Old Boston Days & Ways. Mary Caroline Crawford
freemen, commanded the removal of the soldiers.
When the news of this move reached Parliament the two regiments thus summarily withdrawn at the request of a mere citizen were dubbed by Lord North the " Sam Adams's regiments."
Yet, so strong still was self-restraint and a sense of justice in the community, that Captain Preston and his men had a fair trial, their counsel being people of no less importance than John Adams and Josiah Quincy. Six of the soldiers, together with the captain, were acquitted; the two men who were found guilty were branded on the hand.
In the diary of Deacon John Tudor, — a rare and privately published work, — I have come upon what seems a contemporary and an eminently fair account of this historic encounter: "March, 1770, On Monday evening the 5th current, a few Minutes after 9 O'clock a most horrid murder was committed in King Street before the Custom house Door by 8 or 9 Soldiers under the Command of Capt Thos Preston of from the Main Guard on the South side of the Town House. This unhappy affair began by Some Boys & young fellows throwing Snow Balls at the sentry placed at the Customhouse Door. On which 8 or 9 Solders Came to his assistance. Soon after a Number of people collected, when the Capt commanded the Soldiers to fire, which they did and 3 Men were Kil'd on the Spot & several Mortaly Wounded, one of which died next morning. The Capt soon drew off his Soldiers up to the Main Guard, or the Consequencis mite have been terable, for on the Guns fiering the people were alarm'd & set the Bells a Ringing as if for Fire, which drew Multitudes to the place of action. Levt Governor Hutchinson, who was Commander in Chefe, was sent for & Came to the Council Chamber, were some of the Magistrates attended. The Governor desired the Multitude about 10 O'clock to sepperat & go home peaceable & he would do all in his power that Justice shold be don &c. The 29 Regiment being then under Arms on the south side of the Townhouse, but the people insisted that the Soldiers should be ordered to their Barracks 1st before they would' sepperat, Which being don the people sepperated aboute 1 O'clock. Capt Preston was taken up by a warrent given to the high Sherif by Justice Dania & Tudor [the writer of the Diary] and came under Examination about 2 O'clock & we sent him to Goal soon after 3, having Evidence sufficient to commit him on his ordering the soldiers to fire; So aboute 4 O'clock the Town became quiet. The next forenoon the 8 Soldiers that fired on the inhabitants was also sent to Goal.
"Tuesday a. m. the inhabitants mett at Faneuil Hall & after some pertinant speeches, chose a Committee of 15 Gentlemen to waite on the Levt Governor in Council, to request the immediate removeal of the Troops. The message was in these Words. That it is the unanimous opinion of this Meeting that the inhabitants & soldiery can no longer live together in safety; that nothing can Ratonaly be expected to restore the peace of the Town & prevent Blood & Carnage but the removal of the Troops: and that we most fervently pray his Honor that his power & influence may be exerted for their instant removal. His Honor's Reply was. Gentlemen I am extremely sorry for the unhappy difference & especially of the last Evening & Signifieng that it was not in his power to remove the Troops &c &c.
"The Above Reply was not satisfactory to the Inhabitants, as but one Regiment should be Removed to the Castle Barracks. In the afternoon the Town Adjourned to Dr. Sewill's Meetinghouse [the Old South], for Fanieuil Hall was not larg enough to hold the people, their being at least 2,000, some supos'd near 4,000, when they chose a Committee to waite on the Levt. Governor to let him & the Council Know that nothing less will satisfy the people than a total & immedaiate removal of the Troops oute of the Town. — His Honor laid before the Council the Vote of the Town. The Council thereon expressed themselves to be unanimously of opinion that it was absolutely Necessary for his Majesty service, the good order of the Town &c that the Troops Should be immeditly removed oute of the Town.
"His Honor Communicated this advice of the Council to Col Dalrymple & desir'd he would order the Troops down to Castle William.
After the Col. had seen the Vote of the Council He gave his Word & honor to the Town's Committe that both Regiments should be remov'd without delay. The Comte return'd to the Town Meeting & Mr. Hancock, chairman of the Com'te Read their Report as above, which was received with a shoute & clap of hands which made the Meetinghouse Ring: So the Meeting was dessolved and a great number of Gentlemen appear'd to Watch the Center of the Town & the prison, which continued for II Nights and all was quiet again, as the Soldiers was all moved of to the Castle."
But the Yankee dead of that fifth of March were buried with a great funeral procession in the Granary Burying Ground and on each fifth of March after that, until the celebration of July 4th came to take its place, the day of the massacre was observed at Boston in stirring patriotic addresses. Before the news of the massacre had reached England, on the very day indeed of the event, Lord North brought in a bill to repeal the duties which the Bostonians so deeply resented with the exception of that on tea. This the king insisted upon retaining in order to avoid surrendering the principle at issue. The first effect of the royal generosity was to weaken the spirit of opposition in America and to create a division among the colonies. For the greater part of the Americans were desirous, after the fashion of mankind everywhere, to let things go on peaceably if possible. Hutchinson shrewdly observed, in June, 1772, that the union of the colonies seemed to be broken and he hoped it would not be renewed, for he believed it meant separation from the mother country, and that he regarded as the worst of calamities.
Already Dr. Franklin, the ablest man to whom Boston had ever given birth, had been appointed agent of Massachusetts in England and was striving in every way he could to harmonize the interests of the two contestants.
His efforts in this direction were variously received. In his Journal for "Wednesday 16 January, 1771," one reads: "I went this morning to wait on Lord Hillsborough. The porter at first denied his Lordship, on which I left my name and drove off. But before the coach got out of the square the coachman came
and said, 'His Lordship will see you, sir.' I was shown into the levee room where I found Governor Bernard, who, I understand, attends there constantly." Bernard and Franklin were not fond of each other, neither being able, truth to tell, to do the other justice. Moreover, Bernard and Hutchinson were friends and Franklin was bent, as subsequent developments showed, upon the removal from office of the author of the " Hutchinson letters."
In the autumn of 1772, an extra session of the assembly was wanted to consider what should be done about having the judges paid by the Crown. This Hutchinson refused to call, whereupon Samuel Adams devised a scheme by which assemblies were rendered unnecessary. Each town, at his suggestion, appointed a standing committee which could consult with committees from other towns and decide upon the action to be taken in case of emergency.
From the fact that the greater part of the work of these committees was necessarily done by letter they were called "Committees of Correspondence." This was the step that effectively organized the Revolution. For now there was always in session an invisible legislature which the governor had no means of stopping.
The next step was the extension of the plan so that there were committees of correspondence between the several colonies. From that to a permanent Continental Congress was an easy transition.
No sooner was the machinery for resistance at hand than there came a magnificent opportunity to use it and to challenge the Crown. The duty on tea had not been removed, and in America generally no tea was being imported from England. The colonists were smuggling it from Holland. Now, unless the Americans could be made to buy tea from England and pay the duty on it, the king must own himself defeated, — and the East India Company would be deprived of a valuable market. A law was accordingly pushed through Parliament authorizing the exportation of tea without the payment of duty in England. As a result, it was pointed out, the tea, plus the tax imposed by the Revenue Act, could be sold in America under the cost of tea smuggled from Holland.
It was supposed that the Americans would, of course, buy the tea that they could get most cheaply. Not yet had it been borne in upon the stupid ministers of the king that those men in America were contending for a principle, not looking for a bargain in groceries.
Clearly, theirs was the blindness of those who will not see. The attitude of the colonists towards tea had been repeatedly defined. Communication was slow in those days, to be sure, but all that happened