Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/273

] colonies. His zealous efforts to promote the objects of the ministry at home, were warmly seconded by Thomas Hutchinson, who had lately been appointed lieutenant-governor, and also chief justice, to the disappointment of Otis, who had been promised a seat on the bench by Pownall. It was at this juncture that, owing to a trade opened by the colonists with the French islands, by which they obtained supplies, orders had been given by the English ministry for the stricter enforcement of the acts of trade, already so odious to the mercantile interest and the people at large. To prevent evasion of the law, orders were sent to apply to the judicature for "writs of assistance," that is, for permits to break into and search any suspected place. It was not long before the custom-house officers applied for the issue of the writs, to which the merchants determined to offer the most strenuous opposition, and retained Thatcher and James Otis, son of the speaker, to plead on their behalf. Otis, as advocate of the Admiralty, was bound to argue in favor of the writs, but urged by patriotic zeal, he resigned his office, and accepted the retainer of the merchants. On the day appointed for the trial, the council-chamber of the old town-house in Boston, was crowded with the officers of government and the principal inhabitants of the city. The case was opened by the advocate for the crown, who founded his long and elaborate argument on the principle, that the parliament of Great Britain is supreme legislator of the British empire. Thatcher, who was one of the first lawyers of the city, replied in an ingenious and able speech, resting his arguments upon considerations purely legal and technical. But Otis, who followed him, was not to be restrained within these narrow and inconvenient limits. He assailed the acts of trade as oppressive and even unconstitutional, and with a fire and vehemence which carried everything before them, he roused the Bostonians and the public at large, to a consideration of questions soon to assume a position of the gravest importance. "Otis was a flame of fire," says John Adams, in his sketch of the scene. "With a promptitude of classical allusion, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him. The seeds of patriots and heroes were then and there sown. Every man of an immensely crowded audience appeared to me, to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against ' writs of assistance.' Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there, the child Independence was born. In fifteen years, that is, in 1776, he grew up to manhood, and declared himself free." The influence of Otis's fervid eloquence was widely felt in the approaching dispute with the mother country. He himself was elected a representative from Boston, and became a leading member of the House. The "writs of assistance," although granted, were too unpopular to be used, except in rare cases.