XLII. its way through the British ministry to Vergennes, CHAP. who pronounced it an absurdity worthy only of contempt. All the while skirmishes continued. A party of Americans on the eighth of July drove in the British advance guard nearest Roxbury, and took several muskets. On the evening of the tenth, three hundred volunteers swept Long Island, in Boston harbor, of more than seventy sheep and fifteen head of cattle, and carried off sixteen prisoners. Two days later, just after the arrival of six crowded transports, Greaton, with one hundred and thirty six men, went again to the same island, and burnt the hay which was stacked there for the British cavalry. After a few days more, companies at Weymouth and Hingham reaped and brought off the ripe grain from Nantasket. On the fifteenth of July, the army of Cambridge heard Langdon, the president of Harvard college, read the declaration by the continental congress for taking up arms, which they interpreted to mean that the Americans would never sheathe the sword till their grievances were redressed to their utmost wishes. On the eighteenth it was read on Prospect Hill amidst such shouts that the British on Bunker Hill put themselves in array for battle; but neither then, nor even after the arrival of their last transports, did they venture an attack or even a sally. "I despair seeing a battle fought this time coming down," wrote Emerson to his wife at Concord. In conformity to the direction of the continental congress, the people of Massachusetts, holding town meetings according to their usage and their charter, 1775. July. 1775. July. CHAP. chose a house of representatives. Boston took part XLII. in the elections; for the wanderers from that town were considered as bearing with them its living spirit, and the exiles, many of whom had not seen each other since they left their homes, came together at Concord. On the nineteenth the provincial congress dissolved itself forever, and the new house of representatives began the restoration of government by electing James Warren, of Plymouth, as its speaker. The following night, Vose, a major in Heath's regiment, set fire to the lighthouse in Boston harbor, bringing off a field piece, a swivel, and the lamps. The boats of a British man of war, which lay within a mile, pursued the adventurous party; but they were in whaleboats and escaped by rowing. The continental fast was rigidly kept on the twentieth; the next day the Massachusetts government was permanently constituted. An annually elected legislature themselves elected an annual council of twenty eight, and that multitudinous body, which also had concurrent legislative power, assumed all executive authority. In a few weeks the old civil and military offices were abolished, and the seal of the commonwealth was changed into an Anglo-American, holding a drawn sword, with the motto: Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem, "With the sword he seeks placid rest under liberty." Forty thousand pounds were assessed on polls and estates, and authority was given to issue one hundred thousand more in bills of public credit, varying in amount from forty shillings to one. Congress and committees rule every province," said the British commander in chief. He looked XLII. July. about for colonial sympathy and contributions of CHAP. men; but none wished to share his confinement. He sent officers to New York to board emigrant ships 1775. from Scotland, in the hope to enlist a few Highlanders. Growing more and more uneasy, on the twenty fourth of July, he wrote home that Boston' was "the most disadvantageous place for all operations," and he wished himself safely at New York. To repair the Boston lighthouse carpenters were sent with a guard of thirty marines. On the evening of the thirtieth, Major Tupper attacked them with a party from Squantum and Dorchester, killed the lieutenant and one man, and captured all the rest of the party, fifty three in number. The Americans had but one man killed and two or three wounded. The next day in general orders, Washington praised their gallant and soldierlike conduct. The country regarded with amazement what Jefferson called "the adventurous genius and intrepidity of the New Englanders." For all this, Washington, who was annoyed by shoals of selfish importuners, and had not yet become aware how bad men clamorously throng round the distributors of offices, misjudged the Massachusetts people; but the existence of the army was itself a miracle of their benevolence, and its sustenance during May, June, and July cannot be accounted for by ordinary rules. There was nothing regularly established, and yet many thousands of men were abundantly supplied. Touched by an all pervading influence, each householder esteemed himself a sort of commissary. There were no public magazines, no large dealers in provisions; but the wants of the army CHAP. rung in the ears of the farmers, and from every cellar, XLII. and barn yard, and field throughout Worcester and 1775. Hampshire and even Berkshire, such articles of food July. as could be spared were devoted to the camp, and everybody's wagons were used to forward them. But for this the forces must have dispersed; how it was done, cannot exactly be told; popular enthusiasm keeps little record of its sacrifices; only it was done, and though great waste prevailed, the troops of Massachusetts, and for a long time also those of New Hampshire, were fed by the unselfish care of the people, without so much as a barrel of flour from the continental congress. It was time for "the confederated colonies" to interpose. CHAPTER XLIII. CONGRESS STILL HOPES TO AVERT WAR. JULY 19 TO AUGUST. XLIII. THE Continental congress, acting as a promiscu- CHAP. ous executive, neither formed a carefully considered system, nor felt the weight of personal responsibility. 1775 July. It never presented to itself a vivid picture of Washington's situation, and never went in advance to mitigate his difficulties or supply his wants; but, from the first, waited inactively for his appeals. On the nineteenth day of July it read his first report from Cambridge, by which it appeared that the army was defective in discipline and in numbers; that officers for the regiments were in excess, while the files were not full; that the order in rank of the major generals and brigadiers had displeased the troops and the New England governments; that still another class of officers was needed, to bring method into the system of supplies; that there was the most urgent want of tents and clothing; of hospitals; of skilful engineers; of every kind of arms, especially |