The Writings of Samuel Adams - Volume 2
by Samuel Adams · English · Gutenberg #2092 · 756,994 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Writings of Samuel Adams - Volume 2
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: The Writings of Samuel Adams - Volume 2
Author: Samuel Adams
Editor: Harry Alonzo Cushing
Release date: March 1, 2000 [eBook #2092]
Most recently updated: April 3, 2015
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2092
Credits: This text was prepared by Bill Stoddard and Regina Azucena
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WRITINGS OF SAMUEL ADAMS - VOLUME 2 ***
Ver.04.29.93*END*
This text was prepared by Bill Stoddard <hscrr@vgernet.net>, and
Regina Azucena <razucena@netway.com>.
THE WRITINGS
OF
SAMUEL ADAMS
COLLECTED AND EDITED
BY
HARRY ALONSO CUSHING
_______
VOLUME II
_______
1770-1773
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
______
1770.
Article Signed "Vindex," January 8th . . .
Power of Governer over sessions of General Assembly.
Article Signed "Determinatus," January 8th . . .
Non-importation agreement.
To the Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, March 19th . . .
Memorial of town of Boston--Apointment of special justices.
To John Hancock, May 11th . . .
Proposed resignation.
To Benjamin Franklin, July 13th . . .
Letter of town of Boston--Effect of massacre narrative--Influences
upon public opinion--"Case" of Captain Preston.
To the Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, August 3d . . .
Answer of House of Representatives--Place of meeting of General
Assembly--Legal opinions--Precedents--Royal instructions--Nature of
Province Charter--Rights of House.
Article Signed "A Chatterer," August 13th . . .
Royal instructions.
Article Signed "A Chatterer," August 20th . . .
Character of office holders.
Article Signed "A Chatterer," August 27th . . .
Reply to "Probus"--Character of lieutenant-governor.
To Benjamin Franklin, November 6th . . .
Letter of House of Representatives--Appointment as agent--Attitude of
administration to Massachusetts--Royal instructions--Admiralty
jurisdiction--Salaries and appointments.
To Stephen Sayre, November 16th . . .
Letters of "Junius Americanus"--Non-importation agreement--Trial of
Preston--Royal instructions.
To the Lieutenant-Governor of Massachussetts, Novemer 20th . . .
Memorial of House of Representatives--Vacancies in militia.
Article Signed "A Tory," November 20th . . .
Effects of present administration.
To Peter Timothy, November 21st . . .
Reply to Charleston committee--Non-importation agreement.
To Stephen Sayre, November 23d . . .
Choice of agent--Royal instructions--Attitude of Huthchinson.
To Josiah Williams, November 23d . . .
Personal advice.
Article signed "A Chatterer," December 3d . . .
Royal instructions--Control of troops--Custody of Castle William.
Article signed "Vindex," December 10th . . .
Trials of Preston and soldiers--Discussion of testimony.
Article signed "Vindex," December 17th . . .
Trials of Preston and soldiers--Discussion of testimony.
Article signed "Vindex," December 24th . . .
Trials of Preston and soldiers--Discussion of testimony.
Article signed "Vindex," December 24th . . .
Reply to "Somebody"--Trial of soldiers.
To John Wilkes, December 28th . . .
Introduction of William Palfrey--Conditions in colonies.
Article signed "Vindex," December 31st . . .
Action of Boston on massacre--Attitude of troops--Events of March 5,
1770--Testimony upon trial--The dead.
Article signed "Vindex," December 31st . . .
Testimony upon trial of soldiers.
1771.
Article signed "Vindex," January 7th . . .
Trial of soldiers--Discussion of testimony.
To Stephen Sayre, January 12th . . .
Enclosing articles on trials.
Article signed "Vindex," January 14th . . .
Discussion of testimony--"Case" of Captain Preston.
Article signed "Vindex," January 21st . . .
Result of trial of soldiers--Discussion of testimony--Reply to
Philanthrop.
Article signed "Vindex," January 28th . . .
Discussion of testimony--"Case" of Captain Preston.
To Charles Lucas, March 12th . . .
Acknowledgments of Boston.
To Arthur Lee, April 19th . . .
Beginning of correspondence--General conditions--Designs of
Administration--Royal instructions.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, April 24th . . .
Answer of House of Representatives--Action of Spain at Port
Egmont--Attitude of Administration--Place of meeting of General
Assembly--Appointment of Governor.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, April 25th . . .
Salary bills.
Article signed "Candidus," June 10th . . .
Place of meeting of General Assembly--Royal instructions--Attitude of
Hutchinson.
Article signed "Candidus," June 17th . . .
Address of clergy.
To Benjamin Franklin, June 29th . . .
Letter of House of Representatives--Right of Parliament to
tax--Revenue and tribute--Independence of officers--Rights of
colonists--Position of colonial agent.
Article signed "Candidus," July 1st . . .
Convention of clergy.
To Arthur Lee, July 31st . . .
Conditions in London--Effects of faction and of arbitrary
power--Attitude of Hutchinson--Disturbances in North Carolina
Article signed "Candidus," August 5th . . .
Address of clergy--Character of convention.
Article signed "Candidus," August 19th . . .
Custom of "addressing"--Public opinion of Administration--Stamp
Act--Events in 1768--Character of addresses.
Article signed "Candidus," September 9th . . .
Assertion of rights by colonists--Factions--Revenue acts.
Article signed "Candidus," September 16th . . .
Circular letter of February, 1768--The mandate to rescind--Letter to
Hillsborough of June, 1768--Refusal to rescind.
Article signed "Candidus," September 23d . . .
Dissolution of General Assembly--Charter rights of General
Assembly--Royal instructions.
To Arthur Lee, September 27th . . .
Remonstrance of London--Despotism in Massachusetts--Cause of colonial
grievances--Possiblity of impeachment--Opposition to an American
episcopate--Introduction of William Story.
Article signed "Candidus," September 30th . . .
Letters of Bernard--Disorders in 1768--Letters of commissioners.
To Arthur Lee, October 2d . . .
Comments on William Story.
Article signed "Candidus," October 7th . . .
Salary of Governor--Attitude of Hutchinson.
Article signed "Candidus," October 14th . . .
Historic instances of slavery and tyranny--Comparison of America and
Rome--Liberties of America.
Article signed "Valerius Poplicola," October 28th . . .
Acts of trade--Subjection and allegiance--Legislative power in
Massachusetts--Jurisdiction of Parliament.
To Arthur Lee October 31st . . .
Action of Council on "Junius Americanus"--Relationship of office
holders--Attitude of House of Representatives--The "Hue and Cry."
To Joseph Allen, November 7th . . .
Personal advice.
Article signed "Candidus," November 11th . . .
Jeroboam as a Governor--Attitude of the clergy.
To Arthur Lee, November 13th . . .
Proclamation by the Governor--Its reception by the clergy.
Article signed "Cotton Mather," November 25th . . .
Salary of Governor--Provisions of the charter.
Article signed "Candidus," December 2d . . .
Attitude of the people--Reply to "Chronus"--Royal instructions.
Article signed "Candidus," December 9th . . .
Jealousy of liberty--Control of revenue--Powers of Governor.
Article signed "Candidus," December 16th . . .
Reply to "Chronus."
Memorandum, December 18th . . .
Alleged criticism of Hancock
Article signed "Candidus," December 23d . . .
Effect of petitioning--Control of funds--Infringement of liberties.
1772.
To Henry Marchant, January 7th . . .
Election in London--Activity of government agents--Policy of Crown
officers.
To Arthur Lee, January 14th . . .
Attitude of Government.
Article signed "Candidus," January 20th . . .
Acts of trade--Power of taxation--Colonial right of
legislation--Extent of "Dominion."
Article signed "Candidus," January 27th . . .
Acts of trade--Magna Charta.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, April 10th . . .
Answer of House of Representatives--Place of meeting of General
Assembly--Power of Governor over sessions.
Article signed "Vindex," April 20th . . .
Reply to "Philanthrop Jun."
To the Governor of Massachusetts, July 14th . . .
Answer of the House of Representatives--Repair of Province House.
Article signed "Valerius Poplicola," October 5th . . .
Tribute--Effect of petitions--Freemen or slaves?
To Andrew Elton Wells, October 21st
Family affairs--Royal power over colonial government.
To Elbridge Gerry, October 27th . . .
Independence of judges.
To Elbridge Gerry, October 29th . . .
Independence of judges--Action of Boston.
To Arthur Lee, November 3d . . .
Retirement of Hillsborough--Character of Dartmouth--Independence of
judges--Action of Boston.
To Elbridge Gerry, November 5th . . .
Concert of action--Action of Boston--Independence of judges.
To Elbridge Gerry, November 14th . . .
Activity in Marblehead--Rights as Christians--Attitude of Roxbury and
Plymouth.
The Rights of the Colonists as Men, as Christians, and as Subjects,
November 20th . . .
A List of Violations of Rights, November 20th . . .
A Letter of Correspondence, November 20th . . .
Article Signed "Vindex," November 30th . . .
To Aaron Davis--Character of Doctor Young.
To Arthur Lee, November 31st . . .
Proceedings of Boston--Activity of public enemies--Action of Roxbury
and Plymouth.
To Elbridge Gerry, December 7th . . .
Acknowledgment.
To William Checkly, December 14th . . .
Personal reflections.
Article Signed "Candidus," December 14th . . .
Criticism of Draper's Gazette--Proceedings of Boston . . .
To Elbridge Gerry, December 23d . . .
Proceedings of Marblehead.
To Darius Sessions, December 28th . . .
Response to request for advice--The Rhode Island commission--Effect on
judiciary system.
To the Committee of Correspondence of Cambridge, December 29th . . .
Acknowledgment of Boston committee for their endorsement.
To the Committee of Correspondence of Plymouth, December 29th . . .
Acknowledgment of Boston committee for their endorsement--Character of
early settlers.
1773.
To Darius Sessions, January 2d . . .
The issue in Rhode Island--Advice to the colony--Probabilities
considered.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, January 26th . . .
Answer of the House of Representatives--Jurisdiction of
Parliament--Colonial charters--Rights of colonists--Historical
precedents.
To the Committee of Correspondence of Lynn, February 9th . . .
Acknowledgment of Boston committee--Diffusion of liberty.
To Darius Sessions, February . . .
Futher advice upon political situation.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, February 12th . . .
Message of the House of Representatives--Independence of
judges--Attitude of Governor.
To John Adams . . .
On reply to Governor.
To the Governor of Massachusetts, March 2d . . .
Answer of House of Representatives--Proceedings of Boston--Rights of
King in colonies--Jurisdiction of Parliament--Historical precedents
THE WRITINGS OF
SAMUEL ADAMS.
ARTICLE SIGNED "VINDEX."
[Boston Gazette, January 8, 1770.]
--"And the Governor for the time being shall have full power and
authority from time to time as he shall judge necessary, to adjourn,
prorogue and dissolve all Great and General Courts or Assemblies met
and conven'd as aforesaid."--1
THE power delegated by this clause to the Governor was undoubtedly
intended in favor of the people--The necessity and importance of a
legislative in being, and of its having the opportunity of exerting
itself upon all proper occasions, must be obvious to a man of common
discernment. Its grand object is the REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES: And for
this purpose it is adjudg'd that parliaments ought to be held
frequently--The people may be aggriev'd for the want of having a good
law made, as well as repealing a bad one: So they may be, by the mal
conduct of the executive in its manner of administring justice
wrongfully under colour of law. In all these cases and many others,
the necessity of the frequent interposition of the legislative
evidently appears. And if either of them, much more, if all of them
should at any time be justly complain'd of by the people, the
adjourning, proroguing or dissolving the legislative, at such a
juncture, must be the greatest of all grievances--There may be other
reasons for the sitting of an American assembly besides the correcting
any disorders arising from among the people within its own
jurisdiction.--Some of the Acts of the British parliament are
generally thought to be grievous in their operation, and dangerous in
their consequences to the liberties of the American subjects: An
American legislative therefore, in which the whole body of the people
is represented, ought certainly to have the opportunity of explaining
and remonstrating their grievances to the British parliament, and the
full exercise of that invaluable and uncontroulable Right of the
subject to petition the King, as often as they judge necessary, 'till
they are removed. To postpone a meeting of this universal body of the
people till it is too late to make such application must be a
frustration of one grand design of its existance; and it naturally
tends to other arbitrary exertions.--I have often tho't that in former
administrations such delays to call the general assembly, were
intended for the purpose above-mentioned: And if others should have
the same apprehension at present I cannot help it, nor am I answerable
for it. It may not be amiss however for every man to make it a subject
of his contemplation. We all remember that no longer ago than the last
year, the extraordinary dissolution by Governor Bernard, in which he
declared he was merely ministerial, produced another assembly, which
tho' legal in all its proceedings, awaked an attention in the very soul
of the British empire.
It is not to be expected that in ordinary times, much less at such an
important period as this is, any man, tho' endowed with the wisdom of
Solomon, at the distance of three thousand miles, can be an adequate
judge of the expediency of proroguing, and in effect even putting an
end to an American legislative assembly; and more especially at a time
when the evil spirit of Misrepresentation is become so atrocious, that
even M. . .y itself is liable to be wrongly informed!--It is for this
reason that the delegation of this power to the governor for the time
being, appears to be intended in favor of the people: That there might
be always at the head of the province, and resident therein, as the
charter provides, a person of untainted integrity, candor,
impartiality and wisdom, to judge of and determine so essential a
point--A point, in which I should think, no person who justly deserves
this character, can be passive or merely ministerial, against his own
judgment and conscience. Whenever therefore a Governor for the time
being, adjourns, prorogues or dissolves the general assembly, having
the full power and authority delegated to him of judging from time to
time of the Necessity of it, we ought to presume that he exercises
that power with freedom: That he determines according to the light of
his own understanding, and not anothers: That he clearly sees that it
will answer those purposes which he himself judges to be best; having,
as a man of fidelity in his station ought, thoro'ly revolv'd the
matter in his own mind: And, that however flattering the concurrent
sentiments of any other man may be, he would have been impelled to do
it, from the dictates of his own judgment, resulting from his own
contemplation of the matter, if he had not received the "express
command of his superior." Such a man "will bravely act his mind, and
venture--Death."
VINDEX.
1B. P. Poore, The Federal and State Constitutions, 1878, vol. i., p.
949. vol. ii.--i.
ARTICLE SIGNED "DETERMINATUS."
[Boston Gazette, January 8, 1770.]
To the Printers.
The agreement of the Merchants of this distressed and insulted
continent, to with hold importations from Great Britain, it seems to
be allowed on all sides, has the strongest tendency towards the repeal
of the acts of parliament for raising a revenue in America without our
consent. It is no wonder then, that it was oppos'd with so much
vehemence at first, by the Cabal; who knew full well, that their
Places and their Pensions, and all teh delectable profits which they
expected to reap, and are now actually reaping, at the expence of the
people in town and country, would entirely cease, if these acts, by
the means of which their places, pensions and profits arise should be
repealed--When they could no longer with any face call it the last
efforts of a dying faction, (for the measure was so rational and
pacific, that it soon spread far and wide, and was chearfully adopted
by all disinterested friends of the country thro'-out the continent)
they put on the appearance of the Sons of Liberty; and now their cry
is, Where is that Liberty so much boasted of and contended for? We
hear them very gravely asking, Have we not a right to carry on our own
trade and sell our own goods if we please? who shall hinder us? This
is now the language of those who had before seen the ax laid at the
very root of all our Rights with apparent complacency,--And pray
gentlemen, Have you not a right if you please, to set fire to your own
houses, because they are your own, tho' in all probability it will
destroy a whole neighbourhood, perhaps a whole city! Where did you
learn that in a state or society you had a right to do as you please?
And that it was an infringement of that right to restrain you? This is
a refinement which I dare say, the true sons of liberty despise. Be
pleased to be informed that you are bound to conduct yourselves as the
Society with which you are joined, are pleased to have you conduct, or
if you please, you may leave it. It is true the will and pleasure of
the society is generally declared in its laws: But there may be
exceptions, and the present case is without doubt one.--Suppose there
was no law of society to restrain you from murdering your own father,
what think you? If either of you should please to take it into your
head to perpetrate such a villainous act, so abhorrent to the will of
the society, would you not be restrained? And is the Liberty of your
Country of less importance than the life of your father! But what is
most astonishing is, that some two or three persons of very little
consequence in themselves, have Dared openly to give out that They
Will vend the goods they have imported, tho' they have Solemnly
pledg'd Their Faith to the body of merchants, that they should remain
in store 'till a general importation should take place! Where then is
the honor! where is the shame of these persons, who can look into the
faces of those very men with whom they have contracted, & tell them
Without Blushing that they are resolved to Violate the contract! Is it
avarice? Is it obstinacy, perverseness, pride, or from what root of
bitterness does such an unaccountable defection from the laws of
honor, honesty, and even humanity spring? Is it the Authority Of An
Unnatural Parent--the advice of some false friend, or their own want
of common understanding, and the first principles of virtue, by which
these unhappy young persons have been induced, or left to resolve upon
perpetrating that, at the very tho't of which they should have
shudder'd! By this resolution they have already disgrac'd themselves;
if they have the Hardiness to put the resolution into practice, who
will ever hereafter confide in them? Can they promise themselves the
regards of the respectable body of merchants whom they have affronted?
or can they even wish for the esteem of their country which they have
basely deserted, or worse, which they have attempted to wound in the
very heart.--If they imagine they can still weary the patience of an
injured country with impunity.--If--I will not utter it--would not the
grateful remembrance of unmerited kindness and Generosity, if there
was the least spark of ingenuity left, have Influenced to a far
different resolution!--If this agreement of the merchants is of that
consequence to All America which our brethren in All the other
governments, and in Great-Britain Itself think it to be--If the fate
of Unborn Millions is suspended upon it, verily it behooves, not the
merchants Only, but every individual of Every class in City and
Country to aid and support them and Peremptorily To Insist upon its
being Strictly adhered to.
DETERMINATUS.
THE TOWN OF BOSTON TO THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS1
[MS., Office of the City Clerk of Boston.]
To his Honor the Lieutenant Governor in Council
The Memorial of the Town of Boston legally assembled in Faneuil Hall
Monday March 19 1770
Humbly shews
That with deep Concern they are made to understand that thro the
Providence of God diverse of his Majestys Justices of the Superior
Court are renderd unable to attend the Duties of their important Trust
by bodily Indisposition.
That there are a great Number of Prisoners now in his Majestys Gaol in
the County of Suffolk, of whom fifteen are confind for Tryal for
capital offences.
That the Sherriff of said County has been under Apprehension of the
Escape of said Prisoners as appears by his Letter to the Town hereto
annexd to be laid before your honor.
That there are a great Number of Witnesses in the Cases of the late
Trajical Murder in Boston many of whom are Seamen & detaind to their
very great Disadvantage & possibly some of them may be under
Temptation to absent themselves from the Tryal.
All which the Town beg leave humbly to represent to your honor as
cogent Reasons for the Tryal of the said Prisoners as early as
possible in the present Term.
Wherefore your Memorialists humbly pray your Honor to appoint special
Justices in the Room of those taken off as aforesaid,2 in order for
the Tryal of the said Prisoners, or otherwise that your Honor wd take
such Steps to prevent the Delay of Justice at this important Crisis as
in your Wisdom shall seem meet.
And as in Duty bound your Memsts shall ever pray.
Signd in Behalf of the Town at the Meeting aforesaid.
1Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and John Barret were on March 19, 1770,
appointed by the Boston town-meeting "a Committee to draw up a
Memorial to the Lieuvetenant Governor and Council praying that special
Justices may be appointed for the Superior Court now sitting in the
room of those who may be necessarily prevented by sickness from
attending their duty; that so the Tryals of the many Criminals now
committed may not be postponed. . . ." At the same session the
committee reported a draft, which was accepted.--Boston Record
Commissioners' Report, vol. xviii., p. 15. [back]
2At this point the words "whom the Town reverence & esteem" were
stricken from the original draft.
TO JOHN HANCOCK.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text with slight
variations is in W. V. Wells Life of Samuel Adams, vol. i., p. 343.]
BOSTON May 11 1770
DEAR SR
Your Resolution yesterday to resign your seat gave me very great
Uneasiness. I could not think you had sufficient Ground to deprive the
Town of one whom I have a Right to say is a most valueable Member,
since you had within three of the unanimous Suffrages of your Fellow
Citizens, & one of the negative Votes was your own.1 You say you have
been spoken ill of. What then? Can you think that while you are a good
Man that all will speak well of you--If you knew the person who has
defamd you nothing is more likely than that you would justly value
your self upon that mans Censure as being the highest Applause. Those
who were fond of continuing Mr Otis on the Seat, were I dare say to a
Man among your warmest friends: Will you then add to their
Disappointment by a Resignation, merely because one contemptible
person, who perhaps was hired for the purpose, has blessd you with his
reviling--Need I add more than to intreat it as a favor that you would
alter your Design.
I am with strict truth
Your affectionate friend & Brother.
1At the Boston town-meeting on May 8, 1770, Hancock received, as a
candidate for representative, 511 out of 513 votes. On June 13, 1770,
William Palfrey, acting for Hancock, wrote to Haley and Hopkins: "The
removal of the General Court to Cambridge obliges Mr Hancock to be
often there." John Hancock. His Book, by A. E. Brown, p. 167.
A COMMITTEE OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
[MS., Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society; an
incomplete draft is in the Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; the
latter text only is in the handwriting of Adams.]
BOSTON July 13th: 1770
SIR,
It affords very great Satisfaction to the Town of Boston to find that
the Narrative of the horrid massacre perpetrated here on the 5th of
March last which was transmitted to London,1 has had the desired
effect; by establishing truth in the minds of honest men, and in some
measure preventing the Odium being cast on the Inhabitants, as the
aggressors in it. We were very apprehensive that all attempts would be
made to gain this Advantage against us: and as there is no occasion to
think that the malice of our Enemies is in the least degree abated, it
has been thought necessary that our friends on your side the Water,
should have a true state of the Circumstances of the Town and of
everything which has materially occurred, since the removal of the
Troops to the Castle. For this purpose we are appointed a Committee:2
But the time will not admit of our writing so fully by this
Conveyance, as we intend by the next, in the mean time we intreat your
further friendship for the Town, in your Endeavours to get the
Judgment of the Public suspended, upon any representation that may
have been made by the Commissioners of the Customs and others, until
the Town can have the Opportunity of knowing what is alleged against
it, and of answering for itself. We must confess that we are
astonished to hear that the Parliament had come to a determination, to
admit Garbled extracts from such Letters as may be received from
America by Administration and to Conceal the Names of the Persons who
may be the Writers of them. This will certainly give great
Encouragement to Persons of wicked Intentions to abuse the Nations &
injure the Colonies in the grossest manner with Impunity, or even
without detection. For a Confirmation hereof we need to recur no
further back than a few months, when undoubtedly the Accounts and
Letters carried by Mr. Rob[in]son would have been attended with very
unhappy if not fatal effects, had not this Town been so attentive as
to have Contradicted those false accounts by the depositions of many
credible persons under Oath. But it cannot be supposed that a
Community will be so Attentive but upon the most Alarming Events: In
general Individuals are following their private concerns, while it is
to be feared the restless Adversaries are forming the most dangerous
Plans for the Ruin of the Reputation of the People, in order to build
their own Greatness on the Distruction of their liberties. This Game
they have been long playing; and tho' in some few instances they have
had a loosing hand, yet they have commonly managed with such Art, that
they have so far succeeded in their Malicious designs as to involve
the Nation and the Colonies in Confusion and distress. This it is
presumed they never could have accomplished had not these very letters
been kept from the view of the Public, with a design perhaps to
conceal the falsehood of them the discovery of which would have
prevented their having any mischievous effects. This is the Game which
we have reason to believe they are now playing; With so much Secrecy
as may render it impossible for us fully to detect them on this Side
of the Water; How deplorable then must be our Condition, if ample
Credit is to be given to their Testimonies against us, by the Government
at home, and if the Names of our Accusers are to be kept a profound
Secret, and the World is to see only such parts or parcells of their
Representations as Persons, who perhaps may be interested in their
favor, shall think proper to hold up--Such a Conduct, if allowed,
seems to put it into the Power of a Combination of a few designing
men to deceive a Nation to its Ruin. The measures which have been
taken in Consequence of Intelligence Managed with such secrecy,
have already to a very great degree lessened that Mutual Confidence
which had ever Subsisted between the Mother Country and the Colonies,
and must in the Natural Course of things totally alienate their
Affections towards each other and consequently weaken, and in the
End destroy the power of the Empire. It is in this extended View
of things that our minds are affected--It is from these Apprehensions
that we earnestly wish that all communication between the two Countries
of a public nature may be unvailed before the public: with the names
of the persons who are concerned therein, then and not till then will
American affairs be under the direction of honest men, who are never
afraid or ashamed of the light. And as we have abudent reason to be
jealous that the most mischievous and virulent accounts have been
very lately sent to Administration from Castle William where the
Commissioners have again retreated for no reason that we can conceive
but after their former manner to misrepresent and injure this Town and
Province,--we earnestly intreat that you would use your utmost influence
to have an Order passed that the whole of the packetts sent by the
Commissioners of the Customs and others under the care of one Mr Bacon
late an officer of the Customs in Virginia, who took his passage the
last week in the Brigantine Lydia Joseph Wood Commander may be laid
before his Majesty in Council--
If the Writers of those Letters shall appear to be innocent, no harm
can possibly arise from such a measure; if otherwise, it may be the
means of exploring the true Cause of the National and Collonial
Malady, and of affording an easy remedy, and therefore the measure
must be justified & applauded by all the World.
We have observed in the English Papers, the most notorious falsehoods
published with an apparent design to give the World a prejudice
against this Town, as the Aggressors in the unhappy Transaction of the
5th of March, but no account has been more repugnant to the truth,
than a paper printed in the public Advertiser3 of the 28th of April
which is called The case of Capt. Preston. As a Committee of this Town
we thought ourselves bound in faithfulness to wait on Capt Preston to
enquire of him whether he was the Author--he frankly told us that he
had drawn a state of his case, but that it had passed thro different
hands and was altered at different times, and finally the Publication
in the Advertiser was varied from that which he sent home as his own;
we then desired him to let us know whether several parts which we
might point to him and to which we took exception were his own, but he
declined Satisfying us herein, saying that the alterations were made
by Persons who he supposed might aim at serving him, though he feared
they might have a Contrary effect, and that his discriminating to us
the parts of it which were his own from those which had been altered
by others might displease his friends at a time when he might stand in
need of their essential Service; this was the Substance of the
Conversation between us, whereupon we retired and wrote to Capt
Preston a Letter the Copy of which is now inclosed.4
The next day not receiving an answer from Capt. Preston at the time we
proposed, we sent him a message desiring to be informed whether we
might expect his answer to which he replied by a Verbal Message as
ours was that he had nothing further to add to what he had said to us
the day before, as you'l please to observe by the inclosed
Certificate--
As therefore Capt Preston has utterly declined to make good the
charges against the Town in the Paper called his case or to let us
know to whom we may apply as the Author or Authors of those parts
which he might have disclaimed, and especially as the whole of his
case thus stated directly militates not only with his own Letter
published under his hand in the Boston Gazette, but with the
depositions of others annexed to our Narrative which were taken, not
behind the Curtain as some may have been, but openly and fairly, after
notifying the Parties interested, and before Magistrates to whose
credit the Governor of the Province has given his full attestation
under the Province Seal, we cannot think that the Paper called the
Case of Capt. Thomas Preston, or any other Paper of the like import
can be deemed in the opinion of the sensible and impartial part of
mankind as sufficient, in the least degree to prejudice the Character
of the Town. It is therefore altogether needless for us to point out
the many falsehoods contained in this Paper; nor indeed would there be
time for it at present for the reason above mentioned--We cannot
however omit taking notice of the artifice made use of by those who
drew up the statement, in insinuating that it was the design of the
People to plunder the King's Chest, and for the more easily effecting
that to murder the Centinel posted at the Custom House where the money
was lodged. This intelligence is said to have been brought to Capt
Preston by a Townsman, who assured him that he heard the mob declare
they would murder the Centinel.--The townsman probably was one
Greenwood a Servant to the Commissioners whose deposition Number 96.5
is inserted among others in the Narrative of the Town and of whom it
is observed in a Marginal Note, that: "Through the whole of his
examination he was so inconsistent, and so frequently contradicted
himself, that all present were convinced that no credit ought to be
given to his deposition, for which reason it would not have been
inserted had it not been known that a deposition was taken relating to
this affair, from this Greenwood by Justice Murray and carried home by
Mr. Robinson," and further "this deponent is the only person, out of a
great number of Witnesses examined, who heard anything mentioned of
the Custom House." Whether this part of the Case of Capt Preston was
inserted by himself or some other person we are not told. It is very
much to be questioned whether the information was given by any other
than Greenwood himself, and the sort of Character which he bears is so
well known to the Commissioners and their Connections some of whom
probably assisted Capt Preston in stating his Case, as to have made
them ashamed if they regarded the truth, to have given the least
credit to what he said.--Whoever may have helped them to this
intelligence, we will venture to say, that it never has been and never
can be supported by the Testimony of any Man of a tolerable
reputation. We shall only observe upon this occasion, how inveterate
our Enemies here are, who, rather than omit what they might think a
lucky opportunity of Slandering the Town, have wrought up a Narrative
not only unsupported by, but contrary to the clearest evidence of
facts and have even prevailed upon an unhappy Man under pretence of
friendship to him, to adopt it as his own: Though they must have known
with a common share of understanding, that it's being published to the
world as his own must have injured him, under his present
Circumstances, in the most tender point, and so shocked was Capt
Preston himself, at its appearing in the light on this side the Water,
that he was immediately apprehensive so glaring a falsehood would
raise the indignation of a people to such a pitch as to prompt them to
some attempts that would be dangerous to him, and he accordingly
applyed to Mr Sheriff Greenleaf for special protection on that
account: But the Sheriff assuring him that there was no such
disposition appearing among the People (which is an undoubted truth)
Capt Preston's fears at length subsided: and he still remains in safe
custody, to be tried by the Superior Court of Judicature, at the next
term in August; unless the Judges shall think proper further to
postpone the Trial, as they have done for one whole term, since he was
indicted by the Grand Jury.
Before we conclude it may not be improper to observe that the removal
of the troops was in the Slowest order, insomuch that eleven days were
spent in carrying the two Regiments to Castle Island, which had before
landed in the Town in less than forty eight hours; yet in all this
time, while the number of the Troops was daily lessening, not the
least disorder was made by the inhabitants, tho' filled with a just
indignation and horror at the blood of their fellow Citizens, so
inhumanely spilt! And since their removal the Common Soldiers, have
frequently and even daily come up to the Town for necessary
provisions, and some of the officers, as well as several of the
families of the soldiers have resided in the Town and done business
therein without the least Molestation; yet so hardy have our Enemies
been as to report in London that the enraged populace had hanged up
Capt Preston.
The strange and irreconcileable conduct of the Commissioners of the
Customs since the 5th of March--their applying for leave to retire to
the Castle as early as the tenth, and spending their time in making
excursions into the Country 'till the 20th of June following, together
with other material Circumstances, are the subject of our present
enquiry; the result of which you will be made acquainted with by the
next conveyance. In the mean time we remain with strict truth.--
Sir
Your much obliged
and most Obedient Servants
THOMAS CUSHING,WM PHILLIPS,
RI DANA,WM MOLINEUX,
SAML ADAMS,EBENEZER STORER,
JOHN HANCOCK,WM GREENLEAF
1Under the date of March 23, 1770, James Bowdoin, Samuel Pemberton and
Joseph Warren, as a committee of the town of Boston, wrote to Lord
Dartmouth, enclosing a narrative of the events of March 5 and a
certified copy of the vote of town, on March 22, directing them to
transmit the printed narrative. The original letter is No. 320 of Lord
Dartmouth's American MSS., at Patshull House. The text of the same
letter, which was addressed to the Duke of Richmond and others, is in
A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston, New York, 1849.
(This is reprinted, with notes by John Doggett, Jr., from a copy of
the original edition of 1770, in the library of the New York
Historical Society. Another reprint, with notes by Frederic Kidder,
was published at Albany, 1870.) The Additional Observations to a Short
Narrative, 1770, are reprinted by Doggett, pp. 109-117. Cf.,
Proceedings of Colonial Society of Massachusetts, April 1900, pp.
13-21.
2The town of Boston, on July 10, 1770, appointed a committee of nine,
including Adams, Hancock, Dana, Cushing and Joseph Warren, to prepare
a "true state" of the town and of the acts of the commissioners since
March 5.
3Published in London. The "Case" was also printed in the Annual
Register, 1771. Cf., Boston Gazette, June 25, 1770.
4Under date of July II, 1770. A copy is in S. A. Wells, Samuel Adams
and the American Revolution, vol. i., pp. 230-232.
5The affidavit of Thomas Greenwood, sworn to March 24, 1770, is
printed in Doggett's edition of the Short Narrative, pp. e Short
Narrative, pp.101-103.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS TO THE LIEUTENANT
GOVERNOR.
[MS., Boston Public Library; a text, with many modifications of
detail, is in Massachusetts State Papers, pp. 240-248; it was also
printed in the Boston Gazette, August 6, 1770.]
In the House of Representatives August the 3 1770
Orderd that Mr Hancock Cap Thayer Mr Pickerin Cap Fuller and Cap
Sumner carry up to the Honbl Board the following Answer of this House
to his Honors Speech to both Houses at the opening of this Session
THOMAS CUSHING Spkr
1 May it please your Honor
The House of Representatives, having duly attended to your Speech2 to
both Houses at the Opening of this Session, and maturely considerd the
several parts of it, have unanimously, in a full House determind to
adhere to their former Resolution "that it is by no means expedient to
proceed to Business, while the General Assembly is thus constraind to
hold the Session out of the Town of Boston." Upon a Recollection of
the Reasons we have before given for this measure, we conceive it will
appear to all the World, that neither the good People of this
Province, nor the House of Representatives can be justly chargd with
any ill Consequences that may follow it. After the most repeated &
attentive Examination of your Speech, we find Nothing to induce us to
alter our Opinion, and very little that is new & material in the
Controversy: But as we perceive it is publishd, it may possibly be
read by some who have never seen the Reasons of the House; and as
there are specious things containd in it, which may have a Tendency to
make an unhappy Impression on some minds, we have thought proper to
make a few Observations upon it.
You are pleasd to say, "you meet us at Cambridge, because you have no
Reason to think there has been any Alteration in his Majestys
Pleasure, which you doubt not was determind by wise motives, & with a
gracious Purpose to promote the Good of the province." We presume not
to call in Question the Wisdom of our Sovereign or the Rectitude of
his Intentions: But there have been Times, when a corrupt and
profligate Administration have venturd upon such Measures, as have had
a direct Tendency, to ruin the Interest of the People as well as that
of their Royal Master.
This House have great Reason to doubt, whether it is, or ever was his
Majestys Pleasure that your Honor should meet the Assembly at
Cambridge, or that he has ever taken the matter under his Royal
Consideration: Because, the common and the best Evidence in such
Cases, is not communicated to us.
It is needless for us to add any thing to what has been heretofore
said, upon the Illegality of holding the Court any where except in the
Town of Boston: For admitting the Power to be in the Governor to hold
the Court in any other place when the publick Good requires it; yet,
it by no means follows that he has a Right to call it at any other
place, when it is to the manifest Injury & Detriment of the Publick
The Opinion of the Attourney and Solicitor General has very little
Weight with this House in any Case, any farther than the Reasons which
they expressly give are convincing. This Province has sufferd so much
by unjust, groundless & illegal Opinions of those officers of the
Crown, that our Veneration or Reverence for their Opinions is much
abated. We utterly deny that the Attuorny & Solicitor General have any
Authority or Jurisdiction over us; any Right to decide Questions in
Controversy, between the several Branches of the Legislature here: Nor
do we concede, that even his Majesty in Council has any Constitutional
Authority to decide such Questions, or any other Controversy whatever
that arises in this Province, excepting only such Matters as are
reservd in the Charter. It seems a great Absurdity, that when a
Dispute arises between the Governor and the House, the Governor should
appeal to his Majesty in Council to decide it. Would it not be as
reasonable for the House to appeal to the Body of their Constituents
to decide it? Whenever a Dispute has arisen within the Realm, between
the Crown & the two Houses of Parliament, or either of them, was it
ever imagind that the King in his privy Council had Authority to
decide it? However there is a Test, a Standard common to all, we mean
the publick Good. But your Honor must be very sensible that the
Illegality of holding the Court in any other place besides the Town of
Boston is far from being the only Dispute between your Honor & this
House: we contend, that the People & their Representatives have a
Right to withstand the abusive Exercise of a legal & constitutional
Prerogative of the Crown. We beg Leave to recite to your Honor what
the Great Mr Locke has advancd in his Treatise of civil Government,
upon the like Prerogative of the Crown. "The old Question, says he,
will be asked in this matter of Prerogative, who shall be Judge when
this Power is made a right Use of?" And he answers, "Between an
executive Power in being with such a Prerogative, and a Legislature
that depends upon his Will for their convening, there can be no Judge
on Earth, as there can be none between the Legislative & the People,
should either the Executive or Legislative when they have got the
Power in their Hands, design or go about to enslave or destroy them.
The People have no other Remedy in this, as in all other Cases, where
they have no Judge on Earth, but to appeal to Heaven. For the Rulers,
in such Attempts, exercising a Power the People never put into their
Hands (who can never be supposd to consent that any Body should rule
over them for their Harm) do that which they have not a Right to do.
And when the Body of the People or any single Man is deprivd of their
Right, or under the Exercise of a Power without Right, and have no
Appeal on Earth, then they have a Liberty to appeal to Heaven whenever
they judge the Cause of sufficient moment. And therefore, tho the
People cannot be judge, so as to have by the Constitution of that
Society any superior Power to determine and give effective Sentence in
the Case; yet they have by a Law antecedent & paramount to all
positive Laws of men, reservd that ultimate Determination to
themselves which belongs to all Mankind where there lies no Appeal on
Earth viz to judge whether they have just Cause to make their Appeal
to Heaven." We would however, by no means be understood to suggest
that this People have Occasion at present to proceed to such
Extremity.
Your Honor is pleasd to say, "that the House of Representatives in the
year 1728, did not think the Form of the Writ, sufficient to justify
them in refusing to do Business at Salem"; It is true they did not by
any Vote or Resolve determine not to do Business yet the House, as we
read in your Honors History, "met and adjournd from Day to Day without
doing Business";3 and we find by the Records, that from the 31 of
October 1728 to the 14th of December following the House did meet and
adjourn without doing Business; And then they voted to proceed to the
publick & necessary Affairs of the province "provided no Advantage be
had or made, for and by Reason of the aforesaid Removal (meaning the
Removal to Salem) or pleaded as a precedent for the future." Yet your
Honor has been pleasd to quote the Conduct of that very House, as a
precedent for our Imitation. We apprehend their proceeding to
Business, & the Consequences of it viz, the Encouragement it gave to
Governor Burnet to go on with his Design of harrassing them into
unconstitutional Compliances, and the Use your Honor now makes of it
as an Authority and a Precedent, ought to be a Warning to this House
to make a determind & effectual Stand. Their Example, tho respectable,
is not obligatory upon this House.--They lived in times, when the
Encroachments of Despotism were in their Infancy.--They were carried
to Salem, by the mere Caprice of Governor Burnet, who never pleaded an
Instruction for doing this--An Instruction from a Ministry who had
before treated them with unexampled Indignity--An Instruction which
they were not permitted to see. They had no Reason to apprehend a fixd
Design to alter the Seat of Government, to their great Inconvenience
and the manifest Injury of the Province.
We are not disposd to dispute the Understanding, Integrity, Familys &
Estates of the Council in 1728. We believe them to have been such,
that if they were now upon the Stage, they would see so many
additional & more weighty Reasons against proceeding to Business out
of Boston, that they would fully approve of the Resolution of this
House; as well as of what has been lately advancd by their Successors,
who are also Gentlemen of Understanding, Integrity, Fortune and
Family, in the following Words; "Governor Burnets Conduct in convening
the General Court out of Boston, cannot be deemd an acknowlegd or
constitutional Precedent, because, it was not founded on the only
Reason on which the Prerogative of the Crown can be justly founded,
The Good of the Community." We shall only add, that the Rights of the
province having been of late years most severely attackd, has inducd
Gentlemen to examine the Constitution more thorowly, & has increasd
their Zeal in its Defence.
You are pleasd to adduce an Instance in 1754 in Addition to that in
1747, which you say "makes it probable, that the House of
Representatives rather chose that the Court should sit elsewhere, when
a Comittee was chosen to consider of and report a proper place for a
Court House at a Distance from Boston". We beg Leave here to observe,
that both these are Instances of the House's interresting themselves
in this Affair, which your Honor now claims as a Prerogative: If the
House were in no Case to have a Voice, or be regarded, in chusing a
place to hold the Court, how could they think of building a House in a
place, to which they never had been, and probably, never would be
called.--
While the House have been from time to time, holding up to View, the
great Inconveniencys and manifest Injurys resulting from the Sitting
of the Assembly at Cambridge, and praying a Removal to Boston, it is
with Pain that they have heard your Honor, instead of pointing out any
one good Purpose which can be answerd by it, replying that your
Instructions will not permit you to remove the Court to Boston. By a
royal Grant in the Charter, in favor of the Commons of this province,
the Governor has the sole power of adjourning, proroguing and
dissolving the General Court: And the Wisdom of that Grant appears in
this, that a person residing in the province, must be a more competent
Judge, of the Fitness of the Time, and we may add, the place of
holding the Court, than any person residing in Great Britain. We do
not deny, that there may be Instances when the Comander in Chiefe,
ought to obey the Royal Instructions: And should we also admit, that
in ordinary Cases he ought to obey them, respecting the convening,
holding, proroguing, adjourning & dissolving the General Court,
notwithstanding that Grant; yet we clearly hold, that whenever
Instructions cannot by complyd with, without injuring the people, they
cease to be binding. Any other Supposition would involve this
Absurdity in it, that a Substitute by Means of Instructions from his
Principal, may have a greater Power than the Principal himself; or in
other Words, that a Representative of a King who can do no Wrong, by
means of Instructions may obtain a Right to do Wrong: for that the
Prerogative extends not to do any Injury, never has and never can be
denyd. Therefore this House are clearly of Opinion, that your Honor is
under no Obligation to hold the General Court at Cambridge, let your
Instructions be conceivd in Terms ever so peremptory, in as much as it
is inconvenient and injurious to the province.--As to your Commission,
it is certain, that no Clause containd in that, inconsistent with the
Charter can be binding: To suppose, that when a Grant is made by
Charter in favor of the people, Instructions shall supercede that
Grant, and oblige the Governor to act repugnant to it, vacating the
Charter at once, by the Breath of a Minister of State. Your Honor
thinks you may safely say, "there is not one of us, who if he was in
your Station, would venture to depart from the Instructions ." As you
had not the least Shadow of Evidence to warrant this, we are sure you
could not say it with Safety: And we leave it with your Honor to
determine, how far it is reconcileable with Delicacy to suggest it. In
what particulars the holding the General Court at Cambridge is
injurious to us and the Province, has already been declared by the
House, and must be too obvious to escape your Honors Observation. Yet
you are pleasd to tell us, that "the Inconveniences can easily be
removd, or are so inconsiderable that a very small publick Benefit
will outweigh them"--That they are not inconsiderable, every Days
Experience convinces us; nor are our Constituents insensible of them:
But how they can be easily removd, we cannot conceive, unless by
removing the Court to Boston. Can the publick Offices & Records, to
which we are under the Necessity of recurring, almost every Hour, with
any Safety or Convenience to the publick be removd to Cambridge? Will
our Constituents consent to be at the Expence of erecting a proper
House at Cambridge, for accommodating the General Court, especially
when they have no Assurance that the next Freak of a capricious
Minister will not remove the Court to some other place? Is it possible
to have that Communication with our Constituents, or to be benefited
by the Reasonings of the people without Doors here, as at Boston? We
cannot but flatter ourselves, that every judicious and impartial
Person will allow, that the holding the General Court at Cambridge, is
inconvenient and hurtful to the Province; Nor has your Honor ever yet
attempted to show a single Instance, in which the province can be
benefited by it: No good purpose which can be answerd by it, has ever
yet been suggested by any one to this House. And we have the utmost
Confidence, that our gracious Sovereign, has no Desire to hold the
General Court at any place inconvenient to its Members, or injurious
to the province; but rather, that he will frown upon those, who have
procurd its Removal to such a place, or persist in holding it there.
We are not indeed sure, that the Ministry caused the Assembly to be
removd to Cambridge, in order to worry them into a Compliance with any
arbitrary Mandate, to the Ruin of our own or our Constituents
Libertys: But we know, that the General Assembly has in Times past
been treated with such Indignity and Abuse, by the Servants of the
Crown, and a wicked Ministry may attempt it again.
Your Honor observes, that "the same Exception may be made to the Use
of every other part of the prerogative, for every part is capable of
Abuse." We shall never except to the proper Use of the prerogative: We
hold it sacred as the Liberty of the Subject. But every Abuse of it,
will always be excepted to, so long as the Love of Liberty, or any
publick Virtue remains. And whenever any other part of the prerogative
shall be abusd, the House will not fail to judge for themselves of the
Grievance, nor to exert every power with which the Constitution hath
entrusted them, to check the Abuse, and redress the Grievance.
The House had expressd to your Honor their Apprehension of a fixd
Design, either to change the Seat of Government, or to harrass us, in
order to bring us into Compliance with some arbitrary Mandate: Your
Honor says, you know of no fixd Design to harrass us &c.: Upon which
we cannot but observe, that if you did not know of a fixd Design to
change the Seat of Governmt you would not have omitted so fair an
Opportunity to satisfy the Minds of the House, in a Matter of such
Importance to the Province. As to your very condescending and liberal
Professions, of exercising patience, or using Dispatch, as would be
most agreable to us, we shall be very much obligd to your Honor, for
the Exercise of those Virtues, whenever you shall see Cause to remove
us to our ancient and established Seat: But these professions can be
no Temptations to us, to give up our Privileges.
Your Honor is pleasd to say, that "we consider the Charter as a
Compact between the Crown and the People of this province" and to ask
a Question "Shall one Party to the Compact be held, and not the
other"? It is true, we consider the Charter as such a Compact, and
agree that both Parties are held. The Crown covenants, that a Great &
General Court shall be held, every last Wednesday in May for ever; The
Crown therefore, doubtless is bound by this Covenant. But we utterly
deny, that the people have covenanted to grant Money, or to do
Business, at least any other Business than chusing Officers and
Councellors to compleat the General Court, on the last Wednesday of
May, or in any other Day or Year whatever: Therefore this House, by
refusing to do Business, do not deprive the Crown of the Exercise of
the prerogative, nor fail of performing their part of the Compact.
Your Honor wd doubtless have been culpable had you refusd to call a
General Court on the last Wednesday in May: And the House might have
been equally culpable, if they had refusd to chuse a Speaker and
Clerk, or to elect Councellors, whereby to compleat the General Court;
for in Case of Omission in either part, a Question might arise,
Whether the people would have a Legislature. When the General Assembly
is thus formd, they are impowerd by the Charter, to make, ordain and
establish all Manner of wholesome and reasonable Orders, Laws,
Statutes & Ordinances, Directions and Instructions, either with
penaltys or without. But the Charter no where obliges the Genl Court,
to make any Orders, Laws, Statutes or Ordinances, unless they, at that
time judge it conducive to the publick Good to make them: Much less
does it oblige them to make any Laws &c, in any particular Session,
year or number of years, whenever they themselves shall judge them not
to be for the publick Good. Such an Obligation would leave them the
least Color of Freedom, but reduce them to a mere machine; to the
State the Parliament would have been in, if the Opinion of the two
Chiefe Justices and the three puisne Judges had prevaild in the Reign
of Richard the second "that the King hath the Governance of
Parliament, and may appoint what shall be first handled, and so
gradually what next, in all matters to be treated of in parliament,
even to the End of the parliament; and if any person shall act
contrary to the Kings pleasure made known therein, they are to be
punishd as Traitors"--for which opinion those five Judges had Judgment
as in Case of high Treason.--Your Honor will allow us to ask, Whether
the Doctrine containd in your Question viz, "If you should refuse to
do Business now you are met, would you not deprive the Crown of the
Exercise of the prerogative, and fail of performing your part of the
Compact" which implys a strong affirmation, is not in a Degree, the
very Doctrine of Chiefe Justice Tresilian and the four other Judges
just now mentiond? By convening in Obedience to his Majesty's Writ,
tested by your Honor, and again, at the time to which we are prorogud,
we have submitted to the prerogative, and performd our part of the
Compact.
This House has the same inherent Rights in this Province, as the House
of Commons has in Great Britain. It is our Duty to procure a Redress
of Grievances, and we may constitutionally refuse to grant our
Constituents money to the Crown, or to do any other Act of Government,
at any given time, that is not affixd by Charter to a certain Day,
until the Grievances of the people are redressd. We do not pretend,
that our Opinion is to prevail against his Majestys Opinion: We never
shall attempt to adjourn or prorogue or dissolve the General Court:
But we do hope, that our Opinion shall prevail, against any Opinion
whatever, of the proper time to make Laws and to do Business. And by
exerting this Power which the Constitution has given us, we hope to
convince your Honor and the Ministry of the Necessity of removing the
Court to Boston.--All judicious Men will allow that the proper time
for the House to do their part of the Business of the province, is for
the House to judge of and determine. The House think it is not, in the
present Circumstances of the province, a proper time to do this
Business, while the Court is constraind to hold their Session out of
Boston: Your Honor is of a different Opinion: We have conformd to this
Opinion as far as the Constitution requires us, And now our right of
judging commences. If your Honors or even his Majestys Opinion
concerning this Point is to prevail against the Opinion of the House,
why may not the Crown, according to the Tresilian Doctrine, as well
prescribe what Business we shall do, and in what Order.
The House is still ready to answer for all the ill Consequences which
can justly be attributed to them; nor are they sensible of any Danger
from exerting the power which the Charter has given them of doing
their part of the Business in their own time.--That the Province has
Enemies who are continually defaming it, and their Charter, is
certain; that there are Persons who are endeavoring to intimidate the
province from asserting and vindicating their just Rights and
Liberties, by Insinuations of Danger to the Constitution, is also
indisputable; But no Instance happend, even in the execrable Reign of
the worst of the Stuart Race, of a Forfeiture of a Charter, because
any one Branch of a Legislature, or even because the whole Government
under the Charter, refusd to do Business at a particular time, under
grievous Circumstances of Ignominy, Disgrace and Insult; and when
their Charter had explicitly given to that Government the sole power
of judging of the proper Season & Occasion of doing Business.
We are obligd at this time to struggle, with all the Powers with which
the Constitution hath furnishd us, in Defence of our Rights; to
prevent the most valueable of our Libertys, from being wrested from
us, by the subtle Machinations, and daring Encroachments of wicked
Ministers. We have seen of late, innumerable Encroachments on our
Charter: Courts of Admiralty extended from the high Seas, where by the
Compact in the Charter, they are confind, to numberless important
Causes upon Land: Multitudes of civil Officers, the Appointment of all
which is confind by Charter to the Governor and Council, sent here
from abroad by the Ministry: A Revenue, not granted by us, but torn
from us: Armys stationd here without our Consent; and the Streets of
our Metropolis, crimsond with the Blood of our fellow
Subjects.--These, and other Grievances and Cruelties, too many to be
here enumerated, and too melancholly to be much longer born by this
injurd People, we have seen brot upon us by the Devices of Ministers
of State. We have seen & had of late, Instructions to Governors which
threaten to destroy all the remaining Privileges of our Charter. In
June 1768, the House, by an Instruction were orderd to rescind an
excellent Resolution of a former House, on pain of Dissolution;4 they
refusd to comply with so impudent a Mandate, and were dissolvd. And
the Governor, tho' repeatedly requested, and tho' the Exigences of the
Province demanded a General Assembly, refusd to call a new one, till
the following May. In the last year, the General Court was forcd to
give Way to regular Troops, illegally quarterd in the Town of Boston,
in Consequence of Instructions to Crown Officers, and whose main Guard
was most daringly and insultingly placd at the Door of the State
house; and afterwards they were constraind to hold their Session at
Cambridge. The present year the Assembly is summond to meet, and is
still continued there in a kind of Duress, without any Reason that can
be given--any Motive whatever, that is not as great an Insult to them,
and Breach of their Privilege, as any of the foregoing.--Are these
things consistent with the Freedom of the House; or, could the General
Courts tamely submiting to such Usage, be thought to promote his
Majestys Service!
Should these Struggles of the House prove unfortunate and ineffectual,
this Province will submit, with pious Resignation to the Will of
Providence; but it would be a kind of Suicide, of which we have the
utmost Horror, thus to be made the Instruments of our Servitude.
We beg leave before we conclude, to make one Remark on what you say,
that "our Compliance can be of no Benefit to our Sovereign, any
farther than as he interests himself in the Happiness of his
Subjects." We are apprehensive that the World may take this for an
Insinuation, very much to our Dishonor: As if the Benefit of our
Sovereign were a Motive in our Minds, against a Compliance. But as
this Imputation would be extremely unjust, so we hope it was not
intended by your Honor. We are however obligd in Justice to our selves
and our Constituents to declare that if we had Reason to believe, that
a Compliance would by any, the least Benefit to our Sovereign, it
would be a very powerful Argument with us; But we are on the Contrary,
fully perswaded, that a Compliance at present, would be very injurious
and detrimental to his Majestys Service.
1From this point the manuscript is wholly in the handwriting of Adams.
2Massachusetts State Papers, pp. 237-240.
3Inaccurately quoted from T. Hutchinson, History of the Province of
Massachusetts Bay, vol. ii., p. 317.
4See Vol. I., p. 230.
ARTICLE SIGNED "A CHATTERER."1
[Boston Gazette, August 13, 1770.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,
"What availed the good Qualites of Galba? He who should not have
employed bad Men, or at least should have restrained or punished them,
incurred the same Censure as if he himself had done it!--It is the
common Craft of corrupt Ministers to represent their Cause as the
Cause of their Prince."
His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, in his late Reply2 to the House of
Representatives, tells them, that "a Secretary of State has by Virtue
of his Office free Access" to the King; & "receives the Signification
of his Majesty's pleasure"; from whence he concludes that "he will
give no directions but what he knows to be agreable thereto", and
therefore "every order coming from a Minister of State, must be
suppos'd to come immediately from the Crown"--This is reasoning
plausibly enough; but before I can give my full Assent to the
Conclusion, I must have good Grounds to believe this same Secretary to
be a Man of Wisdom and Integrity; a Character, which however
requisite, does not always belong to a Minister of State. If he is
deficient in both or either of these, we can have no Assurance, that
every Order coming from him is declaratory of the Pleasure of the
Sovereign: His want of Wisdom may render him altogether incapable of
understanding the Mind of his royal Master; or, failing in point of
Integrity he may maliciously and traiterously pervert his benevolent
Intentions for the Good of his Subjects. Whenever Orders are given by
a Secretary of State, that are evidently calculated to injure the
Publick, we are by no Means to suppose them to come immediately from
the Crown, for the King can do no Wrong: Will his Honor have us
believe that the King can do a weak & foolish, or a malevolent and
wicked Act? If not, such Instructions are to be look'd upon as the
acts of the Minister and not of the King. Ministers of state were
formerly shields to the persons of Kings from such kind of
imputations; but it is much to be feared, if care is not taken to
prevent it, the idle whimsies of Ministers, their weakness and folly,
or their daring and impudent attempts to destroy the Liberties of the
People, will be attributed to a Cause which no one, to be sure at
present, will chuse to mention.--I hope his Honor's reasoning, and his
correspondent Conduct, does not lead to this--The House of
Representatives seem to be aware of the Danger of such Doctrine, when
they expressly say, "They presume not to call in question the Wisdom
of their Sovereign or the rectitude of his Intentions"; at the same
time that they speak with a manly Freedom, of certain Instructions
that have come from Ministers of State, and even treat them with
Indignity and Contempt. His Honor presumes "they would not have done
this, if they had known it to be an Order from his Majesty." I believe
they would not; they saw reason to think that the Mandate to rescind
in June 1768, was the mere act of a weak Minister; and as his Honor
does not give the least Intimation, that he either knows or believes
to the Contrary, I must beg leave to say, that in my poor Opinion, the
Epithet given to it by the House, is neither "coarse" nor "indecent."
We seem, Messrs. Printers, to be drawing very near the time, when some
people will be hardy enough to dispute, whether we are to be governed
according to the rule of the Constitution, the building of which has
been the Work of Ages, or to use the words of the House, by the
"breath of a Minister of State."--Instructions, form'd by a set of
Ministers, calculated for certain purposes and sent over to a
Governor, who to avoid their high Displeasure and the terrible Effects
of it, must implicitly believe, or say he believes them, to come
immediately from the King; and the House of Representatives must by no
means controvert them, lest, as Bernard once impudently told them,
they should be chargeable with "oppugnation against the King's
authority."3
There is a sort of Impropriety, as I take it, in saying that every
Order from a Minister of State comes immediately from the Crown.
However, little Inaccuracies in diction are not to be regarded in a
performance fraught with reason and sound argument: It is rather to be
wondered at that we meet with so few Imperfections, since we are
assured by his Honor that he had taken "one Day only for his Reply" to
an Answer which he intimates cost a Committee of the House full Eight
Days hard Labor.4 Some men are said to have intuitive knowledge; and
such have nothing to do but write down pages of unanswerable reasons
as fast as the Ink can flow.
It was doubtless from this opinion that "every Order from a Secretary
of State comes immediately from the King," or as his Honor elsewhere
more properly expresses it, is a 'Signification of his Majesty's
pleasure,' that he concludes it to be his Majesty's pleasure that he
should not communicate them; for such a prohibitory order is said to
come from the Secretary. But the House seemed to think it impossible
that our gracious King, should hold his Subjects to a blind obedience
to Orders which they were not permitted to see; and therefore
concluded, and as I humbly conceive very justly, that this order in a
particular manner, was to be suppos'd to be an Act of the Minister and
not of the King--His Honor indeed speaks of it with great Veneration;
and tells them that "the restraint he is under appears to him to be
founded upon wise Reasons." But from this alone, he could not with
certainty conclude that the Order came immediately from the King; for
it is undoubtedly his Honor's opinion, that the present set of
Ministers are very wise men, tho' not so wise as his Majesty; and
therefore he might take it for granted, the Order was founded on wise
reasons if it had come from them only. But as in these times of Light
and Liberty, every man chuses to see and judge for himself, especially
in all matters which are prescribed to him as rules of faith and
practice; it is pity his Honor did not condescend to communicate those
wise reasons, that the House and the People without Doors, here and
there "a transient Person" who may have a common share of
understanding, might judge whether they appeared to them to be reasons
becoming the Wisdom of a King, or only as the House somewhere express
it, "the freaks of a capricious Minister of State."
If I have leisure I shall write you again. In the mean Time, I am,
Your's,
A CHATTERER.
1The succeeding articles of this series were attributed to Adams by
George Bancroft. This is confirmed by apparently contemporaneous
annotations in the file of the Gazette owned by Harbottle Dorr, at one
time a selectman of Boston. At the trial of Capt. Preston in November,
1770, he was drawn as a juror and "challenged for cause." An
advertisement of his business appears in the Boston Gazette, October
1, 1770.
2August 3, 1770, Massachusetts State Papers, pp.249-254.
3May 29, 1766 Massachusetts State Papers, p. 75.
4Massachusetts State Papers, p. 254.
ARTICLE SIGNED "A CHATTERER."
[Boston Gazette, August 20, 1770.]
"One of the greatest indications of Wisdom that a Prince can show, is
to converse with and have about him virtuous and wise Men: But Princes
are liable to be deceived; Fraudum sedes aula, was the saying of a
Philosopher who understood Courts well.--A good Prince may suffer by
employing bad Ministers and Servants."
MESSIEURS PRINTERS,
WE are told in a late reply, that "the offices of Attornies and
Sollicitors-General have been for more than fifty years past filled up
by persons of the highest reputation for learning and integrity."1 I
am apt to think, if we look back we shall find that some of these
officers of the crown have been as deficient in learning or integrity,
or both, as we know some ministers of state have been. The house of
Representatives say, "the province has suffer'd much by their unjust,
groundless and illegal opinions"--2 Among other instances of weakness
or wickedness in some persons who have filled these offices, I shall
only mention one which now occurs to my mind--There is an act of
Parliament which exempts seamen from an impress in America: This act
was upon several occasions urged by the Americans, and it has been the
opinion of attornies and sollicitors general, at different times, that
the act was limitted to a time of war, when in truth there was no part
or clause whatever in it to justify such opinion.--Well then may it be
called a groundless opinion; and if groundless, will any one insist
that there was no defect in these instances in point of integrity, if
not of learning--Perhaps these opinions may appear to his Honor to be
founded upon wise reasons; but others who cannot see the force of
these reasons, have a right to think differently; and such a freedom
is not likely to bring dishonor upon them--It is enough for those who
are dependent upon the great for commissions, pensions, and the like,
to preach up implicit faith in the great--Others whose minds are
unfettered will think for themselves--They will not blindly adopt the
opinions even of persons who are advanced to the first stations in the
courts of law and equity, any further than the reasons which they
expressly give are convincing.--They will judge freely of every point
of state doctrine, & reject with disdain a blind submission to the
authority of mere names, as being equally ridiculous, as well as
dangerous in government and religion.--It may have been, Messirs.
Printers, too much the practice of late, for some plantation
governors, like Verres either ancient or modern, to oppress and plague
the people they were bound to protect, and, perhaps in obedience to
"orders that have come from secretaries of state"--These orders truly
were to be treated with as profound veneration, without the least
enquiry into their nature and tendency, as ever a poor deluded
Catholic reverenc'd the decree of Holy Father at Rome.--While such a
disposition prevailed, O how orderly were the people, how submissive
to government! But when once a statute or the constitution was
pleaded, which it was as dangerous for the people to look into, as it
would be for an Italian, after the example of the noble Bereans, to
search the scriptures, the secretary of state was to be informed that
the people were become rebellious; as they said of St. Paul for
preaching doctrines opposite to the humour of the Jewish Masters, that
he "turned the world upside down"--The whole ministerial cabal was
summoned; opinions were called for and taken--and however ludicrous,
to say the best of them, those opinions were, if the people did not
swallow them down as law & reason, they were told, that the freedom
they used with the characters of great men forsooth "would bring
dishonor upon them" and standing armies were sent to convince them of
the reasonableness of these opinions--I confess that "too great a
respect cannot be paid to the honorable part of the profession of the
law," but when state-lawyers, attorneys and sollicitors general, &
persons advanced to the highest stations in the courts of law,
prostitute the honor of the profession, become tools of ministers, and
employ their talents for explaining away, if possible the Rights of a
kingdom, they are then the proper objects of the odium and indignation
of the public.--A very judicious author has observed that "our
maladies and dangers have originated chiefly in the errors and
misconduct of ministers; who from defect of ability or fidelity, or
both, were unequal to the wants of a kingdom: A great genius, infinite
knowledge and infinite care, says he, are requisite to form a prime
minister; but youth and dissipation, with the trainings of the turf
and the gaming table, will now suffice to make a man master of the
most difficult trade in the world, without learning it"--Such were the
men, under whose Influence Attorneys and Sollicitors General, within
these fifty Years past, have held their places, and have even been
advanced to the highest Stations in the Courts of Law, without any
other recommendation than a servile disposition to prostitute the Law
and the Constitution, whenever their Masters should require it of
them--Such have been the Men, from whom Orders have come to Governors
and Commanders in Chief, civil and military in America! And shall we
easily be persuaded to take it for granted that such men are incapable
of abusing the high trust reposed in them, and that Orders coming from
them are always to be considered as "Significations of the pleasure of
the Sovereign."--
Your's,
A CHATTERER.
ARTICLE SIGNED "A CHATTERER."
[Boston Gazette, August 27, 1770.]
MESSIEURS PRINTERS,
I Find in the last Monday's Evening Post,1 a Piece, signed Probus; the
Intention of which seems to be, at least in Part, to show that I must
be "effectually disappointed in my Attempt to convince the World that
I am a greater Scholar than the Lieutenant-Governor of this Province"!
Now upon the Word of a Chatterer, I declare to all my kind Readers, as
well as Hearers, that I never did make the least Pretension to
Scholarship; and besides, the World must long have been so fully
convinced of the "profound Erudition" of the Lieutenant-Governor of
this Province, that it would be the highest Degree of Vanity in any
Man to think of rivaling him as a Scholar. It was obvious to common
Readers that "what comes from the King thro' his Minister, does not
come immediately from the King"--And yet every Paper of the 6th of
August led us to think that an "Expression in itself repugnant and
absurd", had, perhaps thro' Inadvertency, drop't even from a learned
Pen--So far was I from "bravely attacking the Word immediately," or
"entering into a formal Criticism," or any Criticism at all, that I
but barely mentioned it as a "little inaccuracy"; at the same Time
making the best Apology I could for it, by saying that as his Honor
had assured us he "had taken one Day only for his Reply" it was rather
to be wonder'd at, that we met with so few Imperfections of that kind.
But Probus has rectify'd the Mistake, and Probus has vindicated the
Lt. Governor of this Province as a Scholar.--We Chatterers, Messrs.
Printers, have as much Pretension to the Character of the Gentleman,
as any such formal and grave kind of folks as Probus: But I did not
think myself under any obligation "as a Gentleman or an honest Man" to
hunt after the Original, and therefore I have no Acknowlegment to make
to any one for "a faulty Neglect in not seeing it before my
Publication." I suppos'd, as any one might, that the printed Copies
were agreable to the original; and, that our Enemies may not avail
themselves of the common Artifice, in representing the Advocates for
the People as endeavoring to deceive the public I do again declare,
that "in my Conscience I thought the printed Copy to be genuine"; and
I hereby bear my Testimony, as far as that will go, against any Abuse
being offered to Probus, which, poor Man, he either is, or affects to
be under Apprehensions of, for rectifying this Mistake: But as few
persons beside his Honor the Pope, lay Claim to Infallibility, upon
due Consideration it seemeth not, that I am guilty of such high Crime
and Misdeameanour, as by any Rule in Law to be subjected to Indictment
or ex officio Information. However, I think it incumbent on you to
suffer your Readers to be advertiz'd, that instead of immediately in
his Honor's Reply to the House of Representatives, as published in
your Paper of the 6th of August, they ought to read mediately; which
may prevent some other Chatterer from rudely attempting to convince
the World that he is "a greater Scholar than the Lt. Governor of this
Province;" Such an attempt perhaps may otherwise be made at a Distance
where Probus may not have it in his Power to set right this notable
Mistake--The Word being thus restored, the Passage will remain just as
liable to the Chatterer's Exception, notwithstanding all that Probus
has said, as if it stood as it did; for the whole that was intended,
was, to show, that we ought to take the Characters of Ministers of
State into Consideration, before we conclude, as his Honor would have
us, that every Order from them comes mediately from the Crown, or is a
Signification of his Majesty's Pleasure.
There is in the same Evening Post, as well as the Boston Post-Boy &
Advertiser,2 & also in the Gazette of Thursday last, an Advertisement
wherein the same Notice is taken of this Assault and Battery of mine
upon the Scholarship of the Lieutenant Governor of this Province--I am
sorry that my poor Publication, which seems after all to be of no more
Significancy in their Opinion than "a Man of Straw" has given so great
Uneasiness to some of his Honor's Friends--This Advertiser indirectly
chargeth me with Indecency in "undertaking to answer a Governor's
Message." Now I did not undertake to anwer a Governor's Message; and
to speak plain, I did not think it worth while to undertake it--I
believe I am not alone in the Opinion, that some messages might easily
be answered, & possibly each in "one Day only": But if I had
undertaken it, where in the Name of common sense would have been the
Indecency of it? I know very well that it has been handed as a
political Creed of late, that the Reasoning of the People without
Doors is not to be regarded--But every "transient Person" has a Right
publickly to animadvert upon whatever is publickly advanc'd by any
Man, and I am resolv'd to exercise that Right, when I please, without
asking any Man's Leave--And moreover, I am free to say, that if ever a
Governor's Message should happen to be below the Attention of a
Scholar, no Person can more aptly take Notice of it, that I know of,
than
A CHATTERER.
1The Boston Evening Post, published by T. & J. Fleet.
2The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy Advertiser, published
by Mills and Hicks.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.1
[Boston Gazette, July 22, 1771: a text is printed in Papers Relating
to Public Events in Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1856, 169-177.]
PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS-BAY
NOV. 6, 1770.
SIR,
The House of Representatives of this his Majesty's province, having
made choice of you to appear for them at the court of Great Britain,
as there may be occasion; it is necessary that you be well informed of
the state and circumstances of the province, and the grievances we
labor under, the redress of which will require your utmost attention
and application.
You are sensible that the British parliament have of late years
thought proper to raise a revenue in America without our consent, by
divers acts made expressly for that purpose; The reasons and grounds
of our complaints against those acts, are so well known and understood
by you, that it is needless for us to mention them at this time.
The measures that have been taken by the American assemblies, to
obtain the repeal of these acts, tho' altogether consistent with the
constitution, and clearly within the bounds of the Subjects Rights,
have been nevertheless disgustful to administration; to whom we have
been constantly represented by the servants of the crown and others on
this side the water, in the most disagreeable and odious light.
Whether this province has been considered as having a lead among the
other colonies, which they have never affected, or whether it is
because Governor Bernard, the Commissioners of the Customs and others,
who have discovered themselves peculiarly inimical to the Colonies,
have had their residences here, certain it is, that the resentment of
government at home has been particularly pointed against this
province: For it is notorious that we have been charged with taking
inflammatory measures, tending to create unwarrantable combinations,
to excite an unjustifiable opposition to parliament, and revive
unhappy divisions among the Colonies; and we have frequently been
censured as disobedient to government for parts of conduct which have
been in no wise dissimular to those which have been taken by other
colonies without the least censure or observation.
While administration appeared to have conceived undue prejudices
against us, our enemies have not failed to take every measure to
increase those prejudices; and particularly by representing to the
King's ministers, that a spirit of faction had so greatly and
universally prevailed among us, as that government could not be
supported, and it was unsafe for the officers of the crown to live in
the province and execute their trusts, without the protection of a
military force: Such a force they at length obtained; the consequence
of which was a scene of confusion & distress for the space of
seventeen months, which ended in the blood and slaughter of his
Majesty's good subjects.
It was particularly mortifying to us to see the whole system of civil
authority in the province, yielding to this most dangerous power; and
at the very time when the interposition of the civil magistrate was of
the most pressing necessity, to check the wanton and bloody career of
the military, the Lieutenant-Governor himself declared, as Governor
Bernard had before, that "he had no authority over the King's troops
in the province," and his Majesty's representative in Council became
an humble supplicant for their removal out of the town of Boston! What
would be the feelings of our fellow-subjects in Britain, if contrary
to their Bill of Rights, and indeed to every principle of civil
government, soldiers were posted even in their captial, without the
consent of their Parliament? And yet the subjects of the same Prince
in America who are entitled to the same freedom, are compelled to
submit to as great a military power as administration shall please to
order to be posted among them in a time of profound peace, without the
consent of their assemblies! And this military power is allowed to
trample upon the laws of the land, the common security, without
restraint! Such an instance of absolute uncontroul'd military tyranny
must needs be alarming, to those who have before in some measure
enjoy'd, and are still entitled to the blessings of a free government,
having never forfeited the character of loyal subjects.--After the
fatal tragedy of the fifth of March, the regiments under the command
of Lieut. Colonel Dalrymple were removed from the Town of Boston to
the Barracks on Castle Island, in consequence of a petition from the
town to the Lieutenant Governor and his Prayer to the Colonel; since
which, in pursuance of Instruction to the Lieut. Governor, the
garrison there in the pay of the province, is withdrawn, and a
garrison of his Majesty's regular troops placed in their stead. And
although this exchange is made ostensively by the immediate order of
the lieutenant-governor, yet it appears by the inclosed depositions,
that Col. Dalrymple in reality took the custody and government of the
fortress by order of general Gage; and therefore the lieutenant
governor has no longer that command, which he is vested with by the
royal charter.
We cannot help observing upon this occasion, that the instructions
which have of late been given to the governor, some of them at least,
directly militate, as in the present instance, with the charter of the
province; And these instructions are not always adapted to promote his
Majesty's service, or the good of the people within this province, but
often appear to be solely calculated to further and execute the
measures, and enforce the laws of a different state; by which means
his Majesty's colonies may be entirely subjected to the absolute will
of his other subjects in Great Britain, for which there can be no
pretence of right, but what is founded in mere force.--By virtue of
their positive instructions, the general assembly of the province has
been remov'd from its ancient establish'd and only convenient seat in
Boston, and is still obliged to hold its session at Harvard College in
Cambridge, to the great inconvenience of the members and injury of the
people, as well as detriment of that seminary of learning, without any
reason that can be assigned but will and pleasure: And thus the
prerogative of the King, which is a trust reposed in him to be
improved only for the welfare of his subjects, is perverted to their
manifest injury.
And what is still more grievous is, that the Governor of the province
is absolutely inhibited, as we are told, from laying before the
assembly any instruction, which he receives, even such as carry in
them the evident marks of his Majesty's displeasure: By which means
the House of Representatives cannot have it in their power to obtain
here, that precise knowledge of the grounds of our Sovereign's
displeasure, which we are in reason and justice entitled to, nor can
the ministry be made responsible for any measures they may advise to
in order to introduce and establish an illegal and arbitray government
over his Majesty's subjects in the colonies.--We have an instance of
this kind now before us; the Lt. Governor of the province having in
his speech at the opening of this session, given a dark intimation of
something intended against the province, and when the House of
Representatives earnestly desired him to explain it, that they might
have a clear understanding of what was inteded therein, he declared as
he had before done in other like cases, that he was not at liberty to
make public or to communicate by speech or message an order from his
Majesty in council which he had received, although in consequence
thereof the state of the province was to be laid before parliament. By
such conduct in the ministry it appears that we may be again accus'd
and censur'd by parliament as we have heretofore been, and perhaps
suffer the greatest injury without knowing our accusers or the matters
that may be alleg'd against us.
At the same time, by an order of parliament that the names of persons
giving intelligence to the ministry which may at any time be laid
before parliament, shall be made secret even to the members
themselves, the greatest encouragement is given to persons inimical to
the province, to send home false relations of speeches and proceedings
in public assemblies, and elsewhere, containing injurious charges upon
individuals as well as publick bodies: Some of which have been
transmitted home under the seal of the province, without the least
notice given to those individuals, or any but the few in the secret to
attend and cross-examine such witnesses. Thus even parliament itself
may be misled into measures highly injurious and destructive to the
province, by the calumny and detraction of those who are not and
cannot be known, and whose falsehoods cannot therefore be
detected.--So wretched is the state of this province, not only to be
subjected to absolute instructions, given to the governor to be the
rule of his administration, whereby some of the most essential clauses
of our charter, vesting in him powers to be exercis'd for the good of
the people are totally rescinded, which in reality is a state of
despotism; but also, to a standing army, which being uncontroul'd by
any authority within the province, must soon tear up the very,
foundations of civil government.
Moreover we have the highest reason to complain that since the late
parliamentary regulations of the colonies, the jurisdiction of the
court of admiralty has been extended to so enormous a length, as
itself to threaten the very being of the constitution: By the statute
4th Geo. 3 chap. 15, "All forfeitures and penalties inflicted by this
or any other act of parliament relating to the trade and plantations
in America which shall be incur'd there, may be prosecuted, sued for
and recovered in any court of admiralty in the said colonies." Thus a
single judge, independent of the people, and in a civil law court, is
to try these extraordinary forfeitures and penalties without a jury:
Whereas the same stature provides, that all penalties and forfeitures
which shall be incurred in Great Britain, shall be prosecuted, sued
for and recovered in any of his Majesty's courts of record, in
Westminster or in the court of exchequer in Scotland respectively.
Here is the most unreasonble and unjust distinction, made between the
subjects in Britain and America; as tho' it were designed to exclude
us from the least share in that clause of Magna-Charta, which has for
many centuries been the noblest bulwark of the English liberties, &
which cannot be too often repeated; "No freeman shall be taken or
imprison'd or disseiz'd of his freehold, or liberties, or free
customs, or be outlaw'd, or exil'd, or any otherwise destroyed, nor
will we pass upon him nor condemn him, but by the judgment of his
peers or the law of the land."
These are some of the insupportable grievances which this province has
long been laboring under, and which still remain altogether
unredressed: For although they have been set forth in the clearest
manner by humble petitions to the throne, yet such an ascendency over
us have the officers of the crown here in the minds of administration,
that our complaints are scarcely heard; our very petitions are deemed
factious, and instead of obtaining any relief, our oppressions have
been more aggravated, & we have reason to apprehend will be still
increased.
For by the best intelligence from England, we are under strong
apprehensions that by virtue of an act of parliament of the 7 Geo.3.2
which impowers his Majesty to appropriate a part of the revenue raised
in America, for the support of civil government, and the
administration of justice in such colonies where he shall judge it
necessary, administration is determined to bestow large salaries upon
the attorney-general, judges and governor of this province; whereby
they will be made not only altogether independent of the people, but
wholly dependent upon the ministry for their support. These
appointments will be justly obnoxious to the other colonies, and tend
to beget and keep up a perpetual discontent among them; for they will
deem it unjust as well as unnecessary to be oblig'd to bear a part of
the support of government in this province, and even in the courts of
law; especially if designs are also meditating to make other important
alterations in our Charter, by appointing the Council from home, &c.
whereby the executive will be rendered absolute, and the legislative
totally ineffectual to any valuable purpose. The assembly is in all
reason sufficiently dependent already upon the Crown: The one branch
annually for its being, as it is subject to the negative of the
Governor; and both the branches for every grant and appropriation of
their money, and also for their whole defence and security, as he is
Captain-General, and has by Charter the sole military command within
the province: All civil officers are either nominated and appointed by
him with the advice and consent of his Majesty's Council, or if
elected they are subject to his negative: And our laws, after being
consented to by his Majesty's Governor, are by the first opportunity
from the making thereof, to be transmitted to his Majesty for his
approbation or disallowance: Three years they are subject to the
revision of the crown lawyers in Britain, who my always be strangers
to our internal polity, & sometimes disaffected to us: And at any time
within the three years, His Majesty in his privy council may, if he
thinks proper, reject them, and then they become utterly void. Surely
the parliament of Great Britain cannot wish for greater checks, both
upon the legislative and executive of a colony, unless we are to be
considered as bastards and not Sons.--A step further will reduce us to
absolute subjection. If administration is resolved to continue such
measure of severity, the colonies will in time consider the
mother-state as utterly regardless of their welfare: Repeated acts of
unkindness on one side, may by degrees abate the warmth of affection
on the other, and a total alienation may succeed to that happy union,
harmony and confidence, which has subsisted, and we sincerely wish may
always subsist: If Great Britain, instead of treating us as their
fellow-subjects, shall aim at making us their vassals and slaves, the
consequence will be, that although our merchants have receded from
their non-importation agreement, yet the body of the people will
vigorously endeavor to become independent of the mother-country for
supplies, and sooner than she may be aware of it, will manufacture for
themselves. The colonists, like healthy young sons, have been
chearfully building up the parent state, and how far Great Britain
will be affected, if they should be rendered even barely useless to
her, is an object which we conceive is at this very juncture worth the
attention of a British Parliament.
Your own acquaintance with this province, and your well known
attachment to it, will lead you to exert all your powers in its
defence: And as the Council have made choice of William Bollan, Esq;
for their agent, you will no doubt confer with him, and concert such
measures as will promote our common interest: Your abilities we
greatly confide in; but if you shall think it for the advantage of the
province to consult with and employ council learned in the law, the
importance of your agency will be a motive sufficient for us to
acquiesce in such expence on that account, as your own judgment shall
dictate to you to be necessary.
Included are the proceedings of his Majesty's Council of this
province, upon an affidavit of Mr. Secretary Oliver, which this House
apprehend has a tendency to make a very undue impression on the minds
of his Majesty's ministers and others, respecting the temper and
disposition of the people, previous to the tragical transaction of the
fifth of March last: You are therefore desired to make such use of
them as shall prevent such unhappy consequences from taking effect.
1Attributed to Adams by Governor Hutchinson. Hutchinson to Pownall;
Public Record Office, Domestic Geo. III., 11:25. Franklin's reply,
addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives under date of
December 24, 1770, is in J. Bigelow, Complete Works of Benjamin
Franklin vol. iv., pp. 371-373.
2Chap. 46.
TO STEPHEN SAYRE.1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
BOSTON NOVr 16 1770
SIR,
I should before now have acknowledgd your favor of the 5 June,2 but my
being obligd to attend the Session of the General Court for 7 weeks3 &
other necessary Avocations prevented it. I return the Letters signd
Junius Americanus deliverd to me by Mr Cary,4 by your direction to be
a valueable present. The Author has servd the American Cause in a
manner in which I have long wishd some able pen would have undertaken
to do it by appealing to the good Sense of the Body of the Nation. I
believe the general Inclination there is to wish that we may preserve
our Liberties; and perhaps even the Ministry could for some Reasons
find it in their hearts to be willing that we shd be restord to the
State we were in before the passing of the Stamp Act, were it not that
a Set of detestable Men were continually writing from hence that we
shd carry our Claims still higher & there wd be no Bounds to our
Demands. I can venture to assure you that there is no Foundation for
such Assertions, nor do I think they are really believd by any. The
People here are indeed greatly tenacious of their just Rights & I hope
in God they will ever firmly maintain them. Every Attempt to enforce
the plan of Despotism will certainly irritate them; While they have a
Sense of freedom they will oppose the Efforts of Tyranny; and altho
the Mother Country may at present boast of her Superiority over them,
she may perhaps find the Want of that Superiority, when by repeated
provocations she shall have totally lost their Affections.--All Good
Men surely wish for a cordial Harmony between the two Countrys. Great
Britain can lose Nothing which she ought to retain by restoring the
Americans to their former State, & they I am satisfied will no further
contend; While the Struggle continues Manufactures will still increase
in America in spite of all Efforts to prevent it; & how far Britain
will be injurd by it, ought certainly to be well considerd on your
side the Atlantick.
Our Merchants have receded from their Nonimportation Agreement. They
held it much longer than I ever thought they would or could. It was a
grand Tryal which pressd hard upon their private Interest. But the
Landholders find it for their Interest to manufacture and it is their
happy Consideration that while they are most effectually serving their
Country they are adding to their private fortunes. The representatives
of the people have this day agreed to promote Manufactures in their
respective Towns, & the House have appointed a special Committee5 to
form a plan for the effectual Encouragement of Arts Agriculture
Manufactures & Commerce in this province; & even the Administration of
a Bernard could not tend more to sharpen the Edge of resentment which
will perpetually keep alive the Spirit of Manufactures than that which
we are now blessd with. Lt Governor Hutchinson, more plausible indeed
than Bernard, seems resolvd to push the same plan & the people plainly
see that a Change of Men is not likely to produce a Change of
Measures--so soon are the Words of the one verified when he said of
the other that he could rely upon him as he could on himself.
Our House of Representatives have been inducd to do Business this
Session, against their former remonstrances, principally from a
Necessity which they apprehended they were under of attending to what
mt be doing on your Side the Water. They accordingly chose an Agent. I
gave my Suffrage with about a third part of the House, for Dr Lee--but
Dr Franklin being personally known to many of the Members had the
preference--both the Gentlemen were highly spoken of in the House, &
afterwards Dr Lee was appointed to the Trust, by a very full vote in
Case of the Death or Absence of Dr Franklin.
Our State Tryals as we may call them have at length come on. Preston
is acquitted by a Jury!6 It is to be remarkd that the Baker of the
Regiment, who indeed wd have had himself excusd, and three others were
put on as Talesmen Preston having challengd Eighteen. One of the three
was a known Intimate of Prestons and another had declared before that
if he was to be of the Jury he wd sit till Doomsday before he wd
consent to a Verdict agt him. Evidence to prove that the Soldiers were
the Aggressors of which there was plenty was not admitted. The main
Question was whether he orderd the Men to fire--diverse persons swore
positively that he did, but they differing about the Circumstance of
his Dress, & others swearing, one that he was very near him & did not
hear him give the orders, & others that some other person unknown gave
them, operated in his favor. But no Weight that I can learn was given,
to full proof that he led the Soldiers armd with loaded Musquets &
Bayonets. This he had a Right, nay it was his Duty to do, because the
Centinel was in Danger & we must presume the People were the
Aggressors. This Principle I suppose will clear the Soldiers whose
Tryals begin on Tuesday next.7 Richardson who was convicted of the
Murder of young Snider so long ago as March, remains unhangd, the
Court not having yet determind upon his Motion for another Tryal. You
may easily observe that we have catchd the impartial Spirit of the
Kings friends, a synonimous term for friends of Govt here, from the
Mother Country. I had not the opportunity of attending Prestons Tryal,
but am in hopes of having a minute Accot of it from a sensible
Gentleman who was present--if I can obtain it I will write you more
precisely upon the Subject.
Before I conclude I must mention to you that the Minister has taken a
Method which in my Opinion has a direct tendency to set up a despotism
here, or rather is the thing it self--and that is by sending
Instructions to the Governor to be the rule of his Administration &
forbiding him as the Govr declares to make them known to us, the
Design of which may be to prevent his ever being made responsible for
any measures he may advise in order to introduce & establish arbitrary
power over the Colonies. Mr Hutchinson has pushd this point with all
the Vigour of Bernard, which has occasiond warm messages between him &
the Assembly as you may observe in the Boston Gazette for several
Weeks past. But of this I shall be more particular in my next.
I shall be proud of an epistolary Correspondence with you, and with Dr
Lee to whom tho personally unknown to him I beg you wd make my
Compliments. I am with strict truth.
1A resident of London, and at one time sheriff; his relations with the
colonists appear in the letters printed in this volume.
2A copy is in S. A. Wells, Samuel Adams and the American Revolution,
vol. i. pp. 293, 294.
3The session began September 26 and ended November 20.
4Probably Richard Cary, of Charlestown, Mass. Letters by him are in
Papers Relating to Public Events in Massachusetts, pp. 113, 122, 124.
5On November 16; Samuel Adams was a member of the committee.
6The stenographic report of Preston's trial was sent to England, but
never published in America. Works of John Adams, vol. ii., p. 236.
7The Trial of the British Soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot was
published at Boston in 1770, 1807 and 1824, and was reprinted in
History of the Boston Massacre, Albany, 1870, pp. 123-285.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF
MASSACHUSETTS.1
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR,
The House of Representatives have heretofore view’d with Concern the
deplorable State of the Militia of this Province. But have heretofore
refrained from any public mention of it least some Misconstruction
should be put upon it.
But by the last Advices from GREAT BRITAIN, the NATIONS of Europe
appear to be upon the Eve of a general War; and perhaps America may
be the object in the Eye of some of those Naions.
And when some of the Regiments within this Province are destitute of
Field-Officers, and many Companies without Captains or Subalterns,
the Arms of the Militia we fear are deficient, and military Discipline
too much neglected.
Duty to his Majesty, and a Regard to our own Safety constrain us to
Address your Honor, praying that you would be pleased (as soon as may
be) to fill up the Vacancies in the several Regiments (wherever such
Vacancies are) with such Persons as to your Honor shall seem meet:
And that your Honor would be pleased to use your Endeavours that the
several Officers carefully Discharge the Trust reposed in them. And
should any Amendments in, or Addition to the Laws for regulating the
Militia of this Province be thought needful, at the next Session of
the General Court the House of Representatives will chearfully do all
in their Power towards putting the Militia on a respectable Footing.
1On November 19, 1770, Samuel Adams was appointed a member of a
committee to draft a message to the Lieutenant Governor with reference
to the vacancies in the militia. On the following day Adams reported
to the House a draft, which was accepted.
ARTICLE SIGNED “A TORY.”
[Boston Gazette, November 26, 1770.]
I have thought of several things that have taken place since the
present a-----n1 began, which must needs have given sensible pleasure
to every friend of this province, and possibly were alluded to in a
late pr-----n.2 ---In the first place, the friends of government have
so far prevailed against the faction, as to get the non-importation
plan broke thro’, which had for so long time embarrassed the Ministry
in thier laudable efforts to ESTABLISH A REVENUE in the colonies. The
consequence of this, it is hoped, will be, that the worthy
Commissioners of the customs will be continued; and the troops which
have so eminently protected the lives, and reformed the morals of the
people, will be reinstated; so that the well-affected may enjoy their
places and PENSIONS without molestation from the vulgar. In the next
place, our Castle-William is taken out of the hands of the rude
natives, and put under the government of regular forces; this was an
admirable manoeuvre, which has occasioned the highest joy in the
friends of government, (thank his ----- for it) and in proportion
damp’d the spirits of the faction. And then, such a grand appearance
of tall ships of war in our capital harbour, which were certainly
designed to show us the marks of the greatest respect, (for what other
end could the wise ministry have had in view) and may serve to make
up for the loss of troops, if we should unfortunately not be favoured
with more! --There is also the advantage which his H----r the Lt.
G-----r must reap from some late instructions, which, no doubt, “are
founded in wise reasons,” whereby the great defects in our Charter,
which the friends of government have been long complaining of, may
be supply’d. --I might mention also, a late remarkable deliverance
from death and danger, (blessed a-m-----n!) for it would have been a
great discouragement to the efforts of government. --But no more--
these may be thought to be matters of great thankfulness, and may
suitably employ our minds at the approaching solemnity.
Your’s
A TORY.
Cambridge, Nov. 20, 1770.
1Administration.
2Proclamation.
TO PETER TIMOTHY1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
Boston Novr 21 1770
SIR
Ever since I recd your favr of Sept 222 I have been incessantly
employd in the Genl Assembly which met AGREABLE TO INSTRUCTIONS at
Har[vard] Coll[ege] in Cam[bridge]. This I hope will be some Apology
for my not acknowleging it before.
I had recd a Letter from Mr John Neufville Chairman of the Come of
Merchts in Charlestown, inclosing Letters for the Sons of Liberty in
Boston Connecticutt & N Hampshire. The two last of which I forwarded
as soon as possible to such Gentn in the repsective places as I judgd
worthy so excellent a Character. That which was directed for Boston
I unseald, professing my self a Son of Liberty but found it was
designd for the Trade, with whom I was not connected, but as an
Auxiliary in their Nonimportaton Agreement. I therefore deliverd it
to the Chairman of the Come here, and it was read with very great
Approbation, in a large Meeting of the Body of the people. I desire
you wd make my Compts and Apology to Mr Neufville. I verily believd
that the Come of Merchants had duly honord his Letter by returning
an Answer to it, as they had orderd it to be publishd in our papers;
and I candidly suppose they had the same Expectation from me which
may be the occasion that the Letter remaind unanswerd.
The Nonimportation Agreemt since the Defection of New York is entirely
at an end. From the Begining I have been apprehensive it wd fall
short of our Wishes. It was continued much beyond my Expectation:
There are here & I suppose every where, men interrested enough to
render such a plan abortive. Thro the Influence of the Come & Tories
here, Boston had been made to APPEAR in an odious Light; but I wd
not have you believe it to be the true Light. The Merchts in general
have punctually abode by their Agreemt, to their very great private
loss; Some few have found means to play a dishonorable Game without
Detection, tho the utmost pains have been taken. The Body of the
people remaind firm till the Merchts receded. I am very sorry that
the Agreemt was ever enterd into as it has turnd out ineffectual.
Let us then ever forget that there has been such a futile
Combination, & awaken our Attention to our first grand object. Let
the Colonies still convince their implacable Enemies, that they are
united in constitutional Principles, and are resolvd they WILL NOT be
Slaves; that their Dependance is not upon Merchts or any particular
Class of men, nor is their dernier resort, a resolution BARELY to
withhold Commerce, with a nation that wd subject them to despotic
Power. Our house of reps[sic] have appointed a Come to correspond
with our friends in the other Colonies,3 & AMERICAN MANUFACTURES shd
be the constant Theme.
Our young men seem of late very ambitious of making themselves
masters of the art MILITARY.
1Of Charleston, South Carolina.
2Asking why an earlier letter of the Charleston committee had not
been answered. A copy of Timothy’s letter is in S. A. Wells, Samuel
Adams and the American Revolution, vol., i., p. 292.
3Consisting of Samuel Adams, John Adams, Hancock, Hall and Cushing;
appointed November 7, 1770.
TO STEPHEN SAYRE.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
Boston 23 Novr 1770
SIR
Capt Scott being detaind by a contrary Wind, and the General Assembly
being now prorogud,1 I have an Opportunity of writing in Addition to
my Letter of the 16 Instt & by the same Conveyance.
As soon as I heard of the Death of our worthy Friend Mr De Berdt, I
was determind, if the House should come to the Choice of an Agent, to
give my Vote for yourself; and I was confirmd in my Resolution when I
found by your Letter of the 5 June2 that such an Appointmt would be
agreable to you. But being afterwards told by a Friend of yours that
you were desirous yourself that Dr Lee might be chosen, which by no
means lessened my Opinion of your Merit, & having also a great
Opinion of Dr Lee, I thought myself happy in a Conclusion that your
Inclination perfectly coincided with my own Judgment. At the same
time, such was my Opinion of your honest Zeal for the Rights of
America and of your Ability to defend them that I could with equal
Satisfaction have voted for Mr Sayer. I am perfectly of your Opinion
that no man shd be the object of our Choice who holds any place at
the Will of the present Administration; how far the House have been
influencd by this Principle you are able to judge.
You will observe by the inclosd papers, to how great a degree
ministerial Instructions are enforcd here. They not only prescribe to
the Assembly which ought to be free the forms of Legislation in the
most essential Parts, but even annihilate the Powers of the Govr
vested in him by Charter.3 Could it possibly be imagind that a man
who is bone of our Bone, & flesh of our flesh--who boasts that his
Ancestors were of the first Rank & figure in the Country, who has had
all the Honors lavishly heapd upon him which his Fellow Citizens had
it in their power to bestow, who with all the Arts of personal
Address professes the strongest Attachmt to his native Country & the
most tender feeling for its Rights. Could it be imagind htat such a
Man shd be so lost to all sense of Gratitude & publick Love, as to aid
the Designs of despotick power for the sake of rising a single step
higher.
“Who would not weep if such a Man there be
Who would not weep if H-----n were he.”
Aut Caesar aut nullus, is inscribd on the Hearts of some Men who have
neither Caesars Learning nor Courage. Caesar three times refusd the
Crown; His Heart & his Tongue evidently gave each other the Lye. Our
modern GREAT MAN, would fain have it thought that he has refusd a
Government, which his Soul is every day panting after & without the
Possesion of which his Ambition & Lust of Power will perpetually
torment him.
The Intelligence in Your Letter of the 18 Sept which I have just now
with pleasure receivd, does not at all surprize me--”His former
Letters” “wrote before Bernard embarkd for England” “have been equally
oppugnant to the Form of your Govt”--And yet this very Man gives out,
that in six months, the Province will be convincd that his Letters are
written in defence of our Charter! So I remember Bernard himself, not
long before his own Letters returnd, declard to both Houses of
Assembly, that if he was at Liberty to make publick the Letters he had
written to the several Boards in favor of the Province, his Enemies
wd blush.--Why does not this Man make his Letters publick? Would not
a Roman Senator have seizd the opportunity of appeasing the Jealousys
of the angry Citizens? But the Body of the people are contemptible.4
This People who know not the Law are accursed, said a haughty Jewish
priest. It has been his Principle from a Boy, that Mankind are to be
governd by the discerning few--and it has ever since been his
Ambition to be the Hero5 of the few.
I have long since been of your Opinion that few great Men in Britain
are entitled to an American Confidence--They will all in their Turns
clamour for us while it is their Interest so to do.--It is the
Business of America to take Care of herself--her salvation as you
justly observe depends upon her own Virtue. Arts & Manufactures aided
by Commerce have raised Great Britain to its present Pitch of
Grandeur. America will avail herself by imitating her. We have already
seen her troops and AS WE HAVE A PROSPECT OF A WAR I hope I may safely
tell you that our YOUNG MEN begin to be ambitious of making themselves
perfect Masters of the Art MILITARY. Amidst the innumerable Evils
which we complain of from the bad policy of YOUR Ministry, this is
the happy Effect of Britains transplanting her Arms in America.
1The prorogation, on November 20, was until January 23, 1771; the next
session actually began April 3, 1771.
2Delivered by Richard Cary. A copy is in S.A. Wells, Samuel Adams and
the American Revolution, vol. i., pp. 293, 294.
3At this point the words “Good God!” are crossed out.
4Before alteration, this sentence read: “But the Body of the people
are too contemptible to be favord with a Sight of them.”
5Originally “Head.”
TO JOSIAH WILLIAMS.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text, with variations, is
in W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol. i., pp. 341, 342.]
Boston Novr 23 1770
MY DEAR SR
When you embarkd for London I promisd you I would write by the next
Ship. I did not write--but it was owing to incessant Avocations at
Cambridge & not to an unmindfulness of my promise or a Want of
Inclination to fulfil it. I hope ere now you are safe arrivd. You are
then a Sojourner in one of the most opulent and most luxurious Cities
in the World. Musick is your dear Delight--there your taste will be
improvd. But I fear that Discord will too often discompose you, and
the rude Clamors against your Country will vex you. I rely upon it
that your own good Sense will dictate to you that which will
sufficiently vindicate your Country against foul Aspersion whenever
you may meet with it; and I cannot entertain the least Doubt but you
are possessd with all that patriotick Zeal which will for ever warm
the Breast of an ingenuous young Gentleman. Such a Zeal temperd with
a manly Prudence will render you respectable in political Circles of
Men of Sense. I am sure you will never condescend to be a Companion
of Fools. After telling you what I know will be agreable to you, that
your friends are well, you must allow me to plead haste & conclude at
present with my best Wishes for your Prosperity.
ARTICLE SIGNED “A CHATTERER.”
[Boston Gazette, December 3, 1770.]
We should all remember that British America was well affected to the
nation till MINISTERIAL INNOVATIONS occasion’d these Difficulties.
Anon.
Instead of submitting to MINISTERIAL GUIDANCE, they seem so far led
away by common Sense, and their Regard for the common Welfare, that
they have no Reverence for the INSTRUCTIONS and REFINEMENTS of our
Ministers. Ibid.
Messieurs PRINTERS,
Some time ago I took the liberty of making a few remarks in my poor
manner, upon a SPEECH deliver’d at the close of a session of the
General Assembly: I then thought, and still think that I had good
right and lawful authority so to do, notwithstanding the rebuke which
the VENERABLE Mr. Probus1 then “thought fit” to give me. In imitation
of some of my BRETHREN, I solemnly warned my readers, by way of
applications, of the danger of certain INSTRUCTIONS, or as they were
term’d, “MINISTERIAL MANDATES” we had about that time been told of;
which appear’d to me to be equal to that of REVENUE ACTS, or STANDING
ARMIES to ENFORCE them: I little thought that these instructions, or
mandates, call them what you will, would in their effects have made
so rapid a progress, in so short a time, as I find they have since
THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION began: For I perceive that our house of
representatives have plainly told the Lt. Governor that “merely in
obedience to INSTRUCTIONS, he has made an ABSOLUTE SURRENDER of Castle
William to his Majesty’s forces, with a MOST EXPRESS RESIGNATION of
his POWER OF GARRISONING the same to Lt. Col. Dalrymple”: and to prove
it they recite his Honor’s orders UNDER HIS OWN HAND, to Capt.
Phillips, to deliver that Fort into the hands of the commanding
officer of his Majesty’s regular forces then upon the island, TO BE
GARRISON’D by such detachment as HE SHOULD ORDER! To this indeed his
honor says, “There is nothing in the orders which I gave to Capt.
Phillips, which does not perfectly consist with my retaining the
command of the Castle, and my right to exchange the present garrison
for the former or any other, as I shall think proper”: But I must
confess, it is mysterious to me, how his Honor can retain the Right
to dismiss Col. Dalrymple and his detachment, WHEN HE PLEASES, or
exchange the present garrison for any other AS HE SHALL THINK PROPER,
after having delivered the fort without any reservation, into the
hands of Col. Dalrymple, in consequence of EXPRESS ORDERS from
another, to be garrison’d by such detachment AS HE SHALL ORDER. I am
not so certain that his Honor, who pays a sacred regard to
instructions, will easily be perswaded to exchange the present
garrison for the former, or any other, however necessary such
exchange may be, without first having leave from the right Hon. the
Earl of Hillsborough, as full and EXPRESS as the orders he receiv’d
from his lordship to place the present garrison there--Others may
reconcile an absolute delegation of power without any reserve, by the
express orders of a superior, with a right retain’d in the person who
is THUS ORDER’D to delegate, to exercise the same power when he
pleases; I have not that INTUITIVE knowledge which some men are said
to be bless’d with, and therefore it will not be thought strange if I
do not see clearly through this mystery in POLITICS.--The house
further observe, that “as his Honor has heretofore repeatedly declared
that he has no authority over the King’s troops in the province,2 it
was absurd to suppose he COULD have the command of a fort, thus
unreservedly surrendered to, and in full possession of such troops”:
Which appears to be a just conclusion; for can any one believe that
Col. Dalrymple will hold himself oblig’d to march the King’s troops
under his command out of that fort, in obedience to the orders of one
who has no authority over them? Think not, Mess. Printers, that I am
now finding fault: For if his Honor has “in this instance divested
himself of a power of governing which is vested in him by the Charter
FOR THE SAFETY of the province”, as wiser heads than mine have
determin’d, who WILL DARE to find fault? It was done by virtue of
instructions; and we are told that instructions from a minister of
state come MEDIATELY from the K-----, and his Honor knows that
instructions, whatever “coarse epithet” may have been bestow’d upon
them, are “founded in very wise reasons”, and ought not to be treated
with contempt--HOLT, SOMERS and others, who near eighty years ago
laid their heads together to form our Charter, were certainly wise
and great men; and King William who gave it was as certainly a wise
and good King: But does not the wisdom of my Lord of H-----h far
exceed theirs? Pray, does not every measure which he has advis’d,
fully evince this to the conviction of all but a few factious fellows
here and there. The FRIENDS OF GOVERNMENT are willing to submit WHAT
JUDGEMENT THEY HAVE to such profound wisdom; and what if our OLD
FASHION Charter should be pared down by INSTRUCTIONS, and a power or
two of the G-----r, vested in him FOR THE SAFETY OF THE PEOPLE, should
even be annihilated by them, we are only to BELIEVE there are very
wise reasons for it, and we shall find that all is for the best.
But it is said that “Mr. Hall the late chaplain (whose deposition was
also taken) has not only not given the House the form of words in
which his Honor committed the CUSTODY of the Castle “according to the
Charter” to Col. Dalrymple, but has substituted words which carry a
very different meaning.” --It is strange that Mr. Hall, whom his
Honor directed to attend him--I suppose as a witness--should so
grosly mistake the meaning of the words. But whatever he may lack in
comprehension, memory or VERACITY, he shall, IF HE LIKES IT, be
touch’d up with the reputation of a very MODEST KIND OF GENTLEMAN;
“he has with GREAT MODESTY declared that he COULD NOT RECOLLECT THE
WORDS”--Mr. Hall’s expression is, “PERHAPS I MAY not recollect the
words EXACTLY”;--and “could ONLY recollect the impression they made
upon his mind”--Here again we find Mr. Hall’s expression to be, “This
as far as I can recollect is the impression they made upon my mind.”
He spoke upon memory, and if he delivered the SUBSTANCE of what he
heard, his not being certain that he recollected the words EXACTLY,
is not material--What then is the substance as deliver’d by Mr. Hall
UNDER OATH, who has the character both of an honest and a sensible
man, altho’ it is said that he substituted words which convey a very
different meaning? It is this; “By virtue of authority deriv’d from
his Majesty to govern this province, and in consequence of EXPRESS
ORDERS from the Right Hon. the Earl of Hillsborough to deliver this
fort into the hands of the commanding officer of the King’s troops
now upon the island to be garrison’d by such detachment or detachments
as HE SHALL THINK PROPER I deliver these keys to you as commanding
officer”. If his Honor has a copy of the EXACT FORM OF WORDS, and will
favor the publick with it, we shall be able to judge where the
difference is, and whether “in our opinion” it is MATERIAL. Perhaps
the words “according to the Charter” which I observe are comma’d in
his Honor’s reply as emphatical, are omitted by Mr. Hall: But if THEY
are a part of the FORM OF WORDS, the house seem to have fully taken
them up by affirming that his Honor has no authority either BY THE
CHARTER or his commission to delegate the power of garrisoning the
Castle to any other person: And “that the SHEW of the authority of
the Governor thus held up serv’d only to make the surrender the more
solemn and formal.” If then he had no such authority to do it either
by Charter or Commission, how could he do it by virtue of the
authority deriv’d from his Majesty to govern the province? unless
that authority is deriv’d to him to govern, SOLELY by the “EXPRESS
ORDERS from the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Hillsborough”--If so, where
indeed “is the freedom of the Governor of this province”: I desire to
know, how his Honor in delivering the keys of the Castle and the
power of garrisoning it to Col. Dalrymple, can be suppos’d to have
exercis’d HIS OWN judgment and election, when he declares he did it
in consequence of EXPRESS ORDERS from another? And that other does not
appear to be his Majesty, but the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Hillsborough
--The whole matter that could exercise his judgment, as it appears to
me, must have been whether he should deliver the fort to Col.
Dalrymple to be garrison’d by such detachment of the regular forces as
he should think proper, in obedience to the EXPRESS ORDERS of Lord
Hillsborough, or retain the Right of committing the custody and
government thereof to such person or persons as to him should seem
meet, by virtue of the authority deriv’d from his Majesty to govern
the province according to the EXPRESS TERMS of the Charter.
I may venture to say, there has not been an instance of this kind
since the date of our Charter; and in the opinion of judicious and
unprejudiced persons, it is a matter of very great moment. Our enemies
may now have the pleasure of seeing the principal fort & key of the
province in the hands of persons who have not the least dependance
upon it; the captial environ’d with ships of war; the General Assembly
removed from its ancient seat, into the country; and the College,
which has been liberally supported by the people for the education of
our youth, has been made a seat of government, under a pretence, as
it is said, of a prerogative in the Crown, to take up any public
buildings;--All by virtue of instructions, which we are implicitly to
believe are founded in wise reasons; while the people thro’out the
province, whether they are sensible of it or not, are every day
contributing to a revenue rais’d by the act of a legislature in which
they are not and cannot be represented, and against their most
earnest petitions and warmest remonstrances! Surely these are not the
blessings of adm-----n for which we are this week to return to
Almighty God our unfeigned thanks.
When the public observe that the House had ordered Mr. Hall’s
deposition to be published at large, and that his Honor was DULY
NOTIFIED TO BE PRESENT at the caption, perhaps it may be thought that
the mention that is made of the “care INDUSTRIOUSLY taken by the
House to omit the reserve” Mr. Hall had made, because it “did not
suit their purpose”, might have been spared. Its not suiting their
purpose, might be a sufficient reason for their ommitting it: But
possibly his Honor’s manner of introducing it, may be taken be some
“to convey a very different meaning.”
As to “the formality of delivering the keys of the fort,” I suppose
it to have been in much the same FORM OF WORDS, as is used, when a
governor who is recalled, delivers them to another who is to succeed
him in the government of the province by his Majesty’s appointment.
--Col. Dalrymple accepted them “in consequence of orders from General
Gage,” without recognizing any subordination to his Honor. Whether he
will ever deliver them to any person, but such as may claim more
authority over the King’s troops in the province than the Lieutenant
Governor has, I very much doubt.--You shall hear from me again.---
In the mean while, I am yours,
A CHATTERER.
1See above, p. 43.
2The identical words used by that warm friend to this province, the
colonies, the nation and all men but himself, Sir F. B. of Nettleham,
Baronet.
ARTICLE SIGNED “VINDEX.”
[Boston Gazette, December 10, 1770.]
To the Printers,
The trial of Capt. Preston and the Soldiers who were indicted for the
murder of Messrs. Gray, Maverick, Caldwell, Carr and Attucks, on the
fatal fifth of March last, occasions much speculation in this Town:
And whatever may be the sentiments of men of the coolest minds abroad,
concerning the issue of this trial, we are not to doubt, but the
Court,1 the Jury, the Witnesses, and the Council on both sides, have
conscienciously acquitted themselves: To be sure, no one in his
senses will venture to affirm the contrary.
I am free to declare my opinion, that a cause of so great importance,
not only to this town, but to all his Majesty’s subjects, especially
to the inhabitants of cities and sea-port towns; who are expos’d to
have troops posted among them, whenever the present administration
shall take it into their heads in his Majesty’s name to send them;
such a cause, I say, ought to be fairly stated to the public; that we
may from thence learn how far we are bound to submit to every band of
soldiers we may meet in the streets, and in what instances we may
venture to interpose and prevent their murdering those whom we may
think to be innocent persons without being liable to be censured for
acting unlawfully, if we escape with our own heads, if we should fall
victims to their rage and cruelty.
It was a question put by the chief magistrate of this province to the
officer who commanded on that bloody evening. “Did you not know that
you should not have fired without the order of a civil magistrate”.
And it was sworn in court in the case of Capt. Preston, that he
answered, “I did it to save my Sentry”: But whatever his answer was,
or however “unsatisfactory” to his Honor, the question plainly implies
that it was the judgment of his Honor, that the soldiers could not
justify themselves in firing upon the people without the order of the
civil magistrate. Yet they did fire without such orders, and killed
five of his Majesty’s good subjects; most, if not all of whom were at
that time, for aught that has yet appear’d, in the peace of God and
the King! They not only fired without the orders of the civil
magistrate, but they never called for one, which they might easily
have done--They went down of their own accord, arm’d with musquets,
and bayonets fix’d, presuming that they were cloath’d with as much
authority by the law of the land, as the Posse Comitatus of the
country with the high sheriff at their head--How little regard is due
to the word fo a m--r, who would fain have flatter’d us into a belief
that the troops were sent here to aid the civil magistrate, and were
never to act without one? And let me observe, how fatal are the
effects, the danger of which I long ago mention’d, of posting a
standing army among a free people!
If his Honor was not mistaken in his judgment, and I presume he was
not, viz. that it was unlawful for them to fire without the order of
the civil magistrate, they were certainly from the beginning, at
least very imprudent and fool-hardy, in going down, arm’d as they
were, with weapons of death, without the direction of the civil
magistrate; especially, if they intended to fire, as I think it is
manifest they did.-- When Captain Preston was asked, Whether the
soldiers intended to fire, he answer’d they could not fire without
his orders: No one will pretend that they had not strength or skill
to pull their trickers; but by the rules of the army, their own rules,
they were restrained from firing till he first gave them orders: Yet
contrary to those very rules they all did fire; all but one, and he
did all he could to fire, for his gun flush’d in the pan--it is said
that when it was urg’d by the council for the crown, that by the
rules of law they ought to have retreated if they were in danger of
their lives; it was answered, that by the rules of the army they
were chain’d as it were to their post--that they dared not to retreat
without the orders of their captain--that in so doing they would have
‘expos’d themselves to a sentence of death in a court martial:’--Yet
we have it from great authority that they would have been distracted
if they had not fired, upon a supposition that they were in danger;
altho’ by the same rules of war they could not have fired any more
than they could have retreated, till the captain order’d them; and
they expos’d themselves to be shot by the sentence of a court martial
if they did fire, as much as they would have done if they had
retreated without his order--Certainly it will not be said, it was
more becoming the bravery of a British soldier, to stand his ground
against the subjects of his own King, and kill them upon the spot,
than to have retreated and deserted the glorious cause, and thus have
saved the lives of his Majesty’s subsjects.
The behavior of the party as they went from the main guard discover’d
an haughty air--they push’d their bayonets and damn’d the people as
they went along--and when they arriv’d at their post, one witness who
is a young gentleman of a liberal education and an unspotted
character, declared, that when they came down there were about ten
persons round the sentry--that one of the prisoners whom he
particularly named, loaded his gun, pushed him with his bayonet and
damn’d him--that about fifty or sixty persons came down with the
party, and that he did not observe the people press on. Another
declared, that when the soldiers were loading, about a dozen
surrounded them, and that several of them struck their guns--that he
saw ice or snow balls thrown, but did not apprehend himself or the
soldiers in danger by any thing he saw--This witness was very near
the soldiers; and will any one wonder, that when the soldiers were
to all appearance meditating the death of people by loading their
guns, while there was no apparent danger to them, some of the people
should strike their guns, to prevent the mischief which they seem’d
to be resolv’d upon.
Another declared, that one of the prisoners whom he also named, struck
him upon the arm with his bayonet as the party came down before they
formed; and that he had then told Capt. Preston that every body was
about dispersing--The characters of these witnesses will not be
contested. Such a conduct surely did not discover the most peaceable
disposition in this lawful assembly of soldiers--One would think that
they intended to assassinate those, who they had no reason to think
had the least inclination to injure them--If these are not instances
of assault, I know not what an assault is: And if they were not an
unlawful assembly before, it may well be suppos’d they were at this
time doing an unlawful act--an act that to be sure very ill became
gentlemen soldiers sent here to curb a rebellious spirit and keep the
peace: But there is a colouring at hand; and because this party did
not knock a witness down, or run him thro’, who had the audacity to
refuse at their sovereign order to move out of the way for them as
they pass’d the street from the main guard to the custom-house, tho’
he had then been push’d with a bayonet by one of them, it is
sufficient to convince all the world of their lamb-like meekness and
immaculate innocence.
I have in a former paper consider’d soldiers when quarter’d in free
cities, in the light of other inhabitants, under the same direction
of the civil magistrate and the same controul of the law of the land:
and that by this law, like all other men, they are to be protected,
govern’d, restrain’d, rewarded or punish’d. If then a soldier has the
right in common with other men, to arm himself for his defence when
he thinks there is a necessity for it, he has certainly no more right
then they, to use his weapons of death at random; or at all under a
pretence of suppressing riots, or any other pretence, without the
presence of the civil magistrate, unless his own life is in danger,
and he cannot retreat: Such a liberty would tend to increase the
disorder rather than suppress it, and would endanger life rather than
save it: In the instances I have mention’d, the lives of the soldiers
were not in danger from the men whom they assaulted: This was early
in the tragical scene, and it was an assault personally upon those
who had not attempted to do them the least injury: How far their lives
were in danger afterwards, and who were in fault, shall be the subject
of free Enquiry in a future paper.
VINDEX.
1The published report, cited above, p. 60, contains the charge to the
jury as given only by Judge Trowbridge and Judge Oliver. All that is
extant of Judge Lynde’s charge to the jury is printed in The Diaries
of Benjamin Lynde and of Benjamin Lynde, Jr., pp. 228-230.
ARTICLE SIGNED “VINDEX”
To the Printers.
That the trial of the soldiers concern’d in the carnage on the
memorable 5th of March, was the most solemn trial that ever was had
in this country, was pronounc’d from the bench. To see eight
prisoners bro’t to the bar together, charg’d with the murder of five
persons at one time, was certainly, as was then observ’d, affecting:
But whoever recollects the tragedy of that fatal evening, will I
believe readily own that the scene then was much more affecting--There
is something pleasing and solemn when one enters into a court of law
--Pleasing, as there we expect to see the scale held with an equal
hand--to find matters deliberately and calmly weigh’d and decided,
and justice administered without any respect to persons or parties,
and from no other motive but a sacred regard to truth--And it is
solemn as it brings to our minds the tribunal of GOD himself! before
whose judgment-seat the scriptures assure us all must appear: And I
have often tho’t that no one will receive a greater share of rewards
at that decisive day, than he who has approv’d himself a faithful
upright judge.
Witnesses who are bro’t into a court of justice, while their veracity
is not impeach’d, stand equal in the eye of the judge; unless he
happens to be acquainted with their different characters, which is
not presum’d--The jury who are taken from the vicinity, are suppos’d
to know the credibility of the witnesses: In the late trials the
witnesses were most if not all of them either inhabitants of this town
or transient persons residing in it, and the jurors were all from the
country: Therefore it is not likely that they were acquainted with the
characters of all the witnesses; and it is more than probable that in
so great a number of witnesses there were different characters, that
is, that some of them were more, others less creditable. If then the
judge, whose province it is to attend to the law, and who, not knowing
the characters of the witnesses, presumes that they are all good, &
gives an equal credit to them, it is the duty of the jurors who are
sovereign in regard to facts, to determine in their own minds the
credibility of those who are sworn to relate the facts: And this in a
trial for murder requires great care and attention. I would just
observe here, that in the last trial there were not less than eighty-
two witnesses for the jury to examine and compare, which was an
arduous task indeed! And I will venture further to observe, that some
of these witnesses who swore very positively were not so creditable
as others, and the testimony of one of them in particular, which was
very precisely related & very peremptory, might have been invalidated
in every part of it. I shall not at present suggest what I take to be
the reason why it was not done. These matters will no doubt have
their place in the history of the present times in some future day,
when the faithful recorder it is to be hoped will, to use the language
of our courts of justice, relate the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth.
It is enough for the jury to receive the law from the bench: They may
indeed determine this for themselves; but of facts they are ever the
uncontroulable judges. They ought therefore to receive the facts from
the mouths of the witnesses themselves, and implicitly from no other:
Unless the jury particularly attend to this, they may be in danger of
being misled by persons who would be far from doing it with design:
For instance, if one should swear that A being foreworn’d against it,
levell’d his gun and kill’d B: and afterwards it should be forgot,
that the witness also swore that A immediately advanc’d & push’d his
bayonet at C, which pass’d between his waistcoat and his skin; if this
I say should be forgot, and should be overlook’d by the jury when they
are together, perhaps instead of bringing it in murder according to
the rules of the law laid down by the bench, they would bring it in
manslaughter--I do not here affirm that this has ever been a fact: I
mention it as what may hereafter be a fact, and to show the necessity
of a jury’s relying upon facts as they receive them from the witnesses
themselves, and from them alone.
The furor brevis which we have heard much of, the fury of the blood
which the benignity of the law allows for upon sudden provocation, is
suppos’d to be of short duration--the shooting a man dead upon the
spot, must have stopp’d the current in the breast of him who shot him,
if he had not been bent upon killing--an attempt to stab a second
person immediately after, infers a total want of remorse at the
shedding of human blood; and such a temper of mind afterwards
discovers the rancorous malice before, especially if it be proved that
the same man had declated that he would never miss an opportunity so
to do: If this does not imply malice at first, I do not see but he
might have gone on stabbing people in his furor brevis, till he had
kill’d an hundred; and after all, it might have been adjudg’d, in
indulgence to the human passions, excuseable homicide.
The law in its benignity makes allowance for human passions: But the
law is just; and make this allowance upon the principles of justice:
It gives no indulgence to malice and rancour against any individual;
much less against a community or the human species--He who threatens
or thirsts for the blood of the community is an enemy to the publick;
and hostis humani generis, the enemy of mankind consummates the
villain. I will not take upon myself to say that either of these
characters belong to any of the late prisoners--There are two
remaining yet in gaol, convicted of manslaughter, and waiting
judgment of the court. With regard to one of these, namely, Kilroi,
it was sworn that about a week or a fortnight before (the 5th of
March, which must be before the affray at the ropewalks, that
happening on the 2d) he said he would never miss an opportunity of
firing upon the inhabitants, and that he had wanted such--It is said
that these might be words spoken in jest, or without any intention,
when they were spoken, of acting according to their true import &
meaning: But the witness said, he repeated the words several times:
And that after he had told him he was a very great fool for saying so,
he again declared he would never miss an opportunity.--It appears that
the witness himself, as any one might, tho’t him to be in earnest,
and rebuked him for saying so; and in truth, none but a madman, or one
whose heart was desperately wicked, would repeatedly, especially after
such wholesome reproof, have persisted in such a threat; It
discovered, to borrow the expression of a very polite & humane
gentleman, upon another late occasion, a malignity beyond what might
have been expected from a Barbarian.
It was also sworn, that this same Kilroi was with a party of soldiers
in the affray at the Ropewalks a few evenings before the 5th of March,
--and that they had clubs & cutlasses--That Kilroi was of the party of
soldiers that fired in King-street--that as the party came round
before they form’d, Kilroi struck a witness upon his arm--and after
the firing began, Kilroi struck at the same witness, tho’ he had
hear’d nothing said, nor seen any thing done to provoke the soldiers.
--Another witness declared, that he saw Kilroi there, that he knew
him well before, and was positive it was he--that he heard the word
fire, twice, upon which he said to the soldiers, damn you, don’t fire,
and Kilroi fired at once, and killed Gray, who had no weapon, and his
arms were folded in his bosom. Gray fell at the feet of this witness,
and immediately Kilroi pushed his bayonet at the witness, which pass’d
thro’ all his clothes, and came out at his surtuit behind, and he was
oblig’d to turn round to quit himself of the weapon--the witness
suppos’d he designed to kill them both.--How long is this furor
brevis, this short hurricane of passion to last in the breast of a
soldier, when called, not by the civil magistrate, but by his military
officer, under a pretence of protecting a Centinel, and suppressing a
Riot? who had taken with him weapons, not properly of defence, but of
death, and was calm enough in this impetuosity of anger, to load his
gun, and perhaps with design, to level it, for it killed one of the
very men with whom he had had a quarrel but a few evenings before: He
had now a fair opportunity, which he had wished for, and resolved
never to miss, of firing upon the inhabitants. It was said upon the
words he uttered, that if all the unjustifiable words that had been
spoken by the inhabitants of this town, were to be bro’t in judgment
against them, they would have much to answer for.--Those who believe
the letters of governor Bernard, the Commissioners of the customs,
and some others whom I could name, and will name in proper time, may
think so. I dare say, if Bernard could have proved one overt-act of
rebellion or treason, after the many things he pretended had been
said, and he or his tools could have had any influence, the words if
prov’d, would have been adjudg’d to have been said in sober earnest,
and would have been considered as material to have shown the
malignancy of the heart.
This Kilroi’s bayonet was prov’d to be the next morning bloody five
inches from the point. It was said to be possible that this might be
occassion’d by the bayonet’s falling into the human blood, which ran
plentifully in the street, for one of their bayonets was seen to fall.
It is possible, I own; but much more likely that this very bayonet was
stab’d into the head of poor Gray after he was shot, and that this
may account for its being bloody five inches from the point--Such an
instance of Savage barbarity there undoubtedly was.--It was sworn
before the Magistrate who first examined into this cruel tragedy,
though the witness who then swore it, being out of this province,
could not be produced in Court upon the trial. It is not to be
wonder’d at that any material witness was out of the way, when it is
consider’d that the trial did not come on till the secord term, and
nine months after the facts were committed. I shall continue the
subject at my leisure.
VINDEX.
Dec. 11th.
ARTICLE SIGNED “VINDEX.”
[Boston Gazette, December 24, 1770.]
To the Printers.
In the late trials of Preston and the Soldiers, it was observ’d that
the Court constantly from day to day adjourn’d at noon and at sun-set
--Our enemies, who are fruitful in their inventions, may possibly from
hence take occasion to represent that it was dangerous for the Court
to sit in the tumultuous town of Boston after dark. At the first view
it may perhaps bear this complexion in the eye of a prejudiced
stranger; for such adjournments in capital causes it may be were never
before known here: But the representation would be without the least
foundation in truth. It is possible that among other reasons this
might be one, that the judges are all of them, to use the words of a
good old Patriarch, well stricken in years, and one of them labours
under infirmities of Body. I have another observation to make on this
occasion, but I reserve it till a future opportunity.
I have already said that the Soldiers in coming down from the main-
guard to the custom-house behaved with an haughty air--that they
abused the people as they pass’d along--pushing them with their
bayonets--and damning them; and when they had got to their post, they
in like manner abused and struck innocent persons there who offer’d
them no injury--and all this was even before they form’d, in doing
which it does not appear to be danger to them or any one else. These
facts, I think were prov’d, if we may believe persons of good credit,
who declared them upon their oaths in Court:--And that they came down
under a pretence of suppressing a riot, without a civil magistrate or
peace officer, which ought always to be remembered, no one will
dispute.
There was indeed a sort of evidence bro’t into Court, which, if it is
at all to be rely’d upon, may serve to invalidate in some measure what
has been said--namely the declaration of one of the deceas’d persons,
as it was related by a gentleman who dress’d his wounds, and to whom
he is said to have declared it. This man, as the doctor testified,
told him among many other things, that he saw some Soldiers passing
from the main-guard to the custom-house and the people pelted them as
they went along. But whether these Soldiers were Preston and his
party; or other Soldiers who are mention’d by another witness, as
going from the main-guards towards the Centry, having short coats and
arm’d with bayonets, swords or sticks, and one of them with a pair of
kitchen tongs, chasing the people as they went, must remain an
uncertainty--If he meant the former, it is somewhat strange that among
all the witnesses on both sides, no one saw the people pelting them as
they went along but he. This man confess’d to the doctor that he was
a fool to be there--was surprized at the forbearance of the soldiers;
believed that they fired in their own defence & freely forgave the man
that shot him. But it is to be observed, he did not declare this under
oath nor before a magistrate: It was however the dying speech,--very
affecting and all, true no doubt; altho’ no one knew the character of
this believing penitent either in point of veracity or judgment.--By
the testimony of his land-lady in Court, one would not form the best
opinion of him; but de mortuis nil nisi bonum.
There were others ready to be sworn, if the Council for the crown had
thought it worth while to have bro’t them forward, that they also
could relate what this man had told them, viz. that his doctors had
encouraged him that he would soon recover of his wounds, and he hoped
to live to be a swift witness against the soldiers--Great stress was
laid by some upon the simple declaration of this man, who in all
probability died in the faith of a roman catholick. This, however, I
am apt to think, will not disparage his declaration in the opinion
of some great men at home, even tho’ he did not make his confession to
a ghostly physician.
Before I proceed to enquire into the danger the Soldiers were in, if
they were in any at all, and who were in fault, I will take the
liberty to lead the reader back to a consideration of the temper the
Soldiers in general discovered, and their correspondent conduct, for
some considerable time before the fatal tragedy was acted--It is well
known indeed that from their first landing, their behavior was to a
great degree insolent; and such as look’d as if they had enter’d
deeply into the spirit of those who procur’d them,--and really
believed, that we were a country of rebels and they were sent here to
subdue us. But for some time before the fifth of March, they more
frequently insulted the inhabitants who were quietly passing the
streets; and gave out many threats, that on that very night the blood
would run down the streets of Boston, and that many who would dine on
Monday would not breakfast on Tuesday; and to show that they were in
earnest they forewarn’d their particular acquaintance to take care of
themselves--These things were attested before the magistrates by
credible persons under oath.--Accordingly when the Monday evening came
on, they were early in every part of the town arm’d with bludgeons,
bayonets and cutlasses, beating those whom they could, and assaulting
and threatning others--By the way, I will just observe for the
information of a certain honorable gentleman, that the name of
bludgeons was unheard of in this town till the Soldiers arrived--This
behavior put the inhabitants in mind of their threatenings; and was
the reason that those of them who had occasion to walk the streets,
came out arm’d with canes or clubs. Between eight and nine o’clock,
the Soldiers in Murray’s barracks in the centre of the town rush’d out
with their naked cutlasses insulting, beating and wounding the
inhabitants who were passing along: This, in so frequented a street,
naturally collected numbers of people who resented the injury done
and an affray ensued--About the same time a difference arose in King-
street, between a centry there and a barber’s boy, who said to his
fellow-apprentice in the hearing of the centry “there goes Capt.-----
who has not paid my master for dressing his hair:” The centry
foolishly resented it, and word took place; and the boy answering him
with pertness, & calling him a name, the centry struck him. Here was
the first assault in King-street.--But for what reason the evidence
of this matter was not bro’t into Court, at the last trial, as it had
been at the trial of Preston, the reader if he pleases may conjecture.
At the same time a gentleman not living far from the custom-house,
and hearing as he tho’t a distant cry of murder, came into the street,
which he had just before left perfectly still, and to use his words,
“never clearer”: He there saw a party of Soldiers issue from the
mainguard, and heard them say, damn them where are they, by Jesus let
them come; and presently after another party rush’d thro’ Quaker-lane
into the street, using much such expressions:--Their arms glitter’d in
the moon-light. These cried fire, and ran up the street and into
Cornhill which leads to Murray’s barracks; in their way they knocked
down a boy of twelve years old, a son of Mr. Appleton, abused and
insulted several gentlemen at their doors and others in the street:--
Their cry was, damn them, where are they, knock them down; and it is
suppos’d they join’d in the affray there, which still continued--They
also then cried fire, which one of the witnesses took to be their
watch-word.
By this time the barber’s boy had return’d to the centry with a
number of other boys to resent the blow he had received: The centry
loaded his gun and threatened to fire upon them, and they threatened
to knock him down--The bells were ringing as for fire: Occasion’d
either by the Soldiers crying fire as is before mention’d, for it is
usual in this town when fire is cried, for any one who is near a
church to set the bells a ringing; or it might be, to alarm the town,
from an apprehension of some of the inhabitants, that the Soldiers
were putting their former threats into execution, and that there
would be a general massacre: It is not to be wonder’d at, that some
persons were under such apprehensions; when even an officer at
Murray’s barracks, appeared to encourage the Soldiers and headed them,
as it was sworn before the magistrate.--This officer was indicted by
the grand jury, but he could not be found afterwards--Some other
officers, and particularly lieutenants Minchen and Dickson, discovered
a very different temper.
The ringing of the bells alarmed the town, it being suppos’d by the
people in general there was fire; and occasion’d a concourse in King-
street which is a populous part of it. As the people came into the
street, the barber’s boy told them that the centry had knock’d him
down--and a person who had come into the street thro’ Royal-exchange
lane, which leads from Murray’s barracks, (and possibly had observ’d
the behavior of the Soldiers there) and seeing the centry, cried
here’s a Soldier--Various were the dispositions and inclinations of
the people according to their various “feelings” no doubt; for
mankind, it is said, “act from their feelings more than their reason:”
The cooler sort advis’d to go home: The curious were willing to stay
and see the event, and those whose feelings were warmer, perhaps
partook of the boys resentment. So it had been before at Murray’s
barracks, and so it always will be among a multitude: At the barracks
some, to use the expression of one of the witnesses, called out home,
home; while some in their heat cried, huzza for the main-guard--there
is the nest--This was said by a person of distinction in court, to
savour of treason! Tho’ it was allow’d on both sides, that the main-
guard was not molested thro’ the whole evening.
I would here beg the reader’s further patience, while I am a little
more particular, in relation to the affray at Murray’s barracks; for
it may be of importance to enquire how it began there.--Mr. Jeremiah
Belknap, an householder of known good reputation, had been sworn
before the magistrate; and why he was not bro’t in as a witness at the
trial, is not my business to say, and I shall not at present even
conjecture--Mr. Belknap, who lived in Cornhill near Murray’s barracks,
testified, that on the first appearance of the affray there, hearing
a noise he ran to his door, and heard one say he had been struck by
a Soldier: he presently saw eight or nine Soldiers arm’d with clubs
and cutlasses, come out of Boylston’s alley, which is a very short
passage leading from Murray’s barracks into the street--he desired
them to retire to the barracks--one of them with a club in one hand
and a cutlass in the other, with the latter, made a stroke at him:
Finding no prospect of stopping them, he ran to the main-guard and
called for the officers of the guard--he was inform’d, there was no
officer there--he told the Soldiers, with drawn cutlasses, who he
suppos’d were of the party from Murray’s barracks--Another gentleman,
one of the prisoners witnesses, swore in Court, that a little after
eight o’clock he saw at his own door, which is very near the barracks,
several Soldiers passing and repassing, some with clubs, others with
bayonets: And then he related the noise & confusion he afterwards
heard, & the squabble he saw, but no blows--that he saw two Soldiers,
each at a different time, present his gun at the people, threatning
to make a lane through them; but the officers drove them in--The
tragedy was compleated very soon in King-street--The firing was
reserv’d for another party of Soldiers, not much if at all to their
discredit in the judgment of some, and under the command of an officer
who did not restrain them. The witness heard the report of the first
gun soon after the people cried home, home; and declared that he tho’t
they had fired upon the main guard, for he heard the drum at the main
guard beat to arms--Another, who was sworn in Court, a witness for the
Crown declared, that about nine o’clock, passing near Draper’s (or
Bolyston’s) alley, which leads into Murray’s barracks, and thro’ which
he intended to go, he heard some boys huzzaing--he judged there were
not more than six or seven, and they were small; they ran thro’
dock-square towards the Market--Presently after he saw two or three
persons in the alley with weapons--a number of Soldiers soon sallied
out, arm’d with large naked cutlasses, assaulting every body coming in
their way--that he himself narrowly escaped a cut from the foremost
of them who pursued him; and that he saw a man there, who said he was
wounded by them and he felt of the wound--The wounded man stopped, and
this occasioned the people who were passing to gather round him--
Thinking it dangerous fo him to proceed, the witness returned home--
A Captain of the 14th, one of the prisoners witnesses was also sworn
in Court: He testified that in Cornhill he saw a mob collected at the
pass (Boylston’s alley) leading to Murray’s barracks--the people were
pelting the Soldiers he tho’t had a fire-shovel--as soon as they
knew him, he prevailed on them to go to the bottom of the pass, and
with some difficulty he got down--This witness, it seems, must have
been later than the others; and Mr. Belknap, perhaps gives as early
an account of it, as any can, but the Soldiers themselves.
I would only ask how it came to pass that the Soldiers, on that
particular evening, should be seen abroad, in every part of the town,
contrary to the rules of the army, after eight o’clock--If the
officers, who should have restrain’d them, were careless of their
duty, whence was so general a carelessness among the officers at that
juncture? It was said, there was no officer at the main-guard, which
may in part account for it. Or, if the Soldiers were all at once
ungovernable by their officers, and could not be restrain’d by them,
a child may judge from the appearance they made, that there had been
a general combination, agreable to their former threats, on that
evening to put in execution some wicked and desperate design.
VINDEX.
Dec. 18th.
ARTICLE SIGNED “VINDEX.”
[Boston Gazette, December 24, 1770.]
To the Printers.
SOMEBODY, in Mr. Draper’s paper of Thursday last, charges me with
PARTIALITY, in my two first performances on the subject of the late
Trial--I DENY THE CHARGE, AND DESIRE HE WOULD EXPLAIN HIMSELF. He
also says, I freely charge PARTIALITY on others: I UTTERLY DENY THAT
ALSO; AND CALL UPON HIM TO POINT OUT ONE INSTANCE. He desires the
publick would not be influenced by any remarks made by me on the late
Trials: WITH REGARD TO THAT, THE PUBLICK WILL DO AS THEY PLEASE. He
INSINUATES that I have cast the most INJURIOUS reflections upon
Judges, Jury and Witnesses: AGAIN, I DENY IT.--It remains then that
he either retract his charges or proves them: Otherwise the publick
will judge him to be guilty of something worse than “THE FAULT” OF
PARTIALITY. He THREATENS to bring out some facts which were not
allowed to be given in evidence: THIS IS WHAT I EARNESTLY DESIRE, FOR
THE REASONS I HAVE ALREADY MENTION’D. And among other FACTS he
intends, to ASCERTAIN THE PERSON IN A RED CLOAK, mention’d on the
trial, IF VINDEX AND HIS Adherents DESIRE it. Vindex has no
Adherents but in the cause of truth: And Vindex, FOR THE SAKE OF
TRUTH, REQUESTS IT AS A FAVOR THAT THE PERSON IN A RED CLOAK MAY BE
ASCERTAINED. He says that this person WAS DECLARED BE SOME OF THE
WITNESSES, TO HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TRAGEDY; I
affirm, that neither of the witnesses declared that he was VERY BUSY
at the beginning, or any part, of the Tragedy. There were two only
that made mention of him, viz. Mr. WILLIAM HUNTER & Mr. JAMES SELKRIG:
The one declared that in dock-square “there was a tall gentleman in
a red Cloak; that he stood in the midst of them (the people); that
they were whist for some time, and presently huzza’d for the main
guard: The other said, there was a gentleman with a red Cloak & a
large white Wig; that he made a speech to them (the people) 4 or 5
minute--(this witness mention’d nothing of their HUZZAING for the main
guard, which one would have thought must have been OBSERVABLE by ALL,
but only adds) they went and knock’d with their sticks, and said they
would do for the soldiers--What THE TALL GENTLEMAN said, neither of
them could tell.--I cannot help observing here, that some of the late
LETTER-WRITERS from hence to London, have mark’d the RED CLOAK AND
WHITE WIG, as the garb of a Boston HYPOCRITE; but I have never yet
heard it hinted, that such a dress was the peculiarity of an ACTOR in
TRAGEDIES--Great pain have been taken to make the world believe that
men of “estates, of figure and religion” had formed a plan, BEFORE THE
5TH OF MARCH, to drive off the soldiers; witness a DEPOSITION LATELY
PUBLISH’D: And perhaps it may be the LOW CUNNING of this writer to
INSINUATE, that there was a mob at that time, AND FOR THAT PURPOSE,
on dock-square; and that their leader MUST be a man of figure in the
town, BECAUSE HE WORE A RED CLOAK--As it is not yet known what the
TALL GENTLEMAN WITH A RED CLOAK said to the people; whether he gave
them good or ill advice, or any advice at all, we may possibly form
some conjecture concerning it, when his PERSON is ascertained. THE
SOONER IT IS DONE THE BETTER.
VINDEX.
Dec. 22.
TO JOHN WILKES.
[MS., British Museum; a draft is in the Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox
Library; a text is in W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol. i.,
pp. 377, 378.]
BOSTON Decr 28 1770
SIR
Having been repeatedly sollicited by my friend, Mr William Palfrey,1
I embrace this opportunity of making my particular compliments to you,
in a Letter which he will deliver. My own Inclination had coincided
with his Request; for I should pride myself much, in a Correspondence
with a Gentleman, of whom I have long entertaind so great an Opinion.
--No Character appears with a stronger Luster in my Mind, than that
of a Man, who nobly perseveres in the Cause of publick Liberty,
and Virtue, through the Rage of Persecution: Of this, you have
had a large Portion; but I dare say, you are made the better by
it: At least I will venture to say, that the sharpest Persecution
for the sake of ones Country, can never prove a real Injury to an
honest Man.
In this little Part of the World - a Land, till of late happy in
its Obscurity - the Asylum, to which Patriots were formerly wont
to make their peaceful Retreat; even here the stern Tyrant has
lifted up his iron Rod, and makes his incessant Claim as Lord of
the Soil: But I have a firm Perswasion in my Mind, that in every
Struggle, this Country will approve her self, as glorious in
defending & maintaining her Freedom, as she has heretofore been
happy in enjoying it.
Were I a Native and an Inhabitant of Britain, & capable of
affording the least Advice, it should constantly be; to confirm
the Colonies in the fullest Exercise of their Rights, and even to
explore for them every possible Avenue of Trade, which should not
interfere with her own Manufactures. From the Colonies, when she
is worn with Age, she is to expect renewed Strength. But the Field
I am entering, is too large for the present: May Heaven forbid,
that it should yet be truly said of Great Britain, Quam Deus yult
perdere, -!
I am with strict Truth
Sir
Your most humbe Servt
1See above, page 9.
ARTICLE [SIGNED "VINDEX."]1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
To THE PRINTER
In my last I considerd the Temper which the Soldiers in general
had discoverd and the threats they had [utter'd] previous to the
fifth of March together with their correspondent Behavior on that
alarming Evening. I was the more brief, because there had been a
narrative of the horrid massacre, printed by the order of this
Town, which was drawn up by a Comt appointed for that purpose; and
reported by their Chairman, JAMES BOWDOIN Esqr. The affidavits
which are annexd to the narrative were each of them taken before
two Justices of the Peace Quorum Unus to perpetuate the remembrance of
the thing: Coll William Dalrymple, chiefe Commander of the Soldiers,
was duly notified by the Justices to attend the Captions: And His
Honor the Lt Governor certified, under his Hand with the province Seal
annexd, that full faith & Credit was & ought to be given to the
several Acts & Attestations of the Justices, both in Court & without.
The Candor of the Town indeed was such, that at their meeting in
March, 2 by a Vote they restraind their Committee from publishing
the narrative, lest it might unduly prejudice those whose lot it
should be to be jurors to try these Causes: This restraint they
continued by a Vote at their meeting in May,3 & untill the
Trials should be over . . . plaud; as it discovered a Sense of
Justice; as well as the greatest Humanity4 towards those men who
had wantonly lit the hearts Blood of citizens like Water upon
Ground. A Temper far from vindictive; calm and moderate, at a
time, when if ever they might have been expected to be off their
Guard: And yet, so barbarous & cruel, so infamously mean & base
were the Enemies of this Town, who are the common Enemies of all
America & of the Truth it self, that they falsly inserted in the
publick news papers in London the Inhabitants had seizd upon Capt
Preston hung & hung him like Porteus upon a Sign Post! -
I shall now in a few ......... endeavor to show the Temper which
some of the Soldiers, (by whom I do not now particularly mean the
late Prisoners), discoverd at & after the fatal Catastrophes.
Readers may have observd, that I am careful to distinguish between
the evidence given in Court from that which was given out of
Court, Witnesses to this point, it ought not to be supposd, were
admissible at the Trial, unless perhaps the one immediately
following: That a credible Person, who is mistress of a reputable
family in the Town. She testified before the Magistrates, & was
ready to swear it in Court, if she had been called, that on the
Evening of the 5 of March a number of Soldiers were assembled from
Greens Barracks & opposite to her Gate, which is near those
Barracks - that they stood very still until the Guns were fired in
Kingstreet; then they clapd their Hands & gave a Cheer, saying,
this is all we want; they then ran to their Barrack &
came out again in a few minutes, all with their arms, & ran
towards Kingstreet.5 These Barracks were about a quarter of a mile
from Kingstreet: Their standing very still, untill they heard the
firing, compared with their subsequent Conduct, looks as if they
expected it; it seems, as though they knew what the Signal should
[be], & the part they were to act in Consequence of it. This
perhaps may be thought by some to be too straining: I will not
urge it, but leave it to any one to judge, how far if at all, it
affords Grounds of Suspicion, that there was an understanding
between the Soldiers in Kingstreet at the time of the firing &
these; especially, if it be true as has been said, that they fired
without the Command of their officers - There was another Witness
similar to this; an housholder of good reputation, who testified,
that the Soldiers from Greens Barracks rushd by him with their
Arms towards Kingstreet, saying this is our time or chance; that
he never saw6 Dogs so greedy for their prey as they seemd to be,
and the Sergeants could hardly keep them in their ranks.7
Another swore, that after the firing, he saw the Soldiers drawn up
in the Street, and heard Officers [as] they walked backwards &
forwards say, Damn it, what a fine fire that was! How bravely it
dispersd the mob!8 A person belonging to Hallifax in Nova Scotia,
testified that when the Body of troops was drawn up before the
Guard house (which was presently after the Massacre) he heard an
officer say to another, that this was fine work, just what he
wanted.9 I shall add but one more to this List, and that is the
Testimony of a Witness, well known for an honest man in this Town,
who declared, that at about one o'Clock the next morning, as he
was going alone from his own house to the Town House, he met a
Sergeant of the 29th with Eight [or] nine Soldiers, all with very
large Clubs & Cutlasses when one of them speaking of the
Slaughter, swore by God it was a fine thing & said you shall see
more of it.10 These Testimonies it is confessd would not be
pertinent to the Issue of the late Tryal: But I think it necessary
to adduce them here to convince the World of the wretched
Condition this town was in, the Reasons they had to apprehend &
the necessity they were under constantly to be upon their Guard
while such were quarterd among them: Much was brot into Court to
show that the Town was in a State of disorder on the Evening of
the 5 of March previous to the Affray at Murrays Barracks;
Witnesses were admitted to testify that they were met by one &
another armd with Clubs.11 But Nothing appeard there to show the
Cause & even the Necessity of it.11
To these, I cannot help subjoining the Testimony of Mr John Cox, a
very reputable Inhabitant of this town; who swore in Court at one
of the late trials, that after the firing, he went to take up the
dead - that he told the Soldiers, it was a cowardly trick in them
to kill men within reach of their Bayonets, with nothing in their
hands, and that the officer said, damn them, fire again & let them
take the Consequence! - to which he replyd you have killed . . .
already to hang you all - But he was mistaken.
It is a Mistake to say the soldiers were in danger from the
Inhabitants. The reverse is true; the Inhabitants were in danger
from the Soldiers. With all the Indulgence which was & perhaps
ought to be shown to Prisoners upon Tryal for Life, not a single
Instance of any Injury offerd to Soldiers was provd, except at
Murrays Barracks, & not even there but in return for intollerable
Insults. Many Witness[es] were ready if called for to testify to
the Insults & Abuse offerd by the Soldiers to the Inhabitants in
various parts of the Town.
Thus one of the prisoners Witnesses testified in Court that at 7
o'Clock going to the South End he met forty or fifty in small
Parties, four or five in a party. It has been testified by a
credible Witness that before the fifth of March, the Soldiers were
not only seen making their Clubs, but from what the Witness could
collect from their Conversation, they were resolvd to be revengd
on Monday13 and divers others swore to the same purpose; They did
not indeed say, whether they knew them to be soldiers or
Inhabitants: It is as probable that they were Soldiers as
Inhabitants; for it was sworn before the magistrates by a person
of Credit, that on the Saturday before he saw the Soldiers
making Clubs; Another was ready to testify in Court that thirty of
these Clubs or Bludgeons were made, by the Soldiers, in his own
Shop. And in the part of the Town where the Witness was going, a
Gentleman was attackd by two Soldiers, one of them armd with a
Club & the other with a broad Sword; the latter struck him, &
threatned that he should soon hear more of it. It was notorious
that the Soldiers were seen frequently on that evening armd with
Clubs - but in the Judgment of some men, every party that was seen
with Clubs, or in the modern term, Bludgeons, to be sure must have
been Inhabitants. If the Soldiers were in such Danger why were
they not kept in their Barracks after Eight o'clock agreable to
their own orders? In stead of this we find the Testimony of a
person, who was not an Inhabitant of the Town, that being at the
South End on that Evening exactly at Eight o'Clock he saw there
Eleven Soldiers: An officer met them .....orderd them to appear at
their respective places at the time: and if they should see any of
the Inhabitants of the Town, or any other people not belonging to
them, with Arms, Clubs or any other warlike weapon more than two
being assembled together to order them to stop, & if they refusd,
to stop them with their firelocks, and all that should take their
part - the officer went Northward & the Soldiers Southward.
These were orders discretely given indeed! And well becoming a
Gentleman in any Command, over troops sent here, or as the
Minister pretended, to aid the civil Magistrate in keeping the
peace, & with directions never to act without . . . Will any one
think the Town could be safe, even from this band of Soldiers
only, especially while under such direction & influence - This is
a single Instance -No wonder that when the Bells soon after rang
as for fire, & the people in that same part of the town came into
the Streets with Bucketts, they should be told by some, as a
Gentleman who was a Witness in Court for the prisoners swore they
were, that they had better bring Clubs than Bucketts - Such
Appearances were enough to put the Town in Motion. It is a Mistake
to say the Soldiers were in danger from the Inhabitants; the
reverse is true: The Inhabitants were in danger from the Soldiers.
With all the Indulgence which was shown, and perhaps ought to be
shown to Prisoners at the bar, upon trial for Life, not a single
Instance was provd, of any Abuse offerd to any Soldier that
Evening, previous to the insolent Behavior of those of them who
rushd out of Murrays Barracks & fell upon all whom they met: on
the Contrary, there had been many Instances of their insulting &
assaulting the Inhabitants indiscriminately in every part of the
Town.
As it was said in Court that the unhappy persons who fell a
Sacrifice to the Cruel Revenge of the Soldiers, had brot their
Death upon their own heads, I shall finish this paper in saying
what ought to be said in behalf of those who cannot now speak for
themselves. - Mr Maverick a young Gentleman of a good family & a
blameless Life, was at Supper in the House of one of his friends,
and went Out when the bells rang as for fire. .Mr Caldwell, young
Seaman & of a good Character, had been at School to perfect
himself in the Art of Navigation, and had just returnd to the
house of a reputable Person in this town to whose daughter he made
his visits with the honorable Intention of Marriage: He also went
out when the bells rang. W Gray was of a good family, he was at
his own house the whole of the Evening, saving his going into a
Neighbours house to borrow the News paper of the day & returning:
He went out on the ringing of the Bells; and altho a Child swore
in Court that he saw him with a Stick after the bells rang, yet
another Witness saw him before he got into Kingstreet without a
Stick, Others saw him in Kingstreet & testified that he had no
Stick, and when he was shot, the Witness then testified, as is
mentiond in a former paper, that he had no Stick & his Arms were
folded in his bosom; so that it is probable the young Witness
mistook the person. Mr Attucks, it is said was at his Lodgings &
at Supper when the bells rang; Witnesses indeed swore that they
afterwards saw him with a Club, & great pains were taken to make
it appear that he attackd the Soldiers, but the proof faild; even
Andrew, a Negro Witness whom I shall hereafter mention, testifies
that he thot Attucks was the Man who struck one of the Soldiers,
but could not account how he could get at such a Distance, as he
was when he fell, the Soldier firing so soon. Others swear that he
was leaning on his Stick when he fell, which certainly was not a
threatning posture. It may be supposd that he had as good Right to
carry a Stick, even a Bludgeon, as the Soldier who shot him had,
to be armd with Musquet & ball; & if he at any time lifted up his
Weapon of Defence, it was surely not more than a Soldiers leveling
his Gun at the Multitude chargd with Death - If he had killed a
Soldier, he might have been hangd for it, & as a traitor too, for
to attack a Soldier upon his post, was declared Treason; But the
Soldier shot Attucks & killed him, & he was convicted of Man
Slaughter! As to Mr Car, the other deceasd person, it is doubtful
with what Intent he came out. He was at Mr Fields house when the
Bells rang; Mr Field & another Witness who was at the House,
testify that Car went upstairs and got his Sword.
1 This article in the form as published is printed at pages 110-
122.
2 March 26. Boston Record Commissioners' Report, vol. xviii., p.
20.
3 0n July 10, the town meeting defeated a motion that the printers
be allowed to sell the printed narrative. ibid., p. 34.
4 The words "& Impartiality" were stricken out at this point.
5 see Narrative first Edit. Apendix page 68.
6 At this point the words "Men or" were stricken out.
7 Idem.
8 page 69.
9 page 22.
10 Page 61.
11 The remainder of this paragraph is crossed out in the draft.
Cf., page 108.
12 Narrative Appendix page 4.
13 id, pa. 4 - this alludes to the affrays at the ropewalk: The
Soldiers at Greens Barracks had made three Attacks upon the ropemakers
when they were at their Work, in revenge for one of them being told by
one of the hands in the Walk, that "if he wanted work he might
empty his Vault." Enough to enkindle the flame of resentment in the
Breast of a common Soldier, who of all men has the most delicate
Sentiments of honor! Two of the prisoners were of the party in these
noble Exploits, as was testified in Court.
ARTICLE SIGNED "VINDEX."
[Boston Gazette, December 31, 1770.]
To the PRINTERS.
IN my last, I consider'd the temper which the Soldiers in general,
had discover'd, and the threats they had utter'd, previous to the
5th of March, together with their correspondent behavior, on that
alarming evening. I was the more brief, because there had been a
"Narrative of the horrid Massacre," printed by the Order of this
Town; which was drawn up by a Committee appointed for that
purpose, and reported by their Chairman, James Bowdoin, Esq. The
Affidavits which are annexed to the Narrative, were each of them
taken before two Justices of the Peace, Quorum Unus, to perpetuate
the remembrance of the thing: Col. William Dalrymple, chief
Commander of the Soldiers, was duly notified by the Justices to
attend the Captions: And his Honor the lieutenant-governor,
certified under his hand with the Province Seal affixed, that full
faith and credit was, and ought to be given to the several Acts
and Attestations of the Justices, both in Court and out. - It will
be own'd by the impartial World, that nothing could be fairer: I
am not, however, at all surprized, to find, publish'd in a late
New-York Paper, a letter said to be written in this Town, in which
among other chit-chat, it is asserted, that from the borders of
Connecticut to Boston, there are people who "exclaim against the
Town for imposing on the Country by false Representations:" This
Narrative has been in a Manner adopted by the Province; for I am
assured, that in the last Session of the General Assembly, the
House of Representatives, generously granted to the Town a sum of
Money to defrey the Charge of a vessel, hired for no other Purpose
but to carry it to London; that his Majesty's Council concurr'd
with the House in the grant, and his Honor the lieutenant-governor
gave his Assent to it. - Arts have been used, and are still using,
to detach the rest of the Colonies from this Province; and the
same arts are every day practised, to divide the Towns in this
Province from the Capital. It is the Machiavellian Doctrine,
Divide et impera -Divide and Rule: But the people of this Province
and of this Continent are too wise, and they are lately become too
experienc'd, to be catch'd in such a snare. While their common
Rights are invaded, they will consider themselves, as embark'd in
the same bottom: And that Union which they have hitherto
maintain'd, against all the Efforts of their more powerful common
Enemies, will still cement, notwithstanding such trifling letter
writers as these.
The candor of this Town was indeed such, that at their annual
Meeting in March, by a vote, they restrain'd their Committee from
publishing the Narrative here, altho' it was printed, lest it
might unduly prejudice those, whose Lot it might be, to be Jurors
to try these Causes: This Restraint, they continued at their
Meeting in May, and untill the Trials should be over.-A Caution,
which all good Men will applaud: As it discover'd a sense of
Justice; as well as the greatest Humanity towards those Men, who
had spilt the blood of Citizens, like Water upon the Ground! -A
temper far from vindictive - Calm and sedate, when it might have
been expected, if ever, they would be off their guard. And yet so
barbarous and cruel, so infamously mean and base were the Enemies
of this Town, who are the common Enemies of all America and of the
Truth itself, that they had it falsely inserted in the public
News-Papers in London, that the Inhabitants had seiz'd upon Capt.
Preston and hung him, like Porteus upon a sign-post!
I shall now, in a few instances, endeavor to show, the temper
which many of the Soldiers discover'd after the fatal Catastrophe
was over. The Reader may have observed, that I am careful to
distinguish, between the Evidence given in Court, from that which
was given out of Court: Witnesses to this point, it is not to be
suppos'd, were admissible at the Trial; unless perhaps the one
immediately following: This is a creditable person who is Mistress
of a reputable family in the Town. She testified before the
Magistrates, and was ready to swear it in Court, if she had been
called, that on the Evening of the 5th of March, a number of
Soldiers were assembled at Green's Barracks, and opposite to her
Gate, which is near those Barracks; that they stood very still,
until the Guns were fired in King-Street; then they clapped their
hands and gave a Cheer, saying, this is all we want; they then ran
to their Barracks and came out again in a few minutes, all with
their arms, and ran towards King-Street.1 - These Barracks are
about a quarter of a Mile from King-Street: Their standing very
still untill they heard the firing, compared with their subsequent
Conduct, looks as if they expected it: It seems as tho' they knew
what the signal should be, and the part they were to act in
consequence of it. This, perhaps, may be tho't by some to be too
straining: I will not urge it; but leave it to any one to judge,
how far, if at all, it affords grounds of Suspicion, that there
was an understanding, between the Soldiers in King-Street at the
time of the firing, and these; especially if it be true, as has
been said, that they fired without the command of their officer.-
There was also a Witness, an householder of good reputation, whose
testimony was similar to this: That the Soldiers from Green's
Barracks, on that Evening, rushed by him, with their arms, & ran
towards King-Street, saying, this is our time or chance; that he
never saw Dogs so greedy for their Prey, and the Serjeants could
hardly keep them in their Ranks 2 - Another swore, that after
the firing, he saw the Soldiers drawn up under Arms, and heard the
officers, as they walked backwards and forwards say to one another,
Damn it, what a fine fire that was! How bravely it dispers'd the Mob3
- A gentleman belonging to Halifax in Nova Scotia testified that when
the body of Troops was drawn up before the guardhouse (which was
presently after the Massacre) he heard an Officer say to another,
that this was fine work, just what he wanted!4 - I shall add but
one more to this list, and that is, the testimony of a Witness,
well known in this Town for an honest man; who declared that at
about one o'Clock the next morning, as he was going alone from his
own House to the Town-House, he met a Serjeant of the 29th with
eight or nine Soldiers, all with very large Clubs and Cutlasses,
when one of them, speaking of the Slaughter, swore by God, it was
a fine thing, and said, you shall see more of it.5 - To these I
cannot help subjoining, the testimony of Mr. John Cox, a very
reputable Inhabitant of this Town ; who swore in Court at one of
the late trials, that after the firing, he went to take up the
dead; that he told the Soldiers, it was a cowardly trick in them
to kill men within reach of their Bayonets, with nothing in their
hands; and that the officer said, damn them, fire again, and let
them take the consequence - to which he replied, you have killed
enough already to hang you all: But it has since appeared that he
was mistaken. - There are others, who saw, a very large party from
the Southguard, after the firing, take their post under Liberty-
Tree; by which one would think they intended to act the same part
which the Soldiers in New-York had before done, as indeed some of
them had threatened they would, and which would probably have bro't on
a new scene of confusion. But the commanding officer, very prudently
ordered the regiment to be under arms, which prevented it.
If these testimonies would not have been pertinent to the issue of
the late trial, I think it necessary to adduce them here, to
convince the world of the wretched state this Town had been in;
the reason they had to apprehend, while such blood-thirsty inmates
were quarter'd among them ; and the necessity they were tinder,
constantly to be on their guard, while there were even such
exultations at the barbarous "action" of the Evening.
Much was bro't into Court, to show that the Town was in a state of
disorder on that Evening, and previous to the Affray at Murray's
Barracks; Witnesses were admitted to testify, that they had been
met by one and another arm'd with Clubs; but nothing appeared
there, to show the Cause and even the necessity of it: Thus, one
of the prisoners witnesses testified in Court, that at seven
o'clock, going to the South-End of the Town, he met forty or fifty
in small parties, four or five in a party; and divers others swore
to the same purpose: They did not indeed say, whether they knew
them to be Inhabitants; it is as probable, that they were
Soldiers, as inhabitants, if not more so; for it was sworn before
the Magistrates, by a person of credit, that on the Saturday
before, he saw the Soldiers making Clubs.6 Another was ready to
testify in Court, that thirty of these Clubs or Bludgeons, were made
by the Soldiers, in his own Shop. And in the part of the Town where
the before-mentioned witness was going, a gentleman was early in the
Evening attacked by two Soldiers, one of them arm'd with a Club, and
the other with a broad Sword; the latter struck him, and threatned
that he should soon hear more of it.7 It was notorious, that the
Soldiers were frequently seen on that Evening, arm'd with Clubs, as
well as other Weapons; and the night before, very late, it can be
prov'd that forty or fifty of them were seen, thus arm'd, in several
parts of the Town in terror of his Majesty's subjects: But in the
judgment of some men, every party that was seen with Clubs, or in
the modern term, bludgeons, to be sure, must have been
inhabitants. It had been testified, that on the Saturday before
the fifth of March, the Soldiers, had not only been seen making
their Clubs, as is before mentioned, but from what the witness
could collect from their conversation, they were resolved to be
reveng'd on the Monday.8 If they were in such danger, as some will
pretend they were, pray, why were they not kept in their Barracks,
especially after eight o'clock, according to their own rules?
Instead of this, we find the testimony of a person, who was not an
inhabitant of the Town: that being at the South-End on that Evening,
exactly at Eight o'Clock, he saw there Eleven Soldiers; an officer
met them, and order'd them to appear at their respective places at
the time; and if they should see any of the inhabitants of the Town,
or any other people not belonging to them, with Arms, Clubs or any
other warlike Weapon, more than two being assembled together, to
order them to stop: and if they refused, to stop them with their
firelocks, and all that should take their part - The officer went
Northward and the Soldiers Southward9 - Here were orders discretely
given indeed! And well becoming a gentleman, in any command over
troops, sent here, as the Minister pretended, to aid the civil
Magistrate in keeping the peace; and with directions never to act
without one. Will any one suppose, that the Town could be safe, even
from this band of Soldiers only; especially while under such
direction and influence. This is a single instance -No wonder that
when the bells soon after rang as for fire, & the people in that
same part of the Town, came into the Street with their Buckets,
they were told by some, as a gentleman who was a witness in Court
for the prisoners said they were, that they had better bring their
Clubs than their Buckets - Such appearances were enough to put the
Town in Motion - It is a glaring mistake to say, the Soldiers were
in danger from the inhabitants: The reverse is true; the inhabitants
were in danger from the Soldiers. - With all the indulgence which
was shown, and perhaps ought to have been shown to prisoners at
the bar, upon trial for life, not a single instance was prov'd, of
abuse offer'd to Soldiers that Evening, previous to the insolent
behavior of those who rush'd out of Murray's Barracks, with
Cutlasses, Clubs and other Weapons, and fell upon all whom they
met: On the contrary, there had been many instances of their
insulting and even assaulting the Inhabitants in every part of
the Town; and that without Discrimination ; which did not look, as
if they design'd to seek revenge, for any former Quarrel, upon
particular persons.
As it was said, in Court that the unhappy Persons who fell a
sacrifice to the cruel revenge of the Soldiers, had brought their
death upon their own heads, I must not omit saying, what I think
ought to be said, in behalf of those who cannot now speak for
themselves - Mr. Maverick, a young gentleman of a good family and
a blameless life, was at supper in the house of one of his
friends, and went out when the Bells rang as for fire. Mr.
Caldwell, a young seaman and of a good character, had been at
School to perfect himself in the art of Navigation; and had just
return'd to the house of a reputable person in this town, to whose
daughter he made his visits, with the honorable intention of
Marriage: He also went out when the bells rang. Mr. Gray was of a
good family; he was at his own house the whole of the Evening,
saving his going to a neighbour's house to borrow the News-Paper
of the day and returning; He went out on the ringing of the bells;
and altho' a child swore in Court, that he saw him with a stick,
after the bells rang, yet another witness saw him before he got
into King-Street without a stick; others saw him in King-Street
and testified that he had no stick; and when he was shot, the
Witness at whose feet he fell, declared, as is mentioned in a
former Paper, that he had no stick, and his arms were folded in
his bosom; so that it is probable, the young Witness mistook the
person. Mr. Attucks, it is said, was at supper when the bells
rang; he went out as others did, to enquire where the fire was; in
passing thro' Dock-Square, he saw the affray at Murray's Barracks;
and hearing a man say that if any one would join, he would drive
the Soldiers into the Barracks, he join'd; & they two were
principally concerned in doing that piece of service. Great pains
were taken to make it appear that he attacked the Soldiers in
King-Street, but the proof fail'd: He was leaning upon his stick
when he fell, which certainly was not a threatning posture: It may
be supposed that he had as good right, by the law of the land, to
carry a stick for his own and his neighbor's defence, in a time of
such danger, as the Soldier who shot him had, to be arm'd with
musquet and ball, for the defence of himself and his friend the
Centinel: And if he at any time, lifted up his weapon of defence,
it was surely, not more than a Soldiers levelling his gun charg'd
with death at the multitude: If he had killed a Soldier, he might
have been hanged for it, and as a traitor too; for even to attack
a Soldier on his post, was pronounc'd treason: The Soldier shot
Attucks, who was at a distance from him, and killed him,. - and he
was convicted of Manslaughter. - As to Mr. Carr, the other
deceas'd person, it is doubtful with what intent he came out: He
was at the house of one Mr. Field, when the bells rang; Mrs.
Field, and another witness who was at the house, declared that
Carr went up Stairs, and got his Sword, which he put between his
Coat and his Surtout, and it was with difficulty that they
prevail'd upon him to lay by his Sword: They could not persuade
him to keep in: It does not appear that he took any part in the
contest of the Evening: He was soon shot: and tho' dead, he
afterwards spoke in Court, by the mouth of another, in favour of
the prisoners; declaring among other things already mentioned,
that he was a native of Ireland, and had often seen mobs and
Soldiers fire upon them there, but never saw them bear half so
much before they fired as these did.
The conduct of the Soldiers and of the people in King-Street,
shall be the Subject of a future Paper. In the mean time, I must
desire Philanthrop, who appear'd in the last Evening Post, if he
pleases, to read again what I observ'd upon the case of Killroi in
particular, in this Gazette of the 17th Inst;1 and to consider,
whether he did me justice in saying, that I had publish'd "the
only piece of Evidence produc'd against Killroi and argued upon
that alone:" I then publish'd several material pieces of Evidence
against him; and upon the whole concluded, that what was called
the furor brevis was, in my opinion, of rather too long - a
continuance, to come within the indulgence of the law. I then
tho't, and I believe I am far from being singular in thinking it;
that for a man repeatedly to say, that he had wanted an
opp
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/2092