It was expected, and this expectation was encouraged by Mr. Hutchinson, that, by directing these measures particularly against Boston, not only the union of the colonies would be broken, but Massachusetts herself would be divided. Never was expectation more completely disappointed. All perceived that Boston was to be punished for having resisted, only with more violence, the principle which they had all resisted; and that the object of the punishment was to coerce obedience to a principle they were still determined to resist. They felt therefore that the cause of Boston was the cause of all, that their destinies were indissolubly connected with those of that devoted town, and that they must submit to be taxed by a parliament, in which they were not and could not be represented, or support their brethren who were selected to sustain the first shock of a power which, if successful there, would overwhelm them all. The neighbouring towns, disdaining to avail themselves of the calamities inflicted on a sister for her exertions in the common cause, clung to her with increased affection; and that spirit of enthusiastic patriotism, which, for a time, elevates the mind above all considerations of individual acquisition, became the ruling passion in the American bosom. On receiving intelligence of the Boston port bill, a meeting of the people of that town was called. They perceived that "the sharpest, sharpest conflict" was indeed approaching, but were not dismayed by its terrors. Far from seeking to shelter themselves from the threatening storm by submission, they grew more determined as it increased. Resolutions were passed, expressing their opinion of the impolicy, injustice, inhumanity, and cruelty of the act, from which they appealed to God, and to the world; and also inviting the other colonies to join with them in an agreement to stop all imports and exports to and from Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies, until the act should be repealed.[232] [Footnote 232: Minot.] It was not in Boston only that this spirit was roused. Addresses were received from every part of the continent, expressing sentiments of sympathy in their afflictions, exhorting them to resolution and perseverance, and assuring them that they were considered as suffering in the common cause.