Chapter 33
General Gage is just arrivd here, with a Commission to supercede Govr Hutchinson. It is said that the Town of Salem about twenty Miles East of this Metropolis is to be the Seat of Government-- that the Commissioners of the Customs and their numerous Retinue are to remove to the Town of Marblehead a Town contiguous to Salem and that this if the General shall think proper is to be a Garrisond Town. Reports are various and contradictory.
I am &c.
Sent to the Come of Correspondence for Connecticutt New York New Jersey & Philadelphia
by Mr Revere--and in that sent to Philadelphia there were Copies of the Vote of the Town inclosd for the Colonies to the Southward of them which they were desired to forward with all possible Dispatch with their own Sentiments.
to Rhode Island Providence p Post Portsmouth p Ditto
to Peyton Randolph Esqr to be communicated by him to the Gentlemen in Virginia which was sent by Mr Perez Moulton as far as Philadelphia to be thence forwarded by the Post.
_______________________________________________________________ 1The letter was signed by Adams, but only the annotations at the end are in his autograph. Another draft is also in the Committee of Correspondence Papers. The final text of the letter as sent to the Committee of Correspondence of Connecticut, with the subscription and signature in the autograph of Adams and the body of the letter in the autograph of Thomas Cus.h.i.+ng, is in Emmet MS., No. 344, Lenox Library, and is printed in Bulletin of New York Public Library, vol. ii., p. 201.
2Boston Record Commissioner's Report, vol. xviii., pp. 173, 174.
THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF BOSTON TO THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF PHILADELPHIA.1
[MS., Committee of Correspondence Papers, Lenox Library.]
BOSTON May 13 1774
GENTLEMEN
We have just receivd the Copy of an Act of the British Parliament pa.s.sd in the present Session whereby the Town of Boston is treated in a Manner the most ignominious cruel and unjust. The Parliament have taken upon them, from the Representations of our Governor & other Persons inimical to and deeply prejudiced, against the Inhabitants, to try, condemn and by an Act to punish them, UNHEARD; which would have been in Violation of NATURAL JUSTICE even if they had an acknowledgd Jurisdiction. They have orderd our port to be entirely shut up, leaving us barely so much of the Means of Subsistance as to keep us from peris.h.i.+ng with Cold and Hunger; and it is said, that [a] Fleet of British s.h.i.+ps of War is to block up our Harbour, until we shall make Rest.i.tution to the East India Company, for the Loss of their Tea, which was destroyed therein the Winter past, Obedience is paid to the Laws and Authority of Great Britain, and the Revenue is duly collected. This Act fills the Inhabitants with Indignation. The more thinking part of those who have hitherto been in favor of the Measures of the British Government, look upon it as not to have been expected even from a barbarous State. This Attack, though made immediately upon us, is doubtless designd for every other Colony, who will not surrender their sacred Rights & Liberties into the Hands of an infamous Ministry. Now therefore is the Time, when ALL should be united in opposition to this Violation of the Liberties of ALL. Their grand object is to divide the Colonies. We are well informd, that another Bill is to be brought into Parliament, to distinguish this from the other Colonies, by repealing some of the Acts which have been complaind of and ease the American Trade; but be a.s.sured, YOU will be called upon to surrender your Rights, if ever they should succeed in their Attempts to suppress the Spirit of Liberty HERE. The single Question then is, Whether YOU consider Boston as now suffering in the Common Cause, & sensibly feel and resent the Injury and Affront offerd to her? If you do, (and we cannot believe otherwise) May we not from your Approbation of our former Conduct, in Defence of American Liberty, rely on your suspending your Trade with Great Britain at least, which, it is acknowledgd, will be a great, but necessary Sacrifice, to the Cause of Liberty, and will effectually defeat the Design of this Act of Revenge. If this should be done, you will please to consider it will be, though a voluntary Suffering, greatly short of what we are called to endure under the immediate hand of Tyranny.
We desire your Answer by the Bearer; and after a.s.suring you, that, not in the least intimidated by this inhumane Treatment we are still determind to maintain to the utmost of our Abilities the Rights of America we are,
Gentlemen, your Friends & Fellow Countrymen,
________________________________________________________________ 1Intended also for the Committees of Correspondence of New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Portsmouth. An endors.e.m.e.nt upon the draft also states that it was written with the concurrence of the Committees of Correspondence of Charlestown, Cambridge, Brookline, Newton, Roxbury, Dorchester, Lexington, and Lynn. Cf. Proceedings, Bostonian Society, 1891, pp. 39, 40.
TO JAMES WARREN.
[Collections of Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, 4th ser., vol.
iv., pp.
BOSTON, May 14, 1774.
MY DEAR SIR,
This Town has received the Copy of an Act of the British Parliament, wherein it appears that we have been tried and condemned, and are to be punished, by the shutting up of the harbor and other marks of revenge, until we shall disgrace ourselves by servilely yielding up, in effect, the just and righteous claims of America. If the Parliament had a Right to pa.s.s such an EDICT, does it not discover the want of every moral principle to proceed to the destruction of a community, without even the accusation of any crime committed by such community? And for any thing that appears, this is in fact the case. There is no crime alleged in the Act, as committed by the Town of Boston.
Outrages have been committed within the Town, and therefore the community, as such, are to be destroyed, without duly inquiring whether it deserved any punishment at all. Has there not often been the same kind of reason why the Port of London should be shut up, to the starving of hundreds of thousands, when their own mobs have surrounded the Kings Palace? But such are the councils of a nation, once famed and revered for the character of humane just and brave.
The people receive this cruel edict with abhorrence and indignation. They consider themselves as suffering the stroke ministerial--I may more precisely say, Hutchinsonian vengeance, in the common cause of America. I hope they will sustain the blow with a becoming fort.i.tude, and that the cursed design of intimidating and subduing the spirits of all America, will, by the joint efforts of ALL, be frustrated. It is the expectation of our enemies, and some of our friends are afraid, that this Town, SINGLY, will not be able to support the cause under so severe a trial. Did not the very being of every sea-port town, and indeed of every Colony, considered as a free people, depend upon it, I would not even then entertain a thought so dishonorable of them as that they would leave us now to struggle alone.
I enclose you a copy of a vote, pa.s.sed by this Town at a very full meeting yesterday, which stands adjourned till Wednesday next, to receive the report of a committee appointed to consider what is proper further to be done. The inhabitants in general abhor the thought of paying for the tea, which is one condition upon which we are to be restored to the grace and favor of Great Britain. Our Committee of Correspondence have written letters to our friends in the Southern Colonies, and they are about writing to the several towns in this Province. The merchants of Newburyport have exhibited a n.o.ble example of public spirit, in resolving that, if the other sea-port Towns in this Province alone, will come into the measure, they will not trade to the southward of South Carolina, nor to any part of Great Britain and Ireland, till the harbor of Boston is again open and free; or till the disputes between Britain and the Colonies are settled, upon such terms as all rational men ought to contend for. This is a manly and generous resolution. I wish Plymouth, which has..h.i.therto stood foremost, would condescend to second Newburyport.
Such a determination put into practice would alter the views of a nation, who are in full expectation that Boston will be unthought of by the rest of the continent, and even of this Province, and left, as they are devoted, to ruin. The heroes who first trod on your sh.o.r.e, fed on clams and muscles, and were contented. The country which they explored, and defended with their richest blood, and which they transmitted as an inheritance to their posterity, affords us a superabundance of provision. Will it not be an eternal disgrace to this generation, if it should now be surrendered to that people who, if we might judge of them by one of their laws, are barbarians. IMPIUS HAEC TAM CULTA NOVALIA MILES HABEBIT? BARBARUS HAS SEGETES? If our brethren feel and resent the affront and injury now offered to this town; if they realize of how great importance it is to the liberties of all America that Boston should sustain this shock with dignity; if they recollect their own resolutions, to defend the public liberty AT THE EXPENSE OF THEIR FORTUNES AND LIVES, they cannot fail to contribute their aid by a temporary suspension of their trade.
I am your friend,
TO SILAS DEANE.1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text, with variations, is in Correspondence of Samuel B. Webb, W. C. Ford, vol. i., pp. 23, 24.]
BOSTON May 18 1774
SIR
The Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Boston have had before them a Letter signd by yourself in behalf of the Committee of the Honbl House of Deputies of the Colony of Connecticutt, and I am desired by our Committee to return them their hearty Thanks, for the readiness they discover to support this Town, now called to stand in the Gap and suffer the vengeful Stroke of the hand of Tyranny, or, which G.o.d forbid, succ.u.mb under it. I trust in G.o.d, we shall never be so servile as to submit to the ignominious Terms of the cruel Edict; aided by our Sister Colonies, we shall be able to acquit ourselves, under this severe Tryal, with Dignity. But that Aid must be speedy, otherwise we shall not be able to keep up the Spirits of the more irresolute amongst us, before whom the crafty Adversaries are already holding up the grim Picture of Want and Misery. It is feard by the Committee that a Conferrence of Committees of Correspondence from all the Colonies, cannot be had speedily enough to answer for the present Emergency. If your honbl Committee shall think it proper to use their Influence with the Merchants in the Sea port Towns in Connecticutt to withhold--& prevail with those of each town for themselves--their Trade with Great Britain and Ireland and every Part of the West Indies, to commence at a certain time (say on the 14th June next) it will be a great Sacrifice indeed, but not greater than Americans have given the World Reason to expect from them when called to offer it for the preservation of the publick Liberty.One years virtuous forbearance wd succeed to our wishes.
2What would this be in Comparison with the Sacrifice our renowned Ancestors made that they might quietly enjoy their Liberties civil & religious? They left, many of them, affluence in their Native Country, crossd an untryed Ocean, encounterd the Difficulties of cultivating a howling wilderness, defended their Infant Settlements against a most barbarous Enemy with their richest Blood.
Your Sentiment that Boston is "suffering in the common Cause" is just and humane. Your obliging Letter has precluded any Necessity of urging your utmost Exertions, that Connecticut may at this Juncture act her part in the Support of that common Cause, though the Attack is made more immediately on the Town of Boston.
Being at present pressd for time I cannot write so largely as I feel disposd to do. I must therefore conclude with a.s.suring you that I am with very great Regard for your Come
Sir
your sincere Friend and Fellow Countryman,
______________________________________________________________ 1Addressed to Deane at Hartford, Connecticut.
2The following two sentences are stricken out in the draft.
TO STEPHEN HOPKINS1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
BOSTON May 18 1774
SIR
You have without Doubt heard of the Edict of the British Parliament to shut up the Harbour of Boston, the Injustice & Cruelty of which cannot be parralled [sic] in the English History. Injustice, in trying condemning and punis.h.i.+ng upon the mere Representations of interrested Men, without calling the Party to answer; and Cruelty in the Destruction of a whole Community only because it is alledgd that Outrage has been committed in it, without the least Enquiry whether the Community have been to blame. The Town of Boston now suffer the Stroke of ministerial Vengeance in the Common Cause of America; and I hope in G.o.d they will sustain the Shock with Dignity. They do not conceive that their Safety consists in their Servile Compliance with the ignominious Terms of this barbarous Act. Supported by their Brethren of the Sister Colonies I am perswaded they will n.o.bly defeat the diabolical Designs of the common Enemies. If the Spirit of American Liberty is suppressd in this Colony, which is undoubtedly the Plan, where will the Victory lead to and end? I need not urge upon YOU the Necessity of the joynt Efforts of all in the Defence of this single Post. I know your great Weight and Influence in the Colony of Rhode Island, and intreat that you would now employ it for the common Safety of America. I write in great Haste and am with sincere affection,
Your friend, I shall esteem a Letter from you a very great favor.
________________________________________________________________ 1See vol. ii. page 389. Cf. Frothingham, Life of Joseph Warren, pp. 312, 313.
TO ARTHUR LEE.
[R. H. Lee, Life of Arthur Lee, vol. ii., pp. 221-223; a draft is in the Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text is in Force, American Archives, 4th ser., vol. i., p. 332.]