GOVERNOR BERNARD'S EMBARRASSMENTS

3

the House, together with Mr. Otis and three other members, were appointed a committee to take the last paragraph under consideration, to prepare a proper answer and report.

Neither did this committee report; but on the next day the House, 'taking into consideration the many difficulties to which the colonies were and must be reduced by the operation of some late Acts of Parliament,' appointed another committee, consisting of the Speaker and eight other members, of whom Otis was one, to consider what measures had best be taken, and make report. The measure had been preconcerted.

The biographer then goes on to state, that this committee at once reported in favour of a meeting of similar bodies from the Houses of Representatives or burgesses in the thirteen colonies, to be held at New York on the first Tuesday in October, for the purpose of discussing the most efficacious means of protecting their common interests.

It is highly expedient there should be a meeting, as soon as may be, of Committees from the houses of representatives or burgesses in the several Colonies, to consult on the present circumstances of the Colonies, and the difficulties to which they are, and must be reduced, and to consider of a general address-to be held at New York the first Tuesday of October.1

Neither the authorities in England nor the Governor and Council seem to have objected to this gathering, although one proposed about forty years earlier had been stigmatised as mutinous. The Governor, indeed, wrote to the Lords of Trade:

It was impossible to oppose this measure to any good purpose; and therefore the friends of Government took the lead in it, and have kept it in their own hands. Two of the three chosen are fast friends to Government, prudent and discreet men, such as I am assured will never consent to any improper application to the Government of Great Britain.2

The original delegates from Massachusetts were James Otis the younger-from whom in concert with his father the idea was supposed to emanate-Colonel Worthington, and Colonel Partridge. Worthington excused himself, and was

1 Gordon, History, &c., of the United States of America, vol. i. Letter III. 2 Ibid.

replaced by Brigadier-General Timothy Ruggles, who became president of the congress, a position which proved no sine

cure.

The proceedings may be here summarised, although they did not begin till late in the year. Advanced opinions were propounded; Otis signed papers inconsistent with the idea of submission to Parliament, and declared American representation to be impracticable.' Ruggles refused his signature and cast his lot with the Tories henceforth,' writes Hosmer. This Bancroft, in his peculiar language, styles being full of scruples and timidities.' Ogden, of New York, supported him; but the meeting was too divided to settle anything, though nine colonies only were represented, until the unlucky arrival of a cargo of stamps, and the consequent turmoil, induced the majority to consult their safety by signing the above-mentioned docu

ments.

Mr. Hutchinson says that

2

The terms Whig and Tory had never been much used in America. The Massachusetts people, in general, were of the principles of the ancient Whigs; attached to the Revolution, and to the succession of the Crown in the house of Hanover. A very few, who might have been called Tories in England, took the name of Jacobites in America.3

But now this was altered by the agitators:

All on a sudden, the officers of the Crown, and such as were for keeping up their authority, were branded with the name of Tories, always the term of reproach; their opposers assuming the name of Whigs, because the common people, as far as they had been acquainted with the parties in England, all supposed the Whigs to have been in the right and the Tories in the

wrong.

Agitation prevailed more or less in every province during the whole summer of 1765. As regarded Massachusetts it

Hosmer, Samuel Adams, ch. v., 'Parliamentary Representation and the Massachusetts Resolves.' See also other histories.

2 Bancroft, Hist. U.S., Epoch ii. ch. xii.

Hutchinson, Hist. Mass. ch. ii.

THE FIRST CARGO OF STAMPS

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came to a climax in August, when the first cargo of stamps was daily expected to reach Boston.

The daybreak of Wednesday, the 14th of August [writes Bancroft], saw the effigy of Oliver, the stamp distributor for Boston, tricked out with emblems of Bute and Grenville, swinging on the bough of an elm, the pride of the neighbourhood, known as 'the Great Tree,' standing near what was then the entrance to the town. The pageant had been secretly prepared by Boston mechanics, true-born sons of Liberty: Benjamin Edes, the printer; Thomas Crafts, the painter; John Smith and Stephen Cleverly, the braziers; and the younger Avery; Thomas Chase, a hater of kings; Henry Bass and Henry Welles. The passers-by stopped to gaze on the grotesque show, and their report collected thousands. Hutchinson, as Chief Justice, ordered the Sheriff to remove the images. 'We will take them down ourselves at even

ing,' said the people. Bernard summoned his Council. The country,' whatever may be the consequence, said some of them, will never submit to the execution of the Stamp Act.' The majority spoke against interfering with the people. Bernard and Hutchinson were still engaged in impotent altercations with their advisers, when, just after dark, an 'amazing' multitude, moving in the greatest order, and following the images borne on a bier, after passing down the main street, marched directly through the old State House and under the Council Chamber itself, shouting at the top of their voices Liberty, property, and no stamps!' Giving three huzzas of defiance, they next in Kilby Street demolished the frame of a building which they thought Oliver destined for a stamp office; and with the wooden trophies made a funeral pyre for his effigy in front of his house on Fort Hill.

of

The Stamp Act shall not be executed here,' exclaimed one who spoke the general sentiment. 'Death to the man who offers a piece of stamped paper to sell!' cried others. All the power Great Britain,' said a third, 'shall not oblige us to submit to the Stamp Act.' We will die upon the place first' declared even the sober-minded. We have sixty thousand fighting men in the colony alone,' wrote Mayhew. And we will spend our last blood in the cause,' repeated his townsmen.

Hutchinson directed the Colonel of the Militia to beat an alarm. 'My drummers are in the mob,' was his answer. With the Sheriff, Hutchinson went up to disperse the crowd. 'Stand by, my boys,' cried a ringleader; 'let no man give way;' and Hutchin

son, as he fled, was obliged to run the gauntlet, not escaping without one or two blows. At eleven, the multitude repaired to the Province House, where Bernard lived, and after three cheers they dispersed quietly.'

This account of Mr. Hutchinson's behaviour must be received with the greatest caution. It is part of Bancroft's plan to brand the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and all prominent loyalists as cowards. Moreover, this historian appears to have given a very mitigated account of the riot. In a letter quoted by the English historian, Belsham, himself a man of decidedly liberal principles, we have the view taken by a contemporary resident in Boston; the letter having, as the historian states, been selected from amongst a large number of similar documents giving narratives of these most dreadful disturbances.' The first part of the letter describes the hanging of Oliver in effigy, and the demolition of the supposed stamp office, to the same effect as Bancroft. The writer then proceeds to notice an attack on Mr. Oliver's own house:

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Mr. Oliver had removed his family from his house, and remained himself with a few friends, when the mob returned to attack the house. Mr. Oliver was prevailed upon to retire, and his friends kept possession of the house. The mob, finding the door barricaded, broke down the whole fence of the garden towards Fort Hill; and coming on, beat in all the doors and windows of the garden front, and entered the house, the gentlemen then retiring. As soon as they had got possession, they searched about for Mr. Oliver, declaring they would kill him. Finding that he had left the house, a party set out to search two neighbouring houses, in one of which Mr. Oliver was; but happily they were diverted from this pursuit by a gentleman telling them that Mr. Oliver was gone with the Governor to the Castle, otherwise he would certainly have been murdered.

After eleven o'clock, the mob seeming to grow quiet, the Lieutenant-Governor (Chief Justice) and the Sheriff ventured to go to Mr. Oliver's house, to endeavour to persuade them to disperse. As soon as they began to speak, a ringleader cried out, The Governor and the Sheriff! to your arms, my boys!'

1 Bancroft, History U.S., Epoch ii. ch. xi.

Presently after a volley of stones followed, and the two gentlemen narrowly escaped through the favour of the night.1

2

Bancroft represents Governor Bernard as deserting his post by hurrying to the Castle, and adds the minute detail, on what authority I know not, that he did not cease trembling even within its walls.' It has, however, been shown that the Castle was his customary residence during the hot months, and he was especially careful to be there at this particular moment to prepare for the arrival of the stamps. The British Government left him without official information; but it was strongly rumoured that at any hour the stamps might arrive, not carefully guarded, but packed on an ordinary merchant-vessel; he had therefore strengthened the fort and garrison, and was on the watch to ensure that the stamps should be carried there direct. In default of such precautions it was probable that the people would at once seize and destroy them, thus committing the town to an open defiance of Government. On hearing of the riot, however, the Governor hurried, not out of, but into, Boston. Bancroft's own narrative shows that he was deliberating with his Council that same evening, and was at the Province House when the rioters passed it at 11 P.M. The hour must have been late for the Boston of that period, and it is most likely that Mr. Bernard, having been detained so long and by such serious manifestations, would remain in the Government mansion until the morning.

With regard to the ensuing days he was probably guided by circumstances, not losing sight of the possible arrival of the stamps, but spending much of his time in Boston when necessary. The incapacity of the British Government was singularly manifest by the fact that, while eagerly forcing obnoxious measures on the American colonists, it had left

'Belsham, Memoirs of the Reign of George III., 6th Edn., Appendix to vol. ii. 'Papers Relative to American Taxation.'

2 Julia Bernard has stated in her Reminiscences that the Governor and his family always spent the hot months at Castle William (see ch. viii.), and Thomas Bernard testifies to his father's measures for the reception and safe custody of the expected stamps. See Life of Sir Francis Bernard, by One of his Sons (Thomas).