Braintree, 31 March, 1776.
I wish you would ever write me a letter half as long as I write you, and
tell me, if you may, where your fleet are gone; what sort of defense
Virginia can make against our common enemy; whether it is so situated as
to make an able defense. Are not the gentry lords, and the common people
vassals? Are they not like the uncivilized vassals Britain represents us
to be? I hope their riflemen, who have shown themselves very savage and
even blood-thirsty, are not a specimen of the generality of the people.
I am willing to allow the colony great merit for having produced a
Washington; but they have been shamefully duped by a Dunmore.
I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for liberty cannot
be equally strong in the breasts of those who have been accustomed to
deprive their fellow-creatures of theirs. Of this I am certain, that it
is not founded upon that generous and Christian principle of doing to
others as we would that others should do unto us.
Do not you want to see Boston? I am fearful of the small-pox, or I
should have been in before this time. I got Mr. Crane to go to our house
and see what state it was in. I find it has been occupied by one of
the doctors of a regiment; very dirty, but no other damage has been done
to it. The few things which were left in it are all gone. I look upon it
as a new acquisition of property--a property which one month ago I did
not value at a single shilling, and would with pleasure have seen it in
flames.
The town in general is left in a better state than we expected; more
owing to a precipitate flight than any regard to the inhabitants; though
some individuals discovered a sense of honor and justice, and have left
the rent of the houses in which they were, for the owners, and the
furniture unhurt, or, if damaged, sufficient to make it good. Others
have committed abominable ravages. The mansion-house of your President
is safe, and the furniture unhurt; while the house and furniture of the
Solicitor General have fallen a prey to their own merciless party.
Surely the very fiends feel a reverential awe for virtue and patriotism,
whilst they detest the parricide and traitor.
I feel very differently at the approach of spring from what I did a
month ago. We knew not then whether we could plant or sow with safety,
whether where we had tilled we could reap the fruits of our own
industry, whether we could rest in our own cottages or whether we should
be driven from the seacoast to seek shelter in the wilderness; but now
we feel a temporary peace, and the poor fugitives are returning to their
deserted habitations.
Though we felicitate ourselves, we sympathize with those who are
trembling lest the lot of Boston should be theirs. But they cannot be in
similar circumstances unless pusillanimity and cowardice should take
possession of them. They have time and warning given them to see the
evil and shun it.
I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way,
in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to
make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and
favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power
into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if
they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the
ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold
ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.
That your sex are naturally tyrannical is a truth so thoroughly
established as to admit of no dispute; but such of you as wish to be
happy willingly give up the harsh title of master for the more tender
and endearing one of friend. Why, then, not put it out of the power of
the vicious and the lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with
impunity? Men of sense in all ages abhor those customs which treat us
only as the vassals of your sex; regard us then as beings placed by
Providence under your protection, and in imitation of the Supreme Being
make use of that power only for our happiness.
April 5.
I want to hear much oftener from you than I do. March 8th was the last
date of any that I have yet had. You inquire of me whether I am making
saltpetre. I have not yet attempted it, but after soap-making believe I
shall make the experiment. I find as much as I can do to manufacture
clothing for my family, which would else be naked. I know of but one
person in this part of the town who has made any. That is Mr. Tertius
Bass, as he is called, who has got very near a hundred-weight which has
been found to be very good. I have heard of some others in the other
parishes. Mr. Reed, of Weymouth, has been applied to, to go to Andover
to the mills which are now at work, and he has gone.
I have lately seen a small manuscript describing the proportions of the
various sorts of powder fit for cannon, small-arms, and pistols. If it
would be of any service your way I will get it transcribed and send it
to you. Every one of your friends sends regards, and all the little
ones. Adieu.