ake strong
measures. It was his duty to represent the royal authority and to
maintain the laws, and he told them that he could do nothing unless he
was supported. He was right. Between a frank surrender and a vigorous
and consistent policy there should have been no middle way. The
ministers found one. They irritated the Americans without attempting to
crush the fomenters of disturbance; they threatened and retreated, made
a demonstration of force and shrank from employing it; their threats
made the British government hated, their lenity brought it into
contempt.[79] Bernard, of course, wrote as a partisan, but with this
allowance his reports may be accepted as trustworthy.

Acting on these reports, Hillsborough, early in June, 1768, ordered Gage
to send troops to Boston to protect the king's officers. It was full
time. On the 10th a sloop belonging to Hancock, a merchant of Boston,
arrived in the harbour laden with wine from Madeira. The tide-waiter
who boarded her was forcibly detained, and an attempt was made to
defraud the revenue by a false declaration. On this the commissioners
seized the sloop and laid her under the stem of the _Romney_, a
man-of-war, in the harbour. A riot ensued; the revenue officers were
mobbed, one of their boats was burned, and they were forced to take
refuge in the castle. On September 29 seven ships carrying the 14th and
29th regiments, and a company of artillery, in all about 1,000 men,
arrived in the harbour. The Bostonians refused to assign quarters for
the troops, and they suffered some hardships. On receiving the news of
the riot in June the ministers despatched the 64th and 65th regiments to
Boston. These reinforcements arrived in January, 1769. The people were
indignant; but in the face of so large a force remained quiet.

[Sidenote: _CHATHAM RESIGNS OFFICE._]

On American, as well as on other measures, Shelburne, who desired
conciliation, differed from his colleagues. In the autumn of 1768 the
king and the Bedford party urged his dismissal, and Grafton acquiesced.
Chatham was annoyed by this decision, and still more by the dismissal of
Sir Jeffrey Amherst, governor of Virginia. He resigned the privy seal in
October, and Grafton was thenceforward considered as head of the
ministry. A few days later Shelburne resigned. He was generally disliked
and distrusted. He had acted as a go-between in the early days of his
career, and while in office was believed to be false to his colleagues