All the smothered resentment of the colonies burst out anew. Another agreement not to purchase British goods was immediately entered into by the American merchants. The newspapers were filled with bitter denunciations of Parliament. Early in 1768 the assembly of Massachusetts adopted a circular calling upon the other colonies for assistance in the effort to obtain redress of grievances. The ministers were enraged and required the assembly in the king's name to rescind their action, and to express regret for that "rash and hasty proceeding." Instead of that, the sturdy legislature reaffirmed the resolution by a nearly unanimous vote. Thereupon Governor Bernard dissolved the assembly; but the members would not disperse until they had prepared a list of charges against the governor and requested the king to remove him.

In the month of June fuel was added to the flame. A sloop, charged with attempting to evade the payment of duty, was seized by the custom-house officers. The people rose in a mob; attacked the houses of the officers, and obliged the occupants to seek shelter in Castle William, at the entrance of the harbor. The governor now appealed to the ministers for help; and General Gage, commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, was ordered to bring from Halifax a regiment of regulars and overawe the people. On the 1st of October the troops, seven hundred strong, marched with fixed bayonets into the capital of Massachusetts. The people were maddened by this military invasion of their city. When the governor required the selectmen of Boston to provide quarters for the soldiers, he was met with an absolute refusal; and the troops were quartered in the state-house.

In February of 1769, Parliament advanced another step toward war. The people of Massachusetts were declared rebels, and the governor was directed to arrest those deemed guilty of treason and send them to England for trial. The general assembly met this additional outrage with defiant resolutions. Scenes almost as violent as these were at the same time enacted in Virginia and North Carolina. In the latter State a popular insurrection was suppressed by Governor Tryon; the insurgents, escaping across the mountains, obtained lands of the Cherokees, and became the founders of Tennessee.

The

Early in 1770 a serious affray occurred in New York. soldiers wantonly cut down a liberty pole which had stood for several years in the park. A conflict ensued, in which the people came out best; another pole was erected in the northern part of the city. On the 5th `of March a more serious difficulty occurred in Boston. An altercation had taken place between a party of citizens and the soldiers. A crowd gathered, surrounded Captain Preston's company of the city guard, hooted

Tea

at them, and dared them to fire. At length the exasperated soldiers discharged a volley, killing three of the citizens and wounding several others. This outrage, known as the Boston Massacre, created a profound sensation. The city was ablaze with excitement. Several thousand men assembled under arms. Governor Hutchinson came out, promising that justice should be done and trying to appease the multitude. The brave Samuel Adams spoke for the people. An immediate withdrawal of the troops from the city was demanded, and the governor was obliged to yield. Captain Preston and his company were arrested and tried for murder. The prosecution was conducted with great spirit, and two of the offenders were convicted of manslaughter.

On the very day of the Boston massacre, Lord North, who had become prime minister, secured the passage by Parliament of an act repealing all the duties on American imports except that on tea. The exception was made only to show that the right of taxing the colonies was not relinquished. The merchants of New York and Boston at once relaxed their non-importation agreement except so far as it related to tea; to that extent the compact was retained; and the people voluntarily pledged themselves to use no more tea until the duty should be unconditionally repealed. The antagonism toward the mother country was abating somewhat, when in 1772 an act was passed by Parliament requiring that the salaries of the governor and judges of Massachusetts should be paid out of the colonial revenues without consent of the assembly. That body retaliated by a declaration that the parliamentary statute was a violation of the chartered rights of the people, and therefore void. About the same time the Gaspee, a royal schooner which had been annoying the people of Providence, was boarded by a company of patriots and burned.

In 1773 the ministers attempted to enforce the tea-tax by a stratagem. Owing to the duty, the price of tea in the American market had been doubled. But there was no demand for the article; for the people would not buy. As a consequence the warehouses of Great Britain were stored with vast quantities of tea, awaiting shipment to America. Parliament now removed the export duty which had hitherto been charged on tea shipped from England. The price was by so much lowered; and the ministers persuaded themselves that, when the cheaper tea was offered in America, the silly colonists would pay their own import duty without suspicion or complaint.

To carry out this scheme English ships were loaded with tea for the American market. Some of the vessels reached Charleston; the tea was landed, but the people forbade its sale. The chests were stored in

mouldy cellars, and the contents ruined. At New York and Philadelphia the ports were closed and the ships forbidden to enter. At Boston the vessels entered the harbor. The tea had been consigned to Governor Hutchinson and his friends; and special precautions were taken to prevent a failure of the enterprise. But the authorities stubbornly stood their ground, and would not permit the tea to be landed. On the 16th of December the dispute was settled in a memorable manner. There was a great town-meeting at which seven thousand people were assembled. Adams and Quincy spoke to the multitudes. Evening came on, and the meeting was about to adjourn, when a warwhoop was heard, and about fifty men disguised as Indians passed the door of the Old South Church. The crowd followed to Griffin's wharf, where the three tea-ships were at anchor. Then everything became quiet. The disguised men quickly boarded the vessels, broke open the three hundred and forty chests of tea that composed the cargoes, and poured the contents into the sea.

Such was THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY..

SAMUEL ADAMS.

Parliament made haste to find revenge. On the last day of March, 1774, THE BOSTON PORT BILL was passed. It was enacted that no kind of merchandise should any longer be landed or shipped at the wharves of Boston. The custom-house was removed to Salem, but the people of that town refused the benefits which were proffered by the hand of tyranny. The inhabitants of Marblehead tendered the free use of their warehouses to the merchants of Boston. The assembly stood stoutly by the cause of the people. When the news of the passage of the Port Bill reached Virginia, the burgesses at once entered a protest on the

1774

journals of the house. When Governor Dunmore ordered the members to their homes, they met in another place, and passed a recommendation for a general congress of the colonies. On the 20th of May the venerated charter of Massachusetts was annulled by act of Parliament. The people were declared rebels; and the governor was ordered to send abroad for trial all persons who should resist the royal officers. The colonial assembly made answer by adopting a resolution that the powers of language were not sufficient to express the impolicy, injustice, inhumanity and cruelty of the acts of Parliament.

In September THE SECOND COLONIAL CONGRESS assembled at Philadelphia. Eleven colonies were represented. It was unanimously agreed to sustain Massachusetts in her conflict with a wicked ministry. One address was sent to the king; another to the English nation; and another to the people of Canada. Before adjournment a resolution was adopted recommending the suspension of all commercial intercourse with Great Britain until the wrongs of the colonies should be redressed. Parliament immediately retaliated by ordering General Gage, who had been recently appointed governor of Massachusetts, to reduce the colonists by force. A fleet and an army of ten thousand soldiers were sent to America to aid in the work of subjugation.

In accordance with the governor's orders, Boston Neck was seized and fortified. The military stores in the arsenals at Cambridge and Charlestown were conveyed to Boston; and the general assembly was ordered to disband. Instead of doing so, the members resolved themXselves into a provincial congress, and voted to equip an army of twelve thousand men for the defence of the colony. There was no longer any hope of a peaceable adjustment. The mighty arm of Great Britain was stretched out to smite and crush the sons of the Pilgrims. The colonists were few and feeble; but they were men of iron wills who had made up their minds to die for liberty. It was now the early spring of 1775, and the day of battle was at hand.

Lexington A
Cincin

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE BEGINNING.

S soon as the intentions of General Gage were manifest, the people 1775

of Boston, concealing their ammunition in cart-loads of rubbish, conveyed it to Concord, sixteen miles away. Gage detected the movement, and on the night of the 18th of April despatched a regiment of eight hundred men to destroy the stores. Another purpose of the expedition was to capture John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were supposed to be hidden at Lexington or Concord. The fact was that they were not hidden anywhere, but were abroad encouraging the people. The plan of the British general was made with great secrecy; but the patriots were on the alert, and discovered the movement.

About midnight the regiment, under command of Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, set out for Concord. The people of Boston, Charlestown and Cambridge were roused by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons. Two hours before, the vigilant Joseph Warren had despatched William Dawes and Paul Revere to ride with all speed to Lexington and to spread the alarm through the country. Against two o'clock in the morning the minute-men were under arms; and a company of a hundred and thirty had assembled on the common at Lexington. The patriots loaded their guns and stood ready; but no enemy appeared, and it was agreed to separate until the drum-beat should announce the hour of danger. At five o'clock the British van, under command of Pitcairn, came in sight. The provincials to the number of seventy reassembled.; Captain Parker was their leader. Pitcairn rode up and exclaimed: "Disperse, ye villains! Throw down your arms, ye rebels, and disperse!" The minute-men stood still; Pitcairn discharged his pistol at them, and with a loud voice cried, "Fire!" The first volley of the Revolution whistled through the air, and sixteen of the patriots, nearly a fourth of the whole number, fell dead or wounded. The rest fired a few random shots, and then dispersed.

The British pressed on to Concord; but the inhabitants had removed the greater part of the stores to a place of safety, and there was but little destruction. Two cannons were spiked, some artillery carriages