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prising mind, tempered by judgment and quickly improved by experience.

CHAP. I.

1758.

Col. Washing

Not long after his resignation he was married to the widow Marriage of of Mr. Curtis, a lady to whom he had been for some time ton. strongly attached, and who, to a large fortune and a fine person, added those amiable accomplishments which ensure domestic happiness, and fill with silent but unceasing felicity the quiet scenes of private life.

CHAPTER

CHAPTER II.

OPINIONS ON THE SUPREMACY OF PARLIAMENT, AND ITS RIGHT TO TAX THE COLONIES STAMP ACT-CONGRESS ASSEMBLE AT NEW YORK-VIOLENCE IN THE GREAT TOWNS-CHANGE OF ADACT REPEALED OPPOSITION то THE

MINISTRATION-STAMP

MUTINY ACT-ACT IMPOSING DUTIES ON TEA, ETC. RESISTED IN AMERICA-THE ASSEMBLY OF MASSACHUSSETTS ADDRESS LETTERS TO SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THE ADMINISTRATION IN ENGLAND-PETITION то THE KING-CIRCULAR LETTER то ASSEMBLIES-LETTER FROM THE EARL OF OF MASSACHUSSETTS DISSOLVED

THE COLONIAL

HILLSBOROUGH-ASSEMBLY

SEIZURE OF THE SLOOP LIBERTY-A CONVENTION ASSEMBLES OF ITS PROCEED

АТ FANEUIL-HALL, BOSTON-MODERATION

INGS-PROCEEDINGS

OF PARLIAMENT RESOLUTIONS OF THE

HOUSE OF BURGESSES OF VIRGINIA-THE GOVERNOR DISSOLVES THE ASSEMBLY-THE MEMBERS FORM AND SIGN A NON-IMPORTATION AGREEMENT-MEASURES GENERALLY TAKEN AGAINST THE IMPORTATION OF BRITISH MANUFACTURES-GENERAL COURT AGAIN CONVENED IN MASSACHUSSETTS-ITS PROCEEDINGS-IS PROROGUED-ADMINISTRATION RESOLVE ON A REPEAL OF ALL THE DUTIES EXCEPT THAT ON TEA-CIRCULAR LETTER OF THE EARL OF HILLSBOROUGH NEW YORK RECEDES IN PART FROM THE NONIMPORTATION AGREEMENT-RIOT IN BOSTON-TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL OF CAPT. PRESTON INSURRECTION IN NORTH CAROLINA DISSATISFACTION OF MASSACHUSSETTS-CORRESPONDING COMMITTEES APPOINTED-GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH ADMINISTRATION SENT OVER BY DR. FRANKLIN-THE AS

SEMBLY

SEMBLY PETITION FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE GOVERNOR AND
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR-HUTCHINSON IS SUCCEEDED BY GENERAL

GAGE.

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T no period of time was the attachment of the colonists to the mother country more strong or more general than at present *. The war just concluded had very deeply interested every part of the continent; every colony had been engaged in it, and every colony had felt its ravages. The part taken in it by Indian auxiliaries had greatly increased its horrors, and had added to the joy produced in every bosom by its successful termination. The union of that vast tract of country, which extends from the Atlantic to the Mississipi, and from the Gulph of Mexico to the north pole, under one common sovereign, was deemed a certain guarantee of future peace, and an effectual security against the return of those bloody scenes, from the sufferings of which no condition in life could afford an exemption.

* After the expulsion of the French from Canada, a considerable degree of ill-humour was manifested in Massachussetts, with respect to the manner in which the laws of trade were executed. A question was agitated in the court, in which the colony took a very deep interest. A custom-house officer applied for what was termed "a writ of assistance," which was an authority to search any house whatever for articles chargeable with duty suspected to be concealed in it. The right to grant special warrants was never contested; but this grant of a general warrant was deemed contrary to the principles of liberty, and was thought an engine of oppression equally useless and vexatious, which would enable every petty officer of the customs to gratify his resentments by harassing the most respectable men in the province. The ill-temper excited on this occasion was shown by a reduction of the salaries of the judges, but no diminution of attachment to the mother country appears to have been produced by it.

VOL. 11.

M

This

CHAP. II.

1763.

CHAP. II.

1763.

Opinions on

the supremacy

and its right to

tax the colo

This state of things, so long and so anxiously wished for by British America, had at length been effected by the union of British and American valour. They had co-operated in the same service; their blood had mingled in the same plains; and the object pursued was common to both people.

While the British nation was endeared to the American heart by this community of danger and identity of interest, the brilliant achievements of the war had exalted to enthusiasm their admiration of British valour. They were proud of the land of their ancestors, and gloried in their descent from Englishmen. But this sentiment of admiration was not confined to the military character of the nation. A full portion of it was bestowed on their political institutions; and while the excellence of the English constitution was a rich theme of declamation in America, every man believed himself entitled to a large share of its advantages; nor could he admit that, by crossing the Atlantic, his ancestors had relinquished the essential rights of British subjects.

The degree of authority which might rightfully be exercised of Parliament, by the mother country over her colonies had never been accurately defined. In Britain it had always been asserted, that Parliament possessed the power of binding them in all cases whatsoever. In America, at different times, and in different colonies, different opinions had been entertained on this subject.

nies.

In New England, originally settled by republicans, and, during the depression of the regal government, the favourite of the English nation, habits of independence had nourished the theory,

4

of

theory, that the colonial assemblies possessed all the powers legislation not surrendered by compact: that the Americans were subjects of the British crown, but not of the nation; and were bound by no laws to which their representatives had not assented. From this high ground they had been compelled reluctantly to recede. The judges, being generally appointed by the governors, with the advice of council, had determined that the colonies were bound by acts of parliament which concerned them, and which were expressly extended to them; and we have seen the general court of Massachussetts, on a late occasion, explicitly recognising the same principle. This had perhaps become the opinion of many of the best informed men in the province; but the doctrine seems still to have been extensively maintained, that acts of parliament possessed only an external obligation; that they could regulate commerce, but not the interior affairs of the colonies.

In the year 1692, immediately after the receipt of their new charter granted by William and Mary, the legislature of Massachussetts had passed an act denying most explicitly the right of any authority, other than that of the General Court, to impose on the colony any tax whatever; and also asserting those principles of national liberty which are found in Magna Charta. Not long afterwards the legislature of New York, probably with a view only to the authority claimed by the Governor, and not to that of the mother country, passed an act similar to that of Massachussetts, in which its own supremacy, not only in matters of taxation, but of general legislation, is expressly asserted. Both these acts, however, were disapproved in England, and the Parliament asserted its autho

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CHAP. II.

1763.

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