measures will be
passed. These arbitrary acts of Parliament have had one lamentable
result, they have made the people of the Colonies a community of
smugglers. I am pained to say that we are losing all correct sense of
moral obligation in matters pertaining to the government. No one
thinks it disreputable to smuggle goods into the country because
everybody feels that the laws are unjust. The ministry undertook to
enforce the laws against smuggling not long since, by issuing Writs of
Assistance, as they were called. That attempt was more unjust than any
of the laws that had been passed regulating trade. It gave the Custom
House officers authority to enter not only stores, but private
dwellings, break open chests, boxes, and closets in search of smuggled
goods. Now if there is anything that Englishmen prize, it is the
liberty secured by Magna Charta. Every man's house is his castle.
Writs of Assistance violated the fundamental principle of English
liberty. Our great lawyer, Mr. James Otis, has immortalized his name
by his masterly oration in opposition to the measure. The writs have
not prevented smuggling; on the contrary, it is regarded as almost a
virtue and a duty to circumvent a government which enacts unrighteous
laws. For instance, a little more than a year ago, John Hancock's
sloop, Liberty, arrived from Madeira with a cargo of wine. The Custom
House officer went on board. He was followed by half a dozen seaman
belonging to one of Hancock's other vessels, who locked the officer
into the cabin, unloaded the vessel, all except a few pipes of wine,
and carted the cargo away. The next morning the captain of the vessel
made oath that half a dozen casks was all the wine he had to deliver
for payment of duty. The collector, Mr. Harrison, and the comptroller,
Mr. Hallowell, resolved to seize the Liberty. Admiral Montague sent a
company of marines, who took possession of the sloop and anchored her
under the guns of the Romney. That incensed the people, who smashed in
the windows of the office, seized the collector's boat, carried it to
the Common, and burned it. The revenue officers, fearing for their
safety, fled to the Castle, where they remained till the troops
arrived last October. Tyranny begets resistance on the part of the
people."

"What is to be the outcome of all this?" Robert asked.

"I do not know," Mr. Adams replied thoughtfully, "just what will come
of it, but of one thing I am sure, the people of America n