. At this concession Sandwich, speaking for the majority in the cabinet, grew petulant. "The proposed measure, he said, "deserves only contempt, and ought to be immediately rejected. I can never believe it to be the production of any British peer. It appears to me rather the work of some American;" and turning his face towards Franklin, who stood leaning on the bar, "I fancy," he continued, "I have in my eye the person who drew it up, one of the bitterest and most mischievous enemies this country has ever known."

The peers turned towards the American, when Chatham retorted: "The plan is entirely my own; but if I were the first minister, and had the care of settling this momentous business, I should not be ashamed of publicly calling to my assistance a person