XVI. Great Britain, by a forced and unheard of con- BOOK struction of the old statute of Henry VIII. excited prodigious alarm throughout the continent. The 1769. house of representatives of Virginia, in their address to the king, express with feeling and dignity the sentiments which, wounded by such cruel provocation, must necessarily animate the breasts of freemen. "When we consider," say they, "that, by the established laws and constitution of this colony, the most ample provision is made for apprehending and punishing all those who shall dare to engage in any treasonable practices against your majesty, or disturb the tranquillity of government, we cannot without horror think of the unusual, and, permit us with all humility to add, unconstitutional and illegal mode recommended to your majesty, of seizing and carrying beyond the sea the inhabitants of America suspected of any crime, and of trying such persons in any other manner than by the ancient and long-established course of proceedings; for how truly deplorable must be the case of a wretched American, who, having incurred the displeasure of any one in power, is dragged from his native home-conveyed to a distant land, where no friend will alleviate his distresses, and where no witness can be found to testify his innocence!" In the course of this summer, 1769, was transmitted to the governors of the different provinces XVI. BOOK the famous circular letter of lord Hillsborough, containing a virtual renunciation of future taxation, and an engagement, so far as the ministers of the crown could engage, to repeal, on the principles of commercial expediency, the taxes already subsisting on glass, paper, and colors. But America was now too much irritated and inflamed to be easily or speedily appeased. The exception of the duty on tea was regarded as insidious, and indicatory of ministerial fraud and finesse; and it was universally declared, that nothing less than a repeal of all the revenue acts, and the other odious and oppressive laws passed in the present reign, could lay the foundation of a solid and permanent re-union between Great Britain and her colonies. The circular letter of lord Hillsborough was indeed one of those half measures which exhibit upon the face of them indubitable marks of weakness and incapacity. Yet were there in the administration at this period those who possessed far clearer and juster ideas of policy than the majority of their colleagues. When the question of repeal came under discussion in the cabinet, the duke of Grafton, first lord of the Treasury, lord Camden, chancellor, the earl of Bristol, lord privyscal, and general Conway, commander in chief of the forces, names of the highest respectability, gave their voices for an entire revocation of the XVI. port duties; not merely as commercially inex- BOOK pedient, but constitutionally erroneous. They were opposed by the lord president Gower, the 1769. chancellor of the Exchequer, lord North, and the three secretaries of state:-the lords Weymouth, Rochford, and Hillsborough, sir Edward Hawke, first lord of the admiralty, known to be favorable to the repeal, was on that occasion. unavoidably absent. It is very remarkable that the original minute of council was framed in terms far more moderate and conciliatory than the circular letter founded upon it; and in particular, that the declaration in the letter, specifying the ground of the repeal to be commercial expediency, constituted no part of the minute: insomuch, that the lords who voted for the unconditional repeal were highly and justly offended at the unwarrantable liberties taken by lord Hillsborough, and lord Camden wrote to him in terms of warm and indignant remonstrance upon the subject. "Your lordship will forgive me," says the chancellor, "for saying, that though I am responsible for the minute, as it is taken down, I am not for the letter.-I confess I do not expect that this letter will give much satisfaction to America; perhaps the minute might. But as the opportunity of trying what effect that might have produced is lost, I can only say that I am sorry it was not in my power to submit BOOK my sentiments to your lordship before the letter XVI. was sent off." On inquiry being made for the 1769. original minute, it was pretended by lord Hillsborough to be mislaid or lost. The residence of the military at Boston, far from preserving the peace of the town, was the occasion of perpetual tumult and disturbance. The governor, sir Francis Bernard, from the violence of his temper, grew every day more obnoxious to the inhabitants, and the licentiousness of the Boston populace seemed to threaten his personal safety; notwithstanding which, he scrupled not to walk frequently alone and unattended at his villa in the vicinity of the metropolis. On being asked whether he had no apprehensions of danger, he replied, "No; they are not a bloodthirsty people." He was at length recalled in the autumn of 1769, in order to lay before the king the true state of the province, and was succeeded by Mr. Hutchinson, who had long filled the post of lieutenant-governor. Early in the spring of the ensuing year, 1770, a quarrel between the military and townsmen of Boston took place, more serious than any of those which had preceded it. A private of the 29th regiment, passing early on the Saturday morning along a public rope-walk, was provoked by insulting words to engage a party of his comrades to attack the rope-makers. The battle being in XVI. 1770. decisive, it was determined to fight it out on the BOOK Monday. The populace being in the interim fully apprised of the intended encounter, assembled in great numbers armed with clubs and other weapons at the time appointed; the bells also ringing an alarum, and violent clamors of "Town-born, turn-out!" being heard in all parts of the city. The mob directed its course to Murray's barracks, and dared the soldiery by very offensive language to combat, which they were with great difficulty prevented from doing by the officers. At length retiring from the barracks, the populace were addressed in the street by "a tall large man in a red cloak and a white wig;" and after listening for some minutes to his harangue with great attention, they exclaimed with shouts and huzzas, "For the main-guard!" for which they immediately began their route in different divisions. Captain Preston, the officer on duty, on the appearance of the frantic multitude, who with oaths and execrations pressed in upon the soldiers, advancing to the very points of the bayonets, endeavoured by every effort to restrain the soldiers from violence. But a party the most furious of the populace, in sailors' habits, struck the guns down with their clubs, and a blow was aimed by one of them at captain Preston. On which a confused noise of "Fire!" was heard, and several pieces being discharged, |