The history of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1749 to 1774, comprising a detailed narrative of the origin and early stages of the American Revolution ... Edited ... by ... J. Hutchinson

Front matter

THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY, FROM 1749 TO 1774, COMPRISING A DETAILED NARRATIVE OF THE ORIGIN AND EARLY STAGES or THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. BY THOMAS HUTCHINSON, ESQ., L.L.D. FORMERLY GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE. EDITED FROM THE AUTHOR'S MS., BY HIS GRANDSON*, THE REV. JOHN HUTCHINSON, M.A. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXVI1I. LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES, 14, Charing-Cross. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD LYNDHUKST, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF GREAT BRITAIN. MY LORD, In soliciting the distinguished introduc tion to the public, which I am allowed to prefix to this work, I presumed on your Lord ship's family connexion with its author, and with other leading individuals, who, during a long period of revolutionary excesses in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, maintained, at the frequent risk of their lives, and with the final loss of their estates, an unshrinking alle giance to the Crown of which they were the delegated servants.

To you, my Lord, thus interested in the leading narrative of these pages, I considered, that, as the work of a writer, DEDICATION. equally qualified by his profound knowledge of the history of the Colonies, and by his high and responsible station, to trace with accuracy and minuteness the origin and early progress of the American Revolution, they might, with the fittest appropriation, be submitted and dedi cated. The permission of placing your Lord ship's name in the front of the volume, is, therefore, accepted with more than ordinary acknowledgment, by, My Lord, Your Lordship's very obliged, And very obedient Servant, John Hutchinson. Blurton Parsonage, March 29th, 1828.

Preface

. The appearance of a work fifty years after being completed for the press, renders it necessary to explain both the occasion of the delay, and the grounds on which it is still deemed suitable for publication. The editor is proud to state, that the same deep respect for legitimate authority, and the same ready submission to its decrees, which the reader will discover in the whole of Governor Hutchinson's public conduct, as detailed in this work, descended, without diminution, to his late representatives, the editor's venerated uncle and father*: and that, in accordance with such feelings, when the government of England had acquiesced in the dismemberment of the empire, both those gentlemen resisted every inducement to give to the public the following pages, at a time when they were eagerly sought, lest the publication of such a work, on their part, should, notwithstanding its * Thomas and Elisha Hutchinson, Esqrs., mentioned in page 425 as joint consignees with several others, of the tea destroyed in Boston harbour in 1773.

The former died at Heavitree, near Exeter, in 1811, at the age of 71; and the latter at Blurton Par sonage, Trentham, Staffordshire, in 1824, in his 81st year. b unim-

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. VI unimbittered tone, have a tendency to deepen dis cordant feelings between countries, finally separated, indeed, as parent and colony, but re-allied, as inde pendent powers, by the treaty of peace in 1783. Such, in fact, had been Governor Hutchinson's own reluctance to give personal offence, that, though he wrote his work five or six years before the treaty, which he did not survive to witness, yet, when about to describe the characters of some of the leading revolutionists, he left a discretionary power with his representatives, of introducing or omitting the passage (page 293 — 298), having prefaced it with the words " Here insert as follows, if thought proper." A vote, however, of the Massachusetts Historical Society, passed in 1818, to solicit the immediate appearance of this work; and the earnest applications of literary gentlemen in America, which were for warded, with the vote, to the editor's father, furnished decisive evidence that the lapse of years had thrown the events of the revolutionary period suf ficiently into distance, to put an end to the only important obstacle to publication.

Subsequent delay has been merely accidental. Conjointly with the removal of the principal impediment, fresh inducement to publish presented itself: for the communications from America, whilst they clearly evinced that political excitement was at an end, bore also the strongest testimony to the high estimation in which the author was held, as the historian of his native country. In proof of this,

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. VII this, the vote and applications alluded to, are here introduced. At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, October 29, 1818. Voted, That the President be desired, in the name of the Society, to make application to Elisha Hutchinson, Esq., of Birmingham, and other descendants and representatives of the late Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., formerly Governor of Massachusetts Bay, to obtain the continuation, or unpub lished part, of his History, and to express the sense of the Society on the great value of that work, and the desire of the community on this side of the Atlantic to enjoy the complete labours of that distinguished antiquary. Attest. Cha. Lowell, Recording Secretary. The President of the Historical Society, Judge Davis, in forwarding the above vote, thus expresses his own sentiments : Sir, Boston, March 1, 1820.

In transmitting to you the inclosed vote of the Massa chusetts Historical Society, I ask leave to add an expression of my earnest wishes that the overture may be acceptably received. The reputation of Governor Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts rests on the solid basis of utility and truth. As a full, correct, and faithful account of the rise and pro gress of an important portion of our country, for the time embraced by the narrative, it is of inestimable value. It is this character of the work which renders it peculiarly desirable that any collections, or compositions of the venerable author, designed for the completion of his plan, should be, in some way, presented to the public. The information given to us b2 by

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. VIII by Mr. Boott, who was favoured with your frank communications relative to manuscripts of this description, has strengthened our convictions that it is our duty to solicit the use and perusal of those papers. Mr. Boott will do us the favour of presenting to you our application. The Society will consider itself honoured in being the repository, or me dium of publication, of any of those manuscripts ; and will regard the acquisition as a most interesting addition to the many historical documents which they have collected and published. I have the honour to be, Sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, John Davis, President Mass. Hist. Soc. Elisha Hutchinson, Esq. This letter was accompanied by the following, from the former President of the Society, Christo pher Gore, Esq., L.L.D. : — Sir, Waltkam, February 18, 1820.

As a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, I am, in common with my associates, solicitous of executing the purposes of this institution. Towards this end, we are desirous of possessing, that we may preserve and publish, whatever may have been collected by your venerable father for the completion of his valuable History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The accuracy and fidelity of his work are universally felt and acknowledged. His means of acquiring information were great, and, from what he was pleased to publish, his industry in collecting, and care in preserving, are so conspicuous, as to make us desire, with much solicitude, whatever treasures he had procured in addition to the volumes extant. I shall therefore consider it as a particular mark of your kindness to me, and also to the country, if you will have the goodness

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. IX goodness to indulge the Society with such memorials and writings, relating to the history of our native land, as he may have left, and you may not think inexpedient to communi cate. By so doing, the son will add to the obligations we owe to the parent, for the much esteemed gift which, during his life, he made to us, and the world, of the rise and progress of our society. Without the honour of a personal acquaintance, I have taken the liberty to address you on this subject, and pray you to accept, as my apology for the intrusion, the motives I have expressed; and my estimation of the politeness and benevolence of your character. I have the honour to be, Sir, with great respect, Your very obedient and faithful servant, C. Gore. Elishq Hutchinson, Esq. On the same occasion, the Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, D.D., President of Harvard College, Cambridge, addressed the subjoined letter to the editor's father, who graduated in that University in 1762.

Cambridge University, New England, Sir, February 24, 1820. I have reason to believe that you will consider my offi cial situation as furnishing some apology for this communication, in which I ask to be allowed to unite with the members of the Historical Society, in their application to you for the first part of the continuation of the History of Massa chusetts by your father, if it can be found *. The work of Governor * All intention of publishing had, for the reasons already assigned, been so entirely laid aside, that, in reply to an inquiry, made

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. X Governor Hutchinson, so far as it extends, is the basis of our lectures upon the policy, laws, and history of the com monwealth, and is always mentioned by us with great respect; and we should esteem in a high degree, and use, we trust, in a worthy and honourable manner, his researches and statements relative to the subsequent periods of which he has treated. Assured that you will not disclaim a regard to the sacred halls of your early education, or discourage our disposi tion to incur an obligation of the interesting nature proposed, I have the honour to be, Sir, with much consideration, Your obedient servant, John Thornton Kirkland, President of the University. Elisha Hutchinson, Esq. These testimonies, proceeding from men whose sentiments on the leading subject of this volume are naturally much at variance with those of its author, taken in connexion with the circumstance, that the literary zeal of an individual member of the Historical Society, James Savage, Esq., of Boston, has secured the private circulation of five hundred copies of the present edition in America, will, it is hoped, add interest to the work, in the eyes of that portion of English readers, whose favourable regard is especially solicited.

These pages appeal, first, to the few individuals who retain recollections of the large space which the events, narrated in the made in a former year, by a gentleman of Boston, it could not be immediately stated, with what member of Governor Hatchinson's scattered family the MS. was lodged; nor even an assurance given, that, as proved on examination to be the case, the whole was left by the author in exact preparation for the press. latter

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. XI latter part of the volume, occupied at the time, in their own and the public view; and, next, to those who, whether as historians or philosophers, cannot look with indifference on the period in which a revolution, that has proved the germ of all that have occurred in more modern times, took shape and acquired strength. Such readers will not consider superfluous a short statement of the advantages which Governor Hutchinson possessed, for com piling a history of the leading province in New England, whether in reference to the events com prised in the two volumes which he published in his life-time, or to those related in this posthumous sequel — a sequel which, from its commencing with so defined an era in American and general history, as that which followed the reduction of Louisburg and the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, may be read either as a consecutive or an independent volume.

To those who do not possess the two former volumes of Mr. Hutchinson's history, it may also not be im proper further to intimate, that a reprint of them is in contemplation, with some additions which the author has left in MS. From the circumstance to which Governor Hutchinson adverts, in the preface to the first of his volumes, " that many ancient records * and papers * One, and perhaps the most curious of these documents, escaped, and is now in the editor's possession. It is the original Court Book of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, kept at first in England, and containing records of as early a date as February, 1628. had

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XII had descended to him from his ancestors, who, for four successive generations, had been principal actors in public affairs," it is clear that, till the year 1765, when his house was pillaged, and his books and papers wantonly destroyed *, he possessed, in addi tion to free access to all public memorials, peculiar advantages for compiling the history of his country. Of the lost documents he had fortunately so far availed himself, as to bring down his narrative from the first settlement of the Province, in 1628, nearly to his own entrance on public life. This took place in the year 1737, when, at the age of 26, he was elected one of the Representatives of the town of Boston. From that time he may be regarded not merely as a contemporary historian, but as the nar rator of events with which his personal history was much identified.

He was thus enabled, notwithstanding the failure of the sources on which he had depended for perfecting the latter part of his second volume, to continue it to the year 1749, the date with which the present work commences. In that year he was elected into the Council, having, for the three preceding, filled the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1752, he succeeded his uncle, Edward Hutchinson, as Judge of Probate for the county of Suffolk, was appointed Lieutenant- Governor in 1758, Chief-Justice in 1761 ; — and effectively occupied the chair of the Province, from the time of Sir Francis Bernard's return to England * See page 125. ill

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. XIII in 1769, to his own departure in 1774, though, from his hesitation in accepting the office of Governor, his commission did not arrive in Boston till 1771. Mr. Hutchinson cannot, therefore, be considered as advancing unauthorized pretensions, when, in an unpublished pamphlet on American affairs, written so near to the close of his life, that on the back of the MS. occur the words, " Incorrect and imperfect — intended, if God had spared my life, to have been corrected and completed," these observa tions appear, " In the course of my education 1 found no part of science a more pleasing study than history, and no part of the history of any country more useful than that of its government and laws. The history of Great Britain and of its dominions was, of all others, the most delightful to me : — and a thorough knowledge of the nature and constitution of the supreme, and of the subordinate governments thereof, I considered as what would be peculiarly beneficial to me, in the line of life upon which I was entering.

And the public employments to which I was early called, and sustained for near thirty years together, gave me many advantages for the acquisition of this knowledge." In the present publication, the editor adverts to the leading events in the life of his ancestor only so far as may serve the object of doing justice to the favourable circumstances in which he was placed, for writing a faithful account of his country and times, reserving many and curious details for the more

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. XIV more appropriate department of a biographical volume. Among these must be particularized a conversation which took place between his Majesty, George III., the Earl of Dartmouth, and Governor Hutchinson, immediately on the arrival of the latter in England. The possibility of such a publication, for which, through the favour of Governor Hutchin son's representative in the eldest line, Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., of Exeter, ample materials are in the editor's hands, combining with the bulk of the present volume, will be an apology for the meagre notice prefixed to this work, of the personal history of its author. It is further necessary to request a candid recol lection of the circumstance, that the present work, being posthumous, is necessarily given to the public without those verbal and minor alterations, which, could the writer have superintended its progress through the press, it would, doubtless, have received from him, notwithstanding its having evidently un dergone his careful revisal.

In collecting the articles for the Appendix, as specified, but not transcribed, by Governor Hutchin son, the editor met with some difficulty ; but the access to the requisite documents, both in the State Paper Office, and in that of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, obtained for him through the kindness of Sir Francis Bernard's sole surviving son, SirScropeBernard Morland,Bart, M. P., and Thomas Amyot, Esq., of the Colonial Department, together with

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. XV with the great attention of Robert Lemon, Esq., and other gentlemen superintending in those offices, enabled him to perfect that part of the volume according to Governor Hutchinson's intention: in effecting which, he was also much assisted by the liberality of the Consul -General for the United States, Colonel Aspinwall, who unreservedly laid open to him his copious collections in American history. Though, on this occasion, the editor has not considered it imperative upon him to offer any observations on Governor Hutchinson's political conduct, he cannot resist the temptation of closing his few prefatory remarks with the interesting testimony borne to his grandfather's public character by the individual who, from office and otherwise, was best qualified to form a judgment. The an nexed letter was addressed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Earl of Dartmouth, to Mr. Hutchinson, and reached him just before he sailed from Boston.

It is marked as " private," but, with the concurrence of his lordship's grandson and representative, appears in print. The great courtesy of the present Earl of Dartmouth, in allowing the editor an unsolicited inspection of many important papers on American affairs, in his lordship's possession, claims public acknowledgment, as a most gratifying tribute of respect to the memory of the author of this volume. Letter

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. XVI Letter from the Earl of Dartmouth to Governor Hutchinson. Sir, London, 9th April, 1774. I have this day received from the hands of Mr. Clarke your private letter of the 17th of February. After what has been said in the public letter that accompanies this, and in a private letter which you will receive at the same time from Mr. Pownall, it is impossible that you can have any doubt of the light in which your conduct on the late trying occasions is seen by the King and his servants. 1 cannot, how ever, content myself without repeating to you what cannot fail to give you the strongest consolation and satisfaction, that it is his Majesty's royal intention to testify his gracious approbation of your services to all mankind, by an early mark of his favour*. This expectation will contribute much to alleviate the anxiety of your mind, and to support you under any difficulties you may have yet to encounter; but you will allow me to say, that, to a mind like yours, there are secret sources of tranquillity that are superior to such great and encouraging considerations.

The conscious sense which you possess of an upright and uniform regard to the duty of your situation, joined to a dispassionate and real concern for the welfare of the people over whom you pre side, which equally appear throughout the correspondence that I have had with you, do, at this moment, if I am not deceived in my opinion of you, supply you with that stea diness and fortitude which discover themselves in your firm and temperate conduct, and which, under such support, it is not in the power of the most unreasonable prejudice, or even of the most inveterate malice to shake or intimidate. * A baronetcy was offered Governor Hutchinson on his arrival in England, but was declined on grounds which it rather belongs lo family memoir than to general history to explain. I perceive

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. XVII I perceive with the utmost concern, from the state of the Province which you have set before me, that there is no room to hope for the restoration of order and regular government, till the sentiments of those who see the necessity of a due acknowledgment of the authority of the supreme power of the whole empire, and the absurdity of a contrary doctrine, shall become the prevailing and ruling principles of the Province. If those wise and temperate men shall have the good fortune to be able to undeceive the deluded multitude, and to bring them to a more just and sober way of thinking, I have no doubt that steps might immediately be taken that would gradually lead not only to the re-esta blishment of the public tranquillity of the Province, but also to the entire satisfaction of the minds of all reasonable men within it ; and I, for my own private part, so entirely agree with you in the propriety of gratifying them in those points which you have marked out, and in others where it might be done without prejudice to the authority of this country, that I cannot but persuade myself that, after proper evidence of such return to a just sense of their duty, Parliament would be as ready to shew them the indulgence of a recon ciled and tender parent, as it is now determined to require the obedience it has a right to expect from an obstinate and refractory child.

I am, Sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, Dartmouth. CONTENTS. Page. Chap. I.— State of the Province of Massachusetts Bay at the close of the War with France, with its History from that Period to the end of Governor Pownall's Administration, in the Year 1760 1 Chap. II. — From the Arrival of Governor Bernard, August 2nd, 1760, to his Departure, August 2nd, 1769 82 Chap. III. — From the Departure of Governor Bernard, to the Arrival of Governor Gage, May, 1774 256

Appendix

. App. A. — Message from the Council and Assembly to Governor Bernard, acknowledging their submission to Acts of Parliament, &c, Jan. 27, 1761 463 App. B. — Resolves of the Assembly of Virginia on the Stamp Act, May 28, 1765 466 App. C. — Governor Bernard's Speech to the Assembly at the time of the Stamp Act, Sept. 25, 1765 467 App. D. — The Answer of the Assembly, Oct. 25, 1765 .... 471 App. E. — The Resolves of the Assembly on the same occasion, Oct. 29, 1765 476 App. F. — The Resolves of the Convention at New York, October 19, 1765 479 App. G. — Address to the King from the Convention at New York 481 App. H. — Memorial to the House of Lords, from the Convention at New York 4S3 App. I. — Petition to the House of Commons, from the Convention at New York 48 5 App. J. — Address of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston to Governor Bernard, after the seizure of Mr. Hancock's Vessel from Madeira, June 14, 1768 48S App.

K Instructions of the Town of Boston to their Representatives on the same occasion, June 17, 1768 . . CONTENTS.

XX Page L.— Circular Letter from the Select Men of Boston, to the Select Men of several Towns in the Province, calling a Convention at Boston, on Sept. 22, 1768. . 492 App M.— Resolves, and Address to the King, of the House of Burgesses in Virginia, May 16, 1769 494 App N. — Message to Governor Bernard from the Assembly, on their Privileges, and praying the Removal of the Troops, May 31, 1769 4*37 App App O.— Resolves of the Assembly, that no Laws imposing Taxes, and made by any Authority in which the People had not their Representatives, could be obligatory, &c, &c, July 8, 1769 498 App P. — Answer of the Assembly to Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson's Message on a Riot at Gloucester, April 24, 1770 502 App Q,. — Speech of Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson to the Assembly, at their Dissolution, April 26, 1770 . 505 R. — Instructions from the Town of Boston to their Representatives, May 15, 1770 508 App App S. — Principal Messages of the Council and House of Representatives to Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, on the Removal of the General Assembly from Boston to Cambridge ; with his Answers. 1770 515 App T. — Protest of the Assembly against removing them from Boston to Cambridge, by virtue of an Instruction, June 19, 1771 540 App TJ. — Governor Hutchinson's Answer to the foregoing Protest, July 5, 1771 542 App V. — Report of a Committee of the Assembly, upon the Grant of the Governor's Salary from the Crown, July, 1772 54,5 App W. — Governor Hutchinson's Answer to the above Report 546 CHAP. I. CHAP. I. State of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, at the close of the War with France, with its History from that Period, to the end of Governor PownaWs Administration* in the Year 1760.

T^HE people of Massachusetts Bay were never in -*- a more easy and happy situation, than at the close of the war with France. By the generous reimbursement of the whole charge incurred by the expedition against Cape Breton, the province was set free from a heavy debt, in which it must other wise have remained involved, and was enabled to exchange a depreciating paper medium, which had long been the sole instrument of trade, for a stable medium of silver and gold ; the advantage whereof, to all branches of their commerce, was evident, and excited the envy of the other colonies, in each of which paper was the principal currency. They flattered themselves that Cape Breton would remain subject to Great Britain ; and it was a mortification to them, that, what they called, " their own acquisition," should be restored to France ; but they had nothing to fear from it, so long as peace con tinued.

The French fishery had failed before the war, and whilst the English could catch and cure fish cheaper than the French, there was no danger of its revival. The Indians upon the frontiers were so reduced, that new settlements were made without danger, B which which not only caused the territory settled to increase in value, but afforded materials for enlarging the commerce of the province. There was but little subject for controversy in the general assembly. Governor Shirley's administration had been satisfactory to the major part of the people. There was an opposition, but it was not powerful ; perhaps not more powerful than may, generally, be salutary. During the last seven years, no great change of councillors had been made at any of the elections, and they were, in general, well affected to the governor.

This prosperous state of the province was ver^ much owing to the success of his active, vigorous measures ; of which he wished to give an account in person, and for that purpose had obtained leave to go to England. He had further views. Soon after the peace was proclaimed in America, the French discovered a design of enlarging their territory on the back of New York, and of taking fresh possession of the country of Acadia ; and it was a common report, that French settlements were begun east of Crown Point. By a hint from the governor to some of his friends, the council and house were brought to join in an address, praying him to represent to the king the necessity of building a strong fort near to Crown Point ; and of settling and fortifying a town at Chibucto, or some other harbour in Nova Scotia.

The Governor of Canada had written to the Indians upon the eastern frontiers .of New England, to dissuade them from a peace with the English, and a copy of the letter had been obtained by Mr. Shirley. The contest about the bounds between the French and English in America, which was, by the treaty, to be left to commissaries, instead of being amicably settled, would probably be increased, and finally decided by the sword. It looked as if the peace could be of no long continuance. At such a time, he thought thought he could be of more service to himself, and to the publick, in England, than in America. He sailed from Boston in September, 1749. Soon after his arrival in England, he was appointed one of the commissaries for settling the American boundaries. He spent r uch time in France with little success.

The doci ments produced by the commissaries on each side, shewed that, on dif ferent occasions, different ounds had been assigned to the territory of Acadia. In the commission to the last French governor before the treaty of Utrecht, Acadia was made to extend to the river Kennebeck, and the whole was ceded, by the treaty, to the English. The French commissaries, notwithstanding, refused to agree to so great an extent, and confined Acadia, which they suppose in the treaty intended Nova Scotia, to the peninsula. They could no better agree upon the limits of Canada ; and each party urged that their claims were strengthened by the evidence produced on this occasion. When the Indians have taken part in a war with the French, or, by themselves have engaged in war against the English, a formal treaty of peace has always been thought expedient.

The necessary preparation for Mr. Shirley's voyage prevented his attending the treaty in person ; and commissioners* were appointed, who met some of * The commissioners from Massachusetts Bay were Thomas Hutchinson, John Choate, Israel Williams, and James Otis, Esqrs. Sir William Pepperell had been appointed at the head of the com mission, but sailed for England before the treaty took place. Theo dore Atkinson and John Downing*, Esqrs. were the commissioners from New Hampshire. The Indians began the treaty with an act of pleasantry and good humour. Notice had been given, that they must bring in such English captives as were among them, and particularly a boy whose name was RJacfarlane, and who was taken in the beginning of the war. They apologized for not bringing Macfarlane, and feigned some excuse, promising he should be sent when they re- B 2 the the principal Indians, in the character of delegates from the several tribes, at Falmouth in Casco Bay ; and, after several days spent in conference, agreed with them upon terms of peace, between the provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, on the one part, and the several tribes of Indians situated between New England and Canada, on the other part.