Chapter II: Part 2

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.