16 - 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 fourteen, Part one of the Life of Washington, Volume
one by John Marshall. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain. Chapter fourteen Insurrection in North Carolina, Dissatisfaction of
Massachusetts corresponding Committees. Governor Hutchinson's correspondence communicated by Doctor Franklin,

(00:29):
the Assembly petition for his removal. He is succeeded by
General Gage. Measures to enforce the Act concerning Duties Ferment
in America, the Ta thrown into the sea at Boston,
Measures of Parliament, General enthusiasm in America. A General Congress
proposed General Gage arrives, troops stationed on Boston Neck. New

(00:53):
counselors and judges obliged to resign. Boston Neck Fortified military
stores seized by General geary Age, Preparations for defense. King's Speech,
Proceedings of Parliament. Battle of Lexington, Massachusetts, raises men, Meeting
of Congress, Proceedings of that body. Transactions in Virginia, Provincial

(01:14):
Congress of South Carolina, Battle of Breed's Hill seventeen seventy.
In the Middle and Southern Colonies, the irritation against the
mother country appears to have gradually subsided, and no disposition
was manifested to extend opposition farther than to the importation
of tea insurrection in North Carolina. Their attention was a

(01:34):
good deal directed to an insurrection in North Carolina, where
a number of ignorant people, supposing themselves to be aggrieved
by the Phee Bill, rose in arms for the purpose
of shutting up the courts of justice, restoring all officers
of government and all lawyers, and of prostrating government itself.
Governor Trine marched against them, defeated them in a decisive battle,

(01:56):
quelled the insurrection in restored order satisfaction of Massachusetts and Massachusetts,
where the doctrine that Parliament could not rightfully legislate for
the colonies was maintained as a corollary from the proposition
that Parliament could not tax them. A gloomy discontent was
manifested that the spirit of opposition seemed to be expiring

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without securing the rights they claimed, excited apprehensions of a
much more serious nature in the bosoms of that inflexible
people than the prospect of any conflict. However terrible, this
temper displayed itself in all their proceedings. The legislature which
the Governor continued to convene at Cambridge, remonstrated against this

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removal as an intolerable grievance, and for two sessions refused
to proceed on business. In one of their remonstrances, they
asserted the right of the people to appeal to Heaven
in disputes between them and persons in power, when power
shall be abused corresponding committees. From the commencement of the contests,
Massachusetts have been peculiarly solicitous to unite all the colonies

(03:00):
in one system of measures. In pursuance of this favored idea,
a committee of Correspondence was elected by the General Court
to communicate with such committees as might be appointed by
other legislatures. Similar committees were soon afterwards chosen by the
towns throughout the province for the purpose of corresponding with
each other, and the example was soon followed by other colonies.

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Seventeen seventy two, while this system of vigilance was in progress,
a discovery was made which greatly increased the ill temper
of New England. Doctor Franklin, the agent of Massachusetts. By
some unknown means, Governor Hutchinson's correspondents obtained possession of the
letters which had been addressed by Governor Hutchinson and by
Lieutenant Governor Olivert to the Department of State. He transmitted

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these letters to the General Court. They were obviously designed
to induce government to persevere the system which was alienated
the affections of the colonists. The opposition was represented as
being confined to a few factious men whose conduct was
not generally approved, and who had been emboldened by the
weakness of the means used to restrain them. More vigorous
measures were recommended, and several specific propositions were made which

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were peculiarly offensive. Among these was a plan for altering
the charters of the colonies and rendering the High office
sers dependent solely on the Crown for their salaries. Seventeen
seventy three petition for the removal of the Governor and
Lieutenant Governor. The Assembly, inflamed by these letters, unanimously resolved
that their tendency and design were to overthrow the constitution

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of the government and to introduce arbitrary power into the province.
At the same time, a petition to the King was voted,
praying him to remove Governor Hutchinson and Lieutenant Governor Oliver
forever from the government of the colony. This petition was
transmitted to doctor Franklin and laid before the King and Council.
After hearing it, the Lords of the Council reported that

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the petition in question was founded upon false and erroneous allegations,
and that the same as groundless, vexatious, and scandalous, and
calculated only for the seditious purposes of keeping up a
spirit of clamor and discontent in the provinces. This report,
His Majesty was pleased to approve. Hutchinson succeeded by Gage.
Governor Hutchinson, however, was soon afterwards removed and General Gage

(05:15):
appointed to succeed him. The fears of Massachusetts that the
spirit which had been roused in the colonies might gradually
subside were not of long continuance. The determination not to
import tea from England had so lessened the demand for
that article that a considerable quantity had accumulated in the
magazines of the East India Company. They urged the Minister

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to take off the import American duty of three pence
per pound, and offered in lieu ofvitt to pay double
that sum on exportation measures to enforce the duty seventeen
seventy four. Instead of acceding to this proposition, drawbacks were
allowed on tea exported to the colonies, and the export
duty on that article was taken off. These encouragements induced

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the company to make shipments on their own account in
large quandmer entities were consigned to agents in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston,
and other principal places on the continent. The crisis was arrived,
and the conduct of the colonies was now to determine
whether they would submit to be taxed by Parliament or
meet the consequences of a practical assertion of the opinions
they had maintained. The tea I landed would be sold,

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the duties would consequently be paid, and the precedent for
taxing them established. The same sentiment on this subject appears
to have pervaded the whole continent. At the same time,
this ministerial plan of importation was considered by all as
a direct attack on the liberties of the people of America,
which it was the duty of all to oppose. Vermont

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in America, a violent ferment was excited in all the colonies.
The corresponding committees were extremely active, and it was almost
universally declared that whoever should directly or indirectly countenance this
dangerous invasion of their rights was an enemy to his country.
The consignees were generally compelled to relinquish their consignments, and
in most instants the ships bringing the tea were obliged

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to return with it. At Boston, a town meeting appointed
a committee to wait on the consignees to request their resignation,
this request not being complied with another large meeting assembled
at for Nuyah Hall, who voted with acclamation that the
tea shall not be landed, that no duty shall be paid,
and that it shall be sent back in the same bottoms,

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with the foreboding of the probable consequences of the measure
about to be adopted, and a wish that those consequences
should be seriously contemplated. A leading member thus addressed the meeting,
it is not, mister moderator, the spirit that vapors within
these walls that must stand us. Instead, the exertions of
this day will call fourth events which will make a
very different spirit necessary for our salvation. Whoever supposes that

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shouts and hazanas will terminate the trials of the day.
Entertains a childish fancy. We must be grossly ignorant of
the importance and value of the prize for which we contend.
We must be equally ignorant of the power of those
who have combined and against us. We must be blind
to that malice, inbetteracy and insatiable revenge which actuate our enemies,

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public and private, abroad and in our bosoms. To hope
that we shall end this controversy without the sharpest, sharpest conflicts,
to flatter ourselves that popular resolves, popular harangues, popular acclamations,
and popular vapor we'll vanquish our foes. Let us consider
the issue, let us look to the end. Let us
weigh and consider before we advance to those measures which

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must bring on the most trying and terrible struggle this
country ever saw. The question was again put and passed
unanimously in the affirmative. The captain of the vessel, aware
of the approaching danger, was desirous of returning, and applied
to the governor for our clearance. Affecting a rigid regard
to that letter of his duty, he declined, giving one
unless the vessel should be properly qualified at the custom House.

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This answer being reported, the meeting was declared to be dissolved,
and an immense crowd repaired to the key t thrown
into the sea, where a number of the most resolute
desas disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded the vessel, broke open
three hundred and forty two chests of tea, and discharged
their contents into the ocean. Measures of Parliament. These proceedings

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were laid before Parliament in a message from the Crown,
and excited a high and general indignation against the colonies.
Both houses expressed almost unanimously their approbation of the measures
adopted by His Majesty, and gave explicit assurances that they
would exert every means in their power to provide effectually
for the due execution of the laws and to secure

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the dependence of the colonies upon the Crown and Parliament
of Great Britain. The temper both of the Parliament and
of the Nation was entirely favorable to the high handed
system of coercion proposed by ministers, and that temper was
not permitted to pass away unemployed. A bill was brought
in for discontinuing the lading and shipping of goods, wares,
and merchandises at Boston or the harbor thereof, and for

(09:56):
the removal of the custom House with its dependencies to
the town of Salem. This bill was to continue in
force not only until compensation should be made to the
East India Company for the damage sustained, but until the
King and Council should declare himself satisfied as to the
restoration of peace and good order in Boston. It passed
both houses without a division and almost without opposition. The

(10:19):
Boston Tea Party from the painting by Robert Reid and
the Massachusetts State House in this picture, a leading modern
American artist, has succeeded admirably in depicting the band of
Boston citizens who disguised as Indians boarded three British ships
in Boston Harbor December sixteenth, seventeen seventy three, and through
their cargoes of tea overboard, in defying England to impose

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on the American colonies attacks on tea for the benefit
of the straightened East India Company, three hundred and forty
two chests valued at about eighteen thousand pounds were destroyed
in this manner without a sound from a great mob
of onlookers thronging the wharves. The mob dispersed quietly as
soon as the last chest went overboard. Soon afterwards, a
bill was brought in for better regulating the government of

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the Province of Massachusetts Bay. This act entirely subverted the
charter invested in the Crown the appointment of the councilors, magistrates,
and other officers of the colony who were to hold
their offices during the royal pleasure. This bill also was
carried through both houses by great majorities, but not without
a vigorous opposition and an animated debate. The next measure

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proposed was a bill for the impartial administration of Justice
in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. It provided that in
case any person should be indicted in that province for
murder or any other capital offense, and it should appear,
by information given on oath to the Governor, that the
fact was committed in the exercise or aid of magistracy
in suppressing riots, and that upfair trial could not be

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had in the province, he should send the person so
indicted to any other colony or to Great Britain to
be tried. This act was to continue in force for
four years. A bill was also passed for quartering soldiers
on the inhabita, and the system was completed by an
Act making more effectual provision for the government of the
Province of Quebec. This bill extended the boundaries of that

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province so as to comprehend the territory between the Lakes
the Ohio and the Mississippi, and established a legislative Council
to be appointed by the Crown for its government. Amidst
these hostile measures, one single conciliatory proposition was made. Mister
rose Fuller moved that the House resolve itself into a
committee to take into consideration the duty on the importation

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of tea into America, with a view to its repeal.
This motion was seconded by mister Burke, and supported with
all the power of reasoning and all the splendor of eloquence,
which distinguished that consummate statesman. But reason and eloquence were
of no avail. It was lost by a great majority.
The Earl of Chatham, who had long been too ill
to attend Parliament, again made his appearance in the House

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of Lords. He could have been drawn out only by
a strong sense of the fatal importance of those measures
into which the nation was hurrying. But his efforts were unavailing.
Neither his weight of character, his sound judgment, nor his
manly eloquence could arrest the hand of fate, which seemed
to propel this lofty nation with irresistible force, to measures
which terminated in its dismemberment. It was expected, in this

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expectation was encouraged by mister Hutchinson, that by directing these measures,
particularly against Boston, not only the union of the colonies
would be broken, but Massachusetts herself would be divided. Never
was expectation more completely disappointed. All perceived that Boston was
to be punished for having resisted, only with more violence,
the principle which they had all resisted, and that the

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object of the punishment was to coerse obedience to a
principle they were still determined to resist. They felt, therefore,
that the cause of Boston was the cause of all,
that their destinies were indissolubly connected with those of that
devoted town, and that they must submit to be taxed
by parliament in which they were not and could not
be represented, or support their brethren, who were selected to

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sustain the first shock of power, which, if successful, there
would overwhelm them all the neighboring towns. Disdaining to avail
themselves of the calamities inflicted on a sister for her
exertions in the common cause, clung to her with increased affection.
General enthusiasm, and that spirit of enthusiastic patriotism, which for
a time elevates the mind above all considerations of individual acquisition,

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became the ruling passion in the American bosom. On receiving
intelligence of the Boston Port Bill, a meeting of the
people of that town was called. They perceived that the
sharp sharpest conflict was indeed approaching, but were not dismayed
by its terrors. Far from seeking to shelter themselves from
the threatening storm submission, they grew more determined as it increased.

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Resolutions were passed expressing their opinion of the impolicy, injustice,
in humanity, and cruelty of the act from which they
appealed to God and to the world, and also inviting
the other colonies to join with them in an agreement
to stop all imports and exports to and from Great Britain,
Ireland and the West Indies until the Act should be repealed.
It was not in Boston only that this spirit was roused.

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Addresses were received from every part of the continent expressing
sentiments of sympathy in their afflictions, exhorting them to resolution
and perseverance, assuring them that they were considered as suffering
in the common cause. The legislature of Virginia was in
session when intelligence of the Boston Port Bill reached that province.
The House of Burgesses set apart the first of June,

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the day on which the bill was to go into operation,
for fasting, prayer and humiliation, to implore the divine into
position to avert the heavy calamity which threatened the destruction
of their civil rights, the evils of a civil war,
and to give one heart in one mind to the
people firmly to oppose every invasion of their liberties. Similar
resolutions were adopted in almost every province, and the first

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of Jane became throughout the colonies a day of fasting,
humiliation and prayer, in the course of which sermons were
preached to the people, well calculated to inspire them with
horror against the authors of the unjust sufferings of their
fellow subjects. In Boston, this measure occasioned the dissolution of
the Assembly. The members, before separation entered into an association

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in which they declared that an attack on one colony
to compel submission to arbitrary taxes is an attack on
all British America and threatens ruined to the rights of all,
unless the united wisdom of the whole be applied in prevention,
a General Congress proposed. They therefore recommended to the Committee
of Correspondence to communicate with the several committees of the

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other provinces on the expediency of appointing deputies from the
different colonies to meet annually in Congress and to deliberate
on the common interests of America. This measure had already
been proposed in town meetings, both in New York and Boston.
General Gage arrives in Boston. While the people of Boston
were engaged in the first consultations respecting the bill directed

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particularly against themselves, General Gage arrived in town. He was received,
notwithstanding the deep gloom of the moment, with those external
marks of respect which had been usual in which were
supposed to belong to his station. The General Court, convened
by the Governor at Salem, passed resolutions declaring the expediency
of a meeting of committees from the several colonies, and

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appointed five gentlemen as a committee on the part of Massachusetts.
The colonies from New Hampshire to South Carolina inclusive adopted
this measure. In where the legislatures were not in session,
elections were made by the people. The Legislature of Massachusetts
also passed declaratory resolutions expressing their opinion on the state
of public affairs, and recommending to the inhabitants of that

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province to renounce totally the consumption of East India tees
and to discontinue the use of all goods imported from
the East Indies in Great Britain until the grievances of
America should be completely redressed. The Governor, having obtained intelligence
of the manner in which the House was employed, sent
his secretary with directions to dissolve the assembly. Finding the
doors shut and being refused admittance, he read the order

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of dissolution aloud on the staircase. The next day, the
Governor received an address from the Principal inhabitants of Salem
at that time the metropolis of the province, which marks
the deep impression made by a sense of common danger.
No longer considering themselves as the inhabitants of Salem, but
as Americans, and spurning advantages to be derived to themselves

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from the distress inflicted on a sister town for its
zeal in a cause common to all, they expressed their
deep affliction for the calamities of Boston. About this time,
rough drafts of the two remaining bills relative to the
Province of Massachusetts, as well as of that for quartering
troops in America, were received in Boston and circulated through
the continent. They served to confirm the wavering, to render

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the moderate indignant, and to inflame the violent. An agreement
was framed by the Committee of Correspondence in Boston, entitled
a Solemn League and Covenant, whereby the subscribers found themselves
in the presence of God, to suspend all commercial intercourse
with Great Britain from the last day of the end
ensuing month of August, until the Boston Port Bill and
the other late obnoxious laws should be repealed. They also

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bound themselves in the same manner not to consume or
purchase from any other any goods whatever which should arrive
after the specified time, and to break off all dealings
with the purchasers, as well as with the importers of
such goods. They renounced also all intercourse and connection with
those who should refuse to subscribe to that covenant, or
to bind themselves by some similar agreement, and annexed to

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the renunciation of intercourse the dangerous penalty of publishing to
the world the names of all who refused to give
this evidence of attachment to the rights of their country.
General Gage issued a proclamation in which he termed this
covenant an unlawful, hostile, and traitorous combination contrary to the
allegiance due to the King, destructive of the legal authority
of Parliament and of the peace, good order and safety

(19:48):
of the community. All persons were warned against incurring the
pains and penalties due to such dangerous offenses, and all
magistrates were charged to apprehend and secure for trials such
as should be guilty of them. But the time when
the proclamation of governors could command attention had passed away,
and the penalties in the power of the Committee of
correspondence were much more dreaded than those which could be

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inflicted by the civil magistrate. Resolutions were passed in every
colony in which legislatures were convened or delegates assembled in convention,
manifesting different degrees of resentment, but concurring in the same
great principles. All declared that the cause of Boston was
the cause of British America, that the late acts respecting
that devoted town were tyrannical and unconstitutional, That the opposition

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to this ministerial system of oppression ought to be universally
and perseveringly maintained, that all intercourse with the parent state
state ought to be suspended and domestic manufactures encouraged, And
that a General Congress should be formed for the purpose
of uniting and guiding the councils and directing the efforts
of North America. The committees of correspondents selected Philadelphia for

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the place, and the beginning of September as the time
for the meeting of this important council. Congress assembles. On
the fourth of September, the delegates from eleven provinces appeared
at the place appointed, and the next day they assembled
at Carpenter's Hall, when Peyton Randolph, the late Speaker of
the House of Burgesses of Virginia, was unanimously chosen President.
The respective credentials of the members were then read and

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approved in this August Assembly, having determined that each colony
should have only one vote, that their deliberations should be
conducted with closed doors, and that their proceedings, except such
as they might determine to publish, should be kept inviolably secret.
Entered on the solemn and important duties assigned to them,
Committees were appointed to state the rights claimed by the
colonies which had been infringed by acts of Parliament passed

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since the year seventeen sixty three, to prepare a petition
to the King and addresses to the people of Great Britain,
to the inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, and to
the twelve colonies represented in Congress. Certain resolutions of the
County of Suffolk in Massachusetts. Having been taken into consideration,
it was unanimously resolved that this Assembly deeply feels the

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suffering of their countrymen in Massachusetts Bay under the operation
of the late, unjust, cruel and oppressive acts of the
British Parliament, that they most early approved the wisdom and
fortitude with which opposition to these wicked ministerial measures has
hitherto been conducted, and they earnestly recommend to their brethren
a perseverance in the same firm and temperate conduct as

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expressed in the resolutions determined upon at a meeting of
the Delegates for the County of Suffolk on Tuesday the
sixth Instant, Trusting that the effect of the united efforts
of North America in their behalf will carry such conviction
to the British Nation of the unwise, unjust, and ruinous
policy of the present administration, as quickly to introduce better
men and wiser measures, it was resolved unanimously that contributions

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from all the colonies for supplying the necessities and alleviating
the distresses of our brethren in Boston ought to be
continued in such manner and so long as their occasions
may require. The merchants of the several colonies were requested
not to send a Great Britain any orders for goods
to direct the execution of those already sent to be
suspended until the sense of Congress on the means to

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be taken for preserving the liberties of America be made public.
In a few days, resolutions were passed suspending the importation
of goods from Great Britain or Ireland, or any of
their dependencies and of their manufactures from any place whatever
after the first day of the succeeding December, and against
the purchase or use of such goods. It was also

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determined that all exports to Great Britain, Ireland and the
West Indies should cease on the tenth of September seventeen
seventy five. Less American grievances should be redressed before that time.
An association corresponding with these resolutions was then framed and
signed by every member present. Never were laws more faithfully
observed than where these resolutions of Congress and their association

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was of consequence universally adopted. Early in this session, a
declaration of rights was made in the shape of resolutions.
This paper of merits particular attention because it states precisely
the ground then taken by America. It is observable that
it asserted rights which were not generally maintained at the
commencement of the contest, but the exclusive right of legislation

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in the colonial assemblies with the exception of acts of
the British Parliament bona fide made to regulate external commerce
was not averred unanimously. The address is prepared, the various
papers drawn up, and the measures recommended by this Congress
formed the best eulogy of the members who composed it.
Affection to the mother country, in exalted admiration of her
national character, unwillingness to separate from her, a knowledge of

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the hazards and difficulties of the approaching contests, mingled with
enthusiastic patriotism, and the conviction at all which can make
life valuable was at stake. Characterized their proceedings Addressed to
the People of Great Britain when they say in the
Address to the People of Great Britain, nation led to
greatness by the hand of liberty, and possessed of all

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the glory that heroism, munificence, and humanity can bestow, descends
to the ungrateful task of forging chains for us friends
and children. And instead of giving support to freedom, turns
advocate for slavery and oppression. There is reason to suspect
that she has either ceased to be virtuous or been
extremely negligent in the appointment of her rulers in almost

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every age, and repeated conflicts, in long and bloody wars,
as well civil as foreign, against many and powerful nations,
against the open assaults of enemies, and the more dangerous
treachery of friends. Have the inhabitants of your island, your
great and glorious ancestors, maintained their independence and transmitted the
rights of men and the blessings of liberty to you
their posterity, be not surprised therefore, that we, who are

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descended from the same common ancestors that we, whose forefathers
participated in all the rights the liberties in the Constitution
youse so justly boast of, and who have carefully conveyed
the same fair inheritance to us, guaranteed by the plighted
faith of government and the most solemn compacts with British sovereigns,
should refuse to surrender them to men who found their

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claims on no principles of reason, and who prosecute them
with a design that, by having our lives and property
in their power, they may with a greater facility enslave youew.
After stating the serious condition of American affairs and the
oppressions and misrepresentations of their conduct which had induced the address,
And there claim to be as free as their fellow
subjects in Britain. They say, are not the proprietors of

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the soil of Great Britain lords of their own property?
Can it be taken from them without their consent? Will
they yield it to the arbitrary disposal of any men
or number of men? Whatever you know they will not?
Why then, are the proprietors of the soil of America
less lords of their property than you are of yours?
And why should they submit it to the disposal of
your parliament or any other parliament or council in the world,

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not of their election? Can the intervention of the sea
that divides us cause disparity of rights? Or can any
reason be given why English subjects who live three thousand
miles from the Royal Palace should enjoy less liberty than
those who are three hundred miles distant from it. Reason
looks with indignation on such distinctions, and free men can
never presus their propriety after expatiating on the resources which

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the conquest of America will place in the hands of
the crown. For the subjugation of Britain. The address proceeds,
We believe there is yet much virtue, much justice, and
much public spirit in the English nation. To that justice,
we now appeal. You have been told that we are seditious,
impatient of government, and desirous of independency. Be sure that
these are not facts but calumnies. Permit us to be

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as free as yourselves, and we shall ever esteem a
union with you to be our greatest glory and our
greatest happiness. We shall ever be ready to contribute all
in our power to the welfare of the Empire. We
shall consider your enemies as our enemies, and your interest
as our own. But if you are determined that your
ministers shall want and they sport with the rights of mankind,
if neither the voice of justice, the dictates of the law,

(27:49):
the principles of the Constitution, nor the suggestions of humanity
can restrain your hands from shedding human blood in such
an impious cause, we must then tell you that we
will never submit to be huers of wood or drawers
of water for any ministry or nation in the world.
Places Since the same situation that we were at the
close of the Late War, and our former harmony will

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be restored petition to the King. The petition to the
King states succinctly the grievances complained of, and then proceeds
to say, had our creator been pleased to give us
existence in the land of slavery, the sense of our
condition might have been mitigated by ignorance and habit. But
thanks be to his adorable goodness, we were born the
heirs of freedom, and ever enjoyed our right under the

(28:32):
auspices of your royal ancestors, whose family was seated on
the British throne to rescue and secure pious and gallant
nation from the popery and despotism of our superstitious and
inexorable tyrant. Your majesty, we are confident justly rejoices that
your title to the crown is thus founded on the
title of your people to liberty. And therefore we doubt

(28:52):
not but your royal wisdom must approve the sensibility that
teaches your subjects anxiously regard the blessing they receive from
divine providence, and thereby to prove the performance of that
compact which elevated the illustrious House of Brunswick to the
Imperial dignity, it now possesses the apprehensions of being degraded
into a state of servitude from the preeminent rank of

(29:13):
English freemen. While our minds retain the strongest love of liberty,
and clearly foresee the misries preparing for us and for
our posterity excites emotions in our breasts, which, though we
cannot describe, we should not wish to conceal. Feeling as
men and thinking as subjects. In the manner we do
silence would be disloyalty. By giving this faithful information, we
do all in our power to promote the great objects

(29:35):
of your royal cares, the tranquility of your government and
the welfare of your people. Duty to your Majesty in
regard for the preservation of ourselves in our posterity, the
primary obligations of nature and society command us to entreat
your royal attention. And, as your Majesty enjoys the signal
distinction of reigning over freemen, we apprehend the language of
freemen cannot be displeasing your royal indignation, we hope will

(29:59):
rather fall on those designing and dangerous men who, daringly
interposing themselves between your Royal Person and your faithful subjects,
and for several years past, incessantly employed to dissolve the
bonds of society by abusing Your Majesty's authority, misrepresenting your
American subjects, and prosecuting the most desperate and irritating projects
of oppression, have at length compelled us, by the force

(30:20):
of accumulated injuries too severe to be any longer tolerable,
to disturb Your Majesty's reposed by our complaints. These sentiments
are extorted from hearts that much more willingly would bleed
in Your Majesty's service. Yet so greatly have we been misrepresented,
that a necessity has been alleged of taking our property
from us without our consent, to defray the charge of
the administration of justice, the support of civil government, and

(30:43):
the defense, protection and security of the colonies. After assuring
His Majesty of the untruth of these allegations, they say,
yielding to know British subjects in affectionate attachment to Your
Majesty's person, family, and government, we too dearly prize the
privilege of expressing that attachment the proofs that are honorable
to the Prince that receives them. And to the people

(31:03):
who give them, ever to resign it to any body
of men upon earth. We ask but for peace, liberty,
and safety. We wish not a diminution of the prerogative,
nor do we solicit the granted and eat new right.
In our favor your royal authority over us and our
connection with Great Britain, we shall always carefully and zealous
the endeavor to support and maintain After restating in a

(31:24):
very affecting manner, the most essential grievances of which they complain,
and professing that their future conduct, if their apprehension should
be removed, would prove them worthy of the regard they
have been accustomed in their happier days to enjoy. They add,
permit us, then, most Gracious Sovereign, in the name of
all your faithful people in America, with the utmost humility,
to implore you, for the honor of all Mighty God,

(31:46):
whose pure religion our enemies are undermining, for your glory,
which can be advanced only by rendering your subjects happy
and keeping them united for the interest of your family,
depending on an adherence to the principles that enthroned it,
for the safety and welfare of your dead kingdom and dominions,
threatened with almost unavoidable dangers and distresses, that your Majesty
is the loving father of your whole people, connected by

(32:08):
the same bonds of law, loyalty, faith, and blood, though
dwelling in various countries, will not suffer the transcendent relation
formed by these ties to be farther violated in uncertain
expectation of effects that, if attained, never can compensate for
the calamities through which they must be gained. Addressed to
the American people, the address to their constituents is replete
with serious and temperate argument. In this paper, the several

(32:30):
causes which had led to the existing state of things
were detailed more at large, and much labour was used
to convince their judgments that their liberties must be destroyed
in the security of their property in persons annihilated by
submission to the pretensions of Great Britain. The first object
of Congress being to unite the people of America by
demonstrating the sincerity with which their leaders had sought for

(32:51):
reconciliation on terms compatible with liberty. Great earnestness was used
in proving that the conduct of the colonists had been
uniformly moderate and blameless. After declaring their confidence in the
efficacy of the mode of commercial resistance which have been recommended,
the address concludes with saying, your own salvation and that
of your posterity, now depends upon yourselves. You have already

(33:12):
shown that you entertain a proper sense of the blessings
you are striving to retain. Against the temporary inconveniences you
may suffer from a stoppage of trade, you will weigh
in the opposite balance the endless miseries you and your
descendants must endure from an established arbitrary power. You will
not forget the honor of your country that must, from
your behavior take its title in the estimation of the

(33:33):
world to glory or to shame. And you will, with
the deepest attention, reflect that, if the peaceable mode of
opposition recommended by us be broken and rendered ineffectual, as
your cruel and haughty ministerial enemies from a contemptuous opinion
of your firmness and silently predict will be the case,
you must inevitably be reduced to choose either a more
dangerous contest or a final, ruinous and infamous submission. Motives

(33:57):
thus cogent arising from the emergency of your unhappy condition,
must excite your utmost diligence and zeal to give all
possible strength and energy to the pacific measures calculated for
your relief. But we think ourselves bound in duty to
observe to you that the schemes agitated against the colonies
have been so conducted as to render it prudent that
you should extend your views to mournful events, and be

(34:18):
in all respects prepared for every contingency. Above all things,
we earnestly entreat you, with devotion of spirit, penitence of heart,
and amendment of life, to humble yourselves and implore the
favor of Almighty God. And we fervently beseech the divine
goodness to take you into his gracious protection. The letter
to the people of Candidate required no inconsiderable degree of address.

(34:38):
The extent of that province was not so alarming to
its inhabitants as to their neighbors, and it was not
easy to persuade the French settlers, who were far the
most numerous, that the establishment of their religion and the
partial toleration of their ancient jurisprudence were acts of oppression
which ought to be resisted. This delicate subject was managed
with considerable dexterity. In the prejudices of the Canadian means

(35:00):
were assailed with some success. Letters were also addressed to
the colonies of Saint John's Nova, Scotia, Georgia, and the Floridas,
inviting them to unite with their brethren in a cause
common to all British America. After completing the business before them,
and recommending that another Congress should be held at the
same place on the tenth of the succeeding May, the
House dissolved itself October. The proceedings of Congress were read

(35:21):
throughout America with enthusiastic admiration. The recommendations were revered as
revelations and obeyed as laws of the strongest obligation. Absolute
unanimity could not be expected to exist. But seldom has
a whole people been more united, And never did a
more sincere and perfect conviction of the justice of a
cause animate the human bosom than was felt by the
great body of the Americans. The people generally made great

(35:43):
exertions to arm and discipline themselves. Independent companies of gentlemen
were formed in all the colonies and the whole face
of the country exhibited the aspect of approaching war. Yet
the measures of Congress demonstrate that although resistance by force
was contemplated as a possible event, the hope was fondly
cherished that the non import roortation of British goods would
induce a repeal of the late odious Acts. It is

(36:04):
impossible to account for the non importation agreement itself had
war been considered as inevitable. Every principle of sound policy
required that imports should be encouraged and the largest possible
stock of supplies for an army be obtained. New councilors
and judges with the laws relative to the province. Governor
Gage received a list of thirty two new councilors, a

(36:24):
sufficient number of whom to carry on the business of
the government, accepted the office and entered on its duties.
All those who accepted offices under the new system were
denounced as enemies to their country. The new judges were
unable to proceed in the administration of justice. When the
court houses were opened, that people crowded into them in
such numbers that the judges could not obtain admittance, and
on being ordered by the officers to make way for

(36:46):
the court, they answered that they knew no court independent
of the ancient laws and usages of their country, and
to no other would they submit. Obliged to resign, the
houses of the new councilors were surrounded by great bodies
of people, whose threats and then to them that they
must resign their offices or be exposed to the fury
of an enraged populace. The first part of the alternative

(37:06):
was generally embraced Boston Neck fortified. In this irritable state
of the public mind and critical situation of public affairs,
it was to be expected that every day would furnish
a new matter of discontent and jealousy. General Gauge deemed
it unnecessary measure of security to fortify Boston Neck, and
this circumstance induced the inhabitants to contemplate seriously in the

(37:27):
evacuation of the town and removal them to the country.
Congress was consulted on this proposition, but was deterred from
recommending it by the difficulties attending the measure. It was, however,
referred to the provincial Congress with the decoration that if
the removal should be deemed necessary. The expense attending it
ought to be borne by all the colonies. Military stores
seized by general gauge. The fortification of Boston Neck was

(37:50):
followed by a measure which excited still greater alarm. The
time for the general muster of the militia approached, under
real or pretended apprehensions from their violence. The ammunition and
stores which were lodged in the provincial arsenalut Cambridge, and
the powder in the magazines at Charlestown and some other places,
which was partly private and partly provincial property, were seized
by order of the Governor and conveyed to Boston under

(38:12):
the fermat excited by this measure, the people assembled in
great numbers and were with difficulties dissuaded from marching to
Boston and demanding a redelivery of the stores. Not long afterwards,
Afford at Portsmouth in New Hampshire were stormed by an
armed body of provincials, and the powder it contained was
transported to a place of safety. A similar measure was
adopted in Rhode Island about the same time. A report

(38:33):
reached Connecticut that the ships and troops that attacked Boston
and were actually firing on the town. Several thousand men
immediately assembled in arms and marched with great expedition a
considerable distance before they were undeceived. It was in the
midst of these fermats, and while these indications of an
opinion that hostilities might be expected daily were multiplying on
every side, that the people of Suffolk assembled in convention

(38:54):
and passed the resolutions already mentioned, which in boldness surpassed
any that had been adopted Congress in Massachusetts. Before the
general agitation had risen to his present alarming height, Governor
Gage had issued writs for the election of members to
a general Assembly. These writs were afterwards countermanded by proclamation,
but the proclamation was disregarded. The elections were held, and

(39:14):
the delegates who assembled and voted themselves a provincial Congress
conducted the affairs of the colony as if they had
been regularly invested with all the powers of government, and
their recommendations were respected as sacred laws. Prepares for defense,
They drew up a plan for the defense of the province,
provided magazines, ammunition, and prepares stores for twelve thousand militia,
and enrolled a number of minutemen, a term designating a

(39:37):
select part of the militia who engaged to appear in
arms at a minute's warning. On the approach of winter,
the General had ordered temporary barracks to be erected for
the troops, partly for their security and partly to prevent
the disorders which would unavoidably result from quartering them in
the town. Such, however, was the detestation in which they
were held that the selectmen and committees obliged the workmen

(39:59):
to do assists from the work, although they were paid
for their labor by the Crown, and although employment could
at that time be seldom obtained. He was not much
more successful in his endeavors to obtain carpenters in New York,
and it was with considerable difficulty that these temporary lodgments
could be erected the Agency for purchase, seeing winter covering
for the troops was offered to almost every merchant in

(40:20):
New York. But such was the danger of engaging in
this odious employment that not only those who were attached
to the party resisting the views of administration, but those
also who were in secret friendly to those views, refused
undertaking it and declared that they never would supply any
article for the benefit of men who were sent as
enemies to their country. King's Speech to Parliament. In Great Britain,

(40:40):
a new Parliament was assembled, and the King, in his
opening speech informed them that utmost daring spirit of resistance
and disobedience still prevailed in Massachusetts, and had broken forth
in fresh violences of a very criminal nature. That the
most proper and effectual measures had been taken to prevent
these mischiefs, and that they might depend upon a firm
resolution to withstand every dattempt to weaken or impair the

(41:01):
supreme authority of this legislature over all the dominions of
the Crown proceedings of that body. The addresses re echoed
the sentiments of the speech, all amendments to which were
rejected in both houses by considerable majorities. Yet the business
respecting America was not promptly introduced. Administration seems to have
hesitated on the course to be adopted in the cabinet

(41:22):
is said to have been divided respecting future measures. Seventeen
seventy five. The few friends of Conciliation the bay of
themselves of this delay to bring forward propositions which might
restore harmony to the Empire. Lord Chatham was not yet dead.
This splendid orb, to use the bold metaphor of mister
Burke was not yet entirely set. The western horizon was

(41:42):
still in a blaze with his descending glory, and the
evening of a life which had exhibited one bright, uncheckered
course of validated patriotism, was devoted to the service of
that country whose bagrandizement seemed to have swallowed up every
other passion of his soul. Taking a prophetic view of
the future, he demonstrated the impossibility of subjugating America, and
urged with all the powers of his vast mind, the

(42:04):
immediate removal of the troops from Boston, as a measure
indispensably necessary to open the way for an adjustment of
the existing differences with the colonies. Not discouraged by the
great majority against this motion, he brought forward a bill
for settling the troubles in America, which was rejected by
sixty one to thirty two voices. The day after the
rejection of this bill, Lord North moved in the House

(42:26):
of Commons and addressed to his Majesty declaring that from
a serious consideration of the American papers, they find a
rebellion actually exists in the province of Massachusetts Bay. In
the course of the debate on this address, several professional
gentlemen spoke with the utmost contempt of the military character
of the Americans, and General Grant, who ought to have
known better, declared that, at the head of five regiments

(42:47):
of infantry, he would undertake to traverse the whole country
and drive the inhabitants from one end of the continent
to the other. The address was carried by two hundred
and eighty eight to one hundred and six, and on
conference the House of Lords agreed to join in it.
Lord North soon after moved a bill for restraining the
trade and commerce of the New England provinces and prohibiting
them from carrying on the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland.

(43:10):
While this bill was pending, and only vengeance was breathed
by the majority, his Lordship, to the astonishment of all,
suddenly moved what he termed his conciliatory proposition. Its amount
was that Parliament would forbear to tax any colony which
to tax itself, in such a sum as would be
perfectly satisfactory, apparent as it must have been that this
proposition would not be accepted in America. It was received

(43:32):
with indignation by the majority of the House, and ministers
found some difficulty enshowing that it was in maintenance of
the right to tax the colonies. Before it could be adopted,
Lord North condescended to make the dangerous and not very
reputable acknowledgment that it was a proposition designed to divide
America and to unite Great Britain. It was transmitted to
the governors of the several colonies in a circular letter

(43:54):
from Lord Dartmouth, with directions that used their utmost influence
to prevail on the legislatures to act seed to the
proposed compromise. These endeavors were not successful. The colonists were
universally impressed with too strong a conviction of the importance
of union, and understood too well the real principle of
the contest to suffer themselves to be divided or deceived
by a proposition conciliatory. Only in Maine, after the passage

(44:17):
of the Bill for Restraining the Trade of New England,
information was received that the inhabitants of the Middle and
Southern colonies were supporting their Northern Brethren in every measure
of opposition. In consequence of this intelligence, a second bill
was passed for imposing similar restrictions on East and West Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia,
South Carolina, and the counties on the Delaware. The favorite

(44:39):
colonies of New York and North Carolina were omitted as
being less disaffected than the others. Fortunately, sometime afterwards, the
House of Commons refused to hear a petition from the
Legislature of New York, which alone had declined acceding to
the resolutions of Congress, on the suggestion of the Minister
that it contained claims incompatible with the supremacy of Parliament.
This haughty rejection had some tend fancy to convince the

(45:00):
advocates of milder measures that had been adopted in their
sister colonies that there was no medium between resistance and
absolute submission. The King's speech and the proceedings of Parliament
served only to convince the leaders of opposition in America
that they must indeed prepare to meet mournful events. They
had flattered themselves that the union of the colonies, the
position of Congress to the King, and the Address to

(45:21):
the people of Great Britain would produce happy effects. But
these measures removed the delusion. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts
published a resolution informing the people that there was real
cause to fear that the reasonable and just applications of
that continent to Great Britain for peace, liberty, and safety
would not meet with a favorable reception, that, on the contrary,
the tenor of their intelligence and general appearances furnished just

(45:43):
cause for the apprehension that the sudden destruction of that
colony at least was intended. They therefore urged militia in
general and the minutemen in particular, to spare neither time, pains,
nor expense to perfect themselves in military discipline, and also
passed resolutions for procuring and making fire arms and bayonets.
In the meantime, delegates were elected for the ensuing Congress.

(46:05):
Even in New York, where the influence of administration in
the legislature had been sufficient to prevent an adoption of
the recommendations of Congress, a convention was chosen for the
purpose of electing members to represent that province in the
Grand Council of the Colonies. In New England, although a
determination not to commence hostility appears to have been maintained,
an expectation of it and a settled purpose to repel

(46:26):
it universally prevailed. It was not long before the firmness
of this resolution was put to the test. On the
night preceding the nineteenth of April, General Gage detached Lieutenant
Colonel Smith, a major at Pitcairn, with the grenadiers and
light infantry of the army amounting to eight nine hundred men,
with orders to destroy some military stores which have been
collected at Concord, about eighteen miles from Boston. Notwithstanding the

(46:49):
secrecy and dispatch which were used, the country was alarmed
by messengers sent out by Doctor Warren Battle of Lexington,
and on the arrival of the British troops at Lexington
about five in the morning, part of the company of
militia belonging to the town was found on the parade
under arms. Major Pitcairn, who led the band, galloped up,
calling out dispersed rebels dispersed. He was followed close by

(47:10):
his soldiers who rushed upon the militia with loud huzzes.
Some scattering guns were fired, which were immediately followed by
a general discharge and the firing was continued as long
as any of the militia appeared. Eight men were killed
and several wounded. After dispatching six companies of light infantry
to guard to bridges which lay at some distance beyond
the town, Lieutenant Colonel Smith proceeded to Concord. While the

(47:32):
main body of the detachment was employed in destroying the
stores in the town. Some minute men and militia, who
were collected from that place and its neighborhood, having orders
not to give the first fire, approached one of the
bridges as if to pass it in the character of
common travelers. They were fired on, and two of them
were killed. The fire was instantly returned, and a skirmish ensued,
in which the regulars were worsted and compelled to retreat

(47:53):
with some loss. The alarm now becoming general, the people
rushed to the scene of action and attacked the King's
troops on all sized. Skirmish succeeded skirmish, and they were
driven from post to posts into Lexington. Fortunately for the
British General, Gage did not entertain precisely the opinion of
the military character of the Americans, which had been expressed
in the House of Commons. Apprehending the expedition to be

(48:15):
not entirely without hazard, he had in the morning to
detach Lord Percy with sixteen companies afoot, a corps of
Marines and two companies of artillery to support Lieutenant Colonel Smith.
This seasonable reinforcement, happening to reach Lexington about the time
of his arrival at that place, kept the Provincials at
a distance with their field pieces, and gave the Grenadier's
a light infantry time to breathe. But as soon as

(48:37):
they resumed their march, the attack was recommenced, and an
irregular but galling fire was kept up on each flank,
as well as in front and rear, until they arrived
on the common of Charlestown without delay. They passed over
the neck to Bunker's Hill, where they remained secure for
the night under the protection of their ships of war,
and early next morning crossed over to Boston. In this action,
the loss of the British in killed, wounded in prisoners

(48:58):
was two hundred and seventy three, while that of the
Provincials did not exceed ninety. This affair, however, trivial in itself,
was of great importance in its consequences. It was the
commencement of a long and obstinate war, and had no
inconsiderable influence on that war, by increasing the confidence which
the Americans felt in themselves, and by encouraging opposition with
the hope of being successful. It supported the opinion which

(49:21):
the colonists had taken up with some doubt, that courage
and patriotism were ample substitutes for the knowledge of tactics,
and that their skill in the use of our arms
gave them a great superiority over their adversaries. End of
Chapter fourteen, Part one