lar, for the indefatigable Zeal and undaunted Courage you have shewn in defending their Rights. My Opinion of your Love for your Country induces me to commit to your hands the inclos'd Letters, to be dispos'd of as you think proper, not intending to give out any other Copy. I have shewn them to three Men of Learning here, who are my Friends. They think, with me, that the most destructive Consequences must follow, if these Colonies do not instantly, vigorously, and unanimously unite themselves, in the same manner they did against the Stamp Act. Perhaps they and I are mistaken. I therefore send the Peice containing the Reasons for this Opinion, to you, who I know can determine its True worth; and if you can discover no other merit in it, permit me at Least to claim the merit of having wrote it, with the most ardent affection for the British Colonies, the purest intentions to promote their Welfare, an honest Desire to assert there Rights, and with a deep sense of their impending Misfortunes.

Our Cause is a cause of the highest Dignity. It is nothing Less, than to maintain the Liberty with which Heav'n itself "hath made us free." I hope it will not be disgrac'd in any Colony, by a single rash Step. We have constitutional methods of seeking Redress; and they are the best Methods.

This Subject Leads me to inform you with Pleasure, because I think it must give you Pleasure, that the Moderation of your Conduct in composing the Minds of your Fellow-Citizens, has done you the highest Credit with us; you may be assured I feel a great satisfaction in hearing your praises; for ev'ry Thing that advances your Reputation or Interest, will always afford sincere Joy, to, Dear Sir, your most affectionate, and most hble Servt

PHILADELPHIA, December 5th, 1767.

JOHN DICKINSON

JOHN DICKINSON TO JAMES OTIS

[January 25, 1768.]1

DEAR SIR, I have just receiv'd your Favor of the first of this Month, and am extremely happy in finding myself so much

I The date is obtained from the endorsement.

esteem'd by you. I very sincerely return you the kind Wishes you make for me; and am particularly oblig'd to you, for the attention you have been pleas'd to bestow on the Papers, I ventur'd to trouble You with.

I have made several alterations in the Copy, from which, that I sent to you, was taken: And the only correct one publish'd here, is printed in the Pensylvania Gazette of Hall and Sellers. I find that the "Letters" publish'd to the Eastward, are taken from our Chronicle, which being incorrect, I should be glad if you would be so kind as to mention to any of the Printers you may happen to see, that the Gazette is much the most exact.

I have great hopes from what I hear, that nothing more is wanting, in order to rouse our Country-men, into a proper vindication of their just Rights, than those Examples of public Spirit, which "the cold Regions of the North" have been us'd to give to the languid Latitudes of the South. . . . 2

JOHN DICKINSON TO JAMES OTIS

DEAR SIR, -I beg you will pardon the Liberty I take, in desiring you to add to the favors you have already conferrd upon me, by transmitting the inclos'd to your much honor'd FellowCitizens. To attempt to express my sense of the Obligations I owe them, would lead me to many words, which after all my Labors would convey but an extremely faint Idea of what I feel. Permit me therefore to wave the Subject, by rendering to you, now deservedly placed at the Head of such excellent Citizens, my most hearty Thanks for the kind offices which I am sure your friendship has lately perform'd towards me. Retain I beseech you a Place for me in your affections, notwithstanding the Distance by which I am so unhappily seperated from you. I desire this the more boldly, because I am certain that I profess two Qualities, that render any man dear to You. I mean, an inextinguishable 1 The Boston Evening Post reprinted from the Chronicle. 2 The rest of the letter is missing.

3 This refers to a letter addressed by Mr. Dickinson on this day to the "very respectable inhabitants of the town of Boston," expressing the "reverential gratitude" with which he had received the "very great honor you have been pleased to confer upon me by your late letter." Dickinson's communication is printed in the Boston Evening Post, May 2, 1768.

Love for my Country in General, and a particular affection for the town of Boston. May God almighty grant her all the prosperity a people can know, and that she may always retain that esteem for me, which is the great Ornament of my Life, and the great Delight of my Soul.

With the utmost Satisfaction I can acquaint you, that all America is rousing in Assertion of her Liberty. I am this moment told that the Assembly of Virginia have just publish'd the most spirited Resolves. A second Defeat of Greenvillian Art and Malice, I trust in heaven, will convince Great-Britain, that it is as difficult to cheat as to fright us into Servitude, and that she ought to leave us in the peaceable Enjoyment of that Liberty, which Americans receiv'd with their Birth, and are resolv'd to retain till their Death.

With the Sincerest Wishes for your Happiness, I am Dear Sir, Your most affectionate and most humble Servant

PHILADELPHIA, April 11th, 1768.

JOHN DICKINSON

P.S. This is the best made Pensylvania paper I can get.

JOHN DICKINSON TO JAMES OTIS

[July, 1768]

MY DEAR SIR, Hearing of a Vessel sailing for your Port, I inclose To you the Message of Govr. Sharpe to the Assembly of Maryland, with their Answer. I hope they will very quickly come to your Hands and give sincere Pleasure to you and your glorious Fellow-Citizens, by shewing what a wretched Success, the vile attempt of an infamous Administration, to disunite the Colonies, has met with.

I write in a great Hurry. May God almighty prosper all the 1 Probably the resolutions entered in the Journals of the House of Burgesses, April 7, 1768. They provided for an humble and dutiful petition to the King, and a memorial to Parliament, among other things, to "assert with decent Firmness, becoming Freemen, but at the same Time with great Deference to the Wisdom of Parliament, the Rights of the Colonists to be bound by such Laws only, respecting their internal Polity or Taxation, as are consented to by Representatives chosen by themselves; And to represent that we cannot but consider several late Acts of the British Legislature, imposing Duties and Taxes to be collected in the Colonies, as an Infringement of those Rights."

2 Journals of the Maryland House of Delegates, June 25, 1768.

Undertakings of Boston, and may her virtue save not only herself, but those miserable deluded people, who are willing to embrace Destruction. I am with inexpressible Affection, Dear Sir, yr humble servt.1

Please to inform me, whether it is indisputable, that a Pension has been granted to Govr. Hutchinson, out of the American Revenue. I should be very glad, if it is possible, to have the Words of the Grant.2

3

CATHARINE MACAULAY TO JAMES OTIS

LONDON, April 27, 1769.

SIR, Your patriotic conduct and great Abilities in defence of the rights of your fellow Citizens claim the respect and admiration of every Lover of their Country and Mankind. The principles on which I have written the History of the Stewart Monarchs are I flatter myself in some measure correspondent to those of the great Guardian of American Liberty. To you, Sir, as one of the most distinguished of that Number I offer a Copy of this Work. I beg leave to assure you that every partizan of liberty in this Island ́simpathizes with their American Brethren: have a strong sense of their Virtues and a tender feeling for their sufferings, and that their is none among us in whom such a disposition is stronger than in myself. I shall be very glad to have the Honour of an ac

1 The signature has been cut from the original.

2 It was the intention to defray the salaries of the civil list in America by the proceeds of the Townshend Duties. Thomas Pownall wrote to Hutchinson, from London, September 9, 1767: "However, I may venture to explain to you the first part of his [Duke of Grafton's] letter. It is meant that you shall have a handsome salary fixed as Chief Justice, as soon as the American revenue shall create a fund. I think on that occasion it would be right to solicit a patent from the Crown for that place." A knowledge of the proposed salaries soon reached Massachusetts, and much was made of it in the circular letter of the Legislature to Deberdt in January, 1768. It served a purpose in the hands of the faction when Hutchinson's name came up for re-election to the Governor's Council, as Bernard explained to the Earl of Hillsborough: "In this interval, the two chief heads of the faction (Otis and Adams) told the House that the Lieutenant Governor was a pensioner of Great Britain, and averred that he had a warrant from the Lords of the Treasury for two hundred pounds a year out of the new duties which they were then opposing. This being urged in a manner which left no opportunity or time for refutation or explanation, gave a turn against him, so that, upon the second polling, he had ten votes less than before."

3 Catharine (Sawbridge) Macaulay, known after her second marriage as Catharine Macaulay Graham (1731-1791). Four volumes of her History of England from the Accession of James I had appeared before the date of this letter.

count from your own hand of the present state of American affairs and am, Sir, with high admiration for your Virtues, Your Most Obedient Humble Servant

CATHARINE MACAULAY

When you favour me with an answer if you please to send it to Messieurs Dilly,' Bookseller in the Poultry, London, the proprietors of my History of England.

SAMUEL ADAMS TO JAMES Warren

BOSTON, March 25, 1771.

MY DEAR SIR, — I am affraid you have before this time suspected that I have not that warm Affection for you, which I have professed; ungrateful as I may appear to have been, in neglecting to acknowledge the Letter I received from you of the 9 Jan’y. last, I think it is a sufficient apology to say that it was not in my Power to write anything that could please or profit you. I have been waiting for news from England worth informing you of, but in vain till yesterday when a Letter from Dr. Franklin to the Speaker assured us that our Enemies there have at length laid aside the thoughts of vacating our Charter in form; 2 but this can afford no sort of Consolation to us if the people should be disposed to compliment away the essential Rights of it as often as a ministerial Minion shall take it in his head to require it.

Your Letter expresses a noble Spirit of Resentment which I cannot but admire; but when you once spoke the Language of Despair, allow me to tell you, it gave me offence. Can you think that this Country is to be finally subdued by a man who never possessed real Greatness, etc. and with all his Art could never counterfeit it?

3

You compare him to Julius Caesar, that publick Executioner of his Countrys Rights: He has, it is true, Caesars Ambition and Lust of Power; but who ever yet suspected that he had Caesars

1 Edward Dilly (1732-1779), said to have been an admirer of the person as well as of the politics of Mrs. Macaulay. He had as a partner in the publishing business, his brother, Charles Dilly (1739-1807).

2 See Franklin to Thomas Cushing, February 5, 1771, in Writings of Franklin (Smyth),

v. 292.

3 Thomas Hutchinson.