The Writings of Samuel Adams Volume IV Part 9

If you wish to know the foundation of this wonderful collision, ask my friend J. W., or another, whom you properly call my closest friend. To them I have related the trifling tale, and they can repeat it to you.

The precepts and examples you refer me to I shall always reverence most highly.

I am, with unfeigned sincerity,

Your obliged and affectionate friend,

TO JAMES WARREN.

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

PHILADA Novr 3 1778

MY DEAR SIR

In your last you ask me what we are doing? Many Things indeed. And if you will suppose some things to be done well, I will frankly confess to you that in my opinion others might have been done better. I think we do as well as we can considering the Pile of Business every Morning laid on our table. In order that the Affairs of the Treasury may be better attended than they possibly can be by Members of Congress who are obliged to give their Attendance in the House we have establishd a new Board to consist of a Treasurer Comptroller Auditor & two Chambers of Accots of three each. These officers are all chosen from without Doors. We are taking Measures for the Appretiation of the Currency.

Every Adept in financiering is busily employd and I hope we shall before long agree in an effectual Plan. We have appointed Dr F.

Minister Plenipo. at Versailes & written a Letter of Credence to our good & great Ally. The Situation of the general Affairs of Europe render it somewhat difficult to determine to which of the other Powers at present to make our Court. Every Cabinet will, I suppose, this winter be deeply engagd in making Arrangements and preparing for the opening a Campaign in Case of a general War which it is more than probable will happen. Our Friend A L is in Spain. Our other Friend J A will be employd somewhere. France must be our Pole Star & our Connection must be formd with hers. Holland whose Policy is always to be at Peace may be open to Negociation & the sooner we tempt her the better. Spain must joyn with France. But she is dilatory. I wish she would recollect how much she was injured by it the last War, when she sufferd the common Enemy to beat France & her self in Detail. The Spirit of Chatham is indeed extinguishd in Britain. His decisive Mind might have dictated the Seizure of their Float at Sea. Perhaps it is well the Great Man is no more. The Millions are safely arrivd & the Tone of Neutrality at Madrid is become languid. A formidable Fleet lies equip'd in Cadiz which operating with that of France at this Juncture might give a fatal Blow to the boasted Sovereignty of Britain on the Ocean. The Count D' Estaings Squadron I suppose will go to the West Indies. If so, must not the British follow with a great Part of their Troops, if they mean to keep Possession of their own Islands. They may leave Garrisons at N York & Newport, with a View of obliging us still to maintain a great Army, in hopes we shall be undone by Expences while they despair of subduing us by the Power of their Army. We must have a respectable Army in the Spring to put a good face on our Negociations or to fight. I hope we shall secure to the United States, Canada Nova Scotia & the Fishery by our Arms or by Treaty. Florida too is a tempting object in the South. Perhaps if you should show this Letter to some Folks, it may be thought to confirm an opinion from whence an objection was drawn against me on a late occasion "that I was averse to Reconciliation." We shall never be on a solid Footing till G B cedes to us what Nature designs we sh[ould] have or we wrest it from her.

The Marine Committee have obtaind a Warrant for 150,000 Dollars for your Department which will be forwarded speedily. Congress has increasd your Salaries to 3000 Dollars p Annum. I had this in View when I intreated you in my last, not to resign your Seat. Nothing would reconcile me to this but your having one here. I am determind to make Room for you by a Resignation next Spring. I flatter my self I can yet be in some Degree useful to my Country in a narrow Sphere. I wish for Retirement & covet Leisure as a Miser does money.

Adieu,

RESOLUTION OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

November 3, 1778.

[MS., Papers of The Continental Congress.]

It having pleased Almighty G.o.d through the Course of the present year, to bestow great & manifold Mercies on the People of these United States; And it being the indispensible Duty of all Men gratefully to acknowledge their obligations to Him for Benefits receivd.

Resolvd, That it be and hereby is recommended to the legislative or executive Authority of each of the said States, to appoint Wednesday the 30th day of December next to be observd as a Day of publick Thanksgiving and Praise. That all the People may with united Hearts on that Day express a just Sense of His unmerited Favors:--Particularly in that it hath pleased Him, by His over ruling Providence to support us in a just and necessary War for the Defence of our Rights and Liberties;--By affording us seasonable Supplys for our Armies--by disposing the Heart of a powerful Monarch to enter into Alliance with us and aid our Cause--by defeating the Councils and evil Designs of our Enemies, and giving us Victory over their Troops--and by the Continuance of that Union among these States, which by his Blessing, will be their future Strength & Glory.

And it is further recommended, that together with devout Thanksgivings may be joined a penitent Confession of our Sins, and humble Supplication for Pardon through the Merits of our Savior. So that under the Smiles of Heaven, our publick Councils may be directed--our Arms by Land and Sea prosperd--our Liberty and Independence secur'd--our Schools & Seminaries of Learning flourish--our Trade be revivd--our Husbandry and Manufactures increasd, and the Hearts of all impressd with undissembled Piety, with Benevolence, and Zeal for the publick Good.

And it is also recommended that Recreations unsuitable to the Purpose of such a Solemnity may be on that Day--

TO SAMUEL PHILLIPS SAVAGE.

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

PHILAD Novr 10th 1778

MY GOOD OLD FRIEND

I am at present in great Haste; but as a Supplement to my last I will ask you, Who among the Sons of America ought to enforce the Example of the ill.u.s.trious young Foreigner? Who is subst.i.tuting other Means of Dissipation in my native Town in Lieu of Theatrical Entertainments &c &c? Who has mixed the Grave and the Vain, the Whigs and the Tories in Scenes of Amus.e.m.e.nt totally incompatible with the present serious Times? Who among the Grave and Who among the Whigs, I mean such Whigs as have a feeling for their distressd Country and the Mult.i.tudes of distressd Individuals in it, are present at such Entertainmts? Is there a Man among them to whom our Country has entrusted her Independence, her Virtue, her Liberty? What can be the Views and Designs of such a Man, but to establish a Popularity by forming a Coalition of Parties and confounding the Distinction between Whigs and Tories, Virtue & Vice? When I was last in Boston, I seizd an Opportunity to advise my Fellow Citizens to beware of their popular Men--to penetrate their Views and Designs. There was comparatively no great Danger from a great Man set over them by the British Tyrant. When the People set up a Great Man of their own, their Jealousy is asleep, & they are in Danger of a Master. I have no personal Prejudices or Attachments. Many things I have to say to you if I had Leisure.

My due Regards to your Lady, to Mr S and his Family.

Adieu,

P. S.--I am not inattentive to what you said in my last relating to my Friend Mrs M. I will endeavor to serve her in the Instance she mentions, but she must not depend upon Success.

TO JEREMIAH POWELL.1

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text is in Historical Magasine, 1st ser., vol ii., pp. 196, 197.]

PHILADELPHIA Decr 1, 1778

SIR/

I did myself the Honor a few Days ago, of Joyning with my Colleagues in an Answer to your Letter to us of the fifth of November last, so far as it related to the Distribution of a Quant.i.ty of Flour purchasd on Account of the State of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay. I beg Leave to refer you to our Letter, which will be forwarded by this opportunity. The five hundred Dollars therein mentiond as receivd by me, were carried to the Credit of the State in my Account settled the last Winter. Since my Arrival here in July, I have availd my self of the Practice of the Delegates of every State, by applying to Congress for a Warrant on their Treasury for a Sum of Money to pay the extravagant, though necessary Expence of living. I purpose to repeat this Application, as there may be occasion for it, until I shall be directed differently or to the Contrary; and shall credit the Sums so receivd in my next Account.

I am informd that the General a.s.sembly have been pleased to appoint me one of their Delegates in Congress for the year 1779. This repeated Mark of Confidence in me is indeed flattering. The Duties of the Department are arduous and pressing. I will never decline the Service of our Country; but my Health requires Relaxation, and at this Period of my Life my Inclination would lead me to wish to be employd in a more limitted Sphere. I will nevertheless continue to act in Congress to the utmost of my Ability in Pursuance of the Powers and Instructions with which I am honord, in hopes, that as the Month of April will complete another full Year of my Residence here, I shall then be relievd by one of my absent Colleagues or some other Gentleman, and permitted to return to my Family.

I am with every Sentiment of Duty & Regard to the General a.s.sembly,

Sir

Your Honors

most obedient

& very humble servant,

1 President of the Council of Ma.s.sachusetts.

TO MRS. ADAMS.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a portion of the text is in W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol. iii., pp. 57, 58.]

PHILADELPHIA Decr 13 1778

MY DEAR BETSY,

Captn. Johnson will deliver you this Letter, which incloses a Publication in the last Tuesdays Paper. You will easily guess which of the Ma.s.sachusetts Delegates it is intended for. The Design of it is to represent Mr Temple as a British Emissary and that Delegate as listening to his Proposals of Accommodation with Great Britain, and thus to beget a Suspicion of him in the Mind of the Minister of France, with whom he has the Honor of being on friendly Terms. That Delegate has been so used to the low Arts of Tories in his own Country, as to have learnd long ago to treat them, wherever he sees them, with ineffable Contempt. He does not think it worth his while to satisfy the Curiosity of the Writer, but he can a.s.sure his Friends, that he had never called on Mr T but once and that was to show him the way to Mr President Laurens' House, to whom he had Letters to deliver, one of which was from the Council of Ma.s.sachusets Bay. As a Delegate from that State, he could do no less than show such a Piece of Civility to Mr T, and he is determind, notwithstanding the apparently friendly Hint, to treat him as he thinks proper. Indeed he has been told by a real Friend, that there are Persons in Pay to watch his Words and Actions.

He thankd his Friend, and told him that such kind of Intimations were not new to him. It might be well or ill grounded, & he was perfectly indifferent about it. He had a private Conversation a few Days ago with Monsieur --------, in which the Subject of the Hint beforementiond was brought up.