USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the provincial period. 1692-1775 v. II > Part 42
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1 Votes and Proceedings of the the Boston News Letter for Oct. 29, Freeholders of Boston, 13-29; Hutch- and the Boston Gazette for Nov. 2, 1772. inson, iii. 365-367. The act relative to dock yards, &c., was published in
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RESPONSE OF THE TOWNS.
this cannot be the case. We are sure your wisdom, your re- CHAP. gard to yourselves and the rising generation, cannot suffer you
XIII. to doze, or sit supinely indifferent on the brink of destruction, 1772. while the iron hand of oppression is daily tearing the choicest fruit from the fair tree of liberty, planted by our worthy pred- ecessors at the expense of their treasure, and abundantly watered with their blood. Let us consider, brethren, we are struggling for our best birthrights and inheritance, which being infringed, renders all our blessings precarious in their enjoyments, and, consequently, trifling in their value. Let us disappoint the men who are raising themselves on the ruin of this country. Let us convince every invader of our freedom that we will be as free as the constitution our fathers recognized will justify." 1
The towns in the province responded to this call ; and, before the spring opened, committees of correspondence were every where established.2 Hutchinson pronounced the scheme " such a foolish one that it must necessarily make them ridicu- lous ; 3 but patriots thought otherwise ; and Samuel Adams exclaimed, " God grant that the love of liberty and a zeal to support it may enkindle in every town." 4 The Earl of Chatham read the accounts from America with pride, and said, " These worthy New Englanders ever feel as Old Englanders ought to do." 5 And many of his colleagues echoed his words. Even Lord North wavered between duty and a wish to conciliate ; 6 and the Earl of Dartmouth, the new secretary of state, desired the king to "reign in the affections of his people," and would have regarded conciliation as " the happiest event of his life." 7
The expressions of opinion from the different towns show
1 Letter to Towns, in Proceedings, &c., 30-35 ; Boston News Letter for Nov. 26, 1772; Hutchinson, iii. 368. 2 " There was such concern to ob- tain a universal consent," says Hutch- inson, Hist. iii. 368, note, " that even a district of two hundred Indians, called Mashpee, was not omitted."
3 Hutchinson to the Secretary of the Board of Trade, Nov. 13, 1772.
4 Bancroft, vi. 431.
5 Chatham to T. Hollis, Feb. 3, 1773; Bancroft, vi. 434. 6 Bancroft, vi. 434.
7 Dartmouth to Hutchinson, Dec. 1772; Bancroft, vi. 435.
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454
RESPONSE OF THE TOWNS.
CHAP. how wide-spread was the sense of the wrongs which the people XIII had suffered. In the vicinity of Boston earnest resolves were 1772. passed ; and the inhabitants of Cambridge " discovered a glo- rious spirit, like men determined to be free," and were " much concerned to maintain and secure their own invaluable rights, which were not the gift of kings, but purchased with the pre- cious blood and treasure of their ancestors."1 Roxbury found " the rights of the colonists fully supported and warranted by the laws of God and nature, the teachings of the New Testa- ment. and the charter of the province." " Our pious forefa- thers," said they, "died with the pleasing hope that we, their children, should live free. Let none, as they will answer it another day, disturb the ashes of those heroes by selling their birthright." 2 "Every thing dear to us, as men and as British subjects," said the people of Charlestown, "is held in trembling suspense. The fate of unborn millions is depending. Our rights are, in many instances, broken in upon and invaded." 3
The towns in Essex county spoke in the same tone; and the people of Gloucester declared their readiness to stand for their rights and liberties, which were dearer to them than their lives, and to join with all others in appeal to the Great Law- giver to crown their efforts with success.4 Newbury and New- buryport declared their intention to do all in their power, “in order that the present and succeeding generations may have the full enjoyment of all those privileges and advantages which naturally and necessarily result from our glorious constitu- tion."5 Ipswich thanked the people of Boston " for informing the public of alarming encroachments on the rights of the province, and for seasonably endeavoring to obtain the sense
' Bancroft, vi. 438. William Brat- tle, who was wavering in his patriot- ism, opposed the action of the town. Letter of Dec. 28, in Boston Post Boy for Jan. 4, 1773.
Boston Gazette for Nov. 30. 1772; Bradford, i 262, note ; Bancroft, vi. 241. 438.
3 Frothingham's Hist. Charlestown, 287, 288.
4 Original Papers, 361; Jour. Com. of Corresp. i. 67, in Bancroft, vi. 410.
5 Coffin's Hist. Newbury, 240,
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455
RESPONSE OF THE TOWNS.
of the country," and advised that " the colonies in general, and CHAP. the inhabitants of this province in particular, should stand XIII. firm as one man, to support and maintain all their just rights 1772. and privileges."1 Even little Salisbury counselled an Ameri- can Union ; 2 Beverly, Lynn, Danvers, and Rowley advocated a like course ; 3 and the fishermen of Marblehead expressed their readiness to "unite for the recovery of their violated rights," and declared that they "detested the name of a Hills- borough," and were justly "incensed at his unconstitutional, unrighteous proceedings." 4
In Middlesex the freemen were equally fervent. "No power on earth," said the people of Concord, " can, agreeably to our constitution, take from us our rights, or any part of them, with- out our consent."5 "It is our absolute duty," said the people of Framingham, " to defend, by every constitutional measure, our dear privileges, purchased with so much blood and treas- ure." 6 Medford, Acton, Stoneham, Medfield, Groton, Pepper- ell, and Shirley, spoke out firmly.7 "We greatly applaud you," wrote the people of Newton, "and think ourselves and the whole province much obliged to you for your generous exertions. As far as in us lies, we would encourage your hearts to persevere in all legal, loyal, regular, and constitu- tional methods for the redress of the grievances we feel, and for preventing those we have reason to fear."8 "Death," said the citizens of Marlborough, "is more eligible than slavery.
1 Felt's Hist. Ipswich, 131; Origi- nal Papers, 441; Jour. Com. of Cor- resp. 50, in Bancroft, vi. 440.
Original Papers, 815, in Bancroft, vi. 440.
3 Stone's Hist. Beverly, 57 : Gage's Hist. Rowley, 237-240; Hanson's Hist. Danvers, 78; Bancroft, vi. 447. + Boston Gazette for Dec. 7 and 14, 1772; Bradford. i. 262, note; Ban- croft, vi. 437. Hutchinson, iii. 369, says the report was opposed in Marble- head. and, after it was carried, " about 30 of the inhabitants, most of them
persons of the first character in the town, had firmness enough to declare and make public their dissent, with their reasons, in an instrument signed by them."
Shattuck's Hist. Concord. 77.
6 W. Barry's Hist. Framingham, 90.
: Brooks's Hist. Medford, 146- 148; Butler's Hist. of Groton, Pep- perell, and Shirley, 118-121, 330, 374.
Jackson's Hist. Newton, 180.
456
RESPONSE OF THE TOWNS.
CHAP. A freeborn people are not required by the religion of Jesus XIII. to submit to tyranny, but may make use of such power as
1772. God has given them to recover and support their laws and liberties." 1
The towns at the west spoke; and the farmers of Lenox were sure that " neither nature nor the God of nature required them to crouch, Issachar like, between the two burdens of poverty and slavery."2 "We think it our duty " - such was the voice of the people of Leicester, in conjunction with the districts of Spencer and Paxton -" to risk our lives and fortunes in defence of the liberties we prize so highly." 3 "The time may come," wrote the small town of Petersham, “ when you may be driven from your goodly heritage ; if that should be the case, we invite you to share with us in our supplies of the necessaries of life."4 "Prohibiting slitting mills," said the citizens of South Hadley, "is similar to the Philistines prohib- iting smiths in Israel, and shows we are esteemed by our breth- ren as vassals."5 "We will resolutely endeavor," said the people of Brimfield, " by every just and constitutional way, to maintain our rights and liberties yet continued, which were purchased for us by the blood of our ancestors, and to recover those which have been cruelly, not to say unrighteously, taken from us."6 "Posterity may rise up and curse us," said Lunen- burg, "if we do not speak our minds with freedom."7 And Worcester, "the heart of the province," was loyal to freedom.8
In the old colony the flame caught; and even in Plymouth, notwithstanding James Warren thought the people were " dead," there were "ninety to one to fight Great Britain." 9 " We inherit," was the glowing language of Duxbury, " the
1 Hutchinson, iii. 369, note; Ban- croft, vi. 442.
Bancroft, vi. 442.
3 Bancroft, vi. 442.
4 Gordon's Am. Rev. i. 209-212; Hutchinson, iii. 369, note ; Bancroft, vi. 442.
5 Bancroft, vi. 447.
6 Holland's Hist. Western Mass. ii. 21.
7 Bancroft, vi. 447.
8 Lincoln's Hist. Worcester, 75.
9 Judge Oliver, of Middleborough,
to Hutchinson, Dec. 16, 1772; Thach-
457
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RESPONSE OF THE TOWNS.
very spot of soil cultivated by some of the first comers to New CHAP. England, who emigrated from their native land to this then XIII. howling wilderness, to escape the iron yoke of oppression, and 1772. to transmit to posterity that fair, that amiable inheritance - liberty, civil and sacred. We esteem it a virtue to oppose tyranny in all its forms, and will use our utmost endeavors to extricate ourselves from every dangerous and oppressive inno- vation." 1 " We view ourselves," said the people of Abington, " under indispensable obligations to give our testimony against all those arbitrary and despotic innovations which have lately taken place in the province."2 The people of Eastham de- clared their "right to communicate their sentiments, and ask advice of any or all the towns in the province, or elsewhere, if need be."3 The citizens of Rehoboth deprecated the "un- paralleled encroachments made on them by a ministry fond of arbitrary sway."4 The people of Pembroke predicted that "if the measures so justly complained of were persisted in, and enforced by fleets and armies," they would, "in a little time, issue in the total dissolution of the union between the mother country and the colonies." 5 And the little town of Chatham, at the extremity of Cape Cod, declared " their civil and religious principles to be the sweetest and essential part of their lives, without which the remainder was scarcely worth preserving." 6 "It will not be long," said the people of Roches- ter, prophetically, " before our assembling for the cause of lib- erty will be determined to be riotous, and every attempt to prevent the flood of despotism from overflowing our land will be deemed open rebellion." 7
er's Hist. Plymouth, 197; Bancroft, vi. 438. For an account of the meeting at Plymouth see Boston Gazette for Nov. 23 and Dec. 7, 1772, and Boston News Letter for Nov. 26, 1772.
1 Winsor's Duxbury, 121-123.
2 Hobart's Abington, 118.
3 Pratt's Hist. Eastham, 74; Ori- ginal Papers, 322.
4 Bliss's Rehoboth, 143-145.
Town Records of Pembroke, Dec. 28, 1772; Jour. Com. of Corresp. i. 54, in Bancroft, vi. 440.
6 Proceedings of Chatham, in Ori- ginal Papers, 269; Jour. Com. of Corresp. ii. 118, in Bancroft, vi. 440, 441.
7 Original Papers, 772; Jour. Com. of Corresp. in Bancroft, vi. 439.
458
THE LEGISLATURE CONVENED.
CHAP. XIII.
1772.
Thus did the people arise in their majesty, and assert their rights. "They succeed," wrote Hutchinson ; and he earnestly invoked aid from Parliament.1 "It is only some people in the Massachusetts Bay," was the language of others, "making a great clamor in order to keep their party alive."2 But Sam- uel Adams was better informed, and predicted "a most violent political earthquake throughout the British empire." "This unhappy contest," he added, " will end in rivers of blood ; but America may wash her hands in innocence."3 And as he looked abroad into the other colonies, and watched the move- ments of the public mind, and as the news came from England that the burning of the Gaspee by the people of Rhode Island was denounced as a crime of a deeper dye than piracy, and that its authors and abettors were to be transported to Eng- land for trial,4 his spirit was stirred to its utmost depths, and he was more earnest than ever to consecrate his all upon the altar of liberty.
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1773. Jan. 6.
The legislature of the province was convened early in the new year ; and the governor, in his message, saw fit to com- ment with considerable severity upon the recent attempt to " call in question the authority of Great Britain to make and establish laws" for the colonies. "What was at first whis- pered with caution," says he, "was soon after openly asserted in print ; and, of late, a number of inhabitants, in several of the principal towns of the province, having assembled together in their respective towns, and assumed the name of legal town
1 Hutchinson to Jackson, Dec. 8, 1772, and to Pownall, in Bancroft, vi. 441. In his Hist. iii. 370, note, Hutchinson says, "Thus, all on a sud- den, from a state of peace, order, and general contentment, as some ex- pressed themselves, the province, more or less from one end to the other, was brought into a state of contention, dis- order, and general dissatisfaction ; or, as others would have it, were roused from stupor and inaction to sensibility and activity."
2 W. Franklin to Dartmouth, Jan. 1773; Bancroft, vi. 443. 3 S. Adams to D. Sessions, Jan. 2, 1773 ; Bancroft, vi. 443.
4 On the burning of the Gaspee sec Bancroft, vi. 416-418; and on the advices from England see Dartmouth to Hutchinson, and to Governor Wanton, of Rhode Island, Sept. 4, 1772; Grahame, ii. 467; Bancroft, vi. 441.
459
CONTROVERSY WITH THE GOVERNOR.
meetings, have passed resolves, which they have ordered to be CHAP. placed upon their town records, and to be printed and pub- XIII. lished in pamphlets and newspapers. In consequence of these 1773. resolves, committees of correspondence are formed in several of these towns, to maintain the principles upon which they are founded." That this course was illegal he was fully persuaded ; and he added, "I know of no line that can be drawn between the supreme authority of Parliament and the total independ- ence of the colonies. It is impossible there should be two in- dependent legislatures in one and the same state ; for although there may be but one head, the king, yet the two legislative bodies will make two distinct governments, as distinct as the kingdoms of England and Scotland before the union."1 Hav- ing thus openly defined his position, he prepared a letter to be forwarded to the ministry, informing them of his proceedings ; and so confident was he of victory that he closed by saying, " I shall be enabled to make apparent the reasonableness and necessity of coercion, and justify it to all the world." 2
The issue thus raised was promptly met ; and Samuel Adams, in conjunction with Hawley and John Adams, prepared to " take the fowler in his own snare." 3 The answer of the Coun- cil to the message of his excellency was draughted by Bow- Jan. 25. doin ; and from the laws of England, its constitution, and the charter of William and Mary, it was argued that the power of Parliament was limited, and did not extend to the levying of taxes within the province.4 The reply of the House was Jan. 26. still more decided, and the reasoning of the governor was thoroughly sifted. " If there be no such line " - was the lan-
1 Message of Jan. 6, 1773, in Jour. H. of R. for 1773 ; Bradford's State Papers, 336-342; Hutchinson, iii. 371, 372. Comp. J. Adams, Diary, in Works, ii. 311.
2 Letter to J. Pownall, Jan. 1773, in MS. Corresp .; Bancroft, vi. 446.
3 That the message of the House was in the handwriting of Samuel Adams is admitted; nor is it denied
that Hawley was consulted in its prep- aration ; and that John Adams was advised with is asserted in his Diary, Works, ii. 310-313, and by Hutchin- son, Hist. iii. 374. Dr. Joseph War- ren is said to have prepared the first draught. J. Adams's Diary.
Bradford's State Papers, 342- 351; Hutchinson, iii. 372, 373.
460
CONTROVERSY WITH THE GOVERNOR.
CHAP. guage of this document-"between the supreme authority of XIII. Parliament and the total independence of the colonies, then 1773. either the colonies are vassals of the Parliament, or they are totally independent. And as it cannot be supposed to have been the intention of the parties in the compact that one of them should be reduced to a state of vassalage, the conclusion is, that we were thus independent." 1
The controversy thus opened was continued for about two months ; and several messages passed between the governor and both branches of the General Court, in which the ques- tion of the relation of the colonies to the Parliament of Great Britain was fully discussed .? "I stand amazed at the gov- ernor," wrote John Adams, "for forcing on this controversy. He will not be thanked for this. His ruin and destruction must spring out of it, either from the ministry and Parliament on the one hand, or from his countrymen. He has reduced himself to a most ridiculous state of distress. He is closet- ing and soliciting Mr. Bowdoin, Mr. Denny, Dr. Church, &c., and seems in the utmost agony." 3 But his excellency was not so thoroughly discomfited as not to have some crumbs of com- fort in his troubles ; and he sought to intimidate the court by telling them that " the English nation would be roused, and could not be withstood," and that "Parliament would, by some means or other, maintain its supremacy." 4
The institution of committees of correspondence in Massa- chusetts prepared the way for the establishment of like com- mittees in all the colonies ; and Benjamin Church, in his ora- Mar. 5. tion upon the anniversary of the "Boston Massacre," as if gifted with the spirit of prophecy, predicted that " some future CONGRESS would be the glorious source of the salvation of
1 Jour. H. of R. for 1772; Brad- ford's State Papers, 351-366; Hutch- inson, iii. 374, 375.
2 See Jour. H. of R. for 1772-3; Bradford's State Papers, 366-396 ; Hutchinson, iii. 376 et seq.
3 J. Adams's Diary, in Works, ii. 315.
4 Hutchinson to J. Pownall, Feb. 24, and to T. Pownall, Feb. 23, 1773 ; Bancroft, vi. 453.
461
AN AMERICAN CONGRESS URGED.
America." "The Amphictyons of Greece," he added, "who CHAP. formed the diet or great council of the states, exhibit an excel- XIII. lent model for the rising Americans."1 The action of Vir- 1773. ginia forwarded this object. In the legislature of that prov- ince a union of councils throughout the continent was advised ; and the resolutions recommending this course were unani- Mar.12. mously adopted.2 The friends of independence in New Eng- land received these tidings with joy ; 3 and South Carolina, by her " steady perseverance " in resisting the encroachments of absolute power, inspired the hope that "the fire of liberty would spread throughout the continent."4 " An American Congress," wrote Samuel Adams, "is no longer the fiction of a political enthusiast." 5 " We trust," wrote Cambridge to the Boston committee, " the day is not far distant when our rights and liberties shall be restored to us, or the colonies, united as one man, will make their most solemn appeal to Heaven, and drive tyranny from these northern climes." 6 Even Hutchinson was satisfied, from the tenor of his despatches from England, that there was " no room to hope that argument and persuasion would induce the colonies to yield due obedi- ence to the laws of Parliament ; " and it was recommended to him to "avoid any further discussion whatever upon those questions, the agitating of which had already produced such disagreeable consequences." 7
It would have been well for his excellency had he heeded
1 Church's Oration of March 5, Hutchinson asserts that the congress 1773, in Lib. Mass. Hist. Soc.
2 Circular of Peyton Randolph, dat- ed March 19, 1773; Hutchinson, iii. 392, 393; Wirt's Patrick Henry, 105 -108; Warren's Hist. Am. Rev. i. 110, note ; Bradford, i. 276. "These measures," says Wirt, " were so near- ly coeval in the two states as to ren- der it impossible that either could have borrowed it from the other. The messengers who bore the propositions from the two states are said to have crossed each other on the way."
was suggested by Dr. Franklin, " in a . letter to the speaker of the Massachu- setts assembly, if it should be neces- sary."
3 Original Papers, 351.
4 Bancroft, vi. 447, 448.
5 S. Adams to Arthur Lee and to R. H. Lee, April 9, 1773 ; T. Cushing to A. Lee, April 22, 1773; Bancroft, vi. 456.
6 Bancroft, vi. 456.
7 Hist. Mass. iii. 385. Comp. Dart- mouth to Hutchinson, April 10, 1773.
462
THE HUTCHINSON LETTERS.
CHAP. this advice ; but, instead of adopting conciliatory measures, he XIII. seems to have prided himself in displaying his entire subser-
1773. viency to the crown. Hence, when the usual grants were made
Feb. by the House to the justices of the Superior Court, the gov- ernor refused his assent, because he expected warrants for their Feb. 12. salaries from the king.1 To this the House replied that "no judge who had a due regard to justice, or even to his own char- acter, would choose to be placed under such an undue bias as they must be under by accepting their salaries of the crown." And, not satisfied with this, they added, " We are more and more convinced that it has been the design of administration to subvert the constitution, and introduce an arbitrary govern- ment into this province; and we cannot wonder that the ap- prehensions of this people are thoroughly awakened." 2 The Mar. 22. reception of certain letters which had been written by the gov- ernor, some years before, to his friend Mr. Whateley, in Eng- land, stripped off the mask under which he had long concealed his hostility to the liberties of his country ; and his conduct was indelibly branded with infamy. How these letters were obtained no one has been able fully to determine.3 They were forwarded by Dr. Franklin, the agent of the province, who kept his secret so well that it has never been penetrated.4 At first they were communicated to the committee of correspond- ence and to the assembly, with the understanding that they were not to be published ; and in this form they were debated for a considerable time. But when the House, by a vote of
1 Jour. H. of R. for 1773; Brad- ford's State Papers, 365.
2 Jour. H. of R. for 1773; Brad- ford's State Papers, 366.
3 For a full discussion of this point see Sparks's Franklin, iv. ; J. Adams's Diary, in Works, ii. 318; Bradford, i. 284-290 ; Bancroft, vi. 435-437, 461 -464; and comp. on the other side Lord Mahon's Hist. Eng. v. 322- 326, and Hutchinson, iii. 394 et seq. " The secrecy of these epistolary ge- nii," says J. Adams, " is very remarka- ble, profoundly secret, dark, and deep."
4 Bancroft, vi. 435, is of opinion that John Temple, formerly one of the Board of Commissioners, was privy to the plan of getting these letters, and adds, " English writers have not noticed that the English ministry and Hutchinson seem to have had the means of discovering the secret, that the ministry discouraged inquiry, and that Temple was subsequently forgiv- en, and appointed to a good place." Comp. J. Adams's Diary, in Works, ii. 319, and note.
463
THE HUTCHINSON LETTERS.
one hundred and one to five, declared that "the tendency and CHAP. design of the letters was to subvert the constitution and gov- XIII.
1773. June.
ernment, and to introduce arbitrary power into the province," public curiosity was so excited to know their contents that, after some hesitation, and after consulting with Dr. Franklin, the prohibition was removed, the letters were circulated in pamphlet form,1 and a memorial was sent to the king for the removal of the governor.
Hutchinson was at first inclined to deny the authenticity of these letters ; but, when he found that this was of no avail, he was obliged to acknowledge that they appeared to be in his handwriting, though he denied that they were designed " to sub- vert the constitution of the government, but rather to preserve it entire." Yet, conscious of his guilt, and fearful lest other and more recent communications might be discovered, he wrote to his friends in England to burn such of his letters as could be used against him ; " for," said he, ".I have written much that ought not to be made public." 2 Franklin was bitterly denounced for the part he took in this affair ; and, in his examination before the privy council, Wedderburne took occasion to pour 1774. out upon him a torrent of invective and biting sarcasm, which excited the mirth of his associates, but which were received by their subject with perfect composure.3 His dismission from the office of deputy postmaster general followed, and Hutchin- son solicited to take his place.4 But nothing was gained by the adoption of such measures. If the English ministry were disposed to assert the supremacy of Parliament, and to insist upon the entire subordination of the colonies, the people of America, aroused to the necessity of resisting such claims, moved steadily on in the course which the prudent had marked out for the continent, and, by cementing union, were strength- ened for the contest which was rapidly approaching.
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