To be sure the Legislature had refused to provide for the emission of
any more paper money, and this, in the opinion of many, was
unpardonable but it had shown a disposition to make up in some degree
for this failure by passing a law to establish a mint in Boston. These
concessions practically cut the ground out from under the rebellion,
and the practical minded people of the state, reckoning up what they
had gained, wisely concluded that it would not be worth while to go to
blows for the residue, especially as there was every reason to think
the Legislature at the next sitting would complete the work of reform
it had so well begun. A convention of the Hampshire County people at
Hadley, on the second of January, gave formal expression to these
views in a resolution advising all persons to lay aside arms and trust
to peaceable petition for the redress of such grievances as still
remained.
Indeed, even if the mass of the people had been less satisfied than
they had reason to be with the Legislature's action, they had had
quite enough of anarchy. The original stopping of the courts and jail
deliveries, had been with their entire approval. But, as might be
expected, the mobs which had done the business had been chiefly
recruited from the idle and shiftless.
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