It is remarkable that the proceedings
of the populace on these occasions were carried on with decorum and
regularity. They were not ebullitions of a thoughtless mob, but for the
most part planned by leading men of character and influence, who were
friends to peace and order. These, knowing well that the bulk of mankind
are more led by their senses than by their reason, conducted the public
exhibitions on that principle, with a view of making the Stamp Act and
its friends both ridiculous and odious.

Though the Stamp Act was to have operated from November 1st, yet legal
proceedings in the courts were carried on as before. Vessels entered and
departed without stamped papers. The printers boldly printed and
circulated their newspapers, and found a sufficient number of readers;
though they used common paper in defiance of the acts of Parliament. In
most departments, by common consent, business was carried on as though
no Stamp Act had existed. This was accompanied by spirited resolutions
to risk all consequences rather than submit to use the paper required by
law. While these matters were in agitation, the colonists entered into
associations against importing British manufactures till the Stamp Act
should be repealed. In this manner British liberty was made to operate
against British tyranny. Agreeably to the free Constitution of Great
Britain, the subject was at liberty to buy or not to buy, as he pleased.
By suspending their future purchases on the repeal of the Stamp Act, the
colonists made it the interest of merchants and manufacturers to solicit
for that repeal. They had usually taken so great a proportion of British
manufactures that the sudden stoppage of all their orders, amounting,
annually, to two or three millions sterling, threw some thousands in the
mother-country out of employment, and induced them, from a regard to
their own interest, to advocate the measures wished for by America. The
petitions from the colonists were seconded by petitions from the
merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain. What the former prayed for
as a matter of right, and connected with their liberties, the latter
also solicited from motives of immediate interest.

In order to remedy the deficiency of British goods, the colonists betook
themselves to a variety of necessary domestic manufactures. In a little
time large quantities of common cloths were brought to market; and
these, though dearer and of a worse quality, were cheerfully