The exercises attending this election of counsellors must indeed
have been an impressive sight. The Governor, attended by a troop of
horse, rode from the Province House to Cambridge, where religious
services were held. An Election Sermon was preached. Volleys and
salutes were fired at the Battery and Castle. A protest was made in
the public press, as on the previous year, against holding this
election in Cambridge instead of in the "Town House in Boston, the
accustomed Ancient Place," and also directly to the Governor, which
was answered by him in the newspapers; and at this election a most
significant event occurred--John Hancock declined to accept a seat
among the counsellors, to which he had been elected. The
newspapers--the _Massachusetts Spy_ and the _Boston Gazette and
Country Journal_--commented on his action thus:--
"Mr Hancocks declining a seat in the Council Board is very
satisfactory to the Friends of Liberty among his constituents. This
Gentleman has stood five years successively and as often Negativ'd.
Whatever may have been the Motive of his being approbated at last
his own Determination now shows that he had rather be a
Representative of the People since he has had so repeatedly their
Election and Confidence."