Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/336

 306 INTRODUCTION. chap. vin. instructions of the crown on the subject of a 1728. fixed salary. At a general meeting of the in- habitants convened for that purpose, the town passed a vote, purporting to be the unanimous declaration of the inhabitants of the town of Boston, against fixing a salary on the governor, which was printed. In consequence of this vote, and of an opinion he had before expres- sed, that the members of the house could not act freely because they were influenced by the inhabitants of the town, the governor deter- mined to remove the court ; and, on the 24th Adjournment # of the f October, he adjourned it to the 30th, then assembly 'J ' to saiem. to mee ^ a t Salem in the county of Essex. The alteration of place did not alter the tem- per of the house. Votes and messages of the same tenor with those which had been so often repeated, continued to pass between them and the governor, until the subject was entirely exhausted. Nothing remained but a determi- nation on both sides to adhere to their princi- ples, and the house met and adjourned from day to day, without entering on business. In the mean-time, the governor received no salary. To the members from Boston, who had not been accustomed to the expense attending on an absence from their homes, a compensa- tion above their ordinary wages as representa- tives was made by that town. The house, firmly persuaded of the propriety of the struggle on their part, prepared a mc-