CHAP. IV. 1774. refentment of others, he retired to a small village in the neighborhood of Bofton, and fecluded himself from obfervation until he embarked for London. This he did on the fame memorable day when, by act of parliament, the blockade of Bofton took place. Before his departure, the few partizans that ftill adhered to the man and his principles, procured by much affiduity a complimentary addrefs, thanking him for paft fervices, and held up to him the idea, that by his talents he might obtain a redress of grievances, which they well knew had been drawn on their country by the agency of Mr. Hutchinfon. Much derifion fell on the character of this group of flatterers, who were long distinguished only by the appellation of Hutchinfon's addreffers. Mr. Hutchinfon furnished with thefe pitiful credentials, left his native country forever. On his arrival in England, he was juftified and careffed by his employers; and notwithstanding the criminality of his political conduct had been fo fully evinced by the detection and recovery of his original letters, his impeachment, which was laid before the lords of the privy-council, was confidered by them in a very frivolous light. A profeffional character, by fome thought to have been hired for the purpofe, was permitted to abuse the petitioners and their agent in the groffeft terms fcurrility could invent; and the lords reported, that “the pe 1774. "tition was groundless, vexatious, and fcanda- CHAP IV. "lous, and calculated only for the feditious "purposes of keeping up a spirit of discontent "and clamour in the province; that nothing "had been laid before them which did or "could, in their opinion, in any manner or in any degree impeach the honour, integrity, or "conduct of the governor or lieutenant-gover, "nor;" who had been at the fame time im peached. But the operation of his meafures, while gov. ernor of the Maffachusetts, was fo productive of misfortune to Great Britain, as well as to the united colonies, that Mr. Hutchinson foon became the object of disgust to all parties. He did not live to fee the independence of America eftablished, but he lived long enough to repent in bitterness of foul, the part he had acted against a country once difpofed to respect his character. After his mind had been involved many months in a state of chagrin, disappointment and defpair, he died on the day the riots. in London, excited by lord George Gordon, were at the height, in the year one thousand feven hundred and eighty. Thofe of the family who furvived their unhappy father remained in obfcurity in England. It must however be acknowledged that gov ernor Hutchinson was uniform in his political conduct. He was educated in reverential ideas CHAP. IV. 1774. of monarchic government, and confidered himself the fervant of a king who had entrusted him with very high authority. As a true dif ciple of paffive obedience, he might think himself bound to promote the defigns of his mafter, and thus he might probably release his confcience from the obligation to aid his countrymen in their oppofition to the encroachments of the crown. In the eye of candor, he may therefore be much more excufable, than any who may deviate from their principles and profeffions of republicanifm, who have not been biaffed by the patronage of kings, nor influenced in favor of monarchy by their early preju. dices of education or employment, CHAPTER V. General Gage appointed Governor of Malfachusetts.-General Affembly meet at Salem.-A propofal for a Congress from all the Colonies, to be convened at Philadelphia.Mandamus Counsellors obliged to refign.-Refolutions of the General Congrefs.-Occafional obfervations.-The Maffachusetts attentive to the military Difcipline of their Youth.-Suffolk Refolves.-A Provincial Congress chofen in the Maffachusetts.-Governor Gage fummons a new House of Representatives. THE fpeculatift and the philofopher frequently observe a casual subordination of circumstances independent of political decifion, which fixes the character and manners of nations. This thought may be piously improved till it leads the mind to view thofe cafualties, directed by a fecret hand which points the revolutions of time, and decides the fate of empires. The occafional instruments for the completion of the * grand fyftem of Providence, have seldom any other ftimulus but the bubble of fame, the luft of wealth, or fome contemptible paffion that centres in felf. Even the bofom of virtue warmed by higher principles, and the man actuated by nobler motives, walks in a narrow fphere of comprehenfion. The scale by which the ideas of mortals are circumfcribed generally limits his wishes to a certain point without confideration, or a juft calculation of extenfive confequences. CHAP. V. 1774. " CHAP. V. 1774. Thus while the king of Great Britain was contending with the colonies for a three-penny duty on tea, and the Americans with the bold fpirit of patriotifin refifting an encroachment on their rights, the one thought they only afked a moderate and reafonable indulgence from their fovereign, which they had a right to demand if withheld; on the other fide, the most fevere and strong meafures were adopted and exercised towards the colonies, which parliament confidered as only the proper and neceffary chastisement of rebellious fubjects. Thus on the eve of one of the moft remarkable revolutions recorded in the page of hiftory, a revolution which Great Britain precipitated by her indifcretion, and which the hardieft fons of America viewed in the beginning of oppofition as a work referved for the enterprifing hand of pofterity, few on either fide comprehended the magnitude of the conteft, and fewer ftill had the courage to name the independence of the American colonies as the ultimatum of their defigns. After the fpirits of men had been wrought up to a high tone of refentment, by repeated injuries on the one hand, and an open refiftance on the other, there was little reason to expect a ready compliance with regulations, repugnant to the feelings, the principles, and the intereft of Americans. The parliament of Britain therefore thought it expedient to enforce obedience by the fword, and determined to fend |