352 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



the repeal be assigned, because it was founded on an erroneous 

 principle ; " and upon this advice the Government was forced 

 to act. The Stamp Act was repealed, though accompanied by 

 an Act declaring the right of the Crown to legislate for the 

 colonies as the Home Government thought fit. 



After the experience thus gained, though at the cost of allow- 

 ing the Americans to discover how strong they were, it might 

 have been thought the Government would have been wiser than 

 to irritate the sensitive feelings of the people by again touching 

 them on the tender point of money. But in 1767 it was deter- 

 mined to attempt to raise revenue out of new customs duties on 

 articles, supposed to be necessaries, which were imported into the 

 colonies. Boston was again the head-quarters of the excise, and 

 the people, indignant at the disposition to coerce them, especially 

 after their clearly expressed feeling on the subject of imposts, 

 showed an intention to resist violently if need were. Tha severity 

 with which the smuggling trade was suppressed, and the annoy- 

 ances to which several of the assemblies were exposed from 

 injudicious governors, added to the popular discontent, which rose 

 to its height when it was found that a squadron of ships of war 

 and four regiments of soldiers were to be sent to Boston, to keep 

 the people in check. Before the troops arrived, the people rose, 

 sacked the houses of some of the excise officers, and compelled 

 t'.ie Commissioners to seek safety in Castle William, at the mouth 

 of Boston Harbour. This was in the autumn of 1763. 



With the arrival of the troops a different state of tilings pre- 

 vailed so long as force could overawe the people and keep them 

 down ; but there were frequent collisions between the townsmen 

 and the soldiers, and after a while the troops were vnthdrawn 

 from the immediate neighbourhood of Boston. J'ive years 

 passed away, the Americans constantly raising objections to 

 what was done by the Home Government, even in matters 

 which were unquestionably within its proper authority ; and the 

 Home Government, and incidentally the Parliament and nation, 

 grew tired of having such subjects. There was, in fact, in the 

 American colonies too much of the republican spirit and notion 

 jf freedom which the earlier settlers in New England ha d brought 

 thither, to allow of any abiding peace with the monarchy ; and 

 those who were loyal to the throne were made disgusted by the 

 instrumentality of those who were not loyal, and were appealed 

 to on the ground of the common injustice done to the colonies 

 by the ill-advised acts of the Government in 1766. At length, 

 in 1774, the smouldering flame burst forth. 



The East India Company, who then had the monopoly of the 

 trade in tea, had arranged with the English Government that 

 they should have the drawback on all tea conveyed to America, 

 and that the amount should be recovered through duties levied 

 at the American custom-houses. As soon as the colonists heard 

 of the arrangement they determined to frustrate it, for they 

 fancied they saw in the tea-tax, as they called it, a forerunner 

 of other domestic taxes, as hearth-tax, window-tax, and others 

 equally hateful. Besides, they now questioned the right of 

 Government to impose custom duties on them for the general 

 expenses of the empire, and they resolved to withstand the tea- 

 tax accordingly. 



Before the ships arrived in Boston harbour the people gave 

 notice to the consignees that they should not gain by their 

 cargoes ; some of the agents they induced to renounce their 

 agencies, and to promise that as soon as the vessels came they 

 should be sent back again without being discharged ; the pilots 

 were warned not to bring any of the obnoxious ships xnto port ; 

 and steps were taken for still further pursuing the matter 

 should these measures prove ineffectual. When the tea-ships 

 came, the action begun at Boston was followed at all the other 

 ports the cargoes when landed were stored purposely in cellars ; 

 and the people having bound themselves not to use tea, and so 

 to avoid a sale of the consignments, the article rotted, and was 

 lost. In other cases the cargoes were sent back as they came, 

 while at Boston the people were not content with such negative 

 measures, but disguised as Mohawk Indians, they rushed by 

 night on board three ships in the harbour, rummaged the cargo, 

 and threw some 18,000 worth of tea into the sea. This last 

 performance took place in December, 1773, and the actors in it 

 having escaped without punishment, the British Government at 

 home was determined to take the matter up sharply. 



A bill was brought in and passed, whereby the port of Boston 

 was declared to be closed, during the king's pleasure, against all 

 commercial operations, though Pitt, Burke, and some of the 



leading men in both Houses raised their voices in loud protest 

 against a punishment so far in excess of the offence, especially 

 without first asking the city of Boston to make good the IDS'! 

 incurred by the tea-shippers. Acting according to his lights 

 but how great was the darkness of those lights ! Lord North 

 and his colleagues carried their coercive measure against Boston, 

 and another, yet more stinging and stringent, against the county 

 of Massachusetts itself, by which the whole power in the county 

 was taken away from the people and centred in the governor 

 and a council of his own choosing ; the former governor was 

 changed for a military man of decided ways and habits, and 

 troops were promised to support him in case of need. 



The colonies, too, were not behindhand in energetic measures. 

 Virginia first proposed to sympathise practically with Boston, 

 then the other colonies joined, and finally it was agreed that 

 delegates should be chosen from each of the twelve colonies, 

 who should meet in general congress at Philadelphia for the 

 purpose of deciding what combined action should be taken. On 

 the 5th of September, 1774, fifty-five delegates, including George 

 Washington and Patrick Henry from Virginia, met in congress 

 at Philadelphia, and proceeded to deliberate with closed doors. 

 What passed in the meeting is not of material importance, but 

 the upshot was truly momentous. A declaration of rights, in 

 which they claimed all the privileges of Englishmen privileges 

 they had neither surrendered, lost, nor forfeited by emigration 

 was drawn up, together with some other statements to the effect 

 that several of the recent Acts of Parliament were contrary to 

 the spirit and letter of English law, and that until they were 

 repealed there would not be any harmony between Great Britain 

 and her colonies. To give these declarations force, they further 

 resolved, on the part of their constituents and themselves, not 

 to import any of the products of England, her colonies, or 

 dependencies, nor to export to them any American produce, 

 until the obnoxious Acts had been repealed. Addresses were 

 written to the king, and to the people of Great Britain, in which 

 the case of the colonists was manfully set forth, and an appeal 

 made to justice and fair play. 



How these addresses were received, what action the Govern- 

 ment took upon the conduct of the Americans, are matters of 

 history. Instead of examining into the case with impartiality, 

 and doing then according to right, the Government took offence 

 at its slighted dignity, and resolved to treat the Americans with 

 sole reference to that. 



The result was the United States. Continuous jarrings, and 

 occasionally something more, went on between the Government 

 and the colonists, till the latter did not scruple to declare their 

 intention to throw off their allegiance. An extensive organisa- 

 tion, going right through the colonies, was prepared' with secresy, 

 collections of arms and stores were made, the militia were drilled, 

 everything was got ready for the emergency which all knew 

 must arise sooner or later. Hostilities commenced in April, 

 1775, and from this moment civil war began in earnest, and was 

 continued with varying success for six years, by which time the 

 American soldiers, under George Washington, and the American 

 people, under the guidance of Henry, Jefferson, Adams-, Frank- 

 lin, and Lee, made good, as against all the world, the declara- 

 tion of independence which they made on July 4, 1776. The 

 British troops fought bravely enough, but were badly handled ; 

 the American troops fought equally well, and were admirably 

 handled, and had the satisfaction to receive, as the reward of 

 their valour, the surrender of almost all the British forces with 

 their generals in succession. Finally, the British king was 

 obliged to acknowledge the independence of his former colonies, 

 to treat with them on the basis of an independent nation, and 

 to accept a representative from them for all international 

 purposes. 



More than a century has elapsed since Independence Day 

 first dawned. In the course of that time each side has found 

 out that there is room enough for both in the world, and that 

 there is no reason why they should not exist with peace and good- 

 will towardy each other. Old jealousies, old suspicions have 

 worn away ; new principles, new bonds of union have taken their 

 place ; so that as an American of to-day still takes pleasure in 

 England as the home of his race and his family, so an English- 

 man of to-day finds no difficulty in sympathising with him 

 when he talks about American independence, and tells witit 

 pride and satisfaction the story of how in the old time tha 

 States came to earn their motto E pluribus unum ! 



