General Gage Appointed Governor

THE Boston Port Bill reached Massachusetts early in May, 1774. It was preceded a few days by a commission sent to New York, for General Gage as governor of Massachusetts to succeed Hutchinson, who was recalled. The latter was mortified and alarmed. His recall seemed to be a pointed rebuke at that juncture, and he justly feared the resentment of the people whom he had misrepresented and misruled. He left Boston before Gage arrived, and remained in seclusion at his country-house at Milton until an opportunity offered for him to take refuge in Castle William. Hutchinson had many political as well as personal friends in Massachusetts. It must be remembered that the patriotic zeal which animated the Sons of Liberty was not universally felt, even in Boston. Those leaders were radicals, and were compelled to meet cold-hearted and hard-hearted conservatism at every turn.

Hutchinson had many political sympathizers; and when he was about to depart for England, whither he fled from the frowns of his countrymen, more than a hundred merchants in Boston, and a number of lawyers, magistrates and men of property there and in the neighborhood, signed an address to him, in which they expressed their entire approbation of his public acts, and affectionate wishes for his personal happiness. These "addressors" became objects of intense dislike. Many of them, yielding to popular clamor, retracted. Those who would not retract, felt compelled to leave the colony, and became the first of the host of "Loyal Refugees" who peopled British provinces after the war that ensued.

It was the 10th of May when the Port Bill reached Boston. It was already in the hands of the Sons of Liberty in New York, carried thither by another ship from London. These patriots had waged a steady warfare with the conservative and aristocratic elements in society there, bearing the obloquy of many in the easy walks of life, but sustained and honored by those in the paths of toil; -- "the bone and sinew of a state," Scott, Sears, Lamb and McDougall-these were the trusted leaders. They perceived not only the infamy of the Boston Port Bill, but the danger to their own liberties foreshadowed by it. They called a meeting of their associates at Hampden Hall, and there resolved that the only safeguard for the freedom of the American colonies was in a General Congress of deputies- a hint, as we have seen, thrown out by Pownall in debate, to insure unity of action. They resolved to stand by Boston in its hour of distress; and by a letter dated the 14th of May, they entreated the patriots there to stand firm in support of their opposition measures. Their resolutions and the letter were sent by express to Boston by John Ludlow, who rode swiftly with them, on a black horse, toward the New England capital. He told their import as he coursed through Connecticut and Rhode Island. Near Providence on the edge of a wood that was just receiving its summer foliage, by a cool spring, he met Paul Revere riding express on a large gray horse, bearing to New York and Philadelphia assurances of the faith and firmness of the Bostonians, and to invoke sympathy and co-operation. Revere also carried a large number of printed copies of the act, made sombre by heavy black lines, and garnished with the picture of a crown, a skull and cross-bones, undoubtedly engraved by Revere himself. These he scattered through the villages on his way, where they were carried about the streets with the cry of "Barbarous, cruel, bloody, and inhuman murder!" Revere and Ludlow took a hasty lunch together at the spring, and then pressed forward on their holy mission. New York had first suggested a General Congress. The suggestion was echoed back with approval from every colony. So originated the famous First Continental Congress in 1774.

Ludlow found Boston quiet but firm. Gage had arrived from New York by sea, attended only by his staff, though he had taken the precaution to order additional regiments to Massachusetts. He had remained a few days at the Castle, in conference with Hutchinson; and he had landed at the Long Wharf on the 17th of May, without any military display. There he was courteously received as their governor by a large crowd of citizens, and was escorted to the State-House by a militia company under John Hancock, where a loyal address was presented to him, and where he read his commission. After that he was entertained at a public dinner in Faneuil Hall. He believed that an era of reconciliation through submission was at hand. That night an effigy of Hutchinson was burned in front of Hancock's house, and the new governor was somewhat disturbed by grave doubts.