live or die, survive or perish with my country, is my unalterable determination," answered Adams. "I see we must part," rejoined Sewall; "but this adieu is the sharpest thorn on which I ever set my foot."

Two days in advance of Massachusetts, the assembly of Rhode Island unanimously chose delegates to the general congress, which they desired to see annually renewed.

1774.

June.

Maryland could proceed only by a convention of its people. But so universal was their zeal, so rapid their organization, that their provincial convention met at Annapolis on the twenty-second of June, and, before any message had been received from Salem, they elected delegates to the congress. With a modesty worthy of their courage, they apologized to Virginia for moving in advance; pleading as their excuse the inferiority of their province in extent and numbers, so that less time was needed to ascertain its sentiments.

1774. June.

CHAPTER V.

BOSTON MINISTERED TO BY THE CONTINENT.

JUNE, JULY, 1774.

THE martyr town was borne up in its agony by messages of sympathy. From Marblehead came offers to the Boston merchants of the gratuitous use of its harbor, its wharfs, its warehouses, and of all necessary personal attendance in lading and unlading goods. Fortyeight persons were found in Salem, willing to entreat of Gage his "patronage for the trade of that place;" but a hundred and twenty-five of its merchants and freeholders, in an address drafted by Timothy Pickering, repelled the ungenerous thought of turning the course of trade from Boston. "Nature," said they nobly, "in the formation of our harbor, forbids our becoming rivals in commerce to that convenient mart. And, were it otherwise, we must be lost to all the feelings of humanity, could we indulge one thought to seize on wealth and raise our fortunes on the ruin of our suffering neighbors."

The governor, in his answer, threw all blame on Boston for refusing to indemnify the East India company; and he employed every device to produce compliance. It was published at the corners of the streets that Pennsylvania would refuse to suspend commerce; that the society of Friends would arrest every step towards war; that New York had not named, and would never name, deputies to congress; that the power of Great Britain could not fail to crush resistance. The exasperation of the selfish at their losses, which they attributed to the committee of correspondence, the innate reverence for order, the habitual feeling of loyalty, the deeply seated love for England, the terror inspired by regiments, artillery, and ships-of-war, the allurements of

1774.

official favor, the confidence that the king must prevail, disposed a considerable body of men to concession. "The act," wrote Gage on the twenty-sixth, "must June. certainly sooner or later work its own way: a congress of some sort may be obtained; but, after all, Boston may get little more than fair words."

The day after this was written, a town-meeting was held. As Faneuil Hall could not contain the thronging inhabitants, they adjourned to the Old South meeting-house. There the opposition mustered their utmost strength, in the hope of carrying a vote of censure on the committee of correspondence. The question of paying for the tea was artfully evaded; while "the league and covenant," which in truth was questionable both in policy and form, was chosen as the object of cavil. New York had superseded the old committee by a more moderate one; it was proposed that Boston should do the same. The patriot Samuel Adams, finding himself not only proscribed by the king, but on trial in a Boston town-meeting, left the chair, and took his place on the floor. His enemies summoned hardihood to engage with him in debate, in which they were allowed the utmost freedom. Through the midsummer day they were heard patiently till dark, and at their own request were indulged with an adjournment. On the next day, notwithstanding the utmost exertion of the influence of the government, the motion of censure was negatived by a vast majority. The town then, by a decisive vote, bore its testimony "to the upright intentions and honest zeal of their committee of correspondence," and desired them "to continue steadfast in the way of well-doing." Of the opposition, one hundred and twenty-nine, chiefly the addressers to Hutchinson, confident of a speedy triumph through the power of Britain, ostentatiously set their names to a protest, which, under the appearance of anxiety for the prosperity of the town, recommended unqualified submission. They would have robbed Boston of its great name, and made it a byword of reproach in the annals of the world.

The governor hurried to the aid of his partisans; and on the following day, without the consent of the council, issued

the proclamation, from which British influence never recovered. He called the combination not to purchase articles imported from Great Britain "unwarrantable, hostile, and traitorous;" its subscribers, "open and declared enemies of the king and parliament of Great Britain;" and he "enjoined all magistrates and other officers, within the several counties of the province, to apprehend and secure for trial all persons who might publish or sign, or invite others to sign, the covenant."

The malignity of the imputation of treason was heightened by the pretended rule of law that the persons so accused might be dragged for trial to England. For any purpose of making arrests the proclamation was useless; but, as the exponent of the temper of an administration which chose the gallows to avenge the simple agreement not to buy English goods, it was read throughout the continent with uncontrollable indignation. In Boston, the report prevailed that, as soon as more soldiers should be landed, six or seven of the leading patriots would be seized; and it was in truth the project of Gage to fasten charges of rebellion on indi

1774. July.

viduals as a pretext for sending them to jail. On Friday the first of July, Admiral Graves arrived in the "Preston," of sixty guns; on Saturday, the train of artillery was encamped on the common by the side of two regiments that were there before. On Monday, these were re-enforced by the fifth and thirty-eighth. Arrests, it was confidently reported, were now to be made. In this moment of greatest danger, the Boston committee of correspondence, Samuel Adams, the two Greenleafs, Molineux, Warren, and others being present, considered the rumor that some of them were to be taken up, and voted unanimously "that they would attend their business as usual, unless prevented by brutal force."

The attempt to intimidate gave an impulse to the covenant. At Plymouth, the subscribers increased to about a hundred. The general, who had undertaken to frighten the people, excused himself for not executing his threats, by complaining that the edicts of town-meetings controlled the pulpit, the press, and the multitude, overawed the judges,

and screened "the guilty." "The usurpation," said he, "has by time acquired a firmness that is not to be annihilated at once, or by ordinary methods."

July.

"the

The arrival of Hutchinson in England lulled the 1774. king into momentary security. Tryon from New York had said that the ministers must put forth the whole power of Great Britain, if they would bring America to their feet; Carleton thought it not safe to undertake a march from the St. Lawrence to New York with less than ten thousand men; but Hutchinson, who, on reaching London, was hurried by Dartmouth to the royal presence without time to change his clothes, assured the king that the port bill was only wise and effective method" of bringing the people of Boston to submission; that it had occasioned among them extreme alarm; that no one colony would comply with their request for a general suspension of commerce; that Rhode Island had accompanied its refusal with a sneer at their selfishness. The king listened eagerly. He had been greedy for all kinds of stories respecting Boston; had been told, and had believed, that Hutchinson had needed a guard for his personal safety; that the New England ministers, for the sake of promoting liberty, preached a toleration for any immoralities; that Hancock's bills, to a large amount, had been dishonored. He knew something of the political opinions even of the Boston ministers, not of Chauncy and Cooper only, but also of Pemberton, whom, as a friend to government, he esteemed "a very good man," though a dissenter. The name of John Adams, who had only in June commenced his active public career, had not yet been heard in the palace which he was so soon to enter as the minister of a republic. Of Cushing, he estimated the importance too highly. Aware of the controlling power of Samuel Adams, he asked: "What gives him his influence?" and Hutchinson answered: "A great pretended zeal for liberty, and a most inflexible natural temper. He was the first who asserted the independency of the colonies upon the supreme authority of the kingdom." For nearly two hours, the king continued his inquiries, and was encouraged in the delusion that Boston would be left unsupported.