When the legislative of the colony of New-York was suspended, the house of representatives of this province consider"d it "as alarming to all the colonies;" and bore their testimony against it, in a letter to their agent, the sentiments of which they directed him to make known to his Majesty"s ministers. - That suspension, says the patriotic Pennsylvania Farmer, is a parliamentary a.s.sertion of the supreme authority of the British legislature over these colonies in point of taxation; and is intended to COMPEL New-York into a submission to that authority.
It seems therefore to me as much a violation of the liberty of the people of that province, and consequently of all these Colonies, as if the Parliament had sent a number of regiments (which has since been the fate of this province) to be quartered upon them till they should comply. - Whoever, says he, seriously considers the matter, must perceive, that a dreadful stroke is aimed at the liberty of these Colonies: For the cause of one is the cause of all. If the parliament may lawfully deprive New-York of any of its Rights, it may deprive any or all the other Colonies of their Rights; and nothing can so much encourage such attempts, as a mutual inattention to the interests of each other. To divide and thus to destroy, is the first political maxim in attacking those who are powerful by their union. - When Mr. Hampden"s ship money cause for three shillings and four pence was tried, all the people of England, with anxious expectation, interested themselves in the important decision: And when the slightest point touching the freedom of a single Colony is agitated, I earnestly wish, that all the rest may with equal ardour support their sister. - These are the generous sentiments of that celebrated writer, whom several have made feeble attempts to answer, but no one has yet done it.
May the British American Colonies be upon their guard; and take care lest by a mutual inattention to the interest of each other, they at length become supine and careless of the grand cause of American Liberty, and finally fall a prey to the MERCILESS HAND OF TYRANNY.
I am, Your"s, CANDIDUS.
1Vol. I., page 219.
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, September 23, 1771.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,
The consequence of the determination of the house of Representatives not to rescind the resolution of the former house, of which I gave you a particular account in my last, was an immediate prorogation of the general a.s.sembly, and the next day a dissolution, agreeable to the orders of a minister of state! - Governor Bernard in a subsequent letter to lord Hillsborough, pressed his lordship for further orders respecting the calling a new a.s.sembly; and acquainted him that "when the usual time should come, it would be quite necessary that the governor should be able to vouch positive orders for his not calling the a.s.sembly, if he was not to do it," and he adds that, "with regard to calling the new a.s.sembly in May, it would require much consideration." By the Charter of this province, which is a Compact between the Crown and the People, it is ordained that a General a.s.sembly shall be called on every last Wednesday in May yearly: Did gov. Bernard then think that his lordship, to whom in one instance at least, he had surrendered the power of the governor of the province, could by another order rescind that effectual Right of the Charter? It would in truth require much consideration with one, even of his lordship"s peculiar turn of mind, before he would a.s.sume an authority to put an end to the const.i.tution of the province: He had gone far enough already. - The Charter further ordains, that the a.s.sembly shall be held "at all such other times as the governor shall think fit." Not as lord Hillsborough shall think fit, for he is not the governor. Could the governor think that the people were so stupid as to be satisfied with his vouching - orders for neglecting that which it was his indispensable duty to do as governor of the province; and by neglecting which, either with or without his lordship"s orders, there would be an end to the supreme legislative power; the establishing of which, as Mr.
Locke says, is the first and fundamental positive law of the commonwealth. The general a.s.sembly is const.i.tuted by the charter, the legislative of the province; having full power and authority to make all such orders, laws, statutes, &c. not repugnant to the laws of England, as they shall judge to be for the good and welfare of the province. - "The first framers of the government, not being able by any foresight to prefix so just periods of return and duration to the a.s.semblies of the legislative, in all times to come, that might exactly answer all the emergencies of the commonwealth, the best method that could be found, was to trust this to the prudence of one, who was always to be present, and whose business it should be to watch over the commonwealth."
Hence the charter provides, that the governor who is to reside in the province, and who, being always present, must be acquainted with the state and exigences of the public affairs, shall have full power and authority to adjourn or dissolve the a.s.sembly, and call a new one from time to time as he shall judge necessary: But our governors have of late given up this power of judging - to a minister of state; residing at a thousand leagues distance, and therefore utterly unable to determine, if it was lawful for him to do it, at what time the necessities of the state might require the immediate exertion of legislative power. This ministerial manoeuvre, to speak in modern language, which threatens the destruction of the const.i.tution, will, it is hoped, be the subject of national enquiry, when the present confusion in Britain and America shall, as it must soon, be brought to a happy issue. "The legislative is sacred and unalterable in the hands where the community has fixed it." In this province it is fixed by the community, in the hands of the Governor, Council and House of Representatives: In their hands therefore, it ought to rest sacred and unalterable; to be sure as long as the express conditions of the compact are fulfilled. - Lord Stafford, and many lords and great men before him, suffered death for attempting to overthrow the const.i.tution of the state. - Their crime was called, and I supposed justly called, Treason: It surely could not have been treason therefore, to have disturbed and resisted them in their mad attempts, even though they might have produced the orders of a king - What punishment awaits those who have manifestly attempted to overthrow the const.i.tution of the American colonies, the time which we hope for, and is hastening on, will determine. If the very being of the legislative of this province is for the future to depend upon the mere will and pleasure of an arbitrary minister - if he may take it upon him to dictate such measures as he pleases, and to dissolve them, or which is the same thing, order an obsequious governor to do it, upon their non-compliance with his will and pleasure, surely we have little to boast of in such an a.s.sembly. The charter may be taken away in tarts as well as in the whole: And it seems by some later ministerial mandates and measures, as if there was a design to deprive us of our Charter-Rights by degrees. An attempt upon the whole by one stroke would perhaps be thought too bold an undertaking. His lordship could not indeed have chosen a more effectual step to deprive us of the whole benefit of a free const.i.tution, than by attempting to controul the debates and determinations of the House of Representatives, which ought forever to be free, and suspending the legislative power of the province, for their refusing to obey any mandate, especially when it is not only contrary to their judgments and consciences, but, as it appeared to them, absurd. It is a pitiful const.i.tution indeed, which so far from being fixed and permanent as it should be - sacred and unalterable in the hands of those where the community has placed it, depends entirely upon the breath of a minister, or of any man: But it is to be feared from this as well as other more recent instances, that there is a design to rase the foundations of the const.i.tutions of these colonies, and place them upon this precarious and sandy foundation. - I have seen a letter from the agent of this province to the government here, dated so long ago as March the 7th, 1750; wherein he says, "I am afraid there is at bottom in the minds of some, a fixed design of getting a parliamentary sanction of some kind or other, if possible, to the King"s instructions on this occasion;" which was the redressing the inconveniencies proceeding from the paper bills. And in another letter of the 12th of April following, he writes, "Since my last, I have found too great reason to confirm my apprehensions, that some persons of consequence here, are determined, if possible, to put the future use of the credit of the several governments of New England, wholly under the power of an instruction; and what tendency that may have to introduce the King"s instructions into the government of the other colonies, in other instances, I need not observe This design seems to be conducted with great art." The fears of that watchful agent, there is reason to apprehend, from the perfect good understanding that now exists between the ruling men in the American department, on both sides the atlantic, may very soon be far from appearing groundless. Instructions have of late been so frequent, and in every instance so punctiliously obeyed, that there is reason to fear, unless greater attention is had to them, they soon will be established as rules of administration, not only to governors as servants of the crown, but to legislatures. The enforcing them seems to be conducted with equal art on this side of the water at present, to that with which the original design of introducing them was conducted on the other side, when that agent wrote. They may soon therefore be regarded as fixed laws in the colonies, even without the sanction or intervention of parliament Principiis obsta, is a maxim worth regarding in politics as well as morals, and it is more especially to be observed, when those who are the most a.s.siduous in their endeavours to alter the civil Const.i.tution, are not less so in persuading us to go to sleep and dream that we are in a state of perfect security. - What benefit is it to us to have a governor residing in the province, invested with certain powers of judging -, and acting according to his own judgment, for the good of the people, if he submit to be made a man of wire, & for the sake of preserving the emolument of a governor, with the name only, is turned this way or that, as the minister directs, without any judgment of his own? And of what use can a legislative be to us, without the free exercise of the powers of legislation? Liable to be thrown out of existence for not acting in conformity to the will of another? Can there be any material difference between such a legislative and none at all?
The original const.i.tution of this province, the charter, required the convening of a new general a.s.sembly in May: The public exigencies might have required it sooner: But governor Bernard was determined in neither of these cases to convene an a.s.sembly, if he could but vouch the positive orders of the minister, who had no right or legal authority at all to interpose in the matter. "The using of force upon the people without authority, and contrary to the trust reposed in him that does so, is a state of war with the people;" This is the judgment of one of the greatest men that ever wrote. "If the executive power, being possessed of the power of the commonwealth, shall make use of that force to hinder the meeting and acting of the legislative, when the original const.i.tution or the public exigencies shall require it, the people have a right to reinstate their legislative in the exercise of their power: For having erected a legislative, with an intent they should exercise the power of making laws, either at certain set times or when there is need of it, if they are hindered by any force from what is so necessary to the society, and wherein the safety and preservation of the people consists, they have a right to remove it by force." From this instance of the dissolution of the a.s.sembly of this province, as well as that of the suspension of the legislative of New York, for refusing to execute an act of parliament, requiring them to give and grant away their own and their const.i.tuents money for the support of a standing army, posterity will form a judgment of the temper of the British administration at that time: Whether a different disposition has since prevailed, will appear from the measures they have taken in general; and particularly from the answers to the addresses, pet.i.tions and remonstrances which we have lately seen. One would have thought that the American legislative a.s.semblies had become too harmless bodies to have been the object of ministerial rage, since the pa.s.sing of acts of parliament for the sole purpose of raising revenues at the expence of the colonists, without their consent, and for appropriating those revenues as they should think proper. The most essential Rights of American legislation, are those of raising and applying their own monies for the support of their own government, and for their own defence: By the late revenue acts, these rights are in effect superseded; the parliament having already granted, such sums as they please, out of the purses of the colonists, for the same purposes. Thus the shadow of legislation only remains to them: Their importance is at an end. They may indeed, as the Pennsylvania farmer observes, whose works I wish every American would read over again, "They may perhaps be allowed to make laws for yoking of hogs or pounding of stray cattle: Their influence will hardly be permitted to extend so high as the keeping roads in repair; as that business may more properly be executed by those who receive the public cash." Their substantial rights and powers, lord Hillsborough himself should know, are as really annihilated by these acts, as they would be, if they were deprived of all existence. "Upon what occasion, says that elegant writer, will the crown ever call our a.s.semblies together, when, the charges of the administration of justice, the support of civil government, and the expences of protecting, defending and securing us, are provided for" by the parliament? "Some few of them may meet of their own accord, by virtue of their several charters: But what will they have to do when they are met? To what shadows will they be reduced? The men, whose deliberations heretofore, had an influence on every matter relating to the liberty and happiness of themselves and their const.i.tuents, and whose authority in domestic affairs at least, might well be compared to that of Roman senators, will find their determinations to be of no more consequence than that of constables."
- And this will not be the utmost extent of our misery and infamy
CANDIDUS.
TO ARTHUR LEE.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text, with variations, is in R. H. Lee, Life of Arthur Lee, vol. ii., pp. 177-183.]
BOSTON Sept 27 1771
SIR
I am greatly indebted to you for your several Letters of [the 10th and 14th of June].
To let you know that I am far from being inattentive to the favors you have done me I inclose you a Letter I wrote you some time past, but was prevented putting it in the Bag by an Accident. I have since been confind to my house by Sickness & by a late Excursion into the Country I have fully recoverd my Health.
I take particular Notice of the Reasons you a.s.sign for a whole Session of parliamt being spent without one offensive Measure to America. You account for our being flatterd that all Designs against the Charter of the Colony are laid aside, in a manner perfectly corresponding with the Sentiments I had preconceivd of it. The opinion you have formd of the ruling men on both sides the Atlantick, is exactly mine and as I have the most unfavorable Idea of the Heads or the Hearts of the present Administration, I cannot hope for much Good from the Services of any man who can submit to be dependent on them.
I was pleasd with the pet.i.tion & remonstrance of the City of London - but are not the Ministry lost to all Sensibility to the peoples Complaints, & like the Egyptian Tyrant, do they not harden their Hearts against their repeated Demands for a redress of Grievances.
Does it not fully appear not only that they neither fear G.o.d nor regard Man, but that they are not even to be wearied, as one of their ancient predecessors was, by frequent Applications. What do you conceive to be the Step next to be taken by an abused people? For another must be taken either by the ministry or the people or in my opinion the nation will fall into that ruin of which they seem to me to be now at the very precipice. May G.o.d afford them that Prudence, Strength & fort.i.tude by which they may be animated to maintain their own Liberties at all Events. By your last letter you appear to resolve well; if ever the Spirit of impeaching should rise in Britain. But how is it possible such a Spirit should rise. In all former Struggles the House of Commons has naturally taken Sides with the people against oppressing Ministers & Favorites. But whether that is the Case at present or not, is no secret to the World. We have indeed heard little of the Business of impeaching since the Revolution. A corrupt ministerial Influence has been gradually & too insensibly increasing from that OEra, & is at length become so powerful (for which I think the Nation is particularly beholden to Sir R. Walpole) as to render it impracticable to have even one capital Object of the peoples just Vengeance impeachd. The proposals you were so kind as [to] favor me with, I cannot but highly approve of. I communicated them to two or three intimate & judicious friends who equally approvd of them. But they cannot be carried into Execution till the present parliamt is at an End. And if it is not to be dissolvd before the End of its septennial Duration, is it not to be feard that before its Expiration there will be an End of Liberty. If I mistake not there is an Act of parliamt whereby the Seats of placemen and pensioners in the House of Commons (who were not such at the time of their Election) shall be vacated, & their Electors have a right to the Choice of another if they see proper. Perhaps there never was a time when the Advantages of this Law were more apparent. Would it not then be doing the most important Service to the Cause of Liberty if the Gentlemen of the Bill of Rights, who I pray G.o.d may be united in their Councils, would exert their utmost Influence to prevail upon the Const.i.tuents of such rotten Members to claim that privilege & make a good Use of it? If there is any Virtue among the people, I should think this might easily be done.
If it be impracticable, I fear another general Election wd only serve to convince all of what many are apprehensive, that there is a total Depravation of principles & manners in the Nation, or in other Words that it is already irrecoverably undone.
We are in a State of perfect Despotism. Our Governmt is essentially alterd. Instead of having a Gov exercising Authority within the Rules & Circ.u.mscription of the Charter which is the Compact between the King & the People, & dependent upon the people for his Support, we have a Man with the Name of a Governor only. He is indeed commissiond by the King, but under the Controul of the Minister, to whose Instrucctions he yields an unlimitted Obedience, while he is subsisted with the Money of that very people who are thus governd, by virtue of an a.s.sumd Authority of the British Parliament to oblige them to grant him such an annual Stipend as the King shall order. Can you tell me who is Governor of this province? Surely not Hutchinson, for I cannot conceive that he exercises the power of judging vested in him by the Const.i.tution, in one Act of Govt which appears to him to be important. The Govt is shifted into the Hands of the Earl of Hillsborough whose sole Councellor is the Nettleham Baronet. Upon this Governor aided by the Advice of this Councellor depends the time & place of the Sitting of the legislative a.s.sembly or whether it shall sit at all. If they are allowd to sit, they are to be dictated by this duumvirate, thro the Instrumentality of a third, & may be thrown out of Existence for failing in one point to conform to their sovereign pleasure, a Legislative to be sure worthy to be boasted of by a free people. If our nominal Governor by all the Arts of perswasion, can prevail upon us to be easy under such a Mode of Government, he will do a singular piece of Service to his Lordship, as it will save him the trouble of geting our Charter vacated by the formal Decision of parliamt & the tedious process of Law.
The Grievances of Britain & the Colonies as you observe spring from the same root of Bitterness & are of the same pernicious Growth. The Union of Britain & the Colonies is therefore by all means to be cultivated. If in every Colony Societies should be formd out of the most respectable Inhabitants, similar to that of the Bill of Rights, who should once in the year meet by their Deputies, and correspond with such a Society in London, would it not effectually promote such an Union? And if conducted with a proper spirit, would it not afford reason for the Enemies of our common Liberty, however great, to tremble. This is a sudden Thought & drops undigested from my pen. It would be an arduous Task for any man to attempt to awaken a sufficient Number in the Colonies to so grand an Undertaking. Nothing however should be despaird of.
If it should ever become a practicable thing to impeach a corrupt Administration I hope the Minister who advisd to the introducing arbitrary power into America will not be overlookd. Such a Victim I imagine will make a figure equal to Lord Strafford in the Reign of Charles, or de le Pole & others in former times. "The Conduct of the Judges touching "Juries" appears to be alarming on both sides of the, Water & ought to be strictly enquired into. And are they not establishing the civil Law which Mr Blackstone says is only permitted in England to the prejudice of the Common Law, the Consequence of which will prove fatal to the happy Const.i.tution. I observe that one of your proposals is that a Law may be made "subjecting each Candidate to an Oath against having used Bribery" to obtain his Election. Would there not be a danger that a Law by which a Candidate may purge himself by his Oath would exclude some other more certain Evidence than the Oath of one who has already prost.i.tuted his Conscience for a Seat than his own Declaration of his Innocence even upon Oath? I am of opinion that He who can be so sordid as to gain an Election by Bribery or any other illegal means, must be lost to all such feelings as those of Honor or Conscience or the Obligation of an Oath. With Regard the Grievances of the Americans it must be owned that the Violation of the essential Right of taxing themselves is a Capital one. This Right is founded in Nature. It is unalienable & therefore it belongs to us exclusively. The least Infringement on it is Sacrilege. But there are other Methods taken by Lord Hillsbro & punctually put into Execution by Govr Hutchinson, which in my Opinion would give a mortal Stab to Our essential Rights, if the Parliament had not by their declaratory Act claimd Authority to make use of our money to establish a standing army over us & an host of pensioners and placemen civil & ecclesiastical, which are as terrible as an Army of Soldiers. And if the Commons of this province cannot impeach, we have nothing to rely upon but the Interposition of our friends in Britain, or the ultima Ratio.
Inclosd you have a Copy of the protests of divers patriotick Clergymen in Virginia against an Episcopate in America. It is part of the plan the design of which is to secure a ministerial Influence in America, which in all Reason is full strong enough without the Aid of the Clergy. The Junction of the Cannon & the feudal Law you know has been fatal to the Liberties of Mankind. The Design of the first Settlers of New England in particular was to settle a plan of govt upon the true principles of Liberty in which the Clergy should have no Authority. It is no Wonder then that we should be alarmd at the Designs of establishing such a power. It is a singular pleasure to us that the Colony of Virginia tho episcopalian should appear against it as you will see by the Vote of thanks of the House of Burgesses to the protesting Gentlemen; they declare their protest to be "a wise & well timed opposition." I wish it could be publishd in London. I had the pleasure of knowing Mr Hewet who was in this Town about two years ago in Company with Mr Eyre of Northhampton County, in Virginia, who is a member of the House of Burgesses. I did not then know that Mr Hewet was a Clergyman.
I fear I have tired your patience & conclude by a.s.suring you that I am in strict Truth Sir Your friend & hume servt
P.S.-The Bearer hereof is William Story Esqr formerly of this Town, but now of Ipswich a Town about 30 Miles East. He was Deputy Register in the Court of Vice Admiraltry before & at the time of the Stamp Act & would then have given up the Place as he declared but his Friends advisd him against it - he sufferd the Resentment of the people on the 26 of August 1765, together with Lt Govr Hutchinson & others for which he was recompencd by the Genl a.s.sembly, as he declares in part only.
He tells me that his Design in going home is to settle an Affair of his own relating to the Admiraltry Court, in which the Commissioners of the Customs as he says declare it is out of their power to do him Justice. One would think it was never in their Power or Inclination to do any man Justice. Mr Story has always professd himself a Friend to Liberty for many years past. I tell him that I make no doubt but you will befriend him as far as shall be in your power in obtaining Justice, in which you will very much oblige,
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, September 30, 1771.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,
A General a.s.sembly, when actuated with a becoming spirit of public liberty against the attacks of arbitrary and despotic ministers, appeared to be as disgustful to Gov. Bernard, as parliaments were to James the first; with whom it was even an aphorism that the lords and commons were two bad co-partners with a monarch: Having got rid of such a troublesome a.s.sembly at least for one year, he was more at leisure, in conjunction with the commissioners of the customs and his other confederates, to attend to the plan which their hearts had been long set upon, of introducing into the province a military power for their aid. -Accordingly every little occurrence, which a man of sense who had no political designs in view would not have thought worth his notice such as frequently happen in the most orderly cities, was gathered up with uncommon industry and made the subject of representation to the ministry - He even descended so low as to give lord Hillsborough a detail of the diversion of a few boys in the street with a drum, which at no time is unusual in populous places, and pictured it to his lordship, who, it seems gave it its full weight, as a prelude to a designed insurrection, in which "persons of all kinds, s.e.xes and ages," were to bear their part - The common amus.e.m.e.nts of children were construed rebellion, and his lordship had minute accounts of them sent to him by this busy journalist, as grounds upon which he might form measures of administration. But his letters, together with those of general Gage and commodore Hood, and the memorials, &c. of the commissioners of the customs, have already been sufficiently animadverted upon-" No one, says the town of Boston, in a pamphlet, ent.i.tled, An appeal to the World,2 can read them without being astonished at seeing a person in so important a department as governor Bernard sustained, descending in his letters to a minister of state to such trifling circ.u.mstances and such slanderous chit-chat: Boasting as he does in one of them of his over-reaching those with whom he was transacting publick business; and in order to prejudice the most respectable bodies, meanly filching from individuals belonging to those bodies, what had been drop"d in the course of business or debate: Journalizing every idle report bro"t to him, and in short acting the part of a pimp rather than a governor." Sufficient however were they finally to prevail upon administration, which had before been full ready eno" to employ the military force in England, to order four regiments and part of a fifth, for the preservation of the peace in the town of Boston. The only disorders in the town that could give any colouring to measures so severe, and not more severe than unjustifiable by the const.i.tution, happened on the 18th of March and 10th of June, 1768 - The first was nothing more than the parading of the lower sort of people thro" the streets at the close of an anniversary festivity; when no injury was offered to any person whatever, no harm was done, nor did even Governor Bernard himself pretend that any was intended. General Gage, in a letter to Lord Hillsborough, mentioned this disorder as "trifling."
The other was occasioned by the unprecedented and unlawful manner of seizing a vessel by the collector and comptroller - His Majesty"s Council after full enquiry into this disorder and the cause of it, declared, that it "was occasioned by the making a seizure (in a manner unprecedented) in the town of Boston on the 10th of June,1 a little before sun-set, when a vessel was seized by the officers of the customs; and immediately after, upon a signal given by one of said officers, in consequence of a preconcerted plan, several armed boats from the Romney man-of-war took possession of her." - The officers who made the seizure were insulted, some of the windows of their dwelling houses were broke, and other disorders were committed - But the council further declared, that it was "highly probable that no such disorders would have been committed if the vessel had not been with an armed force and with many circ.u.mstances of insults & threats carried away from the wharf." They also say, that the disorder "seemed to spring wholly from the persons who complained of it," and that it "was probable that an uproar was hoped for, and intended to be occasioned by the manner of proceeding in making the seizure." This representation of the matter was made by those very gentlemen, of whom governor Bernard not above 3 or 4 months before, had given this ample testimony to Lord Hillsborough; that "they had shown great attention to the support of government," and "upon many occasions a resolution and steadiness in promoting his Majesty"s service, which would have done honor to his Majesty"s appointment, if they had held their places under it:" And to whom he about the same time very warmly returned his thanks, "for their steady, uniform and patriotic conduct, which had shown them impressed with a full sense of their duty both to their king & their country." A representation of matters of fact, made by gentlemen whom governor Bernard had so highly applauded for their attention to the support of government, and resolution and steadiness in promoting his majesty"s service, must surely meet with full credit with the friends of government; and induce a conclusion, even in their minds, that if there was a necessity of troops in the town of Boston to keep the peace, it arose not from the "madness of the people," (a decent expression of General Gage) but altogether from the extravagance of the servants of the crown; who after a preconcerted plan, according to the account given by the council, hoped for, and intended that an uproar should be occasion"d, by the manner of their proceeding with an armed force, and many circ.u.mstances of insult and threats in making a seizure. -This disturbance, after a few hours, wholly subsided, thro"
the interposition of the inhabitants of the town, & no great mischief was done; yet the most aggravated accounts were given of it by the Cabal, to answer their own purposes. The Romney ship of war, had before been ordered by commodore Hood to this place, in consequence of information sent to him of a factious and turbulent spirit among the people. The captain thought it his duty to acquaint the commodore of this fresh disturbance; and the Beaver sloop, being then in the harbour, and preparing for her station at Philadelphia, was remanded back to Halifax for that purpose, and with such speed as to be obliged to leave part of her provisions behind - Large packets were sent by this vessel to the commodore, and others for England, where it was proposed by the cabal she should be immediately dispatched from Halifax. The comptroller of the customs embark"d on board the same sloop very privately, by whom letters in abundance were sent to London. In these letters a number of gentlemen, who were called the leaders of the faction, were proscribed. Some of the cabal could not conceal their designs; for it was even then given out by them, that troops would probably soon arrive from Halifax, and that two regiments of Irish troops were to be sent to this town; all which accordingly took place in about four months afterwards, being the time in which they might have been expected by orders of the ministry in consequence of these letters. Indeed we have since been made certain by a publication of their own letters, that they had earnestly sollicited the sending of troops about this time. The commissioners of the customs in a letter to the lords of the treasury, acquainted that board "that there had been a long concerted and extensive plan of resistance to the authority of Great Britain, and that the seizure had hastened the people to the commission of actual violence sooner than was intended" and further, "that nothing but the exertion of military power would prevent an open revolt in this town, which would probably spread throughout the provinces." The collector and comptroller in their letters upon this occasion to the commissioners, which was laid before administration tell their honors, "that it appeared evident to them that a plan of insurrection of a very dangerous and extensive nature had long been in agitation, & now brought nearly to a crisis." But it is needless to repeat the many exaggerated accounts given by the governor and his confederates, of this occurrence, which on the part of the people was altogether unexpected; and as the Council observed, "seem"d to have sprang wholly from the persons who complained of it." - To crown all, the Commissioners pretended that "they had reason to expect further violences," and fled, Bernard says in a letter to lord Hillsborough, "were driven" to Castle William; where they represented to the lords of the treasury that the "protection afforded them by Commodore Hood, viz, the Romney and one or two sloops of war, was the most seasonable, as without it they should not have considered themselves (even there) in safety, nor his Majesty"s Castle secured from falling into the hands of the people," and "that it was impossible for them to set foot in Boston, until there were two or three regiments in the town, to restore and support government." - However true it may be, that the Commissioners had rendered themselves the objects of the publick resentment, which their letters and memorials have had no tendency to abate, they never had been, to use an expression of Gov.
Bernard, the objects of popular fury; not the least injury had ever been offer"d to their persons or property. They had landed without opposition, and had lived in the town many months, if despis"d and hated, yet unmolested: For this we have the testimony of his Majesty"s Council; "They were not, say they, oblig"d to quit the town - it was a voluntary act of their own - there never had been any insult offer"d Them - and when they were at the Castle there was no occasion for men of war to protect them." And even after their voluntary flight, they often made excursions upon the main, for the purpose of amus.e.m.e.nt and recreation, for which, having quitted the severe exercises of their employment in the town, they now had sufficient leisure: There, they might easily have been insulted if there had been any such disposition in the people. It has long been evident that all this pretended apprehension of danger, and their flight first to the Romney ship of war, and then to the castle for protection, was intended to cooperate with & confirm the letters and memorials sent home, and to facilitate the prosecution of their design.
Such were the methods us"d by a restless set of men, to hold up this town and province, to the nation and to the world, in a false and odious light. It was therefore peculiarly inc.u.mbent upon all, and those persons especially, who were entrusted by the publick, to be vigilant for it, at a time when they who were seeking its ruin, were remarkably attentive to and active in prosecuting their plans. And can any one say there is reason to think that a minister of the temper of Lord H---h, perpetually acted upon by the implacable hatred of Bernard, has yet abandon"d, or is likely to abandon, his favorite system, while there is ONE left on this side the water who is ready to put it in execution? - No - The disputes with the court of Spain and the city of London during the late session of parliament, may have prov"d so embarra.s.sing to A---n as to have caus"d a suspension of the execution of it for a while; but to trust that it is therefore wholly laid aside, is a degree of credulity and infatuation, which I hope will never be impos"d by any man on this country. Great pains we know are taken to perswade and a.s.sure us, that as long as we continue quiet, nothing will be done to our prejudice: But let us beware of these soothing arts. - Has anything been done for our relief? - Has any one grievance which we have complained of been redressed? On the contrary, are not our just causes of complaint and remonstrance daily increasing, at a time when we were flattered that a change of men would produce a change of measures? Have our pet.i.tions for the redress of grievances ever been answered or even listened to? If not, what can be intended by all the fair promises made to us by tools and sycophants, but to lull us into that quietude and sleep by which slavery is always preceeded. - While treachery and imposition is the fort of any man, let us remember, there is always most danger when his professions are warmest.
CANDIDUS.
1See Vol. I., page 396.
2 See Vol. I., page 245.
TO ARTHUR LEE.
[R. H. Lee, Life of Arthur Lee, vol. ii., p. 183.]
BOSTON, Oct. 2d, 1771.
SIR,
I have already written to you by this conveyance, and there mentioned to you Mr. Story, a gentleman to whose care I committed that letter.
I have since heard that he has a letter to Lord Hillsborough from Gov. Hutchinson, which may possibly recommend him for some place by way of compensation for his joint sufferings with the governor. I do not think it possible for any man to receive his lordship"s favour, without purchasing it by having done or promising to do some kind of jobs. If Mr. Story should form connexions with administration upon any principles inconsistent with those of a friend to liberty, he will then appear to be a different character from that which I recommended to your friendship. I mention this for your caution, and in confidence; and am with great regard sir, your humble servant,
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, October 7, 1771.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL, Instead of voted Aid,
"Th" illegal imposition followed harsh With Execration given, or ruthless squeez"d From an insulted People."