24 THOMAS HUTCHINSON 



could have been once put into successful operation, the 

 history of the next half-century would have been very 

 different from what it was. There would probably 

 have been no Stamp Act, no Committees of Corre- 

 spondence, no Boston Tea Party, perhaps no Revolu- 

 tion. It is idle to pursue such speculations. A 

 general acquaintance with history would lead one to 

 doubt if, under a federal union thus formed, and ham- 

 pered by connection with a remote imperial govern- 

 ment, the political career of the American people 

 could have been worked out with as much success as 

 that which we have actually witnessed. But we need 

 not go so far as this, inasmuch as any plan whatever 

 for a federal union, in 1754, was premature and im- 

 practicable. Men like Franklin and Hutchinson 

 might see the desirableness of such a thing, but 

 people in general did not see it. The time for con- 

 structive national politics on this grand scale had not 

 arrived; and probably nothing but hardship would 

 have brought it. It is only through pain that higher 

 and higher forms of life, whether individual or social, 

 are evolved. 



In 1757 Shirley was succeeded in the governorship 

 of Massachusetts by Thomas Pownall, and the next 

 year Hutchinson was appointed lieutenant-governor. 

 Under the management of William Pitt the fortunes 

 of the world-wide war against France were now sud- 

 denly changed. " We are obliged to ask every day," 

 said Horace Walpole, " what new victory there is, for 

 fear of losing one." Hutchinson's energy and popu- 

 larity made him of great service in calling out the mili- 

 tary resources of Massachusetts, and in these campaigns 

 the province began to awaken to a consciousness of 



