How strong
his prejudices were may be gathered from a few words: "We think therefore
that every design for establishing ... a bishop in this province, is a
design both against our civil and religious rights." [Footnote: _Votes
and Proceedings of Boston_, Nov. 20, 1772, p. 28.]
The liberals, as loyal subjects of Great Britain, grieved over her policy
as the direst of misfortunes, which indeed they might be driven to resist,
but which they strove to modify.
Washington wrote in 1774: "I am well satisfied, ... that it is the ardent
wish of the warmest advocates for liberty, that peace and tranquillity,
upon constitutional grounds, may be restored, and the horrors of civil
discord prevented." [Footnote: Washington to Mackenzie. _Washington's
Writings_, ii. 402.] Jefferson affirmed: "Before the commencement of
hostilities ... I never had heard a whisper of a disposition to separate
from Great Britain; and after that, its possibility was contemplated with
affliction by all." While John Adams solemnly declared: "For my own part,
there was not a moment during the Revolution, when I would not have given
everything I possessed for a restoration to the state of things before the
contest began, provided we could have had a sufficient security for its
continuance." [Footnote: Note of Sparks, _Washington's Writings_, ii.
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