Volume IV Part 26 (1/2)
PHILAD. Jany 17 1781
MY DEAR SIR
Your favor of the 17th of Novr was duly receivd. It bodes very ill to Government when Men are exalted to places of high trust through their own Sollicitations. He only fills a place with Dignity, who is invited to it by his Fellow Citizens, from the Experience they have had of his adequate Abilities, & who does the Duties of it with Zeal & Fidelity.
Such a Man, being conscious that neither Smiles, Intreaties, Gifts, Intrigue nor any dishonorable Practices have procured him his high Station, may rely on the People who gave him their free Suffrages, to approve of his honest Endeavors to serve them. And having Nothing in View but that the Publick may be best servd, he will chearfully resign his Place whenever the People shall make Choice of another whom they judge more capable than he. The People are certainly the best Judges, who are most likely to render them substantial Service; & whoever interposes in their Elections, with his own Sollicitations for himself, it is to be feard, if he is of any Consequence, will in time become a dangerous Party Man. He ought therefore to be despisd as an obtruder. I hope there are not many such Men in our Government. I am sorry to be informd that there are any. They should be watchd; for if they have no evil Designs, their Vanity may prompt them to do Mischief. The Express waits. Adieu.
TO JAMES WARREN.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
PHILADE Feb 1st 1781--
MY DEAR SIR
I have not had Leisure to write to you since the 20th of Novr. Indeed I am not willing to trust a Confidential Letter to the Post, which has shamefully been catchd in the same Trap more than once. I gladly embrace the opportunity by Mr Otis, with whom I have had frequent & candid Conversations concerning Men & Things. He will be able to tell you some Truths which I do not think it prudent to commit to Paper. You & I have been long struggling for the Liberty of our Country. I believe its Independence will be finally acknowledgd by the World. But are not many Nations England in particular called Independent? And do you think the People of England are free. No People, in my opinion can be long free who are not virtuous; and it is no Sign of Virtue, when the Councils of an enlightned Country are directed by a foreign Influence.
If I were a Minister at a foreign Court, my Vanity might be flatterd, in imagining that by having Address enough to rule its Measures, I might fix myself in the Esteem and Confidence of my Country, but I should entertain a contemptible Opinion of the Wisdom & Virtue of that Court if it would suffer me to do it. The Councils of a Nation must be weak in the extreme, or it must be reducd to the greatest Degree of Dependence to submit to so servile a Condition. You will not think I have the remotest Reference in what I now say, jealous as I allow my self to be, to the Amphictyon of the United States of America. It is presumd they will always have too high a Sense of their Dignity to suffer themselves & their Nation to be degraded. But when Peace is happily settled & a Number of foreign Ministers are about our Court, it will require Men of great Knowledge of the World & Experience in Affairs to penetrate their various Intrigues. I have been a.s.sured that the Court of France would be highly disgusted with any of its Ministers if they should improperly interfere in our Councils; and indeed when I consider the Jealousy of a rising Republick, I think nothing would equal the Impolicy of their attempting it, but the Imprudence of Congress in submitting to it. ---- But I am unexpectedly called off and Mr Otis is just going. I intended to have written to you largely but must omit it till the next opportunity. Pray inform my worthy Friend Capt Bradford that I must also omit writing to him, as I intended, for the same Reason.
your affectionate,
TO MRS. ADAMS.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
PHILADE Feb. 1st 1781
MY DEAR BETSY
My last was by Major Clarkson. He is a young officer of military Merit.
I wish you would entertain him with a Dish of Tea.
Our new AEra of Government, I fancy, has occasiond a Revolution in political Circles & a Change of Connections. I cannot otherwise account for the long Silence of my Friend Doctor Cooper. I used to correspond with him very confidentially. We indeed thought aloud together. But I have receivd only one Letter from him since I left Boston, which was deliverd to me by Mr A Lee. I considerd it as a Compliment to that most deserving Patriot, rather than a Letter of Friends.h.i.+p to me. I have written several Times to him, & once desired particular Information, which he might have given me without offending any Man, but he has not done it. I hope the Doctor does not think his Letters troublesome to me. He has no Reason to think so. But, he chuses to close the Correspondence, & you know, that I am disposd on such Occasions, to retaliate. It sometimes affects my Feelings, but I shall never be in Debt on that Score. You may let the Dr read this Letter if he pleases, but no other Person; for when I think amiss of the private Conduct of a Friend, I let none know it, but him & you. Indeed I shall say nothing to you at present that I would not wish him to know. I employ no Pimps or Spies on my Fellow Citizens, & yet I hear of many things that are said & done in Boston. I may sometimes be misinformd, & I am always inclind to think I am, when I cannot reconcile what is said with the Honor & Integrity of Friends.h.i.+p. If Mr W C1 has ”spoken very disrespectfully” of me, I am sorry for him. It gives me no Pain on my Account because I deserve not his reproach. I know he is apt to be sanguine in his Opinions of Men, & his Zeal in Elections has been commendable. But as I did not interest myself at all in the late Elections he might have spared me. I have candidly declared, when I was asked in Boston, who I thought to be most endowd with those great Qualities, which should characterize the first Magistrate of so respectable a Commonwealth. This is the Right, it is the Duty of every Citizen. And had I been present, I should most certainly have voted for that Candidate. I may have been mistaken in my Judgment; and, as it becomes a Citizen, I will, acquiesce in the Choice of a Majority of the People, who ought to know & prefer the fittest Person. If they do not, they are hardly worthy to be servd by any Man. I hope we shall never fall into those Dregs of Time, when it shall be the Custom for one Citizen to treat another ill, merely because a popular Man has markd him as his Enemy, or because others, for servile Purposes, have reported him as such. This may afford Sport for the Enemies of our Cause, who are laying the Snare with great Art & Industry. James Rivington has publishd in his Royal Gazette, that the Acrimony between Mr Hanc.o.c.k & me, was owing to his Attachment to General Was.h.i.+ngton, & my being on the Contrary, desirous of his Removal. This is an old Story which Men have believd and disbelievd as they pleasd, without much Concern of mine. It was a pityful Contrivance to render me obnoxious to the General & our common Friends. If there has been any Difference between Mr H and me, Rivington knows not the Origin of it. Mr Hanc.o.c.k never thought me an Enemy to Gen1 Was.h.i.+ngton. He never thought that I was desirous of his being removd, & therefore could never treat me with Acrimony on that Account. I never wishd for the Removal of General Was.h.i.+ngton, but if I had even attempted to effect it, it might have been an Evidence of my Deficiency in Judgment, or Rashness, but it could be no Evidence that I was his Enemy. Mr W C may think that I am an Enemy to Mr Hanc.o.c.k, because he may have heard that I preferd another as a Governor before him. At this Rate, I must be thought an Enemy to every Man to whom I cannot give the Preference for an exalted Station for which few of the Many can be supposd to be qualified.
Ridiculous [&] mischievous as this is, I am told that some carry their opinions further and that it is not enough, that a Man who cannot consistently vote for a Governor is to be reckon'd his Enemy, but he is for this Reason to be excluded from every Department. Who could wish to hold a Seat in Government on so slavish a Tenure? The People of Ma.s.sachusetts under the old Government have seen enough of the mischievous Effects of the Governors having a Power to negative Elections & I cannot see the Difference between this & his being able to influence or prevent an Election by causing it to be believd that a Candidate is his Enemy. He who gives his Suffrage according to the Dictates of a well informd Judgment, is certainly a virtuous Citizen.
And is it to be supposd that such a Man would withhold his Influence in favor of a wise Measure, because a Gentleman is placed in the Chair by his Fellow Citizens, whom he did not vote for? Such a Supposition savours so much of a Narrow, illiberal party Spirit, that I should think no intelligent Man would countenance it. If it should prevail, it would produce evil Consequences; for some Men, if they are made to believe their political Existence depends on their being thought the Governors Friends, will not easily prevail on themselves to risque that Existence by giving him Advice, however salutary it might be, & necessary for the Honor & Safety of the Commonwealth, if they think it will disgust him.
You may wonder, my Dear, that I send this Budget of Politicks to you. I see no Reason why a Man may not communicate his political opinions to his Wife, if he pleases. But to tell you the truth I consider this Epistle, after the License I have already given you, as indirectly addressd to the Friend I have mentiond. I would gladly know his opinion, Whether there is not more Parade among our Gentry than is consistent with sober republican Principles. Is it to imitate the Vanity of former times that every order of Men have been so fond of addressing the Governor? Are we to pay the same Ceremonies to the next & the next? Will not such high Strains of Panegyrick injure the Feelings of modest Men? And if there should happen to be a weak Man, will they not make him intollerably vain? Republicks should adopt the Rule of another Society. The Yea should be Yea, and the Nay, Nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of Evil. Adieu.
1 William Cooper.
TO MRS. ADAMS.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
PHILADELPHIA Mar. 15 1781