JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL ADAMS 1

WATERTOWN, Octr. 23d, 1775

MY DEAR SIR, I have waited to the last Hour in hopes of haveing the Advantage of some delightful subject to write on, as you gave me reason to hope for in one of your last favours; but all things hereabouts remain in pretty much the same Situation. we look at their Lines and they view ours, and Consider them in the same formidable Light. Nothing in the Military way has taken place here nor do I know that any plan is on foot, or under Consideration. they want Courage to attack us and we want powder to attack them and so there is no Attack on either side. No Reinforcements are yet arrived. we may however Expect them every day. I believe they look for them every hour. if they come they will be a great relief to them. their duty is now Excessive severe. they are upon Guard at least two nights in three, which with the provisions they have makes them very sickly and uneasy. it is Conjectured by some that are out of Town that a great part of them would make no resistance if attacked, but that is a Circumstance too precarious to depend on. however I could wish for a Resolution in our Councils to make an Attempt, tho' I know it to be hazardous. they are, Indeed, very strong, and if we should fail the Attempt would both cost us many a Brave fellow and perhaps damp and discourage those that remained, as well as occasion Murmurings, finding faults with the Conduct of Officers, and many other Effects of disappointment. but if we should succeed the Consequences would be Important and Grand. I can hardly think they would look us in the face again even with Amherst at the Head of 20,000 Hanoverians, Hessians, Scotch Rebels, Irish Papists, etc. What then is the probability? Upon this Question my Mind has often Ballanced and does now, and nothing but Faith, strong Faith, and Confidence to a degree of Enthusiasm, preponderates and determines my wishes. I have such reliance on the Righteousness of our Cause as Inclines me to think any thing will succeed. I wrote yesterday every Article of Intelligence I could collect to my good Friend, Mr. J. Adams,2 every thing of that kind I write to one of you I Consider as wrote to both. I shant therefore trouble you with Repetition. Nothing has turned up this day but a Confirmation of the Arrival of one of our Vessels (tho' not the one I mentioned to him) with 7 Tons powder, 500 Stands of Arms, and 8 Cannon mounted on Deck. she is in at Townsend, near Kennebeck. The Grand Conference Ended last Evening. what is Concluded upon I know not. You great Folks keep things so Impenetrably secret that we small ones must be Content with our own Con1 From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library. 2 Vol. 1. 149, supra.

jectures. Mr. Lynch and Coll. Harrison have spent this day at Roxbury and go of in the Morning. I am just returned from head quarters where I have been to take my Leave of them, but missed of the pleasure of seeing them. I have left my Compliments and an Invitation to Breakfast with me in the Morning: I may or may not see them. I am however Inclined to think they will leave us well satisfied and I believe their Visit here will be serviceable. I Imagine they are so with regard to the Establishment for our Army and Convinced it was made on principles of Oeconomy. I shall Inclose you to be made use of at discretion an Abstract from the Journal of the Year 1759, by which you will see how much the Expense then Exceeds the Expense now. Our General Court are drudging on in the old way, with this difference only, that questions are more numerous, more difficult and complicated, and less Abilities to determine them. I never flatter any Man, but really want you here. I have taken some pleasure when I have been in the house with you. I take none now. I last Evening received a Letter from Church,1 Conceived in a stile truly poetical and in Terms of the greatest Assurance and Confidence, desireing from his high Opinion of the Immaculate House of Representatives, and great regard and Affection for his Constituents, to resign his Seat. he undoubtedly Intended to steal a march upon and outgeneral us. I dont know but he will succeed, and prevent an Expulsion. I wish this was Cushing's House. we have in hand a Militia Bill, a Bill to Encourage Individuals fixing out Privateers and to Establish Courts of Admiralty to determine on Captures by the Verdict of a Jury,3 to prevent Persons holding places Incompatible, by which your Honour is not to be allowed. to hold the place of a Justice of the Superior Court and I am as a Sheriff Excluded from a Seat at the Board and as an Officer of the Army from a Seat in either House, so that I may in time, how soon I know not, have more leisure to write to you. several others are in Contemplation. I thank you for your Letters and wish for more. I have forwarded to Mrs. Adams and your Son those you Inclosed by safe hands. they were well not long since and hope are so now. My regards to my Friends Mr. Hancock, Cushing and Pain; also to my Friend Collins, for whom I have a great Respect. I am with great Sincerity your Friend

J. W.

I have a Thousand things yet to say that Time and Circumstances wont permit. I hope the Unexampled Barbarity of our Enemies will remove all hesitations and dubitations and stimulate to revenge as well as Justice. Mrs. Warren, my good wife, sends her regard to my good Friend. 3 Ib., 436.

1 Dr. Benjamin Church.

2 Province Laws, v. 445.

JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL ADAMS 1

WATERTOWN, Octr. 26th, 1775

MY DEAR SIR, I had the pleasure of receiving yours by Mr. Tracey two days ago, and am much Obliged to you for it. I am sorry your Friends dont write you oftner, especially those of them who are more capable of it than I am, and have Abundantly more leisure. I think their Negligence Unpardonable that of the Committee in perticular; but to tell you the Truth I never Expected your Correspondence would be much Enlarged by their Appointment. I wrote to you not more than three days ago, and now again purely to shew the readiness I have to Comply with your requests and my own duty. not haveing a single new Article of Intelligence to hand you, how long you will wish the Continuance of such a Correspondence I can't say. I am very sensible of the hazard and danger of depending so much on a Change of Measures in Britain. that is a Rock that some of us have ever carefully avoided and should never split upon, but in a general Shipwreck, when we must go with the rest, whether it be occasioned by Timidity, Folly or Wickedness. I was in hopes before this to have found more such Instances and Examples as Lord Effingham has given the world; but the prevailing Luxury and Consequent rage for money has absorbed every other Sentiment and left scarce the least Trace of honour or virtue in any public Class among them. I perceive you had got Church's Letter, which, with an Account of his manner of Conducting this matter, gives you every thing we have here on which we Judge of him and the Criminality of his Conduct. there are Indeed some other Collateral Evidences against him, such as his keeping this Correspondence a secret to every one, Instead of Communicating it to the President or some of the Members of Congress, or to the General, if he Intended it for the Good of the publick, especially when the General in great Confidence has Sollicited him to Recommend to him some proper person in Boston from whom he might receive Intelligence. Add to all which the General Inattention and Unfeeling manner he discovered when he was among us. I used to Impute that to the Indolence of his Temper, but am now Convinced that it proceeded from the Wickedness of his Heart. I have now no difficulty to account for the knowledge Gage had of all our Congress Secrets, and how some later plans have been rendered abortive; or for the Indulgence shewn him when he went into Boston after the Lexington Battle. do I discover a want of charity that the Evidences wont warrant. The judgment of the publick and of Individuals are very severe upon the Letter here. you are to consider that at the Time this letter was wrote, our Army were forming very fast into Order 1 From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library.

and discipline, and were so formidable that he could hardly Advise them to make another Attack with any prospect of Success. And with regard to powder we had about that time many Accounts of the Arrival of it, which I dare say he believed. when he could no longer promise himself that the Event of the Contest would be as lucky as the defeat of our Army at Bunker's Hill, it seems natural that he should tell them the Truths he has done in order to Enforce his Sollicitations for Peace. but I quit this subject as it might lead me into a page or two more, and only now Inform you that we have this day taken the proper steps to have him brought to the Barr of the House Tomorrow, 10 o'Clock. then I expect him and as great a Concourse as Curiosity can Collect.

The 27th. Doctr. Church has been brought according to order to the Barr and has made with great Assurance and Confidence an artful, plausible defence, attended with all the poetical Oratory he was master of, and really has Exceeded what I thought him Capable of. the Guards with our Messenger have taken him back and we are now debateing by Candle Light, while I write to a Friend I think will never fall under a Single Suspicion of Treason to his Country. we have no kind of news. shall write you again soon. whether we shall pass Judgment or suspend it least we Influence the final Judgment on the Charge against him, or whether we shall now admit his resignation are the questions. I suppose Coll. Reed will be the Bearer of this and give you a full and ample Account at least of the state of the Army. I have taken good Care of your Letters. I do sincerely wish you every Happiness. Adeu.

J. W.

You must make my regards to your Brethren Coll. Hancock, Mr. Cushing and Mr. Paine, and any other Gentlemen who may think it worth while to accept them. Time wont permit and you may add, I have nothing Important to write.

My good Friend Mr. Adams shall write to if possible. Mrs. Warren, one of the Choicest Gifts of Heaven, sets by att the writeing this Postscript and desires her regards to your Honour.

DEAR SIR,

JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL ADAMS 1

WATERTOWN, Noor. 12th, 1775

The Bearer of this I suppose will be Mr. Revere, who Carries you from the Council some very Important dispatches, taken by a Fish Boat in a Schooner made Prize off and Carried into Beverly. I From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library.

Among other things there is to be found in one Letter the Success and Effects of your Loyal and Dutiful Petition. Administration from it presumed there must be a Weakness among us. this presumption has Animated and Encouraged them to pursue vigorous measures and exert their whole strength. what will be thought of the piddling Genius now. The five Regiments destined for Boston this Fall are partly arrived and the rest daily Expected. how many are in I cant learn with certainty. it is said they are in Choice Spirits in Boston, tho' they are starveing for wood and fresh Provisions, and in want of Bread. with regard to the Inhabitants they are at least as miserable as ever. it was reported last week that Howe had called upon all that were desirous of leaving the Town to give in their names by a certain time, I think the next day, at 12 o'clock.1 we Expected proposals for their comeing out but hear no more of this matter. Our Military Movements are much the same as they have been lately. they keep within their walls and we watch them. the want of a certain Article has prevented our being able to do more. with an Abundance of it, some Capital and Grand Stroke would have been struck and perhaps put an End to the War. my Greatest Uneasiness arises from the present State of the two Armies. Ours is new modelling, while theirs is reinforceing. in the new Arrangement of our Army the Regiments are to be reduced from thirty-nine to twenty seven. you will easily conceive the difficulty of doing it without disgusting Soldiers as well as Officers. our own men you know are much attached to perticular Officers, and I hear there is in the Camp much Conversation and Uneasiness on this Subject. I am not in the Cabinet. I hope matters have been well digested and that this Business will end well. it is certainly a Critical Time. Prizes chiefly with wood from the Eastward and Stock, Hay and provisions from Nova Scotia are frequently bringing into our Harbours. if these dont Enrich us, the want of them must distress our Enemies. the Vessel from Ireland is, however, a valuable Prize and has many good Bits on Board. The Intelligence you will have by the Bearer, with the R[oyal] silly Proclamation,2 will, I presume, put an End to the Petitioning. I shall Expect some Movements worthy of so august a Body. A Declaration of Independency, Treaties with foreign powers, a Test that shall draw a clear and distinguishing Line between Whiggs and Tories, and some other matters in the same stile, however they might formerly be thought Extravagant, may now perhaps be considered by even piddling Genius, as not Exceeding the Line of Moderation. Our General Court was adjourned last Night to the 29th Instant. the two Houses have not parted in the best Humour - a poor time to altercate. I have not time to give you the State of the ConI Broadsides (Collections, LXXV.) No. 1826.

2 Of August 23. Broadsides (Collections, LXXV.) No. 1818.