University of Virginia Library

3. CHAPTER III.
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.

FLEMING followed the orderly up the broad avenue of the front
court, and entered the door of the mansion. A sentinel was also
stationed there. In the hall several young officers were lounging
and conversing, who stared at the colonist as he passed them, and went
into the governor's room. It was a large apartment, richly furnished,
and hung with paintings of the first masters. Elegant cases, filled with
books, were between the windows, and in two of the corners were
marble statues, from Grecian models. The room was lighted by a
chandelier of wax candles. An air of wealth and luxury characterised
the whole interior; for Hutchinson greatly loved display, and although
he possessed few qualities to render him a popular governor to the
colonists, he was a man of educated tastes, and of no inconsiderable
intelligence and talent.

“Here is the young townsman, your excellency,” said the orderly,
as he opened the door and stood aside for Fleming to enter the room.

The lieutenant-governor looked up, for he was seated at a table
with books and papers before him, and after fixing his dark grey eye
steadily upon the face of Fleming, he said, as the orderly retired,

“You desire to see me. I had nearly forgotten you. What is it
you wish?”

“The privilege of saying a few words to your excellency,” answered
Fleming in a firm but respectful tone.

“I can hear them where you stand!” said the governor, with a
quick suspicious air, as Fleming advanced a step or two. “You are
near enough to me. Say what you wish, for you must be aware that
time is valuable to me just now.”

The governor spoke in the manner of one who would act with kindness;
though still with an air of impatience, as if he would have liked

it quite as well if his visitor had not intruded upon his presence. The
suspicion conveyed in his nervous desire, that Fleming should not approach
any nigher, was understood by the latter; and he smiled scornfully
at that timidity which saw an assassin in every one who came
near his person.

“Your excellency,” said Fleming, with that free manly bearing
which always characterised him, “I have sought an interview, not to
ask you for any recompense for the light service I was so fortunate as
to afford you and your daughter. It is true I used the seal you gave
me, but it was only when my first application was unsuccessful. I come
to claim no favor of you on the score of a service done, but to demand
a right.”

“Demand! This is bold language!” said the governor, his brow
bending darkly.

“I speak it with all respect, sir. I have sought you to ask of you
that protection which it is your duty to extend to the humblest in the
colony, and the humblest in the colony to claim as a sacred privilege
from the governor.”

“What is it you wish? How can I protect you?” asked the governor,
looking with surprise upon the fearless countenance of the
speaker.

“Sir, I am a young artisan. I maintain a mother and sister by the
labor of my vocation. We live in humble style, as becomes our fortunes.
To-night a party of soldiers came to my quiet home, and with
arms in their hands, demanded to be admitted. I knew that we were
at war with no nation. I did not ask who was their king, or what
their country. I knew none but a lawless party would make an attempt
to cross a peaceful threshold, and so I thrust them forth. Did I
well or ill, your excellency?”

“Were not those British soldiers, young man?”

“I have said I asked not their name or nation. If they were foreign
soldiers, I did right in thrusting them forth. Were they British soldiers,
I did no less; for by what right do British soldiers intrude upon
our hearths. When English troops get to conduct like sacking enemies,
and enter our houses, who shall condemn us if we meet them as
foes, and bar our doors against them. This I have done, Governor
Hutchinson; and I have come here to demand redress, if these men
prove to be British troops, for the outrage they have put upon me, a

free born subject of the king—your king, their king, and my king?”

Gov. Hutchinson gazed upon the young man with looks of astonishment.
He was confounded by the new position in which the outrage
he had authorised, had been placed by the bold colonist.

“Young man, if you have turned soldiers from your door, you well
knew they were British troops!” he said sternly.

“Then I demand, by what authority do British troops enter and
desecrate my house, that altar, sacred to every man—I mean every
man who has a freeman's heart beating in his bosom?”

“Do you profess ignorance of my order, issued this day.”

“What order?”

“That the citizens should for one night quarter the soldiers, give
them food and lodgings.”

“And by what authority did you issue this order? Who gave
your excellency power to invade the sanctity of our dwellings! to
send your lawless hirelings into our homes, to insult and riot, and
pollute? Sir, you were placed in your high seat to govern and protect,
not to tyrannise and destroy. You have no right to cross the
lowliest threshold in the colony in person, without permission of the
owner and master, much less have you authority to send armed soldiery.
I have resisted your despotic order, and I am ready to bide
the issue.”

“Do you defy me, young man! Do you know that you are in
my power,—that I can send you home to England as a traitor?”

“I have weighed well the consequences. I have acted from a
principle that had its birth in heaven—love of liberty.”

“By the king's head! I should not be surprised if you were the
very person that Cleverling has gone to arrest. Was Lieutenant
Cleverling at the head of the party you refused admittance to your
house, sirrah?”

“He was, your excellency.”

“He reported to me your conduct, but did not give your name. I
gave him orders to bring you before me.”

“I have anticipated his intention, your excellency. I knew that
he would endeavor to get my arrest effected, and I therefore came
to see you in person. On my way hither, I met him and his party.
I have voluntarily placed myself in your power.”

“What an extraordinary young man!”

“Courage and patriotic virtue are, I doubt not, wonderful in the

eyes of those who do not possess them. But I came not hither to insult
your excellency.”

“It is well for you to say this now,” responded Hutchinson, pale
with rage, but yet looking upon him with a respect that he could not
throw off. “Do you not fear me, that you have placed yourself in
my power?”

“No, sir. I have come as your friend, Governor Hutchinson. I
know that among the towns-people, there is not one that will tell you
frankly the truth. I have come to save you from yourself.”

“Explain! What do you mean? What new danger menaces
me?” asked the governor, with lively suspicion.

“You have seen, sir, the exhibition of feeling which the news of
to-day has produced! You have witnessed a firm purpose of resistance
to the oppressive Stamp Bill. All parties have alike to-day,
in the streets, in their shops, in the coffee-houses, on the wharves, in
every place of public resort, expressed in words not to be mistaken,
and the echo of which will yet reverberate through the halls of Parliament,
their indignation at the passage of the bill, and their resolute
determination to resist its enforcement. There is not a man so weak
and ignorant, who does not see in it the links of the chain that Britain
intends to cast upon our necks. They see in it her purpose to
weigh us down to the earth by taxes, as she has done her own groaning
population.”

“I do not wish to hear such language, young man. You presume
too much upon the favor you once chanced to afford me, to speak
thus boldly.”

“No, your excellency. I should speak as freely, had I never been
so fortunate as to save you and your lovely daughter from sudden
death, by drowning. I think not of this while I speak! I have come
hither as your friend. I wish you to know the strong feeling that is
aroused among men. I wish you to forbear increasing it by any
acts of your own. At once withdraw the troops from the city, and
send back to the castle the artillery that is planted in front of the
State-house. Keep no guard, beyond one of mere honor, about your
person, and take no active steps with reference to this infamous
Stamp Act, until the order to do so arrives from the king. By this
means you will conciliate the people, additionally outraged by the
presence of the soldiery in the streets and in their houses, and you
will avert from your own person a fearful doom. There, is, your excellency,
a time when long suffering ceases to be a virtue. The

people have hitherto borne much from you. They are in a mood to
bear but very little more. If you would secure your own personal safety,
and restore quiet in the town, you will send back the troops without
delay, and appear openly before the people without a guard.
This confidence in them will disarm their resentment, and cause
them to visit their indignation upon the ministry at home alone, in
petitions and remonstrances, instead of adding to them vengeance
upon your own person as their tool.”

The governor listened to the words of the young colonist with
deep attention, now his cheek kindling with anger, now paling with
fear. He rose and took two or three turns across the room, in
troubled thought. At length he turned, and said to Fleming,

“What motive has influenced you to come to me?”

“A desire to prevent a hostile conflict between the town and
troops, and partly from that feeling which leads us to serve those for
whom once we have done a service!”

“It may be so, it may be so,” he answered, thoughtfully, and regarding
him with a look of scrutinizing suspicion; “but, young man,
I dare not trust to your advice. I have no doubt all you say is
truth, touching the danger that menaces me; and at the worst I can
retire to the castle and defend myself!”

“True; but is there any necessity of bringing affairs to such a
crisis, your excellency? One musket fired, one drop of blood drawn
in such a position of things, and, believe me, England would lose
her colonies!”

“Do you mean to say that you would take up arms to resist her
authority?” asked the governor, contemptuously.

“Yes, your excellency. Every coersive act on your part will
hasten this posture of affairs. If you are a friend to the king, you
will show yourself a friend to the colonies!”

“You are a wonderful young man. I know not what to make of
you. You seem as honest as you are bold. But you will not think
it unnatural if I suspect your sincerity, and believe that you are sent
to me by some of the leading colonists, who wish to have me remove
the troops in order to take the town into their own keeping, and
doubtless imprison me in my own house!”

Fleming glanced at the lieutenant-governor's face to see if it did
not manifest a blush of shame at this open expression of cowardly
apprehension; but fear was a natural attribute of his excellency, and
his cheek retained its pale hue. Fleming was not a little indignant

at this suspicion, and was about to make some reply in character
with his emotions, when a young female entered from a half-open
door, and approached them. At the sight of her, the young colonist's
brow was heightened with a crimson blush of pleasure and embarrassment.
He dropped his eyes before the power of her beauty and
presence, and bowed with confusion. The governor did not observe
him, as the light fall of her footstep had caused him to turn his
head.

“Ah, Lucy, you are impatient for me to join you at the tea-board,”
he said, smiling upon her, and expressing, in tone and look, a tenderness
for her that at once covered, in Fleming's eyes, all his faults of
character. “This young person you have seen before,” he added,
pointing to Fleming.

“Yes, and I am glad to see that he has not forgotten to call and
see those who owe to him so much,” said Lucy Hutchinson, with
grace and kindliness of speech and manner; and walking forward
to where Fleming stood, she extended her hand to him, and said,
with a blush, as she dropped her eyes before his adoring gaze—“I
now thank you for your service to me. At the time, you fled from
my thanks, but here you are a prisoner!”

“Nay, I do not mean to detain him, Lucy, after all that has
passed,” said the governor, taking her words in that literal sense,
which they might indeed bear. “You must know he has been barring
his doors against—”

“I know it, sir. I was present when Mr. Cleverling made his
report; and had I known then that it was this noble young man
whom he was authorised to arrest, I would have interposed more
warmly than I did; for I know that such an arrest would greatly
irritate the town. I have overheard all your interview in the adjoining
room, and come to enforce Mr. Field's words!”

“Do you think he is sincere, Lucy?”

“I should be ashamed to suspect him to be otherwise, sir,” she
said, her eye kindling with shame at her father's suspicion, and casting
towards Fleming an apologetic look for her father's weakness.
“What he says to you, sir, are the words of wisdom and discretion.
You have greatly angered the people, sir, first by your unguarded
expressions of joy at the arrival of the news that the Stamp-Act had
received the king's signature, then by calling over the soldiers from
the castle, and lastly by billeting them in the private houses of the
inhabitants! We owe this young gentleman the deepest gratitude

for this open and disinterested act of friendship in coming to you,
sir, and making known the danger that must follow the continuance
of the troops in town!”

“But suppose I send them back, and then the mob should be in
the humor to take umbrage at me because I recommended—I mean
because they suspect that I recommended to the ministry the Stamp-Bill—for
no one can prove it upon me? You know what they have
been threatening, daughter!”

“The only way, sir,” said Fleming, “is to show confidence towards
the town's-folk. This will disarm all animosity, and secure
the safety of your person.”

“Well, I will think of it. I will consult with the commander of
the troops.”

“And he, father, will urge you to retain them in the town; for
they like their quarters here better than in the castle!”

“I have received no remonstrance from the General Court,” he
answered, moodily. “It is time enough then to send away the
soldiers. What is this boy's words?”

“Truth is truth, whether offered in a wooden bowl or in a golden
vase,” answered Fleming, firmly. “I have spoken, sir, for your
safety, and the happiness of those dear to you!”

As he uttered these words, he looked towards the maiden with
an expression in his fine eyes of ardent yet modest admiration. She
was not insensible to the glance, nor did it displease her; for the
slight flush of emotion that passed across her features proceeded
from pleasure rather than from anger. High-born as she was, being
the grand-child of a marquis, as well as daughter to the powerful
governor of the colony, she was not indifferent to the fact that she
had created in the breast of the handsome young colonist a sentiment
of timid admiration and worshipping devotion. She did not, by any
means, regard him without some embarrassment of feeling. He had
been in her thoughts often since the time when they first met, three
months before. Fleming had been to Cambridge to take his sister
to her grandfather's, who dwelt in a small farm-house on the banks
of the Charles River. He could go to the very door in a boat, and
had taken one for the conveyance. On his return, as he was entering
the back bay, he saw a six-oared barge crossing. He knew by
the flag in the stern that it was the governor's. The wind was
blowing strong, and a vessel near her, which had missed stays, suddenly
was driven into her. The oarsmen sprung to save themselves

by clinging to the fluke of the anchor and martingale, while the boat
parting, sunk, leaving the governor and his daughter floating upon
the agitated waters. Fleming was but a short distance from the
scene of the disaster, and hastening to the spot, succeeded in rescuing
both the maiden and her father, just as they were about to sink together;
for, forgetful of his own safety, the governor had used every
effort to sustain his child above the surface. The sloop hove-to and
took them on board. The governor, in his gratitude, forced a valuable
seal upon his preserver, saying, that whenever he wished his
aid, to come to him or send that. When Lucy Hutchinson had a little
revived, and wished to thank her gallant preserver, they pointed out
to her his little boat dancing over the waters, and approaching
rapidly the foot of the Common.

From that time she had thought much of the young man, and had
felt the greatest desire once more to see him; and having overheard,
the interview between the young man and her father, and recognising
the voice of the former, she entered the apartment to express her
thanks.

When she now beheld him, the advocate of humanity and the bold
friend of his country, his naturally handsome face lighted up with
the fire of patriotism, she could not withhold, in her heart, her admiration
and interest. When she saw that he regarded her with similar
feelings, a gentle joy was infused into her heart, which throbbed with
new and strange emotions. She saw at once the motive (her happiness)
which had brought him before her father.

“I will think about the matter,” at length answered the governor.
“Young man, you are at liberty to go free. I will send after Cleverling
and order him to return. Until he comes back you had best
stay within; for, if you encounter him in the street, there may be
difficulty, and I want no more occasion for getting the people up!”

“I will not remain. I shall not fear to meet him!”

“You had best delay, Mr. Field,” said Lucy, earnestly. “It is
better you should not meet the party.”

“I cannot resist your request, Miss Hutchinson,” said Fleming.

“If you will walk this way,” said Lucy Hutchinson, “I will try
and entertain you with some portraits of the principal personages
now figuring in England. This is Lord North—this Bute's—this
Grenville's,” she added, as she conducted him to the opposite side
of the large room, and pointed out to his notice the likenesses of
these friends and supporters of the odious Stamp-Bill.