The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 6 | Page 9

secure a compliance. But no vote was needed,
for the Scotchman was present, and rushing to the front with knees
trembling and in a squeaking voice, rolling his r's like a well-played
drum, exclaimed:-- "Mr. Mode-r-r-rater, I agr-r-ree, I agr-r-ree!"
greatly to the amusement of the people.
It was early in the next year, 1770, that the hostility between
towns-people and soldiers led for the first time to the shedding of blood.
In February a boy, Christopher Snyder, was shot and killed during a
disturbance, and in March occurred the "Boston Massacre." The story
has been many times told. Quarrels had grown frequent between the
soldiers and the rope-walk hands, the soldiers usually getting the worst
of it. On the evening of the 5th, an altercation began just below the Old
State House, between the sentinel of the guard and a crowd of
townsfolk. An alarm was rung from one of the steeples, and many
citizens hurried to the place, most of them thinking that a fire had
broken out. A sentry was at the corner of King and Exchange streets,
where the Custom House stood, and he was assaulted by the boys with
snowballs. Captain Preston with seven or eight men rushed to the scene,
loaded their muskets and made ready to fire. The mob hooted, struck
their muskets and dared them to fire. At last a volley came. Three were
killed and eight wounded. At once there was a tumult. The bells were
all rung and the populace hurried to and fro. The bodies of the slain lay
on the ground which was sprinkled with a light snow, serving to plainly
reveal in the clear moon-light the stains of blood.

[Illustration: OLD STATE HOUSE IN 1801.]
The 29th regiment repaired to the spot prepared for firing, and there
would have been a fierce contest but for the excellent conduct of the
acting governor, Hutchinson. He took Captain Preston severely to task
for firing at the people without the orders of a civil magistrate, and then,
quickly working his way to the State House, took his stand in the
balcony of the council-chamber looking down King Street, and made
an address promising that the law should prevail and justice should be
done to all. The next morning Hutchinson was waited upon by the
selectmen who informed him that there would be no peace until the
soldiers should depart. Hutchinson claimed, however, that the
regiments were not under his command.
A mass meeting was soon held in Faneuil Hall, and was addressed by
Samuel Adams. It may readily be believed that he advocated no
compromise, and a committee of fifteen was immediately appointed of
which Adams was a member. According to instructions, they at once
repaired to the council chamber, and demanded the instant removal of
the troops. At three o'clock a regular town meeting assembled in
Faneuil Hall, but, owing to the great number present, adjourned to the
Old South Meeting House. Then the committee of fifteen appeared
making their way from the council-chamber to the meeting-house.
Samuel Adams was at the head, and as the crowd made way on either
hand he bared his head, and, inclining to the right and left, as he passed
through the line, kept repeating: "Both regiments or none!" "Both
regiments or none!"
[Illustration: STATUE IN ADAMS SQUARE.]
In the presence of the dense multitude in the Old South, the governor's
reply was rendered: the 29th regiment should go to the castle, but the
14th must remain. Then the cry arose, "Both regiments or none!" and as
the shout echoed from every quarter it was plain that the people had
caught the meaning of the watchword, given shortly before by Adams.
A new committee, also including Adams, was appointed and sent back
to the governor, and as they stood in the council chamber the scene was
one that John Adams pronounced long after as worthy a historical

painting. A few sentences from Adams' address to Hutchinson are clear
enough to show the intense earnestness and patriotism of the man.
"It is well known," he said, "that acting as governor of the Province,
you are by its charter the commander-in-chief of the military forces
within it; and as such, the troops now in the capital are subject to your
orders. If you, or Colonel Dalrymple under you, have the power to
remove one regiment, you have the power to remove both; and nothing
short of their total removal will satisfy the people or preserve the peace
of the Province. A Multitude highly incensed now wait the result of this
application. The voice of ten thousand freemen demands that both
regiments be forthwith removed. Their voice must be respected, their
demand obeyed. Fail not then at your peril to comply with this
requisition! On you alone rests