{GEORGE III. 1775–1776}
Debates on America..... Pacific Measure of Lord North.....
Burke’s Plan of Conciliation..... Close of the Session.....
Petition of the City of London..... Departure of
Franklin..... Proceedings of the Americans..... Expedition
to seize Stores at Salem..... Affair at Lexington, etc......
Meeting of the Assemblies and General Congress..... Battle
of Bunker’s Hill..... General Washington..... Expedition
against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, etc,..... Expedition
against Canada..... Disposition and Revolt of the
Virginians..... Conduct of Congress towards New York,
etc...... Proceedings in England..... Prosecution and Trial
of Home Tooke, etc...... Meeting-of Parliament..... Changes
in the Ministry..... The Militia Bill..... The Navy and
Land Estimates..... Petition of Nova Scotia..... Petition
of Congress..... Motions of the Duke of Grafton..... The
Land-tax increased..... Burke’s Second Conciliatory
Motion..... Lord North’s Prohibitory bill.
{A.D. 1775}
DEBATES ON AMERICA.
During the Christmas recess, ministers had received more alarming
intelligence from America, coming down to the seizure of Fort William
and Mary by the people of New Hampshire, as previously recorded. When
parliament again met, therefore, which was on the 20th of January, the
affairs of America became the prominent subject of discussion. Before
that day it had been concerted between the Earl of Chatham and his
friends that he should make one of his grand displays on the subject in
the house of lords. After the minister had laid some important
documents respecting the state of the colonies before the house, Chatham
accordingly rose. He commenced by condemning all that the ministers had
done, and by reproving them for their tardiness in communicating the
American papers. He then congratulated their lordships upon the fact
that the business was at last entered upon, by the noble lords laying
these papers before them, and expressing a supposition that their
contents were well known, he next made this motion: “That an humble
address be presented to his majesty, to desire and beseech that, in
order to open the way towards a happy settlement of the dangerous
troubles in America, by beginning to allay ferments and soften
animosities there; and, above all, for preventing, in the mean time, any
sudden and fatal catastrophe at Boston, now suffering under the daily
irritation of an army before their eyes, posted in their town; it may
graciously please his majesty that immediate orders be dispatched to
General Gage, for removing his majesty’s forces from the town of
Boston, as soon as the rigour of the season and other circumstances
indispensable to the safety and accommodation of the said troops may
render the same practicable.” In continuation, Chatham proceeded to
discuss the whole question: a question which, he said, demanded instant
attention, as an hour lost might produce years of calamity. He remarked:
“I will not desert for a single moment the conduct of this weighty
business; unless nailed to my bed by extremity of sickness, I will give
it my unremitted attention. I will knock at the door of this sleeping
and confounded ministry, and will rouse them to a sense of their
impending danger. When I state the importance of the colonies, and the
magnitude of the danger hanging over this country from the present
plan of mis-administration practised against them, I desire not to be
understood to argue for a reciprocity of indulgence between England
and America. I contend not for indulgence but justice to America; and I
shall ever contend, that the Americans justly owe obedience to us in
a limited degree; they owe obedience to our ordinances of trade and
navigation. But let the line be skilfully drawn between the objects of
those ordinances and their private internal property; let the sacredness
of their property remain inviolate; let it be taxed only by their own
consent, given in their provincial assemblies, else it will cease to be
property. As to the metaphysical refinements, attempting to show that
the Americans are equally free from obedience and commercial restraints
as from taxation of revenue, being unrepresented here, I pronounce them
futile, frivolous, and groundless. Resistance to your acts was necessary
as it was just; and your vain declaration of the omnipotence of
parliament, and your imperious doctrines of the necessity of
submission, will be found equally impotent to convince or enslave your
fellow-subjects in America, who feel that tyranny, whether ambitioned by
an individual part, of the legislature or by the bodies who compose
it, is equally intolerable to British subjects.” Chatham next drew a
startling yet not unfaithful picture of the army of General Gage, which
he represented as placed in a dangerous position, as being penned up and
pining in inglorious inactivity, and as being alike an army of impotence
and contempt, as well as of irritation and vexation. He then proceeded
to declare that activity would be even worse than this inglorious
inactivity, and that the first drop of blood shed in this civil and
unnatural war would produce an incurable wound. Chatham next, by a
strange infatuation, extolled the congress of Philadelphia for its
decency, firmness, and wisdom, and even maintained that it was more wise
than the assemblies of ancient Greece! He remarked:—“I must declare and
avow, that in all my reading—and it has been my favourite study, and I
have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master-states of
the world—for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of
conclusion, under such a complication of difficult circumstances, no
nation or body of men can stand in preference to the general congress at
Philadelphia!” If Chatham did not take this view of the proceedings of
the congress of Philadelphia out of sheer opposition to the existing
administration, which it was his pleasure always to gall and oppose,
then he must have been miserably blinded by the half-speaking papers,
which no man in his senses could misinterpret, and which that congress
had issued. Having passed this strange eulogium on that body, Chatham
next called upon ministers to retract now that they might do it with a
good grace, and asserted that they had derived their information from
wrong sources, from selfish merchants, packers, and factors, and such
servile classes of Americans, whose strength and stamina were not worthy
to be compared with the cultivators of the land, in whose simplicity
of life was to be found the simpleness of virtue, and the integrity of
courage and freedom. He continued: “These true genuine sons of the earth
are invincible. They surround and hem in the mercantile bodies, and if
it were proposed to desert the cause of liberty, they would virtuously
exclaim, ‘If trade and slavery are companions, we quit trade; let trade
and slavery seek other shores; they are not for us!’ This resistance to
your arbitrary taxation might have been foreseen: it was obvious from
the nature of things and of mankind; but above all, from the Whiggish
spirit flourishing in that country. The spirit which now resists
your taxation in America, is the same which formerly opposed loans,
benevolences, and ship-money in England: the same spirit which called
all England on its legs, and by the Bill of Rights vindicated the
constitution; the same principle which established the great fundamental
and essential maxim of our liberties, that no subject of England shall
be taxed but by his own consent. This glorious spirit of whiggism
animates three millions in America, who prefer poverty with liberty, to
gilded chains and sordid affluence, and who will die in defence of their
rights as men—as freemen.” Chatham enlarged greatly upon this glorious
spirit of Whiggism displayed on both sides of the Atlantic, asserting
that it would finally compel the ministers not only to abandon their
present measures and principles, however many noses they might count on
a division, but to hide their heads in shame. He continued: “They cannot
my lords, they cannot stir a step; they have not a move left; they are
check-mated. It is not repealing this or that act of parliament—it
is not repealing a piece of parchment—that can restore America to our
bosom; you must repeal her fears and her resentments, and you may then
hope for her love and gratitude. But now, insulted by an armed force at
Boston, irritated by a hostile array before her eyes, her concessions,
if they could be forced, would be suspicious and insecure; they will be
_irato animo_, not sound honourable factions of freemen, but dictates
of fear and extortions of force. It is, however, more than evident, you
cannot force them, principled and united as they are, to your unworthy
terms of submission. It is impossible.” Having been pathetic on
General Gage in one part of his speech, Chatham now was witty upon him,
comparing him with the great General Condé, who upon being asked why
he did not capture his adversary Turenne, replied, that he was afraid
Turenne would take him. Chatham then contended that nothing was left
but to withdraw the troops from Boston, and to repeal all the acts of
parliament. This, he imagined, might satisfy the Americans, and have the
effect of binding them to an acknowledgment of our sovereignty, and our
rights to regulate their navigation and commerce. Concessions, he said,
must be made at some time or other, and they had better be made now,
when they might do it as became their dignity. He concluded his speech
thus:—“Every danger impends to deter you from perseverance in the
present ruinous measures. Foreign war is hanging over your heads by a
slight and brittle thread. France and Spain are watching your conduct,
and waiting for the maturity of your errors. If ministers thus persevere
in misadvising and misleading the king, I will not say they can alienate
the affections of his subjects from the crown; but I will affirm, that
they make the crown not worth his wearing; I will not say the king is
betrayed, but I will pronounce the kingdom undone.” Chatham’s motion was
supported by the Duke of Richmond, the Marquess of Rockingham, the Earl
of Shelburne, and Lord Camden, who were, however, not fully agreed as to
the propriety of recalling the troops, and who seem to have considered
that proper concessions had not been made by the people of Boston, and
that concessions made on the part of the British government on previous
occasions had been misinterpreted in America, and had told to our
disadvantage. On the other hand, the motion was opposed by the Earls of
Suffolk, Rochford, and Gower, Viscounts Weymouth and Townshend, and
Lord Lyttleton, who defended the recent acts of parliament, vindicated
the legislative supremacy of parliament, and controverted the eulogy
passed on the American congress, maintaining rightly that its acts and
resolutions savoured strongly of a rebellious spirit. In the course
of their arguments it was said that all conciliating means had proved
ineffectual, or had only tended to increase the disorders; that if we
gave way now from notions of present advantages in trade and commerce,
such a yielding would defeat its own object, as the Navigation Act, and
all other acts regulating trade, would inevitably fall victims to the
interested and ambitious views of the colonists. This was a cogent
argument, and Chatham rose to reply to it. He remarked, “If the noble
lord should prove correct in suggesting that the views of the Americans
are ultimately directed to abrogate the Act of Navigation and the
other regulating acts, so wisely calculated to promote a reciprocity
of interests, and to advance the grandeur and prosperity of the whole
empire, no person present, however zealous, would be readier than myself
to resist and crush their endeavours; but to arrive at any certain
knowledge of the real sentiments of the Americans, it would first be
proper to do them justice—to treat them like subjects before we
condemn them as aliens and traitors.” Chatham then went over some of his
previous arguments, especially contending that the right of taxing-was
not included in legislation, and that sovereignty and supremacy did not
imply that we could touch the money of the Americans, except by measures
of trade and commerce. The motion was negatived by a majority of 68
against 18.
In submitting this motion to the house, the Earl of Chatham said that
he had prepared a plan for healing all differences between England and
America! This plan he afterwards submitted to Franklin, with whom he had
recently much communication, and on Wednesday, the 1st of February, he
submitted it to the house. He called it “A Provisional Bill for settling
the Troubles in America, and for asserting the supreme legislative
Authority and superintending Power of Great Britain over the Colonies.”
In the speech made on this occasion, lie said, he offered this bill as a
basis of measures for averting the dangers which threatened the British
empire, and expressed a hope that it would obtain the approbation of
both sides of the house. In stating the urgent necessity of such a
measure, he represented England and America as drawn up in martial
array, waiting for the signal to engage in a contest, in which it was
little matter for whom victory declared, as the ruin of both parties
was certain. He stood forth, he said, from a principle of duty and
affection, to act as a mediator. In doing so, he represented that he
would hold the scales of justice even-handed. He remarked, “No regard
for popularity, no predilection for his country, not the high esteem
he entertained for America on the one hand, nor the unalterable steady
regard he entertained for the dignity of Great Britain on the other,
should at all influence his conduct; for though he loved the Americans
as men prizing and setting the just value on that inestimable blessing,
liberty, yet if he could once bring himself to believe that they
entertained the most distant intentions of throwing off the legislative
supremacy and great constitutional superintending power and control of
the British legislature, he should be the very person himself who would
be the first and most zealous mover for securing and enforcing that
power by every possible exertion this country was capable of making.”
Chatham concluded by entreating the house to revise and correct the
bill, and to reduce it to that form which was suited to the dignity and
importance of the subject; and by declaring that he was actuated by no
narrow principle or personal consideration, for though his bill might be
looked upon as one of concession, it was likewise one of assertion. The
bill which Chatham proposed was briefly to the following effect: That
the parliament of Great Britain had full power to bind America in all
matters touching the weal of the whole dominion of the crown of Great
Britain, and especially in making laws for the regulation of navigation
and trade throughout the complicated system of British commerce, etc.;
that it should be declared that no military force could ever be lawfully
employed to destroy the best rights of the people, while at the same
time the authority of sending troops to the colonies of the British
dominions should be maintained, independent of the voice of the
provincial assemblies in the colonies; that no taxes for his majesty’s
revenue should be levied in America without consent of the provincial
assemblies; that the congress of Philadelphia should be legalized and
empowered to meet again on the 9th of May ensuing, for the purpose
of making due recognition of the supreme legislative authority and
superintending power over the colonies, and of voting a free grant to
the crown of a certain perpetual revenue, etc.; that the prayer of the
petition of congress should then be granted, and that the powers of
admiralty and vice-admiralty courts in America should be confined to
their ancient limits, and the trial by jury in civil cases should be
restored wherever they had been abolished, etc.; that all the recent
acts of parliament which had been the cause of the agitation in America
should be forthwith suspended; and that, in order to secure due and
impartial administration in the colonies, his majesty’s judges in the
courts of law, who were appointed in America by the crown with salaries,
should hold their offices and salaries in the same manner as his
majesty’s judges in England; _quamdiu se benè gesserint_. The bill which
Chatham introduced concluded thus: “And it is here by further declared
that the colonies in America are justly entitled to the privileges,
franchises, and immunities granted by their several charters or
constitutions; and that the said charters or constitutions ought not
to be invaded or resumed, unless for misuser, or some legal ground of
forfeiture. So shall a true reconcilement avert impending calamities,
and this most solemn national accord between Great Britain and her
colonies stand an everlasting monument clemency and magnanimity in the
benignant father of his people; of wisdom and moderation in this great
nation, famed for humanity as for valour; and of fidelity and grateful
affection from brave and loyal colonies to their parent kingdom, which
will ever protect and cherish them.”
There is full evidence that Chatham, in bringing such a bill as
this before the house—a bill which was rather theoretical than
practical—did not expect that it would be adopted. In a consultation
over the bill between himself and Franklin, after certain suggestions
made by the philosopher, none of which were adopted, he said that there
was not time to make alterations and another fair copy; that neither
of them expected it would be adopted; and that it might be afterwards
amended. On the part of Franklin, no desire seems to have existed in
his mind for its adoption. What he chiefly wanted, was another brilliant
speech from the veteran statesman, that government might be further
embarrassed, and the resistance of the colonies further stimulated. This
appears to have escaped the penetration of Chatham. Sincere himself in
the matter, he thought Franklin also sincere: otherwise there can be no
doubt that he would have spurned him from his door. Franklin, in truth,
took care to throw dust in the eye of Chatham. At a previous interview,
he assured him that he had never heard any person, drunk or sober,
express a wish for the disseveration of the two countries, or hint that
such a thing would be advantageous to America. This he expressly
states in a letter to his son, so that he stands condemned by his own
handwriting of the most gross duplicity for ulterior purposes. It is
pitiable to see a mind so highly gifted as was that of Franklin stoop so
low in a matter of such momentous consequences The eyes of all America
were turned towards him as their champion in England, and had he been
so inclined there is little doubt but he could have procured great
and lasting benefits to his country without the shedding one drop of
precious blood. But his single aim was the dismemberment of the empire.
At the conclusion of Chatham’s speech, the Earl of Dartmouth, secretary
of state for America, moved that the bill should lie on the table, till
the papers referred to the house by his majesty should have been taken
into consideration. On the other hand, the Earl of Sandwich moved that
the bill should be at once rejected with the contempt it deserved. He
could not, he said, believe it was the production of a British peer. It
appeared to him the work of an American, and seeing Franklin leaning on
the bar of the house, he pointed him out as its author, and as one of
the bitterest and most mischievous enemies this country had ever known.
To make any concession at this moment, he said, would be an abandonment
of the whole cause of government, since the one grand aim of the
Americans was absolute independence. At this very time, he asserted
they were courting the trade of other nations, and he stated that he
had letters in his pocket to prove that ships were being-laden at some
European ports with East India produce and European commodities for
America. Lord Sandwich was supported by Earls Gower and Hillsborough,
and the Duke of Grafton, the latter of whom denounced the way in
which the bill had been hurried into the house, as irregular and
unparliamentary. The bill was supported by the Duke of Richmond, the
Earl of Shelburne, and Lord Camden, who analysed the laws proposed to
be repealed with great severity, and pointed out the evils of foreign
interference, and the danger of famine at home, from the discontinuance
of supplies from America. Another party in the house, consisting of the
Duke of Manchester, Earl Temple, and Lord Lyttleton, were for taking a
more moderate course, that is, not to reject the bill thus summarily, on
consideration of the exalted character of its proposer. An angry debate
followed, in the course of which one noble lord mentioned with applause
the candid proposal of a member of the administration for the bill to
lie on the table. But this had the contrary effect to that which the
noble lord intended. Lord Dartmouth instantly rose and said that he had
altered his opinion, and that he could not accept praise offered to him
for candour of which he was now ashamed. The Earl of Chatham rose to
defend both himself and his bill from the numerous attacks which had
been made in the course of the debate. He commenced by avowing that the
bill was the offspring of his own creation, though he had sought the
advice of Franklin. He then attacked his quondam colleague in office,
the Duke of Grafton, with severity, and inveighed against the whole
administration in the most bitter terms. He remarked:—“The noble duke
is extremely angry with me that I did not previously consult him on the
bringing in of the present bill. I would ask the noble lord, does he
consult me? or do I desire to be previously told of any motion he thinks
fit to propose to this house? His grace seems to be much offended at the
manner this bill has been hurried. I am certain he could not be serious,
if he gave himself a minute to consider how the case really stands. Here
we are told that America is in a state of rebellion, and we are now
got to the 1st of February, and no one step is taken to crush this
rebellion: yet such being the case I am charged with hurrying matters;
but whether my conduct may be more justly charged with hurrying this
business into, or his grace with hurrying it out of the house, I believe
requires no great depth of penetration to discover. As to the other
general objections, I presume it will be recollected that the last day
I submitted the proposition about withdrawing the troops, I then
gave notice that I would present in a few days a plan of general
reconciliation. Eleven days have since elapsed and nothing has been
offered by the king’s servants. Under such circumstances of emergency
on one side, when, perhaps, a single day may determine the fate of this
great empire, and such a shameful negligence, total inaction, and want
of ability on the other, what was to be done? No other alternative, in
my opinion, remained, but either to abandon the interests of my country,
and relinquish my duty, or to propose some plan, when ministers by their
inaction and silence owned themselves incapable of proposing any. But
even now let them speak out and tell me that they have a plan to lay
before us, and I will give them an example of candour they are by no
means deserving, by instantly withdrawing the present bill. The indecent
attempt to stifle this measure in embryo may promise consequences the
very reverse of what I am certain will be the case. The friends of the
present motion may flatter themselves that the contents of the bill will
sink into silence and be forgotten; but I believe they will find the
contrary. This bill, though rejected here, will make its way to the
public, to the nation, to the remotest wilds of America: it will in
such a course undergo a deal of cool observation and investigation, and
whatever its merits or demerits may be, it will rise or fall by them
alone; it will, I trust, remain a monument of my poor endeavours
to serve my country, and however faulty or defective, will at least
manifest how zealous I have been to avert the impending storms which
seem ready to burst on it, and for ever overwhelm it in ruin. Yet,
when I consider the whole case as it lies before me, I am not much
astonished, I am not much surprised, that men who hate liberty should
detest those who prize it, or that those who want virtue themselves
should endeavour to persecute those who possess it. Were I disposed to
pursue this theme to the extent that truth would fully bear me out in, I
could demonstrate that the whole of your political conduct has been one
continued series of weakness, temerity, despotism, ignorance,
futility, negligence, and the most notorious servility, incapacity,
and corruption. On reconsideration I must allow you one merit, a strict
attention to your own interests—in that view you appear sound statesmen
and able politicians. You well know that if the present measure should
prevail, that you must instantly relinquish your places. I doubt much
whether you will be able to keep them on any terms; but sure I am
such are your well-known characters and abilities, that any plan of
reconciliation, however moderate, wise, and feasible, must fail in your
hands. Such, then, being your precarious situation, who could wonder
that you should put a negative on any measure which must annihilate your
power, deprive you of your emoluments, and at once reduce you to that
state of insignificance for which God and nature designed you.” Earls
Gower and Hillsborough reprobated this severe language of Chatham, as
calculated to inflame the public mind both here and in the colonies, and
questioned if the noble lord would not, on some future day, if his age
permitted, give another of the many proofs of his versatility, by acting
with the ministers he condemned, and patronising the measures he now
censured. Upon a division, the bill was rejected by a majority of
sixty-one against thirty-two. Its rejection proved a fine theme out of
doors for those adverse to the ministry. A vote of thanks was passed by
the corporation of the city of London to Chatham, for his humane design;
and Franklin enlarged upon the folly and madness of the ministers in
rejecting it, although he had not expressed his approbation of it even
to Chatham himself. He obtained, however, by its introduction what he
most wanted—namely, a subject by means of which he could widen the
breach between America and the “dear old mother country.”
In the meantime debates had taken place in the commons upon various
petitions presented to the house, and especially upon one presented
from Franklin, Bolland, and Lee, who prayed to be examined at the bar in
support of the demands made by the general congress at Philadelphia. A
motion, that this petition should be brought up, was negatived, on the
ground that it would have the appearance of sanctioning the proceedings
of the congress.
On the 2nd of February, Lord North, in the commons, in a committee of
the whole house, moved for an address of thanks to the king for the
communication of the papers. In introducing this motion Lord North
intimated that a large military force was to be sent to America, and
that the foreign commerce of New England and their fishing on the banks
of Newfoundland were to be effectually stopped, until they should return
to their duty. Fox moved an amendment, censuring ministers for having
rather inflamed than healed differences, and praying for their removal.
In doing so he descanted largely on the injustice of the motion for an
address; predicting defeat in America and ruin at home. The amendment
was negatived by a large majority, and, on a second division, the motion
for an address was carried. It was reported on the 6th of February, when
there was another warm debate, in which Wilkes, whose conduct on this
subject was steady and consistent, took part. He remarked:—“Who can
tell whether, in consequence of this day’s violent and mad address, the
scabbard may not be thrown away by the Americans, as well as by us;
and should success attend them, whether, in a few years, they may not
celebrate the glorious era of the revolution of 1775, as we do that
of 1608? Success crowned the generous efforts of our forefathers for
freedom, else they had died on the scaffold as traitors and rebels;
and the period of our history which does us most honour would have been
deemed a rebellion against lawful authority—not a resistance sanctioned
by all the laws of God and man, and the expulsion of a tyrant.” There is
much truth in these observations; but in reply it was observed, that the
present crisis had been produced as much by a zeal for their cause and
a seditious spirit at home, as by the restless spirit of the colonists
themselves; and that, while the proceedings of the Americans evidently
tended to independence, and a future age might perhaps see them
successful, it was the duty of all to unite in preventing the evil day
from arriving at that period, and affixing an indelible stain on that
age. At the commencement of this debate Lord John Cavendish had moved,
that the address should be recommitted, but it was in the end negatived
by two hundred and eighty-eight to one hundred and five.
A conference between the two houses on the address was held on the 7th
of February, after which Lord Dartmouth moved, that the lords should
concur in it; and on this motion the previous question was demanded.
Another warm debate ensued. Lord Mansfield first rose, and, in a
long and argumentative speech, he combated the arguments of those who
maintained that the Americans were merely contending for exemption from
taxation. He next minutely analysed the declarations of congress, and
the acts of parliament of which they complained; in the course of which
he insisted, that to annul any laws, except the acts of taxation, would
be a renunciation of sovereignty. As a lawyer, he declared, from the
documents before the house, that the Americans were already in a state
of rebellion; and he condemned the taxes imposed in the year 1767, as
the origin of the ferment in the colonies, and as tending to injure
British commerce, inasmuch as they had furnished the colonists with
a temptation to smuggle. On the other hand, Lord Camden, as a lawyer,
denied that the Americans were in a state of rebellion, and drew sundry
nice distinctions between actual treason and constructive treason. He
also disclaimed all participation in the law for taxing America, as he
had not been consulted on the subject. The Duke of Grafton complained
of both these lords, and accused Camden of meanness and shuffling, in
endeavouring to screen himself by accusing others; reminding him,
that at the time the act was passed, he was lord-chancellor, and had
signified the royal approbation of the act in his official capacity.
Lord Lyttleton seconded the blow given to the ex-chancellor by his
quondam colleague; but Lord Shelburne acquitted both Camden and the
Duke of Grafton of approving the cabinet scheme for taxing America, and
expressed a hope that public retribution would soon fall upon the author
of the present despotic measures. The Duke of Richmond endeavoured to
show that Lord Mansfield was its foster-parent; and a scene of mutual
recrimination took place between them, in which other noble lords took
an active part. Each one strove to lay the blame upon the shoulders of
their opponents—all feeling that a blunder had been committed, which
was likely to lead to the most disastrous consequences. This stormy
altercation, however, terminated by the house agreeing to the address of
the commons by a majority of nearly four to one. The king’s reply to
the address was accompanied by a message to the commons, recommending an
augmentation to the forces by sea and land; and, in consequence of
this message, 2000 additional seamen and 4,400 soldiers were voted—an
increase altogether inadequate to meet the contingency; especially
as France was at this moment increasing her fleets, and getting many
line-of-battle ships ready for sea, which many members justly looked
upon with suspicion.
In pursuance of his plan, on the 10th of February, Lord North moved for
leave to bring in his bill for cutting off the commerce of New England
and their profitable fishery—excepting such persons as should procure
from their governors certificates of good and loyal conduct, and who
should subscribe a test, acknowledging the supremacy of the British
Parliament. This bill was warmly opposed in both houses, on the grounds
of confounding the innocent with the guilty—of destroying a trade
which perhaps could never be recovered—and of cruelly starving whole
provinces, and thus irritating the Americans to withhold debts due to
the British merchants. In support of the bill it was argued, that as
the Americans had resolved not to trade with England, it was but fair
to prevent their trading with other countries; that as they had
entered into associations to ruin British merchants, impoverish British
manufacturers, and starve our West India islands, it was a justifiable
act of retaliation to return their mischiefs upon their own heads; and
that, if any foreign power had only offered a tithe part of the insults
and injuries we had received from our colonists, the whole nation would
have been aroused to advocate revenge, and the minister who would not
have responded to the demand would have been inevitably ruined. The
charge of cruelty was denied, and the bill asserted to be one of
humanity and mercy as well as of coercion. The colonists had incurred
the penalties of rebellion, and had, therefore, rendered themselves
liable to military execution; but instead of proceeding to such
extremities, government only proposed to bring them back to a sense of
duty, by a restriction on their trade—that is, they were to be kept
without food instead of undergoing corporeal punishment. It was stated,
moreover, that they had too long imposed upon us with their threats of
depriving us of their trade, hoping thereby to bend the legislature to a
compliance with all their demands, until they had completed their plans
for asserting their independence. As for American courage and resources,
they were considered by the ministers and their supporters in both
houses to be unequal to the task of contending with those of England. It
was even wished by Lord Sandwich that the Americans could produce four
times the number of forces it was stated they could bring into the
field; he contending, that the greater the numbers the easier would be
the conquest. He even gravely predicted, that if they did not run
away, they would starve themselves into compliance with the measures
of government, Taking these views of the matter, which were manifestly
erroneous, the bill was sanctioned by large majorities. Another bill
also passed very soon after it, laying similar restraints on the
colonies of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and South
Carolina, for the hostilities they had exhibited in their sympathy with
the people of New England.
PACIFIC MEASURE OF LORD NORTH.
Having adopted such measures as the above, it could hardly be expected
that Lord North would lower his tone. Yet, to the surprise of all
parties, and even of many of his own adherents, Lord North, in a
committee of the whole house, moved the following resolution:—“That
when the governor, council, and assembly, or general court of any of
his majesty’s provinces or colonies, shall propose to make provision for
contributing their proportion to the common defence, such proportion to
be raised under the authority of the general court, or general assembly
of such province or colony, and disposable by parliament; and shall
engage to make provision also for the support of the civil government
and administration of justice in such province or colony, it will be
proper, if such proposal shall be approved by his majesty in parliament,
and for so long as such provision shall be made accordingly, to forbear,
in respect of such province or colony, to levy any duties, tax, or
assessment, or to impose any further duty, tax, or assessment, except
only such duties as it may be expedient to impose for the regulation
of commerce—the net produce of which duties last mentioned shall
be carried to the account of such province, colony, or plantation
exclusively.” Lord North endeavoured to show that this resolution arose
out of the following passage in the address:—“And whenever any of the
colonies shall make a proper application to us, we shall be ready to
afford them every just and reasonable indulgence.” The terms of the
resolution, he said, being such as in the hour of victory would be good
and just, would afford a test as to the pretensions of the Americans. If
their ostensible causes of opposition were real, he conceived that they
must agree with such proposals, and that, if they did not agree with
them, then it would be proved that they had other views and were
actuated by other motives than those which they professed. He
added:—“To offer terms of peace is wise and humane; if the colonists
reject them, their blood must be on their own heads.” Burke, in his
Annual Register, says, that the court party, who always loved a strong
government in whatever hands it might be lodged, and accordingly had
upon principle ever opposed any relaxation in favour of the colonies,
heard these proposals with horror, and considered themselves abandoned
and betrayed. Be that as it may, it is certain that opposition to the
minister’s motion commenced on the treasury benches. The party, called
“the King’s Friends,” at the head of whom were Mr. Welbore Ellis and
Mr. Rigby, contended that Lord North’s propositions were in direct
opposition to every principle and idea of the address; that the
scheme was at variance with all the preceding acts and declarations of
parliament, and designed to pay court to the opposition; and that they
went to acknowledge that there was, in reality, something unjust and
grievous in the idea of taxing the Americans by parliament. In fact,
they denounced the whole matter as a shameful prevarication and a mean
departure from principle, and boldly asserted that they would make no
concessions to rebels with arms in their hands, or give their consent to
any measure for a settlement with the Americans, in which an express and
definitive acknowledgment of the supremacy of the British parliament was
not a preliminary article. Mr. Ackland went so far, indeed, as to move
that the chairman should leave the chair, or, in other words, that
the committee should be dissolved and the house resumed without the
resolutions being put to the vote. Lord North had never been in such a
dilemma before, and it seems probable that he would have yielded to the
storm he had unconsciously raised, had not Sir Gilbert Elliot and Mr.
Wedderburne rose to his rescue. Sir Gilbert Elliot remarked, that the
address contained two correspondent lines of conduct—the one tending
to repress rebellion, for which measures of restriction had been
resorted to, the other offering indulgence to those who would return to
their duty. In the address this was necessarily intimated in general and
vague terms; but was so far from being contradictory to it, that without
it, the plan adopted at the beginning of the session would be defective
and unjust. When Wedderburne rose, he declared that nothing was further
from the intention of Lord North than a dereliction of the rights of
parliament, or a yielding to the insolence of the Americans. What he
really proposed was, to enforce the one and repress the other. For
himself, he contended, that indulgence should be offered to such of the
colonists as would return to their duty, but the contumacious should
be proceeded against with an increased army and navy, with gallant
officers, who were going to America to enforce the spirited proposition.
He added:—“We have at length put the dispute upon its proper
footing—revenue or no revenue.” The resolution being thus reconciled
with the address, and Lord North having stated that the measure was
designed to separate the grain from the chaff, and to disunite the
colonies, the “king’s friends” were satisfied. This healing of the
breach on the treasury benches, however, had the effect of widening it
on the side of the opposition, who had been exulting in the strife. Fox
rejoiced in the retrograde movement of the minister; but doubted the
sincerity of the motion made, and predicted, that the Americans would
reject them with disdain. He was followed by Colonel Barré, who indulged
in bitter sarcasm upon Lord North’s recent embarrassment and danger from
his friends, and said, that his motion was founded upon the pitiful and
abominable maxim, _divide et impera_. It was to divide the Americans,
and dissolve their generous union in defence of their rights and
liberties; but, he added, “The Americans are not such gudgeons as to be
caught with so foolish a bait.” Lord North had by this time recovered
his fortitude and he defended himself with great spirit from the attacks
which had been made upon him, and justified his motion, on the ground
that it would have the effect of sifting the reasonable from the
unreasonable—of distinguishing those who acted upon principle, from
those who wished to profit by the general confusion and ruin—of
dividing the good from the bad, and of giving aid and support to the
friends of peace and good government. Burke next attacked the minister.
He declared, that the measure was mean without being conciliatory, and
that it was a more oppressive mode of taxation than any that had yet
been adopted. It was proposed, he said, that the colonies were to be
held in durance by troops and fleets, until, singly and separately, they
should offer to contribute to a service they could not know, and in a
proportion they could not guess, since ministers had not even ventured
to hint at the extent of their expectations. This conduct he compared
to that of Nebuchadnezzar, who, when he had forgotten his dream, ordered
his wise men to relate what he had dreamt, and likewise to give him its
interpretation. He added, that every benefit, natural and political,
must be acquired in the order of things and in its proper season,
and that revenue from a free people must be the consequence, not the
condition, of peace. Dunning next followed, showering more sarcasms
and more odious comparisons on the head of Lord North than any of the
preceding speakers; but in the end the resolution was adopted by a
majority of two hundred and seventy-four against eighteen.
{GEORGE III. 1775–1776}
BURKE’S PLAN OF CONCILIATION.
The present occasion was deemed by the opposition a favourable one
for putting forth a plan of conciliation, the terms of which might,
by comparison, reflect censure on that of Lord North. This task was
committed to Burke, and on the 22nd of March he brought forward a plan
comprised in thirteen resolutions. These resolutions went to repeal many
acts of parliament, and to reform many regulations, but the foundation
on which the whole rested, was the mode of raising a revenue from
the colonists through grants and aids by resolutions in their general
assemblies. In the opening of an eloquent speech uttered upon this
occasion, Burke took a comprehensive view of the state of Britain as
connected with America, and then stated the nature of his proposition.
He remarked:—“The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium
of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and
endless negociations; not peace to arise out of universal discord,
fermented from principle in all parts of the empire; not peace to depend
on the periodical determination of perplexing questions, or the precise
marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple
peace; sought in its natural course and in its ordinary haunts. It
is peace sought in the spirit of peace; and laid in principles purely
pacific. I propose, by removing the ground of the difference, and by
restoring the former unsuspecting confidence of the colonies in the
mother country, to give permanent satisfaction to your people; and, far
from a scheme of ruling by discord, to reconcile them to each other
in the same act, and by the bond of the very same interest, which
reconciles them to British government.” His plan of conciliation, he
declared, was founded on the sure and solid basis of experience, and he
asserted that neither the chimeras of imagination, nor abstract ideas
of right, nor mere general theories of government, ought to receive any
attention. He then entered into a copious display and elucidation of
his subject. He dwelt on the spirit of freedom existing in America,
asserting that their extreme notions of liberty arose from the peculiar
religious spirit which existed in the colonies, which he termed a
refinement on the principles of resistance, and which was carried with
them on their first emigration from England. Law, also, he said, had
fostered this high spirit of liberty, since the study of it was more
universal in America than in any other country in the world, and since
that study made them acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack,
ready in defence, and full of resources. Burke next dwelt on the
enlarged population of America, and the increased importance of her
commerce, both in exports and imports, and animated by this view of
their great and growing prosperity, he exclaimed in a lofty tone of
eloquence:—“While we follow them into the north amongst mountains of
ice, while we behold them penetrating the deepest recesses of Hudson’s
Bay, while we are looking for them beneath the Arctic circle, thay have
pervaded the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen serpent of the
south: nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them, than the
accumulated winter of the poles; while some of them strike the harpoon
on the coast of Africa, others pursue their gigantic toils on the shores
of the Brazils. There is no climate that is not a witness of their
labours. When I contemplate these things; when I know they owe little
or nothing to any care of ours, but that they have arrived at this
perfection through a wise and salutary neglect; I feel the pride of
power and the presumption of wisdom die away within me; and I pardon
everything to their spirit of liberty.” The love of freedom, Burke
contended, was the predominant feature in the cause of the Americans,
and he pointed out two other causes which tended to increase its growth
beyond those above-mentioned. One of these causes may seem parodoxical:
it was that black slavery prevailed in the colonies! The possession of
slaves, he said, was more than a counterpoise to the prevalence of the
established church in some of the provinces, and he established his
argument thus:—“I can perceive, by their manner, that some gentlemen
object to the latitude of my description, because in the southern
colonies the church of England forms a large body, and has a regular
establishment. It is certainly true. There is, however, a circumstance
attending these southern colonies, which, in my opinion, fully
counterbalances this difference, and makes the spirit of liberty still
more high and haughty than in those to the northward. It is that in
Virginia, and the Carolinas they have a vast multitude of slaves! Where
this is the case, in any part of the world, those who are free, are by
far the most proud and jealous of their freedom. Not seeing there that
freedom, as in countries where it is a common blessing, and as broad
and general as the air, may be united with much abject toil, with great
misery, with all the exterior of servitude, liberty looks amongst them
like something that is more noble and liberal. I do not mean to commend
the superior morality of this sentiment, which has at least as much
pride as virtue in it; but I cannot alter the nature of man. The fact is
so; and these people of the southern colonies are much, more strongly,
and with a higher and more stubborn, spirit, attached to liberty than
those to the northward.” Burke’s reasoning was unhappily sound. All the
great nations of antiquity who fought with blood-stained swords, and
with indomitable ardour for their own liberties, were great slave
owners; eating the bread which was grown by the sweat of other men’s
brows. This fact, however, redounds to the everlasting shame of the
Americans, and the black stain on their annals is not yet wiped out:
nay, it grows blacker and blacker as the period of their history rolls
onward. Slavery is the plague-spot of that boasted land of liberty! The
last cause of their thirst for freedom mentioned by Burke, was their
distance from the seat of government. He remarked:—“Three thousand
miles of ocean lie between you and your subjects! This is a powerful
principle in the natural constitution of things for weakening
government, which no contrivance can prevent. Seas roll, and months
pass, between the order and the execution; and the want of a speedy
explanation of a single point is enough to defeat a whole system. You
have, indeed, winged ministers of vengeance, who carry your bolts to
the remotest verges of the sea. But there a power stops, that limits the
arrogance of raging passions, and says, ‘Hitherto shalt thou go, and no
further.’ Who are you, that should fret, and rage, and bite the chains
of nature? Nothing worse happens to you than to all nations possessing
extensive empire; and it happens in all the forms into which empire
can be thrown. In large bodies the circulation of power must be less
vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk cannot govern
Egypt, as he governs Thrace; nor has he the same dominion in Crimea and
Algiers, which he has at Brusa and Smyrna. Despotism itself is obliged
to truck and huckster. The sultan gets such obedience as he can. He
governs with a loose reign, that he may govern at all; and the whole of
the force and vigour of his authority in his centre is derived from a
prudent relaxation in all his borders. Spain in her provinces submits
to this immutable condition, the eternal law of extensive and detached
empire.” Still Burke did not conceive the idea of proclaiming the
independence of America. On the contrary, like Chatham, he contended
for the general supremacy of parliament, and the rights of the crown,
expressing at the same time his conviction that we had arrived at the
decisive moment of preserving or of losing both our trade and empire.
How to preserve it was the question, and he proposed that it should
be done by concession and conciliation,—and not by force. The plan he
proposed, therefore, to obtain this consummation was, to allow all the
claims the Americans had set forth in their petitions and declarations,
and by undoing all that the parliament had done respecting America,
since the year 1765. His resolutions were briefly these:—That the
colonies not being represented in parliament, could in no way be taxed
by parliament; that the said colonies had been made liable to several
subsidies, payments, rates and taxes, given and granted by parliament,
etc.; that from the distance of the colonies, with other circumstances,
no means had ever been devised for procuring for them a representation
in parliament; that the colonies had each a general assembly that ought
to tax and assess them; that these assemblies had often spontaneously
granted the crown subsidies, etc.; that experience had shown that such
grants made by the assemblies were more beneficial and conducive to the
public service, than the mode of giving and granting aids and subsidies
in parliament to be paid in the colonies: that the act for granting
certain duties in the colonies, for allowing a drawback upon the
exportation from this kingdom of coffee and cocoa-nuts of the produce of
the said colonies, etc. should be repealed; that the bill for altering
the course of trials in Massachusets Bay should be repealed; that the
Boston Port Bill should be repealed; that the bill for altering the
constitution of Massachusets Bay should be repealed; that the act of
King Henry VIII., in regard to the trial of treasons committed out of
the king’s dominions, should be amended; that the new regulations for
appointing and paying the judges should be altered so as to meet the
views of the colonists; and that the American courts of admiralty or
vice-admiralty should be regulated in such, a manner as to make them
more commodious to those who sued or were sued in them, and to provide
for the more decent maintenance of the judges presiding in those courts.
These propositions were vigorously combated by the ministers, and
rejected by the house; and five days afterwards a scheme closely
resembling Lord Chatham’s, proposed by Mr. Hartley, shared the same
fate. Burke appealed to the public by printing his speech, but though it
was read and admired, it was soon forgotten. On the other hand a defence
of American taxation, published by his friend Dr. Johnson, in which he
defended colonial subordination on the principles of the law of nations,
and maintained that the colonists, by their situation, became possessed
of such advantages as were more than equivalent to their right of voting
for representatives in parliament, etc., had a great effect on the
public mind, which was pre-disposed to admit his arguments. The voice of
the nation was, in fact, in favour of the measures pursued by Lord North
and his coadjutors in the ministry.
CLOSE OF THE SESSION.
Towards the close of the session Lord North moved an additional clause
in the second restraining bill, to include in it the counties of
Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware, which was carried without
a division. Burke, as agent for the colony of New York, presented a
remonstrance from the general assembly of that province, but though
Lord North admitted that the people of that colony had hitherto been
peaceably inclined, he opposed the bringing up of the paper, upon the
ground that parliament could not hear anything which called in question
its right to legislate for the colonies, and it was refused. In both
houses attempts were made to procure a repeal of the act for settling
the government of Canada, but without effect. The remainder of the
session was occupied in considering the annual motion of Alderman
Sawbridge for shortening the duration of parliaments; in appointing a
committee on the motion of Mr. Gilbert, to consider the poor laws;
in voting the purchase of Buckingham-house for the queen, in lieu of
Somerset-house, which was converted into public offices; and in settling
financial measures. His majesty prorogued parliament on the 26th of May,
after expressing his satisfaction at the course which had been pursued,
and auguring the happiest results from the measures which had been
adopted.
PETITION OF THE CITY OF LONDON.
At this period, the livery of London attempted to turn the royal
counsels respecting America, by an address containing a remonstrance, in
which the citizens of London declared their abhorrence of the measures
which had been pursued for the oppression of their fellow-subjects in
the colonies, and which they affirmed were carried into execution by the
same fatal corruption which had enabled his majesty’s ministers to wound
the peace and violate the constitution of this country. The petitioners
prayed his majesty, therefore, to dismiss his advisers on the instant,
as the first step towards a redress of grievances which alarmed and
afflicted his people. This petition was presented by Mr. Wilkes, as lord
mayor; a circumstance which doubtless embittered his majesty’s
feelings in reply. This reply was explicit and emphatic. His majesty
remarked:—“It is with the utmost astonishment that I find any of
my subjects capable of encouraging the rebellious disposition which
unhappily exists in some of my colonies in North America. Having entire
confidence in my parliament, the great council of the nation, I will
steadily pursue those measures which they have recommended, for
the support of the constitutional rights of Great Britain, and the
protection of the commercial interests of my kingdom.” Wilkes was
prevented from making a reply by a hint from the lord in waiting, and
the king directed a notice to be issued a few days after, that the king
would not receive any address from the city except in its corporate
capacity. This address had, indeed, been got up by a minority of the
livery: the majority were in favour of the measures adopted.
DEPARTURE OF FRANKLIN.
During the month of April, while parliament was deliberating on the
course to be pursued in the colonies, Dr. Franklin suddenly left
England. Before he left he put in his protest against the measures
adopted by the ministry and the British parliament, into the hands of
Lord Dartmouth. On the evening before his departure, he had, also,
a long interview with Burke, in which he expressed regret for the
calamities which he anticipated as the consequence of ministerial
resolutions, and again professed his attachment to the mother country,
under whose rule America had enjoyed so many happy days. Yet there can
be no question but that Franklin’s principal motive for leaving England
was to widen the breach which existed between her and the colonies, and
to aid them in the struggle for independence.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICANS.
In the mean time military preparations had been continued in America.
Inflamed by publications and harangues on every side, the Americans
had been active in preparing for the approaching contest. No thought
of concession or conciliation was entertained: provincial and private
meetings all breathed the language of defiance to the mother country,
and threatened resistance to taxation, external or internal, as well as
to every other act of coercion. A great impetus was given to the popular
movement by the resolutions of congress. A few assemblies there were,
indeed, as that of New York, who at first refused to admit these
resolutions, but they were soon induced to join the confederation. Every
province prepared its levies and its cannon and its military stores for
the deadly strife. And at length that strife commenced. While the
houses of parliament in England were yet echoing with the oratory of its
empassioned members, the hillsides of America were reverberating with
peals of musketry. The banner of revolt was first unfolded in the
province where the spirit of resistance first showed itself—that of
Massachusets Bay. The aversion which General Gage had shown to the
adoption of violent measures and the forbearance of the troops had
rather tended to increase than to allay hostile feelings in that
province, and at length the proceedings of the people became so
alarming, that the general was compelled to adopt measures to put it out
of their power to effect mischief.
EXPEDITION TO SEIZE STORES AT SALEM.
Having received intelligence that a _depôt_ of arms had been collected
at Salem, on the 26th of February, General Gage ordered a small
detachment of troops thither for the purpose of securing it. It was on
the Sabbath when this order was given, and the detachment proceeded by
water to Marble Head, whence they marched to Salem. Before they could
arrive at the town, however, the artillery was removed into the country.
On discovering this, the field-officer in command of the detachment,
hoping to overtake it, marched on, up the country, till he was stopped
by a river. There was a drawbridge over this river, but upon his
approach it was hauled up by a number of people on the opposite bank.
The officer desired them to let this bridge down, which was refused,
and perceiving a boat in the river he was about to make use of it for
transporting his troops across the river. Seeing this, some country
people who were nearer to it, jumped into the boat, and began to cut
holes in her bottom with axes. A scuffle ensued between them and some
soldiers, which would have ended in loss of life, had not a clergyman
judiciously interposed to prevent such a catastrophe. By his
interference the Americans were induced to let down the drawbridge, and
the officer and his men then passed over. The day, however, was now far
spent, and the artillery had been carried too great a distance for him
to overtake it, and the officer deemed it expedient to march his men
back to Marble Head, whence they re-embarked for Boston-neck. They were
not molested on their retreat, but the country people considered this as
a triumph and victory over them, and it materially assisted in raising
the courage of the colonists.
AFFAIR AT LEXINGTON, ETC.
The next attempt to seize the military stores of the Americans, was
attended with more serious consequences. Having heard that a quantity
was deposited at the town of Concord, about eighteen miles from Boston,
in the night between the 18th and 19th of April, General Gage detached
the grenadiers and light infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Smith and
Major Pitcairn, to seize them. The detachment was embarked in boats
and conveyed up Charles River to Phipp’s Farm, where they landed, and
proceeded in silence and haste towards Concord. But although this was
done in the dead of the night, the New Englanders were not asleep. The
detachment had not marched many miles when their ears were saluted with
the firing of guns and the ringing of bells, the signals for alarm. When
they arrived at Lexington they perceived the militia drawn up on a green
on the high road, and Major Pitcairn riding up commanded them as rebels
to lay down their arms and disperse. The latter part of this order was
obeyed, but as the Americans were retiring several guns were fired upon
the king’s troops from behind a wall, and from some adjoining houses.
One man was wounded, and Major Pitcairn’s horse was shot in two places.
Orders were now given to fire, and eight men were killed and many others
wounded. By this time the grenadiers had joined the light infantry, and
both proceeded together towards Concord. As they drew near a large body
of American militia was seen drawn up under arms on a gentle eminence,
and the light infantry was sent to disperse them. In this they
succeeded, and they kept them in check until the grenadiers had
accomplished the object of their expedition. After this they commenced
their march back to Boston; but their backs were scarcely turned when
a loud shout was heard that the “lobsters” were afraid of them. The
militia had, by this time, been reinforced from the country behind,
and militiamen, minute-men, and volunteers of every description, were
pouring in from all quarters, to post themselves behind trees and walls,
and in houses, near which the troops were to pass. Presently the work of
slaughter commenced: an incessant though irregular fire began in front
and on both flanks, and the main body of the militia fired upon them
from the rear. And what made the attack more discouraging was, that the
most destructive fire proceeded from men whom they could not reach, and
whose presence was only known by the smoke and effects of their rifles.
This continued through all their route back to Lexington, and had not
General Gage had the forethought of sending a second detachment to
sustain the first, there can be but little doubt that the whole body
would have been annihilated. This second detachment met the first at
Lexington, and Lord Percy, who was at the head of it, having formed
his troops into a hollow square, enclosed the pursued—who were driven
before the Americans like a flock of sheep, and gave them time for rest.
When they were somewhat refreshed, Lord Percy slowly moved the whole
body towards Boston. But even now they were not wholly freed from
danger. The militia, who had been treading on their rear, were no longer
seen, but every house, every wall, and every tree the troops had to
pass, sent forth upon them bullets and rifle shots; the Americans taking
care not to expose their own persons to danger. When they reached Boston
they had left behind them sixty killed, and forty-nine missing, in
addition to which they had one hundred and thirty-six wounded. The
provincials had about fifty killed, and thirty-eight wounded; but their
loss was more than compensated by the encouragement which this affair
tended to give the Americans in general. Elated with the result, they
termed it “the glorious victory of Lexington;” and they talked of
nothing less than driving the king’s troops from Boston, and restoring
the liberty and trade of that town. Instead of an immediate assault,
however, they formed themselves into a blockade. Twenty thousand men,
under the command of Colonels Ward, Pribble, Heath, Prescot, and Thomas,
officers who had served in the provincial regiments during the last war,
put themselves in cantonment, and formed a line nearly twenty miles in
extent, with their left leaning on the river Mystic, and their right
on the town of Roxburghe, thus enclosing Boston in the centre. Their
head-quarters were fixed at Cambridge, and they were soon joined by
a strong detachment of troops from Connecticut, under the command of
General Putnam, who, as soon as he heard of the battle of Lexington,
like another Cincinnatus, left his plough in the middle of the field,
in order to fight the battles of his country. Putnam took up such a
position with his detachment as to be able to support any part of
the line that might be attacked; but General Gage remained perfectly
inactive, neither attacking this line, which he might probably have done
with effect, as it was without any military consistency, nor erecting
any outworks to prevent any sudden advance upon Boston-neck.
MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLIES AND OF GENERAL CONGRESS.
While the Americans were thus in hostile array, the provincial congress
of Massachusets adjourned from Concord to Water Town, about ten miles
from Boston. It was resolved by this congress that an army of 30,000
men should be raised and established, whereof 13,600 should be of the
province of Massachusets Bay. It was further resolved that a letter
and delegates should be sent to the several colonies of Hampshire,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island, for further assistance and co-operation.
Despatches were also sent to Franklin, in England, containing an account
of the Lexington battle, and enclosing an address to the people of Great
Britain, complaining of the conduct of the troops, professing great
loyalty, but appealing to Heaven for the justice of their cause,
and declaring their determination to die rather than sacrifice their
liberty. At the same time the provincial congress made great exertions
to clothe and pay the besieging army, voting a large sum in paper
currency, for the redemption of which the faith of the whole province
was pledged. They also formally declared that General Gage, by the late
transactions, had utterly disqualified himself from acting as governor,
or in any other capacity, and that no obedience was due to him, but
that he ought to be considered an inveterate enemy. A similar spirit
was exhibited in other provinces. At New York military associations were
formed, and a provincial congress called; in Jersey the populace took
possession of the treasury; and in Philadelphia, the very Quakers
renounced their principles of peace, and took up arms as volunteers,
under the pretence of self-defence. It was in this state of affairs that
Lord North’s conciliatory propositions arrived. These were read first in
the assembly of Pennsylvania by governor Penn, who expressed an anxious
wish that all due consideration should be given them, and that, if
possible, they might become instruments of restoring tranquillity to
the country. It was determined by the assembly of Pennsylvania, however,
that the union of the colonies to which they were pledged should not
be deserted. Similar results followed the reading of them in other
provincial assemblies, and all concurred in referring them to the
general congress, which was in itself a rejection, since its legality
would never be acknowledged by the British parliament.
The general congress met on the 10th of May. Its first acts were to
frame resolutions for organising an army, and the emission of a paper
currency, guaranteed by the united colonies; to stop all exportation
of provisions to the British fisheries, and to every colony or island
subject to the British government; to resolve, that by violation
of their charter, the people of Massachusets Bay were absolved from
allegiance to the crown, and might lawfully establish a new government;
and to prohibit the negociations of bills of exchange or any orders
issued by the officers of army and navy-agents, or contractors. They
also established a general post-office under the superintendence of
Dr. Franklin, who arrived soon after the meeting of congress, and who
greatly helped forward the march of revolution. The congress, though
still delaying their proclamation of absolute independence, pursued
a course after the arrival of Franklin which no longer left their
intentions doubtful to any man, by forming the plan of a confederation
and perpetual union, the chief articles of which fully showed that such
was their aim. After drawing up this plan the congress attended to
the army, and they fixed upon Colonel George Washington to be their
commander-in-chief. A committee was next appointed to prepare a
declaration of the causes that induced them to take up arms against
their mother country. After the adoption of this declaration, in which
it was said “that they had counted the cost of the contest, and found
nothing so dreadful as slavery,” Jefferson was placed on a committee
with Dr. Franklin and others, to consider and report on Lord North’s
pacificatory resolutions, which was denounced in the same spirit as it
had been scouted previously by the provincial assemblies. Two days after
this, and in the month of July, congress prepared a second address to
the people of Great Britain, in which they vindicated themselves from
the charge of aiming at independence—professed their willingness
to submit to the acts of trade and navigation passed before
1763—recapitulated their reasons for rejecting Lord North’s proposals,
and intimated the hazard the people of England would run of losing
their own liberty if America should be overcome. Yet though this address
breathed defiance to government, on the very same day another petition
was drawn up to the king, which was more moderate than that of the
preceding year, and even approached him in a supplicating tone.
Addresses were also got up to the inhabitants of Canada, Jamaica, and
Ireland, and finally to the lord mayor and livery of the city of
London. It is difficult to reconcile the sentiments contained in these
declarations, petitions, and addresses. While some passages breathed the
spirit of bold and uncompromising defiance, others expressed loyalty of
the most ardent nature to his majesty, and unalterable attachment to the
mother country. The spirit by which congress was actuated is, however,
clearly defined by their proceedings, and by the character of the men
who composed it. There was one gentle Dickinson among the number, who
still hoped for a reconciliation with Great Britain, but the majority of
its members were akin in spirit to the fiery Jefferson, whose turbulency
often showed itself during their deliberations. There was, however, no
room to doubt as to the determination of the Americans to assert their
independence, for, while this congress was sitting, events had occurred
which proclaimed that determination to all the world in language which
could not be misunderstood. Blood had again stained the soil of America.
[Illustration: 3–079–bunker-hill.jpg BATTLE OF BUNKER’S HILL]
BATTLE OF BUNKER’S HILL.