claim of Great Britain "to legislate for the colonies in all cases whatever," drew in its train consequences of vast importance. Without such an authority, it would be difficult to maintain the connection of a parent state, with provinces, with the exercise of it, the colonists were depressed below the grade of British subjects, and reduced to a state of slavery.

There were very few whose minds could comprehend the important distinctions which were then agitated, or whose reasoning could discern the approaching events of that controversy. Mr. Adams, buoyed up by a sense of the justice and righteousness of the colonists' demands, stood forth first in their defence, and heroically won his title―The Father of the Revolution. In 1764, he was elected to prepare the instructions of the town of Boston to their representatives in the General Assembly. The document is now in existence, and contains the first public denial of the right of the British Parliament to tax the colonies, a denial of parliamentary supremacy, and a direct suggestion of the necessity of Union.

Mr. Adams seems to have been peculiarly formed for the eventful period of his life. His mind was singularly powerful in tracing the result of political principles. The firmness of his heart never failed to support his efforts, whenever he was convinced of the rectitude and propriety of the objects he pursued. He pressed his measures with ardor, because they were founded on calculations tending to the glory and independence of his country. His courage derided the bars thrown in the way of his career, while the sagacity of his mind pierced the clouds in which sophistry involved the subject before him. By this he was enabled to explain, in the most convincing manner, the depression of the colonies, unless a firm and noble stand was then made against the King and the Parliament. He met oppositions and threatenings with an intrepid firmness peculiar to himself; and, with an eye of careless indifference, looked upon the dangers that surrounded him, as mere incidents in the progress of great events.

At the time of the Stamp Act, Mr. Adams became a conspicuous favorite with the people, and a leader in all the popular proceedings of the day. Warmly engaged, both as a declaimer in town meetings, and as a writer in the public prints, his private affairs were neglected, and he became embarrassed with debts. His poverty attracted the attention of the British adherents, and he was approached with presents and bribes: but he could not be won from the cause of Liberty. "Such is the obstinacy and inflexibility of Adams,” said a letter to England, "that he never can be conciliated by any office or gift whatever." Such honesty of purpose was looked upon in Great Britain with ludicrous incredulity, probably occasioned by a confusion of ideas at the anomaly of such a disposition, compared with the personal and daily experience in the British Court.

Mr. Adams was chosen one of the representatives from Boston to the General Court or Legislature of Massachusetts, in 1765. Here he remained until his election to the Continental Congress, being annually re-elected for nine years, a period which includes an eventful and interesting portion of the history of American liberty, during the whole of which he was remarkable as well for his political and parliamentary talents, as for his zeal in opposition to the claims, the acts, and the menaces of the royal government. While a member of this body, he was continually employed on committees to draft reports, protests, and other public papers, in which employment he evinced great rapidity and correctness of composition.

In 1768, after the death of Charles Townsend, Lord North entered the service of the king. Soon the effects of his administration were felt throughout the American colonies. New acts of taxation were established, and royal collectors sent from England to enforce them. Public feeling seemed unprepared for action, and averse to a rupture. The Massachusetts Assembly, adopting the sentiments of Samuel Adams, approached the king with a humble petition. To him they recounted the story of their wrongs, and besought him to alleviate them. Among themselves, they advocated the policy of union. "Let us all be of one heart and one mind," said Adams. "Let us call on our sister colonies to join with us. Should our righteous opposition to slavery be named rebellion, let us pursue duty with firmness, and leave the event to heaven." The same year Mr. Adams prepared the letter from the Assembly of Massachusetts to their agent in England, and also the celebrated Circular Letter, addressed to the Speakers of the several Houses of Assembly in the other Colonies. The last production is one of the most

important of all American State Papers, as the embodiment of historical data, and indicative of the spirit and temper of the times.*

In the deliberative bodies of his native State, where the foundation of the American Revolution was formed, where the principles and systems of government on which the security and happiness of mankind were established, Samuel Adams's manly eloquence was never resisted with success. His opponents were obliged to yield in silence, only hoping for a change by the means of an army more favorable to their views. His rhetoric was a torrent of figurative languagestill, an impressive, sedate strain of reasoning, which could never fail to awaken the interested, or to convince the unprejudiced hearer. His pen was no less powerful than his tongue. A mind well stocked with the sentiments of a Sidney, a Locke, and other great and noble men who had contended against monarchical and ecclesiastical tyranny; with an education which had given it the entire possession of all the principal systems, and abuses of the ancient Grecian and Roman republics, as well as of the despotisms of the world, was capable of carrying conviction to the hearts of all who had not been bribed against their own freedom, or who had not suffered themselves to be betrayed by the allurements of avarice and ambition, or by the impression of fear.

One brief specimen of his eloquence at this period, has been preserved by tradition. A town meeting of Boston had been called at the Old South Church, in consequence of some new aggression upon the rights of the people. The different orators of the patriot party had in turn addressed the meeting, loud in complaint and accusation, but guarded and cautious on every point which might look like an approach towards treasonable expressions, or direct exhortations to resistance. Adams placed himself in the pulpit, and sat quietly listening to all their harangues; at length he rose and made a few remarks, which he closed with the following pithy apologue:

"A Grecian philosopher who was lying asleep on the grass, was suddenly roused by the bite of some animal on the palm of his hand. He closed his hand quickly as he awoke, and found that he had caught in it a small field mouse. As he was examining the little animal which had dared to attack him, it bit him unexpectedly a second time: he dropped it, and it escaped. Now, fellow-citizens, what think you was the reflection which this trifling circumstance gave birth to, in the mind of the philosopher. It was this: That there is no animal, however weak and contemptible, which cannot defend its own liberty, if it will only fight for it."

Amidst the cares and anxieties incident to his position, Mr. Adams maintained a cheerful demeanor, and the fullest confidence in the ultimate success of his cause. One morning, when the spirits of the patriots were almost broken with despair, he was accosted by Mather Byles, the celebrated tory clergyman of Boston, with the remark, "Come, friend Samuel, let us relinquish republican phantoms, and attend to our fields." "Yes," said Adams, "you attend to the planting of liberty, and I will grub up the taxes. Thus we shall have pleasant places."

The increasing popularity of Mr. Adams, in 1773, rendered it every day more desirable to the royal party that he should be detached from the popular cause, and the efforts to gain him to the side of the ministry were renewed. Governor Gage now thought he would try the experiment. For this purpose he sent a confidential and verbal message by a colonel of his army, who waited on Mr. Adams, and stated the object of his visit. He remarked that an adjustment of the dispute which existed between England and her colonies was much desired; that he was authorized to assure him of reward from the government, if he would cease in his opposition, and that it was the advice of Governor Gage to him, not to incur the further displeasure of his majesty, for his conduct thus far had rendered him liable to the penalties for treason.

Mr. Adams listened with apparent interest to this recital. He asked the British colonel if he would deliver his reply as it should be given, and required his word of honor that it would. Then, rising from his chair, in a tone of indignant defiance he replied, "I trust I have long since

The original drafts, in the autograph of Samuel Adams, are now in the possession of the Honorable George Bancroft, to whom I am indebted for the opportunity to examine Mr. Adams' private papers and manuscripts. VOL. I.-21

made my peace with the King of kings. No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause of my country. Tell Governor Gage it is the advice of Samuel Adams to him, no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated people." Thus, with a full sense of his own perilous situation, marked out as an object of ministerial vengeance, laboring under severe pecuniary embarrassinent, but fearless of personal consequences, he steadily pursued the great object of his soul, the liberty of the people.

In 1774 Mr. Adams was elected to the General Congress, first suggested by him, which met at Philadelphia, and the same year was chosen Secretary of the State of Massachusetts, which office he discharged by deputy, while attending his duties in Congress.

Exasperated at the refusal of his promises and advances, General Gage issued his celebrated proclamation of June, 1775, in which he offered and promised his majesty's most gracious pardon to all persons who would lay down their arms and return to the duties of peaceable subjects, excepting only from the benefit of such pardon "Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose of fences were of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than that of condign punishment." Justly deeming this as the token of despair in a deceived and weak administration, Mr. Adams held the measure in the profoundest contempt, and continued his exertions to prepare his country for the last and most solemn resort which he saw near at hand.

His course in reference to the Declaration of Independence is well known. Firm, dignified, never faltering, and with a steady purpose, he labored for its consummation. Joined hand in hand with Chase, Franklin, John Adams, and Jefferson, he gave to the American colonies a place among the nations of the earth, on the broad and deep foundation of independent sovereignty. Of his splendid rhetorical efforts, but one has come down to us. That is included in the present collection.

The Declaration of Independence was expected but by few-new in idea to a great many, and considered by numbers in every State as a rash and daring measure. The American army was then miserably fed, badly armed, wretchedly clothed, and poorly paid. Paper currency, their only resource, was in rapid depreciation, and there appeared to be nothing to depend on but the magnanimity of the people and the justness of their cause.

At this crisis commissioners from England landed, with offerings of peace and reconciliation. They were surrounded by a well-disciplined and powerful army, supported by a numerous fleet, and filled with the anticipations of conquest. The Congress, with a dignity well worthy of an older and more powerful nation, delegated to Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge, the authority of a conference with the royal commissioners. They listened to their overtures, while they reasoned on the necessity of a recession from independence, and then gravely replied, in accordance with their instructions: "The United States have become an independent nation; they have no voice but that of a sovereign power, and there can be no discussion of any propositions which do not acknowledge that sovereignty." These instructions were issued on the motion of Samuel Adams.

At this important moment the patriot army was retreating before the English, in every part of the country. Congress was forced to fly from Philadelphia, and find a shelter where they could mature their counsels and direct the course of action. Under these exigencies Mr. Adams appeared calm and undismayed. No clouds of despair spread over his countenance. Noticing the despondence of his fellow-members, he said, "I hope you do not despair of our final success." It was answered that the chance was desperate. "If this be our language," said he, "it is so, indeed. If we wear long faces they will become fashionable. The people take their tone from ours, and if we falter, can it be expected that they will march onward? Let us banish such feelings, and show a spirit that will keep alive the confidence of the people. Better tidings will soon arrive. Our cause is just, and we shall never be abandoned by heaven while we show ourselves worthy of its aid and protection." His words were prophetic. Soon after the news arrived of the triumph at Bennington and the glory of Saratoga's field. These gave a brightness to their prospects, and lent confidence to their hopes. It was a favorite remark with Mr. Adams, in the declining years of his life, that this Congress, the Congress of 1777, "was the smallest but truest Congress we ever had."

The treaty of peace with England in 1783, acknowledging the sovereignty of the United States, accomplished the wishes of Mr. Adams. He was then in a situation to contemplate his own past conduct with inexpressible satisfaction. His penetrating eye had long discerned, and his patriotic soul had long anticipated the acme of glory to which his nation would arise. Convinced that the connection with the mother country could not be continued upon the plan adopted by the ministry, his exertions had all tended to the separation and independence now so gloriously achieved.

In the year 1794, on the death of Governor Hancock, Mr. Adams was, by a general vote, elected Governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Here he continued until 1797, when the increasing infirmities of more than threescore and ten years led him to seek a voluntary state of retirement.

In the advanced age of his life he delighted in a recapitulation of the scenes of the Revolution. In this, as in other circumstances, he resembled the Earl of Chatham, who, while he was an old man, became impatient of all subjects which did not relate to the French war, in which his administration had added new gems to the diadem of Lis sovereign. A recollection of the dangerous and difficult circumstances which had been encountered by the courage and subdued by the genius of his country, alleviated the burden of his declining years, and the light of those memories shone about him to the end. He died on the second of October, 1803, in the eightysecond year of his age.

Mr. Adams, through the whole course of his life, was a zealous professor and an exemplary performer of the duties enjoined by the Christian religion. He viewed it not merely as a system of morals, but as a mysterious plan to exhibit the benevolence of the Almighty to his rational offspring on the earth, as the wise and benignant method to preserve an intercourse between earth and heaven. On this system he confided in the mercy of his Creator, and in this he had consolation while he saw his dissolution approaching.

The face of Mr. Adams is known from the portrait by Copley. "He was of common size," says Sullivan, in his Familiar Letters on Public Characters, "of muscular form, light blue eyes, fair complexion, and erect in person. He wore a tie wig, cocked hat, and red cloak. His manner was very serious. At the close of his life, and probably from early times, he had a tremulous motion of the head, which probably added to the solemnity of his eloquence, as this was, in some measure, associated with his voice."

According to the ordinary custom of his country, Mr. Adams married early in life. Possessed of no hereditary fortune, and without a profession, he maintained his family chiefly by the salaries and emoluments of public office. Throughout the greater part of his life he was poor, until at a late period, in consequence of the death of his only son, he acquired a competency. His domestic economy, though plain, was by no means sordid, and his whole system of life exhibited a fair specimen of the genuine old-fashioned New England man. "He belonged to that class of men," said Edward Everett, "to whom the cause of civil and religious liberty, on both sides of the Atlantic, is mainly indebted for the great progress which it has made for the last two hundred years; and when the Declaration of Independence was signed, that dispensation might be considered as brought to a close. At a time when the new order of things was inducing laxity of manners and a departure from the ancient strictness, Samuel Adams clung with greater tenacity to the wholesome discipline of the fathers. His only relaxation from business and the cares of life was in the indulgence of a taste for sacred music, for which he was qualified by the possession of a most angelic voice and a soul solemnly impressed with religious sentiment. Resistance to oppression was his vocation." *

* See Sullivan's biographical sketch of Mr. Adams: Article in the Analectic: Biography of the Signers: Thatcher's Sermon: Polyanthos: Eliot's Biographical Dictionary, and Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. 6, pp. 119-129.

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

This oration was delivered by Samuel Ad- | millstone.* We have this day restored the ams, in Philadelphia, on the first of August, 1776.*

Sovereign, to whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven, and with a propitious eye beholds his subjects assuming that freedom of thought, and dignity of self-direction which he bestowed on them. From the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come.

COUNTRYMEN AND BRETHREN: I would gladly have declined an honor, to which I find myself unequal. I have not the calmness and impartiality which the infinite importance of this occasion demands. I will not deny the charge Having been a slave to the influence of opinof my enemies, that resentment for the accu- ions early acquired, and distinctions generally mulated injuries of our country, and an ardor received, I am ever inclined not to despise but for her glory, rising to enthusiasm, may deprive pity those who are yet in darkness. But to the me of that accuracy of judgment and expression eye of reason what can be more clear, than that which men of cooler passions may possess. all men have an equal right to happiness? NaLet me beseech you then, to hear me with cau-ture made no other distinction than that of tion, to examine without prejudice, and to correct the mistakes into which I may be hurried by my zeal.

Truth loves an appeal to the common sense of mankind. Your unperverted understandings can best determine on subjects of a practical nature. The positions and plans which are said to be above the comprehension of the multitude may be always suspected to be visionary and fruitless. He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness

obvious to all.

Our forefathers threw off the yoke of Popery in religion; for you is reserved the honor of leveling the popery of politics. They opened the Bible to all, and maintained the capacity of every man to judge for himself in religion, Are we sufficient for the comprehension of the sublimest spiritual truths, and unequal to material and temporal ones? Heaven hath trusted us with the management of things for eternity, and man denies us ability to judge of the present, or to know from our feelings the experience that will make us happy. You can discern," say they, "objects distant and remote, but cannot perceive those within your grasp. Let us have the distribution of present goods, and cut out and manage as you please the interests of futurity." This day, I trust, the reign of political protestanism will commence. We have explored the temple of royalty, and found that the idol we have bowed down to, has eyes which see not, ears that hear not our prayers, and a heart like the nether

* An oration delivered at the State House, in Philadelphia, to a very numerous audience, on Thursday, the first of August, 1776, by Samuel Adams, member of the ***** ********* the General Congress of the ****** ****** of America.

Per damna, per cædes, ab ipso
Ducit opes, animumque ferro.
Hor.

Oh! save my Country, Heaven! shall be my last.
POPE.

Philadelphia, printed: London, reprinted for E. Johnson,
No. 4, Ludgate Hill, M.DOC.LXXVI.

higher or lower degrees of power of mind and body. But what mysterious distribution of character has the craft of statesmen, more fatal than priestcraft, introduced?

According to their doctrine, the offspring of perhaps the lewd embraces of a successful invader, shall, from generation to generation, arrogate the right of lavishing on their pleasures a proportion of the fruits of the earth, more than sufficient to supply the wants of thousands of their fellow-creatures; claim authority to manage them like beasts of burthen, and without superior industry, capacity, or virtue, nay, though disgraceful to humanity by their ignorance, intemperance, and brutality, shall be deemed best calculated to frame laws, and to consult for the welfare of society.

Were the talents and virtues, which Heaven has bestowed on men, given merely to make them more obedient drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and ambition of a few? or, were not the noble gifts so equally dispensed with a divine purpose and law, that they should as nearly as possible be equally exerted, and the blessings of Providence be equally enjoyed by

The homage that is paid in some countries to monarchs

and their favorites, is disgraceful to humanity. Should one of my honest countrymen be suddenly conveyed to an Eu

ropean court, he would fancy himself admitted into some heathen temple. The policy of courtiers seems to have been to render their sovereigns as dependent on themselves as possible, by accustoming them to hear with their ears, seo with their eyes, and perform the most common offices with their assistance, and under their direction; like the cunning of priests who labor to place themselves between the Deity and mankind, and to make themselves the only channels of communication between earth and Heaven. Such monarchs resemble Rabelais's Queen, who never chew'd any thing; not that her teeth were not good and strong, and that her food did not require mastication, but such was the indispensable ceremonial of her court, her officers took her meat and chew'd it nobly, having their mouths line'd with crimson satin, and their teeth cased over with fine white ivory, after this they passed it into her stomach by a golden pipe.

Rabelais, lib. 5.