fifty sailors: the two former irresolute, already disgusted with the service, and greatly complaining of the fatigue; the sailors, therefore, are the people to be depended upon. The inhabitants will not, most probably, choose to sustain a siege, as by a surrender they will secure their effects, which, by an opposition, they will run the risk of losing; and there is not the least probability of the merchants being able to support the fatigue of defending, and the Canadians are too much friends to the Provincials warmly to oppose them. The sailors, on whom the only reliance can be placed, are not sufficiently numerous to preserve the Town, when the wishes of the inhabitants will be for a surrender. Though General Carleton is a man of the greatest intrepidity, and he has the assistance of Colonel Maclean, yet he appears greatly chagrined at affairs turning out so contrary to his expectations, that it evidently preys on his spirits.

The expectations from Colonel Maclean are entirely vanished. He was deserted by his people at the River Sorel, and obliged to fly, with eighty men, to Quebeck, with great expedition. The Highlanders he enlisted were so few as not to be worth mentioning. There were about one hundred came from the Island of St. John’s, trading to Quebeck, but who have not entered as soldiers; and from thence, on the expectation that they would enlist, I suppose the report arose of his having raised a Regiment of them; but so far from enlisting Highlanders in our service, I am informed, from good authority, that the Provincials have now a Regiment of Highlanders in their pay, consisting of eight hundred men, all volunteers.

It is very probable that Quebeck may not be taken till the month of January, except General Montgomery sends down his artillery by water; he cannot so conveniently bring it down by land till the frosts set in. The cold is indeed severe, but his people are inured to it; and as the country about Quebeck is very populous, and the inhabitants friendly, he will find good quarters in the neighbourhood of the Town; which, with the weakness of the garrison, and the divisions in the place, there is little doubt of the Provincials being masters of it.

The behaviour of General Montgomery to his prisoners was much applauded; but there had letters passed between General Carleton and him, wherein he complained of the treatment of those taken at Montreal, and that he hoped that General Carleton would not put him under the necessity of showing the same.

There is a Regiment in the interior parts of Canada, at Niagara, Detroit, &c., which, if they have not provisions, must come in and surrender.

THE MONITOR, NO. IV.

New-York, November 30, 1775.

One would have thought that, after such repeated attestations of our determined aversion to the claims of the Parliament, a renewal of its endeavours to impose them would hardly have been undertaken in haste. But the Ministry were too much bent upon the subjugation of the Colonies, to give over the pursuit until they should be fully convinced of the absolute impracticability of succeeding in it. They were resolved to vary the plan of attack: to recur from open assault and violence, to intrigue, artifice, and illusion; foreseeing that many plausible topicks might be invented to mislead a part at least of the people, to generate intestine divisions, and, by inducing compliance to a lesser encroachment, to pave the way and prepare the minds of men by degrees for the complete establishment of all their pretensions. They flattered themselves that the publick spirit of the Americans, by too frequent fermentation, would in a great measure evaporate; and that they would with difficulty be brought to submit to the inconveniences of another struggle, and again to obstruct the golden streams of commerce, for an object seemingly of so little importance as a duty of three pence a pound on tea.

As the East-India Company must have been thoroughly apprized of the temper and resolutions of the Colonies, it is scarcely to be supposed they would have hazarded so much of their property on such a precarious footing as that on which it must necessarily be sent to America, while encumbered with a duty that gave so general offence, unless they had some sure prospect of retribution in case of accidents. It is therefore extremely probable, what has been more than once positively suggested by our friends on the other side of the water, that the Ministry either purchased the tea to make the intended experiment, or engaged to indemnify the Company for whatever loss they might sustain by a miscarriage. Neither is it likely they would have done this, and risked throwing the Empire into new convulsions and disorders, if they had not been resolute to drive matters to extremity, and to bring the contest to a final issue.

They expected that one side of this dilemma would take place: either that the Colonies, fatigued with former efforts, unwilling to undergo fresh agitations, deceived by artful miscolourings, lulled by a consideration of the trifling sum of the tax, or from a compound of all these motives, would most of them be prevailed with to permit the introduction of the tea and the payment of the duty; or that they would be reduced to the necessity of destroying it, in order to prevent those disagreeable circumstances. Should the former happen, their scheme would be in a fair way for a perfect accomplishment. They might afterwards plead our own voluntary deliberate consent to their right of taxing us. Strong parties would have been formed among us; violent heats and animosities engendered. The precedent would have had a powerful influence, both in the opinions of the people of Britain and in our own; and if our enemies were masters of a tolerable share of address and dexterity, they might then with the greatest ease lead us on, step by step, to the point they intended, whence the retreat would continually become more difficult, and at last impossible. But should the latter fall out, which was most probable, a procedure so bold, and so much out of the common track, would naturally excite scruples in tender minds, and afford a spacious field for invective and declamation to their agents and creatures. They might thence extract a pretext to sanctify or palliate future violences; and, under the idea of chastising a breach of private property, might, with more appearance of justice, and with greater prospect of success, proceed in their long concerted plan of despotism. They hoped to gain many partisans, both in England and America, who, disgusted at a seeming outrage and act of injustice, would be easily persuaded to view all their measures as entirely of a penal complexion, and designed only to procure a reparation for damage wantonly committed on our part. Hence they supposed our councils would be disunited and discordant, our opposition feeble, partial, and transitory, easily to be counteracted and overcome by any considerable exertions of vigour and perseverance on their side.

These views were subtle; and, though the event has not been fully answerable to them, they have obtained a degree of success much to be regretted by every real friend to this injured Country. It happened that the tea sent to Boston was the first which arrived in America; and the people, having no other alternative but to suffer its being imported and the duty paid, or to destroy it, deemed the latter course most politick and safe. From all the other ports except Charlestown, where it was accidentally landed, it was despatched immediately back to England.

This act, provoked by the forcible intrusion of an article loaded with an illegal tax, was seized, with the utmost avidity, by the ministerial cabal, as a handle for charging those who perpetrated it with the most heinous and inexpiable guilt. The banners of vengeance were forthwith displayed, and furious penalties, without the formality of a trial, inflicted, very disproportionate to the crime, even supposing it to be a real one. The most arbitrary and exasperating intentions were announced in both Houses of Parliament, while nothing less than bringing America to his feet would satisfy the imperious Minister. At a single stroke, the memorable Port Bill totally demolished the flourishing trade of the offending Town; nor was there any room left to avoid the evil, by making such requital for the injury done, as the nature of it might seem to demand. The conditions of the act were too rigorous and destructive to be complied with. It required not only payment for the simple value of the tea, which was sufficient, but for the amount of the duty upon it, an indefinite submission to the laws and authority of Parliament, and satisfaction for the losses that might have been incurred by the officers of His Majesty’s customs and others; vesting a

Table of Contents List of Archives Top of Page

Previous   Next