COUNT RUMFORD. 103 



may think so easy, for I must confess I scarce ever 

 met with any little notion that puzzled me so much in 

 my life." 



In 1774 the ferment of discontent with the legisla- 

 tion of the mother country had spread throughout the 

 colony. Clubs and committees were formed which often 

 compelled men to take sides before the requisite data 

 for forming a clear judgment had been obtained. " Our 

 candour,'' says Dr. Ellis, " must persuade us to allow 

 that there were reasons, or at least prejudices and ap- 

 prehensions, which might lead honest and right-hearted 

 men, lovers and friends of their birthland, to oppose 

 the rising spirit of independence, as inflamed by dema- 

 gogues, and as foreboding discomfiture and mischief." 

 Thompson became " suspect/' though no record of any 

 unfriendly or unpatriotic act or speech on his part is 

 to be found. He was known to be on friendly terms 

 with Governor Wentworth; but the governor, when 

 he gave Thompson his commission, was highly popu- 

 lar in the province. Prior to Wentworth's accession 

 to office he "had strongly opposed every measure of 

 Great Britain which was regarded as encroaching upon 

 our liberties." He thought himself, nevertheless, in 

 duty bound to stand by the royal authority when it 

 was openly defied. This rendered him obnoxious. 



Thompson was a man of refractory temper, and the 

 circumstances of the time were only too well calculated 

 to bring that temper out. " There was something/' 

 says Dr. Ellis, " exceedingly humiliating and degrading 

 to a man of an independent and self-respecting spirit 

 in the conditions imposed at times by the * Sons of 

 Liberty/ in the process of cleansing oneself from the 

 taint of Toryism. The Committees of Correspondence 

 and of Safety, whose services stand glorified to us 

 through their most efficient agency in a successful 



