twenty shillings on any of its inhabitants" that should use or improve any stamped vellum or paper;" its Sons of Liberty were ready "to oppose the unconstitutional stamp act to the last extremity, even to take the field." The county of New London, meeting at Lyme, declared "the general safety and privileges of all the colonies to depend on a firm union;" and they appointed Major John Durkee to correspond with the Sons of Liberty in the adjoining provinces. Israel Putnam, the brave patriot of Pomfret,

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whose people derived their connection with England from a compact, their freedom from God and nature, rode from town to town through the eastern part of Connecticut to see what number of men could be depended upon, and gave out that he could lead forth ten thousand. Massachusetts spoke through its house of representatives, which convened in the middle of January. They called on impartial history to record their glorious stand even against an act of parliament, and that the union of all the colonies was upon a motion made in their house. Insisting that "the courts of justice must be open, open immediately," they voted, sixty-six against four, that the shutting of them was not only "a very great grievance requiring immediate redress," but "dangerous to his majesty's crown."

The

Bernard, who consulted in secret a "select council," unknown to the law, in which the principal advisers were Hutchinson and Oliver, opposed all concession. Tranquillity, he assured the secretary of state, could not be restored by "lenient methods." "There will be no submission," reported he, "until there is a subjection. people here occasionally talk very high of their power to resist Great Britain; but it is all talk. They talk of revolting from Great Britain in the most familiar manner, and declare that, though the British forces should possess themselves of the coast and maritime towns, they never will subdue the inland. But nothing can be more idle. New York and Boston would both be defenceless to a royal fleet; and, they being possessed by the king's forces, no other town or place could stand out. A forcible subjection is

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unavoidable, let it cost what it will. The forces, when they come, should be respectable enough not to encourage resistance, that, when the people are taught they have a superior, they may know it effectually. I hope that New York, as well upon account of its superior rank and greater professions of resistance, and of its being the head-quarters, will have the honor of being subdued first."

CHAPTER XXI.

HAS PARLIAMENT THE RIGHT TO TAX AMERICA? ROCKINGHAM'S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED.

JANUARY, 1766.

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SIR JEFFREY AMHERST, in his advice to the ministry, strenuously opposed the repeal of the stamp act. During the recess of parliament, Egmont, Conway, Dowdeswell, Dartmouth, and Charles Yorke, met at the house of Rockingham. To modify, but not to repeal the American tax, and to enact the penalty of high treason against any one who, by speaking or writing, should impeach the legislative authority of parliament, were measures proposed in this assembly; but they did not prevail. The ministry could form no plan of mutual support, and decided nothing but the words of the speech. The world looked from them to an individual in private life, unconnected and poor, vainly seeking at Bath relief from infirmities that would have crushed a less hopeful mind.

The cabinet, therefore, yielding to Grafton and Conway, requested Pitt's advice to the measures as proper to be taken with regard to America, and expressed a desire, now or at any future time, for his reception among them as their head. This vague and indefinite offer of place, unsanctioned by the king, was but a concession from the aristocratic portion of the whigs to a necessity of seeking support. Pitt remembered the former treachery of Newcastle; and, being resolved never to accept office through him or his connections, he treated their invitation as an unmeaning compliment, declaring that he would support those, and those only, who acted on true revolution principles. The state of his health demanded quiet and absence from the chapel

of St. Stephen's, but the excitement of his mind gave him a respite from pain. "My resolution," said he, "is taken; and, if I can crawl or be carried, I will deliver my mind and heart upon the state of America."

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On the fourteenth of January, the king acquainted parliament that " matters of importance had happened in America, and orders been issued for the support of lawful authority." "Whatever remained to be done, he committed to their wisdom."

The lords in their reply, which was moved by Dartmouth, pledged their "utmost endeavors to assert and support the king's dignity, and the legislative authority of the kingdom over its colonies." The friends of the king and of the late ministry willingly agreed to words which seemed to imply the purpose of enforcing the stamp act.

The meeting of the house of commons was very full. The address submitted for their adoption was of no marked character, yet the speeches of the members who proposed it indicated the willingness of the administration to repeal the American tax. In the course of a long debate, Pitt entered most unexpectedly, having arrived in town that morning.

The adherents of the late ministry took great offence at the tenderness of expression respecting America. Nugent, particularly, insisted that the honor and dignity of the kingdom obliged them to compel the execution of the stamp act, except the right was acknowledged and the repeal solicited as a favor. He expostulated on the ingratitude of the colonies. He computed the expense of the troops employed in America for what he called its defence at ninepence in the pound of the British land-tax, while the stamp act would not raise a shilling a head on the inhabitants in America; "but," said he, "a peppercorn, in acknowledgment of the right, is of more value than millions without."

The eyes of all the house turned towards Pitt, as the venerable man rose in his place; and the Americans present in the gallery gazed at him as at the appearance of their good "angel, or their savior."

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"I approve the address in answer to the king's speech; for it decides nothing, and leaves every member free to act as he will." Such was his opening sarcasm. "The notice given to parliament of the troubles was not early, and it ought to have been immediate.

Jan.

"I speak not with respect to parties. I stand up in this place single, unsolicited, and unconnected. As to the late ministry," and he turned scornfully towards Grenville, who sat within one of him, "every capital measure they have taken is entirely wrong. To the present ministry, to those, at least, whom I have in my eye," looking at Conway and the lords of the treasury, "I have no objection. Their characters are fair. But pardon me, gentlemen. Youth is the season for credulity; confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom. By comparing events with each other, reasoning from effects to causes, methinks I discover the traces of overruling influences." This he said, referring to the Duke of Newcastle.

"It is a long time," he continued, "since I have attended in parliament. When the resolution was taken in the house to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could have endured to have been carried in my bed, so great was the agitation of my mind for the consequences, I would have solicited some kind hand to have laid me down on this floor, to have borne my testimony against it. It is now an act that has passed. I would speak with decency of every act of this house, but I must beg indulgence to speak of it with freedom. The subject of this debate is of greater importance than ever engaged the attention of this house, that subject only excepted, when, nearly a century ago, it was a question whether you yourselves were to be bond or free. The manner in which this affair will be terminated will decide the judgment of posterity on the glory of this kingdom, and the wisdom of its government during the present reign.

"As my health and life are so very infirm and precarious that I may not be able to attend on the day that may be fixed by the house for the consideration of America, I must now, though somewhat unseasonably, leaving the expediency