RIGHTS OF THE COLONIES asserted AND PROVED. 183 And thus Otis held on his flaming way; at every gathering the orator of the people; at every court the advocate of natural justice; in conversation and correspondence with the guiding men of the Colonies kindling deeper enthusiasm in kindred souls; while in the legislature—that inviolable forum of free debate, where the people were educated into the fullest comprehension of political rights, as the masses of no other nation had ever been-Otis led and inspired Massachusetts; and to a great extent her sister Colonies. Nor was his influence circumscribed within even this broad sphere: for it must never be forgotten that the real tribunal before which our cause was ultimately to be adjudicated, lay beyond the Atlantic. All our arguments were addressed to the people of England and the Statesmen of Europe. Their sympathies were to be excited-their judgment was to be won. For this all the commissioners of the Colonies labored. There was the chief scene of Franklin's earnest and protracted efforts. With this object in view, in 1764 Otis published his appeal to the American People. It was entitled 'Rights of the British Colonies. Asserted and Proved.' It was a pamphlet of only 120 pages, but its effect was prodigious. Its argument is given with admirable concision in the summary near its close. 'The sum of my argument is, that civil government is of God; that the administrators of it were originally the whole people: that they might have devolved it on whom they pleased: that this devolution is fiduciary, for the good of the whole that by the British constitution, this devolution is on the king, lords, and commons, the supreme, sacred, and uncontrollable legislative power, not only in the realm, but through the dominions: that by the abdication, the original compact was broken to pieces; that by the revolution, it was renewed, and more firmly established, and the rights and liberties of the subject in all parts of the dominions more fully explained and confirmed: that in consequence of this establishment and the acts of succession and union, his Majesty George III. is rightful king and sovereign, and with his parliament, the supreme legislative of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging: that this constitution is the most free one, and by far the best now existing on earth: that by this constitution, every man in the dominions is a free man that no part of his Majesty's dominions can be taxed without their consent: that every part has a right to be represented in the supreme, or some subordinate legislature; that the refusal of this would seem to be a contradiction in practice to the theory of the constitution: that *he colonies are subordinate dominions, and are now in such a state as to make it best for the good of the whole, that they should not only be continued 'n the enjoyment of subordinate legislation, but be also represented in some proportion to their number and estates, in the grand legislation of the nation: that this would firmly unite all parts of the British empire in the greatest peace and prosperity; and render it invulnerable and perpetual.' This pamphlet was at once printed in London, and produced a profound sensation. It was fearfully radical, and sounded on the ears of Englishmen OTIS THE FATHER OF THE STAMP ACT CONGRESS. 184 very strangely. By some it was denounced as the ravings of a madınan— by all as the language of deliberate treason. But it was the work of a lawyer ; and although it was characterized by none of the calmness of a philosophical essay, it enunciated with stirring force and irresistible logic the principles of liberty, which were conceded to lie at the bottom of the British Constitution. Lord Mansfield understood Mr. Otis and his argument. In reply to Lord Littleton's sneer at the ravings of the rebel, he said: 'I differ from the noble lord who spoke of Mr. Otis and his book with contempt, though he maintained the same doctrine in some points; although in others he carried it farther than Otis himself, who allows everywhere the supremacy of the crown over the colonies. No man on such a subject is contemptible. Otis is a man of consequence among the people there. They have chosen him for one of their deputies at the Congress and general meeting from the respective governments. It was said the man is mad. What then? One madman often makes many. Massaniello was mad, nobody doubts it; yet for all that, he overturned the government of Naples. Madness is catching in all popular assemblies, and upon all popular matters.' ' The 7th of October, 1765-the date of the meeting of the Stamp Act Congress in New York-was to become one of the most memorable days in the American calendar. Its doings were to color all our subsequent history. The Stamp Act was to go into effect in twenty-one days. But into this span of time were to be crowded events which even at this late period astound and bewilder the historian. James Otis was the father of the Congress -Massachusetts adopted the suggestion of her great statesman. The most sagacious act in his life, the most important in the history of his native State, was the proposal to call an American Congress, without the consent of the king, to meet as a deliberative assembly. 'It should consist of committees from each of the Thirteen Colonies, to be appointed respectively by the delegates of the people, without regard to the other branches of the Legislature.' No such body of men had ever assembled in America. The proposal was startling. That the good people of the Colonies should come together to consult about their political rights, to sit in judg ment on the acts of the Imperial Parliament, and perhaps defy its authority, was not only a new idea-it meant treason. The officials of the crown throughout the Colonies saw danger in such an alliance; Grenville's ministry received the announcement only with derision. But Massachusetts sent letters to every colonial Assembly inviting their committees to meet at New York on the first Tuesday of the following October, 'to consult together' and 1 'I have no hesitation or scruple,' wrote John Adams, to say that the commencement of the reign of George the Third was the commencement of another Stuart's reign. And if it had not been checked by James Otis and others first, and by the great Chatham and others afterwards, it would have been as arbitrary as any of the four. I will not say it would have extinguished civil and religious liberty upon earth, but it would have gone great lengths towards it, and would have cost mankind even more than the French Revolution to preserve it. The most sublime, profound, and prophetic expression of Chatham's oratory that he ever uttered was: 'I rejoice that America has resisted Two millions of people reduced to servitude would he fit instruments to make slaves of the rest.—Tudor's Otis, pp. 172, 204. 2 Mrs. Warren, of Plymouth, the sister of Otis, said that the proposal for such a Congress was planned in her own house. For this important statement we have the authority of Ezra Stiles in his Diary. FIRST BLAST OF THE REVOLUTION. 185 'consider a united representation to implore relief' against the oppressive measures of the Imperial Parliament.' The first blast of the Revolution had been sounded. Before we listen to the response which came back, we will close our tribute to Massachusetts' favorite son. In writing to Mr. Arthur Jones, November 26th, 1768, Otis used these prophetic words :- All business is at a stand here, little going on besides military musters and reviews and other parading of the red-coats, sent here, the Lord, I believe, only knows for what. I am and have been long concerned more for Great Britain than for the Colonies. You may ruin yourselves, but you cannot in the end ruin the Colonies. Our fathers were a good people-we have been a free people; and if you will not let us remain so any longer, we shall be a great people—and the present measures can have no tendency but to hasten with great rapidity events which every good and honest man would wish delayed for ages-if possible, prevented forever.' Among the many scenes which inspired the patriotic eloquence of Otis in those stirring times, no one was more likely to set his soul on fire than the spectacle he looked on as he walked up to the Hall where the new Legislature was assembling on one of the last mornings in May, 1769. He found the building,' says Tudor, surrounded with cannon and military guards. Otis rose immediately after they were organized, and in a brief address of deep energy 2 6 1 These measures were far more oppressive than is now generally supposed. Bancroft thus sums them up: colonial harbor. Salt might be imported from any place, into New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Quebec; wines might be imported from the Madeiras and the Azores, but were to pay duty in American ports for the British exchequers; and victuals, horses, and servants might be brought from Ireland. In all other respects. Great Britain was not only the sole market for the products of America, but the only storehouse for its supplies. Lest the colonists should multiply their flocks of sheep, and weave their own cloth, they might not use a ship, nor a boat, nor a carriage, nor even a pack-horse, to carry wool, or any manufacture of which wool forms a part, across the line of one province to another. They could not land wool from the nearest islands, nor ferry it across a river, nor even ship it to England. A British sailor, finding himself in want of clothes in their harbors, might not buy there more than forty shillings' worth of woollens. Where was there a house in the Colonies that did cherish, and did not possess, the English Bible? And yet to print that Bible in British America would have been a piracy; and the Bible, though printed in German, and in a native savage dialect, was never printed thus in English till the land became free. That the country which was the home of the beaver might not manufacture its own hats, no man in the plantations could be a hatter, or a journeyman at that trade, unless he had served an apprenticeship of seven years. No hatter might employ a negro, or more than two apprentices. No American hat might be sent from one plantation to another, or be loaded upon any horse, cart, or carriage for conveyance. America abounded in iron ores of the best quality, as well as in woods and coal: slitting mills, steel furnaces, and plastering forges to work with a tilt hammer, were prohibited in the Colonies as 'nuisances.' While free labor was debarred of its natural rights, the slave-trade was encouraged with unrelenting eager ness; and in the year that had just expired, from Liverpool alone, seventy-nine ships had borne from Africa to the West Indies and the Continent, more than fifteen thousand three hundred negroes, two-thirds as many as the first colonists of Massachusetts. And now taxation, direct and indirect, was added to colonial restrictions; and henceforward both were to go together. A duty was to be collected on foreign sugar, molasses, indigo, coffee, Madeira wine, imported directly into any of the plantations in America; also a duty on Portugal and Spanish wines, on Eastern silks, on Eastern calicoes, on foreign linen cloth, on French lawn, though imported directly from Great Britain; on British colonial coffee shipped from one plantation to another. Nor was henceforward any part of the old subsidy to be drawn back on the export of white cali coes and muslins, on which a still higher duty was to be exacted and retained. And stamp duties were to be paid throughout all the British American Colonies, on and after the first day of the coming November. These laws were to be enforced, not by the regular authorities only, but by naval and military officers, ir responsible to the civil powers in the Colonies. The penalties and forfeitures for breach of the revenue laws were to be decided in courts of vice-admiralty, without the interposition of a jury, by a single judge, who had no suppert whatever but for his share in the profits of his own condemnations.-Bancroft, vol v. pp. 265268. Tudor's Otis, pp. 354, 356. 186 REVOLUTIONARY SPEECH OF OTIS. and impassioned eloquence, declared how unworthy it was of a free Legislature to attempt any deliberations in the presence of a military force; and moved the appointment of a committee, to make immediately the protests and remonstrances that have been already mentioned, and which were followed after some days' delay by their being transferred to Cambridge. When they had assembled in the college chapel, Otis again addressed them before proceeding to business. Besides the members, deeply affected, mortified and indignant at the insult which they had received from a standing army, and revolving in their minds the growing tyranny and the gloomy prospects before them, the students were attracted by the novelty, as well as by a sympathy, that was felt with all the ardor of youth for a patriotic Legislature, placed under a kind of proscription and driven from their own Hall. These youths were clustered round the walls in listening groups, to witness the opening of the deliberations. He spoke of the indignity that had been offered them, on the sad situation of the capital oppressed by a military force, on their rights and duties and the necessity of persevering in their principles to obtain redress for all these wrongs which the vile calumnies and misrepresentations of treacherous individuals had brought upon them. He harangued them with the resistless energy and glowing enthusiasm that he could command at will; and in the course of his speech took the liberty, justified by his successful use of it, as well as by the peculiarity of the occasion, to apostrophize the ingenuous young men who were then spectators of their persecution. He told them the times were dark and trying-that they might soon be called upon in turn to act or suffer; and he made some rapid, vivid allusions to the classic models of ancient patriotism which it now formed their duty to study, as it would be hereafter to imitate. Their country might one day look to them for support, and they would recollect that the first and noblest of all duties was to serve that country, and if necessary, to devote their lives in her cause. Dulce et decorum est pro patriâ mori. They listened with breathless eagerness, every eye filled with tears; and their souls raised with such high emotion that they might have been led at once to wrest from their enemies the cannon which had been pointed against the Legislature.' Eleven years before the battle of Bunker Hill, Otis had, in his Rights of the British Colonies, spoken of the future with the clear emphasis of the Seer They will never think of it'-independence-'till driven to it as the last fatal resort against ministerial oppression, which will make the wisest mad, and the weakest strong. The world is at the eve of the highest scene of earthly power and grandeur which has ever yet been displayed to the view of mankind. Who will win the prize, is with God: but human nature must and will be rescued from the general slavery that has so long triumphed over the species.' 'There is,' says Tudor, 'a degree of consolation blended with awe in the manner of his death, and a soothing fitness in the sublime accident which oc casioned it. The end of his life was ennobled, when the ruins of a great PATRICK HENRY OF VIRGINIA. 187 mind, instead of being undermined by loathsome and obscure disease, were demolished at once by a bright bolt from heaven.' If I have had more to say thus far, of the participation of the New England Colonies, especially of Massachusetts Bay, it was because their intercourse with the parent country was far more intimate; they were nearest the throne, and on their heads the blows first fell; they had a preponderance of population; there was greater diversity of pursuit; more constant and intense col lision of minds, more leisure for study and debate. But there was no higher or more patriotic spirit, there was no loftier view of the destiny of these Colonies, there was no superiority in statesmanship or heroism claimed by one section over another. In fact, at that period of our history, there was no sectionalism, nor would there have ever been, had it not been fostered by that exotic curse, chattel slavery. Nor was that spirit of sectionalism ever felt by our very greatest men. Washington never felt it, nor, in fact, did any of the men of his time. Nor when it developed itself later, did it ever enthrall the spirit of Andrew Jackson, of Henry Clay, or of Daniel Webster. We now listen for the responses which came back from the Southern Colonies to the clarion call of Massachusetts. James Otis had but one peer on the emblazoned scroll of our political prophets-that wonderful Virginian whose eulogy the wizard pen of Byron drew in two imperishable lines :Henry, the forest-born Demosthenes, Whose thunders shook the tyrant of the seas. Patrick Henry. Born at Studley, in Hanover County, Va., May 29, 1736. Died June 6, 1799.—The transition from James Otis to Patrick Henry, is natural and easy. The slightest knowledge of these two remarkable men, suggests the striking resemblance between them. Had not the Romans given us the words par nobile fratrum, they would on the mention of these names have sprung unbidden to the lips of every scholar. They furnish rare instances of having had brilliant biographers, and zealous partisans who claimed for their models every virtue under heaven,' while withholding from neither the devotion each bestowed upon his own hero. The contemporaries of Otis were unanimous in according to him gifts almost superhuman; while the Virginians were hardly accused of exaggeration in pronouncing Henry, as Jefferson did, the greatest orator that ever lived-the person who beyond all question gave the first impulse to the movement which terminated in the Revolu 1 Six weeks exactly after his return to Andover, on Friday afternoon, the 23d day of May, 1773, a heavy cloud suddenly arose, and the greater part of the family were collected in one of the rooms to wait till the shower should have passed. Otis, with his cane in his hand, stood against the post of the door which opened from this apartment into the front entry. He was in the act of telling the assembled group a story, when an explosion took place which seemed to shake the solid earth, and he fell without a struggle or a word, instantaneously dead, into the arms of Mr. Osgood, who, seeing him falling, sprang forward to receive him. This flash of lightning was the first that came from the cloud, and was not followed by an others that were remarkable. There were seven or eight persons in the room, but no other was injured. No mark of any kind could be found on Otis, nor was there the slightest change or convulsion in his features. It is a singular coincidence, that he often expressed a wish for such a fate. He told his sister, Mrs. Warren, after his reason was impaired, My dear sister, I hope when God Almighty, in his righteous providence shall take me out of time into eternity, that it will be by a flash of light.ing,' and this wish he often repeated. Why did not Mr. Tudor say that the prayer of the great patriot had been answered? The Being who hears the young ravens when they cry' could cer tainly grant the desire of the stricken soul of the great hearted James Otis. a The Age of Bronze. |