Copy of a Letter from Governor BERNARD to the Earl of HILLSBOROUGH, dated Boston, November 1, 1768. N. 5.

I Now proceed to conclude my narrative of my endea­vours to get quarters for the King's troops until I found myself at the end of my string, and could do no­thing more.

On Saturday October 15, General Gage arrived here with his officers to look to the quartering the troops himself. On Monday I called a Council in the morn­ing, and introduced the General. He told them that he was resolved to quarter the two Regiments now here in Town, and demanded Quarters; and that he should reserve the Barracks at the Castle for the Irish Regi­ments or such part of them as they would contain; which has since been determined to be only one Regi­ment. After the General had left the Board, I sat at it until Eight o'Clock at night; two hours after Dinner time excepted. The whole was a scene of Perversion, to avoid their doing any thing towards quartering the Troops, unworthy of such a Body. In the course of the Questions I put to them, they denied that they knew of any Building belonging to the Province in the Town of Boston that was proper to be fitted up for Barracks; and they denied that the Manufactory House was such [Page 2] a Building. This was so notoriously contrary to Truth, that some Gentlemen expressed their Concern that it should remain upon the Minutes; and to induce me to consent to its being expunged a motion was made in writing that the Governor be desired to order the Ma­nufactory House to be cleared of its present Inhabitants that it might be fitted up for the Reception of such part of the two Irish Regiments as could not be accommoda­ted at the Castle Barracks. This was violently oppos­ed, but was carried in the affirmative 6 to 5: Upon this I ordered the former answers to be expunged. This Resolution amounting to an assignment of the Castle Barracks for the Irish Regiments effectually put an End to the Objection before made that no Quarters were due in Town until the Castle Barracks were filled.

The next thing to be done was to clear the Manu­factory House, the preventing of which was a great Ob­ject of the Sons of Liberty. For this purpose about six or seven Weeks before, when the Report of Troops coming here was first confirmed, all kinds of people were thrust into this Building; and the Workhouse it­self was opened, and the People confined there were per­mitted to go into the Manufactory House. This was admitted to be true in Council by one of the Board who is an Overseer of the Poor and a principal therein. And after the Order of Council was known, several of the Chiefs of the Faction went into the Manufactory House, advised the people there to keep Possession against the Governor's Order, and promised them Support. And when some of them signified their Intention to quit the House, they were, that if they quit the House, they must quit the Town, for they would be killed if they staid in it.

I had the advice of the best Lawyers that according to the Law and Usage of this Country the Owners of an House occupied by Tenants at Sufferance, or wrong­ful Possessors might enter by any Means they could and turn them out of Possession without bringing an action. It was also certain that the Governor and Council, when the Assembly was not sitting, were perfect Owners of the Estates belonging to the Province, except for Ali­enation. [Page 3] Upon these two principles I appointed the Sheriff and two of his Deputies Bailiffs of the Governor and Council for the purpose of removing the People out of the Manufactory House. The Sheriff was refused admittance: upon which the Chief Justice went with him and advised them to give up the House; He was answered that they had the Opinion of the best Law­yer in the Province to keep Possession. Upon a third attempt the Sheriff finding a Window open, entered; upon which the People gathered about him and shut him up; he than made a Signal to an Officer without, who brought a Party of Soldiers, who took Possession of the Yard of the Building and relieved the Sheriff from his Confinement.—This occasioned a great Mob to assemble with some of the Chiefs of the Faction, they were very abusive against the Soldiers, but no Mischief was done. They kept the House blockaded all that Day, and best part of the next Day. When some of the Council declaring that it was not intended to use Force, altho' they knew it could not be done without, and the Building not being immediately wanted, the Soldiers were withdrawn on the Evening of the second Day. Thus this Building belonging to the Government and assigned by the Governor and Council for his Ma­jesty's Use, is kept filled with the Outcast of the Work­house, and the Scum of the Town to prevent it's being used for the accommodations of the King's Troops.

After this was over there was nothing more to be done with the Council until the Soldiers were billited in the Public Houses as far as they would go. This we knew would never be done; but it must be attempted; and the Council left this Business to me alone without offer­ing their assistance, which in other Cases has been usual, Indeed I did not ask them, as I did not think the Bu­siness would be forwarded by my associating them. I therefore summoned all the acting Justices to meet me in the Council. Twelve of them appeared; I acquaint­ed them that the General demanded Quarters for the 2 Regiments according to the Act of Parliament. They desired to take it into Consideration among them­selves. [Page 4] I consented, and we parted. Two Justices, two Days after this, attended me with an Answer in writing, whereby the whole Body refused to billet the Soldiers. But these Gentlemen informing me that the Justices had been much influenced by the Argument that the Barracks at the Castle ought to have been first filled, &c. I shewed them the Minutes of the Council whereby the Barracks at the Castle were assigned to the Irish Regiments, and they must be considered as full. This was quite new to them, the Council themselves having overlooked the Effect of their Vote. I gave them a Copy of this Vote, and returned the Answer desiring them to reconsider it. Three Days after the same Gen­tlemen informed me that they had resolved against bil­leting the Soldiers, but could not agree upon the Rea­sons to be assigned for refusing it; but the next Day they gave me an Answer in writing, (a Copy of which is here inclosed) signed by Eight of the Justices; two others were against billeting, and gave other Reasons for their Refusal; two others were for billeting, but declined ac­ting by themselves after so large a Majority of the whole Body had declared for the contrary Opinion.

To shew the futility of these Pretences, I must ob­serve that the Act directs the billeting to be by Consta­bles, Tything Men, Magistrates, and other Civil Offi­cers, and in their Default or Absence by any one Jus­tice of Peace. The usual Construction of this Act has been that Magistrates, should grant the Billets, and Constables deliver them; and the latter being Ministeri­al cannot grant Billets without a Magistrate or Justice ordering them; By Magistrates have been always un­derstood the Magistrates of Corporations, and where a Town is not a Corporation, the Justices are the only Magistrates who are applied to in England, and they deliver the Billets to the Constables, who serve them upon the Public Houses. Now in this Town of Boston there are no Persons come under the Denominations but Justices and Constables. As to the Selest-Men to whom the Justices are supposed to refer, they have been de­clared by themselves, by the Council, and by the Go­verner [Page 5] to be neither Magistrates, nor Civil Officers; and they certainly are not, for they can neither grant nor execute a Warrant. This I explained fully to the Jus­tices before they gave their final Answer; but to no pur­pose; they being determined to refuse at all Events. Thus we have an Act of Parliament which is become a great Favourite; for with the comments it has received here it is become in fact An Act to prevent His Majesty's Troops being quartered in the Town of Boston.

Immediately after I held a Council, and informed the Board of the refusal of the Justices to billet the Soldiers. I said that I was now at the end of my Tether; for as they had declared before, that they would adhere to the Act of Parliament, and had refused to act in that liberal way which I thought was their Duty when the King's necessary Service was obstructed, I could propose nothing further to them. For I foresaw that if I proposed to hire and fit up Houses &c. for the Troops, they would answer that it did not become their Business 'till the Public Houses were full. But if any Gentleman thought it was to any purpose to put such a question I was ready to do it: this was declined by Silence. I then inform­ed them that by reason of this general Refusal of Quar­ters, the General found himself obliged to hire and fit up Houses at the Expence of the Crown for the Recep­tion of the Troops, who now (Oct. 26) especially they who were Encamped, began to feel the want of warm Quarters and as he thought the Expence would ulti­mately fall upon the Province, he desired that I would appoint a Commissary to join with and assist his Officers in providing such Houses, especially with regard to the oeconomy of the Expence. I therefore desired their Ad­vice and Assistance in making such appointment. This, after a long Debate, was refused, they saying that if they should join in such Appointment it would be ad­mitting that the Province ought to be charged with the Expence; and I could appoint Auditors to examine the Accounts without them. I thereupon put an End to this Business, having been Employed in it from Sept. 19th to Oct. 26th in all 38 Days, without any prospect [Page 6] of doing any thing to purpose, but under an Obligation of trying every Effort before I gave it up.

During this time the General, who foresaw how this Negociation would end, had employed his Officers to hire and fit up Houses for the Troops; so that by the time I had received the definitive Refusal, compleat Quarters were provided for all the Troops. But now another difficulty arose; If the Soldiers should be put into Barracks, tho' provided by the Crown, without the intervention of a Magistrate, the military Officers who placed them there would be chargeable with tak­ing upon them to quarter Soldiers otherwise than by this Act, and being convicted of it by two Justices of Peace would be Cashired ipso facto. This Clause was depended upon to oblige the Soldiers to quit the Town after they had found it impracticable to get Quarters according to the Act of Parliament, and was part of the Original Plan which I mentioned to your Lordship very early. And it could not be expected that the Jus­tices who had refused to billet the Soldiers would place them in other quarters, for that would be to contradict themselves. I therefore took upon myself to remove that difficulty, and by a Commission, wherein I recited his Majesty's Command to me to take every necessary Step for the accommodation of the said Troops, and the se­veral means by which the Execution of the Act for pro­viding Quarters for the Troops was defeated, and the Obligation I was thereby put under to provide Quarters for the Troops in the best manner I could, I authoriz­ed a person therein named, to place the said two Regi­ments in such Buildings and Houses as could be pro­cured at the expence of the Crown with the consent of the Owners. Thus has ended the Business of Quarter­ing the two Regiments.—As for Provision for them at Boston, according to the Act of Parliament, I have al­ready shewn how the Order of Council for that purpose was annulled and avoided in the Origination of it. Provision has been made at Castle William by an Or­der of Council being made that the Provincial Commis­sary [Page 7] should take care of it. But they have refused to make such an Order for the Troops at Boston; and therefore it is not done nor like to be done.

A true Copy

Copy of a Letter from Governor BERNARD to the Earl of HILLSBOROUGH, dated Boston, November 5, 1768. (Copy)

WHEN I received your Lordship's Letter No. 16. I immediately communicated it to the Lieutenant Governor; and we both agreed in Opinion, that it could not be adviseable to lay before the Council any part of it except what related to the providing for the Troops, until the Troops were got into Quarters: as we fore­saw that the business of quartering the Troops would occasion a good deal of Trouble and possible some Com­mosion, and it would not be adviseable to bring on too much business at once; at least until the Town was a little settled. This business of quartering your Lord­ship will observe, kept me employ'd 'till October 26th, on which day I had summoned a General Council. On this day I had 19 Counsellors, that is all but 3: I there­fore chose this Time to communicate the other Parts of your Lordship's Letter, except what relates to the call­ing the Assembly, which I had reserved until I had re­ceived further Orders about it. I made this communi­cation by an Extract, which after it was read I left in the Secretary's Hands, that the Gentlemen might pe­ruse it at their leisure: I cautioned the Secretary a­gainst suffering a Copy to be taken, but did not restrain him from permitting it being read. I also gave another [Page 8] Copy of the same extract to the first Commissioner of the Customs, engaging him to keep it in his own Hands and not let a Copy be taken.

Immediately after I had an Occasion to move a Mat­ter that would shew their Disposition to pay a proper Regard to his Majesty's Commands. The Commissio­ners had wrote to me, desiring that I would take the Advice of Council whether they might return to Town, and reassume their functions, with Safety to themselves and Officers. I communicated this Letter to the Coun­cil and put the Question to them. This was very em­barrassing: If they answered Yea, they would be char­geable with advising the Return of the Commissioners: if they said No, they would contradict all their Asserti­ons that there was no Occasion for Troops to support the Civil Power. They therefore, for above two Hours together, used all kind of evasions to avoid giving an Answer. I was told that they were not obliged to give Opinions: I answered that they were obliged to give Advice; and the Question was put, whether they would advise me to assure the Commissioners that they might return with Safety. At last I was obliged to tell them that if they would not give me an Answer, I would take their refusal for an Answer in the Negative: For if they could answer in the Affirmative, no Reason could be supposed why they should not give an Answer; and if they could not answer in the Affirmative, they must reconcile it with their public Declarations of the Loy­alty and Peaceableness of the Town as well as they could. At length I got an Answer, 12 answering in the Affirmative, 5 declining answering because they liv­ed out of Town, and 2 giving written Answers, con­demning the Commissioners for going out of the Town, and therefore refusing Advice about their Return, but concluding that all Persons would be safe. In this Council I sat from 11 to 9, two intermediate Hours ex­cepted; and all the Business might have been very well done in an Hour or Two by practicable Men,

Before this Council met, I had been informed that some of the Board had been preparing an Address to [Page 9] the General, to remove the Troops from hence, that at this Meeting they might get a great number of Hands to it. When the Council broke up, I heard some of them making an Appointment to meet there the next Morning. I told them that I understood that they were going on with Business as a Council seperately from me; but I cautioned them against proceeding. It was an­swered that they should not act as a Council, but as private Gentlemen. I then desired that they would not give their Meetings the appearance of a Council, by holding them in the Council Chamber. They met the next Day and settled the Address, which was very much softened from the first Draught, which I am told was much more virulent against the Commissioners. It was signed by 15 of the Council, among whom were the 5 who knew not enough of the Town to Vote for the safety of the Commissioners returning, but knew enough to join in an invective against them; 4 refused to sign. It was then presented to the General, who observed to them, that the Resolves of the Town-Meeting were a sufficient Cause for sending Troops here, tho' there had been no Riots: It was answered that they were the productions of a few imprudent wrong-headed Men. The General replied that they were said to be unanim­iously resolved in a full Town-Meeting. The next Monday it appeared in all the public Papers, from whence I send your Lordship the inclosed Copy.

I shall make but few Observations on the Writings, the Intent of it being plain enough.—1. It is well known to your Lordship that this Kind of Writings is designed for the People and not for the Persons to whom thy are addressed, This is notorious in the present case: The Gentlemen who moved this Business knew very well that the General could not move the Troops from this Town, if he could have been disposed to do it; be­cause they were sent hither by Order of his Majesty, and not placed here by the Discretion of the General. The General himself had told them so, and I had re­peated it to them again and again to induce them to assist the Quartering. As therefore they could not expect the [Page 10] Troops would be withdrawn, we must look for another purpose of this Address; and it appears to be, as indeed it is the principal subject of it, the Abuse of the Com­missioners.—2. This was surely very ill timed: the very day after they had been made acquainted with his Majesty's Command and Expectation that the Commis­sioners should return to Boston and resume their functi­on, and would return without Resistance and with Safe­ty, to publish a Manifesto against them, which as it had nothing new in it could only serve to revive the popular Prejudices against them, and thereby encourage Resist­ance, and make their Safety precarious, is unaccounta­ble in Men of this Rank, and inconsistant with their pub­lic Professions of their Regard for the King's Service. —3. This is also very unreasonable, it being the Day after the Commissioners had signified their Apprehensi­ons of Danger in returning to Boston, and desired the Advice of the Council concerning it, and the Council had given their Opinion, that they might return with Safety. For these Counsellors who had one Day en­couraged their coming to Town, the very next Day to issue a Writing under their Hands holding them forth to the People "As Men whose Avarice having smother­ed in their Breasts every Sentiment of Humanity towards this Province, has impelled them to oppress it to the utmost of their Power," is utterly irreconcilable with my ideas of Truth, Justice and Humanity, and shocks me the more, as I know that the Wives of two of the Commissioners, who have young Children, did not want to have their Fears increased by this Publication.

It would have been unaccountable how so many Per­sons of so respectable a Station, and many of them of a respectable Character, could join in signing such a Pa­per, if we did not consider that in public and popular Proceedings the Leaders are few and the followers ma­ny; and that the People called upon to sign Papers, frequently act without Consideration, and sometimes a­gainst their Judgment. And the virulence with which the Commissioners have been treated seems to be too vi­olent to be the effect of public Zeal only, without the [Page 11] Inteferance of private Animosity, which at Present I cannot take upon me to account for, I can only con­demn and lament such Proceedings in a Body for which I have always had and still retain a great Regard.

A true Copy,

Copy of a Letter from Governor BERNARD to the Earl of HILLSBOROUGH, dated Boston, November 12, 1768. (No. 9.)

AFTER I had communicated your Lordships Let­ter to the Council, I considered that some farther Notification of it would be necessary in regard to what related to the preservation of the Peace and the Pro­tection of the Officers of the revenue, especially as the Commissioners had fixed upon this Week for their return to Boston. A Proclamation was not thought Proper, as the Business was in a manner confined to the Town of Boston. I therefore thought of a Letter from myself to the Justices of Boston, and accordingly drew one up wherein I recited such part of your Lordship's Letter as related to them, and their Business, and thereto added Injunctions and Admonitions of my own. I communi­cated this to the Council last Wednesday, proposing, if it had their Approbation, to call the Justices together, and deliver it to them by word of Mouth, and then gave them Copies of it. But tho' no exceptions were taken to particulars the whole was objected too strongly for this Reason; that if they were to consent to this Letter they should appear to approve of the Censures your Lordship has passed upon the Town, which they would not admit it had deserved. I told them that I would not enter into an Argument which might tend to impeach the Truth or Justice of your Lordship's [Page 12] Letter, but I observed that both of them were very de­sensible, being founded upon notorious facts, which could not be denied or undoubted.

I then proposed another method of informing the Justices; which was to call the Justices together, and after reading such part of your Lordship's Letter as re­lated to their Business. to give them a general Admo­nition concerning their future Conduct. This was ob­jected to, for that an admonition implied a Censure. This I answered by shewing, that they really did de­serve Censure, and by declaring that I would use them tenderly in that Respect. But I found that I should never prevail with the Council to act in this Bu­siness: that they would not advise to any method of notifying, enjoyning or enforcing the Orders contained in your Lordship's Letter; and that I could make no­thing of them but passive Associates. I proposed there­fore that they should meet in the Council the next morn­ing, and I would of my own accord and without their Advice, order the Justices to attend, and would admo­nish them as I had before proposed. This was at length assented to; though not without one Gentleman's pro­testing against it. I accordingly the next day assembled the Justices and in the presence of the Council having caused an Extract of your Lordship's Letter to be read, I entered into a full Explanation of the Nature of their Office and their Duty therein; and avoiding as much as I could, censuring them for their former Conduct, I shewed what would be expected of them for the future; and I concluded that if they had a mind to retrieve the Credit of the Town, it was not to be done by denying what was past, but by regulating what was to come: As soon as I had done, a Gentleman of the Council said aloud he liked this very well; and the Justices seemed satisfied with this proceeding; and several of them gave assurances that they would do the best to preserve the good order of the Town.

These two conferences with the Council passed with good Humour; and in the course of them I had an op­portunity to observe upon and lament the Servility, in [Page 13] regard to the People, with which the Business of Coun­cil was now done in comparison to what used to be. This was not denied; and one Gentleman said, That he did not now enter the Council Chamber with that free Mind he used to have: But he liked to be concern­ed in public Business, and did not chuse to quit his Place in the Council, and therefore must be content to hold it upon such Terms as he could. So fair a con­fession deserves not to be passed unnoticed. But I should not trouble your Lordship with such trifling Anecdotes if they did not seem to me to be the best method to convey a true Idea of the present State of this Go­vernment, and to point out the chief causes of its De­cease, and I must myself resort to the cause I am now treating of, to shew why I have not executed the King's Commands in as full a manner as may be expected from me. But my Lord, the Council themselves have for a­bove four Months past taken great pains to shew from whence the imbicility of this Government arises; and have brought more forcible Arguments, than any one else could have urged, to shew how necessary it is be­come that the King should have the Council Chamber in his own Hands. How this can be done may be a Question, the Exigency of it is [...]

A true Copy,

Governor Bernard's Letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, dated Boston, November 14, 1768.

I come now to consider that part of my Orders which relates to the reforming the bench of Justices: This is to be done by two ways, 1. by adding new Justices to the present Bench, either by engaging Gentlemen who are already in the Commission to qualify themselves, [Page 14] or by granting new Commissions to fit Persons who will undertake to Act; 2. by removing such Persons in the Commission who are known to be infected with princi­ples of Disaffection to the constitutional Authority of Parliment. The first of these is practicable in both its Branches; the second is at present absolutely impracti­cable, and will remain so while the Council make the humouring the People their chief Object.

In regard to the first I have already made some At­tempts to engage some Gentlemen now in the Commis­sion to qualify themselves, and shall pursue it; And not­withstanding the Undertaking is very discouraging, I expect I shall have some Success. I have also made an Essay to appoint new Justices who would engage to Act, by naming one very fit Person. It was receiv'd very cooly by the Council and upon my asking the Reason, I was told he was not popular; I replied that if he had been I should not have named him. As he was allow­ed to be in every other Respect a most unexceptionable Man, it passed unanimously: but it gave me to know what I must expect if I proposed a Man who was not po­pular against whom any Exception could be taken. But I shall try soon again.

As for removing Persons for their Opposition to the Authority of Parliament by means of a Council the ma­jority of which has (indirectly at least) avowed the same Principles, and now appears to Act in Concert with that Party from whence the Opposition to Parliament origi­nated, it would be an Attempt contrary to all Rules of Policy and Prudence. It would require to be done by a public Enquiry, which would receive all the Obstruc­tion and embarrassment which the Chicanery of Law could invent; and if after all, full proof of Disaffection to the Authority of Parliament should be made, it would be declared not to be relevant to infer such a Censure. It would be therefore in vain to attempt to punish Dis­affection to the Authority of Parliament, until the Cri­minality is better established than it is at present. To support this Conjecture in what manner the Council would Act in such a Proceeding, I need only refer your [Page 15] Lordship to their Conduct and the Papers they have published within these two Months last past.

And yet, My Lord, I would not insinuate that we have no fit Objects for such a Censure; the Sons of Li­berty have not been without Magistrates. We have seen Justices attending at Liberty tree; One to Administer an Oath to the Stamp Master, when he was obliged to swear that he would not execute his Office, Another to perform the Function of Toast Master; a third, but lately, to consult about fortifying the Town; others to make up a Procession of 45 Carriages and 92 Persons on the 14th of August last. All these are included in two Lists which your Lordship has, that of the 5 Selectmen who signed the Circular Letter for the Convention, of which all but the first are in the Commission, and that of the S Justices who signed the Refusal to Pillet the Soldiers. Now if the Censure of these Proceedings should produce an Order to me to Supercede the Com­missions of these Gentlemen, It would be a Trial of the Power of the Governor: It seems at present that the Council would not enable me to execute such an Order.

It is a great Defect in this Government that the King has no Power over the Commissions, which are grant­ed in his Name and under his Seal. He can by Order in Council disallow a Law which has passed by the Go­vernor, Council and House of Representatives; But yet he cannot supercede a Commission which has been grant­ed by the Governor and Council. And yet the Coun­cil of this Province is as much out of the Controul of the King as the House of Representatives is. Where­fore it seems as reasonable that the King should be al­lowed to correct the Mistakes of the Governor and Council, as of the Governor, Council and House. As it is, when the Governor has once set the King's Seal to a Commission, it is for ever out of the hands of the Crown, and the Persons who has obtained it may thence­forth defy the King, oppose his Laws and insult his Go­vernment and be in no Danger of losing his Commissi­on. It is true, the Governor with the Advice of Coun­cil can supercede him; but if he acts in a Popular Cause, [Page 16] under which Opposition to Government finds it easy to shelter itself, the Council, who are themselves the crea­tures of the People, will never join with the Governor in censuring the overflowings of Liberty. It may be said that the Governor should take care not to appoint any one whose Character is not well known. But the Governor does not personally know half of those whom he appoints to Offices: it is not therefore in his Power to guard against Imposition, let him be ever so cauti­ous. Besides a man's political Caracter often does not appear 'till he is got into an Office and thereby held forth to the Public: Hence it is not unusual for a Per­son, who has distinguished himself in Political Matters, to get himself recommended to the Governor, as a Man well disposed to Government; and as soon as he has re­ceived his Commission to declare for the Party of the Sons of Liberty. The Governor may resent the Im­position as he pleases; but can't undo what he has done. Thus the Commissions of the King like his Cannon up­on another occasion, are turned against him.

It would serve to remedy this abuse and strengthen Government, if the King was enabled by Order in his Privy Council to supercede Commissions granted in his Name, and under his Seal, when they shall appear to be granted to improper Persons, or made use of for impro­per purposes. This must be done by Act of Parlia­ment: and I don't see the Impropriety of such an Act; it seems to me to be a proper power to be vested in the Crown; especially at a time when the Crown wants to be strengthened by all legal means, in this Country. And it seems that it would be better to be done by a ge­neral Act than a partial one; for such a Power may be wanted in the Royal Governments▪ notwithstanding the Controul the King has over the Councils. For is is ve­ry possible, considering the Spirit which now prevails, that even a Royal Council may support a Popular Ma­gistrate against the Interest of the Crown. And if the Colonies should prevail to have the Judges Commissions during good behaviour, which some of them are now very earnest about, it might be proper that the King in [Page 17] Council should be empowered to judge and determine upon such Misbehaviour as would avoid the Commission.

But this will not be necessary if the general Instruc­tions of granting no Commissions but during Pleasure be continued and observed; nor will it be necessary that such an Act should be general; It is more wanted in this Government than in all the others together: and even hear the Defect would be cured by a Royal Council.

A true Copy,

Copy of a Letter from Governor Bernard to the Earl of Hillsborough, dated Boston Nov. 30, 1768.

I Think it proper to inform your Lordship that I com­municated to the Council that part of your Lord­ship's Letter N ^o. 19, in which your Lordship signified his Majesty's gracious Reception of the Petition of the Council, which I transmitted in July last, and added, that the Petition with my reasoning in support of it would have full Consideration. Upon which Mr. Bowdoin who has all along taken the Lead of the Council in their late extraordinary proceedings, charged me with having misrepresented the purpose of their Petition, by taking Advantage of an Expression of theirs, "drawing a Revenue from the Colonies," and there from insinu­ating that their Objection lay not so much against the raising money, as the carrying it out of the Country and not expending it here. And to Justify this, he quoted a transitory Conversation he had with me on the day of the Public Commencement at the College in Ju­ly last. I told him that if the Conversation had made such an impression upon him, is was a pity he had not mentioned it before. Whilst my Memory could inter­pose in my behalf. That at this distance of time 5 [Page 18] months, I could not recollect every trifling Conversati­on; for such I was assured this was from his Report of it. But I could be certain whether I had or had not misrepresented their Petition by inspecting my own Books. And before I looked at them, I could declare that I had not.

My Letter Books were at my Country House, where I generally write all my Letters. As soon as I got at them, I had the Letter in Question, N ^o, 11. July 16. copied: And as soon as I returned to Town, I read that part of it which related to this Business to three or four of the Council; and I let two of them and the Se­cretary read the whole Letter; they were greatly sur­prised to find it so very clear of Mr. Bowdoin's charge, at the next Council I produced the Letter and read the whole Passage referred to: from whence it appeared that in mentioning the Prayer of their Petition, I used their own words without adding a single word of my own: and also that the Argument I used in behalf of the Pray­er went against Taxation in general, more than the Disposal of the money: This appeared satisfactory to the whole Council except Mr. Bowdoin. But he still persisting in justifying himself mentioned something more of the Conversation referred to which explained the whole, and showed that what I said upon that occasion was entirely in Joke. This was confirmed by a Coun­cellor, who recollected that on that day, being a day of Festivity, I did joke with some of them upon their Petition, to the same purpose as Mr. Bowdoin quoted, but in Terms that one could not have imagined could have been taken seriously, and really were quite inoffen­sive to every one else.

This is a very trifling matter to trouble your Lord­ship with: but it has already been the subject of De­bates in Council, and Libels in the News-papers. It would have have also produced a formal Remonstrance to your Lordship, which I am told was actually pre­pared by the Gentlemen who made the charge, if it had not been prevented by my making Communications which, but for saving Trouble to your Lordship, I [Page 19] would not have submitted to. But it will vent itself in another and more public way; of which I shall be a­ble to give your Lordship an Account in a few days. Your Lordship may depend upon it that my Informati­ons have been and shall be dictated by the Spirit of Truth and Candour: but I cannot make Facts other than they are, nor can I excuse myself communicating such Observations and Reflections as occur to me, and appear to be material to the Subject.

A true Copy,

Copy of a Letter from Governor Bernard to the Earl of Hillsborough, dated Boston December 5th, 1768.

THE Council have been for a week past preparing Petitions to the two Houses of Parliament against the American Acts of Revenue, that is, as I understand, against all the Acts imposing Port Duties. They sig­nified their intention to me, and desired that I would either join with them, or authorize their sitting for that purpose. I reminded them that I had refused to be con­cerned in this Business in July last, and the impropriety of this Measure was much stronger now than then. I added, that if they would be advised by me, they would not pursue this intention: which could do no good and might turn to evil; that if the Parliament was disposed to indulge the Americans in another Repeal, there were Petitions enough before them to ground it upon; and their Petition at best would be but a Makeweight; on the other hand it might contain something that might give Offence, and add to the Ill humour which I fear­ed already prevailed against this Province. But all this and more had no Effect: The movers of this Business [Page 20] called the Council together seperatety from the Gover­nor in the Council Chamber according to the new me­thod, for which they apologized in the Petition. After several days Meeting, the Petition was settled and ap­proved: Upon which there was a dispute how it should be signed, whether by every one as private Persons as in the Address to General Gage, or by the President in the name of the Body; in which latter Case they must be understood to act as the Legislative Council, there being no President of the Privy Council but the Gover­nor. However it was resolved it should be signified in the latter way.

As soon as I Learned it was finished, I sent for Mr. Danforth the President, and desired to see it: he went and procured it for me. I found it was signed "in the name and by the order of a Majority of the Council S. Danforth." Mr. Danforth said he was not present when this manner of signing was resolved upon; and when he sat his name to it, he did not set the word "President" after his name: this was a poor Excuse, but serves to show how little free Agency there is in a Business of this kind: He also added that if he could get the Council to meet again, he was in hopes they would undo this Bu­siness; for several of them had signified their Disappro­bation of it. But I had no such Expectation; for the Council is brought under such an awe of their Consti­tuents by the frequent Removals of the Friends of Go­vernment, that there is very little Exercise for private Judgment in popular Questions.

If by the Majority of the Council, in whose name the President is to sign, they mean a Majority of the whole Board, I cannot conceive that all the Persons who met at the several Meetings upon this Occasion put together amount to the Number 12, which is the Majority of the whole. But if they mean a Majority of those present when the Resolution was formed, it may fall very short of the Majority of the Body: Four Persons will make a Majority of a Quorum of the Council. In the present case I doubt whether the Number of those who really approved of this Measure was much more: For it seem­ed [Page 21] to be rather submitted to than joined in. As for the Petition itself, it is very lengthy, being six Folio Pages, but has nothing new in it, nothing I believe, but what is to be found among the Writings of the House of Re­presentatives. It differs from the Petition to the King in this: The latter carefully avoids all Claim of Right against the Parliament; this is not so clear of it: It has indeed no positive Assertions of Right, but several Intimations of it too plain to be unnoticed. This Ac­count is taken only from once reading it, and therefore may not be free from Mistakes, tho' I believe it is right as to the general Idea.

Since I wrote the foregoing I have got a List of the Gentlemen who passed upon the Petition, Mr. Danforth, Royal, Erving, Bowdoin, Hubbard, Tyler, Pitts, Dexter. Upon November the 30th they agreed upon the Petition to the Lords and Commons to be sign­ed by Mr. Danforth as President. Of these 8 I have been informed of two who wanted to have it undone, and I can fix upon another who I dare say acquiesced ra­ther than concurred.

A true Copy,

Copy of a Letter from General GAGE to the Earl of HILLSBOROUGH, dated Boston, October 31, 1768. (No. 3)

IN my last from New-York, I had the Honor to ac­quaint your Lordship of my intention to go to Boston; I arrived here on the 12th Inst. And tho' Lieutenant Colonel Dairymple had done every thing in his Power previous to my Arrival to procure Quarters for the two Regiments from Hallifax, I found one of those Regi­ments [Page 22] encamped, and the other lodged in the Market-Hall.

I immediately made Application in Person to the Go­vernor in Council, that the Troops might have Quar­ters in the public Houses, as far as they could be Ac­commodated therein, and that Orders might be given for that Purpose to the inferior Magistrates: and that Out Houses, &c. might be prepared for the remainder; to which I Begged a decisive Answer, that I might fall upon Measures to put the Troops under Cover, as the Winter approached.

I soon found that the Council had put a Construction upon the Mutiny Act for North-America, which ren­dered it of no Effect, for the Purposes of Marching and Quartering the Troops, viz. ‘That whatever Place in a Province the King's Troops should be ordered to, they could not be Quartered in that Place, 'till all the Barracks in the Province, however distant from it, were first filled with Troops;’ from thence the Council inferred, that no Quarters could be had in the Town, till the Barracks in Castle Island were filled; and further, that the Business of Quartering did not come properly before them, but in the last Instance, when not only the Barracks in Question, but also the public Houses should be filled with Troops, which be­longed to the Magistrates to do, and was an affair that did not belong to them; It was in vain to set forth that the Barracks in Castle Island would be occupied by the Troops expected from Ireland, or to urge the ab­surdity of a Construction of the Act of Parliament, which annihilated the Act; as it absolutely impeded the March of the Troops thro' the Province, as well as the King's Right to order his Troops to any Town or Vil­lage where his Service might require them to be order­ed to

The next Step to be taken was, to make Application to the Magistrates, to Quarter the Troops in the Pub­lic Houses; and a Question arose, who were the Magi­strates? The Select-Men refused being concerned, and declared they were not Magistrates, which was agreed [Page 23] to; and it then became necessary to apply to the Justi­ces of the Peace, the Difficulty then was, to find any of the Justices who would act in the Business of Billeting, and some of them were to be tried, who gave Assurances of their readiness to carry on the King's Service, but said it was hard, that they only should be pitched upon for such an undertaking, and to become the Objects of public Odium, when there were so many more Justices in the Town, to take their Share of it. This produc­ed a Resolution to assemble all the Justices of the Town, and I attended Governor Bernard to their Meeting, where he required it of them conjunctly, and of each se­perately, to Billet the Troops in the Public Houses, ac­cording to the Act of Parliament: they desired Time to consider of a Measure which they said must be very dis­agreeable to the People, and might be attended with bad Consequences. After some days Consideration, they returned for Answer, that the Act did not require them to Quarter Troops, or words to that Effect.

I relate the above Transactions to your Lordship, in a summary Way, leaving it to Governor Bernard to transmit to your Lordship, the particular Resolves of his Council at their several Meetings on the Subject of providing Quarters as well as a Copy of the Resolution of the Justices upon the same Subject.

There was no Disappointment in the bad Success of these several Applications; it was known before hand that they would have no Effect; but it was proper to try, to get the Laws enforced. Governor Bernard therefore agreed in the Necessity of making Preparati­ons to put the Troops under Cover, by hiring of emp­ty Houses, or other Buildings proper for the Purpose, and that a particular Account should be kept of the Expences incurred therein, as also of all Necessaries required in Quartering, that the Governor may require a Reim­bursement of the same, from the first Assembly, that shall be Summoned to meet. But as it may be uncertain where the Expence will fall in the End, I have endea­voured to have every Thing prepared, with as much Frugality as possible, and the King's Barrack Master is [Page 24] ordered to repair here from Hallifax with all the spare Bedding and Utensils in those Stores, and a large quan­tity of Coals, carried thither by the Troops from Lou­isbourg.

The Council after some time, gave Governor Ber­nard a power over the Barracks at Castle Island as well as over a public Building in the Town, called the Ma­nufactory House: The Barracks are said to have been built, to hold one thousand Men, but I find they were only temporary Lodgments for Soldiers during the last War, before they embarked, and the short time they staid, made it immaterial whether they were crowded or not. I find upon examination they will not hold above one Regiment, upon the present Establishment, and that by putting 12 Men in a Room of 18 Feet square. As for the Manufactory House, there are People in it who have been spirited up to maintain Possession, and some Measures were taken, tho' without Effect, to re­move them, which occasioned a little Disturbance of no Consequence, and only served to show a most obstinate spirit of Opposition to every measure of Government. When the Regiments arrive from Ireland, one of them will be quartered in the Barracks in Castle Island, and the other must be lodged in the Town, in the same man­ner as the two Regiments from Hallifax.

Castle William remains garrison'd by the Company kept up by the Province, and I find there is a Provin­cial military Establishment supported there, under the Command of the Governor, of some Use and Emolu­ment to him and the Lieutenant-Governor, upon that account, and not seeing any absolute necessity for it, I have not interfered in any Matters concerning the Fort, or insisted on putting a Garrison of the King's Troops into it. But if the King should incline to make any al­teration in the dispositions of his Forces, by stationing one or two Regiments in this Province for the time to come, his Majesty may think it right to put Castle Wil­liam into the Possession of his own Troops; but as in that Case, I apprehend the Province would grant no Funds to maintain it, the Expence thereof will fall up­on [Page 25] the Crown. The Fort may be made to contain two or thee Companies of Foot, and a Detachment of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. But as for the Barracks near it, situated on a small Island, where there is not room for Troops to move, and at such a distance from the Town of Boston, they will not answer any design or purpose of stationing Troops there for the service of the Town. And if any Number of Troops should be fixed in this Province, I would take the liberty to pro­pose, that Barracks should be built for them within the Town, on a vacant Spot called Fort-Hill, an advan­tageous Situation, whereon a Fort formerly stood; and Governor Bernard tells me it belongs to the Crown. A new Fort may hereafter be erected there, if his Majesty's Affairs should require it.

Every Art and Evasion has been tried by the major part of the People of every Degree, to force the Troops to quit the Town for want of Quarters, whilst those, who may have acted or made known their Sentiments in favor of Government declared they durst not stay in the Town, but must remove with their Families and Effects, if the Troops should leave it. When the Houses where ready to receive the Troops, the Officers were threatned with the Clause of the Mutiny Act against Officers, who presume to take upon themselves to quarter Troops, &c and to prevent their being put to any trou­ble on that account by perverting the Act in that parti­cular, as had been done in so many others, Governor Ber­nard gave a particular Warrant to a Commissary, against. whom no Action could lye, to quarter the Soldiers in the Houses fitted up for their Reception. I would take the liberty, my Lord, to represent, that the Clause in question is by no means calculated for the Circumstances of this Country, where every Man studies Law, and in­terprets the Laws as suits his purposes, and where the Measures of Government are opposed by every Evasion and Chicane that can be devised. An Officer, of Rank and long Service may be cashiered by the management of two Justices of the Peace, the best of them the Keep­er of a paltry Tavern, who shall find Evasions to diso­bey [Page 26] the Clauses of the Mutiny Act, which they dislike, and to pervert the Sense and Meaning of others to serve their Designs against him, and unhappily it might be found in some Places, that those who should reverse ini­quitous Convictions of Justices of the Peace, were no better than the Justices who should have granted the Certificates of Conviction. I troubled his Majesty's Se­cretary at War some time ago with some very unwar­rantable Proceedings against an Officer on account of the Clause in question, which happened to the South­ward.

After other Methods had been tried to get the Troops away. I received an Address from a number of Gentle­men Members of the Council, in which they aim at jus­tifying the People against many Misrepresentations of their Conduct, blaming the Commissioners of his Majes­ty's Customs, and begging the Troops may be with­drawn from the Town. I have the honor to transmit your Lordship the Address and Answer thereto.

Those who would justify or rather palliate the Pro­ceedings of the People here, complain, that they have been grosly misrepresented, and every little Disturbance that has happened, been magnified into dangerous Riots; that the Disturbance in March was trifling, that of the 10th of June was occasioned solely by the Imprudence of the Commissioners: they excuse the Resolves made at the Town Meetings, by attributing them only to the extravagance of a few mad People, and aver that the Convention was called with no other Intent, than to take proper Measures, to preserve the Peace and Tranquility of the Province.

I am to observe upon the above, that according to the best Information I have been able to procure, the Dis­turbance in March was trifling, that considering what had happened respecting Seizures, the Commissioners of the Customs had Reason to act as they did, respecting the Seizure which occasioned the Riots on the 10th of June which was considerable; and tho' I do not find that they were, at that time personally attacked, yet the Assault upon some of their Officers, and the threats [Page 27] daily thrown out against themselves was certainly a suf­ficient Reason to make them apprehensive of Danger to their own Persons. Whether any harm would have ac­tually happened to them, had they remained in the Town, it is not possible to judge. With respect to the Resolves procured by some mad People at the Town Meetings, those mad People have governed the Town, and influenced the Province, a very long Time, and after Publishing their very dangerous Resolves in the Town Meeting of the 13th of September last, carried the Motion for convening Deputies from the several Towns; and the Deputies convened accordingly. I shall only observe on this that their intentions were sus­picious, and that I am happy, the Troops from Halifax arrived at the time they did.

The Commissioners of the Customs are still in Castle William, and upon being asked about their Return to Boston, one of them said, there were Troops now to support them, but desired to know if there was any, or what Civil Officer, who would undertake to ask the Assistance of the Troops, if there should be Occasion for it. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor were pre­sent, but neither could be answerable that any Civil Of­ficer would undertake it.

Your Lordship will naturally imagine that since the Troops are here to support the Dignity of Government and a due Execution of the Laws that the Powers of Government are reverted into the Hands, where the Constitution has Placed them, and that the Civil Offi­cers would immediately avail themselves of so good an Opportunity to restore Affairs to their proper Order, and put the Laws in Execution, against those who should dare to violate them; This is not yet the Case, and it is plainly seen even amongst the few Magistrates, of whom it is said, that they have a real Wish, and desire to support Government, and do their Duty, that there is a fear of acting contrary to the general Sentiments of their Fellow Citizens, and a desire to maintain a cer­tain degree of Popularity amongst them, which prevents them from being particular in the Execution of their [Page 28] Offices: All now hoped for is, that things being in a more quiet state than they were, the violent Temper of the People will abate in a little time▪ and their Minds be more composed, when the Magistrates may do their Duty with less fear of becoming obnoxious to the Peo­ple; the Town has been under a kind of Democratical Despotism for a considerable time, and it has not been safe for People to act, or speak contrary to the Senti­ments of the ruling Demagogues; and surprizing as it may appear, those fears are not yet annihilated.

If it is asked, why the Governor does not turn all the Justices of Peace out of Commission, and put others in, who will do their Duty? It is answered, that the Go­vernor can neither appoint Justices, or turn them out, but by consent of Council; and that the Council op­poses every thing proposed to the Governor, for the Ser­vice of Government, that is unpopular.

From what has been said, Your Lordship will con­clude, that there is no Government in Boston, there is in truth very little at present, and the Constitution of this Province leans so much to the Side of Democracy, that the Governor has not the power to remedy the dis­orders which happen in it.