36 THOMAS HUTCHINSON 



people entertained hopes that the troubles were over. 

 In reply to Hutchinson's letter, the ministry told him 

 to take his own time to consider whether or not he 

 would accept the appointment ; and it was during this 

 lull in the storm, toward the end of 1770, that he de- 

 cided to accept it. He might well believe that under 

 his own management of affairs fewer occasions for dis- 

 sension would arise. When the storm arose again, it 

 burst from a quarter where no one would have looked 

 for it. 



For the two years following the so-called " Boston 

 Massacre," Hutchinson's administration was compara- 

 tively quiet. In the summer of 1772 the excitement 

 again rose to fever heat, over the royal order that the 

 salaries of the judges should henceforth be paid by 

 the crown. This measure, striking directly at the 

 independence of the judiciary, led Samuel Adams to 

 the revolutionary step of organizing the famous Com- 

 mittees of Correspondence. Hutchinson at first under- 

 estimated the importance of this step, but presently, 

 taking alarm at the progress which resistance to the 

 government was making, he tried to check it by a 

 sober appeal to reason. In January, 1773, he sent a 

 message to the legislature, containing an elaborate and 

 masterly statement of the doctrine of the supremacy 

 of Parliament over the whole British empire. It was 

 a document of prodigious learning and written in 

 excellent temper. Its knowledge of law was worthy 

 of Lord Mansfield, who expressed the warmest admi- 

 ration for it. It was widely read on both sides of the 

 Atlantic, and Whigs as well as Tories admitted its 

 power. But Hutchinson's great antagonist was equal 

 to the occasion. Never did the acuteness, the strong 



