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When they had advanced two hundred in six days, and gave such timely notice miles to the west, the party divided, to his fellow-citizens as set aside the and Boone and Stuart proceed- threatened attack. At the end of the 1769. ed in company, until, in the war, he settled down as a farmer, but beautiful month of May, from a lofty found that the lands which he had himeminence they saw the fertile plain of self first discovered, had been granted Kentucky, and its river rolling at their away to some land-speculator in an eastfeet. Hardly had this splendid pros- ern city. Thus driven away, he repect opened before them, when they tired in disgust beyond the Mississippi, were surprised by a party of Indians, and sought a last resting-place on the from whom they eventually succeeded banks of the Missouri, beyond the exin making their escape, and forming a treme verge of civilization; and here hunting camp, the proceeds of which the old hunter was quietly gathered to were sent to an eastern mart. During his fathers. His grateful fellow-citizens the year, Boone and Stuart remained Boone and Stuart remained have since removed his bones into Kenthe sole occupants of the "forbidden tucky, and buried them with those of ground" of Kentucky, eluding the con- his wife, in a common sepulchre. stant pursuit of the Indians, until the former returned to conduct a colony thither, but was attacked and driven back by the Indians. A treaty for the cession of the lands south of Kentucky now being at length accomplished, Boone set off with a party, and opened the first "blazed trace," or outline of a road to the banks of the Kentucky river, where, early in 1775, he laid the foundation of Boonesborough.

1773.

The subsequent career of Daniel Boone, deserves a word or two of notice. During the Revolution, he was taken prisoner by the Indians, and became such a favorite, that he was adopted into their tribe as a brave; but on learning that a body of British and Indians had assembled for the invasion of Kentucky and the destruction of his darling Boonesborough, he suddenly decamped, and with a single meal in his pocket, across the wilderness, accomplishing a hundred and fifty miles

VoL. I.-41

During the whole period of her controversy with Britain, says Mr. Grahame, America derived increased strength from domestic growth and from the flow of European emigration. Her territories presented varieties of human condition and diversified attractions adapted to almost every imaginable peculiarity of human taste,-from scenes of peace and repose, to circumstances of romantic adventure and interesting danger,-from the rudeness, the silence, and solitude of the forest, to the refinements of cultivated life, and the busy hum of men in flourishing, populous, and improved societies, from the lawless liberty of the back settlements, to the dominion of the most austerely moral legislation that ever prevailed among mankind. No complete memorial has been transmitted of the particulars of the emigrations that took place from Europe to America at this period; but (from the few illustrative facts that are actually preserved) they seem to have been

amazingly copious. In the years 1771 and 1772, the number of emigrants to America from the North of Ireland alone amounted to 17,350, almost all of whom emigrated at their own charge; a great majority consisting of persons employed in the linen manufacture, or farmers, and possessed of some property which they converted into money and carried with them. Within the first fortnight of August, 1773, there arrived at Philadelphia three thousand five hundred emigrants from Ireland; and from the same document which has recorded this circumstance it appears that vessels were arriving every month, freighted with emigrants from Holland, Germany, and especially from Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. About seven hundred Irish settlers repaired to the Carolinas in the autumn of 1773; and, in the course of the same season, no fewer than ten vessels sailed from Britain with Scottish Highlanders emigrating to the American States. As most of the emigrants, and particularly those from Ireland and Scotland, were persons discontented with their condition or treatment in Europe, their accession to the colonial population, it might reasonably be supposed, had no tendency to diminish or counteract the hostile sentiments towards Britain which were daily gathering force in America. And yet these persons, especially the Scotch, were in general extremely averse to an entire and abrupt rejection of British authority. Their patriotic attachment, enhanced as usual by distance from its object, always resisted and sometimes prevailed over their more rational and prudent con

victions; and more than once, in the final struggle, were the interests of British prerogative espoused and supported by men who had been originally driven by hardship and ill usage from Britain to America. Among other emigrants doubtless cherishing little reverence for their native country, whom Britain continued to discharge upon her colonies, were numbers of convicted felons, who were conveyed in general to the States in which tobacco was cultivated, and labored during the allotted period of their exile with the negro slaves. Of these persons, the most abandoned characters generally found their way back to England; but many contracted improved habits, and remained in America. All enlightened and patriotic Americans resented as an indignity, and all the wealthy slave-owners detested as a political mischief, this practice of the parent state, of which the last instance seems to have occurred in the course of the present year. In England, many persons were so unjust and unreasonable as to make the conduct of their government in this respect a matter of insult and reproach to the Americans, as if the production of crime were not a circumstance more truly disgraceful to a people than their casual and involuntary association with criminals.

A convention was held this year in Georgia, by Sir James Wright, the gov ernor of the colony, with a numerous deputation of the chiefs of the Creek and Cherokee tribes, who willingly ceded to the British king several millions of acres of valuable land, in the

CH. XI.]

LOGAN'S TOUCHING SPEECH.

most fertile and salubrious part of the country, for the payment of debts which they owed to European merchants who had traded with them. A transaction of very different character occurred at the same time in Virginia, where a war broke out with the Ohio Indians, in consequence of a series of reciprocal injuries, wherein the European colonists, if not the aggressors (which, however, there is reason to suppose they were), at least merited the reproach of exceeding their savage antagonists in the inflictions of summary, indiscriminate, and disproportioned revenge. The Virginia government despatched a strong body of militia, under the command of Colonel Lewis, to oppose the enemy; and after a bloody engagement in the woods, in which the colonial troops repulsed the Indians, but with great difficulty, and the loss of several hundred men on their own side, the quarrel was adjusted and peace again restored.*

In connection with what has just been quoted from Mr. Grahame's work, we think that the speech of Logan, one of the greatest sufferers from the indiscriminate slaughter set on foot by the whites, ought to be preserved. It was made to General Gibson, and was by him to be transmitted to Lord Dunmore, the Governor of Virginia. "I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him nothing to eat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan re

1774.

* Grahame's "History of the United States," vol. ii., p. 481, 2.

307

mained idle in his cabin an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed at me as they passed and said, 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Captain Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, sparing not even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in any living creature. This called on me for revenge: I have sought it; I have killed many; I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for LoNot one!"

gan?

War and politics had engrossed public attention quite largely since the "Great Revival," thirty years before. The stern, rugged system of Puritanism had, to a considerable extent, given way before the progress of latitudinarian ideas and sentiments. Whitfield died in Massachusetts, in 1770, and the views which he had so zealously advocated were widely spread and influential in the community. The Wesleyan branch of the Methodists, however, had not met with much success in America as yet, owing to the fact that in general they were warm loyalists. The Universalists took their rise in America about this date, and the spread of their peculiar tenets helped to produce a change in the New England people. "But the armed contest with the mother country," as Mr. Hildreth remarks,

"which soon engrossed the public mind, the strong passions which revolution and war of necessity arouse, operated as a sudden and severe check to the intellectual development of the people, or, rather, turned that development almost exclusively into military and political channels. Of statesmen and soldiers, men great in action, we shall presently find enough. Thinkers are the product of quieter times."*

* Hildreth's History of the United States," vol. ii. p. 579.

The College of Rhode Island, now known as Brown University, originally established at Warren in 1764, was, in 1770, removed to Providence.

Rutger's College, established in 1770, and Dartmouth College, established in 1771, made up the number of nine colleges of which the colonies boasted at the time of the Revolution. Three of these were controlled by Episcopalians, three by Congregationalists, and one each by the Presbyterians, by the Dutch Reformed and by the Baptists.

tion

CHAPTER XII.

1774-1775.

AMERICA RESISTS AGGRESSION

THE CRISIS.

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Collision inevitable-Ignorance in England of the spirit and energy of Americans Anger of the Ministry at what was done in Boston - The King's message - The Boston Port Bill - Boston to be summarily punished Bill for regulating government of Massachusetts - Other coercive Acts adopted Chatham and Burke's opposiGage Governor of Massachusetts Views of a town meeting held in Boston - Quincy's "Observations on the Boston Port Bill"-Trying moment to Boston - Action of the Virginia House of Burgesses - Washington's views and course -A General Congress recommended-Action in the other colonies - The General Court's recommendation to the people - Delegates to General Congress appointed - Court dissolved -Port of Boston closed on 1st of June-"Solemn League and Covenant" - Noble conduct of Salem and Marblehead people-Fast day in Virginia-Other coercive measures put in force-Preparation for probable collision - Troops increased in Boston-Gage fortifies Boston Neck Effect of certain rumors on the people― Recent acts virtually nullified-The Suffolk Convention Meeting of the FIRST CONTINENtal Congress Illustrious men among

its Members-Henry's and Lee's speeches Prayers daily - The "Declaration of Colonial Rights" - Measures resolved upon by Congress "American Association". Addresses prepared and adopted - Difference of opinion -Ability of the papers issued by Congress - Action in Massachusetts Preparation for war— Boston at this time— Proceedings of Congress generally approved - Lord North's course Silly braggadocio Compulsion thought to be best The King's feelings-Chatham's eloquent speech Course pursued by Parliament

North's conciliatory plan-Burke's and Hartley's plans -Gage's course His force in Boston His rash procedure Battle of Lexington. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XII.-I. An Association signed by eighty-nine members of the late House of Burgesses. II. Address to the People of Great Britain. III. Address to the Inhabitants of the Anglo-American Colonies. IV. Petition to the King.

It was a very bold and decided step which the people of Boston had just taken in regard to the ships laden with tea, and, as they had been forewarned,

| the immediate effect of it must be to bring them into direct collision with the mother country. Heretofore there had been much discussion as to questions

CH. XII.]

THE KING'S MESSAGE TO PARLIAMENT.

of right and chartered privilege, and on both sides strong language had been used, as to what would be the result in case force had to be resorted to. It was now to be seen how far words were to be supported by deeds. The spirit of the colonists was roused, and they waited the issue with unyielding determination to resist the high-handed measures of the government. If blood must be shed, they were ready for even that last and searching appeal. "The king was obstinate, had no one near him to explain the true state of things in America, and admitted no misgivings except for not having sooner enforced the claims of authority. On the fourth day of February, he consulted the American commander-inchief, who had recently returned from New York. 'I am willing to go back at a day's notice,' said Gage, 'if coercive measures are adopted. They will be lions while we are lambs; but, if we take the resolute part, they will undoubtedly prove very meek. Four regiments sent to Boston will be sufficient to prevent any disturbance.'"* So little did George III. and his advisers understand or appreciate the spirit and energy of the Americans!

When, early in March, the news of the proceedings in Boston reached England, the ministry were excited to a high state of indignation, and seemed to come to the conclusion at once, that no measures short of actual force would be sufficient to reduce the refractory colonists to submission. Boston, which had rendered itself especially obnoxious,

* Bancroft, vol. vi. p. 501.

309

1774.

was to be summarily punished, and it was thought that its fate would prove a significant warning to others, before they should venture upon acts of daring resistance to authority. resistance to authority. On the 7th of March, Lord North presented a message from the king to both Houses of Parliament, in which it was stated, that "in consequence of the unwarrantable practices carried on in North America, and particularly of the violent and outrageous proceedings at the town and port of Boston, with a view of ob. structing the commerce of this kingdom, and upon grounds and pretences immediately subversive of its constitution, it was thought fit to lay the whole matter before Parliament, recommending it to their serious consideration, what further regulations or permanent provisions might be necessary to be established, for securing the execution of the laws, and the just dependence of the colonies upon the crown and Parliament of Great Britain." On presenting these papers, his lordship remarked, "that the utmost lenity on the part of the governor, perhaps too much, had been already shown; and that this town, by its late proceedings, had left government perfectly at liberty to adopt any measures they should think convenient, not only for redressing the wrong sustained by the East India Company, but for inflicting such punishment as their factious and criminal conduct merited ; and that the aid of Parliament would be resorted to for this purpose, and for vindicating the honor of the crown, so daringly and wantonly attacked and contemned." In reply to the royal message, the House voted, "that an ad

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