apprehension that he should altogether lose the weight which his popularity had hitherto given him. The House of Representatives appointed a Committee of Grievances, on the precedent of the last session of Charles I., and prepared a remonstrance to the Governor to compel him, in direct opposition to the authority of an Act of Parliament, to order the Courts of Justice in the country to proceed without stamps. Their language to the Governor bore very little resemblance to that of the former addresses. The Custom Houses are now open, and the people are permitted to do their own business; the Courts of Justice must be open-open immediately; and the law, the great rule of right, in every county in the province, executed. The stopping the Courts of Justice is a grievance which this House must enquire into; justice must be fully administered throughout the province.'

The Boston town judges had succumbed to popular pressure; ere long the judges of the inferior courts 2 did likewise; and also the Judges of Probate everywhere except in Suffolk, in which county Boston was situated. Mr. Hutchinson, both as Judge of Probate and head of the Superior Court, was resolute in setting an example of obedience to the Act of Parliament; but in the Superior Court he was soon placed in a minority, which rendered his determination practically useless, while in the Court of Probate he was exposed to repeated insult. He applied to the Governor for leave to go to England and tell his own tale, and this plan furnished Mr. Bernard with an excuse for granting him a deputy to carry on the business of a court which he could no longer enter in safety.

3

The Stamp Act is become in itself a matter of indifference; it is swallowed up in the importance of the effects of which it has been the cause,' wrote the Governor at the end of February. Yet he was able to state that the Assembly is now broke up in tolerable good humour.' This good humour, no doubt, proceeded mainly from the belief that it had gained the upper hand; but the temporary lull

Thomas Bernard, in the biography of his father, gives as his authority for this statement the Journals of Massachusetts Bay, 16 Jan., 1766.

2 Diary of John Adams, Second President of the United States of America. 3 Select Letters, 'Letter XI. to Esquire, Boston February 28,

REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT

29

suggested to Mr. Bernard the possibility of going to England himself to explain the situation, leaving Mr. Hutchinson, who resigned his office in the Court of Probate, at the head of affairs.

In the letter just quoted Governor Bernard says, ‘I have well studied the subject, with close and interesting attention for near six years,' meaning the position of the American colonies. And further on he states:

I have neither business nor pleasure to call me to England; but I am desirous of being as serviceable as possible at this critical and dangerous time; and I persuade myself (perhaps not without self-flattery) that I should be most so in the quality of a reporter of the present state of this country. I have studied the policy of America on the spot for near eight years; and have long foreseen that a dispute concerning the nature of its subjection must necessarily happen some time or other, if not prevented by particular measures for that purpose. Indeed, I did not expect it would have been brought on so soon by many years: but perhaps it is happy for Great Britain that it has been thus accelerated.

1

Towards the end of April Boston was delighted by the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act. The first information was probably unofficial, since Hosmer gives May 16 as the date when 'The Harrison, a brigantine, six weeks out from England, cast anchor in the inner harbour,'' evidently with tidings which placed the matter beyond doubt. And the rejoicings seem to have followed immediately. The same writer, after noting that Parliament in the Declaratory Act had reserved its right to tax America, continues:

The people in general, nevertheless, noticed only the repeal, and were transported with joy. Salutes were fired from the different batteries; the shipping was dressed with flags; the streets were full of music. At night Liberty Tree was hung with lanterns, transparencies were shown, fireworks were displayed on the Common, and high and low feasted and revelled. John Hancock, a rich young merchant twenty-nine years of age, lately come into a great fortune by the death of his uncle, Thomas Hancock,

'Life of Sir Francis Bernard.

2 Hosmer, Samuel Adams, ch. vii., 'The True Sentiments of America.'

particularly signalised himself by his liberality. Before his handsome mansion opposite the Common a pipe of Madeira was distributed to the people. His house and those of other grandees near were full of the finer world, while the multitude were out under the trees, just leafing out for the spring. One is glad to record that for once poor Bernard cordially sympathised with the popular feeling. He and his Council had a congratulatory meeting in the afternoon, and in the evening walked graciously about among the people-a brief harmonious interlude, with discord before and triple discord to come in the near future.

'Letters from England, which were published at the same time,' writes Hutchinson,

allowed that Governor Bernard's letters to the Ministry, and the petition from the Council and House in 1764, which had been drawn by the Lieutenant-Governor, forwarded the repeal. But they had no merit with the prevailing party, because they solicited the repeal as a matter of favour, and not as a claim of right.1

In fact the situation remained nearly as anxious as before to Governor Bernard. The elections were close at hand, and the leaders of the so-called patriotic party were working with desperate energy to dispel the soothing effects of the repeal by representing it as a hard-won triumph, to be followed by other triumphs if the people remained true to the cause of liberty.

One consolation was, indeed, at this time afforded to the Governor by the knowledge that his conduct had met with great commendation in England; or, as Bancroft expresses it, Bernard was elated at having been praised in the House of Lords by Camden for one set of his opinions, and quoted as an oracle in the Bedford protest for the other '2-held up to admiration, that is, by persons of conflicting views. The thirty-three peers, headed by the Duke of Bedford, who signed the protest against the repeal of the Stamp Act as

3

1 Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., ch. ii.

2 Bancroft, Hist. U.S., Epoch ii. ch. xvii.

Belsham, Memoirs of the Reign of George III., vol. i., Appendix, 'Protest against the Repeal of the Stamp Act, A.D. 1766.' The 'Protest' is an interesting document, but it is long, and further extracts are unnecessary in this place.

TRIBUTES TO GOVERNOR BERNARD

31

an injudicious concession to a rebellious people, maintained, that such a strange and unheard of submission of King, Lords, and Commons to a successful insurrection of the Colonies would make the authority of Great Britain contemptible.' Lord Camden had described Mr. Bernard as a 'great, good, and sensible man, who had done his duty like a friend to his country.'

Mr. Welbore Ellis, late Secretary of War, and then Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, an opponent of the repeal, and therefore not altogether in unison with the Governor's views on American affairs, wrote to him:

You have acquitted yourself in a most difficult and dangerous crisis with great ability, judgment, and firmness; for which you have the united applause of your country. You must have heard that all the papers relating to America were laid before both Houses; and I can without flattery assure you I have not known an instance of more general approbation than that which your letters, your speeches, and your whole conduct received.3

The official letter from General Conway, Secretary of State, is also remarkable for the warmth of its expressions in praise of the Governor's conduct; it will be quoted in connection with the proceedings consequent on the meeting of the General Assembly.

The new House of Representatives for 1766 met, like its predecessors, on the last Wednesday in May. Its composition revealed the progress of revolutionary ideas. James Otis was its chosen Speaker, Samuel Adams its Clerk, an office which allowed the holder to take a share in the debates like any other member, and with additional influence. The Governor objected to the appointment of Otis; and certainly no man could be more opposed to the English ideal of a 'Speaker of the House of Commons.' He consented that

1 Bancroft, Hist. U.S., Epoch ii. ch. xvi.

2 Debrett, Peerage of the United Kingdom, vol. i., ' Clifden (Viscount).' See also Burke. Mr. Ellis was created Baron Mendip of Mendip, Somerset, in 1794, with remainder, in default of issue, to the issue male of his sister, Viscountess Clifden.

Life of Sir Francis Bernard, 'Letter from Welbore Ellis, Esquire, dated 16th of May, 1766.'

the post should be held by Thomas Cushing, a popular member of comparatively moderate views. In the afternoon of the first day of session the House, as usual, elected the Council, but in a manner by no means in accordance with custom. It excluded Hutchinson, the Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice, and Secretary Oliver, these being the two officials nominated by the Crown; also Judge Oliver and the Attorney-General. Judge Lynde had retired from the contest the day before, in anticipation of a similar insult.

2

As already stated, the functionaries now excluded, and their predecessors in office, had long sat in the Council, it may be said as a matter of right, although the form of election was gone through every year; and the intention manifested by their exclusion was so flagrant that Governor Bernard felt justified in exercising his right of veto against six of the more violent men recently elected to the Council. This was a provision made for emergencies, and the present occasion was an emergency. The Governor's right, indeed, extended to thirteen members. Even Bancroft observes of this measure, He had a right to do so,' and adds, 'the Legislature submitted without a murmur,' which is more questionable. All the councillors excluded by the popular party lost their elections by only three or four votes, except Secretary Oliver, who was still obnoxious as having been formerly nominated Stamp Distributor. The Lieutenant-Governor's failure was ultimately brought about by a curious complication in the mode of election. It certainly seems as if a little more vigour exerted in good

'Hutchinson, Diary and Letters, vol. i. ch. iii.; Hist. Mass., ch. ii.; Life of Sir Francis Bernard, by One of his Sons; Bancroft, Hist. U.S., Epoch ii. ch. xvii.; Hosmer, Samuel Adams, ch. vii., The True Sentiments of America.' 2 Tudor (Life of James Otis) says that the persons negatived by the Governor were Col. Otis, Gerrish, Saunders, Bowers, Sparhawk, and Dexter.

Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., ch. ii. The Lieutenant-Governor had several votes more than a majority of the two Houses, and lost his election by an unusual accident. In voting for eighteen in one list, nineteen had the majority of the whole voters, and when this happened it had been the custom for those who had the highest number to be declared, and any of a less number than they to be rejected.'