with dreadful yells, and the drums beat to arms. It
seemed as if a combat of the fiercest kind was about to take place; but
certain persons who had been gliding about the mob, urging them on to
acts of violence, now thought proper to persuade them to retire. The
storm was hushed for that night; but early in the morning the mob again
collected in large numbers. At the same time, the lieutenant-governor
held a council, and the magistrates and chief citizens met in full
assembly, and chose a committee. The committee soon waited upon the
governor and council, and declared that nothing could restore peace
to the town but the immediate removal of the troops. Colonel Dalrymple
proposed that the 29th regiment, whose men had been engaged in the
riot, should remove to Castle William, and that the 14th regiment
should remain. This was reported to the assembly; but another deputation
demanded the total and immediate removal of all the troops, as the only
means of tranquillizing the town. The governor was told that he must not
think the demand proceeded from a set of vagabonds, for that people
of the best character were determined, that if the troops were not
voluntarily removed, they should be expelled by force. A force of
ten thousand men, it was stated, were at their beck, and these were
determined to destroy the troops if not removed, albeit it might be
called rebellion. The governor first flatly refused to accede to this
demand; he then wavered in his determination, and finally he agreeded
to divide the responsibility of removing them with Colonel Dalrymple
and the members of the council, and the troops were ordered to march to
Castle William. Thus successful the Bostonians grew more bold in their
opposition to the English government. The newspapers represented the
affair of the 5th of March as a deliberate murder on the part of the
troops, and nothing was neglected to exasperate the public mind and
perpetuate the memory of "the bloody and inhuman massacre." Yet when
Captain Preston and his men were put upon their trials, American judges
and a jury from among the citizens of Boston, were compelled to admit
that they had acted only in self-defence. Their verdict was, that
Captain Preston and six of the solders were not guilty, and that two,
Montgomery, who shot Crispus Attucks, and Killroy, who was proved to
have shot another man, were not guilty of murder but of manslaughter
only. These two prayed the benefit of clergy, which wa