menu_book Chapter 12

Chapter 10, Part 1 of Life and Times of Joseph Warren by Richard Frothingham. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Boston Port Act and the American Union. Warren's Letters. Effect of the Destruction of the Tea.

The Boston Port Act, its reception in Boston. In the Colonies. The Demand for a Congress. The Progress of Union. December 1773 to June 1774

I ever scorned disguise. I think I have done my duty, Warren wrote after valuable service in the uprising of the great day of Lexington and Concord. And these words may indicate the frankness and fidelity with which he counseled and acted with the popular leaders through the period of sullen discontent, which began on the passage of the Townshend Revenue Bill and ended on the destruction of the tea. The direct sequence of this event was severe penal legislation, which was the proximate cause of the Revolutionary War. Warren's spirits rose with the rising storm.

His letters, both private and official, written without a thought of effect, delineate unconsciously much individual character which imprints itself on the reader's mind. These unsteady utterances, rich in thought and feeling, reveal his inner life and the secret of his personal influence. They show devotion to principle, love of liberty with fidelity to order, and large sympathetic power. They are far more. They are gushings of the warm lifeblood of the time, sibiline leaves on which are inscribed glowing characters to be read and to enkindle evermore.

The official letters are so numerous as to preclude the printing of more than a selection. One of the private letters of this period was addressed to Arthur Lee, who was in London and is dated five days after the T was destroyed. In this letter, Warren expresses the opinion that, unless there was a change in the policy of the administration, Americans would be as indifferent to the interests of the mother country as to that of any other European nation. Joseph Warren to Arthur Lee

Boston, December 21, 1773 Sir, my respected friend, Mr. Adams, informs me of the honor he has done me by mentioning my name to you in his letters. I can by no means lose so fair an opportunity of opening a correspondence with one to whom America is under such great obligations. Be assured, sir, we are not insensible to your merits. The clear manner in which you have treated the dispute between Great Britain

in this country has, we doubt not, enlightened many in the parent state as well as in this country. But nothing seems able to penetrate the Egyptian darkness which is so palpable in the court atmosphere. We have long waited for something wise and good in the public councils of the nation. At least we hoped that chance would lead to some measures which, if not so designed, might eventually have produced some agreeable effects. But hitherto the unpropitious star

which rules unhappy Britain has disappointed our wishes. Every step taken by the administration has increased the distance between her and her colonies. And I fear that, unless a speedy alteration is made in the system of American policy, a few years will render us as indifferent to the interests of the mother country as to that of any other state in Europe. However, As it is my firm opinion that a connection upon constitutional principles may be kept up between the two countries, at least for centuries to come,

advantageous and honorable to both, I always respect the man who endeavors to heal the wound by pointing out proper remedies and to prevent the repetition of the stroke by fixing a stigma on the instrument by which it was inflicted. This country is inhabited by a people loyal to their king and faithful to themselves. None will more cheerfully venture their lives or fortunes for the honor and defense of the prince who reigns in their hearts, and none will with more resolution oppose the tyrant who dares to invade their rights.

From this short but true character of this people, it is easy to see in what manner a wise king or a sagacious minister would treat them. but Mr. Adams will give you a full account of the tea shipped by the East India Company for this place. It is now in the power of that company to make the use of Dutch tea as unpopular in this country as they can desire. They may easily, by a proper application to an all-powerful ministry,

lay the colonies under such obligations as would be greatly to the company's advantage. But it is certain the whole Navy of Britain will not prevent the introduction of Dutch tea, nor will her armies prevail with us to use the English tea, while the act imposing a duty on that article remains unrepealed. I congratulate you on the honor conferred on your brother by the City of London. In distinguishing merit, they honor themselves. This will be presented to you

by Dr. Williamson, who has labored abundantly in the glorious cause in which we are engaged. I hope soon to be convinced that the freedom I have taken in writing to you is not disagreeable. I am, sir, with great esteem, your most obedient, humble servant, Joseph Warren. The records of the Boston Committee of Correspondence contain evidences of Warren's labor in the Patriot cause. Whenever there appears an enumeration of the members present, his name is among them.

He was placed, December 25, 1772, on a permanent working committee, one to draft replies to the letters that were received from the towns. the members being Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, Nathaniel Appleton, Joseph Greenleaf, and Thomas Young. He was often put on special committees. He was, for instance, on a committee, February 25, 1773, to prepare a petition to the legislature on the subject of the salaries of the judges

and the chairman of the committee to present it. He was directed to prepare, September 7, 1773, a circular letter to be sent out to the several towns in the province and also one to be sent to the colonies. He was chairman, November 9, 1773, of a committee of three to circulate the proceedings of the town and on December 8 of another committee to collect and state in the public newspapers certain things respecting the East India Company's tea.

He was directed, December 17th, at a meeting when Speaker Cushing and Samuel Quincy were called in to frame a declaration relative to the T and to draw up a narrative of the recent proceedings. He was, December 30th, on a committee to invite a correspondence with New York and Philadelphia, and was the chairman, January 8, 1774, of a committee to draft a reply to letters received from Newport and Portsmouth, both of which drafts are copied into the records. I select the reply to Newport.

Boston, January 24, 1774. Gentlemen, we can never enough adore that almighty dispenser of events who has, as it were by general inspiration, awakened a whole continent to a sense of their danger and afforded them the needed wisdom and fortitude to lay hold on the means of their redemption from the most debasing and insupportable slavery. The ample declaration of the resolution of our brethren at Newport, whose example we flatter ourselves, will persuade the colonies, assures us of the advice and assistance of that respectable people when the aid of either shall be required. A frequent and full communication of our sentiments upon every occasion you judge requisite will much gratify us. By such communication throughout the colonies, the honest party will become initiated in the necessary means of recovering and securing their greatly infringed rights.

The present dispute inflames millions. Even in the infant colony of West Florida, we find the flame of patriotism kindled and making progress. It behooves us, brethren, to be steady and determined, to possess ourselves with a thorough understanding of every article of our invaluable rights, and to embrace the opportunity which cannot be far distant of having them established on a firm foundation. Unanimity and harmony in such momentous undertaking will, with God's blessing, ensure its success. The province of New Hampshire seems thoroughly in earnest to second their brethren in every

laudable measure for the recovery and security of their liberty, and even the distressed Canadians hope for relief from our exertions. Happy shall we be if, in so noble, so righteous a struggle, we finally prevail, glorious should we even miscarry. We are, gentlemen, your most humble servants. William Cooper, clerk. This letter is one of the many utterances which show the common faith in a righteous cause, and the hope of its triumph was based on the Union there seemed to be

growing in support of it from the infant colony of West Florida to the distressed Canadians. The thought, wrought into verse, appeared at the head of a spirited communication in the Boston Gazette. From Florida, where heat intensely rains, to where we sought the gall on icy plains, one mortal flame through every breast may spread, by insult prompted and by freedom led. The two-edged sword may supersede the pen, and every son of Adam say amen. The writer, as he contemplated the

timeline when the sword might supersede the pen, said in this appeal, There is no time to be lost. A Congress or a meeting of the states is indispensable. Let the Gordian not be tied, and whatsoever the people shall do shall prosper. The reliance was not in the feeble arm of a single colony, but in a people united into a common nationality. The view taken of the effect of the destruction of the T by the two great

exponents of their several parties, Hutchinson and Adams, was essentially the same. Hutchinson said that it had created a new union among the patriots. Samuel Adams wrote, The ministry could not have devised a more effectual measure to unite the colonies. Our committee have on this occasion opened a correspondence with the other New England colonies, besides New York and Philadelphia. Old jealousies are removed and perfect harmony

subsists between them. The act was looked upon as necessary to the union of the colonies, or, more exactly, to unite the honest party or the national party. In fine, the destruction of the tea was one of those events, rare in the life of nations, which, occurring in a peculiar state of public opinion, served to wrest public affairs from the control of men, however wise or great, and cast them into the irresistible current of ideas.

If, in America, it so awakened a whole continent to such a sense of danger that there seemed to be a general inspiration, created by the almighty disposer of events, in England it roused and angered the intensest of nationalities. Even those classed the Friends of America pronounced the act to be rebellion.

Singularly enough, the only statesman in power who characterized the deed accurately was Lord Dartmouth, who termed it a commotion. As the destruction of the tea was a blow aimed at the policy of the administration and not at the national sovereignty, the patriots expected to see their friends vindicated in England. It was long held, even by Samuel Adams, that, as the principle which developed would entail

arbitrary power in America would undermine public liberty in England, the liberal party there would persist in their efforts until there was a change of measures. This view is often expressed in the journals. The broadside, issued in New York, relating to the destruction of the tea, for instance, closed with the following verse, The making Boston Harbor into tea, and those who made and helped to make it, the toast of all

Americans will be, nor one true Britain will refuse to take it. On the reception of the same intelligence in Philadelphia, a new song appeared in the newspapers describing the event, one verse of which was, squash into the deep descended, cursed weed of China's coast. Thus at once our fears were ended. British rights shall never be lost. Candid Tories, even after the destruction of the tea, conceded that the people were as loyal subjects as any in the British dominions.

Isaac Royal was one of this class. He had long been in political life, lived in princely style at Medford, a town about five miles from Boston, where, as a man of the world, he dispensed a generous hospitality. He had an uncommonly wide intercourse with men of all parties, and seems to have understood the aims of his countrymen. He wrote, January 18, 1774, to Lord Dartmouth as follows.

I have been of His Majesty's Council and House of Representatives here thirty years without intermission, the last twenty of which has been at the Council Board. I firmly believe this people to be as truly loyal to His Majesty, as cordially affected to the illustrious House of Hanover,

and as ardently desirous that there may never be wanting one of that august family to sway the British scepter until time shall be no more, as any of his subjects in his extended dominions. Pleased to observe, sir, however, that I don't pretend to justify any disturbances which have been, although they are not more nor greater, perhaps, than often occur in large and free governments. This may be said against the whole of the diatribes of the lower tier of Tory

scribblers. Samuel Adams now said of the patriots, they wish for nothing more than a permanent union with her, the mother country, upon the condition of equal liberty. This is all they have been contending for, and nothing short of this will or ought to satisfy them. And months later in October, Washington said that he did not know a man in the colonies who desired independence. The charge, however, continued to be kept up that the patriots intended to deny British sovereignty,

that the destruction of the tea was proof of it, and that an army was necessary to retain the colonies in subjection. The period of five months following this act, December to May, was one of deep and even painful interest. In all mouths were the questions. What measure will the ministry take? Will they destroy the trade of Boston? Will they arrest the popular leaders? Will they annul the charter of Massachusetts? Will they resort to military

rule? As solutions of these questions were awaited, time passed heavily on. John Adams wrote, April 9th, still, silent as midnight, the first vessels may bring us tidings which will erect the crests of the Tories again and depress the spirits of the Whigs. And such was the calmness that he said, there is not spirit enough on either side to bring the question to a complete decision. The calmness was the boating quiet in which those who feel themselves the objects of inveterable

calamity await the result in anxious silence, uncertain when or where the work of ruin is to begin or by what means it is to be avoided. The Tory threat of introducing an army or of arresting the popular leaders did not stop the work of the organization by the Whigs. The journals said that the committees never had so much business on their hands and the committee of correspondence was uncommonly active. A town meeting was held in the spring to provide for the annual commemoration of

the massacre. Samuel Adams was the moderator. Warren, as the chairman of the usual committee, took the lead in all the proceedings, and John Hancock delivered the oration before a great assembly of the citizens. The orator predicted fresh aggressions on American freedom, pointed to Union as the path of security, and urged the people to be ready to take the field when danger called. He said, the Committee of Correspondence have done much to unite the inhabitants of the

whole continent for the security of the common interests, but urged that the posture of affairs demanded a general congress to lay a firm foundation for the common safety and the security of their rights and liberties. Surely, the orator said, our hearts flutter no more at the sound of war than did those of the immortal band of Persia. And in the most animating confidence that the noble struggle for liberty would terminate gloriously for America, he thanked God for an

illustrious role of patriots, naming only Samuel Adams, whom nothing could divert from a steady pursuit of the interests of their country, who were at once its ornaments and safeguard, and whose revered names in all succeeding times would grace the annals of their country. The orator exceeded the anticipations of his friends, and his oration was pronounced an elegant, pathetic, and spirited performance. Soon after the 5th of March, William Goddard,

the printer of the Maryland Journal, arrived in town with letters from the Patriots of Philadelphia and New York warmly commending the establishment of a post office on constitutional principles or independent of parliament, and March 15th, he had a conference with the Committee of correspondence on the subject. The project was promptly endorsed by the members. Warren was appointed chairman of the subcommittee to mature the action and reported in an elaborate letter in

favor of it. When we consider, this letter says, the importance of a post by which not only private letters of friendship and commerce but public intelligence is conveyed from colony to colony, it seems proper and necessary that such a one should be established as shall be under the direction of the colonies. Samuel Adams wrote, March 21st, the colonies must unite to carry through such a project, and when the end is effected, it will be a pretty grand acquisition.

Mr. Goddard was delighted with the hardiness with which the patriots entered into this measure, and wrote, March 23rd, of them to Mr. Lamb of New York, for my part, I have not terms to convey to you the sentiments I entertain of their magnanimity, wisdom, patriotism, and urbanity. The Southern colonists, particularly New York, have great credit here for the part they have taken in this business, and the people are willing to give them the glory of originating

one of the greatest plans that, as they say, was ever engaged in since the settlement of our country. The journals contain much matter relative to the progress of what is termed in this grand design. In announcing the intelligence that the British Ministry had dismissed Franklin from the office of Postmaster General,

the Gazette, April 25, 1774, said, Remarkable coincidence between the measures of the Americans and the measures of the British administration. While the Ministry are dismissing the Postmaster General from his place, the Americans are dismissing the office forever. The designs of Providence and the policy of Britain from the beginning have cooperated to accelerate that amazing velocity with which the ball of empire rolls to this Western world. The reports from the mother country in March showed that the event, the destruction of the tea, which had given an impetus to American Union, was stirring profoundly the English mind.

Still all was uncertainty as to the measures which might be adopted. The transactions at Liberty Tree, Samuel Adams wrote, March 31st, were treated with scorn and ridicule, but when they heard of the resolves of the body of the people at the Old South Meeting House, the place from whence the orders issued for the removal of the troops in 1770,

they put on grave countenances. He remarked that no mention was made of America in the King's speech. I never, are the words of the patriot, suffer my mind to be ever much disturbed with prospects. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. It is our duty, at all hazards, to preserve the public liberty. Righteous heaven will graciously smile on every manly and rational attempt to secure

that best of all gifts to man from the ravishing hand of lawless and brutal force. It continued to be said by the Tories that an army would speedily be sent to Boston. Three weeks later, when the news was more alarming, Adams wrote, April 21st, to John Dickinson, May God prepare this people for the event by inspiring them with wisdom and fortitude. They stand in need of all the countenance that their sister colonies can afford them, with whom to cultivate and strengthen a strict union

was a great object in view. The solemn tone of this letter indicates the serious nature of the intelligence that was now appearing in the journals relative to England. The accounts printed there of the proceedings in Boston, culminating in the destruction of the tea, roused a proud nationality into so terrific an energy as to sweep before it hurricane-like men and parties, and a small band of whom the sturdy John Cartwright, a Cato of those days, was an

exponent seemed to have been the sole inheritors of the political ideas of a Locke and a Milton, of an Elliott and a Hamden. The product of this anger was a system of penal measures designed for a people who, it was charged, were not only animated by the spirit, but read with the deed of rebellion. The long interval of suspense in America terminated when, on the 2nd of May, the Boston journals printed the King's speech transmitting to Parliament the

papers relating to the transaction of the town in relation to the tea, and announced that Lord North had moved the Boston port bill. In subsequent issues, they abounded with citations from the British press, which embodied the counts in which the town was arraigned at the Bar of Public Opinion in England. The arrogant Philippic was as severe and about as just on the illustrious and venerable Franklin as it was on the glorious town, for he was characterized as the emblem of

inequity in gray hairs. It was the sum of the great news that the ministry or the nation were resolved to enforce their doctrine of the right of the British Parliament to legislate, in all cases whatsoever, by the sword. Another arrival brought the Port Act, which received the royal signature on the 31st of March and was printed in the Boston journals on the 10th of May. It provided for a discontinuance of the landing or shipping of all merchandise at Boston or within

its harbor. It was authoritatively announced that an army was on its way to Boston and that British ships of war by blockading the town for a fortnight could starve its people into submission. Heretofore, obnoxious acts of parliament had borne on all the colonies, but this act was the beginning of a coercive policy on one colony, and it was based on the theory that jealousies between the colonies,

antagonist interests, and different modes of social life formed an insurmountable barrier to any such union as would rise to the dignity of a national power, and that Massachusetts, being left to struggle alone, would be crushed. The Committee of Correspondence now voted to invite a conference of the eight neighboring towns

to deliberate on the critical state of public affairs, and Warren was directed to prepare the invitation, which he immediately reported. He was also directed to draft a letter to be sent to Philadelphia. The invitation to the eight towns was in the following terms, which is copied from the original in Warren's handwriting.

Boston, May 11, 1774 Gentlemen, we have this day received information that a bill has passed the two houses of the British Parliament for blocking up the harbor of Boston until the tea, lately destroyed at one of the wharves in this town, be paid for. We know that you must feel the indignity as sensibly as we do. Therefore, request that you would meet us in Faneuil Hall at three o'clock in the afternoon

of Thursday next, that we may together consult what is proper to be done in this critical state of our public affairs. We are, gentlemen, with much esteem, your friends and fellow countrymen, signed by direction and in behalf of the Committee of Correspondence for Boston, William Cooper, Secretary. When William penned this circular, however it may have been with a few lending spirits, the service of the public mind outside of Massachusetts was calm.

The other provinces, Dr. Ramsey remarks, were but remotely affected by the fate of Massachusetts. They were happy and had no cause on their own account to oppose the government of Great Britain. And it did not accord with the selfish maxim that hitherto had governed the states for people under such circumstances to run the risk of incurring the resentment of the mother country by taking the part of a prescribed neighbor. so undemonstrative were the other provinces that john adams thought that as it had been for 10 years past things would go on for more years than he would live oscillating like a pendulum between

a redress of american grievances and absolute parliamentary authority our children he said may see revolutions and be concerned and active in affecting them of which we can form no conception It is well nigh impossible to exaggerate the interest with which the people of Boston and Massachusetts now watched political movements in the other colonies. In the afternoon of the 12th of May, the delegates from Dorchester, Roxbury, Brookline, Newton, Cambridge, Charleston, Lynn, and Lexington assembled at the Selectman's Room at Faneuil Hall. The lowly men who now met were, most of them, accustomed to feed their own cattle, to fold

their own sheep, to guide their own plow, all trained to public life in the little democracies of their towns. Some of them captains in the militia and officers of the church, according to the discipline of congregationalists. Nearly all of them communicants under a public covenant with God.

They grew in greatness as their sphere enlarged. Among them were patriots who sat in the council halls or stood on the battlefields of the subsequent nine-year struggle, who were in the convention that formed the federal constitution and who occupied high places in the new national government. Modern art could have photographed in this scene the inner life of this trial hour, its hopes and its fears, its calm faith, its fearful passion, and its high resolve.

Samuel Adams was chosen to preside over this conference. He was 52 years of age. He had labored with so single an eye for his country that he was crowned with the laurel. In him principle was kindled into power by a steady enthusiasm. Virtue was made strong by an ever-present religion and overall presided an imperial mental dignity. In word and work he had been a truly great man, noble in impulse, immovable in purpose, wise in counsel,

fertile in resources. So signally had the progress of events vindicated the accuracy of his judgment that patriots who thought at times that he went too far now conceded that he had been in the right and were paying to him the tribute to ability of coming round to a pioneer opinion. He was a prophet who had honor in his own country for the press of his native town reflecting public opinion, said that America, for his integrity, fortitude, and perseverance in her cause,

had erected to him a statue in her heart. Fame had sounded his name abroad, and it was said of him in England by his friends that many considered him the first politician in the world, and by his enemies that he was the would-be Cromwell of America. Each revelation of his great pioneer work supplies fresh evidence of the justice of this contemporary eulogy, and thus time, like the refiner's fire, brings out new luster in the halo that encircles this venerable name.

The utterances of the patriot were now like an oracle. There is no crime, are his words, alleged in the act as committed by the town of Boston, but we have been tried, condemned, and are to be punished by the shutting up of the harbor until we shall disgrace ourselves by servilely yielding up, in effect, the just and righteous claims of America. It is the expectation of our enemies, and some of our friends are afraid, that this town

singly will not be able to support the cause under so severe a trial. Did not the very being of every seaport town, and, indeed, of every colony, considered as a free people, depend upon it, I would not even then entertain a thought so dishonorable of them as that they could leave us to struggle alone. The people generally abhor the thought of paying for the tea, the condition on which we are to be returned to the favor of Great Britain. The heroes who first trod on Plymouth

shore fed on clams and mussels, and were contented. The country which they explored and defended with their richest blood, and which they transmitted as an inheritance to their posterity, affords us a superabundance of provision. Will it not be an eternal disgrace to this generation if it should now be surrendered? The people are in council. Their opposition grows into a system. They are united. They are resolute, and it requires but a small portion of the gift of discernment for

anyone to foresee that providence will erect a mighty empire in America. There is no report of the speeches that were made at this conference. The Boston delegates reminded their brethren from the country that the trade of Boston might be recovered by paying for the tea that was destroyed, but the delegates from the other towns held it unworthy even to notice the offer, and promised on their part to join their suffering brethren in every measure for relief.

The business of the conference was embodied in a report, drafted by a subcommittee, on which were Warren, Colonel Gardner of Cambridge, and many others which pronounced the Port Act contrary to natural right and the usages of international law. The conference also adopted a circular letter to be sent to the committees of the other colonies proposing a general cessation of trade with Great Britain. This act, the circular says of the Port Act, fills the inhabitants with

indignation. The more thinking part of those who have hitherto been in favor of the measures of the British government look upon it as not to have been expected even from a barbarous state. This attack, though made immediately upon us, is doubtless designed for every other colony who will not surrender their sacred rights and liberties into the hands of an infamous ministry. Now, therefore, is the time when all should be united in opposition to this violation of the liberties of all. The Committee of Correspondence on this day, May 12, requested the selectmen to call a town meeting to consider the important and interesting news lately received from England.

when a warrant was immediately issued for one to be held at Faneuil Hall. A great concourse gathered, hundreds who could not get in standing around the hall as the proceedings went on. Samuel Adams was the moderator, Dr. Cooper offered a prayer, and his brother, the town clerk, read the Port Act. The journals say that its nature and tendency, as well as its design, were explained. Dr. Young says,

referred to a committee to propose measures for the relief of the citizens, of which Warren was a member, to report at an adjournment. This was the origin of a new committee called the Donation Committee, on which, as will be seen, Warren was a zealous worker. The meeting voted to recommend to the other colonies to come into a joint resolution to stop all trade, importation, and exportation with Great Britain and the West Indies till the Port Act was repealed,

and this was urged as a measure that would prove the salvation of North America and her liberties. The vote was ordered to be transmitted by the moderator to all other colonies. After appointing a committee to confer with Marblehead, the meeting adjourned. It was said that it was large and respectable, that many who had been hitherto cool in the common cause

distinguished themselves in their zeal for its support, that its unanimity was as perfect as human society can admit of. The Gazette, in reporting the proceedings, said, it appears that the drift of the administration and their good friends in England is to break the union of the American colonies, and that devoted Boston shall feel the unparalleled tokens of their displeasure. But let us not be dismayed. Let us persevere to the

end and resolve to yield our lives and fortunes before we will submit to the iron yoke of tyranny. And let the sacred truth be hallowed in the mind of every American. By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. While the steady, vigorous, sensible, and persevering Paul Revere as an express was bearing this Union message to the southern colonies,

General Gage, with an appointment as governor to supersede Hutchinson, was at Castle William where he arrived on the day of the meeting. His instructions directed him to arrest, for transportation and trial, Samuel Adams, Hancock, Warren, and other popular leaders. His commission was extraordinary. It made him captain general and governor-in-chief of His Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay,

while he retained his authority as commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America, and it was announced that an army would soon follow him. His object was to procure submission of the town and the colony to the constitute authorities to execute rigorously the Port Act and arrest the ringleaders of the people in the proceedings in Boston of November and December. General Gage was not unpopular. His prior intercourse with the Bostonians had been agreeable,

and his urbane manners and social turn won him personal friends, but he did not comprehend the men and things around him, and was fitted neither to overaw nor to conciliate. His earliest civil movements indicated weakness, and his military operations showed incapacity. But public affairs were now at the mercy of events. Personal character was of little account in comparison with the policy with which it had been resolved to carry out, and it may be safely said that no wisdom

in a subordinate official could have stayed the march of revolution. Four days after the town meeting, General Gage landed May 17th at Long Wharf and was received with usual marks of respect. The military, consisting of a troop of guards, a regiment of militia, a company of artillery, and the cadets under Lieutenant Colonel Coffin, paraded in King Street, and although it rained, there was a great concourse of people. The governor was received by the council and civil

officers under a salute from the ships and batteries and was escorted to the townhouse by the cadets, receiving as he passed the military array in King Street the salutes of the officers. His commission was read in the council chamber and the usual oaths administered when three volleys were fired by the military and three cheers given by the people, and then followed an elegant dinner in Faneuil Hall. It had been reported that if the new governor were permitted

to land, he would be treated with indignity, and the popular leaders by this parade hoped to remove any unfavorable impressions which that report might have made as to the character and disposition of the inhabitants. Governor Gage proposed several toasts at the dinner in Faneuil Hall, which were well received, but on naming Hutchinson there was a general hiss. As governor, he made some show of authority on the destruction of the tea, which he looked upon as unhappy and

termed the boldest stroke which had yet been struck in America. On the next day he went from Milton into town and summoned a meeting of the council, but could not get a quorum. When there being much excitement by the advice of friends, he took lodgings at the castle on the pretense of visiting his sons. Three days later, he returned to town and met the council at Cambridge, when, after much division of opinion, it was concluded to direct the attorney general to lay the matter

before the grand jury. From this time, the governor endeavored to avoid political controversy with the popular leaders, preferring to await intelligence from England as to the disposition of the ministry. He met the general court as usual in January, but did not refer to the proceedings on the tea in his message. The salary of the judges was the local question of the session, which elicited a world of tedious ancient lore from the lawyers, but the general issue which

the king pushed to extremities became paramount in interest and importance. On the reception of the Port Act, the governor was charged with advising this measure, but he averred that he was not called upon for an opinion, and that if he had been, that he could never have brought himself to have advised one so severe and distressing. On the morning after receiving the news of his removal, he again changed his residence to the castle, where he held consultations with General Gage,

received complimentary addresses from his political and personal friends, and soon, June 1st, sailed for London. On the day after the commission of General Gage was proclaimed, May 18th, the Port Act meeting reassembled in Faneuil Hall with Samuel Adams as the moderator. The Committee on Ways and Means, to relieve those who might suffer from want of work, asked further time to prepare their report and recommended to their fellow citizens

patience, fortitude, and a firm trust in God. After passing resolves relative to the importance of the trade of Boston, the meeting adjourned until the 30th. There was now much discussion in conversation and by the press on a proposition to indemnify the East India Company for the tea that had been destroyed, and the subject was debated in this meeting. A letter written on the evening of this day says, we have many among us who are for compromising matters and put forward

a proposition to pay for the tea. George Irving has declared this day that, if it should be promoted, he is ready to put down 2,000 pounds sterling towards it and will take it on himself to wait on Governor Gage and know what his demands on us are, which circumstance John Amory mentioned at the town meeting this day, which was in general rejected, though he urged the matter much. The town of Boston, Samuel Adams wrote on the same day, now suffers the stroke of ministerial

vengeance in the common cause of America, and I hope in God they will sustain the shock with dignity. They do not concede that their safety consists in a servile compliance of this barbarous act. Others of less faith and insight, who saw the cloud blackening and lowering, but could not see the light behind it, wrote in a different strain. Imagine to yourself a letter on the same day runs, the horror painted on the faces of a string of slaves condemned by the Inquisition,

to perpetual drudgery at the oar. Such is the dejection imprinted on every countenance we meet in this once happy but now totally ruined town. Party spirit also was now rising. The same observer erode. Such is the cursed zeal that now prevails, animosities running higher than ever, each party charging the other as bringing ruin on their country, that unless some expediency is adopted to get the port open by paying for the tea, which seems to be the only one, I'm afraid we shall

experience the worst of evils, a civil war which God averred. The military force, known to be near, emboldened the Tories who laid the evils to the Committee of Correspondence, the distress exasperated the Whigs to such a degree that the popular leaders found it hard to restrain them. Their feeling is expressed by a London letter in the journals. This accursed tea is the very match that is appointed to set fire to a train of gunpowder that has been long though

secretly laid by our ministry and your governor. Joint agents in that most infernal business of destroying the liberties of three millions of British subjects. Meantime, the Port Act was doing faithfully the work of uniting the colonies, for the expression of indignation and of sympathy was wide and spontaneous. The law was received in New York directly from England, and the people felt the wrong done to Boston as a wound to themselves. It was circulated with great zeal and rapidity.

In some places it was printed on morning paper, and in others it was burned in the presence of great collections of the people. The public opinion is embodied in the responses that were made on receiving the appeal of Boston on the 13th of May. On the 30th, when the Port Act meeting was continued by adjournment to the 17th of June, the Boston journals contain in full the information gathered by Paul Revere, who had just returned, and it was said, nothing can exceed the indignation with which our brethren in Rhode Island,

Connecticut, and Philadelphia have received this proof of ministerial madness. The development of fraternity seemed to the Whigs amazing. The Tories continued skeptical and blind. Hutchinson sailed for England in the belief that the people were so divided among themselves that a union of the colonies was utterly impracticable. Governor Gage was no wiser, for he informed Lord Dartmouth, March 31st,

that if the other colonies intended to go any farther in behalf of Boston than giving good words, it was not known here. On the 1st of June, the Port Act went into effect, when the ships of war were moored around the town in a manner effectually to blockade the port. Our enemies, Samuel Adams wrote, are already holding up to the tradesmen their grim picture

of misery to induce them to yield to tyranny. I hope they will not prevail upon them, but this is to be feared, unless their brethren in the other colonies will agree upon measures of speedy support and relief. There was another danger, that of premature conflict. I hope, he added, by refraining from every act of violence, we shall avoid the snare that is laid for us by the posting of regiments so near us. Violence in submission would at this time be

equally fatal. This day was observed in Virginia as one of fasting and prayer, and in Philadelphia by expressions of mourning. The Port Act, Bancroft says, had been received on the 10th of May, and in three weeks, the continent, as one great commonwealth, made the cause of Boston its own. The Committee of Correspondence, when they had reason to expect personally far more than words of detraction, and when a naval and military force were gathering in the town, went on calmly in their great work, and its journal presents Warren as one of the foremost members. He was placed, May 20th, on a committee to draft the Merchant's Agreement, was, May 27th, on a committee to draw up an address to counteract the addresses that were presented to Hutchinson, was the chairman, June 2nd, of a committee to draft a solemn League and Covenant, and of a committee, June 6th, Thomas Young and Joseph Greenleaf being the others, to draft letters to send to the committees of New York, Philadelphia, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

The paper term the League and Covenant reported to the committee on the 5th of June contained a pledge to suspend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain and not to purchase or consume any merchandise imported from that country after the first day of August. It was proposed to publish the names of those who refused to sign this agreement. The League and Covenant, having been adopted by the committee,

was sent to all the towns, accompanied with a spirited circular, urging the people to enter into it as the last and only method of preserving the land from slavery without drenching it in blood. An article in the Evening Post, sixth, characterized by Warren's vehement spirit, urged the adoption of the League and Covenant and the necessity of a Congress. If the colonies, it says, blind to their own true interest, shall madly prefer the present hour to

true happiness, and will not fully join us in what we have a right to ask, and they are bound by every consideration in nature to grant, let us then give up, for though I am for dying rather than betray the rights of America, yet I am not for sacrificing the town for nothing. And, mind it, O ye colonies, be it remembered by future generations, that the event of this struggle ensures happiness and freedom or miserable slavery to this continent. Act then like men. Appoint a general congress from

the several colonies. Unite as a firm band of brothers and ward off the evil intended or expect the derision of schoolboys and the execrations of posterity. A communication in the same paper also says, before we make any important moves, we want to have the grand congress or states general chosen by the whole continent, meet and form the union and the plans for operation. The Patriots now entered upon a week which promised to be marked by an uncommon interest

in matters pertaining to the town and to the province. The general court, by the king's particular commands, was in session at Salem, and the governor had signified that it would be held there until his majesty should have signified his royal will and pleasure for holding it again at Boston. The army, for which the Tories had been impatient, began to arrive when the people, it was said, would speak and act openly. The local question was now industriously agitated of compensation for

the tea, and there was the great measure of inaugurating a congress. The Tories were as zealous for the former as the Whigs were for the latter. A meeting of the tradesmen was held on the 15th of June, in which the question of paying for the tea was sharply discussed. Some of the patriots stood at the door of the hall, in which the meeting was held and opposed such a step. Some smart things, Dr. Young writes, were said pro and con on the subject, but it clearly appeared

the general sense to submit to all extremities before a shadow of concession was extorted from them. Still, the Tories were strong enough to ward off decisive action and to postpone the subject, and this fact gave Warren no little uneasiness. As distrustful of his ability as he was anxious for the cause, he wrote that afternoon the following letter to Samuel Adams, urging him to be present at the adjournment of the Port Act meeting on Friday the 17th, when a warm engagement

was expected with the Tories. Joseph Warren to Samuel Adams. Boston, June 15, 1774. Sir, this afternoon was a meeting of a considerable number of the tradesmen of this town, but after some altercations they dissolved themselves without coming to any resolutions for which I am very sorry, as we have had some expectations from the meeting. We are industrious to save our country, but not more so than others are trying to destroy it. The party who are for

paying for the tea, and by that making a way for every compliance, are too formidable. However, we have endeavored to convince friends of the impolicy of giving way in any single article, as the arguments for a total submission will certainly gain strength by our having sacrificed such a sum as they demand for the payment of the tea. I think your attendance can by no means be dispensed with next Friday. I believe we shall have a warm engagement. The committee had a letter

laid before them this evening from Baltimore, which more comports with my sentiments of public affairs than any yet received from the southward. That letter, with several others to you, will be forwarded in the morning. Vigilance, activity, and patience are necessary at this time, But the mistress we court is liberty, and it is better to die than not to obtain her. If the timidity of some and the treachery of others in this town does not ruin us,

I think we shall be saved. I fear New York will not assist us with a very good grace, but she may perhaps be ashamed to desert us. At least, if her merchants offer to sell us, her mechanics will forbid the auction. You will undoubtedly do all in your power to effect the relief of this town

and to expedite a general congress, but we must not suffer the town of Boston to render themselves contemptible, either by their want of fortitude, honesty, or foresight, in the eyes of this and the other colonies.

I beg you will not fail to bring with you all such papers and letters as may serve our righteous cause at our meeting Friday. I am, dear sir, with great respect, your honorable servant, J. Warren,

Mr. S. Adams at Salem. P.S. I think religion and policy require that a day be set apart for publicly addressing the King of Kings. The word from Baltimore, which was this evening so inspiring to Warren, was a generous outpour of patriotic spirit. Could we, the Baltimore Whigs wrote to Boston, remain a moment indifferent to your sufferings, the result of your noble and virtuous struggles in defense of American liberties, we should unworthily share in those blessings which,

under God, we owe in greatest measure to your perseverance and zeal in support of our common rights, that they have not ere now been wrested from us by the rapacious hand of power. Permit us, therefore, as brethren and fellow citizens embarked in one common interest, most effectually to sympathize with you, now suffering and persecuted in the cause of our country and to assure you of our readiness to concur in every reasonable measure that can be

devised for obtaining the most effectual and speedy relief to our distressed friends. After relating the progress of measures towards the Congress and the proposition to proceed by petition and remonstrance, the letter says, we cannot see the least ground for expecting relief by it. The contempt with which a similar petition was treated in 65 and many others since that period convince us that policy and reason of state, instead of justice and equity, are to

prescribe the rule of our future conduct, and that something more sensible than supplications will best serve our purpose. The following reply is copied from the original in Warren's handwriting. Boston, June 16, 1774 Gentlemen, we last evening received your generous and affectionate letter, third instant, enclosing your noble and spirited resolves.

Nothing gives us a more animating confidence of the happy event of our present struggle for the liberties of America or offers us greater support under the distress we now feel than the assurances we receive from our brethren of their readiness to join with us in every salutary measure for preserving the rights of the colonies and of their tender sympathy for us under our sufferings. We rejoice to find the respectable county of Baltimore so fully alarmed

at the public danger and so prudent and resolute in their measure to secure the blessings of freedom to their country. Our General Assembly is now sitting at Salem, about 20 miles from this town. We expect that members for a general Congress will speedily be elected by them. We hope by the next post to send you a full account of their proceedings. Post just going off, we can only add that we are, gentlemen, with the most unfeigned respect and

esteem. P.S. We think your caution of enclosing your letter to a friend is extremely just at this crisis of our affairs, and we shall follow your example. To Mr. Samuel Purviance, Jr. in Baltimore, to be communicated to the Committee of Correspondence there. It would be interesting to follow Warren through the next day, the 17th of June, and to give his talk in private and his public speech, but the personal notices of him are too scanty to frame such a piece of genuine

biography. On this day, the Port Act town meeting was to meet, by adjournment in Faneuil Hall, the first town meeting in the presence of British troops since the March meetings in 1770, and it may be inferred that his morning hours were not without apprehension on account of being obliged to meet and engagement with the Tories under peculiar circumstances, without that tower of strength to lean upon Samuel Adams. Nor could it have been without anxiety for the work which

he knew was before his friend in the general court at Salem. But it is history that, as the evening shades came on, his heart was bounding with joy. The public mind was greatly excited. Faneuil Hall could not contain the numbers who gathered, and hundreds who gave their countenance to the meeting remained outside. It was necessary to choose a moderator pro tem on account of the absence of Samuel Adams, and Joseph Beaudoin was first chosen, who, it was ascertained, was not at home,

and then John Rowe, who happened to be engaged. The Honorable John Adams Esquire was then chosen, who accepted. He had long avoided politics, had been rather a counselor than an actor, and he had not always approved of the popular action. This was his first appearance in a Boston town meeting as a leader. Indeed, it was his entrance upon a quarter of a century's uninterrupted political life,

during which it was his felicity to act as chief magistrate over the people whose liberties he was now laboring to maintain. The patriot was often introspective and sets down many frank revelations of the inner man. He felt more spirits and activity since the reception of the Port Act news than he had had for years. He also had more faith. He saw that the town of Boston must suffer martyrdom,

but it was his consolation that it was in the cause of truth, of virtue, of liberty, and of humanity. It would have a glorious resurrection to greater wealth, splendor, and power than ever. It was the principal object of the meeting to receive and act upon an expected report from the Committee of Ways and Means to provide employment for the poor. End of chapter 10, part 1.