CHAP. 1775. May. 10. The Americans were persuaded that they were set apart for the increase and diffusion of civil and religious liberty; chosen to pass through blessings and through trials, through struggles and through joy, to the glorious fulfilment of their great duty of establishing freedom in the new world, and setting up an example to the old. But by the side of this creative impulse, the love of the mother country lay deeply seated in that immense majority who were the descendants of British ancestry, and this love was strongest in the part of the country where the col lision had begun. The attachment was moreover justified; for the best part of their culture was derived from England, which had bestowed on them milder, more tolerant, and more equal governments, than the distant colonies of other European powers had ever known. When congress met, it was as hard to say of its members as of their constituents, whether they were most swayed by regard for the country from which the majority of them sprung, or by the sense of oppression. The parent land which they loved was an ideal England, preserving as its essential character, through all accidents of time and every despotic tendency of a transient ministry, the unchanging attachment to liberty. Of such an England they cherished the language, the laws, and the people; and they would not be persuaded that independence of her was become the only security for the preservation of their own inherited rights. In this divided state of their affections, the unpreparedness of the country for war, and the feeble and narrow powers with which they were intrusted, devotedness to the old relations XXXIV. weighed against the call of freedom to the new. The CHAP. conservative feeling still maintained its energy, and forbade any change, except where a change was de- 1775. manded by instant necessity. They came together thus undecided, and they long remained undecided. They struggled against every forward movement, and made none but by compulsion. Not by foresight, nor by the preconceived purpose of themselves or their constituents, but by the natural succession of inevitable events, it became their office to cement a union and constitute a nation. May. 10. 11. The British troops from Boston had invaded the country, had wasted stores which were the property of the province, had burned and destroyed private property, had shed innocent blood; the people of Massachusetts had justly risen in arms, accepted aid from the neighboring colonies, and besieged the British army. At once, on the eleventh, the considera- May tion of the report of the agents of congress on their petition to the king, gave way to the more interesting and more important narrative of the events of the nineteenth of April, and their consequences. The members listened with sympathy, and their approval of the conduct of Massachusetts was unanimous. But as that province, without directly asking the continent to adopt the army which she had assembled, entreat ed direction and assistance; and as the answer might involve an ultimate declaration of independence, as well as the immediate use of the credit and resources of all the colonies, the subject was reserved for careful deliberation in a committee of the whole. On the thirteenth, Lyman Hall presented himself XXXIV. CHAP. from Georgia as a delegate for the parish of St. John's, and was gladly admitted with the right to May Vote, except when the question should be taken by 13. colonies. 1775. May. The first important decision of congress related to New York. The city and county on the fifteenth 15. asked how to conduct themselves with regard to the regiments which were known to be under orders to that place; and with the sanction of Jay and his colleagues, they were instructed, not to oppose the landing of the troops, but not to suffer them to erect fortifications; to act on the defensive, but to repel force by force, in case it should become necessary for the protection of the inhabitants and their property. When Edmund Burke heard of this advice, he expressed surprise at the scrupulous timidity which could suffer the king's forces to possess themselves of the most important post in America. But in the want of an effective military organization, of artillery, and ammunition, no means existed to prevent the disembarkation of British regiments. The city was at the mercy of the power which commanded the water; and which, on any sudden conflict, could have sent an army into its streets, and have driven the patriots from their homes. But the advice of the continental congress was pregnant with embarrassments, for it recognised the existing royal government of New York, and tolerated its governor and all naval and military officers, contractors, and Indian agents, in the peaceful discharge of their usual functions. The rule was laid down for the province, before its own congress could come together; and when they assembled, they could XXXIV. May but conform to it. All parties seemed tacitly to agree to CHAP a truce, which was to adjourn the employment of force. 1775. Towards the royal government the colonists manifested courteous respect; avoiding every decision which should specially invite attack or make reconciliation impossible. They allowed the British vessel of war, "the Asia," to be supplied with provisions; but adopted measures of restraint in the intercourse between the ship and the shore. They disapproved the act of the people in seizing the king's arms. To Guy Johnson, the superintendent of the Indians, they of fered protection, if he and the Indians under his superintendency would promise neutrality. They sent to Massachusetts their warmest wishes in the great cause of American liberty, and made it their first object "to withstand the encroachments of ministerial tyranny;" but they, at the same time, 'labored for the restoration of harmony between the colonies and the parent state," and were willing to defer decisive action till every opportunity for the recovery of peace by an accommodation should have been exhausted. In this manner the aristocratic portion of the friends of American rights in the province exercised a controlling influence. They stood before God and the world free from the responsibility of war, having done every thing to avoid it, except to surrender their rights. Of all the provinces, New York was in its acts the most measured; consistently reluctant to believe in the fatal necessity of war, but determined if necessary to defy the worst, for the preservation of liberty; confident that in the hour of need, its forbearance and moderation would secure the union of its people. |