forced to resign, and consequently the act was repealed the next year, August 18, after a fervent debate in which Edmund Burke had made his maiden speech, and the voice of Pitt had been heard saying, "I rejoice that America has resisted." In the same debate Grenville had said, with truth, perhaps, "The Stamp Act is but the pretext of which they make use to arrive at independence." The House of Commons had examined Franklin, and he had declared that America could not and would not pay the stamp tax, even if it were reduced.

Upon the receipt of the news in Boston there was great rejoicing. Resistance to the act had begun under the "Liberty Tree" (where the effigy of Oliver, the stamp distributor, had been hung), which was now decorated and illuminated with lanterns, the houses about it too, were bright with lights, and bore illuminated figures of Pitt, Camden and Barré. The church bells rang, and all those imprisoned for debt. were liberated by subscription. Especially was Pitt honored as the champion of liberty.

Good feeling was, however, not restored, for Parliament had expressly declared its supremacy over the Colonies at the time that it repealed the Stamp Act, and it proceeded to impose (May, 1767) duties upon tea and other imported articles, for the purpose of paying the royal judges, governors and soldiers. These taxes were to be imposed after November 20, 1767. The "Sugar Act," and the "Mutiny Act," were still in force also, and by these the people were plainly assured that the policy of the Crown had suffered no change. Charles Townshend, then leader of the House of Commons, "a man of splendid talents,

A PALTRY TAX ON TEA.

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of lax principles, and of boundless vanity and presumption," as Macaulay says, who had procured the passage of the tax on tea, expressed his desire that "America should be regulated and deprived of its militating and contradictory charters," and England by her ill-judged movements was preparing for the abrogation of these charters and the "regulating" of the political organization of the American Colonies in a manner that they did not fancy. Trouble had already arisen in the State of New York, where the Assembly had refused to pay for quartering of troops. Parliament declared the Assembly incapable of action until the demand had been met. The Assembly acquiesced after holding out for a time, but similar trouble sprung up in other Colonies, and new taxes were devised, until, in 1768, Massachusetts sent a circular letter to the other Colonies, asking them to unite in seeking relief from the king. The Assembly addressed a letter to the king protesting against the presence of a standing army and against taxation without representation. The Secretary of State ordered the resolution which led to the letter to be rescinded, and the other Colonies were directed to pay no attention to it. The Assembly refused, and the frightened ministry determined to remove the import duties excepting a paltry tax upon tea, retained to assert the principle (April 12, 1770). Everywhere people refused to use tea, and agreed to buy no imported goods,* though at great sacrifice of taste and convenience.

The determination to use no imported goods is illustrated by the fact that when a ball was given at Williamsburgh, Va., January 3, 1770, for the entertainment of the Governor, Lord Botetourt, the ladies to the number of a hundred appeared in homespun gowns.

In the midst of the excitement, troops were ordered to Boston "to reduce the dogs to reason," an extraordinary movement, for up to that time no English soldiers had been seen in New England except in war time, and then only as they passed towards the unprotected frontier. The people refused to provide for them, and the town meeting in Faneuil Hall (September, 1768) requested the inhabitants to provide themselves with arms- for sudden danger "in case of a war with France," so they euphemistically expressed it. It was voted "that the inhabitants of the town of Boston will, at the utmost peril of their lives and fortunes, maintain and defend their rights, liberties, privileges and immunities." Samuel Adams said, "We will take up arms and spend our last drop of blood, before the King and Parliament shall impose on us, or settle Crown officers independent of the Colonial legislature to dragoon us." It was not long before Washington, from Mount Vernon, echoed the words, saying, "Our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom. Something should be done to maintain the liberty which we have derived from our ancestors. No man should hesitate a moment to use arms in defence of so valuable a blessing. Yet arms should be the last resource." In the next month (May, 1769) the legislature of Virginia met at Williamsburgh, followed the example of Massachusetts and Connecticut by declaring that the Writs of Assistance were illegal, and asked every Legislature in America to unite in concerted effort to protect their violated rights. Pennsylvania approved this action, Delaware passed the same reso