New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-03-20


and his career, though apparently eccentric OF
tends, with the certainty Of planetary
motion toward divine harmonic center. The
de,ire of perfection, springing from moral powell
miles even the sword telescopes from the carnage
Of the battle -fed,-an survives the flames oil
martyrdom and the wreck of States. Each peo-
ple tina. has disappeared has been but step In
the ladder by which humanity ascends toward
the perfecting Of its nature. The generations
that hand the torch of truth along the lines OF
time. themselves become dust and ashes but
the light still increases its perennial spendor a.
it is fed with fresh illusions Of consecrated oil.
Humanity has grown conscious Of its glorious
destiny; it cherishes an ever-increasing sense OF
i,s unity; it bows before the grandeur of it, own
DEVELOPMENT; and the universal mind, bursting
all bonds OF nationality and temporary hmita'
ton, "knows itself to be the spirit Of the world,
in its movement on the tide Of thought from
generation to generation"
Such is the philosophical and social creed
under whose inspiration this History has been
composed. We have no room to exhibit II at
greater length. But no one who wishes to ap'
pIeCldte the UerlS vi MI. DdhSioit % Oil AAS'~A
ical writer, should lose sight Of the standpoint
Of his faith.
The present volume is devoted to the antece-
dents of the Revolution, as developed in the at
tempt of the British Office holders from l74S to
procure taxation of America by Parlianent,-an
object ready to be carried into effect in l755, and
resolved on by the Board OF Trade in 1850 This
movement, commencing with the demands of the
Colonial Governors soon after the peace OF AK
la Chapelle, is traced with great minuteness, its
causes are set forth in clear light and the char
acters of the prominent actors on each side are
portrayed with critical discrimination. The mar
rative bears the marks of extensive and solid re-
search many new facts are ELECTED and the re-
lations and bearings OF those already familiar re-
ceive fresh illustration from the connection in
which they are here brought forward.
The scene opens with the Convention in Al
bsny in July l74s, for the purpose Of forming a
treaty between the Chiefs of the Six Nations
and the Commissioners from several colonies.
The encroachments Of France were to be thus
circumscribed by concert for defense. Before
the meeting of the Convention, the news of
peace between England and France arrived.
The royalist party seized the opportunity of re-
turning tranquility to form plans for taxing
the Colonies by the authority of Great Britain.
Among the leaders of this party were George
Clinton, an unlettered British admiral who had
been sent to America to mend his fortunes az
Governor of New.York, -Cadwallade Golden,
the oldest member of the Royal cil,-Wil-
1,.xc wbn had hnap ovva sdv
Governor of Massachusetts,, an English lawyer,
artful, needy, and ambitieus,-Andrew Oliver, q
native of Boston, bred at Harvard College, dis
tinguished for eobriety of condct and for all the
forms of piety, but ruled at heart by the love Of
money,-and Thomas Hutchinson, Speaker ofths
House of Assembly in Massachusetts,. The
character of the complaisant, cultivated. and
truly intelligent Hutchinson is hit off with ad-
mirable effect by one or two rapid and spirited
strokes Of the pen. "He was the most plausible
and the most influential. as well as the most am
s s5Ii, Re ayiBnRahhssSts
any ane who bads fair to advance his ends. Te
the Congregational clergy he paid assiduous do.
slant supporters but his conduct did not flow
from a living faith and his pious life and un-
failing attendance at meeting were little
more than continuous aattery. He was one
who Stunned uttering a direct falsehood but
he did not scruple to conceal truth, to equvo-
cate, and to deceive. He courted the peonle
but frsm boyheod, inwardly disliked and DIES.
pissed them and used their favor and confidence
only as steps to his own promotion. He, too,
though well educated, and of uncommon endow.
ments, and famed at college as of great promise.
so coveted money, that he became trader in
his native town, and like others, struggled goods
whice he sold at retail. Failing Of profits in
mercantile pursuits, he withdrew from business
in which he had rather impaired his inheritance.
but his ruling passion was unchanged; and to
gain property was the ardent desire of his ,oul.
so that his avarice was the great incentive 10
his ambition. He had once been in England as
agent OF Massachusetts at the time when the
taxing America by Parliament first began to be
talked of, and had thus had occasion TO become
acquainted with British statesmen, the maxims
OF the Board Of Trade, and the way in which
Englshmen reasoned about the Colonies He
loved the land OF bis nativity, and made study
OF It's laws and history; but he know that all
considerable emoluments of office sprung not
from his frugal countrymen, but from royal favor
He was man of clear discernment, and where
unbiased by his own interests, he preferred to
DO what was right but his sordid nature led
him to worship power he could stoop to solicit
justice as a boon; and small temptation not
only left him without hardihood to resist oppres-
sion, bus would easily bend him to become its
instrument. At the same time he exeelled in
the art of Discrimination, and knew how to veil
his seihshness by the appearance of public
spirit"
The result of the Convention wa. an apnlca.