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Chapter 30:
How
Townshend's American taxes were received by
France and
America.—coalition of the
King and the aristocracy.
July—November, 1767.
the anarchy in the Ministry was agreeable
to the
King, for it enabled him to govern as well as to reign.
Grafton made no tedious speeches in the closet, and had approved the late American regulations; persuading himself even that the choice of tea as the subject of taxation was his own;
1 that the law, suspending the legislative functions of
New-York, was marked by moderation and dignity;
2 and that abrogating the Charters of the
American Colonies would be their emancipation from ‘fetters.’
3
The
King, who wished to retain
Conway in office and had looked into his heart to know how to wind and govern him, attached him by the semblance of perfect trust; showing him all
Chatham's letters,
4 and
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giving him leave to treat with his own old associates,
though
Grafton desired to effect through
Gower a junction with the friends of
Bedford.
5
But
Rockingham, who never opened his eyes to the light that was springing from the increased intelligence of the masses, and left out of view that all his glory as a statesman had come from his opposition to
Grenville and
Bedford, governed himself exclusively by the ancient principle of his party ‘to fight up against the
King and against the people,’
6 and set about forming a Ministry by cementing the shattered fragments of the old Whig aristocracy.
He began with
Bedford.
‘
Bedford and
Grenville are one,’ said
Rigby, by authority; ‘and neither of them will ever depart from the ground taken, to assert and establish the entire sovereignty of
Great Britain over her Colonies.’
7 But
Rockingham avoided all detail as to measures and as to men, and according to the old fashion, satisfied himself by declaring for a ‘wide and comprehensive’ system.
After a week's negotiation,
8 and with no plan but to support privilege against prerogative, he announced to
Grafton9 his readiness to form a new Administration.
The
King whom
Rockingham had now to encounter, was greatly his superior in sagacity and consistency of conduct.
Remaining implacable towards
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Grenville,
10 he surveyed calmly the condition of the
chequered factions, which had been so freshly and so loosely put together; he saw that his own consent to their union would set them at variance among themselves
11 and he gave
Rockingham leave to revive, if he could, the exclusive rule of the great Whig families.
He knew that he was master of the field.
‘The
King may make a page first Minister,’
12 said Lord Holland.
The day was past when
England was to be governed by Privilege alone; but with the decline of the aristocracy, the people not less than the
King increased in authority; demanded more and more to know what was passing in Parliament; and prepared to enforce their right to intervene.
All that could be done through the press in their support, was done with alacrity.
13 ‘Power,’ thought a French observer,
14 ‘has passed into the hands of the populace and the merchants.
The country is exceedingly jealous of its liberty.’
While
Rockingham, self-deluded as to the purposes of his associates,
15 summoned his political allies to
London, Shelburne was quieting the controversy with
America respecting the
Billeting Act.
New-York had foreseen the storm, and without recognising the binding force of the
British Statute, or yet conforming to its provisions, it
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had made a grant of money
16 for the use of the
army, without specifications.
This, by the advice of the
Attorney General and
Solicitor General,
17 Shelburne received as a sufficient compliance,
18 and the Assembly went on as though nothing had happened.
The health of
Chatham was all the while growing worse; and his life began to be despaired of. His letters were kept from him.
19 Of the transactions that were going forward, he was scarce even a spectator, and seemed to be unconcerned in the event.
20
About nine o'clock in the evening of the twentieth, the leaders of the two branches of the Oligarchy met at Newcastle House.
When
Rockingham had explained the purpose of the meeting,
Bedford, on behalf of
Temple and
Grenville,
21 declared their readiness to support a comprehensive administration, provided it adopted the capital measure of asserting and establishing the sovereignty of
Great Britain over its Colonies.
At this,
Rockingham flew into a violent passion, and
22 complained of their calling on him and his friends for a declaration on American affairs; whatever answer he might give, they would throw a construction on his conduct to his disadvantage before the public.
23
Bedford insisted with firmness on the declaration.
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‘We may as well demand one from you,’ cried Rich-
mond,
24 ‘that you never will disturb that country again.’
Sandwich interposed to reconcile the difference
25 by substituting an ambiguity for the explicit language of
Grenville.
Yet the same difficulty recurred on discussing the division of employments.
In the House of Commons the lead must belong to
Conway or
Grenville.
Against the latter
Rockingham was inflexible; and
Bedford equally determined against the former.
So at one o'clock at night the meeting broke up without any result, though the
Duke of
New Castle, in his vain entreaties, had been moved to tears.
26
The next day
Newcastle, whom forty years experience had accomplished as an adept in the art of constructing Ministries by compromise, made an effort to revive the system which had flourished during his long career; and the two parties met once more at his house.
But the difficulty about
America could not be got over.
Rockingham again avowed his distrust of
Grenville27 and
Temple, and insisted on
Conway's taking the lead in the House of Commons.
This left no possibility of agreement; ‘and we broke up,’ says
Bedford, ‘with our all declaring ourselves free from all engagements to one another, and to be as before this negotiation began.’
During the suspense the
King, who had never been in earnest for a change,
28 would not admit
Rockingham
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to an audience; now that he had failed, he
was received to make confession, that the country required a strong, united, and permanent administration and that he himself could not form one of any kind.
He did not omit to add some reproaches about the past; but the
King was in the best humor.
He bowed very graciously, and
Rockingham bowed, and so they parted.
‘What did the
King say to you?’
asked
Grafton and
Conway eagerly, as
Rockingham came out; and the only answer he could make was— ‘Nothing.’
Once more
Rockingham was urged to join with the friends of
Chatham;
29 but he was unaccommodating and impracticable.
30 ‘He has managed it ill,’ thought
Hardwicke.
31 Richmond and others were anxious and uneasy.
32 A leader of a party had never
done so much to diminish its influence.
Very honest, truly liberal, of a merciful and generous nature, his intellect bore no comparison to his virtues, his conduct no analogy to his good intentions.
Deceived by his reverence for the past, without ability to plan a system suited to his age, he left the field open to those who wished ill to liberty in
America and in
England.
His enemies were pleased, for he had acted exactly as their interests required; the
King was never in better spirits.
33
Grafton, too, obtained the credit of moderation by his seeming readiness to retire; and, after the rejection of all his offers to
Rockingham, people saw
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him at the head of the Treasury with less dissatisfac-
tion.
He retained the confident expectation of an alliance
34 with
Bedford, who could not keep his party together without official patronage;
35 but for the moment, he relied on
Townshend.
36
So
Charles Townshend remained in the cabinet, treating every thing in jest,
37 scattering ridicule with full hands, and careless on whom it fell.
Grafton was apparently the
Chief; but the
King held the helm, and as the dissolution of Parliament drew near, was the more happy in a dependent Ministry.
The patronage of the Crown amounted to an annual disbursement of six millions sterling,
38 and the secret service money was employed to cover the expenses of elections, at a time when less than ten thousand voters chose a majority of the House of Commons.
As merchants and adventurers, rich with the profits of trade or the spoils of
India,
39 competed for boroughs, the price of votes within twenty years had increased three-fold.
The
Duke of
Newcastle grumbled as usual.
Edmund Burke grumbled also, because the moneyed men of his party did not engage more of ‘the venal boroughs.’
40 In the great contest with oppression, he had no better reliance than on the
English constitution as it was, and the charitable purchase of venal boroughs by opulent noblemen of his connection.
‘May the anarchy in the
British government last
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for ages,’ wrote
Choiseul.
41 ‘Your prayer will be
heard,’ answered
Durand, then in
London as Minister.
42 ‘The opposition during this reign will always be strong, for the cabinet will always be divided; but the genius of the nation, concentrating itself on commerce and Colonies, compensates the inferiority of the men in power, and makes great advances without their guidance.’
‘My position,’ observed
Choiseul as he contemplated, alike in
Asia and in
America, the undisputed ascendency of the nation which he called his ‘enemy,’
43 ‘is the most vexatious possible; I see the ill; I do not see the remedy.’
Anxious to send none but the most accurate accounts,
Durand made many inquiries of
Franklin, and asked for all his political writings.
‘That intriguing nation,’ said
Franklin,
44 ‘would like very well to blow up the coals between Britain and her Colonies; but I hope we shall give them no opportunity.’
‘In
England,’ observed
Durand,
45 ‘there is no one who does not own that its American Colonies will one day form a separate State.
The
Americans are jealous of their liberty and will always wish to extend it. The taste for independence must prevail among them.
Yet the fears of
England will retard its coming, for she will shun whatever can unite them.’—‘Let her but attempt to establish taxes in them,’ rejoined
Choiseul, ‘and those countries,
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greater than
England in extent, and perhaps becom-
ing more populous, having fisheries, forests, shipping, corn, iron and the like, will easily and fearlessly separate themselves from the mother country.’
‘Do not calculate,’ replied
Durand,
46 ‘on a near revolution in the
American Colonies.
They aspire not to independence but to equality of rights with the mother country.
A plan of union will always be a means in reserve by which
England may shun the greater evil.—When the separation comes, the other Colonies of
Europe will be the prey of those, whom excessive vigor may have detached from their parent stock.
The loss of the Colonies of
France and of
Spain will be the consequence of the revolution in the Colonies of
England.’
47
The idea of emancipating the whole colonial world was alluring to
Choiseul; and he judged correctly of the nearness of the conflict.
‘The die is thrown,’ said men in
Boston, on hearing the
Revenue Act had been carried through.
‘The
Rubicon is past.’
48—‘We will form one universal combination,’ it was whispered, ‘to eat nothing, drink nothing, and wear nothing imported from
Great Britain.’
49 The Fourteenth of August was commemorated as the Anniversary of the first resistance to the Stamp Act.
50 The intended appropriation of the new revenue, to make the crown officers independent of the people, stung the patriots to madness.
‘Such counsels,’ they said, ‘will deprive
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the prince who now sways the
British sceptre
of millions of free subjects.’
51 And when it was con– sidered, that Mansfield and the Ministry declared Aug. some of the grants in colonial Charters to be nugatory on the ground of their extent, the press of
Boston, in concert with
New-York,
52 following the precedent set by
Molineux in his argument for
Ireland, reasoned the matter through to its logical conclusion.
‘Liberty,’ said the earnest writer,
53 ‘is the inherent right of all mankind.
Ireland has its own Parliament and makes laws; and English statutes do not bind them, says Lord Coke, because they send no knights to Parliament.
The same reason holds good as to
America.
Consent only gives human laws their force.
Therefore the Parliament of England cannot extend their jurisdiction beyond their constituents.
Advancing the powers of the Parliament of England, by breaking the rights of the Parliaments of
America, may in time have its effects.’
‘If this writer succeeds,’ said
Bernard, ‘a civil war must ensue;’
54 and the prediction was well founded, for the
King, on his part, was irrevocably bent on giving effect to the new system.
55
The Act suspending the legislative functions of
New-York increased the discontent.
The danger of the example was understood; and while patriots of
Boston encouraged one another to justify themselves
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in the eye of the present and of coming generations,
56 they added, ‘Our strength consists in union.
Let us, above all, be of one heart and one mind.—Call on our sister Colonies to join with us.—Should our righteous opposition to slavery be named rebellion,
57 yet pursue duty with firmness, and leave the event to Heaven.’
58 An intimate correspondence grew up between
New-York and
Boston.
They would nullify
Townshend's Revenue Act by consuming nothing on which he had laid a duty; and avenge themselves on
England by importing no more British goods.
At the beginning of this excitement, Charles
Townshend was seized with fever, and after a short illness, during which he met danger with the unconcerned levity that had marked his conduct of the most serious affairs,
59 he died at the age of forty-one, famed alike for incomparable talents, and extreme instability.
60 Where were now his gibes?
61 Where his flashes of merriment that set the table in a roar; his brilliant eloquence which made him the wonder of Parliament?
If his indiscretion forbade esteem, his good-humor dissipated hate.
He had been courted by all parties, but never possessed the confidence of any. He followed no guide, and he had no plan of his own. No one wished him as an adversary; no one trusted him as an associate.
He sometimes
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spoke with boldness; but at heart he was as
timid as he was versatile.
He had clear conceptions, depth of understanding, great knowledge of every branch of administration,
62 and indefatigable assiduity in business.
During the last session of Parliament, his career had been splendid and successful.
He had just obtained the
Lord Lieutenancy of
Ireland for his brother, and a Peerage for his wife, to descend to his children;
63 and with power, fortune, affection, and honors clustering around him, he fell in the bloom of manhood, the most celebrated statesman who has left nothing but errors to account for his fame.
The choice of his successor would decide on the continuance of the Ministry, of which his death seemed to presage the overthrow.
Choiseul,
64 a good judge, esteemed
Grenville by far the ablest financier in
England, and greatly feared his return to office.
It was believed, that on the day of
Townshend's death,
Grafton advised the recall of
Grenville; and that the
King replied with strong emotion, ‘Never speak to me again of that man; for I never, my life long, will see him.’
65—‘The
King himself has the greatest distrust of those who would rule him, so that he never will let any one prevail,’ said the Princess Amelia; ‘were
Bute and the
Princess of
Wales no more, Ministers would not be more stable.’
66 Following his
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own sure instinct, he directed that the vacant place
should be offered to Lord North.
Receiving the summons, North hastened to
London, declined the office from fear of his inability to cope with
Grenville on questions of finance, returned to the country, and changed his mind just in season to accept
67 before the appointment of another.
At that time Lord North was thirty-five years old, having seen the light in the same year with
Washington.
While the great
Virginian employed himself as a careful planter, or fulfilled his trust as a colonial legislator, or, in his hour of leisure, leaning against the primeval oaks on the lawn at
Mount Vernon, in full view of the thickly forested hill which now bears the
Capitol, mused on the destinies of his country and resolved to preserve its liberty, Lord North entered the cabinet, in which he was to remain for fifteen of the most eventful years in the history of Britain.
He was a Minister after the
King's own heart; not brilliant, but of varied and extensive knowledge; good-humored and able; opposed to republicanism, to reform, and to every popular measure.
He had voted for the Stamp Act, and against its repeal;
68 and had been foremost in the pursuit of
Wilkes.
Though choleric, he was of an easy temperament; a friend to peace, yet not fearing war; of great personal courage, which however partook something of apathy; rarely violent; never enterprising; of such moderation in his ambition, his
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wishes and his demands, that he seemed even disin-
terested.
His judgment was clear and his perceptions quick; but his power of will was feeble; a weakness which only endeared him the more to his royal master, making his presence soothing, not by arts of flattery, but by the qualities of his nature.
He took a leading part in the conduct of affairs, just as the people of
America were discussing the character of the new Revenue Act, which the
King had not suggested; which no living member of the cabinet would own; which
Grafton, the
Prime Minister, described as ‘absurd;’ but which was left as the fatal bequest of
Charles Townshend to his successors and his country.
69
The new taxes were not to be collected till the twentieth of November; and should the Sons of Liberty effect a universal agreement to send for no more goods from Britain, no customs would, even then, fall due. ‘But such a confederacy,’ said
Bernard,
70 ‘will be impracticable without violence;’ and he advised a regiment of soldiers as the surest way of ‘inspiring notions of acquiescence and submission.’
‘Ships of war and a regiment,’ said
Paxton in
England,
71 ‘are needed to ensure tranquillity.’
Never was a community more distressed or
divided by fear and hope, than that of
Boston.
There the American Board of the
Commissioners of the Customs was to be established; and to that town the continent was looking for an example.
Rash
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words were spoken,
72 rash counsels conceived.
‘The
Commissioners,’ said the more hasty, ‘must not be allowed to land.’—‘
Paxton must, like
Oliver, be taken to
Liberty Tree or the gallows, and obliged to resign.’—‘Should we be told to perceive our inability to oppose the mother country,’ cried the youthful
Quincy, ‘we boldly answer, that in defence of our civil and religious rights, with the God of armies on our side, we fear not the hour of trial; though the host of our enemies should cover the field like locusts, yet the sword of the
Lord and
Gideon shall prevail.’
73
As the lawyers of
England all now decided, that American taxation by Parliament was legal and constitutional, the press of
Boston sought support in something more firm than human opinion, and more obligatory than the acts of irresponsible legislation.
‘The law of nature,’ said they,
74 ‘is the law of God, irreversible itself and superseding all human law. It perfectly reconciles the true interest and happiness of every individual, with the true interest and happiness of the universal whole.
The laws and constitution of the
English Government are the best in the world, because they approach nearest to the laws God has established in our nature.
Those who have attempted this barbarous violation of the most sacred rights of their country, deserve the name of rebels and traitors, not only against the laws of their country and their
King, but against Heaven itself.’
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Province called to province.
‘A revolution must
inevitably ensue,’ said a great student of scripture prophecies,
75 in a village of
Connecticut.
‘We have discouraging tidings from a mother country,’ thought
Trumbull.
76 ‘The
Americans have been firmly attached to
Great Britain; nothing but severity will dissolve the union.’
At
Boston, revolution was rapidly advancing.
Faith in the integrity of Parliament was undermined;
77 men were convinced that arbitrary will might be made the sole rule of government by a concert with Parliament; and they called to mind the words of
Locke, that when the constitution is broken by the obstinacy of the
Prince, ‘the people must appeal to Heaven.’
78 The nation had the right to resist; and they who deserved to enjoy liberty would find the means.
A petition to the
Governor79 to convene the Legislature having been rejected with ‘contempt,’
80 the inhabitants of
Boston, ever sensitive to ‘the sound of Liberty,’
81 assembled on the twenty-eighth of October, in
Town Meeting, and voted to forbear the importation and use of a great number of articles of British produce and manufacture.
They appointed a committee for obtaining a general subscription to such an agreement, and, to extend the confederacy, ordered
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their resolves to be sent to all the towns in the Pro-
vince and also to the other Colonies.
82
It was observable that
Otis, heretofore so fervid, on this occasion recommended caution, and warned against giving offence to
Great Britain.
83 Even the twentieth of November passed away in quiet.
Images and placards were exhibited; but they were removed by the friends of the people.
A
Town Meeting was convened to discountenance riot.
Otis, in a long speech, which was said to have been entirely on the side of Government,
84 went so far as to assert the
King's right to appoint officers of the customs in what manner and by what denominations he pleased; and he advised the
Town to make no opposition to the new duties.
But months elapsed before any ship arrived laden with goods that were dutiable.
The prospect of having their avarice gratified, blinded
Hutchinson and
Bernard.
The latter reported that the faction ‘dared not show its face,’ that ‘the Province would recover its former reputation’ for loyalty.
‘Our incendiaries seem discouraged,’ wrote
Hutchinson; and as he travelled the
Circuit, he spread it through the country, that the New-Yorkers were all for peace, that the people of
Boston would be left alone.
But on the banks of the
Delaware the illustrious Farmer,
John Dickinson, of
Pennsylvania, who had been taught from his infancy to love humanity and liberty, came forth before the Continent as the champion
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of American rights.
He was an enthusiast in
his love for
England, and accepted the undefined relations of the Parliament to the Colonies as a perpetual compromise, which neither party was to disturb by pursuing an abstract theory to its ultimate conclusions.
His words carried the more weight, because he argued against the new Port Duties, only as a conservative.
‘If once we are separated from the mother country,’ he asked in the sincerity of sorrow, ‘what new form of government shall we adopt?
or where shall we find another Britain to supply our loss?
Torn from the body to which we were united by religion, liberty, laws, affections, relation, language, and commerce, we must bleed at every vein.’
85 He admitted that Parliament possessed a legal authority to regulate the trade of every part of the empire.
Examining all the statutes relating to
America from its first settlement, he found every one of them based on that principle till the administration of
Grenville.
Never before did the
British Commons think of imposing duties in the Colonies for the purpose of raising a revenue.
Grenville first asserted in the Preamble of one Act, that it was ‘just and necessary’ for them to give and grant such duties; and in the Preamble of another, that it was ‘just and necessary’ to raise a further revenue in the same way; while the Preamble of the last Act granting duties upon paper, glass, colors, and tea, disregarding ancient precedents under cover of these modern ones, declared that it was moreover ‘expedient,’ that a revenue should be so raised.
‘This,’ said the
Farmer,
is an Innovation and a
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most dangerous innovation.
We being obliged to take commodities from Great Britain, special duties on their exportation to us are as much taxes upon us as those imposed by the Stamp Act. Great Britain claims and exercises the right to prohibit manufactures in America.
Once admit that she may lay duties upon her exportations to us, for the purpose of levying money on us only, she then will have nothing to do but to lay those duties on the articles which she prohibits us to manufacture, and the tragedy of American liberty is finished.
We are in the situation of a besieged city, surrounded in every part but one.
If that is closed up, no step can be taken but to surrender at discretion.
I would persuade the people of these Colonies immediately, vigorously, and unanimously, to exert themselves in the most firm, but the most peaceable manner, for obtaining relief.
If an inveterate resolution is formed to annihilate the liberties of the governed, English history affords examples of resistance by force.
The Farmer's Letters carried conviction through the Thirteen Colonies; the men whose fathers came to the wilderness for freedom to say their prayers, would not fear to take up arms against a Preamble which implied their servitude.
