15 - Life of Washington, Volume 1 by John James Marshall

Dive into the remarkable life of George Washington, as depicted by his equally impressive biographer, Marshall. Influenced by the greatness of Washington himself, Marshall evolved into a figure of similar stature. Over a period of nearly 25 years, Marshall dedicated his deepest thoughts to capturing Washingtons life and accomplishments. Thanks to his intimate understanding of his subject, first-hand knowledge of events, and exceptional writing skills, Marshall has given us a true masterpiece.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter thirteen of the Life of Washington, Volume one by
John Marshall. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Chapter thirteen opinions on the supremacy of Parliament and its
right to tax the colonies. The Stamp Act Congress at
New York, Violence in the towns, Change of Administration. Stampback

(00:21):
repealed opposition to the Mutiny Act Act imposing duties on
tea et that resisted in America. Letters from the Assembly
of Massachusetts to members of the Administration, Petition to the King,
Circular letter to the Colonial Assemblies. Letter from the Earl
of Hillsborough. Assembly of Massachusetts dissolved. Seizure of the Sloop
Liberty Convention at Fenouiah Hall, moderation of its proceedings. Two

(00:45):
British regiments arrive at Boston. Resolutions of the House of
Burgesses of Virginia. Assembly dissolved. The members form an association
General Measures against Importation. General Court convened in Massachusetts. Its
proceedings is pirogue duties except that on tea repealed. Circular
Letter of the Earl of Hillsborough, New York receives from
the Non Importation Agreement in part, for example, followed ride

(01:09):
in Boston Trial and acquittal of Captain Preston seventeen sixty three.
The attachment of the colonies to the mother country was
never stronger than at the signature of the Treaty of Paris.
The union of that tract of country which extends from
the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from the Gulf of
Mexico to the North Pole, was deemed a certain guarantee
of future peace and an effectual security against the return

(01:32):
of those bloody scenes from which no condition in life
could afford an exemption. This state of things, long and
anxiously wished for by British America, had at length been
effected by the union of British and American arms. The
soldiers of the parent state and her colonies had co
operated in the same service, Their blood had mingled in
the same plains, and the object pursued was common to

(01:53):
both people. While the British nation was endeared to the
Americans by this community of danger and identity of interest,
The brilliant achievements of the war had exalted to enthusiasm
their admiration of British valor. They were proud of the
land of their ancestors and gloried in their descent from Englishmen.
But this sentiment was not confined to the military character

(02:14):
of the nation. While the excellence of the English Constitution
was a rich theme of declamation, every colonist believed himself
entitled to its advantages. Nor could he admit that, by
crossing the Atlantic his ancestors had relinquished the essential rights
of British subjects. The degree of authority which might rightfully
be exercised by the mother country over her colonies had

(02:35):
never been accurately defined. In Britain, it had always been
asserted that Parliament possessed the power of binding them in
all cases whatever. In America, at different times and in
different provinces, different opinions had been entertained on this subject.
In New England, originally settled by republicans, habits of independents
and nourished the theory that the colonial assemblies possessed every

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legislative power not surrender by compact, that the Americans were
subjects of the British ground, but not of the nation,
and were bound by no laws to which their representatives
had not assented. From this high ground, they had been
compelled reluctantly to receive the judges, being generally appointed by
the governors with the advice of Council, had determined that
the colonies were bound by acts of Parliament which concerned

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them in which were expressly extended to them, and the
General Court of Massachusetts had, on a late occasion explicitly
recognized the same principle. This had probably become the opinion
of many of the best informed men of the province,
but the doctment seems still two have been extensively maintained
that acts of parliament possessed only an external obligation that

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they might regulate commerce, but not the internal affairs of
the colonies. In the year sixteen ninety two, the General
Court of Massachusetts passed an act denying the right of
any other legislature to impose any tax whatever on the colony,
and also asserting those principles of national libs which are
found in Magna Carter. Not long afterwards, the legislature of

(04:04):
New York, probably with a view only to the authority
claimed by the governor, passed an act in which its
own supremacy not only in matters of taxation, but of
general legislation is expressly affirmed. But these acts, however, were
disapproved in England, and the Parliament asserted its authority in
sixteen ninety six by declaring that all laws, by laws, usages,

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and customs which shall be in practice in any of
the plantations repugnant to any law made or to be
made in this Kingdom relative to this said plantations shall
be avoid and of none effect. And three years afterwards
an Act was passed for the Trial of Pirates in America,
in which it is to be found the following extraordinary clause.
Be it farther declared that if any of the governors,

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or any person or persons in authority there shall refuse
to yield obedience to this Act. Such refusal is hereby
declared to be a forfeiture of all and every sick.
The chart is granted for government and propriety of such plantations.
The English Statute Book furnishes many instances in which the
legislative power of Parliament over the colonies was extended to

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regulations completely internal, and it is not recollected that their
authority was in any case openly controverted. In the Middle
and Southern provinces, no question respecting the supremacy of Parliament
in matters of general legislation ever existed. The authority of
such acts of internal regulation as were made for America,
as well as those for the regulation of commerce, even

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by the imposition of duties, provided those duties were imposed
for the purpose of regulation, had been at all times admitted.
But these colonies, however they might acknowledge the supremacy of
Parliament in other respects, denied the right of that body
to tax them internally. Their submission to the Act for
establishing a General Post Office, which raised revenue on the

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carriage of letters, was not thought a delection of this principle,
because that regulation was not considered as acts, but as
a compensation for a service rendered, which every person might
accept or decline, and all the duties on trade were
understood to be imposed rather with a view to prevent
foreign commerce than to raise the revenue. Perhaps the legality

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of such acts was the less questioned because they were
not rigorously executed, and their violation was sometimes designedly overlooked.
Our scheme for taxing the colonies by authority of Parliament
had been formed so early as the year seventeen thirty nine,
and recommended to government by a club of American merchants,
at whose head was Sir William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania.

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In this scheme, it was proposed to raise a body
of regulars to be stationed along the western frontier of
the British settlements for the protection of the Indian traders,
the expense of which establishment was to be paid with
moneys arising from a duty on stamp, paper and parchment
in all the colonies. This plan, however, was not countenanced
by those in power, and seems never to have been

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seriously taken up by the government until the year seventeen
fifty four. The attention of that minister was then turned
to a plan of taxation by authority of Parliament, and
it will be recollected that a system was devised and
recommended by him as a substitute for the articles of
Union proposed by the Convention at Albany. The temper and
opinion of the colonists, and the impolicy of irritating them

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at a crisis which required all the exertions they were
capable of making, suspended this delicate and dangerous measure, But
it seems not to have been totally abandoned of the
right of Parliament as the supreme legislature. Of the nation
to tax as well as govern the colonies. Those who
guided the councils of Britain seem not to have entertained
a doubt, and the language of men in power on

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more than one occasion through the war indicated a disposition
to put this right in practice, when the termination of
hostilities should render the experiment less dangerous. The failure of
some of the colonies, especially those in which a proprietary
government was established, to furnish in time the aids required
of them, contributed to foster this disposition. This opposition of

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opinion on a subject the most interesting to the human heart,
was about to produce a system of measures which tour
ass under all the bonds of relationship and affection that
had subsisted for ages, and planted almost inextinguishable hatred and
bosoms where the warmest friendship had long been cultivated. Seventeen
sixty four, the unexampled expenses of the war required a

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great addition to the regular taxes of the nation. Considerable
difficulty was found in searching out new sources of revenue,
and great opposition was made to every tax proposed. Thus,
embarrassed administration directed its attention to the continent of North America.
The system which had been laid aside was renewed, and

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on the motion of mister Grenville, first Commissioner of the Treasury,
a resolution passed without much debate, declaring that it would
be proper to impose certain stamp duties in the colonies
and plantationstions for the purpose of raising a revenue in
America payable into the British exchequer. This resolution was not
carried into immediate effect, and was only declaratory of an

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intention to be executed the ensuing year. Other resolutions were
passed at the same time, laying new duties on the
trade of the colonies, which, being in the form of
commercial regulations, were not generally contested on the ground of right,
though imposed expressly for the purpose of raising revenue. Great disgust, however,
was produced by the increase of the duties, by the

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new regulations which were made, and by the manner in
which those regulations were to be executed. The gainful commerce
long carried on clandestinely with the French and Spanish colonies,
in the progress of which an evasion of the duties
imposed by law had been overlooked by the government, was
to be rigorously suppressed by taxes amounting to a prohibition

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of fair trade, and their exact collection was to be
enforced by measures not much less offensive in themselves than
on account of the object to be effected completely to
prevent smuggling, all the officers in the Sea Service who
were on the American station were converted into revenue officers
and directed to take the custom house O's. Many vexatious

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seizures were made, for which no redress could be obtained.
But in England the penalties and forfeitures, too accruing under
the Act, as if the usual tribunals could not be trusted,
were made recoverable in any court or vice admiralty in
the colonies. It will be readily conceived how odious a
law made to effect an odious object must have been

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rendered by such provisions as these. Seventeen sixty five, the
resolution concerning the duties on stamps excited a great and
general ferment in America. The right of Parliament to impose
taxes on the colonies for the purpose of raising a
revenue became the subject of universal conversation, and was almost
universally denied. Petitions to the King and memorials to both

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Houses of Parliament against the measure, where transmitted by several
of the provincial assemblies to the Board of Trade in England,
to be presented to His Majesty immediately, and to Parliament
when that body should be convened. The House of Representatives
of Massachusetts instructed their agent to use his utmost endeavors
to prevent the passage of the Stamp Act or any

(11:18):
other act levying taxes or impositions of any kind on
the American provinces. A committee was appointed to act in
the recess of the General Court, with instructions to correspond
with the legislatures of the several colonies, to communicate to
them the instructions given to the Agent of Massachusetts, and
to solicit their concurrence in similar measures. These legislative proceedings

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were in many places seconded by associations entered into by
individuals for diminishing the use of British manufactures. The Administration,
perceiving the opposition to be encountered by adhering to the
vote of the preceding session, informed the agents of the
colonies in London that if they would propose any other
mode of raising the sum required their proposition would be

(12:03):
accepted and the stamp duty laid aside. The agents replied
that they were not authorized to propose any substitute, but
were ordered to oppose the bill when it should be
brought into the House by petitions questioning the right of
Parliament to tax the colonies. This reply placed the controversy
on ground which admitted of no compromise. Determined to persevere

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in the system he had adopted, and believing successful resistance
to be impossible, mister Grenville brought into Parliament his celebrated
Act for Imposing Stamp Duties in America, and it passed
both houses by great majorities, but not without animated debate.
So little weight does the human mind allow to the
most conclusive arguments when directed against the existence of power

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in ourselves, that General Conway is said to have stood
alone in denying the right claimed by Parliament. This act
excited serious alarm throughout the colonies. It was sincerely believed
to wound vitally the institution of the country and to
destroy the most sacred principles of liberty. Combinations against its
execution were formed, and the utmost exertions were used to

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diffuse among the people a knowledge of the pernicious consequences
which must flow from admitting that the colonists could be
taxed by a legislature in which they were not represented.
The Assembly of Virginia was in session when the intelligence
was received, and by a small majority, passed several resolutions
introduced by mister Henry and seconded by mister Johnson, one

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of which asserts the exclusive right of that Assembly to
lay taxes and impositions on the inhabitants of that colony.
On the passage of these resolutions, the Governor dissolved the
Assembly and writs for new elections were issued. In almost
every instance, the members who had voted in favor of
the resolutions were re elected, while those who had voted
against them were generally excluded. The legislatures of several other

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colonies passed resolutions similar to those of Virginia. The House
of Representatives of Massachusetts, contemplating a still more sam and
effectual expression of the general sentiment, recommended a Congress of
Deputies from all the colonial assemblies to meet at New
York the first Monday in October. Circular letters communicating this
recommendation were addressed to the respective assemblies wherever they were

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in session. New Hampshire alone, although concurring in the general opposition,
declined sending members to the Congress, and the legislatures of
Virginia and North Carolina were not in session. In the meantime,
the press teemed with the most animating exhortations to the
people to unite in defense of their liberty and property,
and the stamp officers were almost universally compelled to resign.

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Congress at New York at the time appointed the commissioners
from the assemblies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties on the Delaware, Maryland,
and South Carolina, assembled at New York, and, having chosen
Timothy Ruggles of Massachusetts, their chairman, proceeded on the important
objects for which they had convened. The first measure of

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cons Congress was a Declaration of the Rights and Grievances
of the Colonists. This paper asserts their title to all
the rights and liberties of natural born subjects within the
Kingdom of Great Britain, among the most essential of which
are the exclusive power to tax themselves and the trial
by jury. The act granting certain stamp and other duties
in the British colonies was placed first on the list

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of grievances. His direct tendency, they said, was by taxing
the colonists without their consent, and by extending the jurisdiction
of courts of admiralty to subvert their rights and liberties.
They also addressed a petition to the King and a
memorial to each House of Parliament. These papers were drawn
with temperate firmness. They express unequivocally the attachment of the
colonists to the mother country and assert the rights they

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claim in the earnest language of conviction. Having in addition
to these measures, recommended to the several colonies to appoint
special agents with instructions to unite their utmost endeavors in
soliciting of address of grievances, and directed their clerk to
make out a copy of their proceedings for each which colony.
Congress adjourned to interest the people of England against the

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measures of administration, Associations were formed for the encouragement of
domestic manufactures and against the use of those imported from
Great Britain to increase their quantity of wole. The colonists
determined to kill no lands, and to use all the
means in their power to multiply their flocks of sheep
to avoid the use of stamps. Proceedings in the courts
of justice were suspended, and a settlement of all controversies

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by arbitration was strongly recommended violence in the large towns.
While this determined and systematic opposition was made by the
thinking part of the community, some riotous and disorderly meetings
took place, especially in the large towns, which threatened serious consequences.
Many houses were destroyed, much property injured, and several persons,
highly respectable in character and station, were grossly abused. While

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these transactions were passing in America, causes entirely unconnected with
the affairs of the colonies produced a total revolution in
the British cabinet. The Grenville Party was succeeded by an
administration unfriendly to the plan for taxing the colonies without
their consent. General Conway, one of that principal secretaries of State,
addressed a circular letter to the several governors in which

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he censured in mild terms the violent measures that had
been adopted and recommended to them. While they maintained the
dignity of the Crown and of Parliament, to observe a
temperate and conciliatory conduct towards the colonies, and to endeavor,
by persuasive means, to restore the public peace. Seventeen sixty
sixth Parliament was opened by a speech from the Throne,
in which His Majesty declared his firm confidence in their

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wisdom and zeal, which would, he doubted, not, guide them
to such sound and prudent resolutions as might tend at
once to preserve the constitutional rights of the British Legislature
over the colonies, and to restore to them that harmony
and tranquility which had lately been interrupted by disorders of
the most dangerous nature. In the course of the debate
in the House of Commons on the motion of the addressed,

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Mister Pitt, in explicit terms condemned the Act for collecting
stamp duties in America, and about the opinion that Parliament
had no right to tax the colonies. He asserted at
the same time the authority of that Kingdom to be
sovereign and supreme in every circumstance of government and legislation. Whatever.
He maintained the difficult proposition that taxation is no part

(18:17):
of the governing or legislative power, but that taxes are
a voluntary gift and grant of the commons alone, and
concluded an eloquent speech by recommending to the House that
the Stamp Act be repealed, absolutely, totally and immediately. The
opinions expressed by mister Pitt were warmly opposed by the
late ministers. Mister Grenville said that the disturbances in America

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were grown to tumults and riots. He doubted they boarded
on open rebellion, and if the doctrine he had heard
that day should be confirmed, he feared they would lose
that name to take that of revolution. The government over
them being dissolved, a revolution would take place in America.
He contended that taxation was a part of the sovereign power,
one branch of legislation, and had been exercised over those

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who were not represented. He could not comprehend the distinction
between external and internal taxation, and insisted that the colonies
ought to bear a part of the burdens occasioned by
a war for their defense. Stamp Act repealed the existing administration, however,
concurred in sentiment with mister Pitt, and the Act was repealed,
but its repeal was accompanied with a declaratory Act asserting

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the right of Great Britain to bind the colonies in
all cases whatsoever. The intelligence of this event was received
in America with general manifestations of joy. The assertion of
the abstract principle of right gave many but little concern,
because they considered it merely as a sav for the
wounded pride of the nation, and believe confidently that no
future attempt would be made to reduce it to practice.

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The highest honors were conferred on those parliamentary leaders who
had exerted themselves to obtain a repeal of the Act,
and in Virginia the House of Burgess's voted as statue
to his Majesty, as an acknowledgment of their high sense
of his attention to the rights and petitions of his
Though all the colonies rejoiced at the repeal of the
Stamp Act, the same temper did not prevail in all

(20:05):
of them. In the commercial cities of the North, the
regulations of trade were merely as odious as the Stamp
Act itself. Political parties, too, had been formed and had
assumed a bitterness in some of the colonies entirely unknown.
In others, these dispositions were not long conceived. The first
measures of Massachusetts and of New York demonstrated that in
them the reconciliation with the mother country was not cordial.

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The letter of Secretary Conway, transmitting the repeal of the
Act imposing a duty on stamps enclosed also a resolution
of Parliament declaring that those persons who had suffered injuries
in consequence of their assisting to execute that Act ought
to be compensated by the colony in which such injuries
were sustained. This was chiefly in Massachusetts. The resolution of

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Parliament was laid before the General Court of that province
by Governor Bernard, and his speech rather in the spirit
of the late than the present administration, rather calculated to
irritate than as wage, the angry passions that had been excited.
The House of Representatives resented his manner of addressing them,
and appeared more disposed to inquire into the riots and
to compel those concerned in them to make indemnities, than

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to compensate the sufferers out of the public purse. But
after a second session and some intimation that Parliament would
enforce its requisition. An active pardon to the offenders and
of indemnity to the sufferers was passed. That was rejected
by the King because the Colonial Assembly had no power
by their charter to pass an active general pardon. But
at the instance of the Crown. In New York, where

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general gage was expected with a considerable body of troops,
a message was transmitted by the Governor to the legislature
desiring their compliance with an active parliament called the Mutiny Act,
which required that the colony in which any of His
Majesty's forces might be stationed should provide barracks for them
and necessaries in their quarters. The legislature postponed the consideration
of this message until the troops were actually arrived, and then,

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after a second message from the Governor, reluctantly partially complied
with the requisitions of the Act. At a subsequent session.
The Governor brought the subject again before the Assembly, who
determined that the Act of Parliament could be construed only
to require that provisions route made for troops on a
march and not while permanently stationed in the country. The
reason assigned for not furnishing the accommodations required by the

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Governor implies the opinion that the Act of Parliament was
rightfully obligatory, and yet the requisitions of the Mute in
the Act were unquestionably attacks, and no essential distinctions proceed
between the power of Parliament to levy attacks by its
own authority and to leviat through the medium of that
colonial legislatures, they having no right to refuse obedience to
the Act. It is remarkable that such inaccurate ideas should

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still have prevailed concerning the controlling power of Parliament over
the colonies. In England. It was thought to manifest a
very forbearing spirit that this instance of disobedience was punished
with no positive penalties, and that the ministers contended themselves
with the law prohibiting the legislature of the province passing
any act until it should comply in every respect with

(23:03):
the requisitions of Parliament. The persevering temper of Massachusetts not
having found its way to New York, this measure produced
the desired effect. Two companies of artillery driven into the
port of Boston. Stress of weather applied to the Governor
for supplies. He laid the application before his council, who
advised that in pursuance of the Act of Parliament, the
supplies required should be furnished. They were furnished, and the

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money to procure them was drawn from the Treasury by
the authority of the Executive. Seventeen sixty seven, on the
meeting of the Legislature of the House of Representatives, expressed
in pointed terms their dist approbation of the conduct of
the Governor. Particular umbreach was given by the expression in
pursuance of an Act of Parliament. After the repeal of
the standback, they were surprised to find that this act,

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equally odious and unconstitutional, should remain in force. They lamented
the entry of this reason for the advice of Council,
the more as it was an ununwarrantable and unconstitutional step
which totally dises disabled them from testifying the same cheerfulness
they had always shown in granting to His Majesty of
their free accord such aids as his service has from

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time to time required. Copies of these messages were transmitted
by Governor Bernard to the Minister, accompanied by letters not
calculated to diminish the unpleasantness of the communication. The idea
of raising revenue in America was so highly favored in England,
especially by the landed interests, that not even the influence
of administration could have obtained a repeal of the Stamp

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Act on the naked principle of right. Few were heardy
enough to question the supremacy of Parliament, and the act
receding from the practical assertion of the power to tax
the colonists deeply wounded the pride of the King and
of the nation. The temper discovered in some of the
colonies was ill calculated to assuage the wound which this
measure had inflicted on the haughty spirit of the country,

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and is supposed to have contributed to the revival of
a system which had been reluctantly abandoned. Charles Townsend, Chancellor
of the Exchequer, said boast in the House of Commons
that he knew how to draw a revenue from the
colonies without giving them offense. Mister Grenville eagerly caught at
the decoration, and urged this minister to pledge himself to
bring forward the measure at which he had hinted. During

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the sickness and absence of Lord Chatham, the Cabinet had
decided on introducing a Bill for imposing certain duties on tea, glass,
paper and painters colors imported into the colonies from Great Britain,
and appropriating the money, in the first instance, to the
salaries of the officers of government. This bill was brought
into Parliament and passed almost without opposition. The friends of

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America in England had distinguished them between internal and external taxation,
and the same distinction had been made in the colonies.
But the discussions originating in the Stamp Act, while they
diffused among the colonists and knowledge of their political rights,
had inspired also more accurate ideas respecting them. These duties
were plainly intended not to regulate commerce, but to raise revenue,

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which would be as certainly collected from the colonists as
the duties on stamps could have been. The principle of
the use to measures was the same. Many of the
Americans were too intelligent to be misguided by the distinction
between internal and external taxation, or by the precedents quoted
in support of the right for which Parliament contended. This
measure was considered as establishing a precedent of taxation for

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the mere purpose of revenue, which might afterwards be extended
at the discretion of Parliament, and were spoken of as
the entering wedge, designed to make way for impositions too
heavy to be borne. The appropriation of the money did
not lessen the odium of the tax. The colonists considered
the dependence of the officers of government on the colonial
legislature for their salaries as the best security for their

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attending to the interests, and called any the affections of
the provinces. Yet the opinion that this act was unconstitutional
was not adopted so immediately or so generally as in
the case of the Stamp Act. Many able political essays
appeared in the papers demonstrating that it violated the principles
of the English Constitution and of English liberty. Before the

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conviction came general that the same principle, which had before
been successfully opposed, was again approaching in a different form.
Seventeen sixty eight, the General Court of Massachusetts, perceiving plainly
that the claim to tax America was revived, and being
determined to oppose it, addressed an elaborate letter to Denis
de bart, a agent for the House of Representatives, detailing

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at great length and with much weight of argument, all
the objections to the late Acts of Parliament. Letters were
also addressed to the Earl of Shelbourne and General Conway,
Secretaries of State, to the Marquess of Rockingham, Lord Camden,
the Earl of Chatham, and the Lord's Commissioners of the Treasury.
These letters, while they breathe a spirit of ardent attachment
to the British Constitution and to the British Nation, manifest

(27:41):
a perfect conviction that their complaints were conclusive. As the
arguments they contained might have appeared to Englishmen, if urged
by themselves in support of their own rights, they had
not much weight when used to disprove the existence of
their authority over others. The deep and solemn tone of conviction, however,
conveyed in all these letters, ought to have produced a
certainty that the principles assumed in them had made a

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strong impression and would not be lightly abandoned. It ought
to have been foreseen that with such a people so determined,
the conflict must be stern and hazardous, and it was
well worth the estimate whether the object would compensate the
means used to obtain it. Petitions of the King. The
Assembly also voted a petition to the King, replete with
professions of loyalty and attachment, by stating in explicit terms

(28:27):
their sense of the acts against which they petitioned. A
proposition was next made for an address to the other
colonies on the power claim by Parliament, which, after considerable debate,
was carried in the Affirmative, and a circular letter to
the assemblies of the several provinces setting forth the proceedings
of the House of Representatives was prepared and adopted. To

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rescue their measures from the imputation of systematic opposition to
the British government, the House, without acknowledging the obligation of
the Mutiny Act, complied with a requisition of the governors
to make a farther provision for one of the King's
garrisons within the province. The Governor soon afterwards pro rogued
the General Court with an angry speech not calculated to

(29:10):
diminish the resentments of the House directed against himself, resentments
occasion as much by the haughtiness of his manners and
a persuasion that he had misrepresented their conduct and opinions
to ministers, as by the unpopular course his station required
him to pursue the circular letter of the House of
Representatives of Massachusetts was well received in the other colonies.

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They approved the measures which had been taken and readily
united in them. They too petitioned the King against the
obnoxious acts of Parliament, and instructed several agents to use
all proper means to obtain their repeal. Virginia transmitted a
statement of her proceedings to her sister colonies and her
House of Burgesses. In a letter to Massachusetts communicating the

(29:53):
representation made to Parliament, say that they do not affect
an independency of their parents Kingdom, the prosperity of which
they are bound to the utmost of their abilities to promote,
but cheerfully acquiesce in the authority of Parliament to make
laws for the preserving unnecessary dependence and for regulating the
trade of the colonies. Yet they cannot conceive and humbly

(30:15):
insist it is not essential to support a proper relation
between the mother country and colonies transplanted from her, that
she should have a right to raise money from them
without their consent, and presume they do not aspire to
more than the right of British subjects. When they assert
that no power on Earth has a right to impose
taxes on the people or take the smallest portion of

(30:36):
their property without their consent given by their representatives in Parliament.
On the first intimation of the measures taken by Massachusetts,
the Earl of Hillsborough, who had been appointed to the
newly created office of Secretary of State for the Department
of the Colonies, addressed a circular to the several Governors,
to be laid before the respective Assemblies, in which he

(30:57):
treated the circular letter of Massachusetts as being of the
most dangerous tendency, calculated to inflame the minds of His
Majesty's good subjects in the colonies, to promote an unwarrantable combination,
to excite an open opposition to the authority of Parliament,
and to subvert the true principles of the Constitution. His
first object was to prevail on the several Assemblies openly

(31:19):
to censure the conduct of Massachusetts. Is next, to prevent
their approving the proceedings of that colony. The letter, far
from producing the desired effect, rather served to strengthen the
determination of the colonies to unite in their endeavors to
obtain a repeal of laws universally detested. On manifesting this disposition,
the Assemblies were generally dissolved, probably in pursuance of instructions

(31:43):
from the Crown. When the General Court of Massachusetts was
again convened, Governor Bernard laid before the House of Representatives
and extract of a letter from the Earl of Hillsborough,
in which, after animatedverting in harsh terms on the circular
Letter to the Colonies, he declared it to be the
King's pleasure that the Governor should require the House of
Representatives in his Majesty's name, to rescind the resolution on

(32:07):
which the circular letter was founded, and to declare their
disapprobation of and dissent from that rash and hasty proceeding.
This message excited considerable agitation, but the House, without coming
to any resolution on it, requested the Governor to lay
before them the whole letter of the Earl of Hillsborough.

(32:28):
Had also copies of such letters as had been written
by his Excellency to that nobleman on the subject to
which the message referred. The copies were heartily refused, but
the residue of the letter from the Earl of Hillsborough
was laid before them, that Minister said, if, notwithstanding the
apprehensions which may justly be entertained of the ill consequence

(32:48):
of a continuance of this factious spirit which seems to
have influenced the resolutions of the Assembly at the conclusion
of the last session, the new Assembly should refuse to
comply with His Majesty's reasonable expectation, it is the King's
pleasure that you immediately dissolve them, this subject being taken
into consideration. A letter to the Earl was reported and

(33:11):
agreed to by a majority of ninety three to thirteen,
in which they defended their circular letter in strong and
manly but respectful terms, and concluded with saying, the House
humbly rely on the Royal clemency that to petition his
Majesty will not be deemed by him to be inconsistent
with a respect to the British Constitution as settled at

(33:32):
the Revolution by William the third, and that to acquaint
their fellow subjects involved in the same distress, of their
having so done in full hopes of success, even if
they had invited the Union of all America in one
joint supplication, would not be discountenanced by their gracious sovereign
as a measure of an inflammatory nature, that when your

(33:53):
Lordship shall, injustice lay a true state of these matters
before his majesty, he will no longer consider them as
tending to create unwarrantable combinations or excited unjustifiable opposition to
the constitutional authority of Parliament. That he will then truly
discern who are of that desperate faction which is continually
disturbing the public tranquility, And that while his arm is

(34:16):
extended for the protection of his distressed and injured subjects,
he will frown upon all those who, to gratify their
own passions, have dared to attempt to deceive him. Legislature
of Massachusetts dissolved a motion to rescind the resolution on
which their circular letter was founded, passed in the negative
by a majority of ninety two to seventeen, and a

(34:36):
letter to the Governor was prepared stating their motives for
refusing to comply with the requisition of the Earl of Hillsborough.
Immediately after receiving it, he prorobed the Assembly with an
angry speech, and the next day dissolved it by proclamation.
While the opposition was thus conducted by the legislature with
temperate firmness and legitimate means. The general irritation occasionally displayed

(34:58):
itself at Boston in a of violence, denoting evidently that
the people of that place were prepared for much stronger
measures than their representatives had adopted. Seizure of the Sleep Liberty.
The seizure of the sloop Liberty belonging to mister Hancock
by the Collector of the Customs, occasioned the assemblage of
a tumultuous mob, who beat the officers and their assistants,

(35:21):
took possession of a boat belonging to the collector, burnt
it in triumph, and patrol the streets for a considerable time.
The revenue officers fled for refuge, first to the Romney
Man of War, and afterwards to Castle William. After the
lapse of some time, the Governor moved the Council to
take him to consideration some measure for restoring vigor and
firmness to government. The council replied that the disorders which

(35:44):
happened were occasioned by the violent, an unprecedented manner in
which the Sloop Liberty had been seized by the officers
of the Customs and the inhabitants of Boston, in a
justificatory memorial supported by affidavits, insisted that the late tumults
where occasioned principally by the haughty conduct of the commissioners
and their subordinate officers, and by the illegal and offensive

(36:07):
conduct of the Romney Man of War. The legislature, however,
did not think proper to countenance this act of violence.
A committee of both houses appointed to inquire into the
state of the province, made a report, which, after reprobating
the circumstances attending the seizure to which the mob was ascribed,
declared their abhorrence about procedure, which they pronounced criminal. Desired

(36:29):
the governor to direct a prosecution against all persons concerned
in the riot, and to issue a proclamation offering a
reward to any person who should make discoveries by which
the rioters or their abettors should be brought to condign punishment.
This report, however, it seems to have been intended rather
to save appearances than to produce any real effect. It

(36:49):
was perfectly understood that no person would dare to inform
or even to appear as a witness in any prosecution
which might be instituted. Suits were afterwards brought against mister
Hancock and others, owners of the vessel and cargo, but
they were never prosecuted to a final decision. This ride
accelerated a measure which tended in no inconsiderable degree to

(37:11):
irritate still farther the angry dispositions already prevalent in Boston.
The Governor had pressed on administration the necessity of stationing
a military force in the province for the protection of
the officers employed in collecting the revenue and of the
magistrates in preserving the public peace. In consequence of these representations,

(37:31):
orders had already been given to General Gage to detach
at least one regiment on this service, and to select
for the command of it an officer on whose prudence, resolution,
and integrity could rely. The transactions respecting the sleep liberty
rendered any attempt to produce countermand of these orders entirely aborted,
and probably occasioned two regiments instead of one to be

(37:54):
detached by General Gage. It seems to have been supposed
that a dissolution of the Assembly of Massachusetts would dissolve
also the opposition to the measures of administration, and that
the people, having no longer constitutional leaders, being no longer
excited and conducted by their representatives, would gradually become quiet

(38:14):
and return to what was termed their duty to government.
But the opinions expressed by the House of Representatives were
the opinions of the great body of the people, and
had been adopted with too much order to be readily suppressed.
The most active and energetic part of society had embraced
them with enthusiasm, and the dissolution of the Assembly, by
creating a necessity for devising other expedients, hastened the mode

(38:38):
of conducting opposition at least as efficacious and afterwards universally adopted.
At a town meeting of the inhabitants of Boston, a
committee was deputed for the purpose of praying the Governor
to convene another General Assembly. He replied that no other
could be convened until His Majesty's commands to that effect
should be received. This answer being report, the meeting resolved

(39:01):
that to levy money within the province by any other
authority than that of the General Court was a violation
of the Royal Charter and of the undoubted natural rights
of British Subjects, that the freeholders and other inhabitants of
the Town of Boston would, at the peril of their
lives and fortunes, take all legal and constitutional measures to
defend all and singular the rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities

(39:25):
granted in their Royal Charter, that as there was an
apprehension in the minds of many of an approaching war
with France, those inhabitants who were not provided with arms
should be requested duly to observe the laws of the province,
which required that every freeholder should furnish himself with a
complete stand. But the important resolution was that, as the

(39:45):
Governor did not think proper to call a general court
for the redress of their grievances, the town would then
make choice of a suitable number of persons to act
for them as a committee in a convention to be
held at for New Year Hall in Boston, with such
as might be sent to them from the several towns
in the province. These votes were communicated by the Selectmen
in a circular letter to the other towns in the province,

(40:08):
which were requested to concur and to elect committeemen to
meet those of Boston in convention. Convention assembles in Boston.
Then the measure was generally adopted, and a convention met,
which was regarded with all the respect that could have
been paid to a legitimate assembly. Its moderation. The country
in general, though united on the great constitutional question of taxation,

(40:31):
was probably not so highly exasperated as the people of Boston,
and the convention acted with unexpected moderation. They disclaimed all
pretensions to any other character than that of mere individuals
assembled by deputation from the towns to consult in advice
on such measures as might tend to promote the peace
of His Majesty's subjects in the province, But without power

(40:53):
to pass any acts possessing a coercive quality, they petitioned
the Governor to assemble a general court and adress a
letter to the Agent of the Province in England, stating
the character in which they met and the motives which
brought them together. After expressing their opinions with temper and
firmness on the subjects of general complaint, and recommending patients
in order to the people, they dissolved themselves and returned

(41:14):
to their respective homes. Two regiments arrived the day before
the convention rose, the two regiments which had been detached
by General Gage, arrived under convoy in Nantasket Road. The
council had rejected an application of the governor to provide
quarters for them, because the barracks in the castle were
sufficient for their accommodation, and by act of Parliament, the

(41:35):
British troops were not to be quartered elsewhere until those
barracks were full. General Gage had directed one regiment to
be stationed in Boston, but on hearing a report that
the people were in a state of open revolt, he
gave additional orders which left the whole subject to the
discretion of the commanding officer, who was induced by some
rash threats of opposing the disembarkation of the troops to

(41:56):
land both regiments in that place. The ships took a
station which demanded the whole town, and lay with their
broad sides towards it, ready to fire should any resistance
be attempted. If troops landed under cover of their cannon
and marched into the common with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets,
a display of military pomp which was believed by the
inhabitants to have been intended for the purpose either of

(42:17):
intimidation or of irritation. The select men, as well as
the council, having refused to provide quarters for the troops,
the governor ordered the State House to be opened for
their reception, and they took possession of all the apartments
in it, except that which was reserved for the council.
The people were filled with indignation at seeing the chamber
of their representatives crowded with regular soldiers, their councilors surrounded

(42:39):
with foreign troops, and their whole city exhibiting the appearance
of a garrison town, with a difference of mennace between
the soldiers and the inhabitants, and the strong prejudices reciprocally
felt against each other. It is not wonderful that personal
broils should frequently occur, and that mutual antipathy should be
still farther increased. While these measures were pursuing in America,

(43:02):
every session of Parliament was opened with a speech from
the King stating that a disposition to refuse obedience to
the laws and to resist the authority of the supreme
legislature of the nation still prevailed among his misguided subjects
in some of the colonies. In the addresses to the Throne.
Both houses uniformly expressed their abhorrence of the rebellious spirit
manifested in the colony, and their approbation of the measures

(43:25):
taken by His Majesty for the restoration of order and
good government. To give a more solemn expression to the
sense of Parliament on this subject, the two Houses entered
into joint resolutions condemning the measures pursued by the Americans,
and agreed to an address approving the conduct of the Crown,
giving assurances of effectual support to such further measures as
might be found necessary to maintain the civil magistrates in

(43:48):
a due execution of the laws within the province of
Massachusetts Bay, and beseeching His Majesty to direct the Governor
of that colony to obtain and transmit information of all
treasons committed in Massachusetts year seventeen sixty seven, with the
names of the persons who had been most active in
promoting such offenses, that prosecutions might be instituted against them

(44:08):
within the realm in pursuance of the Statute of the
thirty fifth of Henry the Eighth seventeen sixty nine. The
impression made by these threatening declarations would seem to have
been directed particularly against Massachusetts, and the hope of deterring
the other provinces from involving themselves in her dangers was
far from being favorable to the views of the mother country.

(44:28):
The determination to resist the exercise of the authority claimed
by Great Britain not only remained unshaken, but was manifested
in a still more decided form. Not long after these
votes of Parliament, the Assembly of Virginia was convened by
Lord Badatot, a nobleman of conciliating manners, who had lately
been appointed governor of that province. The House took the

(44:50):
state of the colony into their immediate consideration Resolutions of
the House of Burgesses of Virginia, and passed unanimously several
resolutions asserting the exclude the rite of that Assembly to
impose taxes on the inhabitants within His Majesty's Dominion of Virginia,
and their undoubted right to petition for a redress of grievances,
and to obtain a concurrence of the other colonies in

(45:11):
such petitions, that all persons charged with the commission of
any offense within that colony were entitled to a trial
before the tribunals of that country, according to the fixed
and known course of proceeding therein, and that to see
such persons and transport them beyond see for trial derogated
in a high degree from the rights of British subjects,
as thereby the inestimable privilege of being tried by a

(45:34):
jury from the vicinage, as well as the liberty of
summoning and producing witnesses on such draw would be taken
from the party accused. An Address to His Majesty was
also agreed on, which states, in the style of loyalty
and real attachment to the Crown, the deep conviction of
the House of Burgesses of Virginia that the complaints of
the colonists were well founded. Assembly dissolved. Intelligence of these

(45:55):
proceedings having reached the Governor, he suddenly dissolved the assembly.
This measured did not produced the desired effect. The members
convened at a private house, and, having chosen their speaker moderator,
proceeded to form a non importing association, which was signed
by every person present, and afterwards almost universally throughout the province.
From the commencement of the controversy, the opinion seems to

(46:17):
have prevailed in all the colonies that the most effectual
means of succeeding in the struggle in which they were
engaged were those which would interest the merchants and manufacturers
of Great Britain in their favor. Under the influence of
this opinion, associations had been proposed in Massachusetts as early
as May seventeen sixty five for the non importation of
goods from that country. The merchants of some of the

(46:38):
trading towns in the other colonies, especially those of Philadelphia,
refused at that time to concur in a measure which
they thought too strong for the existing state of things,
and it was laid aside. But in the beginning of
August it was resumed in Boston, and the merchants of
that place entered into an agreement not to import from
Great Britain any articles whatever except a few of the

(46:59):
first ness between the first of January seventeen sixty nine
and the first of January seventeen seventy, and not to
import tea, glass, paper, or painter's colors until the duties
imposed on those articles should be taken off. Disagreement was
soon afterwards adopted in the town of Salem, the City
of New York, and the province of Connecticut, but was
not generally entered through the colonies until the resolutions and

(47:22):
address of the two houses of Parliament, which have already
been mentioned, seemed to cut off the hope that petitions
and memorials alone would affect the object for which they contended.
The proceedings of the House of Burgesses of Virginia had
been transmitted to the speakers of the several assemblies throughout
the continent. It measures against the importation of British goods.
In the opinion of the neighboring colonies, the occasion required

(47:44):
efficacious measures, and an association similar to that which had
been formed by their elder sister was entered into Maryland
and the Carolinas. The inhabitants of Charleston went so far
as to break off all connection with Rhode Island and Georgia,
which had refused to adopt the non importation agreement. This
vigorous measure was not without its influence, and those provinces

(48:04):
soon afterwards entered into the association. In Portsmouth in New Hampshire,
where Governor Wentworth possessed great influence Some repugnance to this
measure was also discovered by being threatened with suspension of
their intercourse with the other colonies. The merchants of that
place concurred in the general system, all united in giving
effect to this agreement. The utmost exertions were used to

(48:27):
improve the manufactures of the country and the fair Sex,
laying aside the late fashionable ornaments of England, exalted with
patriotic pride in appearing dressed in the produce of their
own looms. Committees chosen by the people, superintended importations, and
the force of public opinion went far to secure the
agreement from violation. General Court in Massachusetts the necessities of

(48:48):
government requiring a supply of money, The General Court of
Massachusetts was again convened. The members of the former House
of Representatives were generally re elected, and brought with them
the temper which have occasioned their dissolution. Instead of entering
on the business for which they were called together, they
engaged in a controversy with the Governor concerning the removal
of the ships of war from the harbour and of

(49:08):
the troops from the town of Boston, to which they
contended his power as the representative of the Crown was adequate.
The Governor, ascribing this temper to the influence of the metropolis,
adjourned the General Court to Cambridge. But this measure served
to increase the existing irritation. The business recommended to them
remained unnoticed. Their altercations with the Governor continued, and they

(49:29):
entered into several warm resolutions, enlarging the catalog of their
grievances in terms of greater exasperation than had appeared in
the official acts of any legislature on the continent. It
is prorobed. Not long after the passage of these resolutions,
the House explicitly refused to make the provision required by
the Mutiny Act for the troops stationed in Massachusetts, upon

(49:50):
which the legislature was prorobed. Until the first of January,
the committees appointed to examine the cargoes of vessels arriving
from Great Britain continued to execut the trust reposed in them.
Votes of censure were passed on such as refused to
concur in the Association or violated its principles, and the
names of the offenders were published as enemies to their country.

(50:11):
In some cases, the goods imported in contravention of it,
were locked up in warehouses, and in some few instances
they were re shipped to Great Britain. Not long after
the strong resolutions already noticed, had been agreed to buy Parliament.
While their effect was unfolding itself in every part of
the American continent, an important revolution took place in the
British cabinet. The Duke of Grafton was placed at the

(50:33):
head of a new administration. He supported with great earnestness
a proposition to repeal the duties imposed for the purpose
of raising revenue in the colonies, But his whole influence
was insufficient to carry this measure completely. Administration resolved in
a partial repeal of duties. It was deemed indispensable to
the maintenance of the legislative supremacy of Great Britain to

(50:54):
retain the duty on some one article, and that on
tea was reserved, while the others were relinquished. Seldom has
a wise nation adopted a more ill judged measure than this.
The contest with America was plainly a contest of principle,
and had been conducted entirely on principle by both parties.
The amount of taxes proposed to be raised was too
inconsiderable to interest the people of either country, but the

(51:17):
principle was in the opinion of both of the utmost magnitude.
The measure now proposed, while have encouraged the colonists to
hope that their cause was gaining strength in Britain, had
no tendency to conciliate them. Circular Letter of the Earl
of Hillsborough. In pursuance of this resolution of the Cabinet,
a circular letter was written by the Earl of Hillsborough
to the several governors, informing them that it was the

(51:39):
intention of His Majesty's ministers to propose, in the next
session of Parliament taking off the duties on glass paper
and painter's colors, in consideration of such duties having been
laid contrary to the true spirit of commerce, and assuring
them that at no time had they entertained the design
to propose to Parliament to lay any further taxes on
America for the purpose of raising a revenue. This measure

(52:00):
was soon communicated in letters from private individuals in England
to their correspondence in Massachusetts. The merchants of Boston, apprehensive
that an improper opinion concerning its operation might be formed.
Resolved that the partial repeal of the duties did not
remove the difficulties under which their trade labored, and was
only calculated to relieve the manufacturers of Great Britain, and

(52:21):
that they would still adhere to their non importation agreement.
The communication of the Earl of Hillsborough to the several
governors was laid before the respective assemblies as they convene,
in terms implying an intention to renounce the imposition in
future of any taxes in America. But this communication seems
not to have restored perfect contempt in any of the colonies.

(52:42):
The Virginia Legislature was in session on his arrival, and
Governor Botatat laid it before them. Their dissatisfaction with it
was manifested by a petition to the King reasserting the
rights previously maintained, and by an association signed by the
members as individuals, renewing their non importation agreement until duty
on Tea should be repealed. Yet several causes combined to

(53:03):
prevent a rigid observance of these associations. The sacrifice of
interest made by the merchants could be continued only under
the influence of powerful motives. Suspicions were entertained of each
other in the same towns, and committees to superintend the
conduct if importers were charged with gross partiality. The different towns, too,
watched each other with considerable jealousy, and accusations were reciprocally

(53:25):
made of infractions of the association. To a great extent,
letters were published purporting to be from England stating that
large orders for goods had been received, and the inconvenience
resulting from even a partial interruption of commerce and from
the want of those manufacturers which the inhabitants had been
accustomed to use, began to be severely and extensively felt.
In Rhode Island and Albany, it was determined to import

(53:47):
as usual, with the exception of such articles as should
be dutiable. On the remonstrances of other commercial places, especially
of Boston, these resolutions were changed, and the hope was
entertained that the general system on which the colonies were
live would still be maintained. New York recedes in part
from the non importational agreement. These hopes were blasted by
New York. That city soon manifested a disposition to import

(54:10):
as usual, with the exception of those articles only which
were subject to a duty at first. The resolution thus
to limit the operation of the non importational Agreement was
made to depend on its being acceded to by Boston
and Philadelphia. These towns refused to depart from the association
as originally formed, and strenuously urged their brethren of New
York to persevere with them in the glorious struggle. This

(54:33):
answer was communicated to the people, and their opinion on
the question of rescinding or adhering to was taken in
from their respective words. This determination excited the most lively
chagrin in New England and Philadelphia. Their remonstrances against it were, however, ineffectual,
and the example was soon followed throughout the colonies. The
people of New York alleged, in justification of themselves that

(54:55):
the towns of New England had not observed their engagements fairly,
and that the merchants of Albany had been in the
practice of receiving goods from Quebec, but no sufficient evidence
in support of these assertions was ever produced. Seventeen seventy.
About this time, a circumstance occurred, which produced the most
serious agitation. The two regiments stationed in Boston to support,

(55:15):
as was said, the civil authority and preserved the peace
of the town, were viewed by the inhabitants with very
prejudiced eyes. March ride in Boston, frequent quarrels arose between them,
and at length and affray took place in the night
near the gates of the barracks, which brought out Captain Preston,
the officer of the day, with a part of the
main guard, between whom and the townsmen. Blows ensued, on

(55:37):
which some of the soldiers fired, afore the people were killed.
The alarm bells were immediately rung, the drums beat to arms,
and an immense multitude assembled inflamed a madness by the
view of the dead bodies. They worked with difficulty restrained
from rushing on the twenty ninth regiment, which was then
drawn up under arms in King Street. The exertions of
the Lieutenant Governor, who promised that the law should be

(55:58):
enforced on the perpetrators of the Act, and the efforts
of several respectable and popular individuals, prevented their proceeding to
extremities and prevailed on them. After the regiment had been
marked to the barracks to disperse without further mischief, Captain
Preston and the soldiers who had fired were committed to
prison for trial. On the next day, upwards of four
thousand citizens of Boston assembled at Fenugah Hall, and in

(56:20):
a message to the Lieutenant Governor, stated it to be
the unanimous opinion of the meeting that the inhabitants and
soldiers can no longer live together in safety. Then nothing
can rationally be expected to restore the peace of the
town and prevent farther blood and carnage but the immediate
removal of the troops, And they therefore most fervently prayed
his honor that his power and influence might be exerted
for their instant removal. The Lieutenant Governor expressed his extreme

(56:43):
sorrow at the melancholy event which had occurred, and declared
that he had taken measures to have the affair inquired
into and justice done. That the military were not under
his command, but received their orders from the General at
New York, which orders it was not in his power
to countermand that on the application of the Council for
the removal of the troops. Colonel Dalrymple, their commanding officer,
had engaged that the twenty ninth Regiment, which had been

(57:06):
concerned in the affair, should be marched to the cast
on their placed in barracks until further orders should be
received from the General, and that the main Guard should
be removed, and the fourteenth Regiment laid under such restraints
that all occasions of future disservant should be prevented. This
answer was voted to be unsatisfactory, and the committee was
deputed to wait on the Lieutenant Governor and inform him
that nothing could content them but an immediate and total

(57:29):
removal of the troops. This vote was laid before the
Council by mister Hutchinson, who had succeeded mister Bernard in
the government of the province. The Council declared themselves unanimously
of opinion that it was absolutely necessary for His Majesty's service,
the good order of the town and the peace of
the province, that the troops should be immediately removed out
of the town of Boston. This opinion and advice being

(57:50):
communicated to Colonel Dalrymple, he gave his honor that measure
should be immediately taken for the removal of both regiments.
Satisfied with this assurance, the meetings secured the tranquility of
the town by appointing a strong military watch, and immediately
dissolved itself. This transaction was very differently related by the
different parties. Mister Gordon, whose history was written when the

(58:12):
resentments of the moment had subsided, and who has collected
the facts of the case, carefully states it in such
a manner as nearly, if not entirely, to exculpate the soldiers.
It appears that an attack upon them had been preconcerted,
and that after being long insulted with the grossest language,
they were repeatedly assaulted by the mob with balls of
ice and snow and with sticks before they were induced

(58:34):
to fire. Trial of Captain Preston and the soldiers. This
representation is strongly supported by the circumstances. The Captain Preston,
after a long and public trial, was acquitted by a
Boston jury, and that six of the eight soldiers who
were prosecuted were acquitted and the remaining two found guilty
of manslaughter. Only mister Quincy and mister John Adams, two
eminent lawyers and distinguished leaders of the Patriotic Party defended

(58:57):
the accuse without sustaining any diminution of popularity. Yet this
event was very differently understood through the colonies. It was
generally believed to be a massacre, equally barbarous and unprovoked,
and it increased the detestation in which the soldiers were
universally held end of Chapter thirteen.