Tories. Hutchinson said it convinced him as much as any thing which had occurred, that the laws had lost their force; Bernard said it proved that the Government could not regain its authority without aid from superior powers; Lord Hillsborough said it was "but too striking an evidence of the influence of those who sought to disturb the public peace, and persisted with so much obstinacy and malevolence in sowing the seeds of disorder and discomfort." The patriots, on the other hand, appreciated a triumph that assured freedom of utterance in behalf of their cause. They had grasped the idea that the liberty of the press and the liberty of the land must stand or fall together. "I am no friend to licentiousness," Andrew Eliot said, "but the liberty of the press must be preserved sacred, or all is over;"2 and the exulting voice of the people found expression, on festive occasions, in toasts to the honest and independent grand jurors.

Bernard did not allege that his individual character had been injured in the article signed "A True Patriot," but based his action on the ground, that it tended to bring the Government into contempt. It was not until a later period that the distinction was practically recognized between attacks on private character, to gratify a malicious intent, and an exposure of official wrongs, to promote the common welfare. In ordinary times, there can be no abridgment

1 Lord Hillsborough to Bernard, June 11, 1768.

2 April 18, 1768, in Mass. Hist. Society "Collections," 4th series, iv. 425. He wrote, May 13, 1767: "Nothing is of greater importance than to secure the entire freedom of publishing, without fear, any censures upon public measures. The liberty of the press is the palladium of English liberty. If this is gone, all is gone.".

of a right to arraign measures of Administration; for it must be unrestrained, or it is no right:1 it is a necessity to insure publicity, that great safeguard against corruption; and, if acts are detrimental to the general welfare, their originators ought to be brought into contempt. The House of Representatives and the grand jury, with an American instinct, proceeded on the rule which is now widely recognized; for the common-law offence of libelling a Government is ignored, in constitutional systems, as inconsistent with the genius of free institutions. Political comment, in this country and in England, severer than that which, in the article entitled "A True Patriot," disturbed the royal governor, now passes unnoticed; and he would be regarded as quite an indifferent observer, who should from this draw the inference that the Government, in permitting this freedom, compromised its authority, or that the people, in countenancing it, wavered in their loyalty.

The first great duty of the press- that of collecting intelligence of passing events, and making it common property- was an invaluable service rendered to the popular cause. In addition, during the preparatory struggle, when public opinion was forming and a thinking community achieved our Revolution, before a battle had been fought, the press, assuming as of right to be free, was keen in the exposure of error and injustice, and noble in the presentation of truth and right. The popular leaders did not veil the Temple of Liberty, but arraigned corrupt officials and

1 Livingston's System of Penal Law, 176.

2 "Be it remembered," Daniel Webster remarks, "it was a thinking community that achieved our Revolution before a battle had been fought."

dangerous measures with a power, which, though to Toryism it seemed to be the seed of disorder, was really the kernel of national life. It was a standing marvel to the royal governor, that the Administration would not prosecute a band of printers, who, he said,1 were continually directing daggers to the heart of their mother country and sovereign State, and to whom was very applicable the fable of the trumpeter, who was told, on being taken prisoner, that he was answerable for all the mischief done by the soldiery.2

1 Letter, Nov. 25, 1769.

2 Bernard advised Lord Hillsborough, June 25, 1769, that Messrs. Edes and Gill, the printers of the "Boston Gazette," had been made " the apparent instruments of raising that flame in America which has given so much trouble;" and recommended their arrest, as the first step towards calling the chiefs of the fac tion to an account.

CHAPTER IV.

CONNECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS.

PUBLIC MEETINGS. WARREN AND THE CLUBS. THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE CUSTOMS. A RIOT IN BOSTON.-WARREN IN TOWN-MEETING.-PUBLIC OPINION.

1768. MARCH TO JUNE.

WARREN, in 1768, took a leading part in the public meetings that were held in Boston to remonstrate against the acts of the Administration. The people had been so long in the habit of assembling to discuss political questions, that the custom was looked upon as a right, and really was a part of American law, written and unwritten. The officers of the Crown, however, held that town-meetings for such objects were illegal. The political education of the people of England had been so backward, that, in times of excitement, they still resorted to tumultuous and riotous assemblages, in order to overawe the deliberations of Parliament. The institution of public meetings, as a regular mode of popular influence, forms a new era in constitutional government.1

There was a quiet direction given to the public meetings of Boston by political clubs, which were of several years' standing. Warren was accustomed

1 May's Constitutional History, ii. 125. Parliament was overawed, in 1765, by a riot. In Albemarle's "Life of Rockingham," ii. 92, 93, 94, is an account of public meetings, in which it is stated, "From the summer of 1769 is to be dated the establishment of public meetings in England."

to say that nothing contributed more to promote the great end of society than a frequent interchange of sentiment in friendly meetings; and, as a member of some of the clubs and the adviser of others, he continued to be connected with them down to the close of his life, and their ruling spirits relied much on his judgment.

The largest of these clubs consisted of mechanics, traders, and others, and were named "The North End Caucus" "The South End Caucus," and "The Middle District Caucus."1 A smaller club consisted of lawyers, clergymen, and the popular leaders. "From 1768," Eliot says, "a number of politicians met at each other's houses, to discuss public affairs, and to settle upon the best methods of serving the town and the country. Many of these filled public offices. But the meetings were private, and had a silent influence on the public body." Warren was a member of this club, and also of the North End Caucus. Hutchinson, in his history, says that a circle, consisting of a number of the inhabitants, and members of the general court, met at least once a week in the evening; and at these meetings, besides determining what should be done at townmeetings, and agreeing upon other measures, they generally furnished the newspapers with speculations and compositions for the service of the cause in which they were engaged; and he says, in a letter, that he

1 In the records of one of these caucuses, the word is spelt caucos (“Siege of Boston," 30). In the "Boston Gazette" of 1760 are the following sentences: "Nothing of the least significance was transacted at a late meeting of the New and Grand Corcas." -"Votes are to be given away by the delicate hands of the New and Grand Corcas."

2 Eliot's Biographical Dictionary. 8 Hutchinson's Massachusetts, iii. 167.