USA > Massachusetts > History of Massachusetts from 1764, to July 1775; when general Washington took command of the American Army. V. 1 > Part 6
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act : We flatter ourselves, that the hardships of it will shortly appear to them in such a light, as shall induce them, in their wisdom, to repeal it. In the mean time, we beg your Excellency to excuse us from doing any thing to assist in the execution of it : And, with all humility, would inquire, whether it would be possible for us to add any weight to an act of that most august body, the Parliament? Whether it would not be considered as arrogance and pre- sumption in us to attempt it ? And whether it can be reasonably expected that this House should be active in bringing a grievous burden on our constitu- ents ? Such a conduct in us would be to oppose the sentiments of the people we represent, and the de- clared instructions of most of them. They complain, that some of the most essential rights of Magna. Charta, to which as British subjects they have an un- doubted claim, are injured by it : That it wholly cancels the very conditions, upon which our ances- tors settled this country and enlarged his Majesty's dominions, with much toil and blood, and at their own expense : That it is totally subversive of the happiest frame of subordinate civil government, ex- pressed in our charter, which amply secures to the crown our allegiance, to the nation our connexion, and to ourselves the indefeasible rights of Britons : That it tends to destroy that mutual confidence and affection, as well as that equality, which ought ever to subsist among all his Majesty's subjects in his wide and extended empire : That it may be used as a pre- cedent for their fellow-subjects in Britain, for the fu- ture, to demand what part of their estates they may think proper ; and the whole, if they please : That it invests a single judge of admiralty with power to try and determine their property in controversies arising from internal concerns, without a jury, con- trary to the very expression of Magna Charta, and enables an informer to carry a supposed offender more than a thousand miles for trial : And what is
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worst of all, if his Majesty's American subjects are not to be governed according to known and stated rules of the constitution, as those in Britain are, it is feared, that they will become disaffected ; which we cannot ever entertain a distant thought of, without the greatest abhorrence. Your Excellency observes, that the province seems to be upon the brink of a precipice. A sight of its danger is then necessary
for its preservation. To despair of the common- wealth, is a certain presage of its fall. You may be assured, that the Representatives of the people are awake to a sense of its danger, and their utmost pru- dence will not be wanting to prevent its ruin. You are pleased to tell us, that declarations have been made, that the act of Parliament, for granting stamp duties in the colonies, shall not be executed within this province. We know of no such declarations. If any of the people have declared an unwillingness to subject themselves to the payment of these duties, and choose rather to lay aside all business, than to make use of the stamp papers, as we are not accoun- table for such declarations, so neither can we see any thing criminal in them : This House has no authori- ty to control their choice in this matter. The act does not oblige them to make use of the papers : It only exacts the payment of certain duties for such papers as they may incline to use. Such declara- tions may possibly have been made ; and are very consistent with the utmost respect for the King and Parliament. We inherit from our ancestors the highest relish for civil liberty : but we hope never to see the time when it shall be expedient to counte- nance any methods for its preservation, but such as are legal and regular. When our sacred rights are infringed, we feel the grievance : but we understand the nature of our happy constitution too well, and entertain too high an opinion of the virtue and jus- tice of the Supreme Legislature, to encourage any means of redressing it, but such as are justifiable by
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the constitution. We, therefore, must consider it unkind in your Excellency to reflect on the province, whose unshaken loyalty and indissoluble attachment to his Majesty's person and government was never before called in question : And we hope in God, never will again."*
As the firm and able remonstrances of the repre- sentatives of the province, at this period, had, prob- ably great influence with Parliament to induce them to repeal the stamp act, and are also honorable to their discernment and patriotism in support of legiti- mate freedom, it will be proper to mention the reso- lutions they adopted and published, expressive of their sense of the rights of the people. And it is important to notice, that these resolutions were pass- ed in the House, by a unanimous vote ; though, at a subsequent period, those who adhered to the royal party, by approving the arbitrary measures of admin- istration, were justly chargeable with a dereliction of the principles here advanced. They declared, "that there were certain essential rights, of the British con- stitution of government, which were founded in the ' law of God and nature, and were the common rights of mankind : That the people of this province were unalienably entitled to those rights, and that no law of society could justly divest them thereof : That no man could justly take the property of another with- out his consent ; and that on this principle was found- ed the right of representation in the same body which exercised the power of levying taxes, which was one of the main pillars of the British constitu- tion : That this inherent right, with all other essen- tial rights, liberties, privileges and immunities of the people of Great Britain had been fully confirmed to them by Magna Charta, and by former and later acts of Parliament : That his Majesty's subjects in America were, in reason and common sense, entitled
* See Massachusetts State Papers, page 47.
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to the same extent of liberty with their fellow sub- jects in Britain : That by the royal charter of the province the inhabitants were entitled to all the rights and liberties of free and natural subjects of Great Britain, to all intents, purposes and construc- tions whatever : That those rights belonged to the inhabitants of the province, on principles of common justice, their ancestors having settled the country at their sole expense, and their posterity having con- stantly approved themselves most loyal and faithful subjects of Great Britain : That as the inhabitants of the province paid their proportion of taxes, for the support of his Majesty's government here, it was un- reasonable to call upon them to pay any part of the charges of the government in England: That the in- habitants of the province were not and never had been represented in the British Parliament, and that such a representation there as the people of England rightfully enjoyed, was impracticable for the citizens of America ; and that they were of opinion, the subordinate power of legislation here was constitut- ed upon such supposed impracticability : That the only method whereby the constitutional rights of the subjects could be secure, consistent with a subordi- nation to the supreme power of Great Britain, would be the continued exercise of such powers of govern- ment as are granted in the royal charter, and a firm adherence to the principles of the same : That, (as a just conclusion from the preceding,) all acts made by any power whatever, other than the General As- sembly of this province, imposing taxes on the in- habitants, are infringements of our inherent and una- lienable rights as men and British subjects, and ren- der void the most valuable declarations of our char- ter : That the extension of the powers of a court of admiralty within the province was a most violent in- fraction of the right of trial by jury ; a right, which the House, upon the principles of their British ancestors, hold most dear and sacred; it being the
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only security of the lives, liberties and properties of his Majesty's subjects here : That the House owe the strictest allegiance to his most sacred majesty, king George the Third ; that they had the greatest venera- tion for Parliament ; and would, after the example of their predecessors, exert themselves to support his Majesty's government in the province .* And it was then ordered that these resolutions be preserved on record, that a just sense both of liberty and of loy- alty might be thus transmitted to posterity.
Before the Assembly was convened in October, and after the stamp papers, received from England, were deposited at Castle William, there being some apprehension, that they might be forcibly taken and destroyed, the Executive ordered an additional mili- tary company to be stationed there : and, afterward, issued a warrant on the Treasurer of the province for their wages ; although there was no appropria- tion by law for such an expense. The House ad- dressed the Governor and the Council separately on the subject, when in session in November, expres- sing great astonishment and dissatisfaction at the mea- sure ; and insisting that it was contrary, not only to usage, but to the principles both of the British con- stitution and of the charter of the province ; as all appropriations and expenditures should originate with the representatives of the people. The Coun- cil endeavored to justify the measure by pleading the exigencies of the occasion ; and contended, that the public good required an additional military force. The House admitted, that the Executive might justly call out the military for the preservation of the pub- lic peace ; but utterly denied their right to order payment from the treasury of the province without an act of the Legislature, which should originate
* Messrs. T. Cushing and S. Adams of Boston, and S. Dexter, of Dedham, were on the committee which prepared these resolves. For an ahle essay on the supreme power of Parliament. See appendix No. 1.
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with the representatives. So careful were they of the privileges of the people; and so correct in their views of civil liberty.
On the last day of this important session of the General Assembly, the Governor made an intem- perate address to them, filled with aspersions and criminations, which could be justified only on the strongest evidence of their having countenanced the late riotous conduct, and being on the eve of open rebellion. As the House of Representatives had no time to reply immediately, on account of the proro- gation of the Court, they returned an answer on the first day of the following session in January, 1766. They indignantly repelled the charge of having encouraged or justified the conduct of the rioters ; and plainly intimated a belief, that the obnoxious laws, which had occasioned the late tumults, had never been enacted but for improper representations made by individuals in the province. "Of the pre- sent times," they said, "impartial history would record, that the people of this continent, after giv- ing the strongest testimonies of their loyalty to his Majesty, by making the utmost exertions in defend- ing his territories and enlarging his dominions in this part of the world, on a motion made in this House, gave an equal testimony of a love of liberty and a regard to those principles, which are the basis of his Majesty's government, by a glorious stand, even against an act of Parliament, because they plainly saw that their essential, unalienable right of repre- sentation, and of trials by jury, the very foundation of the British constitution, was infringed, and even annihilated by it. But that they had knowledge and virtue enough to regulate their opposition to it by the laws, and steadily to persevere in such steps as the constitution had prescribed, to obtain redress." They acknowledged, "that the times had been made more difficult, than was necessary." And added, " that those who had made them so, had reason to
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regret the injury they had done to a sincere and honest people : That they were happy to find the difficulties, in a great measure, removed, and hoped the province would soon be restored to its former tranquillity." They added, "The Custom Houses are now open, and the people are permitted to transact their usual business. The Courts of Justice also must be open ; open immediately ; and the law, the - great rule of right, in every county in the province, duly executed. The stopping of the course of jus- tice is a grievance, which this House must inquire into. Justice must be fully administered through the province. For supporting the King's executive authority, there is already sufficient provision in the laws; and it remains for us patiently to wait, in hope that the humble, dutiful and loyal application, jointly made by the people of America, for the repeal of the stamp act, will be successful."
In the month of December, the merchants of Bos- ton, and of the large towns in some other colonies, agreed to import no goods manufactured in England, unless the stamp act should be repealed, and coun- termanded those before ordered on the same condi- tion. More than two hundred merchants and traders in Boston united in this determination : and the trade of Great Britain, in vending her manufactures, was materially diminished by this measure. And although upon the repeal of that obnoxious statute in March following, British goods were again imported, the amount was considerably less than before the dispute began. The prosperity both of England and America was much impeded by this arbitrary policy of the parent state. In 1767, the amount imported into Massachusetts from Great Britain, was less by £165,000 sterling, than in 1764. The goods im- ported were estimated at £395,000, and the exports at £375,000. But most of the articles exported were carried to the West Indies, or to ports in Eu- rope not within the kingdom of England ; and cash
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chiefly was remitted there to pay for manufactures consumed in the province.
The politicians in England supposed that the in- habitants of the colonies could not dispense with the use of their goods and manufactures. But they were greatly mistaken in the character of the Americans. They were not so effeminate as to prefer luxuries to liberty. But on the contrary, they were enthusias- tically attached to civil freedom, and considered no privations too severe, so that they might preserve the rights and immunities enjoyed by their fathers.
CHAPTER V.
Ministers complain of tumults in Massachusetts, and require compensa- tion for the sufferers-Stamp act repealed, but claims of Parliament to tax and legislate for America still asserted-Uneasiness in the province on this account-Different opinions in Parliament as to the right of taxing America-Address to the King on repeal of the stamp act, and vote of thanks to Pitt and others-People in England alarm- ed by the arbitrary doctrines of ministers-House object to the Lieut. Governor taking a seat in Council-Governor and Lieut. Governor unpopular.
THE riots which took place in Boston, in August, 1765, subjected the province to severe censures in England ; as it was represented by the friend's of administration, that the leading patriots approved, and might have prevented, these tumultuous pro- ceedings. And the Secrectary of State for American Affairs was directed by the King to inform governor BERNARD of his Majesty's high resentment of such conduct. The formal disavowal and reprobation of these riots, by the citizens of Boston, and by the General Assembly afterwards, served to soften the royal displeasure. But the Governor was directed to recommend it to the Legislature to grant a com- pensation to the sufferers. The House declined making any grant for the purpose : and even on a second and urgent recommendation, postponed the subject, with a view to consult the wishes of their constituents. In this case, as in others of a similar nature, on former occasions, they considered them-
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selves free to vote the compensation recommended by the king or his ministers ; and not obliged to raise the sum because of instructions from the British gov- ernment. It was in accordance with their sense of charter rights, and with the extent of the legislative authority they claimed, that they declined acting upon the first recommendation ; and eventually or- dered compensation rather as a deed of generosity, than of strict justice, which could give the sufferers no better claims on the province than on the govern- ment of England .*
In March, 1766, the stamp act, which had pro- duced so much uneasiness in the province, and given occasion to many able apologies for civil liberty, was repealed ; not, however, without much debate and opposition, t and a declaration, implying the same doctrine on which that obnoxious law was founded ; which was, that Parliament had a right to legislate
* There were several considerations which operated as objections with the House to make compensation to the sufferers. They chose to consider it a gratuity, and were displeased at being required to do it. Though, at first, it was recommended to them to provide compensation, they were afterwards urged to it by virtue of direct instructions fromn administration, which amounted to a requisition, to which they object- ed. The manner, in 'which the Governor stated the claims of the suf- ferers, was also far from conciliatory. His language was more peremp- tory even, than that of ministers themselves. Besides, many of the Representatives were instructed by their constituents to oppose such grant. The bill was finally passed by a small majority ; and not till a provision was inserted for a complete indemnity and oblivion respecting the authors of the riot ; though this condition gave great offence to the British administration. The sum allowed Mr. Hutchinson for his losses was £3194 17s 6d. After the bill had passed, he desired to be admitted into the House of Representatives, and there, personally, expressed his thanks for the compensation made him, which was the sum at which he estimated his losses. It may be just to add, that the clause respecting a pardon to the rioters, was not on account of any suspicions that respectable individuals were concerned. For the riot was highly condemned by all such : and the House not only offered to assist in detecting those who had been active ; but chose a committee to unite with the Governor and Council in endeavours to arrest and punish them. On inquiry, it was made probable that no man of char- acter was active in the affair, and that it would be difficult to identify those who committed the outrage, as they were purposely disguised. A few were taken up on suspicion ; but were soon released.
+ Sce Agents Letters.
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for the colonies, and to bind them in all cases what- ever. The wound given to the cause of freedom in America by the stamp act, was thus attempted to be closed ; but it was not healed. The uneasiness in the province, after, this repeal, accompanied as it was, by such a declaration, was almost as great as when the act was in force. The repeal was gener- ally, indeed, a subject of congratulation and rejoicing with the people. But the intelligent patriots saw sufficient to alarm their apprehensions, in the avowal of absolute and uncontroled power in Parliament, which would prove fatal to their civil and political rights in future ; and against which they had humbly, but firmly remonstrated. There was little, therefore, in this shew of lenity and condescension on the part of administration, while it asserted the right to make laws for regulating the concerns of the colonies, to any extent they might think expedient or politic.
It is natural to inquire why ministers should have consented to the repeal of an act, adopted on mature consideration, and still claimed the exercise of au- thority, which alone made that act so obnoxious. Perhaps, the question is not of difficult solution. A new ministry had succeeded ; some change of mea- sures was, therefore, to be expected. They were disposed to conciliate the colonies by complying with their petitions ; and chose to adopt a popular mea- sure, rather than to enforce a law, highly disgusting, and from the execution of which, only a scanty reve- nue would probably be collected. And yet it would have been too humiliating to acknowledge that they had been mistaken in their principles, as to the abso- lute authority of the British government over the colonies ; and, therefore, they were careful expressly to declare their right to exercise such power, in any cases they might deem proper. In this opinion, they were probably sincere. Considering the colo- nies subordinate and dependent corporations, they could not conceive that they had a right to the exer-
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cise of any authority, but at the will and with the consent of the parent state. They did not perceive, or were unwilling to admit the distinction made by the patriots in Massachusetts, that though in Parlia- ment was lodged the supreme power of the nation, yet this power even must be controled and regulated by constitutional principles ; and that by the charter of the province the right was fully recognized and guaranteed to make laws for all cases of internal taxes and police. In the debate in the British Parliament respecting the repeal of the stamp act, it appeared, however, that those places which were taxed as being part of the kingdom, were permitted to be repre- sented ;* as it was an essential principle of the Brit- ish constitution, that taxation and representation were inseparable. Several members declared their opin- ion, "that they ought not to lay taxes on America, while it had no share in the election of persons to a seat in the House of Commons :" and it was asserted, that the statute book abounded with judgments of Parliament, that internal taxes ought not to be levi- ed, unless there was a representation of that part of the kingdom which paid; and that those who were not represented were not taxed. In reply to this, it was pretended, by the advocates for raising a rev- enue in the colonies, that the House of Commons was virtually the representative body of the whole British empire, and that the subjects in America might justly be considered as represented in Parliament, although no individual from the colonies was entitled to a vote or a seat there. This was argued from the fact, that several populous cities in England had no member in Parliament, and yet being within the realm were supposed to be represented by others. Thus the principle urged by the Assembly of this province was admitted, while, in practice and in reality, it
* The case of Calais, when it belonged to the British realm, was mentioned ; and Ireland also.
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was totally disregarded. The repeal of the stamp act was no proof, that a majority of Parliament had given up the right they claimed of taxing the peo- ple in the colonies. Different considerations had in- fluence with different individuals. Some considered the measure expedient. And, probably, the repeal had not taken place, but for the declaration connected , with it, of the supreme authority in Parliament in governing the colonies. The friends of the former ministers were decidedly against the repeal, and in favor of executing the act, even by the aid of military force. Mr. PITT and some others openly questioned the right of Parliament to tax the colonies. The former made a long speech in favor of repealing the stamp act, "in which he silenced all the objections of the old ministry, and asserted the right of the colonies to internal taxation, in the strongest terms ; and declared that nothing but a total repeal would answer the salutary ends in view: nay, that it was the interest of Great Britain to extend the commerce of the colonies, and open every market for their produce."*
Although the declaration, attached to the repeal of the stamp act, was the occasion of great alarm and concern to the more intelligent statesmen in Massa- chusetts, it was thought proper, as the repeal was an immediate relief from pending evils, and served to tranquilize the minds of the people, to acknowledge the lenity of the British Parliament in this redress of a grievance so much complained of ; and to express the loyal sentiments of the Assembly for the King and government of England. In their addresst to the King, on this occasion, they say, "Your Majesty will allow us, with the greatest grief and anxiety, to ex- press our apprehension, that your American subjects may have been represented, as manifesting a dissatis-
* Agent De Berdt's Letter.
t This province was the first to present a grateful and respectful ad- dress to the King, on the occasion.
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faction with their dependence on the parent country. and as disposed to take occasion from the lenity and tenderness of your Majesty and the Parliament, to abate of their respect and submission to the supreme legislative authority of Great Britain. Permit us, with all humility, to assure your Majesty of the great injustice of such representations. Your subjects of this province, and we doubt not of the whole conti- nent of America, are too sensible of the blessings they enjoy under your mild and gracious govern- ment, to admit the idea of such a temper and con- duct, without abhorrence. They esteem their con- nexion with their fellow subjects in Great Britain and a constitutional subordination to Parliament, their great privilege and security." A vote of thanks was also unanimously passed by the House of Represen- tatives, to the right honorable WILLIAM PITT, " for his noble and generous efforts, in favor of the British colonies ; and particularly for the display of his great abilities, and his assiduous and successful en- deavours in procuring the repeal of the stamp act :" and the Speaker was directed to express their great- ful acknowledgments also to the Duke of New-Castle, the Duke of Grafton, the Duke of Richmond, Lord Stanhope, Earl Northington, the Lord High Chan- cellor, the honorable Secretary Conway, the Marquis of Rockingham, Lord Edgcomb, the Earl of Dart- mouth, Earl Powlett, the Earl of Shelburne, the Earl of Camden, the Earl of Egmont, the honora- ble George Onslow and Arthur Onslow, the honora- ble George Howard, honorable Charles Townsend, honorable William Dowdswell, Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, honorable Isaac Barre, Sir William Mere- dith, Sir William Baker, Sir George Saville, and George Cook, Esquire .*
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