Among the foregoing are some of the expressions made by the constituted authorities of the land, and which must have been issued by at least a majority of the different bodies who emanated them. They consequently show the feelings of a large body of the people, and the reasons and object that caused them to resist the proceedings of Great Britain. Whether they were right or wrong in forcible resistance, is another question; we cannot stop here to discuss it, but shall observe, we doubt whether the army, during a good portion of that memorable struggle, could have been kept together, destitute as they fre-. quently were of every comfort and convenience, were it not they were urged on by their love of liberty and of the right, and by such appeals as were made to these inherent principles of our nature. Look at the army at Valley Forge: almost naked in the dead of winter; almost literally without food or raiment, or they had such only as was barely enough to support their animal wants; nay, they had not enough to satisfy their hunger, or to shield them from the severity of the cold. Take the British officer's account, which we shall shortly give, of Marion's situation; and Marion said it was often much worse than when the officer was with him; for they did not always have enough even of potatoes. Imagine to yourself an army of men living in the woods, sustaining themselves upon roasted potatoes, their plates sheets of bark, their tables logs, and their fingers for knives and forks, day after day, month after

month, exposed to the hot sun and chilly damps of a southern climate; and all, as is said, for "liberty; " and liberty not so much for themselves as for posterity. If they were wrong, it seems, at least, we should be charitable towards such failings; but yet here is the principle for which we contend, that it was for liberty, and liberty alone, that produced our Revolution, and that this was the mainspring and moving power that put in action the men of that day; and without it the Revolution could not have been carried on, nor, so far as human observation can be made, could it have been successfully terminated; and that it was not the liberty of the mass, a disenthraldom of the state from a foreign power, an independency of government, but it was the liberty of the individual that was sought; it was to shield him from oppressive taxes, to protect him from being quartered upon by a brutal soldiery, and their money from going to build up a rich few in the island of Great Britain.1

In the Introduction to the Biographical Dictionary, compiled by J. J. Rogers, it is said that Mr. Benjamin West told Mr. J. Adams, while he was minister to the court of St. James, that the cause for taxing the colonies without their consent arose from the fact that the courtiers around George III. urged him to build for himself a more elegant palace than the one he was then living in, as it did not compare with the palaces of other kings on the continent; and when he was informed that there was not money enough in the treasury to supply his wants for that purpose, (a million was asked for,) and was told that he might raise the sum in America, he consented to make the attempt; and the famous stamp act was passed in March, 1765. His palace was to have been built in Hyde Park; and Mr. West showed Mr. Adams the

We do not here quote from the Declaration of Independence, because we shall have occasion so often to refer to its language it is not necessary.

Gov. Hancock, in a speech made in 1784, in commemoration of the Boston Massacre, makes use of the following expressions :

"Security to the persons and property of the government is so obviously the design and end of civil government, that to attempt a logical proof of it would be like burning tapers at noonday to assist the sun in enlightening the world; and it cannot be virtuous or honorable to attempt to support a government of which this is not the great and principal basis; and it is to the last degree vicious and infamous to attempt to support a govern ment which manifestly tends to render the persons and properties of the governed insecure. Some boast of being friends to government: I am a friend to righteous government, founded on the principle of reason and justice; but I glory in publicly avowing my eternal`enmity to tyranny."

Mr. Hancock was chosen president of the convention of Massachusetts, to take into consideration the adoption of the present Constitution, but did not attend till the last week of the session. It was said a majority of the convention would be against the adoption, and that the governor was with the opposers. 1 "Certain amendments were proposed to remove the objections of those who thought some of the articles deprived the people

site which was there marked out for that purpose. Thus, for the sake of a palace, George III. lost a kingdom.

'Biographical Dictionary, Art. Hancock.

of their rights. He introduced those amendments with great propriety, and voted for the adoption of the Constitution. His name and influence doubtless turned many in favor of the federal government."

It will be seen in the sequel that some of these amendments, written probably to do away, in part, the known opposition of Samuel Adams and Mr. Hancock, had, in fact, special reference to the slaves in the Southern States; and it will be found that, with slight amendments, retaining, however, all the principles contended for, they were finally added to the Constitution. It was this man, in conjunction with Samuel Adams, who headed the opposition to the proposed tyrannical measures of the British government, who makes objection to the proposed Constitution, not only on account of his jealousy for State rights, but on account of its acknowledging slavery at all, and the fear he entertained what might be the result; and it was the same person who, when General Washington proposed to Congress to bombard the town of Boston, while occupied by the British, and while Mr. H. was president of that body, and because it was known most of his property was invested in real estate there, "the house resolved itself into the committee of the whole, in order to give him an opportunity to give his opinion." 1 After he left the chair, he addressed the chairman of the committee of the whole in the following words:

"It is true, sir, nearly all the property I have in the

1 Biographical Dictionary, Art. Hancock.

world is in houses and other real estate in the town of Boston; but if the expulsion of the British army from it, the liberties of our country require their being burnt to ashes, issue the order for that purpose immediately."

Samuel Adams, who with Hancock were the only two individuals the English government could not pardon for their rebellion in the first stages of the difficulties, objected to the adoption of the Constitution as proposed, and stated he could not give it his support unless certain amendments were recommended to be adopted. After consultation, amendments were prepared, which were brought before the convention, and referred to a committee, who made some inconsiderable alterations, which being accepted, the Constitution was adopted. Some of these, as we have just remarked, were afterwards agreed to as amendments to the Constitution, and form at present a part of that instrument. We do not think they were altogether such as we at the present day should like, because they are not so distinct as we could wish; yet they secure the person from excessive fines, and secure him, before punishment, a trial by jury, and also freed him from cruel and unusual Парру He also objected to the article that te amenable to the courts of the on roots, tha natixuries of Sollght it would reduce them to mere

ould rather figh

It is said that, when it was found Messrs. Hancock and Adams were opposed to the adoption of the Constitution, the people of Boston held a meeting in the tavern called the Green Dragon, and passed some very spirited resolutions on the subject, urging its