Читать книгу The Life & Legacy of George Washington - John Marshall - Страница 38

[146] Minot Gazette.

[147] See note No. II, at the end of the volume.

[148] Minot.

[149] Minot.

[150] Minot.

[151] Minot. Belknap. Entic.

[152] Minot. Belknap. Entic.

[153] He was also recalled from his government.

[154] The northern colonies had been enabled to attend to these representations, and, in some degree to comply with the requisitions made on them, by having received from the British government, in the course of the summer, a considerable sum of money as a reimbursement for the extraordinary expenses of the preceding year. One hundred and fifteen thousand pounds sterling had been apportioned among them, and this sum gave new vigour and energy to their councils.

[155] Minot. Belknap. Entic.

[156] Fussel.

[157] Minot.

[158] Minot. Belknap.

[159] Minot. Belknap. Belsham. Russel.

[160] Letter of general Abercrombie.

[161] Minot. Belknap.

[162] Letter of colonel Bradstreet.

[163] MSS.

[164] Minot. Belknap. Belsham. Russel. Entic.

[165] Minot. Belknap. Belsham. Russel. New York Gazette.

[166] Belsham.

[167] These accounts must be exaggerated. According to the letter of general Townshend, the force engaged on the Plains of Abraham amounted to three thousand five hundred men; and not more than fifteen hundred are stated to have been detached under Bougainville.

[168] Belsham.

[169] Belsham. Russel.

[170] Belsham.

[171] Belsham.

[172] Belsham. Russel.

[173] Townshend's letter.

[174] Townshend's letter. Belsham. Russel. Gazette.

[175] Russel.

[176] Minot. Belknap. Belsham. Russel.

[177] History of South Carolina and Georgia.

[178] After the expulsion of the French from Canada, a considerable degree of ill humour was manifested in Massachusetts with respect to the manner in which the laws of trade were executed. A question was agitated in 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 for dutiable articles suspected to be concealed in it. The right to grant special warrants was not contested; but this grant of a general warrant was deemed contrary to the principles of liberty, and 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.

[179] Belsham.

[180] Belsham. Minot.

[181] Minot.

[182] 100,000l. sterling.

[183] Mr. Pitt was not in the house; and Mr. Ingersoll, in his letter, states that Alderman Beckford joined General Conway. Mr. Belsham, therefore, who makes this statement, was probably mistaken.

[184] See note No. III, at the end of the volume.

[185] Prior documents. Virginia Gazette.

[186] Minot.

[187] See note No. IV, at the end of the volume.

[188] Minot. Prior documents.

[189] Minot.

[190] Minot. Prior documents. Belsham.

[191] Minot.

[192] Belsham.

[193] Prior documents.

[194] See note No. V, at the end of the volume.

[195] Minot.

[196] Prior documents.

[197] In this letter the house of Burgesses express their opinion of the mutiny act in the following terms: "The act suspending the legislative power of New York, they consider as still more alarming to the colonies, though it has that single province in view. If parliament can compel them to furnish a single article to the troops sent over, they may, by the same rule, oblige them to furnish clothes, arms, and every other necessary, even the pay of the officers and soldiers; a doctrine replete with every mischief, and utterly subversive of all that's dear and valuable; for what advantage can the people of the colonies derive from choosing their own representatives, if those representatives, when chosen, be not permitted to exercise their own judgments, be under a necessity (on pain of being deprived of their legislative authority) of enforcing the mandates of a British parliament."

[198] Prior documents.

[199] Prior documents.

[200] Minot.

[201] Minot. Prior documents.

[202] Minot.

[203] Minot.

[204] Minot.

[205] Minot.

[206] Gazette.

[207] Minot.

[208] Belsham. Prior documents.

[209] Gazette. Prior documents.

[210] Gazette. Prior documents.

[211] Minot.

[212] Gazette. Prior documents.

[213] Prior documents. Minot.

[214] Minot.

[215] Prior documents.

[216] Minot.

[217] Gazette.

[218] Minot. Prior documents. Gazette.

[219] Almost at the same time, and without concert, the same measure was adopted in Virginia.

[220] See note No. VI, at the end of the volume.

[221] Minot.

[222] Minot. Belsham.

[223] The language said by Mr. Gordon to have been used at this meeting proves that many of the people of Boston were already ripe for the revolution. To the more cautious among "the sons of liberty" who had expressed some apprehensions lest they should push the matter too far, and involve the colony in a quarrel with Great Britain, others answered "It must come to a quarrel between Great Britain and the colony sooner or later; and if so what can be a better time than the present? Hundreds of years may pass away before parliament will make such a number of acts in violation as it has done of late years, and by which it has excited so formidable an opposition to the measures of administration. Besides, the longer the contest is delayed, the more administration will be strengthened. Do not you observe how the government at home are increasing their party here by sending over young fellows to enjoy appointments, who marry into our best families, and so weaken the opposition? By such means, and by multiplying posts and places, and giving them to their own friends, or applying them to the corruption of their antagonists, they will increase their own force faster in proportion, than the force of the country party will increase by population. If then we must quarrel ere we can have our rights secured, now is the most eligible period. Our credit also is at stake; we must venture, and unless we do, we shall be discarded by the sons of liberty in the other colonies, whose assistance we may expect upon emergencies, in case they find us steady, resolute, and faithful."

[224] Mr. Quincy.

[225] Minot.

[226] Minot.

[227] Belsham.

[228] Belsham.

[229] Idem.

[230] Belsham.

[231] Idem.

[232] Minot.

[233] Belsham. Minot.

[234] Those of North Carolina arrived on the fourteenth.

[235] See note No. VII, at the end of the volume.

[236] See note No. VIII, at the end of the volume.

[237] See note No. IX, at the end of the volume.

[238] The committee which prepared this eloquent and manly address, were Mr. Lee, Mr. Livingston, and Mr. Jay. The composition has been generally attributed to Mr. Jay.

[239] The committee which brought in this admirably well drawn, and truly conciliatory address, were Mr. Lee, Mr. John Adams, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Henry, Mr. Rutledge, and Mr. Dickinson. The original composition has been generally attributed to Mr. Dickinson.

[240] Mr. Lee, Mr. Livingston, and Mr. Jay, were also the committee who brought in this address.

[241] These letters, as well as that to the inhabitants of the province of Quebec, were prepared by Mr. Cushing, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Dickinson.

[242] Minot.

[243] Belsham.

[244] Belsham.

[245] Prior documents. Minot.

[246] The independent companies of the upper part of the northern neck, also assembled to the number of about six hundred men, and proceeded on horseback as far as Fredericksburg, when a council was held in which Richard Henry Lee, then on his way to congress, presided, which advised their return to their respective homes.

[247] Gordon.

[248] Journals of congress.

[249] Artemus Ward of Massachusetts, then commanding the troops before Boston; Colonel Charles Lee, lately an officer in the British service; and Israel Putnam of Connecticut, were appointed major generals; Horatio Gates, who had held the rank of major in the British service, was appointed adjutant general.