and military, subject to his appointment or consent, with a castle in the hands of a standing army, stationed in the very bowels of the land; and that amazing number of placemen and dependants, with which every maritime town already swarms, no people can ever be truly virtuous, free or brave:

"Resolved, That the Parliament of Great Britain, usurping and exercising a legislative authority over, and extorting an unrighteous revenue from these Colonies, is against all divine and human laws. The late appointment of salaries to be paid to our superior court judges, whose creation, pay, and commission, depend on mere will and pleasure, completes a system of bondage equal to any fabricated by the combined efforts of the ingenuity, malice, fraud and wickedness of man:

"Resolved, That it is the opinion of this town, that a despotick, arbitrary government, is the kingdom of this world, as set forth in the New Testament, and is diametrically opposite to the establishment of christianity in a society, and has a direct tendency to sink a people into a profound state of ignorance, and irre-` ligion; and that, if we have an eye to our own and posterity's happiness (not only in this world, but the world to come) it is our duty to oppose such a gov

ernment:

And further resolved, That the depriving the Colonies of their constitutional rights, may be fitly compared to the dismembering the national body, which will soon affect the heart; and it would be nothing unexpected for us to hear, that those very persons who have been so active in robbing the colonies of their constitutional rights, have also delivered up the

constitution of our Mother Country into the hands of our King:

"Therefore resolved, That it is the first and highest social duty of this people, to consider of, and seek ways and means, for a speedy redress of these mighty grievances and intolerable wrongs: and that for the obtaining of this end, this people are warranted, by the laws of God, and nature, in the use of every rightful art and energy of policy, stratagem and force.

"And while we are thus under these awful frowns of divine Providence and involved as these people are in heavy calamities, which daily increase in number and severity, it is highly becoming towns and individuals to humble themselves before Almighty God, seriously to commune with their own hearts, and seek carefully with tears, for the causes of the prevailing distresses of the land; and while it is apparent, that pristine piety and purity of morals, have given place to infidelity, dissipation, luxury and gross corruption of morals, there is a loud call for humility, lamentings and reformation; and it is at this time eminently incumbent on one and all, to seek at the throne of the great God for those special and remarkable interpositions of divine Providence, grace and mercy, which have so often saved New England from both publick and private distress and misery; and as there is great reason to believe, that in past times we have too much depended upon the exertions of worldly wisdom and political devices, it becomes us in our present melancholy situation to rely no longer on an arm of flesh, but on the arm of that all powerful God, who is able to unite the numerous inhabitants of this extensive territory, as a band of brothers in one common causewho can easily give that true religion, which shall

make us his people indeed; that spirit which shall fit us to endure temporal hardships for the procurement of future happiness; that spirit of valour and irresistable courage, which shall occasion our aged and our youth to jeopard their lives with joy, in the high places of the field, for his name and service sake, for the preservation also of this goodly heritage of our fathers, for the sake of the living children of our loins, and the unborn millions of posterity.

"We believe that there are very many, who in these days have kept their integrity and garments unspotted, and hope that God will deliver them and our nation for their sake. God will not suffer this land where the gospel hath flourished, to become a slave of the world; he will stir up witnesses of the truth; and in his own time, spirit his people to stand up for his cause and deliver them. In a similar belief, the great Algernon Sydney, lived and died, and dying breathed a like sentiment and prophecy, touching his own and the then approaching times, a prophecy, however, not accomplished until a glorious revolution.”

These were the men whom Lord North vainly hoped to coerce.

CHAPTER VII.

Operation of 1773—Virginia Resolves-Proceedings of the Massachusetts Assembly-Discovery of a secret correspondence— Proceedings thereupon-Speech of Mr. Wedderburn-The King refuses to remove Governour Hutchinson-East India Company send over their Tea-The Americans refuse to have it landed-Burning of the Tea at Boston.

We have now arrived at a most interesting period of our Revolutionary history. The town Committees which had been established throughout the Province of Massachusetts, by their free inquiries, and spirited reports and resolutions, had aroused the energies of the whole Continent; the greater part of which, from the absence of similar excitements, had hitherto only sympathised in the sufferings and oppressions, without participating in the tumults and disorders, of that devoted Colony. Now, however, circumstances were developed, which proved, that though the means heretofore adopted had borne more particularly upon the people of the Eastern Provinces, the system of the Ministry was intended ultimately to oppress the wholethat forbearance was construed into fear, patience into submission; and that nothing short of the most abject slavery would content the merciless Counsellors, whose ruinous and detestable policy it was, to build up the prerogative of the Crown, by the demolition of the Constitution. All ranks and conditions of men now felt the necessity of stemming the torrent of Ministerial vengeance; and even at this early day, 1773, the illustrious Patrick Henry, of Virginia, prophecied the speedy independence of his coun

try. That eminent orator and Statesman, had been accustomed to look deeply into the human character. He had studied his countrymen closely-he knew them well-and could predict the extent of their forbearance. It is a memorable and singular proof of his political foresight, that he predicted the declaration of independence, with most of its attendant circumstances, three years before the fact occurred.

Almost at the same moment of the present year, the two assemblies of Massachusetts and Virginia, without any previous concert or correspondence-a fact which serves to show the unity of sentiment which now pervaded the people-passed a number of resolutions, recommending the appointment of a standing committee of correspondence and inquiry, whose purpose will be best explained, in the language of the resolutions themselves. We copy those of Virginia, which were introduced into the House of Burgesses, in committee of the whole, on the 12th of March 1773, by Mr. Dabney Carr, a young patriot of noble promise, whose fate it was to be snatched from his friends and fellow labourers in the cause of his country, within a few weeks after giving this pledge of his future usefulness.

"Whereas the minds of his Majesty's faithful subjects in this Colony have been much disturbed, by various rumours, and reports of proceedings, tending to deprive them of their ancient, legal and constitutional rights :

"And whereas the affairs of this Colony are frequently connected with those of Great Britain, as well as the neighbouring Colonies, which renders a communication of sentiment necessary; in order, therefore, to remove the uneasiness, and to quiet the minds