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Painted by J. 3. Copley. 
 
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 From tke Original Pabtmg ld 
 Vol. L n . VI 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OP 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS, 
 
 BEING 
 
 A NARRATIVE OF HIS ACTS AND OPINIONS, AND OF HIS AGENCY 
 IN PRODUCING AND FORWARDING THE 
 
 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE, STATE PAPERS, 
 AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM/f." WELLS 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 
 
 1865. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865. by 
 
 WILLIAM V. WELLS, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. 
 
 ^ 
 
 University Press : Welch, Bigelow, & Co., 
 Cambridge. 
 
E 302, 
 
 I .6 
 
 I ' /UW4 
 
 * V / 
 
 AS 
 
 A TESTIMONIAL OF AFFECTION AND ESTEEM, 
 
 THESE VOLUMES 
 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO 
 
 GEORGE A. SIMMONS, Esq., 
 
 OF ROXBURY, MASS., 
 BY HIS SINCERE AND LIFE-LONG FRIEND, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 An eminent statesman has said, that a " Life of Samuel 
 Adams is the one niche remaining to be filled in American 
 biography." It will not be questioned that, considering his 
 entire self-devotion to the welfare of his countrymen, to- 
 gether with the oblivion which has enshrouded all but his 
 mere name, an attempt at restoration is as much a necessity 
 to those who revere virtue and exalted patriotism as it is a 
 duty we owe to his memory. 
 
 "If," wrote John Adams, in 1819, "the American Eevolution 
 was a blessing, and not a curse, the name and character of Samuel 
 Adams ought to be preserved. It will bear a strict and critical ex- 
 amination even by the inveterate malice of his enemies. A syste- 
 matic course has been pursued for thirty years to run him down. 
 His merits and services and sacrifices and sufferings are beyond 
 all calculation." 
 
 Circumstances have for many years prevented the pro- 
 duction of a work, to write which completely, it has been 
 asserted, would be to repeat the story of the Revolution. 
 And it is perhaps better that it has been so long deferred. 
 With the additional facts which time has brought to light, 
 
 /it is likely that inaccuracies in a book written forty years 
 / 
 ago might now be discovered. Placed nearer to the statue, 
 
 the biographer would not have clearly discerned its true 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 proportions ; its contour and character are more correctly 
 \een from a distance. 
 
 As early as 1815, the late Samuel Adams Wells com- 
 menced gathering, from various sources, the papers of his 
 , grandfather, with the view to publication. The enterprise 
 was based on a profound veneration for the man, and an 
 /intelligent appreciation, enhanced by family tradition, of 
 ' his great services. It was pursued at intervals until he had 
 ! prepared a history of the Revolution up to the year 1777, 
 of which a few chapters had been printed, when the death 
 of the writer put an end to the work. Not long afterwards, 
 '< the papers passed into the hands of the Hon. George Ban- 
 croft, for whose History they have supplied valuable mate- 
 rial. To the genius, love of truth, and discriminating 
 ( judgment of that historian is greatly due the increasing lus- 
 tre which time is shedding on the name of Samuel Adams. 
 
 If at any time before the Declaration of Independence 
 the Revolution had proved a failure, Samuel Adams would 
 probably have been the first victim on the scaffold. All 
 contemporary evidence goes to show that, as the " Arch 
 Manager " and " Chief Incendiary," on him at least must 
 have fallen the royal vengeance. While, then, the righteous 
 principle of the Revolution is admitted, and posterity has 
 reaped the benefits resulting from its successful achieve- 
 ment, it is but justice that his part in the great drama 
 should be ascertained. The study and research inseparable 
 from Bancroft's literary labors left no reason to hope that 
 he could devote the attention necessary to a biography em- 
 bracing such a succession of events ; and it seemed as if the 
 longer the work was delayed the less likelihood there was 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 that it would ever be begun. Scarcely realizing the require- 
 ments for an undertaking which, properly, could only be 
 warranted by a position of literary leisure, the author, 
 though distrustful as to his own fitness, determined to apply 
 to Mr. Bancroft for access to the Adams papers, which had 
 then lain many years in the historian's library. Permission 
 was promptly given, and they were carefully gleaned, while 
 their proprietor facilitated the design with kind advice and 
 direction. 
 
 But this acquisition only showed how much remained to 
 be done, and that hardly the threshold of the work had 
 been crossed. American history had to be read and reread, 
 /until a proper understanding could be gained of its relation 
 to the political course of Adams. Town records, files of 
 old newspapers, pamphlets, and circulars were to be exam- 
 ined and compared, public archives in different States and 
 in the London State Paper Office consulted, and the col- 
 lections of antiquarian and historical societies patiently 
 searched. Interviews were sought with aged persons who 
 had known Samuel Adams, or had lived near him ; but in 
 nearly every instance time had effaced all recollection of 
 particular events. The last of the preceding generation 
 who had witnessed his public career had passed away, and 
 with them much of the fund of interesting reminiscence 
 and anecdote always so valuable in illustrating character. 
 Only brief and imperfect sketches could be found in ency- 
 clopaedias and biographical dictionaries, in some his very 
 name being omitted ; and the story had to be created out 
 of fragments gathered here and there. The course of 
 Adams has thus been followed through the leading events 
 

 Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ^of the Revolution, — sometimes his action ascertained every 
 month in the year, — and this is as close an approach to 
 continuity as is now possible. The careful tracing of some 
 
 .(thread of evidence, both by correspondence and personal 
 investigation, oftentimes ended in total disappointment, or, 
 at best, afforded the material for only a few lines. 
 
 When, by reason of unavoidable delays and constant de- 
 mands upon the time of the author in an editorial capacity, 
 / five years had been expended, he was disposed to transfer 
 what he had collected to any gentleman whose scholarly 
 attainments and leisure would be better adapted to weaving 
 it into a biography worthy the character and times to be 
 treated. The whole was arranged in chronological order, 
 with notes and references, ready for a comparatively speedy 
 completion ; but time passed on, and it was plain that if the 
 work was to be finished, it must be by the hand that be- 
 gan it. And perhaps such a narration could appear at no 
 
 /time more appropriately than at the commencement of the 
 great centennials of the Revolution, and when treason has 
 just been defeated in an attempt to overthrow the goodly 
 heritage of freedom which the subject of these memoirs 
 toiled so long and arduously to secure. The example pre- 
 sented by his disinterested desire for the advancement of 
 his country, his incorruptible integrity and republican sim- 
 plicity of character, cannot be entirely thrown away, how- 
 ever imperfectly delineated. 
 
 Care has been taken not to lose the individuality of 
 the man in a too copious account of general events ; but 
 rather to keep sight of him at all times, and only briefly 
 depart from his immediate actions when such digression 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 would tend to illustrate the central figure. The correspond- 
 / ence, pamphlets, state papers, and controversial essays with 
 
 / the Loyalist writers, which would be included in a complete 
 collection of his works, while exhibiting the immensity and 
 
 \ importance of his labors, would furnish matter for many 
 volumes ; but the publication of them seemed to be inconsis- 
 tent with the original design, which has been to condense 
 
 * the material into as narrow a compass as the subject would 
 admit. Thus, in order to confine the work within ordinary 
 /limits, only extracts in most cases have been given from his 
 \ writings. These are silent evidences of his amazing indus- 
 try, his courage, ceaseless vigilance, and wise statesmanship, 
 and his cheerfulness and fortitude amid disasters. They 
 
 , : display his early championship of Colonial rights long prior 
 to the taxation disputes ; his positive principles at the dawn- 
 ing of the Revolution ; his far seeing, yet prudent measures 
 , for effecting a separation from the mother country, when 
 
 s redress of grievances was evidently hopeless ; his ingenious 
 and gradual direction of public opinion into an habitual con- 
 templation of Independence ; his master agency in carrying 
 that measure in the Congress of 1776 ; his Congressional 
 services during the war ; his hopes and anxieties for the 
 young republic after the peace ; and his deep solicitude for 
 the preservation of the National Union when, towards the 
 close of the century, while he was Governor of Massachusetts, 
 partisan strife had assumed a bitterness scarcely paralleled 
 in any country. The intention, in fine, has been to repre- 
 sent him as he appeared to those who personally knew him, 
 i — friends and enemies, — to show the great space he filled 
 in the Revolution, and to disclose, by means of his own 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 private letters and trustworthy contemporary evidence, the 
 measures hy which he aided so largely in accomplishing 
 American liberty. 
 
 A portion only remains of the manuscript papers left by 
 the patriot. Soon after his death, they were placed by his 
 executors in the keeping of Benjamin Austin, Esq., who in- 
 tended to write the Life of Adams ; but finding that the 
 preparation of the work would occupy more time than he 
 had expected, and believing that the proper period had not 
 then arrived for their publication, he renounced the task, 
 and they passed from hand to hand, and laid neglected for 
 some years in the possession of those who knew not their 
 value, and were careless as to their preservation. Before 
 attention had been directed to it, inroads upon the most 
 precious were made ; sometimes by the descendants of Mr. 
 Adams's correspondents seeking memorials of their ances- 
 tors ; at others, by persistent autograph hunters, who were 
 allowed unrestricted liberty to carry off the most illus- 
 trious signatures ; and. to the ravages of time should be 
 added their destruction by children, and, more vexatious 
 still, by an ignorant servant, who used no inconsiderable 
 portion to kindle fires. There is also reason to believe 
 that letters were abstracted early in the present century 
 by persons interested in their suppression. It was now 
 that Mr. Samuel Adams Wells, as above stated, became 
 aroused to the importance of preserving what remained, and 
 carefully collected all that could then be recovered. How 
 extensive they must once have been, even after Samuel 
 Adams himself had destroyed such as his thoughtfulness 
 for others forbade him to preserve, may be inferred from 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 the fact that, in 1804, as recorded by a member of the 
 family, trunks and boxes were filled, and shelves around the 
 walls of the garret piled high with letters and documents, 
 many of them in the handwriting of the late Governor. 
 There yet remain his original rough drafts of celebrated 
 state papers of the Revolution, prior to the war, some entire, 
 and of others only the fragments. The paternity of num- 
 bers of these, as well as of political essays of that period, 
 has, until the appearance of Bancroft's later volumes, been 
 claimed for one and another of his contemporaries, — a 
 natural, but unfortunate, consequence of Samuel Adams's 
 entire disregard for the honors of authorship. The royal 
 Governors in their secret letters to the Ministry, now first 
 published, have in some measure compensated for this by 
 repeatedly denouncing him as the author. The accuracy 
 of their information, which was probably furnished by hired 
 spies or Loyalists in the Legislature, is attested by such of his 
 original compositions as have been preserved in manuscript. 
 The collection of letters as they now exist, together with 
 others more recently discovered, embraces a correspondence 
 with the principal characters of the Revolution, including 
 Joseph Warren, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, 
 Samuel Cooper, James Warren, James Otis, Paul Revere, 
 James Lovell, General Roberdeau, J. Pickering, Elbridge 
 Gerry, Dr. Cotton Tufts, the Count de Vergennes, James 
 Sullivan, Governor Trumbull, Judge Marchant, Peter Tim- 
 othy, Richard Henry Lee, John Dickinson, Stephen Sayre, 
 John Wilkes, Arthur Lee, John Langdon, Samuel Mather, 
 Joseph Hawley, President Weare, Benjamin Kent, Jonathan 
 Scollay, Governor Ward, Dennys Deberdt, John Hancock, 
 John Lowell, Colonel Barrd, General Burgoyne, James 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 
 Smith, John Morin Scott, George Read, Christopher Gads- 
 den, Israel Putnam, Thomas McKean, William Lee, Thomas 
 Jefferson, General Howe, Silas .Deane, Noah Webster, the 
 Chevalier de la Lucerne, General Alexander Macdougal, 
 General Gates, Thomas Young, Josiah Quincy, Richard 
 Jackson, John Pitts, Judge Bryan, John Winthrop, S. P. 
 Savage, Dr. Chauncy, Governor George Clinton, General 
 .Greene, Governor Thomas Johnson, General John Sullivan, 
 General John Fellows, James Bowdoin, The Baron de Steu- 
 ben, Thomas Chittenden, Charles Thompson, Stephen Hop- 
 kins, Benjamin Church, Roger Sherman, Thomas Paine, 
 / and various prominent friends of liberty in England, with 
 { whom Adams maintained an anonymous correspondence, 
 some of them furnishing him with secret information. Au- 
 tograph letters to or from most, of these have been saved, 
 — in some instances, probably, all that ever passed be- 
 tween the writers, but oftener only small portions. In 
 connection with Revolutionary occurrences, they form an 
 intelligible key to his life, extending through the heroic age 
 of America, and exhibit the secret springs of his most im- 
 portant political actions. 
 
 The author is under lasting obligations to several mem- 
 bers of historical and other literary societies, who have 
 interested themselves in procuring copies of records and 
 papers which were beyond his reach, and have cheerfully 
 responded to troublesome queries, involving an expenditure 
 of time and attention which in some instances could ill be 
 spared. The continual use of data thus furnished is the 
 best evidence how indispensable it has proved. 
 
 W. V. w. 
 
 Boston, December, 1865. 
 
CHRONOLOGY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS 
 VOL. I. 
 
 1722. 
 
 Page 
 Sept. 16 (0. S.). Samuel Adams is born, in Boston ... 4 
 
 . 1736. 
 He enters Harvard College 5, 6 
 
 1740. 
 He is graduated 6 
 
 1740-43. 
 He studies law, enters a counting-house, and finally be- 
 comes his father's partner. — His father is embarrassed 
 by the dissolution of the Land Bank . . . . 6-13 
 
 1743. 
 He takes his Master's degree, deii mring a the sis on. re- 
 sistance to the power-of the supreme magistrate . 
 
 1746. 
 His father is elected a Bepresentative of Boston . . 13, 14 
 
 1747. 
 Adams and a few friends form a political club . . 15^^ 
 
 1748. 
 The club publish " The Public Advertiser" . . . 15-23 
 March. His father dies, and he succeeds to his business, brewing . 23, 24 
 
 1749. 
 Oct. 17. He marries Elizabeth Checkley 25 
 
 1750, etc. 
 He becomes a frequent writer in the newspapers in de- 
 fence of Colonial rights 30 - 34 X 
 
 1 
 
 / 
 
XIV 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 July 25. 
 
 7s i/$5r 
 
 i X 
 
 Dec. 6. 
 
 fc^ •• 
 
 X August. 
 — Sept. 18. 
 
 v/ 
 
 Oct. 
 
 7-25 
 
 Oct. 
 
 24. 
 
 ^ 
 
 29> 
 
 Oct., 
 
 , Nov. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 7. 
 
 Nov. 8. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 , Dec. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 21. 
 
 1757. 
 His wife dies, leaving two children . . . , 25 
 
 1758. 
 
 He resists a sheriff's attachment on the family estate, 
 arising from the unsettled affairs of the Land Bank . 25-29 
 
 1760. 
 Francis Bernard succeeds Thomas Pownall as Governor 39 -42 
 
 1763-65. \y^ 
 
 Adams is tax-collector, and has much trouble on ac- 
 count of the inability of many to pay their taxes . 35-38 
 
 1764. 
 
 He liberates a slave who had been given to Mrs. Adams*~ 138 \S 
 He drafts the Boston instructions protesting against Par-yr 
 
 liamentary taxation " 46-43 \*s 
 
 He brings about the first union of the Colonies to oppose 
 
 the measures of Parliament "49, 50V^ 
 
 Address to Parliament for the repeal of the Sugar Act, 
 
 perhaps written by Adams h\Cr* 
 
 Adams marries his second wife, Elizabeth Wells . 53, 54 
 
 1765. 
 The Stamp Act passed, despite the eloquence of Barr£ 
 
 and others . . .-.,... 
 Riot in Boston on account of the Act. — Origin of the 
 
 Sons of Liberty 
 
 Adams again drafts the Boston instructions . 
 He enters the Massachusetts Legislature, which is imme- 
 diately prorogued . . . . . • 70, 71 — — 
 Colonial Congress at New York ... 64, 65, 67, 80^ 
 The Legislature reassembles and Adams replies to the 
 
 Governor's opening address of Sept. 25 . . . 71-74 — ■ 
 He writes the Massachusetts Resolves on the rights and 
 
 privileges of the Province 74-77*— 
 
 Opposition to the Stamp Act; also to the additional/ 
 guard at Castle William, on which Adams writes a re/ 
 
 port, Nov. 6 78-80 
 
 Adams instructs the Massachusetts agent in London . 80-82 
 
 The Legislature is prorogued 82 
 
 The Province distressed by the effects of the Stamp Act 82 - 85 
 Adams writes instructions to Deberdt .... 103-105 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 XV 
 
 1765-68. 
 He is still harassed on account of the uncollected taxes, 
 but is finally discharged from all liability by a vote of 
 the Town 38 
 
 f* 
 
 42 
 
 # 
 
 1766. 
 Jan., Feb. Debates in Parliament on the repeal of the Stamp Act . 106-109 ;\ 
 Jan. 15, etc. The Massachusetts Legislature meets. — Adams replies 
 to the Governor's Speech of Nov. 8, 1765, answers a 
 letter of Deberdt to the House, and acts on many com- 
 mittees, especially on that to consider the closing of 
 the courts of justice. — The Court adjourned, Feb. 24 110 — 114 
 He replies for Boston to a letter of sympathy from Ply- 
 mouth 119 
 
 Adams re-elected Kepresentative, and, on the meeting of 
 the General Court, May 28, c hosen C lerk. — He con- 
 ducts a controversy with the Governor on the election 
 
 of Councillors 120-122 
 
 Celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act . . .114-116 
 Dispute of the House with the Governor on the indem- 
 nification of the sufferers by the Stamp Act riot. — 
 Adams composes the reply of the House, June 24 . 122 - 125 
 Oct. - Dec. After much discussion, the House, influenced by Haw- 
 ley, grant indemnification 126-128 
 
 Oct. ' The House and the Town take into consideration the 
 
 misrepresentations of the crown officers . • . . 129, 130 
 Dec. Dennis Deberdt appointed special agent in London for 
 
 the Assembly ....... 130 1 
 
 March 24. 
 
 ){ May 6. 
 
 May 19. 
 June. 
 
 — • -A 
 
 Dec. 
 
 Adam's opposes qHarTenng the royal troops on the Prov- 
 ince . . . 
 
 131-133 
 
 March 16. 
 
 X March 16. 
 
 \ 
 
 May. 
 
 May 27. 
 
 June 29. 
 bee. 30. 
 
 Jan. 13. 
 
 1767. 
 
 Adams writes the Assembly's letter to Deberdt on Hutch- 
 inson's attempt to force himself into the Council . 134-137 
 
 The Town of Boston advocates the abolition of slavery 
 in Massachusetts Ay^^y %. &£****, C^f^^r-^j XZ^^^ 
 
 The dispute on quartering the troops reopened by the 
 arrival of the 14th Foot 141, 142_^ 
 
 The Legislature meets, and elects Adams Clerk. — It is 
 prorogued, June 25 .... 
 
 Townshend's new scheme of taxation adopted 
 
 The Legislature meets 
 
 141 
 143, 144 v 
 152 
 
 1768. 
 
 Adams writes to Deberdt the Assembly*^ letter, after- 
 wards published in London in " The True Sentiments 
 of America" 152- 
 
 158, 180 
 
xvi \ I CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 Jan., Feb. He writes the Assembly's addresses to the Ministry, 
 their petition to the King, and a Circular Letter to 
 the other Provincial Assemblies •. . 158-167, 172- 174 ^ 
 
 Jan. 21. A motion to invite the other Assemblies to join in the 
 
 petition to the King is lost . . » , . 169 1^ 
 
 Feb. 4. A similar motion carried, and the Circular Letter, dated 
 
 Feb. 11, written by Adams. — Its results . 170-173, 179-^^, 
 
 Feb. The House demand and obtain a letter of Shelburne to 
 Bernard. — The letter reveals Bernard's misrepresenta- 
 tions 174, 175 
 
 Feb. 26.\.y Resolutions passed for the encouragement of manufac- 
 tures in the Province 176 
 
 March 4. The Legislature is prorogued . . . . 116, 117 
 
 March 18. The anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act celebrat- 
 ed peaceably 177, 178 
 
 April. The Privy Council order Bernard to direct the Assembly 
 
 to rescind their Circular Letter .... 180— — 
 
 May 25, 26. The General Court meets. — Hutchinson again defeated 
 
 in the election of Councillors 183 . 
 
 June. Troops and a fleet ordered to Boston . . . 185*- ■*• 
 
 June 10. Hancock's sloop Liberty seized by the crown officers. — 
 
 Indignation of the people. — The Collector's boat burnt 186—189 -%*■» 
 
 June 14. Meeting of the " Sons of Liberty," who send an address 
 
 to the Governor, drawn up by Otis . . . 189, 190 
 
 June 17. John Adams writes the Boston Instructions . . . 191 «•■ ■■ 
 
 June 30. The House refuse to rescind their Circular Letter. — 
 They despatch a letter to Lord Hillsborough written by 
 Adams. — Adams discusses the subject in the Assem- 
 bly's answer to the Governor's message. — Otis opposes # 
 the publication of the letter. — The Court prorogued 192- 198««i»» 
 Adams begins to labor for American Independence . 20'Zhhb 
 The third anniversary of the Stamp Act riot celebrated 203, 204 
 A town meeting held to consider the expected arrival of 
 British troops. — Otis, Adams, and Warren draw up re- 
 solves. — The citizens adopt a " Declaration " that they 
 " will not submit," and call for a convention of dele- 
 gates from the towns 212-215,283^^ 
 
 Sept. 22-27. The convention held. — Its proceedings. — Otis's ab- 
 sence 215 — 218 
 
 Sept. 27. The 14th and 29th regiments arrive. — The 14th is 
 
 allowed by the Sons of Liberty to sleep in Faneuil Hall 218, 219 ■ m, 
 
 Oct. Disputes between the Council and General Gage in re- 
 
 gard to the maintenance of the troops. — The soldiers 
 desert. — Adams saves one from the lash . . 220 - 223— — «• 
 
 Nov. Debates in Parliament on American affairs . . . 225 - 228 
 
 Nov., Dec. Difficulties between the troops and the towns-people. 229— 234.JL* 
 
X 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. XVU 
 
 1769. 
 Jan. Evidence to convict the patriots of treason sought unsuc- 
 cessfully 236, 237 
 
 / Jan. 23. The deposition of Richard Sylvester against Adams . 209-211 
 J Jan., Feb. Eurther debates in Parliament on American affairs. — 
 
 Eloquence of Burke, Barre, etc. . . 235, 236, 244, 247 
 
 March 13. Public meeting to vindicate the town .... 246 
 
 March 18. Adams publishes an address " To the Sons of Liberty " "17 *M ft - 
 March 27. He defends Dr. Chauncy against the Rev. Mr. Seabury 249, 250 
 April 4. - The Town adopts a petition to the King and a letter "*■*- 
 
 \ jtoBa rrr v mi C e ' tf fr y " %a^msP"~~ 7 ... 246, 247^*-« 
 y April. V$hange in the policy of the Ministry towards the Colo- 
 nies ; the late duties are removed from all articles ex- 
 cept tea, but the right of taxation is still claimed. — 
 Bernard is recalled and created Baronet of Nettleham. 
 — Adams comments sarcastically on the promotion . 252 — °M ir 
 X April 24. Adams attacks Gage and B ernard, for their misrepresen- 
 tations of Boston ....... 250, 251«^» 
 
 *T May 5. *Adams re-elected Representative .... 255 *^- 
 
 X May 31. The Legislature meet. — Adams re-elected Clerk. — He 
 writes for the House a remonstrance against the pres- 
 ence of the troops 255, 256 f, 
 
 June. Discussions between the House and the Governor con- 
 
 cerning the troops, the removal of the Assembly to 
 Cambridge, the payment of the Governor's salary in 
 
 advance, etc 256 - 258 
 
 June 27. The Assembly present a petition to the King for Gov- 
 ernor Bernard's removal 258 
 
 July 3. A resolution of the House denying the power of Parlia- 
 ment over the Colonies is published in the Boston 
 Gazette, and the Governor in consequence detains two 
 regiments which were starting for Halifax . . . 259, 260 
 July 7. The House modifies its resolution and the regiments de- 
 part 260 
 
 July 15. Adams writes the report of a committee of the House on 
 the maintenance of the royal troops by the Province. — 
 V The Legislature is prorogued ..... 262, 26^ 
 July 26. A meeting of merchants protests against the tax on tea, 
 
 and adopts the non-importation agreement of August, % 
 
 1768 . 264, 3G&- 
 
 Aug. 1. Bernard sails for England. — Popular rejoicings. — Ad- 
 ams's opinion of him ...... 266, 267 
 
 Aug. 14. Celebration of the Anniversary of the Stamp Act riot 269 - 271 
 Sept. 1. Conference of* Adams and Otis with the Commissioners 
 
 of the Customs 274 
 
 / 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 
 '^^w 
 

 XV1U CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 Sept. 4. Otis is assaulted by Robinson in consequence of an at- 
 tack on the Commissioners in the Gazette . . 275 - 277 
 Sept. 25. Adams defends Otis in the Gazette . . . . 276, 277 
 Oct. 4. A cargo of tea arrives. — A town meeting records the 
 
 names of four importers as " infamous " and confirms 
 » the non-importation agreement .... 278-281 ""■"• 
 
 ^f Oc\. 18. / The "Appeal to the World," written by Adams, adopt- 
 ed by the town and sent to England with a letter, also 
 
 written by Adams 282 - 00fV -i _ 
 
 Oct. 28. An informer tarred and feathered. — The mob breaks 
 
 into the Chronicle office 287 
 
 yNov. 16. Adams writes to Deberdt on the danger to the British 
 power in America to be apprehended from the French 
 and Spanish ........ 288, 9ft< i 
 
 1770. \^ 
 
 Jan. Debates in Parliament on America. — Lord North be- 
 
 comes Prime Minister ...... 293, 294 
 
 Jan. 4. Hutchinson, under instructions from Hillsborough, fur- 
 
 ther prorogues the General Court, to meet at Cambridge 294, 295 
 
 Jan. 8. Adams, in the Gazette, denies the validity of the instruc- 
 
 tions, and rebukes the sons of Hutchinson and others 
 who had recommenced the sale of tea ... 295, 296 "■■—i 
 
 Jan. 16. A meeting of merchants compels Hutchinson to give up 
 the sale of tea. — Adams skilfully prevails on a certain 
 Scotchman to sign the non-importation agreement . 298 - 300 
 
 Feb. Many ladies sign a compact not to drink tea until the 
 
 revenue laws are repealed ...... 301, 302 
 
 Feb. 22. In a slight disturbance growing out of the importation of 
 tea, Richardson, an informer, mortally wounds Chris- 
 topher Snyder, who is buried with a public funeral on 
 the 26th 302-304 
 
 March 2. Affray between the troops and the men of Gray's rope- 
 
 Jwalk 308-310 
 
 March 5. ^The Massacre in King Street . .... 310-318 
 
 March 6. The town and county authorities apply to Hutchinson 
 unsuccessfully for the removal of the troops. — A town 
 meeting send a committee, headed by Adams, to Hutch- 
 inson and the Council, to renew the demand. — They 
 receive an evasive answer. — Adams reports to the peo- 
 ple, who intrust him with the final issue. — Memorable 
 scene in the Council Chamber. — Adams overawes 
 Hutchinson, and the troops are sent to the Castle. — 
 " Sanfr- Adams's regiments." — A volunteer night- 4_ 
 
 watch is established 319- 327 _. 
 
 Ma 
 
CHRONOLOGY. XIX 
 
 March 5, etc. Debates in Parliament on American affairs. — The 
 
 duty on tea retained ...... 332, 3 
 
 March 8. Public funeral of the victims of the Massacre . . 327, 328 
 
 March. Adams sends an account of the affair to Governor Pow- 
 
 nall in behalf of the Town . . . . . 32; 
 
 March 15. The Legislature is convened at Cambridge. — They pro- 
 test unsuccessfully against their removal from Boston 334 
 
 April 23. The House remonstrates with the Lieutenant-Governor 
 
 concerning various grievances .... 336 
 
 April 26. Hutchinson dissolves the Assembly, threatening to lay 
 
 their remonstrance before the King . . . 337 
 
 May 8. Adams re-elected Kepresentative ..... 338 
 
 May 11, etc. He persuades Hancock not to withdraw from the Boston 
 
 delegation . 343, 344 
 
 May 15. The Boston members receive instructions from Josiah 
 
 Quincy 338, 339 
 
 May 30. The Legislature meet at Cambridge. — Adams elected 
 Clerk. — Controversy between the House and Hutchin- 
 son on their removal to Cambridge. — The Court pro- 
 rogued June 25 344, 345- 
 
 Aug. 3. The Court, having met July 25, adopt Adams's reply to 
 
 Hutchinson's opening address in defence of the removal 347 - 351 
 
 Sept. 10. Castle William taken from the keeping of the Provincial 
 
 authorities . . . . 355-358 
 
 Sept., Oct. The Legislature meets Sept. 25. — Controversy with 
 Hutchinson on the surrender of the Castle. — Adams 
 writes replies for the House and articles in the Gazette 
 on the subject ........ 358 - 362 
 
 Oct., Nov. Trial of the soldiers. — Adams causes John Adams and 
 Quincy to be retained as their counsel, and Paine to 
 conduct the prosecution ..... 328—331 
 
 ct, Nov. The opposition to the measures of Parliament slackens . 365-369 
 ov. Adams writes the instructions to Franklin . . 370 - 3^^, 
 
 bv. 7. The first Committee of Correspondence appointed . 372-3 
 
 Nov. 16, 20. The House present to Hutchinson an address written 
 by Adams, on the surrender of the Castle, and another 
 on the militia. — The General Court is prorogued . 375 
 
 Dec. 27. Adams writes to John Wilkes .... 377, 378 
 
 1770, 1771. 
 u - /Dec, Jan. Controversy between " Vindex" (Adams) and "Philan- 
 
 tbrop" 330-332 
 
 1771. 
 March. Hutchinson appointed Governor, his salary to be paid by 
 
 the Crown 380 
 
XX CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 March 5. The first Anniversary of the Boston Massacre. — Lovell 
 delivers the oration. — Adams on the committee of ar- 
 rangements for the next year ..... 381 
 March or April. Adams writes the reply of the Town to the letter of 
 
 Dr. Lucas regarding the Massacre . . . . 383 
 April 24. Adams writes the reply of the House (which met on the 
 3d) to two speeches of the Governor relating to the 
 military establishment, to his appointment, etc. — The 
 Governor objects to the phrase " His Majesty's Com- 
 mons," applied to the House 384 - 387 
 
 April 25. Adams makes inquiries for the House in regard to the 
 
 payment of the Governor's salary by the Crown . 387, 388 
 
 April 26. The Assembly is dissolved 388 
 
 Apr. -June. The opposition to government subsides. — John Adams 
 withdraws from public life. — Adams re-elected "Repre- 
 sentative, and, on the meeting of the Legislature (May 
 29), again chosen Clerk. — Otis is jealous of Adams, 
 and the Governor tampers with Hancock. — They carry 
 the House in opposition to Adams. — Adams prepares 
 a report on the Provincial military, and a protest 
 against holding the session at Cambridge. — With 
 some difficulty he secures the passage of the latter in 
 the House. — Hancock and his party for a while si- 
 lenced 389-406 
 
 Adams appointed one of a Committee of Correspondence 406«* 
 
 Adams drafts a letter of instructions to Franklin . . 406 - 41 Ql« 
 Hutchinson announces arbitrary instructions received 
 
 from the King 412 
 
 Adams replies for the Assembly. — The Court prorogued 412, 413 
 Twelve war vessels anchor in the harbor . . . 416 
 
 Adams writes much in the Gazette. — He counsels union 
 of the Colonies and an Assembly of deputies . . at « _ 4.9* 
 
 1771, 1772. 
 
 ct.-Jan. Adams denies the supreme authority of Parliament 
 over the Colonies. — He maintains an incessant contest 
 with the crown writers. — His celebrity as a political 
 essayist .... 7~~" "^*"~~-^ •• • 425-458*«» 
 
 Oct.— Jan. Political divisions among the patriots . . 437-439,458 
 
 1772. 
 
 March 5. Joseph Warren delivers the oration in commemoration 
 
 of the Massacre 459, 460 
 
 April 8, etc. Meeting of the Legislature. — Adams carries the House 
 against Hancock and his party. — Bowdoin secures for 
 Adams the co-operation of the Council . . . 465 -467 
 
 June 27. 
 
 June 29. 
 
 July 4. 
 
 July 5. 
 
 Aug. 12. 
 
 Sept., Oct. 
 
CHRONOLOGY. XXI 
 
 April 10. Adams writes the reply to the Governor's message re- 
 specting the removal of the General Court to Cam- 
 bridge 467, 468 
 
 **> April 20 - 25. Adams is ill. — The Legislature dissolved on the 25th 468 
 «V"May 6. Adams re-elected Representative against considerable op- 
 position 471, 472 
 
 May 27. The Legislature meets. — Hancock rejoins the patriot 
 
 party 473-475 
 
 May 29. Adams again remonstrates against keeping the Assem- 
 bly at Cambridge, and it is finally adjourned to Bos- 
 ton, June 13 477-479 
 
 June ? Hancock causes Copley to paint the portrait of Adams 
 
 and himself 475-477 
 
 July. Controversy with the Governor on the payment of his 
 
 salary by the Crown ..... . 479-481 ■ ■ ■ 
 
 July 14. The House reply by the hand of Adams to the Govern- 
 or's demand that the Province House should be re- 
 paired. — The Governor prorogues the General Court 
 with a fling at Adams . ..... 481 -483 
 
 Oct. 5. Adams writes against the payment of the salaries df Pro- 
 
 vincial officers by the Crown . . . . . 485 - 488—— 
 
 Oct. He labors for a general league of the Massachusetts x. 
 
 towns. — Cushing, Hancock, and others oppose the JL 
 
 measure in vain 488 - 495"—-" 
 
 Oct. 28. A preliminary town meeting is held to inaugurate the 
 
 Confederation 491-493v^_ 
 
 Oct. 30. At the adjourned town meeting the Governor is peti- 
 tioned for a session of the Legislature . . . 494, 495 
 
 Nov. 2. The Governor signifies to the meeting his refusal of the 
 
 petition. — On the motion of Adams a Co mmitt ee of 
 Correspondence is appointed .... 495 - 498——- 
 
 Nov. 20. Adams drafts for the Committee the " Rights of the Colo- 
 nists " ; Joseph Warren, the " Violations of Rights " ; 
 and Church, the "Letter of Correspondence to the 
 Towns" 500-51 
 
 \/> 
 
LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Ancestors of Samuel Adams. — Political Career and Social Position of 
 his Father. — The Family Homestead. — Boyhood and College Life. — 
 The Land Bank Scheme. — Is graduated at Harvard College. — Asserts the 
 Right of Resistance to Tyranny. — Attempts a Mercantile Life. — The 
 Public Advertiser. — His Early Essays in that Paper in Favor of Colo- 
 nial Rights. — Death of the elder Adams. — Marriage of young Adams. 
 
 — Death of his Wife. — His Children. — Efforts to deprive him of his 
 Estate. — Asserts Colonial Supremacy over an Act of Parliament. — His 
 Fame as a Political Writer during Shirley's and PownalTs Administrations. 
 
 — His Influence in Boston. — Becomes a Tax-Collector. 
 
 Before tracing the youth and early manhood of Samuel 
 Adams, it will be proper to glance at the character and cir- 
 cumstances of his father, who bore the same name, and 
 it may be supposed nad the principal share in developing 
 his character. The few facts which have been collected 
 concerning him are gathered from "contemporary writings 
 and family tradition, and rather cause regret that they are 
 so meagre, than afford a satisfactory sketch of his life. 
 
 Samuel Adams the elder, the second son of Captain John 
 Adams* of Braintree, was born in Boston on the 6th of 
 May, 1689, and at the age of twenty-four was married to 
 
 * Captain John Adams was a descendant from the first of his name who 
 settled in Massachusetts, who was the common ancestor of the Adamses of 
 Revolutionary celebrity ; Samuel Adams the younger and John Adams, the. 
 second President of the United States, having been second-cousins. 
 
 VOL. I. 1 
 
2 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1712. 
 
 Miss Mary Fifield, only daughter of Richard Fifield of Bos- 
 ton. Mr. Adams was possessed of an ample fortune for 
 those days, the fruits of his scrupulous attention to business ; 
 for, though he made himself prominent in political affairs, 
 he never lost sight of the value of property as a means of 
 securing the comfort of his family, and their position in 
 society. 
 
 His residence was in Purchase Street, Boston, where in 
 1712, the year before his marriage, he had bought a piece 
 of land running on the northwest two hundred and fifty- 
 eight feet along Purchase Street, and extending to low-water 
 mark. On the northeast, it was bounded by Dawes's Wharf 
 (since Prentice's estate) and Bull's Wharf, there being sixty- 
 two fee.t between Adams's estate and the north side of Sum- 
 mer Street. The house fronted upon and commanded a 
 fine view of the harbor. But few buildings had then been 
 erected in its neighborhood, so that it stood conspicuous in 
 that vicinity. On the roof was an observatory, and a railing 
 with steps leading up from the outside. About the year 
 1730 it was somewhat improved, and as late as 1800 the 
 grounds were still adorned with trees and shrubbery. He 
 also owned other property in that vicinity, and was the 
 proprietor at a subsequent date of several dwelling-houses. 
 This property remained vested in him until 1734, as shown 
 by the records of some of the principal estates. From that 
 date, no facts appear concerning it until early in the next 
 century, after it had become the property of his son. From 
 the little known of Deacon, or Captain Adams, as he was 
 often called, he appears to have merited to the fullest extent 
 the encomiums passed upon him by his illustrious son, who 
 in after years said, that " he was a wise man and a good 
 man." His name appears in 1739 on the town record, as one 
 of the committee appointed to draft instructions to the 
 Representatives in the Assembly. 
 
 The ability afterwards manifested by his son in managing 
 popular assemblies, and in so ordering elections as to insure 
 
1715.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 3 
 
 the advancement of those favorable to the cause of liberty, 
 may have had its origin in the examples thus presented in 
 early life. Gordon states that more than fifty years before 
 the year 1774 (1724 or earlier), Samuel Adams senior, " and 
 about twenty others, one or two from the north end of the 
 town, where all ship business was carried on, used to meet, 
 make a caucus, and lay their plans for introducing certain 
 persons into places of trust and power." It was probably 
 from the name of this political club, composed principally 
 of ship-building mechanics, that the word " caucus " was 
 derived, as a corruption of " Calker's Club." The same 
 writer confesses himself unable to trace the term beyond 
 their circle and times. 
 
 Mr. Adams's house must have been the resort of many of 
 the leading politicians of the day, as he was of a sociable 
 disposition and able to entertain his friends with liberal hos- 
 pitality. He was for some years a Justice of the Peace and 
 a Selectman, and was a Eepresentative of his native town in 
 the Massachusetts House of Assembly. The younger Elisha 
 Cooke, long a leader of the popular party, was his friend, 
 and joined with him in his opposition to Governor Shute's 
 measures, which were considered subversive of the public 
 liberties. 
 
 The mother of Samuel Adams was a woman of severe 
 religious principles, and she early imbued her children with 
 reverence for the Christian virtues which she practised. To 
 the scrupulous attention of his parents to devotional subjects 
 must have been greatly due the religious turn of mind which 
 was a prevailing trait throughout the life of the son. His 
 father had been for some years a deacon of the Old South 
 Church. With thirteen other inhabitants at the southerly 
 end of the town, he had petitioned the authorities in 1715 for 
 leave to erect a meeting-house on the site of the present Sum- 
 mer Street Church. The building was completed in 1717, 
 dedicated in January of that year, and commonly known as 
 the "New* South." Soon after, the Rev. Samuel Checkley, 
 
2 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1712. 
 
 Miss Mary Fifield, only daughter of Richard Fifield of Bos- 
 ton. Mr. Adams was possessed of an ample fortune for 
 those days, the fruits of his scrupulous attention to business ; 
 for, though he made himself prominent in political affairs, 
 he never lost sight of the value of property as a means of 
 securing the comfort of his family, and their position in 
 society. 
 
 His residence was in Purchase Street, Boston, where in 
 1712, the year before his marriage, he had bought a piece 
 of land running on the northwest two hundred and fifty- 
 eight feet along Purchase Street, and extending to low-water 
 mark. On the northeast, it was bounded by Dawes's Wharf 
 (since Prentice's estate) and Bull's Wharf, there being sixty- 
 two feet between Adams's estate and the north side of Sum- 
 mer Street. The house fronted upon and commanded a 
 fine view of the harbor. But few buildings had then been 
 erected in its neighborhood, so that it stood conspicuous in 
 that vicinity. On the roof was an observatory, and a railing 
 with steps leading up from the outside. About the year 
 1730 it was somewhat improved, and as late as 1800 the 
 grounds were still adorned with trees and shrubbery. He 
 also owned other property in that vicinity, and was the 
 proprietor at a subsequent date of several dwelling-houses. 
 This property remained vested in him until 1734, as shown 
 by the records of some of the principal estates. From that 
 date, no facts appear concerning it until early in the next 
 century, after it had become the property of his son. From 
 the little known of Deacon, or Captain Adams, as he was 
 often called, he appears to have meriteo} to the fullest extent 
 the encomiums passed upon him by his illustrious son, who 
 in after years said, that " he was a wise man and a good 
 man." His name appears in 1739 on the town record, as one 
 of the committee appointed to draft instructions to the 
 Representatives in the Assembly. 
 
 The ability afterwards manifested by his son in managing 
 popular assemblies, and in so ordering elections as to insure 
 
1715.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 3 
 
 the advancement of those favorable to the cause of liberty, 
 may have had its origin in the examples thus presented in 
 early life. Gordon states that more than fifty years before 
 the year 1774 (1724 or earlier), Samuel Adams senior, " and 
 about twenty others, one or two from the north end of the 
 town, where all ship business was carried on, used to meet, 
 make a caucus, and lay their plans for introducing certain 
 persons into places of trust and power." It was probably 
 from the name of this political club, composed principally 
 of ship-building mechanics, that the word " caucus " was 
 derived, as a corruption of " Calker's Club." The same 
 writer confesses himself unable to trace the term beyond 
 their circle and times. 
 
 Mr. Adams's house must have been the resort of many of 
 the leading politicians of the day, as he was of a sociable 
 disposition and able to entertain his friends with liberal hos- 
 pitality. He was for some years a Justice of the Peace and 
 a Selectman, and was a Kepresentative of his native town in 
 the Massachusetts House of Assembly. The younger Elisha 
 Cooke, long a leader of the popular party, was his friend, 
 and joined with him in his opposition to Governor Shute's 
 measures, which were considered subversive of the public 
 liberties. 
 
 The mother of Samuel Adams was a woman of severe 
 religious principles, and she early imbued her children with 
 reverence for the Christian virtues which she practised. To 
 the scrupulous attention of his parents to devotional subjects 
 must have been greatly due the religious turn of mind which 
 was a prevailing trait throughout the life of the son. His 
 father had been for some years a deacon of the Old South 
 Church. With thirteen other inhabitants at the southerly 
 end of the town, he had petitioned the authorities in 1715 for 
 leave to erect a meeting-house on the site of the present Sum- 
 mer Street Church. The building was completed in 1717, 
 dedicated in January of that year, and commonly known as 
 the "NeW South." Soon after, the Rev. Samuel Checkley, 
 
4 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1722. 
 
 a relative of Mr. Adams, and afterwards father-in-law of 
 Samuel Adams, was ordained minister. It was here that 
 the subject of these memoirs was baptized, on Sunday, the 
 day of his birth, September 16th (0. S.), 1722. 
 
 Of the family of Captain Adams, consisting of twelve, 
 only three survived him, — Mary, Samuel, and Joseph. Of 
 Joseph there are no accounts extant, other than that he is 
 said to have been Clerk of the Market in Boston at the time 
 of his father's death. Samuel Adams frequently recurred 
 to the gentle influence of his sister, who was five years 
 his elder. She was of a winning and amiable disposition, 
 and, like himself, a strict observer of the requirements of 
 religion. A memorandum-book kept partly in 1735-36, 
 and filled with texts of sermons in her neat handwriting, is 
 still preserved, and indicates the religious bent of her mind. 
 This was during the revival which under the ministry of the 
 learned and devout Jonathan Edwards extended through 
 Massachusetts, and afterwards to some of the other Colonies. 
 In the journal occur the names of some twenty clergymen 
 whose discourses she had attended, — among them Doctors 
 Lowell, Cooper, Checkley, Byles, Chauncy, Edwards, Thach- 
 er, Prince, and Mather. There are also letters written to 
 some friend during the revival attending Whitefield's visit 
 to Boston, in which she freely expresses her opinions on 
 religious subjects. These writings are the fervent outpour- 
 ings of a heart tinctured with, but not chilled by, the stern 
 doctrines then prevailing in New England. She was mar- 
 ried to James Allen of Boston. Her brother never forgot 
 her amiable disposition, and, when speaking of her in after 
 years, used to remark, " That is a happy young man who 
 has had an elder sister upon whom he could rely for advice 
 and counsel in youth." 
 
 In boyhood Samuel Adams exhibited indications of a 
 strong and inquiring mind. Naturally observant and of a 
 quick intelligence, he saw and comprehended the disputes 
 which arose between Governor Burnet and the people, and, 
 
1736.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 5 
 
 after the death of the former, were continued under the ad- 
 ministration of Governor Belcher. The refusal of the House 
 of Representatives to deprive themselves of their charter 
 rights by the settlement of a fixed salary upon the Governor, 
 and the spirited controversies arising from it, all occurred 
 during his youth, and were doubtless the subject of discus- 
 sion at his father's house. It is not difficult to picture 
 the youth, with his earnest face, listening intently to conver- 
 sations, which, when his own manhood should arrive, and 
 these preliminary actors should have passed from the stage, 
 were to occupy his thoughts and rule his conduct. At an 
 an early age he was placed under the guidance of the cele- 
 brated Mr. Lovell the elder, principal of the Grammar 
 School of Boston, where he evinced a commendable degree 
 of readiness and attention to his studies. One of his school- 
 books is yet in existence, and contains in his handwriting 
 some boyish sentiments on the importance of learning in com- 
 parison with riches, — a principle which he emphatically ex- 
 emplified in after life. His manners, which had been carefully 
 cultivated by his father, who intended him for a professional 
 life, had much of the persuasive earnestness which enabled 
 him in manhood to lead others in time of public agitation. 
 His form was of the medium height, and well developed. 
 Though he often made equestrian journeys into the coun- 
 try, he is not known to have ever quitted Massachusetts 
 until he visited Philadelphia as one of the delegates to the 
 Continental Congress. 
 
 His collegiate course, which extended through four years, 
 was marked by close application to his studies. In 1736, at 
 the age of fourteen, he entered Harvard, and during his 
 student life subjected himself but once to reproof, which 
 was for oversleeping himself and missing an attendance at 
 morning prayers. At that time, position in the classes was 
 determined by the wealth and standing of families. In a 
 class of twenty-two, young Adams stood fifth. Thirty years 
 afterwards, when democratic principles had become general, 
 
6 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1740. 
 
 such family distinctions were disregarded, and the names of 
 students were arranged in alphabetical order. The boy 
 made considerable proficiency in classical learning, logic, 
 and natural philosophy ; but the Greek and Latin authors 
 were his favorites ; he studied their works assiduously, and 
 being thus early imbued with a love of the ancient classical 
 writers, never lost his fondness for quoting them. His po- 
 litical writings and speeches during, the Revolution contain 
 frequent allusions to them ; and it was sometimes said of 
 him, that he could never write or speak of American affairs 
 without illustrating his theme by comparisons with Greece 
 and Rome. He also attentively read at college the works of 
 English writers on government. 
 
 At the age of eighteen, in 1740, he was graduated and re- 
 ceived his degree of Bachelor of Arts. Of the incidents of 
 his college life there are no accounts other than the general- 
 ities which family traditions have handed down. The scanty 
 records made at that time in the books of the University 
 reveal but little. 
 
 The investigation of theology had much occupied his 
 thoughts, and had doubtless been quickened by the advent 
 of Whitefield, who visited Boston at this time. But this 
 gradually gave place to an irresistible love of political sub- 
 jects, then beginning to engross popular attention. Though, 
 in accordance with the wishes of a pious father, he had 
 endeavored to fix his mind upon the ministry, for which 
 he had been designed, his inclinations wandered to that 
 more exciting arena in which he hoped to find the spir- 
 ited contests better suited to his ardent and active temper- 
 ament. In a debate in college, in which several of his 
 classmates took part, he had chosen for the subject "Lib- 
 erty " ; and then he probably expressed his opinions in 
 nearly the strain of his publications on that subject several 
 years later. 
 
 In the year that he was graduated his father began to 
 experience reverses of fortune. The great exertions made 
 
1740.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 7 
 
 by the Province in support of the national wars and those 
 for its own defence had sadly embarrassed the public finances. 
 The Province was temporarily impoverished, and, to add 
 to the general distress, the bills of credit, founded on the 
 uncollected public taxes, and since 1690 used as a partial 
 substitute for coin, were to be stopped in consequence of 
 orders received by Governor Belcher from the King to con- 
 sent to the issue of no bills to remain current beyond the 
 year 1741. Those outstanding were ordered to be paid off. 
 These orders were procured by the remonstrances of English 
 merchants engaged in the American trade, who had com- 
 plained to Parliament of the great fluctuation and deprecia- 
 tion of prices consequent upon the decrease of coin in the 
 Colony, and the over-issue of bills of credit ; and was in con- 
 tinuation of the odious policy of the act of 1732, restricting 
 the industry of the Colonies, to keep them " properly depen- 
 dent upon the parent country, " and prohibiting intercolonial 
 and foreign trade in specified articles of Colonial manufac- 
 ture ; a policy which was followed up, in 1750, by prohibiting 
 " the erection or continuance of any mill or other engine for 
 slitting or rolling iron, or any plating forge to work with a 
 tilt-hammer, or any furnace for making steel in the Colonies, 
 under the penalty of two hundred pounds." The Stamp Act 
 of 1765 was by no means the initiatory act of aggression 
 by the home government. For more than thirty years 
 before that eventful, period, it had been weaving the net- 
 work of oppressive measures to cramp the growing industry 
 of the Colonies, of which the English manufacturers had long 
 shown themselves jealous. 
 
 This arbitrary interference with the Colonial currency 
 was regarded as oppressive, and its evil results were not 
 long in appearing. The paper currency, which the cus- 
 tom of half a century had rendered indispensable in every 
 branch of business, being thus absorbed, a monetary panic 
 similar to those following the bank contractions of the 
 present day ensued. Urged by the distresses which fol- 
 
8 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1741. 
 
 lowed hard upon these measures, a powerful party was 
 formed, who used every effort to induce the Governor to 
 consent to new issues, or to extend the period of the old 
 beyond the time to which they had been limited. The 
 Governor refused, and thus incurred the enmity of the 
 people and the majority of the Legislature, through whose 
 efforts he was, in the following year, removed from office. 
 Mr. Adams senior, as a leading tradesman and active poli- 
 tician, made his influence felt in procuring this result. 
 The withdrawal of the bills of credit had the opposite effect 
 from what had been anticipated in England. Financial 
 difficulties increased, public credit declined, and the cur- 
 rency was fast depreciating. 
 
 Among the expedients adopted to remedy these evils 
 were the " Land Bank Scheme," and the " Silver Scheme." 
 The latter was devised by a number of merchants, who 
 organized an association, and issued bills to the amount of 
 one hundred and ten thousand pounds, which were redeem- 
 able in ten years at a specified rate. The "Land Bank 
 Scheme," which was subsequently organized, was a more 
 popular and wide-extended institution, and continued to 
 exercise its functions for about sixteen months. It was 
 unlimited in the number of its members, and at last grew 
 into an association of about eight hundred, consisting for 
 the most part of mechanics and farmers. Its object was 
 joint private emolument, as well as public benefit. The 
 capital stock consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand 
 pounds, each person signing opposite to his name the 
 amount in which he wished to become interested, which 
 was secured to the company by a mortgage on his estate, 
 or by bonds with two sufficient sureties. The largest 
 amount of a bond was one hundred pounds. Bills to the 
 amount of the capital were issued to supply the place of the 
 public bills which had been withdrawn. Subscriptions 
 might be received in the manufactures or produce of the 
 Province, at such prices as the board of directors should 
 
1741.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 9 
 
 decide upon, or at the current market value. An annual 
 interest of three per cent on the amount taken by the sub- 
 scribers was to be paid by them, which, together with five 
 per cent of the original subscription, was to go into the 
 general bank fund. 
 
 Such are the outlines of the " Land Bank Scheme," or 
 "Manufactory Company" as it was oftener called. The 
 causes which led to its organization are particularly specified, 
 as subsequently its arbitrary dissolution by Parliament first 
 brought young Adams into political notice. His father was 
 among the members, and was a director. George Leonard, 
 and Robert Auchmuty, formerly Judge of Vice-Admiralty, 
 were also of the number. Memorials of their transactions, 
 found in the public records, show that the bank was in suc- 
 cessful operation in October and November, 1741,*' when 
 Samuel Adams, Esq., and others of the directors, appear as 
 the grantors of a certain parcel of land, for the sum of for- 
 ty pounds, to Eliphalet Pond, yeoman ; and subsequently, 
 Messrs. Robert Auchmuty, Samuel Adams, and others ac- 
 knowledge the receipt of twenty pounds "in bills called 
 Manufactory Bills," from one Kingsman, which releases him 
 from the mortgage to that amount on his estate, and the in- 
 terest, two pounds nine shillings and threepence, paid. 
 These and other records of their business show the nature 
 of the company's operations. They issued their notes or 
 bills as money, receiving in turn mortgages on real estate in 
 all parts of the Province, which were redeemable in the 
 bills of the association. 
 
 Opposition to this, as well as to other currency schemes, 
 had been violent from their commencement. It had espe- 
 cially proceeded from the government officers; and the 
 Governor, and Mr. Hutchinson, afterwards Governor, were 
 particularly inimical to it, as much, as it has been alleged, 
 from political considerations as from any honest convic- 
 tion of its impolicy. Party lines between Colonial rights 
 
 * Eegistry of Deeds, Boston, 1741, Lib. 62, p. 50. 
 
10 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1743. 
 
 and Parliamentary aggression had already been drawn ; and 
 Mr. Adams senior being a leader of the popular side, he 
 was regarded with particular disfavor. The efforts against 
 the bank were finally successful, and the company was dis- 
 solved by an act declaring that " the act of King George, 
 chap. 18, did and shall extend to the Colonies and planta- 
 tions in America.' ' It prohibited the formation of incor- 
 porated joint-stock companies with more than six persons. 
 The whole financial system of the association was thus 
 brought summarily to a close, and each of the directors 
 became individually responsible for the liabilities of the 
 whole. Large inroads were consequently made upon the 
 property of Mr. Adams, who was probably the principal 
 shareholder, and perhaps the wealthiest man in the com- 
 pany ; and he seems to have been especially selected by the 
 crown officers as the object of their rancor. 
 / During the agitation caused by these events, in 1743, 
 ^JV" Samuel Adams, then twenty-one years of age, took his 
 Master's degree at Cambridge. He selected a subject 
 for discussion curiously significant of the thoughts which 
 had now taken possession of his mind; and it indicates 
 that even thus early he had seriously contemplated forcible 
 opposition at some future time to the power of the British 
 Parliament, unjustly exercised over the Colonies. His 
 thesis was : " Whether it be lawful to resist the Supreme 
 Magistrate, if the Commonwealth cannot be otherwise pre- 
 served." * HeJba^lesjly_jaaintained the affirmative, though 
 it pointed to a course of policy, which, as was justly re- 
 marked by one who personally knew him, a was scarcely 
 contemplated in that day, unless in the retirement of a 
 closet." 
 
 At Commencement it is customary for the Governor 
 and Council to be present, imparting greater dignity to the 
 ceremonies. It would prove an interesting addition to the 
 
 * "-An supremo Magistratui resistere liceat, si aliter servari Kespublica ne- 
 quit ? Affirraat respondens Samuel Adams." 
 
1743.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 11 
 
 scanty memoirs which can be gathered of the youth of 
 Samuel Adams to know the sentiments with which this 
 bold denial of British power was received by the assem- 
 bled dignitaries of the land ; what conversations grew out 
 of such an unprecedented act of incipient " treason" ; what 
 was thought of it by his father and such of his friends as 
 were present. The occasion must have brought together 
 a large audience, hundreds of whom knew and were in- 
 terested in the success of the young speaker; and those 
 who ventured to predict the future career of one who 
 hazarded such novel views in the presence of the royal 
 executive and the crown officers must have marked out for 
 him an adventurous life. The manuscripts of the Com- 
 mencement theses were not then preserved at Harvard 
 College, and of this performance there remains but the bare 
 title. Of the arguments, we can only judge from the tone 
 of his political writings in the public press a few years 
 later. 
 
 The right of resistance to oppression was on this occa- 
 sion first publicly asserted by one of the Revolutionary gal- 
 axy of illustrious men ; thirty-three years before the Dec- 
 laration, of Independence ; twenty-two before the Stamp 
 Act ; in the reign of George II. ; while Robert Walpole 
 was Prime Minister; when Washington, Patrick Henry, 
 John Adams, Warren, and Hancock were children, and 
 Jefferson, Gerry, and Quincy yet unborn ; at a time when 
 the Colonies were not only at peace with Great Britain, 
 but generally loyal in their feelings towards her. In his 
 old age, Samuel Adams was by common consent called 
 "the father of the Revolution." The title was his, as 
 much because he was the first to foresee, as because he was 
 active in furthering, the separation. 
 
 From the time when Adams was graduated, his father 
 perceived that his tastes and his powers fitted him for poli- 
 tics. He ceased, therefore, to urge him to enter the minis- 
 try, and proposed his pursuing the law. The young man 
 
12 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1743 
 
 accepted the proposal with pleasure, and eagerly commenced 
 to study, but relinquished the design at the desire of his 
 mother, and finally entered the counting-house of Mr. 
 Thomas Cushing, whose son, bearing the same name, was 
 many years afterward Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 tives when Samuel Adams was its Clerk. He is said at 
 this time to have had republished at his own expense a 
 pamphlet written in the previous century, entitled " The 
 Englishman's Right.'' But although there are several edi- 
 tions of it dated between the years 1680 and 1772, none 
 appear to have been printed between 1740 and 1750. One 
 of the later editions, however, may have been published at 
 his suggestion. 
 
 The life of a merchant, it was soon evident, was ill adapted 
 to his talents or inclinations. He had no tact for business, 
 r and this was a trait which characterized his whole after life. 
 While with Mr. Cushing he was oftener found in the 
 society of political disputants debating the questions of 
 the times, than in the counting-house bent over his desk. 
 The desire for pecuniary gain, and the excitement of com- 
 petition in trade, had no attractions for him, and probably 
 some of his more methodical acquaintances considered him 
 at this time as a very unpromising and thriftless character, 
 upon whom his father had uselessly expended the cost of his 
 college education. Yet he was no idler. He was too ner- 
 vously and actively constituted for indolence. His mind 
 was always employed, though on subjects then regarded as 
 unprofitable. When Mr. Cushing was questioned respecting 
 the capacity of young Adams as a tradesman, he replied, 
 that, though active enough in mind and body, he would 
 never do for a merchant ; that his whole soul was engrossed 
 by politics, to which all other subjects were neoessarily sub- 
 servient. 
 
 Even now he had weight in the people's party. Several of 
 his contemporaries speak of him as a recognized leader in 
 the popular cause, which had already a defined existence. 
 
1746.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 13 
 
 John Adams, writing in 1772, says, in reference to Samuel 
 Adams and himself, " they have been steadfast and immova- 
 ble in the cause since 1761, and one of them, Mr. Samuel 
 Adams, for full twenty years before " ; * which would fix 
 the commencement of his patriotic career in 1741. He re- 
 mained but a few months with Mr. Cushing. Some time 
 afterward, his father, anxious to see him established in busi- 
 ness, advanced him one thousand pounds with which to com- 
 mence for himself. But disastrous results came from this 
 attempt. Having unfortunately trusted a friend to the 
 value of half his stock, he became greatly embarrassed him- 
 self. This person soon after met with reverses which he 
 represented to his creditor, who therefore characteristically 
 never demanded the debt; and this and other losses soon 
 consumed all his possessions. He then joined his father in 
 business, and conducted the affairs of the malt-house which 
 adjoined the family dwelling on Purchase Street ; and from 
 that time he probably made no effort to go beyond the posi- 
 tion of a subordinate partner. 
 
 His father enjoyed an increased popularity after the gov- 
 ernment persecutions to deprive him of his property. On 
 the 4th of June, 1746, at the annual town-meeting, he was 
 ^elected a Representative to serve in the place of Andrew 
 Oliver, who had been chosen a Councillor. The son perhap s 
 ob tained access to th ejjfihaififl of the House, arid nnWI the 
 po litical occurrences of the times. The next year, his father 
 was refused as a member of the Council by the Governor, 
 who wanted no such spokesman of the popular element in 
 that body. 
 
 The services of Captain Adams in the Legislature are in 
 dicated in its journals, where his opinion, particularly in 
 military matters, was evidently held in high estimation. 
 The reduction of Louisburg in the previous year suggested 
 to Governor Shirley more extensive operations for the con- 
 quest of Canada. Captain Adams was upon most of the 
 
 * John Adams's Works. IE. 295. 
 
14 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1746. 
 
 committees appointed on the affairs of the war. The Legis- 
 lature, which met on the 5th of June, 1746, adjourned on 
 the 10th of October to November 6th, from which time it was 
 in session until April of the following year.* There seems to 
 have been a constant demand for his industry and judgment 
 in a curious variety of affairs. The subject of the Governor's 
 salary, questions of finance and settlement of estates, sol- 
 diers' petitions, disbursements and expenditures for the 
 war, the drafting of state papers on a diversity of topics, 
 military expeditions and enlistments, the New Hampshire 
 boundary line, local assessments and taxations, and an 
 Address to his Majesty the King through the agents, are 
 among the matters injtrusted to committees of which he was 
 a member, and at times chairman. In April, 1747, he was 
 one of a committee " to consider some method to prevent the 
 distress brought upon the inhabitants of the Province by 
 the impressing of seamen out of the coasting vessels, and 
 other inhabitants of the Province, by the commanders and 
 other officers of his Majesty's ships of war." This practice 
 probably culminated in the following November, when the 
 town was the scene of violence and riot in opposition to the 
 press-gang outrages of Commodore Knowles in the public 
 streets. 
 
 No other means than these scanty records exist by which 
 to trace the services of the elder Adams in the Assembly ; 
 but that he enjoyed the well-earned confidence of his fellow- 
 citizens is evident ; while his practical talent as a business 
 man is displayed by his active and leading part in the public 
 counsels. The elder Dexter knew him " as a reputable 
 magistrate in Boston." John Adams, writing in 1774, 
 remembers him as " a gentleman of liberal education and 
 good abilities " ; and his more celebrated son in after years 
 attested his wisdom and blameless character. 
 
 During the late war with France, ending with the capture 
 of Louisburg by the New England troops, the Colonists had 
 
 * Journals of the House from June 4, 1746, to April 25, 1747. 
 
1747.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 15 
 
 been able to ascertain their own strength, and were imbued 
 with increased confidence in their native resources. The 
 whole of the fruits of their toil were thrown away by the 
 treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ; and this mortifying event, to- 
 gether with what preceded it, served to remind them of 
 their position in relation to the home government. Numer- 
 ous were the complaints, and the discussion of these occur- 
 rences was common among all classes. The impressment 
 riots indicated that the fire of discontent already existed, 
 and needed only the proper occasion to be fanned into a 
 flame. The events of the war, and the government misman- 
 agement (though Massachusetts prospered under all these 
 circumstances) prepared the people for the struggle which 
 was at length to rend the Colonies from the mother country. 
 The press commenced the discussion of popular rights, and 
 no doubt many speculative minds calculated the probable 
 fate of America at some future day as a separate and inde- 
 pendent sovereignty. 
 
 The idea now suggested itself to young Adams and a few 
 of his political friends to for m a club for the special consid- 
 eration oi l public affairs both by writing and debate. Each 
 member agreed to furnish in turn political essays for a 
 newspaper to be called " The Public Advertiser," of which 
 the first number appeared in January, 1748. There are no 
 means of ascertaining the date of the organization ; but it is j 
 most probable that it went into existence not long before 
 the first issue of the journal, and that this was commenced 
 on the strength of the communications promised by the 
 members. Who were the other contributors is unknown. 
 The publishers had issued a printed circular, announcing 
 that the paper would appear at an early period. It was 
 published weekly. The head was embellished with a rough- 
 ly executed wood-cut representing Britannia seated, and 
 liberating a bird confined by a cord to the arms of France, 
 which are lying on the ground before her. The flight of the 
 bird, which is on the wing, being impeded by the cord, Bri- 
 
16 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748. 
 
 tannia is in the act of cutting the cord with a pair of shears. 
 The Advertiser had but little foreign or domestic news, 
 and was devoted to political discussion. Isaiah Thomas, 
 who was engaged as a printer in Boston a few years later, 
 and doubtless knew all the members of the club, says it con- 
 sisted of " Whigs, who advocated the rights of the people 
 against those measures of government which were supposed 
 to infringe upon the privileges of the Province secured by 
 charter." * The address to the public in the first number 
 holds that " the present political state affords matter for a 
 variety of thoughts of peculiar importance to the good people 
 of New England." The columns were open " to whatever 
 may be adapted to state and defend the rights and liberties 
 of mankind." The essays in the Advertiser soon began to 
 excite attention, and the opponents of the popular rights 
 party applied to the association the name of " Whipping- 
 post Club," which did not deter them from publishing their 
 essays in each issue of the paper. Extracts from two of 
 these, written by Samuel Adams, will serve to illustrate his 
 style and sentiments at the age of twenty-six. One has for 
 its subject, " Loyalty and Sedition." In defining the true 
 meaning of the words, he says : — 
 
 " But we oftentimes perceive such significations assumed by those 
 who find the wrong use of the words conducive to the increase of 
 power or gain, that it is difficult to tell whether loyalty is really 
 commendable or sedition blameworthy. True loyalty in the sense 
 just now explained is the beauty and perfection of a well-constituted 
 state. It cannot indeed subsist in an arbitrary government, because 
 it is founded in the love and possession of liberty. It includes in it 
 a thorough knowledge of our Constitution, its conveniences and de- 
 fects as well as its real advantages ; a becoming jealousy of our im- 
 munities, and a steadfast resolution to maintain them. It delights 
 in the quiet and thankful enjoyment of a good administration, and it 
 is the scourge of the griping oppressor and haughty invader of our 
 liberties. 
 
 * Thomas's History of Printing. 
 
1748.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 17 
 
 " But sedition is founded on the depraved and inordinate passions 
 of the mind : it is a weak, feverish, sickly thiug, a boisterous and 
 unnatural vigor, which cannot support itself long, and oftentimes 
 destroys the unhappy patient. It proceeds from gross mistake or 
 great wickedness, from lust of power or gain, in the first promoters 
 of it, and from untamable obstinacy and a vitiated palate that can- 
 not relish the happiness of a free state in the creatures of their de- 
 signs. 
 
 " It is a very great mistake to imagine that the object of loyalty 
 is the authority and interest of one individual man, however dignified 
 by the applause or enriched by the success of popular actions. This 
 has led millions into such a degree of dependence and submission, 
 that they have at length found themselves to homage the instruments 
 of their ruin at the very time they were at work to effect it. The 
 true object of loyalty is a good legal constitution, which, as it con- 
 demns every instance of oppression and lawless power, derives a cer- 
 tain remedy to the sufferer by allowing him to remonstrate his 
 grievances, and pointing out methods of relief when the gentle arts 
 of persuasion have lost their efficacy. Whoever, therefore, insin- 
 uates notions of government contrary to the constitution, or in any 
 degree winks at any measures to suppress or even to weaken it, is 
 not a loyal man. Whoever acquaints us that we have no right to 
 examine into the conduct of those who, though they derive their 
 power from us to serve the common interests, make use of it to im- 
 poverish and ruin us, is in a degree a rebel — to the undoubted 
 rights and liberties of the people. He that despises his neighbor's 
 happiness because he wears a worsted cap or leathern apron, he that 
 struts immeasurably above the lower size of people, and pretends to 
 adjust the rights of men by the distinctions of fortune, is not over 
 loyal. He that aggravates beyond measure the well-meant failings 
 of a warm zeal for liberty, he that leaves no stone unturned to de- 
 fend and propagate the schemes of illegal power, cannot be esteemed 
 a loyal man. Indeed, the reverse use of these words may possibly 
 find authorities in some parts of the world where language and 
 sense are deluged in the torrent of arbitrary power." 
 
 sj^ These sentiments on popular liberty, the right of " remon- 
 strating grievances," and the views which at that distant 
 
18 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748. 
 
 period he had obtained of the rights of the citizen as com- 
 pared with the divine right of kings, will suggest, when at- 
 tentively considered, the consistency exhibited by the writer 
 throughout his life, which was one of the most marked 
 and admirable traits of his character. A careful scrutiny 
 of his career for more than forty years, including the most 
 eventful period of American history, reveals no instance of 
 ^^inconsistency. The principles which became fixed in his 
 mind, as soon as he was capable of understanding political 
 subjects, were never changed ; and long after the Revolution 
 had passed, and party spirit assumed the place of the more 
 united patriotism of the Revolutionary period, the same 
 views and expressions will be found in his latest writings, 
 extending into the following century. 
 
 In another essay, written during the second year of the 
 "Advertiser," he considers the subject of liberty, — a 
 theme which seems to have always occupied his mind, as is 
 evidenced by those who were contemporary with him, and 
 remembered his early course. His writings generally give 
 an insight into the class of books which he must have 
 perused. He had manifestly been a student of the great 
 authors on government, and was familiar with Roman his- 
 tory. His works and conversations all his life are tinged 
 with the doctrines of those writers, and all his politics are 
 founded on their principles. 
 
 "'Libertate modice utantur. Temperatam earn salubrem et 
 singulis et civitatibus esse : nimiam et aliis gravem, et ipsis qui 
 
 habeant effrenatam et praecipitem esse Alienis armis partam, 
 
 externa fide redditam libertatem sua cura custodirent servarentque, 
 ut populus Romanus dignis datam libertatem ac munus suum bene 
 positum sciret.' — Orat. T. Quint, ad Graec. Civit apud Liv. 
 XXXIV. 49. 
 
 " There is no one thing which mankind are more passionately fond 
 of, which they fight with more zeal for, which they possess with more 
 anxious jealousy and fear of losing, than liberty. But it has fared 
 with this, as with many other things, that the true notion and just 
 
1748.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 19 
 
 definition of it has been but little understood, at the same time that 
 zeal for it and disputes about it have produced endless altercations. 
 There is, there certainly is such a thing as liberty, which distin- 
 guishes man from the beasts, and a society of wise and reasonable 
 creatures from the brutal Herd, where the strongest horns are the 
 strongest laws. And though the notions of men were ten times 
 more confused and unsettled, and their opinions more various about 
 this matter than they are, there yet remains an internal and essen- 
 tial distinction between this same liberty and slavery. 
 
 " In a former paper, the true notion of loyalty has been consid- 
 ered ; I shall now offer to the public some general thoughts upon 
 liberty, in order rightly to apprehend which subject we must con- 
 sider man in two different states, namely, those of Nature and 
 of Society. 
 
 " In the state of nature, every man has a right to think and act 
 according to the dictates of his own mind, which, in that state, are 
 subject to no other control and can be commanded by no other power 
 than the laws and ordinances of the great Creator of all things. 
 The perfection of liberty therefore, in a state of nature, is for every 
 man to be free from any external force, and to perform such actions 
 as in his own mind and conscience he judges to be rightest ; which 
 liberty no man can truly possess whose mind is enthralled by irreg- 
 ular and inordinate passions ; since it is no great privilege to be free 
 from external violence if the dictates of the mind are controlled by 
 a force within, which exerts itself above reason. 
 
 " This is liberty in a state of nature, which, as no man ought to 
 be abridged of, so no man has a right to give up, or even part with 
 any portion of it, but in order to secure the rest and place it upon 
 a more solid foundation; it being equally with our lives the gift 
 of the same bounteous Author of all things.* As, therefore, no 
 man's life is his own in such a sense as that he may wantonly 
 destroy it at his own pleasure, or submit it to the wanton pleasure 
 of another, so neither is his liberty. And had mankind continued 
 in that innocent and happy state in which the sacred writings rep- 
 resent them as first created, it is possible that this liberty would 
 have been enjoyed in such perfection as to have rendered the em- 
 
 * Compare the Eights of the Colonists, November, 1772 ; and the Declara- 
 tion of Eights in the Congress of 1774. 
 
20 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748. 
 
 bodying into civil society and the security of human laws alto- 
 gether needless. 
 
 " But though in the present corrupt and degenerate times no such 
 state of nature can with any regularity exist, it will not, however, 
 be difficult from the description we have given of liberty in that 
 state to form the true notion and settle the just bounds of it in a 
 state of society and civic government. But here, too, we must dis- 
 tinguish and consider liberty as it respects the whole body and as it 
 respects each individual. As it respects the whole body, it is then 
 enjoyed when neither legislative nor executive powers (by which I 
 mean those men with whom are intrusted the power of making 
 laws and of executing them) are disturbed by any internal passion 
 or hindered by any external force from making the wisest laws and 
 executing them in the best manner ; when the safety, the security, 
 and the happiness of all is the real care and steady pursuit of those 
 whose business it is to care for and pursue it ; in one short word, 
 where no laws are carried through humor or prejudice, nor con- 
 trolled in their proper execution by lust of power in the great, nor 
 wanton licentiousness in the vulgar. 
 
 " As it respects individuals, a man is then free when he freely en- 
 joys the security of the laws and the rights to which he is born ; 
 when he is hindered by no violence from claiming those rights and 
 enjoying that security, but may at any time demand the protection 
 of the laws under which he lives, and be sure when demanded to 
 enjoy it. This is what I take to be liberty ; and considered in this - 
 light, all the fine things said of it by ancient and modern do justly 
 belong to it. O Libertas ! O Dea certe ! — it is the choicest gift 
 that Heaven has lent to man ; an emanation from the Father of 
 Lights ; an image and representation of the government of the Su- 
 preme Director of all things, which, though it can never be con- 
 trolled by any superior force, is yet ever guided by the laws of 
 infinite wisdom. 
 
 " But alas ! in this exalted sense, liberty is rather admired in the 
 world than truly enjoyed. What multitudes of persons are there 
 who have not so much as the shadow of it ! who hold their prop- 
 erty and even their lives by no other tenure than the sovereign will 
 of a tyrant, and he often the worst and most detestable of men, 
 who, to gratify the least humor or passion in his nature, does not 
 scruple to massacre them by thousands ! Sure it is true what ortho- 
 
I748.J LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS 21 
 
 dox divines tell us, that men are apostate from God, since in his 
 righteous providence he subjects so many of them to such mis- 
 erable fate! 
 
 " But there are other states and civil societies in the world, the 
 model of whose government seems to promise the sure enjoyment 
 of this blessing ; which yet, if we attentively examine, we shall 
 find to be really destitute of it. We shall often find, that where the 
 forms of it are observed, the substance of it is wanting; for, as 
 that man is truly a slave, who, though impelled by no external vio- 
 lence, is yet carried away by the impetuosity of his passions to do 
 those things which are abhorrent from his nature and his reason, so 
 neither can the people be called free, who, though they make their 
 own laws, are yet blinded by prejudice and diverted by undue influ- 
 ence from uniformly pursuing their own interest. 
 
 "It has been a question much controverted in the world what \f 
 form of government is best, and in what system this liberty is best 
 consulted and preserved. I cannot say that I am wholly free from 
 that prejudice which generally possesses men in favor of their own 
 country, and the manners they have been used to from their infancy. 
 But I must declare, for my own part, that there is no form of civil gov- 
 ernment, which I have ever heard of, appears to me so well calcu- 
 lated to preserve this blessing, or to secure to its subjects all the 
 most valuable advantages of civil society, as the English. For in 
 none that I have ever met with is the power of the governors and 
 the rights of the governed more nicely adjusted, or the power which 
 is necessary in the very nature of government to be intrusted in the 
 hands of some, by wiser checks prevented from growing exorbitant. 
 This Constitution has indeed passed through various amendations, but 
 the principal parts of it are of very ancient standing, and have con- 
 tinued through the several successions of kings to this day ; having 
 never been in any great degree attacked by any, but they have lost 
 their lives or their crowns in the attempt. 
 
 " The two main provisions by which a certain share in the govern- 
 ment is secured to the people are their Parliaments and their juries ; 
 by the former of which no laws can be made without their consent, 
 and by the latter none can be executed without their judgment. By 
 this means the subject can never be oppressed by bad laws, nor lose 
 the security of good ones, but by his own fault ; and though I am not 
 such an extravagant admirer of my own country as to suppose that 
 
22 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748. 
 
 Parliament never made unwise laws, or that jurors never put false 
 constructions on wise ones, yet I will venture to assert that every 
 man's security and happiness is much safer in such hands than under 
 an arbitrary or aristocratical form of government. Especially since, 
 by the wise provisions of our ancestors, both these powers are of 
 short continuance; for power intrusted for a short time is not so 
 likely to be perverted as that which is perpetual. 
 
 " From this happy Constitution of our mother country, ours in this 
 is copied, or rather improved upon. Our invaluable charter secures 
 to us all the English liberties, besides which we have some addi- 
 tional privileges which the common people there have not. Our 
 fathers had so severely felt the effects of tyranny and the weight of 
 the bishop's yoke, that they underwent the greatest difficulties and 
 toils to secure to themselves and transmit to their posterity those in- 
 f valuable blessings ; and we, their posterity, are this day reaping the 
 fruits of their toils. Happy beyond expression ! — in the form of 
 our government, in the liberty we enjoy, — if we know our own 
 happiness and how to improve it. But neither the wisest constitu- 
 tion nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a 
 people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the 
 truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote 
 its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will 
 not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who 
 ita wise and virtuous mmJfWe must not conclude merely upon 
 "aTinan^s na^nn^uingTapo^liberty, and using the charming sound, 
 that he is fit to be trusted with the liberties of his country. It is 
 not unfrequent to hear men declaim loudly upon liberty, who, if we 
 may judge by the whole tenor of their actions, mean nothing else by 
 it but their own liberty, — to oppress without control or the restraint 
 of laws all who are poorer or weaker than themselves. It is not, I 
 say, unfrequent to see such instances, though at the same time I 
 esteem it a justice due to my country to say that it is not without 
 shining examples of the contrary kind ; — examples of men of a dis- 
 tinguished attachment to this same liberty I have been describing ; 
 whom no hopes could draw, no terrors could drive, from steadily 
 pursuing, in their sphere, the true interests of their country ; whose 
 fidelity has been tried in the nicest and tenderest manner, and has 
 been ever firm and unshaken. 
 
 tt The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of 
 
1748.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 23 
 
 • 
 
 Heaven, let us become a virtuous people : then shall we both de- 
 serve and enjoy it. While, on the other hand, if we are universally 
 vicious and debauched in our manners, though the form of our Con- 
 stitution carries the face of the most exalted freedom, we shall in 
 reality be the most abject slaves." 
 
 In March, 1748, Mr. Adams had the misfortune to lose 
 his father, who died in Boston in his fifty-ninth year. The 
 cause of Ms death is not known. His will was made the day 
 before his decease. Throughout a long and methodical life, 
 he had performed in an exemplary manner the duties of a 
 good citizen, an affectionate husband, and an indulgent 
 father. He lived at a time when party lines were beginning 
 to be drawn between the government and the friends of 
 popular rights ; and those who at the time of his death were 
 entering upon manhood must have long remembered his 
 sterling integrity of purpose, when in after years they 
 came to fill conspicuous positions in the Revolution. Early 
 joining the popular side, he had incurred the dislike of 
 many of the other party, particularly of Hutchinson, a mem- 
 ber of the Government Council, and afterwards Judge of 
 Probate for the County of Suffolk, whose animosity, far 
 from disappearing with the death of his opponent, was 
 directed against the son until the close of the Revolution. 
 The Boston "Weekly Gazette and the Independent Adver- 
 tiser contain notices of Mr. Adams's death, — the latter as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Last week died and was decently interred the remains of Sam- 
 uel Adams, Esq. ; a gentleman who sustained many public offices 
 among us, and for some time past represented this town in the 
 General Assembly. He was one who well understood and rightly 
 pursued the civil and religious interests of this people ; a true New 
 England Man ; an honest Patriot. Help, Lord, for such wise and 
 godly men cease, and such faithful members fail from among the 
 sons of New England." * 
 
 * N. E. Hist, and Genealogical Register, VII. 44. 
 
24 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748. 
 
 The will of Mr. Adams* appoints his sons Samuel and 
 Joseph, and his son-in-law James Allen, of Boston, his ex- 
 ecutors. His estate, real and personal, was left to his wife 
 Mary, except in case she should marry again, when half the 
 property was to accrue to his children, Samuel, Joseph, 
 and Mary, the wife of James Allen. After his wife's decease, 
 the whole estate was to be divided between them. He affec- 
 tionately provides for the interest of his favorite son by a 
 clause relating to the sum advanced to him several years 
 before to embark in business, the unfortunate result of 
 which has already been shown. He says : " My son Samuel, 
 being my eldest son, to receive his full third part, exclusive 
 of and besides the sum of a thousand pounds, old tenor, he 
 has already received, and for which he is made debtor in my 
 books ; it being my will that he be discharged from said debt 
 at my decease." 
 
 The estate being settled, Samuel Adams succeeded to his 
 father's business of a brewer, which he conducted in person. 
 It enabled him to maintain a respectable rank in society. 
 The Hudibrastic poet Green, at a later day, in some of his 
 lampoons of conspicuous characters, makes mention of him 
 as " Sam the maltster." Admiral Coffin, many years after, 
 relating events prior to the Revolution, remembered that 
 in boyhood he had carried malt on his back from Sam. 
 Adams's brewery ; and one of the British writers during 
 the Revolution, in an attack upon him for procuring certain 
 important results, speaks slightingly of him as a " curer of 
 bacon." 
 
 Succeeding to the social and political station which had 
 been occupied by his father, Adams retained all his father's 
 friends, and also saw growing up around him a circle of 
 young men who subsequently occupied distinguished posi- 
 tions in political life. Among the most intimate of his 
 father's acquaintances was the Rev. Samuel Checkley, whose 
 position at the New South Church had been procured by the 
 
 * Lib. 41, p. 33, Kecords of Probate Court, Boston. 
 
1749.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 25 
 
 * 
 
 influence of the elder Adams, and by whom the son had 
 been baptized. In his visits to his reverend friend, he formed 
 an attachment for his daughter Elizabeth, and they were 
 married at her father's house on the 17th of October, 1749. 
 Miss Checkley was then twenty-four years of age, and, as her 
 daughter testifies, was a rare example of virtue and piety, 
 blended with a retiring and modest demeanor, and the 
 charms of elegant womanhood.* Only two of their five 
 children survived their mother ; — Samuel, afterwards a sur- 
 geon in the Continental army, who died unmarried ; and 
 Hannah, who married Captain Thomas Wells, an officer of 
 the Revolution. This union, which was an extremely happy 
 one, lasted nearly eight years, when Mr. Adams sustained his 
 severest affliction, the loss of his wife. She died July 25, 
 1757. In the family Bible on that day he wrote : " To her 
 husband she was as sincere a friend as she was a faithful 
 wife. Her exact economy in all her relative capacities, her 
 kindred on his side as well as her own admire. She ran her 
 Christian race with remarkable steadiness, and finished in 
 triumph ! She left two small children. God grant they 
 may inherit her graces ! " The families of Adams and 
 Checkley had been connected by marriage in the previous 
 century, Captain John Adams, the grandfather of Samuel 
 Adams, having married Hannah, the daughter of Anthony 
 Checkley, Esq., first Attorney-General of the Province under 
 the new charter, f 
 
 The year following his wife's death, Mr. Adams was beset 
 with an attachment by the sheriff on the family estate, 
 arising from the unsettled affairs of the Land Bank, which 
 had been dissolved seventeen years before. During that 
 
 * The maiden name of the mother of Miss Checkley was Elizabeth Eolfe. 
 In Drake's " History of Boston," p. 535, will be found an interesting account 
 of her escape, with her sister and mother, from the Indians, in their memorable 
 descent upon Haverhill in the summer of 1708. Her father, the Rev. Benjamin 
 Rolfe, minister of the town, was killed, together with nearly one hundred of the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 t Drake, p. 534. 
 
26 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758. 
 
 i 
 
 long period this business had been intrusted to commission- 
 ers under a law of the Province passed for that purpose. 
 Many intricate questions were involved in attempts to adjust 
 the accounts, each member being liable for the debts of the 
 whole. To add to these difficulties and complications, the 
 company's records, with the building containing them, had 
 been destroyed by fire, and no means remained of ascertain- 
 ing the names of the debtors or the amounts due from them, 
 except what they might themselves furnish. Ruin and dis- 
 tress were entailed upon many, and successive laws had 
 been passed by the Legislature with a view to an arrange- 
 ment. The virulence with which the suit seems to have 
 been pursued against the Adamses may have arisen from the 
 elder Adams having been a director of the bank, and proba- 
 I bly its principal member. The attempt on the part of the 
 1 authorities to seize and sell the property gave Samuel Adams 
 ! his first opportunity to openly avow his opposition to the 
 ; arbitrary exercise of Parliamentary rule in the Colony. In 
 common with a large party, he had at that early day re- 
 garded the dissolution of the Land Bank as an unwarranta- 
 ble encroachment on the charter rights of the people, and 
 an illegal interference in their local concerns. In August, 
 1758, the following notice appeared in the Boston News- 
 Letter : — 
 
 "To be sold at public Auction at the Exchange Tavern in Boston, 
 To-morrow at noon. The Dwelling House, Malt-House, and other 
 buildings, with the Garden and lands adjoining, and the Wharf, 
 Dock and Flats before the same, being part of the estate of the late 
 Samuel Adams, Esq., deceased, and is scituate near Bull -Wharf, at 
 the lower end of Summer Street in Boston aforesaid, the said estate 
 being taken by warrant or execution under the hand and seal of the 
 Hon. Commissioners for the more speedy finishing the Land-Bank, 
 or Manufactory scheme. . . . 
 
 "Stephen Greenleaf"* 
 
 The sale, however, probably did not take place " to-mor- 
 
 * N. E. Hist, and Genealogical Register, VII. 44. 
 
1758.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 27 
 
 row," as advertised; for in the next issue of the News- 
 Letter, a week later, Mr. Adams appears in the following 
 note to the sheriff: — 
 
 "To Stephen Greenleaf, Esq. 
 
 " Sir I observe your Advertisement for the sale of the Estate of 
 Samuel Adams, Esq., director of the Land-Bank Company. Your 
 predecessor, Colonel Pollard, had the same affair in hand five years 
 before his death ; but with all his known firmness of mind, he never 
 brought the matter to any conclusion, and his Precept, I am told, is 
 not returned to this Day. The reason was — he, as well as myself, 
 was advised by gentlemen of the law, that his proceeding was illegal 
 and unwarrantable ; and therefore he very prudently declined enter- 
 ing so far into this affair as to subject his own Estate to danger. 
 How far your determination may lead you, you know better than I. 
 I would only beg leave, with freedom, to assure you, that I am ad- 
 vised and determined to prosecute to the law any person whomsoever 
 who shall trespass upon that Estate, and remain 
 
 " Your humble servant 
 
 "Samuel Adams.* 
 "Boston, Aug. 16, 1758." 
 
 This representation seems to have had the desired effect ; 
 and the sheriff, unwilling to incur the responsibility, deferred 
 the sale to September 22d, and then again to the 29th, when 
 it was stated that attendance would be given between twelve 
 and one o'clock on that day ; but the sale did not take place, 
 and the property remained in the family possession. 
 
 On some one of these occasions, if not when Colonel Pol- 
 lard attempted the same procedure several years before, 
 Adams appeared in person on the ground and prevented the 
 sale. Hutchinson refers to it in his History of Massachu- 
 setts. He says : — 
 
 " Mr. S. Adams's father had been one of the directors of the Land 
 Bank in 1741, which was dissolved by an act of Parliament. After 
 his decease, his estate was put up for sale at public auction under 
 
 * New England Hist, and Genealogical Register, "VH. 44. 
 
28 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758. 
 
 authority of an act of the General Assembly. The son first made 
 himself conspicuous on this occasion. He attended the sale, threat- 
 ened the sheriff to bring an action against him, and threatened all 
 who should attempt to enter upon the estate under pretence of a 
 purchase ; and by intimidating both the sheriff and those persons 
 who intended to purchase, he prevented the sale, kept the estate in 
 his possession, and the debt to the Land Bank Company remained 
 unsatisfied." * 
 
 What hand Hutchinson himself had in the framing and 
 passage of the " act of the General Assembly " referred to, 
 he does not state. His hatred of Samuel Adams knew no 
 bounds ; and his third volume, written in England in old age, 
 after his disgraceful and final departure from Boston, was 
 penned when his heart rankled with chagrin and disappoint- 
 ment, — produced by the agency of Samuel Adams more 
 than that of any other man. He well knew that the suits 
 against the Adams estate were unjust and cruel; but he 
 believed that the spirit of the proprietor could be crushed 
 by reducing him to poverty, and it was not until the com- 
 mencement of the Kevolution that he learned his mis- 
 take. Bancroft, writing from contemporary evidence, says 
 that on this occasion Adams " appeared in defence of Colo- 
 nial supremacy " against an act of Parliament " overruling 
 the laws of the Colony," and that " by his success he grati- 
 fied alike his filial piety and his love of his country." f 
 
 Hutchinson always prided himself upon his instrumen- 
 tality in abolishing a paper currency. Fifteen years after- 
 wards when he was Governor of the Province, and Samuel 
 Adams was denounced as " the chief of the Revolution " 
 by the ministry, this subject was brought up in the cele- 
 brated controversy between the House of Representatives 
 and the Governor, who referred to the act of Parliament 
 which had broken up the Land Bank Company as an evi- 
 dence of the authority of Parliament over the Colonies, — 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, IH. 294. t Bancroft, V. 195. 
 
1758.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 29 
 
 the validity of the act not having been disputed by those 
 persons immediately affected by it. It was true that none of 
 the company raised any appeal against the act, young Adams, 
 apparently, being the only person who publicly opposed it 
 on anything like constitutional grounds ; but in the con- 
 troversy alluded to, looking back to this time, he says : — 
 
 "The act of Parliament passed in 1741 for putting an end to 
 several unwarrantable schemes mentioned by your Excellency, was 
 designed for the general good ; and, if the validity of it was not 
 disputed, it cannot be urged as a concession of the supreme author- 
 ity to make laws binding on us in all cases whatsoever ; but if the 
 design of it was for the general benefit of the Province, it was, in 
 one respect at least, greatly complained of by the persons more im- 
 mediately affected by it; and to remedy the inconvenience, the 
 Legislature of this Province passed an act directly militating with 
 it ; which is the strongest evidence that, although they may have 
 submitted sub silentio to some acts of Parliament that they con- 
 ceived might operate for their benefit, they did not conceive them- 
 selves bound by any of its acts, which they judged would operate 
 to the injury even of individuals."* 
 
 The elder Dexter, who was the intimate friend of Sam- 
 uel Adams, stated that in this cause, in which Adams " had 
 powerful interests to contend against, he gained the respect 
 of every party by the acuteness of his wit and the depth 
 of his understanding,' ' and that the act of the Legislature 
 liberating the directors from prosecution was brought about 
 through " the influence of his pen and language." f Thus 
 he not only saved his own homestead, but released others 
 from the unjust gripe of the Parliamentary mandate. The 
 passage of that act was the germ of the great issues, which 
 resulted in an emphatic denial, by the Legislature, of Parlia- 
 mentary authority, and served as a precedent to sustain the 
 Colony in the controversy on that subject. 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 394. 
 
 t Thacher, Funeral Discourse, 1804, quoting a verbal statement then re- 
 cently made by the Hon. Samuel Dexter. 
 
30 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758. 
 
 The expedition against Louisburg, which was mainly 
 planned by Governor Shirley, had contributed greatly to 
 his popularity ; but towards the close of his administration, 
 the failure of the expeditions of 1755, which was perhaps 
 unjustly charged upon him, produced a considerable revul- 
 sion in public sentiment, especially after his appointment as 
 " Commander-in-chief of all his Majesty's forces in Amer- 
 ica. " For some time, during the term of Governor Shirley, 
 Adams wrote against the dangerous tendencies of such an 
 extension of military force in the Colonies. Thacher says : 
 "Mr. Adams, however, was opposed to the union of so 
 great a degree of civil and military power as was intrusted 
 to that gentleman, and endeavored to awaken his country- 
 men to a sense of danger, though at a distance."* The 
 measures of Governor Shirley were criticised and assailed 
 in the public press, particularly in 1756, during his at- 
 tempts to procure men and money from the Colony for the 
 proposed expedition against the French at Crown Point. 
 The enterprise met with little favor at that time, owing to 
 the belief that it would require great expense, and that an 
 attack upon Quebec, aided by the British fleet, would be 
 preferable. That Adams was a frequent contributor to the 
 press from 1750 to 1764, is indisputable. There is ample 
 contemporary evidence. \ He warned his countrymen against 
 the growing usurpations of power by the mother country, 
 and endeavored to keep the principles of Colonial rights 
 before the public! Some who knew him refer to these pro- 
 ductions with admiration of their ability and objects. A 
 contributor to the Polyanthus alludes to Samuel Adams 
 at this time as one among that eminent band of patriots 
 who wrote in defence of their country.! At the time of 
 Adams's death, Thacher referred to the few distinguished 
 characters of the ante-Revolutionary period then surviving, 
 " who spoke with the highest respect of his wit, ingenuity, 
 
 * Thacher's Funeral Discourse. 
 
 t Polyanthus, III. 74. Boston, 1806. 
 
1758.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 31 
 
 and profound argument," in his public writings during 
 Governor Shirley's administration. Hutchinson says, " He 
 was for near twenty years a writer against government in 
 the public newspaper s." 
 
 John Adams, at this time an obscure young man in a 
 country village, remembered in after years the reputation 
 of his kinsman as a powerful agent in Colonial politics 
 long before the causes of the Revolution began to be felt. 
 More than once, both in his diary before the war, and 
 in his letters in the next century, he refers to this. 
 
 "The talents," he says, "of that great man were of the most 
 exalted, though not of the most showy kind. His love of country, 
 his exertions in her service through a long course of years, through 
 the administrations of Governors Shirley, Pownall, Bernard, 
 Hutchinson, and Gage, under the royal government, and through 
 the whole of the subsequent Revolution, — and always in support of 
 the same principles, — his inflexible integrity, his disinterestedness, 
 his invariable resolution, his sagacity, his patience, perseverance, and 
 pure public virtue, were never exceeded by any man in America." * 
 
 Samuel Adams was friendly to Governor Pownall, who 
 succeeded Shirley in 1756, and who entertained a greater 
 respect for popular rights than his predecessor. Pownall, 
 who about this time predicted the nearness of American 
 independence, was the firm advocate of the Colonies. 
 When he left for England, in 1760, having been suc- 
 ceeded by Bernard, the inhabitants unanimously voted him 
 an address, acknowledging the happy influence of his ad- 
 ministration, which had extended to every branch of the 
 public interest, and had been too sensibly felt by the 
 merchants to allow them to part with his Excellency with- 
 out the most particular acknowledgment of gratitude and 
 respect. 
 
 As early as during Shirley's administration, Samuel Ad- 
 ams had undoubtedly pondered over the subject of a future 
 separation of the American Colonies from the mother coun- 
 
 * John Adams's Works, I. 673. 
 
32 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758. 
 
 try. His subsequent career showed that the scheme was 
 no new one with him, and had not been suggested by the 
 immediate events causing the outbreak of hostilities. His 
 native sagacity foresaw the great issue ; but he knew how 
 to guide the circumstances of the hour so that the crisis 
 should not be injudiciously precipitated upon his country- 
 men before the appointed time. The inevitable result of 
 the French war in developing the strength of the Colonies 
 and establishing confidence in their own resources, was 
 leading to a determination on the part of the home govern- 
 ment to bring them under closer subjection. Any such 
 infringement on their charter rights and privileges could 
 only arouse opposition, and a conflict must necessarily en- 
 sue. Governor Shirley had, perhaps, recommended tax- 
 ation of the Colonies, and Minot alludes to a report that 
 he had disclosed to a leading character in America the 
 ministerial plan for taxing that country.* Massachusetts, 
 in 1755, was informed of the resolution in Parliament to 
 raise funds for American affairs by a stamp duty, and a 
 duty on products of the West Indies imported into the 
 Continental Colonies; and her agent in London was in- 
 structed "to oppose everything that should have the re- 
 motest tendency to raise a revenue in the Plantations for 
 any public uses or services of government." The project 
 of Colonial taxation was freely discussed and defended by 
 the British press, and that the act might be enforced when 
 passed, a rule was laid down by an Order in Council, that 
 troops might be kept in the Colonies and quartered upon 
 the people without the consent of the several Assemblies. 
 / Massachusetts, ever watchful of her liberties, used every 
 /exertion of remonstrance against the threatened evils ; and 
 ^wise men foresaw the gathering storm. Samuel Adams 
 was most active in preparing his countrymen for the crisis. 
 John Adams knew and had felt the power of those efforts. 
 Writing to a Mend in 1819, he says : — 
 
 * Minot's History, I. 296. 
 
1758.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 33 
 
 "Samuel Adams, to my certain knowledge, from 1758 to 1775, 
 that is for seventeen years, made it his constant rule to watch the 
 rise of every brilliant genius, to seek his acquaintance, to court his 
 friendship, to cultivate his natural feelings in favor of his native 
 country, to warn him against the hostile designs of Great Britain, 
 and to fix his affections and reflections on the side of his native 
 country. I could enumerate a list, but I will confine myself to a 
 few. John Hancock, afterwards President of the Congress and 
 Governor of the State ; Dr. Joseph Warren, afterwards Major- Gen- 
 eral of the militia of Massachusetts, and the martyr of Bunker's 
 Hill ; Benjamin Church, the poet and the orator, once a pretended 
 if not a real patriot, but afterwards a monument of the frailty of 
 human nature ; Josiah Quincy, the Boston Cicero, the great orator 
 in the body meetings, the author of the Observations on the Boston 
 Port Bill and of many publications in the newspapers." * 
 
 Instances of his unwearying zeal in these early stages of 
 the Revolutionary era could be multiplied. Beyond the 
 Atlantic it was well known. Mr. Adolphus, in the second 
 volume of his History of England, says : — 
 
 " Samuel Adams, a distinguished leader of the American counsels, 
 noted for subtlety, perseverance, and inflexibility, boasted in all 
 companies that he had toiled twenty years to accomplish the measure 
 
 * Correspondence, X. 364. — To this list John Adams might with propriety 
 have added his own name. He was thirteen years the junior of his kinsman, 
 by whom his genius was first exhibited in a fair field. The young lawyer was 
 first made prominent in 1765, when his cousin, as chairman of the town meet- 
 ing in December in relation to the Stamp Act, obtained his nomination as one 
 of the three to plead the cause of the town before the Governor and Council. 
 While in Boston, he was introduced by Samuel Adams to the political club, and 
 on becoming a resident there, he frequently turned aside from his profession to 
 aid in the cause. A few days after his nomination as above stated, he makes 
 the following record in his diary : " Mr. Samuel Adams told me he was glad 
 I was nominated for several reasons : first, because he hoped that such an in- 
 stance of respect from the town of Boston would make an impression on my 
 mind, and secure my friendship to the town from gratitude ; secondly, he was 
 in hopes such distinction would be of service to my business and interest; 
 thirdly, he hoped that Braintree, finding the eyes of Boston fixed upon me, 
 would fix theirs on me too in May. His hopes in the two first particulars 
 may be well grounded, but I am not sure in the third." 
 vol i. 3 
 
X 
 
 34 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1763. 
 
 of independence. During that time he had carried his art and in- 
 dustry so far as to reach every rising genius in the New England 
 seminaries, employed his utmost abilities to fix in their minds the 
 principles of American independency, and now triumphed in his 
 success." 
 
 A learned commentator on this authority, who thoroughly 
 understood the character of Samuel Adams, asserted that 
 he was " no boaster, but a polite gentleman of modest car- 
 riage. " 
 
 His reputation as a political manager was acquired at 
 this epoch, and it was now that he laid the foundation of 
 the public confidence and esteem which introduced him to 
 those positions where his talents and abilities were largely 
 enjoyed by his country. In matters of public interest he 
 was always prominent in deliberation and debate. Indeed, 
 it would be inconsistent with probability to suppose that 
 with his entrance into the Legislature in 1765 began the 
 leadership he then exercised, or that his agency in conduct- 
 ing the affairs of the town commenced at that date. The 
 historian Bradford, writing from a personal acquaintance 
 with him, says " he had great influence with his fellow- 
 townsmen for some years before he went into the General 
 Court, which was in 1765. " 
 
 During the religious controversy on the Episcopacy, in 
 which the Rev. Dr. Apthorp and the celebrated Dr. Mayhew 
 were opposed to each other, Samuel Adams is said to have 
 written a pamphlet in which the whole subject is considered. 
 John Adams says, in a letter to Mr. Niles : — 
 
 " To form a judgment of this debate, I beg leave to refer to a 
 view of the whole printed at the time, and written by Samuel 
 Adams, though by some very absurdly and erroneously ascribed to 
 Mr. Apthorp. If I am not greatly mistaken, it will be found a 
 model of candor, sagacity, and impartiality, and close, correct rea- 
 soning." * 
 
 * There are reasons for believing that Samuel Adams was not the author of 
 this pamphlet, and that he probably did not enter into the controversy at any 
 
1763.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 35 
 
 Adams does not appear to have aspired to any public office 
 until 1763, when he became one of the tax collectors. The 
 same year, in May, his name appears on the town records, 
 as one of the selectmen who reported on the visitation of 
 schools. In the prosecution of his duties, he was brought 
 into frequent communication with all classes of his fellow- 
 time. John Adams, in the above brief allusion (Works, X. 288), is the only- 
 authority for attributing it to his kinsman. Careful but as yet unsuccessful 
 search has been made for such a review by Samuel Adams, not only in public 
 libraries and among the most complete collections of pamphlets in America, but 
 also in the British Museum, the Oxford libraries, and that of the Society for 
 the Propagation of the Gospel, where everything relating to the Society has been 
 zealously gathered for more than a century. 
 
 The author lately applied to Mr. John Langdon Sibley, the Librarian of Har- 
 vard College, to renew the search which had been made in that library several 
 years before. Mr. Sibley very kindly undertook the task in person, and has 
 traced the subject to what seems to be a satisfactory conclusion. In the Cat- 
 alogue of the Library, the work is thus noted : " Adams, Samuel. On the 
 Conduct of the Society for Propagating the Gospel. 8vo. Lond. 1765." As 
 such a pamphlet by Samuel Adams had never been seen by any of the pres- 
 ent generation, the inference was, either that it had long since been taken 
 from the library and never returned, or that the production of some other 
 person had been attributed to him. The original manuscript from which 
 the Catalogue was printed was now hunted up ; and here was found, marked 
 by the compiler, a query as to the probable author, — Apthorp or Adams. 
 This manuscript expressly refers to Volume II. of the " Mayhew Controversy," 
 consisting of a bound collection of pamphlets on this subject, presented to the 
 library by Thomas Hollis about the year 1768. In this collection, the pam- 
 phlet in question is found. It is an octavo, printed in London in 1765, and 
 entitled, "A Review of Dr. Mayhew's Remarks on the Answer to his Ob- 
 servations on the Charter and Conduct of the Society for the Propagation of 
 the Gospel in Foreign Parts. By East Apthorp, M. A." That this is the work 
 to which the compiler of the Catalogue had reference is shown by his pencil 
 notes specifying the volume and page in HolhYs collection above mentioned. 
 But notwithstanding the fact that the title-page shows Apthorp to have been 
 the author, the compiler plainly was in doubt as to crediting it to him. This 
 hesitancy was apparently owing to some statement he had heard, ascribing it 
 to Samuel Adams, and which finally induced him to so place it in the Cata- 
 logue. That authority may have been John Adams, who often visited the Li- 
 brary and took great interest in its welfare, and who probably repeated there 
 the substance of what has been above quoted, written in 1818, — more than 
 half a century after the time of the controversy, and when the writer had not 
 the pamphlet before him, and trusted to memory in making the assertion. Had 
 
86 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1763. 
 
 townsmen, and passed much of his time in political con- 
 verse with them. So prominent did he become by his de- 
 cided opinions, which then became widely disseminated, 
 that the royalists derisively styled him, in allusion to his 
 • office, " Samuel the Publican. " His wisdom, integrity, 
 "^and political knowledge procured him the respect and con- 
 fidence of the people. His counsel was frequently asked, 
 and freely given to all, on questions of difficulty personally 
 interesting to them ; and it has come direct from his daugh- 
 ter, that controversies among his neighbors were often si- 
 lenced by submitting the subjects in dispute to his decision, 
 from which appeals were seldom made. The office of tax 
 collector was at that time generally given to gentlemen 
 who had seen better days. Adams had by this time little 
 remaining beyond the homestead for the protection of which 
 from seizure he had battled for years past. Eliot, who was 
 personally acquainted with him, and familiar with the events 
 of his life, says that at this period he was so reduced that 
 " he received assistance from his private friends, and from 
 many others who knew him only as a spirited partisan in 
 the cause of liberty," * and that he was then " one of the 
 best writers in the newspapers." 
 
 Mr. Adams appears to have been unsuccessful in his of- 
 
 he possessed the work, he could not have fallen into the error, as the title-page 
 would have set at rest any question of authorship. 
 
 The evidences against its having been the work of Samuel Adams, and that 
 he never employed his pen at all in the controversy, may be thus summed up. 
 1 . The pamphlet leans to the Episcopal side of the argument, and opposes Dr. 
 Mayhew, which Samuel Adams certainly would not have done. 2. The pam- 
 phlet referred to in the Catalogue was published in London, but not as the re- 
 print of a Boston edition. Had Samuel Adams been its author, it would have 
 appeared first in Boston. 3. It bears no resemblance in style to the composi- 
 tions of Samuel Adams. 4. Apthorp went to England in 1764, and never re- 
 turned to America. Being there when the pamphlet was printed, he would 
 not have allowed his own name to appear as the author of another's work. 5. 
 No other pamphlet or newspaper publication resembling the one in question has 
 been found bearing the title indicated, or having the style of Samuel Adams, 
 which no one familiar with his writings could ever mistake. 
 
 * Biographical Dictionary. 1809. 
 
1764.] LIFE. OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 37 
 
 ficial duties, owing partly to his humane disposition, which 
 prevented him from pressing delinquents, but_^rdcu]aily„io 
 the embarrassed financial condition of the Province, which 
 rendered it impossible for many to meet the public demands. 
 The general distress was also increased by the alarming spread 
 of the small-pox in the winter and spring of 1764, causing 
 many of the inhabitants to fly the town. Numbers of mer- 
 chants and traders removed their goods into the country, 
 and business for some months was paralyzed. The several 
 tax collectors were thus thrown in arrears, and with no 
 prospect of being able to square their accounts. At the elec- 
 tion in March, 1764, Mr. Adams declined serving again, al- 
 though elected by a large majority, but he was finally induced 
 to continue in office, and during this year he attempted to 
 collect the arrearages in his district, but the experiment 
 only involved him deeper, and the uncollected amount was 
 increased. In the following year (1765), a committee was 
 appointed to examine into the state of the treasury, who 
 reported that the several collectors of taxes appeared by the 
 Treasurer's books to be indebted to the town ninety-eight 
 hundred and seventy-eight pounds, divided between John 
 Ruddock, Samuel Adams, Jonathan Payson, John Grant, 
 and Thomas Satter. What measures the others took to ar- 
 range their difficulties is not known. Mr. Adams pub- 
 lished the following notice : — 
 
 " Those of the inhabitants of this town who are indebted to the 
 subscriber for Ifieir taxes for any year past are desired forthwith 
 to discharge them, or they may depend upon the steps of the law 
 being taken, without distinction of persons ; the present circum- 
 stances of the town being such as to make any further indulgence 
 utterly inconsistent with the duty of their 
 
 " Humble servant, 
 
 "Samuel Adams." * 
 
 At the next election all the collectors were re-elected, but 
 unanimously refused to serve.f Four days later, Messrs. 
 
 * Boston Gazette, 20th May, 1765. t Boston Town Records. 
 
38 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765. 
 
 Payson and Satter accepted; but Mr. Adams steadily 
 and properly declined to sacrifice his peace of mind to the 
 necessities of the public. Efforts were made by his ene- 
 mies for three or four years afterwards to hold him, and 
 two others of the five collectors, responsible for the uncol- 
 lected sums. The subject was brought up at town meet- 
 ings ; and in March, 1768, an attempt, by a body of Tories, 
 who had evidently assembled for the purpose of crushing 
 Adams, was voted down " by a great majority.' ' At a sub- 
 sequent town meeting, the people refused to hear the list 
 of uncollected taxes read, and, by " a very great major- 
 ity," he was finally discharged from all liability.* The 
 Tories, glad of any pretext on which to malign the patriot, 
 rung the changes on this tax-collecting affair at every op- 
 portunity, distorting the facts, and attempting to blacken 
 his character; but the calumny only recoiled upon them- 
 selves. Hutchinson, as it afterwards appeared, did not fail 
 to add this to his other malignant representations in his 
 secret letters to the government in England, and in his His- 
 tory of Massachusetts he gravely calls it a " defalcation." f 
 
 * Boston Town Records. 
 
 t Examination of every statute upon the subject, from the earliest times 
 under the Province Charter of 1692 down to. 1785, will show that no 
 sureties were ever required of tax collectors by any law of the Province 
 during that period. It is quite certain that neither Samuel Adams nor any 
 other collector of taxes of his time, either in Boston or in any other town 
 of the Province, ever gave sureties or surety for the performance of the duty 
 of collector. Bonds by collectors of taxes, with sureties, are of much later ori- 
 gin. The stringent provisions of law during that period to urge collectors of 
 taxes up to a punctual and vigorous execution of their duties, by necessary im- 
 plication, show that they had no sureties ; for, besides liability to suit and pen- 
 alties attached, &c, an act was passed at the November session, 1736, of the 
 General Court, that if collectors of town taxes neglected to collect the taxes 
 committed to them for collection, and pay the same in to the town treasurer, 
 within one month after the time provided in and by the warrant to them di- 
 rected for the purpose, the town treasurer was empowered to issue a warrant to 
 the sheriff of the county, who was empowered and directed thereby to cause 
 the sum not paid in by the collector to be levied by distress and sale of the 
 real and personal estate of the collector. 
 
 That law was revived and continued from time to time, and kept always in 
 
1760.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 39 
 
 In August, 1760, Governor Pownall was succeeded by 
 Francis Bernard. The new official was received with due 
 parade, and, being met at Dedham by Lieutenant-Governor 
 Hutchinson, was escorted to the Province House, the resi- 
 dence of the Colonial Governors. Bernard was educated 
 at Oxford, and bred to the law. He had been two years 
 
 force until June 23d, 1770. The idea of a surety by a collector of taxes is not 
 even hinted at by any statute until long after the year 1785. 
 
 Under the statutes prior to 1785, every person elected as collector of taxes 
 was bound under the penalty of a fine to take the prescribed oath and perform 
 the duties of the office, all the excuse being that he was not obliged to serve 
 but one year in seven. 
 
 There was always great difficulty in collecting taxes in Provincial times, 
 owing to the scarcity of money among the people. But in the year 1763 
 there was unusual difficulty in Boston. Thus at the adjourned session of the 
 General Court, which assembled on the 27th day of December, 1763, the Se- 
 lectmen of Boston petitioned the General Court to provide a remedy for their 
 collectors of taxes in particular, on account of the insufficiency of the law 
 for Boston, as it then stood. On the next day (Dec. 28th, 1763), a bill was 
 read the first time, entitled, " An Act to enable the Collectors of Taxes in the Town 
 of Boston to sue for and recover the Rates and Taxes given them to collect in certain 
 Cases:' 
 
 The preamble of the statute, following the title, is in these words, viz. : — 
 
 " Whereas, notwithstanding the provision already made by the laws of 
 this Province respecting constables and collectors of taxes, it is represented 
 that in many cases there- may be a failure, and the town of Boston have 
 humbly desired that remedy may be provided for their collectors in those 
 
 The act then goes on to provide, in Sect. 1, that when any person duly 
 taxed in Boston had absconded, or should abscond, not having paid his taxes, 
 and had concealed his goods and estate, the collectors of Boston should have 
 like remedy against the agents, factors, or trustees of such absconding person, 
 to recover the taxes assessed against such absconding person, as by law cred- 
 itors have for the recovery of their debts. 
 
 The second section provides that where any person taxed in Boston had 
 died before paying his tax, or removed to some other town, or where any 
 feme sole duly taxed had married before paying her tax, or where the collectors 
 (the time for them to pay in having elapsed) had paid the whole sum com- 
 mitted to them to collect, — in all such cases, the collectors of Boston might 
 sue the person so assessed, and have the like remedy as other creditors have 
 for recovering their proper debts. 
 
 This act was read a second and third time on the 29th day of December, 
 
40 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1760. 
 
 Governor of New Jersey when transferred to Massachusetts. 
 He commenced his administration under favorable auspices, 
 but he failed to appreciate or understand the people among 
 whom his lot had been cast; and his name, as that of a 
 secret enemy to the liberties of America, was ever after 
 detested by the patriots. On his arrival, the Assembly 
 granted him a liberal salary of thirteen hundred pounds 
 
 1763, and passed to be engrossed, and sent up to the Council Board for concur- 
 rence ; and in the third section, it was provided that the act should be in force 
 from and after the first day of February, in the year 1764, viz. for two years 
 and two months only. 
 
 Those acquainted with political and party strife, and the relation in which 
 Samuel Adams and Governor Hutchinson stood to each other, will not attach 
 importance to what the latter said of the former. 
 
 That in those exciting times some complication may have existed in the 
 accounts of the treasurer of Boston with Samuel Adams and his co-collectors 
 is very probable. The confusion of the times for a considerable period pre- 
 ceding the Revolutionary war, and during that war, and for some time after, 
 probably prevented a formal auditing of those accounts until it became im- 
 possible. 
 
 Against the attack upon Samuel Adams in relation to the matter of the 
 collection of taxes, we may safely invoke the great weight of his personal 
 character. What is character good for, unless it protects the reputation of a 
 person in a single case of accusation without proof in a long lifetime ? 
 
 Against that accusation it is sufficient that the town of Boston and the 
 House of Representatives of the Province testified, contemporaneously in the 
 strongest manner. Would the town of Boston, in September, 1765, have 
 elected a defaulting collector to fill the vacancy in their representation in the 
 Legislature, occasioned by the death of the famous Oxenbridge Thacher ? 
 Would our House of Representatives, on the third day after his becoming a 
 member, have made a defaulting collector the chairman of the committee to 
 present to Governor Bernard the answer to his message on the subject of the 
 stamped paper that had just then arrived in the Province ! Does that answer, 
 most palpably drafted by " the last of the Puritans," savor of the mind of a de- 
 faulting collector'? This subject may be dismissed by putting in evidence 
 against the aspersion by Hutchinson the unanimous declaration of our General 
 Court, both House and Council Board, on the seventh day of November, 1776, 
 in the preamble to the act changing the name of the town then called 
 Hutchinson to what it is now, — Barre. 
 
 That act cannot be safely abridged ; and as it disposes of the character of 
 Hutchinson as a witness against so great a political opponent as Samuel 
 Adams, it is copied entire. 
 
1760.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 41 
 
 per annum, and presented him with the island of Mount 
 Desert on the coast of Maine. This gratified his avarice, 
 but he remained a hidden foe to the Province. When the 
 troubles with the mother country commenced, he was un- 
 wearied in his efforts for the subversion of the Colonial 
 charter, though he constantly professed the contrary. His 
 letters subsequently revealed that he was a persistent advo- 
 
 * An Act for discontinuing the name of a Town in the, County of Worcester, lately 
 incorporated by the name of Hutchinson, and calling the same Barre. 
 
 " Whereas the inhabitants of the town of Hutchinson have by their petition 
 represented to this Court that in June, 1774, when the said town was incorpo- 
 rated, General Gage, the then Governor, gave it the name of Hutchinson, in 
 honor to, and to perpetuate the memory of, Thomas Hutchinson, his immediate 
 predecessor in the chair of government, whom they justly style the well- 
 known enemy of the natural and stipulated rights of America ; and that, at a 
 town meeting notified for that purpose, they voted unanimously to petition, and 
 accordingly have petitioned, the General Court, that the name of the said town 
 might be altered, and that it might no longer bear the disgraceful name of 
 Hutchinson ; — 
 
 " And whereas there is a moral fitness that traitors and parricides, especially 
 such as have remarkably distinguished themselves in that odious character, 
 and have long labored to deprive their native country of its most valuable 
 rights and privileges, and to destroy every Constitutional guard against the 
 evils of an all-enslaving despotism, should be held up to public view in their 
 true characters, to be execrated by mankind, and that there should remain 
 no other memorials of them than such as will transmit their names with in- 
 famy to posterity; — 
 
 " And whereas the said Thomas Hutchinson, contrary to every obligation of 
 duty and gratitude to this his native country, which raised him from private 
 life to the highest and most lucrative offices in the government, has acted 
 towards her the part of a traitor and parricide, as above described, which has 
 been clearly manifested to the world by his letters lately published ; and by his 
 having thus acted, it has become fit and just that every honorable memorial of 
 him should be obliterated and cease : — therefore, 
 
 " Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the State of 
 Massachusetts Bay in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the 
 same, that the land lying in the County of Worcester, formerly called Rutland 
 District, and in June, 1774, incorporated into a town by the name of Hutch- 
 inson, shall no more bear that name, but henceforth shall be called and known 
 Dy the name of Barre, the aforesaid incorporating act notwithstanding. And 
 all officers in the said town shall hold and exercise their offices respectively, in 
 the same manner as they would have done had not the name of the said town 
 been altered." 
 
42 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1760. 
 
 cate for bringing troops to Boston. He was vain, fretful, 
 timid, passionate, easily offended, and possessed of little 
 dignity of character. The officers of the army contemned 
 him for his cowardice and duplicity, and the people hated 
 and despised him. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Schemes to tax the Colonies. — Writs of Assistance. — Eloquence of James 
 
 Otis The Sugar Act. — Efforts to procure its Repeal. — Adams draughts 
 
 the Boston Instructions in 1764. — The Right of Parliament to tax the 
 Colonies first publicly denied ; and a general Union of the Colonies recom- 
 mended. — Character and Influence of Adams. — His Second Marriage. — 
 His Opinions on the Taxation Question. — The Legislature follow the 
 Boston Instructions. — The Stamp Act. — Renewed Parliamentary Debates. 
 
 — Noble Oratory of Colonel Barre. — Reception of the News in Boston. 
 
 — Public Indignation and Violence. — Adams drafts the Boston Instruc- 
 tions in 1765. — The New York Congress. 
 
 I With the termination of the French war arrived the 
 | eventful period when the Stamp duty, by which the British 
 / government proposed to raise a revenue from the Colonies 
 I without their having a representation in Parliament, aroused 
 the Americans from the condition of peaceful and generally 
 contented subjects to exasperated assertors of the rights 
 sacredly guaranteed by charter. The freedom and prerog- 
 ative parties, including on either side the ablest men in 
 , Massachusetts, were arrayed on the issues of the relation 
 between the Colonies and Great Britain. The first notable 
 question was on the validity of the writs of assistance, which 
 enabled officers of the customs to forcibly enter dwellings 
 and stores to search for any contraband goods supposed 
 to be concealed there. A petition being sent by an officer 
 to the Superior Court for one of these writs, legal excep- 
 tions were taken, and James Otis, a man who thenceforth 
 took a leading part in the support of the liberties of his 
 country, appeared for the Bostonians against Gridley, the 
 King's Attorney. Oxenbridge Thacher was also engaged 
 for the people, and preceded Otis with an argument to prove 
 that the practice of the Exchequer was not good ground 
 
44 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758-63. 
 
 for that court, and that the required seizures were wanton 
 exercises of power. James Otis electrified his audience by 
 a speech, denouncing the writs as instruments of slavery on 
 the one hand, and villany on the other. The orator spoke 
 for four hours, and was remembered by John Adams as " a 
 flame of fire." " The child Independence," he says, " was 
 then and there born. Every man of an immense crowded 
 audience appeared to me to go away as I did, ready to take 
 up arms against writs of assistance." 
 
 The speech of Otis spurred the people of Boston to the 
 first acts of resistance ; but as yet their unwavering loyalty 
 to the mother country remained intact. There were few in- 
 deed who ventured to conjecture such a state of affairs as 
 should lead to a separation. During thirty years, occasional 
 popular commotions, such as followed the writs of assistance, 
 had occurred, and had subsided with the moving cause. 
 That the events of 1761 indirectly led on to those of the 
 Revolution cannot be denied. The inhabitants were aroused 
 by the nearness of the danger, but the struggle did not 
 commence there. The argument of Otis, brilliant, logical, 
 and flaming, was not the prologue of the great drama, 
 for it did not then begin. The American Revolution was 
 caused by, and opened with, the revenue acts. The direct 
 issue in that struggle was the raising of a revenue from 
 the Colonies without their consent, and without their being 
 represented in Parliament. Independence was gained in 
 consequence of the assertion of the right of unconditional 
 taxation by Parliament, whence grew in regular sequence 
 every phase in the ten years of controversy with the royal 
 governors preceding the war. It was not until 1765 that 
 the Stamp Act passed and received the royal assent, and the 
 Revolution was born with the popular resistance to that 
 measure and the acts of 1763. 
 
 In 1763, the Colonial agent at London, Mr. Mauduit, noti- 
 fied the Assembly that the act passed in the sixth year of 
 George II., for securing the trade of the sugar Colonies, would 
 
1763. 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 45 
 
 shortly expire, and would be revived with alterations of a 
 more stringent nature, The news of the projected Stamp 
 Act was also received, and the whole country was alive with 
 apprehension. Early in the year, the House, through their 
 committee, instructed the agent to endeavor to procure the 
 repeal of the obnoxious Sugar Act, and to exert himself to 
 prevent the passage of the Stamp Act, " or any other impo- 
 sitions or taxes upon this or the other American Colonies "; 
 and before the adjournment it was proposed to choose an- 
 other agent to act in concert with Mr. Mauduit in remon- 
 strating with the ministry. Mr. Hutchinson received almost 
 the unanimous vote, but the House soon after changed their 
 views of his fitness for the office. This is believed to have 
 turned him from the position he then held, to an ardent sup- 
 porter of the measures of the government ; and in his manu- 
 script correspondence is found a letter, written about that 
 time, in which he deemed it " a high delinquency towards 
 Heaven if he afforded countenance to any cause longer than 
 it was favored by fortune." 
 
 The first public opposition in America to Parliamentary 
 schemes of taxation was made in Massachusetts. Though 
 Virginia has always claimed that honor through her illus- 
 trious son, Patrick Henry, the " alarm bell " was earliest 
 rung in Boston by Samuel Adams, who preceded the Vir- 
 ginia patriot a year.* 
 
 * See Grahame's United States, II. 388. See also Arnold's History of 
 Rhode Island, II. 254. " The suggestion of a general union for this object 
 first emanated from the town of Boston. It is contained in the instructions to 
 their Representatives at the General Court in May, drawn" up by Samuel Adams, 
 and adopted by that body in a memorial prepared by James Otis, to be sent to 
 the agents in England." Wirt, in his admirable, but somewhat imaginative 
 biography of Patrick Henry, overlooks this fact, which he doubtless would 
 have recorded had it been brought to his notice. Patrick Henry himself seems 
 to have been ignorant of the decided stand taken by the people of Boston a 
 year before his celebrated resolutions were written. Among his papers was 
 found a copy of this document, on the envelope of which he had fondly in- 
 scribed, with his own hand : " The within resolutions passed the House of 
 Burgesses, May, 1765. They formed the first opposition to the Stamp Act, 
 
V 
 
 46 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1764. 
 
 The spring elections of 1764 having arrived, a committee 
 in town meeting was appointed to prepare instructions by 
 which the newly elected Representatives were to be guided 
 during the year's legislation. The committee chose Samuel 
 Adams, one of their number, to draft the report, which he 
 submitted to the inhabitants assembled at Faneuil Hall on 
 the 24th of May. The original autograph still exists among 
 his papers. 
 
 After reminding the Representatives that the people had 
 delegated to them the power of acting in their public con 
 cerns in general, with the right of instructing them upon 
 particular matters, he continues: — 
 
 * We, therefore, your constituents, take this opportunity to declare 
 our just expectations from you ; 
 
 ■ That you will constantly use your power and influence in main- 
 taining the invaluable rights and privileges of the Province, of which 
 this town is so great a part, as well those rights which are derived 
 to us by the royal charter, as those which, being prior to, and in- 
 dependent of it, we hold essentially as free-born subjects of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 " That you will endeavor, as far as you will be able, to preserve 
 that independence in the House of Representatives which character- 
 izes a free people, and the want of which may, in a great measure, 
 prevent the happy effects of a free government; cultivating, as you 
 shall have opportunity, that harmony and union there which is ever 
 desirable to good men when founded in principles of virtue and 
 public spirit; and guarding against any undue weight which may 
 tend to disadjust the critical balance upon which our happy Constitu- 
 tion and the blessings of liberty do depend. 
 
 and the scheme of taxing America by the British Parliament. All the Colo- 
 nies, either through fear or want of opportunity to form an opposition, or 
 from influence of some other kind, had remained silent." The instructions were 
 the signal which first called for combined action against an act of tyranny, the 
 legality of which they were the earliest to deny. Bradford, in his History of 
 Massachusetts, does not overlook the fact. He says : " In these patriotic meas- 
 ures to resist the encroachment of arbitrary power, the citizens of Boston seem 
 to have been the first. They instructed their Representatives in May, 1764/'* 
 See also Bancroft, V. 194 - 200. 
 

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 ii!H 
 
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 iflwif «4 
 
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 4 ^ 
 
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 N^ 
 
1764.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 47 
 
 "As you represent a town which lives by its trade, we expect 
 that in every particular manner you make it the object of your 
 attention to support our commerce in all its just rights, to vindicate 
 it from all unreasonable impositions, and promote its prosperity. 
 Our trade has for a long time labored under great discouragements, 
 and it is with the deepest concern we see such further difficulty 
 coming upon it as will reduce it to the lowest ebb, if not totally 
 obstruct and ruin it. We cannot help expressing our surprise that' 
 when so early notice was given by the agent of the intentions of 1 
 the ministry to burden us with new taxes, so little regard was had 
 to this most interesting matter that the Court was not even called 
 together to consult about it till the latter end of the year, the con- 
 sequence of which was that instructions could not be sent to the 
 agent, though solicited by him, till the evil had got beyond an easy 
 remedy. There is no more room for delay. We therefore expect 
 that you will use your earliest endeavors in the General Assembly 
 that such methods may be taken as will effectually prevent these 
 proceedings against us. By proper representation, we apprehend 
 it may easily be made to appear that such severity will prove detri- 
 mental to Great Britain itself; upon which account we have reason 
 to hope that an application even for a repeal of the act, should it be 
 already passed, will be successful. It is the trade of the Colonies 
 that renders them beneficial to the mother country. Our trade as 
 it is now, and always has been conducted, centres in Great Britain ; 
 and in return for her manufactures affords her more ready cash, be- 
 yond any comparison, than can possibly be expected by the most 
 sanguine promoters of these most extraordinary methods. We are, 
 in short, ultimately yielding large supplies to the revenues of the 
 mother country, while we are laboring for a very moderate subsist- 
 ence for ourselves. But if our trade is to be curtailed in its most 
 profitable branches, and burdens beyond all possible bearing are 
 levied upon that which is suffered to remain, we shall be so far from 
 being able to take off the manufactures of Great Britain, that it 
 will be scarcely possible for us to earn our bread. 
 
 " But what still heightens our apprehensions is, that these unex- 
 pected proceedings may be preparatory to more extensive taxations 
 upon us. For if our trade may be taxed, why not our lands? 
 Why not the produce of our lands, and in short everything we pos- 
 sess or make use of? This, we apprehend, annihilates our charter- 
 
48 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1764. 
 
 rights to govern and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privi- 
 leges, which, as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common 
 with our fellow-subjects who are natives of Britain. If taxes are 
 laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal representation 
 where they are laid, are we not reduced from the character of sub- 
 jects to the miserable state of tributary slaves ? [ We claim B rit- 
 ish rights not by charter only. They belong to us as^well as to -our 
 fellow-subjects in Great Britain, and we depend upon you to main- 
 tain and assert them.*] 
 
 " We therefore earnestly recommend it to you to use your utmost 
 endeavors to obtain in the General Assembly all necessary instruc- 
 tions to our agent at this most critical juncture, that while he is 
 setting forth the unshaken loyalty of this Province and this town, 
 its unrivalled exertions in supporting his Majesty's government and 
 rights in this part of his dominions, its acknowledged dependence 
 upon, and submission to Great Britain, and the ready submission of 
 its merchants to all just and necessary regulations of trade, he may' 
 be able in the most humble and pressing manner to remonstrate for 
 us all those rights and privileges which justly belong to us either 
 by charter or birth. 
 
 " As his Majesty's other North American Colonies are embarked 
 with us in this most important bottom, we further desire you to use 
 your endeavors that their weight may be added to that of this Prov- 
 ince ; that by the united applications of all who are aggrieved, all 
 may obtain redress." 
 
 This is the earliest public document written by Samuel 
 Adams, of which any traces remain ; but there can be no 
 question that his pen was often engaged for such purposes, 
 and that he was often consulted by the members of the 
 House of Representatives, and assisted largely in devising its 
 measures, as well as in preparing the drafts of state papers for 
 that body before his election to it. |The Instructions form 
 an important landmark in American history, as containing 
 the first public denial of the right of the British Parliament 
 to tax the Colonists without their consent ; and the first sug- 
 
 * This passage in the original draft seems to have been rejected by the meet- 
 ing at which the instructions were adopted, as it does not appear in the Town 
 Records. 
 
1764.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 49 
 
 gestion of a union of the Colonies for redress of griev- 
 ances. > They were published in a few days after their adop- 
 tion, and circulated through the continent as the avowed 
 sentiments of Boston, and virtually of Massachusetts. The 
 important position is also taken, that the Judges are de- 
 pendent for their support upon the General Assembly ; 
 an appeal is made for unrestricted trade ; with a direct hint 
 that, if the burdens imposed upon it are not removed, the 
 result must prove detrimental to Great Britain, by a con- 
 sequent decrease in the consumption of English manufac- 
 tures. These principles, the germs of those which after- 
 wards constituted the great issues of the Revolution, had 
 long been immovably fixed in the author's mind. 
 
 The effect of the instructions was immediate. They be- X 
 came the basis of the Provincial policy ; and as speaking the 
 wishes of the people, their injunctions were at once acted 
 upon by the Legislature, which assembled in June. One of 
 these requirements waslfchat a letter of instructions be sent 
 to the agent in London, setting forth the loyalty of the Prov- 
 ince to all just and necessary regulates of trade, and di- 
 recting him to vindicate the rights and privileges belonging 
 to the people by charter or by birth. A memorial was 
 consequently drawn up by James Otis, and adopted, in 
 which the House asks, using nearly the words of Mr. Ad- 
 ams, " If all the Colonies are to be taxed at pleasure, with- 
 out any representative in Parliament, what will there be to 
 distinguish them in point of liberty from the subjects of 
 the most absolute prince ? " 
 
 One more measure remained to be taken. The instruc- 
 tions had recommended a concert of action with the sister 
 Colonies in an application to the ministry for a redress of 
 grievances. The members from Boston made this a por- 
 tion of their duties ; and on the day following the adoption 
 of the letter to the agent, June 14th, a committee was 
 appointed to correspond with the several Assemblies on the 
 continent, who were invited to use their united efforts to 
 
 •*« — VGi. I. 4 ■ ■ ■— .,■ 
 
50 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1764. 
 
 protect their essential rights.* This was the first plan to 
 unite the Colonies in opposition to Parliamentary oppres- 
 sion.! It originated with Samuel Adams,) who had the , 
 satisfaction of seeing all his plans in successful operation.)/ 
 " To him," says one who personally knew his agency in 
 public actions, "is the nation indebted for the idea of 
 assembling the first Congress at New York, which led, ten 
 years afterwards, to the Continental Congress, and finally 
 to the union and confederation of the Provinces. ":[: During 
 the month of June, James Otis and Oxenbridge Thacher 
 had* published respectively their pamphlets, the first the 
 " Rights of the Colonies," and the second the " Senti- 
 ments of a British American." The former the House 
 adopted as their own, and ordered it to be sent to the 
 agent in England, who was " to make the best use of it in 
 his power, with the addition of such arguments as his good 
 sense should suggest." The House had hardly time to 
 accomplish what they had probablyf)reconeerted, when the 
 Governor prorogued the Assembly. 
 
 Throughout the summer the Legislature remained pro- 
 rogued. The Governor had said at the last session that he 
 . did not intend calling another until winter ; but the call 
 was made for October, when the House, having convened, 
 
 * After the sitting of the New York Congress in the following year, which 
 was the offspring of this measure, Mr. Adams had occasion to write to the 
 patriot Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina, to whom he says, referring 
 to that union of the Colonies : " Happy was it for us that a union was then 
 formed upon which, in my humble opinion, the fate of the Colonies turned. 
 What a blessing to us has the Stamp Act eventually, or, to use a trifling word, 
 virtually proved, which was calculated to enslave and ruin us. When the Colo- 
 nies saw the common danger, they at the same time saw their mutual depend- 
 ence, and mutually called in the assistance of each other ; and I dare say such 
 friendships and connections are established between them as shall for the future 
 deter the most virulent enemy from making another open attack upon their 
 rights as men and subjects." 
 
 t Journal of the House of Eepresentatives for June, 1765. Compare Gra- 
 hame's History, H. 388. 
 
 % Sketch in Sanderson's Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence. Compare Bancroft's History, V. 198-200. 
 
1764.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 51 
 
 again made the Boston Instructions the groundwork of 
 their proceedings by petitioning the King, Lords, and 
 Commons "for a repeal of the Sugar Act." This address 
 had been prepared before the session, and was brought in 
 by Oxenbridge Thacher. Samuel Adams probably had a 
 hand in drafting it. Bradford, in his sketch of him, says : 
 " Before he was a member, he had great influence with 
 the committees appointed to prepare state papers, and 
 took the lead in the proceedings • of the town relating to 
 public affair s."* It is certain that in two different state 
 papers of the following year, he referred to this remonstrance 
 as subsequently amended for the House by the pen of 
 Hutchinson ; and very soon after, in a letter to Richard 
 Jackson, again deplores the tardiness of the agent in not 
 presenting the petition and pursuing it with proper vigor. 
 Hutchinson seems to suspect the hand of the author of the 
 Boston Instructions, for he says that the original address 
 was in substance conformable to that paper.f Elbridge 
 Gerry, a few years before his death, stated that he had heard 
 a member of the Legislature in the early days of the Revolu- 
 tion assert that Samuel Adams was always consulted, as a 
 matter of course, by committees appointed to draft papers 
 for the House, for some years before he became a member 
 of that body, and that some of these were entirely from his 
 pen. No copy of the address, as originally drafted, has 
 been preserved. 
 
 The influence of Adams's vigorous will was now experi- 
 enced and acknowledged. The few facts which can be gath- 
 
 * History of Massachusetts. Hutchinson, III. 133, says : " Mr. Adams had 
 for several years been an active man in the town of Boston, always on the side 
 of liberty, and was the reputed author of many of the publications in favor of it." 
 
 t The answer of the House to the Governor's address, at the opening of this 
 session, suggested, in the original draft, that the Colonies would be obliged to 
 manufacture for themselves, which would soon operate to the injury of the Brit- 
 ish manufacturers. This was rejected by the House, and does not appear in the 
 printed journal. Yet after all the modifications which the first draft underwent, 
 the resemblance to the Boston Instructions is remarkable. 
 
52 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1764. 
 
 ered of his public actions at this time, though vague and 
 unsatisfactory, are sufficient to portray him as the most active 
 politician of the country. His contemporaries, Otis and 
 Thacher, and several of lesser note in the House, divided 
 with him the public confidence ; and of Otis it is true that 
 none wielded an equal power over the multitude in public 
 harangue or in the debates of the Assembly. But Adams, 
 by his superior will and command over his passions, the ac- 
 knowledged sincerity of his character, and a genial address, 
 \ which was natural and enabled him to convince and per- 
 suade, stood in advance of all others ; while in his political 
 creed, he was the embodiment of the most practical opposi- 
 tion to government measures. The honor of originating 
 measures forming the basis of the Colonial policy was of no 
 importance in his estimation compared to the great results 
 to which he looked forward. The time was now at hand 
 for the infusion of his energetic, commanding spirit into 
 the Assembly, by his immediate presence as one of their 
 number. 
 
 Attention to public affairs so engrossed his time as to leave 
 him but little leisure for his private business, of which, how- 
 ever, the proceeds were sufficient for the maintenance of his 
 children in a respectable rank in society, and to give them 
 the best education the times admitted. He superintended 
 their instruction with great care, and by precept and exam- 
 ple endeavored to impress their minds with correct moral 
 principles. He had the pleasure of knowing that they were 
 esteemed and loved. Both became the pride of his man- 
 hood ; and though his son, Dr. Adams, was cut off in the 
 prime of life, after the Revolution, his daughter lived to be 
 the solace of his declining years, and ministered at his 
 death-bed. 
 
 An intimate friend of his father had been Francis Wells, 
 Esq., an English merchant, who, as his own record states, 
 arrived in his ship, " y e Hampstead Galley," from London, 
 with his family and possessions, in August, 1723, and settled 
 
1764.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 53 
 
 in Boston. Mr. Adams married Elizabeth, the fifth daughter 
 of Mr. Wells, for his second wife, on the 6th of December, 
 1764. She was then twenty-four years of age, a lady of en- 
 gaging manners, amiable disposition, and in point of educa- 
 tion well qualified to become the companion of her husband. 
 An excellent housewife, she eked out by her close economy 
 their small income, so that few comforts were wanting. 
 Through all the darkened periods of the Revolution, with 
 the attendant privations and sufferings, she nobly seconded 
 her husband in his patriotic efforts, and to their latest days 
 their mutual relations were a model of tender love and affec- 
 tion. Their residence was still in Purchase Street, where 
 the family lived until the occupation of the city by the 
 British troops in 1774. The house was partially destroyed 
 by the soldiers at the time of the evacuation. 
 
 In his family, Samuel Adams was a delightful and enter- 
 taining companion. His cheerful temper, which never de- 
 sponded, shed a perpetual sunshine of happiness upon those 
 about him ; and his intimacy was valued by his acquaintances 
 as much for these qualities as for his counsel and sagacity in \( 
 public affairs. Though a stern and uncompromising oppo- 
 nent to tyranny, and ever presenting an undaunted front in 
 his ceaseless warfare against schemes of oppression, he could 
 unbend among his friends and with his family. Bancroft 
 introduces him in 1764 with a just and splendid tribute to 
 his greatness of character. 
 
 " He was a tender husband, an affectionate parent, and relaxing 
 from severer cares, he could vividly enjoy the delights of conversa- 
 tion with friends ; but the walls of his modest mansion never wit- 
 nessed dissipation or levity or frivolous amusements, or anything 
 inconsistent with the discipline of the man whose incessant prayer 
 was that * Boston might become a Christian Sparta.* 
 
 " He was at this time near forty-two years of age, poor, and so con- 
 tented with poverty that men censured him as * wanting wisdom to 
 estimate riches at their just value/ 
 
 \ 
 
54 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1764. 
 
 " But he was frugal and temperate ; and his prudent and industrious 
 wife, endowed with the best qualities of a New England woman, 
 knew how to work with her own hands, so that the small resources, 
 which men of the least opulent class would have deemed a very- 
 imperfect support, were sufficient for his simple wants. Yet such 
 was the union of dignity with economy, that whoever visited him 
 saw around him every circumstance of propriety. Above all, he 
 combined with poverty a stern and incorruptible integrity." * 
 
 Mr. Bancroft quotes the former Lord Ashburton, who 
 gave him an account of his dining with Samuel Adams in 
 Boston. 
 
 Familiar letters often reveal the disposition of the writer 
 more truthfully than studied compositions intended for the 
 eye of the world. The following epistle, written fifteen 
 months after his second marriage, illustrates to some extent 
 the foregoing remarks upon his " home character." It was 
 in reply to his friend William Checkley, a relative of his 
 first wife: — 
 
 Boston, March 16, 1766. 
 Dear Sir : — I received your letter of the 6th instant with the 
 greater satisfaction, as it brought me intelligence of your having 
 taken some resolutions which I cannot but flatter myself will greatly 
 add to your future happiness in life. Believe me, my friend, — I wish 
 I could persuade all the agreeable bachelors to think so, — there 
 are social joys in honest wedlock which single life is a stranger to. 
 You will allow me to be a tolerably good judge, having had experi- 
 ence of each in double turns. You have so long been intimate with 
 Miss Cranston before you made a formal address to her, that I make 
 no doubt your choice of her is well made. I have a good opinion 
 of the young lady, without the pleasure of an acquaintance with her ; 
 and it is grounded on the opinion I have long had of your judgment 
 and integrity. Without flattery, I believe you would hardly have 
 made proposals of marriage to any lady who had not those ac 
 complishments which will always make a man of integrity and 
 virtue happy. May the best of Heaven's blessings attend you both. 
 I somewhere met with a couplet which impressed my mind in early 
 life. 
 
 * Bancroft, V. 194. 
 
1765.J LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 55 
 
 " Sure is the knot Religion ties, 
 And Love, well bounded, never dies." 
 
 Pray present my own and Betsy's kind respects to your fair one, 
 and be assured nothing that in the least regards your welfare can be 
 
 a matter of indifference to either of us. 
 
 Adieu, 
 
 Sam. Adams. 
 
 March 24th. 
 I received this moment yours of the 2 2d. Should have forwarded 
 this per post had he not been interrupted last week. Am now at 
 the wedding-house, — Deacon Hill's. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 S A* 
 Mr. William Checkley. 
 
 Early in 1765, Grenville brought forward his scheme of 
 taxation, and the American question was presented by the 
 King as involving " obedience to the laws, and respect for 
 the legislative authority of the kingdom." The Lords and 
 Commons responded with a determination to proceed with 
 that temper and firmness which " will best conciliate and in- 
 sure due submission to the laws and reverence to the legisla- 
 tive authority of Great Britain." The Prime Minister had 
 long been resolved upon raising a revenue from the Colo- 
 nies to meet the demand for some new source of income ; 
 and when the resolutions were brought up, they were carried 
 by an overwhelming majority, despite the opposition of Barre', 
 Beckford, Conway, and Jackson. The generous spirit of 
 Barre' shone conspicuously in his reply to Townshend, who 
 held that the Colonies had been " planted by our care, 
 nourished by our indulgence, and protected by our arms." 
 Barre* refuted the assertions in detail in a burst of uncon- 
 trollable eloquence. Concluding, he said : — 
 
 " They protected by your arms ! They have nobly taken up arms 
 in your defence ; have exerted a valor amidst their constant and 
 laborious industry for the defence of a country whose frontier was 
 drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little sav- 
 ings to your emoluments; and believe me, — remember I this day 
 
 * New England Hist, and Genealogical Register, VII. 45. 
 
56 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765. 
 
 told you so, — the same spirit of freedom which actuated that people 
 
 at first will accompany them still The people I believe are 
 
 as truly loyal as any subjects the King has ; but a people jealous of 
 their liberties, and who will vindicate them, if ever they should be 
 violated." 
 
 But the subject had. been carefully considered, and the 
 few appeals in favor of the Colonies weighed as nothing 
 against the determination to impose the tax. The bill 
 passed the Commons in February, was agreed to by the 
 Lords in March, and received the royal assent in the same 
 month. The passage of the Stamp Act was the entering 
 wedge, — the first of the series of measures which ended 
 British supremacy in the Colonies. 
 
 The opinions of Samuel Adams on the question of Parlia- 
 mentary taxation, though found in his private correspond- 
 ence and public writings towards the close of this year, are 
 more directly expressed in a political essay written a few 
 years later, referring to the period of which we are now 
 treating. The arguments will be found to cover the whole 
 ground of the controversy. A writer on the side of the 
 government had asserted and attempted to prove that Par- 
 liament was warranted by law and justice in taxing the 
 Colonies. Mr. Adams replied in the organ of the patriots, 
 going back to the commencement of the dispute, and show- 
 ing the illegality and injustice of the measure : — 
 
 " It seems," says Mr. Adams, " to be generally agreed that every 
 man who is taxed has a right to be present in person or by his own 
 ; representative in the body which taxes him ; or, as Lord Camden has 
 expressed it, that ' taxation and representation are inseparable.' A 
 man's property is the fruit of his industry ; and if it may be taken 
 from him under any pretence whatever, at the will of another, he 
 cannot be said to be free, for he labors like a bond slave, not for 
 himself, but for another. Or suppose his property comes by inheri- 
 tance or free gift, it is absolutely his own ; and it cannot rightly be 
 taken from him without his consent. This I take to be the com- 
 monly received opinion concerning liberty as regards taxation. And 
 it is moreover generally understood, that upon this opinion the 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 57 
 
 very being of a free government depends. The writer who signs 
 * Z. T.' in the two last Evening Posts, think it is very hard that ' he 
 and others should be treated with sneers and ridicule, and as ene- 
 mies of their country, for not falling in with the commonly received 
 opinion of liberty and taxation ' ; but till he makes it appear that it 
 is not a just and very important opinion, he has no reason for his 
 complaint. 
 
 " He tells us that in the year 1764, 'it was proposed in Parliament 
 to tax the Colonies for the charge of their government and defence ' ; 
 and intimates the reason : ' The nation being then more than one 
 hundred and forty millions in debt, which was above sixty millions 
 more than it was the last year.' I would ask this gentleman, whether 
 the old-settled Colonies, or particularly whether this Province, ever 
 put the nation to a farthing's expense for its government or defence 
 from the first settlement of it to this day ? If he can prove it ever 
 did, he will do that which no one has ever been able to do before ; 
 but if he cannot, and I presume he cannot, the reason he offers why 
 the Colonies, or particularly why this Province, should be obliged 
 to pay any part of the national debt is of no validity. But he seems 
 to be aware of this himself, and therefore advances another reason 
 why it was proposed that the Parliament should tax America, viz., to 
 defend the conquered provinces, ' which ought not to be left without 
 troops.' And it was not reasonable that ' England, after having run 
 so deeply in debt for acquiring them, should now tax itself for the 
 maintenance of them.' But did England alone run deeply in debt in 
 conquering the French in America ? Did not the Colonies bear a 
 great share in the expense of it ? Undoubtedly. Why then should 
 not England tax herself at least for a part of the maintenance of 
 them ? Because great stability and security were given thereby to 
 all the American governments. Was Canada conquered then only 
 for the sake of giving stability and security to the American govern- 
 ments ? Had Great Britain no view to her own profit ? to the ad- 
 vancement of her own glory, the increase of her trade, and the 
 enlargement of her empire ? Has she not the sole advantage of the 
 trade, and the immense tracts of land which the Colonies helped her 
 to conquer ? And is it a sufficient reason why they should pay the 
 whole expense of defending these acquisitions, because stability and 
 security were given to them by means of the conquest, after they 
 had pushed their settlements to the infinite advantage of the mother 
 
58 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765. 
 
 country at their own expense, and in continual wars with the French 
 and Indian enemies, some of them for a century and a half? But 
 the plan is laid ; ten thousand troops must be kept up in America, 
 the charge of them only computed at two hundred and fifty thousand 
 pounds; and the charge of troops and government, three hundred 
 and fifty thousand pounds per annum ; and, considering the distress 
 of the nation, none could expect to prevail against a tax on the 
 Colonies. And further : ' All that Mr. Grenville desired was, 
 that America would bear the charge of its own government and 
 defence.' In pursuance of this plan, the Stamp Act, he tells us, 
 passed the House of Commons, but i in complaisance to the Colonies, 
 and, as Mr. Grenville expressed it, to consult their ease, quiet, and 
 good will, it was hung up till the next year, to give them the oppor- 
 tunity to pass it themselves, or some other equivalent.' This, then, 
 was the state of the case : the House of Commons was resolved to 
 propose to the Colonies that they should tax themselves three hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand pounds sterling a year for the maintenance 
 of ten thousand troops to be kept up in America, and for the sup- 
 port of their own government (which they had always before honor- 
 ably supported), or they would tax them by the passing the Stamp 
 Act ; and our writer, by way of question, expresses his surprise, that, 
 instead of i considering the distress of the nation, and the justness 
 of the demand, the legality of their right to tax us was disputed, and 
 we proceeded boldly to assert what we called our liberties.' But he 
 ought to have shown that the Colonies could be said to be free in 
 either case supposed, nor in the one more than in the other ; and 
 until he does this, he cannot reasonably find fault with them for 
 thinking the proposed alternative a just occasion to awaken their 
 attention, and that it was high time for them boldly to assert what 
 they knew to be their indefeasible right, viz. to grant their aid with 
 a free consent and without constraint. I never yet heard it said, 
 that a man who had his purse demanded of him by a superior power 
 acted freely, though he delivered it with his own hand, instead of 
 waiting for it to be taken from him by force. His will and consent 
 cannot be at all concerned in the matter. 
 
 " Our writer tells us that ' the Stamp Act being hung up (in its 
 state of a bill) for a year might have, favored us with time to plead 
 our cause ; and he doubts not but we might have been freed from 
 the greatest part of those charges.' But does he not consider, that, 
 
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 59 
 
 in pleading our cause, as he terms it, we implicitly put it in the 
 power of others to be the judges whether they shall tax us without 
 our consent ; for I do not find among the pleadings which he would 
 have us to make, there is anything that looks like a saving of our 
 rights. And supposing that, after having pleaded our cause in the 
 manner in which he would have had us to do it, we should not have 
 prevailed upon them to recede from their purpose of taxing us, if 
 we did not tax ourselves, would they not have done it with a much 
 better grace, and told us that we ought not surely to complain, since 
 in pleading our cause before them, we left it to their sole judgment 
 and decision whether they had not the right to tax us, or, which is 
 the same thing, oblige us to tax ourselves ; and they had determined 
 that they had the right. This, it must be owned, would have afforded 
 a happy precedent for all futurity. 
 
 " But this matter, it seems, was already determined ; for he tells 
 us that ' the Parliament, previous to the repeal, resolved that they 
 had a right to tax us/ If his inference is that they really had the 
 right, because they resolved that they had, I shall only say that his 
 reasoning is much like that of a late letter-writer from London, 
 whose wonderful performance, if I mistake not, was inserted in all 
 our newspapers, who says, that, ' when an act of Parliament is once 
 passed, it becomes a part of the Constitution/ This at once, I con- 
 fess, shuts the mouths of all Americans from complaining of revenue 
 acts, or any other acts of Parliament as unconstitutional ; for what 
 is an essential part of the Constitution, I think, cannot be unconsti- 
 tutional. 
 
 " Our writer intimates very strongly, that the repeal of the Stamp 
 Act was a matter of favor rather than justice to the Colonies ; that 
 the act itself was the discipline of a tender and prudent parent ; 
 that the Colonies, in opposing it, discover the symptoms of distrac- 
 tion ; that the repeal was derogatory to the honor of the Parliament, 
 but it was done to give the Colonies time to come to reason ; that, 
 instead of this, their obstinate temper, manifested by assuming and 
 insulting airs, has made troops necessary for the order of society. 
 All which, no doubt, entitles him to ministerial favor, with a pension 
 of two hundred a year, or at least a place under the right worship- 
 ful American. 
 
 " After all, he acknowledges that i there is a great deal of justice 
 and propriety in the case, that the subjects taxed should give their 
 
60 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765. 
 
 consent by their representatives.' But he fears that if our plea 
 stands good, that the Parliament cannot tax us now, it will hold 
 good at another time ; and therefore he would have had us, against 
 the time to come, when he supposes we may ' become equal to a 
 fourth part of the whole/ to acknowledge that they had the right to 
 tax us for such sums as they shall think proper to demand of us ; 
 and if the matter had been < thus stated and pleaded in a public 
 manner,' he apprehends ' it would have influenced the people in the 
 Colonies to make a different choice of persons to represent them, 
 and things would have taken a different turn.' Perhaps it would 
 have pleased this writer if they had chosen persons who would have 
 given up the whole dispute about the right ; for I cannot see that 
 there is any difference, with regard to the right in question, between 
 the Americans consenting forever hereafter to tax themselves such 
 sums as the Parliament of Great Britain shall apportion them to 
 pay, and their consenting that the Parliament shall tax them as 
 well as apportion the sum. The mode of taxation in the one case 
 might have been allowed to the Americans, and that is generally 
 allowed even to an enemy in the case of military contribution ; but 
 the right of consenting to the taxation itself would be given up ; and 
 in that case would not the Colonies be tributary to the people of 
 Great Britain, instead of fellow-subjects, coequal in dignity and 
 freedom?"* 
 
 By the provisions of the Stamp Act, all written instru- 
 ments in daily use among a commercial people were to be 
 null and void, unless executed on stamped paper or parch- 
 ment, upon which a duty was to be collected by government 
 officers. It was to take effect in the following November, 
 and the Colonists had ample time to discuss its bearings and 
 to frustrate its designs. 
 
 The news reached Boston in April, and was received with 
 mingled alarm and indignation*., _A _spirit of .resistance was 
 shown in every Colony. In Virginia, the Resolves of the 
 House of Burgesses, drawn up by Patrick Henry in May, gave 
 impulse to the movement and sounded over the continent in 
 trumpet-tones. Everywhere they were read and carried 
 
 * T. Z., in the Boston Gazette, January 9, 1769. 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 61 
 
 conviction. In Boston the excitement was intense, and the 
 whole Province was quickly in a blaze of resentment. At 
 the first opportunity the determined hostility to the act broke 
 forth. This was on the 12th of August, the birthday of 
 the Prince of Wales, when the people rent the air with 
 shouts of " Pitt and Liberty " ! and, the enthusiasm rising 
 with the occasion, it was concerted to hang the appointed dis- 
 tributor of stamps in effigy. On the morning of the 14th, 
 the stuffed figure of Oliver was seen dangling from Liberty- 
 Tree, together with a large boot, to represent Lord Bute, from 
 the top of which peeped forth a head with horns, intended 
 to personify the Devil. The authorities did not attempt to 
 remove the effigies, for, in the excited state of the popular 
 mind, it was difficult to say how far the rage of the people 
 might lead them. The Sons of Liberty, with whom the pro- 
 ceedings originated, kept the matter in hand, and at evening 
 cut the figures down and carried them in procession through 
 the town, borne on a bier. The multitude moved in perfect 
 order, and their route was lined with people. They passed 
 through the town-house and under the council-chamber, 
 where the Governor and Council were sitting. "Liberty, 
 property, and no stamps " ! were shouted in the ears of the 
 listening dignitaries above. The Sons of Liberty were pre- 
 ceded by some forty or fifty tradesmen, decently dressed ; 
 and the whole body marched to King Street, where they de- 
 molished a frame which they believed the stamp distributor 
 was building for an office. Thence they proceeded to Fort 
 Hill, where Oliver resided, and with fragments of the frame 
 which they brought with them, built a bonfire in which the 
 effigies were consumed. Bernard and Hutchinson fled to 
 the Castle for safety.* Old Boston had rarely witnessed such 
 
 * See Hutchinson's letter to Bernard, Sept. 15, 1770, in which, detailing his 
 flight at that time to the Castle, after it had passed from the Provincial authority, 
 he says : " In the evening, I took boat at Dorchester, two or three miles from 
 my house, and went to the Castle ; and you will believe I could not help think- 
 ing of your and my passage to the same place about five years before." (See 
 Chap. XVII. of the present work, where this letter is quoted in full.) 
 
62 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765. 
 
 a commotion. But the popular wrath did not end here. At 
 nightfall on the 26th of August, remembering the agency of 
 Hutchinson in subverting their liberties, a mob collected 
 again at a late hour, burnt the records of the Admiralty, 
 and ravaged the houses of Hallowell, Comptroller of the 
 Customs, and of Hutchinson, whose plate, books, and val- 
 uable collection of manuscripts they threw into the street, 
 barely giving the owner time to escape with his family, and 
 utterly destroying the interior of perhaps the finest private 
 residence in the Province.* 
 
 These outbreaks of lawless violence, though manifesting 
 1 . .the spirit of opposition to the late acts of Parliament, were 
 - ■■ ■ viewed with horror by most of the popular leaders, and by 
 none more so than Mr. Adams. The period of peaceful 
 remonstrance had not yet terminated with him. It was the 
 policy of the Colonies to avow their sincere loyalty to Great 
 Britain, which they reiterated in every state paper ; and acts 
 of insubordination were only calculated to mar the harmony 
 of these plans. Petitions and dutiful representations were 
 to be the basis of operations for ten years to come, though 
 a few looked beyond these measures to an eventual appeal 
 to Heaven. In the present instance, Adams agreed with his 
 friend Mayhew that he would rather lose his hand than en- 
 courage such outrages, and he personally aided the civil 
 power in preventing them. { He saw no impropriety, however 
 in the earlier portion of the proceedings of August 14th, 
 when the tradesmen marched in procession and hung the 
 stamp distributor in effigy ; believing that when loyal peti- 
 tions were unavailing, such an orderly and unanimous dem- 
 onstration was the only legal method to advise the authorities 
 of the popular feeling. ) 
 
 A town meeting was summoned early on the following 
 day, at which the last night's proceedings were condemned, 
 and a series of resolutions adopted desiring the Selectmen to 
 suppress the like riots for the future, and pledging the aid of 
 
 * Mass. Gazette for August 19, 1765. Hutchinson's History, HI. 124. 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 63 
 
 the people to preserve order.* Writing to Richard Jackson, 
 the Colonial agent, a few months later, as one of a committee 
 of the Assembly, Adams referred to this riot particularly, ap- 
 prehending its evil effects against the efforts which were 
 making in behalf of the Province : " As the Stamp Act had 
 given the greatest uneasiness even to the most judicious men 
 of the Colony,' ' it was not, he thought, " to be wondered at, 
 that among the common people such steps should be taken 
 as could not be justified, it being frequent in populous towns 
 when grievances are felt. This had been the case in Boston, 
 where the people had shown their resentment in such ways 
 as were not uncommon elsewhere." These proceedings he 
 denounced as " high-handed outrages," " of which the in- 
 habitants immediately, at a meeting called for the purpose 
 within . a few hours after the perpetration of the act, pub- 
 licly declared their detestation. All was done the day fol- 
 lowing that could be expected from an orderly town, by 
 whose influence a spirit was raised to oppose and suppress 
 it. It is possible these matters may be represented to our 
 disadvantage, and therefore we desire you will take all pos- 
 sible opportunities to set them in a proper light." 
 
 The society known as the " Sons of Liberty" seems to 
 have originated either immediately after the arrival of the 
 news from England that the Stamp Act had become a law, 
 or about the time of the August riot, as the name was prob- 
 ably adopted from a similar term applied to the Bostonians 
 by Colonel Barre* in his late speech. The writer of a one- 
 sided account of the riot, in the Boston News-Letter, immedi- 
 ately after its occurrence, speaks of a report that " the society 
 by the name of the Union Club " was established that night ; 
 and doubtless refers to the same organization. Tlie " Sons 
 of Liberty" were soon thoroughly organized and subject to 
 the direction of influential leaders. They were composed, 
 for the most part, of the laboring classes and mechanics, and 
 were successfully secret in all their meetings and prepara- 
 
 * Drake's Boston, p. 701. 
 
64 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765. 
 
 tions for concerted movements. They issued warrants for 
 the arrest of suspected persons, arranged in secret caucus 
 the preliminaries of elections and the programme for patri- 
 otic celebrations, and in fact were the main-spring, under 
 the guidance of the popular leaders, of every public demon- 
 stration against the government. They probably numbered 
 about three hundred, and held their public meetings in 
 " Liberty Hall," the name given to a space around " Liberty 
 Tree," at the junction of Newbury, Orange, and Essex 
 Streets, which afforded ample room for a gathering of 
 several thousand persons. Their private meeting place, 
 according to John Adams, was the counting-room in Chase 
 and Speakman's distillery in Hanover Square. The count- 
 ing-room however, from its size, could have been only the 
 rendezvous of committees of the association. Sojne_-of the 
 other towns soon followed the example of Boston, and the 
 " Sons of Liberty " were established in several of the Colo- 
 nies, especially in New York, Rhode Island, Georgia, Mary- 
 land, and South Carolina. 
 
 At the opening of the session of the Legislature in May, 
 Governor Bernard had notified the members that the general 
 settlement of the American Provinces, which had long ago 
 been proposed, and was now probably to be completed, would 
 necessarily produce some regulations which, from their nov- 
 elty only, would appear disagreeable. He recommended a 
 respectful submission to the decrees of Parliament as the 
 duty and for the interest of the people.* Committees were 
 appointed to answer those sections in the speech relating to 
 all matters excepting the Stamp Act, which had been thus 
 tenderly introduced. Upon that subject the House made no 
 reply, but, acting upon the impulse of the last year's Boston 
 Instructions, advising a Colonial union for redress, James 
 Otis proposed the calling of committees from the several 
 Houses of Representatives or Burgesses on the continent 
 to consult together on the dangers and difficulties surround- 
 
 * Journal of the House for 1765. 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 65 
 
 ing them, " and to consider of a general and united, dutiful 
 and humble, representation of their condition to his Majesty 
 and the Parliament, to implore relief." The 1st of October 
 was proposed for the day of assembling at New York, and cir- 
 cular letters to this effect were sent to the other Assemblies. 
 The co-operation of the sister Colonies, in the opinion of 
 Adams, left no room for delay. He desired that the Legis- 
 lature should assert and maintain the liberties of the people 
 guaranteed them by charter, and their rights as British sub- 
 jects, and should preserve the independence of the" House 
 of Representatives ; and to have the inherent rights of the 
 Province placed upon the records of the House, that pos- 
 terity might see that men were not wanting in those days 
 who understood and could vindicate them. Before the re- 
 assembling of the Legislature in the fall of 1765, he was ap- 
 pointed, at a town meeting, one of a committee " to consider 
 of what instructions were proper to be given to the Repre- 
 sentatives of the town as to their conduct in the General 
 Court for the remainder of the year." It was customary 
 to give these instructions at or immediately after the spring 
 elections ; but the critical condition of public affairs de- 
 ^manded that the Boston seats should be specially instructed 
 for the ensuing session, more particularly because, by the ex- 
 tensive publication of these injunctions as ordered by the 
 meeting, the cause of liberty would be subserved. The com- 
 mittee intrusted the task to Samuel Adams, and on the 18th , 
 he reported his draft, which, after " being read paragraph by 
 paragraph, was unanimously adopted." The Legislature was 
 to meet one week later, and in the interim, the instructions, 
 which were printed next day in the Boston Gazette, spread 
 far and wide, and set the example to the other towns. 
 Braintree, led by John Adams, soon after made similar dec- 
 larations, and those written by Samuel Adams thus became 
 the platform of the whole Province.* 
 
 * John Adams, in his Autobiography, speaking of the Braintree Instructions 
 drawn up by him, says : " They rang through the State and were adopted in 
 
 VOL. I. 5 
 
66 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765. 
 
 " At a time," the paper commences, " when the British American 
 subjects are everywhere loudly complaining of arbitrary and un- 
 constitutional innovations, the town of Boston cannot any longer 
 remain silent without just imputation of inexcusable neglect. 
 
 "By the royal charter granted to our ancestors, the power of 
 making laws for our internal government, and of levying taxes, is 
 vested in the General Assembly ; and by the charter, the inhabi- 
 tants of this Province are entitled to all the rights and privileges of 
 natural free-born subjects of Great Britain. The most essential 
 rights of British subjects are those of being represented in the same 
 body which exercises the power of levying taxes upon them, and of 
 having their property tried by juries. These are the very pillars of 
 
 bo many words, as I was informed by the Eeprcsentatives of that year, by 
 forty towns, as instructions to their Representatives. They were honored suf- 
 ficiently by the friends of the government with the epithets of inflammatory," 
 &c. "About this time," he continues, "I called upon Samuel Adams, and 
 found him at his desk. He told me he had been employed to draw instruc- 
 tions for their Representatives ; that he felt an ambition which was very apt to 
 mislead a man, — that of doing something extraordinary ; and he wanted to 
 consult a friend who might suggest some thoughts to his mind. I read his in- 
 structions and showed him a copy of mine. I told him I thought his were very 
 well as far as they went, but he had not gone far enough. Upon reading mine, 
 he said he was of my opinion, and accordingly took into his some paragraphs 
 from mine." 
 
 There is an inaccuracy in this narration very excusable in one who is recall- 
 ing his first public act, performed half a century before. Samuel Adams was 
 appointed to draft the Boston Instructions on the 12th of September ; they were 
 accepted on the 18th, and published in the Boston Gazette on the 19th. The 
 Braintree Instructions, which John Adams says he prepared at home and carried 
 with him to the meeting, are dated September 24th. They were not published 
 until October 10th in Draper's Gazette, and October 14th in the Boston Gazette, 
 and Green and Russell's Post Boy and Advertiser. The celebrity therefore 
 gained by either must rather have attached to the Boston Instructions, as those 
 by John Adams were not made public until after the Legislature had assembled 
 and had been a fortnight prorogued. 
 
 John Adams also says : " In the Braintree Instructions, if I recollect any 
 reprehensible fault, it was that they conceded too much to the adversary, not to 
 say enemy." It may be reasonably asked then, if these instructions conceded 
 too much, how could Samuel Adams's have been improved by adopting them 1 
 
 On the priority of the Boston Instructions, and their influence among the other 
 towns of Massachusetts, see Bancroft, V. 329. 
 
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 67 
 
 the British Constitution, founded on the common rights of mankind. 
 It is certain that we were in no sense represented in the Parliament 
 of Great Britain where this act of taxation was made, and it is also 
 certain that this law admits of our properties being tried in contro- 
 versies arising from internal concerns by courts of admiralty with- 
 out a jury. It follows that at once it annihilates the most valuable 
 privileges of our charter, deprives us of the most essential rights of 
 Britons, and greatly weakens the best security of our lives, liberties, 
 and estates, which may hereafter be at the disposal of judges who 
 may be strangers to us, and perhaps malicious, mercenary, corrupt, 
 and offensive. 
 
 a Moreover, this act, if carried into execution, would become a 
 further grievance to us, as it will afford a precedent for the Par- 
 liament to tax us in all future time, and all such ways and measures 
 as they shall judge meet, without our consent. 
 
 " "We therefore think it our indispensable duty, in justice to our- 
 selves and posterity, as it is our undoubted privilege, in the most 
 open and unreserved, but decent and respectful terms, to declare 
 our greatest dissatisfaction with this law. And we think it incum- 
 bent upon you by no means to join any public measures for counte- 
 nancing and assisting in the execution of the same ;• but to use your 
 best endeavors in the General Assembly to have the inherent, in- 
 alienable rights of the people of this Province asserted and vindi- 
 cated, and left upon the public records, that posterity may never 
 have reason to charge the present times with the guilt of giving 
 them away." 
 
 After expressing the satisfaction of the town at the consent 
 given by most of the other Colonies to the Congress proposed 
 by the Massachusetts House, Mr. Otis is expressly enjoined 
 " to contribute to the utmost of his ability in having the 
 rights of the Colonies stated in the clearest view and laid 
 before the Parliament ; and in preparing a humble petition 
 to the King, our sovereign and father, under whose generous 
 care and protection we have the strongest reason to hope 
 that the rights of the Colonies in general, and the particular 
 
 * Compare Answer of the House to the Governor's Speech, Oct. 24th. 
 
68 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765. 
 
 charter rights of this Province, will be confirmed and per- 
 petuated." 
 
 The meeting substituted the word "patron" for " father." 
 Before the adjournment a committee was appointed, of 
 which Mr. Adams was a member, to prepare a resolution 
 thanking Conway and Barre* for their noble and generous 
 speeches at the last session of Parliament, and directing that 
 their portraits should be placed in Faneuil Hall as soon as 
 they could be obtained. 
 
 Governor Bernard, in his opening address to the Legis- 
 lature, on the 25th of September, alluded to the late vio- 
 lences, and the declarations which had been made against 
 the execution of the Stamp Act within the Province. _The 
 instructions of the previous week had enjoined the Boston 
 members of the Legislature against participating m-any^ttb- 
 lic measures for countenancing or assisting the execution of 
 the act. The ordinary executive authority of the govern- 
 ment being insufficient to oppose the force with which such 
 " declarations " were supported, the Governor now called on 
 the Legislature for aid. He asserted that Parliament had the 
 right to make laws for the American Colonies, that it would 
 maintain and support its authority, and that opposition 
 would bring on a contest which might prove the most detri- 
 mental and ruinous event which could happen to this people. 
 Parliament would most probably require submission as a 
 preliminary to granting relief. His Excellency then drew a 
 vivid picture of the dreadful effect of a general refusal to use 
 the stamped papers, and the consequent shutting up of the 
 courts of justice and custom-houses, — the fraud and rapine 
 which would succeed to credit and mutual faith. The hand 
 of violence would be let loose, and general distress and out- 
 lawry would reign. 
 
 " I would not," he continued, " willingly aggravate the dangers 
 which are before you : I do not think it very easy to do it. This 
 Province seems to me to be on the brink of a precipice, and that it 
 depends upon you to prevent it falling. Possibly I may fear for 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 69 
 
 you more than you do for yourselves; but in the situation you stand, 
 a sight of your danger is necessary to your preservation ; and it is my 
 business to open it to you." 
 
 Thus the Governor artfully attempted to excite the House 
 to commit themselves on the limits of Parliamentary author- 
 ity. On the following day a committee was appointed to 
 prepare a reply. A bill declaring the necessity of going on 
 with the general business of the Province without stamps 
 was introduced, and was occupying the attention of the two 
 Houses, when the alarmed Governor suddenly prorogued the 
 Assembly. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Death of Oxenbridge Thacher. — Adams enters the Massachusetts Legisla- 
 ture. — The Governor prorogues the Assembly. — Adams replies to the 
 Governor's Speech, and prepares the Massachusetts Resolves. — Effect and 
 Celebrity of these Productions. — He is elected Clerk of the Assembly. — 
 Arrival of the Stamps. — Adams instructs the Agent in London. — Is 
 Chairman of a Public Meeting for the opening of the Law Courts. — The 
 Patriotic Club. — John Adams's Description of its leading Members. 
 
 The early contest for American liberty lost a stanch sup- 
 porter about this time in Oxenbridge Thacher, a lawyer of 
 fine abilities, an unassuming gentleman and scholar, and a 
 man of the most admirable character in all the relations of 
 life. In 1764, his publications in support of the Colonial 
 liberties had been widely circulated ; and though of a feeble 
 constitution, which demanded a penalty of suffering for every 
 exertion at the bar, or in the Legislature of which he was a 
 member, he entered into the struggle for liberty with an 
 earnest heart, and his life was shortened by his anxiety and 
 efforts in the cause. He died of disease of the lungs at the 
 age of forty-five, equally conspicuous for his unaffected piety' 
 and sterling patriotism. 
 
 f On the morning of September 27th, a town meeting was 
 called to elect a Representative in the place of Mr. Thacher ; 
 and Samuel Adams receiving the majority of votes, was de- 
 clared by the Selectmen duly elected. He entered the As- 
 sembly the same day,* and was immediately qualified, and 
 
 * "Veneris, 27 Die Septembris, A. D. 1765. Mr. Samuel Adams, re- 
 turned Representative from the Town of Boston, making his Appearance in the 
 House, Ordered, That Mr. Cushing of Boston attend him to the Gentlemen ap- 
 pointed by Dedimus to administer the Oaths required by the Act of Parlia- 
 ment to the several Members of this House. Who returned that they had 
 
Sept., Oct., 1765.] UFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 71 
 
 not a moment too soon ; for scarcely was the act consum- 
 mated, when a message was brought down from the Gov- 
 ernor proroguing the Assembly to the last week in October. 
 This of course prevented the committee who had been ap- 
 pointed to answer the Governor's speech from replying until 
 the next session. The Legislature reassembled on the 24th 
 of October, when the committee's report, written by Mr. 
 Adams, was taken up and accepted.* This document in- 
 augurated a political era, and was as surprising to the 
 Governor and his friends as it was satisfactory to the 
 patriots. 
 The reply states that the sentiments of the House would 
 
 attended him accordingly, that he had taken the same and subscribed the 
 Declaration ; and then Mr. Adams took his seat in the House." — Journal of 
 the House for September, 1765. 
 
 * This paper has, without a shadow of evidence, been ascribed to James 
 Otis (see John Adams's Works, II. 182). The evidences of its being the 
 production of Samuel Adams leave no question as to the authorship. Ad- 
 ams having been, as we have seen, qualified a member of the House only a 
 few minutes before the Governor prorogued the Assembly, it was not possible 
 to place him upon the original committee for drafting the answer ; but the 
 best proof that his pen was employed during the recess is found in the fact 
 that on the reassembling, he appears as chairman of the committee appointed 
 to present the answer to his Excellency, — the House naturally making him 
 the bearer of his own production. Hutchinson distinctly ascribes this paper, 
 as well as the celebrated resolves subsequently offered in the House, to Samuel 
 Adams (Hutchinson's History, III. 133, 134). And Governor Bernard, in his 
 letters to the Ministry, points to him without naming him. The style is that 
 of no other person, and the sentiments are not those of Otis, who favored an 
 Ameincan representation in Parliament, which this paper pronounces to be im- 
 practicable. But the matter is finally set at rest by the fact that Otis was ab- 
 sent at the Congress in New York from the day the last Assembly had been 
 prorogued until November 1st, — or a week after this answer had been reported 
 and sent up to the Governor ; therefore he could not have been the author. He 
 moreover pronounced the celebrated Virginia Resolves of May in this year to 
 be treasonable (see Hutchinson, III. 119) ; and as the Massachusetts Resolves, 
 which appeared almost simultaneously with the answer now under considera- 
 tion, were intended to accompany and support that answer, and went even 
 further than those of Virginia had done, Otis cannot be consistently associated 
 with the authorship of either of these remarkable papers. On Samuel 
 Adams's authorship, see Bancroft, V. 349. 
 
72 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 sooner have been communicated had not the late sudden and 
 unexpected adjournment prevented it. 
 
 . • . • • 
 
 " Your Excellency tells us that the Province seems to be upon the 
 brink of a precipice ! A sight of its danger is then necessary for its 
 preservation. To despair of the Commonwealth is a certain presage 
 of its fall. Your Excellency may be assured that the representa- 
 tives of the people are awake to a sense of its danger, and their 
 utmost prudence will not be wanting to prevent its ruin. 
 
 "Your Excellency is pleased to tell us that declarations have 
 been made and still subsist, that the act of Parliament for granting 
 the stamp duties in the Colonies shall not be executed within the 
 Province. We know of no such declarations. If any individuals 
 of the people have declared an unwillingness to subject themselves to 
 the payment of the stamp duties, and choose rather to lay aside all 
 business than to make use of the stamped papers, we are not account- 
 able for such declarations, so neither can we see anything criminal in 
 them. This House has no authority to control their choice in this 
 matter. The act does not oblige them to make use of the papers ; 
 it only exacts the payment of certain duties for such papers as they 
 may incline to use. Such declarations may possibly have been 
 made and may still subsist very consistently with the utmost respect 
 to the King and Parliament. 
 
 " You are pleased to say that the Stamp Act is an act of Parlia- 
 ment, and as such ought to be observed. This House, sir, has too 
 great a reverence for the supreme legislature of the nation to ques- 
 tion its just authority. It by no means appertains to us to presume 
 to adjust the boundaries of the power of Parliament ; but bounda- 
 ries there undoubtedly are. We hope we may, without offence, put 
 your Excellency in mind of that most grievous sentence of excom- 
 munication solemnly denounced by the Church in the name of the 
 sacred Trinity, in the presence of King Henry the Third and the 
 estates of the realm, against all those who should make statutes or 
 observe them being made contrary to the liberties of Magna Charta. 
 We are ready to think those zealous advocates for the Constitution 
 usually compared their acts of Parliament with Magna Charta; 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 73 
 
 and if it ever happened that such acts were made as infringed upon 
 the rights of that charter, they were always repealed. 
 
 " Furthermore, your Excellency tells us that the right of the Par- 
 liament to make laws for the American Colonies remains indispu- 
 table in Westminster. Without contending this point, we beg leave 
 just to observe that the charter of this Province invests the Gen- 
 eral Assembly with the power of making laws for its internal gov- 
 ernment and taxation; and that this charter has never yet been 
 forfeited./ The Parliament has a right to make all laws within the 
 limits of their own Constitution. Among these, is the right of rep- 
 resentation in the same body which exercises the power of taxation. 
 There is a necessity that the subjects of America should exercise 
 this power within themselves, otherwise they can have no share in 
 that most essential right, for they are not represented in Parliament, 
 and indeed we think it impracticable. Your Excellency's assertion 
 leads us to think that you are of a different mind with regard to this 
 very material point, and that you suppose we are represented ; but 
 the sense of the nation itself seems always to have been otherwise/' 
 The right of the Colonies to make their own laws and tax them- 
 selves has been never, that we know of, questioned ; but has been 
 constantly recognized by the King and Parliament. The very sup- 
 position that the Parliament, though the supreme power over the 
 subjects of Britain universally, should yet conceive of a despotic 
 power within themselves, would be most disrespectful ; and we leave 
 it to your Excellency's consideration, whether to suppose an indis- 
 putable right in any government to tax the subjects without their 
 consent, does not include the idea of such a power. 
 
 " Our duty to the King, who holds the rights of all his subjects 
 sacred as his own prerogative, and our love to our own constituents 
 and concern for their dearest interests, constrain us to be explicit upon 
 this very important occasion. We beg that your Excellency would 
 consider the people of this Province as having the strongest affec- 
 tion for his Majesty, under whose happy government they have felt 
 all the blessings of liberty : they have a warm sense of the honor, 
 freedom, and independence of the subjects of a patriot king ; they 
 have a just value for those inestimable rights, which are derived to 
 all men from nature, and are happily interwoven in the British Con- 
 
74 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 stitution ; they esteem it sacrilege for them to ever give them up ; 
 and rather than lose them they would willingly part with everything 
 else. / We deeply regret it that the Parliament has seen fit to pass 
 such an act as the Stamp Act. We flatter ourselves that the hard- 
 ships of it will shortly appear to them in such a point of light as 
 shall induce them in their wisdom to repeal it. In the mean time, 
 we must beg your Excellency to excuse us from doing anything to 
 assist in the execution of it." 
 
 The answer closes with a refusal to compensate the suffer- 
 ers by the late riots, as the Governor had recommended ; 
 and as he had cast a reflection on the Province, in conse- 
 quence of those disturbances, they reply : — 
 
 " We inherit from our ancestors the highest relish for civil lib- 
 erty, but we hope never to see the time when it shall be expedient 
 to countenance any methods for its preservation but such as are legal 
 and regular. When our sacred rights are infringed, we feel the 
 grievance; but we understand the nature of our happy. Constitution 
 too well, and entertain too high an opinion of the virtue and justice 
 of the supreme Legislature, to encourage any means of redressing it, 
 but what are justifiable by the Constitution." * 
 
 Pending the recess of the Assembly, Mr. Adams had pre- 
 pared, in accordance with his Boston Instructions, a series of 
 resolves intended to be offered to the House at its meeting 
 in October. These Instructions had directed that the inhe- \ 
 rent and inalienable rights of the people should be asserted 
 and vindicated, and their assertion and vindication left upon 
 the public records for transmission to posterity. The op- 
 portunity had now arrived when he could introduce those 
 resolves, digested and condensed, as a guide by which the 
 policy of the Province in its subsequent controversies should 
 be directed, and a model according to which public docu- 
 ments discussing the popular liberties should henceforward 
 be framed. The answer to the speech was accepted by the 
 House in the forenoon of October 24th ; and in the after- 
 noon of the same day, a committee, of which Mr. Adams 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 43. Grahame, II. 401. 
 
LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 75 
 
 was a member, was appointed " to prepare proper resolves 
 expressing the sentiments of this House with respect to their 
 rights and privileges." The report was not made until two 
 days later, a delay occasioned by the deliberation naturally 
 arising among the committee upon so important a meas- 
 ure. On the 26th, the report was read to the House, and 
 ordered to be taken into consideration on the 29th at 
 three o'clock, and was meantime " to lie on the table for 
 the perusal of the members." On the day appointed, says 
 the record, " the House, agreeable to the order of the day 
 (there being a full House), entered into the consideration 
 of the resolves, which were particularly considered and 
 passed." 
 
 " Whereas the just rights of his Majesty's subjects of this Prov- 
 ince, derived to them from the British Constitution, as well as the 
 royal charter, have been lately drawn into question : in order to 
 ascertain the same, this House do unanimously come into the follow- 
 ing resolves : — 
 
 " 1. Resolved, That there are certain essential rights of the Brit- 
 ish Constitution of government, which are founded in the law of 
 God and nature, and are the common rights of mankind ; — there- 
 fore, 
 
 " 2. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this Province are unalien- 
 ably entitled to those essential rights in common with all men : and 
 that no law of society can, consistent with the law of God and na- 
 ture, divest them of those rights. 
 
 " 3. Resolved, That no man can justly take the property of an- 
 other without his consent; and that upon this original principle, 
 the right of representation in the same body which exercises the 
 power of making laws for levying taxes, which is one of the main 
 pillars of the British Constitution, is evidently founded. 
 
 "4. Resolved, That this inherent right, together with all other 
 essential rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities of the people of 
 Great Britain, have been fully confirmed to them by Magna Charta, 
 and by former and by later acts of Parliament. 
 
 " 5. Resolved, That his Majesty's subjects in America are, in rea- 
 son and common sense, entitled to the same extent of liberty with 
 his Majesty's subjects in Britain. 
 
76 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct., Nov. 
 
 " 6. Resolved, That by the declaration of the royal charter of 
 this Province, the inhabitants are entitled to all the rights, liberties, 
 and immunities of free and natural subjects of Great Britain to all 
 intents, purposes, and constructions whatever. 
 
 " 7. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this Province appear to be 
 entitled to all the rights aforementioned by an act of Parliament, 
 13th of Geo. II. 
 
 " 8. Resolved, That those rights do belong to the inhabitants of 
 this Province upon the principle of common justice ; their ancestors 
 having settled this country at their sole expense, and their posterity 
 having approved themselves most loyal and faithful subjects of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 " 9. Resolved, That every individual in the Colonies is as advan- 
 tageous to Great^Britain as if he were in Great Britain and held to 
 pay his full proportion of taxes there ; and as the inhabitants of this 
 Province pay their full proportion of taxes for the support of his 
 Majesty's government here, it is unreasonable for them to be called 
 upon to pay any part of the charges of the government there. 
 
 " 10. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this Province are not, and 
 never have been, represented in the Parliament of Great Britain ; 
 and that such a representation there as the subjects in Britain 
 do actually and rightfully enjoy M impracticable for the subjects in 
 America ; — and further, that in the opinion of this House, the sev- 
 eral subordinate powers of legislation in America were constituted 
 upon the apprehensions of this impracticability. 
 
 "11. Resolved, That the only method whereby the constitutional 
 rights of the subjects of this Province can be secure, consistent with 
 a subordination to the supreme power of Great Britain, is by the 
 continued exercise of such powers of government as are granted in 
 the royal charter, and a firm adherence to the privileges of the same. 
 
 " 12. Resolved, — as a just conclusion from some of the foregoing 
 resolves, — That all acts made by any power whatever, other than 
 the General Assembly of this Province, imposing taxes on the in- 
 habitants, are infringements of our inherent and unalienable rights 
 as men and British subjects, and render void the most valuable 
 declarations of our charter. 
 
 " 13. Resolved, That the extension of the powers of the Court of 
 Admiralty within this Province is a most violent infraction of the 
 right of trials by juries, — a right which this House, upon the princi- 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 77 
 
 pies of their British ancestors, hold most dear and sacred ; it being 
 the only security of the lives, liberties, and properties of his Majes- 
 ty's subjects here. 
 
 " 14. Resolved, That this House owe the strictest allegiance to his 
 most sacred Majesty King George the Third ; that they have the 
 greatest veneration for the Parliament ; and that they will, after the 
 example of all their predecessors from the settlement of this coun- 
 try, exert themselves to their utmost in supporting his Majesty's au- 
 thority in the Province, in promoting the true happiness of his sub- 
 jects, and in enlarging the extent of his dominion. 
 
 " Ordered, That all the foregoing resolves be kept in the records 
 of this House, that a just sense of liberty and the firm sentiments 
 of loyalty be transmitted to posterity." * 
 
 These resolves startled the whole Province. They were 
 extensively* published, and in fact they rang through the 
 entire continent. Together with the answer, they were re- 
 ceived in England as " the ravings of a parcel of wild enthu- 
 siasts." f Both excited universal applause in New England. 
 Governor Hopkins of Rhode Island, afterwards a signer of 
 the Declaration of Independence, said, at the political club 
 in Providence, that " nothing had been so much admired 
 there through the whole course of the controversy as th& 
 answer to the Governor's speech, though the Massachusetts 
 Resolves were the best digested and the best of any on the 
 continent." 
 
 The 1st of November, the day on which the hated Stamp 
 Act was to go into operation, was ushered in with the tolling 
 of bells and the firing of minute-guns, while the flags of the 
 vessels in port were displayed at half-mast, and an unfalter- 
 ing determination was everywhere shown to nullify and 
 effectually oppose the act. The crisis was a momentous 
 one, and required decisive measures. At early morning 
 the effigies of Grenville and of Huske, who had recom- 
 
 * Journal of the House of Representatives for October 29, 1765. Bradford's 
 State Papers, p. 50. 
 t Bancroft, V. 349. 
 
78 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 mended the passage of the act, were seen suspended from 
 the branches of Liberty Tree, where they hung until after- 
 noon. They were then cut down and carted with great 
 solemnity, escorted by a multitude of the people, to where 
 the General Assembly was in session, and thence to the gal- 
 lows on the Neck, where they were again suspended, and 
 finally were torn in pieces and flung to the winds. All 
 classes and conditions mingled in these transactions ; and 
 such manifestations of public sentiment were not repugnant 
 to the principles of Mr. Adams and his friends, provided 
 they were not coupled with personal violence or damage to 
 property. In this instance the proceedings were conducted 
 without rioting ; and, at the conclusion, the people dispersed 
 quietly to their homes, at the request of their leaders, and 
 the night was undisturbed by confusion or noise.* 
 
 During the September session the stamped papers had 
 arrived from England, and the Governor, at a loss what dis- 
 position to make of them, asked the advice of the Council, 
 who prudently referred him to the Assembly. The latter 
 declined giving him either advice or assistance, conformably 
 to the policy they had adopted, of refusing to assist in the 
 execution of the Stamp Act. The effect of a non-distribu- 
 tion of the stamps would be to suspend business in the 
 Province, and to close the courts of justice, the proceedings 
 of which would be illegal without them. The Assembly, as 
 we have seen, on the day of their last prorogation, were con- 
 sidering a bill declaring the necessity of going on with all 
 business without the stamps. On the reassembling in Octo- 
 ber, they at once proceeded to adopt measures to counter- 
 act, if possible, the evils of the Stamp Act, which was to take 
 effect in another week. A committee, of which Adams was 
 a member, carried up the answer to the Governor's an- 
 nouncement in the previous session, that the stamped papers 
 had arrived ; and on the following day he was chosen one of 
 a committee to report upon proper methods to prevent dif- 
 
 * Barry's Massachusetts, II. 305. Drake's Boston, p. 708. 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 79 
 
 Acuities that might arise in the proceedings of courts of 
 justice after the day on which the act was to go into oper- 
 ation. 
 
 The stamps had meantime been placed in the Castle, agree- 
 ably to the recommendation of the Council ; and to protect 
 them, an additional guard had been ordered, for the pay- 
 ment of whom warrants were issued by the Governor and 
 Council, without the necessary resolve of the Assembly. 
 The House took the alarm, and on the first day of the ses- 
 sion, a committee, of which Mr. Adams was chairman, was 
 appointed to ascertain what drafts had been made from the 
 several appropriations in the act for supplying the treasury. 
 He was also placed on a second committee, on the 4th of 
 November, to report a proper remonstrance to the Governor 
 and Council in relation to the issue of moneys for repairing 
 forts and fortifications. The two reports were made a few 
 days later to the Governor and Council. The former was 
 from the pen of Mr. Adams. The paper clearly exposes 
 the illegality of the draft of moneys from the treasury for 
 the payment of an additional military company at Castle 
 William. 
 
 " If the Governor and Council have a right in any case to raise 
 and pay one company, they may raise ten, or a hundred, and at 
 their pleasure subject this people to be governed by a standing 
 army. We therefore, in duty to ourselves, our constituents, and 
 our posterity, declare the said procedure to be a high infraction of 
 the rights of this House, with whom the origin and granting of all 
 taxes on the freeholders and inhabitants of this Province is indubi- 
 tably and constitutionally lodged." * 
 
 The remonstrance then desires the Council to order the 
 said sum to be replaced in the treasury for the public ser- 
 vice. 
 
 This was the most dangerous and arbitrary measure that 
 had been attempted, and an emphatic denouncement of it 
 was required. The Council replied on the following day, 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 51. 
 
80 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor. 
 
 vindicating their position and themselves from any intended 
 infraction of the rights of the House, and averring that the 
 draft had been sanctioned by them with great reluctance. 
 The House again responded, through a committee of which 
 Mr. Adams was a member, deploring that the obnoxious 
 measure should have been justified, prescribing what, in the 
 opinion of the House, were the limits of the power of the 
 Governor and Council during a recess of the General Court, 
 and denying the right of either to dispose of the public mon- 
 eys without the assent of the people's representatives. 
 
 Mr. Otis, who had been absent during the last session, ar- 
 rived from New York early in November. The proceedings 
 of the Colonial convention held in that city having been 
 adopted by the House, Dennys Deberdt was chosen a special 
 agent in London to present and support, on the part of Mas- 
 sachusetts, the petitions prepared on that occasion ; and on 
 the following day, Mr. Adams was one of a committee to con- 
 sider what grants of money were proper to be made to 
 Messrs. Deberdt and Jackson. The latter, the standing 
 agent of the Province, had already been instructed. De- 
 berdt, who was a respectable London merchant and ardently 
 attached to the cause of the Colonies, was agent for " the 
 three lower counties," now the State of Delaware, as well as 
 for Massachusetts. A letter of instructions, dated November 
 7th, was prepared by Samuel Adams for the committee, to 
 convey to Jackson the sentiments of the House. From his 
 original draft the following extracts are transcribed. Jack- 
 son had been notified in May of this year what steps to take 
 in relation to the Stamp Act, and Adams believed there was 
 too much reason to apprehend that past applications for 
 redress had failed for want of due zeal in those whose busi- 
 ness it had been to support them. 
 
 "We cannot but think," he continues, "that the exceptions 
 which the Colonies had to offer against a measure new and extraor- 
 dinary in its kind would not have been refused, if they had been 
 supported with proper vigor. For although, as you observe, it was 
 
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 81 
 
 against a bill depending in the House of Commons for imposing 
 taxes, it might and ought to have been urged that those very taxes 
 were proposed to be laid upon many thousands of freeholders who 
 were not represented in Parliament, and who therefore in no other 
 way could make their circumstances known and the hardships which 
 the bill depending would bring upon them, but by humble supplica- 
 tions. 
 
 " We heartily wish it was more fully considered on your side the 
 water than it seems now to be, that the only method whereby Great 
 Britain can make her Colonies useful to her is by encouraging their 
 trade. Our dependence at present is altogether upon your manu- 
 factures for many of the necessary articles of life, and it is our trade 
 only that can furnish us with the means of purchasing them. The 
 burdens upon trade already imposed, particularly by the Sugar Act, 
 have made it so difficult to procure remittances, that there will be a 
 necessity of stopping in a great measure the importation of English 
 goods. And indeed the people of the Colonies seem more and more 
 determined to do without them as far as possible ; and how much 
 the mother country will be prejudiced thereby is obvious to a com- 
 mon observation. 
 
 " We do not find that the hardships, under color of requiring 
 sufferances in the case of inland navigation from Colony to Colony, 
 have been eased. You will find by the act made by the last ses- 
 sion of Parliament, to which we imagine you have a reference, that 
 no vessels are exempt but boats, flats, shallops, and other vessels 
 without decks, under twenty tons, and which shall not be carried 
 out to sea above one league from the shore. The declared design of 
 the act is, that no unnecessary restraint may lay upon the trade and 
 correspondence of his Majesty's American subjects when goods are 
 carried from Colony to Colony, merely for the use and sustenance of 
 said Colony. You will please to consider that we have a sea-coast 
 of fifteen hundred miles, and very little inland navigation. Few 
 such small vessels, if any, described in the act, are ever employed 
 from Colony to Colony ; and besides, they must of necessity, to avoid 
 headlands in passing not only from Colony to Colony, but even from 
 Boston to most parts of this Province, for the necessary article of 
 fuel, go beyond the limit of a league to sea. Moreover, most if not 
 all of our coasters and fishermen, being decked vessels, are obliged 
 
 VOL. i. 6 
 
82 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor. 
 
 to give bond, and take sufferances which will subject many of them 
 to the expense of travelling many miles. We desire you would look 
 into the act and apply for the relief which the Parliament seem to 
 have had in their intention." 
 
 This letter embraces the chief causes of complaint. The 
 hint at non-importation is significant. That measure be- 
 came a few years later one of the most powerful engines of 
 opposition in Massachusetts, where Mr. Adams was its orig- 
 inator and persistent advocate ; and, when resistance was 
 organized into a system including the thirteen Colonies, it 
 was adopted as one of the great measures of concerted war 
 fare against oppression. 
 
 The Legislature, which adjourned on the 8th of Novem- 
 ber, was not to meet again until January. Business de- 
 clined in the Province, and the utmost distress began to be 
 experienced. Yet no stamps were purchased to legalize 
 business or other transactions. Rather than make use of 
 them, proceedings in all courts of justice were suspended ; 
 and the disputes which, under ordinary circumstances, 
 were taken before such tribunals, were decided by arbitra- 
 tion. The act was even disregarded. Ships entered and 
 cleared without stamps ; and printers of newspapers, fear- 
 less of consequences, boldly disseminated their defences 
 of liberty without the obnoxious stamp affixed to their 
 journals. In New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, 
 the exasperated populace had given the most signal proofs 
 of their indignation. So general was the opposition to 
 the act, that the stamp officers in all the Colonies were 
 compelled to resign. In Boston care was taken, on the one 
 hand, to prevent the recurrence of violent proceedings, and, 
 on the other, to keep up in full vigor the spirit of resistance. 
 A newspaper — " The Constitutional Courant," — was estab- 
 lished, having for its device a snake divided into as many 
 parts as there are Colonies, and forjis motto, "Join or die." 
 Oliver, the stamp officer, was required to resign his office 
 under Liberty-Tree, in the presence of a great concourse. 
 
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 83 
 
 Non-importation agreements were adopted in the Colonies, 
 and associations were organized for the encouragement of 
 domestic manufactures. Sullen discontent spread over the 
 Province. 
 
 Answering the statement made in England, that the tax 
 was to discharge the Colonists' proportion of the expense of 
 former wars for their defence, Mr. Adams about this time 
 wrote to a friend in London, with the view of furnishing him 
 with arguments in favor of the Province. After showing 
 that the nation were the debtors of the Colonists for sub- 
 duing and settling an uncultivated wilderness at their own 
 expense, he asks : — 
 
 " And is there no credit to be given to the New England Colonies, 
 who not only purchased these territories of the natives, but have 
 defended them for above a century against the encroachments of 
 these warlike savages, with fortitude scarcely equalled, without a 
 farthing's expense to the nation? 
 
 • . • • • 
 
 " You are sensible, sir, that it has been her policy to oblige the 
 Colonies to carry the chief of their produce to Great Britain, and 
 take off her manufactures in return ; and as they must conform to 
 her price both in buying and selling, one would think the advantage 
 she reaps by this trade would be sufficient. This is an indirect tax. 
 The nation constantly regulates their trade, and lays it under what 
 restrictions she pleases ; and the duties on the goods imported from 
 her and consumed here, together with those which are laid on almost 
 every branch of our trade, all of which centres in cash in her coffers, 
 amount to a very great sum. The money drawn from us in the way 
 of actual direct taxes, by means of these regulations, it is thought 
 will very soon put an end to the trade. Of this you are as able to 
 judge as any gentleman ; and, if it be the case, it certainly requires 
 prudent and impartial consideration. For all the advantage the 
 nation can expect to reap from the Colonies must arise from com- 
 merce. Their whole profits, saving a moderate subsistence for them- 
 selves, flow in upon her through various channels. The stamp 
 duty, if the act is continued in force, will probably in a very few 
 years take off the whole of their cash, and leave them none to carry 
 
84 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 on any trade at all. I wish that trade policy, as a very sensible 
 gentleman has expressed it, was better understood by the present 
 rulers in the mother country with respect to the Colonies. By re- 
 strictions and duties she is even now in danger of putting an end to 
 their usefulness to her; whereas, by abolishing those duties and 
 giving them indulgences, they would be enabled to repay her a 
 hundred fold." 
 
 These arguments, which were afterwards reproduced in 
 many forms, were thrown away upon the short-sighted states- 
 men of England. An increase of the trade and opulence of 
 America, it was thought, would have a dangerous tendency 
 to encourage its independence, and the revenue laws were 
 as much designed to keep the Colonies in subjection, as to 
 raise a revenue from them. 
 
 On the 18th of December, the day after Oliver had been 
 compelled to resign, a town meeting was called for the pur- 
 pose of taking measures for the opening of the courts. The 
 stagnation of business was bringing ruin upon all classes ; 
 yet the persistency of purpose against using the stamps 
 never once faltered. The meeting appointed a committee, 
 with Mr. Adams as chairman, to present a petition to the 
 Governor and Council for the opening of the courts ; and 
 it was agreed to apply to Jeremiah Gridley, James Otis, 
 and John Adams, to appear in behalf of the town in sup- 
 port of the memorial. John Adams, then a young and 
 promising lawyer, was included at the instance of his 
 friend and kinsman of Boston, and he left Braintree for the 
 capital the next day after receiving the summons. The 
 same evening he attended the town meeting. His diary 
 of that date says : " After dinner, went to the town-house, 
 and attended with the committee of the town of Boston and 
 many other gentlemen in the Representatives' room till 
 about dark, after candle-light, when Mr. Adams, the chair^ 
 man of the committee, received a message from the Governor 
 by the Deputy-Secretary, purporting that his Excellency and 
 the Council were ready to hear the memorial of the town of 
 
1765. 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 85 
 
 Boston, and the counsel in support of it, but that no other 
 persons might attend." * A brief allusion to the arguments 
 and proceedings of the meeting follows. The Governor 
 responded, that there was no precedent for the interference 
 of himself and Council. Samuel Adams, who had presented 
 the petition, reported to the town on the 25th, when the 
 Governor's answer was voted to be unsatisfactory ; and Otis, 
 who was present, declared that he knew of no legal and 
 constitutional course the town could take, but to direct their 
 Representatives to request the Governor to call a convention 
 of the members of both Houses ; and, if he would not, to 
 call one themselves. The meeting had no further effect 
 than to suggest measures of opposition to the arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings of Parliament ; and with the Province courts still 
 closed, and a consequent total suspension of business, a 
 gloomy stillness reigned throughout the country. 
 
 John Adams, while in Boston, attended the political club, 
 which he visited in company with Samuel Adams. Of this 
 club, Otis, Cushing, Wells, Gray, Dawes, Austin, two Wal- 
 dos, Story, Inches, and Dr. Parker are mentioned as mem- 
 bers. The father of Samuel Adams had been the leading 
 member of a similar club forty years before. But the Cau- 
 cus (caulkers') Club of the earlier times was composed 
 mainly of ship-building mechanics, whose political influ- 
 ence was all powerful then as afterwards. This very nu- 
 merous body were the warm friends of the elder Adams., 
 as they were of his son throughout the Revolution. At \ 
 the commencement of the difficulties between the Colo- 
 nies and the mother country, the club was composed of a 
 few persons who met at each other's houses, arranged 
 the preliminaries of elections, discussed public matters, and 
 prepared political articles for the press. Samuel Adams, 
 Dawes, Ruddock, Dr. Cooper, and others of the leading 
 supporters of liberty, were among the early members. At a 
 later period their number was increased by Otis, Dr. Warren, 
 
 * John Adams's Works, II. 158, 161. Hutchinson, HI. 138. 
 
86 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 John Adams, Hancock, Pemberton, Gray, Austin, and others. 
 Their meetings were at last more publicly held, and at vari- 
 ous places ; sometimes in a small wooden building in Milk 
 Street, occupied by Mr. Samuel Shed, a respectable grocer, 
 whose inner parlor was well known as a rendezvous of the 
 popular leaders ; and at others, in a house near the North 
 Battery. They acted in harmony with another political or- 
 ganization known as the Merchants' Club, exchanging with 
 them committees to concert measures as to the choice of 
 public officers. The Caucus Club was a more popular insti- 
 tution than the other. Its number was subsequently in- 
 creased to above sixty. Many important moves resulting in 
 great political benefits, previous to the organization of the 
 committees of correspondence, originated at these meetings. 
 John Adams, in his contemporary writings, repeatedly men- 
 tions " the club " first above referred to, and has left sev- 
 eral lively sketches of the principal characters attending it. 
 After his visit there with Samuel Adams, December 23d, he 
 placed on record his impressions of the members. 
 
 " The behavior of these gentlemen is very familiar and friendly 
 to each other, and very polite and complaisant to strangers. Gray 
 has a very tender mind, is extremely timid. He says when he 
 meets a man of the other side, he talks against him ; when he meets 
 a man of our side, he opposes him ; so that he fears he shall be 
 thought against everybody, and so everybody will be against him. 
 But he. hopes to prepare the way for his escape at next May from 
 an employment that neither his abilities . nor circumstances nor 
 turn of mind are fit for. 
 
 "Cushing is steady and constant and busy in the interest of 
 liberty and the opposition, is famed for secrecy and his talent at pro- 
 curing intelligence. 
 
 " Adams is zealous, ardent, and keen in the cause, is always for 
 softness and delicacy and prudence where they will do, but is staunch 
 and stiff and strict and rigid and inflexible in the cause. 
 
 " Otis is fiery and feverous ; his imagination flames, his passions 
 blaze ; he is liable to great inequalities of temper ; sometimes in 
 despondency, sometimes in a rage. The rashnesses and imprudencies 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 87 
 
 into which his excess of zeal have formerly transported him have 
 made him enemies, whose malicious watch over him occasion more 
 caution and more cunning and more inexplicable passages in his con- 
 duct than formerly ; and, perhaps, views at the Chair, or Board, or 
 possibly more expanded views beyond the Atlantic, may mingle now 
 with his patriotism. 
 
 " The II Penseroso, however, is discernible on the faces of all four. 
 
 " Adams, I believe, has the most thorough understanding of liberty 
 and her resources in the temper and character of the people, though 
 not in the law and Constitution ; as well as the most habitual, radical 
 love of it of any of them, as well as the most correct, genteel, and 
 artful pen. He is a man of refined policy, steadfast integrity, exqui- 
 site humanity, genteel erudition, obliging, engaging manners, real as 
 well as professed piety, and a universal good character, unless it 
 should be admitted that he is too attentive to the public, and not 
 enough so to himself and his family." * 
 
 Up to the late session of the Legislature, when Samuel 
 Adams first became a member, the question of Parliamentary 
 power had not been fully raised. The course of the Province 
 from the beginning of the taxation policy by England had 
 hitherto been by remonstrances and humble petitions for 
 relief, rather than assertions of the natural and charter 
 rights of the Colonies. The answer to the Governor's 
 speech and the Massachusetts resolves were therefore re- 
 garded as the opening of a new policy. From that time, the 
 expediency and right of Parliamentary taxation ceased to 
 be argued in the Massachusetts Assembly, and were tacitly 
 resigned as no longer open to discussion. f 
 
 * John Adams's Diary (Works, II. 162). 
 
 t " The firmness of the new legislator," says Bancroft (V. 350), "was sus- 
 tained by the unwavering confidence of the people of Boston, beyond what 
 was given to any of his colleagues; and the vacillation of Otis, increasing 
 with his infirmities, ceased to be of public importance. Massachusetts never 
 again questioned with the British ministry the amount of a practical tax, or 
 the inexpediency of taxation by Parliament, or the propriety of an American 
 representation in that body." 
 
 Hutchinson was fully convinced that the state papers of the late session 
 practically denied Parliamentary supremacy in the Colonies. He says, just 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Differences in Political Opinion between Otis and Adams. — Otis advocated 
 an American Representation in Parliament, and sustains the Right of Par- 
 liament to Tax the Colonies. — Plans for such a Representation. — Adams 
 denies the Practicability of a Fair Representation, and disproves the Right 
 of Taxation. — Controlling Influence of Adams in the Assembly. — Testi- . 
 mony of Contemporaries, — ThcTiirst Advocate of American Independence. \ 
 — His Letters to Gentlemen in England in behalf of the Colonies. \ 
 
 The differences of opinion existing between James Otis 
 and Samuel Adams, the two principal figures of this period, 
 require special explanation ; particularly as this contrast in 
 policy has not been generally understood, though truthfully 
 pictured in the contemporary delineation by the observant 
 John Adams, which has been already quoted. The learning, 
 zeal, and eloquence of Otis, added to his great ability and 
 devotion to the welfare of the Province, made him ever 
 popular with his townsmen, who cherished a regard for him 
 long after he had ceased to be of service, and loved to 
 place him in positions where his restless spirit would be 
 calmed by such attentions. Until 1765 he was the leader 
 of the debates in the House. But thenceforward his opin- 
 ions grew uncertain, and vacillated as circumstances altered. 
 His fervid eloquence was always at the command of his 
 country, but the direction of its torrent could not be relied 
 on at all times. 
 
 The project of sending representatives to Parliament 
 
 five years afterwards, in a letter to Bernard (October 20, 1770) : "Had every 
 man who openly asserted that Parliament was not the supreme authority of the 
 whole Empire been subjected to part of the penalties of the statute of prcmu- 
 nire, and every man concerned in every combination to resist the execution of 
 an act of Parliament been subjected to the whole penalties five years ago, I 
 think that few people would have run the risk of them." 
 
Dec, 1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 89 
 
 from the Colonies, a point on which Otis and Adams essen- 
 tially differed, was suggested during the Stamp Act difficul- 
 ties, and found advocates in both countries. It appears to 
 have been first publicly written upon by the historian Old- 
 mixon, and was afterwards more deliberately considered and 
 espoused by Dr. Franklin and others. Until the last stages 
 of the controversy this measure was sincerely urged by dis- 
 tinguished writers, among whom was Adam Smith, who 
 recommended that the number of American representatives 
 should be proportioned to the produce of American tax- 
 ation. 
 
 A pamphlet * was published in London in 1770, and re- 
 viewed in the Monthly Eegister, proposing "that about 
 fourscore commissioners from the Colonies should be ad- 
 mitted into the British House of Commons, to be chosen 
 annually, to counterbalance the inconveniency of their re- 
 mote distance from their constituents, who by this means 
 will have a frequent check over them that will preserve 
 their attention to the interests of the places for which they 
 serve ; that their representative power, to prevent accident, 
 should continue after the expiration of the year, until the 
 new commission should renew their powers, or new com- 
 missioners arriving, should supersede them; and that no 
 law relating to the Colonies should pass until one year after 
 the reading of the bill." 
 
 " These," continues the reviewer, " are the outlines of the plan of 
 representation, which is proposed in a dispassionate, sensible manner ; 
 and could it be digested into a feasible, regular system, so as to ob- 
 viate the objections arising from the interposition of a vast ocean, it 
 might happily tend much towards that consummation which is so 
 devoutly to be wished." 
 
 In 1774 an ably written pamphlet appeared in England, 
 strongly urging an American representation. 
 
 * 
 
 * " Considerations on the Expediency of admitting Representatives from the 
 American Colonies into the British House of Commons." London, 1770, 8°. 
 pp. 41. 
 
90 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. pec. 
 
 " The Legislature of this kingdom," says the author, " cannot pos- 
 sibly depart from any part of its supremacy over the Colonies ; but 
 it is in the power of the Colonies to share in that supremacy. If 
 they complain of being taxed without having the privilege of send- 
 ing members to Parliament, let them be represented. Nay, more ; 
 let their representation increase in proportion to the revenue they 
 
 shall furnish." 
 
 i 
 During the war, the British government, with concession 
 
 more or less sincere, offered to the people of America a share 
 in Parliamentary representation, together with the redress 
 of all grievances. Andrew Eliot alludes to it in a letter to 
 Thomas Hollis in the winter of 1769,* and briefly shows the 
 idea to be impracticable. A plan, supposed to have been 
 endorsed by the King, proposing that America should be 
 governed by a Congress of American peers, in number not 
 to exceed two hundred, to be appointed by the Crown, was 
 conveyed to Franklin and John Adams while in France in 
 1778. Among the names of eminent Americans to be thus 
 honored were Franklin, Washington, Samuel Adams, and 
 Hancock, as having stood foremost, and suffered most in the 
 contest. f Even towards the close of the war, after the cap- 
 ture of Cornwallis, this dream was indulged, when, as Cur- 
 wen says in his diary, the ministerial plan was " to govern 
 America by a Lord Lieutenant and create nobility ; and if 
 she will not agree to Great Britain's proposal, to make a 
 partition treaty of the Colonies with France, to whom the 
 Northern Colonies and Canada would be ceded, the Southern 
 Colonies remaining to Great Britain." £ One of the ideas 
 of the Loyalists in the first Congress in 1774 was a grand 
 Colonial Council to act in conjunction with the British 
 Parliament to regulate American affairs. Galloway, who 
 fathered this scheme, admitted in his subsequent writings 
 that it was defeated through the efforts of Samuel Adams. 
 
 * Mass. Hist. Society's Collections, 4th Series, IV. 439. 
 + John Adams's Works, III. 178. July, 1778. 
 X Curwen's Journal, March, 1782. 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 91 
 
 . The subject had been seriously considered by the royal 
 governors, Bernard and Hutchinson. Says the latter, writ- 
 ing to his friend in England, October, 1770 : — 
 
 " I can say little or nothing in answer to the queries you propose, 
 more than what has often passed in conversation between us. You 
 know we have both wished for a second branch of the Legislature 
 more analogous to the House of Lords than that in the royal gov- 
 ernment, or that in the Massachusetts, but have found invincible 
 difficulties attending every projection." 
 
 Hutchinson and Bernard undoubtedly at one time hoped 
 to attain rank in an American peerage which might result 
 from the disputes on taxation and representation. Even 
 before the Stamp Act, Bernard, as shown by his letters to 
 Lord Halifax, had formed plans for a new colonial arrange- 
 ment, a modification of the Massachusetts charter, and the 
 establishment of an order of nobility for life.* A few years 
 later he succeeded in getting himself knighted, but Hutchin- 
 son had less influence at court. 
 
 At the commencement of the troubles between the parent 
 state and the Colonies, James Otis urged an American rep- 
 resentation in the British Parliament, both in his speeches 
 in the Assembly and in his political essays. Whether he 
 had matured any specific plan is not known. If by a colo- 
 nial representation the supreme power of Parliament over 
 the Colonies was to have been established, it would at the 
 same time have annihilated their Provincial Assemblies, and 
 rendered their charters absolutely nugatory. He was long 
 in favor of " a general union of all parts of the British em- 
 pire, under an equal and uniform direction and system of 
 laws." Had the Colonies sent representatives to the House 
 of Commons, and suoceeded in hitting upon an equitable 
 proportion in point of numbers, it would yet not have been 
 a fair representation. The British Legislature consisted 
 of King, Lords, and Commons, but the Colonies would have 
 
 * Bancroft, V. 201-225. 
 
92 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 had a voice only in one branch, unless to perfect the plan it 
 was really intended to create an American nobility, and 
 American peers were to compose a part of the House of 
 Lords on a plan of union similar to that with Scotland. In 
 whatever light the project is viewed, it was visionary, and 
 was so considered by those who sided with Samuel Adams 
 in his opposition to the measure. 
 
 Hutchinson says that Otis " always admitted the Parlia- 
 ment of Great Britain to be the supreme Legislature of the 
 whole empire, and every act made to respect all parts of 
 the empire to be wholly obligatory upon every part, whether 
 represented or not ; but he insisted that every part had a 
 claim to representation, and that it was an unconstitutional 
 exercise of the power of Parliament to tax any part, and 
 nevertheless to deny it a share in the representation." 
 
 Otis also said in the Assembly, " that he had fully informed 
 himself of the relation between Great Britain and her Colo- 
 nies, and was convinced that the power of Parliament over 
 her Colonies was absolute, with this qualification, that they 
 ought not to tax them until they allowed them to send 
 representatives ; and that if the Colonies had representatives, 
 the power of Parliament would be as perfect over America 
 as England. He then argued for an American representa- 
 tion." * 
 
 In the " Rights of the Colonists," he says : — 
 
 " Besides the equity of a representation in Parliament, a thousand 
 advantages would result from it. It would be the most effectual 
 
 * Gordon's Hist., I. 229. He says a member remarked, " that, as they were 
 determined to have representatives, he begged leave to recommend a merchant 
 who would undertake to carry their representatives to England for half what 
 they would sell for when they got there." This seems to show that Gordon 
 had access to Bernard's letters in London, for the anecdote is originally told by 
 the Governor in a letter to the Ministry, January 28, 1768. The argument 
 of Otis, as here reported, was, that a representation in Parliament had become 
 a measure necessary to Great Britain and the Colonies for healing the existing 
 difficulties. In this same letter Bernard advises to take the Colonists at their 
 word, and let them have a representation. 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 93 
 
 means of giving those of both countries a thorough knowledge of 
 each other's interest, as well as that of the whole, which are insep- 
 arable." 
 
 Samuel Adams held exactly the opposite doctrine. He 
 considered a fair representation in Parliament to be utterly 
 impossible, and that the purpose contemplated by the scheme N 
 could never be realized. He opposed it in the House, in; 
 his publio essays and state papers, and to his correspondents, 
 in England. In the Massachusetts Resolves he declares rep- 
 resentation to be impracticable. In his letter to " G. W." 
 he briefly upsets the theory, and completely exposes its fal- 
 lacy in a letter written about the same time to Deberdt, 
 extracts from which are given at the close of this chapter. 
 To Deberdt, in 1768, he writes that " there is nothing which 
 the Colonies would more dread" than a representation in 
 Parliament.* In fact he never ceased to believe the plan 
 preposterous and chimerical; and even in the Congress 
 preceding the Declaration of Independence he combated the 
 same schemes. There is matter for curious speculation in 
 the question how long the Colonists would have remained 
 contented under the proposed new system. All the Prov- 
 inces might not have assented to the change, in which case 
 those who did would sooner or later have incurred the en- 
 mity of the others. But if it had been universally adopted, 
 the several delegations would eventually have come into 
 conflict as to the application of any general laws for the 
 regulation of the whole. Pour elected by each would have 
 given an aggregate of fifty-two members, who could not 
 long have acted in harmony as representatives of such 
 widely separated regions, differing so essentially in produc- 
 tions, climate, and inhabitants. Each Province would have 
 sent its best known and ablest men. Massachusetts would 
 probably have been represented in part from among the 
 delegates to the late New York Congress, including Otis ; 
 
 * See also his letters in the True Sentiments of America, January and 
 February, 1768, quoted hereafter in Chap. VII. 
 
94 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 and it is not unlikely that Gridley, Oliver, and Hutchinson 
 would have been candidates. Regarded in the light of a 
 concession to the Provinces, the effect might have been to 
 delay awhile the revenue disputes with the mother country ; 
 but when shown to be impracticable and unequal, as it 
 must soon have proved itself, the struggle and separation 
 would as certainly have resulted. 
 
 Another vital point of difference between Otis and 
 Adams was on the nature and extent of the authority of 
 Parliament over the Colonies. Their views on the subject 
 were diametrically opposed. Otis maintained, " as it was 
 agreed on all hands the Crown alone could not impose taxes 
 and impositions on trade and other property, we should be 
 justifiable in refusing to pay them, but must and ought to 
 yield obedience to an act of Parliament, though erroneous, 
 till repealed.' ' 
 
 " It is the duty of all," said he, " humbly and silently to acqui- 
 esce in the decisions of the supreme Legislature. Nine hundred 
 and ninety-nine in a thousand of the Colonists will never once en- 
 tertain a thought but of submission to our sovereign, and to the au- 
 thority of Parliament, in all possible contingencies." "They un- 
 doubtedly have the right to levy internal taxes on the Colonies." 
 " I detest and abhor the thought of making a question of jurisdic- 
 tion." 
 
 " The power of Parliament is uncontrollable but by themselves, 
 and we must obey. They only can repeal their own acts. There 
 would be an end of all government if one or a number of subjects 
 or subordinate provinces should take upon them so far to judge of 
 the justice of an act of Parliament as to refuse obedience to it. If 
 there was nothing else to restrain such a step, prudence ought to do 
 it ; for forcibly resisting the Parliament and the King's laws is high 
 treason. Therefore let the Parliament lay what burdens they 
 please on us, we must, it is our duty to, submit, and patiently bear 
 them till they relieve us." # 
 
 " It is certain that the Parliament of Great Britain hath a just, 
 
 * "Writings of Otis in 1765. " Brief Remarks." "Vindication of the British 
 Colonies," &c. See also Bancroft. V. 271 -273 : and VI. 118. 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 95 
 
 clear, equitable, and constitutional power and authority to impose 
 taxes on the Colonies, internal and external, on lands as well as on 
 trade." 
 
 These are only some of the instances where James Otis 
 asserts the right of Parliament to tax. the Colonies. The 
 firmest advocates of the arbitrary measures of the adminis- 
 tration, its warmest apologists, went no further than Otis 
 in supporting that right. The Governor himself in his 
 speech of September 25th was not more explicit : — 
 
 " I trust," he says, " that the supremacy of that Parliament over 
 all the members of their wide and diffused empire never was, and 
 never will be, denied within these walls." " The right of the Par- 
 liament of Great Britain to make laws for the American Colonies, 
 however it has been controverted in America, remains indisputable 
 at Westminster. If it is yet to be made a question, who shall de- 
 cide it but the Parliament ? " 
 
 Such were precisely the views of Otis, which he long ad- 
 hered to. He appears to have limited himself to advocating 
 the repeal of a grievous and unconstitutional act ; when this 
 could not be effected, no steps could, in his opinion, be 
 taken beyond it without transgressing the law. 
 
 The opinion of Adams on the nature and extent of Parlia- 
 mentary authority was unvarying throughout his career. 
 From his college thesis in 1743, when he affirmed that " it 
 is lawful to resist the supreme magistrate if the Common- 
 wealth cannot be otherwise preserved,' ' to the close of the 
 arguments with the royal Governors, through a period of 
 more than thirty years, his sentiments were uniform and de- 
 cided. 
 
 He maintained that an unconstitutional act was ipso facto 
 null and void ; * that the Constitution was the paramount 
 law of the land, to which every department of the govern- 
 ment was separately and collectively subject ; and that when 
 
 *.See Samuel Adams as " Candidus " in the Boston Gazette, January, 
 1772, quoted in Chap. XXI. 
 
96 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 [Dec. 
 
 a law was enacted obviously repugnant to its true spirit and 
 principles, and the constitutional mode of redress by peti- 
 tion and remonstrance failed to obtain its repeal, obedience 
 could not be lawfully enforced, and to evade or resist it 
 was neither morally nor politically wrong. Parliament, he 
 held, had no authority whatever over the internal concerns 
 of the Colonies, but this power resided exclusively in the 
 the respective Provincial Assemblies. 
 
 One of his letters to a correspondent in London, written 
 December 20th, 1765, expresses his views as to Parliamentary 
 authority. The name of the recipient is unknown, but that 
 this and others of the numerous letters of Adams were now 
 instrumental with persons in authority in England in pro- 
 curing the repeal of the Stamp Act, there is no reason to 
 doubt. 
 
 " But there is another consideration which renders this tax still 
 more obnoxious to the Colonies, and that is, it totally annihilates 
 their essential rights as British subjects. The first settlers of New 
 England had been persecuted in England at a time when the nation 
 was intoxicated with bigotry and the ideas of ecclesiastical tyranny. 
 This induced them to cross an untried ocean, and take shelter in a 
 dreary wilderness. Immediately after their arrival, they recognized 
 their allegiance to the English Bang, and he declared them entitled 
 to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of natural-born subjects. 
 The other Colonies are by charter or other royal institutions thus 
 acknowledged. Indeed, as they were good subjects in England, and 
 were not prohibited to leave the kingdom, their removal could not 
 disenfranchise them, although they were told by a haughty Ba- 
 shaw,* — you know whom I mean, — they must not expect their 
 liberties would follow them to the ends of the earth. They un- 
 doubtedly brought with them the rights and laws of the mother 
 state. The British Constitution makes no distinction between good 
 subjects with regard to liberty. To talk of British subjects who are 
 free, and of other British subjects who are not free, is absurd. They 
 
 * Gov. Dudley in 1702. See also letter to Deberdt, January 6th, 1768, 
 quoted in Chap. VII. 
 
1765.] . LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 97 
 
 are all alike free. The British Constitution is founded in the princi- 
 ples of nature and reason. It admits of no more power over the 
 subject than is necessary for the support of government, which was 
 originally designed for the preservation of the inalienable rights of 
 nature. It engages to all men the full enjoyment of their rights 
 who take refuge in her bosom. Foreigners who have resided a cer 
 tain time, and have behaved well, and have taken the oath of alle- 
 giance, by act of Parliament are declared to be as free as natural- 
 born subjects (in which act, it is to be observed, the Colonies are 
 considered such). And even conquered people, after swearing alle- 
 giance, are entitled to the same honor and freedom." 
 
 The subject is so often treated in lengthy state papers by 
 Samuel Adams, that extended quotations here would be need- 
 less to explain his views. The Boston Instructions in May, 
 1764, may be taken as a text for his whole subsequent ca- 
 reer. Otis and Adams, however, were generally on friendly 
 terms, despite these differences of opinion. Their relation- 
 ship was too strong to be affected by occasional collisions of 
 sentiment. Otis, in most cases, acted with the Whig party, 
 and rendered eminent service to the cause, though his orig- 
 inal principles were not those which gave independence to 
 the Colonies. He seems to have changed his opinions to 
 some extent in the latter part of 1765, when (in December) 
 he is quoted by Bancroft as saying of the Stamp Act, " if 
 they do not repeal it, we will repeal it ourselves," and when 
 he led and shared the most excited opposition.* For several 
 years afterwards, he was placed nominally at the head of 
 committees, and none more than he loathed and denounced 
 the corrupt crown officers ; but his opinions from this time 
 became more and more variable, and few if any state papers 
 can be thenceforth claimed for him.f 
 
 The impulse given by Samuel Adams to the cause of 
 liberty, and his influence in the Legislature, is apparent 
 
 * Bradford says Otis was the leading member of the House from 1763 to; 
 1766. 
 
 t Bancroft, VI. 121. 
 vol. i. 7 
 
98 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. p e c. 
 
 from the time he became a member. The elder Samuel 
 Dexter, who was generally with him on important commit- 
 tees, asserted in after years, from his own personal knowledge, 
 that from Samuel Adams's entrance into the House, in 1765, 
 he was the soul of that body, and its guide and director 
 through the storms of the succeeding nine years, until the 
 dissolution of the royal authority in Massachusetts. From 
 that hour, he rose naturally, at once, and by general assent, 
 to the position belonging by right to his vigorous mind and 
 firmness of character. No person can read the state papers 
 of the Assembly, through the ensuing nine years up to that 
 of the first Congress, without recognizing in many of them 
 his pervading genius and the productions of his practised 
 pen. He became immediately the leader of the Legislature, 
 the beacon which illumined its counsels in its darkest periods. 
 He originated the most important measures, and bent his en- 
 ergies and invincible will to their accomplishment. 
 
 Governor Bernard ruefully pointed to the surprising 
 change in the legislative proceedings in the October session 
 of this year. "Your answer to my speech, ,, he says to 
 the House, " is conceived in terms so different from what 
 you have been used to address me with, that I know not 
 how to account for it, but from the disordered state of the 
 Province, which affects its very counsels.' ' * And in his re- 
 ply a few years later to the petition of the Assembly for his 
 removal from office, he says that " a very good understand- 
 ing and agreement of sentiment continually prevailed be- 
 tween the Governor and the Assembly, until the opposition 
 to the Stamp Act, which began in 1765." 
 
 Hutchinson, who names Samuel Adams as the author of 
 the Massachusetts Resolves says : — 
 
 " They seem to be designed as a sort of Magna Charta, or rather 
 a declaration of the fundamentals of the Constitution." " There is 
 no acknowledgment of the authority of Parliament in any case 
 whatever." " These resolves were passed when three fourths of the 
 
 * Journals of the House, Nov. 8, 1765. 
 
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 99 
 
 members of the House were the same persons who had been mem- 
 bers the last year. The House then declared it to be their duty to 
 yield obedience, even to a tax act, until it should be repealed. In- 
 consistencies in the votes and proceedings of such bodies of men are 
 common. The reason is obvious. The body is governed by a few 
 of its members, sometimes by a single member." " They are agree- 
 able to his* [Samuel Adams's] professed principles, which he owned 
 without reserve in private discourse to be independency ; and from 
 time to time he made advances towards it in public as far as would 
 serve the great purpose of attaining to it. To his influence may be 
 attributed the great advance made in this session." * 
 
 This passage was written by the mortal enemy of Samuel 
 Adams, who, in the hearty dislike he entertained for him, 
 honestly believed that these facts were recorded to his dis- 
 grace. Yet at this day, we feel that he could have no 
 nobler monument or more honorable distinction. 
 
 During the long interval of inactivity caused by the cessa- 
 tion of business, Mr. Adams employed his pen in the cause 
 he loved to defend. Among his papers are found letters, 
 some of them partially obliterated by time or carelessness so 
 as to be nearly illegible. The few which have been restored 
 prove to be directed to persons in England on the subject of 
 the public grievances. One, over his own signature, dated 
 November 13th, 1765, is addressed to " G. W., London," of 
 whose " good will to mankind, and particular regard to New 
 England,' ' the writer says he had long been convinced, and 
 continues : — 
 
 " The free access which I am informed you have to some eminent 
 personages may put it in your power to do us offices of singular 
 kindness. New England has had the misfortune of having many 
 enemies, but He that planted the vine seems hitherto to have had 
 a watchful eye over it. 
 
 " Nothing could have given greater disgust than the Stamp Act. 
 The people are in consternation from one end of the continent to 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 134, 135. 
 
100 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 the other. Whatever the favorers of the act on your side of the 
 water may apprehend, it certainly is esteemed a grievance in the 
 opinions of many thousands of as loyal and quiet subjects as any 
 under the King's government. 
 
 " I wish some genius of the Earl of Dartmouth's goodness and 
 penetration might find leisure particularly to attend to this matter, 
 in which I think Great Britain herself, as well as her Colonies, is 
 deeply interested. We stand in great need of some such advocate 
 in England, as the Governor of this Province has declared in a 
 message delivered to the House of Representatives last week, that 
 he has no pretence to interpose in this business, and that he does not 
 think that any governor on the continent has presumed to express 
 his sentiments against the act ; which case may be easily supposed, 
 for it is not likely that any gentleman in commission would choose 
 to express his sentiments against what is said to be a favorite point 
 with a minister. It is, however, amusing, that those who are substi- 
 tuted by his Majesty to be the patrons of his subjects in the several 
 Colonies should think themselves to be under this restraint. The 
 Ministry and the Parliament no doubt had the good of the Colonies 
 as well as the nation in view. With respect to the Colonies, they 
 are at so great a distance, and having none in England to represent 
 them, it cannot be wondered at if this interest should be sometimes 
 mistaken. The opinion of a governor will no doubt be of great 
 weight and candidly received ; if all of them are silent, the applica- 
 tions of the people will be thought to be of little importance. But 
 should these gentlemen, with the design to please their superiors, 
 express their minds in favor of every measure, the people's uneasiness 
 might then be imputed to a discontented or even a factious humor ; 
 and considering the imperfection of human nature, this inclination 
 to flatter a superior is at least a possible supposition. 
 
 " In looking over one of the latest London newspapers, I find the 
 following article, viz: 'The disputes continually arising in the 
 American Colonies, joined to the struggles they make for indepen- 
 dence, it is thought will induce the British Legislature to new model 
 their system of government, and to allow them representatives in 
 the great councils of the nation.' Whether the writer of this piece 
 of intelligence meant only to arouse the nation, I am not able to say. 
 He has endeavored to establish two facts, one of which at least is 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 101 
 
 without any foundation. That there are frequent disputes between 
 adjoining Colonies about their dividing line is true ; but we hope they 
 may be settled as they have always heretofore been, without the ne- 
 cessity of altering their system of government. A very celebrated 
 writer, the author of the Spirit of Laws, has defined political liberty 
 to be ' a tranquillity of mind, arising from the opinion which each 
 man has of his own safety.' Now if a number of Colonies are to 
 have their system of government new modelled at discretion, or even 
 to be threatened with it, because such disputes, which subsist wher- 
 ever society is, take place among them, there can never be among 
 them any opinion of their safety, from which should arise a tran- 
 quillity of mind, and consequently there can - be no liberty accord- 
 ing to the definition of the before-mentioned learned author. This 
 news-writer shoots his bow at a venture. Where did he learn that 
 the Colonies were struggling for independence ? The contrary is 
 most certainly true. You, sir, can be a witness to the loyalty of the 
 Colonies and their affection for the mother country. There is at 
 present no appearance of such a disposition as this writer would 
 insinuate, much less a struggle for independence ; and I dare say there 
 never will be, unless Great Britain shall exert her power to destroy 
 their liberties. This we hope will never be done. He tells us ' that 
 we are to be allowed representatives in the great councils of the 
 nation/ which implies that we have no representative there at pres- 
 ent. This is a main argument against a constitutional right of Par- 
 liament to tax us. It is built upon one of the main pillars of the 
 British Constitution, — the right of representation. If the subject has 
 a constitutional right to be represented in the body that taxes him, 
 it is but altering the expression of the same sentiment to say there 
 can be no constitutional right to tax the subject in a body where he 
 is not represented. When the question is asked, Will any one deny 
 that the Parliament hath a right to tax the Colonies ? it needs only 
 to ask again, Are the Colonies represented in Parliament? The 
 writers against the Colonies, when they have been thus pressed, have 
 been obliged to adopt the word ' virtually ' ; but we must first under- 
 stand what they mean by being virtually represented, before we can 
 give their doctrine a serious consideration.* There is one thing, 
 
 * If the gentleman to whom this letter was addressed had that " access to 
 eminent personages," indicated by Mr. Adams, it would be interesting to 
 
102 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 however, which perhaps may need explanation. The Colonies de- 
 pend upon it. As their argument against being taxed by the Par- 
 liament because they are not represented must be allowed to be 
 good, to be consistent with the British Constitution, yet they are far 
 from desiring a representation for this reason only, — because they 
 judge it impracticable for them to be equally and fully represented in 
 Parliament. Many things might be said to justify such an opinion, 
 which perhaps may occasion my troubling you with another letter ; 
 in the mean time, allow me just to add that the only way to preserve 
 to the Colonists their rights as British subjects, consistent with their 
 acknowledged subordination to the supreme Legislature of Great 
 Britain, as it appears to me, is to continue the same power of gov- 
 ernment which they have hitherto been used to, with the same 
 checks and no other. This is all they desire." 
 
 Another letter, directed to " J. SL, Esq.," in London, writ- 
 ten December 20th, 1765, reviews the occurrences in the 
 Colonies from the first notice of the intended Stamp Act. 
 The person to whom it was addressed has not been ascer^' 
 tained, but he was some gentleman of influence, who had 
 access to those in power. It was intended to prevent any 
 erroneous impressions arising from exaggerated statements 
 of the riotous proceedings in Boston. These disorders were 
 regretted by the respectable class of people ; but the Governor 
 and his friends had charged them indiscriminately upon the 
 
 know whether this and other communications on the same subject were not 
 shown to Pitt. Two months after it was written and when it had been in 
 England three or four weeks, the " Great Commoner *' exposed the absurdity 
 of a virtual representation in Parliament. 
 
 " There is an idea/' said he, " in some, that the Colonies are virtually repre- 
 sented in this House. I would fain know by whom an American is represented 
 here. Is he represented by any knight of the shire in any county in this king- 
 dom 1 ? Would to God that respectable representation was augmented to a 
 greater number. Or will you tell him that he is represented by any represen- 
 tative of a borough, which perhaps no man ever saw ? This is what is called 
 the rotten part of a constitution. It cannot endure a century. If it does not 
 drop, it must be amputated. The idea of a virtual representation of America 
 in this House is the most contemptible idea that ever entered into the heart of a 
 man. It does not deserve a serious refutation." — Debates in Parliament, Jan. 
 14, 1766. 
 

 1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 103 
 
 . liberty party, whom they represented as enemies of law and 
 order. In his speech at the opening of the October session 
 he had implied this, and attempted to throw the odinm 
 upon all classes of the Province. Mr. Adams, in the reply 
 of the House, effectually demolished that argument, and 
 properly vindicated the people and the Legislature. This 
 letter has the same tendency. 
 
 " I do not now attempt," he says, " to justify this proceeding " 
 (alluding to the riots of August 14th) ; "yet I will venture to ex- 
 press my belief that if the whole body of the nation had thought 
 their essential constitutional rights had been invaded by an act 
 of Parliament, which really is the apprehension that the whole body 
 of the American people have of the Stamp Act, the nation, after 
 having taken every legal means, to no purpose, to prevent its opera- 
 tion, would have justified itself in the same conduct. The opposition 
 to the act daily increases, and I am satisfied nothing can ever recon- 
 cile the people to it." 
 
 By the same conveyance, Dennys Deberdt, the newly ap- 
 pointed agent in London for special purposes, was written 
 to on the 21st of December by several members of the 
 House, who employed as usual the pen of Samuel Adams. 
 After expressing confidence in the ability and inclination of 
 Deberdt to serve the Province, and opening the subject of 
 the late oppressive acts, Adams continues : — 
 
 " The Colonies may in consequence of this be put upon contriving 
 some other method, perhaps to their own greater advantage, and not 
 so beneficial to the nation. Be that as it may, it is certain there 
 will be an end to remittances that are now made to Spain, Portugal, 
 and other parts of Europe, through which the greatest part of the 
 produce of America and the profits of the trade flow into Great 
 Britain, and set up her manufacturers of all kinds of work. By 
 means of the trade of the Colonists, as hitherto carried on, millions 
 of them have been enabled yearly to consume British manufactures. 
 An attempt to raise revenue out of their trade, as it will in effect 
 advance the price of your manufactures, will reduce the people to 
 the necessity of setting up manufactures of their own. Their ne- 
 cessity will quicken their invention, and they will become by degrees 
 
104 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 less useful, and in time entirely useless to the mother country. But 
 we humbly apprehend it would appear too partial for a nation to 
 confine her views to her own interest in regulating the trade of her 
 Colonies. There is justice due them as subjects. As such, they 
 have an equal right with the inhabitant of Britain of making use of 
 trade and all other honest means of subsisting and enriching them- 
 selves. 
 
 " The Colonists have as great a regard for right, liberty, and jus- 
 tice as any people under heaven. And they generally have knowl- 
 edge enough to discover when their rights are infringed. If this be 
 true, you will own they merit the esteem of every man of sense in 
 England, especially when it may be justly added that they are and 
 ever have been as loyal subjects as any the King has. They hold 
 themselves entitled to all the inherent and unalienable rights of 
 nature as men, and to all the essential rights of Britons as subjects. 
 The common law of England, and the grand leading principles of 
 the British Constitution, have their foundation in the law of nature 
 and of universal reason. Hence, one would think that British 
 rights are in a great measure unalienable, — the rights of the Colo- 
 nists and of all men else. The American subjects are, by charters 
 from the Crown and other royal institutions, declared entitled to all 
 the rights and privileges of natural-born subjects within the realm, 
 and with good reason, for as emigrating subjects they brought the 
 rights and laws of the mother state with them. Had they been con- 
 quered, we presume that by the British Constitution, after taking the 
 oath of allegiance, they should be acknowledged as free subjects, — 
 much more when they have been neither rebels nor enemies, but 
 have greatly merited of their mother country by subduing and set- 
 tling a large continent, to the amazing increase of national power 
 and wealth. 
 
 " The right of representation, and the argument against this tax 
 founded upon it, is so constitutional that the writers in favor of it 
 have been put to great shifts to evade it. We have been told that 
 we are virtually represented, but we must desire an explanation of 
 this vague term, before we can give it a serious consideration.* 
 
 * Compare the letter to " G. W.," Nov. 13, 1765, ante, pp. 99-102. 
 
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 105 
 
 " When we plead the right of representation, we only mean to 
 have our not being represented upon our own free election consid- 
 ered as a reason why we should not be taxed by the Parliament ; 
 and we apprehend that as we are entitled to all the rights of British 
 subjects, it is a reason that cannot be withstood without violence to 
 the Constitution. We are far however from desiring any representa- 
 tion there, because we think the Colonies cannot be fully and equally 
 represented ; and if not equally, then in effect not at all. A repre- 
 sentative should be, and continue to be, well acquainted with the in- 
 ternal circumstances of the people whom he represents. It is often 
 necessary that the circumstances of individual towns should be 
 brought into comparison with those of the whole ; so it is particu- 
 larly when taxes are in consideration. The proportionate part of 
 each to the whole can be found only by an exact knowledge of the 
 internal circumstances of each. Now the Colonies are at so great a 
 distance from the place where the Parliament meets, from which 
 they are separated by a wide ocean, and their circumstances are so 
 often and continually varying, as is the case in countries not fully 
 settled, that it would not be possible for men, though ever so well 
 acquainted with them at the beginning of a Parliament to continue 
 to have an adequate knowledge of them during the existence of that 
 Parliament. 
 
 " The several subordinate powers of legislation in America seem 
 very properly to have been constituted upon their (the Colonists) be- 
 ing considered as free subjects of England, and the impossibility of 
 their being represented in Parliament, for which reason these powers 
 ought to be held sacred. The American powers of government are 
 rather to be considered as matters of justice than favor, — without 
 them, they cannot enjoy that freedom which, having never forfeited, 
 no power on earth has any right to deprive them of." * 
 
 * This letter was not written by direction of the Assembly, but is signed 
 by several gentlemen as individuals. The order of the names is, Otis, Crush- 
 ing, Gray, Adams, and Sheafe. That Otis was not its author is beyond ques- 
 tion from the unqualified opposition to a representation in Parliament which it 
 expresses. His name was probably placed first from the fact that at the close 
 of 1765 he was the most conspicuous member of the Legislature. That it 
 was the production of Samuel Adams is evidenced by the fact that the original 
 draft has been found in his handwriting, while a comparison of whole sen- 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Change in the British Ministry. — Effect of the Non-importation Agreements. 
 — Petitions of the English Tradesmen and Manufacturers for the Repeal of 
 the Stamp Act. — Exciting Debates in Parliament. — Pitt and Burke. — 
 Repeal of the Stamp A ct. — Rejoicings in London. — QfiBfl&fiMI nf ^f i li rq 
 in Massarh " gQf +° — The Legislature meet in January, 1766. — Bold Lan- 
 guage of the House. — Controversy with the Governor on the Opening of 
 the Courts. — Arrival in Boston of the News from London. — Rejoicing s 
 a t the Repeal of the Stamp Act. — A dams di ssatisfie d with the Term s. — 
 T he Declaratory Ac t. — Adams orings John Hancock forward into Public 
 Life. — Election Controversy conducted by Adams in the Assembly. — Dis- 
 putes as to compensating the Sufferers by the late Riots. 
 
 In September, while the country was yet agitated with the 
 measures of the administration, the news had arrived in 
 Boston of a change in the Ministry ; Grenville having been 
 succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham, a young states- 
 man of no great natural abilities, but liberal and honorable 
 in his views. The elevation to power of the " Rockingham 
 Whigs " gave a gleam of hope to the oppressed Americans. 
 Although a portion of the new administration had been 
 among the original supporters of the Stamp Act, Conway, a 
 warm friend of the Colonies, was one of the Cabinet ; and 
 Edmund Burke, the most accomplished intellect in the na- 
 tion, and a giant supporter of the American cause, became 
 private secretary to the Premier. It was not at first contem- 
 plated to alter or repeal the Stamp Act. The King was 
 determined on the prosecution of his policy of taxation, and 
 
 tences, as well as the general style of the paper, with his private letters written 
 a short time before, will show the same hand in each. Adams undoubtedly 
 wrote the letter, and, to give it additional weight, obtained the signatures of 
 the others. It is printed, with slight variations, in the " Seventy-six Society's " 
 Papers relating to Public Events in Massachusetts preceding the Revolution. 
 Philadelphia, 1856. 
 
Jan., 1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 10T 
 
 a change of measures seemed unlikely. The subject indeed 
 was not then considered of pressing importance ; and in the 
 House of Peers, when the Stamp Act became a law, it was 
 not even adverted to by a single lord. A few years served 
 to reveal the whirlwind they had sown. Now, under the 
 Rockingham Ministry, though every ship from America 
 brought tidings of popular tumults, British statesmen had 
 not yet aroused to the importance of the subject. Parlia- 
 ment met on the 17th of December, but immediately ad- 
 journed until after the Christmas holidays. Applications 
 not only from the Colonial agents, but from the trades' inter- 
 ests, began to pour in for a repeal of the act. These, backed 
 by the efforts of innumerable influential persons in England, 
 grew so powerful, that the prospect became daily more en- 
 couraging. Solemn resolutions had been adopted among 
 the Colonists to import no more British manufactured goods 
 till the act was repealed; and government was in conse- 
 quence besieged with petitions from manufacturers. Gren- 
 ville, now out of power, declared that " had he continued 
 in office, he would have forfeited a thousand lives, if the act 
 had been found impracticable." A special hindrance to the 
 repeal was the denial by the Colonial Legislatures of a right 
 to impose taxes. It would therefore be conceding too much ; 
 it would be admitting, in fact, that the Parliament had no 
 right to legislate for the Colonies ; it would be a " surrender 
 of sovereignty.' ' But the sympathy of the intelligent classes 
 in England was largely with the Americans, whose struggle 
 for liberty could not be regarded merely with mercenary 
 views. 
 
 The debate in Parliament early in the new year was one 
 of the most memorable in the annals of England. Pitt and 
 Burke, the Titans of British eloquence, the one fast disap- 
 pearing from the stage, and the other just entering upon his 
 splendid career, were present and took part. Pitt entered 
 during the debate, having just arrived in town. The Ameri- 
 cans in the gallery viewed him as their " guardian angel 
 
108 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 and saviour," and waited for his words with eager impatience. 
 The man who had wielded with such mighty effect the power 
 of England in the late war, arose. He regretted, he said, 
 that he had not been able to attend in his place, and oppose 
 the law on its passage. 
 
 " It is now an act that has passed. I would speak with decency 
 of every act of this House ; but I must beg the indulgence of this 
 House to speak of it with freedom. Assuredly a more important 
 subject never engaged your attention, that subject only excepted, 
 when, nearly a century ago, it was the question whether you your- 
 selves were bond or free. 
 
 " Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative power. The 
 taxes are a voluntary gift and grant of the commons alone ; when, 
 therefore, in this House, we give and grant, we give and grant what 
 is our own. But in an American tax, what can we do ? We, your 
 Majesty's commons of Great Britain, give and grant to your Majesty 
 — what ? Our own property ? No. We give and grant to your 
 Majesty the property of your commons in America. It is an ab- 
 surdity in terms." 
 
 Conway concurred in the views of the great statesman. 
 Then Grenville, true to his indomitable spirit, censured the 
 Ministry for not giving earlier notices of the disturbances in 
 America, which he said had grown to tumults and riots, and 
 bordered now upon rebellion. " Protection and obedience 
 are reciprocal. Great Britain protects America. America 
 is bound to yield obedience. If not, tell me when these 
 Americans were emancipated." 
 
 " I rejoice," replied Pitt, " that America has resisted. Three 
 millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as volunta- 
 rily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make 
 slaves of the rest. 
 
 "The gentleman asks, When were the Colonies emancipated? 
 But I desire to know when they were made slaves ? A great deal 
 has been said without doors, and more than what is discreet, of the 
 power, of the strength of America. In a good cause, on a sound 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 109 
 
 bottom, the force of this country can crush America to atoms. But 
 on the ground of this tax, when it is wished to prosecute an evident 
 injustice, I am one who will lift my hands and my voice against it. 
 In such a cause, your success would be deplorable and victory haz- 
 ardous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man. She 
 would embrace the pillars of the state and pull down the Constitution 
 along with her." 
 
 He concluded with giving his advice that the Stamp Act 
 should be repealed absolutely, totally, and immediately ; 
 that this reason for its repeal be assigned, that it was founded 
 on an erroneous principle. 
 
 " At the same time," said he, " let the sovereign authority of this 
 country over the Colonies be asserted in as strong terms as can be 
 devised, and be made to extend to every point of legislation what- 
 soever ; that we may bind their trade, confine their manufactures, 
 and exercise every power, except that of taking their money out of 
 their pockets without their consent." 
 
 Petitions from London, Birmingham, Coventry, Bristol, 
 Liverpool, Manchester, and other towns, were presented, and 
 the recent correspondence with America was laid on the 
 table. Dr. Franklin appeared soon after before the House 
 in committee of the whole, and was examined touching the 
 state of America, and the probable effect upon the inhabi- 
 tants of the imposition of stamp duties. His novel and 
 pertinent replies, and their evident truthfulness, convinced 
 the House, that " the American people would never submit 
 to the act, unless compelled by force of arms." The ques- 
 tion remained in suspense until the 22d of February, when 
 after a debate, in which Pitt, Conway, Burke, and Grenville 
 took part, in the presence of five hundred members, at half- 
 past two o'clock in the morning, Con way's motion to bring 
 in a bill to repeal the Stamp Act prevailed. On the 18th of 
 March, the King sanctioned the bill, and all London was in 
 a blaze of joy. The next night houses were illuminated, the 
 ships displayed their colors, and bells merrily pealed forth in 
 response to the general jubilee. 
 
 <tf£ 
 
 /;! 
 
 P^-^t^ 
 
 ^i^ 
 
110 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 Meantime, the hand of oppression lay heavily upon Massa- 
 chusetts. The principal merchants of Boston and other 
 towns, to the number of two hundred, agreed to import no 
 more goods from England, and countermanded their orders 
 for shipments. No compulsion was used at this time to 
 enforce the observance of these agreements. The courts 
 were still closed ; no business was done in the custom- 
 house ; no wills were proved, no deeds nor bonds executed. 
 The Assembly had been prorogued, and anxiety and distress 
 prevailed. All that prudence and due moderation could 
 suggest had been done by the populace to manifest their 
 indignation, and it only remained to see whether the strenu- 
 ous efforts of their friends in England would prevail in re- 
 pealing the act. 
 
 The Assembly had been prorogued from November to 
 January 15th. In his opening speech, the Governor recom- 
 mended the ordinary business, and only distantly alluded to 
 the point in controversy. During this session, Mr. Adams's 
 name appears on numerous committees, to draft answers 
 and prepare general reports. Besides being a member of 
 that appointed to reply to the opening address, he was on the 
 committee "to take into consideration his Excellency's 
 speech of the 8th of November at the prorogation of the 
 General Court, and to prepare the draft of an answer there- 
 to." The Assembly, owing to the Governor's sudden pro- 
 rogation, had been allowed no time to reply, during the 
 previous session. Hutchinson says of the House, that 
 " their zeal in the cause had rather increased than abated 
 during the recess." Adopting the words of Adams's Massa- 
 chusetts Resolves, they admit only " a due veneration to the 
 Parliament of Great Britain " ; a term in which Hutchinson 
 could see " no acknowledgment of the authority of Parlia- 
 ment in any case whatever." The Governor had expressed 
 the hope " that an estimate of this people would not be 
 formed from a review of the present times " ; and the House 
 replied, in the language of Samuel Adams : — 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. Ill 
 
 " Of the present times, may it please your Excellency, impartial 
 history will record that the people of this continent, after giving the 
 strongest testimonies of their loyalty to his Majesty, particularly by 
 making their utmost exertions in defending his territories and en- 
 larging his dominion in this part of the world, upon a motion made 
 in this House, gave an equal testimony of a love of liberty and 
 regard to those principles which are a basis of his Majesty's govern- 
 ment, by a glorious stand even against an act of Parliament, because 
 they plainly saw that their essential, unalienable right of represen- 
 tation and of trials by juries, the very foundation of the British 
 Constitution, was infringed and even annihilated by it ; but that 
 they had knowledge and virtue enough to regulate their opposition 
 to it by the law, and steadily to persevere in such steps as the Con- 
 stitution has prescribed to obtain its repeal.* 
 
 "Your Excellency says that these times have been made more diffi- 
 cult than they need have been, which is also the opinion of this House. 
 Those who have made them so have reason to regret the injury 
 they have done to a sincere and honest people. We are glad, how- 
 ever, to find that the difficulty of the times is in a great measure 
 removed, and we trust that the Province will be soon restored to its 
 former tranquillity, — your Excellency is pleased to add "reputa- 
 tion." The custom-houses are now open, and the people are per- 
 mitted to do their own business. The courts of justice must be open, 
 open immediately, and the law, the great rule of right in every 
 county in the Province, executed." f 
 
 Among the other committees upon which the name of 
 Samuel Adams appears during the session are the following : 
 " To consider the grievances the people of this Province 
 labor under " ; "To prepare the draft of an impost bill " ; 
 " To present to the Governor the answer of the House to his 
 speech of November 8th " ; "To propose a bill to prevent 
 frauds in flax " ; " To consider the light-house keeper's re- 
 port " ; " To view the papers and wills above stairs, and 
 report " ; " To take under consideration the extract from the 
 Eight Honorable Mr. Conway (which his Excellency was 
 pleased to communicate to the House), and report.' ' J 
 
 * Compare the Massachusetts Resolves, ante, pp. 75 - 77. 
 
 t Bradford's State Papers, p. 61. J Journal of the House for 1766. 
 
112 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 Early in the session letters were received from Deberdt 
 and Jackson in answer to those written at the close of the 
 previous year, extracts from which have already been given. 
 Deberdt signified his acceptance of the agency of the House 
 to solicit the petitions of the New York Congress, and gave 
 reason to anticipate their favorable reception. Mr. Adams 
 replied for the House : — 
 
 " Your acceptance of the trust imposed upon you by the House, 
 and your early and zealous application to the very important business 
 of it, affords them great satisfaction. Your not having copies of the 
 several petitions authenticated by the speakers was an oversight of 
 the House. It is hoped, however, that their interest will not be 
 prejudiced by this omission, as Mr. Jackson, to whom they were 
 sent, signed by the members of the Congress, was so careful as to 
 deliver them to you, and your appointment as a special agent for 
 these very petitions fully shows that the House had adopted them. 
 
 " The favorable reception which the petitions met with from the 
 Secretary of State and Lord Rockingham, the real affection which 
 Lord Dartmouth has been pleased to express for America, and 
 indeed the whole Ministry, which your letter assures us of, will 
 justify us in entertaining the strongest hopes of the success of our 
 applications ; and the access which you are honored with to persons 
 of great rank and importance confirm the House in the wisdom of 
 the choice they made of you to act for them in so interesting an 
 affair. 
 
 " It is a satisfaction to the House to find by a letter from Mr. 
 Jackson that your appointment is so agreeable to him. He assures 
 the House that he will join his utmost endeavors with you to favor 
 the interest of the Province. 
 
 " The House is very sensible of the kindness of the merchants of 
 London in warmly espousing their cause, and promise themselves 
 great success from the aid which the application and interest of so 
 respectable a body of men must afford to our petitions. The many 
 great and powerful friends to America on your side the water, 
 which the Colonies must be convinced of, will serve to prevent that 
 indifference towards the mother country which the late regulations 
 might have produced, and will tend to the mutual advantage of both 
 countries ; for, as you rightly observe, the interest of both is insep- 
 
1766.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 113 
 
 arable, and nothing is more to be wished than that this affection 
 may be mutual. 
 
 " The House trust that Divine Providence will interpose for them, 
 that your agency, in which this Province is most essentially con- 
 cerned, will be attended with success." 
 
 His original draft of this letter, Mr. Adams marked " re- 
 corded " ; and by the journal of the day before it was 
 reported it appears that Captain Sheafe was directed to' pur- 
 chase two books in which to record the correspondence of 
 the House. These books, however, have disappeared. 
 
 A full list of Mr. Adams's committee services for this 
 session cannot be made out, as the journals are incomplete. 
 The results of those already named, however, are found on 
 many pages. Towards the close of the previous session in 
 October, he had been appointed one of a joint committee 
 with the Council, "to consider and report some proper 
 methods to prevent difficulties, which may arise in the pro- 
 ceedings of courts of justice, and in any other matters after 
 the 1st of November next." The report soon appeared, 
 and recommended that all the judges and court officers 
 " be ordered and directed to proceed in the same manner in 
 the execution of their respective offices as if the Stamp Act 
 had never passed ; and all papers whatever which are sub- 
 ject to be stamped by said act shall, without the stamp, be 
 deemed valid during this emergency " The Council refused 
 to concur, and the House recommitted the report, but do 
 not appear to have proceeded further in the matter, perhaps 
 thinking that the ground was covered by the Massachusetts 
 Resolves, which were reported at that time. 
 
 But on the opening of the session in January, 1766, the 
 subject was immediately revived, and the committee on griev- 
 ances now reported against several arbitrary acts of the Gov- 
 ernor ; and " that the shutting up the courts of justice, par- 
 ticularly the Superior Court, which is not yet open, nor like 
 to be, as we can learn, has a manifest tendency to dissolve the 
 bonds of all civil society, is unjustifiable on the principles of 
 
 VOL. I. 8 
 
114 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.— May, 
 
 law and reason, and dangerous to his Majesty's crown and 
 dignity, and in disherison thereof, and an intolerable griev- 
 ance on the subject, to be forthwith redressed. " * They 
 asked leave to sit again, and after three days, during which 
 there must have been some close discussion among the 
 committee-men and others, they again reported to the same 
 effect, but with the important recommendation that " the 
 judges, and justices, and all other public officers, ought 
 to proceed in the discharge of their several functions as 
 usual." f The first report was evidently not strong enough 
 to suit somebody on the committee. 
 
 This went for concurrence to the Council, who refused 
 their assent, but resolved to recommend the judges to meet 
 and determine whether they would proceed upon the trial 
 of civil actions or not. Later in the session the House again 
 passed their resolution, which the Council once more re- 
 jected, on the ground that the judges had intimated that the 
 Superior Court would open and proceed to business as usual 
 at the ensuing term. These efforts for the renewal of the 
 legal business of the Province were in keeping with those 
 of Samuel Adams in the previous month, when, as chair- 
 man of the town meeting, he had applied for the opening 
 of the courts, and that the town might be heard by their 
 counsel. 
 
 The news, that in the House of Commons Pitt had de- 
 clared himself favorable to the repeal of the Stamp Act, and 
 his vindication of the people of America, prepared the pub- 
 lic mind for a happy result. The welcome intelligence 
 reached Boston on the 16th of May by the brigantine " Harri- 
 son,' ' which " hove to, in the inner harbor." The jubilee 
 in consequence was as intense as the opposition to the act 
 had been. Bells were rung, the ships in the harbor displayed 
 their colors, guns were fired, and, at dark, bonfires were 
 kindled. On the 19th the event was celebrated with notable 
 
 * Journal of the House, Jan. 20, 1766. 
 t Bradford's State Papers, p. 65. 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 115 
 
 enthusiasm. At one in the morning, as the sound of the 
 clock striking ceased, the bell in the Rev. Dr. Byles's 
 church, being nearest to Liberty-Tree, began to ring ; this 
 was answered by the bells of Christ Church at North End, 
 and soon every bell in town gave forth its joyful clangor. 
 Guns were fired, and drums beat, and music was played in 
 the street before two o'clock in the morning and throughout 
 the day, and peals of artillery boomed from Castle William, 
 the North and South Battery, the artillery train in the city, 
 and from the ships in the harbor. Steeples and house- 
 tops were hung with flags, and the whole town went wild 
 with excitement. Fireworks, exceeding anything before 
 known in New England, were exhibited on the Common, 
 and the houses were universally illuminated ; that of John 
 Hancock shone conspicuously. Fireworks were let off from 
 a stage erected in front of the dwelling at his own expense, 
 which answered those of the Sons of Liberty on the Common. 
 " The genteel part of the town " were entertained at his 
 house, and the wealthy, generous-hearted proprietor treated 
 the populace with a pipe of Madeira wine.* Throughout 
 the exhibition, Mr. Otis and others living near the Common 
 kept open house. The celebration appears to have surpassed 
 all others of the kind ever seen in Boston. The people 
 seemed, as Mr. Adams afterwards said, " mad with loyalty," 
 but it would appear from his writings on the subject that he 
 was not carried away by the popular rejoicing. He looked 
 beyond the immediate results, and foresaw the consequences 
 of the mischievous reservation which accompanied the re- 
 peal. He could not join in any expression conveying the idea 
 that this was & favor to his countrymen, who had resolutely 
 claimed a total exemption from taxation, and were now re- 
 joicing over a semblance of relief, while the evil was really 
 unchanged. The effect of the celebration, however, like that 
 in London, was to display to the powers in England the 
 
 * Drake's History of Boston, pp. 721, 722 ; and Boston papers of May, 
 1766. 
 
116 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 determined spirit of American liberty. In one of his con- 
 troversies with the crown writers on the public grievances, 
 Mr. Adams says : — 
 
 " As to the repeal of the Stamp Act, though the people of this 
 Province and America universally regarded this act as an infraction 
 of their constitutional rights, and consequently humbly claimed the 
 repeal as a point of equity, they yet received it with as much grati- 
 tude as though it had been a free gift. They blessed their sovereign ; 
 they revered the wisdom and goodness of the British Parliament ; 
 they felt themselves happy till new acts, equally unconstitutional, 
 were made, and severities imposed upon trade unknown even at the 
 time of the Stamp Act. But it seems we are unpardonable for not 
 being thankful for the removal of one burden, after another is laid 
 upon us, by the same hands, equally hard to bear ! How contempti- 
 ble is such reasoning ! What an affront to common sense ! I never 
 heard of such discourse in Parliament till I saw our court paper. 
 And can these persons be friends to the leading men in government, 
 who represent them as reasoning in such a manner ? " * 
 
 With the repeal of the obnoxious act, was coupled the 
 Declaratory Act, asserting the authority of Parliament " to 
 bind the Colonies and people of America in all cases what 
 soever." The mere fact of relief from the Stamp Act, as we 
 have seen, diffused heartfelt joy ; but as the enthusiasm wore 
 away, the act for " securing the dependency of the Colonies," 
 began to be viewed with distrust and anxiety by the more 
 intelligent. They had contended, not against the pecuniary 
 loss involved in an enforcement of the act, but for the asser- 
 tion of a great principle, the right of exemption from taxa- 
 tion unless they were represented, and that representation 
 must ever be impractible. If the repeal was attended by an 
 avowal of the right to bind the Colonies in all cases whatso- 
 ever, it was but a nominal relief; and a precedent was es- 
 tablished which could operate on future occasions to the 
 prejudice of their liberties. Samuel Adams saw that the 
 
 * Shippen, in the Boston Gazette for January 30, 1769. See also the close 
 of his letter from the House to Dr. Franklin, June, 1771, quoted in Chap. XIX 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 11T 
 
 danger was equally great, did the Province still complain 
 after the repeal, or remain silent. The first course would 
 be construed against them as turbulent, unruly subjects, 
 seeking after independence ; the last might imply acquies- 
 cence in the declaration, and lead to further encroach- 
 ments. 
 
 His views on this subject are found more at length a few 
 years after the time of the Declaratory Act, in one of his 
 political essays: — 
 
 " Let us take a short retrospect of American affairs. The oppo- 
 sition which the Colonies made to the detestable Stamp Act in the 
 year 1765 finally operated its repeal. I am induced to call it a 
 detestable act, not from a warmth of resentment against a measure 
 which, had it taken effect, would have involved this whole continent 
 in perfect absolute slavery, but from the cool dictates of reason. 
 For though it was soon repealed, it yet created such a jealousy be- 
 tween the mother country and the Colonies as it is to be feared 
 will never wholly subside, and, for aught the promoters of it can 
 tell, will finally end in the ruin of the most glorious empire the sun 
 ever shone upon, or at least may accelerate consequences, arising 
 from American independence, which, whenever they happen, will be 
 fatal to Britain herself. As a condition of the repeal, the friends 
 of the American cause, which was the cause of liberty, in the British 
 House of Commons, were obliged to yield to a proposal that an act 
 should be passed expressly declaring the right in the King, Lords, 
 and Commons of Great Britain to make laws which shall be binding 
 on the Colonies in all cases whatever. The Americans, who not 
 long before were viewed by the people of Britain in no better a 
 character than the tawny, aboriginal natives, were not so void of 
 understanding as to overlook the latent meaning of this act. They 
 clearly understood the true intention of the words, in all cases what- 
 ever, and that a right of making revenue laws binding on the Colonies 
 was necessarily included. Thus Great Britain, instead of burying 
 in eternal oblivion a claim so repugnant to the laws of reason and 
 equity, and therefore so obnoxious to all the Colonies, was induced 
 at that critical season, and as I conceive contrary to all the rules of 
 sound policy, as far as she could, to establish it, and while she was, 
 through necessity, about to repeal one law for taxing the Colonies 
 
118 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 without their consent, she at the same time held up to them a claim, 
 and in effect told them that she was resolved to make another, or a 
 thousand more, whenever she should be pleased to exercise the right 
 she had assumed. Such were the counsels which ruled in Britain 
 then, and we all know what they have been since. 
 
 " The Americans, for the sake of restoring harmony, chose to treat 
 this act with silence, at least till necessity should oblige them to re- 
 monstrate the ill effects of it. The repeal of the Stamp Act was 
 received with universal joy; and perhaps future historians may 
 say of the Colonists, as has been said of the people of Britain, upon 
 another occasion, in a former period, that they were 'mad with loy- 
 alty.' Addresses were offered to our most gracious sovereign on 
 the occasion, and letters of thanks were sent to the patriots, who 
 had signalized themselves as instruments in bringing on this happy 
 event. The commerce with Great Britain, which had been stopped, 
 was again revived upon the additional motive of gratitude ; and such 
 steps were taken as might probably lead the mother country, in the 
 height of her glory, to imagine that the Americans looked upon the 
 repeal as a singular and unmerited favor. It must be owned they 
 seemed too unmindful of the right they had on their part claimed, 
 of a total exemption from taxes not raised with their own free con- 
 sent ; and that the repeal was nothing more, upon their own princi- 
 ples, than the removal of a burden which they were under no man- 
 ner of obligation to bear. I mention these things to show that the 
 Colonies were at that time heartily disposed to a reconciliation with 
 the mother country, and that she has not the least reason to complain 
 of them that differences still unhappily subsist between them ; and, 
 if Britain herself would now and then recollect, she might, perhaps, 
 correct some past errors and follies, which might tend to restore that 
 mutual affection which all good men wish for, and she herself, how- 
 ever she may now think of the matter, may one day want. Power 
 is intoxicating ; and those who are possessed of it too often grow 
 vain and insolent. We have daily instances of this in particular 
 persons ; and a haughty nation, inebriated with power, like a drunken 
 man upon a precipice, may fall into inevitable ruin, when the friend- 
 ly hand of a child, if present, might have led him from danger." * 
 
 During the spring of this year, there had been a number 
 
 * "Alfred/' in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 2, 1769. 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 119 
 
 of town meetings relative to the pnblic liberties. At one of 
 these an address was read from the people of Plymouth to 
 Boston, expressing a generous sympathy with the inhabi- 
 tants and their thanks for the loyal and legal endeavors of 
 the Bostonians to secure the blessings of liberty, " and trans- 
 mit them entire and perfect to the latest posterity. " Mr. 
 Adams was chairman of the committee to draft an answer, 
 which was reported on the 24th of March. It eloquently 
 rehearses the settlement of the country by their forefathers, 
 recounts the cost, pains, and peril of the adventure, and the 
 increase of dominion, strength, and riches, which had thus 
 accrued to Great Britain. They express their " honest in- 
 dignation to think there should have been any among her 
 sons so ungrateful, as well as unjust and cruel, as to seek 
 their ruin.' , 
 
 " Instances of this too frequently occur in the past history of our 
 country. The names of Randolph, of Andros, and others, are 
 handed down to us with infamy ; and the times in which we live — 
 even these very times — may furnish some future historian with a 
 catalogue of those who look upon our rising greatness with an envi- 
 ous eye, and, while we and our sister Colonies have been exerting 
 our growing strength in the most substantial services to the mother 
 country, by art and intrigue have wickedly attempted to deceive her 
 into measures to enslave us." * 
 
 At the annual election on the 6th of May, Samuel Adams, 
 Thomas Cushing, James Otis, and John Hancock were 
 chosen Representatives for the town. This was the opening 
 of the political career of the afterwards famous John Han- 
 cock. He had failed of an election the previous year, hav- 
 ing received but forty votes. In the mean time his wealth 
 and ambition had attracted the notice of Adams, who saw 
 that the enlisting of so potent an auxiliary must result in 
 signal benefit to the cause. He therefore nominated him in 
 opposition to John Rowe, and secured his election. Han- 
 cock was at this time twenty-nine years of age, fifteen years 
 
 * Boston Town Records. 
 
120 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Mar, 
 
 the junior of Samuel Adams, with whom his name is in- 
 dissolubly connected by Gage's proscription. He was bred 
 a merchant in the counting-room of his uncle, Thomas 
 Hancock, where he acquired a knowledge of mercantile 
 life. At the death of his uncle, who made him his heir, 
 Mr. Hancock became possessed of a handsome fortune in 
 shipping and real estate, making him uncommonly rich for 
 that period. His profuse liberality, fine person, and affable 
 manners gave him great popularity. As the struggle with 
 the mother country advanced, Hancock became conspicuous 
 among his countrymen, and eventually reached positions of 
 trust and honor, whereby his name will descend to posterity 
 as one of the illustrious galaxy of Revolutionary patriots. 
 
 The Board of Councillors, as well as the Speaker of the 
 House under the royal charter, were elected by a convention 
 of the Legislature, and subject to the approval of the Gov- 
 ernor. On the meeting of the General Court, May 28th, 
 the House elected James Otis Speaker, and Samuel Adams 
 Clerk ; this officer always being chosen from among their 
 own body. The Clerk took part in the debates of the House, 
 had a vote like the Speaker, and was in no way distinguished 
 from the other members, except in the matter of salary and 
 his official duties. The sums voted at different times in the 
 next eight years, as shown by the records, prove that the sal- 
 ary of Mr. Adams was not above one hundred pounds a year. 
 
 The Governor, who was elated at having been praised in 
 the House of Lords for his opinions, and had given out that 
 he " meant to play out his part as Governor," refused Mr. 
 Otis as Speaker, though no one doubted his loyalty. The 
 House however acquiesced, though the whole Colony were 
 filled with an undefined dread by the act, and Thomas Cush- 
 ing was elected in his place. On the same afternoon, the 
 House revised the list of Councillors, and five, consisting of 
 Hutchinson, the Olivers, Trowbridge, and Lynde, all crown 
 officers, were not re-elected, on the ground, as Samuel Adams 
 afterwards wrote to the agent in England, that " upon the 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 121 
 
 principle of the best writers, a union of the several powers 
 of government in one person is dangerous to liberty." This 
 was consistency in him, for as early as in Shirley's adminis- 
 tration he had opposed the dangerous union of too much 
 civil and military power in one man. The exclusion of these 
 five, among whom was a Judge of the Superior Court, 
 was resented by Bernard, who, from the whole number of 
 twenty-eight elected, rejected six as an act of retaliation. 
 The House submitted without a murmur ; but the Governor 
 on the following day, without reason or justice, sought to 
 constrain the election of four of the rejected crown officers, 
 and in his message accused the House of having been guided 
 in their votes "by private interests and resentments and 
 popular discontent.' ' 
 
 "It were to be wished," he continued, "that a veil could be 
 drawn over the late disgraceful scenes. But that cannot be done 
 until a better understanding shall prevail. The recent election of 
 Councillors is an attack on government in form, depriving it of its 
 best and most able servants, whose only crime is their fidelity to the 
 Crown, and is an ill-judged and ill-timed oppugnation of the king's 
 authority." 
 
 The answer, which was drafted by Samuel Adams, though 
 Hutchinson states that James Otis " was supposed to have 
 had a principal share in its composition," repelled the charge 
 of acting from private interests and resentments, and de- 
 clared that they had " given their suffrages according to 
 the dictates of their consciences, and the best light of their 
 understandings " ; that it had " ever been their pride to cul- 
 tivate harmony and union upon the principles of liberty and 
 virtue " ; and that by dropping some of the old Board, they 
 had " released the judges from the cares and perplexities of 
 politics, and given them an opportunity to make still further 
 advances in the knowledge of the law." * " Surely," con- 
 
 * The exclusion of crown officers from a seat in the Legislature had long 
 been a favorite idea with Mr. Adams. In his Boston Instructions of 1764, 
 after recommending to the newly elected members " the cultivation of har- 
 
 7 
 
122 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 tinues the writer, " this is not to deprive the government of 
 its best and ablest servants, nor could it be called oppugna- 
 tion of anything, but a dangerous union of legislative and 
 executive power in the same persons." 
 
 The House remained firm, and refused to vote for Coun- 
 cillors of the Governor's choice ; the vacancies in the Board 
 therefore remained unfilled ; and thenceforward the Council, 
 which with Hutchinson at its head had been the conservative 
 branch, acted under the lead of his successor, James Bow- 
 doin, who was zealous in the popular cause. 
 
 The spirit of freedom was abroad, and to accommodate its 
 demands a gallery was opened in the House for the public 
 to attend the debates. No reports were made of speeches, 
 — the journals affording only the outlines of proceedings, 
 and at times giving the votes of the members upon im- 
 portant questions. At this time, debates were generally 
 confined to the adoption of the reports of committees ap- 
 pointed to express the sentiments of the House on the meas- 
 ures and opinions advanced by the Governor ; and as such 
 reports, either as answers or resolves, were mostly from the 
 pen of Mr. Adams, it must frequently have devolved upon 
 him to support or explain the views taken by the committees. 
 Of the character of these debates, the State papers preserved 
 in the journals give the only indication. 
 
 The remainder of this session was occupied in discussing 
 the requisition of the Governor for the indemnification of the 
 sufferers by the Stamp Act riots in the previous year, and 
 the right of the crown officers to a seat in the King's Coun- 
 cil. On the 3d of June, Bernard informed the House that 
 he had received a letter from the Right Honorable Secretary 
 
 mony and union " in the Legislature, " which is ever desirable to good men, 
 when founded in the principles of virtue and public spirit," he proposes the 
 passage of a law, " whereby the seats of such gentlemen as shall accept of 
 posts of profit from the Crown or the Governor, while they are members of the 
 House, shall be vacated." He also recommends that the judges, " having in 
 their minds an indifference to all other affairs, shall devote themselves wholly 
 to the duties of their own department and the further study of the law." 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 123 
 
 Conway, enclosing two acts of Parliament ; one for securing 
 the dependency of the Colonies on the mother country, and 
 the other for the repeal of the Stamp Act. He was ordered, 
 he said, to recommend to the House that full and ample 
 compensation be made to the sufferers. 
 
 He also lamented that the letter had not arrived before 
 the meeting of the General Court, or the rejection of the 
 crown officers would not have taken place ; and he invited 
 them to choose again, among others, Hutchinson, who had 
 been plunged in melancholy at the thought of a retreat after 
 thirty years' uninterrupted concern in public affairs. So 
 anxious indeed was the Lieutenant-Governor to remain, that 
 he had the presumption to still occupy his seat, where he 
 was discovered by a committee of the House. 
 
 It appeared subsequently that the demand for indemnifi- 
 cation made by Bernard was based upon the simple " recom- 
 mendation " of Secretary Conway in his circular letter ; but 
 the Governor, in his anxiety to see Hutchinson made whole, 
 used the word " requisition'' on his own responsibility, add- 
 ing, that " the authority with which it is introduced should 
 preclude all disputation about complying with it." 
 
 At this time, the Province was " hushed into silence " by 
 the repeal of the Stamp Act, which had stopped public clamor, 
 and " composed every wave of popular disorder into a smooth 
 and peaceful calm." " Every newspaper and pamphlet, every 
 public and private letter which arrived in America from 
 England, seemed to breathe a spirit of benevolence, tender- 
 ness, and generosity." " The letters from the Ministry to 
 the Governor recommended the mildest, softest, and most 
 lenient and conciliating measures ; and even the resolve of 
 the House of Commons, and the recommendation from his 
 Majesty concerning an indemnification to the sufferers, was 
 conceived in the most alluring language." Such was the 
 contemporary record of John Adams,* who observed that the 
 indemnification was then the reigning topic of conversation. 
 
 * John Adams's Diary (Works, II. 203). 
 
124 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 The speech by the Governor, especially the part relating to 
 the Council, was received with indignation. Samuel Adams 
 considered it as not less " infamous and irritating than the 
 worst that ever came from a Stuart to the English Parlia- 
 ment," and he called the Province happy in having for its 
 Governor one who left the people no option but between per- 
 petual watchfulness and total ruin.* 
 
 In the reply of the House, both of these subjects are con- 
 sidered by Mr. Adams, who was its author, and reported it 
 two days after the appointment of the committee. 
 
 " Had the most excellent letter from one of his Majesty's princi- 
 pal Secretaries of State, which has been communicated to the House, 
 arrived sooner, it could not have prevented the freedom of our elec- 
 tions, nor can we, on the strictest examination of the transactions of 
 the day of our general election, so far as the House was concerned, 
 discover the least reason for regret. So long as we shall have our 
 charter privileges continued, we must think ourselves inexcusable 
 if we should suffer ourselves to be intimidated in the free exercise 
 of them. This exercise of our rights can never, with any color of 
 reason, be adjudged an abuse of our liberty. 
 
 " We believe your Excellency is the first Governor of this Prov- 
 ince that ever formally called the two Houses of Assembly to ac- 
 count for their suffrages, and accused them of ingratitude and disaf- 
 fection to the Crown, because they had not bestowed them on such 
 persons as, in the opinion of the Governor, were quite necessary 
 to the administration of government. Had your Excellency been 
 pleased in season to have favored us with a list, and positive orders 
 whom to choose, we should on your principles have been without 
 excuse. But even the most abject slaves are not to be blamed 
 for disobeying their master's will and pleasure, when it is wholly 
 unknown to them." 
 
 The report then reviews the recommendation contained in 
 Secretary Conway's letter, and promises ip embrace the first 
 convenient opportunity to consider and act upon it. 
 
 " In the mean time we cannot but observe that it is conceived 
 in much higher and stronger terms in the speech than in the letter. 
 
 * Samuel Adams to Arthur Lee, April 19, 1771, referring to this period. 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 125 
 
 Whether by thus exceeding, your Excellency speaks of your own 
 authority or a higher, is not with us to determine." * 
 
 On the 24th of June, the House appointed a committee, 
 of which Mr. Adams was a member, to prepare a special 
 answer to the Governor's speech in relation to the proposed 
 compensation; in which, after expressing their abhorrence 
 of the riot, they decide to refer the subject to the next ses- 
 sion, " that the members might have an opportunity to take 
 the minds and instructions of their several towns thereon." 
 A few days later, the Governor again pushed the matter, 
 and the House still deferred the subject to the next session. 
 After an address of thanks to the King for his assent to the 
 repeal of the Stamp Act, Mr. Adams of course being of the 
 committee to prepare it, the Assembly was adjourned. 
 
 While these events were happening in Massachusetts, 
 another change was taking place in the Ministry. The 
 Marquis of Rockingham, with several of his Whig col- 
 leagues, after a year's trial, was dismissed, much to the 
 surprise and regret of the liberal politicians in England ; 
 but the Prime Minister, with all his good qualities of heart, 
 was not the statesman for the times. The Duke of Grafton 
 threw up the seals of Secretary of State, which were in turn 
 refused by several noblemen, and at length were accepted by 
 the Duke of Richmond. At the head of the new Cabinet 
 was placed the Duke of Grafton, a Tory; and Charles 
 Townshend, one of the promoters of the Stamp Act, became 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. Pitt, the " Great Commoner," 
 who had sprung from the people to the leadership of the 
 nation, clouded the lustre of his name by accepting a peer- 
 age and the office of Lord Privy Seal. The title of Earl 
 of Chatham, however much he may have earned it by his 
 brilliant career, could add no dignity to his character, while 
 his desertion of the popular branch of Parliament for the 
 House of Lords was but strengthening a Ministry raised on 
 the downfall of Rockingham and his patriot friends. In 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 88. 
 
126 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. — Oct. 
 
 America, however, the elevation to office of Chatham and 
 Camden was considered a fortunate offset to the Townshend 
 influence. 
 
 Though Governor Bernard professed to be a friend to the 
 Colonies, his letters, as was subsequently ascertained, always 
 urged upon government such a course as should secure their 
 more perfect subordination to Great Britain. He was op- 
 posed to the several charters ; and in his letters to the Minis- 
 try, he complained of the elective character of the Council 
 as the " fatal ingredient in the Provincial Constitution.' ' He 
 considered the only anchor of hope to be the sovereign 
 power, which would secure obedience to its decrees if they 
 were properly introduced and effectually sustained. In 
 support of these views, he made studied attempts to distort 
 every act of popular rejoicing on public occasions into tur- 
 bulence and riot. The anniversary of the outbreak against 
 the Stamp Act was celebrated with great parade in Boston, 
 and the Governor's party represented the patriotic toasts as 
 treasonable. Bernard also renewed his complaints of illicit 
 trade. After having long colluded with some merchants in 
 their infractions of a revenue law, he now claimed the legal 
 penalty of treble forfeits, and secretly reported the crowds 
 collected by some sudden attempts to enforce the law by 
 search-warrants as a general rising against the execution 
 of the law. 
 
 Towards the close of October, the Governor again called 
 the Legislature together to obtain, as he stated, a positive 
 answer to the recommendation made during the previous 
 session as to compensating the sufferers by the Stamp Act 
 riots. In the discussion which ensued, Joseph Hawley, a 
 lawyer of Northampton, the intimate and warm friend of 
 Samuel Adams, took the leading part. He was a man of 
 unblemished integrity; and after the year 1766, when he 
 entered the Legislature, his strict religious principles and 
 sincerity of character gave a wide influence to his opinions. 
 Adams oftener consulted him on legal points than any other 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 127 
 
 man, and it is probable that neither penned any very impor- 
 tant public paper without the revision of the other. Mr. 
 Hawley was in the Legislature until the war, and he was ex- 
 celled by none in his stern zeal and uncompromising hostility 
 to oppression. He was the most distinguished counsellor in 
 Western Massachusetts, where his practice was very exten- 
 sive. During his legislative service, his name appears on 
 many committees for drafting state papers. He and Samuel 
 Adams worked together, having the most implicit confidence 
 in each other's judgment. Mr. Hawley, in the intervals be- 
 tween the sessions, resided in Hampshire County, and their 
 intimacy was continued at such times by lengthy correspon- 
 dence on public affairs. 
 
 Most of the towns had voted in favor of compensating the 
 sufferers, or left it to the discretion of their Representatives. 
 The discussion in the House was long and animated, so that a 
 fortnight elapsed before they replied to the Governor's mes- 
 sage. During this time, Mr. Hawley opposed compensation 
 except on condition of a general amnesty, which was to in- 
 clude several of his clients, who were in prison in Hampshire 
 County for non-payment of fines and costs of court, having 
 been convicted of riotous opposition to the Stamp Act. 
 " Of those seeking compensation," said he, " the chief is a 
 person of unconstitutional principles, as one day or other he 
 will make appear." The resolves of Parliament were cited 
 in reply. " The Parliament of Great Britain," retorted 
 Hawley, " has no right to legislate for us." At these words 
 Otis, rising in his place, bowed and thanked him, saying, 
 " He has gone further than I myself have yet done in this 
 House." The general opinion of Hawley's integrity and 
 understanding acted upon the House, and a bill was framed, 
 granting compensation to the sufferers and pardon to the 
 offenders, even to the returning of the fines which had been 
 paid. It is most probable that Adams was at first opposed 
 to making any compensation, but, being on the committee 
 with Hawley, was induced to acquiesce by the general am- 
 
128 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct., 1766. 
 
 nesty clause. Hawley's name appears as chairman of the 
 committee to answer the Governor's speech and to draw up 
 the resolve setting forth the motives which induced the House 
 to pass the bill. It was adopted in December, the House 
 having meanwhile taken a recess in which to consult their 
 constituents. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Crown Officers misrepresent the Town to the Ministry. — Dennys Deberdt 
 appointed Special Agent of the Assembly. — Adams corresponds with the 
 new Agent and with Christopher Gadsden. — He desires Union and Cor- 
 respondence among the Merchants throughout the Continent. — Hutchin- 
 son attempts to force himself into the Council. — Adams writes on the 
 Subject to the Agent in behalf of the Assembly. — He liberates a Slave 
 presented to his Wife. 
 
 In November of the previous year, Mr. Adams had ex- 
 pressed his dissatisfaction with the apparent want of zeal 
 manifested by Jackson, the Colonial agent in England. 
 This opinion he repeated indirectly in state papers of the 
 House in the following session. He had much more confi- 
 dence in the abilities of Deberdt, who had already served 
 the Province as its special agent in urging the petitions 
 prepared by the Congress at New York. This lack of en- 
 ergy was now particularly feared; for, after the August 
 celebration in honor of the repeal of the Stamp Act, it was 
 known that Paxton, Marshal of the Court of Admiralty, was 
 to be sent to England, with the intention of representing there 
 the interests and statements of the crown officers, and to ap- 
 pear as the special friend of Oliver and Hutchinson. The 
 Governor had not lost the opportunity of advising the Minis- 
 try, after his own views, of the condition of affairs in the 
 Province. An attempt had been made by Paxton and the un- 
 der-sheriff to search the house of Daniel Malcom for a second 
 time, under the disputed authority of writs of assistance. 
 The sturdy patriot had refused to open his doors, and in 
 the altercation which ensued a crowd had gathered. These 
 and other incidents had been misrepresented to the govern- 
 ment. On the 8th of October, a town meeting was called, 
 
 VOL. I. 9 
 
130 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. — Dec. 
 
 and a committee, of which Mr. Adams was a member, was 
 appointed to wait upon the Governor in behalf of the town, 
 and desire him to give the Secretary orders to furnish the 
 town clerk with copies of all the depositions relating to the 
 information given the custom-house officers and the proceed- 
 ings thereon, so that the town, having knowledge of their 
 accusers and of the nature and design of the testimony taken, 
 might have it in their power to rectify mistakes and counter- 
 work the designs of any who would represent them in a dis- 
 advantageous light to his Majesty's ministers. The committee 
 reported in the afternoon that the Governor, by order of the 
 Council, considered the depositions secret ; but that he had 
 no difficulty himself in complying with the request of the 
 town, if the Council should so advise him. This assertion, 
 however, was contradicted by the Council, who transmitted 
 the depositions to the meeting, with a note, stating that 
 " they had never given any advice either for or against the 
 said testimony being transmitted." Otis, Adams, Rowe, 
 Hancock, and others, were then appointed a committee to 
 take the depositions into consideration, and procure such 
 evidence as might be further necessary to set this matter 
 in its proper light. 
 
 The subject occupied the attention of the public for some 
 days. Town meetings were held, and every effort was made 
 to counteract the known intentions of the designing Gov- 
 ernor and his officers. The address of the freeholders and 
 other inhabitants to the Governor, on the 22d of October, 
 and that to Deberdt on the 26th, were both written by Mr. 
 Adams. 
 
 It was necessary now that the danger from Paxton's voy- 
 age to London should be met by the efforts of an active as 
 well as an honest friend of the people ; and the House, to- 
 wards the close of the session in December, dismissed Jack- 
 son from the service of the Province, and appointed Dennys 
 Deberdt as its own special agent. In that capacity, he was 
 the frequent recipient of letters, both private and public, from 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 131 
 
 Mr. Adams, who for several years made him the medium of 
 reaching the Ministry. 
 
 The first letter of Mr. Adams to the agent, after this ap- 
 pointment, was on a subject which engaged his pen for some 
 years afterwards, — that of billeting soldiers upon the in- 
 habitants of the Province. In Parliament's making provis- 
 ion for the royal troops at the expense of the people of the 
 Colonies, the sagacious patriot, in common with his fellow- 
 citizens, saw the commencement of military rule with which 
 the government could enforce any arbitrary demands that it 
 might conceive. The first instance therefore which could 
 act as a precedent in Massachusetts awoke his anxiety. 
 
 Soon after the adjournment of the Legislature in Decem- 
 ber, a vessel was driven into port by stress of weather 
 having on board two companies of royal artillery. The 
 General Court not being in session, the Governor, by the 
 advice of the Council, directed that provision should be 
 made for them at the expense of the Province. The prece- 
 dent had been made by the Governor and Council, when 
 a new company was established at the expense of the Prov- 
 ince, and without the consent of the House of Representa- 
 tives, to protect the stamps deposited at Castle William. 
 At that time Samuel Adams had declared that " if the Gov- 
 ernor and Council could raise and pay one company, they 
 might ten or a hundred, and at their pleasure subject the 
 people to be governed by a standing army." The Council 
 answered that they were " by no means fond of exercising 
 such a power, and wish the occasion for it had never arisen 
 and may never arise again." In a twelvemonth the occa- 
 sion had arisen. Earlier in the year, the Assembly of New 
 York refused to make provision for quartering the King's 
 troops, and Parliament passed an act to suspend the legis- 
 lative power of the Assembly until the billeting act was com- 
 plied with. 
 
 Mr. Adams applied himself to this subject with the same 
 assiduity that marked his every effort in the cause. Several 
 
132 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 of his letters written at this time have come to light. Two 
 of these are to Deberdt, to whom he explains the evil de- 
 signs which his penetration had already divined. His fear 
 of the quartering of a military force in the Colonies had 
 commenced with the first acts of oppression, and his earliest 
 public paper, of which any record exists, urges upon the 
 Representatives a decrease in the military establishment of 
 the Province. He now instructed Deberdt to oppose the 
 apprehended establishment of a military force in America, 
 as needless for protection and dangerous to liberty. 
 
 "Certainly," he continues, "the best way for Great Britain to 
 make her Colonies a real and lasting benefit is to give them all 
 consistent indulgence in trade, and to remove any occasion of their 
 suspecting that their liberties are in danger. While any act of Par- 
 liament is in force which has the least appearance of a design to 
 raise a revenue out of them, their jealousy will be awake." * 
 
 On the 11th of December, he wrote to Christopher Gads- 
 den, whom Bancroft calls " the patriot most like himself," 
 and having felicitated him upon the Colonial Congress of 
 which Gadsden had been a member, and towards which the 
 writer had offered the first suggestion, he continues : — 
 
 " But is there not reason to fear that the liberties of the Colonies 
 may be infringed in a less observable manner ? The Stamp Act 
 was like the sword that Nero wished for, to have decollated the 
 Roman people at a stroke ; or like Job's sea monster, in the height- 
 ened language of Young, ' who sinks a river, and who thirsts again.' 
 The sight of such an enemy at a distance is formidable ; while the 
 lurking serpent lies concealed, and not noticed by the unwary pas- 
 senger, darts its venom. It is necessary that each Colony should be 
 awake and upon its guard. You may ask me what is the danger. 
 I answer, none from his present Majesty and the Parliament in their 
 intention, yet such is human frailty ' that the best may err some- 
 times ' ; and consider, sir, we are remote from the national Parlia- 
 
 * Letter to Deberdt, Dec. 16 and 17, 1766. Autograph letters of Samuel 
 Adams to Deberdt, on public questions, exist, dated Oct. 26, Nov. 11, 12, 
 and Dec. 2, 16, and 18, 1766. 
 
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 133 
 
 ment, and unrepresented. You are aware that what are called Acts 
 of Trade sensibly affect the Colonies. May not such acts be made 
 through the inadvertency of our friends, or for want of suitable 
 intelligence from the Colonies, as may not only injure their trade 
 but wound their liberties? Suppose, for instance, that sometime 
 hereafter, under the pretext of regulating trade only, a revenue 
 should be designed to be raised out of the Colonies ; would it signify 
 anything whether it be called a Stamp Act or an act for the regul- 
 ation of the trade of America ? I wish there was a union and a 
 correspondence kept up among the merchants throughout the conti- 
 nent. But I am still upon the liberties of the Colonies. 
 
 " I should tell you what perhaps you know already, were I to 
 mention an act of Parliament I have lately seen, wherein the Gov- 
 ernor and Council of any Province wherein his Majesty's troops 
 may happen to be, are enjoined to make certain provision for them 
 at the expense of the people of such Province. Tell me, sir, 
 whether this is not taxing the Colonies as effectually as the Stamp 
 Act ? and if so, either we have complained without reason or we 
 have still reason to complain. I have heard that George Grenville 
 was told to his face that he missed it in his politics, for he should 
 have stationed a sufficient number of troops in America before he 
 sent the Stamp Act among them. Had that been the case, it is 
 possible your Congress might have been turned out of doors. New 
 York has had regular troops among them for some months. I never 
 could hear a reason given to my satisfaction why they were ordered, 
 at least to remain there so long. Perhaps I am captious ; however, 
 I always looked upon a standing army, especially in a time of peace, 
 not only as a disturbance, but in every respect dangerous to civil 
 community. Surely, then, we cannot consent to their quartering 
 among us ; and how hard it is to be obliged to pay our money to 
 subsist them. If a number should happen to come into a Province 
 through necessity, and stand in need of supplies, as is the case at 
 present here, is it not a disgrace to us to suppose that we should be 
 so wanting in humanity or in regard to our sovereign as to refuse to 
 grant him the aid with our free consent?"* 
 
 The subject was considered early in the next session, when 
 the House desired to be informed by the Governor whether 
 
 * Letter to Christopher Gadsden, Dec. 11, 1766. 
 
134 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. — March, 
 
 any provision had been made at the expense of the Province 
 for the troops lately arrived, and by whom? A lengthy 
 discussion ensued, giving the House an opportunity of add- 
 ing their opposition to the Billeting Act, against which the 
 Assembly of New York was still contending. 
 
 It was the Governor's policy to keep the Legislature in 
 session for brief periods, — summoning them only to hear 
 instructions and orders from the Ministry. The Council and 
 the House were now acting in harmony, and gave his Excel- 
 lency continual cause for anxiety and matter for his letters 
 to England. At the opening of the session, January 28, 
 1767, he briefly recommended the support of the author- 
 ity of the government, and other duties, which, truly pur- 
 sued, would leave "no room for disagreement or dissatis- 
 faction." 
 
 To recommendations which seemed to imply that the 
 House was negligent in the performance of their duties, 
 they replied that they understood their rights and powers, 
 and those of the civil officers of the Province ; that those 
 rights and powers would be firmly maintained, and the au- 
 thority of government supported ; and that they should feel 
 greatly rejoiced to find his Excellency exciting and animat- 
 ing them in the discharge of that important duty. 
 
 They then resumed the subject of the Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor's occupying a seat in the Council. Having been ex- 
 cluded in a previous session at the annual election for 
 councillors, Hutchinson determined to claim a seat by vir- 
 tue of his office as Lieutenant-Governor. The House in- 
 sisted on his removal, considering his presence as " a new 
 and additional instance of ambition and lust of power." 
 The Council, now under the lead of the resolute Bowdoin, 
 agreeing with them, Hutchinson at last resigned his claim 
 and retired. It might well be termed " a lust of power." 
 Not only was he Chief Justice, Judge of Probate, and Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor, but several of his relatives held lucrative 
 positions under government, and yet his rapacity clutched 
 
17C7.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 135 
 
 at every additional means of advancement. Samuel Adams 
 considered him the most dangerous man to American liberty 
 in the Province, and lost no opportunity to oppose his de- 
 signs. On the 3d of March, the House appointed Hawley, 
 Otis, Adams, Sheafe, and Bowers a committee to write to 
 Deberdt in relation to Hutchinson's claim to a seat in the 
 Council. A voluminous paper, written by Adams, was re- 
 ported on the 16th. The rough draft, endorsed " read and 
 accepted," is preserved entire, with the erasures and inter- 
 lineations in his own hand. It differs in no respect from the 
 copy in the journal of the House, with which it has been 
 compared. The subject is carefully considered in all its bear- 
 ings, and the infamous construction put upon the charter 
 by those who had been appointed to search for precedents to 
 the usurpation is completely exposed. The answer of the 
 House to the Governor's speech on the same subject, at the 
 opening of the session, was enclosed to the agent with the 
 letter. The reasons urged by Bernard in Hutchinson's be- 
 half were, that the Lieutenant-Governor was empowered by 
 the charter, equally with the Governor, to administer the 
 oaths to the returned members ; that, " in order to execute 
 that trust, he must necessarily meet them on the day when 
 they were returned, and met to form the General Assembly ; 
 and because the duty of his trust must bring him among 
 the Representatives, before they themselves were qualified 
 to sit and act in General Assembly, therefore that power* or 
 authority gave him a right to a place and seat in Council at 
 all times during the being of the General Assembly, although 
 the full exercise of that power must end and be determined, 
 and the trust fully discharged, before the Representatives 
 themselves have a right to take a place or to do any one act 
 in General Assembly, and consequently before the General 
 Assembly existed." Pointing out the " absurdity of this 
 reasoning," which the writer says "must be obvious to every 
 man," Mr. Adams continues : — 
 
 " As it is said that, in that paragraph, he [the Lieutenant- Gov- 
 
136 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 ernor] has given to him an immediate, original, and inherent right 
 to administer the oaths to the returned members of the House, it 
 may be matter of curious inquiry, why it is chosen as a consequence 
 that a right to a place or seat in Council is thereby given, rather 
 than a right to a seat in the House of Representatives. According 
 to this manner of deducing inferences, any one may, among the infi- 
 nite variety of propositions altogether foreign to any given premises, 
 take an absolute and arbitrary liberty to infer some one favorite con- 
 clusion, rather than any other which may not so well suit his humor 
 or interest. When the imagination is suffered to rove at random, 
 and phantoms are made use of to establish power and authority 
 supported neither by the charter nor by reason or necessity, it is 
 not easy to conceive why a right of still greater importance than a 
 seat without a voice was not imagined. It was full as easy to col- 
 lect from the charter a right in the Lieutenant-Governor, as such, 
 to a voice in Council, or in the House of Representatives, or in 
 either, as should best suit his fancy, or in each at different times. 
 But perhaps it was judged prudent to begin with lesser claims, and 
 gradually to advance to greater, as imaginary countenances should 
 become more familiar. 
 
 " We are the more astonished at this attempt of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, as, at his own desire, he has been so lately admitted to 
 the floor of the House, and there publicly acknowledged the generous 
 compensation granted him for his losses and sufferings in the late 
 times of universal distress, despair, and of course of great confusion. 
 At the same time, he gave the highest assurances of his affection for 
 his native country, and of the fresh obligations he felt himself under 
 to support the rights, liberties, and privileges of his countrymen. 
 After all this, it is truly surprising that he should make an attack 
 upon the charter, and endeavor to support a claim, jointly with his 
 Excellency, which, if they attain their ends, has a manifest tendency 
 very unduly to influence and alter, if not totally to subvert, the free 
 legislative of the Province. 
 
 " We cannot but think this attempt of his Honor the more unnat- 
 ural, as he has so long enjoyed every honor and favor in the power 
 of his native country to confer upon him. Some of his high offices 
 are so incompatible with others of them, that in all probability they 
 never will hereafter be, as they never were heretofore, thus accumu- 
 
1 
 
 1767.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 137 
 
 
 lated by any man. This gentleman was for years together Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor, Councillor, Chief Justice of the Province, and a 
 Judge of the Probate. Three of these lucrative as well as honor- 
 ary places he now enjoys, and yet is not content. It is easy to con- 
 ceive how undue an influence the two first must give. 
 
 " The office of a chief justice is most certainly incompatible with 
 that of a politician. The cool and impartial administration of com- 
 mon justice can never harmonize with the meanders and windings 
 of a modern politician. The integrity of the judge may sometimes 
 embarrass the politician, but there is infinitely more danger, in the 
 long run, of the politician's spoiling the good and upright judge. 
 This has often been the case, and in the course of things may be 
 expected again. 
 
 " As the Governor and the Lieutenant-Governor now firmly per- , 
 sist in the claim, and his Excellency seems determined to make a 
 representation of this matter home, it is incumbent upon us to be 
 particularly attentive to it, though both of them have in effect de- 
 sired the present House to remain quiet and inactive. We must 
 therefore earnestly recommend it to you to make it a matter of 
 your special care, and if any stir should be made about it in Eng- 
 land, that you would use your utmost endeavors to prevent a deter- 
 mination thereon till we can be heard ; or otherwise, that you make 
 the best use you can of the papers enclosed." 
 
 We have in this letter an illustration of the logical severity 
 and purity of style characterizing the writings of Samuel 
 Adams. He never overdid any private or public paper. 
 Always keeping within the bounds of reason and legal pro- 
 cedure, he had nothing to retract, and no indiscreet ebullition 
 of passion or prejudioe to regret. ' His knowledge of man- 
 kind, and an almost infallible judgment, gave the stamp of 
 wisdom to all his measures, not one of which had to be re- 
 called after passing final revision. In these trying times, 
 without precedent to guide him, and steering into an un- 
 known sea of perilous experiment in opposition to the arbi- 
 trary course of the government, the patriot might well 
 pause or advance with caution. But the certainty of being 
 right nerved the leaders to an unshrinking fortitude, and 
 
138 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 pointed out, to at least the more discerning, the dim but 
 glorious future. Among the remnants of the Adams papers 
 are rough drafts of letters written during this session to the 
 agent and others in England, relating to public matters, 
 some of which appear to have been adopted by the House. 
 
 The question of slavery had been discussed in Boston for 
 nearly a year. At the town meeting in May, 1766, the Rep- 
 resentatives had been instructed to advocate its total abo- 
 lition in the Province. The subject came up again at a town 
 meeting on the 16th of March, 1767, when it was decided to 
 adhere to that part of the town's instructions. It was prob- 
 ably about this time that an incident occurred, revealing the 
 sentiments of Samuel Adams in regard to slavery. It was 
 related, in 1837, by Mrs. Mary Avery of Shrewsbury, Mass., 
 the niece of Samuel Adams. She was then eighty-two years 
 of age, having been born in February, 1755, but retained her 
 powers of memory in a remarkable degree. Mrs. Avery 
 stated that when she was eight or ten years old (1764 or 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1766), a female slave called " Surry " was given to her aunt, 
 
 Mrs. Adams, and that on her returning home and mention- 
 ing the gift to her husband, he said to her immediately, " A 
 slave cannot live in my house. If she comes, she must be 
 free." He accordingly liberated her on her going into his 
 family, where she lived many years, and where she died in 
 the midst of kind ministrations both to her body and soul.* 
 The agent in England, who had access to members of the 
 Ministry, had reason to believe from his interviews, espe- 
 cially with Shelburne, the Secretary of State for the South- 
 ern Department, that the feeling towards the Colonies was 
 
 * The gentleman to whom the author is indebted for the above anecdote (the 
 Rev. George Allen of Worcester, Mass.) adds in his letter : "I have thought 
 the anecdote above related worth preserving, and have therefore taken the 
 liberty to send it to you, who have so many materials for the biography of a 
 master spirit in an age which shaped the destinies of the world. It serves to 
 show the unity of his character, and that the love of liberty, for which he strove 
 so early and with so much zeal and constancy, was at home with him and in- 
 deed a part of his very being." 
 
1767.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 139 
 
 modified despite the defeat of the government party and the 
 withdrawal of Chatham. Shelburne proposed changes in 
 certain departments favorable to American liberties, but his 
 colleagues disapproved of them. He was not entirely com- 
 mitted to the policy in the Billeting Act, and objected to 
 the dependence of the judges. Deberdt wrote to Samuel 
 Adams his impressions of the state of affairs. The affection 
 which still warmed in the hearts of the Colonists towards 
 England, and which it took years of oppression to eradicate, 
 is shown in the reply : — 
 
 Boston, May 9, 1767. 
 
 Sib: — Your favor of 10th February and 9th March came to hand. 
 It gives me the greatest satisfaction to find that this Province stands 
 in an agreeable point of light with the Ministry and the Parliament, 
 and I hope with our gracious Sovereign himself. The nation has 
 no reason to be offended with us, or to entertain any jealousy of us. 
 We are naturally attached to the people of Great Britain. We es- 
 teem them, not barely as fellow-subjects, but as brethren of the same 
 blood. We can look back a few years, and find the same men the 
 fathers of us all. Why then should Britain hate America, or they 
 envy her ? Our dependence is mutual ; our interest is undivided ; 
 one cannot be sensibly injured, but the other must feel it. 
 
 I now send you the journal of the House for the remaining part 
 of the year. You will find in the beginning of February some 
 messages between the Governor and the House relating to the sup- 
 ply of about seventy of his Majesty's troops, arrived here last fall. 
 Heretofore it has been the practice of this government to make pro- 
 vision in such cases by an act of their own. Thus they granted to 
 their sovereign the necessary aid of their own free accord, which was 
 strictly constitutional ; and I am satisfied the people would always be 
 ready cheerfully to make such grants upon all future occasions. 
 Does not an act of Parliament made to oblige us in this case de- 
 prive us of our honor as well as our right, and imply a mistrust of 
 us in the mother country? It is probable some persons here had 
 induced the Ministry to believe it would have been refused by us, 
 and argued from thence the necessity of the Parliament's interfering. 
 But there is no room for such a suggestion. If the question should 
 
140 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 1767. 
 
 at any time be put, I am persuaded the people would show their 
 loyalty in this as they have done in all other requests. I wish, if 
 our enemies should put an ill construction upon this matter, it might 
 be thus explained, for it is the truth. The House made you a grant 
 for your services for one year, as you will see by the journal of 
 March. His Excellency did not think proper to sign it ; perhaps he 
 will assign the reason at the May session, when it will no doubt be 
 again considered. 
 
 Your constant endeavors to serve this people merit their warmest 
 gratitude as well as an ample recompense ; and I hope, sir, you will 
 not fail of an infinitely better reward than it is in their power to 
 give you. 
 
 I am, with very great esteem, sir, 
 
 Your sincere friend and humble servant, 
 
 Samuel Adams. 
 Dennts Deberdt, Esq. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Adams re-elected to the Assembly. — Arrival of Recruits from Scotland. — 
 The King and Ministry resolved to draw a Revenue from the Colonies. — 
 Revenue Acts passed by Parliament, and a Board of Custom Commission- 
 ers appointed for Boston. — Reception of the News by the Patriots. — 
 Samuel Adams and Independence. — Opinions of James Otis. — Of Andrew 
 Eliot. — Of Josiah Quincy. — Joseph Hawley. — Bancroft's description of 
 Adams. — Meeting of the Legislature. — Adams drafts the celebrated Letter 
 to Deberdt, the Petition to the King, and Letters to several English Noble- 
 men. — They are published in England as " The True Sentiments of 
 America." — He prepares a Circular Letter to the other Colonies, and 
 secures its Adoption by the House. — Its Effect in England and America. 
 — Public Celebrations. — The Governor writes to England for Troops. — 
 Earl Hillsborough denounces the Circular Letter. — Adams labors for the 
 Removal of Governor Bernard, whom he suspects of Treachery to the 
 Province. 
 
 At the May elections this year, Adams, Cushing, and Han- 
 cock were chosen to the Legislature, which was convened by 
 the Governor, May 27th. As usual, Thomas Cushing was 
 elected Speaker, and Samuel Adams Clerk. The subject of 
 quartering troops on the Province, without the consent of the 
 people's representatives, again came up, on the arrival from 
 Scotland of recruits for the Fourteenth Regiment of Foot un- 
 der Ensign Dalrymple. The Governor advised the House of 
 the fact, and that he had ordered them to the barracks of the 
 Castle. The Council, on his application to them for the usual 
 allowances, had referred him to the House. Mr. Adams was 
 one of a committee, with Otis, Hawley, Dexter, and others, to 
 reply. They reported a brief resolve that such provision be 
 made, while they remained, — the usual course towards 
 troops occasionally in the Province. This resolution showed 
 that, while the House were disposed to comply with an act 
 of Parliament, they saw and feared the first steps towards 
 
142 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 establishing an armed force in the Province, and that the 
 parent government was determined to carry out the act, 
 however oppressive and unpopular. 
 
 Mr. Adams was also on the committee to reply to the 
 Governor's opening speech, in which he had advised the de- 
 spatch of public business, and " a spirit of harmony in the 
 public councils, which seemed to have lately departed from 
 the several branches of the government." He declared that 
 he " should not decline the full exercise of the powers of his 
 office, yet intended to use them with due moderation. " Un- 
 necessary disputes," he said, " were expensive, and he hoped 
 would be avoided." The House replied that they were not 
 sensible of any act on their part, which tended to interrupt 
 the general harmony. They referred to the misrepresenta- 
 tions of the Province to the government, and added that they 
 should be glad to receive proof which would enable them 
 to assure the people that the Governor was not their author. 
 As regarded his use of power, they reminded him that ' there 
 was such a thing as an indiscreet use of legal power, of which 
 they must form their own judgment. 
 
 " There are matters that immediately concern his Majesty's gov- 
 ernment of this Province, which properly now come before us. 
 These we shall despatch in as short a time as will admit of a due 
 
 deliberation upon them As the rights of this people are 
 
 now intrusted to us, it is our indispensable duty to maintain and 
 defend them. We hope none of them will be drawn into question ; 
 but should that be the case, we are bound in conscience to contend 
 for them, and therefore we shall not think the dispute on our part 
 unnecessary, or the time employed in it misspent." * 
 
 To raise a revenue from America, despite the repeal of 
 the Stamp Act, was still the policy of the leading statesmen 
 in England. Parliament now regretted the repeal as much 
 as the act itself had been condemned a year before. A feel- 
 ing of injured pride and mortified ambition was expressed. 
 
 * Journal of the House, June 2, 1767. 
 
1767.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 143 
 
 The King, who regarded the repeal as a " fatal compliance, " 
 was made to believe that he had been humiliated, and the 
 courtiers urged Townshend to retrieve the dignity of the 
 Crown by some financial measure which should establish the 
 authority of Parliament over the Colonies beyond question. 
 The King, anxious to maintain his prerogative, favored the 
 idea. Chatham, hitherto the great advocate of Colonial 
 rights, was rendered useless by ill health, and Townshend, 
 boasting " that he knew how to draw a revenue from the 
 Colonies without giving them offence," announced his new 
 project in the Cabinet. Grenville and Conway, the latter 
 still Secretary of State, gave it their approval. "I am 
 still," said Townshend, " a firm advocate for the Stamp Act, 
 — for its principle and for the duty. I laugh at the distinc- 
 tion between internal and external taxes. I know no such 
 distinction. It is perfect nonsense." Camden, who had 
 lately asserted with the Colonists that taxation and repre- 
 sentation were inseparable, now declared that his doubts 
 were removed by the declaration of Parliament itself, and 
 that its authority must be maintained. The Chatham power 
 and influence were overthrown in Parliament. Shelburne, 
 who for a time was an advocate of some modifications favor- 
 able to the Colonists, was overruled by his associates in 
 the Cabinet, and now declared that the Billeting Act 
 must be enforced, and that no relaxation of its provisions 
 should be made. In his opinion, the Colonies were on the 
 verge of rebellion, which firmness alone could check. The 
 noble stand of the Americans in support of their just rights 
 as Britons and men, and their assertion of principles upon 
 which were based the freedom of the whole British Em- 
 pire, were lost on this school of statesman, whose deter- 
 mination to destroy them seemed to increase with the gener- 
 ous efforts made in their behalf. 
 
 Having matured his scheme, Townshend proposed a tax 
 on glass, paper, painters' colors, and tea, to be paid as impost 
 duties. Lord Camden objected to the measure ; but after a 
 
144 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 discussion of several weeks' duration, it finally passed both 
 Houses, and being approved by the King, on the 29th of 
 June, it became a law. Its passage was assisted by Paxton, 
 who had arrived in England, and by the representations 
 of Bernard and Hutchinson. At the same time, acts were 
 pass ed legalizing; writs of assistance and est ablishing a board 
 of commissioners of customs at Boston. These measures 
 
 convinced the patriots that their liberties were to be wrested 
 from them, and the press grew eloquent with the effusions 
 of nervous and fearless thinkers. Already the employment 
 of ships of war and troops was advocated to insure tranquil- 
 lity, and the approach of military rule was foreseen. The 
 Stamp Act was in reality less subversive of the popxilar 
 rights than these new revenue acts. Even the moneys 
 accruing from them were to be beyond the control of the 
 subjects from whom they were raised, but were at the King's 
 disposal, to be employed in the support of the very officers 
 who were appointed to collect them. The ignominy and 
 perfect servitude involved filled the Colonists with alarm, 
 and seemed the culmination of Ministerial oppression. 
 
 It has been observed by contemporary writers, and the 
 assertion is generally admitted, that Samuel Adams was 
 the first man in America who openly advocated the inde- 
 pendence of the Colonies. The rapid succession of the De- 
 claratory and Billeting Acts, and the passage, after mature 
 deliberation, of these arbitrary measures for taxing the Col- 
 onies, must have convinced Adams of the hopelessness,. of 
 peaceful efforts for redress. He saw that forcible resistance 
 would inevitably ensue, and that the only question was, 
 when events would call for decisive action. 
 
 Hutchinson says that, as early as 1765, Samuel Adams 
 owned without reserve, in private discourse, that he was for 
 the independence of the Colonies, and adds, that " from time 
 to time he made advances towards it in public, as far as 
 would serve to the great purpose of attaining to it." But 
 the private and public writings of Adams up to this time do 
 
1767.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 145 
 
 not disclose such an intention. If he entertained a settled 
 determination towards independence as early as the year 
 of the Stamp Act, he concealed it for prudential reasons, 
 deeming it premature to advance it until tyranny had 
 wrought the people to the proper pitch of exasperation, and 
 the Ministry had been placed sufficiently in the wrong be- 
 fore the world. 
 
 But independence was not yet his policy. That Samuel 
 Adams had for many years foreseen a great empire, free and 
 independent, and under his favorite democratic form of gov- 
 ernment, is not denied. He saw that such a structure was 
 possible and probable. It might spring from the genius and 
 peculiar character of the American Colonies, — a character 
 he had studied, and knew in its minutest details. That 
 American independence would be hastened by the unwise 
 policy of the British government we must believe was fixed 
 in his mind as an absolute certainty ; but his conversations 
 on independency, to which Hutchinson alludes, had this bear- 
 ing and no other, that while it was certain the Colonies must 
 eventually fall from the parent stem and become a great 
 Western power, the time for the separation had not yet ar- 
 rived, nor was the popular mind ready for its discussion. 
 
 The general feeling throughout America, up to the year of 
 the Stamp Act, was one of deep loyalty to the King and 
 Parliament. England was known, even among those who 
 had never left the Provinces, by the affectionate name of 
 " home." Massachusetts had freely exhausted her treasury 
 and spilt her blood in fighting the battles of Great Britain in 
 America for the conquest of territory, which, while it resulted 
 in no benefit to the Province, enlarged the British dominion. 
 The idea of a separation, if it was ever entertained, was re- 
 garded as one of the greatest evils which could befall the 
 country. Its trade would be ruined, its credit destroyed, 
 and the people left a prey to the power of France. Vague 
 terrors attached to the thought, and the wealth and intelli- 
 gence of the country were opposed to it. Andrew Eliot 
 
 VOL. I. 10 
 
146 • LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 wrote : " The Colonies disunited from Great Britain must 
 undergo great convulsions before they would be settled on a 
 firm basis. Colony would be against Colony, and there 
 would be in every one furious internal contests for power. 
 .... I hope not to see the American British Colonies dis- 
 connected from Great Britain." * With this general opinion 
 in the country, whatever may have been the private convic- 
 tions of Samuel Adams, to have asserted in any public 
 manner at this time the doctrine of independence, would 
 not only have lost the Colonies some of their warmest ad- 
 vocates in England, but would materially have retarded the 
 progress of liberty by alarming those whose demands for re- 
 dress went no further than for a restoration of the Province 
 to its position at the close of the French war. Such indeed 
 were the views of many eminent patriots as late as 1776. 
 Hence Mr. Adams, in his private letters to England as well 
 as his public papers, takes frequent occasion to refute the 
 charge that the Assembly aimed at independence. 
 
 To a correspondent in London, in November, 1765, he as- 
 serts the loyalty of the Colonists and their affection for the 
 mother country, and adds : " There is at present no appear- 
 ance of such a disposition as this writer would insinuate, 
 much less a struggle for independence ; and I dare say there 
 never will be, unless Great Britain shall exert her power to 
 destroy their liberties." It is observable, however, that the 
 tenor of this extract makes the effort for independence con- 
 tingent upon the course of England towards the Colonies. 
 
 One of his letters to Deberdt, written in December, 1765, 
 
 " We find that attempts have been made to raise a jealousy in the 
 nation, that the Colonists are struggling for independence, than which 
 nothing can be more injurious. It is neither their interest, nor have 
 they ever shown the least disposition to be independent of Great 
 Britain. They have always prided themselves on being British sub- 
 
 * To Thomas Hollis, Dec. 10, 1767. 
 
1767.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. • 147 
 
 jects, and have with the greatest cheerfulness done everything in 
 their power to promote the common cause of the nation. And we 
 have reason to believe that the Colonists will ever remain firmly at- 
 tached to the mother country." 
 
 To an absent friend, whose name cannot be ascertained, 
 he wrote, abont the same time : — 
 
 " I should have taken the liberty of writing to you by vessels 
 which have already sailed, had I known it was your intention to 
 spend the winter in England. Your acquaintance with this country, 
 its civil constitution, its religious establishment, the temper, educa- 
 tion, manners, and customs of the people, their attachment to, as well 
 as connections with, the mother country, their trade and the advan- 
 tages of it to Great Britain, their ardent love of liberty, civil and 
 religious, make you an able advocate in her behalf, when her friends 
 have everything to fear for her. Perhaps there never was a time 
 when she stood more in need of friends in England, and had less 
 reason to expect them ; not because she has justly forfeited them, 
 but from the nature of the unhappy controversy which has of late 
 arisen between Great Britain and the Colonies, while the prosperity 
 of both depends upon mutual affection and harmony." 
 
 This prudence and insight into the bearings of the great 
 cause he espoused was a perpetual check upon the suggestion 
 of Colonial independence. The propagation of such senti- 
 ments at that time would have been deeply injurious to 
 American liberty. In all his state papers, therefore, up to 
 the time of the Congress, when what he had long foreseen be- 
 came patent to the country at large, that petitions were but 
 a waste of words, and that the " ultima ratio " could alone 
 decide the question, it will be found that the idea of inde- 
 pendence, which had frequently been charged upon the pop- 
 ular leaders, is repeatedly and explicitly denied as the opin- 
 ion of the Assembly. 
 
 Judge Sullivan in his biographical sketch of Samuel 
 Adams, written a few days after the death of the latter in 
 1803, having quoted some of the confidential friends of the 
 deceased in proof of his having been the first man in Amer- 
 
148 # LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 ica who contemplated a separation of the Colonies from Eng- 
 land, adds that his enemies charged him with hypocrisy in 
 concealing his views in the dawning of the Revolution. 
 " But in this," continues the writer, " he was justifiable ; for, 
 unless he could believe that the whole body of the people 
 could discern and trace political effects from their deep 
 causes, it would have been folly in him to have exposed his 
 views. He lived in a world where one man had been burned 
 for asserting the motion of the planets, which is now known 
 to every one, and where the originators of new theories have 
 suffered disgrace for exposing systems which after ages have 
 respected and honored. " 
 
 When the news of the revenue bill arrived in Boston, 
 it was met with a determined spirit of opposition. " The 
 die is cast," " the Rubicon is passed," cried some. " We 
 will form an immediate and universal combination to eat 
 nothing, drink nothing, wear nothing, imported from Great 
 Britain." " Our strength consists in union. Let us, above 
 all, be of one heart and of one mind. Let us call on our 
 sister Colonies to join with us in asserting our rights. If 
 our opposition to slavery is called rebellion, let us pursue 
 duty with firmness, and leave the event to Heaven." Oth- 
 ers, among them young Quincy, rashly advocated armed re- 
 sistance. Josiah Quincy, who was one of the political pupils 
 of Samuel Adams, was then twenty-three years of age. His 
 talents had already attracted attention, and gave promise of 
 great future usefulness to his country. " Should we be told 
 to perceive our inability to oppose the mother country," he 
 wrote in the Boston Gazette, "we boldly answer that in 
 defence of our civil and religious rights, with the God of 
 armies on our side, we fear not the hour of trial ; though 
 the host of our enemies should cover -the field like locusts, 
 yet the sword of the Lord and of Gideon shall prevail." * 
 
 The Revolution had commenced. Hutchinson dated its 
 beginning from the previous year ; but now the tone of the 
 
 * "Hyperion " (Josiah Quincy) in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 5, 1767. 
 
1767.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. ■ 149 
 
 press and the public sentiment showed that the faith in the 
 integrity of Parliament was undermined, and that resistance 
 was believed to be right and possible. The project of non- 
 importation and non-consumption of English manufactures 
 had, from the commencement of the disputes, been a favorite 
 idea with Mr. Adams. He frequently reminded his corre- 
 spondents in London of the alternative to which the taxation 
 schemes of Parliament must drive the Colonists. In 1764 he 
 hinted that if the trade of the Americans was to be taxed,, 
 they would be less able to consume the manufactures of 
 Great Britain. In a letter to Deberdt, in November, 1765, 
 he refers to stopping the importation of British goods, which 
 the Colonies were more and more determined to forego. 
 Again in December, 1765, in a letter sent to a friend in Eng- 
 land, he says that " an attempt to raise a revenue out of the 
 trade of the people will reduce them to the necessity of set- 
 ting up manufactures of their own." * — " To him," says a 
 writer, who thoroughly knew his whole political life, " is also 
 attributed the design of the non-importation system, which 
 he persuaded nearly all the merchants in the Colony to adopt 
 and adhere to." Every indication points to Samuel Adams 
 as the author of this important means of resistance. Town 
 meetings were now held to encourage the produce and 
 manufactures of the Province, and to lessen the use of su- 
 perfluities, of which long lists were enumerated. Commit- 
 tees were appointed to obtain subscriptions to these agree- 
 ments, which interdicted the use or purchase of the articles 
 named. A clause, introduced at the meeting of October 
 28th, reads : — 
 
 " And we further agree strictly to adhere to the late regulations 
 respecting funerals, and will not use any gloves but what are manu- 
 factured here, nor procure any new garments upon such an occasion 
 but what shall be absolutely necessary." f 
 
 * For proof that the American non-importation schemes commenced in 
 Boston, see Samuel Adams to Dennys Deberdt, May 14, 1768. 
 
 t Massachusetts Gazette for Nov. 5, 1767. See Grahame, II. 429, 430. 
 
 / 
 
150 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 [Oct., 1767. 
 
 At one of the meetings, Otis advised against opposition to 
 the new duties, and recommended caution. " The King has 
 the right," he continued, " to appoint officers of the customs 
 in what manner he pleases, and by what denominations ; 
 and to resist his authority will but provoke his displeasure."' 
 
 The non-consumption agreements were not to go into force 
 until the close of the year, and meantime an unusual quiet 
 prevailed. The leaven, however, was working. The agree- 
 ments were to be sent to all the towns in the Province and 
 also to the other Colonies. Bernard reported that the fac- 
 tion " dared not show its face," and that " the Province 
 would recover its former reputation " for loyalty. Hutch- 
 inson wrote, " our incendiaries seem discouraged," and he 
 circulated the statement that the people of Boston would be 
 left alone, as the New-Yorkers were all for peace.* 
 
 The Legislature was not to meet until January. The pe- 
 tition of the town, prepared by a committee of which Adams, 
 Otis, and Cushing were members, desiring the Governor 
 to convene the General Assembly, had been rejected with 
 contempt. Still the Province remained tranquil ; and even 
 the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act passed away 
 in quiet, the usual ceremonies being conducted with strict 
 propriety, — the few placards and effigies exhibited having 
 been removed by the friends of the people. 
 
 The new Ministry entered upon their duties, determined to 
 maintain the authority of Parliament on the basis of the late 
 
 * These agreements, as will hereafter be seen, were not faithfully kept in sev- 
 eral of the Colonies, much to the regret of Mr. Adams, who spared no pains to 
 maintain a general observance. Even in Boston they were broken, but were 
 renewed at intervals throughout America, until Congress, in 1774, adopted a 
 non-importation act embracing the whole continent. In October, 1769, leading 
 merchants in several Colonies signed such an agreement, and Hutchinson wrote 
 to Bernard : " The Land Bank movement in this Province, in 1 740, was a pecca- 
 dillo compared with the combinations now afloat in so many Colonies. ■ That 
 was thought to deserve an act of Parliament, and all who continued in it were 
 subjected to the penalties of the statute of premunire. These, therefore, which 
 are absolutely incompatible with a state of government, can never be over- 
 looked." 
 
Jan., 1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 151 
 
 Charles Townshend's tax bills. Artful misrepresentations 
 by Bernard, Hutchinson, and the crown officers, especially 
 Paxton, who, with the Commissioners of the Customs, arrived 
 in November to commence the odious system, had increased 
 the anger of the Colonial Department, which was still more 
 inflamed by non-consumption meetings in Boston ; and the 
 abrogation of the Colonial charters was agitated as a means 
 of reducing the Americans to obedience, under a uniform 
 system of government. Lord Hillsborough, now appointed 
 Colonial Secretary, though professing a regard for the liber- 
 ties of America, was but an enemy in disguise ; and Lord 
 North, who had been summoned to fill Townshend's place, 
 was steeled against concessions to the Colonists. The new 
 year opened with gloomy prospects ; but great events were 
 to happen in its first month, — events which more directly 
 led to the Revolution than any that had preceded them. 
 Hillsborough's first act relating to Massachusetts was to 
 grant a pension of two hundred pounds to Hutchinson, to 
 be paid annually by the Commissioners of the Customs, — 
 collected of course from the industry of the people. This 
 act was regarded with special abhorrence. The indepen- 
 dence of the bench was gone if it received money of the 
 King. " We shall be obliged," said Andrew Eliot, " to 
 maintain in luxury sycophants, court parasites, and hungry 
 dependents, who will be sent over to watch and oppress those 
 who support them. ,, * 
 
 It was at this crisis that the wisdom and genius of Samuel 
 Adams shone forth, evoked by the perilous necessities of his 
 countrymen. Bancroft, who has long and carefully studied 
 the character of Adams, gradually developing its great 
 points as he advances in his History, thus glances at the 
 three leaders of the Massachusetts Legislature in 17j 
 
 " Such were the sentiments of the more moderate among the 
 patriots. Still the attempt at concerting an agreement not to import 
 
 * Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Dec. 15, 1769. 
 
/ 
 
 152 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 had thus far failed; and unless the Assembly of Massachusetts 
 should devise methods of resistance, the oppressive law would grad- 
 ually go into effect. The hot spirits in that body were ready to 
 break out into a flame ; there were men among them who would 
 not count the consequences. Of the country members, Hawley, 
 than whom no one was abler or more sincere, lived far in the inte- 
 rior ; and his excitable nature, now vehement, now desponding, un- 
 fitted him to guide. The irritability of Otis had so increased that he 
 rather indulged himself in ' rhapsodies ' and volcanic * flashes ' of 
 eloquence, than framed deliberate plans of conduct. Besides, his 
 mind had early embraced the idea of ' a general union of the British 
 empire, in which every part of its wide dominions should be repre- 
 sented under one equal and uniform direction and system of laws ; ' 
 and though the Congress of New York drew from him a tardy con- 
 cession that an American representation was impossible, yet his 
 heart still turned to his original opinion, and in his prevailing mood 
 he shrunk from the thought of independence. The ruling passion 
 of Samuel Adams, on the contrary, was the preservation of the dis- 
 tinctive character and institutions of New England. He thor- 
 oughly understood the tendency of the measures adopted by Parlia- 
 ment; approved of making the appeal to Heaven, since freedom 
 could not otherwise be preserved; and valued the liberties of his 
 country more than its temporal prosperity, more than his own life, 
 more than the lives of all. The confidence of his townsmen sus- 
 tained his fortitude; his whole nature was absorbed by care for 
 the public ; and his strictly logical mind was led to choose for the 
 defence of the separate liberties of America a position which 
 offered no weak point for attack. His theory, on which the Colo- 
 nies were to repose until the dawn of better days, as a small but 
 gallant army waits for aid within its lines, he embodied in the form 
 of a letter from the Assembly of the Province to their agent." * 
 
 The draft of this celebrated letter was submitted by Mr. 
 Adams on Wednesday, the 6th of January, soon after the 
 meeting of the Legislature, through the chairman of the 
 committee on the state of the Province, which had been 
 appointed in June of the previous year. It has been called 
 
 * Bancroft's History, VI. 117-120. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 153 
 
 the most remarkable paper which had yet appeared in 
 America on Colonial affairs. Its principles were such that 
 the House long hesitated to adopt it, and had the original 
 draft under consideration for seven days, while it was de- 
 bated and revised seven times and every sentence and word 
 carefully weighed. Though directed to the agent, it was 
 evidently for the Ministry, who could only be approached 
 through Deberdt ; and opinions which were unchangeable 
 and to be published to the world might well be rigidly 
 considered before they were sent forth in the journals as 
 the "true sentiments of America,' ' as Mr. Adams after- 
 wards called them. On the afternoon of the 13th, after the 
 letter had been finally debated and revised, the question was 
 put whether it should be accepted, and passed in the affirm- 
 ative.* 
 
 The letter is too voluminous to admit of more than occa- 
 sional extracts.! It commences by a reference to the rev- 
 enue acts, which had arrived since the last sitting of the 
 General Court. The equality of constitutional rights in all 
 parts of his Majesty's dominions is asserted, and the idea of 
 independence is fully disclaimed as the wish of the Colonists. 
 
 " They are far from being insensible of their happiness in being 
 connected with the mother country, and of the mutual benefit de- 
 rived from it to both. It is therefore the indispensable duty of all 
 to cultivate and establish a mutual harmony, and to promote the in- 
 tercourse of good offices between them; and while both have the 
 free enjoyment of the rights of our happy Constitution, there will be 
 no grounds of envy and discontent in the one, nor of jealousy and 
 mistrust in the other. 
 
 " It is the glory of the British Constitution that it hath its founda- 
 tion in the law of God and nature. It is an essential natural right 
 that a man shall quietly enjoy and have the sole disposal of his own 
 property. This right is adopted into the Constitution. This natu- 
 
 * On Samuel Adams's authorship of the letter to Deberdt, see Bancroft, VI. 
 119; Barry's Massachusetts, II. 342; and the note on p. 172 of the present 
 work. 
 
 t Bradford's State Papers, p. 124. 
 
c 
 
 154 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 ral and constitutional right is so familiar to the American subjects, 
 that it would be difficult, if possible, to convince them that any ne- 
 cessity can render it just, equitable, and reasonable, in the nature of 
 things, that the Parliament should impose duties, subsidies, talliages, 
 and taxes upon them, internal or external, for the sole purpose of 
 raising a revenue. The reason is obvious ; because they cannot be 
 represented, and therefore their consent cannot be constitutionally 
 
 had in Parliament. i 
 
 • . * • . 
 
 " It is observable that, though many have disregarded life and 
 contemned liberty, yet there are few men who do not agree that 
 property is a valuable acquisition, which ought to be held sacred. 
 Many have fought and bled and died for this, who have been insen- 
 sible to all other obligations. Those who ridicule the ideas of right 
 and justice, faith and truth, among men, will put a high value upoa fl 
 money. Property is admitted to have an existence even in the savr £ 1/ , 
 age state of nature. The bow, the arrow, and the tomahawk, the 
 hunting and fishing ground, are species of property as important to 
 an American savage as pearls, rubies, and diamonds are to the Mo*-jQ/y / 
 gul, or a nabob in the East, or the lands, tenements, hereditaments) 
 messuages, gold, and silver of the Europeans. And if property is 
 necessary for the support of savage life, it is by no means less so in 
 civil society. The Utopian schemes of levelling, and a community 
 of goods, are as visionary and impracticable as those which vest all 
 property in the Crown are arbitrary, despotic, and, in our govern- 
 ment, unconstitutional. 
 
 " The security of right and property is the great end of government. 
 Surely, then, such measures as tend to render right and property ^ JF 
 precarious tend to destroy both property and government! Tor ^ 
 these must stand and fall together. It would be difficult, if possible, 
 to show that the present plan of taxing the Colonies is m ore fa vpr- 
 able to them than that put in use here before the Revolution. It 
 seems by the event, that our ancestors were in one respect not in 
 so melancholy a situation as we, their posterity, are. In those times, 
 the Crown and the ministers of the Crown, without the intervention 
 of Parliament, demolished charters and levied taxes on the Colonies 
 at pleasure. Governor Andros, in the time of James II., declared 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 155 
 
 that wherever an Englishman sets his foot, all he hath is the King's ; 
 and Dudley declared at the Council Board, and even on the sacred seat 
 of justice, that the privilege of Englishmen not to be taxed without 
 their consent and the laws of England, would not follow them to 
 the ends of the earth.* It was also in those days declared in Coun- 
 cil, that the King's subjects in New England did not differ much 
 from slaves ; and that the only difference was, that they were not 
 bought and sold. But there was, even in those times, an excellent 
 Attorney- General, Sir William Jones, who was of another mind; 
 and told King James that he could no more grant a commission to 
 levy money on his subjects in Jamaica, though a conquered island, 
 without their consent by an Assembly, than they could discharge 
 themselves from their allegiance to the English Crown. But the 
 misfortune of the Colonists at present is, that they are taxed by Par- 
 liament without their consent. This, while the Parliament contin- 
 ues to tax us, will ever render our case in one respect more 
 deplorable and remediless under the best of kings than that of our 
 ancestors was under the worst. They found relief by the interposi- 
 tion of Parliament. But by the intervention of that very power 
 we are taxed, and can appeal for relief from their final decision to 
 no power on earth ; for there is no power on earth above them." 
 
 The argument then considers taxation as a question of 
 law and equity. The great value of the American trade is 
 explained, and the military efforts of the Colonies for their 
 own protection and the enlarging of the British dominion 
 fully illustrated. 
 
 " This House apprehends that it would be grievous and of dan- 
 gerous tendency if the Crown should not only appoint governors 
 over the several Colonies, but allow them such stipends as it shall 
 judge proper at the expense of the people and without their consent. 
 Such a power under a corrupt administration, it is to be feared, 
 would introduce an absolute government in America; at best, it 
 would leave the people in a state of utter uncertainty of their secu- 
 rity, which is far from being a state of civil liberty. The judges 
 
 * In a letter to an unknown person in London, Dec. 20, 1765 (see p. 102), 
 Mr. Adams quotes this remark of Governor Dudley, whom he calls a 
 • haughty Bashaw." 
 
156 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [J an . 
 
 in the several Colonies do not hold their commissions during good 
 behavior. If then they are to have salaries independent of the 
 people, how easy will it be for a corrupt governor to have a set of 
 judges to his mind, to deprive a bench of justice of its glory, and the 
 people of their security. If the judges of England have independ- 
 ent livings, it must be remembered that the tenure of their commis- 
 sions is during good behavior, which is a safeguard to the people." 
 
 i Of the grievance of a standing army in the Colonies, 
 which is regarded as a needless expense, Mr. Adams con- 
 tinues : — 
 
 " Or if it be admitted that there may be some necessity for them 
 in the conquered province of Canada, where the exercise of the Rom- 
 ish religion, so destructive to civil society, is allowed, surely there 
 can be no need of them in the bowels of the old Colonies, and even 
 in cities where there is not the least danger of a foreign enemy and 
 where the inhabitants are as strongly attached to his Majesty's per- 
 son, family, and government, as in Great Britain itself. There is 
 an English affection in the Colonies towards the mother country, 
 which will forever keep them connected with her, to every valuable 
 purpose, unless it shall be erased by repeated unkind usage on her 
 part. As Englishmen, as well as British subjects, they have an 
 aversion to an unnecessary standing army, which they look upon as 
 dangerous to their civil liberties ; and considering the examples of 
 ancient times, it seems a little surprising that a mother state should 
 trust large bodies of mercenary troops in her colonies, at so great a 
 distance from her, lest in process of time, when the spirits of the 
 people shall be depressed by the military power, another Czesar 
 should arise and usurp the authority of his master. 
 
 u The act enabling his Majesty to appoint Commissioners of the 
 
 Customs to reside in America has also been read in the House 
 
 These gentlemen are authorized to appoint as many as they shall 
 think proper, without limitation. This will probably be attended 
 with undesirable effects. A host of pensioners, by the arts they 
 may use, may in time become as dangerous to the liberties of the 
 people as an army of soldiers ; for there is a way of subduing a 
 people by art as well as by arms. We are happy and safe under 
 his present Majesty's mild and gracious administration ; but the 
 time may come when the united body of pensioners and soldiers 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 157 
 
 may ruin the liberties of America. The trade of the Colonies, we 
 apprehend, may be as easily carried on and the acts of trade as duly 
 enforced without this commission ; and, if so, it must be a very need- 
 less expense, at a time when the nation and her Colonies are groan- 
 ing under debts contracted in the late war, and how far distant an- 
 other may be God only knows. 
 
 The suspension of the legislative authority of the Assem- 
 bly of New York is taken up and treated as " alarming to all 
 the Colonies. A legislative body, without the free exercise 
 of the powers of legislation, is to us incomprehensible. 
 There can be no material difference between such a Legis- 
 lature and none at all." 
 
 " What is the plain language of such a suspension ? We can dis- 
 cover no more nor less in it than this : if the American Assemblies 
 refuse to grant as much of their own and their constituents' money 
 as shall, from time to time, be enjoined and prescribed by the Par- 
 liament, besides what the Parliament directly taxes them, they shall 
 no longer have any legislative authority ; but if they comply with 
 what is prescribed, they may still be allowed to legislate, under their 
 charter restrictions. Does not political death and annihilation stare 
 us in the face as strongly on the one supposition as the other ? 
 equally in case of compliance as of non-compliance ? 
 
 " The establishment of a Protestant episcopate in America is also 
 very zealously contended for; and it is very alarming to a peo- 
 ple whose fathers, from the hardships they suffered under such an 
 establishment, were obliged to fly their native country into a wilder- 
 ness, in order peaceably to enjoy their privileges, civil and relig- 
 ious. Their being threatened with the loss of both at once must 
 throw them into a very disagreeable situation. We hope in God 
 such an establishment will never take place in America, and we de- 
 sire you would strenuously oppose it. The revenue raised in Amer- 
 ica, for aught we can tell, may be as constitutionally applied towards 
 the support of prelacy as of soldiers and pensioners. If the property 
 of the subject is taken from him without his consent, it is immate- 
 rial whether it is done by one man or five hundred ; or whether it 
 
158 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [j an . 
 
 be applied for the support of ecclesiastic or military power, or both. 
 It may be well worth the consideration of the best politician in 
 Great Britain or America, what the natural tendency is of a vigor- 
 ous pursuit of these measures. We are not insensible that some 
 eminent men, on both sides the water, are less friendly to American 
 charters and Assemblies than could be wished. It seems to be grow- 
 ing fashionable to treat them, in common conversation as well as in 
 popular publications, with contempt. But if we look back a few 
 reigns, we shall find that even the august assembly, the Parliament, 
 was in every respect the object of a courtier's reproach. It was 
 even an aphorism with King James I., that the Lords and Com- 
 mons were two very bad copartners with a monarch ; and he 
 and his successors broke the copartnership as fast as possible. It 
 is certainly unnatural for a British politician to expect that even the 
 supreme executive of the nation can long exist, after the supreme 
 legislative shall be depressed and destroyed, which may God forbid." 
 
 The paper closes with a terse and unanswerable argument 
 against the dissolution or annihilation of the North Ameri- 
 can Assemblies, and the agent is desired to make known to 
 bis Majesty's ministers the sentiment of the House, and im- 
 plore a favorable consideration of America. 
 
 From the adoption of this letter to the middle of Febru- 
 ary, the House were engaged in the consideration of ad- 
 dresses to the Ministry, including Shelburne, Chatham, 
 Rockingham, Conway, Camden, and the Lords of the Treas- 
 ury, a petition to the King, and a circular letter to be sent 
 to each House of Representatives or Burgesses on the con- 
 tinent. These were all from the pen of Samuel Adams, 
 are models of simplicity and elegance of style, and, together 
 with the letter to the agent, attracted more attention than 
 any other state papers of the time. They contain similar 
 sentiments with the letter, and speak the unalterable mind 
 of Massachusetts on the rights of America. 
 
 To the Earl of Shelburne,* after reciting the hardships of 
 the early settlers of the Colonies, and their allegiance to the 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 137. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 159 
 
 Crown, the House claim all the rights of the British Consti- 
 tution, on the ground that no part of the subjects of the same 
 prince can be justly deprived of the full enjoyment of the 
 rights of that Constitution, upon which the government 
 itself is formed, and by which sovereignty and allegiance 
 are ascertained and limited. 
 
 "There are, my Lord, fundamental rules of the Constitution, 
 which, it is humbly presumed, neither the supreme legislative nor 
 the supreme executive can alter. In all free states the constitution 
 is fixed ; it is from thence that the legislative derives its authority ; 
 therefore it cannot change the constitution without destroying its 
 own foundation. If, then, the Constitution of Great Britain is the 
 common right of all British subjects, it is humbly referred to your 
 Lordship's judgment, whether the supreme legislative of the empire 
 may rightly leap the bounds of it, in the exercise of power over the 
 subjects in America, any more than over those in Britain. ,, 
 
 The Right Honorable Henry Seymour Conway was borne 
 gratefully in mind by the House, " for the signal and success- 
 ful exertions " he had made for the Colonists when their lib- 
 erties were in danger. His known attachment to the rights 
 of the subjects in their just extent induced the Assembly to 
 implore his aid.* In an eloquent appeal, Mr. Adams as- 
 serts : — 
 
 "It is the glory of the British Prince, and the happiness of all his 
 subjects, that their Constitution hath its foundation in the immutable 
 laws of nature ; and as the supreme legislative as well as the su- 
 preme executive derives its authority from that Constitution, it should 
 seem that no laws can be made or executed that are repugnant to 
 any essential law in nature. Hence a British subject is happily 
 distinguished from the subjects of many other states, in a just and 
 well-grounded opinion of his own safety, which is the perfection of 
 political liberty." 
 
 The Marquis of Rockingham had expressed his friendship 
 for the liberties of the Province in a letter to the House, 
 
 * Journals of the House for 1768. " The True Sentiments of America." 
 
160 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 [Jan. 
 
 communicated through the Speaker, promising not to adopt 
 a system of arbitrary rule. The Assembly gratefully ac- 
 knowledged his goodness * reiterating their allegiance to the 
 Crown, but apprehending the arbitrary rule of the supreme 
 power of the nation in its unjust system of taxation. 
 
 " My Lord, the superintending power of that high court over all 
 his Majesty's subjects in the empire, and in all cases which can 
 consist with the fundamental rules of the Constitution, was never 
 questioned in this Province, nor, as the House conceive, in any other. 
 But, in all free states, the constitution is fixed ; it is from thence that 
 the supreme legislative as well as the supreme executive derives 
 its authority. Neither, then, can break through the fundamental 
 rules of the constitution, without destroying their own foundation. 
 
 The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, Lord Camden, 
 had been a sterling friend of the Colonies during the Stamp 
 Act agitation. The House, addressing him, appeal to his 
 influence in their behalf, feeling assured that he still had 
 their cause at heart. 
 
 "This House can speak only for the people of one Province. 
 But no Assembly on this continent, it is presumed, can long be silent 
 under an apprehension that, without the aid of some powerful advo- 
 cate, the liberties of America will soon be no more. 
 
 " If it is an essential, unalterable right in nature, ingrafted into the 
 British Constitution as a fundamental law, and ever held sacred and 
 irrevocable by the subjects within the realm, that what is a man's 
 own is absolutely his own, and that no man hath a right to take it 
 from him without his consent, may not the subjects of this Province, 
 with a decent firmness which has always distinguished the happy 
 subjects of Britain, plead and maintain this natural constitutional 
 right ? 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 " The position that taxation and representation are inseparable 
 is founded on the immutable laws of nature. But the Americans 
 had no representation in Parliament when they were taxed. Are 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 142. 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 161 
 
 they not then unfortunate in these instances, in having that separated 
 which God and nature had joined ? Such are the local circumstan- 
 ces of the Colonies at the distance of a thousand leagues from the 
 metropolis, and separated by a wide ocean, as will forever render a 
 just and equal representation in the supreme legislative utterly im- 
 practicable." 
 
 The next letter was to the Earl of Chatham, the illustrious 
 champion of American rights in Parliament. To him they 
 stated their grievances in language whose moderation and 
 clearness must have powerfully impressed a mind ever sen- 
 sitive to human liberties. 
 
 " Surely it is no ill disposition," continues the address, 
 " in the loyal subjects of a patriot King, with a decency and 
 firmness adapted to their character, to assert their freedom." 
 The arguments in the main are similar to those of the pre- 
 ceding ; the inseparability of taxation and representation ; 
 the impossibility of representation on an equal basis ; the 
 loyalty of the Colonists to the mother country, and their 
 rights as guaranteed by the charters granted to their fore- 
 fathers. Remembering the increasing infirmities of the 
 great statesman, they say : — 
 
 " Nothing would have prevailed upon the House to have given 
 your Lordship this trouble but the necessity of a powerful advocate 
 when their liberty is in danger. Such they have more than once 
 found you to be ; and as they humbly hope they have never for- 
 feited your patronage, they entreat that your great interest in the 
 national councils may still be employed in their behalf, that they 
 may be restored to the standing of free subjects." 
 
 The last of the series was directed to " the Right Honor- 
 able the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury." This 
 board included Lord North, the determined assertor of 
 coercive measures; Grafton, First Lord of the Treasury, 
 the particular object of the keen satire of " Junius "; and 
 Jenkinson, the proposer of the Stamp Act. In this letter, 
 which the House kept under consideration for two days, Mr. 
 Adams, as in all the others, denies the possibility of an 
 
 VOL. I. 11 
 
162 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [J an . 
 
 American representation in Parliament. The dependence 
 of the Colonies on Great Britain is asserted, and the griev- 
 ance of supporting the administration of justice out of the 
 Colonial taxation fully set forth. 
 
 " By act of Parliament, your Lordships are sensible that the Col- 
 onies are restrained from importing commodities the growth or 
 manufacture of Europe, saving a few articles, except from Great 
 Britain. By this policy, the demand of British manufactures from 
 the Colonies is greatly increased ; and the manufacturers have the 
 advantage of their own price. Hence it appears, that what is 
 gained by the subjects in Britain is a loss to those in America; 
 for there can be no doubt, as this House conceive, but that if the 
 Colonists were allowed to purchase such commodities at foreign 
 markets, they might have them at a cheaper rate ; or, which is the 
 same thing to them, the British manufacturers would be necessi- 
 tated to reduce their price. Thus also, with regard to the many 
 articles of their produce, which the Colonies are by act of Parlia- 
 ment restrained from sending to foreign ports. This occasions a 
 great plenty of American exports, and oftentimes a glut at the 
 British markets, which always diminishes the price, and makes a 
 loss to the American and an equal gain to the subject in Britain. 
 This regulation, evidently designed in favor of those of his Maj- 
 esty's subjects inhabiting in Great Britain, the House is not at this 
 time complaining of, but they beg your Lordships' consideration, 
 whether, in addition to these burdens, it is not grievous to their 
 constituents to be obliged to pay duties on British manufactures 
 here ; especially considering, that, as the consumers of those man- 
 ufactures, they pay a great proportion of the duties and taxes laid 
 upon them in Britain. It is computed by a late celebrated British 
 writer, that the artificial value arising from these duties is not less 
 than fifty per cent. Your Lordships will then form an estimate of 
 the part that is paid annually upon the importation into America, 
 which is generally allowed to be at least two millions sterling. So 
 great are the advantages arising yearly to Great Britain from the 
 Colonies, most of which, it is said, were settled and have been 
 maintained and defended, till within a very few years, solely at 
 their own expense. This House can affirm for one Province only. 
 
 " But the bearing an unequal share of the public burdens, though 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 163 
 
 a real grievance, is of but small consideration when compared with 
 another, in the mentioning of which, the House beg your Lordships' 
 indulgence. The duties levied in America by virtue of the afore- 
 mentioned acts were imposed with the sole and express purpose of 
 raising a revenue ; and are to be applied, in the first place, for the 
 making a most certain and adequate provision for the charge of the 
 administration of justice, and the support of civil government, in 
 such Colonies where it shall be found necessary ; and the residue is 
 from time to time to be disposed of by Parliamemt, towards defray- 
 ing the necessary expenses of defending, protecting, and securing 
 the Colonies. It is humbly submitted whether his Majesty's Com- 
 mons in Britain have not, by these acts, granted the property of 
 their fellow-subjects in America, without their consent in Parlia- 
 ment. Your Lordships will allow, that it is an unalterable rule in 
 equity, that a man shall have the free use and sole disposal of his 
 property. This original principle, to the lasting honor of our Brit- 
 ish ancestors, was in early time ingrafted into the British Constitu- 
 tion, and is the greatest security as well as the brightest ornament 
 of a British subject. It adds to the real grandeur of the British 
 Monarch, whose happy subjects have an unshaken opinion of their 
 own safety, which is the perfection of political liberty. Such a con- 
 stitution shall in future ages be admired when the names of tyrants 
 and their vassals shall be alike forgot. This Constitution, my Lords, 
 is fixed : it is from thence that all power in the state derives its 
 authority : therefore no power can exceed the bounds of it with- 
 out destroying its own foundation. It is conceived that even the 
 remotest and most inconsiderable subject hath an equitable claim to 
 the benefit of the fundamental rules of the Constitution ; for all 
 British subjects are alike free. The blessings of the British Con- 
 stitution will forever keep the subjects in this Province united to 
 the mother state, as long as the sentiments of liberty are preserved : 
 but what liberty can remain to them, when their property, the fruit 
 of their toil and industry and the prop of all their future hopes in 
 life, may be taken from them at the discretion of others ? They 
 have never been backward in affording their aid to his Majesty, to 
 the extent of their ability. They can say without vanity, and they 
 may be allowed to boast, that, from the days of their ancestors, no 
 subjects have given more signal proofs of zeal for the service and 
 honor of their Sovereign, and affection for the parent country. It 
 
164 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 has, till of late, been the invariable usage for his Majesty's requisi- 
 tions to be laid before their own representatives ; and their aid has 
 not been tributary, but the free and voluntary gift of all. The 
 change is in its nature delicate and important; your Lordships 
 will judge whether there be any necessity or pressing reasons for 
 it. The House are not insensible that the Colonies have their ene- 
 mies, who may have represented them to his Majesty's ministers 
 and the Parliament as seditious, disloyal, and disposed to set up an 
 independency on Great Britain ; but they rely upon the candor of 
 your Lordships' judgment. They can affirm, that with regard to 
 this Province, and, they presume, all the Colonies, the charge is in- 
 jurious and unjust ; the superintending authority of his Majesty's 
 high court of Parliament, the supreme legislative over the whole 
 empire, is as clearly admitted here as in Britain, so far as is consist- 
 ent with the fundamental rules of the Constitution ; and it is pre- 
 sumed it is not further admissible there. 
 
 " The House are humbly in opinion that a representation of their 
 constituents in that high court, by reason of local circumstances, will 
 forever be impracticable and that his Majesty's royal predeces- 
 sors were graciously pleased, by charter, to erect a legislative in the 
 Province, as perfectly free as a subordination would admit, that the 
 subjects here might enjoy the unalienable right of a representation ; 
 and further, that the nation hath ever since considered them as sub- 
 jects, though remote, and conceded to the acts of their subordinate 
 legislation. Their charter is a check upon them, and effectually se- 
 cures their dependence on Great Britain ; for no acts can be in force 
 till the King's Governor has given his assent, and all laws that are 
 made are laid before his Majesty, who at any time, during three 
 years after they are made, may disannul them at his royal pleasure. 
 Under this check, the House humbly conceive, a representation in 
 Parliament cannot be necessary for the nation, and for many reasons 
 it cannot be eligible to them. All they desire is, to be placed on 
 their original standing, that they may still be happy in the enjoy- 
 ment of their invaluable privileges, and the nation may still reap the 
 advantage of their growth and prosperity. 
 
 " The House entreat your Lordships' patience one moment longer, 
 while they just mention the danger they apprehend to their liberties, 
 if the Crown, in addition to its uncontroverted right of appointing a 
 governor, should also appoint him a stipend at the expense of the 
 
li 
 
 i!" 
 
 Hum* 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 165 
 
 people, and without their consent ; and also whether, as the judges 
 and other civil officers of the Province do not hold commissions dur- 
 ing good behavior, there is not a probability that arbitrary rule may 
 in some time take effect, to the subversion of the principles of equity 
 and justice, and the ruin of liberty and virtue. 
 
 " It is humbly hoped that your Lordships will conceive a favorable 
 opinion of the people of the Province ; and that you will patronize 
 their liberties, so far as, in your great wisdom and candor, you shall 
 
 judge to be right." 
 
 (Signed by the Speaker.) 
 
 The petition to the King cannot be overrated as a blend- 
 ing of simple and chaste language.* A close perusal of its 
 carefully constructed sentences reveals nothing that the 
 severest critic could wish altered. The Representatives, ad- 
 dressing their " most gracious Sovereign,' ' beg leave to ap- 
 proach the throne, and lay at his Majesty's feet their humble 
 supplication.f U y , 
 
 " Our ancestors, the first settlers of this country, having, with the 
 royal consent, which, we humbly apprehend, involves the consent of 
 the nation, and at their own great expense, migrated from the moth- 
 er kingdom, took possession of this land, at that time a wilderness 
 the right whereof they purchased, for a valuable consideration, of the 
 Council established at Plymouth, to whom it had been granted by 
 your Majesty's royal predecessor, King James the First. 
 
 "From the principles of loyalty to their sovereign, which will 
 ever warm the breast of a true subject, though remote, they 
 acknowledged their allegiance to the English Crown ; and your 
 Majesty will allow us, with all humility, to say, that they and their 
 posterity, even to this time, have afforded frequent and signal proofs 
 of their zeal for the honor and service of their Prince, and their 
 firm attachment to the parent country. 
 
 " With toil and fatigue, perhaps not to be conceived by their 
 brethren and fellow-subjects at home, and with the constant peril of 
 their lives, from a numerous, savage, and warlike race of men, they 
 began their settlement, and God prospered them. 
 
 "They obtained a charter from King Charles the First, wherein 
 
 * See Bancroft, VI. 123. I, J J/ 
 
 t Journal of the House for 1767 — 68, Appendix. Bradford's State Papers, 
 p. 121. 
 
166 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [J an . 
 
 his Majesty was pleased to grant to them, and their heirs and as- 
 signs forever, all the lands therein described, to hold of him and his 
 royal successors, in fee and common soccage ; which, we humbly con- 
 ceive, is as absolute an estate as the subject can hold under the 
 Crown. And in the same charter were granted to them and their 
 posterity all the rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities of nat- 
 ural subjects born within the realm. 
 
 " This charter they enjoyed, having, as we most humbly conceive, 
 punctually complied with all the conditions of it, till in an unhappy 
 time it was vacated. But after the Revolution, when King William 
 and Queen Mary, of glorious and blessed memory, were established 
 on the throne, — in that happy reign, when, to the joy of the nation 
 and its dependencies, the crown was settled in your Majesty's illus- 
 trious family, the inhabitants of this Province shared in the common 
 blessing. They then were indulged with another charter, in which 
 their Majesties were pleased, for themselves, their heirs, and succes- 
 sors, to grant and confirm to them as ample estate in the lands or 
 territories as was granted by the former charter, together with other 
 the most essential rights and liberties contained therein ; the princi- 
 pal of which is that which your Majesty's subjects within the realm 
 have held a most sacred right, of being taxed only by representa- 
 tives of their own free election. 
 
 " Thus blessed with the rights of Englishmen, through the indul- 
 gent smiles of Heaven and under the auspicious government of your 
 Majesty and your royal predecessors, your people of this Province 
 have been happy, and your Majesty has acquired a numerous in- 
 crease of loyal subjects, a large extent of dominion, and a new and 
 inexhaustible source of commerce, wealth, and glory." 
 
 They then acknowledge " his Majesty's High Court of 
 Parliament the supreme legislative power of the whole em- 
 pire ; the superintending authority of which is clearly ad- 
 mitted in all cases that can consist with the fundamental 
 rights of nature and the Constitution." The enforcing of 
 the late revenue acts, they say, will leave them " only the 
 name of free subjects "; and they implore his Majesty to take 
 their unhappy circumstances under his royal consideration, 
 and afford them relief in such manner as in his Majesty's 
 great wisdom and clemency should seem meet. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 167 
 
 Mrs. Hannah Wells, the daughter of Samuel Adams, used 
 to relate that, on this or some other occasion, when her 
 father had been writing at night, and was glancing over the 
 petition to the King before leaving the house, she remarked 
 that the paper would doubtless soon be touched by the royal 
 hand. " It will, my dear," replied he, " more likely be 
 spurned by the royal foot," — showing that although it 
 may have been the general opinion that his Majesty would 
 regard their supplications favorably, the writer had but little 
 faith in the mercy and justice of the King. 
 
 No one can read this petition, and the preceding letters, 
 without a profound impression of the firm loyalty of the Col- 
 onists towards the mother country. As yet the most dis- 
 tant idea of independence was disclaimed. All that the 
 Americans asked was to be restored to their condition before 
 the passage of the late revenue acts ; and of the justice of 
 these requests, time has afforded the most undeniable proofs, 
 even were they not supported by the reasoning of the Ameri- 
 can patriots and of the most eloquent of British statesmen. 
 How exactly the private opinions of Samuel Adams accorded 
 with those expressed in his public writings is revealed by 
 the subjoined letter to the agent in England, written just 
 after the above-named state papers had been penned. 
 Those papers indeed, by a comparison with the extract 
 from Mr. Adams's letters in 1765, already given, will be 
 found to agree with his individual views in the minutest 
 details, and illustrate the entire consistency of the writer's 
 character. 
 
 Boston, January 30th, 1768. 
 Sir,— 
 lam to acknowledge your favor, enclosing the several acts of 
 Parliament passed in the last session relating to America. The 
 House of Representatives have written you so fully, in which I 
 have the good fortune to have my own private sentiments so exactly 
 expressed as to render it needless for me to say anything in this let- 
 ter. The House have sent a humble petition to his Majesty and 
 
168 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 representations to his ministers, some of which it is hoped have ere 
 now come into your hands, and others will soon be transmitted 
 to you. It may seem strange that these addresses do not pass 
 through the medium of the Governor of the Province ; but it is my 
 private opinion, that there is a want of confidence between the Gov- 
 ernor and the House, which will never be removed as long as this 
 gentleman is in the chair. In short, the dependence seems to be 
 altogether upon those noblemen and others who have heretofore 
 distinguished themselves as the guardians under his Majesty of the 
 rights of British American subjects. 
 
 You will observe that the House still insist upon that inestimable 
 right of nature and the Constitution, of being taxed only by repre- 
 sentatives of their own free election ; which they think is infringed 
 by the late acts for establishing a revenue in America. It is by no 
 means to be understood that they desire a representation in Parlia- 
 ment, because, by reason of local circumstances, it is impracticable 
 that they should be equally and fairly represented. There is noth- 
 ing, therefore, the Colonies would more dread. 
 
 The few gentlemen in the House who did not give their votes 
 declared this as a reason, — that they feared if the House should 
 insist that they* could not be legally taxed, because they were not 
 represented in Parliament, it would be construed as if they would be 
 content to be represented. And I hope you will, as you have oppor- 
 tunity, make it known to the Ministry, that the people here, as they 
 always have done, will cheerfully afford their utmost aid for the 
 honor and service of their sovereign, and the interest of the mother 
 state, to which they are inviolably attached. All they desire is to 
 be placed on the standing in which they were originally put, and to 
 have, as free subjects, the honor and privilege of voluntarily contrib- 
 uting to the service of his Majesty at all times, when his Majesty 
 shall be graciously pleased to order his requisitions to be laid upon 
 their own representatives. 
 
 The House yesterday made you a grant of six hundred pounds 
 sterling for two years' services, and the same sum to Richard Jack- 
 son, Esq., for his services for two years. I have not the honor of a 
 correspondence with that gentleman, but I think it might not be 
 amiss that he, as well as you, should be made acquainted that every 
 member that spoke upon these grants expressed a high sense of the 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 169 
 
 merit of both your and his services ; and I have no reason but to 
 
 think they spoke the sentiments of the whole House. Neither of 
 
 your expenses were considered, as it was thought improper, till the 
 
 House should receive your several amounts. 
 
 Your acceptance of the enclosed pamphlets will oblige, sir, 
 
 Your most humble servant, 
 
 Samuel Adams. 
 Dennts Deberdt, Esq. 
 
 It will be observed, that among the calm and earnest 
 papers which the House had prepared during the month 
 of January, appealing to the most eminent statesmen and 
 noblemen of the realm, they had sent no memorial to the 
 Parliament, thereby clearly indicating their denial of the 
 right of taxation by that body. Their petition, made di- 
 rectly to the King, recognizes only the immediate authority 
 of the Throne, whence had emanated their original charter. 
 
 The House having adopted the letters and petition, the 
 next step was to inform the other Colonial governments, 
 with a view of securing their co-operation. Mr. Adams, 
 in his account of the proceedings of the House to Lord 
 Hillsborough,* states that a motion was made, on the 21st 
 of January, to consider the expediency of writing to the 
 Assemblies of the other Colonies, " with respect to the im- 
 portance of joining with them, in petitioning his Majesty at 
 this time." On the day assigned, eighty-two members being 
 present, the question was debated. The motion failed by a 
 vote of two to one, on the ground that it would be consid- 
 ered in England as forming a second congress. The House 
 at this time consisted of about one hundred and ten mem- 
 bers, and the country members especially, with perhaps a 
 few exceptions, had yet to fully appreciate the impending 
 danger. The defeat of the resolution was highly gratifying 
 to Bernard, who probably saw in it the dawn of returning 
 obedience ; but Samuel Adams was indefatigable in his op- 
 position to the principle of taxation, and the Governor, in a 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, pp. 153, 154. See Bancroft, VI. 125. 
 
170 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb. 
 
 letter to Lord Hillsborough, testifies to the efforts of Adams 
 and the few members who worked with him. The results 
 were soon apparent.* On the 4th of February, a com- 
 plete revolution had been accomplished in the views of the 
 House, when, eighty-three members being present, the ques- 
 tion was again put, and carried by a large majority. The 
 former vote was erased from the journals, and a committee, 
 of which Adams was one, was appointed to prepare a letter 
 to be sent to each of the other Colonies. 
 
 The report was made on the 11th, — Samuel Adams, 
 the originator of the measure, being the author of this " mas- 
 terly circular letter," which was accepted almost unani- 
 mously.! The letter, which is directed to " the Speakers 
 of the respective Houses of Representatives and Burgesses 
 on this continent,' ' commenced by referring to the late acts 
 of Parliament. 
 
 " As it is a subject in which every Colony is deeply interested, 
 they have no reason to doubt but your House is deeply impressed 
 with its importance, and that such constitutional measures will be 
 come into as are proper. It seems to be necessary that all possible 
 care should be taken, that the representations of the several Assem- 
 blies, upon so delicate a point, should harmonize with each other. 
 The House, therefore, hope that this letter will be candidly consid- 
 ered in no other light than as expressing a disposition freely to 
 communicate their mind to a sister Colony upon a common concern, 
 in the same manner as they would be glad to receive the sentiments 
 of your or any other House of Assembly on the continent." 
 
 It then recites in brief the representations of the House to 
 the Ministry in their late appeals, embracing every point of 
 those papers, and makes an emphatic denial of any disposi- 
 tion to make themselves independent of the mother country. 
 
 " The House," they conclude, " is fully satisfied that your As- 
 sembly is too generous and enlarged in sentiment to believe that this 
 letter proceeds from an ambition of taking the lead or dictating to the 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 125. f Bancroft. Bradford's State Papers, p. 134. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 171 
 
 other Assemblies. They freely submit their opinion to the judg- 
 ment of others, and shall take it kind in your House to point out to 
 them anything further that may be thought necessary/' * 
 
 The Ministry considered this circular as surpassing all 
 that had yet been done in opposition to the government. 
 Their evil estimation of it was increased by the representa- 
 tions of informers and government writers in Boston, who 
 distorted its effects on the other Colonies, and used it as an 
 additional incentive for sending an armed force into the 
 Province. A few years later, Mr. Adams, as " Candidus," 
 devotes several columns in the press to a history of this 
 paper and its results. f 
 
 " I have already mentioned the circular letter, written by the 
 House of Representatives of this Province to the other Colonies, 
 dated the 11th of February, 1768, and the very different treat- 
 ment it met with from the Earl of Hillsborough and the respectable 
 bodies to whom it was addressed. And also the circular letter 
 which his Lordship himself was pleased to send to those Colonies, 
 wherein he recommended t« t|jem ' to treat it with the contempt it de- 
 served.' But, as the segments contained in the letter of the House 
 were so exactly similar to those of the other Colonies, and the sub- 
 ject of it was of equal importance to them all, it was not in the power 
 of his Lordship to efface the impressions it made, or to disturb that 
 harmony which was the happy effect of it. Vis unita fortior. That 
 union of the Colonies in their common danger, by which they be- 
 came powerful, was the occasion of the greatest perplexity to their 
 enemies on both sides the Atlantic; and it has been, ever since, 
 their constant endeavor by all manner of arts to destroy it. In tnis, 
 it must be confessed, they have discovered a unanimity, zeal, and 
 perseverance, worthy to be imitated by those who are em4lftr , 5ed in 
 the cause of American freedom. It is by united counsels^ a steady 
 zeal, and a manly fortitude, that this continent mus^expect to re- 
 cover its violated rights and liberties." *i 
 
 The replies of the other Colonies were all that the warm- 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 125. Grahame, II. 431-432. 
 t Boston Gazette for September 16, 1771. 
 
172 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb. 
 
 est patriot in Massachusetts could desire.* The idea of a 
 regular correspondence between the several Provinces, in op- 
 position to government, — Samuel Adams's favorite measure, 
 — was undoubtedly quickened and directed to practical re- 
 sults by this circular, and in this respect the Ministry might 
 well have regarded it as dangerous, and tending towards in- 
 dependence, though its immediate object was the reverse of 
 such a plan, as all the papers of the present session distinctly 
 assert ; for it was not until midsummer of this year, when it 
 ( was evident that armed force was to be used to crush the 
 Province into submission, that Samuel Adams resigned the 
 hope of justice from Parliament, and made American inde- 
 pendence the one aim of his existence.! 
 
 * Grahame, IT. 482. Bancroft, VI. 146-150. 
 
 t In Tudor's Life of Otis, the series of legislative papers from which extracts 
 have just been given are claimed as his production. The only ground upon 
 which such an assumption can be based is the supposition by John Adams, 
 half a century afterwards, that Otis must have written them (see letter to Wil- 
 liam Tudor, March 7, 1819, in John Adams's Works, X. 367) because he remem- 
 bered Otis to have said that he, having drawn them up, had given them " to 
 Sam to quieu whew them," — an expression which John Adams said he was 
 unable to explain. He then goes on to quote from the papers, repeatedly giv- 
 ing it as his opinion, that they must have been written by Otis and pruned by 
 Samuel Adams. 
 
 When John Adams wrote the above letter, the third volume of Hutchinson's 
 History, pointing out Samuel Adams as the principal writer of state papers 
 for the House of Kepresentatives, had not been published, though it had been 
 many years in manuscript in England, in the keeping of the Governor's de- 
 scendants. There were periods when John Adams, in the pursuit of his pro- 
 fession as a lawyer, knew but little of the minutiae of the proceedings of the 
 Assembly, and his respect for the legal abilities of Otis led him repeatedly, 
 in his old age, to hastily attribute to him writings which, as his contemporary 
 diary of those times shows, could not have been by Otis. He was thus in error 
 in pointing to Otis as in part author of the " Appeal to the World"; and as 
 the writer of the pamphlet in October, 1772, which he remembered as containing 
 " the essence " of the Declaration of Independence. The first of these, as is 
 hereafter shown, was by Samuel Adams, as was also that portion of the 
 pamphlet included under the head of " The Rights of the Colonists as Men, 
 as Christians, and as Subjects." (Compare Bancroft, VI. 312, 431 ; and Bar- 
 ry's Massachusetts, II. 399, 450.) In 1771, Samuel Adams unquestionably 
 wrote the masterly letter to Franklin from the Assembly. Otis was then in 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 173 
 
 In Massachusetts the circular letter created no less com- 
 motion than in England. The Governor and his officers re- 
 newed their applications to persons in authority across the 
 Atlantic, advocating the immediate sending of a fleet and 
 regiments to counteract the growing freedom of action and 
 expression in the Province. The Board of Commissioners 
 of the Revenue sent a powerful memorial to the Ministry, 
 designed to further these requests. Every act of the Colo- 
 nists, though characterized by moderation and calm good 
 sense, was distorted into rebellion by these malignant ene- 
 mies of the popular liberties, and the Ministry were at once 
 ready to proceed with the most rigorous measures, partic- 
 ularly against Massachusetts. 
 
 The moving cause of these threatened proceedings could 
 
 the House, but certainly could not have had any hand in its composition. Now- 
 had John Adams, in after years, known of this letter, he would have been equally 
 likely to think that it was by Otis, but perhaps " pruned " by his colleague. 
 These remarks will apply to very many of the state papers of Samuel Adams. 
 
 But against the supposition of John Adams — a supposition sustained by 
 no proof — that Otis was the writer of the celebrated letter of the Assembly of 
 1768, there is positive contemporary evidence that the author was Samuel 
 Adams. This is asserted by Andrew Eliot, a minister of Boston, a reliable 
 man, a firm patriot, and thoroughly versed in the political movements of the 
 town. Bancroft (VI. 119, 120) shows that Samuel Adams wrote the letters. 
 The facts which would seem to set all controversy at rest on the subject have 
 come to light since the Life of Otis was published, or those state papers would 
 scarcely have been there claimed for him. 
 
 Neither the style nor the sentiments are those of Otis. The sentiments are 
 the reverse of Otis's doctrines repeatedly expressed, but are exactly those of 
 Samuel Adams, as found in all his previous as well as subsequent state papers 
 and private letters ; while the language is so evidently his, that upon a curi- 
 ous comparison, it would almost appear that he had had his own letters of 
 1765-6 before him while penning these documents. 
 
 They were published in London in 1768, at the instance of Thomas Hollis ; 
 and as Samuel Adams forwarded them to the agent in the winter of that year, 
 it is most likely that Hollis, who was the warm friend of education in the Col- 
 onies, was furnished with early copies by Deberdt, who doubtless also exhibited 
 to him Mr. Adams's private letters, in which these very state papers are repeat- 
 edly alluded to as the " true sentiments " of Massachusetts, by which the title of 
 Hollis's book, " The True Sentiments of America," may have been suggested. 
 This title has since been erroneously based upon a political essay, " A Disser- 
 
174 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb. 
 
 not long be kept secret from the Colonists. Samuel Adams 
 in all his writings, private and public, at this time reveals 
 his firm conviction that the Governor and his minions had 
 been engaged in misrepresenting the acts and motives of the 
 Province in their secret correspondence ; and he repeatedly 
 advocated the removal of Bernard, between whom and the 
 people he knew all confidence had been destroyed. Time 
 has proved the correctness of his views. The letters both of 
 Bernard and Hutchinson, on file at the State-paper Office in 
 London, are filled with urgent appeals for armed forces to 
 subdue the spirit of liberty. The determination to exclude 
 the crown officers from the Council had been particularly 
 the object of Bernard's correspondence, and the Earl of Shel- 
 burne having replied that the question of admitting the 
 
 tation on the Canon and Feudal Law," by John Adams, which was printed at 
 the end of the book, and which Hollis had attributed to Gridley on sending it 
 to Eliot. " The Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law," replies Eliot, 
 " was not written, by the late Mr. Gridley. I have been privately , but authenti- 
 cally, informed that the author was Mr. Adams, (not our Representative, who 
 penned the address to the King and the letters contained in the first part of 
 the collection, but) a young gentleman of the law, who hath lately removed 
 from the country into Boston, and is likely to make a shining figure at the 
 bar." The state papers in the book, being the avowed opinions of the House 
 of Representatives, were the " true sentiments " ; to which John Adams's essay 
 was manifestly an appendix, — the effusion of an individual, not the accepted 
 doctrines of a people. 
 
 Some of the papers in the collection are extant in the autograph of Samuel 
 Adams, — evidently original drafts, as shown by the style of the penmanship, 
 and the erasures and interlineations, which would hardly be found in a copy 
 of another's production ; and it is yet to be shown that any of them ever existed 
 in the handwriting of any other person. The " address to the King, and the 
 letters contained in the first part of the collection," alluded to by Mr. Eliot as 
 having been written by Samuel Adams, are those adopted by the House during 
 this session, including that to the agent, and those to the several members of 
 the Cabinet, extracts from which have already been given. This is direct, con- 
 temporary, and unimpeachable evidence as to the authorship. Moreover, their 
 style is uniform, and shows the hand of one author. Finally, of the celebrated 
 letter to Deberdt, Mr. Adams, writing to that gentleman (see p. 167), almost 
 admits that he was the writer. He speaks of it as one " in which I have the 
 good fortune to have my own private sentiments so exactly expressed as to 
 render it needless for me to say anything in this letter." 
 
1768.J LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 175 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor to the Board rested exclusively with 
 the Council, and signifying his Majesty's approval of the 
 Governor's conduct, the House requested a copy of the no- 
 bleman's letter which had been read to them. The letter 
 was at length reluctantly submitted, the Governor stating 
 that he knew of no letters of his own which he thought 
 could be of use on this occasion. Mr. Adams was oh the 
 committee to reply, and the original draft of the answer yet 
 remains in his handwriting. The unwillingness of Bernard 
 to exhibit the letter from Shelburne was easily accounted 
 for, upon finding that his Lordship distinctly alluded to the 
 Governor's statements in several letters to the Ministry, 
 These letters had not only maligned the Province generally, 
 but had singled out Otis and Adams as the " two chiefs of 
 the faction." The answer to the Governor's speech fully 
 reviews the tendency of his Lordship's letter, traces his un- 
 favorable disposition against the Province to Bernard's cor- 
 respondence, and does not fail to show his Excellency the 
 opinion of the House on his conduct. 
 
 A writer, over the signature of " A True Patriot," prob- 
 ably Otis, though thought by some to be Joseph Warren, 
 who had lately become conspicuous as a contributor to the 
 public press, attacked the Governor, late in February, on 
 his " enmity to the Province," his " cruelty to a loyal peo- 
 ple," and his " obstinate perseverance in the path of malice." 
 " But I refrain," so the writer concludes, " lest a full repre- 
 sentation of the hardships suffered by this too long insulted 
 people should lead them to an unwarrantable revenge." * 
 The excited tone of the publication points rather to Otis 
 than to Warren as the author. The Governor, on the fol- 
 lowing day, denounced the article to the Legislature as libel- 
 lous, and demanded the prosecution of the author. The 
 House refused to take further notice of the publication, on 
 the ground that it contained nothing that could " affect the 
 majesty of the King, the dignity of the government, the 
 
 * Boston Gazette, Feb. 29, 1768. 
 
176 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 honor of the General Court, or the true interest of the Prov- 
 ince." * 
 
 "The liberty of the press is a great bulwark of the liberty of 
 the people. It is therefore the incumbent duty of those who are 
 constituted the guardians of the people's rights to defend and main- 
 tain it. This House, however, as one branch of the Legislature, 
 in which capacity alone they have any authority, are ready to dis- 
 countenance an abuse of this privilege whenever there shall be 
 occasion for it. Should the proper bounds of it at any time be 
 transgressed to the prejudice of individuals or the public, it is their 
 opinion at present that provision is already made for the punish- 
 ment of offenders in the common course of the law." 
 
 The peevishness and vanity of Bernard made him show 
 great annoyance at the attacks of the press, which a more 
 dignified character would have passed over in silence. 
 
 Towards the close of the session, a committee, consisting 
 of Otis, Adams, Dexter, and Sayward, reported a series of 
 resolutions for the encouragement of manufactures in the 
 Province, which were carried by the vote of all except Timo- 
 thy Buggies, a stanch loyalist, who generally voted against 
 the measures of the patriots. 
 
 "Resolved, That this house will use their utmost endeavors, and en- 
 force their endeavors by example, in suppressing extravagance, idle- 
 ness, and vice, and promoting industry, economy, and good morals in 
 their respective towns." 
 
 " And in order to prevent the unnecessary exportation of money, 
 of which the Province has of late been so much drained, it is fur- 
 ther resolved, that this House will, by all prudent means, endeavor 
 to discountenance the use of foreign superfluities, and to encourage 
 the manufactures of this Province." 
 
 After the House had passed a resolution requesting the 
 executive to appoint a day of fasting and prayer throughout 
 the Province, the Governor prorogued the Legislature with 
 a speech, in which he discovered his hatred of the leading 
 members. Beferring to Shelburne's letter, he says : — 
 
 * Journal of the House, March 3, 1768. Bradford's State Papers, p. 119. 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 177 
 
 "Prudent men, moderate men, would have considered it as an 
 admonition rather than a censure, and would have made use of it as 
 a means of reconciliation rather than of farther distraction. But 
 there are men to whose being (I mean the being of their importance) 
 everlasting contention is necessary. And by these has this letter 
 
 been dragged into public Time and experience will soon 
 
 pull the mask off those false patriots who are sacrificing their coun- 
 try to the gratification of their own passions I shall defend 
 
 this injured country from the imputations which are cast upon it, 
 and the evils which threaten it, arising from the machinations of a 
 few, very few, discontented men." * 
 
 Such was the royal Governor's estimate of those who con- 
 sidered themselves the keepers of the public liberties, and as 
 holding them in sacred trust for the millions of posterity. 
 He continued his importunities for troops ; and the crown 
 officers availed themselves of the anniversary of the repeal 
 of the Stamp Act, March 18th, to invent new libels against 
 the people. As they spread reports of an intended insurrec- 
 tion on that day, the Sons of Liberty were the more deter- 
 mined to preserve order. Rioting had been unknown since 
 the repeal of the Act. Passive resistance as yet was the 
 policy, as exemplified in the meeting of the merchants on the 
 day on which the Court was prorogued, when they had re- 
 nounced by subscription their commerce with England, and 
 invited the merchants of the whole continent to join them. 
 
 The 18th was celebrated with the usual enthusiasm, but 
 without violence of any kind. The effigies of two of the 
 crown officers were found suspended on the Liberty Tree at 
 daybreak, but were instantly taken down by the more mod- 
 erate and prudent. A festival was held at Faneuil Hall, 
 where toasts were drunk to the freedom of the press, to Paoli 
 and the martyrs of liberty. The dinner broke up early, and, 
 though the occasion had generally been celebrated with an 
 illumination, no bonfire was lighted at night. Hutchinson 
 recorded at the time that " the mob, if there was one, was 
 
 * Journal of the House, March 4, 1768. 
 
 VOL. I. 12 
 
178 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 [March, Apr. 
 
 only such as was usual on the fifth of November and other 
 holiday s." Yet Bernard represented that " many hundreds 
 paraded the streets with yells and outcries, which were quite 
 terrible," and when they passed his house he was afraid they 
 were breaking in. Asserting that he and the Commissioners 
 were without protection, and himself without the shadow of 
 power, and exposed to the " madness of the people," he 
 again urged the sending of military force ; . and while he en- 
 treated that his correspondence might be kept secret, he 
 artfully protested his innocence among those whom he had 
 maligned, and wished they might see his letters to the Min- 
 istry as an evidence of his friendship for the Province ! 
 
 Encompassed by powerful and designing enemies, whose 
 efforts were to rule by the bayonet, and having lost all confi- 
 dence in Government, in consequence of the corrupt rotten- 
 borough system of elections to Parliament, the Colonists saw 
 but faint gleams of hope in the gloomy future. How many 
 descried the distant light of independence beyond these 
 clouds, none can tell. Continued oppression must have sug- 
 gested it as perhaps near at hand. Eash writers spoke of 
 forcible resistance, and it seemed at times that the proper 
 occasion only was needed to bring on a crisis. But in Bos- 
 ton the public mind was held within the bounds of reason, 
 and, swayed by the sagacious counsels of the patriot leaders, 
 the Americans never passed beyond the limits of legal oppo- 
 sition. The press, made eloquent by the pens of gifted 
 writers, spoke for the people, declaring their unalterable de- 
 termination to refuse the payment of the taxes which a de- 
 praved Parliament had imposed. That Parliament, — the 
 twelfth, — which was dissolved in March, was the most cor- 
 rupt that had disgraced England, — open to bribes, profli- 
 gate, and shameless. The rights of America, intrusted to 
 such a body, became a by-word ; and the Colonists, from 
 regarding the Parliament as the bulwark of their liber- 
 ties, came at last to look upon it as their worst enemy.* 
 
 * Bancroft, VII. 137. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 179 
 
 The solemn declarations of the press in Boston were ap- 
 proved by the prudent and moderate Dickinson in Pennsyl- 
 vania, whose " Farmer's Letters " had already inspired thou- 
 sands with his own ennobling sentiments. " Almighty God 
 himself," said he, " will look down upon your righteous con- 
 test with approbation You are assigned by Divine 
 
 Providence, in the appointed order of things, the protect- 
 ors of unborn ages, whose fate depends upon your virtue." 
 The magic of his eloquence met the spirit of Boston ; and 
 on the 22d of March the people responded to his appeal, 
 appointing Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Joseph War- 
 ren to express their thanks to the author of the Farmer's 
 Letters, as the friend of Americans and the benefactor of 
 mankind.* 
 
 No sooner did the Circular Letter arrive in England, than 
 the Ministry seeing the effect it must have in establishing a 
 concert of action between the several Assemblies, denounced 
 it as of " most dangerous and factious tendency, calculated 
 to inflame the minds of his Majesty's good subjects in the 
 Colonies, to promote an unwarrantable combination, to ex- 
 cite and encourage an open opposition to, and defiance of, 
 the authority of Parliament, and to subvert the true prin- 
 ciples of the Constitution." In April, letters were de- 
 spatched to the several Governors in America, directing 
 each to use his utmost exertions " to defeat this flagitious 
 attempt to disturb the public peace, by prevailing upon the 
 Assembly of your Province to take no notice of it, which 
 will be treating it with the contempt it deserves." f 
 
 Such was Lord Hillsborough's estimate of a legal and 
 patriotic attempt by Massachusetts to obtain the unbiassed 
 sentiments of her sister Colonies on the gathering dangers 
 which menaced their liberties. This letter was written in 
 London on the 29th of April. On the 20th of the same 
 month, Samuel Adams had forwarded to the agent in Lon- 
 
 * Boston Gazette for March 28, 1768. 
 
 t Lord Hillsborough's Circular Letter, April 21, 1768. 
 
180 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Apr., May, 
 
 don the journals of the House of Representatives for the 
 last year, with the appendix containing the letters to the 
 Ministry and others in full. 
 
 " The letters and the appendix," he writes, " I hope you have re- 
 ceived ere now. I think they contain the true sentiments and spirit 
 of this part of the Province.* The manner and event of their re- 
 ception in England is a matter of great expectation here. I wish 
 that Great Britain may not be deceived with regard to the Colonies 
 to her own prejudice, by the false, very false, representations of her 
 and their enemies on this side the water." 
 
 Those "false representations," however, had been con- 
 stantly going forward, and even as he wrote, the plan for 
 the destruction of the Provincial Legislature was maturing 
 in England. The pathetic and dutiful petition to the King 
 was never officially presented by Lord Hillsborough, to 
 whom the agent intrusted it: but the Council ordered 
 Bernard to direct the Assembly of Massachusetts to rescind 
 their Circular Letter ; and, on their refusal, to immediately 
 dissolve them. Upon their next choice, he was again to 
 press the matter, and to dissolve them as often as they should 
 refuse. To complete the new system, General Gage, Com- 
 mander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces in America, was 
 ordered "to maintain the public tranquillity." Tyranny 
 seemed to culminate with this novel measure. The Colo- 
 nists felt that the plan to enslave them had been perfected, 
 and enthusiasts looked forward with certainty to the accom- 
 plishment of " the grand design of God in the settlement of 
 New England." 
 
 * When Hollis had these letters printed in London, he gave them the name 
 suggested in Adams's letters. The pamphlet has the following title : — 
 
 " The Trve Sentiments of America : contained in a Collection of Letters 
 sent from the Hovse of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts Bay 
 to several Persons of High Rank in this Kingdom : together with certain Papers 
 relating to a svpposed Libel on the Governor of that Province, and a Disserta- 
 tion on the Canon and Fevdal Law. London, printed for I. Almon, in Picca- 
 dilly. 1768." 80. pp. 158. 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 181 
 
 At the town elections on the 4th of May, Cushing, Ad- 
 ams, Hancock, and Otis were chosen Representatives for the 
 ensuing year. 
 
 On the 14th of this month, Mr. Adams again addressed 
 the agent in London, recommending the removal of Gov- 
 ernor Bernard to another government. 
 
 " I have no reason to think," he says, " that a cordiality will ever 
 subsist between the present Governor and the representatives of 
 
 the people I now speak my mind with freedom, and, I 
 
 hope, with candor and impartiality The Board of Com- 
 missioners are neglected by men of fortune and character, and are 
 viewed in general in no better light than the late commissioners of 
 the stamps ; they appear to be a very useless and expensive set of 
 officers, and the arrival of their appendages from time to time with 
 large salaries, together with the many officers of inferior class which 
 they have created since they came here, alarm the people with dis- 
 agreeable apprehensions 
 
 " The resolution of the Americans, which had its rise in this town, 
 not to make use of foreign superfluities, I perceive by the London 
 prints is disregarded there as a mere puff, because, upon inquiry, it 
 was found that the merchants had not stopped their orders for such 
 kind of articles, and these have the usual exportations to America 
 this spring. But I wish that this matter was considered with a little 
 more attention ; for, although it is very probable that many persons 
 may break through their agreements, yet there is no doubt in my 
 mind that such numbers will adhere to it as will affect the British 
 manufacturers. There is certainly such a disposition among the 
 people to furnish themselves with American manufactures as never 
 was known before ; and there have been late instances of the man- 
 ufacture of a variety of articles much beyond expectation. It is 
 well known what large quantities of British manufactures are annu- 
 ally consumed in America. Could Great Britain endure a total stop 
 to this consumption ? or what part of it would she be willing should 
 be saved ? Will not the making of one piece of woollen cloth encour- 
 age the making of another ? And if this spirit of manufacturing is 
 excited by resentment, as some of your writers allege, is it natural 
 to suppose it will stop short of the utmost possibility ? Can any 
 
182 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 man in England or America ascertain the bounds? Will it not 
 affect the mother country in proportion to the extent of it ? 
 
 "But there is another consideration of great weight. Let the 
 importations from Great Britain be ever so large, the trade of 
 America is so embarrassed and burdened, that it will not afford 
 the people the ability of wearing fine clothes and paying for them, 
 so that, in the course of things, the importations must cease through 
 necessity. I pray God that those who conduct the affairs of the na- 
 tion may be endowed with true wisdom ; that all measures destruc- 
 tive to the common interest may be reversed ; that fomenters of 
 division on both sides the Atlantic may be detected and punished ; 
 that Great Britain and the Colonies may thoroughly understand 
 their mutual interest and dependence ; that harmony may be cul- 
 tivated between them, and that they may long flourish in one undi- 
 vided empire." * 
 
 The posterity to which the patriots so often appealed to 
 witness their loyalty to Great Britain, while loyalty remained 
 a virtue, and to bear them out in their assertions of the jus- 
 tice of their cause, need but to consult this letter. A more 
 disinterested and sincere love of country was never breathed. 
 The calm reasoning which Deberdt was to exhibit to the 
 Ministry was the basis, as time eventually proved, upon 
 which alone the Colonies might have been preserved to Eng- 
 land. But the genius of liberty was not comprehended by 
 the haughty statesmen of the mother country. The dis- 
 passionate appeals of devoted patriotism, which every true 
 Englishman should have been proud to claim as coming 
 from fellow-countrymen, — rejoicing with Pitt " that the 
 Americans had resisted," — were regarded as the factious 
 efforts of a " discontented few," who were making conten- 
 tion the stepping-stone to some fancied personal preferment. 
 The suggestions of Bernard to the Ministry for quartering an 
 armed force upon the people to reduce them to obedience 
 were eagerly listened to, and his malicious slanders adopted 
 as truths. 
 
 * Samuel Adams to Dennys Deberdt. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 183 
 
 Still Hutchinson and Bernard continued their secret let- 
 ters to England for a military force ; and these solicitations 
 were considered while Massachusetts, yet ignorant of the re- 
 ception of her appeals for justice, confidently awaited a favor- 
 able hearing of the petition to the King. The Legislature 
 met on the 25th, and unanimously elected Thomas Cush- 
 ing Speaker, and Samuel Adams Clerk. The usual sermon 
 before the Assembly was this year preached by Shute of 
 Hingham, who denied the absolute authority of Parliament, 
 and justified resistance to laws not based on equity. Confi- 
 dent in the result of their petition to his Majesty, the two 
 parties in the House evinced a warmer loyalty than had 
 been known since the passage of the revenue acts, and, 
 on the election of councillors, Hutchinson came within three 
 votes of being restored to that body. He would have been 
 but for Samuel Adams and James Otis, who were not to 
 be deceived by his hypocrisy. Bernard considered the re- 
 jection of the crown officers by the House " such a notori- 
 ous instance of undutifulness and insolence " that he had 
 refused the people's candidates for councillors at each elec- 
 tion since the repeal of the Stamp Act. 
 
 " Your Lordship," he wrote to the Earl of Hillsborough, " must 
 understand that in New England a different mode of election prevails 
 from what is used in Britain. Here it is not sufficient for a man to 
 have a greater number of votes than the rest of the candidates ; but 
 he must also have a majority of the whole number of electors. By 
 this rule the Lieutenant-Governor has twice out of three times lost 
 his election. In the present case, in the choice of the first eighteen, 
 he was the eighteenth in the order of election, but, wanting a major- 
 ity of three of the whole electors, he was to be put up again. In 
 this interval, the two chief heads of the faction (Otis and Adams) 
 told the House that the Lieutenant-Governor was a pensioner of 
 Great Britain, and averred that he had a warrant from the Lords 
 of the Treasury for two hundred pounds a year out of the new du- 
 ties which they were then opposing. This being urged in a manner 
 which left no opportunity or time for refutation or explanation, 
 
184 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, June, 1768. 
 
 gave a turn against him, so that, upon the second polling, he had ten 
 votes less than before. This obliged his friends to give up the 
 cause." * 
 
 What " refutation " could have been attempted, it is diffi- 
 cult to see, since Hutchinson soon after confessed, in a let- 
 ter to Pownall, that " but for the warrant, he would have 
 been elected." Had the arch traitor to the liberties of his 
 country been successful through this mistaken friendship of 
 the House, it would have proved a dangerous blow to the 
 efforts of the few uncompromising members, whose rule was, 
 never to look back when once the hand was on the plough. 
 
 * Governor Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, May 30, 1768. 
 
CHAPTER Till. 
 
 Boston to be subdued. — Troops and a Fleet ordered to the Town. — Ex- 
 asperation of the People. — Seizure of Hancock's Sloop Liberty ; Excite- 
 ment on the Wharf. — Burning of the Collector's Boat. — The King com- 
 mands the Assembly to rescind its Resolutions of the previous Session. — 
 They refuse, and adopt the Letter of Adams to Earl Hillsborough, assign- 
 ing their Reasons. — To the same effect he answers the Message of the 
 Governor, who, in obedience to Royal Instructions, dissolves the Assembly. 
 — Aware of Bernard's Misrepresentations of the Province, they petition the 
 King for his Removal. 
 
 • At last the misrepresentations sent to England by the 
 Commissioners of the Customs, added to those sent by Ber- 
 
 / nard and Hutchinson, had the desired effect ; and^in June, 
 ./ General Gage was ordered to station a regiment permanently 
 in Boston, while the Admiralty was directed to send a frig- 
 ate, two sloops^ and two cutters, to remain in the harbor, and 
 the Castle was to be occupied and repaired. This was the 
 first palpable use of force against the Colonists, and was 
 made at a time when they had resorted only to passive re- 
 sistance and peaceable opposition by petitions and non-im- 
 portation acts, which were manifestly legal and just. The 
 fifty-guii ship Romney arrived in May, at the request of the 
 Commissioners ; and her commander, Captain Corner, im- 
 pressed New England seamen, some of whom were taken 
 from merchant vessels at sea, on the passage of the war-ship 
 yrom Halifax. The captain was visited by a deputation of 
 the citizens, to represent the effect of the outrage ; and he 
 promised that no one should be pressed, "belonging to, or 
 
 J who were married in the Province, nor any employed in the 
 * \ trade along the shore or neighboring Colonies. " The sub- 
 ject was also considered in the House, soon after its organ- 
 ization, where Mr. Adams was one of a committee to prepare 
 
W' 
 
 186 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 a written request to the Governor for his influence to obtain 
 the release of the impressed citizens. The rough draft of 
 this is among the Adams papers. The desired relief, how- 
 ever, was not given, and one of the men was rescued from 
 the hands of his captors. The captain, when an offer of a 
 substitute was made, to release another, stormed with anger 
 against the town. " No man," said he, " shall go out of 
 this vessel. The town is a blackguard town, ruled by mobs : 
 they have begun with me by rescuing a man whom I pressed 
 this morning ; and, by the eternal God, I will make their 
 hearts ache before I leave it." This was the officer who, a 
 year and a half before, was waited on by a committee of the 
 town, when he left the station, to express their appreciation 
 of his kindness and courteous demeanor towards the people. 
 That committee was composed of Samuel Adams, John 
 Rowe, and John Hancock. 
 
 These events served only to increase the excitement, and 
 /an opportunity for violence was soon offered. The sloop 
 Liberty, belonging to John Hancock, had lately arrived 
 from Madeira, loaded with wine. Her owner was hated by 
 the crown officers for his bold denouncement of the revenue 
 acts, and his avowed enmity to the Commissioners. For a 
 false entry, which it was alleged had been made several 
 weeks before, they resolved to seize the vessel. On the 
 evening of the 10th of June, when the laboring people, hav- 
 ing quitted their work, were numerous in the streets, Harri- 
 son the collector, and Hallowell the comptroller, repaired to 
 Hancock's wharf, placed the sloop under the broad arrow, and 
 to prevent interference decided to moor her under the guns 
 of the Romney. While signals were made for that purpose, 
 a crowd collected, among whom was Malcom, an importing 
 merchant, who with others recommended that the vessel be 
 allowed to remain at the wharf. An angry altercation en- 
 sued, while the master of the Romney, with* a number of 
 marines, cut the fasts and towed the sloop away. The mas- 
 ter had threatened violence, and repeatedly, in his anger, 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 187 
 
 ordered his men to fire upon the people. The gathering 
 now increased to a mob, many of whom did not understand 
 what had taken place. Some imagined that the excitement 
 grew out of another attempt at impressment, and, becoming 
 furious, followed the officers of the customs as they retired, 
 pelting them with stones, bricks, and dirt. They broke in 
 the windows of the officers, " to the value of five pounds," 
 much alarming the inmates.* 
 
 Samuel Adams, Warren Hancock, and others, were mean- 
 time deliberating together what was to be done. It was 
 important that the peaceable reputation of the town should 
 be preserved, in order to keep the enemy in the wrong ; for 
 though the people had long suffered under the hand of tyr- 
 anny, and the popular rage might well be expected at times 
 to display itself, still everything was to be gained by contin- 
 ued moderation and by keeping within legal bounds. Fail- 
 ing to find a boat belonging to the Bomney, the mob seized 
 that of the collector, and having dragged it to the Common, 
 burned it in triumph. It was falsely represented to the 
 Ministry, in relation to this affair, that the boat was burned 
 before Mr. Hancock's house. To shield his friend from any 
 vengeance that this might draw upon him, Mr. Adams, in a 
 letter to the agent in London, denies the statement. 
 
 u The truth is," he continues, " the barge was burnt on a common 
 surrounded with gentlemen's seats, and the scene could not be said 
 to be before Mr. Hancock's door, any more than before the doors of 
 divers other gentlemen in the neighborhood. The mean insinua- 
 tion that it was done under the influence of Mr. Hancock is so far 
 from the least shadow of truth, that it is notorious here, that the tu- 
 mult was finally dispelled principally by his exertions, animated by 
 his known regard to peace and good order." f 
 
 * Affidavits quoted in Bancroft, VI. 155-157. 
 
 t Bernard, in his account of the affair to the Earl of Hillsborough, says : 
 " Whilst the boat was burning, some gentlemen who had an influence over 
 them persuaded them to depart. This was afterwards put to the vote, where- 
 upon proclamation was made, ' each man to his tent.' Before this, they were 
 
188 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 An hour before midnight the crowd dispersed at the 
 words, " Each man to his tent," which seems to have been 
 a watchword between the people and their leaders np to the 
 commencement of the war. 
 
 This disturbance came a propos to the Commissioners, 
 who joyfully construed it into an insurrection ; and several 
 of them, to give the appearance of imminent danger, took 
 refuge at the Castle in the harbor, where they remained 
 some time. 
 
 " We took shelter," say the Commissioners, in their letter * 
 to Commodore Hood, " on board his Majesty's ship Kom- 
 ney, and desired Captain Corner to put us ashore at Castle 
 William, where we now are, and at our request Captain 
 Corner will continue near the Castle for our protection." 
 
 This, however, deceived no one in Boston, and the weak 
 artifice was not long afterwards repented of by the Com- 
 missioners themselves. Even General Gage admitted that 
 " dangerous disturbances were not to be apprehended." f 
 It must have been difficult indeed to construe the tumult 
 of a crowd, manifestly under the control of the first gentle- 
 men of the Province, into a concerted plan of insurrection, 
 such as the crown officers industriously represented it. 
 
 Samuel Adams took every occasion to undeceive the Min- 
 istry as to the malicious statements of these men. In the 
 " Appeal to the World," written in the following year, he 
 
 " It was, however, far from being so great a riot as the Governor 
 represents it to be. The collector and comptroller of the customs 
 indeed represent it as a ' numerous mob/ but they being particularly 
 interested, their fears might deceive them. It was not a numerous 
 mob, nor was it of long continuance, neither was there much mis- 
 chief done. It was occasioned by the unprecedented and unlawful 
 manner of seizing a vessel by the collector and comptroller, and, con- 
 harangued by a leader, who, among others, used these words : * We will sup- 
 port our liberties, depending upon the strength of our own arms and God.' " 
 
 * Seventy Six Society's Massachusetts Papers, p. 87. 
 
 t General Gage to Lord Hillsborough, June 17, 1768. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 189 
 
 sidering their illegal proceedings in making the seizure, attended 
 with the most irritating circumstances, which occasioned this mob, 
 the intolerably haughty behavior which the Commissioners who 
 ordered this seizure had constantly before discovered towards the 
 people, the frequent threats which had been given out that the town 
 should be put under a military government, and the armed force 
 actually employed as a prelude to it, it cannot be wondered at that, 
 in a populous town, such high provocation and the sudden exertion 
 of lawless power, should excite the resentment of some persons be- 
 yond the bounds of reason, and carry them into excess." 
 
 While the public mind was at the pitch of excitement 
 from the seizure and impressment scenes, a placard was 
 posted about town, calling on the Sons of Liberty to meet 
 on the following day at " Liberty Hall," the name given to 
 the space around the "Liberty Tree," — a name hateful to 
 the Loyalists for years afterwards. On account of the rain 
 the meeting was adjourned to Faneuil Hall; but as that 
 building could not contain the crowd that assembled, they 
 proceeded to the Old South, where James Otis, being chosen 
 moderator, was " ushered into the church by an almost uni- 
 versal clap of hands."* After fully debating the subject at 
 issue, the meeting was adjourned to the following day, when 
 Otis addressed the inhabitants, strongly recommending the 
 preservation of order, and expressing the hope that their 
 grievances might in time be removed. " If not," he contin- 
 ued, " and we are called on to defend our liberties and priv- 
 ileges, I hope and believe we shall, one and all, resist even 
 unto blood; but I pray God Almighty this may never so 
 happen." 
 — >, The result of the first meeting had been the appointment 
 of a committee of twenty-one, Adams of course being of the 
 Cy ' number, with Otis at their head, and including the names 
 of Warren, Rowe, Dana, Young, Hancock, Church, Tyler r 
 and Quincy, to wait upon the Governor. They went in pro- 
 cession, " in eleven chaises," to the country-seat of his Ex- 
 
 * Letters of Governor Bernard to Lord Hillsborough. 
 
190 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 cellency in Roxbury, where the address was delivered. It 
 asserted for the town the right of self-taxation, commented 
 upon the hated Board of Customs and the late impressment 
 outrages, and demanded the removal of the Romney from 
 the harbor. Hutchinson says the address was probably 
 drawn up or at least approved by Otis. 
 
 * To contend," it says, " with our parent state is the most shock- 
 ing and dreadful extremity, but tamely to relinquish the only secur- 
 ity we and our posterity retain for the enjoyment of our lives and 
 properties, without one struggle, is so humiliating and base, that we 
 cannot support the reflection. It is at your option to prevent this 
 distressed and justly incensed people from effecting too much, and 
 from the shame and reproach of attempting too little." 
 
 Bernard met the committee politely, but, on the following 
 day, refused to remove the ship of war. 
 
 " I received them," thus he wrote soon after the event, " with all 
 possible civility, and having heard their petition, I talked very freely 
 with them upon the subject, but postponed giving a formal answer 
 till the next day, as it should be in writing. I then had wine handed 
 round, and they left me highly pleased with their reception, espe- 
 cially that part of them which had not been used to an interview 
 with me."* 
 
 The Governor's pride had been wounded by his humiliat- 
 ing position ; and he had no sooner delivered his reply, inti- 
 mating a desire to effect a reconciliation, than he and all the 
 crown officers redoubled their efforts to obtain troops, as- 
 serting that a rebellion was at hand, that a great storm was 
 about to break, and that the leaders of the people would 
 urge them to open revolt. In the meantime Samuel Ad- 
 ams, Warren, and Church had been appointed by the town 
 to draw up a narrative of the late occurrences, to be trans- 
 mitted to Deberdt, that the Ministry might not be influenced 
 entirely by the misstatements. 
 
 The usual instructions to the Boston Representatives were 
 
 * Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, June, 1768. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 191 
 
 this year drawn up by John Adams, the " young gentleman 
 of the law," lately removed to Boston from Braintree, whom 
 Andrew Eliot spoke of as " likely to make a shining figure 
 at the bar." Mr. Adams, in his autobiography, mentions 
 that " his friends in Boston were very urgent with him to 
 remove into town." Probably the most solicitous of these 
 friends was his kinsman, who took the liveliest interest in 
 his advancement. It is to be regretted that a blank occurs 
 in John Adams's diary for nearly the whole of 1768, — a 
 year when the most interesting events of the early Rev- 
 olution happened. He refers to the offers which were in 
 vain made to him by the royal Governor to accept an office 
 under the Crown, but no record is found of the struggles of 
 the patriots against the tightening gripe of tyranny. The 
 instructions spoke the voice of the town : — 
 
 " Under all these misfortunes and afflictions, however, it is our 
 fixed resolution to maintain our loyalty and duty to our most gra- 
 cious sovereign, a reverence and due subordination to the British 
 Parliament, as the supreme legislative in all cases of necessity for 
 the preservation of the whole empire, and our cordial and sincere 
 affection for our parent country, and to use our utmost endeavor for 
 the perservation of the peace and order among ourselves, waiting 
 with anxious expectation for a favorable answer to the petitions and 
 solicitations of this continent for relief: at the same time, it is our 
 unalterable resolution at all times to assert and vindicate our dear 
 and invaluable rights and liberties, at the utmost hazard of our lives 
 and fortunes ; and we have a full and rational confidence that no 
 designs formed against them will ever prosper." # 
 
 The confident expectation that the last winter's petitions 
 for relief would meet with a favorable reception, as expressed 
 in the above extract, was shared by nearly the whole Prov- 
 ince ; after all that had occurred, the fatal reality had not 
 yet impressed itself upon the public mind. The justice of 
 those appeals was so self-evident, that people were loath to 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 490. 
 
192 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 credit the cold-blooded system already pursued in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 In less than a week after the adoption of John Adams's 
 instructions by the town, the news arrived that Massachu- 
 setts had been ordered by the King to rescind its resolutions 
 of the past winter. The Legislature was still in session, and, 
 on the 21st of June, the Governor transmitted to the House 
 the Earl of Hillsborough's letter to him. 
 
 ■ And, therefore," so the mandate ran, " it is the King's pleasure, 
 that so soon as the General Court is again assembled at the time 
 prescribed by the charter, you should require of the House of Rep- 
 resentatives, in his Majesty's name, to rescind the resolution which 
 gave birth to the Circular Letter from the Speaker, and to declare 
 their disapprobation of, and dissent to, that rash and hasty proceed- 
 ing And if, notwithstanding the apprehensions which may 
 
 justly be entertained of the ill consequences of a continuance of this 
 factious spirit, which seems to have influenced the resolutions of the 
 Assembly at the conclusion of the last session, the new Assembly 
 should refuse to comply with his Majesty's reasonable expectation, 
 it is the King's pleasure that you should immediately dissolve them, 
 and transmit to me, to be laid before his Majesty, an account of 
 their proceedings thereon." 
 
 A committee, including Samuel Adams, was immediately 
 appointed to consider the Governor's message, transmitting 
 this letter, of which his Excellency had at first submitted 
 only a part.* The Governor, who had grown impatient after 
 a few days, sent a hasty message, to the effect that he could 
 not adjourn the General Court until he had received their 
 answer to the requisition. The affair was in suspense for a 
 week, and was largely debated. It depended on them to 
 sustain by their firmness the liberties of America. They 
 had deliberately adopted the Circular Letter as the unaltera- 
 ble opinion of the Legislature of Massachusetts. The meas- 
 ure had struck their tyrants with consternation, and won 
 the applause of the entire continent. Connecticut, New 
 
 * Journal of the House of Representatives, June, 1768. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 193 
 
 Jersey, Georgia, and Virginia had responded, — the courage 
 inspired by the latter raising the hopes of all. Samuel 
 Adams, as he reflected upon the immense importance of 
 Virginia's co-operation in the measure, had had good rea- 
 son to regard the result with satisfaction. Using words 
 which, seven years later, he was to repeat under still more 
 exciting circumstances, he had cried, "This is a glorious 
 day ! " and his friend, the consistent and true Samuel 
 Cooper, replied, " This is the most glorious day ever seen ! " * 
 Now, to retrace their steps would subject the cause to ridi- 
 cule, and perhaps seal the fate of American liberty. Both 
 letters from Hillsborough having been placed in their hands, 
 the committee were ready, after mature deliberation, on the 
 30th of June, when the Speaker informed the House that 
 the report was prepared. The galleries were cleared, and 
 all communication with the other Board or from the out- 
 side was shut off during the debate.f One could wish that 
 there had been a phonographic reporter in that gallery. 
 Here was the Legislature of a Provincial town, the political 
 and commercial centre of New England, coolly bearding the 
 terrible power of Britain, and convened to consult upon the 
 question of refusing to comply with a direct command of the 
 King. The fiery and heated harangues of Otis, and the less 
 fervid and more deliberate reasoning of Adams, were both 
 heard, and probably more than one plain farmer from the 
 interior delivered his sentiments. The journal indicates 
 simply that the debate was secret. The first business was 
 the consideration of a letter to Hillsborough, written by Sam- 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 165. 
 
 t Journal of the House, June, 1768. While the doors were thus closed, a 
 committee from the Council applied for admittance to ask the concurrence of 
 the House in a series of resolutions, desiring the Governor to issue a proclama- 
 tion offering a reward for the discovery of the rioters and their abettors in the 
 late disturbances, that they might be brought to condign punishment. The 
 message was not admitted ; and as the House was prorogued on the same day, 
 and dissolved the next day, no other opportunity occurred for presenting the 
 resolutions. 
 
 VOL. I. 13 
 
194 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 uel Adams, now vindicating his own measure. After being 
 twice read, it was twice accepted by a vote of ninety-two to 
 thirteen, and ordered to be fairly copied and forwarded by 
 the Speaker to his Lordship at the first opportunity.* 
 
 The writer reviews the action of the former House, giv- 
 ing a succinct narrative of the circumstances attending 
 the passage of the Circular Letter, and distinctly asserting 
 that it was the declared sense of a large majority of the 
 members : — 
 
 a It may be necessary to observe that the people in this Province 
 have attended with a deep concern to the several acts of the British 
 Parliament, which impose duties and taxes on the Colonies, not for 
 the purpose of regulating the trade, but with the sole intention of 
 raising a revenue. This concern, my Lord, so far from being limi- 
 ted within the circle of a few inconsiderate persons, is become uni- 
 versal. The most respectable for fortune, rank, and station, as well 
 as probity and understanding in the Province, with very few ex- 
 ceptions, are alarmed with apprehensions of the fatal consequences 
 of a power exercised in any one part of the British empire to com- 
 mand and apply the property of their fellow-subjects at discretion. 
 This consideration prevailed on the last House of Representatives to 
 resolve on a humble, dutiful, and loyal petition to the King, the com- 
 mon head and father of all his people, for his gracious interposition 
 in favor of his subjects of this Province. If your Lordship, whom 
 his Majesty has honored with the American department, has been 
 instrumental in presenting a petition so interesting to the well-be- 
 ing of his loyal subjects here, this House beg leave to make their 
 most grateful acknowledgments, and to implore your continued aid 
 and patronage. 
 
 " As all his Majesty's North American subjects are alike affected 
 by these parliamentary revenue acts, the former House very justly 
 supposed that each of the Assemblies on the continent would take such 
 methods of obtaining redress as should be thought by them respect- 
 ively to be regular and proper. And being desirous that the several 
 applications should harmonize with each other, they resolved on their 
 
 * Journal of the House, June, 1768. Bancroft, VI. 165. Eliot's N. E. Biog. 
 Dictionary. 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 195 
 
 Circular Letter, wherein their only view seems to be, to advertise 
 their sister Colonies of the measures they had taken upon a common 
 and important concern, without once calling upon them to adopt 
 those measures or any other. 
 
 " Your Lordship surely will not think it a crime in that House to 
 have taken a step which was perfectly consistent with the Constitu- 
 tion, and had a natural tendency to compose the minds of his Maj- 
 esty's subjects of this and his other Colonies, until, in his royal 
 clemency he should afford them relief, at a time when it seemed to 
 be the evident design of a party to prevent calm, deliberate, rational, 
 and constitutional measures from being pursued ; or to stop the dis- 
 tresses of the people from reaching his Majesty's ear, and, conse- 
 quently, to precipitate them into a state of desperation and melancholy 
 extremity. 
 
 u And the House humbly rely on the royal clemency, that to pe- 
 tition his Majesty will not be deemed by him to be inconsistent with 
 a respect to the British Constitution, as settled at the Revolution 
 by William the Third : that to acquaint their fellow-subjects, in- 
 volved in the same distress, of their having so done, in full hopes 
 of success, even if they had invited the union of all America in one 
 joint supplication, would not be discountenanced by our gracious 
 sovereign as a measure of an inflammatory nature." * 
 
 The letter was sent by the first conveyance. Much curi- 
 osity was felt to know its contents, as none but members of 
 the House had heard it read. Bernard shared this curios- 
 ity, as appears by a letter to Hillsborough. Mr. Adams 
 withheld it from publication as long as he considered that 
 the public interests were subserved by so doing ; then he 
 resolved to have it printed in the Boston Gazette. Bernard 
 thus relates a scene reported to him : — 
 
 "I informed your Lordship that I had not seen, nor probably 
 should see, till it is printed, the letter of the House to your Lord- 
 ship, although, I am informed, I am much interested in the contents 
 of it. But I shall soon have that satisfaction, being informed it is 
 to be printed next Monday. It seems that this morning the two 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 151. 
 
196 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 consuls of the faction — Otis and Adams — had a dispute upon it 
 in the Representatives' room, where the papers of the House are 
 kept, which I shall write as a dialogue to save paper : — 
 
 " Otis. — What are you going to do with the letter to Lord Hills- 
 borough ? 
 
 11 Adams. — To give it to the printer to publish next Monday. 
 
 " Otis. — Do you think it proper to publish it so soon, that he may 
 receive a printed copy before the original comes to his hand ? 
 
 11 Adams. — What signifies that ? You know it was designed for 
 the people, and not for the minister. 
 
 " Otis. — You are so fond of your own drafts that you can't wait 
 for the publication of them to a proper time. 
 
 "Adams. — I am Clerk of this House, and I will make that use 
 of the papers which I please. 
 
 " I had this " continues the Governor, " from a gentleman of the 
 first rank, who I understood was present." * 
 
 On the same day with the adoption of the letter, the great 
 /" question, whether, in obedience to the royal mandate, the 
 House would rescind the resolution which gave birth to 
 their Circular Letter, came up and was decided in the neg- 
 ative by a vote of ninety-two to seventeen. The votes were 
 by word of mouth, and stand recorded, name by name, in 
 the journals and in the next Boston Gazette. 
 
 Again employing the pen of Samuel Adams, the House 
 replied to the Governor's message on the opening of the ses- 
 sion. The answer was " twice read and accepted by a great 
 majority. " 
 
 " We cannot but express our deep concern, that a measure of the 
 late House, in all respects so innocent, in most so virtuous and laud- 
 able, and, as we conceive, so truly patriotic, should have been repre- 
 sented to administration in the odious light of a party and factious 
 measure, and that pushed through by reverting in a thin house to, 
 and reconsidering, what in a full Assembly had been rejected. It 
 was and is a matter of notoriety, that more than eighty members 
 
 * Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, July 9, 1768. The letter of the House 
 was published in the Boston Gazette of July 18, 1768. 
 
1768. 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 197 
 
 were present at the reconsideration of the vote against application 
 to the other Colonies. 
 
 " The Circular Letters have been sent, and many of them have 
 been answered ; those answers are now in the public papers ; the 
 public, the world, must and will judge of the proposals, purposes, 
 and answers. We could as well rescind those letters as the re- 
 solves ; and both would be equally fruitless if, by rescinding, as the 
 word properly imports, is meant a repeal and nullifying the resolu- 
 tion referred to. 
 
 " You have also thought fit to inform us that you cannot think 
 yourself at liberty, in case of the dissolution of this, to call another 
 Assembly without the express orders of his Majesty for that pur- 
 pose ; and, at the same time, your Excellency has been pleased to 
 assure us that you have communicated the whole of Lord Hillsbor- 
 ough's letter and your instructions, so far as relates to the requisi- 
 tion. In all this, however, we cannot find that your Excellency is 
 more than directed to dissolve the present Assembly in case of a 
 non-compliance on the part of the House. If the votes of the 
 House are to be controlled by the direction of a minister, we have 
 left us but a vain semblance of liberty." * 
 
 ^The success of this noble stand of a little province against 
 the authority of Great Britain, involving as it did a practi- 
 cal illustration of the power of the Colonies united, was for 
 years afterwards a source of keen pleasure to Mr. Adams. 
 He occasionally refers to it in his political writings there- 
 after, to animate his countrymen in the great struggle. In 
 September, 1771, he devotes a large space in the public 
 press to a graphic narrative of the proceedings of the Legis- 
 lature in regard to the Circular Letter, when, he says, the 
 House was actuated "by a conscientious and a clear and 
 determined sense of duty to God, their King, their country, 
 and their latest posterity.! 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 147. 
 
 t " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 16, 1771. 
 
198 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 " This determination of the House gave general satisfaction, not 
 only to the people of this Province, but of the other Colonies also, 
 as well as the friends of liberty in Britain. It was spoken of by all, 
 except the disappointed few, with great applause. Indeed, the 
 essential rights of all were involved in the question. A different 
 determination would therefore have been to the last degree infa- 
 mous, and attended with fatal consequences. Not only the right of 
 the subjects jointly to petition for the redress of grievances, which 
 all alike suffer, but also that of communicating their sentiments freely 
 to each other upon -the subject of grievances and the means of re- 
 dress, which was the sole purport of the Circular Letter, would in 
 effect have been given up. I have often thought that, in this time 
 of common distress, it would be the wisdom of the Colonists more 
 frequently to correspond with, and to be more attentive to, the par- 
 ticular circumstances of each other. It seems of late to have been 
 the policy of the enemies of America to point their artillery against 
 one Province only, and artfully to draw off the attention of the 
 other Colonies, and, if possible, to render that single Province odi- 
 ous to them, while it is suffering ministerial vengeance for the sake 
 of the common cause. But it is to be hoped that the Colonies will 
 be aware of this artifice. At this juncture, an attempt to subdue 
 one Province to despotic power is justly to be considered as an at- 
 tempt to enslave the whole. The Colonies 'form one political 
 body, of which each is a member.' The liberties of the whole are 
 invaded. It is, therefore, the interest of the whole to support each 
 individual with all their weight and influence." 
 
 In obedience to the royal mandate, the Governor pro- 
 rogued the House on the day of their refusal to rescind, but 
 not before they had appointed a committee to prepare a pe- 
 tition to the King, " praying that his Majesty would be gra- 
 ciously pleased to remove his Excellency, Francis Bernard, 
 Esq., from the government of the Province." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Massachusetts applauded for her Firmness. — The Province still Loyal. — 
 Boston in 1768. — Its Forms of Worship. — Right of Suffrage. — Common 
 School System. — Industry. — Samuel Adams among the Mechanics. — 
 His Democratic Tendencies. — His great Influence. — His Capacity for 
 Work. — Anniversary of the Stamp Act. — Joseph Warren, his Talents 
 and Popularity. — Adams sees the Necessity of Independence. — Affidavits 
 taken against him and forwarded by the Governor to the Ministry. — Otis, 
 Adams, and Warren mature their Plans. — Town Meeting in expectation of 
 the Troops. — The Governor still refusing to assemble the Legislature, a 
 Convention of Delegates from the Towns is called by popular Voice. — 
 Proceedings of the Convention. — Its Objects accomplished. — Arrival of 
 the Troops. 
 
 Massachusetts was now without a Legislature, and as 
 fully the victim of tyranny as the subjects of the most abso- 
 lute despot in Europe. How long this was to continue was left 
 to conjecture. It had been resolved by the Ministry that 
 the Governor should dissolve the Assembly as often as it 
 should refuse to rescind the obnoxious resolution. From 
 the other Colonies came expressions of sympathy with the 
 people of Massachusetts, and the act of arbitrary power had 
 exactly the opposite effect to that intended. The necessity 
 of a union of interests for a common cause was seen, and the 
 refusal to rescind was everywhere applauded. It was indeed 
 an extraordinary spectacle. No act of rebellion had taken 
 place ; no insurrection existed ; the feeling of loyalty was 
 yet firm among the people. They had but peaceably and 
 legally asserted their charter and constitutional liberties. 
 
 Boston, at this time, contained about sixteen thousand 
 inhabitants, and, as regards its local system, was the most 
 orderly and best governed town in the world. In whatever 
 light it is viewed, even now when moral and intellectual ap- 
 pliances have wonderfully advanced the means of human 
 
200 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 [July, 
 
 improvement, the capital of New England, as it then existed, 
 must be regarded as a model. It was a little democracy or 
 republic within itself, based upon the traditional and natural 
 rights guaranteed to its founders in the previous century, 
 who had fled from religious persecution to the wilds of the 
 Western world for the enjoyment of " freedom to worship 
 God." 
 
 The form of church government of the great majority was 
 the congregational, each church being supported by the vol- 
 untary contributions of its members ; while the opinion re- 
 mained unaltered, as of old, that each was independent and 
 in no way under the control of any other. Popery and sla- 
 very were nearly synonymous terms with them, and though 
 the Church of England was represented in the town they still 
 opposed prelacy, and were against the establishment of a Prot- 
 estant episcopacy in the Colonies. " The revenue raised in 
 America, for aught we can tell," said the House in their letter 
 to Deberdt, already quoted, " may be as constitutionally ap- 
 plied towards the support of prelacy, as of soldiers and pen- 
 sioners "; and they considered it as " alarming to a people 
 whose fathers, from the hardships they suffered under such an 
 establishment, were obliged to fly their native country into a 
 
 wilderness We hope in God such an establishment 
 
 will never take place in America." * 
 
 No Roman Catholic church or congregation existed in the 
 town, the rites and ceremonies of papists being regarded as 
 the pitiable and worn-out superstitions of the ignorant. 
 The people were rigid in the performance of religious re- 
 quirements, which had descended in their original strictness 
 from the early settlers ; and the ministers disseminated the 
 principles of morality and liberty as equally important, — 
 the Old South, the largest church in the town, being often 
 the scene of the most exciting demonstrations of the people 
 in the support of their rights. 
 
 The right of suffrage, though involving a small property 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 132. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 201 
 
 qualification, was only sufficiently exclusive to produce a 
 laudable ambition for the acquirement of the requisite pos- 
 sessions. Faneuil Hall was the political head-quarters where 
 the principles of liberty were freely debated, and there free- 
 dom of thought and speech was never questioned. 
 
 A carefully guarded common-school system gave the ben- 
 efit of a practical education to all. The schools were opened 
 each day with public prayer, and were under the immediate 
 control of the selectmen, who visited them once a year, gen- 
 erally in June, in company with a committee of the princi- 
 pal gentlemen of the town, and a number of ministers. In 
 these schools, the apostles equally of religion and liberty, 
 Mayhew, Chauncy, and Cooper, and the phalanx of patri- 
 ots, the Adamses, Otis, Warren, Hancock, Cushing, and 
 the rest, received the germs of liberal culture which, devel- 
 oped at Harvard College, enabled them to establish the lib- 
 erties of their country. 
 
 There has probably never been in the history of man an 
 instance of a more perfect democracy, of a society where the 
 rights of the lower classes were more jealously observed. 
 It was a society where no titled aristocracy was- acknowl- 
 edged, — where sturdy personal independence had never 
 known any other honors than those cheerfully accorded to 
 worth and talents. The royal governors alone had some- 
 times worn aristocratic distinctions as representatives of the 
 King, but the towns' people would ill have tolerated among 
 themselves the badges of a superior class. The working- 
 men, especially the ship-building mechanics, who were the 
 most numerous among the inhabitants, and who excelled 
 the whole world in their skill, loved the honest equality 
 insured by good citizenship, and yet, with no levelling 
 schemes, regarded without jealousy the well-earned wealth 
 of the few opulent citizens whose circumstances gave them 
 social prominence. 
 
 In the shipyards, where the real popular power resided, 
 Samuel Adams was especially the favorite from among the 
 
202 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. 
 
 champions of the public liberties. He found the people 
 willing listeners and converts to his doctrines, and, as a most 
 perfect embodiment of the democratic theory, he exercised 
 more influence with them than any other man. His good 
 judgment was often appealed to, and, in many instances, 
 lawsuits were avoided by making him the umpire. They 
 placed the most implicit confidence in him as a man and a 
 patriot, and he never deceived them. No man could less 
 brook than he the insolence of arbitrary power and the over- 
 bearing manners of the crown officers towards the common 
 people, among whom he desired always to instil a conscious- 
 ness of superiority over those minions of tyranny, believing 
 that with such sentiments was connected the successful as- 
 sertion of their liberties. His first public writings reveal this 
 idea, when he inveighs against the aspiring few who would 
 " despise their neighbor's happiness, because he wears a 
 worsted cap or leathern apron"; and, to his latest days, his 
 •sympathies were with the poor and the lowly. Samuel 
 Adams, during all his life, was their tribune. He was the 
 true " Father of Democracy " in America, whose voice and 
 pen were ever employed for the common people ; and he la- 
 bored to build up American liberty, not only by public 
 measures, but by cultivating an individual independence of 
 thought among the working-classes as the true basis of na- 
 tional freedom. Careless of personal gain, he seemed to 
 have been specially ordained for the times in which he lived. 
 Frugal and temperate in his habits, his wants were few, and 
 his powers of endurance fitted him for ceaseless industry. 
 Most of his public papers were written in a study or library 
 adjoining his bedroom ; and his wife, after his death, related 
 how, in the stillness of the night, she used, in the Revolution- 
 ary times, to listen to the incessant motion of the pen in the 
 next room, whence the solitary lamp, which lighted the pa- 
 triot in his labors, was dimly visible. Mr. Joseph Pierce, 
 who personally knew Samuel Adams, and whose business 
 obliged him for a long time to pass after midnight by the 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 203 
 
 house, related, early in the present century, that he seldom 
 failed to see the study lighted, no matter how far the night 
 was gone, " and he knew that Sam Adams was hard at work 
 writing against the Tories.' ' 
 
 The Sons of Liberty celebrated the third anniversary of 
 the outbreak against the Stamp Act this year with extraor- 
 dinary festivity. The 14th of August falling on Sunday, 
 the celebration was postponed until the next day. The 
 account in the Boston Gazette says : — 
 
 "At the dawn the British flag was displayed on the Tree of Lib- 
 erty, and a discharge of fourteen cannon ranged under the venerable 
 elm saluted the joyous day. At eleven o'clock a very large company 
 of the principal gentlemen and respectable inhabitants of the town 
 met at the Hall under the tree, while the streets were crowded with 
 a concourse of people of all ranks, public notice having been given 
 of the intended celebration. The music began at high noon, per- 
 formed on various instruments, joined with voices, and concluding 
 with the universally admired American Song of Liberty. The 
 grandeur of its sentiment, and the easy flow of its numbers, together 
 with an exquisite harmony of sound, afforded sublime entertainment 
 to a numerous audience fraught with a noble ardor in the cause of 
 freedom. The song was closed with the discharge of cannon and a 
 shout of joy ; at the same time, the windows of the neighboring 
 houses were adorned with a brilliant appearance of the fair daughters 
 of liberty, who testified their approbation by smiles of satisfaction." 
 
 Among the fourteen toasts given were " The memorable 
 14th of August, 1765," " The Farmer," " John Wilkes," 
 " The glorious Ninety-two " (non-rescinders), " Pascal Paoli 
 and his brave Corsicans," and " Magna Charta and the Bill 
 of Rights " ; — 
 
 "Which being finished," continues the Gazette, "the French 
 horns sounded ; and after another discharge of the cannon, complet- 
 ing the number ninety-Two, the gentlemen, in their carriages, re- 
 paired to the Greyhound Tavern in Roxbury, where a frugal and 
 elegant entertainment was provided. The music played during the 
 repast," and forty-five patriotic toasts were drunk. 
 
204 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. 
 
 "Upon this happy occasion, the whole company, with the appro- 
 bation of their brethren in Roxbury, consecrated a tree in the 
 vicinity, under the shade of which, on some future anniversary, they 
 may commemorate the day which shall liberate America from her 
 present oppression. Then, making an agreeable excursion round 
 Jamaica Pond, in which excursion they received the kind salutation 
 of a friend to the cause by the discharge of cannon, at six o'clock 
 they returned to town, and passing in slow and orderly procession 
 through the principal streets and round the State House, they re- 
 tired to their respective dwellings. It is allowed that this caval- 
 cade surpassed all that has ever been seen in America. The joy 
 of the day was manly, and uninterrupted regularity presided through 
 the whole." * 
 
 These annual celebrations were held at the suggestion 
 principally of Otis and Samuel Adams, who, with the other 
 leaders, were always personally present. The general plan 
 was to have a gala day in town until about noon, and then 
 to complete the festivities by a barbecue at some noted tav- 
 ern in the environs, whose proprietor was known to be 
 friendly to the cause. After the present year, this celebra- 
 tion was superseded by the more solemn ceremonial of the 
 anniversary of the Boston Massacre. f 
 
 At this time the political writings of Dr. Joseph Warren 
 had attracted public attention. From the first evidence 
 of the distinguished ability of Warren, Samuel Adams had 
 determined, in conformity with his unvarying practice where 
 genius displayed itself, to engage his talents and enlist his 
 sympathies in favor of his native country. Judging from 
 the declarations of John Adams, in relation to this subject, 
 Warren's first efforts in the public cause were made through 
 the influence of " the Father of the Revolution." Not that 
 the generous spirit and noble genius of Warren needed to 
 be spurred to maintain the great cause of human liberty, 
 but Adams was twenty years the senior of Warren, who was 
 
 * For an account of the celebration, see Boston Gazette of Aug. 22, 1768. 
 t John Adams's Diary (Works, II. 218). 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 205 
 
 but twenty-four years of age at the time of the Stamp Act, 
 and to him the veteran leader might well act as a guide and 
 a friend. They were most intimate until the glorious death 
 of Warren, in 1775. They labored together, and, after the 
 present year, no man in Massachusetts so fully enjoyed the 
 confidence of Adams in all political measures as Warren. 
 As early as 1766, the young statesman had expressed his 
 views in his private letters. He comprehended the force of 
 the great truth, that American society exhibited a more 
 equal division of property than existed in the old country ; 
 he saw how this tended to an equality of influence and au- 
 thority. 
 
 " Until now," Warren said, " the Colonies were ever at variance 
 and foolishly jealous of each other ; but this Stamp Act has brought 
 about what the Colonies could never have expected to have brought 
 about. They are now united for common defence against what 
 they believe to be oppressors. Nor will they soon forget the weight 
 which the union gives them. Does not all history teach that the 
 strength of a country depends on being united? But was it the 
 object to force the Colonies into the path of rebellion, and then by 
 military power to reduce them to the state of servitude ? Let it be 
 considered, that every power in Europe looks with envy on the Col- 
 onies which Great Britain enjoys in America. He must be igno- 
 rant of human nature who does not know, that when the rage of a 
 people is raised by oppression to such a height as to break out in 
 rebellion, any new alliance is preferable to the miseries which a 
 conquered country must necessarily expect. Would no power in 
 Europe take advantage of such an occasion, and tempt such an alli- 
 ance? Will politic and powerful France be restrained by treaties 
 to recover so fair a portion of their ancient possessions." 
 
 These views were as sound in theory as those of the old- 
 est patriots in the Province. So ripe a judgment, allied to 
 such brilliant talents, found a friend and kindred spirit in 
 Adams. But Warren was only one of the many young men 
 whom Adams led into the arena of patriotism. He was con- 
 stantly on the alert to bring out such characters, and train 
 
208 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. 
 
 them for the great purpose of liberty. Truly was he called 
 the " pilot " of the times, and the " director" of the public 
 affairs. His guiding influence in the Legislature we have 
 already seen in the important measures originated and con- 
 summated by him. Going back a couple of years to the 
 time of the Stamp Act, we find an interesting and eloquent 
 allusion to his greatness at that crisis and thenceforward in 
 the funeral discourse of the Rev. Mr. Thacher, in which he 
 gave a truthful sketch of Samuel Adams, collected from the 
 statements of his fellow-patriots, who still survived in 1803, 
 and who had intimately known his political course from the 
 commencement of the Revolution. After alluding to Mr. 
 Adams's career as a legislator, the writer continues : — 
 
 " Truly difficult and responsible was the duty of a pilot called to 
 steer in so violent a tempest! Such, however, was the skill and 
 dexterity discovered by our departed friend, that even the favorable 
 and flattering opinion which his fellow-citizens had formed was ex- 
 ceeded by the ability he displayed in directing their affairs. He 
 became at once the most influential member of the Legislature. 
 He was the soul that animated that respected body to their most 
 important resolutions and to their unequivocal opposition to every 
 unjust claim and innovation made by the corrupt ministers of Great 
 Britain. In cases where other great and good men were perplexed 
 and apprehensive that this ardor for liberty would hasten, not de- 
 feat, the design of despotism, this illustrious patriot remained undis- 
 mayed. Aut Ccesar aut nullus, was his maxim. He wished either 
 to see his country completely emancipated from every unjust, uncon- 
 stitutional claim, or else that it might become the common sepul- 
 chre of its inhabitants. For slavery and dependence he abhorred, 
 even in their mildest and most polished form." 
 
 The town which we have described, and the class of char- 
 acters to which a brief allusion has been made, the British 
 Ministry, in whom anger had usurped the place of rea- 
 son, were now determined to crush. The exaggerated 
 statements of the recent occurrences had been received 
 in England, and " vengeance " was denounced " against 
 
1768.] 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 207 
 
 that insolent town." Any modification or repeal of the 
 infamous and oppressive revenue acts was scouted at. In 
 the Council, the petitions had no effect but to increase the 
 insane rigor against the Colonies, and it was decided to use 
 force to subdue the inhabitants of Boston. The most sedi- 
 tious were to be made an example to strike terror into the 
 other Colonies ; for which purpose Hillsborough, far from 
 being moved by the logical and respectful address of the 
 House, now sent over orders to inquire a if any persons had 
 committed acts which, under the authority of the statute 
 of Henry the Eighth against treason committed abroad, 
 might justify their being brought to England for trial." 
 The ancient and legal town meetings were to be terminated. 
 Two regiments and a frigate were at once to be sent to 
 Boston. 
 
 It was now that Samuel Adams became convinced that 
 ( the harsh policy of Great Britain was unalterable. An 
 army and fleet were on the way to enforce the despotic 
 measures of Parliament. Petitions and humble protesta- 
 tions had been met only with contempt and renewed tyr- 
 anny. These things had led the patriot slowly and deliber- 
 ately to the conclusion that American independence was a 
 political and natural necessity. He admitted to a friend, in 
 1775, that from this moment he struggled unremittingly for 
 the accomplishment of that object, which absorbed his soul 
 for eight years, until the great charter of human liberties 
 was signed. A plain narrative of his career, up to that im- 
 mortal event, will reveal that no one of the galaxy of Revolu- 
 tionary characters wrought so much in attaining that end as 
 Samuel Adams. {Fully aware of the agency of the Governor 
 and other royal pensioners in bringing an armed force upon 
 the Province, he took up the subject of the public griev- 
 ances in the Boston Gazette, immediately after his Excel- 
 lency's proclamation treating of the " tumultuous " condi- 
 tion of affairs. The misrepresentations had been received 
 in Halifax, and Boston was commonly supposed there to be 
 
208 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. 
 
 in a state of insurrection. "If these falsehoods,' - says 
 Adams, " make such impressions on the minds of persons so 
 near us as Halifax, it cannot be wondered at if the mother 
 country, at the distance of a thousand leagues, should think 
 we are in a state of confusion." 
 
 " When the people are oppressed, when their rights are infringed, 
 when their property is invaded, when taskmasters are set over them, 
 when unconstitutional acts are executed by a naval force before their 
 eyes, and they are daily threatened with military troops, when their 
 Legislative is dissolved ! and what government is left is as secret as 
 a Divan, when placemen and their underlings swarm about them, 
 and pensioners begin to make an insolent appearance, — in such 
 circumstances the people will be discontented ; and they are not to 
 be blamed ; their minds will be irritated as long as they have any 
 sense of honor, liberty, and virtue. In such circumstances, while 
 they have the spirit of freemen, they will boldly assert their freedom ; 
 and they are to be justified in so doing. I know very well that to 
 murmur, or even whisper a complaint, some men call a riotous spirit ; 
 but they are in the right of it to complain, and complain aloud, and 
 they will complain till they are either redressed or become poor, de- 
 luded, miserable, ductile dupes, fitted to be made the slaves of ... . 
 arbitrary power." * 
 
 By such appeals he aroused the people to a full sense of 
 their danger, and he did not lay by the pen in this cause 
 until the liberties of his country had been acknowledged by 
 her oppressors, — until America stood before the world as a 
 recognized power among the nations. Never did man devote 
 his entire energies to any one great object with more cour- 
 age, sagacity, and determination, than did Samuel Adams 
 to the achievement of American independence. 
 
 " To promote that end," says Bancroft, in his History, " he was 
 ready to serve and never claim a reward for service ; to efface him- 
 self, and put forward others; seeking the greatest things for his 
 country, and content with the humblest for himself. Boston gath- 
 ered about him. From a town of merchants and mechanics, it grew 
 
 * « Determinates," in the Boston Gazette, August 8, 1768. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 209 
 
 with him to be the hope of the world ; and the sons of toil, as they 
 took courage to peril fortune and life for the liberties they inherited, 
 rose to be, and feel that they were, the champions of human freedom. 
 "With the people of Boston, in the street, at public meetings, at the 
 shipyards, wherever he met them, he reasoned on the subject that 
 engrossed his affections." * 
 
 In proportion as this man advanced his great idea among 
 the people, the Governor and crown officers saw his object, 
 and resolved upon his destruction. A pretext was wanted 
 to arrest some of the leaders on a charge of treason, for trial 
 in England, where conviction and execution would certainly 
 have followed ; but much as victims were desired " to strike 
 terror into the other Colonies," some appearance of legality 
 was necessary, and, as yet, the crown lawyers could discover 
 no act that might be brought under the head of treason. 
 Above all, they desired to " take off" Samuel Adams, whom 
 Bernard especially hated. With a view to this, information 
 was collected secretly, sworn to before Chief Justice Hutch- 
 inson, and sent by the Governor to the Secretary of State 
 with a letter, in which he says to the Earl : " I shall enclose 
 in the cover of this a deposition taken before us, in which 
 the spirit of the movers of the Boston mobs will be explained, 
 and the intention of the faction exemplified in one of the 
 principal and most desperate of the chiefs of the faction." 
 This affidavit, which is still on file in the London State-paper 
 Office, was read and noted in Council ; but apparently its 
 contents were not considered as sufficient to warrant the 
 " taking off" intended. 
 
 "Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 " The information of Richard Sylvester of Boston, in the Province 
 aforesaid, innholder, taken before me, Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., 
 Chief Justice of said Province, this twenty-third day of January, in 
 the ninth year of his Majesty's reign : 
 
 " This informant sayeth, that the day after the boat belonging to 
 
 * Bancroft's History, VI. 192-194. 
 vol. i. 14 
 
210 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. 
 
 Mr. Harrison was burnt, the last summer, the informant observed 
 several parties of men gathered in the street at the south end of the 
 town of Boston, in the forenoon of the day. The informant went 
 up to one of the parties, and Mr. Samuel Adams, then one of the 
 Representatives of Boston, happened to join the same party near 
 about the same time, trembling and in great agitation.* The party 
 consisted of about seven in number, who were unknown to the in- 
 formant, he having but little acquaintance with the inhabitants, or, 
 if any of them were known, he cannot now recollect them. The in- 
 formant heard the said Samuel Adams then say to the said party, 
 * If you are men, behave like men. Let us take up arms immedi- 
 ately, and be free, and seize all the King's officers. We shall have 
 thirty thousand men to join us from the country.' The informant 
 then walked off, believing his company was disagreeable. The in- 
 formant further sayeth, that after the burning of the boat aforesaid, 
 and before the arrival of the troops, the said Samuel Adams has been 
 divers times at the house of the informant, and at one of those times 
 particularly the informant began a discourse concerning the times ; 
 and the said Samuel Adams said : * We will not submit to any 
 tax, nor become slaves. We will take up arms, and spend our last 
 drop of blood before the King and Parliament shall impose on us, 
 and settle crown officers in this country to dragoon us. The coun- 
 try was first settled by our ancestors, therefore we are free and want 
 no king. The times were never better in Rome than when they 
 had no king and were a free state ; and as this is a great empire, 
 we shall have it in our power to give laws to England.' The in- 
 formant further sayeth, that, at divers times between the burning of 
 the boat aforesaid and the arrival of the troops aforesaid, he has 
 heard the said Adams express himself in words to very much the 
 same purpose, and that the informant's wife has sometimes been pres- 
 ent, and at one or more of such times, George Mason of Boston, 
 painter, was present. The informant further sayeth, that about a 
 fortnight before the troops arrived, the aforesaid Samuel Adams, 
 being at the house of the informant, the informant asked him what 
 he thought of the times. The said Adams answered, with great 
 alertness, that, on lighting the beacon, we should be joined with 
 
 * The constitutional tremulousness of hand and voice common to Mr. 
 Adams and his family is elsewhere described. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 211 
 
 thirty thousand men from the country with their knapsacks and 
 bayonets fixed, and added, * We will destroy every soldier that dare 
 put his foot on shore. His Majesty has no right to send troops here 
 to invade the country, and I look upon them as foreign enemies ! ' 
 This informant further sayeth, that two or three days before the 
 troops arrived, the said Samuel Adams said to the informant, that 
 Governor Bernard and Mr. Hutchinson and the Commissioners of 
 the Customs had sent for troops, and the said Adams made bitter 
 exclamations against them for so doing, and also repeated most of 
 the language about opposing the King's troops, which he had used 
 as above mentioned about a fortnight before. The informant con- 
 tradicted the said Samuel Adams, and attributed the sending troops 
 to the resolve of the General Court and the proceedings of the town 
 meeting.* 
 
 " Sworn to T. Hutchinson." 
 
 No other affidavits, if any were taken, are on file against 
 Mr. Adams, but statements were made by this informant 
 against Dr. Benjamin Church, Dr. Joseph Warren, and 
 Thomas Chase of Boston, distiller, to the same purport as 
 that already quoted. However truthful the information, it 
 could not have been the serious intention of the patriots to 
 attempt any organized armed resistance. It would have 
 been madness at that time. As yet the bond of union be* 
 tween the Colonies, necessary for successful resistance, had 
 not been formed. The time to strike was not come. Hot 
 spirits there were who could not count the consequences, 
 and, as in all bodies of oppressed people, were prepared to 
 rush into conflict. Thirty-thousand men, gun in hand, 
 could undoubtedly have been raised to drive the soldiers 
 into the sea, but their efforts must have resulted in failure. 
 
 Even in 1776, after all hope of redress had left the Amer- 
 icans, and when blood had been spilled, it required constant 
 exertions to maintain a unanimity in favor of the last ap- 
 peal. To have attempted it as early as the midsummer of 
 1768 would have retarded American liberty many years. 
 
 * London State-paper Office, "America and West Indies," No. 152. 
 
212 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept. 
 
 On the 5th of September, a paper in the form of queries, 
 signed " Clericus Americanus," appeared in the Boston Ga- 
 zette, taking the ground that, as the late acts implied a leap- 
 ing over all those covenants and compacts which were the 
 basis of the political union with Great Britain, it was expe- 
 dient for the inhabitants of every town in the Province to 
 choose representatives for a General Assembly, to petition 
 for an enlargement of their privileges. The writer having 
 explained his plans, continues : — 
 
 " If an army should be sent to reduce us to slavery, we will put 
 our lives in our hands, and cry to the Judge of all the earth, who 
 will do right, saying : Behold, how they come to cast us out of 
 thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. Help us, O 
 Lord, our God, for we rest on Thee, and in thy name we go against 
 this multitude ! " * 
 
 The author of this is unknown. Bernard, in a letter to 
 Lord Hillsborough, called it " a system of politics exceeding 
 all former exceedings." " Some took it," he says, " for the 
 casual ravings of an occasional enthusiast, but I persuaded 
 myself that it came out of the cabinet of the faction." f 
 On Wednesday the Senegal left port, and on the following 
 day the Duke of Cumberland sailed for Nova Scotia. The 
 Governor took care that the news should be circulated that 
 they had gone for troops, and long before night it was known 
 all over town. A petition for a town meeting was signed on 
 the 9th, "to consider the most wise, constitutional, loyal, 
 and salutary measures " as to the expected arrival of the 
 troops. The next evening, Otis, Samuel Adams, and War- 
 ren met at the house of Warren, — now the site of the 
 American House, — to draw up resolves, arrange for the 
 proceedings, and prepare the order of debate 4 Bernard 
 says, in one of his letters to Hillsborough, " the faction im- 
 
 * Boston Gazette, Sept. 5, 1768. 
 t Bernard to Hillsborough, Sept. 16, 1768. 
 
 J Capt. Corner's Diary, kept aboard the war-ship Senegal in Boston Har- 
 bor, now in the London State-paper Office. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 213 
 
 mediately took the alarm " on hearing that the troops were 
 expected ; and the timid Governor, fearful of every event, 
 distorted the calm and deliberate measures concerted at 
 Warren's house into " a plan to surprise and take the Cas- 
 tle on the night following " ; but his Excellency's informant 
 on this occasion evidently allowed his fears or imagination 
 to guide his report. Insurrection was far from the inten- 
 tion of the patriot trio. In the crisis before them, union first 
 of the towns of the Province, and afterwards of the Colonies, 
 was the plan. On Sunday, the Governor, in a panic, ordered 
 the removal of the old iron " skillet,'' which from the ear- 
 liest times had stood on Beacon Hill, to be lighted when the 
 country was to be alarmed. The meeting took place on 
 Monday, the 12th, at Faneuil Hall, where four hundred mus- 
 kets lay upon the floor. Otis was moderator, and the elo- 
 quent Cooper opened the proceedings with prayer. Cushing, 
 Samuel Adams, Dana, Rowe, Hancock, Kent, and Warren 
 were appointed a committee to wait upon his Excellency, 
 to inquire his reasons for expecting the troops, and "to 
 humbly request him to issue precepts for a General Assem- 
 bly to be convened with the utmost speed, in order that such 
 measures might be taken as, in their wisdom, they might 
 think proper " for the preservation of the rights and liberties 
 of the people. A committee was also appointed to report 
 the measures most salutary for the present emergency. 
 The meeting adjourned, and came together again on the 
 following day, when the committee reported that the Gov- 
 ernor had no official communication to make upon the sub- 
 ject of the troops, and had refused to issue precepts for an 
 Assembly. Upon this, the meeting adopted a "Declara- 
 tion," in which it was resolved that the inhabitants of Bos- 
 ton, at the utmost peril of their lives and fortunes, maintain 
 and defend their rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities. 
 Otis addressed the meeting, and pointing to the arms, " These 
 are the arms," said he ; " when an attempt is made upon your 
 liberties, they will be delivered. Our declaration wants no 
 
214 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 [Sept. 
 
 I 
 
 explanation." The Governor's account of the meeting to 
 the Ministry says : — 
 
 " When first it was moved that the Governor be desired to call 
 an Assembly, it was said to be to provide for the safety of the Prov- 
 ince, and put it in a posture of defence ; it was therefore observed 
 that that would make troops necessary, and it was immediately 
 struck out. This was overruled, for indeed it was rather premature. 
 Another, an old man, protested against everything but rising imme- 
 diately, and taking all power into their own hands. One man, very 
 profligate and abandoned, argued for massacring their enemies. 
 His argument was, in short, liberty is as precious as life ; if a man 
 attempts to take my life, I have a right to take his ; ergo, if a man 
 attempts to take away my liberty, I have a right to take his life. 
 He also argued, that when a people's liberties were threatened, they 
 were in a state of war, and had a right to defend themselves ; and 
 he carried these arguments so far, that his own party were obliged 
 to silence him." * 
 
 But the object in calling the meeting was not to be at- 
 tained by rash counsels, which served rather to arm the en- 
 emy against them. In the " Declaration " " they intrenched 
 themselves within the self-evident law, that it is the first 
 principle in civil society, founded in nature and reason, that 
 no law of the society can be binding on any individual with- 
 out his consent, given by himself in person, or by his repre- 
 sentative of his or her own free election." Wisdom and 
 caution ruled the hour, and no measure was suffered to 
 prevail which could cause the inland towns to withhold their 
 cheerful assent from the great experiment which was to be 
 tried. The Legislature had been arbitrarily dissolved, and 
 the Governor had refused to call another. Following tjie 
 precedent of 1688, the meeting proposed a convention of the 
 towns of Massachusetts by their representatives ; and for Bos- 
 ton, elected Cushing, Otis, Samuel Adams, and Hancock. 
 The prevailing rumor of a war with France, and an ancient 
 
 * Bernard's letter to Lord Hillsborough. 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 215 
 
 precedent in England, was also used to support a vote that 
 every one of the inhabitants should provide himself with 
 fire-arms and ammunition.* 
 
 The town was still under the greatest excitement. The 
 loyalists universally condemned the meeting and its objects. 
 " They have delivered their sentiments," said General Gage, 
 when he read the proceedings, " in the style of a ruling and 
 sovereign nation, who acknowledge no dependence. Cap- 
 tain Corner, on board his ship, kept a diary for the greater 
 part of September, which he forwarded to Commodore Hood. 
 It tells of " panics at the Castle," of " cabals and menaces," 
 news from England of " fifty state prisoners to be sent 
 home " for trial, " the militia under arms, exercising and 
 firing," " confusion and alarms," rumors of " an attack 
 on the Castle," and other exciting details ; but though a 
 war-ship was stationed to protect the Castle, and the crown 
 officers appear to have been much frightened, there was 
 evidently no intention of violence. 
 
 The convention, which met on the 22d of September, was 
 regarded by many with anxiety and alarm. They feared it 
 might result in such acts as would lead to a forfeiture of 
 the charter. But the controlling minds had been too long 
 schooled in prudence to pass the limits which should " keep 
 the enemy in the wrong "; and though, after the convention 
 had adjourned, the crown officers exultingly asserted that 
 the members had committed treason, it was found in Eng- 
 land, after a thorough canvassing of their proceedings, that 
 they had taken no step without careful deliberation, and 
 had warily guarded against any infraction of the law.f The 
 main object, which was the moral effect of an assembly of 
 the people, held independently of the regular Legislature, 
 whose action tyranny had clogged, was accomplished ; and, 
 on future occasions of a similar or more aggravated nature, 
 the precedent could be used for other conventions with per- 
 haps even greater results. 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 205. f Bancroft, VI. 206. 
 
216 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept. 
 
 The delegates from sixty towns assembled at Faneuil Hall 
 on the first day. Before the close of the convention, there 
 was a representation from ninety-six towns and eight dis- 
 tricts, — or nearly every settlement in the Province. Otis, 
 though he had acted as moderator of the meeting which gave 
 birth to this assembly, unaccountably absented himself in 
 the country during the first three days of its sitting.* This 
 greatly disconcerted his friends, and, consequently, after the 
 choice of Cushing as moderator, and Adams as clerk, they 
 remained with open doors the rest of the week, taking no 
 steps further than to send a message to the Governor, pray- 
 ing " that his Excellency would be pleased to convene the 
 constitutional Assembly of the Province,' ' thus publishing 
 to the world that their object was to procure the meeting 
 of their charter Legislature, at which they might consider 
 the threatened destruction of their liberties. The Governor 
 declined to receive their petition, assuming that such an 
 act would be virtually admitting the legality of the assem- 
 bly. He also addressed them a message against continuing 
 their session, and urged that instantly and before doing 
 any business they should break up and separate. 
 
 " I speak to you now," he continued, " as a friend to the Province 
 and a well-wisher to the individuals of it : but if you pay no re- 
 gard to this admonition, I must, as Governor, assert the prerogative 
 of the Crown in a more public manner. For, assure yourselves 
 (I speak from instructions) the King is determined to maintain his 
 entire sovereignty over this province, and whoever shall persist in 
 usurping any of the rights of it shall repent his rashness." 
 
 The continued absence of Otis still retarded the proceed- 
 ings ; for his popularity and position as a leader rendered 
 it indispensable that he should be there. Without the pres- 
 ence of so important a character, the popular party would 
 have been regarded by the royalists as divided in counsel, 
 where unanimity was the basis of success. In the following 
 week he reappeared, when the proceedings were continued 
 
 * Capt. Corner's Diary for Thursday, 22d September. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 217 
 
 with closed doors.* It was thought by members residing 
 in remote districts, that violent acts were contemplated by 
 the leaders, — a fear perhaps engendered by the false reports 
 of the crown officers. It was, therefore, not without diffi- 
 culty that the measures of the convention were carried by 
 their originators, and there is reason to believe that Adams 
 was not entirely satisfied with the proceedings, although the 
 petition to the King, written by himself, was probably 
 adopted through his efforts. A few days after the adjourn- 
 ment, Bernard wrote to Hillsborough : — 
 
 " Many of the deputies came down with instructions and disposi- 
 tion to prevent the Bostoneers involving the Province in their own 
 mad devices. Many of them were sensible, from the beginning, of 
 the impropriety and danger of this proceeding, and were desirous, 
 by a moderate conduct, to correct the one and ward off the other. 
 My message, which was said to be very high (though I hope not too 
 high for the occasion), although it did not disperse them, had the 
 good effect to keep them in awe. Hence it was that Otis, when he 
 joined them, was perfectly tame, and his colleague Adams, when he 
 attempted to launch out in the language used in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives, was presently silenced." f 
 
 The stern and inflexible character of Samuel Adams could 
 ill brook these vacillations of political sentiment. It was 
 either on this or a similar occasion, during the sitting of the 
 convention, that he exclaimed, as the words were remem- 
 bered by his daughter : " I am in fashion and out of fashion, as 
 the whim goes. I will stand alone. I will oppose this tyranny 
 at the threshold, though the fabric of liberty fall, and I per- 
 ish in its ruins." J For six days the convention was in ses- 
 sion. Besides adopting the petition to the King (that eman- 
 ating from the House of Representatives in the previous 
 winter), and a letter to Deberdt, also written by Adams, they 
 carefully disclaimed the assumption by the convention of any 
 
 * Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, Sept. 27, 1768. 
 
 t Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, Oct. 3, 1768. 
 
 X Manuscript Memoir by the daughter of Samuel Adams, 1804. 
 
218 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept., Oct. 
 
 legislative and government authority, declared their object to 
 be the obtaining of relief from the oppressive system of im- 
 posts, custom-house officers, and regular troops, which were 
 grievous to the Province, and incompatible with its just au- 
 thority, its rights and liberties. In their address, they say : — 
 
 " We hold that the sovereignty of King George the Third is en- 
 tire in all parts of the British empire. God forbid that we should 
 ever act or wish anything in repugnation of the same. "We appear 
 as plain, honest men, humbly desiring peace and order ; and while 
 the people observe a medium between abject submission and a slav- 
 ish stupidity under grievous oppressions on the one hand, and ille- 
 gal attempts to obtain relief on the other, and steadily persevere in 
 constitutional applications to recover their just rights and liberties, 
 they think they may promise themselves success." 
 
 The object of the convention having been accomplished, it 
 dissolved ; and in the absence of a charter Assembly, the Gov- 
 ernor and Council remained in charge of the public affairs. 
 
 On the day the convention dissolved, the squadron of seven 
 armed vessels arrived from Halifax with two regiments of 
 troops. The Council refused to prepare quarters for them, 
 upon which the fleet, with springs on their cables, was placed 
 off the wharves, so as to command the town ; and then the 
 Fourteenth and Twenty-ninth Regiments, with drums beat- 
 ing, fifes playing, and colors flying, were landed on Long 
 Wharf, and marched to Boston Common, where they paraded 
 in full uniform, each soldier being provided with sixteen 
 rounds of shot, and all hostile preparations made as if they 
 were entering the territory of a foreign enemy. Colonel 
 Dalrymple, their commander, encamped the Twenty-ninth 
 Regiment, and demanded quarter of the selectmen for the 
 Fourteenth. The law would have justified a refusal, but the 
 compassion of the inhabitants being moved for the soldiers 
 standing shelterless in the cold night, they were allowed by 
 the Sons of Liberty to sleep in Faneuil Hall, — the first time 
 that the " Cradle of Liberty,'' as it came afterwards to be 
 called, had echoed to the clank of a foeman's tread. The 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 219 
 
 menace of military rule served only to exasperate the little 
 town which it was intended to overawe. The following let- 
 ter illustrates the temper of the people : — 
 
 Boston, Oct. 3, 1768. 
 SrR, — 
 
 I am to acknowledge your favor of the 27th June per Blure. 
 The troops, which you mentioned in your letter to the Speaker, 
 arrived last week. Barracks are provided for them at the Castle, 
 which is within the limits of the town, sufficient to contain more than 
 their number. Governor Bernard, in opposition to the unanimous 
 advice of his Council, insists upon their being quartered in the body 
 of the town ; they remain this day unprovided with any other quar- 
 ters. The people, in general, as you may naturally suppose, are 
 utterly averse to their continuing among them ; yet such was their 
 humanity towards them that they were careful to shelter them from 
 the open air for a night or two, even in the City Hall. "What will 
 be the event of, I had almost said the obstinacy of the Governor 
 against the sense of a provoked people, God only knows. The reve- 
 nue, be it just or not, is not at all affected in this struggle. It ha3 
 been paid without interruption during the retirement of the Commis- 
 sioners to the Castle, which was of their own accord, and, some sus- 
 pect, was to make an appearance and a plausible pretence to the 
 nation. The troops are hitherto orderly. The inhabitants pre- 
 serve their peace and patience. The late convention has no doubt 
 contributed much towards it. They, however, look upon their 
 situation, being surrounded with men of war, hostile, at least in 
 appearance, and the determination of the Governor to quarter sol- 
 diers upon them when there are barracks provided according to act 
 of Parliament, which was made undoubtedly to prevent such a ca- 
 lamity, to be a new and intolerable grievance. They are resolved 
 not to pay their money without their own consent, and are more 
 than ever determined to relinquish every article, however dear, that 
 comes from Britain, till the acts are repealed and the troops re- 
 moved. May God preserve the nation from being greatly injured, 
 if not finally ruined, by the vile ministrations of wicked men in 
 
 America. 
 
 I am, in haste, your most humble servant, 
 
 Samuel Adams. 
 Dennys Deberdt, Esq. 
 
. CHAPTER X. 
 
 Military Rule in Boston. — Adams -wftgaa . the People against the A ppro ach Q t- 
 
 ^Tyr anny. — His Essays in the Boston Gazette. — Conduct and Influence of 
 
 the Soldiery. — Meeting of Parliament. — The King enraged against the 
 
 Town of Boston. — Edmund Burke defends Massachusetts. — Lord North 
 
 and his Policy. — Boston to be subjugated and her Leaders tried for Trea- 
 
 Now that the troops were quartered in Boston, they 
 found themselves in an orderly town, without an enemy to 
 fight. The inhabitants, keenly alive to their rights, and yet 
 careful not to be the aggressors, stood quietly by, and wit- 
 nessed this tyranny, but knew that the time for action was 
 not yet. To the requisition for allowances for the soldiers 
 which was laid before the Council, that body replied that 
 they were ready to comply on their part with the act of Par- 
 liament, if Colonel Dalrymple would on his. But the latter 
 was too haughty to make any promises. They were willing 
 to appoint a commissary, if he would " take the risk of the 
 Province's paying," since the Legislature was dissolved, and 
 no other power, by the charter, could appropriate the money 
 of the Province. 
 
 General Gage, Commander-in-Chief of the forces in Amer- 
 ica, came to Boston to demand quarters for the troops ; but 
 the Council still refused until the barracks at the Castle 
 were filled, and, after trying every plan, the Governor ad- 
 mitted that he was " at the end of his tether," for the law 
 was unquestionably on the side of the town. Finally, as 
 the weather was growing inclement, the main guard was 
 established opposite the State House, which was occupied 
 by troops, and their cannon were pointed towards the legis- 
 lative hall.* 
 
 * Massachusetts Gazette, Nov. 3, 1768. 
 
Oct., 1768] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 221 
 
 The Council appealed to the General, in a memorial, to 
 testify from his own observation, that the town was peace- 
 ful, and desired him to remove the obnoxious regiments to 
 the Castle or Point Shirley. But, though Gage admitted 
 the justness of their statements, he declined to remove the 
 troops. Boston was under a military despotism. The re- 
 fusal to make use of the barracks at the Castle, which were 
 yet unfilled, and quartering the soldiers on the town, was a 
 manifest infringement of the act of Parliament, but remon- 
 strances were lost upon the commander. 
 
 Mr. Adams viewed the establishment of military power as 
 the first step in the system which must eventually bring on 
 a collision. As " Principiis Obsta," he showed the danger 
 of an armed force among a people.* 
 
 "< Where law ends/ says Mr. Locke, '. tyranny begins, if the law 
 be transgressed to another's harm. , No one, I believe, will deny 
 the truth of the observation ; and, therefore, I again appeal to com- 
 mon sense, whether the act which provides for the quartering and 
 billeting the King's troops was not transgressed when the barracks 
 at the Castle, which are sufficient to contain more than the whole 
 number of soldiers now in this town, were absolutely refused. 
 This, I presume, cannot be contested. Should any one say that 
 the law is not transgressed ' to another's harm,' the assertion, I dare 
 say, would contradict the feelings of every sober householder in the 
 town. No man can pretend to say that the peace and good order 
 of the community is so secure with soldiers quartered in the body 
 of a city as without them. Besides, where military power is intro- 
 duced, military maxims are propagated and adopted which are 
 inconsistent with, and must soon eradicate, every idea of civil gov- 
 ernment. Do we not already find some persons weak enough to 
 believe that an officer is obliged to obey the order of his superior, 
 though it be even against the law? And let any one consider 
 whether this doctrine does not directly lead even to the setting up 
 that officer, whoever he may be, as a tyrant ? 
 
 "It is moreover to be observed, that the military government 
 and civil are so different from each other, if not opposite, that they 
 
 * Boston Gazette, Oct. 17, 1768. 
 
222 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 cannot long subsist together. Soldiers are not governed properly 
 by the laws of their country, but by a law made for them only. 
 This may, in time, make them look upon themselves as a body of 
 men different from the rest of the people ; and as they, and they 
 only, have the sword in their hands, they may sooner or later begin 
 to look upon themselves as the lords, and not the servants, of the 
 people. Instead of enforcing the execution of the law, which by 
 the way is far from being the original interest of soldiers, they may 
 refuse to obey it themselves, — nay, they may even make laws for 
 themselves, and enforce them by the power of the sword ! Such 
 instances are not uncommon in history, and they always will hap- 
 pen when troops are put under the direction of an ambitious or cov- 
 etous Governor. And if there is any reason to fear that this may 
 be the consequence of a transgression of the act of Parliament, it is 
 a transgression not * to the harm ' of individuals only, but of the 
 public. It behooves the public, then, to be aware of the danger, 
 and like sober men to avail themselves of the law while it is in 
 their power. It is always safe to adhere to the law, and to keep 
 every man of every denomination and character within its bounds. 
 Not to do this would be in the highest degree imprudent. When- 
 ever it becomes a question of prudence, whether we shall make use 
 of legal and constitutional methods to prevent the encroachments 
 of any kind of power, what will it be but to depart from the straight 
 line, to give up the law and the Constitution, which is fixed and sta- 
 ble, and is the collected and long digested sentiment of the whole, 
 and to substitute in its room the opinion of individuals, than which 
 nothing can be more uncertain. The sentiments of men, in such a 
 case, would, in all likelihood, be as various as their sentiments in 
 religion or anything else ; and as there would be no settled rule for 
 the public to advert to, the safety of the people would probably be 
 at an end." 
 
 In another essay, signed " Cedant Arma Togae," he also 
 considers the quartering of troops upon the people, and ex- 
 poses its illegality and uselessness in the present instance. 
 
 The troops were no sooner established in the town than 
 they began to desert, — about forty having disappeared by 
 the middle of October; and their escape was facilitated by 
 the fact that none of the people would betray them. On the 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. ■ 223 
 
 3d, a proclamation was read on King Street (now State 
 Street) to the troops, offering a reward of ten guineas to 
 each soldier who should inform of any one attempting to 
 seduce him from the service. The severest discipline was 
 enforced, and, at last, a deserter having been captured, he was 
 shot on the Common, and buried on the place of execution.* 
 A petition for his pardon was sent to the commanding officer 
 by some of the first ladies of Boston. On the morning of 
 the 6th, nine or ten soldiers of Colonel Carr's regiment were 
 severely whipped on the Common, — the punishment being 
 inflicted by negro drummers. These cruel spectacles were 
 revolting to the Americans, who had hitherto been strangers 
 to such horrors. Samuel Adams, whose sensitive and mer- 
 ciful disposition could never harbor the idea of a human 
 creature being thus lacerated, was inexpressibly shocked 
 with the barbarities of military discipline, and, in at least 
 one instance, succeeded in saving from the lash a soldier 
 who had been sentenced to a degree of punishment nearly 
 equivalent to death. The wife of the unfortunate man ap- 
 plied to him in her distress, in hopes that the weight of his 
 character would have some influence with the commander 
 to avert the penalty. Mr. Adams promised to intercede, 
 though with what likelihood of success can be imagined, 
 from his position in opposition to government measures, and 
 when affidavits were taken against his life for alleged trea- 
 son. His appeal, however, much to his own surprise, was 
 successful ; the culprit was pardoned solely on his interces- 
 sion, and the grateful woman was ready, would he have per- 
 mitted it, to embrace the knees of her noble advocate. His 
 daughter, who related this anecdote, believed that the act 
 was preparatory to some overtures which were afterwards 
 made to Mr. Adams to secure him for the government cause. 
 Orders at last arrived for the Commissioners of the Cus- 
 toms, who had remained in the Castle since the September 
 mob, to return to Boston. Before returning, they desired 
 
 * Drake's History of Boston, p. 752. 
 
224 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 to obtain from the Council some excuse for their flight : but 
 the object of their artful departure was fully understood, 
 and the Council instead of gratifying them, voted that " they 
 had no just reason for absconding from their duty." The 
 officers, left to their own discretion, returned on the 10th, 
 and took an office at Concert Hall on Queen Street, where a 
 sentinel was posted at the door for their protection. Almost 
 their first act was to revive the affair of the sloop Liberty ; 
 and Hancock and Malcom were both arrested, and the for- 
 mer prosecuted for the recovery of the cargo of the sloop 
 and treble damages. Bail having been given, the prosecu- 
 tions were dropped in the following March by order of the 
 King's advocate, as there was not sufficient evidence to sup- 
 port the allegations. During the winter, John Adams was 
 engaged by Mr. Hancock as his counsel and advocate, and 
 he says there were few days * when he was not summoned 
 to attend the Court of Admiralty. The Commissioners, now 
 supported by the troops, resumed their haughty and over- 
 bearing manners, and became even more disgusting to the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Samuel Adams assailed them in a series of essays pub- 
 lished in the Boston Evening Post, over the signature of 
 " Candidus." These myrmidons of royalty insolently set 
 themselves up as beyond the reach of the provincial writers, 
 and presumed upon the nature of their office and consequent 
 ability to annoy the merchants in proportion as they were 
 interfered with. In these essays they are treated without 
 mercy.f One of the articles concludes thus : — 
 
 * And I shall here quit him at present, to assure my readers, that 
 I esteem the liberty of the press (within its proper limits) as the 
 greatest blessing to the good, and the severest scourge to the licen- 
 tious ; and in no other way will I ever use it, having a thorough 
 detestation to licentiousness of all denominations ; nor shall threats 
 from men in power, nor any mean, underhand methods, prevent me 
 
 * John Adams's Diary, 1768 (Works, II. 215, 216). 
 t Evening Post, Dec. 26, 1768. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 225 
 
 ^\ 
 from exposing the abuse of the power put into their hands. In 
 time, I will show the conduct of those men in proper colors, choos- 
 ing to finish with them as individuals before I take notice of their 
 public conduct in a particular manner." 
 
 While Boston, as the citadel of American liberty, was the 
 special object of ministerial vengeance, and the sympathies 
 and co-operation of the other Assemblies were extended to 
 Massachusetts, great changes had taken place in the English 
 Cabinet. Chatham, weighed down by infirmities, had re- 
 signed. Townshend was dead, and the Earl of Rochford 
 had been appointed Secretary of State. Parliament assem- 
 bled on the 8th of November, when the King, in his speech, 
 alluded to the fresh troubles in America, and levelled his 
 chief animosity at the town of Boston. He promised, with 
 the concurrence and support of the Ministry, to defeat " the 
 mischievous designs of those turbulent and seditious persons 
 who, under false pretences, have but too successfully deluded 
 my subjects in America." In the animated debate that fol- 
 lowed, the Bostonians were charged with " defying all legal 
 authority " ; and one of the lords recommended that the 
 charter and laws of Massachusetts should be so changed as 
 " to give the King the appointment of the Council, and to 
 the sheriffs the sole power of returning juries." This was 
 carrying tyranny to a point which the most violent had 
 scarcely contemplated. The independence of juries and the 
 rights of charters should have been sacred in the eyes of 
 every Briton. A threat to suspend them in any part of the 
 British dominions might well have aroused the jealous atten- 
 tion of the English people ; but the menace was scarcely 
 noticed by them. Samuel Adams marked the words, and 
 weighed them well. In an essay on the rights of the whole 
 people he says : — 
 
 " I know very well that some of the late contenders for a right 
 in the British Parliament to tax Americans who are not, and cannot 
 be, represented there, have denied this. When pressed with that 
 fundamental principle of nature and the Constitution, that what is 
 
 vol. i. 15 
 
226 LIFE OF 'SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 a man's own is absolutely his own, and that no man can have a right 
 to take it from him without his consent, they have alleged, and would 
 fain have us believe, that by far the greater part of people in Britain 
 are excluded the right of choosing their own representatives, and 
 therefore that they are taxed without their consent. Had not this 
 doctrine been repeatedly urged, I should have thought the bare 
 mentioning it would have opened the eyes of the people there to see 
 where their pretended advocates were leading them ; that in order to 
 establish a right in the people in England to enslave the Colonists 
 under a plausible show of great zeal for the honor of the nation, 
 they are driven to a bold assertion, at all adventures, that truly the 
 greater part of the nation are themselves subject to the same yoke 
 of bondage. What else is it but saying that the greater part of the 
 people of Great Britain are slaves ? For if the fruit of all their 
 toil and industry depends upon so precarious a tenure as the will of 
 a few, what security have they for the utmost farthing ? What are 
 they but slaves, delving with the sweat of their brows, not for the 
 benefit of themselves, but their masters ? And after all the fine 
 things that have been said of the British Constitution, and the boasted 
 freedom and happiness of the subjects who live under it, will they 
 rthank these modern writers, these jealous assertors for the honor 
 of the nation, for reducing them to a state inferior to that of indented 
 servants, who generally contract for a maintenance, at least, for their 
 labor?"* 
 
 Edmund Burke ably and eloquently defended the action 
 of Massachusetts during the debate in Parliament. He in- 
 sisted that the order requiring that Colony to rescind her 
 Circular Letter to the other Assemblies, was absolutely illegal 
 and unconstitutional ; and Grenville, the originator of the 
 plan to tax the Colonists, agreed with him in his opinion. 
 Thus not only was the refusal of Massachusetts to rescind at 
 the arbitrary mandate of Hillsborough founded in legal and 
 natural justice, but they were supported in their course by 
 the finest intellects in England. 
 
 "America must fear you before she can love you," said Lord 
 North to Alderman Beckford, who recommended a repeal of the late 
 
 * " Vindex/'in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 19, 1768. 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 227 
 
 act, and a policy of moderation and kindness. " Punishment," he 
 continued, " will not be extended beyond the really guilty ; and if 
 rewards shall be found necessary, rewards shall be given. But 
 what we do, we will do firmly ; we shall go through our plan, now 
 that we have brought it so near success. I am against repealing 
 the last act of Parliament, securing to us a revenue out of America. 
 I will never think of repealing it, until I see America prostrate at 
 my feet." 
 
 In uttering this threat, the Minister denned his policy 
 throughout his premiership. Courageous, good humored, 
 and apathetic in temperament, he was devoted to the royal 
 prerogative, and was strict in the performance of his duties. 
 Opposed to reforms, and bitterly against concessions to the 
 Americans, having voted for the Stamp Act and against its 
 repeal, he was exactly the man to blindly pursue the meas- 
 ures of the headstrong King, and thus, under Providence, to 
 bring about the liberty of the Colonies. It was in Novem- 
 ber, 1768, that he was determined to see " America at his 
 feet." In November, 1781, he was fated, as Prime Minister, 
 to hear of the surrender of Cornwallis, which virtually ended 
 the war of independence. Then his self-possession deserted 
 him, and he looked back with horror and chagrin upon the 
 measures of his administration, and reluctantly yielding to 
 a vote of censure from the House of Commons for his Amer- 
 ican policy before and during the war, the vanquished peer 
 retired from the Cabinet, followed by the execrations of his 
 countrymen. 
 
 But Parliament was now blind to everything but the de- 
 termination to subdue the Colonies, and Lord North, who 
 led the Ministry, having given his ultimatum, the address to 
 the King was carried in both Houses, pledging the nation to 
 support his Majesty in all such future measures as should be 
 found requisite to enforce a due obedience to the laws, to re- 
 store the Coloniul dependence, and " to maintain entire and 
 inviolate the supreme authority of the Legislature of Great 
 Britain over every part of the British empire." The die 
 
228 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 was cast; and the work of subjugation was to be com- 
 menced. The government was preparing to take determined 
 measures. Lord North demanded united action to awe Bos- 
 ton, the head of the rebellion, into obedience. It was asked 
 by Grenville, " How do we know parliamentarily that Boston 
 is the most guilty of the Colonies ? " Some of the peers, 
 who were opposed to the measures, expressed their horror at 
 them, and their deep sympathy with the Colonists ; but the 
 vote in the Commons passed by a majority of twenty-seven. 
 The first step towards this subjugation of a peaceable and 
 loyal town was the introduction by Lord Hillsborough, in 
 the House of Lords, of a series of resolutions condemning the 
 Assembly of Massachusetts, its Council, and the September 
 convention ; approving of the military force, and planning a 
 change in the charter of the Province. Bedford followed 
 with an address to the King, " to bring to condign punish- 
 ment the chief authors and instigators of the late disorders," 
 and, if sufficient ground should be seen, to put them on trial 
 for treason. The resolutions and address were adopted al- 
 most unanimously.*' 
 
 * That these measures were inconsistent as well as unnecessarily harsh is 
 especially apparent when we reflect upon the riots and confusion in England 
 itself at this very time, to quell which no especial act was considered to be 
 necessary. 
 
 " Dr. Franklin writing from London in May of the same year, says : " Even 
 this capital, the residence of the King, is now a daily scene of lawless riot and 
 confusion : mobs patrolling the streets at noonday ; some knocking down all 
 that will not roar for Wilkes and liberty; courts of justice afraid to give 
 judgment against him ; coal-heavers and porters pulling down the houses of 
 coal-merchants, that refuse to give them more wages ; sawyers destroying saw- 
 mills ; sailors unrigging all the outward-bound ships, and suffering none to sail 
 till merchants agree to raise their pay ; watermen destroying private boats and 
 threatening bridges ; soldiers firing among the mobs and killing men, women, 
 and children ; which seems only to have produced a universal sullenness that 
 looks like a great black cloud coming on, ready to burst in a general tempest. 
 What the event will be, God only knows." And again he writes : " I have 
 seen within a year riots in the country about corn ; riots about elections ; riots 
 about work-houses ; riots of colliers ; riots of weavers ; riots of coal-heavers ; 
 riots of sawyers ; riots of Wilkesites ; riots of government chairmen ; riots of 
 smugglers ; in which custom-house officers and excisemen have been murdered, 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 229 
 
 Intimations of the proposed seizing of the popular leaders 
 had already arrived in Boston. It was known that the 
 threatened calamities were the result of the repeated misrep- 
 resentations by the Governor and his underlings. " They 
 expect a voyage to England against their inclinations,' ' wrote 
 Commodore Hood ; and the crown officers did not conceal 
 their exultation at the double satisfaction of having the lead- 
 ers hanged for treason, and their own safety provided for by 
 the presence of troops. At the same time that these coer- 
 cive measures were adopted against Boston for riots hugely 
 exaggerated by the loyalist writers, an actual spirit of insur- 
 rection and riot was constantly manifesting itself in England, 
 and yet no troops were quartered upon the turbulent towns. 
 But the interposition of a wide ocean, it seems, had disfran- 
 chised Britons, and by residing on the opposite side of the 
 water they had lost the rights and privileges of Englishmen. 
 The year was closing, and yet the Legislature remained dis- 
 solved. There seemed no probability of relief, and a gloomy 
 despondency settled upon the Province. But the spirit of 
 inquiry was abroad. The genius of liberty was not dead nor 
 asleep. Arbitrary power, indeed, pressed heavily upon the 
 community, but there was a fire beneath the surface and, 
 at any moment, there might be an eruption. 
 
 Meantime the troops, without an enemy to fight, were 
 standing proofs of the uselessness of their mission. The 
 fleet, consisting of eight war vessels, commanded the harbor ; 
 and the royal regiments had possession of the only land 
 communication with the town. Red coats, glittering bay- 
 onets, martial music, and all the paraphernalia of war were 
 constantly paraded in the faces of the exasperated people. 
 The legislative halls were occupied by armed mercenaries, 
 and cannon pointed at the doors ; the quiet of the Sabbath 
 was disturbed, and citizens were challenged at every corner 
 
 and the King's armed vessels and troops fired at." But these disturbances 
 were at home, and among privileged Englishmen. The restiveness of their 
 Colonists under oppression was another thing. 
 
230 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 as in time of martial law. As the hatred between the peo- 
 ple and the troops daily increased in virulence, complaints 
 were made that numbers of the inhabitants had been in- 
 sulted and arrested, jostled in the streets, and thrust at 
 with bayonets. A merchant was struck down in a coffee- 
 house, and some of his friends, who attempted to expos- 
 tulate, were roughly handled. The slaves were excited 
 against their masters, and the law was openly violated in 
 innumerable instances. Brawls and revels by night, and 
 outrages by day, characterized the life of the soldiers ; while, 
 to scandalize the town and corrupt the morals of the young, 
 hundreds of abandoned women, who had followed the army 
 from Europe to Halifax, came thence to Boston. They were 
 the most dissolute creatures, and many soon found their way 
 into the alms-house, and thus increased the public burdens. 
 To keep his countrymen thoroughly aroused to the igno- 
 miny of their position under these outrages, Mr. Adams lost 
 no opportunity of stinging the public mind to the quick 
 with cogent essays in the newspapers, which, among the 
 many acts of tyranny, had not yet been suppressed. His 
 object was to have it constantly in view, that the military 
 was under the civil power, and that the British Constitution 
 was violated by the quartering of troops upon the people. 
 He demanded to know by what right the towns-people were 
 constantly challenged : — 
 
 " There is something in it," said he, " which looks as if the town 
 was altogether under the government and control of the military 
 power ; and as long as the inhabitants are fully persuaded that this 
 is not the case at present, and moreover hope and believe that it 
 never will, it has a natural tendency to irritate the minds of all who 
 have a just sense of honor, and think they have the privilege of 
 walking the streets without being controlled. 
 
 " I am informed that not less than nine gentlemen of character, 
 some of them of the first families in this Province, were stopped and 
 put under guard the other evening, for refusing to submit to this 
 
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 231 
 
 military novelty; and, still more alarming, that even one of his 
 Majesty's Council was stopped in his chariot in the daytime when 
 going out of town, under a flimsy pretence that possibly he might 
 have concealed a deserter in his chariot, and was treated with inso- 
 lence. The honorable gentleman, I dare say, felt his resentment 
 kindle ; and every one who hears of so high-handed an insult must 
 feel anger glowing in his breast. I forbear to mention the constant 
 practice of challenging, as it is called, the country people when 
 passing and repassing upon their lawful business through the gates 
 of the city, where a guard-house is erected upon land belonging to 
 
 the public 
 
 " Are we a garrisoned town, or are we not ? If we are, let us 
 know by whose authority and by whose influence we are made so : 
 if not, and I take it for granted we are not, let us then assert and 
 maintain the honor, the dignity, of free citizens, and place the mili- 
 tary where all other men are, and where they always ought and will 
 be placed in every free country, — at the foot of the common law of 
 the land. To submit to the civil magistrate in the legal exercise of 
 power is forever the part of a good subject; and to answer the 
 watchmen of the town in the night may be the part of a good citizen, 
 as well as to afford them all necessary countenance and support. 
 But to be called to account by a common soldier, or any soldier, is 
 a badge of slavery which none but a slave will wear. 
 
 "Is there any who dares to say that Americans have not the 
 rights of subjects ? Is Boston disfranchised ? When and for what 
 crime was it done ? If not, is it not enough for us to have seen sol- 
 diers and mariners forejudged of life, and executed within the body 
 of the county by martial law ? Are citizens to be called upon, 
 threatened, ill-used at the will of the soldiery, and put under arrest, 
 by pretext of the law military, in breach of the fundamental rights 
 of subjects, and contrary to the law and franchise of the land ? And 
 are the inhabitants of this town still to be affronted in the night, as 
 well as the day, by soldiers armed with muskets and fixed bayonets ? 
 Are these the blessings of government ? Is this the method to rec- 
 oncile the people to the temper of the present administration of gov- 
 ernment in this Province ? Will the spirits of people as yet unsub- 
 dued by tyranny, unawed by the menaces of arbitrary power, submit 
 
232 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 to be governed by military force ? No ! Let us rouse our attention 
 to the common law, — which is our birthright, our great security 
 against all kinds of insult and oppression, — the law, which when 
 rightly used, is the curb and the terror of the haughtiest tyrant. 
 Let our magistrates execute the good and wholesome laws of the land 
 with resolution and an intrepid firmness, aided by the posse comita- 
 tus, the body of the county, which is their only natural and legal 
 strength, and they will see their authority revered. The boldest 
 transgressors will then tremble before them, and the orderly and 
 peaceable inhabitants will be restored to the rights, privileges, and 
 immunities of free subjects." * 
 
 In the series of writings signed " Yindex," extending 
 through the month of December, all of far greater length 
 than can be here introduced, Mr. Adams continued to at- 
 tack the principle and practice of establishing military rule. 
 In his private conversations among his friends, and wherever 
 he could meet any number of his fellow-townsmen, he en- 
 deavored to depict the ruin of liberty under an armed force, 
 and to inspire them with a sense of the injury they were sus- 
 taining. He held that a standing army within the kingdom 
 in time of peace, without the consent of Parliament, was 
 against the law ; that the consent of Parliament necessarily 
 implied the consent of the people, who were always present in 
 Parliament either by themselves or their representatives ; and 
 that the Americans, as they were not and could not be rep- 
 resented in Parliament, were therefore suffering under mili- 
 tary tyranny over which they were allowed to exercise no 
 control. In one of these essays, he says : — 
 
 " It is a very improbable supposition that any people can long 
 remain free, with a strong military power in the very heart of their 
 country, unless that military power is under the direction of the 
 people ; and even then it is dangerous. History, both ancient and 
 modern, affords many instances of the overthrow of states and king- 
 doms by the power of soldiers, who were raised and maintained at 
 first under the plausible pretence of defending those very liberties 
 
 * " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 5, 1768. 
 
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 233 
 
 which they afterwards destroyed. Even where there is a necessity 
 of the military power within the land, which by the way but rarely 
 happens, a wise and prudent people will always have a watchful 
 and a jealous eye over it ; for the maxims and rules of the army 
 are essentially different from the genius of a free people, and the 
 laws of a free government The whole continent of Amer- 
 ica is charged by some designing men with treason and rebellion for 
 vindicating their constitutional and natural rights ; but I must tell 
 these men on both sides the Atlantic, that no other force but that 
 of reason and sound argument on their part .... will prevail upon 
 us to relinquish our righteous claim. Military power is by no 
 means calculated to convince the understandings of men. It may 
 in another part of the world affright women and children, and per- 
 haps some weak men, out of their senses, but will never awe a sen- 
 sible American tamely to surrender his liberty. Among the brutal 
 herd, the strongest horns are the strongest laws ; and slaves, who 
 are always to be ranked among the servile brutes, may cringe under 
 a tyrant's brow. But to a reasonable being, one, I mean, who acts 
 up to his reason, there is nothing in military achievement, any more 
 than in knight-errantry, so terrifying as to induce him to part with 
 the choicest gift that Heaven bestows on man." * 
 
 Again, in writing on the same subject, in the latter part 
 of December, he devotes a large space in the Boston Gazette 
 to the danger of standing armies in any country in time of 
 peace. 
 
 " A standing army is an army raised and kept within the com- 
 munity to defend it against any sudden attacks. If it be asked who 
 is to judge when the community is in danger of such attacks, one 
 would naturally answer, — the community itself. For who can be 
 more proper judges of it than they for whose safety alone, and at 
 whose expense alone, they are kept and maintained? The people, 
 while they enjoy the blessings of freedom and the security of their 
 property, are generally early enough in their apprehension of com- 
 mon danger, especially when it is so threatening as to require the 
 military aid ; and their judgment of the necessity or expediency of 
 a standing army is, generally, at least as honest as that of their 
 
 * " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 12, 1768. 
 
234 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1768, 69. 
 
 superiors. Indeed, in arbitrary governments, and, alas ! how few are 
 there in the world that are not so ! the people give up the power 
 of judging in this matter, as well as in all other matters of public 
 concern, to their governors, who always sooner or later, instead of 
 governors, make themselves their masters and tyrants, and even 
 their executioners ; and this change is commonly brought on by 
 the means of standing armies. But in free governments the people 
 have an influence in public affairs, and they always will, so far at 
 least as to prevent their being ruined by the avarice, ambition, hu- 
 mor, caprice, or violence of one man or a few men whose interest 
 it may be to ruin them. Thanks be to Heaven, the government of 
 Great Britain has still its proportion of a democracy ; the people 
 have their share in the Legislature, and no law can be made nor 
 any public measures taken, which can effect their interest, without 
 their consent." * 
 
 * « Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 26, 1768. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 Debates in Parliament on Colonial Affairs. — Colonel Barre defends the Col- 
 onists. — Passage of Bedford's Address. — The leading Patriots to be sent 
 to England for Trial. — Otis and Adams especially marked. — Adams at- 
 tacks the Crown Writers. — The Boston Press. — Newspapers in the last 
 Century. — Their Influence in shaping Public Opinion. — Public Meeting 
 to vindicate the Town. — Adams drafts a Petition to the King and a Letter 
 to Isaac Barre. — He appeals to the Sons of Liberty. 
 
 The debate on American affairs was resumed in the House 
 of Commons in January and February, 1769. Hillsbor- 
 ough's resolutions and Bedford's address had passed the 
 Lords by twenty-seven majority ; and now the masters of 
 English eloquence stood up in the Lower House in defence 
 of American rights. Even Grenville spoke against the 
 address, and scoffed at the insane and unjust system. The 
 debate was long and able. Tho project of extending the 
 act of Henry the Eighth to the Colonies, in order legally to 
 arrest and transport the leaders to England to be tried for 
 treason, was particularly opposed by the great champion of 
 America, Edmund Burke. " Suppose," said he, " you do 
 call over two or three of these unfortunate men, what will 
 become of the rest ? ' Let me have the heads of the princi- 
 pal leaders,' exclaimed the Duke of Alva : but these heads 
 proved hydra's heads. Suppose a man brought over for 
 high treason ; if his witnesses do not appear, he cannot have 
 a fair trial. God and nature oppose you." 
 
 Barre,Jn an eloquent speech, denied that the Americans 
 were proper objects for taxation, and warned the Commons 
 that all America, not merely a single Colony, was ripe for 
 revolt. To prostrate America at the feet of the Ministry, 
 he said, would prove no easy task ; and he deprecated the 
 spirit which would wish to see a respectable, free, and hardy 
 people thus humbled. 
 
236 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 " In such a situation," said he, " she would serve only as a mon- 
 ument of your folly. For my part, the America I wish to see is 
 America increasing and prosperous, raising her head in graceful dig- 
 nity, with freedom and firmness asserting her rights at your bar, 
 vindicating her liberties, pleading her services, and conscious of her 
 merit. This is the America that will have courage to fight your 
 battles, to sustain you when hard pushed by some prevailing foe, 
 and by her industry will be able to consume your manufactures, sup- 
 port your trade, and pour wealth and splendor into your towns and 
 cities. If we do not change our conduct towards her, America will 
 be torn from our side. I repeat it, unless you repeal this law, you 
 run the risk of losing America." 
 
 Pownall and Dowdeswell were also among the opponents 
 of the resolves. The former, who had lived in the Colonies, 
 knew the character of the people, their earnest devotion to 
 their just rights, and their loyalty, which only a long succes- 
 sion of oppressive measures could destroy. " The people of 
 that country," said he, " and the King's troops are, as it 
 were, set in array against each other. The sword indeed 
 is not drawn, but the hand is upon it. The word for ac- 
 tion is not indeed yet given, but mischief is on tiptoe, and 
 the slightest circumstance would in a moment throw every- 
 thing into confusion and bloodshed." He predicted that the 
 union between Great Britain and North America would be 
 broken, if some change of policy did not interpose to re- 
 move this show of military power. But the resolutions and 
 address were both passed, and Boston was thenceforth to be 
 the special object of British vengeance. 
 
 The policy was now to arrest and bring over the accused 
 to England for trial ; and this had been suggested by the re- 
 peated letters of Bernard and Hutchinson. Burke regarded 
 this measure with horror. " At the request of an exasperat- 
 ed governor," he cried, during the late debate, " we are called 
 upon to agree to an address advising the King to put in 
 force against the Americans the act of Henry the Eighth. 
 And why? Because you cannot trust the juries of that 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 237 
 
 country ! Sir, that word must convey horror to every feel- 
 ing mind. If you have not a part among two millions of 
 people, you must either change your plan of government, or 
 renounce the Colonies forever." 
 
 News had already been received in Boston that on the 
 arrival of the regiments from Ireland, Cushing, whose posi- 
 tion as Speaker of the House gave him especial prominence 
 in England, and sixteen others, who had been members of 
 the convention, were to be arrested. Oliver wrote to Eng- 
 land, that he had long entertained the opinion, "if there 
 be no way to take off the original incendiaries, they will still 
 continue to instil their poison into the minds of the people 
 through the vehicle of the Boston Gazette.' ' That the " tak- 
 ing off" of the " incendiaries " was not consummated, was 
 owing to the fact, that the most careful examination of their 
 proceedings, magnified as they were by the letters of the 
 crown officers, revealed no acts of treason. De Grey and 
 Dunning, the Attorney and Solicitor General, had declared 
 that there were not sufficient grounds to fix the charge of 
 treason upon any of the persons named in the papers laid 
 before them. The September convention, which had been 
 specially misrepresented, was particularly scrutinized, but 
 the result was only to excite the admiration of De Grey, to 
 see how well the Americans were versed in the crown law ; 
 and he doubted whether they had been guilty of an overt 
 act of treason, but "was sure they had come within a 
 hair's breadth of it." Bernard and Hutchinson, however, 
 continued to hunt up evidence against the leading patriots, 
 especially Otis and Samuel Adams. It was on the 23d of 
 January that an affidavit, already quoted, was taken against 
 Mr. Adams, and proceedings were at the time instituted 
 against Edes and Gill, the publishers of the Boston Gazette, 
 the "trumpeters of sedition," and "the authors of num- 
 berless treasonable and seditious writings." Hutchinson, 
 while he pretended to be still a friend of the Colonies, wrote ( 
 secretly across the ocean, " there must be an abridgment \ 
 of what are called English liberties." ^_/ 
 
238 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 [Jan. 
 
 The presence of the troops started into life a number of 
 writers in defence of the measures of government. One of 
 these appeared in the Evening Post, in a series of articles 
 signed " Z. T.," upholding the right of taxing the Colonies, 
 ; on the ground that the nation had protected the Americans 
 v fit great expense, and that, therefore, they should assume 
 their portion of the public debt. Mr. Adams, reversing 
 the signature,* replied in the organ of the patriots, and went 
 over the entire ground from the commencement of the dif- 
 ficulties with the mother country, taking up in detail the 
 specious arguments of the crown writers, and logically refut- 
 ing every statement. The essay, which covers a large space 
 in the Gazette, embraces every disputed point in the con- 
 troversy, and in its conclusions is unanswerable. 
 
 . " Our writer says, that ' if such grants and privileges as are pleaded 
 by the Colonists (such as charters, &c.) may ever exempt them from 
 paying such a proportion of taxes, it must be concluded that the 
 empire is founded on unjust principles, which need a reform in order 
 to make an equality among the subjects.' But he seems to be too 
 apt to forget that the rights of nature, as well as the Constitution 
 of Great Britain, exempts the subjects from paying any money at 
 all, upon any account, without their consent. This is one of the 
 principles upon which the British empire is founded and has stood 
 firmly for many ages ; if this writer thinks it needs a reform to 
 make an equality, surely his proposal, that one part of the empire 
 should consent that the other should be lords proprietors, has no ten- 
 dency to promote an equality among the subjects. He tells us that 
 formerly the right of taxation was in the King only. I should 
 have been glad if he had pointed us to that time. We know that 
 kings — even English kings — have lost their crowns and their 
 heads for assuming such a right. 'T is true this strange claim has 
 occasioned much contention, and it always will as long as the peo- 
 ple understand the great charter of nature upon which Magna Charta 
 itself is founded, — No man can take another's property from him 
 without his consent. This is the law of nature ; and a violation of 
 it is the same thing, whether it be done by one man who is called a 
 king, or by five hundred of another denomination." 
 
 * " T. Z.," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 9, 1769. 
 
1769.] 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 239 
 
 The government writers, who were most likely some of 
 the Commissioners of Customs, received liberal pay for their 
 labors ; and being actuated by no higher motive, they were 
 not to be convinced by justice or reason. The " Court Ga- 
 zette," as the patriots termed the royalist organ, still sent 
 forth its articles to deceive the people ; and Samuel Adams, y 
 who has been called "more than a match for them all," 
 with a thorough understanding of the question at issue, the 
 clearest intelligence, and an untiring industry, met them at 
 every point with convincing arguments and plain state- 
 ments. 
 
 The failure to find the Bostonians guilty either of sedition 
 or treason had spurred Hutchinson to renewed exertions, 
 and depositions against the leaders continued to be taken. 
 His object was not unknown to the patriots, some of whom 
 publicly reproached him for his baseness as a " public in- 
 former." But the Lieutenant-Governor, in his desire for 
 preferment, was careless of the means he employed. The 
 debates in Parliament, at the opening of the session, had 
 been grossly misrepresented by a writer in the " Court Ga- 
 zette." Mr. Adams, in his reply, defended the conduct of 
 the town in all its struggles against tyranny, especially the 
 convention of the previous year, exposed the infamy of the 
 crown informers, and set forth the true condition of the 
 Province as it should have been stated to the Ministry and 
 Parliament. The accusations of the Governor against the 
 Colony had not been sustained by facts, on which Mr. Ad- 
 ams remarks : — * y 
 
 " New vouchers, we are told, are called for from authority. This 
 is no favorable symptom to the sudden and warm accusers ; for I 
 believe there are more than one who may find it an Augean enter- 
 prise to support their own representation. For it is certainly be 
 yond human art and sophistry to prove that British subjects, to 
 whom the privilege of possessing arms is expressly recognized by 
 the Bill of Rights, and who live in a Province where the law re- 
 
 * 
 
 " Shippen," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 30, 1769. 
 
240 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 quires them to be equipped with arms, &c, are guilty of an illegal 
 act in calling upon one another to be provided with them as the law 
 directs. But if some are bold and base enough, where the interest 
 of a whole country is at stake, to penetrate into the secrets of the 
 human breast, to search for crimes, and to impute the worst of mo- 
 tives to actions strictly legal, whatever may be thought of their ex- 
 pediency, it is easy to recriminate in the same way ; and one man 
 has as good reason to affirm that a few, in calling for a military 
 force, under pretence of supporting civil authority, secretly in- 
 tended to introduce a general massacre, as another has to assert 
 that a number of loyal subjects, by calling upon one another to 
 be provided with arms, according to law, intended to bring on an 
 
 insurrection. 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 " But Boston l may be deprived of all its trade, and made a vil- 
 lage.' Sad, indeed ! And so may New York and all the trading 
 towns on the American continent; and what then? Why then 
 Bristol and Liverpool and London itself may become villages too. 
 Was this said in Parliament, or was the threatening moulded here 
 to excite ridicule ? Could a British politician, finding public credit 
 suffering at such a critical season from the unsettled state of Amer- 
 ica, ever imagine that the nation might be remedied by turning our 
 seaports into villages ? The compiler goes on to inform us that 
 Governor Bernard has been spoken of with great respect. And so 
 has Mr. Otis, and compared to the Pyms, the Hampdens, the Ship- 
 pens, and to the Sir John Barnards of Great Britain. But poor 
 
 G. B , it was judiciously observed in the House of Commons, 
 
 has had some very uncommon difficulties to contend with. Mr. Otis 
 and his compatriots have doubtless had none! — no toils, no self- 
 denials, no threatenings, no tempting baits ! No ! all the virtue is 
 on one side. Virtue was never known to be separated from 
 power or profit." 
 
 Among the patriots who stood boldly forward in these try- 
 ing times, let us not forget the intrepid Edes and Gill, pub- 
 lishers of that stanch vehicle of free speech, the Boston 
 Gazette. It was now a well-established weekly newspaper, 
 having been first issued in 1755, when it was a half-crown 
 sheet printed on two pages folio. For several years this firm 
 
\ 
 
 1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 241 
 
 were " printers to the Honorable House of Representatives," 
 as appears on the title-pages of the records of that body. 
 The copartnership between the proprietors lasted twenty 
 years, when, in 1775, Gill retired, and the Gazette was con- 
 tinued by Edes until 1798. Its venerable proprietor died in 
 1803, in his eightieth year, worn out by age and sickness, 
 miserably poor, and neglected by those whose blessings he 
 had helped to secure. From the commencement of the Rev- 
 olution, the Boston Gazette was the chosen mouthpiece of 
 the patriots. When the attempted enforcement of the writs 
 of assistance agitated the public mind in 1760, the columns 
 of the Gazette were headed with a patriotic device, which 
 remained there through the long period preceding the out- 
 break of hostilities and through the war. 
 
 The files which have been preserved offer an interesting 
 field for the historian and biographer, and furnish a more 
 truthful picture of the condition of Boston, during the 
 Revolution, than can be obtained from any other source. 
 Rightly studied, its pages are a history of that time. The 
 proceedings of town meetings, legislative state papers, pub- 
 lic resolves, political essays, and occasional narratives of 
 passing events, transport the reader back to the last cen- 
 tury, and bring the whole public life of the Province before 
 him. These time-stained columns are the same that were 
 perused by the citizens of a hundred years ago ; and it is 
 not difficult* to fancy ourselves in the quaint old town, and 
 to imagine the comments and discussions arising from the 
 foreign intelligence and political writings which, once a 
 week, it placed before its readers. 
 
 A free press was the just pride of the Bostonians. Jeal- 
 ous of their liberties, they turned to it early in the Revo- 
 lutionary struggle, to make known their grievances, and 
 defend their rights. But though an important engine in 
 the cause, it was feeble compared with the press of to-day. 
 The editorial leaders, in which great questions are now 
 handled, seldom appeared; their place being supplied by 
 
 VOL. I. 16 
 
242 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 the essays of occasional correspondents, which occupied all 
 the available space, and formed and directed public opinion. 
 The columns of the newspapers, throughout the Revolution- 
 ary period, are devoid of articles of general interest. Edito- 
 rial ability, as understood in our day, was unknown, — the 
 communications being addressed " to the printer " or the 
 publisher by name. There were really, in the present ac- 
 ceptation of the term, no editors beyond the contributors 
 upon whose favors the influence and circulation of the paper 
 principally depended. The wide distance intervening be- 
 tween populous centres, added to the imperfect roads and 
 irregular conveyances, rendered the speedy transmission of 
 news impossible. The journey from Boston to New Haven 
 occupied two or three days ; to New York a week or ten 
 days ; and to Philadelphia eight or ten days. Northward, 
 where the roads were not of the best, travelling was even 
 less expeditious, and with Europe, the sole communication 
 was by means of not very fast vessels, unprovided, of course, 
 with the appliances and discoveries in seamanship and nav- 
 igation by which modern voyages are so much shortened. 
 Very late intelligence was therefore not to be expected in 
 the newspapers of the last century. That active, indefati- 
 gable personage, the reporter, was unknown in the New 
 England press, nor were the services of such a news-gatherer 
 required. Events in small communities were soon current 
 verbally, and if published in the papers, it • was more 
 for their political bearing beyond the theatre of their oc- 
 currence, than to inform the people in the neighborhood. 
 Though the debates of the House were open to the public 
 from 1767, and the gallery appears to have been generally 
 well attended, very few reports were made of debates on mo- 
 mentous questions ; and yet that these questions were fully 
 discussed is shown by the occasional references to the scenes 
 in the House by the loyalist writers. A correct report of 
 the speeches of the leaders in the Colonial Assemblies, from 
 the year of the Stamp Act to the close of the royal author- 
 
1769.| LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 243 
 
 ity, would now be one of the most interesting memorials of 
 a period when the first principles of American liberty were 
 developing themselves under the progressive tyranny of Eng- 
 land. There must have been many notable instances of 
 close, nervous reasoning, fervid debate, and flashing elo- 
 quence, which, if preserved in the files of the newspapers 
 with a tithe of the care now devoted to recording the ha- 
 rangues of politicians, would throw open a curious page of 
 our country's history. 
 
 The first purely political newspaper was the Independent 
 Advertiser, of which Samuel Adams had been one of the 
 conductors long prior to the Revolution; and, until then, 
 no journal in the Colonies had proclaimed its special cham- 
 pionship of "the rights and liberties of mankind." When 
 the revenue acts aroused the Colonists to their danger, three 
 newspapers were published in Boston. The Gazette, al- 
 ready alluded to, had been established some ten years. The 
 Evening Post, published weekly by Thomas and John Fleet, 
 was an independent paper, holding its columns opeii to 
 both political parties, — a privilege of which the loyalists 
 availed themselves to assail the patriot writers. The latter, 
 at one time, occasionally sent articles to it, perhaps believing 
 that the professed independence of character leaned towards 
 the side of liberty. The Massachusetts Gazette, sometimes 
 known as " Draper's," or the " Court Gazette," was " pub- 
 lished by authority," in conjunction with the News Letter, 
 which, at the commencement of the troubles, espoused the 
 cause of the people. Draper's paper was the organ of the 
 administration, and had the printing of the acts and procla- 
 mations and the other government business. The ablest 
 writers in the royal cause contributed to its columns, and 
 the whole course of the paper was in support of government 
 officers and measures. The Chronicle, which was pub 
 lished from 1767 to 1770, was of the same stamp. The 
 Boston Gazette thus remained for some time the sole cham- 
 pion of American freedom in the town. Its publishers 
 
244 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb. 
 
 were among the special objects of ministerial displeasure, 
 and proceedings were instituted against them as the " trum- 
 peters of sedition. " Hutchinson complained in a letter to a 
 friend in England of the influence of the Gazette. " The 
 misfortune is," said he, " that seven eighths of the people 
 read none but this infamous paper, and so are never unde- 
 ceived." * 
 
 In the summer of 1770, Isaiah Thomas and his former 
 master, Fowle, proprietor of the Independent Advertiser, 
 commenced the publication of the Massachusetts Spy, which, 
 after a year's course as an independent paper, came out 
 for the liberty party, received a liberal support from the 
 Whigs, and was a vehicle for powerful writers against the 
 administration until 1775, when, a few days previous to the 
 battle of Bunker Hill, Thomas removed his press and types 
 to Worcester, where the Spy was again issued for about 
 a year. The Essex Gazette, the publication of which was 
 commenced at Salem in the summer of 1768, was also a 
 stanch patriot paper, and occasionally received contributions 
 from able pens in Boston; but the Boston Gazette was 
 the favorite in the capital, where its columns were regarded 
 as oracular. Its publication-room in Queen Street was the 
 resort of the most distinguished political writers. James 
 Otis, Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, Josiah Quincy, John 
 Adams, Dr. Cooper, and others who were personally prom- 
 inent without being contributors to the press, frequented 
 the office, and perhaps glanced over the foreign journals on 
 the arrival of a packet from England, prior to their regular 
 publication, or it may be read the proofs of their own writ- 
 ings. 
 
 During the month of February, the subject of America 
 continued to be the theme of discussion in the House of 
 Commons. Mr. Rose Fuller moved to recommit the ad- 
 dress, foreseeing the dreadful evils to the nation which must 
 ensue from an attempt to collect a revenue from the Colo- 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, Aug. 12, 1770. 
 
1769.] 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 245 
 
 nies. " As for money," said he, " all that sum might be 
 collected in London at less than half the expense." Phipps 
 asserted that the proposed measures were more calculated 
 to raise than quell a rebellion ; and Pownall, with the whole 
 strength of his reasoning and eloquence, combated the 
 course pursued against the injured Americans. But the 
 efforts of these wise and humane statesmen were unavail- 
 ing. Fuller's motion was lost by an overwhelming major- 
 ity : and it was decided that the patriots should be brought 
 over to be tried for treason before a special commission. 
 The Bostonians, conscious of the justice of their cause, 
 freely discussed their rights in the press. 
 
 " In the days of the Stuarts," said Samuel Adams, " it was looked 
 upon by some men as a high degree of profaneness for any sub- 
 ject to inquire into what was called the mysteries of government. 
 James the First thundered his anathema against Dr. Cowell for his 
 daring presumption in treating of those mysteries, and forbade his 
 subjects to read his books or even to keep them in their houses. 
 In those days passive obedience, non-resistance, the divine, heredi- 
 tary right of kings, and their being accountable to God alone, were 
 doctrines generally taught, believed, and practised. But behold the 
 sudden transition of human affairs ! In the very next reign the 
 people assumed the right of free inquiry into the nature and end of 
 government, and the conduct of those who were intrusted with it. 
 Laud and Strafford were brought to the block, and, after the hor- 
 rors of a civil war, in which the best blood of the nation was spilt 
 as water upon the ground, they finally called to account, arraigned, 
 adjudged, condemned, and even executed the monarch himself! and 
 for a time held his son and heir in exile. The two sons of Charles 
 the First, after the death of Oliver Cromwell, reigned in their turns ; 
 but, by copying after their father, their administration of govern- 
 ment was grievous to their subjects and infamous abroad. Charles 
 the Second, indeed, reigned till he died ; but his brother James was 
 obliged to abdicate the throne, which made room for William the 
 Third and his royal consort Mary, the daughter of the unfortunate 
 James. This was the fate of a race of kings bigoted to the greatest 
 degree to the doctrines of slavery, and regardless of the natural, 
 
246 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 inherent, divinely hereditary, and indefeasible rights of their sub- 
 jects.* 
 
 No one doubted in Boston that the military force had 
 been brought there by the false representations of Bernard 
 and Hutchinson. Indeed, copies of some of their letters 
 were received from Mr. Bollan, placing their guilt beyond 
 question. On the 13th of March a town meeting was called 
 to see what further measures ought to be adopted to vindi- 
 cate the town from the aspersions cast upon it ; and Otis, 
 Samuel Adams, Cushing, Dana, Warren, John Adams, and 
 Samuel Quincy were appointed a committee for that pur- 
 pose. They reported on the 4th of April a petition and ad- 
 dress to his Majesty, which was forwarded with a letter to 
 Barr6, with the request of the town that he should present 
 it as soon as it reached his hands. Several of Bernard's 
 and Hood's letters, which Bollan had obtained through 
 Beckford, were read at this meeting. In their representa- 
 tion the town complained of the Governor's refusal to in- 
 form them of his statements against them, though their 
 selectmen had respectfully petitioned him to that purpose. 
 They had thus been kept in ignorance of the charges which 
 had brought the troops, contrary, as they conceived, to the 
 act of Parliament. They therefore prayed not only that the 
 troops might be removed, but that his Majesty would be 
 pleased to order that the town might be favored with Gov- 
 ernor Bernard's letter, the memorials of the Commissioners, 
 and other like papers. They wished to know what charges 
 were brought against them, and desired to be heard by 
 counsel. The letter to Barr6, and fragments of the peti- 
 tion, are found as original rough drafts among the papers 
 of Samuel Adams, in his handwriting. The letter defends 
 at great length the course of the Council after the riots of 
 the previous year, and vindicates the letter to Lord Hills- 
 borough. It is indorsed " For Mr. Otis [Moderator of the 
 
 * "E. A.," in the Boston Gazette, Eeh. 27, 1769. 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 247 
 
 meeting] ; to be signed and transmitted to Isaac Barre*, 
 Esq." 
 
 But petitions were useless, and it^is surprising that the 
 Colonists should have attempted them after 1768. Desire 
 for reconciliation and unshaken loyalty were, however, still 
 the prevailing sentiments. Even the respectful remon- 
 strance of New York was rejected, — a vote not to receive it 
 having passed the Commons at the instance of Lord North, 
 despite the renewed appeals of Barre*, who warned them 
 that the whole continent of America would rise in arms, and 
 the Colonies be lost to England forever. Ignorance of the 
 true bearing of the subject and a mistaken national pride 
 ruled the hour, and blindly led the King, Ministry, and Par- 
 liament to the consummation of a policy which, in a few 
 years, fatally realized the predictions of the wisest and great- 
 est on both sides of the Atlantic. Almost at the very time 
 that far-seeing English statesmen were warning the nation 
 of the inevitable result of these coercive measures, Samuel 
 Adams, on the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, 
 which was still duly celebrated, thus addressed his country- 
 men : — 
 
 "TO THE SONS OF LIBERTY. 
 
 " Dearly Beloved, — 
 
 " Revolving time hath brought about another anniversary of the 
 repeal of the odious Stamp Act, — an act framed to divest us of our 
 liberties and to bring us to slavery, poverty, and misery. The res- 
 olute stand made by the Sons of Liberty against the detestable pol- 
 icy had more effect in bringing on the repeal than any conviction in 
 the Parliament of Great Britain of the injustice and iniquity of the 
 act. It was repealed from principles of convenience to Old Eng- 
 land, and accompanied with a declaration of their right to tax us ; 
 and since, the same Parliament have passed acts which, if obeyed 
 in the Colonies, will be equally fatal. Although the people of 
 Great Britain be only fellow-subjects, they have of late assumed a 
 power to compel us to buy at their market such things as we want 
 of European produce and manufacture ; and, at the same time, have 
 
248 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 taxed many of the articles for the express purpose of a revenue ; 
 and, for the collection of the duties, have sent fleets, armies, commis- 
 sioners, guardacostas, judges of admiralty, and a host of petty offi- 
 cers, whose insolence and rapacity are become intolerable. Our 
 cities are garrisoned ; the peace and order which heretofore digni- 
 fied our streets are exchanged for the horrid blasphemies and out- 
 rages of soldiers ; our trade is obstructed ; our vessels and cargoes, 
 the effects of industry, violently seized ; and, in a word, every species 
 of injustice that a wicked and debauched Ministry could invent is 
 now practised against the most sober, industrious, and loyal people 
 that ever lived in society. The joint supplications of all the Colo- 
 nies have been rejected ; and letters and mandates, in terms of the 
 highest affront and indignity, have been transmitted from little and 
 insignificant servants of the Crown to his Majesty's grand and au- 
 gust sovereignties in America. 
 
 " These things being so, it becomes us, my brethren, to walk wor- 
 thy of our vocation, to use every lawful mean to frustrate the 
 wicked designs of our enemies at home and abroad, and to unite 
 against the evil and pernicious machinations of those who would 
 destroy us. I judge that nothing can have a better tendency to this 
 grand end than encouraging our own manufactures, and a total dis- 
 use of foreign superfluities. 
 
 " When I consider the corruption of Great Britain, their load of 
 
 debt, their intestine divisions, tumults, and riots, their scarcity of 
 
 provisions, and the contempt in which they are held by the nations 
 
 about them ; and when I consider, on the other hand, the state of 
 
 the American Colonies with regard to the various climates, soils, 
 
 produce, rapid population, joined to the virtue of the inhabitants, — I 
 
 cannot but think that the conduct of Old England towards us may 
 
 be permitted by Divine Wisdom, and ordained by the unsearchable 
 
 providence of the Almighty, for hastening a period dreadful to 
 
 Great Britain. 
 
 "A Son of Liberty.* 
 "Providence, March 18th, 1769." 
 
 This address was found early in the morning of the 18th 
 of March, posted on the Liberty Tree of Providence, and 
 
 * Providence Gazette for March 18, 1769; and Boston Gazette for March 
 27, 1769. Bancroft, VI. 267. 
 
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 249 
 
 another in the most public part of the town. It was sent 
 by Mr. Adams to Providence for the annual celebration, and 
 appeared on the same morning in the Providence Gazette. 
 
 Throughout the other Colonies the flame of liberty burned 
 steadily and brightly. The deepest sympathy was mani- 
 fested for the oppressed Bostonians. The British claims of 
 power had been everywhere denied. Georgia sided with 
 the policy of Massachusetts and Virginia ; New York had 
 asserted its legislative rights ; and in Philadelphia, at a 
 meeting in honor of the late successes of General Paoli, the 
 patriot Corsican, the Massachusetts Ninety-two, the town 
 of Boston, Mr. Cushing, Mr. Otis, and Mr. Adams were 
 toasted. 
 
 The plans for reducing the refractory Americans to obedi- 
 ence were modified by the visible injuries brought upon 
 commerce through the non-importation agreements. It was 
 seen that the stringent enactments against the Colonists 
 were injuring only the British merchants. The importations 
 from England into America decreased greatly in a single 
 year. The total produce of the new taxes for the first year 
 was less than one tenth of the attendant military expenses, 
 while the actual revenue, after deducting the full expendi- 
 tures, amounted -to only a pitiful sum. Even now, the 
 headstrong Ministry would not have yielded an inch, had 
 not the loud complaints of the merchants finally caused Lord 
 Hillsborough to lay aside for a while the plan of altering the 
 charter of Massachusetts, and to send to General Gage dis- 
 cretionary orders to withdraw the troops from Boston. But 
 the fatal assertion of the right of taxation remained, and the 
 troops still insulted the people with their presence. 
 
 Mr. Adams entered the lists about this time in defence of 
 the Rev. Dr. Chauncy, who had been bitterly attacked in a 
 New York paper by the Rev. Mr. Seabury of the Church of 
 England in that city.* The controversy seems to have 
 grown out of some inadvertent statement, alleged to have 
 
 * "A Layman," in the Boston Gazette for March 27, 1769. 
 
250 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, Apr. 
 
 been made by Dr. Chauncy in one of his religions pam- 
 phlets, respecting the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel. Dr. Chauncy, besides being an earnest patriot, was, 
 like most of the Bostonians, an uncompromising enemy of 
 the plan of establishing an episcopate in America ; and it 
 was probably in one of his publications on this subject that 
 he gave offence to Mr. Seabury. In retaliation the Boston 
 minister was assailed in no dignified terms, and Mr. Adams 
 became the champion of his friend ; for the two were on 
 the most intimate terms. At some length he mercilessly 
 analyzed the production of the New York writer, who, ac- 
 cording to Mr. Adams, " had managed his cause with the 
 heart, though he had evidently discovered that he wanted 
 the head, of a Jesuit." The clergyman is handled with 
 sarcastic severity, yet with due regard to his cloth. Dr. 
 Chauncy himself, probably, did not exceed his friend in his 
 decided opposition to all schemes for the appointment of 
 bishops in America. 
 
 Mr. Adams soon after attacked General Gage and Gov- 
 ernor Bernard for their misrepresentations of the town to 
 the Ministry, and, by a concise narration of the facts, showed 
 the untruthfulness of those statements. " No man's sta- 
 tion ," said he, " ought to exempt him from being called 
 upon by a loyal people, either to make good or retract his 
 charge against them." 
 
 " When contests run high, the proverb, however homely it may 
 be, will be allowed by impartial men to be just, that i one story is 
 good till another is told.' If good King David was in haste .when 
 he once said that all men were liars, yet surely the General has 
 studied mankind more thoroughly than to suppose it altogether im- 
 possible for a governor of a province to misrepresent and abuse the 
 people, even to the ear of majesty itself. The history of his own 
 times may confute such an opinion ; and should it finally appear, by 
 the statements of facts sent home in the last ship by his Majesty's 
 Council and the town of Boston, that Governor Bernard is an in- 
 stance of the truth of it, I would only ask, upon a candid supposition 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 251 
 
 that the General grounded his letters upon what such a Governor 
 told him, what reparation he can make without publicly acknowl- 
 edging his mistake ? If the General has characterized the town and 
 Province upon his own observation, I appeal to the candid world, 
 whether the bare affirmation of a gentleman, unsupported by any 
 evidence, can be deemed sufficient to blast the reputation of a Prov- 
 ince." * 
 
 * "A Bostonian," in the Boston Gazette for April 24, 1769. 
 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Colonial Policy modified. — The late Duties taken off, save as to the Arti- 
 cle of Tea. — The Eight of Taxation still claimed. — Governor Bernard 
 recalled. — Meeting of the Massachusetts Legislature. — Adams drafts a 
 Eemonstrance against the Presence of the Troops. — The Governor adjourns 
 the Legislature to Cambridge. — The Virginia Resolutions are received. — 
 The Assembly prepare similar ones, and readopt those of Adams, written 
 in 1765. — He publishes them in the Gazette. — The Consequences. — Ad- 
 ams's Opinion of the partial Repeal of the Revenue Acts. — Progress of 
 the Non-importation Schemes. — Governor Bernard sails for England, and 
 is created Baronet of Nettleham. 
 
 The principle of representation, which had been shame- 
 fully violated in England in the rejection of Wilkes by Par- 
 liament, was producing as wide-spread an excitement there 
 as in the Colonies. The fact that the opposition to the rev- 
 enue law was extending throughout the American continent 
 began at last to warn the Cabinet when petitions and remon- 
 strances were unavailing ; and on the ground that the duty 
 on the British manufactures of glass, paper, and painters' 
 colors was contrary to the true principles of commerce, it 
 was repealed, leaving the one article of tea as an assertion 
 of the right* of taxation. A circular was sent by Lord Hills- 
 borough to the Colonies, intimating that the duties would 
 be taken off as a measure of expediency from all articles 
 enumerated in the late act, excepting tea. Bernard, who 
 was at length seen to be ill suited to conciliate the people 
 among whom he had been placed, was directed to return to 
 England, — the Ministry having promised the English mer- 
 chants, so obnoxious had his name become, that he should 
 not be employed again in the Colonies ; although, to indorse 
 his measures as those of the administration which he rep- 
 resented, he was created a baronet. 
 
 This evidence of the royal approbation of Bernard's course 
 
May, 1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 253 
 
 gave great offence in Boston, and showed the patriots that 
 they had little to hope from the miscalled clemency of the 
 King and Ministry. In a sarcastic address to his Excel- 
 lency, Mr. Adams held up the appointment to ridicule, and 
 pointed out the injuries done to the Province by the newly 
 made baronet. 
 
 "Your promotion, sir, reflects an honor on the Province itself; 
 an honor which has never been conferred upon it since the thrice- 
 happy administration of Sir Edmund Andros, of precious memory, 
 who was also a baronet. Nor have the unremitted endeavors of 
 that very amiable and truly patriotic gentleman to render the most 
 substantial and lasting services to this people, upon the plan of a 
 
 wise and uncorrupt set of m rs, ever been paralleled till since 
 
 you adorned the ch — r Pity it is that you have not a pen- 
 sion to support your title. But an Assembly well chosen may supply 
 that want even to your wish. Should this fail, a late letter, said to 
 have strongly recommended a tax upon the improved lands of the 
 Colonies, may be equally successful with the other letters of the like 
 nature, and funds sufficient may be raised for the use and emolu- 
 ment of yourself and friends, without a dependence upon a ' mili- 
 tary establishment supported by the Province at Castle William.' 
 
 " I am, sir, with the most profound respect, and with the sincerest 
 wishes for your furthenexaltation, the most servile of all your tools. 
 
 "A.Toby."* 
 
 The relief promised in the circular was only partial. 
 The principle of taxation remained the same, whether one 
 or a hundred articles were taxed. The implied concession, 
 therefore, only the more plainly discovered the ultimate de- 
 termination to raise a revenue from the Colonies. If the 
 duties were removed from certain articles merely as a mat- 
 ter of expediency, and one article was reserved for taxation 
 to maintain the right, that reserve covered everything pos- 
 sessed by the Americans. The denial of a right of taxation 
 had lain at the bottom of the contest from the commence- 
 ment. In 1764, Samuel Adams had asserted that if taxes 
 
 * Boston Gazette for May 1, 1769. 
 
254 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 could be legally levied in any shape, the right could be made 
 to extend to land and its produce, and, in short, to all prop- 
 erty. The whole people had now become thoroughly im- 
 bued with the theory that taxation and representation are 
 inseparable. To continue one article, therefore, as dutiable 
 argued a hopeless ignorance of the American character and 
 feelings, which must have convinced far-seeing men that 
 England would not yield without a resort to force. 
 
 " I am sorry," said Samuel Adams about this time, " that some 
 of the most valuable privileges of this Province should prove so 
 great difficulties to Governor Bernard, but can by no means wish 
 them annihilated for the sake of giving him ease. I never heard 
 that they were quite so offensive to any of his predecessors, and can- 
 not think they ever will be to so much as one of his successors. 
 The Province has been, and may be again, quietly and happily gov- 
 erned, while these terrible difficulties have subsisted in their full 
 force. They are, indeed, wise checks upon power in favor of the 
 people ; but power, vested in some men, can brook no check. To 
 assert the most undoubted rights of human nature and of the British 
 Constitution they deem faction ; and having embarrassed a free gov- 
 ernment by their own impolitic measures, they fly to the military 
 power, which, with equal justice and spirit, was said, in the late de- 
 bate in the House of Commons, to be * the last resource of ignorant 
 despotism/ But force is no very suitable means of changing the 
 sentiments of the people ; it is rather adapted to rivet and confirm 
 them. Arms ought to be very cautiously employed, even against 
 faction, which they have often increased rather than quelled. The 
 present uneasiness in America has been falsely and insolently called 
 by this odious name, Can any man suppose the almost universal 
 complaints of a people to deserve this appellation ? As well might 
 the general uneasiness that introduced the Revolution by William 
 the Third, and that settled the succession in the illustrious House of 
 Hanover, be called a faction." * 
 
 When Massachusetts had been nearly a year without a 
 Legislature, the Governor issued writs in the name of the 
 King, calling a session of the General Court under the usual 
 
 * " Shippen," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 30, 1769. 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 255 
 
 charter provisions. The election for Representatives, on the 
 5th of May, resulted in the choice of Otis, Cushing, Samuel 
 Adams, and Hancock, who received each more than five 
 hundred votes out of five hundred and eight that were cast. 
 The selectmen had waited upon General Mackay, who com- 
 manded in Boston, and desired him to withdraw his soldiers 
 from the town during the election. The General replied 
 that he had no authority to remove the troops, but would 
 confine them to their barracks. This was not entirely satis- 
 factory, but it was something to know that even this degree 
 of respect to the elective franchise could be legally exacted. 
 Three days after the election, the town, through John Ad- 
 ams, instructed their Representatives to require the removal 
 of the troops, to maintain freedom of debate, to oppose the 
 raising of money for the payment of the troops, and to make 
 diligent inquiry for Bernard's letters misrepresenting the 
 town to the Ministry.* 
 
 The troops had arrived in September of the previous year, 
 and after the prorogation of the Assembly, so that no oppor- 
 tunity had occurred for legislative remonstrance against 
 their presence. It was customary on assembling to first 
 elect a Clerk, who, being sworn, received the votes for 
 Speaker, and declared the choice. On the 31st of May the 
 members, as soon as they were sworn, made it their instant 
 business to oppose the breach of their privileges, and re- 
 quested the removal of the troops. 
 
 " An armament by sea and land, investing the metropolis, and a 
 military guard with cannon pointed at the very door of the State 
 House, where this Assembly is held, is inconsistent with that dig- 
 nity as well as that freedom with which we have a right to deliber- 
 ate, consult, and determine We have a right to expect that 
 
 your Excellency will, as his Majesty's representative, give the ne- 
 cessary and effectual orders for the removal of the above-mentioned 
 forces, by sea and land, out of this port and the gates of the city, 
 during the session of the said Assembly." f 
 
 * Boston Gazette, May 15, 1769. t Journal of the House for 1769. 
 
256 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, June, 
 
 The remonstrance, which was written by Samuel Adams, 
 as two drafts in his autograph indicate, was in pursuance of 
 that of the town at the late election ; but the Governor re- 
 fused where the military commander had conceded, and 
 waived the subject by denying that he had any authority 
 over the ships or troops, and affirmed that he could give no 
 orders for their removal.* On the following day, after dis- 
 approving of no less than eleven Councillors, he briefly 
 reminded the House to be diligent in the transaction of 
 general business ; his whole course indicating a haughty 
 disinclination to enter into any discussion of rights and 
 privileges. A committee, consisting of Otis, Adams, Haw- 
 ley, Hancock, Preble, and Warren, was appointed to con- 
 sider the Governor's last message. They reported on the 
 second. Their draft was not accepted, and the same com- 
 mittee were directed to prepare an answer to the Governor's 
 denial of any authority to remove the troops. This subject 
 was under consideration from day to day, until the thir- 
 teenth, when the answer was reported, that the King was 
 the supreme executive power through all parts of the Brit- 
 ish empire, and that the Governor of the Province, being 
 the King's lieutenant and captain-general and commander-in 
 chief, in as full and ample a manner as the Lord-Lieutenant 
 of Ireland or any other of his Majesty's lieutenants, it in- 
 dubitably followed that all officers, civil and military, within 
 the Colony were subject to the order, direction, and control 
 of his Excellency. The injustice and illegality of a military 
 government in the Province is then discussed at length. f 
 The Governor thereupon adjourned the Legislature to Cam- 
 bridge, on the ground that as the House refused to proceed 
 to business while virtually under military duress, they could 
 urge no such objection to the place whither he removed 
 them.f Almost at the same time that Bernard had refused 
 to remove the troops, because he lacked the authority, he 
 was corresponding with General Gage in New York on the 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 168. t Ibid., p. 169. % Ibid., p. 171. 
 
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 257 
 
 subject, and, with the advice of Hutchinson and Oliver, gave 
 it as his opinion that the removal of the troops would have 
 very dangerous consequences, and prove ruinous to the 
 cause of the Crown, though he thought that perhaps one 
 regiment at the Castle and another in the town might be 
 sufficient. And this was when Gage, who had received dis- 
 cretionary power, had written to Bernard for his opinion 
 as to whether it would be safe to effect a total removal. 
 While cannon remained pointed at the doors of the State 
 House, the Assembly had refused to proceed with their busi- 
 ness. But as if in defiance of their honest objections, the 
 very night after the adjournment to Cambridge, the cannon 
 were taken away.* Such unworthy rancor could not but 
 generate the bitterest feelings. The authority of the Gov- 
 ernor to hold an Assembly in any other place than Boston 
 had been disputed by the House in 1728 ; and when, after- 
 wards, instructions from England were urged as a reason 
 for the continued session at Cambridge, a, long controversy 
 was caused by the refusal of the House to proceed to busi- 
 ness under any such mandate. In the present instance, 
 the Assembly went to Cambridge, protesting, however, 
 against being thus made to give way to armed force, and 
 obliged to assemble away from the ancient and usual place. 
 They soon after replied — Samuel Adams again answering 
 for the House — to the Governor's message urging them to 
 hasten their proceedings, to save time and money : — 
 
 1 No time can be better employed than in the preservation of 
 the rights derived from the British Constitution, and insisting upon 
 points which, though your Excellency may consider them as non- 
 essential, we esteem its best bulwarks. No treasure can be better 
 expended than in securing that true old English liberty which gives 
 a relish to every other enjoyment." f 
 
 Bernard had meanwhile received his recall to England, in 
 accordance with the new policy of the Cabinet ; and as this 
 
 * Message of the House (Bradford's State Papers, p. 173). 
 t Bradford's State Papers, p. 173. 
 vol. i. 17 
 
258 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 was the season for the annual granting of the Governor's sal- 
 ary by the Assembly, as stipulated by the charter, his Excel- 
 lency informed the House of his removal and approaching 
 voyage, and urged upon them his support, intimating that 
 he would join in no legislative business until his demand for 
 a year's salary in advance had been complied with. But the 
 House refused to pay for services which, as they said, they 
 had no reason to expect would ever be performed, as they 
 believed he would not be continued in office ; and remind- 
 ing him that he had been paid to August next, expressed 
 their willingness to " support the dignity of government " 
 (quoting Bernard's own words in his demand for salary) 
 when his Majesty should be pleased to appoint another Gov- 
 ernor. Towards the close of the last year's Assembly, a 
 committee, including Otis, Adams, Hancock, and Bowers, 
 had been appointed to prepare a petition to the King for the 
 removal of Bernard. The prorogation prevented a report ; 
 but on the 27th of the present month, after a lapse of a year 
 within two days, the Committee on the State of the Province 
 submitted a petition to his Majesty, in which, after setting 
 forth the Governor's falsifications, they humbly entreat that 
 his Excellency may be forever removed from the government 
 of the Province. The petition was presented by the agent 
 in the following September, with a request for further time 
 to obtain proofs against the late Governor. He was allowed 
 until February, when the agent asked for a continuation. 
 Bernard presented a counter petition, and the hearing took 
 place on the 28th of February, 1770, before the Council, who 
 dismissed the petition, with the opinion that its charges were 
 groundless, vexatious, and scandalous.* 
 
 Early in the session the noble resolves of Virginia had 
 been received, as passed by that Assembly on the 16th of 
 
 * The Governor published his defence in pamphlet form, a copy of which is 
 found among Mr. Adams's papers, the margins completely filled with notes in 
 his handwriting, evidently preparatory to publication. But the misrepresen- 
 tations of Bernard were sufficiently exposed by Samuel Adams subsequently 
 in the " Appeal to the World." 
 
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 259 
 
 May. They were communicated to the House by the Speak- 
 er, and must have been received with the warmest emotions 
 of pleasure by those who knew how to appreciate the value 
 of a union of the Colonies on questions affecting their gen- 
 eral welfare. A committee " to consider the state of tho 
 Province " seems to have been in existence for several ses- 
 sions. It was renewed each year, and, of course, included 
 the leading members. Mr. Adams, on the 19th of June, 
 was specially added to this committee ; * and a few days later 
 they reported a series of resolutions, embodying word for 
 word three of those of Virginia on taxation, intercolonial 
 correspondence, and trial by jury of the vicinage. Going 
 back to the admirable platform laid down four years previ- 
 ously by Samuel Adams, as the basis for the Colonial legisla- 
 tion, they resolved : — 
 
 " That this House do concur in and adhere to the resolutions of 
 the House of Representatives in the year one thousand seven hun- 
 dred and sixty-five, and particularly in that essential principle, that 
 no man can be justly taxed by, or bound in conscience to obey any 
 law to which he has not given his consent in person or by his rep- 
 resentative." t 
 
 In this resolution, says Hutchinson, J " was more fully 
 expressed than had ever been before the sense of the House 
 that ' no laws,' made by any authority in which the people had 
 not their representatives, could be obligatory on them." The 
 resolutions of 1765 asserted nearly as much, though not so 
 directly ; but decided expressions at that time did not carry 
 with them such weight and significance with the Ministry 
 as now, when the legal opposition to parliamentary oppres- 
 sion had been construed into open rebellion, requiring to be 
 met with an armed force. 
 
 There were now four regiments in Boston, whose useless- 
 
 * Journal of the House for 1769. 
 
 t For this resolution, as originally reported, see Boston Gazette, July 3, 1769. 
 
 J Hutchinson's History, HI. 241. 
 
260 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 ness among a peaceable population was so apparent, that or- 
 ders came from the Ministry for the removal of at least two 
 of them to Halifax. Hutchinson says that one of these had 
 already sailed, and the other was embarking, when the re- 
 solves of the House were published in the Boston Gazette of 
 July 3d, having been sent to the printers by Mr. Adams.* 
 These had passed unanimously in a full House, — one hun- 
 dred and nine members being present. Their appearance 
 in the Gazette was made an excuse by the Governor, in a 
 consultation with Commodore Hood, to detain this regiment, 
 lest that the other Assemblies would adopt the resolutions ; 
 and an express was sent to General Gage at New York for in- 
 structions. Many took alarm at this, and the publication of 
 the resolves was stopped in papers where they had not yet 
 appeared ; another express was sent to overtake and recall 
 the first, or to acquaint the General that the difficulty was 
 removed ; and the House, on a revision of their resolutions, 
 altered the obnoxious one, which reads on the journals : — 
 
 " Resolved, as the opinion of this House, that the sole right of 
 imposing taxes on the inhabitants of this, his Majesty's Colony of 
 the Massachusetts Bay, is now, and ever hath been, legally and con- 
 stitutionally vested in the House of Representatives, lawfully con- 
 vened according to the ancient and established practice, with the 
 consent of the Council, and of his Majesty, the .King of Great Brit- 
 ain, or his Governor for the time being." f 
 
 The alteration by the House having removed the appre- 
 hensions of the royalists, the other regiment sailed for Hali- 
 fax, leaving the Fourteenth and Twenty-ninth quartered up- 
 on the town. The ill-feeling between them and the people 
 increased, and affrays were frequent. Mr. Adams contin- 
 ually reminded his friends that these mercenaries were 
 amendable to the laws of the Province, — officers as well as 
 
 privates. " It was soon found,'' says Hutchinson, " that 
 
 * 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 242. 
 
 t Journal of the House, July 7, 1769. Bradford's State Papers, p. 176. 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 261 
 
 prosecutions of soldiers for a breach of law were as easily 
 carried on as against any other persons ; and that all re- 
 ports against them more easily obtained credit.' ' * 
 
 " Soldiers," said Mr. Adams, " are used to obey the absolute com- 
 mands of their superiors ; it is death for them in the field to dispute 
 their authority or the rectitude of their orders ; and sometimes they 
 may be shot upon the spot without ceremony. The necessity of 
 things makes it highly proper that they should be under the abso- 
 lute control of the officer who commands them, who saith unto one 
 come, and he cometh, and unto another go, and he goeth. Thus, 
 being inured to that sort of government in the field and in time of 
 war, they are too apt to retain the same idea when they happen to 
 be in civil communities and in a time of peace ; and even their offi- 
 cers, being used to a sort of sovereignty over them, may sometimes 
 forget that when .quartered in cities they are to consider themselves 
 and their soldiers in no other light than as a family in the commu- 
 nity, — numerous, indeed, but like all other families and individuals, 
 under the direction of the civil magistrate and the control of the 
 common law. Like them they are to confine their own rules and 
 maxims within their own circle ; nor can they be supposed to have 
 a right or authority to oblige the rest of the community or any indi- 
 viduals to submit to or pay any regard to their rules and maxims, 
 any more than one family has to obtrude its private method of econ- 
 omy upon another. 
 
 It is of great importance, and I sincerely conceive it ought to be 
 the first care of the community, when soldiers are quartered among 
 them, by all means to convince them that they are not to give law, 
 but to receive it. It is dangerous to civil society when the military 
 conceives of itself as an independent body, detached from the rest of 
 society, and subject to no control. And the danger is greatly in- 
 creased, and becomes alarming, when society itself yields to such an 
 ill-grounded supposition. If this should be the case, how easy would 
 it be for the soldiers, if they alone should have the sword in their 
 hands, to use it wantonly, and even to the great annoyance and ter- 
 ror of the citizens, if not to their destruction. What should hinder 
 them, if once it is a given point that society has no law to restrain 
 them, and they are disposed to do it ? And how long can we im- 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 241. 
 
262 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 agine it would be, upon such a supposition, before the tragical scene 
 would begin ? — and especially if we consider further how difficult it 
 is to keep a power in its nature much less formidable and confess- 
 edly limited within its just bounds ? That constitution which ad- 
 mits of a power without a check admits of a tyranny ; and that 
 people who are not always on their guard to make use of the rem- 
 edy of the constitution, when there is one, to restrain all kinds of 
 power, and especially the military, from growing exorbitant, must 
 blame themselves for the mischief that may befall them in conse- 
 quence of their inattention ; or, if they do not reflect on their own 
 folly, their posterity will surely curse them for entailing upon them 
 chains and slavery." * 
 
 The session of the Legislature was drawing towards a 
 close, and Bernard met with a refusal whenever he entreated 
 the Assembly to advance him a year's unearned salary. 
 They assured him of their satisfaction that his Majesty had 
 been pleased to order a true state of the Province to be laid 
 before him ; "for we have," said they, " an abundant reason 
 to be assured that when his Majesty shall be fully acquainted 
 with the great and alarming grievances which his truly loyal 
 subjects here have suffered through your administration, and 
 the injury they have suffered in their representation, he will, 
 in his great clemency and justice, frown upon and forever 
 remove from his trust all those who, by wickedly informing 
 his ministers, have attempted to deceive even his Majesty 
 himself." t 
 
 The Governor next demanded, on the authority of the 
 Billeting Act, the amount of expenditures incurred by 
 quartering the troops on the Province. Samuel Adams 
 again replied for the committee of which he was a member. 
 After proving that the Governor and Council were power- 
 less to draw money from a Colonial treasury, and laying 
 bare the infamy of the act, the answer concludes : — 
 
 " And if the present system of measures should be much further 
 
 * " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 12, 1768. 
 t Journal of the House for 1769. 
 
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 263 
 
 pursued, it will soon be very difficult, if possible, to distinguish the 
 case of widows and orphans in America, plundered by infamous in- 
 formers, from those who suffered under the administration of the 
 most oppressive of the Roman provinces at a period when that once 
 proud and haughty republic, after having subjugated the finest king- 
 doms in the world, and drawn all the treasures of the East to im- 
 perial Rome, fell a sacrifice to the unbounded corruption and venal- 
 ity of its grandees. But, of all the new regulations, the Stamp Act 
 not excepted, this under consideration is the most excessively un- 
 reasonable. For, in effect, the yet free representatives of North 
 America are called upon to repay of their own and their constitu- 
 ents' money such sum or sums as persons over whom they can have 
 no check or control may be pleased to expend ! As representa- 
 tives, we are deputed by the people, agreeable to the royal charter 
 and laws of this Province. By that charter, and the nature of our 
 trust, we are only empowered to * grant such aids/ and ' levy such 
 taxes for his Majesty's service as are reasonable' ; of which, if we 
 are not free and independent judges, we can no longer be free rep- 
 resentatives, nor our constituents free subjects. If we are free 
 judges, we are at liberty to follow the dictates of our own under- 
 standing, without regard to the mandates of another ; much less can 
 we be free judges, if we are but blindly to give as much of our own 
 and our constituents' substance as may be commanded or thought fit 
 to be expended by those we know not. Your Excellency must 
 therefore excuse us in this express declaration, that as we cannot 
 consistently with our honor or interest, and much less with the duty 
 we owe our constituents, so we shall never make provision for the 
 purposes in your several messages above mentioned." * 
 
 Bernard was now repulsed at every point. His haughty 
 bearing and supercilious airs were thrown away on the As- 
 sembly, who despised him for his mean treachery and peev- 
 ish cowardice. In his attempt to obtain a year's salary for 
 merely nominal services, he had been foiled by the sturdy 
 determination of the House, and " this answer," Hutchinson 
 observes condolingly, " was just what his friends had pre- 
 dicted," who had advised him against communicating his 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 186. 
 
264 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 recall to the House. He had attempted to coerce them by 
 threatening a refusal of his assent to any act which was not 
 preceded by a grant of the advance salary ; and they replied, 
 " we have a just right to expect that your Excellency will 
 give some assent to all such resolves and acts that may be 
 laid before you as will be for the interest of the people and 
 the real service of the Crown." He had passed by their mes- 
 sage at the opening of the session with a brevity amounting 
 to insolence, but coolly reminded them that the business of 
 the Province was in arrears. 
 
 " We agree with you, sir," they answered, " that the business of 
 the Province is got into such an arrear that it will require the ut- 
 most diligence to get it done within the usual time generally allotted 
 to this session. Who brought the Province under this difficulty, 
 your Excellency can be at no loss to determine. Had the Assem- 
 bly been called in the fall of the year past, there would have been 
 no cause of such complaint." 
 
 These replies are from the joint answers of both Houses 
 to his opening speech. His last letter to Lord Hillsborough 
 scarcely conceals his chagrin and rage. 
 
 " On Tuesday, July 4th," he says, " the committee of both Houses 
 presented a joint answer to my speech at the opening of the session. 
 The barefaced chicanery and falsity of this writing, as well as the 
 style, which is well known, make it evident it was wrote by Adams, 
 and yet it was sent to the Council to originate with them.'* 
 
 To the last reply of the House, refusing absolutely to pro- 
 vide for the support of the troops with the people's money, 
 Bernard responded with a threat to lay their conduct before 
 the King, when he immediately prorogued the Court " to the 
 usual time of its meeting for the winter session. " 
 
 The circular to the Colonies, from the Earl of Hillsbor- 
 ough, having arrived, with the proposition to repeal the du- 
 ties on all articles but tea, which was reserved to save the 
 right, the merchants of Boston held a meeting on the 26th 
 of July, to express their dissatisfaction with the terms of the 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 265 
 
 repeal. The duties had been taken off from glass, paper, and 
 colors, as being " contrary to the true principles of com- 
 merce " ; but while the one article of tea was left for taxa- 
 tion, the pernicious principle still remained. Hutchinson 
 says of these merchants' meetings, that from early in 1768, 
 others, not engaged in mercantile pursuits, had mixed with 
 them, and he names James Otis and Samuel Adams as es- 
 pecially influential in obtaining their resolutions.* In the 
 present instance, it was voted unanimously that the removal 
 of the duties from certain specified articles would by no 
 means relieve the trade from its difficulties, and was, as they 
 apprehended it, a measure intended only to quiet the manu- 
 facturers in Great Britain, and prevent the fitting up of those 
 manufactures in the Colonies. It was also voted to strictly 
 adhere to the agreement entered into in August last, and send 
 no orders for any goods contrary to said agreements, unless 
 all the revenue acts were repealed. f As before, certain arti- 
 cles were excepted, which it was thought might be imported, 
 without in any measure interfering with the intent and design 
 of the agreement. The better to enforce this, the inhabi- 
 tants of the town were recommended to make no purchase 
 from violators of the agreement, and the names of the recu- 
 sant importers were published. Two principal merchants, 
 whose greed exceeded their patriotism, were visited by a 
 committee appointed by the townspeople to consider the acts 
 of trade, and compelled to sign an agreement to sell none of 
 their goods until the expiration of the time fixed upon for 
 non-importation. Among those who refused to submit to 
 such measures were a son of Bernard and two sons of 
 Hutchinson, all of whom were expecting to reap handsome 
 profits from the distresses of the country. Hutchinson him- 
 self, as charged by Hancock at a public meeting at Faneuil 
 Hall, was engaged in importation with his sons. To defeat 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 201. 
 
 t Resolutions adopted at the merchants' meeting of July 26, reported in the 
 Boston Gazette for July 31, 1769. 
 
266 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 their designs, a paper was carried from house to house 
 throughout the town, and was almost unanimously signed, 
 not to purchase of them. 
 
 Similar means were resorted to in the other Colonies, 
 where the insidious nature of the reserved right of taxation 
 was fully understood. 
 
 " The Colonies," thus Mr. Adams wrote in the public press, "have 
 since had a temporary relief from the alternative before mentioned 
 (of resistance or slavery), by the public-spirited proposal of the mer- 
 chants in the several governments to withdraw their commercial 
 connections with the merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain ; 
 which is esteemed by all judicious and well-disposed persons as a 
 noble sacrifice of their own private rights, and a well-chosen expe- 
 dient for the recovery of the public rights of their country. It is 
 not to be wondered at that this salutary measure should be violently 
 opposed by the cabal and their abandoned instruments." 
 
 This was intended to apply to Bernard particularly, who, 
 as it afterwards appeared, had written to the Ministry that 
 the signers in Boston did not intend to comply with the 
 agreement, and that there were still remaining enough of 
 the most reputable merchants, non-subscribers, to defeat the 
 scheme, even if the subscribers were to keep their promise. 
 He displayed his malignity to the last, and having done his 
 best to ruin the Province, and to reap all possible personal 
 benefit from its destruction, took his departure on the last 
 day of July for England. He left the Lieutenant-Governor 
 Hutchinson to administer the government, of whom he wrote, 
 that he "well understood his system";* and, as events 
 proved, Hutchinson, who was the superior of his predecessor 
 in all mental acquirements, was precisely the man to inflame 
 the growing dissatisfaction of the people against the mother 
 country. The occasion of Bernard's departure was made a 
 public gala-day. Bells were rung, flags were hoisted, can- 
 non fired from the wharves, and a huge bonfire kindled upon 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 303. 
 
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 267 
 
 Fort Hill. " He was to have sent home whom he pleased," 
 said the Boston Gazette in the following week ; " but the die 
 being cast, poor Francis Bernard was the rogue to go first.' ' 
 By the same vessel which carried Bernard to England, 
 Mr. Adams wrote to the agent, sending him the petition of 
 the House for the removal of the Governor from his position 
 forever, and also a letter on the same subject, signed by the 
 Speaker. He concludes with the following allusion to Ber- 
 nard's standing with the people of the Province : — 
 
 u Such a measure unanimously voted in a full House, consisting 
 of one hundred and nine members, forty of whom by the charter 
 make a quorum, is sufficient to justify what I wrote you formerly, 
 — that I thought it impossible he should ever recover the affections 
 of the people. Indeed, it never appeared to me that the conciliat- 
 ing their affections was any part of his view. If he had had this 
 in contemplation, he would never have attached himself to a small 
 party, of which the people, even the better sort of them, had the most 
 contemptible idea. Whether the Governor herein discovered that he 
 had conceived a deep-rooted prejudice against the people, or that he 
 was totally ignorant of the only method to secure his own happiness 
 and promise his Majesty real service in the Province, I will not 
 pretend to say. This, I believe, must be acknowledged by all, 
 that the surest refuge of a monarch himself is, under God, in the 
 bosom of his subjects."* 
 
 Bernard arrived safely in England ; and though he never 
 returned to America, he retained, for upwards of a year, the 
 title of Governor of Massachusetts. For nine years he had 
 ruled the Province, and in that time had been the chief in- 
 strument to prejudice the Ministry against the Colonies. 
 His name was a byword and the detestation of every honest 
 American until long after the War of Independence ; and 
 even the title which rewarded his machinations against the 
 people, whom he should have tried to protect and conciliate, 
 was a matter of derision, and served only to perpetuate his 
 infamy. 
 
 * Samuel Adams to Dennys Deberdt, July 31, 1769. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor HutchinsOn. — His Character. — Assumes the Govern- 
 ment of the Province. — Anniversary of the Stamp Act. — Patriotic Cele- 
 bration. — Samuel Adams's Disregard of Wealth. — His Scanty Means of 
 Support. — His House in Purchase Street. — Economy and Thrift of his 
 "Wife. — James Otis and the Commissioners. — The Affray at the British 
 Coffee House. — Adams supports the Cause of his Friend in the Press. — 
 He opposes London Tradesmen arriving to violate the Non-importation 
 Agreements. — Hutchinson and his Sons prevented from selling Tea. 
 
 Hutchinson was now at the head of affairs in the Prov- 
 ince. Under other circumstances, his name might have 
 been recorded among the most honorably distinguished of 
 New England ; but his timid, nervous temper unfitted him 
 for the momentous times of the Revolution. " Born and 
 bred in the Province," he yet failed to understand the char- 
 acter of his countrymen, in whose cause he had no faith ; and 
 he believed, from the first, that the power of England would 
 at any time be exerted to force the patriots into submission. 
 A coward by nature, he lacked the firmness to make his real 
 opinions known ; and while he was persistently advising the 
 sending of troops, the abridgment of the people's liberties, 
 and a general system which would enslave them, he did not 
 scruple to deny his secret correspondence, and repeatedly 
 asserted that his letters were u full of tenderness for the 
 Province.' ■ Samuel Adams saw through his character long 
 before the Revolution, and marked him as the most danger- 
 ous man in the country. His sole objects were the acquisi- 
 tion of riches, and to gain the approbation of the great and 
 powerful, to attain which the sacrifice of the liberties of 
 his country and the lives of her best citizens was accounted 
 as nothing. That fatal voluminous letter-book, which was 
 found after his departure for England, is a perpetual record 
 
Aug., 1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 269 
 
 of his treachery, meanness, and falsehood. An author, and 
 careful of his style when addressing the great, he wrote the 
 first draft of his correspondence in rough notes, which, when 
 digested and corrected, he transcribed in a fair hand. These 
 original drafts, which are in a perfect state of preservation, 
 reveal in every page his hostility to his native Province. 
 He repeatedly begs that his letters may be kept secret, and 
 then artfully recommends a variety of plans to subvert the 
 popular liberties and to transport the principal " incendia- 
 ries " to England for trial. Among his low tricks to deceive 
 the people was the writing of letters favorable to the Prov- 
 ince, addressed to influential persons in England, which he 
 would hand round to be read, but which were never sent to 
 their alleged destination. He was one of the ablest men in 
 New England, and his History of Massachusetts placed him 
 among the first of her authors. He had shown zeal and in- 
 tegrity at an earlier time in several public capacities, was 
 an upright judge of grave deportment, and an industrious 
 legislator. It was when the great issues of the Revolution 
 came up, and men were summoned to take sides, that he be- 
 came at once the enemy of the Province, the destroyer of 
 his own fortunes, and a principal means by which England 
 lost her Colonies. 
 
 The anniversary of the outbreak against the Stamp Act was 
 this year celebrated with great display, the 14th of August 
 being " the day of the union and firmly combined associa- 
 tion of the ' True Sons of Liberty.' " * The people having 
 assembled at eleven o'clock at Liberty Tree,, a number of 
 patriotic toasts were drunk, when the Sons repaired to Dor- 
 chester, where, three hundred and fifty in number, they dined 
 at Robinson's Liberty-Tree Tavern with their invited guests, 
 among whom were Mr. Dickinson, brother of the author of 
 the celebrated Farmer's Letters, and Joseph Reed of Phila- 
 delphia, with whom Samuel Adams became acquainted and 
 conversed. John Adams, who was present, says in his diary : 
 
 * Boston Gazette for August 21, 1769. 
 
270 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. 
 
 " We had two tables laid in the open field by the barn, with 
 between three and four hundred plates, and an awning of 
 sail-cloth overhead, and should have spent a most agreeable 
 day, had not the rain made some abatement of our pleas- 
 ures." * Public celebrations such as these were among the 
 most efficient methods adopted by the patriots to keep alive 
 and disseminate the fire of liberty. John Adams says, that 
 " their promoters were James Otis and Samuel Adams," and 
 adds, " they tinge the minds of the people ; they' impregnate 
 them with the sentiments of liberty ; they render the people 
 fond of their leaders in the cause, and averse and bitter 
 against all opposition." Such of the Boston papers as were 
 engaged on the popular side contained accounts of the af- 
 , fair. The dinner at Robinson's must have been a jovial oc- 
 casion. Liberty songs were sung, a variety of flags were 
 flung to the breeze, music enlivened the scene, and at proper 
 intervals cannon were fired. Among other provisions, three 
 large pigs were barbecued for the dinner. Forty-five reg- 
 ular toasts were drunk with cheers and discharge of cannon. 
 Among these were, by name, the English statesmen who had 
 espoused the American cause, and the champions of freedom 
 the world over. A few will illustrate their general tone : 
 " May the detested names of the very few importers every- 
 where be transmitted to posterity with infamy " ; " May Sir 
 Francis Bernard of Nettleham, Baronet, the Commissioners, 
 and others his confederates, the infamous calumniators of 
 North America, soon meet with condign punishment " ; 
 " The speedy removal of all taskmasters and the redress 
 of all grievances " ; " Strong halters, firm blocks, and sharp 
 axes to all such as deserve either." These toasts were evi- 
 dently prepared by the " promoters " of the festival the day 
 before the celebration. 
 
 " About five o'clock," says the Boston Gazette,! in its ac- 
 count of the affair, " the company left Mr. Robinson's in a 
 
 * John Adams's Works, II. 218. 
 
 t Boston Gazette for August 21, 1769. 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 271 
 
 procession that extended near a mile and a half, and before 
 dark entered the city, went around the State-House, and 
 retired each to his own house." Hancock left the ground 
 at the head of the line in his chariot, and another chariot 
 brought up the rear. John Adams records, that, " to the 
 honor of the Sons, he did not see one person intoxicated dur- 
 ing the festival or near it." The Gazette thus concludes 
 its account : " The amusements of the day were conducted 
 with that propriety and exact decorum which gentlemen ever 
 observe. All gentlemen of distinction from other Colonies, 
 known to be in town, had cards. Should this account over- 
 take the Baronet of Nettleham on this side of T-b — n, he 
 
 and Lord H h are at liberty to write seventy-seven 
 
 columns of their High Dutch and low diabolical commen- 
 taries ' about it and about it ' ! " This last remark is ac- 
 counted for in a note in the same paper, explaining the 
 mention of moderate drinking at the dinner, to the effect 
 that in the letters of Bernard, known in Boston as " the 
 budget of Nettleham epistles," relating to the celebration of 
 the previous year, that dignitary had inquired " how forty- 
 nine drams could be drunk in the morning, and ninety-two 
 in the afternoon, consistently with temperance." 
 
 A review thus far of the course of Samuel Adams shows 
 him to have entirely devoted his time and energies to the 
 public. History hardly furnishes an example of a man so 
 completely lost to self and the natural desire, common to 
 all, of improving their pecuniary condition. He was so re- 
 gardless of wealth or the means of attaining it, that those 
 about him censured him for it. His friend John Adams re- 
 peatedly alludes to this singular disregard of riches, a trait, 
 by the way, which made Samuel Adams a source of curious 
 wonder to his more thrifty kinsman. One day in June, in 
 the next year, when a serene summer sky spanned a land- 
 scape in which waving fields and rustling orchards formed to 
 some extent, as now, the pleasant scenery about New Eng- 
 land's capital, the two friends rode out together in a chaise, 
 
272 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. 
 
 and conversed of their personal affairs. They often called 
 each other " brother," and the relationship implied was in 
 after years supposed by strangers to exist in reality. 
 
 " My brother Samuel Adams," thus the lawyer and patriot wrote 
 that day in his diary, " says he never looked forward in his life ; 
 never planned, laid a scheme, or formed a design of laying up any- 
 thing for himself or others after him. I told him I could not say 
 that of myself: " If that had been true of me you would never have 
 seen my face.' And I think this was true ; I was necessitated to 
 ponder in my youth, to consider of ways and means of raising a sub- 
 sistence, food, and raiment, and books and money to pay for my ed- 
 ucation to the bar. So that I must have sunk into total contempt 
 and obscurity, if not perished for want, if I had not planned for 
 futurity ; and it is no damage to a young man to learn the art of 
 living early, if it is at the expense of much musing, and pondering, 
 and anxiety." * 
 
 The only means of subsistence which Samuel Adams had 
 for his family was the pittance he occasionally received 
 from the Assembly for his services as their Clerk. Without 
 that, it is hard to see how he could have lived. He still 
 owned his house in Purchase Street ; and a considerable por- 
 tion of the grounds which had belonged to his father's es- 
 tate remained in his possession until 1802, shortly before 
 his death. But so entirely did he give himself up to the 
 public good, laboring day and night in the righteous cause 
 of his country, that no attempt at any other occupation could 
 have succeeded. The great struggle for liberty was a pas- 
 sion with him, an inborn, unquenchable flame ; and he fol 
 lowed it with all the ardor of an inspired apostle of Free- 
 dom, losing sight of personal advancement and comfort, 
 forgetful of the ordinary pursuits which occupy the minds 
 of men, and only like others in his practical ability. He 
 was truly and really contented with poverty, which, as he 
 used to say to those who advised him to take more care for 
 his personal and family concerns, brought him no present 
 
 * John Adams's Works, II. 238. 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 273 
 
 anxieties or forebodings for the future. He could live hap- 
 pily in poverty. His wife and children understood him, and 
 idolized him as their protector, adviser, and companion, 
 whose genial, courageous disposition knew not despond- 
 ency, and preserved a warm sunshine in the hearts of all 
 who shared his society. 
 
 And to the uncomplaining cheerfulness of a brave New 
 England woman, who could meet the duties and privations 
 of her humble household with a generous devotion to the 
 views of her husband, is largely due the benefits which his 
 exertions secured for his countrymen. Those who remem- 
 bered Mrs. Adams have spoken of her as a noble instance of 
 the blending of womanly grace and dignity with the energy 
 which characterized her sex throughout the Revolution. In- 
 to that little home, during the darkened hours of the strug- 
 gle, privation and even distress often entered. But there the 
 admirable traits of the true wife were displayed, and with 
 it a consciousness of duty that rose superior to the shades of 
 adversity. She knew how to make the most of their slender 
 means, and so economically did she manage, that none who 
 visited at the house could detect, from outward evidences, 
 the lack of any essential comfort. 
 
 The ill-feeling between the Commissioners of the Customs 
 and the people daily increased. They hated the sight of 
 each other, the one party being constantly reminded of an 
 odious surveillance for the collection of an illegal tax, and 
 the other conscious of the disgust they excited among the 
 inhabitants while fattening on the spoils of this oppression, 
 in the pursuit of which they were supported by the military 
 arm. Their letters, which were laid before Parliament, 
 defaming the town, had just been published ; and Otis, whose 
 mental condition now rendered him peculiarly sensitive to 
 their attacks, was wrought to frenzy by the calumnies against 
 him. More than any of the leaders, he had looked forward 
 with longing to a reconciliation with the government, and, 
 while he expressed his abhorrence of the acts of trade, he 
 
 VOL. I. 18 
 
274 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept. 
 
 was sincere in his loyalty and ardent affection for England. 
 Though he had begun the active opposition to Britain's arbi- 
 trary rule, he had nevertheless cautioned his party against 
 some of their more decided measures, and did not entirely 
 agree with the principles of the other patriots. Had the 
 right of taxation been surrendered by Parliament, and the 
 Colonies restored to their condition at the close of the French 
 War, no man in America would have so largely enjoyed the 
 political results accruing from a renewal of friendly feeling 
 as James Otis. His fine legal acquirements and oratory 
 would have given him the leading position in Massachusetts, 
 — a position which neither Samuel Adams, Hawley, nor 
 Thacher could have attained. And had Otis's theory of a 
 representation in Parliament been adopted, he undoubtedly 
 would have stood in the British House of Commons as the 
 most conspicuous and eloquent American representative.* 
 The statements, therefore, of Bernard and the Commission- 
 ers, charging him with words of a treasonable nature, stung 
 him to madness. 
 
 On the 1st day of September, James Otis and Samuel 
 Adams, who, as we have seen, had not escaped the calumni- 
 ating pens of the crown officers, went to Concert Hall, where 
 the Commissioners still had their office, and had a confer- 
 ence with each of those officers. Early the next morning, 
 Otis met them alone at the British Coffee-House. The cause 
 and end of these conferences were generally unknown in the 
 town, but they excited much speculation. 
 
 The next evening Samuel and John Adams, with a few 
 friends, supped with Otis, where the time was spent prepar- 
 ing articles for the next day's newspaper. John Adams, 
 who records the fact in his diary, calls it " working the po- 
 litical engine.' ' 
 
 " Otis," he says, " talks all ; he grows the most talkative man 
 alive ; no other gentleman in company can find a space to put in a 
 
 * See Chap. IV. Compare John Adams's Diary (Works, II. 163). 
 
17&9.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 275 
 
 word. As Dr. Swift expresses it, he leaves no elbow-room. There 
 is much sense, knowledge, spirit, and humor in his conversation, but 
 he grows narrative, like an old man ; abounds in stories. 1 ' 
 
 The next evening there was a meeting of the club at 
 Dr. Perkins's, where Otis introduced a gentleman from 
 Georgia. 
 
 " Otis," continues John Adams, " indulged himself in all his airs, 
 attacked the selectmen, Inches and Pemberton, for not calling a 
 town meeting to consider the letters of the Governor, General, 
 Commodore, Commissioners, Collector, Comptroller, &c. Charged 
 them with timidity, haughtiness, arbitrary dispositions, and insolence 
 of office. But not the least attention did he show to his friend the 
 Georgian. No questions concerning his Province, their measures 
 against the revenue acts, their growth, manufactures, husbandry, 
 commerce. No general conversation concerning the continental 
 opposition ; nothing but one continued scene of bullying, bantering, 
 reproaching, and ridiculing the selectmen, airs and vapors about his 
 moderatorship and membership, and Cushing's speakership. There 
 is no politeness nor delicacy, no learning nor ingenuity, no taste or 
 sense, in this kind of conversation." * 
 
 In this frame of mind the overwrought imagination of 
 Otis prompted him to hurl defiance at the creatures whose 
 calumnies had helped to drive him to desperation. Proba- 
 bly the article which appeared in the Gazette he prepared 
 at his house the night previous. Over his own signature 
 he launched his indignation against the Commissioners by 
 name, denouncing their false representations of himself, and 
 asserting that for their " personal abuse of himself satisfac- 
 tion had been personally demanded, due warning given, but 
 no sufficient answer re turned.' ' f The same paper and the 
 Evening Post contained other documents, such as corre- 
 spondence with the Collector, and extracts from the letters 
 of the Commissioners to the Ministry. 
 
 About seven o'clock the next evening, Otis, quite alone, 
 
 * John Adams's Diary (Works, II. 219-221). 
 
 t Boston Gazette, Sept. 4, 1769. Tudor's Life of Otis. Bancroft, VI. 310 
 
276 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept. 
 
 went into the British CofFee-House, where he found seated 
 Robinson, one of the Commissioners, and a number of offi- 
 cers of the army, navy, and revenue. After a short alterca- 
 tion, an assault was commenced by Robinson With a cane, 
 when a fight ensued, and, the lights being extinguished in 
 the confusion, the friends of Robinson attacked Otis, severely 
 handling him, as shown by his wounds on the following day. 
 A young man named Gridley, who was passing, came to the 
 assistance of Otis, but was also beaten and put out of the 
 house. The disgraceful scene was terminated by a separa- 
 tion of the combatants, and Otis, bruised and bleeding, was 
 led to his home.* In the disturbed state of the town, this 
 affair caused much excitement. Both sides had their ver- 
 sion of the story ; but the commonly received account was, 
 that Otis had been set upon with a view to his assassina- 
 tion. A suit was instituted against Robinson, who left the 
 country, bonds having been given by his father-in-law, a 
 merchant named Boutineau. Fitch, John Adams, and Blow- 
 ers were retained as counsel for Otis. In the preliminary 
 examination, it appeared that swords were drawn by the offi- 
 cers, who fell upon Otis, with cries of " God damn him ! " 
 " Kill him ! kill him ! " and it was stated that wagers had 
 been previously made upon the issue ; young Gridley testi- 
 fied that there was foul play, and that he protested during 
 the scene against the dirty usage which Mr. Otis received. 
 Bludgeons and a scabbard were found on the floor after the 
 struggle, and the whole proceeding was regarded as cow- 
 ardly and brutal on the part of the crown officers. 
 
 Samuel Adams, ever careful of his friend's welfare, re- 
 viewed the examination at considerable length in the press, 
 showing that foul play was practised ; that Otis had chal- 
 lenged Robinson to go abroad or withdraw to a private place, 
 and there decide the controversy between them.f Robinson 
 
 * Tudor's Life of Otis. Drake's History of Boston. Articles in the Boston 
 papers on the subject. 
 
 t "An Impartialist," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 25, 1769. 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 277 
 
 stated that lie had laid aside his sword when he saw his ad- 
 versary without one. But the surgeons, Drs. Perkins and 
 Lloyd, who attended Otis, pronounced the wound in his fore- 
 head to have been made by an edged weapon, and Mr. Ad- 
 ams held that Robinson had either misstated the facts or that 
 some one else had attacked Otis with a sword. At the trial, 
 the jury found two thousand pounds sterling damages for 
 the plaintiff and costs of suit. This sum Otis generously re- 
 fused to take upon Robinson's expressing sorrow for his con- 
 duct, confessing himself the agressor, and asking pardon of 
 the injured men through Boutineau, who, being a lawyer, 
 managed the case for the defendant. Thirty pounds each 
 for the counsel, the doctor's bills, and the cost of court were 
 paid by Robinson ; but, as the release stipulated, " not a far- 
 thing for the use of the said James Otis, he having* (as be- 
 fore observed) a most thorough contempt for a pecuniary 
 recompense when a better can be obtained." * The injuries 
 received by Otis probably assisted in the destruction of his 
 intellect, which had . already shown symptoms of failure in 
 a variableness of opinion and an uncertainty of conduct, 
 which, henceforth increasing, incapacitated him for calm de- 
 liberation. The only other effect of the fray was to increase 
 the quarrels between the people and the officers, and to in- 
 tensify the opposition to government. The revenue act was 
 more fiercely attacked, and the public mind wrought to ex- 
 asperation by the contributors to the press. 
 
 " Let me ask the cabal," said Samuel Adams, " whether the Col- 
 onies in general are perfectly reconciled to this act. They now see 
 the contrary with grief and despair, and they may ere long see it 
 with terror and amazement. The Colonies are more than ever 
 united in a determined opposition to these acts, and I hope in God 
 they will continue their opposition to them till they are all repealed ; 
 till the locusts and caterpillars, which now swarm among us, are 
 driven off like chaff, and every American grievance is redressed. 
 
 * Tudor's Life of Otis, p. 505 (Appendix). 
 
278 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 " Let any one imagine the distress of these people, — a free city 
 — I mean once free, and still entitled to its freedom — reduced to 
 the worst of tyranny, an aggravated tyranny ! Was not an army of 
 placemen and pensioners sufficient, who would eat us up as they eat 
 bread, but an army of soldiers must be stationed in our very bow- 
 els ! Where is the Bill of Rights, Magna Charta, and the blood of 
 our venerable forefathers ? In this dilemma, to what a dreadful al- 
 ternative were we reduced, — to resist this tyranny, or submit to 
 chains / The one might have been done with the greatest ease, for 
 what was a handful of troops to subdue a large country ! Surely 
 two or three regiments could never have been intended to extermi- 
 nate the inhabitants of this Province, and it could not have been 
 expected that such a petty armament could produce any other effect 
 than that of 'inspiring the people with resentment.' Those who 
 imagined, that the inhabitants of Boston would oppose the landing 
 of the King's troops knew very little of their temper or design ; 
 and yet, I believe, the thought of finally submitting to chains was 
 never suffered to harbor in their hearts. God forbid that free coun- 
 tries should ever again yield to tyranny ! This has long been the 
 unhappy fate of the world, while it was overspread with ignorance 
 and enveloped in darkness. Mankind, I hope, are now become too 
 enlightened to suffer it much longer." * 
 
 Bernard having written to England that the most respect- 
 able of the merchants wonld not hold to their non-importa- 
 tion agreements, and that the subscriptions would come to 
 naught, encouragement was given to British merchants to 
 engage anew in the colonial trade. By intelligence received 
 in September, it was known to Mr. Adams that " a factor," 
 as he expressed it, " from London was jdaily expected in the 
 next ship, and, as it was said, under ministerial favor, with 
 a very large importation of British manufactures." This 
 was regarded as an attempt to force the obnoxious goods 
 upon the inhabitants, and a direct issue was thus to be made 
 between the supporters of this importation scheme and the 
 virtuous determination of the people not to purchase. The 
 suspicion entertained by Mr. Adams that these goods came 
 
 ♦ "Alfred," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 2, 1769. 
 
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 279 
 
 under " high authority " was not without foundation, for the 
 military officers had been preparing to protect the factors on 
 their arrival. He also knew that many of the proscribed ar- 
 ticles were imported in the names of the military officers, 
 ostensibly for the use of the soldiers. 
 
 "Good God," he wrote, "how much longer is it expected that 
 the patience of this injured country shall hold out ? Have we not 
 already been sufficiently provoked? Is it possible that any man 
 should have the effrontery, against the united resolutions of a conti- 
 nent, to import and vend its bane? Unparalleled presumption! 
 Shall a stranger dare to be the tool of the cabal, and the instrument 
 of oversetting a measure upon the success of which the hopes of mil- 
 lions are suspended ? What a degree of intolerable vanity and in- 
 solence is here ! Shall this man avail himself, and make a precedent 
 for others to avail themselves of the sacrifice which our own mer- 
 chants and tradesmen have voluntarily made for the public good, and 
 hereafter wrest that part of the trade out of their hands, whenever 
 the safety of the country shall admit of its being again carried on ? 
 What man will purchase goods of such a bold intruder ? Who will 
 not look upon him as a public enemy, and treat him with the marks 
 of contempt and hatred ? But, contemptible and odious as he must 
 appear, yet, in comparison with these few natives of the country — 
 and, blessed be God, there are but few — who can pride themselves 
 in the importations they have made, and impudently boast of their 
 success, — in comparison, I say, with such parricides as these, a 
 stranger must, in an impartial eye, appear even innocent." * 
 
 On that very day, the expected ships arrived. The tocsin 
 had not been sounded an hour too soon. Bryant, the factor, 
 landed on the 4th, and a meeting of the merchants was im- 
 mediately convened ; and having obliged Greene and Boyl- 
 ston, the owners, to engage to house all their goods and de- 
 liver the key to the committee, " they called before them a 
 young fellow who belonged to England, and brought about 
 a thousand pounds sterling in goods for sale, and required 
 him to send his goods back again." f The unhappy Lieu* 
 
 * "Alfred," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 2, 1769. 
 t Hutchinson to Bernard, Oct. 5, 1769. 
 
280 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 tenant-Governor wrote in rueful plight, and doubtless fore- 
 saw what might befall his own adventure in the interdicted 
 articles. 
 
 On the same day the town held a meeting, at which Cush- 
 ing, Samuel and John Adams, Otis, Dana, Hancock, Hen- 
 shaw, Jackson, Kent, and Warren were appointed a commit- 
 tee to vindicate the town from the false representations 
 contained in the letters of Bernard, Gage, Hood, and others, 
 authentic copies of which had been transmitted to the select- 
 men.* The meeting then took up the subject of those who 
 had broken the non-importation agreement, and the names 
 of four, "few indeed, to the honor of the town," were placed 
 upon the records as infamous, " that posterity may know 
 who those persons were that preferred their little advantage 
 to the common interest of all the Colonies in a point of the 
 greatest importance." These proceedings having been pub- 
 lished in the next day's paper, Hutchinson added, by way of 
 postscript to his letter to Bernard : — 
 
 " I am now able to send you this day's paper, with the infamous 
 vote of the town of Boston. It was approved, and some said my sons 
 had given up their goods ; but Adams, Kent, and others replied, 
 that it was not voluntary; they should have done it before.f I 
 know that I should have been afraid to put such a question as mod- 
 erator, or sign it as town clerk. I have been in pain for your son, 
 but am now in hopes he may stand it out." % 
 
 The names of Hutchinson's two sons were also recorded 
 by the town as infamous, though, by their father's direc- 
 tions, they had given up eighteen chests of tea ; but the 
 meeting had no faith in their sincerity. Another ship ar- 
 rived on the 15th, and a similar disposition was made of the 
 goods, while the troops, however much their officers may 
 
 * Boston Town Records, Oct. 4, 1769. 
 
 t These two sons kept a shop in which their father was interested. Several 
 weeks previously, Mr. Adams as " Populus " in the Boston Gazette had publicly- 
 warned them by name as " bringing up the rear in the ignoble list of importers." 
 
 X Hutchinson to Bernard, Oct. 5, 1769. 
 
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 281 
 
 have desired to act, stood idle spectators, knowing that their 
 hands were tied, for they could not legally interfere. In the 
 midst of these proceedings, a letter was received from New 
 York, inviting Boston to continue the non-importation agree- 
 ment until all the revenue acts were repealed, and 'by the 
 great influence of Molineux, Otis, Samuel Adams, and Wil- 
 liam Cooper, the new form was adopted by the merchants.* 
 Hutchinson, who kept a daily record by letter of everything, 
 thus expressed to Bernard his rage and chagrin : — 
 
 " I cannot but be of the opinion that an act subjecting every per- 
 son who had been concerned in any of these combinations, and who 
 held any sort of office of honor or trust, and did not in any such way 
 or manner as should be directed, disclaim, &c, should forever after 
 be disqualified, would make a number of these people, and, among 
 the rest, Cooper, Adams, &c, tremble ; though I don't think this half 
 enough for so atrocious a crime ; and for any persons who should 
 hereafter be concerned, no penalty is too great. 
 
 " If Parliament does not before the holidays show their indigna- 
 tion against this defiance of their authority, I shall think I am mis- 
 taken, and that it is not such an offence as it has always appeared to 
 me to be. At least, processes ought to be made out for the appre- 
 hension of all who have been concerned and who do not immediately 
 disclaim. 
 
 "The merchants, in their meeting referred to in the foregoing, 
 voted to continue their agreement for non-importation until all the 
 revenue acts be repealed, and a subscription is now carrying about ; 
 but it seems that they have thought proper not to suffer their pro- 
 ceedings to be printed until they know that they shall succeed in 
 their subscriptions. A rigorous spirit in Parliament will yet set us 
 right : without it, the government of this Province will be split into 
 innumerable divisions. Every town, every parish, and every par- 
 ticular club or connection, will meet, vote, and carry their votes into 
 execution just as they please." ( 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 311. t Hutchinson to Bernard, Oct., 1769. 
 
CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 Report of the Town's Committee. — Adams writes the " Appeal to the World." 
 
 — Its Effect. — Treatment of an Informer. — John Mein and his Publica- 
 tions. — Increasing Animosity between the Troops and the People. — Ad- 
 ams warns the Agent in London. — Liberty in the other Colonies. — Adams 
 declares that the Troops must quit the Town. — Assembling of Parliament. 
 
 — Lord North becomes Prime Minister. — Spirit of the New Englaud 
 Women. — Public Disturbances. — The Governor desires Bloodshed. — 
 The Case of Eichardson. 
 
 When two weeks had passed since the appointment of the 
 committee to vindicate the town from the aspersions of Ber- 
 nard and the crown officers, a town meeting was called on 
 the 18th, and the report, with some slight alterations, was 
 unanimously adopted.* This paper, which was printed by 
 Vorder of the town, was the afterwards celebrated " Appeal 
 >To the World," and was written by Samuel Adams. It re- 
 ceived a wide circulation in America. f Copies were sent to 
 the leading friends of the Colonies in England, where it was 
 republished. The vigor of its style, the plain reasoning 
 which unmasks the character of the writers against the 
 Province, the boldness of the vindication, yet tempered with 
 the calm confidence of a just cause, gave it a prominence 
 which had only been equalled by the " True Sentiments of 
 America,' ' by the same hand in the previous year. It was 
 read in England during the height of the Wilkes excitement, 
 and when the public mind was prepared by the writings of 
 
 * Boston Town Records, Oct. 18, 1769. 
 
 t An Appeal to the World ; or a Vindication of the Town of Boston, from 
 many False and Malicious Aspersions contain'd in certain Letters and Memo- 
 rials, written by Governor Bernard, General Gage, Commodore Hood, the 
 Commissioners of the American Board of Customs, and Others, and by them 
 respectively transmitted to the British Ministry. Published by order of the 
 Town. Printed and sold by Edes and Gill, in Queen-Street, Boston, 1769. 
 8°. pp. 37. 
 
 TO 
 
Oct., 1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 283 
 
 " Junius " to listen with peculiar interest to an appeal for 
 American rights, which, on the principle of representation, 
 were alike invaded in both countries. The work goes over 
 the ground covered by previous essays and letters of Mr. Ad- 
 ams, relative to the misrepresentations of the crown officers 
 and their animosity to the Province. Bernard's letters to 
 the Earl of Shelburne and Lord Hillsborough are considered 
 at great length ; each statement is dissected, and the exag- 
 gerations clearly proved. 
 
 The consequent ordering of troops to coerce a loyal peo- 
 ple disclosed a purpose which the pamphlet declares to be 
 " dangerous and abhorrent to the British Constitution and 
 the spirit of a free government, namely, to support the civil 
 authority. A measure which has caused continual terror to 
 his Majesty's peaceable subjects here, and has been pro- 
 ductive of more disturbance and confusion than has been 
 known in the memory of any now living, or than is record- 
 ed by any historian, even the most partial, against this 
 country." 
 
 The Governor's nervous timidity, which was constantly 
 wishing for an armed force to protect him, is exposed, as 
 well as his exaggerations relative to the meeting in June, 
 1768, under " Liberty Tree." 
 
 " He always discovered/' says the Appeal, " an aversion to free 
 assemblies : no wonder tnen that he should be so particularly dis- 
 gusted at a legal meeting of the town of Boston, where a noble free- 
 dom of speech is ever expected and maintained; an assembly of 
 which it may be justly said, to borrow the language of the ancient 
 Roman, with a little variation, * Sentire quae volunt et quae sentiunt 
 dicere licet,' — they think as they please, and speak as they think. 
 Such an assembly has ever been the dread, often the scourge, of 
 tyrants." 
 
 Of the proceedings adopted at the town meeting of Sep- 
 tember 12th in the previous year, the Appeal says : — 
 
 " The resolves and determinations of this meeting, as the Gover- 
 nor says, were published to the world j and they remain in the rec- 
 
284 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 ords of the town, that posterity may judge of them. The town 
 has seen no reason since to revoke these resolves, notwithstanding 
 they have been sentenced as ' very dangerous resolves, procured by 
 mad people,' by so exquisite a judge in matters which regard civil 
 government, as well as so polite a gentleman, as General Gage. The 
 Governor himself has been since respectfully requested by the se- 
 lectmen, in behalf of the town, to show in what respect the resolves 
 and proceedings of this very meeting had militated with law, but 
 he declined it ; and we believe he declined it, because he was not 
 able to do it. Spirited, indeed, they were, but not too spirited for 
 the times. When the Constitution is threatened, the principles of 
 the Constitution must, if ever, be asserted and supported. The Gov- 
 ernor, indeed, takes notice of our claim to a certain clause in the 
 Bill of Rights, as i a large stride ' ; but as we are free British sub- 
 jects, we claim all that security against arbitrary power to which we 
 are entitled by the law of God and nature, as well as the British 
 Constitution. And if a standing army may not be posted upon the 
 subjects in one part of the empire in time of peace, without their 
 consent, there can be no reason why it should in any other ; for all 
 British subjects are, or ought to be, alike free. 
 
 u Notwithstanding the town have been obliged in justice to them- 
 selves to say thus much in their own vindication, we should yet be 
 glad that the ancient and happy union between Great Britain and 
 this country, which Governor Bernard has labored so industriously 
 to interrupt, might be restored. Some have indeed flattered them- 
 selves with the prospect of it, as intelligence is said to have been re- 
 ceived from Administration that all the revenue acts would be 
 repealed. But as it since appears, by Lord Hillsborough's own 
 account, that nothing more is intended than the taking off the duties 
 on paper, glass, and painters' colors, upon commercial principles 
 only, if that is all, it will not give satisfaction. It will not even re- 
 lieve trade from the burdens it labors under : much less will it re- 
 move the grounds of discontent which runs through the continent 
 upon much higher principles. Their rights are invaded by these 
 acts : therefore, until they are all repealed, the cause of their just 
 complaints cannot be removed. In short, the grievances which lie 
 heavily upon us we shall never think redressed, till every act 
 passed by the British Parliament for the express purpose of raising 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 285 
 
 a revenue upon us without our consent is repealed ; till the Amer- 
 ican Board of Commissioners of the Customs is dissolved, the troops 
 recalled, and things are restored to the state they were in before the 
 late extraordinary measures of administration took place." 
 
 The temper and style of the Appeal, which occupies twen- 
 ty-nine pages of the records, may be gathered from these ex- 
 tracts. The town endeavored by this vindication to place 
 itself plainly in the right before the world ; and for that 
 purpose there is no attempt to convey a meaning by covert 
 expressions. It was a candid, outspoken announcement of 
 the sentiment of Boston touching their just rights ; and its 
 solemn warning, which it was intended the British Ministry 
 should peruse, that they should never consider their wrongs 
 redressed until the whole assumed right of taxation was re- 
 nounced, might have warned any far-seeing statesman of 
 the approaching crisis, but an overruling Providence or- 
 dained it otherwise. The town appointed a committee to 
 transmit the Appeal to persons of influence in England ; 
 and Mr. Adams, who was a member, prepared a letter which 
 was signed by the committee, and forwarded with the pam- 
 phlet. It emphatically repeats what measures of relief are 
 expected, and enumerates particularly the repeal of the rev- 
 enue act, the removal of the troops, and the restoration of 
 affairs to the state they were in before the late measures of 
 administration. Hutchinson, who had particularly assisted 
 in misleading opinion in England, saw in the Appeal an addi- 
 tional instance of sedition ; and he forthwith sent it to Ber- 
 nard, who, as fresh from the Province, was an oracle on 
 American affairs, and had the ear of the Ministry.* 
 
 * The Appeal to the World has been erroneously ascribed to James Otis 
 In 1819, fifty years after it was written, John Adams thought it not improb- 
 able that Otis and Samuel Adams might have composed it together ; and the 
 biographer of Otis also claims it as their joint production, probably on the 
 same authority. Independent of the fact, that a careful examination of the 
 Appeal shows no resemblance to the style of Otis, while it has exactly and un- 
 mistakably that of Adams, the condition of Otis just previous to this time, 
 
286 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 " The thing," said he, " is calculated to take the vulgar and mis- 
 lead others who are not acquainted with the facts ; but it is so 
 shamefully evasive and fallacious, that I cannot but hope you will 
 furnish some person of leisure with the true state of facts, that it 
 may be answered. I have no doubt that they design to publish it 
 in England ; and they would suffer no copies to go out until the 
 vessels which were then ready had sailed. I was obliged to 
 employ Frank to procure me one from a journeyman who then 
 worked in the press. I send another, as the former may have 
 miscarried. It was offered to the town by Adams, and probably 
 most of it is his performance. But there are some parts appear to 
 me the work of another hand ; what relates to the Council is prob- 
 ably the production of a gentleman who was then of the Council." * 
 
 as disclosed in the diary of John Adams and the letter of Hutchinson soon 
 after, renders it impossible that he could have been even partly its author. 
 
 The title of the paper, " Appeal to the World," had long been a favorite 
 and peculiar expression with Samuel Adams. As " Determinatus," in the 
 Boston Gazette, Aug. 8, 1768, he says when treating this very subject of mis- 
 representations by the crown officers : — 
 
 " / appeal to the world upon this short but full narration of the facts, wheth- 
 er," &c. 
 
 And in the same paper, as " Shippen," Jan. 30, 1769, while vindicating 
 the town against its false accusers : — 
 
 " Without saying anything more on this point, we may venture to appeal to 
 the candid world where the ingratitude lies." 
 
 And again as "A Bostonian," April 24, 1769 : — 
 
 " If the General [Gage] has characterized the town and Province upon his 
 own observation, I appeal to the candid world whether the bare affirmation," &c. 
 
 All these instances occur before the Appeal to the World appeared, and 
 reveal the hand of one writer discussing the same theme, — the vindication of 
 the town. 
 
 In May, 1773, writing to Arthur Lee, he again uses the expression. Sending 
 to his friend the printed proceedings of the town at a late election, he says : 
 " They may be looked upon as fresh appeals to the world." The Appeal was re- 
 ported to the town by Samuel Adams in person, — so Hutchinson wrote at the 
 time, — which is a strong indication that he was its author. But when to these 
 evidences we add the fact that fragments of the original manuscript, with the 
 erasures, interlineations, and corrections, still exist in the handwriting of Sam- 
 uel Adams, the question would seem to be set at rest, especially as no portion 
 of the paper has ever been found in the hand of any other person. For Sam- 
 uel Adams's authorship, see Bancroft, VI. 312. 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, October, 1769. 
 
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 287 
 
 Hutchinson had come to know the peculiar style of Ad- 
 ams almost as well as though the writings had been his own. 
 He had his spies too, who kept him informed as to the au- 
 thorship of pieces in the public press ; and the government 
 employed a number of informers, whose business it was to 
 watch the movements of the popular leaders, and report all 
 they saw and heard. These were sometimes detected by the 
 people, and, in such cases, suffered rough treatment from 
 them. An instance occurred on the 28th of October, when 
 an informer against a quantity of smuggled wine, brought 
 from Rhode Island, was tarred and feathered, and carted in 
 the evening through the streets for three hours, attended by 
 a vast concourse of people, who obliged the wretched man 
 to carry a large glass lantern, and, under the Liberty Tree, 
 " made him swear never to be guilty of a like crime in fu- 
 ture. " Passing the office of the Chronicle, a government 
 paper published by Mein and Flemming, the procession was 
 fired upon, when the crowd broke in the doors, and the in- 
 mates would probably have shared the fate of the informer, 
 but for their speedy flight.* The senior partner in this pub- 
 lishing firm was John Mein, a Scotchman, who had been 
 brought up a bookseller, and had come to Boston in 1764 
 from Glasgow. His paper remained neutral at the com- 
 mencement of the stamp and revenue troubles ; but in the 
 summer of 1769, he found it for his interest to take the gov- 
 ernment side, and in August he endeavored to dissuade 
 the merchants from adhering to their non-importation agree- 
 ments by misrepresenting the signers. Mr. Adams publicly 
 warned him against " this opposition to an awakened, an en- 
 lightened, and a determined continent" ; and at last, when 
 the publisher ventured to caricature the leading patriots, 
 he was attacked on Pope-day in King Street, near his office, 
 and driven to the main guard for protection. The people 
 followed and demanded that he should be surrendered to 
 
 * Drake's Boston, p. 776. Bancroft, VI. 313. Barry's Massachusetts, 
 H. 400. 
 
288 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 them; but lie finally escaped in disguise, and soon after 
 sailed for England.* 
 
 The inactivity forced upon the troops, amid all these com- 
 motions, was humiliating ; but they could only chafe and 
 exhibit their anger by occasional frays with the people. 
 The leaders constantly endeavored to impress them with the 
 fact that they were useless appendages of illegal power, and 
 subservient to the civil magistrate. A captain in the Twen- 
 ty-ninth Regiment, who gave directions to his soldiers, " If 
 they touch you, run them through the body," was indicted 
 for the speech, and early in November the grand jury found 
 a true bill against Bernard, General Gage, and others, for 
 " slandering the town of Boston." " Surely," said Mr. Ad- 
 ams, as he mused upon the possibility of some sanguinary 
 event, " no Provincial magistrate could be found so steeled 
 against the sensations of humanity and justice as wantonly 
 to order troops to fire on an unarmed populace, and (more 
 than) repeat in Boston the tragic scenes exhibited in St. 
 George's Field. I shudder at the thought ! " f 
 
 The event, however, which was to seal in blood the deliv- 
 erance of the town from the immediate presence of these 
 mercenaries was but a few months distant. How far they 
 were fallen into contempt with the people, and how the per- 
 sistent oppression of the mother country was cementing the 
 determined bitterness of the opposition, may be inferred 
 from the following letter. 
 
 Boston, Not. 16, 1769. 
 Sir,— 
 
 I received your favor by Mr. Reed, whose good sense, agreeable 
 conversation, and polite behavior entitle him to very great respect 
 and esteem among the best part of the world. 
 
 It is with astonishment and indignation that Americans contem- 
 plate the folly of the British Ministry, in employing troops which 
 have heretofore been the terror of the enemies to liberty, only to 
 parade the streets of Boston, and by their ridiculous merry-andrew 
 
 * Drake's Boston, p. 774. Buckingham's Reminiscences, I. 214. 
 t "Alfred," in the Boston Gazette for Oct. 2, 1769. 
 
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS, 289 
 
 tricks to become the objects of the contempt of even women and 
 children. If the noble Corsicans were not worthy the least of their 
 attentions, surely they ought to have been alarmed at the large 
 strides which the French and Spaniards, the inveterate foes to Brit- 
 ain, are making towards the recovery of their lost territories in 
 America. One winter more trifled away, or worse than trifled, in 
 fruitless endeavors to enslave a people who are more than ever re- 
 solved to be free, may afford those powers the opportunity of com- 
 pleting a plan already begun, and to finish a stroke in America 
 which may awaken the attention of Britain in vain. We tremble 
 for her fate ; we wish her prosperity ; we hope she will soon employ 
 herself to much nobler purposes than picking up pins and pebbles. 
 Those who have succeeded in their endeavors to alienate the affec- 
 tions of her Colonies have served her enemies in the very point 
 they could have wished for. Britain may fall sooner than she is 
 aware ; while her Colonies, who are now struggling for liberty, may 
 survive her fate, and tell the story to their children's children. I 
 conclude in great haste. 
 
 Your friend and humble servant, 
 
 Samuel Adams. 
 Dennys Deberdt, Esq. 
 
 There was a spirit of prophecy in this letter, as events 
 proved. It now seems scarcely credible that the government 
 should have been unmindful of the dangers which are here 
 pictured. The downfall of British rule in America was ar- 
 dently desired by every trading rival in Europe, and the peril 
 increased as the absurd contest was prolonged. Her com- 
 mercial monopoly had been long regarded with a jealous 
 eye ; and nations eagerly watched the progress of a sys- 
 tematic folly which, as all but the infatuated King and Min- 
 istry saw, led plainly to a great catastrophe. A convention 
 had already been entered into between France and Spain, 
 with the ultimate view of crippling the British Colonial 
 strength, towards which the first step was made early in 
 1771, by an attack by the Spanish forces upon the Falkland 
 Islands.* Yet, amid these hostile indications, the taxation 
 
 * See Grahame's History, II. 426, 456 ; Bradford's State Papers, p. 296. 
 vol. i. 19 
 
290 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov., Dec 
 
 policy was pursued. The revenue to be derived was but 
 trifling. It was the arbitrary right alone for which the con- 
 test was waged, risking the loss of the " brightest jewel in 
 the crown." That right would never be conceded, and 
 would be resisted to the last. 
 
 Deberdt, who still served the Province as the agent of the 
 Assembly, endeavored to obtain additional evidence against 
 Bernard to support the petition of the House for his removal. 
 The letter spoken of above was probably on that subject, as 
 was one to Cushing, received by the same ship, to which 
 Hutchinson thus alludes : — 
 
 " The remonstrance of the House I knew would be odious to you. 
 Undress it, and let the facts appear naked, and you are not accused 
 of doing anything which it would not have been culpable in you to 
 have left undone. The Speaker, a day or two ago, opened a letter 
 which he received by the last ship from Deberdt, and began to read 
 it in company. Deberdt says, that if the Speaker will furnish him 
 with evidence of any damage the Province has sustained by your 
 acts of oppression, he will bring an action against you, now you are 
 in England. He was going on ; but Adams, who sat by, told him he 
 believed it was a private letter, and then he stopped." * 
 
 If the voluminous evidence contained in the Appeal to 
 the World, exposing the false representations of Bernard and 
 others, was not to be regarded as proof against the Gov- 
 ernor, it would be useless indeed to have gone through the 
 farce of taking affidavits which would be spurned by the royal 
 Council. The damage sustained by the Province through 
 the subversion of its liberties could never be brought to the 
 eyes of the Ministry, who ignored the British rights claimed 
 by the Americans, and had no word but sedition for their 
 efforts in support of those rights. The petition was rejected 
 as " groundless, vexatious, and scandalous," and all the evi- 
 dence in the world would not have prevented this result.f 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, November, 1769. 
 
 t Opinion of the Ministry in Council of the petition of the House against 
 Gov. Bernard. 
 
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 291 
 
 The great principles upon which the claims of the Ameri- 
 can people were based were never recognized by Hillsbor- 
 ough, whose contempt for the motives which actuated the 
 opposition, unchangeable from the first, was strengthened 
 by the advice of Bernard, who was at his side, and by the 
 letters of Hutchinson, who plied the Baronet with corre- 
 spondence, which he knew would be shown to the Ministry, 
 and perhaps aid in his own advancement. 
 
 While Boston was thus boldly facing the awful power 
 of England, the generous enthusiasm of liberty animated 
 the other Colonies, but with a general tendency to concil- 
 iation. South Carolina steadily adhered to the non-im- 
 portation agreement, and appointed a standing executive 
 committee. Georgia supported the correspondence and res- 
 olutions of Massachusetts. North Carolina adopted in her 
 Assembly the protest of Virginia. The Legislature of New 
 York moved for a general representative body to be com- 
 posed of delegates from each Province. Virginia had the 
 pledge by its Governor of the royal word, renouncing all in- 
 tention of taxing the Colonies. Maryland's Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor " advised " to give up the tax, and the Philadelphia 
 merchants were still for non-importation, but under less 
 stringent restrictions. The only matter of complaint among 
 them all was the tax upon tea ; all other obnoxious meas- 
 ures, such as the Billeting Act, having been abandoned. 
 Upon the principle involved in the assumed right to tax the 
 Colonies rested the whole issue between them and Great 
 Britain. The spirit, however, which still looked hopefully 
 for redress prevailed less in Massachusetts, where the con- 
 tinual broils between the Bostonians and the troops nursed 
 the rancor of both parties. 
 
 The Massachusetts Legislature was to meet on the 10th 
 of January, — one day after the assembling of th*e British 
 Parliament. Would the little body of Provincial statesmen 
 still refuse to legislate, while arbitrarily removed from their 
 ancient and legal seat of government ? Would wise coun- 
 
292 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 sels prevail in Parliament, and the just rights of America be 
 admitted ? The new year was to decide forever the fate of 
 the Colonies, and involve results more momentous than the 
 most far-seeing could estimate in their effect upon Great 
 Britain. A crisis seemed to impend on both sides of the 
 Atlantic. In Massachusetts, the plan for the approaching 
 session was probably prepared. It was to demand the re- 
 moval of the troops, and to offer an uncompromising oppo- 
 sition to any legislation, should the Lieutenant-Governor 
 persist in illegally convening the Assembly at Cambridge. 
 Towards the close of the year Hutchinson wrote to Lord 
 Hillsborough : — 
 
 " The time approaches to which the Assembly stands prorogued. 
 As I have received no instructions from England to the contrary, 
 nobody doubts its sitting to do business. I have evidence of the 
 declaration of one or more of the members of this town, that the 
 first attempt shall be for a vote to insist upon the troops being re- 
 moved out of the town. I am taking every prudent measure in my 
 power to prevent the attempt from succeeding in the House, and do 
 not despair of defeating it." 
 
 To the same nobleman he writes immediately after, having 
 apparently received additional information. 
 
 " Adams has declared the troops must move to the Castle, and 
 that it must be the first business of the Court to remove them out 
 of the town. " * 
 
 If the design of this was to have Samuel Adams or others 
 transported to be tried for treason, the idea had been met 
 more than half-way from England. " The talk is strong of 
 bringing them over and trying them by impeachment," said 
 Mauduit in London. " Do you write me word of their be- 
 ing seized, and I will send you an account of their being 
 hanged."*t 
 
 The public liberties were at this time contested in England 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, Dec. 20, 1769. 
 
 t Israel Mauduit to Hutchinson, London, Nov. 19, 1769. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 293 
 
 with unusual violence and acrimony. The whole nation 
 was convulsed with the struggle between the House of Com- 
 mons and the Middlesex electors, and reflecting men consid- 
 ered that the crisis involved the stability of the government. 
 Parliament met on the 9th of January, when the troubles in 
 Ireland, the revenue difficulties in America, and the disfran- 
 chisement of Wilkes, together occupied their entire atten- 
 tion. A great contest had been going on between the aris- 
 tocracy and the returned wealthy nabobs from Hindostan, 
 desirous of obtaining seats and influence in the British Leg- 
 islature, on the one side, and the popular element declaring 
 for free speech, a free press, and unrestricted rights, on the 
 other. Wilkes, who but for his expulsion from the House 
 would have sunk into insignificance, became by his represen- 
 tation of the prevailing sentiment the most prominent man 
 in the kingdom. The debate, which embraced the popular 
 liberties in England and the American policy, was led by 
 Chatham in the House of Lords, where he now reappeared 
 after two years absence, and combated with marked elo- 
 quence the address to the King against the Colonies, in 
 which he was joined by Lord Camden, who " proclaimed to 
 the world " his opposition to " this illegal and unconstitu- 
 tional vote." In the House of Commons Barre* stood up, as 
 usual, as the defender of American rights. Lord North re- 
 plied that he would never acquiesce in the absurd opinion 
 that all men are equal. The character of the debates, as 
 well as the votes, showed that America had little to hope 
 for, and that the determination to crush out the principle of 
 constitutional liberty had suffered no change since the pre- 
 vious winter. 
 
 Late in January the Duke of Grafton suddenly resigned 
 his position as Prime Minister, and Lord North, whose pol- 
 icy towards the Colonies was well known, assumed the reins 
 of government. He knew the will of his master, George the 
 Third ; but his subsequent course proved that both he and 
 the stubborn King did not know the character of the Ameri- 
 
294 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 can people, when they ignorantly hugged the idea of driving 
 them into a compliance with an infamous tyranny. Lord 
 North was actuated by a violent hatred of popular rights, 
 and a blind resolution to enforce obedience to illegal legisla- 
 tion, before relaxing such assumed power ; and in these feel- 
 ings he was confirmed by the King, whose knowledge of 
 America was probably confined to the distorted accounts 
 coming to him through his servants in the Colonies. 
 
 The commencement of the year in Massachusetts was sig- 
 nalized by a new exercise of arbitrary power. When Ber- 
 nard left the Province for England, in the previous summer, 
 the Legislature stood adjourned to the 10th of January, 1770 ; 
 and, as we have seen by Hutchinson's letter already quoted, 
 it was to have met then. But a few days previous to that 
 time, instructions were received from the Earl of Hillsbor- 
 ough, directing the Lieutenant-Governor to prorogue the 
 Court to meet at some future time at Cambridge. This out- 
 rageous treatment of a popular legislative body, whose move- 
 ments, as stipulated by charter, were only dependent upon 
 the directions of a Governor paid by the people, was proba- 
 bly by Bernard's advice, who had in November received the 
 Appeal to the World, and, with the Ministry, had perused 
 the newspaper reports of the non-importation agreements. 
 The measure, then, was retaliatory, and of course had ex- 
 actly the reverse of the intended effect. Hutchinson, on 
 receiving the order, issued a proclamation conformable to its 
 directions. On the 10th he wrote : — 
 
 " The letters by the November packet came to hand the 3d in- 
 stant in the evening ; and the next morning I prorogued the Court 
 to the second Wednesday in March. Some of the distant members 
 will be on their journey before the proclamation reaches them ; and 
 if the packet had not had a better passage than common, my orders 
 would have found the Court sitting. I thought when I wrote you, 
 some time since, that a proclamation would cause a great clamor, 
 and therefore wished the Court might meet. There is less than I 
 expected. As far as I can yet judge, the party seem to be rather 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 295 
 
 mortified and humbled by it than enraged. I am convinced that it 
 is the right measure. I am waiting for orders, which are to follow. 
 . . . . l Vindex ' is undoubtedly from Adams. It appears not only 
 by the style, but from his having discovered just the same sentiments 
 in company immediately after the prorogation of the Court." * 
 
 In the piece referred to by the Lieutenant-Governor, the 
 validity of the instruction from Hillsborough for the proro- 
 gation was denied, and the text of the argument was the 
 passage in the charter giving to the Governor for the time 
 being the power to adjourn, prorogue, or dissolve the As- 
 sembly. 
 
 " The power delegated by this clause to the Governor," continues 
 Mr. Adams, " was undoubtedly intended in favor of the people. 
 The necessity and importance of a Legislative in being, and of its 
 having the opportunity of exerting itself upon all proper occasions, 
 must be obvious to a man of common discernment. Its grand ob- 
 ject is the redress of grievances, and for this purpose it is adjudged 
 that parliaments ought to be held frequently. The people may be 
 aggrieved for the want of having a good law made, as well as re- 
 pealing a bad one ; so they may be by the maleconduct of the Exec- 
 utive in its manner of administering justice wrongfully under color 
 of law. In all these cases, and many others, the necessity of the 
 frequent interposition of the Legislative evidently appears ; and if 
 either of them — much more if all of them — should at any time be 
 justly complained of by the people, the adjourning, proroguing, or 
 dissolving the Legislative at such a juncture must be the greatest 
 of all grievances. There may be other reasons for the sitting of an 
 American Assembly besides the correcting any disorders arising 
 from among the people within its own jurisdiction. Some of the 
 acts of the British Parliament are generally thought to be grievous 
 in their operation and dangerous in their consequences to the lib- 
 erties of the American subjects. An American Legislative, there- 
 fore, in which the whole body of the people is represented, ought 
 certainly to have the opportunity of explaining and remonstrating 
 their grievances to the British Parliament, and the full exercise of 
 that invaluable and uncontrollable right of the subject to petition 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, Jan. 10, 1770. 
 
296 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan, 
 
 the King as often as they judge necessary, till they are removed. 
 To postpone a meeting of this universal body of the people till it is 
 too late to make such application must be a frustration of one grand 
 design of its existence, and it naturally tends to other arbitrary ex- 
 ertions. I have often thought that, in former administrations, such 
 delays to call the General Assembly were intended for the purpose 
 above mentioned ; and if others should have the same apprehension 
 at present, I cannot help it, nor am I answerable for it. It may 
 not be amiss, however, for every man to make it a subject of his 
 contemplation. We all remember that, no longer ago than the last 
 year, the extraordinary dissolution by Governor Bernard, in which 
 he declared he was merely ministerial, produced another assembly, 
 which, though legal in all its proceedings, awaked an attention in 
 the very soul of the British Empire." * 
 
 With the close of the year the non-importation expired by 
 limitation ; and induced by the increased price of tea, some, 
 who had reluctantly entered into the stipulation rather than 
 face public resentment, now commenced to sell. Among 
 these were Thomas and Elisha, the sons of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, who hastened with the new year to make secret 
 sales, having broken open the warehouse of which they had 
 given the town committee the key three months before. 
 Hutchinson, whose besetting sin was covetousness, could not 
 withstand the temptation offered by the enhanced prices ; 
 and his sons, who were his agents, probably renewed their 
 business at his advice. They had solemnly agreed to make 
 no more sales until a general importation should commence, 
 which could only be when the obnoxious duties were entirely 
 repealed. The example was particularly dangerous, consid- 
 ering the family position of the recusants ; for, if they were 
 allowed to make sales with impunity, their great profits 
 would be a powerful stimulant to others in humble circum- 
 stances. Mr. Adams, as " Determinatus," attacked them 
 and members of other Tory families for their breach of 
 faith. 
 
 * " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 8, 1770. 
 
1770.] 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 297 
 
 " It is no wonder then," he says, " that it was opposed with so 
 much vehemence at first by the cabal, who knew full well that their 
 places and their pensions and all the delectable profits which they 
 expected to reap, and are now actually reaping at the expense of the 
 people in the town and country, would entirely cease, if these acts, 
 by means of which their places, pensions, and profits arise, should be 
 repealed. When they could no longer, with any face, call it ' the 
 last efforts of a dying faction,' (for the measure was so rational and 
 pacific that it soon spread far and wide, and was cheerfully adopted 
 by all the disinterested friends of the country throughout the conti- 
 nent,) they put on the appearance of the Sons of Liberty, and now 
 their cry is, ' Where is that liberty so much boasted of and contended 
 for ? ' We hear them very gravely asking, ' Have we not a right to 
 carry on our own trade and sell our own goods if we please ? Who 
 shall hinder us ? ' This is now the language of those who had be- 
 fore seen the axe laid at the very root of all our rights with appar- 
 ent complacency. And pray, gentlemen, have you not a right, if 
 you please, to set fire to your own houses because they are your 
 own, though in all probability it will destroy a whole neighborhood, 
 perhaps a whole city? Where did you learn that in a state or 
 society you had a right to do as you please, and that it was an in- 
 fringement of that right to restrain you ? This is a refinement 
 which, I dare say, the true Sons of Liberty despise. Be pleased to 
 be informed that you are bound to conduct yourselves as the society 
 with which you are joined are pleased to have you conduct, or, if 
 you please, you may leave it. It is true, the will and pleasure of 
 the society is generally declared in its laws, but there may be ex- 
 ceptions, and the present case is without doubt one. Suppose there 
 was no law of the society to restrain you from murdering your own 
 father ; what think you ? if either of you should please to take it 
 into your head to perpetrate such a villanous act, so abhorrent to 
 the will of the society, would you not be restrained ? And is the 
 liberty of your country of less importance than the life of your 
 father ? 
 
 " But what is most astonishing is, that some two or three persons, 
 of very little consequence in themselves, have dared openly to give 
 out that they will vend the goods they have imported, though they 
 have solemnly pledged their faith to the body of merchants that they 
 should remain in store till a general importation should take place ! 
 
298 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 Where then is the honor, where is the shame, of these persons, who 
 can look into the faces of those very men with whom they have con- 
 tracted, and tell them, without blushing, that they are resolved to 
 violate the contract ! Is it avarice ? Is it obstinacy, perverseness, 
 pride, or from what root of bitterness does such an unaccountable de- 
 fection from the laws of honor, honesty, and even humanity spring ? 
 Is it the authority of an unnatural parent, the advice of some false 
 friend, or their own want of common understanding and the first 
 principles of virtue, by which these unhappy young persons have 
 been induced or left to resolve upon perpetrating that at the very 
 thought of which they should have shuddered. By this resolution 
 they have already disgraced themselves : if they have the hardiness 
 to put the resolution into practice, who will ever hereafter confide 
 in them ? Can they promise themselves the regards of the respect- 
 able body of merchants whom they have affronted ? Or can they 
 even wish for the esteem of their country which they have basely 
 deserted ; or worse, which they have attempted to wound in the 
 very heart ? If they imagine they can still weary the patience of 
 an injured country with impunity, if — I will not utter it, — would 
 not the grateful remembrance of unmerited kindness and generosity, 
 if there was the least spark of ingenuity left, have influenced to a far 
 different resolution ? If this agreement of the merchants is of that 
 consequence to all America which our brethren in all the other 
 governments, and in Great Britain itself, think it to be, — if the 
 fate of unborn millions is suspended upon it, — verily it behooves 
 not the merchants only, but every individual of every class, in city 
 and country, to aid and support them, and peremptorily to insist 
 upon its being strictly adhered to ! " * 
 
 This and all other appeals had; no effect upon men actu- 
 ated by greed, and lost to any appreciation of the spirit which 
 animated the more patriotic dealers. On the 16th, a meet- 
 ing of merchants was called, who proceeded in a body to 
 Hutchinson's residence in Garden Court, and demanded that 
 the goods should be restored. The assemblage, which was 
 swelled by accessions from the other inhabitants, gathered in 
 front of the house. Hutchinson threw up the window, and 
 
 * " Determinatus," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 8, 1770. 
 
1770.] LIFE OP "SAMUEL ADAMS. 299 
 
 " warned them of their illegal, riotous proceedings, and re- 
 quired them to disperse." — "We have come to treat with 
 your sons," was the reply, " who have violated their con- 
 tract to which their honor was pledged." Hutchinson re- 
 sponded that " a contract without a valuable consideration 
 was not valid in law." But, after all, he considered it best to 
 comply ; and on the following day he agreed with William 
 Phillips, the moderator of the meeting, to deposit a sum of 
 money in place of the tea that had been sold, and that the 
 rest should be returned, to which the meeting assented. No 
 sooner had this arrangement been perfected than his Honor 
 repented of the concession, and was accused by his friends 
 of cowardice. He never forgave himself for it, and laments 
 it in his History, as " having been done without sufficiently 
 considering the consequences." He wrote apologetical let- 
 ters to England, hoping " that a single error in judgment 
 would not cancel more than thirty years' laborious and 
 disinterested services in support of government." To Sir 
 Francis Bernard, he says of the merchants' meeting : — 
 
 "Justices of peace, selectmen, representatives, constables, and 
 other officers, who ought to have discountenanced this meeting, 
 made a part of it. Some of your friends and mine wish matters 
 had gone to extremities, this being a good time as any to have 
 called out the troops." * 
 
 A Bevolutionary anecdote illustrating Samuel Adams's 
 skill in dealing with mankind has been handed down as oc- 
 curring either at the above-named meeting, or another shortly 
 before it. The object was to bring all the dealers into the 
 non-importation scheme ; but a Scotchman, a large importer, 
 refused to join the association. Though many were enraged 
 at the persistency of the merchant, Mr. Adams, who was 
 present, discouraged angry words, for the suaviter in modo 
 was a prominent trait in his energetic character. The com- 
 mittee from the meeting, who had been directed to call on 
 the stubborn Scotchman, and had been repelled by him, 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, Jan. 21, 1770. 
 
300 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 were deputed to visit the recusant again, but they returned 
 with the same answer ; when Mr. Adams arose and moved 
 that the Assembly (of about two thousand persons) should 
 resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, and wait 
 
 upon Mr. Mac at the close of the meeting, to urge his 
 
 compliance with the general wish ; which being agreed to 
 without a dissenting voice, they proceeded to transact the 
 business before them. The sagacious patriot knew that the 
 man in question had personal friends present, some of whom 
 immediately slipped away to inform him that the whole body 
 would shortly wait upon him. The result was as Mr. Adams 
 had anticipated. In the midst of their deliberations on other 
 
 subjects, in rushed Mr. Mac all in a foam, and, bowing 
 
 to the chairman and to Mr. Adams, told them that he was 
 ready and willing to put his name to the non-importation 
 pledge. Another account says that he was hiding in an ob- 
 scure position in the hall, when he heard his name called 
 among the recusants, followed by the proposition to visit 
 him en masse; upon which he sprang out of his retreat, rap- 
 idly repeating in a squeaking voice and with a Scotch accent, 
 " Mr. Moderator, I agree ! I agree ! " This unexpected in- 
 terruption in a foreign brogue, from a diminutive, grotesque 
 figure, covered with a reddish smoke-dried wig, drew all eyes 
 upon him; and his sudden conversion, and the manner in 
 which it was obtained, brought forth thunders of applause. 
 Mr. Adams pointed to a seat near him, with a polite, conde- 
 scending bow of protection, and so quieted the alarm of the 
 discreet Scotchman.* 
 
 The blood-thirsty suggestion in Hutchinson's letter to 
 Bernard was a true index to the disposition of the crown 
 officers. Their object was to see employment given to the 
 troops, whose inactivity was as humiliating to them as it was 
 irritating to the soldiers. Hutchinson used every effort to 
 suppress the meetings of the merchants, — to one of which 
 
 * Magoon's Orators of the Revolution, pp. 107, 108 ; and another version as 
 related by Mrs. Hannah Wells. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 301 
 
 he sent a letter, requiring them in his Majesty's name to dis- 
 perse. The refusal was in Hancock's handwriting, and he 
 put the autograph carefully by, to be used against the writer 
 when he should be tried for his treasonable practices. The 
 spirits of the people suffered no depression from these at- 
 tempts, but rather rose with the occasion. They must have 
 foreseen that the frequent frays with the troops would lead 
 at last to some tragedy ; and though many despised the mil- 
 itary power, knowing that in an extremity an overwhelming 
 force could be obtained from the country to exterminate the 
 invaders, yet the constant threat revealed the nearness of 
 bloodshed. Conflicts, resulting in bruises and wounds on 
 both sides, were taking place in New York, where tfye sol- 
 diers, after repeated repulses from the people, succeeded in 
 cutting down the liberty pole. In every Colony a bold front 
 was presented. Hutchinson thought that the commotion in 
 Massachusetts, in 1740, (probably referring to the affair of 
 the Land Bank, to which he had been a bitter opponent,) 
 was a peccadillo compared to the combinations now afloat in 
 so many Colonies. 
 
 " That," he said, " was thought to deserve an act of Parliament, 
 and all who continued in it were subjected to the penalties of the 
 Act of Premunire. These, therefore, which are absolutely incom- 
 patible with a state of government, can never be overlooked. Here 
 they are declared to be legal. The town of Boston say so in their 
 last meeting. At Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, the au- 
 thorities sit still and rather approve of them." * 
 
 The news of the conflicts in New York encouraged the 
 people of Boston, and the utmost vigilance was exercised to 
 enforce the agreements against both the importation and 
 consumption of tea. Spirited resolutions had already been 
 adopted at a meeting of citizens in Faneuil Hall, " to totally 
 abstain from the use of tea "; and now, in the month of Feb- 
 ruary, the mistresses of four hundred and ten families formed 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, October, 1769. 
 
302 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb. 
 
 an association to drink no more tea until the Revenue Act 
 was repealed. A few days later — on the 12th — a hundred 
 and twenty young ladies followed the example of the ma- 
 trons, subscribing to a league, and binding themselves by 
 an agreement in which they say : — 
 
 " We, the daughters of those patriots, who have, and do now ap- 
 pear for the public interest, and in that principally regard their pos- 
 terity, — as such do with pleasure engage with them in denying 
 ourselves the drinking of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan 
 which tends to deprive a whole community of all that is valuable 
 in life." 
 
 This was no common deprivation ; for, in that day, more 
 than at present, tea-drinking parties among the ladies were 
 a source of peculiar social enjoyment. The importance at- 
 tached by the government to that one article, as a test of the 
 principle of taxation, indicates how extensive was the use of 
 tea in the Colonies. From this time forth, until the close 
 of the royal authority in Massachusetts, tea was regarded as 
 the bane of popular liberty. Few families had the hardihood 
 to make use of it, and a jealous watch was maintained to 
 prevent its selling. The importers had no peace. People 
 pointed them out as proscribed men, and boys hooted at 
 them in the streets, while their customers were interrupted 
 passing to and from their shops and houses. 
 
 The result was the shedding of the first blood in Boston. 
 On the 22d of February, a party of boys set up a large wood- 
 en head and a board, on which were painted the figures of 
 four of the importers, in front of the house of Theophilus 
 Lillie, one of the violators of the agreement. A post was 
 also planted, with a hand pointing towards his door. Rich- 
 ardson, a well-known informer, who lived near by, vainly 
 endeavored to persuade a countryman and others to drive 
 their carts against it. The by-standers, becoming incensed 
 at these attempts, interfered ; and the informer retreated 
 towards his own house, where some insulting language fol- 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 303 
 
 lowed on both sides. Some of the boys threw missiles at 
 him, compelling him to shut himself in, upon which he 
 opened a window, and fired with his gun upon the crowd, 
 severely wounding a son of Captain John Gore and mortally 
 wounding another boy, Christopher Snyder, about eleven 
 years of age, who died on the following evening. " The boy 
 that was killed," observes Hutchinson, in his History, " was 
 the son of a poor German. A grand funeral was, however, 
 judged very proper for him." * The man who could cringe 
 to the powerful, and saw virtue only in wealth and station, 
 evidently estimated the value of the life in proportion to the 
 financial condition of the bereaved family. He had yet to 
 learn the significance of the democratic philosophy, .whose 
 doctrines were revolutionizing a continent and brushing 
 away the flimsy distinctions of birth and money. The fu- 
 neral, which took place on the 26th, was attended by a great 
 procession of young and old, marching in solemn order from 
 Liberty-Tree to the Town-House, and thence to the burying- 
 ground.f 
 
 It has been said in palliation of Richardson's crime, that 
 he was grossly insulted by the populace, causing him to fire 
 in a moment of rashness. An impartial view of the case ad- 
 mits of but one conclusion. Having gained his house he was 
 not in danger, and the vindictive firing from a window, while 
 it could not possibly intimidate the crowd, would rather exas- 
 perate them the more, and was as likely to kill the innocent 
 as the guilty. Besides, by taking the law into his own hands, 
 he volunteered a direct issue with the people ; and that he 
 went out of his way to encounter them, when justly excited 
 by the illegal attempts against their rights, is shown by his 
 interference with the only peaceable methods by which they 
 could express their detestation of those who had violated the 
 non-importation agreements. Immediately after the murder, 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 269. 
 
 t Boston papers, during February, 1770. Drake's History of Boston, p. 
 776. Bancroft, VI. 333. 
 
304 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb. — Apr., 1770. 
 
 the house was broken open, and Richardson and one Wil- 
 mot, whom they found with a heavily loaded gun, were 
 arrested and taken before a number of Justices at Faneuil 
 Hall, where an examination took place in the presence of at 
 least a thousand people, resulting in the committal of both 
 to prison ; and but for the interposition of some gentlemen 
 of influence, the prisoners would have been torn to pieces on 
 their way to the jail. In the trial, which took place in April 
 following, Josiah Quincy and Blowers appeared for the de- 
 fence, and Samuel Quincy and Robert Treat Paine of Taun- 
 ton for the crown. Wilmot was acquitted, but Richardson 
 was found guilty of murder. Hutchinson, who was Chief 
 Justice, considering the case as one of justifiable homicide, 
 refused to sign the warrant for his execution ; and two years 
 afterwards, on application to the King, he was pardoned. 
 If Richardson was justifiable in his vengeful shooting into a 
 crowd, it is difficult to see how the Americans throughout 
 the continent were right in the vindication of their liberties. 
 He had unnecessarily courted their resentment, and com- 
 menced the difficulty which ended in his murderous act. 
 Death, however, would perhaps have been too severe a 
 penalty under the circumstances ; and the extreme verdict 
 of murder gave the Executive no alternative between ex- 
 ecution and pardon. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Justice of the American Cause. — Loyalty and Moderation of the Colonists. — 
 The Issue forced upon them. — Remonstrances against the Presence of 
 Troops in Boston. — Indications of an approaching Collision between them 
 and the Citizens. — The Soldiers impatient for Blood. — Affrays at the 
 Ropewalks. — The Soldiers are beaten and seek for Vengeance. — Blood- 
 shed preconcerted among them. — Scenes on the Evening of the 5th of 
 March. —Brutality of the Troops. — Gathering of the People. — The " "Bed 
 Cloak and White Wig." — The Massacre in King Street. 
 
 Whoever will reflect upon the series of events occurring 
 between the winter of 1768 and the spring of 1770 will find 
 a loyal and sensitive people, proud of their British birth and 
 freedom, and ever ready to support and defend their sover- 
 eign, wrought to indignation by a system of the grossest in- 
 justice and infringements on their chartered rights. Smart- 
 ing under injurious misrepresentations made by the instru- 
 ments of their oppression, they had seen their dutiful peti- 
 tions spurned by those whose pride it should have been to 
 protect them ; and when a persistence in the acts of tyranny 
 and the insulting conduct of the crown officers had led to a 
 series of peaceful measures for redress, — measures which the 
 Attorney and Solicitor General of England, after the severest 
 scrutiny, had pronounced to be legal and containing no overt 
 act of treason, — they had been accused of sedition ; and an 
 infamous act of Henry the Eighth was dug up from the ob- 
 livion of the past, to transport them to England to be tried 
 for their lives, away from their friends and witnesses. A 
 succession of fatal stabs had been dealt to the most precious 
 privilege of British subjects. The great principle of the ille- 
 gality of taxation without representation — the most estima- 
 ble of all the British rights guaranteed by Magna Charta 
 — had been struck down ; and to crown all, an armed force, 
 
 VOL. I. 20 
 
306 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 that favorite weapon of tyrants, had been quartered upon 
 the people to enforce their obedience to a system which the 
 most illustrious statesmen of England had viewed with grief 
 and horror, and had denounced as unjust with all the force 
 of eloquence and reasoning. A more righteous cause never 
 animated human breast than theirs. They demanded sim- 
 ply the privileges belonging to all other subjects of Great 
 Britain, — privileges which no one pretended to deny to such 
 as resided in England. It was little to ask, but it involved 
 their liberties and those of their posterity forever. Those 
 great intellects in the British Parliament, whose sagacious 
 minds reached far into the future, saw and knew the justice 
 of the demand ; and the most magnificent bursts of Parlia- 
 mentary eloquence which adorn the pages of English history 
 are those arising from the generous advocacy of American 
 rights. 
 
 We must thus look back from the point we have reached 
 in order properly to estimate the position of the people of 
 Boston at this juncture. They had right on their side, and 
 their opposition was always carefully kept within the limits 
 of the law. Not one act had been committed that could af- 
 ford their enemies the slightest hold upon them. Read any 
 account, and when sifted to the truth, it will appear that 
 nothing was done hastily, nor was any measure accomplished 
 which Britons should not have felt proud of, as evincing a 
 spirit and loyalty combined honorable to their race. To 
 have tamely submitted without remonstrance to the insane 
 policy inaugurated by Grenville would have been to give 
 the lie to their ancestry, and to put to shame the efforts of 
 their great advocates in Parliament. Exasperated by the 
 presence of the soldiers, whose bloodthirsty desires were 
 well known, and sensible that all conciliatory means had 
 been exhausted, the people of Boston cannot be blamed for 
 viewing the troops as foreign enemies ; and when we con- 
 sider the aggravating events of the past two years, it is a 
 matter of surprise that bloody meetings did not occur shortly 
 after the arrival of the military. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 307 
 
 Bruising affrays between the soldiers and the people had 
 become common occurrences, and had stung the minds 
 of both to a pitch where a fatal collision could not much 
 longer be averted. Should it occur, upon whom should the 
 blame be placed ? Each party cordially hated the other. 
 The presence of the soldiers caused the strife, and upon those 
 who had sent for them should rest the responsibility. If, in 
 the frequent fist and cudgel encounters in different parts of 
 the town, that party who controlled the murderous weapons 
 of death should slaughter the others, however much exasper- 
 ated, what other word but " massacre " could suit the case ? 
 And this is especially so, if the most irrefragible evidence 
 exists that the military had repeatedly expressed their savage 
 wish for an opportunity to fire upon the people. The events 
 which occurred early in March, 1770, have been recounted 
 by more than one recent narrator as having been produced 
 by the assaults of the people upon the soldiers, who fired in 
 self-defence. The proofs to the contrary are voluminous. 
 That the soldiers, disgusted with their long inaction, and 
 maddened by their inability to interfere with the legal pro- 
 ceedings of the townspeople, were impatient to fire, there is 
 abundant evidence. The letters of General Gage, reporting 
 the language of Col. Dalrymple, those of Hutchinson, and 
 many affidavits, show the anxiety of the soldiery to be let 
 loose upon the citizens ; and such desires were constantly 
 sharpened by the results of their broils with the working- 
 men, who were always eager to test the assumed physical 
 superiority of their antagonists, and were misled by impru- 
 dent and headstrong advisers, who knew how to inflame 
 the passions of their hearers, and who considered that 
 the cause would be assisted by precipitating a collision. 
 For such men prudence is stupid inaction; and the far- 
 seeing caution which waits calmly for events, the tameness 
 of submission. Knowing the rancor existing between the 
 people and the soldiers, the officers could have kept their 
 men within the barracks at proper hours. The shedding of 
 
308 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 blood might thus have been prevented, but a lack of care on 
 both sides hastened the event. The first affair of any im- 
 portance occurred on Friday, the second day of March. 
 There now remained the Fourteenth and Twenty-ninth Reg- 
 iments in the town, the latter of whom had been stationed 
 near Gray's and Mr. Neill's ropewalks, where the workmen 
 were generally high-spirited young men, and ready at all 
 times for a brush. The proximity of the barracks to this 
 place soon brought the hands and the troops into hostile 
 positions. Two of the soldiers had previously encountered 
 one of the ropewalk men near the foot of King Street, where 
 he knocked them down for some insult. Several of the sol- 
 diers armed themselves with clubs and swords, and proceed- 
 ed to Gray's ropewalk, vowing revenge. The result of their 
 visit is given in the affidavits taken several days later to trace 
 the origin of the massacre which soon after occurred. 
 
 (No. 5.) 
 
 " I, Nicholas Feriter, of lawful age, testify that on Friday, the 2d 
 instant, about half after eleven o'cloek, A. m., a soldier of the 29th 
 Regiment came to Mr. John Gray's ropewalks, and, looking into one 
 of the windows, said, "By God, I'll have satisfaction!" with many 
 other oaths ; at the last he said, he was not afraid of any one in the 
 ropewalks. I stepped out of the window and speedily knocked up 
 his heels. On falling, his coat flew open, and a naked sword ap- 
 peared ; which one John Wilson, following me out, took from him, 
 and brought into the ropewalks. The soldier then went to Green's 
 barrack, and in about twenty minutes returned with eight or nine 
 more soldiers armed with clubs, and began, as I was told, with three 
 or four men in Mr. Gray's warehouse, asking them why they had 
 abused the soldier aforesaid ? These men in the warehouse passed 
 the word down the walk for the hands to come up, which they did, 
 and soon beat them off. In a few minutes the soldiers appeared 
 again at the same place, reinforced to the number of thirty or forty, 
 armed with clubs and cutlasses, and headed by a tall negro drummer 
 with a cutlass chained to his body, with which, at first rencounter, I 
 received a cut on the head; but being immediately supported by 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 309 
 
 nine or ten more of the ropemakers, armed with their wouldring- 
 sticks, we again beat them off. And further I say not." 
 
 (No. 6.) 
 "I, Jeffrey Richardson, of lawful age, testify and say that on Fri- 
 day, the 2d instant, about eleven o'clock, a. m., eight or ten soldiers 
 of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, armed with clubs, came to Mr. John 
 Gray's ropewalks, and challenged all the ropemakers to come out and 
 fight them. All the hands then present, to the number of thirteen 
 or fourteen, turned out with their wouldring-sticks, and beat them off 
 directly. They very speedily returned to the ropewalk, reinforced to 
 the number of thirty or forty, and headed by a tall negro drummer, 
 again challenged them out ; which the same hands accepting, again 
 beat them off with considerable bruises. And further I say not." 
 
 (No. 8.) 
 " I, John Hill, aged sixty-nine, testify that in the forenoon of Fri- 
 day, the 2d of March current, I was at a house, the corner of a pas- 
 sage-way leading from Atkinson's Street to Mr. John Gray's rope- 
 walks, near Green's Barracks, so called, when I saw eight or ten 
 soldiers pass the window with clubs. I immediately got up and 
 went to the door, and found them returning from the ropewalks to 
 the barracks ; whence they again very speedily reappeared, now in- 
 creased to the number of thirty or forty, armed with clubs and other 
 weapons. In this latter company was a tall negro drummer, to 
 whom I called, ' You black rascal, what have you to do with white 
 people's quarrels ? ' He answered, ' I suppose I may look on/ and 
 went forward. I went out directly, antl commanded the peace, tell- 
 ing them I was in commission. But they, not regarding me, knocked 
 down a ropemaker in my presence ; and two or three of them beat- 
 ing him with clubs, I endeavored to relieve him ; but on approach- 
 ing the fellows who were mauling him, one of them with a great club 
 struck at me with such violence, that had I not happily avoided, it 
 might have been fatal to me. The party last mentioned rushed in 
 towards the ropewalks, and attacked the ropemakers nigh the tar- 
 kettle, but were soon beat off, drove out of the passage-way by which 
 they entered, and were followed by the ropemakers, whom I persuad- 
 ed to go back, and they readily obeyed. And further I say not." ' 
 
 1 Depositions in the Appendix of A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massa- 
 cre in Boston, etc. 
 
310 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 Mr. Gray, the proprietor, here interposed, and subse- 
 quently called on Colonel Dalrymple in relation to the affair. 
 The commander admitted that Mr. Gray's account agreed 
 with what he had heard from his own people, but that one 
 of the hands in the ropewalk had been the aggressor by 
 using some coarse language to a soldier. The offending 
 journeyman, William Green, was thereupon discharged as 
 an example to the rest. 1 The soldiers, however, considered 
 that the honor of their regiment was tarnished, and they 
 prepared for revenge on the following Monday, and made 
 bludgeons for the contest. On Sunday evening some of 
 them went about among their particular acquaintances, ad- 
 vising them not to be abroad on Monday night, as there was 
 to be bloodshed. In most of these instances they gave the 
 warning impressively, and repeated it a number of times, 
 urging the listeners to remain within doors, and conveying 
 the idea that some tragedy was in preparation. Threats 
 were made that they " would wet their swords or bayonets 
 in New England people's blood." 2 Mr. Adams, who was 
 well qualified to know, was afterwards convinced, and so 
 stated publicly, that a sanguinary scene had been precon- 
 certed among the soldiers. 3 
 
 There had been a fall of snow during Monday, the 5th, 
 but as night approached the sky was clear, and the moon in 
 its first quarter 4 shed a white sheen upon the frosted streets 
 and house-tops. Many people were abroad in clusters, as 
 though expecting some event. As darkness came on, " par- 
 ties of soldiers were driving about the streets," 5 an unusual 
 thing at that hour ; they should have been confined to their 
 barracks. Some of them, as they hurried along, struck the 
 inhabitants indiscriminately with their sheathed cutlasses and 
 
 1 Affidavit of John Gray (No. 9). 
 
 2 Affidavit of Daniel Calfe (No. 40). 
 
 8 Samuel Adams's writings as " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, during 
 the winter of 1771. 
 * R. T. Paine at the trial of the soldiers. 
 6 Hutchinson's History, HI. 271. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 311 
 
 sticks, and seemed anxious to provoke an affray. 1 A num- 
 ber of them came out of Boylston's Alley into the street, 
 rushing with uplifted weapons upon unoffending people ; 
 others hastened through King Street and Cornhill towards 
 Murray's Barracks, with drawn swords and cutlasses, making 
 at spectators at their doorways, shouting and ready for a 
 conflict, abusing the citizens, and threatening their lives. 
 // Persons walking the streets were attacked, and affrays en- 
 sued. 2 The loud defiance and furious behavior of the sol- 
 diers, which was like that of madmen, caused some boys to 
 ring the bell quickly at the head of King Street. The people 
 thus alarmed, gathered with clubs and sticks, shouting, 
 " Town-born, turn out ! " Ensign Mall, at the gate of the 
 barrack-yard, urged the soldiers forward. " Turn out," he 
 cried, " I will stand by you ; kill them ; stick them ; knock 
 them down ; run your bayonets through them ! " 3 — " Damn 
 your blood," said a soldier to a knot of citizens near the bar- 
 rack-gate, " I will walk a lane through you all " ; and kneel- 
 ing on one knee, with his musket ready, he was only prevent- 
 ed from firing by a lieutenant, who interfered, and pushed 
 him towards the barracks. 4 " Where are the damned cow- 
 ards ? Where are your Liberty boys ? " was the cry, as a 
 gang of thirteen or fourteen soldiers appeared in King 
 Street, near the watch-house. 5 Another party of five passed 
 on, cursing and shouting, " Where are they ? cut them to 
 pieces ! " 6 
 
 " The soldiers are in Cornhill and Dock Square, with their 
 drawn cutlasses, cutting and slashing everybody in their 
 way," said one in distress; "the inhabitants want help; 
 pray, gentlemen, run ! " 7 — "Do you intend to murder peo- 
 ple ? " asked a man from on board a vessel in the town 
 
 1 Bancroft, VI. 337. a Several affidavits in the Short Narrative. 
 
 8 James Kirkwood's affidavit (No 36). 
 
 4 Dr. Hiron's testimony at the trial. 
 
 6 William Le Baron's affidavit (No 26), and "William Tyler (No. 24). 
 
 8 Nathaniel Thayer's affidavit (No. 28). 
 
 T John Coburn's affidavit (No. 33). 
 
312 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 dock. " Yes, by God, root and branch," replied a soldier, 
 and followed up the threat with a blow from his club. 1 
 A barber's apprentice, from among the crowd of boys in 
 King Street, observing Captain Goldfinch crossing, called 
 out, " There goes a mean fellow, who has not paid my mas- 
 ter for dressing his hair last night ! " 2 Upon this, the sentry 
 left his post at the custom-house, and followed the lad into 
 the street, saying, " Show your face." " I am not ashamed 
 to show my face to any man," he answered ; when the sol- 
 dier gave him a sweeping stroke on the head with his mus- 
 ket, making him reel, stagger, and cry. 3 
 
 In Dock Square, " a tall gentleman in a large white wig 
 and red cloak " appeared, and, standing in the midst of the 
 people, spoke to them briefly, so that " they were whist for 
 some time." 4 It has never been ascertained who he was, 
 nor did those who listened to his speech ever give any clew 
 afterwards to its purport.// The loyalists subsequently en- 
 deavored to show that his remarks and actions were of an 
 incendiary character ; and Judge Oliver in his charge to the 
 jury, at the trial, made " the tall man with the red cloak and 
 white wig " the special subject of his animadversion. If the 
 people knew him, their secret died with them. The Tories 
 generally believed it to have been Samuel Adams ; and one 
 of their writers, in a controversy with him during the trial, 
 pointedly threatens to bring out facts to prove who the per- 
 son was, if he desired it ; 5 which Mr. Adams, in his reply as 
 " Vindex," invites him to do, because it had been injuriously 
 asserted that, owing to the peculiarity of his dress, he must 
 have been one " holding office in the town." The red cloak 
 was frequently worn at this time by gentlemen of the Prov- 
 ince ; and Copley's painting of Adams, taken soon after this 
 
 1 Samuel Atwood's affidavit (No. 35). 
 3 Evidence in Preston's Trial. 
 8 Bartholomew Broaders's affidavit (No. 38). 
 
 * Evidence at the trial, quoted by " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 
 24, 1770. 
 
 6 " Philanthrop," in the Evening Post, December, 1770. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 313 
 
 time, represents him in red clothing; but Samuel Adams 
 was not a tall man, but of about medium stature. Hancock 
 and he were both then " in office," as members of the Legis- 
 lature, and Hancock was the taller of the two. One of the 
 lieutenants of the Fourteenth, in conversation with Joseph 
 Allen, pointed to Molineux as the real author of the troub- 
 les, but gave no reason for the opinion. Mr. Adams says, in 
 reply to a loyalist writer on the subject, " As it is not known 
 what the tall gentleman with the red cloak said to the people, 
 whether he gave them good or ill advice, or any advice at 
 all, we may probably form some conjecture concerning it 
 when his person is ascertained." The writer leaves no 
 chance to fix the identity upon himself or others. Whoever // 
 he was, the influence of this mysterious personage was ex- 
 erted to disperse the people and restore peace, and not to 
 excite the populace as has been represented. None of the 
 crown witnesses were able to give the slightest hint as to the 
 tenor of his remarks, except that they were followed by a 
 space of quiet. There is testimony to prove that a promi- 
 nent citizen urged the officers to order their soldiers into the 
 barracks, and upon their promise to do so, the same person 
 advised the people to disperse, upon which the cry of 
 " Home ! home ! " was raised ; but others shouted, " Hurrah 
 for the main guard ! there is the nest ! " and some started 
 in that direction at the head of King Street. 1 
 
 A sentinel was stationed at the door of the custom-house, 
 situated at what is now the corner of State and Exchange 
 Streets. A party of mischievous boys gathered round, and 
 pelted him with snowballs, and pushed each other towards 
 him, fully believing that he would not dare to fire without 
 the civil authority. Even while he loaded and primed his 
 musket, and knocked the breech upon the stone steps to 
 settle the charge, they shouted, " Fire, and be damned ! " 
 " The lobster dare not fire ! " laughing, huzzaing, and pip- 
 ing the boatswain's whistle through their fingers. " If you 
 
 1 Testimony of Dr. Hiron at the trial. Richard Palmes's affidavit (No. 53). 
 
314 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 come near me," said he, "I will blow your brains out; 
 stand off "; 1 and he called for the main guard to turn out, 
 while a servant ran to the guard-house near by, and said, 
 " They are killing the sentinel, turn out the guard." 
 
 Preston, who was captain of the day, at once detached 
 seven or eight men of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, headed by 
 a corporal, and followed himself with a drawn sword. They 
 went down upon the run, swinging their guns and rushing 
 through the people with fixed bayonets, pushing to and fro, 
 cursing and shouting, " Make way, damn you, make way." 
 As the people stood aside to let them pass, Fosdick remained 
 and faced them. " Damn you, stand out of the way," said 
 the soldiers. " I will move for no man under heaven," was 
 the sturdy response ; " I have offended no one." And they 
 passed by him, and, arriving at the sentry-box, formed in a 
 semicircle around it. 2 As they hurried on, a gentleman 
 who knew Preston said, " For God's sake, keep your men in 
 order, and mind what you are about." 3 The Captain, with- 
 out replying, commanded his men to prime and load, and, 
 afterwards going before them, put up their levelled pieces to 
 an upright posture. 4 Not more than two hundred persons 
 were in the street as the soldiers charged by ; and, at their 
 appearance, this number had so far dispersed that not more 
 than fifty or sixty remained in King Street, some standing 
 on the door-sills of the opposite houses. 
 
 " I took Captain Preston by the coat," are the words of 
 Henry Knox in his affidavit, " and told him for God's sake 
 to take his men back again ; for if they fired, his life must 
 answer for the consequence. He replied he was sensible 
 of it, or knew what he was about, or words to that purpose, 
 and seemed in great haste and much agitated." 5 Richard 
 
 i Affidavits of William Tant (No. 45), Thomas Cain (No. 46), Daniel 
 Usher (No. 71), Joshua Simpson (No. 65). 
 
 * Nathaniel Fosdick's affidavit (No. 51). 
 
 * William Wyat's affidavit (No. 54). 
 
 * Peter Cunningham's affidavit (No. 47). 
 6 Affidavit of Henry Knox (No. 55). 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 315 
 
 Palmes, seeing the muskets breast high, with bayonets fixed, 
 approached Preston, and asked him if they were loaded. His 
 answer was that they were, with powder and ball. " I hope," 
 continued Palmes, " you do not intend to fire on the inhab- 
 itants. " " By no means," replied Preston. * 
 
 After the arrival of the troops at the sentry-box, the peo- 
 ple had remained quiet until they saw the loading of the 
 muskets, when a number of them, mostly boys, gave three 
 cheers, and calling the soldiers " cowardly rascals " for 
 " bringing arms against naked men," passed along in front, 
 some of them striking the muskets as they went by, and dar- 
 ing the soldiers as " bloody backs " and " lobster scoundrels " 
 to fire. " Lay aside your guns, and we are ready for you ; 
 fire if you dare ! " " You dare not fire ! " 2 The boys 
 laughed, shouted, whistled, and hurrahed, and a few snow- 
 balls were thrown at the soldiers. Among these were Mont- 
 gomery and Kilroy, who had been of the party beaten by the 
 ropewalk-hands on the previous Friday. A stick was thrown, 
 striking the gun of the former, when the order to present 
 was given, and Simpson, who knew what the next word was 
 likely to be, stooped low to avoid the discharge. Then a 
 voice, believed by some to be Preston's, though the fact was 
 never proved, cried, " Fire ! " 3 and, stepping aside, Mont- 
 gomery discharged his gun, and shot Attacks, a negro, who 
 had until recently been a slave in an interior town, and was 
 particularly noisy during the evening. The order to fire 
 was repeated in a loud voice, " Damn your blood, fire ! 
 be the consequence what it will." 4 A shot from Kilroy 
 quickly succeeded, though Langford, the watchman, who 
 looked him full in the face, besought him to hold. The sol- 
 dier pointed his piece, and fired directly for the head of 
 Samuel Gray, who was passing towards where Attucks had 
 fallen ; and Gray, after struggling, turned round upon his 
 
 1 Richard Palmes's affidavit (No. 53). 2 Preston's Case. 
 
 8 Josiah Simpson's affidavit No. (65). 
 * William Wyat's affidavit (No. 54). 
 
316 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 heel and fell dead. 1 The remainder of the squad fired in 
 succession upon the people, — one aiming at a boy, who was 
 running for safety. 2 In all, three persons were killed, and 
 eight wounded ; and of the eleven, but one had taken any 
 part in the disturbance. 
 
 "I hear," wrote the Lieutenant-Governor, " of but one of the dead 
 or wounded who attacked or insulted the soldiers. The rest seem 
 to be innocent passengers or spectators. It *s a great wonder many 
 more were not killed." 8 
 
 The soldiers immediately reloaded their muskets, and 
 now, infuriated with the sight of blood, were preparing to 
 fire again, when checked by their commanding officer. 4 The 
 Twenty-ninth Regiment marched into King Street, and 
 formed in three divisions, — the front one as for platoon 
 firing. 5 Soldiers of the Fourteenth at Green's Barracks, on 
 hearing the firing, gave three cheers, and ran with their 
 muskets to King Street, some of them saying, " This is all 
 that we want," 6 " This is our time." " Dogs were never so 
 greedy for their prey." 7 " I wish," said the surgeon of the 
 Fourteenth, " that, instead of five or six, they had killed five 
 hundred." 8 "Damn you," said one of the soldiers, "I 
 would kill a thousand of them." The snow lay nearly a 
 foot deep, 9 and was "crimson" with the blood of the slain. 
 Several ran forward to the assistance of the wounded ; and, 
 as they stooped to remove them, the troops prepared to fire 
 again, but were restrained. 10 
 
 Instantly the alarm was sounded. The town drums beat, 
 
 1 Charles Hobby (No. 44). 
 
 2 Ebenezer Bridgman's testimony at the trial. 
 
 8 Hutchinson to some person unknown, March, 1770. 
 
 4 Preston's Case. 5 Richard Palmes (No. 53). 
 
 8 Affidavit of Mary Gardner (No. 86). 
 
 7 William Fallass (No. 85). s • Ephraim Penno (No. 91). 
 
 9 Dimond Morton (No. 62), and John Wilson (No. 66). 
 
 10 Affidavit of Samuel Condon (No. 48) ; Benjamin Burdick (No. 43) ; 
 Thomas Cain (No. 46) Bancroft, VI. 340. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 317 
 
 and the bells in the churches were rung. " The soldiers are 
 rising ! to arms ! to arms ! " was the cry. " Turn out with 
 your guns," " Town-born, turn out I" — " Language," said 
 Warren, two years later, as he described the scene, " is too 
 feeble to paint the emotion of our souls when our streets 
 were stained with the blood of our brethren, — when our 
 ears were wounded with the groans of the dying, and our 
 eyes were tormented with the sight of the mangled bodies of 
 
 the dead Our hearts beat to arms ; we snatched our 
 
 weapons, almost resolved by one decisive stroke to avenge the 
 deaths of our slaughtered brethren." * 
 
 Upon the fearful clangor of bells and drums the popula- 
 tion rushed forth, and the usual stillness of the night was 
 converted into a tumultuous confusion as they pressed to- 
 wards the scene of slaughter. Artisans from the ship-yards, 
 shopmen, ropewalk-hands, gentlemen, sailors, men of all 
 classes and avocations, goaded to madness, ran through the 
 snow-clogged, frozen streets, ready for the conflict. But the 
 character of Boston vindicated itself even in that awful hour. 
 " Propitious Heaven," continues Warren, " forbade the bloody 
 carnage." Patriots stood firm and self-possessed, and still 
 turned for justice to the law before adopting sterner meas- 
 ures. The Lieutenant-Governor was called, and repairing 
 to the Council Chamber, from the balcony he desired the 
 surging throng to hear him speak. He requested them to 
 disperse, promising to inquire into the affair in the morn- 
 ing ; that " the law should take its course " ; that he would 
 "live and die by the law." He was requested to order 
 the troops to their barracks. "It is not in my power," an- 
 swered Hutchinson ; " I have no command over the troops. 
 It is with Colonel Dalrymple, and not with me." A gentle- 
 man asked him to look out of the window facing the main 
 guard, to see the position of the soldiers, who were drawn 
 up, apparently ready to fire again on the people. " After a 
 
 1 Warren's Oration, delivered March 5 th, 1772, to commemorate the bloody 
 tragedy of the 5th of March, 1770. 
 
318 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 good deal of persuasion," his Honor did so, and then desired 
 Colonel Carr to send the troops to their barracks in the same 
 order they were then in; and soon after, they shouldered 
 arms, and were marched to the guard-room and barracks. 1 
 Pacified for the time by the confinement of the soldiers, and 
 the assurances of Hutchinson that instant inquiries should 
 be made by the county magistrate, the body of the people 
 retired, leaving about a hundred to keep watch on the exam- 
 ination, which proceeded until three o'clock on the following 
 morning. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Preston, 
 and the soldiers concerned in the firing were committed to 
 prison. 2 
 
 1 Richard Palmes's affidavit. * Hutchinson's History, HI. 273. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Town and County Authorities apply to Hutchinson for the Removal of the 
 Troops. — They are unsuccessful. — Town Meeting at Faneuil Hall. — A 
 Committee, headed by Adams, appear before Hutchinson and the Council, and 
 renew the Demand. — Hutchinson desires to parley, and makes an Evasive 
 Reply. — Adams reports to the People at the Old South, who intrust him 
 with the Final Issue. — Memorable Scene in the Council Chamber. — Ad- 
 ams overawes the Governor, and the Troops are sent to the Castle. — " Sam 
 Adams's Regiments." — Trial of the Soldiers. — Adams causes John Adams 
 and Quincy to be retained as their Counsel, and Paine to conduct the Pros- 
 ecution. — Controversy between " Vindex " and " Philanthrop." 
 
 The selectmen and the justices of the county waited upon 
 Hutchinson early the next morning at the Council Chamber, 
 where they assured him that nothing would satisfy them but 
 positive orders that the troops should be removed from the 
 town. Hutchinson repeated his words of the night before, 
 that the power to remove the troops did not rest with him, 
 but that he would send for Colonels Dalrymple and Carr, 
 and advise with them in Council.* The people meantime 
 had assembled at eleven o'clock at Faneuil Hall, and de- 
 spatched a messenger to the Council Chamber, desiring the 
 attendance of the selectmen, who were still awaiting an an- 
 swer from the Lieutenant-Governor. On their arrival, the 
 meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Cooper, 
 who had been specially sent for, when Samuel Adams ad- 
 dressed the assembly with a nervous, impressive energy, pe- 
 culiar to himself, f A committee of fifteen was appointed to 
 inform his Honor, the Lieutenant-Governor, of the unani- 
 mous opinion of the meeting, that the inhabitants and sol- 
 diery could no longer dwell together in safety, and that 
 blood and carnage could be prevented only by their instant 
 
 * Massachusetts Gazette, March 8, 1770. 
 
 t Sketch of Samuel Adams, by his grandson, S. A. Wells, in the Biogra- 
 phy of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 1829. 
 
320 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 removal.* Headed by Samuel Adams, the committee pro- 
 ceeded to the Council Chamber, and laid the demand before 
 his Honor, to whose desire for a parley they replied briefly 
 that the people not only of Boston, but of all the country 
 round, were determined the troops should be removed. 
 Hutchinson reminded them that an attack on the King's 
 troops was treason, and involved a forfeiture of the lives and 
 estates of all concerned. The committee, who had not 
 come for words, merely reiterated their demand, and with- 
 drew into another room, awaiting an answer.f Hutchinson, 
 after some discussion with the Council and Dalrymple, re- 
 plied that he regretted the " unhappy differences " which had 
 arisen, but that as the commanding officers of the troops re- 
 ceived their orders from the General at New York, it was 
 not in his power to countermand those orders. The Twenty- 
 ninth Regiment, which had been particularly concerned in 
 the late differences, Dalrymple had signified to him should 
 be placed without delay in the Castle, until orders could be 
 received from the General for both regiments. The com- 
 manding officer had also promised that the main guard 
 should be removed, and the Fourteenth Regiment be placed 
 under restraint .$ 
 
 At three o'clock the people convened to hear the report 
 of the committee ; but as Faneuil Hall would not contain the 
 throng which had been pouring into town all day across the 
 Neck, they adjourned to the Old South Meeting-house. An 
 anxious multitude filled the street between the State House 
 and the church. Then the committee, led by Samuel Ad- 
 ams, his head bared in reverence to the occasion, and his 
 gray locks flowing in the wind, issued from the Council 
 Chamber.§ " Make way for the committee," was the cry, 
 
 * Boston Town Eecords, March, 1770. 
 t Bancroft, VI. 342. Hutchinson, III. 274. 
 
 X Reply of the Lieutenant-Governor to the Committee (Boston Town Rec- 
 ords, March 6, 1770). 
 § Bancroft, VI. 343. 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 321 
 
 as the masses parted on either side to give them room. 
 None bnt the committee knew the purport of the answer, 
 and on that answer none doubted that the issue of peace or 
 bloody strife was suspended. The public indignation was 
 ready to burst forth in one wild tumult of revenge for long- 
 suffered injuries, — a revenge which the soldiers and citizens 
 alike knew was in the power of the populous and determined 
 Province. On reaching the church, the committee were 
 ushered into the presence of a densely-packed audience, fill- 
 ing the body of the edifice, and crowding into all the galler- 
 ies ; and to that eager assemblage Adams read the response 
 of the Lieutenant-Governor, which had been delivered to 
 him in writing. This he pronounced insufficient. A mo- 
 ment of silence ensued, and then the question was put by 
 the chairman whether the answer was satisfactory, and a 
 unanimous " No " was thundered forth from three thousand 
 mouths, with an emphasis that must have made the rafters 
 of " Dr. Sewall/s meeting-house " tremble with the pealing 
 enunciation. One voice only responded " Ay ! " and the 
 circumstance was recorded by the town clerk, that there 
 was " one dissentient" * A new committee was immediately 
 raised, of which Samuel Adams was the prolocutor, to make 
 the final demand for the total evacuation of the town by 
 the troops. The committee again repaired to the Coun- 
 cil Chamber, where Hutchinson and the Council, the two 
 Lieutenant-Colonels, and the commander of the "Rose" 
 war-ship, then on the station, were assembled awaiting the 
 result. 
 
 It was now late in the afternoon, and at that season dark- 
 ness was at hand. The Council Chamber presented a mem- 
 orable scene, such as that generation of Americans had 
 never witnessed. " The great town of Boston," as the cap- 
 ital of New England had been called by geographers, was 
 then the centre of population and wealth in that part of 
 the continent, and all the formality and majesty of govern- 
 
 * Boston Town Records, March 6, 1770. 
 vol. I. 21 
 
322 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 ment was there exhibited. The full pageant of the royal 
 authority, civic and military, was now displayed, rendered 
 the more impressive by the declining light of a winter's day, 
 dimly struggling through the ancient windows. 
 
 John Adams, who was not present at this interview, thus 
 refers to the Council Chamber, as it suggested itself to him 
 after forty-seven years had elapsed : — 
 
 " Now for the picture. The theatre and the scenery are the same 
 with those at the discussion of the "Writs of Assistance. The same 
 glorious portraits of King Charles the Second, and King James the 
 Second, to which might be added, and should be added, little miser- 
 able likenesses of Governor Winthrop, Governor Bradstreet, Gov- 
 ernor Endicott, and Governor Belcher, hung up in obscure corners 
 of the room. Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, Commander-in- 
 Chief in the absence of the Governor, must be placed at the head 
 of the Council-table. Lieutenant- Colonel Dalrymple, Commander- 
 in-Chief of his Majesty's military forces, taking rank of all his Ma- 
 jesty's Councillors, must be seated by the side of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province. Eight-and- 
 twenty councillors must be painted, all seated at the Council-board. 
 Let me see, — what costume ? What was the fashion of that day 
 in the month of March ? Large white wigs, English scarlet-cloth 
 coats, some of them with gold-laced hats ; not on their heads indeed 
 in so august a presence, but on the table before them or under the 
 table beneath them. Before these illustrious personages appeared 
 Samuel Adams, a member of the House of Representatives and 
 their clerk, now at the head of the committee of the great assembly 
 at the Old South Church." * 
 
 Such is the grouping for a national painting, as suggested 
 by the venerable ex-President in April, 1817. 
 
 Samuel Adams, as chairman of the committee., addressed 
 himself to the Lieutenant-Governor in the name of the town, 
 — his voice rising in clear and audible tones. John Adams 
 says, " He represented the state of the town and the country, 
 the dangerous, ruinous, and fatal effects of standing armies 
 
 * John Adams to William Tudor (Works, X. 249). 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 323 
 
 in populous cities in time of peace, and the determined 
 resolution of the public that the regular troops, at all 
 events, should be removed from the town." Gordon, de- 
 scribing the scene, says that Adams continued talking in 
 such a resolute tone and with such strong implications as 
 to communicate his own nervous trembling to Colonel Dal- 
 rymple.* "It is the unanimous opinion of the meeting," 
 said Adams, " that the reply to the vote of the inhabitants 
 in the morning is by no means satisfactory ; nothing less 
 will satisfy them than a total and immediate removal of the 
 troops." Hutchinson had already intimated that one regi- 
 ment, the Twenty-ninth, should be removed. He now re- 
 plied, repeating his former statement : " The troops are not 
 subject to my authority ; I have no power to remove them." 
 The mighty spirit of the Revolution then arose to the coun-' 
 tenance of the " great incendiary." Drawing himself up to 
 his full height, determination, as often in times of public 
 exigency, flashing from his clear blue eye, he stretched forth 
 his arm, " which slightly shook with the energy of his soul," 
 and, gazing steadfastly upon the Lieutenant-Governor, re- 
 plied : " If you have the power to remove one regiment, you 
 have power to remove both. It is at your peril if you refuse. 
 The meeting is composed of three thousand people. They 
 are become impatient. A thousand men are already arrived 
 from the neighborhood, and the whole country is in motion. 
 Night is approaching. An immediate answer is expected. 
 Both regiments or none ! "f Hutchinson saw that a crisis 
 had arrived which no subterfuge could evade. The issue was 
 fairly presented, and a direct answer demanded. The irres- 
 olute Chief-Magistrate, surrounded by the insignia of power, 
 was no match for the iron man of the people who confronted 
 
 * History, I. 328. 
 
 t Bancroft, VI. 344. Andrew Oliver's Deposition. Life of Elbridge Gerry, 
 I. 360. Boston Patriot for July 26, 1826. Manuscript Sketch of Samuel 
 Adams by his daughter, Mrs. Hannah Wells, 1804. Hutchinson to Bernard, 
 March 18, 1770. Barry's History of Massachusetts, II. 417. John Adams to 
 William Tudor and Jedediah Morse. 
 
324 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 him. He quailed before the greatness, the majesty, of patri- 
 otism. Adams never despised him more than at that mo- 
 ment. 
 
 " You compare him," said he, not long afterwards, to his friend 
 James Warren, "to Julius Caesar, that public executioner of his 
 country's rights. He has, it is true, Caesar's ambition and lust of 
 power; but who ever yet suspected that he had Caesar's courage? 
 Eecollect the time when he was obliged to abandon the troops by 
 which he had hoped to awe the people. It was then, if fancy de- 
 ceived me not, I observed his knees to tremble. I thought I saw 
 his face grow pale (and I enjoyed the sight) at the appearance of 
 the determined citizens peremptorily demanding the redress of 
 grievances." * 
 
 The whole assemblage of royalty, in fact, stood abashed 
 before the patriot. The Lieutenant-Governor now applied 
 to his Council for advice. " They are not," responded Ty- 
 ler, " such a people as formerly pulled down your house, 
 who conduct the present measures. No ; they are people 
 of the best characters among us, men of estates, men of 
 religion. They have formed their plan for removing the 
 troops out of town ; and it is impossible they should remain 
 in it. The people will come in from the neighboring towns ; 
 there will be ten thousand men to effect the removal of the 
 troops, be the consequence what it may."-f Dalrymple, 
 who stood near, repeated the assurance that it was " impos- 
 sible to go any further lengths in this matter." Gray and 
 Irving, of the Council, recommended the removal ; and the 
 word was at last given. $ 
 
 The committee, having received the decision of the Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor, returned to the meeting, bearing the 
 promise of Colonel Dalrymple, " that he would begin the 
 preparation in the morning, and that there should be no 
 unnecessary delay until the whole of the two regiments were 
 
 * Samuel Adams to James Warren, March 25, 1771. 
 t Gordon's History, I. 288, 289. 
 X Bancroft, VI. 345, 346. 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 325 
 
 removed to the Castle." * The report being read, " the in- 
 habitants," so say the records, " could not but express the 
 high satisfaction which it afforded them," — which, we may 
 presume, means that they burst into a storm of joyous ap- 
 plause. 
 
 It was then resolved to establish a strong night-watch 
 " for the protection of the town "; and the committee, who 
 had just returned from the interview at the Council Cham- 
 ber, having offered their services for that night, they were 
 authorized to detail such of the people as they should think 
 proper, and also to appoint the watches for the ensuing 
 nights. Besides Adams, this committee consisted of John 
 Hancock, William Molineux, William Phillips, Dr. Joseph 
 Warren, Joshua Henshaw, and Samuel Pemberton. Hav- 
 ing agreed upon a place of rendezvous, in case of any dis- 
 turbance in the night, and taking some account of how the 
 town's people were armed, the meeting adjourned.f 
 
 The effect of this victory of a plain democratic committee, 
 asserting their rights before the representative of majesty, 
 encouraged the spirit of freedom, by showing that deter- 
 mination and persistency of purpose could accomplish im- 
 portant results. That a repeated refusal to remove the 
 troops would have produced bloodshed, and perhaps have 
 hastened the separation from Great Britain, must be in- 
 ferred from the spirit manifested by the populace. Warren, 
 a few years later, asserted that " It was Royal George's 
 livery alone that saved the soldiers from annihilation ; and 
 calm reason dictated a method of removing the troops more 
 mild than an immediate recourse to the sword." 
 
 " I have the strongest reason to believe," he continues, " that I 
 have mentioned the only circumstance which saved the troops from 
 destruction. It was then, and now is, the opinion of those who were 
 best acquainted with the state of affairs at that time, that, had thrice 
 that number of troops belonging to any power at open war with us 
 
 * Boston Town Records. t Idem. 
 
326 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 been in this town in the same exposed condition, scarce a man would 
 have lived to have seen the morning light/' * 
 
 " If the troops had not been removed, " wrote Hutchinson 
 soon after these events, " we should have been to this time in 
 a perfect convulsion, unless they had been overpowered and 
 destroyed." f " A gentleman of the Council told me," said 
 a correspondent of Hutchinson's, " that he had no doubt that 
 ten thousand men would have marched from this Province 
 (New Hampshire) to Boston, had there been occasion." $ 
 The account that Lord North received of the scene in the 
 Council Room impressed him so, that he always afterwards 
 referred to the troops then in Boston as "Sam Adams's 
 Regiments" 
 
 The Governor's apprehensions of violence were this time 
 well founded. The language and bearing of Samuel Adams 
 in the Council Chamber had penetrated deep into the mind 
 of Hutchinson. " It was a strong expression," he says, " of 
 that determined spirit which animated all future meas- 
 ures." That determined spirit, as manifested in Adams, 
 meant American Independence, which had become a fixed 
 idea in his mind, since the commencement of military rule. 
 It was still his policy to express in all his writings a hope 
 of conciliation, but final separation was now the moving 
 spring of his actions, and he made advances towards that 
 point with a resolute purpose and unalterable will, guarded 
 always by the sagacity and caution which tempered every 
 movement. The ball had been in motion since the summer 
 ot 1768. Every step taken from that time was so much 
 space lessened between the idea and its accomplishment. 
 His every act thenceforth, properly studied, reveals the all- 
 absorbing purpose. Prudence, indeed, demanded a keen 
 inspection of the approaches to the great goal, a thorough 
 knowledge and schooling of the popular mind, patience to 
 
 * Warren's Oration, March 5, 1772. 
 
 t Hutchinson to some person unknown, March, 1770. 
 
 % Nathaniel Rogers, in Portsmouth, to Hutchinson, March 12, 1770. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 327 
 
 await the bringing up of less ardent temperaments, firmness 
 to restrain the rash, fortitude to abide the issue, genius to 
 invent and control great measures, which should gradually 
 produce the coveted result. But through all he never 
 doubted the ability of the country to conquer in the end. 
 Repeatedly, between 1768 and 1775, he refers to the future 
 in a manner showing that, should events precipitate the 
 crisis, he considered the country able to meet it. 
 
 The week was occupied in the transportation of the troops 
 and their equipages ; and meantime, the town, not satisfied 
 with their tardy action, appointed the former committee to 
 inquire explicitly when the removal would be completely 
 effected ; to which Dalrymple replied, " That no man of the 
 Twenty-ninth Regiment was now in town, and that between 
 Thursday night and Friday m6rning not one of the Four- 
 teenth, except himself, should remain."* The night-watch 
 continued in organization, under the town's committee, until 
 every soldier had left for Castle William. " The whole mi- 
 litia of the city," says John Adams, " was in requisition, and 
 military watches and guards were everywhere placed. We 
 were all upon a level ; no man was exempted ; our military 
 officers were our superiors. I had the honor to be sum- 
 moned in my turn, and attended at the State-House with 
 my musket and bayonet, my broadsword and cartridge-box, 
 under the command of the famous Paddock. "f 
 
 Before the departure of the troops, the funeral of the slain 
 took place ; and as this was during the continuance of the 
 public watch kept by the citizens, the latest sentiment of the 
 soldiers was one of rage and humiliation. The assemblage 
 was the largest that had ever been known. The bells of 
 Boston and the neighboring towns were tolled, and many 
 of the shops were shut. The four hearses, arriving from 
 different localities, formed a junction in King Street, upon 
 the spot where the tragedy occurred, whence the procession 
 
 * Boston Town Kecords, March 12, 1770. 
 t John Adams's Works, X. 251. 
 
328 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 marched six deep through the main street to the middle bur- 
 ial-ground, where the bodies were deposited in one grave.* 
 
 Knowing that false accounts would reach England, the 
 town appointed a committee, consisting of James Bowdoin, 
 Joseph Warren, and Samuel Pemberton, to prepare a narra- 
 tive of the Massacre, which was sent to the principal friends 
 of America ; while the committee who had appeared before 
 Hutchinson in the Council Chamber addressed Thomas 
 Pownall in London, through the pen of Mr. Adams, briefly 
 detailing the circumstances of the affair, and desiring him to 
 prevent any ill impressions upon the minds of the Ministry, 
 until the full narrative could be forwarded by the next con- 
 veyance.! The affidavits accompanying the narrative were 
 taken openly before two justices of the peace, and in the 
 presence of men representing all parties. Colonel Dalrymple 
 was duly notified to attend the captions, and no unbiassed 
 person questioned the fairness of the proceeding. A num- 
 ber of ex parte affidavits, taken in secret and sent to Eng- 
 land to give a different coloring to the circumstances, and a 
 grossly false statement, called " The Case of Captain Thomas 
 Preston," attempted to prejudice the government still fur- 
 ther against the town ; but the falsity of these representa- 
 tions were afterwards shown by Mr. Adams in his corre- 
 spondence with Dr. Franklin, and even Preston himself 
 admitted that his statement had been at different times 
 altered after it left his hands. 
 
 The opposition to the soldiery had thus far been confined 
 strictly to legal measures on the part of the town. Even the 
 shedding of innocent blood had resulted in no retaliation, 
 save the peremptory demand for the removal of the troops, 
 which the royal authorities had not dared to refuse. But 
 the town determined that the supremacy of the law should 
 still further be maintained. It was resolved to bring the 
 soldiers to trial; and, at the urgent solicitation of Samuel 
 
 * Boston newspapers, March 12 and 15, 1770. 
 t "Narrative of the Boston Massacre, p. 7. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 329 
 
 Adams and his associates, John Adams and Josiah Quincy 
 consented to become the counsel for the prisoners.* The 
 task, which was a severe ordeal for such men in such times, 
 required great self-sacrifice and a degree of magnanimity 
 on the part of these patriotic lawyers which cannot be ap- 
 preciated at this distant day. The consent of Quincy was 
 obtained " in Mr. Adams's house, where an interview was 
 had for the purpose." Samuel Adams was particularly de- 
 sirous that the town should be absolved from any charge of 
 unfairness, and that every opportunity of defence should be 
 furnished to the accused. In John Adams and Quincy he 
 knew that the best legal ability would be theirs, and that 
 whatever might be the event, the world should bear witness 
 to the general desire for strict justice and the integrity of 
 American juries, which had been questioned. That perfect 
 impartiality might be maintained, he states that the town at 
 its annual meeting, shortly after the Massacre, voted to re- 
 strain their committee from publishing the official narrative 
 in Boston, lest it should unduly prejudice those who might 
 become jurors on the trial, until the trial should be over, — 
 a restraint which they continued at their meeting in May.f 
 It was published, however, against the wishes of Mr. Adams, 
 who desired that it should first see the light in England ; 
 and the Legislature made an appropriation to enable the 
 town to charter a vessel for the express purpose of convey- 
 ing it thither. In the absence of the King's attorney, it 
 was necessary to obtain some eminent lawyer to conduct the 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 350. 
 
 t Samuel Adams, as " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 31, 1770. Yet 
 Hutchinson, in a letter probably to Bernard, accuses the town of " carrying on 
 the prosecution of poor Preston and his soldiers with inimitable thirst for 
 their blood " ; and relates how Samuel Adams at the head of a committee, and 
 followed by a vast concourse of people, appeared before the Judges of the Supe- 
 rior Court, and harangued them (the Judges) until they altered their deter- 
 mination of putting off the trial. The town was resolved that the trial should 
 proceed in regular course ; but that they thirsted after the blood of the prison- 
 ers is sufficiently disproved by the action above stated, as well as by the fact 
 that the most eminent legal counsel was engaged for them. 
 
 J 
 
330 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 prosecution, and through the instrumentality of Samuel Ad- 
 ams * the services of Robert Treat Paine were secured, — 
 the exertions of Adams being directed to arraying on both 
 sides the chief talent of the Province in a case involving the 
 character of his native town. The trial, which he attended 
 day by day, taking notes of all the proceedings, was held in 
 October and November before the Superior Court, and re- 
 sulted in the acquittal of Preston, who had every indulgence 
 shown him by the citizens, and who probably did not order 
 the troops to fire. The soldiers were ably defended by their 
 two distinguished advocates. Six were brought in "not 
 guilty " ; and two, Montgomery and Kilroy, were found 
 guilty of manslaughter ; but praying the " benefit of clergy," 
 they were branded in the hand in open court, and dis- 
 charged. 
 
 During the trial, for reasons already given, Mr. Adams 
 refrained from writing upon the subject ; but, immediately 
 after, he commenced a series of reviews of the testimony, 
 ably and clearly analyzing it, and drawing upon his own 
 notes for facts. They extended through December, 1770, 
 and January, 1771. Most of them, are very lengthy, and 
 some occupy nearly all the available space of the Boston 
 Gazette. Using the signature of " Vindex," f he shows the 
 evident falsity of much of the testimony in favor of the sol- 
 diers, and the certain design on their part to bring the ill 
 feeling between themselves and the people to a bloody issue 
 at the first opportunity. A crown writer in the Evening 
 Post, as " Philanthrop," attempted to measure swords with 
 
 * Sketch of R. T. Paine in Biography of the Signers. 
 
 t That the facts in the case might become generally known among the 
 friends of America in England, Mr. Adams enclosed these essays to his corre- 
 spondents there, — to Stephen Sayre among others (see Adams to Sayre, 
 Jan. 12, 1771). What Hutchinson thought of the writer is shown in his letter 
 to Mr. Whately in London, Jan. 25, 1771. When the proofs were sent to 
 Mr. Adams from the printers, the original generally accompanied them, 
 which accounts for several of his " Vindex" manuscripts being found among 
 the Adams papers. 
 
 t 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 331 
 
 him ; but the contest, if such the unequal match could be 
 called, was of short duration. In one of these articles, after 
 critically reviewing the statements of certain witnesses, he 
 turns to the reasoning of his antagonist in the loyalist paper, 
 where the writer had published a lengthened argument in 
 favor of the measures of government, warning his readers 
 not to be duped " by an artful use of the words * liberty ' and 
 ' slavery ' in an application to their passions,' ' and that the 
 true patriot would be " very cautious of charging want of 
 ability or integrity to those with whom any of the powers of 
 government are entrusted." The idea of peaceful acquies- 
 cence in any arbitrary illegal act of government was abhor- 
 rent to the mind of Samuel Adams. True democratic feel- 
 ing was a part of his very existence. Rulers, he held, are 
 but the servants of the people, whose delegated power ought 
 to be exercised only while it was not prostituted. Taking 
 issue with " Philanthrop," who urged passive obedience, Mr. 
 Adams says : — 
 
 "But the true patriot will constantly be jealous of those very 
 men, knowing that power, especially in times of corruption, makes 
 men wanton, that it intoxicates the mind; and unless those with 
 whom it is entrusted are carefully watched, — such is the weakness 
 or perverseness of human nature, — they will be apt to domineer 
 over the people, instead of governing them according to the known 
 laws of the state, to which alone they have submitted. If he finds, 
 upon the best inquiry, the want of ability or integrity, that is, an ig- 
 norance of, or a disposition to depart from, the Constitution, which is 
 the measure and rule of government and submission, he will point 
 them out and loudly proclaim them. He will stir up the people in- 
 cessantly to complain of such men, till they are either reformed or 
 removed from the sacred trust, which it is dangerous for them any 
 longer to hold. * Philanthrop ' may tell us of the hazard of < disturb- 
 ing and inflaming the minds of the multitude, whose passions know 
 no bounds.' A traitor to the Constitution alone can dread this. 
 The multitude I am speaking of is the body of the people — » no con- 
 temptible multitude, — for whose sake government is instituted, or 
 rather who have themselves erected it, solely for their own good, — 
 
332 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 to whom even kings, and all in subordination to them, are, strictly 
 speaking, servants and not masters. 
 
 " * Philanthrop,' I think, speaks somewhat unintelligibly when he 
 tells us that the well-being and happiness of the whole depends up- 
 on subordination, — as if mankind submitted to government for the 
 sake of being subordinate. t In the state of nature there was subor- 
 dination. The weaker was by force made to bow down to the more 
 powerful. This is still the unhappy lot of a great part of the world 
 under government. So among the brutal herd the strongest horns 
 are the strongest laws. Mankind have entered into political socie- 
 ties rather for the sake of restoring equality, the want of which in 
 the state of nature rendered existence uncomfortable and even dan- 
 gerous. I am not of levelling principles ; but I am apt to think that 
 constitution of civil government which admits equality in the most 
 extensive degree consistent with the true design of government is 
 the best ; and I am of this opinion, because I believe, with ' Philan- 
 throp ' and many others, that man is a social animal. Subordination 
 is necessary to promote the purposes of government, the grand de- 
 sign of which is that men might enjoy a greater share of the bless- 
 ings resulting from that social nature and those rational powers 
 with which indulgent Heaven has endowed us than they could in a 
 state of nature. But there is a degree of subordination which will 
 be forever abhorrent to the generous mind, when it is extended to 
 the very borders, if not within the bounds of slavery, — a subordina- 
 tion which is so far from conducing ' to the welfare and happiness 
 of the whole,' that it necessarily involves the idea of that worst of 
 all the evils of this life, a tyranny, — an abject servility, which in- 
 stead of ' being essential to our existence as a people/ disgraces the 
 human nature, and sinks it to that of the most despicable brute." * 
 
 On the very day of the Massacre, the " American ques- 
 tion " was brought up in Parliament for debate, when Lord 
 North asked leave to bring a bill into the House of Com- 
 mons, in conformity with the promise in Lord Hillsborough's 
 circular, repealing the duties upon glass, paper, and paint- 
 ers' colors, but retaining the duty of three per cent upon 
 
 * " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 21, 1771. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 333 
 
 tea. The alarming state of trade and the decline of com- 
 merce was the subject of a petition from the mercantile 
 classes, which difficulties were held to be based upon the ob- 
 noxious American duties. The Premier, while he depreca- 
 ted the behavior of the Americans, expressed his determina- 
 tion " to compel observance of the laws and to vindicate 
 the rights of Parliament." A splendid galaxy of talent 
 argued in favor of America. Pownall supported the petition 
 of the merchants and traders, but desired to have the article 
 of tea included in the repeal of the enumerated articles; 
 and was followed in the same strain by Conway, Barre*, and 
 Sir William Meredith. Besides these, Sir George Saville, 
 " the spotless," Dowdeswell, Dunning, Trecothick, Bedford, 
 and Beauchamp, all argued for the entire repeal of the du- 
 ties ; but though strongly opposed in both Houses, the bill 
 was carried by large majorities, and on the 12th of April re- 
 ceived the royal assent. Thus the original principle, from 
 which had grown all the trouble between the two countries, 
 was affirmed, and the barrier to reconcilation made higher 
 and stronger. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Legislature meets at Harvard College. — Controversy with the Lieuten 
 ant-Governor. — Josiah Quincy. — His Character and Talents. — Drafts 
 the General Instructions to the Boston Eepresentatives. — Hancock pettishly 
 determines to resign his Seat in the Assembly. — Adams dissuades him. — 
 Exertions of Adams to bring forward promising Young Men in the Public 
 Cause. — Quincy's Admiration and Respect for him. — Failure of the Non- 
 importation Agreement. — Letter of Adams to Franklin on Colonial Affairs. 
 ■*■*■ His Remarkable Reply to the Speech of Hutchinson, who writes to England 
 accusing him of Treason. — Castle William taken from the Keeping of the 
 Provincial Authorities. — Adams publicly denounces the Act. 
 
 The Legislature of Massachusetts had now been sus- 
 pended since July of the preceding year. The Lieutenant- 
 Governor had received orders from the Ministry, leaving it 
 discretionary with him whether to convene the Court at 
 Boston or Cambridge; but he fixed upon the latter place, 
 although he knew from experience that the leading members ' 
 would be opposed to it, and a needless controversy ensue. 
 They met on the 15th in the Chapel of the College, and 
 thence repaired to the " Philosophy Room," where Hutchin- 
 son awaited them, and delivered his speech. With his usual 
 duplicity, he stated that he had received such instructions, 
 by the last two packets from England, as made it necessary 
 to meet the Assembly at Cambridge. A committee, headed 
 by the Speaker, but of which Samuel Adams was the osten- 
 sible chairman, immediately drew up a remonstrance against 
 the injustice, inconvenience, and unconstitutionality of hold- 
 ing the Assembly in Harvard College. The Lieutenant- 
 Governor, in reply, still pleaded instructions, and stood upon 
 his reserved rights as Commander-in-Chief ; whereupon the 
 Council joined the House in its remonstrance. But, though 
 the controversy lasted several days, it was to no purpose ; 
 and the Legislature continued to meet at Cambridge. 
 
March, 1770.] 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 335 
 
 Hutchinson had thoughts of holding the session at Salem. 
 " The further from Boston," said he, " the better." 
 
 "The House," he continued, "will be sour and troublesome 
 enough ; but all they can do will be a .perfect trifle compared with 
 
 the trouble the town of Boston gives me I would give 
 
 up all if the town could be separated from the rest of the Prov- 
 ince. I do not see how that can be done ; but something may and 
 must be done to humble the leaders of the people of the town, and 
 so keep the inhabitants in order. I have tried the Council, and rep- 
 resented to the Judges the illegality of the town acts ; but they say 
 there is no possibility of helping it. The body of the people are all 
 of a mind, and there is no stemming the torrent. It is the common 
 language of Adams and the rest that they are not to be intimidated 
 by acts of Parliament, for they will not be executed here; and 
 should there be an act of Parliament to vacate the charter, as the 
 lawyer told the Judge of the Superior Court, the people would not 
 submit to it. I do not see what should prevent the new councillors 
 from being as obnoxious as the Commissioners. We are most cer- 
 tainly every day confirming ourselves in our principles of independ- 
 ence; and tells me he is fully convinced that nothing but 
 
 sharp external force will bring Boston into a state of due subordi- 
 nation I am sure you will not suffer what I write to come 
 
 back again, even by rumors." * 
 
 Most of the papers during this session were written by 
 Samuel Adams. Fragments of some of them, evidently 
 original drafts, are extant in his handwriting, and the style 
 and language are unmistakably his. He was also the 
 working member of nearly all the committees, though the 
 name of Cushing (Speaker of the House) was usually placed 
 first, as Bradford says, " was then the usage," making that 
 officer the " nominal chairman." Adams was, as heretofore, 
 the leader, and conducted the Legislature in the most impor- 
 tant of its measures. He was seconded by Major Hawley 
 and probably two or three others, whose names appear on 
 committees, — among them, Leonard, Sheafe, and Bowers. 
 
 * To a friend in London, March, 1770. 
 
336 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, 
 
 The answer of the House to one of the messages of the Gov- 
 ernor, relating to a trivial disturbance that had occurred at 
 Gloucester, is conceived in tones unusually bold. It reviews 
 the condition of the Province, inveighs against the grievance 
 of a military force posted among the people, and refers 
 pointedly to the singular neglect by the Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor to allude to the late Massacre in his message at the 
 opening of the session. Eegarding public disturbances it 
 continues : — 
 
 " It may justly be said of the people of this Province, that they 
 seldom, if ever, have assembled in a tumultuous manner, unless they 
 have been oppressed. It cannot be expected that a people accus- 
 tomed to the freedom of the English Constitution will be patient 
 while they are under the hand of tyranny and arbitrary power. They 
 will discover their resentment in a manner which will naturally dis- 
 please their oppressors ; and in such a case, the severest laws and 
 the most rigorous execution will be to little or no purpose. The 
 most effectual method to restore tranquillity would be to remove 
 their burdens, and to punish all those who have been the procurers 
 of their oppression." 
 
 After expressing the hope that the military would be 
 removed from the Province, until which tyranny and confu- 
 sion would prevail, the injustice of removing the Assembly 
 — " driven from its ancient and legal seat " — to Cambridge 
 is represented, and it concludes' as follows : — 
 
 "These alarming considerations have awakened and fixed our 
 attention ; and your Honor cannot think we can very particularly 
 attend to things of lesser moment within the jurisdiction of the 
 executive courts, at a time when, in faithfulness to our constituents, 
 our minds are necessarily employed in matters which concern the 
 very being of the Constitution." * 
 
 During a part of this session, Cushing was incapacitated 
 by illness from filling his position, and Hancock was elected 
 
 * Journal of the House, April 23, 1770. 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 337 
 
 Speaker pro tern. Hutchinson rejected him, when Colonel 
 Warren was chosen and accepted. About the same time the 
 sum of ninety pounds was voted to Samuel Adams " for his 
 services as Clerk of this House during the several sessions 
 of the General Court during the current year." * 
 
 The House, in their remonstrance, having resolved that 
 their determination to proceed to business was by no means 
 to be considered thereafter as a renunciation of their claim 
 to the legal right of sitting in General Assembly at the 
 Court House in Boston, and the elections drawing near, 
 Hutchinson dissolved the Assembly on the 26th of April. 
 At the same time he observed that some parts of their remon- 
 strance extended to the authority of the King and Parlia- 
 ment, and that he should lay it before his Majesty. "I 
 shall do it," he adds, "without any comment; it needs 
 none." f 
 
 But the House had no reason to doubt the justness of 
 their proceedings; and Hutchinson, in convening them at 
 Cambridge, had not only violated their charter rights, but 
 had made the discretionary letter from the Ministry, the lan- 
 guage of which he kept secret, an excuse for the gratification 
 of his personal resentment. In that arbitrary and needless 
 act he had willingly followed the advice of Bernard, who 
 continued his interference in the affairs of the Province, his 
 course in Massachusetts having been fully approved by the 
 Royal Council. Hutchinson artfully pretended to be led by 
 him, hoping thereby to reach the goal of his ambition, — the 
 office of Governor. 
 
 "The Court," he wrote, "has been sitting at Cambridge ever 
 since the 15th, refusing to do any business, and urges me to remove 
 them to Boston, but I shall not do it. I hope no copy of my Lord 
 Hillsborough's letter to me of the 9th of December will be suffered 
 to be made public, nor of mine to his Lordship in answer; for I 
 
 * Journal, April 17-20, 1770. 
 
 t Message to the House, April 26, 1770. Hutchinson's History, III. 508. 
 vol. i. 22 
 
838 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, S£ay, 
 
 have followed your advice, and they do not know that I had any 
 sort of discretion left in the matter." # 
 
 On the 26th of April the news of the Boston Massacre ar- 
 rived in England, and renewed efforts were made in the 
 House of Commons in behalf of America. Even Grenville 
 redeemed his former course by speaking against the action 
 of soldiers in violation of the civil authority. The debate 
 extended into May, when Burke and Wedderburne attacked 
 the administration. But resolutions of censure were defeat- 
 ed by immense majorities, and the policy of the King and 
 Lord North was sustained. 
 
 In Boston the annual May elections came round ; and on 
 the 8th, out of five hundred and thirteen votes polled for 
 Representatives, Adams and Cushing had all but three, Han- 
 cock all but two, and Bowdoin, who was now for the first 
 time a candidate for the House in place of Otis, lacked sev- 
 enty-four.f The four members elect received on the 15th 
 the town's instructions from the pen of Josiah Quincy, whose 
 genius, young as he was,* had already made a conspicuous 
 /figure. Warmly attached to the cause of America, and 
 / even now noted for oratorical and literary talents as well 
 as legal attainments, there seemed scarcely any honorable 
 position which he might not have filled, had he survived 
 the Revolution. Like Joseph Warren, he was the ardent 
 admirer of Samuel Adams, who affected of all things the 
 companionship of brilliant young men, into whose keeping 
 he knew the destinies of the country were eventually to fall. 
 When any of them were going abroad, he often gave them 
 letters of introduction to distinguished men with whom he 
 was in correspondence, and Quincy thus gained the society 
 of Dickinson and Read in Philadelphia a few years later. 
 He sometimes revised the political writings of Quincy, whose 
 
 * Hutchinson to some person unknown, March 25, 1770, copied in the Boston 
 Gazette for June 5, 1775, and in Almon's Remembrancer, for 1775, 2d ed., p. 
 
 181. 
 
 * 
 
 t Boston Town Records, May, 1770 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 339 
 
 manuscripts still bear the inscription, in the autograph of the 
 author, directed to the printer, " Let Samuel Adams, Esq., 
 correct the press," and he was ever ready with advice and 
 encouragement to advance the worthy ambition of all, when 
 directed in the path of their country's welfare. Those who 
 shared his confidence knew how lightly he valued the breath 
 of applause, and how willing he was to allow others to ap- 
 pear in his own measures and actions ; looking himself only 
 to the results, careless of any credit that might be due to the 
 conception. Warren, Quincy, Hancock, Church, Gerry, and 
 many others of their age, regarded him as their political 
 father ; but Warren claimed his closest friendship and confi- 
 dence. 
 
 The instructions were the most spirited and eloquent that 
 had yet been produced. Hutchinson says, they " not only 
 afforded a strong presage of the measures of the House, but, 
 in words more open and express than .had ever before been 
 ventured on, indicated to government in England the design 
 of a general revolt, and excited, together with the message 
 from the House of Representatives at the close of the last 
 session, the first measures taken with an apparent design to 
 guard against it.* In the legislative paper referred to, the 
 House had presented a firm and determined, but dignified 
 review of the public grievances, and had unsparingly ex- 
 posed the artfulness of Hutchinson. Quincy 's instructions 
 reflected the impetuous ardor of the young patriot, who 
 looked with impatience upon the wrongs of his oountry , and 
 could ill brook the cautious delay which must precede suc- 
 cess. He points out the " unwarranted and arbitrary exac- 
 tions, .... grievances, and discontents which, convulsing 
 every part of the British Empire, forbode a day of trial in 
 which, under God, nothing but stern virtue and inflexible 
 
 fortitude can save us from miserable destruction 
 
 The dreadful catastrophe threatens universal havoc, and 
 presents an awful warning to hazard all, if peradventure we, 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, HI. 290. 
 
340 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Alay, 
 
 in these distant confines of the earth, may prevent being to- 
 tally overwhelmed and buried under the ruins of our most 
 established rights. For many years past we have with sor- 
 row beheld the approaching conflict." The writer recom- 
 mends resistance, " even unto the uttermost " ; points out to 
 the attention of the representatives the several public griev- 
 ances ; urges them to arouse a military spirit in the people, 
 to cultivate a firm and lasting union with the other Colonies ; 
 and finally reminds them that " the further nations recede 
 and give way to the gigantic strides of any powerful despot, 
 the more rapidly will the fiend advance to spread wide deso- 
 lation ; and then, should no attempt be made to stay his 
 ravaging progress, * the dogs of war, let loose and hot for 
 blood, rush on to waste and havoc. ' " * 
 
 There is perhaps no trait in the character of Samuel 
 Adams more pleasing than this thoughtful care for the 
 advancement of others. By this is meant, not only the 
 general desire for the happiness of his countrymen, by the 
 establishment of their liberties, founded in courage and vir- 
 tue, but a whole-souled interest in the personal success of 
 those whose talents or virtues made them worthy of his sym- 
 pathies. Towards young men, who manifested generosity of 
 sentiment or natural qualities likely to make them useful 
 in the cause if properly developed, his great heart warmed 
 with a liberal and genuine affection. He lost no opportu- 
 nity of bringing them out, and encouraging their love of 
 country and readiness to sacrifice all to its salvation. He 
 was himself a continual illustration of his own teachings, — 
 regardless of wealth and personal honors, and setting an ex 
 ample of patriotism, Spartan in its character and ennobling 
 to human nature. Among the laboring people he was ever 
 a welcome guest. Utterly devoid of aristocratic tendencies, 
 he could sympathize and associate with them, and always 
 took the warmest interest in their social affairs. His 
 thoughts were with and for " the people," that is, the middle 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 508-515. 
 
1770.] L I FE op SAMUEL ADAMS. 341 
 
 and lower classes. He personally instructed a poor boy 
 who was apprenticed to him as a servant, and gave him a 
 place in his own pew at church. In his writings relative to 
 the Massacre, he shows himself to have been intimately ac- 
 quainted with the circumstances of the bereaved families, 
 who were all in the humblest walks of life. " The ship- 
 wrights and mechanics," says Eliot, whose personal knowl- 
 edge of Samuel Adams extended through many years in 
 Boston, " were his firm friends through all the scenes of the 
 Revolution, believing that to him, more than to any other 
 man, they owed their independence. " * Not only do his con- 
 temporaries record his influence in shaping the course of 
 prominent young men, but his letters are perpetual proofs 
 of his genial interest in their welfare. Instances are too nu- 
 merous for insertion here, even from among such fragments 
 of his vast correspondence as have been collected. A few, 
 however, will illustrate. One is to a young gentleman who 
 had set out on his travels, and had enjoyed at home the 
 friendship of Mr. Adams. 
 
 Boston, Nov. 28, 1770. 
 My dear Sir, — 
 
 When you embarked for London I promised you I would write by 
 the next ship. I did not write ; but it was owing to incessant avo- 
 cations at Cambridge, and not to an unmindfulness of my promise, or 
 a want of attention to fulfil it. I hope you are safe arrived ; you 
 are then a sojourner in one of the most opulent and most luxurious 
 cities in the world. Music is your dear delight ; f there your taste 
 will be improved. But I fear that discord will too often discompose 
 you, and the rude clamors against your country will vex you. I 
 rely upon it, that your own good sense will dictate to you that which 
 will sufficiently vindicate your country against foul aspersion, when- 
 ever you may meet with it ; and I cannot entertain the least doubt 
 but you are possessed with all that patriotic zeal which will forever 
 
 * Eliot's N. E. Biographical Dictionary. 
 
 t It has been stated by some who knew Mr. Adams, that he was a great 
 lover of music, for which he had a cultivated and correct taste. John Adams 
 (Works, X. 251) refers to the " charming voice " of his kinsman. 
 
342 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 warm the breast of an ingenuous young gentleman. Such a zeal, 
 tempered with a manly prudence, will render you reputable in po- 
 litical circles of men of sense. I am sure you will never condescend 
 to be a companion of fools. After telling you what I know will be 
 agreeable to you, that your friends are all well, you must allow me 
 to plead haste, and conclude at present with my best wishes for your 
 prosperity. 
 
 Adieu, 
 Mb. Josiah Williams. Sam. Adams. 
 
 A special favorite with Mr. Adams was his nephew, Mr. 
 Joseph Allen, who was a frequent visitor at his house, and 
 used, in after years, to remember the unwearied industry 
 of his uncle in maintaining a voluminous private corre- 
 spondence throughout the country, and with the friends of 
 America in England. Mr. Allen afterwards filled a number 
 of public offices, was a clerk of the courts, a councillor, a 
 member of Congress, and twice one of the Presidential Elec- 
 tors. Born in 1749, he was now just of age, and about 
 entering into mercantile business in the town of Leicester, 
 where he received the following letter : — 
 
 m ^ November 7, 1771. 
 
 Dear Kinsman, — 
 
 As you are just now setting out on the journey of life, give me 
 leave to express to you my ardent wish that you may meet with all 
 that prosperity which shall be consistent with your reed happiness. 
 I cannot but think you have a good prospect ; yet your path will, in 
 all probability, be uneven. Sometimes you must expect, like all 
 other travellers, to meet with difficulties in the road. Let me there- 
 fore recommend to you the advice of one of the ancients, a man of 
 sterling sense, though a heathen : " Aequam memento rebus in arduis 
 servare mentem." In the busy scenes of life you may now and then 
 be disposed to drive on hard, and make rather too much haste to be 
 rich. You will then be upon your guard against temptation, which, 
 if yielded to, will poison the streams of all future comfort. You 
 will then in a more particular manner impress upon your mind the 
 advice of an inspired writer, to "maintain a conscience void of 
 offence." I do not flatter you, when I say, you have hitherto 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 343 
 
 supported a good reputation. You will still preserve it unsullied, 
 remembering that a good name is your life. 
 
 Adieu, 
 
 S. Adams. 
 
 A letter to John Hancock shows how delicately Adams 
 was at times obliged to handle his capricious friend, whom 
 he had himself first brought into public life, and whose petu- 
 lance occasionally got the better of his natural generosity. 
 A few days after the May election, Hancock, offended by 
 some disparaging remark which had come to his ears, re- 
 solved to withdraw from the Boston delegation in the As- 
 sembly. The announcement caused Mr. Adams no little 
 anxiety, for the retirement at this crisis of so popular and 
 wealthy a member of the liberty party could not but injure 
 the cause, and give room for exulting remarks from the 
 enemies of the country. He therefore writes him : — 
 
 Boston, May 11, 1770. 
 Dear Sir, — 
 
 Your resolution yesterday to resign your seat gave me great 
 uneasiness. I could not think you had sufficient ground to deprive 
 the town of one whom I have a right to say is a most valuable 
 member, since you had within three of the unanimous suffrages of 
 your fellow-citizens, and one of the negative votes was your own. 
 You say you have been spoken ill of. What then ? Can you think 
 that while you are a good man, that all will speak well of you ? If 
 you knew the person who has defamed you, nothing is more likely 
 than that you would justly value yourself upon that man's censure 
 as being the highest applause. Those who were fond of continuing 
 Mr. Otis in that seat were, I dare say to a man, among your warm- 
 est friends. Will you then add to their disappointment by a resig- 
 nation, merely because one contemptible person, who perhaps was 
 hired for the purpose, has blessed you with his reviling ? Need I 
 add more than to entreat it as a favor, that you would alter your 
 design. 
 
 I am, with strict truth, 
 
 Your affectionate friend and brother, 
 
 Sam. Adams. 
 
344 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, June, 
 
 This note, to which were probably added verbal persua- 
 sions between that time and the meeting of the Legislature, 
 had the desired result, and Hancock was sworn in with the 
 Boston delegation. Had he withdrawn, while Otis, a wreck, 
 was in the country, the moral effect would have been dis- 
 heartening. His reputation would have been missed, — 
 though not his pen; for Hancock, often as he appears on 
 committees, seldom, if ever, contributed to the preparation 
 of state papers. Otis, though Adams's tender solicitude for 
 him never failed, could now only lend the weight of his 
 name to measures for the public safety. 
 
 On the last Wednesday in May the General Court com- 
 menced its session at Cambridge, when Adams and Cushing 
 were, as usual, unanimously elected Clerk and Speaker.* 
 The controversy between the House and the Governor on 
 the illegality of holding the General Court out of Boston 
 was immediately recommenced ; the House resolving that 
 they proceeded to the election of councillors only from 
 necessity, protesting against its being drawn into a prece- 
 dent at any time thereafter, or considered as a voluntary 
 receding from their constitutional claim. In their message 
 to the Lieutenant-Governor they remonstrated " against 
 holding the Assembly in any other place than the town- 
 house in Boston." The contest was stoutly maintained, 
 apparently exhausting the arguments on both sides ; Hutch- 
 inson (whose zeal was excited by the notice that he was to 
 receive the appointment of Governor), citing authorities, 
 and bringing to bear his most potent reasoning to support 
 his position, and the Assembly meeting him at every point, 
 and sturdily refusing to proceed to business by a vote of 
 ninety-six to six. During this session, Bowdoin having 
 been elected to the Council, John Adams for the first time 
 joined the Assembly, and was sworn in by Hancock and 
 Samuel Adams. f The names of both " the Adamses " occur 
 throughout the sessions of this year upon committees for pre- 
 
 * Journal of the House, May 30, 1770. t June 6, 1770. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 345 
 
 paring answers and remonstrances, — the policy being the 
 same as in the former session. The Lieutenant-Governor 
 despairing of effecting any change, prorogued the Court on 
 the 25th of June. 
 
 Among Samuel Adams's papers are found detached por- 
 tions of a letter in his handwriting to Benjamin Franklin, 
 prepared for a committee, of which he was one, appointed 
 by the town to disabuse the minds of influential persons in 
 England of the false statements sent on by the crown 
 officers as to the Massacre and subsequent events. It is 
 dated in Boston on the 13th of July, and Franklin is urged 
 to exert himself and obtain a suspension of public opinion, 
 until the town could have an opportunity of knowing what 
 was alleged against it and of answering for itself. It pro- 
 tested against the determination of Parliament to admit 
 garbled extracts from such letters as were received from 
 America by the administration and to conceal the names of 
 the writers. 
 
 "How deplorable, then," said Mr. Adams, "must be our condi- 
 tion, if ample credit is to be given to their testimony against us by 
 the government at home, and if the names of our accusers are to be 
 kept a profound secret, and the world is to see only such parts or 
 parcels of their representations as persons who perhaps may be 
 interested in their favor shall think proper to hold up. Such con- 
 duct, if allowed, seems to put it in the power of a few designing men 
 to deceive a nation to its ruin. The measures which have been 
 taken in consequence of intelligence managed with such secrecy 
 have already, to a very great degree, lessened that mutual confi- 
 dence which had ever subsisted between the mother country and 
 the Colonies, and must, in the natural course of things, totally alien- 
 ate their affections towards each other, and consequently weaken, 
 and in the end destroy, the power of the empire. It is in this 
 extended view of things that our minds are affected. It is from 
 these apprehensions that we earnestly wish that all communications 
 between the two countries of a public nature may be unveiled 
 before the public, with the names of the persons who are concerned 
 therein. Then, and not till then, will American affairs be under the 
 
346 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 direction of honest men, who are never ashamed or afraid of the 
 light. 
 
 * If this writer of those letters shall appear to be innocent, no harm 
 can possibly arise from such a measure ; if otherwise, it may be the 
 means of explaining the true cause of the national and Colonial mal- 
 ady, and of affording an easy remedy ; and therefore* the measure 
 may be justified and applauded by all the world." 
 
 Mr. Adams then takes up the Case of Captain Preston, 
 which had appeared in the London papers, and, he asserts, 
 is replete with falsehood, and could never be " supported by 
 the testimony of any man of tolerable reputation.' ' This 
 part of the letter, which is very elaborate, goes over the 
 ground covered by " Vindex " in his articles in the Boston 
 Gazette, during the past winter, in one of which Mr. Adams 
 stated that it had been asserted in the London newspapers 
 that the people of Boston had ■ seized upon Captain Preston, 
 and hung him like Porteus upon a sign-post.' ' 
 
 A more reasonable proposal than that of the town, to have 
 the representations of the loyalists made public, that they 
 might know by whom and of what they were accused, could 
 not be imagined. Its justice was unquestionable ; yet the 
 letters were jealously kept secret, and the action of the gov- 
 ernment was based upon their statements. 
 
 The Legislature, met again at the Chapel of Harvard Col- 
 lege on the 25th of July, when the Lieutenant-Governor, 
 who had summoned them to the Council-Chamber up stairs, 
 read a carefully prepared address, reviewing the whole con- 
 troversy relative to convening the Court out of Boston. 
 Flattering himself that they would no longer insist upon the 
 illegality of his action, he threatened a further prorogation, 
 should they persist in their refusal to proceed with the busi- 
 ness of the session.* This, however, the House had made 
 their first duty on assembling. The next day, he wrote to 
 Lord Hillsborough : — 
 
 ♦ Bradford's State Papers, p. 237. 
 
1770. J LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 34T 
 
 ■ I met the Assembly yesterday at Cambridge. I shall enclose 
 the speech I made then. If they will not go to business, I must pro- 
 rogue them further, and give myself no further concern about them. 
 Their constituents are the only sufferers ; and when they feel their 
 sufferings to a little degree beyond what they do at present, I think 
 they will, in many towns, express their dissatisfaction at the beha- 
 vior of their representatives. In the mean time I shall treat them 
 with moderation and firmness. I am very sure if the members of 
 Boston were out of the House, I should have a majority in favor of 
 government." 
 
 On receiving the Lieutenant-Governor's message, the 
 House appointed a committee to reply, and merely met and 
 adjourned each day, until the 30th, when the answer was 
 reported. It was written by Samuel Adams, as is sufficient- 
 ly indicated by the style, which no one acquainted with his 
 writings could mistake ; moreover, his original rough draft 
 is still preserved. Hutchinson, who was aware of the fact, 
 wrote to England, denouncing him as the author, and de- 
 scribing the " treatise,' ' a name he afterwards applied to it, 
 as " seditious," " criminal," " daring," and " hinting at a 
 revolt." It was indeed a bold, nervous composition, wor- 
 thy of the mind that conceived it. One of the character- 
 istics of Samuel Adams's writings, and the most interest- 
 ing one after their unadorned simplicity, is their logical 
 strength, and the acuteness which saw at once the weak 
 side of an argument, went directly to the point, and ex- 
 posed all fallacies with clearness and force. No sophis- 
 try or art could confuse him or lead him astray. He 
 looked intuitively into the designs of his adversaries, and 
 laid them open with unsparing hand. Having reiterated 
 their former resolution not to proceed to business while 
 the Court was held " out of the town of Boston," the 
 House continue : — 
 
 "After the most attentive and repeated examination of your 
 speech, we find nothing to induce us to alter our opinion, and very 
 little that is new and material in the controversy. But as we per- 
 
348 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 ceive it is published, it may possibly be read by some who have 
 never seen the reasons of the House ; and as there are specious 
 things contained in it which may have a tendency to make an un- 
 happy impression on some minds, we have thought proper to make 
 a few observations upon it. 
 
 " You are pleased to say, ' you meet us at Cambridge, because 
 you have no reason to think there has been any alterations in his 
 Majesty's pleasure, which you doubt not was determined by wise 
 motives, and with a gracious purpose to promote the good of the 
 Province.' We presume not to call in question the wisdom of our 
 Sovereign, or the rectitude of his intentions : but there have been 
 times when a corrupt and profligate administration have ventured 
 upon such measures as have had a direct tendency to ruin the inter- 
 est of the people, as well as that of their royal master. 
 
 " The House have great reason to doubt whether it is, or ever 
 was, his Majesty's pleasure that your Honor should meet the Assem- 
 bly at Cambridge, or that he has ever taken the matter under his 
 royal consideration ; because the common and the best evidence in 
 such cases is not communicated to us. 
 
 " It is needless for us to add anything to what has been hereto- 
 fore said upon the illegality of holding the Court anywhere except 
 in the town of Boston. For, admitting the power to be in the Gov- 
 ernor to hold the Court in any other place when the public good 
 requires it, yet it by no means follows that he has a right to call 
 it in any other place when it is to the manifest injury and detri- 
 ment of the public. 
 
 " The opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor General has very little 
 weight with this House in any case, any further than the reasons 
 which they expressly give are convincing. This Province has suf- 
 fered so much by unjust, groundless, and illegal opinions of those 
 officers of the crown, that our veneration or reverence for their opin- 
 ions is much abated. "We utterly deny that the Attorney and Solic- 
 itor-General have any authority or jurisdiction over us, any right 
 to decide questions in controversy between the several branches of 
 the Legislature here. Nor do we concede, that even his Majesty 
 in Council has any constitutional authority to decide such questions, 
 or any other controversy whatever, that arises in this Province, ex- 
 cepting only such matters as are reserved in the charter. It seems 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 849 
 
 a great absurdity, that when a dispute arises between the Governor 
 and the House, the Governor should appeal to his Majesty in Coun- 
 cil to decide it. Would it not be as reasonable for the House to 
 appeal to the body of their constituents to decide it ? Whenever a 
 dispute has arisen within the realm between the Crown and the two 
 Houses of Parliament, or either of them, was it ever imagined that 
 the King in his Privy Council had authority to decide it ? How- 
 ever, there is a test, a standard common to all, — we mean, the 
 public good. But your Honor must be very sensible that the ille- * 
 gality of holding the Court in any other place, beside the town of 
 Boston, is far from being the only dispute between your Honor and 
 this House. We contend that the people and their representatives 
 have a right to withstand the abusive exercise of a legal and con- 
 stitutional prerogative of the Crown. We beg leave to recite to 
 your Honor, what the great Mr. Locke has advanced in his Treatise 
 of Civil Government upon the like prerogative of the Crown. ' The 
 old question,' says he, * will be asked in this matter of prerogative, 
 "who shall be judge when this power is made a right use of?"' 
 And he answers : ' Between an executive power in being with such 
 a prerogative and a legislative that depends upon his will for their 
 convening, there can be no judge upon earth, as there can be none 
 between the legislative and the people, should either the executive 
 or legislative, when they have got the power in their hands, design 
 or go about to enslave or destroy them. The people have no other 
 remedy in this, as in all other cases where they have no judge on 
 earth, but to appeal to Heaven. For the rulers, in such attempts, 
 exercising a power the people never put into their hands (who can 
 never be supposed to consent that anybody should rule over them 
 for their harm), do that which they have not a right to do. And 
 when the body of the people or any single man is deprived of their 
 right, or under the exercise of a power without right, and have no 
 appeal on earth, then they have a liberty to appeal to Heaven when- 
 ever they judge the cause of sufficient moment. And, therefore, 
 though the people cannot be judge, so as to have, by the constitution 
 of that society, any superior power to determine and give effective 
 sentence in the case ; yet they have, by a law antecedent and par- 
 amount to all positive laws of men, reserved that ultimate determi- 
 nation to themselves which belongs to all mankind, where there lies 
 
350 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, Aug, 
 
 no appeal on earth, viz. : to judge whether they have just cause to 
 make their appeal to Heaven.' We would, however, by no means, 
 be understood to suggest, that this people have occasion at present 
 to proceed to such extremity. 
 
 " The House are still ready to answer for all the ill consequences 
 which can be justly attributed to them ; nor are they sensible of any 
 danger from exerting the power which the charter has given them, 
 of doing their part of the business in their own time. That the 
 Province has enemies, who are continually defaming it and their 
 charter, is certain ; that there are persons who are endeavoring to 
 intimidate the Province from asserting and vindicating their just 
 rights and liberties, by insinuations of danger to the Constitution, is 
 also indisputable. But no instance happened, even in the execrable 
 reign of the worst of the Stuart race, of a forfeiture of a charter, 
 because any one branch of a legislative, or even because the whole 
 government under that charter, refused to do business at a partic- 
 ular time under grievous circumstances of ignominy, disgrace, and 
 insult ; and when their charter had explicitly given to that govern- 
 ment the sole power of judging of the proper season and occasion 
 of doing business. We are obliged, at this time, to struggle with all 
 the powers with which the Constitution has furnished us, in defence 
 of our rights, to prevent the most valuable of our liberties from 
 being wrested from us by the subtle machinations and daring en- 
 croachments of wicked ministers. We have seen of late innumer- 
 able encroachments on our charter : Courts of Admiralty extended 
 from the high seas, where by the compact in the charter they are 
 confined, to numberless important causes upon land ; multitudes of 
 civil officers, the appointment of all which is by charter confined to 
 the Governor and Council, sent here from abroad by the Ministry ; 
 a revenue not granted by us, but torn from us; armies stationed 
 here without our consent ; and the streets of our metropolis crim- 
 soned with the blood of our fellow-subjects. These and other 
 grievances and cruelties, too many to be here enumerated, and too 
 melancholy to be much longer borne by this injured people, we have 
 seen brought upon us by the devices of ministers of state. We 
 have seen and heard, of late, instructions to governors which threat- 
 en to destroy all the remaining privileges of our charter. In June, 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 351 
 
 1768, the House by an instruction were ordered to rescind an excel- 
 lent resolution of a former House on pain of dissolution : they re- 
 fused to comply with so impudent a mandate, and were dissolved : 
 and the Governor, though repeatedly requested, and although the 
 exigencies of the Province demanded a General Assembly, refused to 
 call a new one until the following May. In the last year, the Gen- 
 eral Court was forced to give way to regular troops, illegally quar- 
 tered in the town of Boston, in consequence of instructions to crown 
 officers, and whose main guard was most daringly and insultingly 
 placed at the door of the State-House ; and afterwards they were 
 constrained to hold their session at Cambridge. The present year 
 the Assembly is summoned to meet, and is still continued there in a 
 kind of duress, without any reason that can be given, any motive 
 whatever that is not as great an insult to them and breach of their 
 privilege as any of the foregoing. Are these things consistent with 
 the freedom of the House ? or could the General Court's tamely sub- 
 mitting to such usage be thought to promote his Majesty's service ? 
 Should these struggles of the House prove unfortunate and ineffectual, 
 this Province will submit, with pious resignation, to the will of Prov- 
 idence ; but it will be a kind of suicide, of which we have the utmost 
 horror, thus to be made the instruments of our own servitude." * 
 
 Hutchinson replied, taking up the positions of the House 
 one by one, and commenting particularly on their having 
 called the instructions an " impudent mandate." " It may 
 not," he says, " be presumed you would have done this, had 
 you known it to be an order from his Majesty. I wish how- 
 ever that you had spared this coarse and indecent epithet. 
 .... The freedom you have used with the characters of 
 the Attorneys and Solicitors General will, I fear, likewise 
 bring dishonor upon you." He argued with ability and at 
 great length upon his favorite subject of holding the Court 
 away from Boston ; and seeing the impossibility of effecting 
 any practical result, he again prorogued the Assembly to 
 the 5th of September.! He congratulated himself, how- 
 
 * Journal of the House, July 31, 1770. Hutchinson's History, IH. 525. 
 Bradford's State Papers, p. 240. 
 
 t Hutchinson, IH. 534. Bradford, p. 249. Journal of the House, Aug. 3. 
 
352 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. 
 
 ever, upon having in some measure weakened the opposition, 
 and hoped for still greater advances. To a friend in Lon- 
 don he wrote the next day : — 
 
 " The House having persisted in their refusal to do business, I 
 have prorogued them to a farther time, having gained over, in this 
 short session, enough of the Council to prevent Bowdoin from ob- 
 taining a vote for an address which he had prepared conformable to 
 the sentiments of the faction of the House ; and I hope to keep a 
 party there strong enough to defeat his future attempts. Neither 
 Worthington, Murray, Ruggles, nor any member capable of oppos- 
 ing Adams, &c, came to the session. Many, if not a majority of the 
 members, wish to go to business, but are afraid. I will have a full 
 House another session, and have yet encouragement that I shall 
 carry the point then, notwithstanding the unanimity now. 
 
 " I did not design to enter into any argument with them, but I 
 found it necessary to undeceive the people, and, since my speech, I 
 perceive a great alteration among them, and it will certainly have a 
 good effect. The answer, drawn by Adams, breathes the seditious 
 spirit which has appeared in Edes and Gills's paper. The rudeness 
 to the King, to the House of Commons, to the Ministers of State, 
 the declarations of independence, the menaces of an appeal to 
 Heaven, and the people's no longer bearing with their injuries with- 
 out seeking redress, — plainly hinting a downright revolt, — are so 
 criminal and at the same time so daring, that some notice will be 
 taken of it, if the nation is to be aroused by anything." * 
 
 And two days later: "Worthington, Ruggles, Murray, 
 nor any other persons not afraid of Adams and the Boston- 
 eers, would attend. If I could persuade a few to exert them- 
 selves, the point would be carried in the House another 
 session." f It was true that the attendance, at least at the 
 commencement of the past session, had been limited. At 
 first only about forty members were present, as shown by 
 the records. The frequent adjournments interfered with 
 the pursuits of those from distant parts of the Province, and, 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, August 3, 1770. 
 t Hutchinson to Bernard, August 5,. 17 70. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 353 
 
 since the prorogation at the close of June, a full House 
 could not be expected, especially at a season when time was 
 precious in the farming districts. 
 
 " The impudent mandate," as the House called the in- 
 struction to rescind the Circular Letter of 1768, it now 
 appeared by Hutchinson's late reply to the message of the 
 House came from the King himself, as did " every order 
 from the Secretary of State. " Mr. Adams took the ground 
 that instructions even from secretaries of state, if illegal and 
 subversive of charter rights, were open to comment. 
 
 " It may have been," he says, " too much the practice of late for 
 some plantation governors like Verres, either ancient or modern, to 
 oppress and plague the people they were bound to protect, and, per- 
 haps, in obedience to l orders that have come from secretaries of 
 state.' These orders truly were to be treated with as profound 
 veneration, without the least inquiry into their nature and tendency^ 
 as ever a poor deluded Catholic reverenced the decree of Holy 
 Father at Rome. "While such a disposition prevailed, O how or- 
 derly were the people ! how submissive to government ! But when 
 once a statute or the Constitution was pleaded, which it was as dan- 
 gerous for the people to look into as it would be for an Italian, after 
 the example of the noble Bereans, to search the Scriptures, the Sec- 
 retary of State was to be informed that the people were become re- 
 bellious ; as they said of St. Paul for preaching doctrines opposite 
 to the humor of the Jewish masters, that he * turned the world up- 
 side down.' The whole ministerial cabal was summoned, opinions 
 were called for and taken, and, however ludicrous, to say the best 
 of them, those opinions were, if the people did not swallow them 
 down as law and reason, they were told that the freedom they used 
 with the characters of great men, forsooth, * would bring dishonor 
 upon them ' ; and standing armies were sent to convince them of the 
 reasonableness of these opinions ! * 
 
 During the summer, the non-importation agreements had 
 been observed with less stringency than before. Throughout 
 the continent, with the exception of New York, as the agita- 
 
 * "A Chatterer," in the Boston. Gazette, Aug. 20, 1770. 
 vol. I. 23 
 
354 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept. 
 
 tion of that particular topic ceased or had temporarily given 
 place to more exciting events, the importations had been to 
 some extent renewed; and even in New England, where, 
 perhaps, a more rigid observance was looked for than else- 
 where, they had amounted to nearly half as much as usual.* 
 The hardships of a union which was not universally kept 
 finally had its effect in New York, where the agreement was 
 broken, though not without a close contest among the mer- 
 chants ; and in July large orders went to England for all 
 kinds of merchandise, excepting the article of tea, upon 
 which the duty was still maintained. Abhorrence at this 
 conduct was at first manifested in America ; but in England, 
 where the Ministry, and especially Lord North, had expected 
 such a result, the joy was unbounded. The merchants con- 
 sidered it as the renewal of commercial intercourse and per- 
 haps the first step towards a permanent reconciliation. 
 
 The apparent change in public opinion, at least among 
 the merchants in Boston, was watched with exultation by 
 the loyalists, who regarded it as the earnest of still further 
 successes. The defection, in different parts of the coun- 
 try, on the non-importation scheme, was supposed to have 
 been caused by emissaries of the Ministry, and for a while 
 the plan succeeded but too well. But even while the action 
 of the New York merchants was producing a commotion 
 throughout the continent, an order had arrived in Boston 
 marking the beginning of martial law in Massachusetts, and 
 the commencement of the system of measures which showed 
 that the Ministry were now convinced that the Colonists 
 were aiming at independence, and would not be satisfied 
 with the mere abstract rights for which they had been con- 
 tending. That this supposition on the part of government 
 was ill founded was as true as that Hutchinson and the 
 crown officers had been unwearying in their efforts to poison 
 the minds of men in England against the Americans. With 
 the exception of Samuel Adams, who, from the arrival of 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 365, 366. 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 355 
 
 the troops in the fall of 1768, had made American Independ- 
 ence the one aim of his life, none of the leaders nor the peo- 
 ple themselves were prepared for or desired a separation from 
 the mother country.* But the idea had been fast gaining 
 ground in England, and decisive measures were now to be 
 used. 
 
 An order had been adopted by the King in Council, in 
 July, which made Boston Harbor " the rendezvous of all 
 ships stationed in North America,' ' while the fortress was to 
 be garrisoned by regular troops, and put into a respectable 
 state of defence.f The Lieutenant-Governor now received 
 instructions from General Gage to deliver Castle William to 
 Colonel Dalrymple, — : a manifest violation of the charter of 
 the Province, which expressly provided that the Castle and 
 forts should be in command of the Governor ; and moreover 
 the Castle had been built, repaired, and garrisoned solely 
 at the expense of the Province. So unparalleled was the 
 usurpation, that when the order arrived, Hutchinson, with 
 all his supple servility to arbitrary mandates, hesitated as to 
 his course in the matter 4 The transfer however was made. 
 The particulars of this affair cannot be more plainly narrated 
 than was done in the letter of Hutchinson himself, written a 
 few days after the Castle had been surrendered. 
 
 " The King's order for the withdrawal of the garrison from the 
 Castle came to hand by express Saturday, the 8th, towards even- 
 ing. I kept the express that night in my house at Milton, and sent 
 a servant to the Castle for Dalrymple to come to me early the next 
 morning. We then settled this point, — that nothing should be done 
 which could infer my giving up the right which the Governor has 
 by commission and charter, to the ordering in general all forts within 
 the Province ; and I was to write what was necessary to the Gen- 
 eral upon this subject. We then agreed to meet early the next 
 morning at the Secretary's house in Boston. I there gave him an 
 order to Phillips to take off the sentries in the pay of the Prov- 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 192. t Bancroft, VI. 369. 
 
 t Hutchinson to General Gage, Sept. 9, 1770. 
 
356 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept. 
 
 ince, and to admit such of the regulars as Colonel Dalrymple should 
 direct. 
 
 " As soon as Dalrymple had left the town I went to Council, and 
 having cleared the chamber of the clerks, &c, I enjoined the mem- 
 bers secrecy upon their oaths, until they should be dismissed or I 
 should discharge them. I then directed the order of his Majesty in 
 Council to be read to them, and read myself that part of my Lord 
 Hillsborough's letter which required me immediately to put that 
 part of the order which concerned me in execution. I told them I 
 did not need their advice, whether to obey the King's order or not, 
 but I thought so much respect was due to them as to let them know 
 it before it was made public ; as it soon must be by the execution 
 of it. They were all struck when they heard the order. Pitts said, 
 perhaps it was executed already. I made no reply. It was not 
 suggested that I could refuse obedience, but I was asked whether, 
 by charter, the command of the Castle was not with me. I told 
 them I should give up no right which they had by charter. The 
 Governor was to commit the custody and government of forts to 
 such persons as to himself should seem meet. It now seemed meet 
 to me to commit the Castle to Colonel Dalrymple, to be garrisoned 
 by the regulars. What induced me to this, I was not liable to be 
 questioned or called to account for. There was then considerable 
 debate about the arms, ammunition, &c, which some thought ought 
 to be removed. Of this, I told them, I was the sole judge. When- 
 ever they were wanted for his Majesty's service, I should employ 
 them. After about two hours, about one o'clock, I released them 
 from their obligation to secrecy, and dismissed them, and my car- 
 riage being at the door, I went immediately to the Neck, where I 
 had ordered my barge to be ready. 
 
 "As soon as I came to the Castle, I went into Phillips's room, who 
 could not have been more affected under sentence of death, and the 
 whole garrison was in tears. I sent for the keys ; and Colonel Dal- 
 rymple coming up to the state-room, attended by his officers, I deliv- 
 ered them to him, and committed to him the custody and government 
 of the Castle, by virtue of the power and authority given me by his 
 Majesty's commission to govern the Province according to charter, 
 and in obedience to his Majesty's command signified to me, &c. 
 
 " I went in the evening to Milton, where I spent the next day, 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 357 
 
 being Tuesday ; but on Wednesday morning I had repeated mes- 
 sages to acquaint me with the rage many people were in. That 
 Adams, in particular, was inflaming the minds of the people, de- 
 claring that I had broken the charter by giving up the Gastle ; and 
 it was reported that I had been waylaid, and was missed on my 
 return from the Castle, and many other threatening speeches were 
 brought to me ; and in the afternoon my brother vehemently pressed 
 my going to the Castle and sending my children to town ; and the 
 Secretary and Treasurer, who were with him, though not alike ap- 
 prehensive of danger, thought it best. I had before recovered my 
 papers, and in the evening I took boat at Dorchester, two or three 
 miles from my house, and went to the Castle ; and you will believe 
 I could not help thinking of you and my passage to the same place 
 five years before. I went the next day to town upon some ordinary 
 business of Council, and returned in the evening to the Castle, assign- 
 ing this reason, that it was necessary to have a full inventory of the 
 stores, ammunition, arms, &c, and tarried until Saturday, receiving 
 intelligence from time to time of the state of the town. 
 
 " There happened during this time to be a very grand meeting of 
 merchants and tradesmen upon the subject of importation, when Ad- 
 ams made an attempt to inflame them, declaring I had given up the 
 Castle and would give up the charter ; but some of the merchants 
 declared that was not the business of the meeting, and repeatedly 
 stopped him from going on. This, my friends thought, was a sort 
 of trial of the strength of the faction, and that this incendiary would 
 not be able to accomplish his purpose." * 
 
 This letter is an interesting narrative of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor's own part in the transaction, and in that respect 
 bears truth on its face ; but it displays the nervous coward- 
 ice of the man who was continually agitated with the fear 
 of personal harm, when nothing was further from the inten- 
 tions of the people. Their forbearance had been signally 
 demonstrated after the recent Massacre, when law asserted 
 its supremacy over an exasperated populace. 
 
 Another trait in the letter is the ill-concealed desire of 
 self-laudation in the writer, whose anxiety to shine as a reso- 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, Sept. 15, 1770. 
 
358 • LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept., Oct. 
 
 lute and determined officer is apparent. He knew that Ber- 
 nard showed his letters to Lord Hillsborough, who in turn 
 submitted them to the inspection of the King. His darling 
 ambition was to receive his commission as Governor of the 
 Province, and his letters were all adroitly tinged with the 
 coloring which he conceived suited to that end. The har- 
 angues by Samuel Adams were founded in justice ; and 
 whether the reports of his inflaming the minds of the people 
 were true or not, it was time that the public should be 
 awake to this fatal stab at their liberties. The seizure of 
 the Castle was the first step in the system of armed coer- 
 cion. Samuel Adams saw in it another approach towards 
 the goal for which his soul longed ; for, to his imagination, 
 the dawning tints of American Independence were already 
 discernible in the political horizon. 
 
 During the excitement produced by this act, the Legislature 
 met at Cambridge, to which place it had been adjourned for 
 September. A committee, with Mr. Adams among the num- 
 ber, immediately waited upon the Lieutenant-Governor, and 
 desired him to move the General Court to Boston. A day 
 of solemn fasting, prayer, and humiliation was appointed and 
 observed, and thence, until the close of October, the House 
 and Council were engaged with Hutchinson in lengthy dis- 
 cussions on the late surrender of the Castle to the royal 
 troops. On the 13th, the House, in a message, desired the 
 Lieutenant-Governor to inform them whether he still held 
 command of Castle William. Hutchinson answered, that in 
 withdrawing a garrison which had been paid by the Prov- 
 ince, and substituting one paid by the King, in pursuance , 
 of instructions from him, no part of the charter rights of the 
 Province had been given up. The House replied in the lan- 
 guage of their committee, of which Samuel Adams was 
 chairman : — 
 
 u This answer appears to the House to be somewhat equivocal. 
 For your Honor may possibly differ with the House in your con- 
 struction of the clause in the charter which we have recited. By 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 359 
 
 this clause, the Governor of the Province is undoubtedly vested 
 with the command of that fortress. Your Honor may have been 
 instructed to transfer that command to his Majesty's chief military 
 officer in America or any other person. If that be the case, the 
 power which is vested in you by the charter is superseded by in- 
 structions. A doubt in the House, respecting a matter of so very 
 interesting a nature to the Province, is the occasion of this repeated 
 message to your Honor, to request that you would, in an explicit 
 manner, assure us whether you still hold the command of his Maj- 
 esty's Castle William."* 
 
 To this the Lieutenant-Governor again returned an equiv- 
 ocal answer, in much the same dictatorial and cavalier 
 terms he had used to the Council in breaking the news of 
 his instructions. The House seeing that every legal effort 
 to inquire into their rights was to be hopelessly repulsed, 
 ceased to press the subject ; but the Council made one more 
 effort to obtain an authentic copy of Hillsborough's letter 
 concerning the Province, or Council, in order to " vindicate 
 their character, and to prevent any infringement on the 
 charter rights of the Province.' ' The Governor replied that 
 he was " strictly forbidden to give a copy of said letter, 
 report, or order, or even to mention them, by speech or mes- 
 sage, to either House." The Council then prepared a long 
 and able report respecting the misrepresentations concern- 
 ing the Board made to the Ministry ; and by vote this was 
 forwarded to Mr. Bollan, their agent in London, together 
 with a full statement of the seizure of the Castle and other 
 infringements on the public liberties. 
 
 Finding that nothing was to be gained by the ordinary 
 methods of legislative inquiry of the Lieutenant-Governor as 
 to the principles involved in the change at the Castle, Mr. 
 Adams resorted to the press, and discussed the subject in a 
 series of articles. One of these, after referring to a previous 
 essay on the same topic, continues : — 
 
 "In imitation of some of my brethren, I solemnly warned my 
 
 * Journal of the House, Oct. 23, 1770. 
 
360 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 readers, by way of application, of the danger of certain instructions, 
 or, as they were termed, ? ministerial mandates,' we had about that 
 time been told of, which appeared to me to be equal to that of reve- 
 nue acts or standing armies to enforce them. I little thought that 
 these instructions or mandates, call them what you will, would, in 
 their effects, have made so rapid a progress in so short a time, as I 
 find they have, since the present administration began. For I per- 
 ceive that our House of Representatives have plainly told the Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor that * merely in obedience to instructions, he has 
 made an absolute surrender of Castle William to his Majesty's 
 forces, with a most express resignation of his power of garrisoning 
 the same to Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple.' And, to prove it, they 
 recite his Honor's orders, under his own hand, to Captain Phillips to 
 deliver that fort into the hands of the commanding officer of his 
 Majesty's regular forces, then upon the island, to be garrisoned by 
 such detachment as he should order ! To this, indeed, his Honor 
 says, * there is nothing in the orders I gave to Captain Phillips 
 which does not perfectly consist with my retaining the command 
 of the Castle, and my right to exchange the present garrison for the 
 former, or any other, as I shall think proper.' But I must confess, 
 it is mysterious to me how his Honor can retain the right to dismiss 
 Colonel Dalrymple and his detachment when he pleases, or ex- 
 change the present garrison for any other, as he shall think proper, 
 after having delivered the fort, without any reservation, into the 
 hands of Colonel Dalrymple, in consequence of express orders 
 from another, to be garrisoned by such detachment as he shall order. 
 I am not so certain that his Honor, who pays a sacred regard to 
 instructions, will easily be persuaded to exchange the present gar- 
 rison for the former or any other, however necessary such exchange 
 may be, without first having leave from the Right Honorable the 
 Earl of Hillsborough, as full and express as the orders he received 
 from his Lordship to place the present garrison there. Others may 
 reconcile an absolute delegation of power, without any reserve, by 
 the express orders of a superior, with a right retained in the person 
 who is thus ordered to delegate, to exercise the same power when 
 he pleases. I have not that intuitive knowledge which some men are 
 said to be blessed with, and, therefore, it will not be thought strange 
 if I do not see clearly through this mystery in politics. The House 
 further observe that, * as his Honor has heretofore repeatedly de- 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 361 
 
 clared that he has no authority over the King's troops in the Prov- 
 ince, it was absurd to suppose he could have command of a fort thus 
 unreservedly surrendered to, and in full possession of, such troops,' 
 which appears to be a just conclusion. For can any one believe 
 that Colonel Dalrymple will hold himself obliged to march the 
 King's troops under his command out of that fort, in obedience to 
 the orders of one who has no authority over them ? 
 
 " Think not, Messrs. Printers, that I am now finding fault ; for if 
 his Honor has, ' in this instance, divested himself of a power of gov- 
 erning which is vested in him by the charter for the safety of the 
 Province,' as wiser heads than mine have determined, who will dare 
 to find fault ? It was done by virtue of instructions, and we are 
 told that instructions from a minister of state come mediately from 
 
 the K ; and his Honor knows that instructions, whatever ' coarse 
 
 epithet' may have been bestowed upon them, are 'founded in very 
 wise reasons,' and ought not to be treated with contempt. Holt, 
 Somers, and others, who near eighty years ago laid their heads 
 together to form our charter, were certainly wise and great men ; 
 and King William, who gave it, was as certainly a wise and good 
 
 king. But does not the wisdom of my Lord of H h far exceed 
 
 theirs ? Pray, does not every measure which he has advised fully 
 evince this, to the conviction of all but a few factious fellows here 
 and there ? The friends of government are willing to submit what 
 judgment they have to such profound wisdom ; and what if our old 
 fashion charter should be pared down by instructions, and a power 
 
 or two of the G r, vested in him for the safety of the people, 
 
 should even be annihilated by them, we* are only to believe there are 
 very wise reasons for it, and we shall find that all is for the best." 
 
 Mr. Adams then speaks of the depositions taken of persons 
 who were present at the surrender of the Castle, and dis- 
 cusses, at some length, the right of the Lieutenant-Governor 
 to deliver the fort in obedience to instructions violating the 
 charter. 
 
 " I may venture to say," he continues, " there has not been an 
 instance of this kind since the date of our charter, and in the opin- 
 ion of judicious and unprejudiced persons, it is a matter of very 
 great moment. Our enemies may now have the pleasure of seeing 
 
362 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct., 1770. 
 
 the principal fort and key of the Province in the hands of persons 
 who have not the least dependence upon it ; the capital environed 
 with ships of war; the General Assembly removed from its an- 
 cient seat into the country ; and the College, which has been liber- 
 ally supported by the people for the education of our youth, has 
 been made a seat of government, under a pretence, as it is said, of a 
 prerogative in the Crown to take up any public buildings, — all by 
 virtue of instructions, which we are implicitly to believe are founded 
 in wise reasons ; while the people throughout the Province, whether 
 they are sensible of it or not, are every day contributing to a reve- 
 nue raised by the act of a Legislature in which they are not, and 
 cannot be, represented, and against their most earnest petitions and 
 warmest remonstrances! Surely these are not the blessings of 
 
 adm n, for which we are this week to return to Almighty God 
 
 our unfeigned thanks." * 
 
 *"A Chatterer," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 3, 1770. The last sentence 
 refers to a public fast or thanksgiving which had been proclaimed. 
 
CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 Correspondence with Arthur Lee. — Franklin and Lee. — The Non-importation 
 Agreements broken. — Decline in the Opposition to the Measures of Parlia- 
 ment. — Death of Deberdt. — Franklin elected Agent. — Adams drafts a Let- 
 ter of Instructions from the Assembly to Dr. Franklin, and proposes Inter-col- 
 onial Committees of Correspondence. — Correspondence with Stephen Sayre, 
 Dr. Lucas, and John Wilkes. — Massachusetts becomes quiet. — Hutchin- 
 » son receives his Commission as Governor. — Meeting of the Legislature 
 and renewed Controversies. — Adams effects a Change in Political Lan- 
 guage to undermine the Idea of Parliamentary Supremacy. — The Govern- 
 or's Salary to be made independent of the Legislature, and payable by the 
 Crown. — The House desire Information, and are peremptorily prorogued. 
 
 It was in this year that Arthur Lee began to correspond 
 with Mr. Adams. He was a young lawyer, who, leaving his 
 native Virginia at an early age, had been educated at the 
 University of Edinburgh. In 1766, locating himself at Lon- 
 don, he commenced the study of the law in the Temple. He 
 became the intimate friend of Sir William Jones ; and as 
 much by his character, talents, and literary acquirements, as 
 by his connection with the distinguished family whose name 
 he bore, gained a wide influence in England and America in 
 the cause of freedom. Mr. Adams, always desirous of keep- 
 ing in communication with gentlemen abroad whose sympa- 
 thies were with the Americans, applied to Mr. Lee through 
 a mutual friend, — Mr. Stephen Sayre, — and his suggestion 
 was immediately accepted. The correspondence was con- 
 tinued through the Revolution ; and how faithfully it was 
 maintained is shown by their printed letters. Valuable 
 information and hints passed between them on all important 
 public matters for a period of thirteen years.* 
 
 The death of Dennys Deberdt, who had long and ably 
 served the Assembly as their agent, brought on the election 
 
 * See the correspondence from 1771 to 1783, in R. H. Lee's Life of Arthur Lee. 
 
364 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 of a successor ; and the question coming up on October 23d, 
 Mr. Adams and about one third of the House * voted for 
 Arthur Lee ; but Benjamin Franklin, then in London, 
 received the majority of suffrages, and became thenceforth 
 the advocate of Massachusetts in England, where he was 
 already acting for other Provinces. Arthur Lee was ap- 
 pointed his substitute in case of his death or absence. 
 Franklin was ardently desirous of a reconciliation.! Re- 
 garding the idea of a revolt and civil war with reluctance, 
 his enlarged views and boundless benevolence turned away 
 from the thought of a dismemberment of the nation. It is 
 probable that the choice of Dr. Franklin did not entirely 
 satisfy Mr. Adams. If he had ever known Franklin person- 
 ally, it was many years before, when the present issues 
 had not arisen. He was not prepared to admit that even 
 Franklin's sincerity of purpose and wisdom were the only 
 requisites to face the determined oppressors of his country, 
 and he may have thought that the official positions of father 
 and son, — the one being Deputy-Postmaster of America, 
 and the other the royal Governor of New Jersey, — together 
 with Franklin's constant desire to restore harmony, might 
 incline him to concede too much to the demands of govern- 
 ment. Arthur Lee soon began to entertain suspicions of 
 Franklin, and communicated his reasons to Samuel Adams 
 during the next year, J and, however ill-founded these opin- 
 ions afterwards proved to be, they probably added to such 
 doubts as might have arisen in the mind of Mr. Adams, 
 whose anxiety in the cause made him at times over-cautious 
 in whom to confide. But he soon became a warm admirer 
 of Franklin, and a perfect understanding existed between 
 them thereafter. Their mutual friend, Samuel Cooper, 
 writing to Franklin on this subject, says : — 
 
 * Samuel Adams to S. Sayre, Nov. 16, 1770. Cushing appears to have 
 favored the choice of Sayre. See his letter to Sayre, Nov. 6, 1770. 
 
 t Compare Grahame's History, II. 426, 461, 462, and Franklin's Works, 
 edited by Sparks, I. 378-390; V. 1-82. 
 
 X Arthur Lee to Samuel Adams, June 10, 1771. 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 365 
 
 " I have the pleasure to find that a confidence in your abilities and 
 principles is far from being diminished in our House of Commons, 
 and to assure you that one of the members for this town, Mr. Sam- 
 uel Adams, a correspondent of Dr. Lee's, who had the chief hand in 
 a letter from the House to you, which I perceive by your reply gave 
 you uneasiness, has lately expressed the warmest esteem for you as 
 an important and thorough friend to the rights of America. This 
 gentleman I regard for his uncommon zeal and activity in support 
 of these rights ; but I have repeatedly found occasion, in a friendly 
 manner, to blame his excessive jealousy in a cause peculiary dear 
 to him ; which has sometimes led him to treat not in the kindest 
 manner some of its faithful advocates, and particularly Governor 
 Pownall."* 
 
 Not only in private conversation, but in the press, Mr. 
 Adams afterwards paid deserved tribute to the " penetrating 
 genius " and " extended views " of Franklin.f Through the 
 Revolution they worked and corresponded together, and early 
 in the present century there remained some of Franklin's 
 letters to Samuel Adams, which have been carelessly de- 
 stroyed or lost with other valuable papers. 
 
 The disaffection throughout the continent in regard to 
 the non-importation agreement was an increasing source of 
 pleasure to the loyalists in Boston, and of equal mortification 
 to the stanch friends of liberty. During the summer, soon 
 after the first symptoms of breaking the compact appeared, 
 there had been a meeting of merchants in Boston, at which 
 it was voted to tear the yielding letter of the New York mer- 
 chants in pieces and throw it to the winds. But, as the 
 year wore away, the observance of the agreement, even in 
 
 * Cooper to Franklin, Nov. 10, 1770 (Franklin's Works, VIII. 99). This 
 allusion to Pownall may refer to a town meeting held in July of this year, and 
 mentioned by Hutchinson in a letter to Commodore Hood, July 11, 1770. 
 He says : "At a meeting yesterday the spirit rose very high. Independence 
 was a word much used. They expressed also resentment against Pownall for 
 advising them to avoid severity in their pursuit against Preston." 
 
 t Samuel Adams, in the Boston Gazette for Sept. 20, 1773; and Bancroft 
 VI. 469. 
 
366 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor. 
 
 Massachusetts, fell rapidly away, until it seems to have been 
 generally disregarded.* Hutchinson had predicted this, and 
 wrote as early as July : — 
 
 " If Philadelphia should follow the example of New York, I think 
 Boston will hold out no longer. If it should not, I doubt whether 
 there is firmness enough in the merchants to oppose the populace. 
 The tea will be supplied. There will not be a pound less imported, 
 but it will come from Holland instead of England." + 
 
 And a month later, he wrote : — 
 
 "The distresses of the town of Boston have not yet opened its 
 eyes. They do not consider that it is only a few of the merchants 
 in England who are losers by their non-importation, and that the 
 tradesmen and manufacturers do not feel it. The infamous Moli- 
 neux and Young, with Cooper, Adams, and two or three more, still 
 influence the mob, who threaten all who import ; but it seems im- 
 possible that it should hold out much longer. Many, who at first 
 were zealous among the merchants against importing, are now as 
 zealous for it." $ 
 
 In a few months the Lieutenant-Governor s surmise was 
 verified. Samuel Adams did not flag in his exertions to 
 stem the tide, but they were to no purpose. In November, 
 he wrote to a correspondent in Charleston, South Carolina, 
 in reply to a letter on public affairs : — 
 
 "The non-importation agreement, since the defection of New 
 York, is entirely at an end. From the beginning I have been ap- 
 prehensive that it would fall short of our wishes. It was continued 
 much beyond my expectation. There are here, and I suppose every- 
 where, men interested enough to render such a plan abortive. 
 Through the influence of the Commissioners and Tories here, Boston 
 has been made to appear in an odious light, but I would not have 
 you to believe it to be the true light. The merchants, in general, 
 
 * Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Jan. 26, 1770 (Massachusetts Historical 
 Society's Collections, 4th Series, IV. 457). 
 
 t Hutchinson to Lord Hillsborough, July 26, 1770. 
 t Hutchinson to Bernard, Aug. 28, 1770. 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 367 
 
 have punctually abode by their agreement, to their very great pri- 
 vate loss. Some few have found means to play a dishonorable game 
 without detection, though the utmost pains have been taken. The 
 body of the people remained firm until the merchants receded. I 
 am very sorry the agreement was ever entered into, as it has turned 
 out unfortunate. Let us then even forget that there has been such 
 a futile combination, and awaken our attention to our first grand 
 object. Let the Colonies still convince their implacable enemies 
 that they are united in constitutional principles, and are resolved 
 they will not be slaves ; that their dependence is not upon mer- 
 chants, or any particular class of men, nor is their dernier resort a 
 resolution barely to withold commerce with the nation that would 
 subject them to despotic power." * 
 
 Though many desponded at this crisis, Mr. Adams was 
 only nerved to still greater efforts, and the moment his exer- 
 tions had brought about another opportunity, he was pre- 
 pared to revive the scheme, which he ultimately did with 
 perfect success. " I knew," said Andrew Eliot, " our mer- 
 chants, &c, could not hold out much longer, and therefore 
 thought it best when the Parliament repealed all the duties, 
 except that on tea, to put on a show of good humor, and to 
 import everything but that article. This would have saved 
 appearances, whereas now I fear we shall be thought entirely 
 vanquished. " f But this was not the policy of Samuel Adams 
 and his inflexible friends, who saw clearly the danger of 
 receding in the least from the original principle. An ac- 
 knowledgment of the right to tax one article was virtually 
 acknowledging the right to tax all, and would ignobly have 
 terminated the contest upon which the liberties of a conti- 
 nent were staked. 
 
 The Legislature continued sitting through October and 
 November. The Province was gradually growing more 
 quiet, and a less determined spirit was manifested than had 
 been shown in the previous session. The temporary calm 
 
 * Samuel Adams to Peter Timothy, Nov. 21, 1770. 
 t Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Jan. 26, 1771. 
 
368 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 which was settling over political affairs boded no good to the 
 public liberties. The project of producing divisions, by ar- 
 raying the Colonies against each other, was already started 
 by the Ministry.* 
 
 " It is the Machiavelian doctrine," said Mr. Adams, as he pene- 
 trated their arts, " divide et impera, divide and rule. But the peo- 
 ple of this Province and of this continent are too wise, and they are 
 lately become too experienced to be catched in such a snare. While 
 their common rights are invaded, they will consider themselves as 
 embarked in the same bottom ; and that union which they have 
 hitherto maintained against all the efforts of their more powerful 
 common enemies will still cement " them.f 
 
 But not only this danger of division threatened the cause. 
 The breach of the non-importation scheme pointed to still 
 greater concessions. " New York," Eliot wrote, " throws 
 the blame on us, and accuses this town of treachery. The 
 zeal of the populace, by which they had been restrained a 
 great while, gradually abated. There are many of them 
 uneasy, and grumble, but all is quiet. There is no disposi- 
 tion to mobs, none are tarred or feathered ! the Commission- 
 ers are not molested, Vindex writes, Philantro [sic] is about 
 to write. The Colonies are divided and jealous of each 
 other." $ — "I hope," wrote Hutchinson, "for more ease, 
 at least for a season, and that some intemperate spirits who 
 have been the cause of this Colony's making so conspicuous 
 a figure, and taking so great a share in the disorders of 
 America, are losing their influence, but I may be mis- 
 taken." § The removal of the troops from the town had 
 " smoothed the way for conciliation," || and the quiet which 
 
 * Barry's History of Massachusetts, II. 435. 
 
 t "Vindex/' in the Boston Gazette for Dec. 31, 1770. The "Machiavel- 
 ian doctrine " alluded to seems to have made an impression on Hutchinson. 
 See his History, III. 331, note. 
 
 X Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Jan. 26, 1771. 
 
 § Hutchinson to Bernard, October, 1770. 
 
 U Bancroft, VI. 350. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 369 
 
 reigned in the Province might have promoted such meas- 
 ures ; but the Ministry still looked towards setting the Colo- 
 nies against each other, and the tax upon tea still remained. 
 In the House, too, the tone was by no means so high as 
 heretofore. In the June session, when the question of pro- 
 ceeding to business, while convened at Cambridge, had come 
 up, ninety-six out of one hundred and two members had 
 voted against proceeding. Now, when only eighty-eight 
 members could be gathered, owing to the frequent proroga- 
 tions, they were more equally divided. At the opening of 
 the session, it was resolved that the House proceed to pub- 
 lic business from absolute necessity only; and Samuel Adams 
 drew up a protest against the " constraint the General 
 Assembly was held under to proceed to business out of the 
 Town-House in Boston." In the records kept by Samuel 
 Adams himself, it appears that, " previous to this deter- 
 mination which involved in it the grand question whether 
 to continue the stand they had made or not, it was moved 
 and ordered that the matter be decided by yeas and nays ; 
 and the members being accordingly called upon seriatim to 
 give their voices, it was carried by fifty-nine to twenty- 
 nine." * This indicates a discussion on this all-important 
 subject ; and that the debate was more than usually exciting 
 may be inferred from the decided style of the notice. The 
 vote shows that the old unanimity did not exist, and that 
 the House was getting weary of the dispute which was led 
 by Mr. Adams. This immovable determination on the one 
 side, and a desire to have done with the dispute and yield 
 the point to the Lieutenant-Governor on the other, continued 
 into the next year, and produced unhappy dissensions in the 
 patriot party, — the stern and stanch Whigs siding with 
 Adams, who eventually carried his point. Samuel Adams 
 during the session was chairman of the important commit- 
 tee " to consider the state of the Province," of which, as we 
 have seen, he had been the leading member for several 
 
 * Boston Gazette for Oct. 15, 1770. 
 vol. i. 24 
 
370 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor. 
 
 years. His name also appears on numerous other commit- 
 tees in connection with those of John Adams, James Warren, 
 Hawley, Pickering, Hancock, Leonard, Heath, and others, 
 whom Hutchinson mentions as particularly active on the 
 popular side.* One of the subjects of controversy between 
 the House and the Governor was the use of the words " in 
 General Court assembled," which the House declared to 
 be necessary to render effectual the acts passed by that 
 body. His Honor took exceptions, and the principal reply 
 of the House, which was written by John Adams, who was 
 chairman of the committee, conclusively establishes the 
 legality and necessity of the words. 
 
 Soon after the appointment of Dr. Franklin, a long and 
 comprehensive letter of instructions was prepared by Mr. 
 Adams, and accepted by the House, denning their views of 
 the condition of public affairs. His original draft, from 
 which the following extracts are taken, f is dated Nov. 6, but 
 probably the material had been previously arranged. Ex- 
 tending over many pages of manuscript, it embodies all the 
 grievances complained of in previous papers, for the re- 
 dress of which they require Franklin's utmost attention and 
 application. The subjects, treated at great length and in 
 detail, include the quartering of troops on the people in a 
 time of profound peace, and the establishment of an uncon- 
 trolled military tyranny ; the policy of arbitrary instruc- 
 tions, violating the charter of the Province ; the removal 
 of the Legislature from Boston ; the secrecy preserved in 
 relation to the intended measures of government, as ordered 
 by the Ministry, thus preventing the Province from knowing 
 who were their accusers or what was alleged against them ; 
 the sending to England of false relations of speeches and 
 proceedings of the Assembly under the Province seal ; the 
 secret examination of witnesses against the people ; and the 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 338. 
 
 t The letter was published, with slight yariations, in the Boston Gazette, 
 July 22, 1771. See Bancroft, VI. 375. 
 
HO.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 371 
 
 total rescinding of some of the most essential clauses of the 
 charter, which " must soon tear up the very foundation of 
 civil government.' l 
 
 The enormous extension of the jurisdiction of the Court 
 of Admiralty is also considered, whereby " the most unrea- 
 sonable and unjust distinction is made between the sub- 
 jects in Britain and America, as though it was designed to 
 exclude us from the least share in that clause of Magna 
 Charta which has for centuries been the noblest bulwark 
 of English liberties, and which cannot be too often repeated, 
 ' No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or deprived of 
 his freehold, or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed, 
 or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed, nor will we pass upon 
 him, nor condemn him, but by the judgment of his peers 
 or the law of the land.' " 
 
 The threatened bestowal by the King of large salaries upon 
 the Attorney-General, Judges, and Governor of the Prov- 
 ince, and the consequent dependence for their support upon 
 the Ministry instead of upon the people, is regarded as a 
 grievance still more aggravated and insupportable. The let- 
 ter asserts that making those officers independent of the 
 Province for their support would introduce an arbitrary 
 administration into the Province and even into the courts 
 of law, and explains how " the Assembly is in all reason 
 sufficiently dependent already upon the Crown," to prove 
 which the course of provincial law-making is fully set forth. 
 
 " Surely," continues the letter, " the Parliament cannot even wish 
 for greater checks, both upon the legislative and executive of a 
 Colony, unless we are to be considered as bastards and not sons. 
 A step further will reduce us to an absolute subjection. If Admin- 
 istration is resolved to continue such measures of severity, the Col- 
 onies will in time consider the mother state as utterly regardless of 
 their welfare. Repeated acts of unkindness on one side may, by 
 degrees, abate the warmth of affection on the other; and a total 
 alienation may succeed to that happy union, harmony, and confi- 
 dence which had before always subsisted and we sincerely wish 
 
372 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 may always subsist. If Great Britain, instead of treating us as 
 their fellow-subjects, shall aim at making us their vassals and slaves, 
 the consequences will be that, although our merchants have receded 
 from their non-importation agreement, yet the body of the people 
 will vigorously endeavor to become independent of the mother coun- 
 try for their supplies, and, sooner than she may be aware of it, may 
 manufacture for themselves. The Colonies, like healthy young sons, 
 may have hitherto been cheerfully building up the parent state ; and 
 how far Great Britain will be affected, if they should be rendered 
 even barely useless to her, is an object which we conceive is at this 
 very juncture worth the attention of a British Parliament. 
 
 "Your own acquaintance with this Province, and your well- 
 known warm attachment to it, will lead you to exert all your 
 powers in its defence ; and as the Council have made choice of Mr. 
 Bollan for their agent, you will no doubt confer with him, and 
 concert such measures as will promote our common interest. Your 
 abilities we greatly confide in ; but if you shall think it for the 
 advantage of the Province to consult with and employ counsel 
 learned in the law, the importance of your agency will be a motive 
 sufficient for us to acquiesce in such expense, on that account, as 
 your own judgment shall dictate to you to be necessary." 
 
 Franklin continued to serve until the commencement of 
 the coercive measures which led to actual hostilities between 
 the two countries, lending his great abilities to the attain- 
 ment of conciliation while a hope of such a result could be 
 entertained, and suffering with equanimity the assaults of 
 falsehood and ribaldry.* Hutchinson afterwards sent the 
 letter, as published in the Boston Gazette, to Pownall, nam- 
 ing Samuel Adams as the author, and denouncing him as 
 the " all in all," — the great incendiary leader of Boston.f 
 
 The next step after the election of an agent was the ap- . 
 pointment of a committee of correspondence to communicate 
 with him and with the Speakers of the several Assemblies.^. 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 490-499. 
 
 t Hutchinson to Pownall, late in July or early in August, 1771. 
 
 J Journal of the House, Nov. 7, 1770. 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 373 
 
 From the very first this plan of joint action on the part of 
 the Colonies had been a favorite idea with Mr. Adams. In 
 1764, he had advised a united application for the redress of 
 grievances, and his Circular Letter in 1768 was a repetition 
 of the same idea. Bradford, the historian, the contemporary 
 of Adams, says : " Mr. Adams procured a vote that the 
 Speaker should correspond with agents in England on the 
 subject of parliamentary claims to legislate for the Colo- 
 nies ; and also with the Legislative Assemblies of the other 
 Colonies." * He says this was in 1768 ; but he evidently 
 refers to the committee now under consideration, as no such 
 corresponding body was appointed earlier. The conclusion 
 that Adams originated this committee is favored by the fact 
 that his draft of the letter of instructions to the agent was 
 prepared before the following motion creating that com- 
 mittee was made in the House : — 
 
 "Upon motion, ordered, that Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hancock, Mr. 
 Hall, Mr. Samuel Adams, and Mr. John Adams be a committee of 
 correspondence to communicate such intelligence as may be neces- 
 sary to the agent and others in Great Britain, and also to the Speak- 
 ers of the several Assemblies through the continent, or to such 
 committee of correspondence as they have or may appoint. Said 
 committee from time to time to report the whole of their corres- 
 pondence to the House of Representatives, and to confer with such 
 committee as the Honorable Board have appointed to correspond 
 with their agent, as far as they shall judge it necessary, t 
 
 The only other letter sent to Franklin during the year 
 was written on the 17th of December, and was acknowledged 
 by him in February, 1771 4 Even if the plan of commu- 
 nicating with the other Assemblies was consummated, none 
 of the letters have been preserved. It is probable, however, 
 
 * Alden Bradford's Biographical Notices of Distinguished Men in New 
 England, p. 22. 
 
 t Journal of the House, Nov. 7, 1770. Barry's Massachusetts, II. 435. 
 John Adams's Works, II. 235. 
 
 X Franklin's Works, edited by Sparks, VII. 501. 
 
374 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 that, by the advice of some, who remembered tne resent- 
 ment occasioned by the Circular Letter of 1768, this part of 
 the duty was not discharged. But if an official communica- 
 tion was thus prevented, Mr. Adams certainly endeavored to 
 supply the omission by his own private correspondence with 
 prominent politicians in the sister Colonies and in England, 
 especially since the non-importation agreements were failing 
 in nearly every part of the country.* Throughout 1771, the 
 popular cause was sustained with less energy than at any 
 time before, and government had sanguine hopes of a speedy 
 pacification of America. Hutchinson, commenting upon the 
 tendencies of this committee, says : — 
 
 " Thus the Governor was wholly excluded from the share which, 
 by the Constitution, was assigned him in all acts of government. 
 Both Council and House of Representatives, by committees, kept 
 an authority in being, when, by prorogation and perhaps dissolu- 
 tion, their own powers were at an end. Nothing could be more un- 
 constitutional and unwarrantable. It was not in the power of the 
 Lieutenant-Governor to prevent such votes of Council or House. 
 They passed suddenly, without previous notice of the intention. 
 Government in England might well be alarmed. The Governor 
 was instructed not to consent to any votes for paying such agents 
 for their services, and when their appointments were offered to be 
 registered at the public offices they were refused. They appeared, 
 notwithstanding, as agents, were heard and attended to on many 
 occasions." f 
 
 This was the first committee of correspondence appointed 
 in America, and set the example for that extraordinary sys- 
 tem, which was eventually to organize the continent for 
 resistance, and after the Be volution was imitated in Eng- 
 land for the redress of grievances. J 
 
 * New York alone until now had been perfectly true to its engagement. 
 Bancroft, VI. 365. 
 
 t Hutchinson's History, III. 318. For Samuel Adams's proceedings, in 
 relation to a special agency for a limited term, proposed by the Governor, see 
 Hutchinson to Lord Dartmouth, October, 1773, Chap. XXVII. post. 
 
 X Francis Dana to Elbridge Gerry, Paris, Feb. 26, 1780. John to Samuel 
 
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 375 
 
 " Our House of Representatives," wrote Mr. Adams to a friend 
 in South Carolina, " have appointed a committee to correspond with 
 our friends in the other Colonies, and American manufactures 
 should be the constant theme." * 
 
 Shortly before the adjournment, the House made one 
 more effort, through a committee of which Samuel Adams 
 was chairman, to draw the Lieutenant-Governor forth from 
 his determined silence on the surrender of the Castle ; but 
 his Honor gave them no satisfactory reply, and the subject 
 was not renewed. Almost the last act of the session was to 
 address the Lieutenant-Governor, through a committee of 
 which Samuel Adams was chairman, desiring his Honor to 
 place the militia on a better footing, to fill the vacancies in 
 the several regiments, and revive military discipline.! A 
 bill to that effect was objected to by Hutchinson, and the 
 Legislature was then adjourned to the next spring. 
 
 Mr. Adams's means of obtaining information were not 
 limited to America, as may be seen by the following extract 
 from a letter received by him, about this time, from the hon- 
 est-hearted and patriotic London banker, Stephen Sayre, af- 
 terwards elected Sheriff of London by the supporters of the 
 Bill of Rights.^ 
 
 " My worthy friend, Mr. Richard Gary, advises me that he has 
 reason to believe that you would not be displeased with such intel- 
 ligence as I might sometimes give you relative to public affairs, and 
 confirms me in my former opinion, that you highly deserve the con- 
 fidence of every friend to liberty. I have already done myself the 
 honor of addressing you as the Father of America ; and if you wish 
 to know the most secret transactions of your enemies here, I shall 
 
 Adams, Paris, Feb. 23, 1780. Sparks's Diplomatic Correspondence, III. 383. 
 J. T. Austin's Life of Gerry, I. 299, 300. 
 
 * Samuel Adams to Peter Timothy, Nov. 21, 1770. 
 
 t The original draft of this and the preceding paper are preserved in the 
 hand-writing of Samuel Adams. Bradford's State Papers, pp. 287 - 289. 
 
 f Arthur Lee to Samuel Adams, June 23, 1773. For facts relative to Mr. 
 Sayre, who was a native of Virginia, see W. B. Reed's Biography of Joseph 
 Beed, I. 27 j John Adams's Works, II. 325. 
 
376 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov., Dec. 
 
 be proud of the opportunity to inform you in every particular as 
 soon as matters transpire. I shall never deceive you in matters of 
 fact, or hint suspicions without the best foundation. " * 
 
 To this Mr. Adams replied : — 
 
 "The people here are indeed greatly tenacious of their rights, 
 and I hope in God they will ever firmly maintain them. Every 
 attempt to enforce the plan of despotism will certainly irritate them. 
 While they have a sense of freedom, they will oppose the efforts of 
 tyranny ; and although the mother country may at present boast of 
 their superiority over them, she may perhaps find the want of that su- 
 periority when, by repeated provocations, she shall have totally lost 
 their affections. All good men surely wish for a candid harmony be- 
 tween the two countries. Great Britain can lose nothing which she 
 ought to retain by restoring the Americans to their former state, 
 and they, I am satisfied, will no further contend. While the struggle 
 continues, manufactures will still increase in America, in spite of all 
 efforts to prevent it ; and how far Great Britain will be injured by 
 it ought certainly to be considered on your side of the Atlantic." 
 
 To the same person, a week later, he says of Hutchinson : — 
 
 " Aut CcBsar, aut nuttus, is inscribed on the heads of some men 
 who have neither Caesar's learning nor courage. Caesar three times 
 refused the crown ; his heart and his tongue evidently gave each 
 other the lie. Our modern great man would fain have it thought 
 that he has refused a government which his soul is every day pant- 
 ing after, and without the possession of which his ambition and lust 
 of power will perpetually torment him. It has been his principle 
 from a boy, that mankind are to be governed by the discerning few, 
 and it has been ever since his ambition to be the hero of the few. 
 
 " It is the business of America to take care of herself; her situa- 
 tion, as you justly observe, depends upon her own virtue. Arts and 
 manufactures, aided by commerce, have raised Great Britain to its 
 present pitch of grandeur. America will avail herself of imitating 
 her. We have already seen her happy, and, as we have a prospect 
 of war, I hope I may safely tell you that our young men begin to 
 be ambitious of making themselves perfect masters of the art mili- 
 
 * Stephen Sayre to Samuel Adams, Sept. 18, 1770. 
 
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 377 
 
 tart/. Amidst the innumerable evils which we complain of from 
 the bad policy of your Ministry, this is the happy effect of Britain's 
 transplanting arms into America. " * 
 
 Into whatever insignificance John Wilkes might have 
 sunk, had he not been buoyed above obscurity by perse- 
 cution, he was at this time the embodiment of constitu- 
 tional liberty in England. Disfranchised without color of 
 law, burdened with fines, and outlawed, he yet held in his 
 keeping the principles of representative government. He 
 had at the close of 1770 so far triumphed as to be elected 
 an alderman, and the sturdy Londoners considered him as 
 their political champion, and by their support expressed an 
 honest abhorrence of titled tyranny. In America, the name 
 of Wilkes, surrounded by the halo of patriotism, was the fa- 
 vorite toast. The enthusiasm felt for him, if less excited 
 than in England, was equally deep seated. He was shortly 
 to become Lord Mayor of London, and was now the most 
 conspicuous person in the kingdom ; and viewing his posi- 
 tion from this stand-point, he was truly a representative 
 man. A people, seeing their dearest privileges trampled 
 under foot, had rallied to the support of their liberties 
 struck down in him. The following letter from Samuel 
 Adams expresses the sympathy felt in America for the 
 principles supported in the person of Wilkes. 
 
 Boston, Dec. 27, 1770. 
 Sir, — 
 
 Having been repeatedly solicited by my friend, Mr. W. P., I 
 
 embrace this opportunity of making my particular compliments to 
 
 you in a letter which he will deliver. My own inclination has 
 
 coincided with his request; for I should pride myself much in a 
 
 correspondence with a gentleman of whom I have long entertained 
 
 so great an opinion. No character appears with a stronger lustre 
 
 in my mind, than that of a man who nobly perseveres in the cause 
 
 of public liberty and virtue through the rage of persecution. Of 
 
 this you have had a large portion, but I dare say you are made 
 
 * To Stephen Sayre, Nov. 16 and 23, 1770. 
 
378 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 better by it ; at least, I will venture to say that the sharpest perse- 
 cution for the sake of one's country can never prove a real injury to 
 an honest man. 
 
 In this little part of the world, late happy in its obscurity, the 
 elysium to which patriots were formerly wont to make their peace- 
 ful retreat, even here the stern tyrant has of late lifted up his iron 
 rod, and he makes his incessant claim as lord of our soil. But I 
 have a firm persuasion in my mind, that in every struggle this 
 country will approve herself as glorious in defending and maintain- 
 ing her freedom as she has heretofore been happy in enjoying it. 
 
 Were I a native and an inhabitant of Britain, and capable of 
 affording the least advice, it would be to confirm the Colonists in 
 the fullest exercise of their rights, and even to explore for them 
 every possible avenue of trade which should not interfere with her 
 own manufactures. From the Colonies, when she is worn with age, 
 she is to expect renewed strength. But the field I am now enter- 
 ing is too large for the present. May Heaven forbid that it should 
 yet be truly said of Great Britain, Quern Deus vult perdere, &c. ! 
 I am, with strict truth, sir, 
 
 Your most humble servant, 
 
 Samuel Adams. 
 To John Wilkes, Esq. 
 
 No reply to this letter has ever been found, and it is 
 likely that none was written. Though Wilkes pretended to 
 the deepest admiration of the Americans, — " the courage 
 and noble spirit of our American brethren," to use his 
 own words, — he cared nothing for their interests ; and, it 
 would appear from Stephens's Life of Home Tooke, actually 
 hated and despised them.* 
 
 There seemed to be now " a pause in politics," f and the 
 Province remained in the same unusual state of quietude 
 when the new year opened. The non-importation agree- 
 ments, as we have seen, were at an end, though an almost 
 universal desire to encourage home industry, in accordance 
 with a resolution passed by the last Assembly, prevailed 
 
 * See Grahame's History, II. 439. 
 
 t Samuel Cooper to Dr. Franklin, Jan. 1, 1771. 
 
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 379 
 
 among tne towns. Meetings of the wives and daughters of 
 the yeomanry, where a generous rivalry was manifested to 
 excel in spinning skeins of yarn, were common ; while for 
 the forbidden tea was substituted an herb of home growth, 
 which came into general use.* Preston's trial was over ; and 
 Mr. Adams, as " Vindex," nearly alone occupied the field 
 of the Boston Gazette, in a long-continued controversy with 
 Sewall, as " Philanthropy ' in the loyalist paper. Hutchin- 
 son attributed the quiet to the late changing of the garrison 
 at Castle William, which had evidently, he said, produced a 
 great effect upon the people. f To a friend in England he 
 wrote : — 
 
 ' " You wish to hear how our affairs stand from time to time. We 
 have not been so quiet these five years. Our incendiaries of the 
 lower order have quite disappeared. A Doctor Young, whose name 
 has often appeared in the newspapers, has taken passage for North 
 Carolina. He may have a chance among the * Regulators' there. 
 I hope many of the most flaming zealots who have been at the head 
 of affairs see their mistake. They say that this change will divert 
 Parliament from showing resentment for past offences. I tell them 
 that it may cause a more moderate chastisement, but that it is im- 
 possible they should wholly escape." 
 
 And a few days later, he says : — 
 
 " The people about the country have certainly altered their con- 
 duct, and in this town, if it were not for two or three Adamses, 
 we should do well enough. I don't know how to account for the 
 obstinacy of one [John Adams], who seemed to me, when he began 
 life, to promise well. The other [Samuel Adams] never appeared 
 different from what he does at present, and, I fear, never will. 
 The name of ' Vindex,' which he has assumed, is characteristic ; but, 
 as it is the custom now for people to give their children two or three 
 names, I could wish he would add ■ Malignus ' and ' Invidus,' to 
 make his names a little more significative." $ 
 
 * Boston newspapers. Barry's Massachusetts, II. 436. 
 
 t Hutchinson to a person unknown. 
 
 t Hutchinson to Thomas Whately, Jan. 25, 1771. 
 
380 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 
 
 Hutchinson, who had been anxiously vibrating between 
 hope and fear, now received his commission as Governor of 
 the Province, and his brother-in-law, Andrew Oliver, who 
 had been Stamp Dfstributor in 1765, and was forced by the 
 populace to resign, succeeded to the Lieutenancy.* The 
 appointments, as might have been expected, gave great of- 
 fence ; yet, considering the zeal in a bad cause which Hutch- 
 inson had displayed, the Ministry could scarcely have chosen 
 another man, or one more fitted to consummate their appar- 
 ent desire to exasperate the people. Hutchinson, who had 
 reached the goal of his ambition, the highest office he could 
 attain in America, was delighted beyond measure with his 
 honors ; and very soon the Episcopal clergy of Boston, who, 
 were all loyalists, waited upon him with congratulatory ad- 
 dresses.! Those of some Congregational ministers were of 
 an opposite tenor, the writers probably feeling that if the 
 occasion demanded any notice at their hands it was to show 
 that they and their churches disapproved of the appoint- 
 ment. J Hutchinson, having written to the Earl of Dun 
 more in acknowledgment of the receipt of his Majesty's 
 commission appointing him " Captain General and Governor- 
 in-chief of this his Majesty's Province," turned to the duties 
 of his high office, and looked forward to a brilliant and suc- 
 cessful administration. He wrote to General Gage in New 
 York, informing him of his appointment, and desiring to 
 cultivate correspondence and harmony. The rumor, which 
 afterwards proved to be well-founded, that the Governor was 
 to receive his support directly from the Crown, had for some 
 time been in circulation. The charter, wisely guarding the 
 liberties of the little democratic communities, provided that 
 the Governor should rely for his salary exclusively upon 
 the free grants of the Assembly ; and the dangerous prece- 
 dent had been already pointed out to Franklin, in the letter 
 
 * The commissions are published in the Boston papers for March 14, 1771. 
 t Boston Gazette, March 18, 1771. 
 J Hutchinson's History, III. 334. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 381 
 
 of the House, as one of the grievances to be brought before 
 the Ministry. Just as the packet was sailing for England, 
 Mr. Adams enclosed in another letter a few hasty lines to 
 Stephen Sayre on the subject. 
 
 Boston, Jan. 12, 1771. 
 Sir,— 
 I wrote you per Captain Hall, who sailed about ten days ago, 
 and then enclosed some papers, published in the Boston Gazette, 
 upon the subject of the late trial of the soldiers. I now send you 
 duplicates, together with others on the same subject since published. 
 I perceive that Mr. Hutchinson is appointed Governor here, and it 
 is said he is to have an independent salary ! Is not this perfect des- 
 potism ? "What can the people of Britain mean by suffering their 
 great men to enslave their fellow-subjects ? Can they think that 
 the plan is confined to America ? They will surely find themselves 
 mistaken. 
 
 I am, in haste, sir, your assured friend, 
 
 Sam. Adams. 
 Stephen Saybe, Esq. 
 
 On the 5th of March, the first anniversary of the Boston 
 Massacre was celebrated in a manner calculated to impress 
 the people with the events of that memorable occasion. The 
 bells were tolled at noon and evening ; and, after dark, fig- 
 ures to represent the slain were exhibited from a window in 
 the north part of the town.* During the day, the younger 
 Lovell, Usher of the Grammar-School, delivered an oration 
 at the Old South Church. Mr. Adams was this year on the 
 town's committee to arrange for future celebrations. His 
 exertions on a larger scale did not prevent him from serving 
 with Hancock and others of the leading patriots as Selectman, 
 School Examiner, Fire Warden, and in other similar offices, f 
 
 About this time the town received a letter from the cele- 
 brated Irish patriot, Dr. Lucas of Dublin, in answer to one 
 sent him by the committee appointed in the previous year 
 
 * Boston Gazette, March 11, 1771. Hutchinson, III. 335. 
 
 t Boston Town Becords for 1771 ; and Boston Gazette, March 25, 1771. 
 
382 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, April, 
 
 to transmit the account of the Massacre to Europe. It was 
 read in the town meeting on the 18th of March ; and though 
 no copy of it can be found, its tenor may be gathered from 
 the short sketch in the Gazette. 
 
 " The Doctor sympathizes with his American fellow-sufferers, and 
 enumerates so many and audacious instances of military barbarity, 
 insolence, and unbounded licentiousness as demonstrates that law 
 is indeed the will of the Ministry for that kingdom. He laments 
 the ignorant difference in religion, and consequent want of unanim- 
 ity in the people, which renders them an easy prey to any kind of 
 forces that would enslave them ; professes a high esteem for America, 
 and still hopes the unanimous efforts of her wise and virtuous chil- 
 dren will have much effect towards a general restoration of consti- 
 tutional liberty." * 
 
 Dr. Lucas seems greatly to have resembled Samuel Adams 
 in certain traits of character and in the circumstances of his 
 life. He was known as an effective political writer, conduct- 
 ing the Freeman's Journal in Dublin, to which Yelverton, 
 Flood, Grattan, and other distinguished men were contribu- 
 tors. From his first entrance into the political arena, no 
 promises nor offers could seduce him from the cause of the 
 people, which he maintained with inflexible energy until his 
 death. He was a man of remarkable powers and ceaseless 
 activity, taking the lead in watching and defending the civil 
 liberties of the nation. In October, 1761, while in the Irish 
 Parliament, he was one of a committee which brought in a 
 bill to limit the duration of Parliament, — a favorite and 
 constitutional measure which he had recommended. The 
 Parliament of Ireland, unlike that of Great Britain, contin 
 ued in existence until dissolved by the death of the monarch. 
 It was the desire of Lucas to imitate the English Septennial 
 Bill, but at first the effort failed, much to the regret of the 
 people, who were earnest for its success. In 1767, however, 
 an octennial bill was passed.f During the session of 1771, 
 
 * Boston Gazette, March 25, 1771. 
 
 t Plowden's Ireland, London, 1809, 8<>, H 144, 155. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 383 
 
 Dr. Lucas died ; and, in consideration of his distinguished 
 patriotism, the University of Dublin, at the request of the 
 Corporation, provided an apartment and commons in the Col- 
 lege for the gratuitous education of his son. That he was 
 known and appreciated in Boston may be inferred from the 
 letter sent him after the Massacre, and by the appellation of 
 " the famous Dr. Lucas " in the Gazette. The town appointed 
 a committee to reply to his letter ; which explains the fol- 
 lowing draft by Samuel Adams, found among his papers : — 
 
 Boston, 1771. 
 Sir, — 
 
 Your letter of the 1st of September has been laid before the 
 town of Boston at their annual meeting, and attended to with great 
 satisfaction ; and we are appointed a committee to return you a re- 
 spectful answer Accordingly, we take this opportunity, in behalf 
 of the town, to acknowledge the kind sentiments your letter ex- 
 presses towards us, and to entreat you to employ your abilities for 
 our advantage whenever a favorable opportunity may present. "We 
 are very sensible that you have an arduous task in resisting the tor- 
 rent of oppression and arbitrary power in Ireland, a kingdom where 
 the brutal power of standing armies and the more fatal influence of 
 pensions and places has left, it is to be feared, hardly anything more 
 than the name of a free constitution. We wish you strength and for- 
 titude to persevere in patriotic exertions. Your labor will meet 
 with its immediate and instant reward, in the most peaceful and 
 happy reflections of your own mind, amidst the greatest discourage- 
 ments ; and be assured that the man who nobly vindicates the 
 rights of his country and mankind shall stand foremost in the list of 
 
 fame. 
 
 We are, &c, 
 
 To Dr. Lucas, Dublin. 
 
 Early in April the General Court met at Cambridge, when 
 Governor Hutchinson officially informed the House of his 
 appointment, and intimated his desire " to join cheerfully at 
 all times with the other branches of the Legislature in such 
 measures as may tend completely to restore and constantly 
 
384 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, 
 
 to maintain that state of order and tranquillity upon which 
 the prosperity of the Province so much depends." The 
 House, however, had in mind a subject which was deemed 
 of more importance than the exchange of hollow felicita- 
 tions. They sent to his Excellency a verbal message on the 
 first day of the session, requesting him to remove the Gen- 
 eral Court to its ancient and usual seat, the Town-House in 
 Boston, and in a few days the message was repeated. The 
 Governor refused in a brief reply, stating that one of the 
 obstructions to the desired removal was the denial by the 
 House of the right reserved by the Crown to convene the 
 Court in such place as was thought proper. " If every other 
 impediment,' ' he continues, " was out of the way, whilst you 
 continue to urge that, by law, the Court must be held in 
 Boston, I may not ask his Majesty's leave to carry you there. 
 I should give up to the House of Representatives a right 
 which would have remained in the Crown, if no notice had 
 been taken of it in the charter." * 
 
 Samuel Adams was chairman of the committee appointed 
 to reply ; and two drafts, differing but slightly, are extant in 
 his handwriting. The answer, which was to both speeches, 
 was not reported until nearly three weeks had elapsed. 
 What debates occurred in the interval, or what opposition 
 was shown to the adoption of the report, or by whom, can 
 never be known, though the proceedings of the summer 
 session throw an inferential light on the subject. In his 
 opening speech, the Governor had alluded to the late aggres- 
 sion to which Spain had been prompted, in conformity with 
 her treaty with France, to commence hostilities against Eng- 
 land, — the very danger Samuel Adams had foreseen more 
 than a year before. In the midst of peace, a Spanish force 
 from Buenos Ayres had violently dispossessed the English 
 of their settlement at Port Egremont in the Falkland Isl- 
 ands. A war seemed probable, and the Earl of Hillsbor- 
 ough had written to Hutchinson that, in such case, a plan 
 
 * Journal of the House, April 5, 1771. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 385 
 
 of augmentation of his Majesty's forces in America liad been 
 determined upon ; and the Governor thereupon issued his 
 proclamation to that effect. But, as he had hinted in his 
 speech, that it was probable satisfaction might have been 
 made, the House quietly informed him that the plan of 
 augmentation had been receded from, which rendered any 
 further consideration of the subjeet on their part unneces- 
 sary. It is certain that any effort to raise troops in Massa- 
 chusetts to fight the battles of Britain would now have been 
 futile. Nor would the House have voted for any increase 
 of the royal forces in the Province, especially after the 
 contemptuous silence Hutchinson had preserved during the 
 last session on their application for a reorganization of the 
 militia. The spirit which, thirteen years before, had planted 
 the British flag in triumph on the ramparts of Louisburg, 
 had conquered Canada, and added lustre to the national 
 arms, was fast fading before the mercenary, thankless policy 
 of the government. This threatened quarrel with Spain, 
 though followed by an equivocal apology from the aggres- 
 sors, averting hostilities, should have warned British politi- 
 cians of the dangers which menaced their commerce, and the 
 possible calamities which might result from a continued 
 exasperation of three millions of loyal and faithful subjects.* 
 But a stubborn determination to crush out all opposition, 
 to see " America prostrate at their feet," blinded the gov- 
 ernment to all other considerations. Their pride, aroused 
 by opposition, would not permit them to abandon the head- 
 strong assertion of an erroneous principle to which King 
 and Ministry were alike committed. Meanwhile the states- 
 men of rival powers looked on with amazement and secret 
 pleasure. 
 
 " We owe our gratitude," continues the answer to the Governor, 
 " to his Majesty for his repeated assurances expressed to your Excel- 
 lency by the Secretary of State, that the security of his dominions 
 
 * Compare Samuel Adams to Deberdt, Nov. 6, 1769, ante, p. 289. 
 vol. I. 25 
 
386 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, 
 
 in America will be a principal object of his most gracious care and 
 attention. This Province has frequently in times past expended 
 much blood and treasure for the enlargement as well as support of 
 those dominions. And when our natural and constitutional rights 
 and liberties, without which no blessing can be secured to us, shall 
 be fully restored and established upon a firm foundation, as we 
 shall then have the same reasons and motives therefor as heretofore, 
 we shall not fail to continue those exertions with the utmost cheer- 
 fulness and to the extent of our ability. 
 
 " As your Excellency has no particular interior business of the 
 Province to lay before us, it would have given us no uneasiness if 
 an end had been put to the present Assembly, rather than to have 
 been called to this place ; and we are unwilling to admit the belief 
 that when the season for calling a new Assembly, agreeable to the 
 charter, shall arrive, your Excellency will continue an indignity and 
 a grievance so flagrant, and so repeatedly remonstrated by both 
 Houses, as the deforcement of the General Assembly of its ancient 
 and rightful seat." 
 
 The answer then glances at the Governor's announcement 
 of his appointment, and reminding him of his birth and 
 education in the Province, where his fellow-subjects had for 
 many years bestowed upon him the highest honors in their 
 gift, represents that as a motive for him to employ his 
 powers for his Majesty's real service and the best interests 
 of the people. 
 
 "The duties of the governor and the governed are reciprocal; 
 and by our happy Constitution their dependence is mutual. Noth- 
 ing can more effectually produce and establish that order and tran- 
 quillity in the Province so often disturbed under the late unfortunate 
 administration, nothing will tend more to conciliate the affections of 
 this people, and insure to your Excellency those aids which you 
 will constantly stand in need of from their representatives, than, as 
 a wise and faithful administrator, ' to make use of the public power 
 with a view only to the public welfare.' And while your Excellency 
 shall religiously regard the Constitution of this Province ; while 
 you shall maintain its fundamental laws, so necessary to secure the 
 public tranquillity, — you may be assured that his Majesty's faithful 
 
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 387 
 
 Commons of this Province will never be wanting in their utmost 
 exertions to support you in all such measures as shall be calculated 
 for the public good and to render your administration prosperous 
 and happy."* 
 
 The Governor soon after manifested his disapproval of the 
 words, " his Majesty's Commons," by which he supposed 
 they must intend the House of Representatives.! In his 
 History he twice refers to this change in the style of the 
 House, which accorded with the language of the newspapers, 
 and was intended, as he correctly surmised, to give more im- 
 portance to that branch as a supreme, independent legisla- 
 tive power. " Mr. Adams's attention to the cause in which 
 he was engaged," says Hutchinson, " would not suffer him 
 to neglect even small circumstances which could be made 
 subservient to it. From this attention, in four or five years, 
 a great change had been made in the language of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly." J The Governor then enumerates some of 
 the instances where Adams had used the knife freely on 
 such of the forms of expression previously used in legislative 
 documents as appeared to sanction the assumption of au- 
 thority by Parliament in matters purely relating to the 
 internal affairs of the Province. These verbal changes, 
 emanating from the shrewd political manager, are apparent 
 in most of the state papers from 1767 to the close of the 
 royal government in the Province. 
 
 But a more important and alarming topic than any that 
 had yet appeared now presented itself. Mr. Adams had 
 already received information, by private letters from Eng- 
 land, of the intended payment of the Governor's salary by 
 the Crown, instead of by the free grants of the people. The 
 letter to Franklin, in the previous year, had touched upon 
 this subject ; and among the earliest business of this session 
 
 * Original drafts by Samuel Adams. Bradford's State Papers, p. 296. 
 Journal of the House, April 24, 1771. 
 
 t Bradford's State Papers, p. 299. Hutchinson, III. 337. 
 } Hutchinson, HI. 413. 
 
383 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, 1771. 
 
 was the passage of the bills granting the usual sums for the 
 Governor's salary and to carry on the public affairs. When 
 three weeks had passed, upon inquiry of the Secretary of 
 the Province, it did not appear that the Governor had ap- 
 proved of the bills ; and as a similar one had been neglected 
 during the previous session, the House, in a message written 
 by Samuel Adams, desired an explanation, being apprehen- 
 sive, they stated, that the Governor was acting under some 
 restraint, and that provision had been made for his official 
 salary independent of the Assembly.* Hutchinson gave an 
 evasive reply, saying that he should assent to or reject the 
 bills, as it should appear to him his duty required, and 
 thereupon prorogued the Assembly.! 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 298. Autograph drafts by Samuel Adams. 
 t Bradford's State Papers, p. 299. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Spirit of Opposition subsides. — Counsels of the Moderate Party. — John 
 Adams retires from the Cause. — Otis is jealous of Samuel Adams, and re- 
 tards Public Measures. — Adams stands alone. — He is opposed by Hancock 
 and Otis, who for a while carry the House. — Painful Position of Adams. — 
 His Brotherly Care for Otis. — Exultation of the Loyalists. — He turns to 
 the Press to stem the Tide. — He prepares a Protest against holding the 
 Session at Cambridge, and at last secures its Passage in the House. — Han- 
 cock and his Party for a while silenced. — Adams drafts a Letter of Instruc- 
 tions from the House to Dr. Franklin. — The Governor denounces Adams 
 as the Director and Principal Incendiary. 
 
 There was an interval of about a fortnight between the 
 prorogation and the May elections for the Legislature. The 
 political heats had subsided, and public affairs were discussed 
 with unusual moderation. Hutchinson, a close observer of 
 every event, says that he had all the respect he could desire 
 shown him personally, as well as in his public character, 
 " from the most valuable part of the town." * " Perhaps," 
 said Andrew Eliot, " it might be as well not to dispute in 
 such strong terms the legal right of Parliament. This is a 
 point that clmnot easily be settled, and had therefore best be 
 touched very gently. It cannot be supposed that the Par- 
 liament will give up their right of taxation in express terms ; 
 it will be prudence for them never again to exercise it. If 
 the Colonies dispute their right of legislation, which hath 
 always been submitted to, particularly with respect to the 
 regulation of trade, it may raise a new ferment, and may 
 create suspicions that nothing will satisfy but absolute inde- 
 pendence. At present, things are very quiet." f These were 
 not the counsels that led to American Independence ; but 
 they were entertained by men equally sincere and patriotic 
 
 * Hutchinson to Col. "Williams, April 5, 1771. 
 t Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, April 25, 1771. 
 
390 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 with Mr. Eliot. James Otis, now a ruin of his former great- 
 ness, had a temporary return of reason, and his townsmen 
 readily reinstated him in the political field, where he had 
 once been the leading spirit, but could now only retard and 
 distract the public interests.* John Adams, after a few 
 months' service in the Legislature, had retired from public 
 life, ceasing even to write in the cause, and evidently dis- 
 gusted with the apparent subsidence of patriotic spirit. f 
 Indignant at the insults to which he had exposed himself 
 in an unsuccessful attempt to secure the election of Samuel 
 Adams as Register of Deeds, he now returned to Braintree, 
 and devoted himself to the practice of his profession. In his 
 Diary, he says : — 
 
 " I have acted my sentiments with the utmost frankness at the 
 hazard of all, and the certain loss of ten times more than it is in the 
 power of the people to give me, for the sake of the people ; and now 
 I reap nothing but insult, ridicule, and contempt for it, even from 
 many of the people themselves. 
 
 " However, I have not hitherto regarded consequences to myself. 
 I have very cheerfully sacrificed my interest and my health and 
 ease and pleasure, in the service of the people. I have stood by 
 their friends longer than they would stand by them. I have stood 
 by the people much longer than they would stand by themselves. 
 But I have learned wisdom by experience. I shall certainly be- 
 come more retired and cautious ; I shall certainly mind my own 
 farm and my own office." % 
 
 Standing alone, Samuel Adams now prepared, with all 
 the powers of his resolute soul, to revive the spirit of oppo- 
 sition, and sustain it in the approaching session. At the 
 annual election on the 7th of May, he had been chosen a 
 member of the Legislature with Hancock, dishing, and Otis. 
 There would be every difficulty to encounter. The Gov- 
 ernor and his friends, seeking to destroy the influence of 
 Adams in the Assembly, witnessed with eager pleasure the 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 403. t John Adams's Works, II. 257, 282. 
 
 J Ibid, II. 259, 260. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 391 
 
 brightening prospects of loyalty, and were sagacious enough 
 to improve an occasion more opportune than any which had 
 presented itself since the commencement of the revenue 
 troubles. The event proved how well founded were their 
 expectations ; but their advantage was not to be of long 
 duration, though the patriot cause was indeed for a time 
 divided against itself. Otis, who was guarded with brotherly 
 care by Samuel Adams, was so irritable and weak as to har- 
 bor jealousy of the great influence of his friend, and did not 
 hesitate to place obstacles in the way of success, thereby 
 encouraging a concession to the demands of government.* 
 Cushing lacked the necessary qualifications for an important 
 emergency, and could never aspire to leadership. Hawley, 
 between the sessions, lived far in the interior of the State, 
 but even his presence afforded generally only sound advice on 
 questions of law. Able, sincere, and of spotless character, he 
 was nevertheless unfitted to guide, and his excitable nature 
 wavered between vehemence and despondency.! Hancock, 
 never an adviser or writer, brought to the House, as it 
 proved, qualities calculated rather to impede than advance 
 the principles upon which the public liberties had been 
 built. At this time, Mr. Adams, to influence the inland 
 counties, where the election seemed to be doubtful, wrote 
 a series of articles in the public press, commencing a week 
 prior to the contest and extending to the last week in May. 
 Aware of the efforts of Hutchinson and his satellites to sub- 
 vert the elections and place their own agents in the Assembly, 
 and of the Governor's plausible professions,^ he warns his 
 readers against the danger, and points out the inevitable re- 
 sults. On the general condition of public affairs, he says : — 
 
 * Hutchinson, III. 339. Bancroft, VI. 403. Barry, II. 438. On Mr. 
 Adams's "constant guardianship of James Otis," see an article in the Boston 
 Patriot, July 26, and in the Independent Chronicle, July 29, 1826, written by 
 one who had been a friend and contemporary of Samuel Adams. 
 
 t Bancroft, VI. 118. The name of Hawley does not appear during this 
 session upon any important committee, if he was a member of the House. 
 
 J Bancroft, VI. 402. Compare John Adams's Diary (Works, II. 284). 
 
392 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 " The troops of the King of Great Britain which occupy Castle 
 William may be viewed in the same light, and are as dangerous to 
 our constitutional freedom, as so many Swiss, French, Spanish, or 
 Eussians ; because they are not raised, paid, and regulated by our 
 Representatives. And our King has no more right to send those 
 troops into that Castle than he has to send them into Hanover or 
 Portugal, without a previous contract for the purpose. I fear that 
 some of you, known and respected friends to liberty, may be a little 
 surprised at the second assertion. The treatment we have lately- 
 received has not yet quite destroyed the affection for Great Britain, 
 and the confidence in her justice, which have permitted certain 
 things to become habitual in this Province, though incompatible 
 with the rights of it. That affection and that confidence is your only 
 ground of surprise ; you cannot furnish any other. 
 
 " I know also that some among us who are to be pitied, and others 
 who are to be despised, will fret and rave. Ignorance in the first, 
 and rapacity in the last, will furnish fuel for anger. This placed, 
 pensioned, or expecting tribe may tell us that the new block-houses 
 upon the western part of Castle Island are built out of love to the 
 Province, especially to the towns of Boston and Dorchester ; though 
 if the French king's troops had erected them by his order, it would 
 be readily allowed to proceed from a spirit of jealousy or insult. I 
 cannot make such distinctions. I thank God that I feel so much 
 true loyalty that I can be grieved at the jealousy, and so much true 
 freedom that I can feel resentment at the insult, of this plan of forti- 
 fication. 
 
 " Few words are necessary now to express my idea of our proper 
 condition. We are either a State, as entirely independent of Great 
 Britain as any other on earth which makes use of her protection, or 
 we are her free Colonies. In both these cases her conduct towards 
 us should be identically the same. 
 
 " I have said we live under a government of three branches, Wis- 
 dom, Goodness, and Power to execute their resolutions. A man of 
 truly inflexible integrity, Governor Phips, — Heaven bless his de- 
 parted spirit, — was of that opinion. 'T is true he is now sneered 
 at by shallow-pated sycophancy ; but his opinion is not less founded 
 upon the solid rational principles of the British and similar American 
 Constitution, for the sneers of such. Behold, my dear countrymen, 
 the mystery of government ! It was instituted for the happiness of 
 
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 393 
 
 the people. The two representative bodies of Wisdom and Good- 
 ness shall point out that happiness. The I, the one individual 
 of Power, shall frustrate their unanimous decisions. Whence 
 does this arise ? Either from an abominable vain conceit in this 
 individual that he is possessed of superior wisdom and good- 
 ness to these two united bodies, or from the influence of pri- 
 vate instructions, received by the way of the Thames, the Seine, 
 or Tiber, from Westminster, Paris, or Rome, — 'tis of no impor- 
 tance which, — or from some other motive equally injurious in its 
 consequences." * 
 
 The second of this series of articles (that of May 6), 
 which contained a warning against the machinations of the 
 Governor and his friends, Hutchinson sent to Bernard. 
 " Our sons of sedition,'' he writes, " are afraid of a change 
 of members in many towns, and make a strong effort in the 
 newspapers to prevent it. In this week's paper you see the 
 black art of Adams." f 
 
 On the 29th of May the General Assembly met at Cam- 
 bridge, when Adams was, as usual, elected Clerk. He was 
 now unaided by a single member of the Boston delegation 
 on the floor of the House. Loyalty prevailed, and the de- 
 cided patriots were in a minority. % The tone of the Assem- 
 bly was instantly made manifest. Before proceeding upon 
 the next business in order, a remonstrance on the subject of 
 the removal of the General Assembly back to its original 
 seat was agreed upon. This had now been persisted in for 
 three years, — the House having proceeded to business each 
 year under protest. At the session of November, 1770, it 
 will be remembered, the vote on this question was not so 
 unanimous as before. § This year, the loyal sentiment had 
 so far increased, that the House, in April, had been almost 
 equally divided between the friends of government and the 
 opposition. || But at the present session there was a balance 
 
 * "An Elector in 1771," in the Boston Gazette, May 20, 1771. 
 t Hutchinson to Bernard, May 10, 1771. 
 t Bancroft, VI. 405. § See ante, p. 369. 
 
 || John Adams's Diary (Works, II. 263). 
 
394 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. * [May, 
 
 in favor of timidity, artifice, and trimming. The principle 
 involved in the dispute with Hutchinson on the removal of 
 the Assembly was of the first importance. It included the 
 acknowledgment or denial of the mischievous right claimed 
 by the Crown of infringing on a clause in the charter of the 
 Province specifying where the General Court should hold 
 its sessions. To yield that was to give up all that had been 
 asserted against the violations of the charter. For to con- 
 cede any part was to concede the whole. It was from this 
 point of view that the stubborn struggle in the House, on 
 the removal, assumed such importance, and that it was re- 
 garded as of paramount interest in asserting the royal pre- 
 rogative, is evident from the undeviating determination of 
 the Governor to keep them at Cambridge until the point of 
 right was yielded. He was now sanguine that the members 
 would hold out no longer. The test was made at once. 
 After the remonstrance had been agreed upon, the House 
 proceeded to the election of Councillors before presenting it. 
 Otis, who had been awaiting his opportunity, now moved to 
 strike out that clause in the remonstrance which might be 
 construed into a denial of the right of removing the Assem- 
 bly. The motion, despite the exertions of Adams and the 
 few who still clung to the old principles, was carried ; and 
 the Governor, delighted with this favorable indication, which 
 made the removal only an "inconvenience," sent back a gen- 
 tle answer, assuring them of his efforts to set aside all obsta- 
 cles to their removal back to Boston, but that he must have 
 his Majesty's leave.* We can imagine the chagrin of Samuel 
 Adams at these proceedings. All that he had been contend- 
 ing for since the spring of 1770, when the Court had been 
 removed, was renounced after a brief battle, and the arbi 
 trary right in government to break the charter at pleasure 
 admitted. Willing to put the test more directly, in hopes 
 of bringing round a sufficient number for a majority, as he 
 had done in 1768, at the time of the vote against the adop- 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 301. Hutchinson, HI. 339. 
 
1771.] , LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 395 
 
 tion of the Circular Letter, he offered a resolution to do no 
 business except in the town of Boston, at the same time 
 speaking against the Governor. John Adams, in his Diary, 
 thus refers to the scene which ensued : — 
 
 " John Chandler, Esq., of Petersham, came into P/s in the even- 
 ing from Boston yesterday, and gave me an account of Mr. Otis's 
 conversion to Toryism. Adams was going on in the old road, and 
 Otis started up, and said they had gone far enough in that way ; 
 the Governor had an undoubted right to carry the Court where he 
 pleased, and moved for a committee to represent the inconveniences 
 of sitting there, and for an address to the Governor. He was a 
 good man ; the ministers said so ; the justices said so ; and it 
 must be so; and moved to go on with business; and the House 
 voted everything he moved for. Boston people say he is dis 
 tracted," &c. * 
 
 Hutchinson, alluding to this, writes : — 
 
 u Mr. Samuel Adams moved the House to come into a resolve to 
 do no business except in the town of Boston, and expressed an opin- 
 ion of the Governor not very favorable. Mr. Otis opposed the mo- 
 tion, and expressed a very favorable opinion of the Governor, and 
 his belief of the same opinion in the people, and added that he was 
 clear in opinion that the Governor had good right to carry the 
 Assembly to Housatonic. if he thought fit ; and many other mem- 
 bers declaring they had been of that mind the last year, the motion 
 did not obtain. This afforded hope of conciliation in this particular 
 point, but subsequent proceedings in the session destroyed it. Mr. 
 Otis, in his calm moments, had always disavowed any design of a 
 general revolt or of attaining to a state of independency. He was 
 also evidently dissatisfied with the great influence which Mr. Adams 
 had obtained ; and there was a prospect of his being serviceable in 
 preventing the opposition from going to that extreme which some 
 of them then most evidently intended ; but the unhappy state of his 
 mind soon rendered him of no importance." f 
 
 Again, in a letter to one in England, a few days after, he 
 
 ys: — 
 
 * John Adams's Works, II. 266. f Hutchinson's History, HI. 339. 
 
396 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. • [June, 
 
 " Otis, in a speech the first day after his election, gave his opinion 
 to the House, that we had a very good Governor, and that he was 
 sure the people in all parts of the Province thought so. He con- 
 demned the proceedings of the House the last year, and acknowl- 
 edged the right of the Governor to carry them to Housatonic, in the 
 western extreme of the Province; was sensible that it would be 
 inconvenient, and that he would not do it, and hoped he would carry 
 them back to Boston. This gave a shock to the party, and the 
 House voted to go on with their business as usual, without a divis- 
 ion or opposition." * 
 
 u The House of Representatives having in the most explicit man- 
 ner acknowledged my right to convene the Court where I think 
 proper, they have strengthened government, and given me more 
 weight in the Province than they had intended. The people, being 
 made sensible that I claimed no more than the just prerogatives in 
 this instance, think more favorably of me and of the principles I 
 avow in other points in difference. The return of the Court to 
 Boston, in consequence of this concession, will give me further 
 weight, and, it may be, enable me to obtain other points equally 
 reasonable for them to concede." f 
 
 Thus the Governor admitted the importance of the con- 
 cession, by stating his intention of removing the Court to 
 Boston in consequence, and he considered it the introduction 
 to further advantages. But, besides the opposition of James 
 Otis and of that considerable body of the House who had 
 needed only this dangerous example to give utterance to opin- 
 ions which many had secretly entertained since the com- 
 mencement of the removal dispute, Adams had now also 
 to encounter the enmity of John Hancock, who, about this 
 time, began to oppose his measures for the public safety. 
 This was a matter of much more importance than the action 
 of Otis, whose course, much as it assisted temporarily to 
 encourage the government party, could scarcely be consid- 
 ered that of a responsible agent. But Hancock, owing to 
 his wealth and great influence in Boston, was powerful for 
 
 * Hutchinson to a person unknown, June 5, 1771. 
 t Hutchinson to Bernard, June 5, 1771. 
 
1771 I LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 39T 
 
 good or evil. Among all those whom Samuel Adams had 
 enlisted in the patriot service, none had been attended by 
 him with such assiduity as Hancock, whose vanity and petu- 
 lance often made it necessary to humor his caprices, while a 
 natural generosity counterbalanced, among those who knew 
 him best, his frequent vacillations. At a later period, he 
 could make profuse sacrifices of wealth for his country, and 
 was most liberal in his expenses for public purposes. He 
 was fond of dress and personal display, scattered largesses 
 with open hand, was quickly offended among his friends, 
 implacable to his enemies, and intensely fond of popular ap- 
 plause. Such a character might easily become an idol with 
 the people, and, backed by a large fortune, reach the pinna- 
 cle of his aspirations ; * but whoever should attempt to 
 guide him in the existing crisis must be possessed of rare 
 powers of persuasion and forbearance. The immediate cause 
 of the present variance is not traceable to any particular 
 circumstance, but it undoubtedly grew out of the discussion 
 on the removal in the former session, and probably com- 
 menced to display itself about the same time with the 
 unhappy conduct of Otis. Later in the year, Hancock's 
 resentment was excited against Otis, on some personal 
 ground, when he pursued him with more rigor than to 
 Adams seemed warrantable, though in a conversation on 
 that subject, wherein Adams expressed his sympathy for the 
 condition of Otis, and defended his private character, he did 
 not express the least unfriendliness towards Hancock.f As 
 late as the 5th of April, 1771, Hutchinson, writing to a 
 friend in England, mentioned Hancock as one of those of 
 any consideration who still held out against him. Between 
 that and the 5th of June, the removal excitement occurred 
 
 * Compare Mrs. Mercy Warren's History of the American Revolution, I. 
 212, The authoress wrote from a personal acquaintance with John Hancock. 
 
 t There is among the Adams papers a curious memorandum of a conver- 
 sation between Harrison Gray, Jr., Samuel Adams, and Mr. John Cotton, on 
 the subject of Otis's habits and conduct, and Hancock's recent treatment of 
 him. It is dated Dec. 8, 1771. 
 
398 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 in the House, and on the last-mentioned date, Hutchinson 
 again writing in relation to his having rejected Hancock a 
 few days before, when chosen by the Legislature as a Council- 
 lor, says : — 
 
 " I can mention to you what will appear improper in a public 
 letter. I was much pressed by many persons well affected in gen- 
 eral to consent to the election of Mr. Hancock, his connections being 
 large, which are strongly prejudiced against me for the frequent re- 
 fusals to accept of him in office. They assured me he wished to be 
 separated from Mr. Adams, another Representative of the town, an 
 incendiary equal to any at present in London, and, if I would admit 
 him to the Council, they had no doubt there could be an end to the 
 influence he has by means of his property in the town of Boston. 
 As there had been no advances on his part, I could not think it 
 proper for me to follow their advice. I have now reason to think 
 that, before another election, he will alter his conduct so far as to 
 justify my acceptance of him, which certainly will take off that 
 sourness of temper from many people which his negatives occasion ; 
 and unless you think it a step not advisable, I believe I shall accept 
 of him. Having from year to year the general votes both of Coun- 
 cil and House, the constant refusal is more disagreeable to the 
 people." * 
 
 From this it is evident that the gentlemen who applied to 
 the Governor to urge his acceptance of Hancock as Coun- 
 cillor must have had this interview before the Legislature 
 met, which was on the 29th of May. It was therefore 
 before that time that the coldness between the two Repre- 
 sentatives commenced, as the dislike expressed by Hancock 
 of the policy of his colleague is mentioned as already exist- 
 ing at that time. Hutchinson states that " Hancock ex- 
 pressed his dissatisfaction with the party and with their 
 extending their designs further than appeared to him war- 
 rantable." f It would seem that the plan proposed in the 
 letter, from which an extract is given above, was tried, and 
 
 * Hutchinson to a person unknown, June 5, 1771. 
 t Hutchinson's History, HI. 346. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 399 
 
 that an interview for that purpose occurred between the 
 Governor and Hancock. To quote Hutchinson again : — 
 
 " The Governor very willingly signified to him, that the repeated 
 denials of consent to his election into public offices had not pro- 
 ceeded from any degree of ill will towards him, or from any excep- 
 tion to his general character, but altogether from the part which he 
 had taken in opposition to that authority which the Governor, from 
 his office and fidelity to the trust reposed in him by the King, was 
 bound to support ; and that, upon a change of sentiments in Mr. 
 Hancock, everything past would be entirely forgotten, and it would 
 be a pleasure to the Governor to consent to his election to the 
 Council, where he could more easily take such share in the public 
 affairs as he thought fit, than he could do in the House, business in 
 the latter requiring a more close and constant attention. This he 
 declared to be neither his object nor inclination ; but he intended 
 to quit all active concern in public affairs, and to attend to his pri- 
 vate business, which, by means of his attention to the public, had 
 been too much neglected. The disunion, however, which lasted 
 several months, checked the progress of measures in opposition to 
 government." * 
 
 Thus deserted at a crisis of peculiar difficulty, and left 
 almost alone to sustain the question of an inviolate charter, 
 Samuel Adams was for a while unable to stem the tide ; but 
 he bided his time. He had seen the non-importation scheme 
 come to nought among the merchants, yet he never de- 
 spaired, and found in difficulties only incentives for in- 
 creased efforts. He was one of the committee to bear to 
 the Governor the unworthy report, wounding the cause in 
 the house of its friends, and destroying in an hour what it 
 had taken years to construct.! But he gathered his re- 
 sources, and falling back upon his own powers, stood ready 
 to improve the first opportunity to retrieve the action of the 
 House. He saw the fatal spirit of concession which was 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 346, 347. 
 t Journal of the House, May 29, 1771. 
 
400 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 establishing the Governor's influence over the members,* 
 and while with undaunted resolution he sought for the means 
 of checking the contagion, his peculiarly sensitive mind was 
 keenly alive to his own position and the ill-concealed joy of 
 the Loyalists and wavering members of his own party. Men 
 in the Province who brought to mind the greatness of his 
 character and services looked on with surprise, and even 
 some known to be favorable to government pointed to the 
 scenes in the Assembly, and observed his fortitude. John 
 Adams, who had bid " farewell to politics," f was away in 
 York, busily attending to his profession. 
 
 " Sparhawk," he writes, after a conversation, a few weeks later, 
 with the grandson of Sir William Pepperell, "mentioned the in- 
 trepidity of Samuel Adams, a man, he says, of great sensibility, 
 of tender nerves, and harassed, dependent, in their power. Yet 
 he had borne up against all; it must have penetrated him very 
 deeply," &c. $ 
 
 The Governor improved the occasion with his writers 
 in the Massachusetts Gazette and Evening Post, to cast 
 abroad among the people the idea that there was now gen- 
 eral satisfaction with the policy of government, that the fac- 
 tion was at an end, and that the people were " returning to 
 their right senses." His Excellency, who well understood 
 the power of the press, kept a corps of writers whose effu- 
 sions displayed a plausibility worthy a better cause. It was 
 important to counteract their effect, and Adams now entered 
 the field as " Candidus," and, in a series of essays, endeav- 
 ored to show that the spirit of liberty had not subsided into 
 an ignoble contentment. In one of these, he replies to Dra- 
 per's, or the court, Gazette : — 
 
 " ' Benevolus,' in Mr. Draper's Gazette, seems to have no doubts 
 in his mind but that * a general air of satisfaction, arising from the 
 
 * John Adams's Works, II. 278. See also Samuel Adams as " Candidus," 
 in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 14, 1771. Chap. XX. post. 
 
 t John Adams's Works, II. 227. J John Adams's Works, II. 285. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 401 
 
 accounts given in the last Monday's papers of the present state of 
 our public affairs, will show itself universally through the Province.' 
 I have no inclination to disturb the sweet repose of this placid gen- 
 tleman ; but I must confess I see no cause for such a general air of 
 satisfaction from those accounts, and I will venture to add that there 
 is no appearance of it in this town. Does ' Benevolus ' think it is 
 possible for the good people of this Province to be satisfied, when 
 they are told by the Governor, as. appears by the last Monday's 
 papers, that he is restrained from holding the Court in its ancient, 
 usual, and most convenient place, without his Majesty's express 
 leave ? Does not the charter say that the Governor shall have the 
 power of acting in this matter i as he shall judge necessary ' ? Is it 
 not of great importance to the welfare of the Province that the 
 Governor should be vested with such a power, and that he should 
 exercise it without restraint ? While he is, or thinks himself, fet- 
 tered by an absolute instruction to hold the Assembly out of the 
 town of Boston, to the inconvenience of the members and the injury 
 of the people, as the present House of Representatives express it, 
 can he be said to have the free exercise of all the powers vested in 
 him by the charter, which is our social compact ? Will it yield such 
 a general satisfaction to the people as * Benevolus ' expects, to see 
 their Governor thus embarrassed in his administration, and to hear 
 him expressly declaring that he must ask leave and be determined 
 by the judgment of another in a matter in which it is his indispen- 
 sable duty to act with freedom and by the determination of his own 
 judgment ? Is not this power devolved upon him by the Consti- 
 tution of the Province for the good of the people ? Is it not a 
 beneficiary grant, and therefore a right of the people? And if 
 instructions may control him in the exercise of one charter right, 
 may they not control in the exercise of any or every one ? And 
 yet \ Benevolus ' would fain have it thought that there is a general 
 satisfaction in the town of Boston arising from this account, and 
 doubts not but it will run through the Province. 
 
 " Surely * Benevolus ' must either be totally inadvertent to the 
 accounts of the state of our public affairs as given to us in the last 
 Monday's papers, or he must have altogether confided in the ac- 
 counts of a confused writer in the Evening Post, who, in the old 
 style of the hackneyed writers in Bernard's administration, tells us 
 
 vol. i. 26 
 
402 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 that faction is now at an end, and, with an awkward air of gravity, 
 insinuates that the people, after having nobly struggled for their 
 freedom, are, under the benign influence of the present administra- 
 tion, ' returning to their right senses.' A firm and manly opposition 
 to the attempts that have been made and are still making to enslave 
 and ruin this continent has always been branded by writers of this 
 stamp by the name of a faction. Governor Bernard used to tell 
 his Lordship that it was an ' expiring faction * ; with as little reason 
 it is now said to have given up the ghost. Gladly would some, 
 even of the clergy, persuade this people to be at ease, and for the 
 sake of peace under the administration of ' a son of the Province/ 
 to acquiesce in unconstitutional revenue acts, arbitrary ministerial 
 mandates, and absolute, despotic, independent governors, &c, &c. 
 But the time is not yet come ; and I am satisfied that, notwith- 
 standing the address of a few who took the opportunity to carry it 
 through, while only the small number of twenty-four were present, 
 there is in that venerable order a great majority who will not go up 
 to the house of Rimmon or bow the knee to Baal." * 
 
 Adams was on the committee appointed by the House to 
 answer the Governor's speech at the opening of the summer 
 session. The report was submitted on the 14th of June. 
 Besides taking up the subjects mentioned in the address, it 
 refers to the Provincial militia, a bill for the better regula- 
 tion of which had been rejected by his Excellency in No- 
 vember of the previous year. The House insisted that the 
 subject required serious attention, and pointed to the desire 
 of the people to excel in the military art, and their readiness 
 to appear upon musters ; and they promised themselves that 
 the military sentiment of the country would again be as 
 conspicuous as it was in the days of their forefathers, and 
 thereby promote his Majesty's real service and the safety of 
 the Province. This desire to cultivate a military spirit had 
 often occupied the attention of Adams, as shown by the 
 address of the House a year before on this subject, written 
 by him, and also by his letters about this time. He attached 
 
 * " Candidus " in the Boston Gazette for June 10, 1771. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 403 
 
 all due importance to it, and personally encouraged it among 
 young men. 
 
 The Governor had been sanguine that the conduct of Otis 
 would result favorably to his plans for obtaining from the 
 House a final concession of the point in dispute ; " but sub- 
 sequent proceedings in the session," he says, " destroyed 
 this hope." * These " subsequent proceedings " occurred 
 in about three weeks after the scene in the Legislature. It 
 was now found that a counter-influence had become strong 
 enough to secure the appointment of a committee to pre- 
 pare a protest, in which the House resumed its old ground 
 against holding the session at Cambridge. The hand of 
 Samuel Adams, who was the author of the protest,! is man- 
 ifest in this, though, to secure its success, his own name ap- 
 pears last on the committee, being preceded by those of 
 Otis, Denny, and Hancock, the first and last of whom, since 
 the late proceedings, could have taken no part in the meas- 
 ure. The protest, which is for the most part in the language 
 already quoted from " Candidus," $ points out the danger 
 of superseding the charter by arbitrary instructions, which 
 reduced the Governor to a mere machine, and of depriving 
 the Assembly, not only of every charter right, but of all 
 freedom. It then, in the most explicit manner, speaks out 
 " against all such doctrines, principles, and practices as tend 
 to establish either ministerial or even royal instructions as 
 laws within the Province." It was ordered to be entered on 
 the journal as against " an intolerable grievance which ought 
 speedily to be redressed." Its style is shown by a few of the 
 opening paragraphs. 
 
 " History furnishes us with an instance of an act of Parliament 
 passed, giving the force of laws to the King's proclamations ; but 
 this, being directly subversive of the Constitution, was soon repealed. 
 Yet, since that period, an act has been labored for to give the force 
 of law to the King's instructions to the Governors of the Colonies. 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, IH. 339. t See Bancroft, VI. 403. 
 
 t See pp. 400 - 402. 
 
404 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 And, though it was not effected, some Governors have appeared to 
 consider such instructions as laws, not only to themselves, but to the 
 people : whereas nothing can be more clear than that neither proc- 
 lamation nor instruction ought to have any such force, either in 
 regard to the Governor or the subject here. 
 
 " And although it may be within the prerogative of the Crown, 
 in case of plain necessity, to summon a Parliament to some other 
 place than Westminster ; and so of a Governor of this Province, in 
 like cases of plain necessity, to convoke a General Assembly to 
 some other place than Boston, its accustomed ancient place, and 
 where alone provision is made for it, — yet, if a British King should 
 call a Parliament, and keep it seven years in Cornwall, however 
 his Ministry, as usual, might shift for themselves, their master and 
 his affairs would be irretrievably embarrassed and ruined; and a 
 Governor of this Province, who, in order to harass the General 
 Assembly into unconstitutional and unconscionable measures, should 
 convene and hold them in the county of Berkshire or Lincoln, would 
 render himself and his administration justly ridiculous and odious. 
 
 " There is nothing more plainly to be distinguished than power, 
 right, and prerogative. It is the King's prerogative to pardon all 
 crimes from trespass to high treason ; but if the King should pardon 
 all criminals, there would be an end of his government. The Com- 
 mons have the sole right to give and grant, or refuse to grant, taxes ; 
 but if they should refuse to give anything, there would be also an 
 end of government. Should a King call a Parliament but once in 
 seven years, and, on its meeting, instantly dissolve it, and so repeat- 
 edly, a few such repetitions would ruin him, and be deemed a total 
 dissolution of the social compact. Should a Governor of this Prov- 
 ince annually convene a General Assembly, and before or immedi- 
 ately after the election of Councillors dissolve such Assembly, as the 
 conduct would be similar, the inferences and consequences must also 
 be alike. For such exercise of the prerogative could not be deemed 
 mistakes, but must be construed as voluntary and corrupt abuses of 
 the prerogative, and a total perversion of the powers of which it 
 consists." * 
 
 The fact that the Governor's salary was to be paid thence- 
 
 * Journal of the House, June 19, 1771. Bradford's State Papers, p. 302. 
 Hutchinson, HI. 540. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 405 
 
 forth by the Crown, independent of the free grants of the 
 people, had become publicly known, and was particularly 
 dwelt upon in the protest. The Governor, who felt it neces- 
 sary " to make some answer to so strange an instrument," 
 states that the " protest was strongly opposed in the House, 
 and after it was carried some of the principal members de- 
 spaired of success in opposing any other measure, and 
 remained silent the rest of the session. It was considered 
 by government in England as a greater insult than had been 
 offered at any time, and this remark was made, that ' the 
 same men who denied the right of the King to 'instruct his 
 Governor would soon deny the right of appointing him.' " * 
 Instances are not wanting throughout the life of Samuel 
 Adams, where his powers of persuasion, which were very 
 great, had the effect of changing an opposition into a de- 
 cided adoption of his own views. The protest was printed 
 in the Boston press, and, with the newspaper containing it, 
 Hutchinson sent word to Lord Hillsborough explaining that, 
 in consequence, he had not adjourned the Court to Boston 
 as he had intended.! So important indeed did he consider 
 it, as indicating a reaction from the late gratifying tone of 
 the House, that he made it the subject of a special message 
 at the close of the session, combating its doctrines as calcu- 
 lated to " retard that quiet and contentment which, he 
 doubted not, the gentlemen of the House in general who 
 voted for it wished to see fully restored." $ 
 
 The adoption of the protest, hotly contested as it was, 
 offered encouragement for still further advances, and it was 
 now the turn of the government party to look with appre- 
 hension to the result. The opposition to the measures of 
 Samuel Adams and his friends was completely silenced, nor 
 were Hancock and his party able again to distract the har- 
 mony of the House, until, with a sufficiency of newly elected 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 343, 344. 
 
 t Hutchinson to Lord Hillsborough, June 22, 1771. 
 
 J Bradford's State Papers, p. 212. 
 
406 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 members, at the opening of the April session in the follow- 
 ing year, the attempt was renewed, aided by a secret under- 
 standing with Hutchinson. These well-laid plans, however, 
 were unsuccessful, though by great activity, as will presently 
 appear, they were nearly accomplished. How interesting 
 must have been the exertion of those influences by the con- 
 trolling mind which had wrought such a change ; — but it 
 was a maxim with Adams never to remain inactive, if more 
 was to be achieved. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 27th of June, we find the resolution 
 creating a committee of correspondence to communicate 
 with the " agent and others in England, the Speakers of 
 the several Assemblies throughout the continent," which 
 had passed in November, 1770,* again introduced and car- 
 ried, and the Speaker, Adams, Otis, Hancock, and Heath, 
 appointed members.f The exact words of Adams's previ- 
 ous resolution were readopted. A letter from Franklin, ac- 
 knowledging that of the House, written in the previous year, 
 had been received a fortnight before, and Adams was one of 
 the committee to reply. $ The pen was again placed in his 
 hand, and on the 29th his draft of a letter of instructions to 
 the agent was accepted. § Acknowledging the receipt of 
 Franklin's letter of February 5, the importance of which 
 claimed the fixed attention of the House, the letter (now 
 copied from the original rough draft) continues : — 
 
 " We cannot think the doctrine of the right of Parliament to tax 
 us is given up, while an act remains in force for that purpose, and 
 is daily put in execution ; and the longer it remains, the more dan- 
 ger there is of the people's becoming so accustomed to arbitrary and 
 unconstitutional taxes as to pay them without discontent ; and then, 
 as you justly observe, no minister will ever think of taking them 
 off, but will rather be encouraged to add others. If ever the Pro- 
 vincial Assemblies should be voluntarily silent, on the Parliament 
 taking upon themselves a power thus to violate our constitutional 
 
 * See, ante, p. 373. t Journal of the House, June 27, 1771. 
 
 \ Journal, June 29, 1771. § Bancroft, VI. 406. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 407 
 
 and charter rights, it might hereafter be considered as an approba- 
 tion of it, or at least a tacit consent that such power should be exer- 
 cised at any future time. It is therefore our duty to declare our 
 rights, and our determined resolution at all times to maintain them. 
 The time we know will come when they must be acknowledged and 
 secured to us and our posterity. 
 
 " We sincerely feel the effects, not of a revenue raised, but a trib- 
 ute exacted without our free consent or control; pensioners and 
 placemen are daily multiplying, and a fleet and standing armies are 
 posted in North America for no other apparent or real purpose than 
 to protect the exactors and collectors of the tribute for which they 
 are maintained, and many of them in pomp and pride to triumph 
 over and insult an injured people, and suppress, if possible, even 
 their murmurs. And there is reason to expect that the continued 
 increase of their numbers will lead to a proportionable increase of 
 tribute to support them. What will be the consequence ? Either, 
 on the one hand, an abject slavery in the people, which is ever to 
 be deprecated, or a determined resolution openly to assert and 
 maintain their rights, liberties, and privileges. The effect of such 
 a resolution may for some time be retarded by flattering hopes and 
 prospects ; and while it is the duty of all persons of influence here 
 to inculcate the sentiments of moderation, it will be, in our opinion, 
 equally the wisdom of the British administration to consider the 
 danger of forcing a free people by oppressive measures into a state 
 of desperation. 
 
 " We have reason to believe that the American Colonies, how- 
 ever they may have disagreed among themselves in one mode of 
 opposition to the arbitrary measures, are still united in the main 
 principles of constitutional and natural liberty; and they will not 
 give up one single point in controversy of any consequence, though 
 they may take no violent measures to obtain them. The taxing 
 their property without their consent, and thus appropriating it to 
 the purposes of their slavery and destruction, is justly considered as 
 contrary to, and subversive of, their original social compact, and 
 their intention in uniting under it. They cannot therefore readily 
 think themselves obliged to renounce those forms of government to 
 which alone, for the advantages implied or resulting, they were will- 
 ing to submit. We are sensible, as you observe, that the design of 
 our enemies in England, as well as of those who reside here, is to 
 
408 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 render us odious as well as contemptible, and to prevent all concern 
 for us in the friends of liberty in England, and perhaps to detach 
 our sister Colonies from us, and prevent their aid and influence in 
 our behalf, when the subject of oppressing us further and depriving 
 us of our rights by various violent measures should be carried into 
 execution. In this, however, we flatter ourselves they have failed. 
 But should all the other Colonies become weary of their liberties, 
 after the example of the Hebrews, this Province will never submit 
 to the authority of an absolute government." 
 
 The letter then passes to the consideration of the inten- 
 tion to render the Governor and other royal officers depend- 
 ent only on the Crown for support, of which Mr. Adams had 
 been privately informed nearly a year before, and to which 
 Franklin had lately called the attention of the House. 
 
 " The charter of this Province," says the letter in reply, " recog- 
 nizes the natural right of all men to dispose of their own property ; 
 and the Governor here, like all other governors, kings, and poten- 
 tates, is to be supported by the free grants of the representatives of 
 the people. Every one sees the necessity of this, to preserve the 
 balance of power and the freedom of any state. A power without 
 a check is subversive of all freedom. If, therefore, the Governor, 
 who is appointed by the Crown, shall be totally independent of the 
 free grants of the people for his support, where is the check upon 
 his power ? He becomes absolute, and may act as he pleases. He 
 may make use of his power, not for the good of those who are under 
 it, but for his own private, separate advantage, or any other pur- 
 pose to which he may be inclined or instructed by him upon whom 
 alone he depends. Such an independency threatens the very being 
 of a free Constitution, and if it takes effect will produce and firmly 
 establish a tyranny upon its ruin. 
 
 • , • • • 
 
 " Let us then consider the power the Governor already has, and 
 fcis Majesty's negative on all our acts, and judge whether the pur- 
 poses of tyranny will not be amply answered ! Can it be expected 
 that any law will pass here but such as will promote the favorite 
 design ? And the laws already made, as they will be executed by 
 officers altogether dependent on the Crown, will undoubtedly be per-? 
 verted to the worst of purposes. The Governor of the Province 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 409 
 
 and the principal fortress in it are probably already thus supported. 
 These are the first fruits of the system ; if the rest should follow, it 
 would be only in a greater degree a violation of our essential, natu- 
 ral rights. To what purpose, then, will it be to preserve the old 
 forms without the substance ? In such a state, and with such pros- 
 pects, can Britain expect anything but a gloomy discontent in the 
 Colonists? Let our fellow-subjects, then, recollect what would 
 have been their fate long ago, if their ancestors had submitted to 
 the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations, exactions, and impo- 
 sitions of the See of Rome, in the reign of Harry the Eighth. And 
 here it may be asked, what would have been our fate, if our ances- 
 tors had submitted to the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations, 
 exactions, and impositions of the British Parliament in the reign of 
 William the Third ? What we are, and what we should have been, 
 furnish reflections for a volume. Soon would they have sunk into a 
 state of abject slavery to that haughty power which exalteth itself 
 above all that is called God : but they had the true spirit of liberty, 
 and by exerting it they saved themselves and their posterity. 
 
 " It is, therefore, with entire approbation that we observe your 
 purpose freely to declare our rights, and to remonstrate against the 
 least infringement of them. The capital complaint of all North 
 America hath been, is now, and will be, until relieved, a subjuga- 
 tion to as arbitrary a tribute as ever the Romans laid upon the 
 Jews or their other colonies. The repealing these duties in part 
 is not considered by this House as a renunciation of this measure. 
 It has rather the appearance of a design to soothe .us into security 
 in the midst of danger ; any species of tribute unrepealed will stand 
 as a precedent to be made use of hereafter, as circumstances and 
 opportunity may admit. If the Colonists acquiesce in a single 
 instance, it will in effect be yielding up the whole matter in con- 
 troversy. We therefore desire that it may be universally under- 
 stood, that although the tribute is paid, it is not paid freely ; it is 
 exacted and torn from us against our will ; we bear the insult and 
 the injury for the present, grievous as it is, with great impatience, 
 hoping that the wisdom and prudence of the nation will at length 
 dictate measures consistent with natural justice and equity. For 
 what shall happen in future, we are not answerable. Your obser^ 
 vation was just, that it was certainly as bad policy, where they 
 
410 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 attempted to heal our differences by repealing part of the duties 
 only, as it is bad surgery to have splinters in a wound which must 
 prevent its healing or in time occasion it to open afresh." 
 
 The Governor had already refused his consent to a bill, 
 granting a salary to Franklin as agent of the Assembly, — a 
 course which he persisted in to the last. This subject is 
 treated in the letter, which holds that, if whatever was to be 
 transacted between the Assemblies of the Colonies and the 
 government was to be done by agents appointed by and 
 under the direction of the three branches, it would be utterly 
 impracticable for an Assembly ever to lay their grievances 
 before their sovereign. 
 
 Other letters were written to Franklin during the year, 
 but this alone has come to light. A month afterwards it 
 was published by Mr. Adams in the Boston Gazette,* as was 
 also that of November, 1770. Hutchinson sent the papers 
 to England, with a letter to Pownall. 
 
 " I enclose to you," he says, " Sir Francis Bernard's newspapers, 
 that you may see and communicate information when it may be 
 proper. Such a correspondence between the House and their agent 
 will keep us in a perpetual flame. The heads of the people are not 
 without apprehension that printing their letters to their agent, which 
 refer to his letters to them, may be of prejudice to him ; but they 
 are forced to take every measure to keep up the spirit of opposition 
 here. The Hou.se never ordered these letters to be published, but 
 the Clerk [Samuel Adams] who drew the letters, and who draws 
 most of the seditious papers in the newspapers, inserted these 
 among the rest. I doubt whether there is a greater incendiary in 
 the King's dominions, or a man of greater malignity of heart, or 
 who less scruples any measures ever so criminal to accomplish his 
 purposes ; and I think I do him no injustice, when I suppose he 
 wishes the destruction of every friend to government in America. 
 This is the man who is of the committee, and the instar omnium with 
 which the agent [Dr. Franklin] corresponds, and from which he 
 takes his directions in the recess of the Court. The doctrine ad- 
 vanced in these letters, of independence upon Parliament, and even 
 
 * See the Boston Gazette for July 22 and July 29, 1771. 
 
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 411 
 
 upon the King, to whom they deny the right of supporting or even 
 instructing his Governor, must rouse the people of England, and 
 they will sooner or later express their indignation. ,, * 
 
 Such is the character of Samuel Adams, as given by his 
 enemy, who found him the great obstacle in the path of tyr- 
 anny, — "the all in all" of the Massachusetts Assembly. 
 As an offset to this perversion of his views and measures, let 
 us turn to the record of another contemporary writer, the 
 sister of James Otis, Mrs. Mercy Warren, who knew and 
 appreciated his greatness, and whose husband, James War- 
 ren of Plymouth, was one of Adams's stanchest friends and 
 co-workers. 
 
 " Early nurtured in the principles of civil and religious liberty, 
 he possessed a quick understanding, a cool head, stern manners, a 
 smooth address, and a Roman-like firmness, united with that saga- 
 city and penetration that would have made a figure in a conclave. 
 He was at the same time liberal in opinion, and uniformly devout ; 
 social with men of all denominations ; grave in deportment ; placid, 
 yet severe ; sober and indefatigable ; calm in seasons of difficulty ; 
 tranquil and unruffled in the vortex of political altercation ; too firm 
 to be intimidated, too haughty for condescension, his mind was 
 replete with resources that dissipated fear, and extricated in the 
 greatest emergencies. Thus qualified, he stood forth early, and con- 
 tinued firm through the great struggle, and may justly claim a 
 large share of honor due to that spirit of energy which opposed the 
 measures of administration, and produced the Independence of 
 America. Through a long life he exhibited, on all occasions, an 
 example of patriotism, religion, and virtue, honorary to the human 
 character." f 
 
 * Hutchinson to Pownall, July, 1771. Bancroft, VI. 375,406. Dr. Cooper 
 to Franklin, Nov. 10, 1770 (Franklin's Works, VIII. 98-100). 
 t Mrs. Mercy Warren's History, I. 211, 212. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Hutchinson announces Arbitrary Instructions received from the King. — 
 Adams replies for the Assembly. — The Court adjourned. — Arthur Leo 
 unjustly suspects Franklin. — He afterwards frankly owns his Error. — 
 Arrival of the Fleet. — Adams counsels Union of the Colonies, and an 
 Assemblage of Deputies. — His Political Essays denying the Supreme 
 Authority of Parliament. 
 
 But two weeks had elapsed after the adoption of Samuel 
 Adams's protest, when a new phase in the governmental 
 system was brought to light, showing that the doctrine of 
 the protest, drawing the line between the just uses of a pre- 
 rogative and its abuse, had need to be insisted upon. Hutch- 
 inson informed the Assembly on the 4th of July, that, in 
 obedience to his Majesty's instructions, he could not here- 
 after give his consent to the annual bills levying a tax upon 
 the incomes of crown officers in the Province. The tax was 
 trifling, and amounted to but a small sum in the aggregate, 
 but the Governor, in defiance of law and ancient usage, neg- 
 atived the bill. This was but one of the many forms in 
 which the studied art of British politicians had determined 
 to secure a compliance with the right of Parliament to raise 
 a revenue in America. Mr. Adams, for a committee, of 
 which James Otis was nominally the chairman, responded 
 on the following day.* 
 
 " The reason you are pleased to assign for withholding your assent 
 to the tax bill is surprising and alarming. We know of no Commis- 
 sioners of his Majesty's Customs nor of any revenue his Majesty has 
 a right to establish in North America ; we know and feel a tribute 
 levied and extorted from those who, if they have property, have a 
 right to the absolute disposal of it. 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 404. Journal of the House, July 5, 1771. Bradford's State 
 Papers, p. 307. 
 
July, 1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 413 
 
 " By the royal charter it is expressly granted that the General 
 Assembly shall have full power and authority to impose and levy 
 proportionable and reasonable assessments, rates, and taxes upon 
 the estates and persons of all and every the proprietors and inhab- 
 itants of this Province. Hence it plainly appears that the power of 
 raising and levying taxes is vested in the General Assembly ; and 
 that power which has the sole right of raising and levying taxes has 
 an uncontrollable right to order and direct in what way and man- 
 ner, and upon whom, such taxes shall be raised and levied. There- 
 fore for your Excellency to withold your assent to this bill, merely 
 by force of instruction, is effectually vacating the charter, and giving 
 instructions the force of laws within this Province. And we are 
 constrained to say, that your Excellency's present determination is 
 to be governed by them, though this should be the consequence. 
 We must further observe, that such a doctrine, if established, would 
 render the representatives of a free people mere machines ; and they 
 would be reduced to this fatal alternative, either to have no taxes 
 levied and raised at all, or to have them raised and levied in such 
 way and manner and upon those only whom his Majesty pleases. 
 
 "As to the operation of law, mentioned in your Excellency's 
 message, the law of this Province, at least in this respect, has 
 rightly operated as it ever ought to. And we know no reason nor 
 any semblance of reason why the Commissioners, their superior or 
 subordinate officers, who are equally protected with the other inhab- 
 itants, should be exempted from paying their full proportion of 
 taxes for the support of government within this Province." 
 
 The session was then brought to a close with a message to 
 the two Houses, from the Governor, already referred to, 
 taking ground against the protest of the Assembly. The 
 Court was adjourned to September 14, to meet at Cam- 
 bridge ; but further prorogations followed, and no meeting 
 took place until the spring of the next year. 
 
 Mr. Adams immediately turned to the press, resolved that 
 the aim of government to conceal the insidious steps of tyr- 
 anny with an appearance of public satisfaction should not 
 succeed. Particularly he endeavored to preserve a union 
 of sentiment among the Colonies, without which the efforts 
 
414 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 of Massachusetts would prove futile.* He continued his cor- 
 respondence with Arthur Lee in London, whose last letter, 
 dated in March, he had lately received. After, alluding to 
 the recent political disturbances in London, and the libera- 
 tion from imprisonment of the Lord Mayor, he continues : — 
 
 " Mr. Hume, if I mistake not, somewhere says, that if James the 
 Second had had the benefit of the riot act and such a standing army 
 as has been granted since his time, it would have been impracticable 
 for the nation to have wrought its own delivery and establish the 
 constitution of '88. If the people have put it in the power of a 
 wicked and corrupt Ministry to make themselves absolute lords and 
 tyrants over them, by means of a standing army, we may at present 
 pity them under the misfortune ; but future historians will record 
 the story with astonishment and indignation, and posterity, who will 
 share in the fatal effects of their folly and treachery, will accuse 
 them. Has there not, for a long time past, been reason to appre- 
 hend the designs of a restless faction to oppress the nation ; and, the 
 more easily to effect their purposes, to render the King's government 
 obnoxious, and, if possible, put an end to a family which has hereto- 
 fore supported the rights of the nation, its happiness, and grandeur ? 
 
 "In this Colony we are every day experiencing the miserable 
 effects of arbitrary power. The people are paying the unrighteous 
 tribute (I wish I could say they were groaning under it, for that 
 would seem as if they felt they are submitting to it), in hopes that 
 the nation will at length revert to justice. But before that time 
 comes, it is to be feared they will be so accustomed to bondage as 
 to forget they were ever free." f 
 
 Nearly at the same time Adams received a letter from 
 Lee, informing him of the intention of Hillsborough, as 
 advised by Bernard, to change the mode of electing the 
 Council, but the Port Egremont difficulties with Spain had 
 temporarily delayed it. 
 
 " I am the more suspicious," said Mr. Lee, " that the measure is 
 
 * Bancroft VI. 407. Barry's Massachusetts, II. 443. 
 t Adams to Lee, July 31, 1771 (E. H. Lee's Life of Arthur Lee, II. 
 174, 175). 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 415 
 
 suspended only, that I find Lord Hillsborough takes great pains to 
 persuade and to assure your countrymen that, as long as they con- 
 tinue quiet, nothing will be done to their prejudice. As treachery 
 and imposition is his forte, there is most danger when his professions 
 are warmest. Besides, as he certainly intended mischief, he is more 
 strongly induced to exercise those arts, in order to quiet the alarm 
 which such an intention going forth would necessarily produce. He 
 possesses, too, a perverse spirit, that thinks he is doing nothing if 
 he is not doing mischief. You may conceive, sir, whether such a 
 temper, perpetually acted upon by the implacable hatred of Ber- 
 nard, is likely to abandon a favorite system of tyranny and revenge 
 without any apparent reason. I am therefore of opinion that the 
 fire still subsists, though covered with deceitful ashes ; and such, I 
 can assure you, are the sentiments of the best friend you have here, 
 Col. BarreV'* 
 
 It was in this letter that Mr. Lee expressed those suspi- 
 cions of Dr. Franklin's course as agent to which allusion 
 has already been made. In his zeal, he mistook the objects 
 and policy of Franklin, and construed his efforts towards 
 re-establishing a friendly feeling between the mother country 
 and the Colonies into " temporizing in American affairs," 
 and he believed him to be either the instrument or the dupe 
 of Hillsborough's treachery. " I feel it not a little disagree- 
 able," he continues, " to speak my sentiments of Dr. Frank- 
 lin, as your generous confidence has placed me in the light 
 of a rival to him. But I am so far from being influenced 
 by selfish motives, that, were the service of the Colony ten 
 times greater, I would perform it for nothing, rather than 
 you and America, at a time like this, should be betrayed by 
 a man who it is hardly in the nature of things to suppose 
 can be faithful to his trust." f But afterwards, as Lee be- 
 came more familiar with Franklin, he honestly changed his 
 opinion, and during Weddeburne's attack upon the agent 
 before the Privy Council, Lee assisted with his eloquence in 
 reply. " Dr. Franklin," he says, " bore it all with a firm- 
 
 * Lee to Adams, June 10, 1771 (Life of Lee, I. 215-219). t Ibid. 
 
416 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. 
 
 ness and equanimity which conscious integrity can alone 
 inspire." And as the Ministry deprived Franklin o£ his 
 office as Postmaster of America, Lee adds : " The same cause 
 which renders him odious to them must endear him to 
 you." * 
 
 During the month of August the patriots had reason to 
 see that the policy of coercion, though in abeyance for a 
 while, had not been abandoned. On the 12th they beheld a 
 fleet of twelve war vessels, carrying two hundred and sixty- 
 two guns,. anchor in the harbor. This was in pursuance of 
 the order making Boston the rendezvous of the North Amer- 
 ican fleet ; and although the threatened trouble with Spain 
 was alleged as a reason for this extraordinary armament, it 
 was evident that an intimidation of the people was intended. 
 The danger was every day drawing nearer, and as the relent- 
 less policy discovered itself, Samuel Adams became more ex- 
 plicit, and sounded the alarm to his countrymen. Review- 
 ing the principles which had actuated the British American 
 Provinces, since the time of the Stamp Act, in successful 
 struggles against slavery, " which," says the writer, " will 
 undoubtedly be recorded by future historians to their im- 
 mortal honor," he warns them against the fatal delusion that 
 the lurking poison was eradicated, while any article remained 
 under the ban of taxation. 
 
 " It is by no means sufficient to console us, that the duty is re- 
 duced to the single article of tea, which, by the way, is not a fact ; 
 but if it should be admitted, it is because the Parliament for the 
 present are pleased to demand no more of us. Should we acqui- 
 esce in their taking three pence only because they please, we at 
 least tacitly consent that they should have the sovereign control of 
 our purses, and when they please they will claim an equal right, 
 and perhaps plead a precedent for it, to take a shilling or a pound. 
 At present we have the remedy in our own hands. We can easily 
 avoid paying the tribute by abstaining from the use of those articles 
 by which it is extorted from us." f 
 
 * Lee to Adams, Feb. 8, 1774 (Life of Lee, I. 240). 
 t " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 9, 1771. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 417 
 
 This advice he carried into practice in his own house- 
 hold. Tea was interdicted almost from the first hint that 
 the administration would persist in taxing that one article. 
 Nor did he stop here. He showed a marked preference for 
 all things of special American manufacture. He neither 
 wore English cloth himself, nor permitted any article of 
 English industry to be used in his family if it could possi- 
 bly be avoided. " It behooves every American," he used to 
 say, " to encourage home manufactures, that our oppressors 
 may feel through their pockets the effects of their blind folly." 
 It became at length the custom among the ladies of Boston 
 to make up spinning parties at their houses on alternate 
 nights ; and at these reunions there was an entire abstinence 
 from tea, while, as the work went on, the discussion of the 
 all-engrossing topics of the day was varied with singing and 
 playing on the spinnet, which then held the place of the 
 piano-forte. 
 
 Again, upon the infringements of the charter of Massa- 
 chusetts by the Ministry, in arbitrarily dissolving and con- 
 trolling the Assembly : — 
 
 "The charter may be taken away in parts, as well as in the 
 whole ; and it seems by some later ministerial mandates and meas- 
 ures as if there was a design to deprive us of our charter rights by 
 degrees. An attempt upon the whole, by one stroke, would perhaps 
 be thought too bold an undertaking. His Lordship could not indeed 
 have chosen a more effectual step to deprive us of the whole bene- 
 fit of a free constitution, than by attempting to control the debates 
 and determinations of the House of Representatives, which ought 
 forever to be free, and suspending the legislative power of the 
 Province for their refusing to obey any mandate, especially when 
 it was not only contrary to their judgments and consciences, but, as 
 it appeared to them, absurd. It is a pitiful constitution indeed, 
 which, so far from being fixed and permanent as it should be, 
 sacred and unalterable in the hands of those where the community 
 has placed it, depends entirely upon the breath of a minister or of 
 
 * " Candidas," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 16, 1771. 
 vol. i. 27 
 
418 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept. 
 
 any man. But it is to be feared from this, as well as other more 
 recent instances, that there is a design to raze the foundations of 
 the Constitutions of these Colonies, and place them upon this preca- 
 rious and sandy foundation." * 
 
 Arthur Lee had hinted to him in one of his letters the 
 possibility of an impeachment of the Ministry at some future 
 time, to which Mr. Adams replies : — 
 
 " I was pleased with the petition and remonstrance of the city of 
 London. But are not the Ministry lost to all sensibility ? Do they 
 not, like the Egyptian tyrant, harden their hearts against the just 
 complaints of the people? May God grant the nation that pru- 
 dence, strength, and fortitude by which they may be animated to 
 maintain their own liberties at all events ! By your last letter 
 you resolve wisely, * if ever the spirit of impeaching should rise in 
 Britain.' But how is it possible such a spirit should rise? In 
 all former struggles the House of Commons has naturally taken 
 sides with the people against oppressing ministers and favorites. 
 Whether this is the case at present or not, is no secret to the 
 world. We have indeed heard little of the business of impeaching 
 since the Revolution ; its corrupt ministerial influence has been 
 gradually and too insensibly increasing since that era, and is now 
 become so powerful as to render it impracticable to have one cap- 
 ital object of the people's just vengeance impeached. 
 
 "If it should ever become a practicable thing to impeach a 
 corrupt administration, I hope that minister who advised to the 
 introduction of an arbitrary government into America will not be 
 overlooked. Such a victim, I imagine, will make a figure equal to 
 Lord Strafford in the reign of Charles, or many others in future 
 times." f 
 
 The arrival of the fleet convinced Mr. Adams that the 
 time for remonstrances and patriotic appeals to the people 
 was past, and he revolved within him a project for definite 
 action. A year passed before it was brought to maturity, 
 
 * " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 23, 1771. 
 t Adams to Lee, Sept. 27, 1771. 
 
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 419 
 
 but then it kindled a flame which was never subdued until 
 American liberty was acknowledged. The Society of the 
 Bill of Rights in England was in active existence for the 
 support of principles as dear to that part of the Kingdom as 
 were those maintained by their brethren in America. 
 
 " The grievances of Britain," he wrote to Arthur Lee, " as well 
 as ours, as you observe, spring from, the same root of bitterness, 
 and are of the same pernicious growth. The union of Britain and 
 America is therefore by all means to be cultivated. If in every 
 Colony societies should be formed out of the most respectable in- 
 habitants, similar to that of the Bill of Rights, who should once in 
 the year meet by their deputies, and correspond with such a society 
 in London, would it not effectually promote such a union ? And 
 if it was conducted with a proper spirit, would it not afford sufficient 
 reason for the enemies of our common liberty, however exalted, to 
 tremble ? This is a sudden thought, and drops undigested from my 
 pen. It would be an arduous task for any man to undertake to 
 awaken a sufficient number in the Colonies to so grand an under- 
 taking. Nothing however is to be despaired of." * 
 
 " The body of the people are uneasy at the large strides that are 
 made and making towards an absolute tyranny. Many are alarmed, 
 but are of different sentiments with regard to the next step to be 
 taken. Some, indeed, think that every step has already been taken 
 but one. The ultima ratio would require prudence, unanimity, for- 
 titude. The conspirators against our liberties are employing all 
 their influence to divide the people ; partly by intimidating them, 
 for which purpose there is a fleet with an admiral lying within gun- 
 shot of the town, and the capital fort within three miles of it is gar- 
 risoned by the King's troops ; and partly by arts and intrigue, 
 flattering those who are pleased with flattery, forming connections 
 with them, introducing levity, luxury, and indolence, and assuring 
 them that if they are quiet the Ministry will alter their measures. 
 This is the general appearance of things here, while the people are 
 anxiously waiting for some happy event from your side the water. 
 For my own part, I confess, I have no great expectation from 
 thence. I have long been of opinion that America herself, under 
 God, must finally work out her own salvation." f 
 
 * Adams to Lee, Sept. 27, 1771. t Adams to Lee, Oct. 31, 1771. 
 
420 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 His political writings at this time were very numerous, 
 and embraced all the subjects in controversy. In private 
 letters abroad, and among the other Colonies, and in the 
 press, he continually rang the alarm-bell, and combated 
 " the disposition in all the Colonies to let the controversy 
 with the Kingdom subside," * of which Hutchinson was 
 writing home with great satisfaction. To give more than 
 occasional extracts would be inconsistent with the character 
 of these volumes. One letter of considerable length thus 
 concludes : — 
 
 " We are told that the justices of the Superior Court are also to 
 receive fixed salaries out of this American revenue ! Is it possible 
 to form an idea of slavery more complete, more miserable, more dis- 
 graceful, than that of a people where justice is administered, govern- 
 ment exercised, and a standing army maintained at the expense of 
 the people, and yet without the least dependence upon them ? If 
 we can find no relief from this infamous situation, — I repeat it, if 
 we can find no relief from this infamous situation, — let the Ministry, 
 who have stripped us of our property and liberty, deprive us of our 
 understanding too, that, unconscious of what we have been or are, 
 and ungoaded by tormenting reflections, we may tamely bow down 
 our necks with all the stupid serenity of servitude to any drudgery 
 which our lords and masters may please to command. I appeal to 
 the common sense of mankind to what a state of infamy and misery 
 must a people be reduced to have a Governor by the sole appoint- 
 ment of the Crown, under the absolute control of a weak and arbi- 
 trary minister, to whose dictates he is to yield unlimited obedience 
 or forfeit his political existence, while he is to be supported at the 
 expense of the people by virtue of an authority claimed by strangers 
 to oblige them to contribute for him such an annual stipend, however 
 unbounded, as the Crown shall be advised to order ? If this is not 
 a state of despotism, what is ? Could such a Governor, by all the 
 arts of persuasion, prevail upon a people to be quiet and contented 
 under such a mode of government, his noble patron might spare 
 himself the trouble of getting their charter vacated by a formal de- 
 cision of Parliament or in the tedious process of law. Whenever 
 
 * Hutchinson to Pownall, Oct. 14, 1771. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 421 
 
 the relentless enemies of America shall have completed their 
 system, which they are still, though more silently, pursuing by 
 subtle arts, deep dissimulation, and manners calculated to deceive, 
 our condition will then be more humiliating and miserable, and 
 perhaps more inextricable too, than that of the people of England 
 in the infamous reigns of the Stuarts, which blacken the pages of 
 history.* 
 
 Another of these essays, the original draft of which, in 
 the handwriting of Mr. Adams, has been preserved,! was 
 sent by the Governor to the Earl of Hillsborough, whom he 
 always supplied with files of the newspapers, and he adds as 
 a postscript to his letter, " * Candidus,' in the late papers, is 
 Adams the Representative." % The paper was adapted, if 
 anything would, to dispel the "quiet" upon which Hutch- 
 inson was felicitating himself, and may here be given entire 
 as a specimen of the series of u Candidus," extending through 
 the files of the Gazette from the summer of 1771 to the close 
 of the following year. Adams at times changed the signa- 
 ture, but generally adhered to the one now used for several 
 years. These essays are varied to suit 'the circumstances 
 of the moment, sometimes being devoted to close and argu- 
 mentative reasoning upon the powers of Parliament, and 
 exhibiting an acquaintance with the opinions of lawyers 
 and writers on government, who are extensively quoted ; 
 and at others rising into fervid appeals to the sensibility 
 and patriotism of his countrymen, arousing them to the fact 
 that the policy of their tyrants was in reality more alarm- 
 ing when covert and insidious than when open and over- 
 bearing. 
 
 * " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 7, 1771. 
 
 t The better to insure secrecy as to authorship, and prevent his hand- 
 writing from getting by any accident into the possession of his enemies, Mr. 
 Adams sometimes took the precaution of having the original drafts of his com- 
 positions returned to his study from the printing office. They still bear the 
 marks of handling by the printer, and the interlineations and erasures by their 
 author. 
 
 X Hutchinson to Hillsborough, Oct. 15, 1771. 
 
422 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct 
 
 " * Ambition saw that stooping Rome could bear 
 A master, nor had virtue to be free/ 
 
 " I believe that no people ever yet groaned under the heavy yoke 
 of slavery but when they deserved it. This may be called a severe 
 censure upon by far the greatest part of the nations in the world 
 who are involved in the miseries of servitude. But however they 
 may be thought by some to deserve commiseration, the censure is 
 just. Zuinglius, one of the first reformers, in his friendly admoni- 
 tion to the republic of the Switzers, discourses much of his coun- 
 trymen's throwing off the yoke. He says that they who lie under 
 oppression deserve what they suffer and a great deal more, and he 
 bids them perish with their oppressors. The truth is, all might be 
 free, if they valued freedom and defended it as they ought. Is it 
 possible that millions could be enslaved by a few, which is a notori- 
 ous fact, if all possessed the independent spirit of Brutus, who, to his 
 immortal honor, expelled the proud tyrant of Rome and his ' royal 
 and rebellious race ' ? If, therefore, a people will not be free, if they 
 have not virtue enough to maintain their liberty against a presumptu- 
 ous invader, they deserve no pity, and are to be treated with contempt 
 and ignominy. Had not Caesar seen that Rome was ready to stoop 
 he would not have dared to make himself the master of that once 
 brave people. He was, indeed, as a great writer observes, a smooth 
 and subtle tyrant, who led them gently into slavery ; ' and on his 
 brow o'er daring vice, deluding virtue smiled.' By pretending to 
 be the people's greatest friend, he gained the ascendency over them ; 
 by beguiling arts, hypocrisy, and flattery, which are often more fatal 
 than the sword, he obtained that supreme power which his ambi- 
 tious soul had long thirsted for. The people were finally prevailed 
 upon to consent to their own ruin. By the force of persuasion, or 
 rather by cajoling arts and tricks, always made use of by men who 
 have ambitious views, they enacted their Lex Begia, whereby quod 
 placuit principi legis habuit vigorem, that is, the will and pleasure 
 of the prince had the force of law. His minions had taken infinite 
 pains to paint to their imaginations the godlike virtues of Caesar. 
 They first persuaded them to believe that he was a deity, and then 
 to sacrifice to him those rights and liberties which their ancestors 
 had so long maintained with unexampled bravery and with blood 
 and treasure. By this act they fixed a precedent fatal to all poster- 
 ity. The Roman people afterwards, influenced no doubt by this 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 423 
 
 pernicious example, renewed it to his successors, not at the end of 
 every ten years, but for life. They transferred all their right and 
 power to Charles the Great. In eum transtulit omne suum jus et 
 potestatem. Thus they voluntarily and ignominously surrendered 
 their own liberty, and exchanged a free constitution for a tyranny. 
 
 " It is not my design to form a comparison between the state of 
 this country now and that of the Roman Empire in those dregs of 
 
 time, or between the disposition of Caesar and that of . The 
 
 comparison, I confess, would not, in all its parts, hold good. The 
 tyrant of Rome, to do him justice, had learning, courage, and great 
 abilities. It behooves us, however, to awake, and advert to the 
 danger we are in. The tragedy of American freedom, it is to be 
 feared, is nearly completed. A tyranny seems to be at the very 
 door. It is to little purpose, then, to go about coolly to rehearse the 
 gradual steps that have been taken, the means that have been used, 
 and the instruments employed to encompass the ruin of the public 
 liberty. We know them and we detest them. But what will this 
 avail, if we have not courage and resolution to prevent the com- 
 pletion of their system ? 
 
 " Our enemies would fain have us lie down on the bed of sloth 
 and security, and persuade ourselves that there is no danger. They 
 are daily administering the opiate with multiplied arts and delu- 
 sions, and I am sorry to observe that the gilded pill is so alluring ^fy/~z>* 
 to some who call themselves the friends of liberty. But is there no^ 
 danger when the very foundations of our civil Constitution tremble ? 
 "When an attempt was first made to disturb the corner-stone of the 
 fabric, we were universally and justly alarmed. And can we be 
 cool spectators when we see it already removed from its place? 
 With what resentment and indignation did we first receive the intel- 
 ligence of a design to make us tributary, not to natural enemies, 
 but infinitely more humiliating, to fellow-subjects ! And yet, with 
 unparalleled insolence, we are told to be quiet when we see that 
 very money which is torn from us by lawless force made use of still 
 further to oppose us, to feed and pamper a set of infamous wretches 
 who swarm like the locusts of Egypt, and some of them expect to 
 revel in wealth and riot on the spoils of our country. Is it a time 
 for us to sleep when our free government is essentially changed, and 
 a new one is forming upon a quite different system ? A govern- 
 ment without the least dependence on the people, — a government 
 
424 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 under the absolute control of a minister of state, upon whose sover- 
 eign dictates is to depend not only the time when, and the place 
 where, the Legislative Assembly shall sit, but whether it shall sit 
 at all ; and if it is allowed to meet, it shall be liable immediately to 
 be thrown out of existence, if in any one point it fails in obedience 
 to his arbitrary mandates. 
 
 " Have we not already seen specimens of what we are to expect 
 under such a government, in the instructions which Mr. Hutchinson 
 has received, and which he has publicly avowed and declared he is 
 bound to obey ? By one he is to refuse his assent to a tax bill un- 
 less the Commissioners of the Customs and other favorites are 
 exempted ; and if these may be freed from taxes by the order of a 
 minister, may not all his tools and drudges, or any others who are 
 subservient to his designs, expect the same indulgence ? By another, 
 he is forbid to pass a grant of the Assembly to any agent but one to 
 whose election he has given his consent ; which is, in effect, to put 
 it out of our power to take the necessary and legal steps for the re- 
 dress of those grievances which we suffer by the arts and machina- 
 tions of ministers and their minions here. What difference is there 
 between the present state of this Province, which in course will be 
 the deplorable state of America, and that of Rome under the law 
 before mentioned ? The difference is only this, that they gave their 
 formal consent to the change, which we have not yet done. But let 
 us be upon our guard against even a negative submission, for, agree- 
 able to the sentiments of a celebrated writer, who thoroughly under- 
 stood his subject, if we are voluntarily silent as the conspirators 
 would have us to be, it will be considered as an approbation of the 
 change. ' By the fundamental laws of England the two Houses of 
 Parliament, in concert with the King, exercise the legislative power ; 
 but if the two Houses should be so infatuated as to resolve to sup- 
 press their powers, and invest the King with the full and absolute 
 government, certainly the nation would not suffer it ! ' And if a 
 minister shall usurp the supreme and absolute government of Amer- 
 ica, and set up his instructions as laws in the Colonies, and their 
 governors shall be so weak or so wicked as, for the sake of keeping 
 their places, to be made the instruments in putting them in execu- 
 tion, who will presume to say that the people have not a right, or 
 that it is not their indispensable duty to God and their country, by 
 all rational means in their power, to resist them ! 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 425 
 
 u Be firm, my friends, nor let unmanly sloth 
 Twine round your hearts indissoluble chains ; 
 Ne'er yet by force was freedom overcome, 
 Unless corruption first dejects the pride 
 And guardian vigor of the free born soul ; 
 All crude attempts of violence are vain. 
 
 Determined hold 
 Your independence ; for, that once destroyed, 
 Unfounded freedom is a morning dream/ 
 
 " The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitu- 
 tion are worth defending at all hazards ; and it is our duty to de- 
 fend .them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair 
 inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for 
 us with toil, and danger, and expense of treasure and blood, and 
 transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an 
 everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened 
 as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence 
 without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false 
 and designing men. Of the latter, we are in most danger at pres- 
 ent. Let us therefore be aware of it. Let us contemplate our fore- 
 fathers and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed 
 to us from the former for the sake of the latter. Instead of sitting 
 down satisfied with the efforts we have already made, which is the 
 wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times more than ever calls 
 for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and persever- 
 ance. Let us remember that ' if we suffer tamely a lawless attack 
 upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom ! ' 
 It is a very serious consideration, which should deeply impress our 
 minds, that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers in the 
 
 evmt! "CAtonms.- 
 
 The extent of the parliamentary power over the Colonies 
 was a subject which had not yet been discussed in the public 
 press. The proper consideration of it required an extensive 
 reading of writers on government, which few in the Colony 
 possessed, and the Governor had carefully avoided introduc- 
 ing the question into any of his messages, probably fearing 
 that any assertions of his would be considered as calling for 
 
 * Boston Gazette, Oct. 14, 1771. 
 
 4 
 
426 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 [Oct. 
 
 a reply on the part of the House, and that this response 
 would adduce all possible proofs against the assumed suprem- 
 acy. Most of the writers on the side of liberty had confined 
 their remarks to denunciations of the measures of the gov- 
 ernment and appeals to the patriotic sentiments of their 
 countrymen. Mr. Adams, as we have seen, had for a long 
 time explicitly denied the right of the Ministry or Parlia- 
 ment to impose taxes upon the Colonists or to assume con- 
 trol of their Legislature ; but the complete denial of their 
 authority had never been made. He had been an earnest 
 reader of all the works that could be obtained to throw light 
 on the subject, for the purpose of fortifying his positions 
 whenever it might be neceesary to consider it in the House. 
 He had been, in fact, seeking for an opportunity to raise this 
 question in the Legislature, but he warily avoided precipi- 
 tancy, and bided his time. In 1765, under the excitement 
 of the Stamp Act, the Legislature, by the pen of Samuel 
 Adams, had asserted that there were limits to parliamentary 
 authority and denied the necessity of submission to an act 
 as a preliminary to its repeal.* The opportunity to raise 
 this momentous question in the House did not offer until 
 January, 1773, when he conducted the memorable and de- 
 cisive controversy with the Governor on that subject, which 
 was thenceforth never revived by the servants of the Crown. 
 But preparatory to that contest, which his penetration dis- 
 cerned to be at no great distance, he opened the discussion 
 in an essay, of which the autograph manuscript is yet entire, 
 published in the Boston Gazette. It embodied the main 
 points of the subsequent controversy, and was followed by 
 other articles of the same tenor in the following year. It is 
 evident that, from the fall of 1771, he was desirous_of having 
 the discussion of parliamentary__authorrty 1>egun, as an ac- 
 
 * As early as 1758, Mr. Adams had denied the right of Parliament to 
 interfere in the internal affairs of the Colony, and upon that had based his 
 opposition to the seizure of his father's estate. The germ of the idea was 
 exhibited in his college thesis in 1743. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 427 
 
 companying measure with the Committee of Correspondence, 
 with which he determined to arouse anew the spirit of the 
 Province. Hutchinson, who instantly saw the danger, al- 
 ready anticipated and predicted the impending contest, but 
 it was not until Mr. Adams in the " Rights of the Colo- 
 nists," in November, 1772, had even more plainly denied 
 the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to make 
 and establish laws for the Province,* that the Governor 
 deemed it advisable to open the controversy. Now, how- 
 ever, he hastened to send this alarming essay to England, 
 as an indication of what was to be expected. He says to 
 Richard Jackson, to whom the Gazette was enclosed : — 
 
 " You may depend upon it, that the leaders of the people are in 
 earnest, and flatter themselves they shall maintain their ground 
 and make further advances until they have rejected every act of 
 Parliament which controls the Colonies. The paper which I en- 
 close to you speaks their real sentiments, and is the language of the 
 Chief Incendiary of the House. If they meet with nothing to deter 
 them, it is not improbable that the next session may obtain a vote 
 for a message or declaration in the very terms of the exception- 
 able declaration in the paper." f 
 
 The first of these essays was based upon Hutchinson's 
 History of Massachusetts, whose positions Mr. Adams at- 
 tacks, supporting his assertions with quotations from the 
 great authors on government, whose works were in his 
 library. 
 
 " The writer of the History of Massachusetts Bay tells us that 
 ' our ancestors apprehended the acts of trade to be an invasion of 
 the rights, liberties, and properties of the subjects of his Majesty in 
 the Colony, they not being represented in Parliament ; and, accord- 
 ing to the usual sayings of the learned in the law, the laws of Eng- 
 land were bounded within the four seas, and did not reach America. 
 However, they made provision by an Act of the Colony, that they, 
 
 * See the Governor's Speech to the House of Representatives, Jan. 6, 1773 
 (Bradford's State Papers, p. 336). 
 t Hutchinson to Jackson, October, 1771. 
 
428 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 i. e. the acts of trade, should be strictly attended from time to 
 time.' The passing of this law of the Colony, and thus making it 
 an act of their own Legislature, he says, ' plainly shows the wrong 
 sense they had of the relation they stood in to England/ And he 
 further adds, that ' though their posterity have as high notions of 
 English liberties as they had, yet they are sensible that they are 
 Colonists, and therefore subject to the control of the parent state/ 
 As I am not disposed to yield an implicit assent to any authority 
 whatever, I should have been glad if this historian, since he thought 
 proper to pronounce upon so important a matter, had shown us 
 what was the political relation our ancestors stood in to England, 
 and how far, if at all, their posterity are subject to the control of 
 the parent state. If he had vouchsafed to have done this when he 
 published his History, he would have rendered the greatest service 
 both to Great Britain and America, and eased the minds of multi- 
 tudes who have been unsatisfied on points of such interesting impor- 
 tance. 
 
 „/"Mr. Locke, in his treatise on government, discovers the weak- 
 ness of this position, that every man is born a subject to his prince, 
 and therefore is under the perpetual tie of subjection and allegiance ; 
 and he shows that express consent alone makes any one_a_mejaber 
 of any commonwealth. He holds that submission to the laws of 
 any country, and living quietly and enjoying privileges and protec- 
 tion under them, does not make a man a member of that society or 
 a perpetual subject of that commonwealth, any more than it would 
 make a man subject to another in whose family he found it conven- 
 ient to abide for some time, though, while he continued under it, he 
 were obliged to comply with the laws, and submit to the govern- 
 ment he found there. Every man was born naturally free ; noth- 
 ing can make a man a subject of any commonwealth but his actually 
 entering into it by positive engagement and express promise and 
 compact. 
 
 "If the sentiments of this great man are well grounded, our his- 
 torian, before he asserted so peremptorily that the ancestors of this 
 country, as colonists, were subject to the control of the parent state, 
 should have first made it appear that by positive engagement, or 
 express promise or compact, they had thus bound themselves. 
 
 " * Every man being born free,' says another distinguished writer, 
 1 the son of a citizen, arrived at the years of discretion, may examine 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 429 
 
 whether it be convenient for him to join in the society for which he 
 was destined by birth. If he finds that it will be no advantage 
 for him to remain in it, he is at liberty to leave it, preserving, as 
 much as his new engagements will allow him, the love and grati- 
 tude he owes it.* He further says, ' there are cases in which a 
 citizen has an absolute right to renounce his country and abandon 
 it forever,' which is widely different from the sentiment of the his- 
 torian, that ' allegiance is not local, but perpetual and unalienable.' 
 And among other cases in which a citizen has this absolute right, 
 he mentions that when the sovereign or the greater part of the 
 nation will permit the exercise of only one religion in the state, 
 which was the case when our ancestors forsook their native country. 
 They were denied the rights of conscience. They left it, however, 
 with the consent of the nation ; it is allowed by this historian that 
 they departed the kingdom with the leave of their prince. They 
 removed at their own expense, and not the nation's, to a country 
 claimed and possessed by independent princes, whose right to the 
 lordship and dominion thereof has been acknowledged by English 
 kings ; and they fairly purchased the lands of the rightful owners, 
 and settled them at their own and not the nation's expense. It is 
 incumbent, then, upon this historian to show by what rule of equity 
 or right, unless they expressly consented to it, they became subject 
 to the control of the parent state. The obligation they had been 
 under to submit to the government of the nation, by virtue of their 
 enjoyment of lands which were under its jurisdiction, according to 
 Mr. Locke, began and ended with the enjoyment. That was but 
 tacit consent to the government ; and when by donation, sale, or 
 otherwise, they quitted the possession of those lands, they were at 
 liberty, unless it can be made to appear they were otherwise bound 
 by positive engagement or express contract, to incorporate into any 
 other commonwealth, or begin a new one in vacuis locis, in any part 
 of the world they could find free and unpossessed. They entered 
 into a compact, it is true, with the King of England, and, upon cer- 
 tain conditions, became his voluntary subjects, not his slaves. But 
 did they enter into any express promise to be subject to the control 
 of the parent state ? What is there to show that they were any way 
 bound to obey the acts of the British Parliament but those very acts 
 themselves ? Is there anything but the mere ipse dixit of an histo- 
 
 * Mr. Vattel, Law of Nature and Nations. 
 
430 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 rian who, for aught any one can tell, designed to make a sacrifice to 
 the ruling powers of Great Britain, to show that the parent state 
 might exercise the least control over them as colonists, any more 
 than the English Parliament could exercise control over the domin 
 ions which the kings formerly held in France, or than it can now 
 over the inhabitants of the moon, if there be any ? 
 
 " By the charter of this Province the legislative power is in the 
 Governor, who is appointed by the King, the Council, and House 
 of Representatives. The legislative of any commonwealth must 
 be the supreme power. But if any edict or instruction of anybody 
 else, in what form soever conceived, or by what power soever 
 backed, can have the force and obligation of a law in the Province, 
 which has not its sanction from that legislative, it cannot* be the 
 supreme power. Its laws, however salutary, are liable at any time 
 to be abrogated at the pleasure of a superior power. Nobody can 
 have a power to make laws over a free people but by their own 
 consent, and by authority received from them. It follows, then, 
 either that the people of this Province have consented and given 
 authority to the parent state to make laws over them or that she 
 
 has no such authority. No one, I believe, will pretend thaJLlhfi 
 
 parent state receives any authority from the people of this Prov- 
 ince to make laws for them, or that they have ever consented she 
 should. If the people of this Province are a part of the body pol- 
 itic»of Great Britain, they have, as such, aright to be consulted in 
 the making of all acts of the British Parliament, of what nature 
 soever. If they are a separate body politic, and are free, they have 
 a right equal to that of the people of Great Britain to make laws 
 for themselves, and are no more than they subject to the control of 
 any Legislature but their own. ' The lawful power of making laws 
 to command whole politic societies of men belongs so properly unto 
 the same entire societies, that for any prince or potentate of what 
 kind soever upon earth to exercise the same of himself, and not by 
 express commission immediately and personally received from God, 
 or else from authority derived at the first from their consent upon 
 whose persons they impose laws, is no better than mere tyranny. 
 Laws, therefore, they are not, which public approbation hath not 
 made so.' * This was the reason given by our ancestors why they 
 should not be bound by the acts of Parliament, because, not being 
 
 * Hooker's Eccl. Pol. 
 
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 431 
 
 represented in Parliament, the public approbation of the Province 
 had not made them laws. And this is the reason why their pos- 
 terity do not hold themselves rightly obliged to submit to the reve- 
 nue acts now in being, because they never consented to them. The 
 former, under their circumstances, thought it prudent to adopt the 
 acts of trade by passing a law of their own, and thus formally con- 
 senting that they should be observed. But the latter, I presume, 
 will never think it expedient to copy after their example. The his- 
 torian tells his reader that ' They ' (the people of this Province) 
 * humbly hope for all that tenderness and indulgence from a British 
 Parliament which the Roman Senate, while Rome remained free, 
 showed to Roman colonies.' Why the conduct of Rome towards 
 her colonies should be recommended as an example to our parent 
 state, rather than that of Greece, is difficult to conjecture, unless it 
 was because, as has been observed, the latter was more generous 
 and a better mother to her colonies than the former. Be that as it 
 may, the Colonists have a right to expect from the parent state all 
 possible tenderness, not only as they sprang from her, and are sub- 
 jects of the same King, but as they have greatly contributed to her 
 wealth and grandeur. And we are willing to render to her respect 
 and certain expressions of honor and reverence, as the Grecian col- 
 onies did to the city from whence they derived their origin, as Gro- 
 tius says, so long as the colonies were well treated. By our compact 
 with our King, wherein is contained the rule of his government and 
 the measure of our submission, we have all the liberties and immu- 
 nities of Englishmen to all intents, purposes, and constructions 
 whatever ; and no King of Great Britain, were he inclined, could 
 have a right, either with or without his Parliament, to deprive us 
 of those liberties. They are originally from God and nature, rec- 
 ognized in the charter, and entailed to us and our posterity. It is 
 our duty, therefore, to contend for them whenever attempts are 
 made to violate them. 
 
 " He also says, ' that the people of Ireland were under the same 
 mistake ' with our ancestors ; that is, in thinking themselves exempt 
 from the control of English acts of Parliament. But nothing drops 
 from his pen to show that this was a mistake, excepting that ' par- 
 ticular persons in Ireland did penance for advancing and adhering 
 to those principles.' The same mighty force of reasoning is used to 
 prove that this Colony was mistaken, viz. : ■ They suffered the loss 
 
432 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 of the charter/ Such arguments may serve to evince the power of 
 the parent state, but neither its wisdom nor justice appears from 
 them. The sense of the nation, however, was very different after 
 the Revolution. The House of Commons voted the judgment 
 against the charter a grievance ; and a bill was brought in, and 
 passed that House, for restoring the charters, among which that of 
 this Province was expressly mentioned ; notwithstanding the mis- 
 take above mentioned was one great article of charge against it. 
 But the Parliament was prorogued sooner than was expected, by 
 reason of the King's going to Ireland. 
 
 " Our historian tells his readers, by way of consolation, that * it 
 may serve as some excuse for our ancestors, that they were not 
 alone in their mistaken apprehensions of the nature of their subjec- 
 tion ' ; and he appears to be mighty glad that ' so sensible a gentle- 
 man as Mr. Molineux, the friend of Mr. Locke, engaged in the 
 cause.' But we want no excuse for any supposed mistakes of our 
 ancestors. Let us first see it proved that they were mistakes. Till 
 then, we must hold ourselves obliged to them for sentiments trans- 
 mitted to us so worthy of their character and so important to our 
 security. And we shall esteem the arguments of so sensible, and it 
 might justly be added so learned a gentleman as Mr. Molineux, 
 especially as they had the approbation of his friend Mr. Locke, to 
 be valid, while we see nothing to oppose them but the unsupported 
 
 opinion of Mr. Hutchinson. 
 
 "Valerius Poplicola."* 
 
 As was the custom, Hutchinson, in November, issued his 
 annual proclamation for a day of thanksgiving, and the 
 clergy of the Province were directed to read from the pul- 
 pit, as a cause for gratitude, " that civil and religious lib- 
 erty were continued." The artful attempt, however, was as 
 transparent as the assertion was false and hypocritical ; and 
 its failure is thus alluded to by Mr. Adams in a letter to 
 Arthur Lee : — 
 
 " This, I imagine, was contrived to try the feelings of the people; 
 and if the Governor could dupe the clergy, as he had the Council, 
 and they the people, so that the proclamation should be read as 
 
 * Boston Gazette, Oct. 28, 1771. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 433 
 
 usual in our churches, he would have nothing to do but acquaint 
 Lord Hillsborough that the people in general acquiesced in the 
 
 measures of government since they had appeared to admit with 
 
 himself, that notwithstanding the faction and turbulence of a party, 
 their liberties were continued and their trade enlarged. I am at a 
 loss to say, whether this measure is more insolent to the people or 
 affrontive to the majesty of Heaven, neither of whom, however, a 
 modern politician regards, if at all, so much as the smiles of his 
 noble patron. But the people saw through it in general, and openly 
 declared that they would not hear the proclamation read ; the con- 
 sequence of which was, that it was read in only two of all the 
 churches in this town, consisting of twelve, besides three Episcopal 
 churches ; there, indeed, it has not been customary ever to read 
 them. Of those two clergymen who read it, one of them being a 
 stranger in the Province, and having been settled but about six 
 weeks, performed a servile task about a week before the usual time, 
 when the people were not aware of it. They were, however, much 
 disgusted at it. The other is a known flatterer of the Governor, 
 and is the very person who formed the fulsome address of which I 
 wrote you some time ago. He was deserted by a great number of 
 his auditory in the midst of his reading." * 
 
 The subject of this proclamation, by which the people 
 were to have been tricked into an acknowledgment of the 
 government system, was extensively commented upon by 
 Mr. Adams in the press, where he denounced the measure 
 and exposed its pernicious tendencies. 
 
 " However mysterious," he says, " fawning priests and flatterers 
 may affect to think it, kings and governors may be guilty of treason 
 and rebellion, and they have in general, in all ages and countries, 
 been more guilty of it than their subjects. Nay, what has been 
 commonly called rebellion in the people has often been nothing else 
 but a manly and glorious struggle in opposition to the lawless power 
 of rebellious kings and princes, who, being elevated above the rest 
 of mankind, and paid by them only to be their protectors, have been 
 taught by enthusiasts to believe they were authorized by God to 
 enslave and butcher them. It is not uncommon for men, by their 
 
 * Adams to Lee, Nov. 13, 1771. 
 
434 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 own inattention and folly, to suffer those things which an all-gra- 
 cious Providence designed for their good to become the greatest 
 evils. If we look into the present state of the world, I believe this 
 will hold good with regard to civil government in general ; and the 
 history of past ages will inform us, that even those civil institutions 
 which have been best calculated for the safety and happiness of the 
 people have sooner or later degenerated into settled tyranny, which 
 can no more be called civil government, and is, in fact, upon some 
 accounts, a state much more to be deprecated than anarchy itself. 
 It may be said of each that it is a state of war ; and it is beyond 
 measure astonishing that free people can see the miseries of such a 
 state approaching to them with large and hasty strides, and suffer 
 themselves to be deluded by the artful insinuations of a man in power 
 and his indefatigable sycophants into a full persuasion that their lib- 
 erties are in no danger. May we not be allowed to adopt the lan- 
 guage of Scripture, and apply it upon so important a consideration 
 that, seeing, men will see and not perceive, and hearing, they will 
 hear and not understand ! " 
 
 He the ncites the biblical instance of Jerob oam, the son 
 of JNebat^ whose treason in making his people sin against the 
 Supreme Being he compares to the late occurrences in the 
 Province, and warns the people against the insidious procla- 
 mation by which the pulpit was to have been made a covert 
 means of strengthening the power of the royal Governor. 
 
 " Even in these enlightened times," he continues, " the people in 
 some parts of the world are so bewitched by the enchantments of 
 priestcraft and kingcraft as to believe that, though they sin against 
 their own consciences in compliance with the instruction of the one 
 or in obedience to the command of the other, they shall never suffer, 
 but shall be rewarded in the world to come for being so implicitly 
 subject to the higher powers ; and the experience of the world tells 
 us that there are, and always have been, various ways of rewarding 
 them for it in this world. On the contrary, if they hesitate to de- 
 clare a blind belief in the most palpable absurdities in government 
 and religion, they are sure to fall into the immediate hands of spir- 
 itual inquisitors, to be whipped and tortured into an acknowledgment 
 of the error or threatened with the further pains of eternal damna- 
 tion, if they persist in their contumacy. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 435 
 
 " Thanks be to God, there is not yet so formidable a junction of 
 the secular and ecclesiastical powers in this country, and there is 
 reason to hope there are but few of the clergy who would desire it. 
 Yet such is the deplorable condition we are in, and so notorious is 
 it to all, that should any man, be he who he may, tell me that our 
 civil liberties were continued, or that our religious principles were 
 not in danger, I should detest him, if in his senses, as a perfidious 
 man. And if any clergyman should, in compliance with the humors 
 or designs of a man in power, echo such a false declaration in the 
 church of God, he would, in my opinion, do well seriously to con- 
 sider whether an excessive complaisance may not have betrayed 
 him into the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, in lying against the Holy 
 Ghost ! This is a most weighty consideration, but the times require 
 plain dealing. We hope and believe, nay we know, that there are 
 more than seven thousand who will never bow the knee to Baal, or 
 servilely submit to tyranny, temporal or spiritual. But are we not 
 fallen into an age when some, even of the clergy, think it no shame 
 to flatter the idol, and thereby lay the people as in the days of Jero- 
 boam, the son of Nebat, under a temptation to commit great wicked- 
 ness and sin against God ? Let us beware of the power of flattery. 
 If the people are tainted with this folly, they will never have virtue 
 enough to demand a restoration of their liberties in the very face 
 of a tyrant, if the necessity of the times should call for so noble an 
 exertion. And how soon there may be such necessity, God only 
 knows. May he grant them fortitude, as well as sound prudence, 
 in the day of trial ! He who can flatter a despot, or be flattered by 
 him, without feeling the remonstrances of his own mind against it, 
 may be remarkable for the guise and appearance of sanctity ; but he 
 has very little, if any, true religion. If he habitually allows him- 
 self in it, without any remorse, he is a hardened, impenitent sinner 
 against God and his country. Whatever his profession may be, he 
 is not fit to be trusted, and, when once discovered, he will never be 
 trusted by any but fools and children. To compliment a great man, 
 to the injury of truth and liberty, may be, in the opinion of a very 
 degenerate age, the part of a polite and well-bred gentleman. Wise 
 men, however, will denominate him a traitor or a fool." * 
 
 Through November, December, and January, Mr. Adams 
 * " Candidas/' in the Boston Gazette, Nov. 11, 1771. 
 
436 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 1771. 
 
 wrote incessantly as " Candidus," arguing with the crown 
 advocates, and attacking them at every point. These hire- 
 lings, who received their cue from the Governor, availed 
 themselves of the long season of quiet to disseminate their 
 principles wherever the papers in government interest could 
 reach. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Hancock still opposes the Measures of Adams. — Political Divisions among the 
 Patriots. — The King desires to separate Hancock from the Popular Party. 
 
 — Adams alone continues his " Virulence." — His Celebrity as a Political 
 Writer. — Testimony of John Adams, Bernard, Sullivan, and Hutchinson. 
 
 — The Patriot Party lessens in Numbers and Influence. — Hancock leaves 
 the Patriot Club, and seeks New Associates. — John Adams avoids Politics 
 and Town Meetings. — Adams and Joseph Warren stand together. — 
 Warren pronounces the Annual Oration. 
 
 The enmity of John Hancock to Samuel Adams, which 
 originated during or shortly before the last session, still con- 
 tinued. Eliot, a contemporary, and personally acquainted 
 with them, was thoroughly versed in public affairs, and as 
 one of the founders of the Massachusetts Historical Society 
 was interested in everything relating to the events of the 
 Revolution. Speaking of this disagreement, he states that 
 the friends who remained with and supported Mr. Adams 
 were the " sternest republicans, and those, perhaps, who 
 first dared to view our independence as near." * Of this, 
 however, there can be no doubt ; not only does it appear 
 from Hutchinson's letters already quoted, but the writings 
 of Adams all through this period, though for the good of 
 the cause they make no allusion to persons, disclose the con- 
 dition of the Province and the subsidence of the spirit of 
 opposition since the last Legislature, and the division in the 
 party. So far, in fact, had affairs gone, that influential men 
 in England, who were informed by the Loyalists in Boston of 
 the affair, looked forward with confidence to bringing Han- 
 cock over to their side ; but the friends of liberty never 
 allowed the quarrel to proceed to that length. We have 
 already seen, in the Governor's own account, that he ap- 
 
 * Eliot's N. E. Biographical Dictionary, p. 10. 
 
438 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 proached Hancock with such views ; but whether during the 
 last session, when the latter had become dissatisfied with the 
 policy of Adams, or later in the year, is not stated. In one 
 of his letters, as early as October, he says : — 
 
 " The letter by the August packet did not come to hand until last 
 evening. I value your correspondence so much that I will not omit 
 the first opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of your letters, as 
 one means of making them more frequent. Your opinion and mine 
 agree exactly upon the rules by which I am to govern myself as to 
 the place of meeting the Assembly. I shall know how their extrav- 
 agant behavior, at the close of the last session, was resented in Eng- 
 land, before I shall meet them again at any place.* Your intimation 
 
 that measure would be approved by the highest authority, I 
 
 take very kind, and shall remember that it is in confidence. To 
 answer the purpose proposed, I must have from home some assur- 
 ance of breaking his connections, before I can give my consent to his 
 election. He is quiet at present, and so are most of the party. All 
 of them, except Adams, abate of their virulence. Adams is the 
 writer in the incendiary newspaper, and, I have no doubt, wishes to 
 see the continent strike off their dependence upon Great Britain, 
 and would push the Colonies into a rebellion to-morrow, if it was jn 
 his power." f 
 
 How exultingly he regarded the nattering conditon of the 
 Province appears by the following extract from another let- 
 ter, written shortly afterwards. For a few months, before 
 and after this time, the cause of American liberty had but 
 slight encouragement. The truth is, that at this period of 
 depression Samuel Adams was the Atlas of freedom in Mas- 
 sachusetts. Singly he met the champions of tyranny ; and 
 while others held back and counted the cost, this intrepid 
 patriot pressed onward and never wearied in the great 
 battle. 
 
 " At present," says Hutchinson, in the letter above referred to, 
 
 * Referring to Mr. Adams's protest of June 19 of this year. See, ante, 
 pp. 403, 404. 
 
 t Hutchinson to Pownall, Oct. 17, 1771. 
 
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 439 
 
 R Hancock and Adams are at great variance. Some of my friends 
 blow the coals, and I hope to see a good effect. They follow the 
 opposition in England in everything they are able to do. I com- 
 pare this to the quarrel between Oliver and "Wilkes. Otis was car- 
 ried off to-day in a post-chaise, bound hand and foot. He has been 
 as good as his word, — set the Province in a flame, and perished in 
 the attempt. I have taken much pains to procure writers to answer 
 the pieces in the newspapers which do so much mischief among the 
 people, and have two or three engaged with Draper, besides a new 
 press, and a young printer who says he will not be frightened, and 
 I hope for some good effect." * 
 
 Certainly the zeal of the Governor could not be ques- 
 tioned. No man could exceed him in his constant watch- 
 fulness, his exertions to affect the public mind, his crafty 
 correspondence with the powers in England, or in the use 
 of all means, however minute in detail, to serve the ends of 
 government. The short extract from his letter to Bernard 
 just given is a complete index to his mind. As he increased 
 his efforts, he was met at every point by Adams, who was 
 determined to keep alive the spirit of freedom, until the 
 times were ripe for maturing his " great invention," the 
 plans for which he was already arranging in his mind. One 
 of the tribe of " ministerial writers," whom Hutchinson had 
 thus " taken pains to procure," signed himself '* Chronus " ; 
 and to him, the ablest among the number, Mr. Adams gave 
 his special attention as most worthy his pen. From his con- 
 troversy with " Chronus " a few selections only can be given. 
 
 " No methods," he says, " are yet left untried by the writers on 
 the side of the Ministry to persuade this people that the best way 
 to get rid of our grievances is to submit to them. This was the 
 artifice of Governor Bernard, and it is urged, with as much zeal as 
 ever, under the administration of Governor Hutchinson. They 
 would fain have us endure the loss of as many of our rights and lib- 
 erties as an abandoned Ministry shall see fit to wrest from us, with- 
 out the least murmur. But when they find that they cannot silence 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, Dec. 3, 1771. 
 
440 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 our complaints and soothe us into security, they then tell us that 
 * much may be done for the public interest by way of humble and 
 dutiful representation, pointing out the hardship of certain meas- 
 ures.' This is the language of ' Chronus ' in the last Massachusetts 
 Gazette. But have we not already humbly petitioned the King for 
 the redress of our grievances and the restoration of our liberties ? 
 Have not the House of Representatives done it in the most dutiful 
 terms imaginable ? Was it not many months before that petition 
 was suffered to reach the royal hand ? And after it was laid before 
 his Majesty, was he not advised by his Ministers to measures still 
 more grievous and severe ? Have any lenient measures been the 
 consequence of our humble representations of ' the hardship of cer- 
 tain measures,' which were set forth by the House of Assembly in 
 the most decent and respectful letters to persons of high rank in the 
 administration of government at home ? Did not the deputies of 
 most of the towns and districts in this Province meet in convention 
 in the year 1768, when Bernard had, in a very extraordinary man- 
 ner, dissolved the General Assembly ? Did they not, I say, in the 
 most humble terms petition the Throne for the redress of the intol- 
 erable grievances we then labored under? Has not the town of 
 Boston most submissively represented the ' hardship of certain 
 measures ' to their most gracious sovereign, and petitioned for right 
 and relief? Was not petitioning and humbly supplicating the 
 method constantly proposed by those very persons whom ' Chronus/ 
 after the manner of his brethren, styles 'pretended patriots,' and 
 constantly adopted, till it was apparent that our petitions and repre- 
 sentations were treated with neglect and contempt ? — till we found 
 that even our petitioning was looked upon as factious, and the effects 
 of it were the heaping of grievance upon grievance ? Have not the 
 people of this Province, after all their humble suppplications, been 
 falsely charged with being i in a state of disobedience to all law and 
 government ' ? And, in consequence of petitioning, has not the cap- 
 ital been filled with soldiers to quiet their murmurs with the bayonet, 
 and to murder, assassinate, and plunder with impunity ? Have we 
 not borne for these seven years past such indignity as no free people 
 ever suffered before, and with no other tokens of resentment on our 
 part than pointing out our hardships, and appealing to the common 
 sense of mankind, after we had in vain petitioned our most gracious 
 sovereign? And now we are even insulted by those who have 
 
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 441 
 
 brought on us all these difficulties, for uttering our just complaints in 
 a public newspaper ! Pointing out the hardships of our sufferings, 
 and calling upon the impartial world to judge between us and our 
 oppressors, and protesting before God and man against innovations 
 big with ruin to th6 public liberty, is called by this writer ' a stub- 
 born opposition to public authority/ and ' a high-hand opposition 
 and repugnancy to government ! ' 
 
 " For God's sake, what are we to expect from petitioning ? Have 
 we any prospect in the way of humble and dutiful representation ? 
 Let us advert to the nation of which this writer says we are a part. 
 Are not they suffering the same grievances under the same admin- 
 istration ? Have not they repeatedly petitioned and remonstrated 
 to the Throne, and ' pointed out the hardships of certain measures ' 
 to the King himself? And has not his Majesty been advised by his 
 ministers to treat them as imaginary grievances only? And yet, 
 after all, against repeated facts and common experience to the con- 
 trary, we are told that 4 much might be done for the public interest 
 by way of humble and dutiful representation.' If there were even 
 now any hopes that the King would hear us while his present coun- 
 sellors are near him, I should be, by all means, for petitioning 
 again ; but every man of common observation will judge for himself 
 of the prospect." * 
 
 Samuel Adams stood at the head of the political essayists 
 of New England as regards clearness and force of reasoning, 
 vigor of style, and entire devotion to the public liberties. 
 Long before the Revolution he had taken a resolute position 
 against the first signs of encroachment on the Colonial rights 
 by the British government, at a time when the teachings of 
 the press, confined to small communities, were regarded as 
 oracular. As the century advanced, and the Revolution 
 drew near, he was quick to seize upon that powerful engine 
 for shaping public opinion ; and when the intention of enforc- 
 ing the acts of Parliament by military power became appa- 
 rent, and he determined to labor for absolute independence, 
 he saw that the press would be of the greatest servioe in im- 
 perceptibly educating the people to the familiar contempla- 
 
 * " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 2, 1771. 
 
442 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 tion of such an event. The fifth and sixth volumes of 
 Bancroft's History form a monument to the extraordinary 
 skill, industry, and ability of Adams as a public writer. 
 Years before the Stamp Act, the historian says he was 
 " famed as a political writer, employing wit and sarcasm as 
 well as energy of language and earnestness," and " no one 
 had equal influence over the popular mind." * With how 
 much address he pursued his " black art," as Hutchinson 
 termed it in his letters to the Ministry, the occasional 
 extracts given in the present work will exhibit. The Gov- 
 ernor, in his secret correspondence, was continually forward- 
 ing to the administration evidence against the " Chief Incen- 
 diary," whose " art and skill, by exercising his talents in the 
 newspapers," gave his Excellency so much concern. " Ad- 
 ams," said he, " draws most of the seditious papers in the 
 newspapers." Speaking of a recent state document he says : 
 " The answer, drawn by Adams, breathes the seditious spirit 
 which has appeared in Edes and Gill's paper, " the Boston 
 Gazette. f It has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained 
 who were " the two or three writers " the Governor had 
 hired to answer these essays, as stated in his letter of De- 
 cember 3, already quoted. The names assumed by some 
 of the principal antagonists of Adams, were " Benevolus," 
 " Probus," " Philanthrop," and " Chronus," all of whom were 
 vigorous and ingenious reasoners. " Philanthrop " was the 
 Attorney-General of Massachusetts, Jonathan Sewall,f a 
 
 * Bancroft, V. 196 ; VI. 430. 
 
 t See Hutchinson's letters to Hillsborough, Dartmouth, etc. 
 
 4 There is satisfactory evidence of this. John Adams says in his Diary 
 (Works, II. 251), " You will see a 'Philanthrop/ for propagating as many lies 
 and slanders against his country as ever fell from the pen of a sycophant, 
 rewarded with the places of Solicitor-General, Attorney-General, Advocate- 
 t General, and Judge of Admiralty, with six thousands a year." Andrew 
 Eliot, in a letter to Thomas Hollis (Jan. 26, 1771), alludes to "Philanthrop" 
 as a writer for government ; and Hollis, who had good means of information, 
 mentions in a note to this letter that the supposed writer was Jonathan 
 Sewall. Writing to John Adams from Boston (July 21, 1786), Samuel Adams 
 " Jonathan Philanthrop, whom you well knew, with many others, took 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 443 
 
 man of great legal attainments, and one of the best contro- 
 versialists in the Province. Writhing under the plain logic 
 and outspoken truths boldly proclaimed in the Gazette, 
 Hutchinson recorded that at the commencement of the Rev- 
 olution Adams had been " for near twenty years a writer 
 against government in the public newspapers, at first but an 
 indifferent one ; long practice caused him to arrive at great 
 perfection, and to acquire a talent of artfully and fallaciously 
 insinuating into the minds of his readers a prejudice against 
 the character of all whom he attacked, beyond any other 
 man I ever knew." * Hutchinson's predecessor liked him 
 no better. "Bernard," said one who knew them both, 
 " used to damn that Adams. Every dip of his pen stung 
 like a horned snake." f Adams sinned in dissecting and 
 laying bare to the world the designs of Parliament, and in 
 mercilessly exposing the practices of the Loyalists from 
 Hutchinson down to the Commissioners of the Customs. 
 Nothing escaped his penetration, and the Tories hated him 
 for that reason above all other men. " None of these gov- 
 ernment men," says Sabine, " were so effective as popular 
 writers as Samuel Adams, and his single pen was probably 
 a match for them all." This was after an examination of 
 the papers of the refugee families in Nova Scotia, where yet 
 remains much valuable material for historical purposes. 
 Governor Bernard, in 1769, sent a series of Evening Posts 
 to the Earl of Hillsborough J " for the sake," he writes, " of 
 
 a very active part, and they were very successful in promoting the designs of 
 the British government before the war." This association of the names leaves 
 no doubt that Samuel Adams knew that Sewall and " Philanthrop " were one. 
 John Adams always supposed that Sewall was his antagonist as " Massachu- 
 settensis " in 1775 ; and by the above quotation it would appear that his kins- 
 man was of the same opinion. It is now known that Judge Leonard was the 
 writer. 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 295. 
 
 t John Adams's Works, H. 425. These contemporary authorities thus 
 establish Samuel Adams as a writer on popular liberties as early as 1744-45, 
 during the reign of George the Second. 
 
 t Bernard to Hillsborough, Feb. 25, 1769. 
 
444 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 a periodical paper published in it, and continued. It was 
 first published at New York, where it is continued. It has 
 been also, I understand, regularly sent to London, and pub- 
 lished there. It is composed by Adams and his assistants." 
 
 " His pen," says James Sullivan, who was for many years famil- 
 iar with the writings of Samuel Adams, " was no less powerful than 
 his tongue. A mind well stocked with the sentiments of a Locke, a 
 Sydney, and other great men who had contended against monarch- 
 ial and ecclesiastical tyranny, with an education which had given it 
 the entire possession of all the principal systems and abuses of the 
 ancient Grecian and Roman republics, as well as of the despotisms 
 of the world, was capable of carrying conviction to the hearts of all 
 who had not been bribed against their own freedom, or who had not 
 suffered themselves to be betrayed by the allurement of avarice 
 
 and ambition, or by the impression of fear His exertions all 
 
 tended to a separation. By his speeches and Gazette productions a 
 large majority was produced and maintained in Massachusetts in 
 opposition to the claims of the Ministry." 
 
 John Adams was always vividly impressed with the ex- 
 traordinary effect of the literary productions of his kinsman, 
 which he remembered for their power in producing and sus- 
 taining the Revolution. Whenever he had occasion in after 
 years to refer to Samuel Adams, these voluminous but then 
 generally forgotten writings seem to have come up in his 
 recollection as inseparably associated with the man. " With- 
 out the character of Samuel Adams," he says, " the true 
 history of the American Revolution can never be written. 
 For fifty years his pen, his tongue, his activity, were con 
 stantly exerted for his country without fee or reward. Dur- 
 ing that time he was almost an incessant writer. But where 
 are his writings ? Who can collect them ? * and if collected, 
 
 * The letters of the royal Governors to the Ministry, and the statements of 
 informers, together with what has been fonnd of his original drafts of political 
 essays, have afforded a clew to the recovery of a portion of his works. The 
 bulk, as John Adams truly said, can never be recognized. How many signa- 
 tures he adopted during the long period between the commencement of the 
 revenue system and the Declaration of Independence, it is impossible to say. 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 445 
 
 who will ever read them ? " Referring to Samuel Adams's 
 Boston instructions of 1764, he says : " Those instructions 
 are a sample of the simplicity, purity, and harmony of style 
 which distinguished all the productions of Mr. Adams's 
 pen." And again: "A collection of his writings would be as 
 curious as voluminous. It would throw light upon Ameri- 
 can history for fifty years. In it would be found specimens 
 of a nervous simplicity of reasoning and eloquence that 
 have never been rivalled in America." * And in a letter to 
 Samuel Adams, written in Paris, in 1783 : " I want to come 
 home for many reasons, one of which lies with very great 
 
 Twenty-five have been collected, of his use of which there is absolute proof. 
 Others, appended to articles plainly in his style, are rejected for want of positive 
 evidence of his authorship. Some of his essays over one signature extend, 
 in consecutive series, through several years, — the argument being maintained 
 right and left with his various Loyalist assailants, — while, with different 
 names, he kept up contests simultaneously with others of the crown writers on 
 distinct subjects. All this time his pen was employed on the state papers of 
 the Legislature and other public bodies, and in his extensive correspondence 
 with patriots in the other Colonies and with gentlemen in England. His 
 writings over the following signatures have been collected : — 
 
 Determinatus, Vindex, 
 
 Principiis Obsta, A Chatterer, 
 
 T. Z., An Elector in 1771, 
 
 A Layman, An American, 
 
 A. B., A., 
 
 Cedant Arma Togae, Valerius Poplicola, 
 
 E. A., A Son of Liberty, 
 
 A Bostonian, Shippen, 
 
 A Tory, Z., 
 
 Populus, Observation, 
 
 An Impartialist, Sincerus, 
 
 Alfred, A Religious .Politician. 
 
 Candidus, 
 
 Extracts from most of these series appear in this work. Many are of great 
 length. If published entire, together with the arguments of his antagonists, 
 they would present a formidable array of controversial papers, embracing all 
 the issues between Great Britain and the Colonies, and showing the gradual 
 progress of events which culminated in American Independence. 
 
 * John Adams's Works, I. 673, 674. 
 
446 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 weight upon my mind ; it is to persuade you to make a col- 
 lection of your writings, in which I think the new world 
 deeply interested and the old one too." As early as 1765, 
 in his Diary, he describes Otis, Cushing, and Adams at the 
 Club, where his kinsman had introduced him, and records 
 that Adams had " the most correct, genteel, and artful pen " 
 of all the distinguished characters in that body ; and, in 
 1774, he again points out Adams as "the most elegant 
 writer" of any who had figured in his time. There are 
 other instances where he refers to the literary celebrity of 
 Samuel Adams, evidently reflecting the general opinion of all 
 parties prior to and during the Revolution. In fact, though 
 Otis, Thacher, and Mayhew, at the time of the Stamp Act, 
 and Joseph Warren, John Adams, Quincy, Cooper, Young, 
 Chauncy, and others, at a subsequent period, all wrote 
 against the British government, we need go no further than 
 to these unqualified and concurrent assertions of John 
 Adams and Hutchinson in estimating Samuel Adams as 
 the one particular essayist who excelled them all, not only 
 as the earliest, but as^ the most powerful and voluminous 
 writer on American politics. 
 
 But, though the productions of Adams in defence of Colo- 
 nial rights had long been known, his Revolutionary essays 
 proper commenced in the winter of 1768, a year before the 
 first of the celebrated " Junius " letters appeared in London. 
 " Junius " wrote for three years, terminating his famous 
 onslaughts upon the Ministry in January, 1772. During the 
 whole of that period Adams was bending to his task in New 
 England, scattering abroad the seeds of democracy to achieve 
 far different results. To some extent there is found in the 
 two writers the same clearness, precision, force of style, and 
 impressiveness of manner ; but while the object of " Junius " 
 was not so much to conduct a train of logical argument as 
 to inflame the passions by vigorous attacks, couched in 
 nervous and felicitous language, the essays of Adams are 
 remarkable for their uncontrovertible reasoning. His de- 
 
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 447 
 
 ductions were never assailed with success, and those who. 
 encountered him always retired discomfited. His strength 
 was not in imagery and word-painting, but rather in his vig- 
 orous grasp of thought and subtle analysis, and his direct 
 manner of cutting into the heart of subjects. Despite the 
 armor of pretended contempt with which the Loyalists at 
 times shielded themselves, he generally probed to the quick, 
 and stung the more keenly from the very absence of orna- 
 ment. A severe simplicity of language, which disdained 
 the studied contrivances of speech, left nothing to be inferred 
 and compelled a reply. The patriotic writings of Dickinson, 
 in Pennsylvania, were no less potent to indoctrinate the 
 people with the spirit of liberty ; and Samuel Adams, his 
 most ardent admirer, repeatedly acknowledged the effect of 
 the Farmer's Letters. Dickinson wrote to preserve har- 
 mony with the mother country, as well as to assert the 
 natural rights of Americans. Adams aimed to create the 
 sentiment of patriotism, which he foresaw would be wanted 
 ere long in the violent disruption of the Colonies from Great 
 Britain. Admirable judgment as well as skill is evinced 
 in these essays. The same wise caution which pervaded all 
 political proceedings under his direction is apparent in his 
 writings, so that the most critical examination finds no in- 
 stance of unguarded zeal or rashness, which might give the 
 Loyalists an advantage in their controversies with him. His 
 maxim was, " Keep your enemy in the wrong." 
 
 Continuing his argument with " Chronus," Mr. Adams 
 seems to have occupied the columns of the Gazette almost 
 exclusively. From these copious writings it is impossible 
 to insert more than occasional extracts, nor can space be 
 allotted to the equally lengthy arguments of his opponents. 
 Some of his essays, however, cannot be dissected without 
 destroying the context, and from among these a few of the 
 shorter ones, with the advice of a distinguished scholar, are 
 given entire, even at the risk of filling the pages with quo 
 tations to the sacrifice of narrative. The following was 
 
448 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 
 
 written almost in mid-winter, when the political aspect was 
 as gloomy as the bleak New England landscape at that 
 season; when public spirit seemed to have succumbed to 
 the unremitting exertions of the Governor and his em- 
 ployees to conceal the policy of government under a deceit- 
 ful guise of gentleness ; while a large fleet was wintering in 
 the harbor, and every precaution had been taken to intimi- 
 date the people by an exhibition of power. It was several 
 months before the meeting of the Legislature. The Gover- 
 nor carried everything he pleased in his Divan, but his 
 proclamation had exposed him. " Should he once," said 
 Mr. Adams, "lose the reputation which his friends have 
 with the utmost industry been building up for him among 
 the clergy for these thirty years past, as a consummate saint, 
 he must fall like Samson when his locks Were shorn." * The 
 Commissioners of the Customs, who now more than ever 
 had a wide influence in the affairs of government, held their 
 consultations at " Butcher's Hall," as their head-quarters in 
 State Street were called, and had come to the conclusion, 
 with all the insolence of supreme rulers, that the House of 
 Representatives " should rescind " its famous protest of the 
 June session, in which Mr. Adams had, for the while, rudely 
 destroyed the fond hopes of the Loyalists. Outside of Bos- 
 ton an appearance of contentment met the wishes of the 
 Governor, and he still transmitted to England pleasing ac- 
 counts. If ever the pen of the patriot was needed it was 
 now, and no man more clearly than Samuel Adams saw 
 through the fatal veil of fancied security. 
 
 * Samuel Adams to Arthur Lee, Nov. 13, 1771. The arrogant and domi- 
 neering spirit displayed by the British Ministry, as well as by their agents in 
 Massachusetts, in an assumed absolutism over the Provincial authorities is 
 pointedly alluded to in a letter written Jan. 14, 1772. "Is it not," he says, 
 " a strange mode of expression, of late years made use of, that Administration 
 intends that this law shall be enacted or that repealed ! It is language adapted 
 to the infamy of the present times by a nation which boasts of the freedom 
 and independency of her Parliaments. I believe almost any of the American 
 Assemblies would highly resent such an imperious tone." 
 
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 449 
 
 " • Whene'er from putrid courts foul vapors rose, 
 With vigorous wholesome gales 
 The winds of opposition fiercely blew, 
 Which purged and cleared the agitated state/ 
 
 " If the liberties of America are ever completely ruined, of which, 
 in my opinion, there is now the utmost danger, it will in all proba- 
 bility be the consequence of a mistaken notion of prudence which 
 leads men to acquiesce in measures of the most destructive ten- 
 dency for the sake of present ease. When designs are formed to 
 raze the very foundation of a free government, those few who are 
 to erect their grandeur and fortunes upon the general ruin will em- 
 ploy every art to soothe the devoted people into a state of indo- 
 lence, inattention, and security, which is forever the forerunner of 
 slavery. They are alarmed at nothing so much as attempts to 
 awaken the people to jealousy and watchfulness ; and it has been 
 an old game, played over and over again, to hold up the men who 
 would rouse their fellow-citizens and countrymen to a sense of their 
 real danger, and spirit them to the most zealous activity in the use 
 of all proper means for the preservation of the public liberty, as 
 * pretended patriots/ ' intemperate politicians,' 'rash hot-headed men,' 
 1 incendiaries,' ' wretched desperadoes,' who, as was once said of the 
 best of men, would turn the world upside down, or have done it 
 already. But he must have a small share of fortitude indeed, who is 
 put out of countenance by hard speeches without sense and meaning, 
 or affrighted from the path of duty by the rude language of Billings- 
 gate. For my own part, I smile contemptuously at such unmanly 
 efforts. I would be glad to hear the reasoning of ' Chronus ' if he 
 has a capacity for it ; but I disregard his railing, as I would the 
 barking of a ' cur dog/ 
 
 "The dispassionate and rational Pennsylvania Farmer* has told 
 us that a perpetual jealousy respecting liberty is absolutely requi- 
 site in all free states. The unhappy experience of the world has 
 frequently manifested the truth of his observation. For want of 
 this jealousy the liberties of Spain were destroyed by what is called 
 a vote of credit ; that is, a confidence placed in the King to raise 
 money upon extraordinary emergencies in the intervals of Parlia- 
 ment. France afterwards fell into the same snare ; and England 
 itself was in great danger of it in the reign of Charles the Second, 
 
 * John Dickinson, author of the Farmer's Letters. 
 VOL. I. 29 
 
450 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. pec. 
 
 when a bill was brought into the House of Commons to enable the 
 King to raise what money he pleased upon extraordinary occasions, 
 as the Dutch war was pretended to be : and the scheme would 
 doubtless have succeeded to the ruin of the national liberty, had it 
 not been for the watchfulness of the * intemperate patriots,' and 
 * wrong-headed politicians,' even of that day. 
 
 "How much better is the state of the American Colonies soon 
 likely to be than that of France and Spain ; or than Britain would 
 have been in, if the bill before mentioned had passed into an act ? 
 Does it make any real difference whether one man has the sovereign 
 disposal of the people's purses or five hundred ? Is it not as certain 
 that the British Parliament have assumed to themselves the power 
 of raising what money they please in the Colonies upon all occa- 
 sions, as it is that the Kings of France and Spain exercise the same 
 power over their subjects upon emergencies ? Those Kings, by the 
 way, being the sole judges when emergencies happen, they gene- 
 rally create them as often as they want money. And what security 
 have the Colonies that the British Parliament will not do the same ? 
 It is dangerous to be silent, as the ministerial writers would have us 
 to be, while such a claim is held up ; but much more to submit to 
 it. Your very silence, my countrymen, may be construed a submis- 
 sion, and those who would persuade you to be quiet intend to give 
 it that turn. Will it be likely, then, that your enemies who have 
 exerted every nerve to establish a revenue raised by virtue of a 
 supposed inherent right in the British Parliament, without your con- 
 sent, will recede from the favorite plan when they imagine it to be 
 completed by your submission ? Or, if they should repeal the ob- 
 noxious act upon the terms of your submitting to the right, is it not 
 to be apprehended that your own submission will be brought forth 
 as a precedent in a future time, when your watchful adversary shall 
 have succeeded and laid the most of you fast asleep in the bed of 
 security and insensibility. Believe me, should the British Parlia- 
 ment, which claims a right to tax you at discretion, ever be guided 
 by a wicked and corrupt administration, — and how near they are 
 approaching to it, I will leave you to judge, — you will then find 
 one revenue act succeeding another, till the fatal influence shall ex- 
 tend to your own Parliaments. Bribes and pensions will be as fre- 
 quent here as they are in the unhappy kingdom of Ireland, and you 
 and your posterity will be made, by means of your own money, as 
 
1771.] ' LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 451 
 
 subservient to the will of a British Ministry or an obsequious gov- 
 ernor as the vassals of France are to that of their Grand Monarch. 
 What will prevent this misery and infamy but your being finally 
 obliged to have recourse to the ultima ratio ? But is it probable 
 that you will ever make any manly efforts to recover your liberty 
 after you have been inured without any remorse to contemplate 
 yourselves as slaves ? ' Custom/ says the Farmer, ' gradually recon- 
 ciles us to objects even of dread and detestation. It reigns in noth- 
 ing more arbitrarily than in public affairs. When an act injurious 
 to freedom has once been done, and the people bear it, the repeti- 
 tion of it is more likely to meet with submission. For as the mis- 
 chief of the one was found to be tolerable, they will hope that the 
 second will prove so too ; and they will not regard the infamy of 
 the last, because they are stained with that of the first.' 
 
 " The beloved patriot further observes, in mixed governments the 
 very texture of their constitution demands a 'perpetual jealousy. 
 For the cautions with which power is distributed among the several 
 orders imply that each has that share which is proper for the gen- 
 eral welfare, and, therefore, that any further imposition must be 
 pernicious/ The government of this Province, like that of Great 
 Britain, of which it is said to be an epitome, is a mixed govern- 
 ment. Its Constitution is delicately framed ; and, I believe, all must 
 acknowledge that the power vested in the Crown is full as great as 
 is consistent with the general welfare. The King, by the charter, 
 has the nomination and appointment of the Governor ; but no men- 
 tion being therein made of his right to take the payment of his 
 Governor upon himself, it is fairly concluded that the people have 
 reserved that right to themselves, and the Governor must stipulate 
 with them for his support. That this was the sense of the contract- 
 ing parties appears from practice contemporary with the date of the 
 charter itself, which is the best exposition of it, and the same prac- 
 tice has been continued uninterruptedly to the present time. But 
 the King now orders his support out of the American revenue. 
 ' Chronus ' himself acknowledges that he is thereby ? rendered more 
 independent of the people.' Consequently, the balance of power, if 
 it was before even, is by this means disadjusted. Here, then, is an- 
 other great occasion of jealousy in the people. No reasonable man 
 will deny that an undue proportion of power added to the monarch- 
 ical part of the Constitution, is as dangerous as the same undue pro- 
 
452 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1771. 
 
 portion would be, if added to the democratical. Should the people 
 refuse to allow the Governor the due exercise of the powers that 
 are vested in him by the charter, I dare say they would soon be 
 told, and very justly, of ' the mischief that would be the consequence 
 of it.' And is there not the same reason why the people may, and 
 ought to, speak freely and loudly of the mischief which would be 
 the consequence of his being rendered more independent of them, or 
 which is in reality the same thing, his becoming possessed of more 
 power than the charter vests him with ? For the annihilating a 
 constitutional check in the people, which is necessary to prevent the 
 Governor's exercise of exorbitant power, is in effect to enable him 
 to exercise that exorbitant power, when he pleases, without control. 
 A Governor, legally appointed, may usurp powers which do not 
 belong to him, and it is ten to one but he will if the people are not 
 jealous and vigilant. Charles the First was legally appointed King; 
 the doctrines advanced by the clergy in his father's infamous reign 
 led them both to believe that they were the Lord's anointed, and 
 were not accountable for their conduct to the people. It is strange 
 that Kings seated on the English throne should imbibe such opin- 
 ions ; but it is possible they were totally unacquainted with the his- 
 tory of their English predecessors. Charles, by hearkening to the 
 counsel of his evil ministers, which coincided with the principles of 
 his education and his natural temper, and confiding in his corrupt 
 judges, became an usurper of powers which he had no right to ; 
 and, exercising those powers, he became a tyrant; but the end 
 proved fatal to him, and afforded a solemn lesson for all succeeding 
 usurpers and tyants. His subjects, who made him King, called 
 him to account, dismissed, and punished him in a most exemplary 
 manner! Charles was obstinate in his temper, and thought of 
 nothing so little as concessions of any kind. If he had been well 
 advised he would have renounced his usurped powers. Every wise 
 governor will relinquish a power which is not clearly constitutional, 
 however inconsiderable those about him may persuade him to think 
 it ; especially if the people regard it as a part of a system of oppres- 
 sion and an evidence of tyrannical designs. And the more tenacious 
 he is of it, the stronger is the reason why i the spirit of apprehen- 
 sion ' should be kept up among them in its utmost vigilance. 
 
 " Candidus." * 
 * Boston Gazette, Dec. 9, 1771. 
 
1772;] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. m 453 
 
 Another essay, in which Mr. Adams denied the right of 
 Parliament to legislate for the Colonies, was published in 
 January, 1772. 
 
 " I have observed," he says, " from Baron Montesquieu, that the 
 British Constitution has liberty for its direct object ; and that the 
 Constitution of this Province, according to Mr. Hutchinson, is an 
 epitome of the British Constitution ; that the right of representa- 
 tion in the body that legislates is essential to the British Constitu- 
 tion, without which there cannot be liberty ; and ' Chronus ' himself 
 acknowledges that the Americans are ' incapable of exercising this 
 right.' Let him now draw what conclusion he pleases. All I in- 
 sist upon is, that the conclusion cannot be just, that the Parliament's 
 laying duties upon trade, with the express purpose of raising a rev- 
 enue, is not repugnant to, or subversive of, our Constitution. This 
 doctrine, though long exploded by the best writers on both sides of 
 the Atlantic, he now urges ; and he is reduced to this necessity, in 
 order to justify or give coloring to his frequent bold assertions, that 
 ' no one has attempted even to infringe our liberties,' and to his un- 
 generous reflections upon those who declare themselves of a dif- 
 ferent mind, as 'pretended patriots,' 'over zealous,' 'intemperate 
 politicians,' 'men of no property,' who 'expect to find their account' 
 in perpetually keeping up the ball of contention. But after all that 
 ' Chronus ' and his associates have said, or can say, the people of 
 America have just ' grounds still to complain ' that their rights are 
 violated. There seems to be a system of ' tyranny and oppression ' 
 already begun. It is therefore the duty of every honest man to 
 alarm his fellow-citizens and countrymen, and awaken in them the 
 utmost vigilance and circumspection. Jealousy, especially at such a 
 time, is a political virtue : nay, I will say it is a moral virtue ; 
 for we are under all obligations to do what in us lies to save our 
 country. ' Tyrants alone,' says the great Vattel, ' will treat as sedi- 
 tious those brave and resolute citizens who exhort the people to 
 preserve themselves from oppression, in vindication of their rights 
 and privileges.' ' A good prince,' says he, ' will commend such virtu- 
 ous patriots,' and will ' mistrust the selfish suggestions of a minister 
 who represents to him as rebels all those citizens who do not hold 
 out their hands to chains, who refuse tamely to suffer the strokes of 
 arbitrary power.' 
 
454 - LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 " I cannot help observing how artfully * Chronus ' expresses his 
 position, that the Parliament's laying duties upon trade, with the 
 express purpose of raising a revenue, is not repugnant to our Con- 
 stitution. It has not been made a question, that I know of, whether 
 the Parliament hath a right to make laws for the regulation of the 
 trade of the Colonies. Power she undoubtedly has to enforce her 
 acts of trade. And the strongest maritime power, ceteris paribus, 
 will always make the most advantageous treaties, and give laws of 
 trade to other nations, for whom there can be no pretence to the 
 right of legislation. The matter, however, should be considered 
 equitably, if it should ever be considered at all. If the trade of the 
 Colonies is protected by the British navy, there may possibly be 
 from thence inferred a just right in the Parliament of Great Britain 
 to restrain them from carrying on their trade to the injury of the 
 trade of Great Britain. But, this being granted, it is very different 
 from the right to make laws, in all cases whatever, binding upon 
 the Colonies, and especially for laying duties upon trade for the ex- 
 press purpose of raising a revenue. In the one case, it may be the 
 wisdom of the Colonies, under present circumstances, to acquiesce in 
 reasonable restrictions, rather than lose their whole trade by means 
 of the depredations of a foreign power. In the other, it is a duty 
 they owe to themselves and their posterity by no means to acquiesce ; 
 because it involves them in a state of perfect slavery. I say perfect 
 slavery, for, as political liberty in its perfection consists in the peo- 
 ple's consenting, by themselves or their representatives, to all laws 
 which they are bound to obey, so perfect political slavery consists in 
 their being bound to obey any laws for taxing them to which they 
 cannot consent. If a people can be deprived of their property by 
 another person or nation, it is evident that such a people cannot be 
 free. Whether it be by a nation or a monarch is not material : the 
 masters indeed are different, but the government is equally despotic ; 
 and though the despotism may be mild, from principles of policy, it 
 is not the less a despotism. 
 
 " ' Chronus ' talks of Magna Charta as though it were of no 
 greater consequence than an act of Parliament for the establish- 
 ment of a corporation of button-makers. Whatever low ideas he 
 may entertain of that great charter, and such ideas he must enter- 
 tain of it to support the cause he hath espoused, it is affirmed by 
 Lord Coke to be declaratory of the principal grounds of the funda- 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 455 
 
 mental laws and liberties of England. { It is called Charta Liberta- 
 tum Regni, the Charter of the Liberties of the Kingdom, upon great 
 reason/ says that sage of the law, 'because, liberos facit, it makes and 
 preserves the people free.' Those, therefore, who would make the 
 people slaves would fain have them look upon this charter in a light of 
 indifference which so often affirms sua jura, suas libertates, their own 
 rights, their own liberties. But if it be declaratory of the principal 
 grounds of the fundamental laws and liberties of England, it cannot 
 be altered in any of its essential parts without altering the Constitu- 
 tion. Whatever * Chronus ' may have adopted from Mr. Hume, Vat- 
 tel tells us plainly and without hesitation that ' the supreme legisla- 
 tive cannot change the constitution ' ; that ' their authority does not 
 extend so far ' ; and that ( they ought to consider the fundamental 
 laws as sacred, if the nation has not in very express terms given 
 them power to change them.' And he gives a reason for it solid 
 and weighty ; for, says he, the constitution of the state ought to be 
 fixed. Mr. Hume, as quoted by ' Chronus,' says the only rule of gov- 
 ernment is the established practice of the age upon maxims univer- 
 sally assented to. If, then, any deviation is made from the maxims 
 upon which the established practice of the age is founded, it must 
 be by universal assent. ' The fundamental laws,' says Vattel, ' are 
 excepted from their (legislators') commission ' ; * nothing leads us to 
 think that the nation was willing to submit the constitution itself to 
 their pleasure.' ' They derive their authority from the constitution ; 
 how then can they change it without destroying the foundation of 
 their own authority ! ' If, then, according to Lord Coke, Magna 
 Charta is declaratory of the principal grounds of the fundamental 
 laws and liberties of the people, and Vattel is right in his opinion 
 that the supreme legislative cannot change the constitution, I think 
 it follows, whether Lord Coke has expressly asserted it or not, that 
 an act of Parliament made against Magna Charta, in violation of its 
 essential parts, is void. ' By the fundamental laws of England,' 
 says Vattel, ' the two Houses of Parliament, in concert with the 
 King, exercise the legislative power ; but if the two Houses should 
 resolve to suppress themselves and to invest the King with the full 
 and absolute government, certainly the nation would not suffer it,' 
 although it was done by a solemn act of Parliament. But such doc- 
 trine is directly the reverse of that which ' Chronus ' holds ; which 
 amounts to this, that if the two Houses should give up to the King 
 
456 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. 
 
 any the most essential rights of the people declared in Magna 
 Charta, the nation has not a power either dejure or de facto to pre- 
 vent it.* 
 
 In a previous paper he had discussed the same subject, 
 and opposed " Chronus," who had supported the legality of 
 the revenue acts on the ground that laws for the regulation 
 of trade should necessarily extend in a commercial nation 
 like Great Britain to all parts of the King's dominions, to 
 prevent one part of the national body from injuring another. 
 These and other plausible arguments were liable to mislead 
 the unwary, and, in his reply, Mr. Adams said : — 
 
 " Whatever laws are made in any society tending to render prop- 
 erty insecure must be subversive of the end for which men prefer 
 society to the state of nature, and, consequently, must be subversive 
 of society itself. But the Parliament, in which the Colonies have no 
 voice, taking as much of their money as it pleases, and appropriating 
 it to such purposes as it pleases, even against their consent, and, as 
 they think, repugnant to their safety, renders all their property pre- 
 carious, and therefore it is subversive of the end for which men 
 enter into society and repugnant to every free constitution. Mr. 
 Hooker, in his ecclesiastical polity, as quoted by Mr. Locke, affirms 
 that ' laws they are not, which the public approbation hath not made 
 so.' This seems to be the language of nature and common sense ; 
 for if the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they 
 cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make 
 such laws and enforce them. But the acts of Parliament imposing 
 duties, with the express purpose of raising a revenue in the Colo- 
 nies, have received every mark of the public disapprobation in every 
 Colony, and yet they are enforced in all, and in some with the ut- 
 most rigor. 
 
 "The British Constitution, having liberty for its object, is so 
 framed as that every man who is to be bound by any law about to 
 be made may be present by his representative in Parliament, who 
 may employ the whole force of his objections against it, if he cannot 
 approve of it. If, after fair debate, it is approved of by the majority 
 of the whole representative body of the nation, the minority, by a 
 
 * " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 27, 1772. 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 457 
 
 rule essential in society, and without which it could not subsist, is 
 bound to submit to it. But the Colonies had no voice in Parlia- 
 ment when the revenue acts were made ; nay, though they had no 
 representatives there, their petitions were rejected, because they 
 were against duties to be laid on ; and they have been called factious 
 for the objections they made, not only against their being taxed 
 without their consent, which was a sufficient objection, but against 
 the appropriation of the money, when raised, to purposes which, as 
 the Farmer has made to appear, will supersede that authority in our 
 respective Assemblies which is most essential to liberty. Represen- 
 tation and legislation, as well as taxation, are inseparable, according 
 to the spirit of our Constitution, and of all others that are free. 
 Human foresight is incapable of providing against every accident. 
 A small part of the nation may be ' at sea,' as l Chronus * tells us, 
 * when writs are issued out for the election of members of Parlia- 
 ment ' ; and to admit that they, after their return, * should be ex- 
 empt from any acts of Parliament, the members of which were 
 chosen in their absence,' would be attended with greater evil to the 
 community, the safety and welfare of which is the end of all legis- 
 lation, than the misfortune of their voluntary absence, if it should 
 prove one, could be to them. I say, if it should prove a misfortune 
 to them, for those acts being made by the consent of Representatives 
 chosen by all the rest of the nation, it is presumed they are calcu- 
 lated for the good of the whole, of which they as a part must 
 necessarily partake. But the supposed case of these persons is far 
 different from that of the Colonists, who are, not by a voluntary 
 choice of their own, but through necessity, not by mere accident, 
 but by means of the local distance of their constant residence, ex- 
 cluded from being present by representation in the British Legis- 
 lature. ' Chronus ' allows that by means of this distance ' they are 
 become incapable of exercising their original right of choosing rep- 
 resentatives for the British Parliament.' If so, they cannot, without 
 a subversion of the end of the British Constitution, be bound to 
 obedience against their own consent to such laws as are there made, 
 especially such laws as tend to render precarious their property, the 
 security of which is the end of men's entering into any society. If 
 they are thus bound, they are slaves and not free men. But slavery 
 must certainly be * repugnant to the Constitution,' which has liberty 
 for its direct object. 
 
458 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. — March, 
 
 " If the supreme Legislative of Great Britain cannot, consistently 
 with the British Constitution or the essential liberty of the Colonies, 
 make laws binding upon them, — and * Chronus,' for aught I can see, 
 has not attempted to make it rationally appear that it can, — it is 
 dangerous for the Colonies to admit any of its laws. For however 
 upright some may think the present Parliament to be in intention, 
 they may ruin us through mistake, arising from an incurable igno- 
 rance of our circumstances ; and though ' Chronus/ may be so singular 
 as to judge the present revenue acts of Parliament binding upon the 
 Colonies to be salutary, the time may perhaps come when even he 
 may be convinced that future ones may be oppressive and tyran- 
 nical, not only in their execution, but in the very intention of those 
 that may make them." * 
 
 The winter passed away with little of interest, save an 
 occasional correspondence between a few of the patriots of 
 several Colonies, in which the subject of union was consid- 
 ered. But little ardor was shown, however, in any direction. 
 Hutchinson thus alludes to the condition of affairs : — 
 
 " The faction seems to be breaking. The Dr. Church who wrote 
 the Times is now a writer on the side of government. Hancock has 
 not been with their Club for two months past, and seems to have a 
 new set of acquaintance. By means of Folger there have been some 
 overtures. I remember what passed between him and you, and 
 therefore shall act with greater caution. His coming over will be a 
 great loss to them, as they support themselves with his money. 
 Otis, the son, is still confined, but is said to be as rational as he used 
 to be. The father is infirm, and it is doubtful whether he will re- 
 cover. Several others are sinking in character with their own 
 party, and the party itself is evidently much weakened." f 
 
 There was truly reason for depression, but some stout 
 hearts still beat high with hope, and saw the dawn of better 
 days from the surrounding gloom. During the long and 
 stormy season the people pondered over the state of the 
 country, and discussed public questions in the seclusion of 
 
 * " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 20, 1772. 
 t Hutchinson to Bernard, Jan. 29, 1772. 
 
1772 1 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 459 
 
 the inland towns. News from England came rarely, and 
 political commotion had ceased. 
 
 " Except in this town," wrote Hutchinson, " there is now a gen- 
 eral appearance of contentment throughout the Province, and even 
 the persons who have made the most disturbance have become of 
 less importance. A gentleman who had assisted them much by his 
 money and by the reputation which his fortune gives him among the 
 people seems weary of them, and, I have reason to think, is deter- 
 mined to leave them. The plain, dispassionate pieces in our news- 
 papers which are now published with freedom and dispersed through 
 the Province have done great service." * 
 
 In Boston, however, the second anniversary of the Massa- 
 cre was not allowed to pass without the usual demonstration 
 which had been decided upon soon after that event. In 
 April of the previous year, Samuel Adams had been ap- 
 pointed by the town one of a committee to select a proper 
 person to deliver an oration in March following. f Hutch- 
 inson says John Adams was applied to, but declined,:): for 
 reasons which, towards the close of 1772, he fully expressed 
 in his Diary, on refusing a second time, when requested by 
 Pemberton and Samuel Adams. § He still devoted himself 
 to his profession, and avoided " politics, political clubs, town 
 meetings, General Court, &c, &c."|| Just before the time 
 of the oration, the committee reported at town meeting that 
 they had met together several times on this subject, and had 
 at last unanimously made choice of Dr. Warren.^" 
 
 Joseph Warren was now but thirty years of age, but his 
 reputation was already established as a writer and speaker. 
 His oration showed the nature of the connection between 
 Great Britain and the Colonies, in a constitutional argument 
 of the highest ability. It was listened to by a " vast con- 
 course,' ' who were held spell-bound by the purity and elo- 
 
 * Hutchinson to Lord Hillsborough, Jan. 31, 1772. 
 
 t Town Records for April, 1771. J Hutchinson's History, HE. 348. 
 
 § John Adams's Diary (Works, H. 307, 308). 
 
 U Ibid., H. 302. t Town Eecords for March, 1772. 
 
460 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, 1772. 
 
 quence of his language and the noble and ingenuous oearing 
 of the gifted speaker ; and we can imagine the pride and sat- 
 isfaction of Adams, as he gazed into the face of his young 
 friend, and saw in him the type of that nobility of nature 
 which he so loved to depict, as destined to accomplish the 
 liberties of his country. Bancroft alludes to the close friend- 
 ship between Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren : " The 
 first," he says, " now recognized as a * masterly statesman,' 
 and the ablest political writer in New England ; the second, 
 a rare combination of gentleness with daring courage, of 
 respect for law with the all-controlling love of liberty. The 
 two men never failed each other : the one growing old, the 
 other in youthful manhood ; thinking one set of thoughts ; 
 having one heart for their country ; joining in one career of 
 public policy and action ; differing only in this, that while 
 Warren still clung to the hope of conciliation, Adams ardent- 
 ly desired as well as clearly foresaw the conflict for inde- 
 pendence." * On the afternoon of the same day Samuel 
 Adams was appointed one of a committee to return the 
 thanks of the town to Warren, and to select an orator for 
 the ensuing year.f 
 
 * Bancroft, VI. 430. t Town Eecords for March, 1772. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Contrast between English and Colonial Society in the Last Century. — Con- 
 temptuous Opinions regarding the Americans. — Profligacy and Corruption 
 in George the Third's Reign. — Democratic Simplicity of the New England 
 Character. — Adams labors to sustain Public Morality. — Meeting of the 
 Legislature. — Adams carries the House against Hancock and his Party. 
 
 — James Bowdoin Leader in the Council. — Good Understanding with Ad- 
 ams. — Reports in England of Hancock's Desertion of the Popular Cause. 
 
 — Hancock and Cushing call upon the Governor. — He warns them against 
 Adams. — Combined Attempt to defeat Adams at the Annual Election. 
 
 — His Magnanimity. — His Letter to Arthur Lee in Vindication of 
 Hancock. — Alarm of the Patriot Party. — Reconciliation between Adams 
 and Hancock. — The Paintings of these Two Characters by Copley. — Re- 
 turn of the Assembly to Boston. — American Affairs in England. — Resig- 
 nation of Hillsborough, and Appointment of Dartmouth. 
 
 Could the British Ministry in their misapprehension of 
 American principles and objects have looked into the Old 
 South or Faneuil Hall during the orderly and decorous 
 town meetings of the Bostonians, and noted the grave ear- 
 nestness depicted upon all countenances, and the total 
 absence of anything like the fierce London riots and the 
 abandoned habits of English society of that day, the contrast 
 must have deeply impressed them with the fact that they 
 were dealing with a people of sturdy virtue and unchangea- 
 ble love of liberty, and not with " the drunken ragamuffins of 
 a vociferous mob."* But, until the last, the most erroneous 
 ideas existed of the New England character. The ignorance 
 of the English people concerning their American fellow-sub- 
 jects, during the whole of the last century and the early part 
 of the present, was profound. It was commonly supposed 
 that the Americans were nearly all Indians and negroes ; and 
 even many, whose position gave them a somewhat more cor- 
 rect estimate of those whom they sought to subdue, regarded 
 
 r 
 * Lord North in the House of Commons, January, 1770. 
 
462 LIFE OF SAMUEL. ADAMS. [March, 
 
 the Colonists as in some way an inferior class not entitled to 
 the usual British privileges. Mr. Adams often alluded to this 
 English opinion, that his countrymen were " tawny savages ";* 
 and Otis, in 1765, adverts to the flippant use of the phrase 
 " our American Colonies" and replies, " Whose Colonies can 
 the creatures mean? " For a century and a half a people 
 had been growing up across the ocean, almost unknown and 
 uncared for, causing no expense to the parent country for 
 their government, and supposed to be important only as con- 
 sumers of British manufactures. They had conquered the 
 wilderness, added lustre to the British arms, and given power 
 and dignity to the King's name in the New World ; but they 
 were still considered rather as vassals or a lower caste of 
 human beings than as fellow-subjects. Under oppression 
 they had suffered long and patiently, still reluctant to sever 
 the bonds of affection, speaking of England as " home," and 
 believing that government would not drive them to despera- 
 tion. And now the horrors of war were to be forced upon 
 them for refusing to surrender their most precious liberties. 
 The contrast in the character of English' and Colonial soci- 
 ety at this epoch is too remarkable not to challenge attention. 
 In New England, the fountain of civil freedom in America, 
 the strict religious sentiments of the early settlers prevailed. 
 Corruption in public life, until the time of the revenue acts 
 and the crown commissioners, was rare, if there were any 
 instances. The elective franchise existed among the " free- 
 holders " with spotless purity, and perfect freedom of debate 
 and a free press supported the public liberties. The mar- 
 riage vow was held sacred. A cordial but dignified manner 
 characterized the social intercourse of the wealthy and better 
 educated, to which some of the fashions, but few of the ex- 
 travagances, of the English style imparted a certain courteous 
 
 * See the letter of the House to the agent Deherdt, Jan. 13, 1768, in which 
 Mr. Adams alludes to the contemptuous tone of the British people and? press 
 towards the Americans. See also Chap. XXXIV., and Curwen's Journal, 
 Dec. 18, 1776. 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 463 
 
 formality of address. Some maintained no little state in 
 their residences. Social meetings were common, and the 
 topics of the day were discussed at them with freedom ; while 
 at the reunions of the mothers and daughters innocent pleas- 
 ures were mingled with industrial pursuits, which eventually 
 assumed a patriotic character for the fostering of home man- 
 ufactures. Several of the most opulent citizens lived with 
 elegance and profusion. John Hancock stood prominent 
 among these, and in the splendor of his equipage, and the 
 costliness of his dwelling and furniture, set the example of 
 fashion to those of his condition in life ; — and yet the most 
 boundless wealth could not secure a tithe of the luxuries 
 now within the reach of the humblest citizen. 
 
 People of a lower class earned a hard living by constant 
 industry. Labor was honorable, and secured position and 
 respectability. A competence and the comforts of a home 
 were the aim of nearly every young man. Conveniences 
 which to-day, from their cheapness and general use are 
 scarcely thought of, except when a momentary deprivation 
 brings a realization of their value, had not then entered into 
 the wildest imagination. The people inherited hardihood 
 and virtue from their forefathers, had few sources of public 
 amusement, and were taught, not only by precept, but by 
 their circumstances of life and honest struggles for a liveli- 
 hood, in the face of a niggardly soil, a short season, and a 
 treacherous climate, to shun unmanly pleasures and extrav- 
 agances. 
 
 But, in England, during the reign of George the Third, 
 society among both sexes had reached the extreme of profli- 
 gacy, corruption, and immorality. The severe virtues of the 
 New England creed and practice, if known, would have 
 been ridiculed in polite society, where all sacred things 
 were habitually treated with disrespect. The rotten borough 
 system, by which seats in Parliament were openly bought 
 and sold, was but a small portion of the universal depravity. 
 The Twelfth Parliament, which closed in 1768, " had never 
 
464 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, 
 
 been rivalled for its bold profligacy." It was the most 
 " shameless in its corruption " of any that had ever been 
 known. " It was corrupt, and knew itself to be corrupt, 
 and made a jest of its corruption." Nor was this changed 
 when the New House succeeded. " Corruption lost nothing 
 of its effrontery " ; ten and even a* hundred thousand 
 pounds were paid for boroughs ; * and the purchasers were 
 the legislators whose measures stripped England of her great 
 inheritance, — America. In this reign, too, the streets of 
 London were infested with bold thieves, who did not scruple 
 to stop carriages in the public thoroughfares. Franklin bears 
 witness to the mobs and riots at this time. Clergymen, by 
 their loose morals, cast discredit upon the Church, and it was 
 fashionable to scoff at religion. The greatest statesmen were 
 notorious for their excesses. The beaus were perfumed and 
 painted like women, took a woman's time over the toilette, 
 wore silks, brocades, and lace embroidery, and, even to cross 
 the street, were carried in chairs. Gaming was the reigning 
 vice, in which all classes engaged : whole fortunes were lost 
 and won at a sitting, and ladies compromised themselves at 
 the card-table. Some of the chief places of resort where 
 fashionable ladies and gentlemen assembled, such as Ran- 
 elagh, Yauxhall, Mrs. Cornely's, and the Pantheon, were 
 sinks of indescribable infamy ; and Mr. Massey, in his History 
 of this period, declares that, from the accession of the House 
 of Hanover to the end at least of the first ten years of the 
 reign of George the Third, the depravity of English manners 
 was not excelled in the decline of the Roman Empire or 
 the decay of the old French monarchy. f 
 
 It was to guard their own remote land from the like vices, 
 that the Boston press constantly enjoined upon the people 
 frugality, moderation, and temperance. Samuel Adams, 
 above all others, interwove these counsels into his writings, 
 and never ceased to warn his countrymen, " in their little 
 
 * Compare Bancroft, VI. 137, 147. 
 
 t See Massey's History of the Reign of George HI. 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 465 
 
 corner of the world," against the introduction of English 
 luxuries and effeminacy. Devoid of bigotry or intolerance 
 in any form, he could promote innocent pleasures, but 
 sternly warred against the demoralizing influence of their 
 foreign invaders, which he held up as embodied in " standing 
 armies and ships of war, episcopates, and their numerous 
 ecclesiastical retinue, pensioners, placemen, and other job- 
 bers for an abandoned and shameless Ministry, hirelings, 
 pimps, parasites, panders, prostitutes, and whores." * He 
 held that the " religion and public liberty of a people are 
 intimately connected," and he warned his readers of the ap- 
 parent plan to poison their morals, as a preliminary to the 
 destruction of their liberties.! " Remember, my country- 
 men," said he, " it will be betfer to have your liberties 
 wrested from you by force, than to have it said that you 
 implicitly surrendered them." 
 
 After nine months had passed since the session of the 
 last year, the Legislature was called together on the 8th of 
 April, at Cambridge. Cushing being sick and absent, John 
 Hancock was chosen Speaker, and accepted by the Governor ; 
 for, though both Bernard and Hutchinson had repeatedly 
 rejected him as a councillor, it was deemed the better pol- 
 icy, for reasons already given, to approve of the selection. 
 The plans of Hancock and his friends were immediately dis- 
 closed. When a sufficient number to make a quorum had 
 appeared, Hancock had moved that a message be sent to the 
 Governor to desire that, " in consideration of the inconven- 
 iences of their sitting at Cambridge," the Assembly should 
 be removed to Boston.^: " This," says Hutchinson, " was all 
 the Governor desired. He was willing to consider it as giving 
 up the other point of right." § The party who, in the pre- 
 
 * " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 7, 1771. On the political cor- 
 ruption of England, see also a quotation from Samuel Adams, a3 " A Relig- 
 ious Politician," in Chap. XXXIX. 
 
 t" Valerius Poplicola," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 5, 1772. 
 
 \ Journal of the House, April 8, 1775. 
 
 § Hutchinson's History, HI. 348. 
 VOL. I. 30 
 
466 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, 
 
 vious year, under the leadership of Hancock, had nearly 
 brought about a humiliating compliance, were evidently 
 now determined to pursue the same object. The journals 
 show that this motion was made before, and not after, his 
 election as Speaker, thus indicating a preconcerted arrange- 
 ment. A retreat from the vital position which, for three 
 years, had been zealously and religiously adhered to by the 
 Legislature, save during the temporary disaffection in the 
 previous spring under the leadership of Otis and Hancock, 
 would have led to further concessions to the artful persua- 
 siveness of Hutchinson, and must have seriously endangered 
 the cause. Fortunately, however, Adams was prepared for 
 the emergency. After a close though brief contest, he suc- 
 ceeded in defeating the motion, but " by three or four voices 
 only," * as Hutchinson immediately after wrote to England, 
 so equally divided were the members. In the Council, to 
 carry out the arrangements, the same motion was made, but 
 was killed by Bowdoin, " the principal supporter of the oppo- 
 sition to government " in that body. Bowdoin, through the 
 whole of this discussion, maintained his characteristic inflex- 
 ibility of temper, and was true as steel to American princi- 
 ples. He was leader in the Council, where he composed 
 most of the state papers, which were generally in consonance 
 with those of the House. A few years before, Andrew Eliot 
 wrote of the Council : " The papers they have lately com- 
 posed are said to be written by Mr. Bowdoin, a gentleman 
 of learning, integrity, and fortune. At present the Board is 
 under his influence. I wish they may never be under a 
 worse direction."! Between Bowdoin and Samuel Adams a 
 perfect understanding existed, so that the plans of opposition 
 of the two bodies were usually in harmony. Bowdoin was 
 of French Huguenot descent, inherited a large fortune for 
 those days, and was widely respected for his scientific attain- 
 ments, especially in mathematics and astronomy. His state 
 
 * Hutchinson to , April, 1772. 
 
 t Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Jan. 29, 1769. 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 467 
 
 papers were sound, statesmanlike documents, though less 
 decided in character than those of Adams and Hawley in the 
 House. Hutchinson, who always truckled to wealth, was re- 
 markably civil to Bowdoin, and for some time indulged hopes 
 of bringing him over by flattery, but at length abandoned 
 the design. He now wrote to a friend in England : — 
 
 " Of the two men you mentioned, one on the Common and the 
 other near it, I have found the first pliable, and have made great 
 use of him, and expect to make more. The other is envious, and 
 with dark secret plottings endeavors to distress government; and 
 although I am upon terms of civility with him, yet, when the faction 
 in the House have any point to carry, they are sure of his support 
 in Council, and he is as obstinate as a mule. I do not find the 
 advice that his son-in-law is like to be provided for in England has 
 any effect upon him. If I see any chance for bringing him over, 
 and making him a friend to government, I will try it. In the mean 
 time I will bear with his opposition, as I have done for several years 
 
 In a message during the session, the Governor had in- 
 formed the members that, if mere convenience had been 
 urged in previous sessions, he might have returned them to 
 Boston, but that he should not be at liberty to do so while 
 they persisted in the denial of the prerogative of the Crown 
 to convene them wherever it was deemed proper. Samuel 
 Adams replied to the speech : — 
 
 " We have maturely considered this point ; and are still firmly in 
 opinion that such instruction is repugnant to the royal charter, 
 wherein the Governor is vested with the full power of adjourning, 
 proroguing, and dissolving the General Assembly, as he shall judge 
 necessary. Nothing in the charter appears to us to afford the least 
 grounds to conclude that a right is reserved to his Majesty of con- 
 trolling the Governor in thus exercising this full power. Nor, 
 indeed, does it seem reasonable that there should ; for it being im- 
 possible that any one, at the distance of three thousand miles, should 
 be able to foresee the most convenient time or place of holding the 
 
 * Hutchinson to James Gambier, May 7, 1772. 
 
468 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, 
 
 Assembly, it is necessary that such discretionary power should be 
 lodged with the Governor, who is, by charter, constantly to reside 
 within the Province. 
 
 " We are still earnestly desirous of the removal of this Assembly 
 to the Court-House in Boston ; and we are sorry that your Excel- 
 lency's determination thereon depends upon our disavowing the?e 
 principles ; because we cannot do it consistently with the duty we 
 owe our constituents. We are constrained to be explicit at this 
 time ; for, if we should be silent after your Excellency has recom- 
 mended it to us, as a necessary preliminary, to desist from saying 
 anything upon this head, while we request your Excellency for a 
 removal of the Assembly for reasons of convenience only, it might 
 be construed as tacitly conceding to a doctrine injurious to the Con- 
 stitution, and in effect as rescinding our own record, of which we 
 still deliberately approve." * 
 
 The journals record that the answer was " unanimously 
 accepted," and Adams was on the committee to present it to 
 his Excellency. For the rest of the session apparently 
 little of importance was done. The sum of ninety pounds 
 was " allowed and granted to Mr. Samuel Adams for his 
 services as Clerk of the House, during the several sessions 
 of the General Assembly during the current year." On the 
 20th of April it appears that " Mr. Adams was absent 
 through indisposition of body, and Mr Pickering was desired 
 to officiate in his place " ; and that the illness was protracted 
 is shown by the order passed on the last day of the session, 
 " that there be allowed four pounds to Mr. John Pickering, 
 Jr., for his services during Mr. Adams's absence," and the 
 record that he was sworn in as Clerk. It is a curious and 
 significant fact that the journals contain no public document 
 or state paper of any kind during this time. 
 
 The Governor replied to the answer (now copied from Mr. 
 Adams's autograph) in a labored address, supporting the ex- 
 ercise of the prerogative, and the right and necessity of royal 
 instructions to guide the Executive in all matters. " I have 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 315. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 469 
 
 never heard," he says, " that the King's authority to give 
 such instructions was ever called in question until within 
 these two years. Instructions from the Crown had been in 
 fact part of your Constitution for fourscore years together." 
 And pronouncing the whole argument of the House a fal- 
 lacy, he dissolved them with a bit of flattery as to their good 
 disposition.* The annual elections were at hand, and he 
 hoped to find the New Assembly in May equally well dis- 
 posed. Feeling quite complacent over his speech, he wrote 
 to a friend in England immediately after the close of the 
 session : — 
 
 " I think we have so divided the faction that it must be something 
 very unfortunate which can unite them again. I should be ashamed 
 of laboring a point so self-evident, as I have done in my speech at 
 the close of the Assembly, if there had not been a necessity of re- 
 moving the prejudices which are upon the minds of the body of the 
 people from the plausible messages of the House and of the Coun- 
 cil also in former sessions. I am told that it has had its effect upon 
 the members also, and that Mr. Hancock, upon hearing it, declared 
 the controversy to be over. The distemper of the late times has 
 brought not only into the House, but the Council, the lower order 
 of the people, from whom nothing liberal can be expected." f 
 
 The enmity of Hancock, and his opposition to the policy 
 and measures of Adams, had now lasted an entire year, 
 during which the two men had held no intercourse, and 
 though, for obvious reasons, their names appeared on the 
 same legislative and town committees, they could not have 
 acted together. Adams was not for a moment deterred 
 from his purpose ; on the contrary, he devoted himself to 
 it all the more, apprehending greater danger to the com- 
 mon liberties. The press still teemed with his essays, and 
 he continued his correspondence with gentlemen in England 
 and the other Colonies. The public saw this disagreement 
 with alarm, many fearing the division would prove disas- 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, pp. 316-320. 
 
 t Hutchinson to a person unknown, April 28, 1772. 
 
470 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 trous. Intelligence of Hancock's supposed desertion reached 
 England, probably by the letters of Loyalists who wrote less 
 guardedly than Hutchinson appears to have done. Arthur 
 Lee, in the following winter, addressing Mr. Adams from 
 London, says, " Mr. Wilkes tells me he has information of 
 Mr. Hancock's having deserted the cause, but I hope he is 
 misinformed." * The difference had then been arranged by 
 the mutual friends of the parties, and Adams vindicated 
 Hancock from the charge ; for, as it proved, all the influ- 
 ence of Hutchinson and his agents had, in the end, been 
 ineffectual to bring him over. 
 
 " Mr. Wilkes," replied Adams, " was certainly misinformed when 
 he was told that Mr. H. had deserted the cause of liberty. Great 
 pains had been taken to have it thought to be so, and, by a scurvy 
 trick of lying, the adversaries effected a coolness between that gentle- 
 man and some others who were zealous in that cause ; but it was of 
 short continuance, for their falsehood was soon detected. Lord Hills- 
 borough, as I suppose, was soon informed of the imaginary con- 
 quest, for I have it upon such grounds as I rely upon, that he wrote 
 to the Governor that he had it in command from the highest author- 
 ity to enjoin him to promote Mr. H. upon every occasion. Accord- 
 ingly, though he had before been frowned upon, and often negatived 
 both by Bernard and Hutchinson, the latter, who can smile sweetly, 
 even upon the man he hates, when he is instructed or it is his duty 
 to do so, fawned and flattered one of the heads of the faction, and at 
 length approved of him when he was again chosen by an unani- 
 mous vote a councillor the last May. To palliate this inconsistent 
 conduct, it was previously given out that Mr. H. had deserted the 
 faction, and become, as they term each other, a friend to govern- 
 ment. But he had spirit enough to refuse a seat at the Board, and 
 continue a member of the House, where he has, in every instance, 
 joined with the friends of the Constitution in opposition to the 
 measures of a corrupt administration ; and, in particular, no one 
 has discoursed with more firmness against the independency of the 
 Governor and the judges than he." f 
 
 * Arthur Lee to Samuel Adams, Jan. 25, 1773. 
 
 t Adams to Lee, April 12, 1773. Compare what is said in relation to 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 471 
 
 The magnanimity of Adams's character is delineated in 
 every line of this extract. Much as he had suffered, the 
 grandeur of the issue made him forget the past ; and gener- 
 ously ignoring himself, as usual, he placed others in sight, 
 careless of his own deserts, so that any nearer approach was 
 made to the great goal. But the reconciliation had not 
 taken place in May of the present year ; and as the spring 
 elections approached, the Loyalists, deceived by the apparent 
 aspect of affairs, determined, if possible, to defeat the elec- 
 tion of Samuel Adams to the Legislature by making a com- 
 bined effort against him among themselves, aided by such 
 of his own party as could be worked upon. Could he be 
 left out, not only would the Assembly be deprived of his 
 services, but the moral effect of such a triumph would be 
 generally felt. Both parties used their best efforts. The 
 day before the election, there appears in the journal of the 
 " North End Caucus Club " this record : — 
 
 " Voted, That this body will use their influence that Thomas 
 Cushing, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and William Phillips be 
 Representatives for the year ensuing." " Voted, That Gibbons 
 Sharp, Nathaniel Barber, &c, be a committee to distribute votes 
 for these gentlemen." 
 
 Among the members of this club appear the names of 
 Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Ballard, John Adams, 
 Dr. Warren, J. Greenleaf, Samuel White, and others of 
 political influence in the town. Their action was well timed 
 in the instance of Adams, against whom the most industrious 
 exertions were made. The election was on the 6th, and the 
 votes of the seven hundred freeholders were more divided 
 than had ever been known. Cushing had six hundred and 
 ninety-nine ; Hancock, six hundred and ninety ; Phillips, six 
 hundred and eighty-eight ; and Adams, five hundred and five ; 
 
 Hillsborough's letter, with Hutchinson's letter to Pownall, dated Oct. 17, 1771, 
 (ante, p. 438), in which these words are repeated, and indicating that Samuel 
 Adams had secret sources of information in Boston. He was in error only in 
 the name of the writer. 
 
472 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 and yet Adams had more than twice and a half as many 
 votes as his opponent.* The very attempt, however, to de- 
 prive the public of their Tribune endeared Adams all the 
 more to his fellow-townsmen. f The Assembly was to meet 
 again, under the charter, on the 27th of May, and everybody 
 knew that the inevitable question of the removal to Boston 
 from Cambridge would be the first business ; and that it was 
 prepared for is indicated by the following letter from Hutch- 
 inson to Governor Pownall in London : — 
 
 " Before the Court met, the Speaker and Mr. Hancock came to 
 me to inquire upon what terms I would consent to their returning 
 to Boston. I let them know, that if there was anything in their 
 address or message which tended to a denial of the King's authority 
 to give instructions to the Governor, I would not consent to it. The 
 frivolous objections which a former House had made, (that the 
 Governor had a right to move the Court only in case of necessity, 
 because Boston was the best place, and all power was vested in the 
 Governor for the public good and the like,) if, to save appearances, 
 they would insist upon inserting them, I could pass them by as not 
 worth regarding. They encouraged me they would comply with my 
 proposal if Mr. Adams did not prevent it, — against whose art and 
 insidiousness I cautioned them." $ 
 
 The House organized by electing, as usual, Samuel Adams 
 Clerk, and Thomas Cushing Speaker. The attendance was 
 small, for, at this season of the year, time was especially val- 
 uable among the farmers of the interior, and twenty-three 
 towns were fined for neglecting to send Representatives to 
 the Assembly. In truth', less interest was manifested in 
 public affairs at this moment than had ever before been 
 known, and it seemed that the " quiet " and " content- 
 
 * Boston Town Records for May, 1772. Bancroft, VI. 416. 
 
 t Hutchinson (III. 356) says, « Although this attempt showed a strong party 
 was still left which disapproved the measures of opposition, it proved a disser- 
 vice to government. It caused an alarm and a more vigorous exertion ; and 
 no endeavors were spared to heal all breaches in the opposition, and to guard 
 against a renewal of them." 
 
 X Hutchinson to Pownall, June 15, 1772. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 473 
 
 ment " which Hutchinson and his satellites were constantly 
 writing and talking about really prevailed. 
 
 All the efforts of Hancock and his adherents, during the 
 last two sessions, had proved ineffectual to drive the House 
 permanently from its firm denial of the Governor's right to 
 remove them at pleasure from one part of the Province to 
 another, on the plea of instructions from the Crown. Under 
 the leadership of Adams the great principle of perfect free- 
 dom from royal or ministerial dictation had been preserved, 
 though only by the most unremitting efforts. When the As- 
 sembly came together again, it was evident that the attempt 
 to make them approve of an address which should yield the 
 point to the Governor would be hopeless. The " art and 
 insidiousness " of Adams, against which Hutchinson had 
 been so careful to caution Hancock and Cushing, was too 
 much for even their combined exertions. The vital impor- 
 tance of the issue had become apparent, and contention on 
 that subject was at an end. The mutual friends of Adams 
 and Hancock at last brought about a reconciliation, and 
 there were no further combinations, either on the part of 
 the royalists to divide the party, or on that of Hancock and 
 his late supporters to oppose the policy of Samuel Adams. 
 The Governor, in pursuance of the plan already revealed in 
 his correspondence, presently approved of Hancock among 
 those who were elected to the Council, but he must have 
 been equally chagrined and surprised at receiving a direct 
 refusal from the object of his designs to accept of the honor. 
 It appears, in the journals, that Mr. Hancock assigned his 
 reasons at the time for refusing, but they are not recorded. 
 That Samuel Adams and his friends influenced him to this 
 course is beyond question. The next day Hutchinson wrote 
 to Bernard on the election in the House for the Board. He 
 says : — 
 
 " We have just finished our election. I believe I told you that 
 Brattle, Gray, and Hall are firm friends to government. Adams 
 pushed at no others, and yet failed in all of them. There was only 
 
474 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 
 
 one vacancy, except what was made by the two negatived, and that 
 was caused by Henshaw's resignation. That they filled with Phillips 
 of Andover, who is better than one half the old ones, though but 
 indifferent. The two who had been negatived were re-elected. I 
 had settled it some months ago to accept Hancock, and I have seen 
 the good effects of it ; not that I can depend upon his being for any 
 time of the same mind, but it breaks the connection, and they are 
 all jealous of him, and in the greater part of their measures he for- 
 sakes them. The other, Bowers, the Lieutenant-Governor urged 
 me to accept, but he is so ordinary a man that I could not bring 
 myself to it. Phelps of Boston, and Adams the lawyer, came near 
 to a choice. They would most certainly have kept Bowers company. 
 One that I have accepted for two or three years past I wished to be 
 rid of; but I would have had him in the House, and I don't know 
 which would be the worst.* It has been suspected here that he is 
 the author of some of the most virulent pieces in the Spy. He cer- 
 tainly prevented the Council from committing the printer when they 
 were generally disposed to do it. I much doubt whether the late 
 favors shown to one of his family in England will have any good 
 effect upon him.f You can't conceive how Molineux and Adams, 
 Cooper, and the rest of that clan, triumphed when the news came of 
 that appointment, and how dejected the friends of government were 
 in general. I tell them there must be good reasons for it, which 
 they are not acquainted with. But this is a digression." $ 
 
 This subject his Excellency pursued in a subsequent let- 
 
 * James Bowdoin. 
 
 t The Governor here refers to Mr. John Temple, who married the only 
 daughter of Bowdoin. He afterwards became Sir John Temple, having suc- 
 ceeded to a baronetcy in England. On his return to America, during the war, 
 he was coldly received by some of his old acquaintances who found reasons to 
 doubt his allegiance to the patriot cause, despite the valuable service he had 
 rendered by exposing Hutchinson's treacherous correspondence. The subject 
 was taken up by the State government, and was contested both in the Legisla- 
 ture and by writers in the press with much bitterness. Mr. Adams, being at 
 that time in Congress, received letters from Professor John Winthrop and 
 Bowdoin dated November 7th and 9th, 1778, bespeaking his influence in favor 
 of Temple. Adams seems to have retained his confidence in Temple through 
 the whole of the controversy concerning him. The subject is fully considered 
 in Amory's Life of James Sullivan, I. 134-138. 
 
 J Hutchinson to Bernard, May 29, 1772. 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 475 
 
 ter to Secretary Pownall, describing the election of the 
 Council. He says : — 
 
 " You see I accepted Hancock, who has for many months gone as 
 far with the party as has been necessary to prevent a total breach, 
 and no farther, and his refusal to accept the place was not from any 
 resentment for former negatives, but from an apprehension that he 
 would show to the people that he had not been seeking after it. 
 The measure will have good consequences, and end in wholly de- 
 taching him from them, or lessening his importance, if he should put 
 himself into their hands again." * 
 
 Hutchinson, however, had over-estimated his influence 
 upon Hancock, who now threw himself without reserve into 
 the contest, cheerfully devoting his great wealth to the cause, 
 and uniting, as far as can be known, in favor of the meas- 
 ures of Samuel Adams. His opposition, which had origi- 
 nated in a petulant spirit, mingled perhaps with wounded 
 vanity, succumbed to the dictates of a generous nature, 
 whose impulses were apparent in many acts during his future 
 career. The Governor, who was remarkable for his subtlety 
 and persuasive arts, might flatter him to a certain point, but 
 he failed at the last hour, and his confident prediction, based 
 upon what he had observed of Hancock's weaknesses, was 
 never realized. 
 
 Soon after this reconciliation Hancock engaged the distin- 
 guished John Singleton Copley to paint two full-length pic- 
 tures, one of himself and the other of Adams, for his own 
 drawing-rooms. The artist completed his task, and the 
 paintings hung in Hancock's house for near fifty years, when 
 they were placed in Faneuil Hall, where they remain the 
 property of the city. Copley was a great admirer of Samuel 
 Adams, and undertook con amove the task of transferring his 
 features to canvas. He sympathized with the people during 
 the earlier part of the struggle ; and his genius being univer- 
 sally acknowledged, he has left in Massachusetts many admi- 
 
 * Hutchinson to Pownall, June 15, 1772. 
 
476 * LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June, 
 
 rable works of art. He testified against the soldiers at the 
 town meeting the day after the Massacre ; and, before the 
 destruction of the tea, he endeavored, but without success, to 
 bring about some arrangement between the people and his 
 father-in-law, Mr. Clarke, one of the East India Company's 
 agents. Subsequently, he was one of those who obsequi- 
 ously addressed Hutchinson, and, leaving his native land for 
 England before the breaking out of hostilities, he became 
 eminent in his profession. He was the father of Lord Lynd- 
 hurst, late Lord Chancellor of England. 
 
 The painting of Adams has been called Copley's master- 
 piece.* The patriot is represented in the celebrated scene 
 with Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, at the meeting of 
 the Council and the officers of the British army and navy, 
 the day after the Boston Massacre. The artist was not un- 
 mindful of surrounding effects. The background is dark 
 and shadowy, revealing only the outline of two columns, 
 dimly seen by the faint light of a winter's evening, strug- 
 gling into the curtained apartment. The figure, which is 
 of life size, is near a table, on which are law books and the 
 Colonial charter partly unrolled. Adams, clad in his usual 
 plain costume of dark red, stands erect in an attitude of 
 commanding dignity. His left arm is outstretched, and 
 the rigid forefinger points down upon the charter, formida- 
 ble with its great seal and engrossed lettering, while the 
 other hand holds the written message from the exasperated 
 thousands now awaiting his return with the issue of peace 
 or carnage. The iron will of the man is revealed in the ap- 
 pearance of the document, doubling up within his tightened 
 grasp, the effort bringing out every muscle of the sinewy, 
 finely-formed hand. Courage, determination, and an inde- 
 scribable majesty are stamped upon the face. The lips, 
 clean cut, and slightly compressed with the momentous na- 
 ture of the occasion ; the gray hair thrown back from the 
 temples in flowing locks ; the forehead massive and white ; 
 
 * See the frontispiece of this volume. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 477 
 
 the deep blue eye fixed with resolute intentness upon the 
 royal Governor, — present a type of intellectual manhood, 
 corroborating all accounts, written and verbal, of the per- 
 sonal appearance of Samuel Adams. 
 
 In conformity with the usual custom on the assembling 
 of the Legislature, the election of councillors was immedi- 
 ately followed by a message from the Governor to the 
 House, recommending the consideration of public affairs. 
 He had nothing, he said, to lay before them of special com- 
 mand from his Majesty, and as most of the members were 
 well acquainted with the usual business, he would not point 
 it out to them. The House instantly replied by the hand 
 of Samuel Adams, emphatically insisting upon their rights 
 in the matter of removing the Court to Boston, and flatly 
 refusing to proceed to the consideration of public business 
 while they were continued in any other place than the 
 Town House in Boston. The Governor at first declined as 
 of old, but the determination of the House triumphed in the 
 end. Seeing that under their present influence there was 
 no likelihood that the affairs of the Province would ever 
 be taken up, Hutchinson consulted with the Council, who 
 favored the removal, and the Assembly was finally ad- 
 journed to Boston. Thus ended this memorable issue be- 
 tween a citizen Assembly and the representative of royalty, 
 — an issue which, perhaps, as much as any other one pre- 
 Revolutionary event, indicates the rigid character of the 
 New England patriots. The struggle, which was eagerly 
 watched on both sides of the Atlantic, was a question of 
 right, and as such had a powerful effect upon public opin- 
 ion, though, in history, it has not received the attention due 
 to its importance. During four years it had been main- 
 tained and guided by Samuel Adams, who, with his friends, 
 found opponents, not only in the Loyalists, but in the antag- 
 onism of some of the leading spirits of the Province. That 
 of Otis was but temporary, and did not materially retard 
 the cause. Hancock's influence was more potent, and even 
 
478 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [J une) 
 
 dishing, if we may judge from the private letters of Hutch- 
 inson, was with Hancock at least for a time. But Adams, 
 by his inflexible will, had at last driven the Governor from 
 his arbitrary position, which had been arrogantly assumed 
 and malignantly persisted in without a shadow of justice, 
 and in direct violation of the charter. The Assembly im- 
 mediately resumed its proper place in the State-House. 
 Hutchinson says, in his private account of the fencing 
 which preceded the return to Boston : — 
 
 " I prepared my speech so as to avoid obliging them, being a new 
 House, to take notice of anything which had passed in former As- 
 semblies. The Council proposed to the House a committee of both 
 Houses to prepare a joint address, which, not being agreed to, they 
 prepared separate addresses as decent as I could expect, and for 
 form's sake only I took into consideration their request. The 
 answer of the House was drawn by Mr. Adams in a coarse, illiberal 
 style, which I should not much regard, knowing it came from him. 
 I suspected he had a reserve, and, after I had complied with the 
 request, would take the first occasion to observe that the House had 
 declared that when I first removed the Court, which I did by the 
 King's order, I was under no necessity of doing it. My zeal to 
 maintain the authority of the King's instructions led me, by a mes- 
 sage, to desire an explanation. This was improved by the faction 
 to raise the resentment of the whole House as suspecting them of 
 duplicity, and calculated to bring them to an explicit submission to 
 a point which I had only required a former House to desist from 
 disputing, and they, with a general voice, declared their expression 
 to be sufficiently plain, and would give no other answer to my 
 inquiries. This led me to give the reason Of my question, and to 
 declare that whilst the King's authority to instruct the Governor 
 was disputed, I did not intend to remove the Court. This was on 
 the 3d of June. I soon discovered that the members universally 
 declared that, whatever the person who drew the message held in 
 his thoughts, they had nothing more in theirs than that they could 
 not see any necessity of my convening them at this time at Cam- 
 bridge." * 
 
 * Hutchinson to Secretary Pownall, June 15, 1772. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 479 
 
 The House, however, it seems, did just as " the person 
 who drew the message " planned for them ; and in his His- 
 tory the Governor shifts the responsibility of the removal 
 upon the Council, who upon their oaths favored the meas- 
 ure. 
 
 For more than a year it had been suspected that the Min- 
 istry intended to make an alteration in the usual provision 
 for the Governor's salary. From time immemorial it had 
 been given by free grants of the Assembly, as directed in 
 the royal charter. In 1770, Samuel Adams and Arthur Lee 
 had corresponded on the dependence of any crown officers 
 on the Ministry instead of on the people ; and in November 
 of that year Adams, in his letter of instructions to Franklin 
 from the House, was most explicit in his opposition to such an 
 unparalleled scheme of usurpation.* In the spring session 
 of 1771, Mr. Adams, as chairman of a committee appointed 
 for that purpose, had endeavored to obtain from the Gover- 
 nor his reasons for refusing his assent to the bills granting 
 him thirteen hundred pounds for his salary ; but his Excel- 
 lency then briefly replied that he should assent to or reject 
 the bills as it should appear to him his duty required.! The 
 time had now arrived for a direct issue on this important 
 point. On application to the Secretary, it was found that 
 the Governor had withheld his signature to the bill, and a 
 message was addressed to him, shortly after the return of 
 the Assembly to Boston, desiring to know whether provision 
 had been made for his support as Governor of the Province 
 in any unusual manner. J The Governor replied, repeating 
 his assertion of the previous year, that his Majesty was ena- 
 bled by an Act of Parliament to support the civil govern- 
 ment in the Colonies as he should judge necessary, and now 
 avowing directly that his support in future was to proceed 
 from the King, he declined to accept any salary from the 
 funds of the Province. 
 
 * See, ante, p. 371. • t Bradford's State Papers, p. 298. 
 
 X Journal of the House, June 6, 1772. Bradford's State Papers, p. 324. 
 
480 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, 
 
 One of the first acts of the House, in the present session, 
 had been the appointing of a committee to consider this sub- 
 ject, and now, on the reply of the Governor, plainly an- 
 nouncing the intention of the Crown, in conjunction with 
 the authority of Parliament, to violate the charter, the 
 committee, with Joseph Hawley as its chairman, reported a 
 series of resolutions embracing the entire subject. After a 
 clear and direct statement of the case, in a preamble dis- 
 closing all the danger of the innovation, the report declares 
 that the Assembly is the constitutional judge of the adequate 
 support of the Governor ; that by a provision otherwise than 
 by their acts and grants, an important trust is wrested out 
 of their hands. The fourth resolution solemnly holds up the 
 inference, that under the working of these acts there would 
 be an end to the rightful dependence of the Province upon 
 England. It reads : — 
 
 " Resolved, That the Governor's having and receiving- his sup- 
 port independent of the grants and acts of the General Assembly 
 is a dangerous innovation, which renders him a Governor not 
 dependent on the people as the charter has prescribed, and con- 
 sequently, not in that respect such a Governor as the people con- 
 sented to at the granting thereof. It destroys that mutual check 
 and dependence which each branch of the Legislative ought to have 
 upon the others and the balance of power which is essential to all 
 free governments. And this House do most solemnly protest, that 
 the innovation is an important change in the Constitution, and ex- 
 poses the Province to a despotic administration of government." # 
 
 These resolutions, which were reported on the 3d of July, 
 were allowed to lie on the table for revision, and during this 
 time, the Governor, alarmed at the rumors concerning them, 
 desired to know their purport. The House on the same 
 day reconsidered them, and made certain amendments, the 
 nature of which is not known ; but Hutchinson states that 
 the report " met with great opposition from near a third 
 part of the members, in several questions upon the most ma- 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 325. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 481 
 
 terial parts of it ; but it having been resolved to print the 
 names of the voters on each side, it was finally carried* by 85 
 against 19." * Several of the Loyalist members, despairing 
 of success after this, left the House and went home. Hutch- 
 inson says, " This report was supposed to be drawn by Mr. 
 Hawley, one of the committee." It would seem that Mr. 
 Adams must also have been engaged upon it, and was in- 
 strumental in securing its passage. This is indicated by a 
 letter to his friend, Warren of Plymouth, just after the pro- 
 rogation of the Assembly, in which he says : — 
 
 " Since your departure I have been, as I expected, plagued almost 
 to death with the dubitations of Whigs and the advantage the Tories 
 constantly make of them. The resolves have finally passed, and 
 even as they now appear, I believe they chagrin him whom they 
 call Governor." f 
 
 Before replying in full to the resolves, which seem to have 
 created 'a profound sensation among both parties, the Gov- 
 ernor called the attention of the House to the ruinous con- 
 dition of the Province-House, its outhouses and appendages, 
 and desiring them to repair it for his city residence. :£ The 
 Province-House had long been the gubernatorial mansion. 
 It was a spacious brick building of three stories, with rich 
 exterior ornaments. One of these decorations was the King's 
 arms, finely executed and gilded. The house was surmounted 
 by a cupola, and a handsome flight of stone steps led up to 
 the principal entrance. All the elegance and formality of 
 the olden time was observed there in the ample reception- 
 rooms, especially on great occasions. Most of the govern- 
 ors resided in the summer at their country-seats in some 
 neighboring town. Bernard had thus passed much of his 
 time in Roxbury, and Hutchinson in Milton. It had been 
 customary for his Majesty's Council to meet, by invitation 
 of the Governor, at the Province-House on the accession of 
 
 * Hutchinson's History, III. 358. 
 t Samuel Adams to James Warren, July 16, 1772. 
 } Bradford's State Papers, p. 330. 
 vol. I. 8L. 
 
482 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, Aug. 
 
 a new sovereign to the British throne, or upon the King's 
 birthday, or the like occasions, and drink loyal toasts ; but 
 the practice had by this time gone into disuse. The Assem- 
 bly replied to Hutchinson's application, by the hand of Sam- 
 uel Adams, that they were not unapprized of the condition 
 of the Province-House, but that " the building was procured 
 for the residence of a Governor whose whole support was to 
 be provided for by the grants and acts of the General Assem- 
 bly, according to the tenor of the charter," and not for a 
 Governor " for whose support adequate provision should be 
 made in another way," and, upon that consideration, they 
 could not think it their duty to order the repairs. They 
 assured him that they were far from intending any personal 
 disrespect, and that, should the time come when he should 
 think himself at liberty to accept his whole support from the 
 Province, he would find them ready to provide a house " not 
 barely tenable, but elegant." This put an end to the 
 subject of the Province-House, and nothing exists to show 
 whether his Excellency continued to reside there or carried 
 out his implied threat of removing to Milton, where he would, 
 have been difficult of access.* 
 
 On the 14th, Hutchinson replied to the resolve of the 
 House, ably supporting the right of the Crown to make such 
 grants as it deemed proper for the support of its Governor, 
 and quoting precedents in other parts of the kingdom. He 
 accused the committee of having confounded the sense 
 and meaning of the words " check " and " dependence," by 
 which, he said, a plausible appearance had been given to 
 their argument. " This is an artifice," he adds, " which has 
 often been made use of by writers in newspapers, with design 
 to give false notions of government and to stir up discontent 
 and disorder ; but I am far from attributing any such design 
 to the members of the House of Representatives in general." 
 He then prorogued the Assembly to meet on the last day of 
 
 * Bradford's State Papers, p. 331. The extracts above are copied from the 
 original draft in the autograph of Samuel Adams. 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 483 
 
 September at the Town-House in Boston. The parting fling 
 was undoubtedly intended for Samuel Adams, whom his 
 Excellency had already denounced as " the writer in the 
 incendiary newspaper." So Mr. Adams himself thought, for 
 two days afterwards he wrote to a friend : — 
 
 " The Governor at the close [of the session] sent down a message 
 in the Bernardian tone, which I intend to look over. To speak the 
 truth plainly, when the Secretary read it, I thought it a very inde- 
 cent thing, in' which there appeared a studied affront to the House, 
 and it seemed to me that I myself had a particular share of it." * 
 
 The measure which had long been threatening, and which 
 the House had protested against in their late resolutions, 
 was now about to be consummated. On the 7th of August 
 Lord Hillsborough, who was on the eve of retiring from his 
 position as Secretary for the Colonies, made it known to the 
 Lords of Trade that the King, with the " entire concurrence 
 of Lord North, had made provision for the support of his law 
 servants in the Province of Massachusetts Bay." A week 
 later, the Secretary resigned, was created an Earl, and was 
 succeeded by Lord Dartmouth, a man of acknowledged ami- 
 ability and purity of character, professedly friendly to the 
 Colonies, but resolved upon carrying out the general policy 
 of his predecessor. Arthur Lee considered him " an insig- 
 nificant character, with the affectation of piety and good 
 intentions towards the public." f Adams said of him : — 
 
 " The character of Lord Dartmouth, in point of moral virtue, has 
 been unexceptionable in America, for aught I have heard. I wish 
 it could be ascertained of all his Majesty's ministers and servants 
 that they deserved such a character. It is the opinion I have of 
 them that makes me tremble for his Lordship, lest in the circle he 
 
 should make shipwreck of his virtue Our conspirators were 
 
 alarmed at his appointment, and I believe are determined if they 
 can, to impose upon his credulity, if he has any such weakness 
 about him." t 
 
 * Samuel Adams to James Warren, July 16, 1772. 
 t Arthur Lee to Samuel Adams, Jan. 25, 1773. 
 X Samuel Adams to Arthur Lee, Nov. 3, 1772. 
 
484 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept., 1772. 
 
 Mr. Adams, for a year or two, was accustomed to write and 
 speak of this nobleman as " the good Lord Dartmouth," but, 
 as the great drama of oppression was hurried to a close, 
 he could not regard anything English with complacency. In 
 the letter just quoted he wrote to Lee : — 
 
 " In your last, you expressed your hopes of the removal of Hills- 
 borough. I could not join with you ; for if I am to have a master, 
 let me have a severe one, that I may constantly have the mortifying 
 sense of it. I shall then be constantly disposed to take the first fair 
 opportunity of ridding myself of his tyranny. There is danger of 
 the people being flattered with such partial relief as Lord Dart- 
 mouth may be able (if disposed) to obtain for them, and building 
 upon vain hopes till their chains are riveted." 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Salaries of the Governor and the Judges made independent of the People. — 
 Adams arouses the Province against the New System. — He endeavors to 
 obtain a General League of the Massachusetts Towns. — The Measure 
 discouraged by Cushing, Hancock, and Others. — Adams prevails, and a 
 preliminary Town Meeting is summoned. — The Governor refuses to as- 
 semble the General Court. — The Subject considered at the Town Meet- 
 ing. — Adams proposes Committees of Correspondence. — Organiza- 
 tion of the Boston Committee. — Working Members not easily obtained. — 
 Errors corrected as to the Originator of the "Great Invention." — Adams 
 draits and reports the " Rights of the Colonists." 
 
 The dependence of the judges of the Superior Court upon 
 the Crown for their support was now certainly known. In 
 the month of September, news arrived in Boston that grants 
 had been made by the King, and warrants ordered on the 
 Commissioners of the Customs for payment. Thus, by the 
 same system, an unconstitutional tax was wrung from the 
 people, and then the funds were applied to the emolument of 
 a Governor forced upon them by a process directly at vari- 
 ance with the stipulations of their charter, and of pensioned 
 judges holding their places under the Executive. Nothing 
 that had yet been done was considered so direct and danger- 
 ous a blow at the popular rights. 
 
 " The news," said Mr. Adams, when some months afterwards he 
 reviewed these events, " was like thunder in the ears of all but a de- 
 testable and detested few. Even those who had been inclined to 
 think favorably of the Governor and the judges were alarmed at it ; 
 and, indeed, what honest and sensible man or woman could contem- 
 plate it without horror. We all began to shudder at the prospect 
 of the same tragical scenes being enacted in this country which are 
 recorded in the English history, as having been acted when their 
 judges were the mere creatures, dependents, and tools of the Crown. 
 Such an indignation was discovered and expressed by almost every 
 one at so daring an insult upon a free people, that it was difficult to 
 
486 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 keep our resentment within its proper bounds. Many were ready- 
 to call for immediate vengeance, perhaps with more zeal than discre- 
 tion. How soon human prudence and fortitude, directed by the wise 
 and righteous Governor of the world may point out the time and 
 the means of successfully revenging the public wrongs of America, 
 I leave to those who have been the contrivers and abettors of these 
 destructive measures seriously to consider. I hope, and believe, 
 that I live in a country the people of which are too intelligent and 
 too brave to submit to tyrants." * 
 
 Refore the arrival of this intelligence, and when only 
 rumors of the intended measure had reached America, 
 Samuel Adams, after enumerating the public grievances, 
 said : — 
 
 " I think the alteration of our free and mutually dependent Con- 
 stitution into a dependent ministerial despotism a grievance so great, 
 80 ignominious, and intolerable, that, in case I did not hope things 
 would in some measure regain their ancient situation without more 
 bloodshed and murder than has been already committed, I could 
 freely wish, at the risk of my all, to have a fair chance of offering 
 to the manes of my slaughtered countrymen a libation of the blood 
 of the ruthless traitors who conspired their destruction." f 
 
 The provision for the law servants of the Crown created 
 the opportunity, and he perceived that the time he had pa- 
 tiently awaited was now at hand, to give an impulse to the 
 cause of independence which should never cease to act. For 
 more than a year he had been revolving this subject in his 
 mind, and had endeavored to prepare the public for its in- 
 troduction. 
 
 " Is it not enough," he cried, " to have a Governor an avowed 
 advocate for ministerial measures, and a most assiduous instrument 
 in carrying them on, modelled, shaped, controlled, and directed, to- 
 tally independent of the people over whom he is commissioned to 
 govern, and yet absolutely dependent upon the Crown, pensioned by 
 
 * "Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, April 12, 1773. 
 t " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, April 20, 1772. 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 487 
 
 those on whom his existence depends, and paid out of a revenue 
 established by those who have no authority to establish it, and ex- 
 torted from the people in a manner most odious, insulting, and 
 oppressive. Is not this indignity enough to be felt by those who 
 have any feeling ? Are we still threatened with more ? Is life, 
 property, and everything dear and sacred to be now submitted to 
 the decisions of pensioned judges, holding their places during the 
 pleasure of such a Governor, and a Council perhaps overawed ? To 
 what a state of infamy, wretchedness, and misery shall we be re- 
 duced, if our judges shall be prevailed upon to be thus degraded to 
 hirelings, and the body of the people shall suffer their free Constitu-- 
 tion to be overturned and ruined. Merciful God ! inspire thy peo- 
 ple with wisdom and fortitude, and direct them to gracious ends. 
 In this extreme distress, when the plan of slavery seems nearly 
 completed, save our country from impending ruin. Let not the 
 iron hand of tyranny ravish our laws and seize the badge of free- 
 dom, nor avowed corruption and the murderous rage of lawless 
 power be ever seen on the sacred seat of justice. 
 
 " Is it not high time for the people of this country explicitly to 
 declare whether they will be freemen or slaves ? It is an important 
 question, which ought to be decided. It concerns us more than any- 
 thing in this life. The salvation of our souls is interested in the 
 event; for wherever tyranny is established, immorality of every 
 kind comes in like a torrent. It is the interest of tyrants to reduce 
 the people to ignorance and vice, for they cannot live in any country 
 where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public lib- 
 erty of the people are intimately connected : their interests are inter- 
 woven ; they cannot subsist separately, and, therefore, they rise and 
 fall together. For this reason, it is always observable that those 
 who are combined to destroy the people's liberties practise every art 
 to poison their morals. How greatly then does it concern us, at all 
 events, to put a stop to the progress of tyranny. It has advanced 
 already by far too many strides. We are this moment upon a preci- 
 pice. The next step may be fatal to us. Let us, then, act like wise 
 men, calmly look around us, and consider what is best to be done. 
 Let us converse together upon this most interesting subject, and 
 open our minds freely to each other. Let it be the topic of conver- 
 sation in every social club. Let every town assemble. Let associ- 
 
488 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 ations and combinations be everywhere set up to consult and recover 
 our just rights. 
 
 * The country claims our active aid. 
 That let us roam ; and where we find a spark 
 Of public virtue, blow it into flame/ " * 
 
 In conformity with the suggestions thus made public, 
 Adams addressed himself to the accomplishment of his de- 
 sign of setting up "combinations and associations." The fire 
 of liberty might be kindled in numberless hearts, but with- 
 out an organized system by which a concert of action could 
 be produced among the many their struggles would prove 
 ineffectual against the concentrated efforts of the govern- 
 ment. The idea of the Committee of Correspondence, which 
 has been justly considered as " including the whole Revolu- 
 tion," had more than a year before dawned upon his mind as 
 " a grand undertaking." " The fire within him burned," but 
 he had bided his time. That time had now come with the 
 news of the independence of the judges. " The Grand In- 
 cendiary of the Province," wrote Hutchinson, " stirred up 
 the inhabitants of Boston to call a town meeting to consider 
 of a rumor that the King had allowed salaries to the judges 
 of the Superior Court." f This " stirring up of the people," 
 however, was not the easy movement that posterity might 
 imagine. The truth is, Samuel Adams was alone in this 
 measure, and found the greatest difficulty in its accomplish- 
 ment. Besides having to counteract the influence of the 
 Tories, who seemed to have penetrated his designs, and were 
 aiming to frustrate them, he was obliged to exert all his 
 powers of persuasion to instil his ideas into his colleagues 
 of the Boston delegation. Of the industrious efforts of the 
 Tories to prevent the meeting, we have Samuel Adams's 
 own account ; but he wisely remained silent as to the oppo- 
 sition of the doubting and irresolute friends of liberty. 
 
 * " Valerius Poplicola," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 5, 1772. 
 1 Hutchinson to Gage, March 7, 1773. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 489 
 
 Cushing, Hancock, and Phillips were each dissatisfied with 
 the measure, and the first, the Speaker of the House, advised 
 against it. There is the most trustworthy contemporary 
 evidence of these facts. Samuel Cooper, the friend and 
 correspondent of Dr. Franklin, writing to the latter, not long 
 after these events, says : — 
 
 " Soon after the appointment for the superior justices was known 
 the town of Boston had a meeting. Their Committee drew up a state 
 of the public grievances, which was accompanied with a letter to 
 every town in the Province, desiring their brethren to express their 
 own sense of these important matters. Though this measure was 
 opposed by a number of the most respectable friends to liberty in 
 the town, among whom were three out of four of the Representatives 
 of Boston, from an apprehension that many towns, for various rea- 
 sons, might not choose to adopt it, and, in that case, the attempt 
 might greatly prejudice the interest it was designed to promote ; and 
 though the Governor and his friends in every place did not fail to 
 avail themselves of this and every other circumstance to frustrate 
 it, yet it had an effect through the whole Province beyond the most 
 sanguine expectations of its friends." * 
 
 This statement is from one of the most zealous friends of 
 liberty and accomplished ministers of the time. Dr. Cooper 
 was intimate with all the political movements. No man who 
 who was not an active participant in the drudgery and de- 
 tail of politics could be better informed. His account, too, 
 is quite in accordance with a letter written by Hutchinson 
 about the same time. The Governor says : — 
 
 " The Speaker [Cushing] was with me this morning, and let me 
 know he had a letter from Dr. Franklin, and that, from conversation 
 with Lord Dartmouth, he thought he might encourage him to hope 
 that consideration would be had for the several matters represented 
 as grievances, and that, as far as should be judged proper, they 
 would be redressed, but that it was a work of time, and, in the mean 
 time, he advised them to be quiet. I asked whether the proceed- 
 
 * Samuel Cooper to Dr. Franklin, March 15, 1773, in Sparks's Franklin, 
 Yin. 36, 37. 
 
490 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 [Oct. 
 
 ings of the town of Boston and so many other towns, and the coun- 
 tenance shown them by the House, could be thought consistent with 
 this advice. He answered that he opposed the town meeting of Bos- 
 ton as not advisable, and, besides, he had no great expectation at 
 that time of such an encouragement. He professes a willingness to 
 submit to all the regulations they were under before the Stamp Act, 
 but he is not the person of the greatest influence with the party." * 
 
 As Speaker of the House the name of Cushing was oftener 
 before the British public than that of more influential men 
 among the patriots ; and it was his prominent position, as 
 the presiding officer of that body, which led Dr. Johnson, 
 when writing of Colonial affairs, to assert that one of the 
 objects of the Revolution was to place a diadem on the head 
 of Cushing ! This, however, was of a piece with the prevail- 
 ing errors in England as to the political condition of Amer- 
 ica. The collected letters of Cushing evince none of the 
 controlling force of character and tenacity of purpose found 
 in those of Samuel Adams. For a number of years before 
 the departure of Hutchinson, he prudently kept on social 
 terms with the Governor, holding private interviews for the 
 purpose of eliciting information serviceable to the cause. 
 Though his letters to correspondents in England breathe the 
 purest patriotism, he is solicitous to have the authorship con- 
 cealed, rather than incur " the resentment of some people 
 which he would choose to avoid." He was not, and from 
 his nature and temperament could not be, a leader of the 
 people ; he was in doubt as to the wisdom of most of tho 
 great, decisive measures of the Massachusetts committees, 
 and, as late as in January, 1776, wavered and sided with the 
 proprietary interests at Philadelphia against the bolder mem- 
 bers who rallied around Samuel Adams in the movement 
 towards independence.! 
 
 In order to call a legal town meeting, a petition to the 
 selectmen from a certain number of freeholders was neces- 
 
 * Hutchinson to Pownall, April 19, 1773. Compare also Bancroft, VI. 426. 
 t See Bancroft, VIII. 242, 243. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 491 
 
 sary. Hancock was a selectman, and, with three or four 
 others, he rejected the prayer of the petition, disapproving 
 of what seemed to him precipitate measures.* Had the 
 efforts of the " incendiary " ceased here, the committees 
 might never have been organized, but it was a principle with 
 Adams to redouble his exertions when encountering revers- 
 es. He again went among the people, and other petitions 
 were set on foot. Adams, in his own account of the affair, 
 says that " three petitions were presented to the selectmen, 
 signed by one hundred and ninety-eight respectable free- 
 holders and inhabitants." These set forth their apprehen- 
 sions that the establishment of judges, independent of the 
 General Assembly, " would give a finishing stroke to the sys- 
 tem of tyranny already begun, and complete the ruin of the 
 liberties of the people." f The last petition was signed by 
 one hundred and six inhabitants. $ 
 
 Cushing, in the mean time, still held back. " America," 
 said he, " may assert her rights by resolves, but, before 
 enforcing them, she must wait to grow more powerful." 
 " We are at a crisis," was the reply ; " this is the moment 
 to decide whether our posterity shall inherit liberty or 
 slavery." § Finally, when the selectmen could no longer 
 demur, and when more than three weeks had passed since 
 the first effort, they summoned a town meeting at Faneuil 
 Hall for Wednesday, the 28th of October. The press, at 
 the same time, warned the people that they must " strike a 
 home blow, or sit down under the yoke of tyranny," and 
 held up the alternative of an immediate restoration of their 
 liberties, or the formation of "an independent common- 
 wealth after the example of the Dutch Provinces." || 
 
 * Hutchinson, III. 361. Bancroft, VI. 426. 
 
 t Compare Samuel Adams's report to the town, published in the Boston 
 Gazette, March 29, 1773, and sent out in form of circulars by the Committee 
 of Correspondence. 
 
 t Boston Gazette, Oct. 26, 1772. Bancroft, VI. 426. 
 
 § Bancroft, VI. 426. 
 
 || "An American," in the Boston Gazette, Nov. 2, 1772. The author is 
 unknown. 
 
492 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. 
 
 The day before the meeting, Mr. Adams received a letter 
 from Elbridge Gerry of Marblehead, with whom he had 
 lately become personally acquainted. Adams, now desig- 
 nated by the biographer of Gerry as " the controlling genius 
 of the storm," soon came to know and recognize the decided 
 principles and natural abilities of his friend, who was then 
 twenty-eight years of age, and had made his first appear- 
 ance in public life as a Representative of his native town in 
 the session of the present year. Their mutual respect and 
 intimacy never ceased. 
 
 " I observe," said Gerry, alluding to the salaries of the judges, 
 " you have taken up the matter in Boston, and we should be glad to 
 second you, but for some difficulties which we want your opinion 
 upon. It is uncertain with us, whether the salaries are confirmed, 
 whether they have been accepted, or if accepted, whether the judges, 
 knowing how disagreeable it will prove to the people, will not re- 
 voke their design. When these matters are determined, we can 
 proceed with propriety, and, should the salaries be received (which 
 D. V.), I hope we shall not leave the subject until the grievance is 
 redressed ; and I think I am warranted to say, for this town, you 
 will ever find it ready in attention with interest or life." * 
 
 Adams replied on the same day, advising his correspond- 
 ent that positive information of the independency of the 
 judges had been received by Hutchinson from Bernard, and 
 that the town was to meet on the following day. 
 
 "I will write you," he continues, "on Thursday, and let you 
 know the event. Our enemies would intimidate us by saying our 
 brethren in the other towns are indifferent about this matter, for 
 which reason I am particularly glad to receive your letter at this 
 time. Roxbury, I am told, is thoroughly awake. I wish we could 
 arouse the continent." f 
 
 His wife's younger brother — Andrew Elton Wells — had 
 lately removed from Cambridge, his birthplace, to Burke 
 County in Georgia, where he had settled and married. 
 
 * Austin's Life of Gerry, I. 9. 
 
 t Adams to Gerry, Oct. 27, 1772 {Ibid.). 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 493 
 
 " Your last letter," says Mr. Adams to him, " mentioned the sud- 
 den dissolution of your General Assembly, which, I perceive, after- 
 wards took place. It appears still to be the determination of the 
 Ministry to enslave the Colonies, and the Governors are to be the 
 instruments. It therefore behooves every Colony to be vigilant, 
 and agreeably to the advice of the Pennsylvania Farmer, each 
 should support the others. This Province seems devoted to min- 
 isterial vengeance. We have been long struggling against the 
 encroachments of tyranny, which now threaten its completion by 
 the independency of the Governor and the judges of the Superior 
 Court. If the tribute, which is by act of Parliament extorted from 
 the Americans, is appropriated* for making the executive power 
 totally independent of the people for their support, which is abso- 
 lutely dependent upon the Crown for its being as well as subsist- 
 ence, there will be an end to freedom. In such courts, and under 
 such an administration, you will easily conceive what constructions 
 of law and what decisions the people are to expect. I send you 
 two or three of our late papers. There may be some speculations 
 upon the subject in them which you may think proper to get repub- 
 lished in your papers." * . 
 
 On the day appointed the meeting was held, John Han- 
 cock acting as Moderator. After mature deliberation and 
 debate, extending far into the afternoon, Samuel Adams, 
 Joseph Warren, and Benjamin Church were named a com- 
 mittee to address the Governor, requesting information of 
 the truth of the report, that " stipends had been affixed by 
 order of the Crown to the judges of the Superior Court of 
 Judicature of the Province." The Governor replied that it 
 was by no means proper for him to lay before any town his 
 correspondence as Governor of the Province, or to inform 
 them of what advices he had received relative to public 
 affairs. With this answer the meeting adjourned to Friday, 
 the 30th,f and Adams, in the interval, fanned the flame in 
 every direction. 
 
 " In the mean time," said he to Gerry, " I wish your town would 
 
 * Adams to Andrew Elton Wells, Oct. 21, 1772. 
 t Boston Town Records for October, 1772. 
 
494 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct., Nov^ 
 
 think it proper to have a meeting, which may be most seasonable at 
 this time. For, as the Superior Court is to be held at Salem next 
 week, you will have an opportunity of making a decent application 
 to them, and inquiring of the certainty of the report and other mat- 
 ters mentioned in your letter to me ; which inquiry will be more 
 naturally made to them, in case the Governor should decline an- 
 swering the message of this town, or do it, if I may be allowed the 
 expression, equivocally. This country must shake off their intol- 
 erable burdens at all events. Every day strengthens our oppressors 
 and weakens us. If each town would declare its sense of these mat- 
 ters, I am persuaded our enemies would not have it in their power 
 to divide us, in which they have all along shown their dexterity." * 
 
 Thus he endeavored to inspire all around him with his 
 own unfaltering determination. Working zealously and. 
 wisely, day and night, by letters and by conversation, he lost 
 sight of no possible advantage that could be gained, and res- 
 olutely, but with serene and cheerful aspect, conducted the 
 public measures. When the town met on the 30th, Adams 
 was chairman of a committee to request the Governor to 
 suffer the General Assembly to meet on the day to which it 
 stood prorogued, December 2 ; and, at the same time, the 
 meeting expressed its horror of the approaching judicial 
 establishment, which was declared contrary, not only to the 
 plain and obvious sense of the charter of the Province, but 
 also to some of the fundamental principles of common law, 
 to the benefit of which all the British subjects, wherever dis- 
 persed, were indubitably entitled.! The request for a session 
 of the Legislature was in pursuance of a plan laid down by 
 Adams in a letter to Gerry of the previous Tuesday. The 
 town adjourned to meet again on Monday to hear the Gov- 
 ernor's answer to their petition. Very little enthusiasm had 
 thus far been shown in the movement. After all the efforts 
 of Adams, he had not been able to obtain the names of more 
 than a quarter of the freeholders on the petitions for the 
 
 * Samuel Adams to Elbridge Gerry, Oct. 29, 1772. 
 t Boston Town Records. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 495 
 
 original meeting, and the last, or new one, was signed by 
 but one in seven, the number being one hundred and six 
 out of six hundred and ninety-nine who had voted at the last 
 May elections. Writing to Arthur Lee the next day after 
 the final meeting, Mr. Adams sends him the newspapers, 
 and thus accounts for the apparent want of interest among 
 the people : — 
 
 " At the first meeting on the Wednesday, and at the last adjourn- 
 ment on the Monday following, there was a respectable appearance 
 of the inhabitants, though not so full as has sometimes been on occa- 
 sions of much less importance, owing partly to its being the season 
 of the year when the town is filled with our country folks, and every 
 one is laying in provision for the approach of a long winter ; partly 
 to the industry of the enemies to prevent a full meeting, which they 
 had before discovered, — to prevent any meeting at all (for they dread 
 nothing more) ; and partly from the opinion of some, that there was 
 no method left to be taken but the last, which is also the opinion of 
 many in the country." * 
 
 The meeting on Monday, the 2d of November, was at 
 Faneuil Hall, and occupied nearly the entire day, — the 
 inhabitants passing out and in during the proceedings. " A 
 very respectable number " was present throughout, and an 
 increasing interest was shown. \ In the forenoon, Hutchin- 
 son's answer to the petition for a session of the Legislature 
 was received. It briefly stated that the charter reserved 
 to the Governor the full power from time to time to ad- 
 journ, prorogue, or dissolve the Assembly. In the exercise 
 of that power, both as to time and place, he had always 
 been governed by a regard to his Majesty's service and the 
 interests of the Province. A compliance with the petition, 
 he said, would be to yield to them the exercise of that part 
 of the prerogative. There would be danger of encouraging 
 the inhabitants of other towns in the Province to similar 
 
 * Samuel Adams to Arthur Lee, Nov. 3, 1772. 
 
 t Compare Samuel Adams as " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 14, 
 1772. 
 
496 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 procedures, which the law had not made the business of a 
 town meeting. This reply was read several times, and voted 
 "not satisfactory." Its principles must have been received 
 with mingled alarm and indignation, for they aimed a death 
 blow at the immemorable right of the New England towns to 
 discuss public affairs, upon which discussions depended the 
 efficiency of their free elective representation. j 
 
 " I was aware," said Mr. Adams, in a letter soon after, " that his 
 [the Governor's] answers would be in the same high tone in which 
 we find them expressed ; yet our requests have been so reasonable, 
 that, in refusing to comply with them, he must have put himself in 
 the wrong in the opinion of every honest and sensible man; the 
 consequence of which will be that such measures as the people may 
 determine upon to save themselves, if rational and manly, will be 
 the more reconcilable even to cautious minds, and thus we may ex 
 pect that unanimity which we wish for." * 
 
 The meeting now numbering about three hundred, it was 
 unanimously resolved as the opinion of the inhabitants, that 
 " they have ever had, and ought to have, a right to petition 
 the King or his representative for a redress of such griev- 
 ances as they feel, or for preventing of such as they have 
 reason to apprehend, and to communicate their sentiments 
 to other towns." ^ 
 
 It was now that Adams stood up and made his celebrated 
 motion, which breathed life into the American Revolution, 
 stamped with vitality all its subsequent measures, and ar- 
 ranged under the rules of perfect order and system what 
 had, until then, been a series of inharmonious, desultory ef- 
 forts, without concentration or method. The record says : — 
 
 " It was then moved by Mr. Samuel Adams, that a committee of 
 correspondence be appointed, to consist of twenty-one persons, to 
 state the rights of the Colonists and of this Province in particular, 
 as men and Christians and as subjects; and to communicate and 
 publish the same to the several towns and to the world as the sense 
 
 * To Elbridge Gerry, Nov. 5, 1772. 
 
1772.J LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 497 
 
 of this town, with the infringements and violations thereof that have 
 been, or from time to time may be, made." * 
 
 It would seem, by the fragment of an account by a Loyal- 
 ist writer, that the resolves were not adopted until night. 
 He speaks of the vote, for sending the letter of correspond- 
 ence, as having been passed about ten o'clock in the evening, 
 and although the article in which this statement appeared 
 contained erroneous assertions as to the number of persons 
 present at the time, and was in that respect publicly contra- 
 dicted by the selectmen, the fact of the night session is not 
 denied. They also refer to the very respectable number 
 who attended " through the day " and to the " three hun- 
 dred or more," who were present when the vote was taken, 
 evidently at a late hour. That some debate succeeded Mr. 
 Adams's motion is shown in this same statement of the 
 selectmen, who speak of its having been " twice read and 
 amended." f It was carried at last by an almost unanimous 
 vote. The system, however, was not launched upon its 
 course without difficulty. Those who had questioned the 
 wisdom of the scheme at first now failed to perceive its 
 practicability or importance, and when the committee came 
 to be appointed^ it was found difficult to obtain members. 
 Cushing, Hancock, and Phillips, three of the four Boston 
 Representatives, pleaded private business and refused to 
 serve ; and Scollay and Austin, two of the selectmen, de- 
 clined for a similar reason. J The whole twenty-one, how- 
 ever, were raised ; and James Otis, who had lately returned 
 from Nantasket, whither he had been carried, was named 
 chairman, as a tribute to his former services. 
 
 Hutchinson described the Committee as in part composed 
 of " deacons," " atheists," and " black-hearted fellows, whom 
 one would not choose to meet in the dark." § " You may 
 judge of this Committee," said he, " by their chairman, who 
 
 * Boston Town Records for November, 1772. 
 
 t Statement by the Selectmen, in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 7, 1772. 
 
 % Bancroft, VI. 429-430. § Hutchinson to Pownall, Nov. 13, 1772. 
 
 VOL. i. 32 
 
498 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor. 
 
 is but just now discharged from his guardian, and is still 
 once in a few days as mad as ever, — the effect of strong 
 drink." * It has been said of Hutchinson, that " he was 
 considerate towards the orphan and the widow, and he heard 
 private suits with unblemished integrity." However much 
 the praise may have been deserved, the unmasking of his 
 true disposition, as betrayed in his private correspondence, 
 reveals a malignity of heart and a cowardly desire to stab 
 his enemies in the dark, which renders his character odious. 
 The Committee was composed, for the most part, of plain 
 democratic citizens, in moderate circumstances of life, and 
 actuated beyond question by the loftiest patriotism. Their 
 labors were to be arduous, without remuneration, and with 
 no hope of reward beyond a sense of duty performed, and an 
 approving conscience. But his Excellency could see no 
 merit, except in an abject submission to a tyranny, which 
 he, above all others, ought to have discountenanced, as a 
 native of the Province, and one who had received innumer- 
 able marks of favor from his fellow-citizens. 
 
 The Committee held their first meeting at the Kepresent- 
 atives Chamber on the 3d of November, and organized by 
 electing William Cooper as their clerk, wtyo was ordered to 
 be present at all their meetings and to keep a fair record of 
 their proceedings.! How faithfully the service was rendered, 
 is shown by the journals. They are entire and in perfect or- 
 der, having passed into the family of Samuel Adams at the 
 commencement of the war, and remained there for more 
 than sixty years. The Loyalists had good reason to watch 
 the growth of this novel power with deep misgivings of its 
 effects. The comprehensiveness of the system, and the per- 
 fect harmony of its working, was soon apparent. Springing 
 from the people, it was a compact little legislature of itself, 
 entirely distinct from any other power, and its influence 
 reached every part of the Province. The first act, after 
 organizing, was to pass a vote : — 
 
 * Hutchinson to Bernard, Nov. 10, 1772. t Journal of the Committee. 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 499 
 
 " That every member be desired to declare to the chairman that 
 he holds himself bound in honor not to divulge or make known any 
 part of the conversation of this Committee at their meetings to any 
 person whatsoever, excepting what the Committee shall judge proper 
 to lay before the town, or to make known in their capacity of a 
 committee." * 
 
 Mr. Adams's motion, creating the Committee, had specified 
 three distinct duties to be performed, — t c^ draw tip aj tate- 
 ment of the rights of t he Colon ists as jnen^_ajSLCltfistians, and 
 as 1 mbjecl iT"a~declaration of the infringement and violation 
 of those rights ; and a letter to be sent to the several towns 
 in the Province and to the world as the sense of the town. 
 The drafting of the first was assigned to Samuel Adams, the 
 second to Joseph Warren, and the last to Benjamin Church. 
 In the mean time, while these papers were preparing, Adams 
 wrote to other towns, urging their leading men to aid in 
 forming the Confederation. 
 
 " Our timid sort of people," said he to Elbridge Gerry, " are dis- 
 concerted when they are positively told that the sentiments of the 
 country are different from those of the city. Therefore a free com- 
 munication with each town will serve to ascertain this matter ; and 
 when once it appears beyond contradiction that we are united in 
 sentiments, there will be a confidence in each other, and a plan of 
 
 opposition will be easily formed and executed with spirit 
 
 I earnestly wish that the inhabitants of Marblehead and other towns 
 would severally meet, and if they see cause, among other measures, 
 second this town, and appoint a committee to be ready to communi- 
 cate with ours. This would at once discover a union of sentiments 
 thus far, and have its influence on other towns." f 
 
 Gerry replied, with the assurance that the steps taken by 
 the metropolis would succeed ; but, said he, " should they 
 fail, the merit of those worthies who oppose the strides of 
 tyranny will not be diminished ; neither would their being 
 overpowered by numbers alter the heroism of their conduct." 
 
 * Journal of the Committee. 
 
 I Samuel Adams to Elbridge Gerry, Nov. 5, 1772. 
 
500 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 Adams again wrote, informing Gerry of the progress of the 
 flame in Roxbury, Cambridge, and Plymouth. 
 
 " May God grant," he said, " that the love of liberty, and a zeal 
 to support it, may enkindle in every town. If our enemies should 
 see the flame bursting in different parts of the country, and distant 
 from each other, it might discourage their attempts to damp and 
 quench it. I am well assured they are alarmed at the measure now 
 taking, being greatly apprehensive of the same consequences from it 
 which our good friend at Plymouth hopes and expects. This should 
 animate us in carrying it into execution. . I beg you would exert 
 your utmost influence in your neighboring towns and elsewhere." * 
 
 The good friend at Plymouth was James Warren, who 
 had written to Samuel Adams that he believed there would 
 be no difficulty in getting a meeting there, and seconding 
 Boston. Adams replied to Warren that the time for " com- 
 plaining " had passed, and that it was " more than time to 
 be rid of both tyrants and tyranny." 
 
 When the reports of the several committees were prepared, 
 they were presented on the 20th of November to a town 
 meeting at Faneuil Hall by James Otis, who now, as chair- 
 man, made his final appearance in public, — the wreck of 
 one of the most brilliant men of genius that America has 
 produced, but yet sustained by the care and sympathy of 
 some friends and the tender reverence of the people, whose 
 cause he had ever ardently and sincerely supported. 
 
 " Samuel Adams," says Hutchinson, writing to a friend, " had 
 prepared a long report, but he let Otis appear in it" ; and again, in 
 another letter : " the Grand Incendiary of the Province prepared a 
 long report for a committee appointed by the town, in which, after 
 many principles inferring independence were laid down, many re- 
 solves followed, all of them tending to sedition and mutiny, and some 
 of them expressly denying Parliamentary authority." 
 
 The report created a powerful sensation, both in America 
 and in England, where it was for some time attributed to 
 
 * Samuel Adams to Elbridge Gerry, Nov. 14, 1772. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 501 
 
 Franklin, by whom it was republished. It is divided into 
 the three subjects specified in the original motion. The first, 
 in three subdivisions, considering the rights of the Colonists 
 as men, as Christians, and as subjects, was from the pen of 
 Samuel Adams ; his original draft, together with the prepar- 
 atory rough notes or headings, being in perfect preservation. 
 It is important, not only as a platform upon which were 
 afterwards built many of the celebrated state papers of the 
 Revolution, but as the first fruits of the Committee of Cor- 
 respondence.* 
 
 * The error of John Adams, when, fifty years afterwards, he attributed this 
 pamphlet to James Otis, gave rise to some interesting letters from both Jeffer- 
 son and Adams a few years before their death. John Adams, while question- 
 ing the credit due to Jefferson, as the author of the Declaration of Independence, 
 had called that document a " recapitulation " of the Declaration of Rights by 
 the Congress of 1774 ; and, again, writing to Mr. Pickering, he says : " As you 
 justly observe, there is not an idea in it [the Declaration of Independence] but 
 what had been hackneyed in Congress two years before. The substance of it 
 is contained in the Declaration of Rights, and the Violations of those Rights in 
 the journals of Congress in 1774. Indeed, the essence of it is contained in a 
 pamphlet voted and printed by the town of Boston before the first Congress 
 met, composed by James Otis, as I suppose, in one of his lucid intervals, and 
 pruned and polished by Samuel Adams." John Adams's Works, II. 514. 
 
 The fact that Otis was allowed to present the report as his final public act 
 may have given John Adams this impression; for, at this time (1772), he 
 himself took no part in public affairs, but devoted his time to professional pur- 
 suits. Otis, however, had nothing to do with preparing the paper, and, to 
 the grief of his friends and his country, had long been incapable of any public 
 service. Jefferson, adopting the "supposition" of John Adams as to the 
 authorship of the " Rights of the Colonists," wrote to Mr. Madison a year 
 later, that the " Otis pamphlet he never saw," and upon this his biographer, 
 continuing the subject in defence of Jefferson's originality, refers repeatedly to 
 the pamphlet in question as the production of Otis. (Randall's Jefferson, I. 
 189.) There certainly is a similarity between the "Rights of the Colonists" 
 in 1772, and the "Declaration of Rights " in 1774, and between them both and 
 the Declaration of Independence ; but as all are founded on the time-honored 
 principles of Locke, Hooker, Sydney, and Harrington, some of whom are duly 
 quoted by Samuel Adams in his treatise, the disputes as to the originality are 
 needless. 
 
 But John Adams's memory failed him in relation to the Declaration of 
 Rights made by the first Congress, as well as in attributing the pamphlet now 
 under consideration to James Otis. He implies that there were two Declara- 
 
502 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor. 
 
 NATURAL RIGHTS OF THE COLONISTS AS MEN. 
 
 Among thejnatural rights of the Colonists are these: First, a 
 right to life ; Secondly, to liberty ; Thirdly, to property ; together 
 with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they 
 can. These are evident branches of, rather than deductions from, 
 the duty of self-preservation, commonly called the first law of nature. 
 
 All men have a right to remain in a state of nature as long as 
 they please ; and in case of intolerable oppression, civil or religious, 
 to leave the society they belong to, and enter into another. 
 
 When men enter into society, it is by voluntary consent; and 
 they have a right to demand and insist upon the performance of 
 such conditions and previous limitations as form an equitable origi- 
 nal compact. 
 
 Every natural right not expressly given up, or, from the nature 
 of a social compact, necessarily ceded, remains. 
 
 All positive and civil laws should conform, as far as possible, to the 
 law of natural reason and equity. 
 
 As neither reason requires nor religion permits the contrary, 
 every man living in or * out of a state of civil society has a right 
 peaceably and quietly to worship God according to the dictates of 
 his conscience. 
 
 "Just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty," in matters 
 spiritual and temporal, is a thing that all men are clearly entitled to 
 by the eternal and immutable laws of God and nature, as well as by 
 the law of nations and all well-grounded municipal laws, which must 
 have their foundation in the former. 
 
 In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions 
 thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever 
 
 tions, the one of Rights, and the other of Violations, which is manifestly in- 
 correct. It would seem, too, that any attempt to lessen the credit of Jefferson, 
 by showing that the essence of the Declaration of Independence was contained 
 in Samuel Adams's pamphlet of 1772 and the Declaration of Rights in 1774, 
 must reflect upon whoever claims the authorship of the latter (since the senti- 
 ments are identical), unless it be conceded that Samuel Adams, as is more 
 than probable, was largely engaged in composing the Declaration of Rights, 
 and introduced into that paper the same principles he had advanced in 1772. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 503 
 
 practised and, both by precept and example, inculcated on mankind. 
 And it is now generally agreed among Christians that this spirit of 
 toleration, in the fullest extent consistent with the being of civil 
 society, is the chief characteristical mark of the true Church* In- 
 somuch that Mr. Locke has asserted and proved, beyond the possi- 
 bility of contradiction on any solid ground, that such toleration ought 
 to be extended to all whose doctrines are not subversive of society. 
 The only sects which he thinks ought to be, and which by all wise 
 laws are excluded from such toleration, are those who teach doc- 
 trines subversive of the civil government under which they live. 
 The Roman Catholics or Papists are excluded by reason of such 
 doctrines as these, that princes excommunicated may be deposed, 
 and those that they call heretics may be destroyed without mercy ; 
 besides their recognizing the Pope in so absolute a manner, in sub- 
 version of government, by introducing, as far as possible into the 
 states under whose protection they enjoy life, liberty, and property, 
 that solecism in politics imperium in imperioft leading directly to 
 the worst anarchy and confusion, civil discord, war, and bloodshed. 
 The natural liberty of man, by entering into society, is abridged 
 or restrained, so far only as is necessary for the great end of society, 
 the best good of the whole. 
 
 In the state of nature every man is, under God, judge and sole 
 judge of his own rights and of the injuries done him. By entering 
 into society he agrees to an arbiter or indifferent judge between him 
 and his neighbors ; but he no more renounces his original right than 
 by taking a cause out of the ordinary course of law, and leaving the 
 decision to referees or indifferent arbitrators. In the last case, he 
 must pay the referees for time and trouble. He should also be will- 
 ing to pay his just quota for the support of government, the law, and 
 the constitution ; the end of which is to furnish indifferent and im- 
 partial judges in all cases that may happen, whether civil, ecclesias- 
 tical, marine, or military. 
 
 The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power 
 on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of 
 man, but only to have the law of nature for his rale.J 
 
 In the state of nature men may, as the patriarchs did, employ 
 
 * See Locke's Letters on Toleration. J Locke on Government, 
 
 t A government within a government. 
 
504 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 hired servants for the defence of their lives, liberties, and property ; 
 and they should pay them reasonable wages. Government was insti- 
 tuted for the purposes of common defence, and those who hold the 
 reins of government have an equitable, natural right to an honorable 
 support from the same principle that " the laborer is worthy of his 
 hire." But then the same community which they serve ought to be 
 the assessors of their pay. Governors have no right to seek and 
 take what they please ; by this, instead of being content with the 
 station assigned them, that of honorable servants of the society, they 
 would soon become absolute masters, despots, and tyrants. Hence, 
 as a private man has a right to say what wages he will give in his 
 private affairs, so has a community to determine what they will give 
 and grant of their substance for the administration of public affairs. 
 And, in both cases, more are ready to offer their service at the pro- 
 posed and stipulated price than are able and willing to perform their 
 duty. 
 
 In short, it is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of 
 one, or any number of men, at the entering into society, to renounce 
 their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those 
 rights ; when the grand end of civil government, from the very na- 
 ture of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defence of 
 those very rights ; the principal of which, as is before observed, 
 are Life, Liberty, and Property. If men, through fear, fraud, or 
 mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any essential natural 
 right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would 
 absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the 
 gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this 
 gift and voluntarily become a slave. 
 
 n. 
 
 THE RIGHTS OF THE COLONISTS AS CHRISTIANS. 
 
 These may be best understood by reading and carefully studying 
 the institutes of the great Law Giver and Head of the Christian 
 Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in 
 the New Testament. 
 
 By the act of the British Parliament, commonly called the 
 
1772.1 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 505 
 
 Toleration Act, every subject in England, except Papists, &c, was 
 restored to, and re-established in, his natural right to worship God 
 according to the dictates of his own conscience. And, by the char- 
 ter of this Province, it is granted, ordained, and established (that is, 
 declared as an original right) that there shall be liberty of conscience 
 allowed in the worship of God to all Christians, except Papists, in- 
 habiting, or which shall inhabit or be resident within, such Province 
 or Territory,* Magna Charta itself is in substance but a constrained 
 declaration or proclamation and promulgation in the name of King, 
 Lords, and Commons, of the sense the latter had of their original, 
 inherent, indefeasible natural rights,f as also those of free citizens 
 equally perdurable with the other. That great author, that great 
 jurist, and even that court writer, Mr. Justice Blackstone, holds that 
 this recognition was justly obtained of King John, sword in hand. 
 And peradventure it must be one day, sword in hand, again rescued 
 and preserved from total destruction and oblivion. 
 
 in. 
 
 THE EIGHTS OF THE COLONISTS AS SUBJECTS. 
 
 A commonwealth or state is a body politic, or civil society of 
 
 men, united together to promote their mutual safety and prosperity 
 
 by means of their union.$ 
 
 J^p A^Phe absolute rights of Englishmen and all freemen, in or out of 
 
 » civil society, are principally personal security, personal liberty, and 
 
 private property. / 
 
 All persons born in the British American Colonies are, by the 
 laws of God and nature and by the common law of England, exclu- 
 sive of all charters from the Crown, well entitled, and by acts of 
 the British Parliament are declared to be entitled to all the natural, 
 essential, inherent, and inseparable rights, liberties, and privileges 
 of subjects born in Great Britain or within the realm. Among 
 
 * See 1 Wm. and Mary, St. 2, c. 18, and Massachusetts Charter, 
 t Lord Coke's Inst. Blackstone's Commentaries, VI. p. 122. The Bill of 
 Eights and the Act of Settlement. 
 % See Locke and Vattel. 
 
506 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov. 
 
 those rights are the following, which no man, or body of men, con- 
 sistently with their own rights as men and citizens, or members of 
 society, can for themselves give up or take away from others. 
 
 First, " The first fundamental, positive law of all common- 
 wealths or states is the establishing the legislative power. As 
 the first fundamental natural law, also, which is to govern even the 
 legislative power itself, is the preservation of the society." * 
 
 Secondly, The Legislative has no right to absolute, arbitrary 
 power over the lives and fortunes of the people ; nor can mortals 
 assume a prerogative not only too high for men, but for angels, and 
 therefore reserved for the exercise of the Deity alone. 
 
 " The Legislative cannot justly assume to itself a power to rule 
 by extempore arbitrary decrees ; but it is bound to see that justice 
 is dispensed, and that the rights of the subjects be decided by pro- 
 mulgated, standing, and known laws, and authorized independent 
 judges " ; that is, independent, as far as possible, of Prince and 
 people. " There should be one rule of justice for rich and poor, for 
 the favorite at court, and the countryman at the plough." f 
 
 Thirdly, The supreme power cannot justly take from any man 
 any part of his property, without his consent in person or by his 
 representative. 
 
 These are some of the first principles of natural law and justice, 
 and the great barriers of all free states and of the British Constitu- 
 tion in particular. It is utterly irreconcilable to these principles 
 and to many other fundamental maxims of the common law, com- 
 mon sense, and reason, that a British House of Commons should 
 have a right at pleasure to give and grant the property of the Col- 
 onists. (That the Colonists are well entitled to all the essential 
 rights, liberties, and privileges of men and freemen born in Britain 
 is manifest not only from the Colony charters in general, but acts 
 of the British Parliament.) The statute of the 13th of Geo. 2, 
 c. 7, naturalizes even foreigners after seven years' residence. The 
 words of the Massachusetts charter are these : " And further, our 
 will and pleasure is, and we do hereby for us, our heirs, and suc- 
 cessors, grant, establish, and ordain, that all and every of the sub- 
 jects of us, our heirs, and successors, which shall go to, and inhabit 
 within our said Province or Territory, and every of their children, 
 
 * Locke on Government. JSalus populi suprema lex esto. t Locke. 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 507 
 
 which shall happen to be born there or on the seas in going thither 
 or returning from thence, shall have and enjoy all liberties and 
 immunities of free and natural subjects within any of the dominions 
 of us, our heirs, and successors, to all intents, constructions, and pur- 
 poses whatsoever, as if they and every one of them were born with- 
 in this our realm of England." 
 
 Now what liberty can there be where property is taken away 
 without consent? Can it be said with any color of truth and jus- 
 tice, that this continent of three thousand miles in length, and of a 
 breadth as yet unexplored, in which, however, it is supposed there 
 are five millions of people, has the least voice, vote, or influence in 
 the British Parliament ? Have they all together any more weight 
 or power to return a single member to that House of Commons who 
 have not inadvertently, but deliberately, assumed a power to dis- 
 pose of their lives,* liberties, and properties, than to choose an 
 Emperor of China ? Had the Colonists a right to return members 
 to the British Parliament, it would only be hurtful ; as, from their 
 local situation and circumstances, it is impossible they should ever 
 be truly and properly represented there. The inhabitants of this 
 country, in all probability, in a few years, will be more numerous 
 than those of Great Britain and Ireland together ; yet it is absurdly 
 expected by the promoters of the present measures that these, with 
 their posterity to all generations, should be easy, while their prop- 
 erty shall be disposed of by a House of Commons at three thousand 
 miles' distance from them, and who cannot be supposed to have the 
 least care or concern for their real interest ; who have not only no 
 natural care for their interest, but must be in effect bribed against 
 it, as every burden they lay on the Colonists is so much saved or 
 gained to themselves. Hitherto, many of the Colonists have been 
 free from quit rents ; but if the breath of a British House of Com- 
 mons can originate an act for taking away all our money, our lands 
 will go next, or be subject to rack rents from haughty and relent- 
 less landlords, who will ride at ease, while we are trodden in the 
 dirt. The Colonists have been branded with the odious names of 
 traitors and rebels only for complaining of their grievances. How 
 long such treatment will or ought to be borne, is submitted. 
 
 Here is embodied the whole philosophy of human rights, 
 
 * See the acts of the last session relating to the King's dock-yards. 
 
i 
 
 508 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nc 
 
 condensed from the doctrines of all time, and applied to the 
 immediate circumstances of America. Upon this paper was 
 based all that was written or spoken on human liberty in the 
 Congress which declared independence ; and the immortal 
 instrument itself is, in many features, but a repetition of the 
 principles here enunciated, and of Joseph Warren's list of 
 grievances, which followed the Rights of the Colonists in the 
 report. If we look back to the first efforts of Samuel Adams, 
 when, as a young essayist in the obscure little weekly paper 
 of his native town, twenty-five years before, he boldly advo- 
 cated the liberties of the people against oppressive rulers, 
 Vwe shall find that his ideas on these subjects were as firmly 
 Tfixed as now, when he gave them not to a circle of provin- 
 cial readers alone, but to the world. The sentiments are the 
 same, and the man who adopted them must have been by 
 nature an assertor of popular rights. There can be no better 
 proof of the admirable consistency of his character than a 
 patient examination of his works throughout his long life. 
 At the age of fifty he found no reason to retract a word, 
 or retrace a step ; and the principles with which he had 
 commenced life accompanied him to the close. When an- 
 other century had dawned upon him, and he was fast sinking 
 into the grave, his sincere admirer, Thomas Jefferson, then 
 just elected President of the United States, wrote to his 
 " ever respected and venerable friend " : " Your principles 
 have been tested in the crucible of time, and have come out 
 pure. You have proved that it was monarchy, and not mere- 
 ly British monarchy, you opposed. A government by repre- 
 sentatives, elected by the people at short periods, was our 
 object, and our maxim at that day was, ' Where annual elec- 
 tion ends, tyranny begins. , " * Jefferson's remarks were ap- 
 plicable, not only to the period of the Revolution, but to the 
 whole lifetime of Samuel Adams. The spirit which, in his 
 boyhood, dictated the college thesis advocating the lawful- 
 ness of resistance to tyranny was the same that spoke in the 
 
 * Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Adams, Feb. 26, 1801. 
 
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 509 
 
 Independent Advertiser five years later for the right of re- 
 monstrating public grievances and against the exercise of 
 lawless power. Its justice and consistency was shown when, 
 at the dawn of the Revolution, the patriot claimed British 
 privileges as the birthright of his countrymen, and called on 
 the Representatives to maintain and assert them ; and when, 
 in the Massachusetts resolves, he fully rehearsed those rights, 
 and struck out the pathway for future measures. Now, in 
 1772, the same great principles are adhered to. He had 
 brought them triumphantly forward, keeping public atten- 
 tion ever fixed upon them, till they were not only adopted 
 by a town, but established as the guide of a people in its 
 march to freedom.* 
 
 * An error first published by Gordon, and repeated from that source by 
 Marshall and subsequent authors, was for many years persisted in by writers 
 on the American Revolution, that James Warren of Plymouth was the origi- 
 nator of the Committee of Correspondence ; and the honor of the invention 
 has, without proof, been accorded to others. Not only has the fact descended 
 in family story, from his own mouth, that Samuel Adams originated this 
 measure, but there is abundant contemporary testimony to support it. Hutch- 
 inson, as already quoted, repeatedly asserts it in his private letters, and the 
 writings of Adams himself indicate it. Addressing Bernard on the progress 
 of the Committees of Correspondence, Hutchinson says : — 
 
 " The papers enclosed will show you what we are about. Adams brought 
 about eighty towns to declare against the authority of Parliament " ; and in a 
 private letter to Lord Dartmouth, denouncing Samuel Adams as the leader 
 and manager in Massachusetts, "But his chief dependence is upon a Boston 
 town meeting, where he originates his measures, which are followed by the rest 
 of the towns, and, of course, are adopted or justified by the Assembly." 
 
 Gordon, though generally trustworthy, never had the fullest confidence of 
 Adams and his friends, and he was much in the dark as to the Committee, its f 
 origin and proceedings. Warren cheerfully seconded Adams in the consum- I 
 mation of the scheme after it was matured, but he was not its inventor, and, 
 like others, at first doubted its success. When John Adams was Minister to 
 England in February, 1780, the plan of committees of correspondence was 
 being generally adopted in England and Ireland for the redress of grievances. 
 Remembering with whom these committees had originated in Boston, he 
 writes from Paris to Samuel Adams, then a member of the Congress in Phil- 
 adelphia : — 
 
 " You will see by the public papers that your committee of correspondence I 
 is making greater progress in the world and doing greater things in the polit- 
 
510 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Not. 
 
 The list of " infringements and violations of rights " by 
 Warren, divided into twelve articles, treats in detail of the 
 usurpation of powers of legislation ; taxation without the 
 consent of the people ; the appointment of new officers un- 
 known to the charter ; the introduction of fleets and armies 
 to support these unconstitutional officers ; the annual appro- 
 priation by the King of fifteen hundred pounds from the 
 American revenue to support the Governor and other crown 
 officers independently of the people ; the instructions sent to 
 the Governor, threatening an entire destruction of public 
 liberties ; the restrictions upon the Legislature ; the negativ- 
 ing of councillors ; the surrendering of the Castle ; the ex- 
 tending of the power of the Courts of Yice- Admiralty ; the 
 
 ical world than the electrical rod ever did in the physical ; England and Ire- 
 land have adopted it, but, mean plagiaries as they are, they do not acknowledge 
 who was the inventor of it." 
 
 There is no mistaking this. It is positive and to the point, and evidently 
 refers to a perfectly well-known fact. Undoubtedly, too, Francis Dana, him- 
 self a personal witness of these events, and, in 1780, a member of the Amer- 
 ican legation at Paris, had been conversing with John Adams on this very 
 subject ; for, three days after the date of the letter from which the above ex- 
 tract is taken, Dana also wrote to Elbridge Gerry at Philadelphia : — 
 
 " You perceive that I allude to their county meetings, their petitions, but 
 above all to their committees of correspondence (of which you may read much in 
 the papers of this month). These last were engines which operated with more 
 energy and constancy than any others which were put in motion in the com- 
 mencement of our opposition. They may be called the corner-stone of our 
 Revolution or new empire. Little, I believe, did our friend, the first mover 
 and inventor of them, expect to see this masterly stroke of policy so soon 
 adopted by the people of England to effect the redress of their own grievances. 
 "What will be the issue of the present apparently serious opposition, a little time 
 will show : but, from the characters who take the lead in it, I conjecture the 
 great body of the people will be made instrumental only of driving out the 
 present administration, and will be but little the better for a change. They 
 want the sage counsel of our said friend in conducting the affairs of their com- 
 mittees of correspondence to the proper point." 
 
 Writing to Samuel Adams in 1790, John Adams, looking back to the effect 
 of these events, says : — 
 
 " Your Boston town meetings and our Harvard College have set the uni- 
 verse in motion." 
 
 There is the clearest evidence that Samuel Adams was the originator of tho 
 
1772.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 511 
 
 deprivation of the right of trial by peers of the vicinage ; the 
 restrictions upon manufactures and native productions ; the 
 establishment of an American Episcopate ; and the alteration 
 of the bounds of Colonies by decisions before the King and 
 Council. 
 
 The " letter of correspondence to the towns," by Benja- 
 min Church, takes a brief and comprehensive view of the 
 state of public affairs in a strain of the happiest eloquence, 
 blended with a dignity worthy the occasion. The tenor of 
 the " rights " and grievances is briefly recapitulated, enclosed 
 with the letter to the selectmen, and a free communication 
 of the sentiments of each town is earnestly solicited. The 
 fullest belief is expressed that the wisdom of the people 
 would not " suffer them to doze, or sit supinely indifferent 
 
 system, put it in action, and guided its course. When Hutchiuson, in the next 
 session of the Legislature, assailed the Committee as unlawful and of danger- 
 ous tendency, Adams was its special advocate, having been appointed by the 
 town to prepare an answer to the Governor's objections. (Boston Gazette 
 March 29, 1773.) And at a town meeting at the Old South, of which he was 
 Moderator (Town Records, June 27, 1774), when the Tories attempted to pass 
 a vote of censure upon the Committee, Adams again became its champion, hav- 
 ing left the chair and taken the floor for that express purpose. It would seem 
 that all men looked to him as the father of the Committee, and as such its nat- 
 ural defender and director. (See letters from members of the Committee to 
 Samuel Adams, during his absence in Congress, August and September, 1774.) 
 
 Still further proof is given by John Adams, as " Novanglus," in 1775, when, 
 in his controversy with " Massachusettensis," he says : " When a certain mas- 
 terly statesman invented a Committee of Correspondence in Boston, which has 
 provoked so much of the spleen of " Massachusettensis " (of which more here- 
 after), did not every Colony, nay every county, city, hundred, and town upon 
 the whole continent, adopt the measure, — I had almost said, as if it had been 
 a revelation from above as the happiest means of cementing the union, and 
 acting in concert 1 What proofs of union have been given since the last ? 
 Look over the resolves of the several Colonies, and you will see that one under- 
 standing governs, one heart animates, the whole body. Assemblies, conven- 
 tions, congresses, towns, cities, and private clubs and circles have been actu- 
 ated by one great, wise, active, and noble spirit, one masterly soul animating 
 one vigorous body." (John Adams's Works, IV. 34. Bancroft, VII. 234.) 
 
 The person here alluded to is as clearly designated by the terms used, as if 
 his name had been expressed. See Bancroft's opinion as to the originator of • 
 the Committees of Correspondence, VI. 428, 429. 
 
512 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov., 1772. 
 
 on the brink of destruction, while the iron hand of oppres- 
 sion was daily tearing the choicest fruit from the fair tree 
 of liberty, planted by their worthy predecessors, at the ex- 
 pense of their treasure, and abundantly watered with their 
 blood." 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
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