as no selfish spirit on the part of the empire will be able to resist. In the meantime, while we are declining the usurped authority of Parliament, I wish to see a steady, dutiful attachment to the King and his family maintained among us, and that, however we may be induced, for peace' sake, or from a sense of our inability to submit at present, in some instances, to the exercise of that unjust authority, we shall continue from time to time to assert our rights in occasional sober resolves and other public acts, never yielding them up, and avoiding even the slightest expression confirmatory of the claim that has been set up against them. "I was glad to see that attention in the general court to an improvement in the militia. "I have lately been among the clothing towns in Yorkshire, and by conversing with the manufacturers there, am more and more convinced of the natural impossibility there is, that considering our increase in America, England should be able much longer to supply us with clothing. Necessity therefore, as well as prudence, will soon induce us to seek resources in our industry." "LONDON, January 13, 1772. "I am now returned again to London from a journey of some months in Ireland and Scotland. Being desirous of seeing the principal patriots in Ireland, I stayed till the opening of their Parliament. I found them disposed to be friends of America, in which disposition I endeavoured to confirm them, with the expectation that our growing weight might in time be thrown into their scales, and by joining our interest with theirs, might be obtained for them as well as for us, a more equitable treatment from this nation. There are many brave spirits among them. The gentry are a very sensible, polite, and friendly people." * Preparations Measures were taken everywhere to prepare for the coming contest. A committee of correspondence, consisting of distinguished men in for the com- the province, set forth an agreement, called "a solemn league and covenant,' copies of which were sent in all directions, and were ing conflict. * S. P. Col. numerously signed. "We subscribers to this league determined to suspend all intercourse with Great Britain, until their rights should be restored." By the General Court of Massachusetts, it was resolved that a congress of the colonies was necessary. They also enrolled a body of men to be prepared for any emergency, "to march at a minute's notice," who were therefore called "minute men.' Five general officers were appointed to command them. Committees of safety were appointed generally by the towns to act in conjunction with the central committee, and measures were taken to collect military stores, to be deposited at Concord and Worcester. Meetings were held in the towns, at which resolutions of sympathy with the Boston traders were passed, and the determination expressed in particular to prevent the sale of tea. At Sandwich, Barnstable County, at a meeting, May 18, 1773, it was voted by the town "that our representative is instructed to endeavour to have an Act passed by the Court, to prevent the importation of slaves into this country, and that all children that shall be born of such Africans as are now slaves among us shall, after such Act, be free at twenty-one years of age.' The people responded to the call for the support of the provincial congress, and the maintenance of order. Fifteen hundred people met on the first Tuesday of September, 1774, at the front of the court at Barnstaple, and adopted a code of regulations to the following effect : *Freeman's Hist. Cape Cod, vol. i. p. 115. "Resolved, that we will avoid all kinds of intemperance by strong liquor, and no otherwise frequent the taverns than for necessary entertainment and refreshment-that we will not swear profanely, or abuse our superiors, equals, or inferiors, by any ill or opprobrious language; that we will not invade the property of any, etc. "That Messrs. Aaron, Barlow, etc., be a committee to hear and determine all offences against morality, decency, and good manners, that shall be complained of, with power to call before them, examine, acquit, or punish, according to the nature and circumstances of the offence. "Resolved, that we will, during the time of our said enterprise, aid, protect, and support our said committee in the full and free discharge of their duty and office, and use our most careful endeavours for the punishment of all-offenders. "And, forasmuch as these our public transactions are of a public nature, and, as we apprehend, laudable; and as we have no private interest to serve, or anything in view but the good of our country and its common cause; "Therefore, voted that these resolves be read once every day, at some convenient time and place, during our transitory state and temporary fellowship."* Tyranny of the majority. There was a strange admixture of elements in the warfare on both sides-loyalty and the love of peace, with intolerance, pride and oppression, arrayed against patriotism, the love of freedom, concern for the interests of religion, combined with the most brutal excess. is the evidence: Here "Commissioners were appointed to ferret out the disaffected among the people, and bring them to a Vigilance renouncement, in writing, of their Toryism; Committees. and it was ordered that if any should refuse, they be brought before the body of the people assembled. "The result was, all signed 'recantations,' though some did it very reluctantly." * Hist. of Cape Cod, vol. i. p. 431. "Jesse Dunbar having bought some fat cattle of a Mandamus counsellor (a loyalist) in 1774, drove them to Plymouth for sale. The Whigs soon learned with whom he had presumed to deal, and after he had slaughtered, skinned, and hung up one of his beasts, commenced punishing him for the offence. His tormentors put the dead ox in a cart, and fixed Dunbar inside the carcase, carted him four miles, and required him to pay one dollar for the ride. He was then delivered over to a Kingston mob, who carted him four other miles, and exacted another dollar. A Duxbury mob then took him, and after beating him in the face with the creature's tripes, and, endeavouring to cover his person with it, carried him to Counsellor Thomas's house, and compelled him to pay a further sum of money. Flinging his beef into the road, they now left him to recover as he could."* "In April, 1775, a meeting of all capable of bearing arms in the two towns of Brunswick and Harpswell, was summoned to be held at the meeting-house, a mile south of where Bowdoin Cottage now stands, to inquire into the state of the towns for defence. After the business had been transacted, Mr. Eaton, who was present, and had been active in earnest conversation with individuals during the progress of the meeting, was requested to ascend the pulpit and address the people. Several hundreds were gathered, amongst whom were not a few lukewarm ones, and some who were even opposed to revolutionary measures. He yielded to the summons, and made an eloquent appeal to their patriotism against British oppression. His speech was so effective in exciting the spirit and temper of the people, that in the frenzied excitement of their passions, several under the lead of the chairman of the meeting, a man of overbearing uncompromising character, seized one who was the most prominent and out-spoken of the opposers, and who held a commission under the King, attempted to compel him to renounce King and Parliament, and, when he could not be intimidated by threats of violence, even proceeded to bury him alive. A few of the more considerate, by a resolute interposition, rescued the victim of their fury, just as they had nearly effected their object. Soon after the burning of Falmouth, now Portland, August, 1775, a recruiting officer went to Harpswell to raise volunteers. Unsuccessful in his efforts, one Sabbath morning he met Mr. Eaton * Hist. of Duxbury, p. 140. Freeman's Cape Cod, No. 3, p. 426. on his way to the meeting-house, laid the case before him, and urged him to speak to the people on the subject. 'Sir,' said the pastor, it is my communion Sabbath, and I must not introduce secular subjects during the day. I will think of the matter and see what I can do. Perhaps I will invite the people to assemble in front of the meeting-house, at the going down of the sun.' This he did. After service he went home and to his study, and opened his Bible to see what he could find adapted to the case. His eyes fell on this passage-Jeremiah xlviii. 10, Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword.' At sundown the people gathered, and with these words as a text, Mr. Eaton addressed them from the horse-block (now standing). That night forty volunteered for the service required."* Franklin reports the effect of the Boston proceedings: "LONDON, September 15, 1774. "I rejoice that the whole continent have so justly, wisely, and unanimously taken up our cause as their own. This is an unexpected blow to the ministry, who neglected by every other colony. Franklin's report of the effect produced in London. measures. rely'd on our being This they depended on as another circumstance that must force our immediate submission, of which they were likewise perfectly sure. They are now a little disconcerted, but I hear yet from that quarter no talk of retreating or changing of The language of those about the Court rather is, that the King must now go on whatever may be the consequence. On the other hand, our friends are increasing and endeavouring to unite. I have been taking pains among them to show the mischief that must arise to the whole from a dismembering of the empire in Britain. The violent destruction of the tea, seems to have united all parties here against our province, so that the Bill was brought into Parliament for shutting up Boston as a port, till satisfaction is made, meets with no opposition; an alteration in our Charter relating to the choice of the council is talked of, but it is not certain that it will be proposed at present. I cannot but hope that the affair of the tea will have been considered in the assembly before this time, and satisfaction proposed if not * Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit. Trinity Congregational, vol. i. p. 615. |