on the contrary, it affirmed "That the people of these colonies are not, and from their local circumstances cannot be, represented in the House of Commons in Great Britain, . . . and that no taxes ever have been, or ever can be, constitutionally imposed on them except by their respective legislatures.' ... 431 190. The "boycott"; the "Sons of Liberty"; Pitt; repeal of the act. Meanwhile the leading merchants of the country proceeded to "boycott" Great Britain by pledging themselves to stop importing English goods until the obnoxious act should be repealed. The "Sons of Liberty" in New York and elsewhere took decided action. They seized stocks of stamps and burned them, destroyed stamp offices, and forced stamp officers to resign. When the news of the reception of the Stamp Act reached England, Pitt rose from his sick bed to defend the colonists in Parliament. “I rejoice," said he, "that America has resisted." 432 The prime minister thought it would be inexpedient to attempt to force the people to purchase the hated stamps, and the British merchants and manufacturers, fearing that they would lose the American market for their goods, besought Parliament to repeal the act. This was done (1766) amid great rejoicings in London. But the "King's friends" (§ 185) accompanied the repeal by the passage of a "Declaratory Act," which expressly affirmed the right of Parliament "to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." 483 In America the exultation of the people over their apparent victory prevented their heeding the ominous words of this declaration. The next year 191. The Townshend Law and its effects. (1767) Charles Townshend induced Parliament to impose a duty on American imports of paints, paper, glass, and tea. 434 The colonists generally, except Otis, had conceded the right of the English Government to impose such duties, but now John Dickinson of Pennsylvania rose to remonstrate. He attacked the Townshend Law in a masterful series of twelve papers entitled, "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania." 435 At the same time the Massachusetts Assembly, pushed on by Samuel Adams and by Otis, urged the other colonies to employ all lawful means to resist the collection of the proposed duties.436 Under the lead of George Washington the planters of Virginia resolved to refuse to import goods from Great Britain until the Townshend Act should be repealed. The merchants of New York, Boston, and other cities took similar action. The result was that all of the Townshend Law was repealed (1770), except the clause levying a trifling duty on tea.437 192. The Boston Massacre"; Governor Tryon; the destruction of the Gaspee. Meanwhile several regiments of British troops had arrived in Boston. In spite of the protests of the citizens this standing army was quartered in the town itself. The people believed that the presence of such a force was an open violation of their constitutional rights as English subjects. The excited state of feeling then existing made collisions between the troops and the citizens inevitable. A mob assailed (1770) a squad of soldiers in the streets, pelted them with chunks of ice and other missiles, and dared the "lobster backs" to fire. Finally, either in retaliation or in selfdefence, the "red coats" did fire, killing and wounding several persons. This affair led to the removal of the troops from the town to an island in the harbor. 438 The next year (1771) the exactions of Governor Tryon of North Carolina provoked an insurrection. The battle of Alamance followed (§ 137), and the governor hanged a number of prisoners of war that he had captured. These men had taken up arms to resist unjust taxation, and their memories were cherished as those of martyrs to liberty. " The following year (1772) the British revenue cutter "Gaspee," while chasing a Providence vessel, ran ashore on the coast of Rhode Island. The commander of the " "Gaspee," in his search for smugglers, had shown a zeal which "outran both discretion and law." The Rhode Islanders now revenged themselves for his acts of violence by burning the cutter. The British government ordered the chief-justice of the colony to send the offenders to England for trial, but he refused to obey. 193. Committees of Correspondence formed. In order to render the governors and judges of the royal colonies independent of the popular will and dependent on the Crown, the King now resolved to pay those officers (at least in Massachusetts) out of the English treasury. Samuel Adams took alarm at this act, which he believed tended to convert the government of the province into a "despotism." At a town-meeting held in Faneuil Hall (1772) he moved the appointment of a "Committee of Correspondence" to state "the rights of the colonists" "to the several towns and to the world." 439 The motion passed; the statement was sent forth, and soon every town in Massachusetts had appointed a similar committee. In future it would make little real difference whether the Governor permitted the colonial assembly to meet or not, since the Committees of Correspondence would always be vigilant in the interests of liberty. But the influence of these organizations was not confined to Massachusetts, for the next spring (1773) Dabney Carr, Patrick Henry, and other leading men in Virginia established the "Intercolonial Committee of Correspondence." That organization "laid the foundation of the Union." 194. Attempt to enforce the tea tax; the Boston Tea Party."- Meanwhile the British East India Company, unable to find a market for its teas, begged Parliament to permit them to make exports free of duty to America. The King, however, refused; he said: "there must always be one tax to keep up the right, and as such I approve of the tea duty." "440 The actual duty on the tea was trifling-only threepence a pound. But the Americans regarded the measure as a cunning device for establishing a precedent whereby money could be extorted from them for the support of a standing army in the colonies. They therefore resolved not to purchase a pound of the taxed tea. The citizens of Philadelphia, New York, Boston, |