Condition of Boston after the Evacuation. Lingering of British Vessels. Final Departure. Troops sent to New York. firmed the strong faith of the hundreds of listeners in the final triumph of liberty in America. Sadness settled upon the minds of the people when the first outburst of joyous feeling had subsided, for Boston, the beautiful city-the metropolis of New England-was a desolation. Many of the finest houses were greatly injured; shade-trees were cut down; churches were disfigured; ornamental inclosures were broken or destroyed; and the public buildings were shamefully defaced. The spacious old South meeting-house, as we have seen, was changed into a riding-school; and in the stove that was put up within the arena were burned, for kindling, many rare books and manuscripts of Prince's fine library. The parsonage house belonging to this society was pulled down for fuel. The old North Chapel was demolished for the same purpose, and the large wooden steeple of the West Church was converted to the same use. Liberty Tree, noticed on page 466, vol. i., furnished fourteen cords of wood. Brattle Street and Hollis Street churches were used for barracks, and Faneuil Hall was con verted into a neat theater. A shot from the American lines, which struck the tower of Brattle Street Church, was picked up, and subsequently fastened at the point where it first struck, and there it remains. March 18, 1776. lgnorant of the destination of Howe, and supposing it to be New York, Washington sent off five regiments, and a portion of the artillery, under General Heath, for that city. They marched to New London, where they embarked, and proceeded to New York through the Sound. On the departure of the main body of the British fleet from Nantasket Roads, Washington ordered the remainder of the army to New York, except five regiments, which were left for the protection of Boston, under General Ward. Sullivan marched on the 27th; another brigade departed on the 1st of April; and the last brigade, under Spencer, marched on the 4th. Washington, also, left Cambridge for New York on that day. April 4. A portion of the British fleet, consisting of five vessels, still lingered in the harbor, and was subsequently joined by seven transports, filled with Highlanders. The people of Boston were under great apprehension of Howe's return. All classes of people assisted in building a fortification on Noddles Island (now East Boston) and in strengthening the other defenses. These operations were carried on under the general direction of Colonel Gridley. In May, Captain Mugford, of the schooner Franklin, a Continental cruiser, captured the BritMay 17. ish ship Hope, bound for Boston, with stores, and fifteen hundred barrels of powder. On the 19th, the Franklin and Lady Washington started on a cruise, but got aground at Point Shirly. Thirteen armed boats from the British vessels attacked them, and a sharp engagement ensued. Captain Mugford, while fighting bravely, received a mortal wound. His last words were those used nearly forty years afterward by Lawrence, "Don't give up the ship! You will beat them off!" And so they did. The cruisers escaped, and put to sea. In June, General Lincoln proposed a plan for driving the British fleet from the harbor. It was sanctioned by the Massachusetts Assembly, and was put in execution on the 14th. He summoned the neighboring militia, and, aided by some of General Ward's regular troops, took post on Moon Island, Hoff's Neck, and at Point Anderton. A large force also collected at Pettick's Island, and Hull; and a detachment with two eighteen pounders and a thirteen inch mortar took post on Long Island. Shots were first discharged at the enemy from the latter point. The fire was briskly returned; but the commander, Commodore Banks, perceiving the perilous situation of his little fleet, made signals for weighing anchor. After blowing up the light-house, he spread his sails and went to sea, leaving Boston harbor and vicinity entirely free from an enemy, except in the few dissimulating Tories who lurked in secret places. Through a reprehensible want of foresight, no British cruisers were left in the vicinity to warn British ships of the departure of the troops and fleet. The consequence was, that several store-ships from England soon afterward arrived, and, sailing into the harbor 1 Frothingham, page 328. Capture of Campbell and Store-ships. Medal awarded to Washington Effect of the Evacuation of Boston. In this UPREMO DVCI EXERCITVVM ADSH without suspicion, fell into the hands of the Americans. The intelligence of this and other events at Boston within the preceding ten months produced great excitement in England, and attracted the attention of all Europe. The British Parliament exhibited violent agitations, and party lines began to be drawn almost as definitely among the English people, on American affairs, as in the colonies. In the spring, strong measures had been proposed, and some were adopted, for putting down the rebellion, and these had been met by counter action on the part of the American Congress. During the summer, John Wilkes, then Lord Mayor of London, and his party, raised a storm of indignation against government in the English capital. presented a violent address to the king in the name of the livery of London, 2 1 Journals of Congress, ii., 104. He GOLD MEDAL AWARDED TO WASHINGTON. Congress issued a proclamation, declaring that "whatever punishment shall be inflicted upon any persons in the power of their enemies for favoring, aiding, or abetting the cause of American liberty, shall be retaliated in the same kind, and in the same degree, upon those in their power, who had favored, aided, or abetted, or shall favor, aid, or abet the system of ministerial oppression." This made the Tories and the British officers cautious in their proceedings toward patriots in their power. 3 This drawing is the size of the medal. It was struck in Paris, from a die cut by Duvivier. The device is a head of Washington, in profile, with the Latin legend "GEORGIO WASHINGTON, SUPREMO DUCI EXERCITUUM ADSERTORI LIBERTATIS COMITIA AMERICANA;" "The American Congress to George Washington, commander-in-chief of its armies, the assertors of freedom." Reverse: troops advancing toward a town; others marching toward the water; ships in view; General Washington in front, and mounted, with his staff, whose attention he is directing to the embarking enemy. The legend is "HOSTIBUS PRIMO FUGATIS;" Denunciations by John Wilkes. The King teased. Boldness of the Common Council. Governor Penn. John Horne Tooke in which it was asserted that it was plainly to be perceived that government intended to establish arbitrary rule in America without the sanction of the British Constitution, and that they were also determined to uproot the Constitution at home, and to establish despotism upon the ruins of English freedom. The address concluded by calling for an instant dismissal of the ministers. The king was greatly irritated, and refused to receive the address, unless presented in the corporate capacity of " mayor, aldermen, livery," &c. This refusal Wilkes denounced as a denial of the right of the city to petition the throne in any respectful manner it pleased; "a right," he said, "which had been respected even by the accursed race of Stuarts." Another address, embodying a remonstrance and petition, was prepared, and inquiry was made of the king whether he would receive it while sitting on the throne, it being addressed by the city in its corporate capacity. The king replied that he would receive it at his next levee, but not on the throne. One of the sheriffs sent by Wilkes to ask the question of his majesty, assured the king that the address would not be presented except when he was sitting upon the throne. The king replied that it was his prerogative to choose where he would receive communications from his subjects. The livery of London declared this answer to be a denial of their rights, resolved that the address and remonstrance should be printed in the newspapers, and that the city members in the House of Commons should be instructed to move for "an impeachment of the evil counselors who had planted popery and arbitrary power in America, and were the advisers of a measure so dangerous to his majesty and to his people as that of refusing to hear petitions.' "The common council adopted a somewhat more moderate address and remonstrance, which the king received, but whether sitting upon the throne or at his levee is not recorded." On the 23d of August, the government, informed of the events of the 17th of June 1775. at Charlestown, issued a proclamation for suppressing rebellion, preventing seditious correspondences, et cetera. Wilkes, as lord mayor, received orders to have this proclamation read in the usual manner at the Royal Exchange. He refused full obedience, by causing it to be read by an inferior officer, attended only by a common crier; disallowing the officers the use of horses, and prohibiting the city mace to be carried before them. The vast assembly that gathered to hear the reading replied with a hiss of scorn. A few days afterward the respectful petition of the Continental Congress was laid before the king by Richard Penn. Earl Dartmouth soon informed Penn that the king had resolved to take no notice of it; and again the public mind was greatly agitated, particularly in London, at what was denominated "another blow at British liberty." The strict silence of ministers on the subject of this petition gave color to the charge that they had a line of policy marked out, from which no action of the Americans could induce them to deviate short of absolute submission. The Duke of Richmond determined to have this silence broken, and procured an examination of Governor Penn before the House of Lords. That examination brought to light many facts relative to the strength and union of the colonics which ministers would gladly have concealed. It revealed the truth that implicit obedience The enemy for the first time put to flight." The exergue under the device-BOSTONIUM RECUPERATUM XVII MARTII MDCCLXXVI;" "Boston recovered, 17th March, 1776." 1 Pictorial History of England, v., 235. 2 It was about this time that the celebrated John Horne Tooke, a vigorous writer and active politician, was involved in a proceeding which, in November, 1775, caused him to receive a sentence of imprisonment for one year, pay a fine of one thousand dollars, and find security for his good behavior for three years. His alleged crime was "a libel upon the king's troops in America.” The libel was contained in an advertisement, signed by him, from the CONSTITUTIONAL SOCIETY (supposed to be revolutionary in its character), respecting the Americans. That society called the Lexington affair a "murder," and agreed that the sum of five hundred dollars should be raised "to be applied to the relief of the widows, orphans, and aged parents of our beloved American fellow-subjects" who had preferred death to slavery. This was a set-off against subscriptions then being raised in England for the widows and orphans of the British soldiers who had perished. The sum raised by this society was sent to Dr. Franklin, who, as we have seen, paid it over to the proper committee, when he visited the army at Cambridge, in October, under the direction of Congress. Out of the circumstance of Horne Tooke's imprisonment arose his letter to Counselor Dunning, which formed the basis of his subsequent philological work, The Diversions of Purley, published in 1780. Strength of the Americans. Political Change in the London Common Council. Persecution of Stephen Sayre. to Congress was paid by all classes of men; that in Pennsylvania alone there were twenty thousand effective men enrolled for military service, and four thousand minute men; that the Pennsylvanians perfectly understood the art of making gunpowder; that the art of casting cannon had been carried to great perfection in the colonies; that small arms were also manufactured in the best manner;' that the language of Congress was the voice of the people; that the people considered the petition as an olive branch; and that so much did the Americans rely upon its effect, that if rejected, or treated with scorn, they would abandon all hope of a reconciliation. On the 11th of October an address, memorial, and petition, signed by eleven hundred and seventy-one "gentlemen, merchants, and traders of London," was laid before his majesty, in which it was charged that all the troubles in America, and consequent injury to trade, arose from the bad policy pursued by Parliament; and the new proposition which had just leaked out, to employ foreign soldiers against the Americans, was denounced in unmeasured terms. A counter petition, signed by nine hundred and twenty citizens of London, was presented three days afterward, in which the conduct of the colonists was severely censured. This was followed by another on the same side, signed by ten hundred and twenty-nine persons, including the livery of London, who, a few months previously, under Wilkes, had spoken out so boldly against government. This address glowed with loyalty to the king and indignation against the rebels! Like petitions from the provincial towns, procured by ministerial agency, came in great numbers, and the government, feeling strengthened at home, contemplated the adoption of more stringent measures to be pursued in America. Suspected per. sons in England were closely watched, and several were arraigned to answer various charges against them." Lord North became the idol of the government party, and, in addition to being fêted by the nobility, and thoroughly bespattered with fulsome adulation by corporate bodies and the ministerial press, the University of Oxford had a medal struck in his honor. MEDAL STRUCK IN HONOR OF LORD NORTH. ACAD: OXON Parliament assembled on the 26th of October, much earlier than common, on ac1775. count of the prevalent disorders. The king, in his speech at the opening,' after mentioning the rebellious position of the American colonies, expressed (as he had done before) his determination to act decisively. He alleged that the course of government hitherto had been moderate and forbearing! but now, as the rebellion seemed to be general, and the ob I have in my possession a musket manufactured here in 1774, that date being engraved upon the breech. It is quite perfect in its construction. It was found on the battle field of Hubbardton, in Vermont, and was in the possession of the son of an American officer (Captain Barber) who was in that action. See page 146, of this volume. On the 23d of October (1775), Stephen Sayre, a London banker, an American by birth, was arrested on a charge of high treason, made against him by a sergeant in the Guard (also a native of America), named Richardson. He charged Sayre with having asserted that he and others intended to seize the king on his way to Parliament, to take possession of the town, and to overturn the present government. Sayre was known to be a friend to the patriots, and on this charge Lord Rochford, one of the secretaries of state, caused his papers to be seized and himself to be arrested. Sayre was committed to the Tower, from which he was released by Lord Mansfield, who granted a writ of habeas corpus. Sayre was subsequently tried and acquitted. He prosecuted Lord Rochford for seizing his papers, and the court awarded him a conditional verdict of five thousand dollars damages. The conditions proved a bar to the recovery of the money, and Sayre was obliged to suffer a heavy pecuniary loss in costs, besides the personal indignity. 3 This is the speech alluded to in the beginning of this chapter, which the British officers in Boston sup. posed had produced a determination on the part of the Americans to submit Tenor of the King's Speech. His false Hopes. Warm Debates in Parliament. Duke of Grafton in opposition. jects of the insurgents an independency of empire, they must be treated as rebels. He informed Parliament that he had increased the naval establishment, and greatly augmented the land forces, "yet in such a manner as to be least expensive or burdensome to the kingdom." This was in reference to the employment of German troops, which I shall presently notice. He professed a desire to temper his severity with mercy, and for this purpose pioposed the appointment of commissioners to offer the olive branch of peace and pardon tɔ all offenders among the unhappy and deluded multitude" who should sue for forgiveness, as well as for whole communities or provinces. He also expressed a hope that his friendly relations with other European governments would prevent any interference on their part with his plans.1 The address of Parliament responsive to the king's speech was, of course, but an echo of that document. It was firmly opposed by all the old leaders of opposition, and the management of the summer campaign in America was severely commented upon. Ministers were charged with placing their sovereign in a most contemptible position before the world, and with wresting from him the scepter of colonial power in the West. "They have acted like fools in their late summer campaign," said Colonel Barré. "The British army at Boston," he said, " is a mere wen-an excrescence on the vast continent of America. Certain defeat awaits it. Not the Earl of Chatham, nor Frederic the Great, nor even Alexander the Great, ever gained so much in one campaign as ministers have lost." They have lost a whole continent," said Fox; and at the same time he characterized North as " the blundering pilot who had brought the vessel of state into its present difficulties." "It is a horrible idea, that the Americans, our brethren, shall be brought into submission to ministerial will by fleets and armies," said General Conway; and other members were equally severe upon ministers. In the Upper House, the Duke of Grafton, Lords Shelburne, Camden, Richmond, Gower, and Cavendish, and the Marquis of Rockingham, took decided ground against ministers. Chatham was very ill, and could not leave his country seat. The Duke of Grafton, one of the minority, was bold in his denunciations, and in the course of an able speech declared that he had been greatly deceived in regard to the Americans, and that nothing short of a total repeal of every act obnoxious to the colonists passed since 1763 could now restore peace. The Cabinet, of course, did not concur with his grace, and he resigned the seals of office, and took a decided stand with the opposition. Dr. Hinchcliffe, bishop of Peterborough, followed Grafton, and also became identified with the opposition. Thurlow and Wedderburne were North's chief supporters. The address was carried in both houses by large majorities. November 16, 1775. Burke again attempted to lead ministers into a path of cornmon sense and common justice, by proposing a conciliatory bill. It included a proposition to repeal the Boston Port Bill; a promise not to tax America; a general amnesty; and the calling of a Congress by royal authority for the adjustment of remaining difficulties. North was rather pleased with the proposition, for he foresaw heavy breakers ahead in the course 1 The king did not reckon wisely when he relied upon the implied or even expressed promises of nonintervention on the part of other powers. He had made application to all the maritime powers of Europe to prevent their subjects from aiding the rebel colonies by sending them arms or ammunition; and they all professed a friendship for England, while, at the same time, she was the object of their bitterest jealousy and hate, on account of her proud commercial eminence and political sway. The court of Copenhagen (Denmark) had issued an edict on the 4th of October against carrying warlike articles to America. The Dutch, soon afterward, took similar action; the punishment for a violation of the edict being a fine of only four hundred and fifty dollars, too small to make shipping merchants long hesitate about the risk where such enormous profits were promised. In fact, large quantities of gunpowder were soon afterward shipped to America from the ports of Holland in glass bottles invoiced "gin." France merely warned the people that what they did for the Americans they must do upon their own risk, and not expect a release from trouble, if they should get into any, by the French admiralty courts. Spain flatly refused to issue any order. His office of Lord of the Privy Seal was given to Lord Dartmouth, and the office of that nobleman was filled by his opponent, Lord George Germaine—“the proud, imperious, unpopular Sackville." Germaine had taken an active part in favor of all the late coercive measures, and he was considered the fit instrument to carry out the plans of goverment toward the Americans, in the capacity of Colonial Secretary. |