efully prepared address to the General Court, delivered January
6, 1773. "I have pleased myself for several years," he said, "with
hopes that the cause [of the "present disturbed and disordered state"
of government] would cease of itself, and the effect with it, but I am
disappointed; and I may not any longer, consistent with my duty to
the King, and my regard to the interests of the province, delay
communicating my sentiments to you upon a matter of so great
importance." The cause of their present difficulties Mr. Hutchinson
thought as evident as the fact itself: a disturbed state of government
having always followed, must have been caused by the denial of the
authority of Parliament to make laws binding the province. Upon a right
resolution of this question everything depended.

The Governor accordingly confined himself to presenting, all in good
temper, a concise and remarkably well-articulated argument to prove that
"no line can be drawn between the supreme authority of Parliament
and the total independence of the colonies"; of which argument the
conclusion must be, inasmuch as the total independence of the colonies
was not conceivably any one's thought, that supreme authority rested
with Parliament. This conclusion once admitted, it was reasonable
to suppose that disturbances would cease; for "if the supremacy of
Parliament shall no longer be denied, it will follow that the mere
exercise of its authority can be no matter of grievance." In closing,
his Excellency expressed the desire, in case the two Houses did not
agree with his exposition of the Constitution, to know their objections.
"They may be convincing to me, or I may be able to satisfy you of the
insufficiency of them. In either case, I hope we shall put an end to
those irregularities which ever will be the portion of a government
where the supreme authority is controverted." In this roundabout way,
Governor Hutchinson finally reached as a conclusion the prepossession
with which he began; namely, that whereas a disturbed state of
government is, ex hypothesi, a vital evil, assertions or denials which
tend to cause the evil must be unfounded.

It happened that both Houses, the lower House especially, remained
unconvinced by the Governor's exposition of the Constitution; and both
Houses took advantage of his invitation to present their objections.
The committee which the lower House appointed to formulate a reply found
their task no slight one, not from any d