the grounds of the report, that the salaries of the judges are fixed and paid by order of the crown, and to determine upon such measures as should be proper for them to take upon so alarming an occasion. The enclosed paper contains a short but true account of their proceedings. It is proposed by some, to petition the governour to order a session of the general assembly, and that the town should expressly declare their natural and charter rights to their representatives, and the instances in which they have been violated, peremptorily requiring them to take every step which the constitution prescribes, to redress our grievances; or if every such step has been already taken, to inform their constituents, that they may devise such measures as they may see their way clear to take, or patiently bear the yoke. I will acquaint you with the proceedings of the town as they pass. the mean time, I wish your town would think it proper to have a meeting, which may be most seasonable at this time; for as the superiour court is to be held at Salem next week, you will have an opportunity of making a decent application to them, and enquiring of the certainty of the report, and other matters mentioned in your letter to me; which enquiry will be more naturally made to them, in case the governour should decline answering the message of this town, or do it, if I may be allowed the expression, equivocally. This country must shake off their intolerable

In

burdens at all events.

Every day strengthens our oppressors and weakens us. If each town would declare its sense of these matters, I am persuaded our enemies would not have it in their power to divide us, in which they have all along shown their dexterity. Pray use your influence in Salem, and other towns. But I am now going with our committee to his excellency. Shall be glad of a letter from you. Your last, I read to the town, to their great satisfaction, though I concealed the name of its worthy author.

I am, with great esteem,
Sir, your humble servant,

Elbridge Gerry, Esq.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

MR. GERRY TO MR. ADAMS.

DEAR SIR,

MARBLEHEAD, NOVEMBER 2, 1772.

Your agreeable favours of 27th and 29th ult., have just come to hand. I observe what is doing in your city, and what you are desirous of having done in this and the neighbouring towns; being fully convinced, and acquiescing entirely in your opinion, that unanimity in our measures is necessary, and the only means by which we can save ourselves. "United we stand, divided we fall."

As in all or most human affairs a successful beginning invigorates the proceedings, and carries them on in triumph, it appears necessary that a plan should be concerted for the whole to act upon, and so concerted, that if it should prove unsuccessful, individuals, who have had virtue enough to oppose the designs of the great, may not fall a sacrifice to their rage or ridicule, but have this for their boast, that they have struggled for and with an honest people.

If you will give me leave to speak my private sentiments upon your proceedings, at your last meeting, both with the deference due to the wisdom of your community, and the freedom of a person anxious in the cause, I will observe, that in a free state, the measure of petitioning the governour for an assembly, would not only have been rational, but might have ensured success. Salus populi is the object at which the supreme legislature must aim, and the existence of a governour (in that capacity) would depend on his having the same point in view. He would naturally have listened to the first proposal from the metropolis, and either have removed groundless fears, or called an assembly to have made known their grievances. This would have been the case in a free state. We are not in that condition. We have in a great measure lost our glory, and therefore I fear that all applications to those who are our oppressors, will not only be fruitless, but

serve to hurt our cause, and discourage us. Our whole dependence, as a people, is on our own wisdom and valour; and if a plan wherein, as I before observed, all can come to act, should be devised, I doubt not it will succeed.

It is previously necessary, as you propose, to know of the judges, whether they will accept or not, and if we have not opportunity, as an assembly, to have their peremptory answer to this question, it appears most proper for a committee from Boston, united with committees from two or three other towns, to wait on them, and in case of an equivocal answer, to look upon it they do intend accepting, and to proceed accordingly.

Should this step, taken by only one town, be treated by the judges with indignity, it would prove discouraging, when in conjunction with several other towns it would have the contrary effect, and serve to animate the whole province.

It appears to me the process is plain, when once this point is determined. When Mr. Pratt was appointed chief judge of New-York, the people were disgusted, and treated him in such manner, that it shortened his life; and should Boston enter into some spirited resolves respecting the judges, precluding them and their posterity from every honour and office that could be conferred on them by the people, holding them up to shame, and withholding every connexion with their families and associates; should these be published in the

newspapers, and each town in the province be desired to express their sense of the matter, in the same public way, I doubt not the judges would come to terms, and replace their dependence on the people; but I do not so much depend on my own opinion, as I shall on your deliberate sentiments, being with great respect and esteem, Dear sir, your most obedient

And humble servant,

ELBRIDGE GERRY.

MR. ADAMS TO MR. GERRY.

BOSTON, Nov. 5, 1772.

MY DEAR SIR,

I received with pleasure your letter of the 2d instant. I was sure you could not but be of opinion that unanimity, in the measures taken by the friends of the country, is of the utmost importance. I must, with great deference to your judgment think, that even in our wretched state, the mode of petitioning the governour will have a good effect. I was aware that his answers would be in the same high tone in which we find them expressed; yet our requests have been so reasonable, that in refusing to comply with them, he must have put himself in the wrong, in the opinion of every honest and sensible man; the consequence