Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee, and His Correspondence with the Most Distinguished Men in America and Europe Volume 2; Illustrative of Their Characters, and of the Events of the American Revolution (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1825 Excerpt: ...the oration was finished, when, upon a motion made for the appointment of another orator, as usual, they began to hiss, which irritated the assembly to the greatest degree, and confusion ensued; they, however, did not gain their end, which was apparently to break up the meeting, for order was soon restored, and we proceeded regularly and finished the business. I am persuaded, that, were it not for the danger of precipitating a crisis, not a man of them would have been spared. It was provoking enough to the whole corps, that while there were so many troops stationed here, with the design of suppressing town meetings, there should yet be one for the purpose of delivering an oration to commemorate a massacre perpetrated by soldiers, and to show the danger of standing armies; they, therefore, it seems, a few days after, vented their passion on a poor, simple countryman, the state of whose case is drawn up by himself, and sworn to before a magistrate, as you will see by the enclosed; thus you see, that the practice of tarring and feathering, which has so often been exclaimed against, by the tories, and even in the British House of Commons, as inhuman and barbarous, has, at length, been revived by some of the polite officers of the British army, stationed in this place, professedly to prevent riots. Some gentlemen of the town, waited on the general on this occasion; he appeared to be angry at it, and declared that he knew nothing about any such design; he said, that he, indeed, heard an irregular beat of the drum, (for they passed by his house, ) but thought they were drumming a bad woman through the streets This, to be sure, would not have been a riot. The selectmen of Billarica, an inland town, about thirty miles distant, to which the abused man belonged, have ..