York and the garrison looked complacently on. The burning of Hutchinson's house at Boston, containing valuable papers, is well known, nor were the efforts of English statesmen, to obtain compensation for the sufferers in the riots, attended at the first with much success. It is melancholy to read the letters, both public and private, wherein the colonists were implored to show proper gratitude to their Whig benefactors. Only thus, it was asserted, could English public opinion be satisfied. But in truth what cause had the Colonists to feel gratitude? Whatever may have been the motives prompting Rockingham and Conway, it is clear that it was no goodwill towards the Colonies, but fear1 of the English merchants trading with America, and of the English manufacturers affected by the non-importation agreement, which influenced the great majority of the House of Commons. In this state of things, the one course advisable would have been, while repealing the Stamp Act, to conciliate the propertied classes by a radical reform of the Trade Laws, and to have made use of the occasion to strengthen the hands of the Executive. Undoubtedly by many in the Colonies, the lesson of mob rule had been taken seriously to heart. A little wisdom might have enlisted openly on the side of England many who remained for years halfhearted till a final decision was forced upon them. Shelburne and Conway seemed to have had a dim recognition of the truth. We find the former writing,2 "it would be well for the country to be back where it was a year ago. I even despair of repeal effecting that, if it is not accompanied with some circumstances of a firm conduct and some system immediately following such a concession." In the letter, which announced the repeal of the Stamp Act and the enactment of the Declaratory Act, Conway added that a revision of the late American Trade Laws would be the immediate object of Parliament. Some small salutary changes were indeed effected, but not such as to

1 See H. Walpole's Memoirs of the reign of Geo. III., Vol. II.; and Lord North in Cavendish Debates, Vol. I. 2 Chatham Corr., Vol. II.

3 N. Y. Docs., Vol. VII.

strike the imagination of the American people.1 The duty on 6 G. III., molasses was lowered to one penny a gallon, and promptly c. 52. produced a satisfactory revenue. The duties imposed on

coffee and pimento from the British Plantations and on foreign cambrics and lawns imported into America were, Sec. 30. at the same time, lowered. As a set-off, however, under the same Statute, the non-enumerated articles of export were confined to the same lines as were the enumerated. 6 G. III., Under other statutes free ports were instituted in the West Indies, and additional duties laid on foreign brandies.

C. 49, and

c. 47.

1 It would appear that the fault did not lie with the Rockingham Ministry. Burke states that Lord Rockingham "scarcely began to open the ground" when a violent outcry was raised against any alteration."

CHAPTER VIII

afterwards

UNHAPPILY, whatever the upright Conway might will, The power lay elsewhere-with the King and his Parliamentary Ministry myrmidons. The Rockingham administration was an acci- ham and dent, due to the royal disgust at Grenville. As soon as ad another Ministry could be got together, Rockingham was North. contemptuously dismissed. It is one of the most melancholy facts of English history that the Ministry, which did more by their incapacity and blindness to ruin England than any Ministry before or since, should have entered office under the mighty wing of Pitt. Grenville was doubtless mistaken; but at least he knew his own mind, and the Stamp Act wears a dignified aspect compared to the patch-work of shilly-shally legislation which finally lost America. It must be remembered, however, that at first the new Ministry appeared as one favourable to the American colonists. Its chief opponent was Grenville, their implacable enemy. In America the fame of Pitt smelt as sweet under the name of Chatham. Conway continued in the Government, though the American department was undertaken by Shelburne. As late as the beginning of 1768 we find Franklin saying that there had been a talk of getting him appointed Under Secretary to Lord Hillsborough.1 But just in proportion as their intentions were good, was the result insidious. When all is said and done, the most malignant policy is less mischievous probably in its results than a policy of drift. But it was a policy of drift, tempered by royal obstinacy, which ended in the Declaration of Independence. The fountain and origin of all the evil that followed lay in the extraordinary attitude of Chatham. It is impossible, I think, to account for his conduct on any hypothesis, except that he was for the time practically insane,

1 Works, Vol. VII. Letter, Ju. 9, 1768.

Some remedy, which drove the gout into his system, may well have affected his nerves, so as to make him hardly responsible for his actions. We have already noted his fatal affectation of superiority to the party system. His plan of forming a Ministry has been inimitably described by Burke: "Here a bit of black stone and there a bit of white, patriots and courtiers, king's friends and republicans, Whigs and Tories, treacherous friends and open enemies." With this kind of administration it was obvious that the only bond of union could be the presence of a master mind, and yet this was the moment chosen by Chatham to fly from his colleagues to neglect all business, and, in effect, to insult his King. The consequences could easily be foreseen, and the wretched spectacle was witnessed of Pitt remaining a sleeping partner in a firm which openly avowed that taxation of America, the opposition to which his own eloquence had so greatly inflamed. In January 1767 Charles Townsend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, one of those dangerous prodigies who conceal by their inexhaustible readiness and brilliancy their total absence of all depth and consistency of thought, surprised the House of Commons and his colleagues by jauntily describing the distinction between external and internal taxation as ridiculous, and by pledging himself to find a revenue in America. It is clear that now, if ever, was the time for the friends of America in the Government to act, and, by insisting on either themselves resigning or on Townsend recanting, they might have forced the hands of the King, and modified subsequent history.

The news, however, from America was serious, and served to 6 G. III., complicate the situation. The Quartering Act, as at first drafted, c. 18. had empowered officers to quarter their soldiers in private

houses. This provision was omitted to gratify the colonists, but a clause was substituted, enacting that empty houses, barns, &c. should be hired for the troops in the Colonies, and that the Colonies should pay these expenses and furnish firing, &c. This, of course, presumed that the Colonial Assemblies would pass laws to raise the money. The Pennsylvania Assembly complied, but New York obstinately refused. In

this state of things, even Chatham 1 foresaw that the "torrent of indignation in Parliament would become irresistible." For this reason, or without reason, no attempt was made to check Townsend, and in May he introduced the measures which were to make good his promise. The Act dealing with the particular case of New York requires little comment. It may be doubtful how far, even though Parliament had an absolute and superintending power to take any measures itself, it was within its rights in dictating to the Colonial legislatures the measures to be taken by them. But it was obviously impossible to allow defiance, and the Act for "re- 7 G. III. straining and prohibiting the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives of New York, until provision shall have c. 59. been made for furnishing the King's troops with all the necessaries required by law from passing or assenting to any Act of Assembly, vote or resolution, for any other purpose was justified by its practical success. Something might also be said for the Act establishing a Board of Commissioners in 7 G. III., America, with extensive powers for the enforcement of the c. 41. execution of the laws relating to trade. How lucrative the business of smuggling still continued may be shown by the following case. Colden affirms that his grandson on becoming Surveyor of the Port of New York, was given to understand that if he would not be officious in his duty he might depend upon receiving fifteen hundred a year. It never occurred to English politicians to reflect that, when public opinion is wholly against the enforcement of laws, they will somehow or other be evaded. If, however, the trade laws were to remain upon the statute book, the Ministry can hardly be blamed for yet another attempt to render them effectual; though the measure, by its interference with trial by jury, and its foisting upon the Colonies a new body of civil servants, did almost as much as anything to foster the growth of discontent. Nothing, however, but condemnation 7 G. III., is deserved by the Act which purported to secure an American c. 46. Revenue. Duties were imposed upon glass, red and white lead, painters' colours, and tea imported into the Colonies.

1 Chatham Correspondence.

2 N. Y. Docs. Vol. VIII.