293

Lord North then introduced another

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bill for better regulating the government of Massachusetts Bay,' which was equivalent to a complete abrogation of the charter of that colony. By the terms of this bill, the civil authorities were under the complete domination of the royal government and the nomination of juries was taken out of the hands of the people in whom it had previously been vested. The congregation of the people in town-meetings, except for the purpose of electing representatives, was also prohibited as being the nursery of seditious and active opposition to the royal authority.† Another bill, the ostensible purpose of which was to secure a more impartial administration of justice," provided that " person indicted for murder, or any other capital offence, committed in aiding the magistracy, the governor might send the person so indicted to another colony, or to Great Britain, for trial." The effort to prevent The effort to prevent the passage of these bills was strong and determined, Conway, Burke, Barré, Fox, Johnstone and others

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any

Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, pp. 318321; Hildreth, vol. iii., p. 32; Bancroft, vol. iii., pp. 470-480.

↑ Hildreth, vol. iii., p. 33; Howard, Preliminaries of the Revolution, p. 274 et seq.; Fiske, American Revolution, vol. i., pp. 95-96; Fisher, Struggle for American Independence, vol. i., pp. 185-186.

Fisher, p. 187; Trevelyan, American Revolution, vol. i., p. 168 et seq.

"You may think, that a law founded on this motion will be a protection to the soldier who imbrues his hand in the blood of his fellow subjects. I am mistaken if it will. Who is to execute it? He must be a bold man indeed who will make the attempt. If the people are so exasperated that it is unsafe to bring the man who has injured them to trial, let the governor who withThe draws him from justice look to himself. people will not endure it; they would no longer deserve the reputation of being descended from the loins of Englishmen if they would endure it. You have changed your ground. You are becoming the aggressors, and offering the last of human outrages to the people of America, by submitting them to military execution. Instead of sending them the olive branch, you have sent the naked sword. By the olive branch, I mean a repeal of all the late laws, fruitless to you, and oppressive to them. Ask their aid in a constitutional manner, and they will give it to the utmost of their ability. Your journals bear the recorded acknowledgments of the zeal with which they have contributed to the general necessities of the state. What madness is it that prompts you to attempt obtaining that by force which you may more certainly obtain by requisition? They may be flattered into any thing, but they are too much like yourselves to be driven. Respect their sturdy English virtue; retract your odious exertions of authority; and remember that the first step towards making them contribute to your wants is to reconcile them to your government."

Nevertheless, both bills were passed by a huge majority, and on May 20 received the royal assent. A fourth bill was soon afterward introduced for quartering troops in America, which practically amounted only to a revision of the former acts. On this occasion Lord Chatham made an animated speech, opposing the ministerial policy. In it he said:

"I condemn in the severest manner, the turbulent and unwarrantable conduct of the Ameri

* Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, pp. 344348.

cans in some instances, particularly in the late riots at Boston; but, my Lords, the mode which has been pursued to bring them back to a sense of their duty is so diametrically opposed to every principle of sound policy, as to excite my utmost astonishment.* You have involved the guilty and the innocent in one common punish ment, and avenge the crime of a few lawless depredators upon the whole body of the inhabitants. My Lords, it has always been my fixed and unalterable opinion, I will carry it with me to the grave, that this country has no right under Heaven to tax America. It is contrary to all the principles of justice and civil policy, it is contrary to that essential, unalterable right ingrafted into the British constitution as a fundamental law, that what a man has honestly acquired is absolutely his own, which he may freely give, but which cannot be taken away from him without his consent."†

Burke also spoke against the bill, but the sentiment in favor of the ministerial policies was too strong to be overcome and the majority in favor of the bill was very heavy.

The fifth act, known as the Quebec Act (14 George III., c. 83), was also passed. This was to save the Canadians, in case the rupture between the mother country and and the colonies should become open and the colonists attempted to gain the adherence of Canada to their cause. By this act the Roman Catholics and Protestants in Canada were placed on an equality; the landed property was confirmed to the Catholic clergy, and the administration of justice was allowed to continue under the old French law; a

He said also: "My Lords, I am an old man, and would advise the noble Lords to adopt a more gentle mode of governing America; for the day is not far distant when America may vie with these kingdoms, not only in arms, but in arts also."- Harrison, Chatham, p. 228.

See also his letter to Shelburne quoted in Green, William Pitt, pp. 340–341.

legislative council was created, which was to be appointed by the crown; and the boundaries of the province were extended southward as far as the Ohio, thereby ignoring the claims of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia to the territory thus affixed to Canada. Undoubtedly, this bill had a great influence over the Canadians and held them firmly attached to the British crown.* Victor Coffin, however, is of the opinion that this act not only did not keep the Canadians loyal to their British connections, but that it had a strong influence in precisely the opposite direction.' He says also that the chief reasons for the adherence of Canada to England were the vigor and ablity of its British defenders and the mismanagement of their cause on the part of the revolutionists.t

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On

For general conditions in Canada previous to the passage of the Quebec Act, see A. G. Bradley, The Making of Canada, pp. 1-64; Trevelyan, American Revolution, vol. ii., p. 69 et seq. the Quebec Act see W. B. Munro, The Quebec Act, article 28 under Canadian history in Encyclopedia Americana (ed. of 1907); Hart, The Quebec Act (1885); Coffin, The Province of Quebec and the American Revolution, pp. 391-479; James Marriott. Plan of a Code of Laws for the Province of Quebec (London, 1774); Moore, The Northwest under Three Flags, p. 195 et seq. The text of the act will be found in the British Statutes-atLarge, vol. xvii., pp. 184-187 (London, 1776). The various preliminary drafts of the bill and other documents relating thereto are given in Shortt and Doughty, Canadian Archives, pp. 376401 and the text of the act itself, pp. 401-405. See also Appendix I. at end of present chapter. Marriott's plan is also given in Shortt and Doughty, Canadian Archives, p. 310 et seq.

See Coffin, The Province of Quebec and the Early American Revolution, preface p. iv., also p. 480 et seq. The act is given in full in App. i., pp. 544-552.

erring wisdom and almighty power, or it will be questioned, if not opposed. The present vengeance falls indiscriminately on the acknowledged innocent, as well as the supposed guilty. Surely,

the evil is of a very malignant and terrible nature that can require such an extraordinary remedy. Admit for a moment, that the inhabitants of Boston were charged as high criminals; the highest criminals are not punishable till arraigned before disinterested judges, heard in defence, and found guilty of the charge. But so far from all this, a whole people are accused; prosecuted by, they know not whom; tried, they know not when; proved guilty, they know not how; and sentenced in a mode which, for number of calamities, extent and duration of severity, exceeds the annals of past ages, and we presume, in pity to mankind, will not mark any future era in the world.” *

were not sure that the other colonies

would support them in their contentions against the cruelty of the various acts of Parliament. In case of the refusal of the other colonies to send relief, it would undoubtedly be necessary for the majority of the inhabitants in Boston to starve or to remove to other places of abode, and consequently the citizens used every means possible to arouse the sympathy of their fellow colonists. The bill was printed on black-edged paper, adorned with a death's head and cross bones, was hawked about the streets, and finally burned before the assembled populace. Agents were also sent to

* See Memoir of the Life of Josiah Quincy, Jr., p. 376. The "Observations," which constitute the chief political work of Mr. Quincy, are appended in full to the Memoir, pp. 293-376. They are well worth reading. See also Tyler, Literary History of the American Revolution, vol. i., pp. 271–273.

the other colonies to enlist them in the common cause, while a great number of the clergy of the city preached strong sermons in favor of a sturdy resistance. The press also teemed with vigorous appeals to the feelings of the other colonists. Throughout the colonies there was a strong feeling of indignation and of sympathy for Boston.*

The House of Burgesses of Virginia was in session when the news arrived that the port of Boston had been closed. At the instance of Robert Carter Nicholas, the following resolution, prepared by Jefferson after a consultation with Patrick Henry, Washington, Richard Henry Lee and George Mason, was passed on May

24, 1774:

"This House being deeply impressed by apprehension of the great dangers to be derived to British America, from the hostile invasion of the City of Boston, in our sister colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose commerce and harbor are, on the first day of June next to be stopped by an armed force, deem it highly necessary that the said first day of June next be set apart by the members of this House, as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, devoutly to implore the Divine interposition for averting the heavy calamity which threatens destruction to our civil rights, and the evils of civil war; to give us one heart and one mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American rights; and that the minds of his Majesty and his Parliament may be inspired from above with wisdom, moderation,

* Fisher, Struggle for American Independence, vol. i., p. 217. Jefferson himself says: "With the help therefore of Rushworth, whom we rummaged over for the revolutionary precedents and forms of the Puritans of that day, preserved by him, we cooked up a resolution," etc.; Ford's ed. of Jefferson's Writings, vol. i., p. 10.

Watson, Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson, pp. 105-106; Parton, Life of Thomas Jefferson, p. 129.

and justice, to remove from the loyal people of America all cause of danger, from a continued pursuit of measures pregnant with their ruin.

"Ordered, therefore, That the members of this house do attend in their places, at the hour of ten in the forenoon, on the said first day of June next, in order to proceed with the speaker and the mace to the church in this city, for the purpose aforesaid; and that the Rev. Mr. Price be appointed to read prayers, and the Rev. Mr. Gwatkin to preach a sermon suitable to the occasion." *

These resolutions were published in the Williamsburg Gazette on May 26, and for this action Lord Dunmore dissolved the House the next day.t Thereupon the members of the House retired to the Raleigh Tavern, where they organized themselves into a vigilance committee and adopted a declaration of their views regarding the actions of Parliament, in which declaration they strongly urged that a general congress of the colonies be held for the purpose of organizing to present a united front against the mother country.‡ In all of these proceedings

Force, American Archives, 4th series, vol. i., p. 350; Henry, Life of Patrick Henry, vol. i., pp. 177-178; Bancroft, vol. iv., pp. 16-17.

† Cooke, Virginia, p. 404; Tyler, Life of Patrick Henry, pp. 86-87; Sparks, Life of Washington, pp. 113-114.

See Appendix II., at the end of the present chapter; Irving, Life of Washington, vol. i., pp. 407-409; Henry, Life of Patrick Henry, vol. i., pp. 179–181; Parton, Life of Thomas Jefferson, p. 130. Mitchell says: "The Revolution in Virginia had begun; a body, deriving its mandates not from the crown but from the people of the colonies, had been called into existence, and this democratic legislature was gradually to draw to itself all the governmental functions of the province. Boston's appeal for support was thus referred by the Committee of Correspondence in Virginia to the representatives of the sovereign people, whom royal writs did not summon nor royal governors dissolve."- The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. i., p. 77.

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Washington took his part, for he had not been an idle spectator of the progress of events. Though he was on very intimate terms with Lord Dunmore, the governor, he was strongly in sympathy with the patriots in their present position and was prepared to enter heartily into any scheme which would frustrate the tyrannical course of Parliament. Writing to Bryan Fairfax, he said:

"For my own part, I shall not undertake to say where the line between Great Britain and the colonies should be drawn; but I am clearly of opinion, that one ought to be drawn, and our rights clearly ascertained. I could wish, I own, that the dispute had been left for posterity to determine; but the crisis is arrived when we must assert our rights, or submit to every imposition, that can be heaped upon us, till custom shall make us tame and abject slaves." *

Writing to William Bradford, Jr., July 1, 1774, Madison said:

"As to the sentiments of the people of this colony with respect to the Bostonians, I can assure you I find them very warm in their favor. The natives are very numerous and resolute, are making resolves in almost every county, and I believe are willing to fall in with the other Colonies in any expedient measure, even if that should be the universal prohibition of trade. It must not be denied, though, that the Europeans, especially the Scotch, and some interested merchants among the natives, discountenance such proceedings as far as they dare; alledging the injustice and perfidy of refusing to pay our debts to our generous creditors at home. This consideration induces some honest, moderate folks to prefer a partial prohibition, extending only to the importation of goods." t

On August 1 a meeting of delegates from the various counties of Virginia

*The entire letter will be found in Sparks, Life of Washington, pp. 116-119. See also Lodge, George Washington, vol. i., pp. 121-123, for other letters.

† Madison's Works (Congress ed.), vol. i., p. 16.