which he had made in the morning to the Selectmen, the Justices, and the Council,—­that “the ordering of the troops did not lie with him.”  As the committee, with Samuel Adams at the head, appeared on the Town-House steps, the people were in motion, and the word passed, “Make way for the committee!” Adams uncovered his head, and, as he went towards the church, he bowed alternately to those on each side of the lane that was formed, and repeated the words, “Both regiments or none.”  The answer of the Lieutenant-Governor to the morning demand for a total removal of the troops was read to the meeting in the church.  It was to the effect, that he had conferred with the commanders of the two regiments, who received orders from the General in New York, and it was not in his power to countermand these orders; but the Council desired their removal, and Colonel Dalrymple had signified that because of the part which the Twenty-Ninth Regiment had taken in the differences it should be placed without delay in the barracks at the Castle, and also that the main guard should be removed; while the Fourteenth Regiment should be so disposed and laid under such restraint that all occasion for future differences might be prevented.  And now resounded through the excited assembly, from a thousand tongues, the words, “Both regiments or none!”

A short debate occurred, when the answer was voted to be unsatisfactory.  Then another committee was chosen.  It was resolved that John Hancock, Samuel Adams, William Molineaux, William Phillips, Joseph Warren, Joshua Henshaw, and Samuel Pemberton be a committee to inform the Lieutenant-Governor that it was the unanimous opinion of the people that the reply was by no means satisfactory, and that nothing less would satisfy them than a total and immediate removal of the troops.  This committee was one worthy of a great occasion.  Hancock, Henshaw, and Pemberton, besides being individually of large and just influence from their ability, patriotism, worth, and wealth, were members of the Board of Selectmen, and therefore represented the municipality; Phillips, who had served on this Board, was a type of the upright and liberal merchant; Molineaux was one of the most determined and zealous of the Patriots, and a stirring business-man; Warren, ardent and bold, of rising fame as a leader, personified the generous devotion and noble enthusiasm of the young men; Adams, though not the first-named on the committee, played so prominent a part in its doings, that he appears as its chairman.  He was so widely and favorably known now that he was addressed as “the Father of America.”  Of middling stature, plain in dress, quiet in manner, unpretending in deportment, he exhibited nothing extraordinary in common affairs; but on great occasions, when his deeper nature was called into action, he rose, without the smallest affectation, into an upright dignity of figure and bearing,—­with a harmony of voice and a power of speech which made a strong impression, the more lasting from the purity and nervous eloquence of his style and the logical consistency of his argument.  Such were the men selected to speak and act for Boston in this hour of deep passion and of high resolve.