XV1. 1768. Hillsborough, in which the egregious misappre- Book hension of his lordship, with regard to the mode in which the resolution had passed the house, was corrected; and the house then agreed on a message to the governor, in which they said"It is to us incomprehensible that we should be required, on the peril of a dissolution of the general court, to rescind a resolution of a former house, when it is evident that that resolution has no existence but as a mere historical fact. Your excellency must know that the resolution is, to speak the language of the common law, not now executory, but to all intents and purposes executed. If, as is most probable, by the word rescinding is intended the passing a vote in direct and express disapprobation of the measure of the former house, we must take the liberty to testify, and publicly to declare, that we take it to be the native, inherent, and indefeasible right of the subject jointly or severally to petition the king for the redress of grievances. If the votes of the house are to be controlled by the directions of a minister, we have left us but a vain semblance of liberty. We have now only to inform you, that this house have voted NOT to RESCIND; and that, on the division on the question, there were ninety-two yeas, and seventeen nays." The next day the governor dissolved the assembly. In the course of the debate which BOOK preceded this resolution, a member of the asXVI. sembly said, "When lord Hillsborough knows 1768. that we will not rescind our acts, he should apply to parliament to rescind theirs. Let Britain rescind her measures, or she will lose America for ever." At the same time that lord Hillsborough transmitted his majesty's high commands to sir Francis Bernard, he wrote a circular letter to the governors of the different provinces, in which, referring to the letter of the Massachusetts' assembly, his lordship said, "It is his majesty's PLEASURE that you should, immediately on the receipt hereof, exert your utmost influence to defeat this flagitious attempt to disturb the public peace, by prevailing upon the assembly of the province to take no notice of it; which will be treating it with the contempt it deserves." The contempt of the Americans was reserved however for the letter of his lordship; the assemblies throughout the continent highly applauding the conduct of the Massachusetts, and almost unanimously passing votes and resolves according with the spirit of the letter received from Boston. The assembly of New York in particular, whose principles were supposed most favorable to loyalty, answered it in the most respectful terms, and appointed a committee of correspondence to consult with the other colonies on the measures to be pursued in the present BOOK crisis; upon which that assembly also was dissolved. Orders also were transmitted by lord Hillsborough to governor Penn, to dissolve the assembly of Pennsylvania; his lordship, by a pleasant mistake, not recollecting it to be the established and chartered privilege of that house to sit on their own adjournments, and that the governor had no power to dissolve them. XVI. 1768. In the midst of the ferment occasioned by these proceedings, a sloop, called the Liberty, laden with wine from Madeira, was seized under authority of the commissioners of the customs for a false entry; and being cut by force from her moorings, was by their order removed under the guns of the Romney, a ship of war lying in the harbour of Boston. The minds of the populace being greatly inflamed, a violent riot ensued, in which the houses of the commissioners were assailed, their persons grossly insulted, and they were compelled to take refuge at first on board the Romney, and afterwards at the fortress adjacent to the town, called Castle William. It being now thought necessary by government, which disdained every idea of concession or retractation, to station a considerable military and naval force at the town of Boston, orders were issued for that purpose, and also for repairing the fortress of Castle William. On receiving this 1 BOOK intelligence, a meeting of the principal inhabiXVI. ☑tants of Boston was called, and an address pre 1768. sented by them to the governor, praying him in the most urgent terms to issue precepts forthwith for convening a general assembly; but this his excellency declared he could not do without receiving his majesty's commands. The legality of the meeting also was peremptorily denied by the governor, who declared the conveners of it to be guilty of an high offence, admonishing them to consider the penalties they were incurring by continuing their session; and he protested that, if they did not attend to this warning, he must assert the prerogative of the crown in a more public manner; adding, in a tone of menace, "that they may assure themselves, for he spoke from INSTRUCTION, that the KING was determined to maintain his ENTIRE SOVEREIGNTY over that province; and whoever should persist in ufurping any of the rights of it would REPENT his RASHNESS." But the governor seemed not to recollect, that those who usurp the RIGHTS of the PEOPLE may be made to repent their RASHNESS, as well as those who invade the PREROGATIVE of the SOVEREIGN. A number of votes expressive of the agitation of the public mind were unanimously passed, and amongst them is a resolve, that those inhabitants who are not provided with arms be requested to furnish themselves forth XVI. with. On the first of October, 1768, the troops BOOK landed under cover of a considerable fleet, consisting of fourteen ships of war of different de- 1768. scriptions, lying in the harbour of Boston, with their broadsides to the town; and marching into this metropolis with bayonets fixed, drums beating, and colours flying, with a train of artillery accompanying them, the imagination of the inhabitants was impressed with all the ideas associated with the insolence of conquest and the horrors of military despotism. In the ensuing month of February, 1769, a joint address was moved and presented by both houses of parliament to the king, expressing their satisfaction in the measures already pursued, and giving him the strongest assurances "that they would support him in such farther measures as might be found necessary to maintain the civil magistrates in a due execution of the laws within the Massachusetts' Bay; and beseeching him to direct the governor to take the most effectual methods for procuring the fullest information touching all TREASONS committed within that government since the 30th December 1767, and to transmit the same, with the names of the persons most active in the commission of such offences, in order that his majesty might issue a special commission for hearing and determining the said offences within the realm, pursuant to the |