nare contemplated with regret. Many of the colonists, however, still fondly cherished the hope that the quarrel would be settled without an appeal to arms. Between the unwary and obstinate policy of his superiors, and the determined opposition of the subjects of his government, General Gage was placed in unpleasant and difficult circumstances; but to the committee from the county of Suffolk, which waited upon him, his language was firm and temperate.

The people of New England, who had impatiently waited for the opinion of congress on the Suffolk resolutions, were much elated with the approbation of that body; and, considering its resolutions as a pledge of support from the other colonies, they proceeded with increased courage in the bold career on which they had entered.

Georgia had not yet joined the confederation; but twelve colonies had sent delegates to the general congress, which consisted of fifty-two members, beside the president. All these delegates had received instructions from their respective constituents; and some of the instructions were more moderate than others but all of them authorized the delegates to concur in any measures which the majority thought it expedient to adopt. In the congress each colony had only one vote, although it had several delegates present.

The congress chose Peyton Randolph as their president, and Charles Thomson secretary. The resolution in approbation of the Suffolk meeting was the first business in which they engaged. In a subsequent resolution, passed on the 8th of October, they declared, "That if the late acts of parliament shall be attempted to be carried into execution by force, in such case all America ought to support the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay in their opposition: that if it be found absolutely necessary to remove the people of Boston into the country, all America ought to contribute toward recompensing them for the injury they may thereby sustain; and that every person who shall accept, or act under any commission or authority derived from the act of parliament, changing the form of government and violating the charter, ought to be held in detestation."

The congress deliberated with shut doors, and consequently none of its proceedings were known, except such as it thought proper to publish; but the papers which it communicated to the world were important, and had a powerful influence on subsequent events. They published a declaration of rights to which the colonists of North America were entitled by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the British constitution, and their several charters or compacts. As the first of these rights, they mentioned life, liberty, and property; the power to dispose of any of which, without their consent, they had never ceded to any sovereign power whatever. Their ancestors, they said, at the time of their emigration, were entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of free and natural-born subjects of the realm of England: that by their emigration they had not forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights; but that they and their descendants were entitled to all of them which their circumstances enabled them to exercise. They stated, that the foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council; that as the colonists are not, and from various causes can not be represented in the British parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures, where only their right of representation can be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal policy, subject only to the negative of their sovereign, in such manner as had heretofore been used.

They asserted their right to trial by their peers of the vicinage; pronounced a standing army, kept up in time of peace in any colony, without the consent of the legislature of that colony, illegal; and maintained that a legislative council, appointed during pleasure by the crown, was unconstitutional: they also entered into a non-importation agreement.

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At the same time they prepared an address to the people of Britain, in which they warned them that, if they supported ministers in attempting to subdue and enslave the American colonies, they would forge chains for themselves. "Take care," said they," that you do not fall into the pit preparing for us." ... "But if you," they afterward add, are determined that your ministers shall wantonly sport with the rights of mankind; if neither the voice of justice, the dictates of the law, the principles of the constitution, nor the suggestions of humanity, can restrain your hands from shedding human blood in such an impious cause, we must then tell you that we will never submit to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for any ministry or nation in the world. Place us in the same situation that we were in at the close of the last war, and our former harmony will be restored."

Congress addressed a memorial to their constituents, replete with serious and temperate argument. In this paper, they detailed the causes which had led to the unhappy differences, and labored to convince the colonists that their liberty would be destroyed, and the security of their persons and property annihilated, by submission to the claims of Great Britain. They addressed a letter to the inhabitants of Canada also, and endeavored to interest them in their cause. That they might in no respect be wanting to themselves, congress prepared a petition to the king, in which they gave a succinct statement of their grievances, implored his clemency for protection against them, and imputed all their distresses, dangers, and fears, to the destructive system of colonial administration which had been adopted since the conclusion of the last war. They expressed their belief that, as his majesty enjoyed the singular distinction of reigning over freemen, the language of freemen could not be displeasing to him "Your royal indignation," say they, "we hope will rather fall on those designing and dangerous men who daringly interpose themselves between your royal person and your faithful subjects, and, by abusing your majesty's authority, misrepresenting your American subjects, and prosecuting the most desperate and irritating projects of oppression, have at length compelled us, by the force of accumulated injuries, too severe to be any longer tolerated, to disturb your majesty's repose by our complaints."

The addresses of congress were written with much ability, and its recom mendations were revered and obeyed as sacred laws throughout the colonies. The congress having finished their labors, and recommended the appointment of a similar assembly, to meet on the 10th of May next, unless a redress of grievances had before that time been obtained, dissolved themselves on the 26th day of October.

Originally formed of heterogeneous materials, differing in manners, religious sentiments, and civil constitutions, the colonies, for a long time, had no common feelings and interests. They had even been alienated from each other by local prejudices and provincial jealousies; but the dread of a common danger had gradually overcome all those principles of repulsion, and united the twelve provinces, from New Hampshire to South Carolina, in one compact body. They were embarked in a common cause, and relied on each other for mutual support. By meeting in congress, the leading men in the several provinces had become personally acquainted; and their sentiments of reciprocal respect and friendship strengthened the bonds of political union. It was not, therefore, to be expected that they would recede from their claims without a violent struggle.

The province of Massachusetts Bay was the more immediate seat of the quar rel; and the popular leaders in that colony, assured of the co-operation and sup port of the other provinces, were not intimidated by the menacing attitude of the governor, but persevered steadily in the execution of their purposes.

The violence of the people against all whom they considered unfriendly to American freedom was so great, that the commissioners of the customs, and all

the officers of government, deemed it expedient to quit Salem, and to repair to Boston for safety; so that all the apparatus of a customhouse was transferred to a port which an act of parliament had pronounced it unlawful for any vessel

to enter.

Having formed a council under the new act for the government of Massachusetts Bay, General Gage, by its advice, issued writs for holding an assembly in Salem, on the 5th of October; but was induced by subsequent events to countermand the elections by a second preclamation, and to suspend the meeting of the members already returned. The colonists, considering the second proclamation illegal, utterly disregarded it, and chose their representatives in obedience to the first.

The assembly, to the number of ninety, met at the time and place appointed They waited a day for the governor to open the session; but finding he did not appear, they, on the third day, resolved themselves into a provincial congress, and adjourned to Concord, a town about twenty miles distant from Boston. They chose John Hancock president; and appointed a committee to wait on the governor with a remonstrance, in which they apologized for their meeting by representing the distressed state of the colony; mentioned the grievous apprehensions of the people; asserted that the rigor of the Boston port bill was increased by the manner of its execution; complained of the late laws, and of the hostile preparations on Boston Neck; and adjured him to desist immediately from the construction of a fortress there.

He could not recognise the meeting The governor was at a loss how to act. He at Concord as a legal assembly, and was sensible of the imprudence of increasing the public irritation by declining to take notice of their remonstrance. was constrained by the pressure of circumstances to return an answer: and, in that answer he expressed his indignation at the suspicion that the lives, liberty, or property of any but avowed enemies, were in danger from English troops; and observed, that notwithstanding the hostile dispositions manifested toward them, by withholding almost every necessary accommodation, they had not discovered that resentment which such unfriendly conduct was calculated to provoke. He told them that, while they complained of alterations in their charter by act of parlia ment, they were themselves, by their present assembling, subverting that charter, and acting in direct violation of their own constitution: he therefore warned them of their danger, and called on them to desist from such unconstitutional proceedings.

But the warnings of the governor made no impression on the provincial congress. On the 17th of October, that assembly adjourned to Cambridge, a town about four miles from Boston. They resolved to purchase military stores; and to enlist a number of minute men, so named from their engaging to take the field in arms on a minute's warning. But the greater part of the members, although sufficiently zealous in the cause, had no conception of the expense attending such proceedings; and were alarmed at the mention of the most trivial sums. They were in easy circumstances, but had little money; living on the produce of their farms, their expenditure was trifling, and they were utter strangers to large accounts. They were prevailed on, however, at first to vote £750 sterling, and afterward to add £1,500 more, for purchasing warlike stores. By cautious management, their leaders ultimately induced them to grant £16,000 sterling for the purpose of maintaining their liberties. Such was the sum with which they were to resist the power of the British empire!

They appointed a committee of safety, with authority to call out the militia when thought necessary for the defence of the inhabitants of the province; and a committee of supplies, to purchase ammunition, ordnance, and other military They elected Jedidiah Pribble, Artemas Ward, and Colonel Pomeroy,

stores.

who had seen some service in the late war, general officers, and appointed them to the chief command of the minute-men and militia, if they should be called into actual service. On the 27th of October, the congress adjourned to the 23d of November.

On the approach of winter, the governor ordered temporary barracks for the troops to be erected: but he found much difficulty in the execution of his pur pose; as, through the influence of the select-men and committees, the mechanics were unwilling or afraid to engage in the work, and the merchants declined to execute his orders.

The mutual suspicions of the governor and people of Massachusetts Bay were now so strong that every petty incident increased the irritation. Each party made loud professions of the best intentions; and each watched the other with a jealous eye. In a proclamation, the governor forbade the people to pay any regard to the requisitions, directions, or resolutions of the provincial congress, and denounced that body as an illegal assembly; but the proclamation was disregarded, and the recommendations of congress were revered and promptly obeyed.

Instead of being intimidated by the governor's proclamation, the provincial congress of Massachusetts Bay, on reassembling after their adjournment, pro ceeded with greater boldness than ever, and gave decisive evidence of their de termination to carry matters to extremities, rather than submit to the late acts of parliament. They resolved to have 12,000 men in readiness to act on any emergency, and ordered a fourth of the militia to be enlisted as minute-men, and empowered them to choose their own officers. They despatched agents to New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, to concert measures with the leading men in those provinces, and to engage them to provide their contingents for an army of 20,000 men. They resolved to bring their force into action, and to oppose General Gage whenever he should march his troops out of Boston, with their baggage, ammunition, and artillery; and they applied to the ministers of religion, throughout the province, desiring their countenance and co-operation. They also added Colonels Thomas and Heath to the number of generals whom they had formerly nominated. Toward the end of November the congress dissolved itself, having appointed another to be held in the month of February.

Alarmed by the proceedings in the several provinces, the ministry had issued a proclamation prohibiting the exportation of military stores from Britain. On hearing of this proclamation, the inhabitants of Rhode Island removed above forty pieces of cannon from the batteries about the harbor, for the avowed purpose of preventing them from falling into the hands of the king's troops, and of employing them against such persons as might attempt to infringe their liberties. About the same time, the assembly of the province passed resolutions for purchasing arms and military stores at the public expense, and for carefully training the militia in military exercises.

The people of New Hampshire, who had hitherto been moderate, surprised a small fort at Portsmouth, and carried off the military stores which it contained. The beginning of the year 1775 presented a gloomy prospect to England: all the provincial assemblies, except that of New York, approved of the resolutions of the general congress; and even the assembly of New York joined in the complaints of the other provinces, although it was less resolute in its opposition to the obnoxious laws. The passions of the people were everywhere roused, and great agitation prevailed. The inhabitants were all in motion; forming county meetings; entering into associations; recommending measures for carrying into execution the resolutions of the general congress, and choosing committees of inspection and observation, to take care that the public resolutions should be universally attended to, and to guard against the practices of those

selfish individuals who, for interested purposes, might wish to elude them. In the midst of all this bustle, the militia were everywhere carefully trained.

Meanwhile, the privations and sufferings of the inhabitants of Boston were grievous, and their passions were highly excited; but their resentful spirit was kept in check by the presence of the troops. Supplies of provisions were sent them from the other colonies: these, however, formed but a partial and precarious resource; but the people were encouraged by the sympathy of their brethren, and by the thought that they were considered martyrs in the common cause.. Notwithstanding the portentous aspect of affairs, many of the colonists still believed that there would be no appeal to arms. Formerly their non-importa tion associations had produced the desired effect; and they flattered themselves that similar measures would again be followed with similar results; that the British ministry would never come to an open rupture with the best customers of their merchants and manufacturers, but would recede from their pretensions when convinced of the determined opposition of the Americans. On the other hand, the British ministry expected the colonists would yield; and thus both parties persisted in their claims till neither could easily give way; and in the debates on American affairs, in parliament, the partisans of the ministry spake of the colonists in the most contemptuous manner; affirmed that they were undisciplined, and incapable of discipline, and that their numbers would only increase their confusion and facilitate their defeat.

Meanwhile the colonists were not idle. On the 1st of February, the provincial congress of Massachusetts Bay met at Cambridge, and, apprehensive of being too much within the reach of General Gage, toward the middle of the month they again adjourned to Concord. They thus took decisive measures for resisting the obnoxious acts of parliament. They earnestly exhorted the militia in general, and the minute-men in particular, to be indefatigable in improving themselves in military discipline; they recommended the making of firearms and bayonets; and they dissuaded the people from supplying the troops in Boston with anything necessary for military service. The committee of safety resolved to purchase powder, artillery, provisions, and other military stores, and to deposite them partly at Worcester and partly at Concord.

In this agitated posture of public affairs, General Gage conceived it to be his duty to seize the warlike stores of the colonists wherever he could find them. With this view he ordered a small detachment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Leslie, on Sunday the 26th of February, to bring off some field-pieces which he understood the provincial congress had at Salem. The party landed at Marblehead, and marched to Salem, but found no cannon there. Believing they had been removed only a short time before, the commanding officer determined on pursuit. He reached a small river, on the way to Danvers, over which was a draw-bridge; but, on his approach, some people on the other side drew it up, and alleged that, as both the bridge and road were private property, the soldiers had no right to pass that way. The party were about to use some boats, but the owners instantly scuttled them. The bridge was at length let down; but the day was so far spent, that Colonel Leslie, deeming it inexpedient to proceed much farther, returned to Boston. This ineffectual attempt showed the designs of the governor, and gave fresh activity to the vigilance of the people. The colonies were now all in commotion; and preparations were everywhere making for the general congress, which was to assemble in the month of May. New York was the only place which discovered much backwardness in the matter; and perhaps the timid and selfish policy of that province contributed no less to the war, than the audacious turbulence of the people of Massachusetts Bay; for the British ministry were encouraged by the irresolution of the people of New York to persist in their plan of coercion, from which they had been al