'

J Q_

LIFE AND TIMES

OP

JOSEPH WARREN

BY

RICHARD FROTHINGHAM.

BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY.

1865.

N^

r«

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865. by

RICHARD FROTHING7IAM,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

• -•• _•_••<

• • •

Cambridge : Stereotyped and Printed by John Wilson and Sons.

TO

THOMAS AUSTIN GODDAED,

$}p& Volume b Inscribe**,

WITH RESPECT AND AFFECTION,

BY THE AUTHOR.

220893

P K E F A C E.

When preparing, in 1849, an introduction to a narrative of the military transactions in 1775 and 1776, contained in a volume entitled "History of the Siege of Boston," &c, I found but meagre accounts of the revolutionary movement in the town from 1767 to 1775. The space allotted to it in Dr. Snow's History is about thirty pages. It was not a part of the plan of William Tudor, in his "Life of James Otis," or of Josiah Quincy, in his " Memoir of the Life of Josiah Quincy, jun.," to describe it in these valuable works ; nor could the subject be treated with the fulness it requires in a history of Massa- chusetts or of the United States.

I found, moreover, that Joseph Warren was identified with the whole of this movement as an efficient political leader. The only accounts of his great service, however, were a brief memoir by Rev. Dr. John Eliot, in the "Boston Magazine" of 1784, which, in 1809, was enlarged into the five pages of his "Biographical Dictionary;" an interesting sketch of his life, in 1816, in "Eees's Cyclopaedia," supplied by Dr. John C. Warren; the "Memoir of Joseph Warren," of ten pages, by Samuel L. Knapp, in the "Boston Monthly Magazine" of April, 1826, which was enlarged from his "Biographical Sketches," printed in 1821; a little volume, entitled' " Stories of General

[v]

VI PREFACE.

Warren in relation to the Fifth-of-March Massacre and the Battle of Bunker Hill, by a Lady of Boston," printed in 1835 ; and the "Life of Joseph Warren by Alexander H. Everett," printed in 1845, incorporated into Sparks's "American Biog- raphy," the most of which will be found in an oration delivered in 1836. This "Life" contains ninety pages, fifty-five being devoted to a description of the Battle of Bunker Hill. These publications do not contain one of Warren's letters.

In 1849, I began to frame a narrative of Warren's career, and my collections soon became large. In 1852, fresh material was supplied in the valuable historical contribution of "The Hundred Boston Orators," by James S. Loring, who devotes to Warren twenty-six pages. In 1854, additional matter relative to him was printed in Mr. Bancroft's fourth volume of the " History of the United States," in which Warren is assigned a just position in our revolutionary story. That year, Dr. John C. Warren issued the elegant volume of the genealogy of the family, which contains several of the letters of Warren, and Dr. John Warren's Journal. In 1855, Samuel G. Drake printed his elaborate " History of Boston," which, however, does not come down later than 1770. In 1857, there appeared a pamphlet entitled " Biography of General Joseph Warren by a Bostonian," which consists of eighty-five pages, forty of them being taken up with three orations.

None of these publications contain a description of the pro- ceedings of the patriots of Boston from 1767 to 1775. I have attempted in this volume to supply a deficiency in American history, by describing those scenes which had a direct bearing on momentous political events. From the date of 1774, the ma- terial for biography is abundant; and I have given Warren's letters in full, and have dwelt on his personal action.

PREFACE. Vll

I am indebted to Jared Sparks for the free use of the col- lection, in folio volumes, of the " Letters and Papers " of Francis Bernard ; to George Bancroft for the use of a manuscript life of Samuel Adams by Samuel Adams Wells, the Journals of the Boston Committee of Correspondence, and the papers of Samuel Adams, in which were preserved the letters addressed by Warren to Samuel Adams, now carefully bound in a separate volume, none of which have been printed ; to the librarians of the Boston Athenaeum, Harvard College, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Antiquarian Society, and the New- York Historical Society, for every facility in making researches ; to the courteous City Clerk of Boston, Samuel F. M'Cleary, for access to the files of papers and records in his office ; to the successive Secretaries of State for facilities in consulting the Massachusetts archives ; and to Dr. J. Mason Warren for the use of the plate from which is printed the portrait of the General. I am indebted for favors to Dr. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff. I am under special obligations to Dr. John Appleton, Assistant Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, for the drawing of the facsimile of Warren's last letter, and for critical service in revising the proof-sheets.

In all cases where it was possible, I have resorted to original authorities. I have spent much time in examining the letter- books and papers of Thomas Hutchinson, which are among the rich collection of Massachusetts archives at the State House ; and I have copied much from them. This material and the papers of Francis Bernard contain authentic revelations of the principles and objects of two confidential agents of the British Administration, who exerted an important influence in bringing about the events that were the proximate cause of the Revolution.

VH1 PREFACE.

I will only add, that I have aimed to be precise and accu- rate, not only in the construction of the narrative, but in the statement of opinion. The history contained in this volume has a general bearing. There will be found in it much to show the beginnings of that Union which the Fathers of the Kepublic recognized to be a manifestation of the Providence of God; and much to illustrate the way in which the thirteen English colonies passed from the sovereignty 'of Great Britain to become an American nationality.

Charlestown, Mass., October 2, 18G5.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. Early Days. — 1741 to 1763.

Page.

Introductory *

Warren's Position 1

His Public Life *

His Civic Career 2

His Utterances 3

His Fields of Labor 3

The Warren Family 4

The Warren Surname .... 4

Warren's Ancestry 4

His Birthplace 4

His Father 5

Warren in Boyhood 6

Joseph Warren's Death .... 7

His Sons 7

Mary Warren . . . Her Domestic Life Her Character . . . Obituary Notice of her Warren enters College His Life-long Friends . His College Reputation

Anecdote

Poem ascribed to him Master of a Grammar-school Warren to the School Committee Member of St. Andrew's Lodge

Studies Medicine

Takes his College Degree . .

Page.

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

CHAPTER II. Principles and Party. — 1763 to 1767.

Warren's Marriage

Elizabeth Warren

Warren's Domestic Virtues . . His Settlement in Boston . . . Character of the Town ....

The Small Pox

Warren's Prospects as a Physician

The Political World

Parties in Boston

Leading Objects of the Whigs . Leading Objects of the Tories . Sympathies of Physicians . . . Warren's Study of Politics . . . He joins the Whigs

His Ruling Passion 18

Key to his Political Life .... 19

Warren to Edmund Dana ... 20

On Self-taxation 20

On Equality of Property . On Freedom and Equality On the Genius of the People On the Value of Union On French Interference Character of this Letter . . The Popular Leaders . . . 174^amuel Adams . .... 18 y JBLis Influence on Young Men 18 ' Friendship of Warren and Adams f [ixj

21 21 21 21 22 23 24 25 26 26

Xll

CONTENTS.

Inadequacy of his Force . .	Page. . 116	Troops go to their Quarters . .	Page. 131
Hutchinson on the Public Peace 117	Proceedings in the Night . . .	132
Troops occasion Quarrels . .	. 117	Morning of March Sixth . . .	133
Question of Firing on the Peop	e 118	Question of Removal . . . .	133
Franklin fears a Collision . .	. 119	Hutchinson's Denial of Power .	134
Hutchinson dreads a Tragic Scene 119	Meeting in Faneuil Hall . . .	134
General Interest in the Question 119	Ask a Removal of the Troops .	137
Inflamed State of the People .	. 120	Decision to Remove a Part . .	138
The Localities of the Troops .	. 121	Town-meeting in the Afternoon .	139
Fight at Gray's Ropewalk . .	. 121	Report of the Committee . . .	141
Laid before the Council . .	. 122	The Cry, " Both Regiments or
Members for a Removal . .	. 122 . 123	none "	142
The Press and a Hand-bill	The Second Committee . . .	142
Evening of March Fifth . .	. 124	The Council Chamber . . . .	143
Affray at Murray's Barracks .	. 124-	"HDemand by Samuel Adams . .	144
A Sentinel assaults a Boy . .	. 124	Agitation of Hutchinson . . .	145
Twenty Minutes of Interval .	. 125	Vacillation of Dalrymple . . .	146
A Party threatens the Sentinel	. 126	Unanimity of the Council . . .	147
Preston protects the Sentinel .	. 126	Decision to remove the Troops .	148
The People and the Soldiers .	. 127	Report of the Committee . . .	149
The Soldiers fire on the People	. 127	Formation of the Watch . . .	149
Carr parades his Men . . .	. 128	Warren on the Removal . . .	150
The Night Alarm	. 128	John Adams on the Bloodshed .	150
Summons of Hutchinson . .	. 129	The Surprise in England . . .	151
His Meeting with Preston . .	. 180	Eulogy on Boston	152
His Speech to the People . .	. 130	Medford to Boston	152
Arrest of Preston	. 131	Boston for a Common Cause . .	154
CHAPTJ	ER VII.
Oration on the Massacre. — 1	March, 1770, to March, 1772.
Warren's next Service . . .	. 155	Anecdote of his Firmness . . .	161
Urges Trials of the Soldiers .	. 156	Differences among the Patriots .	162
Appointed on Committees . .	. 156	Eliot on their Causes ....	162
Union the Desire of Americans	156	Hancock and Samuel Adams	163
Warren at a Merchants' Meeting	' 157	Declining Health of Otis . . .	163
Repeal of the Townshend Act	157	J. Adams removes to Braintree .	164
Retention of tbe Tea Duty .	157	Anecdote of Cushing ....	165
Non-importation Plan a Failure	158	Warren at Thirty	166
The General Apathy . . .	158	His Household	166
^Hutchinson and Samuel Adams	159	His Bargain for a Slave . . .	166
Hutchinson on Local Govern		His Professional Life ....	167
ment	159	His Irritability His Reputation	168
Hutchinson on Union . . .	159	168
^Samuel Adams on Union . .	159	His Social Walks	169

CONTEXTS.

Xlll

Page.

His Connection with the Clubs . 170

The Fifth-of-March Orator . . 171

Tory View of Local Government 171

The Whig View 172

The Town-meeting 172

Oration on Civil Government . 173

On Consent as its Basis . . 174

Page

Oration on the American Principle 174

On Violations of it . . . . 175

On Love of Liberty ... 176

Hutchinson on the Oration . . 178

Comment of the Press .... 178

Vote of Thanks by the Town . 178

Main Purpose of the Oration . . 178

CHAPTER VIII. Committees of Correspondence.— March, 1772, to January, 1773.

Object of the Tory Party . . . Designs of the Patriots ....

Question of the Judges' Salaries

Differences among the Whigs .

^firnm""1 Adams on Parties . . .

' — 3r%e Press urges Action . . .

— *he Public continue Apathetic .

---Alarms and Petitions for Action .

The Need of an Issue ....

Resignation of Hillsborough . .

Appointment of Dartmouth . .

His Instructions on Salaries . .

The Popular Leaders not agreed

Their Relations to Politics . . """""Samuel Adams urges Union . .

Hutchinson on a Broken Union .

His View of Local Rights . . .

Salaries freed from Local Law .

. nhmittees of Correspondence .

Hutchinson on the Popular Clamor

Union a Plan of Providence . .

Petitions for a Town-meeting . <^iaFhe Press urges Attendance . .

Hutchinson on Political Causes .

Meeting October Twenty-eighth

Letter read from Gerry . . .

Message to the Governor . . . ^-^amuel Adams on Politics . .

Answer of the Governor . . .

Petition for a General Court . .

Town-meeting November Second

An Independent Commonwealth

180	Answer to the Petition . . .	. 199
180	Resolve on the Right of Petition 200
181	Committee of Correspondence	. 201
182 '	T)tis, S. Adams, and Warren .	. 201
182	Organization of the Committee . 202
183	Sub-committee to frame a Report 202
183	Hutchinson on the Movement	. 202
184-=	■"Samuel Adams's Faith . . .	. 204
185	Cheering Letter from Gerry .	. 205
185	Meeting November Twentieth	l . 206
185	Report on Colonial Rights . .	. 207
186	On Expatriation . .	. 207
186	On Equality ....	. 207
187	On Government . .	. 207
187	On Personal Freedom	. 207
187	On Taxation ....	. 208
189	On Local Rights . .	. 208
189	On Jury Trials . . .	. 209
189	On Commercial Freedom	. 210
190	On Americanism . .	. 211
191	Doubts of James Warren . SFaith of Samuel Adams .	. . 212
191-	. . 212
192	The Report its own Orator	. . 213
192	Read by the Selectmen . .	. . 214
193	Reception by the People .	. . 214
194	Their Response to Boston .	. . 214
194	The Answer of Cambridge	. . 214
196	All the Towns urged to act	. . 215
197	Blindness of the Tories .	. . 216
198	The Judgment of Hutchinsor	i . 217
198	Influence of the Report on I	i.b-
198	lie Opinion	. . 217

XIV

CONTEXTS.

CHAPTER IX. The Destruction of the Tea. — 1773. January to December.

Page.

Sequence of destroying the Tea 218

Warren on New Year's Day . . 219

Faith in Divine Providence . . 219

Union the Paramount Object . . 220

Committee of Correspondence . 220

Hutchinson on the Signs . . . 221

His Speech to the Legislature . 222

The Answer of the House . . 223

On its Authorship 223

Hutchinson on Popular Action . 224

Fifth-of-March Oration .... 225

Town defends its Action . . . 225

A National Party organized . . 226

Adams on the Virginia Action . 227

Death of Elizabeth Warren . . 228

Society for the Bill of Rights . 229

The Town responds to Virginia . 230

Progress of the Union .... 231

Demand for a Congress . . . 231

Hutchinson on the Whig Party . 232

Passage of the Tea Act ... 233

East-India Company's Plans . . 234

The Determination to defeat them 234

Action of Philadelphia .... 235

Spirit of Massachusetts . . . 236

The Boston Consignees . . . 238

Action of North-end Caucus . . 238

The Summons to Liberty Tree . 239

Vote of the North-end Caucus . 240

Meeting at Liberty Tree . . . 240

The People and the Consignees . 241

They decline to resign .... 241

Town-meeting November Fifth . 243

Adopts the Philadelphia Resolves 243

Consignees evade the Demand . 244

The Tone of the Press .... 245

Hutchinson on the Exigency . . 246

-Firmness of Samuel Adams . . 247

The Tea Issue and the Union . 248

A Compromise impossible . . . 248

News from the Tea Ships ... 250

Meeting November Eighteenth . 251

Declination of the Consignees . 251

Their Application to the Council 252

Pagk.

Conference of Committees . . 252

Consignees and Selectmen . . 253

Arrival of a Tea Ship .... 254

Proceedings of the Selectmen . 255

Committee of Correspondence . 255

Their Circular to the Towns . . 255

The Pledge of Cambridge ... 556

Meeting November Twenty-ninth 257

The Debates in the Old South . 258

The Proceedings of the Council . 259

Obstinacy of Hutchinson . . . 262

Firmness of the Consignees . . 263

Vote to risk Life and Fortune . 264

Comment on this Meeting . . . 265

The Watch over the Teas ... 265

Joy at the Action of Boston . . 266

Urged to save the Country . . 267

Arrival of Two more Tea Ships 267

Vigilance of the Patriots ... 267

Temper of the People .... 268

Abigail Adams on the Temper . 268

The Legal Status of the Teas . 269

The Press on Public Meetings . 269

Meeting December Fourteenth . 271

Hutchinson December Fifteenth 271

Boston on December Sixteenth . 272

A Revolutionary Deed required . 273

Meeting at the Old South ... 274

Rotch told to get a Pass ... 275

Speech of Josiah Quincy, jun. . 276

Hutchinson at Milton .... 277

Rotch applies for a Pass . . . 277

Hutchinson's Denial 278

The Old South at Sunset ... 278

Dissolution of the Meeting . . 279

A Party in Indian Costume . . 279

The People at Griffin's Wharf . 280

The Destruction of the Tea . . 281

The General Joy 281

Response from the Colonies . . 282 Comment on the Destruction of

the Tea 283

Contemporary Vindication . . 284

Warren's Service 285

CONTENTS.

XV

CHAPTER X.

Boston Port Act and the American Union.

June, 1774.

December, 1773, to

Letters of Warren . . . Warren to Arthur Lee . . His Service in Committees The Reply to Newport . . The Union and a Congress Tea Issue promotes Union Isaac Royall on Loyalty . Samuel Adams on his Party Anxiety to hear from England Hancock on the Fifth of March Warren on a new Post-Office . Reports from England . . . Views of Samuel Adams . England's Nationality roused . The Boston Port Bill . . . Reception by the Committee . Circular drafted by Warren . State of the American Mind . Committees meet May Twelfth Samuel Adams the Chairman His Fame at Fifty-two . . . His Invective on the Port Act Circular of the Conference . Town-meeting May Twelfth . The Donation Committee . .

Page.

287

288

290

291

292

294

295

, 296

, 298

, 299

. 299

, 300

. 301

. 302

. 303

. 304

. 305

. 306

Pagb.

Arrival of General Gage . . . 307

His Character and Reception . . 307

Hutchinson's last Official Acts . 308

On paying for the Tea . . . . 310

Bearing of the People .... 310

Port Act under the Colonies . . 311

Solemn League and Covenant . 313

Appeal for Union 314

Interesting Week 315

Franklin on paying for the Tea . 315

Meeting of Tradesmen .... 316

Warren to Samuel Adams . . 317

Letter from Baltimore .... 318

Warren to Baltimore .... 318

Seventeenth of June .... 319

Town-meeting in Faneuil Hall . 320

John Adams as Moderator . . 320

His Political Career 320

Success of the Meeting . . . 322

Samuel Adams at Salem . . . 322

Gage dissolves the General Court 324

Delegates chosen to Congress . 325 Close of British Authority in

Massachusetts 325

Rejoicing at Warren's House . 325

CHAPTER XL

The Regulating Act and the Suffolk Resolves.

September.

1774. June to

Two additional Penal Acts . . 327

Hutchinson and George III. . . 327

The King and the Colonies . . 331

Effect of the New Acts . ... 331

Samuel Adams on the Crisis . . 332

Meeting June Twenty-eighth . 333

Donation Committee organized . 334

Gage receives the Two Acts . . 334

His Instructions 334

Greatness of the Issue .... 335

Pledges to Massachusetts . . . 336

Words of Prescott and Gardner . 337

S. Adams leaves for Congress . 338

Supply of his Necessities . . . 338

Warren as a Popular Leader . . 338

Warren to Samuel Adams . . . 339

Putnam the Guest of Warren . 341

Suffolk Convention at Stoughton 341

Dunbar's Liberty Prayer . . . 342

William Eustis 342

xvi

CONTENTS.

Page.

Warren to Samuel Adams . . 343

Warren to Stonington .... 345

Warren to Preston 346

Gage forbids a Town-meeting . 348

Conference August Twenty-sixth 349

Provincial Congress resolved on 349

Warren to Norwich 350

Warren to Samuel Adams . . 351

The Powder Alarm 352

Warren at Cambridge .... 353 Warren to East Haddam . . . 354 Warren on Government . . . 355 Warren to Samuel Adams . . 355 One Colony of Freemen a Bul- wark for the Rights of America 358 Expression of Popular Feeling . 358 Gage fortifies Boston Neck . . 359

Page. Paul Revere on Boston .... 359 British Force in Boston . . . 360 Suffolk Convention re-assembles 360 Warren reports the Suffolk Re- solves 361

Address to Gage 362

His Reply 363

Second Address 363

Warren's Meeting with Flucker 364

Boldness of the Suffolk Resolves 365

Warren sends them to Congress 366

Their Reception 367

Their Indorsement 367

Joy of the Patriots 367

Surprise of Gage ....... 367

Violence of the Tories .... 368

Union of the Colonies .... 369

CHAPTER XII.

Massachusetts and the General Congress. — September, 1774, to January, 1775.

Description of Massachusetts . 370

The First Charter 371

Charter of William and Mary . 372

Local Government dissolved . . 373

Condition of the People ... 374

On forming Government . . . 375

Extremists among the Whigs . 375

Class who aimed at Union . . 375

Warren to Samuel Adams . . 375

Samuel Adams to Warren . . . 377

Warren chosen a Delegate . . 378

Instructions of Boston .... 379

Card by Warren 380

Committee of Correspondence . 380

Warren to Samuel Adams . . . 381

A Provincial Congress .... 383

Prominent Members 384

On Forming a Government . . 385

Letter of John Adams .... 386

Action in the Union Spirit . . 387

Reliance on the General Congress 388

Its Pledge to Massachusetts . . 388

The Provincial Congress . . . 389

Decline to Form a Government . 390

Middletown on the Penal Acts . 391

Warren to Middletown .... 391

Citation from Josiah Quincy , jun. 393

Warren to Josiah Quincy, jun. . 393

Gage on the Union 396

The Provincial Congress . . . 397

Its Address to the People . . . 397

Warren to Newport 398

His General Activity .... 398

Spirit of the Tory Party ... 399

Firmness of the Whigs .... 400

Non-importation Policy .... 400

American Union fully reached . 401

Voices from South Carolina . . 401

Prediction for 1874 . . . . . 402

Meaning of Union 403

Washington's Interpretation . . 404 Motto on the American Flag,

"Liberty and Union" . . . 403

Pledge from Durham .... 403

Military Preparation .... 404

Warren's " Song on Liberty " . 405

CONTENTS.

XVU

CHAPTER XIII.

Warren's Second Oration. — 1775. January to March.

Warren in favor of Bold Action . His Service on Committees . . Inspection Committees .... Greatness of the Question . . . Objects of the Patriots .... Ministry give up Taxation . . Retain the Right to alter Char- ters

Franklin on this Claim .... Army sent to enforce it . . . Spirit of Resistance to it . . . Dartmouth on Hostilities . . . Samuel Adams on Hostilities Second Provincial Congress . . Re-elect the Committee of Safety Enlarge their Powers .... Tory Action and Hand-bill . . The Troops create Alarm . . . Warren to Samuel Adams . . Warren on Committees . . . Appeal of Congress 416

Page. 406 406 407 407 408 409

409 409 410 410 411 411 412 412 412 413 413 414 415

Gage on the Congress . Warren to Arthur Lee .... The Committee of Safety . . . Hawley against Hostilities . . Josiah Quincy, jun., on Hostilities Gage on disarming the People .

417 418 419 420 421 422

Leslie at Salem . . . Firmness of the Patriots The Pledge of Falmouth Reply of Boston . . . Inspiring Signs of Union Contemporary Interpretation William H. Drayton's Charge John Adams's " Novanglus Abraham Cowley's Prophecy The American Ensign . . Fifth-of-March Anniversary Warren selected as the Orator Town-meeting . . . Appearance of the Old South The Audience .... Description of the Orator Oration, exordium . .

On Personal Freedom

On Colonial Freedom

On Aggressions . .

On their Consequences

On the Massacre

On Hostilities

On the Duty of the Hour Behavior of the Officers . Samuel Adams on the Scene Samuel L. Knapp on the Scene

Page.

422

423

424

425

426

, 426

, 427

. 428

. 429

. 430

. 431

. 432

. 433

. 435

. 437

. 438

. 439

CHAPTER XIV.

The Nineteenth op April. — 1775. From the 5th of March to the 19th of April.

Action of the Committee of Safety	441	Summons of Absent Members	. 445
The Army watched	441	Irritations of the Army . .	. 445
George III. confident ....	442	Mock Oration by the Officers	. 446
Patriots hold Union their Anchor	442	Marches of the Army . . .	. 457
Warren to Montreal	442	Warren to Arthur Lee . . .	. 457
Spirit of the National Life . . .	444	Francis Dana on the Colony .	. 448
The Provincial Congress meet .	444	Samuel Cooper on Union . .	. 448
Its Conciliatory Spirit ....	444	Warren to Franklin ....	. 448
Alarming News from England .	445	Caution of Congress ....	. 449

xyin

CONTENTS.

Paqb.

Numbers of the Army .... 460

Its Officers expect Submission . 450

Warren on Cowardice .... 451

Apprehensions of Arrests . . . 451

Anecdotes of Warren .... 452

Warren decides on a Military Life 452

Movements of Gage . . . ' . . 453 Warren informs Hancock and

Adams 454

Troops on the March .... 454

Warren sends Word to Lexington 455

Smith's Expedition to Concord . 455

Anecdote of Lord Percy . . . 455

The Alarm of the Country . . 456

Page.

Day of Lexington and Ooncord . 456

Express to Warren 456

His Departure from Boston . . 456

Meets Charlestown Men . . . 457

Meets Officers in Cambridge . . 457

Meets the Committee of Safety . 458

Question of beginning War . . 458

Hancock and Adams .... 459

Anecdote of Samuel Adams . . 459

Warren joins Heath 460

Percy rescues Smith .... 460

Warren and West Cambridge . 461

British reach Bunker Hill ... 462

Comment on Warren's Service . 462

CHAPTER XV.

Sixty Days op Service. — 1775. From the 19th op April to the

17th of June.

Day of Lexington and Concord . 464

Boards of Selectmen .... 464

Circular penned by Warren . . 466

Warren to General Gage . . . 467

Eliot on Warren's Influence . . 468

The Provincial Congress . . . 468

Warren President pro tern. . . . 469

His Autographs 470

Warren to Arthur Lee .... 470

Report made by Warren . . . 471

Warren to the Selectmen . . . 472

Warren to Alexander M'Dougal 473

Warren to Connecticut .... 475

Warren on Committees .... 476

Warren drafts Papers .... 477

Warren on the Situation of Boston 478

Character of William Cooper . 480

Warren on a Government . . . 481

Warren to Committee of Safety 482

Warren to Moses Gill .... 482

Warren to Samuel Adams . . 483

On taking up Government . . 485

Warren to Joseph Reed . . . 486

Warren to Continental Congress 487

Its -Admirable Statesmanship . 487

Warren to Arther Lee .... 488

Warren on Ticonderoga . . . 490

Re-chosen on Committee of Safety 490

Warren on giving Commissions . 491

Warren at Grape Island . . . 493

His Connection with the Press . 493

Benjamin Edes and John Gill . 493

Warren on Arnold's Success . . 494

Warren to Samuel Adams . . . 495

Warren to Continental Congress 496

Warren to New Hampshire . . 497

Third Provincial Congress . . 498

Warren elected President . . . 498

Dr. Langdon's Sermon .... 498

Testimony to Social Order . . 499 Warren on the Appointment of

Washington 500

Warren on Exchange of Prisoners 601

Report on the Army 602

Warren on Committees .... 503

Warren chosen Major-General . 603

Decision to occupy Bunker Hill 504

Relations of Warren's Views . 604

Warren's last Letter 606

Occupation of Breed's Hill . . 607

CONTENTS.

XIX

CHAPTER XVI. The Closing Scene. — 1775. The Seventeenth op June.

The Seventeenth of June . . Warren in the Morning . . He goes to Cambridge . . . Meets the Committee of Safety- Letters from Congress . . . Alarm in Cambridge . . . Warren goes to Charlestown . His View from Bunker Hill . His Interview with Putnam . His Meeting with Prescott . His Service as a Volunteer . Capture of the Redoubt . .

Pagb. 508 509 510 510 611 512 513 513 614 515 515

, 616

Page.

His Death 517

His Burial on the Field .... 518

Relations of his Pall 619

The General Mourning .... 520

Individual Expressions .... 620

John Warren on the Battle-field . 522

Discovery of the Body .... 522

The Public Funeral 623

Perez Morton's Eulogy .... 624

The Remains 524

Warren's Friends 625

Conclusion 525

APPENDIX.

I. The Suffolk Resolves 529

II. Eulogies on Warren 535

III. Warren's Children 642

IV. Relics of Warren 546

V. Monuments to Warren ^

LIFE AND TIMES

OF

JOSEPH WARREN,

CHAPTEE I.

EARLY DAYS.

Introductory. — Family of Warren. — His Boyhood. — Death of his Father. — His College Days. — Political Events. — Anec- dote.— A School-Teacher. — A Mason. — His Profession.

1741 to 1763.

Joseph "Wahren was one of the popular leaders of Boston during the early stage of the American Revo- lution. He grasped. its basis idea of civil freedom, and aimed to impress on the public mind its dig- nity and glory. By ten years of devotion to the patriot cause, he rose to be the head of public affairs in Massachusetts, and became one of the most promi- nent characters of New England.1

"Warren, through life, was a man of action, whose words were deeds. To repel the aggressions of arbi- trary power, and to maintain the principles of liberty, he wrote in the political journals, was zealous in the private clubs, and was a leader in the public meetings.

i Both in civil and military affairs, the most prominent man in New Eng- land. — Life of Warren, by Alexander H. Everett, 107.

1

A LIFE OF JOSEPH WARKEX.

"When his townsmen desired an exponent of their sentiment, he became their orator ; when the time arrived for American union, he was active in organ- izing committees of correspondence ; and, when revo- lutionary action was required, he appeared in the front of responsibility in destroying the tea, and in resisting the acts altering the Massachusetts Charter. As the virtual executive of a free State, he acted with the comprehensiveness of the patriot, and the admin- istrative ability of the statesman. On the field of war, he impressed his associates with his coolness, judgment, and resources. He volunteered to share, with a band of militia, the perils of an extreme post; and, when he fell in the Bunker-hill battle, co-laborers in the cause, who felt the magnetism of his influence, and knew the value of his service, declared that his memory would be endeared to the worthy, in every part and age of the world, as long as virtue and valor should be esteemed among mankind.1

The tributes paid to Warren, when he was crowned an immortal, indicate a career of no ordinary char- acter ; and the future seemed burdened with his honors.2 But so scanty is the material relative to him, of a strictly personal cast, that the greater part of his civic service has been overlooked.3 The Boston records place him in the front rank of great political action, but are barren of details. Contem- porary eulogy, however abundant, is not copious in facts ; and his letters are but few in number, until the last fifteen months of his life. Then, utterances,

1 Massachusetts Committee of Safety, July 25, 1775. 2 Bancroft, vii. 433.

8 The first public appearance of Dr. Warren, in connection with the political affairs of the day, was on the occasion of the delivery of the Anniversary Address of 1772. — Everett's Life of Warren, 114.

EARLY DAYS. O

elicited by his public labors, often in a prophet's tone, and always aglow with patriotic fire, reveal the inner springs of a noble life, and justify the judgment, that "Warren lived an ornament to his country.1

His words, interpreted in action, show his grasp of issues, his motive, and his aim; but, to see him as a social power, it is necessary to follow him through scenes when the public passion was roused, and high resolve ruled the hour, and when he was a leader in company with kindred spirits. These scenes must ever be of interest from their connection with the events that led to national independence. In weaving descriptions of them into a biography which demands traits of personal character, there is a liability of en- croaching on the province of history on the one hand, and, on the other, of being incomplete; and, while a view will be given of the great popular demonstra- tions in which he was an actor, only so much general history will be related as may be necessary to show the working of political influences on the community among whom he passed his life.

The career of many of the revolutionary men ex- tends over a longer period than that of Warren; but few have connected their names more enduringly with vital principles or salient events, and seldom is there seen a life of nobler devotion to country, and hence better calculated, by its lesson, to strengthen patriotic influences. The contemplation of such a character as the self-devoted martyr of Bunker Hill is the noblest spectacle which the moral world affords.2

1 As he lived an ornament to his country, his death reflected a lustre upon himself, and the cause he so warmly espoused. — Eliot's Biographical Dictionary.

2 Everett's Warren, 182.

4 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN".

In a genealogy of the Warren Family, the name is traced back to "William, Earl Warren, a Nor- man baron of Danish extraction. He accompanied William the Conqueror on his expedition to England; fought at the battle of Hastings ; was rewarded with riches that were shorn from the intrepid Saxons; and won the confidence of the Court to such an extent, that, when the king left England on a visit to his na- tive land, Earl Warren was appointed one of the two guardians of the kingdom. From this ancestry, the Warrens are followed down through earls, knights, and commoners, to the period of the colonization of our country.1 Then emigrants of this name settled in Plymouth, Watertown, and Boston ; but no proof has been discovered of a connection between these fami- ilies.2 A careful examination of the records of the parish in England, whence the Watertown family came, fails to connect it with the Boston family.3 Joseph Warren's ancestry have not been authen-

1 I am indebted to the late Dr. J. C. Warren for a copy of his beautiful "Genealogy of Warren, with some Historical Sketches," printed in 1854. In " Patronymica Britannica " is an account of the Warren surname, dated Oct. 1, 1860 : " Warren. — William de Warene, or AVarrena, who married Gun- drada, a daughter of William the Conqueror, received great possessions in Sussex, Surry, Norfolk, Suffolk, &c, and became progenitor of the Earls of Warenne and Surry. His chief seat, anterior to the Conquest, was at Bellen- combre, a small town in the arrondissement of Dieppe, in Normandy, on the little river Varenne. By this name, the town itself was anciently known, until, upon the erection of a fortress upon an artificial mound, or bellus cumulus, it received, from that circumstance, the appellation of Bellencombre. — Arch. Journal, iii. 6. The Norman de Warrennes were doubtless progenitors of many existing families of Warren ; but it must not be forgotten that the surname may have a totally different source, — namely, warren, which Baily defines as " a fran- chise, or place privileged by the king, for keeping conies, hares, partridges, pheasants," &c; though the phrase is now more commonly applied to a colony of rabbits. Thirdly, Warran, or Warinus, is an old baptismal name, whence Fitz Warine."

2 Savage's Genealogical Dictionary. 8 H. G. Somerby, MS. letter.

EAKLY DAYS. 5

tically traced beyond Peter "Warren, whose name appears first on the Boston records, in 1659, where he is called Mariner. His second son, Joseph, a housewright, built a house, in 1720, in Eoxbury, and died in 1729. His son Joseph, born in 1696, married, May 29, 1740, Mary, the daughter of Dr. Samuel Stevens, of Eoxbury; and here their son Joseph, the subject of this biography, was born, on the 11th of June, 1741. The family mansion, which was substan- tial and commodious, stood in what is now Warren Street, and was then near the centre of the principal village. On the site of it there is now a modern house, built of stone, which has two inscriptions on the front of the second story. One is: w On this spot stood the house erected, in 1720, by Joseph Warren, of Boston, remarkable for being the birthplace of General Joseph Warren, his grandson, who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775." The other is: "John Warren, a distinguished physi- cian and anatomist, was also born here. The original mansion being in ruins, this house was built by John C. Warren, M.D., in 1846, son of the last named, as a permanent memorial of the spot." 1

Eoxbury, which borders on Boston, is character- ized, by an early writer, as having been settled by a laborious people, who turned its swamps into fruitful fields, and planted flocks and herds on its rocky hills.2 The father of Warren was a farmer, who was highly esteemed and respected, led an exemplary life, and held several municipal offices to the acceptance of his townsmen. He paid much attention to fruit-raising, and introduced into the neigborhood of Boston the

1 Loring's Hundred Boston Orators, 47. 2 Hubbard.

6 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

apple denominated from him the "Warren Kusset."1 Warren's mother had a fine mind and a lovely dispo- sition; and her long and useful life was imbued with fervent piety.

Warren, happy in a parentage of independence and virtue, passed his childhood under careful eyes and healthy influences. He was instructed in the rudi- ments of knowledge in the public school of Roxbury; but nothing is related specially of his studies. He is described in boyhood as manly, generous, fearless, and independent.2 He raised himself, a Tory writer said, from ambition only, from a bare-legged milk-boy to be a major-general.3 The history of the time could hardly have failed to arrest his attention and excite his ambition. The journals then seen in most fami- lies contained accounts of the encroachments of the French in the Valley of the Ohio; and Washington's daring feats and dawning fame would naturally be the household talk.4 There was in Boston the un- common spectacle of the gathering of an army, and

1 Everett's Warren, 95. 2 Stories of Gen. Warren, 18.

8 News Letter, Jan. 11, 1776.

4 The following, from the newspapers of this period, shows the manner in which Washington was named when Warren was a boy : —

A brief chronology of remarkable events relating chiefly to the present war.

Since first the Sparks of this dire War begun, i

In this new World, which into Europe run. j

Since the perfidious French in hostile Ranks i

The English drove from smooth Ohio's Banks. 1

Since Washington entered the List of Fame, ) ^ , „___ ~TI * *.-.-. [ October, 1753.

And by a Journey to Lake Erie came. )

Since he defeats a French detached Band. 1 _•- «.-_-.

Under the brave Jumonville^s command. S '

Since Contrecoeur took hold of English Claim. j

His Fortress builds and calls it Fort Du Quesne. j

Since Beau Se Jour yielded to British Fame, ) „ «—...__. ...... .1 -x > June 20, 1754.

And Cumberland adorns its present name. J

Since Fortune turned to Washington adverse, i

Who makes -good Terms with a superior Force. J ^ '

EARLY DAYS. i

its embarkation for Nova Scotia, in order to act against the enemy.

When Warren was fourteen, his father, while in his orchard, gathering fruit from a tree, fell from the lad- der on which he was mounted, and was instantly killed. His son John, subsequently a celebrated sur- geon, who was sent by his mother to call his father to dinner, met the body as two laborers were bearing it towards the house. A letter in the "Boston News Letter" (Roxbury, Oct. 25, 1755) thus relates this calamity : " On Wednesday last, a sorrowful acci- dent happened here. As Mr. Joseph Warren, of this town, was gathering apples from a tree, standing upon a ladder considerable distance from the ground, he fell from thence, broke his neck, and expired in a few minutes. He was esteemed a man of good un- derstanding; industrious, upright, honest, and faith- ful; a serious, exemplary Christian; a useful member of society. He was generally respected among us, and his death is universally lamented." His widow was left with the charge of four sons, — Joseph, the patriot; Samuel, who continued to live with his mother, and cultivate the paternal estate; Ebenezer, who settled in Foxboro', and was a member of the Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution, and of the General Court, and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Norfolk County ; and John, who was educated at Harvard College, studied medicine with his brother, was a surgeon in the army of the Revolution, rose to eminence in his profession, was a distinguished literary and political writer, and an elo- quent lecturer. The fidelity with which the mother executed her arduous trust is attested by the virtues of her children.

8 LITE OF JOSEPH WAEEEN.

She lived to see her sons attain fame and honor, was an object of general interest in Roxbury, reached an advanced age, and continued until her death to live in the family mansion. She was hospitable, kind to her neighbors, benevolent to the poor, and reaped, in the affectionate attention of the younger members of the family, the best reward for the exemplary care with which she had discharged her maternal duties. This excellent woman appears to have much resem- bled the mother of Washington, in the skill and care with which she infused generous sentiments and vir- tuous principles into the bosoms of her children; and she reaped, almost as richly as Mrs. Washington, the fruits of her labors.1 It has been said2 that it is not easy to imagine a lovelier scene than the following paragraph, from the w Stories of General Warren," presents, of the evening of a well-spent life, still warmed and brightened by the benign spirit which had been the sun of this life's long day : w In her old age, when her own children had left their fireside to take their part in the active scenes of life, it was one of her dearest pleasures to gather a group of their children and the children of others around her. She did all in her power to promote their enjoyment, and her benevolent smile was always ready to enliven and encourage them. On Thanksgiving Day, she de- pended on having all her children and grandchildren with her; and, until she was eighty years of age, she herself made the pies with which her table was loaded."3

Mary Warren died in 1803. Several of the Boston journals of Jan. 20 have this obituary notice : "At

1 Southern Literary Messenger, i. 750. 2 lb. 8 Stories of Gen. Warren, 17.

EARLY DAYS. 9

Roxbury, on Friday last, Mrs. Mary Warren, aged ninety. Few among the sons and daughters of Adam have attained so advanced an age, fewer still with faculties so unimpaired, very few with a character so unspotted. An unshaken confidence in the recti- tude of the Divine government rendered her firm and serene through every stage of life. Of the cup of adversity she had sometimes drank deeply; but the religion of Jesus was her never-failing support. It was this that prompted to the exercise of universal beneficence; it was this which heightened her rel- ish for social intercourse and enjoyment; and the cheerfulness it inspired, together with an uncommon strength of mind, made her, at a period of life which is usually but labor and sorrow, the welcome com- panion of the young and the aged. And it was this which at last enabled her to meet the approach of death, for which she, at that interesting hour, ex- pressed herself she had been all her life preparing, without a terror and without a groan."

In 1755, Warren, at fourteen, entered Harvard College, which was presided over by the prudent Holyoke, a man of a just and noble spirit. Great political events occurred during the four years of his college course. The struggle between England and France, for empire in this western world, filled every locality with politics. The humiliation to which un- worthy counsels brought British arms was typified in the defeat of Braddock; and the victory of Wolfe was an earnest of the fresh life which Pitt infused into his countrymen. Harvard graduates, with whom Warren was afterwards intimately associated, were, during this period, beginning their career. Samuel

10 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREK.

Adams was of the class of 1740; and, three years later, he maintained, in a thesis before the faculty, the doctrine, that it was lawful to resist by force the su- preme magistrate, if the commonwealth otherwise could not be preserved; and was recognized already as a champion of the popular cause in Boston. James Otis, of the class of 1743, had acquired such fame for genius, learning, and eloquence at the bar, that law- yers spoke of him to John Adams, then at "Worcester, as the greatest, the most learned and honest young man of his age.1 Samuel Cooper, of the same class, the patriot divine, who became Warren's pastor, was settled at Brattle-street Church, and appeared, like the rising light, shining more and more unto his meridian splendor.2 James Bowdoin, of the class of 1745, was an eminent merchant, and a member of the General Court. John Hancock, of the class of 1754, was in the counting-room of his uncle, the largest merchant of Boston. John 'Adams, of the class of 1755, was master of a grammar school at Worcester, and was speculating on the removal, from the West, of the tur- bulent Gallics, an American Union, and on the prog- ress of his country in power, until the united force of Europe would be unable to subdue it;3 and, the year Warren was graduated, his life-long and dear friend, Josiah Quincy, jun., entered as a student.

Warren sustained in college the character of a youth of talents, fine manners, and a generous, inde- pendent deportment, united to great personal courage and perseverance.4 He exhibited, in union with man- liness, spirit, and resolution, that gentleness of nature

1 John Adams, in a letter, says he had not met Otis in 1758. 2 Dr. Eliot. 3 Letter, 1755. 4 Knapp's Biographical Sketches, 107.

EARLY DAYS. 11

which characterized his career.1 An anecdote is re- lated showing his fearlessness. Several of his class, in the course of a college frolic, to exclude him, shut themselves in a chamber, and barred the door so effectually that he could not force it. "Warren, bent on joining them, saw that their chamber- window was open, and that a spout was near it which reached from the roof to the ground; and he went to the top of the house, walked to the spout, slid by it down to the window, and threw himself into the room. At this instant, the spout fell; when he quietly remarked, that it had served his purpose. He then entered into the sport of his classmates. "A spectator of this feat and narrow escape," Knapp says, "related this fact to me in the college -yard, nearly half a century afterwards; and the impression it made on his mind was so strong that he seemed to feel the same emo- tion as though it happened but an hour before." 2

During "Warren's collegiate course, "Washington and other Virginians visited Cambridge, and were received with marked attention; but no memorials connect Warren thus early with public men or affairs. It is said that he distinguished himself highly as a student, and had a part assigned to him on the day he was graduated.3 It is related, that, soon after he left college, he gained a premium which was offered by gentlemen of the province for the best poem on the death of George the Second and the accession of George the Third.4 A volume was published, in Boston, in 1761, under the title of Pietas et Gratu- latio, containing thirty-one poems, on these themes,

1 Everett's Warren, 96. 2 Knapp's Sketches, 108. 3 Rees' Cyclopaedia. 4 lb.

12 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAKREN.

which were written by the alumni of Harvard; but he is not named among their authors.

In April succeeding his graduation, at nineteen, he was appointed master of the grammar school in Roxbury, which was one of the best endowed, oldest, and most successful schools in Massachusetts. His immediate predecessor was Mr. Fairfield; and the feoffees' or trustees' records say: " 1760. April ye 11. Then the Feoffees agreed with Mr. Joseph Warren to take the school for one quarter of a year at ye rate of fortey three pounds nine shillings & fourpence a year, he to board himself and his time to commence until about the second of May (as he was to keep a week or ten days for Mr. Fairfield) ." Warren taught this school about a year, as appears from the fol- lowing letter, addressed w To the gentlemen intrusted with the care of the school in Roxbury: " —

Boston, December, 1761. Gentlemen, — You may remember that you agreed with me to teach the school in Roxbury for forty-four pounds sixteen shillings a year; of which I have received from Deacon Gridley twenty-five pounds twelve shillings, of the Rev. Mr. Adams about five pounds, of the school-boys, to pay for the carting of wood, two pounds and eight pence, of which by your direction I expended eleven shillings and two pence in buying a lock, hooks, staples, and nails for the repairing of the school-house. So that there remains due to me about thirteen pounds, by payment of which to my mother or order, you will greatly oblige, Gentlemen, your

H. Servant, Joseph Warren.

p. S. — I am not certain of the particular sums received of the Rev. Mr. Adams; but his receipts will determine.1

1 I copy from the original, in the files in possession of the Secretary of the Trustees, Mr. C. K. Dillaway, the author of the interesting history of this school, who obligingly submitted the papers to me.

EARLY DATS. 13

On the back of the original of this letter is the autograph of Mary "Warren, acknowledging the re- ceipt of thirteen pounds six shillings and eight pence, in full for her son's keeping this grammar school.

About the time Warren left this school, he was in- itiated (Sept. 10, 1761) a member of the St. Andrew's Lodge of Masons, which had been formed but a few years. He was regular at its meetings, and made earnest effort to establish the character and widen the influence of this association. " It was his Alma Mater" it has been said ; w and, as such, he was ever zealous to defend its honor and promote its welfare." He continued through life a member of this institu- tion, and rose, as will be seen, to its highest honors; and the craft have affectionately and gratefully cher- ished his memory.1

Warren chose the profession of medicine for his calling. Dr. James Lloyd, who had recently returned from London with a high reputation for learning and skill, was now an eminent physician in Boston. He kept a genteel equipage, entertained company with great liberality, commanded a more respectable circle of practice than any other physician of his day, and was considered highly accomplished in all branches of the profession.2 Warren went through the usual pre- paratory course of study under his direction; but I have no memorials of this portion of his life. He took his degree as master of arts in course at Har- vard, in 1762.

1 Memoir of Warren, by Charles W. Moore.

2 Thacher's Medical Biography, 24.

14 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

CHAPTEE II.

PRINCIPLES AND PARTY.

Marriage. — Settlement ln Boston. — As a Physician. — As a Poli- tician.— His Ruling Passion. — Letter. — The Popular Leaders. — Samuel Adams. — Warren and Adams.

1763 to 1767.

Warren was united in marriage, on the 6th of Sep- tember, 1764, with Miss Elizabeth Hooton, of Boston. The event was announced in the following way: w Last Thursday evening was married Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the physicians of this town, to Miss Elizabeth Hooton, only daughter of the late Mr. Richard Hooton, merchant, deceased, an accomplished young lady with a handsome fortune." A gentle, sensitive nature, good sense, and accomplishments of a high order, formed a character worthy to share his fortunes. A tribute on her decease says she had —

" Good sense and modesty with virtue crowned ; A sober mind, when fortune smiled or frowned ; So keen a feeling for a friend distressed, She could not bear to see a worm oppressed." l

The eulogies on Warren specialize the social quali- ties and domestic virtues "which endeared him to the honest among the great, and the good among the humble;" and made him, ?? in the private walks of life, a pattern for mankind."2 The love which he bore his

1 Boston Gazette, May 3, 1773. 2 Perez Morton's Oration.

PRINCIPLES AND PARTY. 15

mother attests his filial piety; and his care for his children, his parental affection : and the devoted patriot was the faithful head of a happy home. He lived in Hanover Street, on the estate on which the American House stands, being but a short distance from Faneuil Hall and the old Town House; and attended the Congregational Church in Brattle Street, of which Samuel Adams was a member, and Dr. Cooper the pastor.

Thus, at twenty-three, "Warren established himself permanently as a physician. Boston was the metrop- olis of iNew England, and was noted as the largest town, and best situated for trade, in British North America. Its population, almost wholly of English extraction, was estimated at sixteen or eighteen thou- sand; and the number who could take part in politics, at thirty-five hundred. It presented an attractive field for professional life. It was emphatically repub- lican in politics; and this element, in a century and a quarter of its history, had become so interwoven with the feelings, habits, and customs of its inhabitants, that, along with whatever it contained of the provin- cial and transient, it had the heirloom of principles that were national and enduring.

It happened that the small-pox, which was then dreaded as a scourge, prevailed in the town this year to such an extent that business was mostly suspended; and many of the inhabitants retreated into the coun- try. A great number were inoculated. One of Warren's patients was John Adams, when the two patriots formed an acquaintance which ripened into friendship; and, until near the day on which Warren fell, the Adams Family continued to enjoy the bene-

16 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAKKEN.

fit of his skill in his profession.1 He was especially attentive to the poor, — a service which drew the pub- lic eye upon him. He had a graceful figure, was scrupulously neat in his person, of thorough culture, and had an elegant address; and these traits ren- dered him a welcome visitor in polite circles, while a frank and genial manner made him a general favorite. , He had a great love for his fellow-men; and being a stranger to the passion of avarice, and even neglect- ful to a fault in pecuniary matters, he had an ear ever open to the claims of want, and a hand ever extended to afford relief. Thus imbued with the qualities that characterize the good physician, the path before him to success was easy and wide. "In person, mind, and manners, he was equally well accomplished," Dr. Eliot, a Whig, says;2 and a Tory, Dr. Perkins, used to remark, K If Warren were not a Whig, he might soon be independent, and ride in his chariot." 3 Thus the quiet walks of private life allured him, not only with the promise of a fortune, but with the crowning honors of his profession.

Great events, however, growing out of the spirit of the age, and exciting powerfully the liberty-loving people of the colonies, attracted Warren to a wider stage of action, and gave direction to the current of his life. The progress of his countrymen in numbers and wealth, and their large and successful exercise of popular power, roused the jealousy of England; and, with the end ever in view of checking the demo- cratic principle and of increasing a dependence on the Crown, its ministry entered on the policy of subject-

1 John Adams's Works, i. 64. 2 Eliot's Biographical Dictionary.

3 Rees's Cyclopaedia.

PRINCIPLES AND PARTY.

17

ing the colonies to taxes which they had no voice in imposing, and to plans of internal government which they had no hand in framing. The Stamp Act pro- voked discussions on profound questions connected with natural rights and constitutional law, which divided the community of Boston into two political parties, — the supporters of the Administration, who , were called Loyalists, Tories, and Friends of Govern- . ment, and the opponents of the Administration, who held 'the new policy to be unconstitutional, who were styled Whigs, Patriots, and Sons of Liberty. The Tories claimed to be friends of freedom, because they upheld the supremacy of law; and the Whigs said they were loyal to the mother country, because they recognized the executive functions of the Crown and the sovereignty of Great Britain. As it was not the original purpose of the Tories to invoke for their country the curse of arbitrary power, so it was not the early programme of the Whigs to sever political relations with the British Crown. Men are but instru- ments in the hands of Providence. Both parties drifted into measures which neither party originally proposed, or even desired; and thus the Tory, to up- hold the sovereignty of parliament, grew into the defender of arbitrary power; and the Whig, to pre- serve his constitutional rights, became the assertor of national independence.

Warren's natural bent would not permit him to be a cold looker-on in this struggle of parties, in which he saw involved the issue of freedom. It is worthy of remark, that Dr. Lloyd, who was an ornament of his profession, with whom Warren studied medicine, did not join in the movements of the patriots; and

18 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN".

Dr. Band, one of Lloyd's students at this time, sym- pathized with the Tory side. Other physicians of the town took the same view, and with these Warren would naturally be thrown frequently in contact. But his professional associations did not govern his political course. It is related, that, K after the passing of the Stamp Act, he undertook a serious examina- tion of the right of parliament to tax the colonies; and, as his time was not at his command during the day, his nights were spent in this investigation. He devoted himself to the common cause with a zeal extremely prejudicial to his private interests. "While he was engaged in disseminating the great truths he had learned, his pecuniary affairs were neglected, and became greatly deranged."1 His love of country and of liberty was ardent and absorbing; and, when he reached settled convictions as to the aggressive nature of the new policy of the Administration on popular rights, he desired to influence the public mind. In aiming at this, instead of wasting effort in individual and unsystematic action, he put himself in a situation to wield power, by joining the political party that was opposing these aggressions. He gave his heart and hand to the Whigs, and it was the ruling passion of his life to promote their cause. But though he became a warm party man, was high- spirited, had sensibilities uncommonly strong, " and a zeal which blazed in the cause of liberty, he was candid, generous, and ready to do kind offices to those who had different sentiments about the cause in which he was engaged." 2 This warrants the remark, that he mingled among his fellow-citizens as though

1 Rees's Cyclopaedia. 2 Boston Magazine, April, 1784.

PRINCIPLES AND PARTY. 39

it were his endeavor to rear into vigor and maturity the generous and honest feelings that belong to our nature; to bring the dispositions that are lovely in private life into the service and conduct of the com- monwealth; and so to be the patriot as not to forget to be the gentleman.1 w He gained the love of those who lived with him in habits of intimacy, while the public voice celebrated his virtues."2

"Warren left a precious early memorial, showing the feelings and ideas with which he engaged in public life. One of his college classmates (Edmund Dana) had emigrated to England, married there happily, and was settled as the rector of Wroxeter in Salop. "Warren addressed to this friend the following letter, which reveals much of his genius and his aims. It shows his sympathy with the free spirit of his age, his broad union and national ideas, contains a sagacious view of the temper of his countrymen, and may be said to be the key to his political life. Boston, when this letter was written, was alive with politics. Its daring spirit had been evinced in the memorable uprising of the Fourteenth of August, 1765, against the Stamp Act; it was welcoming John Adams's high-toned dissertation on the canon and feudal law; and Warren was taking part with his townsmen in their bold action. The letter is dated the day after the repeal of the Stamp Act, which, of course, was unknown in the colonies : —

1 Edmund Burke.

2 Eliot's Biographical Dictionary. Dr. Eliot repeated, in 1809, on this trait of Warren, the sentiments which he expressed in the " Boston Magazine," in 1784, and adds : " There are persons now living who recollect his polite atten- tions, when they were slighted and wounded by others whose minds were less liberal, or more corroded with party spirit."

20 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAKREST.

Joseph Warren to Edmund Dana.

Boston, New England, March 19, 1766.1

Dear Sir, — I have not had the pleasure of a line from you since you left this country. I wrote to you soon after I heard of your arrival in England ; and I have not at any time been negligent in inquir- ing concerning you, whenever an opportunity presented. I have with great satisfaction heard of that agreeable life which you lead amidst all the gayeties and diversions of that jovial city, London ; but I received a peculiar pleasure from the intelligence which I have lately had of your happy marriage with a lady of noble birth and every accomplishment, both natural and acquired. Accept the sincerest wishes of your long-absent (but I hope not forgotten) friend, that you may long enjoy, with your charming consort, that unequalled happi- ness which must arise from a union of persons so amiable.

Perhaps it may not be disagreeable at this time to hear something of the present state of your native country. Never has there been a time, since the first settlement of America, in which the people had so much reason to be alarmed as the present. The whole continent is inflamed to the highest degree. I believe this country may be esteemed as truly loyal in their principles as any in the universe ; but the strange project of levying a stamp duty, and of depriving the people of the privilege of trial by jury, has roused their jealousy and resentment. They can conceive of no liberty when they have lost the power of taxing themselves, and when all controversies between the Crown and the people are to be determined by the opinion of one dependent man ; and they think that slavery is not only the greatest misfortune, but that it is also the greatest crime, if there be a possibility of escaping it. You are sensible that the inhabitants of this country have ever been zealous lovers of their civil and religious liberties. For the enjoyment of these, the first settlers fought battles, left a pleasant and populous country, and exposed themselves to all the dangers and hardships in this new world ; and their laudable attachment to freedom has hitherto been transmitted to their posterity. Moreover, in all new countries (and especially in this, which was settled by private adventurers), there is a more equal division of property amongst the people ; in conse-

1 This letter is printed in Loring's " Hundred Orators," also in the " Warren Genealogy ; " but I have followed the copy in the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society, which differs from both in a few words.

PRINCIPLES AND PARTY. 21

quence of which, their influence and authority must be nearly equal, and every man will think himself deeply interested in the support of public liberty. Freedom and equality is the state of nature; but slavery is the most unnatural and violent state that can be conceived of, and its approach must be gradual and imperceptible in many old countries, where, in a long course of years, some particular families have been able to acquire a very large share of property, from which must arise a kind of aristocracy : that is, the power anci authority of some persons or families is exercised in proportion to the decrease of the independence and property of the people in general. Had America been prepared in this manner for the Stamp Act, it might perhaps have met with a more favorable reception ; but it is absurd to attempt to impose so cruel a yoke on a people who are so near to the state of original equality, and who look upon their liberties, not merely as arbitrary grants, but as their unalienable, eternal rights, purchased by the blood and treasure of their ancestors, — which liberties, though granted and received as acts of favor, could not, without manifest injustice, have been refused, and cannot now, or at any time hereafter, be revoked. Certainly, if the connection was rightly understood. Great Britain would be convinced, that, without laying arbitrary tuxes upon her colonies, she may and does reap such advantages as ought to satisfy her. Indeed, it amazes the more judicious people on this side the water, that the late minister was so unacquainted with the state of America, and the manners and circumstances of the people ; or, if he was acquainted, it still surprises them to find a man in his high station so ignorant of nature and of the operations of the human mind, as madly to provoke the resentment of millions of men, who would esteem death, with all its tortures, preferable to slavery. Most certainly, in whatever light the Stamp Act is viewed, an uncommon want of policy is discoverable. If the real and only motive of the minister was to raise money from the colonies, that method should undoubtedly have been adopted which was least grievous to the people. Instead of this, the most unpopular that could be imagined is chosen. If there was any jealousy of the colonies, and the minister designed by this act more effectually to secure their dependence on Great Britain, the jealousy was first groundless. But, if it had been founded on good reasons, could any thing have been worse calculated to answer this purpose ? Could not the minister have found out, either from history or from his own observation, that the strength of any country depended on its being united within itself? Has he not by this act brought

22 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAREEN.

about what the most zealous colonist never could have expected ? The colonies, until now, were ever at variance, and foolishly jealous of each other. They are now. by the refined policy of Mr. George Grenville, united for their common defence against what they believe to be oppres- sion ; nor will they soon forget the weight which this close union gives them. The impossibility of accounting in any other way for the impo- sition of the stamp duty has induced some to imagine that the minister designed by this act to force the colonies into a rebellion, and from thence to take occasion to treat them with severity, and, by military power, to reduce them to servitude. But this supposes such a monstrous degree of wickedness, that charity forbids us to conclude him guilty of so black a villainy. But, admitting this to have beeen his aim (as it is known that tyrannical ministers have, at some time, embraced even this hellish mea- sure to accomplish their cursed designs), should he not have considered that every power in Europe looks with envy on the colonies which Great Britain enjoys in America ? Could he suppose that the powerful and politic France would be restrained by treaties, when so fair an oppor- tunity offered for the recovery of their ancient possessions ? At least, was he so ignorant of nature as not to know, that, when the rage of the people is raised by oppression to such a height as to break out in rebel- lion, any new alliance would be preferred to the miseries which a con- quered country must necessarily expect to suffer? And would no power in Europe take advantage of such an occasion ? And, above all, did he not know that his royal benevolent master, when he discov- ered his views, would detest and punish him ? But, whatever was pro- posed by the Stamp Act, of this I am certain, that the regard which the colonies still bear to His Majesty arises more from an exalted idea of His Majesty's integrity and goodness of heart than from any pru- dent conduct of his late minister.

I have written, sir, much more than I intended, when I first sat down ; but I hope you will pardon my prolixity upon so important a subject.

I am, sir, your most sincere friend and humble servant,

Joseph Warren. To Mr. Edmund Dana.

P.S. — I hope for the favor of a line from you the first opportunity.

The simple way in which "Warren, in this letter, deals with vital principles, indicates that they had

PRINCIPLES AND PARTY. 23

been so wrought into his mind as to have become the mould and guide of his life. He tested the absorbing measure of the day, the Stamp Act, not only by the abstract idea of justice, but by its adaptation to the condition of the people of the colo- nies, showing with bold strokes of theory a practical turn of mind. He evinced clear insight into causes, and accurate judgment as to effects. His remark, that freedom and equality is a state of nature, indi- cates, that with him the French dogma of the equality of man was joined to the English dogma of the free- dom of man ; and that he grasped the principle which has most thoroughly leavened modern opinion, and promises to modify most deeply the constitution of society and the politics of States:1 while the strain of sentiment on the division of property shows an appreciation of the fact of the equality of condition which modern philosophy pronounces to be the cen- tral point of American society.2 His letter is a repre- sentation of the enthusiasm and resoluteness with which the young men welcomed the principles of the Revolution, and which led Hutchinson to say, that independence had entered into the heart of America.

"With these comprehensive views and high aims, Warren engaged in public life by enrolling himself in the band of popular leaders whose service to the country associated Faneuil Hall with the idea of civil freedom, and fixed it in the public mind and affection as the cradle of American liberty. " In this hall," it has been said, " was first heard the eloquence of a Hancock, the two Adamses, a Bowdoin, a Molineux,

1 Maine's Ancient Law, 92. 2 De Tocqueville's Democracy in America.

24 LITE OP JOSEPH WAEREAT.

and a "Warren."1 This band were mostly young men, or men of middle age. Jonathan Mayhew, a cele- brated divine, and Oxenbridge Thacher, a distin- guished lawyer, both pioneer patriots, had recently died at forty-three; Samuel Adams, and William Cooper, the faithful and intrepid town-clerk, were forty-six; James Otis, who, six years before, made the great freedom-plea on the question of writs of assistance, and Thomas Cushing and Samuel Cooper, were forty-three; John Adams, the future president, ambitious to be a great lawyer, was thirty-three; Paul Revere, a representative of the patriotic me- chanics, was thirty-two; John Hancock, a wealthy merchant, who threw a powerful social influence in favor of the cause, was thirty-one; Josiah Quincy, jun., who had become a lawyer of great oratorical power, was twenty-five; and others, like Molineux, a stirring business-man, Thomas Young, a physician, and William Phillips, a merchant, who took a promi- nent part in the action of the patriots, were in the prime of life. James Bowdoin was the oldest, being sixty-one. This band of leaders engaged in the contests of party with as much freedom from sinis- ter motives, and with purposes as elevated, as are ordinarily seen in the guidance of public affairs. They were Warren's friends or associates, with whom, down to the close of his life, he communed in the

1 In this hall was first heard the eloquence of a Hancock, the two Adamses, a Bowdoin, a Molineux, and a Warren. In this hall was first kindled that divine spark of liberty, which, like an unconquerable flame, has pervaded the continent, — a flame, which, while it proved a cloud of darkness to the enemies of America, has appeared like a pillar of fire to the votaries of freedom, and happily lighted them to empire and independence. — Massachusetts Magazine, March, 1789.

PRINCIPLES AKD PARTY. 25

social circle, counselled in the political club, acted in the public meeting, and served on important com- mittees.

His relations were of the most confidential nature with one of this band, Samuel Adams, who, of all the patriots, had the most radical love of liberty, and was a universally good character.1 He was educated at Harvard College, where he was distinguished for proficiency in logic and the classics. He was trained for the ministry; but, after he was graduated, he went into business as a small trader, and soon accepted the office of collector of taxes. He evinced a decided inclination for politics, spent much time in talking with people about their rights, and, as he grew in years, his reputation increased for a just ap- preciation of public questions, firmness of principle, and sagacious leadership. He was known also as a contributor to the journals, and the framer of able State papers. He moved before the community with a morality that was instinctive, a love of country that was undying, and a faith that rose to the sublime ; and these inspirations mingled with and guided his public and private life. As a party leader, he was prudent; and yet, when it was necessary, he was bold. He was keen in penetrating the designs of his opponents, and was inflexible in carrying out his purposes. He had confidence in the virtue and intelligence of the people; believed they had a high destiny; and, pas- sionately loving the republicanism that was so firmly embedded in his native soil, he regarded this element as vital to individual, communal, and national pro- gress.

1 John Adams's Works, vol. ii. 4

26 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAHHEK.

It was the custom of this patriot to watch the rise of every brilliant genius, seek his acquaintance, court his friendship, and enlist him as a co-worker in the common cause;1 and there were two characters in Boston, who, John Adams said, after he had served in congress, were as great, in proportion to their age, as he had ever known in America. One was Josiah Quincy, jun., and the other was Warren. "They were both my intimate friends," Adams says, " with whom I lived and conversed with pleasure and ad- vantage. I was animated by them in the painful, dangerous course of opposition to the oppressions brought upon our country."2 "Warren was K a young man whom nature had adorned with grace and manly beauty, and a courage that would have been rash absurdity, had it not been tempered by self-control."3 Samuel Adams found in him a kindred spirit. Both respected the common capacity, estimated alike the greatness of the political issues, embraced similar vital principles, and strove for the same object. Both, with faith in an ultimate triumph of the right, had the moral courage that bears up in the day of weak- ness, and the patience in labor that waits for the day of strength. Both acted fearlessly on their convic- tions. Both were representative men, — one personi- fying more a peculiar theological element; and the other, more a passionate nationality. "What though Warren had the fascination that marks the true man of the world, and Adams had the rigid inflexibility that has caused him to be regarded as the last of the Puritans ; and what though one was naturally inclined

1 John Adams's Works, x. 364. 2 John Adams's Letter, July 29, 1775. 3 Bancroft, v. 441.

PRINCIPLES AND PARTY. 27

to cultivate the things that charm in social life, and the other was moved to shun, if not to despise, luxury and display: both were gentle, kind, and gen- erous ; both were sincere and self-sacrificing ; the hearts of both beat in unison for a common cause; and both were inspired by visions of the future glory of their country. They became bosom friends. " Their kindred souls were so closely twined that they both felt one joy, both one affection."1 Warren proved a trustworthy counsellor, on whom Adams ever leaned, and could always rely; and they labored lovingly together in the great revolutionary action of Boston and Massachusetts, until Warren sealed his work with his blood, and the heart of Adams poured itself out like water over the early grave of his friend.

1 Perez Morton's Eulogy.

28 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

CHAPTEE III.

CONNECTION WITH THE PRESS.

The Townshend Revenue Acts. — Francis Bernard. — Warren op- poses the Administration. — His Connection with the Press. — A True Patriot. —Proceedings against the "Boston Gazette."

1767 to March 1768.

It has been remarked, that the great authority and influence which "Warren exercised over his fellow- citizens, in the latter part of his life, evidently show that he had taken an active part in political affairs from the commencement of his residence in Boston ; though, as the foreground of the stage was occupied by the great men who were the fathers of the Bevo- lution, his activity must have been confined to a secondary sphere.1

There was an intermission in the controversy be- tween Great Britain and her colonies, on the repeal of the Stamp Act; and at this period Warren's name does not occur in connection with public affairs. In 1767, the Townshend Eevenue Acts were passed, which imposed duties on paper, glass, painter's colors, and tea; created a Board of Customs; and legalized Writs of Assistance. These measures, with the do- ings of crown-officials, who acted under royal instruc- tions, which were declared to have the force of law, constituted a system of arbitrary power.

i Everett's Warren, 106.

CON^TECTION WITH THE PRESS. 29

At this time, Francis Bernard was the Governor of Massachusetts. He was born in England, educated at Oxford, and, with the knowledge and training in civil affairs acquired as a solicitor at Doctors' Com- mons, was appointed Governor of New Jersey; and, after two years of service in that colony, was trans- ferred to Massachusetts. He was a scholar, and kept fresh his memory of Alma Mater. He loved liter- ature and science, could write elegies in Latin and Greek, used to say that he could repeat the whole of Shakspeare, and had gifts of conversation which charmed the social circle. His politics were of the Oxford school. He was a good hater of republican institutions ; habitually spoke of the local government, with its recognition of popular rights, as a trained mob ; and deemed it a marvel that Charles II. had not made a clean sweep of the little New-England repub- lics, as he characterized these provinces, and had not supplied their place with more aristocratic govern- ments, with executives having vice-regal powers, moulded, as nearly as possible, like that of England. He thought, that though people might bluster a little when such reform was proposed, yet they never would resist by force; and, if they did, a demonstration of British power, such as the presence of the king's troops in a few coast-towns, and the occupation of a few harbors by the royal navy, would soon settle the contest.1

Bernard, in September, 1767, before receiving offi- cially the new Revenue Acts, sketched the state of things in Boston, in the following terms in one of his letters: "Never were people more divided in opin-

i Letter, Aug. 30, 1767.

30 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

ions, hopes, and fears, than those of Boston now are. Men of a timid complexion give np the town, and expect greater disturbances than have been hitherto ; and, at the same time wish for troops to protect them, and are afraid of their coming here. Others persuade themselves that the gentlemen of the town will be able to keep it quiet, and defeat the purposes of the faction. I believe there is a great deal of pains taken to prevent mischief. On the other hand, the faction is as indefatigable in promoting it. The minds of the common people are poisoned to a great degree; so that (to use an expression of one of their own parti- sans) their bloods are set on boiling. It is a melan- cholic consideration that this rich and populous town should be thus distracted and disgraced by a set of desperadoes (perhaps not a dozen), whose own ruined or insignificant fortunes make the distraction of their country a matter of indifference to them; who, having themselves little to lose, are unconcerned at the con- sequences of a contest which they are desirous of bringing about, and must be fatal to persons of real worth and property."1 This letter supplies a glimpse of the British official, as well as a view of opinion in Boston; and shows how little he appreciated the men or the spirit of his time. To him, a band of enlight- ened patriots, who represented not merely the aims of a town, but of a great and free people, appeared but a criminal faction advocating a ruinous cause. A few months later, he named Warren as one of the chiefs of the faction which he described.

The divisions in the popular ranks, which were noticed by Bernard, had their origin in the different

i Bernard to Lord Shelburne, Sept. 21, 1767.

CONNECTION WITH THE PRESS. 31

views that were taken of public questions. Some, in their political theory, accepted a shadowy line, which had been marked out by Lord Chatham, between internal and external taxation ; while others rejected it. w The claim," Hutchinson says, " to an independ- ence of parliament, in whole or in part, is now become most universal. "When they [the patriots] are most moderate, Lord Chatham's distinction is admitted: others say it is but reasonable we should be restrained in our trade; but the true heroes for freedom say, that if we are to be under restraint at all, by any authority without us, we are but slaves."1 "Warren was of the class who rejected the distinction be- tween internal and external taxes, and uniformly held that every kind of taxation was tyranny.2 Their theory, however, was not stated accurately by Hutch- inson. They did not claim to be exempted from authority which they considered to be national,' but only claimed the right to make the local law. When it was urged, on the side of the Administration, that the right of parliament to make laws for the Ameri- can colonies remained indisputable at Westminster;3 it was replied, on the side of the colonies, that their right to make laws for their own internal government and to tax themselves had never been questioned.4 They regarded the colonies and Great Britain as members of one great empire, — each under the con- stitution having independent legislatures; the parlia-

1 Letter, March 23, 1768. 2 Eliot's Biographical Dictionary.

3 Bernard's Message, Sept. 25, 1765.

* Answer of the House of Bepresentatives, Oct. 28, 1765, which says : " The charter of this province invests the General Assembly with the power of making laws for its internal government and taxation. . . . The parliament has a right to make all laws within the limits of their own constitution."

32 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAKRE^.

ment haying the right to make the laws for England, and the local assemblies to make the laws for America, with the king as the common chief-magis- trate, whose rightful prerogative was in force in each colony as it was in England. There was this differ- ence between the two parties : the theory set up for parliament was regarded by the "Whigs as an abstrac- tion of the British lawyers, which, though dangerous, had lain dormant; while the claim urged for the local government was for customs which were a part of their daily life, and by the exercise of which they had attained and now enjoyed a high degree of individual and communal freedom.

The popular leaders were united in the determina- tion to avoid such riotous excesses as had disgraced the uprising against the Stamp Act, to confine their action to constitutional methods, and to build up their cause on the foundation of an enlightened public opinion. It was now said in the press, and probably by Warren, 7 Let the persons and properties of our most inveterate enemies be safe. Let not a hair of their scalps be touched. Let this be the language of all, — no mobs, no confusions, no tumults. Save your money and save your country."1 A call from a Southern colony, printed in the journals, had the same injunction: "The liberties of our common country are exposed to imminent danger; and Massachusetts must first kindle the sacred flame that must warm and illuminate the continent. The cause is nothing less than to maintain the liberty with which Heaven itself has made us free; and let it not be disgraced by a single rash step, for constitutional methods are

1 Boston Gazette, Nov. 9 and 14, 1767.

CONNECTION WITH THE PRESS. 33

the best methods."1 This indicates the fixed resolu- tion of the patriots, that social order should be the base-line of worthy political action in behalf of a common country.

Warren shared in the indignation of his country- men as the plan of establishing arbitrary power in the colonies developed. He was, at twenty-six, as set- tled in principle, and as firm in the purpose of devoting himself to the patriot cause (as his letter already printed shows), as his whole past career proves him to have been at thirty-four. A few of his sentences will attest his life-long ruling passion : w We eye the hand of Heaven in the wonderful union of the colo- nies." w The mistress we court is Liberty, and it is better to die than not to obtain her." " America must and will be free; the contest may be severe, the end will be glorious." These words reveal his inward impulse, his purpose, and his faith; and he ever ap- peared earnest to impress his views on others. It is related by John Adams,2 that when, as the Presi- dent of the Provincial Congress, he addressed, in the form of a charge, every military officer, on delivering his commission, w he never failed to make the officers, as well as all the assembly, shudder." This indi- cates, that, when his spirit was roused, there came from beneath his native amiableness a burning energy of soul that was magnetic and irresistible. This may account for the personal influence which he exercised.

Warren now began to appear in the foreground of the public stage in connection with the great popular

1 Letter in the Boston Gazette, " from a gentleman of fortune, family, and great abilities, in a remote southern colony, to his friend in this town," dated Dec. 5, 1765. It was by John Dickinson, and is printed in Tudor's Otis.

2 John Adams's Works, iii. 277.

5

34 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAEREN.

leaders. "Neither resentment," Dr. Gordon, who knew him, says, " nor interested views, but a regard to the liberties of his country, induced him to oppose the measures of the Government. He stepped for- ward into public view, not that he might be noted and admired for a patriotic spirit, but because he was a patriot. He was a gentleman of integrity, in whom the friends of liberty could confide. The soundness of his judgment enabled him to give good advice in private consultations."1 And his eulogist, Perez Mor- ton, remarking on his public service, says, " Amor patrice was the spring of his actions, and mens conscia recti was his guide. And on this security he was, on every occasion, ready to sacrifice his health, his inter- est, and his ease, to the sacred calls of his country."

The earliest identification of Warren with political affairs, and in opposition to the measures of the Administration, is his connection with the press. He began to contribute to the journals in the time of the Stamp Act, and he continued to supply matter to them down to the close of his life.

The newspaper had been established sixty-three years in Boston; but, at first, it was little more than a chronicle of the passing time, and left the discussion of political affairs to the pamphlets. The earliest paper established in the town and the country (w The News Letter"), after continuing twenty years, an- nounced that it would publish those transactions only that had no relation to the quarrels of the day. The " New-England Courant," however, a contempo- rary journal, criticised so sharply the Administration and the theology of the day, as to draw upon it the

1 Gordon's History, ii. 49.

CONXECTIOX WITH THE PRESS. 35

indignation of the general court. In 1748, Samuel Adams and other popular leaders, to arouse the peo- ple to maintain their rights, established the "Inde- pendent Advertiser," which was printed but two years. In 1755 the same politicians encouraged the printing of " The Boston Gazette and Country Jour- nal," a weekly paper. Its publishers, Benjamin Edes and John Gill, were men of probity and enterprise, and zealous Whigs; but the influence that moulded public opinion proceeded from the Adamses, Otis, Thacher, Quincy, Warren, and their associates, who wrote elaborate editorials and communications in the faith and inspiration " that Providence had set them to defend the rights and liberties of mankind." Their record in this journal warrants the generous judg- ment of Isaiah Thomas, a patriotic co-worker in the same field, that " no paper on the continent took a more active part in defence of the country, or more ably supported its rights, than the c Boston Gazette:' its patrons were alert, and ever at their posts; and they had a primary agency in events which led to our national independence."1

The popular leaders employed with great effect the press, in exposing the system of arbitrary power. "Warren, who was now a frequent contributor to it, used his pen, not to win a literary reputation, but, as the farmer uses his spade, to do his work. "He sought not," Perez Morton says, " the airy honors of a name; else many of those publications, which, in the early period of the controversy, served to open the minds of the people, had not appeared anony- mous." He had the talent of seizing the pith of a

1 Thomas's History of Printing, ii. 236.

36 LIFE OP JOSEPH WAKKEN.

subject, making salient points, imparting his own spirit, and with clearness, precision, and force, say- ing much in a few words. His vein of the poetic and his nervous style were calculated to strike the public mind. His productions contain many point- ed sentences. Dr. Eliot calls him a fine writer. Many of his articles appeared in the w Gazette." A Tory informer, after mousing about Edes and Gill's printing-office, in search of matter to use in court, in the case of the arrest of the popular lead- ers, made affidavit that Warren had burned his man- uscripts.

Governor Bernard watched the newspapers nar- rowly, and represented in his official letters that they teemed with matter against the new revenue laws precisely of the same nature as that which preceded the former insurrection, meaning the popular action against the Stamp Act ; and that they were calculated and designed to raise the mob against the new estab- lishment. Six years later, he prepared an elaborate narrative of the transactions in Boston, which begins as follows : " The success which had attended the flagitious publications in the Boston newspapers, on the subject of the Stamp Act, in exciting the popular tumults which followed the promulgation of that law, was too obvious to escape the attention of those who wished to see the same opposition given to the subse- quent revenue laws; and therefore, when it became known that such laws were proposed, at least as soon as they were published, and the concomitant estab- lishment of the commissioners of the customs had taken place, the press again teemed with publications of the most daring nature, denying the authority of

CONNECTION WITH THE PRESS. 37

the supreme legislature, and tending to excite the people to opposition to its laws."1

Bernard advised Lord Shelburne, Oct. 15, 1767, that he had received the new revenue acts, and that they had been printed in the journals; and he per- sistently represented that the patriots designed to oppose them by an insurrection. He specified the occasions on which he expected the insurrection to begin, as when the commissioners of the customs should land, or when the revenue acts should go into effect; but he had no proofs of the existence of the disloyal designs which he denounced; and it is diffi- cult not to believe that he feigned the fear which it suited his purposes to express. A town-meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, Oct. 28, when the passive mode of meeting the acts by a non-importation and non- consumption agreement was adopted. At the ad- journment of this meeting, Nov. 20, the day on which the new revenue laws went into effect, there was a seditious hand-bill posted under Liberty Tree. w Un- der the tree," Bernard wrote, w was stuck up a paper so highly seditious, that it would be undoubtedly deemed in England an overt act of high treason. It contained an exhortation to the Sons of Liberty to rise on that day, and fight for their rights; stating, cthat, if they assembled, they would be joined by legions; that, if they neglected this opportunity, they

1 Governor Bernard's Letter Books, vol. viii. In 1774, by command of the . king, he laid before the privy council, for their use, an elaborate narrative, entitled, " State of the Disorders, Confusion, and Misgovernment which have prevailed, and do still continue to prevail, in his Majesty's Province of Mas- sachusetts Bay in America," since the repeal of the Stamp Act. This narra- tive was accompanied by a list of three hundred and sixteen documents ; the date of the last one being a letter of Thomas Hutchinson, of Jan. 28, 1774.

38 LITE OF JOSEPH WAKREK.

would be cursed by all posterity.'"1 This circum- stance drew from James Otis, who was the moderator, an extempore speech, strongly denunciatory of mobs, in which he urged that the opposition to burden- some measures should be strictly constitutional ; 2 and, in the course of it, he reminded the people that their forefathers of the reign of Charles I., for fifteen years, offered prayers to their God and petitions to the king, for a redress of grievances, before they resorted to force; and, in closing, he exhorted all good citi- zens to assist the civil magistrate in preserving the peace. The speech was received by all parties with great applause; the obnoxious paper was removed and disavowed by the patriots, who said that it was the device of their enemies ; and the meeting voted,

i Bernard to Lord Shelburne, Nor. 21, 1767.

2 This important speech is not mentioned in Tudor's "Life of James Otis." There is a report of it in the " Evening Post," Nov. 23, 1767. After stating that a resolution was offered in support of good order, the " Post " proceeds : " On this occasion, the moderator made a speech to the following purpose : —

" That many people seemed to have blended two things together in their minds which were totally distinct, — that is, the duties laid upon many articles imported, and the office of the commissioners of the customs, — as though the commissioners had occasioned those duties, and that we must get rid of the lat- ter in order to avoid the former ; that it was absurd to suppose that the commis- sioners had the least hand or influence in laying or procuring those duties ; that we had from the first, and for a long course of time, acknowledged the authority of the custom-house officers appointed by the Crown, and sent among us ; that we had often desired the establishment of a board of commissioners in the planta- tions, and complained that, for want of it, we were deprived of many advan- tages which our fellow-subjects in Great Britain enjoyed, who, if oppressed by any undue severities of the subordinate officers, might have immediate redress by application to that board, which we could not by reason of our distance ; that we ought, therefore, to consider the establishment of that board here as a favor and a great advantage, and treat the commissioners with all due respect ; that if the duties were thought burthensome, and we had just reason to complain of them, we ought to behave like men, and use the proper and legal measures to obtain redress ; that the means were in our power ; access to the throne was always open ; that there was no doubt but our humble and dutiful petitions and remonstrances would, sooner or later, be heard, and meet with success, if sup- ported by justice and reason, — but, let our burthens be ever so heavy, or our

CONNECTION WITH THE PRESS. 39

unanimously, a resolution against mobs. But this did not stop the flow of Bernard's misrepresentation. In January, 1768, he wrote: "It seems to me una- voidable that the whole power of the Government must be in the hands of the people before June next, unless some relief, I know not what, comes from England. I can't stand in the gap again, unless I am assured of being supported from home. If I am left to myself, I must deliver up the fort, and make the best terms I can." x He said that the memorable "Circular Letter," in which Massachusetts, in Feb- ruary, proposed united action to the colonies, was designed to raise a general flame.

In the mean time, he kept on complaining of the

grievances ever so great, no possible circumstances, though ever so oppressive, could be supposed sufficient to justify private tumults and disorders, either to our consciences before God or legally before men ; that our forefathers, in the begin- ning of the reign of Charles I., for fifteen years together, were continually offer- ing up prayers to their God, and petitions to their king, for redress of grievances, before they would betake themselves to any forcible measures ; that to insult and tear each other in pieces was to act like madmen, and would have no ten- dency to obtain redress of any of our grievances, if we had any to complain of; that it was observable, that, during the course of the revolution which placed King William on the throne, there were no tumults or disorder ; and, when the whole city of London was in motion, only a single silver spoon was stolen, and that they showed such resentment to this as immediately to hang up the person who was guilty of the theft.

" Upon the whole, he concluded by recommending a quiet and proper be- havior, and that the inhabitants of the town would show their dislike and abhor- rence of all tumults and disorders, and do all in their power to assist the civil magistrates in preserving peace and good order.

" This speech was much to his honor, and greatly applauded; and is thought would have a very good effect. The conduct of the gentlemen selectmen, on this occasion, was also greatly applauded."

This report elicited from Otis a card in the "Boston Gazette" of Nov. 30, 1767, in which, with explanations as to what he said as to the commissioners, he renews with emphasis his detestation of mobs. This speech and an extract from the speech made by Josiah Quincy, jun., in the Old South Church, Dec. 16, 1773, on the Tea Question, are the only reports, of any length, of all the speeches made in the Boston public meetings from 1768 to 1775.

i Letter, Jan. 14, 1768.

40 LITE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

*

work of the press. He sent cuttings from it to the ministry, and sometimes files of the " Gazette ; " and he suggested that legal proceedings should be com- menced against the profligate and flagitious popular printers.1 Lord Shelburne received the suggestion of a prosecution of the journals with great coldness; and in allusion to an observation of Bernard, that their mischievous matter was contemptible in ability and impotent in influence, Lord Shelburne said, with singular good sense, that contemptible writings were rendered more abortive by being left to oblivion; and he gave sound advice in relation to appearing as his majesty's governor in any case as the prosecutor.2

The popular leaders had accurate information of the course of Bernard; and the following article, written by Warren, appeared in the "Boston Ga- zette," on the twenty-ninth day of February, 1768 : 3 —

"Messrs. Edes and Gill, — Please insert the following : —

" May it please your , We have for a long time known

your enmity to this province. We have had full proof of your cru- elty to a loyal people. No age has, perhaps, furnished a more glaring instance of obstinate perseverance in the path of malice than

is now exhibited in your. Could you have reaped any advantage

from injuring this people, there would have been some excuse for the manifold abuses with which you have loaded them. But, when a diabolical thirst for mischief is the alone motive of your conduct, you must not wonder if you are treated with open dislike ; for it is im- possible, how much soever we endeavor it, to feel any esteem for a

man like you. Bad as the world may be, there is yet in every

breast something which points out the good man as an object worthy

1 Letter, Jan. 30, 1768. 2 Shelburne to Bernard.

3 This article is marked "Dr. Warren," in Harbottle Dorr's file of the "Boston Gazette," in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society; and it is ascribed to him in " Kees's Cyclopaedia " and Loring's " Boston Hun- dred Orators."

CONNECTION WITH THE PRESS. 41

of respect, and marks the guileful, treacherous man-hater for disgust and infamy. Nothing has ever been more intolerable than your in- solence upon a late occasion, when you had, by your Jesuitical insinua- tions, induced a worthy minister of state to form a most unfavorable opinion of the province in general, and some of the most respectable inhabitants in particular. You had the effrontery to produce a letter from his lordship, as a proof of your success in calumniating us. Surely you must suppose we have lost all feeling, or you would not dare thus tauntingly to display the trophies of your slanders, and up- braidingly to make us sensible of the inexpressible misfortunes which you have brought upon us. But I refrain, lest a full representation of the hardships suffered by this too-long insulted people should lead them to an unwarrantable revenge. We never can treat good and patriotic rulers with too great reverence. But it is certain that men totally abandoned to wickedness can never merit our regard, be their stations ever so high.

" ' If such men are by God appointed, The devil may be the Lord's anointed.'

"A True Patriot."1

The governor said that he could not, with safety to the Government, let this article pass unnoticed.2 He first consulted, informally, several members of the council, who advised him to lay it officially before that body and the House of Representatives, which was then in session ^ which he did, by sending a simi- lar message (March 1, 1768) to each. He said that he usually treated the "Boston Gazette" with the

1 On this day, Feb. 29, 1768, the " Boston Chronicle," an Administration journal, stated that articles printed in Boston, in August, September, and Octo- ber last, " had lately occasioned much conversation in a certain place ; " and

that, " soon after the meeting of the P 1, Mr. G G , when the house

was sitting, produced some American newspapers, which, he said, contained doctrine of a dangerous and alarming tendency ; and proposed that the printer

should be sent for and the author inquired after. Upon this, Mr. C y replied,

that the gentleman's motion was contrary to the order of the house ; that, beside, it was only reasonable, before they sent for printers and authors from such a distance, they should make reformation at home among those who were just at hand. It was then put off for six months."

2 Bernard to Lord Shelburne, March 5, 1768.

6

42 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

contempt which it deserved, but that he felt bound to notice it, when its publications were carried to such an extent as to endanger the existence of the Govern- ment; that this paper was of this character, and he presented it to them for their serious consideration, that they might act as the majesty of the king, the honor of the general court, and the interest of the province, might require.

The council received this message, Bernard says, " at a very full board, — there being twenty present, the whole number but three," — who appointed a com- mittee to prepare an answer, which was "unanimously agreed upon by the same number."1 The council (March 3, 1768) remarked, that the article gave the board a real concern, and characterized it as a false, scandalous, and impudent libel on His Excellency. They said it was an insolent and licentious attack on the king's representative ; involved an attack on Gov- ernment itself; was subversive of all order and de- corum; an insult on the general court, on the king's authority, on the King of kings; and worthy only of the utmost abhorrence and indignation : and the reply closed with the assurance, that the council would always support the dignity of the king's governor. It is questionable whether the council, in this reply, preserved its own dignity; for, while it affected to be shocked by the licentiousness of the press, it showed itself a master of the vocabulary of invective. The governor (March 3) returned his most hearty thanks for so decided an address, by a message, in which he said that he should not have taken notice of the libel, if he had not apprehended it to be pregnant with danger to the Government.

1 Bernard to Lord Shelburne, March 5, 1768.

CONJraCTICXtf WITH THE PKESS. 43

The house also considered the governor's mes- sage. Bernard says:1 "In the house, which was grown thin, and evacuated by the friends of Govern- ment in greater proportion than [by] the opponents, it had not the same success. The faction labored with all their might to prevent the paper being con- sidered. It was debated a whole afternoon, and ad- journed to the next morning." The house, after such deliberation, agreed (39 to 30) upon an answer to the message. They said (March 3) that they had given due attention to the communication of the governor; had examined the paper which he had transmitted; and expressed sorrow, that any publication in a news- paper, or any other cause, should give His Excellency an apprehension of danger to the being or dignity of His Majesty's Government here. The house, how- ever, could not see reason to admit of such conclu- sion from that paper. No person was named /in it; and as there was nothing contained in it that could affect the majesty of the king, or the honor of the general court, the house thought they were justified in taking no further notice of it; remarking, "The liberty of the press is a great bulwark of the liberty of the people: it is, therefore, the incumbent duty of those who are constituted the guardians of the peo- ple's rights, to defend and maintain it." The answer closed by an expression of the opinion, that the pro- vision already made for the punishment of abuses by the press, in the common course of the law, was suffi- cient in the present case. w The house," Hutchinson says, ? rather justified the libel than condemned it." The criticism would have been more just, had it

i Bernard's Letter, March 5, 1768.

44 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

read, — The house rather condemned the action of the governor than justified the contents of the paper. In truth, the house understood its position; and its ad- mirable answer is a calm and strong word for the freedom of the press.

The governor, with reason, now asked the council to prosecute the printers of " A True Patriot ; " but this body declined to proceed farther in the affair. " This," Bernard wrote, " is one of the consequences of the fatal ingredient in this constitution, — the elec- tion of the council," which he termed " the canker- worm of the Government." He next directed the attorney-general to commence proceedings against the printers in the courts ; and the article was brought before the grand jury. Hutchinson, as the chief- justice, delivered on this occasion a charge, in which he says, "I told them in almost plain words, that they might depend on being damned, if they did not find a bill." This charge received from his friends great praise for its legal ability. But the grand jury, which sympathized with the House of Repre- sentatives, braved the penalty named by the chief- justice, and refused to find a bill against the printers.1

1 It appears from the following communication in the " Gazette " of March 27, 1769, written probably by Warren, that the article, " A True Patriot," was again before the grand jury.

" Messrs. Edes and Gill, — Please to insert the following : — • I am informed of what passed with the grand jury last week, relative to a paper signed * A True Patriot,' published in the supplement to your ' Gazette ' of Feb. 29, 1768. I imagined nothing more would have been said upon a subject which has so ridiculously taken up the time of many persons, who might have been more wisely employed. However, I know the motives of those who have again brought it upon the tapis. It is to be represented to the ministry as an instance of disregard to law and good order. What success plotters will have, time must discover. In the mean time, it may be depended on that their representations will not, as in time past, be suffered to go without company.

"T. N. Monument-maker."

CONNECTION WITH THE PRESS. 45

Warren, in two communications printed in the w Boston Gazette/' under the signature of w A True Patriot," reviewed with scathing severity these pro- ceedings. "While he disavowed any intention to de- stroy the dignity of authority, and remarked with contempt on the doctrines of divine right and passive obedience, he expressed the pleasure with which he heard the voice of " all orders of unplaced and inde- pendent men," who were determined to support their rights and the liberty of the press. He said that the House of Eepresentatives showed themselves reso- lute in the cause of justice; and the grand jurors demonstrated by their action that influence was not able to overcome their attachment to sacred honor, a free constitution, and their country. He remarked of the people, that, when they knew their true inter- est, they would distinguish their friends from their enemies, and would protect from tyrannic violence generous defenders in the cause of justice and hu- manity; but, should a mistaken complaisance lead to a sacrifice of their privileges, or to a desertion of their well-meant supporters, they would deserve bondage, and soon find themselves in chains. He said that the authors of some of the misfortunes under which the province groaned, had been detected; and he closed in the following words: w We will strip the serpents of their stings, and consign to disgrace all those guile- ful betrayers of their country. There is only one way for men to avoid being set up as objects of general contempt, which is — not to deserve it."1

The result of this affair caused great chagrin to the

i One of these papers is in the " Boston Gazette " of March 7 ; and the other, in that of March 14.

46 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAREEN.

Tories. Hutchinson said it convinced him as much as any thing which had occurred, that the laws had lost their force; Bernard said it proved that the Gov- ernment could not regain its authority without aid from superior powers ; Lord Hillsborough said it was " but too striking an evidence of the influence of those who sought to disturb the public peace, and per- sisted with so much obstinacy and malevolence in sowing the seeds of disorder and discomfort." * The patriots, on the other hand, appreciated a triumph that assured freedom of utterance in behalf of their cause. They had grasped the idea that the liberty of the press and the liberty of the land must stand or fall together. "I am no friend to licentious- ness," Andrew Eliot said, w but the liberty of the press must be preserved sacred, or all is over;"2 and the exulting voice of the people found expression, on fes- tive occasions, in toasts to the honest and independent grand jurors.

Bernard did not allege that his individual character had been injured in the article signed " A True Pa- triot," but based his action on the ground, that it tended to bring the Government into contempt. It was not until a later period that the distinction was practically recognized between attacks on private character, to gratify a malicious intent, and an expo- sure of official wrongs, to promote the common wel- fare. In ordinary times, there can be no abridgment

1 Lord Hillsborough to Bernard, June 11, 1768.

2 April 18, 1768, in Mass. Hist. Society " Collections," 4th series, iv. 425. He wrote, May 13, 1767 : " Nothing is of greater importance than to secure the entire freedom of publishing, without fear, any censures upon public measures. The liberty of the press is the palladium of English liberty. If this is gone, all is gone."

CONOTX3TION WITH THE PRESS. 47

of a right to arraign measures of Administration ; for it must be unrestrained, or it is no right : 1 it is a neces- sity to insure publicity, that great safeguard against corruption ; and, if acts are detrimental to the general welfare, their originators ought to be brought into contempt. The House of Representatives and the grand jury, with an American instinct, proceeded on the rule which is now widely recognized ; for the com- mon-law offence of libelling a Government is ignored, in constitutional systems, as inconsistent with the genius of free institutions. Political comment, in this country and in England, severer than that which, in the article entitled " A True Patriot," disturbed the royal governor, now passes unnoticed; and he would be regarded as quite an indifferent observer, who should from this draw the inference that the Govern- ment, in permitting this freedom, compromised its authority, or that the people, in countenancing it, wavered in their loyalty.

The first great duty of the press — that of collect- ing intelligence of passing events, and making it com- mon property — was an invaluable service rendered to the popular cause. In addition, during the prepar- atory struggle, when public opinion was forming and a thinking community achieved our Revolution, before a battle had been fought,2 the press, assuming as of right to be free, was keen in the exposure of error and injustice, and noble in the presentation of truth and right. The popular leaders did not veil the Tem- ple of Liberty, but arraigned corrupt officials and

1 Livingston's System of Penal Law, 176.

2 " Be it remembered," Daniel Webster remarks, " it was a thinking com- munity that achieved our Revolution before a battle had been fought."

48 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAHKEN.

dangerous measures with a power, which, though to Toryism it seemed to be the seed of disorder, was really the kernel of national life. It was a standing marvel to the royal governor, that the Administration would not prosecute a band of printers, who, he said,1 were continually directing daggers to the heart of their mother country and sovereign State, and to whom was very applicable the fable of the trumpeter, who was told, on being taken prisoner, that he was answerable for all the mischief done by the soldiery.2

i Letter, Nov. 25, 1769.

2 Bernard advised Lord Hillsborough, June 25, 1769, that Messrs. Edes and Gill, the printers of the " Boston Gazette," had been made " the apparent instru- ments of raising that flame in America which has given so much trouble ; " and recommended their arrest, as the first step towards calling the chiefs of the fac- tion to an account.

CONNECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS. 49

CHAPTEK IV.

CONNECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS.

Public Meetings. — Warren and the Clubs. — The Commissioners of the Customs. — A Riot in Boston. — Warren in Town-meet- ing.— Public Opinion.

1768. March to June.

"Wahren, in 1768, took a leading part in the public meetings that were held in Boston to remonstrate against the acts of the Administration. The people had been so long in the habit of assembling to discuss political questions, that the custom was looked upon as a right, and really was a part of American law, written and unwritten. The officers of the Crown, however, held that town-meetings for such objects were illegal. The political education of the people of England had been so backward, that, in times of excitement, they still resorted to tumultuous and riot- ous assemblages, in order to overawe the deliberations of Parliament. The institution of public meetings, as a regular mode of popular influence, forms a new era in constitutional government.1

There was a quiet direction given to the public meetings of Boston by political clubs, which were of several years' standing. Warren was accustomed

1 May's Constitutional History, ii. 125. Parliament was overawed, in 1765, by a riot. In Albemarle's " Life of Rockingham," ii. 92, 93, 94, is an account of public meetings, in which it is stated, " From the summer of 1769 is to be dated the establishment of public meetings in England."

7

50 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAKREN.

to say that nothing contributed more to promote the great end of society than a frequent interchange of sentiment in friendly meetings; and, as a member of some of the clubs and the adviser of others, he continued to be connected with them down to the close of his life, and their ruling spirits relied much on his judgment.

The largest of these clubs consisted of mechanics, traders, and others, and were named "The North End Caucus" "The South End Caucus," and "The Middle District Caucus."1 A smaller club consist- ed of lawyers, clergymen, and the popular leaders. " From 1768," Eliot says, " a number of politicians met at each other's houses, to discuss public affairs, and to settle upon the best methods of serving the town and the country. Many of these filled public offices. But the meetings were private, and had a silent influence on the public body." 2 Warren was a member of this club, and also of the North End Caucus. Hutchinson, in his history, says that a cir- cle, consisting of a number of the inhabitants, and members of the general court, met at least once a week in the evening; and at these meetings, be- sides determining what should be done at town- meetings, and agreeing upon other measures, they generally furnished the newspapers with speculations and compositions for the service of the cause in which they were engaged; 3 and he says, in a letter, that he

1 In the records of one of these caucuses, the word is spelt caucos (" Siege of Boston," 30). In the "Boston Gazette" of 1760 are the following sentences : " Nothing of the least significance was transacted at a late meeting of the New and Grand Corcas." — " Votes are to be given away by the delicate hands of the New and Grand Corcas."

2 Eliot's Biographical Dictionary. 8 Hutchinson's Massachusetts, iii. 167.

COISTXECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS. 51

could fill his sheet with acts of Government, come into by the town, the Cadet Company, and the clubs, remarking, "We have no sort of companies but which look upon it they have a right to do something or other in public affairs." x A Tory writer, in tracing the origin of the popular movement in Boston, says, * Garrets were crowded with patriots; mechanics and lawyers, porters and clergymen, huddled promiscu- ously into them; their decisions were oracular; and from thence they poured out their midnight reve- ries. They soon determined to form an independent empire." 2

Warren's influence in the clubs is noticed by Dr. Eliot, in his biographical sketch, and by Paul Eevere, in his well-known military narrative; and his zeal in promoting public meetings is seen in a relation in the Diary of John Adams, who writes, of 1768: "I was solicited to go to the town-meetings, and har- angue there. My friend, Dr. Warren, most frequently urged me to do this. My answer to him always was, <That way madness lies.' The symptoms of our great friend Otis, at that time, suggested to Warren a suf- ficient comment on those words, at which he always smiled, and said it was true."

Warren is named in the proceedings of a town- meeting that was held in March, when he was ap- pointed a member of a committee to prepare a letter of thanks to the author of " The Farmer's Letters." The town recognized the service rendered by the farmer, John Dickinson, in his "most seasonable, sensible, loyal, and vigorous vindication of the rights and liberties of America; " and promised w warmly to

1 Letter, June 7, 1768. 2 News Letter, Jan. 11, 1776.

52 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

recommend and industriously to promote that union among the several colonies, which is so indispensa- bly necessary for the security of the whole." The farmer, in a reply, complimented w the rank of Bos- ton," the wisdom of her counsels, and the spirit of her conduct.

Warren appeared before the public as a popular leader in a memorable town-meeting, that was occa- sioned by the proceedings of the new commissioners of the customs. This board consisted of Charles Paxton, Henry Hulton, William Burch, John Robin- son, and John Temple. ]STot much is said of Hulton or Burch, who were simply placemen; Robinson is remembered by a savage assault on James Otis; Temple, who was not in favor of the creation of the board, incurred the enmity of the other members, by disapproving of some of its doings; Paxton, its ruling spirit, was a bland, courtier-like, greedy partisan, who was very obnoxious to the people. The members were appointed to reside in Boston, and to superin- tend the collection of the revenue on the line of coast extending from Labrador to the Gulf of Mexico. They held their first board in Mr. Deblois's great room, in Hanover Street, and soon surpassed Bernard in misrepresentations of the designs of the patriots.

The revenue was duly paid; and the members had not been injured, though Burch had been frightened by a collection of boys and others about his house: yet they asserted that their persons were in danger of violence from a mob, and that British sovereignty was threatened with an insurrection of the colonies. They would ask the governor what support he could give them in case of an insurrection. "I answer," Ber-

CONNECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS. 53

nard says (March 3, 1768), "none at all. They desire me to apply to the general for troops. I tell them I cannot do it; for I am directed to consult the council about requiring troops, and they will never advise it, let the case be ever so desperate. Indeed, I no more dare apply for troops than the council dare advise me to it. Ever since I have perceived that the wicked- ness of some and the folly of others will, in the end, bring troops here, I have conducted ymy self so as to be able to say, and swear to it, if the Sons of Liberty shall require it, that I have never applied for troops ; and therefore, my Lord, I beg that nothing I now write may be considered such an application." The commissioners were very desirous to have a British force stationed in the town. "About a fortnight ago," Hutchinson writes (March 28, 1768), "I was in consultation with the commissioners. They were

very desirous the governor should for a B, .

If he had done it, by some means or other it would have transpired; and there is no saying to what lengths the people would have gone in their resent- ment." The commissioners carried themselves so arrogantly in collecting a revenue which was held to be oppressive, that their conduct excited odium in Boston, and elicited censure in England. They were, Samuel Adams said, extremely disgustful to the peo- ple, were neglected by men of fortune and character, and were viewed, in general, in no better light than the late stamp commissioners. Expressions of the public feeling are seen in the vote of the Independ- ent Cadets, to the effect that they would not escort the governor, on the day of the election of council- lors, if the commissioners were invited to dine with

54 LIFE OF JOSEPH WABRE^.

the governor and council; and also by the vote of the town, refusing the royal governor the use of Faneuil Hall to dine in, unless the commissioners were ex- cluded.1

The commissioners, soon after the consultation just named, obtained a naval force in Boston harbor, by misrepresenting what occurred on the 18th of March, which was the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, and was celebrated as a holiday. There were, at daylight, hanging on Liberty Tree, effigies of Commissioner Paxton and Inspector Williams, — the last being a cabinet-maker, had a glue-pot by his side; but the popular leaders soon had these re- moved. During the day, cannon were discharged in the principal streets; public-spirited citizens deco- rated their residences with flags, and received their friends; a very respectable company had a festive season at the British Coffee House, where one of the toasts was, w The c Boston Gazette ' and the worthy members of the house who vindicated the freedom of the press : " in the* evening, sailors and appren- tices went through the streets, giving hearty huzzas ; and as they passed by the Province House, where Bernard lived, he said they disturbed him and his family by their noise. At ten o'clock, a Whig report says, "The town was quiet, without there having been riot or rumpus; and the whole conduct of the day was a complete exhibition of a decent and rational

1 May 4, 1768. Upon a motion made and seconded, voted, that the select- men be directed to refuse the use of Faneuil Hall to His Excellency, the governor, and council, on the ensuing election-day, unless it shall be ascertained that the commissioners of the board of customs, or their attendants, are not to be invited to dine there on said day. The town almost unanimously, on the 23d of May, refused to reconsider this vote. — Boston Records.

CONNECTION WITH TOBLIC MEETINGS. 55

joy." l The commissioners officially represented, that the mob certainly intended, on this day, to oblige them to resign their commissions nnder Liberty Tree ; that the governor and magistrates had not the least author- ity in the town ; and they made a demand on Commo- dore Hood, who was at Halifax, for immediate aid to secure the revenue and save the honor of the Govern- ment. w The moment," this officer says, " application was made to me by the commissioners for assistance from the king's ships, I ordered the c Romney,' of fifty guns, to Boston, — a lucky event for those gentle- men, as she proved an asylum to them in a time of . need; and from time to time I continued to throw in additional force, till they said no more was wanted." 2 Two tenders accompanied the "Romney." Hype- rion (Josiah Quincy, jun.) said, in the "Gazette," that the Tories had threatened the defenders of America with halters, fire, and fagots ; but there was nothing more serious than threats, or more authentic than rumors, until this appearance of the " Romney " and her tenders. As they lay in the har- bor, a press-gang from them seized several Massa- chusetts citizens; a practice, which, though defended even later by Junius, was repudiated in the colonies as a relic of barbarism.

1 The " Boston Post Boy " of March 21 had only the following as to this celebration: "Friday last, being the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, a number of gentlemen met on the occasion, and dined together at the Bunch of Grapes and British Coffee House in this town." And " The Chron- icle," Tory, says the anniversary "was celebrated by a large company, who met at the British Coffee House and Colonel Ingersoll's, in King Street. A numerous body of the people assembled in the evening, and attempted to kindle a bonfire, but were prevented by a number of gentlemen, who at length per- suaded them to retire peaceably."

2 Grenville Papers," iv. 362.

56 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARKEX.

Meantime the journals contained reports, that the ministry were determined to maintain the powers claimed for parliament; and they printed eulogies from abroad on the people of New England for the spirit with which these claims had been denied.1 In May, Governor Bernard negatived the choice, by the House of Representatives, of Hancock and Otis as councillors. It was the talk of the town, that the colonists were to be taxed, in order to maintain a race of sycophants, court favorites, and hungry depend- ants; that needy lawyers from abroad, or tools of power at home, would be their judges ; and that their governors, if natives, would be partisans rewarded for mercenary service, or, if foreigners, would be nobles of wasted fortunes, and greedy for salaries to replenish them. The people, who were sincere in their loyalty, felt that they were ill-treated; and were sullen.2 This was a time of great excitement on popular rights in England; the Boston journals, after an arrival from London, abounded in matter relative to the Wilkes controversy; and, if "London3 re- sounded the word * liberty' from every corner and every voice," there was an echo in every home and street in Boston.

The officers of the Crown regarded this temper of the public mind as affording fresh proof of the neces- sity of a British force to preserve the public peace. "Our politicians," Hutchinson said, "are the most

1 " It is with peculiar satisfaction, I can assure you, the New-England spirit of patriotism and economy is greatly approved of; and I am not alone in opinion, that, if America is saved from its impending danger, your country will be its acknowledged guardian." — Phil. Letter in Boston Gazette, Feb. 22, 1768.

2 Andrew Eliot, 4 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., iv. 420. * Boston paper, June 6, 1768.

coirarECTioisr with public meetings. 57

wrong-headed people in the world. Every step they take for relief has a direct tendency to increase our distress. Their threats can never intimidate, but certainly must incense, the parliament; and they are determined to provoke a power they cannot resist: nl and Bernard advised the ministry, that he was " well assured that it was the intention of the faction in Boston to raise an insurrection against the Crown officials."2 The popular leaders in vain averred that it was their object to procure, by constitutional methods, a repeal of acts which they held to be illegal, and that they desired to preserve the union between the colonies and Great Britain.

Information was now laid before the commissioners of the customs, of a violation of the revenue laws, in the case of the sloop "Liberty," owned by John Han- cock; and the solicitor-general, Mr. Lisle, on the 10th of June, advised her seizure. On hearing of this intention, "Warren said to the comptroller, Mr. Hallowell, "that, if the seizure were made, there would be a great uproar, and that he could not be answera- ble for the consequences."3 The commissioners, how- ever, gave directions for the seizure. The sloop lay at Hancock's Wharf; and near the hour of sunset on this day, as the laborers of the town were going from their day's work, the revenue officials put upon her the broad arrow; and, as though the people would not respect the law, a boat's crew from the "Eom- ney " cut her fastenings from the wharf, and moored her under the guns of the man-of-war. No official warrant was produced; and, in doing this, the British

i Letter, April 19, 1768. 2 Letter, May 9, 1768.

8 Hallowell's Examination, July 21, 1768. 8

58 LITE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

captain and his officers used vulgar and threatening words to the bystanders. This was the beginning of a war of epithets, in the usual way of brawls, between the crowd, which kept increasing, and the custom-house officers; and, by a sort of natural law of mobs, grew into a riot, in which the offending officials were pelted with dirt and stones, the win- dows of the houses of the comptroller and inspector, Mr. Irving, were broken, and the pleasure-boat of the collector, Mr. Harrison, was drawn out of the water, and carried to the common, where above a thousand people gathered. One of them, in a harangue, ex- claimed, " We will support our liberties, depending upon the strength of our arms." The boat was set on fire. Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Warren had been in consultation; and as it is said that Hancock, and others of influence, came on to the Common while the boat was burning, the inference is a fair one, that the three came together. Through their exertions, the riot ceased; the word was passed round, "Each man to his tent; " and the town, at about eleven o'clock, was as quiet as usual. Outrages had been committed which the popular leaders never attempted to justify, but alleged that they were provoked by the brutal language of the commander of the " Rom- ney," Captain Corner, and the arbitrary conduct of the officers of the Crown. This was a slight affair, in comparison with the contemporary terrific mobs of London; and Colonel Barre said, in the House of Commons, that, in this riot, "Boston was only mini icking the mother-country."

On Saturday, there was great excitement among the people. Bernard says, that "the riot was followed

CONISTECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS. 59

by papers, stuck upon Liberty Tree, containing an invitation to rise, and clear the country of the com- missioners and their officers; " * and that one of them was doomed to death. These were the words of the rash spirits. The commissioners, who had not been harmed, were the most violent of all the officials. As they had fancied signs of an insurrection in the hilar- ity of a holiday, they had neither difficulty nor scruple in magnifying a riot into a rebellion; and it was in vain that Bernard, on this day, entreated them to change their measures. He also laid the state of the town before the council, who advised such of the members as were justices of the peace to make inquiry into the facts, and report at a future meeting. "Warren, on this day, exerted himself to allay the excitement; and, in Hancock's name, he proposed to Hallowell, whose bruises confined him to his house, w that, if the vessel were brought back to the shore, he (Hancock) would give his bond that he would have her forthcoming on the trial;" but no agree- ment was concluded.

On Sunday, "Warren acted again as mediator be- tween the parties. Mr. Harrison, in a note to Han- cock, said, that, if he (Hancock) would agree that the "Liberty" should be forthcoming on the trial, she should be returned to the shore; and, in the morning, "Warren informed Hallowell that matters were so far settled, that, on the next day, the "Liberty" would be

i The reports of this riot, in the papers, were very brief. The "Boston Gazette" of June 13, 1768, had the following: "Last Friday evening, some commotions happened in this town, in which a few windows were broke, and a boat was drawn through the streets, and burnt on the Common; since which, things have been tolerably quiet, it being expected that the cause of the disturb- ance will be speedily removed."

60 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

restored. During the day, the commissioners kept quiet, though Bernard still urged them to be concilia- tory, while they spoke of going to the castle. There was a consultation of the popular leaders, in the even- ing, at Hancock's house, which was filled with the patriots ; those named as present being Warren, Sam- uel Adams, and Otis. Here the affair of the w Lib- erty" was fully considered, and the course of the patriots was determined. At twelve o'clock at night, Warren went to Hallowell's house, and said to him, " that he had been at Hancock's, and was extremely sorry that matters could not be settled as he told him in the morning; for Mr. Hancock had taken the ad- vice of his counsel and friends, and would have noth- ing to do with the business, but would let it take its course, and would give nothing under his hand." It was held by the patriots, that the seizure, as no legal process had been filed, was illegal.

On Monday morning, labor throughout the town was mostly suspended; the inhabitants gathered in various places under their leaders ; and things wore a threatening aspect, as the outrage committed by the press-gang was connected in the public mind with the seizure of the " Liberty." The name of the sloop, the popularity of her owner, and the aversion to the board of commissioners, contributed to inflame the people.1 There were reports, that, on certain con- tingencies, the country was coming into Boston to begin an insurrection; though Hutchinson, character- izing this as madness, said he could not bring himself to believe that any number of people worth regard- ing had a serious thought of this sort, or would dare

i Gordon's History, i. 232.

•• CONNECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS. 61

to fire on the king's representatives. Early in the day, four of the commissioners, on the pretext that their persons were not safe, notified the governor, by a card, that they were going on board the " Romney," and asked for orders for their admission to the castle, whither they soon went, with their families. Temple and several of the chief officers remained in the town.1 In the afternoon, by a hand-bill, the Sons of Liberty requested those who, in this time of distrac- tion and oppression, wished well to the town and the province, and who would promote peace, good order, and security, to assemble on the next day (Tuesday), at ten o'clock in the forenoon, at Liberty Hall, under Liberty Tree; and the journals say, that the expecta- tion of this meeting kept the town in peace. A red flag was now hoisted above Liberty Tree.

On Tuesday morning, though it rained, so many people flocked into Boston from the neighboring towns, that there was a larger assemblage at Liberty Tree, over which still waved the red flag, than had ever been seen in the town. The senior member of the board of selectmen was the moderator, who was surrounded by the popular leaders ; but, it being un- comfortable in the streets, the meeting, before passing any votes, adjourned to Faneuil Hall. On re-assem- bling here, it was resolved, as the call had been informal and there was not a legal town-meeting, to adjourn, to meet at the same place, at three o'clock in

1 It is stated in the "Boston Evening Post," March 20, 1769, that, when the four commissioners retired to the castle, " the following gentlemen did not fall in with their plan, hut resided safely in Boston, and went daily to the castle to do business : the Hon. Mr. Temple, a commissioner ; Samuel Venner, Esq., secre- tary ; Charles Stuart, Esq., receiver-general ; John Williams, Esq., inspector- general ; William Wooten, Esq., inspector-general ; David Lysle, Esq., solicitor- general; Messrs. McDonald and Lloyd, principal clerks.

62 LITE OF JOSEPH WARREK.

the afternoon; and accordingly the selectmen issued a warrant for a meeting. Meantime the governor, at his country-seat, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, received such startling advices from his friends, as to the doings of the Sons of Liberty, that he sent one of his own sons into town, to desire the immediate attend- ance of the Lieutenant-governor, Hutchinson, as he (Bernard) was in expectation of very important news from town, and of such a nature that he would be obliged to withdraw to the castle.

Faneuil Hall, at three o'clock, could not contain the people who assembled. It was the largest town- meeting ever known. Those inside the hall organ- ized by choosing James Otis for moderator. The patriot, since the argument on the question on writs of assistance, had been the popular idol. The Tories affected to consider his manly word, in the November meeting,1 against mobs and for social order, as in favor of the measures of the Administration; and he had met the ordeal of being eulogized by his political opponents. On entering the hall, the meeting gave him a warm reception; there* being w great clapping of hands " as he passed through the crowd to take the chair. No other business was transacted here; a motion being carried to adjourn, for the better accom- modation of the people, to the Old South Church.

In the church, the moderator spoke from the pulpit on the questions of the day. Hutchinson says, that, after haranguing the people some time, he suffered them to harangue one another; and Bernard says, that some "made wild and violent proposals, but were warded off; " one being, that every captain of a

1 See page 38.

CONNECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS. 63

man-of-war who came into the harbor should be un- der the command of the general court. A petition, to be presented to the governor, was submitted to the meeting. It averred that a people had the funda- mental right to make their own laws; that the late acts of parliament were in direct violation of this right; that menaces had been thrown out fit only for barbarians ; that the state of the town was as though war had been declared against it. It expressed the hope that, as the commissioners had relinquished their office of their own motion, they would not re- new it; and it requested the governor to order the "Romney" to be removed from the harbor. "To contend with our parent-state," are its words, w is, in our idea, the most shocking and dreadful extremity; but tamely to relinquish the only security we and our posterity retain of the enjoyment of our lives and properties is so humiliating and base, that we cannot support the reflection." And it expressed the opinion, that it was in the power of the governor to prevent the distressed and justly incensed people "from effect- ing too much, and from the shame and reproach of attempting too little." It is related, in the town- records, that the petition was adopted, "after very cool and deliberate debates upon the distressed cir- cumstances of the town and critical condition of affairs." A committee was now appointed, consisting of John Rowe, John Hancock, and Warren, to ascer- tain when the governor would receive the petition; and, on their reporting that he was at his country- seat, a committee of twenty-one, Warren being one, was directed to wait on him immediately. A com- mittee, of which Warren was a member, was chosen

64 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

to prepare a letter to the Massachusetts agent in London, Mr. De Berdt;1 another committee, con- sisting of Warren, Benjamin Church, and Samuel Adams, was appointed to prepare resolves expressing the feeling that was excited by the removal of the " Liberty " from Hancock's Wharf, and characterizing the ill consequences that would follow the introduc- tion of the troops into Boston. The moderator, on adjourning the meeting until the next afternoon at four o'clock, earnestly enjoined an adherence to peace and order. " The grievance the people labor under," James Otis said, "might in time be removed; if not, and we are called on to defend our liberty and privi- leges, I hope and believe we shall, one and all, resist unto blood ; but, at the same time, pray Almighty God it may never so happen."

The reports of these transactions that were carried to the governor, at Jamaica Plain, strengthened his impression that an insurrection was at hand; and as he was awaiting, in the afternoon, the arrival of his confidential adviser (Hutchinson) , he must have been surprised to see on the road, moving towards his house, not a noisy populace, pell-mell, flourishing pikes and liberty caps, but a train of eleven chaises, from which alighted at his door the respectable com- mittee2 from the meeting; among whom were Otis, Samuel Adams, and Warren. "I received them," Bernard says, "with all possible civility; and, having

1 This was the same committee who presented the petition to the governor.

2 The committee were James Otis, John Hancock, John Rowe, Joshua Hen- shaw, John Ruddock, Joseph Jackson, Samuel Pemberton, Henderson Inches, Thomas Young, Joseph Warren, Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Church, Samuel Quincy, Edward Payne, Daniel Malcolm, Richard Dana, Mela- tiah Bourne, Benjamin Kent, Royal Tyler, Josiah Quincy.

CONNECTION" WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS. 65

heard their petition, I talked very freely with them, but postponed giving a formal answer till the next day, as it should be in writing. I then had wine handed round; and they left me highly pleased with their reception, especially that part of them which had not been used to an interview with me." Con- sidering the governor's state of mind, the committee could not have been more highly pleased when they left than he was when they arrived; but his pertur- bation was over when Hutchinson, soon after this interview, came in, and the governor was convinced that there was no insurrection, and that there was no occasion for him to take the awkward step of retiring to the castle, or, indeed, for any unusual political action.

On the next day, Wednesday, at the adjournment of the meeting, at four o'clock in the afternoon, in the Old South Church, the answer of the governor to the town's petition was read. He said that his official station made him a very incompetent judge of the rights which the people claimed as set against the acts of parliament; and on this subject he expressed no opinion. He stated, that he had no control over the board of customs, and was bound to support their authority; but he promised to remove the inconveni- ences of impressments. He said that he should think himself most highly honored, if, in the lowest degree, he could be an instrument in promoting a perfect conciliation between the colonies and Great Britain. This answer, on the face of it proper and reasonable and conciliatory throughout, was unusually satisfac- tory to the patriots. The moderator, Otis, made it still more acceptable, by acknowledging the polite treat-

66 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAEEEN.

ment which the committee received from the gov- ernor, and by declaring that he believed Bernard was a well-wisher to the province. An elaborate report was now read from the committee appointed to pre- pare a letter to be sent to the agent in England, Mr. De Berdt, which is a spirited paper, and bears Warren's ardent impress. It went over the whole question of the public grievances; gave full details of the recent stirring events ; and put, as the ground- work of the whole difficulty, an unconstitutional im- position of taxes for raising a revenue. This, the letter says, was oppression; and it came down on the people like an armed man, though they were the subjects of an empire which was the toast of nations for freedom and liberty. It severely arraigned the commissioners of the customs, and the swarm of placemen under them, who were supported out of this pilfered revenue, which it characterized as booty drained from the merchant, the mariner, the farmer, and the tradesman. The meeting, having accepted this spirited letter, and appointed a committee,1 with "Warren as the chairman, to prepare instructions to the representatives, adjourned, to meet on the 17th of June, in Faneuil Hall.

This meeting was viewed with great interest by the officers of the Crown. Bernard immediately sent an elaborate narrative of what had occurred to Lord Hillsborough,2 and again urged the council to adopt measures to prevent an insurrection; Hutchinson de- clared, that the petition to the governor was the most

1 The committee were Joseph Warren, Richard Dana, Benjamin Church, John Adams, John Howe, Henderson Inches, Edward Payne.

2 Letter, June 16, 1768.

CONNECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS. 67

extraordinary thing that had appeared;1 the commis- sioners represented, in a letter to the lords of the treasury, that there had been matured, by a corre- spondence carried on between the local assemblies, an extensive plan of resistance to the authority of Great Britain, and nothing but a military force could prevent a revolt of the town, which might spread through the provinces; and Paxton wrote, that, un- less two or three regiments were sent to Boston, it was the opinion of all the friends of the Adminis- tration that the town would be in rebellion.2 On this day, the patriots, in a hand-bill, urged a general at- tendance of the citizens at the adjourned meeting, as "the fate of the province and of all America depended on the measures to be adopted."3

On the 17th of June, the people again met in town- meeting, in Faneuil Hall. Warren, chairman of the committee, reported instructions to the representa- tives,4 which declared that the principle of the Stamp Act was revived in the Revenue Act; proclaimed the unalterable resolution to vindicate invaluable rights at the hazard of fortune and life ; expressed the deter- mination to maintain loyalty and duty to their most gracious sovereign, a reverence and due subordina- tion to the British Parliament as the supreme legis- lature, in all cases of necessity, for the preserva-

i Letter, June 16, 1768. 2 Letter, June 20, 1768.

8 The citation is from Hutchinson's letter. This is one of the hand-bills : —

Boston, June 16, 1768.

It is thought by the real friends to liberty, that the fate of America depends on the steady and firm resolution of the town of Boston, at the adjournment of their meeting to-morrow.- It is earnestly wished and instructed, that the well- disposed inhabitants would excite each other to give their punctual attendance at so important a crisis. A Thousand.

4 This paper was drawn up by John Adams.

68 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

tion of the whole empire, and a sincere and cordial affection for their parent-country. The representa- tives were instructed to propose action in the legis- lature against impressments; to urge an inquiry into the authors of the rumors, that troops were to be ordered to Boston; and to recommend for adoption a resolution to the effect, " That any such person who shall solicit or promote the importation of any troops at this time is an enemy to the town and province, and a disturber of the peace and good order of both." These instructions were unanimously adopted. It is related by Hutchinson, that a much higher toned resolve was introduced, which was to the effect, that whoever had, by any means, promoted the introduction of troops, w was a tyrant in his heart, a traitor, and an open enemy to his country; " but this motion, though supported by "William Cooper, the town-clerk, and others, was rejected. The meet- ing on this day was dissolved.

In the transactions that occasioned this town-meet- ing, and in the whole of its proceedings, Warren appears by the side of Otis, Hancock, and Samuel Adams. He was a member of all its committees, was the chairman of three of them, and, probably, pre- pared some of the documents which it issued. This indicates the public confidence he had gained.

The petition which the town presented to the gov- ernor was regarded as the most important action of the meeting. Its author is not named. It contains the principle as to the inherent right of taxation, and of internal government in the local legislatures, which was held by Warren and Samuel Adams. If the governor saw the reach of this principle, he

CONNECTION WITH PUBLIC MEETINGS. 69

evaded a discussion of it in his reply. This was so conciliatory that it was used against him in British political circles, where he was accused of giving way to a popular clamor; and it required explanation by his friends to remove the unfavorable impression. Six years later, he said, in his narrative prepared for the privy council, K Whether proceedings of this nature, in a town-meeting, legal only to the purposes of the election of officers and the management of the prudential concerns of the town, are or are not criminal, or, if criminal, what is the criminality, must be submitted." In an elaborate report, the same year (1774), in the House of Lords, it was singled out of the accumulated matter; and it was said, "In this petition the town disavowed the legislative authority of this country, and asserted that it would be better for them to struggle against it than tamely to relin- quish their rights."

A contemporary judgment on this meeting, in com- mending the heartiness with which the citizens came forth to give their presence to the support of the patriot cause, lamented the necessity of their action. " Unhappy for families," are the words, w unhappy for towns, unhappy for the province, that so many valua- able freeholders, honest tradesmen, and husbandmen, of every kind and denomination, should be laid under a necessity, by the laws of nature and the ties of duty, to future generations, to quit their useful operations and turn politicians." * But happy was it when pub-

i American Gazetteer, 1768, p. 123. A letter, dated London, Aug. 5, 1768, addressed to a person in Philadelphia, and copied into the " Boston Post Boy " of Oct. 24, gives an idea of the impression which the popular action, in oppo- sition to arbitrary power, was now making on the friends of liberty in Eng- land. " The conduct of the Boston people has raised a fresh cry against the

70 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARRENS

lie liberty was in danger, that its possessors, animated by such motives, turned politicians to protect it. Their movement derived dignity and importance from the idea of freedom at its base and its wide rela- tions. It was in harmony, in principle and in object, with the views of a great people. It was an illustra- tion of an intelligent American opinion, appearing as an actor on the public stage. And hence it indicated, not a mere ripple on the top of shallow waters, but the ground-swell of an ocean-tide of irresistible and providential power.

Americans. . . . For my own part, I know not of any people, since the ruin of the Roman Commonwealth, that seem to me to entertain more just ideas of liberty, or breathe forth a more true spirit of independence, than what the brave sons of North America do. The petitions of her merchants, the remon- strances and resolves of their assemblies, and, in a word, all their public trans- actions display a manly resolution, a quick discerning, that is not to be equalled by any body of people in the world. This cannot but engage my good wishes for their preservation and prosperity, whatever extremities things may be pushed to."

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 71

CHAPTER Y.

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY.

Town-meetings. — The Massachusetts Circular Letter. — British Troops ordered to Boston. — The Public Feeling. — A Town- meeting. — A Convention. — Effect of the Popular Movement.

1768. June to October.

Warren took a prominent part in the town-meeting that was occasioned by the decision of the ministry to station a British force in Boston. So marked was the effect of the regular action of popular power, in the formation of public opinion, that Hutchinson wrote, June 18, " Ignorant as they be, yet the heads of a Boston town-meeting influence all public measures." Ignorance had no such power. The band of popular leaders, who were guiding the pa- triot cause so discreetly, were of such character and intelligence, that, besides members of congress, judges, and state officers, they supplied four governors of Massachusetts and one president of the United States; and among them were names honorably connected with literature and science.

An event now occurred which increased the excite- ment in the town, and strengthened the popular cause. The Circular Letter, which the House of Representa- tives sent to the assemblies of the other colonies, proposing unity of action, was said by the Tories to have been designed to raise a general flame and to

72 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN".

organize a confederacy; and, on the allegation that it was dangerous to the king's prerogative, Governor Bernard was instructed by Lord Hillsborough to demand' the house to rescind it. This was an ex- citing period. K Our people," Hutchinson said, June 19, "seem to be more infatuated than ever; and I cannot say what further extravagance they may rule." As Governor Bernard imagined what might occur when he should execute the order which he had in hand, he said, June 18, "I don't know whether I shan't be obliged to act like the captain of a fire-ship, — provide for my retreat before I light my fuse. There seems at present a determination to resist Great Britain." In this mood, he sent in the royal order. But the patriots, in their circular, simply in- vited their brother patriots to join in a petition for a redress of grievances; and, this being clearly consti- tutional, the house refused, by the vote of ninety-two to seventeen, to rescind the circular, when, as the penalty, the governor first prorogued and then dis- solved the legislature. This question was declared to have been the most important which an American assembly had ever acted on. As this magnificent " ISTo " of Massachusetts resounded through the colo- nies, it elicited a response which filled the hearts of the Boston patriots with joy. It showed a spirit of unity in the colonies in support of common rights. K The action of the other colonies," Hutchinson wrote, " keeps up the spirit of our demagogues. I am told Adams and Cooper say it is the most glorious day they ever saw."

The decision of the ministry to station a British force in Boston was made before the June riot. On

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 73

the 8th of this month, Lord Hillsborough ordered General Gage, who commanded the king's forces in America, to send at least one regiment to Boston, and to garrison Castle "William; and, on the 11th, Lord Hillsborough advised Bernard of this measure, saying it had been done "upon the most mature consideration of what had been represented by him- self (Bernard) and the commissioners of the cus- toms." In an elaborate despatch, dated the 30th of July, Lord Hillsborough directed Bernard to institute an inquiry into the conduct of any persons who had committed any act of overt resistance to the laws, with the view of arresting them, and transporting them to England for trial in the King's Bench.

Meantime the commissioners had made the June riot the occasion of a demand on General Gage for the protection of troops, and on Commodore Hood for additional men-of-war. The general was evi- dently surprised at the silence of the governor, but immediately tendered to him all the force for which he (Bernard) might make a requisition. But the governor declined to make such requisition, and wrote to Gage> " My not applying for troops is no argument that they are not wanted. It is above three months ago since I informed the secretary of state of my situation, and utter inability to preserve the peace of the town, or support the authority of Government; but the letter went too, late to expect an answer by this mail. I must beg that you will keep this letter to yourself as much as you can; that is, wholly so on this side of the water, for obvious reasons." The commissioners succeeded better with Hood, who immediately* on receiving their request,

1*0-

74: LIFE Or JOSEPH WARREN.

sent two more ships to Boston. This prompt action, he said, secured the castle from all attempts at a surprise, though Hutchinson thought there would have been no danger of such a consummate piece of Quixotism, if there had not been a man-of-war in America.1

As additional ships appeared in the harbor, and reports multiplied that military power was to be used to enforce the new revenue laws and the vio- lations of the right of internal Government, there was roused the traditionary English hatred of standing armies, which had ever been mercenary instruments of despotic power; and the people were very bitter and suspicious towards all whom they supposed to be concerned in the applications for troops. There is no report of any saying of Warren in this hour of passion. A like fiery spirit, his friend Josiah Quincy, jun., said, " Before all the freeborn sons of the North will yield a general and united submission to any * tyrannic power on earth, fire and sword, famine and slaughter, desolation and ruin, will ravage the land."2 The intrepid Samuel Adams said, " Before the king and parliament shall dragoon us, and we become

1 Hutchinson wrote, July 27, 1768, "Four of the commissioners of the customs thought themselves in danger, and took shelter in the castle. Some people were so foolish as to say that they might he taken from thence, and we have had the castle surrounded ever since with men-of-war. We have such people among us : hut an attempt upon the castle would be the most consummate piece of Quix- otism ; and, mad as we are, I cannot think we are mad enough for it, if there had not been a man-of-war in America. Mobs, a sort of them at least, are constitu- tional, and we have reason enough to fear mobs ; and our misfortune is, that the authority of Government is so weak, that we are not able to check them when they rise, but are forced to leave them to their natural course. We cannot con- tinue a great while in this state. Government must be aided from without, or else it must entirely subside."

2 Life of Josiah Quincy, jun., 16.

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 75

slaves, we will take up arms, and spend our last drop of blood." The calm Andrew Eliot said, "You can- not conceive of our distress, — to have a standing army! "What can be worse to a people who have tasted the sweets of liberty?" In a letter it was said, " "We are frequently threatened with a naval and military force to execute the late acts of parliament; but fifty thousand troops, with fifty men-of-war, will never be able to oblige us to import, ]puy, or consume English goods."1 Hutchinson said, "Many of the common people were in a frenzy, and talked of dying in defence of their liberties," while "too many above the vulgar countenanced and encouraged them."

It is a curious coincidence, that, at the time (July 30), Lord Hillsborough was justifying this use of force, on the ground that " Boston was in the pos- session of a licentious and unrestrained mob," so that neither the council nor the House of Eepresenta- tives could proceed in their deliberations with the freedom that was incident to their constitution, the council, containing friends of the Administration, unanimously decided against making any application for troops, on the ground that the civil power did not need them. This decision was made in July, when the governor, first enjoining an oath of secrecy, laid before a very full council a formal tender, by General Gage, of troops, when they should be called for. Bernard, in advising Lord Barrington of this vote, says (July 30), "Though I was prepared for this answer, I was not for the high strain of the present popularity with which this question was treated; from whence I am convinced that I am no longer to de-

1 American Gazette, 127, in a letter, dated Boston, Aug. 18, 1768.

76 LITE OE JOSEPH WARREN.

pend upon the council for the support of the small remains of royal and parliamentary power now left; the whole of which has been gradually impeached, arraigned, and condemned under my eye."

There was a brilliant celebration of the 14th of August, which was the third anniversary of the up- rising against the Stamp Act, when the appearance of the town was not unlike that of Boston on a Fourth of July. Bernard did not fail to extract out of this celebration additional signs of a riotous spirit in the town. There was a great procession, and Ber- nard (Aug. 29) said that one person in it had been the foremost man in a riot, who was celebrating his mob exploits ; and two of the principal merchants rode in the foremost chariots, who in this way were countenancing mobs. If these merchants were John Hancock and Thomas Cushing, or James Bowdoin and William Phillips, they were the last persons who would have countenanced riots. Candid observers saw the truth, and said, in the British press, that the popular leaders were much more concerned at any riots than the friends of the Administration, who seem pleased with them, because they sustained their representation that troops were a necessity to keep the people in order.1

A long correspondence between civil and military officials, relative to the introduction of troops, came to a result in August. The representations of the state of the town, by Bernard, Hutchinson, and others,

1 London Chronicle, April 22, 1769, has a letter which says : " T was at Boston last October, and found that the patriot leaders of the opposition were much more concerned at any mobs that happened than the Government people. These last seemed pleased with them, as countenancing their representations, — the necessity of sending soldiers to keep them in order."

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING A3*MY. 77

were direct to the point, that it was under the domin- ion of a mob. But William Knox, of London, a keen observer, after looking closely into American affairs down to the 24th of this month, wrote to his friend, Mr. Grenville, that all was quiet at Boston, and that the non-importation agreement went no further than to avoid importing articles on which duties had been laid. He says, "I looked over all the Boston newspapers, and did not find one rash or violent expression; and the entries, inwards and out- wards, at the custom-house, were as many as usual. There are advertisements also for the sale of Eng- lish goods and Madeira wines, and notices of the meeting of county courts, and such sort of things as are commonly transacted in times of tranquillity."1 On the 31st of August, General Gage, at New York, sent his aide-de-camp, Captain Sheriff, to Boston, on the pretence of private business, bearing a letter ad- dressed to Bernard, stating that one regiment, the Fourteenth, had been ordered from Halifax to Bos- ton, but that it would be left for him to say whether the order made out for the Twenty-ninth regiment should be withheld or transmitted. General Gage, in requesting a reply to this letter, said, " The con- tents of this, as well as of your answer, and every thing I now transact with you, will be kept a pro- found secret, at least on this side of the Atlantic." Bernard received this letter on Saturday evening, September Third.

"When the public had nothing but rumors as to the coming of troops, there appeared in the "Boston Gazette " of Sept. 5, a communication with the cap-

1 The Grenville Papers, iv. 367.

78 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN".

tion of " Header, attend!" which, under a series of queries, urged that in theory the acts of the Administration, by breaking the compact between the colonies and the mother country, had dissolved their union. It arraigned with great severity the course of the Crown officials. As the governor had dis- solved the legislature, it was proposed that the towns of the province should be invited to elect delegates authorized to meet and consider public affairs, remon- strate to the king, and declare that there was noth- ing this side of eternity which they dreaded more than being broken off from his Government. "If an army," it read, "should be sent to reduce us to slavery, we will tell them that we are willing and desirous to be their fellow-subjects. "We are Eng- lishmen, and claim the privileges of Englishmen; but we are never willing to be slaves to our fellow-sub- jects; and, if this will not satisfy them, we will put our lives in our hands, and cry to the Judge of all the earth, who will do right."

This communication caused a great sensation in official circles, and led to important action. Bernard says, in a letter to Lord Hillsborough, "In the * Bos- ton Gazette ' of the 5th instant appeared a paper, containing a system of politics exceeding all former exceedings. Some took it for the casual ravings of an occasional enthusiast. But I persuaded myself that it came out of the cabinet of the faction, and was preparatory to some actual operations against the Government. In this persuasion, I considered, that, if the troops from Halifax were to come here on a sudden, there would be no avoiding an insurrection, which would at least fall upon the Crown officers, if

PifcOTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 79

it did not not amount to an opposition to the troops. I therefore thought it would be best that the ex- pectation of the troops should be gradually commu- nicated, that the heads of the faction might have time to consider well what they were about, and prudent men opportunity to interpose their advice." Accord- ingly he says that he " took an occasion to mention to one of the council, in the way of discourse, that he had private advice that troops were ordered to Bos- ton, but had no public orders about it."

When passion was moving a community so power- fully, and when this community was a type of the indignant feeling, in all the colonies, at the encroach- ments of arbitrary power, "Warren again appeared on the public stage as a popular leader. The ques- tion in reality to be met and decided was, whether the American cause was to be wrecked on the rock of a premature insurrection, or whether it was to be led on by cautious and wise steps, under the dominion of law, until it should develop into the majesty of a successful revolution.1

Before Thursday night, Bernard says, the intelli- gence which he communicated to a member of the council spread all over the town. A petition to the selectmen was now numerously signed, praying for a town-meeting. * Your petitioners," it says, after re- citing the governor's declaration, w apprehensive that the landing of troops in the town, at this particular

1 Bernard, July 11, 1768, wrote to John Pownal, for years Under-Secretary of state to Lord Hillsborough, " We are now just entering into the critical situation which I have long ago foreseen must come sooner or later ; that is, the time of trial, whether this town, &c, will or will not submit to Great Britain, when she is in earnest in requiring submission. Hitherto the Sons of Liberty have tri- umphed."

80 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

juncture, will be a matter of great uneasiness, and perhaps be attended with consequences much to be dreaded, humbly beg the town may be forthwith legally convened to request of His Excellency the grounds of such declaration, and to consider the most wise and prudent, and most considerate, loyal, and salutary measures to be adopted on such an occa- sion." The selectmen issued the usual warrant for a meeting, to be held on the following Monday, in Faneuil Hall. K A town-meeting," Bernard promptly advised Hillsborough, K is appointed for Monday. I hope it will be for the best; but I can't be answerable for events in so precarious a body as a popular assembly."

On Saturday, the governor and his friends were much disturbed by signs and reports which they judged indicated an insurrection. Somebody had put a turpentine barrel in the skillet that hung at the top of the beacon-pole on Beacon Hill, which was alleged to be the signal for a rising; and it was reported that Samuel Adams said, "On lighting the beacon, the people of the town would be joined by thirty thousand men from the country, with bayonets fixed." Bernard subsequently said that the plan was for five hundred men, who had been enrolled for this purpose, to capture the castle, to seize the governor and lieu- tenant-governor, take possession of the treasury, set up their standard, and put in force the old charter.1 The belief in this plan explains the haste of members of the council in asking the governor to call a meet-

1 " It is now known," Bernard wrote, Dec. 23, 1768, " that the plan was to seize the governor and lieutenant-governor, and take possession of the treasury, and then set up their standard."

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDr^G ARMY. 81

ing of that body, which was held before night, at a private residence, half-way between Boston and Jamaica Plain. Here, after grave debate, it was voted to request the selectmen to cause the tar bar- rel to be taken down. On the evening of this day, several of the popular leaders met at Warren's house, — James Otis and Samuel Adams being named as present, — where resolutions were drawn up and other preparation was made for Monday's meeting. This was reported to Bernard, who advised Lord Hillsborough, that, " at this very small private meet- ing at the house of one of the chiefs of the faction, it was resolved to surprise and take the castle on the Monday night following;" and he also named "a large private meeting " of the patriots, on the night before, at which, he says, it was " the general opinion that they should raise the country and oppose the troops." In stating these as reports, Bernard indi- cated doubts of their accuracy, in which he was more just to the popular leaders than he was in his subse- quent positive averment, that there was a deep-laid plot; for, whatever may have been the gasconade of the rash in the patriot ranks, it was certainly the ob- ject of the wise among them to guide the deep and general indignation at the prospect of a standing army into a safe channel of action, and to turn this insult, offered to their loyalty, to the benefit of the common cause.

On Sunday, the selectmen were called together to consider the request of the council, in the matter of the tar barrel; but it was regarded as too trivial an affair to be acted upon. When the council directed

Sheriff Greenleaf to take the barrel down, Hutchin-

11

82

LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

son says, that, * in the most private manner he could, he executed his order, taking six or seven men with him, just at dinner-time; and in about ten minutes, luckily as he thought, effected his purpose."1 This transaction was the subject of several affidavits in the papers.

On Monday, the journals called the attention of the freeholders and other inhabitants to the notification for the town to assemble at nine o'clock, a.m., in Faneuil Hall, and desired a universal and punctual attendance.2 At this hour, the gathering was so large that Bernard said the faction appeared with all its forces; by which he meant the people. He also said that very few of the principal gentlemen attended, and only as anxious and curious spectators ; by whom he meant the Tory party. James Otis was chosen the moderator, and the Rev. Dr. Cooper opened the meeting with prayer. The petition of the citizens was read, when it was voted, that, as the governor had intimated his apprehensions that troops were daily expected, Thomas Cushing, Richard Dana, Samuel Adams, Joseph "Warren, John Rowe, John Hancock, and Benjamin Kent, be a committee to wait on him, and humbly request that he would be pleased to com- municate to the town the grounds he might have for expecting the arrival of troops. The meeting now adopted a petition, praying that he would issue pre-

1 Hutchinson's Massachusetts, iii. 203.

2 The freeholders and other inhabitants of this town, qualified as the law directs, are to meet at Faneuil Hall, at nine o'clock this day, to take into consid- eration what measures are most proper to be adopted under the present critical aspect of the times, agreeable to a petition of a number of the inhabitants for that purpose ; and 'tis desired there may be a universal and punctual attend- ance. — Boston Gazette, Sept. 12.

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 83

cepts forthwith for a general assembly, in order that measures might be taken to preserve their rights and privileges; and it asked the favor of an immediate answer. A large committee, of which Warren was a member,1 was then appointed to consider public affairs, and to recommend suitable measures to meet the present emergency. The town records say, that " a vote of the honorable board (the council) , respect- ing a tar barrel, which was the other night placed on the skillet on Beacon Hill, by persons unknown, was communicated to the town, but not acted on." The meeting was then adjourned to the next day. Ber- nard says that the speeches of this meeting were much of the same purport as the sentiment of the commu- nication already noticed in the " Gazette " of the 5th instant.

At the adjournment of the meeting, on Tuesday, the committee appointed to wait on the governor reported his reply; in which, in spite of his file of official letters on the subject of troops, he coolly stated that his apprehensions of an arrival of some of his majesty's troops arose from information of a private nature, and that he had received no public letters notifying him of their coming, or asking quarters for them; and that, the business of calling another assem- bly being before the king, he could not act in the matter until he received the royal commands. The committee on public affairs now reported a declaration and a series of resolves. They aver, as a principle of society founded in nature and reason, that consent,

1 The committee consisted of James Otis, Samuel Adams, John Ruddock, Thomas Cushing, John Hancock, Richard Dana, John Rowe, Samuel Quincy, Joseph Warren, William Molineux, John Bradford, Daniel Malcom, William Greenleaf, Adino Paddock, Thomas Boylston, Arnold Wells. — Town Records.

84 LIFE OF JOSEPH WAKEE^.

either by the individual or by his representative, through his own free election, should be the basis of law; they cite, in support of their position, the prece- dent of 1688, which gave the crown to William and Mary; they claim, that, by charter and birthright, the fathers held certain rights and customs to as great an extent as though they were born in England; and they declare the purpose, by all legal and constitu- tional means, to defend these immunities at the utmost peril of their lives and fortunes. They affirm that these rights were violated when money was levied within the province, for the use of the Crown, in any other way than by the general court, and when a stand- ing army, unauthorized by the assembly, should be kept among them to enforce laws which the people had not made. This paper, the town records say, was several times distinctly read; and a glimpse of the scenes in Faneuil Hall, as it was considered, is supplied in the official letters of Bernard. He had friends in the meeting, who reported to him some of the words that were uttered. He says that the read- ing of the report was followed by a set of speeches by the chiefs of the faction, and no one else, who succeeded one another in such method, that it ap- peared as if they were acting a play; every thing, as to matter and order, seeming to have been precon- certed beforehand, — which was a compliment to the foresight of the patriots, who met on the previous Saturday evening at the house of "Warren, and to the good sense of the people, in coinciding with these wise exponents and champions of their cause.

It is not strange, that, where speech was free, some of the speakers exhibited a zeal and indignation which

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 85

outran discretion, and which had to be met and checked. The Tory observers did not fail to report to Bernard the bitter terms which embodied the chafings of such spirits; nor did Bernard scruple to transmit them to the ministry as the real exponents of the meeting. One man cried out, " The people wanted a head;" but he was overruled. An old man protested against every thing but the people's rising immedi- ately, and taking power into their own hands; but he was soon silenced. One man, very profligate and abandoned, Bernard says, and, if so, could be of little account with the Bostonians, argued, in a short, startling argument, in favor of massacring enemies. "Liberty," he said, "is as precious as life: if a man attempts to take away my liberty, I have a right to take his life; " and he argued, that, when a people's liberties were threatened, they were in a state of war, and had a right to defend themselves. Bernard adds, that he carried these arguments so far, that his own party were obliged to stop him. The position was taken, that the people had a right to oppose with arms a military force sent to compel them to submit to unconstitutional acts; and it was urged that both town and country ought to arm against their enemies. There had been in England some talk of a war with France;1 and Bernard says this fact was not only used as a cover for the frequent use of the word " enemy," but as an argument for the imme- diate delivery of four hundred muskets that lay in

i London, July 13. " One day last week, a wager of a thousand guineas to twenty was laid, that war would be declared between Great Britain, on the one part, and France and Genoa on the other, before the 3d of August." Another paragraph says, "There was great talk in England of a war with France." — Boston News Letter, Sept. 8, 1768.

86 LITE OF JOSEPH WAREKX.

boxes on the floor of the hall. It was said "the enemy might be here before the convention met;" and a motion was made that these muskets be deliv- ered at once. The moderator, James Otis, skilfully parried this plausible proposition, as, pointing to the boxes, he said, " There are the arms ; when an attempt is made against your liberties, they will be delivered : our declaration wants no explication." On the ques- tion being put on the acceptance of the report, the vote was unanimous in the affirmative ; and the record remains to the honor of Boston among all posterity.1 It was judged that the crisis required other meas- ures. The people, deprived of their general court, were on the eve of military rule; to submit tamely, they said, was to consent to be slaves, and to bring upon themselves the curses of posterity; while to act rashly would imperil a common cause, and create a justification for the presence of a standing army. Hence the meeting adopted, unanimously, a preamble and resolutions, declaring that, — as the parliament of William and Mary enacted, that, for the redress of grievances and the preservation of the laws, par- liaments ought to be held frequently; and as present grievances threatened the destruction of their natural and charter rights, and as the governor was unable to convene the general court, which was an assembly of the States of the province, — therefore the town would make choice of a ? committee" to act with such com- mittees as might be joined from the other towns, w in order that such measures might be consulted and advised as His Majesty's service and the peace and safety of his subjects in this province might require."

1 Bancroft, vi. 198.

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 87

The four representatives elect, James Otis, John Hancock, Thomas Cushing, and Samuel Adams, were named as this committee. The selectmen were directed to write to the selectmen of the several towns within the province, inform them of the above vote, and pro- pose that a convention be held in Faneuil Hall, on the 22d of the same month, at ten o'clock before noon.

The remainder of the proceedings of the meeting may be briefly stated. It recommended the citizens to observe a good and wholesome law of the province, requiring each to have a well-fixed firelock, musket, accoutrements, and ammunition; listened with high satisfaction to the reading of a letter from the New- York merchants, on their agreement relative to a non-importation of British goods ; directed the select- men to request the ministers to set apart the suc- ceeding Tuesday as a day of fasting and prayer; ordered the proceedings to be printed in the news- papers, and copies to be sent by express to the several towns of the province ; and it then dissolved.

The journals contain no comments on this meeting. Strangers in town said that it was " one of the most regular they ever attended; for every thing was con- ducted with the utmost good order and decorum." Hutchinson, in his history, says of the movement, " It must be allowed by all that its proceedings had a greater tendency towards a revolution in Government than any preceding measure in any of the colonies. The inhabitants of one town alone took upon them to convene an assembly from all the towns, that, in every thing but in name, would be a House of Repre- sentatives, which, by the charter, the governor had the sole authority of convening. The projectors of

88 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREIST.

the plan depended upon their influence over this assembly to keep it under such restraints as they judged proper."

It happened that there had been a fresh arrival from London; and, when the meeting dissolved, the Boston journals abounded in details, taken from the British press, of the sensation which the June meeting occasioned in England; the fall in the price of stocks, the indignation in court circles, the mid- night cabinet councils, the despatch of additional ships and troops to Boston, and all the varied expres- sion of the public anger. The truthful memorial1 presented to the ministry, in behalf of the inhabitants of Boston, containing a touching expression of loyalty to the Crown, made no impression in the court circles or on the public mind; and the ministry determined

1 " A memorial in behalf of the inhabitants of Boston, showeth : — " That they bear the same sentiments of loyalty and duty towards our gracious king, and the same reverence for the great council of the nation, the British parliament, as ever ; and therefore are not willing their conduct should appear in an odious light to the ministry. The principal occasion of the late tumults arose from the haughty conduct of the commissioners, and other officers appointed by them. The ' Romney ' man-of-war, having moored before the town, intimidated the coasting vessels bringing provisions, firewood, &c. ; committed many acts of violence and outrage ; and, in particular, by cutting away a vessel from Mr. Han- cock's wharf, detaining her several days, without any legal process being filed against her, &c. This irritated the people, who patrolled the streets in a tumul- tuous manner, broke several windows to the value of about £5 sterling, burnt a pleasure-boat belonging to the collector, and then dispersed about eleven o'clock at night. All which will more fully appear by twelve affidavits of different persons who were eye-witnesses of the proceedings hereunto annexed. Three days after this, the commissioners made a voluntary abdication of their office, and went on board the ' Romney ' man-of-war. And, from all the affidavits, it does appear, that the cause of such tumult was entirely from the imprudent and violent proceedings of the officers, particularly from the master of the ' Romney,' who frequently ordered the marines to fire, and abused everybody who advised a cooler conduct."

The above memorial was presented to the Administration, with the twelve affidavits (immediately upon hearing the reports which were so prejudicial to the town), by Dennis De Berdt, Esq., agent for the assembly. —Amer. Gazette, 1768.

PROTEST AGATNTST A STANDING ARMY. 89

to proceed with severity against Boston, and to en- deavor to divide the colonies.

This threatening tone occasioned no change in the purposes of the popular leaders of Boston. On the 14th, the selectmen issued circulars to the towns, and invited them to send delegates to the proposed " Com- mittee of Convention." They briefly described the melancholy and very alarming circumstances to which the province and all America were reduced, and urged the expediency of assembling gentlemen, having the greatest public "confidence, to give sound and whole- some advice, and thus happily prevent any sudden and unconnected measures which the people, in their anxiety and even agony of mind, might be in danger of falling into. The Crown officials pro- nounced this proceeding to be treasonable, and col- lected some of the circulars having the autographs of the selectmen, to be used in case of arrests. Ber- nard (Sept. 16) wrote to Lord Hillsborough, w How large their meeting will be, and what they will do at present, can only be guessed at. But, as they have hitherto pursued the dictates of the paper in the "Boston Gazette," it is supposed they will go through with them, and exclude the Crown officers, and resume the first original charter, which has no ingredient of royalty in it. It certainly will be so, if it is not prevented by power from without; and I much doubt whether the force already ordered by General Gage, namely, two regiments, will be suffi- cient. For my own part, if I had any place of pro- tection to resort to, I would publish a proclamation against ,the assembling of the convention; but I dare

12

90 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

not take so spirited a step, without first securing my retreat."

The circular of the selectmen stated, that the Feb- ruary circular of the House of Representatives " im- plied nothing more than a right in the American subjects to unite in humble and dutiful petitions to their gracious sovereign, when they found themselves aggrieved; " and they now proposed only to act in a constitutional way. The manner in which this cir- cular was received served to show the temper of the country. As the people met in town-meetings to choose " committees," they, in some places, dedicated, with enthusiasm, trees to liberty; and, in others, they listened to the reading of Cato's Letters, to Magna Charta, to Dissertations on Liberty, and the Bill of Rights. This order of facts shows how clearly the American Revolution was the child of the English Revolution, which was guided by the great politics of Eliot, Pym, and Hampden.

On the day fixed for the convention, Sept. 22, this novel election was going on. It was Coronation Day, when Boston was accustomed to be resonant with royalty. On this legal holiday, there were salutes from Castle "William and the town batteries ; the militia and the Ancient and Honorable Artillery had their parades and fired their volleys in the capital streets; and at noon, by invitation of the governor, the principal citizens went to the council chamber, in the Town House, to drink the king's health. It is not mentioned that committees elected to the conven- tion were invited to this festivity, or were present; but, at the dedication of liberty trees, the first toast was "The king:" and there was no inconsistency

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 91

between the purposes entertained by the patriots and this pledge of fidelity to the flag of their country; for the king, or the sovereignty which they cheerfully recognized, was looked upon as the constitutional protector of the rights and liberties which they en- joyed and meant to preserve.

On this day, above seventy delegates, from ' sixty- six towns, assembled in Faneuil Hall, as a K Com- mittee of Convention." It was a fine representation of the intelligence and patriotism of the province, and was really but a mode of popular action now of every-day occurrence, and indispensable in carrying on self-government. Thomas Cushing, the speaker of the house, a citizen of great weight of personal character, and ever temperate in speech and action, was elected chairman; and Samuel Adams, the clerk of the house, was made the secretary. The first day's business was mainly the adoption of a petition to the governor, in which, disclaiming any pretence of being a law-making body, they prayed for a meeting of the general court. But the Crown oflicials saw in this novel spectacle a dangerous phase of popular action, and the governor declined to receive the peti- tion. On the second day of the session of the con- vention, the governor, through the chairman, sent to it a proclamation, in which he assumed, that the organization was, to all intents and purposes, a law- making body; charged the Boston selectmen with ignorance of the law, and with committing a grave offence in issuing the call; and warned the members to disperse, as the king was determined to maintain his sovereignty over the province ; and the usurper of any of its rights would repent of his rashness. The

92 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

intrepid Samuel Adams, holding this untruthful and irritating paper in his hand, read and commented upon each paragraph with great severity; and, after he had finished, he threw it from him in a manner strongly expressive of his indignation and contempt.1 On the third day, the convention, by a well-timed message in reply to this proclamation, calmly assured the governor, that neither the delegates nor their con- stituents proposed to do, or to consent to, any thing oppugnant to or inconsistent with the regular execution of Government in the province ; and this was urged earnestly and truthfully. The governor, however, declined to receive this communication. Having sat with open doors three days, the convention adjourned until Monday. Thus far Otis had been absent.

Monday's journals were laden with matter which must have been of the deepest interest to the dis- tressed population. They contained a report of the three days' sessions of the convention, and the papers that had passed between it and the governor. They stated that the number of members had increased daily since Thursday, and that towns were still hold- ing meetings to choose delegates. They printed the letters of officials relative to the introduction of troops, and the menacing street-talk' of the rash among the Tories, who threatened the patriots, when a standing army should arrive, with the pillory and the whipping-post, and the loss of their ears or their heads. And why? "Hyperion" (Josiah Quincy, jun.) glo- riously said on that morning, in the press, " An ill- timed oppugnation of the commissioners' authority; a manly boldness in delivering patriotic sentiments to

1 Samuel Adams Wells, MS. Life of Adams, i. 162.

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 93

the world; and an open daring to discuss the rights of mankind, the liberty of the press, and freedom of speech, — are those unpardonable crimes for which the scaffold alone can work an expiation."

The convention, on re-assembling this day, sat with closed doors, Otis being present; and it continued its deliberations, by successive adjournments, three days. It received so many additions, that, before dissolving, it contained delegates from ninety-six towns and six districts. According to Dr. Eliot, there were three parties in the convention: one party, fearful of the legality of the meeting, would gladly have done noth- ing; another party would have laid no restraint on the people, but left them to act for themselves; a third party desired to await the arrival of the troops, and then assume the direction of affairs. Fortu- nately, the same discretion that controlled the town- meetings guided the deliberations of the convention. As a result, it agreed upon an address, which briefly restated the rights of the colonists; earnestly dis- claimed any intention to assume the work of Govern- ment; and avowed a firm adherence to the principles of the constitution, and the peace and good order of society. The convention then dissolved. The rash were undoubtedly disappointed; but the wise re- garded the result as salutary. "By the mere act of assembling," Bancroft remarks, "the object of the convention was accomplished. It was a bold and successful attempt to show, that, if the policy of sup- pressing the legislature should be persisted in, a way was discovered by which legislative Government could still be instituted, and a general expression of opinion and concentration of power be obtained."

94: LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

Warren, though not a delegate to this convention, was a member of all the committees of the town- meeting which determined to call it; and probably the plan was carried out that was matured at the con- sultation of the popular leaders, at his residence, on the evening of the Tenth of September.

The assertion, by the municipality and by the pro- vincial assembly, of their constitutional rights, in the transactions which have been described, greatly moved the public mind of the colonies, K awakened an attention in the very soul of the British empire,"1 and even occupied the time of continental cabinets. Though the judgment passed on this popular action by the conservative and the progressive schools was as opposite as the poles, yet they agreed in ascribing to it a marked effect on the progress of events. Both recognized the appearance of a new agency in the formation of public opinion. The Tory said that it was in the town-meeting that the flame of discord and rebellion was first lighted up and disseminated over the colonies; the "Whig said that the spark in the breast of the individual American, that blazed more conspicuously in the public meeting, was that almost divine spirit which evidenced the approach of an independent and free republic.2

1 Samuel Adams, in the Boston Gazette, 1769.

2 A Tory judgment reads, " The town-meeting at Boston is the hot-bed of sedition. It is there that all their dangerous insurrections are engendered ; it is there that the flame of discord and rebellion was first lighted up, and dissemi- nated over all the provinces." — Sagittarius's Letters, 1774, p. 68.

A Whig judgment reads, " That almost divine spirit which evidenced the approach of an independent and free republic in America blazed from a small spark, kindled by heaven in the breast of every American individually, to a more conspicuous blaze in the meeting of town inhabitants. Thence it kindled into conventions, and finally collected itself in that luminous body called the Con-

PROTEST AGAINST A STANDING ARMY. 95

I have not the space to present in detail the conse- quences of the popular proceedings. They were the subject of cabinet consultations, severe comment by the British press, exciting debates in both houses of parliament, and threatening resolves. Lord North then made the memorable declaration, "Whatever prudence or policy might hereafter induce us to re- peal the paper and glass act, I hope we shall never think of it till we see America prostrate at our feet," 1 — words that sunk deep into the popular heart, and will be transmitted from age to age as an embodiment of a spirit of arbitrary power.

This K September rebellion," as British officials termed it, was declared to have given the Govern- ment great advantage, because it enabled it to sepa- rate the case of Boston and Massachusetts from all the other towns and colonies.2 Bernard now urged, in letter upon letter, that this occasion should be seized on to justify a forfeiture of the charter of Massachu- setts and a re-organization of the local Government;

gress ; from whence light and firmness are diffused to every State and senate on the continent." — Boston Gazette, Jan. 27, 1777.

1 This famous remark of Lord North was printed in the " Massachusetts Gazette," Feb. 9, 1769, in a letter from London, dated Nov. 10, 1768, giving an account of the proceedings in the House of Commons. "Lord N***h, the c***c**l*r of the e*c**q**r, said that whatever prudence or policy might here- after induce us to repeal the late paper and glass act, he hoped we should never think of it till we saw America prostrate at our feet. These were his very words."

2 A letter from London, Nov. 19, 1768, says, " The news of the last defiance of the king's authority came just before the meeting of the parliament, to open the eyes of the nation, and to let them see the desperate lengths which your incendiaries would lead your people into. Nothing could have been done to give the Government here such an advantage over the colony, as their separating and distinguishing their case from that of all the other colonies, and the town of B n from all other places, as none but the B n s ct n have assumed to themselves the royal prerogative of calling a convention, and none but the province of M ts have dared to meet in direct contradiction to the king's authority."— Mass. Gazette, Jan. 26, 1769.

96 LIFE OF JOSEPH WARREN.

and even Lord Camden, of the cabinet, suggested "as there was no pretence for violence anywhere but in