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PREFACE..

T was not without regret that we found the diffentions between this country and its colonies at length ripened into a civil war. The perfon to whofe lot it falls to defcribe the tranfactions of domeftic hoftility, and the fteps which lead to it, has a painful, and generally unthankful office. People can fcarcely judge with temper of fuch an hiftory in a century after the events. It is a perilous fituation when we are to be tried by prefent paffions. Interested as we are in this conteft in common with all Englishmen, and affected as we must be in common with all men of humanity, we have never been tempted to depart from the fteady courfe of impartiality, which we have always obferved, and in which the public has hitherto fupported us. It indeed little becomes us to be dogmatical and decided in our opinions in this

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matter,

matter, when the public, even on this fide of the water, is fo much divided; and when the first names of the country have differed fo greatly in their fentiments. It is no longer our task to defcribe devastation in Poland, or flaughter on the Danube. The evil is at home.

We are as truly fenfible of the importance as of the delicacy of the subject. The sense of that importance, which is fomething more than was generally apprehended even when the tranfactions in parliament were paffing, has obliged us to a much greater length than ufual. We have given every thing as fully as we were enabled to do from any materials we could obtain. However we may have failed in the attempt, neither application nor labour were wanting on our fide, nor expence confidered on that of the publisher, in endeavouring to render the work worthy of the acceptance of the public.

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THE

THE

ANNUAL REGISTER

For the YEAR 1775.

THE

HISTORY

OF

EUROPE.

CHAP. I.

Retrospective view of affairs in the colonies in the year 1764. General effec of the late laws. Impeachment of Mr. Oliver. Affembly of Maffachujett's Bay diffolved. General Gage arrives at Bofton. Great confternation on receiving the Boston port bill. New affembly meet at Bofton, and are adjourned to Salem. Provincial and town meetings. Affembly of Virginia diffolved. Philadelphia. New York. Addrefs from gentlemen, &c. of Bofton to the new governor. Addrefs from the council rejected. Tranfactions of the house of reprefentatives at Salem. The affembly diffolved. Addrefs from the town of Salem. General temper and difpofition of the people throughout the continent. Solemn league and covenant. Proclamation against it. Measures relative to the holding of a general congrefs. Refolutions paffed in different places. Address from the juftices of Plymouth county. Uneafinefs excited by the arrival of troops. Falfe alarm. Proclamation for the encouragement of piety and virtue, &c. Hoftile appearances. New judges incapable of acting. New counsellors compelled to renounce their offices. Fortification on Bofton Neck. Provincial magazines feized. The people in a violent ferment. Company of cadets difband themselves, and return the standard. Sundry refolutions paffed by the delegates of the county VOL. XVIII. 1775. [4]

of

f Suffolk. Remonftrance. Anfwer. Writs for holding a general affembly countermanded by proclamation. The reprefentatives meet notwithftanding at Salem; vote themselves into a provincial congrefs, and adjourn to the town of Concord. Remonftrance from the provincial congrefs; governor's answer. State of affairs at Boston. Further proceedings of the provincial congrefs. Proclamation.

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T happens most unfortunately this year, that our own public

among thofe of Europe, but have in a great degree abforbed all other matter of political fpeculation. A ceffation feems to take place in the animofities and defigns of other ftates. The great difturbers of mankind appear to forget their rapacity and ambition, whilst they contemplate the new and unthoughtof fpectacle we exhibit to the world, and perhaps eagerly predict the advantages which they may derive from its fatal confequences.

It need fcarcely be mentioned, that the unhappy conteft in which we are involved with our colonies, is the event which has thus excited the attention of mankind. Those colonies, which were fo long our trength and our glory, whofe rapid growth and aftonishing increase mocked the calculations of politi. cians, and outstripped the fpeculations of philofophers; thofe colonies, which equally excited the apprehenfions of our enemies, and the envy of our friends, ftill attract the eyes of the world, to them and to us, as to a common center; but prefent a very different appearance of things to obfervation. Happy will it be, if this general attention is productive of no other fentiment, than the admiration which arifes from novelty, or the generous fympathy which feels for the miferies of mankind.

The penal laws, which we faw paffed, in the laft feffion of the last

Maffachufett's Bay, and which were intended to operate both as a chaftifement for paft, and a preventative of future misdemeanors in that province, were unfortunately productive of effects very different from thofe which the fanguine promoters of thofe bills had hoped, and which adminiftration had held out to the nation. Other purposes were expected from them befides punishment and prevention. It was expected, that the fhutting up of the port of Bofton would have been naturally a gratification to the neighbouring towns, from the great benefits which would accrue to them, by the splitting and removing of its commerce; and that this would prove a fruitful fource of jealoufy and difunion within the province. It was alfo thought, that the particular punishment of that province would not only operate as an example of terror to the other colonies, but that from the selfishness and malignancy incident to mankind, as well as from their common jealoufies, they would quietly refign it to its fate, and enjoy with pleasure any benefits they could derive from its misfortunes. Thus it was hoped, that befides their direct operation, these bills would eventually prove a means of diffolving that band of union, whichfeemed of late too much to prevail a mongst the colonies.

The

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