sense."1 Several judicious and manly proposals, the journals say, were made to meet the emergency, which were discussed with a candor, moderation, and firmness of mind becoming a people resolved to preserve their liberty." They were referred to a committee to propose measures for the relief of the citizens, of which Warren was a member, to report at an adjournment. This was the origin of a new committee, called the donation committee, on which, as will be seen, Warren was a zealous worker. The meeting voted to recommend to the other colonies to come into a joint resolution to stop all trade, importation and exportation, with Great Britain and the West Indies till the Port Act was repealed; and this was urged as a measure that "would prove the salvation of North America and her liberties." The vote was ordered to be transmitted by the moderator to all the other colonies. After appointing a committee to confer with Marblehead, the meeting adjourned. It was said that it was large and respectable;2 that many who had been hitherto cool in the common cause distinguished themselves in their zeal for its support; that its unanimity was as perfect as human society can admit of.1 The "Gazette," in reporting the proceedings, said, "It appears that the drift of the Administration and their good friends in England is to break the union of the American colonies; and that devoted Boston shall feel the unparalleled tokens of their displeasure. But let us not be dismayed. Let us persevere to the end, and resolve to yield our lives and fortunes before we will submit to 3 1 Letter, May 13. Life of John Lamb, 84. 2 Journals. the iron yoke of tyranny! And let the sacred truth be hallowed in the mind of every American, By uniting, we stand; by dividing, we fall!"" While the steady, vigorous, sensible, and persevering Paul Revere,1 as "an express," was bearing this union message to the Southern colonies, General Gage, with an appointment as governor to supersede Hutchinson, was at Castle William, where he arrived on the day of the meeting. His instructions directed him to arrest, for transportation and trial, Samuel Adams, Hancock, Warren, and other popular leaders.2 His commission was extraordinary. It made him captain-general and governor-in-chief of His Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay, while he retained his authority as commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America; and it was announced that an army would soon follow him. His object was to procure submission of the town and the colony to the constituted authorities; to execute rigorously the Port Act, and arrest the ringleaders of the people in the proceedings in Boston of November and December. General Gage was not unpopular. His prior intercourse with the Bostonians had been agreeable, and his urbane manners and social turn won him personal friends; but he did not comprehend the men and things around him, and was fitted neither to overawe nor to conciliate. His earliest civil movements indicated weakness, and his military operations showed incapacity. But public affairs were now at the mercy of events: personal character was of little account in comparison with the policy which it had been resolved 1 Young's Letter, May 13. 2 Bancroft, vii. 38. was proclaimed (May 18), the Port-act meeting reassembled in Faneuil Hall, with Samuel Adams as the moderator. The committee on ways and means, to relieve those who might suffer from want of work, asked further time to prepare their report, and recommended to their fellow-citizens patience, fortitude, and a firm trust in God.1 After passing resolves relative to the importance of the trade of Boston, the meeting adjourned until the 30th. There was now much discussion, in conversation and by the press, on a proposition to indemnify the East-India Company for the tea that had been destroyed; and the subject was debated in this meeting. A letter, written on the evening of this day, says, "We have many among us who are for compromising matters, and put forward a proposition to pay for the tea. George Irving has declared this day, that, if it should be promoted, he is ready to put down two thousand pounds sterling towards it, and will take it on himself to wait on Governor Gage, and know what his demands on us are; which circumstance John Amory mentioned at the town-meeting this day, which was in general rejected, though he urged the matter much."2 "The town of Boston," Samuel Adams wrote on the same day, "now suffers the stroke of ministerial vengeance in the common cause of America; and I hope in God they will sustain the shock with dignity. They do not conceive that their safety consists in a servile compliance of this barbarous act." Others of less faith and insight, who saw the cloud blackening and lowering, but could not see the light behind it, wrote in a different strain. "Imagine to yourself," 1 Boston Evening Post, May 23. 2 Letter of John Andrews, May 18. went from Milton into town, and summoned a meeting of the council, but could not get a quorum; when, there being much excitement, by the advice of friends he took lodgings at the castle, on the pretence of visiting his sons.1 Three days later, he returned to town, and met the council at Cambridge, when, after much division of opinion, it was concluded to direct the attorney-general to lay the matter before the grand-jury. From this time the governor endeavored to avoid political controversy with the popular leaders, preferring to await intelligence from England as to the disposition of the ministry. He met the general court as usual in January, but did not refer to the proceedings on the tea in his message. The salary of the judges was the local question of the session, which elicited a world of tedious ancient lore from the lawyers; but the general issue, which the king pushed to extremities, became paramount in interest and importance. On the reception of the Port Act, the governor was charged with advising this measure; but he averred that he was not called upon for an opinion, and, if he had been, that he could never have brought himself to have advised one so severe and distressing. On the morning after receiving the news of his removal, he again changed his residence to the castle, where he1 held consultations with General Gage, received complimentary addresses from his political and personal friends, and soon (June 1) sailed for London. On the day after the commission of General Gage 1 Hutchinson's History, iii. 438. 8 Letter to Colonel Williams, May 14, 1774. 2 Ib., 439. was proclaimed (May 18), the Port-act meeting reassembled in Faneuil Hall, with Samuel Adams as the moderator. The committee on ways and means, to relieve those who might suffer from want of work, asked further time to prepare their report, and recommended to their fellow-citizens patience, fortitude, and a firm trust in God.1 After passing resolves relative to the importance of the trade of Boston, the meeting adjourned until the 30th. There was now much discussion, in conversation and by the press, on a proposition to indemnify the East-India Company for the tea that had been destroyed; and the subject was debated in this meeting. A letter, written on the evening of this day, says, "We have many among us who are for compromising matters, and put forward a proposition to pay for the tea. George Irving has declared this day, that, if it should be promoted, he is ready to put down two thousand pounds sterling towards it, and will take it on himself to wait on Governor Gage, and know what his demands on us are; which circumstance John Amory mentioned at the town-meeting this day, which was in general rejected, though he urged the matter much.' 992 "The town of Boston," Samuel Adams wrote on the same day, "now suffers the stroke of ministerial vengeance in the common cause of America; and I hope in God they will sustain the shock with dignity. They do not conceive that their safety consists in a servile compliance of this barbarous act." Others of less faith and insight, who saw the cloud blackening and lowering, but could not see the light behind it, wrote in a different strain. "Imagine to yourself," 1 Boston Evening Post, May 23. 2 Letter of John Andrews, May 18. |