the predominancy of the [243] first trait in his character often interfered with the vigour and decision necessary to complete the last. Early on his promotion, his severity and indiscretion erased the favorable impression which many in America yet cherished for his name and family.
In the beginning of his administration, he published a proclamation, condemning to military execution any of the remaining inhabitants of Boston, who should attempt to leave the town; he compelled them to form themselves into bodies under officers he should appoint, and to take arms in case of an attack, against their brethren in the country. Yet for a certain sum of money, he promised an exemption from the cruel task of imbruing their hands in the blood of their friends. But the most memorable event that took place, while he presided in the province, previous to the evacuation of Boston, was the cannonade and destruction of Falmouth, a flourishing and well-built town in the eastern part of the Massachusetts.
Alarm and depredation had spread from shore to shore through all the sea coasts of America; their shipping were seized, their islands plundered, their harbors infested by the landing of marauding parties, and many places threatened with immediate conflagration. Bristol, near Rhode Island, had been attacked in a dark [244] stormy night, and an hundred and twenty cannon fired on the defenceless town within an hour. Many houses were injured, and some set on fire; a remarkable sickness had raged in the town for some time, and the languishing inhabitants were now hurried into the streets in their beds, to preserve them from immediate death in the conflagration of their houses.* This was an uncivil mode of demanding a tax of cattle, sheep, and hogs, for the supply of the squadron of captain (afterwards) Sir James Wallace, who had for many months harassed and distressed the state of Rhode Island.
This rude attack upon Bristol, took place only eight days previous to the wanton desolation which on the eve of winter stripped the inhabitants of Falmouth, both of shelter and provisions, and drove them naked into the wilderness, uncertain of any accommodations to secure them from the inclemency of the season. One captain Mowatt, who had recently been a prisoner there, and had received the most hospitable treatment from the inhabitants, was the instrument to execute this deed of unprovoked barbarity. It is true he notified the town, that
he would give them two hours [245] to remove the human species, at the period of which term, a red pendant would be hoisted at the main-top-gallant-mast head, and that on the least resistance he should be freed from all humanity dictated by his orders or his inclination.†
Three gentlemen repaired on board his ship to inquire the reason of this extraordinary summons. Mowatt replied, that
he had orders to set on fire all the sea-port towns from Boston to Halifax, and that he supposed New-York was already in ashes.
He said,
he could dispense with his orders on no terms but the compliance of the inhabitants to deliver up their arms and ammunition, and their sending on board a supply of provisions, four carriage-guns, and the same number of the principal persons in the town, as hostages, that they should engage not to unite with their country in any kind of opposition to Britain.
He assured them that on a refusal of these conditions, he should lay the town in ashes within three hours.
Unprepared for such an attack, and intimidated by the roar of cannon, which began to play on the town, the people supplicated a suspension till the morning before they replied to the humiliating proposal. They improved the [246] short reprieve which with difficulty they obtained, in removing their families and effects; after which they made no further resistance, not even to the marines who landed with lighted torches to make the devastation complete. In this defenceless situation, the inhabitants considered opposition only as a useless waste of human life, and many of them stood on the heights, the passive spectators of the fire that played on the town through the day. They beheld with varied emotions, a conflagration that reduced many of them to penury and despair; thus, were they prepared for the occupation of soldiers, and driven to the field from the double motive of resentment and the necessity of immediate subsistence.
New York, Stonington, Newport, and many other places were threatened, but did not experience a similar fate. The last, situated on an island, was obliged to stipulate for a weekly supply, to save their town from the fury of the piratical corsairs that surrounded them, who proudly boasted of the civility and generosity of their nation. England has indeed been long celebrated for magnanimity, clemency, and humanity; but it is with nations as with individuals, when human nature falls from virtue, it generally sinks into the extremes of vice, in proportion as it was before conspicuous for superior excellence.
[247] Thus, the monarch divested of compassion, and the ministry of principle, the naval strength of Britain, the mistress of the seas, and the terror of Europe, was employed to interrupt the commerce, lay waste the cities, destroy the towns, and plunge the inhabitants of America in misery and despair; forgetful that she was ever contributing by the acquisitions of her industry to the strength of Britain. Nor was America yet sufficiently irritated, to renounce her allegiance to the king, or relinquish her connexion with England, cemented by the strong ties of habit and consanguinity, language, religion, and manners. Yet, though there was no formal dissolution of the legal bands that had united them, the frequent outrages experienced by Americans, convinced them of the necessity of some effectual naval preparations on their part. This was so obvious, that Congress no longer delayed acting with decision on a measure that had been balanced by various opinions. They directed general Washington to contract for a number of armed vessels to cruise abroad, to defend the sea coasts at home, and as far as it was practicable, to capture British property wherever it might be found.
Many gentlemen, sanguine in opinion, that an American navy was no Utopian project, but that her marine might rapidly rise to a respectable height, engaged with an energy that seldom [248] fails of carrying into execution any attempt the human mind, on principles of reason, is capable of forming. They accordingly built on the large rivers from Portsmouth to Pennsylvania, a number of vessels, row-gallies, and frigates, from four to forty guns; fitted, manned, and completely equipped them for sea in the course of a few months. All encouragement was given both to public and private adventurers who engaged in the sea service; success was equal to expectation; many very valuable prizes, and a vast number of provision vessels from England, Ireland, and Nova Scotia, were captured, and by this means the Americans were soon supplied, not only with the necessaries for war, but with the conveniences and the luxuries of life.
While things remained in this situation in Boston, and along the Atlantic shore, a very busy and important scene was acting in another quarter of America. The conquest of Quebec by the immortal Wolfe, in conjunction with the bold and hardy New Englanders, is a story well known in the annals of Britain. On the peace concluded with France at Fontainbleau, in the duke of Bedford’s administration, the whole province of Canada was ceded to the crown of England, in lieu of more valuable acquisitions relinquished to France. Most of the inhabitants of the country were French, some of them noblesse, and all of them attached to their former [249] master. The Roman Catholic faith was the established religion of the country, yet the Canadians were in all respects to be governed according to the laws of England, until the Quebec bill, the subject of much political disunion in England, passed into an act, in one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four. This act cut the Canadians off from the privileges of English subjects, denied them an assembly of their own on the principles of the British constitution, deprived them of the trial by jury in civil processes; the laws of France were restored, and the boundaries of the province were extended far beyond the just limits: the Roman Catholic religion also was not only to be tolerated, but was established by act of parliament. This was very offensive both to the French and the English inhabitants, who found their interests inseparably connected. These new regulations were made with a view of fixing the Canadians more firmly in the interest of the ministry; but as they had tasted the advantages of a less despotic government, the people in general had adopted more liberal modes of thinking, both in civil and religious matters; and most of the inhabitants were equally dissatisfied with the late parliamentary regulations.
The Quebec act, unpopular in England, and alarming in America, was particularly disgusting to all the English settlers in Canada, except [250] a few individuals employed by the crown. Neither the authority of administration, nor the address of