try the gentle mode of stating their grievances, and making a firm and decent claim of redress. They conclude with warning dealers not to raise the price of their merchandise beyond the usual rates, on account of any resolutions that might be taken with respect to importation; and by a declaration, that that province would break off all dealing and commercial intercourse whatsoever, with any town, city or colony, on the continent, or with any individuals in them, who should refuse, decline, or neglect to adopt and carry into execution such general plan as should be agreed upon in the congress. At a meeting of August 1st. the delegates of the several counties of Virginia at Williamsburgh, which lasted for six days, besides professions of allegiance and loyalty, of regard and affection for their fellow-subjects in Great-Britain, equally strongly expressed with those which we have mentioned, and several resolutions in cemmon with the ether colonies, they passed others which were peculiar, and considering the state and circumstances of that province, with its immediate dependence on the mother country for the disposal of its only staple commodity, must be considered very deserving of attention, because strongly indicating the true spirit of that people.

Among these, they resolved not to purchase any more slaves from Africa, the West Indies, or any other place; that their non-importation agreement should take place on the first of the following November; and that if the American grievances were not redressed by the 10th of August 1775, they would export, after that time, no

tobacco, nor any other goods whatever, to Great Britain; and to render this last resolution the more effectual, they strongly recommended the cultivation of such articles of husbandry, instead of tobacco, as might form a proper basis for manufactures of all sorts; and par ticularly to improve the breed of their sheep, to multiply them, and to kill as few of them as possible. They also resolved to declare those enemies to their country, who should break through the non-importation resolution. The people of Maryland, the other great to-bacco colony, were not behindhand with those of Virginia in their determinations; and the two Carolinas, whose existence seemed to depend upon their exportation, were by no means among the least violent.

Thus the Boston Port-Bill and its companions had even exceeded the prognostications of their most violent opponents. They had raised a flame from one end to the other of the continent of America, and united all the old colonies in one common cause. A similar language was every where held; or if there was any difference in the language, the measures that were adopted were every where directed to the same object. They all agreed in the main points, of holding a congress, of not submitting to the payment of any internal taxes, that were not, as usual, imposed by their own assemblies, and of suspending all commerce with the mother country, until the American grievances in general, and those of Massachusett's-Bay in particular, were fully redressed.

The people, as is always the case, were, from circumstances or

temper,

temper, more or less violent in different places; but the resolution as to the great object of debate, the point of taxation, was every where the same, and the most moderate, even at New-York, seemed determined to endure any evils, rather tan submit to that. At Newport, in Rhode Island, the flame burned higher than in some other places; an inflammatory paper was there published, with a motto in capitals, " Join or Die;" in this piece the state of Boston was represented as a siege, and as a direct and hostile invasion of all the colonies; "the generals of despotism," it say, "are now drawing the lines of circumvallation, around our bulwarks of hoerty, and nothing but unity, resolution, and perseverance can save ourselves and our posterity from what is worse than death,

Slavery."

What rendered this state of affairs the more dangerous was, that it did not arise from the discontent of a turbulent or oppressed nobility, where, by bringing over a few of the leaders, the rest must follow of conse, or persist only to their ruin; nor did it depend upon the resolution or perseverance of a body of merchants and dealers, where every man habitually studious of his immediate interest, would tremble at the thought of those consequences, hich might essentially affect it; and where a few lucrative jobs or contracts, properly applied, would split them into numberless factions; on the contrary, in this instance, the great force of the opposition to government consisted in the land-holders throughout America. The British lands in that vast continent are generally portioned out in numberless small treeholds, and

afford that mediocrity of condr tion to the possessors, which is sufficient to raise strong bodies and vigorous minds: but seldom thatsuperabundance, which proves sơ fatal to both in old and refined countries. The American freeholders at present, are nearly, in point of condition, what the English Yeomen were of old, when they rendered us formidable to all Eu-. rope, and

our name celebrated throughout the world. The former, from many obvious circumstances, are more enthusiastical lovers of liberts, than even our Yeomen were. Such a body was too numerous to be bribed, and too bold to be despised without great danger.

In this untoward state of public affairs, General Gage had the consolation to receive a congratulatory. address from the Justices of the Peace of Plymouth county, assembled at their general sessions, in which, besides the customary compliments, they expressed great concern at seeing that the inhabitants of some tows, influenced by cer-, tain persons, calling themselves committees of correspondence, and encouraged by some whose business it was, as preachers of the. Gospel, to inculcate principles of loyalty and obedience to the laws, entering into a league, calculated to increase the displeasure of the sovereign, to exasperate the parent country, and to interrupt the harmony of society. A protest was also passed by several gentlemen of the county of Worcester, against all riotous disorders, and seditious practices. These efforts, had however no other effect, than probably to lead the governor as well as administration into an erroneous opinion, as to the strength and number

of

of the friends of government in that province.

were

Though liberal contributions we raised in the different colonies for the relief of the suffering inhabitants of Boston; yet it may be easily conceived, that in a town, containing above 20,000 inhabitants, who had always subsisted by commerce, and the several trades and kinds of business subservient to it, and where the maintenance of numberless families depended merely upon locality, that the cutting off of that grand source of their employment and subsistence, must, notwithstanding any temporary reliefs, occasion great and numerous tresses. Even the rich were not exempt from this gencral calamity, as a very great part of their property consisted in wharfs, warehouses, sheds, and all those numerous erections, which are destined to the purposes of commerce in a great trading port, and were longer of any value.

dis

no

They, however, bore their misfortunes with a wonderful constancy, and met with a general sympathy and tenderness which much confirmed their resolution. Their neighbours, the merchants and inhabitants of the town and port of Marblehead, who were among those who were to profit the most by their ruin, instead of endeavouring to reap the fruits of their calamity, sent them a generous offer of the use of their stores and wharfs, of attending to the lading and unlading of their goods, and of transacting all the business, they should do at their port, without putting them to the smallest expence; but they at the same time exhorted them to persevere in that patience and

resolution, which had ever been their characteris&c.

Soon after the General's arrival in his government, two regiments of foot, with a small detachment 5. of the artillery, and some cannon were landed at Boston, and encamped on the common, which lies within the Peninsula on which the town stands. These troops were by degrees reinforced by the arrival of several regiments from Ireland, New York, Hallifax, and at length from Quebec. It may be easily conceived, that the arrival and station of these troops was far from being agreeable to the inhabitants; nor was the jealousy in any degree less, in the minds of their neighbours of the surrounding counties. This dissatisfaction was further in-' creased by the placing of a guard at Boston Neck: (which is the narrow Isthmus that joins the Peninsula to the continent), a measure of which the frequent desertion of the soldiers was either the cause, or the pretext.

In this sate, a trifling circumstance gave the people of Boston a full earnest of the support they might expect from the country in case of extremity, and an opportunity of knowing the general tem-. per of the people. A report had been spread, perhaps industriously, that a regiment posted at neck had cut off all communication with the country, in order to starve the town into a compliance with any measures that might be proposed to them. Upon this vague report, a large body of the inhabitants of the county of Worcester immediately assembled, and dispatched two messengers express to Boston, to discover the truth

of

looking upon the fate of their neighbouring colony to be only a prelude to their own, even exceeded them in violence.

The new judges were rendered every where incapable of proceeding in their office. Upon opening the courts, the great and petty juries throughout the province, unanimously refused to be sworn, or to act in any manner, under the new judges and the new laws. The acting otherwise was deemed so heinous that the clerks of the courts found it necessary to acknowledge their contrition in the public papers, for issuing the warrants by which the juries were summoned to attend, and not only to declare, that let the 'consequences behat they may, they would not act so again; but that, they had not considered what they were doing, and that if their countrymen should forgive them, they could never forgive themselves for the fault they had committed. At Great Bar rington, and some other places, the people assembled in numerous bodies, and filled the court-house and avenues in such a manner, that neither the judges nor their officers could obtain entrance; and upon the sheriff's commanding them to make way for the court, they answered, that they knew no court, nor other establishment, -indepens dent of the ancient laws and usages of their country, and to none other would they submit, or give way upon any terms.

The new counsellors were still more unfortunate than the judges. Their houses were surrounded by great bodies of the people, who soon discovered by their countenance and temper, that they had no other, alternative than to sub VOL. XVIII. 1775.

mit to a renunciation of their of fices, or to suffer all the fury of an enraged populace. Most of them submitted to the former condition; some had the fortune to be in Boston, and thereby evaded the danger, while others, with great risque, were pursued and hunted in their escape thither, with threats of destruction to their houses and

estates.

The old constitution being taken away by act of parliament, and the new one being rejected by the people, an end was put to all forms of law and government in the province of Massachusett's-Bay. and the people were reduced to that state of anarchy, in which mankind are supposed to have existed in the carliest ages. The degree of order, however, which by the general concurrence of the people, was preserved in this state of anarchy, will for ever excite the astonishment of mankind, and continue among the strongest proofs of the efficacy of long established habits, and of a constant submission to laws. Excepting the general opposition to the new government, and the excesses arising from it, in the outrages offered to particular persons who were upon that account obnoxious to the people, no other very considerable marks appeared of the cessation of law or of government.

In the mean time, General Gage thought it necessary for the safety of the troops, as well as to secure the important post and town of Boston, to fortify the neck of land, which afforded the only communication, except by water, between that town and the continent. This measure, however necessary, could not but increase the jealousy, [B]

suspicion,