lord Chatham Mr. Burke faid, that "the venerable age of this great man, his merited rank, his fuperior eloquence, his fplendid qualities, his eminent fervices, the vaft space he filled in the eye of mankind, forbade him to cenfure his conduct; and to flatter him he was afraid. Let those who have betrayed him by their adulation, infult him by their malevolence. For a wife minifter, however, speaking with the freedom of history, Mr. Burke faid, he muft furely be acknowledged to have adopted measures greatly mischievous to himself, perhaps for that reason fatal to his country; MEASURES, the effects of which are, I am afraid, FOR EVER INCURABLE. He made an administration fo checquered and fpeckled; he put together a piece of joinery fo closely indented, and whimsically dove-tailed; a cabinet so varioufly inlaid, fuch a piece of diverfified mofaic, fuch a teffelated pavement without cement, here a bit of black ftone and there a bit of white; patriots and courtiers, king's friends and republicans, whigs and tories, treacherous friends and open enemies; that it was indeed a very curious fhow, but utterly unfafe to touch, and unfure to ftand on. When his face was hid but for a moment, his whole fyftem was on a wide fea, without chart or compass, whirled about, the fport of every guft; and those of the mariners who were moft directly oppofite to his opinions, being by far the most artful and powerful of the set, seizing the helm, turned the veffel wholly out of the course of his policy." The house were much amused with these ingenious representations; but no other effect was produced, the numbers on the divifion being 184 to 51. The feffion ended June 21, 1774, and his majesty's speech contained a very high eulogium on the measures which had been adopted for the purpose of reclaiming his deluded fubjects; and on the temper, firmness, and unanimity, which had been difplayed in the deliberations of parliament, which could not fail of giving them the greatest weight. Indeed, fuch was the elation of the court and its partifans at this period, that America

America feemed in their apprehenfion already fubdued, and a complete victory obtained before the battle was begun.

Governor Hutchinson, by whose advice the king and his ministers had been chiefly guided, and who gave the most pofitive affurances, that a speedy and general fubmiffion would be the confequence of the measures which he recommended, had been for fome time paft in England; and general Gage, already commander of the troops stationed at Boston, was appointed governor of the province. He arrived in that city in the month of May 1774, and was received with that dead and inelancholy filence which portended a tremendous ftorm. The intelligence of the Bofton port bill had been recently received; and on the day fucceeding the arrival of the governor, a general meeting of the inhabitants was convened, in order to take it into confideration. At this meeting, a refolution was paffed, expreffive of their ideas of the impolicy, injustice, and barbarity of the bill, and inviting the other colonies to join with them in a general agreement, to put a stop to all exportation and importation to Great Britain and the West Indies till it should be repealed. Addreffes from Virginia, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, New York, and the other provinces, in a fhort time arrived, exhorting them, with many expreffions of affection and fympathy, to refolution and perfeverance; and declaring, that they confidered Bofton as fuffering in the common caufe. One spirit, one undivided fentiment, of pity, indignation, and revenge, roufed and pervaded all. A general congress became the object of univerfal defire; and Philadelphia being judged commodiously fituated for the purpose, it was convened to meet in that city on the ift of September, and in the mean time combinations were every where entered into to fufpend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain; and renouncing all communication with those who should refuse to fign this covenant, notwithstanding a proclamation from general Gage, ftyling fuch agreement an unlawful, hoftile, and traitorous combi

nation.

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nation. An addrefs being presented to him by the municipality of Boston, in which the rights of the colonies were afferted in a high and refolute tone, the governor would not deign to hear it read to the end, declaring it to be an infult to his majefty and his government.

I

On the 25th of May, 1774, the new general court met as ufual at Boston, when general Gage gave them notice of their removal to Salem by the late act. The affembly haftening the public business, in order to evade this neceffity, the governor adjourned the court to the 7th of June, then to meet at Salem. The first business after this adjournment on the fubfequent meeting at Salem, was to appoint deputies to meet those of the other colonies in general congress at Philadelphia. The governor, having received intimation of this defign, difpatched his fecretary with the greatest precipitation to diffolve the court, but, on his arrival, he found the doors fast locked: and knocking aloud for entrance, he was informed, that the houfe was upon very important bufinefs, and till it was finished he could not be admitted. On which he read the proclamation of diffolution on the ftairs leading to the hall of the affembly; but the nomination of deputies being previously made, this was confidered as an important advantage gained against the governor.

It was a part of the artful and malignant plan of the British minifters in framing the Bofton port bill, by removing the commerce of that metropolis to Salem, and making it the feat of government, to establish a rivalship and enmity between those two places, from which they hoped to derive mighty advantages. But the magnanimous fpirit by which the Americans were at this period univerfally actuated, discovered itself very conspicuously in an addrefs presented by the merchants and freeholders of the town of Salem, to the governor, the day fucceeding the diffolution of the general court. "We are," say they, "moft deeply afflicted with a fenfe of our public calami

ties:-by fhutting up the port of Boston, fome imagine that the course of trade might be turned hither, and to our benefit; but nature, in the formation of our harbor, forbids our becoming rivals in commerce with that convenient mart; and were it otherwife, we must be dead to every idea of juftice, and loft to all feelings of humanity, could we indulge one thought to feize on wealth, and raife our fortunes on the ruin of our fuffering neighbors." Marblehead, a fea-port in the vicinity of Boston, vying in generofity with Salem, offered the merchants of that city the free use of its wharfs and stores. The unparallelled injustice and cruelty of this bill were the topics of universal execration; it was faid "to be fo conftituted, that enormous pains and penalties must ensue, notwithstanding the most perfect obedience to its injunctions; as the port could not be again opened but by his majesty in council, in consequence of a previous certificate from the governor. Those charged with the most aggravated crimes are not punishable till arraigned before difinterested judges, heard in their own defence, and found guilty of the charge. But here a whole people are accufed, profecuted by they know not whom, proved guilty they know not how, and sentenced to inevitable ruin."

The rough drafts of the bills for altering the charter of Massachusetts; for the impartial administration of justice; and another for providing quarters for troops in America, arriving about this time at Boston, were inftantly circulated through the continent, and filled up what was before wanting of violence and indignation in the feveral colonies. Even those who were moderate, or apparently wavering, now became refolute and refentful. The people at large expreffed without referve their conviction, that the æra was faft approaching when it would be neceffary for them to defend their rights with the edge of the fword. The colonial militia laws required every citizen to bear arms within a certain age; they were in general fond of military exercises, and abounded in excellent markfmen. They were now with great di

ligence

ligence employed in training and perfecting themselves in military evolutions and manœuvres. The found of drums and fifes every where faluted the ear. Parents and children, husbands and lovers, the young and the old, were poffefsed by the fame martial fpirit, and were fired with the fame glorious and enthusiastic zeal for liberty. Nothing was to be feen or heard of but purchasing of arms and ammunition, cafting of balls, and the making of all thofe preparations which teftify the most immediate danger and determined refiftance.

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Soon after the arrival of general Gage, two additional regiments of foot, with a detachment of artillery and cannon, were landed at Boston, and encamped on the common. Thefe troops were by degrees re-inforced by the arrival of feveral regiments from Ireland, New-York, Halifax, and at Jength from Quebec. The town of Boston is connected with the continent by a narrow ifthmus of confiderable length, on which a military guard was placed, and the entrance of the neck fortified by order of government; and so little intercourfe fubfifted between the city and the country, that the garrifon found it already difficult to procure the means of fubfiftence. With the charter bill, the governor received a lift of thirty-fix counsellors, appointed by royal mandamus, twelve of whom declined to ferve. The courts of judicature were totally fufpended, the jurors refusing to take the oaths, and to act under the new judges and laws. In many counties the people affembled in large bodies, and took poffeffion of the court-houses, and would fuffer neither judges, fheriffs, nor clerks to enter. All perfons accepting offices under the new acts were declared enemies to their country. The mandamus counfellors, the commiffioners of the customs, and all who had made themselves particularly obnoxious by their activity in feconding the meafures of government, were compelled to take refuge in Boston. The feat of government at Salem was entirely abandoned, and government itself feemed no longer to exist.

At