three acts were passed in such quick succession, as to produce the most inflammatory effects in America, where they were considered as forming a complete system of tyranny. By the first,' said the colonists, the property of unoffending thousands is arbitrarily taken away, for the act of a few individuals; by the second, our chartered liberties are annihilated; and by the third, our lives may be destroyed with impunity.'

General Gage, the commander-in-chief of the royal forces in North America, arrived at Boston, May 13th, with the commission of Governor of Massachusetts. At the moment of his arrival, the people were in great agitation at the news of the Port Bill; notwithstanding which, the General was received with respect, and treated with politeness. Shortly after, two regiments with artillery and military stores arrived, indicating the determination of the British government to reduce the colonies to submission by force of arms.

On the day designated by the port act, business was finished at Boston at twelve o'clock, at noon; and the harbor shut up against all vessels. The day was devoutly kept at Williamsburg, in Virginia, as a day of fasting and humiliation. In Philadelphia it was solemnized with every manifestation of public grief; the inhabitants shut up their houses; and, after divine service, a stillness reigned over the city, which exhibited an appearance of the deepest distress." In other places it was observed as a day of mourning.

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The inhabitants of Boston, distinguished for politeness and hospitality, no less than for industry and opulence, were sentenced, on the short notice of twenty days, to a deprivation of the means of subsistence. The rents of landholders ceased, or were greatly diminished. The immense property in stores and wharves was rendered in a great measure useless. Laborers and artificers, and many others, employed in the numerous occupations, created by an extensive trade, shared the general calamity. Those of the people, who depended on a regular income, and those who earned their subsistence by daily labor, were equally deprived of the means of support. Animated, however, by the spirit of freedom, they sustained their sufferings with inflexible fortitude. These sufferings were soon mitigated by the sympathy, and relieved by the charity of the other colonists. Contributions were every where raised for their relief. Corporate bodies, town meetings, and provincial conventions, sent them letters and addresses, applauding their conduct, and exhorting them to perseverance. The inhabitants of Marblehead generously offered the Boston merchants the use of their harbor, wharves, warehouses, and their personal attendance on the lading or unlading of their goods, free of all expense. The inhabitants of Salem concluded an address to Governor Gage, in a manner that reflected great honor on their virtue and patriotism. "By shutting up the port of Boston, some imagine that the course of trade might be turned hither, and to our benefit; but nature, in the formation of our harbor, forbids our becoming rivals

in commerce with that convenient mart; and were it otherwise, we must be dead to every idea of justice, lost to all feelings of humanity, could we indulge one thought to seize on wealth, and raise our fortunes on the ruins of our suffering neighbors.

Governor Gage had issued writs for the holding of a general assembly at Salem on the fifth of October; but afterward judged it expedient to counteract the writs by a proclamation for suspending the meeting of the members returned. The legality of the proclamation however was questioned; and the new members, to the number of ninety, meeting according to the precept, and, neither the governor nor any substitute attending, they resolved themselves into a provincial congress, and soon adjourned to Concord. They there chose Mr. John Hancock president; and appointed a committee to wait on the governor with a remonstrance, concluding with an earnest request, that he would desist from the construction of the fortress at the entrance into Boston, "and restore that pass to its neutral state." The governor expressed himself indignantly at their supposition of danger from English troops to any, excepting enemies; and warned them to desist from their illegal proceedings. Without regarding his admonition, they adjourned to Cambridge; and, when re-assembled, they appointed a committee to draw up a plan for the immediate defence of the province; resolved to enlist a number of the inhabitants, to be in readiness to turn out at a minute's warning; elected three general officers to command those minute men and the militia, in case of their being called out to action; and appointed a committee of safety, and a committee of supplies. The same congress, meeting again in November, resolved to get in readiness twelve thousand men, to act on any emergency; and that a fourth part of the militia should be enlisted, as minute men, and receive pay; appointed two additional general officers; † and sent persons to New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut, to inform those colonies of its measures, and to request their co-operation in making up an army of twenty thousand men. A committee was appointed to correspond with the inhabitants of Canada; and a circular letter was addressed to the several ministers in the province, requesting their assistance in averting the threatened slavery.‡

Toward the close of the year, a proclamation, that had been issued by the king, prohibiting the exportation of military stores from Great Britain, reached America. The people of Rhode Island no sooner

Hon. Jedidiah Prebble, Hon. Artemas Ward, and Col. Pomeroy. ↑ Col. Thomas, and Col. Heath.

The form of the letter was as follows: "Rev. Sir, We cannot but acknowledge the goodness of heaven, in constantly supplying us with preachers of the gospel, whose concern has been the temporal and spiritual happiness of this people. In a day like this, when all the friends of civil and religious liberty are exerting themselves to deliver this country from its present calamities, we cannot but place great hope in an order of men, who have ever distinguished themselves in their country's cause, and do therefore recommend to the ministers of the gospel, in the several towns and other places in this colony, that they assist us in avoiding that dreadful slavery, with which we are now threatened."

received an account of it, than they moved from the public battery about forty pieces of cannon; and the assembly of the colony passed resolutions for obtaining arms and military stores, and for raising and arming the inhabitants. In New Hampshire, four hundred men assailed his majesty's castle at Portsmouth; stormed it; and confined the garrison till they had broken open the powder-house, and taken away the powder.*-Holmes' Annals.

Action at Lexington and Concord.-"A considerable quantity of military stores having been deposited at Concord, an inland town about eighteen miles from Boston, General Gage purposed to destroy them. For the execution of this design, he, on the night preceding the nineteenth of April, detached lieutenant colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, with eight hundred grenadiers and light infantry; who at eleven o'clock embarked in boats at the bottom of the common in Boston, crossed the river Charles, and, landing at Phipps' farm in Cambridge, commenced a silent and expeditious march for Concord. Although several British officers, who dined at Cambridge the preceding day, had taken the precaution to disperse themselves along the road leading to Concord, to intercept any expresses that might be sent from Boston to alarm the country; yet messengers,† who had been sent from town for that purpose, had eluded the British patrols, and given an alarm, which was rapidly spread by church bells, signal guns, and vollies. On the arrival of the British troops at Lexington, toward five in the morning, about seventy men, belonging to the minute company of that town, were found on the parade, under arms. Major Pitcairn, who led the van, galloping up to them, called out, 'Disperse, disperse, you rebels; throw down your arms, and disperse.' The sturdy yeomanry not instantly obeying the order, he advanced nearer; fired his pistol; flourished his sword, and ordered his soldiers to fire. A discharge of arms from the British troops, with a huzza, immediately succeeded; several of the provincials fell; and the rest dispersed. The firing continued after the dispersion, and the fugitives stopped and returned the fire. Eight Americans were killed; three or four of them

Ramsay Americ. Revol. vol. i. ch. v; and S. Car. i. 16-23. Gordon, vol. i. Lett. viii. ix, x. History of the Dispute with America, from its origin in 1754. Having seen in Bibliotheca Americana this title of a work, which was there ascribed to Mr. John Adams, I made inquiry of the late President of the United States, and ascertained that he was the author of it. That history was first printed in the Boston Gazette. It is the first article inserted in the first volume of Almon's RemembranSee also Adams' Letters, Lett. i. Marshall, ii. 152-189. Adams' New England, chap. xxiii, xxiv.

cer.

These messengers were sent to Lexington, a town 6 miles below Concord, by Dr. Warren, who received notice of the intended expedition just before the embarkation of the troops.

Robert Munroe, Jonas Parker, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Caleb Harrington, Isaac Muzzy, and John Brown, of Lexington, and Azael Porter, of Wo

THE BRITISH TROOPS FIRING ON THE AMERICANS AT LEXINGTON. Copied from a drawing made by Mr. Earle, on the spot, a few days after the Americans were killed.-Lexington Meeting House and some other buildings are seen in the background.