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and singular, the justices, sheriffs, constables, and all other officers and subjects,' so that, in short, it is directed to every subject in the king's dominions. Every one with this writ may be a tyrant, if this commission be legal; a tyrant in a legal manner also may control, imprison, or murder any one within the realm. In the next place it is perpetual, there is no return. A man is accountable to no person for his doings. Every man may reign secure in his petty tyranny, and spread terror and desolation around him, until the trump of the arch-angel shall excite different emotions in his soul. In the third place, a person with this writ, in the day time, may enter all houses, shops, &c., at will, and command all to assist him. Fourthly, by this writ, not only deputies, &c., but even their menial servants are allowed to lord it over us. What is this but to have the curse of Canaan with a witness on us, to be the servant of servants, the most despicable of God's creatures? "Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle; and while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle. This writ, if it should be declared legal, would entirely annihilate this privilege. Custom House officers may enter our houses when they please. We are commanded to permit their entry. Their menial servants may enter, may break locks, bars, and every thing in their way, and whether they break through malice or revenge, no man, no court can inquire. Bare suspicion without

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This wanton exercise of this power is not a chemical suggestion of a heated brain. I will mention some facts. Mr. Pew had one of these writs, and when Mr. Ware succeeded him, he endorsed this writ over to Mr. Ware, so that these writs are negotiable from one officer to another, and so your honors have no opportunity of judging the persons to whom this vast power is delegated. Another instance is this; Mr. Justice Wally had called this same Mr. Ware before him by a constable, to answer for a breach of Sabbath-day acts, or that of profane swearing. As soon as he had finished, Mr. Ware asked him if he had done. He replied, yes. Well, then, said Mr. Ware, I will show you a little of my power. I command you to permit me to search your house for uncustomed goods, and went on to search his house from garret to cellar, and then served the constable in the same man

ner.

"But to show another absurdity in this writ, if it should be established, I insist upon it, every person, by the 14th Charles II., has this power as well as Custom House officers. The words are: It shall be lawful for any person or persons authorized,' &c. What a scene does this open! Every man, prompted by revenge, ill-humor, or wantonness to inspect the inside of his neighbor's house, may get a writ of assistance. Others will ask it from self-defense, one arbitrary exertion will provoke another, until society be involved in tumult and blood."

Notwithstanding these and many more arguments were enforced, with a zeal peculiar to the spirit of the occasion, and the manners of the pleaders, the writ of assistance was granted. In the midst of these disputes occurred the peace of 1763, which, though it produced a temporary calm, ultimately transferred hostilities from the confines to the very heart of the colonies

CHAPTER IV.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EVENTS FROM 1763 TO THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT IN 1766.

Reasoning of the English and the Colonists on the Subject of Raising a Revenue in America-Attacks on the English Clergy in Massachusetts and VirginiaPatrick Henry's Conduct-Navy Officers ordered to enforce the Laws of Trade Mr. Grenville's Plan of Taxation-Inter-colonial Trade stopped-Sugar Act passed-Clause authorizing Suits in Admiralty Courts-Theories of different Parties as to Power of Parliament to tax Colonies-Publications in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, Maryland, and other Colonies against Taxation-Representation in Parliament abandoned-Conciliatory Act ineffectual -Arguments against the Measure-Speeches of Col. Barré and Patrick Henry -News of Stamp Act having passed is received-Effect of it at Boston and elsewhere-Riots in Boston, New York, and other Places-Non-importation Association-General Court recommends a Congress-Declaration of Rights -Congress assembles at New York, and appoints a Speaker-Change in the English Ministry-Repeal of the Stamp Act-Singular Form of Act of Indemnity passed by General Court.

THE common object the English and the Provincials had in view, which had hitherto cemented their union, having been obtained by the overthrow of the French power in America, they cordially congratulated each other on their success. Flushed with victory, both claimed a full share of the merit of the triumph, and of the sacrifice of life and treasure at which it was obtained; but their attention was soon withdrawn from their conquests to their own relative position and rights. Great Britain lamented over the enormous expense of the war, and argued that, having relieved the colonies of a formidable and relentless foe, and enlarged their boundaries, it was but reasonable they should contribute to the reduction of the national debt, so greatly increased in their defense, as well as defray, for the future, the cost of their own government.

To this it was answered, You have not extended our territory, but added to your own empire. Had it not been for your ambitious wars in which, as dependencies, we have been unhappily involved, we should have preserved a friendly relation with our Gallic neighbors, and sustained a most advantageous and profitable trade with them. We were powerful enough to resist

aggression, and punish insult, and could have defended ourselves, as heretofore, without your assistance. If your expenses have been large, ours have been altogether beyond our means, and evince a generous participation in your undertakings, that justly entitles us both to gratitude and remuneration. Thirty thousand colonial soldiers have perished in the struggle, by disease, or the sword. We have expended more than sixteen millions of dollars, only five millions of which have been reimbursed by Parliament. Massachusetts alone has kept annually in the field from four to seven thousand men, besides furnishing garrisons, and supplying recruits to the regular army, and expended two millions and a half of dollars over and above the advances from the military chest. The small colony of Connecticut has, during the same period, raised two millions of dollars, while the outstanding debt alone of New York amounts to nearly a million. If the southern plantations have been less profuse, they have far exceeded all former experience, for Virginia, at the close of the war, had an outstanding debt of two hundred thousand pounds.

Beyond this the new argument became personal and bitter, for men more easily forgive an injury than an insult. The irregular levies of New England troops, though hardy, brave, and admirably suited for American warfare, made a sorry and grotesque appearance on parade; and the primitive manners, nasal pronunciation, and variegated and antique clothing of both officers and men, subjected them to the ill-concealed ridicule, or open insolence of the British army. On their part they knew and felt, that if they were inferior in drill and equipments to the regulars, they infinitely excelled them in the field, and pointed with great complacency to the numerous instances in which they covered their retreat, extricated them from ambush, and opened the way for their success. Much of the same arrogant assumption is still unhappily exhibited by the inhabitants of the Old World, on visiting the New, and with a similar unpleasant result.

The war had thus, as has been before observed, filled the provinces with soldiers and officers, all accustomed to active service, and an efficient, resolute, and experienced militia, who formed a formidable body of men, trained to regard a resort to arms as a natural and effectual means of deciding disputes. What the scheme of the English Ministry was for governing America, or raising a revenue from it, no one yet knew; but every body was

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aware that some such intention, whether matured or not, was seriously entertained. Men's minds were filled with doubts and fears, and the Puritans, as of old, endeavored to increase the general discontent, by asserting that it was the intention of Government to subject them all to the hierarchy. In Massachusetts it had the effect (probably the only one designed, for there was no endowment to attack or confiscate) of still more alienating parties, and keeping alive the animosity, unhappily but too deeply rooted, of the people against England, her institutions, and her authority. In Virginia the case was different, for there was a stipend established by law, and the Dissenters and Democrats used all their influence to deprive the clergy, who were loyalists, of their means of support. The "parsons' due," as it was called, was, owing to the scarcity of gold and silver, made payable in tobacco, and came therefore within the class of claims popularly called, "Tobacco debts." A short crop having enhanced the value of that staple, a temporary act was passed, authorizing the payment of all such claims, at two-pence per pound weight. Subsequently, under pretense of an expected failure, a temporary law, commonly called the "Tender Act," was revived, whereby the incomes of the clergy were very materially reduced. This law, by the assistance of Sherlock, Bishop of London, was disallowed by the king, and suits were accordingly brought to recover the difference between the real value of the article and the fictitious standard. It was on the trial of one of these causes that Patrick Henry, afterward so celebrated, was first brought into notice. Knowing that the law and the court were both opposed to such a flagitious defense, he trusted to his powers of declamation, which were of no ordinary kind, and with such topics as religious liberty, the sacred rights of freemen, the odious royal veto, and the blessing of self-government on the one hand, and an excited audience and interested jurors on the other, he succeeded, by obtaining a verdict, in denuding the law of its power, and the clergy of their subsistence. The Assembly even went so far as to vote moneys to defend any further actions that the parsons might bring, who were thus compelled, notwithstanding their clear legal right, to submit to the unjust spoliation.

Distrust and disaffection were generally diffused throughout the country; and the rashness and indecision, open aggression, and ill-timed conciliation of the English Ministry, soon supplied abund

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