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1766—1774.

news of the repeal of the Stamp Act was received in America with great joy and satisfaction. All the usual demonstrations of popular rejoicing were indulged in; thanksgivings were offered in the churches; the bells were rung; cannon were fired; and the ships were decked out in gala costume. Statues were voted to the king in Virginia and Nev York; portraits of Camden, Barré and Conway, were placed in Faneuil Hall; and Pitt's name was held in universal veneration and esteem. Whatever was obnoxious in his views, as to restrictions on trade and commerce, was forgotten, and he became the popular idol in America.

Mr. Secretary Conway, in June, 1766, addressed a circular letter to the governors of the colonies. In this letter he informed them that the king and Parliament "seemed disposed not only to forgive but to forget those most unjustifiable marks of an undutiful disposition, too frequent in the late transactions of these colonies;" but at the same time required them strongly to recommend to the Assemblies to make full and ample compensation to those who had suffered "for their deference to the act of the British legislature." The transactions referred to in the secretary's letter were those which took place in Boston and New York, in the summer of 1765.

This letter of the secretary was laid 