1773. their car near the town; and that, if landed, it would be disposed of, and the purpose of establishing the monopoly and raising a revenue effected. To prevent this dreaded consequence, a thrown into number of armed men, disguised like Indians, boarded the ships, and threw their whole cargoes of tea into the dock.1 goes are the dock. Hutchin sent to Boston; Dr. Franklin, colonial agent at London, having by some unson's letters known means obtained a number of letters, signed by governor Hutchinson and several others, sent them to Boston to be communicated to a few persons worthy of his confidence. These letters were in part private and confidential; but the people of the colony insisted, they were evidently intended to influence the conduct of the British government, and to widen the breach between Great Britain and her colonies, and must therefore be shown to such persons as had an interest in preserving their privileges. They acquainted the ministers with all that passed in the colonies; gave a very unfavourable representation of the state of affairs, of the temper of the people, and of the views of their leaders in Massachusetts; represented the members of the opposition as generally of little importance, audacious and turbulent, few in number, and without influence; suggested the necessity of the most vigorous and coercive measures, and even of a considerable change of the constitution and system of government, to secure the obedience of the colony; and advised, especially, that the public officers should receive their stipends read to the from the crown. By the address of Mr. Samuel Adams these letters were read in the house of assembly, under certain restrictions; and a report was made in committee of the whole house, "that the tendency and design" of them was "to overthrow the constitution of this government, and to introduce arbitrary power into the province." The assembly at length resolved to petition the king to remove governor Hutchinson, and lieutenant goverhis removal. nor Oliver, forever from the government of the province.2 house of assembly; which re solves to petition for 1 Gordon, i. Lett. 7. Marshall, ii. c. 3. Pres. Adams, Lett. i. Ramsay, Rev. S. Car. i. 15, 16. Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. ii. 45. Annual Register. About 17 persons boarded the ships in Boston harbour, and emptied 342 chests of tea. 2 Gordon, i. Let. 7. Franklin's Works, i. 226-256. Annual Register. Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. ii. 46. Belsham, G. Brit. vi. b. 16. Life of Quincy, 149. It has been of late stated from very respectable authority, that these letters, which produced such convulsive effect, were procured from the post-office by Dr. Hugh Williamson, who was then in London. Having learned that governor Hutchinson's letters were deposited in an office different from that in which they ought regularly to have been placed, he repaired to it, and, not finding the principal within, he stated, with an air of official importance, to the chief clerk, that he had come for the last letters that had been received from governor Hutchinson and Mr. Oliver; mentioning the office in which they ought regularly to have been placed. The letters were delivered, and conveyed to Dr. Franklin; and the next day Dr. Williamson left London for Holland. Biographical Memoir of Hugh Williamson, M. D. LL. D. By David Hosack, M. D. LL. D. in vol. iii. of the Collections of the New York Historical Society. The entries at the port of Boston were 587; the clearances, 1773. 411.1 tween N. The line of jurisdiction between New York and Massachu- Line besetts was settled by commissioners from each of those provinces. Work and Governor Tryon of New York, and governor Hutchinson of Mass. Massachusetts, attended the convention at Hartford in May, and signed the instrument with the commissioners.2 The Caraibs of St. Vincent's surrendered to colonel Dalrym- Caraibs ple. He went on the expedition the preceding year with the subdued by the English. 14th British regiment, which had been stationed at Boston.3 There were large emigrations from Ireland and other parts of EmigraEurope to America.1 tions. sippi, The English settlements on the Mississippi were rapidly in- Settlements creased. General Lyman, with a number of military adventur- at Missisers, had gone to the Natchez, and laid out a number of townships there and in the vicinity. About 400 families, in six weeks preceding the 12th of July, passed down the Ohio to the Mississippi, to settle near the Natchez.5 Daniel Boon and his family, with five other families, joined by 40 men from Powell's Valley, began the settlement of Kentucky. About 300 families of Kentucky, Germans that had been settled at Broad Bay, near Kennebeck, and sold their estates, and removed to the southwestern parts of S. Carolina. Carolina.7 Bradford, Mass. ii. c. 12. 2 Pemberton, MS. Chron. 3 Pemberton. His orders were to subjugate or expel those aborigines. 4 Stiles, MS. The Philadelphia gazettes of July say, "since our last arrived here and at New Castle Brig Agnes, from Belfast, with 210 passengers; ship Needham, from Newry, with 500; ship Betsey from do. with 360; snow Penn, from Cork, with 80." Within the first fortnight in August, 3500 passengers arrived at Pennsylvania, from Ireland. In October a snow arrived at Philadelphia from Galway, in the north of Ireland, with 80 passengers; a ship from Belfast, with 170 passengers; and a ship from Holland, with 240 German passengers. In December, a brig from Dornock, in Scotland, arrived at New York, with about 200 passengers, and lost about 100 on the passage. Some emigrants settled in the more southern colonies. In August (1773), 500 arrived at North Carolina from Ireland. In September, a brig arrived at Charlestown (S. C.) from Ireland, with above 120 settlers. In the last three years, upward of 1600 inhabitants emigrated from the northern counties of Ireland to America. 5 Pres. Stiles, MS. 6 Pemberton, MS. Morse, Geography. This settlement is said to have been made in violation of the treaty at Fort Stanwix in 1768," which expressly stipulates, that this tract of country should be reserved for the western nations to hunt upon, until they and the crown of England should otherwise agree." Colonel Boon says, he left his family and habitation on the Yadkin river, North Carolina, on the first of May, 1769, with five other persons, "in quest of the country of Kentucky." He sold his farm at Yadkin, and set out with his family 25 September, 1773. Niles' Register, iv. 33-36. 7 Ibid. About 1752, Mr. Waldo obtained a number of these Germans to 1773. Publications. Negroes Aug. 14. Salem. An Essay, entitled "The Advantages of a Settlement on the Ohio, in North America," was published at London. An edition of the Laws of North America was printed by James Davis, printer for the colony. The Essex Journal, the first newspaper printed at Newburyport, was printed this year.2 In less than one year, more than 6000 negroes were imported into South Carolina.3 A very violent tornado was experienced at Salisbury, Massachusetts, and in its vicinity. It lasted about three minutes, and destroyed or damaged upward of 40 buildings in Salisbury, and about the same number in Almsbury.4 The first pavement in the town of Salem was finished.5 John Morehead, minister in Boston, died at the age of 70;6 Noah Hobart, minister of Fairfield, in Connecticut, aged 68 years; and John Osgood, minister of Midway in Georgia. settle on on his lands at Broad Bay; but they were disappointed in their expectations, and were persuaded by some of their German brethren in Europe, who had lately purchased lands in the southwestern parts of Carolina and in that quarter, to a removal. 4 Pemberton, MS. Chron. It first struck Salisbury Point, and then followed the course of Merrimac river. Its devastations were one mile in breadth to about one quarter of a mile above Almsbury Ferry. 5 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. vi. 223. This pavement, which was in the main street (Essex), was 740 feet in length, and nearly 60 in width. Another pavement, in the same street, of 3120 feet in length, was finished in 1792. 6 He was born in the north of Ireland, and educated at the university of Edinburgh. In 1729 or 1730, he with many others, who sought in New England the peaceable enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, arrived in Boston, and soon after formed a presbyterian church, of which he was the minister until his death. He devoted himself to his work; and such was the success of his labours, and the accession of foreign protestants, that in 1736 the communicants were about 250. His successor in the ministry was the Rev. Dr. Belknap. Stiles, Lit. Diary. Allen, Biog. 7 Stiles, MS. Mr. Hobart wrote with great ability in the episcopal controversy. "His character for acuteness of genius, learning, and all the virtues that adorn the Christian life," is represented to have been "not inferior to any one of his order," in the colony. 8 Mr. Osgood was born at Dorchester, in South Carolina, and educated at Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1733. In 1735 he was ordained to the pastoral care of the church in Dorchester, the place of his nativity. A part of his society having removed to Georgia in 1753, and a general inclination to removal being indicated, he went from Carolina to their new settlement in 1754, and continued in the ministry there till his death. The Rev. Dr. Zubly, of Savannah, in his funeral sermon on the occasion of Mr. Osgood's death, says: "His tender regard for his congregation, and his anxiety that they 1774. passes the INTELLIGENCE of the destruction of the tea at Boston was Destruction of tea procommunicated, on the 7th of March, in a message from the vokes the throne to both houses of parliament. In this communication, British gov the conduct of the colonists was represented, as not merely ob- ernment, structing the commerce of Great Britain, but as subversive of the British constitution. Although the papers, accompanying the royal message, rendered it evident that the opposition to the sale of the tea was common to all the colonies; yet the parliament, enraged at the violence of Boston, selected that town as the object of legislative vengeance. Without giving the oppor- which now tunity of a hearing, a bill was passed, by which the port of Boston was legally precluded from the privilege of landing and Boston port discharging, or of lading and shipping goods, wares and merchan- bill; dise; and every vessel within the points Alderton and Nahant was required to depart within six hours, unless laden with food or fuel. This act, which shut up the harbour of Boston, was speedily followed by another, entitled, "An act for the better regulating the government of Massachusetts." The object of this act was to alter the charter of the province, so as essentially to regulating abridge the liberties of the people. In the apprehension that, in the execution of these acts, riots would take place, and that ment; trials or murders, committed in suppressing them, would be might be kept together, engaged him to remove into this province, and to share with them all the inconveniences that attend the settling of a wilderness; and he lived to see their endeavours so blessed as to turn this wilderness into a garden, and the desert place into fields which the Lord hath blessed :-Near forty years, a very uncommon period in our climate, did he continue to minister in holy things among you; all this time you were in his heart to live and to die with you. He was the father and friend, as well as the shepherd of his flock. A mutual endearment subsisted all that time; it may with justice be said, no congregation was happier in a minister, and no minister happier in a congregation."-Midway was in St. John's Parish. See 1775 and 1778. 1 Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay. The council, heretofore clected by the general court, was to be appointed by the crown; the royal governor was invested with the power of appointing and removing all judges of the inferior courts of common pleas, commissioners of oyer and terminer, the attorney general, provost martial, justices, sheriffs, &c.; town meetings, which were sanctioned by the charter, were, with few exceptions, expressly forbidden, without leave previously obtained of the governor or lieutenant governor in writing, expressing the special business of said meeting, and with a farther restriction, that no matter should be treated of at these meetings, excepting the election of public officers, and the business expressed in the governor's permission; jurymen, who had been elected before by the freeholders and inhabitants of the several towns, were to be all summoned and returned by the sheriffs of the respective counties; the whole executive government was taken out of the hands of the people, and the nomination of all important officers invested in the king, or his governor. an act for the better of Mass. govern 1774. and an act to authorize trials to be had in G. Britain. Qubec act. Gen. Gage Boston, as governor. Town vote upon the port bill. partially decided by the colonists; it was provided by law, that if any person were indicted for murder, or for any capital offence, committed in aiding magistracy, the governor might send the person, so indicted, to another colony, or to Great Britain, to be tried. These three acts were passed in such quick succession, as to produce the most inflammatory effects in America, where they were considered as forming a complete system of tyranny. "By the first," said the colonists, "the property of unoffending thousands is arbitrarily taken away, for the act of a few individuals; by the second, our chartered liberties are annihilated; and by the third, our lives may be destroyed with impunity." The parliament, near the close of this memorable session, passed an act for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec; which, like the preceding acts, was considered by the colonists as arbitrary and unconstitutional. General Gage, the commander in chief of the royal forces in arrives at North America, was appointed governor of Massachusetts, as the most proper person to see to the execution of the parliamentary laws respecting that colony and its capital; and he arrived at Boston on the 13th of May. The next day, at a numerous town meeting, called to consider the port bill, it was resolved, "That it is the opinion of this town, that if the other colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importation from and exportation to Great Britain, and every part of the West Indies, till the act be repealed, the same will prove the salvation of North America and her liberties; and that the impolicy, injustice, inhumanity, and cruelty of the act exceed our powers of expression: We therefore leave it to the just censure of others, and appeal to God and the world." Copies of this vote were transmitted to each of the colonies. Port bill colonies. The port bill arriving in different parts of the colonies, copies offends the of it were multiplied and circulated with incredible despatch, and excited universal indignation. At Philadelphia, a subscription was set on foot for such poor inhabitants of Boston, as should be deprived of the means of subsistence by the operation of the Virginia act. The Virginia house of burgesses resolved, that the first assembly day of June, the day on which the operation of the port bill was observe the to commence, should be set apart by the members as a day of first day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, "devoutly to implore the divine its opera interposition for averting the heavy calamity, which threatened resolve to tion as a Fast; destruction to their civil rights, and the evils of a civil war; to give them one heart and one mind, firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to the American rights." On the publication of this resolution, the royal governor, the earl of Dunmore, dissolved them; but, previously to their separation, |