dollars. we have indeed some Warrants on the Loan Offices but can get no Money. You will also remember the provision for the Members of the Board, the Cloathers Otis & Andrews are in great difficulty for want of Money and should be supplied, to preserve any kind of Credit to the Continent. I wish you every Happiness and am Your Sincere Friend Mr. Hancock talks of going in a day or two. JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL ADAMS1 J. WARREN BOSTON, May 10th, 1778 MY DEAR SIR, I wrote to you two days ago since which nothing very material has occurr'd. I was yesterday at an Elegant Entertainment made at Marston's House by our Council for the Officers of the French Frigate and other Strangers. this was attended with fireing of cannon, etc. and seemd to give great Satisfaction, and if not quite Conformable to the rigid rules and Oeconomy of a Young Republic may under our Circumstances be good policy. the Representatives of your Town were all present Except Gen❜l Hancock who did not honour us with his Company. why he did not is a subject of Conjecture for you and others without being able to assign a reason in any other way. had you been present you might not have appeared as the greatest Man in Company while the Council were there and at the head of the Feast, tho' you might Actually have been so. The Tories are very Industrious in Instilling prejudices into the minds of the people against our Connections with France. The danger of Popery is held up to them, and every other Art that Wickedness and weakness can devise is practised, but I hope with little Effect. this may be more Excusable in some People but what will you think of a Member of Congress who for the sake of Establishing his own popularity or for any other reason should Express his Apprehensions or rather his Opinion that this Connection will ruin America. when such an Opinion was given in the hearing of one I From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library. Tory Lady, you may easily conceive it is told to others, and quoted by the great Numbers with which your dear Town abounds. My regards to Mr's Gerry and Lovel. Adieu. Yours etc. J. WARREN JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL Adams 1 1 BOSTON, May 13th, 1778 MY DEAR SIR, -The Inclosed was designed to have gone by the Express which went two days ago and which I unluckily miss'd but the small Importance of it renders the loss of little Consequence. We had yesterday an Arrival from France in five weeks. there was no war declared at that Time, though other matters of Intelligence are Confirmed by her. I need not descend to any perticulars. you certainly have much better Intelligence than I can give or will have before this reaches you. I have had much Conversation with Mr. Carmichal. he laments your being gone, and wishes to be Acquainted with you. I remember the Letter you Communicated to me. I told him that Congress had made an Appointment for him if I remembered right. he seemed to be pleased with it. whether I did right or not I doubt. if I did you will approve it. if I did not you will not Expose a Friend who • you know, never did any thing with a design to Injure the Cause. I have in some measure given him my opinion of Men and Measures. We hear Nothing of the Boston. Mrs. Warren goes this Afternoon to Visit your Good Lady. I suppose they will have a Little Chat on the Subject of Politics. I am Your Assured Friend J. WARREN Your beloved Town have had their Meeting for Choice of Representatives this Forenoon the only Alteration they have made is to leave out Mr. [John] Brown and [David] Jeffries and put in their places Deacon [William] Phillips and Mr. [John] Lowel. whether the Alteration be good, or whether they might not have made as good a one in some other way you can Judge. I From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library. 3 ADAMS MSS. JAMES WARREN TO WILLIAM BINGHAM We have no late Intelligence from the Army. The Operations of the Campaign had not Commenced when we last heard. We flatter ourselves it will Open and Conclude to our Advantage and place American Independence out of the reach of British Tyranny. Your favour by the Brigt. Resistance with the Inclosures have been received by the Navy Board. Capt. Thompson1is suspended and will be Tryed by a Court Martial. We wish for the return of Capt. Hinman 2 and his Officers. This is to be handed to you by Capt. Avery, whose principal Business at Martineco is to Claim, and Obtain possession of the Sloop America in Behalf of the owners. This Sloop has been Intrusted to the Command of Capt. Coit 4 who after a short Cruise Carried her to Martineco, and there by his Infamous Conduct lost his own Life and left her in a Situation that has occasioned the owners this Trouble and Expence. Some of my Friends are Concerned in that Vessel; if you can Afford him any Assistance you will do an act of kindness to them, and oblige me. I am Sir with Respect Your Most Obed't Humble Serv't J. WARREN SAMUEL ADAMS TO JAMES WARREN YORK TOWN, May 25, 1778 MY DEAR SIR,- Your favor by Capt. Colter 5 overtook me on the Road; agreably to your Request I immediately on my Arrival here mentioned to a Gentlemen of the Marine Committee I Thomas Thompson. 2 Elisha Hinman. 3 Probably Samuel Avery of Milton. He had commanded the privateer Eagle in 1777 and the privateer America, the vessel of the text, in 1778. 4 William Coit. The owners of the America were of Plymouth, and their petition for a commission for Coit, dated September 20, 1777, is in the Massachusetts Archives. 5 Mr. Edmund C. Burnett has identified this name as that of Captain Harmon Courter, a bearer of despatches from Franklin. the Necessity and Importance of keeping your Board duly supplyd with Cash to enable you effectually to do the Duty of your Department, and was told that 50m Dollars had been lately remitted to you. I will not fail to do what in me lies to forward that Service, as our Navy has always lain near my Heart. I am exceedingly pleasd to find that our Army makes a much better Appearance than it has done since the Commencement of this War. It is very respectable in Point of Numbers and Discipline has been happily improvd by the Baron de Stuben who is appointed Inspector General with the Rank of Major General.1 The invariable Accounts from Philadelphia are that the Enemy are making Preparations for an Embarkation, and it is expected they will soon leave that Place. Where they will proceed next you can as easily conjecture as we. I am not apprehensive of their visiting Boston; I wish however that more effectual Measures might be taken to strengthen and secure that Harbour and Town from Insult to which I think it is too much exposd. I recollect that your Election of Councillors will come on the Day after tomorrow. Has Mr [Hancock] waited for the Event of that important Day? 2 or is he on his Journey to this Place? It is a Matter of so much uncertainty here, that Nothing, I suppose prevents many Wagers being laid upon it, but its being not of so much Moment as some others. Was he present here, he might, if he pleasd, vindicate me against a Report which has given Occasion to my Friends to rally me, that I have been called to Account and severely reprehended at a Boston Town Meeting for being in a Conspiracy against a very great Man [Washington]. You know how little I care for such Rumours. It is easy for me to conjecture by what Means it extended it self from Manheim, where I first heard it, to York Town; and it may not be difficult to guess how it came from Boston to that Place. Manheim is about twelve Miles 1 May 5. Journals of the Continental Congress, XI. 465. 3 2 Though a delegate to Congress Hancock did not attend until June 19, 1778. On July 9 he was granted leave of absence. On May 13 he had been elected a representative of Boston in the General Court. 3 Probably the subject was discussed in the Town Meeting of May 13 when a memorial to the General Court on the men supplied to the Continental Army was presented. Boston Record Commission, XXVI. 19. East of the Susquehanna; there lives Mr. R. M.,1 a very intimate Acquaintance of my excellent Friend. Mr. H. is said to be on the Road, but no one makes it certain. When he arrives Messrs. Gerry and Dana2 propose to set off for N. England. I shall be mortified at their leaving us, for I verily think that the Accession even of that Gentleman will not make up for the Absence of the other two. I am happy to find C[ongress] in perfect good humour and attentive to Business, though so hard put to it in this place, as hardly to have a Room a peice, in which to write a Letter to a Friend. It brings to my Mind the Circumstances and Temper of the old Deputies who sat down under a Tree to eat their Bread and Cheese. This is the Kind of Men who are the Terror of Tyrants. I hope I shall shortly be able to write you something of Importance, from the Army at least. In the meantime Vale et me ama. [No signature.] JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL ADAMS 3 BOSTON, May 31, 1778 MY DEAR SIR, -The Papers will Inform you that I am no longer a Member of the General Court. My Town left me out, and the House did not take Notice enough of me to Elect me a Member of the Board and so saved me the Trouble of a refusal. your Curiosity will lead you to Enquire how my Town came to leave me out, and how the Interest I used to have in the House vanished and sunk on this occasion. it may not satisfy you to carry it to the Account only of the versatility and Caprice of Mankind. they have had their Effects, but they would not do alone. Envy and the Ambition of some people has aided them, and the policy or rather what you will Call the Cunning of a party here, who have 1 Robert Morris. This friendship for Hancock is noted in Oberholtzer, Robert Morris, 272. 2 Leave of absence to Dana was granted August 7, but Gerry remained through the year. 3 From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library. |