ination of his appointment. Ruggles
of Hardwick was warned not to return home; his neighbors swore that he
should never pass the great bridge of the town alive. Murray of Rutland,
like Leonard of Taunton, escaped the attentions of his townspeople, who
scorned the threat of confiscation and death, and demanded his
resignation. "This," wrote his brother to him, "is not the language of
the common people only: those that have heretofore sustained the fairest
character are the warmest in this matter; and, among the many friends
you have heretofore had, I can scarcely mention any to you now."

The people did not always act with violence, but the compulsion which
they put upon their fellow-townsmen was strong. Watson of Plymouth, long
respected in the town, had been appointed by the king to the Council,
and had intended to accept. But when he appeared in church on the
following Sunday, his friends rose and left the meeting-house. In the
face of their scorn he bowed his head over his cane, and resolved to
resign.[43]

More than twenty of the thirty-six councillors either declined their
appointment, or resigned. The rest could find no safety except in
Boston, under the protection of the troops. Even the courts were
prevented from sitting, in one case by the ingenious method of packing
the court-room so solidly with spectators that judge and sheriff could
not enter. Only among the garrison at Boston was there comfort for the
Tory officials.

Boston itself was troublesome enough. When Gage, regarding himself as
"personally affronted" by John Hancock,[44] removed him from command of
the Cadets, the company sent a deputation to Salem and returned him
their standard, declining longer to keep up their customary service as
the governor's body-guard. The governor, vexed, replied that had he
previously known of their intentions, he would have dismissed them
himself.

The town meetings troubled him also. Salem held one under his nose, in
spite of a feint to interrupt them by the soldiers. When he summoned the
committee of correspondence of the town to answer for the meeting, they
were stubborn and defiant, refused to give bail when arrested, and were
consequently--released! Other towns held meetings to elect delegates to
a county convention, and the governor was powerless to stop them.
Although he had many more troops than the four regiments with which he
first declared that he could do so much, he felt his helplessness, and,
cursing