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CHAPTER XXXIV.

The troubles thicken-Gage re-inforced-Assembly of the first Continental Congress at Philadelphia.

The unscrupulous and brutal Gage had now resumed command of the British forces, as well as entered upon his appointment as governor of Massachusetts. Boston Neck had been fortified by him, and seven regiments been added to his command. The "non-importation and consumption bill," recommended by the General Court, had been agreed to by many of the colonies, and the general aspect of affairs became threatening for the young Sam.

The Congress, which had now assembled, by agreement, to consider the affairs of the country, commenced their session at Philadelphia, in defiance of the strenuous opposition of Gage. This Congress consisted of fifty-three delegates, the leading men of twelve provinces, Georgia, alone, of the originally British colonies, being unrepresented. Beside others of less note, there were present in this assembly the two Adamses, of Massachusetts; Sherman and Deane, of Connecticut; Philip Livingston, Jay, and Duane, of New York; William Livingston, of New Jersey; Galloway, of Pennsylvania; Rodney, Read, and M'Kean, of Delaware; Chase, of Maryland; Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, Washington, and Henry, of Virginia; the two Rutledges, and Gadsden, of South Carolina. The post of honor was freely conceded to Virginia, by the choice of the now aged Peyton Randolph as president. Charles Thompson, late master of the Quaker academy at Philadelphia, was chosen secretary. Samuel Adams, himself a stiff Congregationalist, moved the appointment of an Episcopal chaplain, and Jacob Duchè, a

popular preacher of Philadelphia, was accordingly appointed. As no means were at hand to estimate the relative importance of the colonies, it was agreed that each province should have a single vote. All proceedings were to be with closed doors, and nothing was to be published except by order.

A committee of two from each province reported, in the form of a series of resolves, accepted and adopted by the Congress, a "Declaration of Colonial Rights." The enjoyment of life, liberty, and property were claimed in this Declaration as natural rights. The privilege of being bound by no law, to which they had not consented by their representatives, was claimed for the colonists in their character of British subjects. The sole and exclusive power of legislation for the colonies was declared to reside in their respective Assemblies, reserving to Parliament the enactment of such laws only as might be essential to the bona fide regulation of trade, but excluding all taxation, internal or external. The common law of England was claimed as the birthright of the colonists, including the right of trial by a jury of the vicinage, the right of public meetings, and of petition. A protest was made against standing armies maintained in the colonies without their consent; and a similar protest against legislation by councils dependent on the crown-this last in allusion to the Quebec Act. All immunities hitherto enjoyed in the colonies, whether by charter or custom, were claimed as established rights, beyond the power of the mother country to abrogate. Eleven acts of Parliament, passed since the accession of George III.-the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the two Quartering Acts, the Tea Act, the Act Suspending the New York Legislature, the two Acts for the Trial in Great Britain for offenses committed in America, the Boston Port Bill, the Act for Regulating the Government of Massachusetts, and the Quebec Act-were enumerated, in conclusion, as having been passed in derogation of the rights of the colonies. (1774.)

As means for enforcing this claim of rights, fourteen articles were agreed to, as the basis of an "American Association," pledging the associators to an entire commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies, and the non-consumption of tea and British goods: this non-intercourse to be extended to such provinces of North

America as should decline to come into the Association, and to last till the obnoxious acts of Parliament were repealed. The non-importation clauses were to commence in December, but the non-exportation clauses were postponed for nine months longer. The slave trade was specially denounced, and entire abstinence from it, and from any trade with those concerned with it, formed a part of the Association. The associators were also pledged to encourage the breeding of sheep, and the disuse of mourning. Traders were not to be allowed to enhance the price of goods in consequence of this agreement. Committees were to be appointed in every county, city, and town, to detect and to publish the names of all violators of it; and all dealings with such "enemies of American liberty were to be immediately broken off.

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Patrick Henry, who had electrified the Congress by his eloquence, was selected by the committee, to which that business was intrusted, to draft the petition to the king. But this draft, when received, did not give satisfaction. Dickinson, lately added to the Pennsylvania delegation, was added also to the committee, and a new draft was prepared by him, which the Congress approved.

While the Continental Congress was still in session, matters in Massachusetts were fast verging to a crisis. Gage had summoned a House of Representatives to meet him at Salem, to proceed to business under the late act of Parliament; but the spirit evinced in the resolutions of the town meetings and county conventions induced him to issue a proclamation countermanding the Assembly. It was denied, however, that the Governor could prorogue the Court till it had first met; and, notwithstanding the countermand, most of the members elect assembled at Salem on the day appointed. As nobody appeared to open the session and administer the oaths, they adopted the advice already given by the Essex county Convention, resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress, adjourned to Concord, and there organized by choosing John Hancock as president, and for secretary Benjamin Lincoln, a farmer of Hingham, afterward a major-general in the revolutionary army. A large committee, appointed to consider the state of the province, reported an address to Gage, which the Congress adopted; after which they adjourned to Cambridge, whence a committee was sent to present the address

to the governor. The Congress, in this address, protested their attachment to Great Britain, their loyalty to the king, and their love of peace and order, but complained of the recent acts of Paliament, the employment of the powers of government to harass and enslave them, the military force concentrated in Boston, and the fortifications erecting there. The people, they declared, would never be satisfied till these military preparations were discontinued and those fortifications demolished.

Gage replied that his military preparations were only in self-defense, and justified by threats everywhere uttered. He disavowed, on behalf of Great Britain, any design to harass or enslave; expressed a wish for harmony; begged them to consider, while complaining of violations of their charter, whether their present assembly was not a violation of it; and required them, in conclusion, to desist from their illegal proceedings.

So far from desisting, the Congress appointed a Committee of Safety, at the head of which was John Hancock, with power to call out the militia. A committee was also raised to take measures for the defense of the province, and another to procure military stores and provisions, towards which the sum of £20,000, $66,666, was appropriated. Constables and other collectors of taxes were ordered to pay no more money to the late Treasurer of the province, but to hand over all future collections to a new Treasurer appointed by the Congress. Preble, of Falmouth, an old militia officer, Artemus Ward, a colleague of Ruggles on the bench of the Worcester Common Pleas, and Pomeroy, who led a regiment at the battle of Lake George, were commissioned as generals. The militia were called upon to choose company and regimental officers of their own, and to perfect themselves in military discipline. The Congress disavowed any intention to attack the British troops; but, as their Capital was occupied by a large force, as the military stores of the province had been seized, and as there was too much reason to apprehend a still more direct invasion of their rights, they declared these measures necessary for defense. Gage issued a proclamation denouncing their proceedings, to which no attention was paid, while the recommendations of the Provincial Congress had all the force of law. Gage had no support except in his

troops and a few trembling officials, while the zealous cooperation of an intelligent, firm, energetic, and overwhelming majority of the people gave to the Congress all the strength of an established government.

While the colonies were thus busy in defense of their rights, the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia had been again visited by Indian war. Surveyors, sent under the royal authority, at the request of the Assembly of Virginia, to extend the western limits of that province, had pushed their explorations to a great distance westward. Some of these surveyors had descended the Ohio as far as the Falls, and had traced up the Kentucky a considerable distance from its mouth. Collisions took place between these explorers and the Indians on the Ohio. Under the impulse of a false rumor of previous hostilities on the part of the Indians, nine persons, the family of Logan, a chief distinguished for friendship to the whites, were murdered in cold blood. This and other similar attrocities excited the Indians to revenge. The jurisdiction of the region about Pittsburgh was still disputed between Virginia and Pennsylvania. St. Clair and others, who recognized the authority of Pennsylvania, endeavored to conciliate matters, and an appeal was made to Sir William Johnson, by the Pennsylvania authorities, to induce the Six Nations to act as mediators. Just at this time Sir William died, but the business was undertaken by his son-in-law, Guy Johnson, soon appointed his successor as superintendent of the Northern Indians. While these efforts for peace were made by Pennsylvania, Conolly and others in the Virginia interest were bent on war, in which they were fully supported by Governor Dunmore. Daniel Boone was sent to guide back by land the surveyors employed on the Lower Ohio; after which he was placed in command of a frontier fort. Volunteers to march against the Indians were easily obtained. Major M'Donald, with four hundred men, having assembled at Fish Creek, on the Ohio, just below Wheeling, marched against and destroyed the Shawanese village on the Muskingum, some fifteen miles below the present Coshocton; but the Indians made their escape. Dunmore himself, with fifteen hundred men, presently moved against the Indian villages on the Scioto, while Colonel Lewis, with another division of twelve hundred men, descended the Kanawha. Near

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