Note 397 — Chapter XXVI

"In the beginning of the memorable year 1776, there was a public opinion in favour of independence in New England, and but little more than individual preferences for it in the Middle or Southern colonies. So deeply seated was the affection for the mother country, that it required all the severe acts of war, directed by an inexorable Ministry and the fierce words from the throne, to be made fully known throughout America before the majority of the people could be persuaded to renounce their allegiance and assume the sovereignty. Jefferson says that Samuel Adams was constantly holding caucuses with distinguished men, in which the measures to be pursued were generally determined upon, and their several parts were assigned to the actors who afterwards appeared in them." (Frothingham's Rise of the Republic of the United States, pp. 468, 469.)