The Writings of Samuel Adams Volume III Part 19

May Heaven grant that the councils of our sovereign may be guided by wisdom, that the liberties of America may be established, and harmony restored between the subjects in Britain and the Colonies,

I am, your very obliged friend and humble servant,

TO ISAAC VAN DAM.1

[Collections of Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, 4th ser., vol.

iv., pp. 191, 192.]

BOSTON, Feb. 28 1775.

SIR,

Your letter of the 30th December, addressed to John Hanc.o.c.k, Esq., has been laid before the Committee appointed by this Town, to receive and distribute the donations made for the employment and relief of the sufferers by the Act of Parliament, commonly called the Boston Port Bill. I am directed by the Committee to return you their hearty thanks for the care you have generously taken in the disposal of a parcel of corn, (free of charge,) which was s.h.i.+pped for that charitable purpose, by our friends in Ess.e.x County, in Virginia, on board the schooner Sally, James Perkins, master, driven by stress of weather to St. Eustatia. An account of sales of the corn was inclosed in your letter, together with a bill of exchange drawn by Mr. Sampson Mears on Mr. Isaac Moses of New York, for one hundred seventy-one pounds, eight s.h.i.+llings, that currency, being the amount thereof.

The opinion you have formed of the inhabitants of this Town, as having so virtuously dared to oppose a wicked and corrupt ministry, in their tyrannical acts of despotism, must needs be very flattering to them. The testimony of our friends so fully in our favor, more especially of those who are not immediately interested in the unhappy contest between Britain and her Colonies, must strongly excite this people to a perseverance in so righteous a cause.

Be pleased, Sir, to accept of due acknowledgments for your kind wishes for our speedy relief, and be a.s.sured that I am, (in the name of the Committee,)

Your very obliged friend and humble servant,

________________________________________________________________ 1At St. Eustatia.

TO WILLIAM BLACK.1

[Collections of Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, 4th ser., vol.

iv., pp. 188, 189; the text, dated March 2, 1775, is in Force, American Archives, 4th ser., vol. ii., p. 16.]

SIR,

Your letter of the 24th December last to Mr. Cus.h.i.+ng and others, by Capt. Tompkins, of the schooner Dunmore, in which was brought several valuable donations from our friends in Virginia, to the sufferers in this Town by the Port Bill, was communicated to the Committee appointed to receive such donations, and by their direction I am to acquaint you that they cheerfully consented, at your request, that the schooner should be discharged at Salem, thinking themselves under obligation to promote her dispatch, more especially as there was unexpected delay in her loading, and you have very generously declined receiving demurrage.

We have repeatedly had abundant evidence of the firmness of our brethren of Virginia in the American cause, and have reason to confide in them that they will struggle hard for the prize now contending for.

I am desired by the Committee to acquaint you that a s.h.i.+p has lately sailed from this place bound to James River, in Virginia; the master's name is Crowel Hatch. When he was building his s.h.i.+p, a proposal was made to him by some of the Committee, to employ the tradesmen of this Town, for which he should receive a recompense by a discount of five per cent on their several bills, but he declined to accept of the proposal. This, you are sensible, would have been the means of his employing our sufferers at their usual rates, and at the same time as cheap to him as if he had got his vessel built by more ordinary workmen from the country. There is also another circ.u.mstance which I must relate to you. Capt. Hatch proposed that the Committee should employ our smith, in making anchors for his vessel, at a price by which they could get nothing but their labor for their pains, because he could purchase cast anchors imported here, for the same price, which was refused. At this he was very angry, and (perhaps in a gust of pa.s.sion) declared in the hearing of several persons of credit, that he was used ill, threatening repeatedly that he would stop all the donations he could, and that no more should come from the place where he was going to, meaning Virginia. These facts the Committee thought it necessary to communicate to you, and to beg the favor of you to use your influence that Capt. Hatch may not have it in his power, (if he should be disposed,) to traduce the Committee and injure the sufferers in this Town, for whose relief our friends in Virginia have so generously contributed.

I am, in the name of the Committee, Sir, your obliged friend and humble servant,

________________________________________________________________ 1James River, Virginia.

TO CHARLES d.i.c.k, CHARLES WAs.h.i.+NGTON, AND GEORGE THORNTON.1

[Collections of Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, 4th ser., vol.

iv., pp. 211.]

BOSTON, March--1775.

GFNTLEMEN, Your letter of the 23d of January last, directed to the Overseers of the Poor of the Town of Boston, has been laid before the Committee appointed to receive and distribute Donations for the sufferers by that cruel and unrighteous Act of the British Parliament, commonly called the Boston Port Bill.

I am now in behalf of this Committee to acknowledge the receipt of seven hundred thirty-six and a quarter bushels wheat, twenty- five bushels Indian corn, three barrels flour, and three barrels bread, s.h.i.+pped on board the schooner Betsey, Capt. John Foster, being a very generous contribution of Spotsylvania County, in Virginia, to those sufferers.

You will be pleased, gentlemen, to return the sincere thanks of the Committee to our friends of that County, for the warm sympathy they have in this instance discovered with their distressed brethren in this Capital. Encouraged by these liberal donations, the inhabitants of this Town still endure their complicated sufferings with patience. As men, they feel the indignities which are offered to them. As citizens, they suppress their just resentment. But I trust in G.o.d, that this much injured Colony, when urged to it by extreme necessity, will exert itself at the utmost hazard in the defence of our common rights. I flatter myself that I am not mistaken, while they deprecate that necessity, they are very active in preparing for it.

I am, Gentlemen, in behalf of the Committee, your obliged and affectionate friend and countryman,

_________________________________________________________________ 1Of Spottsylvania County, Virginia.

TO ARTHUR LEE.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

BOSTON March 4 1775

MY DEAR SIR

Till now I did not hear of this opportunity of writing to you. I have therefore only a few Moments before the Vessel sails to give you a short Account of Affairs here. General Gage is still at the head of his Troops with a professd Design to put the regulating & the Murder Acts into Execution. I therefore consider this Man as void of a Spark of Humanity, who can deliberately be the Instrument of depriving our Country of its Liberty, or the people of their Lives in its Defence. We are not however dismayed; believe me this People are prepared to give him a warm Reception if he shall venture to make the bold Attack. I know very well the policy of great Men on your side the Water. They are backward to exert themselves in the Cause of America, lest we should desert our selves and leave them to the Contempt and Ridicule of a Ministry whom they heartily despise. But a.s.sure them that though from the Dictates of sound Policy we restrain our just Resentment at the Indignities already offered to us, we shall not fail to resist the Tyranny which threatens us at the utmost risque. The publick Liberty must be preservd though at the Expense of many Lives!

We had the last Lords Day a small Specimen of the military Spirit of our Countrymen in the Town of Salem an Account of which is in the inclosed paper. I am just now told by a Gentleman upon whose Veracity I depend that he knew that Coll L-------- at the Governors Table had declared this Account in every part of it to be true, excepting his giving orders to fire.

Every Art has been practicd to intimidate our leading Men on the popular side, at the same time the General is held up by the Friends of Government as a most humane Man, in order to induce the leading Men to behave in such a Manner as to be shelterd under his Banner in Case of Extremity--this may have an Effect on Some, but very few--We keep our Town Meeting alive1 and to-morrow an oration is to be deliverd by Dr Warren. It was thought best to have an experiencd officer in the political field on this occasion, as we may possibly be attackd in our Trenches.

The Town of Marshfield, have lately applied to G. Gage for LEAVE to have a Meeting, according to the Act of Parliament, & have resolvd as you may observe by the inclosd. They will be dealt with according to the Law of the Continental Congress. The Laws of which are more observd throughout this Continent than any human Laws whatever.

Another Congress will meet at Philadelphia in May next. Every Colony has appointed its Delegates (I mean those which did before) except N York, whose a.s.sembly I have just heard have resolvd not to send any. The People of that City & Colony, are infested with Court Scribblers who have labord, perhaps with some Success, to divide them; they are however in general firm, and have with regard to the Arrival of a s.h.i.+p from London since the first of February, behaved well.--You know their Parliament is septennial--and therefore must be corrupted. It is best that the Tories in their house have acted without Disguise. This is their last Session and the house will, I hope, be purgd at the next Election.

There is a Combination in that Colony of high Church Clergymen & great Landholders--of the former, a certain Dr C is the head; who knows an American Episcopate cannot be establishd and consequently he will not have the pleasure of strutting thro the Colonies in Lawn Sleeves, until the Authority of parliament to make Laws for us binding in all Cases whatever is settled. The Latter are Lords over many Slaves; and are afraid of the Consequences that would follow, if a Spirit of Liberty should prevail among them. This however is so far the Case yt I doubt not the People will chuse Delegates for the Congress, as they did before.--When that Congress meets, it is expected, that they will agree upon a Mode of Opposition (unless our Grievances are redressd) which will render the Union of the Colonies more formidable than ever. Concordia res parvae cresc.u.n.t.

We have lately opend a correspondence with Canada2 which, I dare say will be attended with great and good Effects. Jonathan Philanthrop under the Signature of Ma.s.sachutensis, & other pensiond Scribblers have been endeavoring to terrify the people with strange Ideas of Treason & Rebellion, but in vain. The people hold the Invasion of their Rights & Liberties the most horrid rebellion and a Neglect to defend them against any Power whatsoever the highest Treason.

We have almost every Tory of Note in the province, in this Town; to which they have fled for the Generals protection. They affect the Stile of Rabshekeh, but the Language of the people is, "In the Name of the Lord we will tread down our Enemies."

The Army has been very sickly thro the Winter & continue so. Many have died. Many have deserted. Many I believe intend to desert.

It is said there are not in all 2200 effective Men. I have seen a true List of the 65th & the Detachment of Royal Irish, in both which there are only 167 Of whom 102 are effective.

________________________________________________________________ 1See Columbia University Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, vol. vii., pp. 74, 75.

2 Cf., page 182.

TO _____ ________.1

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

BOSTON March 12 1775