, the officer of the day, with a part of the main guard,
between whom and the townsmen blows ensued; on which some of the
soldiers fired, and four of the people were killed.

The alarm bells were immediately rung, the drums beat to arms, and an
immense multitude assembled. Inflamed to madness by the view of the
dead bodies, they were with difficulty restrained from rushing on the
29th regiment, which was then drawn up under arms in King street. The
exertions of the lieutenant governor, who promised that the laws
should be enforced on the perpetrators of the act, and the efforts of
several respectable and popular individuals, prevented their
proceeding to extremities, and prevailed on them, after the regiment
had been marched to the barracks, to disperse without farther
mischief. Captain Preston, and the soldiers who had fired, were
committed to prison for trial. On the next day, upwards of four
thousand citizens of Boston assembled at Faneuil Hall; and, in a
message to the lieutenant governor, stated it to be "the unanimous
opinion of the meeting, that the inhabitants and soldiers can no
longer live together in safety; that nothing can rationally be
expected to restore the peace of the town, and prevent farther blood
and carnage, but the immediate removal of the troops; and they
therefore most fervently prayed his honour that his power and
influence might be exerted for their instant removal."

The lieutenant governor expressed his extreme sorrow at the melancholy
event which had occurred; and declared that he had taken measures to
have the affair inquired into, and justice done. That the military
were not under his command, but received their orders from the general
at New York, which orders it was not in his power to countermand.
That, on the application of the council for the removal of the troops,
colonel Dalrymple, their commanding officer, had engaged that the
twenty-ninth regiment, which had been concerned in the affair, should
be marched to the castle, and there placed in barracks until farther
orders should be received from the general; and that the main guard
should be removed, and the fourteenth regiment laid under such
restraints, that all occasions of future disturbance should be
prevented. This answer was voted to be unsatisfactory; and a committee
was deputed to wait on the lieutenant governor, and inform him that
nothing could content them but an immediate and total removal of the
troops.

This vote