Chap. Xxxiii} 1768. May. |
June. |
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it any longer must prove their ruin.’1 Such were the
representations of men, on whom Hillsborough was eager to bestow signal marks of his confidence; having resolved to reward Bernard's zeal with the lucrative post of Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and to leave the Government of Massachusetts in the hands of Hutchinson.2
Just at this time, the Ministry in England re-
ceived the letters of March from the Commissioners of the Customs and from Bernard, and totally misconceiving the state of things, Hillsborough, on the eighth of June, peremptorily ordered Gage to send a regiment to continue permanently in Boston, for the assistance of the civil magistrates and the officers of the revenue.3 The Admiralty was also directed to send one frigate, two sloops, and two cutters to remain in Boston harbor;4 and the little castle of William and Mary was to be occupied and repaired.5
This first act of hostility on the part of Great Britain was adopted at a time when America thought of nothing more than peaceable petitioning and passive resistance by a non-importation agreement, which the adverse interests and disinclination of the merchants had as yet rendered void.
1 Hutchinson to N. Rogers, 30 or 31 May, 1768.
2 Richard Jackson to Hutchinson, 3 June, 1768.
3 Hillsborough to Gage, 8 June, 1768.
4 Hillsborough to the Lords of the Admiralty, 11 June, 1768. Narrative of Facts relative to American Affairs.
5 Hillsborough to Gage, 8 June, and to Bernard, 11 June, 1768.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1859.
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