1768. Sept. Representatives from ninety-six towns and eight districts came to Boston to the Convention thus summoned. The members organized themselves city of his behavior is brought to light. . . . . A governor of spirit and dignity, and who preferred the honor of his King and the interest of his country to his own little views, would have prevented almost the whole that has happened; and had Mr. Bernard taken courage to ask General Gage for the very troops now in Boston nine months ago, and which I have authority for believing openings were given him to do by the General, things would now have worn a very different complexion, and the Commissioners never have been forced to leave the town, but have been in a condition to carry on their business in peace and quietness. . . . . "His doubles and turnings have been so many, that he has altogether lost his road, and brought himself into great contempt. I cannot help mentioning one circumstance which has come to my knowledge as an offiHe frequently lamented to Captain Corner (whom I sent to Boston early in May, for the support of the King's revenue) the distressed condition of Castle William, and was afraid of its being attacked, [of] which Captain Corner (knowing his man) took no notice. At last he spoke out, and said if he did not send his Marines to the Castle the populace would certainly take it. Captain Corner replied that he would not only send his Marines, but every man in the Romney in support of the Castle, if his Excellency would request it of him in a proper manner in writing; his orders from Commodore Hood enjoined him to it in the most express terms. To which Mr. Bernard answered: I cannot do that, Captain Corner, but I will tell you what you must do. You must write me a letter; that the Marines on board cer. His Majesty's ship under your command stand in need of being refreshed, and desire my permission for their being landed on Castle William Island, which I will grant.' Captain Corner begged to be excused, and withdrew. In a few days after, he wrote Captain Corner a proper letter, and antedated it. I think this proves the man very clearly. "I had a letter from him, dated the 27th of August, desiring I would grant him a ship to carry him to England, having the King's leave to return. I was very sorry it was not in my power to comply with his request, for most certainly the sooner he is out of America, the better." The following is part of the extract from Corner's Diary, referred to by Hood: "On the intention of a force being introduced into this Province being made public, a convention was formed, as I am told, in direct opposition to law. . . "At this period we arrived; the convention were planet-stricken, and this very favorable occasion I entreated the Governor to improve. It is beyond the power of my pen to paint anything so abject; far from being elated that the hands of Government were rendered so respectable, he deplored the arrival of letters that made his setting out improper, and with earnest looks he followed a ship that he had hired for his conveyance, and in which he declared his fixed intention of going the moment the troops arrived. His actions were entirely of a piece with his words, for, on a requisition for quarters, he declared himself without power or authority in his province. The Council assembled, and they declared they would find none. An express arriv like the House, and chose the Speaker for their presiding officer. The tone of their proceedings was inoffensive. They sent to the Governor a petition for a General Court, which he refused to receive, as coming from an unlawful assembly; and he sent them an order, which of course they disregarded, to disperse at once. On separating, after a satisfactory interchange of opinions, they published a manifesto, expressing loyal sentiments, setting forth with moderation the existing grievances, and advising the people to repress passionate resentments and avoid disorders. The chief use of the Convention seems to have been to show how easy it was to make a great political combination, capable of acting with something of the power of a General Court constitutionally assembled. The deliberations of the Convention lasted a week. The day before its dissolution a fleet of transports arrived at Nantasket with nine hundred troops from Halifax.' The fleet came up to the town; and seven hundred men, with a parade of strength, with firelocks 1768. Oct. ing from General Gage, gave me no not without success, to turn to the use and advantage of the cause. We have had council after council, and nothing done; the service of the Crown is not much attended to; I spcke my sentiments, full as plain as pleasant. "What turn matters will take I know not; but thus far, my good Sir, you may rest satisfied, that the arrival of the squadron was the most seasonable thing ever known, and that I am in possession of the town, and therefore nothing can be ap prehended; had we not arrived so critically, the worst that could be apprehended must have happened." (Grenville Papers, IV. 374–378.) 1 Comp. Letter of Commodore Hood to Earl Temple, of September 14, in Grenville Papers, IV. 362; Walpole's George the Third, III. 231. charged and fixed bayonets, were marched to Boston Common. The Governor consulted the Council respecting the provision of quarters for these troops. The Council referred him to the selectmen of the town. The selectmen said it was no concern of theirs; and the Council, on a second appeal to them, gave their opinion in writing that a just interpretation of the Mutiny Act required no further provision of quarters where barracks already existed; and there was plenty of room for the soldiers in the barracks of Castle William. A portion of the soldiers, with some difficulty, obtained a shelter in Faneuil Hall; and the next day, by the Governor's permission, the rest took possession of the whole of the Town House except the Council Chamber. Thenceforward the Counsellors had to pass through the soldiers in going to their sessions. The building was flanked by two pieces of cannon, pointed down King Street. The day when the soldiers were marched into it was Sunday; and the pomp and circumstance and the loud martial music excited the defied church-goers, of both sexes and all ages, to twofold rage. 1768. Nov. A few weeks later, in consequence of the representations of the Commissioners of their expulsion from the town, a reinforcement consisting of detachments from two regiments arrived in Boston from Ireland. To prepare for their reception General Gage came from New York. At a conference with the Council to which the Governor invited him, it was agreed that a building which belonged to the Province, called the Manufactory House, should be vacated for the use of the troops. But the tenants maintained that the Governor and Council had no right to dispossess them, no less than an Act of the whole Legislature being requisite for that purpose. Their 1 These representations were brought to London from the Commissioners by Mr. Hallowell, the Comptroller of Boston. (Letter of Bradshaw, Secretary to the Lords of the Treasury, to Pownall, July 22.) resistance was so resolute that it was thought best not to press the question, and the General hired houses for the troops. This done, he returned to New York. Parliament assembled the same month. Lord Chatham had lately retired from the Ministry, of which, though ostensibly the head, he had only for a short time been more than nominally a member. He had been offended by the removal of his friends Sir Jeffrey Amherst from the government of Virginia and Lord Shelburne from the office of Secretary of State. Lord North, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, had, from the first of his appearance in public life, been hostile to the American claims. After the withdrawal of Lord Chatham, the Duke of Grafton Iwas the actual Prime Minister. The King's speech, at the opening of the session, expressed to Parliament the concern with which he had "seen that spirit of faction which he had hoped was wellnigh extinguished, breaking out afresh in some of his Colonies in North America; and in one of them proceeding even to acts of violence, and of resistance to the execution of the law. The capital town of which Colony appears," he said, "by late advices, to be in a state of disobedience to all law and government, and has proceeded to measures subversive of the constitution, and attended with circumstances that might manifest a disposition to throw off their dependence on Great Britain."1 In reply, both Houses declared it to be "one of their most essential duties to maintain inviolate the supreme authority of the legislature of Great Britain over every part of the British Empire." The papers from America having been produced, Lord Hillsborough, in the House of Lords, moved eight Resolves, condemning certain "proceedings of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts Bay, in the months of January and 1768. Dec. 2 1 Hansard, Parliamentary History, XVI. 468, 469. 2 Ibid., 471, 474. February last," as "illegal, unconstitutional, and derogatory of the rights of the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain;" and the Circular Letter of the House to the other Colonies as "calculated to inflame the minds of his Majesty's subjects, . . . . tending to create unlawful combinations, repugnant to the laws of Great Britain, and subversive of the Constitution." The third, fourth, and fifth Resolves denounced the recent acts of violence in Boston against the Commissioners, and declared that neither the Council of the Province nor the ordinary civil magistrates had properly exerted themselves to keep the peace, and that thus the presence of a military force had been made necessary. The sixth Resolve arraigned the proceedings of the town meetings at Boston, on the fourteenth of June and twelfth of September, as "illegal and unconstitutional, and calculated to excite sedition and insurrections;" and the proceedings of that and other towns in relation to the Convention as " daring insults offered to his Majesty's authority, and audacious usurpations of the powers of government." After long debates, the 1769. Resolves were adopted by both Houses, the votes for them in the House of Commons being 169 against 65. They were followed by an Address moved by the Duke of Bedford, praying the King to cause informations to be sent over of acts of "treason or misprision of treason," to the end that persons charged might be brought to England for trial under a statute of Henry the Eighth.' The King replied to the Address: "I shall not fail to give those orders which you recommend." 2 Governor Pownall, who in the debate had greatly distinguished himself by his arguments against the Resolutions and the Address, subse Feb. 1 Hansard, Parliamentary His- tioned above (p. 224). Mr. Grentory, XVI. 479. While this debate was going on, Lord Trevor called the attention of Mr. Grenville to the let ters, attributed to the Marquess of Montcalm, which have been men ville was impressed with their |