to prosecute this war effectually and successfully. Our principal defect at present is in the article of cannon, which are here very scarce, and in such demand for privateers, that they have risen to an enormous price. Our privateers have met with great success; but our bay is infested with three or four frigates, which have retaken some valuable prizes, and interrupt our coasting trade.

If the continental ships built in New England could be furnished with cannon, and ordered upon this service, I should hope they would clear the coast of these cruisers, and perhaps take some of them. The General Court last week made application to Congress for such orders; and, if they obtain them, will supply cannon for one of three ships at Newbury, though at the expense of stripping our forts. Yesterday a resolve passed for erecting a public foundry, which, I hope, before another year, will supply us with all the cannon we shall want. The Court has ordered near a fifth of our militia for New York. I hope they will soon arrive there, and that General Washington will be able to prevent the enemy from gaining footing on the main.

The Superior Court are now on their Western Circuit. General Warren, you doubtless know, has declined a seat on that bench. The place is not yet filled up, but I suppose Mr. Sergeant, of Haverhill, will be the man.

When you return, no man will embrace you with the greater pleasure than, dear sir,

Your affectionate friend and humble servant.

JUDGE ADAMS.

[Without signature.]

PART III.

CORRESPONDENCE

BETWEEN

JOHN ADAMS AND MERCY WARREN

RELATING TO HER

"HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION,"

JULY-AUGUST, 1807.

CORRESPONDENCE

BETWEEN

JOHN ADAMS AND MERCY WARREN.

To a

Of all the evils to which mankind is subjected in this sublunary state, perhaps not one is more severely felt than a civil war. people closely allied to one another by blood, by similarity of language, of habit, and manners, the breaking out of dissension terminating in the shedding of the blood of kinsmen is the most to be deplored. If this be true of the men taking an active part in the strife, how much more is it of women, with no share in the action, and yet subject to all the fearful anxieties of the conflict!

Such was the state of things at the beginning of the American Revolution. The resistance of the people was general, though not universal; but it was in a degree the firm moral support of the women which contributed to the ultimate triumph.

Among the examples of patriotism that may be cited for the present purpose, not one deserves more distinguished notice than Mercy - or, as she sometimes liked to sign herself, Marcia· Warren. The sister of that eminent patriot James Otis, and the wife of General James Warren, himself a distinguished actor in the public cause, she never failed in keeping up to the high standard required by the emergency. This honored pair were early associated, too, with another that equally sympathized in their appreciation of the grandeur of this crisis. This pair were their intimate friends, Abigail, and her hus band, John Adams, the lawyer of Braintree.

The fortune of these friends did not prevent them from long separations. On the one hand, Mr. Adams was twice called to cross the ocean on the public service, as well as to continue so long in Europe that his wife was induced finally to join him. Meantime, independence had been assured, peace made with the mother country, and the new nation, assuming all the authority incident to the establishment of a permanent government, stood forth to be