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PREFACE TO VOLUHE TEN xv

were regarded with abhorrence that they were only
saved from summary punishment by the jadicious ef-
forts of the friends of law and order, the’ soldiers had
a fair trial, the result of which has stood the test of
time and the examination of impartial history.

The result of the trial gained for the friends of
freedom the respect of the world and no single ocour-
rence did more to advance the cause of truth and just
principles than what was dominated in the language
of that day the Boston Massacre. It caused the im-
mediate withdrawal of the troops from the town of
Boston and the people, feeling that something had
‘been gained, received new confidence in the determina-
tion to resist the encroachments of arbitrary power
and mistaken policy. It was determined by the town
to celebrate the anniversary of the fifth of March, to
the end that there might be an annual development of
the ‘‘fatal effects of the policy of standing armies and
the natural tendency of quartering regular troops in
populous cities in times of peace.”’ On the day of the
first celebration the bells of the town of Boston were
tolled from twelve to one o’elock, at noon, and from
nine to ten in the evening and during this, figures to
represent the murder of the inhabitants were exhib-
ited from a window of a distinguished citizen*of the
town. On the recurrence of this anniversary until aft-
er the independence of the country was firmly estab-
lished, the day was always observed in a solemn and
striking manner. An oration was delivered by public
Tequest, when the orators took oceasion to illustrate
and enforce the great principles of civil and religious
liberty, and the people of Boston were thus prepared
for those acts of spirited and determined resistance
to the encroachments of the Crown which placed them

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