George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 6, 10th edition.

[158]

During the usual quiet of Sunday,¹ while all the

Chap. XXXIV.} 1768. June.

people were ‘at meeting,’ the fugitive officers informed Bernard by letter that they could not, ‘consistent with the honor of their commission, act in any business of the revenue under such an influence, as prevailed’ in Boston, and declared their wish to withdraw to the castle. ‘They have abdicated,’ said the people of Boston, and ‘may they never return.’ They really were in no danger, and every body knew it. They were playing a game to deceive the Ministry. The Council found that the riot of Friday had been only ‘a small disturbance.’ ‘Dangerous disturbances,’ reported Gage, whose information came from royalists, ‘are not to be apprehended.’²

While the Commissioners stifled their doubts about the wisdom of their conduct, by resolving that ‘the honor of the Crown would be hazarded by their return to Boston,’³ its inhabitants on the fourteenth met at Faneuil Hall, in a legal town meeting. The attendance was so great that they adjourned to the Old South Meeting House, where Otis was elected moderator, and welcomed with rapturous applause.

In the course of a debate, one person observed that every captain of a man-of-war, on coming into harbor, should be subordinate to the Legislature of the Colony. William Cooper⁴ proposed, ‘that if any one should promote the bringing troops here, he ’