Chapter 35
MY DEAR SIR
It was with singular pleasure that I recd a Letter from you by Mr Howe, and another since by your worthy Townsman. I began to think you had at last entirely forgot me. I sincerely congratulate you on the birth of a Daughter. May G.o.d preserve her life & make her a Blessing in the World. a.s.sure Mrs Checkley of our kind Regards for her. I hope she will enjoy a better State of Health than she has had in time past. You have now devolvd upon you the weighty Cares of a Parent; you will perhaps find it difficult "to train up the Child in the way it should go" in an Age of Levity Folly and Vice. Doubtless you will consider your self more interrested than ever in the Struggles of your Country for Liberty, as you hope your Infant will outlive you, and share in the Event. Your native Town which I am perswaded is dear to you, is now suffering the Vengeance of a cruel and tyrannical Administration; and I can a.s.sure you she suffers with Dignity. She scorns to own herself the Slave of the haughtiest nation on earth; and rather than submit to the humiliating Terms of an Edict, barbarous beyond Precedent under the most absolute monarchy, I trust she will put the Malice of Tyranny to the severest Tryal. It is a consolatory thought, that an Empire is rising in America, and will not THIS first of June be rememberd at a time, how soon G.o.d knows! when it will be in the power of this Country amply to revenge its Wrongs.
If Britain by her multiplied oppressions is now accelerating that Independency of the Colonies which she so much dreads, and which in process of time must take place, who will she have to blame but herself? We live in an important Period, & have a post to maintain, to desert which would be an unpardonable Crime, and would entail upon us the Curses of posterity. The infamous Tools of Power are holding up the picture of Want and Misery; but in vain do they think to intimidate us; the Virtue of our Ancestors inspires us--they were contented with Clams & Muscles. For my part, I have been wont to converse with poverty; and however disagreable a Companion she may be thought to be by the affluent & luxurious who never were acquainted with her, I can live happily with her the remainder of my days, if I can thereby contribute to the Redemption of my Country.
The naval Power of Britain has blocked up this Harbour; but the Laws of Nature must be alterd, before the port of Salem can become an equivalent. The most remote inland Towns in the province feel the want of a mart, & resent the Injury done to themselves in the Destruction of Boston. The British Minister appears to me to be infatuated. Every step he takes seems designd by him to divide us, while the necessary Tendency is to unite.
Our Business is to make Britain share in the miseries which she has unrighteously brought upon us. She will then see the Necessity of returning to moderation & Justice.
Adieu,
RESOLUTIONS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF Ma.s.sACHUSETTS.
[MS., Committee of Correspondence Papers, Lenox Library.]
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 17 1774
Whereas the Towns of Boston and Charlestown are at this time suffering under the Hand of Power, by the shutting up the Harbour by an armed Force, which in the opinion of this House is an Invasion of the said Towns evidently designd to compel the Inhabitants thereof to a Submission to Taxes imposed upon them without their Consent: And Whereas it appears to this House that this Attack upon the said Towns for the Purpose aforesaid is an Attack made upon this whole Province & Continent which threatens the total Destruction of the Liberties of all British America: It is therefore Resolvd as the clear opinion of this House, that the Inhabitants of the said Towns ought to be relievd; and this House do recommend to all, and more especially to [the] Inhabitants of this Province to afford them speedy and constant Reliefe in such Way and Manner as shall be most suitable to their Circ.u.mstances till the sense & advice of our Sister Colonies shall be known: In full Confidence that they will exhibit Examples of Patience Fort.i.tude and Perseverance, while they are thus called to endure this oppression, for the Preservation of the Liberties of their Country.
After debate accepted
THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF BOSTON TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.
[J. T. Austin, Life of Elbridge Gerry, vol. i., pp. 48, 49.]
BOSTON, June 22, 1774.
SIR,
The committee of correspondence take this first opportunity to make their most grateful aknowledgments of the generous and patriotic sympathy of our brethren, the worthy merchants and traders of the town of Marblehead, as well those who have already subscribed for our relief, as those who express their readiness to serve the trade of Boston. Our sense of their favour, as it respects individuals, is strong and lively; but the honour and advantage thereby derived to the common cause of our country, are so great and conspicuous, that private considerations of every kind recede before them.
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, June 27, 1774.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,
From an Extract of a Letter from a Southern Colony, and the Publications in last Thursday's Gazette, it is very evident a Scheme has been concerted by some Persons to frustrate any Attempts that might be made to suspend our Trade with Great- Britain, till our most intolerable Grievances are redressed. The Scheme appears to be, to SEEM to agree to the Suspension in Case all agreed, and then by construing some Pa.s.sage in a Letter from the Committee of another Province, that they had NOT AGREED, to declare that the conditional Signers were NOT HOLDEN. A GAME or two of such Mercantile Policy would soon have convinced the World that Lord North had a just Idea of the Colonies; and that notwithstanding their real Power to prove a Rope of Hemp to him, they were a Rope of Sand in Reality, among themselves. I would beg Leave to ask
Whether the Trade in their last Meeting declaring, That their CONDITIONAL Agreement was DISSOLVED, on Pretence that Advices from New York and Philadelphia were totally discouraging, was not highly unbecoming a People whose peculiar Circ.u.mstances rendered it their duty to stop their Trade to Great Britain the Moment the Port-Bill reached the Sh.o.r.e of America? 3. Whether they conceive the Committee of Boston planned the Non-consumption Agreement, and sent it first into the Country for their Adoption? or rather, whether the Country, enraged at their preposterous Management, did not originate the Plan and press the Committee to have it digested, printed and recommended throughout the Colony? 4. I would enquire whether a Backwardness in the Province, actually suffering, to come into the only peaceful Measure that remains for our Extrication from Slavery, would not naturally excuse every other Province from taking one Step for the common Salvation? 5. Whether in that Case all the Trade of the Province, whether consisting of Spring, Summer or Fall Importations, would in the End be worth an Oyster-Sh.e.l.l? 6. Whether all the Bugbears started against the Worcester Covenant, as holding up the taking a solemn Oath to "withdraw all Commercial Connexions," which our honest Commentators tell the People means even to deny buying or selling Greens or Potatoes to them, does not betray a great want of that Candor and manly Generosity, which is expected from well- bred and reasonble Citizens? 7. Whether the suggestion that the Boston Merchants ceasing to Import, will throw the Trade into the Hands of Importers in other Provinces, is not utterly unbecoming an Inhabitant of that Town, into which the Beneficence of the whole Continent is ready to flow in the most exemplary Manner?
For Shame! Self Interested Mortals, cease to draw upon your worthy Fellow Citizens the just Resentment of Millions. If there may be Some Punctilios wrong in the Non-consumption Agreement, the united Wisdom of the Continent will surely be capable of setting Matters right at the general Congress; and no Gentleman Trader, be his Haste ever so great to get Rich, need distress himself so mightily about the Profits of one Fall-Importation, if the constant Clamour of the Trade for two Years past, that they did Business for nothing, had any Foundation.
CANDIDUS.
TO CHARLES THOMSON.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
BOSTON June 30 1774
SIR
Your Letter by order of your Committee directed to Mr Cooper with the inclosed Resolves came to my hand this day. I shall as soon as possible call a Committee of the Town who are appointed to consider of Ways and Means for the Employment of the poor, and to appropriate and distribute such Donations as our generous friends shall make for the Reliefe of those Inhabitants who may be deprivd of the Means of Subsistence by the Operation of the Port Bill. This Committee consists of the standing Overseers of the poor who are to act in Concert with others who had been before appointed for the purposes above mentiond, as you will observe by the inclosed Votes of the Town. The princ.i.p.al Reason a.s.signd in the Vote for joyning the Overseers is because by an Act of this province they are a corporate body empowerd to receive Monies &c for the Use of the poor, but those Gentlemen have since informd the others of the joynt Committee that they cannot consistently with the Act of their Incoporation admit of any but their own Body in the Distribution of the Monies that may at any time come into their hands for the Use of the poor. They are heartily desirous of acting in Concert agreable to the Vote of the Town but consider themselves as under Restraint by the Law. The Donors may if they please consign their Donations to any one Gentleman (William Phillips Esqr) to be appropriated for the EMPLOYMENT or RELIEFE of such Inhabitants of the Town of Boston as may be deprived of the Means of Subsistence by the Operation of the Act of Parliament commonly stiled the Boston Port Bill, at the best Discretion of the Overseers of the poor of Boston joynd by a Committee appointed by said Town to consider of Ways and Means for the Employment of the poor.
I have given my private Sentiment, and am with great Respect & Grat.i.tude to the Gentl of the City & County of Philadelphia,
Your friend & fellow Countryman,1
________________________________________________________________ 1In the interval before the date of the next letter an article signed "Candidus" was published in the Ma.s.sachusetts Spy, July 7, 1774. This is attributed to Adams by W. V. Wells, and portions are printed in his Life of Samuel Adams, vol. ii., pp. 187,197.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF NORWICH.1
[MS., Committee of Correspondence Papers, Lenox Library.]
BOSTON July 11 1774.
GENTLEMEN
Your obliging Letter directed to the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Boston came just now to my hand; and as the Gentleman who brought it is in haste to return, I take the Liberty of writing you my own Sentiments in Answer, not doubting but they are concurrent with those of my Brethren. I can venture to a.s.sure you that the valueable Donation of the worthy Town of Norwich will be receivd by this Community with the warmest Grat.i.tude and disposd of according to the true Intent of the generous Donors. The Liberality of the Sister Colonies will I trust support & comfort the Inhabitants under the pressure of enormous Power, & enable them to endure affliction with that Dignity which becomes those who are called to suffer in the Cause of Liberty & Truth. The Manner of transmitting the Donation will be left to your Discretion; and that it may be conducted according to the Inclination of the Town, I beg Leave to propose, that it be directed to some one Gentleman (say William Phillips Esqr) to be disposd of for the Employment or Reliefe of such Inhabitants of the Town of Boston as may become Sufferers by means of an Act of the British Parliament called the Boston Port bill, at the Discretion of the Overseers of the Poor of said Town joynd with a Committee appointed to consider of Ways & Means for the Employmt of such Poor. The Part which the Town of Norwich takes in this Struggle for American Liberty is truly n.o.ble; and this Town rejoyces with you in the Harmony Moderation & Vigor which prevails throughout the united Colonies.
You may rely upon it that there is no Foundation for the Report that the Opposition gains Ground upon us. The Emissaries of a Party which is now reduced to a very small Number of Men, a great Part of whom are in Reality Expectants from & in Connection with the Revenue, are daily going out with such idle Stories; but whoever reads the Accounts of the Proceedings of our Town Meetings, which I can a.s.sure you have been truly stated in the News papers under the hand of the Town Clerk, will see that no Credit is due to such Reports.
I shall lay your Letter before the Committee of Correspondence who will write to you by the first opportunity. In the mean time I am in Sincerity
Your obliged Friend & Fellow Countryman,
________________________________________________________________ 1Addressed to "Jed Huntington, Chris Leffingwell, Theoph Rogers Esqrs."
TO RICARD HENRY LEE.
[MS., American Philosophical Society1; a draft is in the Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; an undated text is in R. H. Lee, Life of R. H. Lee, vol. i., pp. 99-101.]
BOSTON July 15th 1774
I have lately been favour'd with three Letters from you, and must beg you to attribute my omitting to make a due Acknowledgment till this Time, to a Multiplicity of Affairs to which I have been oblig'd to give my constant Attention.
The unrighteous and oppressive Act of the British Parliament for shutting up this Harbour, although executed with a Rigour beyond the Intent even of the Framers of it, has..h.i.therto faild, and I believe will continue to fail of the Effect which the Enemies of America flatter'd themselves it would have. The Inhabitants still wear chearful countenances. Far from being in the least Degree intimidated they are resolved to undergo the greatest Hards.h.i.+ps, rather than Submit in any Instance to the Tyrannical Act. They are daily encouraged to persevere, by the Intelligence which they receive from their Brethren not of this Province only, but of every other Colony, that they are consider'd as suffering in the common Cause; and the Resolution of ALL, to support them in the Conflict. Lord North had no Expectation that we should be thus Sustained; on the Contrary he trusted that Boston would be left by all her Friends to Struggle and fall alone.--He has therefore made no Preparation for the Effects of an Union. From the Information I have had from Intelligent Persons in England, I verily believe the Design was to seize some Persons here, and send them Home; but the Steadiness and Prudence of the People, and the unexpected Union of the Colonies, evidenc'd by liberal Contributions for our Support, have disconcerted them; and they are at a loss how to proceed further. Four Regiments are now encamp'd on our Common, and more are expected; but I trust the People will, by a circ.u.mspect Behavior, prevent their taking occasion to Act. The Port Bill, is follow'd by two other Acts of the British Parliament; the one for regulating the Government of this Province, or rather totally to destroy our free Const.i.tution and subst.i.tute an absolute Government in its Stead; the other for the more IMPARTIAL Administration of Justice or as some term it for the screening from Punishment any Soldier who shall Murder an American for a.s.serting his Right. A Submission to these Acts will doubtless be requir'd and expected; but whether General Gage will find it an easy thing to FORCE the People to submit to so great and fundamental a Change of Government, is a Question I think, worthy his Consideration--Will the People of America consider these measures, as Attacks on the Const.i.tution of an Individual Province in which the rest are not interested; or will they view the model of Government prepar'd for us as a Sistem for the whole Continent. Will they, as unconcern'd Spectators, look upon it to be design'd only to top off the exuberant Branches of Democracy in the Const.i.tution of this Province? Or, as part of a plan to reduce them all to Slavery? These are Questions, in my Opinion of Importance, which I trust will be thoroughly weighed in a general Congress.--May G.o.d inspire that intended Body with Wisdom and Fort.i.tude, and unite and Prosper their Councils!
The People of this Province are thoroughly Sensible of the Necessity of breaking off all Commercial Connection with the Country, whose political Councils direct to Measures to enslave them. They however THE BODY of the Nation, are being kept in profound Ignorance of the Nature of the Dispute between Britain and the Colonies; and taught to believe that we are a perfidious & rebellious People.