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Chapter 23:
The anniversary of the
Boston massacre.
February—March, 1775.
The French minister judged rightly; the
English government had less discernment and was deceived by men who had undertaken to secure New York to the crown, if their intrigues could be supported by a small military force.
But the friends of the
British system in that colony were not numerous, and were found only on the surface.
The
Dutch Americans formed the basis of the population, and were in a special manner animated by the glorious example of their fathers, who had proved to the world that a small people under great discouragements can found a republic.
The story of their strife with
Spain, their successful daring, their heroism during their long war for freedom, was repeated on the banks of the
Hudson and the
Mohawk.
It was remembered, too, that
England herself owed her great revolution, the renovation of her own political system, to
Holland.
How hard, then, that the superior power which had been the fruit of
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that restoration, should be employed to impair the
privileges of colonists of
Dutch descent!
By temperament moderate but inflexible, little noticed by the government, they kept themselves noiselessly in reserve; but their patriotism was inflamed and guided by the dearest recollections of their nationality.
Many of the Anglo-
Americans of New York were from
New England, whose excitement they shared; and the mechanics of the city were almost to a man enthusiasts for decisive measures.
The landed aristocracy was divided; but the
Dutch and the Presbyterians, especially
Schuyler of
Albany, and the aged
Livingston of
Rhinebeck, never hesitated to risk their vast estates in the cause of inherited freedom.
The latter had once thought of emigrating to
Switzerland, if he could nowhere else escape oppression.
In no colony did English dominion find less of the sympathy of the people than in New York.
In
Virginia the
Blue Ridge answered British menaces with a mountain tone of defiance.
‘We cannot part with liberty but with our lives,’ said the inhabitants of
Botetourt.
‘Our duty to God, our country, ourselves, and our posterity, all forbid it. We stand prepared for every contingency.’
The dwellers on the waters of the
Shenandoah, meeting at
Staunton, commended the
Virginia delegates to the applause of succeeding ages, their example to the hearts of every Virginian and every American.
‘For my part,’ said
Adam Stephen, ‘before I would submit my life, liberty, and property to the arbitrary disposal of a venal aristocracy, I would sit myself down with a few friends upon some rich and healthy spot, six hundred miles to the westward, and there form a
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settlement which in a short time would command
attention and respect.’
The valleys of
Kentucky laughed as they heard the distant tread of clustering troops of adventurers, who, under a grant from the Cherokees, already prepared to take possession of the meadows and undulating table land that nature has clothed with its richest grasses.
Their views extended to planting companies of honest farmers, and erecting iron works, a salt manufactory, grist-mills, and saw-mills; and the cultureof the rich region was to be fostered by premiums for the heaviest crop of corn, and for the emigrant who should drive out the greatest number of sheep.
The men who are now to occupy ‘that most desirable territory,’ will never turn back, but, as we shall see, will carry American independence to the
Wabash, the
Detroit, and the
Mississippi.
At
Charleston, South Carolina, the association was punctually enforced.
A ship load of near three hundred slaves was sent out of the colony by the consignee; even
household furniture and horses, though they had been in use in
England, could not be landed; and on the twenty-fifth, the whole cargo of ‘the
Charming Sally’ was thrown into
Hog Island Creek.
The winter at
Boston was the mildest ever known; and in this ‘the gracious interposition of heaven was recognised.’
All the towns in
Massachusetts, nearly all in
New England, and all the colonies ministered to the wants of
Boston.
Some relief came even from
England.
‘Call me an enthusiast,’ said
Samuel Adams; ‘this union among the colonies and warmth of affection can be attributed to nothing less than the
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agency of the
Supreme Being.
If we believe that he
superintends and directs the affairs of empires, we have reason to expect the restoration and establishment of the public liberties.’
On Sunday, the twenty-sixth of February, two or three hundred soldiers, under the command of
Leslie, sailed from Castle William, landed clandestinely at
Marblehead, and hurried to
Salem in quest of military stores.
Not finding them there, the officer marched towards
Danvers; but at the river, he found the bridge drawn up, and was kept waiting for an hour and a half, whilst the stores, insignificant in amount, were removed to a place of safety.
Then having pledged his honor not to advance more than thirty yardson the other side, he was allowed to march his troops across the bridge.
The alarm spread through the neighborhood; but
Leslie hastily retraced his steps, and re-embarked at
Marblehead.
At this time the
British ministry received news
of the vote in the New York assembly, refusing to consider the resolutions of congress.
The confidence of the king reached its climax; and he spared no pains to win the colony.
In an ostensible letter from the
secretary of state, New York was praised for its attempts towards a reconciliation with the mother country; in a private letter, Dartmouth enjoined upon
Colden to exert his address to facilitate the acceptance of Lord North's conciliatory resolution.
The same directions were sent to the governors of every colony except
Connecticut and
Rhode Island, and they were enjoined from the king to make proper explanations to those whose situations and connections were to give facility to the measure.
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How complete was the general confidence, that
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the great majorities in parliament would overawe the colonies, appeared on Monday, the sixth of March, when the bill depriving
New England of her fisheries was to be engrossed.
Even Lord Howe advocated it as the means of bringing the disobedient provinces to a sense of their duty, without involving the empire in a civil war. ‘Now,’ replied
Fox, ‘as by this act all means of acquiring a livelihood, or of receiving provisions, is cut off, no alternative is left, but starving or rebellion.
If the act should not produce universal acquiescence, I defy any body to defend the policy of it. Yet
America will not submit.
New York only differs in the modes.’
‘The act,’ said
Dundas, the
solicitor general of
Scotland, ‘is just, because provoked by the most criminal disobedience; is merciful, because that disobedience would have justified the severest military execution.
As to the famine, which is so pathetically lamented, I am afraid it will not be produced by this act. When it is said, no alternative is left to them but to starve or rebel, this is not the fact, for there is another way, to submit.’
The king, on receiving an account of ‘the languor of opposition’ during the debate, wrote to Lord North: ‘I am convinced the line adopted in American affairs will be crowned with success.’
These words fell from George the Third on the day on which
Boston commemorated the ‘massacre’ of its citizens.
The orator was
Joseph Warren, who understood the delusion of the king, and resolved to prove that ‘the
Americans would make the last appeal, rather than submit to the yoke prepared for their necks; that their unexampled patience
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had no alloy of cowardice.’
The commemora-
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tion was a public affront to
Gage both as general of the army, and as governor of the province; for the subject of the oration was the baleful effects of standing armies in time of peace; and it was to be delivered to the town in a town meeting, contrary to an act of parliament which he came to
Boston to enforce.
In the crowd which thronged to the
Old South Meetinghouse, appeared about forty British officers of the army and navy; these,
Samuel Adams, the moderator, received with studied courtesy, placing them all near the orator, some of them on the platform above the pulpit stairs.
There they sat conspicuously, and listened to a vivid picture of the night of the massacre, after which
Warren proceeded:
Our streets are again filled with armed men, our harbor is crowded with ships of war; but these cannot intimidate us; our liberty must be preserved; it is far dearer than life; we hold it even dear as our allegiance; we cannot suffer even Britons to ravish it from us. Should America be brought into vassalage, Britain must lose her freedom also; her liberty, as well as ours, will eventually be preserved by the virtue of America.
The attempt of parliament to raise a revenue from America, and our denial of their right to do it, have excited an almost universal inquiry into the rights of British subjects and of mankind.
The malice of the Boston port-bill has been defeated in a very considerable degree, by benefactions in this and our sister colonies; and the sympathetic feelings for a brother in distress, and the grateful emotions of him who finds relief, must forever endear each to the other, and form those indissoluble bonds of
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friendship and affection on which the preservation
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of our rights so evidently depends.
The mutilation of our charter has made every other colony jealous for its own. Even the sending troops to put these acts in execution, is not without advantages to us. The exactness and beauty of their discipline inspire our youth with ardor in the pursuit of military knowlege.
Charles the Invincible taught Peter the Great the art of war; the battle of Pultowa convinced Charles of the proficiency Peter had made.
Our country is in danger.
Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and Heaven and earth will aid the resolution.
You are to decide the important question, on which rests the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn.
Act worthy of yourselves.
The faltering tongue of hoary age calls on you to support your country.
The lisping infant raises its suppliant hands, imploring defence against the monster slavery.
Your fathers look from their celestial seats with smiling approbation on their sons, who boldly stand forth in the cause of virtue.
My fellow-citizens, I know you want not zeal or fortitude.
You will maintain your rights or perish in the generous struggle.
However difficult the combat, you will never decline it, when freedom is the prize.
An independence of Great Britain is not our aim. No, our wish is, that Britain and the colonies may, like the oak and the ivy, grow and increase together.
But if these pacific measures are ineffectual, and it appears that the only way to safety is through fields of blood, I know you will not turn your faces from your foes, but will undauntedly press forward, until tyranny is trodden under foot.
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The officers of the army and navy who heard the
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oration gave no offence during its delivery; but at the motion for ‘appointing an orator for the ensuing year to commemorate the horrid massacre,’ they began to hiss.
The assembly became greatly exasperated, and threatened vengeance for the insult; but
Adams, with imperturbable calmness, soon restored order; the vote was taken, and the business of the meeting was regularly concluded.
The event of that day maddened the army, and both officers and soldiers longed for revenge.
An honest countryman from
Billerica inquiring for a firelock, bought an old one of a private; but as soon as he had paid the full price, he was seized by half a dozen of a company for having violated an act of parliament against trading with soldiers, and confined during the night in the guard-room.
The next day he was labelled on his back, ‘American liberty, or a specimen of democracy,’ was tarred and feathered, and carted through the principal streets of the town, accompanied by all the drums and fifes of the fortyseventh, playing
Yankee Doodle, by a guard of twenty men with fixed bayonets, and by a mob of officers, among whom was
Lieutenant Colonel Nesbit himself.
‘See what indignities we suffer, rather than precipitate a crisis,’ wrote
Samuel Adams to
Virginia.
The soldiers seemed encouraged to provoke the people, that they might have some color for beginning hostilities.
