MEMOIR OF ISAIAH THOMAS. XX111 trouble from this quarter. In consequence of an essay, signed Mucins Sccevola, published in the Spy of November, 1770, he was summoned, by Governor Hutchinson and his Council, to appear at the Council-Chamber. He promptly refused obedience to the order. His answers to the messenger, which were written down at the time, discover a knowledge of his personal rights, a resoluteness of purpose, and an intrepidity of character, that strongly indicated the course he would after- wards pursue in the coming contest. From a defect of authority in the Governor and Council, further proceedings were suspended until the sitting of the Superior Court, when a vigorous attempt was made to procure an indictment ; but it was defeated by the independent spirit of the grand jury. A proceeding by information was the next course ; but the general intelligence of the people frowned upon this odious engine of government for shackling the press. These attempts at prosecu- tion were renewed the next year under pretence of punishing some supposed libels upon the King; but the assistance of friends relieved him from the danger. A proffer of profession- al services from the distinguished James Otis was gratefully received by Mr. Thomas, and manifests the interest felt for his security by that statesman of mighty mind, and by other patriots of the revolution. At this period there were three other papers, published in Boston, but neither of them had a patronage equal to that of the Spy. Upon its first publication the subscription list con- tained less than two hundred names; but, such was its popu- larity, that in two years it had more patronage than any other paper in New England. Questions of political science and constitutional law were now no longer confined to the forum and halls of legislation, but became daily themes of discussion in the mechanic's shop, at the farmer's fireside, and in the town meeting. The exi- gencies of the times called for a journal, conducted by one whose education, habits, and modes of thinking should har-
