N. C.-S. C.-with an accompanying label, Join or die. The stamps also were received in Boston with the solemnity of tolling the bells. The old Elm, now stiled liberty tree, was again graced with two effigies which hung to the amusement, and gratification of the people, until three o'clock, when they were cut down, amidst the acclamations of the assembled multitude, and borne through the streets of the town; thence to the gallows on the neck, where they were again hung, and again cut down, and torn in pieces by the mob.

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This whole procedure, was accompanied with the following public threat, exhibited in the most public places, throughout the town.

PRO PATRIA.

The first man that either distributes, or makes use of stamped paper, let him take care of his house, person, and effects.

In this state of things, the courts were generally closed throughout the colonies, and the judiciary department failed, until the people began to feel the pressure, and demanded a regular administration of justice. This was met by the judiciary, with great caution at first; but finally the voice of the people prevailed, and the courts became regular, and conducted their proceedings, as usual, without the stamped paper.

In September, 1765, the house of assembly, of Pennsylvania passed the following resolutions, which they ordered to be recorded, "to shew the ardent zeal of that house, to preserve their inestimable rights, which as Englishmen they possessed ever since the province was settled, and to transmit them to the latest posterity."

Resolved, That the only legal representatives of the inhabitants of this province, are the persons whom they annually elect, to serve as members of assembly.

Resolved therefore, That the taxation of the people of this province, by any other persons whatsoever, than such, their representatives in assembly, is unconstitutional, and subversive of their most valuable rights.

"Resolved, That the laying of taxes upon the inhabitants of this province, in any other manner, being subversive of public liberty, must of necessary consequence, be de structive to public happiness."

The same spirit was expressed by the resolves of the assemblies of Connecticut, and Maryland, in the month of September, 1765.

Thus we have seen how the spirit of opposition had become general, well organized, and permanent.

At Portsmouth, in New-Hampshire, a grand funeral solemnity was appointed for the occasion, on that ever memorable first of November, when the stamp duties were to have commenced by law. The morning of this solemn day was ushered in, by the tolling of the bells; the funeral procession were assembled at the appointed hour, and proceeded in solemn silence, to attend the remains of liberty (supposed to be enclosed in a neat, and handsome coffin, inscribed with her name) to the tomb, accompanied with the solemn, and impressive discharge, of minute guns. At the place of interment, a solemn oration was pronounced, by way of eulogy, upon the remains of the deceased, and the body was interred, amidst the solemnity of the gloom. Of a sudden, it was discovered, that some symptoms of the vital spark remained, the coffin was raised, and inscribed with liberty revived. The solemnity of the scene was changed into an occasion of joy, the bells, by their lively peals, proclaimed the change, and the remainVOL. III.

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der of the day was spent in a rational rejoicing, to the great satisfaction of the people.

The following instructions of the town of Plymouth. to their representative to that general court of Massachusetts, (whose memorable firmnes, has been noticed in her resolves,) may be worthy of record, to shew at one view the spirit, as well as the principles of the day.

"You, Sir, represent a people, who are not only descended from the first settlers of this country, but inhabit the very spot they first possessed. Here was laid the first foundation of the British empire in this part of America, which, from a very small beginning, has increased and spread, in a manner very surprising, and almost incredible; ́especially when we reflect that all this has been effected without the aid or assistance of any power on earth; that we have protected, defended, and secured ourselves against the invasions and cruelties of savages, and the subtlety and inhumanity of our inveterate and natural enemies, the French; and all this without the appropriation of any tax, by stamps or stamp acts, laid upon our fellow subjects, in any part of the king's dominions, for defraying the expense thereof. This place, Sir, was at the first, the asylum of liberty, and we hope will ever be preserved sacred to it, though it was then no more than a barren wilderness, inhabited only by savage men and savage beasts. To this place our fathers, (revered be their memories,) possessed of the principles of liberty, in their purity, disdained slavery, fled to those privileges which they had an undoubted right to, but were deprived of, by the hands of violence and oppression in their native country. We, Sir, their "posterity, the freeholders, and other inhabitants of this town, legally assembled for that purpose, possessed of the same sentiments, and retaining the same ardour for liberty, think it our indispensable duty on this occasion, to express to you these our sentiments of the stamp act, and its fatal

consequences to this country; and to enjoin upon you, as you regard, not only the welfare, but the very being of this people, that you, (consistent with our allegiance to the king, and relation to the government of Great-Britain,) disregarding all proposals for that purpose, exert all your power and influence in opposition to the stamp act, at least, till we hear the result of our petitions for relief. We likewise, to avoid disgracing the memories of our ancestors, as well as the reproaches of our own consciences, and the curses of posterity, recommend it to you to obtain, if possible, in the honourable house of representatives of this province, a full and explicit assertion of our rights, and to have them entered upon the public records, that all generations yet to come, may be convinced that we have not only a just sense of our rights and liberties, but that we never, with submission to Divine Providence, will be slaves to any power on earth.”".

This excellent paper needs no comment; we will pursue this highly interesting and important subject, in its subsequent relations and bearings.

Although the spirit of America had rallied, round, the standard of liberty, and bid defiance to the operations of the stamp act, and filled parliament with her remonstrances and petitions for a repeal of this unrighteous measure, yet the hearts of the ministry were not open to conviction, nor was the prospect of relief favourable to the colonies. Fired with a just indignation at the obstinacy of the parliament, the merchants of New-York resolved to direct their agents and correspondents not to ship any more goods, until the stamp act should be repealed; and that they would not sell any more British goods upon commission, after the first day of January next, unless upon that condition. They also recommended the same as e a non-importation agreement throughout the colonies. In

November, the merchants of Philadelphia adopted the measure, and in December the same was adopted in Bos ton. At the same time, "certain mutual concessions and associations were made, concluded, and agreed upon, be tween the sons of liberty in the colonies of New-York and Connecticut, the 25th day of December, in the sixth year of the reign of our sovereign lord, George III. by the grace of God, king of Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith; and in the year of our Lord, 1765."

"The aforesaid parties, taking into their most serious consideration, the melancholly and unsettled state of GreatBritain, and her North American colonies, proceeding, as they are fully persuaded, from a design in her most insidious and inveterate enemies, to alienate the affections of his majesty's most loyal and faithful subjects of North America from his person and government.-Therefore, to prevent as much as in us lies, the dissolution of so inestimable a union, they do, in the presence of Almighty God, declare, that they bear the most unshaken faith, and true allegiance to his majesty, King George the third. That they are most affectionately and zealously attached to his royal person and family, and are fully determined, to the utmost of their power, to support and maintain his crown and dig nity, and the succession, as by law established, and with the greatest cheerfulness they submit to his government, according to the known and just principles of the British constitution, which they conceive to be founded upon the eternal and immutable principles of justice and equity, and that every attempt to violate or wrest it, or any part of it from them, under whatever pretence or authority, is an heinous sin against God, and the most daring contempt of the people, from whom (under God) all just government springs. From a sacred regard to all which, and a just sense of the impending evils that might befal them, in consequence of such a dreadful dissolution, they do hereby