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[406] foretold a bloody struggle, in which ‘America's
Chap. XLVII.} 1771. July.
growing strength and magnitude,’1 would give her the victory. The progress of opinion was marked by the instructions of the House to its Agent, which unreservedly embodied the principle that colonial legislation was free of Parliament and of royal instructions. They were drawn by Samuel Adams, who had long before said in Town Meeting; ‘Independent we are, and independent we will be.’ ‘I doubt,’ said Hutchinson, ‘whether there is a greater incendiary than he in the King's dominions.’2 At least his intrepidity could not be
Aug.
questioned. His language became more explicit as danger drew nearer. In August, Boston saw in its harbor twelve vessels of war, carrying more than two hundred and sixty guns, commanded by Mon. tagu, the brother of Sandwich.3

Yet there was no one salient wrong, to attract the sudden and universal attention of the people. The Southern Governors felt no alarm. Eden from Maryland congratulated Hillsborough, on the return of confidence and harmony.4 ‘The people,’ thus Johnson, the Agent of Connecticut wrote after his return home, ‘appear to be weary of their altercations with the Mother Country; a little discreet conduct on both sides, would perfectly reestablish that warm affection and respect towards ’

1 B. Franklin to Committee of Correspondence in Massachusetts, 15 May, 1771.

2 Hutchinson's letter without date, in Hutchinson's Ms. Collections, i. 437. Written between July 29 and August 5, 1771; probably written early in August, 1771.

3 Boston Gazette, 19 Aug. 1771.

4 Robert Eden to Hillsborough, 4 August, 1771.

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