of the mother country.*[1] In 1765, the objeet of a congress was still defence, but against an enemy of a different description; against the invasion of a ministry supported by acts of parliament which they could procure at pleasure. Remonstrance and entreaty were, however, the only weapons wielded, and these, combined with the practical opposition every where experienced, produced a change in the ministry and an abandonment of the measure. But although the law was repealed, the ministry thought it expedient to assert by a declaratory act, the right to bind their colonies, by acts of parliament, in all cases whatever; a declaration disregarded by the colonists, who now began to feel their own power, till it was endeavoured to be enforced by the imposition of a duty on tea, glass, and a few other articles, expressly for the purpose of raising a revenue to defray part of the colonial expenses. The spirit which had been raised was not however easily allayed. The same indications of resistance were now renewed, but the military force in this country was increased by detachments from .the regular army in Great Britain—and the ministry avowed a determination to persevere. Another congress was convened, and a second course of complaint and supplication, unavailingly pursued. The language was still that of faithful, though injured subjects: their grievances were imputed not to the monarch, but to his ministers—and in the ardent expressions of hope that they should not be deprived of the rights enjoyed by their fellow subjects, they admitted their own subjection. Even after
- ↑ * Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. I. p. 300, Vol. II. p. 90.
