so little prospect of obtaining either witnesses or juries who would convict, that no such attempt was made.

The agitation excited by this event was heightened by another, which was in a great degree its consequence. Two regiments were ordered from New York to be quartered at Boston. The first rumor of this measure raised an extraordinary ferment; a town meeting was held, and a committee appointed, who waited on the governor to ascertain the truth of the report, and solicit him to convene the assembly. He did not deny the fact, but declared that he was unable to comply with the request without instructions from home. The people then proceeded to the very serious measure of finding a substitute for the assembly, by inviting the other towns to nominate deputies, and thus form a convention. Pretending, too, the dread of a war with France, they issued orders that every inhabitant, according to an alleged law of the state, should provide himself with a musket and the requisite ammunition. All the towns except one sent deputies, who assembled in the beginning of September. They immediately despatched three members to the governor, with a petition, disclaiming any idea of assuming an authoritative character, but professing merely to have met "in this dark and distressing time to consult and advise as to the best means of preserving peace and good order ;" and concluded with a request to call the assembly. He refused to receive the message, or in any shape recognize the meeting, and next day wrote a letter, admonishing them to separate without delay. They did not immediately comply; yet not being actuated by the violent temper which prevailed among the citizens, they merely prepared a petition to the king, expounding their grievances, but professing the most decided loyalty, and a desire to cultivate harmony with Great Britain. In a report addressed to the people, while setting forth the alarming state of the country, they earnestly inculcated submission to legal authority, and abstinence from all acts of violence and tumult. They then separated after a session of five days. The troops now arrived, and as the council and inhabitants refused to take any steps for their accommodation, the governor was obliged to encamp part on the common, and assign to some quarters in the market-hall and state-house; positions that greatly aggravated the odium with which they were regarded.

Another important step to which the Americans were now impelled was an agreement for the non-importation of British goods. This, however, was accomplished with great difficulty, the people being thereby deprived of nearly all the conveniences and luxuries of life; while the merchants, the most active opponents of the mother country, were threatened with ruin. The proposition, after being suggested, lay some time dormant, nor, till August, 1768, was it fully determined upon, even in Massachusetts. Virginia next followed the example. which Lord Bottetourt, the governor, vainly endeavored to prevent by dissolving the assembly. In this measure Washington took an active part, and his con fidential letters intimate that he already contemplated a resort to arms as in evitable. Other colonies were induced to join.

In the beginning of 1769, these proceedings being brought under the view of the British parliament, excited in a great majority the most decided reprobation Both houses passed a series of resolutions declaring the pretension of not being bound by the acts of the legislature "illegal, unconstitutional, and derogatory of the rights of the crown and parliament of Great Britain." The circular letter of the Massachusetts assembly, the assemblage and proceedings of the Boston convention, were characterized as daring insults on his majesty's authority, and audacious usurpations of the powers of government. In an address to the king, the lords assured him of support in maintaining the laws in Massachusetts Bay, and prayed information respecting all persons accused of treason in the said colony, that they might be dealt with according to the act 35 Henry VIII., which directs such to be brought to England, and tried under a special commission. The resolution and address, when brought down to the Commons, encountered a warm opposition. Governor Pownall, intimately acquainted with the colonies, and actuated seemingly by patriotic motives, strongly advised ministers to pause, and do nothing to inflame the Americans, whom he described as sincerely attached to the mother country, yet jealous in the extreme of those liberties for which their ancestors had made such sacrifices. Yet the resolutior was passed by 161 to 65.

At this time, however, another entire change took place in official arrangements, when Lord North began his long and eventful career. He possessed extensive and varied knowledge, considerable eloquence, with peculiar skill in debate, and address in managing the house. Yet he wanted the decisive charac

ter of mind which would have fitted him for that formidable crisis he could not avoid. He was incapable of originating or of acting upon any comprehensive plan, while, on the other hand, he was easily hurried into hasty and inconsiderate measures, from the effects of which he had not skill to extricate himself.

Almost every new minister had opened his career by concession to the provincials; and one of Lord North's temper was not likely to form an exception. The merchants, too, who were beginning to suffer severely by the non-importation proceedings, petitioned earnestly in favor of the colonies. The exports, which in 1768 had amounted to £2,378,000, of which £132,000 was in tea, had fallen in 1769 to £1,634,000, the tea being only £44,000. On the 5th March, 1770, his lordship proposed to withdraw the duties recently imposed, as contrary to sound commercial principles, and tending to discourage their own manufactures. He retained only that on tea as an assertion of the British right of taxation. Even George Grenville condemned this plan as inconsistent and imperfect, urging that one system or other ought to be thoroughly adopted; while several members reprobated all concession, and insisted that the acts should be enforced with the united powers of the nation. An amendment by Governor Pownall, that the tea duty also should be repealed, was negatived by 204 to 142, and the original motion carried.

This measure in a great degree tranquilized America; though considerable materials of irritation were left. The more zealous patriots contended, that as their objection had been to the principle, not the amount of the taxes, the retention of any one was equivalent to a continuance of the whole. The resolution, also, respecting the conveyance of offenders to England for trial, though never in fact intended to be acted upon, excited rumors and alarms. The Massachusetts assembly advanced new and bolder claims, altogether denying the power of parliament even to legislate; they complained also of the laws restraining their manufactures, which were doubtless impolitic, but had hitherto been quietly submitted to, and in their actual state were of very small practical injury. A new arrangement, making the salaries of the governor and judges independent of the assembly, gave rise to strong remonstrances. They declared that no arrangement would satisfy them except the restoration of everything to the same footing as at the close of the late war. The removal of their body to Cambridge, and its long prorogations, heightened the discontent; while the presence of the military was a continued source of complaint and irritation.

During these parliamentary transactions, an occurrence happened in Boston, the source and centre of opposition to British authority, which greatly exasperated the Americans and removed the hopes of reconciliation to a greater distance than ever. Frequent quarrels had arisen between the inhabitants and the soldiers, who had been stationed there in the autumn of 1768; but the public peace was preserved till the evening of the 5th of March, 1770, when a scuffle ensued, near the barracks, between a few soldiers and some young men of the town: the soldiers pursued the young men through the streets; the townsmen took the alarm; the bells of the churches were rung; the multitude assembled at the customhouse, and insulted and threatened the sentinel stationed there. Captain Preston, the officer on duty at the time, hastened with a party to support the sentinel: he endeavored to persuade the people to disperse; but his efforts were unavailing. The mob became more riotous than before, throwing stones and other missiles at the military. At length a soldier who had been struck fired on the multitude; some of his comrades soon followed his example: four persons were killed, and several wounded. The crowd fled, but soon collected in another street. The drums beat to arms; the troops were drawn out; and the utmost agitation and confusion prevailed in the town.

A meeting of the inhabitants was held, and a deputation sent to the governor, requesting him to remove the troops. He assembled the council, who were of opinion that the removal of the troops would be for the good of his majesty's service. The troops were accordingly removed to Castle William. Captain Preston surrendered himself for trial; and the soldiers who had been under his command at the customhouse were taken into custody.

Some days afterward, the bodies of those who had been killed in the riot, accompanied by a great concourse of people, displaying emblematical devices calculated to inflame the popular mind, were carried in funeral procession through the town to the place of sepulture. The colonial newspapers gave an inflammatory account of the transaction, representing it as an atrocious massacre of the peaceable inhabitants. The trial of Captain Preston and his party was delayed till the month of October, and Samuel Adams was assigned to him by the court as his defender. Before that time the irritation of the public mind had somewhat abated; and Captain Preston and six of his men, were acquitted by a Boston jury. Two of the party were found guilty of manslaughter.

The news of the discontinuance of the American duties reached Boston while the minds of the people were much irritated by the death of their townsmen ; but in the inflamed state of the public mind the intelligence had little effect in soothing their angry passions, or cherishing a spirit of conciliation. The ex

asperation and firm resolution to resist all parliamentary taxation, which prevailea in Massachusetts, did not exist, in the same degree, in the other colonies; and, therefore, in them the repeal of the duties had considerable influence on the public mind. In all the provinces much inconvenience had been felt in consequence of the non-importation associations, and many of the people were glad to be released from them. Accordingly, they now held those associations no longer binding, except in regard to tea: some, indeed, wished to interpret them more rigorously, and to consider them obligatory till the tax on every article was abrogated. But the general sense of the colonists was that they ceased in regard to every article from which the tax was removed, and that now they operated against tea only. Hence, during the remainder of this year and the whole of the next, the commerce of Britain with America was in a flourishing condition.

In the southern and middle colonies, although the people were not entirely satisfied with parliament, yet, for the sake of peace, they were generally inclined to acquiesce in what it had done. The same spirit did not prevail in the