Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 3

2. On 12 June, Gen. Gage issued a proclamation declaring martial law and offering a pardon to anyone who would lay down his arms except for Samuel Adams and John Hancock, “whose offenses are of too flagitous a nature to admit any other consideration than that of condign punishment” (Force, Archives , 4th ser., 2:968–970). Gage probably held little hope for success, for in a letter to Lord Dartmouth on 12 June he mentioned only the declaration of martial law, not the offer of pardons (Gage, Corr. , 1:404–405).