forming the Association had done precisely what the
people wished to have done. For instance, in Virginia committees were
chosen in every county. They examined the merchants' books. They
summoned before them persons suspected of disobeying "the laws of
Congress." Military companies were formed in every county and carried
out the orders of the committees. The ordinary courts were entirely
disregarded. In fact, the royal government had come to an end in the
Old Dominion.

[Sidenote: Parliament punishes Massachusetts, 1774-75.]

130. More Punishment for Massachusetts, 1774-75.--George III and
his ministers refused to see that the colonies were practically united.
On the contrary, they determined to punish the people of Massachusetts
still further. Parliament passed acts forbidding the Massachusetts
fishermen to catch fish and forbidding the Massachusetts traders to
trade with the people of Virginia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and all
foreign countries. The Massachusetts colonists were rebels, they should
be treated as rebels. General Gage was given more soldiers and ordered
to crush the rebellion.

[Sidenote: General Gage.]

[Sidenote: Opposed by the Massachusetts people.]

131. Gage in Massachusetts, 1774-75.--General Gage found he had a
good deal to do before he could begin to crush the rebellion. He had to
find shelter for his soldiers. He also had to find food for them. The
Boston carpenters would not work for him. He had to bring carpenters
from Halifax and New York to do his work. The farmers of eastern
Massachusetts were as firm as the Boston carpenters. They would not sell
food to General Gage. So he had to bring food from England and from
Halifax. He managed to buy or seize wood to warm the soldiers and hay to
feed his horses. But the boats bringing these supplies to Boston were
constantly upset in a most unlooked-for way. The colonists, on their
part, elected a Provincial Congress to take the place of the regular
government. The militia was reorganized, and military stores
gathered together.

[Illustration: APRIL 19, 1775, DRAWN AND ENGRAVED BY TWO MEN WHO TOOK
PART IN THE ACTION. Reproduced through the courtesy of Rev. E.
G. Porter.]

[Sidenote: Lexington and Concord, 1775. _Higginson_, 178-183;
_McMaster_, 126-128; _Source-Book_, 144-146.]

132. Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775.--Gage had said that
with ten thousand men he could march all over Massachusetts. In April,
1775, he began to crush