Gen. Gage's administration of less than a year and a half in the "Province
of Massachusetts Bay," for he never had any government over the province
other than military, was prolific in proclamations, some of which are
rather curious. On the 1st of June, 1774, by order of Parliament and the
King, Boston Harbor was closed and possessed by ships of the British navy.
Nothing could enter or leave the port: wood as fuel could not be brought
from the islands, or merchandise or lumber removed from wharf to wharf by
water; nothing whatever could be water borne within a circle of sixty
miles, either to arrive or depart. At the same time British troops held
the town; and the government, such as it was, was removed to Salem, where
the General Court reassembled on the 7th of June. At this session, on the
17th, as the result of arrangements made by Samuel Adams and his
fellow-patriots, five delegates were chosen to represent the colony in the
proposed Continental Congress, at Philadelphia. As soon as these
proceedings, while yet in progress, reached Gen. Gage's ears by a tricky
tory, who got out of the hall by feigning a call of nature, he issued his
first proclamation, which Mr. Secretary Flucker, as he found the door
locked and could not get into the chamber, had to read on the stairs, as
follows:--
"Province of MASSACHUSETTS-BAY.
By the GOVERNOR.
"A PROCLAMATION for dissolving the General-Court.
"WHEREAS the Proceedings of the House of Representatives, in the
present Session of the General Court, make it necessary, for his
Majesty's Service, that the said General Court should be dissolved:--
"I have therefore thought fit to dissolve the said General Court, and
the same is hereby dissolved accordingly, and the Members thereof are
discharged from any further Attendance.
"GIVEN under my Hand at Salem, the 17th Day of June, 1774, in the
Fourteenth Year of his Majesty's Reign.
By his Excellency's Command,}
} T. GAGE.
THO'S FLUCKER, Secretary. }
"GOD SAVE THE KING."
Gen. Gage's next proclamation was against the existence of the famous
"Committee of Correspondence," which Samuel Adams had originated, and the
"solemn league and covenant" "to suspend all commercial intercourse with
the island of Great Britain," &c. And "in tenderness to the inhabitants of
this province," he issued this proclamation of warning.
Then, as if to cap the climax of pretension and folly, not to say
hypocrisy, on the 25th of July, while he relied upon the counsels and
efforts of the tory party, issued what may be called a very curious
proclamation, such as possibly, under some circumstances, might have been
issued by Gov. Endicott, in the early days of New England Puritanism; but
the Puritans had long before this time passed out of power. The following
is the proclamation:--