Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/342

 measures of the ministry. Before the agitation occasioned by this movement was tranquilized, a rumor was, probably not without design, rapidly circulated throughout the whole province, that the garrison and fleet were firing on the town of Boston; and in a few hours some thirty thousand men, under arms, set out for Boston. When satisfied that the report was without foundation, they quietly dispersed: yet it must have been a significant indication to General Gage, who head used such valorous language to the king, that the people would not shrink from the use of arms, if they felt it necessary, in order to defend their hearths and homes.

The governor was virtually blockaded in Boston, with hardly a shadow of power, the real administration of the province having been assumed by a popular convention. The recent acts were completely nullified. Juries refused to serve under a system which they denounced as a violation of the charter, and the judges often made matters worse by attempting to decide causes without the aid of juries. This served to aggravate the people, who asserted "that they knew no court independent of the ancient laws of their country, and none other would they acknowledge." Every day the feeling of hatred and revenge seemed to acquire strength,—sad precursor of the blood and carnage of a civil war!

Early in September, in defiance of the act of Parliament, and the governor's proclamation founded upon it, prohibiting public Assemblies, the county of Suffolk, of which Boston was the capital, elected delegates to meet for the purpose of taking into consideration the most proper course to be adopted in the present state of affairs. With a boldness and decision surpassing that of any former Assembly, they passed resolutions declaring themselves constitutionally exempt from all obedience to the late measures of the British Parliament, that the government of the province was in fact dissolved, and that they should consider all persons who dared to act in any official capacity under the new regulations, as open enemies of their country. They sent a copy of their resolutions, and of their letter to the governor, with his answer, to the Continental Congress which had just commenced its session.

This illustrious body of patriots assembled on the 5th of September, in the city of Philadelphia. Fifty-three delegates appeared from twelve of the colonies, Georgia alone being unrepresented. Generally the delegates had been elected by the authority of the State legislatures; but, in some instances, a different system had been pursued. In New Jersey, and Maryland, the elections were made by a committee chosen in the several counties for that particular purpose; and, in New York, where the royal party was very strong, and where it is probable no legislative act, authorizing an election of members to represent that colony in Congress, could have been obtained, the people themselves assembled in those places where the spirit of