A.D. 1768
Parliament, in this session, extended the act which restricted the East India Company’s dividends to ten per cent.; but scarcely any other business was transacted beside the voting of supplies. The king prorogued parliament on the 10th of March, and on the 12th of that month it was dissolved by proclamation, it having nearly completed its legal term of seven years.
PROCEEDINGS IN AMERICA.
The new Revenue Act, which imposed duties on various articles of merchandise, excited great resentment in America. It was looked upon by the colonists, indeed, as a deceptive measure, having a similar object to that of the Stamp Act, and it had the effect of reviving a question, which the British parliament should have endeavoured to have consigned to utter oblivion. The Americans, animated by a spirit of resistance, would now no longer acknowledge that distinction between external and internal taxation, on which they had at first grounded their claim for relief. Their presses teemed with invectives against the British legislature, and it was confidently asserted that England was resolved to reduce the colonies to a state of abject slavery. The assembly of Massachusets Bay took the lead in opposing the government, and it soon engaged the other colonies to join in resisting the mother-country. A petition was likewise sent by that house to the king, and letters, signed by their speaker, to several of the British cabinet, containing statements of their rights and grievances, and soliciting relief.
A letter was also sent to Mr. De Berdt, their agent in London, instructing him to oppose the obnoxious measure on every ground of right and policy. This letter adverted to the appropriation of the revenue intended to be thus unconstitutionally raised—stating that it was to supply a support for governors and judges, and a standing army. On both these grounds, as well as its unconstitutional nature, the house opposed it, remarking, on the subject of the standing army, in the following terms, by way of remonstrance:—“As Englishmen and British subjects, we have an aversion to a standing army, which we reckon dangerous to our civil liberties; and considering the examples of ancient times, it seems a little surprising that a mother-state should trust large bodies of mercenary troops in her colonies, at so great a distance from her; lest, in process of time, when the spirits of the people shall be depressed by the military power, another Caesar should arise and usurp the authority of his master.”
A circular letter was sent, in the name of the assembly of Massachusets Bay, to the other provincial assemblies, informing them of the measures already taken; and it was couched in such terms that it had the effect of lulling the suspicions of some whose opinions were not so violent, and of making many of them firm adherents to the cause of liberty. The conduct of this republican assembly excited strong indignation in the ministry. A letter was sent, by Lord Hillsborough, to the governor, expressing great displeasure against those who had endeavoured to revive the dissensions which had been so injurious to both countries, and directing him to dissolve the assembly if it should decline to rescind the vote which gave rise to the circular. This letter was laid before the house; but instead of rescinding the vote, it justified the spirit and language of the circular, and declared that, as it had been answered by several of the assemblies, the vote had been already executed, and could not therefore be rescinded. The conclusion of this uncompromising reply was as follows:—“We take this opportunity faithfully to represent to your excellency, that the new revenue acts and measures are not only disagreeable, but in every view are deemed an insupportable burden and grievance, with very few exceptions, by all the freeholders and other inhabitants of this jurisdiction: and we beg leave, once for all, to assure your excellency, that those of this opinion are no ‘party or expiring faction;’—they have at all times been ready to devote their time and fortune to his majesty’s service. Of loyalty, this majority could as reasonably boast as any who may happen to enjoy your excellency’s smiles: their reputation, rank, and fortune, are at least equal to those who may have sometimes been considered as the only friends in good government; while some of the best blood in the colony, even in the two houses of assembly, lawfully convened and duly acting, have been openly charged with the unpardonable crime of oppugnation against the royal authority. We have now only to inform your excellency, that this house has voted not to rescind, as required, its resolution; and that, in a division on the question, there were ninety-two nays, and seventeen yeas. In all this we have been actuated by a conscientious, and finally, by a clear and determined sense of duty to God, to our king, our country, and our latest posterity; and we most ardently wish and humbly pray, that in your future conduct, your excellency may be influenced by the same privileges.”
A letter to the same import was addressed, by the assembly, to Lord Hillsborough. But this was its last act. When the governor had received the above communication, he immediately dissolved it, and the province was left for the remainder of the year without a legislature. Opposition, however, was not checked by such a measure—rather it was carried on with more spirit than ever. Riots took place at Boston and Halifax, and arms and ammunition were provided, under the pretext of anticipated war with France A meeting of delegates, from all the towns of the province, was convened at Boston, which was attended by deputies from every one except Hatfield. This convention sent a communication to the governor, disclaiming all intention of performing any act of government; professing to have met, in dark and distressing times, to consult and advise measures for the peace and good order of his majesty’s subjects in the province; and praying that he would call together the legislative assembly. The governor refused to receive any communication from the meeting, warned it of the irregularity of its proceedings, and assured it that his majesty was determined to maintain his entire sovereignty over the province. A deputation was then sent to the governor by the convention, but it was refused admission into his presence, and a committee of nine persons were appointed to consult on the best mode of promoting peace and good order in the province. This committee sent in its report, and the meeting drew up a petition to the king, which was transmitted to the agent in London, and it then broke up. This was on the 29th of September, and on the same day, two regiments and a detachment of artillery from Halifax inarched into Boston. These were soon after joined by two more regiments from Ireland, under General Gage; and thus awed, the province was restored to comparative tranquillity. But underneath this show of quiet there were heart-burnings, which nothing but the recognition of American independence could allay. Associations formed throughout the whole length and breadth of America, by the exertions of the assembly of Massachusets Bay, stirred up and kept alive the flame of discord, and occasion need but fan it, and it would kindle into a blaze; the lurid glare of which would be seen burning brightly, and raging furiously across the wide Atlantic. The proceedings in America were but as yet, in truth, the warnings of a terrible commotion—the first intimations of an irruption, more frightful in its nature, and more disastrous in its consequences, than the bursting forth of the fire-streaming bowels of Mounts Ætna and Vesuvius, or the devastations of an earthquake. For the storms of human passion, when they burst forth in war and bloodshed, are more desolating to the human family, than any outbreak of visible nature recorded in the many-paged annals of history.