Mr. Otis continued his aggressive policy in the session of the
assembly held in 1762. It was at this session that the
government in the hope of getting a sum of money adopted the ruse
of creating an alarm relative to a French invasion of
Newfoundland. But the patriots would have none of it. They went
so far as to say that if arbitrary government was to be
established in America, it made no difference whether the
Americans should have King Stork or King Log. To this effect ran
a resolution offered by James Otis:

"No necessity can be sufficient to justify a House of
Representatives in giving up such a privilege; for it would be of
little consequence to the people, whether they were subject to
George or Louis, the King of Great Britain or the French King; if
both were arbitrary, as both would be, if both could levy taxes
without Parliament."

It is said that when this resolution was offered a loyalist
member cried out in the Virginian manner, "Treason, treason." It
was in this way that Mr. Otis gained the undying enmity of the
King's party in America.

It was in the period following his legislative service that James
Otis prepared his powerful pamphlet entitled "A Vindication of
the Conduct of the House of Representatives of the Province of
the Massachusetts Bay." In this work he traverses and justifies
the course pursued by the patriot legislature during the sessions
of his attendance.