THE PAPERS ISSUED BY CONGRESS. 309 XXVI. merely astonished at his matchless eloquence, but the CHAP. importance of the subject had overwhelmed them. The Congress appointed a committee, which drew up a "Declaration of Rights." In this they enumerated their natural rights to the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property; as British subjects, they claimed to participate in making their own laws; in imposing their own taxes; the right of trial by jury in the vicinage; of holding public meetings, and of petitioning for redress of grievances. They protested against a standing army in the colonies without their consent, and against eleven acts passed since the accession of George III., as violating the rights of the colonies. It was added, "To these grievous acts and measures Americans cannot submit." To obtain redress they resolved to enter upon peaceable measures. They agreed to form an "American Association," in whose articles they pledged themselves not to trade with Great Britain or the West Indies, nor with those engaged in the slave-trade-which was especially denounced-not to use British goods or tea, and not to trade with any colony which would refuse to join the association. Committees were to be appointed in the various districts to see that these articles were strictly carried into effect. Elaborate papers were also issued, in which the views of the Congress were set forth still more fully. A petition. to the king was written by John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania; he also wrote an Address to the people of Canada. The Memorial to the people of the colonies was written by Richard Henry Lec, of Virginia, and the Address to the people of Great Britain by John Jay, of New York. Every measure was carefully discussed, and though on some points there was much diversity of opinion, yet, as Congress sat with closed doors, only the results of these discussions went forth to the country, embodied in resolu 1774. XXVI. CHAP. tions, and signed by the members. These papers attracted the attention of thinking men in England. Said Chat1774. ham, "When your lordships look at the papers transmitted to us from America; when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause, and wish to make it your own. For myself, I must avow, and I have studied the master states of the world, I know not the people, or senate, who, for solidity of reason, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of difficult circumstances, can stand in preference to the delegates of America assembled in General Congress at Philadelphia. The histories of Greece and Rome give us nothing equal to it, and all attempts to impose servitude upon such a mighty continental nation, must be vain." CHAPTER XXVII. COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION. The Spirit of the People.-Gage alarmed.-The People seize Guns and Ammunition. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress; its Measures.— Parliament passes the Restraining Bill.—Conflicts at Lexington and Concord.-Volunteers fly to Arms, and beleaguer Boston.-Stark.— Putnam.-Benedict Arnold.-Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.-Capture of Ticonderoga.-Lord Dunmore in Virginia.—Patrick Henry and the Independent Companies.-The News from Lexington rouses a Spirit of Resistance.-The second Continental Congress; it takes decisive Measures; adopts the Army before Boston, and appoints Washington Commander-in-chief. XXVII. WHILE Congress was yet in session, affairs began to wear CHAP. a serious aspect in and around Boston. The people were practising military exercises. Every village and district 1774. had its company of minute-men-men pledged to each other to be ready for action at a minute's warning. England soon furnished them an occasion. The ministry prohibited the exportation of military stores to America, and sent secret orders to the royal governors, to seize all the arms and gunpowder in the magazines. Gage complied with these orders. When it became known that he had secretly sent a company of soldiers by night, who had seized the powder in the arsenal at Charlestown, and conveyed it to Castle William, the minute-men assembled at once. Their eagerness to go to the governor and compel him to restore it to the arsenal could scarcely be restrained. Ere long various rumors were rife in the country-that Boston was to be attacked; that the fleet was bombarding XXVII. CHAP, it; that the soldiers were shooting down the citizens in its streets. Thousands of the sturdy yeomanry of Massa1774. chusetts and Connecticut credited these rumors; they left their farms and their shops, and hastened to the rescue. Before they had advanced far they learned that the reports were untrue. General Gage was alarmed by this significant movement; he did not apprehend its full import, neither did he rightly discern the signs of the times, nor read the spirit of the people; he was a soldier, and understood the power that lies in soldiers and fortifications, but knew nothing of the power of free principles. He determined to fortify the neck which connects Boston with the mainland, and place there a regiment, to cut off all communication between the people in the country and those in the town. 1774. 13. Intelligence of these proceedings spread rapidly through Dec. the land. The people took possession of the arsenal at Charlestown, from which the powder had been removed. At Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, a company, led by John Sullivan, afterward a major-general, captured the fort, and carried off one hundred barrels of powder and some cannon. At Newport, in the absence of the men-ofwar, forty-four pieces of artillery were seized and conveyed to Providence. In Connecticut, the Assembly enjoined upon the towns to lay in a double supply of ammunition, to mount their cannon, and to train the militia frequently. This spirit was not confined to New England, but prevailed in the middle and southern colonies, where the people took energetic measures to put themselves in a posture of defence. In the midst of this commotion, Gage, thinking to conciliate, summoned the Massachusetts Assembly to Oct. meet at Salem; but, alarmed at the spirit manifested at 5. the town meetings in the province, he countermanded the order. The Assembly, however, met; and as no one appeared to administer the oaths, and open the session, the MASSACHUSETTS ADOPTS DECIDED MEASURES. 313 XXVIL members adjourned to Concord, and there organized as a CHAP Provincial Congress. They elected John Hancock President, and Benjamin Lincoln Secretary. Lincoln was a 1774. farmer, and afterward became an efficient major-general in the revolutionary army. This was the first provincial Assembly organized independently of royal authority. They sent an address to Gage, in which they complained of the recent acts of Parliament; of his own highhanded measures; of his fortifying Boston Neck, and requested him to desist; at the same time they protested their loyalty to the king, and their desire for peace and order. Gage replied that he was acting in self-defence, and admonished them to desist from their own unlawful proceedings. The Assembly disregarded the admonition, went quietly to work, appointed two committees, one of safety, and the other of supplies,-the former was empowered to call out the minute-men, when it was necessary, and the latter to supply them with provisions of all kinds. They then appointed two general officers-Artemas Ward, one of the judges of the court, and Seth Pomeroy, a veteran of threescore and ten, who had seen service in the French war. They resolved to enlist twelve thousand minutemen, and invited the other New England colonies to increase the number to twenty thousand. The note of alarm was everywhere heard; preparations for. defence were everywhere apparent. In Virginia the militia companies burnished their arms and practised their exercises. Washington, their highest military authority, was invited, and often visited different parts of the country, to inspect these volunteers on their review days. Jan. 20. The attention of all was now turned to the new Par- 1775. liament about to assemble. To some extent, a change had come over the minds of many of the English people; the religious sympathies of the Dissenters were specially enlisted in favor of the colonists. The papers issued by |