“But hard beset by British force
They dare not stay, or they’d do worse;
Some fly to mountains, some to dales,
When all their hellish Courage fails.
······
Flying I leave them, ’till we hear
The end of this most bloody war.
······
For which the thankful folk proclaim
Thanksgivings to the Almighty name,
And may we all now join with them,
And to their Thanks join our Amen.”
Sold by B. Gray, near the market. Without date; printed in 1744.
XII.
REVOLUTIONARY PROCLAMATIONS.
Gen. Gage’s administration of less than a year and a half in the “Province of Massachusetts Bay,” for he never had any government over the province other than military, was prolific in proclamations, some of which are rather curious. On the 1st of June, 1774, by order of Parliament and the King, Boston Harbor was closed and possessed by ships of the British navy. Nothing could enter or leave the port: wood as fuel could not be brought from the islands, or merchandise or lumber removed from wharf to wharf by water; nothing whatever could be water borne within a circle of sixty miles, either to arrive or depart. At the same time British troops held the town; and the government, such as it was, was removed to Salem, where the General Court reassembled on the 7th of June. At this session, on the 17th, as the result of arrangements made by Samuel Adams and his fellow-patriots, five delegates were chosen to represent the colony in the proposed Continental Congress, at Philadelphia. As soon as these proceedings, while yet in progress, reached Gen. Gage’s ears by a tricky tory, who got out of the hall by feigning a call of nature, he issued his first proclamation, which Mr. Secretary Flucker, as he found the door locked and could not get into the chamber, had to read on the stairs, as follows:—
“Province of Massachusetts-Bay.
By the GOVERNOR.
“A PROCLAMATION for dissolving the General-Court.