chusetts sentiment, responding to persecution,
was far in advance of the feelings of the rest of the country. No action
could safely be taken until the other colonies were ready to support
New England. In constant touch with Samuel Adams--for Paul Revere and
other trusted couriers were always on the road with letters--Warren was
able to remind his colleagues of the need of patience, and to cool their
ardor by his warnings that in open rebellion they would stand alone. His
services, and those of the steadfast band who supported him, were
invaluable. In these days he rose to the full stature of political
leadership, in guiding the actions of the provincial congress and in
constraining it to patience.

And yet its acts were revolutionary enough. It must be remembered that
until this time the Whigs of Massachusetts had remained within their
constitutional rights. Apart from the Tea-Party, no word or act of town
meeting or of legislature, or even of any prominent citizen, needed for
justification anything more than the ancient charter rights of the
province. But now the provincial congress went beyond anything that had
ever been done before. It appointed a Committee of Safety, which should
prepare for equipping and raising an army. It appointed a Committee of
Supplies, which presently gathered together a few hundred spades and
pickaxes, some muskets, a thousand wooden mess-bowls, four thousand
flints, and a small supply of peas and flour--a pitiful attempt to
compete with the vast resources of Great Britain. More than this, it
appointed a Receiver-General, to keep the public money of the province.
It might be argued that all these acts were still within the charter
rights, yet the Whig position was no longer so strong as on the
occasions when it had caused the crown lawyers to doubt. With a
treasurer engaged in receiving the taxes which the towns willingly paid
him, and with generals appointed to command an army, it began to look as
if Massachusetts were in rebellion.

Gage was perplexed. His province was out of his control, and now came
the news that the Continental Congress, before adjourning, had voted
approval of the course of Massachusetts. In fact, Congress had voted
its support. "Resolved, that this congress approve of the opposition
made by the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to the execution of the
late acts of Parliament; and, if the same shall be attempted to be
carried into execution by force, in such case