38. WESTERN UNREST

The following letter was addressed in March 1773, to the Earl of Dartmouth, then Secretary of State for the Colonies. The writer's prejudice against the American cause is apparent but, nevertheless, he states with graphic effect, the flood of population into the western country and the problem of subjecting it to imperial control. The Quebec Act (No. 43) represented the last attempt of the British ministry to deal with the situation that brought about the American Revolution in the west.

From a transcript from the Dartmouth MSS. in the Library of the University of Illinois.

London March the

1773

MY LORD.

You will I hope Excuse the Liberty I thus take of addressing You as I am an Intire Stranger to Your Lordship. Nothing but the Good wishes for the Prosperity and Wellfare of my King and Countrey induces me to it. From this Motive I inform You That I am a person who trade largely to the different Colonies in North America, And once in two or three Years I take a Voiage there to collect my debts and am thereby obliged to Ride through the Governm of New England New York, and Pennsilvania, and have been much & Sorrow fully Concerned to observe a Disposition too generally prevailing among very great Numbers of the Inhabitants, to what They Stile Liberty, Which I think Savours too much of Rebellion This has been too Evident to the Ministry to have been greatly Growing in the New England Governments for Some Years past, and more so latterly. - Their Public News papers are filled with Incendiary Papers, some of Which I make no doubt your Lordship has seen and Read, but were you to apply to the New England Coffee houses to peruse them, as They are All sent over by the trading Ships at different times, You Would be able to discover more clearly and fully the Disposition of those Uneasy People, or if Your Lordship does not Chuse to apply to those Coffee houses Y'Self, you might appoint Some trusty Person in Your Behalf to Examine & Read them for you, and Give you a faithfull Acco of what they read.

I should do my King and Countrey Injustice Were I not to Inform You, That this Same Rebellious Sentiment prevails & Spreads fast through some of the Other Colonies, & particularly in their Back Parts or Frontiers, and will want the Strict Eye & Observation of those

who are at the Helm of Government - For Instance, Pennsilvania Frontiers are now Settled by a Large Banditti of these People Some of whom bid that Governmt Defiance - Murders and Robberys have been Committed on Some of the Inhabitants, & on Many Indians, Large Rewards have been offered for taking the Perpetrators, and Proclamations Issued by the Governors of yt Province but to no Purpose. They bid Defiance, have a Rendezvous which they have been fortifying and No Kings Civil Officer dare touch them, Or Should Any One of them be taken & Confined He would be rescued by Others of the Same dispositions among them. This Every One in that Government Knows to be the Case, And the most Thoughtful among them are Under the Greatest Uneasiness on Accot of it, and that they know this Riotous Disposition prevails Greatly, and that Very Great Numbers are daily adding to them, not Only from among the Frontier People themselves of that & the Neighbouring Provinces, but from the Shoals & Incredible Number of Irish; who Yearly arrive, And as soon as arrived, travel back to the frontiers of That Province, also of Maryland, and of Virginia to seek New Settlements and most of these New Comers are of late Years of those Called, White Boys, Hearts of Oak, & Hearts of Steel, who your Lordship must allow to be of the most Dangerous Sort of People, and the More so when they are to Join and Settle with those of such Riotous dispositions as I have mentioned, & It is known That Some of those Who arrived there this last year have been some of the Worst of the Heads of Those Called Hearts of Steel in Ireland, It is also known That most of those who opposed Govern Tryon in North Carolina are Settled and Settling on the Frontiers of the Province of Pennsilvania & of Virginia

Could Your Lordship find persons you Could Confide in, Who Would Give you a Faithful and true accot of the vast Increase of Inhabitants, and their Yearly Extensive Settlements to the Westward, you would be Astonished, & Could The Ministry know it, They would be Greatly Alarmed-What must be Consequence of a Countrey filled with People for 300 miles back to the Westward of the Province of Pennsilvania, and Extending in the same Manner back of Maryland, Virginia, North & south Carolina, so as to make a Regular Connected Chain from New England to Georgia, & how alarming when The Chief part of these Back Inhabitants, as They are termed, are Composed of an Uncultivated Banditti, collected as I have before. mentioned from the Out Casts of the several Provinces, & Joined & filling with those from Ireland, &tc-perhaps your Lordship would scarcely think it Credible, That from 8 to ten thousand people have been Imported into Pennsilvania in one year from Ireland only, but I think

-

I may assert it for a Truth, and that These People Yearly flock over in such Shoals into that and the Neighbouring Provinces. As a Regular Acco! is kept in the City of Philadelphia by M'. Thomas Coombe (The Health Officer there as He is termed) of all Strangers who Arrive, Whether Irish, Dutch, or Others, Your Lordship might readily on Application have that sent you yearly - From This Your Lordship might readily form a Judgement of the Increase of the People from Strangers Only, Besides The Great Numbers yearly born in that Province, &These People yearly & Constantly travel back to The Frontiers, and make New Settlements, that from Spring to Fall the Back Roads are lined with them. This being really the Case How is this Multitude of People in this Vast Extent of Inland Countrey to be Governed, & How much, And how much Greater, When This New Countrey lately Granted to ye Westward of the Ohio becomes settled, Will the Difficulty be- What Force can be raised & Carried against them into Such an Interior part of the Countrey to quell & Govern them in Case They should be Rebellious? It will Very soon My Lord become a Very Serious Affair Therefore the Sooner The Situation of this Difficulty and Danger is understood by the Ministry, the Better, for as I have mentioned, The Same Licentious Way of Thinking the People of New England have, prevails & Encreases too much in General among these People. And by Their Weekly publishing their Licentious Sentiments of, and On Government, They tend to Poison the Minds of them- What Can your Lordship think must be the Event? Can it be Any Other in a few Years than An Endeavour to throw off their Dependance on England and Obedience to Parliamentary Laws, & Instructions from the Crown. Be assured It will be the Case. These People are already almost Ripe for it & only Want some Bold Psons to head & Lead them On Who have Money & Abilities, & It is to be feared some Such are Near Ready to burst forth and Shew themselves. How Necessary is it then to take all the most prudent Measures to Cool and Quiet the present Tumults in New England, and to keep a Careful Watchful Eye over Them, and All The Other Colonies, and as Quietly and Judiciously as may be Pave a Way for Regaining their Affections, & by Degrees bring them to Obedience to their Kind and his Laws-I neither pretend to Abilities or Understanding to attempt to Point out or to direct to your Lordship, It will Require the Wisest heads among yo Ministry to Join and form a Plan, Rough threatning Measures I think will never tend so much to Reconcile as Those of a More Lenient mild Nature. - The Governors You Send over to the Several Colonies Should be Men of Abilities, Honesty, and Honor, The General Interest of the Nation requires it greatly,

Not Men who perhaps want a Living & may have Friends at Court; But Men of such principles as I have mention, who have the Good of their King and Countrey at heart. It is from a Principle of this Nature Only That I have been induced to give Your Lordship These Honest Plain Hints of the Dangerous Situation of the Colonies- You may be Assured They are all true, And the more Your Lordship inquires. into their Nature and Matters of Fact, The More you will be Alarmed, and More Cause you will find to make further Enquiry yearly, into the State and Increase of All The Colonies, and Their Settlements - I wish I Could Say That I had No Reason to believe That the Incendiary Libertine Pieces Published here in England since The Unhappy Noise about Wilkes &c? Wherein They have not Even Spared his Majesty, tended to poison the Colonists with the same Kind of Licentious Libertine Sentiments-I shall take my Leave having done what I Conceived to be my Duty & Beg Y' Lordship's Pardon for the Freedom I have taken & subscribe with Great Esteem.

Yours Lordships

Humble Servant

Charles Smith

39. THE BOSTON PORT ACT

One of the "Intolerable Acts" passed in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, March 31, 1774.

Pickering, Statutes at Large, Vol. 30, pp. 336-340.

CAP. XIX.

An act to discontinue, in such manner, and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbour, of Boston, in the province of Massachuset's Bay, in North America. WHEREAS dangerous commotions and insurrections have been fomented and raised in the town of Boston, in the province of Massachuset's Bay, in New England, by divers ill-affected persons,.. in which commotions and insurrections certain valuable cargoes of teas... and on board certain vessels lying within the bay... of Boston, were seized and destroyed:.. be it enacted... That from and after the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, it shall not

be lawful for any person. whatsoever to lade put, or cause... to be

...

laden or put, off... any quay, wharf, or other place, within the said town of Boston, or in... the bay, commonly called The Harbour of

Boston,.. into any ship, vessel... or bottom, any... merchandise whatsoever, to be... carried into any other... place whatsoever... or to ... discharge... within the said town... out of any boat... vessel, or bottom, any... merchandise whatsoever, to be brought from any other ... place, .. upon pain of the forfeiture of the said goods,.. and of the said boat,.. and of the guns,.. furniture, and stores,.. belonging to the same:.. whenever it shall be made to appear to his Majesty, in his privy council, that peace and obedience to the laws shall be so far restored in the said town of Boston, that the trade of Great Britain may safely be carried on there, and his Majesty's customs duly collected... it shall... be lawful for his Majesty, by proclamation, or order of council, to assign... the extent...of the port or harbour of Boston,.. and also to assign... so many open places, quays, and wharfs, within the said harbour,.. for the landing,.. and shipping of goods, as his Majesty... shall judge necessary and expedient; and also to appoint ... so many officers of the customs therein as his Majesty shall think fit; after which it shall be lawful for any person or persons to lade... or to discharge and lend upon, such wharfs, quays, and places, so appointed within the said harbour,.. any goods,.. whatever...

X. Provided also,.. That nothing herein contained shall... enable his Majesty to appoint such port... wharfs... or officers, in the said town of Boston,.. until it shall appear to his Majesty that full satisfaction hath been made by or on behalf of the inhabitants of the said town of Boston to the united company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies, for the damage sustained by the said company by the destruction of their goods sent to the said town of Boston, on board certain ships or vessels as aforesaid; and until it shall be certified to his Majesty... that reasonable satisfaction hath been made to the officers of his Majesty's revenue, and others, who suffered by the riots and insurrections above mentioned, in the months of November and December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, and in the month of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four.

40. THE GOVERNMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS ACT

One of the so-called “Intolerable Acts" passed by the British Parliament in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party. Its date is May 20, 1774. Pickering, Statutes at Large, Vol. 30, pp. 381-385.

WHEREAS by letters patent under the great seal of England, made in the third year of the reign of their late majesties King William and