USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume I > Part 23
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"One said, 'The people of Boston are distracted.' Another answered : 'No wonder the people of Boston are distracted. Oppression will make wise men mad.' A third said, 'What would you say if a fellow should come to your house and tell you he was come to make a list of your cattle, that Parlia- ment might tax them at so much a head? And how should you feel if he was to go and break open your barn, to take down your oxen, horses, and sheep ?' 'What should I say ?' replied the first, 'I would knock him in the head.' 'Well,' said a fourth, 'if parliament can take away Mr. Hancock's wharf and Mr. Rowe's wharf, they can take away your barn and my house.'
"After much more reasoning in this style, a fifth, who had as yet been silent, broke out : 'Well, it is high time for us to rebel; we must rebel some- time or other, and we had better rebel now than at any time to come. If we put it off for ten or twenty years, and let them go on as they have begun, they will get a strong party among us, and plague us a good deal more than they can now.'"
Even as the shrewd Shrewsbury farmer spoke, General Gage was writ- ing Lord Dartmouth of the growing strength of the Tory element "which it is highly proper and necessary to cherish, and support by every means; and I hope it will not be long before it produces salutary results."
Worcester's American Political Society Takes Charge-A great power not only in Worcester but in the towns round about it, and, to an extent throughout the country, was the American Political Society, organized in December, 1773, by thirty-one prominent Patriots of Worcester. Its pur- pose was defined in its constitution which said: "As the good people of the County, and with respect to some particular circumstances, the town of Worcester especially, labor under many impositions and burdens grievous to be borne, which, it is apprehended, would never have been imposed upon us had we been united and opposed the machinations of some designing persons in this Province, who are grasping at power and the property of their neigh- bors, the associates incorporate themselves as the American Political Society."
It was a secret body in its deliberations, but not in its actions. The mem- bers proceeded to erect themselves into a supreme authority. Before any meeting, either town or county, the society met and mapped out proceedings.
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One of its boldest acts was to cause the Worcester County Grand Jury to defy the Superior Court, highest tribunal of the province. The justices had become dependent upon the crown for their salaries. The General Court had remonstrated in vain with Governor Hutchinson when he refused to assent to legislative grants for the support of the courts. Whereupon, the repre- sentatives resolved "that any of the judges who, while they hold their offices, during pleasure, shall accept support from the crown, independent of the grants of the General Court, will discover that he is an enemy of the consti- tution, and has in his heart to promote the establishment of arbitrary gov- ernment."
In February, 1774, on appeal being made by the assembly, four of the five judges replied that they had received no part of the allowance from the King, and this was deemed satisfactory. But Chief Justice Peter Oliver answered that he had accepted his Majesty's bounty, and could not refuse it in future without royal permission. Resentment concentrated upon him, a petition was presented for his removal, and articles of impeachment for higher crimes and misdemeanors exhibited, which, naturally, the Governor refused to sanction. Such was the situation when the sitting of the Superior Court at Worcester drew near.
The Political Society determined to express to the court the feelings of the people in no uncertain way. They selected Timothy Bigelow and Joshua Bigelow, men of known courage, as the town's two grand jurymen, procured their election, and voted that "This Society will each one bear and pay their equal part of the fine and charges that may be laid on Messrs. Joshua Bige- low and Timothy Bigelow, for their refusal to be empannelled upon the jury at the next Superior Court of Assize, for the County of Worcester. Their refusal is founded upon the principle that they cannot, consistently with good conscience and order, serve, if Peter Oliver, Esq., is present on the bench as chief justice, or judge of said court, before he is lawfully tried and acquitted of the high crimes and charges for which he now stands impeached by the Honorable House of Representatives, and the major part of the grand jurors for the whole county join them in refusing to serve for the reasons afore- said." The Political Society even furnished their grand jurymen with the remonstrance. But the Chief Justice was not there to hear the Grand Jury's indictment of his transgressions. It was clearly proved, on the word of General Gage, that he was afraid to face the wrath of Worcester County. One of the four justices informed the jurymen that it was highly improbable that Judge Oliver would attend, and "being assured that the sheriff had, as usual, been a number of miles out of town in order to meet him and escort him to his lodgings, and had returned without him, the Grand Jury decided
Wor .- 14
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to make no further objection to serving." Nor did the judges display any resentment at the high-handed action of the fifteen men whose legal duty it was to serve the court, and who had rendered themselves liable to severe punishment for contempt. The story goes that the Political Society was pre- pared to use force, if necessary, in taking the jurymen from the officers of the law in case the court ordered their commitment to the gaol.
Judge Oliver, in a letter to Governor Hutchinson, May 15, 1774, published in Edes' Gazette, expressed indignation at the conduct of his associates of the bench: "As to the affair of the Grand Jury's libel at Worcester court, I did not know of their conduct until I saw it in the newspapers; and had any of my brethren been charged in so infamous a manner, I would forever have quitted the bench, rather than have suffered such indignity to them to have passed unnoticed. How it is possible to let a brother judge, a friend, or even a brute, be treated in so ignominious a manner, I have no conception in my ideas of humanity. But so it is : and if the Supreme Court is content with such rudeness, inferior jurisdictions are to be exculpated in suffiering the commonwealth to be destroyed."
The Famous Worcester Tory Protest-The last attempt of Worcester Tories to work their will upon the community was in March, 1774. The annual town meeting condemned boldly the various abuses under which the province labored, and twenty-six Royalists dissented.
Joshua Bigelow was chosen representative to the General Court, and instructions were given him to carry out, among them this: "More particularly, should the people of this Province, through their repre- sentatives, be required to compensate the East India Company for the loss of their tea, we hereby lay the strictest injunction on you not to comply therewith." The meeting also demanded of their representative that as soon as may be, he should "endeavor that Peter Oliver, Esq., be brought to answer to the impeachment against him, preferred by the representatives of this province, in the name of the whole people." Judge Putnam, leader of the Royalists, exerted the whole force of a great power of eloquence to prevent what he termed the cooperation of the town in acts of rebellion, but he met with no success.
The Tories were not satisfied, and forty-three of them, freeholders, petitioned the selectmen that another town meeting be called for the purpose of reconsidering the previous action. The meeting was held on June 20 and after a violent debate, the Whigs again prevailed. The Tories then presented a paper, which became famous as the Worcester Protest. It was the cause of a great deal of trouble, but mostly for its authors. Clark Chandler, town clerk, took it upon himself to enter it
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upon the town records. It was sent to Boston by Colonel Putnam or some other leader and published in the Boston Gazette. It was a bitterly worded tirade against the patriotic action of the town. It could not have been read when offered at the town meeting, for it would have caused immediate retributary action. Lincoln indicates that the first the Whigs knew of its contents was when they saw it in type in the Boston news- paper. Among other unpleasant statements included in it were these: "It is with deepest concern for public peace and order that we behold so many, whom we used to esteem sober, peacable men, so far deceived, deluded and led astray by the artful, crafty and insidious practices of some evil-minded and evil-disposed persons, who, under the disguise of patriotism, and falsely styling themselves the friends of liberty, some of them neglecting their own proper business and occupation, in which they ought to be employed for the support of their families, spending their time in discoursing of matters they do not understand, raising and prop- agating falsehoods and calumnies of those men they look up to with envy, and on whose fall and ruin they hope to rise, intend to reduce all things to a state of tumult, discord and confusion."
Then, which were fighting words: "We therefore, whose names are hereinunder subscribed, do each of us declare and protest, it is our firm opinion that the committees of correspondence in the several towns of this province being creatures of modern invention, are contrived by a junto to serve particular designs and purposes of their own, and that they, as they have been and now are managed in this town, are a nuisance. And we fear it is in a great measure owing to the baneful influence of such committees, that the teas of immense value, lately belonging to the East India Company, were, not long since, scandalously destroyed in Boston."
Fifty-two freemen signed this, and fifty-one of them were bitterly to regret it before many days had passed. The other was James Putnam, who, no one will deny, had the courage of his convictions. But he was careful to leave Worcester County immediately afterward and never again in Massachusetts ventured far from the muskets of the King's soldiers.
Another town meeting was held when the protest was attacked in language as vigorous as its own. It was also voted that Town Clerk Chandler "do, in presence of the town, obliterate, erase, or otherwise deface the said recorded protest, and the names thereto subscribed, so that it may become utterly illegible and unintelligible."
So the clerk, in the presence of the townsmen, blotted out the unwel- come record. He did the best he could with his quill pen, but it was not
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enough. His tormenters used his fingers for a paint brush and smeared the lines thoroughly, as may still be seen on the ancient pages. In the meanwhile "many of the protesters, shrinking from the violence of the storm they had roused, and under the compulsion of force, sought safety by submission, and signed penetential confessions of error." But this did not end their penances. Again, and yet again, they were compelled to humiliate themselves publicly in the village Main Street, not only before their fellow towns-people, but before the assembled forces of the county.
The Baleful Regulating Act-A copy of the act of Parliament "for the better regulating the Province of Massachusetts Bay" reached Gov- ernor Gage August 6, 1774. If the British Government had sought the most effective way to rouse the people to furious resentment it could have achieved no better success. The principle of the statute was the concentration of executive power, including the courts of justice, in the hands of the Royal Governor. "Without previous notice to Massachu- setts and without a hearing, it arbitrarily took away rights and liberties which the people had enjoyed from the foundation of the Colony, except- ing the evil days of James the Second, and which had been renewed in the charter from William and Mary. That charter was coeval with the great English revolution, had been the fundamental law of the colonists for more than eighty years, and was associated in their minds with every idea of English liberty and loyalty to the English crown."
Under the charter the councillors, twenty-eight in number, had been annually chosen by a convention of the council for the previous year and the assembly, subject only to the negative of the Governor. Under the new statute there were to be not less than twelve nor more than thirty- six councillors, and their appointment was to be by the King, who could remove them at his pleasure. The Governor was given the sole authority to remove and appoint all judges of the inferior courts and justices of the peace, and all officers attached to the courts and to the council. The sheriffs could be appointed and removed at the will of the Governor and his council as often as they might choose, and for whatever purpose they might consider expedient. In the case of a vacancy, the Governor him- self had the appointment of the chief justice and justices of the Superior Court, who were to hold office during the pleasure of the King and to depend upon him for the amount and payment of their salaries.
A singularly dangerous, in fact incendiary provision of the statute was the practical destruction of the institution of trial by jury; for the right of selecting juries was taken from the inhabitants, and given to the sheriffs of the respective counties. And even more dangerous to a great power which hoped to retain its Colonies was its attack upon the
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town-meeting, New England's most highly valued institution, next to its churches. Its people "had been accustomed in their town meetings to transact all business that touched them most nearly as fathers, as free- men and Christians," wrote Bancroft. "There they adopted local taxes to keep up their free-schools ; there they regulated all the municipal con- cerns of the year; there they instructed the representatives of their choice; and as the limits of the parish and the town were usually the same, there most of them took measures for the invitation and support of ministers of the gospel in their congregations; there, whenever they were called together by their selectmen, they were accustomed to express their sentiments on all subjects connected with their various interests, their rights and liberties, and their religion."
The regulating act swept away all these privileges. It permitted two meetings annually in which town officers and representatives might be chosen, but no other matter could be introduced. Every other form of meeting was forbidden except by the written leave of the Governor, and then only for the business specified by such permission. "The king trampled under foot the affections, customs, laws and privileges of the people of Massachusetts."
Two other acts empowered the Governor to quarter his army in towns, and to transfer to another Colony or to Great Britain any persons informed against or indicted for crimes committed, in supporting the revenue laws or suppressing riots. He had already been instructed that, in time of peace, he could order his troops to fire upon the people.
Again, to quote the greatest of authorities on the Revolution, George Bancroft of Worcester: "When it became known that a great effort to execute the new statute was designed to be made in Worcester, the uncompromising inhabitants of that town purchased and manufactured arms, cast musketballs, and provided powder for the occasion; and as Gage meditated employing a part of his army, they threatened openly to fall upon any body of soldiers who should attack them .- The shire of Worcester in August set the example of a county congress, which dis- claimed the jurisdiction of the British House of Commons, asserted the exclusive right of the colonies to originate laws respecting themselves, rested their duty of allegiance on the charter of the Province, and declared, the violation of that charter a dissolution of their union with Britain."
Bad Days for Mandamus Councillors-The enraged and outraged patriots proceeded to make things hot for the mandamus councillors, as those appointed by the Governor under his new authority were called.
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These had all been chosen for their pronounced royalist sentiments. They had all been men of highest standing in their communities. Most of them had done brave service in the French and Indian War. Their fellow-townsmen had honored them by election to high office. But when they turned against their own people and openly countenanced and abetted the tyrannical attitude of the King and his government, they were declared enemies, and were treated as such.
Brigadier-General Timothy Ruggles, mandamus councillor, received word from his home town of Hardwick : "If you value your life, I advise you not to return home at present." The freemen of that town, together with those of Greenwich and New Braintree, were roused to the highest pitch of anger. They felt themselves betrayed. Timothy Paine of Worcester was compelled to make a humiliating public show of himself in signing a compulsory resignation. John Murray of Rutland fled in the night over back roads to escape an approaching army of determined men. Abel Willard of Lancaster was found by the people of Union, Connecti- cut, within their town one August evening. They kept him under watch through the night and started with him over the highway for the county jail. But they had gone no more than six miles when "he begged for- giveness of all honest men for having taken the oath of office, and promised never to sit or act in council." To step outside the county for a moment, when the good people of Plymouth found that their esteemed fellow-townsman, George Watson, intended to act under his appoint- ment, on the first Sabbath following, as soon as he took his seat in meeting, his neighbors and friends left the church, which so undermined his desire for councillor honors that he resigned. Twenty of the thirty- six honored by the King were induced to refuse service. The remaining sixteen did not dare to leave the protection of the soldiers in Boston.
Few men had ranked with Timothy Paine in the esteem of his fellow- townsmen. He had been tolerated as a Tory, but now he had committed a sin which was unforgivable unless he should withdraw from the office forthwith and expressed his humble regret for his transgression. Truth to tell he had not welcomed the appointment, but had not dared to refuse it, for to do so would have been construed as contempt of the authority of the King who conferred it. He found himself between the horns of a dilemma, with the King of England on one horn and his Patriot neigh- bors on the other.
The County Committee of Correspondence summoned the military companies of the surrounding towns to appear at Worcester, August 22, 1774. Day was breaking as the soldiers began to approach the Common,
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headed by their officers, in military formation but without arms. When reinforced by the local soldiery they numbered more than three thousand men. At 7 o'clock they were ready for action. A committee consisting of two or three to a company was instructed to wait on Mr. Paine at his residence on the Boston Road and demand his resignation as councillor.
That gentleman did not hesitate. He must have heard and seen the ranks of determined men marching by his house on their way to the rendezvous, and must have divined their ominous purpose. At any rate, a statement was prepared and signed by him, expressing his sense of obligation to his fellow-citizens, his reluctance to oppose their wishes, his regret at having qualified for the new office, and his solemn promise that he would never exercise its powers.
The committee returned to their respective commands, Mr. Paine's statement was read to each, and was considered satisfactory in its terms. But the assembled Patriots wished to hear it confirmed by the signer himself, and the committee returned to the house and demanded his presence. This he resented. But there was no option, and he accom- panied the committee.
In the meanwhile the soldiers had moved from the Common and extended their lines on either side of the main street from the meeting- house to the courthouse. Mr. Paine passed between the lines, stopping at intervals, on demand, to read his confession of repentance. But pres- ently he had plenty of company.
The signers of the Worcester Protest had been informed by the Com- mittee of Correspondence that an apology for their action would be required of them. Forty-three of them had met with representatives of the Patriots in the King's Arms Tavern the evening before, and having signed an acknowledgment of error and repentance, had received a paper which purported to insure them protection against further punish- ment. Trusting to this document, they mingled with the crowd on the street. To their horror, they found themselves "collected by the Revolu- tionary magistrates, and on the arrival of Mr. Paine, they were escorted through the ranks, halting at every few paces to listen to the reading of their several confessions of political transgression. Having thus passed in review and suffered some wanton outrage of feeling, in addition to the humiliation of the procession, they were dismissed."
The majority of the visiting militia then departed for their homes, but a force of five hundred strong, accompanied by the Worcester Committee of Correspondence, marched the twelve miles to Rutland to visit Colonel Murray and demand his resignation as councillor. Before their arrival
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they were joined by a thousand men from the western county towns. But the Tory had been warned the night before, and had escaped in the darkness, and reached Boston in safety.
A committee of the troops went to his house and inquired for him. They were told by his family he was not at home, and so reported to the Committees of Correspondence. But this was voted unsatisfactory. The Murray house must be searched. So the committee thoroughly investi- gated the premises, but, of course, found no mandamus councillor. Con- vinced that their bird had flown, a letter was addressed to him informing him that unless he published his resignation in the Boston newspapers before the Ioth of September, they would visit him again. But he never returned to Rutland.
Congress of County Committees of Correspondence-In the summer and autumn of 1774 several conventions of the Committees of Corre- spondence of Worcester County were held in Worcester, in the King's Arms Tavern or the Courthouse. Their members were: Bolton, Captain Samuel Baker, Jonathan Holman; Brookfield, General Jedediah Foster, Captain Jeduthan Baldwin, Captain Phineas Upham; Charlton, Caleb Curtis, Captain Jonathan Tucker; Douglas, Samuel Jennison ; Grafton, Captain Luke Drury ; Hardwick, Captain Paul Mandell, Stephen Rice, Lieutenant Jonathan Warner, Deacon John Bradish; Harvard, Rev. Joseph Wheeler ; Holden, John Child; Lancaster, Dr. William Duns- more, Deacon David Wilder, Aaron Sawyer, Captain Samuel Ward, Cap- tain Asa Whitcomb, Captain Hezekiah Gates, John Prescott, Ephraim Sawyer; Leicester, Spencer and Paxton, Colonel Thomas Denny, Cap- tain William Henshaw, Captain Joseph Henshaw, Rev. Benjamin Conk- lin, Willard Moore; Lunenburg, Dr. John Taylor; Mendon, Captain Nathan Tyler, Deacon Edward Rawson, James Sumner, Elder Nathaniel Nelson, Benoni Benson; Oxford, Captain Ebenezer Learned, Dr. Alex- ander Campbell; Petersham, Captain Ephraim Doolittle, Colonel Jona- than Grout ; Princeton, Moses Gill; Barre (Rutland District), Asa Hap- good, Lieutenant Nathan Sparhawk, Deacon John Mason, Lieutenant Andrew Parker; Shrewsbury, Colonel Artemas Ward, Phineas Hay- ward; Southboro, Captain Jonathan Wood; Sutton, Amos Singletary, Captain Henry King, Rev. Ebenezer Chaplin; Westboro, Captain Stephen Maynard; Worcester, William Young, Joshua Bigelow, Captain Timothy Bigelow, Lieutenant John Smith.
New County Regiments Formed-One of the first matters to receive consideration was the reorganization of the militia, not including the minutemen. A regiment was made to consist of ten companies, fifty-
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nine men to a company, including captain and two subalterns. Previ- ously, the companies had a hundred men, which was regarded as an unwieldy number, especially when assembled as a regiment. By vote of the assembled Committees of Correspondence, the soldiers of the county were divided into seven regiments, as follows :
First-Holden, Leicester, Paxton, Spencer and Worcester.
Second-Charlton, Dudley, Oxford, Sturbridge and Sutton.
Third-Ashburnham, Bolton, Fitchburg, Harvard, Lancaster, Leo- minster, Lunenburg, and Westminster.
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