After April 20, 1795

But after I was appointed a Member of Congress in June 1774 I was appointed by the Court of Sessions for the County of Bristol one of Cmttee. with Coll. G.L.1 and Col. BL2 to prepare a Draft of Address to Govr. Gage according to the Usage in Such Case & as I believe on Examination it will turn out the Courts of CP&S3 then generall if not all did & I drafted it by desire of the Cmmttee. The Courts Accepted it & appointd the same persons a Cmttee. to present it, we accordingly performed the office. On our Journey we heard the Genl. Court had appointed a Congress & Chosen the Members & was dissolved. Govr. Gage must Needs know I was one, but the Address4 Containing Sentiments of Respect full as Strong as those in the Address5 of the Attornies Was read With the Usual Ceremonies of polite Civility in doing wch. I thought if by Such Customary Address Govr. Gage would be kept easy till the Congress met it could be doing Service to the public Cause.

The Laboured manner in wch. this Objection on Mr. Strong6 is Urged appears to come within the Observation that Arguments & Objections of Small weight long insisted on prove either that the Objector has nothing more forseable to Urge or that he is No Judge of the force of An Argument, If there was any positively disqualify'd Crimenality in signing that address by Mr. Strong under all its Circumstances it must have Attested at the time of it & must have been known to Maj. Hawley7 & who will venture to say that Majr. Hawley who Certainly was the Leader of the Revolution & the great bulwark agst. the Influence of the Abile & respectable Character of Col. Worthington8 in the Western Countys wd. have recomended & introduced to the Conduct of the Revolution a young Man of Such abilites, & who had given proof of Such principles as he is now charged with. They who will Now Say that must be Supposed to have a great Knowledge of the Characters & conduct of the Heroes of that day than was known in the time of it; & is it Supposable548that the Inhabitants of Northampton as remarkable for their Attachment to the Revolution as for Sobriety of Manners would have Chosen such a Man to represent them (& if Such Criminality attach'd to Mr. Strong when did) & with what Candor or reverence to the Dignity of a Republican Govt. can it now be brought to view or have any Influence. I must apologize for thus expatiating over my Symtoms but a regard for that Revolution with wch. I intimately acquainted Connectd from the first movement, at least enô to Know how it was conducted makes me Solicitous for that public happiness wch. ought to be the result of it & that happiness must result from a Republican Elective Govt. The only Argument agt. Such a Govt. that In my mind has any weight arises from the irrational manner of Conducting Such Elections, but even with Evil if we must have bad Rulers let them be of our own Elective & Reformation may be the Effect of Affliction & Repentance but from an Hereditary Curse there is no Redemption. Every thing overstrained is weakned & the Liberty wch. rightfully belongs to the Community at Large for want of due attention may work its own Destruction.

I did not approve of that Address & when Urged upon me at Boston together with the present Chief Jus.9 & I think two other lawyers whom I do not recollect we strenuously opposed in Barr Meeting the Signing and presenting principally because it was Set on foot & Urged by those Lawyers who exerted themselves in Opposition to our Measures & finally went off with the Enemy but it afterwards was Signd by some persons I presume inattentively as from Customary Compliment by some persons who never opposed our Measures but Supported them as soon as they were set agoing, but at the CP&S in Bristol Co. on the 14 of June I was with 2 other members of the Session appointed a Committee to draft an Address to Govr. The Cmttee. called on me & I drafted one wch. was acceptd by the Courts & the same Cmttee. were approved to present it (wch. was done by them on the 30th.). About this time I knew I was appointed one of the Members to Congress & Genl. Courts wch. I knew to be planned before I left the Genl. Ct. on the 11th. On the 30th I proceeded with the Court Cmttee. to Danvers & presented the Address wch. appears to be the day before that other Address was presented; by General Consultation it was thought that if by Such Customary Addresses Govr. Gage could be kept easy till the Congress convened it would be doing service to the public Cause.

MS Dft; on verso of a letter to RTP from Cutler and Amory, dated at Boston, Apr.549 20, 1795. Endorsed: "Narrative of proceedings in Genl. Courts on Appt. of Delegates to Congress 1774."

1.

George Leonard (1729–1819).

2.

Possibly Benjamin Lincoln (1733–1810). Served his native Hingham as town clerk and justice of the peace and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1772 and 1773 and to the Provincial Congress during the next two years. Made adjutant of 3rd Regiment of Suffolk County in 1755, and by 1772 had become lieutenant colonel. During the Revolution he was commissioned major general (1777) and commanded under Washington in New York in 1780. Served as secretary of war (17811783) and lead the Massachusetts troops in suppression of Shays's Rebellion (DAB).

3.

Courts of Common Pleas and Sessions.

4.

Printed in the Boston News-Letter, July 7, 1774. The address to Governor Gage was made on Thursday, June 30, 1774.

5.

Ibid. This address to Governor Gage was made on Friday, July, 1774.

6.

Caleb Strong (1744–1819) graduated from Harvard in 1764, studied law under Joseph Hawley, and became a leading figure at the Hampshire Bar. He held many political offices serving as delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional convention of 1779; the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787; U.S. senator from Massachusetts, 1789–1796; and as governor of Massachusetts, 1800–1807 and 1812–1816. Strong's signing the welcoming address to Governor Gage on July, 1774, was later held against him by his political opponents, as RTP indicates (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 16:94–110).

7.

Joseph Hawley (1723–1788) graduated from Yale in 1742, studied theology under Jonathan Edwards and served as a chaplain in one of the Massachusetts regiments against Louisbourg in 1745. Upon his return he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1749, eventually becoming one of its most distinguished members. Active in local affairs, Hawley headed the Northampton board of selectmen almost continuously from 1747 until his death. He was elected to the Massachusetts General Court in 175, 1754, and 1755 but played a minor role. Elected again in 1766 he was to be a towering figure in provincial affairs until 1776, when he became a victim of spells of insanity, a family weakness (E. Francis Brown, Joseph Hawley, Colonial Radical [New York, 1931]; Dexter, Yale Biographical Sketches, 12:709–712; DAB).

8.

John Worthington of Springfield.

9.

Francis Dana (1743–1811) graduated from Harvard in 1762, was a member of the Continental Congress, 1777–1778; minister to Russia, 1781–1783; associate justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts, 1785–1791; and chief justice, 1791–1806 (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 15:204–217).