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

[508] explained why Massachusetts had been under the

Chap. LII.} 1774. March

necessity of proceeding so far of itself, and entreated for its future guidance the benefit of the councils of the whole country. The firmness was contagious. Hancock, on the fifth of March, spoke to a crowded audience in Boston: ‘Permit me to suggest a general Congress of deputies from the several Houses of Assembly on the Continent, as the most effectual method of establishing a union for the security of our rights and liberties.’ ‘Remember,’ he continued, ‘from whom you sprang. Not only pray, but act; if necessary, fight and even die for the prosperity of our Jerusalem;’ and as he pointed out Samuel Adams, the vast multitude seemed to promise that in all succeeding times the great patriot's name, and ‘the roll of fellow-patriots, should grace the annals of history.’ Nor did a doubt exist that ‘the present noble struggle would terminate gloriously for America.’

‘We must not boast, as he who putteth off the harness,’ said Samuel Adams. ‘It is our duty at all hazards to preserve the public liberty;’ and in the name of Massachusetts, he prepared her last instructions to Franklin.¹ ‘It will be in vain,’ such were his solemn words officially pronounced, ‘for any to expect that the people of this country will now be contented with a partial and temporary relief; or that they will be amused by Court promises, while they see not the least relaxation of grievances. By means of a brisk correspondence among the several towns in this Province, they have wonderfully animated and ’