TO
M. E. N,
THE WRITINGS
OF
SAMUEL ADAMS
COLLECTED AND EDITED
BY
HARRY ALONZO GUSHING
VOLUME I
1764-1769
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK LONDON
27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 14 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND
&\>t Jmicherbochcr |Urss 1904
KECSf
COPYRIGHT, 1904 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
"Cbc fmlcfecrbocfeer fJrces, "Hew
I Uf
PREFACE.
THE writings of no one of the leaders of the Ameri can Revolution form a more complete expression of the causes and justification of that movement than do those of Samuel Adams. None of his contempo raries was so closely identified with the agitation which preceded that crisis, or displayed at that time greater facility as a writer or more unquali fied devotion to public affairs. In both the politics and the literature of the American Revolution his writings constitute a distinct and essential element. As a recognized leader in the politics of his native town, as a member and also as clerk of the Massa chusetts House of Representatives, and later as a member of the Continental Congress, he was able to develop and to maintain a strong, and at times con trolling, influence in the affairs of Massachusetts and of the new nation. By an active correspondence, by the preparation of many official documents, and by numberless newspaper articles, he was able to guide and to express the sentiment of the American prov inces as they prepared for the struggle which divided the empire. Throughout that contest, and thereafter even in his declining years, Adams remained quite continuously in public life, and his later writings
PREFACE
reflect the influence which he -still exerted.
Prudence as well as political necessity seems to have caused the early destruction of many of the papers of Adams. The dispersal of those which re mained was more than once threatened, but a large number of these were finally lodged permanently in the Lenox Library, and there increased by ac cessions from other sources. In spite of the lapse of time, and the difficulties naturally incident to the initial collection of such material, there is now pre sented a substantially complete representation of the typical and effective literary work of Adams. Doubt less a few anonymous or official papers by him, the authorship of which is now indeterminate, are omitted, and the series of articles in the Independent Adver tiser, which are attributed to Adams by Wells, but which constitute no part of his real life work, are excluded. A few unimportant letters are also ex cluded, and the, existence of some obscure texts, now owned privately, will probably be brought to light by the appearance of this collection. The manuscripts contained in that portion of the Bancroft collection cited as " Samuel Adams Papers " are to a large extent drafts, as that printed on page 34, but their very substantial value is shown by the close similarity between the draft and the final document, as appears from the texts printed at pages 39 and 48.
The annotations indicating the text from which each document has been printed serve to show in detail the extent to which this collection has been made possible by the assistance of others. Through the courtesy of th<> Director of the " New York Public Library,
PREFACE
VII
Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations," the import ant collections in his charge, especially that formed by George Bancroft, have been made readily available. This portion of the work has been facilitated, in a marked degree, by the long-continued and helpful attention of Mr. Wilberforce Eames and his efficient assistants at the Lenox Library, to whom I am under an especial obligation. The privilege of using the valuable collections of the Adams family at Quincy, Massachusetts, has been promptly granted by Mr. Charles Francis Adams, and the opportunity has been enhanced by his personal interest and guid ance. The Earl of Dartmouth has kindly permitted copies to be made of several letters in his collections, and Mr. John Boyd Thacher has likewise given assistance from his private collection. The unique printed and manuscript collections of the Massachu setts Historical Society, have proved of material value in connection with the work. The officers of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, have generously thrown open their collections, from each of which a number of important texts have been secured. By the kindness of the officers of the Con necticut Historical Society the Roger Wolcott and Oliver Wolcott papers, and also the large and un usually varied and interesting correspondence of Jeremiah Wadsworth, have been examined, although in none of them has been found any manuscript by Adams. Important texts have been secured from the manuscripts of the Boston Public Library, the rare newspaper files of which have also been freely used.
VIII
PREFACE
From his collection, now in the same library, the late Mellen- Chamberlain contributed a number of texts. Certain manuscript and other materials in the Library of Harvard University have been examined, and the facilities of the Library of Columbia University have throughout the work been at my disposal. Assist ance has been secured from public records, notably in the Archives Bureau of the State of Massachu setts. In the office of the City Clerk of Boston access has been granted to the town records and original town papers relating to the period of the Revolution. In the State Library of New York the Clinton Papers and a portion of the colonial manu scripts have been examined, and at the Department of State use has been made especially of the Papers of the Continental Congress. For all the privileges thus granted, and for assistance in other quarters, I am very grateful. I desire also to express my obli gation to Professor Frank J. Goodnow, of Columbia University.
H. A. C. April 26, 1904.
±NTS OF VOLUME I.
1764.
To the Representatives of Boston, May 24th .
Instructions of the town — Independence of the House — Trade— Instructions to the agent.
1765.
To the Representatives of Boston, September i8th ?
^ Instructions of the town — Stamp act.
Resolutions of the Town of Boston, September i8th.
Appointing a committee to thank Conway and Barre.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, October 23d .\
Answer of the House of Representatives — Stamp act — Authority of Parliament — Rights of subjects — Disturbances in Boston.
Resolutions of the House of Representatives, Octo ber 29th
Rights of subjects.
&Yo G. W., November iith .
J*^ ition of colonists to the king — Chartefc^rjjghts — Repre- se. ion — Stamp act — Rights of colonists. ^^
To G. W., November I3th .
Stamp act.
/
•To John Smith, December
Relation of colonies to England — Stamp act — Rights of subjects. 4
John Smith, December 2Oth ^ ,/ ^.
Stamp act — Disturbances in Boston.
PAGE
I
y
12
34 ^
56
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
^
• To Dennys De Berdt, December 2Oth W • . . 6r
.Appointment as agent — Acts of Parliament — Trade and fisheries — Rights of colonists — Representation.
i;66.
•To the Town of Plymouth, March 24th ... 71
Reply of the town of Boston.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, June 3d . . 74
Address of House of Representatives — Repeal of stamp act — Public sentiment— Elections.
' To the Governor of Massachusetts, June 5th . . 83
Answer of the House of Representatives— Election of Coun cillors.
To Dennys De Berdt, October 22d . . . 89
Address of town of Boston — Attitude of colonists — 'Dis turbances.
'To Dennys De Berdt, November nth • • • 97
Compensation for injuries by rioters.
To Dennys De Berdt, November . . QO
Thomas Boylston— Compensation— Elections.
To Dennys De Berdt, December 2d . ICv
Compensation— Elections.
To Christopher Gadsden, December uth:4 108
Introductory— Acts of Parliament.
' To Dennys De Berdt, December i6th . x ! r
Compensation— Provision for troops. I/6/.
To Dennys De Berdt, March i6th
Letter of House of Representatives-Rights' of th tenant-governor-The charter.
To Jasper Mauduit, March 1 8th
Letter of House of Representatives-Accounts as agent.
'To Dennys De Berdt, May 9tk .
Acts of the representatives. * ^2
CONTENTS OF VOLUME 7. xi
1768.
PAGE
To Dennys De Berdt, January I2th .... ("134 ,
Letter of the House of Representatives — Acts and powers of Parliament — Relation of colonists to king — Colonial regu lations.
To the Earl of Shelburne, January I5th . . . 152
Letter of the House of Representatives — Rights of colonists — Acts of Parliament.
To the King, January 2Oth 162
Petition of the House of Representatives — The charter — Acts of Parliament.
To the Earl of Shelburne, January 220! . . . 166
Letter of the House of Representatives — Shelburne's corre spondence with Bernard.
To the Marquis of Rockingh^m, January 22d . . 169
Letter of the House of Representatives — Administration of -, colonies — Acts of Parliament.
To Lord Camden, January 2Qth .... 173
Letter of the House of Representatives — Rights of colonists „ — Powers of Parliament.
To Dennys De Berdt, January 3Oth . . . .177
Representation — Grant for services.
To the Earl of Chatham, February 2d . . .180
Letter of the House of Representatives — Acts of Parliament.
To the Speakers of Other Houses of Representatives,
February nth. . . . . . . . 184.
Circular letter of the House of Representatives — Taxation — Powers and acts of Parliament — Representation.
To Henry Seymour Conway, February i$th . . 189
Letter of the House of Representatives — Powers of Parlia ment — Rights of colonists — Representation.
To the Lords of the Treasury, February I7th . . ; 193
Letter of the House of Representatives — Powers and acts of Parliament — Representation.
To the Freeholders of Boston, March I4th . . 199
Petition — Arrears of taxes.
XII
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
^Article Signed "A Puritan," April 4th
Liberty and religion.
Article Signed "A Puritan," April nth .
The religious situation.
Article Signed "A Puritan," April iSth .
The religious situation.
"jo Dennys De Berdt, April 2Oth
Enclosing journals.
To Dennys De Berdt, May I4th
Relations of representatives and governor— Commissioners of customs — Manufactures.
To the Earl of Hillsborough, June 3<Dth
Letter of the House of Representatives— Requisition to re scind the circular letter — Acts of Parliament— Relations with the Governor— Proceedings of the representatives.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, June 3Oth .
Answer of the House of Representatives— The circular letter — Power of the governor.
Article Signed " Determinatus," August 8th
Public sentiment — Disturbances.
To Dennys De Berdt, September 2;th
Letter of the convention of towns — Public sentiment — Reasons for discontent — Disturbances.
To Dennys De Berdt, October 3d
Arrival of troops.
Article, Unsigned, October loth
Billeting act.
Article, Unsigned, October i^th .
Military and civil power.
Article Signed " Candidus," Decehiber 5th
Commissioners of customs.
Article Signed " Vindex," December 5th .
Military power — Rights of subjects.
Article Signed "Candidus," December 12th
Commissioners of customs.
PAGE
201
203 208 212
213 219
229
236 241
248 249 251
254 255
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. xiii
icle Signed " Vindex," December I2th . . 264
Military power.
icle Signed " Candidus," December i^th . . 268
Commissioners of customs.
^."-^N
icle Signed " Vindex," December igth . . 269
Standing armies — Powers of Parliament.
x:le Signed " Vindex," December 26th . . . 272
Standing armies — Prerogatives of the crown.
cle Signed " Candidus," December 26th . . 278
Commissioners of customs.
1769.
cle Signed " T. Z.," January Qth .... ^282")
Taxation — Stamp act. —
cle Signed " Candidus," January i6th . . . 291
Commissioners of customs.
cle Signed " Shippen," January 3<Dth . . . 297
Proceedings in Parliament — Disturbances in Boston — Stamp act— Trade.
cle, Unsigned, February I3th .... 306
Military power.
:le Signed " Candidus," February I3th . . 309
Commissioners of customs.
:le Signed " E. A.," February 27th . . . 316
Rights of subjects — Military power.
he Freeholders of Boston, March I3th . . 319
Petition — Arrears of taxes.
:le Signed "A Layman," March 27th . . . 322
Reply to Dr. Seabury — Defence of Dr. Chauncy.
saac Barre, April 8th ...... 332
Letter of the town of Boston — Quartering of troops — Mis representations of Boston — Letters of Bernard.
:le Signed UA Bostonian," April 24th . . . 336
Genera' Gage — Conditions in Boston.
xiv CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
PAGE
Article Signed "A Tory," May 1st . . . 339
Baronetcy of Bernard.
Vote of Town of Boston, May 5th .... 340
Presence of troops.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, June I3th . . 342
Answer of the House of Representatives — Prerogatives of t"he king — Military power.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, June igth . . 346
Letter of the House of Representatives — Standing army. To the King, June 27th ......
Petition of the House of Representatives u - the removal of Governor Bernard.
Answer of Governor Bernard to the Petit ,n for his Removal ....
Notes on the Answer of the Governor . . 368
To the Governor of Massachusetts, July 1 5th . . 371
Letter of the House of Representatives— Provision for troops — Tax legislation.
To Dennys De Berdt, July 3ist • • • • 37'
Remonstrance to king as to Bernard.
Article Signed " Populus," August 28th . 37;
Non-importation agreement— Merchants.
Article Signed "An Impartialist," September 25th 38c
The assault on Otis. Article Signed "Alfred," October 2d . . 38f
Stamp act— Policy of Parliament— Trade.
"An Appeal to the World," October i6th - . . 39* To Dennys De Berdt, November i6th 446
Employment of troops.
V
THE WRITINGS OF
SAMUEL ADAMS.
INSTRUCTIONS OF ' 'HE TOWN OF BOSTON TO ITS REPRE SENTATIVES TN THE GENERAL COURT. MAY, 1764.'
[MS., Boston F jli Library ; a text appears in Boston Record Commission ers' Report, vol. 16, pp. 120-122.]
The Comtee appointed ye 15 day of May to prepare Instructions for the Representatives report the follow ing Draft.
To Royall Tyler James Otis Thomas Gushing &
Oxenbridge Thacher Esqrs. GENTLEMEN
Your being chosen by the Freeholders & Inhabi tants of the Town of Boston to represent them in the General Assembly the ensuing year, affords you the strongest Testimony of that Confidence which they place in your Integrity & Capacity. By this Choice they have delegated to you the Power of acting in their publick Concerns in general as your own Prudence shall direct you ; always reserving to
1 The committee, which was appointed on May 15, 1764, and which reported these instructions on May 24, consisted of Richard Dana, Samuel Adams, John Ruddock, Nathaniel Bethune and Joseph Green.
VOL. I. — I.
i
THE WRITINGS OF [1764
themselves the constitutional Right of expressing their mind & giving you fresh Instruction upon particular Matters as they at any time shall judge proper.
We therefore your Constituents take this oppor tunity to declare our just Expectations from you.
That you will constantly use your Power & Influ ence in maintaining the invaluable Rights & Privi leges of the Province, of which this Town is so great a Part : As well those Rights which are derivd to us by the royal Charter, as those which being prior to & independent on it, we hold essentially as free born Subjects of Great Brittain.
' That you will endeavor as far as you shall be able to preserve that Independence in the House of Rep resentatives, which characterizes a free People, & 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 & Union there which is ever desirable to good men when founded in Principles of Virtue & publick Spirit ; & guarding against any undue weight Avhich may tend to disadjust that critical Ballance upon which our happy Constitution & the Blessings of it do depend. And for this Purpose we particularly recommend it to you to use your Endeavors to have a Law passed 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, agreeable to an Act of the Brittish Parliament, till their Constituents shall have the Opportunity of re-electing them if they please or of returning others in their room. Being Members of the Legislative Body, you will
1764] SAMUEL ADAMS.
have a special Regard to the Morals of this People, which are the Basis of publick Happiness ; & en deavor to have such Laws made if any are still want- " ing as shall be best adapted to secure them : and we particularly desire you carefully to look into the Laws of Excise, that if the Virtue of the People is endan- gerd by the Multiplicity of Oaths therein enjoynd or their Trade & Business is unreasonably impeded or embarrassd thereby, the Grievance may be redressd.
As the Preservation of Morals as well as Property & Right, so much depends upon the impartial Distri bution of Justice, agreable to good & wholesom Law : and as the Judges of the Land do depend upon the free Grants of the General Assembly for Support ; It is incumbent upon you at all times to give your Voice for their honorable Maintenance so long as they, 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, by which their Customs Prece dents Proceedings & Determinations are adjusted & limited.
8 You will joyn in any Proposals which may be made for the better cultivating the Lands & improving the Husbandry of the Province : And as you represent a Town which lives by its Trade we expect in a very particular Manner that you make it the Object of your Attention, to support our Commerce in all its just Rights, to vindicate it from all unreasonable Im positions & promote its Prosperity — Our Trade has for a long time labord under great Discouragements ; & it is with the deepest Concern that we see such
4 THE WRITINGS OF [i?64
further Difficultys coming upon it as will reduce it to the lowest Ebb, if not totally obstruct & ruin it. We cannot help expressing our Surprize, that when so early Notice was given by the Agent of the Intentions of the Ministry to burthen 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 ye Year; the Conse quence of which was, that Instructions could not be sent to the Agent, tho sollicited by him, till the Evil had got beyond an easy Remedy. There is now no Room for further Delay : We therefore expect that you will use your earliest Endeavors in the Gen1 As sembly, that such Methods may be taken as will ef fectually prevent these Proceedings against us. By a proper Representation we apprehend it may easily be made to appear that such Severitys will prove detri mental to Great Brittain itself ; upon which Account we have Reason to hope that an Application, even for a Repeal of the Act, should it be already passd, will be successfull. It is the Trade of the Colonys, that renders them beneficial to the Mother Country : Our Trade, as it is now, & always has been conducted, centers in Great Brittain, & in Return for her Manu factures affords her more ready Cash, beyond any Comparison, than can possibly be expected by the most sanguine Promoters of these extraordinary Methods. We are in short ultimately yielding large Supplys to the Revenues of the Mother Country, while we are laboring for a very moderate Subsistence for ourselves. But if our Trade is to be curtaild in its most profitable Branches, & Burdens beyond all
1764] SAMUEL ADAMS. 5
possible Bearing, laid upon that which is sufferd to remain, we shall be so far from being able to take off the manufactures of Great Brittain, that it will be scarce possible for us to earn our Bread.— But what still heightens our apprehensions is, that these unex pected Proceedings may be preparatory to new Taxa tions upon us : For if our Trade may be taxed why not our Lands ? Why not the Produce of our Lands & every thing we possess or make use of ? This we apprehend annihilates our Charter Right to govern & tax ourselves — It strikes at our Brittish Privileges, which as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common with our Fellow Subjects who are Natives of Brittain : If Taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal Representation where they are laid, are we not reducd from the Character of free Subjects to the miserable State of tributary Slaves ?
We therefore earnestly recommend it to you to use your utmost Endeavors, to obtain in the Gen1 As sembly all necessary Instructions & Advice to our Agent at this most critical (Juncture) ; that while he is setting forth the unshaken Loyalty of this Province & this Town — its unrivald Exertions in supporting His Majestys Governm* & Rights in this part of his Dominions — its acknowlegd Dependence upon & Subordination to Great Brittain, & the ready Sub mission of its Merchants to all just & necessary Regulations of Trade, he may be able in the most humble & pressing Manner to remonstrate for us all those Rights & Privileges which justly belong to us either by Charter or Birth.
As His Majestys other Nothern American Colonys
6 THE WRITINGS OF [1764
are embarkd 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 Province : that by the united Applications of all who are ag- grievd, All may happily obtain Redress—
* You will remember that this Province hath been at a very great Expence in carrying on the late War ; & that it still lies under a very grievous Burden of Debt : You will therefore use your utmost Endeavor to promote publick Frugality as one Means to lessen the publick Debt. And we recommend as worthy your particular Attention, whether Any Expence can now be necessary to maintain the Garrison Service on our Eastern Frontier : considering that we are now in a State of profound Peace ; Our french Ene mies being totally subdued ; & there being hardly any Remains of the Indian Tribes, ever again to annoy us—
All which is submited &c.
By order of ye Corn's6
Ric DANA.
The Comtec do further report the following Votes. Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to permit the Small Pox to prevail in this Town, whereby the Inhabitants have been great Sufferers, as well by the Extraordinary Expence it hath occasiond, as by Loss of Business ; therefore voted that the Repre sentatives be desired in behalf of the Town Assembly to move that the Gen1 Assembly would afford us such Rehefe under our Distress as they in their great Goodness shall think proper.
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 7
Whereas it is conceivcl that the Selectmen of the Town are not sufficiently impowerd by the Laws al ready in being, to take such Steps as may be neces sary to prevent the Inhabitants of other Towns from bringing & spreading Infectious Distempers among us ; therefore voted that the Representatives be de sired to use their Endeavors to obtain such addi tional Power to be given to the Selectmen as the General Assembly in their wisdom shall think proper to invest them with
The above Report having been read several Times, and debate had thereon — the Question was put, Whether the Town will accept of said Draft of In structions — Passed in the affirmative.
The above Report having been read — the Question was put — Whether the Town will accept thereof — Passed in the affirmative.
INSTRUCTIONS OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON TO ITS REPRE SENTATIVES IN THE GENERAL COURT. SEPTEMBER, 1765.'
[MS., Office of the City Clerk of Boston ; a modified text is given in Boston Record Commissioners' Report, vol. 16, pp. 155, 156; a text, as supplied by William Cooper, Town Clerk, was printed in the Boston Gazette, September 23, 1765-]
To the Honbe James Otis Esqr, Thos dishing Esqr
& Mr Thos Gray. GENTN
At a Time when the British American Subjects are every where loudly complaining of arbitrary &
'The committee, which was appointed on September 12, 1765, and which reported these instructions on September 18, consisted of Samuel Wells,
8 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
.'unconstitutional Innovations, the Town of Boston 1 cannot any longer remain silent, without just Impu tation of inexcuseable Neglect. - - We therefore the Freeholders & other Inhabitants, being legally as sembled in Faneuil Hall, to consider what Steps are necessary for us to take at this alarming Crisis, think it proper to communicate to you our united Sentiments, & to give you our Instruction there upon.
It fills us with very great Concern to find, that
Measures have been adopted by the British Ministry,
& Acts of Parliament made, which press hard upon
our invalueabkJRjghts & Libertys, & tend greatly
to distress theTrade~oI~tHe" Province by which we
have heretofore been able to contribute so large a
Share towards the enriching of the Mother Country.
/ But we are more particularly alarmd & astonishd
/at the Act, called the Stamp Act, by which a very
^ grievous & we apprehend unconstitutional Tax is to
1 be laid upon the Colony.
By the Royal Charter granted to our Ancestors, the Power of making Laws for our internal Govern ment, & ofjevying_ Taxesx js vested in the General Assembly : And by the samejCharter the Inhabitants of this-£rovince areentifled to all the Rights & Privi- leges^jiaturat free-born ^Subjects of Great Britain : Thermos.! e^enf^TRi^ht^r British Subjects are those^of^b^ing -repi^sentedin the same Body which exercises the Pow^^of, Jeyying'Taxes upon them, &
Richard Dana John Rowe, Samuel Adams, John Erring, Jr., Joseph Green and Ruddock. A portion of the next to the last paragraph of their report, es.zed in the manuscript text, seems not to have been adopted.
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 9
of having their Property tryed by Jurys : These are the very Pillars of the British Constitution founded in the common Rights of Mankind. It is certain that_we were in no Sense represented in trie Parlia ment of Great Britain when this Act of Taxation was made : Arid it is also certain that this Law admitts of our Propertys being tryd, in Controversys arising from internal Concerns, by Courts of Admiraltry, without a Jury. It follows, that at once, it annihi lates the most valueable Privileges of our Charter, deprives us of the most essential Rights of Britons, & greatly weakens the best Security of our Lives Libertys & Estates ; which may hereafter be at the Disposal of Judges, who may be Strangers to us, & perhaps malicious, mercenary, corrupt & oppressive.
But admiting that we had no Complaints of this Nature, we should still have Reason to except against the Inequality of these Taxes : — It is well known that the People of this Province have not only settled this Country, but enlargd & defended the British Domin ion in America, with a vast Expence of Treasure & Blood : They have exerted themselves in the most distinguished Services for their King ; by which they have often been reducd to the greatest Distress : And in the late War more especially, by their surprizing Exertions, they have bro't upon themselves, a Debt almost insupportable : And we are well assured, that if these expensive Services, for which very little if any Advantage hath ever accrued to themselves, to gether with the necessary Charge of supporting & defending his Majestys Government here, had been duly estimated, The Moneys designd to be drawn
N
io THE WRITINGS OF [1765
from us by this Act, would have appeard greatly beyond our Proportion.
We look upon it as a peciiliar hardship, that when the Representative Body of this Province, had pre- pard & sent forward, a decent Remonstrance against these Proceedings, while they were depending in the House of Commons, it faild of Admittance there : And this we esteem the more extraordinary, inasmuch as, being unrepresented, it was the only Method whereby they could make known, their Objections to Measures, in the Event of which their Constituents were to be so deeply interested.
Moreover this Act, if carried into Execution, will become a further Grievance to us, as it will afford a Precedent for the Parliament to tax us, in all future Time, & in all such Ways & Measures, as they shall judge meet without our consent.
We therefore think it our indispensible Duty, in Justice to our Selves & Posterity, as it is our un doubted Privilege, in the most open & unreservd, but decent & respectfull Terms, to declare our greatest Dissatisfaction with this Law : And we think it in cumbent upon you by no means to joyn in any pub- lick Measures for countenancing & assisting in the Execution of the same; But tor-tree- your best En deavors in the General Assembly, to have the inherent, unamenable Riglit^-ef the. -People of this Province, assented -<% vindicated &: left upon the publick Re cords ; that Posterity may never have Reason to charge the present Times, with the Guilt of tamely giving them away.
It affords us the greatest Satisfaction to hear, that
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. u
the Congress proposd by the House of Representa tives of this Province, is consented to by the repre sentatives of most of the other Colonys on the Continent: — We have the warmest Expectations from the united Councils of that very respectable Comittee : And we may with the strictest Propriety, injoyn upon Mr Otis, a Member of the same, being also one of the Representatives of this Town, to con tribute the utmost of his Ability, in having the Rights of the Colonys stated in the clearest View, & laid before the Parliament ; & in preparing a humble Petition to the King, our Sovereign & Father, under whose gracious Care & Protection, we have the strongest Reason to hope, that the Rights of the Colonys in general, & the particular Char ter rights of this Province, will be confirmed & per petuated.
We further instruct you, to take particular Care, that the best Oeconomy may be used, in expending the publick money ; and that no unaccustomd Grants may be made to those who serve the Government— (It is particularly our opinion that a very great Ex- pence in maintaining Forts & Garrisons at the East ern Parts of the Province may well be saved. For as the French in Canada are now totally subdued to his Majesty the Indians can no longer be tempted to take scalps & Captives, for the sake of making Gains of them, as they formerly have done in times of Peace, & besides they are themselves reducd to so small a number as to render it impracticable for them ever to molest us).
And we in general recommend to your Care, that
12 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
the moneys of the Province drawn from the indi viduals of the People at a time when almost every Avenue of our Trade is obstructed, may not be applyd to any other purposes, under any pretence, of necessary contingent Charges, but what are evidently intended in the Act for supplying the Treasury By order of the Comittee
SAMUEL WELLS.
RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON. SEPTEMBER
18, 1765.
[MS., Mellen Chamberlain Collection, Boston Public Library ; a text is in Boston Record Commissioners' Report, vol. 16, p. 157.]
On a motion made & seconded at the above Meet ing it was unanimously voted
That The Hon bl James Otis Esq, Moderator The Hon bl Samuel Wells Harrison Grey Royal Tyler Esq, Joshua Henshaw Esq John Rowe Esq & M r Samuel Adams
1 be a Committee to draw up & transmit, by the first Opportunity, to the Right Honorable General Conway, now one of His Majestys principal Secretarys of State, and to Coll0 Isaac Barre, a member of Parliament, several adresses humbly expressing the sincere Thanks, of this Metropolis of His Majestys
1 From this point the manuscript is in the handwriting of Adams.
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 13
ancient & loyal Province of the Massachusetts Bay, for their noble, generous & truly patriotic Speeches, at the last Session of Parliament, in favor of the Colonys, their Rights & Privileges : And that correct Copys of the same be desired, that they may be re- posited, among our most precious Archives. Also voted that those Gentlemens Pictures as soon as they can be obtaind, be placd in Faneuil Hall, as a stand ing monument, to all Posterity, of the Virtue & Justice of our Benefactors, & a lasting Proof of our Gratitude.
ANSWER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSA CHUSETTS TO THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH. OCTOBER
23, 1765.'
[Massachusetts State Papers, pp. 43-48-3 2
May it please your Excellency,
The House of Representatives have entered into a due consideration of your speech to both houses at the opening of this session ; and should have earlier communicated to your Excellency our sentiments thereupon, had not the late sudden and unexpected adjournment prevented it.
We must confess, that after your Excellency had called us together in pursuance of the unanimous ad vice of a very full Council, we were in hopes you would have given the assembly time then to have considered the critical state of the province, and
'Ascribed by Hutchinson, Bancroft and Wells to Samuel Adams, and by Otis to John Adams.
2 By this running title will be cited " Speeches of the Governors of Massa chusetts, from 1765 to 1775, . . . . , Boston, 1818."
14 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
determined what was proper to be done at so difficult and dangerous a conjuncture.
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 representatives of the people are awake to a sense of its danger, and their utmost prudence will not be wanting to prevent its ruin.
We indeed could not have thought that a weak ness in the executive power of the province had been any part of our danger, had not your Excellency made such a declaration in your speech. Certainly the General Assembly have done every thing incum bent on them ; and laws are already in being for the support of his Majesty's authority in the province. Your Excellency doth not point out to us any defect in those laws ; and yet you are pleased to say, that the executive authority is much too weak. Surely you cannot mean, by calling the whole legislative, in aid of the executive authority, that any new and extraordinary kind of power should by law be consti tuted, to oppose such acts of violence as your Excel lency may apprehend from a people ever remarkable for their loyalty and good order ; though at present uneasy and discontented. If, then, the laws of the province for the preservation of his Majesty's peace are already sufficient, your Excellency, we are very sure, need not to be told, to whose department it solely belongs to appoint a suitable number of magis trates to put those laws in execution, or remove them
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 15
in case of failure of their duty herein. And we hope this important trust will remain with safety to the province, where the constitution has lodged it.
Your Excellency is pleased to tell us, that declara tions have been made and still subsist, that the act of Parliament for granting stamp duties in the colo nies, shall not be executed within this 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 make use of the stamped papers, as we are not accountable 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 consist ently with the utmost respect to the King and Parliament.
Your Excellency has thought proper to enumerate very minutely the inconveniencies that may arise from the stamped papers not being distributed among the people ; with respect to some of which your love and concern for the province leads you to fear more for us than we do for ourselves. We cannot think your Excellency would willingly aggravate our dangers ; we are not in particular so alarmed, as your Excel lency seems to be, with the apprehension of the hand of violence being let loose. Your Excellency, upon recollection, will find that all papers relative to crown
16 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
matters are exempt from stamps. The persons of his Majesty's good subjects will still remain secure from injury. That spirit which your Excellency tells us attacks reputations and pulls down houses, will yet be curbed by the law. The estates of the people will remain guarded from theft or open violence. There will be no danger of force of arms becoming the only governing power. Nor shall we realize what your Excellency is pleased to call a state of general out lawry. This we think necessary to be observed, without a particular consideration of all the conse quences which your Excellency fears, to prevent, if possible, any wrong impressions from fixing in the minds of ill disposed persons, or remove them if already fixed.
You are pleased to say, that the stamp act is an act of Parliament, and as such ought to be observed. This House, sir, has too great a reverence for the su preme legislature of the nation, to question its just authority : It by no means appertains to us to pre sume to adjust the boundaries of the power of Parlia ment ; but boundaries there undoubtedly are. We hope we may without offence, put your Excellency in mind of that most grievous sentence of excommuni cation, 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 the Magna Charta. We are ready to think that those zealous advocates for the constitution usually compared their acts of Parliament with Magna Charta ; and if it ever
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 17
happened that such acts were made as infringed upon the rights of that charter, they were always repealed. We have the same confidence in the rectitude of the present Parliament ; and therefore cannot but be surprized at an intimation in your speech, that they will require a submission to an act as a preliminary to their granting relief from the unconstitutional bur dens of it ; which we apprehend includes a suggestion in it far from your Excellency's design, and supposes such a wanton exercise of mere arbitrary power, as ought never to be surmised of the patrons of liberty and justice.
Furthermore, your Excellency tells us that the right of the Parliament to make laws for the American colonies remains indisputable in Westminster. With out contending this point, we beg leave just to observe that the charter of the province invests the General Assembly with the power of making laws for its in ternal government 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 ; they claim no more. Your Excellency will acknowledge that there are certain original in herent rights belonging to the people, which the Par liament itself cannot divest them of, consistent with their own constitution : among these is the right of representation in the same body which exercises the power of taxation. There is a necessity that the sub jects 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.]'
VOL. I. — 2.
i8 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
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 repre sented ; 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 themselves has been never, that we know of, questioned ; but has been constantly recognized by the King and Par liament. The very supposition that the Parliament, through the supreme power over the subjects of Brit ain universally, should yet conceive of a despotic power within themselves, would be most disrespect ful ; and we leave it to your Excellency's considera tion, whether to suppose an indisputable right in any government, to tax the subjects without their con sent, does not include the idea of such a power.
May it please your Excellency,
Our duty to the King, who holds the rights of all his subjects sacred as his own prerogative ; and our love to our 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 affection for his Majesty, under whose happy government they have felt all the blessings of liberty : They have a warm sense of 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 constitution : They esteem it sacrilege for them ever to give them up ;
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 19
and rather than lose them, they would willingly part with every thing 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 hardships 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 meantime we must beg your Excellency to excuse us from doing any thing to assist in the execution of it : Were we, in order to avoid assertions, to resolve what we have to say on this head into mere questions, we should with all humility ask, whether it would be possible for us to add any weight to an act of that most august body the Parliament ? whether it would not be construed as arrogance and presumption in us to attempt it ? whether your Excellency can reason ably expect that the House of Representatives should be active in bringing a grievous burden upon their constituents ? Such a conduct in us would be to oppose the sentiments of the people whom we repre sent, and the declared instruction of most of them. They complain that some of the most essential rights of Magna Charta, to which as British subjects they have an undoubted claim, are injured by it : that it wholly cancels the very conditions upon which our ancestors settled this country, and enlarged his Majes ty's dominions, with much toil and blood, and at their sole expense : that it is totally subversive of the happiest frame of subordinate, civil government, ex pressed in our charter, which amply secures to the Crown our allegiance, to the nation our connection, and to ourselves the indefeasible rights of Britons : that it tends to destroy that mutual confidence and
20 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
affection, as well as that equality which ought ever to subsist among all his Majesty's subjects in his wide and extended empire : that it may be made use of as a precedent for their fellow subjects in Britain for the future, to demand of them what part of their estates they shall think proper, and the whole if they please : that it invests a single judge of the admiralty, with a power to try and determine their property in contro versies arising from internal concerns, without a jury, contrary to the very expression of Magna Charta ; that no freeman shall be amerced, but by the oath of good and lawful men of the vicinage : that it even puts it in the power of an informer to carry a supposed offender more than two thousand miles for trial ; and what is the worst of all evils, if his Majesty's American subjects are not to be governed, according to the known stated rules of the constitution, as those in Britain are, it is greatly to be feared that their minds may in time become disaffected ; which we cannot even entertain the most distant thought of without the greatest abhorrence. We are truly sorry that your Excellency has never made it a part of your business to form any judgment of this act ; especially as you have long known what uneasiness the most distant prospect of it gave to his Majesty's good sub jects in America, and of this province, of which you are substituted to be the head and father. Had your Excellency thought it proper to have seasonably en tered into a disquisition of the policy of it, you would, we doubt not, have seen that the people's fears were not without good foundation ; and the love and con cern which you profess to have for them, as well as
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 21
your duty to his Majesty, whose faithful subjects they are, might have been the most powerful motives to your Excellency to have expressed your sentiments of it early enough to those whose influence brought it into being.
We cannot help expressing our great uneasiness, that after mentioning some violences committed in the town of Boston, your Excellency should ask this House whether such proceedings are consistent with the dutiful, humble and loyal representations which we propose should be made. We are sure your Ex cellency will not expressly charge us with encourag ing the late disturbances ; and yet to our unspeakable surprise and astonishment, we cannot but see, that by fair implication it may be argued from the manner of expression, that an odium was intended to be thrown on the province. We inherit from our ancestors the highest relish for civil liberty ; but we hope never to see the time when it shall be expedient to counte nance 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 consti tution) We must therefore consider it as unkind for your Excellency to cast such a reflection on a prov ince whose unshaken loyalty and indissoluble at tachment to his Majesty's most sacred person and government was never before called in question, and we hope in God, never will again. We should rather
22 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
have thought your Excellency would have expressed your satisfaction in presiding over so loyal a people, who in that part of the government where the vio lences were committed, before there was time for them to be supported by the arm of civil power, and even while the supreme magistrate was absent, by their own motion raised a spirit and diffused it through all ranks, successfully to interpose and put a stop to such dangerous proceedings.
Your Excellency is pleased to recommend a com pensation to be made to the sufferers by the late disturbances. We highly disapprove of the acts of violence which have been committed ; yet till we are convinced that to comply with what your Excel lency recommends, will not tend to encourage such outrages in time to come, and till some good reason can be assigned why the losses those gentlemen have sustained should be made good, rather than any damage which other persons, on any other different occasions, might happen to suffer, we are persuaded we shall not see our way clear to order such a com pensation to be made. We are greatly at a loss to know who has any right to require this of us, if we should differ from your Excellency in point of its be ing an act of justice, which concerns the credit of the government. We cannot conceive why it should be called an act of justice, rather than generosity, unless your Excellency supposes a crime committed by a few individuals, chargeable upon a whole community.
We are very sorry that your Excellency should think it needful to intimate that any endeavors have been, and may be used, to lessen your credit with this
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 23
House. Your Excellency cannot but be sensible that when the popular pulse beats high for privileges, it is no unusual thing for a clamor to be raised against gentlemen of character and eminence. We can assure you that our judgment of men, especially those in high stations, is always founded upon our experience and observation. While your Excellency is pleased to make your duty to our most gracious Sovereign, and a tender regard to the interest of his subjects of this province, the rule of your administra tion, you may rely upon the readiest assistance that this house shall be able to afford you. And you will have our best wishes that you may have wisdom to strike out such a path of conduct, as, while it secures to you the smiles of your Royal Master, will at the same time conciliate the love of a free and loyal people.
RESOLUTIONS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS. OCTOBER 29, 1765.
[W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol. i., pp. 75-77.]
Whereas the just rights of his Majesty's subjects of this Province, derived to them from the British Con stitution, 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 following resolves : —
i. Resolved, That there are certain essential rights of the British Constitution of government, which are founded in the law of God and nature, and are the common rights of mankind ; — therefore,
24 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
/T2. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this Province
—are unalienably entitled to those essential rights in
common with all men : and that no law of society
can, consistent with the law of God and nature, divest
them of those rights.
3. Resolved, That no man can justly take the prop- ^ erty of another without his consent ; and that upon
this original principle, the right of representation in the same body which exercises the power of mak ing 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 Amer- j^1 ica are, in reason and common sense, entitled to the
same extent of liberty with his Majesty's subjects in Britain.
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, pur poses, 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, i3th 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
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS, 25
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 advantageous 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 repre sentation there as the subjects in Britain do actually and rightfully enjoy is impracticable for the subjects in America ; — and further, that in the opinion of this House, the several 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 inhabitants, are infringements of our inherent and unalienable rights
26 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
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 principles of their British ancestors, hold most dear and sacred ; it being the only security of the lives, liberties, and properties of his Majesty'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 country, exert themselves to their utmost in support ing his Majesty's authority in the Province, in pro moting the true happiness of his subjects, 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.
TO REVEREND G W
[MS., Collections of the Earl of Dartmouth.]
BOSTON NoV n 1765
REVD SIR
Our good Friend Mr Jonathan Mason has com municated to us a Letter which he receivd from you, wherein you very kindly express yor Regard, for the People of New England, & your Desires to serve our civil as well as religious Interests —
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 27
We^needjLQt ..inform y,o.u ..that we are the Descend-"^ ents of Ancestors remarkeable for their Zeal for true Religion & Liberty : When they found it was no longer possible for them to bear any Part in the Sup port of this glorious Cause in their Native Country England, they transplanted themselves at their own very great Expence, into the Wilds of America, tillj that Time inhabited only by Savage Beasts & Men : Here they resolvd to set up the Worship of God, according to their best Judgment, upon the Plan of the new Testament ; to maintain it among themselves, and transmit it to their Posterity ; & to spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ among the ignorant & barbarous Natives. As they were prosperd, in their Settlement by Him, whose is the Earth & the Full ness thereof, beyond all human Expectation, they soon became a considerable Object of National At tention, & a Charter was granted them by King Charles the first. — In this Charter, as Bp. Burnet has observd, there was a greater Sacredness, than in those of the Corporations in England : because Those were only Acts of Grace, whereas This was a Con tract, between the King & the first Patentees ; They promisd the King to enlarge his Dominion, on their own Charge, provided that They & their Posterity might enjoy such & such Privileges. He adds, that They have performd their Part, & for the King to deprive their Posterity of the Privileges, therein granted, would carry the Face of Injustice in it. /Thus we se.eL.that Whatever Governm' in general ( may IxTfounded in, Ours was manifestly founded in \ Compact. Of this Charter we were however deprivd,
28 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
in an evil Reign, under Color of Law, but we obtaind Another, in Lieu of it, after the Revolution, tho com- pard with the former, it is but as the Shadow of the Substance, & we enjoy it at this day.
We may venture to say, that His Majesty has no Subjects, more loyall, than those of New England : They have always been ready to own the Subordina tion of their Governm* to the supreme Legislature of Great Britain ; This Subordination is expressd in 'the Charter, which perhaps might be strictly consid- erd, as the only Medium of their political Connection with the Mother State : For, As their Ancestors emi grated at their own Expence, & not the Nations ; As it was their own & not a National Act ; so they came to & settled a Country which the Nation had no Sort of Right in : Hence there might have been a Claim of > Independency, which no People on Earth, could have I any just Authority or Pretence to have molested. But their strong & natural Attachment to their Native Country inclind them to have their political Relation with her continued ; They were recognizd by her, & they & their Posterity, are expressly declard in their Charter to be entitled, to all the Libertys & Immu- nitys of free & natural Subjects of Great Britain, to all Intents Purposes & Constructions whatever : So that this Charter is to be lookd upon, to be as sacred to them as Magna Charta is to the People of Britain ; as it contains a Declaration of all their Rights founded in natural Justice.
By this Charter, we have an exclusive Right to
Y;
2
t>
make Laws for our own internal Government & Tax ation : \And indeed if the Inhabitants here are British
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 29
Subjects, (& they never can brook to be thought N any thing less) it seems necessary that they should / exercise this Power within themselves ; for they / are not represented in the British Parliam' & their great Distance renders it impracticable: It is very probable that all the subordinate legislative Powers in America, were constituted upon the Apprehension of this Impracticability : To deprive them then of this' Power, which would be effectually done, if the Parlia ment should make Laws internally to govern & tax them, wd appear to be unjust in Another View, as it would claim the Obedience from them, & at the same time disfranchize them of a most essential Right of British Subjects, namely that of_.a RepresentationD But to obviate all Apprehensions of our Indepen dency, which some Party Writers in England have attempted to raise, let it be considerd, What Checks v our Power of Legislation is subject to. Our Laws must first pass his Majestys Council, who tho elected ) < by the People may be negativd by the Chair ; next * they must have the Assent of the Governor, before ^ they can be in force ; & finally they are to be laid X5 ^ before His Majesty, who in any time during three^ years may disannul them at his Royal Will & Pleas- ure ; by which means Any thing repugnant to the Laws or the Interest of Great Britain will easily be prevented. — Surely the People in Britain have no Reason to envy their fellow Subjects in America these restricted Powers of Government.
And yet, to the Astonishment of the most thought- full & judicious among the Colonists, an Act of Parliament has lately been made, which in Effect
30 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
vacates their Charters, annihilates their harmless Pow ers of Legislation, & leaves them not upon the Footing of Subjects. We now have reference to the Stamp Act, which has already involvd the Colonys in Con fusion & Distress. This Act -is lookd upon as an Infringrnent of the rights of Magna Charta, to which the Colonists as free Subjects have an undoubted Claim. XThere is nothing more certain than that every English Subject, has a Right to be represented in the same Body which exercises the Power of levy ing Taxes^ Now this Act lays an internal Tax upon many Thousand Freeholders, who are not & cannot be represented in Parliament. It has been alledgd by some Writers in England, ttet-~we_3.re, as they are pleasd to call it, \l^rlually represented ) a Term which almost always when it is used, needs Explana tion — They tell us, that Manchester, Birmingham &c, send no Representatives & yet are taxed : But Have not those Towns, a Right by the Constitution to send Representatives ? Or, if they have wavd this Right, Are they not still represented in the Shires or Countys to which they belong ? Are not their internal Circumstances similar to those of many Towns which are represented ? Are they not within the Kingdom, & may not their internal Circum stances be easily ascertaind to the Parliam* if they should be mistaken ? But Americans are at a Thou sand Leagues Distance, seperated from Great Britain by the wide Atlantic ; & their proportionate Ability with the Nation, which must be taken, from an exact knowledge of their internal Circumstances, ever vary ing in infant Countrys, can no more be judgd of by
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 31
any Member of Parliam' than if they livd in the Moon —Besides it is the Glory of the Subjects of a British King, that they grant him their utmost Aid, of their own free Accord : The Colonys have always thus contributed to the Extent & some of them even beyond their Abilitys, but if we are to be calld upon by our Fellow Subjects in Britain, who cannot be adequate Judges of our Ability, where is either our Honor or Safety, as Subjects !
'This Act will be very grievous in its Effect, as it will very soon carry off the whole Quantity of Specie in the Continent : Money is the very Support of Trade ; & if the Trade of the Colonys is beneficial to Great JL Britain, She must herself very soon feel the ill Effects of a Measure, wch will consume the very Vitals of that Trade. Great Britain, can make her Colonys usefull to her, by no more effectual Means than by encour aging their Trade : Our Dependence is altogether upon her Manufactorers, for many of the necessary Articles of Life ; & it is Trade only that can furnish us with the Means of purchasing them : It is cer tainly then more for the Interest of Great Britain to encourage the Trade of the Colonys, by which means their Riches flow spontaneously into her Lap, than to exact Revenues from them at the Expence of their Trade./ Upon this Account we cannot help mentioning Another Act of Parliamf, which appears to us greatly detrimental both to Britain & her Colo- nys : The Duty laid by that Act of 3d p Galln on Molasses is insupportable : The trade to the West Indies cannot be carried on with any Profit ; & if that should be stopd, one Third Part at least of the
32 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
Fish that is catchd, being fit for no other Market, will be good for nothing ; & this Loss upon the Fish ing will totally ruin it ; The Effects of which must be, that Remittances to Spain Portugal & other Parts of Europe thro' which Money circulates into Eng land, for the Purchase of her Goods of all kinds, must cease ; and imagine, Sir, What a Prejudice this must be to Great Britain, to prevent so many Thou sand from dayly consuming her Manufactures for the future. Injshprt the Connection of the Colony s with the JVI other Country, their Affection for her, & even their Dependence upon her is kept up in a very great Measure T)y their Trade with her ; TheParent then in this one Instance should be carefull not to teach the Children to live without her.
But consider Sir that Taxes & Duties are laid in England upon the Goods that are imported here ; Consequently the Consumers here pay a proportiona ble Part towards the defreying the Charges of the Governm' there : And can it be thought equitable further to tax us, especially when it is considerd what heavy Taxes we are obligd to pay for the Sup port of his Majestys Governm' here ; for which a Debt lys upon this Province, which it will take many years to discharge. None of his Majestys Subjects have shown a greater readiness to assist, in support ing his just Rights & enlarging his Dominion, than those of New England : Several Expeditions against Canada in former Wars will evidence this : The taking Anapolis Royall, & frequently saving it from the hand of the Enemy : The successfull Attempt against Louisburgh in 1745 which happily procurd a
'1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 33
Peace with France : The Removal of the Neutral French from Nova Scotia, which was an absolutely necessary Step towards the final Reduction of all Canada, & which was done by this Province alone, & many other signal Services, which have exhausted our Treasure & Blood ; for some of which we were promisd in the reign of the late Queen Ann, signal Marks of Favor ; but have receivd no Compensa tions at all till within twenty years past & that not a Third part of our actual Expence. Is it not grievous then that instead of favors, we should after all that we have done, be exposed to the Loss of our Estates our Trade, Honor & Liberty !
Your kind Disposition towards this suffering Coun try will engage us to write you further upon these Subjects by the next Oppty — in the mean time, our hearty Prayer is that you may be succeeded in all your Endeavors to promote the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ & we remain with all Sincerity Your Friends
& hum1 servts
THOMAS CUSHING SAMUEL ADAMS.
P. S. There has lately been a Congress of Cornit- tees from the several Houses of Representatives & Burgesses on this Continent to prepare an humble dutifull & loyall Representation to the King & Parliament, which they have done in three several Petitions.
The Congress recommended to the several Houses of representatives to appoint Each a special Agent
VOL. I.— 3.
34 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
to present these Petitions &c : the representatives of this Province have made Choice of Dennis Deberdt Esqr of London his good Character & Abilities being well known here — What more particularly recom mended this Gentleman to some leading Members was, that he was thought to have the Favor of the Earl of Dartmouth, a nobleman of the highest Re pute in the Opinion of many Men of Sense & Worth — It would add very great Weight to the Cause of the distressd American Subjects if their Circumstances could be fully known to a nobleman of his Lordships great Integrity & Understanding—
Ut supra
THOMAS GUSHING.
S. ADAMS.
TO G w.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i., Lenox Library.]
BOSTON Novr 13 1765
SIR
At the request of Mr J. M. I have joynd with T. C. Esqr in a Letter to you which goes by this Conveyance. I have long been convincd of your Good Will to Mankind & your particular Regards for New Engd. The free Access which I am informd you have with some eminent Personages, may put it in your Power to do us Offices of singular kindness. New Engd has had the Misfortune of having many Enemys, but He that planted the Vine, seems hitherto to have had a watchfull Eye over it. It must be confessd we are greatly degenerated, may
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 35
the Head of the Chh hasten the happy Time of reformation.
The Nation has no doubt before now recd alarming accounts from America. Nothing could have given greater Disgust than the Stamp Act. The People are in Consternation from one end of the Continent to the Other. Whatever the favorers of the Act on your side the Water may apprehend, it is certainly es- teemd a Grievance in the Opinion of many Thou sands of as loyal & quiet Subjects as any under the_j Kings Government. Among the many Speculations which have been publishd in America upon this Subject the impartial reader must discover the warmest Sentiments of Duty & Affection to His Majesty & his illustrious House. I wish some Gen- ious of the Earl of D-rtm — ths Goodness & penetra tion might find Leisure particularly to attend to this Matter, in which I think Great Britain herself as well as her Colony, is deeply interested. We stand in great Need of some such Advocate in Engd, as the Govr of this Province has declard, in a Message de- liverd to the house of representatives the last Week that he has no Pretence to interpose in this business ; & that he does not think any Govr on the Conti nent has presumd to express his Sentiments against the Act : Which case may be easily supposd, for it is not likely that any Gentn in commission, wd chuse to express his sentiments against what is said to be a favorite Point with a Minister. It is however amus ing that those who are substituted by his Majesty to be the Patrons of his Subjects in the several Colonys should think themselves to be under this Restraint.
36 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
The Ministry & the Parliam1 no doubt had the good of the Colonys as well as the Nation in View ; with respect to the Colonys, they are at so great a Distance, & having none in England to represent them, it cannot be wonderd at if their interest should be sometimes mistaken. The Opinion of a Govr will no doubt be of great Weight & candidly receivd : if they are silent, the Applications of the People will be apt to be thought of little Importance. But should these Gent" with a Design to please their Superiors express their Minds in favor of any Meas ure, the Peoples Uneasiness might then be imputed to a discontented or even a factious humour. And considering the Imperfection of human Nature, This Inclination to flatter a Superior is at least a possible Supposition. His Excellency intimates that it wd be taking too great a Liberty for him to obtrude his Advice to His Majestys Ministers unaskd : But with due Submission I cannot easily believe that for a Gentn whom his Majesty has honord with the Governm1 over a Province to deliver his Senti ments even ag* a Measure which he might think to be prejudicial to the People of such a Province wd be deemd an Obtrusion. I ask pardon for mentioning these things. I honor the Kings Govr for his royal Masters Sake — my only View is to hint to you what great Disadvantages the American Subjects are un der, at so great a Distance from the fountain of Na tional Justice, & how much need they stand in of friends at Court, when their own Guardians, & those who can serve them are silent upon maxims of pru dence, thro fear of giving Offence. As I have taken
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 37
the Liberty to say thus much I feel obligd to in close the Papers which contain what passd between ye Govr & ye House of Representatives during the last Session of the Gen1 Court & remain &c.
S. A.
In looking over one of the latest London News Papers, I find the following Article viz " The Dis putes continually arising in ye American Colonys, joyned to the Struggles they make for Independence, it is thought will induce the British Legislature, to new modle their System of governmt & to allow them representatives in ye great Council of the Na tion." Whether the Writer of this Piece of Intelli gence meant only to amuse the Nation I am not able to say. he has endeavord to establish two facts, one of wch at least is without any foundation. That there are frequently Disputes between adjoyning Colonys, about their dividing Line, is true ; but we hope they may be settled, as they have always here tofore been, without the Necessity of altering their System of GovernnV. A very celebrated Writer, the Author of the Spirit of Laws, has defined political Liberty to be " a Tranquility of Mind arising from the Opinion which each Man has of his own Safety." Now if a Number of Colonys are to have their Sys tem of GovernnV new modeld at Discretion, or even to be threatend with it, because such Disputes, as subsist wherever Society is, takes place among them, there can never be among them any opinion of their Safety, from which shd arise a tranquility of Mind, and consequently there can be no Liberty, according
38 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
to the Definition of the beforementiond learned Author.
This News Writer shoots his Bow at a Venture : Where did he learn that ye Colonys were strugling for Independence? The Contrary is most certainly true : You, Sir, can be a Witness to the Loyalty of ye Colonys & their Affection for the Mother Country : There is at present no appearance of such disposition as this Writer wd insinuate, much less a Struggle for Independence ; & I dare say there never will be un less Great Britain, shall exert her power to destroy their Libertys. This we hope will never be done. He tells us "that we are to be allowd representatives in the great Council of ye Nation " wch implys that we have no representatives there at present. This is a main Argument against a constitutional right of Par- liamt to tax us. It is built upon one of the main pillars of the British Constitution, the right of repre sentation. If the Subject has a constitutional right, to be represented in ye 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 ye Par- Ham1 hath a right to tax the Colonys, it needs only to ask again, Are the Colonys represented in Parliam* ? The Writers against the Colonys, when they have been thus pressed, have been obligd to adopt the WordQStrtuaM; but we must first understand what they mea!T~by being virtually represented, before we can give their Doctrine a serious Consideration. There is one thing however wch perhaps may need
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS.
39
Explanation. The Colonists depend upon it. As their Argument against being taxd by the Parliam1, because they are not represented, must be allowd to be good, to be consistent with the British Constitu tion ; yet they are far from desiring a representation, for this reason only, because they judge it impracti cable for them to be equally & fully represented in Parliam1. Many things m' be said to justify such an opinion, wch perhaps may occasion my troubling you with another Letter ; in_£_mean time allow me just to add^that the only way to preserve to ye Colonists their rights, asJBritish. ^Subjects, consistent with their acknowledgd. Subordination to ye supreme Legisla ture of Great Britain, as it appears to me, is to con tinue to them the same powers of Governm*, which they have hitherto been used to, with' ye same Checks & no other: This is all they desire: Under their several Constitutions of subordinate civil Governm1, they have from the beginning of their Settlemts, ap- provd themselves faithfull & loyal Subjects, ever ready to afford their Mother Country all that Assistance wch can reasonably be expected from them, & there is no reason to doubt but under the same Constitution they ever will— Yours &c
S. A.
TO JOHN SMITH. [MS., Collections of the Earl of Dartmouth.]
BOSTON Dec' 19, 1765
SIR
I should have taken the Liberty of writing to you by Vessells which have already saild, had I known
40 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
your Intention to spend the Winter in England — Your Acquaintance with this Country — its civil Constitu tion — its religious Establishm1 — the Temper, Educa tion, Manners & Customs of the People — their Attachment to & Connection with the Mother Country — their Trade & the Advantages of it to Great Britain, and their ardent Love of civil & religious Liberty, makes you an Able Advocate on her Behalf ; at a Time when her Friends have every Thing to fear for her.
Perhaps there never was a Time when she stood in greater Need of Friends in England, & had less Reason to expect them : Not because she has for feited them but from the Nature of the unhappy Controversy, which has of late arisen between Great Britain & her Colonys, while the Prosperity of both depends on mutual Affection & Harmony — The Na tion it seems groaning under the Pressure of a very heavy Debt, has thought it reasonable & just that the Colonys should bear a Part ; and over & above the Tribute which they have been continually pour ing- mto her Lap, in the Course of their Trade, she now demands an internal Tax - — The Colonists com plain that this is both burdensom & unconstitutional. They alledge, that while the Nation has been con tracting this Debt, solely for her own Interest, detachd from theirs, they have [been] subduing & settling an uncultivated Wilderness, & thereby increasing her Power & Wealth at their own Expence, which is em inently true with Regard to New England — This must certainly be esteemd of very great Weight in Point of Equity ; for it has always been usual for Mother
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 41
States, to put themselves to great Expence in settling their Colonys, expecting to reap the Advantage of it in the Extent of Trade & Empire. But Britain reaps all this Advantage without any Expence of her own & solely at theirs — But_Jt is said that this Tax is to discharge the Colonys proportion of Expence in carrying on the War in America, which was for their *1 ^pfcn^e — Tojjiis it is said, that it does by no Means ~" appear, that the War in America was carried on solely for the Defence of the Colonys — had the Nation been only on the defensive here, a much less Expence would have been sufficient ; [there was evidently a View of making Conquests, & by means thereof es tablishing an advantageous Peace for the Nation, or perhaps advancing her Dominion & GloryV — But admiting, that the whole Expence was necessary barely for the Defence of the Colonys, they say, they have already born their full share in the Aids they afforded for the common Cause, & even much beyond their Ability — which the Parliam' seem to have been sensible of, when they made us Reimbursments from year to year, to relieve us from the Burden under which we must otherwise have sunk. — gut is there no Credit to be given to the New England Colonys who not only purchasd these Territory S
settled them, but have also defended & maintaind them for more than a Century past, against the En croachments or rather Incursions of those warlike Savages, with a Bravery & Fortitude scarcely to be equald, & lyithnnt a Farthings Expenr.e to the Na tion ? besides which they have always readily joynd their Forces, when any Attempts have been made by
42 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
the Government at home, in former Wars, against His Majestys Enemys in this Part of the World - Often have they unexpected by the Nation, put them selves to the Charge, of strengthning the Kings Gar risons at a Distance from them, when they would otherwise have been unavoidably attackd & lost- Anapolis Royall will afford diverse Instances of this in the Course of one War — The memorable & suc- cessfull Expedition against Louisburgh in 1745 was undertaken & compleated, at their Expence alone, for wch they were indeed in part recompensd, when the Nation was under the Necessity of restoring it as an Equivalent to purchase the Peace of Europe. You will easily recollect from your knowlege of our His tory, Instances of signal & expensive Service done by New England for their Mother Country which
./may serve to convince any candid Person, that we { have born much more than our Proportion of the
\ national Burden.
But there are other things which perhaps were not considerd when the Nation determind this to be but a proportionate Tax upon the Colonys : you are sensible Sir, that her Policy has been to oblige the Colonys to carry the chief of their Produce there & to take off her Manufactures in Return ; & as they must conform to her Price both in buying & selling, one would think the Advantage she reaps by their Trade sufficient. This is at least an indirect Tax- But the Nation constantly regulates their Trade, & lays it under what Restrictions she pleases — The Dutys upon the Goods imported from her & con- sumd here, together with those which are laid upon
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 43
almost every Branch of our Trade all which center in dry Cash in her Coffers, amount to a very great sum. The moneys drawn from us in the way of actual direct Tax, by means of these Regulations, it is thought will very soon put an End in a great measure to Trade, which is the means whereby we are enabled to pay them — Of this you are as able to judge as any Gentleman, & if it be the Case, it certainly requires the prudent & impartial Consideration of Great Brit ain — for all the Advantages she can expect to reap from her Colonys, must arise from Commerce, by which they have it in their Power to purchase her Manufactures — Their whole Profits, saving a very moderate Subsistence for themselves flow in upon her, thro various Channells, besides the Dutys before- mentiond. The Stamp Duty, if the Act should be enforced, will probably in two or three Years, take off the whole of their remaining Cash, and leave them none to carry on any Trade at a]l — T__wish that Trade Policy, as an ingenious Gentleman has expressd. was_bgtter understood &; pyprrisr^ by the Mother Country with Regard to the Colonys: — By Restric tions & Dutys she has even now enHancrp.rd the I^oss of their Usefulness to her, whereas, by relinquishing these^ Dutys, & giving them Indulp-encvs. they might even make the the frencb Colony*; in America tribu tary to her in the way of Trade, & repay her an hirnclred fold,
If this Tax is demanded of the Colonists as their Proportion of the Expence of defending them in the late War, it is a Question whether any Regard was had to the Sums, they have already advancd for that
44 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
Purpose. This certainly must in Equity have been considerd ; from whence else could the Proportion be found ? It is probable the Gentlemen in England are not sensible of the Burdens on the People here on that Account — Some Persons here have had yearly Demands of two, three & four hundred Pounds ster ling & others in proportion in dry Cash, besides sump tuary Taxes to support this Cause, & our provincial Debt, as is the Case of other Colonys, still lys heavy upon us, & is almost insupportable — Besides, in Infant Countrys, Numbers are to be reckned their Riches, and you well know, Sir, what great Numbers have been taken off from their Labors & Usefulness to the Colonys, as well to recruit the Kings regular Troops as to furnish their own Quota — In one year this Province alone sent out not less than seven Thousand Men, all of whom were usefull to the Mother Country exclusive of their being Soldiers, as they consumd her Manufactures in the Service, while in every other Respect but their being Soldiers, tho' as good as any in the Kings Service, they were more than lost to the Province that immediately employd them.
But there is another Consideration which. makes the^Stamp Act obnoxious to the People here. & that annihilates as they apprehend their
essential Rights ?^ F.ngrlfcVfmen. The first Settlers of New England were cruelly persecuted in their Native Country at a Time, when the Nation was infatuated with Bigotry, & in Consequence the publick Religion reducd to mere Form & Ceremony — This indued them to cross an untryd Ocean & take Shelter in this
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS, 45
dreary Wilderness — Immediately after their Arrival here they solemnly recognizd their Allegiance to their Sovereign in England, & the Crown graciously ac- knowledg'd them granted them Charter Privileges, & declared them & their Heirs for ever entitled to all the Libertys & Immunitys of free & natural born Subjects of the Realm — The other Colonys are by Charter or other Royal Institution thus acknowlegd— Indeed as they were good Subjects in England, & were not prohibited leaving the Kingdom their Re moval could not disfranchise them, tho they were once told by an haughty Bashaw, you well rem~ber who I mean, that they could not expect their Libertys would follow them to the Ends of the Earth
them all the Riht
Laws of the Mother State-^Thf* Rritigh Cnngtitntion makes no Distinction between ^porl Snhjppfs in P^int oLLiberty — To talk of British Subjects free, & of other British Subjects not so free is absurd, they are all alike free — The British Constitution is founded in the_JPrinciples of Nature and Reason — it admits of no moj:e Power over the Subject than is necessary fonthe Support of Governing which was originally de- signd for the Preservation o
oj Nature — Tt^_enga.ges to all Men thp f"H F.njny- ment of these Rights, who take Refuge in her §osome_— Foreigners who have resided a certain Time in the Colonys & behaved well & taken the Oaths of Allegiance are not only receivd into the Arms of her Protection, but by Act of Parliairt are also declard to be as free as natural born Subjects ; in which Act it is to be observd ; that the Colonists
46 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
as such, & even conggexd — Erop1e__after swearing Allegiance are also entitled to the__same Honor Happiness & Freedom.—
The Question then isjwhat the Rights of free Subjects of Britain are jj Without entering into a nice Disquisition of the full Extent of these Rights, which would require much greater Ability than I have, it is sufficient for the present purpose to say, that tif rnain Pillars of the British Constitution are
theJRight of Representation & of Trval by Jurysr both of which thgjColonists lose by this Act :_ Their Property may be tryd at the Option of Informers the most detestable set of Men, in a Court of Admiralty, where there is no Jury, & which Courts to say no more of them, have been very little reverencd by his Majestys good Subjects in America — Great Pains have been taken by Party Writers in England, who in all their Speculations that I have seen discover that they know very little about the Colonys, & if possible care less than they know — I say they have taken great Pains to have it understood that we are represented in Parliam1, but I trust to little Pur pose — No man of common Sense can easily be made to beleive that the Colonys, all together have one Representative in the House of Commons, upon their own free Election. — I am sure this Province never returnd a single Member — The Arts of Par,- Ijam* and the Constitution considers every Individual ig the R^fllm as present in that high Court_bv his Representative upon his own free Election (see Ist James the Ist) — This is his indisputable Privilege — It is founded in the eternal Law of Equity — It is an
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 47
original Right of Nature-ANo man jn the State of Nflf-nre ran piQfly take Anothers Property without his Consent — (Thg^Rights of Nature are happily in terwoven in the British Constitution — It is its Glory that it is copyd from Nature — It is an essential Part of it. that the supreme Power cannot take from anv^ man any Part of his Property without his Consentrr-y & so jealous is the Nation of Property that since the revolution the Power of naming Commissioners for the Land Tax is exercisd only by the House of Commons yearly (see Dr Ellis on spiritual & tem poral Liberty). — Tf th^r Colonists are free Subjects of Britain, whjrr|i no one rlenysr it should seem that the Parliament cannot tax them consistent with t^e Con stitution, because they are not represented — & indeed ii^ does not appear to me practicable for them to he represented there- — As they have ever approvd them selves, not only loyal to the Crown but ready on all Occasions to afford it their utmost Aid, it seems strange that the Wisdom of the Parliam' should alter the Method of obtaining it— They have always here tofore granted their Aid to His Majesty upon a Re quisition made by Him, with the Consent of their Representatives, which is strictly constitutional — In this way it was their own Free Gift — This they es teem an Honor which belongs to them as free Sub jects, nor is there any Reason to believe they would ever have forfeited His Majestys Favor in this Re gard — This new way tends toj disaffect them to the Mother Country, to which you know New England especially has always been firmly attachd — Like their British Ancestors, and I would fain hope their Fellow
48 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
Subjects in Engd, they are jealous of their Liberty, & can never think themselves happy unless thevjire free British Subjects-^They are of Opinion that the only way to preserve their Rights as such, is tojiaye their subordinate Powers of Government rontirmpH to them in their full Extent, which cannot he done if they are taxed_by: P^rconc who ^n not & cannot represent thejr]^, —
I am Sir with all due respect, Your most hume Serv1
SAMUEL ADAMS. JOHN SMITH Esqr.
TO JOHN SMITH.1
*-
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i., Lenox Library.]
SIR
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 Education, Manners & Customs of the Peo ple, their Attachment to as well as Connections with the Mother Country, their Trade & the Ad vantages of it to Great Britain, their ardent Love of Liberty civil & religious, makes you an able Advo cate on her behalf at a Time when her Friends have everything to fear for her. Perhaps there never was
1 The preceding text of this letter is that of the manuscript actually sent. The following text is that of the draft retained by Adams.
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 49
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 Affec tion *& Harmony. The Nation, it seems, groaning under the Pressure of an heavy Debt, has thought it reasonable & just that the Colonies should bear a Part ; and over & above the Tribute which they have been Constantly paying to her in the Course of their Trade, she demands an internal Tax which they think not only burdensome but unconstitutional. Both the Parties are greatly interested. The most powerful of them assumes the Right of judging, and the other appeals to her Wisdom & Justice. Is there not great Reason to fear that such a Judge may be under an undue Influence from the Arguments or Feelings which his own Interest may suggest or excite.
The Colonists complain, that while the Nation has been contracting this Debt solely for her own Pur poses, they have been settling an uncultivated Wil derness, & thereby increasing the National Power & Wealth at their own Expence ; which is eminently true as you are sensible, of the New England Colo nies. This must certainly be allowed to be a very great Weight in the Scale of Equity, for it has always been customary for Mother States to put themselves to great Expence in settling their Colonies expecting to reap Advantage from an Extent of Trade & Empire ; but Britain reaps all this Advantage of the N E Colonies at their Expence & without any of
50 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
her own. It is said that this Tax is to discharge the Colonies Proportion of the Expence of carrying on the War in America which was for their Defence. But how does it appear that the War was carried on solely for the Defence of America ? Had the Nation been only on the Defensive a much less Expence would have been sufficient. There was evidently a View of Conquest, and thereby, of establishing an advantageous Peace, or perhaps of enlarging her Do minion. But admitting that the whole Expence was necessary for the Defence of the Colonies, they say, they have already borne their full Share in the Aids they have afforded, which the Nation seems to have ad mitted, when she made them Reimbursements from year to year in such Sums as they had advanced be yond their Proportion. And is there no Credit to be given to the N E Colonies, who not only purchased these Territories of the Natives, but have defended them for above a Century past against the Encroach ments of those warlike Savages, with fortitude scarcely equalled without a farthing8 Expence to the Nation ; besides which, they have always readily joynd their Forces, when any Attempts have been made by the Nation in former Wars, against his Majesties Ene mies in this part of the World. Unexpected by the Nation, they have often put themselves to the Charge of Strengthening the Kings Garrisons at a Distance from them, when they would otherwise unavoidably have been attackd & lost. Annapolis Royal affords diverse Instances of this during the Course of one War. The memorable & successful Expedition against Cape Breton in 1745 was undertaken & com-
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 51
pleated at their Expence, for which they were indeed in part recompensed when the Nation was under the Necessity of restoring it as an Equivalent, to pur chase the Peace of Europe. You will easily recol lect from your own Knowledge of our History, many Instances of signal & Expensive Services done to the Nation by New England which may serve to con vince any candid Man that we have borne much more than our proportion of the National Burdens. But there are other things which perhaps were not con sidered, when the Nation determined this to be but a proportionate Tax on the Colonies. You are sensi ble Sir, that it has been her Policy to oblige the Colonies to carry the Chiefe of their Produce to Great Britain & to take off her Manufactures in Re turn. And as they must conform to her Price both in buying & 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 & lays it under what Restrictions she pleases, and the Duties on the Goods imported from her & consumed here, together with those which are laid on almost every Branch of our Trade all which centers in Cash in her Coffers, amount to a very great Sum. The Monies drawn from us in the Way of actual direct Taxes, by means of those Regula tions, it is thought, will very soon put an End to the Trade. Of this you are as able to judge as any Gentleman ; & if it be the Case, it certainly requires prudent & impartial Consideration, for all the Ad vantage the Nation can expect to reap from the Colonies must arise from Commerce. Their whole
52 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
Profits, saving a moderate Subsistence for them selves, flow in upon Her thro 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, & leave them none to carry on any trade at all. — I wish that Trade Policy, as a very sensible Gentleman has expressed it, was better un derstood by the present Rulers in the Mother Country with respect to the Colonies. By Restrictions & Duties she is even now in Danger of puting an End to their Usefulness to her ; whereas by abolishing those Duties & giving them Indulgencies they would be enabled to repay her an hundred fold.
If the Colonists are to pay this Tax as their Pro portion of the Expence in defending them in the late War, I should be glad to know whether any Regard was had to the Sums they have already advancd for that Purpose ? This certainly ought in Equity to have been considerd, or, how could the Proportion be found ? It is probable the Gentlemen in England are not sensible of the Burdens laid on the People on that Account. They have never been informd, that Persons here have had yearly De mands of two three & four hundred pounds Sterling by Way of Taxes, besides sumptuary Laws, to sup port this Cause, & our provincial debt (which is the Case in other Colonies) still lies heavily upon us & is almost insupportable. Besides, in Infant Coun tries their Numbers are to be reckond their Riches. You well know what great Numbers have been taken off from their Labor, & Usefulness in that Way to the Colonies, as well to recruit the Kings Regiments
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 53
as to furnish their own Quotas : In one year this Province alone furnishd for the Sea & Land Service not less than Seven thousand Men. Those Men were useful to the Mother Country, exclusive of their being Soldiers, as they consumed her Manufactures in the Service ; while in every other Respect but their being Soldiers, tho as good as any in the Kings Service, they were more than lost to the Province that immediately employed them.
But there is another Consideration which renders this Tax still more obnoxious to the Colonies, & that is, it totally annihilates their essentials 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 & the Ideas of Ecclesiastical Tyranny. This indued them to cross an untried Ocean & take Shelter in a dreary Wilder ness. Immediately after their Arrival they recog- nizd their Allegiance to the English King & he declared them intitled to all the Rights Liberties & Immunities of natural born subjects. The other Colonies are by Charter or other Royal Institutions thus acknowledgd. Indeed as they were good Sub jects in England & were not prohibited to leave the Kingdom, their Removal could not disfranchise them, altho they were told by a haughty Bashaw, you know who I mean, they must not expect their Liberties would follow them to the Ends of the Earth. They undoubtedly brot with them the Rights & 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
54 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
and of other British Subjects who are not free is absurd. They are all alike free. The British Con stitution is founded in the Principles of Nature & Reason. It admits of no more Power over the Subject than is necessary for the Support of Govern ment, which was originally designd for the Preserva tion of the unalienable Rights of Nature. It engages to all Men the full Enjoyment of these Rights, who take Refuge in her Bosom. Foreigners who have resided a certain time & have behaved well & taken the Oaths of Allegiance, by Act of Parliam* are de clared to be as free as natural born Subjects (in which Act it is to be observed the Colonies are to be considerd as such) and even conquerd People after swearing Allegiance are intitled to the same Honor & Freedom. The Question then is What are those Rights ? Without entering into a nice Disquisition of their full Extent, which would require much more Ability & Knowledge than I am possessd of, it is sufficient for the present Purpose to say, that among the main Pillars of the British Constitution are the Rights of Representation & of Trial by Jury, both which the Colonists lose by this Act. Their Prop erty may be tried at the Option of Informers, in a Court of Admiralty where there is no Jury. Great Pains have been taken by Party Writers in England, who, in all their Speculations which I have seen, dis cover that they know or care but little about the Colonists, to cause it to be believd they are repre sented in Parliament, but I hope to little Purpose. No Man of Common Sense can easily believe, that the Colonists have all together one Representative in
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 55
the British House of Commons of their ozvn free Election. The Acts of Parliament & the British Constitution consider every individual Person in the Realm as present in that high Court by his Repre sentative upon his own free Election. Vid. i. Jac. i. This is his indispensible Privilege. It is founded on the Eternal Law of Equity. It is an Original Right of Nature. No Man in the State of Nature can justly take anothers Property without his Consent. It is an essential Part of the British Constitution that the Supreme Power cannot take from any Man any part of his Property without his Consent in Person or by his Representative. And so jealous is the Nation of Property, that since the Revolution the Power of naming Commissioners for the Land tax is exercisd only by the House of Commons. Vid. Dr Ellis on temporal & spiritual Liberty. If then the Colonists are free Subjects of Britain which no one has yet denied, it is unconstitutional for the Parliament to tax them because they are not represented in Parlia- m1, and in my Opinion it ever will be unconstitutional because they never can be present in Parliament by their Representatives, it being impracticable.
As the Colonists have ever approvd themselves not only loyal Subjects, but ready upon all Occasions to afford the Crown their utmost Aid, it seems strange to me that Parliament have seen fit, by their Inter position, to alter the Manner of requiring it. They have always heretofore granted their Aid to his Majesty upon a Requisition from him, with the Con sent of their Representatives, which is strictly consti tutional. In this Way it was their own Free Gift,
56 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
and there is no Reason to believe they would ever have incurrd his Majestys Displeasure in this Re gard. This new Method will tend to disaffect them to the Mother State. Like their British Ancestors, they are jealous of their Rights, & they are of Opin ion that the only Way to preserve their Rights, is to have their Powers of Government continued to them in their full Extent, which cannot be, if they are taxed by Persons who do not & cannot represent them.
I am &c S A
BOSTON, Decr2o 1765 to J. S. Esqr London
TO JOHN SMITH.
[MS., Collections of the Earl of Dartmouth; an autograph draft is in the Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i., Lenox Library.]
BOSTON 2oth 1765
SIR
I have already wrote you by this Oppty, & must beg to be excused for further troubling you. It is probable the Conduct of the Colonys, upon the Occasion of the Stamp Act may be set in an incandid Light, I shall therefore give a briefe Account of them. Tj-^pon the first Notice of a Proposal being made for the Parliam' to tax the Colonys they expressd the greatest TTp^pm'n^gQ All seemed to have an high opinion of the Wisdom as well as Power of the Parl' which induced many to believe that such a Proposal would not finally take Effect. However the Colonys
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 57
separately took the legal stepsr & sent home their humble Pef.itinns against it, but to their great Morti fication, thn'r Petitions were not sustaindr & the Reason given was that they were /against a Rill for imposing Tavp<L The rectitude off such an objection, *x. would have apjx;ard more plainly had the Colonys / been fr'epresentedj in the House of Commons. As the Case was otherwise it might & ought to have been urgd, that the very Taxes designd in the Bill were to be laid by a Number of Subjects, for their own Ease, upon their Fellow Subjects, who could have no other Method of making their Circumstances known and the Hardships of the Bill upon them, but by humble Supplication. To their Astonishment they after wards heard that the Rill was passd into a Law — a Law byjvhich they were taxed hy Persons who were
& who
nf nhj-^n jng an adequate Knowledge of
f^ovfrnors of the Colony. &
other Officers oi the Crownr their own Agents whp haye_sprne of ihem it is to be feard been too often
p^rh^ps were seeking- some profitably
This Government however or rather the House of Representatives being resolvd to show its Marks of Dutifulness to the supreme Power of the Nation, & at the same time to collect the whole Strength of Reason & Argument, that could be had, naovd for ajojJnion of Com^jfrom the several Colonvs to meet aTrCewYork, to prepare an humble, dutifull & loyal Petition to his Majesty & the Parliam' for Reliefe,
58 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
which took Place,1 & the Petitions have been some Time forwarded — Copys of which were sent by the House of Representatives of this Province to Mr De Berdt, whom by a large Majority they chose their Agent for this Purpose. The Houses of Representa tives and Burgesses generally thro' the Continent, have imitated the Virginians, in passing Resolves set ting forth theilf Rights as Britons & charterd Colo nists & upon which (the Virginia Resolves) a Person under the Name of William Pimm, but out of his Character has harrangued the good People of Engld. but we hope he will get some small Knowledge at least of his own Country & the Colonys before he again engages his Passions so warmly in the Cause.
/* While the Houses of Representatives were joyntly
\ consulting the most prudent as well as the legal Steps, J the Peoples Minds grew more & more disturbd, under
I the Apprehension of the Loss of their essential Rights.
I Events took place much like some that we hear of in the quiet Citys of London & Westminster, tho it must be confessd there have been some Transactions for which even those Mother Cities, have not seen occasion to afford Precedents since the year 88, from which glorious CEra neither their Right of Repre sentation, nor of Jurys nor any other of their essential Rights & Charter Privileges have ever been invaded. The most publick Marks of Contempt & Ignomy have been put upon the Gentlemen appointed to dis-
1 The journal of the Congress, printed from a manuscript in the papers of Caesar Rodney, is in H. Niles, Principles and Acts of the Revolution, Balti more, 1822, pp. 451-461.
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 59
tribute the Stamps through America & even in [the West India Islands where it was least expected. The people in Boston began by hanging "p thpir St^mp p- ]\T aster in Rffiortp. This was done mid^T-the Great ^ , Tree at ftheL South Part of the Town, which now is ' cgjled the Mj*pp nf T ih^rfyTj It is not likely that they had any thing further in View at first, but at Night great Numbers, many of them from the Neighboring *\ Towns got together & resolvd to make a Sacrifice / f of their Pageantry by burning it on Fort Hill. Un- ' fa> Luckily a small Building said to be designd for^a Stamp OffirpJ qg well as M^jh-il^-r1 Mansion T^OTIQP ^ fe]l in their Way — the former of which they demol- / isjid, & to the other they did some Dammage but j inconsiderable, in Comparison of what might have ^ - been expected. This bore so hard upon Mr Os Mind \ . as to induce him the next Day publickly to declare / his Resolution to resign his Office, which gave uni- / versal Satisfaction throughout the Country. Such a Spirit in all the Colonys excepting Hallifax & Que- beck has had the same Effect, & there is not a Man who dares to put thp ftrt in Fvprnt-ipn The People in England may perhaps think it difficult for us to jus tify these Proceedings. I do not now attempt it a[nd] yet I will venture to express my Beleife, that if the whole?eople of the Nation had thoughttheir essen tial unalienable Rights had been invaded by an J\ct which is really the Opinion which the
Ppppk of Am^ri^a hnvf of the Stamp Act say, in such a. r^gfa, gft^r tak1>ng_p[l tygflJ Steps to nb- tn wn Purpose ^./the whole People of Enrland
Andrew Oliver.
60 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
would have taken the same Steps & jwstifyd them- Sttfves—tO wforh T make no Application.
Therewas another Transaction in this Town of a truly ^2£^££^jNature which happend about a fort night after the other viz on the 26 of August, when the Houses of Mr Story Deputy reg!" of the Court of Vice Admiralty, Mr Hallowell Comptroler of the Cus tom, & the Lieutenant Governors were attackd, to the two former of which some Mischiefe was done, & the other has scarce any thing left but the Walls.1 The Cause of this Riot is not known publickly — some Persons have suggested their private Thoughts of it. Be it what it will, \The Town must appear to every candid Person to^have had no Concern in it. An universal Consternation appeard in the faces of every one the next morning, & a meeting of the Inhabi tants was in a few hours had, the largest ever known on any Occasion, who unanimously declard their De testation of it. I voted to assist the Majistrate to their utmost in preventing or suppressing any further Disorder. I need only to say, to prevent any ill Im pressions that may be made of the Town in the Minds of sensible Persons, on your Side the Water, that the House of Representatives, afterwards in their Mes sage to the Govr (who I should you have told was chiefly at the Castle during the Time of these Dis turbances) express themselves in the following Terms " We should rather have thought your Excy would have expressd your Satisfaction in presiding over so loyal a People, who in that Part of the Governm1
1 Cf'* ]• Winsor, Memorial History of Boston, vol. iii., p. 14 ; Thomas Hutch-| inson, History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, vol. iii., p. 124.
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 61
where the Violences were committed, before there was Time for them to be supported by the Arm of civil Power, & even while the Supreme Magistrate was absent, by their own Motion raisd a Spirit, & diffusd it thro' all Ranks, successfully to interpose & put a stop to such dangerous Proceedings."
This Province has since been pretty quiet, but the Peoples Opposition to the Stamp Act dayly increases, & I believe nothing will ever reconcile them to it.
I have wrote in great haste, the Vessel being now upon sailing.
I am with very great Esteem
Sir Your most humble Serv1
SAMUEL ADAMS. JOHN SMITH ESQR
TO DENNYS DE BERDT.2
[MS., Collections of the Earl of Dartmouth ; a portion of this letter is printed, under date of December 21, in W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol. i., pp. 103-105.]
BOSTON Decbfr 2o'.h 1765
SIR,
The House of Representatives of this Province having appointed you their Agent for the Purposes mentioned in their Letter to you, is the Occasion
1 See above, page 22.
2 Forwarded to the Earl of Dartmouth by Dennys De Berdt, with the state ment : "The Inclosed Letter Wrote by Four Members of the Assembly and wrote with so much Temper and Candour that it would not I thought be unac ceptable to your Lordship." The body of this letter is presumably in the hand of a clerk. With reference to the appointment of De Berdt, November 5. 7, T765, see W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol. i., p. So.
62 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
of our writing to you, not indeed by Order, but as in dividual Members. The House was so fully informed of your Ability and Inclination to serve the Province, that your Election was soon determined by a very great Majority. We hope you will have receiv'd the ad vice of your Appointment before this comes to Hand, and we may assure you that your Acceptance of the Trust, will give general Satisfaction to the good People here.
His Majesty's Subjects of this Province, are very uneasy at several Acts of Parliament lately made, by whichjjieir Trade is greatly obstructed, and unless a Remedy is applied, it is feared must soon be ruined. It has been very justly observed, that the Advan tages drawn from America to Great Britain, are to arise from Commerce, and therefore to encourage and promote That, is her true Policy : The Profits of the Trade of the Colonies, thro' its several Channells center in Great Britain, and therefore to stop those Channels, must be evidently to her Prejudice. This will be the Case-while the Sugar Act remains in Force : The English West India Islands do not produce suf ficient for the Consumption and Trade of the Conti nent. To confine us then to those Islands, must diminish the Trade. It will in a great Measure even dry up its very Source. Our Trade to the West In dies, and our Fishery are mutual Supports to each other. They are indeed jointly the grand Basis of the whole. The Duty of three Pence per Gallon on foreign Molasses amounts to a full Prohibition, and must soon put a Stop to that Branch. As one third Part at least, of all the Fish that is taken is fit for no
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 63
other Market, it is very easy to conceive how much our Fishery must be injured. It is much to be feared that so great a Loss of Labour added to the usual Expence of carrying it on, will prove a total Discour agement to it. The Colonies may in Consequence of this be put upon contriving some other Methods, per haps to their own greater Advantage, and not so beneficial to the Nation. Be that as it may, it is cer tain there will be an End to Remittances that are now made to Spain, Portugal and other Parts of Eu rope, through which a very great part of the Produce of America and the Profits of the Trade flow into Great Britain, and set her Manufacturers of all Kinds to work. By means of the Trade of the Colonies as they have hitherto carried it on, Millions of them have been enabled Yearly to consume British Manu factures.-,^ An Attempt to raise Revenues out of their Trade, as .it will in Effect advance the Price of your Manufactures, will reduce the People to the Neces sity of setting up Manufactures of their own. Their Necessity will quicken their Invention, and they will become by Degrees less useful, and in Time entirely useless to the Mother Country. But we humbly ap prehend it would appear too partial for the Nation to confine her Views to her own Interest in regulating the Trade of her Colonies. There is Justice due to them as Subjects — as such they have an equal Right with the Inhabitants of Britain of making Use of Trade and all other honest Means of subsisting and enriching themselves. The Nation would show her Wisdom in cherishing the Trade of the Colonies, while she reaps so large a share of the Profits of it ;
64 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
but to abridge their Trade, even tho' it should not be an Advantage to her, unless it also evidently appears to be carried on to her Prejudice, would not seem to be just.
\^ The Colonists have as great a Regard for Right, Liberty and justice as any People under Heaven — and they generally have Knowledge enough to dis cover 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 intitled to all the inherent, 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 Brit ish Constitution have their Foundation in the Laws of Nature and universal Reason. Hence one would think that British Rights, arp in a great Measure, un- alienably, the Rights nf the Colonists, and of a.H Men else. The American Subjects are by Charters from the__Cro\vn, and other royal Institutions declared in- titled to all the Rightsand Privileges of natura] born Subjects within the Realm — 3,nd with goodJReason; for as emigrating Subjects, they brought the Rights and Laws of the Mother State with them. Had they been conquered, we presume that by the British Con stitution, after taking the Oaths of Allegiance, they would 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 settling a large Continent, to the amaz-
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 65
ing Increase of National Power and Wealth. it be observed that the New England Provinces were Qpt-t-lpH by our Ancestors who came over but little more than a Century ago, and they have maintained them without one Farthing's Expence to the Crown. o.r any private Man in England till the last War, when the Nation began to see their real Importance. By the Act of 13^ of George the Second, for natural izing Foreigners, the Colonists are considered as natural born Subjects, and intitled to all the essential Rights of such. ^ {The primary, absolute, natural Rights of Englishmen as frequently declared in of Parliament from Magna Charta to this Day, are Personal Security, Personal Liberty and Private Prop erty, and to these Rights the Colonists are intitled by Charters, by Common Law and by Acts of Parlia ment!^? Can it then be wondered at that the Act for levymg Stamp Duties upon the Colonies should be astonishing to them, since in divers Respects it totally annihilates these Rights. It^is a fundamental Prin- crgle of the British Constitution that the supreme Eower Cannot take irom any Man any Part of his Property without his Consent in Person or by Repre sentation^ It is certain the Consent of the Colonists was in no Sense had in Parliament, nor even asked, when this Act was made to tax them. They never had the Return of one Member of Parliament, nor a single Vote in the Election of one. The Right of Tryals by Juries is also justly esteemed a main Pillar of the British Constitution, and the best security of the Lives, Liberty and Property of the Subjects. But by this Act the Property of the American
VOL. I. — 5.
66 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
Subjects is tryable at the option of an Informer by Courts of Admiralty without Juries. The Right of Representation and the Argument against this Tax founded upon it, is so constitutional, that the Writers in favour of it, have been put to great Shifts tg_evade it. (We have been told that we arex2^W^#7/y"jrepre- sented, but we must desire an Explanation of this vague Term, before we can give it a serious Consid eration/! We are put upon a Footing with Birming ham, Manchester and. other Towns in England, who they say, send no Representatives, and yet are taxed — but have not those Towns a constitutional Right to be represented ? and if they chuse to wave it, can that be a good Reason for taxing the Colonies without a Representation ? Would it not be equally reasona ble for the Majority of the Members of Parliament to deprive the Constituents of the Minority of the same Right, and tax them at Discretion ? But Birming ham, and the few Towns who send no Members, can not be deemed reasonable Precedents for taxing all America, when it is considered that all counties in England return Members, and all Freeholders have a Vote in their Election, and so in Fact are represented. In the Act of the first of James the First, wherein /Cthe Parliament recognized their Faith, Obedience / and Loyalty to his Majesty and his royal Progeny, it V is declared that in that high Court of Parliament, all ) the whole Body of the Realm, and every particular v^\ Member thereof, either in Person, or by Representa tion, upon their own free Election, are by the Laws of I this Realm deemed to be personally present, — but * can it with the least Shadow of Truth be said that
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 67
the Colonies are there in Person, or by Representa tion upon their own free Election ? Yet the general superintending Power of the Parliament over the whole British Empire is clearly admitted here, so far as in our Circumstances is consistent with the Enjoy ment of our essential Rights, as Freemen, and Brit ish Subjects ; and we humbly conceive that by the Constitution, it is no further admissible by Great Britain herself.
Wh^n we pl^?^ fhp Right- nf R ppr^entation. we only mean to have our not being- represented upon our own free Election considered as a Reason why We should not be taxed hy flip Parliament ; and WP^
apprehend, that as we are entitled to all the Rights of British Subjects, it is a Reason that cannot be withstood without Violence to thp. Cnn^fif-nfinn We are far however from desiring any Representation there, because we think the Colonies cannot be equally and fully represented ; and if not equally then in Effect not at all. A Representative should beT and continue to be well arqnaini-prl with the internal Circumstances of the People whom TIP repr^- sents. It is often necessary that the Circumstances of individual Towns should be brought into Com parison with those of the whole so it is in particularly 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 seperated by a wide Ocean ; and their Circumstances are so often and continually varying,
68 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
as is the Case in all Countries not fully settled, that it would not be possible for Men, tho' ever so well acquainted with them at the Begining of a Parlia ment, to continue to have an adequate Knowledge of them during the Existence of that Parliament. If a Representative cannot be supposed to have an exact Knowledge of the Abilities of his Constituents. in Proportion to the whole, when a general Tax Js under Consideration, he cannot be said to represent far at least as respects this very essential He must be a mere Cypher in the House, for he can neither give Yea or Nay, for want of material Knowledge^ An unequal Proportion in Taxes, may naturally be expected from so partial and insufficient a Representation ; which it is most likely would be to the Prejudice of the Colonies ; for without supposing an undue Byas in the House of Commons, which however may possibly hereafter take place, it is to be considered that the Taxes of the People in Britain will be lighter in Proportion to what is laid on the Colonies ; and if what the Colo nies ought to bear is a Matter of mere Conjecture, it is not likely that the Nation in such a Case would form an Estimate to her own Prejudice. In short it appears to us that the Nation would not only be a Party, but the Judge too, without that Knowledge or the Possibility of having it, which would be necessary to form a right Judgment, or even any
at all. / The Stamp Act it <^1f may <^rv^ to
how liable even the Parliament may be_to err injihis
important Matter for want of an adequate Knowledge
of the Circumstanc£S-j3f the^
1765] SAMUEL ADAMS. 69
meant only to lay upon them a reasonable Tax. The Minister, tho' he was at the Pains to get all the In formation he could, from some Gentlemen of reputed Knowledge of the Colonies, then in England, has procured a parliamentary Tax upon them, amounting as we are told to a much greater Sum than either he or the Parliament, or even those Gentlemen who had so lately left the Colonies imagined it would. Such Mistakes in point of Taxation we are apt to think would generally and unavoidably be made, even tho' we should be represented as fully as our great Distance from England, and different Circum stances would admit of.
The several subordinate Powers of Legislation in America seem very probably to have been consti tuted upon their being considered as free Subjects of England, and the Impossibility of their being represented in the Parliament, for which Reason these Powers ought to be held sacred. By Means thereof that Liberty which they justly claim as their Birthright is established. Xojdeprive them of these^ subordinate Powers, which is in F.ffprr Hone by tim Stamp ^\ct, destroys that Liberty. The Exercise of Parliamentary Jurisdiction jn levying- external and internal Taxes on the Colonists^ \vhile they are not and cannot"^ represente<3T"is"~mconsistent withC C
atff(
any Degree of Freedom. [It brings them under a
Government essentially Afferent from that which their Fellow Subjects in Britain are under.1 / The
1 The following erased at this point : " In short the Power over them must be despotic, and it is of little consequence to them whether such a Power be in the Hands of one or many, the former is indeed more eligible."
O
70 THE WRITINGS OF [1765
American Powers of Government are rather to be considered as Matters of Justice than Favor — with out them they cannot enjoy that Freedom, which, having never forfeited, no Power on Earth has any Right to deprive them of.
The Charter of this Province, invests the Powejuaf making Laws for its internal Government in the General Assembly. Our Laws are made, with the Consent of Representative of rmr own free Election. JThe People are all personally present by their Rep resentatives, in the Assembly which governs and taxes them — and thus, the full Enjoyment of those essential Rights which justly belong to them as Sub jects of Great Britain is preserved-!— At the same Time that Dependence and Subordination which they are ever ready to acknowledge, will appear to be effectually secured, when it is considered that their Laws must first have the Concurrence of the Council, upon whose Election the Chair has a Negative, and the Consent of the Governor who is appointed by the Crown, before they can be in Force — and finally they must be laid before his Majesty, who at any Time during three Years disanulls them at his Royal Pleasure. Here is all the Check which the Nation can in Reason desire. A further Controul would leave them the Name only of free Subjects. > - We find that Attempts have been made to rais e a Jealousy in the NationT that the Colonists are struggling for Independence, than which Nothing can be more injurious. (_lt is neither their Interest nor have they ever shown the least Disposition to be independent of Great Britain?"? They have always
i ;66] SAMUEL ADAMS. 71
prided themselves in being British Subjects, and have with the greatest Cheerfulness done every Thing in their Power to promote the common Cause of the Nation And We have Reason to believe that they will ever remain firmly attached to the Mother Country. We are with great Respect Sir
Your most humble Servants, JAMES OTIS THOMAS CUSHING SAMUEL ADAMS THOMAS GRAY1 DENNIS DEBERDT ESQ*
THE TOWN OF BOSTON TO THE TOWN OF PLYMOUTH. MARCH 24, 1766.
[Boston Record Commissioners' Report, vol. 16, pp. 172-174.]
To the Inhabitants of the Town of Plymouth
GENTLEMEN
The Inhabitants of the Town of Boston legally assembled in Faneuil Hall have receivd with singular pleasure, your respectful Address of the i6th of Jan uary last : The warm Sentiments of public Virtue which you therein express is a sufficient Evidence, that the most ancient Town in New England to whose Predecessors this Province in a particular man ner is so greatly indebted for their necessary Aids in its original Settlement still retain the truly noble Spirit of our renowned Ancestors — When we recollect
1 A text, signed also by Edw. Sheafe, is in Papers Relating to Public Events
in Massachusetts •, Philadelphia, 1856, pp. 6-13.
72 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
the ardent love of Religeon and Liberty, which in spired the Breasts of those Worthys ; which induced them at the Time when Tyranny had laid its oppressive Hand on Church and State in their Native Country, to forsake their fair Possessions and seek a Retreat in this distant Part of the Earth — When we reflect upon their early care to lay a soiled Foundation for Learn ing, even in a Wilderness, as the surest if not the only Means of preserving and cherishing the Principles of Liberty and Virtue, and transmitting them to us their Posterity, our Mind is filled with deep Veneration, and we bless and revere their Memory.—
When we consider the immense Cost and Pains they were at in subduing, cultivating, and settling this Land, with the utmost Peril of their Lives ; and the Surprizing increase of Dominion Strength and Riches, which has accrued to Great Britain by their Expence & Labour we confess we feel an honest \ Indignation to think there ever 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 Andross 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 Great ness with an envious 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
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 73
us — If then Gentlemen, the Inhabitants of this Me tropolis, have discovered an invariable Attachment to the Principles of Liberty, when it has been in vaded : If they have made the most vigorous Exer tions for our Country when she has been threatned with the Loss of every Thing that has been dear : If they have used their utmost Endeavors that she may be relieved from those Difficulties, with which She is at this Time embarrassed ; If they have taken the Legal and warrantable Measures to prevent that Misfortune of all others the most to be dreaded, the Execution of the Stamp Act ; and as a necessary Means of preventing it, have made any Spirited Ap plications for opening the Custom House and Courts of Justice ; If at the same Time they have bore their Testimony against outrageous Tumults and illegal proceedings, and given any Example of the Love of Peace & good order next to the consciousness of having done their Duty is the Satisfaction of meet ing with the Approbation of any of their Fellow Countrymen —
That the Spirit of our venerable Forefathers, may revive and be defused through every Community in this Land : That Liberty Civil and Religeous, the grand Object of their View, may still be felt enjoy'd & vindicated by the present Generation, and the fair Inheritance, transmitted to our latest Posterity, is the fervent wish of the Metropolis — Submitted by—
SAMUEL ADAMS JOHN RUDDOCK JOHN HANCOCK
74 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSA CHUSETTS TO THE GOVERNOR. JUNE 3, 1766.
[Massachusetts State Papers, pp. 76-81.]
May it please your Excellency,
The House of Representatives of this province, beg leave to return to your Excellency our congratu lations upon the repeal of the stamp act ; a most interesting and happy event, which has diffused a general joy among all his Majesty's loyal and faithful subjects throughout this extensive continent.
This is a repeated and striking instance of our most
gracious Sovereign's paternal regard for the happiness
and welfare of all his subjects. We feel upon this
occasion, the deepest sense of loyalty and gratitude.
We_arg aburujanlly convinced that our legal and
Constitutional rights, and Jibe rtiesjwill always be safe
under his propitious government. We esteem the
/ relation we have ever stood in with Great Britain, the
mother country, our happiness and security. We
/ have reason to confide in the British Parliament, from
] this happy instance, that all his Majesty's faithful sub-
/ jects, however remote, are the objects of their pat-
( ronage and justice.
When we reflect on the difficulties under which this important business labored, and the causes from whence they arose, we are truly astonished that they have been surmounted ; and we gratefully resent the noble and generous efforts of those illustrious patriots who have distinguished themselves in our cause. In deed, when we look back upon the many dangers from which our country hath, even from its first set-
i766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 75
tlement, been delivered, and the policy and power of those, who have to this day sought its ruin, we are sensibly struck with an admiration of Divine good ness, and would religiously regard the arm which has so often shielded us.
Upon so joyful an occasion, we were in hopes your Excellency would have spread a veil over every dis agreeable scene in the late times of public calamity ; but to our surprise and astonishment, we find your Excellency declaring in your speech, at the opening of the General Court, that this cannot be done till a better temper and understanding shall prevail in general, than there seems to be at present. Though your Excellency has seen reason to form so unfavor able an opinion of the present times, we beg leave, with all humility, to ask, whether so great a liberality as you have shown, in your strictures upon them, ha'S a tendency to make them better ?
" Private interests and resentments," " popular dis content," "unlimited abuse on the most respectable characters." These and such like expressions, run through a considerable part of your speech. We should have been glad if your Excellency had given some intimation, at least, that you did not mean to cast reflections on either of the two Houses, to whom your speech was immediately addressed. We have reason to fear, that whatever were your intentions, this construction will be put upon it by those who would be glad to improve the authority of your Ex cellency to our disadvantage. Upon this account, we find ourselves under a necessity, explicitly to de clare to your Excellency, that no private resentments
76 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
of ours, have intermixed with popular discontent. We have no interest detached from, or inconsistent with, the common good ; we are far from having any " ill purposes" to execute, much less under the "bor rowed mask of patriotic zeal," or any other hypocrit ical disguise. It has ever been our pride to cultivate harmony and union, upon the principles of liberty and virtue, among the several branches of the legis lature, and a due respect and reverence for his Maj esty's representative in the province. We have endeavored to solicit integrity and ability to the aid of the people, and are very sorry if gentlemen of char acter have, by any means, been deterred from serving their country, especially in time of danger, when the eyes of all might have been upon them for deliver ance. A^ such a time, for true patriots to be silent. is dangerous. Yonr F.yrHlency tplk ns_xxL.a.n u_n]jrn-
ie mostjrespect-
a<ble__characters,_o£_3vhirli yon ha ye _.
experience yourself.: but you assure us that it has not abated your concern for the welfare of the coun try, nor prevented your endeavors to promote it. e thank your Excellency ; and upon this assurance we have reason to hope you have employed your in-
Yfluence in behalf of this people, at a time when they so much stood in need of it, in representing their be-
; havior, in general, in the most candid and favorable view. In this light his Majesty, his Ministry and Parliament, have been desirous of viewing it, and when this good people shall find that your Excellency has served them in so essential a point, they will, we are sure, be ready " to recognize you in the united
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 77
character of a true friend to the province, and a faithful servant of the Crown./
But, may it please your Excellency, we cannot for bear observing, that when you are speaking, as we conceive, of the injustice done his Honor the Lieu tenant Governor, the last year, your manner of ex pression would lead a stranger to think that so horrid an act of villany was perpetrated, by the body of this people. The infatuation, you tell us, " has been car ried to such a degree of injustice, that the princi pal object of the fury of the people, was a gentleman to whom they were most highly indebted for his services in the very cause for which they rose against him. Your Excellency, no doubt, means that the whole people, and not a part only, were most highly indebted to this gentleman for his services, and that the particular cause in which he had been engaged, concerned them all ; and yet, so infatuated have the body of the people been, that they even rose against this very gentleman, and made him the object of their fury ! Is not this the natural meaning of your words ? And will it not, sir, afford matter of triumph to the unrelenting enemies of this province, to hear the Governor himself declaring that this was the " prevailing temper of the people ; " that such was their " violent and precipitate measures," and that a veil cannot, even now, be drawn over so " disgraceful a scene," because the same temper among the people in general still prevails. There may, sir, be a general popular discontent upon good grounds. The people may sometimes have just reason to complain ; your Excellency must be sensible, that in such a circum-
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stance, evil minded persons may take the advantage, and rise in tumult. This has been too common in the best regulated and best disposed cities in Europe. Under cover of the night a few villains may do much mischief. And such, sir, was the case here ; but the virtue of the people themselves finally suppressed the mob ; and we have reason to believe, that the unaf fected concern which they discover at so tragical a scene, their united detestation of it, their spirited measures to prevent further disorders, and other cir cumstances well known to the honorable gentleman himself, have fully satisfied him, that such an imputa tion was without reason. But for many months past there has been an undisturbed tranquillity in general, in this province, and for the greater part of the time, merely from a sense of good order in the people, while they have been in a great measure deprived of the public tribunals, and the administration of justice, and so far thrown into a state of nature.
We are at a loss to conceive your Excellency's meaning, when you allude to some proceedings which "when known at home you fear will afford matter of triumph to those who were for maintaining the stamp act, and sorrow and concern to those who procure its repeal;" and when you tell us that " the inflamma tion of the country has been a grand object with some persons," we cannot suppose your Excellency would make a public declaration of a matter of such importance without good grounds. An attempt to inflame a country is a crime of very dark complexion. You tell us that a stop has not yet been put to that pursuit ; we hope you have taken every prudent and
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legal step in your own department to prevent it. Permit us however, to say, that it is possible you may have been misinformed, by persons not well af fected to this people, and who would be glad to have it thought that we were turbulent and factious, and perpetually murmuring, even after every cause of complaint is removed. Such characters may still ex ist in the persons of some who have taken all occa sions from the just resentment of the people, to represent them as inflammatory, disaffected and dis loyal. Should there be any persons so abandoned, as to make it the object of their policy, to inflame the minds of the people against a wise, a good, a "mild and moderate administration," they may be assured of the severest censures of this House as soon as they are known.
But the manner in which you are pleased to ex plain the grounds of your testimony against the elec tions of the present year, seems to imply that it is your opinion that the two Houses have been so far influenced by an inflammatory spirit in particular persons, as even to make an attack upon the govern ment in form. The two Houses proceeded in these elections with perfect good humor and good under standing ; and as no other business had been trans acted when we were favored with your speech, it is astonishing to us, that you should think this a time to " interrupt the general harmony." We are wholly at a loss to conceive how a full, free and fair election can be called " an attack upon the government in form," " a professed intention to deprive it of its best and most able servants," "an ill-judged and ill
8o THE WRITINGS OF [1766
timed oppugnation of the King's authority." These, may it please your Excellency, are high and griev ous charges against the two Houses, and such as we humbly conceive, no crowned head since the revolu tion has thought fit to bring against two Houses of Parliament. It seems to us to be little short, if any thing, of a direct impeachment of the two Houses of high treason. Oppugnation of the King's author ity is but a learned mode of expression, which re duced to plain English, is fighting against the King's most excellent Majesty. But what, sir, is the op pugnation which we have been guilty of ? We were summoned and convened here to give our free suf frages at the general election, directed to be annually made by the royal charter. We have given our suffrages according to the dictates of our conscien ces, and the best light of our understanding. It was certainly our right to choose, and as clearly a constitutional power in your Excellency to dis approve, without assigning a reason either before or after your dissent.. Your Excellency has thought proper to disapprove of some. We are far even from suggesting that the country has by this means been deprived of its best and ablest servants. We have released those of the Judges of the Superior Court who had the honor of a seat at the Board, from the cares and perplexities of politics, and given them opportunity to make still farther advances in the knowledge of the law, and to administer right and justice within this jurisdiction. We have also left other gentlemen more at leisure to discharge the duties and functions of their important offices. This
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surely is not to deprive the government of its best and ablest servants, nor can it be called an oppugna- tion of any thing, but a dangerous union of legisla tive and executive power in the same persons ; a grievance long complained of by our constituents, and the redress of which some of us had special in struction, to endeavor at this very election to obtain.
Your Excellency is pleased to say, that only one of all the American petitions " was well received and of real use in producing the repeal ; " that peti tion was forwarded from this province in season, to be presented to the Parliament, before the stamp act was passed ; by whose influence the presentation of it was so long delayed by Mr. Agent Jackson, and omitted through that whole session of parlia ment, it is needless for us at present to inquire. If it was so well received, as your Excellency tells us it was, and of real use in procuring the repeal, there is reason to think it might have had its designed effect to prevent the passing that act, and saved this continent from that distress and confusion in which it has been involved. But your Excellency is under a mistake, in supposing that this petition, alone, was well received and of real use. Those from the late general congress, we are informed by our agent Mr. Deberdt, were early laid before the Ministry, and were well received by them. He tells us, that Mr. Secretary Conway kindly undertook to present that, which was prepared for his Majesty ; and as the royal ear is always open to the distresses of his people, we have not the least reason to doubt but
VOL. I.— 6.
c
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that so united a supplication of his American sub jects was graciously considered by him ; and with regard to those to the two Houses of Parliament, one of them at least we know was highly approved of by the chairman of the committee for American affairs, was read in the House of Commons, and sup ported by Mr. Pitt ; it was never rejected, and we cannot suppose it failed of due attention merely for want of form. In truth sir, we look back with the utmost pleasure upon the wisdom of the last House of Representatives, in proposing such a union of the colonies ; and although some have taken great pains to lessen the weight and importance of the late con gress in the minds of the people, we have the stron gest reason to believe that their firm and prudent measures had a very great influence in procuring this happy repeal.
You are pleased to make a declaration that " when ever an opportunity shall offer to restore harmony and union to the provincial councils, you will most cordially embrace it." The time, sir, is already come ; never was there so happy a juncture, in which to accomplish so desirable an end ; and it will be the pride of this House to improve it ; with this disposition we come together. If any expression or sentiment in your speech should have a contrary effect, as it will so far defeat our honest intention, it will fill us with real concern. Permit us also to say, that it will disappoint the expectations of his Majesty and the Parliament in repealing the stamp act ; for it is most reasonable in them to expect that the restoration of the colonies to domestic peace and
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tranquillity will be the happy effect of the establish ment of their just rights and liberties.
When your Excellency shall " be assisted by special instruction, and speak to us with greater authority than your own," we shall be all attention ; being as sured, from past experience, that everything coming from his Majesty will be full of grace and truth.
ANSWER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSA CHUSETTS TO THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH. JUNE 5, 1766.
[Massachusetts State Papers, pp. 88-91.]
May it please your Excellency,
THE House have fully considered your Excellency's speech of the third instant, and beg leave to observe, that as on the one hand no consideration shall ever induce us to remit in the least our loyalty and grati tude to the best of Kings, so on the other, no unpro voked asperity of expression on the part of your Excellency can deter us from asserting our undoubted charter rights and privileges. One of the principal of those is, that of annually choosing his Majesty's Council for this province.
Had the most excellent letter from one of his Maj esty's principal Secretaries of State, which has been communicated to the House, arrived sooner, it could not have prevented the freedom of our elections ; nor can we, on the strictest examination of the transac tions 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 privi-
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leges 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.
Lest we should be at a loss for the proceedings and transactions which have given your Excellency so much uneasiness, you have been pleased to inform us, in express terms, that you " mean the excluding from the King's Council the principal Crown Offi cers ; men not only respectable in themselves for their integrity, their abilities and their fidelity to their country, as well as to their King, but also quite necessary to the administration of government in the very station from whence we have displaced them." Had your Excellency thought fit to have favored us with your sentiments and opinion of the candidates previously to the election, it could not have more arrested our attention as a breach of our privileges ; and it would surely be as proper to give intimations of this kind before, as now the business is past a remedy, for this year at least. The Assembly of another year will act for themselves, or under such influence and direction as they may think fit. The two Crown Officers who were of the Honorable Board the last year, and not chosen this, are the Lieutenant Governor and Secretary. The other gen tlemen of the Board last year, who are not chosen this, hold only provincial commissions. This province has subsisted and flourished, and the administration of government has been carried on here entirely to the royal approbation, when no Crown Officers had a
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seat at the Board, and we trust this may be the case again. We find not in the Secretary of State's letter the least intimation that it was expected by his Maj- jesty or his Ministry, that we should elect into his Majesty's Council the principal, or indeed any other Crown Officers. For anything that appears in the letter, we are left entirely to the exercise of our own judgment and best discretion in making our elections agreeably to the royal charter.
If it is not now in our power in so full a manner, as will be expected, to show our respectful gratitude to the mother country, or to make a dutiful, affec tionate return to the indulgence of the King and Parliament, it shall be no fault of ours; for this we intend and hope, we shall be able fully to effect.
We cannot persuade ourselves that it must and will be understood that those gentlemen were turned out, as your Excellency is pleased to express it, for their deference to acts of the British Legislature. We have given the true reason of this proceeding in our answer to your Excellency's first speech of this session. We are under no apprehension that when the true grounds and reasons of our proceedings are known and candidly considered, we shall be in the least degree chargeable with unthankfulness and dis satisfaction on ground of former heat and prevailing prejudice, or on any other ground.
Your Excellency says, " it is impossible to give any tolerable coloring to this proceeding." The in tegrity and uprightness of our intentions and conduct is such, that no coloring is requisite, and therefore we shall excuse ourselves from attempting any. We
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hold ourselves to be quite free in our suffrages ; and provided we observe the directions of our charter, and the laws of the land, both which we have strictly adhered to, we are by no means accountable but to God and our own consciences for the manner in which we give them. We believe your Excellency is the first Governor of this province that ever form ally called the two Houses of Assembly to account for their suffrages, and accused them of ingratitude and disaffection to the Crown, because they had not bestowed them on such persons as in the opinion of the Governor, were quite necessary to the administra tion 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 disobey ing their master's will and pleasure when it is wholly unknown to them.
Your Excellency says, " If it should be justified by asserting a right, that is, a legal power to choose whom we please, without regard to any considerations whatever, the justification itself will tend to impeach the right." We clearly assert our charter rights of a free election. But for your Excellency's definition of this right, viz. "a legal power to choose whom we please, without regard to any considerations what ever," we contend not. We made our elections after the most mature and deliberate consideration, and had special regard to the qualifications of the candi dates, and all circumstances considered, chose those we judged most likely to serve his Majesty, and pro-
1766] , SAMUEL ADAMS. 87
mote the welfare and prosperity of his people. We cannot conceive how the assertion of our clear charter right of free election can tend to impeach that right or charter. We would hope that your Excellency does not mean open and publicly to threaten us with a deprivation of our charter privileges, merely for exercising them according to our best judgment and discretion. As to us, as our charter is, we should think it of very little value, if it should be adjudged that the sense and spirit of it require the electors should be under the absolute direction and control of the Chair, even in giving their suffrages. For what ever may be our ideas of the wisdom, prudence, mild ness and moderation of your administration, of your forgiving spirit, yet we are not sure your successor will possess those shining virtues.
We are very sensible that be our right of elec tion ever so clear and absolute, there is a distinction between a right and the propriety of exercising it. This distinction we hope, will apply itself with full force, and all its advantage to your Excellency's re luctant exertion of the prerogative in disapproving six of the gentlemen chosen by the two Houses of Assembly. But this being a matter of discretion, is solely within your Excellency's breast, and we are taught by your just distinction, that such is the gift of suffrages. It therefore gives us great pain to have our discretion questioned, and our public conduct thus repeatedly arraigned.
Your Excellency has intimated your readiness to concur with us in any palliative or expedient to pre vent the bad effects of our elections, which you think
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must surely be very hurtful to the province, if it should be maintained and vindicated. But, as we are under no apprehensions of any such effects, especially when we reflect on the ability and integrity of the Council your Excellency has approved of, we beg leave to excuse ourselves from any unnecessary search after palliatives or expedients.
We thank your Excellency for your kind assurances of " using all means to save the credit of this pro vince." But we conceive that when the true state of the province is represented and known, its credit can be in no kind of danger. The recommendation en joined by Mr. Secretary Con way's letter, and in con sequence thereof made to us, we shall embrace the first convenient opportunity to consider and act upon. In the mean time cannot but observe, that it is con ceived in much higher and stronger terms in the speech than in the letter. Whether in thus exceed ing, your Excellency speaks by your own authority, or a higher, is not with us to determine.
However, if this recommendation, which your Ex cellency terms a requisition, be founded on " so much justice and humanity that it cannot be controverted : " If "the authority with which it is introduced should pre clude all disputation about complying with it," we should be glad to know what freedom we have in the case.
In answer to the questions which your Excellency has proposed with so much seeming emotion, we beg leave to declare, that we will not suffer ourselves to be in the least influenced by party animosities or domestic feuds, let them exist where they may : that
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if we can possibly prevent it, this fine country shall never be ruined by any person : that it shall be through no default of ours, should this people be deprived of the great and manifest advantages which the favor and indulgence of our most gracious Sovereign and his Parliament are even now providing for them. On the contrary, that it shall ever be our highest ambition, as it is our duty, so to demean ourselves in public and private life, as shall most clearly demonstrate our loy alty and gratitude to the best of Kings, and thereby recommend this people to further gracious marks of the royal clemency and favor.
With regard to the rest of your Excellency's speech, we are sorry we are constrained to observe, that the general lir and style of its savors much more of an act of .ree grace and pardon, than of a parliamentary address to the two Houses of Assembly ; and we most sincerely wish your Excellency had been pleased to reserve it (if needful) for a proclamation.
THE TOWN OF BOSTON TO DENNYS DE BERDT. OCTOBER 22, 1766.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i, Lenox Library ; a modified text appears in Boston Record Commissioners' Report, vol. 16, pp. 191-194.]
SIR
The Freeholders & other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston being legally assembled in Faneuil Hall have appointed as a Comte to address you in their Behalf & to beg your friendly assistance as you shall judge necessary in an Affair in which they apprehend their Reputation & Interest may be greatly concernd—
90 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
Before we proceed to the particular matter which is the Occasion of 'our writing we beg leave to ob serve that upon the happy repeal of the late Stamp Act, we were informd that our Adversarys had even predicted that America would receive the News in a manner, haughty & disrespectfull to His Majesty & the Parliament — And we have seen with astonish ment & Indignation, in the Protest of some of the Lords against the Repeal, that one Reason of their Lordships Protest was, that they had been made acquainted that it was the Design of the Americans to bring the Authority of Parliament for the future into Contempt. We have Reason to believe that the Decency which was observd by Persons of every rank in all the Colonys in their publick rejoycings upon that memorable Occasion has convincd the sen sible & impartial Part of the nation that such Appre hensions & Predictions were without just Grounds ; & we flatter our selves that their Lordships may by this time have reason to conclude that their Informa tion from this side the Water was at least sudden & injudicious, & perhaps the Effect of a deep rooted Prejudice against the Colonys, a strong desire to have the Act enforcd & a Determination at all Haz ards to prevent its repeal.
"The Truth is, the Colonys who universally pride themselves in being British Subjects, & have the warmest Sense of the Blessings of the British Con stitution, for ever considerd the Act as a Violation of that happy Constitution, & they have the Satisfac tion of being informd that this Opinion was sup ported by a Number of the most illustrious as well as
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS 91
respectable of both houses of Parliam'Tj In this View of the nature of the Act the Colonys~first Petitiond against it even when it was a Bill but without Success & afterwards came into resolutions to transmit to Pos terity their Sense of it, with Assurance that if it was finally put into Execution it \vd not be with their Con sent. The People universally opposd the Act but at the same time discoverd the most zealous Attachment to his Majestys Person & governm1 & the strongest Affection to their fellow Subjects the People of Great Britain. This we know some of our Enemys have endeavord to represent as a Paradox,& from an un easiness or if they please an opposition to a single Act, upon an apprehension of its being unconstitu tional, they would inferr a settled Design to bring the whole Authority of Parliam1 into Contempt as if it could not possibly be supposd of an affectionate & dutifull son whose reverence for his fathers Au thority could never be impeachd, that yet in a sin gle Instance might see the unreasonableness of his Fathers Command & with the deepest regret be even ready to refuse Obedience. An Opposition to an Act of Parliam' merely from a regard to the Consti tution cannot surely be lookd upon as a Contempt of the Authority of Governm* since Government it self is built upon & circumscribd by the Constitution, or in other Words to contend for the grand Design & Ends for which Governm' was originally instituted is the best if not the only Way to support its Authority. The Colonys were discontented with the Act because they thought it overleapt the Bounds of the Consti tution — that it defeated one of the essential Designs
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qfjGovernm1 in the Security of Property. l_ If they were in an Error it -was an Error of their Judgment/ only of which however they have never yet been convincd — to insinuate that the Opposition to the Act was mere pretence & that the Design to the Colonys was to weaken the just Authority of Par- Ham1 & by degrees to shake off a constitutional De pendence is unsupportable by a single fact or the least Shadow of reason ; it is base ungenerous & unjust.
This Town has always been very carefull during the late Times of Calamity to preserve as much as possible Good order among its Inhabitants, of which they gave an Early Proof when a dangerous Mob arose & some Outrages were committed by Persons as yet unknown. A good deal of Mischief was done as all the World have been told, however after all the Exaggerations the whole Dammage is short of ^4000 — but it will appear the less surprizing that so much was done when it is considerd that the Mob was sudden & unexpected & appeard so furious as to occasion a general Consternation, & besides it being in the night, it was not easy to distinguish between them & the innocent People. Yet the In habitants were far from being inactive in their En deavors to suppress immediately — they made diverse Attempts & took every step that could be thought of amidst the Confusion. A number went to the Govrs House to take his Excys Orders but he was not in town — from whence one would conclude that he was no more apprehensive of such a tumult from any Appearances than others were. If there had been any reason to have expected it, we presume his'
iy66l SAMUEL ADAMS. 93
Excys Care for the Peace & Order of the Governm* wd have procurd the first Intelligence & that he wd have thought it his duty to have been present or at least that he wd have taken the necessary Pre cautions & given Orders to have prevented it — but the Inhabitants were left to do the best they could, & there is no doubt but much more mischief wd have been done if they had not made use of Art & Perswasion when they fortunately wanted the Coun tenance of his Excys Authority As a town they express'd their Detestation of such Proceedings early the next day and assured the civil Magistrate that they were ready to assist to their utmost in restoring the Peace of the Town as you will see by the inclosd vote & we may venture to assure you that the Efforts of Persons of every order & Condition in town in Consequence of this Resolution was the principal Means of suppressing the Mob which was done in one day. Yet we have been ungratefully & publickly chargd with being tame Spectators of this Outrage & have been told that our reputation suffers much in the Opinion of the World on this Account. But whatever representa tion may have been made to our Prejudice, which we think we have some good reason to suspect, our most inveterate Enemy dare not openly assert that the civil Authority in this County & even thro the Province has not as good reason to be assured of the Assistance of the People in the legal Exercise of Power as in any County in England.
This leads us to give you an Account of some late Occurrences in this Town which is the particular
94 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
.. Occasion of our troubling you with this Letter. A few Weeks past the Collector & Comptroller of his Majestys Customs for this Port having, as they said, an Information that goods illegally imported were lodgd in the Custody of one Mr Malcomb an In habitant of the Town, they accordingly repaird to his House accompanied with the Sherriff of the County & there demanded an Entry into his Cellars. Mr Malcomb admitted them into every Apartment, saving one which being let he told them the Key was not in his Possession. They threatned to enter by force, which Mr Malcomb told them they must do at their Peril — however not having sufficient Au thority as they apprehended, they then retired, Mr Malcomb supposing they wd return, determind to fasten his house that if they enterd it shd be forceably, being assurd from the Declaration of the Person who hired the aforesaid Cellar & his own knowlege of the other Apartments that no Countra- band Goods were there. The Officers returnd in the Afternoon & after some Attempts tho without Violence to get an Entry they again retired & came no more. His Excy our Govr has been pleasd to summon the Officers & Sherriff before mentiond & some other Persons to give their Depositions respecting this Matter. The Town thinking it unreasonable & a Grievance that Evidences should be taken ex parte touching the Conduct of any of their Inhabitants at their Meeting Appointed a Comte to wait on the Govr & pray his Excy to give Orders to the Secre tary to communicate to the Town Clerk Copys of the Depositions, wch was afterwards done. Upon a
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS,
95
Perusal of them the Town apprehended that they containd a partial Account of the Behavior of the People who from mere Curiosity had got together, that they tended to corroborate the Designs of our Enemy, & might be made the Ground of further misrepresentations, & therefore directed their Comte to take the Depositions of other Persons of Credit who were present Copys of which together with those taken before the Govr in Council are inclosd.
It is apprehended that it is his Excys Design to transmit his Account of this Matter to the Ministry, & therefore the Town beg the favor of you to make Enquiry whether he has so done, & in Case he has, that you would cause to be laid before the Ministry the whole State of the Matter. We have the more reason to apprehend that this Step will be taken, as things of this Sort have been heretofore done : There is a Set of Men in America who are continu ally transmitting to the Mother Country odious & false Accounts of the Colonys ; which is a Crime of the most dangerous Tendency. It is probable it has already had its ill Effect in exciting a ground less Jealousy in the nation, & may, if not checkd, too soon prove fatal to both Countrys. It is not long since the Depositions of a Number of Persons were clandestinely & illegally taken, in direct terms prejudicing the Characters of some Gentlemen of fortune & reputation in this Town, and representing the Merchts of the Province in general as setting up in Opposition to the Acts of Parliam1 for the Regu lation of Trade, than which nothing can be more notoriously false & injurious. One of their De-
96 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
ponents was a Person of the most infamous Charac ter, whose name is Richardson. This Fallow has for a long time subsisted by the Business of an Informer & is said to be such an one as was never encouragd under any Administration but such as those Nero or Caligula — that the Evidence of this detestable Person might have its Weight, they gave him the Addition of Enquire. We say these Depositions were clandestine because they were taken ex parte— - the Person injurd by them were never notifyd as Law & common Equity requires, & the first notice they had of them was from their friends on your side the Water, after they had made the Impressions that were intended. If such mannagements as these are allowd, What Man or what Corporation is secure from Proscriptions! We must confess that the whole Affair in all its Circumstances will appear too trifling to claim the Attention of the govr or the Town, but the hopes of defeating the Designs of their Enemys & an earnest Desire to stand fair in the Mind of their Sovereign & his ministers as well as their friends & all good Men at home especially at this Juncture : they hope will excuse their giving you
this Trouble.1
I am Sir
Your most humble servant
JAMES OTIS. P Order of the Committee.
P. S. The Town have passed a Vote to reimburst any charge in your conducting this Affair—
1 From this point the manuscript draft is not in the autograph of Adams.
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 97
TO DENNYS DE BERDT.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i., Lenox Library.]
t BOSTON Novr n 1766.
SIR
The House of Representatives have receivd your several Letters of 28 July, the 6th Aug41 & 19th Septr.2 Your early Care to get their humble Address 3 presented to our most gracious Sovereign is very agreable to them. It is a great Satisfaction to the House, that as this Province is second to no one of his Majestys Colonys in Point of Loyalty, this publick Testimony of it was the first that arrivd on the same Occasion from America. They ac- knowlege with all possible Respect & Gratitude the Letters they have receivd from their Friends & Patrons, & now inclose you their Vote of Thanks to several others, whom they had the great Misfortune to omit.
Your Letter of the 6th of Augfc mentions Lord Darmouth5 having heard " that this Assembly had refusd to make the Indemnification recommended by Parliament." The House have the most grateful! Sense of his Lordships Concern for us, & beg that you would assure his Lordship, that the Informa tion he had receivd, was without Grounds. His Majestys most gracious & mild Recommendation, a Term which his Lordship & our noble & generous Patrons took so much Pains to use, was construed by the Govr of this Province into a Requisition pre cluding all Deliberation : And his Excy is pleasd
1 Printed in Massachusetts Stale Papers, p. 101.
9 Ibid., p. 102. 3 Ibid., pp. 91, 92,
VOL. I.— 7.
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to tell the House1 that it was expected that Com pensation be made to the Sufferers at all Events : Such Language from the Chair, to the representa tives of a free People, who hold their Right of granting their Constituents moneys, uncontroulable, must unavoidably be very displeasing; & how far it comports with the lenient methods so strongly urgd in Mr Secretary Conways Letter above a year ago, it is needless at present to say. An exact Compliance with his Majestys gracious Intentions, that every conciliatory Purpose should be pursued, could not have faild of producing the most happy Effects, in promoting harmony among the several Branches of Legislature, ever most earnestly de sired, as well as Peace & Quietness among the People ; but we are under a Necessity of saying that, this Matter of Compensation was always mentiond to the House in a Manner derogatory to their Honor & in Breach of their Privileges. This the House would have been far from mention ing now had not his Excy at this Session referrd us to his former Speeches on the Subject without saying any thing to qualify or soften them.
The House however was so far from refusing to comply with the Kings recommendation, that they ever attended to it with the most dutifull respect, & referrd the Matter to this Session that in the mean time they might have an Opportunity to con sult their Constituents, & the Suffer .... make Application in a parliamentary Way . . . they
'Governor Bernard to the House of Representatives, June 27, 1766; Mas sachusetts State Papers, pp. 94, 95.
1 766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 99
have done at this session. The house have in the present Session repeatedly & most dispassionately considerd Mr Secretarys Letter : And observing that it is therein declared to be his Majestys most pious Resolution that not only Compensation should be made to the Sufferers, but the Undutifull Behavior of any of his Subjects in the late unhappy times should be forgiven & forgot : And being deeply impressd with His Majestys Royal Clemency, they have framd a Bill for making Compensation & to indemnify accordingly. The Bill is publishd by Order of the House for the Consideration of the People, & there is good reason to expect that the Matter will be compleated at our Winter Session.1
TO DENNYS DE BERDT. NOVEMBER 15, 1766. [MS., Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i., Lenox Library.]
SIR
By this Conveyance I have written you in Con junction with John Hancock Esqr as a Com1 of the House of Representatives2 upon a Petition of Mr Thos Boylston, who has been a great Sufferer by the Mai Conduct of diverse Crown Officers as youl see by his papers. I now beg leave as a private Individual to acquaint you that his Case is not singular. There have been other Instances of the
1 The bill was finally passed December 6, 1766, and disallowed by the Privy Council, May 13, 1767. An elaborate note on the proceedings is in Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts, vol. iv., pp. 931-945.
3 The manuscript of this letter, consisting of three pages, of which eight lines are in the autograph of Adams, is still extant, although privately owned.
ioo THE WRITINGS OF [1766
same kind, & if they should multiply, & no re dress had, it will not only discourage the Trade of America which is really the Trade of Great Britain, but also tend to excite a Jealousy in the Minds of the People here of the Mother Country which every Well wisher to both would carefully prevent if possible. Besides as the House have written to you that there is good Reason to expect that a Compensation to the Sufferers by the late Disorders here will be compleated at the Winter Session ; When that is done I think a strong Ar gument may be deducd therefrom in favr of Mr Boylston, for if the Gov1 here make good the Dam ages done to the Officers of the Crown by a Law less unknown Rabble, the Justice of the Nation will as surely make good the Dammage done to a private Subject by their Officers, in Instances, one of wch had but a bare pretence & the other not the least Color of Law, especially as in the latter Case the Sufferer can have no hopes of Redress but from the Lenity of the Government
Since I have mentiond Compensation, allow me to give you a short Acco* of the Manner in which that Matter has been conducted here. The Govr first introducd it in a Speech to the House in Sept 1 765 1 advising them to make a Compensation of their own Accord before any Requisition shd be made to them, to wch the House replyd that they highly disapprovd of the Violences committed, but till they were convincd that their making Compen sation wd not tend to encourage such Outrages for
1 September 25, 1765 ; Massachusetts State Papers, p. 42.
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 101
time to come, & till some good Reason, could be assignd, why those Losses shd be made good, rather than, any Damage wch other Persons on any different Occasions m* suffer they could not see their way clear &c withal adding that they cd not conceive who had any Right to require it of them.1
Thus the Matter rested till the next May Session when his Excy was displeasd with the two Houses for the Elections they had made,2 & gave them a Speech wch displeasd them as much. At this time the Govr recd Mr Secretary Conways Letter & his Majesty's Orders to lay before the Assembly his recommendation for making Compensation. The Govr introducd it with another Speech3 more dis pleasing than the former, telling the two Houses that they had anticipated the Expectations of the King & Parliam* & disappointed them — that it was not in their Power in so full a Manner to make a dutifull & affectionate Return to ye Indulgence of the King & Paliamr' — that they could not avoid being chargeable with Unthankfulness on Ground of former heats & that it was impossible to give any tollerable Coloring to their Proceedings. And in the same Speech construing the Kings most gracious Recommendation into a Requisition precluding all Deliberation.
1 October 23, 1765 ; Massachusetts State Papers, p. 48.
2 The members of the General Court omitted to re-elect to the Council five leading members of the government party, Thomas Hutchinson, Andrew Oliver, Peter Oliver, Edmund Trowbridge and Benjamin Lynde, all office holders, of whom Governor Bernard spoke as the government's "best and most able servants, whose only crime is their fidelity to the Crown."
3 June 3, 1766 ; ibid., p. 81.
102 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
The House resented this treatm' in their Answer. However they took the Matter into Consideration & acquainted his Excy that they viewd it not as an Act of Justice but rather of Generosity, & that they did not think they had a Right to dispose of their Con stituents Money for such a Purpose without their consent. Moreover the Sufferers had not yet applyd to them in a parliamentary Way. For these Reasons they referrd the further Consideration of the Matter to their next Session that they mr consult their Con stituents thereupon. After which the Court was pro rogued from time to time till the 29 October.
In this time the People made the Matter of Compensation the Topick of their Conversation. The Govrs speeches were publishd & gave them great disgust. They were jealous of the Right of their Representatives, to make so important a Subject as the granting away their Money for such a Purpose, a Matter of their own Deliberation & perhaps did not so much attend to the Utility of the Measure proposd as the Manner in which it was laid before the House by the Govr. This together with another Circum stance viz the Sufferers themselves not being the most popular men, I am apt to think was the Occa sion, that the Generality of the Members of the House or rather the Majority of them were instructed against making Compensation.
The Court came together the 29 Ult. & the House considerd & debated upon the Subject with the greatest Deliberation & Candor.
The Objections against a Compensation were, That Justice did require it as the Province owed the
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 103
Sufferers Nothing nor was there room for Charity, they being not the Objects of it : That the Kings Recommendation was grounded on the Opinion & resolution of the House of Commons " that we ought to make Compensation," but tho the Judgment of the House of Commons might be allowd to be supe rior in general to that of the House of Representa tives, yet this Case might be excepted, they not being upon the Spot, & so not acquainted with neces sary Circumstances upon which to form a right Judg ment ; & therefore no reasonable Exception could be taken against the House for not making the Compen sation, unless they themselves were of Opinion that they ought so to do. Those who were in favor of the Question urgd his Majestys very gracious recom mendation, & the great Deferrence which ought to be paid to it, which was on all sides freely allowd & acknowledgd : That the Term recommendation was perfectly consistent with our Liberty, upon wch we m* grant our Money freely : That our good Friends at home all hoped we should comply, & that our Enemys only, hoped we should not : That it was of the greatest Importance to both Countrys, that a good Understanding & Harmony shd be preservd between Great Britain & her Colonys : And that making Compensation wd tend to promote Peace & Quietness in the Province. These & other reasons were so strongly urgd that the Generality of the House seemd to be convincd that it was most eligi ble to do it, but the Majority were restraind by In- ~7 structions to the Contrary, to which in this Country \ the strictest regard is had. The House finally agreed
104 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
upon a Bill to compensate the Sufferers & indemnify the offenders wch appeard to them Exactly conform able to His Majestys most benevolent Intentions; Which Bill is publishd for the Consideration of the People, & it is hoped & expected will pass into a Law the next Session.
I must ask Pardon for taking up so much of your Attention & am with very great Esteem
Sr yr most hum6 Serv1
TO DENNYS DE BERDT. DECEMBER 2, 1766. [MS., Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i, Lenox Library.]
SIR
I wrote you on the 15 ult by Cap Devenson. I then undertook to give you a short Account of the several Steps that had been taken by the Govr & the House of Representatives respecting a Compensa tion to the late Sufferers — the Gen1 Court was ad- journd the 13 & will meet tomorrow — on the Day of the Adjournm1 the Govr communicated to the House a Letr he had just recd from the R' Hon the Earl of Shelburne in wch his Lordship tells him, that he had recd his late Letters & their Inclosures & had communicated them to his Majesty & that His Ma jesty is extremely sorry &C.1
You will easily believe that it must be to the great est Degree grievous to every loyal & affectionate Subject, to be under the Displeasure of Sovereign.
1 The letter is printed in Massachusetts State Papers, pp. 99, 100.
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 105
And I dare say his Lordships Letter has occasiond the utmost Concern in the Mind of every one who has seen it, except those who may be supposd to have abusd the Province. It is certain that some Person has misrepresented us, & many of the best sort of People here, are of Opinion that the Person who has done it, is under such Obligations to this Province as should have made him blush to have conceivd a Thought of it. It is often a misfortune to the Colonys that those from whom it is expected that the most authentic Accounts shd be transmitted of our Character & Circumstances are too much un der the Power of Prejudice to be impartial Relators of Truth, & yet their Station may be such as easily to gain full Credit on your side the Water. You cannot wonder Sir that we are very sollicitous to know what representations have been made of us to His Majesty to occasion his Displeasure, & by whom. It seems to be no more than justice that we shd be made acquainted with these things, otherwise it is out of the Power of innocent Persons to defend themselves against the blackest slander.
The House of Representatives were told by the Govr in his Speech last May, that they could not avoid being chargeable with Unthankfulness to his Majesty & the ParlianV on Ground of former heats. I never yet heard any good why his Excy shd form such a Conclusion. It is undeniable that the People recd the News of the repeal of the Stamp Act with equal Gratitude & Joy, and the two houses after wards met in Gen1 Assembly with a very happy Dis position. It is true their Elections were displeasing
106 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
to the Govr, but the Assembly acted agreable to the Dictates of their own minds & as they apprehended for the publick Good. The Govr negativd six of the Gentlemen elected,1 as a legal & constitutional Power in his hands to maintain the Kings Authority agt what he expressly called an Oppugnation of it. It seems ye Assembly omitted several Genn who had before been Councellors, & whom his Excy was very fond of upon wch he was pleasd to tell them, that " When the Gov' is attackd in form, when there is a professd intention to deprive it of its best & ablest Servts whose only Crime is their fidelity to the Crown he could not be indifferent." At the same time he declared "that he wd use his utmost Endeavors to heal Divisions & bury Animositys." But how easy wd it have been to have foreseen that such high re- sentm* & sharp Language, must have had a different Effect. And so it provd ; for the harmony between the Govr & the People wch is so necessary for the Support of Gov*, & a mutual Confidence wch was greatly interrupted the last year, by means of the Se verity of Expression in the Speeches then deliverd, seems to me to be irrecoverably lost. But whatever Disputes may subsist between ye Govr & ye People, there is most certainly, no ill temper in the least Degree prevailing wth regard to his Majesty or the Parliam1 or our happy Connection with the mother Country. You are sensible of the Sentiments of ye house, expressd in their humble Address to his Maj esty, & their Letters to their friends & patrons : You
1 James Otis as Speaker, and Messrs. Otis, Gerrish, Saunders, Bowers, Spar- hawk, and Dexter as Councillors ; May 29, 1766.
1 766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 107
may depend upon their Sincerity ; & that no Sever- itys here will induce this People to abate their warm est Attachm' to his Majestys Person family & Gov\ their Acknowlegmts to their illustrious Patrons & their affectionate regard to their fellow Subjects in G. B.— Of this I doubt not you will soon have a fresh In stance : for when the Compensation is made, I believe it may be truly said that the only motive that cd have prevaild in favr of it, was a sacred Regard to the royal recommendation, & a strong desire to gratify the Inclinations of our obliging friends.
It may be necessary before I finish to beg your patience while I give you the reasons, wch probably indued the two houses to leave out several Gent of undoubted Abilitys who had been Councellors for some years before, tho the Assembly differd from his Excy in Opinion " that they were quite necessary for ye Administrat" of Gov1 in ye very Stations from whence they were displacd." He says that "it must & will be understood that they were turnd out for their Deferrence to Acts of ye British Legislature." His Excy with great Submission ought to have been very certain before he gave this as a reason : Indeed it must be said he is pretty positive when he adds " you will not, you cannot avoid being chargeable with unthankfulness on Ground of former heats " and, " that it is impossible to give any tollerable Coloring to this Proceeding." Now if it was known to our friends at home, that there has been for many years past a great Uneasiness, that the Lieut' Govr of the Province & the Judges of the Superior Court shd sit at the Council Board, as part of the legislative Power,
io8 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
because it was such a Union of the several Powers of Gov1 in the same Persons, as upon the Principles of the best Writers is dangerous to Liberty, I say if this was known to our friends, as it was in fact the Case, they m* still entertain a favorable Opinion of us, even tho they should not approve of our reasoning ; & I am perswaded, wd his Majesty be made acquainted that the Assembly were governd by such a Motive it wd at least serve to remove that Displeasure wch he has discoverd, upon its being represented to him, as it is supposd that they acted in Contempt of his Authority & left out Gentn for their fidelity to the Crown & their Deference to Acts of ParlianV.
I make no Doubt sir but you will make the best Use of the Means your friends may put into your Power to vindicate a very loyal but very much injured Province & am with strict truth
Your &c
TO CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN. l
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i., Lenox Library; an incomplete text appears in W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol. i., pp. 132, 133.]
BOSTON Decr n 1766
SIR
I have no other Apology for writing a familiar Epistle to a Gentleman perfectly a Stranger to me than to gratify the request of my good Friend Mr
1 On Gadsden, see E. McCrady, History of South Carolina, 1719-1776, and Ibid., 1775-1780, passim.
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 109
John Hurd who has promisd to deliver this Letter with his own hand — to him I must refer you, & beg you candidly to receive the best Excuse he can make. I have indeed often heard, another of my valuable friends mention you with great Respect : This Gen tleman, Mr Otis, had the pleasure of sitting with you in the late Congress at New York, & he has fre quently told me that you were a zealous Assertor of the most important Cause in which the British Colo- nys were then struggling. x Happy was it for us that a Union was then formd, upon which in my humble Opinion the Fate of the Colonys turnd. What a Blessing to us has the Stamp Act eventually, or to use a trifling word virtually provd, which was calcu lated to enslave & ruin us. When the Colonys saw*" the common Danger they at the same time saw their mutual Dependence & naturally calld in the Assist ance of each other, & I dare say such Friendships & Connections are establishd between them, as shall for the future deter the most virulent Enemy from making another ppen Attempt upon their Rights as j Men & Subjects. But is there no Reason to fear that the Liberty's of the Colonys may be infringd in a less observable manner ? The Stamp Act was like the sword that Nero wishd for, to have decollated the Roman People at a stroke, or like Jobs Sea monster in the heightned Language of Young, " who sinks a River, & who thirsts again." The Sight of such an Enemy at a distance is formidable, while the lurking Serpent lies conceald, & not noticd by the unwary Passenger, darts its fatal Venom. It is necessary then that each Colony should be awake & upon its
no THE WRITINGS OF [1766
Guard — you may ask me what is the Danger — I answer none from His present Majesty & the Par- liamt, in their Intention— ^yet such is human Frailty that "the best may err sometimes "-V-and consider Sir we are remote from the national Parliamt, & un- f represented. You are sensible that what are called
Acts of Trade sensibly affect the Colonys May not such Acts be made thro the Inadvertency of our friends or for want of suitable Intelligence from the Colonys, as may not only injure their Trade but wound their Libertys — suppose for Instance that some time hereafter under the Pretext of Regulating Trade only, a revenue should be designd to be raisd out of the Colonys, would it signify any thing whether it be called a Stamp Act or an Act for the Regulation of the Trade of America. I wish there was a Union and a Correspondence kept up among the merchts thro'out the Continent, but I am still upon the Liber tys of the Colonys. I should tell you what perhaps you know already was I to mention an Act of Par liamt I have lately seen, wherein the Govr & Council of any Province where any of his Majestys Troops may happen to be are enjoyned to make certain Pro vision for them at the Expense of the People of such Province. Tell me Sir whether this is not taxing the Colonys as effectually as the Stamp Act & if so, either we have complaind without Reason, or we have still reason to complain. I have heard that George Gren- ville was told to his face that he missd it in his poli ticks, for he should have stationd a sufficient number of Troops in America before he sent the Stamp Act among them. Had that been the Case it is possible
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS. in
/
your Congress mt have been turnd 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 orderd at least to re main there so long ; perhaps I am captious — however I always lookd upon a standing Army especially in a time of peace not only a Disturbance but in every / respect dangerous to civil Community. Surely then we cannot consent to their quartering among us, & how hard is it for us to be obligd to pay our money to subsist them. If a number shd happen to come into a Province thro Necessity & stand in Need of Supplys, as is the Case at present here, is it not a Disgrace to us to suppose 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 ?
I feel a Disposition to hint many things more ; but I am at present very much streightened for time & besides I am affraid you will think me a very trouble some Correspondent; I shall therefore write no more till I am encouragd by a Letter from you which will very much oblige
Sr yr hume Serv*
TO DENNYS DE BERDT.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i., Lenox Library.]
BOSTON Decr 16 1766
SIR —
My last was of the 2d Inst. I fear you will think me a very troublesome Correspondent!: My only
f A
ii2 THE WRITINGS OF [1766
Inducement to write to you is to let you know Facts that take Place here, that you may be the better able to defend this Province (for which I am satisfyd you have a real Friendship) from Misrepresentations. I am very apt to think his Majestys Ministers have some times wrong Informations sent to them. This was the Case, when Lord Dartmouth was told that the Assembly of this Province had refusd to make the Compensation recommended by His Majesty. They never did refuse it ; & have since done it as you will see by the Letter from the House of Represen tatives.
It is probable a specious Account is sent home, of a Message from the House to the Council, in wch the House desire to know, by what Authority, Acts of Parliam1 are publishd among the Laws of this Prov ince at the Expence of the People ; & possibly Occasion will be taken to represent us as casting Contempt on the British Legislature. The House are [aware of] no Reason for this Message — no doubt they thought, they had a Right to be consulted in every Expence bro't upon their Constituents, even the most trifling. The same Reason perhaps indued them to enquire whether Provision was made for a Number of the Kings Troops lately arrivd here & how. And since I have mentiond this Circumstance I would just make two Observations, first that the Colonys are under Apprehensions of ar-military force to be establishd in America, which they look upon as entirely needless at present for their Protection, & as dangerous at all times to Virtue & Liberty, and secondly, if at any time they should happen to arrive in their Way to
1766] SAMUEL ADAMS. 113
their place of Destination, & need Supply, the People here would never be unwilling to grant their. Sover eign the Aid of their free Accord. They are con- cernd that they should be deprivd of this Honor & Privilege by an Act of ParlianV which injoyns it to be done by the Govr & Council at their Expence this it is apprehended is taxing them as really as was designd & wd have been done by the Stamp Act : & if so they think they "have as good reason to be un easy with this Act as with the other. I sincerely wish for the Continuance of a cordial Affection be tween the Mother State & her Colonys & I am sure nothing will abate it on the part of the Colonys, but her Incroachment on her Libertys, of which, as she well knows, that of taxing themselves is the most essential. Surely she will not blame her Children (to take up her own Language) for imitating the Parent, who has been for ages past renownd for the warmest Attachment to Liberty.-
The Vessell being just now sailing will not allow me to add any more than that I am with Sincerity Sir your most humbe Serv*
Decr 1 8th
SIR
Capt Lyde being prevented sailing by a Storm gives me an Opportunity of writing further. It is of Importance to the Colonys that their Friends should be made acquainted with the Grounds of any Dis content they may be under with Acts of Parliam* : And I may say it is also of Importance to Great
VOL. I. — 8.
i c4 THE WRITINGS OF [1767
Britain her self ; for certainly the best Way for her to make her Colonys a real £ lasting Benefit to her is to give them all consistent Indulgence in Trade, & to remove any Occasion of their suspecting that their Libertys are in danger by the Exertions of the Power of Parliament. Their Affection to their Mother Country is so great that while they are easy in point of Liberty & Trade, nothing can alienate them & as to their Trade, the Profits of it center in Britain. There is nothing the Colonys are more jealous of than the Right of taxing them selves : & this the best Judges in the Nation will allow is an essential Right. While therefore an Act of ParlianV is in force which has the least Appearance of a Design to raise a Revenue out of them their Jealousy will be awake.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS TO DENNYS DE BERDT.1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, vol. i., Lenox Library.]
Mar 1 6 1767
SIR
His Excellency the Govr of this Province having directed the Attendance of the General Assembly, at the opening of this Session, as usual in the Coun cil Chamber, the House of Representatives were surprizd to find the L* Govr taking a place as a Member of the same, in presense of the Governor. They judgd it to be a great Impropriety in it self, &
1 A manuscript copy is in the Lee Papers, vol. i.. pp. 33-35 (Jared Sparks collection), Harvard University Library, in the annotations on which it is described as a " remarkable letter." The committee which reported this letter consisted of Adams, Otis, Hawley, Sheaffe, and Bowers.
1767] SAMUEL ADAMS. 115
repugnant to the Constitution & the Letter of the Charter ; & therefore highly incumbent on them, in the most express & publick Manner to bear their Testimony against it. Accordingly they took Oc casion to animadvert upon it, in their answer 1 to his Excys Speech, which is herewith inclosd together with all that has since passd between the Govr & the House upon this very interesting Subject
Upon a Perusal, you will find, that the House observd upon his Honors taking a Seat in the General Assembly, when conven'd in one place, the Gov* being in the Province, & present ; & accord ingly they have treated it, in their several Messages to the Govr. His Excy endeavors, in his message of Feb2 to justify the Conduct of the Lc Govr, by making a Claim to a Seat in one Branch of the Assembly viz in Council. We are of Opinion that enough is observd in our reply of Feb,3 to show that it is repugnant to that part of the Charter which is designedly declarative of the Gen1 Court ; from the Passage we there recite, it is evident that he is not a Member of the General Assembly. & conse quently can have no Right to a Seat in either Branch of it His Excy is pleasd to say, "that he has always understood, that it was countenancd by the Charter, for the Lc Govr to have a Seat in Council, "drithout a Voice" & referrs the House, by a Report from the Secretary, to several Passages in the Charter which he apprehends to the Purpose. Let it be just
1 January 31, 1767 ; Massachusetts State Papers, pp. 103-105. See Thomas Hutchinson, History of the Pr<nitut of Masiickuatts Bay, voL iiL, pp. 174-177. - February 7th. 3 February i-th.
n6 THE WRITINGS OF [1767
observd here that by the Claim of a Seat without a Voice, all Pretension to a Right to act in Council, & by fair Conclusion to a Seat there is in effect given up. The Force of his Excys Reasoning seems to be this, The L* Govr is empowerd by ye Charter equally with the Govr, while his Excy is in the Province to administer the Oaths to the re- turnd Members : In order to execute that Trust, he must necessarily meet them on the Day when they are returnd & met to form the Gen1 Assembly : And, because the Duty of his Trust must bring him amongst the Representatives, before they themselves are qualifyd to sit & act in General Assembly, there fore that Power or Authority gives him a Right to a Place & Seat in Council at all times during the Being of the Gen1 Assembly, altho' the full Exercise of that Power must end & be determind, & the Trust fully dischargd, before the Representatives themselves have a Right to take a place, or do any one Act in Gen1 Assembly & consequently be fore the Gen1 Assembly exists. The Absurdity of this way of reasoning, we think must be obvious to every man. Is it not as rational to inferr, that because the L* Govr has Power equal with the Gov ernors, in the Case mentioned, therefore he has a Right to take the Chair, & to hold out the Govr, during the whole Being of the Gen1 Assembly ? The latter is surely as plainly countenancd and included in the Premises as the former. And as it is said that, in that Paragraph, he has given to him an immediate original & inherent Right to administer the Oaths to the returnd Members of the House,
1767] SAMUEL ADAMS. 117
it may be Matter of curious Enquiry, 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 Inferrences, any one may, among the infinite Variety of Pro positions, altogether foreign to any given Premises, take an absolute & arbitrary Liberty, to infer some one favorite