Massachusetts.—James Otis, Oliver Partridge, Timothy
Rugeles.
New York.—Robert R. Livingston, John Cruger, Philip
Livingston, William Bayard, Leonard Lispenard New Jersey.—
Robert Oteden, Hendrick Fisher, Joseph Borden.
Rhode Island.—Metcalf Bowler, Henry Ward.
Pennsylvania.—John Dickenson, John Morton, George Bryan.
Delaware.—Thomas M'Kean, Cæsar Rodney.
Connecticut.—Eliphalet Dyer, David Rowland, William S.
Johnson.
Maryland.—William Murdock, Edward Tilghman, Thomas
Ringgold.
South Carolina.—Thomas Lynch, Christopher Gadsden, John
Rutledge.
** The Declaration of Rights was written by John Cruger; the Petition to the King, by Robert R. Livingston; and the Memorial to both Houses of Parliament, by James Otis.
***In Mrs. Warren's drama called The Group, Ruggles figures in the character of Brigadier Hate-All. He fought against the Americans, at the head of a corps of Loyalists, and at the close of the war settled in Nova Scotia, where he has numerous descendants.
Franklin's Advice to Ingersoll.—Arrival of the Stamps.—Patrick Henry's Resolutions.—"Liberty Tree."—Effigies.
a former chapter as stamp-master in Connecticut, was in England at the time. Franklin advised him to accept the office, adding, "Go home and tell your countrymen to get children as fast as they can"—thereby intimating that the colonists were too feeble, at that moment, to resist the government successfully, but ought to gain strength as fast as possible, in order to shake off the oppressions which, he foresaw, were about to be laid upon them. But little did he and other agents suspect that the stamp-masters would be held in such utter detestation as they were, or that such disturbances would occur as followed, or they would not have procured the appointments for their friends. The ministry, however, seem to have anticipated trouble, for a clause was inserted in the annual Mutiny Act, authorizing as many troops to be sent to America as ministers saw fit, and making it obligatory upon the people to find quarters for them.
During the summer and autumn the public mind was greatly disturbed by the arrival of vessels bringing the stamps, and the first of November was looked forward to with intense interest—by some with fear, but by more with firm resolution to resist the operations of the May 30, 1765 oppressive act. Virginia rang the alarum bell, by a series of resolutions drawn up by Patrick Henry, sustained by his powerful oratory, and adopted by the House of Burgesses. Of these resolutions, and of Henry's eloquence on that occasion, I shall hereafter write. So much did the notes of that alarum sound like the voice of treason, that a manuscript copy which was sent to Philadelphia, and another to New York, were handed about with great privacy. In the latter city no one was found bold enough to print the resolutions, but in Boston they soon appeared in the Gazette of Edes and Gill, and their sentiments, uttered in the Assembly, were echoed back from every inhabited hill and valley in New England.
Before any stamps had arrived in America symptoms of an outbreak appeared in Boston.