CHAP. company, and he employed every device to produce V. compliance. It was published at the corners of the 1774. streets that Pennsylvania would refuse to suspend

June.

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 official favor, the confidence that the king must prevail, disposed a considerable body of men to seek the recovery of prosperity by concession. "The act," wrote Gage on the twenty-sixth, "must 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 New York had superseded the old committee by a more moderate one; it was proposed that Boston should do the same.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 pro

V.

scribed by the king, but on trial in a Boston town CHAP. meeting, left the chair, and took his place on the floor. His enemies summoned hardihood to engage 1774. 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 deliberate vote, bore open 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."

After this result, 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 and commanded all magistrates and other officers within the several counties of the province, to appre

CHAP. hend and secure for trial, all persons who might publish, or sign, or invite others to sign the covenant."

V.

1774.

June.

No act could have been more futile or more unwise. 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 individuals as a pretext July. 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 reinforced 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, Molyneux, 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," said the patriots, "is lost labor." The spirit of defiance gave an impulse to the covenant. At Plymouth the subscribers

V.

July.

increased at once to about a hundred. The general CHAP. who had undertaken to frighten the people, excused himself from executing his threats, by his dread of 1774. the edicts of town meetings, which, he complained to the king, 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."

The arrival of Hutchinson in England lulled the 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, the governor of Canada, thought it not safe to undertake a march from the Saint Lawrence to New York with an army of 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 "the 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 had himself given

CHAP. close attention to the appointments to office in MassaV. chusetts. He knew something of the political opin1774. ions even of the Boston ministers, not of Chauncy July. 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 inquiries respecting Massachusetts and other provinces, and was encouraged in the delusion that Boston would be left unsupported. The author of the pleasing intelligence became at once a favorite, obtained a large pension, was offered the rank of baronet, and was consulted as an oracle by Gibbon, the historian, and other politicians of the court.

"I have just seen the governor of Massachusetts," wrote the king to Lord North, at the end of their interview, "and I am now well convinced the province will soon submit;" and he gloried in the efficacy of his favorite measure, the Boston port-act. But as soon as the true character of that act became known in America, every colony, every city, every village, and, as it were, the inmates of every farm-house, felt it as a wound of their affections. The towns of Mas