* It is proper to remind the reader, in this place, of two well-known facts, each of which had an important bearing on the political events of the period now under consideration.

The first of these facts is, the ' friends of the Government " took no part whatever, in the formation of the Committee of Correspondence nor in its doings. That body was denounced by the Colonial Government, from the beginning, as '■ illegal " -- "it is allowed by the Intelli- " gent among them, that these assemblies of the People without au- " thority of Government are illegal and may be dangerous," {Lieutenant - ijorernor I'niilen to the Eiirl of Ditrlmonlh, " Xew York 1st June 1774.") " These transactions " [the nomintUion of hepnties to the Congress and the propnseit rutijirntion of thi^ ticket hij the hijdij of the jjenple] "are dangerous, " my Lord, and illegal, but by what means shall Government prevent "them? An attempt by the power of the Civil Magistrate would only "show their weakness, and it ia not eaay to say upon what foundation a " military aid should be called in. Such a Measure would involve us in " Troubles which it is thought much more prudent to avoid ; and to shun " all E.vtreams while it is yet possible Things may take a favourable " tmu."--{The srime to the same, " New YoiiK, Gth July, 1774.")

The party of the Government -- subsequently called "Tories" -- included only the members of the Colonial Government, in its various departments, and its dependents; it was, unwillingly, only a passive spectator of what, then, took place, in the political doings of that period ; and it was wholly powerless to suppress the rising spirit of Revolution, which it would have gladly done.