in Europe? Whether a traveller of this description must not expect to meet with suspicions & jealousies & the effect of old grudges to us Englishmen? Whether one must not expect to experience many occasions of humiliating treatment that would destroy all pleasure in & obstruct all advantage to be derived from such a philosophic journey? It will be impossible that I could arange my matters so as to come this year, & it would be improper for me to think of it 'till the swell, as well as the storm, of the late troubles has subsided & things begin to flow in their natural course & channel. I therefore should be glad in the mean time to hear from you on the subject. I have enclosed this to our old friend Dr Franklin & have desired him to forward it to you. Enclosed I send to you & Dr Cooper or to either singly & separately to make a deed of gift for me to Harvard College of the 500 acres of land I have in Pownalborough, which were granted to me by the Kenebeck Company. As I have not at hand the original grant, you will take the description of the land from your own records and as I am not au fait as to the forms of making this deed of gift according to your laws, so as to vest it properly in the Corporation for the purpose of beginning the establishment of a Political Law Lectureship or Professorship, on this basis described by Cicero, Constituendi juris ab illa summa lege capiamus exordium quæ seculis omnibus ante nata est, quam scripta lex ulla, aut quam omnino civitas constituta.* . . . Non à prætoris edicto, ut plerique nunc; neque à XII Tabulis, ut superiores; sed penitus ex intimâ philosophiâ haurienda juris disciplina. † . . . Non [id jus civile,] ac potius ignoratio juris litigiosa est, quam scientia. ‡ I mean & wish to see instituted Lectures on the Science of Polity & Law-giving as derived from God & nature & the nature' of man, so as to form the minds of the students to be * De Leg., i. vi. 18. — Eds. † Id. i. v. 17. - EDS. Id. i. vi. 18.-Eds. come efficient & good members of a free state. Sed hæc posterius, this is sufficient to mark my intention. If this power be not full & sufficient I will confirm the gift & grant in any form & manner that you will send me to those purposes. I beg my best wishes & respects to all who remember me; & I am in every sense of respect & in every sense of friendship, dear Sir, Your affectionate friend & sert. THE HONLE JAMES BOWDOIN, ESQR. T. POWNALL. JOHN TEMPLE TO JOHN HANCOCK. BOSTON, 13 Sept', 1783. SIR,I have desired the bearer Mr Allen, a Notary Public in this Common Wealth, to wait upon your Excellency for a bond with two responsible sureties in the penal sum of Three Thousand Pounds sterling! demanded and taken of me, by your Excellency! which bond, countersigned with my protest against the same, bears date the 24th day of December, 1781, sixty days after I, in that year, returned to this my native town and country! where I have ever since resided, with honor & reputation I trust, a faithfull citizen of the Common Wealth. With all due consideration, I have the honor to be, Sir, your Excellency's Most obedient hble. servant. TO HIS EXCELLENCY, JOHN HANCOCK, ESQ2, J. TEMPLE. JOHN HANCOCK TO JOHN TEMPLE. BOSTON, Sept 18th, 1783. SIR,Yesterday Mr Henry Alline delivered me your letter, which I shall lay before the General Court at their 7 meeting next week; & as soon as I receive their decision upon its contents, you shall be made acquainted with it. I am, Sir, your most obed' servt. JOHN HANCOCK. JOHN TEMPLE, ESQR. JONATHAN TRUMBULL TO THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH.* [COPY.] 1 STATE OF CONNECTICUT, LEBANON, TO THE RT HONBLE EARL Of Dartmouth. 1st October, 1783. MY LORD, It may somewhat surprize your Lordship to receive a letter from a Governor of one of the United States of America; and at a time too when your Lordship hath ceas'd to hold that ministerial office which formerly gave me occasion to write officially to you. I flatter myself, however, that you will not take it amiss that I thus trespass a few minutes upon your time. Your Lordship will recollect that I had frequently the honor of writing to you at the beginning of those troubles which brought on a war between G. Britain & this country; & that I took the liberty, as I thought it my duty, to offer my sentiments with freedom on that occasion. My letter of March, 1775, in particular, I had great faith would have done some good in setting aside the false representations which had from time to time been made against this country. That letter, my Lord, was dictated by an honest heart; & how far it mark'd the consequences of Britain's persevering in her plan your Lordship is now well able to judge. Had the truths then frankly made known to your Lordship for the mutual good of both countries been attended to, what blood & treasure might not have been saved on both sides! Neither this letter nor the letter of March, 1775, to which reference is made in it, is in the Trumbull Papers in the possession of this Society, copious selections from which have been published in the Collections. — EDS. what friendship & affection have been preserved & how long might not the two countries have remain'd in a mutual happy connexion! But it is done; & to look back can now be of no further use than to make past errors subservient, as they sometimes may be made, to wiser & happier conduct in future. As it appears to be now the sincere wish & desire (as it doubtless is the wisdom) of the ministry & people of England, to recover, as far as may be, the friendship and commerce of this country, may I suggest to your Lordship that every act of justice & reparation of injuries which shall evidently appear to have been done will tend not a little to further those wishes, & in particular suffer me to mention the singular case of Mr Temple. He and Doctor Franklin are the only crown officers of rank who were dismiss'd from very lucrative & honorable employment for their attachment to this their native country; or rather for not falling in with all the other crown officers in those misrepresentations which so fatally deceiv'd Great Britain. D' Franklin has been employ'd & amply honor'd & rewarded by his country, & could not accept if offer'd any reparation. Mr Temple is therefore, as I said, singular in his sufferings. The British ministry have repeatedly acknowledged that he was as a crown officer both faithfull & able in office; but his attachment to his country render'd it necessary to remove him from the several offices which he sustain'd. Experience, dearly bought, must have convinc'd that same ministry that Mr Temple's sentiments & representations concerning his country were founded in truth, while those of his enemies who sought & effected his overthrow were founded in falshood. Should Mr Temple (who writes me he is about going to England) meet with honest & honorable reparation for his past sufferings, it would be pleasing to his friends & connexions (who are neither few nor insignificant in these States) & would no doubt tend to create good humour between the two countries. He was Lt Governor of one of the then Provinces; had a seat at the council board in five other Provinces; was Surveyor General of the Royal Revenue in America; &, afterwards, Surveyor General of the Customs in England; he was also a Commissioner, part of the time that wicked & incendiary board acted in this country; in all which stations, I have always heard that he acquitted himself with honor & reputation in the eyes of the ministry, except that he was, as they were taught to think, improperly friendly to this country; but he could have had no other view than to the general good in being friendly to this country, since he could have expected nothing in emolument from America equal to what he then enjoy'd under the crown, for it is not the intention of these States that great emoluments shall accrue to any, be their stations what they may. I have written this letter, not more with a wish to serve Mr Temple (if peradventure it may serve him) than to shew your Lordship that I also cordially wish oblivion to past injuries & a sincere & lasting return of intercourse, friendship, & commerce between the two countries. * My son, who in the cool hour of recollection I dare say will be thought to have been cruelly imprison'd & ill treated in England, will have the honor of delivering this letter to your Lordship. He returns to England to improve his natural turn to the pencil, which, his countryman the celebrated artist, Mr West, thinks worthy of cultivation. I have not even the least pretension to ask any favor of your Lordship, but should my son meet with any degree of spontaneous countenance or protection from your Lordship, I should feel myself very much *Col. John Trumbull, the painter. He and Temple were intimate friends. See 6 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. ix. pp. 461–468. — Eds. |