politicians were not to be deceived; that their sight was as quick
and clear as the minister's; and that they were as steady to their
purpose, as he was to his. This was thought by all the colonies to
be the precise point of time, when it became absolutely necessary
to make a stand. If the tea should be landed, it would be sold;
if sold, the duties would amount to a large sum, which would be
instantly applied to increase the friends and advocates for more
duties, and to divide the people; and the company would get such a
footing, that no opposition afterwards could ever be effectual. And
as soon as the duties on tea should be established, they would be
ranked among post-office fees, and other precedents, and used as
arguments, both of the right and expediency of laying on others,
perhaps on all the necessaries, as well as conveniences and luxuries
of life. The whole continent was united in the sentiment, that all
opposition to parliamentary taxation must be given up forever,
if this critical moment was neglected. Accordingly, New York and
Philadelphia determined that the ships should be sent back; and
Charleston, that the tea should be stored and locked up. This was
attended with no danger in that city, because they are fully united
in sentiment and affection, and have no _Junto_ to perplex them.
Boston was under greater difficulties. The consignees at New York
and Philadelphia most readily resigned. The consignees at Boston,
the children, cousins, and most intimate connections of governor
Hutchinson, refused. I am very sorry that I cannot stir a single step
in developing the causes of my country's miseries, without stumbling
upon this gentleman. But so it is. From the near relation and most
intimate connection of the consignees with him, there is great cause
of jealousy, if not a violent presumption, that he was at the bottom
of all this business, that he had planned it, in his confidential
letters with Bernard, and both of them joined in suggesting and
recommending it to the ministry. Without this supposition, it is
difficult to account for the obstinacy with which the consignees
refused to resign, and the governor to let the vessel go. However
this might be, Boston is the only place upon the continent, perhaps
in the world, which ever breeds a species of misanthropes, who will
persist in their schemes for their private interest, with such
obstinacy, in opposition to the public good; disoblige all their
fellow citizens for a little pelf, and make themselves odious and
infamous, when they might be respected and esteemed. It must be said,
however, in vindication of the town, that this breed is spawned
chiefly by the Junto. The consignees would not resign; the custom
house refused clearances; governor Hutchinson refused passes by the
castle. The question then was, with many, whether the governor,
officers, and consignees should be compelled to send the ships hence?
An army and navy was at hand, and bloodshed was apprehended. At last,
when the continent, as well as the town and province, were waiting
the issue of this deliberation with the utmost anxiety, a number
of persons, in the night, put them out of suspense, by an oblation
to Neptune. I have heard some gentlemen say, "this was a very
unjustifiable proceeding"--"that if they had gone at noon-day, and
in their ordinary habits, and drowned it in the face of the world, it
would have been a meritorious, a most glorious action: but to go in
the night, and much more in disguise, they thought very inexcusable."
"The revenue was not the consideration before parliament," says
Massachusettensis. Let who will believe him. But if it was not, the
danger to America was the same. I take no notice of the idea of a
monopoly. If it had been only a monopoly (though in this light it
would have been a very great grievance) it would not have excited,
nor in the opinion of any one justified the step that was taken. It
was an attack upon a fundamental principle of the constitution, and
upon that supposition was resisted, after multitudes of petitions to
no purpose, and because there was no tribunal in the constitution,
from whence redress could have been obtained.
There is one passage so pretty, that I cannot refuse myself the
pleasure of transcribing it. "A smuggler and a whig are cousin
Germans, the offspring of two sisters, avarice and ambition. They
had been playing into each other's hands a long time. The smuggler
received protection from the whig, and he in his turn received
support from the smuggler. The illicit trader now demanded protection
from his kinsman, and it would have been unnatural in him to have
refused it; and beside, an opportunity presented of strengthening his
own interest."
The wit and the beauty of the style, in this place, seem to have
quite enraptured the lively juvenile imagination of this writer.
The truth of the fact he never regards, any more than the justice
of the sentiment. Some years ago, the smugglers might be pretty
equally divided between the whigs and the tories. Since that time,
they have almost all married into the tory families, for the sake of
dispensations and indulgencies. If I were to let myself into secret
history, I could tell very diverting stories of smuggling tories in
New-York and Boston. Massachusettensis is quarrelling with some of
his best friends. Let him learn more discretion.
We are then told that "the consignees offered to store the tea,
under the care of the selectmen, or a committee of the town." This
expedient might have answered, if none of the junto, nor any of
their connections, had been in Boston. But is it a wonder, that the
selectmen declined accepting such a deposit? They supposed they
should be answerable, and nobody doubted that tories might be found
who would not scruple to set fire to the store, in order to make them
liable. Besides if the tea was landed, though only to be stored, the
duty must be paid, which it was thought was giving up the point.
Another consideration, which had great weight, was, the other
colonies were grown jealous of Boston, and thought it already
deficient in point of punctuality, against the dutied articles:
and if the tea was once stored, artifices might be used, if not
violence, to disperse it abroad. But if through the continual
vigilance and activity of the committee and the people, through a
whole winter, this should be prevented; yet one thing was certain,
that the tories would write to the other colonies and to England,
thousands of falsehoods concerning it, in order to induce the
ministry to persevere, and to sow jealousies and create divisions
among the colonies.
Our acute logician then undertakes to prove the destruction of the
tea unjustifiable, even upon the principle of the whigs, that the
duty was unconstitutional. The only argument he uses is this: that
"unless we purchase the tea, we shall never pay the duty." This
argument is so frivolous, and has been so often confuted and exposed,
that if the party had any other, I think they would relinquish this.
Where will it carry us? If a duty was laid upon our horses, we may
walk;--if upon our butcher's meat, we may live upon the produce of
the dairy;--and if that should be taxed, we may subsist as well
as our fellow slaves in Ireland, upon spanish potatoes and cold
water. If a thousand pounds was laid upon the birth of every child,
if children are not begotten, none will be born;--if, upon every
marriage, no duties will be paid, if all the young gentlemen and
ladies agree to live batchelors and maidens.
In order to form a rational judgment of the quality of this
transaction, and determine whether it was good or evil, we must go
to the bottom of this great controversy. If parliament has a right
to tax us and legislate for us, in all cases, the destruction of the
tea was unjustifiable; but if the people of America are right in
their principle, that parliament has no such right, that the act of
parliament is null and void, and it is lawful to oppose and resist
it, the question then is, whether the destruction was necessary?
for every principle of reason, justice and prudence, in such cases,
demands that the least mischief shall be done; the least evil among a
number shall always be preferred.
All men are convinced that it was impracticable to return it, and
rendered so by Mr. Hutchinson and the Boston consignees. Whether to
have stored it would have answered the end, or been a less mischief
than drowning it, I shall leave to the judgment of the public. The
other colonies, it seems, have no scruples about it, for we find that
whenever tea arrives in any of them, whether from the East India
Company, or any other quarter, it never fails to share the fate of
that in Boston. All men will agree that such steps ought not to be
taken, but in cases of absolute necessity, and that such necessity
must be very clear. But most people in America now think, the
destruction of the Boston tea was absolutely necessary, and therefore
right and just. It is very true, they say, if the whole people had
been united in sentiment, and equally stable in their resolution, not
to buy or drink it, there might have been a reason for preserving
it; but the people here were not so virtuous or so happy. The
British ministry had plundered the people by illegal taxes, and
applied the money in salaries and pensions, by which devices, they
had insidiously attached to their party, no inconsiderable number of
persons, some of whom were of family, fortune and influence, though
many of them were of desperate fortunes, each of whom, however,
had his circle of friends, connections and dependants, who were
determined to drink tea, both as evidence of their servility to
administration, and their contempt and hatred of the people. These
it was impossible to restrain without violence, perhaps bloodshed,
certainly without hazarding more than the tea was worth. To this
tribe of the _wicked_, they say, must be added another, perhaps more
numerous, of the _weak_; who never could be brought to think of the
consequences of their actions, but would gratify their appetites,
if they could come at the means. What numbers are there in every
community, who have no providence, or prudence in their private
affairs, but will go on indulging the present appetite, prejudice,
or passion, to the ruin of their estates and families, as well as
their own health and characters! how much larger is the number of
those who have no foresight for the public, or consideration of the
freedom of posterity? Such an abstinence from the tea, as would have
avoided the establishment of a precedent, dependent on the unanimity
of the people, was a felicity that was unattainable. Must the wise,
the virtuous and worthy part of the community, who constituted a very
great majority, surrender their liberty, and involve their posterity
in misery in complaisance to a detestable, though small party of
knaves, and a despicable, though more numerous company of fools?
If Boston could have been treated like other places, like New York
and Philadelphia, the tea might have gone home from thence, as it
did from those cities. That inveterate, desperate junto, to whom
we owe all our calamities, were determined to hurt us in this, as
in all other cases, as much as they could. It is to be hoped they
will one day repent and be forgiven, but it is very hard to forgive
without repentance. When the news of this event arrived in England,
it excited such passions in the minister as nothing could restrain;
his resentment was inkindled into revenge, rage, and madness; his
veracity was piqued, as his master piece of policy, proved but
a bubble. The bantling was the fruit of a favourite amour, and
no wonder that his natural affection was touched, when he saw it
dispatched before his eyes. His grief and ingenuity, if he had any,
were affected at the thought that he had misled the East India
Company so much nearer to destruction, and that he had rendered the
breach between the kingdom and the colonies almost irreconcilable:
his shame was excited because opposition had gained a triumph over
him, and the three kingdoms were laughing at him for his obstinacy
and his blunders: instead of relieving the company he had hastened
its ruin: instead of establishing the absolute and unlimited
sovereignty of parliament over the colonies, he had excited a more
decisive denial of it, and resistance to it. An election drew nigh
and he dreaded the resentment even of the corrupted electors.
In this state of mind bordering on despair, he determines to strike
a bold stroke. Bernard was near and did not fail to embrace the
opportunity, to push the old systems of the junto. By attacking all
the colonies together, by the stamp-act, and the paint and glass act,
they had been defeated. The charter constitution of the Massachusetts
Bay, had contributed greatly to both these defeats. Their
representatives were too numerous, and too frequently elected, to be
corrupted: their people had been used to consider public affairs in
their town meetings: their counsellors were not absolutely at the nod
of a minister or governor, but were once a year equally dependant on
the governor and the two houses. Their grand jurors, were elective by
the people, their petit jurors were returned merely by lot. Bernard
and the junto rightly judged, that by this constitution the people
had a check on every branch of power, and therefore as long as it
lasted, parliamentary taxations, &c. could never be inforced.
Bernard, publishes his select letters, and his principles of polity;
his son writes in defence of the Quebec bill; hireling garretteers
are employed to scribble millions of lies against us, in pamphlets
and newspapers; and setters employed in the coffee houses, to
challenge or knock down all the advocates for the poor Massachusetts.
It was now determined, instead of attacking the colonies together,
though they had been all equally opposed to the plans of the ministry
and the claims of parliament, and therefore upon ministerial
principles equally guilty, to handle them one by one; and to begin
with Boston and the Massachusetts. The destruction of the tea was
a fine event for scribblers and speechifiers to declaim upon; and
there was an hereditary hatred of New England, in the minds of
many in England, on account of their non-conforming principles. It
was likewise thought there was a similar jealousy and animosity in
the other colonies against New England; that they would therefore
certainly desert her; that she would be intimidated and submit; and
then the minister, among his own friends, would acquire immortal
honour, as the most able, skilful and undaunted statesman of the age.
The port bill, charter bill, murder bill, Quebec bill, making
altogether such a frightful system, as would have terrified any
people, who did not prefer liberty to life, were all concerted at
once; but all this art and violence have not succeeded. This people,
under great trials and dangers, have discovered great abilities
and virtues, and that nothing is so terrible to them as the loss
of their liberties. If these arts and violences are persisted in,
and still greater concerted and carried on against them, the world
will see that their fortitude, patience and magnanimity will rise in
proportion.
"Had Cromwell," says our what shall I call him? "had the guidance
of the national ire, your proud capital had been levelled with
the dust." Is it any breach of charity to suppose that such an
event as this, would have been a gratification to this writer? can
we otherwise account for his indulging himself in a thought so
diabolical? will he set up Cromwell as a model for his deified lords,
Bute, Mansfield and North? If he should, there is nothing in the
whole history of him so cruel as this. All his conduct in Ireland, as
exceptionable as any part of his whole life, affords nothing that can
give the least probability to the idea of this writer. The rebellion
in Ireland, was most obstinate, and of many years duration; 100,000
Protestants had been murdered in a day, in cold blood, by Papists,
and therefore Cromwell might plead some excuse, that cruel severities
were necessary, in order to restore any peace to that kingdom.
But all this will not justify him; for as has been observed by an
historian, upon his conduct in this instance, "men are not to divest
themselves of humanity, and turn themselves into devils, because
policy may suggest that they will succeed better as devils than as
men!" But is there any parity or similitude between a rebellion
of a dozen years standing, in which many battles had been fought,
many thousands fallen in war, and 100,000 massacred in a day; and
the drowning three cargoes of tea? To what strains of malevolence,
to what flights of diabolical fury, is not tory rage capable of
transporting men!
"The whigs saw their ruin connected with a compliance with the terms
of opening the port." They saw the ruin of their country connected
with such a compliance, and their own involved in it. But they might
have easily voted a compliance, for they were undoubtedly a vast
majority, and have enjoyed the esteem and affection of their fellow
slaves to their last hours. Several of them could have paid for
the tea, and never have felt the loss. They knew they must suffer,
vastly more, than the tea was worth; but they thought they acted for
America and posterity; and that they ought not to take such a step
without the advice of the colonies. They have declared our cause
their own--that they never will submit to a precedent in any part of
the united colonies, by which parliament may take away wharves and
other lawful estates, or demolish charters; for if they do they have
a moral certainty that in the course of a few years, every right of
Americans will be taken away, and governors and councils, holding at
the will of a minister, will be the only legislatives in the colonies.
A pompous account of the addressers of Mr. Hutchinson, then follows.
They consisted of his relations, his fellow labourers in the tory
vineyard, and persons whom he had raised in the course of four
administrations, Shirley's, Pownal's, Bernard's, and his own, to
places in the province. Considering the industry that was used,
and the vast number of persons in the province, who had received
commissions under government upon his recommendation, the small
number of subscribers that was obtained, is among a thousand
demonstrations of the unanimity of this people. If it had been
thought worth while to have procured a remonstrance against him,
fifty thousand subscribers might have been easily found. Several
gentlemen of property were among these addressers, and some of fair
character; but their acquaintance and friendships lay among the
junto and their subalterns entirely. Besides, did these addressers
approve the policy or justice of any one of the bills, which were
passed the last session of the late parliament? Did they acknowledge
the unlimited authority of parliament? The Middlesex magistrates
remonstrated against taxation: but they were flattered with hopes,
that Mr. Hutchinson would get the port-bill, &c. repealed: that is,
that he would have undone all, which every one, but themselves, knew
he has been doing these fifteen years.
"But these patriotic endeavours, were defeated." By what? "By an
invention of the fertile brain of one of our party agents, called a
committee of correspondence." "_This is the foulest, subtlest and
most venemous serpent, that ever issued from the eggs of sedition._"
I should rather call it, the _Ichneumon_, a very industrious, active
and useful animal, which was worshipped in Egypt as a divinity,
because it defended their country from the ravages of the crocodiles.
It was the whole occupation of this little creature to destroy those
wily and ravenous monsters. It crushed their eggs, wherever they laid
them, and with a wonderful address and courage, would leap into their
mouths, penetrate their entrails, and never leave until it destroyed
them.
If the honour of this invention is due to the gentleman, who is
generally understood by the "party agent" or Massachusettensis, it
belongs to one, to whom America has erected a statue in her heart,
for his integrity, fortitude and perseverance in her cause. That the
invention itself is very useful and important, is sufficiently clear,
from the unlimited wrath of the tories against it, and from the
gall which this writer discharges upon it. Almost all mankind have
lost their liberties through ignorance, inattention and disunion.
These committees are admirably calculated to diffuse knowledge, to
communicate intelligence, and promote unanimity. If the high whigs
are generally of such committees, it is because the freeholders, who
choose them, are such, and therefore prefer their peers. The tories,
high or low, if they can make interest enough among the people, may
get themselves chosen, and promote the great cause of parliamentary
revenues, and the other sublime doctrines and mysteries of toryism.
That these committees think themselves "amenable to none," is false;
for there is not a man upon any one of them, who does not acknowledge
himself to hold his place, at the pleasure of his constituents, and
to be accountable to them, whenever they demand it. If the committee
of the town of Boston was appointed, for a special purpose at first,
their commission has been renewed from time to time; they have been
frequently thanked by the town for their vigilance, activity and
disinterested labours in the public service. Their doings have been
laid before the town and approved of by it. The malice of the tories
has several times swelled open their bosoms, and broke out into the
most intemperate and illiberal invectives against it; but all in
vain. It has only served to shew the impotence of the tories, and
increase the importance of the committee.
These committees cannot be too religiously careful of the exact
truth of the intelligence they receive or convey; nor too anxious
for the rectitude and purity of the measures they propose or adopt;
they should be very sure that they do no injury to any man's person,
property or character; and they are generally persons of such worth,
that I have no doubt of their attention to these rules; and therefore
that the reproaches of this writer are mere slanders.
If we recollect how many states have lost their liberties, merely
from want of communication with each other, and union among
themselves, we shall think that these committees may be intended by
Providence to accomplish great events. What the eloquence and talents
of negociation of Demosthenes himself could not effect, among the
states of Greece, might have been effected by so simple a device.
Castile, Arragon, Valencia, Majorca, &c. all complained of oppression
under Charles the fifth, flew out into transports of rage, and took
arms against him. But they never consulted or communicated with each
other. They resisted separately, and were separately subdued. Had Don
Juan Padilla, or his wife, been possessed of the genius to invent a
committee of correspondence, perhaps the liberties of the Spanish
nation might have remained to this hour, without any necessity to
have had recourse to arms. Hear the opinion of Dr. Robertson. "While
the spirit of disaffection was so general among the Spaniards, and
so many causes concurred in precipitating them into such violent
measures, in order to obtain redress of their grievances, it may
appear strange that the malecontents in the different kingdoms should
have carried on their operations without any mutual concert or even
any intercourse with each other. By uniting their councils and arms,
they might have acted both with greater force, and with more effect.
The appearance of a national confederacy would have rendered it no
less respectable among the people, than formidable to the crown; and
the emperor, unable to resist such a combination, must have complied
with any terms, which the members of it thought fit to prescribe."