Simon Hawke: Hellfire Rebellion

“I’ve been at sea,” said Hunter. his stolen clothing lending credence to the lie. “Ten long years before the mast. I grew tired of seeing other men grow rich upon the spice trade while I worked like a dog without a whit to show for it. I heard tell that a man could make a good life for himself in the American colonies, but I have only just arrived in Boston and I must confess that I know nothing of these matters you’re discussing. What has this man Oliver done that his image should be strung up from a tree? And what exactly is a stampman, anyway?”

“A stampman, sir, is a plague upon our liberty,” one of the men said, “and if you plan to settle down in Boston, he shall be a plague on yours. as well Sit down, sir, and it will be our pleasure to enlighten you.”

They made room for Hunter and he joined them at the table

“What is your name, sailor?”

“I’m called Reese Hunter.”

The man offered his hand. “Ben Edes is my name,” he said, “and I am the editor of that newspaper you’ve been reading. These gentlemen are Jared Moffat. Thomas Brown, John Hewitt, and Grant Channing. And as you might have heard. not all of us are in complete agreement.” He scowled at Moffat. Brown. and Hewitt.

“Some of us possess a bit more sense than others.” Moffat said wryly. “And a bit more loyalty, it seems.”

“I’ll hear no more talk of that!” said rides, sharply. “My loyalty is not for you to question, fared Moffat! Besides, our friend has asked a question and we owe him the courtesy of a reply.” He turned to Hunter. “The matter concerns taxes, sir. Unjust and ruinous taxes imposed upon us by greedy and unscrupulous men-”

“You call the king greedy and unscrupulous?” said Brown.

“I’ve not said a word against the king!” snapped Edes. “It is the king’s ministers who are to blame for this! That has been my stand from the beginning, so kindly do not go putting words into my mouth, sir!”

“He has no need for that, Ben,” said Moffat. dryly. “You have a surfeit of your own.”

“Let him speak, Jared,” said Hewitt.

“Thank you, John.” Edes said, frowning at Moffat He turned back to Hunter. “Where was I?”

“You were speaking of taxation.” Hunter prompted him.

“Yes, quite.” said rides. “Revenue. The king’s ministers want revenue.” He grimaced and shifted in his chair. “You see, sir, the matter stands like this. The end of the Seven Years War which we called the French and Indian War here in North America, has left England with a heavy debt of some one hundred and forty million pounds. A considerable sum, you will agree. And revenue is needed, not only to pay that massive debt, but also to provide for the garrisoning of troops here in North America to keep the French from regaining their newly lost possessions.”

“And Lord Grenville thinks it’s only reasonable that the colonies should share in the expense.” said Moffat. “After all, the troops are here for our protection.”

“We can rely on our own militia to protect us,” Eck’s said “Besides, have we not already paid our share? Or have you forgotten who financed lord Amherst’s campaigns during the war? The colonies bore that burden, sir, and it has not pleased Parliament to reimburse us. Yet it pleases them to dip their greedy hands into our pockets, to tell us how we may conduct our trade, and to deny us our own land-”

“Oh. Lord, are you on that again?’ said Moffat. with exasperation.

They took land from you?” said Hunter.

“Land that was never rightly his,” said Moffat. before Edes could reply.

“I paid good money for that land!” protested Edes.

“Oh. admit it. Ben, you stole it.” Moffat said “Why not tell him the truth? What he means is that he paid for it with trinkets; bits of pottery and looking glass is what he calls ‘good money.’ That is the princely coin in which he and other enterprising men have paid the Indians for land on which they hunted.”

“It was a fair bargain! They accepted it!” said Edes

“Only because you pressed it on them,” Moffat said. ‘You took advantage of them, Ben. The Indians know nothing of deeds and rights of purchase. They don’t know what such things mean. I lived on the frontier. I know them better than you do. I understand the way they think.”

He turned to Hunter. “They are a simple, savage people, Hunter. In many ways. they are no more than children. And throughout the colonies, speculators like our friend Ben Edes. and men of means such as Ben Franklin in Philadelphia and Col. George Washington in the Virginia colony saw a way to make an easy profit from them. They bought up large tracts of land from the Indians for trinkets and then sold them for considerable gain to westward moving settlers. Only the Indians didn’t really understand what they had sold, you see. They became alarmed at settlers pushing deep into their hunting grounds. Under Chief Pontiac, the leader of the Ottawa tribe, they rose up in rebellion and destroyed all the frontier settlements in Virginia. Maryland, and Pennsylvania. They were finally defeated by the British troops and our own colonial militia, but the ministry did not want a reoccurrence of the uprising, so they decreed that speculators could no longer buy land from the Indians, but only through officials of the Crown. And they further stipulated that no trading with the Indians could be conducted except with a special license from a royal governor. I think it was a very wise decision, made to keep the peace. but Ben and others like him have been resentful of it ever since.”

“That was not the real reason for the proclamation and you know it.” Edes said angrily. He has merely given you the Tory version of the truth. The real truth is that our British cousins seek to keep us from prosperity. They know that if we are confined to the Atlantic seaboard, our cities will grow and attract skilled artisans from England. They are afraid that we would begin to manufacture and compete with their production. On the other hand. if we continue to push west, our spread will soon take us out of British jurisdiction and we will cease to be dependent on the mother country. So their solution is to suppress our growth by acting to protect the interests of the Indians over our own. And it’s true that I am not the only one who is resentful of it. But they did not stop there, no. sir! They passed a law to keep us from our land and now they seek to stop our trade, as well!”

“The smugglers’ trade, you mean.” said Moffat.

And whose fault is it that we are forced to smuggle?” Edes said. “Do not the distillers need molasses to make rum? Do not the farmers need markets for their grain and cattle? Do not the butchers and the bakers and the lumbermen need markets for their goods, as well? You know as well as I that virtually all the produce of New England is barred from Britain to protect home trade. Yet we must import everything only from them! Is that fair. I ask you? Why should we import European goods only from England when we can obtain them far more cheaply elsewhere?”

“He means that we’ve always sent much of our produce to the French West Indies.” Moffat explained. “where it was traded for molasses and European goods. It’s long been a common practice for the captains and the owners of the ships to falsify their manifests and bribe the customs officers, but it was illegal then and it’s illegal now. The only difference is that now the Acts of Trade and Navigation are being rigidly enforced. Some people seem to think that it’s an imposition to obey the law.”

Ben Edes snorted. “You talk about legality,” he said. ‘What about the old principle of English law that upholds the right of people to be taxed only by their representatives? The Sugar Act was passed without anyone in Parliament remarking upon that. sir! They seek to bleed us dry and make it all seem legal! Now anyone caught smuggling will have their ships and cargoes confiscated, and instead of being tried in our own colonial courts, with juries, as is a citizen’s right, those cases are now heard in admiralty courts, which have no juries. Defendants are presumed guilty until innocence is proven, and even if a man should be proved innocent. he must still pay all the costs and cannot recover any damages. Meanwhile. the Royal Navy leaps at every chance to collect colonial prize money by seizing any vessel ‘suspected’ of being a smuggler, not only merchant ships. mind you, but smaller vessels. too, which are not required to carry manifests of cargo. The Acts of Trade and Navigation enable agents of the Crown to break into any ship. home, store. or warehouse suspected of containing smuggled goods. Where is the legality in that. I ask you? Where is the justice? And now they want to ram the Stamp Act down our throats!