husetts for the dismissal of two
public officers whose letters home advised the withdrawal of free
institutions from the colonies. They now seized on the riot as a pretext
for rigorous measures. A bill introduced into Parliament in the
beginning of 1774 punished Boston by closing its port against all
commerce. Another punished the State of Massachusetts by withdrawing the
liberties it had enjoyed ever since the Pilgrim Fathers landed on its
soil. Its charter was altered. The choice of its Council was transferred
from the people to the Crown, and the nomination of its judges was
transferred to the Governor. In the Governor too, by a provision more
outrageous than even these, was vested the right of sending all persons
charged with a share in the late disturbances to England for trial. To
enforce these measures of repression troops were sent to America, and
General Gage, the commander-in-chief there, was appointed Governor of
Massachusetts. The king's exultation at the prospect before him was
unbounded. "The die," he wrote triumphantly to his minister, "is cast.
The colonies must either triumph or submit." Four regiments would be
enough to bring the Americans to their senses. They would only be "lions
while we are lambs." "If we take the resolute part," he decided
solemnly, "they will undoubtedly be very meek."

[Sidenote: American resistance.]

Unluckily the blow at Massachusetts was received with anything but
meekness. The jealousies between colony and colony were hushed by a
sense that the liberties of all were in danger. If the British
Parliament could cancel the charter of Massachusetts and ruin the trade
of Boston, it could cancel the charter of every colony and ruin the
trade of every port from the St. Lawrence to the coast of Georgia. All,
therefore, adopted the cause of Massachusetts; and all their
Legislatures save that of Georgia sent delegates to a Congress which
assembled on the 4th of September at Philadelphia. Massachusetts took a
yet bolder course. Not one of its citizens would act under the new laws.
Its Assembly met in defiance of the Governor, called out the militia of
the State, and provided arms and ammunition for it. But there was still
room for reconciliation. The resolutions of the Congress had been
moderate, for Virginia was the wealthiest and most influential among
the States who sent delegates, and though resolute to resist the new
measures of the government, Virginia still clung to the mother