already. Although there had been a comparative cessation of the troubles
in America, there had been many signs that they were by no means over.
The more advanced leaders, indeed, in Massachusetts were too determined
in their views and too skilful as managers of agitation to let the
friends of the English connection, though doubtless considerably the
larger part of the population, carry the day through their inactivity.
The discontent of the colonies had been sedulously kept alive by the
skill and vigour of the leaders of the Opposition party. In the midst of
constant quarrels with their governor, Hutchinson, an American by
birth, the Massachusetts leaders appointed a committee of twenty-one for
the purpose of organizing opposition to the Government. This step was
followed by Virginia, where, in 1773, a corresponding committee of still
wider scope was appointed; and at length two events occurred which
entirely destroyed all hope of a peaceful accommodation. These incidents
were the publication of some letters of Hutchinson, and an arrangement
with the India Company which had in reality no connection with the
quarrel. In June 1773, certain letters were laid before the House of
Representatives of Massachusetts purporting to be written by Hutchinson,
their governor, and his brother-in-law, Oliver, Lieutenant-Governor.
These letters, written in 1767 and the two following years to Whately,
the private secretary of Grenville, were of a private and friendly
character. They took a view favourable to the Government, and stated the
opinion of the writer, that a firm exhibition of authority would best
tend to check the colonial discontent. The letters had been forwarded
from England by Dr. Franklin, who was acting as agent for Massachusetts.
As they were private letters, and Mr. Whately was dead, it is impossible
that Franklin should not have known that they had come into his hands by
unfair means. He had not the least right to use them. Indeed, on sending
them to America he made a stipulation that they should not be published.
Of course such a stipulation in the heat of a political quarrel was
intended to be broken; and they were not only produced and read, and
acknowledged by Hutchinson, but published. Their effect was very great;
it seemed to the Americans as if the English Government had been urged
to all its acts of severity by a party of traitors among themselves. The
House of Representatives at once addressed the King, warmly demanding
the removal of Hutchinson from his place as governor, since he had, they
said, betrayed his trust, and given private, partial, and false
information to Government. The petition was sent to Lord Dartmouth, who
had succeeded Lord Hillsborough as Colonial Secretary, by him it was
laid before the King, who referred it to the Privy Council. The Council,
consisting chiefly of "the King's friends," met in January 1774.
Franklin, as Colonial agent, was present. The petitioners were
represented by Dunning, the great Opposition advocate. The
administration had unwisely given the affair the air of a Government
question by naming Wedderburn, the Solicitor-General, as Hutchinson's
counsel. Dunning contented himself with saying that the petitioners had
no impeachment to make, no facts to prove; they only appealed to the
King's judgment. With most unwise want of reticence, Wedderburn,
feeling himself in the presence of a very favourable audience, gave vent
to a furious diatribe against America, and more especially against
Franklin--a man, he said, to be shunned by all honest men, from whom men
would henceforth hide their papers; in short, a thief. The Council
heard, laughed, and applauded. Franklin stood unmoved, no muscle showing
how much he felt the insult, but it did not miss its mark. For him from
that day no accommodation was possible, and the brown suit in which he
stood was put by, to be worn again only when the treaty declaring
America independent was signed. The petition, in which a people had
expressed their earnest and passionate feelings, was declared frivolous
and vexatious, and Franklin was removed at once from his office of
Deputy Postmaster for the colonies.
[Sidenote: The India Company's difficulties. 1772.]
Wedderburn had, no doubt, in his violent invective only expressed the
feeling of most of the English nation; only a few weeks after the
meeting of the Privy Council news had reached England which was not
likely to render the bitterness between the two people less. In 1772 the
India Company had come to Parliament demanding a loan. Much censure had
been thrown on their officers and their manner of action, and
alterations had been insisted on, which placed the Company very much at
the mercy of Government. As a sort of compensation a Bill was brought in
in their favour, by which they were enabled to export their teas from
their London warehouses to the American colonies free from the English
duties, and liable only to the much smaller duty to be levied in the
colony. This measure would allow the India Company to get rid of a large
surplus stock of tea then lying on hand, and would enable the colonists
to buy their tea considerably cheaper. To the colonists however it bore
another aspect. The whole plan seemed to them a scheme to surprise or
bribe them into compliance with the very measure of taxation they were
so strenuously opposing. This belief was supported by the fact, that all
the consignees who were to receive the tea were warm partisans of
England, and was fostered by the whole body of tea merchants and free
traders, who saw themselves likely to be driven from the market by this
direct tea trade. The opposition party took means to organize a
resistance. The consignees were duly warned. The tea ships entered
Boston harbour, but the captains were so fully convinced of the futility
of their speculation, that they would willingly have again withdrawn.
Some little customhouse formalities detained them; and meanwhile they
were boarded by a body of men dressed as Mohawks, who tossed the
obnoxious tea into the sea. Similar steps, though less violent, were
taken elsewhere, and none of the tea sent over under this disastrous law
found its way into the market.
[Sidenote: The Boston Port Bill. 1774.]
[Sidenote: Massachusetts government Bill.]
Such violence, and such contempt of authority, exasperated the minds of
the English people. Lord North seems still to have inclined to
conciliatory measures, but the remnant of the Bedford party, always
particularly bitter against America, was too powerful for him,
especially as the King's opinion, before which North always yielded with
fatal weakness, was thrown into the scale on the side of severity. Two
measures were devised to punish the refractory colony. By the first,
known as the Boston Port Bill, the customhouse, and consequently all the
trade, was moved from Boston, and the port was declared closed; in fact
the thriving town was rendered desolate. The warehouses stood empty, the
docks and quays were deserted. Salem was chosen to take the place of
Boston; but so strong was the feeling against the Bill, that the very
merchants of Salem, though the benefit would have been all theirs,
petitioned against it. The anger excited by the Bill was not confined to
Boston; a feeling of indignation pervaded all the colonies. Their
sympathy was soon increased by fear for their own liberties; for a
second Bill was introduced, abrogating the old charter of Massachusetts.
Its popular constitution was to be destroyed, and the colony was to
become in the strictest sense a Crown colony; the council was to be
named by the Crown instead of by the people; and the judges, magistrates
and sheriffs were to be nominated and removed by the governor without
consulting the council. All the other colonies naturally felt their
charters insecure.
[Sidenote: Crisis of the quarrel.]
[Sidenote: Acts of the General Congress.]
In fact, all seemed to show that the critical time had come. Attempts
were indeed made subsequently at reconciliation, but they were hollow,
and the proposers of them knew that they were hollow. Henceforward an
appeal to arms became almost certain, and the idea of claiming
independence, as yet only existing in the minds of a few of the leaders,
began to become prevalent. Virginia at once threw in her lot with
Massachusetts. A fast was ordered on account of the Boston Port Act, and
the governor dissolved the assembly. The leaders met at the Raleigh
Tavern, and agreed upon a form of association against trade with
England. Washington, hitherto hopeful of reconciliation, declared his
readiness to raise 1000 men at his own cost for the support of the
people of Massachusetts. In spite of all Government opposition, most of
the colonies accepted the lead of Virginia, kept the fast, and agreed
to the association, while, as a chief step in the direction of general
revolt, a Congress was summoned at Philadelphia, and attended by
representatives of the assemblies of twelve colonies, Georgia alone
being absent. The English, too, understood that the two great Bills were
little short of a declaration of war. Hutchinson was recalled, and
General Gage was made Governor of Massachusetts, while Boston was filled
with troops. Of course a quarrel between the new governor and the
assembly was inevitable. The assembly was dissolved, and refusing to
disperse, collected and sat at Concord, constituting thus in fact a
rebel government, whose orders were implicitly obeyed. Gage had been
obliged to fortify Boston Neck; as a counter measure the Concord
assembly established a permanent committee of public safety, organized
12,000 militia, and enrolled _minute men_, or picked men from the
militia bound to serve at a minute's notice. While things were thus
drifting into war in Massachusetts, the General Congress issued a
Declaration of Rights, setting forth the rights of the colonists as
Englishmen, and declaring that the late Acts were infractions of these
rights, and must be repealed before America would submit, and passed a
resolution forbidding importation from England, the use of imported
goods, and after the interval of a year exportation to England also.
These, and other acts and papers of the Congress, acquired much weight
by being to all appearance issued unanimously, an important advantage
which was only gained after a trial of strength, in which the views of
the advanced leaders were carried by a majority of one. When defeated on
a scheme of reconciliation proposed by Mr. Galloway, and considered as a
test question, the minority wisely accepted their position, and desisted
from all protest, so that all the acts of Congress might have their full
weight.
[Sidenote: General election. Anti-American feeling of the nation.]
[Sidenote: Chatham's motions for reconciliation. 1775.]
[Sidenote: North's measure for the same purpose.]
A general election in England in September of this year made it plain
that the temper of the people was no less bitter and determined in the
mother country than in the colonies. A large ministerial majority was
returned ready to support any acts of coercion. The Opposition began by
demanding papers in an amendment on the address, but the real struggle
did not begin till January, when Chatham again expressed his opinion,
moving the immediate repeal of the obnoxious statutes of the preceding
year and the withdrawal of troops from Boston. The majority against him
was overwhelming; none the less did he at once set to work, with
Franklin's help, to prepare a scheme of reconciliation, though Franklin
had probably neither much hope nor much wish that it should succeed. It
was at first fairly received by Lord Dartmouth, the Colonial Secretary,
but again Lord Sandwich and the Bedford party overawed their more
temperate colleague, and it was rejected with scorn. The wisdom of some
step in the same direction seems however to have been plain to Lord
North, who in a short time produced a scheme of his own. This did not go
further than to say, that so long as the colonies taxed themselves with
the approbation of King and Parliament no other taxes ought to be laid
on them. It was much too late for any such trumpery measure.
[Sidenote: Skirmish at Lexington. April 1775.]
[Sidenote: Canada Bill.]
[Sidenote: Fall of Ticonderoga. May.]
It was indeed too late for any schemes of reconciliation, and the appeal
to arms began. General Gage, who in spite of his representations had
been left without reinforcements during the winter, could not see the
preparations made for arming and supplying the militia, carried on by
the provincial Congress, without taking some measures to prevent them.
In April he determined to destroy the stores at Concord. Some
militiamen, who were being drilled at Lexington, only dispersed after
firing upon the troops; and when the soldiers, after destroying such of
the stores as had been left at Concord, began their homeward march, they
found themselves assaulted from behind every hedge and cover, and were
compelled to seek refuge in a very distressed condition with a body of
troops who had been sent to support them. The English loss was 270,
while the rebels lost less than 100 men. This slight success raised the
spirits of the colonists; militiamen crowded in from all quarters, and
General Gage was blockaded in Boston. The rebels even ventured to
attempt an expedition against the neighbouring province of Canada. A
Bill passed the preceding year in England had given a constitution to
Canada. This colony, nearly wholly French, neither understood nor valued
English institutions, and was firmly Roman Catholic in its religion. The
constitution was wisely conceived in a more arbitrary spirit than would
have suited Englishmen, and with great liberality established the Roman
Catholic worship. The Americans, unable to see the wisdom of this, and
Puritan in their own religious beliefs, fancied that Canada must be
smarting under its wrongs, and that they should find hearty sympathy
there. In this belief, and to open the road thither, two New Englanders
raised troops on their own responsibility--Arnold, a horse dealer, and
Ethan Allen--and advanced against the forts which held the valley of
Lakes George and Champlain, which, with the valley of the Hudson, forms
the natural road from New York to Montreal. They speedily seized
Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
[Sidenote: The second Congress assumes sovereign authority.]
[Sidenote: Washington chosen commander-in-chief.]
The first question which met the second General Congress was whether
they should take upon themselves the responsibility of these actions or
accept the conciliatory resolution of Lord North. There was no
hesitation on the part of the Congress. Lord North's proposition was
thrown aside at once; orders were issued against supplying any British
force or officer; a national name was assumed--_The United Colonies_;
coercive measures were decreed against any province which should refuse
to recognize the authority of Congress; and on the flimsy excuse of a
contemplated invasion from Canada, the actions of Allen and Arnold were
acknowledged, and an attack on Canada organized. These were acts of
rebellion and war, and the Congress, conscious that the die was cast,
proceeded to appoint a commander-in-chief. Their choice fell upon
Colonel Washington, a Virginian gentleman, and a member of the Congress,
who had seen some service in the late frontier wars, and was much
respected by his province. He was a powerful, somewhat silent man, of
very strong sense, and great powers of self-control, possessing that
commanding influence which is given by strong passion and enthusiasm
habitually subdued, but just visible under a constant and calm exterior.
His unquestioned honesty, his hatred of disorder, and his great
simplicity of character, fitted him well to give dignity to a cause
which ran the risk, if it fell into inferior hands, of degenerating into
a selfish and riotous uproar.
[Sidenote: Battle of Bunker's Hill. June 17, 1775.]
Washington at once hurried to the seat of war, but before he arrived
another battle had been fought. A narrow channel separates Boston from
another town of the name of Charlestown, behind which rise two masses of
high ground, known as Breed's and Bunker's Hill, from which Boston is
commanded. Breed's Hill is the nearer of the two to Boston. It was
natural to suppose that General Gage, whose forces had been raised to
10,000 men by reinforcements under Generals Clinton, Howe and Burgoyne,
would assume the offensive, and at all events try to secure these hills.
The Americans attempted to forestall him, and some rude defences were
thrown up on the ridge of Breed's Hill. About 2000 English were sent to
dislodge them. The Americans fought well, more than once the English
drew back before their fire, but rallied by Clinton, they eventually
took the position, driving the enemy, more than twice their number, in
disorder along Charlestown Neck, where they were open to the fire of our
ships. More than 800 of the English fell in the desperate struggle.
[Illustration: Battle of Bunker's Hill June 18, 1775.]
[Sidenote: Condition of the American army.]
Although the insurgent troops were justly proud of the gallant stand
they had made against disciplined forces, the army when Washington
joined it was not such as a general would wish to command. Even in the
late battle well authenticated cases of cowardice had occurred among the
officers. The militia regiments of the various states regarded each
other with jealous eyes; there was no sort of uniformity of dress, no
trace of soldierly bearing; the soldiers showed little subordination to
officers scarcely better than themselves; and, worse than all, there was
a fearful deficiency of powder. It taxed the ability and temper of their
new general to the full to bring the motley crowd into order. He exacted
the sternest discipline, drew a sharp line between the officers and men,
procured hunting shirts to supply the lack of uniform, and by
unremitting toil gradually produced a tolerable army. Why General Gage
looked quietly on while this process was being carried out it is
difficult to say. Even setting aside the lack of ammunition, of which
however he was fully informed, he had troops enough to have destroyed
the enemy which were blockading him without difficulty, and might thus
perhaps have ended the war at a blow.
[Sidenote: The Olive Branch Petition.]
The slowness which characterizes the English generals at the beginning
of the war is probably to be traced to the prevalent idea that
reconciliation was still possible, and that the terrible extremity of
civil war might be avoided. Even at this very time the Congress was
sending to the King a last appeal; but this document, known as the Olive
Branch Petition, was not received in England. There was a technical
objection to it which secured its rejection; it purported to come from
the Congress--an illegal and unrecognized body. The Americans could
scarcely indeed have expected that it would have produced any effect. It
held out no hope of concession, but expressed only vague wishes for
reconciliation. It probably served the turn of those who sent it by
allowing them to throw the blame of the future war entirely on the
English. It might have been wise on the part of the ministry, even thus
late, to have accepted overtures of peace, but it would have been a
stretch of wisdom which no man had a right to expect; for the Congress
had undoubtedly by its action assumed a position of complete
independence and hostility which a Government could scarcely be expected
to overlook.
[Sidenote: Attack on Canada.]
Even before the Olive Branch was sent the Congress had determined to
take advantage of the successes of the preceding year, and had
organized, under Generals Montgomery and Arnold, an attack upon Canada,
which General Carleton was ill prepared to repel with less than 1000
British troops. While Montgomery crossed Lake Champlain and pushed on to
Montreal, Arnold, with incredible labour, had made his way up the valley
of the Kennebec, and so down the Chaudière, to Quebec. Unable to prevent
the junction of the armies, Carleton hastened to throw himself into the
capital, and upon the Heights of Abraham succeeded in checking their
advance, with the loss of Montgomery their leader. Arnold could do no
more than keep up a nominal blockade, so ably was the defence conducted,
and the general who superseded him, meeting with no sympathy from the
Canadians, was forced to withdraw in disorder beyond Lake Champlain.
[Sidenote: Howe retires to Halifax. March, 1776.]
Meanwhile the dilatory conduct of Gage, who had now been succeeded by
General Howe, had lost Boston to the English. Washington had at length
found himself strong enough to take and fortify the Dorchester Heights,
which commanded the English lines on Boston Neck. A general engagement,
which could scarcely have ended otherwise than favourably to the
English, would have still rendered the town tenable, and Howe was
inclined to bring on a battle. But a continued course of bad weather
frustrated his plans, and thinking that for military reasons New York,
where the royal party was strong, would make a better base of
operations, he determined to withdraw; he accordingly removed all his
troops to Halifax, there to await promised reinforcements. So long were
the fresh troops in coming that Howe had to leave Halifax without them.
There was considerable difficulty in supplying him. The military
arrangements of England have been constantly found inefficient at the
opening of a war; it was only by purchasing troops at an exorbitant
price from the Duke of Brunswick and the Landgrave of Hesse that the
immediate want could be supplied. It was therefore only on a limited
scale that Howe was enabled to carry out that plan for the arrangement
of the troops which was afterwards continued during the war; and which
consisted of making New York the centre of operations, to be supported
by two subsidiary forces, the one acting in the Southern States, the
other from Canada. In pursuance of this plan, he despatched a force
against Charleston, in Carolina, under General Clinton, while he himself
moved to Sandy Hook, thus threatening New York, whither Washington had
hastened from Boston. He was there joined in July by his brother,
Admiral Lord Howe, and found himself, with his reinforcements and with
the troops which had been sent to Charleston and had returned upon the
failure of the expedition, at the head of nearly 30,000 men.
[Sidenote: Fresh offers of conciliation rejected.]
[Sidenote: Declaration of Independence. July 4, 1776.]