When the news reached London, various restraining measures were passed. The place which had witnessed the outrage was declared closed for all exports and imports; and though the bold stand of the provincials astonished the mother country, it was supposed to be but temporary. It was soon found, however, that Boston was not alone; other provinces joined; and British America called a general congress. Magazines were formed; ammunition was provided; plans were drawn up for the defence of the country; and a large body enrolled, termed minute-men, engaged to turn out at a minute’s notice. Every contingency was prepared for; and an aspect called rebellious by the mother country was boldly presented. The first blood was shed at Lexington, where British soldiers fled before American militia. Emboldened by success, they reduced two forts, took Montreal, and attempted Quebec. Nor was England idle in the struggle. An addition to the land and sea force was voted; loans were raised; reinforcements were ordered to Boston; and the military ardor which had seized the Americans found fuel on which to expend itself. With fire-arms formed by themselves; with weapons wrought from the plough; with artillery so clumsily fashioned that it burst more often than it discharged; with men who had only the determination to die free rather than live bond,—the American generals beat the veteran troops of England. Her forts were taken, her forces surrounded, her armies destroyed, and her officers made prisoners. The principal powers of Europe looked with delight upon a struggle between the soldiers of the mother country and the raw recruits of the colony; between discipline on the one side and patriotism on the other; on the entire power of England baffled by men from the pen and from the plough, from the shop and from the counting-house. The loans of this disastrous period were most unpopular. The increased taxation which followed was drawn with the utmost difficulty from the pockets of the people. Political misfortunes and military disasters made the subjugation of America chimerical. Earl Cornwallis surrendered himself and his army as prisoners of war; and when the contest was extended to Europe,—when England stood alone against Holland, France, Spain, and America,—when our navy was defeated,—when the English coast and harbors were insulted, our West India Islands ravaged, and our trade swept away,—the discontents of the country increased, and the debates in the House grew violent and acrimonious. “You sheathe your sword, not in its scabbard, but in the bowels of your countrymen,” said one; and on some unhappy boast of driving the Americans into the sea,—“I might as well,” said Lord Chatham, “think of driving them with my crutch.” The people grumbled at defeat following defeat, at trade crippled, at taxes augmented, and debts enlarged.