Towards the close of this session a bill was brought into the house of lords, “for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec, in North America.” The main objects of this bill was to ascertain the limits of that province; to form a legislative council for all its affairs, except taxation, which council should be appointed and be removable by the crown, and in which his majesty’s Canadian Roman Catholic subjects should have a place; to establish the old French laws, to which the Canadians had been accustomed, including trial without jury, in all civil cases, and the English laws with trial by jury in all criminal cases; and to secure to the Roman Catholics those rights which the articles of capitulation had allowed—that is, the legal enjoyments of their lands and of their tithes, in their own community, or from all who professed their doctrines. This bill passed through the lords without difficulty; but in the commons it met with a storm of opposition. On the second reading, which took place on the 20th of May, Mr. Thomas Townshend, junior, asked why the affairs of Canada had been so long postponed, and why the country, from the time of its conquest, had been left a prey to anarchy and confusion? The bill proposed to enlarge the boundaries of the province, so as to comprehend the whole country lying between New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, to the Ohio and eastern bank of the Mississippi; and northward, to the southern boundary of the territory granted to the merchant adventurers of England trading to Hudson’s Bay. Of this Townshend complained, and he said that it was the general opinion, that ministers intended to make all this vast tract of country an essentially French colony, as the population was almost entirely French, and the religion, laws, &c., that of France—the only exception being that they had at their head a subject of Great Britain as their governor. This, he opined, would one day cause a revolution, and would tend to re-establish the dominion of France in that country. As for the legislative council he deemed it as proposed the very worst kind of government ministers could have invented. He remarked:—“If it is not the proper time to give to Canada an assembly like those which exist in our other American colonies, it is better to let the governor be absolute—better to let him be without a council. He will then be responsible. But what have we here? Seventeen or eighteen gentlemen, who may be removed or suspended by the governor; so that, if an act of oppression should come from the crown, these may be a screen for the governor to excuse and justify him.” Townshend next condemned the countenance given by the bill to the church of Rome, and then put a series of stringent questions to the ministers concerning the administration of the French laws in Canada. Were they, he asked, to be administered by Canadians or French lawyers? and were English gentlemen who had bought estates in that country to be subject to them? It would be better, he conceived, to show the French Canadians, by degrees, the advantages of English law, and to gradually mix it with their own. In reply, Lord North excused the delay which had occurred in bringing this measure forward, on the ground that he had been seeking the fullest information before he legislated. He did not pretend that the bill was perfect, but he considered that it was the best that could have been devised, both for Great Britain and the colony, under all circumstances. North then justified the enlargement of the limits of the colony, and the concessions which the bill made to the Roman Catholics. He observed:—“The honourable gentleman dislikes the omitting the assembly; but the assembly cannot be granted, seeing that it must be composed of Canadian Roman Catholic subjects, for otherwise it would be oppressive. On the other hand, as the bulk of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics, to subject them to an assembly, composed of a few British Protestant subjects would be a great hardship. Being, therefore, under the necessity of not appointing an assembly, this is the only legislature you can give the Canadians, and it is the one under which they live at present. The governor and council really have been the legislature ever since our conquest, only now it is put under some regulation.” As regarded the question of law, he reminded the house, that the most material part, that of the criminal law, was to be English, and that if the French civil law should be found incompatible with the wishes of the colony, the governor and council would have power to alter it. Returning to the question of religion, North remarked, that the free exercise of it was confirmed to the Canadians by treaty, and that the laws of Great Britain permitted the full and free exercise of any religion different from that of the Church of England, in any and all of the colonies. It was another question, he added, whether it is convenient to continue or abolish the bishop’s jurisdiction; though, at the same time, he asserted, no bishop could be there under papal authority, as such is expressly forbidden in the act of supremacy. North concluded by asserting, that there was no intention of substituting French lawyers and judges for the English who now administered the laws in that country. Townshend rejoined; complaining bitterly of carrying the system of French law into those parts of the country where it had not previously existed, and where there were some thousands of British subjects. Having, at the end of the war, promised the Canadians English law, he conceived that injustice would be done them by giving them that of France. Mr. Townshend was followed by Mr. Dunning, who called the measure one of the most extensive, as well as the most pernicious, ever offered to parliament. He particularly inveighed against the concessions made to the Roman Catholics, though he admitted that the free exercise of their religion was promised to the Canadians by the treaty of peace. This bill, however, he contended, gave them more than this: it established the Roman Catholic faith, whereas Protestantism was merely tolerated, and its clergy left for a maintenance to the discretion of the crown. He observed:—“Different gentlemen may entertain different opinions: my opinion of toleration is, that nothing can be more impolitic than to give establishment to that religion which is not the religion of our own country. Among the circumstances that unite countries, or divide countries, a difference in religion has ever been thought to be the principal and leading one. The Catholic religion unites France, but divides England. Without going further into the subject, it suffices me to say, that the religion of England seems to be preferable to the religion of France, if your object is to make this an English colony. When one sees that the Roman Catholic religion is established by law, and that the same law does not establish the Protestant religion, the people are, of course, at liberty to choose which they like. Are we, then, to establish the Roman Catholic religion, and tolerate the Protestant religion?” Mr. Dunning next insisted, that the civil law, as well as the criminal law of England, should be preserved, and that the institution of juries, however unpalatable it might prove to the Canadians, ought not to be dispensed with. He concluded by showing the unfitness of this political state to the habits and character of English settlers, and that there was an insurmountable difficulty in reconciling the feelings and habits of the small minority with the great French majority. The bill was next defended warmly in all its points by Attorney-general Thurlow. The definitive treaty of peace, he said, was made in favour of property in Canada; in favour of the Catholic religion, and in favour of the several religious orders, under which obligations it was that the crown of this country was called upon to frame a constitution for the colony. As for the importing and enforcing English laws in a country already settled, and habitually governed by other laws, he considered that it would be an act of the most absurd and cruel tyranny ever practised by a conquering nation over a conquered country—an act which would be unprecedented in the world’s history. He thought it would be equally monstrous to strip the Roman Catholic clergy of their rights and dues, and to set up an Anglican establishment where the followers of our church were but few in number. To assimilate the constitution of the province to that of England he deemed neither practicable nor desirable, and asserted, that the constitution now proposed was on the side of liberality, and the best that could be given under existing circumstances. He concluded thus:—“If any English resort to that country, they do not carry with them the laws that are to prevail the moment they get there. It would be just as wise to say, if an Englishman goes to Guernsey, the laws of the city of London are carried over with him. To take the laws as they stand in Canada has been allowed—to act according to those laws, and to be bound by their coercion, is a natural consequence. In this view I think the bill has done nothing obnoxious. I have no speculative opinions. I would have consulted the French customs to a much greater extent, if it had been for me to have framed the law.” Colonel Barré, Lord John Cavendish, and Sergeant Glynn next warmly opposed the bill, and they were followed by the Solicitor-general, Wedderburne, who defended it with greater ability and more knowledge of history than had been displayed by any of the preceding speakers. Sergeant Glynn had asserted, that in conquering the Irish and Welsh our laws had been imposed upon them; but Wedderburne clearly showed that this was only effected in the lapse of ages; English laws not being introduced into Ireland till the time of James I., and in Wales till the time of Henry VIII. He argued, that it was the custom of all conquering states to leave the conquered countries in the possession of their own laws. He remarked:—“Not only are there instances of great states not considering themselves warranted, by right of conquest, in forcing their laws upon the conquered, but even countries that have scarcely any trace of public laws and general systems, have had that good policy with regard to the countries they have made themselves masters of. The very Mussulman, the Ottoman, the Turks—the worst of all conquerors—in the countries they subdued left the people in possession of their municipal laws. This is the case in Wallachia; this is the case in Moldavia; this is the case with all the great settlements in which the Turks have pushed their arms.” Wedderburne next showed the difference existing in the law of succession in England and Canada, and argued, that it would be hard upon all younger sons in that province to establish the right of primogeniture on a sudden. He concluded by representing the people of Canada as having, for several years past, been annually calling upon government to let them know what really was to be the law of the province. Charles Fox argued, that as the bill allowed the clergy of the Church of Rome their dues and rights, which dues he understood to mean the receiving of tithes, which were a tax upon the Canadians, it was to all intents and purposes a money bill. This objection he conceived fatal to the bill, inasmuch as the commons never permitted bills of that nature to originate in the lords. Dunning now took up the same line of argument, and as Lord North denied the conclusion to which these members had suddenly come, the speaker was appealed to for his opinion. The speaker replied, that he had seen bills that had originated in the lords that, he thought, ought not to have been brought into the lower house, but that he never presumed to judge upon them himself, and in this in stance it would be very unbecoming in him to do so, therefore’ he would leave it for the house to determine as was thought right. The second reading was carried by a majority of one hundred and five, against twenty-nine; and on the 31st of May, when the house went into committee on the bill, several amendments were negatived, with equally large majorities. On this occasion petitions were presented against the measure from Thomas Penn, on behalf of himself and of John Penn, Esq., true and absolute proprietors of Pennsylvania, and the counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, in Delaware, praying that the territory granted by King Charles II. to their father and grandfather might not be encroached upon by any extension of the frontiers of Canada. Ministers denied that it was ever intended to entrench upon other colonies, and the petition was ordered to lie upon the table; leave, also, being given to the petitioners to be heard by counsel if they thought proper. At the same time a petition was presented from merchants of the city of London, trading to the province of Quebec, praying for the preservation or establishment of the English civil law, in all matters of controversy relative to property and civil rights, with trial by jury, &c. This petition was ordered to be referred to the committee on the bill, and the petitioners were also ordered to be heard by themselves or counsel. Counsel were heard, and witnesses examined, which occupied the attention of the house for more than a week; but on the 13th of June the bill passed the commons as it originally stood—a few boundary amendments, made in committee, alone excepted. The bill thus passed was sent back to the lords for their concurrence in the amendments, on which occasion Chatham rose to reprobate the whole spirit of the bill. It tended, he said, to establish the worst of despotisms, and denounced it as a most cruel, oppressive, and odious measure—a measure which destroyed the very roots of justice and good principle. He called the bill “a child of inordinate power,” and asked, if any on the bench of bishops would hold it out for baptism? He invoked the bishops to resist a law which would spread the Roman Catholic tenets over so vast a continent, and asserted, that parliament had no more right to alter the oath of supremacy than to repeal the great charter, or the bill of rights. The dangerous innovations of the bill, he declared, were at utter variance with all the safeguards and barriers against the return of popery and of popish influence, so wisely provided against by all oaths and offices of trust, from the constable up to the members of both houses, and even to the sovereign in his coronation oath. Chatham concluded by expressing his fears that such a measure might shake the confidence of his majesty’s Protestant subjects in England and Ireland, and totally alienate the hearts of all his American subjects. The bill, however, passed by twenty-six to seven, and received the royal assent on the 22nd of June; the corporation of London having ineffectually petitioned the king to refuse it.
PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.
On the same day that his majesty gave his assent to the above-mentioned bill, he prorogued parliament. In his speech he expressed his approval of that bill, conceiving it likely to produce the best effect in quieting the minds, and promoting the happiness of the Canadians. His majesty also applauded the temper and firmness, and general concurrence of parliament in the measures they had adopted with reference to Massachusets Bay; at the same time assuring them that nothing depending on him should be wanting to render those measures effectual. At the close of this session, Lord North, notwithstanding his many embarrassments, appeared to be more firmly seated in office than ever. Even Chatham himself was obliged to confess his success, efficiency, and the solidity of his position; asserting that no minister in any age ever held a better tenure. It was necessary that North should be well supported, for he had difficulties before him which would soon have compelled him to resign, and to seek solace in the shades of retirement, had not the voice of parliament been with him.
PROCEEDINGS AT BOSTON.
During the deliberations of the British parliament, the Bostonians and people of Massachusets Bay had continued their outrages. The assembly and populace alike showed their utter aversion to the British government in language and actions which could not be misunderstood. The mob destroyed every cargo of tea that arrived in the port, and the assembly showed its hostility by petitioning for the removal of the chief-justice, Peter Oliver, Esq., because he had taken his majesty’s grant. The house further resolved to impeach the chief-justice in their own name, and in the name of all the inhabitants of the province; and when the governor denounced their proceedings as unconstitutional, they drew up articles according to this resolution, charging him with high crimes and misdemeanors. The governor, however, refused to take any step in the matter, and this only tended to exasperate them still more. At this moment, indeed, some of the leaders, at the head of whom was Mr. Samuel Adams, were publicly proclaiming that America must and should become independent of Great Britain. Their sentiments were also made known by their unbounded admiration of Benjamin Franklin. His name was mentioned everywhere with enthusiasm, and before their dissolution the assembly resolved to continue him their agent in England, although the governor refused to ratify the appointment, or to sanction their act for paying him his salary.
Among the ministerial arrangements was the substitution of General Gage in the room of Hutchinson as governor. General Gage landed on the wharf on the 13th of May, with part of his family and suite, and was warmly welcomed by the council, magistrates, and others, and afterwards entertained at a public dinner. On the other hand, the mob spent their impotent rage on Hutchinson by burning him in effigy. The reception which Gage met with on landing seemed to augur well for his administration, and his prospect seemed the more cheering because he was united to an American lady, and from long residence in the colony, had made many friends. But there was a strong under-current at work which threatened to sweep away all the authority which any governor might possess however popular he might be as a man. And this was made more impetuous at this time by the intelligence which arrived concerning the Boston Port Bill. This intelligence was received a few days before General Gage arrived, and although the Bostonians gave him a hearty welcome, they soon displayed what feelings they possessed upon the subject. On the very next day after they had given him this welcome, a numerous town meeting took the bill into consideration, and resolved, “That it is the opinion of this town, that, if the other colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importation from, and exportation to Great Britain, and every part of the West Indies, till the act be repealed, the same will prove the salvation of North America and her liberties; and that the impolicy, injustice, inhumanity, and cruelty of the act exceed all our powers of expression: we, therefore, leave it to the just censure of others, and appeal to God and the world.” In order to spread disaffection, the act was printed and widely circulated throughout the colonies. Nor were the presses of Boston alone engaged in this work. Other colonies had thousands of copies struck off, and in some the copy of the act was accompanied with comments, and with a black border, while the vendors cried it about under the title of “A barbarous, cruel, bloody, and inhuman murder.” In some places it was burned with great solemnity; in others, as at Philadelphia, subscriptions were set on foot for the relief of those Bostonians who should be deprived of the means of subsistence by the operations of the act; while in Virginia the assembly which was then sitting, adopted a proposal that the first day of June, on which the Post Bill was to commence, should be a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, to implore heaven to avert the evils of civil war, to inspire the Americans with firmness in support of their rights, and to turn the hearts of king and parliament to moderation and justice. For this vote, Lord Dunmore, the governor of the province of Virginia, dissolved the assembly, and the members then repaired to a tavern, where they agreed to articles of association, in which they pronounced the Boston Port Bill to be the result of a system having for its object the reduction of the inhabitants of British America to slavery. At this meeting it was declared that tea ought not to be used by any well-wisher to constitutional liberty; and that from the course pursued by the East India Company in favour of arbitrary taxation, the people ought not to purchase any of their commodities, except saltpetre and spices, until their grievances should be redressed. It was also declared that an attack on one colony was an attack upon all, and that it should be resisted by their united councils. Acting upon this opinion, which was by no means logical, they recommended to the committee of correspondence to communicate with all the other committees, “on the expediency of appointing deputies from the several colonies of British America, to meet in general congress, at such place, annually, as should be thought most convenient, to deliberate on the measures required by their common interests.” Finally, this meeting of the dissolved assembly of Virginia, agreed that the members who should be elected under the new writs then issuing, should meet in convention at Williamsburgh, on the first of August, for the purpose of appointing delegates to sit in congress. This was a monster stride in the march of revolution, and it was easy to foresee its ultimate and awful consequences.
The first of June was not only observed as a day of fasting and humiliation in Virginia, but also at Philadelphia, Boston, and other places. Shops were closed, and the church-bells tolled dolefully; but whether prayer was offered in sincerity and truth, and in calm devotion, demands a doubt; for when men’s passions are inflamed, there can be no fitness for acts of piety. In the mean time the assembly of Massachusets Bay met at Boston, on the 25th of May, for the last time. On that day, General Gage laid before them some common business of the province, and then announced the painful necessity he was under of removing them and all public offices to Salem, by the first of June, in conformity with the recent acts of parliament. He adjourned them to the 7th of June, then to meet at Salem, and on that day they re-assembled at the place appointed, and named a committee to consider and report the state of the province. Some of the committee named were for pursuing mild and conciliatory measures, and seeing this, Mr. Samuel Adams conferred with Mr. Warren on the necessity of obtaining a better display of spirit. Warren engaged to keep the committee in play, while Adams should be secretly engaged in winning over members to their party. In a few days Adams succeeded in gaining over and concerting measures with more than thirty members, and it was then resolved to proceed at once to business. On the 17th of May they ordered the doors to be locked, and that no one should be permitted to go in or out. They hoped by this plan to keep all friends of government from giving any information concerning their councils, and to finish their business before the governor could interfere with a prorogation or dissolution. One member favourable to government, however, contrived to get out, and to give information of what was doing within. The governor sent his secretary to dissolve them, but he was refused admittance, and he read the proclamation of dissolution upon the stairs leading to the chamber in the hearing of several members, who, like himself, could not obtain admittance. By this time, however, the committee had done all they wanted to do: they had appointed a committee to meet other provincial committees on the 1st of September, at Philadelphia; had voted £500 for its use; had chosen a treasurer; and having no money in hand, had recommended the towns and districts of the province to raise the sum by equitable proportions, according to the last provincial tax. This was a gross insult to the governor, and the committee exulted in having had the opportunity of offering it. Their feelings of triumph, however, do no honour to human nature, since that triumph, such as it was, was obtained by the paltry artifice of obtaining possession of the house to the exclusion of all such members as would have voted against the measure they had proposed and carried.
On the 1st of June, exactly as the clock struck twelve, the custom-house of Boston was shut up, and all lawful business ceased in its port. Its trade was nominally transferred to Salem; but the spirit of rivalry which formerly distinguished American merchants seemed now to be wholly lost in sympathy. No one discovered the slightest inclination to profit by the distress of the refractory town of Boston. The merchants and freeholders of Salem, indeed, presented an address to General Gage, censuring the measures that had been adopted, commiserating the people of Boston, and declining to derive any advantage offered them by the Boston Port Bill. Nature, they said, by the formation of their harbour, forbade their becoming rivals with that convenient mart, and were it otherwise they must be dead to every idea of justice, and lost to all feelings of humanity, if they could indulge one thought of acquiring wealth, and building up their fortunes upon the ruin of their suffering neighbours. These certainly were sentiments honourable to humanity, but unfortunately they were coupled with others of a different character. The petitioners repeated the old saying, which was now become notoriously false, that they still ardently wished to preserve their connexion with the British empire: and yet the people of Salem falsified their assertion on the very next day after it was made, by joining a general association, which by this time had been got up by many of the committees of correspondence, and which was called “a solemn league and covenant,” after the famous bond of their Puritan forefathers. The nature of this league may be seen from the document which all its members signed. It declared that the compact had been entered into as the only means of avoiding the horrors of slavery, or the carnage and desolation of civil war; that those who subscribed to it covenanted in the presence of God to suspend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain till the Boston Port Bill should be restored; and that they would have no dealings with persons who would not sign it, or should afterwards violate it, but would publish their names as enemies to their country, and as men excommunicated or cut off from all social intercourse. This league spread rapidly through all the states; thousands joined it of their own free will, and others were impelled to subscribe to it through fear. In most places, indeed, it was conceived more dangerous to oppose the popular will, than to risk a war with Great Britain. And it was in vain that the governor sought to stem the onward progress of the tide of revolution. He issued a proclamation, forbidding such unlawful and traitorous combinations, and warned the people against countenancing them; but his orders were disregarded, and his very power questioned. In Boston all became sullen and threatening, and General Gage at length deemed it advisable to take means more efficacious than proclamations in repressing tumult. A detachment of artillery, with some regiments of infantry were ordered to encamp near Boston, and these were soon reinforced by fresh troops from Great Britain and Ireland. But it was soon found that the troops could not be depended upon:—bought by gills of ardent spirits and promises of reward, many, and especially the raw recruits, deserted their ranks; and General Gage next placed a guard on the Isthmus, called Boston-neck, which joins the peninsula whereon the town is built to the main land. This movement, like all the other movements made by the officers of government, was misrepresented, and hastened on the crisis. A cry was raised and a report spread that the governor intended to cut off all communications, and compel the town to submit to terms. The exciting cry produced the effect that was wished far and near. Even those provinces which had hitherto been slow to join the Bostonians in their hostility towards government, now earnestly exhorted them to brave their supposed doom, as the eye of all America was upon them; and the hands of all the Americans ready to be stretched forth for their deliverance.