The Loyalists of America and Their Times Volume I Part 40
In the Lords a similar address was pa.s.sed by a large majority; but the Lords Richmond, Portland, Rockingham, Stamford, Torrington, Ponsonby, Wycombe, and Camden entered upon the journals a protest against it, which concluded in the following memorable words:
"Whatever may be the mischievous designs or the inconsiderate temerity, we wish to be known as persons who have disapproved of measures so injurious in their past effects and future tendency, and who are not in haste, without inquiry or information, to commit ourselves in declarations which may precipitate our country into all the calamities of civil war."[353]
Before the adjournment of the new Parliament for the Christmas holidays, the papers containing the proceedings of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia reached England. The first impression made by them is said to have been in favour of America. The Ministry seemed staggered, and their opposers triumphed in the fulfilment of their own predictions as to the effects of Ministerial acts and policy in America. The Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the Colonies, after a day's perusal of these papers, said that the pet.i.tion of the Congress to the King (of which extracts have been given above) was a decent and proper one. He cheerfully undertook to present it to the King; and reported afterwards that his Majesty was pleased to receive it very graciously, and would lay it before his two Houses of Parliament. From these favourable circ.u.mstances, the friends of conciliation antic.i.p.ated that the pet.i.tion of the Colonial Congress would be made the basis of a change of measures and policy in regard to the colonies. But these hopes were of short duration.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 344: The royal historian, Andrews, states:
"The delegates were enjoined, by the instructions they had received from their const.i.tuents, solemnly to acknowledge the sovereignty of Great Britain over them, and their willingness to pay her the fullest obedience, as far _as_ the const.i.tution authorized her to demand it; they were to disclaim all notions of separating from her; and to declare it was with the deepest regret they beheld a suspension of that confidence and affection which had so long, and so happily for both, subsisted between Great Britain and her colonies.
"But they were no less carefully directed at the same time to a.s.sert the rights transmitted to them by their ancestors. These rights they would never surrender, and would maintain them at all perils. They were ent.i.tled to all the privileges of British subjects, and would not yield to the unjust pretensions of Parliament, which, in the present treatment of the colonies, had violated the principles of the const.i.tution and given them just occasion to be dissatisfied and to rise in opposition.
Parliament might depend this opposition would never cease until those Acts were wholly repealed that had been the radical cause of the present disturbances." (Andrews' History of the War with America, Spain and Holland, from 1775 to 1783, pp. 156, 157.)]
[Footnote 345: Elliott's New England History, Vol. II., Chap. xvi., p.
289.
"Washington and Lee believed the non-importation and exportation agreements would open the eyes of England; but Patrick Henry agreed with John and Samuel Adams in believing that _force_ must decide it, and, like them, was ready to meet any emergency."--_Ib._
"The New York Legislature at once repudiated the doings of the Congress; but elsewhere it met with a hearty response."--_Ib._, p. 290.]
[Footnote 346: "Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British Parliament, claiming a power, of right, to bind the people of America by statutes in all cases whatsoever, hath in some Acts expressly imposed taxes on them; and in others, under various pretences, but in fact for the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these colonies, established a Board of Commissioners with unconst.i.tutional powers, and extended the jurisdiction of Courts of Admiralty, not only for collecting the said duties, but for the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a county:
"And whereas, in consequence of other statutes, judges, who before held only estates at will in their offices, have been made dependent on the Crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in times of peace:
"And whereas it has lately been resolved in Parliament, that by force of a statute made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry VIII., colonists may be transported to England and tried there upon accusations for treasons, and misprisions and concealments of treasons committed in the colonies, and by a late statute such trials have been directed in cases therein mentioned:
"And whereas, in the last session of Parliament, three statutes were made--one ent.i.tled, 'An Act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbour of Boston, in the province of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, in North America;' another ent.i.tled, 'An Act for the better regulating the Government of the Province of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, in New England;' and another Act ent.i.tled, 'An Act for the impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons questioned for any act done by them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the province of the Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, in New England;' and another statute was then made, 'for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec,' etc.--all which statutes are impolitic, unjust, and cruel, as well as unconst.i.tutional, and most dangerous and destructive of American rights:
"And whereas a.s.semblies have been frequently dissolved, contrary to the rights of the people, when they attempted to deliberate on grievances; and their dutiful, humble, loyal, and reasonable pet.i.tions to the Crown for redress have been repeatedly treated with contempt by his Majesty's Ministers of State; the good people of the several colonies of New Hampshire, Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Castle, Kent and Suss.e.x on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, justly alarmed at the arbitrary proceedings of Parliament and Administration, have severally elected, const.i.tuted, and appointed deputies to meet and sit in General Congress, in the city of Philadelphia, in order to obtain such establishment as that their religion, laws, and liberties may not be subverted; whereupon the deputies so appointed being now a.s.sembled, in a full and free representation of these colonies, taking into their most serious consideration the best means of attaining the ends aforesaid, do in the first place, as Englishmen, what their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for a.s.serting and vindicating their rights and liberties, DECLARE, that the inhabitants of the English colonies in North America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English Const.i.tution, and the several charters or compacts, have the following rights:
"Resolved, N. C. D. 1st, That they are ent.i.tled to life, liberty, and property; and they have never ceded to any sovereign power whatever a right to dispose of either without their consent.
"Resolved, N. C. D. 2nd, That our ancestors, who first settled these colonies, were, at the time of their emigration from the mother country, ent.i.tled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of free and natural-born subjects within the realm of England.
"Resolved, N. C. D. 3rd, That by such emigration they by no means forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that they were, and their descendants now are, ent.i.tled to the exercise and enjoyment of all such of them as their local and other circ.u.mstances enabled them to exercise and enjoy.
"Resolved, 4th, That the foundation of English liberty and of all free government is a right in their people to partic.i.p.ate in their Legislative Council; and as the English colonists are not represented, and from their local and other circ.u.mstances cannot properly be represented in the British Parliament, they are ent.i.tled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several Provincial Legislatures, where their right of representation can alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the negative of their Sovereign, in such manner as has been heretofore used and accustomed.
But from the necessity of the case, and a regard to the mutual interest of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the operation of such Acts of the British Parliament as are _bona fide_ restrained to the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial benefits of its respective members; excluding every idea of taxation, internal or external, for raising a revenue on the subjects in America without their consent.
"Resolved, N. C. D. 5th, That the respective colonies are ent.i.tled to the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that law.
"Resolved, 6th, That they are ent.i.tled to the benefit of such of the English statutes as existed at the time of their colonization; and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be applicable to their several local and other circ.u.mstances.
"Resolved, N. C. D. 7th, That these his Majesty's colonies are likewise ent.i.tled to all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by Royal Charters, or secured by their several codes of Provincial laws.
"Resolved, N. C. D. 8th, That they have a right peaceably to a.s.semble, consider of their grievances, and pet.i.tion the King; and that all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the same, are illegal.
"Resolved, N. C. D. 9th, That the keeping a standing army in these colonies, in times of peace, without the consent of the Legislature of the colony in which such army is kept, is against law.
"Resolved, N. C. D. 10th, It is indispensably necessary to good government, and rendered essential by the English const.i.tution, that the const.i.tuent branches of the Legislature be independent of each other; that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in several colonies, by a Council appointed, during pleasure, by the Crown, is unconst.i.tutional, dangerous, and destructive to the freedom of American legislation.
"All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of themselves and their const.i.tuents, do claim, demand, and insist on, as their indubitable rights and liberties; which cannot be legally taken from them, altered or abridged by any power whatever, without their own consent, by their representatives in their several Provincial Legislatures.
"In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringements and violations of the foregoing rights, which, from an ardent desire that harmony and mutual intercourse of affection and interest may be restored, we pa.s.s over for the present, and proceed to state such Acts and measures as have been adopted since the last war, which demonstrate a system formed to enslave America.
"Resolved, N. C. D., That the following Acts of Parliament are infringements and violations of the rights of the colonies; and that the repeal of them is essentially necessary, in order to restore harmony between Great Britain and the American colonies, viz.:
"The several Acts of 4 Geo. III. chaps. 15 and 34--5 Geo. III. chap.
25--6 Geo. III. chap. 52--7 Geo. III. chap. 41 and chap. 46--8 Geo. III.
chap. 22, which imposed duties for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, extend the power of the Admiralty Courts beyond their ancient limits; deprive the American subject of trial by jury; authorize the judge's certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages that he might otherwise be liable to; requiring oppressive security from a claimant of ships and goods seized, before he shall be allowed to defend his property, and are subversive of American rights.
"Also 12 Geo. III. chap. 24, int.i.tuled 'An Act for the better securing his Majesty's dockyards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores,'
which declares a new offence in America, and deprives the American subject of a const.i.tutional trial by a jury of the vicinage, by authorizing the trial of any person charged with the committing of any offence described in the said Act, out of the realm, to be indicted and tried for the same in any shire or county within the realm.
"Also the three Acts pa.s.sed in the last session of Parliament, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbour of Boston, for altering the Charter and Government of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, and that which is int.i.tuled 'An Act for the better administration of justice,' etc.
"Also, the Act pa.s.sed in the same session for establishing the Roman Catholic religion in the province of Quebec, abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there, to the great danger (from so total a dissimilarity of religion, law, and government) of the neighbouring British colonies, by the a.s.sistance of whose blood and treasure the said country was conquered from France.
"Also, the Act pa.s.sed in the same session for the better providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his Majesty's service in North America.
"Also, that the keeping a standing army in several of these colonies, in time of peace, without the consent of the Legislature of that colony in which such army is kept, is against law.
"To these grievous Acts and measures, Americans cannot submit; but in hopes their fellow-subjects in Great Britain will, on a revision of them, restore us to that state in which both countries found happiness and prosperity, we have for the present only resolved to pursue the following peaceable measures: 1. To enter into a non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement or a.s.sociation; 2. To prepare an address to the people of Great Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of British America; and 3. To prepare a loyal address to his Majesty, agreeable to resolutions already entered into." (Marshall's American Colonial History. Appendix IX., pp. 481-485.)]
[Footnote 347: See the Earl of Chatham's remarks on page 423.]
[Footnote 348: Ramsay's Colonial History, Vol. I., p. 418.]
[Footnote 349: "The Committee which brought in this admirably well-drawn and truly conciliatory address were Mr. Lee, Mr. John Adams, Mr.
Johnston, Mr. Henry, Mr. Rutledge, and Mr. d.i.c.kenson. The original composition has been generally attributed to Mr. d.i.c.kenson." (Marshall's American Colonial History, Chap. xiv., p. 419, in a note.)]
[Footnote 350: "Some time before the proceedings of Congress reached England, it was justly apprehended that the non-importation agreement would be one of the measures they would adopt. The Ministry, apprehending that this event, by distressing the trading and manufacturing towns, might influence votes against the Court in the election of a new Parliament, which was, of course, to come on in the succeeding year, suddenly dissolved the Parliament and immediately ordered a new one to be chosen. It was their design to have the whole business of elections over before the inconveniences of non-importation could be felt. The nation was thus surprised into an election. Without knowing that the late American acts had driven the colonies into a firm combination to support and make common cause with the people of Ma.s.sachusetts, a new Parliament was returned, which met thirty-four days after the proceedings of Congress were first published in Philadelphia, and before they were known in Great Britain. This, for the most part, consisted either of the former members, or of those who held similar sentiments." (Ramsay's Colonial History, Vol. I., Chap. vi., p. 424.)]
[Footnote 351: Ramsay's Colonial History, Vol. I., Chap. vi., pp. 424, 425.]
[Footnote 352: _Ib._, p. 425.]
[Footnote 353: _Ib._, p. 425.]
CHAPTER XXI.
THE RE-a.s.sEMBLING OF PARLIAMENT--LETTERS FROM COLONIAL GOVERNORS, REVENUE AND MILITARY OFFICERS, AGAINST THE COLONISTS OPPOSED TO THE MINISTERIAL POLICY--THE MINISTRY, SUPPORTED BY PARLIAMENT, DETERMINE UPON CONTINUING AND STRENGTHENING THE COERCIVE POLICY AGAINST THE COLONIES.