The general fears that individuals were under, either of distributing or using stamps, was increased in one government by the following paper, pasted up at the door of every public office, and at the corner of the streets— Pro Patria. The first man that either distributes or makes use of stamped paper, let him take care of his house, person, and effects. We dare Vox populi. The public resentment was kept alive and lively by the contemptuous treatment which the stamp act itself met with, being openly burnt in several places with the effigies of the officers; and by caricatures, pasquinades, puns, bon mots, and such vulgar sayings fitted to the occasion, as being short, could be most easily circulated and retained, while, being extremely expressive, they carried with them the weight of great many arguments. The resignation of the officers, and the want of persons, either to undertake the delivery of stamps or to receive and use them, necessarily laid the colonists under a legal inability for doing business, according to parliamentary law. They however ventured upon it, and risked the consequence. The vessels sailed from the ports as before; excepting that, in some instances, a certificate was given, that the person appointed to distribute stamped papers in the province, refused to deliver them, which certificate being handed by the masters to the naval officer, they were admitted to give bond in his office, and to pass through the other offices without stamps. The _Rhode-Island_ and _Providence_ Plantations kept their courts open the whole time, even when they were suspended in the other colonies. Toward the end of November it was agreed in _Maryland_ and _Virginia_ to proceed on business in the usual manner without stamps. In the Massachusetts the popular party so far prevailed, that the house of assembly resolved, January the twenty-third, 1766, “That the shutting up the courts of justice is a very great grievance; and that the judges, justices, and all other public officers in this province ought to proceed as usual.” But when the superior court opened, on the eleventh of March, the parties concerned evaded the prosecuting of business. The lawyers in a body waited, as usual, upon the judges, on the first day of the term, before they went into the court. The chief justice, Mr. Hutchinson, not being present at this meeting, Mr. Peter Oliver said he attended according to his duty, and that he understood it would be expected that he and his brethren should proceed in business in defiance of the late act of parliament: such proceeding, he added, was contrary to his judgment and opinion; and if he submitted io it, it would only be for self-preservation, as he knew he was in the hands of the populace: he therefore previously protested, that all such acts of his, if they sould happen, would be acts under duress. To which the other judges assenting,