Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886. 317
fession from the House. That body was found to be completely in
the hands of the debtor element. They filled the vacancies in the
Senate with men after their own ilk ; they passed a bill admitting to
tlie bar all persons of good moral character ; they limited the fees of
attorneys ;
they imposed an oath on lawyers, to be taken before plead-
ing, to provide against tlie cheating of clients ; and they attempted to
issue more paper money. But the Senate was proof against these
vagaries, and the session ended in smoke.
An angry county convention met at Worcester August 15, and an-
other at Hatfield on the 22d, the latter body continuing for three days.
Their demands included the abolition of the Senate, the Court of Common
Pleas, and General Sessions of the Peace, the lawyers' fee table,
land gi'ants to government officials, unequal taxation as between polls
and estates and landed and mercantile interests, and the holding of
sessions of the General Court at Boston. The convention also voted
in favor of the election of civil officers by the General Court, the
emission of paper mone}', and the calling of a State constitutional
convention. Although tliis assembly recommended that the inhabi-
tants of Hampshire county abstain from " mobs and unlawful assem-
blies, until a constitutional method of redress can be obtained, " the
judges at Nortliampton, four days later, were greeted with an ugly
crowd armed with clubs and muslvets. They surrounded the court-
house, and demanded an adjournment sine die. After an informal
session at a tavern, the court yielded, and adjourned to Springfield
on the second Tuesday of November. The Court of Common Pleas
and General Sessions of the Peace at Worcester had been interrupted
in a similar way, that same month, and a most alarming state of
things existed, not only in the counties of Hampshire, Worcester, and
Berksliire, but also Bristol, Middlesex, and other eastern counties.
Governor Bowdoin issued a proclamation calling upon all people to
keep the peace. The Legislature was also assembled September 27.
At Concord, Great Barrington, and other places the same scenes
were enacted, and the courts compelled to adjourn. General Shepard,