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Chapter 11 Part 1 - The Regulating Act and The Suffolk Resolves - 1774, June to September · Life and Times of Joseph Warren

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Chapter eleven, Part one of Life and Times of Joseph Warren by Richard Frothingham.
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This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Regulating Act and the
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Suffolk Resolves. The Regulating Act, Hutchinson and the King, the reception of
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the Act in the colonies, the resistance to it, the Suffolk Resolves,
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their effect on public opinion. Seventeen seventy four June to September, Warren's words
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became more and more the mirror of the passions of his countrymen. The important
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service which he rendered in promoting the passage of the famous Suffolk Resolves brought his
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name prominently before the General Congress. These resolves were occasioned by the passage of
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two additional penal acts by Parliament, one regulating the government of Massachusetts and the
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other altering the mode of administering justice. They were signed on the twenty May.
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They were designed to carry into effect the principle that Parliament had the right
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to legislate for the colonies in all cases whatsoever. As George the Third was
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about to enter upon the work of enforcing these despotic acts, Hutchinson arrived July
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first in London, when he was immediately sent for by Lord Dartmouth, and
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without even being obliged to change his dress, the ex governor was ushered into
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the Royal closet, where he had a conference with the King of nearly two
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hours on American affairs, of which Hutchinson has left a circumstantial relation. The
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conversation commenced in the following way, King, how do you do mister Hutchinson
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after your voyage? Hutchinson much reduced sir by sea sickness and unfit upon that
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account, as well as my new England dress to appear before your majesty,
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Lord Dartmouth observed. Mister Hutchinson apologized to me for his dress, but I
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thought it very well as he has just come ashore, to which the King
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assented. King, how did you leave your government and how did the people
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receive the news of the late measures of parliament? Hutcheson. When I left
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Boston, we had no news of any act of Parliament except the one for
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shutting up the port, which was extremely alarming to the people. Lord Dartmouth
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said. Mister Hutchinson came from Boston to day that act was to take place
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the first of June. I hear the people of Virginia have refused to comply
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with the request to shut up their ports from the people of Boston, and
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mister Hutchinson seems to be of opinion that no colony will comply with that request.
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King, do you believe, mister Hutchinson, that the account from Virginia
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is true? Hutchinson, I have no other reason to doubt it, except
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that the authority for it seems to be only a newspaper, and it is
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very common for articles to be inserted in newspapers without any foundation. I have
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no doubt that when the people of Rhode Island received the like request, they
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gave this answer that if Boston would stop all the vessels which they then had
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in port, which they were hurrying away before the act commenced, the people
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of Rhode Island would then consider the proposal. The King smiled, Lord Dartmouth,
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Mister Hutchinson, may it please your majesty has shown me a newspaper with
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an address from a great number of merchants, another from the episcopal clergy,
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another from the lawyers, all expressing their sense of his conduct in the most
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favorable terms. Lord Dartmouth thereupon took the paper out of his pocket and showed
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it. King. I do not see how it could be otherwise. I
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am sure his conduct has been universally approved of here by people of all parties.
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Hutchinson. I am very happy in your Majesty's favorable opinion of my administration.
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King. I am entirely satisfied with it, well acquainted with the difficulties
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you have encountered, and with the abuse and injury offered you. The conversation
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for some time turned on the publication of Hutchinson's private letters, and then went
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on as follows. King. In such abuse, mister Hutchinson, as you
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have met with, I suppose there must have been personal malevolence as well as
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party rage. Hutchinson, it has been my good fortune, Sir, to
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escape any charge against me in my private character. The attacks have been upon
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my public conduct, and for such things as my duty to your Majesty required
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me to do, and which you have been pleased to approve of. I
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don't know that any of my enemies have complained of a personal injury. King.
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I see they threatened to pitch and feather you, Hutchinson, tar and
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feather, May it please your Majesty, But I don't remember that. I
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was ever threatened with it. Oh, yes, when Malcolm was tarred and
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feathered to commit city for tarring and feathering, blamed the people for doing it,
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that being a punishment reserved for a higher person. And we suppose you
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were intended Hutchinson, I remember something of that sort, which was only to
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make diversion, there being no such committee or none known by that name.
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King, what guard had you, mister Hutchinson? Hutchinson, I depended,
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sir, on the protection of heaven. I had no other guard. I
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was not conscious of having done anything of which they could justly complain or make
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a pretense for offering violence to my person. I was not sure, but
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I hoped they only meant to intimidate. By discovering that I was afraid,
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I should encourage them to go on by taking measures for my security. I
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should expose myself to calumny and be censured as designing to render them odious for
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what they never intended to do. I was therefore obliged to appear to disregard
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all the menaces in the newspapers. And also I have intimations from my friends
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who frequently advised me to take care of myself. The King was particular in
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inquiry's relative to several of the popular leaders. King Pray, what does Hancock
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do now? How will the late affair affect him? Hutchinson. I don't
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know to what particular affair, your Majesty, refers King Oh, A late
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affair in the city, his bills being refused, turning to Lord Dartmouth,
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who is that in the city, my Lord, Lord Dartmouth not recollecting Hutchinson,
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I have heard, Sir, that mister Haley, a merchant in the
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city, is mister Hancock's principal correspondent. King I, that's the name Hutchinson.
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I heard, may it please your Majesty before I came from New England,
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that some small sums were returned, but none of consequence. King Oh,
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No, I mean within this month large sums. Lord Dartmouth, I
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have heard such rumors, but don't know the certainty, Hutchinson. Mister Hancock,
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Sir, had a very large fortune left him by his uncle, and
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I believe his political engagements have taken off his attention from his private affairs.
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He was sensible not long ago of the damage it was to him, and
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told me he was determined to quit all public business. But soon altered his
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mind. King. Then there's mister Cushing. I remember his name a long
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time. Is he not a great man of the party? Hutchinson? He
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has been many years speaker. But a speaker, Sir, is not always
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the person of the greatest influence. A mister Adams is rather considered as the
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opposer of government and a sort of Wilkes in New England. King What gave
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him his importance Hutchinson? A great pretended zeal for liberty and a most inflexible
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natural temper. He was the first that publicly asserted that the independency of the
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colonies upon the Kingdom or the supreme authority of it. The King made particular
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inquiries in relation to the productions of the country. On the same day he
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wrote to Lord North of the colonies, I have seen mister Hutchinson, late
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Governor of Massachusetts, and am now well convinced they will soon submit. He
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owns the Boston Port Bill has been the only wise and effectual method. The
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modern revelations of the temper of the King are remarkable and important. It is
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history that his unintelligent ironwill was bending his minister, Lord North to the task
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of fixing the old world. Policy of centralization on a people who had for
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their root individual liberty, civil and religious, tempered by respectful Lilas law.
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These sweeping acts cut down, trunk and branch the old and dearly cherished rights
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of Massachusetts, invading even those palladiums the town meeting and trial by jury,
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and the rough drafts of them, Gordon says, on their being received at
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Boston, were instantly circulated through the continent and filled up whatever was before wanting
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of violence and indignation. In most of the colonies, even those who were
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moderate or seemed wavering, now became resolute and resentful. Nothing was to be
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heard of but meetings and resolutions. Each colony felt that its own right of
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framing its internal government was in danger. If Lord Mahon says, one charter
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might be canceled, so might all. If the rights of any one colony
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might hang suspended on the votes of an exasperated majority. In England, could
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any other deem itself secure? The King was soon to learn, in the
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words of Doctor Ramsay, that to force the inhabitants a form of government to
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which they were totally averse was not within the fancied omnipotence of Parliament. Warren
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shared the feelings of his countrymen at this hour, and on the reception of
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the bills before they were passed into laws early in June by the Committee of
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Correspondence, they excited the indignation of the members. Samuel Adams had long seen
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that Great Britain, by oppressive measures, was hastening the day of independence our
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people, He wrote to Charles Thompson, as he dwelt on the desire to
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unite all in one indissoluble bond. Think they should pursue the line of the
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Constitution as far as they can, and if they are driven from it,
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they can, then, with propriety and justice, appeal to God in the
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world. And as he counseled prudence, moderation, and fortitude, he grandly
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wrote, I would wish to have all the impartial and reasonable world on our
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side. I would wish to have the humanity of the English nation engaged in
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our cause, and that the friends of the Constitution might see and be convinced
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that nothing is more foreign from our hearts than a spirit of rebellion would to
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God. They all, even our enemies, knew the warm attachment we have
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for Great Britain. Notwithstanding, we have been contending these ten years with them
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for our rights. To the deep feeling awakened by the Boston port Act.
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The new Acts added the stimulus of common interests, and on the twentieth of
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June, the Boston Gazette said, the present aspect of affairs is highly favorable
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to the liberties of America. The whole continent seems inspired by one soul,
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and that soul a rigorous and determined one. A week later there was another
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great town meeting in Fanuel Hall, the adjournment of the Port Act Meeting of
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the seventeenth when Samuel Adams was in the chair. So large were the numbers
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that the meeting adjourned to the Old South Meetinghouse, whereas William Cooper, the
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town Clerk, was reading the letters that had passed between the committees of correspondents,
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one of the tories moved that the Boston Committee be censured and annihilated.
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Samuel Adams left the chair and Thomas Cushing took the place of moderator. Those
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in favor of the motion were patiently heard, and when it was dark and
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they had said they had more to offer, the meeting was adjourned to the
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next day, Samuel Adams spoke. During this long debate, a vast majority
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rejected the motion, and the town passed the vote, urging the committee to
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preserve with their usual activity and firmness, and continue steadfast in the way of
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well doing. A protest was made by one hundred and twenty nine citizens against
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the doings of the Committee of Correspondents, the Solemn League and Covenant, and
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the proceedings of the Town in endorsing the work of the committee. On the
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next day, June twenty ninth, Governor Gage, in a proclamation, strictly
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enjoyed and commanded all magistrates to arrest all who signed the League and Covenant or
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who asked others to sign it. The month of July was full of excitement.
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On the first Admiral Graves arrived in the Preston. Other regiments also arrived,
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and it was supposed that there would be arrests of the popular leaders.
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It is recorded in the journals of the Committee of Correspondents that on the fifth
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a report being prevalent that some gentlemen were to be apprehended, it was unanimously
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voted we will attend to the Committee of Correspondents as usual unless prevented by brutal
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force. On the twenty sixth a Donation Committee was finally organized to receive and
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distribute to contributions that were flowing in from the colonies to relieve the poor of
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Boston, and Warren was appointed a member. On this day a Committee of
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Safety was chosen, which consisted of James Bodwin, Samuel Adams, John Adams,
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John Hancock, William Phillips, Joseph Warren, and Josiah Quincy. A
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Committee in the name of Boston appealed to those dear companions in the cause of
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God and their country, their friends and brethren of the province, to whom
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they looked for that advice, example, and wisdom that would give strength to
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their understanding, vigor to their action, and with the blessing of God,
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saved them from destruction. General Gage, on the sixth of August received officially
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the two acts relative to Massachusetts, one altering the Charter and the other relating
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to the administration of justice, which the Patriots called the Regulating Act and the
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Murder Act. Also commissions for thirty six councilors, who, instead of being
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chosen in the old way of election, were appointed by the King and were
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termed madamus councilors. The instructions of Lord Dartmouth on the second of June were
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long, minute and determined, averring the that whatever violence might be attempted should
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be resisted with firmness, for the dignity power and the very existence of the
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Empire were an issue, and declaring that should the ideas of independence take root,
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the union between the colonies and the Kingdom would cease, and destruction must
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follow this union. The Act went into operation immediately, and various functionaries under
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it promptly prepared to exercise authority the Councilors, twenty five of whom accepted to
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have sessions, the sheriffs to some injurers, and the judges to hold courts.
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More than ever before were eyes now fixed on the patriots of Boston or
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Massachusetts, when the hitherto invincible British power commanded the submission of a free people
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in the words of the protests of the minority of the lords against the Acts,
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to a governor and council entrusted with powers which the British Constitution had not
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trusted His Majesty and Privy Council, so that and property were subject to absolute
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power. The issue concerned territory wider than Massachusetts, for it was now to
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be determined whether the Old World, or more precisely, the Tory Party of
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England, was to shape the institutions of the New World, or whether America
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should, as of right, frame her own law. The interests felt by
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the people of the other colonies in the result was intense, not so much
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because they were moved by oppression, actually felt as by a conviction on the
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part of the majorities who sided with the Whig or National Party, that a
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foundation was laid and a precedent about to be established for future oppressions. Their
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views were expressed through their organs the Committees of Correspondence in letters addressed to the
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Boston Committee. We view a letter from Cape Fair, North Carolina, says
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the attack made by the Minister upon the colony of Massachusetts Bay to be intended
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to pave the way to a general subvert version of the constitutional rights of North
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America. A letter from South Carolina, accompanying a sloop load of rice,
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says, your situation at this time is truly hazardous in trying, but all
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you will not fail for want of support, because all British America, are
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your friends, for God's sake, be firm and discreet. At this time,
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Christopher Gadsten or Charleston wrote to Samuel Adams, in a letter not printed,
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we will not think so basely of you as to imagine you will pay
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for an ounce of the tea, And before he could get a reply,
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he thus renewed the injunction we depend on your firmness and that you will not
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pay for an ounce of the damned tea. The Committee of the Town of
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Brooklyn, Connecticut, accompanied its contributions with the letter August eleventh, in which
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they said, to Boston, you are held up as a spectacle to the
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whole world. All Christendom is longing to see the event of the American contest.
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And do most noble citizens play your part manfully, of which we make
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no doubt. Your names are either to be held in eternal veneration or execration.
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If you stand out, your names cannot be too much applauded by all
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Europe and all future generations. An able Tory address, circulated first in the
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Pennsylvania Assembly and widely copied, said of the growing Whig organization in Snaring capitals,
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it is the beginning of Republicanism, which it was declared, was setting
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up anarchy above order. The word that came in from the country towns of
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Massachusetts was not less decisive. Among the letters were two from patriots who fought
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in the Bunker Hill Battle. Colonel William Prescott, who commanded this action,
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said to Boston, in the name of the men of Pepperrell, be not
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dismayed nor disheartened in this day of great trial. We heartily sympathize with you,
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and are always ready to do all in our power for your support,
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comfort and relief. Knowing that Providence has placed you where you must stand the
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first shock, we consider we are all embarked in one bottom and must sink
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or swim together. Colonel Thomas Gardner of Cambridge, who fell by Warren's side,
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nobly wrote to the Boston Committee. Thomas Gardner to the Boston Committee of
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Correspondence, Cambridge, August twelfth, seventeen seventy four. Friends and brethren,
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the time has come that everyone that has a tongue and an arm is called
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upon by their country to stand forth in its behalf. And I consider the
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call of my country as the call of God, and desire to be all
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obedience to such a call. In obedience thereunto would administer some consolation unto you
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by informing you of the glorious union of the good people of this province,
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both in sentiment and action. I am informed from good authority that the Committee
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of Correspondence for the several towns in the Country of Worcester have assembled, are
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in high spirits and perfectly united. The Committee for Cambridge and Charlestown are to
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have a conference tomorrow, and I trust the whole country of Middlesex will soon
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be assembled by delegates from their respective towns in said county. I have the
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greatest reason to believe that the people will choose to fall gloriously in the cause
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of their country, then meanly to submit to slavery. I am your friend
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and brother, Thomas Gardner. In this crisis hour, when the people were
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expected to prevent the execution of the Regulating Act, Samuel Adams left Boston August
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tenth to attend the meeting of the General Congress, and Warren became the central
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figure in the political movements of Massachusetts. His impetuous fearlessness, Bancroft says of
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him as he was now acting, was tempered by self possession, gentleness and
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good sense, and he had reluctantly become convinceminced that all connection with the British
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Parliament must be broken off. It was necessary that the revolutionary work at hand,
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though it should be thorough, as in the case of the destruction of
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the Tea, should be systematic. On the day on which this letter is
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dated, at a meeting of the Committee of Correspondence and Selectmen of Boston,
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Warren was named at the head of the delegation to meet in a county convention
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that was to be held in Stoughton, of which he gives some account in
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the following letter, Joseph Warren to Samuel Adams, Boston, August fifteenth,
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seventeen seventy four. Dear Sir, our public affairs have not changed their appearance
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since your departure. The people are in high spirits and have the greatest confidence
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in the wisdom and spirit of the Congress, whose decisions they seemed determined to
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abide by. Mister Gage sent the day before yesterday for the Selectmen and informed
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them that he had received an Act of Parliament prohibiting their calling town meetings without
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a license from him. They told him that they should obey the law of
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the land, and that they had two adjournments of their meeting and knew of
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no occasion to call another. He replied that he would endeavor to put the
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act in execution, and if any ill consequences followed, they only were blameable
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as to their adjournment. He must consider of it, for by such means
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they might keep their meeting alive these ten years. Upon this they left him.
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On Friday, agreeable to her request. From the other towns in this
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county, the selectmen and Committee of Correspondents met and chose five members to attend
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the County Congress at Stoughton tomorrow. Joseph Warren, William Phillips, Esquire,
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mister Oliver Wendell, doctor Benjamin Church, mister John Pitts. Mister Phillips has
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refused, we shall elect a member to fill his place. General Lee leaves
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us today enclosed. You have a hint which I think very important, But
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it ought to come from a member for some other quality. Nay, if
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it was done wholly by the other members of the Congress, I should like
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it better, as it will perhaps be injurious to you to come into such
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resolutions. With respect to some who are sworn in as members. The poor
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fellows hang their heads already. Some spirited resolutions of the Congress will drive them
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to despair. The gentlemen from the royal governments may possibly think that, although
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our council is appointed by mandamus, we are nevertheless upon as good a foundation
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in that respect as themselves. But they will consider that it is not simply
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the appointment of the Council by the King that we complain of. It is
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the breach thereby made in our charter. And if we suffer this, none
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of our charter rights are worth naming. The charters of all the colonies are
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no more than blank paper. The same power that can take away our right
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of electing councilors by our representatives can take away from other colonies the right of
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choosing even representatives. And the Bill for Regulating the Government of Canada shows plainly
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that it would be very pleasing to the Ministry to deprive the Americans totally of
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the right of representation, And indeed, by the acts of the British Parliament,
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and by the instructions given to governors, that they are already deprived of
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all the advantages derived from representation. A fair state of this matter, done
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by the masterly hand of some of our worthy friends at the Congress, would
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open the eyes of many. I am sure the Congress will be able to
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convince the world that the present American representation is a shadow and not a substance.
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And I am certain that unless it is put upon a better footing,
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the people themselves will in a few years readily consent to throw off the useless
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burden. But I am perhaps too much like the declaimer who delivered a lecture
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upon the art of war to the illustrious General Hannibal. Missus Adams and your
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family are well. The doctor and she set out for the Eastern Country today.
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Missus Cushing and family are in good health. Mister Adams friends in town
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are well, as I heard his lady was last Saturday. Please to present
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my very respectful regards to your three brethren, and believe me to be your
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fast friend and humble servant. Joseph Warren ps. While writing, mister Pitts
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comes in and informs me that Doctor Williamson has written to his friend in Philadelphia
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assuring him that the Ministry have lately written instructions to General Gage not to take
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one step against the Americans, if the opposition to ministerial of measures should be
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general. The celebrated Colonel Putnam is now in my house, having arrived since
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I subscribed this letter with a generous donation of sheep. Warren's guest, Colonel
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Putnam remained in town several days. The old hero Putnam, doctor Young writes,
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arrived in town on Monday, bringing with him one hundred and thirty sheep
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from the little parish of Brooklyn. He cannot get away. He is so
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much caressed, both by the officers and citizens. He has had a long
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combat with major small in the political way, much to the disadvantage of the
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latter. He looks fresh and hearty, and on an emergency, would be
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as likely to do good business as ever. The patriot received due notice in
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the newspapers, which said he was so well known through North America that no
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words were necessary to inform the public. Further than that, his generosity led
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him to Boston to cherish his oppressed brethren and support them by every means in
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his power. The provisions of the Regulating Act forbade town meetings except by the
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permission of the Governor, but most of the towns of Suffolk met and chose
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delegates in all sixty to attend a convention held on the sixteenth at Stoughton at
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Colonel Dodi's tavern. It was called a country Congress. Some of the towns
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had not had the requisite notice. It was found that the committees of many
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towns were not specially authorized to negotiate the affairs of a country Congress, and
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to enable all towns and districts to choose delegates, and thus to show contempt
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for the Act of Parliament touching town meetings. The convention, after adopting the
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form of a call and choosing a committee to send it to the towns,
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adjourned to the sixth of September in the town of Denham. One of the
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Boston delegates says, we were perfectly unanimous and firm in the common cause.
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Colonel Fair particularly said we must all appear undisguised upon one side or the other.
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Good mister Dunbar gave us the most extraordinary liberty prayer that ever I heard.
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He appeared to have the most divine, if not prophetical, enthusiasm in
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favor of our rights, and stood with us till eight o'clock at night.
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We rode all together in the Berlin with four horses and two servants, and
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returned at eleven o'clock at night in good health. On the day of this
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convention, the judges of the Inferior Court of Great Barrington were forced by the
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people to pledge their honor that they would do no business. Warren's time was
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now greatly occupied with public affairs. Among his students was doctor William Eustace,
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subsequently Member of Congress, Governor of Massachusetts, and Secretary of War. He
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was now about twenty one. His amiable character, fine address, and culture
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won the strong attachment of Warren. The young student is found by the side
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of his instructor in trying scenes. He now sent the following note in a
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neat handwriting to Samuel Adams, Boston, August eighteenth, seventeen seventy four.
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I am inform you that doctor Warren would do himself the pleasure to write you,
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but opportunity will not permit it. He sends you the enclosed and wishes
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you much prosperity, Sir, your very humble servant, W. Eustace,
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Mister Adams. This was an exciting week, and the Committee of Correspondence was
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often in session. Letters and resolves. Young writes on the nineteenth come into
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us from all quarters, and still on the rising. Tenor thirteen were received
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last Tuesday evening, and many are come to hand, since we meet every
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day or two as usual, and proceed with great harmony. Warren now wrote
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to Samuel Adams that the county meeting already appointed would have important consequences. Joseph
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Warren to Samuel Adams, Boston, twenty one August seventeen seventy four. My
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dear Sir, I received yours from Hartford and enclose you the vote of the
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House passed on the seventeenth of June. I shall take care to follow your
30:07
advice respecting the county meeting, which depend upon it will have very important consequences.
30:14
The spirits of our friends rise every day, and we seem animated by
30:18
the proofs which every hour appear of the villainous designs of our enemies, which
30:23
justifies and all we have done to oppose them hitherto and in all that we
30:29
can do in future. A non importation and non exportation to Britain, Ireland
30:33
and the West Indies is now the most moderate measure talked. It is my
30:38
opinion that nothing less will prevent bloodshed two months longer. The non importation and
30:45
non exportation to Britain and Ireland ought to take place immediately to the West Indies,
30:51
not until December next because should the non exportation to the West Indies take
30:56
place immediately, thousands of innocent people must say inevitably perish. Whereas if it
31:02
takes place at some distance, they and the proprietors of the islands may use
31:07
their influence to ward off the blow, and if they fail in that,
31:11
they may come to the continent, where they will be treated with humanity.
31:15
By stopping the exportation of flax seed Ireland and giving them immediate notice, they
31:21
may obtain a repeal of the Act soon enough to get the supply before sowing
31:25
time. This stoppage of exportation of flax seed will not fall heavy upon anyone
31:30
in this country, as scarcely any farmer raises more than four, six or
31:34
eight bushels, but it will throw a million of people in Ireland out of
31:38
bread. There are about one hundred thousand acres of land sowed in Ireland with
31:44
flax seed every year, and is computed that with dressing and spinning, weaving,
31:49
bleaching, et cetera. Ten persons are employed by every acre, and
31:53
the Ministry will not find it easy to maintain so many persons in idleness,
32:00
especially as the national revenue, if computed as the best writers have computed at
32:05
eight million sterling, will be one eighth part lost by the loss of their
32:09
trade with America and the West Indies. In my next I will endeavor to
32:15
make some calculations of the interest which the British nation have in the West Indies
32:20
and Ireland. Also how many Irish peers and peers of Great Britain. And
32:25
if I can, though I hardly know how to go about it, we'll
32:29
give some pretty near guests at the number of members in the House of Commons
32:32
whose chief fortunes lie in Ireland and the West Indies. I enclose you all
32:38
the papers, as far as they are printed. I think nothing material is
32:43
omitted. The extract of a letter from London day to June first is from
32:47
mister Sheriff Lee. The lord said to be very lint against America. In
32:52
the cabinet is Dartmouth. In the letter the Lord said to be brought over
32:58
to the American Justices Temple. The letter was written to the Honorable mister Cushing,
33:04
I have now a matter of private concern to mention to you by the
33:07
desire of mister Pitts. Our friend, mister William Turner has, as you
33:13
know, been persecuted for his political sentiments and ruined in his business. The
33:17
dancing and fencing master named Pike in Charlestown, South Carolina, is about leaving
33:23
the school and has invited mister Turner to take his place. I am myself
33:29
and I know you are always deeply interested for the prosperity of persons of merit
33:34
who have suffered for espousing the cause of their country. If you can by
33:38
giving mister Turner his true character interests the gentleman with you in his favor,
33:44
you will do a benevolent action and oblige mister Pitts, mister Turner, and
33:49
myself if they could be induced to write to their friends and know what encouragement
33:53
he might expect. It might save him the expense of a journey which he
33:58
can all afford to take. I am, dear sir, your most obedient
34:02
service jw PS, please to make my respectful compliments to your three fellow laborers.
34:10
As far as I have been able to get information their families and friends
34:15
are in health. Let them know that I consider everything I write to one
34:20
of you is written to all. Great expectations are formed by the spirited resolves
34:25
which the Congress will pass relative to our traitors by mandamus. There was a
34:31
delay in organizing a body to receive the donations that were sent to Boston.
34:37
The Town, at the meeting on the seventeenth of June, authorized the Overseers
34:42
of the Poor, as they were, a body politic by law in concert
34:45
with the Committee of the Ways and Means of Employing the Poor, to receive
34:50
and distribute the donations made to the town. Accordingly, the earliest replies to
34:55
the Committee are signed by order of this Board on in the nineteenth of July.
35:00
This body desired to be discharged from further service in relation to this subject,
35:06
and on the twenty sixth of July, the Committee on Donations was finally
35:10
organized. It was a body distinct from the Committee of Correspondence, and its
35:15
duties were urgent and arduous. One of them was to reply to the letters
35:21
that were sent with the contributions, and Warren wrote some of these replies.
35:25
One of them was the following addressed to Stonington Connecticut. Joseph Warren to the
35:31
Stonington Committee, Boston, August twenty fourth, seventeen seventy four. Gentlemen,
35:39
your elegant and benevolent favor of the first instant yielded us that support and consolation
35:45
amid our distresses which the generous sympathy of assured friends can never fail to inspire.
35:52
'tis the part of this people to frown on danger face to face,
35:55
to stand the focus of rage and malevolence of the inexorable enemies of American freedom.
36:01
Permit us to glory in the dangerous distinction, and be assured that,
36:06
while actuated by the spirit and confident of the aid of such noble auxiliaries,
36:10
we are compelled to support the conflict when liberty is the prize. Who would
36:15
shun the warfare, who would stoop to waste a coward thought on life?
36:21
We esteem no sacrifice too great, no conflict too severe, to redeem our
36:25
inestimable rights and privileges.'tis for you, brethren, for ourselves, for
36:31
our united posterity. We hazard all and permit us humbly to hope that such
36:37
a measure of vigilance, fortitude, and perseverance will still be afforded by us,
36:43
that by patiently suffering and nobly daring, we may eventually secure that more
36:47
precious than hesperian fruit, the golden apples of freedom. We eye the hand
36:53
of Heaven in the rapid and wonderful union of the colonies, and that generous
36:59
and universe emulation to prevent the sufferings of the people of this place gives a
37:04
prelibation of the cup of deliverance. May unerring wisdom dictate the measures to be
37:09
recommended by the Congress. May a smiling God conduct this people through the thorny
37:15
paths of difficulty, and finally gladden our hearts with success. We are,
37:20
gentlemen, your friends in the cause of liberty. Joseph Warren, Chairman to
37:27
the Committee of Correspondence at Stonington. This letter, Hollister says, that rises
37:32
like a heavenly vision into the regions where such poets as Milton hymn their prophetic
37:37
songs. It is still in the keeping of the town Clerk of Stonington.
37:43
It does, indeed stir the heart like the sound of a trumpet, and
37:47
is worthy to be carved for an epitaph upon a monument of granite that should
37:52
forever rest upon the ashes of Warren. On the same day, Warren replied
37:58
to the town of Preston, in the letter of which was the remark that
38:01
their people, on the reception of the second and third unrighteous acts of Parliament,
38:07
were anxiously looking for some important event to take place, that while it
38:13
was becoming to be watchful, there was great reason to fear that nothing short
38:17
of another kind of resistance would regain and secure their privileges, and that it
38:23
had given them fresh alarm to hear that arms were not suffered to be carried
38:28
out of town. The reply indicates the difficulty the patriots of Boston encountered in
38:34
avoiding both submission and violence. Joseph Warren to the Preston Committee, Boston,
38:42
October twenty fourth, seventeen seventy four. Gentlemen, we received by Captain Belcher
38:49
your letter of the twentieth and the sum of money you were kind enough to
38:52
send for the support of our poor. It gives us pleasure, amidst our
38:57
sufferings, to find our brethren in detail er to assist and support us while
39:01
we are struggling for American freedom. Our enemies, we know, will use
39:07
every artifice that Hell can suggest, and human power can execute to enslave us,
39:13
But we are determined not to submit. We choose to affect our salvation
39:17
from bondage by policy rather than by arms. Considering that the blood of freemen
39:22
who fight for their country is of more value than the blood of a soldiery
39:27
who fight for pay, we doubt not but a virtuous continental adherence to the
39:32
non importation, non exportation and non consumption Agreement will produce such changes in Britain
39:40
as will compel them to give us everything we wish. But if this should
39:45
fail, and we should be obliged to seek redress in the way you have
39:50
hinted, we flatter ourselves that we shall act like men and merit the approbation
39:54
of all America. The conduct of our adversaries is to us astonishing. Policy
40:00
is no more their guide than justice. They have shut their eyes against daylight,
40:06
and if they lead the British nation into the pit they have digged for
40:09
us, the blame must be laid to their own door. The motions of
40:14
our governor are like those of other machines. They move as they are directed.
40:17
He is clad in the garb of ministerial instructions, and has declared his
40:22
determination implicitly to obey them. We shall always receive with gratitude your advice and
40:29
assistance, not doubting that the end of our warfare will be freedom to America.
40:35
We are with sincerity, gentlemen, your very humble servants, Jay Warren,
40:40
per order of the Committee of Donations PS. The arms have been several
40:46
times detained in going out of town, but never finally stopped. Even if
40:52
a private gentleman carries one out of town with him for diversion, he is
40:57
not permitted to bring it back again to the gentlemen of the Committee of the
41:01
Town of Preston. Warren now took the lead in an important movement designed to
41:07
systematize the opposition to the execution of the Regulating Act, which was spontaneous throughout
41:13
the province before this time. The people of the other colonies not merely counseled,
41:19
but enjoined on the citizens of Massachusetts to defeat this law. There was
41:23
a county convention held at Worcester on the ninth of August, which, without
41:29
other action than passing resolves, had adjourned to the last Tuesday of the month.
41:34
It is worthy of remark that these resolves, which were ordered to be
41:37
circulated by handbills averred that the people bore true allegiance to the King while they
41:43
make this declaration, we have within ourselves the exclusive right of originating each and
41:49
every law respecting ourselves, and ought to be on an equal footing with His
41:52
Majesty's subjects. In England, the Committee of the Town of Worcester now requests
42:00
a conference with the Committee of Boston to agree on a general plan in relation
42:04
to resisting the Regulating Act. On the invitation of the Boston Committee, there
42:09
was a convention of the delegates of the four counties of Suffolk, Essex,
42:14
Middlesex and Worcester at Faniel Hall on the twenty sixth of August. One of
42:19
the Essex delegates was Elbridge Jerry, who, by similarity of taste, disposition,
42:25
principles and aims, was in close friendship with Warren. This was the
42:30
most general political consultation held since the remarkable Convention of seventeen sixty eight. Warren
42:37
was chosen the chairman. The meeting voted that the officials under the new Act
42:42
were unconstitutional officers, and chose a committee to report the measures that might be
42:47
expedient. Their report on the next day was read repeatedly and accepted paragraph by
42:53
paragraph. It provided for a thorough defeat of the regulating Act. It recommended
42:59
the use important step of a provincial Congress in order to mature an effectual plan
43:06
for counteracting the systems of despotism, and that previous to the Congress, courts
43:12
held under the Act ought to be properly opposed. In a resolve, they
43:16
said that all who attempted to execute this act ought to be held in the
43:21
highest detestation, and that individuals who maintained the rights of the province and continent
43:28
in resisting it ought to be defended by the whole province if necessary. The
43:32
Convention recommended the choice as soon as it may be, of delegates to the
43:37
proposed congress. These resolves were not intended for the public, but were an
43:44
agreement for perilous political action. This was not a declaration of independence, nor
43:50
was even the thing intended, whatever might have been the consequences. It was
43:54
a blow level that the measures of the administration, rather than at the sovereignty
43:59
of the British Empire. On this day, Warren, in behalf of the
44:04
Committee of Donations, replied to a letter of the Committee of Norwich, Connecticut,
44:07
who in sending on a contribution of sheep, say in their letter that
44:13
they should be glad to know of the true state of affairs per return of
44:17
the gentlemen who drive the sheep. In replying, Warren drew a lifelike sketch
44:23
of affairs in the town and province, and announced the plan agreed upon that
44:29
day to avoid in action with the soldiery until it should be necessary. Joseph
44:35
Warren to the Committee of Norwich, Boston, August twenty seventh, seventeen seventy
44:39
four. Gentlemen, your letter with the two hundred and ninety one sheep were
44:45
received safely and met with a very hearty welcome. We have good reason to
44:51
think that our oppressors see their mistake, and that they will ere long be
44:54
convinced that Americans are not to be fritted or wheedled out of their rights.
45:00
The arm of a tyrant is never supported by justice, and therefore must fall.
45:06
Mister Gage is executing the late Acts of Parliament in their several branches to
45:10
the best of his ability. He is furnished with a council who will be
45:15
careful, as their existence depends on the will of his master. To study
45:20
his inclination and to act everything in conformity to his pleasure. We don't expect
45:25
justice from them, and have no hopes that they will be guided by the
45:30
laws of equity or the dictates of conscience. Certainly, men who will serve
45:35
such an administration as the present, and suffer themselves to be promoted at the
45:39
expense of the charter of their country must be destitute of every idea of right,
45:45
and ready instruments to introduce abject slavery. Mister Gage may issue his precepts,
45:52
and his counsel may sanctify them. His juries may give verdicts, and
45:57
an unconstitutional and venal bent may pass judgments. But what will this avail unless
46:02
the people will acquiesce in them. If the people think them unconstitutional, of
46:09
what importance are their determinations? Sallus popularized Suprema lexe Esto is a precious old
46:16
maxim. The ministry have forgotten it, but the people are determined to remember
46:22
it. We consider a suspension of trade through the continent with Great Britain,
46:27
Ireland and the West Indies as the grand machine that will deliver us. If
46:31
this should fail, we must then have recourse to the last resort. As
46:37
yet we have been preserved from action with the soldiery, and we shall endeavor
46:40
to avoid it until we see that it is necessary and settled plan is fixed
46:45
on for that purpose. The late acts of Parliament are such gross infringements on
46:52
us that our consciences forbid us to submit to them. We think it is
46:57
better to put up with some inconvenience and pursue with patients the plan of commercial
47:01
opposition, as it will be more for the honor and interest of the continent,
47:07
as well as more consistent with the principles of humanity and religion. Mister
47:12
Gage finds himself very unequal to the task that is set him, and is
47:16
at a loss for measures. He sees and is astonished at the spirit of
47:22
the people. He forbids their town meetings, and they meet in counties.
47:25
If he prevents county meetings, we must call provincial meetings. And if he
47:30
forbids these, we trust that our worthy brethren on the continent, and especially
47:36
of the town of Norwich and Connecticut, will lend us their helping arms in
47:39
time of danger, and will be no less conspicuous for their fortitude than they
47:44
now are for their generosity. We have nothing important to inform you of besides
47:50
what you see in the public papers. Should anything worthy your notice take place,
47:55
we shall gladly communicate it to you. We are gentlemen, grateful friends,
48:00
and humble servants. Joseph Warren, per order, the Committee of Donations
48:07
to the Gentleman, the Committee of the Town of Norwich. The following hastily
48:12
written note shows how energetically Warren was helping forward to political machines in all parts
48:19
of the province. Joseph Warren to Samuel Adams, Boston, August twenty ninth,
48:24
seventeen seventy four. Dear Sir, I have enclosed all the late public
48:30
papers worthier notice, and shall, by the next opportunity, give you all
48:35
the public intelligence in my power. Haste now prevents it, as I am
48:39
constantly busied in helping forward to political machines in all parts of this province.
48:45
Friend Quincy is going to London. I wish he may have such letters from
48:50
you and the other gentlemen of the Congress as may make him immediately noticed by
48:54
persons of distinction there Missr's Payne of Worcester, Oliver of Salem, Winslow of
49:01
Roxbury, and Pepperell of Roxbury have resigned their seats at the board. Nothing
49:07
will satisfy the people here but a resolve of the Congress never to commence any
49:12
commercial intercourse with Britain, whilst one person who has accepted a commission or acted
49:17
under the authority of the late Acts of Parliament is in any office of power
49:22
or trust in America. This, say they and justify, is the only
49:28
measure that can save us from being perpetually plagued with villains who will traduce their
49:34
country to advance themselves to places of trust and gain. Mister Webster, the
49:39
bearer hereof a merchant of Philadelphia, is a man of very extensive political knowledge,
49:45
especially respecting commerce. I wish you to see him and converse with him.
49:51
I shall write you particulars by the next opportunity, and am your most
49:55
humble servant and constant friend, Joseph Warren. The determination to avoid a collision
50:02
with the British soldiery was put to a severe test by the endeavours of both
50:07
parties to secure what they could of the scanty stock of arms and ammunition in
50:12
the province. The powder belonging to towns and the province was kept in the
50:16
powder House in Charlestown, in the portion which is now Somerville. The towns
50:22
had withdrawn their portion. Very early on the morning of the first of September,
50:27
a detachment of soldiers went from Boston in boats, landed at Temple's Farm,
50:31
passed over to Quarry Hill to the powder house, and carried the powder
50:36
in some cannon to Castle William. This was the occasion of the famous powder
50:42
alarm, which was sounded not merely through Middlesex County, but through the province
50:46
and into other colonies, causing a great commotion. There was a large gathering
50:51
before evening, and the next morning the people with arms in their hands assembled
50:57
in Cambridge. The ever vigilant committees early in the morning sent several messengers into
51:01
Boston asking the aid of the Committee of Correspondents. Warren, on being informed
51:07
that his presence was needed to prevent an immediate outbreak. At six o'clock,
51:13
notified such of the committee as he could, crossed over the ferry to Charlestown,
51:17
met several of its Committee of Correspondents, and by eight o'clock was in
51:22
the midst of the excited multitude in Cambridge. Counselor Danforth was addressing about four
51:28
thousand people and resigning his commission. Warren now used his influence efficiently to prevent
51:34
a collision with the troops. Spent the day with this company of freemen,
51:38
and was witness of their patience, temperance, and fortitude as they compelled obnoxious
51:44
officials to obey the popular will. The Governor wisely remained inactive in Warren's judgment.
51:51
Had the troops marched out of Boston against this body of men, not
51:54
a man would have returned on this day. He addressed the letter in reply
51:59
to the UK Committee of the Town of East HadAM, which, in contributing
52:04
its might for the relief of the poor, said, as you are the
52:07
first that are attacked as the head of all America, and so more immediately
52:12
suffering. Yet all the members, in a greater or lesser degree, are
52:15
suffering with you. Reply to East HadAM, Boston, September one, seventeen
52:23
seventy four. Gentlemen, the Town of East Hatham, in their letter of
52:29
the twenty fourth August, discovers such a cordial sympathy for our distress and gives
52:35
such a pleasing proof of their resolution to assist us as makes us more than
52:38
ever determined to support our sufferings. For the philosophic fortitude, Boston is the
52:44
stage on which our tyrants choose to act at present. But how soon they
52:49
will choose to figure in some spot where they have a greater probability of success.
52:53
Time only will discover, we hope, however, to convince them that
52:59
not only by then, but all America is designed by Heaven for an asylum
53:04
for oppressed and injured virtue, rather than to be a theater of sport for
53:08
usurping despots. The late acts of Parliament are cruel and oppressive to the last
53:15
degree. For that blockading our harbor is perhaps without a parallel, But we
53:20
are nevertheless of opinion that they have operated for our advantage. Our enemies imagined
53:27
that, by exhibiting to our views some signal instances of their immediate power to
53:31
distress us, we should be intimidated, that we should submit to kiss the
53:37
rod and beg them to accept of our obedience. They now see that we
53:42
are neither to be persuaded nor frighted from that standard which we are most sacredly
53:46
bound to protect. They have done their utmost, and it is ineffectual in
53:52
policy. We flatter ourselves that they have not yet exceeded us. Arms are
53:58
as yet untried. There was a time when some good men among us were
54:02
insensible of their danger, and seemed to prefer obscurity to action. But the
54:07
late maneuvers of tyranny have roused them from their lethargy, and now pant for
54:12
the field in which the fate of our country is to be decided. Nothing
54:16
has so dampened the spirits of those who aspire to be our masters as the
54:21
accounts we are daily receiving of the glorious spirit that inspires the different parts of
54:25
the continent. Some have believed, or have pretended to believe, that if
54:31
the faction of Boston was quelled, the provinces would acquiesce in whatever changes the
54:37
Administration were pleased to make in the Charter and constitution of the Massachusetts Bay.
54:43
But now they see that a firm bond is formed in America which the most
54:47
powerful monarch on earth will not easily break. You will be pleased to accept
54:52
our most hearty wishes for a continuance of your friendship and gratitude and justice.
54:58
Oblige us to tell you that the Colony of Connecticut have behaved to us like
55:02
brothers, and signalized themselves in the cause of American liberty in such a manner
55:08
as will redound to their honor so long as the sun and moon endure.
55:14
The generous benefaction from the town of East Atham, so modestly mentioned in your
55:19
letter, excites those emotions which the grateful hearts of their brethren here can better
55:23
conceive than express. We are, gentlemen, with sincerity, your much obliged
55:30
servants, Joseph Warren, per order of the Committee of Donations to mister Daniel
55:37
Brainerd and others of the Committee of East HadAM. Warren now wrote to Samuel
55:43
Adams that he never saw a more glorious prospect than there then was, and
55:49
that the generous spirit of their ancestors seemed to have revived beyond the most sanguine
55:53
expectations. Though it seemed to him that the court which bound the province to
55:59
the King was by his act cut asunder. Yet he was aware that the
56:04
subject of a change in the government should be handled very gently and cautiously,
56:08
lest the Massachusetts patriots should be thought for the advantage of their colony only to
56:15
aim at more than the other colonies were willing to contend for with Britain.
56:20
Thus was the idea of union ever present with the popular leaders. It will
56:24
be seen that though the first of the two following letters is without date,
56:30
both were of the fourth of September. Joseph Warren to Samuel Adams. Dear
56:36
Sir, our friends, doctor Church and young, whose letters I have seen,
56:42
write so fully to you by this conveyance that it will be needless for
56:45
me to take up your time in giving a minute account of what has passed
56:50
since my last. I can only assure you that I never saw a more
56:53
glorious prospect than the present. The generous spirit of our Antswersters seemed to have
57:00
revived beyond our most sanguine expectations. I promised you in my last some account
57:07
of the mighty expedition against the arsenal at Cambridge. But as you will have
57:13
a particular detail of that campaign in the public papers, you will not wish
57:16
me to take up your time. End of Chapter eleven, Part one