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might be laid before this House, copies of such precedents as had been, or might be found, of Orders in Council, declaring Acts of Assembly in America, to be null, illegal, or void; together with Reports of the several Attorneys, and Solicitors General, or either of them, in similar cases, read at the Council Board on the 9th instant." That on the 22d of May, the Lord Wycombe, (by his Majesty s command,) laid before the House copies of such precedents as had been found, of Orders in Council, declaring Acts of Assemblies in America to be null, illegal, and void; together with Reports of the several Attorneys, and Solicitors General, or either of them, in similar cases. Which Papers were ordered to lie on the table; and from a perusal of them we find that several Acts of different Colonies have been, from time to time, declared by his Majesty in Council, to be null, illegal, and void. That on the 15th of June a Bill was brought up from the Commons intituled, "An Act to enable his Majesty to put the Customs and other Duties in the British Dominions in America, and the execution of the laws relating to Trade there, under the management of Commissioners to be appointed for that purpose, and to be resident in the said Dominions. Which Bill received the Royal assent on the 29th of the same month. That on the 18th of June a Bill was brought up from the Commons, intituled, "An Act for granting certain Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America; for allowing a drawback of the duties of Customs upon the exportation from this Kingdom of coffee and cocoa nuts, of the produce of the said Colonies or Plantations; for discontinuing the drawbacks payable on china earthen ware, exported to America; and for more effectually preventing the clandestine running of goods in the said Colonies and Plantations." Which Bill received the Royal assent on the 29th of June. The Committee find that, on the meeting of the Assembly of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, on the 28th of January, 1767, a Message was sent to the Governor from the House of Representatives desiring to be informed, Whether any provision had been made at the expense of that Government for the King's Troops lately arrived in the harbour of Boston;" and that after having had the Minutes of Council (by which it expressly appeared that the provision for the Artillery companies at the Castle, was made in pursuance of the then late Act of Parliament) laid before them, they replied that, "In giving orders, with the advice of the Council, for making provision for the Artillery companies at the Castle the Governor had acted in an essential point against the plain intention of the Charter, by which alone, and that only, according to such Acts as are or may be in force within this Province, the Governor and Council were authorized to issue money out of the Treasury;" adding, "That it was still more grevious to them to find the Governor stating, as the foundation of the proceeding, a late Act of Parliament, which to them appeared as great a grievance as the Stamp Act, which took away the unalienable right of freedom from all Taxation, but such as they should voluntarily consent to and grant." Governor Bernard was obliged in his Rejoinder, l4th and 18th February, 1767, carefully to avoid giving the Act of Parliament as the foundation of the provision made: he would otherwise not have had the concurrence of the Council; for though the greater part, he believed, had a due respect for Acts of Parliament, not one of them would have dared to avow it in that instance, and at that time. The Committee find that, on the 2d of March, 1768, a Bill was brought up from the Commons, intituled, "An Act for the more easy and effectual recovery of the Penalties and Forfeitures inflicted by the Acts of Parliament, relating to the Trade or Revenues of the British Colonies and Plantations in America." Which Bill received the Royal assent on the 8th of the same month. It appears to the Committee, that by a circular letter from the House of Representatives of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, addressed to all the Assemblies upon the Continent of North America, they desired the assent of those Assemblies to their sentiments and proceedings; acquainting them, that they had represented to his Majesty that the Acts of Parliament of Great Britain, imposing duties upon that Province, with the sole and express purpose of raising a Revenue, are infringements of their natural constitutional rights, and desired them to point out any thing further that might be necessary to carry their system into execution. In this year the Assembly, at the election of the Council, left out all the Crown Officers, which measure had been before adopted, in the years 1766 and 1767. In the beginning of May, 1768, subscriptions were made, and Associations entered into, for the non-importation of goods from Great Britain; but this last measure was at that time defeated by the merchants in the other Colonies refusing to concur in it. On the 9th day of May, 1768, regular seizure was made by the Collector and Comptroller of the Customs, of the sloop Liberty, belonging to Mr. Hancock, of the town of Boston, which occasioned a most violent tumult; the Collector and Comptroller, with the son of the Collector, were attacked by a numerous and outrageous mob, who beat and abused them in a most cruel manner; and in the night attacked their houses, broke the windows, seized on a boat belonging to the Collector, which they carried away in triumph, and afterwards burnt. The Commissioners of the Customs expecting the same treatment, the riot still continuing, thought it prudent to retreat for safety till midnight with their families, to the houses of some persons in the neighbourhood; and afterwards, upon conviction that their lives were in danger, took refuge on Board his Majesty's ship the Romney, then in the harbour of Boston; and for their further security, from thence into Castle William. During the time of this, their perilous situation, they applied several times by letter to the Governor and Council for protection, but could procure no assistance whatsoever; and were finally told, in a letter from Governor Bernard, dated June 13th, that "After several hours deliberation of the necessity of taking some measures to preserve the peace of the town, and what those measures should be, the Council had come to resolution that, as there appeared to be no immediate danger of further violences, they were of opinion that it would be best to refer this matter to the consideration of a Committee of both Houses, and that therefore the Governor at present could not let them know what kind of aid and protection they might expect to receive." The consequence of which was, that they received no protection whatsoever. The disorder and confusion remained in this state unnoticed till the 22d July, when the Governor moved the Council to take into consideration some measures for restoring vigor and firmness to Government; but on the 29th of July, the Council made a reply to what had been proposed to them by the Governor, in which they state, That the disorders which happened were occasioned, by the violent and unprecedented manner in which the sloop Liberty had been seized by the officers of the Customs." In consequence of, this disorderly state at Boston, two regiments having been set thither from Halifax, in order to support the execution of the civil power, and preserve the peace of the town, strict orders were given, and repeated to the troops, not to quarrel with the townsmen, by whom they complained they had been frequently ill treated and insulted. On Monday, the 5th of March, 1768, at nine at night, the alarm bells were rung, as in cases of fire: the fire said to be in Kings street, and the People thereby led thither, where, finding the alarm false, they joined a multitude who had been braving two companies at the gates of their barrack, and threatened with death the centinel who was posted at
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