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them as driven from her bosom by persecution, and raised up by their own energies amid many oppressions; as a people at once noble and truly loyal, but jealous of their liberties, which they were determined to vindicate. The act, however, passed in the Commons by a majority of 250 to 50, and in the Lords with scarcely any opposition. The petitions had been generally rejected, on account of their denying the parliamentary right of taxation; that of New York was so intemperate, that no one dared to present it. The act received the royal assent on the 22d March, though it was not to take effect till November following.

Virginia had always been an aristocratic colony, and hitherto considered peculiarly loyal; but her opulent planters now appeared animated by a most daring spirit of independence. The assembly being then in session, Patrick Henry, at that time one of the most eloquent men in America, brought forward a series of resolutions against the proposed measure, supported by a speech, in which he said," Cæsar had his Brutus, Charles I. his Cromwell, and George III.-" being interrupted by loud cries of treason, he added, " may profit by their example." The resolutions were modified, and different versions are given of those finally adopted; but they certainly denied, in the most unqualified terms, the right of taxation claimed. Similar sentiments flew like lightning through the other states, which had at first displayed some degree of apathy. The most momentous step was taken by the assembly of Massachusetts, which, on the 6th June, 1766, circulated among the others the proposition for a general congress, to meet at New York, and arrange in concert the means of averting the threatened evil. Nine colonies responded to this call, the others being prevented chiefly by the difficulty of convoking their assemblies. The deputies from Boston, on their arrival, waited upon the governor, and, representing their meeting as regular, informed him of its object and nature. He warned them against it as quite unconstitutional, and which could in no shape be sanctioned; yet without attempting to obstruct the proceedings. In a series of fourteen resolutions they denounced the injustice and ruinous consequences of their being taxed without being represented; a privilege which, from their distance, they declared

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it impossible for them to enjoy. They did not intimate any willingness to raise a revenue themselves, but maintained that the great advantages derived by Britain from the monopoly of American commerce formed an ample contribution. In an address to the throne, and petitions to both houses of parliament, these sentiments were forcibly expressed; yet they declared that their connexion with the empire formed their greatest happiness and security, and that its harmonious maintenance was the object of their most ardent desire. These documents were signed by only six commissioners; while others had authority only to report to their state assemblies. All those bodies, however, ultimately approved the proceedings; and this first united act of the colonies against the mother country bore certainly a most portentous aspect.

But the dreaded crisis arose when the first cargo of stamped paper was landed upon the American shores. Boston was the centre of tumult. On the 15th of August, the multitude hung on a tree the effigy of Mr. Oliver, the stamp-master; and the sheriff, when ordered to take it down, declared it was impossible, without hazarding the lives of those employed. At dusk, the people carried the figure to the town-house, where the council were assembled, and raised three loud huzzas in token of defiance. They then took it to the front of his house, where they cut off the head, after which, notwithstanding the defence made by his friends, they burst open the door, proclaiming their intention to seize him; but he had escaped. The council, having sent orders to a colonel of militia to beat an alarm, was told that it would signify nothing, for the drummer would be knocked down, and that probably every one belonging to the regiment was among the mob. Next morning, Mr. Oliver, to save his life, resigned his office, and whenever any one was heard of who defended or was likely to succeed him, a day was fixed for mobbing his house; a measure which was preceded by a bonfire in front of the dwelling, and cries of "liberty and property." The mob, meeting no resistance, proceeded to still greater extremities. On the 26th they demolished the residences of the registrar-deputy and comptroller of the customs; after which they hastened to that of the governor, who not having the slightest apprehension, was with difficulty persuaded by his family to quit it. The peo

ple rushed in, and immediately began its total destruction, involving that of a fine library, together with important manuscripts illustrative of the history of the state from its earliest settlement. Next morning, the street was found strewed with plate, rings, money, and other valuable articles. Boston being now threatened with entire destruction, the principal inhabitants repaired to the gov ernor, and offered to restore the dominion of law, on condition that no penal proceedings should be held on account of the first commotion, directed solely against the stamps; and it was only by this compact that order was restored. In New York the people advanced in arms to attack the fort in which the obnoxious article had been lodged, and this post not being deemed tenable, the commander thought it necessary to deposite the object of their resentment in the hands of the magistrates. Movements somewhat similar were organized at every place of landing; at the same time, combinations were proposed for discontinuing the use of all British manufactures.

In England, meanwhile, affairs took a favorable turn for the colonists, through circumstances wholly independent of the merits of the question. From certain causes, an account of which falls not within our range of inquiry, ministerial affairs were in a very unsettled state. A turn of the political wheel brought into power the Marquis of Rockingham, a nobleman professing principles decidedly liberal. The colonial department was entrusted to General Conway, who had

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stood forward as the zealous advocate of the Americans. His views were seconded by petitions from London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, and other great commercial towns, deprecating the loss of their lucrative commerce. Yet ministers were beset with considerable difficulties, having to maintain the honor of the British government, which would be seriously compromised and its authority weakened, by yielding to a resistance thus violently urged. In the debate on the address, Mr. Grenville maintained that if Great Britain yielded, America was lost; what was now almost rebellion would become revolution. "The seditious spirit in the colonies owed its birth, he said, to factions in the house. We were bid to expect disobedience; what

was this but telling the Americans to resist to encourage their obstinacy with the expectation of support?" This argument, however, seems untenable, when we consider the apathy shown in parliament till the disturbances had actually arisen. Mr. Nugent, afterward Lord Clare, insisted that the colonies should at least be obliged to own the right of taxation, and to solicit the repeal of the late act as a favor. The opposite cause was most strenuously advocated by Mr. Pitt, who, after a long illness, reappeared on the scene. On the proposal to tax America, so great he said had been his agitation for the consequences, that if he could have been carried in his bed, and placed on the floor of the house, he would come to bear testimony against it. He maintained the supremacy of Great Britain in all matters of government and legislation; the greater must rule the less; but taxes were a gift or grant from the people; and how could any assembly give or grant what was not their own. "I rejoice," said he, "that America has resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest."-" In a good cause, on a sound bottom, the force of this country can crush America to atoms. But on this ground your success would be hazardous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man; she would embrace the pillars of the state, and pull down the constitution along with her."

The ministers, after a good deal of consideration, determined to bring in a bill for the repeal of the Stamp Act, combined with a declaration of the power of Britain to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever. This pointed expression, meant to soothe the opposite party, appeared to imply the power of taxation, and was indeed so explained by Conway, though as one only to be exercised in extreme cases. Yet very great difficulty was found. in carrying it through the houses. In the Commons the minority was 167 to 275; in the Lords, 71 to 105. Thirty-three of the latter joined in a protest, stating, that after the declaration already made, "such a submission of King, Lords, and Commons, in so strange and unheard-of a contest," would amount to an entire surrender of British supremacy.

The news of this repeal was received in the colonies with gratitude and satisfaction; and they passed over the declaratory portion of the act, as merely intended to save the honor of the British legislature. The assembly of Massachusetts passed a vote of thanks to the king, to whom the house of burgesses in Virginia voted the erection of a statue. The greatest difficulty respected compensation to the sufferers by the disturbances, which was demanded in mild but urgent terms by General Conway. Though not absolutely repelled, great backwardness was shown in fulfilling it, especially in Massachusetts, where complaints were made that Governor Bernard made the requisition in a more peremptory manner than his dispatches had authorized. After long delay the measure was agreed to, but combined with a general pardon to all concerned in the riots, a proceeding considered by the government as wholly irrelevant and beyond their jurisdiction. Notwithstanding these obstacles, the compensation was at length everywhere adjusted. A new clause in the Mutiny Act, however, by which it was required that the troops sent out should be furnished not only with quarters but with beer, salt, and vinegar, was represented as only a disguised form of taxation. In New York, where it came first into operation, the assembly refused to issue orders for its enforcement.

The colonies had thus shown a disposition to remain attached on certain terms to the mother country, yet combined with an extreme and determined jealousy of any encroachment. In such circumstances, prudence evidently enjoined the strictest caution and a study to maintain things as they were, rather than attempt novel and doubtful measures. Unhappily, though there was no want of

talent among the statesmen of the day, ministerial arrangements continued very fluetuating and unsettled. An entirely new cabinet came into power, at the head of which indeed was nominally Mr. Pitt, the friend of America; but his health was so broken, that he took no share whatever in public measures, and not being expected to recover, had lost his wonted influence. The lead was taken by Charles Townshend, a man of the most brilliant wit and eloquence, and whose power over the House of Commons was almost unbounded; yet destitute of solid and statesman-like views, and, according to Burke, impelled by an inordinate vanity to the hopeless attempt of pleasing the most opposite parties. He soon found that concession to America was in bad odor among the majority of the house, and was stung, it is said, by taunts from his old colleague, Mr. Grenville, who reproached him with cowardice in not daring to act on his own principles. Under these impulses, he determined to undertake this perilous measure in a different shape, which might, it was hoped, be less offensive and more efficacious.

In May, 1767, he introduced a bill imposing a duty on tea, glass, paper, and painters' colors, exported from England to America. As the colonists could receive these articles only from Britain, a tax was thus inevitably entailed, to which, after what had passed, their submission could never be expected. Yet we have again to wonder at the supine apathy of parliament, and particularly of those members who afterward impugned the measure with the greatest vehemence. The bill passed rapidly through both houses, and on the 29th June received the royal assent. By another act, resident commissioners of customs were established in the colonies, and other regulations made for the more strict collection of the revenue. The principle of these arrangements could not be objected to; yet, as in fact a very extensive contraband trade had long entered into the traffic of the Americans, they pressed upon them with a new severity, which they could scarcely brook.

On intelligence of these acts being received among them, all the elements of opposition were again in movement. A number of publications, particularly Mr. Dickinson's" Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer," taught the people to regard them as a decided attack on their liberties. The general assembly of Massachusetts, having met in January, 1768, drew up a petition to the king, asserting in decided though not violent terms the right of not being taxed without their own consent. They took the more obnoxious measure of sending a circular, embodying the same sentiments, to the assemblies of the other colonies, inviting their co-operation. This last step excited the utmost jealousy in the British ministers, who instructed Governor Bernard to call upon them to rescind their resolution, and, in case of non-compliance, to dissolve them. The house, however, in June, 1768, by a vote of 92 to 17, adhered in the most positive manner to these proceedings; when their immediate dissolution followed. The government sent a counter circular to the other assemblies, warning them to beware of the dangerous and factious conduct of Massachusetts. It failed, however, to prevent a cordial concurrence of all the leading bodies, several of whom repelled with vehemence the attempt to dictate to them, or to control their proceedings.

At Boston, meantime, fresh grounds of irritation continually arose. The commissioners of customs arrived, and one of their officers was placed on board the sloop LIBERTY, belonging to John Hancock, a zealous patriot, laden with wines from Madeira. The functionary, on attempting to exercise his duties, was conined in the cabin, and the whole cargo was landed during the night. The vessel was in consequence condemned and seized; upon which the people rose in tumult, burned a customhouse boat, and compelled the commissioners to flee for safety on board the Roinney ship of war. The assemblies strongly condemned these proceedings, inviting even the government to prosecute; but there appeared

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