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Appendix

JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL ADAMS 1

PLYMO. Noor. the 8th, 1772

DEAR SIR, I Received yours of the 4th Instant 2 with the more pleasure as the Contents Exhibit Instances of that Spirit in your Town still remaining and reviving I hoped to the Salvation of this poor Country, after a Languor and feebleness which has discouraged almost every good man in it. May it Increase, flourish and be diffused in every Breast till Tyranny shall Tremble at the Foundation and Tyrants call on the Rocks and Mountains to Cover them. After I left Boston for so long a time and heard of no steps taken as proposed when I was there, I must own my sanguine Hopes were succeeded by a despondency Bordering on despair, and when I heard of a meeting of your Town, tho' my Expectations were raised, yet I could not easily conceive what measures you would fall upon. Embarrassd as you are by the Timidity of Friends, and the Intrigues and power of professd Enemies, Internal and External, I hoped however much from your firm and unshaken Constancy and ardour which to your Honour I never yet saw damp'd. The Leading Steps you took are I think very well, as they serve the purposes both of Strengthing your Interest and holding him [Hutchinson] up in his proper colours. his Answer to your first Message is thought Insolent, that to your last Stupid. the General plan you have finally adopted, if it takes in the other Towns in general and is supported with Spirit, I think will produce great Consequences and I don't know but Considering all Circumstances is the least the Times will Admit of. it may answer the same purposes to the Body Politick as removing Obstructions and promoting a free Circulation does to the Body Natural - Eradicate the seeds of the distemper and restore Health. I am now to acquaint you that I have talkd with many of my Townsmen since I received your Letter and have the pleasure to find their Pulse beating high and their Resentment equal to any I can suppose you have found in other Towns. I believe I shall have no difficulty in geting at meeting here and carrying the point to second you as proposed. One thing you may be assured of, no Assiduity in me shall be wanting. I am Ballanceing in my mind whether to Attempt it before we receive your

1 From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library.
2 Vol. 1. 11, supra.

Letter and report, or wait till then. Some reasons determine me to the last. however, shall consult my Friends here, and should be glad to hear from you on the subject again. I cant but wonder that none of your Neighbouring Towns have Catched the glow. perhaps it is designed they should have before them a full view of the Transactions of the Metropolis. You will please to Excuse the Inaccuracies of this which is wrote in a Hurry to a Friend whose Candour is always ready to overlook faults that dont proceed from a wicked Heart. I am with great Sincerity Your Friend and Humbl. Servt.

JAS: WARREN

JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL ADAMS 1

1

PLYMO. Novr. 17th, 1772

DEAR SIR, — I have the pleasure of Incloseing a Copy of a Petition, handed to me yesterday as one of the Selectmen of this Town. the Petition was signed by Capt. Thos. Jackson and a hundred other reputable Inhabitants, and at the same time Inform you that the selectmen have in Consequence of it Issued their Warrants for a Meeting of the Town on this day week. which, so far as we have gone, I hope will fully answer your Expectations from your Mother Plymouth and Justify my Engagements of Assiduity, etc. I can only add at present that the sentiments of the people here are very different from the Tory Representations you mention. they feel and Resent both the Indignities and Injuries repeatedly offerd them, and see the fatal Consequences of this last Ministerial Maneovre. I should be glad to hear again from you soon, and that you would furnish me with any materials for Conducting this matter so as best to serve a good Cause. it is the desire of the Petitioners that their Petition may be Inserted in the Papers, which I dare say you will have no Objection to, even if it gives you the trouble of seeing it done. I am in great Haste your assured Friend and Humbl. Servt.

Jas: Warren

I desire you would send home my Collegue to do his duty on this and other Occasions.3

1 From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library.
2 Vol. 1. 12n, supra.
3 Isaac Lothrop.

JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL ADAMS1

PLYMO., Decr. the 8th, 1772

DEAR SIR,Since my last disturbance I have the pleasure of receiveing two Letters from your Town to the Selectmen of the several Towns in this County, which I have distributed to them with a degree of pleasure that might be sufficient to render an Apology for giveing me any Trouble unnecessary. what Consequences they may produce I cant yet determine. I shant fail to Exert myself to have as many Towns as possible meet, but fear the Bigger part of them will not. they are Dead and the Dead cant be raised without a Miracle. I am sensible that the Tories spare no pains (as you say) to disparage the measures which with their other Conduct shews their Apprehensions. They are Nettled much. the Great Sachem of Chessemuttuck wrote to one of his Tools here to observe and give him a perticular Account of all our proceedings and especially for a Copy of the warrant for the meeting. The Enjoying £400 per annum Undisturbed by the Clamour of the Rabble, tho it be the wages of Unrighteousness is an Object of no small Consequence to a Poor Sachem who had spent all his Wampum and must appear in state equal to the Noble Blood runing in his Veins. the Letter of our Committee of Communication to yours gives you the proceedings of our Town so far as they have yet gone. you may depend upon it the whole will be of a piece with this. the Hingham Letter, whether the produce of a Hingham Genius or fabricated in the Cabal, is a low dirty Business founded upon the Pillars and chief Corner Stones of the Tory Cause. Misrepresentation, or rather Lies and Scandal and defamation. however, a young Fellow here of a riseing and promiseing Genius, I thought, might begin his Operations upon this Occasion and has taken him in hand, and done pretty well for the first. I am glad to see in the last Spy the Motions in Marblehead. I wish the measure would take a general run. why does it Labour so in Roxbury. that damps the Spirit in some other Towns. I hope, however, it will terminate well there. do give me (in your next) what well Grounded hopes you have of success, and let me know if there has been any dissentions among the friends to the good Cause and perticularly between you and Otis. I have Occasion for frequent and perticular Intelligence to discountenance the Tory lies of the day. It is Court Week. I am obliged to write in a great Hurry and must now Conclude. Your Sincere Freind and Humbl. Servt.

2

JAS: WARREN

I From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library.
2 See Vol. 1. 14, supra.

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Though short! Far short my pen of the sublime

That urges on and bids me write in Rhyme.

And hope my Friend the Effort will Excuse

Nor Blame the Heart: but check the Niggard Muse.
Is it a Wild Enthupostick1 Flame,

That swells the Bosom panting after Fame,
Dilates the Mind: with every sails unfurl'd,
To catch the plaudit of a Gazing World.

Is there no permanent, no steady pole,
To point us on, and Guide the Wandring soul.
Does prejudice and passion Rule Mankind.
Are there no springs that actuate the Mind
Whose deep Meanders have some Nobler source
Than Vain self Love, to Guide their Winding Course.
That Gen'rous Ardor stiled Benevolence,

Is it an Art to Gratify the sense

Or Give imagination further scope,

That aeiry queen, who Guides the Helm of hope
Holds A False Mirrour to the Dazzel'd sight,

A Dim perspective, A Delusive Light,

That swells the Bubbles of Life's shortned span,
While Wisdom smiles at the Deluded Man.
Wrap'd in Extaticks, by imagin'd Fame,

When the next Moment Will Blot out his Name.

Can't the Wise precepts of A platos school
(or shall I Name a still more perfect Rule)
Rouze up the soul, to that Exalted Height,
To Walk by Reason, And Reject the Cheat:
Or are the Fetters that Enslave the Mind
Of that Firm Base, that Adamantine kind,
So Firmly Lock'd, and so securely Reve'd,
The more we search, the More are we Deceived.
Are Truth, and Friendship, no where to be Found,
And patriot Virtue Nothing but a Sound

Then May A Cesar Equal Honour Claim

With Noble Brutus, celebrated Name,

1 Thus in the text but an unknown word. Cf. entheus, imagination.

For the poor tribute of a short applause.
One stabs A tyrant trampling on the Laws,
While the proud Despot Marks his Baneful Way
With Virtue's tears, and triumphs or'e his prey.
Self the sole point in which they'r both agreed.
By this Rome's shackled, or by this she's Freed.
Self Love, that stimulus to Noblest Aims,
Bids Nero Light the Capitol in Flames,
Or Bids H-1 sell his Native Land
And his Vile Brother lend his perjur'd Hand.
While Fredom weeps and Heav'n delays to shed
Its awful Vengeance on the Guilty Head.

If such is Life, And Fancy throw the Bowl,
If appetite and caprice Rule the Whole,
If Virtuous Friendship has no solid Base,
But False Deception holds the sacred place,
Then from thy Mem'ry Race out every Line
Nor Recolect one sentiment of mine
But Dark Oblivion, sable Veil Draw ore,
And I'll Forbear to interupt the more.

For if Vice Boasts her origin the same,
With social joy and patriotic Flame,
Then I must Wish to bid the World Farewell,
Turn Anchorit and choose some Lonely Cell
Beneath some peaceful Hermitage Reclin'd
To Weep the Misery of all Mankind,

till Days and Years, till time shall cease to roll And truth Eternal strike the Wond'ring soul. PLIMOUTH, October 11, 1773.

JOHN ADAMS TO JAMES WARREN

BOSTON Dec'r. 17, 1773

DEAR SIR, The Dye is cast: The People have passed the River and cutt away the Bridge: last Night Three Cargoes of Tea, were emptied into the Harbour. This is the grandest Event, which has ever yet happened since the Controversy, with Britain, opened!

The Subimity of it, charms me!

For my own Part, I cannot express my own Sentiments of it, better 1 The capital H is nearly erased. It refers to Hutchinson.

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