It being determined therefore to show no concession to the rebellious spirit of the colonies, a bill was brought in in February, 1775, for cutting off the trade of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, excepting with Great Britain and her West India possessions, and to prohibit also their fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, which was then a great branch of their trade and industry. While this bill was under discussion, news reached England of the adhesion which was given by the other colonies to the measures of the American Congress; and all the colonies, excepting New York, North Carolina and Georgia, were included in the bill of restriction. At the very time that this New England Restraining Bill was agitating all parties, Lord North proposed what he called a conciliatory plan, which was, in fact, that Great Britain should forbear any scheme of colonial taxation, on condition that the assembly of each province should raise a suitable amount of money, which should be disposable by parliament. This plan, though vehemently opposed in England, as conceding too much to the colonies, was utterly rejected by the colonies, as compelling them to yield that over which they claimed to have a right. In the midst of all these attempts at coercion and conciliation, an endeavour at negotiation also failed between Benjamin Franklin and some members of the cabinet who were friendly to America.

The West India merchants petitioned against the restraining bill, as interfering fatally with their commercial relationships, and foretelling famine and ruin to the West India islands in consequence. The assembly of Jamaica petitioned parliament on behalf of “the claim of rights set up by the North American provinces,” and protested against the “plan almost carried into execution for reducing the colonies into the most abject state of slavery.” Petitions for conciliation were presented from the British Quakers and the British settlers in Quebec, and Wilkes, as lord mayor of London, presented a remonstrance to the king from the city authorities, expressing “abhorrence of the measures in progress for the oppression of their fellow subjects in the colonies.” But all was of no avail. Nothing was to be done; and Franklin, seeing the hopeless state of affairs, set sail for America, and almost at the same moment the battle of Lexington was fought.

CHAPTER IV.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

When, in February, 1775, the provincial congress met again at Cambridge, the committee of supplies took the most active measures for the raising and drilling of the militia, and for the procuring of ammunition and military stores of all kinds. A day of fasting and prayer, according to puritan custom on solemn and important occasions, was also appointed; New England was preparing temporally and spiritually for the great time of trial.

The British forces under the command of General Gage, at Boston, amounted to about 3,000. Gage, aware of what was going forward around him, resolved to disable the insurgent colonists by gaining possession of the stores and ammunition which had been collected by them, and stored at Salem and Concord. At Salem the search was unsuccessful, the troops being driven back from a bridge, the passage of which was disputed on the Sunday. The attempt at Concord was of a much more serious character, military stores being collected there to a great extent. Eight hundred men were sent out on this expedition, with orders of despatch and secrecy, under the command of Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, on the night of April 18th, and arrived at Lexington, within five miles of Concord, just before sunrise. But the alarm had been already given, and it being supposed that the intention was to seize John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were then there, the minute-men of the place were drawn up to resist them. Pitcairn, at the head of his regulars, advanced within musket-shot, and exclaimed, “Disperse, rebels! Throw down your arms, and disperse!” No notice being taken of these words, a volley was then fired, which killed eight of the minute-men and wounded several others. The British, however, declared that the minute-men fired first; but be that as it may, they then fled, and the firing was continued, the regulars marching on to Concord, where they destroyed and took possession of the stores, while the minute-men being reinforced by different bodies which had hurried there at the sound of the firing, a skirmish ensued. A considerable number of the regulars were killed, and the rest forced to retreat, the colonial militia pursuing them hotly all the way back to Lexington, where, fortunately for themselves, they found Lord Percy with a reinforcement of 900 men. But for this timely aid, it is doubtful if any of their number would have reached Boston; the Americans, having the advantage of the knowledge of the ground, and availing themselves of the Indian mode of warfare, took fatal aim from behind bushes, stone walls, barns, or whatever offered a means of concealment. At sunset the exhausted regulars reached Bunker’s Hill, near Boston, having lost in killed and wounded about 300 men, while the loss of the provincials amounted to eighty-five.

The news of this battle, of this first shedding of blood, flew like wild-fire through the colonies. Couriers were despatched at full speed from place to place, bearing tidings which called all to arms. “The war has begun!” was shouted in the market-place; at the ferry on the river; in the crowded meeting-house on the Sabbath; and all rushed to arms. It was twenty days, however, with their utmost speed, before the news reached Charleston in South Carolina; yet, long before that time, volunteers had marched from all parts of the New England colonies.

From Rhode Island, a body of volunteers hastened to Boston, under the command of a young Quaker, Nathaniel Greene, who was disowned by his brethren for this violation of their principles. Nor could the admonitions and threats of discipline of the elder Friends of Philadelphia keep the martial spirit of their young men under control. Mifflin’s example and influence was stronger than all the advice they could give, and Quaker-Philadelphia sent out a company of brave volunteers. Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina, all were moved by the same spirit; while Patrick Henry, the young patriot lawyer of Virginia, marched with a troop of volunteer riflemen to Williamsburgh, the capital of the Old Dominion, and compelled the royal treasurer to refund the value of ammunition which Lord Dunmore, the governor, had lately seized. Dunmore, incensed, issued a proclamation declaring them rebels, and fortified his residence. Soon after, letters of his, addressed to the English government, and which were considered false to the colony, being intercepted, the public indignation waxed hot against him; whereupon, fearing for his life, he fled to a man-of-war lying at Yorktown, and abandoned his government. Governor Martin, of North Carolina, about the same time, fled also in terror on board a ship of war, at the mouth of Cape Fear River; and in South Carolina, Lord William Campbell, the governor, being suspected of secret negotiations with the Cherokees, was likewise obliged to retire. Georgia, the hitherto “defective link in the American chain,” soon became soldered by the kindling flame of liberty. In vain Sir James Wright, the governor, did his utmost to maintain the loyalty and allegiance of the province. The powder was removed from the magazine at Savannah; and the cargo of a powder-ship, which lay at the mouth of the river, forwarded to the camp at Boston.

Georgia sent five delegates to the provincial congress about to assemble at Philadelphia; and henceforth the style of the “Thirteen United Colonies” was assumed.

The battle of Lexington was soon followed by other events. The Massachusetts committee of safety had already contemplated gaining possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on which depended the control of Lakes George and Champlain, when, without waiting for higher commands than those of patriotism, the bold Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, at the head of their “Green Mountain Boys,” set out on the enterprise. Without being aware of this movement, Benedict Arnold, a New Haven trader, then in camp before Boston with a company of volunteers, received a commission from the committee of safety, to raise a body of troops in Vermont and proceed on this enterprise. Arnold was well pleased, for it was a favourite scheme of his own, but presently found, to his surprise, that others were before him. Taking command, therefore, under Allen, they marched together to Ticonderoga, which they reached on the 9th of May, and on the 10th, by break of day, entered the fort unperceived, with eighty men, and surprising De la Place, the commandant, in his bed, ordered him to surrender, “in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” No resistance was attempted; and Crown Point was taken with equal ease. The garrison of both forts did not amount to more than sixty men, but above 200 pieces of artillery and a valuable quantity of powder, of which there was great want in the provincial camp, fell into the hands of the captors. After this, Arnold manned a small schooner, and proceeding down the lake, surprised the Fort of St. John and seized a sloop-of-war laden with stores; the pass of Skeensborough, now Whitehall, was likewise secured. Three important posts which commanded the lakes, together with much needed cannon and munitions of war, being thus secured in rapid succession and without bloodshed, raised the hopes of the Americans and inspired them with confidence.

While these events were going forward, Lord North’s conciliatory proposition was laid before the various colonial assemblies and rejected. On May 10th the colonial congress met at Philadelphia. Its meeting was momentous. Thomas Jefferson was chosen president, and Thomas Hancock secretary. Bills of credit were issued for defraying the expenses of the war. It was resolved, that hostilities had been commenced by Great Britain; allegiance was still avowed, and an anxious desire expressed for peace; nevertheless it was voted that the colonies ought to put themselves in a posture of defence against the parliamentary schemes of compulsory taxation. After much opposition, another petition to the king was agreed upon. The New England states entertained and freely acknowledged the desire for independence; the middle and the southern states still hesitated, though all had sent delegates to the congress. Addresses were also prepared to the people of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as an appeal made to the “oppressed inhabitants of Canada,” as through Canada it was expected that England would make an attack on the colonies.