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Distribution of His Majesty's Maundy by the Sub-almoner to His Majesty in the Chapel Royal of Whitehall: from an engraving by Basire after a drawing by Grimm, 1773.

1773

OFFICIAL CHARITY

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ceived it to be their duty and their right to bring it to an end. In 1774 was passed the Boston Port Act, prohibiting the landing or shipping of goods at Boston; the Massachusetts Government Act, transferring the appointment of the Council, or Upper House, together with that of all judges and administrative officers, from a popular electorate to the Crown; and another Act forbidding public meetings without the leave of the governor. In order to keep down resistance, a soldier, General Gage, was sent to be governor of Massachusetts.

7. The Congress of Philadelphia and the British Parliament. 1774.—The American colonies had always been divided amongst themselves. The four which made up what was popularly called New England Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island-had been founded by the Puritans in the seventeenth century, and still retained the democratic character then impressed upon them. It was expected in England that the other nine colonies, where different habits prevailed--New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia--would take no part in the struggle, if one there was to be. These colonies, however, were frightened lest the British Parliament should alter their constitutions as it had just altered that of Massachusetts, and, in September, 1774, a congress, attended by deputies of all the colonies except Georgia, met at Philadelphia under the name of the Continental Congress. Though this Assembly had no legal powers, it had popular support, and it directed the stoppage of all importation from and exportation to Great Britain till the grievances of the colonies had been redressed. There was no sign of any wish for separation, and there is reason to believe that those amongst the colonists who called themselves Loyalists, and would have clung to the connection with Great Britain in spite of all that was happening, formed at least a third of the population. The majority, however, including all the most active spirits, was determined to resist unless concessions were granted. In the meanwhile, preparations for resistance were made, especially in New England; officers were selected, and 'minute men'--so called because they offered to fly to arms at a minute's notice-were enrolled in great numbers.

8. Lexington and Bunker's Hill. 1775. Both in America and in England illusions prevailed. The Americans thought that the British Parliament would repeal its obnoxious measures, if only the American case were fairly represented to it, whilst the British

1775

THE FIRST BLOODSHED

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Parliament continued to regard the power of resistance in America as altogether contemptible. Hostilities began without any de liberate purpose on either side. On April 18, 1775, a small British force, sent from Boston to seize some arms at Concord, drove off on its way a small party of American volunteers at Lexington. On its return, on the 19th, it found the hedges and walls by the roadside lined with a superior number of volunteers, and only effected its retreat with heavy loss. After this all New England sprang to arms. On May 10 Ticonderoga was seized, and the command of Lake Champlain gained, whilst on June 16 about 1,500 insurgents entrenched themselves at the top of Breed's Hill, a height divided from Boston by the Charles river. On June 17, an English force was twice repulsed in an attempt to gain the position, and only succeeded on the third attempt after the ammunition of the Americans had been exhausted. The fight is usually known as the Battle of Bunker's Hill, a neighbouring height on which no fighting actually took place. The affair, taken by itself, was not of great importance, but it showed how well Americans could fight behind entrenchments, and how capable they were of developing military qualities unsuspected by the British generals.

9. Conciliatory Efforts. 1775. After blood had been shed conciliatory efforts were less likely to be successful. An offer to abandon the British claim to tax any American colony which would provide for its own defence and its civil government had been made in March by Lord North, but it was not known in America till after the conflict at Lexington, and was then summarily rejected. On May 10 a second congress was held, at Philadelphia, and as it was attended by delegates from all the thirteen colonies, it assumed the style of 'The Congress of the United Colonies.' On July 8, the Congress set forth terms of reconcilia-" tion in a petition known as 'The Olive Branch Petition,' but its offers proved as unacceptable in England as Lord North's had been in America.

1775.Congress,

10. George Washington in Command. whilst offering peace, prepared for war, and commenced raising an army in its own service, to replace the troops which had hitherto been raised by the separate colonies, and, on June 15, two days before the capture of Breed's Hill, appointed George Washington commander of this so-called Continental army. Washington was a good soldier, who had fought with distinction in the Seven Years' War, and was especially skilled in military organisation. His

moral qualifications were even higher than his intellectual. He was absolutely unselfish, and possessed of infinite patience. Never were such qualities more needed. The adverse criticisms of English soldiers were, to a great extent, justified by the American volunteers. They were brave enough, but they were unwilling to submit to the discipline without which an army cannot long exist; and it sometimes happened that whole regiments, having enlisted for a certain time, would insist on going home when that time expired, even from the presence of the enemy. Washington's subordinate officers, too, constantly quarrelled with one another, whilst each one considered himself a far better soldier than the commander-inchief.

11. Progress of the War. 1775-1776. In the autumn of 1775 the war languished. An American army attempted to overrun Canada, but the Canadians, being Catholics of French descent, had no love for the New England Puritans, and the enterprise failed disastrously. Gage, who commanded the British army in America, was not a vigorous soldier. His successor, Sir William Howe, was equally remiss, and, on March 16, 1776, evacuated Boston. Yet it was not altogether the fault of these two commanders that they did nothing. So little had the British Parliament expected resistance that it had allowed the numbers of the army to sink to a low ebb. In 1774 the whole of the king's forces did not exceed 17,547 men, and when, in 1775, an attempt was made to raise them to 55,000, it was found impossible to obtain the required number of men in Great Britain. In despair the Government had recourse to a bargain with some German princes for the sale of their subjects. In this way 17,742 unhappy Germans were sent off, like so many slaves, to serve George III. in re-conquering America.

12. The Declaration of Independence and the Struggle in New Jersey. 1776--1777. —Nothing did more to alienate the Americans than this attempt to put them down by foreign troops. The result was the Declaration of Independence voted by Congress on July 4, 1776. The United States, as they were now to be called, disclaimed all obedience to the British Crown. They had still, however, to make good their words by action, and during the remainder of the year they were distinctly inferior in the field to their adversaries. On September 15 Howe occupied New York, Washington having been compelled to draw off his insubordinate soldiery. The plundering and violence of the American troops alienated a great part of the population, and in December Washington was driven out of New Jersey by Lord Cornwallis. The

1776-1780

SOMERSET HOUSE

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Somerset House - South face of Central Block; built by Sir William Chambers, 1776-1785.

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