200. Sparks of Liberty.-Perhaps no single event in the history of the world has occasioned more flights of sublime eloquence than the American Revolution. At the session of the Virginia House of Burgesses following the announcement of the Stamp Act, Patrick Henry, then a young, inexperienced lawyer, rising in his place, launched forth on a speech which horrified the Tories by its fierce invective against the king, and electrified the friends of America at its bold declaration of the rights of freemen. With eyes flashing and hand uplifted he thundered forth the philippic that has since been the tocsin of every American orator, proclaiming liberty as against despotic rule-"Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third— may profit by their example."

James Otis was a young lawyer holding appointment under the king in Boston as state prosecutor. At the time of the excitement over the writs of assistance (1761) he resigned his office to argue against their constitutionality. In an impassioned speech before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, he gave utterance to that terse statement, "Taxation without representation is tyranny," and declared that such iniquities as the writs in question had "cost one king of England his head and another his throne." John Adams, in referring to the stirring events of the day on which Otis had made this great speech in defence of the liberties of the people, said: "On that day was American independence born."

201. The Townshend Acts-1767.-While protesting against the Stamp Act, the colonial leaders had emphasized the distinction between external and internal taxes, and asserted that they were not opposed to the laying of the former. The excitement over the Stamp Act had hardly subsided when Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, therefore proposed the collection of duties on various articles, such as glass, paper, painter's colors, and tea. To this the colonists could not consistently object, though they found matter enough for objection in the fact that the act provided that the

moneys thus collected should be applied in paying the salaries of the officers of the king. But in connection with this measure were several others, all together known as the "Townshend Acts," and to these the colonists entered vigorous protest. Prior to the passage of these acts, the New York legislative body had refused to provide quarters for the troops sent over by the king. By one of these acts the New York legislature was forbidden to consider the passage of any other law until quarters were provided for the king's troops. Another act provided for the appointment of a board of commissioners to control the collection of all customs and duties, and provision was made for the trial of all revenue cases by admiralty courts without juries. These acts were promulgated the year following the repeal of the Stamp Act, and immediately fanned into fierce flame the smoldering embers left by that excitement. In Boston, Samuel Adams wrote a series of addresses on the acts, which were published by the Massachusetts legislature and scattered broadcast throughout the colonies, together with a circular letter urging concert of action as before. The merchants revived their nonimportation societies and the people again denied themselves the use of English goods and encouraged the exclusive use of articles of home manufacture.

202. "Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer"-1768.-These letters were prompted by the passage of the Townshend Acts and were written by John Dickinson, a young Philadelphia lawyer, who assumed the guise and language of a farmer. He was a man of fine education, a thorough patriot, and with a wonderful insight into the needs of the colonies. His letters were moderate in tone, yet with convincing logic they drove straight to the point. Breathing a deep spirit of patriotism, they became a great factor in the preparation of the people for the coming conflict.

203. The Sloop Liberty-1768: The Boston MassacreMarch 5, 1770.-Soon after the new board of revenue commissioners, as provided in the "Townshend Act," had arrived

the sloop Liberty was seized, without an official warrant, by a boat's crew from the British frigate Romney for alleged violation of the revenue laws. The commissioners sustained the action of the crew seizing the Liberty, whereupon a large crowd gathered in the streets of Boston, forcing the frightened commissioners to take refuge on board the Romney.

The king becoming alarmed at the violence of the Bostonians despatched General Thomas Gage as the commanderin-chief of the British forces in America, to Boston with two regiments of troops. These troops Gage quartered in the city. Frequent collisions took place between the soldiers and the rougher elements of the town, finally leading on the night of March 5, 1770, to the Boston Massacre, in which five citizens were killed and six wounded. Intense excitement prevailed and it was feared the soldiers would be seized and summarily dealt with, but wiser counsel controlled. The soldiers concerned in the firing were given up to the civil authorities and were tried for murder, two of the most distinguished and able patriot lawyers, John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr., defending them. All were acquitted but two who were given sentences of manslaughter and branded in the hand. The immediate effect of the massacre was the withdrawal of Gage's regiment from the city at the peremptory demand of the Bostonians. The troops were henceforth quartered in barracks on an island in the harbor. The Boston massacre served to arouse the people in all the colonies against the iniquity of quartering troops on any people without their consent.

204. Cheap Tea, and the Boston Tea Party-Dec. 16, 1773.— The policy of nonimportation had again had its effect and the British ministry, after three years' trial, gave up in despair, so far as revenue was concerned. All duties were removed except on tea, and on this article the duty was made so low that tea could be bought cheaper in America than it could be bought in England. The king meant to "try the question with America," as he put it. He selected tea for the trial

in order to help the East India Tea Company, in whose warehouses in London the tea had been accumulating because the Americans had refused to use it. The Americans, however, were fighting for a principle and could not be silenced by cheaper tea. By 1773 the tea company had 17,000,000 pounds of tea in their warehouses and cargoes were sent to Charleston, Annapolis, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. The colonists were, however, united in sentiment. At Charleston the tea was removed from the ship and stored purposely in damp cellars, where it soon spoiled. At Annapolis it was seized and burned. The Philadelphia and New York

authorities sent the ships back to England with their cargoes. But it remained for Boston, under the leadership of that sturdy patriot, Samuel Adams, to furnish the most unique method of settling the question.

The first ship arrived in Boston harbor on Sunday. A mass meeting was held the next day at which it was decided that the ships must not be allowed to unload, and the day following the captain promised to sail back to England as soon as he could receive his clearance papers from the governor. In the meantime other ships having arrived, they were treated in a

OLD SOUTH CHURCH

similar manner. But the governor delayed granting the clearance papers, hoping to pass the time limit of twenty days, when the shipping law required a cargo to be landed and stored. Thursday, December 16, marked the twentieth day, and the governor still delayed, and finally positively refused to issue the papers. When this fact had been