was carried in solemn procession about the streets. The discon tents soon spread throughout the colonies, and the opposition became general and determined; the spirit of the people gave a tone to the colonial assemblies, and bold and decided resolutions were adopted against the iniquitous scheme of parliamentary taxation. Virginia took the lead, and on the 28th of May, 1765, Patric Henry introduced his celebrated resolutions into the house of burgesses, which declared that the inhabitants of that colony were entitled to, and bad possessed and enjoyed all the rights, liberties and privileges of the people of Great Britain; that the general assembly of the colony had always exercised and alone possessed the power to levy taxes and imposts on the inhabitants of the colony, and that they "were not bound to yield obedience to any law or ordinance whatsoever, designed to impose any taxation whatever upon them other than the law and ordinances of the general assembly." So bold and unexpected were these resolutions, that whilst they were reading, one of the members cried out treason! treason!"

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These resolutions were communicated to all the colonies, and the spirit they breathed spread from one legislature to another, and their sentiments were reiterated in resolutions adopted by the legislatures and the freemen in public meetings. Committees were appointed, by the assemblies of the colonies, to correspond with each other, and to meet for consultation; the object of which was to secure harmony of feeling and concert of action. These measures had a very happy effect; in the mean time, the press teemed with constant publications, vindicating the rights of the colonies; and many of them were of a highly inflammatory character, calculated to raise the public mind to the highest pitch. The pulpit also, particularly in New-England, labored in the same cause with great zeal and effect; the flame of liberty kindled from breast to breast, and spread from province to province, until the conflagration became general. The spirit of opposition ran so high as to break out into acts of tumult and disorder. In Boston the effigy of Mr. Oliver, the stamp-master, was burnt, and his house assailed, partly demolished, and his furniture destroyed; and soon after, the house of William Storer, deputy-register of the court of admiralty, was attacked, and the books and files of the court destroyed; and the house of Benja min Hallowell, comptroller of the customs, shared the same fate. These outrages were followed by a more bold and daring attack upon the dwelling of Mr. Hutchinson, lieutenant-governor of the province; he was obliged to flee to save his life, and his house was entirely demolished, except the walls, and every thing in it destroyed or carried off. Similar outrages were committed in other places. In Connecticut, Mr. Ingersoll, the stamp-officer, was burnt in effigy in many towns; and whilst he was proceeding from New-Haven to Hartford, where the assembly was in session, he was pursued and overtaken by a large concourse of people, some from more than thirty miles, and compelled to resign his office, which was followed by three hearty cheers of liberty and property. This took place at Wethersfield, from whence

the people, who were headed by militia officers, proceeded to Hartford, where Mr. Ingersoll was compelled to read his resignation in the hearing of the assembly, which was succeeded by loud acclamations of liberty and property. In New-York the stamp officer was compelled to resign, and Lieutenant-Governor Colden was burnt in effigy, with a stamp-bill in bis hand, suspended from his own coach, and the whole was consumed together. In the southern colonies, the public feeling did not lead to the same excesses; but in all of them, means were found to compel the stamp officers to resign; and in all the colonies the assemblies adopted resolutions in opposition to the stamp-act, although in many of them the royal governors prorogued and attempted to stop their proceedings. The members of the colonial assemblies were animated and encouraged by the people, who, in most of the towns, instructed them to oppose the stamp-act. But the most important measure to unite the colonies and give energy and effect to their opposition, was convening a continental congress, consisting of deputies appointed by each colony. This measure was first proposed by the assembly of Massachusetts. The meeting was appointed to be holden in New-York, in October, 1765. All the colonies, except New-Hampshire, Virginia, North-Carolina, and Georgia, sent deputies; the three last of these colonies were prevented by their governors, and the first excused itself on account of its peculiar situation. The congress, after mature deliberation, adopted a declaration of rights, and a statement of the grievances of the colonies, and asserted, in the strongest terms, their exemption from all taxes not imposed by their own representatives. It also prepared a petition to the house of commons.

As the first of November, the time when the stamp-act was to go into operation, approached, public feeling became still stronger and was exerted to the utmost to prevent the execution of the law. In New-York, ten boxes of stamps, which had arrived there for Connecticut, were seized by the populace and burned; and in other ports, the masters of vessels, which brought out stamps, were compelled to return with their detestable cargoes or deliver them up to the people to be destroyed. In Boston, and many of the principal towns, the first of November was kept as a day of mourning and deep distress; all the shops were shut, the bells were tolled muffled, and the effigies of the authors and abettors of the act were carried in procession through the sheets, and then torn to pieces and consumed by the flames.

The lawyers of the supreme court in New-Jersey resolved that they would not purchase the stamps in their professional business, and that they would relinquish their practice as a sacrifice to the public good; and the principal merchants in the colonies, and great numbers of other classes of the inhabitants, entered into solemn engagements not only to refuse to use the stamps, but also not to import any more goods from Great Britain until the stampact should be repealed. Associations were formed, called the Sons of Liberty," the object of which was, to assist and protect with force, if necessary, every one who might be in danger

from his resistance or opposition to the stamp-act. This bol association originated in New-York, and prevailed throughou New-England, and, had not the act been repealed, must hav led to civil war. The restrictive measures produced distres and tumults in England; large numbers of the manufacturer being thrown out of employment, and more than forty thousand with black flags, appeared in the streets in London, and sur rounded the royal palace and parliament house. Fortunately a change of ministry took place, in consequence of what was called the regency bill, and Lord Grenville was succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham, as first lord of the treasury, and the Duke of Grafton and General Conway were appointed secreta ries of state. In January the parliament met; the affairs of America occupied the principal attention, and the first talents of the house were engaged in the discussion. Mr. Pitt, who had been confined to his bed by sickness, when the stamp-act was passed, now came forward as the great champion of the rights of the Americans, and with his manly and all-powerful eloquence, opposed the unjust, unconstitutional and dangerous measure; he even justified the Americans in their resistance of an act of tyranny and oppression. After a long and animated discussion, the act was repealed, accompanied, however, with a declaration," that the king and parliament had, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force to bind the colonies, and his majesty's subjects in them, in all cuses whatsoever." An act of indemnity was also passed.

The repeal of the obnoxious act occasioned universal joy, both in Great Britain and America; the ships in the Thames displayed their colours, and the whole city of London was illuminated; and in the colonies, notwithstanding the declaratory act, asserting the principle of taxation, the joy and rejoicings were universal; the non-importation resolutions were rescinded; animosities, illtreatment, and every thing past, were forgotten, and commercial intercourse with Great Britain was resumed with greater activity than ever before had been witnessed. The colonies hoped and believed, that harmony would now be restored, and did every thing in their power to promote this desirable object. But the officers of the crown, the minions of power, and the expectants of place, kept up a correspondence with the officers of the British government at home, and attempted to promote their own selfish views by misrepresenting their countrymen. Governor Bernard, of Massachusetts, was the head of this party,, which contributed so much. to breed difficulties and bring matters to a crisis. Notwithstanding that the declaratory act still hung over the heads of the colonies, like a portentous cloud, it was not generally expeected that the British government would very soon make another so dangerous an experiment. But these reasonable expectations, however, soon proved to be fallacious and all reliance on the justice or liberality of Britain, were found to be deceptive and dangerous. Notwithstanding the distraction into which the colonies had been thrown, by the stamp-act, within a few months after its repeal, and before the wounds it had occasioned had

had time to heal, the chancellor of the exchequer, Charles Townsend, came forward with a new scheme of taxing America, and was so sanguine in his views, that he pledged his character for the success of the project. The new revenue scheme was, to take off the duties on teas, which were paid in Great Britain, and to levy three pence per pound on all that was purchased in America, and also a duty on paper, glass and several other articles. A board of customs was established, and commissioners appointed to set in Boston to collect the duties; and the custom-officers were to be paid from the revenue thus raised; and the governor, judges of the superior court, and other officers in Massachusetts, who had hitherto been dependant for their salaries on the assembly, to render them independent of the people, and more devoted to Great Britain, were asso to be paid from these revenues. And to carry the iniquitous system into effect (as unjust laws can only be enforced by unjust means,) the powers of the court of admiralty were greatly extended, so as to deprive the people of trial by jury in prosecutions for violating the revenue laws. Writs of Assistance, as they were called, issued by the governor, or any officer of the revenue, authorised searching the house of the most respectable inhabitant in the province, on suspicion of the concealment of contraband or smuggled goods.

When intelligence of these new parliamentary regulations reached America, they occasioned universal astonishment, and revived all the excitement and alarm which prevailed during the stamp-act. In the minds of reflecting men they were regarded as more dangerous than that obnoxious act, as an indirect and disguised system of taxation had a more certain and fatal tendency to undermine the liberties and enslave the people, than direct taxes. The colonies, assailed by the same injuries, had recourse to their former measures of complaint and supplication; but their petitions were not even read, and their remonstrances treated with contempt, thus adding insult to injustice. These accumulated injuries and indignities aroused the fears and spirit of the colonies; and a circular letter, addressed to the other colonies, by the assembly of Massachusetts, contributed to dif fuse the flame and lead to concert of action. This letter was dated the 11th of February, 1768, and the sentiments it contained were reiterated by most of the colonial assemblies. From the bold and determined conduct of the assembly of Massachusetts, it was prorogued by the governor. Another assembly waconvened in May following, to which the governor, in his first communication, insolently demanded of them, as required by the British Secretary of State, to rescind the resolutions of the preceding assembly, which led to the circular letter, and intimated that unless they complied immediately they would be dissolved at once. But the assembly acted with a firmness which became the defenders of liberty; and instead of complying with this haughty mandate, petitioned the king for the removal of the royal governor, and charged upon him a long catalogue of crimes. The governor, exasperated at their conduct, immediately dissolved the mutinous assembly, and applied to the commander in

chief of the king's troops, then in New-York, to have several additional regiments sent to Boston. Alarmed at these circumstances, the inhabitants of Boston beseeched the governor to convene another assembly; but he treated their request with contempt. The crisis required something to be done, without delay, and accordingly letters were written to every town in the colony, requesting the appointment of delegates to meet in convention at Boston, before the arrival of the troops. Delegates from ninety-six-towns met on the 22d of September. The governor instantly sent them an angry message, commanding them to disperse, threatening, in case of refusal, that they would suffer the consequence of their temerity. The convention, however, was not frightened into submission, but gave their reasons for convening, continued their deliberations, and prepared a petition to the king.

On the first of October, the troops arrived and landed; and, sword in hand, paraded through the streets of Boston, which were filled with vast crowds, who with sullen silence, denoting the deepest resentment, witnessed this, the first act in the great and bloody drama about to be performed. No tumult or resistance however, ensued, notwithstanding the troops were quartered in the houses of the inhabitants. The assembly met in May, 1769, and iminediately adopted several spirited resolutions; that the placing an armed force where the legislature was convened, to overawe their deliberations, was a breach of privilege, and that the quartering of troops on the inhabitants in time of peace, was illegal and a violation of the rights and liberties of British subjects.

A standing army was now stationed in the capital of Massachusetts, for the avowed object of coercing the inhabitants into submission; their commerce fettered, their characters traduced, the assembly prevented from meeting, and the petitions of all classes to have the assembly convened, treated with contempt by an insolent governor, who threatened to augment the troops, and enforce at all hazards, his arbitrary and tyrannical measures; it cannot be surprising that the fears and exasperations of the people exceeded what had ever been witnessed before. At this alarming conjuncture, something must be done, and there was no other alternative but submission or resistance, as petitions had been treated with such contempt, that to memorialize any branch of the British government would be equivalent to submission; and there were but two ways of resistance, either an appeal to the sword, or an entire suspension of all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, which, as was said by Mr. Pitt in his speech, furnished the means whereby Britain had carried on the war with France, and which if continued, would afford the means of their own oppression. As all the colonies were involved in one common danger, they readily entered into the most solemn engagements, that no British or India goods should be imported, except a few specified articles of necessary use. The effects of these arrangements were soon felt in England, and produced clamors, and even tumults, in some parts of the kingdom. But