familiarly known to all. In the
progress of the great and interesting controversy, Massachusetts and the
town of Boston had become early and marked objects of the displeasure of
the British Parliament. This had been manifested in the act for altering
the government of the Province, and in that for shutting up the port of
Boston. Nothing sheds more honor on our early history, and nothing
better shows how little the feelings and sentiments of the Colonies were
known or regarded in England, than the impression which these measures
everywhere produced in America. It had been anticipated, that, while the
Colonies in general would be terrified by the severity of the punishment
inflicted on Massachusetts, the other sea-ports would be governed by a
mere spirit of gain; and that, as Boston was now cut off from all
commerce, the unexpected advantage which this blow on her was calculated
to confer on other towns would be greedily enjoyed. How miserably such
reasoners deceived themselves! How little they knew of the depth, and
the strength, and the intenseness of that feeling of resistance to
illegal acts of power, which possessed the whole American people!
Everywhere the unworthy boon was rejected with scorn. The fortunate
occasion was seized, everywhere, to show to the whole world that the
Colonies were swayed by no local interest, no partial interest, no
selfish interest. The temptation to profit by the punishment of Boston
was strongest to our neighbors of Salem. Yet Salem was precisely the
place where this miserable proffer was spurned, in a tone of the most
lofty self-respect and the most indignant patriotism. "We are deeply
affected," said its inhabitants, "with the sense of our public
calamities; but the miseries that are now rapidly hastening on our
brethren in the capital of the Province greatly excite our
commiseration. By shutting up the port of Boston, some imagine that the
course of trade might be turned hither and to our benefit; but we must
be dead to every idea of justice, lost to all feelings of humanity,
could we indulge a thought to seize on wealth and raise our fortunes on
the ruin of our suffering neighbors." These noble sentiments were not
confined to our immediate vicinity. In that day of general affection and
brotherhood, the blow given to Boston smote on every patriotic heart
from one end of the country to the other. Virginia and the Carolinas, as
well as Connecticut and New Hampshire, felt and proclaimed th