that he would recognize their right to govern themselves. But it was the purpose of the king and the Tory party to consolidate power in the colonies at the expense of the popular element; and arbitrary royal instructions soon made it plain that the ministry had no intention of yielding the principle of parliamentary supremacy, and that the king's prerogative was not to be held as an abstraction. A feature, which, on Hutchinson's appointment, was termed a novelty, it became evident was the settled purpose of the ministry.

Lord Dartmouth now advised Governor Hutchinson that the king, in order to secure the real dependence of local officials on the Crown, had the right to provide for their salaries; and that the compensation of the judges of the superior court was placed on a footing which made them independent of grants by the general court. This instruction was regarded as fresh proof that the party in power intended to persist in aggression on republican customs and laws with the consistency of system. Still, this aggression was not of a nature to rouse the public mind; nor were the popular leaders agreed on the action which the exigency required. The divisions indicated in the May town-meeting, already referred to, continued. These, however, rather touched matters of expediency than of principle; for there do not appear to have been

1 In "Captain Robson," from London, arrived His Majesty's several commissions, appointing the Hon. Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., governor and commanderin-chief in and over this province; the Hon. Andrew Oliver, Esq., lieutenantgovernor; and the Hon. Thomas Flucker, Esq., secretary. It is said that the two former of these gentlemen are to have salaries annually paid to them out of the American revenue, independent of the people of the province; which, if it be true, is a novelty which claims the serious attention of this and the other colonies. Boston Gazette, March 11, 1771.

radical differences among the friends of the popular cause. It is not difficult to state with a good degree of precision the relations of the more prominent actors at this time to passing events. Otis had substantially completed the service which makes his fame so rich and his name so dear to his country; Hancock, still at variance with Samuel Adams, was averse to taking unusual action; Cushing, who was not of the class of positive men, was in favor of trusting to an increase of population- the masterly inactivity policy

for an ultimate solution of the question in favor of the colonies; John Adams, thirsty for learning, and bent on achieving triumphs at the bar, still kept aloof from politics, and had so planned his future, that he hoped, though vainly, to avoid even thinking of them; Molineux, though zealous, reliable, and bold, does not rank in the class of leaders; and the selectmen, Austin, Marshall, Scollay, and Newell, all but Oliver Wendell - shared in Hancock's hesitancy. Others, however, were for decisive measures. Josiah Quincy, jun., was urging, through the press, the necessity of immediate action; Warren1 heartily sym

1 Wednesday last being the festival of St. John the Baptist, the Most Worshipful Joseph Warren, Esq., Provincial Grand Master of Ancient, Free, and Accepted Masons, attended by his grand officers, and the masters, wardens, and brethren of the Lodges under his jurisdiction, - viz., St. Andrew's and Massachusetts Lodges, held in this town, the Tyrian Lodge, held at Gloucester, and St. Peter's Lodge, held at Newburyport, clothed in the jewels and badges of their several offices, marched in procession from Concert Hall to Christ Church, where a very suitable and pertinent discourse was delivered by the Rev. Brother Fayerweather, of Narragansett, from 1 Cor. v. 11, which was received with universal approbation by a numerous and polite audience.

When the service was ended, they proceeded to Masons' Hall, where an elegant entertainment was provided in the garden adjoining said house, under a large canopy erected for that purpose; and the remainder of the day was dedicated to the purposes of benevolence and social festivity. Boston Gazette, June 29, 1772.

pathized with this view, and was soon to show that his whole soul was bent on politics; Samuel Adams lived in the contemplation of public affairs; and, down to the Declaration of Independence, by his weight of character, bore a relation to the American cause like that which Pym, with his massive strength, sustained in the English Revolution. He was one of those rare men in whom theory is so thoroughly rooted, that they stand as a type, and yet in whom practical sense is so predominant, that they apprehend and reflect the paramount want of a time. His vigilance was sleepless. His efforts were untiring. His soul was energized with the purpose of saving the liberties of his country. He viewed the proposed change in the judiI cial tenure as another violation of vital constitutional principles, and as designed to aid in the subjugation of "a people," he said, "who, of all the people on the earth, deserved most to be free." He urged, as the pressing want, a union of the colonies for the support of their constitutional rights. For this his spirit hungered and thirsted, and only in this could he see strength and future triumph.

Meantime Governor Hutchinson watched with an anxious eye the progress of events. The divisions in the popular ranks and the recriminations in the press were his warrant for writing (June 22, 1772), "The union of the colonies is pretty well broke. I hope I shall never see it renewed. Indeed, our Sons of Liberty, for their illiberal treatment of all in authority as for their shuffling in the late non-importation project, are hated and despised by their former brethren in New York and Pennsylvania; and it must be something very extraordinary ever to reconcile them."

Hutchinson saw the doctrine as to the power of the local legislatures, affecting, he said, all the executive parts of the administration of affairs, and constantly gaining ground; and he looked upon this doctrine as being fatal to the theory of the supremacy of parliament, which, he says, was the all-in-all of his own politics. If he was often a shrewd observer of the progress of ideas, he proved but an indifferent prophet on the signs of the times. Circumstances had so warped his judgment as to the habit and genius of his countrymen, that he predicted they would discard this doctrine, if the British nation, with one voice, would condemn it, or, if parliament, at every hazard, would maintain its supremacy. "For then," he says, "all this new doctrine of independence would be disavowed, and the first inventors or broachers of it would be sacrificed to the rage of the people who had been deluded by them."

Intelligence now came of the final determination of the ministry as to the tenure of the judges' salaries, which made them independent of the local and fundamental law. "The last vessels from England," Josiah Quincy, jun., said in the "Boston Gazette" of Sept. 28, "tell us the judges and the subalterns have got salaries from Great Britain! Is it possible this last movement should not move us, and drive us, not to desperation, but to our duty? The blind may see, the callous must feel, the spirited will act;" and the words of the noble man were not too strong, when the people's rights were to be subjected to the will of one man. It was now proposed to consolidate the popular party by an organization to be known as committees of correspondence, to constitute an authen

tic medium for an interchange of views, and for promoting concert of action. Samuel Adams had long mused on the feasibility of this scheme; and the more he mused on it, the stronger grew his desire to realize it. If the towns of Massachusetts, he now wrote, would begin this work, it would, in his opinion, extend from colony to colony; and, thus united, the people would be enabled to resist successfully the measures of the ministry. The idea of a union of the colonies was nearly as old as their foundation; the mode of committees of correspondence had often been suggested; but the fame of a statesman consists in an embodiment, at the right time, of a great thought into a wise measure. Let the authentic record attest how large a credit is due for the inauguration of committees of correspondence, and hence for a movement towards the first national party in this country, to Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren.

Hutchinson was now greatly disturbed at the tone of the press. He did not resign his place on the bench when he became the governor. In a trial in Worcester, where he presided as chief-justice, there was tampering in the selection of the jury; and he said, in an opinion, that the non-importation agreement was against the laws of God and man. This case was elaborately and severely criticised in the journals. In one of the articles, Josiah Quincy, jun., asked the salient question, whether, under the cover of the law, it was not "the policy of the times, from Mansfield to the lowest subaltern in office, to eradicate and render worthless the trial by jury"? Hutchinson, as he now urged a prosecution of the printers, wrote, "There is a great clamor about the judges' salaries; the town