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the old relations weighed against the call of freedom to the new, and forbade any change not demanded 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 inaugurate a union and constitute a nation.

The British troops from Boston had invaded the country, had wasted stores which were the property of the province, had burnt and destroyed private property, had shed innocent blood; the people of Massachusetts had justly risen in

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arms, accepted aid from the neighboring colonies, May 11. and besieged the British army. On the eleventh, the consideration of the report of the agents of congress on their petition to the king gave way to the graver narrative of the deeds 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, entreated 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.

May 13.

On the thirteenth, Lyman Hall presented himself from Georgia as a delegate for the parish of St. John's, and was gladly admitted with the right to vote, except when the question should be taken by colonies.

The first important decision of congress related May 15. to New York. The city and county on the fifteenth 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 for the protection of the inhabitants and their property, to repel force by force.

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May.

The scrupulous timidity which could suffer the king's forces to possess themselves of the most important post in America provoked expressions of surprise from Edmund Burke. But 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 a superior army into its streets.

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 functions. The rule was laid down for the province, before its own congress could come together; and, when they assembled, they could but conform to it. All parties tacitly agreed to adjourn the employment of force. Towards the royal government the colonists manifested courteous respect; avoiding every decision which should invite attack or make reconciliation impossible. They allowed the British vessel of war the "Asia" to be supplied with provisions, but restrained the intercourse between the ship and the shore. They disapproved the act of the people in seizing the king's arms. To Guy Johnson they offered protection, if he and the Indians under his superintendency would promise neutrality. Sending to Massachusetts their warmest wishes, they made it their first object "to withstand the encroachments of ministerial tyranny;" but they continued to "labor for the restoration of harmony between the colonies and the parent state," having done every thing to avoid war, except surrendering the rights of the province of New York; and trusting that, in the hour of need, their present forbearance would insure the union of the people whom they represented.

In conformity with this policy, Jay made the motion for a second petition to the king.

May 18.

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE REVOLUTION EMANATES FROM THE PEOPLE.

MAY, 1775.

THE motion of Jay was for many days the subject of private and earnest discussion; but congress was 1775. still irresolute, when on the eighteenth of May they received the news of the taking of Ticonderoga. The achievement was not in harmony with their advice to New York; they for the time rejected the thought of invading Canada, and they were inclined even to abandon the conquest already made; though as a precaution they proposed to withdraw to the head of Lake George all the captured cannon and munitions of war, which on the restoration of peace were to be scrupulously returned.

For many days the state of the union continued to engage the attention of congress in a committee of the whole. The bolder minds, yet not even all the delegates from New England, discerned the tendency of events towards an entire separation of the colonies from Britain. In the wide division of opinions, the decision appeared for a time to rest on South Carolina; but the delegates from that province, no less than from the others of the south, like the central colonies, nourished the hope of peace, for which they desired to make one more petition. Vain illusion! The unappeasable malice of the supporters of the ministry was bent on the most desperate and cruel efforts, while every part of the continent rung the knell of colonial subjection. A new nation was bursting into life.

Boston was so strictly beleaguered that it was only from the islands in and near the harbor that fodder, or straw, or fresh meat could be obtained for the British army.

On

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Sunday morning, the twenty-first, about sunrise, it was discovered that they were attempting to secure May 21, the hay on Grape Island. Three alarm guns were fired; the drums beat to arms; the bells of Weymouth and Braintree were set a-ringing; and the men of Weymouth and Braintree and Hingham, and of other places, to the number of two thousand, swarmed to the seaside. Warren, ever the bravest among the brave, ever present where there was danger, came also. After some delay, a lighter and a sloop were obtained, and the Americans eagerly jumped on board. The younger brother of John Adams was one of the first to push off and land on the island. The English retreated, while the Americans set fire to the hay.

On the twenty-fifth, Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne May 25. arrived with re-enforcements. They brought angling-rods, and they found themselves pent up in a narrow peninsula; they had believed themselves sure of taking possession of a continent, with a welcome from the great body of the people, and they had no reception but as enemies, and no outlet from town but by the sea.

Noddle's Island, now East Boston, and Hog Island were covered with hay and cattle, with sheep and horses. About eleven in the morning of the twenty-seventh, May 27. twenty or thirty men passed from Chelsea to Hog Island and thence to Noddle's Island, and drove off or destroyed a great deal of stock. A schooner and a sloop, followed by a party of marines in boats, were sent from the British squadron to arrest them. The Americans retreated to Hog Island, and cleared it of more than three hundred sheep, besides cows and horses. They then drew up on Chelsea Neck, and by nine in the evening received re-enforcements, with two small four-pounders. Putnam took the command, and Warren was present. Cheered by such leaders, they kept up an attack till eleven at night, when the schooner was deserted. At daybreak it was boarded by the provincials, who carried off four four-pounders and twelve swivels, and then set it on fire. The English lost twenty killed and fifty wounded; the provincials had but four wounded, and those slightly.

Encouraged by these successes, the New Englanders stripped every island between Chelsea and Point Alderton of cattle and forage, and burned down the light-house at the entrance of Boston harbor. They were as ready for partisan enterprises on the water as on land; if they could only get gunpowder, they were confident of driving off the British.

On the northern frontier, the possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point stimulated the enterprise of the settlers of Vermont. A schooner, called for the occasion "Liberty," was manned and armed; and Arnold, who had had experience at sea, took the command. With a fresh southerly wind, he readily passed the lake; early on the mornMay 18. ing of the eighteenth, at the head of a party in boats,

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he surprised a sergeant and twelve men, and captured them, their arms, two serviceable brass field-pieces, and a British sloop which lay in the harbor of St. John's. In about an hour, the wind suddenly shifted; and, with a strong breeze from the north, Arnold returned with his prizes.

Ethan Allen, who desired not to be outdone, thought with one hundred men to take possession of St. John's. The scheme was wild, and he was compelled to retire before a superior force; but, preserving his boastful courage, he wrote to congress: "Had I but five hundred men with me,

I would have marched to Montreal."

The whole population west of the Green Mountains was interested to keep possession of Ticonderoga. Every man within fifty miles was desired by Arnold to repair to that post or to Crown Point with intrenching tools and all the powder and good arms that could be found. At the rumor of the proposed abandonment of their conquest, a loud protest was uttered unanimously by the foresters. "It is bad policy," said Ethan Allen, "to fear the resentment of an enemy." "Five hundred families," wrote Arnold, "would be left at the mercy of the king's troops and the Indians.” The Massachusetts congress remonstrated; while Connecticut, with the consent of New York, ordered one thousand of her sons to march as speedily as possible to the defence of the two fortresses. The command of Lake Champlain

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