The Massachusetts spy, or, Thomas's Boston journal. [volume], November 24, 1774, Image 1

About The Massachusetts spy, or, Thomas's Boston journal. [volume] (Boston [Mass.]) 1772-1775

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Or Thomas’s Bolton Journal. .
$ ‘Do r hou Great LIBERTY inipir* our Soul»—And make our Live® it th y Pofieffion happy—Or, oth Deaths glorious mrhy jud Dtfcucc. ®
r L 9 Vol. IV. ) THURSDAY, November 24, 1774. CNumb. 199.
1 ° ( k
GRAND AMERICAN CONGRESS.
To the Inhabitant* of the Colonies of
New-Ham tih i re* Mah achusetts-Bay,
Rhode-IsLand* and Providence Plan
tations ; Connecticut, New-Yore*
New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the countiu
of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex on De-
Lnwarti Maryland, Virginia, North-
Carolina and South-Carolina.
Friendt and Fellow Countrymen,
WE, th*J>elegates, appointed by the good
people of the abov* colonies, to meet at,
Philadelphia, in September lift, for the purpose.
mentioned by oarrefpedive con ftituents, have in
pursuance of the u uft replied in us, aflembied,
and taken into our most serious consideration thg
important matters recommended to the Cong refs.
Our resolutions thereupon will be herewith com
municated to you. But as the fituition of pub
lic affairs grows daily more and more alarming;
and as it may be more fatisfeftory to you, to be
infrmedby us, inEcoHeftivebody. than-imany
Mher manner, of those sentiments that have been
approved, upon a full and free,d»fcuflion by the
Rrprefentativesef so great a part ©f America* we
esteem ourselves obliged to add this addrcls to
theferefolutions. ‘ .
fln every case ©fopposition by a people ro them
rulers, or ofone state to another, duty to Almigh-'
tv God, the creator of all, requires that a true
impartial judgment be formed ofthe mea
fores leading to such oppofiuon ; and of the caaiea
hv which it ha c M-ro n au.)ked- pr can tn
gret 8e juitfewi ; uiat ntuner on dir
one hand, nor refer, tment on the other, being
permitted to give a wrong bias to reason, it may
I eenabled to take a difpaflkmete view of all the
circumftances,'and letcie the public conduft on
the solid foundations of wisdom and justice.
From councils thus tempered arise the fertft
hopes of the divinejavour, the urmeft encourage
ment to the partie* engaged, and the fcoqgeft re
commendation of their cauf© to the rest of man*
kind. ’ ... rr JL. rr 1
With mind* deeply imprefled by afenfeof
these truth*, we have diligently, deliberately and
calmly, enquired into and considered those exer
tions, both of the legislative and executive power
Of Great-Britain, which have excited so much
oneadneft in America, aad have with equal fide
lity and attention considered the conduct of the
colonies. Upon’the whole, we find ourfelve*.
reduced to the difagreeabio alternative, of being
silent and betrayingthe innocent, or of speaking
out and cenfurmg those we wish to revere. In
making-our choice of these diftrehmg difficulties,
we prefer the course dilated by honclty, and a
regard for the welfare of our country.
Soon after the end of the late war, there com
menced a memorable change in the treatment of
these colonies. By a statute made in the fourth
year of the piefent reign, a time of profound peace,
alledging “ the expediency of new provisions and
regulations for extending the commerce between
Great-Britain and his Majefty’* dominions in A
merica, and the necejftty y raijing a revenue in the
laid dominions for defraying the expence* of «•
fending, protecting and deeming the &m e » ’ the
if Great-B undertook to give -ano
.rant to his Majesty many rata and dunes, to be
mid in theft colonies. To enforce the observance
of thia aft, it prefcnbes a.great number offeyere
penalties and forfeitures; aifd tn two feflions
£4kes a remarkable diftinAion between the fob
teas in Britain and thofein America. By the one,
ihe penalties and forfeitures incurred there ite to
be recovered in any of the King’s Courts of /*-
orJat Weftminfier, or in the Court of Exchequer
in Scotland • -nd by the other the penalties and
forfeitures incurred here are to be recovered in a-
BT Court of Rmerd, or in any Conn of Admiralty
or Pice-Jdmiraley, * the ehSun es the informer er
of theft colonics confiding in
the ta face of Great-Britain, were fcmcely allow
ed Jufaent time- to receive and coatder this
before another, well known by the name of the
and pa fifedm the fifth year of thu reign
the whole of their attention. By thu
flaicte the Britilh Parliament exerctfed in the
most explicit manner a power of taxing us, and
the jurildicLioß of courts ofAasitraJtytvi.
the colonies, to matters arising
Within the body ofweauaty, dtreded the numer
ouspenalties and fctfiaiure*. thereby inflated,
U, bt recoveryd in the feid Courts. 4
In the feme year a tax was impdfed Open us,
by an ad, riiablsfhing ftveral new fees m the cul-
toms. In the next year the ftamp-aft, was re
pealed ; not because it was founded in an erro
neous principle, but as the repealing aft recites,
because “ the continuance thereof would be at
tended with many inconvenicncies, and might be
productive of consequences greatly detrimental
to the conmercial interest of Great-Britain.”
In the fame year, and hy a subsequent ad, it
was declared, ** that his Majesty in parliament,
“ of right, had power to bind the people of
«« theft colonies by statutes in all case*
whatsoever.”
In the fame year, another act was passed, for
imposing rate* and dud's payabk in theft colo
nies. In this ftatuce the Commons avoiding the
terms of giving and granting, “ humbly befbught
hi* thatitmighebe enacted, &g But from
a declaration in the preamble, that the rates and
duties were “ in lieu of” several others granted
by the statute 4rft beforemen tioned/v raifng a
rtwnut, and from feme other expreißm* it ap
pears, chat thsfe dtfticswere in tended for tLatfur-
P»f- _ . ..
In the next year (1767) an ad ws* made “ to
enable hi* Majesty to put die customs
dutiei in America, under the
Commiffioner*, &c. and the King
retted the preient expensive board of
ers, for the express purpose of carrying into exe
cution the fevcral ads relating to the revenue and
trade in America. .
After the repeal of the Gamp-ad, having agnn
resigned aurfelves to our anient unfufoicious fa
.rx p.uvb«. -
any controversy with her,, in hopes of a favovrJ
able alteration in fentiment* and measures towards
us, we did not press our objedions against me
abovementioned statutes made subsequent to that
repeal. , :
Administration attributing to trifling caules,
a conduft that really proceeded from generoul
motives, were encouraged in the fame year
(1767) to make a bolder experiment on the pa
tience of America.
By a statute, commonly called the glajs,paper
and tea aS, made fifteen months after the repeal
of the fun?-act, the Commons of Great-Britain
relumed their former language, and again under*
took to give and grant races and duties to be paid
in these colonies, for the express purpose of
“ railing a revenue, to defray the charge* of the
admiration office, the fop port of civilgovern
ment and defending the King’s dominions, on
thi* continent. The penalties and forfeitures,
incurred under this statute, are to be recovered
in the fame manner, with those mentioned in tile
Hothis statute, fonaturally tending todifturb
the tranquility, then universal throughout the
colonies, parliament, in the fame session, added
another nalefc extraordinary.
Ever since the making the present peace, a
(landing army has been kept in theft Colonies.
From refped to the mother country, the innova.
tion was .ot only tolerated, but the provincial
Legiflaturea generally made provision for foppty-.
tag the troops. . J
The Aflembly of the province of New-York,
having passed an Aft of thi* kind, but differing
in some articles, from the directions of the Ad
of Parliament made in year of this reign,
the House of Rcprefentatives in that Colony was
prohibited by a Statute made in the fcflion last
mentioned, from making any bill, order, refutati
on or vote, except for adjourning or chuting kt
Speaker, until provision thould be made by trie
l.dd Affembty for furnithing the troops within
that province, not only with all such neceflaries
as were required by the Statute which they were
charged with diJobeying, but also with those re
quired by two <X*a fabfauent Statute*, wh- h
were declared to be in force until the twenty fourth
year f 767, revived the
apurehenfionsaaddifeentents, that had entirety
subsided on the repeal of the Stamp-Act '» and J’,
midst the just fears and jealousies thereby occasi
oned, a Statute wa* made in the next year (1768)
to establish Court* of Admiralty and Pice ;
rahe on a new model, exprefely for the end Of
more effeetanty recovering the fenahcet
t ur tJ indided by AAs of Pxriiantnt framed fo*
the purpose of rating a revenue in America, &c.
The immediate tendency of these Statutes, u,
to subvert the right of having a Sare i. legifta-.
tion, by rendering AfiemW** nfeiefr ; u»c i«m
of property, by tiling the money of
QiiU widmut their Gonfent; the right of trials by
jury, by fubftitwting in their pla.es trials in Ad
]i*iralty and Vice-Admiralry Courts, where iin
;se judges preside, holding their Commiffion'
during pleasure; and unducly to influence the
Courts of common law, by rendering the Judges
t ©reof (©tally dependant on the Crown for their
f larie*.
Thtfe Statutes, not to mention many others
edccdisgly exceptionable, compared one with
mother, will be found, not only to form a re
-5 ilar frftem, in which every part has great force,
it also a pertinacious adherence to that fiftem,
fc r fubjugadng theft Colonies, that are not, and
tram local circuniftances, cannot be reprefcnted
in the House (T Commons, to the uncontroulable
and unlimited power of Parliament, in violation
cf their undoubted rights and liberties, in con
tempt of their humble and repeated fupplßations.
Thi* conduft must appear equnlly
atd unjuftihable, when it is conhdered how un
pfovoked it has been by any liehaviour of thef<|
Colonies. From their firft settlement, their bit]
me ft. enemies never fixed ori sny of them a charge
of dilhyalty 10 their Stvercigh, or cUfidFeftion to
ukiir Mother-Country. In the wars ihe has car,
QAX on » they have exerted thtmlclves whcnevei
in giving her affiftancc; and have ren
depid iter services, which Ihe has ptibhckly ac
kne wledged to be extremely important. Their
hcrlity, duty and ufefulnefs during the last war,
weie frequently and affeftiortntely confefled by
his late Majesty and the present King.
• .1,., » ..ebes of those, who arv most in -
pJily levelled against the province*of Mafla
chufttts-Bay; but with what little reason, will
appear by the following declarations of a person,
the truth oftvhofe evidence, in their favour, will
not be qutftioned—-Governor Bernard thus ad
drefles the two Hovfes of Aflembly—in his speech
on the 24th of April, ij?6t—“ The unanimity
and dilpacch, wi h which you have complied
with the rtqwftiom of bit Majtfty, require my
particular acknowledgment. And gives me ad
difional plealure to obftrve, that you have there
in aded under no other influence than a due sense
of your duty, both as members of a general em
piie, and as the body of a particular province.”
hi another speech on the 27th ot May, in the
faiie year, he fays,—“ Whatever Ihail be the
evfent ol the war, it must be no feiall fatisfaftion
u/us, that thu province hath conti ibuted its full
Hine to the support of it. Fwry thing that bath
brin required of it hath been comfHtd nvith ; and
the execution of the powers committed to me,
for railing the provincial troops hath been as full
and complete as the grant of them. Never before
wire regiments io easily levied, so well compoftd,
arid so eirly in the field as they have been this
y air; thecom&on people fcemed to be animate*
wkh the Spirit of the General Court, and to vic
with them in their readiness toierve the King.”
Such was the conduft of the people of the Maf
fadhufeus-Bay* during the last war. As to their
btbavwur bciorc that period, it ought not to
have been forgot in Great-Britain, that not only
or. every occafton they had conftantiy and ebear
ftily complied with the frequent royal rrquifiti-
that chiefly by dicir vigorous efforts,
Nbva-Scotia was iuixlued ui 171°* & nd Louif
bourg in 1745.
Foreign quarrels being ended, and the domef
cic disturbances, that quickly succeeded on ac
count of the Stamp aft, being quieted by itart
pml, the alfembly of MaiTachufttts-Bay tranf-’
mined an humble addreft of thanks to the King
and divers Noblemen, and soon after passed a
bill fun granting cumpenfation to the fuiferers in
the difoider* occafloned that aft.
Theft circumstances and the following extrafts
from Governor Bernard’s Letter* in 1768, to the
Earl of Shelburne, Secretary of State, deafly
Ihew, with what grateful tendernpfs they strove
to bury in oblivion the unhappy occasion of the
fate drfcords, and with what refpeftful re
luftance they endeavoured to escape fubjefts of
future conuroverfy. “ The House (fays the Go
«• vernor) from die time of opening the fcftion
•«to this day, has (hewn a dilpofiiion to avoid
«« all dtfpute with me; everything havingpalf
« cd with as much good humour as I could de
•« fire, excfipconly their continuing to aft in ad
.. drejfng the King, reauaf rating t the Secretary
i« of Hate, and a separate agent. It is
u the itaportatue of tbit innovation, without any
•* wiUulueis of my own, which induces me to.
<« make thia*anonftrance at a time when I havej
o a fair prolpcft of having, in all ether bnfnefi,\
I•' nothing but good to fay if* die proce-diag* of
•* tl»e Houfe.”*
“ They having aftedm all thingt, even in
their remonllrance with temper and m deration ,
they have avoided some fubjefts of dilpure, and
have laid a foundation for removing some carina
of former almrcation/'f
“ I Ihail make such a prudent arM proper use
of this Le’ttcr as, I hope, wjll perfectly teftore ths
ptEv« and tranquillity of this province, for which
purpofc canftderable fl epi have been made by tbe
House nj Reprefentativesyi -
The vindication of the pr©vjndi of Maffachu
fctts-Bay contained in theft letters will have great
er force, if it be conftdcrcd, that they were writ
ten several months after the frelh ©lann given to
(he colonies by die statutes passed the preceeding
year.
In thia place it seems proper to take notice of
the infinuaiion in one of theie statutes, that th©
interference of Parliament was nettjfary to pro
vide for “defraying the charge of the admimflra
ien of support of tivilgivernment, and
defending the King’s dominions in America.”
As to the two firft articles of ex f ©nee, every
colony had made such provision, as by their re
fpeftive Aflemblies, the bpft judge* on such oc
casions, was thought expedient, and fuicable to
ch«ir several circumstances. Reipeftiug the lalL
it is well known to all men the kali acquainted
with American affairs* that the cohmie* were
cfta&liflied, and have generally defended tLem«
J': “b IT*? *he kaft affiftcnce Gpr»r JHI -
.kiac-hmc .n rtaxing .hMR '
by the statutes before mentioned, most of them
were labouring under very heavy debts contracted
in the last war. So far were they from sparing
their money, when their Sovereign, conftiturion
ally, alked their aid*, that during the course of
diac war, Parliament repeatedly made diem com*
penfations for the expences of those ftrenuou*
efforts, which* consulting their zeal rather than
their ftrength* they had chearfully incurred.
Severe as the aft* of Parliament before menti
oned are, yet the conduft of ddmimjlration ha*
been equally injurious, and irritatiug to this de
voted counti-y.
Under pretence of governing them, so many
new inflicution*, uniformity rigid and dangerous,
have been introduced, u could only be expelled
from incensed mafter*, for coUcfting the tribute
or rather the plunder of conquered provinces.
By an order of the K : ug, the authority of the
Commander in chief and under him of the Btiga
diers general, in time of peace t i».rendered luprtmt
in all che civil governments in dmtrica ; ar 1 thu*
an uncontroulable military p«wer is vrfted in
officers uot known to the confticution of theie co
lonics.
A large body of troops and a con sider able ar
mament of fhipj of war have been lent to aO
in taking their money without their consent.
Expensive 2nd oppreffiveclEces have been mul
tiplied, and the arts of corruption indwftiiouUy
prrdtfed to divide and destroy.
The Judges of the Admiralty and Vice Ad
miralty Courts are impowered to receive their
istlaries and fees from tneehefb to be conder*-.cd
by themselves 4 the Coinmiflioners of the cuttonis
are empowered to break open and enter houic*
without the authority of any uvd Magiiirai#
founded on legal information.
Judges of Courts of Common Law have been
made entirely dependent on the Crown for the*.'
commissions ana faiaries.
A Court has been eiUblHhed at Rbode-Iflaad,
for the purpose of taking Colonies to England
to be tned.
Humble and reasonable petition* from the Re
pnefentatives of the people have been frequently
treated with contempt; and Aflemblies ha.© been
repeatedly and dissolved.
From some few in fiances it will fufficiencJy ap
pear, on what pretences ot justice those diffulucuMi©
have been founded.
(T 1 be concluded in our next.)
•January si, 1764. f January 30* Ifettwry a,J~6S
PUBLIC VIN DUE
ADAM KtRR. Urtby i»knM bis Fntuda serf the
Public, that he hay
Opened a Vendue Room,
N-wh-ftdc of the I'owa-Dedu (the sane which Mr. Ascfei
jxld Bowinao formerly occupied in chat forfaeft) and is a»W
-eady for rhe Reception of HooAaM Furniture and Merchtn
due. AH th.’fe who are »tei(e* to brew him with rh-irewi
p4nTm»nt, eith-r at pnbHc or private Sefo. (hail « 4 ihas-fa*
w iU ad is that Aaltoa wi* Mrttgricy* *f* 4?>a«sh