plicity of Business and other pursuits than from a want of Esteem and the prevalence of Jealousies among them. I have a great Opinion of Mr. Dana's Political Principles and Conduct, but from the Constant Attention he gives to the Executive and General Courts I never have an Opportunity to see him. I have not once met him in three months and Consequently have never yet been able to ask the Question you authorised me to do. any Intercourse with him is rendered more difficult by his always returning Home when he is not prevented by Urgent Business. I am sensible the Torrent you mention should be Stemmed, and of the fatal Consequences of the Manners you mention, as well as of the Policy of some People here; but we are a rope of Sand without any Cement. some of us are too much Engaged and others too Inattentive to get any thing done. the Little Leisure I have is Imployed in my small Efforts, for which in some Companies I get the Character of an old Fashioned Fellow, and in others of a strong Party Man. I fear you have a hard Task where you are. I hope it will not prey on your Spirits or Injure your Health. I am fully persuaded of the Existence of such a Combination as you mention in Doctr. Cooper. We have Instances of it here with regard to you, and my other Friends at Congress. last Winter the Art was to hold you up as an Enemy to General Washington; now it is to prejudice the People against the Lees, and to propagate that you are a Friend to them, and at Last the matter has been Carried so far as to obtain a Vote in the House for a Committee to Consider the Propriety of recalling three of their Delegates and sending three now here. tho' this would not only be Affrontive to you, but also an Implicit Censure on the Measures you have adopted, yet every Art has been practised to Effect it and among others the Measure for preparing materials for a Fleet on the Lakes at Saratoga, and an Expedition into Canada that way is Absurdly given as a reason. while no Body can doubt that you are all against it. but I believe it will not Succeed. the Court is to rise Tomorrow.

And now I must say a little to you about the Navy Board and Confess to you that I am Extreemly surprised at your last Letter from the Marine Committee. have they no kind of Confidence in the Members of the Navy Board here, and do they wish to hold

them up to the Officers of the Navy in a Contemptible Light. if not why are not your Orders directed to them, to be given to the Commanders, and in most Cases at least some discretion of theirs to be used, instead of that of the Captains. I own I am Mortifyed and will not long submit to it. You should have [some one] at this Board you can place Confidence in. if we are not such, you should displace us and appoint others. it is Impossible you can Judge 300 Miles of. if the Conduct of the Raleigh had been left to us she would probably have been saved, and She and the Dean would have Effected the Service you wished for, and made a Cruise. and yet you have Committed in my Humble Opinion a greater Error in ordering the Queen of France on the Coast of Virginia alone, and to be followed by the Ranger and then the Confederacy. the Ranger will sail with her, but in my Opinion they will both be lost. I am Confident no Merchant would Insure them for eighty per ct. one frigate will take them both. if they should Escape being taken by the Enemy they will get Nothing and then there will be an End of your Maning your Ships here. I think we had formed a Grand Plan, if you had permitted us to Execute it. but I will not have the Reputation of the present one. it shall be known whose Orders they sail under.

Your Committee has never given their disapprobation to our takeing the Commission Charged Mr. Holker for Business done for the French Fleet, which I Construe as an Approbation and shall, as I think we justly may and ought to do, take them, as he has paid them to us. Am I right. Adeu. Your Friend

J. WARREN

Yesterday we had the agreable Account of the Arrival of a Spanish Frigate at Philadelphia and that an Alliance is formed with Spain; that she has brought a large Sum of Hard Money, upon which Gold and Silver and Goods had fallen at a Great rate. I wish half of it may prove true.

RICHARD HENRY LEE TO JAMES WARREN

Philadelphia, March 6th, 1779 SIR, I thank you very sincerely for your kindness in forwarding the parcel of bark by Mr. Brailsford, which I have received in good order, and would thankfully have paid that gentleman for his trouble in the carriage, but his civility would not suffer him to receive anything. I have no doubt, Sir, but that the same goodness which has forwarded this parcel of bark, will contrive the other by the first convenient opportunity. This is a medicine rendered necessary in my family from situation and climate which expose us to intermitting fevers. Indeed long habit has made its constant use indispensable to me.

I am extremely sensible, Sir, of your obliging sentiments of me and my family, and I hope we shall continue to deserve them. If all men like General Warren possessed wisdom, integrity, and discernment, such characters as Mr. Deane and his Adherents would never disgrace public employments, or venture upon such experiments as have lately been made on the public. However, indiscernment begins now to discern, and even the interested friends of Mr. Deane seem ashamed to support him. It will be happy for him if resentment rises no higher than contempt.

I have the honor to be with singular respect and esteem Sir your most obliged and very humble Servant,

RICHARD HENRY LEE

MERCY WARREN TO ABIGAIL ADAMS ADAMS MSS.

PLIMOUTH, March 19, 1779

If anything would awake the sleeping Muses or call back the Wandering Deities the Imagery of this Delightful Morn when the hand of Nature has decorated every twig with spangles of peculiar Briliancy, joined with the Repeated Request of my Friend would not fail to do it. the subject you point out requires Heroics. But alas! Clio is Deaf, perhaps irrevocably stunned till the Noise of

War shall cease. The Harmony of Calliope suffers by the jaring of patriots, and Melpomene is starved amidst the General Cry for Bread.

In short, I believe the famed Nine sickened by the unpromising aspect of this Decayed Village, (once the Asylum of piety) and grown weary of their old Friend, sensible they had heretofore made a Lodgment in an unthrifty soil, have bid an Everlasting Adieu. And as their Ladyships have taken Wing (probably in pursuit of some more happy Clime,) I hope they will not rest till they light on the Head of some Votive Genius whose productions will do honour to the Admired Train, as well as to the Cold Regions of the North.

But if they should ever condescend again to make a Temporary Visit to one almost secluded from society, (which Brightens the Ideas and gives a polish to Expression) you may Depend upon it your absent partner will not be forgot. but at present you must be content to let me tell you in plain prose that I think him Honest. that if by living among the Refinements of polititions and Courtiers, his Integrity should be undermined, or his taste perverted, my Motto to every Character in Future shall be, That Man is all a Lye.

I return you a Letter with thanks for the perusal. wish if proper you would forward some others when you send for your Daughter who I really love, and love her the more the longer she resides with me.

In future I shall call her my Naby and Back my Claim with the promise of her papah to whom I shall appeal if you Monopolize too much.

You do not tell me why you was so confident I had a Letter from France. Depend upon it you shall see it when I have. I think I might expect two or three in a year, if it was only a Complimentary Return for the Many Visits made a Lady, by a Gentleman with regard to whom were it in my power, I should Discover perhaps too much of the spirit of the times, by engrossing his hours wholly to myself, and to a Number of amiable youth, but he is impeled by a Coincidence of Circumstance to a style of Life not agreeable to his taste. Call me Miserly if you please, yet I am

sensible you can, you may feelingly join with me and the Bonny Scotch Lass, and warble the Mournful Chorus

From Morn to Eve,

There's Little pleasure in the Room,

When my Good Man's awaw.

I shall return a Number of Letters with a Manuscript Volume by Miss N[abb]y. it has been an agreable Entertainment to me, and when you come to Plimouth which I hope will be within a few weeks I shall endeavour to make all the Retaliation in my power.

You ask what I think of the Late Dispute among the higher powers of America. I know little of it except what is in the public papers, where I think may be discovered the precipitation and timidity of Guilt in a certain Indiscreet writer yet I like not the Expression of Englifyed American, which I saw dropped from a pen I view in a very different Light.

I shall only Gently Remind you that your promise is not yet compleated of writing much and frequently through the Course of the Winter, to her who subscribes your affectionate Friend1

M. WARREN

JAMES WARREN TO SAMUEL ADAMS

2

BOSTON, March 30th, 1779

MY DEAR SIR, I have for sometime been Exceeding Uneasy about you. it has been reported here that you are in Bad Health, and I cant reconcile myself to be easy while anything prevents your Services to your Country, at a Time when it so much wants Able and Honest Men. I hope this report is without foundation, but your long Silence seems to be a Confirmation of the Truth of it. I shall Earnestly Expect a Letter by the Post To morrow in answer to the several Letters I have wrote you. Our Speculations here are Employed upon the Mighty Secret Congress is possessed

1 A letter from Samuel Adams to James Warren, March 23, 1779, is in Writings of Samuel Adams, IV. 139.

2 From the Samuel Adams Papers in the New York Public Library.