the partizans of the crown in America, endeavored by their correspondence, to induce the ministry to persevere in their oppressive measures, and represented in the strongest terms, that the interruption of commerce was only an effort of desperation, which could not last long. They advised the ministry, to purchase large quantities of goods, designed for the American market, and also to allow the merchants engaged in the American trade, a premium equal to the profits of their stock in business. "If these measures are adopted," said Mr. Oliver, secretary in Massachusetts, in one of his letters," the game will soon be up with my countrymen."

The assembly which convened at Boston in May, set several weeks without doing any business, as they refused to act as long as an armed force was quartered in the town, and surrounded the house where they were in session; they were finally adjourned to Cambridge. They sent several messages to the governor to have the troops removed, but after evading the matter for some time, he declared that he had no authority over the king's troops; thus admitting that the military was above the civil power in the province. Governor Bernard sent a provoking message, stating the expenditures of quartering the troops on the town, and requesting that provision be made for the payment of the same, and also for their future support; the assembly were thus called on to maintain the instruments by which they were to be oppressed and enslaved. But instead of complying with this request, they passed several spirited resolutions, censuring the conduct of the governor and General Gage, for their rash and oppressive measures, their wanton violations of the constitution, the introduction of a standing army in time of peace, and their encroachments on the liberties of the citizens and of the province. The governor had received an order to repair to England, and lay before the king the state of the colony; which he communicated to the assembly, with a request that his salary might be continued during his absence, as his office would remain. But the assembly informed him in decided terms, that they could not comply with either of his requests. On receiving this answer, he immediately, after a short, angry, and threatening speech, prorogued the legislature. He soon after set sail for Europe, then little thinking that he should never return to a country that by his violent temper and arbitrary conduct, he had brought to the brink of civil war. His reception at court convinced the Americans of the truth of what they feared, that the governor had been sent for, as a mischievous emissary, rather than for an impartial inquiry into the real situation of the province, or an investigation of his own conduct.

Thomas Hutchinson, the lieutenant-governor, was appointed to succeed Governor Bernard. Hutchinson was a native of Boston, and had run a career of popularity; whilst, however, he was courting the people at home, he was not less assiduous in ingratiating himself into the favor of the British government, by misrepresenting his countrymen. He was artful and plausible, and possessed of popular talents; but was insidious, dark, intrigu ing and ambitious; and the extreme of avarice marked every

feature of his character. His appointment was announced at the close of the year 1769. He immediately assumed a more haughty tone, and aimed at more high handed measures than his predecessor, and commenced his administration by informing the assembly that he was independent of them and the people, as his majesty had made provision for his salary. Secure of the favor of his sovereign, he treated the people and the assembly with contempt, and answered their repeated solicitations to remove the troops from the capital, by withdrawing the garrison from a strong fortress in the harbor of Boston, who were in the pay of the province, and replacing them by two regiments of the king's troops. The ebullitions of popular feeling, were so high as to occasion great alarm with the leading patriots, that it would break out into acts of violence, which might injure the cause of the people. The miserable minions of power in America, endeavored to promote this result, and openly avowed," that the only method to restore tranquillity, was to take off the original incendiaries, whose writings had instilled the poison of sedition into the people." James Otis, the most active, bold and influential patriot of the day, having published under his proper signature, some severe strictures on the conduct of the officers of the crown, was assaulted in a public room, by a band of hired ruffians, with swords and bludgeons; and being covered with wounds, was left for dead. The assassins made their escape, and took refuge on board the king's ships in the harbor. Mr. Otis survived, but the lamp of his understanding which had glowed with such effulgence, was overcast with clouds and darkness. Mr. John Adams says that be "laid the foundation of the American revolution, with an energy, and with those masterly talents which no other man possessed;" and he is justly considered as the first martyr to American liberty.

The insults which the inhabitants constantly experienced, from the soldiers, increased their animosity towards them to such a degree, as to lead to violence and blood-shed. On the second of March, 1770, an affray took place between a party of soldiers of the 29th regiment, and some rope-makers, in front of Mr. Gray's rope-walk. This was followed by a more alarming outrage on the 5th: the indignant populace pressed upon and insulted the soldiers, while under arms, and assailed them with clubs, sticks and snow-balls, covering stones. Being dared to fire by the mob, six of the soldiers discharged their muskets, which killed three of the citizens, and wounded five others. The effect of this was electric; the town was instantly in commotion, and the mass of the people were so exasperated, that it required the utmost exertions to prevent their rallying and driving the British myrmidons out of town; and nothing but an assurance that the troops should be withdrawn, prevented this resort to force. The captain of the party and eight men were brought to trial; two of the men were found guilty; the captain and the other men were acquitted. A general meeting of the inhabitants as immediately assembled in Faneuil Hall, who unanimously ved that no armed force should be suffered longer to reside

in the capital; and a committee was appointed to wait on the governor, and request the immediate removal of the troops. The governor refused to act, under pretence of want of authority but Colonel Dalrymple, alarmed at the state of things, proposed to withdraw the 29th regiment, which was more culpable than any other; but he was informed that not a soldier should be left in town; he was reluctantly compelled to comply, and within four days not a Red-coat remained. This tragical affair produced the deepest impressions on the minds of the people; and the anniversary of the massacre of the 5th of March, 1770, was commemorated for many years, and orations delivered, which unfolded the blessings of civil liberty, the horrors of slavery, the dangers of standing armies, and the rights of the colonies. These annual orations administered fuel to the fire of liberty, and kept it burning with an incessant flame, and in no small degree promoted the cause of the colonies, in a manner that served to give a deeper glow to the flame of liberty. In the spring of 1773, the schooner Gaspee was stationed at Providence, to prevent smuggling; and the conduct of the commander having exasperated the inhabitants, two hundred men entered on board the schooner at night, and compelled the captain and crew to go ashore, and then set fire to the vessel. The government offered a reward of five hundred pounds, for the apprehension of any of the persons engaged in this outrage; but such was the spirit and unanimity of the people, that this pecuniary inducement pro duced no effect, and the authors of the outrage could not be discovered. About this period, the letters of Governor Hutchinson and Mr. Oliver, to their friends in England, urging the government to adopt more decisive and vigorous measures, to coerce the colonies into submission, were discovered and sent back to America by Dr. Franklin, which, being published by the assem bly of Massachusetts, greatly contributed to inflame the public mind, and exasperate the people against these officers of the crown, who were justly charged with having shamefully betrayed their trust, and the people, whose rights it was their duty vigilantly to guard. Whilst the other duties were repealed, that on tea was retained, for the sole and avowed object of maintaining the power, which parliament had asserted, of collecting a revenue in America. The ministerial scheine was cunning and artful; but did not, in the least degree, deceive the vigilance of the Americans. The object was to cheat the colonies out of their rights, by collecting an indirect, imperceptible duty, little more than nominal in amount, which, however, if acquiesced in, would have been an admission of the principle or right of Britain to raise a revenue in America. It was an attempt to obtain, covertly and by fraud, what they had attempted, but failed to obtain, openly by force. In the first place, measures were adopted, openly and explicitly, for taxing the colonies, the duties to be paid directly by the consumer; but being unable to enforce this act, it is repealed, accompanied with a declaration of the right of parliament to tax the Americans, in all cases whatsoever. This naked assertion of a right, when the application of it had

been attempted and abandoned, did not give the Americans much concern they would not have cared, if the British had kept that assertion of a right to do wrong on their statute-book, as long as the two countries existed, provided they had not attempted to exercise their assumed right. But the advocates of American taxation seemed to be sensible, that the bare assertion of a right, after an unsuccessful attempt to enforce it, would amount to but little, and that conclusions, obviously following the abandonment of the first attempt to tax the Americans, would be left in their full force. Under the circumstances in which the two countries were placed, therefore, the right must be enforced, or it must be considered as virtually abandoned. But this had been once attempted, without success; a more ingenious mode, therefore, must be devised, or one less likely to give alarm to the colonies. The stamp duties were a direct tax, as the duty constituted the entire value of the sum paid; but a trifling impost would not be perceived, as the duty would scarcely make any sensible difference in the price of the article. The bitter pill, which it was intended to make the colonies swallow, was gilded with sugar. The duty was more artfully disguised, than a simple impost. It was, in fact, no additional burden on the consumers of tea, it being only a different mode of collecting the duty which had before been paid; yet this alteration of the mode involved the right and power of parliament to establish a revenue system in America. According to the former regulations, the teas of the India Company were first brought to England, where a duty was paid before they were sent to the colonies. The scheme was merely to change the place and mode of collecting the duty; it was to be paid in America, instead of England; for which purpose custom regulations were established, and officers appointed. A duty of three pence on a pound of tea, would not be felt by the people, and this, or rather a greater duty, had been paid before in England; so that, instead of the burdens of the people being increased, they were rather lightened by this new regulation. So artfully disguised was this scheme. It is a maxim with many politicians, and too generally correct, that the people will not be alarmed or excited by any principle, however it may be fraught with danger; that they must feel and suffer, before their fears will arouse them into action. But this maxim did not hold true with the Americans; they saw the danger, and resolved to resist, at the hazard of their lives, a principle, calculated to undermine the foundation of their liberties,; although its operation at the time was not felt, in the slightest degree. The resistance of the Americans to the scheme of collecting a duty on tea in America, instead of England, was the resistance of the principle which that scheme involved, solely; as no additional burden was thereby imposed on the people. It is believed that this is the only instance in history, of an entire people being roused to resistance, from measures which were not burdensome or oppressive in their immediate operations, and dangerous only from the principle on which they were founded. This consider

n affords the highest evidence of the intelligence of the Amer

icans, as well as of their extreme jealousy and vigilance, in guarding their rights. That the experienced politician should foresee the ultimate design and tendency of measures, not immediately oppressive, is natural enough; but that the common people, or rather that the entire population of a country should be aroused to resistance, on account of measures not burdensome or oppressive, but dangerous only from the principle on which they were founded, is unparalleled. It is not, however, to be supposed that the colonists would have been so alarmed and aroused to such a spirit of resistance, by the new regulations as to tea, had it not been for the previous measures of the parent country, evincing, in the clearest manner, a settled design to exercise the power of taxation over them. They considered the new regulations as to tea, as an artful and disguised revenue system, although it imposed no additional duty, and they were determined not to be cheated out of their liberties, as they had before resolved not to be frightened out of them.

Measures were immediately adopted to prevent the introduction of the tea into the country, so as to avoid the payment of the duty; and such was the strength and unanimity of public opinion, that without the aid of law, or rather in opposition to law, they were enabled to render their measures efficient, solely by the force of public sentiment, although measures of all others the most difficult to enforce, as interfering both with the intererests and the established habits of the people. In most of the towns from New-Hampshire to Georgia, the people assembled and resolved to discontinue the use of tea, which was now regarded as an herb, (however agreeable as a beverage,) noxious to the political constitution. In the large commercial towns, regulations were adopted to prevent the landing of the tea; committees were appointed to inspect merchant's books, propose tests, and to make use of other means to defeat the designs of Britain. Where it could be done, the consignees of the teas, were persuaded or compelled to resign, or to bind themselves not to act in that capacity. The cargo sent to South-Carolina, was stored, the consignees being constrained to enter into an engagement not to offer any for sale; and in many of the colonies, the ships were compelled to return without discharging their cargoes. So vigorously were these measures enforced, that during one year, eighty-five pound was the whole amount of duties received. The teas consumed in the colonies, were principally smuggled into the country, by the Dutch and French, who were favored by the inhabitants in evading the revenue laws. During the four or five years that the new system had been in existence, very trifling quantities of teas had been introduced into the colonies, and instead of the restrictive measures being realxed as was expected in England, they increased in vigor and efficacy, and the quantity of tea introduced had constantly diminished.

As had been the case with other matters, of difference between the two countries, the principle struggle, growing out of the regulations as to tea, occurred at Boston. The other provinces had avoided the alternative which was reserved for this, of ei