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

[98] in the eye of the present and of coming generations,¹

Chap. XXX.} 1767. Aug.

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,² yet pursue duty with firmness, and leave the event to Heaven.’³ 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

Sept.

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,⁴ he died at the age of forty-one, famed alike for incomparable talents, and extreme instability.⁵ Where were now his gibes?⁶ 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