George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 6, 10th edition.

‘ [211] and ungrateful,’ cried Hutchinson.¹ ‘The clause’

Chap. XXXVII.} 1768. Oct.

wrote Gage, ‘is by no means calculated for this coun– try, where every man studies law.’² ‘I am now at the end of my tether,’ said Bernard to his Council, and he asked them to join him in naming a commissary. ‘To join in such appointment,’ answered the Council, ‘would be an admission that the Province ought to be charged with the expense.’ The officers themselves could not put the troops into quarters, for they would, under the Act, be cashiered, on being convicted of the fact before two justices of the peace. ‘Before two justices,’ exclaimed Gage, ‘the best of them the keeper of a paltry tavern.’³

At last, the weather growing so severe that the troops could not remain in tents, ‘the commanding officer⁴ was obliged to hire houses at very dear rates,’ as well as procure, at the expense of the Crown, all the articles required by Act of Parliament of the Colony. The Main Guard was established opposite the State House, and cannon were pointed towards the rooms in which the Legislature was accustomed to sit. But as the town gave an example of respect for law, there was nothing for the troops to do. Two regiments were there as idle lookers-on, and two more were coming to share the same inactivity. Every one knew that they could not be employed except on a requisition from a civil officer; and there was not a magistrate in the Colony that saw any reason for calling in their aid, nor a person in town