Nevertheless, the repeal of the Stamp Act, which pacified the laity, left the clergy as hot as ever; and so early as 1768, when no one outside of the inmost ecclesiastical circle yet dreamed of independence, but when the Rev. Andrew Eliot thought the erection of the bishopric was near, he frankly told Hollis he antic.i.p.ated war.
"You will see by this pamphlet, how we are cajoled. A colony bishop is to be a more innocent creature than ever a bishop was, since diocesan bishops were introduced to lord it over G.o.d"s heritage. ... Can the A-b-p, and his tools, think to impose on the colonists by these artful representations.... The people of New England are greatly alarmed; the arrival of a bishop would raise them as much as any one thing.... Our General Court is now sitting. I have hinted to some of the members, that it will be proper for them to express their fears of the setting up an hierarchy here. I am well a.s.sured a motion will be made to this purpose.... I may be mistaken, but I am persuaded the dispute between Great Britain and her colonies will never be _amicably_ settled.... I sent you a few hasty remarks on the A-b-p"s sermon. ... I am more and more convinced of the meanness, art--if he was not in so high a station, I should say, falsehood--of that Arch-Pr-l-te." [Footnote: Thomas Seeker. Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Jan. 5, 1768. _Ma.s.s. Hist. Coll._ fourth series, iv. 422.] An established priesthood is naturally the firmest support of despotism; but the course of events made that of Ma.s.sachusetts revolutionary. This was a social factor whose importance it is hard to overestimate; for though the influence of the elders had much declined during the eighteenth century, their political power was still immense; and it is impossible to measure the degree in which the drift of feeling toward independence would have been arrested had they been thoroughly loyal. At all events, the evidence tends to show that it is most improbable the first blood would have been shed in the streets of Boston had it been the policy of Great Britain to conciliate the Congregational Church; if, for example, the liberals had been forced to meet the issue of taxation upon a statute designed to raise a revenue for the maintenance of the evangelical clergy. How potent an ally King George lost by incurring their hatred may be judged by the devotion of the Episcopalian pastors, many of whom were of the same blood as their Calvinistic brethren, often, like Cutler and Johnson, converts. They all showed the same intensity of feeling; all were Tories, not one wavered; and they boasted that they were long able to hold their parishioners in check.
In September, 1765, those of Connecticut wrote to the secretary, "although the commotions and disaffection in this country are very great at present, relative to what they call the imposition of stamp duties, yet ... the people of the Church of England, in general, in this colony, as we hear, ... and those, in particular, under our respective charges, are of a contrary temper and conduct; esteeming it nothing short of rebellion to speak evil of dignities, and to avow opposition to this last act of Parliament....
"We think it our inc.u.mbent duty to warn our hearers, in particular, of the unreasonableness and wickedness of their taking the least part in any tumult or opposition to his majesty"s acts, and we have obvious reasons for the fullest persuasion, that they will steadily behave themselves as true and faithful subjects to his majesty"s person and government." [Footnote: _Conn. Church Doc._ ii. 81.]
Even so late as April, 1775, Mr. Caner, at Boston, felt justified in making a very similar report to the society: "Our clergy have in the midst of these confusions behaved I think with remarkable prudence. None of them have been hindered from exercising the duties of their office since Mr. Peters, tho" many of them have been much threat"ned; and as their people have for the most part remained firm and steadfast in their loyalty and attachment to goverment, the clergy feel themselves supported by a conscious satisfaction that their labors have not been in vain." [Footnote: Perry"s _Coll._ iii. 579.]
Nor did they shrink because of danger from setting an example of pa.s.sive obedience to their congregations. The Rev. Dr. Beach graduated at Yale in 1721 and became the Congregational pastor of Newtown. He was afterward converted, and during the war was forbidden to read the prayers for the royal family; but he replied, "that he would do his duty, preach and pray for the king, till the rebels cut out his tongue."
[Footnote: _O"Callaghan Doc.u.ments_, iii. 1053, 8vo ed.]
In estimating the energy of a social force, such as ecclesiasticism, the indirect are often more striking than the direct manifestations of power, and this is eminently true of Ma.s.sachusetts; for, notwithstanding her ministers had always been astute and indefatigable politicians, their greatest triumphs were invariably won by some layman whose mind they had moulded and whom they put forward as their champion. From John Winthrop, who was the first, an almost unbroken line of these redoubtable partisans stretched down to the Revolution, where it ended with him who is perhaps the most celebrated of all.
Samuel Adams has been called the last of the Puritans. He was indeed the incarnation of those qualities which led to eminence under the theocracy. A rigid Calvinist, reticent, cool, and brave, matchless in intrigue, and tireless in purpose, his cause was always holy, and therefore sanctified the means.
Professor Hosmer thus describes him: "It was, however, as a manager of men that Samuel Adams was greatest. Such a master of the methods by which a town-meeting may be swayed, the world has never seen. On the best of terms with the people, the shipyard men, the distillers, the sailors, as well as the merchants and ministers, he knew precisely what springs to touch. He was the prince of canva.s.sers, the very king of the caucus, of which his father was the inventor.... As to his tact, was it ever surpa.s.sed?" [Footnote: Hosmer"s _Samuel Adams_, p. 363.] A bigot in religion, he had the flexibility of a Jesuit; and though he abhorred Episcopalians, he proposed that Mr. d.u.c.h.e should make the opening prayer for Congress, in the hope of soothing the southern members. Strict in all ceremonial observances, he was loose in money matters; yet even here he stood within the pale, for Dr. Cotton Mather was looser, [Footnote: See Letter on behalf of Dr. Cotton Mather to Sewall, _Ma.s.s. Hist. Coll._ fourth series, ii. 122.] who was the most orthodox of divines.
The clergy instinctively clave to him, and gave him their fullest confidence. When there was any important work to do they went to him, and he never failed them. On January 5, 1768, the Rev. Dr. Eliot told Hollis he had suggested to some of the members of the legislature to remonstrate against the bishops. [Footnote: _Ma.s.s. Hist. Coll._ fourth series, iv. 422.] A week later the celebrated letter of instructions of the house to the agent, De Berdt, was reported, which, was written by Adams; and it is interesting to observe how, in the midst of a most vigorous protest on the subject, he broke out: "We hope in G.o.d such an establishment will never take place in America, and we desire you would strenuously oppose it." [Footnote: _Ma.s.s. State Papers_, 1765-1775, p.
132.]
The subtle but unmistakable flavor of ecclesiasticism pervades his whole long agitation. He handled the newspapers with infinite skill, and the way in which he used the toleration granted the Canadian Catholics after the conquest, as a goad wherewith to inflame the dying Puritan fanaticism, was worthy of St. Ignatius. He moved for the committee who reported the resolutions of the town of Boston in 1772; his spirit inspired them, and in these also the grievance of Episcopacy plays a large part. How strong his prejudices were may be gathered from a few words: "We think therefore that every design for establishing ...
a bishop in this province, is a design both against our civil and religious rights." [Footnote: _Votes and Proceedings of Boston_, Nov.
20, 1772, p. 28.]
The liberals, as loyal subjects of Great Britain, grieved over her policy as the direst of misfortunes, which indeed they might be driven to resist, but which they strove to modify.
Washington wrote in 1774: "I am well satisfied, ... that it is the ardent wish of the warmest advocates for liberty, that peace and tranquillity, upon const.i.tutional grounds, may be restored, and the horrors of civil discord prevented." [Footnote: Washington to Mackenzie.
_Washington"s Writings_, ii. 402.] Jefferson affirmed: "Before the commencement of hostilities ... I never had heard a whisper of a disposition to separate from Great Britain; and after that, its possibility was contemplated with affliction by all." While John Adams solemnly declared: "For my own part, there was not a moment during the Revolution, when I would not have given everything I possessed for a restoration to the state of things before the contest began, provided we could have had a sufficient security for its continuance." [Footnote: Note of Sparks, _Washington"s Writings_, ii. 501.]
In such feelings Samuel Adams had no share. In each renewed aggression he saw the error of his natural enemy, which brought ever nearer the realization of the dream of independence he had inherited from the past; for the same fierce pa.s.sion burned within him that had made Endicott mutilate his flag, and Leverett read his king"s letter with his hat on; and the guns of Lexington were music in his ears.
He was not a lawyer, nor a statesman, in the true meaning of the word, but he was a consummate agitator; and if this be remembered, his career becomes clear. When he conceived the idea of the possibility of independence is uncertain; probably soon after the pa.s.sage of the Stamp Act, but the evidence is strong that so early as 1768 he had deliberately resolved to precipitate some catastrophe which would make reconciliation impossible, and obviously an armed collision would have suited his purpose best.
Troops were then first ordered to Boston, and at one moment he was tempted to cause their landing to be resisted. An old affidavit is still extant, presumably truthful enough, which brings him vividly before the mind as he went about the town lashing up the people.
"Mr. Samuel Adams ... happened to join the same party ... trembling and in great agitation.... The informant heard the said Samuel Adams then say ... "If you are men, behave like men. Let us take up arms immediately, and be free, and seize all the king"s officers. We shall have thirty thousand men to join us from the country." ... And before the arrival of the troops ... at the house of the informant ... the said Samuel Adams said: "We will not submit to any tax, nor become slaves....
The country was first settled by our ancestors, therefore we are free and want no king." ... The informant further sayeth, that about a fortnight before the troops arrived, the aforesaid Samuel Adams, being at the house of the informant, the informant asked him what he thought of the times. The said Adams answered, with great alertness, that, on lighting the beacon, we should be joined with thirty thousand men from the country with their knapsacks and bayonets fixed, and added, "We will destroy every soldier that dare put his foot on sh.o.r.e. His majesty has no right to send troops here to invade the country, and I look upon them as foreign enemies!"" [Footnote: Wells"s _Samuel Adams_, i. 210, 211.]
Maturer reflection must have convinced him his design was impracticable, for he certainly abandoned it, and the two regiments disembarked in peace; but their position was unfortunate. Together they were barely a thousand strong, and were completely at the mercy of the populous and hostile province they had been sent to awe.
The temptation to a bold and unscrupulous revolutionary leader must have been intense. Apparently it needed but a spark to cause an explosion; the rabble of Boston could be fierce and dangerous when roused, as had been proved by the sack of Hutchinson"s house; and if the soldiers could be goaded into firing on the citizens, the chances were they would be annihilated in the rising which would follow, when a rupture would be inevitable. But even supposing the militia abstained from partic.i.p.ating in the outbreak, and the tumult were suppressed, the indignation at the slaughter would be deep enough to sustain him in making demands which the government could not grant.
Hutchinson and the English officers understood the danger, and for many months the discipline was exemplary, but precautions were futile.
Though he knew full well how to be all things to all men, the natural affiliations of Samuel Adams were with the clergy and the mob, and in the ship-yards and rope-walks he reigned supreme. Nor was he of a temper to shrink from using to the utmost the opportunity his adversaries had put in his hands, and he forthwith began a series of inflammatory appeals in the newspapers, whereof this is a specimen: "And are the inhabitants of this town still to be affronted in the night as well as the day by soldiers arm"d with muskets and fix"d bayonets?... Will the spirits of people, as yet unsubdued by tyranny, unaw"d by the menaces of arbitary power, submit to be govern"d by military force?" [Footnote: Vindex, _Boston Gazette_, Dec. 5, 1768.]
In 1770 it was notorious that "endeavors had been systematically pursued for many months, by certain busy characters, to excite quarrels, rencounters, and combats, single or compound, in the night, between the inhabitants of the lower cla.s.s and the soldiers, and at all risks to enkindle an immortal hatred between them." [Footnote: Autobiography of John Adams. _Works of J. Adams_, ii. 229.] And it is curious to observe how the British always quarrelled with the laborers about the wharves; and how these, the closest friends of Adams, were all imbued with the theory he maintained, that the military could not use their weapons without the order of a civil magistrate. Little by little the animosity increased, until on the 2d of March there was a very serious fray at Gray"s rope-walk, which was begun by one of the hands, who knocked down two soldiers who spoke to him in the street. Although Adams afterward labored to convince the public that the tragedy which happened three days later was the result of a deliberately matured conspiracy to murder the citizens for revenge, there is nothing whereon to base such a charge; on the contrary, the evidence tends to exonerate the troops, and the verdicts show the opinion of the juries. There was exasperation on both sides, but the rabble were not restrained by discipline, and on the night of the 5th of March James Crawford swore he he saw at Calf"s corner "about a dozen with sticks, in Quaker Lane and Green"s Lane, met many going toward King Street. Very great sticks, pretty large cudgells, not common walking canes.... At Swing bridge the people were walking from all quarters with sticks. I was afraid to go home, ... the streets in such commotion as I hardly ever saw in my life. Uncommon sticks such as a man would pull out of an hedge.... Thomas Knight at his own door, 8 or 10 pa.s.sed with sticks or clubs and one of them said "D--n their bloods, let us go and attack the main guard first."" [Footnote: Kidder"s _Ma.s.sacre_, p. 10.] The crown witnesses testified that the sentry was surrounded by a crowd of thirty or forty, who pelted him with pieces of ice "hard and large enough to hurt any man; as big as one"s fist." And ha said "he was afraid, if the boys did not disperse, there would be trouble." [Footnote: _Idem_, p. 138.] When the guard came to his help the mob grew still more violent, yelling "b.l.o.o.d.y backs," "lobster scoundrels," "d.a.m.n you, fire! why don"t you fire?" striking them with sticks.
"Did you observe anybody strike Montgomery, or was a club thrown? The stroke came from a stick or club that was in somebody"s hand, and the blow struck his gun and his arm." "Was he knocked down?... He fell, I am sure.... His gun flew out of hand, and as he stooped to take it up, he fell himself.... Was any number of people standing near the man that struck his gun? Yes, a whole crowd, fifty or sixty." [Footnote: Kidder"s _Ma.s.sacre_, pp. 138, 139.] When the volley came at last the rabble fell back, and the 29th was rapidly formed before the main guard, the front rank kneeling, that the fire might sweep the street. And now when every bell was tolling, and the town was called to arms, and infuriated men came pouring in by thousands, Hutchinson showed he had inherited the blood of his great ancestress, who feared little upon earth; but then, indeed, their adversaries have seldom charged the Puritans with cowardice in fight. Coming quickly to the council chamber he pa.s.sed into the balcony, which overhung the kneeling regiment and the armed and maddened crowd, and he spoke with such calmness and courage that even then he was obeyed. He promised that justice should be done and he commanded the people to disperse. Preston and his men were at once surrendered to the authorities to await their trial.
The next day Adams was in his glory. The meeting in the morning was as wax between his fingers, and his friend, the Rev. Dr. Cooper, opened it with fervent prayer. A committee was at once appointed to demand the withdrawal of the troops, but Hutchinson thought he had no power and that Gage alone could give the order. Nevertheless, after a conference with Colonel Dalrymple he was induced to propose that the 29th should be sent to the Castle, and the 14th put under strict restraint. [Footnote: Kidder"s _Ma.s.sacre_, p. 43.] To the daring agitator it seemed at last his hour was come, for the whole people were behind him, and Hutchinson himself says "their spirit" was "as high as was the spirit of their ancestors when they imprisoned Andros." As the committee descended the steps of the State House to go to the Old South where they were to report, the dense crowd made way for them, and Samuel Adams as he walked bare-headed through their lines continually bowed to right and left, repeating the catchword, "Both regiments or none." His touch on human pa.s.sions was unerring, for when the lieutenant-governor"s reply was read, the great a.s.sembly answered with a mighty shout, "Both regiments or none," and so instructed he returned. Then the nature of the man shone out; the handful of troops were helpless, and he was as inflexible as steel. The thin, strong, determined, gray-eyed Puritan stood before Hutchinson, inwardly exulting as he marked his features change under the torture. "A mult.i.tude highly incensed now wait the result of this application. The voice of ten thousand freemen demands that both regiments be forthwith removed.... Fail not then at your peril to comply with this requisition!" [Footnote: Hosmer"s _Samuel Adams_, p. 173.] It was the spirit of Norton and of Endicott alive again, and he was flushed with the same stern triumph at the sight of his victim"s pain: "It was then, if fancy deceived me not, I observed his knees to tremble. I thought I saw his face grow pale (and I enjoyed the sight)." [Footnote: Adams to Warren. Wells"s Samuel Adams, i. 324.]
Probably nothing prevented a complete rupture but the hopeless weakness of the garrison, for Hutchinson, feeling the decisive moment had come, was full of fight. He saw that to yield would destroy his authority, and he opposed concession, but he stood alone, the officers knew their position was untenable, and the council was unanimous against him.
"The Lt G. endeavoured to convince them of the ill consequence of this advice, and kept them until late in the evening, the people remaining a.s.sembled; but the council were resolute. Their advice, therefore, he communicated to Col Dalrymple accompanied with a declaration, that he had no authority to order the removal of the troops. This part Col.
D. was dissatisfied with, and urged the Lt G. to withdraw it, but he refused, and the regiments were removed. He was much distressed, but he brought it all upon himself by his offer to remove one of the regiments.
No censure, however, was pa.s.sed upon him." [Footnote: _Diary and Letters of T. Hutchinson_, p. 80.]
Had the pacification of his country been the object near his heart, Samuel Adams, after his victory, would have abstained from any act however remotely tending to influence the course of justice; for he must have known that it was only by such conduct the colonists could inspire respect for the motives which actuated them in their resistance. A capital sentence would have been doubly unfortunate, for had it been executed it would have roused all England; while had the king pardoned the soldiers, as a.s.suredly he would have done, a deep feeling of wrong would have rankled in America.
A fanatical and revolutionary demagogue, on the other hand, would have longed for a conviction, not only to compa.s.s his ends as a politician, but to glut his hate as a zealot.
Samuel Adams was a taciturn, secretive man, whose tortuous course would have been hard to follow a century ago; now the attempt is hopeless. Yet there is one inference it seems permissible to draw: his admirers have always boasted that he was the inspiration of the town meetings, presumably, therefore, the votes pa.s.sed at them may be attributed to his manipulation. And starting from this point, with the help of Hutchinson and his own writings, it is still possible to discern the outlines of a policy well worthy of a theocratic statesman.
The March meeting began on the 12th. On the 13th it was resolved:--
"That ---- He and they hereby are appointed a committee for and in behalf of the town to find out who those persons are that were the perpetrators of the horred murders and ma.s.sacres done and committed in King Street on several of the inhabitants in the evening of the 5th instant and take such examinations and depositions as they can procure, and lay the whole thereof before the grand inquest in order that such perpetrators may be indicted and brought to tryal for the same, and upon indictments being found, said committee are desired to prepare matters for the king"s attorney, to attend at their tryals in the superior court, subpoena all the witnesses, and do everything necessary for bringing those murtherers to that punishment for such crimes, as the laws of G.o.d and man require." [Footnote: _Records of Boston_, v. 232.]
A day or two afterward a number of Adams"s friends, among whom were some of the members of this committee, dined together, and Hutchinson tells what he persuaded them to do.
"The time for holding the superior court for the county of Suffolk was the next week after the tragical action in King Street. Although bills were found by the grand jury, yet the court, considering the disordered state of the town, had thought fit to continue the trials over to the next term, when the minds of people would be more free from prejudice."
"A considerable number of the most active persons in all publick measures of the town, having dined together, went in a body from table to the superior court then sitting, and Mr. Adams, at their head and in behalf of the town, pressed the bringing on the trial the same term with so much spirit, that the judges did not think it advisable to abide by their own order, but appointed a day for the trials, and adjourned the court for that purpose." [Footnote: Hutch. _Hist._ iii. 285, 286 and note.]
The justices must afterward have grown ashamed of their cowardice, for Rex _v._ Preston did not come on until the autumn, and altogether very little was accomplished by these attempts to interfere with the due administration of the law. "A committee had been appointed by the town to a.s.sist in the prosecution of the soldiers ... but this was irregular.
The courts, according to the practice in the province, required no prosecutors but the officers of the crown; much less would they have thought it proper for the princ.i.p.al town in the province to have brought all its weight, which was very great, into court against the prisoners."
[Footnote: _Idem_, iii. 286, note.]
Nevertheless, Adams had by no means exhausted his resources, for it was possible so to inflame the public mind that dispa.s.sionate juries could hardly be obtained.
At the same March meeting another committee was named, who were to obtain a "particular account of all proceedings relative to the ma.s.sacre in King Street on Monday night last, that a full and just representation may be made thereof?" [Footnote: Kidder"s _Ma.s.sacre_, p. 23.] The reason a.s.signed for so unwonted a proceeding as the taking of _ex parte_ testimony by a popular a.s.sembly concerning alleged murders, for which men were to be presently tried for their lives, was the necessity for controverting the aspersions of the British officials; but the probable truth of this explanation must be judged by the course actually pursued.
On the 19th the report was made, consisting of "A Short Narrative of the Horrid Ma.s.sacre in Boston," together with a number of depositions; and though perhaps it was natural, under the circ.u.mstances, for such a pamphlet to have been highly partisan, it was unnatural for its authors to have a.s.sumed the burden of proving that a deliberately planned conspiracy had existed between the civilians and the military to murder the citizens; especially as this tremendous charge rested upon no better foundation than the fantastic falsehoods of "a French boy, whose evidence appeared to the justice so improbable, and whose character was so infamous, that the justice, who was one of the most zealous in the cause of liberty, refused to issue a warrant to apprehend his master, against whom he swore." [Footnote: Hutch. _Hist_. iii. 279, 280.] "Then I went up to the custom-house door and knocked, ... I saw my master and Mr. Munroe come down-stairs, and go into a room; when four or five men went up stairs, pulling and hauling me after them.... When I was carried into the chamber, there was but one light in the room, and that in the corner of the chamber, when I saw a tall man loading a gun (then I saw two guns in the room) ... there was a number of gentlemen in the room.
After the gun was loaded, the tall man gave it to me, and told me to fire, and said he would kill me if I did not; I told him I would not. He drawing a sword out of his cane, told me, if I did not fire it, he would run it through my guts. The man putting the gun out of the window, it being a little open, I fired it side way up the street; the tall man then loaded the gun again.... I told him I would not fire again; he told me again, he would run me through the guts if I did not. Upon which I fired the same way up the street. After I fired the second gun, I saw my master in the room; he took a gun and pointed it out of the window; I heard the gun go off. Then a tall man came and clapped me on the shoulders above and below stairs, and said, that"s my good boy, I"ll give you some money to-morrow.... And I ran home as fast as I could, and sat up all night in my master"s kitchen. And further say, that my master licked me the next night for telling Mrs. Waldron about his firing out of the custom-house. And for fear that I should be licked again, I did deny all that I said before Justice Quincy, which I am very sorry for.
[Footnote: Kidder"s _Ma.s.sacre_, p. 82. Deposition 58.]
"CHARLOTTE BOURGATE + (his mark)."
While it is inconceivable that a cool and sagacious politician, whose object was to convince Parliament of the good faith of Ma.s.sachusetts, should have relied upon such incredible statements to sway the minds of English statesmen and lawyers, it is equally inconceivable he should not have known they were admirably adapted to still further exasperate an already excited people; and that such was his purpose must be inferred from the immediate publication of the substance of this affidavit in the newspapers. [Footnote: _Boston Gazette_, March 19, 1770.]
Without doubt a vote was pa.s.sed on the 26th of March, a week after the committee had presented their report, desiring them to reserve all the printed copies not sent to Europe, as their distribution might tend to bias the juries; but even had this precaution been observed, it came too late, for the damage was done when the Narrative was read in Faneuil Hall; in fact, however, the order was eluded, for "many copies, notwithstanding, got abroad, and some of a second edition were sent from England, long before the trials of the officer and soldiers came on."
[Footnote: Hutch. _Hist._ iii. 279.] And at this cheap rate a reputation for magnanimity was earned.
How thoroughly the clergy sympathized with their champion appears from their clamors for blood. As the time drew near it was rumored Hutchinson would reprieve the prisoners, should they be convicted, till the king"s pleasure could be known. Then Dr. Chauncy, the senior minister of Boston, cried out in his pulpit: "Surely he would not counteract the operation of the law, both of G.o.d and of man! Surely he would not suffer the town and land to lie under the defilement of blood! Surely he would not make himself a partaker in the guilt of murder, by putting a stop to the shedding of their blood, who have murderously spilt the blood of others!" [Footnote: Hutch. _Hist._ iii. 329, note.] Adams attended when the causes were heard and took notes of the evidence; and one of the few occasions in his long life on which his temper seems to have got beyond control was when the accused were acquitted. His writings betray unmistakable chagrin; and nothing is more typical of the man, or of the clerical atmosphere wherein he had been bred, than his comments upon the testimony on which the lives of his enemies hung. His piety caused him to doubt those whose evidence was adverse to his wishes, though they appeared to be trying to speak the truth. "The credibility of a witness perhaps cannot be impeach"d in court, unless he has been convicted of perjury: but an immoral man, for instance one who will commonly prophane the name of his maker, certainly cannot be esteemed of equal credit by a jury, with one who fears to take that sacred name in vain: It is impossible he should in the mind of any man." [Footnote: _Boston Gazette_, Jan. 21, 1771.]
And yet this rigid Calvinist, this incarnation of ecclesiasticism, had no scruple in propagating the palpable and infamous lies of Charlotte Bourgate, when by so doing he thought it possible to further his own ends. He was bitterly mortified, for he had been foiled. Yet, though he had failed in precipitating war, he had struck a telling blow, and he had no reason to repine. Probably no single event, before fighting actually began, left so deep a scar as the Boston ma.s.sacre; and many years later John Adams gave it as his deliberate opinion that, on the night of the 5th of March, 1770, "the foundation of American independence was laid." Nor was the full realization of his hopes long delayed. Gage occupied Boston in 1774. During the winter the tireless agitator, from his place in the Provincial Congress, warned the people to fight any force sent more than ten miles from the town; and so when Paul Revere galloped through Middles.e.x on the night of the 18th of April he found the farmers ready. Samuel Adams had slept at the house of the Rev. Jonas Clark. Before sunrise the detachment sent to seize him was close at hand. While they advanced, he escaped; and as he walked across the fields toward Woburn, to the sound of the guns of Lexington, he exclaimed, in a burst of pa.s.sionate triumph, "What a glorious morning is this!"
Ma.s.sachusetts became the hot-bed of rebellion because of this unwonted alliance between liberality and sacerdotalism. Liberality was her birthright; for liberalism is the offspring of intellectual variation, which makes mutual toleration of opinion a necessity; but that her church should have been radical at this crisis was due to the action of a long chain of memorable causes.
The exiles of the Reformation were enthusiasts, for none would then have dared defy the pains of heresy, in whom the instinct onward was feebler than the fear of death; yet when the wanderers reached America the mental growth of the majority had culminated, and they had pa.s.sed into the age of routine; and exactly in proportion as their youthful inspiration had been fervid was their later formalism intense. But similar causes acting on the human mechanism produce like results; hence bigotry and ambition fed by power led to persecution. Then, as the despotism of the preachers deepened, their victims groaning in their dungeons, or furrowed by their lash, implored the aid of England, who, in defence of freedom and of law, crushed the theocracy at a blow. And the clergy knew and hated their enemy from the earliest days; it was this bitter theological jealousy which flamed within Endicott when he mutilated his flag, and within Leverett when he insulted Randolph; it was a rapacious l.u.s.t for power and a furious detestation of rival priests which maddened the Mathers in their onslaught upon Dudley, which burned undimmed in Mayhew and Cooper, and in their champion, Samuel Adams, and which at last made the hierarchy cast in its lot with an ally more dangerous far than those prelates whom it deemed its foe. For no church can preach liberality and not be liberalized. Of a truth the momentary spasm may pa.s.s which made these conservatives progressive, and they may once more manifest their reactionary nature, but, nevertheless, the impulsion shall have been given to that automatic, yet resistless, machinery which produces innovation; wherefore, in the next generation, the great liberal secession from the Congregational communion broke the ecclesiastical power forever. And so, through toil and suffering, through martyrdoms and war, the Puritans wrought out the ancient destiny which fated them to wander as outcasts to the desolate New England sh.o.r.e; there, amidst hardship and apparent failure, they slowly achieved their civil and religious liberty, and conceived that const.i.tutional system which is the root of our national life; and there in another century the liberal commonwealth they had builded led the battle against the spread of human oppression; and when the war of slavery burst forth her soldiers rightly were the first to fall; for it is her children"s heritage that, wheresoever on this continent blood shall flow in defence of personal freedom, there must the sons of Ma.s.sachusetts surely be.