from their kneeling posture; the order to "shoulder
arms" was heard; and the people were greatly relieved by seeing the
troops move towards their barracks.

The people now began to disperse, but slowly, however. Meanwhile, the
court of inquiry on Captain Preston was in session, and, after an
examination that lasted three hours, he was bound over for trial. Later,
the file of soldiers were also arrested. It was three o'clock in the
morning before the Lieutenant-Governor left the scene of the massacre.
And now all, excepting about a hundred of the people, who formed
themselves into a watch, left the streets. Thus wise action by the crown
officials, the activity of the popular leaders, and the habitual respect
of the people for law, proved successful in preventing further carnage.
"It was Royal George's livery," said Warren, "that proved a shield to
the soldiery, and saved them from destruction." Hence, a contemporary
versifier and participator in these scenes was able to write,--

"No sudden rage the ruffian soldier bore,
Or drenched the pavements with his vital gore;
Deliberate thought did all our souls compose,
Till veiled in gloom the low'ry morning rose."

During the night, the popular leaders sent expresses to the neighboring
towns, bearing intelligence of what had occurred, and summoning people
from their beds to go to the aid of Boston; but as the efforts to
restore quiet were proving successful, the summons was countermanded.
This action accounts for the numbers who, very early in the morning of
the sixth of March, flocked into the town. They could learn details of
the tragedy from the actors in it,--could see the blood, the brains
even, of the slaughtered inhabitants,--could hear the groans of the
wounded,--could view the bodies of the dead. This terrible revelation of
the work of arbitrary power, to a people habitually tender of regard for
human life, naturally shocked the sensibilities of all; and thus the
public temper was again wrought up to a fearful pitch of indignation. It
required the strongest moral influence to restrain the rash, and to
guide in the forms of law a righteous demand for a redress of grievance
and for future security.

The Lieutenant-Governor, during the night, had summoned such members of
the Council as were within reach to meet in the Council-Chamber in the
morning; and on joining them, he found the Selectmen, with most of the
justices of the county, waiting for him,