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

[7] and the handmaid of liberty, its representatives¹ were

Chap. XXV.} 1766. May.

charged to keep up a constant intercourse with the other English governments on the continent, to conciliate any difference that should arise; ever preferring their friendship and confidence to the demands of rigorous justice. Henceforth its watchword was union, which the rash conduct of the dismayed² officers of the crown contributed to establish. Bernard was elated at having been praised in the House of Lords by Camden for one set of his opinions, and quoted in the Bedford Protest as an oracle for the other. There was even a rumor that he was to be made a baronet. His superciliousness³ rose with his sense of personal safety; and he gave out, that on the meeting of the legislature, he should play out his part as Governor.

In choosing the new House in Massachusetts, many towns, stimulated by the ‘rhapsodies’ of Otis,⁴ put firm patriots in the places of the doubtful and the timid. Plymouth sent James Warren, the brotherin-law of Otis; and Boston, at the suggestion of Samuel Adams, gave one of its seats to John Hancock, a young merchant of large fortune and a generous nature. At their organization, on the last Wednesday in May, the Representatives elected James Otis their Speaker, and Samuel Adams their Clerk. Otis was still the most influential Member of the House; had long been held in great esteem throughout the province; had been its Delegate to the New-York Congress; and had executed that trust to universal acceptance.⁵ Though irritable, he was also placable,