er was composed of the royal
officeholders, which included some of the better families, but was more
largely made up of the lower class of political and social hangers-on,
who had been rewarded with these positions for political debts incurred
in England. The opposition of both groups to the Revolution was
inevitable and easily to be understood, but it was also natural that
the Revolutionists should incline to hold the Loyalists, without
distinction, largely responsible for British pre-Revolutionary policy,
asserting that they misinformed the Government as to conditions and
sentiment in America, partly through stupidity and partly through
selfish interest. It was therefore perfectly comprehensible that the
feeling should be bitter against them in the United States, especially
as they had given efficient aid to the British during the war. In
various States they were subjected to personal violence at the hands of
indignant "patriots," many being forced to flee from their homes, while
their property was destroyed or confiscated, and frequently these acts
were legalized by statute.

The historian of the Loyalists of Massachusetts, James H. Stark, must
not be expected to understate the case, but when he is describing,
especially in New England, the reign of terror which was established to
suppress these people, he writes:

"Loyalists were tarred and feathered and carried on rails, gagged and
bound for days at a time; stoned, fastened in a room with a fire and the
chimney stopped on top; advertised as public enemies, so that they would
be cut off from all dealings with their neighbors; they had bullets
shot into their bedrooms, their horses poisoned or mutilated; money or
valuable plate extorted from them to save them from violence, and on
pretence of taking security for their good behavior; their houses and
ships burned; they were compelled to pay the guards who watched them in
their houses, and when carted about for the mob to stare at and abuse,
they were compelled to pay something at every town."

There is little doubt also that the confiscation of property and the
expulsion of the owners from the community were helped on by people who
were debtors to the Loyalists and in this way saw a chance of
escaping from the payment of their rightful obligations. The "Act for
confiscating the estates of certain persons commonly called absentees"
may have been a measure of self-defense for the State but it was passed
by the votes