The Writings of Samuel Adams Volume II Part 20

ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."

[Boston Gazette, December 14, 1772.]

To the PRINTERS,

NOTWITHSTANDING the ministerial Tools have so often puff'd upon the Impartiality of the Court Gazette, we have had a second Instance of the Necessity the Selectmen of this Town have thought themselves under to vindicate the Cause of Liberty & Truth, from the gross Misrepresentation of well known Facts that have been made in that immaculate Paper. If Mr. Draper had had the least Inclination to have ascertained the Falsehood of the Paragraph inserted in his Paper of the 26th of November, it was so notorious, that without giving the Selectmen the Trouble of it, he might have done it himself, by enquiring of perhaps the first honest Man he had met in the Street: But it was calculated to mislead the Reader into a Belief, that "not ten Persons voted for sending the Letter of Correspondence" into the Country, and therefore it must, to answer so good a Purpose, be inserted in that "circulating" Gazette, whether true or false; and the Publisher, very demurely, by Way of Atonement, after the Falsehood is detected, promises the injur'd Publick " to enquire into the Foundation of it."-!!!

In his last Gazette he informs his Readers that he had accordingly apply'd to his Author; who, he says, "does not deny the Number present" at the Meeting "as declared by the Selectmen when the first Vote pa.s.s'd." Now the Selectmen declare, "that a respectable Number of the Inhabitants attended the Meeting through the Day, and when the Letter, after being twice read and amended in the Meeting was voted, and accepted to be sent, it appeared to them, and they are well satisfied, that there was not less than three Hundred Inhabitants present, and in the Opinion of others the Number was much larger"; which is undoubtedly the Fact. But Mr.

Draper's Author of the Note (if he had any) had said that "when the Votes pa.s.s'd for sending the letter, there was not twenty Men present besides the Gentlemen Selectmen & some of the Committee".

The Contradiction appear'd so glaring even in Mr. Draper's eyes, as well as others, that after he had publish'd it to the World, he thought his own Reputation concern'd, as indeed it was, to enquire into the Foundation of the Report, which he ought to have done before. The Man of Verity his Author, makes a s.h.i.+ft to tell him, that truly "it was a Vote that pa.s.s'd half an Hour after Nine o'Clock that he meant in his Note, when most of the Inhabitants had withdrawn"; but he does not now say what Vote he meant in his Note, though when he reported it "with some Confidence" he plumply said it was the Vote for sending the Letter. The Man who is resolv'd to serve a Party at the expence of Truth, should have the best of Memories; the want of which has render'd the Court Writers oftentimes inconsistent with themselves and with each other. But what else are we to expect from Champions of a Cause which has only the feeble Props of Misrepresentation and low Artifice to support it! As this Author reported according to Draper with some Confidence, he ought to have inform'd himself of a known Fact, that the question debated at half an Hour after Nine o'Clock, as he now says, or at about Ten as he had a.s.serted in his Note, was not whether the Letter should be sent to the Selectmen of the Towns in the Country; - That had been determin'd by a full Vote Nem. Con. before "most of the Inhabitants had withdrawn ". It was after this Vote had pa.s.s'd, and when it is allow'd the Meeting was thin, a Question of much less Importance than the other was debated, viz. In what Manner the Letter should be sent; upon which it was agreed that the Town-Clerk should sign and forward it by the Direction of the Committee.1 Accordingly, I am well a.s.sured, it has been forwarded to four fifths of the Gentlemen Selectmen in the Country, the representatives of the several Towns, the Members of his Majesty's Council and others of Note, by the Direction of the Committee, in Pursuance of the Vote of the Town, with less Expence for Carriage than two Dollars. I have a better Opinion of the good Sense of the People of this Country, than to believe they will be diverted from an Attention to Matters which essentially concern their own and their Childrens best Birthrights, and which every Day become more serious and alarming, by the Trifles that are every Week thrown out perhaps with that very Design in the Court Gazette more especially. The Ax is laid at the Root of our happy civil Const.i.tution: Our religious Rights are threatned: These important Matters are the Subjects of the Letter of this Town to our Friends and Fellow Sufferers in the Country. Whether there were present at the Meeting three Hundred or three Thousand, it was a legal Meeting: As legal as a Meeting of the General a.s.sembly convened by the King's Writ or a Meeting of his Majesty's Council summoned by his Excellency the Governor: This I say with due respect to those great a.s.semblies. The Selectmen, among whom is the honorable Gentleman who was Moderator2 of the Meeting, have condescended to publish it under their Hands, that "a very respectable Number attended the Meeting through the Day":-If it had been as thin a Meeting as Mr. Draper's Writers would fain have the Country think it was, still, being a legal Meeting, their proceedings according to the Warrant for calling it, would have been as legal as those of his Majesty's Council when seven Gentlemen only (which Number by the Charter const.i.tutes a Quorum) out of their whole Number, Twenty-Eight, happen to be present. If the Generality of my Countrymen shall think those Proceedings to be of any Importance to them, and shall act upon them with their own good Sense and Understanding, I care not who concern themselves in adjusting the private, moral or religious Characters of Dr. Young and the Lieutenant Governor. The part which each of these Gentlemen has acted upon the political Stage is well known.

I would just observe to Mr. Draper, that the Name of the Gentleman who furnish'd him with the Note before refer'd to, is perhaps not so deep a Secret as he may imagine it to be. It may be, he had then no thought that a Story inadvertently told, would have been immediately work'd up by the Press: This however has been done, and the Publick has been thereby abused: It should make one cautious not too suddenly to communicate any Piece of Intelligence, especially of Importance, and still more especially of political Importance, to one whose Business it is to publish what he hears. Mr. Draper may flatter himself that "the Credit of his Paper has not yet suffered": It is sometimes not an easy thing, to perswade a Man to believe that to be true, which he wishes may not be true: It must needs be difficult to establish in the minds of impartial Men, the Reputation of a Paper, the Publisher of which (to use the mild, very mild Expressions of the Selectmen) "has suffered ", it may be said repeatedly, "what was so different from the fact to be inserted," before he "had Opportunity to be very particular in his Inquiries about it; especially as it was a Matter, by his own Concession, so interesting to the People in the Country, as that "they ought to be satisfied whether the Report be true or false". This, we hope, by the Interposition of the Selectmen is now done; and it was the more necessary, because the same Gentleman who furnished Mr. Draper with the Note, as he calls it, had related the story which is now detected, to a Person going, and since gone into a distant Country in this Province.

Whether Mr. Draper in the Conclusion of what he inserted in his last, sign'd the Printer, had an Intention obliquely to reflect on the Honor of the Selectmen, those Gentlemen, if they please will consider.

CANDIDUS.

1 Record commissioners' Report, vol. xviii., p. 94.

2 John Hanc.o.c.k, Esq;

TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.

[J. T. Austin, Life of Elbridge Gerry, vol. i., pp. 23-25.]

BOSTON, Dec. 23, 1772.

MY DEAR SIR,

The further proceedings of the truly patriotic town of Marblehead, together with your own esteemed favours of the 16th and 21st instant, came to my hand in due season, The proceedings I immediately communicated to our chairman; and from your hint that it was thought proper to suspend the publication, together with a.s.surances of letters from some other towns speedily, we agreed also to suspend the calling a meeting of our committee, which however will be done soon. Agreeably to the intimations in your last I find in the Ess.e.x Gazette1 a, - what shall I call it? a disapprobation, to use their own term, signed by a few men, of the proceedings of a whole town. If "in fact there was but about twenty persons who voted at the meeting" and all the rest were against the measure, I wonder much that they did not follow the example of so eminent a person as the single dissentient and outvote you when they had it in their power. Or why could not the twenty-nine disapprobators have attended the meeting the second time and prevented your taking such measures from which they "are apprehensive the town will incur a great deal of public censure"? This would indeed have been meritorious. I am a stranger to most of the gentlemen who have thus signalized themselves; Mr. Mansfield I once thought a zealous whig, perhaps I was mistaken. After all, the whole seems to be but a weak effort; their third reason appears to me so excessively puerile, that I am surprised that gentlemen of character could deliberately set their hands to it.

Your last proceedings sent to us in ma.n.u.script are attested by the town clerk. I am sorry to observe that the printed copy in the Ess.e.x Gazelle is without his attestation, because an advantage may be made of it in our Court Gazette to lessen its credit and authority; to prevent which I intend the next Monday's papers shall have it from the ma.n.u.script unless (which I cannot much expect) I shall be otherwise advised by you.

I was thinking that you might turn the tables upon your disapprobating friends, by getting a much larger subscription from persons who were not at the meeting and approve of the proceedings. Whether it be prudent or worth while to try this method you must certainly be a better judge than I am.

The tools of power, little and great, are taking unwearied pains to prevent the meeting of the towns, but they do not succeed altogether to their wishes. I cannot help entertaining some sanguine hopes that the measures we have pursued will have a happy event.

1 Published at Salem, by S. and E. Hall.

TO DARIUS SESSIONS.1

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

BOSTON Decr 28 1772

SIR

This day I had the Honor of receiving a Letter signd by yourself and other Gentlemen of Note in Providence. The Subject is weighty, & requires more of my Attention than a few Hours, to give you my digested Sentiments of it; neither have I yet had an Opportunity of advising with the few among my Acquaintances, whom I would chuse to consult upon a Matter, which in my Opinion may involve the Fate of America. This, I intend soon to do; and shall then, I hope, be able to communicate to you (before the Time you have set shall expire) such Thoughts, as in your Judgment, may perhaps be wise and salutary on so pressing an Occasion. Thus much however seems to me to be obvious at first View; that the whole Act of Parliament so far as it relates to the Colonies, & consequently the Commission which is founded upon it, is against the first Principles of Government and the English Const.i.tution, Magna Charta & many other Acts of Parliament, declaratory of the Rights of the Subject; & therefore the Guardians of the Rights of the Subject will consider whether it be not their Duty, so far from giving the least Countenance to the Execution of it, to declare it, ipso Facto null & Void. This Commission seems to be subst.i.tuted in the Room of a Grand Jury, which is one of the greatest Bulwarks of the Liberty of the Subject; inst.i.tuted for the very Purpose of preventing Mischeife being done by false Accusers. By the Act of Parliament of the 25th of Ed. 3d (in the true Sense of the Words the best of Kings) it is establishd, that none shall be taken by Suggestion made to the King or his Council (which seems to me to be the present Point) unless it be by Indictment or Presentment of good & lawful People of the same Neighbourhood, where such Deeds be done - And, "if any thing be done against the same it shall be redressd & holden for none." But certain Persons proscribd in the Colony of Rhode Island, are to be taken without such Indictment or Presentment, & carried away from the Neighborhood where Deeds unlawful are suggested to the King to have been committed, & there put to answer contrary to that Law, which even so long ago was held to be the old Law of the Land. - One Reason given in the Act for taking away that accursed Court called the Star Chamber was, because all Matters examinable & determinable before that Court might have their due Punishment and Correction by the Common Law of the Land and in the ordinary Course of Justice elsewhere. But here seems to be a stopping of the ordinary Course of Justice; & by setting up a Court of Enquiry founded upon a Suggestion of evil Deeds made to the King & of certain Persons supposd to be concernd therein, Jurisdiction is given to others than the const.i.tuted ordinary Courts of Justice, & in a Way other than the ordinary Course of the Law, that is, an arbitrary Way to examine & draw into Question Matters & things which, by the Act for regulating the privy Council it is declared, that neither his Majesty nor his privy Council have or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power or Authority to do. In short, this Measure appears to me to be repugnant to the first Principles of natural Justice. The interrested Servants of the Crown, and some of them pensiond, perhaps bya.s.sd & corrupted being the const.i.tuted Judges, whether this or that Subject shall be put to answer for a supposd Offence against the Crown, & that in a distant Country, to their great Detriment & Danger of Life & Fortune, even if their Innocence shd be made to appear. What Man is safe from the malicious Prosecution of such Persons, unless it be the cringing Sycophant, and even he holds his Life and Property at their Mercy. It should awaken the American Colonies, which have been too long dozing upon the Brink of Ruin. It should again unite them in one Band. Had that Union which once happily subsisted been preservd, the Conspirators against our Common Rights would never have vent.u.r.d such bold Attempts. It has ever been my Opinion, that an Attack upon the Liberties of one Colony is an Attack upon the Liberties of all; and therefore in this Instance all should be ready to yield a.s.sistance to Rhode Island. But an Answer to the most material Part of your Letter must be referd, for the Reasons I have given, to another Opportunity. In the mean time I am with due Regards to the Gentlemen who have honord me with their Letter

Your a.s.sured Friend & very hbl Servt

1 Of Providence, R. I. Under date of December 25, 1772, Deputy Governor Sessions, Chief Justice Stephen Hopkins, John Cole, and Moses Brown had written to Adams with reference to the Gaspee affair and to Lord Dartmouth's letter to the Governor of Rhode Island of September 4, 1772. A copy is in S. A. Wells, Samuel Adams and the American Revolution, vol. i., pp. 363-365. A copy of a letter, under date of February 15, 1773, from Sessions, Hopkins, Cole, and Brown to Adams, acknowledging the receipt of three letters from Adams in response to their letter of December 25, 1772, is in ibid., pp. 370, 371. In this letter to Adams his correspondents comment as follows: "At or about the time we wrote you, we transmitted copies of the same to several gentlemen in North America, from the most of whom we have received answers, agreeing nearly in sentiments, with those you were pleased to communicate to us though no one has entered into a disquisition of the subject so fully and satisfactorily as you have." The original letter is also in the Lenox Library.

THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF BOSTON TO THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF CAMBRIDGE.1

[MS., Committee of Correspondence Papers, Lenox Library.]

BOSTON Decr 29 1772

GENTLEMEN

Your cordial Approbation2 of our sincere Endeavors for the Common Safety, affords us great Encouragement to persevere with Alacrity in the Execution of our Trust. Our hands have been abundantly strengthend by the generous and manly Resolves of our worthy Brethren in the several Towns who have hitherto acted.

Should such Sentiments, which we are convincd generally prevail through the province, be as generally expressd, it must refute the insidious misrepresentation so industriously propagated on both sides of the Atlantick, that the people have not Virtue enough to resist the Efforts made to enslave them! It affords us the greatest Satisfaction to find the Opportunity offerd to our Fellow Countrymen to wipe off so ignominious a Reproach so readily embraced. We trust in G.o.d, & in the Smiles of Heaven on the Justice of our Cause, that a Day is hastening, when the Efforts of the Colonists will be crownd with Success; and the present Generation furnish an Example of publick Virtue, worthy the Imitation of all Posterity. In this we are greatly encouraged, from the thorough Understanding of our civil & Religious Rights Liberties & Privileges, throughout this province: The Importance of which is so obvious, that we are satisfied, nothing we can offer, would strengthen your Sense of it.

It gives us Pleasure to be a.s.sured from you, that the meetings of the Town of Cambridge on the Occasion have been so respectable; as, in our Opinion, it is an Evidence of their virtuous Attachment to the Cause of Liberty.

It shall be our constant Endeavor to collect and communicate to our esteemed fellow Countrymen every Interresting Information we can procure; in pursuance thereof we take the Liberty to inclose, a material Extract of a Letter from the Right Honorable the Earl of Dartmouth to his Honor the Governor of Rhode Island, Dated White Hall, Sept. 7 1772; which we have good reason to a.s.sure you is genuine.3

1 Addressed to "Capt Ebenezer Stedman & others, a Committee of Correspondence in Cambridge."

2 Boston Gazette, December 28, 1772.

3 The form of signature is "Signd by order of the Committee for Correspondence in Boston William Cooper, Clerk."

THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF BOSTON TO THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF PLYMOUTH.1

[MS., Committee of Correspondence Papers, Lenox Library.]

BOSTON Decr 29 1772

MUCH RESPECTE'D GENTLEMEN

We the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Boston, have receivd your kind Letters inclosing the n.o.ble & patriotick Resolves of the Metropolis of the ancient Colony of Plymouth.

It must give singular Pleasure to the friends of this Country to find in all times of Difficulty & Danger, the worthy Inhabitants of Plymouth, [are] ready to a.s.sert the natural religious & civil Rights of the Colonists in general & of this by a new Charter united province in particular.

Your thorough knowledge of those Rights the Sense you have of the many late Infractions thereof, the manly & becoming Spirit with which you have always expressd your selves on such Occasions, must best appear without any Comment, from your Resolves for a number of years past; more especially your last which are before the publick Eye.