Part 5 (2/2)
When the secretary got there, he found the door locked, and as n.o.body would let him in or pay any attention to him, he was obliged to content himself with reading the writ, in a loud voice, to the crowd which had a.s.sembled on the stairs. The a.s.sembly meanwhile pa.s.sed the resolves by 117 to 12, elected Samuel and John Adams, Thomas Cus.h.i.+ng, and Robert Treat Paine as delegates, a.s.sessed the towns in the commonwealth for the necessary expenses, pa.s.sed measures for the relief of Boston, and adjourned _sine die_. All the other colonies except Georgia, in the course of the summer, accepted the invitation, and chose delegates, either through their a.s.semblies or through special conventions. Georgia sent no delegates, but promised to adopt any course of action that should be determined upon.
[Sidenote: Ma.s.sachusetts nullifies the Regulating Act]
Before the time appointed for the Congress, Ma.s.sachusetts had set the Regulating Act at defiance. On the 16th of August, when the court a.s.sembled at Great Barrington, a vast mult.i.tude of farmers surrounded the court house and forbade the judges to transact any business. Two or three of the councillors newly appointed on the king's writ of _mandamus_ yielded in advance to public opinion, and refused to take their places. Those who accepted were forced to resign. At Worcester 2,000 men a.s.sembled on the common, and compelled Timothy Paine to make his resignation in writing. The councillor appointed from Bridgewater was a deacon; when he read the psalm the congregation refused to sing.
In Plymouth one of the most honoured citizens, George Watson, accepted a place on the council; as he took his seat in church on the following Sunday, the people got up and began to walk out of the house. Overcome with shame, for a moment his venerable gray head sank upon the pew before him; then he rose up and vowed that he would resign. In Boston the justices and barristers took their accustomed places in the court house, but no one could be found to serve as juror in a court that was illegally const.i.tuted. Gage issued a proclamation warning all persons against attending town meeting, but no one heeded him, and town meetings were more fully attended than ever. He threatened to send an armed force against Worcester, but the people there replied that he would do so at his peril, and forthwith began to collect powder and ball. At Salem the people walked to the town house under the governor's nose and in the very presence of a line of soldiers. On the 1st of September a party of soldiers seized two hundred kegs of powder at Charlestown and two field-pieces at Cambridge, and carried them to Castle William. As the news spread about the country, rumour added that the troops had fired upon the people, and within forty-eight hours at least 20,000 men were marching on Boston; but they turned back to their homes on receiving word from the Boston committee that their aid was not yet needed.
[Portrait: Jos Warren]
[Sidenote: John Hanc.o.c.k and Joseph Warren]
During these stirring events, in the absence of Samuel Adams, who had gone to attend the Congress at Philadelphia, the most active part in the direction of affairs at Boston was taken by Dr. Joseph Warren. This gentleman--one of a family which has produced three very eminent physicians--was graduated at Harvard College in 1759. He had early attracted the attention of Samuel Adams, had come to be one of his dearest friends, and had been concerned with him in nearly all of his public acts of the past seven years. He was a man of knightly bravery and courtesy, and his energy and fertility of mind were equalled only by his rare sweetness and modesty. With Adams and Hanc.o.c.k, he made up the great Ma.s.sachusetts triumvirate of Revolutionary leaders. The accession of Hanc.o.c.k to the Revolutionary cause at an early period had been of great help, by reason of his wealth and social influence. Hanc.o.c.k was graduated at Harvard College in 1754. He was a gentleman of refinement and grace, but neither for grasp of intelligence nor for strength of character can he be compared with Adams or with Warren. His chief weakness was personal vanity, but he was generous and loyal, and under the influence of the iron-willed Adams was capable of good things. Upon Warren, more than any one else, however, Adams relied as a lieutenant, who, under any circ.u.mstances whatever, would be sure to prove equal to the occasion.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SUFFOLK RESOLVES HOUSE AT MILTON]
[Ill.u.s.tration: =BOSTON=, September, 27, 1774-
GENTLEMEN,
The committees of correspondence of this and several of the neighbouring towns, having taken into consideration the vast importance of withholding from the troops now here, labour, straw, timber, slitwork, boards, and in short every article excepting provisions necessary for their subsistance; and being under a necessity from their conduct of considering them as real enemies, we are fully satisfied that it is our bounden duty to withhold from them everything but what meer humanity requires; and therefore we must beg your close and serious attention to the inclosed resolves which were pa.s.sed unanimously; and as unanimity in all our measures in this day of severe trial, is of the utmost consequence, we do earnestly recommend your co-operation in this measure, as conducive to the good of the whole.
We are, Your Friends and Fellow Countrymen, Signed by Order of the joint Committee, William Cooper Clerk.
NOTICE OF THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE ]
[Sidenote: The Suffolk County Resolves, Sept. 6, 1774]
On the 5th of September Gage began fortifying Boston Neck, so as to close the only approach to the city by land. Next day the county a.s.size was to be held at Worcester; but 5,000 armed men, drawn up in regular military array, lined each side of the main street, and the unconst.i.tutionally appointed judges were forbidden to take their seats.
On the same day a convention of the towns of Suffolk county was held at Milton, and a series of resolutions, drawn up by Dr. Warren, were adopted unanimously. The resolutions declared that a king who violates the chartered rights of his people forfeits their allegiance; they declared the Regulating Act null and void and ordered all the officers appointed under it to resign their offices at once; they directed the collectors of taxes to refuse to pay over money to Gage's treasurer; they advised the towns to choose their own militia officers; and they threatened the governor that, should he venture to arrest any one for political reasons, they would retaliate by seizing upon the Crown officers as hostages. A copy of these resolutions, which virtually placed Ma.s.sachusetts in an att.i.tude of rebellion, was forwarded to the Continental Congress, which enthusiastically indorsed them, and pledged the faith of all the other colonies that they would aid Ma.s.sachusetts in case armed resistance should become inevitable, while at the same time they urged that a policy of moderation should be preserved, and that Great Britain should be left to fire the first shot.
[Sidenote: Provincial Congress in Ma.s.sachusetts]
On receiving these instructions from the Congress, the people of Ma.s.sachusetts at once proceeded to organize a provisional government in accordance with the spirit of the Suffolk resolves. Gage had issued a writ convening the a.s.sembly at Salem for the 1st of October, but before the day arrived he changed his mind, and prorogued it. In disregard of this order, however, the representatives met at Salem a week later, organized themselves into a provincial congress, with John Hanc.o.c.k for president, and adjourned to Concord. On the 27th they chose a committee of safety, with Warren for chairman, and charged it with the duty of collecting military stores. In December this Congress dissolved itself, but a new one a.s.sembled at Cambridge on the 1st of February, and proceeded to organize the militia and appoint general officers. A special portion of the militia, known as ”minute men,” were set apart, under orders to be ready to a.s.semble at a moment's warning; and the committee of safety were directed to call out this guard as soon as Gage should venture to enforce the Regulating Act. Under these instructions every village green in Ma.s.sachusetts at once became the scene of active drill. Nor was it a population unused to arms that thus began to marshal itself into companies and regiments. During the French war one fifth of all the able-bodied men of Ma.s.sachusetts had been in the field, and in 1757 the proportion had risen to one third. There were plenty of men who had learned how to stand under fire, and officers who had held command on hard-fought fields; and all were practised marksmen. It is quite incorrect to suppose that the men who first repulsed the British regulars in 1775 were a band of farmers, utterly unused to fighting.
Their little army was indeed a militia, but it was made up of warlike material.
[Portrait: Peyton Randolph]
[Ill.u.s.tration: CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA]
[Sidenote: Meeting of the Continental Congress, Sept. 5, 1774]
While these preparations were going on in Ma.s.sachusetts, the Continental Congress had a.s.sembled at the Hall of the Company of Carpenters, in Philadelphia, on the 5th of September. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was chosen president; and the Adamses, the Livingstons, the Rutledges, d.i.c.kinson, Chase, Pendleton, Lee, Henry, and Was.h.i.+ngton took part in the debates. One of their first acts was to dispatch Paul Revere to Boston with their formal approval of the action of the Suffolk Convention.
After four weeks of deliberation they agreed upon a declaration of rights, claiming for the American people ”a free and exclusive power of legislation in their provincial legislatures, where their rights of legislation could alone be preserved in all cases of taxation and internal polity.” This paper also specified the rights of which they would not suffer themselves to be deprived, and called for the repeal of eleven acts of Parliament by which these rights had been infringed.
Besides this, they formed an a.s.sociation for insuring commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain, and charged the committees of correspondence with the duty of inspecting the entries at all custom houses. Addresses were also prepared, to be sent to the king, to the people of Great Britain, and to the inhabitants of British America. The 10th of May was appointed for a second Congress, in which the Canadian colonies and the Floridas were invited to join; and on the 26th of October the Congress dissolved itself.
[Portrait: W. Howe]
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