Note 236 — Chapter VIII

"The Massachusetts General Court had provided barracks at the castle for such British troops as might be sent to the province. But some officers (from Nova Scotia) on a recruiting service, finding the distance (three miles) inconvenient, demanded to be quartered in the town. They insisted on the provisions of the Mutiny Act; but the magistrates to whom they applied denied that Act to be in force in the colonies. Loudoun warmly espoused the cause of his officers; he declared 'that in time of war the rules and customs must go, and threatened to send troops to Boston to enforce the demand if not granted within 48 hours. To avoid this extremity, the General Court passed a law of their own, enacting some of the principal provisions of the Mutiny Act; and Loudoun, through Governor Pownall's persuasions, consented to accept this partial concession. The General Court did not deny the power of Parliament to quarter troops in America. Their ground was, that the Act, in its terms, did not extend to the colonies. A similar dispute occurred in South Carolina, where great difficulty was encountered in finding winter quarters for the Royal Americans." (Hildreth's History of the United States, Vol. II., pp. 476, 477.)