the earnest desire of people here that "she might continue to enjoy the same emoluments until her streets were paved with American gold."

The orator closed in a fervent strain on liberty. He expressed a confidence that the justice of the American cause would finally open the eyes of the British nation to their true interest, and not suffer their honor to be sported away by a capricious ministry. "They nourish in their own breasts a noble love of Liberty; they hold her dear; and they know that all who have once possessed her charms had rather die than suffer her to be torn from their embraces." The orator expressed confidence that his countrymen had a like love of liberty, and had the spirit to defend it. There is so much of the ruling passion of his life-his own lofty spirit in the closing strain, that I refrain from making an abstract, but cite it entire:

"I am confident that you never will betray the least want of spirit, when called upon to guard your freedom. None but they who set a just value upon the blessings of Liberty are worthy to enjoy her. Your illustrious fathers were her zealous votaries. When the blasting frowns of Tyranny drove her from public view, they clasped her in their arms, they cherished her in their generous bosoms, they brought her safe over the rough ocean, and fixed her seat in this then dreary wilderness; they nursed her infant age with the most tender care; for her sake they patiently bore the severest hardships; for her support they underwent the most rugged toils; in her defence they boldly encountered the most alarming dangers; neither the ravenous beasts that ranged the woods for prey, nor the more furious savages of the wilderness, could damp their ardor! Whilst with one hand they broke the stubborn glebe, with the other they grasped their weapons, ever ready to protect her from danger. No sacrifice, not even their own blood, was esteemed too rich a libation for her altar! God prospered their valor; they preserved her brilliancy unsullied; they enjoyed her whilst they lived, and, dying, bequeathed the dear inheritance to your care. And, as they left you this glorious legacy, they have

undoubtedly transmitted to you some portion of their noble spirit, to inspire you with virtue to merit her, and courage to preserve her: you surely cannot, with such examples before your eyes as every page of the history of this country affords,' suffer your liberties to be ravished from you by lawless force, or cajoled away by flattery and fraud.

"The voice of your fathers' blood cries to you from the ground, 'My sons, scorn to be slaves! In vain we met the frowns of tyrants; in vain we left our native land; in vain we crossed the boisterous ocean, found a new world, and prepared it for the happy residence of Liberty. In vain we toiled, in vain we fought, we bled in vain, if you, our offspring, want valor to repel the assaults of her invaders!' Stain not the glory of your worthy ancestors; but, like them, resolve never to part with your birthright: be wise in your deliberations, and determined in your exertions for the preservation of your liberties. Follow not the dictates of passion, but enlist yourselves under the sacred banner of reason; use every method in your power to secure your rights; at least prevent the curses of posterity from being heaped upon your memories.

"If you, with united zeal and fortitude, oppose the torrent of oppression; if you feel the true fire of patriotism burning in your breasts; if you from your souls despise the most gaudy dress that slavery can wear; if you really prefer the lonely cottage (whilst blessed with liberty) to gilded palaces, surrounded with the ensigns of slavery, -you may have the fullest assurance that Tyranny, with her whole accursed train, will hide their hideous heads in confusion, shame, and despair. If you perform your part, you must have the strongest confidence that the same Almighty Being who protected your pious and venerable forefathers, who enabled them to turn a barren wilderness into a fruitful field, who so often made bare his arm for their salvation, will still be mindful of you their offspring.

"May this Almighty Being graciously preside in all our councils! May he direct us to such measures as he himself shall approve and be pleased to bless! May we ever be a people favored of God! May our land be a land of Liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a name and a praise in the whole earth, until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the world in one common undistinguished ruin!"

1 "At simul heroum laudes, et facta parentis

Jam legere et quæ sit poteris cognoscere virtus." - VIRG.

991

In this effort, the orator met the expectations of his friends. Hutchinson, on remarking on the increase of the popularity of Warren, says, "Though he gained no great applause for his oratorical abilities, yet the fervor, which is the most essential part of such compositions, could not fail in its effect on the minds of the great concourse of people present." The press was more generous in its praise. "The orator," the "Gazette" says, "had the unanimous applause of his audience;" and the "News Letter" (Tory) adopted these words. The town voted him their thanks, and requested a copy of his oration for the press. It was printed, and in this form contributed to the formation of public opinion.

It will be observed, that it was Warren's main purpose to develop and defend the doctrine as to the power of the colonial legislatures, or of internal government, which Hutchinson regarded to be of so dangerous a tendency, that he urged that its advo-cates should be made subject, by a special act of par1 History, iii. 348.

2 "At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Boston, duly qualified and legally assembled in Faneuil Hall, and from thence adjourned to the Old South Meeting-house, on Thursday, the 5th day of March, Anno Domini 1772,

"Voted unanimously, That the moderator, Richard Dana, Esq., the Honorable John Hancock, Esq., Mr. Samuel Adams, Joseph Jackson, Esq., Mr. Henderson Inches, Mr. Daniel Jeffries, and Mr. William Molineux, be and hereby are appointed a committee to return the thanks of this town to Joseph Warren, Esq., for the oration just now delivered by him, at their request, in commemoration of the horrid massacre perpetrated on the evening of the 5th of March, 1770, by a party of soldiers of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, and to desire a copy thereof for the press.

"Attest:

WILLIAM COOPER, Town-clerk." "GENTLEMEN,- The generous candor of my fellow-citizens prevails on me to give a copy of what was yesterday delivered, for the press.

"I am, gentlemen, with much respect, your most humble servant, " JOSEPH WARREN."

liament, to fines, imprisonment, and disqualification for office. Underlying the ornate style, the fervor, and at times extravagant metaphor, there were frankness, clearness of thought, sincerity, strength of argument, and, as was seen in his early Letter,' the ruling passion of his life,—a warm love of country. Behind the oration was the man. Warren was a patriot, and he spoke the timely word of a patriot.

1 See page 20.

CHAPTER VIII.

COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE.

WARREN IN TOWN-MEETINGS. -THE PROGRESS OF EVENTS. — HUTCHINSON AND ADAMS. -THE POPULAR LEADERS. THE QUESTION OF THE JUDGES' SALARIES. A TOWN-MEETING. - COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE. -REPORT ON THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE. ITS EFFECTS.

MARCH, 1772, TO JANUARY, 1773.

WARREN rendered his next great service in company with his brother patriots. They continued on the defensive. It was the steady purpose of the political party who now ruled England, and for sixty years "maintained all that was bigoted, and persecuted all that was liberal," to establish an imperial despotism in America: it was the object of the patriots to protect

1 Earl Russell, in his valuable introduction to the last edition (1865) of his Essay on the English Government and Constitution," writing of 1829, says: "The political party which for sixty years had swayed, with very brief intervals, the destinies of the State; which had led the nation to the American and the French wars; which had resisted all reform and protected all abuse; which had maintained all that was bigoted, and persecuted all that was liberal, — broke down." Cooke, in his "History of Party," says (iii. 588) of the Whigs, "They came into office determined to clear away the foul deposits of nearly seventy years of Toryism." In writing of 1830, he says (iii. 578), "Within a very few years, the daily journals have sprung from mere chronicles of robberies upon Hounslow Heath. . . to powerful and thoroughly organized engines for the dissemination of party principles and the universal distribution of political knowledge." In a note he says, "The Tories heard the wind approaching," and cites the following as a groan from the Tory "Quarterly Review: "—" We cannot help expressing our apprehension, that both education and reading have been pushed too far among the lower classes." These things ought to be remembered by Americans in justice to their own statesmen.