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

[433] power to raise a revenue in the Colonies without their

Chap. XLVIII.} 1772. Nov.

consent; the appointment of officers unknown to the Charter to collect the revenue; the investing these officers with unconstitutional authority; the supporting them by fleets and armies in time of peace; the establishment of a civil list out of the unconstitutional revenue even for the Judges whose commissions were held only during pleasure, and whose decisions affected property, liberty and life; the oppressive use of royal instructions; the enormous extension of the power of the Vice Admiralty Courts; the infringement of the right derived from God and nature to make use of their skill and industry, by prohibiting or restraining the manufacture of iron, of hats, of wool; the violence of authorizing persons in the Colonies to be taken up under pretence of certain offences and carried to Great Britain for trial; the claim of a right to establish a Bishop and Episcopal Courts without the consent of the Colony; the frequent alteration of the bounds of Colonies, followed by a necessity for the owners of the land to purchase fresh grants of their property from rapacious governors. ‘This enumeration,’ they said, ‘of some of the most open infringements of their rights, will not fail to excite the attention of all who consider themselves interested in the happiness and freedom of mankind, and will by every candid person be judged sufficient to justify whatever measures have been or may be taken to obtain redress.’

Having thus joined issue with the King and Parliament, the inhabitants of the town of Boston voted, by means of Committees of Correspondence, to make an Appeal to all the towns in the Colony, ‘that the ’