| CHAPTER XIV. |
1775—1776.
THE BIRTH-YEAR OF THE REPUBLIC.
Course of Parliament looked to with anxiety—Petition to the King rejected—Debates in Parliament—Foreign mercenaries to be employed—Act prohibiting trade with colonies—Crisis had arrived—Paine's Common Sense—Its effect—Dunmore's high-handed proceedings at the South—Norfolk bombarded—Conolly's scheme with the Indians—State of feeling in Few York—Press of Rivington's Gazette destroyed—Plan of the English to seize upon the Hudson—Lee in command in New York—Tory influence predominant—The Johnson family—Their course—Scene in the camp—Washington and the "round jackets and rifle shirts"—Holmes's summing up of the year 1775—Singular aspect of affairs—The alternative, submission or independence—Washington before Boston—Scarcity of provisions in the city—Botta's account of the occupation of Dorchester Heights and the evacuation of Boston—Thanks of Congress to Washington—British troops sail for Halifax—Putnam sent on to New York—Lee dispatched to the South—Washington meets Congress—Plots of the Tories—Attempt to seize Washington's person, and convey him to the enemy—Proceedings with respect to colonial governments—Chief Justice Drayton's charge to the grand jury—Clinton's attack on Charleston—Sergeant Jasper's heroic conduct—Declaration of Independence felt to be necessary—Instructions to delegates from various colonies—Proceedings and debates in Congress—The resolution that the colonies are, and of right ought to be, independent—The Declaration of Independence—Importance of the ground then taken—The jubilee day—Moral force of the position assumed by our fathers. Appendix to Chapter XIV.—I. Draft of the Declaration of Independence and the amendments made by Congress.—II. Extract from John Quincy Adams's Fourth of July Oration, 1881.
The assembling of Parliament, in October, 1775, was looked to with anxiety and concern by the Americans. On the course which it should resolve to pursue would depend very materially the nature and extent of the opposition which the colonists were prepared to sustain against its previous acts. If Parliament should see fit to make such concessions and assurances for the future, as the people in America demanded as their right, possibly the differences and disputes which had proceeded already to so great lengths, might be accommodated and amicably settled; but if, on the other hand, that body should persist in its offensive attitude, and continue to employ force in order to subdue the colonies, then force must be met by force, and the people must nerve themselves for war and bloodshed.
The petition to the King, on which some had built considerable hope, was rejected with contempt, and in his speech at the opening of Parliament, George III. not only accused the colonists of revolt, hostility, and rebellion, but stated that the rebellious war carried on by them was for the purpose of establishing an independent empire. To prevent this, he informed Parliament that the most decisive and vigorous measures were necessary; that he had consequently increased his naval establishment, had augmented his land forces, and had also taken measures to procure the aid of foreign troops. He
