After the repeal of the stamp act a calm of the public mind ensued, but it was a calm of delusion such as precedes a tornado. The inquisitorial rack of the ministry was again put in motion; fresh impositions commenced and the fire of discontent was again kindled. The bill closing the port of Boston and authorizing the king’s officers to seize and send to England for trial those who should dare resist the royal authority, roused the indignation of the colonies that had before been rather passive. A general Congress was agreed upon to meet at Philadelphia, and Mr. Chase, with four others, was appointed a member from Maryland. They were instructed to join in “agreeing on a general plan of conduct operating on the commercial connexion of the colonies with the mother country for the relief of Boston and preservation of American liberty.” A committee of correspondence was also appointed, of which Mr. Chase was an active and efficient member. The deep solemnity and unparalleled wisdom and prudence that marked the proceedings of the Congress of 1774, shed a lustre around the cause of equal rights, then in embryo, that forced applause from its most violent opposers. Had not the cabinet of Great Britain been blinded by sordid avarice, mad ambition and political delusion, and had not the king been a mere automaton, the moving, loyal and logical appeals from that august body of sages would have been treated with respect and peace restored. The colonists asked for nothing but what was clearly right, and asked in the most respectful and even suppliant manner. Ministers were left without an excuse; _their_ sacrilegious hands broke the great seal of the social compact; their agents sowed the seeds of rebellion; their cruelty kindled the flame that devoured them; their visionary policy severed the cords of maternal affection; their treachery spread the mantle of righteousness over the cause of the revolution. We justly censure them for their corrupt designs but rejoice in the result of their projects. Haman erected his own gallows—Grenville and North destroyed their own power.