Events of 1769—Unjust Imputations of Parliament on the Loyalty of the Colonists, and Misrepresentations of their Just and Loyal Petitions.

The earliest proceedings of this year in regard to the American colonies took place in the British Parliament. In all the resolutions, protests, addresses, and petitions which had been adopted by American Assemblies and at town meetings, asserting the exclusive right of the colonists to tax themselves, and against taxation without representation by the British Parliament, they professed heartfelt loyalty to the King, and disclaimed all views of independence; while in England the Parliament asserted unlimited supremacy in and over the colonies, and the Royal speeches, as well as the resolutions and addresses adopted by the Lords and Commons, represented the colonies as being in a state of disobedience to law and government, adopting measures subversive of the constitution, and manifesting a disposition to throw off all allegiance to the mother country. The House of Lords passed resolutions censuring the resolutions and proceedings of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, pronouncing the election of deputies to sit in Convention, and the meeting of that Convention at Boston, daring insults to his Majesty\'s authority, and audacious usurpations of the powers of Government; yet, as has been seen, that Convention expressly disclaimed any assumption of government, and simply expressed the grievances complained of, prayed for their redress, declared their loyalty to the King, and recognition of the supreme authority of Parliament according to the constitution, and quietly dissolved. But the House of Commons declared [Pg 354]concurrence in the resolutions of the Lords; and both Houses, in their address to the King, endorsed the measures of his Ministers, declared their readiness to give effectual support to such further measures as might be found necessary to execute the laws in Massachusetts Bay, and prayed his Majesty "to direct the Governor (Barnard) to take the most effectual methods for procuring the fullest information touching all treason or misprision of treason within the Government since the 30th day of December, 1767, and to transmit the same, together with the names of the persons who were most active in the commission of such offences, to one of the Secretaries of State, in order that his Majesty might issue a special commission for inquiring, hearing and determining the said offences, within the realm of Great Britain, pursuant to the provision of the statute of the 35th of Henry the Eighth."

The holding of town-meetings and their election of deputies, etc., were as much provided for in the provincial laws as the meeting and proceedings of the House of Representatives, or as are the meetings and proceedings of town, and township, and county municipal councils in Canada. The wholesale denunciations of disloyalty and treason against the people of a country was calculated to exasperate and produce the very feelings imputed; and the proposal of the two Houses of Parliament to make the Governor of Massachusetts Bay a detective and informer-general against persons opposed to his administration and the measures of the British Ministry, and the proposition to have them arrested and brought 3,000 miles over the ocean to England, for trial before a special commission, for treason or misprision of treason, show what unjust, unconstitutional, and foolish things Parliaments as well as individuals may sometimes perpetrate. Nothing has more impressed the writer, in going through this protracted war of words, preliminary to the unhappy war of swords, than the great superiority, even as literary compositions, much more as State documents, of the addresses and petitions of the Colonial Assemblies, and even public meetings, and the letters of their representatives, when compared with the dispatches of the British Ministry of that day and the writings of their partizans.

The resolutions and joint address of the Houses of Parliament, which were adopted in February, reached America in[Pg 355] April, and gave great offence to the colonists generally instead of exciting terror, especially the part of the address which proposed bringing alleged offenders from Massachusetts to be tried at a tribunal in Great Britain. Massachusetts had no General Assembly at that time, as Governor Barnard had dissolved the last Assembly, and the time prescribed by the Charter for calling one had not arrived; but the House of Burgesses of the old, loyal Church of England colony of Virginia took the state of all the colonies into serious consideration, passed several resolutions, and directed their Speaker to transmit them without delay to the Speakers of the Assemblies of all the colonies on the continent for their concurrence. In these resolutions the House of Burgesses declare—"That the sole right of imposing taxes on the inhabitants of this colony is now, and ever hath been, legally and constitutionally vested in the House of Burgesses, with consent of the Council, and of the King or his Governor for the time being; that it is the privilege of the inhabitants to petition their Sovereign for redress of grievances, and that it is lawful to procure the concurrence of his Majesty\'s other colonies in dutiful addresses, praying the Royal interposition in favour of the violated rights of America; that all trials for treason, misprision of treason, or for any felony or crime whatsoever, committed by any persons residing in any colony, ought to be in his Majesty\'s courts within said colony, and that the seizing of any person residing in the colony, suspected of any crime whatsoever committed therein, and sending such person to places beyond the sea to be tried, is highly derogatory of the rights of British subjects, as thereby the inestimable privilege of being tried by jury from the vicinage, as well as the liberty of producing witnesses on such trial, will be taken away from the accused."

The House agreed also to an address to his Majesty, which stated, in the style of loyalty and real attachment to the Crown, a deep conviction that the complaints of the colonists were well founded. The next day Lord Botetourt, the Governor of Virginia, dissolved the House in the following words: "Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses, I have heard of your resolves, and augur ill of their effects. You have made it my duty to dissolve you; and you are dissolved accordingly."

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The Assembly of South Carolina adopted resolutions similar to those of Virginia, as did the Lower House of Maryland and the Delaware counties, and the Assembly of North Carolina, and was on that account dissolved by Governor Tyron. Towards the close of the year, the Assembly of New York passed resolutions in concurrence with those of Virginia. The members of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, and of the Assembly of North Carolina, after their dissolution, met as private gentlemen, chose for moderators their late Speakers, and adopted resolutions against importing British goods. This was followed by other colonies, and the non-importation agreement became general. Boston had entered into the non-importation agreement as early as August, 1768, which was soon after adopted in Salem, the city of New York, and the province of Connecticut; but the agreement was not generally entered into until after the Virginia resolutions. "The meetings of non-importation associations were regularly held in the various provinces. Committees were appointed to examine all vessels arriving from Britain. Censures were freely passed on such as refused to concur in these associations, and their names were published in the newspapers as enemies of their country. The regular Acts of the Provincial Assemblies were not so much respected and obeyed as the decrees of these Committees."[309]

Governor Barnard could not delay calling the General Assembly of Massachusetts beyond the time prescribed by the Charter for its meeting in May; and when it met, its first act was to[Pg 357] appoint a Committee to wait on the Governor, and represent to him "that an armament by sea and land investing this metropolis, and a military guard with cannon pointed at the door of the State House, where the Assembly is held, are inconsistent with the dignity and freedom with which they have a right to deliberate, consult, and determine," and added, "They expect that your Excellency will, as his Majesty\'s representative, give effectual orders for the removal of the above-mentioned forces by sea and land out of this port, and the gates of this city, during the session of the said Assembly." The Governor answered: "Gentlemen, I have no authority over his Majesty\'s ships in this port, or his troops within this town, nor can I give any orders for the removal of the same." The House persisted in declining to do business while surrounded with an armed force, and the Governor at length adjourned it to Cambridge.

On the 6th of July the Governor sent a message to the House with accounts of expenditures already incurred in quartering his Majesty\'s troops, desiring funds for their payment, and requiring a provision for the quartering of the troops in the town and on Castle Island, "according to Act of Parliament." The next day, among other things, the House passed the following resolutions:

"That a general discontent on account of the Revenue Acts, an expectation of the sudden arrival of a military power to enforce said Acts, an apprehension of the troops being quartered upon the inhabitants, the General Court (or Assembly) dissolved, the Governor refusing to call a new one, and the people almost[Pg 358] reduced to a state of despair, rendered it highly expedient and necessary for the people to convene their (town) committees to associate (in convention), consult, and advise the best means to promote peace and good order; to present their united complaints to the Throne, and jointly to pray for the Royal interposition in favour of their violated rights; nor can this procedure possibly be illegal, as they expressly disclaim all governmental acts.

"That the establishment of a standing army in this colony, in time of peace, is an invasion of national rights.

"That a standing army is not known as a part of the British constitution.

"That sending an armed force into the colony, under pretence of assisting the civil authority, is highly dangerous to the people, unprecedented and unconstitutional."

On the 12th of July the Governor sent a message to the House requesting an explicit answer to his message of the 6th, as to whether the House would or would not make provision for quartering the troops. After anxious deliberation, the unusually full House of 107 members present unanimously answered:

"As representatives, by the Royal Charter and the nature of our trust, we are only empowered to grant such aids as are reasonable, of which we are free and independent judges, at liberty to follow the dictates of our own understanding, without regard to the mandates of another. Your Excellency must, therefore, excuse us in this express declaration that as we cannot, consistently with our honour or interest, and much less with the duty we owe to our constituents, so we shall never make provision for the purposes mentioned in your messages."

Governor Barnard rejoined, in his last words to the Assembly, "To his Majesty, and if he pleases to his Parliament, must be referred your invasion of the rights of the Imperial sovereignty. By your own acts you will be judged. Your publications are plain and explicit, and need no comment." And he prorogued the Assembly until the 10th day of January, 1770. He wrote to Lord Hillsborough: "Their last message exceeds everything." Three weeks afterwards, the 1st of August, unexpectedly to himself, Barnard was recalled. He had expected to be appointed Governor of Virginia; but on his arrival in England he found[Pg 359] that the British Ministers had promised the London-American merchants that they would never employ him again in America.[310] He answered the purposes of the corrupt Ministerial oligarchy in England, to mislead the Sovereign on one hand and oppress the colonists on the other. But for him there would have been no ships of war or military sent to Boston; no conflicts between the citizens and soldiers; probably no revolutionary war. Barnard\'s departure from Boston was signalized by the ringing of bells, and firing of cannon, and bonfires at night. He was succeeded in the government by Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, a man who had rendered great service to his native country by his History, and his labours in the Legislature for ten years, but who had become extremely unpopular by his secret support of the English Revenue Acts and duplicate policy of Barnard, whom he at length equalled in avarice and deception, and greatly excelled in ability.

One of the most effective and least objectionable means of obtaining the repeal of the Revenue Acts was the agreement not to purchase or import goods of British manufacture or goods imported from British ports. At best the revenues arising from the operation of these Acts would not amount to ￡20,000 a year. They were maintained in England as a badge of the absolute authority of Parliament; they were resisted in America............