receive from you--however I consider the Multiplicity of Affairs
you must attend to in your various Departments, and am willing to
make due Allowance. Your last is dated the 19th of December. It
contains a List of very important Matters lying before the
General Assembly. I am much pleased to find that there is an End
to the Contest between the two Houses concerning the
Establishment of the Militia--and that you are in hopes of making
an effectual Law for that Purpose. It is certainly of the last
Consequence to a free Country that the Militia, which is its
natural Strength, should be kept upon the most advantageous
Footing. A standing Army, however necessary it may be at some
times, is always dangerous to the Liberties of the People.
Soldiers are apt to consider themselves as a Body distinct from
the rest of the Citizens. They have their Arms always in their
hands. Their Rules and their Discipline is severe. They soon
become attachd to their officers and disposd to yield implicit
Obedience to their Commands. Such a Power should be watchd with a
jealous Eye. I have a good Opinion of the principal officers of
our Army. I esteem them as Patriots as well as Soldiers. But if
this War continues, as it may for years yet to come, we know not
who may succeed them. Men who have been long subject to military
Laws and inured to military Customs and Habits, may lose the
Spirit and Feeling of Citizens. And even Citizens, having been
used to admire the Heroism which the Commanders of their own Army
have displayd, and to look up to them as their Saviors may be
prevaild upon to surrender to them those Rights for the
protection of which against Invaders they had employd and paid
them. We have seen too much of this Disposition among some of
our Countrymen. The Militia is composd of free Citizens. There is
therefore no Danger of their making use of their Power to the
destruction of their own Rights, or suffering others to invade
them. I earnestly wish that young Gentlemen of a military Genius
(& many such I am satisfied there are in our Colony) might be
instructed in the Art of War, and at the same time taught the
Principles of a free Government, and deeply impressd with a Sense
of the indispensible Obligation which every member is under to
the whole Society. These might be in time fit for officers in the
Militia, and being thorowly acquainted with the Duties of
Citizens as well as soldiers, might Command of our Army at such
times as Necessity might require so dangerous a Body to exist.
I am glad that your Attention is turnd so much to the Importation
of Powder & that the manufacture of Salt-petre is in so
flourishing a way. I cannot think you are restraind from
exporting fish to Spain, by the resolve of Congress. I will make
myself more certain by recurring to our Records when the
Secretary returns tomorrow, he being at this time (6 o'clock P.
M.) at his House three miles from Town; and I will inform you by
a Postscript to this Letter, or by another Letter p Post. I have
the Pleasure to acquaint you that five Tons of Powder CERTAINLY
arrivd at Egg harbour the Night before last besides two Tons in
this River--a part of it is consignd to the Congress--the rest is
private property, partly belonging to Mr Thos Boylston and partly
to a Gentleman in this City. Congress has orderd the whole to be
purchasd for publick Use. We are also informd that 6 Tons more
arrivd a few days ago in New York which I believe to be true. But
better still a Vessel is certainly arrivd in this River with
between 50 & 6o Tons of Salt petre. This I suppose will give you
more Satisfaction for the present than telling you Congress News
as you request.
You ask me "When you are to hear of our Confederation?" I answer,
when some Gentlemen (to use an Expression of a Tory) shall "feel
more bold." You know it was formerly a Complaint in our Colony,
that there was a timid kind of Men who perpetually hinderd the
progress of those who would fain run in the path of Virtue and
Glory. I find wherever I am that Mankind are alike variously
classd. I can discern the Magnanimity of the Lyon the Generosity
of the Horse the Fearfulness of the Deer and the CUNNING OF THE
FOX--I had almost overlookd the Fidelity of the Dog. But I
forbear to indulge my rambling Pen in this Way lest I should be
thought chargeable with a Design to degrade the Dignity of our
nature by comparing Men with Beasts. Let me just observe that I
have mentiond only the more excellent Properties that are to [be]
found among Quadrupeds. Had I suggested an Idea of the Vanity of
the Ape the Tameness of the Ox or the stupid Servility of the Ass
I might have been lyable to Censure.
Are you sollicitous to hear of our Confederation? I will tell
you. It is not dead but sleepeth. A Gentleman of this City told
me the other day, that he could not believe the People without
doors would follow the Congress PASSIBUS AEQUIS if such Measures
as SOME called spirited were pursued. It put me in mind of a
Fable of the high mettled horse and the dull horse. My excellenct
Colleague Mr J. A. can repeat this fable to you; and if the
Improvement had been made of it which our very valueable Friend
Coll M----- proposd, you would have seen that Confederation
compleated long before this time. I do not despair of it--since
our Enemies themselves are hastening it. While I am writing an
Express has come in from Baltimore in Maryland with the
Deposition of Cap Horn of the Snow bird belonging to Providence.
The Deponent says that on Monday the first Instant, he being at
Hampton in Virginia heard a constant firing of Cannon--that he
was informd a Messenger had been sent to enquire where the firing
was who reported that the ships of War were cannonading the Town
of Norfolk--that about the Middle of the Afternoon they saw the
smoke ascending from Norfolk as they supposd--that he saild
[from] Hampton the Evening of the same day and the firing
continued till the following afternoon. This will prevail more
than a long train of Reasoning to accomplish a Confederation and
other Matters which I know your heart as well as mine is much set
upon.
I forgot to tell you that a Vessel is arrivd in Maryland having
four thousand yards of Sail Cloth--an Article which I hope will
be much in Demand in America.
Adieu my Friend,
TO JAMES WARREN.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
PHILADELPHIA January 10 1776
MY DEAR SIR/
I wrote to you the 7th Instant by Mr Anthony by the way of
Providence, and should not so soon have troubled you with another
Letter, but to inform you that upon looking over the journals of
Congress I find that the Recommendation of the 26th of October to
export Produce for a certain Purpose is confind to the foreign
West Indies--and the Resolution to stop all Trade till the first
of March is subsequent to it. This last Resolution prevents your
exporting merchantable Fish to Spain, for the purpose mentiond,
which I am satisfied was not intended, because I am very certain
the Congress means to encourage the Importation of those
necessary Articles under the Direction of proper Persons, from
every part of the World. I design to propose to my Colleagues to
joyn with me in a Motion, to extend the Recommendation so as to
admit of exporting fish to any Place besides the foreign West
Indies.
A few days ago, being one of a Committee to consider General
Washington's last Letter to Congress, I proposd to the Committee
and they readily consented to report the Inclosd Resolution1
which were unanimously agreed to in Congress. The Committee
reorted that a certain sum should be paid to Mr [Lovell] out of
the military Chest towards enabling him to remove himself & his
Family from Boston, but Precedent was objected to and the last
Resolve was substituted in its stead. The Gentlemen present
however contributed and put into my hands Eighty-two Dollars
for the Benefit of Mrs [Lovell], which I shall remit either in
Cash or a good Bill. I hope I shall soon be so happy as to hear
that he is releasd from Bondage. I feel very tenderly for the
rest of my fellow Citizens who are detaind in that worst of
Prisons. Methinks there is one Way speedily to release them all.
Adieu,
_________________________________________________________________
1See above, page 248.
TO JOHN PITTS.1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
PHILADe Jany 21 1776
MY DEAR SIR
It is a long time since I had the pleasure of receiving a Letter
from you. I flatter myself that you still place me among your
Friends. I am not conscious of having done any thing to forfeit
your Regards for me and therefore I will attribute your Omission
not to a designd Neglect, but to a more probable Cause, the
constant Attention you are called upon to give to the publick
Affairs of our Colony. It is for this Reason that I make myself
easy, though one post arrives and one Express after another
without a Line from you; assuring myself that your Time is
employd to much better purpose than writing to or thinking of me.
I speak Truth when I tell you, that I shall be exceedingly
gratified in receiving your Favors, whenever your Leisure may
admit of your suspending your Attention to Matters of greater
Importance. I will add that your Letters will certainly be
profitable to me; for I shall gain that Intelligence and
Instruction from them which will enable me the better to serve
the Publick in the Station I am placed in here. Give me Leave to
tell you therefore, that I think it is a part of the Duty you owe
to our Country to write to me as often as you can.
You have seen the MOST GRACIOUS Speech--Most Gracious! How
strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of
Words! It discovers, to be sure, the most BENEVOLENT & HUMANE
Feelings of its Author. I have heard that he is his own Minister
--that he follows the Dictates of his own Heart. If so, why
should we cast the odium of distressing Mankind upon his Minions
& Flatterers only. Guilt must lie at his Door. Divine Vengeance
will fall on his head; for all-gracious Heaven cannot be an
indifferent Spectator of the virtuous Struggles of this people.
In a former Letter I desired you to acquaint me of your Father's
health and the Circumstances of the Family. I have a very great
Regard for them and repeat the Request.
Adieu,
_________________________________________________________________
1Of Boston. In the preceding year he had been a member of the
second and third provincial congresses of
Massachusetts.
TO JAMES SULLIVAN.1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
PHILADE Jany 12 1776
MY DEAR SIR
Your very acceptable Letter of the 3d Inst duly came to hand. I
thank you heartily for the favor and shall be much obligd to you
if you will write to me as often as your Leisure will admit of
it.
It gave me pain to be informd by you, that by an unlucky
Circumstance you were prevented from executing a plan, the
Success of which would have afforded you Laurels, and probably in
its immediate Effects turnd the present Crisis in favor of our
Country. We are indebted to you for your laudable Endeavor;
Another Tryal will, I hope, crown your utmost Wish.
I have seen the Speech which is falsly & shamefully called MOST
GRACIOUS. It breathes the most malevolent Spirit, wantonly
proposes Measures calculated to distress Mankind, and determines
my Opinion of the Author of it as a Man of a wicked Heart. What a
pity it is, that Men are become so degenerate and servile, as to
bestow Epithets which can be appropriated to the Supreme Being
alone, upon Speeches & Actions which will hereafter be read &
spoken of by every Man who shall profess to have a spark of
Virtue & Honor, with the utmost Contempt and Detestation.--What
have we to expect from Britain, but Chains & Slavery? I hope we
shall act the part which the great Law of Nature Points out. It
is high time that we should assume that Character, which I am
sorry to find the Capital of your Colony has publickly and
expressly disavowd. It is my most fervent prayer to Almighty God,
that he would direct and prosper the Councils of America, inspire
her Armies with true Courage, shield them in every Instance of
Danger and lead them on to Victory & Tryumph.
I am yr affectionate Friend,
_________________________________________________________________
1Of Biddeford; a member of each provincial congress of
Massachusetts.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
[MS., Adams Papers, Quincy; a modified text is in John Adams,
Works, vol. ix., pp. 371-373, and a draft is in the Lenox
Library.]
PHILADE Jany 15 1776.
MY DEAR SIR
Altho I have at present but little Leisure, I can not omit
writing you a few Lines by this Express.
I have seen certain Instructions which were given by the Capital
of the Colony of New Hampshire to its Delegates in their
provincial Convention,1 the Spirit of which I am not altogether
pleasd with. There is one part of them at least, which I think
discovers a Timidity which is unbecoming a People oppressd and
insulted as they are, and who at their own request have been
advisd & authorizd by Congress to set up and exercise Government
in such form as they should judge most conducive to their own
Happiness. It is easy to understand what they mean when they
speak of "perfecting a form of Govt STABLE and PERMANENT"-They
indeed explain themselves by saying that they "SHOULD PREFER THE
GOVT OF CONGRESS, (their provincial Convention) till quieter
times." The Reason they assign for it, I fear, will be considerd
as showing a Readiness to condescend to the Humours of their
Enemies, and their publickly expressly & totally disavowing
Independency either on the Nation or THE MAN who insolently &
perseveringly demands the Surrender of their Liberties with the
Bayonet pointed at their Breasts may be construed to argue a
Servility & Baseness of Soul for which Language doth not afford
an Epithet. It is by indiscrete Resolutions and Publications that
the Friends of America have too often given occasion to their
Enemies to injure her Cause. I hope however that the Town of
Portsmouth doth not in this Instance speak the Sense of that
Colony. I wish, if it be not too late, that you would write your
Sentiments of the Subject to our worthy Friend Mr L------ who I
suppose is now in Portsmouth.--If that Colony should take a wrong
Step, I fear it would wholly defeat a Design which, I confess I
have much at heart.
A motion was made in Congress the other Day to the following
purpose--that whereas we had been chargd with aiming at
Independency, a Comte should be appointed to explain to the
People at large the Principles & Grounds of our Opposition &c.
The Motion alarmd me. I thought Congress had already been
explicit enough, & was apprehensive that we might get our selves
upon dangerous Ground. Some of us prevaild so far as to have the
Matter postpond but could not prevent the assigning a Day to
consider it.--I may perhaps have been wrong in opposing this
Motion, and I ought the rather to suspect it, because the
Majority of your Colony as well as of the Congress were of a
different Opinion.
I had lately some free Conversation with an eminent Gentleman
whom you well know, and whom your Portia, in one of her Letters,
admired if I recollect right, for his EXPRESSIVE SILENCE, about a
Confederation--A Matter which our much valued Friend Coll W------
is very sollicitous to have compleated. We agreed that it must
soon be brought on, & that if all the Colonies could not come
into it, it had better be done by those of them that inclind to
it. I told him that I would endeavor to unite the New England
Colonies in confederating, if NONE of the rest would joyn in it.
He approvd of it, and said, if I succeeded, he would cast in his
Lot among us.
Adieu.
Jany 16th
As this Express did not sett off yesterday, according to my
Expectation, I have the Opportunity of acquainting you that
Congress has just receivd a Letter from General Washington
inclosing the Copy of an Application of our General Assembly to
him to order payment to four Companies stationd at Braintree
Weymouth & Hingham. The General says they were never regimented,
& he can not comply with the Request of the Assembly without the
Direction of Congress. A Come is appointed to consider the
Letter, of which I am one. I fear there will be a Difficulty, and
therefore I shall endeavor to prevent a Report on this part of
the Letter, unless I shall see a prospect of justice being done
to the Colony, till I can receive from you authentick Evidence of
those companies having been actually employed by the continental
officers, as I conceive they have been, in the Service of the
Continent. I wish you wd inform me whether the two Companies
stationd at Chelsea & Malden were paid out of the Continents
Chest. I suppose they were, and if so, I cannot see Reason for
any Hesitation about the paymt of these. I wish also to know how
many Men our Colony is at the Expence of maintaining for the
Defence of its Sea Coasts. Pray let me have some Intelligence
from you, of the Colony which we represent. You are sensible of
the Danger it has frequently been in of suffering greatly for
Want of regular information.
_________________________________________________________________
1Cf. New Hampshire Provincial Papers, vol. vii., pp. 701, 702.
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams,1 vol. ii., pp. 360-363.]
[February 3, 1776.]
When the little pamphlet, entitled " Common Sense," first made
its appearance in favor of that so often abjured idea of
independence upon Great Britain, I was informed that no less than
three gentlemen of respectable abilities were engaged to answer
it. As yet, I have seen nothing which directly pretends to
dispute a single position of the author. The oblique essay in
Humphrey's paper, and solemn "Testimony of the Quakers," however
intended, having offered nothing to the purpose, I shall take
leave to examine this important question with all candor and
attention, and submit the result to my much interested country.
Dependence of one man or state upon another is either absolute or
limited by some certain terms of agreement. The dependence of
these Colonies, which Great Britain calls constitutional, as
declared by acts of Parliament, is absolute. If the contrary of
this be the bugbear so many have been disclaiming against, I
could wish my countrymen would consider the consequence of so
stupid a profession. If a limited dependence is intended, I would
be much obliged to any one who will show me the Britannico-
American Magna Charta, wherein the terms of our limited
dependence are precisely stated. If no such thing can be found,
and absolute dependence be accounted inadmissible, the sound we
are squabbling about has certainly no determinate meaning. If we
say we mean that kind of dependence we acknowledged at and before
the year 1763, I answer, vague and uncertain laws, and more
especially constitutions, are the very instruments of slavery.
The Magna Charta of England was very explicit, considering the
time it was formed, and yet much blood was spilled in disputes
concerning its meaning.
Besides the danger of an indefinite dependence upon an
undetermined power, it might be worth while to consider what the
characters are on whom we are so ready to acknowledge ourselves
dependent. The votaries of this idol tell us, upon the good
people of our mother country, whom they represent as the most
just, humane, and affectionate friends we can have in the world.
Were this true, it were some encouragement; but who can pretend
ignorance, that these just and humane friends are as much under
the tyranny of men of a reverse character as we should be could
these miscreants gain their ends? I disclaim any more than a
mutual dependence on any man or number of men on earth; but an
indefinite dependence upon a combination of men who have, in the
face of the sun, broken through the most solemn covenants,
debauched the hereditary, and corrupted the elective guardians of
the people's rights; who have, in fact, established an absolute
tyranny in Great Britain and Ireland, and openly declared
themselves competent to bind the Colonies in all cases
whatsoever,--I say, indefinite dependence on such a combination
of usurping innovators is evidently as dangerous to liberty, as
fatal to civil and social happiness, as any one step that could
be proposed even by the destroyer of men. The utmost that the
honest party in Great Britain can do is to warn us to avoid this
dependence at all hazards. Does not even a Duke of Grafton
declare the ministerial measures illegal and dangerous? And shall
America, no way connected with this Administration, press our
submission to such measures and reconciliation to the authors of
them? Would not such pigeon-hearted wretches equally forward the
recall of the Stuart family and establishment of Popery
throughout Christendom, did they consider the party in favor of
those loyal measures the strongest? Shame on the men who can
court exemption from present trouble and expense at the price of
their posterity's liberty! The honest party in England cannot
wish for the reconciliation proposed. It is as unsafe to them as
to us, and they thoroughly apprehend it. What check have they now
upon the Crown, and what shadow of control can they pretend, when
the Crown can command fifteen or twenty millions a year which
they have nothing to say to? A proper proportion of our commerce
is all that can benefit any good man in Britain or Ireland; and
God forbid we should be so cruel as to furnish bad men with the
power to enslave both Britain and America. Administration has now
fairly dissevered the dangerous tie. Execrated will he be by the
latest posterity who again joins the fatal cord!
"But," say the puling, pusillanimous cowards, "we shall be
subject to a long and bloody war, if we declare independence." On
the contrary, I affirm it the only step that can bring the
contest to a speedy and happy issue. By declaring independence we
put ourselves on a footing for an equal negotiation. Now we are
called a pack of villainous rebels, who, like the St. Vincent's
Indians, can expect nothing more than a pardon for our lives, and
the sovereign favor respecting freedom, and property to be at the
King's will. Grant, Almighty God, that I may be numbered with the
dead before that sable day dawns on North America.
All Europe knows the illegal and inhuman treatment we have
received from Britons. All Europe wishes the haughty Empress of
the Main reduced to a more humble deportment. After herself has
thrust her Colonies from her, the maritime powers cannot be such
idiots as to suffer her to reduce them to a more absolute
obedience of her dictates than they were heretofore obliged to
yield. Does not the most superficial politician know, that while
we profess ourselves the subjects of Great Britain, and yet hold
arms against her, they have a right to treat us as rebels, and
that, according to the laws of nature and nations, no other state
has a right to interfere in the dispute? But, on the other hand,
on our declaration of independence, the maritime states, at
least, will find it their interest (which always secures the
question of inclination) to protect a people who can be so
advantageous to them. So that those shortsighted politicians, who
conclude that this step will involve us in slaughter and
devastation, may plainly perceive that no measure in our power
will so naturally and effectually work our deliverance. The
motion of a finger of the Grand Monarch would produce as gentle a
temper in the omnipotent British minister as appeared in the
Manilla ransom and Falkland Island affairs. From without,
certainly, we have everything to hope, nothing to fear. From
within, some tell us that the Presbyterians, if freed from the
restraining power of Great Britain, would overrun the peaceable
Quakers in this government. For my own part, I despise and detest
the bickerings of sectaries, and am apprehensive of no trouble
from that quarter, especially while no peculiar honors or
emoluments are annexed to either. I heartily wish too many of the
Quakers did not give cause of complaint, by endeavoring to
counteract the measures of their fellow-citizens for the common
safety. If they profess themselves only pilgrims here, let them
walk through the men of this world without interfering with their
actions on either side. If they would not pull down kings, let
them not support tyrants; for, whether they understand it or not,
there is, and ever has been, an essential difference in the
characters.
Finally, with M. de Vattel, I account a state a moral person,
having an interest and will of its own; and I think that state a
monster whose prime mover has an interest and will in direct
opposition to its prosperity and security. This position has been
so clearly demonstrated in the pamphlet first mentioned in this
essay, that I shall only add, if there are any arguments in favor
of returning to a state of dependence on Great Britain, that is,
on the present Administration of Great Britain, I could wish they
were timely offered, that they may be soberly considered before
the cunning proposals of the Cabinet set all the timid, lazy, and
irresolute members of the community into a clamor for peace at
any rate.
CANDIDUS
_________________________________________________________________
1Wells, at vol. ii,, pp. 349-352, prints an article entitled " An
Earnest Appeal to the People," and signed "Sincerus,"
attributing the authorship to Adams.
TO MRS. ADAMS.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
PHILADA Feby 26 1776.
MY DEAR