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THE DIARY AND LETTERS 
 
 HIS EXCKLLENCY 
 
 THOMAS HUTCHINSON, Eso., 
 
 B.A. (Habvard), LL-D. (Oxo.h.) 
 
C4i/. HiifcJiimcnT^ 
 
THE 
 
 DIARY AND LETTERS 
 
 OP 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY 
 
 THOMAS HUTCHINSON, Esq., 
 
 B.A. (Habvard), LL.D. (Oxon.), 
 
 CAPTAIN-GENERAL AND QOVERNOR-IN-CBIEF OF 
 
 BIS LATE MAJESTY'S PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAT, 
 
 IN NORTE AMERICA ; 
 
 WITH AN ACCOUNT OF HIS ADMINISTRATION WHEN HE WAS MEMBER AND 
 
 SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND HIS GJOVERN- 
 
 MENT OF THE COLONY DURING THE DIFFICULT PERIOD 
 
 THAT PRECEDED THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 COMPILED FROM THE ORIGINAL DOCDMENTS STILL REMAINING IN 
 THE POSSESSION OF HIS DESCENDANTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 PETER ORLANDO HUTCHINSON, 
 
 OXE OF HIS GREAT-GRANDSONS. 
 
 " Motto for Title-page of a History ot the Revolt of 
 the Coloniee : — 
 
 'I HAVE HOUBISHBD CHILDKRN ANB BBODOHT THEM UP, 
 AND EVEN THET HAVE REVOLTED FROM HE.' — ^Isaiah, I. 
 
 Chap., 2nd verse. Bp. of London's translation." 
 iWrittm on fly-leaf of Oiary.y 
 
 BOSTON: 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN, & CO., 4, PARK STREET. 
 
 1884. 
 
//CORNELL 
 UNIVERSITY, 
 LIBRARY 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This book will fill an important blank in the history of the 
 outbreak of the American Eevolution. There is a manifest 
 gap in the British annals of that period ; and it is remarkable 
 how few English historians have exerted themselves to stop it, 
 or have tried to vindicate their country in the steps she took 
 in that important contest, whilst the industry and the activity 
 continually manifested on the other side, in the number of 
 publications of different sorts that have been put forth and 
 introduced into the English market, have not escaped observa- 
 tion. England followed no course but the one prescribed to 
 her by the laws enacted in Parliament, and having kept to 
 this constitutional line she has had nothing to vindicate. If 
 her governors, who, as the King's representatives, had to sus- 
 tain that authority, had swerved or fallen away from it, they 
 would have become rebels. No servant of the Crown ever 
 received more slander, personal abuse, and misrepresentation, 
 than Thomas Hutchinson in Massachusetts, and yet his de- 
 scendants have allowed a whole century to elapse without 
 making an effort to defend his character. Time will show that 
 it did not need defending, and the delay is an advantage to all 
 parties, for we can now examine the situation calmly and dis- 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 passionately, which it was impossible to do during the pre- 
 valence of political excitement. We would wish, therefore, to 
 speak without offence, and endeavour to re-unite in the bonds 
 of friendship those ties which were unfortunately loosened at 
 the time of the dispute. 
 
 The oval representation of the Hutchinson coat-of-arms at 
 the head of this Preface is a facsimile of a wax impression 
 remaining on a letter in Governor Hutchinson's handwriting, 
 and dated at Milton, near Boston, Massachusetts, on the 6th of 
 February, 1774. He therefore used this seal in America before 
 he undertook his last voyage to England. But as this im- 
 pression has received damage through the vicissitudes of time, 
 the defective parts have been made good by having recourse to 
 some other injured seals that survive on other documents. An 
 old painting of the arms on vellum, of an age unascertained, 
 has come down among a few family odds and ends to the 
 present day, under which there is no motto. It may therefore 
 be concluded that the motto on the seal above was assumed by 
 the Governor at a time when he found that liberty was be- 
 coming too licentious. 
 
 The small quotation at the lower part of the title-page is 
 taken from one of the fly-leaves at the end of the sixth volume 
 of the Diary, as written by himself. We have here a sort of 
 prophetic injunction to use it in case a book should be written. 
 He has quoted, as he says, from the Bishop of London's trans- 
 lation. 
 
 The portrait of Thos. Hutchinson represents him as a young 
 man. The name is a facsimile of his signature to a letter 
 bearing date April 13, 1741, when he was thirty years old. 
 The original painting is said to have been injured with swords, 
 bayonets, and sticks, when the soldiers and the people got free 
 entrance into his country house at Milton ; but it was after- 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 wards repaired, and is now in the rooms of the Historical 
 Society of Massachusetts. Through the kindness of Dr. F. E. 
 Oliver, M.D., of Boston, who had it photographed, we are able 
 to reproduce it here by the Woodburytype process. Family 
 portraits are further alluded to at page 564 of this volume. 
 
 And to the Rev. Dr. Andrew Oliver we are indebted for the 
 picture of their ancestor, the Lieutenant-Governor, an honest 
 man, who suffered for his loyalty, and who claims much of our 
 attention in the following pages. To these gentlemen — whom 
 also the Editor is proud to claim as relatives, inasmuch as his 
 grandmother, Sarah Oliver, was a daughter of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor — and to their obliging exertions, not only for much 
 useful and interesting information conveyed at different times, 
 but also for the trouble they have taken in making this work 
 better known in America, he embraces this opportunity of 
 tendering his grateful acknowledgments. 
 
 The facsimile of the first page of Governor Hutchinson's 
 Diary, to face page 152 of this volume, will give an idea of the 
 general style of his writing. 
 
 In transcribing from the diaries, or copying original letters, 
 or such others as had been transferred into the letter books, 
 the Editor has uniformly felt desirous of making very close 
 copies, as the chief and surest way of gaining the confidence of 
 his readers, having departed little from this line beyond in most 
 cases changing the "&" into "and," so that if any oversights 
 should have crept in, it will have been through inadvertence, 
 for which he should be sorry. In carrying this principle so 
 far as to retain abbreviations, and errors in grammar or spelling, 
 lie is even more scrupulous than what is required by Lord 
 Mahon in his strictures on the duties of Editors, as addressed 
 to Jared Sparkes in the appendix to the sixth volume of his 
 history. But surely it is better to err on the side of exactitude. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 and let a copy be a copy ; for if a transcriber takes liberties 
 with his text in polishing and improving, where is that sort of 
 thing to end? There is one thing, however, that common 
 sense dictates and necessity requires, and that is, to leave out 
 in quoting what is useless or irrelevant. There is nothing in 
 Governor Hutchinson's writings that need be withheld from 
 any living eye ; and where blanks in transcribing occur, it is 
 because the matter was useless, or foreign to the subject, or 
 utterly valueless to retain. 
 
 As this volume treats of a controversial subject, being made 
 up of materials which support the constitutional principles of 
 the Mother Country against the aspirations of her Colonies, it 
 is possible that some parts of it may offend the susceptibilities 
 of those who upheld the latter ; but on considering the whole 
 question, we are disposed to think that before they reach the 
 concluding chapters they will feel that it is pretty fair on both 
 sides. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 6, line 22, for "just " read " quite." 
 
 „ 7 „ 26, add this foot-noto, " f See forward, p. 133, account of the 
 
 funeral." 
 „ 7 „ 30, for " whilst the Dutch," read " the Dutch too." 
 » 8 „ 2, for " bound " read " formed." 
 „ 8 ,, 26, for "by the fall "read "in the faU." 
 „ 13 „ 17, for " behind him," read " in Europe." The same at p. 335. 
 » 36 reverse the f and ♦. 
 
 „ 121 „ 17, for " John " read " Jonathan." 
 » 122 dele lowest note. See note, p. 136, 
 
 „ 149, at the bottom, strike out " Mr. Copley," to the full stop, and read 
 
 " Her sister was married to Sir Grenville Temple, Bt., 
 
 and there was one other sister." 
 „ 152, last line, for "but unfavorable" read "but not unfavorable." 
 „ 161, line 4, for " Winthorp " read " Winthrop." 
 „ 282 „ 10, for " reveal " read " reveals." 
 „ 379 „ 6, for " have so far " read " have now so far." 
 „ 445 „ 4 from bottom, for " it is past doubt that it must be,' read " it 
 
 is past doubt that he was sorry it must be." 
 „ 457 „ 24, for " the Americans " read " America." 
 „ 457 „ 29, for " thousand over " read " thousand troops over." 
 „ 466 „ 25, for " Mr. Nat Taylor, Mr. Head " read " Mr. Nat Taylor has 
 
 my letters, who, with Mr. Joe Taylor, Mr. Head," &c. 
 „ 524 „ 15, for " Towers is it," read " Towers yet is it." 
 
DIAEY AND LETTEKS 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The great eventa of history, though they may grow old, never 
 become Vvholly obsolete. Great facts are always facts, and 
 they stand out like landmarks before our eyes whenever we 
 look back at the annals of our past career. Was it nothing for 
 England to lose an extent of prosperous Colonies vastly greater 
 than herself, in spite of all her efforts to retain them ? And 
 was it a thing to be forgotten that these Colonies, by sheer 
 fighting, should have achieved their independence, and have 
 established themselves into a sepatate state, in the face of 
 extraordinary and enormous dif^culties? If the Americans 
 were elated with their victory, their boasting, though not very 
 becoming, need cause no astonishment in Europe. Truly, it 
 was something for them to be proud of. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Anburey, an officer in Burgoyne's army, who 
 went through the American campaign, thus gives vent to his 
 sentiments : " If we take a view of the strength and resources 
 of Great Britain at the commencement of hostilities, and 
 contrast these with the weakness and almost total inability 
 of the revolting Colonies, we shall have reason to conclude that 
 the termination of the war in favour of the latter, with their 
 final separation from the British Empire, was one of those 
 extraordinary and unexpected events which in the course of 
 human affairs rarely occurs, and bids defiance to all human 
 foresight and calculation." 
 
2 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 Parents often forget that their children, whom a few fleeting 
 summers ago they had reared and put to school, have since 
 grown up to man's estate and woman's maturity ; and England 
 forgot that her Colony was no longer willing to continue in 
 leading-strings, and nerer imagined that she was strong enough 
 to break loose from them. The parent coaxed, caressed, 
 admonished, warned, threatened, and finally began to chastise 
 her rebellious child; but in an unnatural contest the child 
 turned against the parent, and eventually prevailed. It is 
 now a century complete since these momentous events took 
 place ; but the writer of these lines has conversed in America 
 with those who witnessed the riots in Boston before the war 
 began, and met with one who saw the tnmult at the funeral of 
 Lieutenant-Governor Andrew Oliver, and with those who took 
 part in the great struggle during its continuance. This seems 
 to bring the two ends of the hundred years pretty close 
 together. To most modern readers, however, the subject is not 
 so familiar ; and it may be well, therefore, to give some slight 
 sketch of the early Plantations, and of the vicissitudes through 
 which they passed. 
 
 Massachusetts was amongst the first to receive the adven- 
 turous Pilgrims, who, having fled from old tyrannies in England, 
 soon proceeded to practise new tyrannies in America, " Having," 
 as Stedman says, "just escaped from persecution themselves, 
 they, in their turn, became intolerant."* They crossed the 
 ocean for liberty of conscience and greater liberty of action • 
 and if they flattered themselves that by this move they had 
 got beyond the reach of the laws of England, they forgot that- 
 they were carrying this very power in their pockets along with 
 their charter, which had been framed under the statutes of the 
 realm ; and the allusion that we shall presently make to several 
 Acts of Parliament passed during the reigns of the Charleses 
 William and Mary, Anne, and the Georges, to take effect in 
 the Colonies, will show that they lived, and prospered, and 
 increased under the authority of this constitutional power. It 
 is well to keep this in sight, because in after times, with a 
 strange disregard to truth, they declared that they were not 
 * Stedman's ' Hist, of the American War,' i. 8. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 3 
 
 living under the control of the English Parliament — and that 
 they never had. The numerous ramifications of the quarrel, 
 like scattered rays, at last converged towards this one point of 
 dispute. But of all this further on. We must take things in 
 their order. 
 
 " The Puritans, oppressed by the Act of Uniformity, crossed 
 the Atlantic and founded New England, where a tyranny, as 
 fantastic as it was ingenious, oppressed every one who dared to 
 differ from Puritan views of right and wrong." The severity of 
 their whole polity seems to have been based rather upon the 
 stern and rigid tenets of the Old Testament, than upon the 
 more merciful teaching of the New.* The love of liberty, or 
 the love of self-will — for there is not much difference with some 
 people — led them to seek new pastures in the far West ; and the 
 first charter of foundation which they took with them was 
 dated March 4, an. 4 of Charles I., and it recites that the late 
 King James gave to the Council at Plymouth, in England, all 
 that part of North America, from sea to sea, lying between the 
 40th parallel of latitude on the south, which parallel, it may 
 be remarked, passes from Philadelphia westward towards 
 Columbus, Springfield, Wyaconda, Long's Peak, Utah Lake, 
 to Point Delgado on the Pacific ; and the 48th degree on the 
 north, which in like manner runs westward from St. John's in 
 Newfoundland, by Quebec, Lake Superior, Dacota, Montana, 
 to the sea a little to the south of Vancouver's Island,t — " To 
 be holden of our said dear royal father, . . . yielding and 
 paying therefore to the said late king, his heirs and successors, 
 one fifth part of the gould and silver which should . . . 
 happen to be found," &c. This is an early instance of the 
 supremacy of the Mother Country. And the Plymouth 
 Council, under the King, granted, March 19, 3, Ch. I., to Sir 
 Henry Rosewell and others, all that part of New England 
 
 * " In short, this people, who in England could not bear to be chastised 
 with rods, had no sooner got free from their fetters than they scourged their 
 fellow refugees with scorpions; though the absurdity as well aa injustice of 
 such proceeding in them might stare them in the face." — Burke's Works, 
 ii. 148 ; Byerson, i. 123. 
 
 t This. charter is printed in the Collection of Original Papers drawn 
 together and published in Boston by Governor Hutchinson in 1769. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOSINSON. 
 
 lying between a parallel at three miles north of the river 
 Merrimack, and another parallel at three miles south of Charles 
 river in Massachusetts Bay, . . . " To be houlden of us, our 
 heirs and successors . . . yielding and paying . . . the fifth 
 part of the oure of gould and silver. . . . We do give and 
 grant . . . full power and authority ... to make laws and 
 ordinances . . . so as such laws and ordinances be not contrary 
 or repugnant to the laws and statutes of this our realme of 
 England. . . . And without paying or yeelding any custome 
 or subsidie either inward or outward to us, our heirs or succes- 
 sors for the same, by the space of seven yeares, from the day 
 of the date of these presents . . . and from all taxes and 
 impositions for the space of twenty and one yeares, upon all 
 goods and merchandises, at any time or times hereafter, either 
 upon importation thither, or exportation from thence . . . 
 except only the five pounds per centum due for custome, upon 
 all such goods and merchandises, as after the said seven yeares 
 shall be expired," &c. 
 
 The superintending power of England in making these 
 arrangements is plain enough; and whilst England by this 
 power remits the payment of certain customs and subsidies in 
 the one case for the space of seven years, in the other she 
 remits all taxes and impositions for the space of twenty-one 
 years, by which exercise of authority she retains the power of 
 levying them at the termination of those two several terms. 
 She keeps to herself the right of taxation, but only exercises it 
 when she sees fit. 
 
 By an Act of Parliament passed in the year 1650, it was 
 declared, concerning the Colonies and Plantations in America, 
 that they had, "ever since the planting thereof, been and 
 ought to be subject to such laws, orders and regulations as are 
 or shall be made by the Parliament of England."* 
 
 "I have already shown that, by your first charter, this 
 province was to be subject to taxation after the lapse of 
 
 * See ' Massachusettensis ; or, A Series of Letters,' &c. By a Person of 
 Honor on the spot. Boston, 1776. Fourth Edition, page 77. This very 
 loyal friend and vigorous writer in the cause of Government was called Daniel 
 . Leonard. 
 
BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 5 
 
 twenty-one years, and that the authority of Parliament to 
 impose such taxes was claimed so early as the year 1642." * 
 
 " By an Act of Parliament, made in the twenty-fifth year of 
 the reign of Charles the Second, duties are laid upon goods and 
 merchandise of various kinds, exported from the Colonies to 
 foreign countries, or carried from one Colony to another, 
 payable on exportation." In support of this assertion the Act 
 is quoted.f Extracts from other Acts are also given ; as an 
 Act of the 7th and 8th of William and Mary, which says: 
 " that every seaman whatsoever that shall serve his Majesty 
 . . . shall allow, and there shall be paid out of the wages of 
 every such seaman, to grow due for such his service, six pence 
 per annum for the better support of tlie said hospital, and to 
 augment the revenue thereof." This tax was levied in the 
 Plantations down to the period of the outbreak of hostilities. 
 
 An Act of the 9th of Queen Anne, for establishing a Post 
 Office, and for collecting the revenues thereof in Great Britain 
 and Ireland and the Colonies, states, among other objects and 
 regulations, " that the business may be done in such manner as 
 may be most beneficial to the people of these kingdoms, and 
 Her Majesty may be supplied, and the revenue arising by the 
 said office better improved, settled, and secured to Her Majesty, 
 her heirs and successors." t 
 
 By an Act of the 6th of George II. a duty is laid on all 
 foreign rum, molasses, syrups, sugars, and paneles, to be raised, 
 levied, collected, and paid unto and for the use of His Majesty, 
 his heirs and successors. The preamble of an Act of the 
 4th of George III. declares that, " It is just and necessary that 
 a revenue in America, for defraying the expenses of defending, 
 protecting, and securing the same," &c. 
 
 It is not necessary further to multiply authorities. • Massa- 
 chusettensis ' sums up the evidence in the following words: "It 
 is evident that the Parliament has been in the actual, uninter- 
 
 * • Massachusettensis,' p. 78, and Eyerson's ' Loyalists of America," i. 290, 
 2nd edition. 
 
 t Ihid., p. 79. 
 
 X Ibid., p. 81. Dr. Franklin, was a servant of the Crown, and as Deputy- 
 PostmastcF-General superintended the collection of this revenue, until he was 
 dismissed for transmitting Governor Hutchinson's purloined letters to America. 
 
6 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 rupted use and exercise of the right claimed by them to raise 
 a revenue in America, from a period more remote than the 
 grant of the present charter to this day " ; and " the claim of 
 that right is as ancient as the Colonies themselves."* 
 
 Judge Ourwen, in his Journal, quotes a sentiment written in 
 1763 by James Otis, then a loyal man, but subsequently a 
 bitter opponent of the English Government. It runs thus: 
 " No other constitution of civil government had yet appeared 
 in the world so admirably adapted to the preservation of the 
 good purposes of liberty and knowledge, as that of Great 
 Eritain. Every person in America is, of common right, by 
 Acts of Parliament and the laws of God, entitled to all the 
 essential privileges of Britons. The true interests of Great 
 Britain and her Colonies are mutual ; and what God, in His 
 providence, has united, let no man dare attempt to pull 
 asunder." t And yet no man tried to get a divorce more 
 determinedly than he did. In 1765 he writes : " It is certain 
 that the Parliament of Great Britain hath a just, clear, 
 equitable, and constitutional right, power, and authority to 
 bind the Colonies by all Acts wherein they are named. Every 
 lawyer, nay, every tyro, knows this." But what was "just, 
 clear, equitable, and constitutional" in 1765, was just the 
 contrary in 1775. 
 
 The following is one of the paragraphs in the Address of the 
 Assembly of Massachusetts, sitting at Boston, presented to 
 Governor Pownall in 1757: "The authority of all Acts of 
 Parliament which concern the Colonies, and extend to them, is 
 ever acknowledged in all the courts of law, and made the rule 
 of all judicial proceedings in the Province. There is not a 
 Member of the General Court, and we know no inhabitant 
 within the bounds of the Government that ever questioned this 
 authority." J 
 
 • ' Massachusettensis,' p. 82. On what ground-s then did Pitt in 1766 
 exclaim — " I will now say thus much, that in my opinion this kingdom has 
 no right to lay a tax upon the Colonies"? We may open our eyes in astonish- 
 ment. See also Lord Mahon's Hist., ch. (xlv.) p. 131. 
 
 t ' Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwen, Judge of Admiralty in America ' 
 p. 19. 
 
 % Hutchinson's ' Hist, of Mass.,' iii. 66. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOEINSOK 7 
 
 There is no occasion to quote further to show how thoroughly 
 and universally the supremacy of the English Parliament was 
 acknowledged by the local legislatures and the leading men 
 in the Colonies ; yet, only a few short years after, these very 
 men were busy in denying all the principles they had before 
 upheld — in trying to put new constructions upon old laws, in 
 order to alter the sense of them — in poisoning the minds of the 
 ignorant by factious and rebellious insinuations — by preaching 
 against submission to a distant country — ^by holding up rulers 
 and dignities to contempt — and by disseminating the seeds 
 of unbridled liberty and licentiousness amongst the mob. They 
 opposed, insulted, and threatened Governor Bernard for en- 
 deavouring, as a faithful servant, to check this spirit of 
 lawlessness; and when his successor, Governor Hutchinson, ». 
 endeavoured to continue the Administration upon the constitu- 
 tional lines, as regulated by the statutes above mentioned, they 
 left no measures untried to ruin him in his character and in his 
 fortunes, ending only at last by sacking his house in Boston, 
 and confiscating all his estates in different parts of the 
 Province ; and as bad men have no other way of justifying 
 bad actions but falsehood, they tried to delude the people into 
 the belief that he was a tyrant and an oppressor ; and including 
 the loyal and worthy Lieutenant-Governor, Andrew Oliver, in 
 their persecutions, they shortened his days by their violence, 
 and gave three cheers over his coffin when it was lowered into 
 the grave.* 
 
 Whilst the English were colonising the bays and creeks of 
 Massachusetts, the French were settling Canada and numerous 
 parts of all the north-eastern portions of America, away to 
 Nova Scotia and the St. Lawrence; whilst the Dutch were 
 forming stations in Connecticut and at New York. Even in 
 time of peace the neighbourhood of these nationalities on 
 a long and ill-defined frontier was not always conducive to 
 good fellowship, and in time of war furnished occasion for many 
 
 ♦ These are sad thiags, and we are afraid they are too true ; but we do 
 the modem Americans the justice to say, that they are so enlightened and 
 so generous in their sentimeuts, and are now so free from the old party pre- 
 judices, that they can lament the excesses of their ancestors quite as much as 
 the English can do. 
 
8 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 acts of hostility and bloodshed. So insecure was the position 
 of the Massachusetts people, that they soon bound themselves 
 into associations for military defence; and the fostering care of 
 the Mother Country was liberal in lending her assistance in the 
 form of ships, troops, and money. This insecurity from 
 European settlers was not the full extent of the danger. The 
 wild Indians were numerous during the early years of colonisa- 
 tion ; and naturally jealous and angry at having their hunting- 
 grounds diminished, and seeing the whites increasing in 
 numbers and advancing upon their lands, sometimes in rather 
 an unceremonious way, lost no opportunity of cutting off 
 stragglers and outsiders. From their savage habits in their 
 modes of warfare, the terror of falling into their hands was 
 greater than that of being captured by the French or the 
 Dutch. These different species of enemies were quite enough 
 when taken singly ; but on the outbreak of open war it was 
 not unusual for the white races to employ the natives as 
 auxiliaries. This practice had been frequently denounced both 
 by writers and speakers as cruel and unnecessary ; and some 
 military commanders hesitated to draft so savage an element 
 into their armies from motives of humanity.* After more 
 than a century passed in coping with these surrounding diffi- 
 culties, the war undertaken for the reduction of Canada, 
 promoted by the fleets and armies of the King of England, 
 together with large bodies of provincial troops, culminated 
 victoriously by the fall of Quebec, of Montreal, and eventually 
 of the whole of Canada in 1763. On the happy termination of 
 this anxious struggle, the power of England in defending her 
 Colonies is thankfully acknowledged by the local legislatures 
 to the Mother Country. Governor Bernard, in his speech to 
 the Assembly, observed : " ^o other nation upon earth could 
 have delivered them from the power they had to contend 
 with " J and the Council, in their Address in reply, said, that 
 
 * Anburey, i. 280. Adolphus, ' Hist, of Eng.,' ii. 459. When I was in 
 America I saw a Pequod or Pequot Indian, said to be the last of his tribe. 
 He was giving lectures in New York on Indian history and traditions. The 
 map in Palfrey's history places the Peqiiots to the west of Providence, Rhode 
 Island. From a note made at the time I see that the Pequot's name was 
 Gos-kuk-wa-na-kon-nc-di-yii. 
 
DIARY AKD LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOHINSON. 9 
 
 "to their relation to Great Britain they owe their present 
 freedom." They " are sensible of the blessing derived to the 
 British Colonies from their subjection to Great Britain," &o.* 
 
 The satisfactory result of this war, and the pacification of 
 the Dutch, had now in a great measure freed the Americans 
 from dangers that had long threatened them on all sides ; for 
 as soon as these formidable neighbours had been removed from 
 the position of enemies, the Indians had no allies to run to ; 
 and as their numbers, by a strange fatality, were year by year 
 diminishing before the onward march of the European races, 
 peace and quiet were given to the land. It has been remarked, 
 rather to the prejudice of the Americans, that as soon as they 
 were free from these surrounding alarms they began to rebel. 
 The leisure furnished by this feeling of security gave oppor- 
 tunity for reconsidering the situation. It became evident that 
 many reforms were needed. It had been an oversight to have 
 paid rates and taxes to England so long, or as Adolphus puts 
 it : " Submission to Acts of Parliament made in England was 
 an inadvertence which ought to be corrected." f 
 
 Massachusettensis reflected on them for their ingratitude : — 
 " For what has she protected and defended the Colonies against 
 the maritime powers of Europe, from their first British settle- 
 ment to this day ? For what did she purchase New York of 
 the Dutch ? For what was she so lavish of her best blood and 
 treasure in the conquest of Canada, and other territories in 
 America ? Was it to raise up a rival State, or to enlarge her 
 own empire ?"t And again, "Has not the Government of 
 Great Britain been as mild and equitable in the Colonies as in 
 any part of her extensive dominions ? Has she not been a 
 nursing mother to us from the days of our infancy to this time ? 
 Has she not been indulgent almost to a fault ? " &c.§ 
 
 " We, in America," said Mr. Otis, " have certainly abundant 
 reasons to rejoice. The heathen are not only driven out, but 
 the Canadians, much more formidable enemies, are conquered, 
 and become fellow subjects," || and so on. 
 
 * HutcWnson's ' Hist, of Mass. Bay,' iii. 83. 
 
 t Adolphus's ' Hist, of Kng.,' ii. 153. 
 
 X ' Massachusettensis,' p. 4. § Ihid., p. 7. 
 
 II nutchinson'i- - Hist, of Mass.,' iii. 101. 
 
10 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 " The conquests made in America during the late war, and 
 ceded to us at the peace, had so greatly extended the line of 
 our frontier, that it became necessary to keep up a considerable 
 number of additional forces to secure it. At the close of a war 
 which, however glorious, had wasted our people, and nearly 
 doubled our debt, we could but ill-support the expense of men 
 and money requisite for this new establishment. To relieve us 
 in some degree from a burden, to which we submitted for their 
 service, it was thought reasonable to expect that the Americans 
 should contribute towards the expense we had charged ourselves 
 with for the subsistence of those troops, whose pay, even after 
 that contribution, would still be a heavy drain upon the specie 
 of this country." * 
 
 Having been thus nurtured and protected for upwards of a 
 hundred years, perhaps some feelings of filial gratitude miglit 
 have been expected to have taken root in American soil. 
 " They who thus flourish under the protection of our Govern- 
 ment," wrote Dr. Johnson,t " should contribute something 
 towards its expense." And again, " I should gladly see 
 America return half of what England has expended in her 
 
 v/ defence." i And such an expectation would perhaps have been 
 not very unreasonable, inasmuch as when the Colonies were at 
 expenses in their wars, they received compensation, and were 
 indemnified by the Mother Country. " Wherever the Colonies 
 have exerted themselves in a war, though in their own defence, 
 to a greater degree than their proportion with the rest of the 
 empire, they have been reimbursed by the parliamentary 
 grants. This was the case in the last war with this pro- 
 vince."! They would accept the parliamentary grants, but 
 
 ■/they would not accept the parliamentary statutes. 
 
 It was not until after the Canadian war that the spirit of 
 independence and the rude hostility against taxation assumed 
 large proportions.! After that event, the Americans declared 
 
 * ' A Complaint,' &c., p. 18. London, 1775. 
 
 t ' Taxation no Tyranny,' p. 6. 
 
 i lUd., p. 65. 
 
 § Ibid., p. 97. 
 
 II " They founded their pretensions of being free from taxation by the 
 British Parliament upon the broadest basis that they could assume — their 
 rights as men." — Stcdman's Hist., i. 22. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 11 
 
 that a new system of polity had been adopted against them — 
 " a system of statutes and regulations adopted since the war." 
 They complained that whilst they readily submitted to external 
 taxation for the regulation of trade, they objected to a new 
 species of personal and internal taxation levied for purposes of 
 imperial revenue. But as taxes are taxes, and ultimately differ 
 but little in their nature, objects, and destination, this nice 
 distinction was soon looked upon as little else than an excuse 
 for something to cavil over. They petitioned the king for a^ 
 redress of their grievances, using the most loyal and devoted 
 terms towards his Majesty's throne and person, but casting 
 unmeasured censure against the Ministry, and especially against 
 the Governors in the Colonies. " The Americans," said Lord 
 North, in one of his speeches to Parliament, " had originally no 
 objection to submit to the authority of the Crown, but objected 
 to the interference of Parliament." And Mr. Frothingham 
 utters a similar sentiment when he writes : " Their allegiance 
 to the Crown did not include an admission of the supremacy of < 
 Parliament." * And " the people were the subjects of a distant 
 monarch, and royalty was merely in theory with them." f 
 Leonard speaks of the novelty of this rising spirit of unbridled 
 freedom. " The Parliament has from the earliest days of the.^ 
 Colonies claimed the lately controverted right both of legisla- 
 tion and taxation, and for more than a century has been in the 
 exercise of it."t 
 
 Bancroft quotes a letter in which "this new doctrine of 
 independence " is commented on,§ and it would be laughable, 
 if it were not lamentable, only to see with what ingenuity of 
 speech or of pen old beliefs are argued away, and new ones are 
 attempted to be justified in their stead. To those who study 
 human nature — which generally means the faults and frailties 
 thereof — it must be manifest that people rarely reason with 
 their reasoning powers, but rather reason with their likes and 
 their dislikes ; or, to put it more correctly, they only argue 
 
 ' ' Hist, of the Siege of Boston,' 4th ed., p. 1. This would be a creditable 
 book if it were not so overloaded with boast, tall talk, and self-glorification, 
 t Md., p. 19, and Tudor's ' Otis,' p. 444. 
 X • Massachusettensis,' p. 103. 
 § Bancroft's ' Hist, of the American Revolution,' iii. 463. 
 
12 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 with their predilections and their prejudices, and not as the 
 result of their sober reflection. It is sometimes a matter of 
 painful admiration to see how much trouble clever people will 
 take to make black look like white, and white look like black. 
 The existence and the authority of the old statutes was not 
 denied, except by those who were ignorant of the early history 
 of their young country, but a new reading was ingeniously given 
 to them. The reviewer of ' The Controversy between Great 
 Britain and Her Colonies ' * remarks — " But what is due 
 obedience is a matter in which they and the people of England 
 differ exceedingly ; and the committees chose to reserve to the 
 Colonies their own construction of the terms, while they hoped 
 the people of England would be led to believe they agreed 
 with them in theirs." 
 
 Dr. Franklin, writing before 1760, says: "Happy as we 
 now are under the best of kings, and in the prospect of a 
 succession promising every felicity a nation was ever blessed 
 with," t yet, fifteen lines lower down, he uses such words as 
 ^-" the apprehension of dangers so remote as that of the future 
 independence of our colonies" — expressions which show that, 
 even before the subjugation of Canada, the idea of the in- • 
 dependence of the Colonies had evidently been mooted, though 
 deprecated by loyal men, of which he was then one.J But 
 there were those who were willing to disseminate the young 
 idea among the people, for at first the agitators were but few. 
 " The revolution," says Frothingham, p. 32, " was no unanimous 
 work ; and the closer it is studied, the more difficult and the 
 more hazardous it will be found to have been. In Boston the 
 Opposition, the Tories, were respectable in number, and strong 
 in character and ability." Looking at their charter with new 
 spectacles, they read some of its clauses in novel and contorted 
 
 * London, 1769, p. 27. 
 
 t ' The Interest of Great Britain considered with regard to her Colonies,' 
 &c., p. 15. London, 1760. 
 
 X Byerson, i. 2, speaking of the government of the Puritans, says it was 
 " an intolerant persecutor of all religionists who did not adopt its worship, and 
 disloyal from the beginning to the Government from which it held its charter." 
 He says further, at i. 128, " The rulers of Massachusetts Bay Colony were dis- 
 affected to the.king from the beginning." 
 
DIART AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 13 
 
 meanings ; and they put a new construction upon certain parts 
 of it to suit their altered views, such as had never been intended 
 by the original framers, even to the denial of the power of the 
 English Parliament over them. " From King William's days 
 to these, the oldest man living never heard of this interpretation. 
 That never before these days was a doubt made of the supreme 
 authority of Parliament over every part of the empire," * &c. 
 They refused to be taxed because they were not represented, 
 yet they admitted through the Congress at Philadelphia, in 
 their address to the inhabitants of Great Britain, that they 
 could not be represented as they were situated. " We are not 
 represented, and from our local and other circumstances cannot 
 properly be represented."! But Dr. Johnson tells us and them 
 that when the Pilgrims took ship and quitted the shores of 
 England, they turned their backs upon this very privilege. 
 " He who goes voluntarily to America cannot complain of losing 
 what he leaves behind him. He had, perhaps, a right to vote 
 for a knight or burgess ; by crossing the Atlantic he has not 
 nullified his right, for he has made its exertion no longer 
 possible. By his own choice he has left a country where he 
 had a vote and little property, for another where he has greats 
 property but no vote." % And " What their ancestors did not 
 carry with them, neither they nor their descendants have since 
 acquired." § And further, "The Americans have voluntarily 
 resigned the power of voting, to live in distant and separate 
 governments ; and what they have voluntarily quitted they 
 have no right to claim." || 
 
 But Franklin surveyed the situation from a different point 
 of view, and spoke thus — " In removing to America, a country 
 out of the realm, they did not carry with them the statutes 
 then existing."! He calls America "a country out of the 
 realm "; but another Massachusetts man wrote thus : " However 
 
 * • The Letters of Gov. Hutchinson and Lieut.-Gov. Oliver, and Remarks, 
 with the Assemhly's Address,' &o., p. 62. London, 1774. 
 t ' The Declaration by the Representatives,' &c., p. 11. London, 1775. 
 X ' Taxation no Tyranny,' p. 38. 
 § Ihid., p. 41. 
 I! Ihid., p. 50. V 
 T Bigelow's • Life of B. Franklin,' 1879, vol. ii., 208. 
 
14 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. 
 
 closely we may hug ourselves in the opinion tliat the Parlia- 
 ment has no right to tax or legislate for us, the people of 
 England hold the contrary opinion as firmly ; they tell us we 
 are a part of the British Empire." * And as to carrying the 
 statutes with them, Franklin continues : " For if they did the 
 Puritans must have been subject there [in America] to the 
 same grievous Act of Conformity, tythes, spiritual courts, &c., 
 which they meant to be free from by going thither," &c. 
 Franklin makes a little mistake here, by only half meeting the 
 facts of the case. He is right in saying that they went beyond 
 the reach of some of these Acts, but he passes by the fact that 
 they took with them the legal superintending powers contained 
 in their charters enacted in England. 
 
 In his speech to the Council and Representatives on the 
 6th of January, 1773, Mr. Hutchinson observed, amongst other 
 things, "That when our predecessors first took possession of 
 this Colony, it was their sense, or the sense of the kingdom, 
 that they were to remain subject to the supreme authority of 
 Parliament." f This, however, the Assembly denies. " Nor 
 can we," they say, " find that this appears from the charter ; 
 or that such authority has ever been exercised by Parliament, 
 submitted to by the Colony, or acknowledged by the legisla- 
 ture." And further, "But if supreme authority includes 
 unlimited authority [which was never intended], the subjects 
 of it are emphatically slaves : and equally so, whether residing 
 in the Colonies or Great Britain." Again, " Supreme, or 
 unlimited authority, can with Gtness belong only to the 
 Sovereign of the universe." This was artfully said to frighten 
 the unthinking; for every one knows that in a limited 
 monarchy like England, there is no such thing as unlimited 
 authority. The word supreme here meant no more than chief 
 authority. 
 
 Thus do men argue according to their predilections. The 
 art of arguing is the art of mystification. Political theories 
 were becoming as perplexed and perplexing as religious theories 
 
 * ' Massachusettensis,' p. 3. 
 
 t ' The Speeches of His Excellency Governor Hutchinson to the General 
 Assembly, &c., with the Answers,' &c. Boston, 1773. Condensed in Hutch 
 *Hist. ofMass.,'iii. 372. 
 
DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOEINSON. 15 
 
 had been a century before. Henry Vane, William Coddington, 
 John Wheelright, Eoger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, " the she 
 Gamaliel," as Hubbard calls her,* were blown about by every 
 wind of doctrine, until they themselves scarcely knew what 
 their beliefs really were ; and in later times the zealous 
 propounders of political theories, in some cases with rather wild 
 notions of liberty, broached speculations on rule and govera- 
 ment of such extreme natures, as to confuse themselves as much 
 as they astonished some of their soberer neighbours.f 
 
 Yet the Americans were not wholly wrong, and the Mother 
 Country not entirely right. The parent was treating her 
 grown-up child as if it were still in the nursery. That is the • 
 secret of the whole quarrel. 
 
 In the speech of the 6th of January, 1773, above quoted, the <-• 
 Governor says : " I know of no line that can be drawn between 
 the supreme authority of Parliament and the total independence 
 of the Colonies t .... If we might be suffered to be 
 altogether independent of Great Britain, could we have any 
 claim to the protection of that government, of which we then 
 are no longer a part ? Without this protection should we not 
 become a prey of one or the other powers of Europe, such as 
 should first seize upon us ? Is there anything which we have 
 more reason to dread than independence ? I hope it will never 
 be our misfortune to know by experience the difference between 
 the liberties of an English Colonist, and those of the Spanish, 
 French, or Dutch." § 
 
 The American leaders, however, were settling down upon 
 the idea of absolute freedom, and, regardless of all considera- 
 tions, they were hurrying their followers on to it. Dr. Warren, 
 afterwards killed at Bunker Hill, commending the spirit of the 
 
 * Hubbard's Hist., ch. 43. 
 
 t Governor Bernard, in his 'Select Letters on IVade,' remarks: "There 
 was no fixed idea of the relation between Great Britain and America." In 
 Letter IX., p. 32, he says : " It is my opinion that all the political evils in 
 America arise from the want of ascertaining the relation between Great 
 Britain and the American Colonies." 
 
 ± He was very much abused for this remark at the time, but its accuracy 
 was afterwards acknowledged. 
 
 § From various remarks in ' Diaries and Letters further on, it is plain 
 that most Englishmen thought that if the Colonies were free they would be 
 immediately pounced upon by one of the nations mentioned. 
 
16 BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 debates in the General Court, called them " worthy of a people 
 determined to be free." And Samuel Adams exclaimed, 
 " Independent we are, and independent we will be." * This 
 was plain and straightforward, and for that reason far to be 
 preferred to the sophistry, false reasoning, and untruth of the 
 majority of the popular declaimers. 
 
 If we study the behaviour of the different Colonies during their 
 early history, we shall see that Massachusetts generally dis- 
 t^tinguished herself by manifestations of the greatest impatience 
 under control. Edmund Burke, who undertook to discourse 
 very largely on these subjects, made the strange mistake of 
 saying that the love of excessive liberty first showed itself 
 strongest in the southern Colonies.f Even so early as the time 
 of the Mayflower in 1620, when her crew and passengers were 
 preparing to step out on the shores of Massachusetts — " Some 
 of the strangers among them had let fall from them in the 
 ship, that, when they came ashore, they would use their own 
 liberty," &c.,t thus showing how soon the air of that country 
 made them pant to be free. 
 
 " The New England Provinces are the most violent in their 
 principles of rebellion," says Anburey.§ 
 
 "The clamour and threatenings were greatest in the New 
 England provinces ; and in them, as on all former occasions, 
 the first forcible resistance to the [tea] Act of Parliament was 
 made." || And again, " In the province of Massachusetts Bay, 
 y^ihe authority of the British Parliament had been first called in 
 question : in the same province the first actual opposition to 
 that authority was made ; and there it was destined that 
 hostilities should first commence between the Mother Country 
 and her Colonies." IT 
 
 " This province began it — I might say this town [Boston] — 
 for here the arch-rebels formed their scheme long ago."** 
 
 * Hutch. Hist., iii. 265. 
 
 t His speech of March 22, 1775, p. 29, the whole speech being 102. 
 
 X Palfrey's Hist., vol. i., p. 164, note. 
 
 § Anburey's Travels, i. 310. 
 
 II Stedman's Hist., i. 86. 
 
 t lUd., i. 115. 
 
 *♦ Gen. Gage to Lord Dartmouth, in Froth. Hist., p. 234. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 17 
 
 "The town of Boston had been the chief seat of the 
 opposition." * 
 
 " Boston, above all, took the lead in such tumultiiory pro- 
 ceedings." t 
 
 " The Massachusetts patriots were never more determined to 
 resist the new Acts of Parliament, and were never more confident 
 of their ability to maintain their ground, than at the com- 
 mencement of the new year," 1775. % 
 
 " Opposition to authority is of so long standing, that it is^ 
 become habitual." § 
 
 It is hard to argue with people animated by such feelings, 
 and strengthened by unbending determination. 
 
 Sergeant Lamb, of the Eoyal Welsh Fusiliers, who went 
 through part of the struggle in America, ascribes the revolt to 
 the intrigues and the instigations of the French, smarting under 
 the defeat of being driven out of Canada, and ready to foment 
 any revolutionary changes that would weaken England, when, 
 perhaps, in the scramble, they miglit lay hold of something. 
 The conquest of Canada was conducted during the administration 
 of Governor Shirley, and nearly completed under that of his 
 successor. Governor Thomas Pownall. The English Govern- 
 ment assisted the Colonies in the expenses consequent on these 
 military operations. " The generous compensations which had 
 been made by Parliament, not only alleviated the burden of 
 taxes, which otherwise would have been heavy, but by the 
 importation of such large sums of specie increased commerce ; 
 and it was the opinion of some, that the war added to the 
 wealth of the province, though the compensation did not 
 amount to one-half of the charges of the Government." || 
 
 Mr. Pownall rather sympathised with the popular movement, 
 as far as his position as the King's representative would allow. 
 After his services in America had terminated, he returned to 
 England and entered Parliament. 
 
 * Hutch. Hist., iii. 257. 
 
 t Lord Mahon's Hist., ch. xlv., p. 124. 
 
 X Froth. Hist., p. 45. 
 
 § Gen. Gage to Lord Dartmouth, in Froth. Hist., p. 17, note. See also 
 'A Short View of the History of the New England Colonies,' by Israel 
 Mauduit, 4th edit., p. h. I.onilon, 1776. 
 
 II Hutch. Hist., iii. 79. 
 
 
 
18 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOEINSON. 
 
 Governor Francis Bernard, who assumed ofHce in 1760, and 
 who was eventually made a baronet for his services, used all 
 constitutional means for checking the now rapid strides that 
 republican principles were making. It was not long before 
 the leaders of the opposition, by inflammatory speeches, and 
 appeals to the worst passions of human nature, succeeded in 
 breaking the charm that commonly hangs over a new-comer to 
 a high place, so that his situation was soon rendered uneasy. 
 The more he upheld the authority of the King and the Parlia- 
 ment, the worse he was treated, and his administration eventually 
 became one of trouble and difficulty. There were a thousand 
 ways of obstructing constitutional measures that could not be 
 classed as rebellion, and hard to be proved as treason. But a 
 struggle of this sort, which for a time may be conducted with 
 an outward show of courtesy, at last degenerates into a quarrel 
 of rudeness and violence. Most dishonourable was one course 
 resorted to.* Copies of his letters to the home ministry, 
 deemed private and confidential, were procured in England, - 
 sent out, and published in America, in order " to raise the fury 
 of the people against him." f 
 
 By the year 1774 the Americans were convinced in their 
 own minds that they were very miserable — and those who 
 think so are so. There is nothing so easy as to persuade people 
 that they are badly governed. Take happy and comfortable 
 people and talk to them with the art of the Evil One, and they 
 can soon be made discontented with their government, their 
 rulers, with everything around them, and even with themselves. 
 This is one of the weaknesses of human nature of which factious 
 orators make use to serve their purposes. He who is punished 
 generally complains that he is the aggrieved one, quite for- 
 getting that punishment follows crime, and does not precede it. 
 
 * Secretary Andrew Oliver, afterwards Lieut.-Govemor, writing from 
 Boston, April 14, 1769, to E. Jackson, said — "Politics are become a most 
 disagreeable subject. Governor Bernard is to be pitied. Copies of his letters, 
 which were laid before Parliament, are some of them already transmitted 
 hither and published. He is now to be held forth to the people as the object 
 
 of their indignation, and the popular interest wiU be triumphant." His 
 
 Letter Book, fol., bound in white veUum. He pitied Bernard, but his own 
 turn came next. 
 
 t Hutch. Hist., iii. 226. 
 
BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS SUTOHINSON. 19 
 
 He denounces the punishment, but does not tell his neighbours 
 that his own misdeeds, first committed, brought it upon his own 
 back. There is another very common failing in human nature 
 — or rather, it might be more correctly designated an artful 
 contrivance — by which the order in time is reversed, and the 
 mention of the crime is altogether kept out of sight if possible. 
 Thus, the Congress* at Philadelphia complained of the 
 repressive measures that the English Government had laid 
 upon them, but they did not say that these measures had 
 followed the riots, tumults, and acts of violence with which «^ 
 the Colonies, and especially the city of Boston, had been fall 
 for ten years or more. In justice to the suffering members of 
 the Congress, and those who sent them there, it is fair to show, 
 by a quotation, how cruel England could be. 
 
 "These devoted Colonies," says the Declaration,! "were 
 judged to be in such a state as to present victories without 
 bloodshed, and all the easy emoluments of statuteable plunder. 
 The uninterrupted tenor of their peaceable and respectful 
 behaviour from the beginning of colonization, their dutiful, 
 zealous, and useful services during the war, though so recently 
 and amply acknowledged in the most honourable manner by 
 his Majesty, by the late King, and by Parliament, could not 
 save them from the meditated innovations. Parliament was 
 influenced to adopt the pernicious project, and, assuming a new 
 power over them, have, in the course of eleven years, given such 
 decisive specimens of the spirit and consequences attending 
 this power, as to leave no doubt concerning the effects of 
 acquiescence under it. They have undertaken to give and 
 grant our money without our consent, though we have ever 
 exercised an exclusive right to dispose of our own property. 
 Statutes have been passed for extending the jurisdiction of the 
 Courts of Admiralty and Vice- Admiralty beyond their antient 
 limits, for depriving u& of our accustomed and inestimable 
 privilege of Trial by Jury, in cases affecting both life and 
 
 * Sergeant Lamb writes, at p. 22 — " In the month of September, 1774, the 
 general Congress of all the Colonies met at Philadelphia. That body con- 
 sisted of fifty-one delegates, chosen by the representatives of each province." 
 John Hancock, of Boston, was President. 
 
 t ' The Declaration by the Reprcsentativefi,' &c. London, 1775. 
 
 C 2 
 
20 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 property ; for suspending the legislature of one of the Colonies ; 
 for interdicting all commerce of another ; and for altering 
 fundamentally the form of government established by Charter, 
 and secured by Acts of its own legislature solemnly confirmed 
 by the Crown ; for exempting the ' murderers ' of colonists from 
 legal trial, and, in effect, from punishment; for erecting in a 
 neighbouring province, acquired by the joint arms of Great 
 Britain and America, a despotism dangerous to our very 
 existence; and for quartering soldiers upon the colonists in 
 time of profound peace. It has also been resolved in Parlia- 
 ment, that colonists charged with committing certain offences 
 shall be transported to England to be tried," &c., &c. 
 
 There is no better mode of establishing the accuracy of 
 histoiical assertions than that of instituting a comparison of 
 dates, and in this instance a comparison of dates shows that 
 most of these restrictive measures were imposed after the 
 commission of the acts of free-and-easyism which they were 
 intended to curb ; as, after the beginning of insubordination in 
 Governor Pownall's time ; afier numerous acts of open resistance 
 to constitutional authority during Governor Bernard's adminis- 
 tration ; after the town riots, and the attack on Mr. Secretary 
 Andrew Oliver's house in 1765 ; after the destruction of the 
 "liouse and furniture of Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Hutchin- 
 son, a short time subsequently ; after the well-known cases of 
 'Smuggling on an extensive scale by some of the leading 
 merchants of Massachusetts, in defiance of the Commissioners 
 of the Customs ; after the riotous meeting when the unfortunate 
 seaman was seized, tarred, and feathered, and shamefully 
 maltreated in 1769 ; after the attack by the mob on Eichardson's 
 house, when he fired and killed a boy in the crowd ; aftffr the 
 unprovoked pelting and clubbing the sentry on duty and soldiers 
 at the Guard House, when they shot down several of their 
 assailants ; after the purloining and printing the private letters 
 of the King's representatives, in order to raise the fury of the 
 people against them ; after the tumult, and tarring and feather- 
 ing of John Malcome in January, 1774 ; and after the destruction 
 of three hundred and forty-two chests of tea, by throwing them 
 Into Boston harbour. Thus the punishments followed the 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTGHINSON. 21 
 
 offences, for there can be no punishment where there is no 
 offence. Sometimes, however, serious disputes originate in 
 such small beginnings, that it is hard to fix the exact point at 
 which they took their rise. In passing from extreme white to 
 extreme black, who shall say where " the beginning of black " 
 begins ? So it often is with a quarrel. At last the American 
 misunderstanding had passed all reasoning upon, and then 
 there was nothing left but the ultima ratio regum. 
 
 Amongst the papers there is a Letter Book of Lieutenant- 
 Governor Andrew Oliver, of folio size, and whole bound in 
 white vellum. By their covers is the easiest way to designate 
 some of the letter books. The letters entered there were 
 transcribed almost entirely by his own hand. Letters are very 
 valuable historical documents, for the writers of them, com- 
 municating imreservedly to their friends, will say things that 
 they would not say in any other way. Sir Francis Bernard left 
 America for England in the summer of 1769, and the following 
 letter, which speaks of a few circumstances that occurred Jafter 
 his departure, was written to him by Mr. Oliver in the fall of 
 that year : — 
 
 "Boston, Nov. 15, 1769. 
 
 " S' — I had this day the pleasure of receiving your letter by 
 Capt" Bmce, who brought us the first intelligence of your 
 arrivixl in England, and I sincerely congratulate you on the 
 gracious reception you met with from his Majesty, which your 
 friends here look upon as an omen of further favours. A 
 number of us dined to-day with Judge Auchmuty at Eoxbury, 
 where we drank your health, and there appeared to be a cordial 
 remembrance of you. The L'-6ov' tells me he sends you the 
 newspapers, by which you will see that he and others, servants 
 of the Crown, continue to be abused. He has sent M' Sec'' 
 Pownall * the Acts passed in the last session, together with a 
 Journal of the proceedings of the whole Court, as well as of the 
 House of Representatives, the duplicate of which latter he 
 desired M' Pownall to furnish you with, if they sho" both get 
 safe to hand. I reminded M' Cotton, from New York, of 
 
 * John Pownall, Secretary of the Treasury in London. 
 
22 BIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOEINSON. 
 
 sending these things ; but the Journal of the House was 
 delayed as usual, and was sent by the L'-Gov"^ soon after it 
 came from the press. 
 
 " I wrote you a short letter by W Mein a few days since, 
 who is gone home by way of Halifax with fresh complaints. 
 The Committee of Merchants are now become the grand 
 assertors of Liberty, We wish to know whether the government 
 at home asserts their own authority, or whether we are to 
 submit to the powers now in being. 
 
 " The post is in this evening, but I do not find that the 
 Sep' mail is arrived : as the ship is to sail in the morning, I 
 am obliged to close my letter lest I miss the conveyance. 
 
 "M" Oliver and I drank tea with Lady Bernard the day 
 before yesterday, and found her very wejl. I delivered your 
 letter for her by Bruce to your son, M' John Bernard. My 
 brother. Judge Oliver, is now with me, and desires his respectful 
 complim'^ may be presented to you. — ^I am, &c." 
 
 From the above, and from one or two other letters, it appears 
 that Lady Bernard did not accompany her husband to England. 
 The first paragraph of the following letter, from Mr. Oliver to 
 Sir Francis, refers to the attempted impeachment of the per- 
 secuted baronet. 
 
 " Boston, 21st November, 1769. 
 " S' — I wrote your Excellency by Capt" Davie, the 15th ins', 
 wherein I own'd the rec* of your letter of the O"* Sep' by 
 Cap" Bruce, and now to acknowledge the receip \sic\ of your 
 favour of the 19"" Sep' by Cap" White, who arrived here last 
 night, as Cap" Freeman did the day preceding. It gives me 
 the greatest pleasure to observe that things fall out so much 
 to your wish, and that you are so ready to encounter the 
 Kemonstrance which has been presented against you. I think 
 you will not want living witnesses on the spot to invalidate 
 some of the Articles alledg'd [sic], while others of them defeat 
 their own purposes. I shall rejoice to hear of a happy issue." 
 
 This business is alluded to again in a letter written soon 
 after to Peyton Randolph, Esq., dated Boston, 22ad November 
 
DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOEINSON. 23 
 
 1769. Amongst other things the folJowing occurs : — " I got to 
 town on the 19"" of last month, and have been lucky enough to 
 keep myself clear of the squabbles which have been too preva- 
 lent here. How much soever we differ on political points, the 
 slander and personal abuse thrown out in our newspapers must 
 disgrace the characters of those who deal in this way, be their 
 cause ever so right and just.* Our Assembly is not like to sit 
 before the 10'" of Jan', to which time they were prorogued by 
 Governor Bernard. We may by that time have some advices 
 from England, which may have an influence on their proceed- 
 ings, tho' we can have no account by that time of the resolutions 
 of Parliament, as I am well informed that they are not to sit 
 to do business till after Christmas. Our Gov' was got home, 
 and had been admitted twice to conference with the King, by 
 whom he was graciously received. The Eemonstrance of our 
 Assembly against him had been likewise presented to his 
 Majesty, in which the Governor had prayed leave to be heard, 
 which may probably bring the affairs of our Colony to some 
 issue." 
 
 From a remark in another letter, which bears date December 
 26, 1769, the feeling against the ex-governor was pushed 
 rather far. " The L'-Gov' tells me he forwarded my letter 
 from Kutland, by way of some out port. The principal occa- 
 sion of my writing it was to inform you that the Speaker had 
 a letter by Captain Hull from M' DeBerdt,t dated in Sep"" last, 
 telling him that if the Province could prove any acts of oppres- 
 sion Gov' Bernard had been guilty of, or could make out any 
 damages they had sustained thereby, and would send him over 
 a Power of Attorney, he would prosecute him now he was in 
 England. It was by accident I heard this letter read the even'' 
 it came to hand, but have heard no more of it since, and it 
 betrays such a falling off, or doubt concerning the validity of 
 what has been transmitted, that I question whether it will be 
 made public or not." 
 
 * Franklin is ashamed of this low vice in his countrymen. He writes — 
 " You wiU do well to avoid being concerned in the pieces of personal abuse, 
 so scandalously common in our newspapers, that I am afraid to lend any of 
 them here till I have examined and laid aside such as would disgrace us," &c. 
 — ' Private Correspondence,' i. 122, 2nd edit. 
 
 t He was agent in England for the Assembly in Mass. 
 
24 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. 
 
 After the departure of Governor Bernard,* the administration 
 of affairs devolved on Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, pending 
 further instructions from England. There is a memorandum 
 in Mr. Hutchinson's handwriting in a Boston almanac of 1770, 
 which has not hitherto seen the light, and which may be given 
 here. It is this : — " At the close of the year there is a surprising 
 change in the temper of the people. The confederacy in all 
 the governm' against importing seemed in the latter end of the 
 summer to be breaking to pieces. A proposal was made by 
 the southern gov'' for a general meeting by Committees to 
 consider about a relaxation, and enlarging the number of 
 articles to be imported. The Boston trade, as they called 
 themselves, declined meeting, and resolved strictly [?] to adhere 
 to non-importation. New York first broke the ice : and 
 instead of calling a general meeting, their Aldermen of each 
 Ward enquired of his Ward whether each one was for importa- 
 tion or non-importation ? And it appeared that a majority was 
 for importation ; and the merchants immediately wrote for 
 their goods, and by this means procured a large supply of fall 
 goods. Philadelphia stood out till it was too late ; and Boston 
 waited to see what Philadelphia would do, and tho' they both 
 finally came in, yet they came too late to have their fall goods. 
 In the midst of this struggle came the order to withdraw the 
 garrison at the Castle in the pay of the Province, and to place 
 there a garrison of the regular forces ;t soon after arrived 
 Com* Gambler with the other men-of-war, to make this place 
 the rendezvous instead of Halifax : and tho' people at first 
 talked big, yet, as soon as they saw the resolution of Parliament, 
 they became dispirited. The Assembly also found it in vain to 
 contend against the Courts sitting at Cambridge, and, finally, 
 impartial juries acquitted all the persons who had been charged 
 w* murder in King Street ; and such doctrine was advanced by 
 the Court concerning the soldiers being a lawful assembly, and 
 having a right to kill all who attacked them with clubs, &c., 
 upon their posts, that all were silenced. Some time after the 
 trials were over, J. A — s, under the signature of Vindex, in 
 
 * Sir Francis Bernard died at his seat near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, 
 on Wednesday evening, June 16, 1779. — Gov. H. Diary, 
 t Hutch. ' Hist, of Mass.,' iii. 308. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 25 
 
 E. & G. paper, bro't the souldiers upon trial agaiu : but some 
 of the papers are beginning to be answered by the Attorn. Gen., 
 M' Sewall, by the name of Philanthrop, and the others will be 
 sufficiently exposed." 
 
 Apparently as an afterthought, or as a subsequent addition 
 to the preceding, the following expression of opinion was 
 added :-^ 
 
 " Prejudice never appeared stronger than in the narrative 
 drawn up by M' Bowdoin. The whole design of it seems 
 to have been to make the Comiss' obnoxious, meerly [sic] to 
 support his son-in-law, Mr. Temple,* one of them, who, engaged 
 in a separate interest, flattering himself that if he could over- 
 throw the Board, he should be restored to his place as Surveyor 
 General. The depositions of the witnesses, reduced into form 
 by M' Dana, principally are calculated to persuade the people 
 in England that guns were fired out of y° Custom House, and 
 such a circumstance as the flash of one or more of the guns 
 being higher than the rest, is printed in italicks, and remarks 
 in y® narrative, that they must come from the chamber of y® 
 Custom House." 
 
 It may be as well just to observe, that not only did the soldiers 
 outside the Custom House in the street fire in self-defence v^ 
 when attacked by the mob, but it was further said by their 
 accusers, that other soldiers inside the Custom House fired out 
 of window. The arguments raised upon this stirred up a good 
 deal of bad blood, but the assertion was not sustained at the 
 trial. 
 
 On the blank leaves bound up at the end of the same 
 almanac there is a long account beginning in these words: 
 " 5. The Trial of the 8 soldiers began the November, and 
 
 held till the 5 December," &c. Also, further on : " Remarks 
 upon a Letter from Jno. Hancock & others, a Committee of 
 the Town of Boston, to Gov. Pownall, Printed in the Gen. Mag. 
 in Ap. 1770." Also, still further on: "The Case of Capt. 
 Thomas Preston of the 29 th Reg." And, as a sequel to this : 
 " The Trial of the four persons charged with firing out of the 
 
 * The same Mr. Temple who afterwards fought a duel with Mr. Whately 
 in England, the quarrel arising out of the subject of the purloined letters. 
 
26 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOEINSON. 
 
 Custom House," &c. Also a meeting of the Overseers of the 
 College at Cambridge, with disputes respecting the Governor's 
 right to remove the Assembly from Boston to Cambridge. 
 These manuscript accounts are more ample, and may differ iii 
 some slight degree from the printed narratives in the third 
 volume of Governor Hutchinson's History, but they are not of 
 sufficient importance to occupy the required space here. 
 
 There appears to be no allusion in the History to the King's 
 order for proroguing the Council in January, 1770. A MS. 
 note on this circumstance may be copied here, if it is only in 
 deference to Mr. Pitts. " January S^. By the mail from New 
 York I received his Majesty's Orders, communicated by Lord 
 Hillsborough, to prorogue the Court to the 2°* Wednesday in 
 March. The next morning I met as many of the Council as 
 were in Town, being six only, & told them I had rec* such 
 orders ; & caused to be read by the Secretary, part of the letter. 
 I did not ask their advice, whether I should obey them, but as 
 I had determined to issue a Proclamation that morning, I 
 thought it no more than was due to them, to let them know it 
 before it appeared in print, and I desired their advice upon the 
 best method of spreading the news thro' the several parts of 
 the Province, to prevent the Members from coming to town, as 
 the meeting of the Court was to have been the 10'". 
 
 "M"^ Pitts, when he heard the letter, stood up and began 
 a speech in this manner : ' If this does not stir np the people, 
 I do not know what will: and if people will still go on to 
 import, nothing can be too bad for them.' I stopped him, and 
 told him such language was by no means proper to be suffered, 
 and desired he would use no more of it. He justified himself 
 as meaning no harm. I told him, as he used the expression, 
 ' stirring up the people,' it must be taken in an ill sense. When 
 Cap" Ewing [?] would have vindicated it, I desired him to 
 forbear, and observed, that for us, with whom the authority of 
 government was entrusted, to give the least countenance to 
 opposition to government in the people, was a high breach of 
 trust. He, Pitts, said — ' I was much raised.' I replied, I was 
 not ruffled. I thought his expressions very unwarrantable, and 
 was bound to take notice of them. The rest who were present 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 27 
 
 were rather silent, & some seemed to disapprove of w' was 
 said. It was desired that no mention might be made abroad of 
 what had passed, & it was agreed to ; and orders were given 
 to the Dep. Secretary and Clerk, who were present." 
 
 It was at this period that the Home Government judged 
 it expedient to make alterations in the garrison at Castle 
 William in Boston Harbour, and orders were sent out accord- 
 ingly. The circumstances are related on pp. 307-9 of the 
 third volume of Governor Hutchinson's ' History of Massa- 
 chusetts,' but the draft of this case, as he has written it in the 
 same almanac for 1770, is more ample than the printed 
 version, and gives the words he used when he committed the 
 custody of it to Colonel Dalrymple, which the other does not. 
 For these reasons it is considered worth while to transcribe it 
 verbatim from the almanac here. It runs thus : — 
 
 "About the middle of Aug. [1770] Gen. Gage wrote desiring 
 me to consider of the best way of possessing the King's troops 
 of Castle William, & withdrawing the provincial garrison if 
 necessary. Col. Dalrymple sent to me that he desired to see 
 me, when I should appoint, upon the subject. He had a letter 
 at the same time, and seemed to suppose it was a thing to be 
 executed rather than consulted upon. I told him I saw no 
 more necessity at present, than for some time past, and wrote 
 so to the General ; & by the return of the post, he sent me an 
 answer, that he agreed with me in sentiment, and I expected 
 nothing more would be done till parliament met. But Sep- 
 temb. S"* towards evening, an express came to me from Gen. 
 Gage, at Milton,* with a letter from L* Hillsborough, of 
 &-^ July, signifying his Majesty's pleasure, that I should 
 withdraw the garrison in the pay of the Province from Castle 
 William ; and as soon as Gen. Gage should acquaint me with 
 his directions, to an officer to take possession of it, that I 
 should not fail to do what depended on me, to carry into 
 execution that part of an order of His Majesty in Council of 
 the same date, & accompanying this letter, which directs that 
 this Fortress shall be garrisoned by His Majesty's regular 
 troops. The General wrote to me, leaving the manner of 
 * Mr. Hutchiuson's country estate, six miles from Boston. . 
 
28 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. 
 
 executing these orders to me, and enclosed a letter to Col. 
 Dalrymple, directing him to take possession, &c., & to shew his 
 orders to me. I sent to Col. Dalrymple to come to me at 
 Milton the next morning. We consulted together, and agreed 
 to communicate the orders to no person. I mentioned to him 
 a difficulty which might arise, unless I conformed to the 
 Charter, which gives the Gov. the command of all Forts, & 
 altho' I had no doubt I was obliged to obey the King's order, 
 & withdraw the garrison, and place there a garrison of the 
 King's troops, yet the supreme command in the Province 
 ought to remain in me. He made a difficulty of taking a 
 commission from me without consulting the General, and we 
 parted with an intention that both of us should write the 
 General, and supposed no inconvenience could arise from so 
 long delay as tlie return of an express, & proposed Major 
 Fordyce should set out the next morning. We agreed to meet 
 together at the Secretary's at 8 o'clock. In the afternoon he 
 sent me word from the Castle that Fordyce was not well, and 
 desired me to send away the express the General had sent, 
 with a letter he had wrote and sent to me. I sent him for 
 answer that I should neither send his letter nor my own 
 without further consultation upon so nice a subject, and de- 
 pended upon seeing him at time & place proposed. Upon 
 further consideration I was convinced that I could not justify 
 the delay. The words of my orders were — 'you will not fail so 
 soon,' &c. I determined therefore to give an order for the 
 withdraw [sic] of the garrison, and to place Dalrymple there 
 with a garrison of Eegulars, and this by virtue of my authority 
 as Governor, When I saw him the next morning, I gave an 
 order to Phillips to withdraw the garrison in the province pay, 
 and to admit Col. Dalrymple to garrison the Castle with the 
 regular forces, and immediately after went to Council, and 
 acquainted them with the orders I had received — directed the 
 Secretary to read the whole of the Order of the King in 
 Council, and read myself such part of Lord Hillsborough's 
 letter as related to it. Several said I could not refuse com- 
 plying, and nobody pretended that I could ; but M' Bowdoin 
 distinguished the stores and ammunition as belonging to the 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSOK 29 
 
 Province, and moved to desire me to remove tliem before the 
 Castle was delivered. I had enjoined them secrecy upon their 
 oaths until I dismissed the Council, & further considered how 
 far the injunction should extend. I desired M' Bowdoin by- 
 no means to insist upon a motion. I told him it was such an 
 invasion of the Prerogative as must hurt us exceedingly, but 
 he would not stop it, and M' Pitts, who has no sort of sense, 
 seconded him. Several gentlemen condemned the motion; 
 the Treasurer, Cap. Ewing, & particularly M' Tyler, who read 
 a paragraph of the Charter, which gives the Gov. the same 
 command of the stores as the Fort itself; and there was so 
 general a vote against the motion that Bowdoin and Pitts were 
 silenced, tho' loth to give up. Somebody then asked whether 
 the Governor was not, by the Charter, the person who was to 
 appoint the Commander of Forts, and consequently would be 
 considered as having still a paramount command ? I answered, 
 I should give up none of their right. If the Governor had, by 
 Charter, such a command, I should still retain iti^ The 
 Governor was to commit the custody, &c., of Forts to such ^ 
 persons as to him should seem meet. It now seemed meet ta 
 me to commit it to Col. Dalrymple. What my motive was, 
 whether the King's Order, or my own judgment, was not matter 
 of enquiry. Much was said of the hardship of being condemned 
 unheard, of ex-parte examinations, &c. 
 
 " At one o'clock I dismissed them, confirming the injunction 
 of secrecy no longer; and my chariot being at the door, I 
 went immediately to Dorchester Neck, where I had ordered 
 the Barge from the Castle, to be in waiting. As soon as I 
 arrived at the Castle, & had spent a few minutes in Phillips's 
 room, who had no command of his temper, being in a perfect 
 distraction at so sudden a stroke, I sent for the Keys, & Col. 
 Dalrymple coming into the State Room, his officers attending 
 him, having first shewn him the form I intended to use, I 
 delivered the Keys and possession of the Castle in the following 
 words : — 
 
 "By virtue of authority derived from His Majesty's Com- 
 mission to govern this Province according to the Royal Charter, 
 and in obedience to His Majesty's special command signified 
 
30 niABT AND LETTEB8 OF THOMAS HUTCEINSON. 
 
 to me by the Eight Honorable the Earl of Hillsborough, I 
 commit to you the custody & government of His Majesty's 
 Castle, to be garrisoned by such detachment of His Majesty's 
 troops under your command as shall be judged necessary. 
 
 "When he looked over the paper which contained these 
 words, he made no objection ; but after he had taken the Castle 
 he spoke, somewhat softly, ' By virtue of orders,' or * in obedi- 
 ence to orders,' (as I judge ; not perfectly hearing what pre- 
 ceded the word ' orders ') — ' from General Gage I receive the 
 same.'"* 
 
 The following, dated Nov. 8, is worth giving as a sequel to 
 the preceding : — 
 
 "Nov. 8. — Cap" Heath, and two more, a Com" of the House, 
 came to my lodgings at Cambridge, and acquainted me that 
 they were a Committee of the House, appointed to take the 
 Depositions of several persons, concerning the manner of sur- 
 rendering the Castle ; and they now waited upon me, to let me 
 know, that I might be pres' if I saw cause. I told him I knew 
 not what he meant by a surrender of the Castle. He answered 
 ^ — A delivery to the King's troops. I told him I knew of no 
 surrender nor delivery of the Castle from under my authority. 
 If 1 had inclined to place him in the command of the Castle, 
 instead of Cap. Phillips, I had good right to do it. I had 
 done no more in placing Col. Dalrymple there, & could remove 
 him when I thought proper. I asked who his witnesses 
 were ? He said, Cap. Phillips, and M"' Hall, the Chaplain. I 
 told liim I was under no concern about their Depositions, & 
 should not attend. He said they were a Committee, and only 
 desired to receive my answer, &c., and withdrew." 
 
 * The above bears evidence of having been hastily written. Perhaps it 
 was the first rough draft from which the account in the History was derived. 
 Vol. iii. p. 307. 
 
( 31 ) 
 
 CHAPTER I r. 
 
 Fbom these political disputes, which in time become rather 
 wearisome, it will be a relief to turn to something of a milder 
 and more domestic nature. It was the first design of the 
 editor, when planning out the compilation of this volume, 
 to exclude everything bearing on private or family concerns, 
 as such matters might not be likely to afford much amusement 
 to the public. The tastes among readers, however, are infinite 
 in their variety. There are some to whom a chapter on 
 biographical incidents will be a relief; and there are many 
 who have no delight in tracing out the rise and progress of 
 colonial history. And when it came to the actual trial, of 
 weeding out of the MSS. every allusion of a personal kind, it 
 was found to be something like knocking out every tenth link 
 in a chain, or every fifth link, as the ease might be, so that 
 the iron chain would be reduced to a number of separate 
 scraps and bits, and the sense and continuity of the literary 
 chain would be broken in the same way. It was hard to 
 know what to do. Further on, in the Governor's Diary, the 
 difiSculties promised to be still greater, as the occasional per- 
 sonal allusions are so woven in with the other parts, as to 
 forbid pulling out the pegs that held the framework together. 
 Be all this however as it may, what says the third volume of 
 Governor Hutchinson's history of Massachusetts, published so 
 long ago as 1828 ? A volume there proposed some day to 
 be printed is spoken of as intended to be a biographical 
 volume. This contemplated biographical volume is thus 
 promised at p. xiii of the preface: — 
 
 " In the present publication," it says, " the editor adverts to 
 the leading events in the life of his ancestor only so far as 
 may serve the object of doing justice to the favourable circum- 
 stances in which he was placed for writing a faithful account 
 
32 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOHINSON. 
 
 of his country and times, reserving many and curious details 
 for the more appropriate department of a biographical volume." 
 
 From these words it may be urged that the retention of 
 personal anecdotes is fully justified, indeed it is fully enjoined. 
 
 The oldest MS. still remaining in the family is a little " six- 
 teen-mo" book, about an inch thick, whole bound in dark- 
 brown leather, and which had once belonged to Thomas 
 Kellond, for his autograph occurs in several places. This 
 Thomas Kellond, together with Thomas Kirke, had been sent 
 out from England in 1661, to search for and apprehend the 
 regicides Goffe and Whalley, who had escaped to America.* 
 Abigail Hutchinson, the Governor's aunt, married Kellond for 
 her second husband, and it was through this connection, 
 probably, that the book got into the family; but it was 
 brought still closer when the said Abigail, for her third bus- 
 band, married Colonel Jolin Foster, whose eldest daughter 
 Sarah, by his former wife, married the Governor's father — 
 a strange complication. The book was originally entirely 
 blank, but the first 96 pages are filled with Latin exercises, 
 written in a boyish hand. After she married Kellond, she 
 seems to have utilised the unoccupied portion for her domestic 
 accounts and household expenses ; and many of these are worth 
 copying, as they give us a notion of the habits of life, and 
 the market prices of food in Boston at an early period. Her 
 
 * See ' Collection of Original Papers,' 1st edit., p. 334, or 2nd edit., p. 52. 
 During the time that Goffe was skulking for his life in caves and hiding- 
 places in various parts of the New England colonies, suffering much privation 
 and not a few hair-breadth escapes, he kept a journal, of a most interesting 
 and valuable kind, which has frequently been inquired for by the curious. 
 Mr. Hutchinson had been for twenty years collecting historical documents of 
 all kinds, and, presumably through Kellond, he acquired possession of this 
 journal. It is enough to say that it has not been seen since the night of 
 August 26, 1765, when the mob sacked his house, and destroyed or stole 
 everything in it. The following is taken from a public print : — 
 
 " Thk Signatobies of KiKG CaiHiiEs's Death Waebant. — Of the fifty- 
 nine persons who Signed the warrant for the execution of King Charles the 
 First, twenty-four died before the Restoration of Charles the Second ; twenty- 
 seven, judges and others, were taken, tried, and condemned ; some of these 
 were pardoned ; but fourteen — ^nine being judges — were executed. Sixteen 
 of the signatories averted their fate by flight, three of whom, Major-General 
 
 Edward Whalley, Major-General William Goffe, and Colonel John Dbcwell 
 
 escaped to New England, where they died, after an exile of nearly thirty 
 years." 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 33 
 
 caligraphy is peculiar, and her orthography still more so, and 
 it is impossible to compliment her on either. The lines are 
 very irregular, and in the cash accounts the figures are rarely 
 placed under one another, so that it is often hard to understand 
 what is meant : — 
 
 [Page 71.] 
 
 Abigail Kellond 
 
 John Coleman J 
 1687 Abigail Kellond 
 July paid fuller the 
 27 butcher 
 
 Sarah staid at home one week 
 and did not work another 
 of this quarter 
 Abigaill staid at home 3 weeks 
 
 [Page 72.] 
 
 octob 1 1685 
 a lent M"^ balard at 
 twice 12 pound 
 
 thomas Adkins C 486. 
 
 as followeth 36 pound mony 
 
 pound 
 615 by M'' fownds 
 4 pound by M' Carter 
 317 of M' Witcomb 
 lent M-^ Adkins [blot] L s d 
 
 more mony — 31 — 10 L s d 
 
 1686 19 16 
 
 May 21'" John Stphens 
 
 D' to Clothe salt & yinager s d 
 
 more one J pound 37 • 9* 
 
 » It is hard to explain the figures, and not always easy to make out what 
 thev are • and owing to the absence of stops, and the original spelling of 
 many of the words, the sense in many cases is not very obvious. The 
 horizontal lines are drawn across the pages in the original. 
 
 D 
 
34 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 8 d 
 whited brown thred 2 6 
 
 more one gallon vinager 1 6 
 
 [Page 73.] 
 
 had of John Willams 
 
 one line of ueal : 
 
 one sholder of muton 
 
 one line of ueal : 
 
 one leg of muton 36 
 
 one line of ueal 65 [or 615] 
 
 4 
 one peace of beeff 28 
 
 Boston feb' 
 
 6 1684* 
 
 paid John williams 
 
 and clodsd all acorn pts 
 
 one leg of muton 
 
 36 
 
 one qarter of veal 
 
 615 
 
 a parsel beef 
 
 4 
 
 a qarter lamb 
 
 1 11 
 
 a qarter of lamb 
 
 
 a shoulder of muton 
 
 a leg of muton 
 
 
 [Page 
 
 77.] 
 
 M' Adkins IK 
 
 36 pound 
 
 in mony 
 
 
 had of John Smith 
 
 one neeck of veal 
 
 one peece of beefe 11 
 
 one peece of beefe ,6 
 
 one peece of beefe 13 
 
 one peece of beefe — — 10 
 
 * The mems. have not been entered regularly and chronologically, and 
 this is the earliest date in the hook. 
 
DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOEINSON. 35 
 
 one quarter of lamb £ 103* 
 one peece of beefe — — 10 
 a parsel of beef — — 30 
 one toungue 3 pound 
 of suet one qurter \sie\ 
 of lamb — — — 
 one leg of veal 5 pound 
 May 
 25 a necke of veal 
 July a quar \sic\ lamb 17 a brest veal 
 13 24 a neats toungue 
 August 27 a quarter lamb 
 one peece beeff 
 
 [Page 80,] 
 
 Boston may — [blotted out] 1686 
 6 lent M" viall widow / 
 forty shiling in mony 
 lent samll Adams in mojiy 
 four [? blotted] pound 
 
 lent M' ffownes . £1 = 
 
 lent M' frost . . £.10 
 July cash [blot], to Josepli 
 10 townesend in purt : 13 
 
 28 paide m" viall for 
 
 milke 
 John Strang C one firkin 
 butter waigin [weighing] 68 pound 
 lent M" paige at 
 twice £2 : 10 • 
 
 [Page 81.] 
 
 Thomas Adams D' Jan 11'" 8| 
 due to me when made up acp"" 
 twenty pounds flue shillings . . £20 : 5 
 
 * The figures in the book are not placed one under another. 
 t The butcher's account need not be pursued further. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 By Thomas Baker & 1 [blot] silk . £ 5 : 10 = 
 
 more for suger . £ 14 
 
 by Iron & goods 16— 16.9.6 . . £ [blotted] 
 
 by mony £79 16 
 
 more mony £6:00 
 
 tow groos butons £ : = 9 : 
 
 by m"^ thornton £5:00 
 
 more mony £:12 = 
 
 more mony £2 = 00 
 
 more 2 hhds malases . . . . £6 = 00 
 
 more mony £50 = 
 
 more mony £26 = 
 
 one p searg [piece of serge ?] . . £ 3 = 10 „ 
 
 six thousand bords* 8 6 
 
 more mony £15 = 
 
 for the well £10 = 17 = 
 
 [Page 83.] 
 
 the feather man C 200 15 neat 
 hundreds at 10" p pound 8 : 19 : 2t 
 
 ditto is D' six pound three shil 
 ings & six pence paid himself 
 
 Cash is D'' to M' Nelson by 
 
 M' Indecot for M' hoby 
 
 & myself this 8'" July 
 
 1686 £10: 00 
 
 Thomas Hunt is D' for one 
 tun Iron .... £22 : 
 
 Augt 2" William Eent [or Kent] 
 D' to one pipe madera wine 
 
 » 
 
 Bords for boards, or cords, 
 t This is 215 pounds of feathers at lOrf. per pound, which come to 
 £8 19g. 2d. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 37 
 
 [Page 87.] 
 
 
 paid goodman farm [or fame] 
 
 .£100 
 
 paid M' Cheekley . . . 
 
 . £= 15 
 
 paid Stephen minot [?] . . 
 
 . £812* 
 
 paid the women for 
 
 
 making the girls gouns 
 
 
 things belonging . 
 
 . £20 = 
 
 paid tow men . . . 
 
 . £= 7 = 
 
 a fan 
 
 . £= 5 = 
 
 tow pare black glous [gloves] 
 
 . £ 1 = 
 
 pare black silk stock 
 
 
 ings kneet .... 
 
 . £= 16 
 
 tow scarfs tow hoods . 
 
 . £ 3 = 4 
 
 63 [? blotted] yds allamods at 4 3 9-0-0 
 
 pyds 
 
 . £13 = 8 : 6 
 
 peece black ribon . 
 
 . £ 1 = 8 = 
 
 M'Eise 
 
 . £ 1 = 10 
 
 mecarte 
 
 £10 = 19 :2 
 
 savage 
 
 . £16 : 2 : 5 
 
 Adams shoumaker . 
 
 1 10 
 
 [Page 89.] 
 
 
 Eoger Kilcup [?]... 
 
 £:50:4 00 
 
 M' foxcraft 
 
 £: 8 = 8 
 
 M"^ Cooper 
 
 £: 1 = 10 
 
 M' foster 
 
 £ =6 6 
 
 M' Driver 
 
 . £ =6 = 
 
 shous for the girls t 
 
 =16 = 
 
 the negros cloths . 
 
 1 = 15 
 
 [Page 92.] 
 
 
 M" Page D' for 14 Aug 
 
 
 gall vinager 
 
 
 more vinager 6 gal 
 
 
 more vinager 2 gal 
 
 
 • Probably £3 12s. 
 
 t By " the girls " Is probably intended Col. Foster's two daughters, for 
 they were then unmarried. The eldest, Sarah, did not marry the Governor's 
 father till 1703, and Lydia did not marry till 1706. 
 
38 DIARY AND LETTERS OF TEOMAS HVTCEIN80N. 
 
 more vinager 
 
 2 gall 
 
 more vmager 
 
 2gaU 
 
 March the 
 
 2gaU 
 
 25 fild the Cask 
 
 2 gall 
 
 
 2 gall 
 
 1693 July the 17 we 
 
 
 washt the 21 paid 
 
 
 niirs 
 
 
 Apraell 4* paid nurs 
 
 
 for washing 
 
 
 [Page 10] 
 
 •J 
 
 I paid Jone [?J for 
 
 
 washing the 80 
 
 
 seneary * 
 
 
 Margery went 
 
 into the ssout f 
 the 6 day of August 
 99 beads on Sarah Hutcinsons [sic] 
 
 necklace and 502 [i.e. 52] on Abigails 
 necklace 
 
 50 : 4 : beads on Abigaills 
 gold necklace 
 To make an Almond Pudding % 
 Take 6 ounces allmonds one quar' 
 of cream 16 [or 18] eggs 8 whits and to 
 yolkes 8 yolks only spice rosewo 
 puff paste bottom and edge of dish 
 
 [Page 114.] 
 Boston August 13 '710 
 Cesar § cared [carried] M' Mather 
 to Boxbury 
 
 * I am at a loss about this word. 
 
 t The initial letters are two long ss or two letters f. The t is at the edge 
 of the page. Perhaps the word south was intended. 
 
 J This receipt is repeated at p. 103. 
 
 § Caesar, probably a negro. About this time he was frequently employed 
 to carry or convey members of the family or others to different places, as to 
 chapel or lecture. 
 
BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEIN80N. 39 
 
 15 cared me to Box 
 
 17 M' foster to lectter [lecture] 
 
 and me to Baunds 
 
 24 cared us on to [?] the 
 
 comon * 
 
 28 five a clock went 
 to minister Alin 
 
 29 eared M' foster to 
 Box 
 
 03 1 to lecter & comon 
 
 6 
 September cared W 
 foster to Box t 7 M' foster § 
 again to Box 
 and me to M' Alen 
 
 [Page 115.] 
 
 September 14'" 1710. 
 
 cared me to leetur 
 
 21 cared me to M' Alens & 
 
 to lecttur 
 
 26 cared me to M' Alens 
 
 burring || 27 cared me 
 
 to W Gibes 28 carred 
 
 me to leetur October 
 
 5 carred me to letcture [sic] 
 
 11 caed [sic] me to M' Coueles [? | 
 
 13 cared me to letctur 
 
 19 cared me to leetur 
 
 26 carred me to letcter 
 
 * Boston Common, close to the city. 
 
 t The fieures are here reversed. It should be 30. ,,.,,. 
 
 % KoxbiSy was a village a mile south of Boston ; but the buildings have 
 advanced, and they now join. ,„,,, t,^ j t. ^i.-- 
 
 § After Kellond's death she married Col. John Foster, and perhaps this is 
 
 II Burying or burial, I presume. The name of Mr. Alen, or Allen, does 
 not occur again. 
 
40 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 27 cirred me to M' Sto'Ia" [edge of pag«] 
 
 2 
 November [blot] carred 
 me to lectur 
 
 [Page 116.] 
 
 Nouember 6"" 
 
 carred me to M' wal 
 9 carred me to lectur 
 23 carred me to 
 lectetur 
 
 Foster went to schooU to 
 M^ Harris the 9 day of July * 
 
 1711 May the 17 1711 
 
 Elizabeth Mason came to live at 
 service with me for 6 pound wages [blot] 
 the beginning of June paid her 5 shillings 
 the latter end of June she recived of me 
 18 yards of say at 15 pence per yard 
 1 1 of August paid her 5 shillings the 
 26 of September paid her 10 shillings 
 the 16 of October paid her 10 shillings 
 the 17 of November her half year 
 was up 8 and 6 pence being due I paid 
 her and 10 shillings towards another 
 half year 
 
 shilling 
 1711 Foster went to school to M' Owen to larne 
 to read and write the 9 day of July 
 and the 9 of October being a quart 
 of year I paid him 10 shillings 
 9 of January a quarter. 
 
 * This last sentence, and to the end of the page, is in a different and a 
 better handwriting, namely, the handwriting of Sarah, eldest daughter of 
 Col. Foster, who married the Governor's father. The Foster here spoken of 
 was the Governor's elder brother, born September 18, 1704, and died in the 
 autumn of 1721, aged 17. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 41 
 
 [Page 117.] 
 
 1711 September the 10 
 
 Martha Pue came to suckle my 
 
 child Thomas Hutchinson * for 6 
 
 shillings per week and 4 weeks 
 
 after this nurse came on monday 
 
 the 8 of October I paid her 1 : 4 
 
 the 3 of December being 8 weeks 
 
 after [obliteration] 2 : 8 being due for that 
 
 time I paid her the said third day 
 
 of December 3 weeks after being 
 
 the 20 second of December paid 
 
 her 18 shillings 
 
 March the 18 Ann Wakefield came 
 to live with me 
 
 1713 Mary Adams came the 
 
 October the 8 Sarah Hutchinson t 
 was sent to school to M™ trivet 
 for 4 pence a week the third day 
 of December being 8 weeks after 
 I paid her 2 : 8 the 14 of January 
 paid her 2 shillings the 10 of march 
 paid her 2 shillings 8" 
 
 [Page 119.] 
 
 1713 had of M" Coosen of Eoxbury 
 upon Account of Thomas Hutch 
 inson sundrys fowls eggs % 
 
 " This was afterwards the Governor. He was horn the day hefore, that 
 is, on the 9th of Septemher, heing a Sunday, in the year 1711. On page 118, 
 and in another handwriting, the nurse's surname is spelt Pew. 
 
 t This child Sarah was bom in 1706, and was now seven years old. She 
 married Mr. Welsted, one of their ministers of repute. She died in 1775. 
 
 t If this is Thomas the child, now aged two years, the amount of eggs, 
 chickens, cakes, and butter consumed, speaks well for his early digestive 
 powers. I only select those where the prices are clearly indicated, for the 
 sake of comparison with present prices. 
 
42 BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 1715 
 
 June 5 chickens 8*" piece 
 7 chickens at 7" piece 
 1716 
 
 June To 6 chickens &^ 3 : 
 1717 Aprill To 3 pound of butt" 1 : 8 
 May To 4 pound of Butter 
 
 at 10 pence per pound : 3 4 " 
 
 [Page 122, near the bottom.] 
 1717 
 June 11 Entered Abigaill Hutchinson * 
 
 To lem To Dance 
 July 19 Entered Sarah Hutchinson 
 Nove'*'^ to cash paid W Justice [?] 
 
 for Abigaill 4 pound 
 
 [Page 124, near the bottom.] 
 1719 
 
 Aprill 13* 80 : 6 golld beads on Lydias 
 neeck lace 
 99 on one of Abigails 
 96 on the other 
 
 [Page 128.] 
 
 1716 november 16 
 
 Susanna Cader [or Cadeer] came 
 into my house as dry nurse 
 
 Decem'^'^ To cash paid her 1 4 
 
 Janu'^ To cash paid her 1 4 
 
 Marc** To cash paid her 2 8 
 
 Aprill To cash paid her 1 : 
 
 May To cash paid her 1 : 
 
 * Most of the entries in this part of the book have subsequently been 
 crossed out with a pen. I do not find the exact date of Abigail's birth 
 recorded. She is on the pedigree between Sarah, bom 1706, and Thomas 
 bom 1711. Abigail married John, son of Judge Davenport, and had a 
 daughter. Secondly, William Merchant, and had no further issue. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 43 
 
 June To 12 yards linnen 
 
 cloth at 3» and 2P per y*"* 1 : 18 
 Agust To cash paid her 1 2 
 
 1717 
 
 November To cash Lent 
 
 7o 9 bea**" Susanna Cadeer 3 
 
 on Sarahs necklace 
 1718 June the 17 Paid M" Tuck 
 
 For Sarah and Abigaill 
 
 Hutchinsons schoUing [sic] IP 4'' 
 
 1719 
 
 17 shillings and 3* recived 
 
 of me towards another quar**' 
 from the IS"" off January 
 
 [Page 129.] 
 
 1718 June 16 To Cash paid 
 M" Wooddell for Elisha * 
 and hannahs schooling 3^ 
 4 pence due to me 
 
 1719 
 
 [Page 130.] 
 
 1717 1 June the?"' 
 
 Emme ipps came into 
 my house to sukle my 
 Child Lydia for V and 
 6* per week % 
 
 [Here follow sums paid to her.] 
 98 beads on 1 string 
 1004 on the other string 
 of my goUd necklace 
 
 • This child Elisha was bom in 1715 or 1716, and died August 2, 1739. 
 Hannah, bom in 1714, was now four years old. She subsequently married 
 the Eev. Samuel Mather. 
 
 t The dates are very irregularly entered, and do not follow in their proper 
 
 order. 
 
 t Lydia subsequently married Mr. George Rogers, and left two children, 
 namely, Nathaniel, who died about 1770, and a girl, I believe called Sarah, 
 who died in 1776. Lydia died about 1745. 
 
44 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTGEINSON. 
 
 [Page 132.] 
 
 1717 Abigaill Hutchinson 
 June 11 Entered with M' Eustan' [?] 
 To Learn to Dance 
 
 Entrance 1 
 
 Dec"" 11 6 months To Cassh 
 Jan" 11 
 
 July 11 6 months To Cassh 
 October 11 3 months To Cassh 
 
 £ s d 
 
 £ 
 1 
 4 
 4 
 2 
 
 Annah Barrell Came 
 to live with me may S''' 
 1719 
 
 [Page 133.] 
 
 July 9 1717 Sarah Hutchinson 
 Entered To Learn 
 nothing 
 Jan'y To Dance For Entran" 
 Feb"' To cassh paid him 
 August 10 To cassh paid him 
 Nove'^' 10 To cassh paid him 
 
 [Page 135.J 
 
 Fea"^ the 14'" 1721 
 Elizabeth Waters Came 
 Into my house to Suckle 
 my child * for 8° per 
 week 
 
 [Page 138.] 
 
 1723 May the 14'" 
 
 Elizabeth Flag [or Hagt] of Wobo'^ 
 
 * There is a blank left for the name of the child, possibly not then decided 
 on. Judging by the ages of the other children, it is likely to have been 
 Hawkins, which child did not survive long. 
 
 f The word Flag or Hag is blotted, and therefore uncertain. The child 
 Elizabeth died young. There were two more children bom to the Governor's 
 father and mother, but they arc not mentioned in Kellond's book, for here 
 
BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 45 
 
 To Cassh paid her for 
 Suckling my child 
 Elizabeth Hutchinson 
 8' per week 
 
 The rest of the book is blank, with the exception of one or 
 two chance entries. Thus, William, or Billy, the Goyernor's 
 youngest son, has been trying to write his name, with the date 
 1762, on page 143, when he was nine years old. And the same 
 young hand, in the same year, on page 155, has scrawled the 
 rough draft of a letter, thus : — " To mr Joseph Turell of Boston 
 Feb 25 1762 Sir I Should Be Glad if Would lend me 3 V of 
 Cato Yr." At page 240 we have the words — "Thomas 
 Kellond His book," and the name is several times written at 
 page 246. 
 
 A considerable portion of Chapter Xlll. of the second , 
 volume of Palfrey's ' History of New England ' is devoted to 
 the Kegicides, and to the efforts of Kellond and others to 
 apprehend them. Whalley died about 1674, and Goffe in 
 1679 or 1680 ; and the earliest date in Kellond's book, by the 
 hand of Abigail Hutchinson, is Feb. 6, 1684. 
 
 It is recorded at page 117 of this hook, that Thomas 
 Hutchinson's wet nurse, Martha Pue, or Pew, was engaged 
 on the 10th of September, 1711, and in some family memo- 
 randums of this Thomas, afterwards the Governor, written bjr\ 
 him at the end of the fifth volume of his Diary, he gives usi ! 
 some biographical particulars of his early life, schooling, and] ' 
 education, not to be found elsewhere. Thus, he writes of 
 himself : — 
 
 " Thomas Hutchinson, son of the last mentioned Thomas 
 Hutchinson, was born in Boston, Sunday, September 9*, 1711V> ' 
 about 11 o'clock in the evening ; and was the first person born 
 in the house which had been built between twenty and thirty 
 
 the famUy memorandums end. The next child was Foster, bom in 1724, 
 the Governor's younger brother, who survived and grew up, and married a 
 daughter of Gen. Mascarene, and left a family. At the outbreak of the 
 Revolutionary War he removed to Halifax in Nova Scotia, and there his 
 descendants continued to reside. They have long since, however, died out 
 in the male line, and the only representative now remaining of Foster's 
 branch is Mr. William John Stirling. 
 
46 DIART AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. 
 
 years, and which afterwards came to him by inheritance.* In 
 
 ^^TSIarch, 1717, being about 5 years and i^ of age, he was admitted 
 
 \into the North Grammar School, of which M."' Thomas Bernard, 
 
 afterwards Minister of Andover, was then master. In July, 
 
 <1723, he entered the College in Cambridge, M' Leveret being 
 
 then President. 
 
 "It was part of the exercise of the scholars to read a verse 
 or two each out of a Latin Testament into Greek every 
 evening at prayer time, before prayer in the Hall ; and it was 
 a practice of some, to take a leaf of the Greek Testament, & 
 
 ■ put into the Latin Testament, which was termed hogueing. 
 Young Hutchinson was tempted once to follow so bad an 
 
 . example ; but guilt appeared so strong in his face, that the 
 President ordered him to shew his book, which he did in great 
 confusion, and received this severe reproof — A te turn expecfavi, 
 and a small pecuniary punishment. The first part made the 
 deepest impression, and cured him of the disease of hogueing 
 for the rest of the time he remained at college. 
 ' " Being left to himself, he studied little more than the 
 common recitations ; and after four years was little better 
 qualified for the degree of Batchelor of Arts, which he re- 
 
 ', ceived in 1727, than when he first entered. All the time 
 he was at College he carried on a little trade by sending ven- 
 tures in his father's vessels, & kept a little paper Journal 
 & Leger [sic], & entered in it every dinner, supper, break- 
 fast, & every article of expense, even of a shilling; which 
 practice soon became pleasant ; & he found it of great use 
 all his life, as so exact a knowledge of his cash kept him from 
 involvement, of which he would have been in danger.! And 
 having been a very few instances negligent in this respect 
 for a short time only, he saw the consequence of this neglect 
 in a very strong light, and became more observant ever 
 after. 
 
 * This was the town house that was destroyed by those who practised the 
 third, or superlative degree of liberty, according to Burke's classification. 
 I Burke will not be forgotten further on, where there is a rod in pickle waiting 
 for him. Note at end of Ch. VII. 
 
 t As so many books and other objects are known to have been destroyed 
 in August, 1766, we are disposed to assign all losses to that event. It may 
 not have been so in this case, though nothing is now known of such a 
 journal. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 47 
 
 " When he left College he went into his father's counting' 
 house, and became a Merchant Apprentice, from 17 years to 
 21. He saw how much he had neglected his studies at Col-, 
 lege, and applied to his school master, (who succeeded M' 1 
 Bernard, and whose tuition he was under about five years), ' 
 and desired ho would allow him to spend two or three ■ 
 evenings in a week in going over some of the Latin Classicks, 
 which he readily consented to. In a short time he acquired \ 
 a relish for the Latin tongue, which he never lost. Soon after 
 he put himself under M. Le Mercier, the French Minister, and 
 then began to learn the French tongue ; but Monsieur Lang- 
 loiseier,* arriving at Boston soon after, in Gov. Burnet's family, 
 & M' Lidius of Albany, who had lived and married in 
 Canada, and M' Chardon, a young gentleman of fortune from 
 London, being also in Boston, a French Club was formed, of 
 which the three gentlemen above named were members, and 
 M' Gridley, the Lawyer, M' Jo. Greene, Lovell, and two or 
 three more New England young gentlemen were members, & 
 the whole conversation was to be in French. 
 
 " In these ways he acquired a competent knowledge of the 
 Latin & French, accustoming himself to reading authors in ' 
 both languages, and at length he found very little difficulty in 
 either. History was his favourite study; and when a boy,^' 
 before he went to College, he chose rather to spend an evening 1 
 in reading Morton's ' New England Memorial,' Church's ; , 
 ' History of the Indian War,' Dr. Mather's ' Lives of the N. • 
 England Governors,' &c., than to be at play with boys in the / 
 street. And he had made some advances in the English, 
 History. The tragical account of K. Charles's sufferings and \ 
 death hapning [sie] to fall into his hands, tho' it produced 
 tears, he went through it with eagerness; and Baker's 
 ' Chronicle,' and Fox's ' Martyrology,' being among his fether's 
 books, afforded him much entertainment. 
 
 " Until he was about 22 he spent too much of his time with 
 
 gay company. Lieutenant Hawke, afterwards Admiral, & 
 
 Lord Hawke, D' Bruce, Officers of the station ship. Cap. 
 
 Durell, L* Augustus Fitzroy, George Townsend Franklin, both 
 
 * Or Langloise in. 
 
48 BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 afterwards Admirals ; Jack Hardy, George Durell, were mid- 
 shipmen, and all acquainted. In 1732 Gov. Belcher, going in 
 the man-of-war to Casco Bay, upon a treaty with the Indians, 
 and young M' Hutchinson being one half owner of a new 
 sloop, he put ten guns on board ; and with the Governor's son 
 Andrew, & six or eight more young gentlemen on board the 
 sloop, he went down in her to the treaty, where he spent 8 or 
 10 days. 
 
 " Before he came of age he had, by adventuring to sea from 
 two or three quintalls * of fish, given him by his father, when 
 about 12 years old, acquired four or five hundred pounds 
 sterling. 
 
 ^ " When he was about 22 years of age he first became 
 acquainted in M" Cotton's family in Boston. She was then 
 the widow of the Minister of Bristol, her first husband being 
 M' Sanford, a gentleman of Newportf, who left three 
 daughters and a good estate, which they took as co-heirs. 
 The eldest about l8, the next 16, and the youngest 10 years 
 old; & though all agi-eeable, the eldest, called the hand- 
 somest of the three. After gallanting them to three or four 
 assemblies, concerts, &c., M' Hutchinson's acquaintance 
 began to banter him with the danger of the marriage noose, 
 and it was natural to suppose the eldest to be the object of his 
 pursuit ; and as his visits were general, and at first they were 
 alike to him, she herself might well enough suppose it to be 
 natural ; but this did not long remain a secret. After a short 
 time the eldest made a journey to Newport for a week or 
 ten days. M' Hutchinson then let the second know the 
 wound she had given, & which she only could cure ; and 
 with her allowance he applied to her mother for liberty to be 
 more constant in his visits, which was granted ; and when her 
 eldest sister was expected from Newport, he waited on the second, 
 to meet her at dinner at Dedham, and his attentions were so 
 much engaged by this time, that the eldest sister and the rest 
 of the company were at no loss where he had made his choice. 
 From this time he forsook all his former evening acquaintance, 
 
 * A hundred pounds weight, 
 t Newport, Rhode Island. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EOTCEINSON. 49 
 
 and found the truth of what he remembered in the Spectator, 
 the time of his courtship being the happiest time of life he had 
 seen ; and though he had a handsome fortune in prospect, he^ 
 determined that if it should be utterly lost, no other person in 1 
 the world, let her fortune have been what it would, could have I 
 broke off the match. He married Margaret Sanford May / 
 le"* 1734, being in his 23"* year, and she not completingJ 
 17 until the 10*" of June following.* The 16'" of May he) 
 never failed for 19 years successively celebrating as the hap- 
 piest day of his life, making it a constant practice to invite 
 his relations and nearest friends to dine with him on the oc- 
 casion. In 1735 he was admitted a member of the Church 
 of which M"^ Welsted was minister. In the year 1737 he\, 
 was chosen a selectman for the town of Boston. This early J 
 notice of his townsmen was not a little pleasing to him; andV 
 the pleasure was much increased when a month or two after, j 
 he was chosen one of the Representatives of the town, tligr 
 other three being the famous Elisha Cooke, Thomas Cushing, ' 
 and Timothy Prout. .^ 
 
 " The paper currency of the Province was the subject which\ 
 took up the attention of the people. The depreciation of iW/ 
 occasioned great inequality and injustice in all trade and deal^V^ 
 ing. The major voice of the people, notwithstanding, was fori 
 postponing the funds [?] for drawing it in, and for makingl 
 further emissions. His mind was known to be contrary to the/- 
 mind of the people. He was nevertheless again elected the 
 
 * It may be remembered that he was no alien to the Sanford family, 
 inasmuch as Bridgetta Hutchinson had married John Sanforde four genera- 
 tions before. It was a fortunate marriage, as it enables me to edit these 
 notes. The elder sister, Mary, married Lieut.-Govemor Andrew Oliver, 
 whose daughter Sarah was my grandmother, so that I have the blood of both 
 sisters in my veins. The Sanford armorials were — Ar a chief Gu., and these 
 co-heiresses gave them to their descendants. The yoiangest sister Grizel, 
 then ten years old, never married. She went with her relations to England, 
 and died of age and infirmity. In the fragmentary diary of Elisha H., she 
 is mentioned as being in Sackville Street, London, under date October 11, 
 1779. Kine years after, namely, August 24, 1788, the following notice 
 
 Q(^ur6 " Walked to Kensington Square, and found Mrs. Sanford as well and 
 
 in as good spirits as when 1 saw her there two years & a half ago." The 
 writing has nearly faded out. She survived tUl 1792. In the. diary of 
 Dr. Peter Oliver these words are found — " 1792, October 28. Aunt Sanford 
 died at Brompton, aged 73, helpless & speechless." 
 
50 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOHINSON. 
 
 next year; but the party for paper money intended to put 
 it out of liis power to hurt them, by preparing a set of in- 
 structions enjoining the represent" to promote the continuing 
 ythe funds and the emitting more paper bills. When the 
 Instructions were reported in town meeting, JP Hutchinson 
 publickly argued against them, as iniquitous, and declared that 
 'he should not observe them, 
 
 " Mr. Balston, a Tociferous man, called out ' Choose another 
 Kepresent*, M"^ Moderator;' but this was not seconded, nor 
 /could it be done. He publickly and zealously opposed the 
 measures in the house, and the next year, 1739, lost his 
 ^election. Being the summer of that year in company with 
 several of the Kepresentatives of his acquaintance, and divers 
 other persons at the Castle, where a man was very ill with a 
 putrid fever, and the- day being hot, and a close air, and the 
 evening, while they were upon the water, very cool, he was not 
 many days after, seized with a violent putrid fever, as were 
 also, within a few days, almost the whole of the company, and 
 other persons who were at the same time at the Castle, to the 
 number of near 40 in all. 
 
 " He lay several weeks, great part of the time his life 
 despaired of; and at length was left, or rather after having 
 been on recovery, fell into a languishing state. He had three 
 of the most eminent physicians, who agreed upon the bark 
 in tincture, which after having always produced a large evacu- 
 ation, and brought him a second time to death's door, and 
 the country air was advised to. He went to M"" Taylor's at 
 Milton, and by direction, carried his bark with him. 
 
 " As soon as M"^ Taylor saw it and heard the effects, he 
 would not suffer him to take any more ; and after abstaining 
 three or four days, confining himself to milk and vegetable 
 diet, he was able to sit on a horse ; and from walking, soon 
 came to a gentle pace and trot, and in three or four weeks was 
 perfectly well. His three physicians were Perkins, Davis, 
 and Boylstone. Davis came to see him after being two or 
 three days in the country ; thought he was better, and asked if 
 he followed prescriptions? Finding he had not taken the 
 bark, he broke out, ' They may quack you up a little while. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 51 
 
 but you will never be a well man again ; ' and went off in a 
 passion. The other two were more candid. 
 
 "In 1740 he was again elected a Eepresentative for Boston.' ^* 
 This year was famous for the Land Bank, a most iniquitous 
 scheme, set afoot by M' John Colman, a needy merchant, / 
 opposed by the principal merchants in town aud proTince, and ^ 
 supported by men in the country towns, and most of them of 
 little property. The merchants set up what they called a, 
 Silver Scheme, issuing notes to be redeemed in ten years 
 with silver. M*^ H. favoured neither, but considered the 
 latter as without any fraudulent purpose, which he did not 
 think could be the case with the former. The H, of Repre- 
 sentatives in general favoured the first. 
 
 " The determination of the line between Massachusetts and ^ 
 N. Hampshire had taken from Massachusetts a great tract 
 of country, the inhabitants whereof desired to return ; andy 
 they, with the proprietors, petitioned the King that the land 
 might be restored to the Jiu:isdiction by which they were 
 granted. M' Hutchinson was chosen, at a meeting of sucK\ 
 proprietors and inhabitants, their agent, to soUicite their 
 petitions, and sailed for London in the John Galley the I 
 1^ November, and arrived at Dover the 28*, after a very) 
 blustering winter passage, in a ship very deep laden.* He 
 would probably have succeeded in his application, if his prin- 
 cipals had not failed in furnishing necessary evidence of some 
 facts, the notoriety of which it was supposed supplied the want 
 of evidence. After waiting in England until autumn in 1741, "^ 
 and longing to return to his native country, and to his family, 
 he left his business with his friend M' Eliakim Palmer, and 
 sailed from the Downs the ll*"" of October, in the Earl of 
 Gain^orough, Captain Carey, a fine new ship of 350 tons,' 
 
 * The first letter in the series of bound volumes, blue leather backs, folio 
 size, is written from London to his wife, the date being April 13, 1741. 
 The series comes regularly down, the first volume ending with 1779, the 
 second with 1800, and the third with 1880. The letters in these volumes 
 speak more or less of matters referring to America. There is also another 
 volume of similar size and binding, containing the letters of Elisha Hutchin- 
 son to his wife, during the three years they were separated, owing to the 
 war. He accompanied his father to England in 1774, and she could not get 
 a passage and follow him till September, 1777. 
 
 K 2 
 
52 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 and landed at Cape Cod the first of December, and crossed in a 
 
 small scooner to Barnstable, and from thence by land to 
 
 Boston.* He does not remember, through his whole life, any 
 
 joy equal to that of meeting his wife again, after 13 months' 
 
 ;' absence. At the election in Boston for Members, he failed of 
 
 \ a Tote ; but M"^ Allen, one of the members, being chosen into 
 
 I the Council, M' Hutchinson was chosen for the town in his 
 
 y stead, and continued to be chose annually until 1749. In 
 
 \ 1746 and the two next years he was Speaker of the House. 
 
 His brother-in-law, M' Oliver, was set up against him ; each 
 
 gave his vote for the other, and M' Hutchinson had only a 
 
 majority of one vote. In the afternoon he gaye his vote for 
 
 ; M"^ Oliver, who was chose of the Council. From 1742 to 1749 
 
 ■ some, and generally all the Town Members, were considered as 
 
 \ of the Country Party, and he of the Court.f M' Allen and 
 
 M"" Tyng particularly were very opposite to him. While he 
 
 was Speaker M' Allen was expelled for something virulent 
 
 against the Governor, a charge of consenting to a villainous 
 
 law, of which the Speaker took notice ; and M"^ Allen, several 
 
 days refusing any explanation or acknowledgment of his fault, 
 
 was expelled, and being re-elected by the town, the House 
 
 refused to admit him. 
 
 "In 1745, a flag of truce coming from Louisburgh for 
 exchange of prisoners, a balance upon settling the expense was 
 due to the Frenchman, who, in part of pay, desired three 
 barrils \sie\ of wood axes, for the use of the French wood- 
 cutters. A report was thereupon spread that he had supplied 
 the Frenchman w"* Indian hatchets, tomahawks, and other 
 instruments of war, and upon a search of the vessel the casks 
 were brought ashore in triumph, a brother of M'' Allen's being 
 a Chief Manager ; and though it appeared there was nothing 
 but common wood axes, which was a common article of trade 
 
 * In 1880 there was printed at Boston, Mass., a volume containing the 
 diaries of the two successive Judges Benjatnen Lynde, father and son. This 
 valuable contribution to history was privately printed, but by a preliminary 
 notice it may be inferred that the reading world is indebted for it to the 
 industry and the care of Dr. Fitch Edward Oliver. Dnder date December 2, 
 1741, we observe the following entry in the diary — "Breakfasted at M' 
 Hutchinson's, dined at M' Jeffry's, supped at Wardell's." This was the very 
 day after Mr. Hutchinson's return to America from England. 
 
 t In George ll.'s reign, those who supported the King were the Court 
 r y ; the Jacobites were the Country party. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCEINSON. 53 
 
 with the French, still these were said to be capable of being 
 used as war instruments. After much abuse, he was obliged 
 to desire a certificate from the Governor that they were put on 
 board by his order, which certificate be published in the 
 newspapers. 
 
 " But nothing made him more obnoxious to great part of the ', 
 people than his quarrel with paper money. So early in his/' 
 life as the year 1736 he published a small pamphlet upon the , 
 subject,* and carried with him a manuscript of his composing/ 
 to England ; consulted S' John Bernard t upon the proyinces 
 borrowing a sum sufiBcient to redeem it all ; but the iniquity 
 of a depreciating currency was too much known to fraudulent 
 debtors, and not enough to honest creditors, to carry his 
 scheme into practice. In 1747 there was application made for 
 the reimbursement of the charges of the expedition against 
 Louisburgh. The currency having sunk one half of its value, 
 since that expedition, the sum expected would be near enough 
 to redeem all the paper money extant. M' H. being) 
 Speaker, laid a plan before the House for importing the i 
 grant in Spanish dollars, and exchanging with them the paper i 
 money, and making silver at 6s. %d.X the ounce, or dollars aty 
 6s. each, the only lawful tender for the future, and forbidding, \ 
 on a severe penalty, the currency of paper for the future. 
 This rather caused a smile, few apprehending he was in earnest ;' 
 but upon his appearing very serious, out of deference to him as 
 Speaker, they appointed a Committee, who for some months, 
 tho' often called together, gave but little encouragement.§ 
 
 * He was twenty-five. Nothing now seems to be known of this pamphlet. 
 
 t Not the Governor, who was Sir Francis Bernard. 
 
 t The figures are interlined, and are not very distinct. 
 
 § On the fly-leaf at the beginning of his Almanac for 1770, he has jotted 
 down the rates of silver for a long series of years. The memorandum stands 
 thus: — 
 
 " Bates of Silvbb in — 
 
 1714 . 
 
 . . 8/6 
 
 —15 . 
 
 . . 9/2 
 
 —16-17 
 
 . . 12/- 
 
 —21 . 
 
 . • 13/- 
 
 —22 . 
 
 . . 14/- 
 
 —24-5. 
 
 . . 16/- 
 
 —25-6. 
 
 . . 15/6 
 
 —30 . 
 
 . . 18/- 
 
 —31 . 
 
 . . 19/- 
 
 —33 . 
 
 . . 21/- 
 
 1734 
 
 
 
 . 25/- 
 
 —37 
 
 
 
 . 26/6 
 
 —38 
 
 
 
 . 27/- 
 
 —39 
 
 
 
 . 28/6 
 
 —44 
 
 
 
 . 30/- 
 
 —45 
 
 
 
 . 36/- 
 
 —46 
 
 
 
 36/- 38/- 
 
 40/- & 41/- 
 
 —47 .... 50/- 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 5/- & 60/- 
 
54 DIAEY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. 
 
 / " However, after perseyering more than a year, the Bill was 
 / carried through. When it had passed, great part of the people 
 y was in a fury. M' H. more than once was threatened with 
 I destruction from some of the people of the town, and his 
 house taking fire on the top, the Lanthorn being in a blaze, 
 some of the lower class cursed him, and cried ' Let it burn> 
 It was moved in Council to appoint a guard at his house in the 
 \country, which he desired might not be done ; such was the 
 infatuation, that it was common to hear men wish the ship 
 with the silver on board might sink in her passage. At the 
 reelection for Represent" of Boston, in 1749, he failed of a 
 ^vote by a great majority, this being the objection. He was, 
 I however, chosen into the Council that year by a great majority, 
 \ notwithstanding the strong opposition of the Boston members. 
 "Scarce a year had expired after the exchange of the money 
 • before the people in general were perfectly satisfied, and sen- 
 sible to such a degree of the benefits they enjoyed from it, that 
 M' H. was as much praised for his ffrm, as he had before 
 been abused for his obstinate, perseverance. 
 
 " In November the 6*, 1752, the death of his mother was 
 a heavy stroke ; and in the summer of 1753 his brother and 
 minister, M' Welsted,* with whom he had lived in close 
 friendship, was struck with the palsy in the pulpit, and died in 
 /'a few days, to his great grief; but the 12'" of March took 
 \^from him his wife, after she had been delivered four weeks. 
 From the first of her danger he never left his house, and 
 seldom her chamber. This was the loss of more than dimidiam 
 Y animal suae, and the remembrance of her alone was sufiBcient to 
 V^prevent him from all thoughts of another marriage. Such was 
 his attachment, that she appeared, in body and mind, some- 
 thing more than human, and in his almanack he wrote these 
 lines, from Thuanu8,t upon the death of his wife : — 
 
 " ' Jamque vale, mea lux, nuper mea saucta voluptas 
 Nunc tenebrae et gemitus, desideriumque perenncs. 
 Donee honoratae, decurso stamine, vitse, 
 Post ezantlatas, in publica commoda, curas, 
 Mors ajrumnoso tandem me corpore, solvat, 
 Ett patriis, quo nunc praemitteris inserat, aatris.' 
 
 * His eldest sister Sarah had married the Rev. Mr. Welsted. She survived 
 him, and died February 4, 1775. 
 t Jacobus Augustus Thuanus, from his French name De Thou, a clever 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 55 
 
 " With her dying voice, and eyes fixed on him, she uttered 
 these words — ' be st of h usbands.' 
 
 "Two years before this, in April 1752, he was appointed 
 Judge of Probate and Justice of the Common Pleas for the 
 County of Suflfolk, in the place of his uncle, Edw* Hutchinson, 
 who died in March preceding.* It was his intention to quit ' 
 all mercantile business for a happy retreat with his wife and 
 children, to an house he had built in Milton. His attentions to 
 these parts, and the business of the Gen' Assembly, was the ^ 
 only relief from the distress of his mind upon the death of his 
 wife. He was employed from the year 1744 in most of the 
 public treaties and negotiations as a Commissioner, and in 
 1749 was at the head of the Commission which settled peace 
 with the Indians at Casco Bay ; in 1754 was one of the Com-^\ 
 missioners at the General Congress, by order of the King, at i 
 Albany. The other four, on the part of Mass. Bay, were/ 
 Samuel Welles and John Chandler (T. H.), Oliver Partridge, 
 and John Worthington. The same famous D' Franklin wasN 
 one of the Commissioners from Pensilvania. He, with M' 
 Hutchinson, were the Committee who drew up the plan of i 
 Union, and the representation of the state of the Colonies./ 
 The former was the projection of D' F., and prepared in 
 part before he had any consultation with M' H., probably 
 brought with him from Philadelphia ; the latter was the draught 
 of M' H. 
 
 "Upon M' Shirley'st going to England, in 1756, the"] 
 Government came again to Mr. Phips,f whose age had now/ 
 
 poet and historian, bom at Paris in 1553. He was of delicate bodily con- 
 stitution, but of great mental power. He studied law, but entered the 
 Church under the auspices of his uncle, the Bishop of Chartres ; visited Italy 
 in 1573, and was employed in negotiations in various places ; in 1578 made 
 Counsellor Clerk of Parliament. In 1579 he entered the service of Govern- 
 ment, and rose high in honour. His Latin was classical and good. He died 
 in 1617. 
 
 * This Edward was half brother of his father, who married Lydia, Col. 
 Foster's younger daughter, whose only surviving child Elizabeth, married the 
 Kev. Nathaniel IJobbins, whose descendants have continued to flourish in 
 Boston dovyn to our own time. 
 
 t Mr. Shirley was ajipointed Governor in 1740, and left for England in 
 
 1756. 
 X Spelt Fhipps in the Governor's printed ' Hist, of Mass. Bay.' 
 
56 BIARY AND LETTERS. OF. THOMAS HUTGEINSON. 
 
 rendered him less fit for it ithad ever.* Lord Loudoun, from 
 Albany, corresponded with M"^ 'Hutchinson, and when he came 
 .to Boston to meet Comndissioners there, consulted with him 
 upon every measure, and all succeeded to bis L'^ship's con- 
 ^nt. M' Phips dying soon after. Lord Loudoun wrote to M*^ 
 . H., intimating an expectation of his succeeding W Fhips. The 
 Council also wrote to M'. BoUan, to desire his endeavour that 
 a person from within the Province might be appointed. They 
 had a view to M' H., but one of the Council, M' Koyal, made 
 great interest for the place, and flattered himself, if his friends 
 in England did not flatter him, that he would be appointed." 
 
 Mr. Pownall was appointed to succeed General Shirley. Mr. 
 Pownall's biographers say a few hard things of him that we 
 cannot say are justified. Americans ought to have praised him, 
 as he rather favoured their views. Tudor's ' Life of Otis,' p. 42, 
 says : — " Pownall first came to this country as secretary to Sir 
 Danvers Osborne, Governor of New York, and was then appointed 
 Lieutenant-Govemer of New Jersey. Shirley took him into his 
 confidence, and communicated his plans to him, and he was accused 
 of betraying this trust, by anticipating all the important informa- 
 tion in his own communications to the Ministry. He doubtless 
 saw the defects of Shirley as a military commander, and in taking 
 part with his enemies, I)ela,ncey and Sir William Johnson, he 
 acted with private ingratitude, though it might conduce to the 
 public good to effect a change in the command. He went to 
 England in 1756. He was there appointed Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts.! His politics were those of Chatham ; and he came to 
 his Government full of zeal and animation, to promote the grand 
 and decisive principles of that Minister, for putting an end to the 
 contests with Prance in America, by depriving that power of all 
 its North American possessions. 
 
 " On his arrival in his Government, he could not be treated with 
 much cordiality by those officers of the Customs and other depart- 
 ments who had been the friends of Shirley, and who thought the 
 new Governor had used unfair intrigues to supersede him. Their 
 
 * Under date this year, 1756, the following occurs in the diary of the 
 younger Judge Lynde— " July 7. Exceeding hot ; dined with Capt. Osbom • 
 Lt.-Gov', etc., there ; Hutchinson's Bill rejected by House." '' 
 
 t 1756, July. "29th. Fair, hot ; news of (Jov' Pownal ; dined at Plim" • 
 at night at Cushing's."— Diary of B. Lynde, Jr. "August 9th. Fair- 
 Governor's entry into Boston." — Ihid. ' 
 
DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 57 
 
 politics, also, were not of the same school. He cared less about 
 enforcing the obnoxious Acts of Trade, and the collections of the 
 revenue from them, than for a vigorous prosecution of the war. 
 To this point he directed all his efforts, and gave many' proofs of 
 activity and address. He took into his confidence such men as 
 Judge Pratt and Dr. Cooper, who had much popular influence, 
 and he associated affably and readily with all classes of people. 
 This conduct counteracted in some degree the prejudice he excited 
 in a community distinguished by a very severe tone of manners, 
 in which the light and free conduct of a man of vdt and pleasure 
 appeared wholly unsliited to the formal dignity and cautious 
 propriety which was expected in their Chief Magistrate. 
 
 " In one of the satirical pieces, it was objected to him that he 
 would sometimes 'sit in. the chair without a sword, in a plain 
 short frock, unrufiSed shirt, with a scratch wig, and little rattan.' 
 The title of this pamphlet, which is in the library of the Historical 
 Society, is as follows : — ' Proposals for Publishing by Subscription 
 the History of the Public Life and Distinguished Actions of Vice- 
 Admiral Sir Thomas Erazen, Commander of an American Squadron 
 in the last Age; together with his Slighter Adventures and more 
 entertaining Anecdotes. In three volumes in quarto, adorned 
 throughout with cuts ; being the judicious abridgment of the 
 unwearied author's own most elaborate and costly performance of 
 thirty-one volumes in folio. By Thomas Thumb, Esq., Surveyor 
 of the Customs and Clerk of the Check, 1760.' 
 
 " Hutchinson was appointed Lieutenant-Govemer in 1758, and 
 as he was very popular, he was of great use in aiding the Governor 
 in his efforts to draw out aU the resources of the Province in the 
 prosecution of the war. There was, however, neither similarity of 
 manners nor cordiality of feeling between them. PownaU asso- 
 ciated very intimately with the enemies of Hutchinson, and the 
 latter, in his turn, exerted himself to destroy the Governor's 
 popularity. But these differences, fortunately, did not operate 
 to impede the efforts of the Province in the prosecution of the war. 
 
 " PownaU began his administration in Massachusetts at a period 
 when the country was depressed, both from the great sacrifices 
 and the repeated disasters of the previous years. His administra- 
 tion, though short, was eminently successful. But he found aE 
 the principal officers of Government opposed to him, and the" 
 friends of Shirley endeavouring to make him odious for his con- 
 duct towards that officer, and called in wit and ridicule to aid 
 their cause. He therefore, after two years' residence, obtained 
 leave to exchange his Government with that of South Carolina, 
 
58 BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTGHINSON. 
 
 and left Boston in June, 1760, the two branches of the Legislatiire 
 showing their respect by accompanying him to the place of 
 embarkation. He held this appointment but a short time before 
 he resigned it, to be sent in an ofScial capacity to the Combined 
 Army in Germany in 1762. After he obtained a seat in Parlia- 
 ment, he opposed all the measures of the Ministry which led to 
 the War of Separation.* He argued in favour of giving the 
 Colonies a representation in Parliament, considering their situation 
 to be analogous to that of the Counties Palatine in England. His 
 views were in some degree like those of Dr. Franklin, in wishing 
 to keep the Empire together. [!] Pownall was a member of the 
 Eoyal Society, and fond of scientific pursuits. He died at Bath 
 in February, 1805, in his eighty-fourth year."! 
 
 Tudor says that when Pownall was in Parliament he opposed 
 the Ministry. It is hard to say on what authority Tudor made 
 this assertion, for Pownall's own speeches prove just the contrary. 
 Pownall gave countenance, and even imprudent encouragement, to 
 a certain amount of constitutional liberty, and supported such 
 principles under Whig Ministers at the earlier portion of his 
 parliamentary career ; but his hearers forgot that he meant to 
 limit them to constitutional liberty, so that his imprudent en- 
 couragement led them soon to think that he was a partizan, and 
 that he would approve even of their excesses. Those who have 
 sown the wind shall reap the whirlwind, and those who inflame 
 the people with declamations about visions of undefined liberty, 
 must not be surprised if this leads on to scenes of rebellion. The 
 American revolt was much encouraged by certain members of both 
 Houses of Parliament in England. There would be no difficulty 
 in arguing that the Duke of Bichmond, the Marquis of Rocking- 
 ham, Lords Chatham and Camden, Edmund Burke, John Wilkes, 
 and a few more, were in a great degree responsible for the rebellion 
 in the Colonies. They sowed the wind, and then, when the whirl- 
 wind came, they would have put limits to it if they could. Speak- 
 ing in the autumn of 1775, Charles Fox said, "the Americans 
 were not justifiable in the extent of their proceedings."! And 
 Lord Chatham, who had used his best eloquence in encouraging 
 them to resist the measures of the English Government, at last 
 found they were going too far, so he changed his tone an^daid — 
 
 * This is contrary to fact. He changed his views and supported the Tory 
 Ministry. More anon. 
 
 •f From 'The Life of James Otis of Massachusetts,' by William Tudor 
 p. 42. 
 
 t Adolph., ii. 273. 
 
DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 59 
 
 " But I must own I find fault with them in many things. I think 
 they carry matters too far. They have been wrong in many 
 respects. I think the idea of drawing money from them by taxes 
 was ill-judged."* He first led them on to this, and then he began 
 to blame them. Lord Lyttleton gave his mind pretty plainly to 
 these incautious noblemen, in his speech of December 15, 1775. 
 He said — " Those who defend rebellion, are themselves little better 
 than rebels." 
 
 Mr. Tudor says above, intending to eulogise Governor Pownall, 
 " His views were in some degree like those of Dr. Franklin, in 
 wishing to keep the empire together." As regards Dr. Franklin, 
 this is something we did not know before. And also, " He argued 
 in favour of giving the Colonies a representation in Parliament." 
 If Pownall ever thought that this was within feasibility, or would 
 be agreeable to the Americans, he was mistaken in both. The 
 distance was too great to make representation satisfactory, and 
 the Americans themselves did not want it. They say as much in 
 their Address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain. They speak 
 of the powers assumed by the English Parliament, and add — " in 
 which we are not represented, and from our local and other cir- 
 cumstances cannot properly be represented." This put the question 
 aside altogether. 
 
 Livingstone, at page 87 of his 'Military Operations in North 
 America,' from 1753 to 1756, a book in the Historical Society 
 Collections for 1800, uses harder language than the case merits. 
 He says : — 
 
 " Pownall is insatiable of praise ; he cannot only hear himself 
 flattered, but what is more unaccountable in a person of tolerable 
 sense, he can even flatter himself. He has uncommon application, 
 and a good memory. He has some knowledge of American affairs, 
 bjit is so eager for promotion that he cannot brook the thoughts of 
 a gradual advancement, — is so intent on the contemplation of his, 
 as to lose all patience in earning it. Wonderful is his knack at 
 pluming himself with the schemes and inventions of others, a 
 remarkable instance of which I shall give in the following 
 anecdote. The scheme of a naval armament on Lake Ontario, 
 projected by Lieutenant-Governor Clarke, before the war, sub- 
 mitted to the then Ministry, and now recommended to the Congress 
 at Albany, by some means happened to be hinted without doors. 
 Pownall drew up some loose undigested proposals on American 
 afiairs, and urged this scheme as a new unthought-of measure, 
 
 / * Bigelow's ' Life of Franklin.' 
 
60 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCEINSON. 
 
 absolutely requisite to secure the command of these inland seas. 
 He claimed the sole merit of being the original author of so useful 
 and necessary an expedient." 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson proceeds thus with his narrative : — 
 
 " But M"^ Pownall being appointed to succeed M' Shirley 
 as Governor, he prevented any appointment of Lieut* Governor, 
 that he might have an opportunity of recommending a person 
 after his arrival. M"^ Hutchinson had been known to him at 
 Albany ; afterwards at Boston ; had correspondence with him 
 when in England, from whence he gave hints of an intention 
 to appoint M' H. L' Governor ; and upon his arrival let him 
 know that he had mentioned him to Lord Halifax, but tbat 
 the appointment would not be made until his letter should 
 be received, and desired to know M' Hutchinson's mind, who 
 did not rate it so high as it's probable M' Pownall expected he 
 would, though he did not decline it. M' Pownall had at first 
 recommended himself to the esteem of M' Hutchinson by very 
 obliging behaviour, and afterwards at Boston by the like ; 
 but the arts which he used to undermine M' Shirley had 
 lessened that esteem. He soon saw the like arts using to 
 distress Lord Loudoun, from whom he expected the command 
 of the provincial forces ; and M'^ Hutchinson suspected he^^ 
 should meet with much trouble, unless he joined with him 
 in every measure.* 
 
 * * * « « 
 
 " Lord L. was an honest good natured man ; had been 
 friendly to P., but not giving him the command of the Pro- 
 vincials, he could never forgive it. Major Gen. Abercrombie 
 succeeded. M' Pownall sought from him the same appoint- 
 ment, which he excused as politely as he could; and par- 
 ticularly mentioned the importance to the King's service, 
 that he should continue in the Province. His resentment 
 was as strong against Abercr. as it had been against L^ 
 Loudoun. 
 
 * Here follow a few personal remarks which are not material in a historical 
 point' of view. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 61 
 
 " There had been an allowance of 4" p day p man, [when 
 the Pi-ovincial troops were out on active service,] made by 
 the Assembly for provisions. He [Governor Pownall] took 
 it in his head to advise some of the leading members of the 
 House to reduce it to 5^, and desired M' Hutchinson to pro- 
 mote the measure, which he declined, as it would have a 
 tendency to make a breach between the General and the 
 
 Province, and hurt the service, ' Oh, by ,' says he, ' if 
 
 1 could not raise a party of the Civil, against the Military, 
 whether it was Majority or Minority, I should not care a 
 farthing, only let it be a party ! ' Whether Gen. Amherst 
 ever heard of this or not, I do not know ; but I have no 
 doubt that the representations made by him to Ministry, 
 caused the recall of Gov. Pownall. To let him down easily, 
 he was nominated Governor of S. Carolina ; but upon Gen. 
 Amherst hearing of this nomination, he said to Brig' Bug- 
 gies, who was then in the army under the General, on the 
 frontiers — 'Depend upon it, M' Pownall will not go out a 
 Governor again to any of the American Colonies.' And 
 another Governor was soon after appointed to South Caro- 
 lina." 
 
 The diary of Judge Benjamin Lynda, Jim', alludes to several 
 persons mentioned above : — 
 
 " 1757. Lord Loudon, General of King's forces in America, 
 entered at Boston ; Secretary Willard died, and Andrew Oliver, 
 Esq., Secretary. 
 
 " April 4th. Died Spencer Phipps, Esq., Lt. Governor, and then 
 Commander-ia-Chief of the province. Gov' Shirley then being 
 called home, the government devolved on the Council, nntQ the 
 arrival of Gov' Thomas Pownall, 3* August following." 
 
 After Mr. Pownall had settled himself down in England, he 
 became a candidate for a seat in the House of Commons ; and we 
 gather from the Parliamentary Debates that he obtained a seat for 
 Tregony, in Cornwall, in 1767, from a death vacancy. He, how- 
 ever, lost his election for that place on a subsequent contest in the 
 autumn of 1774, a circumstance which is alluded to in the Diary 
 of Governor Hutchinson, in the following words : — 
 
 "1774 Oct. 15th. Governor Pownall has lost his election at 
 Tregony. Bob, or Eobert, a Waiter not long since, and who has 
 
62 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 served coffee to many of the H. of Commons at St. James's 
 Coffee House, is returned for two borouglis. Strahan, the Printer, 
 chose, and also a Coal Merchant, who, a little while since, was a 
 Barter," 
 
 After this defeat, he made advances to Lord North, the Tory 
 Prime Minister, and gave him to understand that if he could come 
 in under his auspices he would support his Ministry ; and at the 
 General Election, in January, 1775, he was returned for Miaehead, 
 in Somerset. By this time Mr. PownaU would seem to have 
 modified his views on the subject of American liberty. To go and 
 tell the mob that they ought to have more liberty is like the letting 
 out of w^ater, or sowing the wind. Perhaps he perceived that 
 they were now going in for what Edmund Bnrke called "the 
 extreme of liberty," and that even a good thing, when enjoyed to 
 over-excess, must be curbed. Be that as it may, he henceforth 
 supported the restraining measures brought in by Lord North, 
 and opposed the introduction of Burke's Conciliatory Bill. 
 
 " He [Pownall] now saw the Colonists resisting the government 
 derived from the Crown and Parliament ; opposing rights which 
 they had always acknowledged ; arming and arraying themselves, 
 and carrying their opposition into force of arms. Under such 
 circumstances he could not deny the necessity which impelled this 
 country to assume an hostile position. The Americans had rendered 
 it necessary."* 
 
 And during the debate in November, 1775, when Burke intro- 
 duced his Conciliatory Bill, Pownall combated the notion which 
 had been set up, to the effect that the English Parliament was 
 assuming new powers over the Colonies ; for he spoke of various 
 Acts which, " from the twenty-fifth year of Charles IL had laid 
 duties on the Colonies for the purpose of raising a revenue for 
 England."! 
 
 Lord Mahon speaks of him in the following terms : — " Mr. 
 Pownall had been Governor of Massachnsetts, and still retained 
 the title. He was a worthy well-meaning man, and often spoke 
 on colonial affairs, but in a very tedious strain, so that, as Franklin 
 laments, 'he is very ill heard at present.' (To Dr. Cooper, 
 Feb. 24, 1770.) It is probable, therefore, that very little of his 
 speeches would have reached posterity had they not been carefully 
 reported by himself.''^ 
 
 * Adolphus, ' Hist, of Eng.,' ii. 209. 
 
 t Ihid., ii. 292. 
 
 X Lord Mahon's Hist., near end of ch. xlvii. 
 
BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 6i3 
 
 The Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1805, informs us that 
 he married firstly Harriet, daughter of Lieut.-General Churchill, 
 and widow of Sir Everard Faulkner, and by some writers they 
 are spoken of as " Mr. Pownall and Lady Faulkner." She died 
 6th Feb., 1777. He married secondly, August 2, 1784, Mrs. Astell, 
 of Everton House, in Bedfordshire. He was bom in the year 
 1722, and died at Bath in 1805, in his eighty-fourth year. 
 
( 64 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " M' PowNAiL* sailed on the y* of June 1760, leaving the 
 command to L' Governor Hutchinson, with whom he was 
 
 much offended for not joining with him. 
 
 * • • » • 
 
 " The Assembly was then sitting, and three or four days 
 after the Governor sailed, the House and Council, upon the 
 recommendation of the L* Governor, by a general vote elected 
 M'^ Bollan the Provincial Agent, whom they had dismissed a 
 few months before, after long solicitation from the Governor 
 for that purpose. 
 
 " Francis Bernard Esq.,t appointed to succeed M"" Pownall, 
 arrived from New Jersey the 2nd of August. King George 
 the Second dying the 25th of Ocf the L' Gov. thought it 
 not improbable Ijord Halifax might be influenced by M' 
 Pownall to appoint a new Lieut. Governor, and M.^ Bollan 
 wrote to the L. G. that there was a probability of demurs; 
 but not long after, he wrote that L* Halifax had heard some- 
 thing of his Governor [Government ?] with which he was not 
 pleased, and that soon after the L' Governor'sJ was sent to 
 him to be forwarded when neither the Governor's nor Secre- 
 tary's were finished. 
 
 "About a month after M' Bernard's arrival, M' Sewall, 
 
 * Amongst the papers there is a MS. book of folio size, being the Instruc- 
 tions issued to Mr. Pownall, as Governor, and containing a long list of Acts 
 of Parliament, which he was to study, and which Acts were also supplied to 
 him. The Sign Manual of George II. is at the beginning and end. And 
 there is a simLlar book oi 'Instructions directed to Governor Bernard, worded 
 exactly the same, and with the lists of Acts of Parliament. This has the 
 Sign Manual of George III. A similar book was doubtless furnished to 
 Governor Hutchinson, but it is missing. Perhaps it was left with his letters 
 in the garret at Milton. 
 
 t Eventually made a Baronet for his services. 
 
 j Perhaps the Lieut.-Govemor's commission or confirmation is intended. 
 The passage does not read clearly. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 65 
 
 Chief Justice, died.* M' Gridley, the first lawyer at the Bar, 
 met the L' Gov. the next morning in the street, and said 
 to him that he must be the successor. This was unex- 
 pected; but it caused the L' Gov. to think seriously upon 
 it, for it was an employment which nothing but a diffidence 
 of his qualification for it would render unwelcome to him. 
 
 "A day or two after M' Otis Jim*^ came to him with a 
 letter from his father at Barnstaple, desiring the L' Gov.'s 
 interest with the Gov., that M' Otis, the father, might be 
 appointed a Judge of the Court, presuming M"^ Lynde.t the 
 eldest Judge, would be appointed Ch. Justice. Whilst the 
 L. G. was reading the letter, M' Otis Jun' said to him, that 
 if he had any thought of the Chief Justice's place, he had 
 not a word to say for his father. The L. G. gave such 
 answer as shewed he was not without thought of it, but that 
 he was undetermined whether, if offered, he should accept, 
 and that the mention of him was unexpected, or a general 
 answer of that uncertain nature. This did not prevent the 
 father and son from the most warm and zealous solicitations. 
 
 "A month had passed, when the Gov' observed to one of 
 L' Gov.r'8 friends, that many people had pressed bim to 
 appoint the L' Gov. Chief Justice, but he had never said a 
 word about it himself. This caused the L' Gov. to say to 
 the Gov. that he had been silent because he wished to leave 
 the Governor free to do what appeared to him most proper 
 and not from any disdain of asking any favour.J As the 
 
 * Stephen Sewall died September 11, 1760. " His name should be trans- 
 mitted with honour to posterity." — ^Hutch. ' Hist. Mass.' iii. 86, note. 
 
 t This was Benjamin Lynde, the second of that name. 
 
 % Under date August 11, on one of the blank leaves of the Almanac for 
 1770, the following memorandum of a curious visit from Mr. Otis is re- 
 corded : — 
 
 "August 11. M' Otis stopped at my house at Milton, in his way to 
 Plimouth, and after salutations, desired to see me in private, tho' in the 
 morning, about 8 or 9, he smelt strong of rum, and carried the disorder of 
 mind w'"" that had increased in his countenance. He said he was an 
 unhappy man, and had been cruelly persecuted, and he knew I had been 
 so; 'But,' says he, ' God knows,' clapping his hand to his heart, ' that I had 
 no hand in it.' He went on, that he hoped he had a right to travel the road 
 for his health, that he was in the peace of God and the King, that he con- 
 sidered me as the representative of the King, and the King as the repre- 
 sentative of God, and was come to apply to me for protection. I made him 
 
66 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 resentment of the Otises increased, the L' Governor thought 
 himself bound some time after to signify to the Governor his 
 
 1 opinion of the trouble it would occasion in his administration, 
 and to assure him that he, the L' G., would afford him the 
 
 . same assistance as if he had been appointed Ch. Justice, if 
 he had any inclination to comply with Otis's solicitation; 
 but he answered, that he should not appoint M' Otis, if the 
 L' Gov. declined the place. And soon after the L' Gov. was 
 appointed. 
 
 "This employment engaged his attention, and he applied 
 his intervals to reading the law ; and though it was an eye- 
 sore to some of the Bar to have a person at the head of the 
 law who had not been bred to it, he had reason to think 
 the lawyers in general at no time desired his removal. About 
 the year 1763 or '64, he had serious thoughts of resigning his 
 place of L' Governor, and had wrote a letter to that purpose ; 
 but before he had an opportunity of sending it to England, 
 something occurred which caused him to change his mind. 
 
 v--The post, however, was of some prejudice to him with the 
 people. Affairs which came before the Court in which the 
 Prerogative was concerned, such as Writs of Assist., [?] suits 
 brought against the officers of the Customs, the Admiralty 
 Court, and prosecutions of rioters at the time of the Stamp 
 Act, &c. The people were . . * to bring him under a 
 bias, though he must have taken the same part if he had 
 not been L* Governor. 
 
 a very soft reply, assured him of all y" protection in my power, and he, with 
 great ceremony, took leave." 
 
 There is no explanation as to what circmnstance Mr. Otis referred to, 
 when he said, " he had no hand in it." The unfortunate man, some time 
 afterwards, lost the halance of his mind. Both father and son, at the com- 
 mencement of their career, had been good, sound, loyal men ; but owing to 
 some disgust, or vexation, or disappointment in respect to the Chief justice- 
 ship, they veered their saUs, and steered into the troubled waters of re- 
 publicanism. 
 
 " December 23, 1765. Otis is fiery and feverous. He is liable to great 
 irregularities of temper, sometimes in despondency, and sometimes in a rage." 
 Again — " September 3, 1769. Otis talks all ; he grows the most talkative 
 man alive ; no other gentleman in company can find space to put in a word." 
 J. Adams's Diary. Lord Mahon's Hist., v. 271, 3rd edit. 
 
 * Word of doubtful reading. 
 
VIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTGEINSON. 67 
 
 " The Governor was very active in promoting seizures for v. 
 illicit trade, which he made profitable by his share in the 
 forfeitures ; but the Surveyor General, who envied him his 
 profits, differed with him, and suspended the Collector at 
 Salem, who was the Governor's creature. 
 
 " There had been other disputes, in none of which the Lt. 
 Gov' ever interested himseK, nor did the Gov' make him ^ 
 privy to them. But having occasion to send to the Ministry 
 a number of Depositions concerning illicit trade, they were 
 all sworn to before the Attorney General, or some other 
 Justice of Peace, except the Depositions of the Deputy Judge 
 of Admiralty Court, which, for what reason the Lt. Gov' knew 
 not, the Gov' desired might be attested by the Lt. Gov' as 
 Chief Justice. These Depositions were all seen at the Planta- 
 tion Office by Briggs Hallowell, a merchant of Boston. He 
 reported that complaint was made in them of John Bowe, 
 Solomon Davy, and other merchants, as illicit traders, and 
 that they were sworn to before the L' Governor, when indeed 
 he had not any knowledge of their names being mentioned 
 nor of the contents of any of the depositions except that of 
 the Judge. This arriving at the time when the people were 
 inflamed with the expectation of the Stamp Act, they were 
 more easily induced to violence against any Crown officers ; 
 and these merchants, as one of them, M' Kowe, acknowledged, 
 stirred up the mob to attack the houses of the Custom House 
 officers, the Kegister of the Admiralty, and the Chief Justice, 
 the last of whom was made the principal object ; and on the 
 26th of August, 1765, at night, the mob entered his house,* 
 and not only destroyed, or cast into the street, or carried away 
 all his money, plate, and furniture, together with his apparel, 
 books, papers, and every other article in the house and cellars 
 belonging to himself and family, the furniture of a kitchen 
 only excepted, and pulled down as much of the partitions and 
 roof of the house as the time between eight o'clock in the 
 evening and four in the morning would admit." 
 
 ♦ Possibly this account of these untoward events may be a first rough 
 draft of what was afterwards printed in his History, at page 124 of vol. iii. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 Dr. Peter Oliver, one of the sons of the subsequent Chief Justice, 
 speaks of this riot in his Diary, and of his courtship with Sarah H., 
 the Governor's daughter. Let these things furnish an excuse for 
 quoting the first few pages of it. 
 
 " Peter Oliver, 3"* son of Peter & Mary, [Clarke] was bom in 
 Boston, Massachusetts Bay, June 17, 1741, O.S. From this time 
 tiU 1756 he was back & forwards from Boston to Middleborough, 
 his father moving to Middleborough, in the county of Plymouth, 
 in the year 1744. July the 1"' he went to the scholl [sic] in 
 Newark, New Jersies, about 200 miles from his father, with a very 
 heavy heart : however, lived in M' Burr's family, one of the best 
 in the country. He staid at school \_dc\ under M' Odell, the 
 Master, till the 1'' of October only, when the whole college was 
 moved to Princetown. The autumn of 1756 I studied under a 
 new schoolmaster, a M' Smith, & lived & studied with him till 
 Sep' 30, 1757, when M' Burr, the President, died of a fever. I 
 came first to Brunswick, & took passage in a schooner. Cap" 
 Gibbs, for Bhode Island ; was ab' 6 days in my passage thither, 
 exceedingly sea sick. 
 
 " Ab' the 1"' week in Oct' I got home to Middleborough. 
 
 " In Nov', ab' the 2* week, I went to Boston with my father & 
 mother ; lodged at Milton, at G. Hutchinson's, who was then only 
 M' Hutchinson, or perhaps Lieutenant Gov'. I remember it was 
 of a Saturday ev^ & the 1" time I ever saw his eldest daughter, 
 Sally, who was afterwards my wife. I went the next day to 
 Meeting with the family. 
 
 " In this month I was examined at Harvard College, Cambridge, 
 & was admitted into the Freshman's class, under M' Handcock, 
 the Tutor, my elder brother Daniel being there a Senior Sophister. 
 
 " In July my brother took his Degree of B.A., and went home. 
 
 " Nothing very particular while at College, only I spent most 
 of my time very agreeably ; became much acquainted with M' 
 Hutchinson's family (EUsha and I living together the greater 
 part of my last two years), & especially with Sally. She had a 
 very agreeable way in her behaviour, which I remember pleased 
 me beyond any other of my female acquaint', though I had not 
 the least thought of any connection with her. 
 
 " While I was at college I lost a favourite uncle, Clarke, who 
 was a physician in Boston, & likewise some cousins. 
 
 " In July 1761 I took my Deg» of B.A. 
 
 " In Aug' 21 foUow« I went to live at Soituate with D' Stock- 
 bridge, as an apprentice. Here I enjoyed a many happy & more 
 happier Hour [«c] than I ever experienced in my life before. I 
 
DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 69 
 
 had no care or trouble on my mind — lived easy, & became 
 acquainted with, an agreeable young lady in the neighbourhood, 
 but only on a friendly footing. 
 
 "In March 21, 1764, I left D' Stookbridge's, and went to Boston 
 to reside at the Castle, to understand the nature of the small-pox, 
 under D' Gelston. I staid there tiU the last of Ap' follow*, when 
 I cleared out, as they term it ; went to Middleborough in May ; 
 and in June set up for myself in the practice of physic, amidst 
 many difficulties & obstructions. My father built me a small 
 shop near his house. I gradually got a little business, but poor 
 
 pay- 
 
 " In June 1765 first pay'd my addresses to M" [Mistress] S. H., 
 and obtained leave of her father in Aug' follow*, being just before 
 his House was tore down; he losing everything he had in his 
 House ; his Daughters & the rest of the family likewise shared 
 the same fate. 
 
 "I went down in a few days after to see the family; foimd 
 M" S. H. most terribly worried & distrest. 
 
 " I found that courtship was the most pleasant part of my life 
 hitherto ; the family were very agreeable." 
 
 And so on. This Diary must be quoted again where it bears on 
 subjects treated of in the text. 
 
 S. H. is the daughter that came back to her father when the 
 house was attacked. 
 
 " The Superior Court was to be held the next morning in 
 Boston. The Chief Justice, who was deprived of his robes and 
 all other apparel except an undress he was in when the mob 
 came, appeared in that undress and an ordinary gi-eat coat over 
 it, which he borrowed, and to as crowded an audience as ever 
 appeared in Court, instead of the usual charge to the G. Jury, 
 he addressed himself, and represented the wretched state a 
 town and coimtry must be in if such mobs were suflfered to <■ 
 prevail ; that nobody knew whose turn it would be next ; that 
 yesterday he thought himself in as little danger as any of 
 them ; that to-day he has not a shirt in the world except what 
 he has on his back ; that his whole misfortune was owing to a 
 charge against him, which, if it had been true, would have been 
 in no degree blameworthy ; but, as it hapned, was without 
 foundation, for he declared he had not the least privity to any 
 complaints or representations against any persons concerned in 
 
70 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 illicit trade ; and that one deposition only, of the Judge of the 
 Admiralty had been sworn to before him. It having been 
 advanced by some of the mob, that the L' Gov' had been an 
 ^dviser of the Stamp Act, he took the same opportunity to 
 avow his disaprobation of all the riotous tumultous opposition 
 to that Act, but declared that he was so far from adyising to 
 jtji that in his correspondence he had, as far as with propriety 
 he might, used his endeavours to present it ; and he thought 
 it probable some of his papers to evidence it, might fall into 
 the hands of people who brought the charge against him. He 
 spoke near half an hour to the people who the same forenoon 
 assembled in as great a crowd at Faneuil Hall, and with one 
 voice expressed their detestation of the disorders the evening 
 preceeding, a great number of the actors and promoters being 
 present. 
 
 " The damage was estimated about 2500£ sterling. Some 
 of M' Hutchinson's best friends gave him but little encourage- 
 ment to expect a compensation. He made application to the 
 Secretary of State, and made use of his friends in England; 
 and urged precedents of satisfaction made to Governors and 
 other servants of the Crown, in cases not so strong as this. 
 The Governor claimed a compensation fi-om the Assembly in 
 such terms as offended them and produced an angry answer. 
 
 " And the first letters after the news in England, from the 
 Secretary of State, also recommended satisfaction in very strong 
 terms, but several sessions passed without obtaining it.* The 
 perpetrators were, divers of them, apprehended and committed 
 to gaol, where they remaiped several days, if not weeks. They 
 were deemed capital offenders, even by the province law 
 and the offence was undoubtedly Treason at common law ; 
 but the people did not intend they should be tried ; and in 
 the dead of night, a large number of men entered the house 
 of the prison keeper; compelled him to deliver the keys; 
 opened the prison doors; and set every man free who had 
 been committed for this offence. They absconded for some 
 
 * The ' New Eng. Historical and Grenealogical Reg.,' vol. i.. No. 4, p. 306, 
 says that Gov. H. eventually received an indemniflcation in the sum of 
 £3194 17s. Gd. His own rough estimate was therefore considerahly below 
 the actual estimate subsequently arrived at. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 71 
 
 montlis ; after which, finding that no authority had taken any 
 notice of the prisoners or of the persons concerned in their 
 rescue, they returned ; appeared openly, and were very active 
 in other irregular proceedings. Indeed, there waa but little 
 room to expect a prosecution. Some of the principal people 
 in trade would not suffer the principal actor to be committed. 
 
 " The Governor had summoned a council the day after the 
 riot.* The Sherriff attended ; and upon enquiry, it appeared 
 that one Mackintosh, a shoemaker, was among the most active 
 in destroying the L* Governor's house and furniture. A war- 
 rant was given to the Sherriff to apprehend him by name, with 
 divers others. Mackintosh appeared in King Street, and the 
 Sherriff took him ; but soon discharged him, and returned 
 to the Council Chamber, where he gave an account of his 
 taking him ; and that M' Nath' CofSn, and several other gentle- 
 men, came to him, and told him that it had been agreed that 
 the cadets and many other persons should appear in arms ^ 
 the next evening, as a guard and security against a fresh riot,V^ 
 which was feared, and said to have been threatened, but not 
 a man would appear unless Mackintosh was discharged. The 
 Lieut. Governor asked, ' And did you discharge him ? * ' Yes.' 
 ' Then you have not done your duty.' And this was all the ^^ 
 notice taken of the discharge. The true reason of thus dis- 
 tinguishing Mackintosh was that he could discover who 
 employed him ; whereas the other persons apprehended were 
 such as had collected together without knowing of any previous 
 plan. It was plain the Governor thought the state of the 
 province would not bear the execution of the law, and never "^ 
 
 • The remembrance of this riot was raked up again near ten years after, 
 when some missing accoimt books were being inquired for. Mr. Hutchinson 
 had been between four and five months in England, and, replying to the 
 inquiry, he gives the following explanation to his correspondent in America, 
 under date November 8, 1774: : — 
 
 " I am to acknowledge the receipt of your favour of 28"" of October. My 
 house was destroyed near ten years ago by a mob, and all my papers of 
 every kind scattered about the street, and I never afterwards attempted to 
 separate my mercantile papers from those of another kind, when part of 
 what had. been thus scattered had been picked up and brought to me ; so 
 that it would have been impossible for me to have made any judgment what 
 balance was due from the late company of Hutchinson and Groldthwait, to 
 the company of Halsey and Hanbury, if you had not been so kind as to 
 furnish me with extracts from the letters which passed on that occasion," (feu. 
 
72 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 moted for any other steps for a prosecution. The L* G-overnor 
 with his children, lodged the next night at the Castle, but 
 after that in his house at Milton, though not without appre- 
 ^rhensions of danger* The House of Eepresentatives, tho' it 
 was apparently impracticable to punish the offenders, repeatedly 
 urged that it was not the act of the people, but of a number 
 of abandoned men, who they thought should be brought to 
 justice, and be held to make satisfaction to those who had 
 been injured, and that the Government was by no means 
 chargeable. But being still pressed by the Governor, they 
 proposed consulting their towns, which the Governor conceded to. 
 " More of the towns either signified a willingness to make 
 satisfaction, or left it to their representatives to do as they 
 thought fit, than was generally expected ; but whether the 
 majority I am not able to say. Be that as it may, there 
 is room to doubt whether it would have finally been obtained 
 without a strong unwarrantable conduct in M"^ Hawley, a 
 leading member of the House. 
 
 " Soon after this riot a number of persons for whom he was 
 counsel, were convicted of a riot in the county of Hampshire. 
 Hawley took exception to the indictment. The offence was 
 an opposition with armed force to the execution of law, the 
 riots being caused by the Stamp Act.t The exception was 
 
 * " 1765, August 22°''. This year the Parliament made the Stamp Act ; 
 Secretary Oliver made one of the stamp masters. In August a mob hesett 
 his house, destroyed a building and ruined glasses, &c., to the value of . . . 
 
 "26th. A mob rose again, besett the Lieu: Gov'" house, pulled down 
 part of it, and destroy'd his furniture, books, &c., to value of 23,000 O. T. 
 Great change in ministry at home; M' Grenville and friends out, and M' 
 Pitt reinstated with Lord Eockingham and Duke of Grafton." — Diary of 
 Judge Lynde Jr. 
 
 f Let a lady give her opinion on politics. In the first volume of the blue- 
 back Letter Books, there are three letters in 1765, and one in 1766, written 
 by Mrs. "Watson, wife of Col. Geo. Watson, from Plymouth, to her little 
 daughter Mary, or Polly, who was at school in Boston. Mrs. "Watson de- 
 clares that the Stamp Act was not repealed on the 8th of March. 
 
 "Dear Polly,— " Plymouth, April 23, 1766. 
 
 " I was very glad to hear you got to Middelborough safe. I hope you 
 will behave youself \sic\ very well, and mind what your granmama says 
 to you, for I know if you do, which I hope you will, that I shall have 
 the pleasure of seeing you very much improved. You know what you 
 promised me, so shall depend upon your performence of it. 1 have no news 
 without I tell you it is said that the Stamp Act was not reiieal'd the 8 of 
 
DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 73 
 
 overruled, the L* Governor being Ch. Justice ; and then in 
 court observed, that the Crown was at liberty to prosecute for 
 an inferior offence, when included in an offence of a higher 
 nature ; and if the offence was treason, it was also a riot ; and 
 that many instances of that sort continually hapned. Hawley 
 however was greatly dissatisfied at his clients being convicted 
 and moderately iined, which they had not paid, and were 
 imprisoned. Although it had always before been urged that 
 the offenders ought to be brought to justice, it was now pro- 
 posed that satisfaction should be made to the sufferers ; but 
 that a general pardon for all offeuders in any tumult, &c.,- 
 occasioned by, or under pretence of the Stamp Act, should 
 be tacked to the Bill. This was agreed to, and the Bill 
 passed ; and the Hampshire rioters, the only persons then 
 convicted, or in danger of conviction, were released. This is 
 one of those things which men, in a body, often do, when the 
 greatest part of them, if to act by themselves, would detest. 
 
 "The Governor, though the Bill was not to be justified, 
 consented to it The prisoners were discharged. The money 
 was paid out of the Treasury to the sufferers. When the Act 
 was laid before the King it was disapproved ; but it had all 
 the effect designed, and nothing more was said about it. 
 
 " The Stamp Act was repealed,* the news whereof arrived 
 two or three weeks before the election of Counsellors for 1766. - 
 The L' Governor had been elected every year from 1749. 
 He knew that an attempt would be made to leave him out of 
 the Council, as being dependent on the Crown, both as Lieut* 
 
 March : so much for politicks, since you are so grate a politicion I that [sic] 
 you would not excuse my silence upon the subject. Cousin Betsey sends 
 her love, & sends you peice of M" Burr's Plumb Cake. Sally sends her 
 love to you. — Your Affectionate Mama, 
 
 "Elizabeth Watson. 
 " To M" Polly Watson." 
 
 She was afterwards wife to Elisha Hutchinson. 
 
 * " 1766, March 18th. The Stamp Act repealed, on which great re- 
 joicings in England. The news arrived here the 17"" May ; on it the Courts 
 opened, and great rejoicings here. 
 
 " May 28th. Election ; I sent a resignation of my seat at Council Board. 
 The Lieut. Grov', Secretary Oliver, Judge Oliver, and the Attorney 
 General Groffe, left out. Col. Gerrish, Col. Bowers, M' Dexter, M' Saunders, 
 negatived; sdso Col. Otis and Colo. Sparhawk, of [the] old Board. I was 
 28 years a Counsellor."— Diary of Judge Lynde, Jr., p. 191. 
 
74 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 Gov' and Chief Justice. M' Lynde, one of the Judges, to 
 avoid being left out, resigned previous to the election. M' 
 Oliver, another Judge, the Secretary, and the Attorney-General, 
 were also left out with the L* Governor. It was pretty 
 remarkable that the U Governor had two or three votes 
 more than a majority of the whole number of voters in the 
 choice of eighteen Counsellors ; but it hapned, as it seldom 
 does, that nineteen had a majority, and the votes for the 
 L' Governor were least in number, one only. Upon an 
 after-trial, what is called at large, he would have been also 
 elected, if those other gentlemen whose votes were short had 
 not refused to vote, that as they were left out they might have 
 the Lieuten' Governor's company. Gov. Bernard negatived 
 as many of the new Counsellors as they had left out.* This 
 caused high resentment against him. The same year, however, 
 upon the choice of Commissioners to treat with New York, 
 M' Hutchinson was elected against M' Otis, and prevailed 
 with by his friends to accept. The Governor the next year 
 would have compromised the matter, and intimated to the 
 party in opposition that if they would choose the L' 
 Governor, he would consent to some they were fond of, but 
 they would not hearken. He came, however, within one vote 
 of a choice of the next election of 1767, and in 1768 within 
 two or three, after which no further attempt was made, it 
 being known in 1769 that M' Bernard was to leave the 
 Province in two or three months. Before his departure a 
 special Court of Admiralty was held for a trial of several 
 seamen, who had defended themselves against a press-gang 
 from the Base man-of-war, and in the affray had killed 
 Lieutenant Panton.t M' Otis and others, counsel for the 
 prisoners, moved that the trial should be by a jury. This was 
 a popular motion, and Gov. Bernard, upon considering the 
 Acts of Parliament, was of opinion that there was nothing in 
 them to prevent it ; and upon opening the Court he acquainted 
 the people with the motion, and that the Commissioners were 
 
 * " 1769, May. Election. Colo. Brattle and Coz°. Bowdoin negatived by 
 Grov. Bernard, who in July sailed for England." — Diary of Judge Lynde, Jr., 
 p. 192. 
 
 t Hutch. 'Hist, of Mass.,' iii. 231. 
 
BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. 75 
 
 considering in what manner to convene a Grand Jury and 
 Petty Jury, and should adjourn for some days. M' Hutchinson, 
 who was convinced the design of the Acts of Parliam* was to 
 prevent trials by Jury, and that the Commission was utterly 
 inconsistent, drew up a state of the case, which was perfectly 
 satisfactory to the whole Court; and upon meeting again. 
 Gov' Bernard, the President, declared to the people the 
 opinion of the Court, and referred to M' H., being Chief 
 Justice, to give the grounds of their opinion, which he did 
 publicly. It was so plain a case that the Court, and particu- 
 larly the President, would have been liable to a severe censure 
 if they had proceeded to trial by jury, as it would have had no 
 foundation or law to support it." 
 
 In the Almanac for 1770 there are a few notes and memo- 
 randiuas which, if they are worth quoting at all, ought to come in 
 here, if chronological arrangement is consulted. This Almanac 
 was by Nathanial Low, a student in physic, and printed by 
 Kneeland and Adams, in Milk Street, Boston. It has been bound 
 up with, a number of hlank leaves, on which the memorandums 
 are written. Inside the cover are entries like the following : 
 "Dudley Carlton, a Justice for Lincoln County, Bluehill Bay: 
 recom* by W. Gold." " Thomas Eobie Esq. Marblehead, recom- 
 mended by Secretary Thomas Smith Jun', Falmouth, Justice." 
 Further on : " Charles Pelham, of Newton, a Justice, by Lady 
 Bernard." " David Sanford, of G. Barrington, by Col. Worthing- 
 ton, for a Coroner." " William Phips, of Oxford, recommended 
 for a Justice, by M' Kobins," &o. It looks as if these persons 
 were candidates for office. 
 
 There then follows a debtor and creditor account for 1770, and 
 some of the entries may be selected. 
 
 £ i. d. 
 
 Jan. A gown at Barrat's for Sally 2 8 
 
 [She married Dr. Peter Oliver, Feb. 1, 1770.] 
 
 — 16. pd. Sister Welsted 6 D[ollars] .. .. 1 16 
 
 [The dollar is down at 6«.] 
 
 — 30. pd. N. Eogers by Tommy for a Qr. 
 
 cask Madeira 13 8 
 
 Feb. 3. pd. Wm. Jackson for Billys breeches 18 
 
 M' Pierce, grafting & pruning last 
 
 summer 11 5 
 
76 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 e t. d. 
 
 Jan. Eepairs. Daniel Vose 12 
 
 [This man seems to have been his 
 tenant of an Inn at Milton.] 
 
 — a cake for Sally, to M" Tyng .. 1 16 8 
 
 [Perhaps a Bride Cake.] 
 
 — paid for a sett of Dishes to J. Green 2 13 4 
 
 — a Johannes, out of Drawer, lost .. 2 8 
 
 [Could this have heen a valuable 
 coin?] 
 
 — a load of Hay [see below] 1 14 6 
 
 — 17. Graham mending chairs 18 
 
 — cake for Sally. [Another!] .. .. 2 5 
 Mar. 2. Sister Welsted 5 Ds 1 10 
 
 — Paid for 10 yds of Camlet for Peggy 2 16 8 
 
 — a load of Hay 2 14 
 
 — 20. Jean Piemont, a Wig, & year's dressing 3 
 Ap. 4. Sally, to buy furniture 66 13 4 
 
 — 6 Chairs for house, and porter [carry- 
 
 ing] 4 9 
 
 — 6 Ditto for SaUy 4 9 
 
 — 23. pd. M' Hastings Steward. 
 
 Billy's 2 Quarters 11 19 
 
 — pd. Wm. Scott ace' Linnen for Sally 5 10 
 
 [Aside — ^Father had to smart for it.] 
 
 — Peter Oliver Jun' 600 
 
 May 9. Sister Welsted 7 4 
 
 June 5. Sister "Welsted 18 „ 6 „ 8 & 3 Dols .. 14 4 8 
 
 — 9. pd. M' Eeed per account, for Sally & 
 
 Peggy 4 9 4 
 
 — 21. paid M' Shaw, Blacksmith : work for 
 
 Tenements 10 
 
 — Bniy 2 Dolls. Sundays at Boston. 
 
 by Niles [Silas Niles] £7. 
 
 for a waistcoat for Billy. Wine, 
 
 Cheese, biscuit, &c 7 4 
 
 July 1. paid Eichard BiUings his acct. for 
 
 Elisha, to 1765 22 
 
 — paid my subscription to Col. Miller ., 5 
 — 12. To BUly to pay for 4 yds. Cloth, &c., 
 
 5 „ 1 „ 3, & pocket 18/ .. .. .'. 5 19 
 
 — 14. Thom. Harris, lent him 3 Dollars .. 18 
 
 — Billy 2 
 
BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOEINSON. 77 
 
 £ >. d. 
 
 July 16. Miller's boys 4/ picking stones.. .. 4 
 — 17. John Badcock mowing 8 acres & making 
 
 Hay,42/8,andNath.Culliver3pi8t. 2 6 3 
 
 — 18. Seth Packer, 14 days mowing, 7 Doll. 2 
 
 — Ed. Cranebal mowing 110 
 
 — 19. paid John Eowe for a qr. Cask of Port 8 
 Aug. 10. Nnrse 40/- to 12*" June : Lizzy 30/- 
 
 to24 July; Euth24/-do 4 14 
 
 — 13. Seth Packer a dollar 6 
 
 — 14. Jno. Waters a Dollar 6 
 
 — Jn. Piemont, for a Wig 2 8 
 
 — 16. d* Tommy to huy Exchange [?] ..246 13 4 
 
 — 18. W. Brown for horse hire for BUly to 
 
 M-borough, & 6/6 Oats 6 „ 15, old 
 Tenor. 
 
 — 22. paid M' Bedlow's aco' of chairs. 
 
 Bedsteads, stand, &c., for SaUy, &c. 5 12 
 25/- old tenor over paid. 
 
 — 30. paid Tommy what he advanced for 
 
 Billy, 223 8/- old tenor, viz. note 
 on other side, & the rest in Cash . . 29 1 8 
 Sep. paid John Barret & sons for a Gown 
 
 for Peggy, &c. by Elisha .. .. 4 18 5 
 
 — 17. John Hinkley, shoeing horses .. .. 19 8 
 
 — paid M' Preston for 9 yards of black 
 
 cloth 3 12 
 
 — paid Low to pay a young man for 
 
 helping raft to Milton 4 10 
 
 — Silas Nibs, mowing & making salt 
 
 hay at lower mead, & polling to the 
 
 edge of the bank, 12 10, o, T. .. 1 13 4 
 Oct. 25. paid Silas Nibs 3 load of Eockweed, 
 
 3 Doll 18 
 
 Nov. 3. paid by Tommy to T. & W. Apthorp 
 
 300 Sterl. Sent W. Palmer .. .. 380 
 8. Nurse,Lizzy,&Euth, all paid together 4 14 
 
 — pd. M' Mayhew for Billy 2 5 4 
 
 a Joannes for a Medal, [?] 2 8 
 
 — 12. Sister Welsted, by Elisha 13 8 
 
 — pd. M' Brown, Sadler 14 4 
 
 pd. for hearth & Chimney at Milton, 
 
 to Gayer 2 8 
 
78 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 £ t. d. 
 
 Nov. 12. Buckles for Peggy 1 12 
 
 Dec. pd. by Tommy Prentice's Note, 18/8 
 
 Biscuit [?] for Billy 1 10 8 
 
 — Housing wood 4/. J lb. Tea, 9/ .. 13 
 
 [Tea 188. a pound !] 
 
 — Sister Welstead 13 6 8 
 
 — Waters, a Dollar 6 3 
 
 — Moses Glover, cutting two Posts .. 6 
 
 — Collection for repairing tbe Meeting 
 
 House 2 8 
 
 — 7. Haden a Guinea 18 
 
 [The different denominations of 
 money are apparent.] 
 
 — pd. M' Gridley, Post Chaise work .. 2 18 4 
 — 13. pd. James Nibs [or Niles] wages to 
 
 this day, when he left my service, 
 and John Frazer came in his stead 
 at 15£ p annum 3 6 8 
 
 — paid M' Clough work for wharff, &c., 
 
 2 „ 12/8, and 3/4 for an Iron for Tea 
 
 Kettle 2 16 
 
 — M' M'=neal for Bread, from 19 Nov. 
 
 to 25 Decem 3 3 8 
 
 — paid Timothy Prout, say Benj" Stew- 
 
 art on Timothy Prout's Note to his 
 
 wife endorsed over to me . . . . 60 1 5 1 
 
 — pd. Tho. Bradford bal. for wood, 
 
 .5 „ 15/6, & stop'd 3 „ 4 „ 8 old tenor, 
 he owed Sister Welsted, which I 
 paid her 6 4 4 
 
 — Peter Hughes, a Chaldr. of Coals .. 2 10 8 
 
 — paid George Lewis for men who 
 
 worked at "Wharff 9 12 
 
 "M' Bernard sailed for London the 2°" of August, 1769, 
 and the Government devolved upon Mr. H., the Lieu* Go- 
 vernor. Disputes had risen to that height that Gov. B. was 
 in doubt whether he ought not to dissolve the Assembly 
 for passing several violent resolves of a most inflammatory 
 nature, tending to a revolt; but instead of a dissolution, 
 determined upon a^ prorogation of six months, which would 
 
DTART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 79 
 
 give him time for laying the state of the Province before 
 the King, and giving such directions to the L* Governor as 
 might be thought proper. As no Assembly could meet, the 
 inhabitants of Boston thought it more necessary to hold town 
 meetings and merchants' meetings, and agreed upon a non- 
 importation, and upon measures for compelling all people for 
 conforming to it. It appeared also to be the determination of 
 the people to get rid of the two regiments which had been 
 ordered to Boston for aid to the Civil Magistrate.; and from 
 Gov. B.'s departure to March following, the town was in 
 the utmost disorder, one subject for contention following 
 another, until a sentinel at' the door of the Custom House was 
 assaulted by people in the street, which brought out a 
 sergeant's guard to protect him; and the people increasing, 
 and the guard being pelted with ice, brickbats, &c., at length 
 fired, and four or five of the people were killed, and a great 
 number wounded. The L' Gov' was called out of his house, 
 and was in the midst of the people, first in the street, 
 and then in the Council Chamber, from between 9 and 10 in 
 the evening until 3 o'clock the next morning, when the whole 
 guard, with Cap. Preston, who went from the main guard 
 to prevent all unnecessary violence from being done by the 
 soldiers, were committed to prison. But this was a cessation 
 of a few hours only ; for the next day, by 10 o'clock, several 
 thousand people were assembled, and the L* Governor, having 
 summoned the Council, application was made by M'^ Adams 
 and others, a committee, representing it to be absolutely 
 necessary that the regiments should be forthwith removed 
 to the Castle, and therefore praying the L' Governor to 
 order their removal. The L* G. answered that the troops 
 were placed in the town by order from the King, and that he~ 
 had no authority to remove them. This increased the temper 
 of the people, and upon a second application Col. Dalrymple, 
 the commanding officer, offered to remove one regiment, to 
 which the soldiers on guard belonged. This was giving up 
 the point. It was declared not satisfactory; and M' Adams 
 said to him if he could remove one he could remove both, 
 and it was at his peril to refuse it. The L' Gov. told the 
 
80 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 Council he had no further service for them, and was going 
 home, ^vhen Col. D. pressed him to meet the Council again 
 after dinner, and the Council joined with him. He could not 
 avoid it. In the meantime he signified to some of them, as 
 they afterwards informed the L' Governor, that if they were 
 unanimous in their advice to the L' Gov., to desire him to 
 remove the troops, he would do it. 
 
 " When the Council came together again, the L' G. was 
 surprised to find several, who spake against such advice 
 in the morning, in favour of it in the afternoon ; and every 
 one of them deliberately gave his opinion with his reasons, 
 the principal of which was the impossibility of preventing 
 the people from taking arms — ten thousand of them being 
 in Boston, Charlestown, and Eoxbury, or other towns near, 
 ready for it. The L' G. endeavoured to convince them of 
 the ill consequence of this advice, and kept them until late 
 in the evening, the people remaining assembled; but the 
 Council were resolute. Their advice, therefore, he communi- 
 cated to Co' Dalrymple, accompanied with a declaration, that 
 he had no authority to order the removal of the troops. 
 -This part Col. D. was dissatisfied with, and urged the L* G. 
 to withdraw it, but he refused, and the regiments were re- 
 moved. He was much distressed, but he brought it all upon 
 himself by his offer to remove one of the regiments. No 
 censure, however, was passed upon him. 
 
 " About this time it was intimated to M' H. by Lord 
 
 Hillsborough, Sec^ of State, that it was intended he should 
 
 succeed M' Bernard. The difficulties he had encountered for 
 
 ^even or eight months, and the prospect of their increas- 
 
 ( ing rather than lessening, discouraged him ; and he wrote 
 
 /a letter of thanks to Lord H., &c., but desired to be ex- 
 
 " ycused, not only from the Governor's commission, but to have 
 
 leave to resign that of L' Governor. Before this letter 
 
 arrived the commission was begun to be made out. Lord 
 
 H. wrote in answer that it should stand where it did, 
 
 without any other nomination, that W H. might further 
 
 consider and determine. This was an imexpected honour, 
 
 and together with a better prospect, wrought upon him 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF TE0MA8 HUTCHINSON. 81 
 
 to make a grateful acknowledgment, and the commission passed 
 the seals, and arrived in Boston in March 1771.* After this 
 year near two years passed without any great complaint of his 
 Administration. In the beginning of 1773 such measures were ^ 
 taken by the town of Boston, where divers resolves passed, 
 incompatible with the authority of Parliament, and sent to all 
 the towns and districts in the Province for their concurrence, 
 that he thought himself obliged to lay the affair before the 
 Assembly, to state the constitution of the Colonies, and to 
 recommend measures for putting a stop to the unconstitutional 
 doings of the towns and districts. This engaged him in a 
 controversy witli the Council and the House. He was convinced 
 that no good could come from it, reason and law having no 
 weight with the people, and whatever carries the specious 
 appearance of liberty always prevailing. However, the preju- 
 dices eoon subsided. Soon after he met the Governor of New 
 York at Hartford in Connecticut, and with Commissioners from 
 each Colony settled the long disputed line between the two 
 Colonies, to the satisfaction of the Massachusetts Colony, for 
 which, at any other time, he would have received the thanks of 
 the Assembly ; but instead thereof he met with a violent attack 
 from them. Several of his letters, which he had written 
 when L' Governor in 1768 and the beginning of 1769,'" — 
 with letters from the L' Gov. and late Secretary Oliver, 
 and from other persons, to M' Thomas Whately, had been 
 procured after M' Whately's death by D' Franklin, and sent 
 to M"^ Cushing, the Speaker, were brought before the Assembly, 
 the people having been first alarmed by a bruit, designedly 
 
 * From the London Gazelle. 
 
 "WhitehaU, 26 Oct', 1770. 
 
 "The King has been pleased to appoint Tho' Hutchinson, Ebq., to be 
 Capt" General and Govemor-in-Chief of His Majesty's Province of the 
 Massachusetts Bay In New England." 
 
 On the same day, In the same Gazette, Andrew Oliver, Esq., was appointed 
 Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. 
 
 " 1771, March 14th. Gov' Thomas Hutchinson and Lieut. Gov' Andrew 
 Oliver, Esq., commissions published ; Judges in their robes, and all the Bar 
 in their babbits, walked in procession. 
 
 " AprU 5th. My Commission as Chief Justice of the Province from Gov' 
 Hutchinson, dated 21st March, 1771, published at Boston. Died Lt. General 
 William Shirley, late Governor of Massachusetts. I sent to [as] a bearer." — 
 Diary of Judge Lynde, Jr., p. 201. 
 
 G 
 
82 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 spread abroad, that a conspiracy had been formed by great 
 /^ persons to destroy the constitution, &c. The letters were laid 
 before the Assembly, and resolves passed, both by the Council 
 and House, before the contents of the letters were known 
 abroad, and these resolves published ; one of which was to pray 
 the Mins. to remove both Governor and Lieutenant Governor. 
 It was not p ossible for greater a jA-to b a mad e,usej)f to. .inflame 
 the peopled The measure succeeded accordingly ; and though 
 when the letters afterwards appeared in priut, it appeared that 
 ,^he most unnatural construction had been made of some 
 expressions in them by detaching them from what went before 
 and followed; yet when people are prepossessed it requires 
 time for them to consider, and depart from prejudices." 
 
 Though Franklin openly confessed that it was he who sent the 
 letters to America, he never would tell how or where he got them. 
 Writing to Mr. Gushing Dec. 2, 1772 (' Bigelow's Life,' p. 130), 
 he says of the packet : " I am not at liberty to tell through what 
 channel I received it." He again writes [Ihid. 193) : "I heard too, 
 from all quarters, that the Ministry and all the Courtiers were 
 highly enraged against me for transmitting those letters." Yet 
 he did not see there was anything dishonourable in the act. In 
 the same, at p. 197, he writes: "In truth, I came by them 
 honourahly, and my intention in sending them was virtuous." 
 
 Perhaps, if there was anything dishonourable in the transaction, 
 he might think that the imputation could not extend to him, but 
 only to the person who took them surreptitiously from the owner, 
 and that he merely received a packet which he could freely send 
 wherever he chose. But if he was the receiver of stolen goods, 
 knowing them to have been stolen, or, to use a milder term, 
 " purloined," or simply " taken," how then ? We will, however, 
 suppose that he knew nothing of their previous history, and in 
 that way put the case in the most favourable light, as far as we 
 are concerned. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Whately had been M.P., and one of the Secretaries 
 of the Treasury. He was a man of taste, and Walpole, in his 
 ' Letters,' Aug. 5, 1771, thus writes of him : " They [the French] 
 have translated Mr. Whately's Book." A footnote says : ' An 
 Essay on Design in Gardening,' by Thomas Whately, Secretary to 
 the Treasury during George Grenville's Administration. He died 
 unmarried in June, 1772. Several of his Letters, abounding in 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 83 
 
 news, are printed in the Granville Papers. Junius has a hit at 
 him : " Tom Whately, take care of yourself." 
 
 At the time of the correspondence he was living as a private 
 gentleman, holding no public office, and in no way connected with 
 the Government. The gentlemen, therefore, who were writing to 
 each other, looked upon their interchange of sentiments as private. 
 At a subsequent period, when Mr. Hutchinson had his first inter- 
 view with the King, His Majesty said : " Nothing could he inore -^ 
 cruel than the treatment you met with in betraying your private 
 letters " ; and from the circumstances of the case they were gene- 
 rally so considered. Mr. Thomas Whately dying in June, 1772, 
 his papers passed into the hands of his brother William. There 
 was also a Mr. John Whately, apparently another brother, at this 
 time a Secretary of the Treasury. William was a banker in 
 Lombard Street. When the letters were sent out they were 
 accompanied by many conditions of secrecy, as that they should 
 only be shown to six persons, and that no copies should be taken. 
 We all know what this sort of secrecy means, and what will be 
 the end of it. It is plain that secrecy would not have accomplished 
 the objects in view any more now than in the preceding case of 
 Governor Bernard, whose letters were purposely had out, printed, 
 published,' and circulated, " to raise the fuiy of the people against 
 him." Secrecy would not have effected these ends. Amongst the 
 collection in the family there is a copy of the original American 
 edition of these purloined letters, printed in Boston by Edes and 
 GiU in 1773; and there is also an English edition, printed by 
 J. Wilkie in 1774, to which are added Bemarks, and the Assembly's 
 Address, and the Proceedings of the Lords' Committee X)f Council, 
 with Mr. Wedderbum's speech, &o. The Committee pronounced 
 these letters as having been written " in the course of familiar 
 correspondence, and in the confidence of private friendship" 
 (p. 132). And they say further, on the same page, "and which 
 letters appear to us to contain nothing reprehensible, or unworthy 
 of the situation they were in." The ' New Eng. Hist, and 
 Genealogical Eegister,' i. 307, observes : " In the letters, however, 
 there was no sentiment which the Governor had not openly . 
 expressed in his addresses to the Legislature." 
 
 The Lieutenant-Governor, Andrew Oliver, was exceedingly 
 distressed as well as angry when the rumour of this transaction 
 first reached him; and judging from some of the letters in his 
 Letter Book, which have never been made public, he seems to 
 have almost suspected the honour, or want of due care, in Mr. 
 William Whately, in whose custody they ought to have remained 
 
 Q 2 
 
84 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 secure. The following, dated June 1, 1773, occurs in a letter to 
 this same Mr. W. Whately : " I am now to write to you upon a 
 very serious affair — an affair w""" much affects my peace & honour, 
 the peace & honour of my best fr* the Gov', & the Hon' of your 
 family. I am told this day that a numher of the Gov" Letters & 
 mine, to your late Brother Tho' Whately Esq., are transmitted to 
 Boston, & have been communicated to a large Com" of the House 
 of Kepresentatives now sitting, which are represented as great 
 grievances, and worthy of censure. It is said they are to he 
 published ; and indeed, they had better be published than not, for 
 the people are now made to believe there is something in them 
 treasonable against the State : and it is possible such representa- 
 tion may be productive of mischief. I remember your Bro' once 
 wrote me, that the publishuig of Gov' Bernard's Letters to the 
 King's Ministers was a great cruelty. I therefore cannfflTHee how 
 it i-L- possible he sho'' have been guilty of such a thing himself, or 
 indeed, of what is much worse than exposing ofiicial letters, the 
 delivering up confidential letters, and thus betraying his Friends. 
 Nor can I suspect it of you, his Admin' and I have openly declared 
 as much : yet the honour of one or the other will be called in 
 question by the world, tiU the matter is explained. If they have 
 been obtained clandestinely, w** is what [I] suspect myself, it is 
 much better that the name of such an insidious wretch sho* be 
 exposed to the world, and the manner of his accomplishing 
 his detested purpose, than that the reputation of men of honour 
 should be called in question. It would be but doing justice to the 
 rest of mankind to expose such a villain, that they may avoid him 
 as the pest of society. I hope you will therefore give me leave to 
 expect such an explanation of the matter as I may, for the honour 
 & safety of the Gov', as well as my own, be at liberty to publish 
 to the world, and to hold up the name of so base a miscreant : for 
 nothing would be more disagreeable to either of us than to be 
 obliged, in our vindication, to publish your Bro' Letters, w'*" may 
 serve as a clue to what we had wrote him. 
 
 "I am sure S' that your own heart must rise against the 
 Traitor, & that your own feeling will make you to realize how 
 I am hurt on the occasion." 
 
 Two days after, he wrote the following letter on the same 
 subject to Eobert Thompson, Esq. : — 
 
 " Boston, 3" June, 1773. 
 
 " Sir, — I ani so well convinced of the sincerity of your regards 
 for me, that I will make no apology for troubling you with an 
 affair of my own, as it so nearly affects my peace and quiet. I am 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 85 
 
 basely betrayed. A number of my letters, four it is said, which 
 I had wrote to the late M' Whately, in confidence, together with 
 a number of other letters wrote him by my very good Friend 
 Gov' Hutchinson, have been some how or other filched out of his 
 Cabinet, and transmitted hither, with design to injure us. I have 
 by this conveyance wrote to his Brother the Banker in Lombard 
 (Street, and have freely let him know that I am so hurt on the 
 occasion, that I must pray an explanation from him. The letters 
 have been read in the House of Eepresentatives, and they have 
 this day passed a resolve, without any previous inquiry, of either 
 of UB, that they have a tendency to subvert the Constitution. 
 They were delivered into the House, as I am told, under a promise 
 that they sho* be returned without taking copies, which terms 
 make it look very suspicions that they have been obtained clan- 
 destinely. I cannot suspect either the late M' Whately or his 
 Bro' the Admins' of such a gross breach of confidence : but the 
 action is so detested by all men of honour, that their reputation 
 will be in danger of suffer" if the matter is not explained : it does 
 suffer now with some, tho' it is a thing only possible, that either 
 of them should betray the correspondence; most people suspect 
 M' Temple, but I mention his name to you in confidence. He is 
 suspected I say, but I know no other reason for it but because he 
 was the late M' Whately's correspondent. If he should be found 
 to be the man, the Gov' & I think we have a right to know it, and 
 the manner how he obtained the letters ; and not only to know it 
 ourselves, but to have liberty to let the World know it. Nay, we 
 think we have a right to such letters of his as affect either of us, 
 or have any tendency to subvert the Constitution, that the charge 
 may be retorted upon him. Whoever the Traitor is, for it is 
 impossible that either of the M' Whatelys sho* have transmitted 
 them to Bost" he has no right to expect that the surviV Brother 
 sho* suffer the odium to fall upon themselves in order to prevent 
 its falling upon him. My feelings are so keen under such base 
 treatment, that I am sure you wiU forgive my earnest desire that 
 you would second my request to M' W° Whately for such an 
 explanation of the matter as will throw the odium where it ought 
 to fall. 
 
 "P.S. Aug. 9. These L'^ having produced some injurious 
 
 reflections of the 2 Houses on the Gov" character & mine, & a 
 request to His Majesty to displace us, as well as some illiberal 
 reflections on the late M' Whately's character in our New E. 
 Papers, I hope his Brother will look upon himself interested in the 
 attack, & exert himself in discovering the author of the mischief." 
 
86 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 There is another letter from the same to Sir Francis Bernard, 
 dated August 9, mostly on the same subject, which contains 
 nothing veiy different, except a sentiment in one of the para- 
 graphs, which is this : " I do not howcTer blame them for printing 
 the letters, since it was determined under your administration, 
 that printing papers was not taking copies of them." This is a 
 nice distinction. 
 
 A certain Member of the English Parliament has been more 
 than once pointed at in connection with this business, but his 
 name has never been mentioned. Another letter from the Lieut.- 
 Govemor to Mr. Thompson, dated Boston, Oct. 9, 1773, has this 
 remark : " I do by no means suspect the present M' Whately, & if 
 his Bro' had left them, as Junius [Americanus, Hutch. Hist. iii. 
 318] tells the public, w*"" a Member of Parliament, to seduce him" 
 — to seduce him, in short, from his integrity, and tempt him into 
 the commission of a dishonourable act, perchance to satisfy a bit 
 of spleen. 
 
 Mr. Temple continued to be suspected, " although," as a letter 
 of Jan. 7, 1774, has it: "although, when they first came abroad, 
 
 his own Bro' said — Whoever sent them was a d d villain." 
 
 In the bun'Ue of old newspapers, now bound into a volume with 
 blue leather back, there are two letters signed "A Member of 
 Parliament." One of them occurs in the Public Advertiser for 
 Thursday, November 25, 1773, in which he says : " Though I was 
 not the immediate instrument of bringing to light those letters, 
 which have opened a scene of villainy almost incredible, yet I am 
 so particularly acquainted with that transaction as to affirm, you 
 have falsely and wickedly adduced M' Whateley's authority, 
 to charge it upon some gentlemen living in or near Great George 
 Street." In speaking of Great George Street, Mr. Temple was 
 indicated. 
 
 A month after, on December 30, in the same paper (of which 
 four copies are saved), the M.P. addresses " Antenor," and says : 
 " I thank you. Sir, for your Address to me, and the many civil 
 things it contains. But as you have mistaken your man, they do 
 not lay me under any very great obligation. 
 
 " In vindication of a gentleman whom you, and others of your 
 stamp, had falsely charged with a breach of honour, in obtaining 
 from M' Whately the Banker certain letters written by Governor 
 Hutchinson, Oliver, &c., I affirmed, that to my knowledge, those 
 letters had not been in the possession of M' Whately since the 
 death of his brother," &c. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft writes ('Hist, of Am. Eev.,' iii. 544): "The 
 
DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOHINSON. 87 
 
 Member of Parliament who had had them in his possession, never 
 permitted himself to he named." 
 
 Mr. John Temple had been Surveyor-General of the Customs in 
 the Colony, had married a daughter of Mr. Bowdoin, one of the 
 popular leaders, and had himself shown sympathies with the 
 people. He was dismissed by the English Ministry from his 
 employments, and seems to have fancied that Mr. Hutchinson had 
 been instrumental in his removal. In subsequent years they met, 
 and this was proved quite untrue. Mr. W. Whately found it 
 necessary to come forward and explain what he knew, and the 
 following letter of his appeared in the Public Advertiser of Deo. 11, 
 1773:— 
 
 " Some time about the month of October in the last year, [1772] 
 M' Temple applied to me, and informed me that he wanted 
 particularly to see a paper relating to the colonies he had formerly 
 transmitted to my brother, with a letter from himself accompany- 
 ing it, and that he believed some of the letters of Governor 
 Hutchinson, M' Oliver, and others of my brother's friends in 
 America, might probably afford some light into the object of his 
 enquiry. Unknown almost as M' Temple was personally to me, 
 I deemed the friendship my brother had constantly shewn him, 
 entitled him to every assistance in my power, for the purpose 
 desired, and I therefore made no scruple to place that confidence 
 in him, as to lay before him, and occasionally during his visit to 
 leave with him, several parcels of letters from my late brother's 
 correspondents in America, in the exact state in which they had 
 come into my possession, some regularly sorted, and some pro- 
 miscuously tied together; and among them were several from 
 M' Temple himself and his brother, and from Governor Hutchinson, 
 M' Oliver, and others : and during the intervals that I was in the 
 room with M' Temple, we did together cast our eyes on one or two 
 letters of Governor Hutchinson, and I believe of one or two other 
 correspondents of my late brother. In July last I received infor- 
 mation from M' Oliver of Boston, that several letters to my late 
 brother had been laid before the Assembly of the Province : upon 
 which I waited upon M-^ Temple, and told him I thought myself 
 entitled to call upon him to join his name with mine, in asserting 
 the integrity and honour of both of us : that he, and he only, had 
 ever had access to any of the letters of my brother's correspondents 
 in America, and that I was called upon to account for the appear- 
 ance of the letters in question. M' Temple assured me in terms 
 the most precise, that (except some letters from himself and his 
 brother, which he had from me by my permission), he had not 
 
88 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 taken a single letter, or an extract from any I had comnmnicated 
 to him. I saw him twice afterwards on the same subject, and the 
 same assurances were invariably repeated by him, and confirmed 
 by him in the most solemn manner." 
 
 Perhaps it would be difficult to find a single copy of these old 
 newpapers either in England or in America in the present day ; 
 and though the quotations from them are rather lengthy, it is 
 hoped that their scarcity, at all events to all persons except some 
 privileged few, together with one or two other considerations, may 
 plead excuses for such copious extracts. 
 
 After the above solemn assurance on the part of Mr. Temple, no 
 wonder if he felt wounded and hurt to find that he was not 
 believed; and his annoyance became increased to a scarcely 
 endurable degree when he found himself persistently attacked by 
 anonymous writers in the public prints, as by " An Enemy to all 
 Villains, whether in High or Low Life," in the Public Advertiser, 
 Aug. 24, and Sep. 4, 1773, and "Another Enemy to Villains of every 
 Denomination," in the same for Nov. 10, and so on. He felt his 
 character as a gentleman at stake, and being unable to get any 
 satisfactory redress, he sent his friend Mr. Izard with a challenge 
 to Mr. Whately, and a duel took place in Hyde Park on the 
 11th of December, 1773. The following heads of this singular 
 encounter are taken from a long letter by Mr. Temple, printed in 
 the above Journal for December 30, 1773, and in the St. James's 
 Chronicle, and in the Craftsman, or Say's Weekly Journal for January 
 1, 1774, all of which papers are at hand : — 
 
 " It is with infinite regret I find myself obliged to mention 
 M' Whately, and that sometimes, in terms of censure. ... I gave 
 M' Whately every assurance that a gentleman could give, that I 
 had not taken any one letter nor a line of one, from among those 
 he shewed me, but such as he saw, and gave me leave to take. 
 . . . Some time after this explanation between M' Whately and 
 myself, several paragraphs appeared in the newspapers, highly 
 injurious and dishonourable to me. . . . That gentleman suffered 
 the unfair and injurious representations, under the sanction of his 
 name, to pass unexplained. . . . Under so direct a charge, I 
 thought it would not become me to be any longer silent. . . . 
 The gentleman who waited upon M' Whately with my invitation, 
 told him he would attend me as a Second, if M' Whately would 
 have one on his part. M' Whately declined having any Second, 
 and therefore I brought none. He appeared at the place appointed 
 with a sword only. I gave him one of my pistols. We discharged 
 them mutually; mine being, at his request, the first, without 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 89 
 
 efifect. If his was not directed at me, it escaped ray observation. 
 I then drew my sword, and approached him, who had also un- ' 
 sheathed his, with a persuasion, grounded on his coming with 
 a sword only, when the choice of weapons was in him, that I was 
 to encounter an adversary much superior to myself in skill. I 
 soon found my mistake ; and as far as I could reason in such 
 a situation, determined, by wounding him in the sword arm, to 
 end the business without a fatal stroke. But my BkUl was not 
 equal to my intention; it soon became a struggle, instead of a 
 regular combat, and I could only avoid making a full lunge, which 
 probably would have wounded him mortally. The contortions of 
 my antagonist's body during the struggle exposed parts which, in 
 a regular encounter could never have been touched. When he 
 turned himself to seize the blade of my sword with his left hand, 
 I supposed he received the woundp in his left side, and in some 
 violent effort his shoulder must have been exposed. The extreme 
 smallnesB of the wound in that part being, as I am informed, 
 a mere puncture, proves it to have been accidental. Had my 
 purpose been unfair, I should have taken the life that was in my 
 power : had it been mortal, every wound would not have been 
 artificial, and one only dangerous, not from its depth, but its 
 direction. I understand it is said he was down. In such circum- 
 stances it is as impossible to account for everything that happens, 
 as to remember everything that passes. But of this I am sure, 
 that though he slipped once, he never fell." 
 
 At this stage the progress of the combat was arrested by the 
 approach of strangers. 
 
 Mr. Izard, who had carried the challenge, but who was not 
 wanted as a second, proceeded, however, to the park, and brought 
 away Mr. Whately, who was bleeding from several wounds. The 
 latter also (Pm6. Ad. Jan. 8, 1774) sent his version to the papers, 
 but too long to quote, except a few of the heads. Among other 
 things, he says : — " Unskilled, and altogether unpractised, as I 
 make no scruple to declare myself in the use of arms, and the 
 shortness of time [the same afternoon] not admitting of any pur- 
 posed preparation, I provided myself with the only weapon I had 
 at hand, which is the reason, and the only reason, that I appeared 
 on the spot with the sword only. Upon M' Temple's expressing 
 himself that he presumed I had pistols about me, I told him I had 
 not ; but tha.t, if he was provided with firearms, 1 was willing to 
 share his arms with him ; and upon his fixing upon the spot, he 
 delivered to me one of his pistols, and bid me take my distance. 
 I retired a small space, and desired to receive his fire, which he 
 
90 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 gave me without effect. I then, pointed my pistol in a line with 
 my antagonist's hody, but purposely raised considerably above his 
 head. M' Temple then drew his sword; I did the same. He 
 soon took occasion to observe to me that he perceived I was no 
 swordsman, which I readily confessed. Early in the contest he 
 seized my sword with his left hand, and bid me ask my life. I 
 peremptorily refused, and a slight effort disengaged us. I very 
 soon had him at the same advantage. I had his sword secured in 
 my left hand, and my own sword at liberty ; when I bid him not 
 to ask his life, but to take it unasked. We were again disengaged, 
 and soon I once more availed myself of another opportunity to 
 seize his sword, and again I bid him take his life unasked. He 
 proceeded on each of these occasions as not hearing me ; at least, 
 he made no reply. I am far from unwilling to make allowance 
 for the infirmity of my opponent. After this I made no further 
 effort to seize his sword, but continued to act on the defensive 
 only, though on several occasions many parts of his body appeared 
 to my judgment to be unguarded, and, with security to myself, 
 open to my attack. My conduct was so obviously defensive, that 
 it was even noticed by M' Temple, to whom I made no other 
 reply than that I should defend my life. The contest continued, 
 the countenance of my antagonist stiU sometimes bearing strongly 
 the marks of passion and rage. It was, I presume, under some 
 such unhappy, ungovernable influence, that late in the affair, and 
 not long before we were parted, he declared he would put me to 
 death. But in this part of my narrative let me add, that he never 
 appeared to me to make any long lunge at me. One or two horsemen 
 and some persons on foot were soon afterwards at no great distance, 
 and making up to us, and my foot, in retreating, happening to 
 slip, I fell, first on my sword hand, and then on my left hand ; and 
 before I could recover myself, several persons were near to us. 
 M' Temple stepped up to me, and said we should meet again ; and 
 even proposed then to withdraw. I do not recollect that I returned 
 any answer. In a little time M' Izard came up to us, and now 
 finding my loss of blood was considerable, and that my breast was 
 affected in a manner that made me draw my breath with difficulty, 
 I accepted M' Izard's offer to take his coach, which was then in the 
 park, and near at hand, to convey me to M' Sanxay's, or M' 
 Davenport's, my surgeons," &o. 
 
 Unfortunately, this duel did not bring Mr. Temple peace. Not 
 only was the suspicion against him not cleared away by it, but he 
 was declared to have done the dishonourable thing, of wounding 
 his antagonist after he was down. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 91 
 
 In the Public Advertiser for Jan. 8, 1774, there are letters 
 by the principals, and afiSdavits by four persons who were at- 
 tracted to the spot by hearing the reports of the two pistols, and 
 who witnessed the greater portion of the sword encounter. In 
 the same paper, two days after, there are letters by Mr. Izard and 
 by the duellists, which are not very amicable in their tone. 
 
 In the same, of Jan. 11, there are two other affidavits, the same 
 being by the coachman and footman of Mr. Izard, who had driven 
 their master to the park, and who accidentally became spectators 
 of what took place. The footman swears that Mr. Whately never 
 fell at all. 
 
 The Craftsman for Jan. 1, 1774, prints a letter of Benjamin 
 Franklin, which can scarcely be omitted here, though it has often 
 been quoted before. It runs thus : — 
 
 " Finding that two gentlemen have been unfortunately engaged 
 in a duel, about a transaction and its circumstances, of which both 
 of them are totally ignorant and innocent, I think it incumbent on 
 me to declare (for the prevention of further mischief, as far as 
 such a declaration may contribute to prevent it) that I alone am 
 the person who obtained and transmitted to Boston the letters in 
 question. M' W. could not communicate them, because they were 
 never in his possession ; and for the same reason, they could not 
 be taken from him by M' T. They were not of the nature of 
 'private letters between friends'; they were written by public 
 officers to persons in public station, on public affairs, and intended 
 to procure public measures ; they were therefore handed to other 
 public persons, who might be influenced by them to produce those 
 measures ; their tendency was to incense the Mother Country 
 against her Colonies; and by the steps recommended, to widen 
 the breach, which they effected. The chief caution with respect 
 to privacy was, to keep their contents from the Colony Agents, 
 who, the writers apprehended, might return them, or copies of 
 them, to America. That apprehension was, it seems, well founded ; 
 for the first Agent who laid his hands on them, thought it his 
 duty to transmit them to his constituants. 
 
 "B. Franklin, 
 " Agent for the House of Eepresentatives 
 " of the Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 " Craven Street, Dec. 25." 
 
 This letter of Franklin's serves, no doubt, to puzzle the question 
 very considerably. He got a great deal of censure from many 
 quarters. A writer in the Morning Post for January 16, 1774, who 
 
92 BIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 signs himself '• An American, known to many of them," when 
 speaking of one, whom he prefigures under the formula " Dr. 
 r — n,'" says, inter alia — " His rectitude and honesty (before very 
 much doubted) received a severe stroke in the affair of purloining 
 the papers of Governor H — n from M' W — ly." 
 
 The duel is several times alluded to in the Governor's Diary. 
 
 "Aug. 3, 1774.— Went to Court. Two Knights of the Bath 
 invested with the Order in the King's Closet, — Gen' Howard & 
 Col' Blaquiere. King enquired of me concerning the climate in 
 America, &c. Lord Suffolk treated me with singular courtesy. 
 I told him of T — 's desire to see me. He said he saw no objection ; 
 but mentioned again, in confidence, that they knew he took the 
 letters from the present M' Whateley." 
 
 Thus the suspicion stuck to him, and not to the Member of 
 Parliament. 
 
 " Aug. 8. — Just before dinner M' Temple called upon me alone 
 and unexpectedly .... I had, in all the affair of the letters, acted 
 with the utmost caution, and had wrote, in answer to a letter from 
 the present M' Whately, that I did not charge M' Temple, & 
 had not done it. Upon my mentioning the letters, he said that 
 affair of Whately had hurt him more than anything else. As he 
 hoped to see the face of God, he never meant to kill him ; and he 
 believed M' Whately would own that he aimed to fire his pistol 
 wide of him. 
 
 "Aug. 12.— M' Whately mentioned a circumstance of his duel 
 which he has not mentioned in print, viz. — That when Temple 
 fired, he observed that he did not take aim at him ; and agrees 
 with, or renders probable, what Temple said, that he purposely 
 fired wide of him." 
 
 Writing from Milton, to his youngest son BUly, who was then 
 in England, under date March 9, 1774, he says in a letter, pre- 
 served in one of his Letter Books : — " Eemember, my dear son, 
 that a strict regard to honour, integrity, and virtue, if there was 
 no higher motive to it, is absolutely uecessary to the obtaining a 
 lasting reputation in the world ; and chicanery, shuffling, and 
 fraud will sooner or later blast the characters of those who practise 
 them ; and I am of opinion my observation will be verified in the 
 characters of the persons, whoever they may be, who have carried 
 on the affair of the letters, on this side the water, as weU as the 
 other. Neither of your brothers dare venture to appear." 
 
 There are one or two other letters in the collection bearing on 
 the same subject, but these remarks are already so very lengthy 
 as to forbid further quotation. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 93 
 
 In tlie middle of the fiftieth chapter of his History, Lord Mahon i/ 
 discusses this question. In a note he tells us that J. Adams, Jan. 
 28, 1820, -wTote to Dr. Hosaok as follows: — "M' Temple, after- 
 wards Sir John Temple, told me in Holland that he had com- 
 municated these Letters to D' Franklin." But on the other hand, 
 as Mr. J. Adams goes on to remark, " D' Franklin declared publicly 
 that he received them from a Member of Parliament," which Mr. 
 Temple was not. 
 
 Was Mr. Pownall the said "Member of Parliament" ? He had 
 been suspected by some persons from his knowledge of America, 
 from his personal acquaintance with several who were more or less 
 connected with the affair, and from the feelings which he was 
 supposed to cherish towards some of the parties connected with it. 
 But this suspicion may have been quite wrong. 
 
 Apologies are due, and are freely offered, for the length of these 
 remarks. It was hardly possible to pass the subject over un- 
 noticed, for the Letters are occasionally alluded to by the King's 
 Ministers in England, and without some explanation of the circum- 
 stances, any allusions would be veiled in obscurity. 
 
( 94 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " HowEVEE, a few months had great effect that way [removing 
 prejudices], when another affair was brought on which raised 
 the flame higher than ever it had been. 
 
 " A large quantity of Tea, subject to a duty of 3d. per lb., 
 by advice of Ministry, was shipped to the Colonies, and 600 
 chests of it was ordered to Boston. It was soon resolved by 
 the people that this duty should not be paid." 
 
 Those who are familiar with American history have had enough 
 of the Tea riots, and most persons might feel that sufBcient had 
 been said upon the subject to satisfy most appetites ; but there 
 are several letters in the editor's hands which may contain some- 
 thing new, and as they have never yet been given to the public, 
 to withhold them would be a faidt. The following is the original, 
 bound up in the first volume of the three folios with blue leather 
 backs, written from Milton to one of his sons — probably the eldest, 
 who had taken refuge in the Castle. 
 
 " Milton, 30 Nov., 1773. 
 " My Dear Son, 
 
 " Hall, arriving on Sunday, caused one of the old sort of 
 
 Meetings of Town and Country the next day, where they resolved, 
 
 in Doctor Sewall's Meeting House, that the tea should be shipped 
 
 back, and that no duty should be paid, and 25 were appointed as a 
 
 guard upon the ship last night, Hancock and Adams being two 
 
 of the guard. The gentlemen, except your uncle Clarke, all went 
 
 to the Castle about 3 o'clock yesterday. The L. G. writes me that 
 
 the Meeting was desired by M' Clarke's friends, to be adjourned 
 
 until this morning, in order to some proposals. I hope they wiU 
 
 not comply with such a monstrous demand. I have just sent 
 
 Talbot to Town with a Declaration to be read by the Sheriff, if 
 
 they will give him leave. This may possibly cause me to take my 
 
 lodgings at the Castle also. I was in town yesterday with the 
 
 Coimcil, who would only do what is worse than nothing. Eemain 
 
DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 95 
 
 where you are Tintil you hear further, and whilst you may with 
 safety. My love to aU. : I can write to none. 
 
 " Your affectionate father, 
 
 "Tho. Hutchinson." 
 
 Such was the state of the times in Boston. Twelve days after 
 this the Lieutenant-Governor Andrew Oliver, wrote officially to 
 M' John Pownall, a brother of Thomas Pownall, the ex-Qovemor, 
 one of the Under Secretaries of State for the Colonies, who was in 
 London. M' Oliver's Letter Book is a folio bound in white vellum, 
 and almost all the letters have been entered with his own hand. 
 
 " Boston, 11th Deo', 1773. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I had the honour of your letter a few days since, of 12 Oct', 
 and immediately send off the enclosed for Gov' Hutchinson who, 
 the' late in the season, thinks it best still to reside at his seat in 
 Milton. The importation of the East Company's Tea has given 
 him much trouble; but he has conducted [himself] with suchj 
 firmness in that affair hitherto, as must give him great credit. 
 It has brought him fresh abuse, insomuch that some of his friends,' 
 have strongly urged him to retire to the Castle for safety, where' 
 the consignees [his sons], together with the Comiss" of the Customs 
 now are. | I was of opinion he was not in immediate danger. 
 None of tlie tea is yet landed, and the issue is yet uncertain. I 
 doubt whether you wUl hear from the Gov' by this ship, and 
 therefore enclose you the Even^ Post of the 6th for your informa- 
 tion respecting the tea affair. I know nothing now concerning it 
 since the date of the Newspaper. I have not seen the Gov' for 
 this week past, and cajinot,inform you what his determination is 
 about making use of his leave of absence : if I should be called to 
 take the chair in this turbulent time,^ am sensible it will require 
 great firmness to conduct the affairs of Government aright ; and I 
 wish I could foresee any good effect from that moderation which 
 my nature inclines me to, without also giving up the Bights of the 
 Crown, and violating the Constitution f^ I mean to do my duty." 
 
 Some people take but slender interest in the reading of letters. 
 They do not like this form of having information laid before them. 
 They look upon them as fragmentary, and not of a style of light 
 reading sufficiently amusing. And yet, if there are charms in 
 novelty, it is certain that in such effusions as have never yet seen 
 the light, there must of necessity be something new. But the 
 historian is mainly bent on collecting and laying before his readers 
 
96 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 all the most authentic information he can obtain, relative to the 
 subject of which he is treating, irrespective of the dressing up, 
 or of the mode of seasoning. There is a great pleasure in getting 
 at a new truth or a hitherto unknown fact out of an original bit 
 of writing : and there is nothing more fresh than the unrestrained 
 flow of sentiment and opinion in a letter that comes direct from 
 the unstudied hand of the writer. 
 
 From Thomas, the Governor's son, to his brother EUsha: — 
 
 " Castle WiUiam, Deo. 14, 1773. 
 " Dear Brother, 
 
 " I imagine you are anxious to know what the poor banished 
 Consignees are doing at the Castle. Our retreat here was sudden ; 
 but our enemies do not say we came too soon : how long we shall 
 be imprisoned 'tis impossible to say. I am glad for your sake you 
 can remain in quiet where you are. The proceedings of the people, 
 while assembled, you have in print. We have since had applica- 
 tion from the owners and masters of the vessels to receive the 
 teas, who at the same time acknowledged 25 armed men were 
 watching the vessel to prevent it : however, they have protested 
 against us. I suppose they have taken this step more to serve 
 themselves than to hurt us ; but being surrounded with cannon, 
 we have [part torn] them such answers as we shou'd not have 
 dared to do in any other situation. I hear there is a meeting of 
 the mobility to-day, but don't know the result. I hardly think 
 they win attempt sending the tea back, but am more sure it will 
 not go many leagues : it seems probable they will wait to hear 
 from the southward, and much may depend on what is done 
 there. The Commissioners are all with us, and we are as comfort- 
 able as we can be in a very cold place, driven from our family's 
 [sic] & business, with the months of Jans' & Feb' just at hand. I 
 hear you have been to Milton, tho' I suppose you [are] quite safe 
 where you are : yet it's best to keep close till the infernal spirit is 
 lay'd, or at least cool'd. Give my love to everybody, and tell 
 Peggy [his youngest sister] I have the pleasure of drinking her 
 health very often, with the other toasts of the Town. I wish to 
 be with you, but think it quite necessary we should aU be together 
 tiU something is settled. I am, your Affectionate Brother, 
 
 "Tho". HtJTCHiNsoN, Jun'. 
 
 " P.S. — Our situation is rendered more agreeable by the polite 
 reception we met with from Col. Leslie and the other gentlemen of 
 the army. At present I think I shall not speedily return to Boston, 
 if allowed to quit this place." 
 
DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 97 
 
 From Mr. John Eow to the Consignees. Not dated, but evidently 
 written in Decemher, 1773, and just before the tea was destroyed. 
 
 " Saturday. 
 " Gent», 
 
 "As the people seem so very uneasy abo. this importation 
 
 of Tea, I think my Duty out of friendship to you to desire this 
 
 affair may be Eeconcild; & as your young Gentleman has told 
 
 mee, you could not pay the Duty for want of cash. Give me leave 
 
 to offer you what is wanted to pay the Duty, Eather then the 
 
 affair should be any longer kept up in anger in the minds of the 
 
 people. This I do out of Eegard — & you make take [sic] yr own 
 
 method of Eepaying mee. 
 
 " You may think it perhaps an ofSciousness in Mee, but bo assurd 
 it's for the sake of peace. — I am, with Esteem, Gent", your most 
 Obt. Ser', " John Eow. 
 
 " Mess" Hutchinson. 
 
 " If I should be out of the way, M' Jnman, my Bookeeper, will 
 procure you the cash." 
 
 The above letter was well meant, and we hope it was well 
 received. 
 
 The next is from T. H., Jun', to his brother Elisha, who was at 
 Middleborough : — 
 
 " Milton, 9 Jan., 1774. 
 " Dear Brother, 
 
 "I have been here a few days, having stole up the river 
 with Salisbury, the Gentlemen being all of them still at the Castle, 
 & it's probable I shall return there in a day or two. The tea 
 saved out of Loring is housed at the Castle. The Bostonians now 
 say we shall not return to town without making concessions, Tor 
 my own part I shall not be in a hurry, nor much grieved, if I do 
 not see it this twelvemonths : but I suppose shall quit the Castle 
 some time this week, as we are all provided with retreats in the 
 country. I have had a disagreeable six weeks of it, but am in 
 hopes the issue will be well. — I am, your Affectionate Brother, 
 
 " Thc Hutchinson, Jun'." 
 Prom the same to the same : — 
 
 " Milton, January 21, 1774. 
 " Dear Brother, 
 
 " I wrote you some time ago. I was in hopes our harrassment 
 was drawing to a close, and that we should leave the Castle the 
 last week. M' Faneuil & myself coming off, caused a suspicion 
 that we intended for Boston, which was the means of Saturday's 
 
 H 
 
98 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOHINSON. 
 
 notification, which I sent you. M' Faneuil is since returned to the 
 Castle ; and I am really more confined than if I was there, as I 
 keep pretty close to my room. M' Jon" Clarke sails in a few days 
 for England, ia a ship, Coffinn, Master, of which I am very glad, 
 as it may prevent misrepresentations of our conduct on that side 
 the water. A man from Plimouth to-day bro't the ace' of the base 
 treatment Col. Watson & yourself met with, there. I am sorry it 
 hapned, as it will he a harvest for Edes & Gill [printers], hut it 
 can't he helped. My friends advised me to go to Court, & the 
 Court adjourned over to this week ; hut they have generally 
 advised me the contrary since. I have forwarded Palmer's aco' 
 with the C. [?] & remitted £600 on the last sales. I intend to 
 employ somebody to collect what debts I can, but suppose we are 
 generally considered as outlawed. — I am, your Affectionate Brother, 
 
 " Tho. Hutchinson, Jun'." 
 
 No memorandum has been saved that will explain the nature 
 of the treatment that Col. Watson and Elisha met with at Ply- 
 mouth. The circumstance is again alluded to in the following 
 letter : — 
 
 " Milton, Febmary 4, 1774. 
 " Dear Brother, 
 
 " Yours, giving me an account of your Plimouth tour, I rec*. 
 I am glad you are safe returned to Middlehorough. I wish you 
 had not gone to Plimouth at all, but what has hap'ned cou'd not 
 have been foreseen. If we are are [sic] able to live quiet in our 
 retreats, it is as much as I expect at present, as I am sure no 
 opposition will avail anything. Perhaps the Honorable Judges 
 of the Superior Court may screen the poor Consignees, as I am 
 told the flame is kindling fast against them, & it is thought it will 
 not be safe for them to come to Court, unless they comply with 
 every demand made of them ; their stations will not be the least 
 security to them. The Governor seems determined to go to 
 England, unless prevented by the L' Governor's declining state, 
 which I think increases upon him very fast. What do you think 
 of giving up the Store ? I am told it is kept shut up, & the few 
 things in it may easily be removed. The man waits. I am your 
 Affectionate Brother, 
 
 " Tho' Hutchinson, Jun'. 
 
 " ri send the Book next opportunity if I can get it from Boston." 
 
 At the risk of being rather prolix, it is necessary to give an 
 original letter written at this period by General Gage, who was 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 99 
 
 in England, and in communication with, the different members of 
 the Ministry. It is in the first vol. of the blue leather-back 
 Letter Books, Any letter can be easily found, as they are 
 arranged consecutively according to date. 
 
 " London, Feb. 2', 1774. 
 " Sir, 
 
 "My last to you was from the country: on my return to 
 town the conversation ran on Letters, &c., published in the News- 
 papers on the subject of the obtaining your Letters, which were 
 transmitted to Boston : a Duel ensued, and M' Franklin at length 
 came forth and acknowledged himself to be the person who had 
 obtained and transmitted yours and M' Oliver's Letters to Boston. 
 No man's conduct was ever more abused in aU. companys than his 
 was, for so vile a Transaction ; nor any man's character more 
 honourably mentioned than your own. All this you will have 
 beared [sic], and I only mention those Transactions lightly. 
 
 " The Petition to remove you and M' Oliver was beared on the 
 29"" ulmo., before a numerous Council, and a crowded audience ; 
 and I was of the number of the latter. D' Franklin had leave to 
 be beared by Council ; M' Dunning, who having no Facts to pro- 
 duce, for attested copies of Letters transmitted to America in an 
 anonymous letter, he allowed to be no proof. He rested the 
 prosecution entirely on the Petition, expatiating on the propriety, 
 justice, and expediency of removing all Governors obnoxious to 
 the People, without examining into the grounds of their com- 
 plaints : that the Petition proved both you and M' Oliver to be 
 obnoxious : and that was a sufficient reason for His Majesty to 
 remove you both. This is all I could gather from his argument. 
 He spoke low, and I could only catch words now and then. 
 
 " M' Wedderbume took a large field, in which he displayed his 
 oratory amazingly, and I believe no lawyer ever spoke his real 
 sentiments more than he did on this occasion. He defended your 
 prudent and faithful conduct for years past, in which he intro- 
 duced the conduct of your opponents, and treated the Besolves of 
 some of your Town Meetings in a manner so ludicrous as to set 
 the room in a loud laugh. He then proved that the Letters 
 complained of were not public, but private letters between friends; 
 which being read, all present were convinced of; and that the 
 measures pursued by Government, deemed oppressive by the 
 Bostonians, were in consequence, not of the Letters in question, 
 but of letters from Gov' Bernard, Commodore Hood, General 
 Gage, &c., &c. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 DIARY AND LETTERS OF TMOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 " Next came on the obtaining and transmitting tlie Letters to 
 Boston, the Duel, and D' Franklin's puhlication : and he was 
 seriouB, pathetick, and severe by turns : and I suppose no man's 
 conduct and character was before so mangled and torn, as D' 
 Tranklin's was at this time : people wondering he had confidence 
 to stand it, with the contemptuous looks of the audience upon him. 
 
 " The Petition was rejected unanimously ; and the Letters as 
 unanimously judged to be meritorious. I sincerely congratulate 
 you and M"^ Oliver upon a victory as compleat as was ever gained ; 
 which has made you more known, and higher in the esteem of 
 the people of this country. 
 
 " The fate of the Teas at Boston and Philadelphia is known, 
 but no account yet from New York.* People talk more seriously 
 than ever about America : that the cricis is come, when the Pro- 
 vinces must bee either British Colonies, or independent and sepa- 
 rate States. What will be done, nobody I believe can yet tell. 
 People talk, and I apprehend publish their own, or the conjectures 
 they have heard from others. Nothing can be fixed. I have the 
 honour to be, with great regard and esteem. Sir, Your Most 
 Obedient Humble Servant, / 
 
 "Tho- Gage." 
 
 It is now time to continue Mr. Hutchinson's narrative, which 
 was dropped near the commencement of this chapter, immediately 
 after the words — " It was soon resolved by the people that this 
 duty should not be paid." The break occasioned by the inter- 
 position of these letters wiU be fully compensated for by any 
 new point in historical research which they may contain. The 
 narrative then proceeds : — 
 
 / " One third of the tea was consigned to two sons of the 
 Governor; and it was insinuated that he was a promoter of 
 the measure, though it was directly contrary to his wish, and 
 to the interest of his sons, who were put out of a profitable 
 business they were in, of importing tea themselves. The 
 Governor, foreseeing the difSculty that must attend this affair, 
 advised the consignees to order the vessels when they arrived, 
 to anchor below the Castle ; that if it should appear unsafe 
 to land the tea, they might go to sea again ; and when the first 
 ship arrived, she anchored accordingly ; but when the master 
 
 * "The -whole value of the tea destroyed being estimated at eighteen 
 thousand pounds." — Stedman, i. 87. 
 
DIAB7 AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 101 
 
 came up to town, M' Adams and others, a committee of the 
 town, ordered him, at his peril, to bring the ship up to land 
 the other goods, but to suffer no tea to be taken out. The 
 ship being entered, the Custom House Officers would not clear 
 her out until the duty on the tea was paid. This brought on 
 greater disorder and confusion than ever. A formal demand 
 was made of the Governor to give a pass for the ship without 
 her clearing at the Custom House. This he could not do ^ 
 without violation of his oath. The tea was destroyed by the 
 mob. The Governor was charged with having been the cause 
 of it, by refusing to give a pass." 
 
 Dr. Eyerson, of Toronto, put forth two very handsome volumes 
 entitled ' The Loyalists of America ; ' and although thero' is a 
 high-flown Dedication to Her Majesty at the beginning, and a 
 notice of sundry copies of his work presented to Ministers and 
 persons in high places at the end, there runs through his pages 
 an under-current of sympathy with the republican opposers of 
 English supremacy, which looks rather contradictory, and is some- 
 times very puzzling. In his Preface he says that "the history 
 of the Loj oiifltfl "^ ATvioT;f.a hnfi uPTffr been written, except by^ . 
 their enemies and spoil ers ; " and yet, in illustrating the diiterenl; 
 points of his subject, nearly the whole of his quotations are taken 
 approvingly from the printed books of these very " enemies and 
 spoilers." It is much to be wished that there had been a little 
 more original matter brought forward ; and it would have looked 
 more consistent with the alleged loyalty of his professions if he 
 had drawn his supports in a greater degree from our English 
 historians whose fidelity to the Crown was unimpeachable. He 
 proceeds to speak of " those English historians who have not 
 troubled themselves -with examining original authorities, and in 
 some instances imbibed the spirit of American historians, and 
 deprecating everything English, and all who have loyally adhered 
 to the unity of the British Empire." It would not be very incon- 
 sistent to apply these words to himself. 
 
 The two Governors of Massachusetts, namely, Sir Francis Ber- 
 nard and his successor, who were the most noted for their fidelity 
 to the English Crown, and the most trusty and trusted by the 
 King and his Ministers, whose servants they were, and whom 
 they were bound to obey, whose lot was cast in very difScult 
 times, and in very unpleasant times to themselves, and against 
 whom no charge of an illegal stretch of power, of tyranny, or of 
 
102 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 harshness was ever sTistained — these two men, whoso loyalty 
 brought upon them the odium of the Sons of Liberty, are the two 
 persons against whom the United Empire Loyalist pours out his 
 greatest measure of bitterness ; and where he cannot speak strong 
 enough with his own pen, he calls in the aid of Bancroft, Franklin, 
 Eamsey, and a few more, by repeated quotations from their 
 unfriendly writings. 
 
 As Dr. Eyerson calls himself a Loyalist, it might be expected 
 that he would pay some respect to Governor Hutchinson's expla- 
 nations of the difficulties that beset the tea question, and would 
 join with another loyal man in trying to disentangle them. 
 Mr. Hutchinson's great crime was his unflinching loyalty among 
 men who were not loyal. If he had been less faithful to his trust, 
 he would have been more popular. The Loyalist had read enough 
 to understand the points of the case, if he had cared to understand 
 them : but though he had not seen the statements in the manu- 
 scripts that are now for the first time printed in these pages, he 
 had at all events read the' printed 'History of Massachusetts' 
 written by the same author, and he even quotes from vol. iii. 
 page 435, where the explanations are given. He receives all 
 statements on the loyal side with reluctance, and imputes to the 
 _loyal Governor the most sinister motives for everything he did. 
 
 He also ventures to affirm that the Governor had no right to 
 dissolve a town meeting, known to be hostile and illegal, as if the 
 King's Eepresentative did not possess the authority to issue a 
 Proclamation for the purpose, or send the Sheriff to read it : and 
 that the meeting could not be legal was plain, not only from its 
 being_ assembled for illegal purposes, but from the fact that its 
 organisers did not venture to call it a " legal town meeting," but 
 they called themselves so drawn together simply " the body : " for 
 such meetings were not confined to the known and privileged 
 inhabitants of Boston in " legal town meeting " assembled, but 
 were composed of the lowest and the volunteers who had flocked 
 in, without any qualifications as citizens, to join with the Bos- 
 tonians. And yet Dr. Eyerson asks— "Upon what legal, or even 
 reasonable, ground had Governor Hutchinson the right to denounce 
 a popular meeting ? " and a little lower down — " or what authority 
 had Governor Hutchinson to issue a Proclamation and send a 
 Sheriff to forbid a public meeting, which the Charter and laws 
 authorised to be called and held, as much as the Governor was 
 authorised to call and hold his CouncU ? " &c. The bias of his 
 mind is very plain here — as plain as his disregard to the legal and 
 the truthful considerations that bore on the case. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 103 
 
 No objection could be raised to his being a Eepublican, or a 
 Liberty Boy, or a Eebel if he liked, for every man is free to hold 
 what opinions he chooses, or to attach himself to what party he 
 prefers ; but whilst his sentiments and his sympathies are all that 
 way, and the large majority of his quotations are taken from those 
 writers who were in revolt or in antagonism against the Mother 
 Country, it is strange that he should proclaim himself a Loyalist, 
 and bepraise himself with considerable satisfaction about it in his 
 Preface. His own book is the evidence against him. The worthy 
 descendants of those " enemies and spoilers," as he terms them, 
 now hold high and honourable places in the United States, but it 
 will rather puzzle them to decide whether to look upon him as a 
 friend or as a foe. 
 
 He draws a parallel (vol. i. p. 386) between the cases of the 
 Boston tea ship or ships, and those of New York and Philadelphia, 
 which were sent back, and blames the Governor for not doing as 
 was done with them : but the cases were totally dissimilar the 
 one from the other. The tea ships to those two cities brought 
 cargoes of tea, and it is implied that they brought nothing else, 
 so that there was no difficulty in their turning about and going 
 back the same way they came : whereas the Boston ship, whose ^ 
 case has been the subject of discussion, was more than half laden 
 with winter goods for the merchants, which they could not do 
 without, so that the ship of necessity must proceed up to the 
 wharf to discharge that portion of her cargo. It was Mr. Adams 
 and the Committee that ordered the master and the owner " at 
 their peril, to cause the ship to be. brought up to town : " * and it 
 was they also that would not allow the tea to be landed, although 
 the consignees offered to store it away in a safe place until they 
 could communicate with their principals. With a startling dis- 
 regard to truth Dr. Eyerson perverts aU these facts, that are clearly 
 given in a book which has been more than fifty years in print, the 
 accuracy of whose statements has never been called in question. 
 If his performance does not please the Loyalists of Great Britain 
 and Canada, it is not likely to please the Americans in the States 
 much better, who are denounced as " enemies and spoilers." 
 
 The simple points of the case, divested of all argument, are the 
 following : — 
 
 On Sunday, November 28, 1773, the first tea ship arrived in 
 Boston Harbour, and anchored below the Castle — Mr. Adams and 
 the Committee ordered her to come up to a certain wharf of the 
 
 * Hutch. ' Hist, of Mass.,' iii. 430. 
 
104 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 city, which she did — the merchants' goods were landed — ^they 
 forbid the tea to be landed, although the consignees undertook to 
 store it away in a place of safety until they could get instructions 
 from their principals — this was refused, because they were deter- 
 mined that the tea should go to sea again — the ship was therefore 
 ordered to leave — she could not leave without an official Clearance 
 from the Custom House — the Custom House officers could not 
 grant a Clearance until she was empty of aU her cargo, or as long 
 as any part of it remained on board — but the tea should not be 
 landed — then the Governor was applied to for a Pass, in order 
 that she should pass out of the Harbour without being stopped by 
 the guns of the Castle, or of the men-of-war lying in the road- 
 stead — but the Governor explained that according to law and the 
 custom of the port, he could not grant a Pass until the ship had 
 received a clearance from the Custom House : he would commit a 
 fraud and break his oath if he did — ^but the Custom House officer 
 could not grant a Clearance until she was cleared out. — What 
 a complication ! And what a dead lock ! The Bostonians cut the 
 Gordian Knot by throwing the tea into the Harbour. Now, who 
 was to blame ? Historians hitherto have never taken the trouble 
 to sift out the grains of truth from the passion and contradictory 
 argument of which the subject was a wild conglomeration. To 
 blame the merchants for having the ship up and taking out their 
 winter goods — ^to blame the Custom House officers for declining to 
 give a Clearance when the ship was not empty, which they could 
 not do — or to blame the Governor for not giving a Pass without 
 the Clearance, which he could not do — was all silly in the 
 extreme. 
 
 But, to resume — 
 
 "He had obtained an order from the King to go to Eng- 
 land, if he should judge it necessary ; and finding the people 
 more and more enraged against him, he resolved to avail 
 himself of the order, and was treating for his passage, when 
 the Lieut.-Governor died. Though, by the letter of his order he 
 could be justified, yet upon this unexpected event he thought he 
 should be blamed, as he would leave the powers of a Governor with 
 the Council, who had joined with the people in their measures, 
 particularly in an impeachment of the Chief Justice [Peter 
 Oliver, younger brother of the Lieutenant-Governor], for re- 
 ceiving his salary from the King, then lay before the Court, 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 105 
 
 which would be acted upon as soon as they had power. This 
 caused him to alter his intention ; but before his letters reached 
 England advice had been received there, by letters to Bristol, 
 that he had taken his passage. This alarmed administration, 
 it being reported that the L* Governor was ill ; and there- 
 upon General Gage was appointed Governor, and assurance 
 was given Mr. H. that he should be no loser by it, and that it 
 was the King's intention he should be reinstated as soon as 
 General Gage's continuance should be judged no longer 
 necessary ; and he was left at liberty either to go to England, 
 or to remain in the province. 
 
 " He thought the former most eligible, though a very un- 
 desirable measure at his time of life ; and he took his passage 
 in the first vessel, and arrived, and landed at Dover the 29th 
 of July,* .1774." 
 
 Here ends his narrative entitled, " Hutchinson in America," 
 written at the end of the fifth volume of his diary, which volume 
 takes in the dates from August 1st, 1777, to August 31st, 1778, 
 and it was probably during that interval that he wrote this 
 account of his ancestors and some other things not to be met with 
 elsewhere. Towards the close of it, as related above, some passing 
 allusions are made to three several points, which are the following, 
 namely — 
 
 1. His preparations for a voyage to England. 
 
 2. The unexpected death of the Lieutenant-Governor Andrew 
 Oliver, which deranged all his plans. 
 
 3. And the impeachment of Chief Justice Peter Oliver, " for 
 receiving his salary from the King." 
 
 All these points are more or less alluded to in the original 
 Letters, of which there are three volumes of foUo size, and having 
 blue leather backs, by way of distinguishing them; or in the 
 copies of Letters in several Letter Books, which copies, however, 
 are mostly in the handwriting of the persons themselves ; or they 
 are alluded to in diaries and memorandum hooks : and if any of 
 
 * The word " July " is a mistake for June. The Diary, further on, shows 
 all about it. He landed June 29th ; got to London the next day ; had the 
 long conference with the King on the 1st of July ; and in reality, on the 
 29th of July, he was dining with friends at Pope's Villa at Twickenham. 
 Bather a singular mistake for the writer to have made. After he wrote it 
 he probably did not take the trouble to read it again, and so he never dis- 
 covered the oversight. 
 
106 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 these sources of information are quoted, this is the right place to 
 do it. 
 
 Chronologically speaking, the first or earliest intimation of 
 leave of absence to pay a temporary visit to England — for at that 
 time it was intended to have been only temporary — appears in 
 the copy of a letter bearing date June 26, 1773.* This intimation 
 is contained in the following paragraph : — 
 
 " It is not improbable, my lord, that it may be of advantage 
 to me in my private affairs to make a voyage to England in 
 the Fall, and it may appear to me to be for His Majesty's 
 service. I humbly beg your Lordship's favor in obtaining 
 from. His Majesty [leave] for my absence from the province for 
 six or nine months, in case that I shall find it necessary for 
 either of the reasons I have mentioned." 
 
 Various were the surmises that were thrown out by various 
 people when it became known that he was going to England. 
 Some hazarded the thought that probably he was summoned to 
 give an account of his stewardship to an angry King or country : 
 others that he was certainly in for a reprimand : and some pre- 
 fetrred to think that he had been sent for, rather than to believe 
 that he had himself originated the step by applying for leave of 
 absence. If the Colonies were to continue as appendages to the 
 Mother Country, it is certain that things could not go on as they 
 were. There were two alternatives : — either law and order must 
 be enforced by the adoption of more stringent measures than had 
 hitherto been resorted to : or else the Colonies must be given up 
 altogether. Men scarcely thought that by this date things had 
 come to such a pass as this— but they had, though. If the Governor 
 had to maintain the authority of England over an unwilling people, 
 no wonder they hated him : and the more he did his duty the more 
 they hated him : and this is the true secret of all their malevolence. 
 In party struggles people do not stop to inquire who is morally 
 right, or who is morally wrong ; but every man is only intent on 
 having his way ; and the worst abuse the best, simply because they 
 r are opposed. Franklin was in London ; and writing to Mr. Cushing , 
 
 the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Aug. 24, 1773, he says : 
 
 " I am told that the Governor has requested leave to come home : 
 
 * This letter is not in the Governor's handwriting. It is a copy in the 
 handwriting of the late Eev. John Hutchinson, Canon of Lichfield, the same 
 who edited and published the third volume of the Governor's History in 
 1828. The original is missing. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 107 
 
 that some great persons about the Court do not think the Letters, 
 now they have seen them, a sufficient foundation for the Eesolves : 
 that therefore it is not likely he will be removed, but suffered to 
 resign, and that some provision will be made for him here." 
 
 Of the three points alluded to above, we will take the first, 
 which concerns his preparations for the voyage. The following 
 is taken from his Letter Book which, for distinction's sake, may be 
 described as being of folio size, and covered with old marble paper. 
 It ends abruptly, without signature, and the name of the cor- 
 respondent to whom it was sent is not recorded. 
 
 " Boston, 24th January, 1774. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 "Although I have wrote to you very lately, yet, as M"" 
 Clarke embarks suddenly in this ship, and wishes to be the 
 bearer of a letter to you, I was loth to refuse him. To say 
 the least, he has been engaged in a most unfortunate affair to 
 him and to the other consignees, who, to the eternal reproach 
 of the country, are forced to sculk about to avoid insults from 
 a deluded populace. I could never see any one step which has 
 been taken by those gentlemen [the consignees] but what may 
 be vindicated. Destitute of all protection from the laws, they 
 had recourse to the military power, vested in tlie Governor 
 alone by the Constitution ; and they would have failed even of 
 that, if there had been no force in the Province, besides its 
 proper inhabitants, and must have complied with every requi- 
 sition made of them, tho' it had been followed with their 
 utter ruin. 
 
 " I expected that it would have been necessary for me to 
 have gone to England in the Fall, and sollieited His Majesty's 
 leave, which was granted and forwarded sooner than I could 
 have hoped, but was, from the 17th of August to the 15th of 
 November on its passage.* Had it arrived in common time, I 
 could have been provided with a passage in the Arethusa or 
 Lively, Men-of-War ; and the state of the Province was such 
 that I might well enough have justified my leaving it ; but 
 since my receiving the Order of Leave, no ship has sailed but 
 what has been so small that I should have been afraid of the 
 
 * The official letter granting this leave of absence seems to have been 
 mislaid, as it is not found among the collection of papers. 
 
108 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCBINSON. 
 
 fatigue of a winter's passage, being constantly sea-sick in a 
 small vessel : and if it had been otherwise, the tumults caused 
 by the tea were every day increasing, and I should have feared 
 the King's displeasure if I had left my government until 
 the fate of the tea was determined. We have no accounts 
 yet of the arrival of what was intended for New York. The 
 issue there will have its effect upon the conduct of the people 
 here ; and I believe will have some influence on the measures 
 of the Assembly here, which I am to meet next day after 
 to-morrow. In the meantime I am settling my private affairs, 
 that I may be prepared to go or stay, as the event may make 
 advisable, and have my eye upon a ship at New York, concern- 
 ing which I expect to hear the the [sic] first post. If any 
 letters should come directed to me, and I should be absent, 
 they will remain with my son, without communicating to any 
 person." * 
 
 The next day Peggy wrote the following letter to the wife 
 of her brother Elisha, Peggy being at this time seventeen 
 years old. 
 
 " Milton, Jan' 25, 1774. 
 "Dear Polly, 
 
 " You may now know how to pity me, who have been 
 running from a mob ever since the year sixty-five ; f but soon 
 do I hope to be out of their reach, as I am now pretty certain 
 papa will not go without me. We had a little contest, but you 
 know the women always gain their point. » » • * 
 " I will take care that the things you mention are sent to the 
 L. G.'s. My fingers are so cold that I can but just tell you I 
 am your 
 
 " Affectionate Sister, 
 
 " Peggy Hutchinson." 
 Two days afterwards, the Governor wrote the next letter to 
 one of his sons, though it is not certain which, but probably 
 
 • His eldest son Thomas, Judge of the Court of Probate, who remained in 
 America for two years after his father had left. 
 
 t " But in Boston there had always been a mob, which, under the direction 
 and auspices of men behind the scenes, and opposed to British rule in any 
 form, was ready to come forth as opportunity offered, in lawless violence 
 against the authority of the Crown and its ofBcers." — Eyerson's ' Loyalists of 
 America,' 2nd edit., i. 288. 
 
DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 109 
 
 Thomas, the eldest. The letter is the original one, and in liis 
 own handwriting. It is bound up in the first volume of the 
 blue leather-back series : — 
 
 " My Dear Son, 
 
 " I bave only time to send the News-papers, and to tell you 
 in answer to what you wrote about accompanying me to Eng- 
 land, that it certainly will be best for you not to be in England 
 wben any examination is brought on about the late proceedings 
 here, as it must make you enemies ever after. I have so short 
 a time to remain, that it's of no great importance in what part 
 of the world it's spent. If I find it best you should come 
 after me, I will let you know it. Nurse said nothing to me 
 of M' Tupper's message about the Doctor's wine until this 
 minute, or it would have been ready for the waggon. 
 
 " Your Affectionate Father, 
 
 " Jan. 27th. Tho. Hutchinson." 
 
 He had now fully made up his mind to undertake the 
 voyage as soon as possible, and he wrote to Governor Tryon, at 
 New York, on the subject of procuring a passage. 
 
 " Boston, 2°'' February, 1774. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Although I am not required to go to England, unless I 
 should think it for His Majesty's service, yet, my last letter 
 from the Secretary of State supposes it's probable that I have 
 embarked ; and the present state of the Province is such, that 
 I see no prospect of being serviceable here. At present there 
 is no ship bound from hence with tolerable accommodations, 
 and the sea is so unnatural to me that I could very illy bear 
 the motion of a small vessel. I am informed that a fine ship, 
 the Duchess of Gordon, wiU sail soon from New York. Shall 
 I ask the favour of you to inform me when it is likely she 
 will sail ? Whether I could have a passage for myself and 
 daughter, and two servants ? or if not so much room, for my- 
 self and one servant; or whether there be any other good 
 roomy ship, not a new one, that will sail in a month, and 
 will take passengers ? " &c. 
 
110 DIAR7 AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 It may be inferred from the evidence given below, that 
 Elisha had betrayed some feelings of discontent, fancying that 
 his brothers had been better provided for than himself; but 
 his father endeavours to explain away this false impression, 
 and to satisfy his son's mind on a point that probably touched 
 him closely. 
 
 " Milton, 6 Feb', 1774. 
 "My Dear Son,* 
 
 " If I had no children I would not take the trouble of 
 a voyage to London at tliis time of life, but would retire, 
 hoping to make my estate last as long as I lived, though I 
 kept to as expensive a way of living as I am in at present ; 
 but I hope to make such provision there, that I need not 
 spend my estate while I live, but leave it to my children 
 who come after me. If I could see any prospect of advan- 
 tage in your business, I should encourage your going; but 
 to be at two or three hundred pounds sterl. expense, and no 
 equivalent, I believe will not be thought prudent. If I go 
 I can judge, and should not be against your following me, 
 if I see any benefit from it ; besides, I think the appearance 
 of going away and carrying so great a part of my family, 
 may be a disadvantage to me here, and in England. I see 
 no prospect of sailing in less than a month, and the L* 
 Governor is in so hazardous a state, as to make it doubtful 
 whether I can go at all. 
 
 " If you mean that I have given more money to either of 
 your brothers than I have to you, you are under a mistake, 
 unless Billy has spent more than I yet know of; and if he 
 has, he must take so much the less by and by, it being my 
 intention that my children shall account after my death for 
 what they receive in my life time. If you mean the advan- 
 tage of being in London, I doubt whether it will prove an 
 advantage ; but if it be, Tommy's going there was at my 
 motion, to apply for a compensation, and so far as I thought 
 he might be of service, I made an allowance to him, but he 
 bore the greatest part of the charge himself : f and as for Billy, 
 
 * Blue leather-back Letter Books, vol. i. Date February 6, 1774. 
 t This implies that Thomas, the eldest son, had paid a visit to England. 
 No evidence of such a visit appears elsewhere. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HOTOHINSON. Ill 
 
 I could not resist his importunities and the advice of some 
 gentlemen, who thought such a voyage would be of benefit 
 to introduce him to some employ, as he had no turn for 
 business ; but he knows that if he will spend what I intended 
 for him in this way, he cannot have it in any other. 
 
 " I begin to hope it will not be long before you will be able 
 to be in town. I saw the three M' Olarks yesterday at M' 
 Burch's, in their way to dine at Eoxbury. They have been 
 upon some treaty, and think that some of the highest Liberty 
 men begin to see they have carried the matter too far with 
 respect to the Consignees. A few days will determine it. 
 Jonathan was to have sailed this morning, but I have not seen 
 the ship go down to-day. I am 
 
 " Your Affectionate Father, 
 
 " Tho. Hutchinson." * 
 
 " Elisha Hutchinson, Esq. 
 " At Middleborough." 
 
 From Thomas Hutchinson at Milton, to his brother Elisha, 
 at Middleborough : — 
 
 " Milton, February, 1774. 
 " Dear Brother, 
 
 " I rec* yours, enclosing M' Vose's note,t and will get the 
 money for you if I can. Your shoemaker sent the enclosed 
 note, which I will pay if you desire it j if you have anything 
 else you want transacted there, my friends have been very 
 kind in offering their services, and I can get it done for you. 
 You will by the papers see how the matter stands with the 
 Judges. It is unfortunate for Judge Oliver he stands alone. 
 I hope he will sooner or later meet the just reward of his firm- 
 ness : his friends generally think it not advisable for him to 
 come to Court, as there's nothing too extravagant to be put in 
 
 * This letter is sealed with the Governor's large oval seal in red wax, 
 somewhat broken. It bears the motto — libebtatem cold, licbntiam 
 DETESTOB. It looks as if this motto had been assumed in allusion to the 
 state of the times. Several electrotype copies of this seal were made from it 
 in 1882. 
 
 t From several memorandums in the Almanack of 1770, above quoted, it 
 seems that Vose was a tenant of the Governor's, and that he kept an inn at 
 the town or village of Milton. 
 
112 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 execution at this time; the House came in a body to the 
 Governor yesterday, renewing their request that he would dis- 
 miss the Chief Justice ; if they do not succeed, it must increase 
 the flame against the Governor. [It] has been publicly said 
 the L* Governor's illness has occasioned the Gov' to suspend 
 his voyage, at least, for the present. I see no prospect of our 
 being discharged until we hear from England. Mess" Glarks 
 and Faneuil are still at the Castle. I have not been anywhere 
 but from House to Barn, and Barn to House, since I wrote you 
 last. My love to aU. I am 
 
 "Your Affectionate Brother, 
 
 " Tho° Hutchinson, Jun''." 
 
 " I send some letters and papers at M' Lyde's desire. 
 " Pray forward the enclosed, and get an answer when you 
 can." 
 
 The following letter to the Earl of Dartmouth touches 
 upon most of the points that at this time engrossed the at- 
 tention of the public mind. It shows to what a lamentable 
 state of disorder the affairs of the Province had drifted into, 
 and how difficult it would be to apply a remedy. 
 
 " Private. Boston, February, 1774. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 '• The letter, copy whereof I enclosed to your Lordship in 
 a private letter of the 19'" of October, has been publickly read 
 in the House of Representatives, together with several other 
 letters from the same person, the first or second day of the 
 Session, the Speaker having read one of them to the Secretary, 
 in which the writer says, that the terms of conciliation pro- 
 posed in the letter from the Council and House, are so reason- 
 able and moderate, that he is encouraged to expect they will 
 be complied with. I directed the Secretary to apply to the 
 Speaker for a copy, which he promised to give him ; but after 
 renewing the application, the Speaker informed him they 
 were private letters, though they were publickly read in the 
 House, and are now in the possession of a Committee of the 
 House, appointed to take under consideration the state of the 
 
DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 113 
 
 Province. By this artifice a correspondence is carried on, of a 
 very bad tendency, secure against detection. 
 
 "The answers, both of the Council and House, are very 
 exceptionable, malicious as well as illiberal ; that of the 
 Council especially, discovers so much rancour against the 
 present Governor and his immediate predecessor, such indecent 
 reflections upon His Majesty's Ministers of State, and obliquely 
 upon the King himself, that they cannot escape your Lord- 
 ship's observation. It is really the performance of one man 
 only ; the Council being, by so many changes made in it for 
 seven or eight years, so modelled that nobody is left to oppose 
 the designs of the new modellers of government with the least 
 degree of spirit or, in most cases, to say Nay to the proposals 
 made to them. 
 
 " But the proceedings against the Judges of the Superior 
 Court are more alarming. Advantage was taken of the weak 
 state of body, by which the mind was also affected, of one of 
 the Judges, and he was induced, in consequence of the resolves 
 of the last Session, to send a letter to the Speaker, expressing 
 his determination to comply with the demand of the House. 
 Having carried this point with one, the others were afraid of 
 increasing the rage of the people against them, if they refused 
 to comply with the renewed demand made upon them the 
 present Session; and one of then» assured me that he was 
 constrained to a compliance, merely because his person, his 
 yrife and children, and his property were at the mercy of tlie 
 populace, from whom there was nothing which he had not to 
 fear. I used every argument in my power to fortify him, but 
 could not prevail, and none but the Chief Justice refused to 
 comply. 1 proposed dissolving or proroguing the General 
 Court ; but that, as being done upon their account, it was 
 supposed would bring the rage of the people upon them as 
 much as their refusal, if not more. 
 
 " The Chief Justice lives forty miles from the town, and his 
 friends being much concerned for his safety, dissuaded him 
 from coming to Court. One of the Judges is confined to his 
 house by the small pox: the other, who is very infirm, and 
 who first complied, can give but little attendance ; so that the 
 
114 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOHINSON. 
 
 business of tbe Court must be continued to the next Term. 
 Indeed, there is no prospect of any notice of the late extrava- 
 gances in the town of Boston, the Grand Jurors for that town 
 being persons who were among the principal promoters of the 
 meetings which occasioned the destruction of the tea, and were 
 undoubtedly selected to prevent any prosecutions. I see no 
 prospect of persuading the people who disapprove of these 
 proceedings, to support me in my opposition to them, unless 
 they could be sure of protection. They all give one and the 
 same answer. Matters, they say, are now carried to such a 
 length, that either, order will be restored to the Government 
 by the interposition of the authority in England, or we shall 
 take it for granted they intend to yield to the demands of the 
 leaders of the people here, and suffer the independency they 
 lay claim to : and as soon as we see, as we shall do in the spring, 
 which is the case, so we shall govern ourselves ; if the latter, 
 we must join with those from whom we have hitherto kept 
 separate, and submit to them on the best terms they will grant us. 
 "Despairing of success in any further attempts for His 
 Majesty's service, I had determined to avail myself of the leave 
 given me to go to England, and was preparing for my passage 
 with a view of being there before the middle of April ; but, before 
 it would have been possible for me to embark, the Lieutenant 
 Governor had declined so much in his health, that I was obliged 
 to put a stop to the provision which was making for my accom- 
 modation on board a large merchant ship at Casco Bay bound 
 to Bristol ; the physicians pronouncing his case very hazardous 
 from a bilious disorder. He was brought very low by the same 
 disorder some years ago, and in a short time recovered his 
 former state of health ; but the symptoms now are more 
 threatening, and age, with the trouble he has met with, seems 
 to have worn out his constitution. A short time, I think, 
 must enable me to make a more certain judgment. If he 
 recruits, and returns to his former state of health, I intend, the 
 first opportunity after that, to reassume my preparations ; but 
 if he should die, I shall be in doubt whether, notwithstanding 
 my leave. His Majesty would approve of my leaving the province 
 until a successor bo appointed. I must therefore pray that 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOJTINSON. 115 
 
 there may be no suspension of your Lordship's correspondence 
 at a time when your directions may be Tery necessary ; and if 
 your Lordship shall think anything necessary to be com- 
 municated, which it may be inconyenient to come into the 
 hands of the Council,* and shall condescend to communicate it 
 in a private letter, it will, in case of my absence, come to the 
 hands of my son, who will either deliver it to the Lieutenant 
 Governor, if living, or forward it to me, as may be thought 
 proper. 
 
 " I see no prospect, my Lord, of the government of thisu' 
 province being restored to its former state without the inter- 
 position of the authority in England. I rather think the 
 anarchy will continually increase until the whole province is ^. 
 in confusion. I received intelligence a few days ago oT town 
 meetings held in the county of Berkshire, adjoining to the 
 province of New York, to form combinations against the , 
 payment of Lawyer's and Sheriff's fees in Actions at Law, 
 because they thought the established fees by the law of the ' 
 province were too high. Success in the opposition to the 
 supreme power over the whole, leads the subjects of subordinate 
 powers to conclude they may also shake off such subjection 
 whensoever they are dissatisfied with them. The restoration 
 and maintenance of this supreme power would, I conceive, 
 restore and maintain the subordinate powers. Some persons, 
 who pretend to be well acquainted with the designs of the 
 opposers of government, are very sanguine that they have laid 
 a regular plan, and pursue it step by step ; and they say that 
 after the Acts of Parliament imposing duties are all repealed, 
 the Commissioners and other officers of the Customs shall be 
 all removed, and the trade shall be free and open. This may 
 be conjecture only. It is certain that some of them declare 
 upon Change, that no seizure shall be made of teas from 
 Holland, and I doubt whether we have any Custom House 
 officers who would have fortitude enough to enquire after them. 
 But I question whether they have formed any other plan than 
 
 * Bearing in mind the use that had already been made of the private 
 letters of Governors Bernard and Hutchinson, this precaution will seem 
 reasonable to reasonable joeople. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOHINSON. 
 
 in general ; as soon as they have carrie 1 one point to attempt 
 another ; and in a few years they say that, from the natural 
 increase of the Colonies, they will be strong enough to cast off 
 all subjection of every kind, 
 
 "This would be easily prevented by the King's taking or 
 keeping possession of the fortresses in every Colony, and 
 keeping only one ship of the line in every principal seaport ; 
 but this has little or no tendency to maintain interior order, 
 and the servants of the Crown will, notwithstanding, be 
 continually exposed to the resentment and raee of the people, 
 unless they join in or connive at their irregularities. 
 
 '•' The people, my Lord, in every Colony, more or less, have 
 been made to believe that, by firmly adhering to their demands, 
 they may obtain a compliance with every one of them. That 
 the colonies are so much in debt to the merchants in England, 
 and that they are so necessary to the manufacturers there, as 
 will effectually prevent any measures which may tend to 
 destroy or lessen the debt, or lessen the consumption of the 
 manufacturers. In this Colony all this is openly asserted in 
 the House of Representatives, for the sate of the people in the 
 Gallery : and it is added that, from past success, a judgment 
 may be made of future ; but if there was any room to doubt, 
 yet they had now gone too far to stop, and the best chance they 
 had was by persevering, and going to the utmost length ; and 
 frequent hints are thrown out that, if they are not able by 
 their votes and resolves, there is, however, virtue and valour 
 enough in the people to effect all that is desired. All the 
 present disorder in the Colonies is undoubtedly owing to neglect 
 in suffering that sense of the supreme authority of Parliament, 
 which, seven years ago, in every colony, it was thought treason 
 with force and violence to oppose,* gradually to go off from 
 the minds of the people, until it is entirely lost. 
 
 " A conviction of this authority, or a persuasion that, at all 
 events, the Parliament will maintain it against all opposition, 
 will restore order ; but how this conviction or persuasion is to 
 
 * These are remarkable words, it having been denied by the leaders of 
 the popular party that they had ever been bound by Parliament at all — 
 plenty of Acts of Parliament to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOEINSON. 117 
 
 be effected, I must humbly submit to your Lordship, as I must 
 also the expedience of leaving to the subordinate legislature 
 in the Colonies, the raising monies by Taxes or Duties, when- 
 ever it shall be thought fit that requisitions should be made 
 from them ; only I beg leave to suggest that it would greatly 
 tend, if it is not absolutely necessary, to conciliate the affections 
 of the Colonies to the parent state. 
 
 " For the more safe passage of this letter, I shall enclose it 
 to a gentleman who sailed from hence about a fortnight ago, 
 and desire him to wait on your Lordship with it. Being one 
 of the Consignees of the East India Company, all of whom, I 
 think, behaved with great firmness and propriety, and are not 
 yet suffered to appear in town, he will be able to give your 
 Lordship a very full account of that most criminal proceeding, 
 and of the principal actors in it. 
 
 "From a sense of my duty to the King, I have represented 
 in a private letter to your Lordship the general state of the 
 pi evince, which I expected to have been able to do in a more 
 particular and circumstantial manner in person. Although I 
 have said notl ing which is net too notorious to be denied, yet 
 such jrejudicis have seized the minds of the people in general, 
 that representation of the most publick proceedings, if unwar- 
 rantable, is pronounced unkind or unfriendly; and by one 
 step more, the peison representing [it] is declared an enemy to 
 the country. — 1 am, most respectfully," &c. 
 
 The foregoing letter is long, but it contains several interest- 
 ing points calculated to arrest our attention. In opening his 
 mind to the Ministtr for the Colonies, he felt that there were 
 no such things as secrets. Experience had shown him that the 
 ingenuity of the opposers of government could get possession 
 of almost any morsel of so-called private correspondence they 
 might desire. It is plain, also, that all his constitutional 
 resources for the support of the royal authority were exhausted, 
 he was utterly at a loss what to suggest for the further main- 
 tenance of it. And there are symptoms in the above, as well 
 as in some other communications to England, of a consciousness 
 of despair, when he surveyed the state of the province, and the 
 
118 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 entire impossibility, by any means at his disposal, of restoring 
 things to order. If patience, great forbearance under much 
 provocation, perseverance, and steadfastness could have achieved 
 it, surely he would have succeeded. Considering that lie was 
 bom and bred in America, nurtured in the schools, and 
 habituated in the habits and sentiments of the very atmosphere 
 which he breathed, perhaps his steady loyalty during a pro- 
 longed struggle, in which he had so much to lose and so little 
 to gain, was to many persons remarkable. Indeed, it may 
 appear so to us at this distant day. Some of his enemies 
 declared that all his measures were only dictated by sordid and 
 ambitious motives. Where is the appearance of it ? He had 
 nothing to gain from the King but empty honour. On the 
 rother side, he had all the friends of his youth to leave, and 
 many to lose ; to imperil the property which he had inherited 
 from his ancestors the first settlers, or gathered together by his 
 own industry, and which he cherished for the maintenance of 
 himself and the benefit of his children ; and to risk the break 
 up of his establishment, connections, and resources, in the utter 
 ruin that seemed to be impending. It is said that the actions, 
 or motives for action, in most men, are guided by self-interest. 
 This may pass when he is a free agent, but even then it is too 
 selfish a motive to be classed as an honourable one. There are 
 other and higher incentives, such, for instance, as principle and 
 a sense of duty. If a public man or other functionary is not 
 actuated by the spirit of these latter, he will never do his duty 
 to his employer, or gain credit to himself. " Moreover, it is 
 required in stewards that a man be found faithful." The man 
 who is moved by self-interest is not the man to be found" 
 faithful. Bat in party warfare, even this great and universal 
 virtue is held up to be denounced as a vice. " You have been 
 faithful to my opponent, I know, but for that very reason I 
 hate you." Such is the feeling, and such will be the judgment. 
 Mr. Bancroft, in his ' History,' has undertaken to write what 
 purports to be a character of Governor Hutchinson, too full, 
 however, of the spice of party malevolence and blind condem- 
 nation ; a principle of writing that precludes from the reader 
 all chances of finding in it any hope of justice or of sober 
 
DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 119 
 
 truth. He brings against him charges of having attempted to 
 effect a variety of measures which, if carried out, would have 
 brought about the ruin of the Colonies — a process which would 
 be like trying to sink the boat in which he himself was floating. 
 As all the Governor's fortunes, aU his substance, and all his 
 interests lay in America, foolish, indeed, must he have been to 
 have destroyed the country out of which he drew his existence, 
 and the hopes of maintaining his family. Herein, indeed, he 
 differed from all the other Governors of Massachusetts, who 
 had come out from England, and whose properties were in that 
 country. He was a native, and loved the country of his birth ; 
 and whilst he ardently desired its prosperity, he considered that 
 that prosperity would be best promoted by continuing loyal to 
 the Mother Country. In one place Mr. Bancroft speaks of him 
 as " the complaicent, cultivated, and truly intelligent Hutchin- 
 son " ; in another he says, " he excelled in the art of dissimula- 
 tion, and knew how to veil his selfishness by the appearance of 
 public spirit"; in another he imputes to him the vices of 
 avarice and ambition, " and avai-ice in an old man is cowardly 
 and mean." Wherein resided this avarice and this ambition ? 
 Was it in his desire for offices, and the emoluments attached 
 thereto ? Scarcely, when we learn how very limited were the 
 salaries paid to public officers in the Colony in that day. By 
 his talents, and by his administrative abilities, displayed in 
 both Houses of tlie Legislature, he became Speaker of the 
 House of Kepresentatives in 1746, at the early age of thirty- 
 five. He was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common 
 Pleas for the county of Suffolk in 1752, when he was forty- 
 one ; and his uncle, Edward Hutchinson, who had presided in 
 the Probate Division, dying that year, he succeeded him.* 
 " He was also, where the power of the Crown was united with 
 the nature of this provincial legislature, appointed Judge of 
 Probate for the county of Suffolk, the most important county 
 of the province ; and afterwards Chief Justice of the province, 
 as also one of His Majesty's Council. As Judge of Probate 
 he conciliated the admiration, esteem, and love of all who 
 
 * ' Sketches of the Judicial Hist, of Mass.,' p. 304. By Emory Washburn. 
 
120 DTART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCEINSON. 
 
 either repaired to him for justice, or appaai-ed before him as 
 council for the litigant parties; the widow and the orphan 
 repaired to him as their guardian; and the doors of his office, 
 and his house also, were ever unlatched to their petitions for 
 relief and advice. His placid temper and his invincible patience, 
 seemed marked out by the god of nature for the discharge of 
 this most difficult office, where litigants appeared who were 
 uninstructed in all the forms necessary to conduct their cases, 
 and too frequently carried them on with the impertinence and 
 roughness of unpolished nature; but his decrees were given 
 with so much legal judgment and undisguised integrity, that 
 tiie lips of envy and party abuse were ever fast sealed against 
 any impeachment of his official justice. This office he discharged 
 with peculiar pleasure ; for upon his once bein^ asked by a 
 friend why he did not resign this very troublesome office, since 
 he sustained those of Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice 
 also, and as the profits of it were very trifling ? His reply was 
 this, viz. : — ' It gives me so much pleasure to relieve the widow - 
 and fatherless, and direct them what steps to take in managing 
 their estates, and also in reconciling contending parties, that I 
 would rather resign my other offices, and discharge this alone, 
 without fee or reward.' In mentioning these three offices, 
 which M*^ Hutchinson sustained at the same time, it may be 
 noticed, that the envy and ambition of some, and the envy 
 and avarice of others, were roused by the possession of so many 
 by one man ; but let it be remembered that the pecuniary 
 stipends of this province to their servants, were similar in profit 
 to the wages of sin — for no man could get a living by them ; 
 and those three united in M' Hutchinson, although each of 
 them was as profitable as any other office, did not afford him a 
 decent support for his family." * 
 
 This eulogium is well sustained by Mr. Bancroft himself, who 
 observes : — "As a judge, though he decided political questions 
 with the subserviency of a courtier, yet in approving wills, he 
 was considerate towards the orphan and the widow; and he 
 heard private suits with unblemished integrity. In adjusting 
 
 * The Origin and Progress of the American Kebellion to the year 1776 in 
 MS., r- 35. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOEINSON. 121 
 
 points of difference with a neighbouring jurisdiction, he was 
 faithful to the Province by which be was employed." * 
 
 Before Governor Thomas Pownall left the Colony — "The 
 Commissions of Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., for Lieutenant- 
 Governor, and Andrew Oliver, Esq., for Secretary of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, were published in Council, June 1, 1758." t 
 There is no documentary evidence in England to show whether 
 this post of Lieutenant-Governor had been coveted by him or 
 not, though there may be in his private letters in America, 
 which were taken with his house at Miltoni and of which Mr. 
 Bancroft had made such free use. 
 
 The amount of the salaries attached to the offices of Governor 
 and Lieutenant-Governor do not seem to have been with 
 certainty fixed : at least, we are led to suppose so, when we 
 see that writers of that day, when speaking on the subject, 
 use expressions that imply doubt. In a letter written by 
 Andrew Oliver some years afterwards, to the Hon. John 
 Belcher, when his own promotion had been proposed to 
 him, the following remark occurs : — " You will probably have 
 seen before this an account of the appointments for this 
 Government from the London Gazette. This does not mention 
 the salaries of the Gov' and the L' Gov' ; but our news- 
 papers have it that the one is £1,500 and the other £300 p 
 an., which 1 believe you may give credit to." J Again, 
 when addressing Mr. John Pownall, April 5th, in the same 
 year : — " I had the honour of your letter, dated in Nov. last, 
 conveying to me your kind congratulations upon the late 
 mark of his Majesty's favour conferred upon me. I cannot 
 doubt of having had your good offices on this occasion ; and 
 pray you to accept my best thanks for every instance of 
 your regard. My L" Hillsborough acquainted me of this 
 appointm* on y" 1°' of Apr" last, and that his Majesty had 
 been pleased to annex to it an allowance of £200 p an. : and 
 since that Castle WilP, which was a usual appendage to the 
 
 ' In settling the boundary line between Mass. and N. York. Hutch. ' Hist, 
 of Mass.,' iii. 391. 
 
 t lUd., iii. 75, Note, and 86, 87. 
 
 J Letter Book of A. Oliver, white vellum cover. Jan. 14, 1771. 
 
122 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTGHINSON. 
 
 place of L' Gov'', had been put into other hands. Sir Francis 
 Bernard advises me that £100 a year has been added to this 
 appointment." 
 
 There is an original letter of the Earl of Hillsborough, 
 bearing his sign manual, of August 7, 1772, in another letter 
 book, addressed to Mr. Hutchinson, in which it speaks of £100 
 a year appropriated to the Fort-Major of Castle William. It 
 is conveyed in the following paragraph : — * " The enclosed 
 copy of my letter to the Lords of the Treasury will inform you 
 of the provision His Majesty has been pleased to make for the 
 support of his law servants in the Province of Massacliusetts 
 Bay ; and I have the additional satisfaction of acquainting 
 you that I shall by this packet signify His Majesty's commands 
 to Lieutenant-General Gage, for the appointment of Captain 
 Phillips to be Fort-Major of Castle "William, with an allowance 
 of one hundred pounds p. annum, free of all deductions, and 
 payable from the time his former command ceased." 
 
 Again, Mr. Bancroft writes : — "His sordid nature led him to 
 worship power." By the year 1770, however, he had had 
 enough of power and high places, and the free-and-easy manners 
 of the Patriots, so called, for he not only shrunk from the 
 prospect of further advancement, but, wearied and disgusted 
 with ill-treatment, he rather desired to be relieved from all 
 the offices he then held.f "Before the arrival of [his] the 
 Lieutenant Governor's letters in England, desiring to be excused 
 from any further share in the administration, the King had 
 been pleased to direct a commission to be prepared, constituting 
 him to be Governor of the Province, in the room of Sir Francis 
 Bernard, and to promote M' Oliver to the place of L' 
 Governor." f 
 
 In a former chapter, when mentioning the retirement of Sir 
 F. Bernard, and the proposal of the home Government to 
 advance him to the first place, it is recorded that — " he wrote 
 a letter of thanks to Lord H[illsborougb], but desired to be 
 
 * Original letters, blue leather backs, vol. i., August 7, 1772. 
 t In Eep. vero, quanquam animus est prasens, tamen, voluntas etiam, 
 atque etiam ipsa medicinam, effugit. • Cicero ad Atticum,' epist. 18, lib. 1. 
 t Mr. Paxton succeeded Mr. Oliver as Secretary. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 123 
 
 excused, not only from the Governor's commission, but to have 
 leave to resign that of L' Governor." Did this incident 
 lead Mr, Bancroft to say — "His sordid nature led him to 
 worship power " ? 
 
 And this historian, in proceeding further to enumerate his 
 vices, infonns us that he loved money, but he does not tell us 
 how much work he had to do in order to earn it. Money and 
 work ought to balance each other, and the labourer is worthy 
 of his hire. Ko doubt he held in his hands a group of high- 
 class offices not commonly centred in one man : but we may 
 ask Mr. Bancroft to be so good as to point out to us, how many 
 men there were at that time iu America who could have filled 
 them as he did ? We have seen how the Assembly paid the 
 judges — "Even their door-keeper had a larger stipend."* 
 Whether he loved money or no, one thing is quite certain — ^he 
 loved work. Truly he did not eat the bread of idleness. In 
 recording the confiscations of his estates in America, we might 
 expect that a covetous man would express his grief in the most 
 impassioned language ; for if it was his great desire to gain 
 property, it must needs be an equally great grief to lose it. 
 " To gain property," says Mr. Bancroft, " was the most ardent 
 desire of his soul:" and yet. if this writer speaks true, it is 
 strange that he should dismiss the notice of his losses by a 
 few unstudied words in his Diary, e.ff. — " Nov. 14, 1776. — ^My 
 property which was at Milton sold at Vendue. Washington, it 
 is said, rides in my coach at Cambridge."t And again: — 
 " Sep. 30, 1779.— M"^ Blowers writes to M' Bliss, of June 30, 
 that one Brown of New York had purchased my estate at 
 Milton for 38,000£ lawful paper money." In the same way 
 some other estates in Ehode Island and other places were 
 seized. This is a very cool and laconic mode of dismissing 
 such important subjects. 
 
 Speaking of the period when Boston, by the mild forbearauce 
 of the Governor, had drifted into a state of riot and tumult, it 
 
 * ' Orig. and Pro. Am. Eeb.,' p. 128. 
 
 t In an inventory of his effects taken at Milton, occurs this entry — "A 
 new coach, cost £105, besides freight." From the mention of freight, this 
 coach must have been had out from England, and is probably the one 
 Washington laid his hands on. 
 
124 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOEINSON. 
 
 is held up against him as a crime that he " urged them [the 
 Ministers in England] incessantly to bring on the crisis by the 
 immediate intervention of Parliament." Most people would say 
 that this was a very constitutional mode of proceeding — ^the most 
 constitutional that could have been devised. Can Mr. Bancroft 
 have forgotten that the Colonies were founded and fostered 
 under the shadow of this constitutional power, and that a series 
 of statutes passed the Legislature, and were in force, during the 
 reigns of the Jameses, Charleses, Anne, and the Georges, for 
 the guidance of the affairs of the plantations, and that 
 Americans never questioned their authority, but lived happily 
 and prosperously under them, until "this new doctrine of 
 independence"* substituted Mob Law for Constitutional Law ?■./• 
 These early Acts of Parliament, and the then loyal adherence 
 to them by all orders of men, have been sufficiently alluded to 
 at the commencement of this volume. 
 
 Not less heinous was the crime of desiring that his letters 
 should not be opened and read by strangers.t What would Mr. 
 Bancroft think if any friend, not to say enemy, were to open 
 his escritoire, or waylay his letters in transitu, and turn them 
 over, or take copies of them, even if these letters did not treat 
 of the important business of the country, which, under all 
 Governments, requires a certain amount of reserve ? It is well 
 known that no Ministry could carry on the affairs of a nation 
 if its despatches were to become common property. The 
 treatment of his letters in Franklin's case, following those of 
 Bernard, had taught the Governor how much honour was to be 
 expected from political opponents. The remembrance of this 
 might have warned Mr. Bancroft that he was venturing upon 
 delicate ground, which, however, he did not see, any more than 
 Franklin in his ease, for the latter wrote to Cushing, saying : — 
 "I came by them honourably, and my intention in sending 
 them was virtuous." It is not the custom in Europe to go to 
 
 • Bancr., iii. 463. 
 
 t Stedman, i. 84, writing in 1773, says — " Their present Governor was 
 M' Hutchinson, a native of Massachusetts Bay, a lawyer and a man of 
 learning, who had filled the office of Chief Justice of the Province with 
 general satisfaction, and was appointed Governor on the resignation of Sir 
 Francis Bernard, in the year 1770." 
 
DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. 125 
 
 Franklin's private code of morals to learn virtue. And the 
 American historian takes a great deal of trouble to search out and 
 stigmatise a long list of expressions from the Governor's letters 
 to influential persons in England,* in which the writer candidly 
 declares that he has many things to say which he cannot trust 
 to paper.t Thus, he wrote to Whately — " keep secret every- 
 thing I write : " to Mauduit — " my sentiments on these points 
 should be concealed : " and some others which, though only 
 used with the necessary caution which a statesman is obliged 
 by his responsible position to maintain in his despatches, are 
 made to appear as if he were " like one engaged in a conspiracy 
 or an intrigue." So easy is it for party malevolence to twist 
 the most harmless actions into evil where men are bad enough 
 to do it. 
 
 Such writers have endeavoured to make out that he was 
 recalled, superseded, and then set aside. It appears, however, 
 that the voyage to England originated in himself, in an 
 application for leave of absence from his post " for six or nine 
 months ; " J and the announcement in the Gazette, dated 
 Whitehall, April 2, 1774, states that General Gage's active 
 operations in America were to continue only "during His 
 Majesty's pleasure;" it having been fully expected that the 
 Province would be soon reduced to order, and that Mr. 
 Hutchinson would then return and resiune the functions of 
 his office. During the short period of sixteen months that the 
 General held his appointment, there was very little of the civil 
 administration left for him to do, so soon did military matters 
 occupy the anxious thoughts of every person whatever. Gage 
 was succeeded by Sir William Howe, October 10, 1 775, and we 
 hear of nothing but martial operations afterwards. 
 
 Washburn attempts to shelve him in a very unceremonious 
 manner. He writes of him thus: — "He went to England, 
 
 • From the collection of about 1500 letters taken at Milton. 
 
 t Even Cicero felt this : — " Multa enim sunt, quae me soUicitant, anguntque, 
 quae mihi videor, aures nactus tuas, unius ambulationis sermone, exhaurire 
 posse. Ac quidem sollicitudinum aculeos omnes ,et scrupulos, occultabo. 
 Neque ego huio epistolse, atque ignoto tabellario, committam." — Cic. ad 
 Att., ep. 18, lib. 1. 
 
 X Letter of June 26, 1773, already given. 
 
126 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 where lie became a pensioner of the Crown, and died at 
 Brompton, near London, June 3, 1780, haying experienced the 
 fickleness of Prince's favours, in the neglect with which he was 
 treated during the last years of his life." The Governor had 
 an allowance from the Treasury, which kept him, as it were, in 
 hand, until the time should come round for his return : being 
 still considered by others, and by himself too, as the Civil 
 Governor of Massachusetts.* That he considered himself so is 
 abundantly plain from many passing remarks scattered here 
 and there in his Diary and Letters. He uses the following 
 words in his Diary, Feb. 24, 1775, after he had been eight 
 months in England : — " I called at M"^ Knox's house before 
 breakfast, to let him know my opinion of the impracticability 
 of his plan, and that, as Governor, I should not dare to give 
 my assent to any Act framed according to his proposal. He 
 seemed himself to be less attached to it than yesterday." He 
 here seems to speak with the feeling and the authority of the 
 Governor in reserve, who expected to be again the acting 
 Governor before long ; and in numerous places both he and his 
 friends allude to his going out at no distant date. He writes : — 
 " April 27, 1775.— Called upon M'^ Cornwall. He advises me 
 to think nothing of a return to New England until next 
 summer." Again : — " March 5, 1776. — ^At M' Doyley's. He 
 says things now go on to his mind, and he hopes to see America 
 in order before another year. He complimented me with an 
 opinion that I ought to go out soon." It may well indeed be 
 argued that he was virtually Governor during the whole of this 
 period until his death on the 3rd of June, 1780, being a space 
 of ten years wanting five months, and that he was the last 
 Governor of Massachusetts. 
 
 Washburn furt.her says : — " Though a baronetcy was offered 
 to him, which he declined for private reasons, still, he was very 
 much neglected." But from his Letters and his Diary, which 
 remain, and from stray remarks made by his relativec, it seems 
 that he was perfectly satisfied with the treatment he met with 
 from the King and his Ministers ; and in more than one place 
 
 * See his Diary further on, and amongst other places November 12 and 
 December 2, 1774. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF TE0MA8 HUTCHINSON. 127 
 
 it is declared that every promise that any one of them had ever 
 made to him had been faithfully kept. Writing August 27, 
 1774, he says * : — " If you do not see those public marks of 
 honour conferred which my letters intimated, it is not because 
 they have not been oflEered to me ; indeed, no part of the 
 assurances given have failed," Again, August 29 : — " With 
 respect to myself, marks of honour and distinction have been 
 offered me to the full of what I was encouraged to expect ; but 
 my time of life, and the inequality of my fortune, has made me 
 hitherto think it not prudent to accept them." We should not 
 have looked for this from the covetous and avaricious and 
 ambitious man, as described by Mr. Bancroft. 
 
 We must not expect that the most able ruler in talent, or the 
 most indulgent in administration, should ever enjoy the love of 
 the disaffected : as well might we expect to see the criminal 
 love the law that restrains him. The most constitutional^ 
 passages in his purloined letters were madly declared to reveal 
 a plan for enslaving the Colonies, and to be subversive of all 
 the most cherished institutions in America : but to this he 
 replied — that it had not been the design of them " to subvert 
 the constitution of the Government, but rather to preserve it 
 entire." t And in their cooler moments the Americans them- 
 selves have admitted that they contained no sentiment which 
 he had not openly expressed in his addresses to the Legist/ 
 lature ; J and the editor of one of the printed editions, p. 4, 
 observes — " I am at a loss to find what there is in them which 
 can be a ground of blame." § 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson was the King's representative in Massa- 
 chusetts, bound by oath to support the authority of the King 
 and Parliament by all constitutional means ; and if he had 
 
 • His letter book covered with old marble paper. 
 
 t Bancroft, iii. 511. 
 
 I ' New Bng. Hist, and Gen. Beg.,' i. 307. 
 
 § It has become painfvdly manifest in Europe that American history has 
 to be written all over again. If in a yomig country, struggling for an origin 
 and intoxicated with her freedom, her leaders deal in flattery, self-glorifica- 
 tion and the svjiprestio veri to please the masses, it is not so in an old 
 country like England ; she has no mob either to fear or to flatter ; she can 
 be honest and true to herself; she can afford to speak truth, or let others do 
 so, even if that truth is not flattering. 
 
128 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 yielded to the popular demands, he would have become, to all 
 intents and purposes, a rebel ; but because he would not do so, 
 there was no crime in the calendar that rebels did not impute 
 to him. The Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland is the King's repre- 
 sentative in that country ; but what should we think of him if 
 he were to join the Fenians, Land Leaguers, Or Home Rulers, 
 by whatever name the disaffected may be called? Yet the 
 cases in principle are not very different. A comparison of this 
 sort brings out the enormity of the idea. Had he been an alien 
 or a stranger in America, he might have been suspected of 
 being indifferent to its interest or welfare ; but Mr. Bancroft 
 says truly enough — " he loved the land of liis nativity ; " and 
 there are many passages in his writings which bear this out. 
 Thus to Pepperell on August 1 5, 1774 : — " I am not able to 
 subdue a natural attachment to the very soil and air, as well as 
 to the people of N. Eng"*." * ''■■ Again, in September, to Mr. 
 Lee : — " I have been offered titles of honour, and it has been 
 intimated to me that I may have a much better Gov' than I 
 have had. I have hitherto made the insufficiency of my private 
 fortune an excuse f for not accepting the one, and my time of 
 life will be for the other. I hope to leave my bones where I 
 found them, and that before I part with them I shall convince 
 my countrymen I have ever sincerely aimed at their true 
 interest." And we will just take one from his r)iary, written 
 five years afterwards. Under May 15, 1779, he says : — " Though 
 I know not how to reason upon it, I feel a fondness to lay my 
 bones in my native soil, and to carry those of my dear daughter 
 with me." % 
 
 No doubt the American dispute looked very differently 
 whether it was surveyed from Boston in Lincolnshire, or from 
 Boston in Massachusetts. We would wish to act fairly, and 
 give the Americans all allowance for the different point of 
 view. 
 
 Of the three points mentioned above, the first has now been 
 
 * His marble paper cover letter book. 
 
 t Diary, August 15, 1774. 
 
 X He alludes to I'eggy, wbo died September 21, 1777, and was buried 
 September 25 in a vault in Croydon Church, Surrey, to which vault the 
 grieved father eventually followed her. 
 

DIAET AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCEINSON. 129 
 
 disposed of. The second referred to the death of the Lieu- 
 tenant Governor, which took place on the 3rd of March, 1774, 
 and at once put a stop to all his preparations for departure. 
 
 The following letter to the Earl of Dartmouth was hurriedly 
 written on the day of the death, and sent off immediately to 
 England : — 
 
 " Boston, 3"" March, 1774. 
 "My Lord,*— 
 
 "Hearing of a vessel at Falmouth bound to England, 
 I hope to get this letter on board, that by the first oppor- 
 tunity I may acquaint your Lordship that the Lieut* Gov' 
 died last night,t after a few weeks languishment. I dare 
 not, without his Majesty's express order, leave the Province 
 until some person shall succeed, altho' it would otherwise, as 
 I conceive, have been for his Majesty's service, as well as for 
 my personal benefit. Whether it will be tho't proper that a 
 successor shall come from England, or that any Gentleman 
 belonging to the Province should be appointed, I am not 
 able to judge. As soon as I can determine upon a fit person 
 or persons within the Province, I will take the liberty to 
 acquaint your Lordship with my opinion. At present I am 
 at a loss where to find a person who would be willing to accept 
 the post, and who lias suflScient knowledge of the Constitution, 
 and suflScient firmness of mind to do the duty of his station, 
 if the command of the Province should devolve upon him. — I 
 have the honour to be, &c. 
 "R' Hon. Earl of Dartmouth." 
 
 The next is from T. Hutchinson, Junior, to his brother 
 
 Elisha :— 
 
 " Milton, March 7, 1774. 
 " Dear Brother, — 
 
 " I sent your shoes last week. I have not got the 
 cash book, nor Mr. Silsbe's ace' here, but send yours from 
 the Ledger. % The L' Gov' went off suddenly at last, and 
 is to be buried to-morrow. My friends have been trying 
 
 ' Letter Book, marble paper cover. 
 
 t His executor, T. Hutchinson, Junr., writes that he died on the 3rd, 
 which is the date of this letter. The words " last night " may mean during 
 the last night, and after midnight. 
 
 % 'i"he account need not be quoted. 
 
 K 
 
130 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. 
 
 to sound the powers that rule at present, but do not think it 
 safe for me to attend the funeral. The proceedings against 
 Judge Oliver seem to be pretty well oyer. The Council were 
 much embarrassed, and I doubt not the affair will end much 
 to his honor : the Court I hear will rise in a few days. No- 
 thing more. — I am your Affectionate Brother, 
 
 "Tho' Hutcbinson, Jun'. 
 
 "Col. Hancock has offered himself and Company to attend 
 the L' Go v"^"' funeral. Unaccountable conduct."* 
 
 Extract from a letter from Peggy Hutchinson, dated Milton, 
 March 9, 1774 :— 
 
 "The L. G. was buried yesterday. The Doctor [Peter 
 Oliver?] will give you an account of the funeral. What 
 havock has been made in that family within these few years ! 
 I am very glad your Grandpapa did not come down : from the 
 rude and brutal behaviour of the rabble, I have no doubt but 
 he would have been insulted."t 
 
 On the day after the funeral, the Governor wrote to Sir 
 
 Francis Bernard, who was now in England, to inform him of 
 
 the event, and of the effect it would have on his movements 
 
 and administration. He gives a deplorable account of the 
 
 state of the country. 
 
 _ „ " Boston, G"- March, 1774. 
 
 "Dear Sir,— 
 
 "The death of the Lieut-Governor puts a stop to 
 my intended voyage. His friends think the abuse he met 
 with shortened his days. He has been languishing ever since 
 Christmas. At the singing after the Communion he found his 
 eyesight fail, so as not to be able to read the Psalm, but was 
 not otherwise sensibly affected. He kept abroad until a few 
 days before he died, but at last was seized suddenly, and after 
 about 48 hours of a quiet lethargy, the candle went out. 
 
 * John Hancock had been appointed (probably to conciliate his party) to 
 the command of the young cadets, a body of ostensibly loyal young men. 
 Considering that he had behaved like a bitter enemy to the Lieut.-Govemor, 
 his offer to attend the funeral with his company (commonly understood to be 
 
 other penal laws." — Diary of Ben. Lynda, Junr. 
 
DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 131 
 
 " I expected to have been in London by the middle of April. 
 My order to leave is discretionary ; and unless the advantage 
 to the public would countervail the disadvantage, I am afraid 
 to leave the Government in such hands. This is a great 
 disappointment to me. Five years constant scene of anxiety 
 would weary a firmer mind than mine. In England I could 
 have pretty well judged whether any measures could be taken 
 which would have made a Governor more easy; if not, I 
 hoped my services would have entitled me to a public vindit- 
 cation from the most infamous, groundless calumnies which 
 the malice of the most artfull insidious men in the world could 
 devise, and that I might be made easy for the remainder of 
 my life, whether longer or shorter. The last winter has given 
 me as much trouble as any three months since you left the 
 Province. Besides the Tea business, of which you have had 
 a full account, there has been an attack upon the Chief 
 Justice, which has given me great trouble. I had to avoid 
 a controversy upon the merits which, with such people, would 
 have been endless, to save him from the fury of the people, 
 with which he was threatened to such a degree, that his friends 
 from all quarters, joined in persuading him not to attend the 
 Court at Boston, to resist all their attempts to force his 
 removal, and to save the honour of the Government without 
 a general convulsion. The friends of Government say the 
 cause of it could not have been conducted with greater pro- 
 priety. Perhaps they flatter me. "When you see all the 
 proceedings in order, for they will all appear in the papers, 
 you will judge. Such a mixture of improper unnatural senti- 
 ment and reasoning, rude and indecent language, sophistical 
 and fallacious reasonings and evasions, oblique allusions and 
 flirtt [?J, below the dignity of the Eobinhood, or even a School- 
 boys* Parliament, you never met with before. 
 
 " M' Clark and his son and M"^ Faneuil are still confined 
 to the Castle : my eldest son and his family are with me at 
 Milton : my other son and his family at Middleborough : and 
 neither of my sons have dared to appear in Boston since the 
 latter part of November, to the total neglect and ruin of their 
 business. We have nothing from England of a public nature 
 
 K 2 
 
132 DIARY AND LETTERS OF TEOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 since the November mail. We suppose we are upon the eve 
 of something extraordinary, but our case is so difficult that 
 nobody conjectures what. Logan has been very sick, but I 
 hear is better. — ^I am, &c. 
 " Sir Francis Bernard, Bart." 
 
 Towards the end of the Lieutenant-Governor's Letter Book,* 
 and after his hand was still, there are two or three letters by 
 Thomas Hutchinson, Junior, one of his executors,t written to 
 friends to notify the event. The first runs thus : — 
 
 " Boston, March, 1774. 
 
 " Eobert Thompson, Esq. 
 
 " Sir, — I am sorry to acquaint you that the L' Governor 
 (my wife's father), whose health has been upon the decline 
 the past winter, was seized with a fainting fit on the first Inst. ; 
 — lay deprived of his reason til \^sic\ the 3"*, and then expired. 
 As he was pleased to appoint me one of his Executors, your 
 letter of the 20'''' of December, came to my hands, and I take 
 the earliest opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of it. 
 If I can be any way serviceable to you in America, I have 
 leisure and inclination to exert myself for that purpose. It's 
 probable when I come to look into the L' Governor's affairs, 
 I shall have occasion to write you further. — I am, &c." 
 
 It was generally understood that the troubles of the times 
 had shortened his days. Writing to Mr. Jackson on the 9th 
 of March the Governor says % : — " Probably from the News- 
 papers you will see an account of the Lieut. Governor's death 
 before this letter reaches you. Repeated losses of his near 
 relations sat heavy upon him, and the indignities offered him 
 soon after, by the use made of his private letters, hapning \sic'\ 
 just upon the back of them, sunk his spirits, and he has been 
 declining for several months, and at last left us suddenly, and 
 sooner than we expected." 
 
 • Small folio, tound in white vellum. 
 
 t The second letter, which it is not necessary to quote, shows that the 
 other executor was the L.-G.'s eldest son, Andrew Oliver, who was bom 
 November 13, 1731. 
 
 % Letter Book of T. H., old marble paper. 
 
DIARY AND LETTEB8 OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 133 
 
 To Samuel Hood, Esq., on the 13th of March, he writes : — 
 " I have gone through very troublesome scenes since the date 
 of your letter, some of which you will have been acquainted 
 with from your own Newspapers. I have the satisfaction of 
 being assured that my conduct has been approved by my 
 Sovereign. I wished for the approbation of my country also, 
 but in the present state of this province they are not com- 
 patible. Tired with abuse, I had obtained leave to go to 
 England, and should have embarked by this time, if the Lieut. 
 Governor had not declined in his health, which kept me in 
 suspense until the 3"* inst., when he died, which put an end 
 to my voyage, at least until a successor be appointed ; for I 
 should be afraid of the King's displeasure, unless my orders y 
 had been peremptory. This is a great disappointment." 
 
 In a lengthy communication to Mr. Mauduit, on the last day 
 of March, he touches upon most of the salient points of the 
 burning questions of the day, and in alluding to the death 
 which had then recently occurred, he says : " The Lieutenant 
 Governor is out of the reach of the malice of his enemies. 
 They followed him however to the grave ; a part of the mob, 
 upon the relations coming out of the Burying Ground, giving 
 three huzza", and yet few better men have lived." 
 
 This disposes of two of the questions mentioned above, the 
 third being the impeachment of Chief Justice Peter Oliver, 
 " for receiving his salary from the King." He was a younger 
 brother of the Lieutenant-Governor, an honest man, a clever 
 lawyer, and perhaps possessed of more nerve to withstand the 
 rude assaults of the times in which he lived. The impeach- 
 ment of the Chief Justice is treated of in the Gcovernor's 
 'History of the Province,'* so that nothing need be done 
 now except to quote a few manuscript notes which have not 
 yet seen the light. It appears from these that several servants 
 of the Crown, occupying different offices in the State, had, by 
 successive arrangements made at different periods, received 
 their salaries from England. Ou the 30th of October, 1767, 
 Andrew Oliver, afterwards the Lieutenant-Governor, but at 
 that time Secretary, wrote to Jasper Mauduit: "I find by 
 * Vol. iii., p. 443 et seq. 
 
134 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 divers accounts from Engl" that there is an intention to make 
 provision for my more certain and adequate support as Secre- 
 tary. I know not whether it will be expected from me to 
 make application for the King's Warrant for that purpose : 
 if there should be occasion for this, I should be obliged to you 
 if you would advise with my good friend M.' Thompson about 
 it. Whatever has been the practice hitherto, yet, as the Sec^ 
 is the K.'s servant, and he has expressly reserved to himself, 
 in the Charter, the appointm* of that ofiScer, I can see no 
 impropriety in his looking up to the King for a support : for 
 if his support were to depend entirely on the people, it would 
 be, in effect, giving them a negative on the King's appoint- 
 ment. — I am, &c." 
 
 In a letter to Eobert Thompson, Esq., of April 20, 1768, he 
 writes : — 
 
 "I flatter myself that I shall not be wholly neglected in the 
 provision intended to be made for the officers of the Crown, and 
 especially for those who have suffered in its service. It is as 
 much the cause of Government, as it is any particular interest 
 of mine, that has occasioned me to repeat the mention of the 
 affair to you ; and I can cheerfully submit it to the decision of 
 Government." 
 
 To John Spooner, Oct. 28, 1768 :— 
 
 " I thank you for your attention to my interest. If we are 
 like to have no Assembly till May, where are the serv*" of 
 Government to look for their pay ? We are in such case like 
 to be the greatest sufferers, unless taken care of at home : a 
 circumstance like this would be a natural introduction of the 
 measures which have been so long talked of, — of distinguishing 
 the sufferers in the cause of Government by its favour ; and 
 may very well be urged for this purpose. If you think proper 
 to mention it to my friends, it may have good effect. If 
 nothing sho* be done on this occasion, T should have little room 
 to hope hereafter." 
 
 No wonder Mr. Oliver had anxieties staring him in the face.; 
 for, what with the policy of the members of the Assembly in 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTGUINSON. 135 
 
 America, and any dilatoriness in the Home Government, the 
 servants of the Crown were likely to fall between two stools, 
 and get no salaries at all. November 8, 1768, he says :— "If 
 the recommendation of the House of Commons to the King, of 
 the case of those who have suffered in the cause of Governm', 
 is to have any effect, there is no time can appear so proper for 
 it as the present ; as without the interposition of the King, the 
 servants of the Government, at least some of them, are like to 
 be greater sufferers by the dissolution of the General Court, 
 than the Sons of Liberty themselves. The grants are annually 
 made in the Winter Session : their case, therefore, will be 
 very hard, if they are not only obliged to go without their own 
 pay, but to pay those employed under them, out of their own 
 stocks. My Deputy has already hinted to me how much he 
 shall be distressed to go without his pay. If it had affected me 
 only, I should not have said so much ; but it appears to me 
 that the authority of Government is equally affected " — and 
 more to the same effect. 
 
 A consideration of the above remarks will reveal the nature 
 of the perplexing position in which the Secretary was placed. 
 In the autumn of 1770 it was intimated to him that he would 
 be advanced to the Lieutenant-Governorship. Ou tliis point 
 we are informed, in a letter written by him to B. Thompson, 
 Esq., and dated " Boston, 29 Sept^ 1770," in which he says :— 
 " I thank you for the concern you express for my interest. 
 My Ii" Hillsborough has been pleased to acquaint me of my 
 appointment to be L*-Gov' of this Province ; but I do not 
 expect the matter will be settled till his Lordship's return from 
 Ireland, and it is not impossible that some events w"" are taken 
 place here since, may occasion an alteration in the avrangem' 
 of office in this prov., which had been proposed in the spring." 
 And to William BoUan, on the 3rd of November : — " I find 
 from the last ships from London that the Lieut. Governor's 
 appointment and mine to other departments in Government are 
 at length settled." And to the Hon. Jon. Belcher, Esq., from 
 Boston, 14th Jan., 1771, thus : — " You will probably have seen 
 before this an account of the appointments for this Government 
 from the London Gazette. This does not mention the salaries 
 
136 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 of the Gov*^ and L'-Gov' ; but our newspapers have it that the 
 
 one is £1500 and the other £300 p. an., which I believe you 
 
 may give credit to." 
 
 The Commissions for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and 
 
 Secretary,* arrived in America in the beginning of March, 1771, 
 
 and not long after, Mr. Oliver wrote the following to John 
 
 Pownall, Esq. : — 
 
 " Boston, 5 Apr', 1771. 
 
 " S% — I had the honour of your letter dated in Nov' last, 
 
 conveying to me your kind congratulations upon the late mark 
 
 of his Majesty's favour conferred on me. I cannot doubt of 
 
 having had your good offices on this occasion, and pray you to 
 
 accept of my best thanks for every instance of your regard. 
 
 My L" Hillsborough acquainted me of this appointm' on y' 
 
 14 Apr* last, and that His Majesty had been pleased to annex 
 
 to it an allowance of £200 p. an. ; and since that. Castle Will", 
 
 which was a usual appendage to the place of L' Gov', has been 
 
 put into other hands, S"' Francis Bernard advises me that £100 
 
 a year has been added to this appointment. I depend on S' 
 
 Francis to take out the warrant for the pay. I should esteem 
 
 your favour in forwarding this business, if it fell in any 
 
 measure within your department, or you can with propriety 
 
 meddle in it. You will oblige me likewise by your care of the 
 
 enclosed letters to my Lord and S' Francis." 
 
 The care of the Home Government in paying its servants in 
 America was next directed to the judges. Lieutenant-Governor 
 Oliver, in a letter to Sir Francis Bernard, bearing date August 
 31, 1772, alludes to it in these words : — " If the report be true, 
 which has begun to circulate since the arrival of the last ships 
 from London, that the Judges of the Superior Court are to 
 receive their salaries out of Eevenue Duties, the newspapers 
 will presently sound a fresh alarm. I have heard that one of 
 the demagogues has said that this will bring matters to a 
 cricis, and that they shall now effect their purpose." This 
 difScult question was not immediately settled, nor, indeed, 
 arranged so as to be in working order without some modifications 
 
 * Hutch. ' Hist, of Mass.,' iii. 333. Mr. Flucker was the new secretary, 
 vice Andrew Oliver promoted. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 137 
 
 of plan ; but in due time the principle of it \isis established. 
 There is no difficulty in perceiving the motives that the American 
 leaders had in objecting to the arrangement, by which the law 
 officers should be paid by the King instead of themselves. He 
 who holds the purse-strings holds the chief command. As long 
 as the Assembly paid the Chief Justice and the Judges, they 
 would have them under their thumbs. In his Letter Book 
 there is a letter of Governor Hutchinson to the Earl of Dart- 
 mouth, of Feb. 14, 1774, in which is very apparent the courage, 
 firmness, and loyalty of Peter Oliver, Chief Justice, and younger 
 brother of the Lieut.-Governor, at a time when he was placed 
 in very trying circumstances. An extract will explain the 
 perplexities of the situation. 
 
 " The House of Eepresentatives have, in a very extraordinary 
 manner, demanded an explicit answer from the Judges of the 
 Superior Court, whether they would take such salaries as should 
 be granted by the General Assembly, without receiving any 
 salary from the King for the same services ? concluding with a 
 menace if they did not comply. The Chief Justice gave his 
 answer, that he not only had taken his salary from the King 
 for the last year and an half, but thought it his duty to do the 
 like for the time to come, and set forth at large his reasons for 
 so doing.* The other four have promised that so long as grants 
 shall be made to them by the Assembly, they shall receive 
 them without taking the salaries for the same time from the 
 Crown. One of them, who has been subject to nervous disorders 
 for several years, acquainted the Speaker before the House met 
 that he would comply. This laid the others under a great dis- 
 advantage, and they were afraid to make themselves the objects 
 of popular resentment. The answers of the four Judges were 
 voted satisfactory. That of the Chief Justice was committed ; 
 and upon a Eeport, which was accepted, the House directed the » 
 Secretary of the Province to deliver to me [the Gov.J a paper 
 addressed to the Governor and Council, in which they remon- 
 strate Against the Chief Justice, and demand or pray that he be 
 
 * Sir Francis Bernard, in his ' Select Letters on Trade,' speaks of a com- 
 munication from Lieut.-Grovemor Oliver, of May 11, 1768, in which he 
 writes — " It has been given out that no person who receives a stipend from 
 the government at home, shall live in the country." 
 
138 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 removed from his place. I will enclose the copy of it. What 
 proceedings His Majesty may think proper to be had in England 
 I must submit. It will be to no purpose to take any further 
 exception to it here, than to decline a compliance with it : and 
 this will be improved to inflame tho minds of the people against 
 the Governor ; for if I lay it before the Council, and they shall 
 advise to a removal, and I refuse to consent, they will call it a 
 grievance ; and if I do not lay it before the Council, they will 
 pretend I have deprived the Council of a constitutional right 
 of judging in all cases of complaint against the ofBcers of the 
 Government. 
 
 " As this proceeding against the Judges is a most explicit 
 declaration against the just authority, as I conceive, of the 
 King as well as the Parliament, I thought it my duty to 
 acquaint your Lordship with it by the first opportunity, and not 
 to delay it to accompany the other business of the Session after 
 it is ended." 
 
 In less than a month after, and on the day after the funeral 
 of the Lieut.-Governor, Mr. Hutchinson addressed some further 
 remarks on the same subject to the same Minister. 
 
 " N" 42. Boston, March 9, 1774. 
 "My Lord,— 
 
 " Since the date of No. 41, the chief business of the 
 House and of the Council has been to bring about by some 
 means or other the removal of the Chief Justice ; and for this 
 purpose they have turned and tortured the Charter to such a 
 <legree as to frame a Constitution quite different from what was 
 ever intended. The Articles of Impeachment will leave a 
 lasting stain upon the character of the Government. Finding 
 that every attempt to compel me to a compliance with, or con- 
 nivance at their unwarrantable measures was ineffectual, and 
 having some intimations that the indecency with which both 
 the King and the Parliament had been treated by them, would 
 oblige me to put an end to their sitting, the Council and the 
 House each prepared a long Message, both of them rude and 
 abusive to me ; the former explaining the Constitution of the 
 Governor and Council in so strange a manner, and by such 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 139 
 
 futile arguments and inconclusive reasoning, that they have 
 greatly dishonoured themselves with all the judicious and 
 candid part of the world, under whose observation they may 
 fall, and the latter coming but little short of it. There will not 
 be time to copy them before the post goes out. I will have the 
 whole proceedings respecting the Chief Justice copied, and send 
 them by the next opportunity, under the Province seal. After 
 persisting in a measure so affrontive to His Majesty, I could not 
 have justified the omission of a proper resentment, which I 
 expressed in a short Message, and this morning ordered a pro- 
 rogation, great part of their business being unfinished. Sunday, 
 the 6th instant, a vessel arrived from London, having on board 
 about 30 chests of tea, on account of several traders in tea. 
 The next day the vessel was haled to the wharffe, where the 
 vessels lay which had the East India Company's tea, and in the 
 evening a sufficient number of persons, disguised like Indians, 
 went on board and destroyed the tea in a short time ; * and the 
 next morning the vessel was haled to the Long Wharffe, where 
 vessels from London generally iinload, to take out the rest of 
 her goods. The owners of the tea are very silent ; and I think 
 if they could find out who were the immediate actors, they 
 would not venture at present to bring any action in the law 
 against them. If they had attempted to land it, it's probable 
 they would have shared in the fate of the Consignees of the 
 Company's teas, neither of which have been able to return to 
 the town since they were first banished. — ^I am, with the greatest 
 respect, my Lord, &c." 
 
 Paragraph from a letter directed to Mr. Mauduit, and dated 
 Boston, March 31, 1774 :— 
 
 " If we have not passed the Eubicon this winter, we never 
 shall. I will not trouble you with newspapers, because you 
 are sure of seeing them all in the Coffee House, and in them 
 aU the proceedings relative to the Chief Justice, which are 
 outrf'eyen for a House of Kepresentatives. The two last 
 
 ♦ This-^^t must not be confounded with the former, already alluded to, 
 that occurred December 16, 1773 (H. Hist., iii. 435), when 342 chests of tea 
 were thrown into Boston Harbour, while this took place March 7, 1774, when 
 only 30 were destroyed. 
 
140 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 Messages of the Council and House set up an intirely new 
 Constitution, so far as respects the Governor and Council. 
 Their reasoning is founded upon the grossest falsities and 
 misrepresentations, and they have dishonoured themselves and 
 the Province, more than any set of men who have gone before 
 them, though some of their predecessors had gone such lengths 
 that it was supposed none could go beyond them. 
 
 "We are expecting something important from England, 
 having yet had no intelligence how the news of the destruction 
 of the tea was received there." 
 
 The subject of the treatment of the Chief Justice need not 
 be further dwelt upon, than just to give the following letter, 
 addressed to Mr. Montagu, and some other original manuscript 
 matter that has remained for more than a century buried with 
 bundles of old letters. 
 
 « Boston, SO" April, 1774. 
 " Dear Sir, — 
 
 " I was preparing for my passage to England, and 
 should have embarked six weeks since, if the sudden decline 
 and, soon after, as sudden death, of the L* Governor had 
 not prevented. You will readily conceive, after seeing the 
 results of Council, published in the Newspapers, that I could 
 not leave the government in their hands. This must be 
 my apology for my silence part of the time, and since that 
 I have been deeply engaged, and not without anxiety, in 
 publick business. The controversy with the Assembly upon 
 the subject of the Chief Justice, and the salaries granted by 
 the Crown, they have taken care to publish to the world, and 
 it could not escape your observation. I was afraid it would 
 require more skill than I was master of to resist the apparent 
 determination of House and Council to carry the points of 
 removing the Chief Justice, and at the same time to keep the 
 people from tumults and acts of violence. The Patriots are 
 mortified, and all who are well affected to government are 
 pleased with the manner of my treating the controversy. 
 
 " I am exceedingly obliged to you for interesting yourself 
 so much in my behalf in the affair of the Letters, and for the 
 advices I have received from you of the progress of that 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 141 
 
 affair.* I have a most grateful sense of the honour done me 
 by the order of the King in CounciLf It certainly has struck 
 a damp upon the spirits of the party here, though they affect 
 to brave it out, and the Chief says they shall yet wear the 
 Laurel. What effect the first news of measures in England 
 will have, I am not able to say. I have always so many 
 present evils, that it would soon wear me out if I shou'd 
 anticipate those that are future, any further than is necessary 
 for such precaution as is in my power, in case they should 
 happen. I therefore strive to avoid all anxiety concerning 
 them. The Admiral thinks he shall be at home in June. I 
 must enlarge by that opportunity. I may not omit thanking 
 you for your kind mention of my son.t I am longing to hear 
 that he has obtained some employment, which may give him 
 a moderate support, and prevent a habit of pleasure and 
 dissipation, or of inactivity and indolence. I am, &c." 
 
 In " The Origin and Progress of the American Eebellion to 
 the Year 1776. In a Letter to a Friend," and still remaining 
 in manuscript, there is a connected narrative of the circum- 
 stances which led to the separation of the Chief Justice from 
 the Bench in America. The stray notices bearing on this 
 subject which have already been laid before the reader, are 
 quite fragmentary, having been gleaned here and there out of 
 letters ; and this fact will perhaps excuse a slight prolongation 
 of it in a thread more regularly woven. The so-called Letter 
 
 begins thus : — 
 
 " London, March 1, 1781. 
 
 " Sir, — The Eevolt of North America from their allegiance 
 
 to, and connection with, the Parent State, seems to be aa 
 
 striking a phenomenon in the political world as hath appeared 
 
 * Probably for Mr. Montague's endeavours in England to try and find out 
 how they got into the hands of Dr. Franklin. 
 
 t There is no explanation as to what that order was. 
 
 X This was BUly or William, his youngest son, whom the Governor was 
 anxious to establish in some way in England. BUly left America for 
 England in 1772, as shown by the diary of his sister's husband, Dr. Peter 
 Oliver, son of the Chief Justice — " Nothing material happened till May 1772, 
 when M" Oliver's younger brother William sailed for England." He con- 
 tinued in England during the remainder of his life; was there when his 
 father arrived, but died of a pulmonary complaint in v. p. February 20, 1780, 
 aged 27, and buried at Croydon, February 24. See Governor's Diary. 
 
142 BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 for many ages past," and so on. Tlie volume is large quarto, 
 llj X 9^ in., and written on both sides of the leaf. The 
 account begins at p. 128 : — 
 
 " An afifair which happened at the close of the year 1773, 
 but was not brought into effect untill this year 1774, mortified, 
 chagrined, enraged, and drove into right down madness, Adams 
 and all his factious Hydra ; — it was a grant from His Majesty 
 of a salary to the Judges of the Supreme Court. Such a grant 
 was in contemplation some years before, when M' Charles 
 Townshend was Prime Minister: but his death delayed it 
 , untill this time. The true reason of the grant was this : — The 
 V Judges of the Court had the shortest allowance from the 
 Generall Assembly of any publick officers : even their Door- 
 keeper had a larger stipend. The Judges* travel on their 
 circuits was generally about 1100 miles in a year; and some- 
 times it had been 1500 miles. Their circuit business engrossed 
 seven months in the year ; and the extremes of heat and cold 
 in that climate were submitted to. For all this service, the 
 highest grant made to them was £120 sterling p year, and it 
 had been much less ; the Chief Justice had £30 sterling more. 
 This grant was annually made, tho' sometimes postponed ; and 
 it depended upon the humours of the prevailing partys. A 
 late worthy Chief Justice lived almost in penury, and at last 
 died insolvent ; and one year there was an attempt, in the 
 Assembly, to deprive him of his extra £30, because he had 
 given an opinion in law, upon the Bench, contrary to the mind 
 of a partizan in the Lower House of Assembly : but the affair 
 was dropped, lest it should fix a stigma upon the House of 
 gross partiality. The Assembly endeavoured to keep the 
 Judges in absolute dependance upon their humor ; and because 
 they found them rather too firm to coincide with their views 
 in the subversion of government, they made them the objects 
 of their resentment : and in order to express it they made two 
 new Counties, of 100 miles more travel, and shortned [sic] their 
 allowance £37 10 sterling in the whole : in short, they seemed 
 disinclined to do justice theirselves [sic], or to suffer others 
 to do it. 
 
 "Several of the Judges had repeatedly represented their 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 143 
 
 cases to the Generall Assembly, praying a further allowance, 
 and in case it should be denied to them, because they might 
 be disagreeable to the Assembly, or to the body of the people, 
 they were ready to resign their ofSces, to make room for others 
 who were in greater esteem : but they were honoured with no 
 other answer, but having their Memorials ordered to be laid 
 on their Table. 
 
 "His Majesty taking the case of the Judges into his royal 
 consideration, from his known justice and benevolence, ordered 
 them salaries to be paid out of his revenues in America ; such 
 salaries as would keep them above want, and below envy. 
 This was striking at the root of that slavery which the Judges 
 had always been held under: and to give up such an arbitrary, 
 cruel, and unjust Empire, did not comport with the pride of 
 the present ruling powers, who now used every art of suasion 
 and cajoling by their emisaries, and of threatening from their- 
 selves, in order to rivet the chains which they had only locked 
 before. In order to effectuate their purpose, they made a 
 grant to four of the Judges, equal to His Majesty's grant ; but 
 they made it for one year only. They knew that if this was 
 accepted of. His Majesty's grant would be forfeited of course, 
 and that the next year they could return to their wonted 
 expedient of attempting to bring them into a compliance with 
 their own measures. To the Chief Justice the Assembly 
 granted an extra sum, though very disproportionate to the 
 distinction His Majesty had made between him and the Puisne 
 Judges : but bad their grant to him been more than adequate 
 to the King's grant, he had too intimate a knowledge of their 
 past conduct, to put any confidence in the justice, honor, or 
 generosity of a Massachusetts Assembly. The faction who 
 were the prevailing part of y" Assembly, were anxious to know 
 the minds of the Judges, and appointed a Committee to ask 
 their determination : but as the Judges had no official informar 
 tion of His Majesty's grant, they declined giving any answer. 
 This was towards the close of the year 1773, when the term of 
 the Supreme Court was just finishing in Boston, where the 
 General Court was then assembled. The Assembly were 
 highly incensed at not receiving a categorical answer from 
 
144 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EU2CEINS0N. 
 
 the Judges : they were just determining upon the commitment 
 of the whole Bench to prison : but some of their out-of-door 
 friends, who had not breathed the pestilential atmosphere of 
 the Assembly Boom, dissuaded the within-door leaders of the 
 faction from such an illegal step, since, if it was taken, they 
 could have no remedy in law in their litigious suits, which 
 were too common in this Province. Thus the matter subsided 
 for the present : the Supreme Court finished the term, and the 
 Judges returned to their respective homes; and had the 
 Assembly finished their Sessions, and returned to their long 
 homes, it is probable that Eebellion herself would have re- 
 turned to her long home with them. 
 
 "The Judges, upon hearing some time before of His 
 Majesty's gracious intention of such a grant, had agreed to 
 accept of it; but when the Dog Star raged with such a 
 scorching heat, four of them, who lived at and near the focus 
 of tarring and feathering the town of Boston, flinched in the 
 day of battle : they were so pelted with soothings one day, and 
 with curses and threatenings the next, that they prudentially 
 gave the point up. One of the Judges, upon his return home, 
 sickened and died : the brutal faction of the Assembly sent 
 their Messenger to him, with orders to deliver the demand of 
 an answer to him personally, and receive his answer: the 
 Judge was within a few hours of his exit when the Messenger 
 arrived : he urged admission to his dying bed : it was granted, 
 and he entered and layd his orders, in writing, upon the dying 
 man's breast, who just declared his non-acceptance of the 
 King's grant, and soon after expired. 
 
 " The Chief Justice was now left alone in the combat : his 
 case was peculiar : his brethren had but lately been seated on 
 the Bench : he had been 17 years in the service, and had sunk 
 more than £2000 sterling in it : he had conversed with many 
 of the Members upon the singularity of his case, and had 
 offered not to accept of the grant (if His Majesty would permit 
 him so to do), provided the Assembly would reimburse him 
 one half of his loss in their service : and further, that he would 
 resign his seat on the Bench. Upon this representation of his 
 case, they advised him to take the King's grant. This they 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 145 
 
 did out of doors ; but there was so great virtue in the boards 
 and plaistering of the Assembly Room, that upon setting their 
 feet over its threshold, they at once changed opinions. 
 
 " The Chief Justice, very luckily, lived about 30 miles from 
 Boston, or perhaps he would have followed the suit of his 
 brethren, in giving up the King's grant, conformable to that 
 only truth which the Devil ever uttered — Skin for skin, and 
 all that a man hath, will he give for his life ; but he considered 
 that mobs, when they set out on their expeditions, generally 
 get a spur in their heads ; and as he lived at 30 miles distance 
 fiom their head quarters, in all probability they would want 
 a spur in their heels before they could reach him. He was 
 not disappointed in his conjecture, for he remained quiet in 
 his recess, untill the Assembly met again 2 or 3 months after, 
 and then the whole pack opened. A message was sent to him 
 by the Lower House, signed * Samuel Adams, Clerk,' requiring 
 him to make explicit answer, whether he would accept of the 
 King's grant, or of their grant ? He replied, that he should 
 accept the King's grant. Nothing less than destruction now 
 awaited him. The Term of the Supreme Court was now 
 approaching ; the thunder cloud gathered black enougli to 
 crock charcoal ; instead of red, Ihe liglitening flashed its white 
 streak. There was a gallery at a corner of the Assembly 
 Boom, where Otis, Adams, Hawley, and the rest of the Cabal 
 used to crowd their Mohawks and Hawcubites,* to echo the 
 oppositional vociferations to the rabble, without doors. Adams 
 now addressed his gallery men, to attack the Chief Justice 
 when he came to Court, and they perfectly un'lerstood his 
 meaning ; even one of the Assembly men, a Col. Gardiner, 
 who was afterwards killed at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, 
 declared in the General Assembly, that he himself would drag 
 tlie Chief Justice from the Bench, if he should sit upon it. 
 The Chief Justice's friends wrote to him, that if he should go 
 to Court, his life would be in danger ; but he, not being con- 
 scious of such danger, attempted to go ; but a most severe 
 snowstorm happening the night before his intended journey, 
 his attempt y° next day, after a mile or two of strugglie through 
 * This word is of doubtful reading. 
 
146 BIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. 
 
 snow drifts, was prevented by the impassableness of the roads. 
 The next day one of M' Adams's right-hand men arrived with 
 a message from the General Assembly, signed again by M' 
 Adams, as Clerk, prohibiting the Chief Justice his coming to 
 Court. He obeyed. The Messenger was a person who had 
 been obliged, by him to whom he delivered the message, and 
 apologised for liis being the bearer of it. On conversing vith 
 him, he wept at the situation of this affair, and frankly acknow- 
 ledged, that if the Chi^ f .Justice had gone to Court, he believed 
 that he might have walked the streets in the day, but that he 
 would not be safe in the night. It being dinner time, the 
 Messenger was asked to dine and refresh himself afier his 
 fatigue ; but he refused, and assigned for a reason, that if they 
 knew in Boston (and thoy would ask him) that he ate in that 
 house, it would give great offence. Thus, these Christian 
 Liberty Men resembled the inhabitants of Judsea, in that 
 malicious principle, of not eating with a Samaritan, as well as 
 in a worse, that of thinking they did God good service in 
 persecuting and destroying all those who dared to be of dif- 
 ferent opinions from them ; — like to what Ben Johnson said of 
 King James the First — Their souls seemed to have been born 
 in an ally.* 
 
 " The Assembly, finding that the Chief Justice did not go to 
 Boston to have his brains beat out by their rabble, they attacked 
 him in a new quarter, where he happened to bo invulnerable. 
 They ordered the Records of the Supreme Court to be laid 
 before them, hoping to find some malfeazance in his office ; but 
 they were disappointed — and every disappointment put them 
 upon scratching their heads jbr new matter. At last, finding 
 that they were pushed to extremity, they sprung a mine which 
 involved theirselves in the intended ruin of him ; they drew up 
 an Impeachment of him, as inimical to his country in taking 
 the King's grant ; but at the same time they did him the 
 honour of joining His Majesty with him in the Impeachment, 
 as offering a bribe to him, which he received. This was such 
 an insult to Majesty, that the Governor could not let it pass 
 unnoticed, and accordingly closed the matter against them. 
 
 * Ally, so spelt. 
 
DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 147 
 
 Thus ended all their legislative attempts to ruin the Chief 
 Justice ; the private attempts of assassination they reserved 
 for future opportunities ; and several plans were formed for his 
 destruction, which, by as many unaccountable circumstances, he 
 escaped from the execution of. It was a little odd that they 
 should pursue him with such unremitting vengeance, when it 
 is considered that they had but just finished their laugh at his 
 brethren, for being such cowards as to quit their hold of the 
 King's grant to them. 
 
 " In the month of March 1774, the Chief Justice his brother, 
 who was Lieut. Gov' of the Province, died. He had been 
 Secretary to the Province many years, to universal acceptance ; 
 but he had been unhappily appointed, without any application 
 of his, to be one of the Stamp Officers, althongh he had wrote 
 to his Correspondents in England against the principle of tlie 
 Act, before its being passed. He had been harrassed upon this 
 affair in the year 1765, his house plundered, and himself drove 
 to their Tree of Liberty, and forced to a resignation ; he had 
 also wrote to a friend in England, his private sentiments on 
 the Constitution of the Colonies ; those letters were also stole 
 at the same time when Gov' Hutchinson's letters were pilfered ; 
 the vengeance of the faction was carried to, and beyond the 
 grave ; upon his interment a large mob attended, and huzzaed 
 at the intombing the body ; and at night there was an exhibi- 
 tion at a publick window of a coffin, and several insignia of 
 infamy ; and at this exhibition some members of the General 
 Court attended. Could Infernals do worse ? 
 
 " The Chief Justice his risque of his life was too great for 
 him to pay his final visit to the death-bed of an only brother, 
 and his friends advised him not pay his fraternal respect to his 
 brother's obsequies; the advice was just, for it afterwards 
 appeared that, had he so done, it was not probable that he 
 ever would have returned to his own home. Never did can- 
 nibals thirst stronger for human blood, than the adherents to 
 this faction ; humanity seemed to be abhorrent to their nature ; 
 and the whole tenor of their conduct to this time will justify 
 the observation."* 
 
 * The writer of the above was the Chief Justice himself. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 And now all tlie three points alluded to above have been 
 disposed of, namely, the Governor's preparations for paying 
 his proposed temporary visit to England ; secondly, the death 
 of the Lieut.-Govemor, which, put a stop to his movements ; 
 and thirdly, tl)e impeachment of the Chief Justice, the par- 
 ticulars of which, in tlie present day, we are almost ashamed 
 either to write or to read. 
 
 The Governor was relieved of many uncertainties and many 
 anxieties by the somewhat unexpected arrival of General Gage in 
 Boston, on the 13th of May, 1774. There was a rumour in Eng- 
 land that the Governor had taken his passage, and that the 
 Lieutenant-Governor was dying ;* and when this reached the 
 King and his Ministers, a sense of alarm was felt lest the Province 
 should be left without any Governor at all. Without waiting for 
 official, or for any information on these important points from 
 America, as intelligence travelled very slowly in those days, and 
 delays might be dangerous, no time was lost in despatching a 
 General Officer, who was to combine in himself both the civil and 
 the military powers ; and so little was a prolonged struggle ap- 
 prehended, that the military administration was looked upon as 
 likely to be only of a transient nature, and that as soon as 
 General Gage had allayed the popular tumults. Governor 
 Hutchinson would resume all the functions of his office. His 
 appointment in the London Gazette was in October, 1770 : — 
 
 "Whitehall, 26 Oct' 1770. 
 " The King has been pleased to appoint Tho° Hutchinson, 
 Esq., to be Capl" General and Governor-in-Chief of His Majesty's 
 Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England." 
 
 And the announcement of General Gage's appointment was 
 the following : — 
 
 "Whitehall, April 2, 1774. 
 
 " Tho' Hutchinson, Esq., Governor of the Province of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay in North America, having humbly requested His 
 Majesty's leave to come to England, the King has been 
 
 * This is hriefly alluded to in the Governor's printed History, vol. iii. 
 p. 458. 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 149 
 
 graciously pleased to comply therewith, and to appoint Tho' 
 Gage, Esq., Lieut. General of His Majesty's forces, to be Capt" 
 General and Governor in Clief of the said Province, and Vice- 
 Admiral of the same, during His Majesty's pleasure." 
 
 The following may be extracted from the Morning Chronicle 
 of Wednesday, April 6, 1774, as it alludes to the events of this 
 period : — 
 
 " It is certain that Governor Hutchinson was not recalled by. 
 Government without first soliciting that favour, (for so he 
 terms it,) very earnestly several times before Christmas. The 
 services of M' Hutchinson are said to be held in so capital a 
 light, that a Patent of English Peerage is talked of for him." 
 
 On the 8th of April he was alluded to again : — 
 
 "Governor Hutchinson, as soon as he arrives here, report 
 says, will be knighted, and also promoted to a considerable 
 post in administration." 
 
 In the letter following, Colonel George Watson, of Plymouth, 
 in Massachusetts, bids a farewell to the Governor, to his second 
 son Elisha, and to Peggy, who had now completed their 
 arrangements for the voyage. Elisha was the husband of 
 Mary, or Polly, one of Col. Watson's daughters; but as the 
 trip to England was looked upon as only temporary, she re- 
 mained at Plymouth, under her father's roof. It turned out, 
 however, that the troubles of the times kept her for three years 
 separated from her husband, and at last it was only with diflB- 
 culty that she got a passage, and rejoined him in London.* 
 This PoUy was the mother of the Eev. John Hutchinson, Canon 
 of Lichfield, and editor of the third volume of the ' History of 
 Massachusetts Bay,' published in London in 1828. Her sister 
 was married to Mr. Copley, the painter, and was the mother of 
 Lord Lyndhurst, and another sister to Sir Grenville Temple, 
 Baronet. Col. Watson writes thus to his son-in-law : — 
 
 * There is a series of letters that passed between them, which have been 
 put together and bound in a volume by themselves, blue leather back. They 
 are almost entirely of a domestic nature, though some of them are worth 
 copying. 
 
 / 
 
150 BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 
 
 " Plymouth, May 23, 1774. 
 " Dear S^ 
 
 " I received your favor of y* 16 Instant, by which I 
 understand that you intend for England w"* the G-overnor, to 
 whom please to give my respects. I sincerely wish him and 
 you an agreeable voyage, and hope that the Governor will find 
 everything to his satisfaction. 
 
 "My love to Polly. You and she may be assured that I 
 shall be willing to do everything in my power to make her as 
 easy and happy, in your absence, as possible. — I am w* great 
 regard yours very aflfectionately, 
 
 "Geo. Watson. 
 
 " I am in some hopes of seeing you before you sail. Sally 
 sends her love." 
 
 At the last moment Elisha sent a few lines to his wife : — 
 
 " Wednesday, 1" June, 1774. 
 " Minerva, The Narrows, 11 o Clock. 
 " My D. ar Polly, 
 
 " 1 have just come down from viewing the house. We 
 came to sail ^ past ten, and find everything equal to our 
 expectations. You see I take the first opportunity of writing, 
 and hope you will follow ray example. All well as yet. I 
 don't intend to be sick the whole passage, nor any part of it. 
 Transports just passing us ; one answers 26 days out. All upon 
 deck but your husband, and he is below taking a repast, he 
 fears he shan't have again these 20 days ; and yet the Captain 
 says, with this wind we shall be home in 18 days. — Y" sin- 
 cerely, 
 
 "E. H. 
 " The Gent" are going " 
 
 And Thomas Hutchinson, who remained behind, sent the 
 following letter after his brother Elislia : — 
 
 " MUton, June, 1774. 
 " Dear Brother, 
 
 "I write this, uncertain who it will go by. I am not 
 
 without hopes of hearing you had a quick and easy passage to 
 
 England, as the wind ashore was favourable til \sic\ the day 
 
DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 151 
 
 week you sailed, when a strong Nortli-easter set in, but hope it 
 might not reach you. It is hardly time yet to form a judgment 
 how the new Acts of Parliament will operate; but I hear 
 nothing of giving way, nor is there any proposul from any 
 quarter of making compensation to the East India Company. 
 Everybody seems apprehensive of the great calamity tliat is to 
 come upon the town of Boston ; but nobody appears to propose 
 measures to extricate it. When anything new occurs, I will 
 acquaint you with it. You went away without leaving me an 
 Ace' of the tenants, and what was due from them ; it may not 
 be amiss to send it to me by first opportunity, or acquaint me 
 how to come at it. Judge Oliver has got your horse, and I 
 believe will use him well ; and I intend to take care your chaise 
 does not suffer, either by use or rust. M"^ [or Mrs.] Collins 
 has applied to me for money. Pray write me very particularly 
 what you meet with. — I am your Affectionate Brother, 
 
 " Tho. Hutchinson, Jun^ 
 
 " P.S. I dare say you won't begrudge double postage for the 
 inclosed." 
 
 Dr. Peter Oliver has the following entry in his Diary : — 
 
 « June 1st 1774.— The Gov', Elisha, and Peggy, sailed for 
 England, just as the Mandamus Counsellors were ordered to 
 take their oaths by G. Gage, who succeeded the Gov"^ H. — 
 Nothing but mobs and riots all this summer. Wednesday the 
 14 of Sep' I was mobbed." 
 
( 152 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 A Nova Scotia American, speaking of tie departure of the 
 Governor from Milton, wrote to me in these words : " On the 
 1st June, 1774, when going to England, he walked from his 
 house along the road, bidding adieu to his neighbours, and 
 shaking hands with them. When near Dorchesler Neck he 
 got into his carriage, which h :d followed bim, and drove to 
 Dorchester Point, where a boat was waiting to take bim on 
 board the Minerva'' ' 
 
 Buth the Governor and Elisha commenced keeping regular 
 Diaries when they entered on their voyage, and Elisha's is the 
 more copious in seafaring particulars. The first fourteen pages 
 of his Diary are occupied by a regular Log in due tabular form, 
 containing the days, hours, knots run every two hours night 
 and day, course the ship was steering, the prevailing winds, 
 and a column for obseiTations. For the general reader it is 
 enough to extract only some stray portions, which may be of 
 sufBcient interest ; but of the Governor's Diary nothing shall 
 be left out, and it begins as follows : — 
 
 JOTJKNAL OF MY VoTAGB FROM BoSTON TO ENGLAND. 
 
 June Ist. — I sailed from Boston in the ship Minerva, Capt. 
 Callahan, Coiiiander : embarked from the Castle about 9 in 
 the morning: passed the Light-house about one: and took 
 departure from Cape Cod about 8. 
 
 9th. — To this day the winds have been small and variable. 
 
 13th. — From the 9th in the evening to the 12th in the 
 evening, the wind and sea have been high, so that it is com- 
 puted the ship ran 180 leagues; and those three days my 
 sea-sickness kept me almost the whole time in bed. This 
 morning spake with a brig from Ireland, bound to New York. 
 
 19th. — From the 13th light wind>', but unfavorable. 
 
t'^ 
 
 ~jf/^ ^^^ fi^J^(^ ^^"^ <::'/'y " 
 
 fnJl^J^^ 
 
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 i. vTr> ^,*rKt^s <^;*/i&^ *^>-^pfc •<^*^>'^'*''*^ 
 
 ^ i^lfia^ /i -"^3^ Aiit^** .w-^te^^-s 
 
 7^-^ Az^4^^«^ 
 
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 'at^r** 
 
 ^f/f^^1. . ^^^ '^ ^^^ ^* «:^* ^'^^^ 
 
 
June' 
 1114. 
 
 °] BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 153 
 
 20th & 21st.— Calm. lu ,the afternoon of the 2l8t, Mark, 
 my Negro servant, died. 
 
 22nd & 23rd. — A fine westerly wind. 
 
 26th. — Sounded, and had ground at 67 fath". 
 
 27th. — In the morning made Scilly, and before 9 were 
 abreast of it ; and a boat came off with greens, fish, &c. 
 
 28th. — In the morning a few leagues above the Start, spoke 
 a Brig from Newcastle, bound to New York. 
 
 29th. — About the time of day we passed the Light-house in 
 Boston, a boat came aboard off Dover, where we landed, 
 between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, and lodged 
 that night. 
 
 30th. — In three post chaises we set out for London between 
 6 & 7 o'clock : met my son Billy about 12 miles from West- 
 minster Bridge, and arrived at our lodgings in Parliament 
 street between 8 & 9 in the evening; and soon after sent 
 a card to Lord Dartmouth's house in St. James's Square, to 
 acquaint his Lordship with my arrival. 
 
 For the sake of compaiiBon, Elisha's narrative of the voyage 
 may be inserted here. In his Log at the beginning the hours 
 mentioned are not clear ; but perhaps he there adopts the nautical 
 day, which begins and ends at noon. 
 
 Feom his Loo. 
 
 "May 31. At 4 o'clock cast o£f from the Long Wharf: came 
 down to the Castle, and came to anchor. At 9 His Excell' Gov' 
 Hutchinson came on board. At 10 weighed anchor, and came to 
 sea : fresh breezes and fair weather. At maridian the Light-house 
 bore W by N, distance 3 or 4 miles." 
 
 Feom his Diaby. 
 
 "Wednesday, June Ist, 1774. At 8 o'clock am. set out from Milton 
 with my sister Peggy, and went to the Castle, where we met the 
 Governor, who proceeded with us on board the ship Minerva, 
 burthen 180 tons, James Callahan, Master, and about 11 o'clock 
 came to sail. M' James Horrop and Miss Polly Murray, who were 
 returning to their friends in England, being likewise passengers. 
 There were on board besides, a man and wife with a son and 
 
154 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [f,","" 
 
 daughter, by the name of Gardner, Pattrick Eyley,* Mark, a 
 Negro man, servants to the Governor, and [blank] seamen. 
 
 " The first week we had fair weather and light winds. The 9th 
 came np a fresh gale, which lasted three days, in which time the 
 ship ran near 180 leagues on our course. The remainder of our 
 passage we had in general wet and foggy weather, with light 
 breezes, except about 3 days near the close of our passage, when 
 we ran about 140 leagues. 
 
 " The Governor and Peggy were very sick : and although I was 
 not confined to my cabbin, yet, during the whole passage I was 
 not free from disagreeable qualmish feelings. 
 
 " The morning of the 11th, being near the Banks of Nfdland, we 
 met with a large Island of Ice, which appeared to be near three 
 times the bigness of the ship. 
 
 " June 13. Spoke with a brig from Ireland, bound to New York, 
 which had been out 25 days. 
 
 "21. Mark, who the Governor had taken with him for the 
 sake of recovering his health, died in great distress about six 
 o'clock in the evening, and the next morning was buried in the 
 sea. 
 
 " 23. Spoke with the ship M. of Rockingham from Granada 
 to London : had been out 30 days. 
 
 " 26. Sounded, and found ground at 67 fathoms. 
 
 " 27. The man at [the] helm discovered Scilly, and at 9 o'clock 
 A.M., being abreast of it, a fishing boat and half a dozen men came 
 and brought us bream, cabbage, lettice, &c. They belonged to 
 St. Agnes, and told us there are about 20 or 30 houses on that 
 island. 
 
 " 28. Being a few leagues above the Start, we spoke with a brig 
 from Newcastle bound to New York, and desired the Captain to 
 put the ship in the News-papers. 
 
 " We intended to have been landed at Portsmouth this evening, 
 but did not reach the Isle of Wight until midnight. 
 
 " 29. Landed at Dover between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon, 
 not without some difficulty, there being high wind and large seas. 
 
 " Visited the Castle and Fort ; the first having the 29th Eegi- 
 ment, the other a part of the Fourteenth ; both of which Eegi- 
 ments, having been quartered in Boston, the officers were known 
 to us. 
 
 * This man Patrick Byley continued in the service of the Governor as 
 long as the latter lived : and it was he who caught him in his arms when 
 the Grovernor swooned and fell as he was going to get into his carriage, and 
 soon after died. 
 
Jane' 
 
 n>4, 
 
 ;] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 155 
 
 " 30. Between 6 and 7 o'clock, set out from Dover : breakfasted 
 at Canterbury : visited th.e Cathedral : dined at Bocbester : and 
 about 6 o'clock met my brother Billy near Dartford, who conducted 
 us to Parliament Street, Westminster, where he had provided . 
 lodgings for us, and where we arrived between 8 & 9 o'clock in 
 the evening. 
 
 " The Governor immediately acquainted Lord Dartmouth of his 
 arrival, and received an answer, desiring to see him at his Lord- 
 Bhip's house the next day at noon." 
 
 Before we go further it will be well to give a couple of letters 
 here, written by Elisha to his wife — one of them on board ship, 
 and the other as soon as they got to London. They are addressed, 
 " To M" Mary Hutchinson, in Plymouth." 
 
 "Minerva, Monday morning, 8 o'clock, 27 June, 1774. 
 " My Dear Polly, 
 
 " As it is possible we may meet a vessel in the Channel bound 
 to some part of New England, I will write a short acco' of our 
 passage, that you may have the earliest notice of our arrival, 
 which I know will give you pleasure. The first week we had 
 light breezes and pleasant weather. Friday the lO"" the wind 
 increased, and blew a fresh gale till Sunday, which gave us some 
 idea of the grandeur of the ocean, in which time we gained above 
 500 miles on our way. The rest of the passage has been smooth 
 and easy, the weather for the most part foggy, wet, and uncom- 
 monly cold for the season, so that we have been glad to keep to all 
 our winter cloaths. Saturday ll"* the Captain called me on deck 
 about sunrise to see an island of ice, about 3 times as big as the 
 ship, which was slowly approaching us, and I think the weather 
 was as cold as we often have it in January. The Governor and 
 Peggy very sick the first week. I was so lightly afiected, that 
 they wiU not allow me to say I was sick, although I must acknow- 
 ledge I have not been whoUy free from sea qualms, nor altogether 
 so well as on shore. I rather think the sea was made for fishes 
 and not for men. Mark held well for a week or ten days, and 
 then took cold, and grew worse till the 21" when he died. The 
 Minerva has very good accommodation, and the Captain having 
 well provided for us, has, during the whole passage, exerted 
 himself to make everything on board agreeable to us. We have 
 a cow on board, and the multitude of live stock has often occasioned 
 our comparing Calahan's Minerva to Noah's Ark. Two or three 
 days ago a Dollar was nailed to the Binnacle, (your pa' will teU 
 
156 BIA^Y AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [J,",'?. 
 
 you what the Binnacle is,) for the man who Bhonld first discover 
 land. Tall Jack, as we call him, was the lucky fellow who, ahout 
 five o'clock this morning, discovered the rocks of ScUly, and we 
 are now just entering the British Channel. Your Affectionate 
 Husband, 
 
 "E. Hutchinson.'' 
 
 " London, July, 1774. 
 " My Dear PoUy, 
 
 " I left you just as we were entering the Channel. We had 
 a short passage up, and landed at Dover, 72 miles from London, 
 the same day of the week,* and about the same hour of the day,']' 
 that 4 weeks before, we had come on board. 
 
 " The 29"" and part of the 14"" Begiments being at Dover, we 
 met -with some of our old acquaintance. We intended to have 
 gone to Canterbury that night, but having the curiosity to visit 
 the ancient Castle of Dover, we so fatigued ourselves that we were 
 not able to proceed till the next morning, about 6 o'clock. We 
 met Billy about 15 miles from London, who conducted us 'to 
 Lodgings which he had provided for us in Parliament Street, 
 Westminster, where we arrived about 6 o'clock in the evening. 
 What cause, my dear Polly, for thankfulness ! Particular favours 
 require particular acknowledgments. I know you will joiu with 
 me. Can we be too much devoted to Him, who, if I may use the 
 expression, seems wholly devoted to us ? There is a most beautiful 
 description of a ship at sea in the 107 Psalm.:^ 
 
 " After being confined 4 weeks to a ship, any land would have 
 been agreeable, but the face of the country as we rode through the 
 county of Kent was really delightful; and I could not help 
 observing to Miss Murray, that I wanted only two more eyes to 
 partake with me, and I should be as happy as eyesight could make 
 me. Miss Murray is sensible, and very agreeable, and I don't 
 know what Peggy would have done without her. 
 
 " The next pleasure my dear, to seeing you, is that of hearing 
 from you, and I hope I shall not be long without a letter, which 
 I am impatiently waiting for. I am sure there is nothing in this 
 great city, that would give me equal pleasure. Leaving you so 
 iU, makes me very anxious.§ When you write do be very 
 
 * 'J he day they sailed from Boston Harbour, June 1, was a Wednesday. 
 
 t About 3 P.M., near which hour they passed Boston Lighthouse. 
 
 % Beginning verse 2" — "They that go down to the sea in ships," &c. — to 
 v. 30. 
 
 § Elisha's wife was expecting the birth of her second child. It was bom 
 September 20 — a girl. 
 
miT] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 157 
 
 particular. I hope you find everything agreeable to you, and 
 that you endeavour to make your mind easy, which is the way to 
 keep yourself in health. To know that you are pleased and 
 gratified in your wishes would give me great pleasure, and you 
 cannot he in trouble or pain without my feeling of it, for I am 
 sure that I never knew the time that I did not wish to relieve you 
 even if it was by taking [it] wholly to myself. 
 
 " It almost frightens me to think of the great distance that 
 there is between us, but it is not that, nor any length of time, can 
 lessen the love that I have for you : no, my Polly : time does but 
 increase my affection for you, and I think I love you better if 
 possible in London than I did in Boston. 
 
 " I intend this shall go by the Packet : but as there are two or 
 three other vessels near sailing, I will endeavour to find which is 
 like to sail first, and send a line by that. 
 
 " 1 will write to your pa' by one or other of the vessels, and will 
 let yon hear from me as often as I can. I wish you would neglect 
 no opportunity of writing, but do not sit too long at a time. The 
 Governor has been received as graciously as his best friends could 
 wish him to be. My love to Sally, &c. 
 
 "Elisha Hutchinson." 
 
 The King would naturally be anxious to have a personal con- 
 ference with one who had just left the seat and scene of an 
 important political struggle; and the Minister for the Colonies 
 lost no time in requesting the attendance of the Governor. The 
 Diary proceeds as follows : — 
 
 July 1st. — Eeceived a card from Lord Dartmouth desiring 
 to see me at his house before one o'clock. I went soon after 
 12, and after near an hour's conversation, his Lordship proposed 
 introducing me immediately to the King. I was not dressed 
 as expecting to go to Court, but his Lordship observing that 
 the King would not be at St. James's again until Wednesday,* 
 I thought it best to go ; but waited so long for bis Lordship to 
 dress, that the Levee was over ; but his Lordship going in to 
 the King, I was admitted, contrary, as L" Pomfret observed 
 to me, to custom, to kiss His Majesty's hand in his closet: 
 after which, as near as I can recollect, the following conver- 
 sation passed. 
 
 E. — ^How do you do M' H. after y' voyage ? 
 
 * This was on a Friday. 
 
158 niARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [J,",'f. 
 
 B. — Much reduced Sir by sea-sickness ; and unfit upon 
 that account, as well as my New England dress, to appear 
 before your Majesty. 
 
 Lord D. observed — M' H. apologised to me for his dress, 
 but I thought it very well, as he is just come ashoar [sic] ; to 
 which the K. assented. 
 
 K. — How did you leave your Government, and how did 
 the people receive the news of the late measures in Parlia- 
 ment? 
 
 H. — ^When I left Boston we had no news of any Act of Par- 
 liament, except the one for shutting up the port, which was 
 extremely alarming to the people.* 
 
 {Lord D. said, Mr. H. came from Boston the day that Act 
 was to take place, the first of June. I hear the people of 
 Virginia have refused to comply with the request to shut up 
 their ports, from the people of Boston, and M' H. seems to be 
 of opinion that no colony will comply with that request.) 
 
 K. — Do you believe, M' H., that the account from Virginia 
 is true ? 
 
 H. — I have no other reason to doubt it, except that the 
 authority for it seems to be only a newspaper ; and it is very 
 common for articles to be inserted in newspapers without any 
 foundation. I have no doubt that when the people of Bhode 
 Island received the like request, they gave this answer — that 
 if Boston would stop all the vessels they then had in port, 
 which they were hurrying away before the Act commenced, the 
 people of E. Island would then consider of the proposal. 
 
 The King smiled. 
 
 Lord B. — M' H., may it please y' Majesty, has shewn me 
 a newspaper with an address from a great number of Merchants, 
 another from the Episcopal Clergy, another from the Lawyers, 
 all expressing their sense of his conduct in the most favourable 
 
 * On the 1st of July, 1774, the very day on which this conference took 
 place, the King wrote thus to Lord North: — " I have seen M' Hutchinson, 
 late Governor of Massachusetts, and am now well convinced they wiU soon 
 submit. He owns the Boston Port Bill has been the only wise and effectual 
 method." — Lord Mahon's Hist., vi. App. 3rd edit. In this conference there 
 does not appear to be any such admission ; and it will be seen further on that 
 he never ceased in his endeavours to get the Port Bill repealed or mitigated. 
 
i^'?^] DIABT AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 159 
 
 terms.* Lord Dartmouth thereupon took the paper out of his 
 pocket and shewed it. 
 
 K. — 1 do not see how it could be otherwise. I am sure his 
 conduct has been universally approved of here by people of all 
 j)art:es. 
 
 H. — I am very happy in your Majesty's favorable opinion 
 of my administration. 
 
 K. — I am intirely satisfied with it. I am well acquainted 
 with the difficulties you have encountered, and with the abase 
 & injury offered you. Nothing could be more cruel than the 
 treatment you met with in betraying your private letters, f 
 
 The K., turning to Lord D. — ^My Lord, I remember nothingf, 
 in them to which the least exception could be taken. 
 
 Lord D. — That appears, Sir, from the report of the Com- 
 mittee of Council, and from your Majesty's orders thereon. 
 
 H. — The correspondence. Sir, was not of my seeking. It 
 was a meer [sic] matter of friendly amusement, chiefly a 
 narrative of occurences, in relating of which I avoided person- 
 alities as much as I could, and endeavoured to treat persons, 
 when they could not be avoided, with tenderness, as much as 
 if my letters were intended to be exposed; whereas I had 
 no reason to suppose they ever would be exposed. 
 
 K. — Could you ever find M' H. how those letters came to 
 New England ? 
 
 H. — Doctor F., may it please your Majesty, has made a 
 publick declaration that he sent them, and the Speaker has 
 acknowledged to me that he rec* them : I do not remember 
 that he said directly from Doctor F., but it was understood 
 between us that they came from him. I had heard before that 
 they came either direct from him, or that he had sent them 
 
 * Two of them, with the names of the subscribers, were printed in the 
 Boston Evening Post for May 30, 1774. 
 
 t The necessity for caution both in writing and in speaking had been fully 
 learnt by experience; and soon after this conference was over, namely, 
 July 11, in writing to a friend in America, whose name is not recorded, the 
 Governor says: — "What passed between the K. and me in the long con- 
 ference I had with him upon this and other subjects the day after I came to 
 town, would be entertaining to you, but I dare not trust it to writing [beyond 
 his private diary], lest by some accident or other it should find its way into 
 print. It is surprising that he [the King] should have so perfect a knowledge 
 of the state of his dominions." — Old marble paper Letter Book. 
 
160 DIAST AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. P,",'?. 
 
 through another channel, and that they were to be communi- 
 cated to six persons only, and then io be returned without 
 suffering any copies to be taken. I sent for the Speaker and 
 let him know what I had heard, which came from one of the 
 six to a friend, and so to me. Tlie Speaker said they were sent 
 to him, and that he was at first restrained from shewing them 
 to any more than six persons. 
 
 K. — ^Did he tell you who were the persons? 
 
 E. — Yes, sir. There was M' Bowdoin, M' Pitts, Doctor 
 Winthrop, D'^ Chauncy, D' Cooper, and himself. They are 
 not all the same which had been mentioned before. The two 
 Mr. Adamses had been named to me in the room of M' Pitts 
 and D' Winthrop. 
 
 K.—W B. I have heard of. 
 
 Lord B.—l think he is father-in-law to M' T. [Temple]. * 
 
 * Dr. Franklin's letter, announcing to the world that he transmitted the 
 letters to America, first appeared in the Craftsman, or Say's Weekly Journal, 
 for Saturday, January 1, 1774. It is on the first page of that paper, and has 
 been above quoted. 
 
 A strange circumstance, somewhat analogous to the mysterious possession 
 of the Governor's letters more than a century ago, was in some degree 
 repeated so recently as in 1878. Although the modem case was not identical 
 with the ancient one, it was sufficiently near it to recall the ancient one back 
 to memory, after it had nearly become forgotten. As the Governor's de- 
 scendants had always intended publishing the most interesting portions of 
 the diary, letters, and other papers which had come down to them, they had 
 scrupulously kept these literary materials close, and had guarded them with 
 a jealous eye. Judge their astonishment, therefore, when the following 
 piece of information was brought under their notice from America : — 
 
 " Mr. Frothingham read a very interesting and important paper, a copy 
 from Governor Hutchinson's own manuscript, being a conversation on the 
 cricis in America, between himself. King George 111., and Lord Dartmouth, 
 which took place immediately on Hutchinson's arrival in ICngland in 1774, 
 after he had been superseded by General Gage. He sailed from Boston on 
 the first of June of that year. The original manuscript of this conversation 
 is referred to in the editorial preface (placed in some of the copies) of the 
 third volume of Hutchinson's 'History of Massachusetts,' published in 
 London in 1828 — forty-eight years after the. death of the author. Mr. 
 Frothingham said that the copy of the conversation from which he read, was 
 made by him from another transcript in the possession of Mr. Bancroft, and 
 that he had been enjoined against allowing it to be printed." The foregoing 
 appears in the ' Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society,' for 
 March, 1871, at page 59. The subject was also noticed in the Boston Daily 
 Advertiser for March 25, 1871. 
 
 The family had scarcely recovered from their surprise, when Mr. Peter 
 Orlando Hutchinson, of Sidmouth, Devon, received the following letter from 
 
mfj DIASY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 161 
 
 X.— Who is M' Pitts? 
 
 H. — He is one of the Council — married M' B.'s sister. 
 K. — I have heard of D' Cb. and D' Cooper, but who is 
 Doctor Winthorp ? 
 
 Dr. Fitch Edward Oliver, of Boston, Mass., having long corresponded with 
 him before on family matters : — 
 
 " My Dear Sir, " Boston, November 27, 1877. 
 
 "I have been requested to ask you, as guardian of the 'Hutchinson 
 Papers,' to look over and compare the accompanying proof-sheets, containing 
 the ' conversation of Gov. Hutchinson with the King, with the original 
 manuscript, should you possess it. A copy of this extract from the 
 Governor's diary seems to have been taken by consent of one then in charge 
 of the papers, while Mr. Everett was American Minister. Beyond this fact 
 I know little of its history. There are one or two sentences in the proof that 
 may need correction, and I have taken the liberty to send it to you for such 
 correction, and to ask you to return it at your earliest convenience. The 
 sentences referred to are, 1st, that question of the King, asking if Episco- 
 palians are not Presbyterians ? and 2nd, that in which the word adapted 
 appears, should it not be adopted ? 
 
 " If there should be any objection on your part, I beg you will not blame 
 me for taking the liberty I have, for I really know nothing of the history of 
 this copy. I suppose, however, that there is no objection to this publication, 
 or it would not now appear. 
 
 " With many thanks for your kindness in the past, and trusting I am not 
 trespassing too far in asking this further favour, I am, Most Truly yours, 
 
 "Fitch Bdw. Oliver. 
 
 " P.S. — Mr. and Miss Bobbins are well [descended from Bev. Nath. Bobbins 
 and Elizabeth Hutchinson], and desire remembrance. I have not heard from 
 Mrs. Oliver [widow of last of the Olivers in England] for a long time." 
 
 Mr. P. 0. Hutchinson wrote to Dr. Oliver as follows : — 
 
 " My Dear Sir, " Sidmouth, .January 3, 1878. 
 
 " I owe you many apologies for having allowed so much time to elapse 
 before replying to your last letter ; and even now, I am sorry to say, I am 
 not able to answer it fully, or return you the printed matter by this oppor- 
 tunity ; and, indeed, I have not yet compared it with the MS. 1 sent it to my 
 cousins, who I thought would be interested in looking it over. In the mean- 
 time, and not to keep you any longer waiting, I write a few lines to explain 
 these points, lest you should wonder at my silence. I shall hope to write to 
 you again before long, and in this interval I may fill iip the time by in- 
 quiring who Mr. Eives was, who professes to have made a copy of a con- 
 versation between the King and Governor H., and how it was that Mr. 
 Everett's name was signed to the copy, under date 1 Feb. 1843 ? I think 
 Mr. Everett was United States Minister in Kngland at or about that time. 
 Was Mr. Kives assisted in his work by any member of my famUy, or by any 
 gentleman of the name of Christophers ? These are mere matters of curiosity ; 
 and if I were to ask whether 1 might retain the printed copy, could it be 
 granted ? — 1 remain, &c., 
 " Dr. F. B. Oliver. P. 0. HnTCHiNBON." 
 
 Mr. Charles Deane, Corresponding Secretary of the Massachusetts Historical 
 
 M 
 
162 DIASY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [(?,'!. 
 
 H. — He is not a Doctor of Divinity, Sir, but of Law ; a 
 Professor of Matbematicks and Natural Philosophy at the 
 College, and last year was chose of the Council. 
 
 Society, under date March 5, 1878, wrote to Mr. P. 0. Hutchinson, and 
 amongst other things observed : — 
 
 " 1 wish now to say a single word about the printed paper sent over to you, 
 containing the account of the interview between George III. and Governor 
 Hutchinson. I had known that Mr. Bancroft had a MS. copy of that paper 
 many years. He allowed Mr. Eichard Frothingham to see and take a tran- 
 script from that, and to read it before the Historical Society, but forbade his 
 printing it. Last summer Mr. Bancroft allowed the paper to be communi- 
 cated to the Society in his name, and to be printed. It was at Dr. Oliver's 
 suggestion that a proof was sent to you to compare with the original. I 
 suppose he thought, if it was to be printed, it had better be printed correctly. 
 
 " The copy was originally procured, I suppose, for Mr. Bancroft, through 
 Mr. Everett, when he was American Minister in London, thirty-five years 
 ago, and was copied by his Secretary of Legation, Mr. Francis R. Eives. 
 There could have been nothing surreptitious in the obtaining of the copy, I 
 should think," &c. 
 
 Under March 1+, 1878, Dr. Oliver adds:— 
 
 " With regard to the conversation with the King, you will please to under- 
 stand that 1 had no part or lot in the matter. I was not at the meeting of 
 the Society when the subject came up, or I should have opposed it until 
 something definite could be ascertained as to the authority for giving it to 
 the public. Nor is the Society to blame. They could know nothing as to 
 its history, and very naturally took it for granted that everything was in 
 good faith." 
 
 Without some explanation as to how this copy had been obtained, Mr. 
 Hutchinson felt that he could not lend his hand to correcting the press. To 
 have compared it vnth the original, and to stamp it with his authority, 
 would have implied approval. After keeping it much longer than he had 
 intended, and referring the case to his relations, he sent it back, accompanied 
 by the following letter : — 
 
 " Old Chancel, Sidmouth, Devon, England, Dec. 28, 1878. 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 " The interval that has occurred since my last, is much longer than I 
 intended. I have just written to Mr. Deane, giving him my scruples, and 
 fully explaining why I excuse myself from correcting the press of the printed 
 version of the conversation between George III. and Governor Hutchinson. 
 It should seem that in 1842 or 1843, Mr. Rives had possession of the first 
 volume of the Governor's Diary, and made extracts, more or less perfect, of 
 the part referring to this conversation. During the long space of 35 years 
 no intimation had ever been given to any of the Governor's descendants 
 that this had been done, nor did they know it until I received the printed 
 copy, with a request that I should correct the press. Very cool ! As Sam 
 Slick says — ' I haw-hawed right out,' for I perceived at a glance the use that 
 was being made of you. Mr. Deane has been good enough to write to me ; 
 but he is not himself in possession of the power to explain to me how Mr. 
 Rives got the book, or under what promises. I feel, therefore, that I cannot 
 lend my hand to the transaction. I prefer returning the printed copy to 
 you, as I received it from you. I hope this course, after these explanations, 
 will not offend you or Mr. Deane, or any of Governor Hutchinson's ' country- 
 
n}?;. DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 163 
 
 K. — I have heard of one M' Adams, but who is the other ? 
 
 S. — He is a Lawyer, Sir. 
 
 K. — Brother to the other ? 
 
 H. — No, Sir, a relation. He has been of the House, but 
 is not now. He was elected by the two Houses to be of the 
 Council, but negatived. The speaker further acquainted me 
 that, after the first letter, he received another, allowing him to 
 shew the Letters to the Committee of Correspondence ; and 
 afterwards a third, which allowed him to shew them to such 
 persons as he could confide in, but always enjoined to send 
 them back without taking copies. I asked him how he could 
 be guilty of such a breach of trust as to suffer them to be made 
 publick? He excused it by saying that he was against their 
 being brought before the House, but was overruled ; and when 
 they had been read there, the people abroad compelled their 
 publication, or would not be satisfied without it. Much more 
 passed with which I will not trouble your Majesty ; but after 
 the use had been made of the Letters, which is so well known, 
 they were all returned. 
 
 K., turning to L* D. — This is strange : — where is Doctor F., 
 my lord? 
 
 Lord D. — ^I believe. Sir, he is in Town. He was going to 
 America, but I fancy he is not gone. 
 
 men,' as he used to call you all. I should like you to see what I have 
 written to Mr. Deane. 
 
 " I enclose a tracing of Cyrian and Phebe [from an old copy of ' Hubbard's 
 Hist.' in MS. to assist in perfecting a new edition in America], because in 
 the new printed book it is Cyprian and Plebe. Perhaps it would have been 
 as well if there had been a footnote mentioning the alteration. 
 
 "Have you got the old family seal of the Oliver coat of Anns? You 
 ought to have it if you have not. I have made a copper electrotype from an 
 old wax impression, and I send you a specimen outside. 
 
 " I always enquire with interest after Mr. and Miss Bobbins. I hope they 
 are well. Pray remember me to them. Remember — Mr. Eobbins's ancestor 
 married Elizabeth Hutchinson ; and that is something in the world's history. 
 — I remain, Dear Sir, Yours Faithfully, 
 
 " Dr. F. B. Oliver, Boston, Mass. P- 0. Hutchikson." 
 
 The fact that this transaction was kept quiet for thirty-five years throws 
 it open to suspicion. Though Dr. Oliver was the medium of negotiation, he 
 was a stranger to the subject he was handling. Equally free from all 
 connection with it was Mr. Deane ; but it is due from Mr. Kives, Mr. Everett, 
 and Mr. Bancroft to give some satisfactory explanation, if they would set 
 themselves right with public opinion. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^,"^1 
 
 K. — I heard he was going to Switzerland, or to some part 
 of the Continent. 
 
 i* D. — I think, Sir, there has been such a report. 
 
 E. — In such abuse, M'' H., as you met with, I suppose there 
 must have been personal malvolence as well as party rage ? 
 
 E. — It has been my good fortune, Sir, to escape any charge 
 against me in my private character. The attacks have been 
 upon my publick conduct, and for such things as my duty to 
 your Majesty .required me to do, and which you have been 
 pleased to approve of. I don't know that any of my enemies 
 have complained of a personal injury. 
 
 E. — I see they threatened to pitch and feather you. 
 
 H. — ^Tarr & feather, may it please your Majesty ; but I don't 
 remember that ever I was threatened with it. 
 
 Lord D. — Oh ! yes, when Malcolm was tarred and feathered 
 [Almanac for 1770, May, MS. Note], the committee for tarring 
 and feathering blamed the people for doing it, that being a 
 punishment res* for a higher person, and we suppose you was 
 intended. 
 
 H. — I remember something of that sort, which was only to 
 make diversion, there being no such committee, or none known 
 by that name. 
 
 E. — What guard had you, M' H. ? 
 
 H. — ^I depended. Sir, on the protection of Heaven. I had 
 no other guard. I was not conscious of having done anything 
 of which they could justly complain, or make a pretence for 
 offering violence to my person. I was not sure, but I hoped 
 they only meant to intimidate. By discovering that I was afraid, 
 I should encourage them to go on. By taking measures for my 
 security I should expose myself to culumny, and being censured 
 as designing to render them odious for what they never intended 
 to do. I was, therefore, obliged to appear to disregard all the 
 menaces in the newspapers, and also private intimations from 
 my friends who frequently advised me to take care of myself. 
 
 E. — I think you generally live in the country, M"^ H. ; 
 what distance are you from town ? 
 
 H. — I have lived in the country. Sir, in the summer for 20 
 years ; but, except the winter after my house was pulled down. 
 
f,",'!.] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 165 
 
 I have never lived in the country in winter until the last. 
 My house is 7 or 8 miles from the Town, a pleasant situation, 
 and most gentlemen from abroad say it has the finest prospect 
 from it they ever saw, except where great improvements have 
 been made by art, to help the natural view. The longest way 
 the road is generally equal to the turnpike roads here ; the 
 other way rather rough. 
 
 K. — Pray, what does Hancock do now ? How will the late 
 affair affect him ?* 
 
 H. — I don't know to what particular affair your Majesty 
 refers. 
 
 * The following letter is found in the Letter Book of Lieut.-Govemor 
 Oliver. It was written from Boston in America, to ex-Grovemor Thomas 
 Pownall in London. 
 
 " Sir, " Boston, 19 Sep', 1768. 
 
 " I received the last evening, by Cap. Bruce, your favours of the 27"" & 
 28"' July, accompanying your letter to John Hancock, Esq., and a power to 
 receive of him the amount of sundry Government Notes, you had left in the 
 hands of his late uncle. I have felt your friendship, and shall always think 
 myself happy to have it in my power to do you any real service, but am 
 sorry for the present occasion you have to command it. 1 delivered your 
 letter this morning to M' Hancock, who readily told me that he would 
 forthwith pay the money; and that he should have formerly paid it to 
 General Gage, and taken his draft, but that the General insisted on his 
 sending the money to New York ; his doing which would have been attended 
 both with risque and charge. He just suggested to me that his uncle had 
 given him one, if not two, receipts for the Notes, which, upon payment, he 
 expected to have delivered up cancelled. I don't know that he will insist on 
 this as a condition of payment. If the matter should be disputed, I imagine 
 it could be easily proved, that he himself received the money for the Notes 
 out of the Treasury. But I would not alarm you with difBculties till they 
 really occur. I wUl certainly do everything in my power to bring the 
 business to the most desirable issue. The Budget was this morning opened, 
 advising of troops coming among us, which not only occasions a meeting of 
 Council, but a general alarm among the people, and very possibly to par- 
 ticular persons too. 
 
 " I could not excuse my neglecting this opportunity of informing you thus 
 much, and the fore-mentioned circumstance will be my excuse for saying no 
 more. Cap" Jacobson will sail in a few days, when I hope to send you 
 some more satisfactory accounts. 
 
 " M" Oliver and my children join with me in our best respects. I took 
 the liberty some time since of paying you my compliments on your marriage, 
 and of sending the same afterwards by my daugh' Spooner, who, 1 hear, is 
 now in London. I now congratulate you on your late election, which I hope 
 will give you an opportunity, and I doubt not you will readily embrace it, 
 of serving an unhappy deluded people, who have been led into the most 
 extravagant measures by a few sons of Violence, who falsely assume the 
 name of Sons of Liberty. If the honour of an insulted Government should 
 require some examples of justice, the men could be easily pointed out, and 
 
166 BIAHY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mf. 
 
 K. — Oh, a late affair in the city, his bills being refused. 
 (Turning to Lord D.) Who is that in the city, my Lord ? 
 Lord D. not recollecting — 
 
 ought to be offered as victims, if it might be a means of saving the com- 
 munity. 
 
 " I am, with the greatest respect, &c." 
 
 From the same to his son-in-law, Mr. John Spooner, then in London, 
 Sept. 20, 1768 :— 
 
 "I have, by Capt° Bruce, rec' a power from Grov' Pownall, to receive 
 £5000 lawf. money for him of M' J. H., who reo'' his money here out of the 
 Treasury." 
 
 From the same to Governor Pownall, Sept. 27, 1768 : — 
 
 " M' Hancock had appointed me this day to give a final answer what he 
 would do ; and tells me that by Oapt° Scott & Capt° Lyde, he will order 
 your money to be paid in England, and give me satisfaction that it is done 
 before they sail. He peremptorily declares he will not pay the money unless 
 he has his uncle's receipt for the Province Notes given up." 
 
 From the same to Governor Pownall, Nov. 8, 1768 : — 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " My last was of y" 7"' of Oct' by Scott [it is in the Letter Book, but 
 not very material], advising you that M' Hancock had assured me he would, 
 by Capt° Lyde, order payment of what he owes you. Capt° Lyde, I imagine, 
 will sail within a week ; and M' Hancock has since told me that he would 
 give me 24 hours' notice of it, that the debt might be put into such a course 
 of payment as should be to my satisfaction. I shall give all due attention to 
 the business, and then write you more at large. The principal occasion of 
 my writing you now, is to acknowledge the receipt of the duplicate of your 
 letter and power this day by the Sultana. 
 
 "M' Hancock has brought himself into trouble by suffering a cargo of 
 Madeira wines to be landed from the sloop Liberty, without paying the King's 
 duties. The sloop has already been tried and condemned for it, and he has 
 now within a day or two past, been served with a Libel for treble the value 
 of the wines, in a penalty of £9000 sterling, on which he is held to bail in 
 the sum of £3000 like money. The action is referred for trial to the 28"" 
 Inst. I cannot think this unhappy affair need give you any fresh alarm, 
 altho' he should be cast in the suit. His affluent circumstances, however, 
 wiU not divert me from any prudent measure 1 can take for your advantage." 
 
 From the same to the same, Nov. 24, 1768 : — 
 
 " I missed M' Hancock yesterday, but have seen him since I wrote the 
 foregoing, and received from him the enclosed. I hope your business now is 
 in a fair way of settlement. His honour is so deeply pledged, that it appears 
 to me impossible he sV fail you; if he should, he can never afterwards 
 complain either of you or me, if he should be pressed to the last extremity ; 
 and you niay for that purpose command my best services." 
 
 As there are but few more allusions in the Letter Book to this subject, it 
 may be concluded that everything was fully and amicably settled, and the 
 more so, as in 1768 Mr. Hancock was in " afftuent circumstances ;" and we 
 confidently conclude that his honour remained untarnished. 
 
mf.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 167 
 
 S. — I have heard, Sir, that M' Haley, a merchant in the 
 city, is M"^ Hancock's principal correspondent. 
 
 K. — Ay, that's the name. 
 
 S. — I heard, may it please your Majesty, before I came from 
 N. England, that some small sums were returned, but none of 
 consequence. 
 
 K. — Oh no, 1 mean within this month, large sums. 
 
 Lord D. — I have heard such rumours, but don't know the 
 certainty. 
 
 H. — ^M"^ Hancock, Sir, had a very large fortune left him by 
 his uncle, and I believe his political engagements have taken 
 off his attention from his private affairs. He was sensible not 
 long ago of the damage it was to him, and told me he was deter- 
 mined to quit all publick business, but soon altered his mind. 
 
 K. — Then there's M' Gushing : I remember his name a long 
 time : is not he a great man of the party ? 
 
 H. — He has been many years Speaker, but a Speaker, Sir, 
 is not always the person of the greatest influence. A M' 
 Adams is rather considered as the opposer of Government, and "• i 
 a sort of Wilkes in New England.* 
 
 K. — ^What gave him his importance ? 
 
 S. — A great pretended zeal for liberty, and a most inflexible 
 natural temper. He was the first that publickly asserted the 
 Independency of the colonies upon the Kingdom, or the supreme 
 Authority of it. 
 
 K. — ^I have heard, M' H., that your ministers preach that, 
 for the sake of promoting liberty or the publick good, any 
 immorality or less evil may be tolerated ? 
 
 H. — I don't know. Sir, that such doctrine has ever been 
 preached from the pnlpit ; but I have no doubt that it has been 
 publickly asserted by some of the heads of the party who call 
 themselves sober men, that the good of the publick is above all 
 other considerations, and that truth may be dispensed with, and 
 immorality is excusable, when this great good can be obtained 
 by such means. 
 
 * Some persons have ascribed the outbreak of the rebellion in America to 
 the republican and licentious declamations of John Wilkes in England, which t 
 were soon wafted across the Atlantic. 
 
168 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HOTOHINSON. \wu,. 
 
 K. — That's a strange doctrine, indeed. Pray, M' H., what 
 is your opinion of the effect from the new regulation of the 
 Council ? Will it be agreeable to the people, and will the new 
 appointed Councillors take the trust upon them ? 
 
 H. — I have not, may it please y' Majesty, been able to 
 infoitn myself who they are. I came to Town late last evening, 
 and have seen nobody. 1 think much will depend upon the 
 choice that has been made. 
 
 K. — Enquiry was made and pains taken that the most 
 suitable persons should be appointed. 
 
 H. — The body of the people are Dissenters from the Church 
 of England ; what are called Congregationalists. If the Council 
 shall have been generally selected from the Episcopalians, it 
 will make the change more disagreeable. 
 
 K. — Why are they not Presbyterians ? 
 
 H. — There are a very few Churches which call themselves 
 Presbyterians, and form themselves voluntarily into a Presby- 
 tery without any aid from the civil government, which the 
 Presbyterian Church of Scotland enjoys. 
 
 Lord D. — The Dissenters in England at this day are scarce 
 any of them Presbyterians, but like those in New England, 
 Congregationalists, or rather Independents. 
 
 K. — Pray, what were your Ancestors, M"^ H. ? 
 
 H. — In general. Sir, Dissenters.* 
 
 K. — Where do you attend ? 
 
 B..- — With both. Sir. Sometimes at your Majesty's chapel, 
 but more generally at a Congregational church, which has a 
 very worthy minister, a friend to Government, who constantly 
 prays for your Majesty, and all in authority under you. 
 
 K. — What is his name ? 
 
 H. — Doctor Pemberton. 
 
 R. — I have heard of Doctor Pemberton that he is a very 
 
 good man. Who is minister at the chapel ? 
 
 * The Governor must mean Dissenters after they went to America in 
 1634 ; for at the foot of two of the pages of the parish register of Alford in 
 Lincolnshire, the signature of William Hutchinson, as churchwarden, occurs 
 twice — once under the year 1620, and again in 1621. Facsimiles of these 
 signatures are given on page 20 of a pamphlet entitled ' Narrative of a Toiir 
 made into the County of Lincoln in October, 1857,' &c., by P. O. Hutchinson. 
 Privately printed. 
 
mi] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 169 
 
 . H. — The Rector is Dr. Caner, a very worthy man also, who 
 frequently inculcates upon his hearers due subjection to Govern- 
 ment, and condemns the riotous violent opposition to it ; and 
 besides the prayers in the Liturgy, generally in a short prayer 
 before sermon, expressly prays for your Majesty, and for the 
 chief Euler in the Province. 
 
 K. — Why do not the Episcopal ministers in general do the 
 same ? 
 
 H. — In general. Sir, they use no other prayer before sermon 
 than a short collect out of the Liturgy. 
 
 K. — No — (turning to Lord D.) It is not so here, my Lord ? 
 
 Lord D. — I believe it is, Sir. In your Majesty's Chapel' 
 they always iise such a prayer. It is a form adapted. 
 
 K. — ^I think you must be mistaken. 
 
 Lord D. — No, Sir. This prayer used to be printed formerly, 
 but of late it has not been printed with the service. In general 
 the ministers use a collect, aa W Hutchinson says ; sometimes 
 the collect in the Communion service — " Prevent us, O Lord," 
 &c.,* but I think oftener the collect for the second Sunday in 
 Advent, t 
 
 B. — My education. Sir, was with the Dissenters. I conceive 
 there is no material difference between reading a prayer out of 
 a book, and saying it memoriter, without book. 
 
 Lord B. — ^I think. Sir, it is not very material. The prayers 
 of the Dissenters are in substance very much the same with 
 those in the service of the church. 
 
 K. — ^I see no material difference, if the prayers be equally 
 good, but will not that depend upon the minister ? But, pray, 
 M"^ H., why do your ministers generally join with the people 
 in their opposition to Government ? 
 
 H. — They are. Sir, dependent upon the people. They are 
 elected by the people, and when they are dissatisfied with them, 
 they seldom leave till they get rid of them. 
 
 * In the modem Prayer Books six Collects are printed at the end of the 
 Communion Service, to be used as occasion may require. It is the fourth 
 Collect on this list that begins with the words — " Prevent us, Lord, in all 
 our doings with Thy most gracious favour," &c. 
 
 t Beginning — " Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be 
 written for our learning," &c. 
 
170 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f",'j. 
 
 K. — That must be very dangerous. If the people oblige 
 them to concur with them in their erroneous principles on 
 Government, they may do it in religion also, and this must have 
 a most fatal tendency. 
 
 H. — There is one check, Sir, upon the people. Unless a 
 minister be dismissed by a council of Churches, the Province 
 law makes provision for the recovery of the salary; but we 
 have no instance where a minister, for any length of time, has 
 brought suits for the recovery of his salary, after the people 
 refuse to hear him. They generally weary him, and sooner or 
 later they get clear of him. 
 
 Lord D. — That's a considerable tye, however. 
 
 K. — Pray, M' H., does population greatly increase in your 
 Province ? 
 
 H. — Very rapidly. Sir. I used to think that Doctor F., 
 who has taken much pains in his calculations, carried it too far 
 when he supposed the inhabitants of America, from their 
 natural increase, doubled their number in 25 years ; but I 
 rather think now that he did not ; and I believe it will appear 
 from the last return I made to the Secretary of State, that the 
 Massachusets has increased in that proportion.* And the 
 increase is supposed, including the importation of foreigners, 
 to be, upon the whole, greater in most of the Southern Colonies 
 than in the Massachusets. We import no settlers from Europe, 
 so as to make any sensible increase. 
 
 K, — Why do not foreigners come to y' Province as well as 
 to the Southern Governments ? 
 
 H. — I take it. Sir, that our long cold winters discourage 
 them. Before they can bring the land to such a state as to be 
 able in summer to provide for their support in winter, what 
 little substance they can bring with them is expended, and 
 many of them have greatly suffered. The Southern Colonies 
 are more temperate. 
 
 K. — What is the reason you raise no wheat in your 
 Province ? 
 
 * See ' The Interest of Great Britain considered with regard to Her 
 Colonies,' &c., 1760, p. 23. No author's name, but known to be by Dr. 
 Franklin. 
 
mJ.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 171 
 
 S. — In most places, especially near the sea, it blasts. 
 
 K. — To what cause is that owing ? 
 
 H. — It has been observed that when the grain is so forward 
 as to be out of the milk the beginning of July, it seldom 
 blasts; and that about the 8'" or 10* of that month the 
 weather becomes exceeding hot, and what are called the honey 
 dews of the night are fixed upon the grains by the scalding sun 
 in a hot morning, and if the grain be then in the milk it shrivels 
 up, and the straw becomes rusty and black. This is a pretty 
 general opinion of the cause. 
 
 K. — To what produce is your climate best adapted ? 
 
 S. — To grazing. Sir ; your Majesty has not a finer Colony 
 for grass in all your dominions : and nothing is more profitable 
 in America than pasture, because labour is very dear. 
 
 K. — Then you import all your bread corn from the other 
 Colonies ? 
 
 S. — No, Sir, scarce any, except for the use of the maritime 
 towns. In the country towns the people raise grain enough for 
 their own expending, and sometimes for exportation. They 
 live upon coarse bread made of rye and com mixed, and by long 
 use they learn to prefer this to flour or wheat bread. 
 
 Z^.— What corn ? 
 
 H. — Indian corn, or, as it is called in Authors, Maize.* 
 
 K. — Ay, I know it. Does that make good bread ? 
 
 H. — Not by itself. Sir ; the bread will soon be dry and 
 husky ; but the Rye keeps it moist, and some of our country 
 people prefer a bushel of Eye to a bushel of Wheat, if the price 
 should be the same. 
 
 K. — That's very strange. 
 
 Lord D. — In many parts of Scotland, Sir, Rye is much 
 esteemed as making good and wholesome bread. 
 
 * From a memorandum, written by the Governor, on the fly-leaf, at the 
 beginning of vol. iv. of his Diary, the word maize was not so well known then 
 as it was afterwards. The memorandum runs thus : — " Maize is the name of 
 Indian Com among the Europeans. Peter Martyr used it before the northern 
 continent of America was discovered by Ealeigh. See ' Martyr's First Decad,' 
 p. 208, quoted in ' Morton's New England Memorial.' Query — Whether it 
 is in the language of the southern continent, or whether it was in use in 
 Europe before the discovery of America ? 
 
 " The Indian word for com in the language of the N. England Indians is 
 ' Bate Chumnis.' — See ' Wood's Prospect in 1635.' " 
 
172 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [mJ. 
 
 The King enquired very particularly into many other parts 
 of the produce of the country, and the natural history of it, to 
 which I gave the best answers I was capable of. 
 
 K. — New York, I think, comes the next to Boston in their 
 opposition to Government ? 
 
 H. — Does your Majesty think nearer than Pensilvania ? 
 
 K. — Why, I can't say that they do of late. K. * — Ehode 
 Island, W H., is a strange form of Grovernment. 
 
 H. — They approach. Sir, the nearest to a Democracy of any 
 of your Colonies. Once a year all power returns to the people, 
 and all their Officers are new elected. By this means the 
 Governor has no judgment of his own, and must comply with 
 every popular prejudice. 
 
 K. — Who is their Governor now ? 
 
 H. — His name. Sir, is Wanton, a Gentleman who I have 
 reason to think wishes to see Government maintained as much 
 as any they could find in the Colonies. 
 
 K. — How is it with Connecticut ? are they much better ? 
 
 H. — ^The constitutions, Sir, are much the same ; but Con- 
 necticut are a more cautious people ; strive to make as little 
 noise as may be, and have in general retained a good share of 
 that virtue which is peculiarly necessary in such a form of 
 Government. 
 
 More was said upon the state of these and some of the other 
 Colonies. There being something of a pause about this time, I 
 turned to Lord Dartmouth and asked — Does your Lordship 
 remember when you had the first account of the Lieutenant 
 Governor's death,t and whether it was before the Letters which 
 1 wrote by Governer Tryon ? 
 
 Lord D. — Oh, yes, I had a letter from you several weeks 
 before that, giving an account of it. 
 
 H. — There was a vessel sailed for Lisbon the day after he 
 died, and I gave a letter to the master in charge, to put it 
 on board the first Vessel for London, but was doubtful of the 
 conveyance. 
 
 * The K. for King Is thus twice repeated in the MS. 
 t Andrew Oliver, the Lieutenant-Governor, was bom March 29, 1706, and 
 died March 23, 1774. 
 
??Jj.] DIARY AND LfJTTESS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 173 
 
 K. — We never could find out which way that letter came. 
 Is the present L. Governor a relation to the late M' Oliver ? * 
 
 H. — No, Sir, not of the same family. I have no connection 
 with him, nor did I ever let him know that I had mentioned 
 him as one of the persons I thought might be proper for a L' 
 Governor. 
 
 K. — The Chief Justice, I think, is brother to the late Ij* 
 Governor ? 
 
 E.—Yes, Sir. 
 
 K. — We had thought of him, but as he was not one of 
 those you had named, the present Gentleman, upon enquiry, 
 appeared under all circumstances the most proper. 
 
 S. — I had some particular inducement not to mention the 
 Chief Justice. He is related to me, and his appointment 
 would have increased the envy against both of us. 
 
 K. — How is he related to you ? 
 
 S. — One of his sons. Sir, married one of my daughters.! 
 I was, besides, uncertain whether the salary would be continued ; 
 and if it should be, his salary as Chief Justice exceeded it, 
 except in case of my absence, and then the expense of living, 
 and the additional trouble from his post, I considered as more 
 than an equivalent. I considered further, that the controversy 
 in which he had been engaged as Chief Justice would render the 
 administration peculiarly difficult just at that time ; and I sup- 
 posed it would immediately devolve upon him by my absence, 
 having then no expectation of being superseded. 
 
 I never took more pains to divest myself of all personal 
 views than in mentioning proper persons for this plane, I should 
 have been more anxious, if I had not thought it not improbable 
 that some person raight be appointed, and sent from England. 
 
 K. — What number of Indians had you in your Government ? 
 
 H. — They are almost extinct. Perhaps there are 50 or 60 
 families at most upon the Eastern Frontier, where there is a 
 small fort maintained ; tho' I conceive the inhabitants would 
 
 * The King's remarks show, in a very striking light, that he made himself 
 thoroughly acquainted with all the passing events of the time, and allowed 
 few circumstances, even apparently of a trivial nature, to escape his vigilant 
 eye. The new Lieut.-Govemor was called Oliver. 
 
 t Dr. Peter Oliver married Sarah Hutchinson. 
 
174 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^7^. 
 
 not be in the least danger. It looks. Sir, as if in a few years 
 the Indians would be extinct in all parts of the Continent.* 
 
 K. — To what is that owing ? 
 
 JS. — I have thought. Sir, in part to their being dispirited at 
 their low despicable condition among the Europeans, who bave 
 taken possession of their country, and treat them as an inferior 
 race of beings ; but more to the immoderate use of spirituous 
 liquors. There are near 100 families, perhaps more, of Indians 
 who are domiciliated, and live, some in otiier towns, but most 
 of them at a place called Mashpee, where they have a church, 
 and a Missionary to preach to them, and also an Indian 
 Minister who has been ordained, and preaches sometimes in 
 their own language. 
 
 K. — What, an Episcopal Minister ? 
 
 H. — No, Sir, of the Congregational persuasion or form of 
 worship. 
 
 The King was particular in many other enquiries relative 
 to my Administration, to the state of the Province, and the 
 other Colonies. 
 
 I have minuted what remained the clearest upon my mind, 
 and as near the order in which they passed as I am able. He 
 asked also what part of my family I brought with me, and what 
 I left behind, and at length advised me to keep house a few 
 days for the recovery of my health. I f then withdrew. I 
 was near two hours in the K. closet. Lord D. feared I was 
 
 * A pathetic, as well as an interesting, note might be written on the 
 Indians, and the inevitable fatality that seems to hang over their destiny 
 wherever the whites appear. It might be supposed that the furnishing them 
 with better shelter, better and more regular food, and with better clothing, 
 together with an improved style in their habits of life, would tend to in- 
 vigorate their physical frames, and elevate their mental faculties. All 
 experience, however, shows the contrary ; wherever the whites appear, the 
 savage tribes at once begin to diminish, and soon to die out. Not even the 
 humane, or the protector of the aborigines, can retain them in life. Such is 
 their animal nature, that their low mental power seems only to furnish 
 intelligence enough just to direct them how to gratify it. Their awakened 
 minds, therefore, only rise high enough to adopt the vices of the whites, but 
 not high enough to enable them to appreciate their virtues. The subject, 
 however, is a rather mysterious one. Writers and philosophers who have 
 
 descanted upon it have generally ended their disquisitions by simply saying 
 
 We lose sight of them — ^they vanish. The inferior races of the earth cannot 
 assimilate with the superior, nor can they compete with them. 
 
 t This may be " I," or it may be " &," slightly varying the sense. 
 
?,",'J.] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 175 
 
 tired so long standing. I observed that so gracious a recep- 
 tion made me insensible of it. 
 
 As soon as the Governor could find leisure, after this long 
 conference, he thought it well to transmit to General Gage, in 
 the following letter, such sentiments as he judged might be 
 useful to him in his administration, or as keeping him informed 
 on the vital questions of the day, which were beginning to assume 
 80 serious a character. 
 
 " London, 4"' July, 1774. 
 " Dear Sir,— 
 
 " I may not omit the first opportunity of acquainting you 
 with my safe arrival, after an easy passage of exactly 28 days 
 from leaving Boston Harbour to landing at Dover. I came to 
 Westminster the next evening, and the morning after waited 
 upon Lord Dartmouth, who, after an hour's conversation, carried 
 me to St. James's, and though the Levee was over, introduced me 
 to the King in his Closet, who kept me near two hours in con- 
 versation upon the affairs of America in general, and of the 
 Massachusetts Bay in particular. His knowledge of so many 
 facts astonished me. I hope one time or other to relate to you 
 minutely what passed upon this occasion, but at present shall 
 confine myself to that part only which may be of use to you in 
 your administration, and may tend to the benefit of the Province, 
 and to the speedy relief of the town of Boston.* 
 
 " In the course of conversation the King asked me how the late 
 Acts of Parliament were received at Boston ? I answered, that 
 when I left Boston, I had heard only of one, that for shutting up 
 the Port, which was to take place the day I came away : that I 
 had heard, since my arrival, that another Act had passed, which 
 I had not seen, nor had I been able to obtain a particular account 
 of it. That the first Act was exceedingly severe, I did not 
 presume to say, or think it was more so than was necessary, but 
 it must bring the greatest distress upon the town, and many of 
 the tradesmen who depended upon the ships had left the town, 
 and others were leaving it when I came away, and that it would 
 
 * " On the 14th of the same month [March, 1774], Lord North brought 
 in a measure commonly known by the name of the Boston Port Bill. The 
 preamble declared that in the present condition of the town and harbour of 
 Boston, the commerce of his Majesty's subjects could not be safely carried on, 
 nor the customs be duly collected ; and the clauses proposed to enact, that 
 from and after the 1st of June in this year, it should not be lawful for any 
 person to lade or unlade, to ship or unship any goods from any quay or wharf 
 within the aforesaid harbour," &c. — Lord Mahon's Hist., ch. li., 3. 
 
176 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHJNSOK [wl 
 
 Ll7»4. 
 
 make me happy, if any way, consistent witli His Majesty's honour, 
 I might be instrumental, whilst I remained in England, in ob- 
 taining their relief. The King thereupon expressed his inclina- 
 tion and desire to grant it when they could put it in his power. 
 Lord Dartmouth thereupon said — M' Hutchinson has been 
 addressed by a great part of the merchants in Boston in a very 
 respectful manner, to mate his application to your Majesty ; and 
 took a Newspaper, which contained the Address, out of his pocket, 
 and shewed it to the King, which he read ; and smiling, said that 
 he did not wonder at it, and added — M' Hutchinson has been so 
 universally applauded for the firmness and moderation of his 
 conduct by all persons here, that I have been surprised at his 
 being so abused in his own country — or words to that effect : but 
 what evidence is there of any submission to the authority of 
 Government? and until I see that, how can I, M' Hutchinson, 
 consistent with the Act of Parliament, grant them relief? I 
 know, may it please your Majesty, that without such evidence, 
 I may not presume to ask it. I humbly beg leave to acquaint 
 your Majesty, [that] with the circumstances attending this appli- 
 cation to me, after it was known that I had taken passage for 
 England, several of the gentlemen who signed, and who were the 
 first movers to this Address, signified to me their dependence upon 
 the representations that they hoped I should be allowed to make 
 to your Majesty in their behalf. I immediately answered that it 
 was in vain to expect that your Majesty would do anything 
 directly against an Act of Parliament. The Act required some- 
 thing to be first done on their part. How, said the gentlemen, 
 can we evidence our submission to the payment or collecting of 
 duties, when no goods can be brought into our port ? I waj at a 
 loss. Sir, what answer to give them. An explicit declaration, that 
 in all cases whatsoever they acknowledged the right or authority 
 of Parliament to tax them, did not seem to be required, nor could 
 it be done in any other way than by the General Assembly, or by 
 a collective or representative body ; and this I humbly hoped 
 would not be expected. Lord Dartmouth, who had been talking 
 with me upon the subject, thereupon said — I told M' H. that 
 I conceived such orderly behaviour in the inhabitants in general 
 as would enable the Governor to represent to your Majesty, that 
 there waa an apparent disposition to give no molestation to such 
 persons as would carry on their trade in a way and manner con- 
 formable to law ; and the Assembly, and the towns abstaining, 
 from these offensive votes and resolves, encouraging the disorders 
 which have prevailed in the Province, and abstaining from oppo- 
 
ml.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 177 
 
 sition to the supreme authority of the Empire, may be considered 
 as evidence of such submission. The King immediately said — I 
 know no necessity of any particular mode of evidence. Actions 
 speak louder than words ; and, apparently, acquiesced in Lord 
 Dartmouth's sentiments. 
 
 " I am thus particular in relating what passed upon this subject, 
 hoping it may induce you, if the Province can be brought to such 
 a state, to represent to the King, by his Secretary of State, as 
 evidence of such submission, together with any other favourable 
 circumstances ; and I beg leave to recommend to you M' George 
 Erving; and if you think proper, I have no objection to your 
 communicating to him what I have wrote to you. You will find 
 him sensible, active, and I have reason to believe, faithful. The 
 several Addresses made to me are much approved of here ; and if 
 they shall have been followed by others from other counties, as 
 was proposed, the obtaining redress will be the more facilitated. 
 I have not mentioned this part of what passed from the King to 
 any person but to you. 
 
 " Since I began this letter I have seen the two other Acts of 
 Parliament, and my L'' Dartmouth has sent me the list of the 
 new Council. They are quite unexpected to me, and I have good 
 reason to be satisfied that the completion of the plan was delayed 
 as long as it could be, that my sentiments might be known. I 
 think it a most fortunate circumstance for me, that I have never 
 had the least share in promoting or suggesting any part of them. 
 Indeed, I have it from the best authority that they are not what 
 was intended by the Ministry as the first plan, and may as pro- 
 perly be deemed Acts of the whole kingdom, as perhaps any Acts 
 which have at any time been passed. If I had been consulted 
 upon the list of Councellors, I would not [have] proposed every 
 one of them ; and I would have proposed some who are not in the 
 list : but I am exceeding glad to see so many good men among 
 them. 
 
 " Lord North has not been in Town, and M' Pownall is indis- 
 posed at Greenwich, and I have only a card from him. M' 
 Knox has been kind enough to call upon me. If I should have 
 anything material from any part of administration, which may be 
 proper to be communicated for the public service, or which may 
 be meer [sic] matter of news, I will write another letter. 
 
 " I am at present in Pari' Street, opposite to Lord Loudon's [sic], 
 who, seeing me at my window, came immediately over, and treats 
 me with great goodness and condescension ; but I hope in a 
 month, or as soon as I can go through the necessary formalities, 
 
 N 
 
178 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOHINSON. fml 
 
 LlJT4. 
 
 to take a house in the country, and I cannot mention any par- 
 ticular place to direct to me. It will be enough, if any letters 
 come under the cover of the Secretary of State, or M' Pownall ; 
 and I shall be obliged to you if you will suffer any of my friends 
 to leave a letter with you at any time, to come under the same 
 cover. 
 
 " I found that my expressing my opinion of the probability 
 of success in your administration, and my declaration that nothing 
 could be more agreeable to my wishes, than the relief afforded me 
 by your appointment were pleasing, as well to the King as to 
 L'' Dartmouth, and the latter encourages me, that my being in 
 England will have the greatest tendency more speedily to remove 
 the distress the town of Boston must be under, and to promote 
 that peace and order which is necessary to make your administra- 
 tion agreeable to you. 
 
 " Lord and Lady Gage soon did me the great honour to call 
 upon me and my daughter, and have been so obliging as not only 
 to ask me to dine with them in town, but also to make them a 
 .visit in the country, and I fully intend, in the course of the 
 summer, to accept of so kind an invitation. 
 
 " If you think proper to consult M' Erving, I pray you would 
 put a wafer to the inclosed letter, and send it to him ; if not, that 
 you would destroy it. 
 
 " I am, with the most sincere regard and esteem, y" Faith^ &e. 
 
 " After I had finished my letter. Lord Dartmouth did me the 
 honour to call upon me, and I read to him that part which relates 
 to the conversation with the King, and he much approves of my 
 sending it to you. 
 
 " Gen. Gage." 
 
 In 'another letter, dated July 7, when writing to Mr. Flucker, 
 these words occur : — 
 
 " I do assure you that the greatest pleasure it gives me is from 
 the prospect it affords, of enabling me to serve my poor unhappy 
 country : and in the long conference I had with the K. I made it 
 my chief object to represent matters so as to obtain relief for the 
 T. of B. on the easiest terms." 
 
 The Governor, in London, to his eldest son Thomas, at Milton : 
 
 " London, 4"' July, 1774. 
 " My Dear Son, — 
 
 "Having wrote you largely to go by the Packet, I have 
 
 only time now to tell you, that we arrived at Dover in just 
 
mfj DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 179 
 
 28 days to an hour, from our leaving the harbour of Boston, and 
 the 29"" day were in London. Send this account to your sister, and 
 let her know I have wrote to her by the Packet. Every body 
 says we could not have had an easier passage ; but Peggy and I 
 were very sick, and are very much reduced. My reception here 
 exceeded everything I could imagine. Eemember me to Sally,* 
 and to all friends. 
 
 " Mark died the 21 June Your Affectionate Father, 
 
 "T. Hutchinson." 
 
 The London Chronicle of July 2, 1774, contains the following 
 announcement : — 
 
 "Yesterday Tho' Hutchinson, Esq., late Governor of Massa- 
 chusett's Bay, attended the Levee at St. James's, was graciously 
 received, and had the honor of a conference with his Majesty." 
 
 On the 6th of July the Governor wrote a longer letter to his 
 son, in which he speaks, in the following passages, of the political 
 feeling, and of political parties in England, as he was just be- 
 ginning to obtain a first insight into them'J' : — 
 
 "I can collect, from what I have seen and heard, that they 
 have gone too far here to recede, let the opposition in America be 
 what it vdll : on the other hand, there is all the disposition that 
 can be wished, as well in the King, (who is more his own minister 
 than is generally imagined,) as in his Ministers, to afford the 
 most speedy relief, and to comply with every reasonable request, 
 and to forbear from any acts for taxation, provided the authority 
 of Parliament be not denied nor counteracted, 
 
 * Sally, his daughter, and wife to Dr. Peter Oliver. 
 
 t " Even before the Boston Port Bill had yet passed the Upper Ilouse, 
 Lord North introduced another measure, the Massachusetts Government Bill. 
 By that measure the Charter, as granted by King William, was in some 
 important particulars set aside. The Council, instead of being elected by 
 the people, was henceforth, as in most of the other colonies, to be appointed 
 by the Crown. The Judges, Magistrates, and Sheriffs might be nominated 
 by the Governor, and in some cases also, be removed by him, even without 
 the consent or sanction of the Council. ' How else,' asked Lord North, ' is 
 the Grovemor to execute any authority vested in him ? At present, if he 
 requires the aid of a Magistrate, he has not the power of appointing any one 
 who will, nor of removing any one who will not, act : the Council alone have 
 that power ; and the dependence of the Council is now solely on the demo- 
 cratic part of the constitution. It appears that the civil Magistracy has 
 been for a series of years uniformly inactive ; and there must be something 
 radically wrong in that constitution, in which no Magistrate, for such a 
 series of years, has ever done his duty in such a manner as to enforce 
 obedience to the laws.' Such considerations," adds Lord Mahon, " are by no 
 means destitute of weight." — Hist., ch. li., p. 5. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. \vn{ 
 
 \\iu. 
 
 " A person in administration informed me that lie had a doubt 
 of the expediency of the Act, (when it passed,) for changing the 
 Council ; and that he had mentioned my doubts, and also produced 
 my letters upon the subject, both in Lord Hillsborough's time and 
 since ; but the result of the Council in the affair of the Tea was 
 so exceptionable to the rest of the King's servants, that it was to 
 no purpose to oppose the measure. I warned the Council of the 
 consequence of that result ; and after the Tea was destroyed, I 
 knew it would enrage the powers here against the Council, more 
 than all they had done before. I have not yet seen Lord North, 
 He was expected in town yesterday. 
 
 " The King received me in his closet, and conversed near two 
 hours with unusual freedom and confidence, and surprised me to 
 find that he was so intimately acquainted with the affairs of 
 America, and of his Dominions in general : but I have wrote 
 largely to you by the New York ship upon this subject, and as 
 far as is proper to commit to writing.* 
 
 " I mentioned to you the distinguishing notice taken of me by 
 L* Dartmouth ; and a great number of persons of the first rank 
 are continually caUing upon me. Lord Hillsboro' came to town 
 last night, and this morning found me out, and made the strongest 
 professions of affection and esteem, and has charged me, whenever 
 anything does not go to my wish, to let him know it in Ireland, 
 intimating an interest in the King, which should be employed for 
 my benefit. Lord Mansfield has desired to see me as soon as the 
 sittings are over ; and I had a card to-day from Lord Hardwicke 
 at Eichmond, —a nobleman who declines anyplace in Government, 
 expressing his esteein, and desiring I would come to Eichmond, 
 and dine with him to-morrow. I have not seen Sir T. Bernard, 
 but he sent to me last night, desiring me to meet him at the 
 Encaenia'!' at Oxford to-morrow, assuring me of the honours of the 
 University ; but I shall not go. If anything occurs before the 
 mail is made up, I will write you further. — I am your Affectionate 
 Father, 
 
 "Tho. Hutchinson." 
 
 At the risk of offending the reader by giving one or two small 
 
 * As the Governor had only been a week in England when he wrote this 
 letter, the communication here alluded to must have been written near about 
 the same time — it may be a day or two, or two or three days before. No 
 such communication exists amongst the papers in England. 
 
 t In the London Mag. for 1773, p. 348, there is a full account of the 
 proceedings at the Encaenia for that year, with the receptions, levies, 
 granting degrees, musical performances, grand dinner, concert, ball. 
 
f,"??.] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCSINSOK 181 
 
 repetitions, tlie subjoined letter had better be given entire, as it 
 gives a few particulars of the first conversation that the Governor 
 had with Lord North. The letter is written to some friend in 
 America, but it does not say to whom.* 
 
 " London, 8 July, 1774. 
 "Dear Sir,— 
 
 " The passengers by this ship, not having yet left the 
 town, I can now acquaint you that last night I had a long 
 conference with Lord North at his house by appointment : that, / 
 in the course of it he said he was informed, (I rather think byV 
 the King), that I supposed an explicit declaration of submission 
 was requisite, in order to opening the Port of Boston. I answered 
 his Lordship that I was so far from supposing so, from anything 
 in the Act, that I rather thought it was designedly avoided. 
 Certainly, says he, we lay but little stress upon words and 
 declarations. Let the town, or some in their behalf, make satis- 
 faction for the Tea :| we shall consider that as one strong evidence >^ 
 of a return to duty. 
 
 " With respect to a change of the Constitution, I let his Lord* 
 ship know with great freedom and plainness, that when a measure 
 of that sort had been first proposed to me for my opinion, I had 
 desired that, at least, notice might be given to the Province, that 
 the King intended to bring the affair before the Parliament ; and 
 the Province being heard in their defence, an Act of Parliament 
 after that would be less grievous ; and perhaps the apprehensions 
 of such an Act might produce such a change of conduct as to 
 render it unnecessary. His Lordship immediately said, that the 
 behaviour of the Council and House had been such for some time 
 past as to render it necessary there should be a change, and that 
 it ought to have been done the last Session, upon the Declaration 
 of Independence, both by the Council and House : that the delay 
 had been occasioned by the state of affairs here in England : that, 
 in general, whatever measure had been proposed by the Ministers, 
 had also been opposed : but that all parties united in the necessity 
 of a change, in order to prevent the Colony from entirely throwing 
 of [off] their dependence : and after he had enlarged upon the 
 history of their proceedings, he added — I was therefore willing to 
 
 * Letter Book, folio size, covered with old marbled paper. It can be 
 found by the date. 
 
 t " I am sure they may depend upon [it] that they are in no danger of 
 further taxes, and nothing hinders the taking off the Tea duty, except the 
 denial of the authority that imposed it, which denial, it is said, having the 
 designed effect in this instance, will naturally extend to all other instances of 
 parliamentary authority." — Letter, Oct. 14, 1774. 
 
182 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \\^ll. 
 
 seize this opportunity, when all persons of all parties were of tlie 
 same mind, and though, in general, I well approve of your 
 proposal of giving opportunity of a full defence, yet, this par- 
 ticular case might well be excepted from the general rule, the 
 facts heing so gross and bo notorious : that he had long forbore, 
 in hope that we should see the extravagance of our actions, and 
 reform ; but his hopes were at an end : that he did not know but 
 we should make an attempt to obstruct the execution of the Act : 
 that we should find we were only hurting ourselves by the 
 attempt : that all the stir made by the manufacturers at the 
 time of the Eepeal of the Stamp Act, was by the contrivance of 
 the then Ministry : that he knew the people of Manchester had 
 been so used by the Colonies, that they chose to have no further 
 dealing with them : that they had found out a way to get their 
 goods through Spain to Spanish America, more to their advantage : 
 but he intimated, be that as it may, and notwithstanding the 
 Kingdom had long temporised with the Colonies, it was at last 
 fixed and determined. I find several gentlemen of character, 
 who had their doubts at the time of passing the Act, some of 
 whose sentiments I knew from my correspondence with them, 
 but they say now there is no going back. This is the state of 
 things. If my information is of any use to you and the Province, 
 my end is answered. — I am sincerely, Dear Sir, &c." * 
 
 We may now resume the thread of the Diary, which we dropped 
 immediately after the interview with the King, for the purpose of 
 introducing the above letters. 
 
 Continuation of the Diaby. 
 
 July 2nd. — Made a visit to M"' Montagu, a Master in Chan- 
 cery, and brother to Admiral Montagu, at Hampstead. 
 
 3rd. — ^At St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, where a 
 Curate officiated. 
 
 4th. — Visited M" Thompson, in St. James's Street, where was 
 Gen. Cholmondley. M"^ Thompson informed me he had sent 
 his powers to my sou, to take the care of his estate in New 
 England.! 
 
 "■ This letter contains as full a declaration of the opinions and determina- 
 tion of the Prime Minister, as perhaps any other in the collection. 
 
 t This is the Mr. Thompson, probably, to whom copies of several letters 
 are to be found in the Letter Books. 
 
mi.] i>I4Jjr AND LETTEB8 OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 183 
 
 5th. — M' Wedderburae,* the SoUicitor-General called upon 
 me. The conversation hapning to turn upon tho civil and 
 military command being united in General Gage, I mentioned 
 the doubt I had of my authority as Governor, to take upon me 
 the part of a Justice of Peace, and call upon the troops to fire, 
 in case of any riotous, violent resistance of the People. He 
 said the King's Law Servants seemed generally to be of that 
 opinion, and mentioned Lord Chancellor in particular, but, 
 says he, I own I am in doubt or not without doubt. 
 
 M' John Pownall called also, and among other things let 
 me know that he had not favoured the bill for altering the 
 Constitution. He thought that if the Governor would exert 
 himseK in using his negative, he might have a good Council ; 
 he knew I was not for breaking in upon, or taking away the 
 Charter, and he produced my letters to show what was my 
 mind ; but the Cabinet was so incensed by tlie late Proceedings, 
 that they determined to go thro' with their Plan. Lord 
 Mansfield pushed the matter, and upbraided them with their 
 late irresolution. Mr. Pownall said his plan was, to pass the 
 Port bill, and to send over Adams, Molineux, and other prin- 
 cipal Incendiaries ; try them, and if found guilty, put them to 
 death-t This, he said, seemed to be at one time the deter- 
 mination of the Cabinet ; and the Lords of tlie Privy Council 
 actually had their pens in their hands, in order to sign the 
 Warrant to apprehend them. He repeated it : — I say literally, 
 they had their peas in their hands, prepared to sign the War- 
 rant, when Lord Mansfield diverted it by urging the other 
 measures. 
 
 6th. — Dined with my sonf and daughter at Lord Gage's in 
 
 ' The Governor spells Wedderbum with a final "e." The reviewer of 
 Lecky's 'Hist, of Eng.,' in the Athenasum for May 13, 1882, admonishes 
 Lecky for the same thing. Doubling the " 1 " in solicitor is a Grallicism, or 
 remotely, a Latinism. Hapning and hapned are curious spellings for a man 
 who had had a college education, but they are general in his writings. And 
 it may be remembered, that men of the best grammatical training of the 
 period of the Spectator commonly used such expressions as it is wrote, for it 
 is vrritten, and ymi was, for you were, with some others. 
 
 t In a letter to Dr. Pemberton, dated July 25, in marble paper Letter 
 Book, this circumstance is mentioned and commented on, and in other places. 
 See also forward, August 14, where a correcter version is given. 
 
 ± Elisha's Diary says — "Dined at Lord Gage's in company with Lady 
 Gideon M' Morris, Commissioner of the Customs, M' Williams, Inspector 
 
184 LJARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [^f. 
 
 74. 
 
 Arlington Street, both Lord and Lady Gage having been so 
 civil as to visit us soon after our arrival. — M' Morris, . M"^ 
 Thompson, M' Williams, Inspector, and M' Jon* Williams, Jun., 
 dined also, and Lady Gideon. 
 
 7th. — By appointment at Lord Dartmoulh's, in order to be 
 introduced to the Queen; but the Levee was over.* As we 
 went in, I heard one of the Lords say to Ld. Dartmouth — The 
 
 King and W Hutchinson ; but could not hear the whole. 
 
 Another said to him, I know the Queen was disappointed in 
 not seeing Governor Hutchinson. Lord Suffolk treated me 
 with great politeness, aud was very particular in his enquiries. 
 — Ld. D. introduced me also to Lord Chancellor. Ld. Hills- 
 borough, who had called at my lodgings the day before, and 
 offered me every service, and desired me to let him know in 
 Ireland if things did not go to my mind, was also at Court, 
 and spoke to me. Dined at Lord Dartmouth's ; went with him 
 in his Coach to Blaikheath. M"^ Keene and his Lady, Lord 
 D.'s sister, W Pownall, M' Knox, and M' Legge, Ld, D.'s 
 nephew, the Company. Spent this evening until late at Ld. 
 North's, in Downing Street. 
 
 8th. — M' Jenkinson,t one of the Treasurers of Ireland, having 
 sent for me some days before, and excused his not calling, 
 being unwell, I made him a visit, and he entred upon a very 
 free conversation. He said — " M' T. [Temple] had the assur- 
 ance, about a week before he was out, to apply for an allowance 
 
 of the Customs at Boston, Jona. Williams Jun% M' Thompson, the Gov', 
 Billy, Peggy." 
 
 In a letter to his wife of July 12, he says — "Lord and Lady. Gage have 
 been extremely polite and civil. ' Wednesday we dined with them. You 
 would imagine, both from his appearance and manners, that he is twenty 
 years younger than his brother, which is attributed to the difference of 
 climates, General Gage having spent the last twenty years in America. But 
 nobody is old here. The Gov. mentioning some person at table, who he 
 supposed to be of his Lordship's age, he quick replied, Five-and-twenty I 
 suppose. Sir. Whatever is the cause, it is certain the people here bear age 
 much better than they do in America." 
 
 * The following occurs in a letter of July 7, 1774 : — 
 
 " I have not yet gone through half the ceremonies upon my arrival. Last 
 night I had a message to let me know I was expected to be at Court again 
 to-day, to be introduced to the Queen. Peggy is not ready to go with me. 
 It prevents me from adding something more." 
 
 t Mr. Jenkinson, subsequently Lord Hawkesbury and Earl of Liverpool. — 
 Adolphus, ii. 168. 
 
ml.] DIAST AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 185 
 
 for the Salary between his removal from his place of Com- 
 missioner at Boston, and his appointment to his new Office in 
 London. " Whether he got anything or no," says he, " I can't 
 tell. It hajmed just after this, that somehow or other they 
 got hold of some Letters which he had wrote to Boston. I 
 never knew," says he, " what they were, but I know they had 
 such Letters, and they were some time deliberating whether 
 they should have a publick hearing ; but finally they thought 
 it best to remove him without any noise. He told me a final 
 stop was put to the Ohio Grant ; that soon after Lord Hills- 
 borough resigned, one of the Ministry, who he named, and I 
 have forgot, who had greatly promoted it, altered his senti- 
 ments ; and that if he had done it sooner. Lord H. need not 
 have resigned, — that F.* had offered to resign all his share and 
 interest in the Grant, but he believed to no purpose ; it could 
 not go on." 
 
 After saying much of the delay of Administration to take 
 vigorous measures with the Colonies, he added, " and they 
 would not have been taken at last, if it had not been for Doctor 
 F.'s extraordinary letter, which he published relative to your 
 Letters.t This alarmed Administration, and convinced them 
 it was high time to exert themselves when so dangerous a con- 
 spiracy was carrying on against Government," It's probable 
 M^ T.'s letters might be such as evidenced his being concerned 
 with mine and the L. G. Letters, but I have no certainty, and 
 know not how they came by them. 
 
 July 9th. — Lord Hardwick had sent repeated billets, desiring 
 me to dine with him at Richmond ; both days I was engaged ; 
 in the latter he desired to see me at his house in Town this 
 day, where I waited upon his Lordship and spent an hour. He 
 entered largely into the late proceedings in Parliament, and 
 the share he had in them. He had been a favourer of the 
 Eocking" Administration, and still retains the principle of 
 the inexpediency of taxing the Colonies ; said the late proceed- 
 ings in Boston had alarmed him, and made him very active in 
 
 * This letter is very indistinct in the Diary. It may be an " F," or it 
 may be a " T." 
 
 t This must have been his letter in which he states that it was he who 
 sent the letters to America. 
 
186 BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. [f,*??. 
 
 promoting the late measures in Parliament. He often repeated, 
 that he had no apprehensions of rebellion, or forcible opposition 
 to the King's Troops ;* thought their combination & congress 
 dangerous ; wished when the duty was taken off from Painters' 
 colours, &c., it had been from Tea also, because it affected 
 everybody. That upon Molasses he said affected particular 
 Colonies. 
 
 He hoped as it was in the power of the Town of Boston to 
 free themselves from distress when they would, that it would 
 not continue long ; but that they would pay for the Tea, and 
 declare their submission. I made no doubt they would pay 
 for the Tea, and I hoped they would not oppose the Authority 
 of Parliam*.t Se thought that so many explicit declarations 
 against the authority made an explicit acknowledgment of it 
 necessary. I thought the Act did not seem to require it, and 
 mentioned Lord North's and Ld. D.'s sentiments ; and added 
 that actions spake louder than words ; and he seemed to agree 
 to it. He carried me oyer his house, and shewed his collection 
 of pictures, &c. 
 
 It had been proposed to me by W Paul Wentworth to 
 
 * Even the Governor, who may have heen expected to have well known 
 his countrymen, did not apprehend that they would venture to resist the 
 military power. He says as much in several parts of his Diary. 
 
 t " I am not only free from any share in these three Acts of P., but I am 
 also willing to own that they are so severe that if I had been upon the spot, 
 I would have done what I could, at least to have moderated them : and as to 
 the first of them, I have all the encouragem' possible to hope and believe, 
 that my being here wiU be the means by which the T[oWn] of B[oston] will 
 be relieved from the distress the Act brings upon it, more speedily and 
 effectually than otherwise it would have been. Lord D. has more than once 
 assured me that he is of the same opinion, and that he should have been 
 glad to have seen me here if he had no other reason for it than that alone. 
 
 "I wish for the good opinion of my countrymen, if I could acquire it 
 without disturbing the peace of my own mind. Those persons here who 
 they have always supposed their best friends, expressed themselves as favour- 
 able of my conduct, as those who are called their greatest enemies ; and L'' 
 Rockingham treats me w"" as great politeness, and makes as high professions 
 of esteem as L'' North." — Extract of a letter from Gov. H., in Ws own hand- 
 viriting, to Mr. Murray, bearing date July 23, 1774. Marble paper Letter 
 Book. 
 
 Again, from the same book, from a letter to Mr. Flucker, in his own 
 hand, he writes on July 25 : — 
 
 " I have, as I told you I would, improved the almost daily opportunities 
 afforded me, from the invitations of persons of the first rank, to make way 
 for the speedy relief of the T. of B. ; and I hope to receive such accounts from 
 thence, as shall give success to my endeavours." 
 
nil] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 187 
 
 wait upon Ld. RockiDgham, who he said would be much pleased, 
 and M"' M'^donough had bro't a message from Ld. Rockingham, 
 that he would be glad to see me, and should be in town at a 
 time mentioned ; but M' Wentworth informing me he was to 
 be in town to-day, I called upon his Ld.ship, who, after some 
 general conversation upon American affairs, and censuring M"" 
 Grenville's, and the late administrations, particularly the D. of 
 Grafton's, and Cha. Tow nsli end's, he observed that he under- 
 stood there had been a good harmony between me and Gov. 
 Wentworth. I answered. Very good, my Lord, except a short 
 coldness from some suspicions, that I had interested myself in 
 favour of M."^ Livius, iu which he was soon undeceived. He 
 said he was so glad it was so ; and went over M' Wentw° story 
 here, and the inducements he had to take a part in it. I pro- 
 fessed not to know much about it, not having seen the papers. 
 He gave me the report which he said he caused to be printed, 
 and appeared very warm, not only in the cause of the Governor, 
 but of M"^ Atkinson ; and blamed Lord D. for appointing M' 
 Livius Ch. Justice in his stead. 
 
 M' Livius had called upon me some days before, and said 
 that M' W. paid 500£ p ann. to M"^ Burke. 
 
 In the afternoon went over Westminster Biidge to Batter- 
 sea, and returned over Battersea Bridge thro' Chelsea. 
 
 July 10th. — At the Ijock Hospital. Doctor Madon preached 
 a serious orthodox sermon ; in his oratory short of my expecta- 
 tion ; the service performed with a greater appearance of 
 devotion than I had ever seen before ; scarce a person who 
 was not distinct and serious in the Responses; the singing 
 admirable, and a very full house. 
 
 July 11th. — Lord Edgecumb visited me ; remarkably plain iu 
 his dress, and the air and appearance of his employment — a 
 sea officer ; very polite, and invited me to Mount Edgecumb.* 
 
 12th. — Lord Townshend, who I supposed to be in the coimtry, 
 came suddenly to my lodgings, saying — " I am Lord Townshend. 
 I came unexpectedly to town, and am going out of town again 
 to-morrow. I should be glad to see you at Raynham, but 
 
 * The Governor made a tour through the south-western counties in 1779, 
 and visited Mount Edgeciunb, July 16. 
 
188 DIARY AND LETTEliS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [?",'{. 
 
 hope to improve our acquaintance when I come to town for the 
 winter." 
 
 I called upon M"^ Ellis, M'. Cornwall, Lord Barrington, and 
 Duke of Grafton ; all from home. 
 
 13th.— At M"^ Cornwall's w"" Col. Dalrymple. Found him 
 extremely inquisitive, sensible, well acquainted with the Mas- 
 sachusetts Constitution ; said that he was in favour of the 
 regulation of the Constitution, but he doubted of the Port Act, 
 seing the innocent as well as the guilty are involved in the 
 punishment ; and he thought the persons who had been guilty 
 of Treason ought to have been sent over and tried. Culled 
 upon M' Jackson, but not at home. 
 
 In the first volume of the marble paper-covered Letter Book, 
 there is a letter of the Governor's to some friend in America, in 
 which he expresses his strong dissent to the proposal of stopping 
 ' up the Port or Ports. The word is uncertain. If it is Port, it 
 would apply to Boston ; but if it is Ports, it would apply to the 
 southern Atlantic towns as well. The letter is the following : — 
 
 " London, 14"' July, 1774. 
 " Sir,— 
 
 " When your bUl appears, it shall be duly honoured. I 
 should be very sorry if my opinion should bring the least incon- 
 venience upon you ; but I cannot refuse giving it when you ask it. 
 I think the proposal of stopping up the Ports [it appears to be in 
 ' the plural] is so extravagant, that if the town of Boston had been 
 all of one mind, the seaport towns in the other Colonies would 
 never have acceded to it ; but when they find, by their Address to 
 me, and afterwards to General Gage, that by far the greater part 
 of the men of character in Boston are for measures incompatible 
 with such a proposal, I conceive there is very little danger of a 
 compliance in any Colony. Indeed, if any colony or town should 
 attempt such a measure, it could not succeed. I would not give 
 credit to men of whose honour or abilities I had any degree of 
 doubt, lest they should make the trouble of America a pretence of 
 delay ; but with good men I think you run no risque. My advices 
 to the G"" of June are that the opposition to Government lost 
 ground, and that there was no encouragement from their corre- 
 spondence in the other Colonies. I have never had but one plan 
 for the government of America. The supremacy of Parliament 
 must never be given up. This part of the plan has lost my 
 
uill BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTGHINSON. 189 
 
 1J14.J 
 
 popularity, and brought upon me all the trouble and danger which 
 I have laboured under for eight or nine years together. On the 
 other hand I wish the legislatures of the Colonies the full enjoy- 
 ments, and especially in matters of taxation, of every power con- 
 sistent with this supremacy. Upon any plan which the Kingdom 
 and the Colonies are no longer one Empire. [The preceding 
 sentence is imperfect.] As there never was an administration 
 more disposed to adopt both parts of this plan, I cannot but hope 
 an adherence to it will bring about a reconciliation. I am, &c." 
 
 The above letter contains some very plain statements. It is not 
 in the Governor's hand, but apparently more like Elisha's. 
 
 It is necessary to extend this note with another letter written 
 by the Governor from London to some friend in Boston, whose 
 name is not recorded, but who evidently held an influential 
 position. It occurs in the same Letter Book, and has been entered 
 there by Elisha, judging by the handwriting. Governor H. men- 
 tions the satisfaction he feels at the steps taken to satisfy the 
 East India Company for the loss of the tea ; alludes to his dislike 
 to the Port Bill, which followed the destruction of the tea ; ex- 
 presses his sympathies for the distressed Americans shut up in 
 Boston ; speaks of his constant endeavours among persons in high 
 places in England, to intercede for the purpose of relaxing or 
 mitigating those distresses; maintains, however, that it will be 
 impossible for him to succeed in obtaining milder terms unless the 
 supremacy of Parliament is acknowledged ; and if it be doubtful 
 whether the evidence is sufficient, he recommends a humble peti- 
 tion to the King in Council. Alas I the frame of mind which 
 then pervaded the Americans precluded all likelihood of any such 
 submission. The following is the letter : — 
 
 "London, 20 July, 1774. 
 " Dear Sir,— 
 
 " I am much obliged to you for your account of the state 
 of affairs, by Kobson. I have, under cover to General Gage, 
 repeatedly wrote to you upon the state of our affairs here, but 
 with some caution. I can now write with greater freedom, because 
 I have seen many other persons whose sentiments have been of 
 use to me, and I am fully satisfied that such an acquience [over- 
 sight for acquiescence] as I have pointed out, without any explicit 
 declaration, will obtain the relief we wish for, though I am as 
 well satisfied, that if it had not been for the opportunities I have 
 had with the King and with his Ministers, the idea of the necessity 
 
J 
 
 190 DIAST AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. P",'f. 
 
 or propriety of such a submission would have remained with, a 
 great part of those concerned in promoting the Act, and I believe 
 with the General also, who would have received nothing from 
 Administration to explain the first instructions given him. I 
 cannot but therefore hope that the measures which you shall have 
 taken for satisfying the East India Company for the loss of their 
 Tea, and the evidence which you shall have given of a disposition 
 to promote order, and a due submission to government, will enable 
 , me to obtain for you the desired relief before I can have an answer 
 to this letter. If it shall be doubtful, especially if it be doubtful 
 with the Governor [Gage], whether the evidence is sufficient, I 
 must recommend an humble Petition to the King in Council, from 
 as many of the principal inhabitants and proprietors of estates in 
 the town of Boston as can be obtained ; and I think it would be 
 best to confine it to the inhabitants and proprietors, setting forth 
 your distress; disapproving of all t he late violen t measures in 
 opposition to government ; declaring your desire always to remain 
 part of the Empire and Dominion of Great Britain ; humbly hoping 
 for the enjoyment of every of the Liberties and Privileges of 
 English subjects, which can consist with your local situation ; and 
 signifying your resolution to do everything in your power to 
 maintain government and order, or which would be better, if it 
 can be obtained, using the words of your address to Gen' Gage ; 
 signifying your rewolution to do everything requisite on your part 
 / that the terms of the Act may he complied with. This is the best 
 advice I can give you, and I hope will have its effect, being 
 founded upon a hint from L* D., who is friendly to the Province 
 and to me personally beyond conception ; and if there had been 
 any man without guile, I should have determined that he was 
 such an one, and I hope to send you the Olive Branch, if I should 
 not be able to bring it. I cannot judge what has been the effect of 
 the two last Acts, nor what particular parts you refer to as bearing 
 upon your rights more than the rest. I am told some alteration 
 was made from the BUls which you have received. Indeed, when 
 I found, on my arrival, very contrary to my expectations, that 
 Buch Acts had [passed ?] I determined it could be to no purpose at 
 present to say anything about them. I could not avoid hearing 
 the history of them. M' Pownall (the Sec^) told me he did every- 
 thing he could to prevent the Bill for altering the Council, and 
 that he produced my letters to L'' H. and to him to shew that I 
 had been against it. One of the Lords of the Treasury and a 
 Member of Parliament, told me he had been of the same opinion ; 
 but then, both of them were for a measure which would have been 
 
ml] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 191 
 
 deemed as grievous. They were for seizing six or eight persons, 
 and sending them over for trial ; and for a time this seemed to be 
 the determination, until L'' M., whose opinion in such cases carries 
 all before it, declared for the necessity of the first measure, and 
 was much inclined that the last should accompany it, and steered 
 the business in such a channel, as that the last has not been given 
 up, though it was not absolutely entered upon as had been pro- 
 posed. I have had a long conversation at different times, both 
 with L* Mansfield and with the L* Ch — r, both of whom have 
 treated me with singular marks of favour. They both say that 
 the Government will never recede from its present resolution to 
 maintain the supremacy of Parliament, but then they both declare 
 against encreasing taxes upon the Colonies, or laying any tax for 
 the sake of revenue. The former told me there was not a man of 
 any party but what agreed to the necessity of Parliament inter- 
 posing to support its authority, though the [they ?] did not agree 
 upon the mode ; and I heard, said he. Lord — himself declare, 
 that the Speech said to be made by him in the House of Commons, 
 upon the repeal of the Stamp Act, was not true : that he never 
 intended any more than to assert the inexpediency of Parliament 
 taxing America, in which, says L* M., I could join with him, and 
 that he had declared himself so fully, both in Parliament, and in 
 another way, which must come to the knowledge of the Americans, 
 as that he should have no more statutes erected among them. I 
 have been extremely civiUy treated by the New England Factors, 
 who have expressed their desire that I would use my endeavours 
 for the restoration of the trade of the town, and declare they 
 place a great dependance on my representations. I receive the 
 aid I hope for from your side the water ; they will not be dis- 
 appointed. I have laid a plan of travelling through several parts 
 of the kingdom ; and unless I am called by the advices from New 
 England, shall be but little in town during the summer ; but as I 
 expect to see persons of influence in the country, may be more 
 serviceable to you than if I remained in town. — I am, &c." 
 
 Elisha's Diary says : — 14. The Governor introduced to tho 
 Queen by Lord Suffolk ; Peggy by Lady Mary Boulby. 
 
 14th. — I was introduced to the Queen by Lord Suffolk, Lord D. 
 being absent ; and my daughter by Lady Boulby, Lady D. 
 desiring it of her, not being able to go to Court herself. The 
 K. enquired after my health, as did the Queen. — Lord Chan- 
 cellor, Lord Mansfield, the Attorney General, Sollicitor General, 
 
192 DIAB7 AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ml. 
 
 Lord Sanwich, M' Keane, Governor Eden, General Harvey, 
 Sir James Porter, all welcomed me to England, &c. Lord 
 Suffolk was extremely kind. In the afternoon went to Hamp- 
 stead to M"^ Montagu's, wbo was from home. 
 
 15th. — At Lincolnsinn and Symonds Inn; saw M' Montagu 
 at the latter. "Went with him to Lincoln's Inn Hall, hoping 
 to speak with the SoUicitor General ; but he, being engaged 
 in a cause, consulted M' Jackson upon two Letters I had 
 received from M' Temple, repeatedly desiring a meeting with 
 me. M"^ Jackson pitied T. : said he believed I did not wish to 
 see any man distressed : that he had no intimacy : thought he 
 had been hardly used by the Commissioners. I did not 
 contradict him. Upon the whole, he doubted the prudence 
 of my meeting him. M' Montagu was clear I ought not to see 
 him upon any account : and after parting w'" M' Jackson, 
 expressed himself more strong, and gave a further reason that 
 I should give offence to the Ministry, by entring \si6\ into any 
 sort of treaty with him. 
 
 M"' Madox, a Counsellor, said to be most indefatigable in 
 business, makes 8000£ a year by his practice. 
 
 In conversation with Gov. Pownall, who called upon me, 
 he supposed an explicit submission from Massachusetts Province 
 made requisite by the Act. 
 
 Dined w'" M' John Pownall at Vanburgh fields.* Gov. 
 Eden, M' Hay, Chief Justice of Canada, Sir Tho. Mills, and 
 M' Cumberland, in the Plantation Office, and my daughter. 
 
 July 16. — Dined with Lord Suffolk at Bushy Park.f Lord 
 Chancellor, M' Knox, M' Bagot, of the company. Never met 
 with greater civility than from Lord Suffolk. Before dinner 
 he asked if I knew how D' F. came by the Letters ? I said I 
 knew nothing but from the letter he pubh'shed. " We know," 
 says his Lordship, " that ace' is not true." Have you certain 
 evidence. My Lord ? " Yes, we have certain evidence that it is 
 not true ; and we know where he had the Letters." Came home 
 w* Lord Chancellor in his chariot. 
 
 » "^The Gov' and Peggy dined at M' Pownall's at Vanburgh Fields." — 
 Elisha H.'s Diary, 
 t " 16.— Dined at Lord Suffolk's at Bushy Park."— TJirf. 
 
mfl DIABYAND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 193 
 
 1174.J 
 
 17th. — At the Dissenting Meeting in Princes Street.* 
 
 Dined with Lord Mansfield at his seat at Kenwood, in 
 company with the Lord Chief Baron, M' Hartley, Langley, 
 Strange, Adams, his L^ship's Architect or Planner of his fine 
 seat. Sir Thomas Mills, and the famous Bruce, just arrived 
 from Abyssinia ; whose travels engrossed all the conversation. 
 L* Mansfield, among other things, wondered I persevered so 
 long, seeing I was without any assurance of support from 
 administration, there being no dependence upon measures. 
 
 July 18. — Dined with M' Corbyn Morris, Commissioner of 
 the Customs, at Wimbledon, together with Mons' Garnier, 
 Secr'^ to the French Ambassador, and now Charge des [sic] 
 Affaires, and the Chevalier de Moutier, Counsellor to the 
 Embassy, both sensible, polite, and surprisingly acquainted 
 with the dispute between the Kingdom and the Colonies, and 
 well acquainted ^vith the Massachusetts Colony in particular. 
 
 There were also M' Main, a Banker in Lombard Street, 
 and M^ John Williams, and my two sons. 
 
 Elista, in his Diary, writes : — 
 
 "18. Dined with the Gov' and Billy, at M' Corbyn Morris's, 
 Comm' of CustomB at Wimbledon, — the company, Mens. Gamier, 
 the French Charge des [sic] Affaires, and the Chevalier de Moutier, 
 CounceUor [sic'] to the Embassy ; both very sensible and agreeable. 
 M' Main, a Banker in Lombard Street, and M' Williams. In the 
 Evening at Marybone Gardens." 
 
 The above is almost worded like the Governor's account. 
 
 * Dr. Kippia was the Minister. Born 1723 ; educated under Doddridge ; 
 settled at Boston, Lino. ; then Dorking ; then Princes Street, Westminster, in 
 1753. In 1763 he was philological tutor in Coward's Academy ; D.D. Edin. ; 
 a laborious and clever writer ; died 1795. 
 
 " Kenwood, Sunday morning, 10" July, 1774. 
 
 " Lord Mansfield presents his compliments to Governor Hutchinson, and 
 hopes it will be convenient to him to dine with Lord Mansfield at Kenwood 
 on Sunday next, 17"" ins*. He is sorry that he cannot with certainty name 
 an earlier day to Grovemor Hutchinson, as Lord Mansfield is not sure when 
 he can finish his sittings in London. 
 
 " Sir Thomas Mills will try to see Governor Hutchinson in the course of 
 the week, that he might direct him the way to Kenwood, in case the 
 Governor should not know it."— Original Letters, vol. i., blue leather back. 
 
 O 
 
194 BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \{^]l. 
 
 The following is an extract from an original letter by Elisha to 
 Lis wife, bearing date July 12 : — 
 
 " You will perhaps, like to hear how we are settled. "We have 
 taken lodgings in Parliament Street, Westminster, just within the 
 town, near three miles from the Exchange, a small walk before 
 dinner. We have a handsome drawing-room, a dining room, four 
 chambers, and a kitchen, well furnished, besides rooms for servants. 
 The Governor has bought a coach, and taken a Coachman, Foot- 
 man, and Cook. He is looking out for a house in the country, a 
 few miles from London, and intends in a few days, to make a visit 
 to Sir r. Bernard at Ailsbury, [sic] about 30 miles. Most of the 
 Nobility and gentry are out of town : some of them have called on 
 the Gov' and others have invited him to come and spend more or 
 less of his time at their country seats. Miss Murray is still with 
 us : her father has been to see her, and I suppose she will go home 
 to Norwich in a few days." 
 
 " 20. The Gov' dined at M' Wedderbum's the SoUicitor General. 
 In a post-chaise with Mess" Copely and Clarke to Greenwich: 
 dined with M' Wheately at M' Enderby's ; after dinner walked in 
 the Park : took a view of the country from One-Tree HUl ; visited 
 the Hospital, and went on board the Queen's Yatch." [sic] — ^Elisha's 
 Diary. And from the entry of July 11, it seems that Mr. Copley, 
 the painter, had then just arrived from America. He continues — 
 
 "21. About eight o'clock AM. set out for Aylesbury in a post- 
 chaise with the Gov' and Peggy, and arrived at S' Francis 
 Bernard's about two o'clock, where we dined in company with 
 Lord and Lady Say and Seal. 
 
 "22. Walked with S' Francis and the Gov' about two miles, 
 and had a full view of S' William Lee's elegant seat, gardens, 
 walks, &c., which exceeds anything of the kind I have yet seen. 
 
 " 23. Instead of proceeding to Oxford as we intended, Peggy 
 being unwell, we returned to London." 
 
 19th. — At Kichmond with Gov. Pownall and Lady Fawkener 
 [his wife] : only two ladies, Lady Shore and Miss Vansittart, 
 sister to the East India Supervisor, lost at sea, and my daughter. 
 Gov. Pownall shewed me a speech in the London Evening Post, 
 ■w"" he said, those fellows found a way to come at, and that 
 they were often very false, but this was nigh the thing. In 
 this speech he declares that when he was Gov. of the Mass' he 
 never made any scruple of acting without the Council, in civil 
 as well as military matters of government, implying blame 
 
\ih2 DI-AHy -AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTOEINSON. 195 
 
 upon me for declining to act in the affair of the Tea without 
 the advice of Council. I knew from the speech that he must 
 have given a copy to the Printer, being so long used to his 
 stile [sic] as well as sentiments. I asked him if he could 
 recollect any instance wherein he had acted, or could act, 
 without the Council in any civil matter ? He answered — In 
 every instance. — Mention one. — In alL — But recollect one. — 
 He repeated — All : and there it ended ; his own house being 
 an unfit place to carry the dispute any further, [Alluded to 
 in Letter, July 25.] 
 
 20th. — Dined with M' Wedderburne the SoUicitor General, 
 in Line* Inn Fields, in comp^ with the Att° General, with M' 
 Ambler, King's Counsel, M' Jacksou, and MJ M"Namarra, a 
 Coimsellor at Law. 
 
 21st. — Set out with my daughter and son E. in a post-chaise 
 to Ailesbury, and dined with Sir F. Bernard, in comp^ with 
 Lord Say and Lady Say, who are both persons of moderate 
 abilities, and Lord Say of a moderate fortune, about 700£ p an. 
 I asked his Lordship how many removes he was from his 
 predecessor in K. Charles the first and second time. I found 
 he knew little or nothing about his pedigree. 
 
 July 22nd. — Walked with Sir F. B. between two and three 
 miles to Sir WUliam Lee's ground, and most elegant seat, 
 and took a full view of his house, walks, kitchen garden, 
 &c. 
 
 Sir Francis I found more altered by a paralitick shock than 
 I expected, tho' the accounts had been unfavourable. His 
 intellectual powers however, not sensibly impaired. We had 
 [a] long conversation upon old affairs in New England, as well 
 as more recent, since he left it. He mentioned, among other 
 things, that he apologised to L" Mansfield for appointing me 
 Chief Justice, not having been bred to the law ; adding that he 
 had no cause to repent it. Lord Chief Justice Wilmot being 
 
 by, broke out with an oath, " By he did not make a worse 
 
 Chief Justice for that ! " 
 
 Upon Aylesbury Par. records find this — "John the son of 
 John ForriBt baptised the 26 of April 1652." Forrist, Forrester, 
 and Foster, are all one name. My G. father I suppose was 
 
 2 
 
196 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEIN80N. \i^l 
 
 born at Aylesbury, & in 1652, and his own name and his 
 father's John. 
 
 July 23rd. — My daughter being not well, I changed my 
 intention of going to Oxford, and returned to London thro' 
 Beckhamstead and Watford, our route out being through 
 Uxbridge and Missenden. 
 
 24th. — At the Tabernacle in Tottenham Court, and the 
 Meeting in Prince's Street : the former exceedingly crowded. 
 A stranger out of the country preached — Kinsman — not 
 brilliant. At the latter a young candidate — Sawyer — took 
 pains not to be orthodox. There was this singularity in the 
 former assembly : — When the Minister in his prayer used any 
 more striking petition, or any like ejaculatory expression in 
 his sermon, there was a sort of solemn hum [?] in an Amen, 
 sounded low, by what I thought a select, tho' large number, 
 and I suspect placed in a Gallery, which had something of the 
 property of the Sounding Gallery at St. Paul's. This may be 
 literally said to be artificial devotion. It was done with 
 propriety as well as great solemnity. 
 
 July 25th. — Went into the city : visited M' Grant and 
 M"^ Heard, where left cards. Saw M^ Palmer in Devonshire 
 Square. In the evening rode with my children to Kensington, 
 and walked in the Gardens. 
 
 26th. — Dined with my two sons at Lord Chancellor's. The 
 entertainment most elegant. M' Jackson, M' Scott, and M' 
 Stanley, Secretary of the Customs. Lord Chancellor sent and 
 desired to put off the dinner till the next day, being Levee 
 Day, when company would be in town ; but I could not tho' I 
 wished it, being preingaged \sie\. Talking of longaevity. Lord 
 Chancellor said that his father's (Lord Bathurst's) grandfather 
 was born in the reign of Henry the Eighth, which must be 
 about two hundred and thirty years ago ; and a house which 
 he built in Queen Elizabeth's reigu is now standing. Lord 
 Bathurst is living in enjoyment of health of body and mind, 
 above ninety. This is more extraordinary than the instance 
 of Gov. Dudley of N. Eng., who was a Capt. of horse imder 
 H. the 4 of France in the 16* century, and two of his grand- 
 daughters are now living. 
 
 T 
 
mf.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCSINSON. 197 
 
 27th.— Dined with Peggy at M' Keene's.* Lord Hertford, 
 Lord North, Lord Lewisham, and M' W" Legge, L"^ Dart- 
 mouth's sons ; M' North and Lady Dartmouth, the latter, as 
 well as M" Keene, shewing great civility to my daughter. I 
 had spent an evening with Lord North about a fortnight before. 
 
 28th. — Dined at the Attorney Generars,t in company with 
 the SoUicitor General, M' Jackson, and M'' Eden, brother to 
 Governor Eden of Maryland. 
 
 29th.— At M' Welbore Ellis's at Twickenham,! in the house 
 which was M"^ Pope's, and afterwards S' W" Stanhope's, who 
 gave it for life to M' Ellis. The company were Lord Hertford, 
 Lord Beauchamp, S' Geo. Pococke, Col. Dabymple, M' Egar, 
 M" Ellis, and I think M' Egar. 
 
 M"' Pope's Grotto and gardens, as well as the fine situation 
 of the house, are well known. S' "W" added two wings with 
 bow windows in each story [sic], and the new apartments are 
 most elegant. One room is furnished with original antique 
 Bustos, cineral urns, and vases which are more entire and 
 perfect than perhaps so great a number anywhere in the world. 
 An Egyption statue or idol of oriental (dark speckled) marble, 
 and a Lamb upon an altar, dead, are highly extolled. § 
 
 I have never yet dined where the conversation turned upon 
 more useful subjects. The principal was the case of the 
 Kingdom and the Colonies. Lord Hertford and Lord D. both 
 expressed their sense of the hard case of the Colonies under > 
 taxation, and when I mentioned that whenever they ought to 
 bear part of the burden, a requisition might be made, the two 
 Lords seemed to wish it ; but M' Ellis represented the objec- 
 
 * «' 
 
 ' 27. The Gov' and. Peggy at Whitshed Keene Esq'., brother-in-law to 
 L' D., and Member for Montgomery. In the Eve at Marybone Gardens." — 
 Elisha's Diary. 
 
 t " 28th. The Governor dined at M' Thurloe's, the Attorney General." — 
 Ibid. 
 
 X " 29th. The Governor dined at M' Ellis's at Twickenham, in the [house] 
 that belonged to M' Pope."— 76id 
 
 § Strawberry Hill has been sold at last, and the Walpole-Waldegrave 
 connection, which has existed from the day of its building, is finally dissolved. 
 The purcluiser is Baron H. de Stem, who intends to reside in the historic 
 house and to preserve the estate intact. Oirinions may differ about the 
 architecture and the taste of Strawberry Hill, but so long as associations keep 
 fresh their charm, Horace Walpole's house will remain one of the most 
 interesting in England. — July, 1883. 
 
198 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCEINSON. [mf. 
 
 tions in so strong a light as to stagger them. They all agreed 
 that the whole indivisible supream \sie] authority never could 
 be parted with. " IP H." says Lord B., " y" controversy with 
 your Assembly has set that point in so clear, so convincing 
 a light, that it never will be denied again. We used to have 
 it in all debates thrown in our way, but not one word was said 
 against it in either House of Parliament during the whole 
 business of the Colonies last session." 
 
 30th. — Entertained such New England men as had visited 
 me. M' Oopely,* Clark, Whately, D"^ Tyler, Green, and the 
 two Whitworths : the other M"' Tyler I invited, but he excused 
 himself, being just about to embark for Boston. 
 
 31st. — At the Meeting in the Old Jewry.t where M"^ White 
 preached : and at M' Eomaine's, St. Bennet's, Paul's Wharffe, 
 where a gent preached, as well as read prayers, who we heard 
 read prayers at the Lock. Nobody stood up at singing : all 
 did at the Lock. 
 
 Lord Gage and Sir Sampson Gideon called upon me. L" 
 Gage repeated his invitation to visit him in the country. 
 
 Aug. 1. — Went into the city to visit M' Woolridge, who 
 lives in the Crescent near the Tower ; afterwards went to the 
 Tower.t After visiting the principal places, could find nobody 
 who had any knowledge of the room where the Earl of Essex 
 cut his throat, until I visited the Deputy Lieutenant M'' 
 Eainsford, an old gentleman near eighty, and very decrepid. 
 He received me very politely, and shewed me the room, which 
 appears to be in the same state it then was, and which, with 
 the yard and passages round, I viewed with curiosity, in order 
 to compare with the accounts given of the fact. The appart- 
 ments are mean, and short of those where state prisiners have 
 of late been lodged. Though they are short of what I expected, 
 and are at other times occupied by the OfiBcers in the Tower, 
 
 * "30. Mess" Clarke, Copely, Green, Whately, Tyler, and the two M' 
 Whitworths, dined with the Governor." — Elisha's Diary. 
 
 t " 31. At the Old Jewry Meeting House : M' White preached. In the 
 afternoon at St. Bennet's, Paul's Wharfe." — Ihid. 
 
 % "August 1. With the Governor and Peggy in the city to visit M' 
 Woolridge in the Crescent ; and afterwards went to see the curiosities in the 
 Tower. In the evening at Foote's Theatre in the Hay Market to see The 
 Cozeners, with The Devil to pay." — Ihid. 
 
ml:] DI^SY AND LETTEES OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 199 
 
 have no appearance of prisons ; and when any person is com- 
 mitted for a capital offence, iron bars are fixed in the windows : 
 for other prisoners no alteration is made. The late Lord 
 Mayor, M' Oliver, Wilkes, «&c., being suffered to walk where 
 they pleased about the Tower, and all sorts of persons to visit 
 them, so that they are subject to little inconvenience, except 
 the expense of the fees, w"" in party affairs, may be made 
 a general burden. 
 
 Aug. 2nd. Letters from Boston by Admiral Montagu, who 
 arrived at Portsmouth the 31^. Account of the Dissolution 
 of the Assembly, and other unpleasing things. Sent my letters 
 to Lord D. 
 
 M' Pownall communicated to me General Gage's letter. 
 Dined with M' Jackson, Attorney, and SoUicitor General, and 
 M' Ambler in company. M'^ Jackson had seen T. : seemed 
 not to like my mentioning his name : advised me to see T. 
 I told him I v/ould first consult Lord D., or some of the 
 Ministry." 
 
 Thomas Hutchinson, Junr., to his brother Elisha. Original 
 
 " Milton, July 28, 1774. 
 " Dear Brother, — 
 
 " I wrote to the Gov' under cover to you by a Bristol 
 vessel, which sailed a few days agoe [sic], I just hear a vessel 
 is ready to sail from Plimouth. I am not willing she should 
 go without a line. I was in town yesterday : a Town Meeting 
 was held the day before, and I hear a Committee of Safety were 
 
 chosen, M' B n [ ] at the head. We seem to be 
 
 copying Cromwell's times, but have not yet heard a Protector 
 talked off [sic]. 'Tis melancholy to see the state of the town of B., 
 though the Newspapers teU us large colleotions are making 
 throughout the provinces, and no doubt they can afford to give 
 something for all our trade. Our latest ace" from England are of 
 the 14 May : a Man of Warr [sic] is hourly expected with the new 
 Acts of Parliament. I wish I could write you I saw any ap- 
 pearance of an alteration for the better in affairs here. I have 
 given up the store, and shall endeavour to settle all our ace" as 
 soon as possible, and if I can, will remit M' Palmer £500 by this 
 ship, having bought the BUI, but not received it from town. I 
 am, in haste, your Affectionate Brother, 
 
 " Tho. Hutchinson, Jun'. 
 
200 JDIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [t^l 
 
 " P.S. I desire you to buy me a chain for a Lady's watcli. I 
 think Peggy told me hers cost ahout 2 Guineas, and I tho't it 
 handsome. Let there be two appendages on each side the chain, 
 and I will repay you when I know the cost. 
 
 "Elisha Hutchinson, Esq. New England Coffee House, Lon- 
 don." 
 
 From Peggy, in London, to Elisha's wife at Plymouth, Mass. 
 Original letter. 
 
 " London, Parliament Street, August 2, 1774. 
 " My Dear Polly, — 
 
 " Is it possible I should be in London a month and not 
 have wrote to you? Had anybody told me such a thing 
 would happen, before I came away, I should not have believed 
 them : but I am going to make up for all, and intend jfco get a 
 very long letter ready for Callahan [captain of the ship tho 
 Governor came over in]. I received your letters about three 
 hours ago : need I say they gave me the greatest pleasure ? You 
 wish for an account of what has passed since we saw each other ; 
 it seems a little age since the chariot drove from the door and 
 conveyed me from so many dear friends, to suffer more than I 
 should have thought possible for me to have borne. I had not 
 left you many hours before I was the most miserable creature on 
 earth : it is impossible for me to describe or give you any idea of 
 what I endured the first fortnight : the second was bad enough, 
 and I am not yet what I used to be. Your beloved has I suppose 
 given you an account of our passage, though I recollect nothing 
 material except the death of poor Mark, which happened when 
 we were about half way over. London my dear is a world in 
 itself : you ask me how I like it ? very -well for a little while : it 
 will do to see once in ones life, and to talk of ever after : but I 
 would not wish to fix my abode here. In the country methinks, 
 had I my friends with me, I could not but be happy : for seventy 
 miles round it is a perfect garden, and exceeds all that the most 
 romantic fancy could paint. I cannot say much in favour of the 
 climate : the weather has been as cold as our Novembers, and 
 excessively damp, except two or three days, and I have not been 
 free from a cold since I came. 
 
 " I must not forget to tell you I have been presented to their 
 Majesties, and met with a most gracious reception, but must leave 
 the particulars for the next ship, being very much hurried at 
 present. There was not tho least occasion for an apology for not 
 ■writing by Eobson [captain of a particular ship]. I knew you 
 
m5l DIAMT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTGHINSON. 201 
 
 1VJ4.J 
 
 had time to write but to one [Elielia], and therefore could not 
 expect it. The "Watchmen are just telling me 'tis past ten o'clock, 
 which is but the beginning of our evenings ; but as I have another 
 letter to write to go to-morrow, I must bid you good night. 
 Eemember me to all friends, papa [in-law. Col. Watson] and sister 
 Sally [Dr. P. Oliver's wife] in particular, and accept the best 
 wishes of your very affectionate Sister, 
 
 "M. Hutchinson. 
 
 " P.S. Papa sends his love to you : mine to Nurse if she is with 
 you : tell her I wanted her to hold my head." 
 [Poor girl ! Probably she means on board ship.] 
 
 From Governor H. in London to his son Thomas H. in America. 
 Original letter in his own handwriting, in the blue leather-back 
 Letter Books, vol. i. : — 
 
 " London, 3" August, 1774. 
 " My Dear Son,— 
 
 "Since my other letters by this ship, Admiral Montagu 
 is arrived, and brings not very agreeable news — but I am not 
 discouraged. There are so many persons of weight who now 
 openly appear in support of government, and so many more 
 who secretly think with them, that I cannot but hope they will 
 in a short time prevail ; especially when they find how they are 
 duped by Pensylvania and New York, who have ordered double 
 the quantity of goods ever known, in order to supply, not only all 
 Connecticut, but our Province, who have not ordered, or cannot 
 obtain credit for half the quantity they used to import. This I 
 have from those Merchants who ship both to Pensylvania, and 
 York, as well as Boston. Lord North gives himself no concern, 
 or at least, he appears unconcerned j and says that order and 
 government must take place in the Colonies, whether it be sooner 
 or later depends upon themselves : in the mean time they can hurt 
 nobody but themselves. 
 
 "I desired you to send several things by some vessel in the 
 fall ; but I was so engaged that I had not time to take a copy of 
 the letter. Don't forget the Cranberries, at least six or eight 
 bushels ; but let somebody be employed to get the largest and 
 fairest, and when they are come to their colour, and not too ripe. 
 When you have leisure, I should be glad of a list of the volumes 
 that are wanting in the principal sets of books in the Bookcase, 
 as it may be possible to compleat some of them. Send me the 
 dimensions of the parlour floor at Boston. There was a very 
 large cheese came from Stonnington, which I thought your undo 
 
202 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, {tnl 
 
 LH74. 
 
 had sent : if it remains I could wish to have it to make a present 
 of. I can't obtain the Boston newspapers, therefore desire you to 
 inclose them by every vessel, either one of Monday's or Thursday's, 
 as you find them best. If you .make up a packet, and let it come 
 under the Governor's [Gage's] cover to Lord Dartmouth or M' 
 Pownall, for I have permission from both, it will save postage, 
 and I wish my friends in general would give you their letters to 
 come the same way. 
 
 " I designed to have filled up this sheet, and to have wrote 
 some other letters, but was obliged to go to Court, and from 
 thence to dine with the East India Directors, which has so taken 
 up the time, that I must close with telling you that I am your 
 Affectionate Father, 
 
 "Tho. Hutchikson. 
 
 " The August Mail is closing, and I can write no letter by it." 
 
 In vol. i. of the old marble paper-cover Letter Books, under 
 date July 19, there is a long letter by the Governor to Chief 
 Justice Oliver in America, the first half of which has apparently 
 been entered by Elisha's hand, and the last by the Governor 
 himself. It opens by alluding to the death of the Lieut.-Govemor : 
 gives the reasons for not nominating a relative as his successor : 
 and runs through several other points, not, however, sufiSciently 
 new to justify a long extract : and then there occur some remarks 
 on topics nearer home, that may be transcribed here verbatim. 
 They are the following : — 
 
 " I dined yesterday w"" L* Mansfield at Kenwood, a most elegant 
 place, and the entertainm' as elegant : but my whole attention 
 was placed upon M' Bruce the Abissinian traveller, who is just 
 come to Eng^ and was invited to din[ner]. I hope to give you a 
 full ace' of his travels one time or other ; but I mention L* M. to 
 introduce what he said to me. After the highest encomiums upon 
 every part of my conduct, and particularly the controversy upon 
 Independency, he expressed his surprise at my perseverance, 
 when I had no assurance of support from the Min', their councUs 
 being fluctuating and undetermined: but, says he, they are at 
 last determined, and they are now gone too far to recede ; and at 
 all events the supremacy of P[arliament] wiU be maintained. 
 This, he added, is the sense of the whole nation. Lord Cha' 
 
 , himself, says he shall have no more statues erected : nay, says 
 L* M., he declared to me, he never did say what was attributed to 
 
 , him — that Parlia' had no right to tax America : and never 
 
^,"J5:1 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 203 
 
 n74.J 
 
 intended any more than that a Boheme of taxation of Amer. was 
 utterly inexpedient : in which, says L* M., I conld heartily have 
 joined with him. 
 
 " The day before Lord Ch[ancellor], who was of the com[pany], 
 when I dined at Bushy Park, urged me to leave my own carriage, 
 and take a seat to town in his, and expressed just the same senti- 
 ments, tho' with a mixture of great tenderness ; and I firmly 
 believe neither of them expect that a plan of raising a revenue 
 from Am. will ever be revived. 
 
 " I can spare time but for one letter for Middleb.[orough], and 
 therefore must desire you to tell Sally that Peggy has been 
 introduced to the Q., and went thro' the ceremony w"* much 
 applause : the D. of Montagu's sister, at Lady Dartm. desire, she 
 being near, being in herself [?] introducing her, and both the K. 
 and Q. were very gracious to her. She has an ugly cough, w°' 
 I hope is owing to the change of climate, and a seasoning only 
 for neither she nor I have been warm since we have been in 
 London, and it is now as cold as with us in October or Nov. I 
 intend to carry her to Ailesbury, next day after to-morrow. 
 I could find more to say to you, but must not begin another sheet, 
 and have only room to subscribe, affectionately yours — " 
 
 3rd. — Lord D. called at my lodgings : brought the letters I 
 had sent the day before: expressed his concern at the con- 
 tents: spake with great emotion, that he was not one who 
 thirsted for blood ; but he could not help saying that he wished 
 
 to see H k and A ms brought to the punishment they 
 
 deserved: and he feared peace would not be restored until 
 some examples were made, which would deter others. Col" 
 Howard, who came with Col" Dalrymple, lamented his mis- 
 fortiine in having engaged in an affair which had given [h]im 
 so much trouble in America : treated me with much greater 
 politeness than when he was there : but in the midst of his 
 speaking Lord D. coming in, he broke off and went away. 
 
 M' Welbore Ellis came in afterwards, and spent some time 
 in conversing on the affairs of America, as did soon after 
 M."^ Whately, upon the affair between him and T., and he 
 mentioned one circumstance which has never been made public. 
 After asking me if I was sure the persons to whom the letters 
 were sent, were enjoined to return them, he then said one 
 thing I have often thought of. " Two or three months after 
 
204 BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [tru^. 
 
 T. had first seen the Letters, he met me [Mr. W.] in the street, 
 and asked if I had any objection to his looking over the 
 Letters ? I told him No ; and expected he would call, but he 
 never did call." Then you suppose he intended, when they 
 should be returned, to restore them to their places again? 
 " I make no inference," says he, " only 1 have thought of it 
 a great many times since." 
 
 "Went to Court. Two Knights of the Bath invested with 
 the Order in the King's Closet, Gen' Howard and Col° Bla- 
 quiere. King inquired of me concerning the climate in 
 America, &c. Lord Suffolk treated me with singular courtesy. 
 I told him of T — 's desire to see me. He said he saw no 
 objection, but mentioned again in confidence, that they knew 
 he took the Letters from the present M"' Whately. 
 
 Went from Court to dine with the East India Directors, at 
 the London Tavern in Bishopsgate Street, upon an invitation 
 from the Chairman and Dep. Chairman, at a most magnificent 
 entertainment ; about thirty two or three present. Gov. Tryon 
 was invited, but not in town. Perhaps no tavern in the world 
 is more magnificent than the London Tavern. The ground 
 floor indeed, from the narrowness of the street, is not light 
 enough, but the dining-room on the next floor is most elegant 
 as well as spacious, and dines at one table near 40 persons : 
 the second story above that, and the fourth from the ground, 
 has the grandest room, which, as I paced it, is 70 odd feet in 
 length, 30 in breadth, and to the top of the arch of the roof, 
 I judge to be 30 feet high ; and most elegantly furnished with 
 pillars, carving, &c. 
 
 The King, notwithstanding General Gage's letter, &c., had 
 been sent him, said to M' Jackson at Court ; — " Well : matters 
 go on well in America: they are coming right." Jackson 
 answered — "I hope Sir they will come right, but it may 
 require some time." Jackson said to Lord Dudley : — " I don't 
 see how we can go back ;* but I hope we shall take the first 
 
 ♦ This sentiment occurs in a letter of August 1 or 2 to Gen. Gage in the 
 marble paper Letter Book : — 
 
 " I hear no other language at Court or in the city, among the favourers of 
 the late Acts of Pari' and among those who disapproved of them but this : — 
 We have gone so far that it wiU never do to go back." The same occurs in 
 
f,",|:] BIAEY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 205 
 
 opportunity to close with them, as soon as it can be done with 
 honour." 
 
 L" Dartmouth, when he called upon me this morning, in the 
 course of his conversation used this expression :—" Nothing 
 gives me so much relief as the consideration that you are 
 sitting at this time in that chair." 
 
 4th. — M' Pownall called twice to-day : among other matters, 
 he communicated intelligence w"'' L" D. had mentioned the 
 day before, of a letter from one Samuel Dyer, sent home 
 prisoner in the Captain by Gen. G-age, for enticing soldiers to 
 desert, &c. Lord D. shewed me a letter he had rec* from this 
 Dyer, which I thought carried marks of madness ; but now it 
 seems Adm. Montagu* has wrote to the Lords of the Admir. 
 that he has such a person on board, and they have desired the 
 Secr^ of State to take care of him. M.' P. seemed in great 
 distress from a prospect of trouble which it was likely he 
 should meet with ; for the last accounts are that Dyer informi* 
 says he has other witnesses on board of treasonable practices 
 by Adams, Molineux, Young, and what is more strange. Judge 
 Wear of New Hampshire. I thought there was no more 
 difficulty now to get rid of this affair than when they had so 
 many witnesses examined, proving Treason against all but one 
 of the same persons in the affair of the Tea, upon which there 
 had been no further proceeding : however, he determined there 
 was no avoiding to send for Dyer. 
 
 Mons' Gamier the French Charge spent an hour in very 
 polite and pleasant conversation. 
 
 About 10 days after I came to London I rec" a letter from 
 M' T., dated at Chartham, near Canterbury, desiring to meet 
 me at Dartford upon an affair of great consequence w"'' he 
 wished to communicate.f I declined it, and afterwards I 
 
 other places : as of Aug. 4 to Gen. Brattle — " AU sorts of people here seem 
 to be detenDined not to recede." 
 
 * The word Montagu is here uniformly written without a final " e.'' 
 t Mr. C. F. Adams, on the authority of his grandfather, President John 
 Adams, says — " Scarcely a doubt can remain that Sir John Temple was the 
 man who procured the Hutchinson Letters, and had them delivered to 
 Franklin." — ' Life of J. Adams,' ii. 319. Note. — Mr. Temple succeeded to a 
 Baronetcy somewhat late in life. 
 
206 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [^"f; 
 
 rec" a second letter, offering to meet me in London, which I 
 also declined ; but let him know that I had no objection to 
 receiving thro' his friend, or any mutual friend, w"" I supposed 
 M"^ Jackson to be, w' he had to communicate. I consulted 
 M' Montagu and M"' Jackson upon this last letter, and they 
 approved of my answer, except that I said nothing of my 
 intention to name M' Jackson. About 8 days since, M' T. 
 with his family came to London, aad took lodgings in Leicester 
 Fields. Soon after M"^ Jackson asked me to dine, and as I 
 was going away, desired me to step into a parlour, when he 
 told me he had seen M' T. — seemed not to like my mentioning 
 his name to him, but however, recommended my meeting T., 
 and said he had no objection to meeting with us; that the 
 SoUicitor General tho't I had better see him, and then said 
 that, by what he could learn, M' T. proposed to exculpate 
 himself from some false charges against him, and to acknow- 
 ledge wherein he had been blame-worthy, having said and done 
 things in his passion for which he was very sorry. I told M."' 
 Jackson I would meet him upon no terms without acquainting 
 some of the Ministry with my intention, and I added that I 
 believed it could be no advantage to M' T., for I could tell him 
 in confidence that some discoveries had been made by the 
 Ministry, which were the cause of M' T.'s being removed, and 
 which it was first proposed he should be heard upon, tho' 
 afterwards it was thought best to pass them over in silence, 
 and thus the matter rested at that time. The next day (the 
 3"*) I was at Court, and having forgot to say anything to 
 Lord D., when I had seen him in the morning, I mentioned 
 the affair to Lord Suffolk after the Levee was over, who ap- 
 proved of my caution, but advised me to see T., as some good 
 might come of it. Early this morning I sent a card to M' 
 Jackson, acquainting him with what I had done, and letting 
 him know, if he would appoint time and place, I would give 
 notice to T., if he was in town. I having heard by accident, 
 that yesterday afternoon he was intending to go out of town. 
 My servant returned without an answer. In the evening I 
 rec* a card from Lord Suffolk, wishing to know what I had 
 done, and if I had made any discovery, that I would meet him 
 
m!:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 207 
 
 at his office to-morrow between eleven and twelve, to which I 
 returned an answer. 
 
 5th. — M' Pownall informed me this morning that Att" and 
 Sollic. Gen., upon examining the papers sent concern^ Sam' 
 Dyer bro't over with Adm' Montagu, were of opinion that the 
 Admiral should be directed to release him, or set him at 
 liberty. The Admiral very imprudently administered an oath 
 to him, and one Mowat, another sailor, wherein they charge 
 H — ck, &c., together with M' Wear, with matters incredible, 
 and yet not treasonable, and therefore not within the Stat, of 
 H. 8. ; and Dyer's own offence was exciting the soldiers to 
 desert. 
 
 I called at Lord Suffolk's office in Cleveland Row, and gave 
 him a particular ace' of T.'s affair. Lord Suffolk said he had 
 seen the SoUicitor General, who informed him that he under- 
 stood M"^ T. was very contrite ;* that he acknowledged he had 
 wronged me ; that he had wronged the SoUicitor ; and as for 
 M' Whately, he wished every scratch given him had been a 
 stab in his own body. L" Suffolk added — " I suppose he had 
 this ace' from M"^ Jackson." 
 
 Called also upon M."^ Jenkinson ; the news from America, 
 and the Stat, of H. 8. took up our time. He says the only 
 question here was, whether it was not repealed by the Statute 
 of Phil, and Mary. Foster is full that it was not. I said we 
 never laid any stress upon a repeal ; but as the Colonies were 
 not in esse, and as they had jurisdictions within themselves, 
 they seemed not to come within the reason. The last part 
 holds as strong in the case of Ireland, and yet it takes place 
 there. The men who were tried in Westminster Hall for the 
 murder of Gov. Parks in Antigua, and the opinion of the 
 Judges and of the Attorney and SoUicitor General upon a 
 reference,t makes strong against the plea of the Colonies 
 for exemption. Two were convicted, one of whom died in 
 
 * Temple had been under the impression that Governor Hutchinson had 
 been his secret enemy in America, and had got him dismissed from the 
 public service ; but he had since discovered his error, and hence his alleged 
 contrition. 
 
 t This word is very indistinctly written. It simply means, however, a 
 reference of the case from the Colonies to England, for the trial of persons 
 arrested for treasonable practices. 
 
208 DIAET AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f,"i 
 
 Newgate, the other was several times respited, and then 
 pardoned. 
 
 6th. — Called upon M' Jackson, having rec* no return to my 
 proposal. He looked at first a little strange, but we soon 
 came to an eclaircissement. He had seen M' Temple, who, he 
 said, promised to give him notice when he would meet him at 
 my house; but after a pause he seemed to recollect that 
 Temple had said — "Yes," says M' Jackson, "I am sure he 
 said — Is it material whether it be before I go to Bristol, or 
 after I return ? " And then Jackson added — " I can tell you 
 what he would say to you : — that he had done some things to 
 encourage the opposition to you while he was in America, 
 which he was sensible were wrong, tho' he thought you had 
 not treated him so kindly as you ought ; and that he had 
 wrote some papers here, but not half what were ascribed to 
 him, nor those w"" were most virulent ; that he desired to see 
 M' Wedderburn, who was very willing to see him ; and that 
 he wished to do service for government, and to bring all his 
 connexions to the same temper ; and added, that he did not 
 mean to make such acknowledgment as should bring any 
 disgrace or infamy on him." 
 
 M"^ Jackson seemed not to like my using his name as a friend 
 to M' Temple, which I apologised for, by intending no more 
 than for Temple to trust him with his secret to be communi- 
 cated to me ; and this, after he himself had expressed much 
 concern and pity for Temple in his distressed circumstances. 
 
 In the afternoon with Mr. Clark ; and Billy and Peggy made 
 a visit to M' Montagu at Hampstead. 
 
 M' Morris called in, and in a round-about way suggested the 
 intention to appoint a new set of Comiss" of the Customs for 
 America, and to have the place altered to York, which I 
 believe he wishes. M"' Pownall wishes a dissolution of it, and 
 of the Provincial Judges of Admiralty. 
 
 August 7th. — ^At the Chapel in Long Acre in the morning, 
 expecting to hear M' Harrison, a preacher much followed, but 
 was disappointed, and one M' Acklin [?] preached ; far from 
 despicable. In the afternoon heard M' Harrison at St. Martin's, 
 upon the different end of good and bad men ; a serious dis- 
 
ml:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 209 
 
 course, enforced with oratory not much, if anything inferior, to 
 Whitford. The house large, upon the same plan with the 
 Chapel at Boston ; much crowded ; the alleys all full ; very 
 few there or at Long Acre, especially the latter, of tlie fashion- 
 able part of the world, but generally common shopkeepers and 
 tradesmen. 
 
 8th. — Just before dinner M' Temple called upon me, alone 
 and unexpectedly. After signifying that I might be surprised 
 at his proposal — but he really was desirous of living for the 
 time to come in friendship, he had been carried away by his 
 passions to be very inimical to me ; he imagined I had been so 
 to him ; his friends had wrote him so from America, and he 
 thought, whilst he was there, some things were unkind : that 
 he had reason to think I had wrote to M' Whately, that I 
 wished he might be provided for in England. I asked him k' 
 what he referred to as unkind in America ? He said, when 
 Folger had made a seizure in Nantucket ; and the Commiss" 
 would have taken it from him: that Folger told him I tooki^ 
 their part against him and Temple. But he wished everything 
 might be buried : that he believed matters had been aggravated 
 to me : that he had wrote things in the newspapers against me, 
 but not the most virulent : that he never wrote one of the 
 Bostonians — they were wrote by another, viz. Dr. Lee : that he 
 had been ill used by the Commissioners : and that though he 
 had been wrong in his disputes with other persons, yet he had 
 been exceeding* ill used by Sir Francis Bernard, and had good 
 cause for all he had done and said in his controversy with him. 
 But he had determined never to quarrel with any man again, 
 and would bear anything except personal hurt. His views 
 were in America, and he expected I should have returned, and 
 he wished to have taken any place in my Government that 
 would have supported him, his own fortune not being sufficient. 
 
 I told him I had given him no cause for his enmity. His 
 letters from America were from prejudiced persons engaged in 
 Party : the instance he gave of Folger was so far from being 
 true, that I was a well-wisher to Folger, and in return rec* 
 
 * Exceeding for exceedingly, and some other liberties taken with adverbs, 
 were usual " when George the Third was King." 
 
 P 
 
210.' BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [tiu. 
 
 ^ civilities, and lodged at his house in Nantucket at the time 
 when the seizure was depending : that I doubted whether I 
 had wrote what he suspected to M' Whately, but I had wrote 
 and said to other persons, that I was so far from wishing him 
 any personal evil, that I hoped he would be provided [for] in 
 England : that if any one of the Comissioners [sic] had had 
 a warm contest with all the rest, as he had, I should have 
 wished that one to have remained in England for the sake of 
 peace : that T saw but few of the papers that he referred to, 
 and gave myself little trouble about them. One I remembered, 
 ill which a great number of places were said to have [been] 
 given by me to my family, which in every instance was falsp. 
 He said he did not write that paper : he would not deny that 
 
 yj he had furnished Doctor Lee with some of the materials. I 
 added, that I had not concerned myself in Sir F. B.'s dispute 
 with him, nor with Baron's (I think Sime [?J Baron's dispute 
 was with Pownall,) nor did I know of Cockle's seizures, which 
 were the ground of liis dispute, until the whole affair was com- 
 promised : that 1 had, in all the affair of the Letters, acted 
 , with the utmost caution, and had wrote in answer to a letter 
 
 ^ from the present M' Whately, that I did not charge M"^ Temple, 
 and had not done it. Upon my mentioning the Letters, he 
 said that affair of Whately had hurt him more than anything 
 else. As he hoped to see the face of God, he never meant to 
 kill him ; and he believed M' Whately would own that he 
 aimed to fire his pistol something wide of him ;* and as for the 
 Letters, M' Wedderburne had asked him if he knew where 
 Franklin got them ? and that he had answered him, that the 
 account he had published was true. "I don't say I know 
 >y where D' F. had them, but suppose he had shewn me the 
 Letters — suppose he had told me where he had them, and had 
 done it in confidence — there is nothing I would not submit to 
 rather than be guilty of a breach of trust, and discover a person 
 who might be (here he hesitated) hurt or ruined by it." f 
 
 * These last few words have been quoted in a note near the end of 
 ch. iii. 
 
 t This last passage is put within commas, because it is in the first person, 
 as spoken by Temple. Temple implies here that Franklin had shown him 
 the Letters, and had told him in confidence where he got them. The editor 
 
^,11:] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 211 
 
 In the beginuing of the discourse he had said that what he 
 should say to me would be in confidence — that I would not 
 mention it to do him hurt. I told him I should not ; but as he 
 had spoken of confidence in me, I was obliged to tell him that, 
 alter hearing he was in town, and expected to see me with 
 M' Jackson, I thought it proper to let some one of His Majesty's 
 Ministers be acquainted with it: and not meeting L* Dart- 
 mouth at Court, I had spoke to L* Sufiblk, who thought I took 
 a very prudent precaution, but saw no difficulty in my meeting 
 him ; and possibly some good might come of it. I thought it 
 probable L" Suffolk would ask me what passed, and therefore I i^ 
 wished to hear nothing which M' Temple desired to be concealed 
 from him. He said he depended on my not representing what 
 he said in such a manner as to do him hurt with Lord SuiFolk ; 
 and then mentioned his having been suspected of writing in the 
 papers some pieces reflecting on Lord Suffolk, and employing 
 M' Gamier, the French Charge, to exculpate him to L* 
 S., which, he said, was imprudent. I told him I remembered 
 nothing of any such pieces. 
 
 In the afternoon I went to look at the house where he lodges, 
 in order to hire it, and a few more words passed. He repeated 
 his desire to go to New England : he thought I was the only 
 person to conciliate matters; but by his last advices from 
 Boston, he despaired of my being able to return : mentioned 
 particularly his letter from M' Bowdoin. of 31st of May. I 
 told him M' Bowdoin was an engaged man,* and as such, his 
 judgment was not to be depended on. 
 
 9th. — Much engaged in writing letters to New England. 
 Rec* a card from M' Montagu, to acquaint me of the Admiral's 
 being in town. 
 
 10th. — Admiral Montagu called upon me, and gave me the 
 best account he could of affairs in New England. Afterwards 
 we dined together at his brother's, the Master [in Chancery], at 
 FrognaU Grove, Hampstead. 
 
 11th. — Having desired a quarter of an hour with Lord North 
 
 has placed stops to the best of his judgment, for in the MS. there is very 
 little punctuation anywhere. 
 
 * Engaged openly as a partizan against the English Government. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [tn*. 
 
 before his going into the country, he appointed eleven o'clock 
 to-day. After what related to my personal concerns was over, 
 he entred \sic\ upon the state of America in general. He 
 said he did not expect less from the late Acts than what has 
 happened : he did not, however, conceive them less necessary 
 than he did before : he was not apprehensive of any great 
 matters from the proposed Congress : he had heard that the 
 New Yorkers and Pensilvanians had sent for larger quantities 
 of goods than ever, and it was probable that this large stock 
 would occasion an agreement for non-importation, and may be 
 not to pay for their goods. " How came the merchants," says 
 he, " to trust them for such large quantities ? Were they 
 not enough in debt before ? " 
 
 He asked me whether I thought a quorum of the Council 
 will qualify themselves ? I told him none of my correspondents 
 had expressed any doubt about it. But will the Assembly do 
 business with the new Council ? I don't know, my Lord, that 
 the inconveniency to the Province will be great, if there 
 should be no legislative Act for some time. Except the Judges 
 of the Superior Court, there is no Crown OflBce. They were 
 unhappily forced into a compliance with the demand of the H. 
 of Kep.* not to take any salaries, but they qualified their 
 answer so as to hold them no longer than whilst they had it in 
 their power to receive them from the Province. 
 * " Now," says my Lord, " that they can no longer have their 
 salaries from the Court, they may, very consistently with their 
 answer to the demand of the House, receive them from the 
 Crown." 
 
 I mentioned likewise the case of the Secretary, who was 
 another OiBcer who did not occur to me when his Lordship 
 first spoke, and he answered that provision must be made for 
 him, and he informed me that orders wore gone to the Comis- 
 sioners to draw upon the Treasury for such sums as were 
 wanting to pay the Warrants due, and that it was his opinion 
 provision should be made for payment of the salaries of the 
 Crown Officers out of the Exchequer, if the Tea Duty should 
 not be sufficient. 
 
 • House of Representatives. 
 
mf'l DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 213 
 
 n74.j 
 
 There is a letter touching on the absorbing questions of the day, 
 that it will be well to give here. It is from the Governor to some 
 friend in America whose name is not recorded. Judging by the 
 candour of the language, it may be inferred that it was some 
 personal friend, but one who was too deeply involved in the ranks 
 of opposition, whom he was trying to convince of his disloyalty. 
 It runs thus — 
 " Dear Sir,— " London, 8 Aug. 1774. 
 
 " I received and read your letter with pleasure, as coming 
 from you, but the intelligence which it contained gave me 
 pain. I will tell you as well as I can what effect the news has 
 upon administration here. They wished, no doubt, that by 
 moderate measures, you would put in their power to afford you 
 relief, but they have prepared for any event ; and it seems to me 
 that they are but little concerned from fear of consequences to the 
 kingdom, what lengths you go in quarrelling among yourselves ; 
 and I verily believe every step taken by the House of Eepresen- 
 tatives, and by the town of Boston, in opposition to the Governor 
 [Gage] and his system, has confirmed the King and his Ministers 
 in their determination to shew no sort of favour whilst the authority 
 of Parliament is denied. Indeed, I have not met with one person 
 in the kingdom — and I have seen flaming patriots, as well as 
 fawning courtiers — who thinks the avowed principles, either of the 
 House or Council, admissible. Lord Chatham himself has most 
 certainly allowed that there is no particular case, nor no particular 
 part of the Dominions, which can be exempt from the authority of 
 Parliament without a solecism ; and he denies his ever saying what 
 he was charged with to the contrary. It is your insisting upon 
 this solecism which has brought all this misery upon you ; and you 
 are now deserted by every person you depended upon to support 
 you. Tou will find people, and I suppose do find such, who will 
 continue to advise you to go on and stand firm in opposition to a 
 tyrannical and unjustly assumed power : but neither they nor you 
 can be consistent without your separating entirely from the King- 
 dom. When I say the Ministry are little concerned, I might 
 explain it by adding, that they apprehend no occasion for bringing 
 the affair into Parliament again, as they want no aid. If they view 
 you in the light of subjects, they will treat you accordingly. If 
 they consider you as having thrown off' all subjection to the 
 authority of the British Dominions, and to have put yourselves 
 into a state of hostility, they will take diff'erent measures. In 
 which light they wiU view you, and how far you may go before 
 you are stopped, I am not enough in any secrets, notwithstanding 
 
214 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [tin. 
 
 what the Newspapers say, to form a probahle conjecture. I know 
 there are bounds which you will not be suffered to pass. But how 
 distressing must it be to any person who has any feeling for his 
 countr}', to see you contending for a phantom, or for a mere shadow, 
 which it is impossible you should ever grasp. It would be a kind- 
 ness to posterity if you would either renounce all kind of connection 
 with Great Britain, as a part of its dominions, or otherwise, cease 
 to urge any doctrines which are incompatible with such connec- 
 tion : for I believe you are more fully convinced by this time, 
 than you were when I left you, that there is no slavery you can 
 entail upon 3-our children equal to that which follows from a 
 disputed supreme authority in Government. And now, lest I 
 should be thought to abridge you of any liberties which it is possible 
 for you to enjoy, I will explain what I mean when I say you are con- 
 tending for a phantom, or something which you fancy you have an 
 idea of, and yet it may be has no existence in the nature of things. 
 You say you are British subjects : you suppose you are constitution- 
 ally exempt from one of the obligations which British subjects are 
 under ; but if you are exempt from the one, you are exempt from all 
 — and so, are not British subjects. To contend, therefore, for this 
 one, as British subjects, is contending for a phantom, which has no 
 existence but in the fancy. I wish and hope you may, and I 
 believe you will, enjoy the same benefits and freedom from taxa- 
 tion for the purpose of a revenue, as if it was, or rather, could be, 
 stipulated so as to have any effect ; but that it is possible to make 
 a stipulation to have any certain effect, I must utterly deny. 
 Every assurance which can consist with the nature of government, 
 I think you already have. I have made it my business to prevent 
 any mortifying concessions being made a condition of reconciliation, 
 and have succeeded : my chief opposition being from the late 
 espousers of the cause of the Colonies — or rather, it was they who 
 supposed the Act makes them necessary. But you say — Here are 
 three cruel Acts passed, which must be repealed before we can be 
 reconciled. The first is a severe Act, it is true [The Port BiUl. 
 The others may have been unnecessary exercises of authority ; but 
 if your objection lyes against the authority itself, in either case such 
 an objection must be a fatal bar to reconciliation, because the denial 
 of the authority in these cases is, in effect, the denial in all. Your 
 case, I think, is not stronger than that of the East India Company ; 
 and though a clamour was made in that case at first, they now think 
 themselves happy that they are under the controul and protection 
 of the authority of Parliament. Whilst you continue to deny the 
 authority which made the laws, with what face can anybody apply 
 
njf:! DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. ^15 
 
 17J4.J 
 
 for relief from them, either in whole or in part ? If Parliament 
 had no authority to make them, they are of no more force now 
 than they wiU he after they are repealed. If you apply for an 
 alteration in part only, it implies an acknowledgment of the 
 authority as to what remains, and consequently as to the whole. 
 Wherever I turn my thoughts, in order to your relief, I [find] 
 myself involved in absurdities so long as the denial of this authority 
 is admitted. Cease to deny it, and the path is plain and easy. 
 
 [" You have now a Congress in agitation. Is it intended to heal 
 or increase the breach ? If the former, what step can they take ? 
 WiU they declare against all authority in Parlia' in any and every 
 case whatever ? I dread the consequence, not only to the Colonies 
 in general, but to the members of the Congress. 1 know the opinion 
 of the first, and of aU the lawyers in England of any note, what 
 offence such proceeding would be. Hints are thrown out, that 
 persons guilty of such offence shall certainly be brought to punish- 
 ment. Do they intend to declare against the authority of Parlia- 
 ment in particular cases only ? This will cause a general laugh, 
 and render the members of the Congress contemptible in the eyes 
 of every man in the kingdom. The Answers of the Council to my 
 speech in 1773, are said here to do them more dishonour, than what 
 the House are liable to from their Answers. The Council admit 
 the authority in other cases, and deny it in taxation, without giving 
 a shadow of reason for a distinction. The House, though they 
 build upon erroneous historical facts, and upon false principles in 
 the English constitution, and have a mixture of jargon, yet, from a 
 false hypothesis there is a plausible conclusion. I cannot but hope 
 that the result of such a Congress, under the best form which could 
 be devised, absolutely illegal, and as some of the members are said 
 to be constituted in the present instance contemptible, will be 
 treated accordingly, and have very little weight. UntU we hear 
 further from you no step can be taken : not a word can be said- 
 which will have any tendency to serve you. The prospect is so » 
 gloomy that I am sometimes tempted to endeavour to forget that \ 
 I am an American, and to turn my views to a provision for what 
 remains of Hfe in England ; but the passion for my native country 
 returns, and I will determine nothing until your case is absolutely 
 desperate. According to a very old maxim, it never ought to be 
 deemed desperate, so as to cause you to give over your endeavours. 
 It was bad at the time of the laat advice, if it is to be depended 
 upon that it cannot be worse. I therefore wait with less pain for 
 the next news, because, if there be any alteration, it must be for 
 the better. You who are to remain members of the Commonwealth 
 
1. 
 
 216 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f,jf: 
 
 never ought to despair so as to cause you to cease endeavouring 
 its welfare.] 
 
 " You have now a Congress in agitation. If no other mischief 
 follows it, yet it is certain that your relief will be retarded by it. 
 I have met with one Gent, in office, who is much attended to, and 
 who says that good will come of it. They will do something 
 which may lead to a conciliation, or they will -do someth* w""" will 
 more firmly fix the Kingd" in measures necessary to maintain 
 Parliam' authority over them. This is his opinion. I know of 
 but one thing w* they can do — or rather, but one way in W"" they 
 can proceed to advantage — and that is, to avoid that inconceiv"" 
 distinction between a constitutional right in Pari' to taxation, and 
 a like right to legislation in general, and to urge a claim in the 
 Col' to exemption from taxes from long established usage founded 
 upon an equivalent, from the advantages arrising to the kingd" by 
 a restr' [? restraint] laid upon the trade of the Colonies, and there 
 having been no instance for a long course of years of taxes laid 
 upon the Col' for the purpose of a revenue, nor for any other 
 purpose than that of regulating trade, an exemption from duties 
 and taxation of every other kind had always been considered as 
 part of the constitution of the Colonies, except when imposed by 
 their respective legislatures, where the inhabitants are really 
 represented, as the inhabitants within the realm are represented 
 in Parliam', that an interruption of this long established usage 
 by an Act of Parliam' for imposing duties on paper, &c., had caused 
 an interruption in that peaceable, happy, and long-subsisting due 
 subordination of the Col', and had ruffled and disturbed the minds 
 of the inhabitants as universally, and to as great a degree as if it 
 could have been, and actually had been stipulated between the 
 Pari' and the Col', that they should ever be free from parliament' 
 taxation ; and therefore they humbly pray, that in order to restore 
 peace and tranquility to the Colonies, they may be restored to the 
 enjoyment of the privileges w^ they so long possessed, and that as 
 great a degree of legislative power in general may always be 
 continued to the Col' as is and shall be compatible with a due 
 subordination to the superior authority of the British Dominions. 
 
 " I have suddenly put my thoughts into writing, which, in an 
 Address, will be expressed in other words, more correct and more 
 dilated. It's possible the King will give no formal answer to this 
 Address. Nothing may be done immediately in Parliament. A 
 good reason may, notw"'standing, be given in a short time for 
 taking off the duty upon Tea, in forwarding which the E. I. 
 Comp. will aid and assist. Until other duties are laid in the room 
 
ml] BJASY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 217 
 
 of it, and applied to the same purpose, there will he no cause for 
 renewing the controversy. It is not impossihle that, rather than 
 it should be renewed, it may be tho't advisable that the oflScers of 
 the Crown in the Colonies, who used to be paid out of the monies 
 raised by this duty, should be paid out of the Exchequer. If such 
 caution shall be used by the memb' of this Congress, peace may 
 soon be restored to America : if meas' [measures] are pursued w"*", 
 upon the principles of the Eng. laws, must be pronounced treason- 
 able in English subjects, I dread the conseq. both to the persons 
 who constitute the Congress, and to the Colonies in general. I 
 know it is expected that the more determined the Col" appear, the 
 more likely it will be to bring the Gov' here to their terms. I do 
 not believe it. The pres' Ministry seem determined not to yield. 
 The body of the people seem to be of the same mind ; and if there 
 should be a change of Ministry, of w^ there is not the least 
 prospect, what can tempt them to new measures ? 
 
 " Looking back upon what I have wrote, I think it may not be 
 amiss, as an explanation to the expression — That you have every 
 assurance w*"" in the nature of gov' you can have — to give you L'' 
 North's words, no longer ago than yesterday : — What would they 
 have done? If Parliam' has a constitut' authority over the 
 Colonies, a declaration that they have not, will have no force when- 
 ever another declaration is made to the contrary. It is allowed 
 that^the trifling duty on Tea is not worth contending about, on 
 ace' of the burden it brings. The taking off this duty will be no 
 security against a heavy burden laid upon the Colonies by taxes, 
 if future Parl[iaments] shall think prop[er]." 
 
 The unfinished style and loose phraseology of the above letter 
 serve to show that it had been hastily thrown together. The first 
 half seems to have been entered by the hand of Elisha ; but the 
 latter half, beginning with the words, " According to a very old 
 maxim," has been penned by the Governor himself. We here see 
 how earnestly he was taking advantage of his visit to England, 
 by interceding with the Government to obtain the best and easiest 
 terms he could for a reconciLiation with the Colonies. " I havo 
 made it my business," he says, "to prevent any mortifying con- 
 cessions being made a condition of reconciliation, and have succeeded." 
 The part between brackets has been crossed out by diagonal lines. 
 He mentions it as a fixed point, that the authority of Parliament 
 must be admitted: shows the anomaly of the American line of 
 argument, and that it would be more consistent to separate from 
 England; for how could the authority of Parliament be denied, 
 
218 DIAjRY and LETTEBS of THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ml: 
 
 •when it is in that body that all power is centred, both for the 
 regulation of England, and of all her dependencies ? The Address 
 alluded to, as having been intended to be drawn up and presented 
 to the King, may or may not have been proceeded with : at present 
 we hear nothing more of it. 
 
 12th.— I went into the city : visited Alderman Haley, M' 
 Champion, M"^ Whately, and M' Pain ; and called at the N. 
 England Coffee-House. M"^ Whately mentioned a circumstance 
 of his duel which he has not mentioned in print, viz. — That 
 when Temple fired, he observed that he did not take aim at 
 him ; and agrees with, or renders probable what Temple said — 
 that he purposely fired wide of him. 
 
 M' Pain informed me he had not shipped tlie field-pieces. 
 He delayed because of a report that they were designed to 
 oppose the King's troops : and L" North, he says, advised to it. 
 Afterwards, from some losses in America, he took up a resolu- 
 tion to give no credit in America, N° nor S" [?] ; and as Gushing 
 had made him no remittance, he would not ship them. I told 
 him they were sent for upon my recommendation, and he there- 
 upon agreed to send them to M' Peppeirell, to be delivered 
 upon payment being secured. He told me an odd story of a 
 letter w"" Lord North sent him, in order to his sending it to 
 M'' Pepperrell; and he had one at the same time from L* 
 Edgecumbe : and afterwards he had a message from L* North, 
 desiring him to take his letter out of the bag and return it, 
 which he did accordingly. 
 
 In the evening visited M' Mauduit in Clement's Lane. 
 
 13tb. — Called upon M^ Paul Wentworth. Four or five of 
 the Boston gentlemen dined with me. M' Clark shewed me a 
 letter of two or three lines he had rec** from Boston, dated 28* 
 June, desiring him immediately to deliver one inclosed to Lord 
 North, with two newspapers. Suspected it to come from 
 [something in shorthand]. 
 
 14th. — At the Chapel at Highgate: a Doctor Strechay 
 preached very ingeniously upon " I have sworn and will per- 
 form it," &c. Lord Mansfield being at church, asked my 
 , daughter and me to go home and dine with him. 
 
 He talked very largely and fully upon the state of America, 
 
f,^l] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 219 
 
 particularly on the proposed Congress. Something, he said, 
 must be done immediately, to-morrow — without delay — in the 
 most formal way : he would not determine what : whether the 
 King's Proclamation ordering Council — but something ought to 
 be done. He repeated what he said before, and more fully, 
 about Lord Chatham's asserting that Pari* ought to maintain 
 its authority in all cases whatsoever : that he had, it's true, 
 formerly thrown out something about the expediency of taxing 
 the Colonies, but their authority to do it ought not to be 
 suffered to be called in question. He particularly explained 
 the principle on which the Grants of Jurisdiction to Baltimore 
 and Penn. were made hereditary — viz., the Feudal tenures: 
 gave an explanation of the principles by which he had governed 
 himself in the slavery case : — did me great honour in approving 
 my administration, &c. : told me Gov. Franklin had wrote a 
 letter to Strahan, the Bookseller or Printer, in which he con- 
 demns his father's whole conduct in the affair of the letters : 
 justifies every part of them, except one expression of " abridging 
 of what are called English liberties," which my L'* said was 
 as justifiable as any other part, and that the letter was evidently 
 designed to be made publick. I thought it probable his father 
 put him upon it, to secure the son. His Lordship said — 
 Nothing more probable. 
 
 He allowed the Lords of Council had their pens prepared to 
 sign a warrant for apprehending persons in Boston, but did not 
 allow they desisted because another measure was thought more 
 expedient, but because the Attorney and SoUicitor General were 
 in doubt whether the evidence was sufficient to convict them : * 
 but he said things never would be right until some of them 
 were brought over. I wished to see examples made here first 
 for the like offences. He said, if they were convicted, a way 
 might be found to keep the affair pending seven years, by 
 motions in arrest of judgment upon error in proceedings, &c. 
 Among other ways of proceeding, he mentioned referring to the 
 Attorney and SoUicitor General, to determine what offence such 
 a Congress was? I thought the opinion of the twelve Judges 
 would strike the greatest awe. That had been done, he said, in 
 * See back July 5, where the story is somewhat differently told. 
 
220 DIAItr AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f,11 
 
 Queen Anne's time. He did not approve of the Judges giving 
 tlieir opinion now ; though, it might be a disadvantage when 
 any cause came upon trial. 
 
 There were some treasonahle agitators in and ahout London, 
 who were infecting the atmosphere that the poisonous east winds 
 were carrying to America. Addressing himself to some unnamed 
 friend across the water, he writes : — " One of them [the Ministers] 
 said to me — M' H. I have seen an oration of M' — 's, as gross a 
 treason as was ever committed. These persons will never leave 
 until some of the chief are bro't over here and made to suffer." 
 I replied — My LS it will be very hard to bring people from 
 N. England when your own people do so [?] w"" impunity. Make 
 an example of them, and you may perhaps deter Americans. He 
 replied — " I think we ought to do it." 
 
 Even Lord Chatham, the boasted favourer of American liberty, 
 though he would forbear taxation, began to see that they were 
 going too far. Bigelow, in his Life of Franklin, quotes one of his 
 speeches, where his Lordship says — " But I must ovrai, I find fault 
 with them in many things. I think they carry matters too far. 
 They have been wrong in many respects. I think the idea of 
 drawing money from them by taxes was ill-judged." Aside — 
 there is very little connection between the first portion of this 
 quotation, and the last sentence. 
 
 And their late sympathiser. Governor Pownall, was beginning 
 to look with disfavour on their excesses. Aug. 9, 1774, Mr. 
 Hutchinson writes— "Some that formerly espoused your cause, 
 are now as forward as any in condemniug you, particularly Gov. 
 Pownall, who tells me he has wrote his mind very fidly to his 
 correspondents." 
 
 The advisability of punishing Englishmen first is agaiu alluded 
 to under date Aug. 12 :— " 1 remember what you said of their 
 being determined here, to bring such as they judge principal 
 offenders from America for trial, and I have heard such things 
 said, as. causes me to think as you did. I wish they had first 
 punished such of their own people as have been equally guUty." 
 
 So little did the English Government or the English people 
 consider that anything of a momentous or serious nature could 
 arise from the disturbances in America, that these disturbances 
 were looked upon with indifference, if not with contempt. It was 
 not until after the battles at Lexington, and at Bunker HiU, some 
 ten months from the period of which we are now speaking, that 
 the importance of the growing dispute assumed anything like the 
 
m!;] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 221 
 
 attention it merited. Writing to Gen. Gage, Aug. 12, 1774, Gov. 
 H. observes : — " I am told that there appears more indiff^ about 
 the disturbances in America than there ever did before. ' Let 
 them suffer by their confusions,' it is said, ' if they are so obstinate 
 as not to be content with the easiest gov* in the world. Nobody 
 suffers here except a few merch" who possibly may make more 
 bad debts than otherwise they would have done.' L* N. said to 
 me— If the merch" wiU go on to trust them, they must blame 
 themselves." 
 
 Again, in the same month, writing out to his eldest son Thomas, 
 he says : — " The news from Boston sits heavy on my spirits. The 
 extravagance of their measures renders their relief next to des- 
 perate, as everybody in Admin" appears by it to be more confirmed 
 in the support of the constitut' authority of Pari', and nobody 
 seems to give themselves the least concern about the consequences 
 of the projected Congress, supposing it can do no hurt to the 
 kingdom. This state of things incapacitates me for settling my 
 plan for my return at any particular time." 
 
 15th. — ^Dined at L" Dartmouth's at Blackheath, with my 
 two sons and daughter : Lord Chief Baron Smith and his Lady 
 were of the company, besides L* Lewisham, &c. 
 
 Among other things his Lordship told me that a gentleman 
 of very good character assured him that before the Letters 
 were sent to America, T. informed him that he had seen them 
 among M' Whately's papers, and in a day or two should have. 
 them : that he accordingly showed him a packet directed to 
 jy F., and told him those were the Letters referred to when he 
 saw him before. I asked — Did I understand y* L^ship that 
 the gentleman told you, or that your Lordship had it from a 
 third person ? No. He told me so, and he or T. must have said 
 what was false. This leaves the affair still in a strange state. 
 
 My Lord let me know that the King had desired to know 
 what mark of favour I would wish for, &c., and acquainted me 
 that if being created a Baronet would be agreeable, it should 
 be done immediately. I made the insuflSciency of my fortune 
 an objection. He said he would not wish me to take anything 
 less. 
 
 That is — less than a Baronetcy. 
 
 Elisha, in a letter to his wife of Aug. 16, says : — " Yesterday we 
 
222 DIARY AND LETTERS OP THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^1 
 
 \yiu. 
 
 dined at Lord Dartmoutli's, a very agreeable family, and more like 
 New England than any I have yet seen. His Lordship has some- 
 thing very engaging in his manners, as well as his countenance. 
 You would not imagine him to he older than your husband, and 
 yet he has eight eons, the eldest, L* Lewisham, is just of age. 
 
 " I was at Gravesend with M' Whately when he sailed ; and J. 
 often wished, and sometimes threatened, to go with him, and 
 to-day we have aU been on board Callahan's ship ; and if 1 con- 
 sulted my inclination only, I should certainly take my old bed 
 again : but the last acco" from New England are so discouraging, 
 that I don't know what you would do with me if I was there at this 
 time. I hope in the course of the winter affairs will have a better 
 aspect. At present I can see but little prospect of the Governor's 
 returning to N. England." 
 
 16th. — I wrote to L"* Dartmouth, praying his L'^ship to 
 enquire whether M"^ T.'s declaration might not consist with 
 his having only rec* the Letters from F., and sent them back 
 
 again without having taken them himself from W 's files ? 
 
 as I wished, if the suspicion was not well founded, he might 
 not suffer unjustly ; and if it was, I must consider him as a 
 m ost dangerous man, and avoid the most distant acquaintance 
 with him. 
 
 P.M. Went on board Callahan, and drank tea. 
 
 17th. — M' Williams, the Inspector, called, and showed me a 
 letter recommending Malcom as a proper person for Surveyor 
 and Searcher for the port of Falmouth ; and added that Malcom 
 desired I would concur with Williams. I declined it, and 
 intimated to Williams my opinion of his being an improper 
 person for such a trust. 
 
 M"^ PownaU called also. I mentioned to him the affair of 
 the field-pieces. He said the Act for purchasing them was 
 laid by, and would be disallowed : and that the Act for vendue 
 masters was actually disallowed. I told him T hoped both was 
 done before my arrival ; otherwise they would be charged to 
 me. The Vendue Bill, he said, was long before. He mentioned 
 also the confirmation* of the Line with New York lying [in 
 abeyance ?] for want of the fees. 
 
 * This word might also be read — continuation. 
 
t^-'] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 223 
 
 n74.j 
 
 He entered largely into the state of America, but has no 
 regular plan for the government of it, or for the restoration of 
 order. 
 
 18th. — Between six and seven set out with my own horses 
 for Furle, Lord Gage's seat in Sussex. Breakfasted at Croy- 
 don : called upon M' Apthorpe, the Minister :* he and his 
 wife were from home : dined at East Grinstead : stopped and 
 drank coffee at Cherry or Chary Common : and between sun- 
 down and dark, arrived through Lewes at Furle, where we 
 found Sir Sampson Gideon and Lady, M' Wilmot and Miss 
 Wilmot, son and daughter to the late L" Ch. Just. Sir Eardley, 
 and father also of Lady Gideon ; with M' Wright, a Clergy- 
 man. Lord Gage has a noble seat ; the house was built by a 
 Sir John Gage (in the reign of Henry the 8'"), the first 
 ancestor of whom they have any memorial, of him there is a 
 very fine picture. 
 
 19th. — Went about four miles with all the company to the 
 river Ley, near Lewes,t between 20 and 30 feet wide, thro' a 
 meadow running into the sea at 8 or 10 miles distance. Spent 
 great part of the day in fishing and trifling : caught 3 or 4 
 pickerel], and a perch among the whole. Dined in a small tent 
 upon cold tongue, chicken, lamb, mutton, and beef, and re- 
 turned to Lord Gage's about the same time we arrived the 
 evening before. 
 
 20th. — Lady Gage gave me to read a letter to her from 
 General Gage, dated the 26"* June, from Salem, in which he 
 says he is ready to wish he had never known her ; laments his 
 hard fate in being torn away from his friends, after the difficulty 
 of crossing the Atlantick in tlie short time of 9 months, and 
 
 * "The established religion here, as in all the other provinces of New 
 England, is that of the Congregationalists, a religion different only in some 
 trifling articles to that of the Presbyterians: there were great numbers of 
 other persuasions, particularly of the Church of England, and at this place 
 there is a church erected within sight of Harvard College, the seminary of 
 these Congregationalists : this gave them much offence, as they considered it 
 a fatal stroke levelled at their religion. Upon this account, before hostilities 
 commenced, they persecuted the Minister, who was the Rev. Dr. Apthorpe, 
 now Rector of Croydon, obliged him to resign his cure, and quit the colony." 
 — ^Anburey, ii. 64. We may understand from this how it was that the 
 Governor was eventually buried at Croydon. 
 
 t Spelt Lewis by mistake.' 
 
224 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [f,"?; 
 
 put upou a service in so disagreeable a place, which, though he 
 had been used to difficult service, he seemed to consider as 
 peculiarly disagreeable ; wishes M" Gage had staid in England, 
 as he advised her ; for though it was natural she should desire 
 to see her friends at New York, &c., yet, she could have no 
 sort of satisfaction in New England, amidst riots, disorders, &c. : 
 and the whole letter discovers greater anxiety and distress of 
 mind than what appears from all the accounts we have rec** 
 concerning him. 
 
 After dinner went to New Haven and Seaford, upon the 
 Channel, not far from Beaehy. 
 
 21st. — At the small parish church of Furle, contiguous to 
 L* Gage's garden : the incumbent named Morton, who, before we 
 went into church, came into Lord Gage's, and in discourse upon 
 N. England remarked that they were all Calvinists. I answered 
 him — Those were the professed principles of the Church of 
 England. A M' Wright, a cheerful young clergyman, a guest 
 at L* Gage's, read prayers, and Morton preached 15 minutes 
 upon a good subject — "If ye love me keep my Command- 
 ments." He seems rather a sower* morose man, and upon 
 some difference with his parishioners, has had no singing for 
 some time past. The church is in a wretched condition : the 
 roof would be bad for a barn. There is one monument in a 
 corner, said to be S' John Gage and his Lady, in H. 8 reign, 
 of white stone like Portland, tolerably executed. 
 
 Li the evening, in two coaches, the company went about a 
 mile and a half to the little parish of Glynd, the buildings 
 better than Furle, the Chapel built by the last Bishop of 
 Durham, Trevor, very elegant : he lies buried under the Altar. 
 The Bishop's house, (he resided much there), is elegant : seems 
 to be of the last century, and early. 
 
 In the evening the company, consisting of 13 persons, in- 
 cluding Lord and Lady Gage, and about 30 servants in their 
 liveries, or the dresses of my L* and Lady's Gentlemen and 
 Gentlewomen, were summoned into the Hall, where Lady Gage 
 read the Evening Service of the Church with great propriety, 
 the whole family joining in the Responses. She then read, as 
 * The word looks very like sower. 
 
ml:] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. 225 
 
 well, a sermon from D' Tillotson, and dismissed the Assembly 
 with the usual Collect and Blessing. This, I am informed, is 
 the constant practice every Sunday. 
 
 22nd. — The whole company dined and spent the day at 
 Brightelmstone, about 12 miles from Furle. Here I unex- 
 pectedly met Lady Fitzroy, mother to the Duke of Grafton, 
 who I had seen just forty years ago at New York, upon a visit 
 to Lord Augustus, her then husband. She is now the wife of 
 M"^ Jefferies, a Commissioner of the Customs, who was with her, 
 as also three of her daughters by him, at Brightelmstone. I 
 met General Frazer, also, who I had known in New England 
 before 1760. This town being without a harbour, none being 
 nearer than Shoreham, or Newhaven, and those for small 
 vessels, and tide harbours, and the soil about it not of the best 
 quality, seems to depend upon the present fashion of bathers, 
 and drinking salt water in the summer season. At this time 
 there is not much of what is called the first company. In our 
 way to Brightelmstone we passed within two or three miles, 
 and in sight of the burying place of the late Duke of New- 
 castle, Henry Pelhara, &c. : went through a village called 
 Rotter Dean, and were within a mile of Preston, where General 
 Shirley owned an estate, which he sold M' Western, and where 
 young Western lived, who married Miss Bollan, and wis soon 
 after killed by his horses taking fright in his carriage. Upon 
 enquiring, found she had not lived there since his death. 
 
 23rd. — Lady Fitzroy and her three daughters, with M"^ 
 Jefferies, Cap" Ganson, [?] of the Horse Guards, M' Ston- 
 yere, [?] late Secretary to the Duke of Grafton, M' Conyers, and 
 his wife and brother, sons of one of the Knights of the Shire 
 for Essex, came from Brightelmstone, and dined at Lord Gage's. 
 
 We intended to have began our journey home, but a rainy, 
 morning caused us to alter our intention. 
 
 24th. — We left Lord Gage's at Furle about 10 o'clock, and 
 went through part of Lewes to Tunbridge Wells, where we 
 dined. Drank tea at the Lord Chief Baron Smith's, about 
 lialf way between the Wells and Tunbridge, and from thence 
 to Tunbridge. Nothing was more remarkable at Lewes than 
 the ruins of an old Castle or Tower, built soon after the Oon- 
 
 Q 
 
22fi BIAST AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f,"f; 
 
 quest by Waren, Earl of Surrey, part of one of the towers 
 being preserved, and appears to be thirty or forty feet high. 
 At Baron Smith's unexpectedly met S' Jeffery Amherst and 
 his Lady, and another lady upon a visit, which I suppose was 
 the reason of our not being asked to lodge there. The Chief 
 Baron lives in an exceeding good old house, built in Queen 
 Elizabeth's reign, by his ancestor, from whom he takes it by 
 descent, and has scrupulously avoided making any alteration, 
 and I do not remember to have seen so good a house so ancient, 
 and which retains the same form in all its parts, as it had at 
 first. There are a very few seats which have a more extensive 
 prospect. Sir Jeffery urged us to dine with him next day, 
 or to take a bed if too late to go to London after dinner ; but 
 as I wished to be in London, I excused myself. 
 
 25th. — We set out from Tunbridge after 8, through Seven 
 Oakes, commonly'called Sunnocks, a neat village, and Bromley, 
 still more neat and elegant, where T took a view of the Bishop 
 of Rochester's house and gardens, and arrived in London 
 between two and three.* From Bromley to London is, I think, 
 upon the whole, the best road, and pleasantest riding of any 
 about London. I found my family had moved the 21st from 
 our lodgings in Parliament Street to a house I had taken in 
 Golden Square. 
 
 26th. — Went in the coach to Kentish Town, two or three 
 miles distant. Answered a letter, which I found on my return, 
 from M' Temple at Bristol, seeking a renewal of friendship, &c. 
 
 The following is the answer in the Governor's own handwriting, 
 in his old marble paper Letter Book. It is surprisingly friendly in 
 tone, considering what had passed : — 
 
 " Golden Square, London, 25"" Aug., 1774. 
 " Dear Sir,— 
 
 "I have been at Lord Gage's, in Sussex, ever since the 16"'. 
 
 Upon my return this afternoon, I found your letter of the 
 
 * Elisha notices this journey in his Diary : — 
 
 " 18. The Gov' and Peggy set out for Furle, a seat 'of Lord Gage's, in 
 Sussex. 
 
 " 19. At Foote's. The Nabob, and Waterman. 
 
 " 21. Moved from our lodgings in Parliament Street to a house in Golden 
 Square, which the Governor hires at p' annum. 
 
 " 25. The Governor and Peggy returned from Fvurle." 
 
ml:] DIAR¥ AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 227 
 
 IS*, whicli, if I had been in town, would not have been so long 
 without an answer. I intend to set out next week to Norwich : 
 how much further north I cannot determine until I have seen or 
 heard from Lord Dartmouth. If I should go to Scotland, I do not 
 expect to he in town until the beginning of October : if I go only 
 into Yorkshire, which is the shortest route I have in view, I hope 
 to be back by the middle of September. 
 
 " I have not yet seen Lord Suffolk. He was in the country, 
 I think in Staffordshire, when we saw one another, and I have 
 not heard of his return. If I had seen him, I should have used 
 the caution you desire in relating what passed between us. I 
 have ever found the utmost candor both in Lord Suffolk and Lord 
 Dartmouth, and I don't know more amiable characters. 
 
 " I had seen in the papers an account of the appointment of a 
 L. Governor for New Hampshire, but as it was not from the 
 Gazette, I supposed it to be without foundation until a few days 
 before I went into the country, I heard M' Pownall say, about ten 
 days ago, that such appointment had been made, but whether there 
 was or was not a Warrant made out, he did not say. 
 
 " Please to present my compliments, and Miss Hutchinson's, to 
 M" Temple. 
 
 " I long for nothing so much as the peace of America, which I ' 
 think may be obtained, if the leaders of the people there were 
 convinced of what appears to me to be really the case — that men 
 of aU parties in England disapprove of their open denial of the ; 
 authority of Parliament ; and that the Ministry and the kingdom 
 in general are so satisfied of the inexpediency of taxing the ^ 
 Colonies in order to a revenue, that there is not the least reason to 
 fear it. — ^I am, S', y' most obed. humble Ser." 
 
 The last paragraph has been crossed out by diagonal lines. 
 Judging from the mention of the Governor's letter to Lord D. on 
 the 16th in his Diary, the Governor appears willing to give Mr. 
 Temple a loophole, by which he may escape from the suspicion 
 which clung to him ; and it is possible that the mutual explana- 
 tions which had taken place, may have superinduced a better / 
 feeling on both sides : but where Mr. Temple expresses a desire to 
 go out to America again, and implies a willingness to hold office 
 under the auspices of Mr. H., a suspicion may arise as to his 
 motives for a reconciliation. Anyhow, in subsequent times The 
 Member of Parliament, whoever he was, seems to have attracted the 
 greatest share of suspicion. 
 
 27th. — M'' Hubbart, who had been an inferior oflSeer in the 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f,"5: 
 
 Customs of Tobago, and superseded, called upon me. He is 
 come from Tobago, being arrived 4 or 5 days, to seek to be 
 restored : was brought up by Col" Pollard, first at Boston, then 
 kept at school in England, and is a son of Zachary Hubbart, 
 who, I think, was a Hatter when I was young at Boston, 
 The cessation from all sorts of public business cannot well be 
 greater than it is at present ; every person being out of town 
 who is at the head of the Boards. News, nevertheless, is 
 expected every day from America, which probably will at least 
 call some to town, if not require further proceedings. 
 
 28th. — Heard a Scotch preacher named Perry or Berry at a 
 Meeting-house in Wells Street, near Oxford Koad ; the Incum- 
 bent named Hall. 
 
 Colonel Dalrymple called in. He says, a person who ought 
 to know, informs him there was a disposition, in order to quiet 
 the Colonies, to suspend the operation of the Tea Act for a 
 time. This is too puerile a thought to deserve notice, or to be 
 supposed possible. 
 
 29th. — I called upon M' Mauduit, but he was not at home. 
 Wrote to L* Dartmouth to acquaint him with my return from 
 Furle, and intention to set out on Thursday for Norfolk, and 
 desiring a quarter of an hour with his L''ship. One of the 
 papers mentioning a Man-of-War being spoke with, coming 
 express from Boston, off Portland. Wrote several letters to 
 Boston. 
 
 30th. — In the forenoon we went to view the British Museum, 
 great part of which I had seen more than thirty years ago in 
 the possession of Sir Hans Sloane. There is a vast addition to 
 the ancient manuscripts, and the collection of Tuscan Urns, 
 Vases, (fee, purchased of S' W™ Heberden, are entirely new to 
 me. The Library of the late King, and the provision made for 
 furnishing a copy of all new books from the Company of 
 Stationers, will make a grand collection. The original of the 
 Great Charter from King John, much worn, but in most parts 
 legible, is in a very small character, but more resembling the 
 writing of the present day than I should have expected to 
 find it. 
 
 In the afternoon I went with some reluctance, and principally 
 
m!:] BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 229 
 
 for the sake of accompauying my children, to Cox's Musseum ; 
 but I was agreeably disappointed, some part of the machinery 
 being extremely ingenious ; and though there is a mixture of 
 much puerile entertainment, upon the whole, I thought the 
 exliibition well worth seeing. 
 
 M' Mauduit called upon me in the evening, and spent an 
 hour or two in conversation. 
 
 We hear nothing of yesterday's Man-of-War. 
 
 We would willingly occupy as little space as possible in foot- 
 notes, but we must crave room to insert a complimentary letter 
 of the Governor to Lord Gage, after his return to London, to 
 thank him for his hospitality at Turle. It was copied into his 
 marble paper-cover Letter Book by his own hand. 
 
 " Golden Sq., Lond., 25 Aug., 1774. 
 " My Dear Lord, 
 
 " I cannot omit the earliest opportunity of thanking you for 
 one of the pleasantest weeks I ever spent in my Ufe. Miss H., I 
 think, will never forget her obligations to Lady Gage, to whom 
 she now desires me to present her respects. Both of us beg our 
 compliments to every one of the agreeable company : to Sir Sampson 
 I sincerely wish, as long as he lives, the continuance of those spirits, 
 which make not only himself, but every one about him happy. 
 
 "I wish I could give you good news from America. There 
 are accounts from the south" Colonies a few [days] later than 
 what was reo* when I left the town. They seem to be all pre- 
 paring for a Congress, w"" I thiuk will make them very ridicu- 
 lous, but I flatter myself can have no serious consequences. 
 
 " I intend to set out on Thursday [this was Thursday] for 
 Norfolk, & Yorkshire. If Lady Gage does me the honour of com- 
 mitting to my care any letters for America, or if y' L'^ship has 
 the like commands, they shall be forwarded by the safest and 
 speediest conveyance, and I shall always take great pleasure in 
 approving myself Y" L^ship's most humble and most obed. Ser'." 
 
 In spite of our desire to give the Diary a prominent place, and 
 to take up as little room as possible in notes, there are neverthe- 
 less sentiments and opinions in many of the Letters so apposite to 
 the critical period of the American dispute at which we have 
 arrived, that to leave them out would be to deprive the subject of 
 half its force. From a passage in the above letter, Mr. H., in 
 common with the Ministry, and with the majority of the English 
 people, looked upon the preparations for the approaching Congress 
 
230 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f,"|: 
 
 • as only child's play ; and if the Governor, who had been horn and 
 brought up amongst them, knew so little of the determination of 
 his countrymen to resist every Act of the British Government, 
 and of their power to maintain that resistance, no wonder that all 
 England should have been so ignorant on those momentous points. 
 
 • She committed the error of despising her enemy, and she forgot 
 ' that her disobedient child had grown to man's estate. The event 
 
 proved it. 
 
 The next letter, dated Aug. 27, and addressed to Mr. J. Green, 
 is long, but it speaks so plainly on these topics, that it is impossible 
 to resist making one or two extracts of the most forcible parts. 
 The second paragraph says : — 
 
 " I am fully persuaded there never has been a time when the 
 nation in general has been so united against the Colonies. The 
 opposition is considered not against the Ministry, but the Kingdom 
 in general, and even L"" Chatham, Burke, and Barre, who don't 
 vote for Bills which concern the Colonies, condemn, notwithstand- 
 ing the principles of the people there, and the actions consequent 
 upon them. In travelling about the country, I find all sorts of 
 persons of the same sentiments. This unanimity, I take it, causes 
 the Ministry to be determined not to recede from any measure in 
 which they have engaged, until the end proposed is effected. They 
 could do nothing which would so much tend to destroy their own 
 political existence. They, nevertheless, most heartily wish to see 
 the Colonies in peace and quiet, and I easily believe are disposed 
 to indulge them in every point which can consist with their 
 remaining a part of the British Dominions. The character of those 
 Ministers who most concern themselves in American affairs is no 
 unfavourable circumstance. Those are the Lord Chancellor, Lord 
 Suffolk, Lord Dartmouth, Lord Mansfield, and Lord North, who in 
 private life are allowed to be equal to any who have preceded them, 
 and in public have escaped as clear of unfavourable charges as 
 Ministers of State have ever done," &c., &c. 
 
 Speaking of himself, he says that all the promises of honours to 
 be offered by great persons to him, had been scrupulously kept : 
 as thus — 
 
 " If you do not see those public marks of honour conferred, which 
 , my letters intimated, it is not because they have not been offered 
 to me : indeed, no part of the assurances given have failed." 
 
 In the same Letter Book a letter of the Governor's to Mr. Isaac 
 Winslow, without date, has been entered by Peggy, judging by 
 
f,"f:] BIAEY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 231 
 
 the Bcliool-girl handwriting, as in the letters signed by her name, 
 in which, amongst other things, are the following : — 
 
 " The payment for the Tea, and a little further advance towards 
 an orderly state than what had been made before I came away, 
 would most infallibly have enabled me to obtain the desired reUet 
 for the town of Boston : but all our advices since have been dis- 
 couraging, and I verily believe every step which has been taken 
 tends not only to render such relief desperate, but to bring further 
 burdens upon the Province. It is at least certain that at present 
 this is the sense of all sorts of people here. This unanimity causes 
 the Ministry to give themselves but little concern about what you 
 are doing. When they know what it is, they say they shall know 
 what, or whether anything will be necessary to be done on their 
 part. In consequence, I am therefore now altogether inactive, and 
 strolling about the country for meer amusement." 
 
 Again, further down : — 
 
 " People in high and low life agree in advising me to settle in ^ 
 England ; but I cannot give up the hopes of laying my bones in ' ' 
 New England; and hitherto I consider myself as only upon an ' 
 excursion from home." 
 
 His anxiety about the sufferings of those who were aflfected by 
 the operation of the Port Bill in Boston seemed always on his 
 mind. Writing to Mr. Cotton [apparently Cotton], Aug, 29, 
 he says : — 
 
 " In general it is evident that all the present measures in the 
 Colonies must lead to raise great resentment ; but there is not the 
 least appearance of their having any tendency to procure a future, 
 or even very distant relief to the town of Boston. Providence, I , 
 hope, wUl avert its total ruin ; and I should have thought it the • 
 happiest event of my life if I might have been the instrument. 
 The prospect of it was very favor*" when I first arrived." 
 
 Again, in the same of August 29, he writes : — 
 
 " I have never seen Doct. F. nor M' B. [BoUan ?] since I have 
 been in Eng. I have lately been two or three times in company 
 with M' Temple, when' nothing passed but what was very civil. 
 I have reason to believe he had been strongly prejudiced against 
 me by very false reports and represent' from N. Eng*, and that he 
 is convinced I have done him no wrong, and have not been instru- 
 mental in procuring the loss of his places : for tho' I think a 
 person may be justified in being the cause of depriving another of 
 
232 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. [mf; 
 
 his living [?] when the public good requires it, yet I have always 
 been scrupulous, lest \J\ in time of strong party, I made myself 
 fancy the public good to be the private motive, when in reality it 
 was private resentment." 
 
 31st. — Saw Lord Dartmouth at his house in St. James's 
 Square. Discoursed largely upon the affairs of America : he 
 supposed nothing was to be done until tlie result of the Congress 
 was known. He said a gentleman had told him he had heard 
 D' Franklin say what he thought would be done at the Congress, 
 and Lord D. added that be did not doubt it was his (Franklin's) 
 own plan. He was more particular in relating what he had 
 heard a gentleman say of Temple, tho' he had not been able to 
 see him since I desired him to enquire : he was sure the gentle- 
 man said tliat Temple told him Whately Lad promised him a 
 sight of my letters to his brother in a few days, and that he 
 would shew them to bira : that afterwards he saw him again, and 
 he shewed him a packet directed to D' Franklin, and told him 
 those were the letters he had spoke of. 
 
 He mentioned Sir W™ Johnson's death, and that he had 
 recommended one of his sons for a successor. I said the appoii.t- 
 ment of natural sons to places of honour had an ill efft-ct upon 
 people's minds in America. He said it was not regarded here : 
 took notice of the commonness of that vice among the young 
 people of New England. I spoke largely of the piety of the 
 first settlers : hoped it was not wholly gone off there as here, 
 where it was a reproach to a man to be a serious christian. 
 
 Folger from Boston, by way of Nantucket. I had no letters : 
 my son [Elisha] had one from his wife at Plimoutb, dated the 
 20 July. No remarkable occurrences : had not rec" the list of 
 the new Council. 
 
 I had a letter from Col° Abercrombie, of General Gage's 
 Eegiment. Speaking of the state of affairs at Boston, he says 
 he likes his Colonel as a gentleman, but would never employ 
 him on a forlorn hope. 
 
 Whatever the right of the English Parliament to tax the 
 Colonies — a right which had existed from their foundation — the 
 wisdom or desirableness of enforcing that right was quite another 
 question. Mr. Hutchinson maintained the right — and it is hard to 
 
t^i] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOHINSON. 233 
 
 see how a faithful servant, true to his trust, and acting on constitu- 
 tional principles, could do otherwise — but in spite of the mis- 
 representations of his opponents, who endeavoured to make him 
 out to be the greatest enemy that America ever had, he wished 
 that that right should not be exercised. There is the transcript of 
 a letter in his own handwriting in his marble paper book (for 
 want of a better description), of August 31, 1774, to Mr. G. Erving, 
 in which he says : — 
 
 " I assure you that I have with great freedom delivered my real 
 thoughts of the inexpediency of taxes upon the Colonies by Pari', 
 and I do not know any one of the Ministry who will not now agree 
 with me in it ; and I may venture to say that I have no doubt the 
 Tea duty will be taken off as soon as it can be done without giving 
 up, as the Ministry conceive, all authority of Pari, over the Colonies, 
 the necessary conseq. of w""" is, giving up the King's authority also. 
 I have asked — What assurance can the Colonies have, if the condi- 
 tions of the Boston Port Act are complied with, that Parliam* will 
 repeal the Tea duty ? and if it is repealed, that a future Parliam' 
 will not re-establish it ? The answers wUl be obvious to you before 
 I relate them. To the first question, it is said, that it cannot be 
 supposed the authority of Gov' can condescend to make such a 
 conditional promise, because it would in effect be owning that the 
 Colonies were not obliged to submit to the Act without such 
 promise, and would be giving up the point contended for : and to 
 the second, the answer is by another question — What assurance 
 can possibly be given? The promises of the K. or the pres' 
 Ministers cannot bind the successors of one or the other. No more 
 would an Act of Par' declaring that the Colonies should not be 
 taxed, bind even a future Session of the same Pari'. I may add, 
 as my own sentiment, that if ParUam' has not now a constitutional 
 right to tax you, a declaration that they will not lay future taxes 
 upon you, will be no additional security, seeing they can as well 
 depart from such a declaration, as they can assume a power not in 
 them by the constitution : and what I think is a consideration of 
 more weight than all the rest — If Parliam' shaU at this day judge 
 it inexpedient to tax the Colonies, because it is against the general 
 bent and inclination, you have a moral certainty that the same 
 general bent will have greater weight in all future times than it 
 has now, because the Colonies wUl continually increase faster than 
 the kingdom, both in numbers and importance." 
 
 There is little to be added to these remarks either in argument 
 or in explanation ; and the concluding assertion is of great force. 
 
234 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \f^\\ 
 
 The controversy between America and the Mother Country has 
 occupied volumes of writing, and has enlisted the controversial 
 pens, and the industry and the ingenuity of many literary workers, 
 in order to explain its elaborate intricacies and its party claims. 
 All this is only wasting time, and puzzling a very simple case. 
 The subject has been made sufficiently clear by the extracts taken 
 from writings penned at the time when these questions were 
 occupying every man's attention. The English asserted the power 
 of Parliament over the Colonies : the Americans denied it. There 
 — that is the whole of the dispute. Strange, however, as it must 
 appear to us in the present day, though a large portion of them 
 were strongly endued with republican views, and, as Du Chatelet 
 wrote to Choiseul, "the fanaticism of liberty " (Banc, iii. 270), 
 they nevertheless rejected the constitutional rule of the collected 
 body of the English nation, but expressed no objection to being 
 under the authority of the King. What then — did they desire to 
 be subject to the sole will of an Autocrat, Uke the Bussians ? or to 
 place themselves under the uncontrolled sway of a Sachem, like 
 the wild Indians ? Eather inconsistent : and yet Lord North was 
 led to say of them : — " The Americans had originally no objection 
 to submit to the authority of the Crown, but objected to the 
 interference of Parliament." And Mr. Frothingham, in the 
 beginning of his History, writes — " Their allegiance to the Crown 
 did not include an admission of the supremacy of Parliament." 
 But at page 19, Mr. Prothingham goes a step further, where he 
 says : — " The people were the subjects of a distant Monarch ; but 
 royalty was merely in theory with them." So then, from this, if 
 on the one hand they rejected the supremacy of Parliament, and 
 on the other declared that Eoyalty was merely a theory with them, 
 we come to the conclusion that they had resolved to get rid of both ; 
 and both was everything. In short, the best and plainest argu- 
 ments suited to the case were used by Dr. "Warren and Mr. Samuel 
 Adams. The first spoke of the Americans as " a people determined 
 to be free : " and Adams exclaimed : — " Independent we are, and 
 independent we will be." There is no mystification there. The 
 time had come, though the English Government saw it not. The 
 whole of the American controversy is comprised in the above 
 remarks. 
 
 Sept. 1. — I set out with my daughter in a chariot for 
 Norwich. Called upon M'^ Brousfield [?] at Islington, but did 
 not light ; went thro' Hackney and Epping Forest to Epping, 
 
ml:] I>IABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 235 
 
 just upon the entrance of which is the seat of M' Conyers ; but 
 being out of the road, we did not see it. Epping is an old 
 village, smaller and poorer built than I expected. We stop'd 
 to dine at Harlow, 23 miles from London — a poor place. Passed 
 through a corner of Bishop Storford, which has the appearance 
 of a respectable town, and intended to lodge at Littlebury, 
 about 40 miles from London, but did not like the accommoda- 
 tion, and went three miJes further to Chesterford, about 43 
 miles from London, but near 46 from Golden Square. Just at 
 the entrance of Littlebury is a very large house of Sir John 
 Griffin's [?], which makes a very fine appearance from the 
 road. 
 
 My two sons [Elisha and Billy] intend to set out post to- 
 morrow morning, and expect to overtake us before we get to 
 Norwich. 
 
 All their kilns for brick and tile upon this road are built of 
 bricks in the form of a cone, very capacious, for which this 
 reason is given, that being contracted at the top, all parts have 
 more equal heat, and the upper bricks and tiles are as well 
 burnt as the lower. Wherever I go I find the price of lime 
 not more than a quarter part at the lime-kiln what it is at 
 Boston, being about 3/- to 3/4 for 12 bush., or one of our 
 hhds. [hogsheads], which is sold at 14/- or 15/-. The hhd. costs 
 about 2/-, and the freight to Boston can't exceed 3/-, which 
 leaves 9/- or 10/. The stone in many places in N. Eng'* is as 
 cheap, and the fuel is vastly cheaper, than in England, where 
 hitherto they use wood, tho' M' Jackson says coal may be made 
 to answer the purpose. 
 
 2nd. — We set out about 7 in the morning from Chesterford ; 
 went about 3 miles to Sir Sampson Gideon's house at Abington, 
 a small village, a comer of which only we passed through. 
 Sir S. we knew was not at home, and we intended only a sight 
 of the house and the children. From thence by Gogmagog 
 Hills to Cambridge is about 7 miles. Upon one of the hills 
 Lord Godolphin has a fine seat, with a very extensive prospect. 
 I see but little change in Cambridge from what it was in 1741. 
 King's College Chapel is repairing, and covered with workmen's 
 stages and dirt, shews to great disadvantage. The Library is 
 
236 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS BUTCHINSON. [ff?!; 
 
 said to be much enlarged : a valuable Persian manuscript, for 
 the writing, embelishments, and binding, appearing to be above 
 300 years old. The Musseum fell much short of my expecta- 
 tion. Thirteen miles brought us from Cambrirlge to New- 
 market, which I had never seen before, and is smaller than I 
 supposed, consisting principally of one street, but about a quarter 
 of a mile long, the buildings, tho' ordinary, not much inferior 
 to Cambridge. The Eace Ground on the left, before we enter 
 the town, I liked to see, after leading so much of it in the 
 newspapers. We dined at Newmarket, and went without 
 stopping 20 miles to Thetford thio' a level and generally poor 
 country common, fields where it is capable of cultivation to 
 advantage, and great part heath, as it is called, tho' most of it 
 is fed by sheep; and six or eight miles before we come to 
 Thetford, for near a mile together, it was, as it were, covered 
 with rabits \sic\. There are several villages on the sides of the 
 road at a distance, but except a few houses at a place called 
 Barton's Mills, and also at Ealding, 3 miles from Thetford, 
 there are no houses to be seen, nor no pleasant view or prospect. 
 The master of the inn where we lodged, says his landlord owns 
 one farm of 1,500 acres, which he keeps wholly for rabbits \sie\, 
 ami tliat one farmer has paid 900£ a year for carriage of rabbits 
 to London, and that some warrens are worth 1,500£ a year to 
 the owner. The land upon this plain or heath rents as low as 
 2/6 to 3/- an acre. 
 
 3rd. — In our way from Thetford to Norwich, we stopped to 
 refresh our horses at Attleboro' [space] miles, and passing thro' 
 Windham, a considerable village, arrived at Norwich about 
 one o'clock. 
 
 One of the Aldermen, M"' Thompson, came in y® afternoon to 
 desire us to dine on Monday.* I took a view of the Cathedral 
 and of the Castle. My sons, who left Loudon y* 2°* and came 
 post thro' Cambridge, arrived in y" evening at D' Murray's, 
 where we all lodge.f 
 
 4tb. — In the morning at the Cathedral, where a D'' Goodale 
 
 * It was now Saturday. 
 
 f It will be remembered that tbe Governor escorted Miss Murray across 
 the Atlantic. 
 
*?J:] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCniNSON. 237 
 
 gave a good exhortation to attend y' publick worship. In y° 
 afternoon at the Dissenting Meeting, a very handsome house, 
 an octagon ; the Minister a young man, M' Alderson, took 
 pains to shew he was a philosophical Christian. Two of the 
 Aldermen are of that Society. The Mayor, Sheriffs, and most 
 of the Aldermen attended at the Cathedral, and do every 
 Sunday. In the evening went to visit M" Betterman, [?] and 
 returning, were caught in a shower of rain, and turning [?] into 
 a house for shelter, it hapned to be the house of one Newman, 
 the only person among forty thousand inhabitants known to be 
 born in Boston. I have met with many such odd accidents in 
 the course of 60 years. 
 
 5th. — Went in my carriage w*** D' Murray to Caxton, about 
 two miles, a pretty village, where are many villas of the 
 principal inhabitants of Norwich, and good farms. Dined at 
 M"^ Thompson's with D' Murray and my own family, several 
 Aldermen, and the Minister Alderson. 
 
 All seemed to suppose that America only wished to be put 
 upon the foot they were upon before the Stamp Act, and that 
 upon such concession they would promise to return to their 
 former state of subjection : but upon hearing that the authority 
 of Parliament in all cases had been denied, they all declared 
 against any repeal, until the right was admitted. In national 
 politics they appeared to be divided ; some for the present 
 Ministry, others discontented, and say all Ministers are cor- 
 rupt, &c. 
 
 Heturning home, saw the new manufactory of Glass Frames, 
 Chandeliers, &c., made of hardened lead, instead of wood, and 
 as cheap. 
 
 6th. — Called upon the Mayor and left my name, he being 
 from home. Cap" Money and his brother dined with us. 
 
 7th. — We went in the forenoon to the top of the highest 
 tower in the walls of the city, repaired in 1750, and intire, 
 from whence we could take a view of the city and country 
 round it. The Castle, the Cathedral, and the great number of 
 churches in a city, where the buildings, the' none superb, yet 
 in general, are as decent as in any town, a very few excepted, 
 afforded a very agreeable view. 
 
238 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [n?l: 
 
 Part of the ruins of Xett's Castle, the Eebel in Edw* 6'" 
 Keign, may be seen at a mile or two distance. The city is on 
 every part walled in : the gates shut at 11 every night. There 
 are 32 churches within the walls : 4 or 5 of them are called 
 Eectories, where the inhabitants, upon a vacancy, meet and 
 elect the Minister who, except his Surplice fees, depends 
 intirely upon their favour for his stipend. Some few give 
 ^ guinea p quarter ; others five shillings, four, and down to 
 one shilling : so that some of the livings are not above 30£, 
 and the highest in the city not an hundred a year, exclusive of 
 fees : for where the presentation is not in the inhabitants, there 
 is no certain living, but all depends on the free gift of the 
 parishioners. When they like the Minister, they give no 
 more on that account: and when they dislike him, they don't 
 withhold. The Churchwarden urges them more strongly. 
 They have service in the forenoon only, except in the Chapel 
 belonging to the Cathedral. Trade and manufactures take up 
 their whole thoughts, and very little is said about religion. 
 A Quaker was Church Warden a year or two ago in one of the 
 parishes. There are two Independent Meetings, one or two 
 Baptists, and some Methodists. 
 
 We spent an hour or two seeing the whole process of the 
 Stuff manufacture. By far the greatest part of the exports are 
 to foreign kingdoms and states, from Yarmouth : a small 
 proportion goes to London, and little or nothing direct to the 
 Colonies : and M' Day, whose manufactory we viewed, said it 
 was altogether indifferent to them whether the Colonies im- 
 ported goods from England or not. 
 
 M' Bacon, Eecorder of Norwich, and one of the Members, 
 dined with us. I spent an hour or two in the evening at 
 a Club of principal manufacturers, all tobacco smokers : the 
 first company where I remember to have seen smoking, since 
 I have been in England. 
 
 8th. — In the morning I walked round great part of the walls 
 of the city, which seem to have been 12 to 15 feet high, and 
 between three and four feet thick ; built of a mixture of flints, 
 round stones, and bricks, laid in mortar : but in some places 
 the earth is raised, so as that they are not above four feet high. 
 
?|?4.] BI ART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 239 
 
 and in great part of the city small tenements are built on 
 ground leases, both within the walls and without, the walls 
 making the back of the houses. From back Thorp Gate, to 
 the Gate at the end of Maudlin Street, are no buildings : there 
 the Towers seem to be about 10 rods dist' from one another : 
 none left intire, but the ruins of the Towers still remaining. 
 
 Before dinner we went to Thorp, a village 2 miles from 
 Norwich, the river running by it : some good old, and some 
 very good new houses. In the way, I left my carriage at the 
 bottom of the hill, and went up to take a look at Rett's Castle ; 
 there being 15 or 20 feet of the walls standing : much the 
 same for height, thickness, and materials, with the walls of 
 Norwich : and was a Chapel belonging to the Earl of Surrey : 
 and upon our return we stopped at the Hospital, just without 
 the Gate, where are about 40 patients. The House is extremely 
 well contrived ; the rooms large, lofty, kept as clean as possible, 
 and the situation airy and exceeding pleasant. The Assembly 
 room is a few feet longer, not broader, than Concert Hall in 
 Boston, nor more elegant : the other rooms in the house are 
 more convenient. The Playhouse or Theatre, rather smaller 
 than that in the Haymarket ; well furnished with scenery, &c. 
 Those we visited also. Spent the evening, being invited w'" 
 my sons to supper at M' Day's, a principal manufacturer, with 
 one of the Aldermen, two of the Clergy, and several of the 
 principal inhabitants. 
 
 9th. — Went in my chariot with D' Murray to Hethel, [?] 
 about 7 miles, to visit M' Bevor, a friend of M"^ Burch, who has 
 an estate of 1000£ a year or more, and a good mansion house. 
 He was gone to Windham, to a sitting of Justices, and his lady 
 from home ; so we returned without alighting. 
 
 An hour or two in the evening at a Concert of musick, 
 mostly performed by gentlemen, and confined to subscribers, 
 and such as they invite. 
 
 10th. — Upon an invitation to Alderman Crow's gardens, 
 about half a mile without St. Stephen's Gate, which are in 
 a pretty taste, about 5 acres, besides kitchen garden. Upon 
 our return, called at his house in town ; the best in town, and 
 elegantly furnished ; was the house of the Earl of Surrey in 
 
240 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [f??! 
 
 H. 8"" reign, and part of the original building still remains, and 
 the general form preseryed. 
 
 M"' Bevor dined with us, and Alderman Thompson. Both 
 mentioned their experiments in setting wheat with a dibble 
 instead of sowing : takes but one bushel an acre for seed, the 
 other way three bushels : which saving, two bushels, pays the 
 charge of setting, which is 11/- : besides, Thompson says, his 
 crop was \ more from setting than broad cast. 
 
 lltL — At the Octagon Chapel in the morning : the same 
 preacher as last Sunday. He read a first prayer of 10 minutes, 
 written, and probably his own composition : then sang : then 
 read a portion of the Old, and another of the New Testament : 
 then prayed about the same time as at first : then preached the 
 subject — " God, that hearest prayer," &c. : then made another 
 prayer, wholly intercessory : then gave the Blessing. 
 
 Dined at Cap" Money's, at Trouse, or Trois Eivieres, cor- 
 rupted. 
 
 12th.— We left D' Murray's at Norfolk, and set out for 
 Wells,* through Aylesham, a respectable village, and a very 
 large and good Gothic church ; the tower the best built of any 
 I have seen in Norfolk, except in Norwich, and in good repair. 
 A mile or two from Aylesham is Blickling, where Lord Buck- 
 ingham,t descended from L* Chief Justice Hobart, has a 
 venerable house, built in H. 8'^ reign. An exceeding good 
 picture of the L* Ch. Just., and another of S"^ John Maynard, 
 I viewed w*" pleasure. A statue of Q. Eliz. on one side of the 
 staircase, and of Ann BuUen on the other. We dined at Holt, 
 and reached Wells by sundown, 33 miles. Wells is situated on 
 a river about 2 miles from the sea, between which and the 
 town, lies a great body of salt marsh, being overflowed every 
 spring tide : never mowed : fed with sheep all the year. The 
 grass appears unlike our salt grass : more like what some call 
 bastard grass, when fed. I observed no sedge or thatch on the 
 banks of the river or pond, and the marsh is not spongey near 
 the shear [sic], but as hard as our upland, and the country 
 
 • On the north coast of the county, N.W. from Norwich, 
 t Mistake probably for Buckinghamshire, ancestor of the present Earl of 
 Buckinghamshire. 
 
n?];] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 241 
 
 round is a sandy soil. But a few good buildings, and those not 
 extraord. in general, of the pebbles laid in mortar. Half a 
 dozen small brigant' [?] and sloops, from 50 to 70 tons, built to 
 draw 8 feet water, lay there, which bring coals from Newcastle, 
 and carry away their corn and malt, when allowed to export it ; 
 but they have little trade, and are generally husbandmen. 
 I lodged, and my sons, at M' Boyle's, brother to M" Murray, 
 and my daughter at his mother's ; and set out the next morn- 
 ing, the — 
 
 13th — for Holkam, and spent an hour or two in viewing 
 Lady Leicester's magnificent house * and gardens, which are 
 particularly described in print. My daughter returned to 
 Wells. I went on with my two sous to Raynham,t upon an 
 invitation from Lord Townshend, arrived before dinner, and 
 lodged there. 
 
 14th. — Went before dinner to view the seat of the Earl of 
 Orford, at Houghton, about 6 miles, and returned to dine about 
 5 o'clock, the usual time being half after four ; supper at 11 at 
 night, and breakfast 11 in the morning. 
 
 15th. — We left Lord Townshend's in the morning, in order 
 to our return to London. His Lordship's house is rather 
 calculated for the accommodation of a large family with proper 
 digm'ty, than for pompous show. He, at the age of 51 had 
 lately married Miss Montgomery, a young lady of Ireland, of 
 perhaps 21. Her elder sister, with M"^ Gardner, her husband, 
 an Irish gentleman of a very large fortune, have been for 
 a month past upon a visit at Raynham. We were entertained 
 with the greatest politeness, and I am pressed to bring my 
 daughter there, if I go to Norwich to accompany her to 
 London. The late Lady Townshend is spoke of through the 
 county as one of the most amiable persons that has ever lived. 
 An anecdote is very common. When his L''ship married the 
 present Lady, the old Lady Dowager, his mother, the first time 
 she saw him, burst into tears. The old Dowager recovered 
 herself, but made a most mortifying speech: — "George, you 
 may needs wonder at my crying upon an affair which all the 
 
 * In the Italian style, begun in 1734, and finished in 1760. 
 t Or Rainham, 3 in. S.W. from Fakenham. 
 
 11 
 
242 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [n?J: 
 
 rest of the world laugh at." She has no extraord. character. 
 Her Lord and she lived many years separate. He kept his 
 mistress, and she was not without a charge of gallantry. When 
 he died, a lady of quality sent to enquire how she did upon 
 so melancholy an occasion ? She sent for answer, that she was 
 very indifferent. 
 
 From Raynham to Swaffham is Binsly [?]. Tiais is a neat 
 market town : a good church, with a fine large and lofty tower 
 of hewn stone, which is very singular in Norfolk, and they 
 have no tradition where it was brought from, there being at 
 present no quarry in the county, and like most of the other 
 parts of the kingdom, the most intelligent inhabitants of the 
 parish can give no account of the age of their church. This is 
 in the truly Gothic style : the pillars indicate some centuries 
 before the Reformation : but few parish churches where I have 
 travelled, have had so much care taken of them. 
 
 Stop'd at M' Jackson's gate in Wyenham [?] : not come 
 from London. 
 
 From Swaffham to Brandon is 9 miles. Here we dined. It 
 is less than Swaffham, but is not of the lower class of villages. 
 I went half a mile out of my way to see the house and estate 
 of my friend M' Burch, who once resided here, and could not 
 help thinking it would be to me, if my native place, a much 
 more agreeable situation than his house, either in town or 
 country in New England. From Brandon to Barton Mills 9 or 
 10 miles, and the whole way upon a sandy down : but by a 
 late Act of Parliament a Turnpike is established, and it is the 
 best piece of road I have seen in England. The improvements 
 in agriculture which have distinguished Norfolk, have been 
 made chiefly upon a thin sandy or gravelly soil, under which 
 they say is generally clay or chalk. They first cart 70 or 80 
 load of clay or marie, according to the quality of the land : 
 the sandy land it is said clay is most proper for. This having 
 laid a winter or longer, in order to pulverising, is spread upon 
 the land and ploughed in : 20, 30, or 40 load of stable dung is 
 added upon a second ploughing. This prepares the land for 
 a crop of turnips, sowed in July, and fed upon the land in the 
 winter by oxen and sheep, for which it is said to be worth 
 
?|?i:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 243 
 
 three or four pounds, and sometimes more, an acre. The next 
 year the ground is prepared for wheat : then a crop of barley : 
 then oats or pease : then a new dressing with stable dung : and 
 so a second round : or if clover be sowed with oats, they have 
 a fine crop one year, but seldom or ever try the second year, 
 as they prefer tillage to grass, and wheat succeeds well after 
 clover. The landlords who let such lands at 8 to 10/ an acre, 
 have raised to 16 and 20/. But I should wonder if such loose 
 sand, as great part of these downs or heath consists of, should 
 ever be profitable for a number of years : a crop or two may 
 be forced ; but a sufiScient dressing to change the quality of 
 the soil, would amount to more than the cost of the lands of 
 superior quality in other parts of the kingdom : and this I 
 suppose is the reason of such sandy tracts remaining unculti- 
 vated. 
 
 Lord and Lady Townshend came in late, and lodged in the 
 same house in their way to London. 
 
 16th. — To Newmarket where, whilst our horses were refresh- 
 ing, we took a view of the Kace Ground, which takes up so 
 much of the time and money of so many of the Nobility and 
 gentry ;* and then continued our route to Boumebridge, about 
 half a mile from Abington, which we passed by in our jouniey 
 from London, when we turned off to Sir Sampson Gideon's. 
 From thence to Littlebury, where we dined at an Inn opposite 
 to a house lately purchased by Sir John Griffin, of the heirs of 
 one Stanley, who projected a floating light at the Buoy of the 
 Nore, and who erected the model of it in the garden of this 
 house. Our landlord told us this odd story — That when 
 Staidey was carried away with his Lighthouse from the Nore 
 and lost, the model of the Lighthouse was carried away by the 
 same storm, and at the same time. We went on to Harlow to 
 
 ' This mention of the race ground recalls to memory a rather original and 
 rather amusing piece of advice given by a careful father to his son. Mr. 
 Hutchinson was at Newhaven in Connecticut on business, and writing to one 
 of his sons, who was enjoying the freedom of a holiday, Sept. 30, 1767, he 
 says : — " I hope some time next week to be at home, and that you will not 
 be long after me. Pleasure should always give way to business, and the 
 picture of a horse race is every whit as agreeable as the original ; so that it 
 will not be worth while to lose much time for the sake of the races." 
 
 We may judge from this that the Governor was not much given to this 
 kind of pastime, so madly followed by some persons to their ruin. 
 
 K 2 
 
244 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [f??*. 
 
 lodge, after a journey of 46 or 47 miles — rather more than we 
 wished, for the sake of our horses. 
 
 17th. — We passed through Epping, Woodford, Hackney, and 
 Islington, and arrived at Golden Square about two o'clock. I 
 took notice of a house at Woodford, said to be built by M' 
 Bacon, Member for Aylesbury and since sold, which put me in 
 mind of improvem*^ to be made in my house at Milton, and of 
 a ha-ha fence at the bottom of the garden.* I found letters 
 from Boston to the 28'" of July. I have enquired of several, 
 who gave different answers, whether the yellow bricks were of 
 different clay from the red, or only burnt differently in degree. 
 The mason who was at work near this house at Woodford, told 
 me the Brickmakers mixed coal ashes with the clay, to make 
 the bricks burn yellow ; but a labourer who stood by, said the 
 yellow bricks all came out of Surrey, and are a different clay 
 from the red.t 
 
 18th. — At a Meeting-house in Swallow Street ; the preacher 
 a serious man, an imitation of M'^ Whitefield, in his delivery 
 and composition. I believe that the Dissenting congregation 
 in Westminster consist of inferior tradesmen and servants, and 
 very few among them of other condition. I have seen a coach 
 or two at the Meeting in Prince Street. In the city many 
 principal merch'' and tradesmen Are Dissenters. 
 
 19th. — Called upon L* Chief Justice De Grey in Lincolns 
 Inn Fields: M' Herd,t at the Herald's Office: M' Keene, 
 Stable yard — all from home : M"^ Whately, Lombard Street : 
 found him at home, and acquainted him with what a gentleman 
 had informed Lord D. (not mentioning his name), that M' 
 Temple had said about my letters, viz. that he should have 
 them in a few days, &c. This, says M"" Whately, is another 
 circumstance to shew M"" T. took them, for I remember he 
 
 * Better that we should not know what is in the future. Little did he 
 dream that he was never to set eyes upon that house and garden again, or 
 that they were to be confiscated and taken from him and his family, and sold 
 to strangers. 
 
 t Geological and chemical reasons were not so well understood in that day 
 as in later times ; or that the red bricks get their colour from the presence of 
 oxide of iron. 
 
 X Sir Isaac Heard was at one period Garter King-at-Arms, but whether 
 this is intended for the same person we cannot say. 
 
im.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 245 
 
 spake to me first about them, and I appointed him three or 
 four days after, when he came and looked over them, but, says 
 he, there are other circumstances, enough to put it out of 
 doubt that he took them. James Clark, who was master of a 
 large ship consigned to me in 1751, and who I have never 
 heard of since, called upon me. He has been unfortunate, and 
 is in low circumstances. 
 
 20th.— Kec"* letters from Judge Oliver, Sally, and M' G. 
 Erving. Eec* advice of the arrival of the Man-of-War, and 
 the acceptance and qualifying for oflSce of 12 of the Council, 
 and that most of the rest would probably accept. Meeting 
 M' Pownall in the Park, and finding that there were no letters 
 from Gen' Gage, I sent my letters to Lord Dartmouth. Cap. 
 Hellon [?], w'" whom I used to lodge at Taunton [Mass.], 
 called upon me. He has been three years from home. 
 
 21st. — [Two or three lines of shorthand, not deciphered. 
 It is of a kind that does not agree with some others of the 
 older systems, which were in use in George the Third's time, 
 with which it has been compared.] 
 
 Lord North, having heard that I had a letter from Boston, 
 enquired particularly of the state of affairs there. So favour- 
 able an account of the acceptance of so many of the Council, 
 he did not expect. The Congress he always supposed would 
 go on, and he fancied they would agree upon a non-importation 
 and non-consumption ; but it could never last : they would 
 soon break through it. Such combinations tolerated, I said, 
 were dangerous examples though their schemes should fail. It 
 was true, he said, and some way must be found to punish those 
 concerned. It was difficult, he said, canying the Stat, of 
 H. 8* into execution. That the destruction of the Tea, con- 
 nected with the Kesolves of the Meetings was treason, he said 
 was past doubt ; but the lawyers were in doubt whether the 
 evidence which appeared was sufficient : otherwise they should 
 have gone on to prosecute. One thing, he said, would cer- 
 tainly be done. If they refused to trade with Great Britain, 
 G. B. would take care they should trade no where else. And 
 if any Colonies stood out, all encouragement should be given 
 such Colonies. I avoided saying anything upon my personal 
 
246 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [f??*; 
 
 concerns. He was much more open and pleasant in conversa- 
 tion than at any time when I have seen him before. Called 
 upon M' Wedderburn : he is in the country. 
 
 An interval of five or six weeks generally occurred in that day 
 between the writing of a letter in Massachusetts and its reception 
 in London. According to modern ideas, American news -would be 
 looked upon as rather stale. In a work like the present, however, 
 it may be now and then of advantage to quote letters of equal 
 date with occurrences in England, thereby showing what occur- 
 rences in each country were taking place simultaneously. 
 
 Painfully exhibiting the riotous state of things in Massachusetts 
 is a sort of letter in the handwriting of Dr. Peter Oliver, who had 
 married the Governor's eldest daughter Sally. It is bound up 
 among the original letters, in vol. i. blue leather backs, but the 
 last page is missing, as there is no signature or address. The 
 last date is September 20, the period to which we have arrived in 
 England, e. g. : — 
 
 "Middleborough, Aug. 11, 1774. 
 " Sir ! 
 
 " We have just heard of the arrival of the Acts of Parliament, 
 by a Man-of-War, last Saturday or Sunday. Tuesday the General 
 sent an express to the Judge, Col. Watson, Daniel Leonard, Col. 
 Eden, N. Eay, Thomas [Hutchinson], and a number of others in 
 the Province, as we imagine as His Majesty's Council, upon the 
 new Establishment. Col. Watson [father of Elisha's wife, Copley 
 the Painter's wife, and Sir G. Temple's wife] says he bids farewell 
 to all peace and comfort in this world. I [have] never see [seen] 
 him so uneasy in my life. He wiU. refuse ; and if he does, he will 
 do the Torys more dishonor than ever he did them good. There 
 are numbers in the Province that swear they will never consent 
 to this new plan. By the next faU, the last of October, the whole 
 matter will be decided. 
 
 Aug. 23. 
 
 " Well — Col. Watson is sworn in one of His Majestee's [«c] 
 Council : he has got home : they left the Meeting to the number 
 of 40. The first Sunday they passed him in the street without 
 noticing him, which occasions him to be very uneasy. Some of 
 our puppies in town are coming to wait on the Judge [Chief 
 Justice Peter OHver]. You will hear more of it by the time you 
 finish this letter. 
 
Sept 
 1774. 
 
 :] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 247 
 
 Sept. 2. 
 
 "3 men, deputed from 40 Middleb. brutes, came to the Judge's 
 house the 24"" to know ah' these difficulties, and they went away 
 as dissatisfied as they came. 
 
 " Col. Buggies, Murray, WiUard, and some others, are obliged 
 to retire to Boston to get rid of the mobb. The Judge is now in 
 Boston. We have been threatened, and whether we shan't be 
 mobbd is uncertain. The Newspapers will give you an aco* of 
 the riots in different parts of the Province. 
 
 " I dread to think of the consequences that must follow our 
 behaviour here, whether ever so mild matters are struck upon by 
 the Ministry. If the Ministry give way to us, we are an undone 
 people : and if they set out to punish us, according as we deserve 
 it, there will be bloodshed enough before they can reduce us. The 
 Middleborough people, and indeed the Province in general, declare 
 solemnly never to submit to this new plan of Government. I 
 wish I was safe with my family out of reach of threats and insults. 
 I never knew what mobbing was before. I am sick enough of 
 confusion and uproar. I long for an asylum — some blessed place 
 of refuge. 
 
 Sept. 10. 
 
 " The Judge is in Boston yet, for safety, and wiU be this one 
 whUe. You have no idea of the confusion we are in ah' the 
 CounseU and new mode of government. 
 
 Sept. 14. 
 
 " To-day I was visited by about 30 Middleborough Puppies, 
 who obliged me to sign their Articles. They proceeded, and in- 
 creased their number to 80, and attack'd M' Silas Wood ; carried 
 him off and threatened his life if he would not sign their paper, 
 to stand by the Old Charter, and give up the Protest he had then 
 in his pocket. He finally yielded. The next day they visited ab' 
 10 or 12 people who were called Tories, and made them resign to 
 their unwarrantable demands : — M' Spooner among the rest. 
 
 Sept. 20. 
 [Announcement of birth of a daughter to Elisha's wifo.] 
 
 Sept. 23. 
 
 [Announcement of birth of a son to himself.] 
 
 The remainder of the above letter is missing. So much for mob 
 
248 DIASY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f??I: 
 
 law, and the tyrannies of men who were crying out for more 
 liberty. It was the species of liberty once described to me 
 (P. 0. H.) by an American — a Salem man — as " liberty all on one 
 side.'' The reading of the above proceedings wiU involuntarily 
 recall to memory the remarkable^ words uttered by Madame Eoland, 
 when she was being led to the guUlotine — " Liberty ! how many 
 crimes are committed in thy name ! " 
 
 In the midst of these excesses, Thomas Hutchinson, Junior, was 
 keeping quiet at Milton. In a letter to his brother Elisha, of 
 Aug. 29, 1774, he says: — "I have no doubt Great Britain will 
 finally conquer ; yet I fear it will be a long time before there will 
 be peace and harmony among us." 
 
 In another letter of September 22, he notices the visit to Dr. 
 Peter Oliver as thus : — " It is become mighty fashionable here for 
 the people to wait on any person who has done anything that they 
 are pleased to look upon as unfriendly to the cause of liberty, and 
 oblige them to confess, and promise reformation. D' Oliver was 
 visited last week by about five hundred, who assembled at some 
 distance from his house, and sent a Committee to confess him for 
 having promoted some Address or Protest some time agoe, which 
 penance he readily underwent, to get rid of his unwelcome guests, 
 and I suppose may now remain at Middleborough without molesta- 
 tion. The poor Consignees [himself and his brother] seem to be 
 forgot, but Mess" Clarks and Faneuil have betaken themselves to 
 the new city of refuge [Boston]. I shall stay out as long as I 
 can." 
 
 After reading the above narratives of such unbridled excesses, 
 written by eye-witnesses to private friends, with no view to their 
 going further, it is rather startling to find Mr. Frothingham, in 
 his "History of the Siege of Boston," speak of the "patient 
 suffering " and the quiet of the Americans. Of course he is only 
 joking ; and at page 40 of the fourth edition he adds — " But the 
 patriots saw in this calmness, this forbearance, this absence of 
 tumult, a high and necessary duty." Oh, the humbug of this 
 world ! 
 
 22nd. — M' Blackman, a New York merchant in the city, 
 called upon me. He seems of opinitn that the major part of 
 the merchants of N. York are averse to a non-importation 
 scheme. 
 
 M' G. Green and M'' Clark dined with me. 
 
f??l:] DIAET AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 249 
 
 23rd. — Set out about eight from Golden Square in my own 
 carriage with Billy for Aylesbury. Dined at Amersham. B. 
 went from thence to W Lowndes's at Chesham, 3 miles. I 
 went forward and reached S' F[ranci8] B[ernard's] soon after 
 sunset. 
 
 24th.— Sir W" Lee and Lady Elizabeth dined and spent the 
 evening at Sir F. B.'s. Among other things in conversation, 
 I learnt that there are about 400 voters for Members in Ayles- 
 bury : that, upon an election, all, except about 70, who are 
 above it, receive from each of the two members, between seven 
 and eight pounds a man, so that, with entertainment upon tlie 
 day of Election, and other contingencies, the whole expense to 
 each is about 2500£. The corruption thro' the kingdom, not- 
 withstanding the Bribery Act, will prevail. Alderman Hayley 
 rec"* a letter offering him a Borough in Cornwall for £2000. 
 
 25th. — A young man named Stocking is Curate at Ayles- 
 bury, and preached all day. Here they chant or sing the Te 
 Deum, Jubilate, and Magnificat, which is not usual, but ex- 
 ceeding well performed, and so distinct that you hear every 
 word, and the musick is well adapted to the words, I could 
 not help being sensibly affected at seeing the boys of the Free 
 School with their master in a particular part of the church, as 
 it brought to my mind that Col" Foster, my mother's father, 
 was of Aylesbury, and I suppose of the same school, (he being 
 a very good grammar scholar,)* and I doubt not a little more 
 than an hundred years since sat in the same place. The 
 
 * There is in the collection a small thick volume, being a grammar of the 
 Latin tongue, having the impress of Cambridge : " Printed by John Field, 
 Printer to the Universitie, 1666." It was whole bound in brown leather the 
 year after, for the date 1667 is stamped on the back, as also the letters I. F., 
 probably for John Foster. It is profusely interleaved, and on these are 
 written a number of notes, mostly in Latin, in a beautifully fine, clear, and 
 small hand. Subsequently the volume was the property of the Governor, for 
 the sign-manual " Thomas Hutchinson, ejus Liber, 1752," occurs in several 
 places ; and in his handwriting the following memorandum has been entered 
 on the fly-leaf at the beginning : — 
 
 " John Foster I suppose must have been above fourteen years of age at the 
 time of the Notes in this book in 1667. I take them to be of his writing. 
 He left no other children than two daughters, Sarah and Lydia : the first 
 mamed Thomas, the other his half brother Edward Hutchinson." It need 
 scarcely be added that Sarah was the (Jovernor's mother. The Arms were — 
 Ar, a chev. bet 3 bugle homrf stringed sa. Crest — An arm embowed holding 
 a spear. 
 
250 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \pi\\ 
 
 church, tho' a very decent one, being very old, and by the 
 appearance of it, has retained its general form and disposition 
 of seats for more than one or two centuries. 
 
 I reu'* two letters, 10 and 20 Aug. from Tommy ; one from 
 Peggy at Norwich, and one from Lord Gage at Furle. 
 
 26th. — Dined at S' W" Lee's. The weather prevented 
 Sir r. B. An elegant entertainment, probably all from within 
 himself, as he keeps about 200£ a year in his own hands. His 
 estate is said to be 3000£ p annum. Cards in the evening. 
 The game a shilling a corner, and the custum is kept up for 
 each person to pay 18" for cards when they play with two 
 packs, and a shilling when with one. Vails* are generally laid 
 aside. This mean custom still kept up. 
 
 At Lord Barrington's : they play a shilling a game or comer, 
 and pay for cards. He says, everybody that plays is a loser 
 at the year's end. His Butler is the only person who gains by 
 cards. Much to Sir W™ Lee's honour is his practising as a 
 Physician gratis. The poor of Aylesbury always make use of 
 him as a Physician, without cost Sir F. B. also relies much 
 upon his advice. 
 
 27th. — Eode out upon M"^ Thorn. Bernard's mare ; the first 
 time I ever was on horseback in England : found the goings of 
 the horse better than expected. Took a view of Lord Chester- 
 field's house, late Sir W™ Stanhope's, built in a low meadow on 
 the side of the Thame, which runs into the Thames, as does 
 the Isis or Ouse from Oxford : and some say Thame Isis is the 
 name abbreviated by Thames. We then, (S"^ F. B. and my- 
 self), took a view of a Castle, built by Sir John Vanhatton [?] 
 a gent, of 2000£ a year, about two miles from S' W™ Lee's, in 
 imitation of one of the Gothic Castles of the Barons, but upon 
 a small scale. From the top we had a prospect of great part 
 of the county of Bucks. Winchenden particularly, lies about 
 3 miles, and some part appeared, but the chief part lies behind 
 a hill. 
 
 Sir W™ Lee and Lady drank tea and spent the evening at 
 Sir F. B.'s : received much civility from him and his lady. 
 
 28th. — The morning very rainy, which hindered me from 
 * What tloes this mean ? 
 
K 
 
 f|?l:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 25 
 
 setting out for London until after 9, Showery all day, and the 
 roads bad. Dined at Watford, and came home just about 
 sunset. 
 
 29th. — Waited upon Lord Dartmouth, where I found M' 
 Pownall;* and in conversation upon America, he proposed 
 tliat after the result of the present Congress, the King should 
 appoint a Congress of Deputies from all the Colonies to be 
 regularly chosen by the Assemblies, and a Moderator, or person 
 to preside, should be appointed by the King. I asked M' 
 Pownall what was to be expected ? He supposed a general 
 Government might be formed, like that of Ireland ; and many 
 other advantages might arise. I asked whether they would 
 make any concession as to parliamentary authority ? He said 
 — Not the least. That, I told him, was the only point which 
 caused any difiBculty in the government of the Colonies. He 
 thought that ought to be buried. I thought they would not 
 suifer it. If they would only forbear denying it, things would 
 come right without a Congress : if they were determined to 
 persist in the denial of it, a Congress would do no good, but 
 would really increase the difficulty, and the government could, 
 with better grace enforce obedience, if it must come to force, 
 before such a Congress than after. Besides, I did not believe 
 they would do anything more at this Congress than declare to 
 the world their independency on Parliament, and wait to see 
 how it was received; and for Parliam* to treat after that, *^ 
 I tho't could not be. This, he said, would be Treason. Lord 
 Dartmouth said — Parliam* can do nothing which will do so 
 much as carry any appearance of conceding to such a claim. 
 M' Pownall said his brother and he seldom thought alike, but 
 they were agreed in this point of a Congress of the Colonies : 
 and knowing in that way what would satisfy them. Lord D. 
 said pleasantly — that M' Pownall had a mind to go to America 
 and be the King's Representative, and preside over all the 
 Colonies. I answered him — that I knew no better person. 
 
 30th. — I set out after twelve in a post-chaise for Norwich, 
 
 * From the nature of the conversation that follows, this was evidently 
 Thomas Pownall, late Governor of Massachusetts ; at least, it seems to suit 
 him best. 
 
252 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [' 
 
 Oct. 
 1774. 
 
 by way of Colchester and Ipswich, because it is a different road 
 from those I travelled in my last journey. The first stage to 
 Enmford : paid the Post-boy 16 miles from Golden Square. 
 Knmford is not large, and but indifferently built. The next 
 stage thro' Brentford, another town of one street, to Ingate- 
 stone, 12 miles, where I dined ; and from thence through 
 Chelmsford, and the villages of Springfield, and Hatfield 
 Peverell, from which two places probably, the Springfield and 
 Hatfield iu Massachusetts might take their names ; their 
 situation being a level street in general upon the side or 
 between rather, a river and meadow, low grounds. Chelmsford, 
 about half of which I went through, and then turned off to the 
 right, to take the Ipswich road, appears to be a second or 
 third-rate town, but as far as I passed through it, mostly old 
 and indifferent buildings, though several good houses are inter- 
 mixed, and there are good seats in the vicinity which appear 
 as we pass the road, particularly Sir W" Mildmay's, whose 
 grounds I observed, but not the house ; and M' Hoare's, which 
 has a fine Pond or Canal between the house and the road. 
 Witham is a parish of one street, but has a good Glebe, the 
 Vicar, M"^ Butter, [?] who was preceptor to IP Grenville's 
 children. The living is in the gift of the Bishop of London, 
 but fell to the King when the See of London was vacant ; and 
 IP Grenville gave it to his Chaplain or his children's pre- 
 ceptor, who, my host says, is a very good man. 
 
 Oct. 1st. — Set out from Witham near J after six, and break- 
 fasted at Colchester. In our way passed through Keldon, or 
 Kelvendon,* a long street tolerably well built, except that all 
 the houses, or all but very few, are plaistered outside :t — a few 
 good brick modern houses. Ipswich, at 1 8 miles distance, to 
 which we passed next, stopping at Stratford Street, 7 miles, is 
 much in the stile of Colchester, though larger, and a second 
 rate city. The houses of both of plaister, some very old, but 
 
 * Or Kelvedon. 
 
 t Probably this was the style of work known as pargetting, the workman 
 who practised it being called a pargetter. Tlie wall was plastered, and then, 
 with a tool like a large comb or rake, certain fanciful patterns were scratched 
 or traced. It was of Flemish introduction, now gone out, though traces of it 
 mav still bo found on old houses on the eastern side of England. 
 
Oct 
 1774. 
 
 J DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 253 
 
 respectable, intermixed with modern brick buildings, some very 
 good. Ipswich has its gates, but not its walls intire, as Norwich. 
 From a high ground a mile distant, you have a fine view of the 
 town. The country round on both sides makes a fine appear- 
 ance; several elegant seats adding to the natural beauties. 
 I asked a gentleman at the Inn, what remains there were of 
 the family of Hanby ? He mentioned an old gentleman who, 
 he said, was dying, and that S'' Tho. Thorowgood married his 
 sister. I let him know I came from America, and was de- 
 scended from that family : * and I found he was Member of 
 Pari' for Ipswich, {W Wollaston, of Finsbury). He expressed 
 his concern about affairs in America : said Gov. Pownall had 
 foretold what would happen. I asked whetlier he had proposed 
 any measures which would have prevented it ? He did not 
 know that he had ; but said it was easier to anticipate evils, 
 than to prevent them : spoke of Barry [Barre ?] and Pownall as 
 considerable men, but as going greater lengths than otherwise 
 they would do, from opposition to the Ministry: said he 
 attended to all the debates upon America : could not see but 
 that all the Acts were necessary. From Ipswich to f 
 
 12 miles ; from thence to Stoke, 13 miles, where the master of 
 the Inn, being backward in furnishing a post-chaise, and saying 
 the stage-coach was at the door ready to start, and I should be 
 at Norwich much sooner, and there being only two veiy decent 
 men passengers, to save time I took my passage, and made it 
 quite dark before I came in, and should probably have been 
 later in a chaise, as we made but one stage in 19 miles, and 
 must have made two in a chaise. 
 
 2ud. — The paper from London of the 30*'' in the evening, 
 says it was that day determined in Council to dissolve the 
 Parliament, and to issue writs for a new Pari' to meet the / 
 29* of November. This undoubtedly is done in order to 
 a more effectual provision for the state of America, than could 
 be depended upon the last Session of a Parliament. It is what 
 some time ago I mentioned to M' Pownall, as what I had heard 
 
 * Edward Hutchinson, baptized at Alford in England, May 28, 1613, 
 married Catherine Hanby, of Ipswich, in 1636. 
 
 f Space left blank. Debtnham was probably intended. 
 
254 BIAS 7 AND LETTERS OF TEOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mi. 
 
 proposed, and he agreed it would be a good measure if practi- 
 cable in other respects. 
 
 A strange story w"*" somebody had put into Malcolm's head, 
 and he carried to Lord D., that G. Gage was killed, &c., was 
 sent down in letters to Norwich, and enquiry thereupon made 
 of me, into the truth or probability of it. 
 
 At the parish church : no sermon : prayers by a M'' Green : 
 about 40 or 50 present. In the afternoon at the Chapel : 
 the Minister, M'^ Alderson: in prayer and in preaching as 
 heretofore. 
 
 3rd. — Proclamation for dissolving the Parliament came down 
 to Norwich by post. I called upon the Mayor, who was just 
 going to an Assembly or Corporation Meeting, with more pomp 
 than the Governor of an American Colony ordinarily goes to 
 his Assembly. His business was something new. A person 
 had tbe major vote for Alderman, who had been chosen once 
 before, and fined 200£ for refusal ; and now being chosen 
 a second time, was fined 6/8 for refusing. The fine being 
 discretionary, (not exceeding 200£), the Commons thought this 
 too small, and demanded a meeting, and by vote of the whole 
 Corporation, made it 6 „ 13 „ 4. Another person, who had the 
 minor vote in the election, demands admission as Alderman, 
 because all the votes for the other person were a nullity, he 
 being ineligible; and he says he has Serjeant Glyn's opinion 
 in his favour. He was refused, and is determined to bring the 
 cause before the K.'s Bench by Maiidamus. This is the case of 
 Wilkes in the H. of Commons, when he was supported by 
 Glyn, who would not admit he was ineligible : but the case of 
 the Norwich man is no doubt stated as ineligible, which may 
 justify the difference of opinion in the two cases. 
 
 Coming home, a view of the Duke of Norfolk's palace in 
 Henry 8'^ time, still retaining much of its original foim, but 
 void of all its ornaments, and converted long since into a 
 workhouse, caused some serious reflections. 
 
 In the evening at a M' Scot's, a considerable manufacturer, 
 brother to M" Williams, now Smith, of Connecticut and New 
 York. He appeared a serious religious man, a strong party 
 man against Administration : supposes Pari' dissolved to take 
 
Oct. 
 1774 
 
 .] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 255 
 
 the country party by surprise in a new election : declares 
 America ought not to be taxed : cites M"^ Pitt's authority for 
 it: and will not allow Parliament can make any alteration 
 in the Charter of the city of Norwich, &c. He belongs to 
 a Congregational Society, who retain the principles of the old 
 Dissenters. Though a Dissenter he acknowledged an observa- 
 tion he had heard, to be just — that if the Chuich of England 
 had not kept up and enjoined the use of the Common Prayer, 
 there would have been an universal depravity of doctrine. 
 He mentioned a humorous piece, which I have not seen, with 
 the title of — A Dialogue between the Pnlpit and the Desk. 
 
 Elisha's Diary keeps equal pace with his father's, and as it is 
 generally only a repetition of it, quotation is not often necessary. 
 Whilst his father was in Norwich Elisha made a trip to Oxford, 
 and the following is the account : — 
 
 " October 4th. — Set out for Oxford in a hired chaise, with the 
 Gov.'s horses, in company with M' Clarke and Billy. Breakfasted 
 at Eichmond ; stopped at Hampton Court to see the Palace, and 
 then proceeded to Windsor, where, after viewing the Castle, wo 
 lodged : and setting out early the next morning, we breakfasted 
 at Henley, got to Oxford to dinner, and the next day went to 
 Woodstock to see Blenheim, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough. 
 Eetumed to Oxford in the evening, and the next day walked out 
 to see the Colleges. Early the next morning we left Oxford ; 
 breakfasted at Nettlebed, dined at Hounslow, and arrived in 
 London about 6 o'clock in the evening." 
 
 4th. — Keceived a message from Alderman Thompson, to be 
 present at the election of an Alderman for one of the Wards, 
 in the room of the person who had been fined. I was intro- 
 duced into the Hall, and placed at the right hand of the Mayor. 
 The Electors, the Freemen, and inhabitants of the Ward, upon 
 the Mayor's declaring the purport of their meeting, put up 
 a person by the name of Garretson ; and upon his being put to 
 vote, there was a general cry ; and Matthews, the person who 
 claimed a right to be sworn, desiring that none of his friends 
 would vote for him, as he was determined to support the 
 former election. A pole was demanded, and the Mayor declared 
 Garretson elected. 
 
 5th. — ^I was introduced upon the Bench of Justices at the 
 
256 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [' 
 
 Oct. 
 1774. 
 
 County Court or Sessions in the Castle, by M'' Col dam, a 
 Justice for the county. I saw much the same proceedings as 
 if I had been in the Court of Sessions at Boston. The case of 
 a father who required sureties of his son for his keeping the 
 peace, &c., was singular here. The father was a good farmer ; 
 the son wicked and perverse, had been committed three months, 
 and was again remanded for want of sureties: was decently 
 dressed — a red coat and ruffles, and of age ; and considered as 
 a stranger, who had threatened any person's life. 
 
 In the evening was a very large Assembly of the principal 
 gentlemen and ladies of the county. I was introduced to 
 L" Buckingham, [Buckinghamshire] M' Charles Townshend, 
 gr -^'m Jernegan, &c. I had an opportunity of seeing and 
 conversing with M'' Preston, a gent, of large fortune, brother to 
 M" Hutton in New England. 
 
 I received very alarming and distressing news from Boston 
 by the Scarborough. I shewed my principal letters and papers 
 to Lord Buckingham and M' Charles Townshend, at their 
 desire, and to M' Bacon, aU Members of Parliament : and in 
 the evening sent them to Lord Dartmouth by post. 
 
 6th. — Taking up a volume of the Biographical Dictionary, 
 this passage in the life of M' Maclaurin came home to me : — 
 " Here, (says he, in a letter to one of his friends) I live as 
 happily as a man can do who is ignorant of the state of his 
 family, and who sees the ruin of his country." 
 
 A chearful [sie\ Divinity Doctor Brookes, who has been in 
 Quebec, and is still Chaplain there, dined with us. Li the 
 evening I spent an hour or two at a Club, where I expected to 
 see Lord Walpole, who is a Member, but did not. It consists 
 of the principal gentlemen of Clergy and laity. There were 
 4 Clergymen, M' Norris, a gentleman of large fortune, several 
 in the Commission of the Peace in the county, and some of the 
 principal persons in town. All agree in the necessity of some 
 fixed steady measures for America, but seem apprehensive 
 that it is too powerful to retain long in a state of subjection.* 
 
 * This is the first intimation of such a discovery. Ministers and poli- 
 ticians in general looked at America as being still in her leading strings ; 
 but these gentlemen of Norwich had perceived that she was getting " too 
 
mi.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 257 
 
 7th. — In the forenoon I was present at the nomination of the 
 candidates for the town or city of Norwich. The Sheriffs held 
 the meeting ; and with the Candidates, Mayor, Aldermen, and 
 principal persons of town and county, were in the gallery of 
 the Guildhall : the body of the people upon the floor. It is 
 one of the largest and best public Halls in England. The 
 people of Norfolk are generally of a lower size, and very few 
 tall. Perhaps there were from 4 to 5000 people all with their 
 hats on : all their heads near upon a level : all fronting the 
 gallery, which was ten to 15 feet above the floor of the Hall, so 
 that from the gallery, by the help of my glass, I could seo 
 every face, as every one was looking up to the gallery : just 
 such an appearance I had never seen before. The Sheriff, in 
 a proper speech, acquainted them with the cause of their meet' 
 ing : recommended decorum, &c., and desired them to name 
 such persons as they thought fit. Thereupon there was a 
 universal shout of Harbord Harbord ! Somebody probably had 
 proposed S' Harbord Harbord, which I did not hear. This 
 shout continued for a minute. After some rest, no other 
 person being named, S"^ H. H., in a short speech, expressed his 
 feeling upon the occasion : declared he had always acted as he 
 thought right in pari* and would continue so to do : would 
 exert himself in defending their rights and liberties : consult 
 the interest of the city of Norwich, which always had been, 
 and always should be near his heart. Then Harbord Harbord ! 
 was sounded thro' the Hall. After a short pause somebody 
 proposed Edward Bacon, Esq., and there was the same process 
 as had been in Harbord's nomination, and his speech materially 
 differed in no part, and the only observable variation was 
 between rights and liberties and tJie Constitution upon Revolution 
 Principles. S' H. Harbord is of the Opposition, and M' Bacon 
 with the Ministry. After the business was over, part of the 
 company went to the Coffee House, where I was introduced to 
 
 TOwerful to retain long in a state of subjection." Happy if all England had 
 Sscovered that she had arrived at the age of puberty, and could take care of 
 herself- and happy if the two countries could have shaken hands and sepa- 
 rated, and made mutual treaties of amity and commerce. But that is 
 apostrophising after the fact, whereas they were living before it. 
 
258 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mi. 
 
 Lord Walpole, son of the late Horace Walpole : to Sir H. 
 Haibord, and Sir Edward Astley, and M' Coke, Members for 
 the county of Norfolk, and other principal gentlemen of the 
 county. M' Coke is heir to the Leicester estate, and the 
 immediate descendant of the famous Chief Justii-e, his great 
 estate being still in the family, which was enobled in the late 
 E. df Leicester, and the title extinguished by his death, his 
 only son dying a little before hira, the present W Coke being 
 a collateral branch, I think nephew to the Earl. M' Coke is 
 in the opposition, but does not seem to be of great importance. 
 We had some conversation upon the news from America. Sir 
 Harbord lamented the bad state of the country ; said nothing 
 in their vindication. Sir Edw* Astley thought measures had 
 not been right. Gov. Pownall, he said, would not make a 
 requisition himself, but advised to M' Pit's doing it, who was 
 Seery of State ; and he had no doubt, if it had been made 
 now instead of taxing the Colonies, they would have complied. 
 I told hira the reason they complied so readily with M' Pit's 
 requisition, was because it was accompanied with a promise of 
 compensation, &c. That, he said, altered the case. I knew 
 better how that was than he did. Lord Walpole seemed to 
 have no mind in the affair, or none could be collected from 
 what he said. A yellow Admiral Latham applauded the 
 Quebec Act, and asked whether I did not think the Eang 
 would do well to employ his Canada subjects to keep the rest 
 of the Americans in order? Sir Edward said he had no 
 objection to their enjoying the free exercise of their religion, 
 lut to arm them would set all the people of England in a 
 flame. It was asserted at different times by several gentlemen 
 since I have been in Norwich, that Lord Eockingham had 
 received from the party in America the heads of what they 
 proposed for the result of the Congress ; and that the first was 
 a declaration that Parliament had no authority to tax the 
 Colonies in any case, unless represented in Parliament. This, 
 it is said, the D. of Manchester and L"* Bockingham declared 
 could not be admitted. 
 
 8th. — The News Papers and other accounts of the affairs of 
 America being more and more alarming, I set out about \ before 
 
xVJJj DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSOK 259' 
 
 9 this morning direct for London, sooner than otherwise I 
 should have chose. Took the Bury road, and a quarter before 
 6 reached Sudbury, having stopped at* Hepworth and Ixworth, 
 in the whole an hour and a half, so that we rode 65 miles in 7 
 Iiours and an half.f This is less than common for post-chaises, 
 but I leave the postilions to be as moderate as they please. When 
 we came to Sudbury the inns were full with people for the 
 approaching election of Members, and we were obliged to make 
 another stage, 7 miles, further to Halsted, which is just the 
 same number of miles we rode in a day from Dover to London, 
 Bury is one of the neatest towns in England, and Sudbury, 
 which is much larger, falls much short of it in other respects, 
 particularly in the politeness of the people. 
 
 9th. — ^We reached Chelmsford time enough for the forenoon 
 service. A young clergyman read prayers and preached to a 
 small congregation. It is a very large well-built town, and I 
 was told they had but one church which, as it appears to me, 
 will not accommodate a tenth part of the inhabitants. Here I 
 heard that yesterday Wilkes was declared Lord Mayor of 
 London. Never was a greater instance of popular folly. The 
 city has sunk itself into the utmost contempt. 
 
 We dined at Brentwood, and came to Golden Square about 
 six in the evening. 
 
 10th. — ^Not finding Lord Dartmouth at home, I went to the 
 Office, where I saw M' Pownall. The American news, by his 
 account, is little or nothing more than what my letters contain. 
 He thought General Gage was rather short in his writing," 
 which he said, might be owing to the confusion they were in : 
 spoke but lightly of his powers : wondered at his indifference 
 when the proposal of going to America was first hinted : said 
 nothing more was determined than to send three ships of the 
 line, which would carry 600 Marines : that there would be a 
 
 * Doubtful word. 
 
 t The old writers appear not to have aspirated the " h " where we do now, 
 and to have ignored the modem grammar' rule, which requires the article 
 " a " before an aspirated " h," but the article " an " before an unaspirated one. 
 Where the old authors write an half, an hero, an house, or an humble 
 petition, it sounds as if it were written a naff, or a nahf, a Nero, a nouse, or 
 a numble petition. If this does not oflFend, who would say a hour for an 
 hour, or a heir and a heiressfor an heir and an heiress ? 
 
 B 2 
 
260 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [j^u. 
 
 Cabinet this week, and the Scarborough immediately be sent 
 back with orders to Gage. 
 
 11th. — This morning I waited on Lord Dartmouth. He let 
 me know that my letters contained as much as his, only, he 
 said, Gage thought more force necessary. He said ships were 
 going. I asked what service they could do ? He said Graves 
 desired more, and they would have several hundred marines. 
 He said nothing of what would be done further. After some 
 time in general conversation, he inquired whether I intended 
 to go into the country again ? and I promised not to go without 
 first acquainting his Lordship. 
 
 Captain Erving, son to Cap. Erving of Boston, having left 
 his name at my house, I called upon him to-day in a lodging 
 in Pari' Street, and afterwards on Monsieur Gamier. 
 
 Lord Dartmouth had heard of Col" Lee's endeavouring to 
 stir up the people in America. He says he is almost a mad- 
 man : that Lord Thanet asked the King to give him a Begiment, 
 which the K. could not do without great inconvenience, but 
 gave him rank. Lee resented the refusal ; and Lord Thanet 
 has never been at Court since. 
 
 12th. — At M' Mauduit's in the city, who is much dejected 
 with the news from America.* At M' Lane's, [?] who is for 
 the repeal of the Tea duty, but nothing further. Called upon 
 M"^ Harrison, the New England Factor : M' Wheeler, Chairman 
 of the East India Directors, and left cards, 
 
 13th. — Called this morning upon M' Jenkinson ; showed him 
 my letters from Boston. He says Parliam' will generally agree. 
 He vfishes something could be done to satisfy the Colonies : 
 there was no intention to tax them : but is at a loss in what 
 way it can be done. 
 
 Afterwards I was at Court. Had considerable discourse with 
 the Attorney General upon the same subject ; who promised 
 to call upon me in the morning. W Cornwall, of the Treasury ; 
 Lord Hertford ; Gov. Tryon. 
 
 14th. — The Attorney General called this morning, according 
 to promise. Spent an hour or two upon the state of America : 
 
 * Mr. Mauduit had been agent in England to Governor Hutchinson and 
 Lieut.-Govemor Oliver during the time the latter were in America. 
 
m4.] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 261 
 
 seems strongly inclined to relinquish all claim to taxation : 
 said he would be willing to go back to the 12'" [?] of Char. 2, 
 he meant the Acts in that reign, if by that concession govern- 
 ment could be maintained in America : but in what way or 
 manner this could be done without giving up all, he was 
 utterly at a loss. 
 
 I afterwards saw M' Knox, who lately returned from Spaw, 
 He is full of the faith that the Congress will lay the foundation 
 of an agreem'. He says that when they come to examine their 
 own plan, they will be frightened to see the consequence of 
 such an independency as they profess, &c. 
 
 Mandamus for three new Councillors — Eliakim Hutchinson, 
 Nath. Hatch, and Jno. Vassall, who have told Gage they will 
 act. 
 
 A patent for Baronet to Pepperell. Gov. Tryon, and Capt. 
 Berkeley called. 
 
 There are sentiments scattered through several of the Governor's 
 letters written at this period which show how earnestly he was 
 working in England for the good of America, if in any way good 
 could be effected. Thus, in his Letter Book, under Oct. 10 : — 
 
 " My thoughts day and night are upon New England. Can , 
 there be no measure taken to save you from destruction ? . . . I 
 know you are afraid I shall too much palliate or excuse the mad- , 
 ness of the people. But don't let this hinder you from improving 
 every disposition which appears in them to return, though in. part 
 only to a state of government. I cannot give up my understand- 
 ing and suppose it possible there should be two supreme authori- 
 ties in one State ; I have nevertheless ever favoured the measures 
 of that Administration which was for leaving all taxes in the 
 state they were in before the Stamp Act, and avoiding future 
 taxation. I dread the consequence of a Eesolve that you are in a 
 state of Eevolt or Eebellion, and yet and yet [«4c] this consequence 
 must be charged only upon those who have excited the people to 
 it. I have no other authority than my own conjecture, from 
 observations made from time to time, that we are in danger of a 
 French or Spanish war, if the disturbance in the Colonies con- 
 tinues. I see Mons. Gamier, the French Charge, now and then. 
 He courts me a good deal, and fishes. I fish m return ; and I 
 think neither of us meets with much luck. Whatever the present 
 
262 niABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [^i. 
 
 leaders of America think of a war, I am very sure the dietresB 
 ■will he greater upon America, than upon the kingdom." 
 
 This indeed was prophetic ; for at no distant date there broke 
 out -wars with both those countries ; and the Americans derived 
 little assistance from her new friends, and less satisfaction. On 
 the same date, a letter to Mr. Foster : — 
 
 " I reaUy believe there never has been a set of men in Adminis- 
 tration more disposed to favour the Colonies in every point which 
 can consist with their remaining one State with the Kingdom, 
 than the present Ministry. I don't know a more amiable man 
 than L* Dartmouth; and he has often said to me that he was 
 happy in seeing me here, as he hoped I should be the instrument 
 of bringing about a reconciliation. But now he seems to despair. 
 I cannot say with any certainty, but I think it probable that 
 Parliament was dissolved, and a new one called, merely for the 
 sake of such measures respecting the Colonies as are thought 
 necessary, which the King would not bring before a House of 
 Commons just expiring, because there could be no assurance that 
 a succeeding parliament would adopt the same measures." 
 
 To Mr. Eussell, also October 10 : — 
 
 " I think myself obliged to any of my friends who give me 
 notice of the state of affairs in a country which is dearer to me 
 than any other part of the globe." 
 
 Lower down in the same letter : — 
 
 " You depend on my assistance to bring about a reconciliation. 
 When I arrived I saw a fair prospect of it. My hopes are blasted 
 by the late doings in America. At present the prospect is dark. 
 God is above all, and is able to bring good out of this present 
 evil." 
 
 To Mr. E. D. Winslow, on October 11, he writes: — 
 
 " Our last advices are very alarming. I dread the consequences. 
 Parliament is dissolved that the affairs of America may be con- 
 sidered the beginning of Parliament, in order to remove all danger 
 of a departure from such measures as may be found necessary. 
 What they will be I am not able to judge. I know it to be the 
 wish of the King and his Ministers to gratify the Colonies as far 
 as can be done without an entire separation from the Kingdom ; 
 and I meet with people of no small importance very often, who 
 say they would mosfVlUingly break off all connection with you, 
 
mi.D J>I^ItY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 263 
 
 if they did not suppose you would immediately fall into the 
 clutches of France or Spain : but it's happy for the Colonies that 
 this is not yet the prevailing voice. 
 / " For myself, I have been offered the fulfilment of every promise 
 or assurance given me before I left America : but I had no aim at 
 honours or titles, and would now be content to give up aU claim 
 to them, and to all emoluments whatsoever, and to spend the 
 remainder of life in obscurity, if upon those terms I could pur- ' 
 chase the peace and prosperity of my country." 
 
 It is time that sentiments like these should be drawn from their 
 hiding place. About this time Mr. Hutchinson received an address 
 from America, and his acknowledgment of its receipt, as entered 
 in his Letter Book, but without date, appears as follows : — 
 
 " Sir, — I desire you to return my hearty thanks to the Court of 
 General Sessions of the Peace and of the Common Fleas for the 
 County [of] Plymouth, for their very kind Address which you 
 transmitted to me in London ; and to assure them that as soon as 
 the state of the province will admit of any hope of success, I will 
 renew my sollicitations for the relief of the Town of Boston from 
 its present distress, having rec* the fullest and most gracious 
 assurances from the King that such relief shall be granted, as soon 
 as it can be without violating the Act of Parliament." 
 
 There are a number of letters bearing dates of about this period, 
 either original or entered in the Letter Books, and if they are 
 noticed at all, this is the place for them. We would have pre- 
 ferred not having such copious notes, so as to have allowed the 
 Diary to have run on without interruption: but what is to be 
 done ? The letters in some places are not only more voluminous 
 in matter, but they frequently contain points of information more 
 striking, or more to the fuU, or more complete, than the Diary 
 itself. It is impossible to ignore the letters ; but it must suf&ce 
 to make extracts only if possible, and endeavour to avoid copying 
 any repetition of sentiment, for fear of being tedious. 
 
 There is an original letter of Dr. Peter Oliver, of Oct. 10, in 
 Boston, Mass., to Elisha H. in London, in which he speaks of the 
 trouble they are in : — 
 
 " I wish myself, and every friend I have, with you ; and was it 
 possible, you would see me instead of this letter. Do not think of 
 returning yet : your wife [Polly] is well and safe : keep yourself 
 safe, for we have many tribulations to go through here, and 
 Heaven only knows the event. For myself, I hope for the best, 
 
264 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. [ 
 
 Oct. 
 n»4. 
 
 and will hope while life lasts. I have expectation that day will 
 dawa from your horizon : if not, farewell to all below. If G. Britain 
 leaves us now, the threatened destruction will inevitably ensue." 
 
 Again, an original letter, dated Oct. 27 : — 
 
 "The week before last our Sons of Lyberty here, put up a 
 Lyberty Pole on the Green. Our Minister grac'd the solemnity 
 with his presence, and made a prayer under the Pole, and an 
 harangue upon Lyberty. It was a day sat apart for the Officers 
 of the Company to resign their offices. M' Conant took the pikes, 
 and gave them to the new Officers : he has rendered himself very 
 ridiculous to many of his friends. 
 
 " Ere this reaches, you will receive" the News-Papers, which will 
 give you an insight of our present troubles and difficulties. The 
 Judge [Chief Justice Peter Oliver,] has been in Boston these 8 or 
 10 weeks, to save his life ; and Madam has been there these 3 
 weeks, and are both going to winter there." 
 
 Colonel Watson (Polly's father), writing from Plymouth, Mass., 
 Nov. 3, to his son-in-law Elisha, observes in an original letter : — 
 
 " The affairs of y° Province are in a most dreadfull cituation 
 [sic]. I don't pretend to write particulars, as you will no doubt be 
 inform'd by other hands. Plymouth protesters [?] was call'd upon 
 by what they call y' Body [a] few days ago to recant : also the 
 military officers to resign their Commissions, w^ they was obUdg'd 
 to do. 
 
 " My respects to the Governor. I think he is very happy in 
 being out [of] y" government." 
 
 15th. — Gov. Pownall has lost his election at Tregony. Bob, 
 or Eobert, a waiter not long since, and who has served coffee to 
 many of the H. of Commons at St. James's Coffee House, is 
 returned for two boroughs. Strahan, the Printer, chose, and 
 also a coal Merchant, who a little while since was a Barber. 
 M"^ Pownall sent to know my opinion upon the appointment of 
 Geo. Erving, and he is added in the Mandamus. 
 
 Captain Berkley, Jno. Williams, and M"" Claik dined \vit!» me. 
 
 16th. — ^In the morning at a Dissenting meeting in Cater 
 Lane, where, when I was in England before, D' Wright was 
 Minister. A gentleman now preached who I had heard before 
 in Prince Street. Doctor Priestly sat in the next pew to me. 
 In the afternoon I heard D' Price at Newington Green. Went 
 
mi. ] DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 265 
 
 \ a mile out of my way to Stoke Newington to see Lady 
 Abney's house, where I visited D'' Watts when I was last in 
 England. 
 
 17th. — Went to the Inner Temple to visit W Mazieres [?] 
 the Cursitor Baron, but not in town. Afterwards to Lord 
 Townshend's, Portman Square, where spent about ^ an hour. 
 Gen. Frazer there, who, tho' I had so often seen in Boston, and 
 lately at Brightelmstone, I did not recollect until I came 
 home. 
 
 18th. — Called upon General Frazer in Chandos Street, and 
 Lord Chancellor in Great Bussel Street : neither at home. 
 Col. Skene, and Capt. Williams called upon me. 
 
 M' Thurloe, the Attorney General, very unexpectedly called 
 upon me again, and spent an hour or more in free conversation. 
 
 M' Mauduit in the evening, and communicated letters which 
 he had received from Boston. 
 
 19th. — At Lord Dartmouth's before breakfast. Shewed him 
 L' Gov' Oliver's letter upon the subject of his resignation of 
 his Councillor's place, to a mob which, as it contained other 
 matter relative to the Colonies, he desired the King might see 
 it. He told me he had wrote the L' Gov. that the King did 
 not see how his resignation could be avoided — or to that pur- 
 pose. I told his Lordship I had seen the Attorney General 
 more than once, who wished for some way of conciliating ; and 
 I asked whether, altho' hostile measures should be resolved on, 
 the duty upon Tea could not be taken off? This, he said, could 
 not be ; they would not believe the Kingdom was in earnest. 
 He thought it was not possible the other Colonies should justifie 
 the Massachusetts, who, he determined to be in a state of 
 Eebellion. 
 
 The Governor betrays some uneasinesB lest the Government 
 Bhould take the extreme step of declaring the Colonies to be in a 
 state of open revolt. Officially made, it would be tantamount to a 
 declaration of war, or something too much like it. "Writing to 
 his eldest son Thomas, who was still at Milton, under date Oct. 20, 
 in the marble paper-cover Letter Book, he says : — 
 
 " I am encouraged by some of the first people, that if it be pos- 
 sible to recover the Province without first declaring it to be in a 
 
266 DI ART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ 
 
 Oct. 
 H74. 
 
 state of revolt, such declaration shall not be made. As soon as I 
 find it determined that such declaration shall be made, I intend to 
 keep as clear as possible of any share in the measures to be taken 
 in consequence of it. I rather think the measures wUl be left to a 
 free debate in Parliam' but that some judgment may be made from 
 the King's speech and the Addresses. 
 
 " The Elections are very favourable to the Court ; tho' in 
 American affairs the distinction would be lost ; Burke himself, 
 though Agent for N. York, having declared in the fullest manner 
 to the Electors at Bristol, in favour of supporting the supremacy 
 of ParUam' which he says he would not give up, though he should 
 lose his election by adhering to it, and M' Jackson, who is of the 
 Court side, being one of the last [?] in the House, in consenting to 
 any measures against the Colonies. 
 
 " Gov. Pownall seemed to be making himself of some importance, 
 but has, unfortunately for him, lost his Election." 
 
 In a letter of Oct. 20, to Gen. Gage : — 
 
 " With respect to the supremacy of Pari' I hear of nobody who 
 does not say it must be maintained. Burke has declared it pre- 
 vious to his election ; and I dare say that Wilkes will not give his 
 voice to the contrary. What measures shall be taken to maintain 
 it, I believe is yet undetermined." 
 
 He [Lord D.] mentioned a letter from S' Jos. Yorke, giving 
 information of a vessel loading in Holland for Rhode Island 
 with warlike stores, particularly 40 field pieces, and said another 
 vessel was loading at Plymouth with powder, &c. ; supposed 
 something would be done to stop both vessels : the latter he 
 seemed to have some doubt upon, when I intimated that it was 
 easy, and frequently practised, to run powder from Holland. 
 I asked his favour to Gen. Lyman, who had 200ii a year, which 
 has not been paid the two last years ; and he promised to speak 
 to L" North upon it. Called upon Alderman Oliver and M.'' 
 Hnrd : neither of them at home. 
 
 In the evening received an extreme civil letter from the 
 A.W General, with the highest enconiums upon the part I took 
 in the controversy with the House and Council upon the subject 
 of their independency. 
 
 The Attorney-General's letter has not come to hand. As regards 
 the common subject of Independency, some remarks in Adolphus's 
 
Oct. 
 1174 
 
 .] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 267 
 
 History, ii. 151, are to the point: — "The thin veil with which 
 the Americans covered their designs, rendered only a small degree 
 of penetration necessary to discover that absolute independence 
 was the aim of the principal leaders : that they contemplated a 
 revolution as a glorious era, and were prepared rather to plunge 
 their country into the horrors of civil war, than renounce their 
 favourite project. Hence their complaints of grievances were 
 clamorous, frequent, and specific, while their professions of attach- 
 ment and loyalty were merely general, and attended with no 
 precise offers of conciliation or satisfaction." 
 
 20th. — A vast train of carriages and horses attend Wilkes to 
 Brentford, where Glynn and he are elected for Middlesex with- 
 out opposition. In the evening were illnminations in many 
 parts of London and Westminster : no lights in Golden Square. 
 
 2lBt. — Upon receiving a billet from Lord Suffolk, I called 
 upon his Lordship, but found he was so ill with the gout, as to 
 be unable to see company. Called afterwards at L"* W™ Camp- 
 bell's, and at W Stanley's, who lives in Eathbone Place, and 
 left my name at both places. 
 
 Dined, together with sons and daughter, at M' Lane's, at 
 Clapham : M' John Lane and M^ Livius of the company. The 
 roads are lighted and watched till eight, from Clapham to 
 £ennington Common ; and all night from K. Common to 
 London ; otherwise it would have been hazardous returning 
 in the evening, robberies of late having been frequent near 
 London. 
 
 22nd.— CoP Skene [?], M' Livius, M'' Green, and M' 
 Clark, dined with me. I felt but little inclination to discourse 
 on any subject except America, the state of which distresses me, 
 and we are all anxious to hear from thence, having nothing from 
 Boston since the 6*'' of September. 
 
 23rd. — Thick weather and rain all day, and I think this is 
 the first day of my keeping house without riding or walking 
 out since I have been in England. W Knox, of Lord Dart- 
 mouth's office, called about noon. He is still of opinion that 
 the people of the Congress wDl propose some plan for a general 
 government over all the Colonies ; and he thinks, when it comes 
 to be discussed, the impracticability of it will appear, and that 
 
268 BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^li. 
 
 the issue will be an acquiescence in the supreme controuling 
 power of Parliament, as necessary, not only for their protection 
 from foreign enemies, but from irreconcilable disputes and 
 quarrels within themselyes, as no other umpire can be so fit, 
 
 24th. — I called upon M' Eigby, Lord Kochfort, Lord Hyde : 
 all out of town, 
 
 M'^ Keene called at my house: is re-elected Member of 
 Parliament : made enquiry into the news from America, I 
 informed him of the last advices. I observed to him that people, 
 as far as I had discoursed with them, seemed at a loss what to 
 do. He said he met with nobody who thought any concession 
 was to be made to the demands of the Colonies. Some, he said, 
 had been for taking off the Tea duty last Session, or rather, 
 when the B. I. [East India] affairs were on the tapis, which was 
 the Session before, but now everybody was agreed it could not 
 be done. H6 thought nothing would be said of America in the 
 K.'s speech, and that it would be best the Americans should be 
 suffered to go on until every man in the Kingdom would pro- 
 nounce them in a state of Rebellion, and unite in measures to 
 reduce them. I excepted to this, because they would every 
 day be gaining numbers until every man in the Province had 
 joined ; and even those who had been most firm in support of 
 Government, must give way. He explained himself as not 
 intending they shoidd go that length. Perhaps, he said, after 
 the Adjournment, American affairs might come forward ; and 
 added, that he could not speak with certainty, but only what 
 appeared . to him likely. I asked if he had lately seen Lord 
 North ? He had : but he was full of election matters, and he 
 believed nothing had been settled. 
 
 The remark above, that " even those who had been most firm in 
 support of Government, must give way," was largely verified in 
 the sequel. The assertion of Frothingham has been alluded to 
 elsewhere, that " the Eevolution was no unanimous work," and it 
 is certain that there were numbers of old English families, derived 
 from the early settlers, who still clung to the institutions of the 
 Old Country with affection, whose principles were constitutional, 
 and whose ideas were monarchical, who looked with dismay at the 
 increasing disruption of all law and order, and with abhorrence at 
 
Oct. 
 1114. 
 
 J DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 269 
 
 tlie low acts of violence as practised by those who ought to have 
 been respectable citizens. These are liiose who took little or no 
 part in the turmoils of party struggle, and who rather slunk back 
 from public notoriety, as is plain from the marked absence of the 
 majority of their names, at a time when the strife was taking serious 
 proportions. They rather preferred to bend their heads quietly 
 to the storm which was not of their rearing, and which they were 
 powerless to resist when it came. To remain neutral was difficult 
 when "the fanaticism of liberty," as - Du Ghatelet phrased" it, had 
 seized upon the people, and none were allowed to remain neutral 
 if it were possible to drag them into the vortex; but when the 
 tempest broke over them, and the bonds of law were loosened, and 
 the absence of principle was allowing licence to run to excess 
 without limit, then they drew aside to allow it to pass by them, 
 and they were content to drag through their difficulties and their 
 privations as best they might, and continue as neutral as the 
 tyrannies of their new masters permitted. The descendants of 
 these quieter people stiU. survive in Massachusetts, and many of 
 them are not without a small hankering after a complaisant view 
 of old English institutions stUl. 
 
 The early States have got their "Upper 10,000," of which 
 they may be proud. Take Massachusetts, for instance. Who are 
 those who may be looked upon as the original settlers, some of 
 whom were gentlemen entitled to bear coat armour, and others who 
 were not so have attained to a place of honour in our estimation 
 from long and steady residence in the land of their adoption? 
 Draw the Kne somewhere about the year 1700, and aU those who 
 were found in the coxmtry before that date may be classed as the 
 old NobUity of Massachusetts. The new comers will depreciate 
 them, of course, as the fox did the grapes, declaring that they are 
 just as good as citizens — and what would you have more ? Well, 
 these are things hard to reason upon ; and yet we all feel that 
 there is a great difference : and however much the novi homines 
 may speak slightingly in the matter, it is certain that the old 
 Nobility possess a nameless something that no amount of money 
 can buy. A list of the names of those early famUies in Massa- 
 chusetts, that have survived in the male line to the present day, 
 would not be without its interest. 
 
 25th. — The King's accession. I was at Court with my 
 daughter : and a much fuller Court than I have seen Bince my 
 arrival I was introduced to the Bishop of London by M' Todd, 
 Secretary of the Post Office, and thanked his Lordship for his 
 
270 DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [i^l". 
 
 attendance in Council: a most extraordinary affair, he said, 
 which did me, in the issue, great honor. He enquired after 
 D' Caner, and expressed great esteem for him, and for D' 
 Byles. I promised to visit him when he came to town. Lord 
 North asked if I had anything late from America ? He believed 
 they had not come to the height. I expressed my apprehen- 
 sions of bad news : told him what I had heard of the arrival of 
 a ship from London with Tea, and of a report that the Boston 
 people were going down to Salem to prevent its landing. I 
 thought likewise the country Counsellors who were in Boston 
 would suffer much by their absence from their estates, and I 
 did not think their estates out of danger of being destroyed by 
 mobs. He observed — " We'll pay for them." 
 
 S' W. Draper very polite. Bishop of Winchester and 
 Peterborough at Court. 
 
 As to paying for them — the intention may have been sincere 
 when it was uttered. It would have been a boon to Governor 
 Hutchinson's family if this had been done, but Lord North did not 
 know what he was promising. The great question of the losses 
 and sufferings of the Loyalists did not press for attention until the 
 war was over. Many of the faithful servants of the Grown, who 
 had taken what was supposed to be only a temporary refuge in 
 England, were granted salaries for present purposes, but the great 
 question came afterwards : and however willing the King and 
 his Ministers might be to indemnify their friends and sup- 
 porters, the nation was utterly unable to satisfy such an extensive 
 demand. 
 
 26th. — In the forenoon called upon Lord Hertford, in 
 Grosvenor Street: left a card, and afterwards upon Lord 
 Beauchamp, Stanhope Street, Mayfair. Spent half an hour 
 upon the subject of America. 
 
 Dined with M' Mauduit in Clement's Lane, in comp^ with 
 M' Knox, M' Whately, M' J. Clark, and M' AshiU [?] of the 
 Paper Office, one of Geo. Grenville's Executors. 
 
 27th. — Sir Eardly WiLmot and his eldest son called upon 
 me. I intended to have called upon Sir Eardly, and thanked 
 him for his attendance at the Committee of Council : he very 
 politely said he ought to thank me for my public services. 
 
Oct. 
 1714. 
 
 .] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 271 . 
 
 Afterwards M' Oliver, the Alderman and city Member, called,* 
 and apologised for not doing it sooner. Had much conversa- 
 tion with him upon American affairs. He wishes the Govern- 
 ment would repeal the grievous Acts, and confine their authority 
 to a regulation of the trade of the Colonies. I wished for any 
 plan to effect a lasting peace. He could easily conceive of a 
 partial authority in the supreme authority. I left him in 
 eojoyment of his conceptions. 
 
 I dined with M'^ Knox at Lord Dartmouth's ofiSce, in company 
 with Bamber Gascoin, late Member for Weobly ; remarkably 
 loquacious and impetuous : a lawyer who, among other things 
 advanced, that when any person was found guilty of a mis- 
 demeanour, the Court, in determining a fine, had no regard to 
 the condition or ability of the Defendant, but fined the same, 
 whether rich or poor. I asked if there was not such a maxim 
 and rule, that it must be done with a salvo, contenemento suo, 
 and thought a Jury in an action for damage, considered only 
 the damage the Plaintiff sustained, whether the Defendant was 
 able or not : but the Court, when the party was imable to pay 
 a fine, would impose a small fine and long imprisonment, or 
 corporal punishment — but he would not give up. A D' 
 Thomas, one of the King's Physicians, M' WUiis, Under 
 Secretary to L" Eochfort, M' Sedgewick, and Lieut.-Govemor 
 Gore, of Grenada, and his Lady. 
 
 28th. — Called upon M' Wedderburne : not being at home, I 
 went to Lincolns Inn Hall, where the L" Chancellor was sitting, 
 and there found the Attorney and SoUicitor General, M' Jackson^ 
 Montagu, Ambler, and a great number more of Barristers. My 
 chief conversation was with M"^ Jackson, and upon American 
 affairs. He was not fond of the Boston Port Bill, but he gave 
 his voice for it. The other two Acts he disapproved of. He 
 did not now triimiph, but it was a satisfaction to him that he 
 had done nothing to bring things to this pass. He disapproved 
 of aU taxes, but acknowledged the right ; and tho' the Colonies 
 denied the right, he thought it best to take no notice of the 
 denial, and to repeal the Tea duty notwithstanding. He wished 
 a way could be found to possess the Colonies with an assurance 
 * He was no relation to the late Lieut.-Govemor of Massachusetts. 
 
272 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. [mi. 
 
 that the right should not be exercised. Other parts of legisla- 
 tion he hoped they would submit to; but if they were all 
 obstinately set against it, he did not see what could be done. 
 
 I made a visit to Lambeth, and thanked the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury for his trouble in attending a Committee of Council 
 on my affair.* He received me with great politeness, and 
 expressed his satisfaction in my conduct, and his detestation of 
 the ungrateful return, in very strong terms. 
 
 A vessel from N.fland with news that the Base frigate, and 
 two companies of soldiers, sailed for Boston the first of October, 
 upon news of the riots in Boston and the neighbouring towns, 
 which seemed to amount to a revolt : and by a vessel from 
 Philadelphia, advice of certain Eesolves of a Committee of 
 Towns in the county of Suffolk, which had been adopted by the 
 Congress at Philadelphia, and are more alarming than any 
 thing which has yet been done. 
 
 29th. — Called upon M' Blackburn with M' Olark : afterwards 
 upon M' Mauduit, where we spent near two hours in conversa- 
 tion upon the news from America. 
 
 30th. — At Tavistock Chapel near Drury Lane : heard a 
 Charity Sermon by a Clergyman who read prayers at the Lock, 
 and preached at Eomaine's ; took his text from Tobit. 
 
 Dined at 5 o'clock at Lord Beauchamp's with M' Charles 
 Townshend of the Treasury, Sir George M'cartney, Col" 
 Paterson, Col" Mordaunt, and Col" Bailing, Lieut* Gov' of 
 Jamaica. Bailing thinks no occasion for more force in America : 
 that the Congress has been carried on without any tumult : and 
 he hopes America will be settled on a more extensive liberal 
 plan. I asked what security he proposed for the abiding by 
 any plan? That he did not know. Mordaunt said — If the 
 Americans were united, it would be to no purpose to send forces to 
 subdue them. Few military men are fond of going to America. 
 
 31st.— Called upon M'^ Townshend, of the Treasury ; (not at 
 home); and afterwards at Lord Dartmouth's office. Find 
 M' Knox much altered by the late news :t he supposes now 
 
 * He means the meetings of the Privy Council in January and February, 
 1774, when the affair of his letters was investigated. 
 ■f The Besolves of the Congress at Philadelphia. 
 
ml] JDIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 273 
 
 that all Treaty is over. The first thing, he says, will be to let 
 America know, that Britain will support its authority; and 
 then concede what shall be thought fit. 
 
 At the Inner Temple I found M' Mazieres, who ought to 
 have called upon me, but I think more is lost than gained by 
 such punctilios. He disapproves of the present conduct of the 
 Americans ; and so he does of parts of the late Acts of Parlia- 
 ment. He thinks the appointment of the Council by the 
 Crown was well, but then, they should have been for life. He 
 was appointed one of the Judges for India, but somebody 
 younger than he, being named before him, he refused, tho' 
 a most lucrative employ. Lord Chancellor, sensible that he 
 had colour for exception, procured him the place of Cursitor 
 Baron, between 3 and 400 a year. 
 
 I called upon Sir T. Mills, who informs me Lord Mansfield 
 enquired after me, and that he will let me know one day this 
 week when to wait upon him. I told him I expected to have 
 seen Lord Mansfield at Court Accession Day. " Oh ! " says 
 he, " that would be contrary to etiquette. The near friends of 
 the last King always make a point not to go to Court upon 
 that day, tho' my Lord was saying he thought ten years was 
 pretty near enough to stick to the rule ; and as it's now 14, he 
 had some thoughts of going this year." 
 
 November 1. — This morning waited on Lord Dartmouth, 
 where I found J. Pownall. Both seemed thunderstruck with 
 American news : at present seem to suppose it impossible to 
 give way. Lord D. said, if the Eesolve of the Congress is 
 to be depended on as genuine, then, &c. I thought it would 
 not be printed, attested by their Clerk, if not genuine. 
 
 In the evening spent an hour or two at Lord Chancellor's. 
 He had not seen the Eesolves of Suffolk, nor that of the 
 Congress, though they had been iu the London papers': seemed 
 much struck : could answer for himself, he should not recede : 
 he thought nothing but a change of Ministry could cause 
 a change of measures : he did not think that possible. I 
 wondered at his supposing it possible. I have frequently had 
 it hinted to me that the Ministry themselves, all considered 
 themselves rn office just as long as they could answer the 
 
 * 
 
274 2J74fl J AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUT0HIN80N. fml' 
 
 Lum. 
 
 King's purpose, and that he had no personal esteem for one set 
 more than another. This perhaps may make them more 
 anxious to answer his purposes: on the other hand, there is 
 less stimulus from an affection and regard for his person, which 
 must in some degree be reciprocal. 
 
 The plot -was thickening. Every ship from America brought 
 alarming news ; yet, not only the Ministry then in power, but the 
 Opposition — ^indeed, every Englishman felt that the honour and 
 the dignity of the nation were at stake, and rejected all idea of 
 making concessions to a Colony that was literally in a state of 
 open rebellion. From a number of letters written about this time, 
 it is necessary at least to make a few extracts. Peggy shall have 
 the precedence. She rarely touches upon the great events of the 
 day, except by a passing word, but confines her correspondence 
 mostly to lighter subjects. Before going to lighter subjects, she 
 makes the following sympathising remark when writiug to 
 Elisha's wife, October 13 : — 
 
 " You congratulate me on being in London at this time of 
 general calamity. It is certainly a happy thing for us ; but I am 
 anxiously concerned for those left behind, nor do I see any 
 prospect of relief for you." 
 
 With respect to attending the Levees and Drawing-Eooms, she 
 says — " It is customary for gentlemen and ladies to go again soon 
 
 after they have been presented This day paid a visit to 
 
 Lady Mary Boulby who presented me at Court. Governor Tryon 
 called upon us in the morning. BiUy and I then took a walk in 
 the Park, which, by the way, does not answer my expectations ; 
 nor do I think it much superior to our Boston Mall. It is the 
 only place I have been disappointed in. This afternoon we 
 drank tea with an American — M" Grant, M' Cheeseburrough's 
 daughter." 
 
 Under date Oct. 19, among a variety of topics, she writes — 
 
 " This morning I took a walk in the Park with Billy, and who 
 do you think I see ? Why, the King and Queen, as you are alive, 
 carried through the Park in a couple of Chairs ! I have not seen 
 them before but at Court. The Queen looked very pretty : I 
 insist upon it she is handsome, but nobody will join with me." 
 
 Perhaps the German Sedan Chairs were introduced by the 
 Georges — we are not sure — and with the Georges they began to 
 
ml:] BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 275 
 
 go out, though they lingered on in some districts, and are well 
 remembered by most people of middle age now living in England. 
 On Tuesday, apparently the 27th of October, she speaks of 
 having gone once more into the presence : — 
 
 " Tuesday Evening. My task is over. I have been at Court 
 again. It has been a fatiguing, though not altogether an un- 
 pleasant day. I sent yesterday to M" Keene to know if it would 
 be agreeable to her to go to-day ? We were both of a mind ; for 
 while a servant was going with my Card, she sent one to me ; and 
 to-day about one o'clock papa and I set off for St. James. We 
 called for M" Keene, but found that one coach could not contain 
 more than two such mighty hoops; and papa and M' K. were 
 obliged to go in another coach. There was a very fuU Drawing- 
 Eoom for the time of year. The King and Queen both spoke to 
 me. I felt much easier than I did before, as I had not the 
 ceremony of being presented to go through : indeed my dear, it is 
 next to being married. I thought I should not mind it, but there 
 is something that strikes an awe when you enter the Eoyal 
 Presence. I had however many compliments paid me on my 
 performance : if I tell you what the Queen said of me to-day, will 
 you not think me vain ? The company all stand round in a circle, 
 and the King and Queen go round, and speak to everybody that 
 has been presented. As she advanced towards me, I felt in a little 
 flutter, and whispered M" K. that I should behave like a fool. 
 ' You need not,' say she, ' for the Queen has been saying many 
 fine things of you to my sister. She says you are very genteel, 
 and have much the appearance of a woman of fashion.' I can't 
 say but I felt of more importance, and perhaps answered her 
 questions with a better grace. She asked me how long I had been 
 in town ? I answered — ' About a fortnight.' ' Are you come for 
 the winter ? ' ' Yes Ma-am.' ' How do you like England — better 
 than the country you came from ? ' 'I think it a very fine 
 country.' ' What part of it have you been in ? ' ' Norfolk.' ' I 
 hope you have your health better for it.' ' Much better.' Thus 
 ended our conversation; and had it been with any other than 
 a Queen, I should have thought it too trifling to relate. She told 
 papa she was very glad to see his daughter look so well. We were 
 fatigued with standing, and got out of the Presence Chamber as 
 soon as we could. Lord Dartmouth came and spoke to me. I 
 congratulated him on the birth of his daughter, which is a great 
 rarity, after seven sons. He is the most amiable man I ever saw ; 
 and was he not married, and not a Lord, I should be tempted 
 
 T 2 
 
276 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. [ml; 
 
 to set my cap at him, — two substantial reasons however to prevent 
 me. ...'.. 
 
 " Four of the young Princes came in after I had been there 
 about half an hour. I never saw four so fine boys. After the 
 Drawing-Koom was over we went into the Nursery, and saw the 
 rest of them. I was highly delighted, and could hardly keep my 
 hands off them : such sweet creatures I never beheld. The 
 Princess Eoyal with two sisters and a little boy which I took 
 to be about 3 years old, stood in a row, one just above the other, 
 and a little one in leading strings, sitting in a chair behind them, 
 composed this beautiful group. I was determined, if possible, to 
 kiss one of their little pudsey hands, and with some difficulty 
 persuaded M" K. to go up to them, their [there] being a great deal 
 of company in the room. She at last went, and I followed her. 
 I asked Prince Ernest for his hand, which he very readUy gave 
 me, and I gave it a very hearty kiss. They behaved very prettily : 
 they courtesied to everybody that came in, and the boy nodded 
 his head just like little Tom Oliver. We did not get home till 
 almost five o'clock, and found Elisha and Billy fretting for their 
 dinner. Good night, my dear ; I am so much fatigued, I cannot 
 write any more." 
 
 " Saturday Evening. [Oct. 29.] M' C[larke] dined 
 
 with us. We had a dispute after dinner — which was the best 
 country — New England, or Old ? Papa, your husband, and myself, 
 were for the former : M' C. and Billy for the latter. I own I still 
 feel a partiality for my native country. Papa could not help 
 expressing his in very strong terms. M' C. said he never should 
 lose the idea of the last winter : that the injuries he then received 
 were too strongly impressed upon his mind ever to be erased. 
 I told him I was surprised to find his affections so alienated from 
 his country : that I thought the friends he had there, if nothing 
 else, must make the place dear to him : and as to climate, surely, 
 said I, we have the advantage. They would neither of them allow 
 it,. but said the extremes of cold and heat were enough to ruin 
 peoples' constitutions. I, in return, had no mercy upon this, but 
 exclaimed against it as cold, damp, dirty, and altogether disagree- 
 able, and declared that I could not take a breath of air, but it 
 gave me a cold and cough, which immediately fixed upon my 
 lungs : and that if I lived here fifty years, I never should be 
 reconciled to the climate, or to living in London ; but could not 
 but allow that the country was exceedingly beautiful, and struck 
 me beyond anything I could imagine: but that only served to 
 
mJ;] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 211 
 
 tantalize, as the' ground was always so wet, (even in the middle of 
 summer) that it was impossible to enjoy it hy walking. We 
 carried it on till it was time for them to go to the Play : and 
 I believe M' C. was glad to get off with a whole skin. How 
 happy should I be to see that country restored to a state of peace 
 and quiet ! not so much for my own sake as papa's, who I think 
 wiU be happier there. Many times have I thought I had bid it 
 an eternal adieu. 0, my dear Polly, could you but have looked in 
 upon me when my health and spirits were so low, when I had no 
 female friend to take a part of my sorrows — ^but I will not distress 
 you. I am too well assured of your affection for me, to think 
 it will not give you pain. Begone all melancholy refflections ! 
 [«ic.J How often do you intrude when I wish only to give 
 pleasure ! " 
 
 " Thursday. [Nov. 3.] Sir Eardly Wilmot and son call'd here. 
 I made an acquaintance with his two daughters at Lord Gage's. 
 The eldest is married to Sir Sampson Gideon, Lady Gage's brother, 
 and is a very genteel pretty woman. Miss Wilmot is not hand- 
 some, but tolerably agreeable. The old gentleman says she will 
 wait on me as soon as she comes to town, and was vastly civil and 
 polite. I think they are a family I shall like to be acquainted 
 with. M' C. came in presently after. Papa, EHsha, and myself 
 were just getting into the coach to go to the Temple and walk in 
 the Gardens : he did not need much urging to make a fourth. 
 The Gardens are nothing extraordinary, but there is a pretty 
 Fountain. Yesterday papa went to see the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury at Lambeth. I had a mind for a ride, and went with him, 
 and set [»ic\ in the coach while he paid his visit. You may 
 remember hearing of his lady's having her routs of a Sunday 
 evening. We have not attempted to play cards tiU last evening 
 since we came. We were just in the midst of a game of Quadrille 
 when M' Bridgen came in and interrupted us. He is a merchant 
 in the city, and a very good kind of man : his lady is daughter to 
 the famous Richardson, author of Sir Charles [Grandiaon'\ and 
 Clarissa [Harlawe]. She was one of my first acquaintance, and 
 a very friendly sensible woman ; but her constitution is so delicate 
 that she hardly ever stirs out; it is said she is now writing 
 something which will be published. We had not been long seated, 
 before a violent rat-tat at the door made us jump. Patrick [Riley] 
 came up and pronounced M" Knox. I had never seen her before : 
 papa had dined at her house, and he introduced us. M' C. came 
 in presently after. The lady staid about half an hour and took 
 
278 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. r?,°4 
 
 \_ni4. 
 
 her leave : the gentlemen then went to politics, with which they 
 concluded the evening. 
 
 " Sunday Night. [Nov. 6.] It has been so bad a day, and my 
 health not quite confirmed, that I thought it best to keep house. 
 Papa dined with Lord Beauchamp. 
 
 "Tuesday Evening. [Nov. 8.] We had been talking all day 
 yesterday of going to the Play, but rain came on, and we gave 
 over all thoughts, when M' 0. came in and told us it was a very 
 fine Play, and advised by all means to go. Your husband and I 
 could not restrain our curiosity, but ordered the coach : hurried on 
 our things, and off we march'd. The Play was The Grecian 
 Daughter. If you have ever read it you will not wonder that 
 I did not sit with dry eyes. Such a lively representation of filial 
 love obliged me to get as much out of sight ' as I could, and give 
 full vent to my tears : nothing could be more affecting than the 
 interview between the old man and his daughter in prison. 
 To-morrow evening Alexander the Great is to be acted. Their 
 Majesties are to be there. We sent this morning for four places, 
 but they are all taken. I am disappointed, as it is a Play I wish'd 
 much to see : but 1 am not sure I shant put my bonnet over my 
 face and go into the Gallery. 
 
 " I send this by the Packet which goes to-morrow night ; but 
 as my paper is not quite filled up, I will answer your letters, 
 which ought to have been done in my last. What a flattering 
 picture do you draw of a young Nobleman ! Indeed my dear, 
 I have seen no such one. The men do not please me here ; and 
 Miss Murray and I both agreed on our first arrival, that New 
 England was the only place for pretty fellows. I am still of the 
 same mind when I think of them at all ; but indeed they do not 
 engross much of my attention. You say I entei into public places 
 secure of conquest. spare me my friend ! All I aim at, or can 
 possibly think of attaining, it is a tolerably decent appearance. 
 Those I studied to please are many leagues distant from me. If 
 you hear anything of him I once wish'd to make happy, do not 
 fail to impart it. [Aside — she seems to have left a piece of her 
 heart behind hor.] You mention a certain match being broke off : 
 papa has been applied to again. Strange man ! He has offered to 
 make a voyage immediately, if encouragement is given. You 
 
 need not ask whether it was or not Papa sends his lovo to 
 
 you. What joy would it give me if he could be the means of 
 restoring peace to his native country, but I see no prospect of it : 
 you are bent upon destruction." 
 
ml;] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 279 
 
 2nd. — I tarried at home till two, writing to Boston, when 
 walked for the sake of exercise; and just after I had gone 
 Lord Hertford returned the yisit I had made him. In the 
 evening received a letter from Lord Hardwicke, dated at 
 Wimple [Wimpole] in Cambridgeshire, desiring to hear the 
 state of affairs in America — which I answered, and sent him 
 my last letters. 
 
 3rd.— Visited M' Morris : called at Lord Marchmont's : M' 
 Onslow's : Mackenzie's : and L* Oh; Just. De Grey, who were 
 all from home. Went into the city as far as Cheapside comer. 
 Met the L" Mayor Elect in his coach, drawn by two white 
 horses, his servants in new liveries, followed by the two Sheriffs, 
 each in his gilt carriage, going to Lord Chancellor's ; being a 
 preparatory ceremony to Lord Mayor's day next week. 
 
 4th. — M' Lyell [?] and Davis, (going to Boston), Bowdoin, 
 Vassall, Clark, and M' Wilmot, son of Sir Eardley, dined with 
 us. In the evening M' Mauduit called. " Among other conver- 
 sation, he mentioned that at the time of the repeal of the 
 Stamp Act, M' Pit, in his speech said, that the Kingdom had 
 broke its original compact with the Colonies : that Sir Fletcher 
 Norton interrupted him — " What I Does any gentleman dare 
 to affirm in this House that the Kingdom has broken its 
 compact ? " and said something of a gentleman's not remaining 
 in that place after such a declaration : that M' Pit gave him a 
 disdainful look, with a "Pshaw, pshaw, pshaw!" which vexed 
 Sir Fletcher : bro't on personal reflecting altercation, and 
 diverted the main point. This, M' Mauduit says, he heard and 
 saw, and I don't remember to have met with before. 
 
 5th. — I waited upon Lord Suffolk, who received me with 
 great civility. I acquainted him with the conversation between 
 M' Temple and me, w"" he said agreed with what M' Wedder- 
 burne had told him of M' T.'s conversation with him, only that 
 was more circumstantial : he said T. was a man it was best to 
 have no connexion with. He then went upon American news. 
 The sum of what he said was, that it would be a work of 
 difficulty to restore the friendship which had subsisted between 
 the kingdom and Colonies, and it could be done in no other 
 way than settling the authority over them, wliich, for himself, 
 
280 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [mV. 
 
 lie would speak his mind with freedom, he thought must be 
 done at all events. 
 
 As I was taking leave, he apologised for mentioning one 
 thing : — " The last time I was at Court," says he, " the King 
 expressed himself with concern that no mark of honour had 
 been conferred on M' Hutchinson ; and said he expected Lord 
 Dartmouth and Lord North would have settled something 
 before this time. I wish it in my power," says his L*ship, " to 
 contribute to it." 
 
 I thanked his L^ship for interesting himself in anything 
 which concerned me : said that L** Dartmouth had once spoke 
 to me on the subject : I did not remember that Lord North 
 ever had. I by no means slighted His Majesty's intended 
 favour, and desired that I might, when any motion of that 
 sort should be made, have an opportunity of waiting on his 
 Lordship. 
 
 Dined with M. Gamier the French Charge: M' Morris, 
 Bortwick Bridgen, and a French gentleman, were the company. 
 The whole entertainment a la mode de France. 
 
 Upon this day, whilst there are probably great disorders in 
 the town of Boston, burning Popes, Generals, Governors, Com- 
 missioners, Consignees, &c., no difference appears from other 
 days, except a few guns at noon, and now and then a boy in the 
 street, crying " The 5'" of November ! " and asking for a half- 
 penny : at least, I heard no talk of pageantry in Westminster. 
 
 Novemb. 7th. — The third rainy Sunday, and almost every 
 day between the Sundays, more or less rain, or without sun. 
 Went to the nearest place of worship — the Chapel in King 
 street, where a grave man said prayers, and a young man read 
 a good sermon. Dined, (as also my sons and M' Clarke) with 
 W Jackson, Southampton Buildings. One of his Electors 
 from Eomney, a plain yoimg man, a fanner, says, the several 
 divisions of Eomney Marsh contain 4800 acres : that last year 
 it paid a tax of 8/- p acre for repair of the sea bank after a 
 breach: that the tax, communibus annis, is 2/6 an acre: few 
 or no cattle, or anything but sheep feed there ; and they never 
 have any turnips, hay, or other fodder in winter ; nor does he 
 remember its being covered with snow of any duration. 
 
nwG DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 281 
 
 8tli. — This being the first day of Michaelmas Term, I went 
 to Lord Dartmouth's Office to view the procession. There 
 were 3 state coaches, the L" Chancellor's, L* Chief Justice of 
 the K. Bench, and a gentleman by me said the third was the 
 Master of the Rolls. The coaches of the other Judges and 
 Lawyers scarcely exceded a dozen. Constables and other civil 
 officers in plenty, marched by the sides. 
 
 Afterwards I went to Westminster Hall, and took a view of 
 the several Courts. 
 
 The Governor, writing to his eldest daughter Sally, Nov. 1, 
 alludes to the drawing-room and the nursery. Of Peggy he says : 
 — " She was at Court last Tuesday, being Accession Day, and the 
 King and Queen both spoke to her ; and it made her very proud, 
 when she heard from a Lady in the Drawing-Eoom, that the Q.' 
 said, ' She thought Miss H. was very genteel.' After the Levee 
 was over we went into the Nursery, and saw a fine parcel of 
 children. A little Prince not above 3 years old held out his hand 
 to Peggy, and she had the honour of kissing it. You would have 
 been pleased to have seen Dukes and Duchesses- make their com- 
 plim" to the Princess Eoyal, but just 8 years old, as if she had 
 been a woman, and the very pretty returns she made. 
 
 " With all our gaiety we live as much in the N. Eng* way as 
 ever we can, and I have not missed either Church or Meeting any 
 Sunday since I have been in Eng^ except one, when bad weather 
 and a cold kept me at home 
 
 " Now you know all about our way of living, 1 can with good 
 truth assure you I had rather live at Milton than at Kew, and ' 
 
 had rather see Peggy and Tommy and playing about me, 
 
 than the Princess Charlotte, Prince Augustus, or , and I 
 
 have no doubt your sister is of the same mind." 
 
 Alluding in the same letter to the opposition and the difficulties 
 he had encountered in America, during the course of his public 
 life, he says : — " But I can never be thankful enough for having 
 been enabled so to conduct myself during the time of my being in 
 Administration, as that in all the controversies I have had with 
 the people of the Province, I have never contended in any instance 
 for what I did not think perfectly right, and for the real advan- 
 tage of the men who were endeavouring my ruin. Without this 
 reflection I should not be able to support myself." 
 
 The letters are numerous, and they take up more room hero 
 
282 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, fml: 
 
 \.iin. 
 
 than was intended, but they cannot be slighted, as they contain 
 points of information not to be found in the Diary ; and though 
 cautiously made, with injunctions suggested by experience and 
 common prudence that the contents should not be made public, 
 the interval of time that has elapsed since now neutralises that 
 injunction, and no individual can suffer from their publication. 
 The Governor's character will gain. The absence of harshness or 
 vindictiveness in these private letters, even when he is speaking 
 of those who were endeavouring to destroy his fortunes and his 
 reputation, is not a little remarkable, and reveal a truly Christian 
 and forbearing spirit. "We have bejow a letter to his younger 
 and only brother Foster. It was entered in his Letter Book by 
 his own hand : — 
 
 " London, Novemb. 1, 1774. 
 " Dear Brother, 
 
 " I was loth to let the Packet go without a letter, though I 
 have little more to say than that we are all as well and in as good 
 spirits, as people can be who are banished from their best friends, 
 and who are expecting every day to hear of the complete ruin of 
 their country.. Our last advices from America were of the 20 of 
 Sep. from Philad., just after the Congress had adopted the 
 Resolves of your county of Suffolk. I am not without expectation 
 of hearing of the re-assumption of your first Charter. If I should 
 be chosen Gov. I am determined not to serve. 
 
 " If I knew what was to be done here, I would not tell you in 
 a letter, but I do not know. I dare say L* North does not know. 
 I think it as likely L'' Germaine or Edmund Burke should start 
 the measure as L* North, for it is not a Ministry, but a National, 
 concern. I will not permit myself to believe that it's possible we 
 should hazard actual hostilities, from a country so disproportioned 
 in power. God, I trust, will open the eyes of the blind before it 
 comes to that. We have not yet all the news it's necessary we 
 should have, in order to make a probable conjecture what will be 
 done. The general voice is, that so important an affair has not 
 come before Pari' since the Eevolution. Indeed, I do not think 
 that affair was of so great importance. 
 
 " I am concerned for my sisters. 1 hope you see them often. 
 I have authorised Tommy [his son at Milton] to assist them. I 
 don't see that y" Court are likely ever to receive any Salaries from 
 the Province again. I think I wrote to you what Lord North 
 said to me on the subject. Mention me w'" affection to M" Hutch- 
 inson [Foster's wife was daughter of General Mascarene] and y" 
 children. 
 
m*:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS nVTCHINSON. 283 
 
 /" " New England is wrote upon my heart in as strong characters 
 as Calais was upon Q. Mary's : /but there is this difference — She 
 lost the one by her own folljr ; I am not sensible I could have 
 kept the other, except in a way which would have caused more 
 pain from reflection, than I now feel from the loss of it. This 
 consideration, and the hope, w""" I am determined not to part with, 
 that I shall return, and that my enemies will be forced to own 
 that I have at least, always meant the interest of my country, 
 supports my spirits, and I have not known more tranquility for 
 many years past, than since I have been in England. 
 
 " I have rec'' no monies, but I have all possible assurances that 
 I shall be no loser by the expense of my voyage, and I am told 
 some instrument is prepared to secure it to me. Lord Dartmouth 
 very early spake to me from the K. to know what mark of honour 
 he should confer upon me, and advised me to think of nothing 
 short of an hereditary honour. I considered there was not an estate 
 to support a title. If I had had but one son I might better run 
 the risk, but shall decline it as my family is circumstanced, unless 
 my eldest son shall think I hurt him by the refusal. I tho't it 
 not amiss however to ask his L''ship if I should be reproached 
 with being slighted in Eng* whether 1 might say that I had the 
 offer of such a mark of honor ? He answered immediately — ' Most 
 certainly. I venture to assure you it will be conferred imme- 
 diately.' And so the matter rests, and I have said nothing about 
 it since. But all claim to this honour, and all the effects I have 
 in the Province, I would cheerfully part with to see it restored to 
 the orderly state it was in when I first came to the General 
 Court." 
 
 The latter portion of the above letter reveals his private reasons 
 for refusing the proffered baronetcy more fully than occurs else- 
 where. He alludes to the same subject in a letter of the 4th of 
 November. The honour he appears to have held lightly; and he 
 allowed prudential considerations alone to have any weight. 
 
 As we have now reached the end of the first volume of the 
 Diary, we will make a break, stopping only for a few quotations 
 from some letters that bear equal date therewith. The hostile 
 Eesolves of the Congress of Philadelphia had taken the English 
 people by surprise. The following remarks, from a letter of this 
 period, to a friend whose name is not recorded, are much to the 
 purpose. They are in the old marble paper Letter Book, in the 
 handwriting of Elisha apparently, with the last paragraph in that 
 of the Governor himself. They run thus :— 
 
284 BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ml 
 
 " A vessel from Philadelphia brings an account of the remark- 
 able Kesolves of the county of Suffolk, and the Eatification, or 
 rather Avowal, of them by the people met together at Philadelphia. 
 These proceedings alone are enough to put it out of my power to 
 contribute to any accommodation ; but I expect a great deal more, 
 and it is my intention, after satisfying my curiosity by attending 
 Parliament at the beginning of the Session, to spend some time at 
 Bath, and to keep as much out of the way of being chargeable 
 with any measures in Parliament as possible. Indeed, I do not 
 believe any measures will be determined anywhere but in Parlia- 
 ment, where something may be thrown in for form's sake, which 
 may come out of their Forge quite another thing than it went in. 
 ' It is out of my power any longer to promote a plan of conciliation. 
 I cannot think any exception can be taken to my shunning all 
 share in a plan of hostilities — a plan which, if determined upon, 
 I hope will never be executed. I saw L'* Dartmouth yesterday. 
 ' "Why, M' H.,' says his Lordship, ' if these Kesolves of your 
 people are to be depended on, they have declared War against us : 
 they will not suffer any sort of Treaty.' ' I cannot help it my 
 Lord. Your L''Bhip knows I have done everything. in my power 
 to close the breach between the Kingdom and the Colonies, and it 
 distresses me greatly that there is so little prospect of success.' 
 This passed, or to this purpose, and little more passed besides a 
 silent lamentation for some time ; after which I mentioned some 
 other affairs." 
 
 To another friend, Nov. 2, in his own handwriting : — 
 
 " I will write you no politicks, unless it be politics to tell you 
 that I bear not the least ill will to my Milton neighbours for the 
 share they have at last taken in the general confusion. I know 
 the nature of the contagion. It is more easy to keep the small 
 pox from spreading when the whole air is infected, than commo- 
 tions in a state when they have been raised to a considerable 
 height. I shall yet live and die among them, and I trust recover 
 their esteem." 
 
 The characters of the Earl of Dartmouth and one or two other 
 Ministers of the period can scarcely be passed over. They are 
 mentioned to another unnamed friend in the same book : — 
 
 " I will make one observation to you of a political nature. I 
 have more than an hundred times, in New England, heard the 
 Ministry spoke of as a set of men combining to deprive the Colonies 
 of their liberties, and to introduce an arbitrary and despotic 
 
fm:] I>IABY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 285 
 
 Government : and sometimes it has been said Popery. I verily 
 believe there never was an Administration with less views of that 
 sort, or more disposed to irncede to every claim of the Colonies, 
 which can consist with their continuing united to the Kingdom. 
 Lord Dartmouth, who is at the head of the American Department, 
 is as amiable a man as you know — a man of literature, as well as 
 good natural sense. His greatest foible is an excess of humanity, 
 which makes him apt sometimes to think more favorably of some 
 men than they deserve : and for his Keligion, he would pass in 
 New England for an orthodox good Christian : but here every 
 man who is not ashamed to own himself a Christian, is called a 
 Methodist. I had been often in his company before anything 
 passed upon that subject. At length one day when nobody was 
 present — ' M' H.' says he, ' the old Puritans, who first went over 
 to your Colony, were certainly a set of serious godly men : is the 
 same sense of religion which they carried over with them still 
 remaining there, or does infidelity prevail there as it does here in 
 England?' The long conversation which followed I will not 
 commit to writing. The introduction wUl give you some idea of 
 the man. I seldom see him but he laments that the people in the 
 Colonies have put it out of his power to do what he never would 
 have come into his Office, if he had not hoped to do, towards a 
 reconciliation. Lord North, L* Sufiblk, and the L* Chancellor, 
 appear to me to have just the same dispositions. To say this to a 
 man deep in party would be canere surdia [to sing to the deaf j, 
 but this is not the case with you." 
 
 Writing Nov. 2 to his son Thomas, at Milton, he begins — 
 
 " My d' Son, 
 
 " The storm thickens every time any vessel arrives from 
 America." 
 
 Lower down — 
 
 " Since the dates of these lett' a vessel is arriv'd from Philadel" 
 w""" brings an ace' from Boston of a Meet^ of the first county in , 
 Massach', and of certain Eesolves passed there, which are un-* 
 doubtedly treasonable," &o. 
 
 Again, Nov. 4, to someone else unnamed : — 
 
 "I have been pleasing myself ever since I have been here, with 
 the prospect of a plan for giving satisfaction to the Colonies, that 
 the power of Pari' in taxation would not be exercised for any 
 other purpose than regulating their Trade, when it could not bo 
 
286 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, fml: 
 
 \\nii. 
 
 so well regulated in any other way ; and that the general legis- 
 lative power of Pari' should be no further exercised than as a 
 superintending power, and consistent with that internal legis- 
 lative power w'"" each Colony had always enjoyed. But all plans 
 of that sort are now at an end, or at least, suspended. The only 
 question among the persons concerned in Executive and Legisla- 
 tive power is this — ' How shall an entire separation of the Colonics 
 from the Kingdom be prevented ? ' This, as far as I can conjec- 
 ture, will come before Pari' for every member to give his free 
 uncontrolled sentiment upon ; but I will not hazard a conjecture, 
 what the result of such sentiments will be. I often hear it said — 
 ' Something decisive must be done ' : but I do not believe the 
 Prime Minister will determine in his own mind what that shall 
 be until he has collected what is the general voice of the King- 
 dom. My curiosity would be sufficient to induce me to attend the 
 debates, and that is all the part it's best I should have in the 
 decision." 
 
 A pity that Governor Hutchinson's well-intended plan could 
 not have been carried out ; but it has become plain, from what 
 has been given above, that the Americans had made up their 
 minds not to have anything to do with the English Parliament 
 whatever. An honest desire to intercede and try to do good 
 seems to have been the main incentive that brought him to 
 England. 
 
 Here the first volume of the Diary ends, and here we may 
 halt a moment and take breath. To those readers who have 
 followed the Diary, but more especially to those who have gone 
 through the letters, it must be plain that a great crisis was im- 
 pending; and in the eyes of some it threatened to be more 
 momentous to the nation in its consequences than the Eevolution 
 of 1688. 
 
( 287 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 CONTINUATION OF THE DIARY FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE 
 SECOND VOLUME OF THE MANUSCRIPT. 
 
 1774, November 8, * London. — Made a visit this morning to 
 M"^ George Onslow in Dover Street, son of the late Speaker, 
 who received me with great politeness. He thanked me for my 
 public services, after my having thanked him for his attending 
 the Committee of Council. I let him know I attended his 
 father in the year '41, to his election from Isher [Esher ?] to 
 Guildford. He told me he had since represented the same 
 county, but was not now in Parliament, Lord Onslow not being 
 likely to live many weeks, being speechless and deprived of 
 reason by a paralitic disorder ; and upon his death he should 
 be in the other House : and he not only wished himself to be 
 clear of the House of Commons, but the King had approved of 
 it. The abuse the King's servants met with in the H. of 
 Commons was intolerable. Lord North, he said, bore it with 
 surprising patience: he was sure it was contrary to L** N.'s 
 inclination to continue in his publick character : no man was 
 happier in domestick life, and he had great merit from the 
 public for thus denying himself. He asked me if I was not 
 much pleased with the audience I had of the King ? — greatly — 
 " not more," says he, " than the King was with you." He 
 thanked me for conducting an affair of his nephew, L* Fitz- 
 William's son, in America. I had forgot he was his nephew. 
 He hoped to cultivate an acquaintance, &c. 
 
 From M' Onslow's I went to M' Stuart Mackenzie's (brother 
 to Lord Bute) in Hill Street, and had [a] long conversation 
 
 * November 8 is marked twice over, that is, at the end of the first, and 
 beginning of the second volume of the Diary. Perhaps these are Wo halves 
 of the same day. 
 
288 BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [fni 
 
 Llt74. 
 
 with him upon American affairs. He condemned the repeal of 
 the Stamp Act, but seemed not to approve of the Act itseK: 
 said that he was then well acquainted with Prince Massareno, 
 the Spanish Ambassador (who, he said, is now expected again 
 in England) and with Mons' Guerchier, the French Ambassador, 
 that he talked with both of them, and asked what they thought 
 of the measure ? that it appeared to be a quieting measure — 
 " But tell me your real opinion " — " Why, really, of all the 
 weak measures in Government I have heard of, this appears to 
 me to be the weakest " — that Massareno was of the same mind, 
 and spake of the disaffection of the Spaniards in America to 
 the Spanish Government, and, adds M' Mckenzie, several of 
 the Lords of the Council said at the hearing, that D'' F. was as 
 much disaffected to Britain, and would rather the Colonies 
 should be subject to France, Spain, or any other kingdom in 
 Europe, than to G. Britain. 
 
 At the time of the repeal, he says Lord Chatham, then M' 
 Pit, was so necessary a man to the Eockingham Administra- 
 tion, that whatever part he bad taken, they must have followed : 
 that he verily believes, when M'^ Pit came from home to attend 
 the H. of Commons, he had not determined which side to take : 
 that he is sure he had not mentioned his intention to any 
 person : that 1/ Temple and L" Camden came unusually forward 
 upon the floor of the H. of Commons, and discovered an eager- 
 ness to know what part he would take : that when he found it 
 would be a popular stroke, which might appear from the many 
 petitions for the repeal, then he determined, and at the same 
 time gratified his revenge upon his brother [-in-law ?], Geo. 
 Grenville, who he hated : that Pit's determination determined 
 the fate of Britain and her Colonies. 
 
 The papers take notice of the death of M' Bradshaw, one of 
 the Lords of the Admiralty, and fame says that he died 
 suddenly. M' Keene, of the B" of Trade, tells me that when he 
 quitted his place of Secr^ to the Treasury, when the D. of 
 Grafton went out, he had a pension of 1500£ p an., settled for 
 3 lives : that he had a salary of 1000£ as L" of y" Admii" : that 
 he married a woman with ten thousand pounds : and after all, 
 by his extravagance, is obliged to raise large sums by annuities 
 
ml:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 289 
 
 upon lives : and after all his advantages, is so distressed as to 
 chuse death rather tlian life. 
 
 In the evening, upon M" Knox's invitation to my daughter, 
 I accompanied them and M' Knox to the play at Gov. Garden, 
 where one of Shakespear's, Much Ado about Nothing, was (I 
 thought) poorly acted ; and the Entertainment, the story of 
 Paris and the Apples, wretched stuff. Garrick is celebrated as 
 the English Koscius. I have not yet seen him. 
 
 9th. — I visited L" Chief Justice De Grey, who has been in 
 the country, or upon the circuits, ever since my arrival, and is 
 now confined with the gout. He would scarcely hear the 
 mention of his attending at Council, declaring that everybody 
 was bound in justice to appear upon such an occasion: — 
 enquired about D' F. ; supposed he was in America: — 
 lamented the state of America, owing to the want of steadi- 
 ness and firmness of Council : — he was now utterly at a loss 
 what could be done, and took particular notice of the L* Gov' 
 vindication, w"" says the people who beset him were generally 
 landholders ; and if such people generally appeared, what could 
 5 or 6,000 men do? I observed — the common people in 
 America were generally Landholders, there being very few 
 tenants, and wherever you found a master of a family in the 
 country towns, the probability was, that he was a freeholder. 
 He said Government was at an end. I acknowledged it : and 
 that the friends of Government were not at liberty to say 
 they were such. He asked — What could be done ? I hoped 
 I should be excused from suggesting any coercive measures. 
 He said Government had a right to my opinion or judgment. 
 
 Doubtless, as Mr. Hutchinson continued to be a servant of the 
 Crown the King and the Ministers had a right to his opinion and 
 iudgment. Since he had left America, it had been heedlessly 
 asserted by those who had not got the Goddess of Truth at their 
 elbows, that all the coercive measures adopted by England against 
 the Colonies had been instigated by him — that he was in constant 
 communication with Administration for this purpose—if not, 
 indeed, one of the Ministry. Chief Justice Peter Oliver, who had 
 removed to Boston for safety, and who was well acquainted with 
 the floating rumours, speaks as follows, when writing Nov. 4, 1774, 
 
 u 
 
290 BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f,°l: 
 
 to Elisha's, wife, who was at Plymouth. He dates his letter from 
 " Boston Camps," whatever that may mean. One passage in his 
 letter runs thus : — " We have heard the Gov' is a Privy Counsellor, 
 with £2000 p year ; it wants confirmation : he has been offered a 
 Baronetage with £2000 p year, but refused : no promise made him 
 has failed." Numerous passages in his writings show how averse 
 he was to the idea of coercive measures, and with what horror he 
 contemplated military intervention ; and so far from wishing to 
 advise the Government in any way, he particularly desired to keep 
 himself clear from the entanglement and the responsibility of 
 anything of the kind. This appears in several places. To go no 
 further than a letter quoted a few pages back, where he says — " It 
 is my intention, after satisfying my curiosity by attending Parlia- 
 ment at the beginning of the Session, to spend some time at Bath, 
 and to keep as much out of the way of being chargeable with any 
 measures in Parliament as possible." 
 
 Any mformation I was capable of, I said I ought, and was 
 ready to give. I could not think such a state of anarchy could 
 be long endured. Nothing was more uncertain than popular 
 opinion or prejudices, which frequently changed from one 
 extreme to the other. It would be the ruin both of the King- 
 dom and Colonies to separate them. He was willing they 
 should have all the assurance could be given that they should 
 be indulged in matter of Taxation, but would never part with 
 the absolute supreme authority of Parliament. I did not see 
 how any line could be drawn. I had even thought as his 
 Lordship does with respect to taxation. 
 
 He mentioned the service I had endeavoured \sic\ to do for 
 the Kingdom and Colonies. I said my Lord Mansfield expressed 
 to me his surprise, that when I was so uncertain what conduct 
 would be approved of here in England, I went on so steadily 
 as I did. He stop'd me by saying — " I was not surprised. 
 I wondered you undertook, but when you had done it, I knew 
 you would persevere, from the knowledge I had of you, not 
 personally, but of your general character, and from what I had 
 seen of y' correspondence with Governm', and with gentlemen 
 who had shewn me your letters." I observed, that when I had 
 engaged, I could not well help going forward without dis- 
 honouring myself. I came forward one step after another, 
 
ml:] I>IABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS SUTCHINSON. 291 
 
 until I came to the chief command. I wished, after I left him, 
 that I had added —that when I had the prospect and offer of 
 the first honours in my own country, I was not destitute of 
 ambition, and could not help its having some influence. 
 
 I went from the L* Oh. Justice to the Adelphi Buildings 
 upon the river, and saw the procession of the Lord Mayor and 
 Company to Westminster ; and went from thence to M' Clark's 
 lodging at the corner of Paul's Churchyard to see the procession 
 by land, which was not finished until dark ; and the throng was 
 so great that my coach was stop'd so long as to make it \ after 
 five before I got home to dinner. Wilkes, the Mayor, was 
 said to be sick, and to look miserably. M' Ambler, one of 
 the King's Counsel, and who saw him in Chancery, says he will 
 not live out his year. There never was a Mayor less attended 
 by people of note ; and it looks probable he will be more and 
 more contemned, until he quite sinks. The show had nothing 
 in it worth taking any pains to see. Sir Egerton Leigh, a new 
 Carolina Baronet, I met at M' Clark's lodgings. My Lord D, 
 had observed to me the same day, that he did not wonder I 
 was not fond of being created a Baronet.* I called upon his 
 Lordship in the morning at his Levee, as he was to go out of 
 town to-morrow, but nothing very material passed. 
 
 10th. — This morning waited on Lord Gower, who has not 
 been in town since my arrival until yesterday. His Lordship 
 was exceeding friendly. He had been very ready in attending 
 on my affair : said he no more than did me justice : my cause 
 was good. I was nevertheless much obliged to M' Mauduit for 
 his assiduity, as otherwise it might have been misrepresented.t 
 He expressed his sense of the necessity of effectual measures 
 w'" respect to America. 
 
 From L* Gower's went to L" Dartm" office, and while there 
 the publick letters were brought in, w'=^ came by the Paquet 
 from New York. The principal news was the vote of the Conv 
 gross, recommending to the Merchants in the Colonies to stop 
 all orders gone or going to England for goods, until the final 
 
 * No explanation is given as to what led to this remark, 
 t He means the affair of the Letters. 
 
 u 2 
 
292 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EVTCHINSON. [fm. 
 
 result of the Congress was known.* The disorders appeared by 
 the newspapers to be much increased : everybody out of Boston 
 submitting to the demands of the populace. 
 
 M' .John Pownall was very inquisitive about the constitution 
 of the College. I informed him [of] the state of it. M' Knox 
 asked what he proposed ? and declared his opinion that altho' 
 the old Charter was vacated, it did not follow that the Act for 
 making it a Corporation had lost its force ; otherwise, if a 
 Corporation could not make a Corporation, for then it would 
 have been null ab initio : but I think there is no danger from 
 that rule of law, when applied to the legislative powers of the 
 Colony Corporations. 
 
 11th. — I went this morning again to Lord Dartmouth's office, 
 where I found M"^ Pownall and M"^ Knox, and I introduced the 
 subject of the College ; whereupon M' Pownall asked whether 
 it was an University ? if not, what pretence they had to give 
 Degrees? I said they had given Masters' and Bachelors' 
 Degrees from the beginning : t that two or three years ago, out 
 of respect to a venerable old gentleman, they gave him a 
 Doctor's Degree, and that the next year, or next but one, two 
 or three more were made Doctors ; two of them 1 supposed 
 because they were high party men : and as to giving Degrees, 
 they had the practice of the College at Connecticut, Jerseys, &c. 
 Pownall said the King ought to be the fountain, &c. I observed 
 (which was my end in introducing the subject), that after so 
 long usage, it would be hard to disturb the College. Perhaps 
 the impracticability of carrying oa the affairs without a Council, 
 might tend to a more quiet settlement of the new Constitution. 
 He argued with me, and concluded by saying he desired to take 
 no such advantages. 
 
 We have had flights of snow or sleet to-day, and the weather 
 as cold as it generally is in New England so early in the year. 
 In the country snow fell 2 or 3 inches deep. 
 
 12th. — Spent some time to-day at Lord North's: thanked 
 him for his care for my support. He said the Warr' had been 
 
 ♦ " We have to-day the New York Mail, and an account of the advice to 
 stop all orders for goods from England, as given by the Congress." — Marble 
 paper Letter Book, Nov. 10. 
 
 t The Governor took his Bachelor's Degree there, as mentioned before. 
 
m4.] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 293 
 
 finished these three months.* He spake long upon the state of 
 the Colonies : said that until some [thing] further was known 
 of what was doing at Philadelphia, no particular measure could 
 be determined. He had hoped that the Colonies, having 
 asserted their right, and Parliament desisting from taxation, 
 disputes would have subsided ; and he believes they would if 
 they had not been afresh stirred up by people here; but now 
 the case seemed desperate. Pari' would not — could not — concede. 
 For aught he could see it must come to violence. He had the 
 Kingdom w* him. There was no danger of a change in 
 Parliament. There was no danger of a change in Adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 He was now in town at home, and I knew where to find him. 
 
 M' Pownall was there, and told me he had good authority 
 to say, the doings at Boston would not be supported by the 
 Congress. I told him, if it had been said by most people, I 
 should have doubted the authority. M' Jenkinson shewed me 
 extracts of a letter from an officer, the 26 Septem. : represents 
 the Province in a state of rebellion. Sir John Blaquire was 
 there also.f 
 
 13th. — St. James's Chapel being the nearest place of worship, 
 and a very decent congregation, we attended there again, the 
 same person both reading prayers and preaching, as read last 
 Sunday. 
 
 M' Clark dined with us. This was a remarkably fair day : 
 the wind north of west, and as cold as it is usual to have the 
 weather in New England so early in the winter. 
 
 14th, — Having agreed to let the house I hire in Golden 
 Square, for the remainder of the term I have in it, I spent most 
 
 * Casual remarks occur in his Diary and in his letters on the subject of 
 his pay, salary, or allowance, though the amount is not stated. This con- 
 stituted him an official servant of the Government during his temporary stay 
 in England. Nov. 11 to his son he writes — " The King has signed a Warr' 
 for my salary, or an equivalent, which is intended to continue untU other 
 provision is made for me." 
 
 t " I am distressed for my country. If the newspaper accounts are true 
 w'' we have just rec* by the Oct. Mail from N. York, you are in a state of 
 perfect anarchy as can be found in history. It adds to my distress when I 
 hear one and another say, ' Let them suffer. It will learn them the necessity 
 of Gov'.' I teU them, they who suffer, or many of them, really ought to be 
 rewarded ; and they who have made; themselves obnoxious are victorious and 
 triumphant." — Nov. 10, Letter B. 
 
294 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTGEINSON:\^ni. 
 
 of the forenoon in viewing houses, without being able to find 
 one to my mind. Afterwards went to Lord Dartmouth's ofSce, 
 where I heard of Lyde's arrival from Salem, at Falmouth, and 
 that most of the letters were come up, but none yet for me, nor 
 any of my family. 
 
 15th. — I visited M' Keene in the morning. Afterwards Lord 
 George Sackville Germaine, who expressed great regard.* He 
 has great knowledge in American affairs : says the Colonies 
 must be saved or lost this Session. The House will be of the 
 same mind they were the last year, and nothing is necessary 
 but the Ministers pushing with vigour — or to that effect. From 
 thence I went into the city to M' Mauduit, where I found M. 
 Letheuitter, a member of Pari' who, Mauduit says, was his 
 pupil. Spent two hours in conversation upon the deplorable 
 state of affairs in America ; t and then went to dine with the 
 Attorney General, who had no other company, where I tarried 
 till seven in the evening.^ Among other things, speaking of 
 M' Locke's Treatise upon Government, he pronounced it a mean 
 performance, unworthy a man of M' Locke's general character. 
 The Attorney General is certainly a man of exceeding good 
 sense, but has the character of being indolent ; and it is said by 
 delaying business he has given occasion for complaint against 
 him. 
 
 16th. — Monsieur Garnier called upon me in the morning : 
 was very inquisitive about the news from America : professes 
 to wish for an accommodation, and to hope no hostilities will 
 take place.§ He says the Count de Guignes is detained in 
 
 * Writing more than three years before the date at which we have 
 arrived, Walpole says in a letter of Dec. 18, 1770 — " A duel that happened 
 yesterday. Lord George Germaine and a Governor Johnstone, the latter of 
 whom abused the former grossly last Friday in the House of Commons, Lord 
 George behaved with the utmost coolness and intrepidity. Each fired two 
 pistols, and Lord George's first was shattered in his hand by Johnstone's 
 fire ; but neither were hurt. However, whatever Lord George Sackville was. 
 Lord George Germaine is a hero." 
 
 t Writing to his son Thomas, Nov. 11, he says — " Everything here remains 
 as when I last wrote, only the amazement increases." 
 
 X This would imply that the dinner hour, even among the higher classes, 
 was usually much earlier than at present, and that an invitation to dinner 
 did not include an entertainment for the evening. Society is always making 
 the hours later and later. 
 
 § Had not the French been very sore ever since they had been driven out 
 
i^M.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 295 
 
 France by cross suits between him and his Secretary, for 
 unfaithfulness in the Secretary, and unjust accusation in the 
 Count, who the Secretary had charged w"" Stockjobbing : and 
 also a suit between him and some French Merch** in London, 
 who had been great adventurers, and great losers in the alley [?], 
 and charge Guignes with the loss, alledging they acted as his 
 Factors, which he utterly denies. 
 
 No news yet of any letters by Lyde, nor are any yet come to 
 hand to the Seer'' of State. Admiral Graves has wrote to the 
 Admiralty, that he had tried to caiTy one of the sloops up to 
 the south part of the Harbour, to cover the General's men 
 whilst they were fortifying the Neck ; but he could not do it, 
 and had employed a scooner \sic\ in that service. Upon reading 
 a newspaper at Lord Dartmouth's office, M' Eeene and M' 
 Knox in company, M"^ Knox expressed his satisfaction in an 
 account of a determined design to oppose the King's troops : 
 wished to hear it executed : " we shall then (says he) be at no 
 loss how to proceed." 
 
 17th. — I dined, and all my family, with M' William Palmer, 
 where we spent most of the evening in company with M.' 
 Charlton Palmer, who I knew in England in 1741, and his 
 wife, and several others. When I came home I found that the 
 lat,e L' Governor's youngest son Silvester,* being one of the 
 passengers in Lyde, had been at my house, but had not left 
 my letters, having promised, as he said, to deliver them with 
 his own hand. There came passengers besides, M' Hystop and 
 son, Eufus Chandler, Doctor Payne, Josiah Quincy, and M' 
 Higginson of Salem. 
 
 of Canada? Was it not suspected that their agents afterwards fomented 
 many of the rebellious feelings against England now germinating in the 
 Colonies ? Was it not thought that if the Colonies broke free from the 
 Mother Country, France woiSd hold herself ready to pounce upon them? 
 And did not the assistance which France openly lent to America at a later 
 date throw her open to something more than mere suspicion? And yet 
 the French Minister professes to wish for an accommodation, and to hope 
 that no hostilities woiid take place. It was one of the fears entertained by 
 the English Government, that if the Colonies were set free, they would 
 become a prey to the clutches of France or Spain. 
 
 * Brinley Sylvester Oliver, bom Sept. 6, 1755, married Sarah Louisa 
 Barton. He died s. p. 
 
296 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [m*. 
 
 18th. — In the morning S. 0. came with a great number of 
 my letters from my friends, and also General Gage's letters to 
 GoTernment. The latter I sent immediately to M' Knox, 
 Lord D. being in the country. Soon after I had sent them, 
 M' Pownall desired, by a card, that I would come immediately 
 to Lord D.'s office, upon an affair of very great importance.* 
 My own coach being out, I immediately took a hack, and was 
 not sorry to find the business was nothing more than to acquaint 
 me General Gage had wrote that there was a person unknown, 
 supposed to be going over in Lyde, upon a bad design, some 
 said to Holland, and that young M' Oliver, who was a pas- 
 senger in the same ship, would probably be able to give some 
 account of him ; and therefore L" North had desired Pownall 
 to examine M' O. I deterniined it must be Quincy ; but gave 
 my opinion it was best not to send for M' 0. upon this infor- 
 mation, because I believed he knew nothing about Quincy's 
 business, having inquired of him just before ; and told Pownall 
 O. was to dine with me, and he might, by a general conversa- 
 tion, easily satisfy himself whether he knew enough to make 
 an examination advisable. He fell immediately into my 
 sentiments, and was convinced at dinner that it was best to 
 make no public or particular inquiry. IVP Pownall, Knox, 
 Mauduit, Whately, Stuart, Paine, and Oliver, dined with me. 
 M"^ Joseph Whately the clergyman, came in the evening and 
 staid some time. 
 
 M' Pownall wished I would allow him to send such of my 
 letters as I thought fit to the King ; which I consented to, and 
 selected some of them accordingly. 
 
 19th. — I met M.' Pownall at Lord North's this morninjr. I 
 asked him what reason he had for my favourable thoughts of 
 the proceedings of the Congress ? He said there was a private 
 correspondence, and every step had been communicated. The 
 New York and New Jersey men went deteimined against a 
 Non-importation, Ac, and they brought the Pensilvania people 
 
 * " There are advices from America that are said to be extremely bad : I 
 don't know the particulars, but I have never augured well of that dispute. 
 I fear we neither know how to proceed or retreat. I believe this is the case 
 with many individuals, as well as with the public." — Walpole's Letters, 
 Nov. 14, 1774. 
 
f,n-.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 297 
 
 to the eame way of thinking, and Folsom of New Hampshire, 
 and others, came in and carried a Vote against it ; and they 
 agreed to present a Petition to the King, which Adams drew 
 up : and though it was yery exceptionable, yet, as it diverted 
 the other measure, it was agreed to, and they expected to 
 break up, when letters arrived from Doctor Franklin, which 
 put an end to the Petition, and obtained a Vote for Non- 
 importation : and when the last advices came away, they were 
 disputing about articles to be excepted. Carolina, &c., wanted 
 cloaths for their Negroes : Massachusetts stores for fishery : 
 and other governments other articles which they could not 
 agree about, but had thought it advisable to recommend a 
 suspension of all orders for goods until they had agreed in 
 the Congress, — which Pownall thinks they never would. I 
 wish he may not be deceived. 
 
 Lord North expressed himself in higher terras than ever 
 upon the news irom. Boston, and said it was to no purpose any 
 longer to think of expedients: the Province was in actual 
 Rebellion, and must be subdued.* He would not allow the 
 thought that the Kingdom was not able to do it. Some 
 merchants perhaps might be frightened ; but the sense of the 
 people in general was the other way. He did not know what 
 General Gage meant by suspending the Acts : there was no 
 suspending an Act of Parliament. How far it was necessary to 
 temporize, from circumstances which he alone could know, he 
 alone must be the judge. As for Hessians and Hanoverians, 
 they could be employed if necessary; but he was of opinion 
 there was no need of foreign force : at present they could not 
 be sent : two regiments it was determined should go from 
 Ireland in the spring, and as many more might go from one 
 part or another as should be wanted. The Acts must and 
 should be carried into execution. 
 
 He asked whether there ever had been any bodies of people 
 actually in arms ? I told him I had no doubt that at some of 
 the attacks upon the Counsellors and other officers, some 
 persons among the mobs might have arms ; but I did not 
 
 * " Lord North has very good parts, quickness, great knowledge, and what 
 is much wanted, activity."— Walpole's Letters, vol. v., 224. 
 
298 DTABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [nu. 
 
 believe there had been a body of men generally armed, unless 
 for the purpose of training. He then asked who there was to 
 head them? I mentioned the account of Putnam, who en- 
 couraged the Connecticut people to gather together, and said 
 he was a man of natural courage, but I thought had no talents 
 for a General. After further general conversation, he let me 
 know Quincy had desired to see him, and that he was determined 
 to allow it ; but he wished to know what he was. I informed 
 him he was a lawyer, as inflamatory in Town Meetings, &c., as 
 almost any of tlie party: that I fancied his errand here was lo 
 inflame the people by his newspaper pieces, and in every other 
 way possible ; and to give information to those at Boston, of 
 the same spirit and party, what was doing here, and whether 
 they were in danger. Lord North, to convince me of the 
 determined design of Administration to do something effectual, < 
 said — " I will venture to tell you that Parliament was dissolved 
 on this account — that we might, at the beginning of a Parlia- 
 / ment take such measures as we could depend upon a Parliament 
 to prosecute to effect." -' 
 
 20th. — At St. James's Chapel, D'^ Pye read a sermon. He 
 is the Incumbent. Last Sunday at Islington church the 
 Minister in the morning read one of the late Bishop Sherlock's 
 sermons, and in the afternoon another Minister hapned unluckily 
 to pitch upon the same sermon. 
 
 Called upon M"^ Cornwall in Golden Square in my way home. 
 Dined with M' Jenkinson in Parliament Street ; the Dean of 
 Norwich was there, who had been Chaplain to W Grenville, 
 and I have heard. Preceptor to his children. He told me he 
 had often heard M' Grenville speak of me with great regard : 
 that he was sorry he was not in town when I was at Norwich, 
 and wished me to come down again, and take my lodgings in 
 the Deanery. M' Cornwall and lady, (who is sister to M'^ 
 Jenkinson,) Dalrymple and Mauduit dined with us. Great 
 part of the conversation was upon American affairs, and both 
 Jenkinson and Cornwall declared very fully their opinions of 
 talking no longer, but immediately acting to purpose; and 
 Cornwall said he knew Lord North was of the same opinion. 
 He is the first lawyer who I have heard express a doubt of 
 
Nov. 
 1774. 
 
 ,] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 299 
 
 extending the Statute of Henry the 8'" to America. I have ^^ 
 heard Lord North say there was no doubt; but Cornwall 
 wished an Act might pass, providing for the Trial of Treason 
 wherever committed in England ; though he thought Impeach- 
 ment would be the best way of proceeding in the present case, 
 and observed that Sacheveral's Impeachment effectually estab- 
 lished Revolutional principals, which the party who supported 
 him wished to explode. 
 
 21st. — M' Ellis called upon me in the morning, and spent a 
 quarter of an hour upon American news : after which, at L** 
 Beauchamp's desire, I spent an hour there in satisfying his 
 L^ship's inquiries into the Constitution of Massachusetts Bay 
 in particular, as well as the Colonies in general : then went to 
 Lord Dartmouth's office upon M' Pownall's desire, who has a 
 plan in his head for an Act of Pari' to suspend all the Militia v^ 
 laws of Mass. Bay. He said Sir J. A.* would be sent, and 
 suspend Gage in his military comand until the Province is 
 reduced to order : but the chief that passed was an account of 
 Quincy's visit to Lord North. Upon his first coming in he 
 acquainted Lord North that he was just arrived from Boston, 
 his business here being to recover his health : but as he was 
 here, he wished for an opportunity of waiting on his Lordship, 
 and assuring him that the people of the Massachusetts must 
 have been much wronged by the misrepresentations which had 
 been made from time to time to the Ministry, and which had 
 occasioned the late measures : that there was a general desire 
 of reconciliation, and that he thought three or four persons on 
 the part of the Kingdom, and as many on the part of the 
 Colonies, might easily settle the matter. Lord North said to 
 him, he had been moved by no informations nor representations; 
 it was their own Acts and Doings, (of which he had been 
 furnished with attested authentic copies,) denying the authority 
 of Parliament over them. His L*ship did not suppose he would 
 say this was a misrepresentation. This authority can never be 
 given up, but must at all events be enforced. This was his 
 determination : it was the determination of the rest of the 
 King's Ministers : none of them would depart from it. If he 
 * Jcffery Amherst ? 
 
300 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [mV. 
 
 should yield the point, he should expect to have his head 
 brought to the Block by the general clamor of the people, and 
 lie should deserve it. This must be submitted to, and then he 
 would give the most favourable ear to every proposal from the 
 Colonies. 
 
 The question between England and her Colonies is here divested 
 of all the entanglements touching taxes, Internal and External, 
 Kepresentation, and so on, and is concentrated into the single one 
 J of the Supremacy of Parliament. After all, this is so com- 
 prehensive that it embraces everything else. Quincy had beenv 
 duped into the idea that the representations of Governor Hutchin- 
 son lay at the bottom of all the troubles of America ; as if any set 
 of Ministers could be so shallow as to act in important matters of 
 State upon the advice of a Governor alone, unsupported by any 
 collateral corroborative evidence of any of the numerous officials in 
 the Colony by whom he was surrounded, and with whom he was 
 obliged to work. It was to try and establish a malicious charge 
 of this sort, and " to raise the fury of the people against him," 
 that his private letters were purloined in England and printed inv 
 America ; and then, when they had been published, people saw 
 that there had been no crimes to divulge, and that they contained 
 " no sentiment which the Governor had not openly expressed in 
 his Addresses to the Legislature." Endless are the devices that 
 dishonest men, engaged in party strife, will resort to in order to 
 advance their projects. It is possible that Quincy, in his simplicity, 
 or as a believer in the doctrines in which he had been instructed, 
 held an honest conviction that the Governor really was such a 
 delinquent — that the ministry were labouring under false impres- 
 sions — and in that view we will give the American the credit of a 
 well-intended desire to enlighten them. It is not usual for Prime 
 Ministers of England, or, indeed, of most other countries, to grant 
 private interviews to strangers. The first point put by Lord 
 North to his visitor was probably enough to show Tn'm that a vast 
 obstacle lay across his path at the very commencement of his 
 honest labours ; and his confidence in the success of his mission 
 received a sudden check. 
 
 He said he heard Quincy intended to go to Holland ; but he 
 did not admit he had any such inteution. Quincy asked if his 
 Lordship had heard what the Congress had agreed, or would 
 agree [to] ? He spoke with an air of indifference, and supposed 
 
Not.' 
 1»»4. 
 
 :] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 301 
 
 they would agree upon a Non-importation, a Non-exportation, 
 and may be a Non-consumption. Quincy said there was no 
 doubt they would agree upon all ; that otherwise, the Delegates 
 from Mass. Bay would be much disappointed : but there was 
 something further that they would agree upon — to raise a large 
 sum of money in Bank for the general use of the Colonies. 
 Lord North asked what sum tliey talked of? Quincy said, 
 " A hundred thousand pounds." 
 
 " A hundred thousand pounds! " says Lord North, " why, I 
 thought they were always able to raise 3 or 4 hund" thousand 
 pounds in 3 or 4 weeks." 
 
 This is all Quincy could get out of his Lordship, who pro- 
 nounced him a bad, insidious man, designing to be artful 
 without abilities to conceal his design. 
 
 This account is agreeable to what M' Pownall had before 
 told M'^ Knox he received from L" North, as Knox related 
 it to me. 
 
 22ud. — There was snow enough this morning to cover the 
 ground, and it continued snowing until near noon ; but rain 
 coming on, it was all gone by night. Sir Francis Bernard 
 came to town just at dark, and took up his lodgings at my 
 house.* I could not help remarking to him the uncertainty of 
 human affairs. Ten years ago, when he was Governor, and I 
 L' Governor, nothing was more improbable than my succeeding 
 him, and both of us being obliged to come to England, — he to 
 entertain me at his house in Ailesbury, and I him at my house 
 in London. 
 
 23rd. — ^I intended to go to Court ; and just as I was getting 
 into my coach, Lord Beauchamp came in and tarried until it 
 was too late. He says the K. Speech will be very general, and 
 will point out no measures, and he thinks the Addresses will be 
 as general, but that the assurances of supporting the authority 
 of Parliament will be very strong. 
 
 I went to Lord Dartmouth's before L" Beauchamp came in, 
 who had just received Quincy's book,t and another pamphlet, 
 
 * The letter inviting Sir F. B. has heen entered in the marble paper 
 Letter Book. Elisha's Diary says — "Nov. 22. S' Francis Bernard came to 
 town, and took lodgings with us." 
 
 t The visit of Quincy is alluded to in letters of Nov. 19 and 24, entered 
 
302 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, fm* 
 
 Lm*. 
 
 which somebody, he said, had just sent him in. He asked me 
 the character of the book, and of the man, which, when I had 
 given, he said he had seen letters from persons in Boston to 
 persons of respectable characters here, recommending him as 
 a person well disposed to bring about a reconciliation between 
 the Kingdom and the Colonies. His Lordship then repeated 
 the conversation Q. had with Lord North, but not so particu- 
 larly as I had heard it from M"^ Pownall, and said Lord North 
 looked upon his design to be to represent the Colonies in the 
 most formidable view ; and at the same time supposed the 
 measures taken in England to be caused by misrepresentation. 
 1 wished his Lordship to urge him to go into particulars. With 
 respect to the Colonies in general, his L*ship wished for some 
 expedient : that some proposal had been made : was astonished 
 at the Eesolve of the Congress at Philadelphia, approving of 
 the Kesolves of the county of Suffolk. I told him I looked 
 upon it as an evasive, equivocal thing, artfully drawn : that 
 when they shall be charged with approving the Resolves in 
 general, they may be able to say they approved of them only 
 so far as they were wise and temperate — epithets they have 
 affixed to the [words blotted out with a pen]. As for the 
 Massachusetts Bay, he said they were plainly in a stat« of 
 revolt or rebellion ; there was no avoiding measures with 
 them. 
 
 The remaining time before dinner I spent at Lord D.'s office 
 with Mess" Pownall and Knox. The former told me Quincy 
 had been with Williams the Inspector, D'^ Bancroft, and [blank] 
 to wait on his brother Governor Pownall. 
 
 M' John P. came home with S'^ F, B. and dined with me. 
 
 24th. — M' Cornwall called upon me, and spent some time. 
 He supposes nobody can give in to the claims of America, but 
 
 in the marble paper Letter Book. In the first we read — " From the informa- 
 tion in your letter to Lord D. he enquired, what I knew of Q — who is come 
 passenger in Lyde. I gave his Lordship his just character and acquainted 
 him that he called upon Doctor P. the first day after he landed, and brought 
 recomendatory letters to Wilkes ; and I had reason to believe republished a 
 piece in the Pibtiic Ledger of to-day ; so that his Lordship wiU be able to 
 make a shrewd guess what will be his principal business," &c. The letter erf 
 Nov. 24 gives pretty much the same story as the Diary. 
 
Nov. 
 17»4, 
 
 -I 
 
 •J DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 303 
 
 seems at a loss what measures Parliament will take. He takes 
 it for granted nothing can be done before Christmas. The 
 settling the House will take up so much time, that there will 
 be little enough to make provision for the money necessary to 
 be iinediately supplied for deficiency in the Navy and Army. 
 He says Governor Pownall may probably come in when the 
 vacancies appear. He had reason to believe that he (P.) had 
 let Lord North know he would be a friend to government : * 
 that he is a man of parts, but runs away with strange notions 
 upon some subjects. 
 
 We removed this day from Golden Square to a better house 
 which I have taken in St. James's Street. 
 
 The death of Lord Olive the day before yesterday, and 
 announced in the papers to-day, makes a subject of specula- 
 tion.f His disorder was bilious, and he sent for Fothergill, 
 who prescribed : but L" Clive said he had been helped formerly 
 by laudanum ; but Fothergill told him it would kill him. The 
 next day he told Fothergill he had not followed his prescrip- 
 tion, but had taken the laudanum, and would try it again: and 
 F. repeated that it would kill him. He took it notwithstanding, 
 and the same day, or soon after, fell into a fit and died. 
 M' Bradshaw having lately shot himself, and the Duke of 
 Athol thrown himself into the river, the first question was-— 
 whether Lord Clive had not laid himself asleep also ? Some 
 say he is worth a million, and that his Jaghire % of £30,000£ 
 p an. is to continue ten years longer. If he is so rich, thirty 
 
 * It has been apparent that Pownall has been an opponent to the present 
 Ministry. Why this change ? 
 
 t See April 8, 1775. 
 
 % In the London Magazine for 1773, p. 44, there are some lines headed 
 " Protestation," in which the word Jagheer occurs — 
 
 " You I love, my dearest life, 
 More than Georgy loves his wife. 
 More than Ministers to rule. 
 More than North to jilay the fool. 
 More than Nabobs love to rob. 
 More than Pitt to catch the mob. 
 More than Camden loves grimace. 
 More than Barrington his place, 
 More than Clive his black Jagheer,'' &o. 
 
304 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [Jm. 
 
 thousand pounds only, w" he has given to a younger son, is 
 unequal.* 
 
 Great part of the day and all the evening, snow and a high 
 wind : it is said to threaten a cold winter, 
 
 25th. — The snow lay upon the top of the houses this morn- 
 ing, but scarce any on the ground, and the air as cold and 
 blustering with scattered flakes of snow, as is common so early 
 in N. England. 
 
 I was at the King's Levee, who among other things, inquired 
 whether I tho't it colder in New England at this time, than it 
 is here. 
 
 Lord Suffolk introduced me to Lord Rochfort. M' Jackson 
 called upon me, and M' Paul Wentworth, and M'' Jenkinson. 
 Before dinner I made a yisit to M' Ambler in Queen's Square, 
 Member of Parlt and King's Counsel. Dined with M' Knox, 
 who had a very polite company — Lord Suffolk, Lord Dart- 
 mouth, Lord Beauchamp, SoUicitor General, M' Cornwall, M' 
 Grenville, eldest son of George Grenville, and M' Keene. 
 He had invited M' Stephens of the Admiralty, but was unwell. 
 
 Lord Dartmouth, after dinner, gave me a particular account 
 of what passed between him and Quincy. He said Q. came to 
 his Levee with Williams after I had seen Ids L^ship Wednesday 
 last: that he professed to come over for his health; but 
 believing the Massachusetts people had been misrepresented, 
 he wished to make a right representation : that it had been 
 said they would soon be quiet and contented, he knew the case 
 to be just the reverse : that now two counties which had 
 always [been] high for Prerogative from conviction, had now 
 joined all the rest of the Province in their opposition to the 
 late Acts — these were Hampshire and Berkshire : that the new 
 Counsellors were in general persons the most exceptionable to 
 the Province, of any which could have been pitched upon, 
 and only one whom the people were satisfied with, which was 
 the \} Governor, and he by chance, for they understood he was 
 not the person intended, but that the name of the Ch. Justice 
 
 * No great man can ever serve his country without slander and abuse as a 
 portion of his reward. He can do no good action (let alone bad) without 
 having harled at his head all the crimes that only bad men can imagine. — 
 See Adolphus, ii. 16. 
 
Nov. 
 1774, 
 
 ;] BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 305 
 
 was mistaken. L*^ D. interrupted him here and said it was 
 strange the people of N. E. should suppose the Ministry so 
 inattentive as not to ascertain the names of the persons they 
 appointed. He then said he had the highest opinion of Lord 
 Mansfield, and he did not doubt . his Lordship was capable of 
 projecting a way to reconcile the Kingdom and the Colonies. 
 Lord D. asked if he had seen L** Mansfield ? He said No : he 
 did not know how to be introduced to him, or to y* purpose. 
 Lord D. said he believed Lord M. was fully of opinion that the 
 proceedings in Massachusetts Bay were treasonable. Q. did y 
 not know but it was : he knew the people in N. E. had no idea 
 that they were guilty of Treason. 
 
 Mr. Quincy is here lahouring under a false impression not to he 
 wondered at, owing to the similarity of name belonging to the 
 late Lieut.-Governor, the then actual Lieut.-Govemor, and the 
 Chief Justice — aU of them bearing the patronymic of Oliver. In 
 appointing a new Lieut.-G-overnor the selection was by no means 
 a chance one, for it will be remembered that in his first interview 
 with the King, Mr. Hutchinson explained his reasons for not 
 nominating his relative the Chief Justice, Peter Oliver. 
 
 As regards the state of Boston, there is a letter by Mr. H. to 
 Lord Hardwicke and duly entered in the marble paper Letter 
 Book, partly by Peggy's hand, and partly by his own, in which he 
 speaks of the military operations at Boston. It is dated Nov. 21, 
 and has been written in some haste. 
 
 " My Lord,— 
 
 " I promised to acquaint your Lordship with any re- 
 markable American news. Our last advices from Massachusets 
 Bay are by a vessel which sailed the 30"" of September. General 
 Gage had fortified the entrance of the town, and he was building 
 Barracks : but a day or two before the vessel sailed, the workmen, 
 by the instigation of the Selectmen of Boston, threw down their 
 tools, and refused to strike a stroke more. It is certain an enthu- 
 siastick spirit spreads through the Province. I cannot yet [so far 
 Peggy : the rest by her father] think they will either attack the 
 K.'s troops, or stand against them. 15 [?] of the C[ounoil] still 
 remain firm, but they dare not go out of Boston, tho' most of them 
 are not inhabit' there. The G. [General or Governor] stop'd the 
 Ass[embly] which he had call'd, from meeting, because he had 
 call'd them to meet at Salem ; and the C. not being able to leave 
 B. with safety, could not meet w"" them. The towns thereupon 
 
 X 
 
CNov 
 1774. 
 
 chose Memb. to meet the 2"* Tuesd. in Octoh. and 'tis expected 
 the old C. will meet w'" them in defiance of the Act of P. This 
 will be a most criminal act, and I wish they may not be guilty 
 of it." 
 
 26th.— M' Jenkinson calling yesterday at my house, and not 
 finding me at home, wished to see me this morning. He made 
 enquiry into the present state of New England. The facts 
 I gave him as well as I could. He could not account for thj 
 General's not marcliing out of Boston to suppress the riots. 
 I thought his Council were of opinion he had not suflBcient 
 force, unless he left Boston without defence. I mentioned the 
 difficulties to which the Council were subjected, who had 
 families and estates in the country, and were shut up in 
 Boston. He said it was a case required immediate considera- 
 tion, and that he had spoke his mind to L* North, but he 
 doubted whether it was practicable to bring it on before 
 Cliristmass. 
 
 I went with Sir F. B. in my coach to M' Mauduit's in the 
 city, who we found very much hurt that Q. should have had 
 admittance to any of the Ministry after he had published so 
 impudent a book. Nobody so forward as M, in pronouncing 
 Mass. Bay in rebellion. I said to him that I did not remember 
 that it was said in '45 that Scotland had rebelled : there was a. 
 rebellion in Scotland : and the most that can be said now is, 
 that there is a rebellion in Massachusets Bay. 
 
 M' Charles Townshend of the Treasury called upon me 
 before dinner. Such of Lyde's passengers as had been to my 
 liouse upon their arrival, dined with me to-day, and M' T. 
 Bernard, Miss Bernard, and M"^ Clarke. 
 
 27th.— Went with Sir F. Bernard to the Temple Church, 
 where D' Thurloe, Master of the Temple, and brother to the 
 Attorney General, preached a good sermon, the subject the 
 Prophecies, much in the manner and stile [sic] of the late 
 Master, the Bishop of London. In this assembly, where there 
 are so many men of reading, a preacher will not venture upon 
 a printed discourse. Perhaps not one in ten preach any other.* 
 
 * In the present day there are so many readers, that very few clergymen 
 would venture to read a printed sermon for fear of detection, as every man 
 wiphes it to be 6\ipposed that he is the author of his own. Without quoting 
 
Nov. 
 1774. 
 
 ] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 307 
 
 Two or tliree Sundays ago at Islington church a clergyman in 
 the forenoon gave the people a very good sermon. In the 
 afternoon they were surprized to hear another clergyman 
 preach from the same text, the same sermon, word for word, 
 which they had both borrowed from the Bishop of London. 
 We dined with M' Jackson. About 7 in the evening we went 
 first to Lord Mansfield's, where we met with M' Justice Willes, 
 Counsellor Wallis, D' Douglas, a Canon of Winsor [sic], Sir 
 Fletcher Norton, M'' Adams, the Architect, and others. From 
 thence to Lord Chancellor, where, besides most of the company 
 which came from Lord Mansfield's, we found Lord Dartmoutli, 
 M' Stanley, Secretary to the Treasury, and divers other Lords 
 and gentlemen, and several principal lawyers. 
 
 Every Sunday evening the L** Chancellor and L* Ch' Justice 
 receive company in this manner. Each set tarries about a 
 quarter of an hour and then goes off, but makes it a rule not 
 to leave the room quite empty, until it is so late as to bo proper 
 for all the company to quit. When I was in London formerly 
 [in 1741], I observed this custom when people newly married 
 received company in a forenoon. 
 
 28th. — Tliis forenoon I spent an hour most agreeably in the 
 Court of King's Bench hearing L* Mansfield give judgment 
 in the Grenada Cause. An action was brought by a Planter, 
 against the Collector of the Kevenue in Gienada, for money 
 rec" by the Def to the use of the Plaintiff without considera- 
 tions, &c. L" Mansfield recited the special verdict, and then 
 went particularly into tlie several points in tlie pleadings, and 
 then stated the points upon which the case turned. He 
 allowed that, as Grenada was a conquered island, the King 
 bad a constitutional right, as well as a right by the capitula- 
 tion, to impose this duty : but in 1763 lie had issued a Pro- 
 clamation inviting all his subjects to purchase [?] and settle in 
 
 names, there is a good story, almost forgotten, of a clergyman who transcribed 
 a printed sermon into his MS. sermon book, to look original ; and, feeling 
 that he was quite safe, displayed his black cover manuscript letter paper on 
 the pulpit cushion, and thus delivered himself to his congregation. Meeting 
 one of his hearers afterwards, he said — " How did you like my sermon ? " 
 " Very much," replied his friend; " I always did like that sermon." 
 
 X 2 
 
308 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [f,74. 
 
 Grenada : assuring them the Gov' of the place should be like 
 that of Lis other colonies, governed by Koyal Coiiiission ; 
 and particularly that there should be an Assembly : and a 
 Commission was issued to Gov"^ Melville, and he was instructed 
 to call an Assembly. After this Instruction, but before any 
 Assembly was called, the King, by another Proclamation, 
 declared his subjects in Grenada liable to a duty of 4^ p c' 
 upon sugars, &c. exported, in lieu of all duties, customs, &c., 
 to which they had been subject whilst under the French King. 
 This, his L^ship observed, would liave been undoubtedly of 
 force if it had preceded the Proclamation for settling the 
 Government under an Assembly of their own : but as it fol- 
 lowed it, and so long after it, that there had been time for an 
 Assembly to meet, tho' none did meet, he declared it to be of 
 no force, and that no taxes could be imposed on the inhabi- 
 tants, except by the Assembly or by Parliam'. 
 
 He cited an opinion of Sir Philip York and Clement 
 Wearger [?] Attorney and Sollicitor Gen. in 1722, in the 
 case of Jamaica, when the Assembly refused to make laws, 
 &c. that as the island had, after the conquest, been settled by 
 a Colony of English subjects, so that there was not then, as he 
 found by a particular search into the state of the island at 
 that time, many, if any, one of the Spaniards left, and he had 
 heard there was not one among the Whites, [and] but one 
 among the Blacks. No laws could bind Jamaica but such 
 as were made in Assembly or in Parliament. Upon the 
 whole, they were all of opinion Judgment should be for the 
 Plaintiff. 
 
 It occurred to me that within these last twenty years, I had 
 seen in the papers the death of a Spaniard in Jamaica, who 
 was upon the island when it was surrendered to Cromwell's 
 General, and was above an hundred years old. 
 
 Query whether all the monies collected at Grenada for 
 10 years past must not be refunded ? 
 
 From Westminster Hall I went to Lord Hillsborough's in 
 Hanover Square, who received me cordially. I carried him 
 Sir F. B.'s Letters, and the Proceedings of the K. in Council 
 upon my Letters and the L» Governor's, which had been pub- 
 
1^?!:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 309 
 
 lished by Mauduit, both of which he was glad of, because he 
 was to move for an Address upon the King's Speech ;* and 
 upon my telling him I had several late letters from America, 
 he wished to see thera, and I sent them to him after I came 
 home. I then went to Lord Hardwicke's, who by a card had 
 desired to see me, and spent near an hour. . ■ 
 
 Lord Barrington called when I was from home. No person 
 has stood all changes for 20 years past so well as Lord Bar- 
 rington, who is now Secretary at War. He was asked by the 
 Mayor of Plimouth, when everybody else had gone out, upon 
 every change of Ministry, how his Lordship could stand it ? 
 He answered, (when they were at dinner,) that he could com- 
 pare the State to a great plum-pudding, which he was so fond 
 of that he would never quarrel with it, but should be for 
 taking a slice as long as there was any left. Being cousin 
 German to Lady Bernard, Sir Francis has experienced his 
 friendship — has just given a place of 200£ a year to his son 
 Tho. and bro't a younger son into the army. 
 
 29th — In the morning called upon M"^ Keene, who ac- 
 quainted me with the particulars of the King's Speech, such 
 of the Court Members as are in town, having met the evening 
 before in the great room L* Dartm' OiBce. After walking in 
 the Park I went to that OfBce to see the King go to the 
 Parliament House, the parade of which was much less than I 
 expected ; but little appearance of state except the State 
 Coach itself, and the ordinary Guards. It struck me to 
 observe the ceiling of M"^ Pownall's part of the Office, which 
 was the Duke of Monmouth's bed chamber, the stuckoe re- 
 maining the same in one comer, whereof is a large cypher 
 J. M. B., James Duke of Monmouth and Buccleugh, being 
 denoted by it. Whilst I was there, I mentioned something of 
 Williams's appointment to the place of Commissioner of the 
 Customs in America, when Pownall said — "I understand he 
 was the man who gave information to Lord North of his 
 seeing the Letters in Temple's possession, directed to D' F. ; 
 upon which information T. was removed. I think it probable 
 
 ' " The [King's] Speech is said to be firm, and to talk of the rehellion of 
 our Province of Massachusetts." — Walpole's Letters, Nov. 29, 1774. 
 
310 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ml; 
 
 this is merit enough, or the principal merit, for W.'s ap- 
 pointment." 
 
 30th. — In the morning with Sir F. B. I made a visit to Lord 
 Barrington's in Cavendish Square, who rec* me with great 
 politeness, and kept me near an hour in couTersation upon 
 American affairs. He is of the moderate party, and I can 
 intirely agree with him in his plan of goTernment of the 
 Colonies. He was very inquisitive upon many points of the 
 present Constitution of Mass, Bay, and the practice upon them, 
 and wished often to see me. He detained us so long that we 
 had scarce time to dress to go to the House of Lords to hear 
 the King's Speech. A card from L* Dartm'' shewn to the 
 Dep. Usher, M' Qualme [?] introduced me and my daughter, 
 and S' F. B., M' and M" Knox.* As I had not been present 
 on such an occasion when I was before iu England, except 
 once in a great crowd at the lower part of the House, and as I 
 now stood near the Throne to great advantage, and had a 
 pretty good view of the King upon the Throne, and the two 
 Houses of Parliament, and saw the formality of the Speaker's 
 presenting himself, and heard his Speech, and the King's 
 acceptance signified by the Chancellor, and then the Speech 
 in return by the Speaker, and after that the King's Speech 
 from the Throne to both Houses, delivered with admirable 
 propriety — upon the whole, I have received greater pleasure 
 than I have done from any other publick scene since I have 
 been in England. 
 
 December 1st.— Lord Hillsborough having sent his servant 
 yesterday, after I was gone to the Pari' House, to desire to 
 speak with me, I went this morning to his Lordship, and found 
 that he wanted my leave to read one of my letters to the 
 House of Lords, and not seeing me had ventured to read it 
 without leave. It gave me concern until I heard what letter 
 it was, and I think it would, have been better to have omitted 
 even that, especially as both L"* North and L" Dartmouth had 
 seen it, and must know where he had it. Lord Hillsborough 
 moved for the Address, and spoke an hour and a quarter. 
 
 • Elisha was also present, and writing to his wife, he speaks in glowins 
 terms of the gorgeous scene, the King'ji figure and the tone of his voice. 
 
Dec. 
 I71i 
 
 ;] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 311 
 
 Lord Buckingham[shire ?] seconded, and spoke about 4 minutes. 
 T hen the D. of Bicbmond moved for an Amendment, viz. — that 
 His Majesty would order all the papers relative to America to 
 be laid before the House ; that when thfe House had received 
 all the information which could be obtained, they would then 
 give such advice and assistance as the dignity of Parliament, 
 and the general interest of the Dominions of his Crown should 
 require : and he enforced his motion by a warm speei-h, iii 
 which it might be inferred he was in favour of the claim of 
 Independency of the Americans, if he did not in words express 
 it. Lord Camden seconded the motion. Lord Littleton 
 answered. Lord Shelburne replied to L"* Littleton, and Lord 
 Dartmouth closed in a speech of about 20 minutes, when, upon 
 the Question for the Amendm* the House divided, 63 against, 
 and 13 for it ; after which many Lords went home, and a 
 second Division was not expected : but when tlie Question was 
 put, whether the Address should pass, the House divided 
 again, 46 for and 9 against ; 4 of the 13, and 17 of the 63 
 having left the House. The 9 protested :* which, it is said, 
 they can do only after a division, and so made the division 
 necessary upon the last Question, The Protest, it is said, 
 plainly exempts the Americans from ParF authority in some 
 cases, and yet Lord Bockingbam nas among the Protestors 
 notwithstanding he was the father of the Act which declares 
 them subject in all cases whatsoever. Strange, to what length 
 party spirit carries men. Here is an instance of nine Lords, 
 who had rather give up the Colonies to a foreign power, and 
 run the risk of making the Kingdom a Province of the same 
 power, than not indulge a spirit of opposition to the measures 
 of Administration.t At the close of the last Session the Duke 1 
 of Kichmond said — " I think the Americans have good right 
 to resist. I hope they will resist ; and that they will succeed." 
 L"* Camden said " he joined with the Noble Duke in thinking 
 they had good right to resist ; but he could not hope they 
 
 * Chapter xxv. of Adolphus's History opens with an account of these pro- 
 ceedings. The Commons voted the Address by 264 to 73. 
 
 t It was thought that if the Colonies were free, they would immediately 
 fall into the hands of the French or Spaniards, as observed bafore. 
 
312 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ 
 
 Dec. 
 1774. 
 
 would succeed." " Surely, (says the Duke,) if they have good 
 right we ought to wish they may maintain it." This anecdote 
 I had from [the] Lord Chancellor.* 
 
 I went to Court to see and hear the Address of the Lords 
 delivered, but did not go into the Circle, as I had always done 
 before, having been there so lately as last Friday. The -King 
 had not his robes on, and was dressed in a plain suit ; only the 
 Chancellor, the Abp. of Canterbury, half a dozen Bishops, and 
 ten or fifteen Lords attended ; and the Drawing Eoom was far 
 from crowded. The B' of London shewed me the names of 
 almost all the Ministers of the Episcopal Convention at the 
 bottom of a letter, signifying their apprehensions, &c., as he 
 informed me, and remarked upon it, that he did not know what 
 could be done. He did not shew me the letter to read, as I 
 rather appeared not to desire it. 
 
 Dined with [the] Lord Chancellor, his lady and daughter ; 
 the Attorney General, M' Jackson, and Sir F. B. made the 
 company. Much dispute between the two lawyers, who differ 
 much upon American measures. Jackson declares to the 
 unlimited authority, and yet seems to be for receding from 
 late measures : the Attorney General the contrary, as to re- 
 ceding. Both blame Gage for not suppressing the late riots 
 with his troops. Jackson at the close, said he wished Adams, 
 Hancock, &c., could be made examples of — or to that effect. 
 
 2nd. — Went this morning for the first time since I have 
 been in England, to the Treasury : settled the affair of my 
 allowance from the King, to commence from the expiration of 
 my salary the 17"" of May inclusive : and to be by Privy Seal, 
 and not by Patent, the difference in the fees being 70£ Sterl. 
 or more. Talked with M"^ Leake upon the affair of the 
 Coiiiissioners at Boston, particularly M^ Burch. 
 
 Dined at Lord Dartmouth's, with my son E. and daughter, 
 besides M' Keene, and lady. Sir F. B., and Colonel Dalrymple. 
 
 3rd. — Called upon Sir Eardley Wilmot, and Col. Paterson, 
 
 * Strange that the Duke shovild have made such an unconstitutional 
 assertion ! He ought to have said, that England always had the right over 
 her Colonies from their very foundation, and had never relinquished that 
 right ; but, owing to the change of times, it may not now be expedient to 
 enforce it. 
 
Dm. 
 1774. 
 
 :.] BIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 313 
 
 but saw neither of them. M' Mauduit made me a visit in the 
 evening : amongst other things mentioned his being present in 
 the House of Commons when M' Dowdeswell observed upon 
 the accounts of the Commissaries in Germany, that application 
 and complaint had been made by the Agent of one of the 
 German Princes, that he could not have his accounts not [sic\* 
 passed, notwithstanding he had paid the usual allowance upon 
 the occasion which M' Dowdeswell, upon enquiry, found to be 
 5000£ to one of the Comissaries, Gov' P — , and 1000£ to 
 his Clerk: that upon enquiry of Gov' P — , he denied the 
 receipt of any monies, and if there had been any transactions 
 of that sort, they were by his Clerk. Being asked where his 
 Clerk was, he was run away ; and all the notice taken by the 
 House was, that when they addressed the K. to allow 8000£ to 
 each of the other Commissaries, they neglected P — ^1, and 
 would not address for anything to him. 
 
 4th. — At the Meeting House in Carter Lane, where Doctor 
 or M"" Pickard, a serious man, preached a good New England 
 discourse. 
 
 Dined with Lord Hardwicke ; his Lady, Marchioness of Grey 
 in her own right, his daughter Lady Mary, he having no son, 
 a Miss Gregory, Daniel Eay and his wife, and M' John Yorke, 
 brother to L* Hardwicke, made the company. In the evening 
 D"" James Yorke, Bishop of St. David's, came in. He is 
 youngest brother to L* H. Sir F. Bernard set out at ten 
 o'clock from my house to return home to Ailesbury.f 
 
 5th. — A rumor of bad news from Boston. I went to L** D.'s 
 office, where I saw his Lordship, M' Pownall, and M' Knox, 
 who all assure me there has no sort of intelligence been 
 received, except that a letter from M' Eutledge [?] one of the 
 Congress at Philad. intimates that Deputies would be sent to 
 
 * The word " not " repeated by accident. 
 
 t In a letter to Mr. Burch of Dec. 4, he says — " S' F. Bernard has obtained 
 a pension of £800 for himself, and 400£ Lady Bernard, and a place of better 
 than 200£ a year for his son Tom ; all which makes him happy, and I think 
 more healthy. He has been with me as a lodger for 10 or 11 days, in a 
 house which I have taken three doors above Park Place, very pleasant and 
 well furnished. We live in great friendship. My other predecessor has 
 been printing again, and given me two or three severe lashes. Non scribit, 
 cujus carmina nemo legit. I am at the end of my paper." 
 
314 BIABY AND LETTERS OS THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ 
 
 Pec. 
 
 llli. 
 
 England, and that he expected to be one of them. This letter 
 must, I think, have come by the last packet. It's now nine 
 weeks since we have heard from Boston. 
 
 Attempted to go to the H. of Comone, but upon hearing that 
 the Galleries were ordered to be cleared, gave over. Lord 
 Beauchamp afterwards desired the Speaker privately to allow 
 of my admittance, but he said he dared not do it. There was 
 no regard to the particular subject of debate, in ordering the 
 House to be cleared ; but the disturbance by pressing into the 
 House and crowding the Members, occasioned the Order. 
 
 The leaders of the people were daily becoming more bold, and 
 the people were behaving accordingly. 
 
 In the blue-back Letter Books (for want of a better name), 
 vol. i., there is an original letter of Thomas Hutchinson, at 
 Milton, to his brother EUsha, in London, dated Nov, 20, in which 
 he says: — "We expect daily such acC from England as I fear 
 will put us in a worse state than we yet have been, which has 
 determined me to move to Boston in a few days, as eleven Eegi- 
 ments and a good fortification roimd the town, make it the safest 
 retreat. I hope that affairs, coming to such extremities, may not 
 much worry the G — r. I know in a degree what his feelings for 
 his country are, and I doubt not the time may come when he may 
 return here with applause, if he chuses it ; but that we shall be a 
 conquered country first, I believe will be the case. There are 
 various opinions what lengths the people will go before they 
 submit : at present they certainly appear to be determined to 
 make a bold stand. P.S. — I live under Liberty Pole, which is 
 erected on the Square by Brown's Tavern. I skulked to Boston 
 for two or three days while it was erecting." 
 
 The Governor, in London, to his son Thomas in America, Dec. 9, 
 inter alia : — " I am at a loss whether you are in town or country. 
 You don't write me enough of the minimamm rerum quae domi 
 geruntur, which Cicero says somewhere are acceptable articles of 
 news to anybody at a great distance from home." 
 
 Li another original letter from the same to the same, of Dec. 20, 
 Mr. H. comments on a malicious attempt of the Congress at Phila- 
 delphia to cast upon him the blame of the destruction of the tea 
 in Boston Harbour, when they knew the legal reasons why he was 
 unable to grant a pass. He says : — " The charge against me by 
 the Congress, as being the cause of the destruction of the Tea, 
 does me no harm here, where the circumstances are known : but it 
 
Dec 
 
 IIU. 
 
 ;.] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EVTCHINSON. 315 
 
 shows great malice in the Boston men in bo representing it to 
 their brethren, I think I have heard, that in the time of it, one 
 or more of these men said publickly, they knew it was not in my\ 
 power to grant the pass when it was applied for." 
 
 Party feeling ran very high, and from the nature of its attacks, 
 ought to be represented blind. Again he writes to his son — " I 
 see the newspaper abuse upon me still. An infamous lie sent to 
 New York in a handbill, to be published there, because it could 
 easily be confuted, and the piinter exposed, at Boston." 
 
 6th. — Called in the morning upon Lord Gage: afterwards 
 upon Sir Eardley Wilmot : also upon S' Edward Hawke, M"' 
 Wedderburne, and M"^ Jackson ; neither of the last being at 
 Loma Then went into the city, and spent an hour with 
 Mauduit. 
 
 I find the motion for an Address was made yesterday by 
 L" Beauchamp, who spoke long upon American affairs, but 
 proposed no measures : rather made the late Acts a national 
 proceeding in which the Kingdom had been disappointed: but 
 still seemed to suppose anarchy, which was the tenderest name 
 to be given, could not hold, and that the Acts themselves 
 would in time force their way. He was seconded by M' De 
 Grey, son to the Chief Justice. Lord John Cavendish then 
 moved for an Amendment upon the Address, the same with 
 that of the Lords, and was seconded by Frederic Montagu, 
 who had been of the Eockingham Administ". None of the 
 Champions appearing. Lord North spake sooner than he in- 
 tended, and let the House know that the K. would order all 
 papers to be laid before the House whenever the state of 
 America should come before them, meerly \sic\ to know 
 whether they would support the king or not, the papers could 
 be of no use, and the motion only tended to delay. If he had 
 not spoke as he did, he would not have spoke at all ; for, going 
 into Solomon's Porch soon after, his foot slipped, and he came 
 upon his knee, down two or three steps, so as that he could not 
 have stood from bis lameness. 
 
 Gov. Johnstone, Burke, Bane, and Charles Fox, were the 
 speakers for the Amendment, and a new Member, M' Hartley. 
 On the other side were [blank] and M' Wedderburne. 
 
316 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ 
 
 Dm. 
 Vllt. 
 
 It was thought Dunning would speak, but he did not. The 
 Attorney General was prepared to answer him. Not a word 
 was said to justify the American claim to independency. All 
 the opposition was to the conduct of the Ministry. Upon a 
 Division 264 were for the Address, and 73 against it, w* is a 
 greater majority than is usual upon the first meeting of a new 
 Parliament. 
 
 In a letter of Dec. 10, to Mr. Sewall (apparently) Gov. H. freely 
 handles these qneBtions. " The King's Speech," he says, " as it 
 appears in print, is strong. If you had heard him deliver it, with 
 infinite propriety, you would have thought it much stronger. 
 The Address of the Lords, and especially that of the Commons, 
 one would imagine should make some impression upon Americans, 
 if they supposed the one and the other really to intend what they 
 profess. I verily believe both are in earnest. 
 
 " A general plan, I have reason to think, is forming to provide 
 for all events ; but the completion of it I suppose is deferred for 
 want of news from Philadelphia and Boston. Your proposed 
 
 Congress at Concord is said to be more clearly [sic in 
 
 orig.^ than the General Congress at Philadelphia. This I have 
 repeatedly heard from more than one of the greatest lawyers in 
 the Kingdom, and it distresses me when I hear of it, because I 
 expect many persons will unwarily be drawn to ruin themselves 
 by becoming Members of this meeting. Indeed, all parties seem 
 to pronounce it the most plain act of Eevolt that they are 
 capable of. 
 
 " No person was admitted to the Debates in the H. of Commons 
 except Irish members ; not from a desire of secrecy, but from the 
 foolish behaviour of some of the crowd, raising the resentment of 
 some persons of high temper against them, having been jostled 
 goiug to the House. I am assured by a Member who wished all 
 America could have heard the Debates, that not one word was 
 ^ said in favour of the measures or claims in America ; but the time 
 \ was chiefly taken up in censuring the present Ministry. Burke 
 was more flowery than ever ; he addressed himself ynth a great 
 deal of rhetorick to the young Members, cautioning them against 
 the wiles of Administration ; but was so facetious that he pleased 
 the whole House. A short answer was given by a blunt M' Van. [?] 
 ' The Honorable Gentleman,' says Van, ' has been strewing flowers 
 to captivate children. I have no flowers M' Speaker to strew ; 
 all I have to say is, that I think the Americans are a rebellious 
 
im'.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 317 
 
 and most ungrateful people, and I am for assuring the King that 
 we wUl support him in such measures as will be effectual to reduce*^ 
 them.' The honesty of the man and his singular manner, set the 
 whole House into a halloo ! and answered Burke better than 
 Cicero could have done with all his eloquence. There never were 
 so few speakers ; and L* North spoke immediately, or next after 
 the motion for Amendment had been Seconded, supposing the 
 other side had no more to say. 
 
 " I believe you suffer, and everybody here believes the same. 
 I hope your patience will continue a little while longer." 
 
 In a letter of December to his brother Foster Hutchinson, he 
 says — " The accounts received of the sufferings of our friends in 
 Boston, fill us with concern. I hope their patience wiU hold out, 
 and that their deliverance is near," &c. 
 
 7th. — In the morning to M' Charles Townshend : and 01. 
 Dalrymple calling, intended to have gone to M' Stanley, but 
 met him in the Park, and walked down the Mall together. 
 He seemed dissatisfied with the delay upon American affairs. 
 Then called upon General Harvey, who thought more troops 
 should be ordered as soon as possible, or those which are there 
 recalled. I called upon M"^ T. Townshend Jun., one of the 
 Privy Council in Franklin's affair, who went with the minority 
 in the H. of Comons, as did Geo. Grenville, to the surprize of 
 many, as it was his father's doing which brought on all the 
 troubles, and if he had lived. [Obscure, something wanting.] 
 M' Townshend was as full as anybody for supporting the 
 supremacy of Parliament, but was forbearing taxation, as good 
 policy. I was also at M' Keeue's, who asked what I thought 
 would be the effect of an assurance given the Americans, that 
 Parliament [something omitted]. This was occasioned by 
 what one of the Members — I think it was a new Member — 
 M' Hartley said in the debate, — that he had been informed 
 there was a letter in the Secretary of State's OfiSce from M' 
 Flacker, (I suppose he meant Cashing,) that if things could be 
 pat upon the footing they were in the year 1764, the Colonies 
 would be content. This same Hartley, Qaincy, by some means 
 or other, had made himself known to, and when Quincy was at 
 the door. Hartley came out more than once, and inquired for 
 him, and I think mast have taken that hint from him. 
 
318 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ m*. 
 
 8Ui. — M"^ Morris, Coiniss' &c., called and breakfasted. I 
 expected something to be said on the subject of M' Williams, 
 his appointment at the American Board ; but nothing dropped. 
 He mentioned Quincy's having been introduced to him ; and 
 though his book was high, he professed moderation, and wanted 
 some line to be settled. 
 
 Quincy is alluded to by Mr. H. in a letter of Deo. 9, directed to 
 Judge Auchmuty : — " M' Quincy shews himself in publick places, 
 and I fancy sometimes in the newspapers. He has not only made 
 himself known to Mess" Bollan, Franklin, and Wilkes, but has 
 found the way to L* North and L* Dartmouth. His visit to the 
 former has occasioned some contradiction. L* North told me that 
 Quincy desired to be admitted to speak with him. Quincy tells 
 his friends that L* North desired to speak with him. It seems 
 M' Williams, the Inspector, was the messenger between them. 
 If the remarks which L* North made upon the first visit are truly 
 reported, there will probably be no second visit to cause a dispute. 
 It seems his chief business was, to represent the Massachusets 
 
 \ people to be engaged almost to a man, and so determined as that 
 they would sooner die than submit, and particularly the two 
 counties of Hampshire and Berkshire, which heretofore were the 
 most loyal in the Province, to be now the most zealous and unani- 
 mous in opposition ; and this, not from, compulsion, but from con- 
 viction : and he added that the people were more enraged than 
 otherwise they would have been, by the appointment of the most 
 obnoxious persons for Members of the Council ; there being only 
 one of the whole number that was agreeable to the people, and 
 that was the Lieut' Governor, and he wotdd not have been ap- 
 pointed, not being the person intended, if the Christian name had 
 not been inserted wrong in the Warrant. I am not sure whether 
 he said this to L* North or L^ Dartmouth, but I think it was the 
 latter : I know it was he told me of it." 
 
 Quincy's visit is put in its true light at Dec. 15 of the Diary, 
 last paragraph. The recent elections were not got over without 
 several sad cases of bribery. Elisha relates one of them when 
 writing to his wife. He says — " I could write you whole sheets 
 on the late Elections, if I thought it worth your attention. I will 
 only say that the ladies have so interfered in procuring votes for 
 their friends, that some people have proposed it should be called 
 the Ladies' Parliament. One lady, being told by a gentleman 
 that he could not engage his vote without a kiss, she quickly 
 
m4.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 319 
 
 replied — That should never lose her husband a vote. If this is 
 not bribery, I don't know what is. Whether it will set aside the 
 election, I will not determine." 
 
 The idea, however, of a Ladies' Government was not new, for in 
 the Annual Register for 1766, and some eight years before the 
 date of EUsha's letter, there is a facetious article at page 209, 
 proposing a Female Administration ; and on page 211 a list of the 
 Lady Ministers is given. Miss Chudleigh is down as Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer. This is the lady who was afterwards Duchess 
 of Kingston, and prosecuted for bigamy. — See this Diary, Dec. 12. 
 
 M' Montagu called also. 
 
 Waited upon Lord Rockinghani, Grosvenor Square. Lord 
 Lnmley and S' Thomas Milner came in while I was in the 
 Ante-cljamber. Lord Lumley asked what was to be done to 
 allay tlie heats in America ? I doubted whether they ever 
 would be allayed, until they were convinced that Parliament 
 would not part with the supreme authority, &c. 
 
 Mr. Mauduit called upon me in the evening ; among other 
 things, mentioned this anecdote : — In the debate upon the 
 Address Edm. Burke addressed himself to the young Members : 
 cautioned them against being deluded with Court wiles, &c., 
 with many flowers of rhetorick, and much pleasantry and 
 elegance. M' Van, a plain blunt Member, observed that an 
 Honourable Member had been strewing flowers to please chil- 
 dren : for his part, he had no flowers to strew : the Americans 
 Le knew, had behaved in a most ungrateful, as well as out- 
 rageous manner, and all that he had to say was, that something 
 must be done without delay, effectually to reduce them to 
 order. 
 
 9th. — Col. Gorham breakfasted with me. M' Knox called, 
 and gave me intimation of a Proclamation preparing to de- 
 clare the proceedings in Mass. Bay treason : to offer pardons 
 to all who came in and took the Oathes, &c., within a limited 
 time, except such persons as should be named. I avoided any 
 conversation which might lead to a mention of the persons to 
 be excepted. He paid it was then under consideration of the 
 Attorney and SoUicitor General. 
 
 Called nponS' Tho. Milles:— not at home: and upon Lord 
 
320 DIAST AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ 
 
 Dec. 
 \1U. 
 
 George Germaine, who is of opinion, whenever any measures 
 are determined, the Americans should be given to understand, 
 in some way or other, no internal taxes should be laid upon 
 them. At present they are not afraid of them. 
 
 In the evening visited L* Mansfield, where I found M' 
 Jenkinson. I hinted to his Lordship the expediency, if any 
 Proclamation should be issued, of observing in it, that the 
 opposition to the King in Parliament, was a breach of the Oath 
 of Allegiance ; which he said was a thought worthy of con- 
 sideration. His L^ship asked when we were likely to hear of 
 the Concord proceedings ? and pronounced any acts of the old 
 Council, and an Assembly chosen by the people, Treason ; as 
 well as an assuming Gov* according to the first Charter. 
 
 Walking in the Green Park to-day with my daughter, I 
 asked a labourer who was setting some posts, how deep the 
 ground was froze? He said, four inches. The weather has 
 been cold for three or four days ; not more so than is common 
 in New England : but many people here say, they never knew 
 it so cold so early. 
 
 10th. — Called upon Col, Speene [?] in Margaret Street, but 
 did not find him at home. M"^ Welbore Ellis made me a long 
 visit ; and gave me an opportunity of explaining several parts 
 of General Gage's conduct : — for his not laying the L* Gov' 
 under Arrest, when he came to him from the Mob. I shewed 
 him Judge Oliver's letter, which says the General told him the 
 L' Gov*^ never let him know that they had made him promise 
 to return to them: and M"^ Ellis had understood that the 
 Custom House officers of the Port of Boston were returned to 
 Boston ; but when I informed him that not one was returned, 
 he said he was glad he was set right ; and he should be able 
 to set other people right. Col. Dalrymple also called upon 
 me some time. — M' Clarke, Whitworth, Chandler, Oliver, dined 
 with me. The Mail Packet for New York, which used to be 
 made up Wednesday evening, was delayed until this Saturday 
 evening, the Address of the H. of Commons not being ready 
 on Wednesday. 
 
 The new Lient.-Governor was in jeopardy. The letter of Judge 
 Oliver has not been saved. It seems that the Lieut.-Govemor, 
 
im:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 321 
 
 also called Oliver, though no relation, as before explained, en- 
 dangered the integrity of his allegiance by his indecisive conduct 
 ■with the Liberty men. He may have prevaricated, or he may 
 have lost nerve before them, under fear of personal ill-usage, and 
 it may have been accidental his not telling General Gage every 
 particular that he might have detailed. On this subject Governor 
 Hutchinson wrote to him very candidly from England, in a letter 
 bearing date Nov. 24, which is entered in the marble paper Letter 
 Book. He says : — " I should not treat you as a friend if I repre- 
 sented the manner in which people express themselves upon the 
 subject of your resignation, different from the whole truth. In 
 general it is said, a man is excusable who, when he is in the hands 
 of 4000 people, and threatened with death, submits to the terms 
 imposed upon him. Some have got it here, 1 know not how, that 
 before you went to j" Governor, more had been said to you by the 
 mob, (for I call them mob, tho' freeholders,) about your resigning, 
 than you communicated, and that if the Governor had known the 
 whole, he would have laid you under Arrest. Others say that 
 unless our mobs differ from those in England, no man is in danger 
 of his life in open day. It is impossible for people here to know 
 all the circumstances of y° case. A succession of other great and 
 important events, some come and others coming, will probably put 
 an end to further speculation, and I fancy the Answer you have 
 already received, will be all you will receive. [No intimation 
 what that was.] I thought it best to take no notice of your 
 motion for an express order from the King, because, if circum- 
 stances so alter as to make it advisable to re-assume your seat, you 
 may do it without such an order, as well as with ; and if they 
 should not so alter, it will be best you should not have the 
 order." 
 
 He appears to have retained his seat for the present. 
 
 11th. — We went down in the coach to the chnrch in Foster 
 Lane, expecting to hear a Charity Sermon from D' Maddan, 
 but found all parts of the church so crowded, that we could 
 find no room, and returned home. 
 
 At Court I met with Lord Hope, brother to L* Hope who 
 was some years since in N. England, and soon after died. He 
 desired Mr. Stuart Mackenzie to introduce him to me. He 
 thanked me for my civility to his brother, and let me know 
 the family hoped to see me in Scotland. Sir James Porter, 
 
 Y 
 
322 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [Su. 
 
 D' Thomas, K.'s Physician, D' Heberden, besides L* Chan- 
 cellor, L* Mansfield, &c., were very civil. 
 
 Dined with M' Jenkinson : his brother [in law] Doctor Boss, 
 a Clergyman, and M"^ Mauduit, made the company. M"^ 
 Brereton, descended from S' W™ Brereton, who intended for 
 New England, came in after dinner. The conversation turning 
 upon the Ministers admitting all sorts of people from America, 
 M' Jenkinson said Lord Mansfield told him Quincy had de- 
 sired to see him, but he would not admit him. Doctor Boss 
 said that Franklin had exhibited his accounts to the Post Office, 
 which they had not allowed, not being properly vouchered, 
 and that he was chagrined at the refusal. 
 
 M'^ Brereton being an acquaintance of the late M' Thomas 
 HoUis, I enquired into the circumstances of his death ? and he 
 informed me that nothing could be more sudden ; for walking 
 upon his grounds w"" one of his tenants, he fell down breathless. 
 M' Brereton mentioned an instance of his singular obstinate 
 temper. He had been most zealously attached to M'' Pitt 
 until he took the honour of Earl of Chatham from the King, 
 ■:, but then gave him up. M' Pitt however, continued to court 
 M'^ Hollis ; and knowing he was at Weymouth, a bathing place, 
 M' Pitt wrote to him, that he would be there at a certain day, 
 and desired him to provide convenient lodgings. M' Hollis 
 provided the lodgings, but left the town himself the day Lord 
 Chatham was expected, because he would not see him. 
 
 12th. — ^News of a vessel from Salem. Went into the city to 
 M' Mauduit : could find no letters : was informed there were 
 newspapers at the Cofifee House to the 17'" of October. The 
 Assembly or Congress at Concord was then sitting. Called at 
 Lord Dartmouth's Office on my return, but they had no letters. 
 
 Dined with my daughter at Lord Gage's. There were of the 
 company Sir Sampson and Lady Gideon, D' Potts, who I had 
 seen w'" M"" Maseres, M' Mitchell, the Sussex Attorney, Major 
 Kooke, M' Pollock, and M' Eardley Wilmot. 
 
 The town is full of the talk of the Duchess Dowager of 
 Kingston, against whom a Bill is found for Bigamy. Upon 
 notice, some months since, that such a prosecution was intended, 
 she quitted her house at two o'clock in the morning, and set 
 
mJ:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 323 
 
 out for France, and is now at Eome. It is agreed she was 
 married to M' Hervey, brother to Lord Bristol, being then 
 Miss Chudleigh, by w"" name she called herself when married 
 afterwards to the Duke of Kingston, who having no children, 
 gave her by Will his Personal Estate, and also his Eeal Estate, 
 being 17000£ p an. for life, w"*" after her death he gave to a 
 younger son of his sister ; and the eldest son, who is slighted, 
 now carries on a suit against the Duchess. It is said tbere is 
 proof of the marriage with Hervey. Having been a celebrated 
 beauty, of more than suspicious character, haughty and im- 
 perious in her prosperity, she seems to have no friends.* 
 
 13th. — In the morning called upon Lord Dartmouth : gave 
 him an account of the news from Boston, which he had not 
 heard. Afterwards upon Lord Hardwicke: to W Jackson, 
 Southampton Build', and Sollicitor Gen' : — neither of them at 
 home. 
 
 In the morning I sent L" Dartmouth copy of General Gage's 
 answer to the Congress, and he sent me in return, account of 
 the Packet's arrival from New York, and of the Congress at 
 Philadelphia, that they had agreed upon Non-Importation,i/ 
 Non-exportation, and Non-CoDsumption : an Address to the 
 people of G-. Britain : another to America : a Letter to the 
 Canadians, pressing a junction, and to send Deputies to a 
 Congress to meet the 10* of May: and a Declaration of 
 Eights. 
 
 Most of the assertions and most of the arguments used at this 
 Congress were notoriously against established law and well-known 
 facts : but their proceedings, at all events, serve to show how 
 widespread was the spirit of disaffection, and how organised was 
 iDecoming the machinery of resistance against all the measures of 
 the English Ministry. Mr. Frothiagham, at p. 32 of his ' Hist, of 
 the Siege of Boston,' tells us that the Eevolution was not a 
 unanimous effort. His words are : — " The Eevolution was no 
 unanimous work ; and the closer it is studied, the more difficult 
 and more hazardous it will be found to have been. In Boston, 
 the opposition, the Tories, were respectable in number, and strong 
 
 * Most of the particulars of this celebrated case are given in the papers, 
 journals, and magazines of that day. The Duke's death, with a few notices 
 of his life, occur at p. 466 of the London Magazine for 1773. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 BIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [^^l 
 
 in character and aljility." This may apply to a certain period of 
 the dispute ; hnt by the end of 1774 the loyal men were powerless 
 to stem the current of Liberty, and dare not even show themselves, 
 BO that all form of law and all civil government were at an end. 
 It is plain to us now, and it is strange that it was not plain to 
 Administration then, that by this time there was no middle course 
 left, and that there was nothing to choose between actual warfare, 
 according to military principles, and total independence. 
 
 14th. — ^At Lord Dartmouth's, who gave me the result of the 
 Congress to read and to return, and asked me what could be 
 done ? but added, there was no doubt that every one who had 
 signed the Association, was guilty of Treason : and if he was to 
 be directed by the resentment natural upon the first news of 
 such an insult, the most vigorous measures would immediately 
 be pursued in order to punishment ; but it was an affair to be 
 well considered, and deliberated upon. I asked if this news 
 would accelerate any determination in parliament before tlie 
 Adjournment ? He seemed to think not, but was not positive. 
 I carried the result to M' Ellis, where we made our remarks 
 upon it. 
 
 M' Soame Jenings called upon me, and claimed his wife's 
 relation to Miss Hutchinson.* 
 
 Col, Dalrymple, M' Thompson, Doctor Tarpley and wife, 
 M' Bridgen, Clarke, and Oliver, dined with us. 
 
 15th. — ^M' Tho. Townshend, Jun. called upon me : he pro- 
 noimces it bad news from America — declares against their 
 principles — asked whether I did not think they would have 
 been quiet after the Eepeal of the Stamp Act, if his kinsman 
 Ch. T. had not brought forward the duties upon painters' 
 colours, Ac. ? — does not know what can be done. He voted 
 against the Address, and is of L* Rockingham's people. 
 
 Afterwards Lord Adam Gordon called. He is in Parliam' 
 again, and was out the last ParP. He condemns America : says 
 many Members censure the Acts infringing upon the Massa- 
 chusets Charter, &c., and seems at a loss also. 
 
 * From Governor Hutchinson's sketch of the earlier members of his 
 family, called ' Hutchinson in America,' it seems that a great-granddaughter 
 of Hichard H., brother of William, who first went to America, was married to 
 Mr. Soame Jenings. 
 
mi. J BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS nUTGHINSON. 325 
 
 Lord Hardwicke desiring an ace' of what news I had, I 
 called and gave his Lordship the particulars of the Congress, 
 which he took down in writing. He blames Gage for too much \ 
 tameness: is surprised that the Ministry are not yet engaged 
 in some plan or other. At Lord Dartmouth's Office I found 
 M' Knox. He says nothing will bo done until after the 
 holidays, the Members being all gone, and they can liardly 
 make a House: a stop will be put to measures w*"* were 
 intended, and to a ship under orders ; but did not say what the 
 measures were : he hopes they will not call for the papers, 
 especially Gage's letters, which he speaks of as not proper to 
 be shewn — which I suppose is the reason I have,not seen them. 
 
 I called upon M' John Yorke, and Soame Jenyns, and left 
 cards. 
 
 Dined with M' Ambler, SoUic. Gen. to the Queen, K.'s 
 Serjeant, &c., in corap^ with M' Just. Blackstone, Att. Gen., 
 M' Jackson, and a clergyman, M' Sumner. 
 
 M" Ambler was daughter of Nich. Faxton, and a relation to 
 Charles, after whom she very particularly enquired, and said 
 he was often at her house in England, as was also M' Palmer. 
 Nothing was said about America, until the Att. Gen. went off. 
 Last time I was in comp^ with him and M' Jackson, they were 
 warm. After he was gone Judge Blackstone * spake freely of 
 the necessity of something effectual without delay. He gave 
 us an anecdote which was quite new to me. When the Bepeal 
 of the Stamp Act was carried, he moved that it might be an 
 instruct" [?] to the Committee to bring a Clause into the Bill, 
 that it should not be of force in any Colony where any Votes, 
 Eesolves, or Act^ had passed derogatory to the honour or 
 authority of Parliament, until such Votes, &c., were eraced or 
 taken off. the Eecords : and there was a Question carried in in 
 the negative : for when he mentioned his intention to M' 
 Grenville, he did not encourage it, but being vexed with the 
 Vote for Bepeal, said he did not care how bad they made the 
 Act. It was then 4 o'clock in the morning. Sir Jn° Cust, the 
 
 * How many great names of that day have passed into utter oblivion, 
 whilst that of Blackstone survives ! Every man renders his name immortal 
 by his works. 
 
326 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [m"; 
 
 Speaker, desired M"^ Blackstone next day not to insist on his 
 Motion, standing upon the Journal, as it did not obtain, but he 
 would have it entered. 
 
 M' Mauduit, in the eyening, tells me he saw Lord North on 
 Tuesday ; * that he mentioned the appointment of Sewall as 
 a Ooinissioner, which would save the salary of a Judge of 
 Admir[alty ?] at Halifax, as there was no occasion for one 
 there : but he said it would probably be necessary to stop all 
 trade with the Colonies, and then they would want a Judge 
 there. Mauduit did not think of a Provincial Judge. He then 
 excepted to Williams as being extremely disagreeable to the 
 other Comissioners : mentioned the letters he had wrote : told 
 Lord North of his declaring that Quincy did. not desire to see 
 him, but was sent for by L" North. He (1/ N.) said he did 
 not send for him. Williams wrote him a letter that such a 
 person was arrived from Boston, and if it would be agreeable, 
 he would bring him to wait on his Lordship. The next 
 morning W™ went himself to Lord North's, who supposed him 
 to be come for an answer. Upon his being admitted, he brought 
 Quincy in with him. 
 
 16th. — M'' John Yorke, brother to Lord Hardwicke, called 
 upon me in the forenoon, after I had been in the city, and had 
 called upon M' Walton,t and M'^ Blackburne, in order to know 
 what news they had rec" from America : neither of whom were 
 at home. 
 
 Went to the Levee, the King inquiring the difference of 
 climate, &c. : and from thence to see Gilbert Eliot and M' 
 Jenkinson — but saw neither: and then to the House of 
 Commons, where the first Motion was by M' Gascoigne — that, 
 whenever the House should be ordered to be cleared, the 
 petitioning Members, in matters of Election, should leave the 
 House, as well as the people in the Gallery. The motion was 
 seconded, but opposed by T. Townshend and Burke ; and 
 dropped without a question. Then, upon a call for the Order 
 of the day. Lord Barrington read in his place an Estimate of 
 the land forces for the present year, being very near the same 
 Avith the last, which caused Ro [?] Fuller [?] to say something, 
 * It was now Thuisday. f Or perhaps Watson. 
 
m4.] niARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 327 
 
 and T. Townshend to inquire into the state of America— whether 
 additional forces would not be wanted by and by ? &c, M' Van, 
 a plain, blundering country gentleman, said something which 
 shewed him to be for acquiescing in the Estimate : then 
 Governor Johnstone made a long speech, and wished Members 
 would see their errors about America, but had no hopes of it : 
 wondered we could not treat America as we did Ireland — with 
 a great deal of unmeaning inconclusive talk; after which 
 Crnger the New Yorker and Member for Bristol, made a set 
 studied speech,. from some of the Pataphlet writers ; the con- 
 clusion, that notw*''standing the rage we had set the Americans 
 into, they did not wholly deny the authority of Parliament. 
 They were answered by Lord Clare, who laboured to distinguish 
 between Ireland and America, and touched upon Kigby for 
 saying once, that Ireland, by right, might be taxed by England. 
 This nettled Eigby, who still insisted they had a right, tho' he 
 was not for their exercising it. Lord North spoke exceeding 
 well : let them know the affairs of America were of that im- 
 portance that they would force their way into the House, 
 whether he inclined to bring them there or not; but he 
 knew it his duty, and was determined to bring them before the 
 House, with a plan as soon as the Holidays were over ; for 
 Mass** Bay only, they had navy enough, and for all other 
 purposes besides. If a more extensive guard should be wanted 
 for the rest of the continent, men must be applied for. He 
 cleared himself from a reflection of Gov. Johnstone, for saying 
 they must bring America to their feet, intending no more than 
 that they could not repeal the tea duty while America denied 
 their authority, and threatened tliem if they did not : but let 
 them petition, which he, in the time of it, declared to be what 
 he meant, and he would consent to whatever should be tho't 
 proper. Charles Fox spoke well, but too impetuous : he urged 
 Lord North to consent to lay the papers before the House now, 
 that they might have time to consider them in the Kecess; 
 but nobody seconded, and the Question was called, and no 
 Nays. Lord North spoke twice in the debate. A M' Hartley, 
 a new Member, read two of the Philadelphia Kesolves, to shew 
 the Colonies would submit to a Kegulation of Trade, and that 
 
328 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [_^l\ 
 
 the Congress thought it reasonable they should comply with 
 Kequisitions to contribute to the public charges. 
 
 17th. — We have further advice from Boston by a N. York 
 vessel, whose letters arrived yesterday, that the Congress there 
 had chosen a new Treasurer, Henry Gardner, instead of 
 Treasurer Gray, and recomended to all the Collectors to pay 
 the public monies to Gardner, and recomended to the Militia 
 to form themselves into companies, and to chuse their own 
 officers : and had given 10 days to the new Counsellors to 
 resign ; upon failure to be recorded iii every town as infamous. 
 This I communicated to Lord Dartmouth. 
 
 Called upon the Bishop of London, who received me with his 
 usual goodness: afterwards upon Lord Hardwicke. Col. Dal- 
 rymple called upon me.* He says he saw M"^ Cornwall the 
 day before yesterday, who told him American affairs would 
 come the next day before the House, and advised him to attend : 
 but when the day came (yesterday), he saw Cornwall again ; 
 who then changed his tone, and said it was determined to waive 
 the consideration. Since the last accounts are so full that there 
 can be no doubt of the intentions of America to refuse sub- 
 mission to the late Acts, it is a matter of speculation for what 
 reason American matters are deferred until after the holidays. 
 
 18th.— At the Lock Hospital : E. and P. [? Elisha and 
 Peggy.] Lord Dartmouth and several of his children were 
 there. D' Madan preached. Sir Gilbert Eliot called upon 
 me before dinner with Col. D. He seems to be at a loss what 
 measures Ministry intend ; and hinted as if it was possible, the 
 papers might be called for, and the time whiled away till May ; 
 but this is impossible ; the people would not suffer the present 
 Administration to continue inactive in office so long. Speaking 
 of Franklin, Sir Gilbert said Cowper was the last man in the 
 kingdom who adhered to him, but he had now intirely given 
 him up; the letter which he published determined him.f 
 
 * This is doubtless the same Col. Dalrymple to whom Governor Hutchinson 
 gave up the keys of the castle in Boston Harhoiu-, when they were both in 
 America. 
 
 t The letter acknowledging he sent Governor H.'s letters to America. In 
 England this act was looked upon as sufficiently dishonourable to put a man 
 out of the circle of respectable society. 
 
Dec. 
 1T74, 
 
 ] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 329 
 
 Went in the evening w"* M"^ Mauduit to Jy Heberden's in 
 Pall Mall, where spent two or three hours in most agreeable 
 conversation. The company besides, were the Bishop of 
 Litchfield, and Doctor Eoss Wollaston, the preacher at the 
 Charterhouse, M' Holford, a Master in Chancery, D' Burrill, 
 a Coiniss' of Excise, and the Member for Milborne. 
 
 I9th. — A letter to Government from Gen. Gage of the 3"* of 
 October, but nothing material in it: the accounts in news- 
 papers are 4 weeks later. There's a strange silence upon 
 American affairs, to me unaccountable, considering the import- 
 ance of them, unless it proceeds from amazement. It is 
 whispered that Lord N. in the Cabinet, is more backward than 
 most of the rest of the Ministers. Lord D. was an hour and 
 more with him to day in Downing Street, as M., who is always 
 about the Treasury, informed me. In the evening I called 
 upon the Attorney General, but not at home. 
 
 20th. — M' Thompson called upon me, as he was going into 
 tlie country for the holidays. M' Livius and M' Green dined. 
 M' Mauduit called in the evening, and acquainted me with the 
 Petition to the Kingdom from the Congress being in the hands 
 of D"^ Franklin.* 
 
 21st. — Called upon M' Keene, who asked whether it waa not 
 better to give up to the Americans, than to be at the expense 
 necessary to reduce, and afterwards secure them?t And he 
 appeared to be serious. Afterwards I went to L" Dartmouth's 
 Levee. He had heard of the Petition, and told me he under- 
 stood it was sent to D' Franklin, M' Garth, M' Burke, Lee, 
 and Paul Wentworth : that they were either to deliver it to 
 Lord D., to be presented to the King, or otherwise, with such 
 Merchants as they could collect, to present it to the King 
 themselves, as they judged best. 
 
 Dined, as also Peggy, with M"^ W^ Ellis in Little Brook 
 Street, in comp^ with M' Jenkinson, Sam, Martin, late of the 
 Treasury, that fought with M' Wilkes, M' Cornwall and his 
 
 • After a debate in Parliament, the permission to receive this Petition was 
 negatived by 218 to 68.— Adolphus, vol. ii., p. 194. Had it been differently 
 put together, or differently worded, it might have found greater favour. 
 
 t Or rather, not secure them. Most men nowadays would think that 
 Mr Keene was right; but it is rather too late to discuss those points now. 
 
 4 
 
330 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [, 
 
 Dec. 
 1771. 
 
 wife, and Dalrymple. In the evening came in the Bishop of 
 London, M' Cooper, Lord Eobert Bertie, M' Egar, Sir Gilbert 
 Eliot, M' Doyley, Sir John Sebright, several other gentlemen, 
 and as many, or more, ladies. Three tables of cards. The 
 Bishop asked me what they would say in New England to 
 a Bishop's playing cards ? I told him the prejudice against 
 cards was in a good measure worn off. D"^ Caner I had heard, 
 did not approve of them. M"^ Cooper told me the Petition, or 
 a copy, had been given to Lord North by Lord Dartmouth, 
 who rec* it from some of the persons to whom it was sent. He 
 had not seen it himself: some thought it very high; others 
 more moderate : that Paul Wentworth refused any concern 
 w* it : Lee was in Italy, and Garth he believed, was not in 
 town. He did not know what would be done with it. Corn- 
 wall said to me at dinner — "We shall set all right in 
 America " — or to that effect. M"^ Hans Stanley came in at 
 the close. 
 
 22nd. — I called upon M' Cowper * by appointment, but he 
 disappointed me. I afterwards went to Lord North's Levee. 
 He observed to me that he had seen the Petition, and asked if 
 I had seen it ? and upon my saying I had not, he gave me an 
 account of it. He said they enumerated a list of what they 
 called grievances, and prayed for relief. He observed they did 
 not deny the Eight. But they publish to the world, I said, or 
 accompany it with papers, which deny the Eight. Yes, he 
 repeated my words, they accompany it with papers which deny 
 the Eight. He added, he thought it a poor composition. 
 That, I thought might be owing to the amendments proposed 
 by one and another of the many members. I could plainly 
 perceive that it would have been very agreeable to him to 
 have found something in the Petition that would lead to an 
 accommodation ; and if it had not been for the extravagance of 
 the Eesolves, Association, and Addresses, passed by this Con- 
 vention, notwithstanding the illegality of their assembling, 
 which would have been winked at, the Petition would have 
 been attended to. It was carried to Lord Dartmouth by 
 D' Franklin, accompanied by Lee, the late Sheriff, and M' 
 ' He sometimes spells this word Cooper, at others Cowper. 
 
Dec. 
 1J74. 
 
 3 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 331 
 
 BoUan, who was not one of the persons to whom it was sent ; 
 nor was Lee, but he, it is said, was in the room of his brother, 
 called Junius Americanus. 
 
 23rd. — Lord Beauchamp called in the forenoon, and informed 
 me a Motion would be made in the H. of Commons against 
 adjourning over the holidays, the state of America requiring 
 them to sit. This, he expected to come from the Opposition, 
 but expressed his own fears lest encouragement should be 
 taken Irom a delay, especially when it appeared that the 
 seamen were lessened, and the land forces not increased. He 
 did not doubt the Minister had a plan of operation, which 
 would be preparing for during the holidays. I told him it did 
 not become me to find fault w"* measures. I wished notice had 
 been given to the Colonies, in what light their assembling at 
 Philadelphia for the purposes professed, would be looked upon 
 here, as it might have been some discouragement. He said 
 people here were assured that some favorable proposals would 
 be made. In this indecisive state have affairs been since my 
 arrival, aud I think it not impossible that to this moment 
 Ministry is not fully determined what measures to take. 
 
 I walked into the city to M' Mauduit's. M'^ Gibbons, a 
 Member of Parliam' came in, to be informed of what passed 
 between M" Grenville and the Colony Agents, when the Stamp 
 Act was passed; for Charles Fox, he said, had charged M' 
 Grenville with smuggling that Act through the House. 
 
 We all dined w'" S"^ Sampson Gideon : L" and Lady Gage 
 there, Major Eooke, a M" Stewart, and young Wilmot. Lord 
 Gage told us something had been said, but meer conversa- 
 tion, about not going over the holidays, and it went off. The 
 House adjourned to the 19'" Jan''. Major Eooke told us the 
 talk about the Court was, that the American merchants would 
 meet and make some proposals. 
 
 Col. Murray, brother to the D. of Athol, called upon me. 
 I fancy my serv' left a card there intended for Col. Barre. 
 
 M' Sparliawk bro't letters from New England, some as 
 late as 17* Oct^ and one from Deacon Sayward at York, 
 October 22°*. 
 
 24th. I called upon Lord Hardwicke, who expressed his 
 
 opinion, that no measure was fixed. He heard L* Chatham 
 
332 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [im! 
 
 was very alert : openly condemned late measures : declared for 
 repealing some of the Acts passed last Session, but not for 
 repealing all the Americans claim'd. He thought his partizjns 
 uere mustering, and if his spirits kept up till Pari' met again, 
 believed he would make a bustle, and intimate that nobody 
 but himself could set America right. 
 
 AVe had repeated reports of an express from Boston with a 
 Petition — but all false. 
 
 25 th. — At the Temple Church, D' Thurloe preached a 
 sermon for the day. This is singular in the worship — that 
 instead of singing after the Litany, they sing after the Second 
 Lesson ; and after the Litany they have a short Voluntary 
 whilst the Minister is preparing for the Communion Service. 
 After the Coiiiunion one of the church ofBcers, (of which there 
 were half a dozen at least, with bands and black habit), came 
 with a book, and desired I would write my name. I saw at the 
 head of the page a List of such as were at the Communion at 
 the Temple church Xmas Day 1774, and I observed the book 
 carried round to the several pews. 
 
 M' Peters and Sparhawk arrived in the Mail ship from 
 Piscataqua : * w'" S. Oliver, dined with us. Peters is a Mis- 
 sionary at Hebron in Connecticut : came over to represent the 
 barbarity of the Sons of Liberty there, in taking him out 
 of his house ; forcing him to a Gallows at a great distance ; 
 
 tearing his gown to pieces ; calling them rags of the W , 
 
 and threatening him with hanging, unless he signed their 
 Solemn League and Covenant ; which I think he finally 
 refused ; but signed an engagement never to write anything 
 against them ; and as soon as he could he made his escape, and 
 came over to tell his own story. He says M' Bostwick of 
 G. Barrington has been taken out of his house, stripped, and 
 whipped. He adds that their Colony has been much inflamed 
 by copies of a letter, or pretended letter, said to be wrote by 
 M" Temple,* wife of John Temple, late Coiiiissioner, dated 
 
 * The Indian name of a river that empties itself into the sea at about 
 60 miles N. by E. from Boston. 
 
 f She was sister of Mr. Bowdoin, some time Chairman of the Committee 
 of Council in Boston, during part of the Governorship of Bernard and 
 Hutchinson, and wife of Mr. Temple of the Letters ; but at this time she 
 ■was in England with her husband. 
 
Dec. 
 1771 
 
 r;.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 333 
 
 from London in March last, which Peters says, was sent by the 
 Boston Coiiiittee of CorrespondeDce, charging the measures 
 with respect to America upon the Comissioners and Mission- 
 aries, their Representations : which letter, he says, was read in 
 most of the churches ; and that their Ministers name L* Bute, 
 L* North, and Gov. H. and Gov. Gage in their pulpits, as 
 bringing in Popery, &c. 
 
 He makes Trumbull, Gov. of Connecticut, an encourager of 
 them : says his Proclamations used to be with the King's 
 Arms ; but his last, for a fact, was with a new device — Halberts, 
 Guns, Drums, &c., and the stile of the Colony altered, the 
 words " His Majesty's " left out, and now called " the Colony." 
 Dyer, Sherman, and other counsellors, as high rebels as any. ^ 
 26th. — I called upon Lord Hardwicke with the Boston paper 
 of the 24'" of October. His Lordship observed that nothing 
 seemed to be doing about America. I walked into the city as 
 far as St. Paul's ; and upon my return Col. Dalrymple called, 
 and seemed greatly dissatisfied with an account he had received 
 — that Lord Mansfield opposed sending more forces to America. ^ 
 Raising new Regiments will make room for promotion. Nobody 
 out of the Cabinet can judge what is determined in it. There 
 is a report in the city, said to be from one near the Court, that 
 in the Cabinet Coimcil every Member had been asked whether 
 he had any doubt of pursuing the measures begim last Parlia- 
 ment? and that there was a unanimous voice for pursuing. 
 Thus far we are in the dark. M' Knox tells me to-day there 
 is no difference of sentiment with respect to New England : 
 they wish to consider the demands of the Colonies in general, 
 and the peculiar conduct of N. England, separate and distinct. 
 About noon I stopped at my taylor's [sic] house in Bedford 
 Street, and it was so dark that it was very difiScult to see 
 to write or read without candles ; and in the street it seemed 
 not so light as it generally is in New England a quarter of an 
 hour after sunset at this time of year ; and yet neither rain nor 
 fog, but the smoak [sio] of the City and a haze. L* Hardwicke 
 sent me a haunch and breast of venison. 
 
 27th. — We have been remarkably more fiee from the noise 
 of coaches for two or three days than since I have been in 
 
334 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [; 
 
 Dec. 
 
 London. I suppose no part of the year is so religiously 
 observed as Christmas Eve, so that after dinner the streets 
 were as still as on a Saturday Evening in Boston, and towards 
 nine o'clock the coaches seemed wholly to have done passing, 
 and the noise was rarely heard the whole evening, 
 
 M' Constable, a Scotch gentleman of good fortune, a Catho- 
 lick, who took the house of me in Golden Square, called 
 to-day. I asked what was the talk about America? People, 
 he said, were divided. Some thought they had been let alone 
 too long, and that it was now best to leave them wholly to 
 themselves. 
 
 28th. — I walked into the city to Clements Lane and back : 
 settled the expense of the hearing on the Complaint against 
 the late L* Gov. and myself; M'^ Mauduit generously giving 
 his trouble, as M"^ Wedderburne had his fees.* 
 
 The distinction of taxation, with those who were willing to 
 find subjects for disputation, offered an admirable ground for 
 fighting upon. In the early days of the Colonies the full rights 
 of Great Britain over them had never been questioned. " The 
 practice of imposing taxes by authority of Parliament on the 
 Transatlantic dominions was not new ; it had been used ever since 
 their establishment. And," continues Adolphus, i. 138, "so far 
 as precedent can be required, to support the right of the Mother 
 Country to draw pecuniary relief from her dependencies." The 
 first settlers went out with their Charters in their hands ; but 
 they bore with them the sanction and power of Parliament, and 
 they were only too glad to live under it. The statutes from 
 Charles the Second and his successors were framed on the under- 
 standing of this right, The Commonwealth Parliament passed a 
 Eesolution or Act to declare and establish the authority of England 
 over her Colonies, ' Annual Eeg.' 1766, p. 41. All orders of men 
 acquiesced in it. Even Mr. Otis, who eventually became one of 
 the most determined leaders of the disaffected party, once said, as 
 quoted near the beginning of this volume, " It is certain that the 
 Parliament of Great Britain hath a just, clear, equitable, and 
 constitutional right, power, and authority to bind the Colonies by 
 all Acts wherein they are named. Every lawyer, nay, every tyro, 
 knows this." But after the Canadian war England extended her 
 
 * Amongst the papers there is nothing to throw light upon this matter of 
 
 business. 
 
mij BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 335 
 
 — '. '. r~. — ^ 
 
 authority by the imposition of a few more Acta of legielation ; and 
 then some of the advanced spirits began to analyse the situation, 
 and make a strong distinction between internal and external 
 taxation, which is the distinction alluded to b^- Governor Hutchin- 
 son in his Diary. Duties laid upon their ports and merchandise 
 for the regulation of trade they had always lived under and 
 thriven by, but duties or taxes levied upon the body of the people 
 in the country were denounced in the strongest language. If we 
 look a little closer into this, we shall see that it is a distinction 
 without a difference. Upon this the following remark was made 
 at the time : " A tax laid in any place is like a pebble falling intov 
 and making a circle in a lake, till one circle produces and gives 
 motion to another, and the whole circumference is agitated from 
 the centre : for nothing can be more clear, than that a tax of ten 
 or twenty per cent, laid upon tobacco, either in the ports of 
 Virginia or London, is a duty laid upon the inland plantations of 
 Virginia a hundred miles from the sea, wherever the tobacco 
 grows." ' An. Keg.' 1766, p. 43. No doubt a tax or a duty, of 
 whatsoever nature it may be, has not been enacted long before its 
 effects penetrate to the remotest comers of the country to which 
 it has been applied. But where men are looking for grievances, 
 they never need look far before they find somethiag to cavil over. 
 The next advance was to declare that the English Parliament had 
 no power or authority over them, because they were not there 
 represented ; yet, they admitted at the same time, that represen- 
 tation was impossible, owing to the great distance. If this was 
 a grievance, it was one of their own making, for, as Dr. Johnson 
 pithily wrote, " He who goes voluntarily to America, cannot 
 complain of losing what he leaves behind him." . 
 
 On the subject of the different classes of taxation, the Govern orj 
 makes a few remarks in a letter of Dec. 31 to Dr. Murray. The 
 letter is entered by his own hand near the end of vol. i. of the 
 marble paper Letter Books, and evidently in a great hurry. He 
 says : " I don't remember the distinction between Eepresent" in 
 taxes upon land, and taxes upon Polls or personal estate. I don't 
 believe there is any better authority for connecting any particular ^, 
 kind of Eepresent[ation] and Taxation, than that both words end' - 
 in ation. Such jingles we often run away with. That there 
 should be a Eepresent" of some sort, in order to legislation of 
 every kind, is certain ; and the supreme authority of every Gov' 
 under Heaven, is in fact the Represent" of the people : but what 
 share the people have in the election of the Eepresent' or Supreme 
 authority of Britain, depends not upon any established rules or 
 
336 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ 
 
 Dec. 
 
 1174. 
 
 U^ 
 
 , maxims, but is to be collected only from the practice, whicli has 
 
 \ been, different in different periods : and in every period the 
 
 supreme authority which then existed, was in fact, such Eepresen- 
 
 tation as had authority to make laws for taxation, and all other 
 
 purposes." 
 
 After my return M"^ Cornwall called : supposes not a word 
 will be said when Parliament meets, upon the distinction of 
 taxation, and legislation, or against the supreme authority of 
 Parliament : and he is sure a Motion will not be made by any 
 in opposition for the repeal of the late Acts respecting Mass. 
 Bay, though they may be declaimed against, and the Ministry 
 attacked : and he added, that the Colonies had now compelled 
 Parliament to pursue them until they should come into some 
 method of contributing in some degree unto the general charge 
 of Government. This I could wish he may have wrong judged, 
 for I see no prospect of peace while it continues to be a plan to 
 take. 
 
 Col. Dalrymple came in and informed me he had just been 
 with L" Druinond to L^ Dartmouth's. L"* Drummond left New 
 York the 11"' of November. An Express from Boston had 
 brought advice of the 5'^ The Congress rose in their proceed- 
 ings. He talks of 20 men as a select force, always to be in 
 arms; and says there was a report that they had gone so far 
 that Hancock began to be frightened. I should not think it 
 strange if this should be confirmed. 
 
 At M' Knox's to drink tea. 
 
 29th. — We are in pain for Cap. Dundass and passengers in 
 a scooner \sio\ sent Express from Gen. Gage, and spoke within 
 Scilly the 16'^ Lord North is gone to Banbury, L* Kochford 
 to his seat, and there is the appearance of all the tranquility 
 which might be expected if America was perfectly quiet. Even 
 the political Barometer, the Stocks, neither rise nor fall. 
 Everybody now agrees that L* North has a plan which he will 
 lay before Parliament the first day of meeting : but [neither] 
 Jenkinson, Cornwall, nor even Ellis, do not know what it is ; 
 only, they say he talks of more forces. Lord Dartmouth's 
 answer to Franklin, as Wentworth told me the Committee 
 report it, that the King would receive the Address, and lay it 
 
Pec. 
 
 1774, 
 
 .] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 337 
 
 befoie Paiiiament, it being conceived in decent respectful 
 language, is not generally approved, because all the proceedings 
 of the Congress, from which the Address cannot be separated, 
 are utterly inadmissible. Whether it be owing to the nature 
 of the English Constitution, or to some other cause, there is 
 a strange inaction considering the critical state of affairs. 
 
 I walked into the city as far as the Old Bailey, and back 
 thro' Holborn : then a turn or two in the Park, and called at 
 Lord D.'s Office, where saw Pownall and Knox. In the evening 
 Mauduit called. 
 
 30th. — Except a walk in the morning to the head of 
 Warwick Street, and a turn up and down the Park, just before 
 dinner, I spent this day at home writing, and expecting L* D., 
 who sent me a note, that he intended to call upon me if he 
 could find time, which I suppose he could not. It has been a 
 remarkably clear sun-shiny day : said to be rather cold, but 
 we should think it very moderate in N. England. No accounts 
 yet of Dundass in the scooner from Boston. 
 
 Lord Hardwicke sent me a note a day or two ago, that he 
 was going to Bichmond for a few days, and desired if anything 
 remarkable from America, that I would acquaint him with it. 
 There is a very singular curiosity in this nobleman, to know 
 everything that passes in the world. Mauduit says that he 
 kept a person at his own expense in Germany, I think it was, 
 during the war, purely for the sake of receiving the first 
 intelligence of everything which occurred there. 
 
 31st. — I called upon Lord D. by appointm', where I found 
 M' Pownall. I proposed the Packet's going to Boston instead 
 of N. York. They thought it not necessary now, because 
 a Man of War would go in a few days. Lord D. was more free 
 upon America than he has been of late. He read to me the 
 long Petition to the King from the Congress. It is artful, and < 
 full of duplicit)'. Lord N. he said would be in town on 
 Monday: talk'd of 4 or 5 Reg" in the W. Indies: two to go 
 from Ireland : but said it would be necessary to raise more 
 men : said they were impeded for want of authentick accounts 
 from Gen. Gage. I called upon the Bishop of London : wished 
 him to examine the draft of the Petition, and see whether it 
 
338 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [_ 
 
 Dec. 
 
 IT74. 
 
 V 
 
 was not done by one of his Missionaries in America. M? Ellis 
 called and spent half an hour. He says Gov* will never be 
 settled until every person in public office in America, is obliged 
 to swear that he will conform to Acts of Parliament. I thought 
 that would make a general convulsion. He said it could not 
 last ; and after it was over, all would be quiet. Walked in the 
 Park with Peggy, when met M' Hale, the late Collector of 
 Boston. M"^ Bridges, T. Bernard, and Vassal dined with us. 
 The scooner seems to be given over. A vessel is ordered out 
 to cruise after her. Fine weather. 
 
 Thus ends the year 1774 — the last year of peace with America. 
 There is no break in the Diary, as the entries referring to the 
 events of the next year are proceeded with immediately. The 
 several Diaries, Letters, and other writings which have been 
 quoted, and which remain to quote, were the productions of 
 persons most intimately connected, as witnesses, with the events 
 that gave rise to one of the longest, fiercest, and most costly of 
 wars that ever broke out between a parent state and her Colonies. 
 The evidence that has been laid before the reader, as culled from 
 these original sources, not written with a view to go beyond 
 private hands, invite our confidence from their authenticity. 
 They make it plain that the two countries were drifting towards 
 a great crisis. England forbore long, for she was loth to proceed 
 to actual hostilities ; nevertheless, she was sending troops across 
 the Atlantic : and if England had not made up her mind to strike, 
 America by this time had made up her mind to defend herself. 
 She was arming too. Beware of the first blow ! Governor 
 Hutchinson, in several places, remarks on the indifference, or 
 indecision or apathy of Ministers or the English people when, 
 to him, there appeared to be a catastrophe impending. The 
 English were not aware of the gravity of the situation, and hence 
 the easy way in which many of them looked at it. Few of them 
 thought that the Americans would stand fire, and still fewer 
 thought that they would return it. 
 
Jan. 
 1775, 
 
 ] ( 339 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONTINUATION OF THE DIARY. 
 
 January 1st. — At the Temple Church : the Master preached. 
 
 M.' Green came in and dined with us. In the evening Paul 
 Wentworth called, and brought with him a copy of the Petition. 
 He declared his disapprobation of it in strong terms : pointed 
 out the most exceptionable parts : said they had put it out of 
 the power of the Crown to treat : no time ought to be lost : 
 could see but one way of proceeding, &c. This is different from 
 anything I have heard from him before. He says Lord 
 Chatham and Lord Shelburne are concerting a plan of opposi- 
 tion : that Lord Temple is with them. I knew that Lord 
 Chatham had declared in favour of the right of Parliam' over 
 the Colonies in all cases. He knew that he was now of a 
 diff mind : that he had heard L" Shelburne declare the same 
 this summer in Holland, that whatever L** Temple may have 
 been formerly, he would now be with him. He said that 
 between Thursday and Sunday L* T. had been no less than five 
 times at Wentworth House to see Lee (Junius) : that he hoped 
 by having Lee under his tuition to have made something of him, 
 but Lord T. had made him higher than ever. He mentioned 
 contracts of one House in London with the French at Havre 
 for 20,000 bbl' flour from the Colonies. He was surprised at 
 the correspondence carrying on between the French and Dutch 
 on the one part, and the Merchants in the Colonies on the 
 other, for a very great extension of their trade. A large Dutch 
 ship sailed for America loaden [sic] with tea at 17", intended 
 for the English Colonies. Two vessels sailed with arms and 
 ammunition in the spring for the Colonies. That which [was] 
 a cutter was employed to watch : [she] did not go out, but the 
 cargo was taken out [and] put on board a Dutch vessel, which 
 lay in the Texel, when the last mail came away with the Master 
 
 z 2 
 
340 DIAMY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mo. 
 
 of the English vessel on board. He overheard a coufidential 
 conversation between a Spanish gent, in a publick character in 
 Holland, and tlie Hopes [?], one of whom is a Member of the 
 States, in which the Spaniard declared it to be the interest 
 of Spain that England should prevail against the Colonies ; for 
 all the European nations had reason to be jealous of the growth 
 of America, and ought to wish it checked. He observed, never- 
 theless, that the French and the Dutch were extremely 
 attentive to the present controversy, expecting great advantages 
 from their trade. He said he could discover that, notwith- 
 standing the appearance of determined resolution, there was a 
 mixture or degree of fear, both in the American leaders, and 
 those from whom they took their directions in England. 
 
 This, indeed, was not to be wondered at. The leaders might well 
 feel a sense of some apprehension when they had at last the Enbicon 
 in sight, and when it was plain to all men that the end of diplomacy 
 had been reached, and that a tremendous explosion was at hand- 
 Beware of the first blow ! This consideration might daunt all 
 reflecting men ; for the first blow would be the signal that would 
 put in jeopardy the lives and fortunes of thousands in both countries. 
 Those who took the matter with the greatest ease were the Ministers 
 themselves ; but all their coercive measures against America were 
 supported in Parliament by large majorities. 
 
 2nd. — Walked into the city to Broad Street, to pay the duty 
 of my coach. How would the N. England people bear such a 
 tax, even from their own Representatives ? Called at M"" Lane's 
 counting-house in Nicholas Lane. General Mackay called upon 
 me, having been a few days in town from Scotland : apologised 
 for not writing me oftener, after he left New England, because 
 he did not chuse to run the risk of his letters falling into other 
 persons' hands : says that after he arrived, he told Administra- 
 tion what they might expect : gave them an account of Franklin 
 as a most dangerous man, but they gave little heed to it. He 
 asked whether Hancock lived in Boston ? I said I supposed so, 
 as I had heard nothing to the contrary.* " And not secured ? " 
 says the General. 
 
 • Hancock's house was a detached one that looked out on the common. 
 There was one houre between it and the State House. I made a sketch of 
 it in May, 1837. It has since been removed. 
 
T^.] DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 341 
 
 Jad, 
 1 
 
 We all dined with M' Soame Jenyns. M' Jn" Pownall, wife, 
 and daughter in company. A Eout in the evening, and many 
 ladies who I did not know : a M' Randall, and Col. H. 
 [blank]. 
 
 M' Pownall, while there, received a note from BT Knox, with 
 an ace' of the scooner's arrival, and the snm of the advice by 
 her : had intended an attack, but dropped it, some opposing : 
 talked of an army of 15,000, to be kept in the pay of all the 
 Governments : had summoned the old Council, in order to settle 
 
 a Constitution. G thought 20,000 men would be necessary. 
 
 Very cold evening now. 
 
 3rd. — M' Lane and son, M"^ Watson, wife, sister, and partner, 
 and a young Canadian in his family, and M' Jon. [?] Bernard, 
 and M"^ Vassall, all diced with me. In the evening M' Mauduit 
 joined. Three gentlemen from New England, IngersoU, Bliss, 
 and Blowers, came to my house in the evening, with a great 
 number of letters and papers from my friends. [Weather] very 
 moderate and pleasant. 
 
 Mr. Blowers. — " Sampson Salter Blowers was born at Boston in 
 March, 1743, and was educated at Harvard College. He studied 
 law with Governor Hutchinson, as Judges were then allowed to 
 have students. He was one of the Counsel for Cap. Preston in 
 1770. He signed the Address to Governor Hutchinson on his 
 departure. At the beginning of the Eebellion he was imprisoned ; 
 I do not know whether he was released or escaped. He went to 
 London [as we are informed above], where he lived for some time, 
 till appointed Solicitor-General of New York, then held by the 
 King's troops. After the rebellion, he was appointed Attorney- 
 General of Nova Scotia ; was elected to the Assembly, and chosen 
 without opposition as Speaker, though party quarrels ran high in 
 the House. The Colony was then excited by the disputes of 
 ' Loyalists ' and ' Old Settlers,' as the contending political parties 
 were called. Blowers led the Loyalists. In 1797 he was appointed 
 Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, and resigned his seat in 1832. During 
 these 35 years he outlived every person in public life in the Colony. 
 The Governor and two of his successors ; the two Judges, and four 
 of their successors ; thirty Barristers ; the twelve Members of his 
 Majesty's Council [?] and several of their successors; the forty 
 Members of Assembly, and many who had succeeded to their seats : 
 — all these passed away while Blowers was Chief Justice. He lived 
 
342 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mj. 
 
 ten years after retiring from the Bench, and died at Halifax, from 
 the efifects of a fall in October, 1842, aged 99 years and 7 months. 
 He married a Miss Kent, who outlived him two years, and died at 
 about 90. Blowers was of great ability. He had untiring industry, 
 vast legal knowledge, sound judgment, impartiality, and patience. 
 He had little eloquence ; no wit or imagination. His mind was 
 grave, deliberate, and cautious. But on one occasion he showed an 
 irritable temper. Uniacke, the Attorney-General of Nova Scotia 
 after Blowers, a very able, but rufEanly man, had a street fight 
 with Jonathan Stems, a Boston Loyalist. Uniacke, a very strong 
 man, beat so savagely Stems, a weak and sickly man, as to cause 
 his death. Blowers, who was an intimate friend of M' Stems, was 
 so angry that he challenged Uniacke to fight a duel. Uniacke 
 accepted the challenge, but secretly sent his wife to inform the 
 police Magistrates. So the two ofGicers of the law in the Colony 
 were bound over to keep the peace. Blowers had the greatest 
 esteem for Foster Hutchinson, Jr. [a nephew of the Governor], 
 and was greatly grieved by his death. Blowers retained his 
 faculties to the last. He kept up his College studies, and always 
 read with pleasure the Greek and Latin classics. In his later 
 years he was silent and gloomy, and would not speak of the scenes 
 he had witnessed many years before. He destroyed all his papers : 
 no letters nor memoranda of any kind were left by him. In person 
 he was very short, and rather thin : his face had some resemblance 
 to that of Washington ; a portrait of him is in the Legislative 
 House at Halifax, but does not in the least resemble him. He had 
 no children, and his property, after his widow's death, went to a 
 M' Bliss."— W. J. Stirling. 
 
 4th. — In the morning accompanied the three N. England 
 men to L* Dartmouth's, who made a particular enquiry into 
 the affairs of the Province. Bliss gave the fullest account. 
 He was clear, upon Lord D. asking whether any concession 
 would be like to satisfy, that it would not, and that nothing 
 but a force sufficient would bring them to order. He told 
 Lord D. that a day or two before he came away. Gushing met 
 him and told him he had a letter from Franklin, advising to 
 persevere with firmness and moderation; that their friends 
 increased : that as great a majority would be for them in the 
 next Parliament, as had been against them in the present or 
 now last : that there would be a change in Administration, and 
 
f??;! DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 343 
 
 17T5.J 
 
 then friends would come in. Went to the Registry of the 
 Exchequer in the Abbey. Saw and examined Doomsday 
 Book, and was surprised to see them [2 vols.] so intire, so well 
 preserved and the writing so plain and legible.* 
 
 I stopped half an hour at Lord D.'s office with M. Pownall 
 and Knox who, as they said, were lownging ; and it is strange 
 to see every office in a state of inaction. 
 
 We all dined with M"^ Grant in Billiter Lane. Sir Arch. 
 Grant, Lady, 2 old maiden daughters, a M' Grant, of King 
 Street, Cap. Gordon of the Navy, and wife, who is niece to 
 Lord Chancellor, all Scotch, made the company. Sir Arch, is 
 between 80 and 90 : four or five years ago married Miller the 
 Broker's [? illegible] daughter, with 60,000£, who seems to be 
 about 50, and has purchased a Ladyship. He lives i the year 
 in Scotland : was in Parliam' from 22 to 36 : has jjept to his 
 estate ever since : says he has planted fifty millions of forest 
 trees, besides what he has sown and not transplanted, which 
 cannot be numbered. So great a planter seems to have been 
 rewarded by so long a life, to see so great fruit from his 
 labours. 
 
 5th. — In the morning to Clemens Lane and back. The New 
 England passengers in Callahan and IngersoU, who came in the 
 scooner, dined with us, as also Mauduit. 
 
 M. shewed me a letter from Buggies, and read a paragraph 
 wherein he offers to raise a Regiment, if the King would 
 authorise him, and desires to know His Majesty's pleasure: 
 says he will take no step until he has an answer, unless General 
 Gage should propose it to him. 
 
 6th. — About a quarter after nine we set out from St. James's 
 Street, in a coach with four post horses for Bath : made onr 
 first stage at Hounslow, the next Maidenhead, then Readings 
 and a quarter after five put up at the Castle Lm in Speenham 
 Lands, 58 miles, which is more than at the rate of 8 miles an 
 hour for the time we were in the coach. 
 
 Maidenhead is but small ; Reading is a second-rate town, of 
 which we took a good view from the upper rooms of the Inn : 
 
 • Sept. 10, 1851, in the Chapter House, I also examined this valuable 
 record, and made extracts for my MS. Hist, of Sidmouth. — P. 0. H. 
 
344 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mi 
 
 has 3 parish churches, and several Dissenting Meetinghouses — 
 Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers. 
 After Brentford, except the places where we stopt, the villages 
 are small and but few of them ; and exclusive of the towns, 
 there is the appearance of a country as thick settled in many 
 of the roads in New England, as in the tract of country we 
 have travelled to-day. Newbury runs along by Speenham 
 Lands, in a long street in sight, but the road goes through no 
 part of it. The river Kennet, which is said to have its rise in 
 Marlboro', and to join the Thames somewhere near Beading, 
 has been made navigable for barges, and is as near as wide as 
 Naponset river a mile above Milton Bridge, but must be 
 deeper.* 
 
 7th. — We set out from Speenham Lands about 8, and made 
 our first stop at Marlboro', at an Inn which was the seat of a 
 late Duke of Somerset, and the apartments are now exceeding 
 elegant, and part of the same furniture remains — ^the gardens 
 in good order. This place was once a Eoman Castle : part of 
 one of the angles remained at the bottom of the garden until a 
 few years since, when the stones were removed. The Mount, 
 which was a Watch Tower for the Castle, remains entire at the 
 upper corner of the garden ; has an eight-square small building 
 at the top, which I attempted to go up to, but the grass was so 
 wet that I restrained my curiosity to preserve my health. 
 There is a fine prospect of the town and the country round, as 
 I understood. The town is not large : the buildings in general 
 mean — near the Market somewhat better. 
 
 Our next stage was the Devises ; t at the entrance of which 
 is an elegant new-built house on the left side of the road, the 
 seat of M' Heathcoate ; and it is in general a better town than 
 Marlborough, but a third or fourth-rate town at least, most of 
 
 ♦ The N'aponset, or Neponset, as they used to spell it when I was there, is 
 a river which, it is pleasing to observe, has retained its original Indian name. 
 It falls into Boston Harbour at about three miles south-by-east of the city. 
 Milton is on this river, seven miles south of Boston. It was here, and also 
 at Braintree, a few miles to the south-east, that the Governor's principal 
 estates lay. 
 
 t The Devises. The article is never used now, but the place is spoken of 
 simply as Devises. In early times they spoke of The Massachusetts, but the 
 prefix has become obsolete. 
 
mi.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 345 
 
 the houses being of wood plastered. From Maidenhead to the 
 Devises the soil is generally upon the gravel, and abstracted 
 from the benefit it received from the humidity of the air, 
 beyond that of New England. I doubt whether it would be 
 more fertile. But from the Devise 5 to Bath, the soil is upon 
 the clay, and is much of the same quality with Milton hill : 
 many springy hills, and the best grass land between Bath and 
 London, and consequently there is a less proportion under 
 tillage. We reached Bath at 4 : dined at the Bear, and took 
 lodgings at M' Briton's, Milsom Street. 
 
 The application of geology, as a science, to the chemical principles 
 of agriculture, was but little understood a hundred years ago. Clay 
 was clay, and gravel was gravel, no matter what geological forma- 
 tion they belonged to ; yet neither of them could be identical if 
 taken from the Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, or Quaternary series. 
 From London to Eeading and on to Newbury it is almost entirely 
 on the London Clay : thence beyond Marlborough on the Chalk ; 
 Devises on the Greensand ; and then westward over the edges of 
 the strata, in a descending order, to the Great Oolite at Bath. 
 
 8th. — A storm the whole day, so that I did not go out of the 
 house. Billy, in the evening was taken very ill with, as I 
 thought, a bilious cholick. I gave him a dose of Indian root, 
 which, not working in an hour, and his pain being extreme, I 
 sent for D' Carleton, to whom, in case of need, I had been 
 advised by Master [?] Montagu, who, by the help of camomile 
 tea, set the vomit a-« orking, and afterwards prescribed a com- 
 position instead of castor oil, which I had prepared for him as 
 a cathartick, which, after some 7 or 8 hours, had the intended 
 effect. 
 
 9th. — I called this morning upon Col. Barre, Gov. Tryon, and 
 Col. Cunningham, who were all from home : upon M' Montagu, 
 elder brother to the Admiral, and of good estate in the neigh- 
 bourhood, who I found at home. Went to the Lower Booms 
 and subscribed, and to the Pump Booms, and took a view of 
 that part of the city. M' Temple and Bowdoin called upon 
 me. 
 
 10th. — I set out with E [lisha] in a post-chaise early in the 
 morning to Bristol. From Bath to Reynsham, about 8 miles. 
 
346 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mi. 
 
 found rich grass land, clay soil, much like what we found 
 between the Devises and Bath ; after that to Bristol, more like 
 the land about Marlboro' and Beading. The river Avon runs 
 along much as the road goes, down to Bristol, navigable all the 
 way for barges, and at Bristol for ships of burden. It looks for 
 colour and thickness like Connecticut and Hudson's rivers after 
 a freshit ; and this is Raid to be its colour at all times. Break- 
 fasted at the American Coffee House. Called upon M' James, 
 a correspondent of my son's : at M' Waldo's, a New England- 
 man, but he was absent from home ; and viewed the town from 
 a hill where the Parliament's army planted their canon, and 
 beat down great part of the College or Cathedral. Then took 
 a view of the Cathedral, which has nothing worth observing, 
 being in more decent repair, otherwise not much superior to 
 that of Eochester : then walked to the Hot Wells, where found 
 many consumptive people drinking water, of which I tasted, 
 and could not think it very different from Milton water, both 
 being soft, only this is not so cold, but can scarcely be said to 
 be warm, tho' they are called the Hot Wells. It is not 
 improbable that the chief virtue may be in the imagination, 
 and the change of air, and exercise by travelling, in most of 
 the subjects. In summer it is a place for diversion, and is well 
 accommodated with well built houses for lodgings, and an 
 elegant building for a long or public room. The rocks on each 
 side the narrow river are much spoke of, but are far inferior to 
 the rocks on each side the narrows in Hudson's river.* In 
 returning I stopped at the Exchange: the building elegant 
 but the people almost all in the street, and dressed, and in all 
 other respects appeared like the London tradesmen at Long 
 Acre Chappel, as different from the Londoners on 'Change as 
 one city differs from another. I had formed a pretty just idea 
 from the long-continued accounts of people who had been 
 there, but it rather fell short: the houses are meaner, the 
 streets narrower and dirtier, and except the buildings in three 
 or four small squares (or rather some of those buildings), and 
 some of the Company Halls, there are no elegant houses, 
 scarcely fit for a first-rate tradesman to live in. At Keynsham 
 * Probably the Palisades are here alluded to. 
 
(??i.] DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 347 
 
 is a large house, faid to beloug to the Duke of Chandos,* and 
 the tower of the church there is large and well built, and there 
 are one or two houses well preserved, and seem to have been 
 built in one of the Edwards, or not long after, which might 
 then belong to persons of some distinction ; but in general it is 
 a poor village. There are half a dozen country houses within a 
 mile or two of Bristol, lately built of the Bath stone.t The 
 city (Bristol) in general, and the country round, is not to be 
 compared with Norwich. The inhabitants are said to be more 
 in number. 
 
 M' James entertained us with a dinner, and asked two of his 
 neighbours, merchants : and we returned to Bath the beginning 
 of the evening. 
 
 Cruger, the Kepresentative, had wrote to Philadelphia a 
 bitter letter against the people of England, a copy of which had 
 been sent over here, and printed in the newspapers. One of 
 the gentlemen who dined at M' James's, intimated that if it 
 had come before the Election, Cruger would have failed ; and 
 wondered he was not afraid to return to Bristol. It seems he 
 was in London when the letter appeared. I asked whether he 
 owned the letter ? He said he did not deny it. There was a 
 person in Bristol who had seen the original in Philadelphia. 
 
 The sun but little abroad to-day; the weather, notwith- 
 standing, remarkably mild and soft, like an October day in 
 New England : not the least frost anywhere. Peter Taylor, 
 Esq., Member for Portsm"*, and Gov. Tryon, called while I was 
 at Bristol. 
 
 Uth. — I called upon M' Temple, Bowdoin, and Erving, and 
 afterwards upon Peter Taylor, who was very desirous of entering 
 upon political matters. He says nothing will come on in Pari' 
 until the beginning of Feb^ : that he has reason to think there 
 has been no Cabinet Council : that each of the Lords have had 
 transcripts sent of all advices : that the Council will meet this 
 week : that a plan, or rather two different plans, for reducing 
 
 • Spelt Chandoiis, apparently. 
 
 t Geologically speaking, this is Great Oolite. If examined where broken, 
 it presents the appearance of the hard row of a herring. Though soft enough 
 to be cut with a saw when quarried, it soon hardens. It is a fine bufif colour, 
 and all Bath is entirely built with it. 
 
348 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^,"5. 
 
 America will be proposed : that if any of the Lords should be 
 disposed to favour America, they will be honorably removed 
 from the Cabinet, and others put in their stead. He himself is 
 for a duty of five pounds on every vessel, and a dozen frigates 
 constantly cruising to seize every vessel which shall be found 
 to have sailed without paying the duty, 
 
 12th. — We all went in the forenoon with Gov. Tryon and 
 M" Tryon to Col. Hamilton's house in the Orescent. Col. H. 
 is uncle to the present E. of Abercorn : has an independent 
 fortune: spent munh time in travelling: made a small but 
 well-chosen collection iu Italy, and has furnished a middle- 
 sized house in Bath, in a most elegant taste. He lived at a 
 ]>lace called Payne's Hill, in Surrey, which he sold to live at 
 Bath, where he married to a lady who lived there, but I am 
 not informed what her name was. The paintings by Panini; 
 which Col. Hamilton employed him to do, are all the strongest 
 perspectives that ever I saw, particularly the views of the 
 insides of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, which by the help of a 
 magnifying glass, fixed on triangles, appear as they hang up 
 to the greatest advantage. The Pantheon is near as strong. 
 Tiiere are many other views equally fine. A bust of Marcus 
 Aurelius is the fairest, and most intire of any antique I ever 
 saw. Another of Domitian Enobarbus, Nero's father, has the 
 advantage of being genuine beyond dispute. His hangings, 
 stained at Rome with the juice of herbs, have so much the 
 appearance of needlework, that it is difficult to distinguish 
 them from genuine tapestry. 
 
 From M^ Hamilton's I went to Lady Huntingdon's, where I 
 found her Ladyship in a very small ordinary room, with pen, 
 ink, and paper on her table, and was very politely received by 
 her. She inquired much into the state of religion in America : 
 wished to see people there lay less stress on the non-essentials 
 of religion, and to pay greater regard to the vital parts 
 of it.* 
 
 * Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, daughter of Earl Ferrars, bom 1707, 
 married Lord Huntingdon. Though gay and thoughtless in her youth, an 
 illness changed her mind to a more serious turn. She built chapels, held 
 religious meetings, patronised earnest ministers, and, having attained the aee 
 of 84, she died in 1791. ^ 
 
f?"5.J DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 349 
 
 I went to the Pump Eoom, and was a few minutes at the 
 Lower Booms, where were parties at cards, and others walking ; 
 and but a small proportion, if any of the company, such as I 
 wished to enter into an acquaintance with. At the Grave 
 Coffee House I saw M"' Temple, who inquired if I had seen the 
 Petition from the Congress, and how I approved of it ? I told 
 him I should have approved of it if it had not been connected 
 with the general proceedings of that Congress, which I did not 
 approve of. He thereupon said — " Lord Chatham has seen it, 
 and likes every part of it." 
 
 13th. — Grov. Tryon introduced me this morning to the Bishop 
 of Chester, who is a cheerful good liver, and who expressed his 
 desire of being acquainted. I saw him at the Pump Boom. 
 Peter Taylor called upon me, and acquainted me that he had 
 seen a letter from Boston, dated 10'" Decern'' from an officer in 
 one of the Begim" from Quebec, advising that the troops were 
 in good spirits : little or no desertions : that the Congress had 
 chose a Governor : and that Hancock failed of the choice by 
 one vote only. I think it more probable that one vote might 
 be wanting for proceeding to the choice of a Governor. He 
 adJs that the Asia was arrived w*'' 500 troops. It seems she 
 had 300 Marines; and that upon h'er arrival, Hancock, Adams, 
 and others, thought fit to abscond. I have also letters from 
 London to inform me Col. Prescot was arrived in 25 days from 
 Boston, and had left 9 letters and a large packet, which he 
 said were of consequence, at my house. I determined there- 
 fore to make all the haste I can to London. 
 
 14th. — We set out from Bath about 8 for Warminster 
 16 miles, over some of the largest hills which surround Bath, 
 and were an hour going between 4 and 5 miles, but reached 
 Wai-minster by i after 10. The land mostly clay and chalk. 
 Warminster is a respectable old market town, and here I saw 
 the greatest quantity of corn, being market day, that I had 
 seen in England : and we were stopped for some time by the 
 multitude of waggons. I found here a gentleman by the name 
 of Middlecot, whose grandfather went over to England* near 
 80 years ago to take possession of an estate w'" the grandson 
 * From America. 
 
350 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mj. 
 
 now lives upon. It's a good house he lives in, with elegant 
 garden: small. The grandfather was uncle to Middlecot 
 Cooke, and M" Bouchier was his sister, to whom I was a pall 
 holder about 10 years ago or more in Boston. I remember my 
 father's telling me of his being at this house,* and M™ Alden, 
 who went to England with a sister of Gov. Belcher, lived here 
 for some time, and also Doctor Cooke and son, &e. : but the 
 present owner pays little regard to, and made little enquiry 
 about, his N. England relations. He had seen among his 
 papers the names of Hutchinson, Winslow, &c. 
 
 From Warminster to Salisbury 20 miles, we rode almost all 
 the way with the hills on the left, which I suppose separates 
 us from Salisb. Plain great part of the way, and a fine vale on 
 the right, with the riverf about the breadth of Cam- 
 
 bridge river above bridge, which accounts for all that plenty 
 of com. The river runs through Salisbury, an exceeding well 
 built laige town, with strait wide streets, many of the buildings 
 having more the appearance of our brick houses in Boston, 
 than is common in country towns in England : has three parish 
 churches and the Cathedral — grand, tho' I may not compare it 
 to Canterbury, as some do. Just as we came within sight of 
 Salisb^ steeple, 3 or 4 miles off, we leave on the right Wilton, 
 a town which gives name to the carpets made there, and at 
 Salisbury, where is also a great manufactory of cutlery. We 
 rode through Andover just after dark, and from thence to 
 Whitchurch, where we lodged but tolerably. 
 
 15th. — ^We left Whitchurch just before 8. At Overton, 
 3 miles, we saw a very large brick building, a silk manufactory. 
 Stopped at Basingstoke: next at Murral Green, where we 
 passed by a pretty large wood belonging to Lord Northington : 
 from thence to Bagshot, and 2 or 3 miles beyond is the most 
 dreary heath I have seen in England. Before we came to 
 Staines the country grew pleasant: The Pillar and a large 
 Tower, built by the Duke of Cumberland meerly to help the 
 prospect from Windsor Park, was some amusement to us. We 
 
 • This is the first intimation that Thomas Hutchinson, the Governor's 
 father, had ever heen in England. 
 
 t Blank. The river Willey. It joins the Avon at Salisbury. 
 
ms.] BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 351 
 
 reached London about four. I left a tooth at Whitchurch, 
 which had given me so much trouble that I was glad to part 
 with it, tho* with some additional pain ; and I could not help 
 a reflection as I was riding — that part of my body was gone, 
 which I now felt no more affection for, than if it had been the 
 tooth of a stranger.* I could easily imagine the case to be 
 the same with a finger, a hand, an arm, and so on to every part 
 of the body, even to the brain, my thinking part still existing, 
 and perhaps assuming some other better form, or the same 
 materials moulded anew. In this reverie I remained for some 
 minutes, the more easily from my situation at this time of 
 life, so unexpected to me, three thousand miles from my 
 country and friends, so that every scene has the appearance 
 of a dream, rather than a reality. Much rain, but warm, all 
 the time we have been absent. 
 
 16th. — At Lord Dartmouth's, where I met Cap. Phipps in 
 the antechamber, who I believe did not know me, though he 
 seemed to know me by character in his speech in Parliam', 
 which I hope I did not deserve. I shewed most of my letters 
 to L" Dartmouth, and afterwards I saw him at M' Jn" Pow- 
 nall's, when M' Pownall and Knox were present ; but nothing 
 very material passed. 
 
 17tb. — I went into the city to Clements Lane. Upon my 
 return M' Ellis called upon me and spent some time in free 
 conversation upon American affairs. 
 
 I dined with L* Chancellor, as he said, en famille, but very 
 elegantly. He was dissatisfied with Gen. Gage's not putting 
 a stop to the military exercises in Fan. Hall,t and said they 
 would not be suffered here. I begged his Lordship to consider 
 whether a number of persons meeting in London, meerly to 
 gain an acquaintance with the manual exercise, could be 
 deemed an offence ? He at first thought it would ; but said it 
 deserved consideration. He made much inquiry into other 
 
 * Whether you retain an aching tooth in your head, or whether you have 
 it drawn, you suffer the same amount of pain — only, if you have it drawn, 
 you get it all in one lump. 
 
 t Faneuil Hall was a gift to the city hy Peter Faneuil, a Boston merchant. 
 I sketched it many years ago. The great hall on the first floor is 76 feet 
 square, and 28 high. Used for public meetings. — ^Midgley's 'Boston Guide,* 
 p. 10. 
 
352 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mj. 
 
 matters, in which I gave him the best satisfaction I could. I 
 sat him down, at his desire, at Lord Eochford's office, where 
 there was a Cabinet. General Urmstone, [?] who married 
 Lady Leonora, the Chancellor's sister, and who was of the 
 company also, with Col. Baugh and M' Southwell, a cousin of 
 the Chancellor's dined with him and with Lady Apsley, and 
 two young ladies, made the company. 
 
 Some of the proper names are very indistinctly written, owing 
 apparently to haste. We need not wonder, however, at the haste, 
 when we consider the multitude of letters that the exigencies of 
 that critical period compelled the Governor to write. In vol. ii. 
 of his Letter Books, and mostly entered by his own hand, there 
 are several that are pressing for quotation at this moment. Some 
 of them are more full and explicit than the Diary, and hence will 
 occasionally inform us on certain points not noticed in the Diary. 
 Writing, Jan. 9, from Bath to his son Thomas, he says : — 
 
 " My Dear child, 
 
 "Your letter dated the 15"" of September, was more than 
 three months in its passage to me, for I did not receive it until 
 the 4"" of this month in the evening, and had not time before I 
 left London, to answer by the Packet. I had rec* the ace' of your 
 mob before from other hands, tho' it moved me more to read it 
 from yours. [Young Thomas's letter not preserved.] That such 
 low rabble should behave with insolence whenever they can free 
 themselves from the restraint of the laws is not strange, but that 
 any grave, sober, sensible man or men should encourage or coun- 
 tenance them, is incredible. However, 1 recommend to you 
 patience and prudence. Say but little, and hope for better times, 
 which I believe are not far off. 
 
 " I long to return to you, which I say little about, and not only 
 put on the best appearance, but take every method most likely to 
 keep up my spirits, and chiefly for that purpose I made a journey 
 here, [to Bath,] but I meet with no diversions or entertainments 
 that are so agreeable to me as what I could find at home. Indeed, 
 I had rather live in obscurity there, than in pomp and splendor 
 here. I hope affairs will be settled this summer, and that the 
 people will be convinced that their best friends are those who they 
 have esteemed and treated as their greatest enemies. I hope the 
 children will not forget me, or rather Peggy, for Tommy [b. 1772, 
 d. 1837] was too small to have any lasting impressions. Peggy 
 often wishes to see them. Nurse, I conclude, will remain with 
 
mj.] DIABT AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 353 
 
 one or other of you until I can make a more certain judgment 
 al)out my return. 
 
 " Elisha and I intend to go to Bristol to-morrow, and the latter 
 end of the week we all intend to go back to London. I had like 
 to have said — ^to go home to London ; but that I hope would have 
 been a very improper expression. 
 
 " I shall be glad to hear of you by every vessel, and from you 
 as often as you please. The Doctor [his son-in-law Doctor Peter 
 Oliver] will consider my letters to you as letters to him also. 
 
 " I have so many letters to write in answer to what I have 
 received, that I take a leisure hour here to write to you, lest I 
 should be too much crowded with other business in London. I 
 am not certain of any opportunity of sending to N. England. 
 
 " I hope and pray for the best of blessings upon you and yours, 
 and am Y' Affect. Father." 
 
 18th. — Being the Queen's Birthday I was at Court, which 
 was crowded excessively. Peggy was carried by Lady Dart- 
 mouth. [Elisha, in his Diary, speaks of being there too : and 
 in a letter to his wife written this day.] I mentioned to 
 Jenkinson and Wedderbiime at Court the mischievous effect 
 of the Boston Fort Bill, which brought a burden upon the 
 friends of government, whilst those who it was intended to 
 punish felt no ill, the people in the neighbouring Governments, 
 by their large benefactions, supporting them in idleness. They 
 both thf)Ught it deserved consideration. 
 
 Mauduit dined with me at six. Called upon M' Wedder- 
 burne in the evening, who was from home. 
 
 19th. — M"^ Hood called, from Portsmouth, Sir Jeflfery Am- 
 herst. Visited M' and M" Gambier. M^ Whately called and 
 mentioned a fresh circumstance in the aifair of the Letters : — 
 that the person to whom T. said that he was to see M' Whately 's 
 letters from Gov. H., had said that T. told him he had seen 
 some, and one particularly which mentioned the " Abridgment 
 of English liberties," and that he expected to see others which, 
 if true, exculpates T. from faking them from Whately 's files. 
 
 I went in the evening to M' Wedderbuine's (first calling 
 upon L" Mansfield, who was not in town). I talked with him 
 upon the repeal of the Port Act ; and tho' he was convinced of 
 its inefficacy, he said it could not be repealed, but thought 
 
 2 A 
 
354 DIAJRT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS SUTCHINSON. [ms. 
 
 a way might be found to admit persons well affected, by licence. 
 He said some test would be necessary to evidence persons' 
 principles in America; and that M' Grenville thought there 
 should be an express acknowledgment of the authority of 
 Parliament. I told him that would make a great convulsion. 
 He said, nothing could be more reasonable than that all con- 
 cerned in Gov' or in any office whatsoever, should declare they 
 would submit to the Constitution as settled by Act of Parlia- 
 ment. We had much other conversation upon the nature of 
 government, and that of the Colonies in particular; but I 
 thought measures were not fully settled, or that he was not 
 fully acquainted with them. He wished Gage had dispersed 
 the mobs with his troops, and thought he ought to have secured 
 the heads of the Congress. I wished the controversy settled 
 without blood. He said the people in Scotland were better 
 humoured ever since the bloo-lshed in the Bebellion [of 1745.] 
 I asked what Gage ,could have done with the heads of the 
 Congress ? " Secured them," he said. He said he had thought, 
 but did not determine, that a proper punishment for the 
 members of the Congress would be to declare them aliens. 
 
 To Mr. Green, on January 10, he speaks thus of Bath : — 
 " A letter from Bath will be more of a rarity than a letter from 
 London. Bath, perhaps the most elegant city in England, pro- 
 digiously improved within a few years, most of the buildings new, 
 and of one sort of stone, not unlike the stone you have from Nova 
 Scotia, but rather whiter : the streets paved like the new pave- 
 ment in London, and after three or four days of rain, three or four 
 hours of sun make them so perfectly dry, that you may walk 
 about town in slippers. I am told there are ten thousand people 
 in town who are not inhabitants ; but nobody has the appearance 
 of a stranger, and people who never saw one another before, are 
 as familiar as those who have been intimately acquainted all their 
 days. It has as fine a country round it as any town in England." 
 
 Alluding to the great topic of the day, he remarks : — 
 
 " Lord N. only says, the authority of Pari' must be maintained. 
 i could not help thinking that several parts of the late Act for 
 regulating the government of Mass. Bay, might safely be altered 
 without its appearing to be done in compliance with the principle 
 that Pari' had not authority to make the. Act : and I was planning 
 
mil DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 355 
 
 Ills. I 
 
 a Bill ; but when I mentioned to a Lord in Administration, "who 
 always attends to every healing motion, and who now owned that 
 I was quite right in my opinion of the reasonableness of the 
 Amendments, he nevertheless declared strongly against the least 
 alteration at this time, lest it should be construed into a concession 
 to the claim. 
 
 " I never met with anything which set the depravity of human 
 nature in a more striking light, than the conduct of the Noblemen 
 at the heads of the past Administration. Lord. R., who was the 
 father of the Declaratory Act, for the undivided authority of Pari* 
 but against the exercise of it in taxation : Lord T., who protested 
 against the repeal of the Stamp Act, and [yet] has been uniform 
 
 upon all subsequent occasions with Lord Ch : Lord C n, 
 
 and Sh ne, who have all, at different times, declared that Pari' 
 
 has no authority to tax the Colonies, have their meetings, of which 
 their respective dependants make part, and are laying their heads 
 together to distress the present Administration, though they know 
 it must be at the expense of, if not fatal, to both Kingdom and 
 Colonies. Their plan is, to propose nothing themselves, but to 
 inflame the minds of the people against everything proposed by 
 Administration : and they have lowered themselves so far as to 
 consult Junius Lee, and some of them, even Quinoy : and a gentle- 
 man in whose house Lee has lately taken a lodging, told me 
 Lord T. was after him five times between Thursday and Sunday 
 
 morning. F n is stirring up a meeting of the Merchants in 
 
 London, who profess not to trouble themselves about the political 
 dispute, and only to pray in general for the care of their interest 
 in America : and they chose what was called a good Committee, 
 except the late Sheriff Lee, and one other person, who it is sup- 
 posed will draw the rest farther than they intended. But the 
 best judges say the Opposition cannot be numerous, though the 
 partizans of every Administration in the present Reign should 
 join. Our old friend Gov. Pownall lost his Election for Tregony. 
 Lord North has let him into a Court Borough, vacated since the 
 General Election, so that he must be with the Minister. He has 
 published a second [vol. ?] to his administration of the Colonies. 
 I have just looked into it, and find it above my capacity. 
 
 " I have not had a glimpse .of BoUan since I have been in 
 England. He writes against me, if a man may be called a writer, 
 whose works nobody reads." 
 
 Further down, in the same letter, he says : — 
 
 " A gentleman well acquainted with American affairs said to 
 
 '2 A 2 
 
356 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [i??i. 
 
 me, speaking of F n, ' What has that man to answer for I If 
 
 it had not been for that most •wicked proceeding ahout your letters, 
 England and the Colonies would now have been reconciled. He 
 saw the probability of it, and therefore ruined his own character 
 to prevent it.' 
 
 " I am told by gentlemen who are of the Eoyal Society, and 
 who used to be of a Philosophical Club with him, that he has 
 never shewn his head among them, nor in any other company that 
 they could hear of, for a twelvemonth past, nor had he ever 
 appeared at any public office, or on any public occasion, except 
 when he went a little while ago to Lord Dartmouth with BoUan 
 and Lee to deliver the Petition to the King." 
 
 Jan. 16, he writes to Chief Justice Peter Oliver, who by this 
 time was shut up in " the City of Refuge " : — 
 
 " My Dear Sir. 
 
 " I returned last night from Bath, a day at least sooner than 
 I intended, before I heard of Col. Prescott's arrival with letters 
 from N. England. A gentleman and Member of Parliament 
 assured me at Bath, he had seen a letter from an officer in the 
 Army at Boston, of the lO"" December, advising that M' Hancock 
 lost the Governor's place by one vote only : that the Asia arrived 
 a day or two after : immediately upon which M' Adams, Hancock, 
 and some others absconded. This, you know, when I came to 
 town, I found was not true." 
 
 Near the end he adds : — 
 
 " I write nothing worth mentioning, and therefore don't mention 
 it. I chuse not to be talked of," 
 
 A hasty P.S. of Jan. 21 says : — 
 
 " A motion to refer to the Com. of the whole House, appointed 
 to act for America. The Petit, of the Lond. Merch. and Brist. 
 Merch. has been twice rejected : and the Petit, of BoUan and 
 others, that the majority in the H. is generally 250 to 80 odd. In 
 the Lords 20 to 80, or more." 
 
 To some friend unnamed, of Jan. 11 : — 
 
 " I assure you 1 had rather die in a little country farm house in 
 
 N. England, than in the best Nobleman's seat in Old England ; 
 
 and have therefore given no ear to any proposal of settling here. 
 
 I think the controversy must be settled this summer." 
 
 Jan. 18, to Lieut.-Govemor Oliver, the second of that name : — 
 
 " Some of the chief say they had rather hear of an action. I 
 
itn ] BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOHUffSON. 357 
 
 1!7S i 
 
 hope not, as the loss of lives may make a thoro' reconciliation more 
 difficult. The least I think we can hope for now is, that this 
 controvensy, by some means or other, will now be settled." 
 
 He makes some reasonable remarks on the American demands, 
 in a letter to his brother Foster of Jan. 18 : — 
 
 " Everything in reason could be obtained, if there was not an 
 absurdity in applying for it : — for how can you ask Pari' to repeal 
 an Act which you assert was a nullity ah initio, and consequently 
 to need no repeal ? But I have been so used to absurdities that 
 I would venture upon a repeal of the Boston Port Act, if I could 
 get a prospect of success. I think it may be done upon the prin- 
 ciple of inutility for the purpose for which it was enacted, and 
 not affect the authority or dignity of Pari'. 
 
 " Whilst the troops cannot be in the other parts to protect the 
 property of importers, shutting that property out of Boston where 
 it may be protected, is giving aid to the Association against im- 
 porting, and a most impolitick measure. I have spoke with several 
 ministers who seemed strongly impressed ; but unless there should 
 be another Bill, laying a more general, but conditional restraint 
 upon your trade, which has been much talked of, I can give no 
 great encouragement." 
 
 These sentiments show how very much Governor Hutchinson 
 has hitherto been misrepresented by his American biographers. 
 Addressing himself to Mr. Erving, Jan. 19, he says: — 
 
 " I have despaired of being instrumental in bringing about the 
 relief of Boston ever since the refusal to pay for the tea." He 
 goes on in this letter to lament the condition of the unfortunate 
 inhabitants shut up in the devoted city : declares his conviction 
 that the Port Bill has wholly failed to accomplish the objects it 
 wes intended to effect ; that it was meant to punish those who 
 were hostile to the English Government ; that, on the contrary, 
 the friends of Government had become the greatest sufferers ; that 
 he was using all available opportunities for laying these facts 
 before the King's ministers ; and that, though he had been told 
 that the Act could not be repealed, he hoped that some modifica- 
 tion of it might be effected. 
 
 20th. — I called upon Com. Hood and Col. Barre, but missed 
 them ; and also Col. Prescott. Spent half an hour at L* 
 Dartmouth's ofiSce with M' Pownall and Knox, who say matters 
 
358 BIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms'. 
 
 are determined in part only; that L* North will open on 
 Thursday. Mauduit called in the evening w**" M' Gibbons, 
 Member for St. Ives, who desired to see me on American 
 affairs, and we are to dine with Muudiiit next Monday. 
 
 21st.— Wailed on the D. of Grafton for the first time. I 
 like his candor and moderation in American affairs. He was 
 very explicit : wished me to call often, and when [I] had any 
 advices, to communicate them. 
 
 Afterwards upon L** Hillsborough, who gave me a full account 
 of Lord Chatham's motion yesterday, to move His Majesty to 
 recall the troops from Boston ; supported by Lord Shelburne, 
 Camden, Eock™, Richmond, [blank for more,] and opposed by 
 L" Suffolk, who, he said, spake admirably well ; Lord Littleton, 
 Gower, Townshend, Eochford, 18 votes and no prox. for the 
 motion ; and 68 and 9 prox. against it. 
 
 Col. Prescot and M"^ Thomson called. 
 
 I lament my not being at the House of Lords yesterday, 
 imagining, as there had been nothing said in the Commons, 
 there would not in the Lords, until a day was assigned. 
 
 In quoting from a number of letters of nearly contemporary 
 date, mostly dwelling on the same topics, sent in different direc- 
 tions for the information of many correspondents, it is difficult to 
 avoid repetition. But as the object of this book is not so much 
 to write a history of the rise of the American revolutionary war 
 as to produce authentic scraps of original information, this evil, it 
 is hoped, will be looked upon as of small consequence. Addressing 
 himself to General Gage, on the 20th of this present month of 
 January, 1775, he speaks of one of the Petitions : — 
 
 " Yesterday there was a debate in the Commons upon presenting 
 the Petition from the Merch" of London, the motion being for 
 referring it to the Com' of the whole House upon the American 
 papers ; which was opposed and carried for a special Comittee by 
 190 odd to 80 odd, some of the 80 most probably being such as 
 upon the main question will be w*^ Administration." 
 
 Writing to Dr. Murray, Jan. 21, he gives verbatim the words of 
 Lord Chatham's motion for withdrawing the troops from Boston ; 
 and on the motion being rejected, he states the numbers as fol- 
 lows : Contents, 18 ; Proxies, ; Non-Contents, 68 ; Proxies 9 = 77. 
 Adolphus, II. 186, has Contents 18, and Non-Contents 68, but he 
 does not notice the 9 Proxies. 
 
f *"5.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 359 
 
 The Americans had been greatly encouraged, by letters sent out 
 to them by their agents in England, to cherish their extreme views 
 of liberty, upon the ground that they had many friends and sup- 
 porters in England. Mr. Hutchinson, when writing Jan. 27 to 
 Mr. Sewall, combats this view, and declares it to be fallacious. 
 He says : — 
 
 " The letters to Government by Col. Prescot, that came in my 
 absence, [at Bath] have fixed those who were wavering : and 
 although I doubt not that Franklin will still write, encouraging 
 his deluded correspondents, that a strong party are in their favour, 
 there certainly is no other party here than what ia formed from 
 opposition to the present Ministry; the removal of which, and 
 Lord Chatham at the head of a new Ministry, would in my opinion 
 shorten the controversy, but not in a way which the Sons of 
 Liberty would approve of." 
 
 No doubt Lord Chatham in o£&ce would be a very different man, 
 and would say and do many things very differently, from Lord 
 Chatham out of office. Out of office, like many others out of 
 office, he will tell you of all your errors and blunders, and how 
 everything you have done is wrong ; that all the difficulties which 
 overwhelm you are only trifles, which could easily be removed if 
 you would follow his advice, and yet, if by chance he should find 
 himself in your place, all the world sees that he gets on no better 
 than you did. Burke was very skilful in finding fault, but wholly 
 impotent in applying the true remedies. Both these statesmen 
 had ingratiated themselves with the Americans by pretending 
 that they sympathised with them in all their wants ; yet both of 
 them had declared that the supremacy of Parliament over the 
 Colonies could not be given up, which was now the last and only 
 point for which the Americans were contending. 
 
 The Governor saw into things better when he came to England. 
 He had opportunities for seeing further behind the scenes. In a 
 letter of Jan. 20 to Mr. Secretary Flucker, he says : — 
 
 " I had not a right idea when in America of the state of Admin". 
 In matters of such moment the Prime Min. is much less the fac- 
 totum than I imagined. Such matters [some recent measures] 
 come intire before the Cabinet, the K. himself being more his own 
 Min. than any of his Predecessors [?] have been in the present 
 century." 
 
 22nd. — At the Temple. D' Morrill, upon — " If thine enemy 
 
 incer '' (fen. 
 
 hunger," &c. 
 
360 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOHINSON. [mV. 
 
 By appointment visited L" Suffolk, who said a great deal on 
 American affairs. He owned he looked upon an attempt to 
 enforce internal taxation desperate : asked what effect an 
 explicit declaration of Parliament would have, setting forth 
 the reasonableness of the Americans contributing to the sup- 
 port of Government ; and declaring that upon such contribu- 
 tion by the respective Assemblies, it was the determination 
 the Acts, except such as regulated trade, should be repealed ; 
 and that the monies raised by such Acts as remained in force, 
 should be applied to the support of the Government where it 
 was raised ? But he started objections : and particularly that 
 of the Colonies taking advantage of such a declaration as a 
 concession ; and insisting more vigorously on the rest of their 
 claims. 
 
 Dined at Lord Edgecumbe's : a M'' Butt, Member for Lost- 
 withiel, and young Bparhawk, with Lady E., and Peggy, made 
 the company. 
 
 In the evening at D' Heberden's, with a very polite company : 
 — the Dean of Salisbury, M' Harris of Salisbury, Member for 
 Christchurch, M' Crofts, for Camb. Univ^ [? blotted]. Doctor 
 Boss, Daniel Wray, M'' Pottinger, and three or four more : the 
 conversation in every part sensible, and the time well spent. 
 All the party seem friends to Government. Went with 
 Mauduit. 
 
 23rd. — Made a visit to Lord Gage: after which went with 
 him to the House of Commons to hear the debate upon the 
 March** Petition. Alderman Hay ley, after stating the pur- 
 port, asked for leave to bring it up ? w'^" being obtained, he 
 went to the Bar ; brought it up in form, and laid it on the 
 Table ; and tht-n moved that it might be referred to the 
 Committee of the whole House, appointed to consider the 
 American papers next Thursday,* and that the Merchants 
 might be heard by themselves or their Agents. S' W™ 
 Meredith opposed the Motion, by moving for an Amendment, 
 that it might be referred to a t Committee of the whole House, 
 and gave his reasons, as it would lend delay, and leave America 
 
 * It was now Monday, 
 t The a is underlined. 
 
i??6.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 361 
 
 in its present disorderly state.* Burke took him up and 
 flowered away in an oratorical strain, with great verbosity : 
 half his speech was aimed at L* North, for suffering the Pari' 
 to go over so long, to eat his mince pyes : and S' W" Mere- 
 dith, with a stick in his band, a little funny, but fulsome. Sir 
 Gilbert Eliot answered him : one great part of his objection 
 being the Merchants exposing their affairs — one, by what he 
 said at the Bar of the House, having ruined himself. He 
 meant Eeeve of Bristol; but the objection held against all 
 Committees whatever. Tommy Townshend answered S' Gilb' 
 Eliot : spake against hostile measures : and as he was for con- 
 ciliatory, there would be no inconvenience from delay. He 
 and Burke said political and commercial measures were in- 
 separable. Lord Clare spake with warmth against mizing this 
 Petition with the general affair. 
 
 Capt. Lutterell made a set formal speech : asserted the 
 supremacy of Parliament, but was for conciliatory measures, 
 and for Haley's motion : professed to be well acquainted with 
 Mass. Bay, and knew them to be destitute of money ; scarce a 
 man could command 100£, whereas it is the most flush of 
 money of any Province in America. 
 
 Lord Stanley went into the merits of the controversy between 
 the Kingdom and the Colonies, and left the question. 
 
 S' Geo. Maccartnay, of the same side, followed him, and did 
 not speak ill, but he was not attended to. 
 
 Gov. Johnstone said little more than that it was better to 
 reject the Petition at once. Assigning it to a Committee after 
 the determination upon American affairs, would be like passing 
 a Vote, and then assigning a time to debate upon it. 
 
 A M' Innes, a new Member, made a short blundering speech. 
 
 He said he was concerned in America a little: he thanked 
 
 God it was no more : but he was not for petitioning : he knew 
 
 some that signed that Petition had said they hoped it would not 
 
 succeed : he desired to have it read : and when he heard their 
 
 names, he would tell who they were. He kept the house in a 
 
 * " To-morrow the Merchants carry their Petition ; which I suppose will 
 he coolly received, since, if I hear true, the system is to cut off all traffic with 
 America at present ; as you know, we can revive it when we please. There ! 
 There is food for meditation."— Walpole's Letters. 
 
362 hIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mj. 
 
 roar by his odd manner, but concluded that he was for going 
 on without delay to support Goyernment, and did not wish 
 this petition to be a hinderance. He said there was no law to 
 recover debts in America : they must be coaxed to it : alluding 
 probably to the design of the Petitioners, to please the 
 Americans. 
 
 Charles Fox spake with fire, but nothing more than had 
 been said, only he sqibbed more at L" North than even 
 Johnstone. 
 
 Lord North then gravely excused, as well as he could, the 
 ■long adjournment, and wondered gent, who found so much fault 
 with that, should be for a measure which must cause much longer 
 delay. Lord Jn" Cavendish answered Lord North briefly : and 
 a new Member, M' Adams, very properly brought the House 
 back to the question which had been so much deviated from, 
 when M' Townshend, attempting to speak a second time, was 
 interrupted, and the Question called for, when the House was 
 cleared. 
 
 Burke, in the course of the Debate, would have spoke a 
 second time, but was soon called to order; and S' Gilbert 
 Eliot, who had gone out, returned to explain himself.* 
 
 M' Bacon of Norwich called upon me to-day. 
 
 24th. — Called upon S' Jeffery Amherst, M' Jenkinson, M' 
 Cornwall— all from home. M' Whately called, and M' Heald. 
 
 Dined with M' Mauduit.f Master [of the Temple] Montagu, 
 S' Harry Houghton, and M' Gibbons — the. two last Members 
 of Parliament, both for supporting the authority of Pari', but 
 ready to any reasonable concession: the first, a Dissenter, 
 attends at the Old Jewry. 
 
 25th. — At Lord Dartmouth's Levee. Mentioned the arrears 
 due to W Belcher for salary when L' Governor : the case of 
 
 * At a period when debates in Parliament were rarely, or only irregularly 
 reported, the above may be taken as a fair report of that day's debate. 
 
 f Israel Mauduit was son of -a dissenting minister, and he was educated 
 for the dissenting ministry, but quitted it and engaged in trade with his 
 brother Jasper, and his son-in-law Wright. "When secretary to a dissenting 
 society for propagating the Gospel in America, he refused to pay the agents 
 who had sided with the Eebel party. He wrote many pamphlets. He died 
 unmarried, at Clements Inn, Lombard Street, June 14, 1787, aged. 78, leaving 
 an ample fortune. — See OenVt Mag. for June, 1787. 
 
f,^J DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. G63 
 
 Eichardson and Wilmot He intimated that measures were 
 now determined with respect to America: he wished they 
 could have been accompanied with other measures which he 
 bad proposed, particularly the appointment of Commissioners 
 to go to America. I told his Lordship I had proposed that 
 thing to M' Pownall formerly. The difiBcnlty now would be 
 to steer so as to keep clear of affording them a pretence for 
 triumph, as having gained one point which all the rest might 
 as well follow. He thought that might be done : hoped some- 
 thing would yet be done, though he added, " when I proposed 
 it, it was scouted at." 
 
 The evening at M' Enox's, with Gen. Armstrong, Gov. 
 Grant and M' Pennant : the two last of the H. of Com., the 
 Bishop of Norwich, and M' [blank] besides ladies. 
 
 26th. — I called upon M' Cornwall, who gave me a more full 
 account of the plan of Admin" than I had heard before. He 
 says 3 Kegim' will go immediately from Ireland, besides one 
 Begim* of cavalry, and drafts of men, but I understand not 
 horses from the cavalry, equal to another Begiment : 500 men 
 in order to com pleat the Regim'° gone and going : 600 Marines, 
 and 10 or 12 sloops of War, or small frigates. This he says is 
 all it will be convenient to mention at present ; but intimated 
 that further force would go afterwards. He spoke of a plan of 
 regulation of Government as being in embryo only. 
 
 Col. Prescot called upon me : also Col. Abercrombie from 
 Scotland, who was in A.merica with L" Loudoun, Gen. Aber- 
 crombie, &c. 
 
 In the afternoon came on a debate in the H. of Commons, 
 upon a new Petition from the London Merch. to have the 
 order upon their first Petition expunged, and the Petition con- 
 sidered w'" the American papers; and another debate upon a 
 Petition from BoUan, Franklin, and Lee, that they may be 
 heard by Council upon the Petition from the Congress to the 
 King. The first was rejected upon a division, by 250 against 
 89 ; the last [blank]. 
 
 Adolphus, II., 194, fills this blank by giving the numbers 218 
 and 68. The day after this debate the Governor addressed a letter 
 to General Gage, in which he makes the following remarks — 
 
364 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mi. 
 
 " Yesterday being the day appointed for reading the papers in the 
 H. of Commons, a second Petition was presented from the Merch' 
 of mnch the same tenor with the former, w**" was rejected by 260 
 to 89 : and then another from Bollan, Frnnklin, and Lee, praying 
 that the Petition from the Congress to the King might be then 
 read; and this was rejected by 218 against 67. [Not 68.] These 
 two Petitions took up till ten o'clock, so that the papers are not 
 yet read, and there will be no plan opened until after Monday, and 
 I conclude the mail will not be dispatched for the Falcon Sloop 
 until after that day." 
 
 27th.— Called upon Lord Gage.' M' and M" Gambler, Col. 
 Prescot, &c., dined with us. The papers began to be read, and 
 went about half through in the House of Commons. Lord 
 Loudoun called upon me : spake with great freedom of Gen. G. 
 as not having courage sufficient : said Mackay liad been desired 
 to go to America. There is talk also of Gen. Preston. 
 
 28th. — In the morning to M' John Pownall's, where found 
 Governor Pownall. Talk of an embargo on vessels going to 
 America, but not well founded. Ligersol, Clarke, Bliss, and 
 Coffin, dined with us. 
 
 29th. — At the Old Jewry. M' White, a good man, preached. 
 Dined with M"^ Gibbons, M' Lethuellier,* Member for Andover, 
 Mauduit, Clarke, &c., with a stranger, made the company. 
 M' Gibbons speaks of a design to attaint 14 or 15 of the 
 Provincial Congress. 
 
 In the evening at Lord Mansfield's, where found the Duke 
 of Montagu, Lord Besborough, S' G. Eliot, M' Phips, Paul 
 Wentworth, &c. 
 
 30th. — At L* Dartmouth's, who informed me that divers 
 forms had been proposed to satisfy the Colonists of the inten- 
 tions of Parliament ; but all had been excepted to, as tending 
 to encourage them in their claim of Independency by conces- 
 sion, of which they had always been ready to take advantage, 
 and he read an Address w"" seemed to be agreed, and contained 
 no more of that sort than that Parliam* would always be ready 
 
 * The name should be Lethieulier. Nov. 15, 1774, m this Diary, it is spelt 
 Letheuitter, but the cross line to the tall letters looks like an inadvertence. 
 In the European Magazine for 1787, there is an engraving of Israel Mauduit, 
 from a painting in the possession of Benjn. Lethieulier, Esq., as the last word 
 is there spelt. 
 
mi.] BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 365 : 
 
 to hear and redress everything grievous. I told him I thought 
 Lord Suif. still supposed something of that sort might be done. 
 He said L* Suff. had been of that mind, but was altered. I 
 mentioned also tl:e Att. Gen, He asked if I had talked witti 
 him since the Resolutions of the Congress ? I had not : and 
 he intimated they bad altered him. I never saw L" Dundas 
 more concerned. 
 
 From L* D.'s I went to Lord Hardwicke's, who desired to see 
 me, but had general conversation only. He observed that it 
 was the most difficult time he had ever known. 
 
 I heard Bishop North preach at the Abbey, upon — " Let 
 your moderation be known to all men ;" * when he shewed that 
 all parties failing had been the cause of their meeting to 
 humble themselves at that time. The Bishop of London, and 
 half a dozen more in lawn sleeves, were conspicuous. If any 
 more Peers were there, I did not distinguish them. It being a 
 windy day there was a draught across the Abbey, which makes 
 it the most dangerous place that well can be, and I increased a 
 cold which was upon me. I stopped at L* D.'s office in my 
 way home, where I first learnt that they had increased the 
 force to America, and first heard the particulars of their plan 
 for a restraint on tradt^, and for admitting certain persons, who 
 should qualify themselves by an Oath or Subscription ; and he 
 said that the Fishery would be comprehended, which he under- 
 stood was upon a suggestion from me. I remember in conver- 
 sation to have said — When a restraint of trade was mentioned 
 as a proper method of proceeding, that it must be the utter 
 ruin of the town of Marblehead ;t but did not know that what 
 I paid would be carried to the Ministry. He added that they 
 had been extremely puzzled to find or agree upon the form of 
 a test or declaration, and that the business is now in that 
 unsettled state. 
 
 M' Jenkinson called upon me. 
 
 31st. — I went into the city to Nicholas Lane : found by the 
 packet from New York an account of the taking the powder 
 out of the Fort at Newharapshire by a mob of several hundred 
 
 * Phil. iv. 5. „ :, o , 
 
 t A promontory and town on the coast between Boston and Salem. 
 
366 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms. 
 
 people. This, with the Presentment of the authority of the 
 Parliament of Great Britain, as a publick nuisance by a Grand 
 Jury at South Carolina, it is said, will be laid before Parlia- 
 ment, in addition to the other papers. M' Stuart Mackenzie 
 called upon me for half an hour : also Colonel Cunningham, of 
 Lord George Germaine's family, and who was Aide-du-camp in 
 America to Gen. Abercrombie. Dined with M' Jenkinson, with 
 Peggy : and as he desired me to bring one of the Americans, 
 I took Bliss. M' Cornwall and lady, D' Butler, a Prebend * of 
 Winchester, M' Williams, a Clergyman, and M' Jenkinson's 
 brother, a Member of Parliament. 
 
 S' Francis Bernard came to town, and took his lodgings with 
 me. Extreara high [?] west wind to-day. 
 
 Feb. 1st. — Called in the morning upon M"' Cornwall, and had 
 much discourse upon American affairs. He says they must 
 expect abuse, but they are prepared ; though, at the same time, 
 he fears it will be long before they shall be able to agree upon 
 a plan. Lord Chatham made an unexpected motion in the 
 House of Lords, in order to introduce a strange Bill, more like 
 a News-paper or Declamatory Speech, as I heard one of the 
 Lords say, than like a Bill, in which the measures of late years 
 were condemned — 13 Acts, and among the rest the Declaratory 
 Act, were suspended : a legal [underlined] Congress of all the 
 Colonies was allowed to be held some day in May, when a 
 recognition was to be made of the authority of Pari' : a large 
 sum to be granted towards a revenue ; which being done, the 
 13 Acts were to be repealed, and no Aid, Tax, or Tallage, was 
 to be raised on the Colonies for the future, otherwise than by 
 their respective Assemblies. The Question was whether the 
 
 * I was staying with my late cousin, the Rev. J. Hutchinson, Precentor 
 and Canon of Lichfield (the same who edited the third volume of the 
 Governor's ' Hist, of Mass.'), in October, 1864, when one day there was a 
 meeting of clergy at his house in the Close. Among the different topics of 
 conversation that arose, some mention was made of the prehendal stalls 
 attached to the Cathedral, and of the persons who held them ; and nobody 
 seemed to be quite sure whether a clergyman who held one was called a 
 prebend or a prebendary. This caused great merriment. At last it was 
 decided that the benefice or ofBce was a prebend, and that the person who 
 held it was a prebendary. The Governor has made a mistake above. Dr. 
 Butler was a Prebendary, who held a Prebend attached to Winchester 
 Cathedral,— P. 0. H. 
 
^?^i] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTGHINSON. 367 
 
 Bill should be received, and after long debate, it was carried in 
 the Negative — 61 and 7 Proxies = 68, against 32.* The 
 reason given for so large a minority was, that many Lords 
 were of opinion the Honse ought not to refuse to receive the 
 Bill offered by one of their own body, who were against the 
 Bill itself, and upon the first reading in form, would have voted 
 it out. 
 
 2nd. — In the morning waited on Lord Denbigh, on M' Stuart's 
 affair.t for whom his Lordship expressed friendship. Lord 
 Loudoun came in, when they went over the Debate in the H. 
 of Lords of yesterday. Lord Denbigh is a singular character, 
 full of words, &c. 
 
 I got admittance to the H. of Comons by S' Harry Houghton : 
 but after having been there some time, the disturb™ in the 
 entry or Lobby was so great, that the Members were stopped 
 coming in : and Lord George Cavendish not being able to 
 introduce his friend, and being vexed to see so many in the 
 Gallery, introduced by other Members, moved the House might 
 be cleared ; and it is a rule of the House, that upon any 
 Members moving, the House shall be cleared without any 
 question. 
 
 At ten o'clock I sent to enquire whether the House was up ? 
 and find by Members they are like to hold till three or lour. 
 While I was in the Lobby Doctor Franklin passed by, and 
 seemed in great agitation, but returned without getting into 
 the Housa This is the only time I have seen him since I 
 have been in England. 
 
 3rd.— I went to M' Cooper's, Secretary to the Treasury, 
 which is the first time I have been able to find him at home. 
 After that with Sir F. B. to Lord Temple's, but did not 
 see him. 
 
 M' Keene called, and gave me a particular account of the 
 debate yesterday. Lord North spake an hour and a half: 
 opened the state of America : and for the present question, 
 proposed an Address to the King, which, among other things, 
 
 * Adolphus, ii. 192, gives the numbers as 61 to 32, thus leaving out the 
 proxies. . 
 
 t Not explained what this affair was. 
 
368 DIARY AND LETTERS OF' THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^5. 
 
 declares a Kebellion in Mass. Bay : which Address I had seen 
 at Lord Dartmouth's the 9 Jan'' last. 
 
 M'' Dunning * then spake, and among other things, challenged 
 any person to shew the Congress at Fhilad. to be unlawful, or 
 that at Concord to be treasonable. 
 
 The Attorney General answered him by stating the facts, 
 and declared, (as Keene says,) both to be treasonable. 
 
 Charles Fox was for — Eight to tax, without the exercise of 
 it : condemned all Pari, measures, and Grenville's particularly. 
 
 Got. Grant for the Motion, gave his opinion of the Americans, 
 as not used to fighting, &c. 
 
 Geo. Grenville, tho' not for the Motion, vindicated his 
 father : — did not stay to divide with the House. 
 
 M^ Powis, Member for [blank] disapproved of the conduct of 
 the Americans, but tho't the case very difficult, and would not 
 divide. 
 
 M'^ Cornwall went further than anybody in vindication of 
 taxing the Colonies. 
 
 Cruger, for Bristol, the American, (as Keene says,) made a 
 sad speech : resented what Grant said : was an American 
 himself, and lived in Pari' Street— which set the House into a 
 laugh ; and attempting to go on, could not be beard. 
 
 Lord Lumley is of the Rockingham party, and spake upon 
 that system. 
 
 Lord Stanley spoke low, but was for the Motion. 
 
 M' Burke said less than usual for hira, and 
 
 M' Wedderburne closed the debate, which continued till one 
 o'clock. Tho' there were so few speakers, upon the Division 304 
 Yeas, 105 Nays: about 15 or 16, M"^ Keene says, were near, but 
 the Question being put suddenly, did not attend. This, with 
 those who refused to divide, makes near 430 Members — as great 
 a number as has been known to be present at the same time.t 
 
 * Eventually Lord Aahburton. He was Ixim in 1731 ; son of an attorney- 
 at-law at Ashburton, Devon ; Middle Temple, 1752 ; Bar, 1756 ; Recorder of 
 Bristol, 1766 ; Solicitor-General, 1768 ; M.P., 1768 ; married, 1780 ; Peerage, 
 1782 ; died, 1783. — See Biography of him by Mr. E. Dymond in ' Trans! 
 Dev. Assoc.,' viii. 82. 
 
 t In this debate there were two divisions — one an amendment by Fox as 
 above, the numbers were 304 to 105, and on the original motion 296 to 106*.^ 
 Adolph., ii. 195, note. * ■ 
 
n?5:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 3G9 
 
 4th.— I called upon S"^ Jeffery Amhurst, and M' Gibbons, 
 both from home : upon M' Jenkinson : found him well pleased 
 with affairs. He read to me the Address, which appeared 
 stronger expressed than when read by Lord D. 
 
 Lord Temple called upon me, and spent an hour on the 
 state of affairs : was unreserved : owned his principles different 
 i'romL'' Chatham's, who he called his bosom friend in American 
 disputes* : to argue that Parliament had no right of taxation, 
 he said was absurd. He seemed nevertheless, at a loss what 
 part to take when the Address comes on. How could he vote 
 for measures which he knew the Ministry could not enforce ? 
 He had some idea of Parliament's treating with the Americans, 
 and agreeing that for a certain sum given by the Assembly, 
 Parliament should engage not to tax : and to such agreement 
 he gave the name of Pacta Conventa. I told his Lordship I 
 had no idea of Pacta Conventa between the supreme authority 
 and the subjects. He seemed struck, as if he had mistaken, 
 and said it was true : it could not well be : but thought the 
 union with Scotland was something like it. 
 
 He gave me the history of his treaty with the King, about 
 his coming into Administration, when his brother Geo. Gren- 
 ville was removed : the reason of the present George Grenville, 
 and his other nephews' conduct in the House — all of them 
 having refused to divide : and I conjecture he will act the same 
 part in the House of Lords. 
 
 M' Clarke and Payne dined : Mauduit in the evening. 
 
 Lord Temple said he was sorry for a Motion L" Lyttleton 
 had made for taking a j.rinter into custody : for he had just 
 heard that one had been committed by Order, and afterwards 
 discharged by the L* Mayor— Wilke.', — which I hear nothing 
 of from any other quarter, and may be a misinformation. 
 
 5th.— At the meeting in Princes Street. Doctor Keppy or 
 Kipley, the Minister settled there, preached. 
 
 * " Alas ! the great event was addled, or come to little, I had been told 
 that Lord Chatham was commissioned by Dr. Franklin to offer the King 
 £350,000 a year from America, if the offensive Bills were repealed. The 
 Ministers thought he was to ask for an increase of force, so their intelligence 
 wa<! .at least no^etter than mine."— Walpole's Letters, Jan., 1775. 
 
 2 B 
 
370 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms. 
 
 At Court. First met Lord Drummond, General Howe, 
 &c. 
 
 In the evening at D' Heberden's. The Bishops of Carlisle 
 and Lincoln, Dean of Salisbury, Doctor Ross, M' Harris, 
 Mauduit, and divers other gentlemen of the company. 
 
 M' Gibbon called, and M' Wedderburne. 
 
 The Dr. Keppy, or Kipley, was in reality the somewhat noted 
 Dr. Eippis, already alluded to under date July 17, 1774, Note. 
 The Governor got better acquainted with him afterwards. It was 
 he who baptised the Governor's grandson Andrew (my father), son 
 of Thomas, at Brompton, Nov. 6, 1777, after the family had 
 removed to England. Thomas remained at Milton until the state 
 of the surrounding country was becoming unpleasantly hostile, 
 when he took his wife and two young children into Boston ; but 
 he left all the furniture, silver plate, and other valuables in the 
 house at Milton, under the idea, probably, that he would be able 
 to pass and repass between the two places at will, and remove 
 what he might wish at pleasure. The event proved otherwise. 
 The Chief Justice and Es belongings, together with many others, 
 had also withdrawn to the City of Eefuge. Here they were shut 
 up during the space of nearly eighteen months. In the beginning 
 of March, 1776, the severities of winter stUl but partially miti- 
 gated, they withdrew from that place, when the Chief Justice got 
 on board ship for Halifax, and Thomas with his family, and Dr. 
 Peter Oliver with his family, embarked in the Lord Hyde packet 
 for London. This was the 24th of March. The vessels fell down 
 the Harbour to Nantasket Koads. Thomas's wife was daily ex- 
 pecting to increase her family, and this event occurred at this 
 most inauspicious time, on board a small ship, crowded with saUors 
 and passengers. At this period the Chief Justice commenced a 
 Diary. He writes : — 
 
 " March 24, 1776.— A high N.W. wind, and very cold at night, 
 so that the vessels' bows and cables were loaded with ice. [My 
 father's birth-day.] 
 
 " 25. — The first division sailed from Nantasket to Halifax, as 
 also the Lord Hyde packet, Cap" Jeffries, for London, with M' 
 Thomas Hutchinson, and my son Peter, and their families, as 
 passengers." 
 
 But we must not further anticipate, for in reality we are only 
 in February, 1775. Dr. Peter Oliver had just fled to Boston, and 
 
1^?^.] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 371 
 
 there is a letter of his that is worth giving, where he laments over 
 the state of the times. He writes : — 
 
 " Boston, FeV 18, 1775. 
 "Dear Elisha, 
 
 " I am at last drove here by the mob of Middleborough, a 
 fortnight back, and left my wife and children. 
 
 " The times are got to be very serious. Great preparations on 
 both sides for an engagement, and the sooner it comes the better — 
 the sooner we shall get to be a peaceable people : such times as I 
 never expected would come to pass in America. The Provincial Con- 
 gress has just rose, as you will see by the papers, with their 
 Eesolves. I almost covet your happiness, so far distant from the 
 din of Civil Warr, tho' I believe it to be very disagreeable to you 
 to hear such accounts from us. Ere this reaches you the whole 
 plan will be determined by Parliament. 
 
 " Your wife has been highly insulted by the mob at Plimouth 
 lately ; and I have just heard that the General has order'd troops 
 there for the gentlemen and Ladies' protection. 
 
 " Our country people are determin'd to oppose the measures of 
 Parliament at the risk of their all, but it is doubted whether they 
 wUl fight long. Such an enthusiasm and madness of the people 
 never was before in any part of the globe. I could almost fill a 
 Folio in relating their mad pranks throughout this Province, but 
 it is needless ; you wiE have better accounts from another quarter. 
 
 " Give my love to Peggy, and let her know Sally has receiv'd 
 the 2 gowns and 2 pair of slippers that came by Fellows. I heard 
 from home a few days back : it is hard work, and such mortifica^ 
 tion as I never experienced before, to be depriv'd of my family. 
 ' Whatever is, is right,' and I acquiesce. 
 
 "Remember me to all my old acquaintance — Blowers, Bliss, 
 Jacky, BUly, &c. I am y" Affectionately, 
 
 " Peter Oliver, Jun'." 
 
 " To Elisha Hutchinson, Esq., St. James's Street, London." 
 
 6th. — General Howe breakfasted with me, and spent an hour 
 or two in conversation upon the state of America, where he 
 with Gen. Clinton, and Burgoyne, all Members of Parliam' are 
 going. I knew Howe in America about 15 years ago, and 
 Clinton in New York 26 years ago, son of the then Governor. 
 
 At Lord D"' office with Knox. Afterwards walked two or 
 three turns with Sir Jeifery Amherst in the Park. Passed 
 Lord Huntingdon, and the Ducliess of Eichmond, neither of 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms. 
 
 whom I liad seen before. Lord Loudoun and Jn° Pownall 
 called and left curds. In the evening I went to M' Pownall's, 
 and spent an hour alone with him. Find him exceeding 
 anxious upon the event of American measures. I saw at M' 
 Pownall's the Virginia Laws ; and was surprized to find three 
 Laws after Bacon's Eebellion : one, an Act of Pardon and 
 Indemnity : the other, an Act for a Revenue of 2/ p hhd. on 
 all tobacco : a third, I think, an Act of Naturalization, carried 
 over by Lord Culpeper the Gov., all signed by the King, then 
 laid before the Council and Assembly, and signed by the 
 Governor ; and the stile \sic\ is — "Be it enacted by the King's 
 Most Excellent Majesty, with the advice and consent of the 
 Assembly." It seems they passed the other Acts of that 
 Session in the same stile, which is said to be by mistake ; and 
 they now stand — " By the Governor, Council, and Assembly." 
 
 I sent Lord Temple a set of my Speeches to the Assembly,* 
 and their Answers, in Jan. 1773, and a collection of Mass. 
 Papers, and a Collection to M"' Gibbons. 
 
 The Debate in the House of Coinons was carried to-day on 
 American affairs : the Coiiiittee of the whole House having 
 reported the Address : and upon a Motion to recommit the 
 Address, 288 were against it, and 105 for it :t and it was ordered 
 to be sent to the Lords for tlieir concurrence. 
 
 7th. — Lord Denbigh culled this morning. I carried Lord 
 Loudoun, and Doctor Huck [?] in my coach to the H. of Lords, 
 and his Lordship introduced me, where I stood five hours, and 
 withdrew, being quite tired, and excessive hot. I was less 
 entertained than I expected. A message was bro't from the 
 Coinons by a numbir of the Members, to propose a Conference, 
 I suppose by Committees ; for soon after, about half a score 
 Lords were nominated and went out to meet a Committee of 
 the Commons : and the Lords soon returned with the Address, 
 which being read, L" Dartmouth stood up, and Lord Rocking- 
 ham at the same time, and the Chancellor, calling to Lord D., 
 some Lords called Lord R. and some L" D., and a debate arose 
 
 * Lord Temple's letter, acknowledging their receipt, dated Feb. 7, is in 
 vol. i., blue leather-back Letter Books. 
 \ Adolph., ii. 197, gives the same figures. 
 
Feb. 
 
 1775. 
 
 ] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 373 
 
 about the manner of proceeding, the Duke of Richmond and 
 Lord Camden on one side, and Lord Mansfield on the other. 
 At length the Cliancellor put the question — whether L" D. 
 should speak ? and a Division was called for ; but after many 
 had withdrawn, the Motion was withdrawn : and L* D. moved 
 the blank in the Address might be filled with the words — 
 Spiritual and Temporal, and* : whereupon L" Eockingham 
 stood up and offered two Petitions, from the North America 
 and West India Merchants ; which being opposed, the Previous 
 Question was moved for. L" R. spake a considerable time, 
 but ran into the merits of the controversy between the K™ and 
 CoP, and more into a defence of his own Admin", and at last to 
 a captandum populum, by declaring that he had an ancestor 
 who had espoused the cause of the people, but soon deserted 
 it, and for promoting arbitrary power was deservedly bro't to 
 the Block ; and if he should ever desert the cause of the 
 people, he should deserve the same fate. He is not a good 
 speaker. This ancestor was the Earl of Strafford. The D. of 
 Richmond of the same side, kept more to the Question. 
 
 Lord Camden went at large : condemned all former measures : 
 and tho' he was part of the Admin, w"" laid the Tea duty, &c., 
 yet he never concerned himself: — indeed, it passed w'^out 
 opposition. He denied Mass*" being in rebellion: explained 
 away all the facts : tho't it difficult to justify constructive 
 treason, as levelling war against the K., and that the Judges 
 had strained the law : that Hale seemed of a diff opinion, and 
 he ought to have weight, unless his thinking that Pari' had no 
 power to tax Ireland should lessen it : alleged that to make 
 war there should be guns, colours, or trumpets, or battle array, 
 and there had been nothing of these. 
 
 Lord Shelburne had began of the same side when I came 
 away. 
 
 On the other side, besides L* Dartmouth, L"* Mansfield 
 answered, L** Camden, and professed there was a necessity of 
 going into the merits. Great stress had been laid upon 
 coiiierce, as the very Being of the K™- Why, these measures 
 were to save commerce, not only by their combination for that 
 
 • Not filled up. 
 
374 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms. 
 
 purpose, but from tlieir denial of the authority of Pari* in any 
 case which would carry the comerce to other States. He went 
 minutely into the proceed, of the Congress : shewed they denied 
 the author' of Pari' in eyery case : sliewed that there was a 
 rebell. in Massachu** by combinations, and by assuming the 
 powers of Gov' in order to resist, and by an actual violent 
 resist, of law, w* he determined treason : and that sticks, 
 clubs, &c., were warlike weapons for that purpose, as well as 
 guns and swords, and mentioned late as well as former authori- 
 ties. There might be rebellion in other parts as well as Mass" 
 Bay, but he was not for extremes : it was with infinite reluct- 
 ance he went so far as he did, but it could not be helped : 
 They, were reduced to this dilemma — either to give up the 
 sup [reme] authority, w"'' was certain ruin, as they would not 
 only be independent, but carry all their trade to a foreign 
 State, or otherwise to use coercive measures, which he hoped 
 however, would not proceed to actual hostilities. In short, 
 both he and L** Dartmouth discovered great doubts what would 
 be the . event of measures. This over precaution to guard 
 against an imputation of blame in case of ill success, may 
 bring on that ill success which they guard against, as it tends 
 to give spirit to y' Americans. 
 
 The Duke of Grafton spoke chiefly to vindicate his own 
 Admin" against L" Camden and L* Mansfield, the latter of 
 whom declared the Duke misunderstood him, and that he did 
 not intend the least blame upon any of his measures. 
 
 Besides these Lords, Lord Denbigh, Lord Coventry, Lord 
 Pomfret, and L" Gower had spoke, and some or all more than 
 once before I left the House, at which time Lord Shelburne 
 was speaking, who, I am informed, was answered by Lord 
 Ijittleton ; after which several of the Lords who had spoke 
 before spoke again, particularly L* Dartmouth expressly did, 
 and he thought the measures could not be avoided. 91 and 14 
 proxies, or 105, divided against 29.* A second Division upon 
 the main Question in near the proportion. 
 
 * Adolphus says 104 to 29. He has the following note at p. 201 of vol. ii. 
 — " The Previous Question is— Whether the main question shall be now put ? 
 ■which was carried by 104 to 29 ; the division on the principal question was 
 87 to 27. The Protests were signed by 18 Peers." 
 
u?^;] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 375 
 
 8th. — I called this morning at Lord Hardwicke's to thank 
 him for taking my son yesterday to the House of Lords, and 
 found him very anxious about America, willing to renounce 
 taxation, if a way could be found which would not give 
 up the remaining authority. The real difficulty is, [that] 
 Administration is tender, doubting, and undetermined : Op- 
 position — or rather, Lord Chatham — daring, resolute, and 
 determined : scruples not to say or do anything to carry his 
 point. 
 
 9th. — I went into the city to Mauduit's, when M' Montagu 
 came. He says a late letter from Virginia assures him they 
 will never abide by their non-importation scheme. 
 
 At Lord North's Levee, when he expressed his desire to 
 provide for my son,* and that I should have Sir T. Mille's 
 place of Eeceiver Gen. of Quebec, if agreeable ; but the diffi- 
 culty was to provide for Sir T. here. 
 
 I went in the evening to his house, and excepted to a Bill 
 which was to be brought into the H. of Coinons next day, for 
 restraining the trade of the four New England Governments ; 
 there being, in my opinion, no room to distinguish those 
 Colonies from the rest. He said he had no doubt, first or last, 
 they would all be comprehended. Some of them had not yet 
 signified their determination, and that led him to think of 
 N.E. only at first. I spent near an hour in conversation. He 
 seemed overborne with the weight of affairs; and tho' he 
 evidently wished for something to take hold of to bring forward 
 an accomodation, professed to be resolved never to concede to 
 the pres' clairaes. 
 
 10th. — M"^ Ellis called, and soon after M' Jenkinson. I 
 cautioned them against any measure which would make the 
 people desperate. I know of no persons who seem more deter- 
 mined. I had called upon M' Cornwall in the morning. All 
 three think more forces should be sent. Mauduit called. He 
 is for bringing all the fishermen to England, and confining the 
 Fishery to the Kingdom. 
 
 Col. Goram also. He is seeking employ in the war against 
 America. He says Gov. PownaU is to go to N. York in the 
 
 * This was Billy, who, however, died in vita patris. 
 
376 DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^5 
 
 \yiii. 
 
 room of Tryon. Lord Gower told Mauduit a new Governor 
 was going, which I think must be Hay. 
 
 We, all but Billy, dined in the city with Charlton Palmer. 
 Ty Solander* was of the company; and Omiah, the Otahitee 
 was invited, but was seized last week with a fever, and has 
 been in great danger. Two clergymen also, a D"^ Polluck, who 
 married Palmer's daughter, with his wife, and a D' Bennet, 
 who came in after dinner. JP Palmer's sister, who I remember 
 a gay girl in 1741,t is now a cheerful chatty old maid : several 
 others who seemed to be of the same family. 
 
 11th. — We all ditied at W Knox's. Sir Stanier Porten and 
 lady, M'' Garth and lady, and Col. Stuart, the company. M." 
 Gaith is Member for tlie Devises, and Agent for S. Carolina : 
 has been in the Opposition, but speaks now in favour of 
 American measures in Parliam' : gave an account of the pro- 
 ceedings in the House of Commons last night upon a Motion 
 to bring in the Bill for restraining the trade of the N. Engl'' 
 Colonies. — 268 for, 85 against. Sir F. Norton, the Spkr, 
 [Speaker], on the Coinittee of the whole House, answered 
 Dunning, Burke, &c., with such irresistible force, as took away 
 all room for an answer. 
 
 12th. — At the Temple Church, where Doctor 'Thurlow 
 preached. 
 
 At Court, where heard great applause of D' Porteous, one of 
 the K.'^ Chaplains, for a most excellent sermon, in which he 
 very freely censured L" Chesterfield's Letters to his Son, as 
 tending to encourage irreligion and immorality. L"* Chancellor, 
 L" Presid', L" Sandwich, Denbigh, and Mansfield, all took 
 notice of me : S'^ Gilb' Eliot, M' Ellis, S^ James Porter, and 
 many other gentlemen. 
 
 In the evening M' Jenkinson called, and enquired into many 
 facts in order to settle the Bill for restraining N. Eng* trade, 
 which he said he had corrected in many parts, and which was 
 still attended with great difficulty, 
 
 * Dr. Solander, a Swede, a scientific man and great traveller. He and 
 Mr. Bankes pursued their studies together, travelled half over the world, and 
 brought back many rarities.— See London Mag. for portraits and accounts 
 June and July, 1772, pp. 291, 341. 
 
 t It may be perhaps recollected that Mr. Hutchinson was in England in 
 that year. 
 
Teh. 
 1775, 
 
 ::] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 377 
 
 13tb. — I called upon M"^ Jeukinson, where I met M' Cooper, 
 who brought the American Bill, to which M' J. took many 
 exceptions, but being under engagements, could spend no time 
 upon it. Sir Gilbert Eliot called. In the evening I had 
 
 a card from M'' J that L" North would desire Lord D. or 
 
 M"^ Pownall to see me, and go over the several parts of the Bill. 
 
 14th. — Spent half an hour with M' Ellis, Hanover Square. 
 Called at Lord Barrington's, Cavendish Square. M' Preston's, 
 Charles Street, Berkly Squ. M"^ Gibbon called when I was 
 from home. After my return L" Beauchamp, who made 
 much enquiry about the Fishery, &c. : is against a general 
 restraint of the Colonies, and for confining it to New England. 
 Admiral Montagu called upon me, having brought his family 
 from Portsmouth to Hampstead. Cap" Hammond, of the 
 Navy, called. 
 
 15th.* — At Lord D.'a Levee. I never saw him more 
 dispirited. He asked me whether I thought no proposals 
 could be made to satisfy the Americans ?t I thought the 
 danger lay in their taking the advantage of such proposals, 
 to strengthen them in persisting in their claim to total Inde- 
 pendency. Very lately I proposed to him altering parts of 
 the Acts last Session, when he was against any concession. 
 I saw Dalrymple after he had been at the Levee, who observed 
 an imusual depression of spirits. 
 
 16th. — I walked early to Clemens [Clement's] Lane, and 
 returned before noon. The rest of the day spent at home. 
 
 17th. — I visited Lord Barrington, and afterwards Lord 
 Hillsborough, who kept me an hour : asked if I had seen the 
 Bill ? I said I had heard a little of it from M' Jenkinson. 
 He was surprised M' Pownall had never consulted me upon it. 
 He thought, as he was at the head of the Board of Trade in 
 
 * Elisha, in his Diary, speaks of being at Drury Lane on the loth. The 
 King and Queen were there. 
 
 t To those who have accompanied ua thus far in the Diary, and have 
 observed the sentiments scattered through the letters, or portions of letters 
 that have been quoted, it will appear abundantly evident that the Ministry 
 dreaded the thought of actual hostilities by military force, although they 
 were sending out troops, and they were anxious to catch hold of any chance, 
 or make any concession, consistent with the constitution of England, to bring 
 about an amicable settlement. 
 
378 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. [ms. 
 
 1763, and afterwards Sec'' of State, something might have heen 
 said to him : that L"* North called upon him some days ago : 
 talked about Almack's and the Pantheon, but not one word of 
 America, though he had begged him even with tears to resign : 
 said all the languor about America was owing to Lord North's 
 aversion to business : nothing kept him from resigning but his 
 love of money, and his father's desire that he would keep in 
 till all his connexions were provided for, and they were 
 numerous.* He is to bring the Bill into the ,House, says 
 L** H., to-day, and he was at that house over the way, at 
 a Festino with young folks till two o'clock this morning. 
 Lord Dartmouth, he said, had too much religion; was unfit 
 for the ofSce : wondered at his taking it. Pownall t was 
 unsteddy [sio] ; one day all fire, another, depressed and in 
 despair. The K. himself (he said to me), thinks as you do ; 
 but always will leave his own sentiments, and conform to his 
 Ministers, tho' he will argue with them, and very sensibly; 
 but if they adhere to their own opinion, he will say — " Well : 
 do you chuse [sic] it should be so? then let it be." And 
 sometimes he has known him add — " You must take the blame 
 upon yourself." I asked if the King was ever with the 
 Cabinet ? Never, he said, since King George the First came 
 to the Crown, who, not understanding English, broke the 
 practice.t I asked if he consulted others of the Council besides 
 the Premier? He would talk with them sometimes upon 
 affairs of their own immediate Departments. 
 
 It is certain tliat business is in a strange languid state, and 
 the Prime Conductor seems to leave more to other persons 
 than has been usual. If L* Guilford should die, L** North 
 coming into the H. of Peers, would most probably quit his 
 present place for one of less trouble. 
 
 I called at Lord Gower's and Sir Gilbert Eliot's : both from 
 home. 
 
 * This was rather plain speaking on the part of Lord Hillsborough. Yet 
 Lord North had no sinecure ; whether he hated business or no, it is certain 
 that at that particular time he had a great deal of hard work to'go through 
 
 t This was undoubtedly John Pownall, the Secretary of State. 
 
 t The practice of attending the Cabinet Councils, and of sitting at the 
 head of the Council table. ° 
 
imG BIAHY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 379 
 
 The Bill for laying restraint on the trade of the N. England 
 Colonies was brought into the House to-day, and ordered to be 
 printed. I think it can never pass without great alterations. 
 Maudnit called in the evening : says the Ministry are now 
 agreed. Lord D. has drawn a different way from all the rest ; 
 and they have so far conceded to him, as that Parliam' in some 
 way or other should signify that if the several Assemblies will 
 agree to comply with such requisitions as shall be judged fit, 
 that then Parliament will dispense with its right of taxation. 
 
 This, I think the Assemblies will not do. 
 
 18th. — I called early upon M'^ Gibbon, Bentinck Street. 
 He laments the want of a more general plan : says that in all 
 gieat affairs since Lord North's Administration this has been 
 the case. Members who are independent, and not obliged to 
 follow the Minister, are at a lo?s what part to take, for 
 want of a more thorough knowledge of what is to be the next 
 measure, &c. 
 
 I called at eleven at Lord President's, who first was not at 
 home, but upon giving my name, the servant said his Lordship 
 was up very late, and was not yet stirring, otherwise he 
 believed [he] would be glad to see me. This is the dissipated 
 way of life of most of our great men at present.* 
 
 Dined all of us at M' Preston's, brother to M" Hutton, with 
 M' Heald and wife, S' W" Wake, Member for Bedford, in the 
 Minority, M'' Powis,t for Northamptonshire, and two M' Homes, 
 and Nath. Coffin. 
 
 Lady Dartmouth called. 
 
 19th. — At Lincolns Inn Chapel. I heard Doctor Halifax 
 upon Prophecy, being a course of sermons, which Warburton, 
 Bishop of Glocester has encouraged by a donation. Lord 
 Mansfield and other Judges were present. M' Gibbon called 
 at noon. In the evening at Lord Chancellor's, where were 
 Dukes of Chandos, Queensbury, Earl of Marchmont, Lord 
 
 * Such were not the best sort of men to guide the destinies of a country- 
 well. The best are the sober, temperate, regular, and industrious. 
 
 f Elisha writes Powys under the same date. It is curious to observe that 
 in the entries in Elisha's Diary he uses almost the same words in the same 
 order as his father. Elisha records little more than the light occupations of 
 the day, and evening visiting or going to the theatre, of which latter he 
 seems to have been rather fond. 
 
380 DIAEY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [f^^j. 
 
 Cathcart; several gentlemen of Clergy and laity I did not 
 know, and Got. Pownall. Afterwards at D"^ Heberden's: 
 Bishop of Peterboro', Bishop and Dean of Salisbury, Dean 
 Tucker, who enquired much about America : several other 
 gentlemen, among the rest M'' Siraonds, a brother to Capt. 
 Simonds who was at Boston.* 
 
 20th. — I called early at L* Marchmont's and Gen. Howe's : 
 both from home. Afterwards at S' Gilbert Elliot's [two letters 
 1 this time] where I first saw the Motion in writing for proposal 
 to the Americans to make provision by their Assemblies for 
 their proportion of public charge, and observed to him the 
 ambiguity of proportion, and uncertainty to what it related ; 
 and he agreed with me, and L** Hardwicke observed to me soon 
 after, that he had made the same remark. In the afternoon 
 L" North made the Motion, to wit — That upon the Americans 
 making such proposals, and their being accepted by the King 
 and two Houses, taxes, except for regulating commerce, should 
 cease : and what should be raised by them, should be applied 
 as part of that proportion, or words to that effect. Great 
 opposition was made in the House : and M' Ellis, Sir L. 
 Dundass, and other friends of government, spake against 
 it as a concession. Burke was violent because it was no 
 concession : and it was carried for the previous Question by 
 274 to 88.t 
 
 Letters from Gage to Government, and private letters from 
 Boston to 18 Jan''. Nothing more unfavorable than the 
 last advices. Some Associations forming to support govern- 
 ment. 
 
 21st. — At Lord Dartmouth's, who I found in high spirits 
 upon a letter from Gage, of 18 Jan. which he afterwards sent 
 
 * This was Sunday. The usual way of passing the Sunday at that period 
 would rather shock the more quiet way of keeping it at the present time. 
 It is not the custom now to visit at all on the Sunday. From some previous 
 entries it may be inferred that they sometimes went to Court after coming 
 from church; then went later to the Lord Chancellor's, or to some other 
 Minister of State, or to Dr. Heberden's, and in that way wound up the 
 evening. 
 
 t Cormick, the continuator of Hume and SmoUet's Hist., does not notice 
 these debates. Adolphus, ii. 205, gives the heads of this well-meant, and, if 
 well taken, very important motion ; and he agrees in his numbers with those 
 given above. 
 
inl':] BJARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCBINSON. 381 
 
 me to read : but he was under concera for the effect of 
 the Resolve of the House, and wished me to see Lord Nortli, 
 and propose to have it expressed in terms more precise. 
 
 I went to Lord North's, but he was so engaged I could not 
 see him, tho' I sent in word I came from Lord Dartmouth. 
 
 Goram, Clarke, and Chandler dined with us. 
 
 In the evening I spent an hour at M' Wedderburne's, where 
 I found Manduit. I wished to liave found a way to open 
 Boston Harbour by means of the Bill for shutting up all 
 the rest : but though M' W. approved of my plan himself, 
 he said any, the least concession, to the demands of tho 
 Americans, would lose many of their present friends. [End of 
 Vol. 2 of the Diary .J 
 
 It must be said that the Governor was extremely anxious toget 
 relief to his fellow townsmen if possible. Having failed to get 
 the Port Bill repealed when it stood alone, he now begs that 
 Boston Harbour may be opened, if all the other harbours of the ' 
 American coast are to be shut up. Even this small favour is ' 
 denied him. No concession is to be made, for fear it should look 
 like a weakness. Even the conciliatory proposition, as introduced 
 into the House of Commons by Lord North, as we have seen 
 above, by which the Americans were to be allowed to tax them- 
 selves, was received with anger by some of the supporters of the 
 Ministry then in power, because it looked like concession ; and 
 with a storm of abuse from some of the pretended friends in 
 America in opposition, because they had not originated it them- 
 selves, and it was good enough to be jealous of. Edmund Burke 
 denounced it as no concession at all ; but whilst that wily talker 
 devoted all his eloquence to finding fault with everything not 
 emanating from his own party, and condemned every measure as 
 an error, he took good care to avoid suggesting remedies. It is 
 easy to find fault, but hard to find a remedy, so he confined 
 himself to the easiest part. 
 
 It may have been gathered from what has gone before, that the 
 Tories, now represented by the term Conservatives, then held the 
 reins, with Lord North, eldest son of the Earl of Giiildford, as 
 Prime Minister, supported by the Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies, Lord Suffolk, Lord Mansfield, Mr. Thurloe, 
 Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Thurloe, Mr. Wedderburne, 
 Solicitor-General, afterwards in the peerage, and a number of 
 gentlemen of tho House of Commons, with most of whose names 
 
382 DIASr AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. {J^^i 
 
 we have become familiar in the Diary. On the other hand, the 
 Duke of Eichmond and the Marquis of Bockingham headed the 
 Whig or Liberal Opposition, in whose ranks appeared Lord 
 Chatham, Lord Camden, Lord Ossory, Lord Bute, Burke, Fox, 
 and many others. The third, or Eadical, or Ultra, or dangerous 
 party, exists in all ages of the world, and in all countries where 
 there are bad men, whose low tastes, or want of principle, or 
 vicious habits of life, with the common accompaniment of desperate 
 fortunes, render them advocates for violent or extreme measures, 
 subversive of all order, and regardless of all consequences, though 
 treading even on the borders of rebellion and revolution. Those 
 are the people who, unable to raise themselves to a status of 
 respectability, desire to pull everything down to their own level. 
 Those who have nothing to lose may catch hold of something in 
 the scramble, when they can overturn all dignities and all law, 
 and stir up confusion tUl chaos is come again. The strife of party 
 is the war of many conflicting passions. It is astonishing how 
 differently some men view a position, be they in office or be they 
 out. In the one case they will argue strongly in favour of a 
 measure ; in the other they will argue equally strongly against 
 the very same thing. This shows that, at all events for the 
 occasion, they lay by their sober judgment, and are swayed only 
 by views of self-interest or party considerations. 
 
 Of Burke, says Adolphus, ii., 170 — " He was Lord Eockingham's 
 confidential political adviser," and in the House of Commons he was 
 the chief, because the most ready exponent of the damnatory argu- ' 
 ments so freely hurled at Administration. Those who are out 
 look with envy at those who are in, and are so soured by feelings 
 of jealousy, that nothing short of general condemnation against 
 every Ministerial proceeding can satisfy them ; and the better 
 the measure the greater the envy. Burke was not free from this 
 weakness. The whole tissue of his speeches, and of his very long 
 letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, mainly consisted of flowery de- 
 nunciations against every proposition not originated by his own 
 friends ; and applying these arguments to the management of the 
 affairs of America, he at different times in the heat of debate, but 
 apparently with the studied view of courting popularity from the 
 ultra Liberals on both sides of the Atlantic, recommended the 
 removal of so many burdens from the Americans, and so many 
 Acts of Parliament, one after another, as almost amounted in the 
 aggregate to recommending them to absolute freedom. But it was 
 not so many years before that the party to which he belonged had 
 themselves guided the destinies of the State ; and if they were 
 
Ffb. 
 
 nis, 
 
 ':] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 383 
 
 sincere in their doctrines of such extended freedom, why did they 
 not apply them when they had the power? This inconsistency 
 of moulding words to suit varying circumstances, is apparent in 
 his not denying the right of the Mother Country over the Colonies ; 
 but he suggests " a taxation of America by grant, and not by 
 imposition " [his speech of March 22, 1775, p. 67, Adol. ii., 209], 
 and yet this is exactly what he denounced in Lord North's con- 
 ciliatory motion mentioned above. He would hope such voluntary 
 grants would be paid by the Americans ; but if refused to be paid, 
 how then ? Strangely he must have neglected to inform himself 
 on the rise and progress of liberty into the excesses of licentious- 
 ness during the growth of those dependencies, when he says this 
 spirit took its rise in the south, when all history — as much 
 American history as English history — uniformly gives the palm 
 to Massachusetts, as foremost in irritation under restraint, and 
 not the south : yet Burke says [Ibid. p. 30] : — " The fact is so ; and 
 the people of the southern Colonies are much more strongly, and 
 with a higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than 
 those to the northward." Few Americans would admit this. The , 
 English Government always found Boston and Massachusetts ; 
 foremost in her disposition to rebellion. " This Province began > v 
 it — I might say this town, for here the arch-rebels formed their V 
 scheme long ago." [Gage quoted in Frothingham's Hist., p. 234.] ) 
 Again : — " Boston, above all, took the lead in such tumultuary 
 proceedings." [Lord Mahon's Hist., ch. 45, p. 124. And Frothing- 
 ham, p. 45, observes] : — "The Massachusetts patriots were never 
 more determined to resist the new Acts of Parliament, and were 
 never more confident of their ability to maintain their ground, 
 than at the commencement of the new year 1775." These, and 
 some other authorities to the same effect, have already been ad- 
 duced near the beginning of this volume. And at another time 
 Burke ventures on an assertion of a very extraordinary nature. 
 He says — "that our Colonies were backward to enter into the 
 present vexatious and ruinous controversy." [His speech of 
 April 19, 1774, p. 51]. Considering what we have seen take 
 place in Boston during the preceding ten years, this was rather a 
 bold, and not a very cautious assertion on the part of Burke ; and 
 it shews that men wiU even venture their reputation for truth 
 when they have a point to urge in party warfare. 
 
 The vital question of the Eight of Taxation, or the Supremacy 
 of Parliament he was afraid to approach, but slunk by it as dan- 
 gerous to his popularity, or to the interests of his political asso- 
 ciates, to meddle with. Addressing the House March 22, 1775 
 
384 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [■ 
 
 Feb. 
 1775. 
 
 [Speech, p. 49], he said : — " I think you must perceive that I am 
 resolved this day to have nothing at all to do with the question of 
 the right of taxation. Some gentlemen startle — but it is true : I 
 put it totally out of the question. It is less than nothing in my 
 consideration." This was one way of getting rid of a difficulty, 
 when all the while he knew that it was upon this very point that 
 the whole of the controversy depended ; and that if he had desired 
 to have done a real or a substantial good to his country, he must 
 have known that it was the very division of the subject to which 
 he ought to have given his best attention. 
 
 There is so little of fixed principle to be traced in his speeches 
 and his writings that, amid many contradictory remarks, it is 
 hard to ascertain what his opinions really were. In his letter to 
 the Sheriffs of Bristol [Fourth Edit., p. 48], he implies, speaking 
 in the past tense, that he once was an advocate for the supremacy 
 of Parliament, but that he had changed his views. He writes 
 thus : — " I do assure you (and they who know me publickly and 
 privately will bear witness to me), that if ever one man lived, 
 more zealous than another, for the Supremacy of Parliament, and 
 the rights of this Imperial Crown, it was myself." And here he 
 leaves the point in a mystified and an uncertain state, slinking by 
 it, in short, as he did above, in the matter of the right of 
 taxation. 
 
 The cmelty and the injustice of levying war upon the Colonies 
 receives his censure \lhid. pp. 20-2], but he passes by the riots, 
 the insults upon the Governor, assaults upon legally-appointed 
 officers, destruction of property, acts of treason, and the open 
 rebellion that brought the troops to Boston and hastened the 
 catastrophe ; so liable are most people, in every quarrel, to forget 
 the origin of it (where, in reality, the blame most lies), and to 
 dwell only on the cruelty of the punishment. 
 
 He talks of the blessings of liberty, which, with those who 
 prate most about it, generally means the privilege of being as 
 tyrannical and disagreeable as possible to everybody within reach, 
 the different degrees of liberty—" the extreme of liberty " [Ihid. 
 p. 57] ; but having come to the superlative degree, he confesses 
 that even liberty must have its limits. 
 
 And whatever his views really were at this period on the great 
 constitutional question of the Supremacy of Parliament, he ob- 
 serves that this power really had existed at one time in all its 
 force, though the Americans denied it, in order to try and justify 
 their treason. " When I first came into a public trust," ho writes 
 \_lhid. p. 49], " I found your Parliament in possession of an un- 
 
fitsj DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 385 
 
 limited legislative power over the Colonies. I could not open the 
 Statute Book without seeing the actual exercise of it, more or less, 
 in all cases whatsoever." And at page 60 he says — " The Colonies 
 were from the beginning subject to the legislature of Great 
 Britain." This is plain enough ; but as if it were too plain, for a 
 man who was playing a double game between contending parties, 
 he immediately goes about to dilute its strength by adding such 
 qualifying expressions as, " on principles which they never ex- 
 amined," and " without asking how they agreed with that legisla- 
 tive authority." 
 
 " I wish. Sir," he said, addressing the Speaker, " to repeal the 
 Boston Port Bill, because it was passed, as I apprehend, with less 
 regularity, and on more partial principles, than it ought. The 
 Corporation of Boston was not heard before it was condemned." 
 As if it had not been heard rather too much ! As if the treason- 
 able violence of its debates had not become notorious on both sides 
 of the Atlantic ! And as if those debates, and the encouragement 
 they gave to the mob, together with the destruction of the tea 
 in Boston Harbour, had not originated the Boston Port Bill ! In 
 this instance Burke again passes by the causes that brought this 
 Bill into existence. Neither people nor States are ever restrained 
 by coercive measures until they go from liberty into license — that 
 subdivision of liberty in the superlative degree indeed, which he 
 denominated " the extreme of liberty," and with an amount of 
 art that looks too much like artfulness, whilst he extols the spirit 
 of liberty until he encourages the Americans to set no limit to 
 their excesses, he adds — " I do not mean to commend either the 
 spirit or the moral causes which produce it." All this is equivalent 
 to encouraging with one hand and admonishing with the other. 
 
 When we hear an orator labour to condemn the measures of a 
 Ministry, to analyse, censure, and pick to pieces all their acts and 
 deeds one after another as he examines them, we naturally expect, 
 when he has finished, that he will console his hearers by offering 
 to suggest a few remedies. Burke is very fertile in condemnation, 
 but when he discourses on the affairs of the Colonies, he shows 
 himself to be either unwilling or unable to give that consolation, 
 or to suggest any feasible remedies for the evils he so freely 
 denounces. It needs no talent to find fault ; the worst men do 
 that best. 
 
 Let us not, however, be too hard upon him. None are all evil. 
 None are all wrong. Let us give him the benefit of any reason- 
 able or any redeeming sentiment recorded in his favour. At 
 
 2 c 
 
386 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mj. 
 
 page 60 of his letter to the Sheriffs, he commences a sketch of the 
 early beginning and progress of those Plantations from infancy to 
 maturity; and he plainly shows that as the times change, we 
 perforce change with them ; and that the treatment of the Mother 
 Country to her children in infancy could not reasonahly continue 
 to he the same when they had attained to full age. " Nothing," 
 he says, " in progression can rest on its original plan. We may 
 as well think of rocking a grown man in the cradle of an infant." 
 Those distant portions of the empire had advanced in strength, in 
 wealth, in extent, and in power ; and the motherly treatment that 
 they had accepted with pleasure during the spring season of their 
 adolescence, they would not be content with at the more advanced 
 period of their manhood. At this period of time, he adds, " the 
 Colonies were too proud to submit, too strong to be forced, too 
 enlightened not to see all the consequences which must arise from 
 such a system.'' 
 
 It was the error of England that she forgot the number of years 
 that had passed by, and the great changes that had taken place ; 
 and it was the greater error of America that she denied that the 
 English Parliament had any authority over her, which all men of 
 any reading knew to be false ; and still worse when she denied 
 that she had ever been under its authority at all, for in so doing, 
 she not only weakened her argument by going too far, but she 
 BulUed her name in the light of truth. 
 
( 387 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 BEGINNING OF THE THIRD VOLUME OP THE DIA.ET. 
 
 Febeuakt 22nd, 1775.— I called early upon Lord Dartmouth. 
 The alteration I had made in the Besolve of the House of 
 Commons he said was extactly agreeahle to what he had 
 proposed in the Cabinet. He seemed apprehensive of the 
 ill-effect it miglit have as it now stands. I proposed a further 
 amendment, which he thought still better. I gave him my 
 opinion that as it had met with opposition in the Comittee, it 
 might be best to let it go as it is, to prevent further trouble : 
 but he took down my proposal, which was only a change of 
 words to remove the great ambiguity of the word proportion, as 
 it now stands, and said he should see Lord North to-day, and 
 would try what could be done. 
 
 I called upon M' Jackson, and afterwards saw him at 
 Lincolns Ttiti Hall. He said he voted for the Resolve, because 
 M"^ Ellis and others, who were high against America, had 
 excepted to it, as conceding too much. He had always dis- 
 approved of the conduct of the Americans, and so he had of 
 the measures of Government. I don't remember to have 
 heard him propose any plan himself. 
 
 Its certainly a poor performance, and dishonours Adminis- 
 tration as it stands. 
 
 Governor Hutchinson was not in England for nothing, yet he 
 was able to do but little for America. There is a passage in 
 a letter to be quoted further on, where we learn that he had been 
 asked to enter Parliament at the last election, where he would 
 have had every opportunity for discussing the new Acts; but 
 a variety of conflicting considerations rose up at the idea. He 
 thought that the dispute with his country would not last long : 
 he was new in England and unsettled in his plans ; his heart was 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \mi. 
 
 in America, and he was impatient to return there ; and it was not 
 worth while to try and fix himself by any such engagements. 
 He was content to advise only where he thought he could do any 
 good. He considered it impossible that there should he a divided 
 authority, but that in every empire, or parts of an empire, however 
 distant those parts might be, there must be one acknowledged 
 head. This is expressed in a letter written at this time to some 
 friend whose name is not preserved. It is in vol. ii. of the old 
 marble paper Letter Books. He says — 
 
 " And then, for the general question between the Kingdom and 
 the Colonies — every day confirms me that there must be a 
 Supreme over all the parts of every Empire; and that every 
 attempt to fix an exemption of any part will be vain and fruitless : 
 and such attempt naturally leads to all that disorder and confusion 
 which is now so distressing to the Colonies : and I really think 
 the nearest approach to a rational conduct, is that of the Phila- 
 delphia Congress, in denying all legislative power farther than 
 what the Colonies themselves shall consent to. If it was possible 
 to depart from this principle, I verily believe the present Ad- 
 ministration would do it. No persons can be more disposed to 
 any conciliatory terms which will consist with keeping the 
 Kingdom and Colonies together," &c. 
 
 In the same letter, further down, a fallacy, industriously circu- 
 lated for party purposes, is refuted; wherein it was intimated 
 that if Lord Chatham were Prime Minister, he would grant the 
 Colonies all they demanded. It runs thus — 
 
 " They have been without any grounds often assured by a 
 person here, [who ? Franklin ?] that there would be great oppo- 
 sition made here, so as to overturn the present Administration, 
 and to procure another in its stead more favorable. If there had 
 been a change, it is agreed that U Chatham must have taken the 
 load. Everybody here agrees that he would have done as he did 
 in the case of the German war ; instead of 10,000 men, and 20 sail 
 of meurof-war, he would immediately have ordered 20,000 men, 
 and 40 sail of ships ; and he would have made all to consist with 
 his former declarations. Instead of taxing you, he would have 
 made his requisitions, and enforced them as to internal taxes : and 
 for external, by port duties, &c. He would have heard no objec- 
 tion or complaint against them. But there is not the least 
 probability of a change : and if it was not for the remains of two 
 or three former Administrations, who oppose every measure alike 
 
mj.j DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOHINSON. 389 
 
 which comes from Ministry, there would be no opposition in 
 Pari', and the Petitions of the Merch" which have been presented 
 and not considered as they moved, cause no visible discontent." 
 
 No doubt there were parties in England who tried to make the 
 Americans believe that by a change of Ministry, with such men 
 in power as Chatham, Bockingham, Camden, Burke, Fox, and a 
 few more, they would obtain everything they asked for ; but the 
 speeches of those politicians betray, more or less clearly, that they 
 never meant to give up the supremacy of Parliament, In the 
 same letter the Governor says — 
 
 " I have often heard it said, that if we could be in the state we 
 were before the Stamp Act, we should be content. If they who 
 say this mean no more than that those Acts which lay duties or 
 taxes since that time should be repealed, I have no doubt it may 
 be obtained. If they mean that it should be done in such a 
 manner as to infer a renunciation of the Legislative Authority, it 
 is plain to me, that, be who will in Ministry, it cannot be 
 obtained. I hear that Lord North said to M' Quincy, such 
 Ministers as should concede to it, would bring their heads to the 
 Block." 
 
 Further down he writes — 
 
 " I am, and ever have been, for as great a share of legislation in 
 the Assemblies of every Colony as can consist with a Supreme 
 Authority over the whole. This is a system under which I was 
 bom, and had lived 50 years before I heard that anybody made 
 any doubt of it. Not that I ever supposed the people of any Gov' 
 are under such moral obligations to any system, as that when the 
 general safety requires it, they are not at liberty to depart from 
 it. And in a remote Colony particularly, there is no doubt to be 
 made that a time will come for a total separation from the 
 original State. But as to us, I thiak it is not yet in our power, 
 and it cannot be for our interest, to attain to such a separation." 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson thought that the time for such a separation had 
 not come, though it was destined to come. On the subject or idea 
 of hifl entering the English Parliament, he says — 
 
 " Upon the late Election I was advised to come into Parliament ; 
 but the part I should be obliged to take in all matters which 
 relate to America, would have been so disagreeable, that I needed 
 no other consideration to determine me against it." 
 
 The above passages have been taken from a letter in the hand- 
 
390 DIASr AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \\!^i, 
 
 writing of the Governor himself. If the reader is not wearied 
 iwith these controversial discussions (which means that we are 
 lalmost), there is a letter of Feb. 9, containing a new point, which 
 <mghit to he quoted. It has been entered in the same Letter Book 
 for his &ther, apparently by Elisha. The new point, however, is 
 mat TiSfir to those who have studied the progress of the struggle. 
 The American leaders had been led to think that by firmness and 
 perseverance they could gradually wring out of the English 
 Government «v€ry point they contended for; and that by only 
 asking for one at a time, they would, by a process of common 
 addition, at last get all. 
 
 " The case of America," he says, " is not new. In such contests 
 every concession from one party has caused fresh demands from 
 the other, without the least tendency to peace or reconciliation. 
 It has been said that if Pari' had repealed the Tea duty also, 
 when the rest of the Act was repealed, everybody would have 
 been easy : but I perfectly remember when, upon a report from 
 England, that the Tea duty was taken oif, our principle men 
 declared — ' we must not stop here : if we can obtain this, we can 
 obtain more;' and from your Pensilvania Eesolves, it is plain, 
 that nothing short of intire Independency can satisfy us. What 
 does the Old Council say, now their Champion, the great Incen- 
 diary, declares there can be no line between absolute authority 
 and absolute Independency ? This is what they charge upon me, 
 as a new doctrine, not to be supported. [See below.] 
 
 " Great pains have been taken through the Kingdom to procure 
 Petitions in favour of America. The number of Petitions is 
 surprisingly small : and it is the opinion of the best judges, that 
 we have but a small proportion of the people who favour our 
 cause, and I think our interest is lessening in Pari'. I was 
 surprised to hear that one of the strongest advocates in Parliament 
 gave his opinion privately, out of doors, in favour of sending 
 a larger force to subdue us. 
 
 " The Address to the King was carried by about three-fourths 
 of the House of Commons, and rather more of the House of Lords. 
 I think the speakers in both Houses inferior to those who were 
 upon the stage thirty years ago." 
 
 See below. Well, in another letter of the same date, this is 
 
 again alluded to, and still more clearly. He says " My great 
 
 crime with my countrymen was, my asserting that there could be 
 no line between total subjection and total Independency. Surely 
 they will pardon me now, for Franklin, in the most express terms 
 
Feb. 
 1775 
 
 ,] DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 391 
 
 asserts the same thing. He infers the Colonies are therefore 
 independent. I draw no inference, but — utrum mavis elige ? I lay 
 the stress on prudence only." Whether the sentiment originated 
 with Hutchinson or with Franklin, there was reason in it. 
 Amongst contemplated changes, he says in the same letter — 
 
 "There is talk of bringing Conn* and Bhod. Island under a 
 new form ; but whether they are to remain distinct Governments, 
 or to be annexed, part to the Mass. and part to N. York, I am not 
 able to say." 
 
 23rd. — Col. Abercromby breakfasted with me this morning. 
 Crossing the Park I met M' Stuart Mackenzie, who gave me 
 an account of the debate in the House yesterday upon Wilke's 
 Motion, to have all the proceedings of Parliament upon the 
 Westminster Election expunged, — which was carried against him 
 — 230 to 170, which is a rather greater majority than last year. 
 
 At Lord Dartmouth's office, M' Knox gave me copy of 
 a letter he had wrote to M"^ Blackburn, a Merchant in the city, 
 in order to his sending it to his friends at New York. M' 
 Knox proposes the Colony Assemblies should pass Acts for 
 laying duties on all exports, and on all foreign imports, with 
 a condition not to have force until Parliament repeals the Tax 
 Acts, and to cease whenever they shall be renewed, or other 
 duties or taxes laid. I thought such a condition unwarrantable 
 in an Act of Assembly, and excepted to it : but upon expla- 
 nation, I encouraged him. I would send a copy to my friends 
 in New England ; but consulting Mauduit, who called in the 
 evening, I returned to my first thoughts, and am of opinion it 
 would be a dangerous proposal, and intend to see Knox in the 
 morning, and let him know my mind. 
 
 Billy was at L* North's Levee, who told him he hoped 
 soon to pay his respects to him, &c. 
 
 24th. — I called at M' Knox's house before breakfast to let 
 him know my opinion of the impracticability of his plan, and 
 that, as Governor, I should not dare give my assent to an Act 
 framed according to his proposal. He seemed himself to ba 
 less attached to it than yesterday. I went into the Borough 
 to visit M' Bowden, Governor of St. Thomas's Hospital, where 
 he lives, but he was from iiome. 
 
392 DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [fns. 
 
 Mauduit called upon me in the evening : says the Ministry 
 look upon opposition as conquered; and that Lord North 
 assured him American measures should now be prosecuted with 
 vigor. 
 
 25ih. — In the forenoon at Lord Gower's : had some conver- 
 sation upon ihe Bill for restraining the N. England trade. 
 At M"' Amhler's ; he not at home. Called at the Bishop of 
 Chester's in Bloomsbury Squ. : left my name. Col. Cunning- 
 ham called upon me, and the rich Peter Taylor, besides 
 M"^ Chester and M' Maseres, who called when I was from home. 
 The Bill for restraining, &c., was read last evening a second 
 time in the House, but there was no debate, which was referred 
 till Tuesday, becaiise Burke had a sore throat. 
 
 The warlike preparations making in England, with the evident 
 prospect of drifting into open hostilities, filled the Governor with 
 concern. He was full of confidence that the people would make 
 no resistance to the King's troops, and he flattered himself that 
 they would he guided by reason in what they did, instead of being 
 hurried on by passion. Hence he wrote as follows, on Feb. 13, to 
 Mr. James Putnam : — 
 
 " I cannot view these preparations without great anxiety. My 
 hope is, that the thinking part of the people will see the madness 
 of resistance, and that so many will separate and put themselves 
 under the protection of the Eoyal Standard, as to discourage the 
 rest. To effect this, great discretion will be necessary. I am 
 glad the Gov. has so many good men in Eoston to advise him 
 upon so critical an occasion. I think I may even have to pledge 
 myself for this encouragement, namely, that although the people 
 should be compelled to submission, Government will nevertheless 
 be exercised with every possible indulgence to the desires of the 
 people, and particularly the fears of burdens from taxation, will 
 be found entirely groundless." 
 
 Perhaps nearly enough has been said on the subject of the Bill 
 for restraining the trade of the Colonies; but at the risk of 
 redundancy and repetition, one extract from a letter of Feb. 22 to 
 Mr. G. Erving, in the Governor's handwriting, which collects 
 several points into one paragraph, may plead for a place here. It 
 runs thus — 
 
 " There is a Bill in Pari* for restraining the trade of the N.E. 
 Colonies. I had prepared a plan for admitting the inhabit' of 
 
Feb. 
 
 ms. 
 
 ] niAHY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EDTOHINSON. 393 
 
 \ Boston, in common w"" the inliabit' of the other towns, to a free 
 
 j trade, provided they renounce all share or part in unlawful com- 
 
 j binations, &c. ; and I met with leading Members who approved of 
 
 i it : but when I shewed it to M' Wedderburne, who revised the 
 
 ; Bill now before the House, after Pownall and Knox had drawn it, 
 
 ; he put an end to all my expectations : for tho' he approved of 
 
 it himself, he said he was sure that a proposal for repeal in any 
 
 degree, would disgust the part of the House w"*" I distinguish as 
 
 his [?] Agent, and weaken, if not break to pieces, the whole 
 
 system for restoring America : and when only an amendment, 
 
 ithat upon pay for the Tea, the Port might be opened without 
 
 : waiting for a special order from the K., he refused to consent 
 
 because of the same danger." 
 
 It may be suspected that one of his motives for wishing to visit 
 England may have been a feeling of uneasiness in respect to the 
 retribution threatened by the English Government to be directed 
 against his native town. His last effort to get the Port opened 
 was unsuccessful, upon the ground that any concession, however 
 small, might look like weakness or timidity. He flattered himself 
 that personal interviews with the different members of the Govern- 
 ment would do what correspondence could not ; but he discovered 
 that the time for concession had now passed. Yet, though he felt 
 that a blow must inevitably be struck before long, he comforted 
 himself with the promise that its unpleasant effects would soon be 
 over, and that in a few months he would go out to Boston in the 
 sunshine of peace and harmony. Bead the following commence- 
 ment of a letter to his son Thomas — 
 
 " St. James's Street, 22 Feb. 1775. 
 " My Dear Son, 
 
 " I hope peace and order will return to you before the summer 
 is over, and that I shall return before winter, — I am not anxious 
 in what station. If there is a prospect of my being serviceable, 
 I woixld return in my publick character, which I have no doubt I 
 may do if I chuse it. If the prejudices of the people continue, 
 and my friends think it most advisable, I would endeavour to be 
 content with a private station ; and in such case, the more obscure 
 the more eligible." 
 
 The remainder of the letter is made up of an unusual and 
 painful subject, intended from its nature for his son only. The 
 Governor observes that the project had been for several years on 
 his mind, but that he had put it off from time to time. Some 
 
394 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [Jfn. 
 
 parts of the letter are very mucli abbreviated, but the context 
 shows what was intended. He wishes to have a new tomb bnilt 
 at Milton, and the remains of his late wife, now twenty-one years 
 since her decease, removed to it, with space left, eventually for 
 himself. He says : " a T. in the B. g. at M.," which can be no 
 other than " a Tomb in the Burial ground at Milton." He directs 
 where stone can be procured; and "a mason at B[oston] or in 
 some other T[own] near : " and to " leave the wall, or any orna- 
 ment or inscription tiU I return : " and " The sooner it's finished 
 the better." He then goes on to say — " As soon as it's done, speak 
 to Wolleston, the Sexton of the old N[orth], who had the care of 
 the T[omb] in the North b[urial ?] place : " and he desires that 
 everything may be done in the evening, so as not to attract the 
 idle curiosity of stragglers. It should seem from this that his 
 wife had been interred in a burial-ground attached to the Old 
 North Church, and this was not very far from his town house that 
 the mob destroyed in August, 1765. It was to this church, in the 
 earlier days of the Colony, that the Governor's father gave his 
 private drinking vessel, a large silver tankard with handle and 
 hinge cover, and an old example of the Hutchinson coat of arms 
 engraved on the front of it, for the wine to be used at the 
 celebration of the Holy Communion. We believe we are right 
 in clubbing together the Old North Church and the "Second 
 Church " as one and the same, but are not quite sure. In 1870 
 some city alterations were undertaken, and the church plate was 
 offered for sale, when the Eev. W. P. H. Hutchinson bought it 
 back into the famUy for 63-70 dollars, or £13 5s. 5d., and it is 
 now in England. The Governor is fully aware of the unusual 
 nature of the commission with which he charges his son, and feels 
 that some exception might be taken to it, so he says — 
 
 " I am sensible this fond fancy will not bear examining upon 
 meer rational grounds ; but it is not criminal, and I am counte- 
 nanced by the like sort of fondness in the old Patriarchs." 
 
 He concludes this letter thus — 
 
 "I cannot write upon any other subject after writing upon 
 this ; and for news must refer you to what I have wrote M. T." 
 
 It is not likely that the Governor's wishes in this matter were 
 ever carried out. Thomas had quitted Milton, and had withdrawn 
 into Boston—" The City of Eefuge." General Gage had fortified 
 the Neck, whilst the Americans, on their side, were making hostile 
 
mj.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 395 
 
 preparations in the immediate neighbourhood, so that the country 
 ■was not safe. Considering that it took from a month to six weeks 
 in those days to transmit intelligence, Thomas could not have 
 received his father's letter long before the Battle of Lexington, 
 the commencement of open hostilities, after which there was no 
 venturing outside the city ; then followed the Battle of Bunker's 
 Hill : the investment of the city by the American army under the 
 command of Washington, when the country houses of the Loyalists 
 were pillaged and confiscated — when the house of the Chief 
 Justice, Peter Oliver, at Middleborough, was burnt — when Milton, 
 with the house, furniture, plate, carriages, and everything on the 
 premises were seized — when, according to common report, as the 
 Governor has it in his Diary, " 'tis said that Washington rides in 
 my coach at Cambridge " — ^when his younger portrait, hanging in 
 the house, was stabbed and injured by the soldiers' bayonets, and 
 afterwards badly repaired, and eventually conveyed to the rooms 
 of the Massachusetts Historical Society, where it still remains — 
 when 1600 private letters were taken, and made such infamous 
 use of by Bancroft in his so-called History — then, and at that 
 time, men were only busied in making preparations for the com- 
 mencement of a long and ruinous war ; and as Thomas, with his 
 belongings, remained shut up until March 24, 1776, when he set 
 sail for England, and as his father never returned to America, 
 there seems no reason to suppose that this project was ever 
 accomplished. 
 
 But let us make excuses for the Americans. They had been 
 taught tD believe that they were a very iU-used people — ^that the 
 English Parliament had no authority over them, and never had — 
 that if they had submitted to it, the submission was only through 
 inadvertence — that it was now time to correct this inadvertence, 
 and consent to it no longer — that loyalty to the King of England 
 was only " in theory " — ^that a country 3000 miles off was too far 
 to be regarded, and might be forgotten — and that when this 
 distant country exercised an administrative power within the 
 limits of the Province, either by the authority of Acts of Parlia- 
 ment enacted in England, or by the instrumentality of Governors, 
 Lieutenant-Governors, and other officers, appointed to these func- 
 tions, and receiving their salaries from the Crown, it would 
 be no more than reasonable to look upon all this as interference ; 
 and if interference, it might be resisted as tyranny and oppres- 
 sion. 
 
 Cherishing such notions as these, and feeling that such notions 
 commended themselves to their sympathies, people would not 
 
396 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOBINSON. [\f^k 
 
 Ln7s. 
 
 trouble themselves irnicli about further enquiry. Such beliefs, if 
 sincerely held, will palliate the severe writings of local historians, 
 and the impassioned harangues of local orators. They wrote and 
 spoke vehemently, thinking they were right. If they were wrong, 
 we lament the misinformation under which they were labouring, 
 and would rather desire to see such zeal directed in another 
 course. 
 
 It is time, however, that we should now return to the Diary, 
 which goes on as follows : — 
 
 26th. — I attended at the Chapel of the Foundling Hospital, 
 and heard D' Thomas, Bishop of Eoehester. Sat in the pew 
 with the Bishop, S' Charles Whitworth, &c., who, after sermon, 
 during the Anthem, went into the Pulpit to the Bishop, and 
 chatted with him for a quarter of an hour, and did not leave 
 him until the Anthem was over, and the Bishop was standing 
 up to give the Blessing. Not very decent. 
 
 I was at Court at the Drawing Room. The King a^ked if 
 I did not use exercise this fine weather, &c. The Queen, 
 among other things, asked if she did not see me at the Play? 
 
 Dined at Lord Chancellor's, in company with Lord Galloway, 
 one of the Scotch Peers, which place he seemed to be pleased 
 with ; M" Garth, Member for the Devises ; M' Scott, a lawyer ; 
 two Clergymen; D'^ Pyne, and M' Bathurst. Much discourse 
 upon the affairs in Parliament relating to America ; and Garth, 
 tho' Agent for South Carolina, condemned the proceedings, and 
 thought it necessary, by an Act, to declare the illegality of 
 the Congre.«8; and at least, to incapacitate all who should 
 notwithstanding attend it, from all public offices, &c. 
 
 Talking of Lord Bathurst's longevity, I asked Lord Chan- 
 cellor if there was any truth in the account of Fleetwood's 
 Shepherd's being alive at the age of 121, as was published 
 a year or two ago in the newspapers ? " Not a word," he said. 
 The late K. of France [Louis XV. ?] used to be so pleased with 
 hearing accounts of very long lives, that people were hired to 
 put articles into the newspapers, of which this was known 
 to be one. 
 
 In the evening at D"^ Heberden's, in a large company : — the 
 Bishops of Lincoln, Salisbury, Carlisle, Ely, Bath and Wells ; 
 
fm.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 397 
 
 Deans of Salisbury and Glo'cester ; General Parslow, M' Harris, 
 Burrill, and other Members of the House of Commons, and 
 divers others I did not know. 
 
 There is an affectionate parental letter from Elisha in London 
 to his infant daughter in Plymouth, Massachusetts, horn after he 
 left, and now only a few months old ; but it is neither political 
 nor historical enough to he transferred to this place. As the 
 crisis approaches the letters become more numerous : they also 
 become more interesting, but there is only room to quote the more 
 prominent parts of them. Another — and this time from Judge 
 Auchmuty — emanating from the beleaguered city, merits a place. 
 
 « Bo8ton, March 3'^ 1775. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your very obliging favour of the 9"" of Decern"' last, I have 
 had the honor of receiving. And sincerely wish it was in my 
 power, consistent with truth, to give you a more agreeable account 
 of this miserable Province, than my last contained. But I do not 
 see any reason to expect peace and order, untill the fatal experi- 
 ment of arms is tried. Such a strange infatuation prevails among 
 us as scarcely can be credited, and never yet to be parellelled. 
 No absurdity in politics, however gross, or impossible to be true, 
 but meets with entire assent as soon as the same is propagated by 
 the flagitious disturbers of American liberty and loyalty. No 
 treatment is too bad for the known friends of government, except 
 taking away their lives : and I very much suspect even the horrid 
 crime of murder, by some will soon be deemed, and openly pub- 
 lished, as a meritorious act. All the marks of war now surround 
 us. On both sides large preparations are making. In short, 
 everything here looks hostile. If a judgment was to be formed 
 from appearances, the conclusion must be that the people intend 
 a spirited and obstinate resistance. But I am of opinion, that 
 should a proper force march against them, and in the first onset 
 be exerted with vigour, the courage of our people will soon abate, 
 and in a short time be totally extinguished. But on a supposition 
 of the contrary, it is impossible they can long maintain the war. 
 They are too ignorant, and distitute of the means of so doing. 
 
 "Upon the whole, view our situation in any possible light, 
 bloodshed and desolation seem inevitable. I confess, when I 
 coolly reflect, I am astonished how the monster Eebellion hath 
 reared its head so high against the dictates of reason, gratitude, 
 and interest. Surely Heaven hath been pleased to interfere : 
 and all that can be said is — Qttos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat. 
 
398 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, rfm 
 
 LlVYS. 
 
 " The General is Tiniversally applauded, but I believe begins to 
 grow a little more warm. Many of the troops have died since 
 they went into winter quarters, owing, I imagine, to the want of 
 proper Barracks, and the too free use of our rum. From the 
 remarkable good conduct of the General and his officers in general, 
 we have hitherto enjoj-ed in this town a much greater degree of 
 quietude than could reasonably have been expected, under our 
 peculiar circumstances. Both parties are most impatiently waiting 
 for news from Great Britain. I confess my situation becomes 
 daily more and more irksome, from the great degree of uncertainty 
 attending it. 
 
 " I am very glad to find that the malice of your enemies hath 
 not deprived you wholly of peace," &c. 
 
 Governor Hutchinson now derived peace from finding that the 
 calumnies of his enemies were not believed in England. Writing 
 to Col. Worthington on March 6 [marble paper Letter Book, v. 2], 
 he says — 
 
 " I am, it's true, out of their reach, for their abuse, by writing, 
 or by the persons they employ, does me no sort of harm here. 
 Their credit is gone entirely with men of all ranks and orders, 
 and even Junius Americanus [Lee], was astonished when a gentle- 
 man assured him, that all the facts which he had been furnished 
 with relating to me, were diabolical falsehoods : and I have reason 
 to think that he thereupon laid down his pen, and has not taken 
 it up since. But though I am free from abuse, and meet with 
 more civilities than have been shewn to any of my countrymen, 
 and have been offered titles, which I did not think it advisable to 
 accept of, absence from home is nevertheless a punishment at my 
 time of life, and the society of my old friends at home, is much 
 more desirable than that of my new friends abroad." 
 
 One of the modes adopted for trying to injure him in the eyes 
 of the public was to print alleged extracts from fictitious letters 
 said to have been written by him, but which, in reality, were 
 forgeries. It is hard to know how to punish such servants of the 
 Evil One, or to know what punishment they deserve. A cause 
 cannot be a very good one if it can only be promoted by falsehood. 
 He writes, Nov. 12, 1774, " They print, as extracts of my letters, 
 what I never wrote : don't suffer them to print what I do 
 write." 
 
 Writing to Boston in March this year, he betrays how little he 
 oresaw of the extent or the duration of the explosion that was 
 
n?i.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 399 
 
 about to burst forth; else, how could he be so anxious about 
 planting more gooseberry bushes ? Bead the following — 
 
 " St. J[ames's S[treet], Marcli 2'\ 1775. 
 " My Dear Son, 
 
 " If I was to write you by every ship, it would be more than 
 a letter a day. Hall and Lyde both talk of sailing to-morrow. 
 I wrote last by the Nautilus. By this ship I send you a parcel of 
 cuttings of much finer gooseberries than ever I saw in N. E. The 
 vessels stay so long, and the spring is so forward here, that I am 
 afraid they wUl be too late. The only way to save them will be 
 to let them ly two or three hours in water, and keep them watered 
 after they are set out. The [illegible] I forget the name — ^which 
 should ly in water ; and if you can find any stocks, some of them 
 may take, tho' it wiU be late for grafting. I hope those heads of 
 the pear trees w"** were grafted in the garden last year and failed, 
 you either have grafted, or wUl graft again from some of the 
 heads which did not fail ; and the trees will bear to have some of 
 the old boughs taken off." 
 
 It is needless to say that these gardening operations could never 
 have been carried out at Milton or anywhere else. 
 
 "When I was in Boston both fruit and vegetables were very 
 abundant ; but the dried French white haricot beans were much 
 in demand, stewed soft with meat, and eaten as a Sunday dish 
 between the services; and many is the dinner of it I there 
 enjoyed. I was told a story of one of the popular preachers 
 in that city who made a calculation as to how many quarts of 
 beans he preached to on Sunday afternoons when there was no 
 charity sermon, and what was the gross value of his congregation, 
 estimated at the then market price of beans. 
 
 This is too good a story to omit. 
 
 27th. — I called upon M"^ Jenkinson, who gave me an account 
 of the confusion of the Members upon Lord North's Motion on 
 Monday. He observed that Governor Pownall soon after Lord 
 North made the worst speech that ever he heard. He insinu- 
 ated his being a principal hand in the measure : that it was 
 a conciliatory plan, and consisted of various parts, the whole of 
 which did not then appear. This account of the substance of 
 the Speech I have from Mauduit : and that he alarmed all the 
 landed men in the House, and inclined them to go against 
 the Motion, until Sir Gilbert Eliot, and especially M' Wedder- 
 
400 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^5. 
 
 burne, had spoke. Jenkinson added that he thought Lord 
 North made a Tery bad speech. The Members were also 
 alarmed by Lord North's giving notice to L" Jn" Cavendish, 
 S' George Saville, and others of the Rockinghams, that he had 
 a Motion of importance to make, which they construed to 
 proceed from timidity ; it not being u^ual to notify any but 
 the friends of Government on such occasions. Upon the whole, 
 it's difficult to account for his bringing so important an affair 
 into the House at such a cricis, without preparing more of his 
 friends for it. 
 
 Admiral, M" and Miss Montagu called upon us, and Sir 
 Charles Cotterell, Dormer. 
 
 28th. — In the morning called upon M' Ellis, who infonned 
 me the Kesolve upon Lord Noith's Motion passed the night 
 before without a division : that Burke, Dunning, and some others 
 were absent : that Lord North was explicit that if the Colonies, 
 upon this offer, would not pass any Acts for raising money, he 
 would continue the Tax Acts, &c. 
 
 General Clinton called when I was from home. 
 
 I attended at the Treasury Board to Sollicit the payment of 
 the Coiniss"' accounts, who sat at Ehode Island. 'J'he packet 
 from New York brought an account that the Assembly had 
 declined taking into consideration the Philadelphia Congress, 
 by a majority of 11 to 10. 
 
 We dined, except E., at M' Heald's at Kensington Square. 
 Col. Skene there — not the Skenesborough Colonel. 
 
 March Ist.— At Lord Dartmouth's Leve>'. Upon receiving 
 a card from Lord North, I went to his house, where he informed 
 me the Treasury Board liad given £100 to Ciicli of the Rhode 
 Island Coihissioners, and a guinea a day for expenses, besides 
 paying the Clerks. He asked the state of the Whale Fisliery, 
 and proposed a clause to exempt it from the general restraint 
 — to which I had no objection. I urged the necessity of 
 altering that part of the Bill which restrains the Governor 
 from declaring the Bill to be no longer in force, unless it shall 
 appear to him that Goods have been freely imported for 
 a month from England, Ireland, and the English West Indies 
 because no goods «ill go there from England in 6 months, and 
 
Mir ~\ 
 
 h\i.j DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 401 
 
 many of the best friends of Government will be greatly dis- 
 tressed : therefore I proposed everybody should be at liberty, 
 upon relinquishing the Association ; and Lord North seemed 
 to hearken to it, but M"' Cooper, who was present, opposed it. 
 
 This Bill was giving the Governor as much anxiety and as 
 much trouble to get some parts of it altered and mitigated, as ever 
 the Port Bill had done, if not more so. There is a paragraph in a 
 letter of the 10th of March, written to Mr. Erving, that may be 
 appropriately quoted here. The Governor says : — 
 
 " I had rather no Bill had passed than such an one as this : 
 and as soon as I knew of it, gave my opinion that it would dis- 
 tress more of the friends, than of the enemies to Gov' : but the 
 Addresses from the Congress, and Franklin's Letter, wishing, or 
 advising measures to distress or ruin the Kingdom, have irritated 
 the Minist' to that degree, that they don't now feel for the distresses 
 of the Americans as they otherwise would do ; and by some I am 
 told that I feel too much for them myself. And I must own that 
 I am unable to vindicate them from the charge of ingratitude, 
 considering the amazing expense the Kingdom has been at for 
 their protection, as well as the indulgence shewn them from the 
 beginning, more perhaps than any other Colony eV|er experienced." 
 
 His love for his country, in spite of all her faults, and the 
 absence of harsh or vindictive expressions towards those who had 
 so grossly injured him, are not a little striking in the light of 
 Christian forbearance. " €hibernatorum vituperatio populo placet." 
 This apt quotation from the Index to Melancthon's Letters, the 
 Governor has written on the blank leaves at the end of the third 
 volume of his Diary. 
 
 In the evening at Sir Sampson Gideon's, in a large company 
 of Nobility and Gentry, but Paoli took up my attention, and I 
 was much pleased with his sensible and polite conversation. 
 He says the Americans have begun 50 years too soon, and by 
 that means mil have put themselves back 50 or 100 years, 
 but in another century will become a great Empire. He 
 advises to give Canada to the French, if they will take it — 
 which he believes they will not. A Capt. Cordwell, M' Hopkins, 
 M^ Eider [sic], son to Sir Dudley, M' Wilmot, Lord Drummond, 
 Lord Montford, L" Gage, and many persons unknown, made 
 the company, besides Billy and Peggy. Music on a variety of 
 
 2 D 
 
402 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \J"i. 
 
 instruments in concert was playing all the evening. No cards. 
 At ten, or soon after, I retired, and left most of the company 
 to sup. 
 
 ^^2nd. — In the morning I called upon General Clinton at his 
 lodgings in Cork Street ; and from thence walked to Clements 
 Lane to Mauduit's : called upon Whately in Lombard Street. 
 M' Welbore Ellis called, and spent half an hour with me. I 
 endeavourod to bring him to some relaxation of the New 
 England Bill, but to no purpose. General Evelyn called and 
 left his name. 
 
 Took an airing to Chelsea, and walked in the Garden of the 
 College, and afterwards in the Physick Garden. I had deter- 
 mined to give myself no further trouble about the Bill, it having 
 passed yesterday in the Committee, but Mauduit pressed me to 
 state my objections in a letter to Lord Dartmouth. 
 
 3rd. — General Evelyn, Gen' Clinton, with Lord Drummond, 
 breakfasted with me. I went into the city to IP Lane's, in 
 Nicholas Lane, and had some talk with him upon the New 
 England Bill. He told me he would ship no goods to New 
 England while affairs were so unsettled, &c. 
 
 4th. — In the morning met M' Cooper at his house in Parlia- 
 ment Street, to endeavour to pursuade him of the reasonable- 
 ness of a Clause or Proviso in the New England Bill, to admit 
 such persons as would renounce the Philad. Association, to 
 carry on their business as usual ; and he said he approved of 
 the idea, and if the Bill had been framed in that manner at 
 first, he would not have taken exception, but he feared it was 
 too late : however [he] promised to lay it before Lord North. 
 Afterwards I went into the city, and had some conversation 
 with Lane and Eraser, Merchants, upon it ; but I found they 
 were of no consequence, and gave themselves but little trouble 
 about it. The whole affair of the Merchants' Petition against 
 it was managed by Lee, the late sheriff Baker, and one or two 
 more, and was calculated merely to serve Opposition against 
 the Ministry, and not to serve the Colonies. 
 '5th. — At the Old Jewry, where M' White preached. 
 
 At Court. Lord Suffolk talked a long time with me upon 
 America, and seemed perfectly satisfied with my proposal for 
 
ms.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF TEOMAS HUTCHINSON. 403 
 
 exempting all who would renounce the Association &c., out of 
 the Bill. I thought they would discourage the friends of 
 Government by bringing such a calamity upon them. 
 
 6th. — Went out in the coach as far as Hammersmith. The 
 House of Commons passed the N. England Bill to be engrossed 
 215 to 61. 
 
 7th. — Young M' Stanhope breakfasted with us. Called upon 
 M"^ Jenkinson, who was from home, as also M' Ellis, and M' 
 Knox. Dined with IVI' Bridgen, in the city. In the evening 
 at Lady Hillsborough's Assembly : between two and three 
 hundred Nobility and Gentry — Duke of Queensbury, Lord 
 Denbigh, Northington, Sands, Lisburne, Balcarras, Middleton 
 — cum multis aliis. 
 
 8th. — In the morning at Lord Dartmouth's. He acquainted 
 me with the contents of a letter he rec* the morning before 
 from Gen. Gage, of the 27th Jan^, advising that he had sent 
 100 men to Marshfield and Scituate,* many of the inhabitants 
 having petitioned for them, and that he was sending two 
 Regiments to New Hampshire. I pressed an amendment upon 
 the Bill in Pari* least [lest] such as were now beginning to 
 exert themselves should be discouraged and fall back, and he 
 desired my proposal, of which I made several, and he said he 
 would talk with Lord North. I saw M' Pownall afterwards, 
 who told me the exemption I proposed was what he wished for 
 at first. In the afternoon I received a letter from my son of 
 the 25th Jan.f with an account of the Marshfield J peoples' 
 having entered into Buggies' Association, all but 6, and that 
 the Gen. had sent 120 men at their request. I sent it in a 
 letter to L" D., and represented afresh the necessity of an 
 alteration in the Bill, as Marshf* and Scituate had much of 
 their depend* on the Mackerel fishery, which began in July, or 
 about that time, and ended in October or Novemb. 
 
 The Bill passed in the Commons upon a third reading, a 
 
 Eider to admit flour, &c., to be imported, having been rejected 
 
 by 288 against 58. 
 
 * Scituate, a town 25 miles S.E. from Boston ; Marshfield 30 miles. 
 t Letter not preserved. 
 
 j To his son, March 10 — " The people of Marshfield have set an example 
 that I hope will be followed." 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOBINSON. [""5. 
 
 In the evening we were at a small party of musick at Lord 
 Gage's: — Sir John Griffin, Sir John Cotton, Sir Sampson 
 Gideon, Major Eooke, several other Members and Gents. I had 
 seen, and as many or more ladies. 
 
 9th. — I walked into the city and back, to Clements Lane. 
 Mauduit expressed his astonishment and indignation at the 
 Colony Agents' admission into the H. of Commons to hear the 
 debate. Yesterday Lord Clare was so unguarded, as, in answer 
 to the motion to allow of flour, &c., to say — " We must pinch 
 tliem: they must be compelled to submit without delay. If 
 they are able to hold out, we know that we are not. What's 
 done must be done at once, or they will finally conquer :" — 
 Franklin all the while in the Gallery, staring with his spectacles ; 
 and no doubt before this time, the relation of this speech is on 
 its way to America. 
 
 I went to Lord North's Levee : said a few words to him upon my 
 son's last advices to me from Boston : met with Bruce the Abys- 
 sinian at the Levee, who was reported some time ago to be dead. 
 
 Talked with S"^ Tho. Mills upon my son's succeeding him at 
 Quebec ; and he promised to mention to L" North the necessity 
 of a speedy appointm' on account of passage, &c. 
 
 10th. — After another walk into the city to Cheapside, I spent 
 most of the day in writing letters to Boston. Went to the 
 Treasury upon Flucker's business.* M' Thompson called upon 
 me, and Dalrymple. 
 
 11th. — I spent half an hour in the morning at M' Cornwall's, 
 in free conversation upon the state of America, as well as the 
 state of Administration in England. He attributes the delays 
 which attend business of all sorts, to Lord North's consulting 
 so many persons, who are of very different opinions : and from 
 this difference he remains undecided himself for some time, 
 and after he appears decided, is apt to change. Others charge 
 him with aversion to business in general, tho' when forced to 
 engage, he shews himself exceeding capable. 
 
 12th.— At All Hallows Church, Thames Street. Heard a 
 Charity Sermon by Doctor North, Bishop of Worcester. 
 
 • Mr. Plucker was made Secretary for the Colony, vice the late Andrew 
 Oliver, made Lieut.-Govemor. Mr. Plucker was still in America. 
 
ms.] DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 405 
 
 The Bishop of London called upon me: among other things 
 mentioned Lord North's very favourable opinion of the conduct 
 of Doctor Chandler of New Jersies in his publications. From 
 eight to ten in the evening at M'^ Jenkinson's, Pari' Street. 
 
 13th. — Called at Lord Galloway's, who was from home. At 
 Lord Dartmouth's and pointed out several inaccuracies and 
 insensible expressions in the New England Bill. Proposed an 
 Amendment by not making a necessary condition of restoring 
 trade by Proclam", the actual importation of goods for a 
 month, but to leave it to the Gov[erni)r,] whenever he is satisfied 
 the combinations are at an end, &c., which he approved of, 
 and 8* he would talk with the King's Ministers upon. Called 
 at IP Montagu's Chambers, who was not in town. Saw the 
 SoUicitor General at Lincoln's Inn Hall. He had heard F. 
 would go next week to America : tho't he ought to be stopped : 
 something should be done to put a stop to the Congress. We y 
 talked of the impossibility of conviction in America : the 
 difficulty of punishing without. I asked if he thought a Bill 
 could be framed to answer the purpose ? He said it could be 
 done : advised me by a letter to put Lord North in mind of it. 
 In the evening I wrote to L* North : let him know Q. was 
 gone, and F. going, and the mischief I apprehended they 
 designed, &c. 
 
 Billy went to Bath about noon.* 
 
 14th. — At Lord Dartmouth's office. I met with Doctor 
 Hinde, Secr'y to the Society for Propagating the Gospel, who 
 was very inquisitive about M^ Peters, the Connecticut Mis- 
 sionary.! 
 
 Doctor Solander called upon me, who entertained me with 
 the account of his voyage to Otahitee, and promised me a sight 
 of Omiah, as soon as he came to town. Peter Taylor spent 
 some time after Solander. 
 
 * " 13. — Billy set out for Bath. In the evening of the 10"' at Drury Lane 
 Theatre to hear the Oratorio of Judas ItlaccabiBus : the King and Queen 
 there." — Elisha's Diary. 
 
 t " Peters, the Tory Minister writes (September 28) that six regiments, 
 with men-of-war are coming over ; and as soon as they come, hanging work 
 will go on, and that destruction will begin at the seaport towns, and that the 
 lintel sprinkled on the side posts will preserve the faithful." — Quoted in 
 Froth. Hist., p. 36. 
 
406 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [■ 
 
 Mar. 
 llli. 
 
 I attended at the Treasury Board in behalf of Flueker. In 
 the evening at the play, but did not stay to the entertain- 
 ment.* 
 
 1 5th. — At the House of Lords, expecting a Debate on the 
 New England Bill. I was there by permission of the Chancellor 
 before Prayers, and had a good place. L" Enckingham pre- 
 sented the Petition from the city of Loudon, and another from 
 the Merchants, both against the Bill. The Slieriffs of London 
 were admitted, but had nothing to say in support of their 
 Petition. Then L" Rockingham desired the Merchants might 
 produce their witness, which was allowed, but none were present. 
 After some time spent. Lord Suffolk moved for the Bill to be 
 read, to save time. The Duke of Richmond opposed it, as 
 having been done with design to force on the question to-day, 
 whether they should be ready or not. But L* S. disclaiming 
 it, the Bill was read: and after longer time the witnesses 
 appeared. Tlie D. of E. then moved that M' Barclay, a 
 Quaker, one of the Petitioners, might examine the witnesses. 
 This was generally disapproved of, as irregular. Then, he said, 
 he would examine them himself, urging tiiat his motion was to 
 save time ; and to prove it, and to perplex the House, he first 
 proposed every question to the Chancellor, and then caused 
 him to repeat it to the witnesses, and if there was any variation 
 in words, would repeat them again, to the apparent dislike of 
 great part of the House. The first witness was Seth Jenkins, a 
 ship-master of Nantucitet, who was asked a great number of 
 questions, most of them impertinent, and others improper — 
 what he thought the people would do with their vessels if the 
 whaling should be stopped, (which the Bill provides against), 
 and whether the people would not be likely to go to Halifax, if 
 they could not maintain themselves at Nantucket? — to which 
 he answered, " No." — " Why not ? " — " Because they did not 
 like the government." — " Why did not they like it ? " — " Because 
 they had a notion of its being military, or something like it, 
 as they had always troops _there." Then Brook Watson, a 
 Petitioner, gave an account of the Cod and Whale Fishery of 
 N. England, as he collected it upon enquiry there in 1764, 
 * " 14.— The Gov' and Peggy at Drury Lane."— Elisha's Diary. 
 
";5".] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 407 
 
 which was a rude computation without sufficient knowledge. 
 Then Lord Sandwich called two Poole Merchants. Benj° Lister. 
 and — Davis, who gave a very particular account of the fishery 
 carried on at Nfland, which exceeded my apprehension ; and 
 they agreed that between 7 & 80,000 quintals were exported 
 every year, besides the oyl and seal oyl: that besides the 
 Bankers, two thousand boats were employed in the shear 
 fishery, ten tons one w*" another : that 20,000 men and up- 
 wards were employed. Coinodores Shuldam and Palliser were 
 examined to the same points, and agreed in their accounts. 
 The chief desiga of these examinations was, to shew that if the 
 New England Fishery was wholly stopped, they could increase 
 the Nf*iand fishery iu proportion for the supply of the foreign 
 Markets, and that it would be incomparably more beneficial to 
 the Kingdom, for they said there went out to Newfoundland 
 every year 3000 Green or New-men, who were trained up to 
 the sea, and the two Coinadores said they often were greatly 
 helped by them in manning their ships, and that this fishery, 
 next to the Colliery, was the great nursery for seamen, whereas 
 the New England fishermen never did come into the Navy, and 
 they did not desire they should, for they did not like them. 
 This was Palliser particularly. 
 
 Thus the time was spent unprofitably, from two o'clock till 
 eight : but the D. of Eicbmond answered his purpose to keep 
 off the debate till another day, and accordingly it was ordered 
 for to-morrow. 
 
 I went from the H. of Lords to a Musick party at S'' Sampson 
 Gideon's, where met with Paoli again : — Col. Leland, of the 
 Guards, who was in N. England with General Howe, and told 
 me he had dined at my house. I went without dinner or 
 supper, except J pint of milk at going to bed. 
 
 16th. — Called upon General Eveling in St. James's Place : 
 a house, he says, left him by his father. He has an estate in 
 Surrey, and divides his time between the two. Upon General 
 Burgoyne — but not up. Met Howe at his door. Went to the 
 Board of Trade, and was informed by M"^ Pownall that my 
 proposal for an Amendment upon the New England Bill had 
 been considered in the Cabinet, but not approved of. 
 
408 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms. 
 
 Colonel Prescot called to give Dotice of his sailing for New 
 England. 
 
 I went to the H. of Lords soon after two, and the Chancellor 
 took me in before Prayers. Lord Dartmouth opened the 
 debate very well, L" Eockingham opposed the committing the 
 N.E. Bill, as cruel, inhuman, &c., and boasted of his own 
 steadiness from the beginning. L" Carlisle (I took it for the 
 first time) made a set speech, but had a general vote of appro- 
 bation. L" Gower, whose daughter he married, shewed great 
 pleasure in his countenance ; and L" Camden, tho' of the other 
 side, seemed to say — " Very well performed." D. of Manchester 
 then spake, and took notice of its being left to Custom House 
 Officers to open the Port. Lord Dartmouth then s" he believed 
 the noble Duke had not attended to that Clause in the Bill, 
 and then read a Clause which leaves it to the Gov., but the 
 Duke replied that the Noble Lord was mistaken, and read the 
 next Clause, w"" relates to E'* Island and Connecticut, and L** 
 D. then acknowledged his mistake, but said the provision was 
 necessary because of the Charter Governors. Then Lord 
 Dudley spoke, and complained of the combinations in 1768, 
 when the Americans wrote over to the people of Birmingham, 
 that if they did not get the tax Acts repealed, they should 
 lose their debts. Then L" Camden rose and spoke an hour and 
 an half without the least hesitation. I never heard a greater 
 flow of words, but my knowledge of facts ia this controversy 
 caused his misrepresentations and glosses to appear in a very 
 strong light. He supposed a premeditated plan for settling the 
 Colonies: that they were originally intended to be under a 
 variety of constitutions, in order to prevent their union, and 
 yet he [at] present justified the Congress as a lawful proper 
 measure. He added, that Massachusets always had been a 
 persecuting people, and that Connecticut and Ehode Island 
 had Charters absolutely demccratical, for the sake of enabling 
 them the better to withstand the persecuting spirit ; whereas 
 Massachusetts claimed no sort of jurisdiction over them. They 
 both had been above 20 years under a form of Government very 
 near the same with their Charters, and so was Massachusetts 
 under the same form ; and K. Charles deemed it better they 
 
ms'.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 409 
 
 should desire their authority from the Crown, than from their 
 own power. He run from the Colonies to the Pamphlets — on 
 Taxation No Tyranny, and he pretended he did not know the 
 Author : * another also, by a certain Dean, he said ; both 
 which he condemned, for advancing that, in all governments, 
 there must be an absolute unlimited power,t a doctrine to be 
 detested, as, upon the contrary doctrine, the right of the 
 present family to the Crown most certainly depended. Resist- 
 ance must be justified in England, but the Americans, of all the 
 world, must be singled out, and it must be denied to them. 
 Here was a more shameful fallacy, which no Lord exposed. He 
 then went upon his old doctrine — No Representation, no Taxa- 
 tion : then condemned the Bill as cruel and inhuman : the 
 measure was neither just, practicable, nor necessary : expiated 
 largely upon each ; then enlarged upon the fluctuating measures 
 of Administration — one day America was in rebellion ; another 
 day a conciliatory plan was proposed : then delivered a great 
 eulogium upon Lord Chatham and his plan : condemned the 
 rejecting of it in very strong terms : then upbraided the Ministry 
 with being pleased with every appearance of concession from 
 the Americans : a little town of Marshfield had desired soldiers 
 from Gage ; he thought it was an inland town, and that 1 00 
 men had marched 40 miles into the country without being 
 destroyed : but, alas ! it appears by the map to be a town upon 
 the sea coast, to which the men were sent by water — a town 
 which had six of M'' Hutchinson's Justices in it. Upon 
 mentioning my name, most of the Bishops, and many Lords 
 who sat with their backs to me, turned about and looked in my 
 face. It happened that I never made a Justice in that town 
 whilst I was in the Government. 
 
 "Writing to Mr. Sewall, on March 18, that is to say, two days 
 after this debate, the Governor does not allow the wild statements 
 
 ' Commonly ascribed to Dr. Johnson. 
 
 t Quite wrong. The authors of those Pamphlets never implied absolute or 
 unlimited power. They say a Supreme Power. The Americans wanted a 
 supreme power in America independently of the supremo power of the 
 English Parliament ; but all the constitutional writers of that day explained 
 that two supreme heads could not exist in the same empire. Absolute un- 
 limited jwwer is a very different thing from a Supremo Power. Lot Lord 
 Camden be accurate. 
 
410 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^5. 
 
 of Lord Camden to pass without comment. In his Letter Book, in 
 his own hand-writing, he says : — 
 
 " L* Camden made a speech of an hour and a half, w""" I am 
 inclined to think will be sent or carried to you hy F., it heing 
 calculated to keep up the spirit of opposition in America ; tho' he 
 was forced to allow that the general cry of the Kingdom was 
 against America, and obviated any improvement which might be 
 made of this cry in favour of the Bill, by observing that it was 
 well known a popular cry could be no argument in favour of any 
 cause. Wilkes might have said this with almost as good a grace. 
 
 " I am a little angry w"" him for asserting that the departure of 
 the little town of Marshfield from the confederacy was owing to 
 M' Hutchinson's having made sii Justices there, w"'' brought the 
 eyes of the Lords upon me, who, I doubt not, believed him, though 
 it happens unluckily for him that I never made a Justice in that 
 town. Our American patr[iots] hardly exceed him in boldly 
 asserting, to say the least, what he knows not to be true (you may 
 transpose not if you will) to support his cause. L* Suffolk spake 
 very well. L* Mansf. was silent, but looked with sovereign con- 
 tempt upon his adversary. Attending two or three debates in the 
 H. of L. has lessened the high opinion I had formed of the dignity 
 of it when I was in England before." 
 
 It is strange that a man in Lord Camden's position should 
 descend to misstatements to try and strengthen his argument. 
 This is an experiment that always fails. In a letter to the Chief 
 Justice Oliver, then in Boston, the Governor says : — 
 
 « St. J. S' 24 March -75. 
 "D'S', 
 
 " The attempts of the Americ" Lead[ers] to intimidate the 
 Kingd" have had the contrary effect. I was express[ingj my 
 
 concern a few days ago to a person who is near the top, lest F 's 
 
 return to America should excite to still greater acts of revolt — 
 ' Give y''self no concern,' says he, ' the grosser acts F. excites them 
 to, the more he will hurt his own cause : the more sure [?] by and 
 by must be the punishm' of some of them. I know the state of 
 the nation in every part. I never knew it more united — more 
 determined in anything than in Americ[an] measures. These 
 measures are not thro' Minist' influence ; you see in all other 
 points Ministry has 100 votes : C'^ knows this perfectly well : it 
 forced itself from him in the speech w"^"" was concerted w"" F n 
 
JJ'V.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. 411 
 
 to carry to America, and w"*" cannot make a single convert here : — 
 whilst we continue the united — the farther y* people go the better : 
 — better for us, and better for you, because your reduction wUl be 
 the more effectual : government and order will be more effectually 
 established, and of longer duration.' Thus he : as in N.E. we some- 
 times close our pulpit quotations. 
 
 " But I must own to you I think you have gone far and ahead 
 enough to convince you of the impracticability of obtaining what 
 you aim at. Independency ; and eno' to shew that you would be 
 miserable if you could attain to it. 
 
 " F. never recovered his credit in the least degree. He never 
 
 lost it w"" L^ C m, and others like him in the Opposition, but I 
 
 don't find that he ever appeared in any PhUosoph. meeting, 
 or in any of the comp' he used to freq' since his business with 
 Whately. 
 
 " The N.E. Bill now lies for the Eoyal Assent. The BUI for the 
 other Col. differs only ia having-no special provision for the Fishery, 
 and has gone thro' the Com" with only a slight skirmish, and no 
 doubt of it will go thro' the L^ with a still more slight, as the 
 subject is quite exhausted. Surely the Col' do not intend to 
 persevere untU their trade is totally ruined? Four ships are 
 arrived from Virginia, and bring ord[er8] for goods. The Merch" 
 say they wUl not ship them. The New England Houses have 
 generally come into the same agreem', and are very angry w"" 
 Harris's House for shipping. What distress have y' Patriots 
 involved you in ! They have put Gov* upon stopping aU your 
 trade, except to and from Eng*, and the Merch" here have put a 
 stop even to that. Are no Patriots a second time well stock* w"" 
 such goods, to make an advant' of their neighb' misfortunes? 
 Change your state of anarchy, I beseech you, for a state of order 
 and good Gov'. I wish it may not be too late already for your 
 fishing towns, for I assure you the enquiry made into the great 
 national advantages arising from the N.Fl* [Newfoundland] Fishery, 
 has determined a great part of the Pari' to exclude America from 
 aU the Banks ; and they are strengthened by the fresh Memb", who 
 are very numerous, and will endeavour to bring Ireland in, who, 
 they say, are well intitled, by contributing so largely to the 
 national charge, W" America refuses to bear any part of." 
 
 In concluding, he puts forth a wish that he may return to 
 America, and to the society of many old friends, in the fall. Vain 
 wishes ! 
 
 Lord Sandwich, I think, spoke next, and chiefly upon the 
 
412 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms. 
 
 adyantages of the N.f land fishery to the Navy beyond that of_ 
 New England, and reflected upon the N. Eng. men as cowards 
 at Cape Breton, &c. 
 
 Lord Shelburne was very long, and his words flowed easily, 
 but he kept to no point in the Bill. 
 
 Then Lord Suffolk defended the Bill with great propriety : 
 answered what had been objected by one of the Lords, viz. — 
 that the examination yesterday looked as if it were going to 
 deprive the New England men of tlieir Fishery for ever, by 
 saying the Bill gave them the faith of Pari' that when they 
 returned to their obedience, the Fishery should be restored to 
 the state it was in before. He answered Lord Camden's charge 
 of fluctuating by alleging that he had always been steady; 
 and that all our misfortunes were owing to the unsteadiness of 
 Gov' when they repealed the Staipp Act. 
 
 Lord Radnor, upon this, said he had, in all former debates 
 upon America, been in doubt what part to take, and therefore 
 had withdrawn before the division : but upon what L* Suffolk 
 had said, he was determined to divide with the Opposers of the 
 Bill; for by the evidence yesterday, he was convinced the 
 N.i*land Fishery was of so much greater benefit than the N. 
 England that he thought they ought to be excluded for 
 ever. 
 
 Lord Suffolk explained himself that he intended no more 
 than that when the Bill ceased to operate, they would be left 
 in the same state they were before the Bill passed : but this 
 would by no means restrain Parliam' from assuming the 
 subject again whenever .they thought proper. But Lord 
 Eadnor was resolved not to be satisfied, and would give his 
 voice against the Bill. 
 
 Lord Pomfret, I thought, spoke well for the Bill, but there 
 was a constant buz in the House, and also below the Bar, and 
 he was not attended to. 
 
 The Duke of Grafton, at the repaal of the Stamp Act, did 
 what ho thought was right ; and if America would come in 
 1776, and in a proper way apply for the repeal of the present 
 taxes, he would give his voice. By all the Excises and Taxes 
 paid in England, the manufactures came to the Americans at 
 
n«1 DIAEY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 413 
 
 ms.J 
 
 such an advanced price, that he thought it was tax enough for 
 them to pay : but he thought, as they had determined to starve 
 the Manufacturers in England, or throw them on the parishes 
 to the distress of the Kingdom, he thought this a very lenient, 
 as well as a very necessary Bill, &c. 
 
 Lord Abingdon, a disappointed man, vomited out sucli black 
 stuflF as I thought would not have been suffered. The Bill was 
 called infernal, diabolical, &c., and the judgments of Heaven 
 were denounced against all that had a hand in it. 
 
 Lord Camden made a short remark, and L" Rockingham, 
 and there was a general cry for the Question, which was put, 
 and the Non-Contents divided the House — 104 to 29, which 
 is much the same as former Divisions, The Question was — 
 Whether the Bill be committed ? * 
 
 17th. — I called upon Alderman Ives of Norwich, at Low's 
 Hotel, Covent Garden. IP Knox and M" Knox called, and 
 Col. Leland. A fine day : tempted to walk with my daughter 
 to Gray's Inn Gardens, and home through Lincoln's Inn 
 Gardens : and afterwards to ride towards Clapham in the coach 
 for an airing. 
 
 We are informed the Minority Lords do not intend to go 
 down to the House to-day, but to leave Administration to 
 model, or rather amend, the Bill at pleasure; and when it 
 comes to a Third Reading, to make fresh objections, in order to 
 a Protest : — and the Bill passed [the Second Reading] accord- 
 ingly, without [a] division. In the House of Commons the Bill 
 for restraining the other Colonies was read a second time, and 
 opposed, or rather exclaimed against by two or three, but no 
 division, and passed to be coinitted. 
 
 18th. — I called upon M"^ Ellis, who was gone to Twickenham, 
 and upon L* Drummond, and S' Charles Cotterell, who were 
 from home. Sir Eardley Wilmot called, and spent half an 
 hour. 
 
 * At a time when reporting speeches in the Houses of Parliament was so 
 little done, these reports by Mr. Hutchinson, who. was present, brief as they 
 are in detail, are not without their value. It is lamentable to see that the 
 modem vice of making hap-hazard assertions in Parliament, to serve party 
 purposes, whether true or not, is as old as the time of George III. And 
 doubtless it is older if liars lived so long ago. 
 
414 niASY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, ["fj. 
 
 After dinner went with E. H. and M' Clarke, to make a visit 
 to M' Bromfield * at Islington. 
 
 19th.— At the Old Jewry ; M' White preached. 
 
 At Court. Saw the Pope's nephew,t a most personable young 
 
 man, richly dressed. Lord Suffolk mentioned F 's going 
 
 to America : said if he h^d the sole direction he would prevent 
 it : and added, that he had it from good authority, that Lord 
 Camden's speech was a concerted thing between him and 
 Franklin, that he might carry it hot to the Congress. 
 
 Dined with M"^ Jenkinson, in company with Mauduit and 
 Sam' Martin, who fought with Wilkes. Jenkinson said L"* 
 Camden and Franklin, who were encouraging the Colonies to 
 persevere, were the greatest enemies they had : the nation 
 was never more united than in a determination to submit 
 to any hardships rather than concede to the claims of the 
 Colonies, 
 
 In the evening at Lord Mansfield's, where was but little 
 company ; afterwards at D' Heberden's, where I saw Lord 
 Hillsborough last. He said L* Chatham was the most un- 
 accountable man in the world. He could not believe he 
 entertained a wish to come in to Administration again. 
 Nobody could tell why he did not continue in when he was in : 
 he was well enough upon all other occasions ; but he, and his 
 Lady and family, all gave out he could not bear to hear 
 anything of business. For 6 or 8 months there was no Minister ; 
 the D. of Grafton declined to do anything without him : at 
 length, from necessity, he ventured upon business which caused 
 L" Chatham to go abroad ; and in a short time after he was at 
 Court, when the King took no other notice of him than of any 
 other at the Levee. But Mauduit says that one of the city 
 Apothecaries assured him that another Apothecary attended 
 him then as a mad man for several weeks under D' Addington ; J 
 that the Apothecary is now employed at Bedlam Hospital ; and 
 that for a fortnight together he kept him in a strait waistcoat. 
 
 * Apparently Bromfield. Some of the proper names are indistinctly 
 written. 
 
 t Prince Eezzonico. 
 
 j Dr. Addington was a well-known physician in London, who had come 
 from Beading, in Berkshire. His son successfully pursued the profession of 
 
Mar. 
 Ills. 
 
 ] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 415 
 
 20th. — Called upon Stuart Mackenzie, and left my name ; 
 upon L"* Galloway, who I found at home, and made a short 
 visit. In the eTening went to the Sollicitor General's, but lost 
 my labour. In the House of Commons there was a battle or 
 contest between the Stocking Weavers of Northampton, upon 
 two Petitions ; one praying for lenient measm-es with America : 
 the other for supporting the authority of Pari'. The advocate 
 for the first alleged that he employed from 10 to 1400 people : 
 that business grew slack, and he must stop good part of his 
 trade. The other brought a Member of the House, who is a 
 Banker in Nottingham, to support them. He was asked what 
 moneys usually went thro' his hands upon their draft? He 
 answered, About 2000 pounds a week. He was then asked if 
 there had been any abatem* of late? He said — No: that 
 ever since January his payments had been more than usual. 
 
 21st. — Walked as far as S* Clement's Lane and back. Four 
 ships arrived from Virginia : bring orders for goods — the non- 
 importation notwithstanding — but the Merchants here don't 
 incline to trust the goods at present. 
 
 After my return walked into Hyde Park, near as far as 
 Kensington Gardens : met Sir Gilbert Eliot, who thinks they 
 have got near through American business : wishes something 
 could be done to suppress the Congress. Ingersol and Bliss 
 
 called. The former says D' Bancroft, a crony of F ^n's, did 
 
 not know he was determined to go at any particular time, but 
 on inquiry at his house or lodgings after him, the 19% was 
 informed he went to Portsmouth the day before. 
 
 Intended to have been at the H. of Lords, and supposed they 
 would have sat long ; but they rose between 4 and 5, just as I 
 arrived ; and I lost hearing L* Littleton, who spake in a sort 
 
 the law; entered Parliament in 1784; succeeded Pitt as Prime Minister; 
 Speaker in 1789 ; and was raised to the Peerage as Viscount Sidmouth in 
 1805. The family seat is at Up-Ottery near Honiton, and at about thirteen 
 miles N. by E. from Sidmouth, the place from which he took his title, at that 
 time the Torquay of South Devon — a fashionable watering place, whereto 
 many of the nobility resorted — ^where Lord Gwydyr and Lord Le Despencer 
 built houses — ^where the Duke and Duchess of Kent resided — where the 
 Queen, then seven months old, was nursed, and where her father the Duke 
 died ; and, to speak it very softly, where this book was written. 
 
416 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms. 
 
 of skirmish on the last reading of the American Bill, in order 
 to divide and protest. 
 
 In the evening at M' Jenyns', vyhere were Lord Walpole, S' 
 Jn° Cotton, S' Sampson Gideon, the Bishop of Peterborough, 
 M' Shute [?], Lady Grey, and daughter, to whom I introduced 
 Miss H., Lady Cornwallis, M" Pownall, &c. 
 
 The name of rout has given an unfavourable idea of these 
 meetings among the people of N. England ; but nothing can be 
 more moderate, decent, and respectable ; seldom meeting till 
 near 8, and over soon after 10.* 
 
 22nd. — Called upon S' Tho. Mills, who promised me to 
 mention to Lord North the necessity of settling my son's 
 appointment at Quebec very soon, on account of the season of 
 the year : on L" Geo. Germaine, and M' Ellis — both abroad : 
 the Bishop of Peterborough, who I found at home, and who 
 seems to be the only Bishop who has interested himself in 
 American affairs. He understands them, and spoke very 
 sensibly in one of the debates. He enquired when I saw the 
 D. of Grafton, which question I a little wondered at, but upon 
 enquiry find he was Preceptor to the Duke, who, when he came 
 into Administration, made him a Bishop ; and the Duke coming 
 in a very young Minister, his Tutor was one of the youngest 
 Bishops. 
 
 At Lord Dartmouth's office. Knox read to me the Instruc- 
 tions to Gage, to apprehend the Leaders of the Congress, if they 
 refuse, upon his Proclamation, to separate. This is the Pro- 
 vincial Congress ; and he is directed to do it though a conflict 
 with his troops should be like to be the consequence. These 
 Instructions are dated the 28* Jan., intended by the Falcon, 
 who was under sailing orders about the 20'" of December. The 
 Falcon was in Torbay the 12'" of March. Duplicate went by 
 the Nautilus, who on the same 12'" of March, was at Ports- 
 
 * The name of rout for a qiiiet evening party survived for nearly a century 
 after the period here spoken of, at all events in some parts of England. They 
 were generally destined for middle-aged people and old women of both sexes 
 who played whist and loo. No yomig person liked such parties, as there was 
 no dancing or anything to enliven them; and the practice of singing and 
 instrumental music, which has now become so usual at evening parties, had 
 not been developed. Cards at evening parties are now comparatively rarely 
 seen in England. 
 
Mar. 
 1IJ5 
 
 .] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 417 
 
 mouth : so that it's most likely both original and duplicate are 
 yet within Scilly. 
 
 My daughter and I dined with Sir Jeffery Amherst — ^two, 
 Col. Prescot, Col. Smith, and Cunningham, were the company ; 
 and Miss Lambeit and Lady Amherst. 
 
 23rd. — Called at Lord Suffolk's, who was in the country : and 
 at the Board of Trade: after they rose, saw L* D. and M' 
 Gascoign, who had a new report of a most favourable turn in 
 Mass. Bay, upon the arrival of the King's Speech : but I satisfied 
 them that we could have no news from Boston since the ship to 
 Glasgow : and it turns out to be the old account brought by 
 M' Selkrigg [?], a passenger, just now come up to London. In 
 the Commons the amendments of the Lords upon the N. 
 Engl* Bill will not go down, they being, as L" D. says, 
 very awkward ones ; for they have taken out a clause, which 
 admits them to fish because they are obedient: and it's 
 taken out because another Bill is in the Commons, which 
 declares them disobedient : but then the Preamble and Title 
 of the Bill is left, and corresponds with the clause they have 
 taken out : tlie only way for the Comons, they say, is to non- 
 concur the Amendment, and help it by provision in the new 
 Bill. 
 
 24th. — At Lord Dartmouth's with my son,* and M' Clarke 
 to take his advice upon an application to Gov* for their suffer- 
 ings, &c., as Consignees, the E. India Comp'" alleging that 
 their whole loss ought to be paid by Government. 
 
 In the evening at M' Prince's in the city. 
 
 25th. — Called upon Col. Leland in Brook Street ; the D. of 
 Grafton, and L"* Gage, — who were abroad. 
 
 Col. Prescot and Bliss dined with us. 
 
 Mauduit in the evening. 
 
 26th. — At the King's Chapel at St. James's. Being crowded 
 I met w"" some difficulty at first in obtaining a seat, but was 
 soon accomodated as were afterwards my daughter and son. 
 Doctor Hurd,t the last created Bishop preached, it being the 
 
 * Doubtless Elisha, for he was one of the consignees. 
 
 t The author of " Dialogues of the Dead," and other cclohratcd writings. 
 
 2 E 
 
418 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms. 
 
 first time before the King, to great acceptance from — " Never 
 man spake," &c.* 
 
 L* Piesid., Chancellor, Sir Hoik [?] Sandwich, &c., all talked 
 with me at Court upon America. Duke of Qu'' very good. 
 Saw the D. of Marlboro the first time, to know him. 
 
 I dined with the Earl of Galloway at his house in Charles 
 Street, St. James's Sq. The Earl of "Warwick, lately of the 
 Board of Trade, as Lord Greville, whilst his father lived ; Lord 
 Balcarras, one of the 16 Scotch Peers, a young man who was 
 silent ; Sir Adolphus Oughton, K* of the Bath, and Lady ; Sir 
 Adam Ferguson, and M"^ Dundas,t Scotch Members, and M' 
 Stewart, brother to L* Galloway, and a Member, with Lady 
 Galloway — all Scotch except E. [of] Warwick — made the 
 company: and the conversation turning much upon political 
 and historical affairs, was more valuable than is at present 
 common. I had opportunity of enquiring into the Scotch prac- 
 tice in cases of Divorce, and I find they divorce a vinculo for 
 adultery, both male and female : but tho' M' Dundas — I take 
 lo be Soil. Gen. — and is very sensible, yet he could not satisfy 
 me whether they founded upon Civil or Canon Law : ho was 
 satisfied they had no statute, and thought it might be founded 
 on our Saviour's authority as laid down in the New Testament, 
 and added — " I can tell you in the morning." Their Court is 
 substituted in the place of the Bishop's Commissorial Court ; 
 the Judges now appointed by the Crown ; and an appeal lies 
 to the H. of Lords, which, they agree, govern themselves by 
 the Scotch Law, as practised in the Coiiiissorial Court. 
 
 27th. — Called upon the Bishop of London, who mentioned 
 [to] me the day before, at Court, L* North's intention to settle 
 200£ p an. for life upon D"^ Cooper of N. Y,, and D' Chandler 
 of the Jersies, and asked my opinion of the same upon D'' 
 Caner of Boston ? I thought him as deserving as the others. 
 But I asked him to-day whether 100£ would not answer every 
 purpose, as there were many persons in America who laid claim 
 to rewards. He said the sum was L* North's own thought. 
 
 Upon Lord Hardwicke. 
 
 * Gosp. St. John vii. 46. 
 t Written Dundass. 
 
Mar. 
 U?5. 
 
 ] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 419 
 
 At the Board of Trade, where L** D. acquainted me with his 
 intelligence from Gen. Gage. Eobson being arrived, and I 
 found a letter from the Gov. and L' Gov., and soon after other 
 letters at my house, to the postage of 23/6, besides other letters 
 by passengers, which came to hand in the evening. The con- 
 fusions are increased beyond my apprehensions. An opinion 
 prevailed that lenient measures would still be pursued in Eng- 
 land : and by the long spell of westerly* winds, it is probable 
 they are not yet undeceived. By this ship I have the melan- 
 choly news of the death of my dear sister Welsted, the 4* [?] 
 of February, after five days illness, from a pleuritick fever.t 
 I hardly know whether I ought to minute, that the day before, 
 overtaking an elderly woman in Spring Gardens, I looked 
 round in her face, and was so struck witli a strong resemblance 
 to M" W. that I could not help taking notice of it to my 
 children as soon as I came home. 
 
 28th. — Called upon M' Jenkinson, and communicated what 
 intelligence I had received from America. He laments nothing 
 being done in Parliament to stop the proceedings of the Con- 
 gress at Philadelphia. Spent an hour with M' Pownall and 
 Knox at L* D.'s office. 
 
 Took an airing as far as Kentish Town. 
 
 M' Jenkinson mentioned a motion by M' Hartley yesterday 
 for repealing the Declaratory Act : says the Opposition are 
 ashamed of and apologize for their conduct, tho' they wrangled 
 about, yet they would not divide upon the Question. 
 
 29th. — At Lord Dartmouth's. He seems very apprehensive 
 that the New England people will resist the King's troops, and 
 does not know but some action between them will be best. I 
 saw for the first time M' Lop, the Jwnius Americanus. W Baker, 
 who was candidate for the city, and Lee, were at L* D.'s Levee. 
 
 In the evening at M' Palmer's, in Devonshire Square. A 
 large company : I knew nobody but M' Wheeler, Chairman of 
 the East India Directors. 
 
 * The word is blotted; but, from the sense, it can be no other than 
 w gs 1 6 rl V • 
 
 t His' eldest sister Sarah, bom 1706, and since 1753 the widow of the Kev. 
 Mr Welsted. The day of her death is blotted and uncertain. 
 
 2 E 2 
 
420 DIARY AND LETIES8 OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [""5. 
 
 30th. — Lord D. desiring by a note to see mc a minute, lie 
 asked my opinion of the King's conferring the honour of 
 Knighthood on* w* he said was strongly desired, as it 
 
 would give him weight in promoting the King's service. I 
 gave my opinion, which his Lordship allowed was well founded. 
 
 General Biirgoyne breakfasted, and spent an hour afterwards. 
 He seems more anxious how to conduct [affairs] in case Martial 
 Law should be declared in force, than how to withstand all the 
 force the Americans can bring against bim. He spoke freely 
 of the present state of Administration : the want of one vigorous 
 direction : the indecision in all the Councils : the aptness to 
 procrastination : and tho' he expected to sail in 8 days, doubted 
 whether any Instructions [had been prepared], and rather 
 feared [he] should go without any : thought Haldimand, being 
 an older Major-General in America, would cause a difficulty as 
 he was a foreigner, in case the chief command should devolve 
 on him. 
 
 Called on Lord Hillsborough, M' Ellis, and Capt. Hamond — 
 all abroad. 
 
 Dined, and also E. and P. with S' Charles Cotterell Dormer. 
 Eesides his family we had the Warden of Winchester School, 
 and young Bnrch. 
 
 31st. — I walked into the city, and back to St. James's Street. 
 Called upon Sir Thomas Mills in the Adelphi. He says Lord 
 North told him he hoped to settle his business by the first of 
 May, At Mauduit's and Whately's. The latter gave me an 
 account of his Bill in Chancery against Whately. Franklin's 
 answer had been referred to a Master, according to custom who 
 reported the answer insufficient. The Questions were — "From 
 whom did you receive the Letters? — To whom were they sent? 
 Where are they at this time?" Tiie Answers, as near as I 
 remember, were — " I received them as Agent for the Province. 
 — I sent them to my Constituents. — I know not where they 
 now are." After the Master's Keport, the practice of the 
 Court is, to have an Argument before the Chancellor. This 
 Whately says, F 's Counsel have kept off for several months] 
 
 * Here follow two or three words in shorthand, which have not as yet been 
 deciphered. 
 
n^s"] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 421 
 
 and a few days after lie sailed it was argued, and the Chancellor 
 required a further answer. If the second Answer is judged 
 insuifioient, the Kespondent is taken into custody. Wliately 
 says he consulted the Si)lIicitor Gen. about seeing out a Writ 
 of Ne exeat, and the S. (x. consulted the Att. Gen., who did not 
 think it advisable, as it would be said to be a contrivance of 
 Ministry to stop Franklin. 
 
 M"^ Ellis called while I was abroad. 
 
 April 1. — I called upon the Attorney General: saw him 
 afterwards at Lincoln's Inn Hall, and he appointed to see me 
 at Court to-morrow. Went in the coach with Peggy to take 
 a view of St. John's Gate, and came home thro' the New Eoad 
 and Marybone. 
 
 M' Livins, Bliss, Coffin, Barritt [?], and Oliver dined with 
 us. In the evening Mauduit read a paragraph from Hallowell, 
 which says the Marblehead people had dismissed their Com- 
 mittees of Correspondence, and had determined they would 
 not be bound by Congresses. I hear of no other letter which 
 mentions it. 
 
 2nd. — At the Meeting in Silver Street. D' Fordyce preached, 
 or rather expounded, tlie Chapter in John of Lazarus's death, 
 and restoration to life.* His prayer was florid — poetical : great 
 part of it had too mnch the air of an Address to the people, or 
 what is called " a Preaching Prayer : " the exposition in good 
 language and sentiment, but flowery. He took it for granted 
 that Lazarus quitted a state of happiness to return to the 
 troubles of life; and to make the miracle appear stronger, 
 supposed a putrefaction began, which does not appear in the 
 Text, and is only the conjecture I think, of Mary, from the 
 time he had been buried. In reading the Chapter, when he 
 came to — "By this time — ," he very gracefully went on — 
 "The next words had been better translated 'he smelleth 
 ofifensively.' " A very small congregation in a decent house. 
 
 But few persons known to me at Court. The Tho. Walpole 
 concerned in the Ohio Grant, I saw the first time. He seemed 
 rather to like the report that the Boulah from N. York was 
 coming back with her goods. M"^ Jones, formerly a Chief 
 
 * John ch. xi. 
 
422 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^,,5" 
 
 Justice at the Jerseys, now an old paralitick man, spoke to me, 
 and complained of hard usage iii being superseded by Morris. 
 No Ministers but L" Sandwich and Eochford. 
 
 In the evening at D' Heberden's. S' Edward Blackit [?] I 
 had not seen t'lere before, and D' Bernard, Master of Eaton> 
 Bishops of Carlisle, Lincoln, and Lichfield, D' Boss, and 
 Douglas. 
 
 Ty Heberden gave an odd account of I think, a Nostrum or 
 Quack Doctor^ whose wife died two months ago, when he em- 
 ployed Jy Hunter to embalm her, and by injecting spirits of 
 terpentine, campliore, &c., into all the vessels, the leg.^, arms, 
 and those parts exposed to view, continued without alteration. 
 The face had something horrid : he saw her a day or t^vo ago. 
 Her husband kept her in a box, and sat by her at work.* 
 
 3rd. — Called upon M' Ellis : talked with him upon the Law 
 Martial, but was interrupted by company : and upon L** Hills- 
 borough — not well : Gov. Tryon — from home. lu the Park — 
 an airing to Paddington and Hide Park. 
 
 Dined at Lord Dartmouth's, w"" L" Chancellor, L'^ President, 
 L" Sandwich, Hardwicke, Townshend, Barrington, Howe, Gen. 
 Howe, Clinton, Burgoyne, Col. Prescot, Grant, and Jn" Pownall. 
 
 4th. — At M' Pownall's office : with him upon the subject of 
 Liw Martial. The first Coinission with that authority was to 
 L" Willoughby, Gov. of Barbadoes in 1663, and it seems to 
 have been generally continued in the Comiss", and of course 
 came into the Miss. Charter^ which is little more than a 
 standing Comission or rule for the Governor to exercise the 
 powers of Government. 
 
 M' Stewart [sometimes Stuart] Mackenzie called, and spent 
 half an hour. Took an airing in the Kensington Eoad, by 
 Biscoe's BuildingSj among the Gardens, where I had not been 
 before. 
 
 M'' Mauduit in the evening. 
 
 * " D' Heberden (as every Physician, to make himself talked of, will set 
 up some new hypothesis), pretends that a damp house, and even damp sheets, 
 which have ever been reckoned fatal, are wholesome : to prove his faith, he 
 went into his own new house totally unaired, and sui-vived it." A footnote 
 adds — "D' William Heberden, the distinguished Physician and medical 
 writer, who died on the 7"" of March 1801, at the age of ninety-one." — 
 Walpole'b Letters, vi. 220. 
 
^?,Hn DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 423 
 
 nis.J 
 
 5th. — From nine till eleven this evening at JlP Wedder- 
 burne's, chiefly in discourse upon Law Martial : and upon the 
 whole, found his sentiments very agreeable to my own, which 
 I had wrote the day before to the Attorney General at Boston. 
 He added this —That if Martial Law sliould be declared, he 
 thought it advisable to avoid trials and sentences in capital 
 cases, as far as the safety of a state will admit ; and rather to 
 reserve or secure offenders for trials at Common Law, whenever 
 it shall a;;ain have its coursp. 
 
 6th. — Walked to Clements Lane and back. At Lord North's 
 Levee. Had some conversation upon the appointment of a 
 SoUic' to the Coiniss. of the Customs. Reminded him of his 
 promise for my son, to which he answered — " As fast as we 
 can." Mauduit in the evening. 
 
 7th. — Called upon Lord Suffolk. The servant let me know 
 he was rid out, but added — " My Lord has ordered whenever 
 you call to almit you ; and I believe he will return in half an 
 hour." I called a second time, and found his Lordship at 
 home. I communicated the Att. Gen. Sewall's letter to him. 
 He expressed his concern lest any blood should be spilt in the 
 contest: spoke in the highest terms of my services, and de- 
 clared his opinion that I had been neglected ; and added, that 
 he knew the King thought very favourably of me, &c. 
 
 Dined at Lord Dartm* with his own family, Pepperell, Lady 
 Oughton, and M" Brudenell, Lord D.'s sister, and Peggy. 
 
 The mail from N. York brings advice that tlie Assembly 
 refused to appoint Deputies for the Congress — 17 to 9 ; and 
 that a Provincial Congress would be formed to appoint them : 
 that a ship with goods from England was ordered away ; but 
 that she would not return to England, and was gone to Halifax. 
 
 This looks like a breach between the Colonies, which F 
 
 will endeavour to close when he arrives. 
 
 gth. — Walked to Gines & Co. Bankers in Lomb* Street, and 
 back. 
 
 Dined w-th M' Jenkinson : no company except S' Lucius 
 O'Brien, who appears to be much of a gentleman— mild, good 
 natured and polite, and S' John Blaquiere, K' of the Bath.* 
 * See back, August 3, 1774. 
 
424 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [»•?■" 
 
 They give a more particular ace' of Lord Cliye's death than 
 I had lieard before.* The whole story of laudanum was a 
 fiction. He had been giving directions to his maid about 
 writing a card a few minutes before his death : left her to go 
 into his room, and she soon heard him fall, and went in, and 
 found him dead, his throat being cut, or terribly hacked with 
 a knife used for erasing writings : and in two or three hours 
 his body was moved out of the county, to avoid the Coroner 
 and an Inquisition. 
 
 9th. — At the Temple Church, where the Eeader preached. 
 
 10th. — In the morning at L** Hardwicke's by desire, who 
 gave me the Bill for restraining the trade of the Southern 
 Colonies, and desired I would send it back to him with re- 
 marks. 
 
 11th, — At the Board of Trade. Had some discourse with 
 Lord Dartmouth and M' Pownall upon Law Martial. Pownall 
 was greatly alarmed at discovering that Gen. Gage had signed 
 an Act for issuing Treasurer's Notes for four days more than 
 two years, the time limited by Act of Parliament, by wliich he 
 was for ever disqualified from holding any place in Governm*. 
 I thought it best to say nothing about it, and added that I did 
 not believe the Obligation given by the Treasurer could be 
 considered, as the Bills of Credit intended by that Act: for 
 tho' they were assignable, they passed as money between man 
 and man, as in the Paper Money Colonies. 
 
 12th. — In the morning walked into the city to Nicholas 
 Lane and back. In the afternoon at the House of Lords. 
 Expected a Debate on the Bill restraining Trade of the South" 
 Colonies, but it passed without a word of debate. The House 
 divided notw"'standing — 73 to 20. This probably for the sake 
 of a Protest. 
 
 Before this question, which was the Order of the day. Lord 
 Sandwich acquainted the House that a Committee, which was 
 appointed to consider of a Bill for Inclosure[?] before the 
 House, and to report, had met — considered the Bill: the 
 majority of one disapproved of it : but instead of reporting, as 
 they were ordered, had adjourned the Committee for two 
 * See back, November 24, 1774. 
 
■Jrfs!] BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOBINSON. 425 
 
 months ; before which [time] Pari' would be up : and in this 
 way the Comittee had determined the fate of the Bill without 
 the voice of the House : and moved tliat the Committee should 
 be directed to report. One would have thought there could 
 not be a more reasonable motion, but the Bishop of Peterboro', 
 L" Abercorn, Oathcart, and others, opposed it, and only urged 
 that the proceeding was warranted by precedent. Camden, 
 Shelburne, Littleton, Dudley, Radnor, — supported L"* Sandwich, 
 and urged that the practice of Coiiiittees never ought to be 
 urged as precedents, against a Motion founded upon the highest 
 reason. This was the only specimen I have heard of L" 
 Littleton's celebrated oratory. The House divided : — forty odd 
 to twenty odd. Many would not vote any way. 
 
 Lord Suffolk delivered a message from tlie King concerning 
 Buckingham House, for a settlement on the Queen, instead of 
 Somerset House, and moved for the Address in answer. Somerset 
 House is to be turned into public offices. 
 
 Billy returned from Bath in the evening. 
 
 The unanimity of the English people against the demands of 
 the leaders of the American faction, was fully manifested in the 
 large majorities constantly given in support of all measures pro- 
 posed for checking the growing spirit of rebellion. This was 
 discernible by the divisions in both Houses of Parliament. The 
 demands of the Americans had now become so exorbitant as to 
 have passed reason, and the arguments employed to urge them 
 had passed the bounds of truth. The beginning of a dispute is 
 like the letting out of water. The Americans placed this beginning 
 at the period immediately succeeding the Canadian war, when the 
 French were subdued, and all apprehensions in respect to their 
 proximity had been removed, and this was in 1763. Manifestations 
 of impatience under the superintending power of England began 
 to be openly expressed, though the rights of the Mother Country, 
 by way of counterpoise, were fully acknowledged. Mr. Otis, in 
 his pamphlet of 1766 wrote — "It is certain that the Parliament of 
 Great Britain hath a just, clear, equitable, and constitutional 
 right, power, and authority to bind the Colonies in all Acts 
 wherein they are named. Every lawyer, [he was a lawyer] nay, 
 every tyro, knows this." But, alas, for the stability of human 
 nature ; he soon after eat his own words, and became one of the 
 most active leaders of the disaffected party. But if this admission 
 
426 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ff^! 
 
 of an individual is not enough, the following is the declaration 
 of the Assembly of Massachusetts in their Address to Governor 
 Pownall in 1757 — " The authority of all Acts of Parliament 
 which concern the Colonies and extend to them, is ever acknow- 
 ledged in all the Courts of law, and made the rule of all judicial 
 proceedings in the Province. There is not a Member of the 
 General Court, and we know no inhabitant within the bounds of 
 the Government, that ever questioned this authority." How is it 
 possible to reconcile these loyal sentiments with the denial of the 
 supremacy of Parliament that followed so soon after? By the 
 year 1774 they had declared that the English Parliament had no 
 legal power over them : and before the year 1775 they had gone a 
 step further, and declared that it never had^ Neither language nor 
 untruth could go beyond this : and from that time they lost all 
 hold upon the sympathies of every thinking and every educated 
 man in England. By this assertion they went too far, and thereby 
 weakened all their subsequent arguments so much that no one 
 paid any attention to them afterwards. There were a few in 
 Parliament who, for party purposes, discoursed in favour of the 
 American cause to a certain extent, and by this course they did 
 a great deal to encourage the rebellion ; but even such men as 
 Lord Camden, Lord Chatham, and Edmund Burke, never allowed 
 that the Americans could be absolved from the supremacy of 
 Parliament/ To give up that was virtually to give up the 
 Colonies entirely. It has been before observed, that a feeling 
 of solicitude for the safety, and consequently welfare of the 
 Colonies, prevented England, among other considerations, from 
 thinking of a separation. She thought that the unprotected 
 young States would be immediately pounced upon by the French, 
 the Spaniards, or the Dutch. Governor Hutchinson, in his Address 
 to the Assembly of Jan. 6, 1773, particularly alludes to this, and 
 warns them how much better off they are under the mild sway of 
 England, than they would be under the rule of either of those 
 nations. The other objection entertained by England consisted in 
 her fear lest, in case of a separation, she should lose all trade with 
 the American states; but there is no doubt that on both these 
 points she was mistaken. She meant well to the Colonies, without 
 forgetting her own interests : but the event has shewn that the 
 Americans could take care of themselves without leading-strings, 
 and time has proved that trade with us in that quarter has 
 increased. 
 
 By the beginning of 1775 everything on both sides of the 
 Atlantic was tending to the ultima ratio regum. All arguments 
 
v"?"] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 427 
 
 ms. 
 
 had been exhausted : honour, honesty, and truth had been tried, 
 and had failed : sophistry and falsehood had been tried, and rather 
 too freely, but they had failed also : nothing remained but the 
 bayonet and the bullet. 
 
 There is a letter from London of April 8, 1775, from Mr. 
 Hutchinson to the Lieut.-Govemor of Massachusetts, in which the 
 following remarks on the critical position of afifairs occur : — 
 
 " I hope your opinion, that the people will not resist the King's 
 troops is weU. founded for I do not wish for the loss of a drop of 
 blood. I find you are not all of the same opinion, and that many 
 think there will be a very powerful resistance. It must be 
 irrational, for nothing can be gained, and everything may be lost. 
 
 " The three Major Generals have most amiable characters. 
 They wiU be able to tell you everything, and I believe, by their 
 good judgment in civil as well as military affairs, they wiU prove 
 a very important acquisition; and that it will appear a wiser 
 measure than what some people strove for, the appearance of a 
 General Officer, higher in' rank than your present Governor. How 
 much does it behove every friend to the country at so critical a 
 season, to cultivate, as far as his sphere will admit, the most perfect 
 concord and harmony among the King's servants. 
 
 " I beg you would make my compliments to M' Lee, [?] Col. 
 Vassall, M' Lechmere, M' Borland, M' Inman, [?] your old Cambridge 
 neighbours and friends. When they can return and live quiet in 
 Cambridge, I shall hope that I may be as quiet at Milton." 
 
 Elisha continues to flatter himself that he may soon take his 
 passage and return to America. He says, inter alia, to his wife 
 April 9, 1775 — " I have all along been pleasing myself with the 
 thoughts of returning to you in the spring, and had determined in 
 my own mind, to take passage in Baverson, but when I came to 
 mention it, u few days ago, so far from finding any of my friends 
 consenting to it, they all advised against it, and my letters by 
 Eobson discourage it, and tell me that I may think myself fortunate 
 in being here at this time." 
 
 April 13 he writes, " I consider myself at present a prisoner 
 here, with my heart and affections in New England." 
 
 In the same, speaking of the King's appearance — 
 
 " I have just come in from the House of Lords, where I saw the 
 King give his assent to one of the American Bills, and a number 
 of others. I wish you could have gone with me. The King is 
 
428 diahy and letters of thomas eutceinson. [fiVi! 
 
 such a figure of a man, that, seated on his throne in his Eoyal 
 Kobes, there is nothing here that affords such a feast to my eyes." 
 
 Two anxious questions were occupying men's minds at this time 
 in England. One was — whether the Americans would resist the 
 King's troops : and the other, the application of the Law Martial. 
 Governor H. has something to say on both. In a letter to Thomas, 
 his son, he says, April 10 — 
 
 "I cannot yet believe M' Adams will be able to persuade our 
 people to so irrational a step as to form themselves into a body to 
 oppose the King's troops. Before this reaches you it will be 
 determined." 
 
 To the American Attorney-General he observes — " I do not 
 believe our countrymen will fight the K. troops. I do not doubt 
 their courage, but they are not so distracted." 
 
 And on Martial Law he says to the same person — 
 
 "^ "I have this general idea of it, that, upon the law of the land no 
 longer existing, by force of a Eebellion, the King, by virtue of his 
 prerogative, as Captain General, declares Martial Law to be in 
 force. From that time every subject is considered in the predica- 
 ment of a soldier to certain intents and purposes : one of the first 
 and most conspicuous is the preventing his bearing arms under 
 any other authority than that of his General. Others may depend 
 much upon circumstances of time and place, and may be settled or 
 determined by Eules or Articles of War, as is the case with the 
 King's Torces." 
 
 13th. — Called upon Generals Howe and Burgoyne— both 
 from home. 
 
 Took an airing with Peggy a new road four or five miles 
 towards Harrow-on-the-Hill. 
 
 Dined at D' Heberden's in comp'' with the Bishops of Peter- 
 borough and Lichfield, Dean of Salisbury, D' Boss, Halifax, 
 and Douglass, and MJ Mauduit. 
 
 Mention was made in conversation of a trial made a few days 
 ago, in how hot an air animals could live. A person had a room 
 for chymical preparations, which may be called a large oven, the 
 heat whereof was raised to 260 degrees. A beefstake [sio] 
 was sufficiently dressed in it in ten minutes, D' Solander, 
 M' Bankes and several other persons, who perspired freely, 
 continued there twelve miuutes without hurt or great difficulty : 
 
■tf,t] BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 429 
 
 several others, who did not perspire freely, could not bear it 
 above five minutes. A dog was there the whole time without 
 any hurt. The only inconvenience to the men was, the heat of 
 the floor to their feet ; and such as had metal buttons, or chains 
 to their watches, or any other metal, burnt themselves if they 
 hapned to touch it. I thought it strange that beef should be 
 sufficiently dressed, and yet the hands and face of the men not 
 scorched. It was said to be owing to the life in one which the 
 other was destitute of: and D' Heberden observed, that if a 
 man could keep his hand in the paunch or stomach of an animal 
 it would neither putrefy, nor in any degree digest ; whereas, a 
 dead hand would be digested in a short time. 
 
 Upon something said of the present taste with many of the 
 Nobility and gentry, to appear in a morning in a very mean 
 dress, I asked how long it had prevailed? It was answered that 
 it had been general but a few years. The Nobility in some 
 instances had formerly affected it : that the D. of Grafton's 
 grandfather, who I remember to have seen coming from hunting, 
 went once into a gentleman's house so meanly dressed, that the 
 maid, looking surly, told him to stay in the entry, till she 
 could know whether her master was at leisure. The Duke was 
 pleased with the maid's mistake, and clapped himself down 
 upon the servants' bench whilst the maid went in and told lier 
 master there was a man in the entiy who wanted to speak with 
 him : she saw something white upon his coat, and believed he 
 was a Ticket Porter. The gentleman went into the entry, and 
 found the Duke of G-rafton, with his star upon an old shabby 
 coat, sitting like one of the servants. And the present Lord 
 Chancellor, in a shabby coat and shabby person, lately met 
 with much the same treatment from another gentleman's servant 
 maid. 
 
 14th. — Being Good Friday I went to Lincoln's Inn Chapel, 
 where Doctor More preached, being a substitute to Doctor 
 Hurd, the Bishop of Lichfield, who seldom preaches except in 
 Term time. The Churches were all open, and probably as full 
 as on Sundays, but no shops shut; nor was there so much 
 appearance of external observation as there is in Boston, for 
 the shops of Episcopalians are shut there. 
 
430 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [*?;" 
 
 Generals Howe and Clinton called to take leave. They were 
 at a loss what was Gage's power, by virtue of his Commission 
 over Ehode Island Militia. M' Pownall, or Gov. P., I am not 
 certain which, assured them it was unlimited. I assured them 
 mine was limited to such cases when the Militia, on occasion of 
 both Colonies, were joined, and then I had the command. 
 
 After dinner an airing to Kensington. 
 
 15th. — Lord Gage called upon me. 
 
 M' Livius, Green, and Palfry dined with us. I called upon 
 General Burgoyne, who, by a card, had excused his not taking 
 leave. The three Major Generals set out in the afternoon for 
 Portsmouth. 
 
 16th. — Easter Sunday: at the Old Jewry, when M' White 
 preached a very well adapted discourse. In the evening at the 
 Asylum, where the Chaplain, Doctor Maxwell, preached to a 
 very full Chapel. 
 
 Spent an hour at the conversation with the usual polite and 
 learned company. 
 
 17th. — Called upon Lord Howe — who was in the country ; 
 and afterwards upon M' Harrison. Easter Monday is observed 
 here as a holiday among the lower sort of people, much more 
 than it is among the same rank of people in New England, 
 tiiough professedly of the Church of England. 
 
 Took an airing four or five miles from Tyburn Turnpike, in 
 a more private road than I thought there could be near London, 
 leaving Paddington on the right and going towards Harrow-on- 
 the-Hill. We scarce met a carriage, and the appear" of the 
 coimtry.* We went part of the same road Thursday the 13*". 
 
 18th. — London appears as empty as in the middle of the 
 summer, when Parliament is over, and everybody withdrawn to 
 the country. This may be attributed in some measure to the 
 remarkably fine season, and very forward spring, everything 
 being at least a month forwarder than in New England. Called 
 upon Lady Gage. 
 
 19th. — Upon Gov. Tryon with Brooke Watson : — from home. 
 An airing towards Kilburn Wells. The Ordnance Transport 
 from Boston, with letters to the 4'" of March. Confusions still 
 * Something wanting. 
 
t,f^] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 431 
 
 increasing. M' John Pownall called twice while I was abroad. 
 Mauduit in the evening. 
 
 The Governor to Mr. Fitch, April 6, says — "Perhaps at this 
 distance I have observed more distinctly than yon who are upon 
 the spot, that your affairs, step hy step, have been constantly 
 growing worse and worse ever since I left you." 
 
 He complains of the slovmess with which public business was 
 managed. 
 
 To Mr. Paxton, April 9, he writes — 
 
 " I had no idea of the procrastination in all sorts of business 
 here. It is peculiarly the character of the present time. Besides 
 this, there never was more attention to securing parliamentary 
 interest ; and what does not tend to this, is no more than a business 
 by the by. I am treated as civilly as any body ; but I think I 
 shall be thoroughly tired of Levees and Court attendance before 
 I shall be able to return to America." 
 
 The next day, April 10, he informs General Gage that opposition 
 is withdrawn, and that the country is resolved to proceed vigorously 
 against America. His words in his marble paper-cover Letter 
 Book are — 
 
 "Opposition is at an end. Lord Camden well observed that 
 Court and Country were both against him. What expectations 
 can America have from resistance ? I dined two days ago with M' 
 Jenkinson, where there were some Irish Members — ^I mean of the 
 Irish Parliament— in company, and though they are apt to consider 
 America more favourably, as somewhat similar to their own sub- 
 ordinate Government, yet one of them observed, that the greatest 
 misfortune which could happen to the Americans would be their 
 resisting and conquering the British troops now in America, as it 
 would bring upon them the boundless rage and fury of the whole 
 British nation, which I hope in mercy to them they will never 
 feel." 
 
 The assertions made to the eflfect that the trade with America 
 would be lost, and the merchants ruined, did not create much 
 alarm, and we are told that the petitions for redress were not very- 
 sincere. Writing at this time to his brother Foster, the Governor 
 says : — 
 
 " The loss of the American trade seems to have lost all its terror ; 
 and if it was an event really approaching, people are laying 
 
432 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [tfrl! 
 
 schemes for a substitute or succedanium. The American Merchants 
 in London have heen acting a part meerly to please their corre- 
 spondents ; the Petition to the Commons, the Lords, and then the 
 King, being a meer piece of form, and I have been told that one of 
 the three Merchants who carried up the latter, after he had 
 delivered it, said to the other — ' I am glad I am clear of it,' so 
 loud that the Queen heard what he said." 
 
 20th. — At Lord Darmouth's office. M' Pownall communi- 
 cated the dispatches from General G-age, the principal part of 
 which is a narrative from a person whose name he does not 
 mention, of the proceedings of the Provincial Congress, which 
 they have not published ; which is all that is material in his 
 letter, except a short account of his sending Col. Leslie to 
 seize some cannon which he had an account of in this paper of the 
 proceedings, &c. ; but it proved an erroneous information, and 
 they were a parcel of old guns belonged to a ship, which they 
 removed, probably to make a noise, and increase appearances 
 of preparation. The Cerberus sailed to-day from Spithead. 
 
 21st. — Airing to Fulham, the day being exceeding pleasant. 
 M"" Preston and lady, M"^ Heald and family. Col. Gorham, and 
 M' Harrison the Collector, dined with us. There's a mystery 
 in Harrison's coming over. He says he received an order of 
 leave from M'^ Cooper, to his surprise, without any sollicitatiou 
 on his part. M' Harrison the father, was piivate secretary I 
 think, to Lord Eockiugham, and Cooper Under Secretary of 
 State. The Order is for six months. I supposed that might 
 easily be prolonged. He made no answer. 
 
 22nd. — Went to Fulham to the Bishop of London's Palace, 
 who had been gone to London about J an hour. In the 
 evening M. Mauduit brought M'^ Parker of the city, and a 
 friend of Doctor Calet [or Calef] of Ipswich. Parker shewed 
 me Petitions from the people of Fox Islands, Deer Islands, and 
 I think another settlement or two, praying the King to take 
 their case into consideration, and in some way or other to 
 quiet them in their possessions : and also a letter from Calef [?] 
 to Lord Dartmouth, in which he denies in behalf, or as the 
 Agent of the people in the eastern parts of Massachusetts Bay, 
 that they may be made a separate and distinct Government. I 
 
■J|?il] BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 433 
 
 advised M' Parker to lay them all before L* Dartmouth, and 
 take his directions. 
 
 23rd. — At Salter's Hall. M* Spilsbury, an aged serious man, 
 preached to a congregation of people of much the same, or 
 rather lower rank, than those at the Old Jewry. 
 
 At Court. Saw the Primate of Ireland, the Bishops of 
 Salisbury and of Chichester, who I had not seen before. 
 
 Dined at M' Knox's with M' Fielding, in some oflScial Court, 
 and a Lieutenant in the Navy, who went home in the Halifax 
 scooner [sic] after Preston's trial. In the evening at D' 
 Heberden's, where were the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Dean 
 of Salisbury, and several clergymen I had not seen before, 
 besides other usual company. 
 
 24th. — Called in the morning upon Lord Suffolk, and upon 
 M^ Jenkinson : — ^both in the country. Saw M' Pownall a short 
 time at L" D.'s office. Walked to M' Palmer's in Devonshire 
 Square. Called upon M' Watson at Garlick Hill, and took 
 leave of him, bound in the Packet to America. After dinner 
 in the coach to Fulham, with my daughter and two sons. 
 
 25th. — At M' Ellis's, and Bishop of Peterborough's: — from 
 home. M' Jenkinson and M' Ellis called upon me. Lord 
 Hardwicke desired to see me; where I spent half an hour. 
 He is very anxious aboiit the state of affairs in America. 
 Mauduit called in the evening. Took leave of Governor Tyron 
 to-day, intending to set out in five or six days for New York. 
 
 26th. — Col. Pickman of Salem came in just after breakfast, 
 having left Salem the 11* of March, and arrived at Bristol in 
 36 days. He gives this reason for his coming — that the new 
 chosen Militia otBcers, three days before he came away, posted 
 up Advertisements requiring all persons liable by law to bear 
 arms, to appear the 14th at the place of Parade : that he was 
 in doubt whether to remove to some other town, or to come to 
 England ; but determined on the latter, this vessel being ready : 
 that Col. Fry removed to Ipswich, and others to Boston. I 
 went with him to Lord Dartmouth's, and to M"^ Pownall's, but 
 did not see the latter. 
 
 M' Haley tells me Governor Pownall has letters from Boston 
 which advise him we shall hear of very interesting news in a 
 
 2 F 
 
434 DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [f^] 
 
 few days, or Pownall infers it from the letters. At Phila- 
 delphia, by a vessel the middle of March, they were in high 
 spirits, the January mail being arrived, encouraged them they 
 would have everything they wished for from England. 
 
 I spent an hour in the House of Lords expecting a trial to 
 come on, but was disappointed. 
 
 All orders of men in England were on the tiptoe of expectation 
 in respect to the next news from America. The Bishop of London, 
 as shepherd of a large flock, seems to have been particularly 
 anxious. Writing to Mr. Walter, April 11, Governor Hutchinson 
 
 " Tour troubles have been great. The Bishop of London takes 
 part in them. I see him sometimes at his house, and once he has 
 called on me ; but I meet him every week at Court, and he never 
 fails enquiring what I hear of his American children. I hope 
 your deliverance draws near. D' F — is gone out to deceive the 
 Colonies, and some say to gather them together in battell : but the 
 more general opinion is, that he intends no more than to keep 
 them from complying with any conciliatory proposals by an assur- 
 ance that if they can hold out another year, the Kingdom will be 
 so distressed that it must concede to every demand of the Colonies. 
 Never was there a more distracted scheme." 
 
 Further down in the same letter he adds : — " Absence from a 
 country which I love above all others, is rendered less painful by 
 the very kind notice taken of me by people of the first rank ; so 
 that I am seldom at a loss how to employ my time in a manner 
 agreeable to me. One evening in the week I generally spend at 
 a Conversation, where are commonly half a dozen Bishops, and as 
 many dignified clergymen of inferior rank, several Members of 
 Parliament, and gentlemen of distinguished characters in different 
 branches of science." 
 
 27th. — Called upon M"^ Cornwall. He advises me to think 
 nothing of a return to New England until next summer. Paul 
 Wentworth called ; gave me a long history of his connection 
 w*" M' Lee {Jwnius Amerie.), of his endeavour to stop him 
 from further writing, and of his persuading him to go abroad 
 next summer, and furnishing him with 300£, which he would 
 consider as borrowed — ^wished his brother in Virginia might 
 be of the Council there, and that Lee himself might have the 
 
ml] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSOK 435 
 
 Ministry's countenance, or at least their connivance, for a place 
 in the city [of London], so as to be fair for succeeding Glyn 
 when he dies, in the Eecorder's place. He then acquainted me 
 with his appearance in behalf of the New Hampshire Grantees, 
 and the state of that affair before the Board of Trade. 
 
 Peggy and I dined at Lord Hardwicke's, with General 
 Parslow and his daughter, and grand-daughter, and Mauduit. 
 Lord Hardwicke's Lady, the Marchioness Grey, her daughter 
 Lady Mary, and one more, made the company. 
 
 The Philadelphia papers represent the great encouragement 
 the people there, and at N. York have taken from letters from 
 England, triumphing in the King's receiving the Petition of 
 the Congress — Lord North's being panic struck — and assuring 
 them, if they will be firm, they will still cany their point. 
 
 28th.— At Lord D.'s office with M' John Pownall in the 
 morning. At the House of Lords, and heard the Sollicitor 
 General and M' Forester, upon Lord Ely's insanity. In the 
 evening at Banelagh, and M' and M" Preston, in M' Preston's 
 coach. A prodigious crowd. We came away at ten, but sat 
 above half an hour in the coach before we could get clear. 
 
 29th. — Walked into the city and back, and called upon M' 
 Symes in Bucklersbury. 
 
 Col. Pickman, Blowers, Hughes, and S. Oliver, dined with 
 us. Pickman mentions the soldiers having tarred and feathered 
 a countryman for tampering with one of the troops, to sell his 
 gun in Boston two days before Pickman sailed, but were 
 stopped in their progress by the General's order. 
 
 30th. — At the Old Jewry: a Minister [blank for name] 
 preached in the room of M' White, and let the congregation 
 know he was going to leave his native land. 
 
 The last three or four days have been remarkably hot, equal, 
 I think, to the weather in June in New England. Lord Gage 
 called, and told me he remembered my prediction of the con- 
 sequence of adjourning Parliament so long over the holidays, 
 and that it is now verified. 
 
 May 1st. — Sir F. Bernard came to us from Ailesbury. I 
 called upon Governor Grant, who is going to America, and is 
 to be stationed at Albany : find him very moderate with 
 
 2 F 2 
 
436 BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOEINSON. [ml 
 
 respect to the Americans ; and says he knows nothing of 
 measures intended. He is Member for [blank] in Scotland. 
 
 2nd. — Called on M' Jenkinson, and M' Cooper, but saw 
 neither. Afterwards upon L" Hardwicke. He is much dis- 
 tressed about America: thinks Gage is not active enough. 
 New York Assembly have passed a set of Eesolves not very 
 different from those of the Congress. Advices received there, 
 and at Philadelphia, of the gracious reception the Petition from 
 the Congress to the King met with, and the letters they received 
 from F — &c., had given fresh spirits to the Opposition. The 
 transports from Ireland had put out 3 or 4 times, and put back 
 by the violence of W. Winds. It's said they lost a fine wind 
 waiting for the Agent for the transports. 
 
 T. Bernard and young Pownall dined with us. 
 
 3rd. — Lord North opened his Budget in the H. of Commons, 
 where no opposition remains. Out of doors every artifice is 
 used to keep up a spirit against the Minister for American 
 measures ; and a report has been current to-day that there 
 has been a battle, and that Gage had lost 1000 men, &c.* 
 
 4th. — Called upon M'^ EJiox, who sets out for Spaw next 
 week, and upon M' Ellis : upon Doctor Douglass in Half Moon 
 Street, and left my name. 
 
 Dined with Lord Gage, with Billy and Peggy. The com- 
 pany, besides Lady Gage, were M' Hanbury, Member for 
 [blank] his lady and sister, M' Jones, and an officer I did not 
 know. The April mail arrived to-day from New York. Letters 
 to the Secretary of State from Gage of March 28. The Con- 
 gress had been sitting 6 days, and he sends one of their 
 Eesolves : tells the story of the countryman tarred and 
 feathered by the soldiers : thinks government cannot be re- 
 stored without a grand convulsion. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson had now been ten months in England : he 
 began to see that the dispute with America was assuming serious 
 proportions ; that there was no prospect of a speedy settlement ; 
 but, on the contrary, the advices brought by every ship shewed 
 
 ♦ Curious pressentiment in the public mind. Only twelve days since the 
 Battle of Lexington was fought, the first battle of the war, and there was no 
 means then of bringing intelligence in less than double that space of time. 
 
"?f.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 437 
 
 that things were becoming worse and worse, and, in short, that a 
 great crisis was impending. His son Thomas, with his wife and 
 children, had removed for safety to Boston, leaving the land and 
 buildings at Milton to the tender mercies of the Bepublicans, who 
 soon laid their hands upon them. First the Chief Justice, and 
 then his son. Dr. Peter Oliver, with his wife Sarah, the Governor's 
 eldest daughter, with their young family, had left Middleborough, 
 and had also fled to " The City of Eefuge." All business and all 
 sources of income were broken up and destroyed; Elisha, BUly, 
 and Peggy were in London with their father, doing nothing in 
 the way of relieving him of the expense of keeping them ; and 
 although the Government had amply provided for him, the in- 
 creasing expenses of thus unexpectedly finding his children falling 
 from necessity upon his resources, urged him to write the sub- 
 joined letter to the Earl of Dartmouth : — 
 
 " S' J[ames's] S[treet], May 3, 1775. 
 » My Lord, 
 
 " The distress w*"" I feel from the pres' stafe of my family 
 will I hope excuse my repeated applicat" to y' L^ship. My eldest 
 children have each of them 3 young children, & were w* their 
 families when I left Boston, peaceably settled in the country ; but 
 some that were in such danger from the rage of the people, that 
 their friends advised them to quit their houses and estates, and 
 shelter themselves and families under the protection of the troops ; 
 and my estate there, w**" otherwise would have contributed to their 
 support, is rendered of little or no value by the Boston Port Act. 
 My other three children are with me in London, but wish to 
 return, except my youngest son, whose wish has been to settle in 
 England, & he has flattered himself, and has been encouraged, that 
 on his father's account, he should obtain an appointment here, 
 which would contribute to his support, & to his settlement in the 
 world. I know there were so many expect" of places in Eng* 
 whose pretences were superior to mine, that I despaired of any 
 appointm' for him here ; and being informed that S' Tho. MiUes 
 had determined to quit his place of Eec. Gen., I begged of L* 
 North that appointm' for my son, & his L^ship encouraged me that 
 he would comply with my request as soon as S' T. M. could be 
 provided for in England. I am now informed that a new Comiss. 
 is making out for Sir T., w"*" leaves but little hopes of my sou's 
 succeeding bim until next spring, for after July there is no proba- 
 bility of ships going out for Quebec, 
 
 " If one of my children could be provided for, it would be a 
 
438 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \^wl 
 
 great relief. I gratefully acknowledge the provis. -whicli liaa been 
 made for me, in conformity to the assurances given me before I 
 left my Gov' but the charge of living is so much greater in Eng* 
 than in America, that altho' I avoid every unnecessary expense, I 
 find it to exceed v?hat I am to receive, several hund* pounds, the 
 charge of removing my family, and necessaries provided for house 
 keeping included. I should be ashamed to mention this to y' 
 L^ship if it was not meerly to shew that it is not an avaricious 
 or accumulating view which induces this application. 
 
 " I remember, my Lord, that I applied for a discretionary [?] 
 leave to come to Eng*, but I never would have availed myself of 
 it from any personal consid. so long as it could be a prejudice 
 to the publick service. After the death of the L. G-. I laid aside 
 all tho'ts of it, and had anticipated every difficulty <fe hazard to 
 w**" I must have been exposed, if no forces had been sent to the 
 prov. for its protection. If I had known that addit. force would 
 be ordered, I should have tho't myself more secure than I had 
 been for the last year I was in the Prov., & better able vigorously 
 to have opposed all attempts upon the Constitution. 
 
 " I pray y' L*ship's consideration of my case in all its circum- 
 stances, and am very respectfully, 
 
 " My L* y' L^ships &o. 
 
 " E' Hon. E. of Dartm." 
 
 The above is a hurried copy in the Governor's own hand, in- 
 serted in the marble paper Letter Book, but we have no means of 
 knowing what effect it may have had on the Minister. All the 
 family refugees, as they came to England, saddled themselves 
 upon him. From his Diary it appears that by June 18, 1776, he 
 had 26 under his roof. 
 
 5th. — Called upon M' Jenkinson : saw a Boston newspaper 
 of March 30"' and an account of Judge Oliver's lady's death. 
 [She was Mary Clarke. Died Mar. 25.] They had news from 
 London to the middle of January, and several articles to inti- 
 mate that no more forces would be sent. Just at that time 
 Hood said to me — " Not one man more will be sent to 
 America." 
 
 I called upon Lord Hillsboro' — from home. 
 
 The Pvhlick Advertiser of to-day says that Fahrenheit's 
 thermometer stood last Friday in the shade at 80°; and in 
 Canterbury and in York at 84°, and in the sun at York at 96°. 
 
Hay 
 
 .„f.J BIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 439 
 
 News of Joshua Winslow's death at Boston, after three days 
 ilhiess. 
 
 6th. — Called upon W Keene, and M' Preston, M' Hawkins 
 Browne in Great Russell Street, who was from home. 
 
 Dined with M' Gibbon in Bentinck Street. S' Edward 
 Worsley, his brother, M' Harris, of Salisbury, M' Cornwall, 
 and M' Barne, all Members of Parliament, and Sir Stanyan [?] 
 Porter : have seldom met with a more agreeable party, or more 
 profitable subjects of conversation. 
 
 It seemed generally agreed that tlie American affairs made 
 not the least disturbance in any part of the Kingdom. 
 
 A great degree of zeal against bribery, and in support of 
 the Granville Act, as it is called, has carried the House rather 
 beyond bounds. When persons are proved before a Committee 
 Bills have passed to disqualify them from being Electors. This 
 is not only contrary to the general rule of law, not to establish 
 penalties after a fact, but a great part of the Judges are in the 
 same condemnation, and the only distinction is, that the persons 
 punished have been less adroit than those who inflict the 
 punishment. Burke said in a debate, that he had been long 
 sensible of the yitious proceedings in the House of Com- 
 mons, and bad long declaimed against them ; but he was now 
 made sensible that the virtue of the House was more excep- 
 tionable, and more intolerable than the vice. 
 
 7th. — At Lincoln's Inn Chapel. Bishop of Lichfield preached 
 a good sermon from " Knowledge pu£feth up," &c. [1 Cor. 
 yiii. 1.] 
 
 At Court. The K. and Q. made their remarks upon the 
 weather here and in America. After speaking to me, who was 
 in mourning, with a very serious air to the Lady to whom she 
 spake next, she remarked what a great number of people were 
 in mourning. Indeed, in every part of her deportment there 
 appears something the reverse of levity, vanity, and othpr 
 fashionable foibles. 
 
 In the evening at D' Heberden's. The cause of near one 
 half of the Court's being in mourning, is the death of the 
 Dutchess of Montagu last week, and one or two others of 
 the Nobility lately, it being now the custom for every distant 
 
440 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [mY. 
 
 relation to go into full mourning, and continue in mourning a 
 Tery short time, perhaps a week, and so in proportion longer 
 as the relation is nearer. The D. and Dutchess of Montagu 
 had lived without any marks of affection, or in other words, 
 very fashionably, for ten years after they were married ; but ever 
 since, for a great number of years, have been remarkably happy, 
 and he is now the most disconsolate widower. Lord Milton, whose 
 Lady was sister to L" George Germaine, is another instance of 
 remarkable attachment ; and upon the death of his Lady some 
 weeks ago, shut himself up and refuses to see any company. 
 
 8th. — In the forenoon to Blackheath to the Review by the 
 King, of General Mostyn's Eegiment of Horse : * but saw it 
 only at a distance from my coach, not having made any previous 
 acquaintance with any of the oiBcers. 
 
 Li the evening with Peggy to see two Elephants called the 
 Queen's, in a stable at some distance behind Buckingham 
 House : a curiosity which I am very glad I did not omit seeing. 
 The one has been here, as the keeper informed me, 16, the 
 other 10 years. They are not the heighth which they are 
 commonly described, 14 or 15 feet. The foreparts, where a 
 horse is measured, I thought, by comparing with my own 
 heighth, exceeded it about two feet, which makes them eight 
 feet-t They seem nearly of the same size. The use they make 
 of their trunk in feeding themselves and taking anything up 
 was very pleasing. They are fed with hay in winter, and in 
 summer chiefly with grass and herbs out of the Queen's 
 Gardens, just by the Stables. 
 
 Sir F. B. returned to town. Coming from the Eeview in the 
 coach, had a glance of M' BoUan in Pari' Street. My son 
 knew him. I should not. 
 
 9th. — Went into the city to M"^ Mathias's to meet Francis 
 Dalby, upon an arbitration concerning an old ace' of Ship 
 Qoodhope in 1743.$ 
 
 * Elisha's Diary says — " 8. — ^At the Review of Gen' Mostyn's Eegiment by 
 the King on Blackheath." 
 
 t From this it is implied that Mr. Hutchinson was six feet high. 
 
 X This aifair gave the G-ovemor some annoyance, as Dalby was disposed to 
 be litigious. There are several letters about it in his Letter Book, but they 
 have no general interest. 
 
ml] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 441 
 
 ap Ellis left his name. 
 
 In the evening with Sir F. B. at the opera — La Marchesa 
 Giardiniera, in the Hay Market : the first time, and I have no 
 inclination to repeat it, the play being bad, and the singing 
 over the parts of the comic operas not pleasing. 
 
 10th. — M' Jenkinson called upon me, and seems to be without 
 apprehensions of much further diflSculty with America : says 
 he is astonished at the unanimity of the nation : has not his 
 dependauce ou the Ministry : is sure the people will not be 
 satisfied unless some of the heads of the disorderly people are 
 called to account. 
 
 At L* Dartmouth's. Had some conversation with him upon 
 the right of the Crown to Fort Hill in Boston. I let him 
 know Lord Hillsborough had wrote to me upon the subject. 
 
 SoUicited him in behalf of my son. Ho assured me he had 
 pressed L* North very importunately, &c. 
 
 M' Bliss dined with us, and took an airing until sun-down 
 thro' Battersea, and home through Hide Park. The weather 
 has been so very fine for a month past that we have seldom 
 missed taking an airing every day either before or after 
 dinner. 
 
 There is an interesting letter on Fort HiU in the marble paper 
 Letter Book, rather long, but it must be given. Hutchinson Street 
 and Oliver Street led up to Fort Hill. The former is now called 
 Pearl Street. Since those days the houses have very much en- 
 croached on its flanks, so that when I was there, much of its mili- 
 tary character had been removed. The letter is the following : — 
 
 " St. J. S., 18 May, 1775. 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " Having received your Lordship's commands to lay before 
 you a state of the facts relative to the King's title to the piece of 
 ground within the Umits of the town of Boston called Fort Hill, I 
 shall most readily obey them as well as I am able without those 
 materials with which I was furnished when I was in the Province. 
 " Fort Hill has been known by that name more than an hundred 
 years. It is situated in the south and east part of the town : rises 
 directly from the sea or Harbour to a very considerable heighth : 
 has a large flat of an acre or two on the top : the ascent on every 
 part is steep. At the foot of the Hill towards the sea, there has 
 
442 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON [; 
 
 May 
 11J5. 
 
 teen a Platform, and a number of cannon — ^twenty, perhaps, or 
 upwards — for a great numlier of years, and it has been known by 
 the name of Boston South Battery. I remember that fifty years 
 ago there was a breast-work of earth, and a turffed Glacis, over 
 which the guns were mounted. It is now entirely gone, but the 
 guns remain on carriages ; and there is also a small brick building, 
 which serves as a Magazine or Store House, with a Flagstaff upon 
 it. The King's colours are still hoisted, and the guns are fired 
 upon publick occasions. There are also a Captain, Lieutenant, and 
 other oflScers under the appointment of the Governor, and com- 
 missioned by him, with a Company of 60 men, destined to the 
 service of this Battery, and exempt from other military duties : 
 and I doubt not there has been such a Company, though not always 
 alike in number, ever since, and probably many years before, the 
 present Charter. 
 
 " In the year 1672, upon apprehensions of danger from the 
 Dutch, a wall or wharffe was begun, and the greatest part of it 
 finished, which was to extend from two points at the south and 
 north parts of the town, within which sea wall, as it was called, 
 was a large cove or basin, which would contain all their naviga- 
 tion. [All this is indicated by the dotted lines, and the words 
 " Old Wharf," in Page's plan of Boston of 1775, at the beginning 
 of Frothingham's Hist, of the Siege."] The south point was said 
 to be the Sconce, which was this South Battery, so that it was a 
 known fortification at that time. Edward Bandolph, in 1676, in a 
 Narrative to the Lord's Committee for Trade and Plantations, says 
 it was a small Brick Fort, with two tier of 6 guns each, without 
 officers or men, and that it was lately built, which I suppose was a 
 rebuilding in 1672. I remember about fifty years past, there was, 
 upon the top of the Hill, a parcell of small wooden buildings, in 
 which poor people lived, and which, as I received it, were append- 
 ages to a Fort there : and I have heard the officers who were in 
 the expedition to Canada in 1711, speak of the buildings upon 
 Fort Hill, and I have always received it that the Fort in which 
 Sir Edmund Andros was besieged or surrounded, and which he 
 surrendered to the people, was on the top of the Hill, and that the 
 Battery below was called the Platform, and that they were said 
 to go down from the Fort to the Platform. The surface of the 
 ground upon the top of the Hill still carries with it the marks of 
 an ancient Fort or building ; and the four Bastions or angles are 
 plainly to be distinguished. 
 
 "In the year 1737, and for some years after, I was one of the 
 Select men of the town of Boston : some of the inhabitants had 
 
ml] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 443 
 
 encroached upon this Hill : had erected buildings on some parts : 
 fenced in or enclosed other parts. I know we then considered it 
 as destined for the King's service as part of the fortification 
 ground : and although the original property was in the town, and 
 the Select men considered themselves as having so far the care 
 and charge of it, as to prevent encroachments upon it, yet a special 
 property in the King for a Fortress was always allowed : and 
 this I take to be the sole reason why the HiU and the environs 
 have not been sold, or buUt upon by the town, as other parts of 
 Common ground have been : and to the same cause may in some 
 measure be attributed the facility of making encroachments by 
 particular inhabitants, the town not being so active in preventing 
 or removing them as it would have been if the property might 
 have been conveyed. The Governors have not attempted [?] in a 
 course of law to eject the intruders. They probably imagined 
 that Juries would be very favourably disposed towards the pos- 
 sessors. I know that in the administration of Governor Belcher 
 these encroachments were complained of ; and I have reason to 
 think all succeeding Governors have considered this Hill as 
 appropriated for the purpose of a Fortress. After I came to the 
 administration of government, I was informed of a design to make 
 sale of the Hill, in order to render more di£Scult the making use of 
 any part of it for the purpose of fortifying. I acquainted the 
 Secretary of State with my information, and received directions 
 carefully to observe any motions of this sort, and to do everything 
 in my power to hinder their taking effect. A Committee of the 
 town was afterwards appointed, but they had not made any further 
 progress when I left the Province. Since that, General Gage, as 
 I am informed, encamped one of his liegiments upon the top of 
 this HjU. 
 
 " By the Charter of Charles I., the Corporation is authorised, by 
 all fitting ways and means whatsoever, to repel and resist by force 
 of arms, all such persons as shall at any time attempt or enterprise 
 the destruction, invasion, detriment, or annoyance of the Plantation 
 or inhabitants. 
 
 " Under this authority the Fortifications upon or near this Hill, 
 were erected by the Corporation ; and the Hill, during the continu- 
 ance of this Charter, or at any time since, never became the 
 property of any private person. 
 
 " After the Charter of Charles I. was vacated, the Commanders 
 in Chief, under Commissions from the Crown, took the possession 
 of these Fortifications, and of the Hill in particular. Upon the 
 Eevolution, the people resumed the form of government, as 
 
444 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOEINSON. [mY. 
 
 exercised under that Charter, which by a judgment, the force of 
 which is not denied, had been expressly vacated, and afterwards 
 by an authority under the Sign Manual of King Williani, the 
 exercise of the powers of government were tolerated during 
 pleasure. 
 
 " Soon after the inhabitants were again incorporated by the 
 Charter of W" & Mary. By this Charter all Military authority is 
 placed in the Governor, appointed and commissioned by the Crown, 
 and he is expressly authorised to erect Forts, and fortify any 
 place or places within the Province, and to demolish such Forts 
 at his pleasure. The first Governor after this Charter accordingly, 
 became, as I conceive, possessed of the Fortress upon and below 
 the Hill, and all the ground destined or suffered to be, and remain 
 for the use and purpose of fortification : and all succeeding 
 Governors, for aught I have ever seen to the contrary, had the 
 same right with the first Governor : and having possessed them- 
 selves of the Fortress, or of the lands for the purpose of fortifying, 
 I know of no right or title in any other person or persons sufficient 
 to dispossess them. 
 
 " It is worth observing, that in a plan of the town of Boston, 
 published between the years of 1730 & 1740, the buildings of the 
 Fort on the top of the HUl are there described : and no doubt were 
 either then in part remaining, or were fresh in the remembrance 
 of the publisher. I have the honour to be, my Lord," &c. 
 
 The above letter is interesting, from its containing the elements 
 of a brief history of Fort Hill. 
 
 11th. — Called upon Florentio Vassall in Queen Ann Street. 
 He showed me a long anonymous letter w"" he said came from 
 one of the first men in N. York, which indicates a disposition 
 to separate from the N. Eng** Colonies, and a willingness in the 
 southern, to submit to all instances of Parliam^ authority, 
 except taxation. 
 
 Called upon M' Pownall at the Board of Trade, Drank tea 
 at Doctor Tarpley's, with a room full of Scotch people of 
 fashion. 
 
 12th. — Called upon Dalrymple. Upon Lord Hillsborough, 
 who finds fault with measures : thinks L" D. has too much 
 humanity — too much religion : L" N. indolent : hates business : 
 in important aftairs not governed by others. L* H. laments 
 the danger of a change, because nobody in the H. of Commons 
 
n?l] DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 445 
 
 to fill his place : but L* Guilford is very old, and upon his 
 death L* N. must go to the Lords : and L* N. himself is not 
 long lived — corpulent, &c. : asked whether I saw him often? 
 No : — nor Lord Dartmouth ? Seldom ; but as I go to his 
 Levee : says Lord D. is for receiving the N. York Remonstr" : 
 that L* North was rather inclined, but upon a meeting of the 
 principal Members of the H. of Commons the night before last, 
 it was determined to reject it, because it expressly denies the 
 right of taxing : that the Attorney and Sollicitor [General] in 
 particular, were very strong against receiving it. It is to be 
 wished, however, that some way may be found to save the 
 honour of Parliament, and yet avoid rejecting it, but it seems 
 impracticable. 
 
 T. Bernard dined with us, and Sir F. 
 
 Doctor Hind, Secr^ to the Society, &c., called to see Sir F. 
 B., and drank coffee. Mauduit in the evening, brought the 
 Resolves of the Virginia Congress, who have established a 
 Convention instead of the Assembly. 
 
 13th. — At M' Mathias's in the forenoon, upon my dispute 
 with Dalby, in whose favour the Arbitratory incline to deter- 
 mine, I think, to my wrong. To Kensington with Sir F. B. in 
 the coach. 
 
 Livius, Blowers, Ingersoll, Oliver, and Billy Bernard, with 
 Sir F., dined with us. Wrote to my brother and son by Folger 
 to send me Dalby's ace* attested. 
 
 14th. — At the Temple with Sir Francis Bernard. Doctor 
 Thurloe preached. Coiiiissioner Gambler, from Portsmouth, 
 called upon me about noon: says Tryon did not sail till 
 Wednesday, the 10'" instant. 
 
 15th. — The Remonstrance from N. York to the House of 
 Commons came on to-day. Lord North said there had been 
 no precedent of any Petition being received by the Commons, 
 where their Right was denied ; but spake favourably of many 
 parts of the Petition : and it is past doubt, that it must be 
 rejected. It was rejected by 180 odd against 60 odd.* Mauduit 
 tells me that a speech delivered by Woolridge at the Bar of 
 the H. of Commons when the Merchants' Petition was settled 
 * 186 to 67, according to Adolphus, li. 220. 
 
446 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [yi^l 
 
 by Burke and Franklin, and that Woolridge, who gained 
 applause, was nothing more than the reader of it. 
 
 I hinted to .M' Jenkinson a day or two ago the expediency 
 of pointing out the cause of rejecting the Petition, as the 
 Americans always complained of their not being heard ; and he 
 said if any thing could be done he should be glad : and L* 
 North moved for an amendment upon the Motion for rejecting ; 
 it being derogatory to the supreme authority of Parliament — 
 which was carried. It is now said Lord Chatham is to be at 
 the H. of Lords the 17'^ when a Petition for a repeal or amend- 
 ment of the Quebec Act is to be bro't on. Masieres, who is 
 Cursitor Baron, vexed because all the pains he had taken about 
 the forming a Gov' for Canada had no greater success; is 
 become Agent for the English there — is plodding, and has 
 dined with Lord Shelburne, and Camden, &c., and is giving 
 them all his sense to enable them to support their opposition 
 and distress Government. 
 
 16th. — Called upon M' Eobinson of the Treasury, the first 
 time since my arrival, he having been sick in the country. 
 Upon M. Gamier, and left my name. 
 
 Lord Say and Scale called upon me, and spent a quarter of 
 an hour.* 
 
 17th. — In the city as far as Spitallfields, and returned before 
 breakfast. 
 
 M' Blackborne, Judge of the Marshalsea Court, a friend and 
 cotemporary of Sir F. Bernard, called upon me. 
 
 I was in the H. of Lords from two till after six, hearing the 
 debate upon Lord Camden's motion for a Bill to repeal the 
 Quebec Act, which seems to have been a dying effort of Oppo- 
 sition, which could muster but 20 in 100. I expected L" 
 Chatham would have been down, or I should not have at- 
 tended. 
 
 In the evening at Foote's Theatre to see two foolish Comedies, 
 or rather, to shew ourselves to the K. and Q. who were present, 
 and had never been at that Playhouse before. 
 
 * It may be remembered that Lord Say and Sele, an ancestor of this said 
 Peer, was one of the promoters of the Colony of Massachusetts in the time of 
 Charles I. 
 
^?f.] BIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 447 
 
 M"^ Ellis called, and invited my daughter and me to spend 
 a night or two at Twickenham. 
 
 18th. — In the morning at L** Dartmouth's, who desired to 
 know from me the state of Fort Hill, and what the objections 
 were to the King's title to it, as haying been appropriated for 
 a Fortress. 
 
 Mons. Garnier called upon me, and related the particulars of 
 a great riot at Paris : and we both observed that a dissatisfac- 
 tion w"' Governm' was not confined to America, nor the Eng-^ 
 lish dominions, but rather the general temper of the Age, at 
 least, in Europe as well as in America. 
 
 At Lord North's Levee, where nothing passed but the 
 common compliments. 
 
 S' F. B. and I dined very genteelly with M' Blackborne, 
 
 one of Sir F 's cotemporaries at the Temple,* now Judge 
 
 of the Marshalsea Court, who has a good house in Marg* Street, 
 Cavend""' Square, and a large fortune, and what is more, a man 
 of great learning, as well as natural good sense. 
 
 Mauduit sent me a note that he hears my son's affair is in 
 a good way. 
 
 19th. — A rainy day after a long series of fine fair weather, 
 but I have seen no steddy {_sic\ rain like the American rainy 
 days since my arrival ; and on this day the rain ceased near 
 half the time, gentle showers succeeding one another, tho' 
 there was no sun-shine. I called upon Lord Gfige, who was 
 dressing for the Levee ; but the news of the death of the K.'s 
 sister, the Queen of Denmark, at Zell, which came by express 
 the day before, stopped the King from coming to town. 
 
 20th. — A rumour prevails thro' the town that the Q. of Den- 
 mark was poisoned, and that several ladies of her attendants 
 are dead in the same way. This is followed with another story 
 — that she made away with herself. We have clear weather 
 to-day, but as cold as many days in February :t and we are 
 glad to revive our fires in all our rooms where we sit. M"^ 
 Livius and Miss Julia Bernard dined w'" us. 
 
 * Sir Francis Bernard appears to have been educated a barrister. 
 
 •f Those who watch the weather closely say there are two cold periods in 
 May, of a few days each ; one in the first half of the month, and the other in 
 the last. This, then, was the second cold period. 
 
448 BIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [wl 
 
 21st.— At the Temple Church with S' F. B. Doctor Porteous, 
 one of the K.'s Chaplains, preached a much applauded sermon 
 from James, of offending in one point, and being guilty of all.* 
 Great part of his discourse was pointed at Lord Chesterfield's 
 Letters to his Son, which encourage him to dissimulation, 
 debauchery, &c. ; and I suppose to be the same Sermon he 
 preached six or eight weeks before at the K.'s Chapel, which 
 was then well spoken of. 
 
 Dined with W^ Pownall at Vanbrugh Fields ; S' F. B., 
 Mauduit, and a M' Hagan, neighbour to M'' P., and Peggy. 
 In the evening at the Conversation : the Bishops of Bath and 
 Wells, Lichfield ; Deans of Salisbury, aod Glocester ; Hawkins, 
 Browne, Mauduit, &c. 
 
 22nd. — The destination of the Spanish Armament is the 
 subject of conversation, and many apprehend it must be de- 
 signed against some part of the British dominions. It's certain 
 there has not been less sea or land force in readiness to oppose 
 it these twenty years, so much of both being sent to America 
 without any new forces raised in their stead. 
 
 I called upon M' Jenkinson, but was a few minutes too late : 
 wished to have talked with him upon my son's business. Went 
 in the afternoon with Sir F, B. to take another look at the 
 Elephants. He thanked me for urging him to go, as he found 
 himself under great surprise at the first sight of them, and his 
 curiosity was much gratified. 
 
 23rd. — Called upon M' Jenkinson, and asked him the state 
 of the Bill for encouraging the Newf "land Fishery, which he 
 tells me is gone through the Commons, and he supposed would 
 pass the Lords to-day. He says the 12* p gallon on all Rum 
 from the Continent is to encourage our own W. India Islands. 
 I told him it would be smuggled. Valeat quantum valere potest, 
 was his answer. He thinks the Spanish Armament is against 
 the Moors ; but if it brought on a war, he says it will have no 
 effect. The Kingdom would raise 20 millions a year rather 
 than concede to American claims. He says Lord North shewed 
 him, or rather in concert with him, settled a letter to the 
 several Governors, to accompany the Conciliatory Eesolve, 
 * Gen. Epist. of James, ii. 10. 
 
n?f.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 449 
 
 and intimated a difficulty in bringing Lord Dartmouth to 
 consent to it. 
 
 Capt. Caldwell called and left his name. 
 
 Sir F. Bernard left us this morning, and went home to 
 Ailesbury. 
 
 24th. — At Lord Dartmouth's Levee. He mentioned an 
 account of Connecticut Assembly having refused a motion to 
 raise men to assist the Massachusetts, and M' Jackson after- 
 wards confirms it from a letter of M' IngersoU's, Judge of the 
 Admiralty at Philad. to his son in London, which adds, that 
 his father, from the quiet state of Conn' had determined to 
 spend the summer at N. Haven, which he before intended to 
 have spent at Philadelphia. I called upon M*^ Jackson at 
 Soutliampt. Buildings, but missing him there, saw him at West- 
 minster Hall. 
 
 At Lord Hardwicke's, by desire, who wishes my daughter 
 and I would make him a visit in the country this summer. 
 
 2)th. — Saw Lord Dartmouth by appointment at the Board 
 of Trade, who informed me he had spoke with Lord North 
 concerning the Secretai-y's place in the Excise for my son, and 
 he was informed that it had been offered to a gentleman, 
 M' Agar, and if he did not take it, L" D. gave, me some 
 encouragement to hope for it. I called upon M' Burrell, one 
 of the Commissioners, to inquire about the business of the 
 place, but he was from home. Called upon Caldwell in Cock- 
 spur Street, and left my name. And upon the Dean of Glu- 
 cester in Panton Square, who, after reading my Controversy 
 with the Assembly, highly applauded it, and signified that he 
 thought it remarkable that, at such a distance, we should so 
 exactly agree in sentiment. I do not agree with him in the 
 expedience of separating the Colonies from the Kingdom, and 
 making them wholly independent.* 
 
 26th. — Parliament rose to-day. It was said the Queen 
 would go to the H. of Lords, and give her thanks for the 
 Settlement of Buckingham House, but it was a false report. 
 As I had seen the ceremony of the Speaker's Address, and 
 
 * The Governor's reasons for shrinking from this view have been before 
 given. They were well intcntioned, at all events. 
 
 2 G 
 
450 DIART AND LETTEMS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ylil 
 
 other foritis upon Parliam'' rising, I avoided a crowd upon 
 this occasion. 
 
 Dalrymple, Caldwell, and Steward the Cashier, called upon 
 me, and Graham. 
 
 Col. Dalrymple was on the eve of leaving England for America, 
 and the Governor, unconscious that hostilities had already com- 
 menced, commissioned him to take out a few trifles for him to the 
 Eev. Dr. Eliot, at Harvard University. He writes thus : — 
 
 " London, St. Jam. St. 26 May, 1775. 
 " Sir,— 
 
 " I have desired Col. Dalrymple to take w"" him two folio and 
 one quarto vols., all which cont° 4 diff' translations of the Old 
 Test, and five of the New, into the Latin tongue. I have desired 
 him to deliver them to you for the Coll. Library, hoping they 
 may he acceptable and useful. 1 have seen two or three other 
 translations w""" T believe I can obtain. 
 
 " I send likevdse, for the Museum, a small box cont» a fish con- 
 verted into chalk, w""" I bro't from under a chalk cliff in Sussex, 
 and was perfect, but by handling, the tail is broke off. It is a 
 sole, or fish well known here for its delicate taste. There is also 
 part of another, which being dug into, the belly discovers the 
 grain of the fish. To some persons they will be curious. In the 
 same box there are two small pieces of cloth made by the Otahitee 
 Indians from the rind or inner bark of a tree, and a long string of 
 braided hair, which they work into ornaments for their foreheads. 
 Omiah, a Native, now in England, gave them to me. I wish it 
 may be in my power to evidence my attachm' to the CoUege by 
 something of greater value. — I am," &c. 
 
 The Governor was evidently no geologist ; but as nobody else 
 was so in that day, he was not behind his neighbours. "When I 
 was in the Library, I saw his History ; but not having read the 
 above letter at that time, I did not enquire for the things men- 
 tioned in it. I should like to have seen the Testaments. Con- 
 sidering the state of the country, it is not likely the articles ever 
 reached their destination. He still harped upon going out. 
 Writing to Chief Justice Oliver, May 25, he says : — 
 
 " I see my contemporaries dying away so fast, t^at I am more 
 anxious than ever to hasten home, lest I should die here, which 
 I dread above all things. I make no pretence to Scipio's merit. 
 
i'?,'!;] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 451 
 
 and consequently cannot complain of the like ingratitude, but if 
 I could I should not say ' nee ossa hahebis,' as he did." 
 
 But in spite of his desire, it was ordered that he should die in 
 England. The only known contemporary and authentic account 
 of his death is on two loose leaves of the diary of his son Elisha, 
 come to pieces by damp, who, with his son-in-law, Dr. Peter Oliver, 
 witnessed it. "When Mr. Eobbins of Boston— one of the old 
 nobility and aristocracy of Massachusetts, who, like Winthrop 
 Oliver and a few more, still survive in the male line — was in my 
 house in England, in 1871, he had an opportunity of examining 
 these loose leaves, and he had a copy of the writing. This is not 
 the right place to q\iote the writing ; the right place is at the end 
 of the Governor's diary, and at the end of any subsequent volume 
 or volumes of this work that may be compiled, but as the compiler 
 of this first volume knows the uncertainty of things mundane, and 
 how easily the two loose leaves might be lost, he is strongly 
 tempted to transfer and secure them here at once, now we are 
 upon the subject. Well, the two loose leaves, or four pages, 
 contain the following, and from the preliminary remarks it is 
 plain that the Governor's health had been for some time declining : 
 
 " [G]overnor slept tolerably well, as he had done for several 
 nights past ; arose as usual at 8 o'clock, shaved himself, and eat 
 his breakfast, and we all told him that his countenance [ha]d a 
 more healthy appearance, and if he was not better, we had no 
 reason to conclude that he had lost ground. He conversed well 
 and freely upon the riot in London the day before [Gordon riots], 
 and upon different subjects, 'till the time for going out in the 
 coach ; at intervals however, expressing his expectations of dying 
 very soon, repeating texts of Scripture, with short ejaculations 
 to Heaven. He called for a shirt, telling Ryley his servant, that 
 he must die clean. I usually walked down the stairs before him, 
 but he got up suddenly from his chair, and walked out of the 
 room, leaving the Doctor [Peter Oliver, his son-in-law] and I 
 behind. We went into the room next the road ; saw him whilst 
 he was walking from the steps of the door to the coach, (a few 
 yds. distance), hold out his hands to Eyley, and caught hold of 
 him, to whom he said * Help me ! ' and appeared to be fainting. 
 1 went down with the Doctor. The other servants had come to 
 support him from falling, and had got him to the door of the 
 house. They lifted him into a chair in the Servants' Hall or 
 entrance into the house, but his head had fell, and his [end of 
 
 2 G 2 
 
452 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HVTCHINSON. [ml". 
 
 first page] his hands and f [eet?], his eyes diste[nded ?] rolled up. 
 The Doctor could feel no pulse : he applied volatiles to his nostrils, 
 which seemed to have little or no effect : a l)e[d ?] in the mean 
 time was hro't, and put on the floor, on which he was laid, after 
 which, with one or two gaspes, he resigned his Soul to God who 
 gave it. I was unhappy in being so near. The scene was too 
 affecting, and I could scarce support myself from falling. I pray 
 God it may having [have] a proper influence on my future conduct 
 in life, and with great sincerity can say, that the summit of all 
 my wishes and prayers to Heaven, is contained in one short peti- 
 tion—May I die like him ! My brother came in soon after. We 
 then consulted how we should communicate to M" 0. [the Gover- 
 nor's daughter Sarah, who died soon after] this distressing account, 
 in her weak and low condition. It was determined to send for 
 D' Chandler, to whom the Doctor went, and returned with him, 
 who made it known in the easiest and best manner possible, and 
 then went to prayer with us. After dinner D' Ch. went home. 
 I went with Tummy to his house, where we opened the Gov.'s 
 Will, of which there was . . [end of second page] . . last 
 
 A - - t - - ed [?] after directing that - -s funeral charges 
 
 should .... [blank] . . . gave his whole estate in the following 
 manner . . [blank] . . I came back to the house to tea, and wrote 
 to M" H., acquainting her with the melancholy event to us, but 
 easy and happy departure of the Governor. 
 
 4th. 
 
 4th. [Twice repeated. This date shews that his father died 
 on the third.] I went to Led, but my nerves were so affected, and 
 my thoughts disturbed, that I could get no sleep, or next to none, 
 the whole night. At eight o'clock I took what papers, money, 
 and small matters of value were in the house, and went in the 
 coach to Tommy's, where I left them, and went to Charter House 
 Square to acquaint D' Apthorpe, [then Vicar of Croydon, but 
 whom they had before known in America,] with what had hap- 
 pened, the Governor having expressly desired him to reserve a 
 place near my syster [Peggy, who died before her father,] in the 
 church at Croydon. He promised everything should be in proper 
 order on [Fr]iday next, the day which we have proposed [for] the 
 funeral. I then went [to] M' Lynn, Walb ...[?] Street, and 
 engaged him to provide and conduct the funeral : from thence to 
 the Bull and Mouth Inn, in B. and M. Street, and paid for a place 
 in the . . . . t coach for Birmingham, which sets out [end of the 
 third page] from thence at 5 o'clock in [the] evening. I returned 
 to mj brother's, where M' Ly[nn] came, and went with me to 
 
ml.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 453 
 
 Brompton Park [where he died]. M" 0. has bore the shock [less] 
 than we feared : slept well with an opiate, but seems to be bewil- 
 dered, her mind weak, and takes less notice of what happens than 
 she did. Her disorder seems to be increasing, and in all human 
 probability, must soon put a period to her life. Thus we are 
 perhaps one [of] the most distressed families upon earth. Whilst 
 earthly comforts are swiftly failing, may we desire solid comfort 
 from Heavenly fountains which never can fail us. After dinner 
 called in the coach on Tommy, and from thence to the Green Man 
 and Still in Oxford St., from whence about ^ past 5 o'clock, I set 
 [out] in [the] Post Coach for Birmingham, in company [with] a 
 M' Taylor of Wolverhampton, and a M' Campbell going to Ireland, 
 and a young G[ent] in a Clergyman's grey [?] going to Oxford. 
 [We] changed horses at . . . [blank] . . . and at Uxbridge, and 
 got to Hywiecomb [High Wycombe] at -J past nine, where the rest 
 of the company went in." 
 
 And thus ends the fourth page. Words, or parts of words, that 
 are worn out or lost, have been replaced within square brackets. 
 The Croydon register shows that he was buried on the ninth. But 
 it is time to hark back to the place at which we started, and 
 resume the narrative under its proper date in the diary. It is 
 the month of May, 1775, and the details of the battle of Lexington 
 — very important, as being the first bloodshed of the war — not 
 fully come to hand in England. 
 
 [26th. J— Dined with M' P. Wentworth, Poland Street. S' 
 Jn" Lindsay, K' of the Bath, and Lady ; S' W" Maine [?] and 
 Lady ; M' Nesbitt, Member for Winchelsea, and Lady ; another 
 Nesbitt ; S' George Colebrooke, Lady, and daughter. Nesbitt 
 talks like an Opposition man. S' W" Maine seems to be 
 neither one thing [more] than another : he condemns the 
 principles and practice of the Colonies, and he is considered 
 as generally of the Court side, but is very free in giving 
 disadvantageous characters to persons in Administration. 
 
 The Dean of Glocester called upon me: discovered his 
 fondness for his singular scheme of giving up the Colonies : 
 says the Swiss Cantons have no Colonies, but are a most 
 flourishing state. Hartley, the great speaker in the House in 
 favour of Americans, he says, is brought in and supported by 
 S' George Saville, and is not worth a Groat. S' George told 
 the Dean some years ago, that his estate brought in ten thous"* 
 
454 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [■ 
 
 Mny 
 1175. 
 
 pounds a year more than he could spend ; but the Dean 
 believes now, that he finds a use for the whole in supporting 
 Opposition. The M. of Eockingham he says, has an imense 
 estate, and yet is greatly in debt, and under embarrassment 
 from the same cause. So is Lord Shelburne. Burke's quali- 
 fication for Bristol was by some grant or conveyance from Lord 
 Kookinghara . 
 
 In the evening at M"" Jenkinson's. He is in great expecta- 
 tion of a favourable turn in America : laments the state of 
 affairs in England : speaks of the Minister as not having the 
 influence of S"' R. Walpole. And that he has no assurance of 
 the success of any measure until it is tried : tliat a failure upon 
 any question would have been fatal to S' R. W. because he 
 governed by party, (which is little other than bribery or 
 corruption), but Lord N. may lose three or four questions in 
 a Session, and not affect him. He says there are 150 Members, 
 a sort of Flying Squadron, that you don't know where they 
 will be in a new question. This may enfeeble the executive 
 powers of Gov' from the uncertainty of support from the legis- 
 lative power ; but it may be questioned whether this state is 
 not to be preferred to the former. 
 
 27th. — I called upon M' Blowers in Craven Street. I wrote 
 to Lord Dartmouth at Blackheath, upon the case of my son. 
 
 Col. Gorham dined with us, and took leave, being bound to 
 Boston. S. Oliver also. 
 
 28th.— At the Old Jewry : M' White. 
 
 At Court. M' Whitworth, a Member of Parliament, men- 
 tioned to me his project for discovering the passage from the 
 country of the Lakes, into the Straits of Anian [?] or parts of 
 the Pacific Ocean near to those Straights, [Straits] ; and he is 
 treating with Rogers, Carver [?] and others, to go upon the 
 discovery, I cautioned him against giving the command to 
 either of those persons, which, he says, he does not intend. 
 
 At the Magdalen Hospital Chapel in the evening, when 
 Doctor Dodd preached. The body of the Chapel contained 
 perhaps three or four hundred people, who looked mostly like 
 middling tradesmen and their families, and perhaps 20 or 30 
 by ticket?, and placed with the Governors. The preacher had 
 
ml] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 455 
 
 a good delivery, and preached a seiious practical sermon, and 
 made a very pathetick address to the Magdalens. The collec- 
 tion, which is every Sunday, I thought by the silver in the 
 plates, must be from five to ten pounds. 
 
 In the evening at Doct. Heberden's, where was only the 
 Dean of Salisbury, M' Harris, Doctor Douglass, Mauduit, and 
 D' Heberden. I suppose the season is now over for this 
 company. 
 
 29th. — Cap" Darby came to town last evening. He is sent 
 by the Prov. Congress in a vessel in ballast, to publish here 
 their account of an action between the troops and the inhabit*" 
 on the IQ*" of April. A vessel which sailed four days before 
 with dispatches from Gage, is not arrived. The Oppo3itlon 
 here rejoice that the Americans fight, after it had been gene- 
 rally said they would not. The conduct of the Boston leaders 
 is much the same as it was after the inhabit' were killed the 
 5 March 1770. They hurry away a vessel that their partial 
 accounts may make the first impression. I think Gage's will 
 be difierent. The inhabitants, after this Action, collected to- 
 gether, and have formed an army at Cambridge, under Ward, 
 their General : stop'd all communication between country and 
 town, and Gage suffers none of the town to go out. I am 
 greatly anxious for my family and friends. 
 
 I carried the news to Lord Dartmouth, who was much struck 
 with it. 
 
 The first accounts were very unfavourable, it not being known 
 that they all came from one side. The alarm abated before 
 night, and we wait with a greater degree of calmness for the 
 accounts from the other side. 
 
 General Harvey called to inquire : Lord Gage : S"^ Sampson 
 Gideon, &c. This vessel brings advice of Quincy's death the 
 night after he landed. Hancock, the Adamses, Cushlng, and 
 Paine, set out for Philad. the day after the Action. Darby 
 sailed from Salem the 29'" of April. Callahan arrived at Salem 
 the 19, in 29 or 30 days' passage. 
 
 The first intimation of the battle, as published by Capt. Darby, 
 was looked upon with suspicion by the Ministry, and probably 
 
456 DIASY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [^fl 
 
 exaggerated, as coming from the Congress. The Diary of Elisha, 
 in London, has the following entry : — 
 
 "May 29, 1775. — Cap. Darby arrived in town from Salem, which 
 place he left the 29"" of April, and brings advice of an Action 
 between the King's troops and the inhabitants of Lexington, on 
 the 19"" of the same month." 
 
 The Governor, in writing to his son Thomas, speaks thus : — 
 
 " London, St. James's Street, 31 May, 1775. 
 " My Dear Son, — 
 
 " Cap. Darby, in ballast, arrived at Southampton from 
 Marblehead the 27, and came to London the next evening. I am 
 greatly distressed for you. Darby's own accounts confirm many 
 material parts of the narrative from the Congress, and they that 
 know him say he deserves credit, and that he has a good character : 
 but I think those people would not have been at the expense of a 
 vessel from Marblehead or Salem to England for the sake of telling 
 the truth. I am sometimes inclined to wish myself with you, 
 rather than to be at this distance in a state of uncertainty con- 
 cerning you. Government waits impatiently for the arrival of 
 Brown, who is said to have the despatches from the General [Gage]. 
 I have secret hopes that they will be more auspicious. I pray God 
 to keep you aU in safety, and am your Affectionate Father." 
 
 On the same day, to General Gage, he writes : — 
 
 " St. James's Street, 31 May, 1775. 
 " Dear Sir,— 
 
 "The arrival of Cap. Darby from Salem on the 28"" with 
 dispatches from the Congress at Watertown, immediately published 
 in the papers, has caused a general anxiety in the minds of all who 
 wish the happiness of Britain and her Colonies. I have known 
 the former interesting events have been partially represented ; I 
 therefore believe with discretion the representation now received. 
 It is unfortunate to have the first impression made from that 
 quarter. I am informed that this manoeuvre was conducted so 
 privately that the ship's crew did not know they vere bound to 
 England until they were on the Newfoundland Banks. It is said 
 your dispatches are on board Cap. Brown, who sailed some days 
 loefore Darby. I hope they are at hand, and will afford us some 
 relief. Three or four store ships have left London, but Grant, 
 Dalrymple, L'* Drummond, and other passengers, do not set out 
 
JJ',!.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 457 
 
 until they hear the ships are at Portsmouth, where they touch to 
 take them in. Ministry is profoundly silent, and wiU be till they 
 hear from you. — I am," &c. 
 
 At this time the Chief Justice, Peter Oliver, was shut up in 
 Boston, and he makes the following remarks on the then state of 
 affairs, in an original letter in the first volume of the blue leather 
 back series, directing his remarks to Elisha's wife, who was at her 
 father's house at Plymouth, Mass. As thus : — 
 
 "Boston, May 26, 1775. 
 " My Dear Polly,— 
 
 " The only satisfaction that absent friends can receive from 
 each other is by intercourse in an epistolary way : this intercourse 
 hath been interrupted by the Sons of Anarchy, and is like to be a 
 short time to come, but I have great reason to think, not much 
 longer, for yesterday arrived three approved Generals— Howe, 
 Clinton, and Burgoyne, who are to be followed (and who are 
 expected in a few days) by 5 or 6000 troops from Ireland, with a 
 Eegiment of Horse ; so that we shall have here 13 or 14000 well- 
 disciplined troops, when the campaign will be opened by 6 as fine 
 General officers as perhaps are in the King's service. They 
 expected in England that we were in a much better situation than 
 we are, or more would have been sent : but I can assure you from 
 the best and undoubted authority, that the English nation were 
 never more united than they are now against the Americans ; and 
 that force of ships, men, and mony [gic] are now devoted to 
 support the dignity of Great Britain : and I have good reason to 
 think that when the news of the late Battle arrives, which I 
 suppose is now arrived in England, that we shall have this summer 
 20 or 30 thousand over, and somebody must pay for them. What 
 miseries must attend a conquest or no conquest ! They plunder 
 the properties of all the friends of Government, and the public 
 must pay for them. They boast of their numbers, but their 
 numbers grow tired : they say their leaders have deceived them, 
 and they are uneasy. A person who hath been active for years 
 past in the defection, sent to me to-day to intercede for him, and is 
 almost distracted ; another of the like stamp sent to me to get his 
 house excepted from the ravages of the troops when they go out, 
 but he is fled himself out of the Province. 
 
 " I feel the miseries which impend over my country : may 
 Heaven avert them by the people's being convinced of the horrid 
 crime of Eebellion, before it is too late. The God of Order may 
 punish a community for a time with their own disorders : but it is 
 
458 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, fms 
 
 Luts. 
 
 incompatible with the rectitude of the Divine Nature, to suffer 
 anarchy to prevail. Observe, my dear, the course of Providence : 
 the first, and grand incendiary, is now marked out as a madman : 
 Molineaux is supposad to have died an unnatural death: M' 
 Bowdoin is not far from dying : Pitts is not likely to continue 
 long : Denny, it is said, is ill with a mortification in his leg : 
 Hancock is tho't to be ruined in his large fortune : Lee, of Marble- 
 head, is dead ; and after the Battle, was frighted, and continued 
 80 'tni he died : I am informed that Hawley has guards about him 
 to prevent his injuring himself. 
 
 " All this \a striking. I am not fond of dispensing judgments, 
 but such instances cannot pass unnoticed. 
 
 " General Thomas, of Kingston, wrote to a gentleman in town, 
 that your father voluntarily offered and advanced mony to support 
 their cause. I am sorry for it. 
 
 " M" Copely [so spelt. She was daughter of E. Clarke, Esq., and 
 mother of Lord Lyndhurst] and 3 of her children, left us 2 days 
 since, to embark for London. Miss Lucy sends her love, and 
 wishes you in Boston. I expect your husband soon. I send a 
 letter from him to you, which I have had some time. [Probably 
 dated Ap. 9 or 13, both quoted. See back, Ap. 12, Note.] 
 
 " My dear, I wish much to see you and my family, but I wait 
 Heaven's time : if you can let me hear from you and them, I must 
 ask you to do it, but you can't write by land : you can send a 
 verbal message of your health. — ^My love to all. To Heaven I 
 commend you. Yours Affectionately, 
 
 "Peter Oliver. 
 
 " M" Hutchinson." 
 
 PoUy seems to have been a general favourite in the family. 
 The next is worth reading, as being very energetic and pro- 
 nounced in style, and it is from Dr. Peter Oliver, the Chief Justice's 
 son, to his brother-in-law Elisha. It describes the state of Boston 
 and his perturbed feelings in lively colours. 
 
 "Boston,.Junel"1775. 
 " Dear Brother, — 
 
 " We learn by the Cerberus Man-of-War, which arrived last 
 
 Thursday the 25"' of May, that you have done with the thoughts 
 
 of coming to Boston at present, which rejoices your friends. 
 
 " I received yours dated at Bath, and am mnch obliged to 
 you. 
 
 "Our situation here, without any exaggeration, is beyond 
 description almost ; it is such as eye has not seen nor ear hoard, 
 
J*,,!] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 459 
 
 nor hatli it ever entered into the heart of man to conceive Boston 
 ever to arrive at. 
 
 " We are besieged this moment with 10 or 15000 men, from 
 Eoxhnry to Cambridge; their rebell sentrys within call of the 
 troops' sentrys on the Neck. We are every hour expecting an 
 attack by land or water. All marketing from the country stopt 
 ever since the Battle. Fire and slaughter hourly threatened, and 
 not out of danger from some of the inhabitants within, of setting 
 the town of [on] fire. All the interest the Judge and I ound 
 [owned] in Middleborough exposed to the ravage of a set of 
 robbers, M' Conant at the head of them. [The house was burnt.] 
 Poor Jenny and Phoebe, and children, we can't hear of, or get any 
 word to, whether they are all living or not, or whether the works 
 and buildings are left standing is rather a doubt with me, for we 
 have heard since the Battle, that a number set out to destroy and 
 bum our interest, but that the Selectmen interposed and saved 
 them. 
 
 " You seem in England to be entirely ignorant of the temper of 
 our people. They are as much determined from Florida to 
 Hallifax to oppose you at home, do what you will, as I hear the 
 Ministry are determined to pursue their plan. I am in no doubt 
 but you will be able to conquer America at last, but a horrid 
 bloody scene will be opened here, as never was in New England 
 before. What comfort or satisfaction do you think we take now, 
 or can take, when the dreadful scene opens ? 
 
 " Your wife is in Plymouth, yet we can't get any intelligence of 
 her, good or bad. 
 
 " It is said by the rebels at Eoxbury that Col. Watson has given 
 his quota to support the people. 
 
 " Good God ! Do thou avert the impending calamity that 
 threatens this former happy land, and turn the hearts of those 
 deluded wretches from the power of sin and Satan to thy unerring 
 precepts, and then, and then only, shall we be once more a happy 
 people favour'd of Heaven. 
 
 " By the time this reaches you havvock will begin, and whether 
 we shall ever see one another in this world, I am not clear in, but 
 hope we shall meet in another quite different from this, free from 
 storms, from Battles, from fire and famine, from Bebellion, the worst 
 of crimes, where all serenity, peace, and concord prevails, where 
 parents and children will be of one mind and one heart. 
 
 " I should have wrote you by Callahan, but suppos'd you on 
 your passage. 
 
 " Eemember me to all my New England friends. Bliss and 
 
460 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [^^l 
 
 Blowers in particular. Eufus Chandler speaks of you in a very 
 friendly manner. 
 
 " 7th Instant. 
 
 " Yesterday Major Dunbar, who has been prisoner at Cambridge, 
 and other ofiBcers, with 6 Marines, who all were prisoners, were 
 exchanged at Charlstown. Major Dunbar was Town Major at 
 Quebeck, and was sent by Governor Carlton express to General Gage 
 soon after the Battle ; notj knowing of any difficulty happening, 
 was by land seiz'd by the country people [at the] back of Cam- 
 bridge and remained with them ever since. 
 
 " We daily expect the Irish fleet, and all are impatient for a 
 battle. 
 
 " James Bowdoin, Esq., is very ill in health, and has desir'd 
 leave of the Judge to live in his house, and improve his land till 
 he shall want it himself. What consummate impudence 1 It is more 
 than I would consent to, but the Judge will consent to it. 
 
 " 10th Instant. — Yesterday I heard from Plymouth : all well at 
 present : can't send your letters. 
 
 " The rebells, I hear, have put out our Farm, to take the profits 
 themselves : they have serv'd every friend to government in that 
 way. 
 
 " tempora ! mores ! Y" as usual, 
 
 "Petee Olivee, Jun'." 
 
 30th. — I called this morning upon M' Comwall, Jenkinson, 
 Lord Suffolk, Lord Loudoun, Lord Geo. Germaine, Lady Gage ; 
 found them all at home : and upon Lord Hillsborough, who 
 was in the country ; and upon W Keene. 
 
 The alarm of yesterday much abated. Great expectation of 
 Gage's account. 
 
 Drank tea at the Bishop of Loudon's Palace at Fulham. my 
 sons and daughter : no other company besides the Bishop and 
 his lady. 
 
 31st. — A report in the morning that Gage's dispatches were 
 arrived — but ill fuunded. Lord D. desired to see me, but had 
 nothing particular. He read me a card from L* N., which 
 says the beginning of action in America was rather inauspicious ; 
 but hopes tlie account in the Mass' Gazette was exaggerated. 
 There appeared a degree of that apathy which I think Lord N. 
 has a great deal of. He gave but little encouragement of my 
 succeeding for my sou. 
 
mi.] DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 461 
 
 Lord Drummond, who I saw at Lord D.'s, and afterwards 
 told me Kobertson of New York was of opinion the N. Yorkers 
 would not take arras, unless it was in support of Government. 
 At Lord D.'s office. Pownall has a scheme of putting Con- 
 necticut and Rhode Island into Gage's commission. Extending 
 that authority would not add to the power. 
 
 I called upon General Harvey, where I found Grant and 
 Dalrymple. Harvey swore, and reproached them — chiefly 
 Dalrymple, because he wanted more forces — with this ex- 
 pression, " How often have I heard you American Colonels 
 boast that with four batallions you would march through 
 America; and now you think Gage with 3000 men and 40 
 pieces of cannon, mayn't venture out of Boston ! " He was 
 much heated in talking of the last advices from Boston. 
 Grant asked if the Americans were not in rebellion, and whether 
 notice ought not to be taken of a man sent over in a vessel on 
 purpose to bring and publish papers giving an account of, and 
 vindicating their rebellious doings ? 
 
 We walked an hour before dinner in Kensington Gardens. 
 
 We have now arrived at a crisis. The first blow of a long and 
 a desolating war has been struck. Thomas, with his wife Sarah 
 Oliver, and their children, were likewise in " The City of Refuge," 
 and he also wrote to Elisha, on the same day as the preceding. 
 His letter is of a graver character in tone, but not much brighter 
 in prospect : — 
 
 " Boston, June 1, 1775. 
 " Dear Brother, — 
 
 " I am glad, for your sake, you had determined not to come 
 out this spring. You can. have no idea of the state we have been . 
 in ever since the IQ"" of April. The fears and apprehensions of 
 what might be the consequence of that skirmish, before the arrival 
 of the Irish fleet, has occasioned people to fly to all quarters for 
 safety. Everything that has hapned has afforded matter of triumph 
 to the people, and I believe them to be ripe for any undertaking : 
 they appear to be desperate and determined throughout the 
 continent. I should have come to England myself, but for the 
 diflSculty of removing such a family as I now have. What the 
 arrival of the troops may effect is uncertain ; but I am far from 
 thinking they will be able to settle matters : if we are protected by 
 
 y 
 
462 DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ 
 
 June 
 1775. 
 
 them, it will be well. I would not have you think I am more 
 uneasie or distressed than others. I am not ; for I know that 
 Providence, that has protected us in our lesser dangers, can as 
 easily do it in greater, if it be best. I really think your wife and 
 child as well off, or perhaps better, than if they were in town. 
 'Tis reported they intend the destruction of it by some means or 
 other. I hope this will not be in their power, if attempted, tho' 
 they are numerous enough ; and have already destroyed the build- 
 ings on Noddles and other Islands in view of the King's Flagg. I 
 hear Milton House is a Barracks for passing troops. — I am, Your 
 Affectionate Brother, 
 
 "Tho. Hutchinson, J'- 
 
 " M' Lyde and wife have taken passage for Halifax. 
 " June 16"". — Judge Oliver read me a letter he rec* from your 
 wife a few days agoe, when she was well." 
 
 The above are original letters, bound up in Vol. I. of the blue 
 leather-back Letter Books. The inside of Boston was already in 
 a deplorable state, at this, the commencement of an eleven months' 
 siege. No doubt D' Oliver was right in saying, " You seem in 
 England to be entirely ignorant of the temper of our people." 
 The apathy of Lord North, and his inaptitude for business, seems 
 generally to have been acquiesced in among his colleagues in 
 England; yet Horace Walpole, vol. v., p. 225, writing of him 
 Feb. 2, 1772, said — " Lord North has very good parts, quickness, 
 great knowledge, and what is much wanted, activity." The 
 English nation made the too common mistake of despising their 
 enemy : they did not believe in their power to make resistance : 
 and even those who were writing from the seat of war, whilst they 
 saw that fighting was inevitable, felt certain that the Americans 
 must soon be beaten and put down by the royal troops. The 
 Mother Country was almost unanimous in its determination to 
 prosecute the war with vigour. This has been clearly revealed by 
 the Eepresentatives of the people in Parliament, where large 
 majorities have carried every measure in that direction. Walpole 
 writes [vi. 208], May 7, 1775 — " I have not only done with politics, 
 but politics have done with themselves. They depend on Opposi- 
 tion as a private dispute does— and there is scarce any such thing 
 — I mean in these islands." The five generals, of whom Judge 
 Oliver spoke so confidently, did not all of them satisfy their 
 country. We learn that the Governor's house at Milton had been 
 taken possession of, and converted into barracks for the soldiers. 
 
nTs"] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 463 
 
 It was at this time that his private papers and letters were taken, 
 of which Ban(!roft afterwards made such very great use. James 
 Bowdoin had better have had Judge Oliver's house, as that might 
 have protected it from heing burnt, a fate to which it soon 
 arrived. 
 
 People in England looked upon the Americans as being as blind 
 and as mad as Samson, who were bent on pulling the edifice down 
 upon their own heads to perish in the ruins. Amongst two or 
 three Latin quotations jotted down by the Governor at the end of 
 the third volume of his Diary, there is one that conveys this idea ; 
 and perhaps he was inclined to apply it to the proceedings of the 
 Americans at that time : — " Ex trabibus decidentium templorum, 
 infelicia confirmarent patibula, ex quibus ipsi templorum fabri, 
 cultoresque, penderent." — Strada, v., i., p. 278. 
 
 In common parlance in the present day they say — " Give them 
 rope enough, and they will hang themselves." 
 
 June 1st. — A new report that the despatches were arrived. 
 Called upon Gen. Harvey : Pownall ; met Lord Dartmouth, 
 who had received no intelligence : upon Lord North, who was 
 gone to the Board. 
 
 2nd. — At Lord North's, where saw Lord Portmore, Loudoun, 
 and Digby. Mentioned to the latter Judge Lynde being of his 
 family. He remembered, he said, to have received a letter from 
 him, and his Pedigree. Lord North thought I need not trouble 
 myself about my son's affair, as Lord D. had mentioned the 
 case fully to him, and he had it under consideration. I wrote 
 afterwards to Lord Dartmouth, who renewed his promise of 
 doing all in his power. 
 
 M' Jenkinson called upon me. 
 
 Called upon M" Grant ; but being in her chamber, not very 
 well, sent in to wish her a good voyage. 
 
 Dined with M' Jackson, in company with M'' Skinner, 
 King's Counsel, M' Woodcock, E. and P. [Elisha and Peggy]. 
 
 Great variety of opinions upon the news by Darby. The 
 General's dispatches not yet arrived. 
 
 In the evening at Banelagh, with E. and P., and Mauduit. 
 
 3rd. — Went into the city to M' Lane's Counting House. 
 Found that Cap' Darby had not been seen since the first 
 instant, that he had a Letter of Credit from Lane on some 
 
464 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [m"" 
 
 House in Spain. Afterwards I saw M'' Pownall at Lord D.'s 
 office, where I carried Col. Pickman, and Pownall was of 
 opinion Darby was gone to Spain to purchase ammunition, 
 ai-ms, &c. 
 
 We are still in a state of uncertainty concerning the action in 
 Massachusetts. Vessels are arrived at Bristol which met with 
 other vessels on their passage, and received as news, that there 
 had been a battle, but could tell no particulars. 
 
 An airing to Fulham, Col. Pickman with us : and afterwards 
 dined w'" Gorham, Bliss, and S. Oliver. 
 ^ 4th.— At the Temple Church. Doctor, the Assist* to D' 
 Thurlow, preached, being Whitsunday, from — " And they were 
 all filled with the Holy Ghost " [Acts. ii. 4]. After the Com- 
 munion I asked a gentleman in the pew the reason why a book 
 was carried about to be signed by such as had received the 
 Sacrament ? He informed me that all of the Societies gave 
 bond to receive the Sacrament, and this was a way to evidence 
 that they had done it. 
 
 M' Keene called, and seems much affected with the American 
 news. He gave a hint about the Hessian and Hanoverian 
 troops, but seemed to suppose them to serve as a suppletory 
 for troops to go from home, rather than to be sent to America 
 themselves. 
 
 Wind still easterly, and no intelligence. 
 
 It is said that Darby left his lodgings the 1^' instant, and 
 is supposed to have sailed. M"^ Pownall sent to Southampton 
 to inquire, and the Collector knew of no such vessel there. 
 It is supposed he left in some small harbour or inlet, and 
 came in his boat to Southampton. Many people began to 
 complain of the publication, and wondered he had not been 
 taken up and examined. He took a Letter of Credit, Col. 
 Pickman intimated, for Spain. He has said to some, that he 
 had a vessel gone or going to Spain with a cargo of fish : 
 to others, that he was going for a load of mules.* 
 
 * Frothingham, 85, speaks of him as Captain Derby, and the Hon. Richard 
 Derby, of Salem. He also gives a copy of the Commission on which he acted. 
 The Americans on many occasions betrayed great anxiety, both before and 
 after the war, to circulate their own story of their own doings in their own 
 way, in England. Those who hurry to justify themselves generally throw 
 
June 
 1776. 
 
 ;] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 465 
 
 5tli. — Monday in Whitsun week, observed here pretty gener- 
 ally as a holiday ; tradesmen — as bricklayers, carpenters, &c. 
 — abstaining from work, and the Public OfiBces shut. 
 
 Mons"^ Gamier called upon me to-day, and afterwards S' 
 Jeffery Amherst, with his Aide-du-Camp, Cap" Davis. 
 
 In our airing to-day we went so far towards Harrow, as to 
 have a good view of the steeple, and the town upon the hill. 
 The E. wind still continues, and our anxiety with it. I hear 
 Junius Americanus (Lee), who received the dispatches from 
 the Congress, says we shall soon see Gen' Gage in England. 
 
 6th. — I called upon M' Eraser, but could get no further 
 intelligence, he assuring me he had no letter by Darby. M' 
 Blackburne tells me betts of 100 guineas are offered in the 
 Coffee House, that I have letters, and conceal them. The wind 
 still at east. 
 
 An airing towards Blackheath : the roads full of holiday 
 people : Whit Tuesday. 
 
 7th. — At Lord Dartmouth's, and had half an hour's conver- 
 sation upon America. No Levee, but he leaves. general orders 
 to admit me. He promised to see L" North to-day in behalf 
 of my son. Called upon M' Jenkinson : find him anxious to 
 have the American news made certain. A report to-day that 
 a Cap" Campbell was arrived from Ehode Island at Liverpool, 
 and came to town : that he left Newport the 20'" : had heard 
 of the skirmish : that 50 of the troops were killed, &c. : but 
 all is still uncertain. 
 
 8th. — In the city at Lane and Erazer's. Wind changes 
 to-day, and if it continues, we may soon hear of vessels from 
 America. Called upon Dalrymple. Lord Gage called, who 
 professes to believe nothing that is unfavourable, but appears 
 very anxious notwithstanding. 
 
 Dined at Mauduit's with M' Jenkinson, M' Pownall, D' 
 Huck, M'^ Astill [?] and M"^ Blackburne. 
 
 Campbell, who came from Newport to Liverpool, had been 
 
 themselves open to suspicion. Even some of the modem popular histories, 
 circulated in England, where the dispute is alluded to, show by the tenor of 
 the arguments that the same American influence has been at work. Hence 
 they have not escaped the French proverb — Qui s' excuse s'accuse. 
 
 2 H 
 
466 DIAJRY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms! 
 
 examined by M' Pownall. He sailed the 21" in the morning : 
 heard the day before of an engagement between the troops and 
 the inhabitants at Lexington, but knew no particulars. Frank 
 Dana, a passenger in the same vessel, Campbell says, was 
 ashore the morning they sailed, but had heard nothing further. 
 The inhabitants of Newport were marching out to the assistance 
 of Massachusetts. 
 
 9th. — The wind has returned to the east, but we hope a 
 vessel may have got in to some out port. 
 
 10th. — A Lieutenant in the navy arrived about noon at 
 L* Dartmouth's office. M' Pownall gave me notice, knowing 
 my anxiety : but though relieved from suspense, yet received 
 but little comfort, from the accounts themselves being much 
 the same with what Darby brought. The material difference 
 is the declaration by Smith, who was the Commander of the 
 first party, tho' not present at the first action, — that the 
 inhabitants fired first : and tho' by the returns, only 63 were 
 killed outright, yet 157 were wounded, and 24 missing ; which, 
 upon the whole, is a greater number than Darby reported, but 
 not so many killed.* I assured many gentlemen who would 
 give no credit to Darby's account, that it would prove near the 
 truth ; and now they are inore struck than if they had not 
 been so sanguine before. Lord Gower, M"^ Eden, M'^ Jenkinson, 
 and M' Bromhall came in to the office. The Ministers in 
 general are in the country. M' Nat Taylor, M' Head, and 
 M' Payne, (who went from hence the 19"" of March in Callahan, 
 and never went into Boston, but came away again in Brown, 
 ready to sail), are passengers. The prospect is dark and 
 discouraging. An advertisement in the Publick Advert, of 
 yesterday, mentions a collection of £100, by some of the 
 Constit. Society, " for the widows, orphans, &c., of the brave 
 Americans inhumanly murdered by the K's troops at Lexing- 
 ton, April 19"* 1775, because they preferred death to slavery," 
 
 * Adolphus, ii. 228, says the force that went to Lexington was about 
 1800 men ; 65 killed, 180 wounded, and 27 missing. That the Americans 
 had 50 killed, and 38 wounded. Stedman, i. 119, says that the English had 
 65 killed, 136 wounded, and 49 missing; and that the Americans lost 60, of 
 whom two-thirds were killed. Frothingham, p. 82, slightly varies these 
 numbers. 
 
fiVs"! DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 467 
 
 17JS.J 
 
 was taken notice of by L" Gower, &c., and it seemed to be 
 their determination to order a prosecution. When there was 
 talk of a Warrant, it was said it had better go from some otlier 
 authority, and not L* D., because of the exception which had 
 been taken to a third Secretary of State. 
 
 Blowers and S. 0. [Sylvester Oliver] dined with us. M' 
 Keene called in the evening: is as much affected with this 
 news as any person. He has much depending on the continu- 
 ance of the present Ministry. 
 
 11th. — At the Old Jewry. Peggy went and dined with 
 M" Knox at Chelsea. M' Jenyns called, and afterwards Sir 
 Gilbert Eliot, and then Lord Townshend with M' Bevor. Sir 
 Gilbert gave me the first news of the arrival of the N. York 
 packet, with news of the people having taken the powers of 
 government upon them, and the L' Governor and Council 
 having left the city, and all without any violence, but on the 
 contrary, an Association formed, acknowledging submission to 
 their Provincial Congress first, and then to the Continental 
 Congress. Col. Mansell came in the Packet. He says Gage 
 had disarmed the inhabitants of Boston. About six in the 
 afternoon M"" Taylor came in with my letters. M' Nath. Taylor 
 was reported to be on board, but is not. M' Head, Knight, 
 and Payne were in the coach with Taylor. M' Jenkinson 
 calling about the same time, I communicated my last letter 
 from the Chief Justice, and M' Sewall, and then sent them to 
 Lord Dartmouth at Blackheath.* 
 
 12th. — At Lord D.'s office, or rather Board of Trade's Cham- 
 ber. Saw the Advice of the Council of N. York to the L' Gov. 
 to write to Gage, that if he continued his military operations, 
 it would render vain any expectation of success to the con- 
 ciliating plan which was received the day after they had the 
 news of the skirmish at Lexington. M' Pownall tho't some 
 extraordinary measures should be taken. Lord Dartmouth 
 was for putting the most favor"* construction upon it. I 
 mentioned a Proclamation, with a general pardon to all who 
 
 * Allowing from a month to six weeks for their transmission from Boston 
 to England, these letters were dated at the latter end of April, or the be- 
 ginning of May j but no such letters are in the collection. 
 
 2 H 2 
 
468 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \{m. 
 
 should return to their allegiance. Lord D. said he was for 
 having it done long ago, but thought there should be some 
 exceptions. Lord North has not been in town since the news. 
 P. said he had sumoned a Cabinet Council this evening. Lord 
 D. said he was sorry for it: had rather delay it till he saw 
 Lord N. : and M' Pollock was sent for, and directed to recall 
 the Messengers. None of the Ministry are in town, except 
 Lord President, and Lord D., the latter came from Blackheath, 
 intending to return before dinner. 
 
 Caldwell called : and Pickman. An airing to Highgate. 
 
 Two days ago, but in America instead of England, the Chief 
 Justice, from the now beleaguered city, sent the following to 
 Elisha. The eminent lawyer was still justly and reasonably 
 suffering in mind from the cruel wrongs that had been heaped 
 upon him : chief among which were his impeachment, accompanied 
 by a long course of persecution, because he received his salary 
 from the King, and was consequently not under the thumbs of his 
 persecutors ; and lastly, he had been driven from his house and 
 home, which was threatened with fire and destruction, and had 
 taken refuge within the fortifications of Boston. The bitterness 
 which he here and there displays, however, is generally accom- 
 panied by a great deal of wit. It is the original letter, bound up 
 in the blue leather backs, and runs thus : — 
 
 " Boston, June 10, 1775. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I have received yours of lO"" and 13"" April, and shall pursue 
 your directions about the inclosed ; but fear shall not be able to 
 forward to Polly soon. All the avenues of the country are guarded, 
 and all letters are opened. 1 had not heard from my family for 
 above 2 months till yesterday, when I received a kind letter from 
 Polly, in a private manner by water. She informs me that she 
 had been at Middlebro', and coz" Jenny was lately to see her, and 
 that all were well. She asks my advice about coming to Boston, 
 expecting your arrival here, but I should have been at a loss how 
 to have given it ; for in the first place, the rebels will not give 
 Passes to the friends of government, but upon the greatest emer- 
 gencies, and hardly then; and when General Artemus Ward, 
 General John Thomas, or Major Thomas Chase, have issued them, 
 perhaps the next Guard will damn the Generals and Major, and 
 send them back. Further — we are daily threatened here with an 
 attack by fire-rafts, whale boats, and what-not; and should I 
 
ms!] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 469 
 
 1V76.J 
 
 advise a friend to come to Boston, and they should be knocked on 
 the head by a hall or tomahawk, they would blame me for it 
 afterwards. Further more — should a friend get to town, and 
 be starved here, they would be sorry that they had left their 
 plenty at home. 
 
 " You who riot in pleasure in London, know nothing of the 
 distress in Boston : you can regale upon delicacies, whilst we are 
 in the rotations of salt beef and salt pork one day, and the next, 
 chewing upon salt pork and salt beef. The very rats are grown 
 so famUiar that they ask you to eat them, for they say that they 
 have ate up the sills already, and they must now go upon the 
 clapboards. Indeed, now [and] then a hog swims across the water, 
 and thinks it more honorable to be cut up in town, and ate at a 
 shilling L. M. here per pound, than wasted out of town at 4 pence 
 p' pound. Butter is sold at Charlestown at 5'' when it would 
 fetch 1/. here. Major Vose of Milton, they say, hath drove off all 
 the sheep from the Islands. Two or three officers were fishing 
 to-day between Barton's Point and Cambridge side : the rebels 
 fired upon them: they jumped over and swam to the Glasgow 
 Man-of-War, which lies off the Point : shot were exchanged for an 
 hour : the Glasgow's side, they say, looks like an hony comb with 
 musket balls : nobody killed. It is said that the Navy Orders are 
 generally, not to return the fire till you are killed, or at least 
 wounded. 
 
 " The Army at Cambridge damn the Congresb Orders, and the 
 Congress are afraid of the Army, and Putnam will manage them 
 all. Cromwell, with his long faced enthusiasts could manage 
 a House of Commons. I think there will and must be bloodshed, 
 and that matters will not be settled without it. G. Britain hath 
 no idea of our situation. I sent the Gov' the Connecticut Letter 
 to Gen. Gage: and while the Ambassadors were here on con- 
 ciliatory measures, Connecticut sent off a party to take Tioon- 
 deroga. Such is the baseness of the general conduct : and they 
 kept Jy Johnson at Cambridge 3 days, before they would liberate 
 him. 
 
 " M' Hamilton, of the 64"' Eegiment, was taken prisoner 6 or 7 
 weeks ago, going to the Castle, and was liberated this week ; as 
 was also Major Dunbar, who came on a visit from Quebec, and has 
 been a prisoner 4 or 5 weeks. I will not add, it doth not signify ; 
 I cannot convey to you an idea of the public distress. May the 
 God of Armies send us better times ! Y" Affectionately, 
 
 " Petek Oliver. 
 
 " Elisha Hutchinson, Esq." 
 
470 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS nUTCHINSON. [»" 
 
 13tl). — Spent most, of the forenoon at the Treasury, to intro- 
 duce M' Bliss to Lord North, to shew him a letter Bliss 
 reneived from M' Putnam, from Boston, dated the 23"* April. 
 Putnam seems to blame the long inactivity of the troops, and 
 gives a fuller account of the action than any other letter: 
 seems to expect an attack. Lord North had heard I had 
 letters, and wished to see them. I excused myself not having 
 sent them, from my having delivered them to Lord D., who, I 
 concluded, had shewn them, but he had not. Bliss and Payne 
 dined : M'' Gibbon with Mauduit in the evening. 
 
 14th. — I saw Lord Dartmouth at his office: seems much 
 distressed about the affairs of America : hinted at the puzzle 
 the Opposition would be in, if Administration should leave the 
 reins to them. I thought they would not dare to take them. 
 I know many who were not the personal friends of the present 
 Ministry, had declared strongly against a change. 
 
 15th. — ^At M' Keene's, where found the Bishop of Dromore 
 at breakfast. 
 
 At Court. The King said more than usual upon the climate 
 of America in the different Colonies : the Queen, upon the 
 same subject, it being a hot day. Saw the Earl of Guilford 
 [Lord North's father] for the first time. D. of Queensb., 
 Lord Suffolk, Hillsborough, Edgecombe, — all inquisitive about 
 news. 
 
 Dined with M'' Jenkinson ; Cap" Mansell, and M' Vardell 
 made the company. 
 
 16th.— "Went into the city to St. Paul's Ch. yard, [to] M' 
 Berry's lodgings to see a letter he has ree" from Boston by the 
 Packet, which mentions the Boston people having delivered up 
 4,000 arms, on condition they and their families should have 
 leave to depart the town, for which they were allowed 14 days. 
 The same letter says the Vassall families were gone to Halifax : 
 that Callahan had 80 passengers : that Coffin was also coming 
 with passengers — M' J. Green and lady among others : that 
 Mumford, the Rhode Island Post, who came in that day, came 
 thro' 15,000 people round the town: that the women and 
 children were in the utmost distress, expecting the lines to be 
 stormed. 
 
im'] DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 471 
 
 Col. Cunningham called : shewed a letter from Lord Geo. 
 Germaine, condemning the mensures of Opposition, in making 
 this ill success a ground for changing the Ministry : perhaps 
 Lord D., he said, in a fright, may go out, but that could not 
 be called a change of Administration. 
 
 Dined with D' Huck : company were Lord Loudoun, Gen. 
 Monkton, Lord Drummond, Col. Keed, and Mauduit. 
 
 After dinner walked in St. James's Park with Mauduit : met 
 M' Jenkinson, who joined us. Wilkes passed : which caused 
 Jenkinson to observe, we shall all be in the Newspapers 
 to-morrow. The Council met last night, and the night before, 
 but nothing has transpired. M' Jenkinson said additional 
 forces would be sent : but whether he spoke his sentiments of 
 what ought to be done, or his knowledge of what was deter- 
 mined, I cannot say. 
 
 The last fortnight or three weeks there has been but a few 
 hours rain : in the whole, the weather as warm as we generally 
 have it in America at this season. Sometimes we are much 
 cooler there. 
 
 Lord and Lady Camden were at Court yesterday, to present 
 their new married daughter. I said to M'' Jenkinson, I was 
 surprised to see a man shewing public marks of respect to the 
 King, who at the same time was distressing him by depriving 
 him of a third part of his subjects. He said L" Camden was 
 at Portsmouth when the Xing was there, as also the D. of 
 Eichmond. The King took very little notice of the Duke : 
 but for Lord Camden, the K. whispered to Jenkinson — " He is 
 not one 1 should have invited." It seems there was a general 
 invitation to all Peers who should be in town, to dine with the 
 K. on board the Barflewr. 
 
 17th.— Called on Col. Mansell, and M' Vardell, in Margaret 
 Street, Cav. Square, before breakfast: afterwards upon Lord 
 Townshend, who is very anxious about Boston, and very inqui- 
 sitive about the environs, having the best plan I have seen. 
 Afterwards upon L** Hillsboro', who was more polite than ever. 
 He told me L** Suffolk, L* Kochfort, Gower, Sanwich, and the 
 Chancellor, with Lord North, were all of one mind for a 
 vigorous part : that L* Dartmouth was alone : perhaps he only 
 
472 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [m"! 
 
 meant, not equally engaged. He said further, that 6 Eegim" 
 more were ordered, wliich is the first I heard of it. I wrote to 
 Lord Hardwicke at Wimple, how affairs stood. 
 
 18th. — At S' George's, Hanover Square, which is my Parish 
 Church, but so remote that I never knew it until the Eector 
 sent for my Easter Offering, which I made of half a guinea 
 only, finding in the list, men of much greater estates: not to 
 exceed it. 
 
 Col. Dalrymple, and M"" Keene called. 
 
 19th.— Walked after breakfast into the city to M' Black- 
 burn's in Bush Lane, Cannon Street. He has been sanguine 
 that the majority at New York would be. in favoiir of Govern- 
 ment, but now he says they will conform to the Congress at 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 M' Gibbon called. He says many who were strong for the 
 measures of Parliament, are much discouraged by the news 
 from America, they having been made to believe there would 
 be no action. I think in general, he will be in Opposition : 
 dropped something like L* Chatham's being a necessary man 
 in such difScuIt cases. 
 
 At L* Dartmouth's office. M"^ P. mentioned a letter his 
 L^ship had received from Bristol, w"*" says there was a report of 
 a second action, in which the Americans had lost 2500 men, 
 but his L^ship gave no credit to it. Pownall said the King's 
 servants were all determined to go into vigorous measures, 
 but I did not inquire what they would be. Eeturning home, 
 met Lord Townshend who, taking me under the arm, led me 
 a turn in the Park, but observed that he should be in the 
 Newspapers for it. 
 
 Though the news of the affair at Lexington was made light 
 of at first, it seems that subsequent accounts, and the despatches 
 of General Gage, had pretty generally upheld the accuracy of 
 them. There being no doubt, therefore, that something of a very 
 grave nature had occurred, Mr. Hutchinson began to take the 
 matter very seriously to heart. On the above day, the 19th 
 of June, he wrote the following letter to his son Thomas. It 
 is the original letter, in the same book as Judge Oliver's, just 
 quoted. 
 
i,Ts!] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 473 
 
 " St. James's Street, 19"" June, 1775. 
 " My Dear Son — 
 
 " I have had less spirits for a fortnight or three weeks past, 
 than at any time since I left yon. Though suspense is said to be 
 sometimes worse than despair, yet I have so much at stake in the 
 present case, that I am afraid to part with suspense ; and whilst 
 everybody else is wishing for further news every day, I wish to 
 prolong the time, and to hear no news until we may reasonably 
 hope to hear the forces from Ireland are arrived, and that you are 
 in greater safety. Even after that I could wish to hear your 
 Besiegers are separated without further loss of lives. 
 
 " I have three or four letters by Brown, after the 19"' of April, 
 but no mention of your family, or your uncle in particular. 
 
 " It is the general talk that the Ministry have determined to 
 send additional land and sea force to America. I am told the 
 papers make very free with my name of late, as being in the 
 secret ; but I am not, nor do I know who is, only, as I know who 
 are the Cabinet Council, and I know nothing of their intentions 
 but by common fame. These articles are suspected to come from 
 a Philadelphia man, who was at Boston when the Tea was 
 destroyed, and as much a Son of Liberty as he is, I have seen at 
 L* D.'s Levee, and I suppose must be seeking some favour or other. 
 As they can have no e£fect here, they must be designed to raise 
 the resentment of America. 
 
 " You must excuse me to all friends, partly because I know 
 nothing of what is determined, but principally because my mind 
 is such in a state [is in such a state] that I know not how to apply 
 myself to anything. Your Affectionate Father 
 
 " Tho. Hotchinson." 
 
 20th. — The report of yesterday from Bristol appears to be 
 an old story of a week's standing. I applied to W Jackson 
 to-day for a MS. I sent him in the year 1765 intending it 
 should be then published; the purport of it being, to shew the 
 inexpediency of the Stamp Act : but he let W Conway have 
 it and I fear it is lost. I hear nothing to-day of the measures 
 of Gov'. At the Board of Trade there was a hearing upon the 
 controversy between Pensilvania and Connecticut. 
 
 And yet one of the charges brought against Mr. Hutchinson 
 was his alleged advocacy in favour of promoting that Act. In 
 party contention, where is truth to be found ? When the quarrel 
 runs high, men loudly assert, not what they know to be true, but 
 
474 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [m™. 
 
 what they think will most hurt the object of their attack. The 
 struggle had gone on : Lord North had been seen to waver in his 
 resolves ; the Ministers had gone too far to recede with honour : 
 and the first blow had been struck — aye, and the second too, 
 though it was not yet known in England. " I hear one and 
 another of the K.'s Ministers say there is no receding. And yet, 
 to think of going on, makes me shudder." Thus he wrote on the 
 3rd of June : nevertheless, the course of events had proceeded : 
 the news of the first battle had reached the Mother Country : but 
 the astonishment which had taken possession of the minds of most 
 men, was soon succeeded by a determination to support the 
 Ministry in all their plans. 
 
 21st. — Called upon M' Watts and Col. Morrice, at their 
 lodgings in Jermayne [Jermyn] Street. M' Watts declared 
 himself very fully, that the people would not submit to 
 Parliamentary taxation ; and he thought they ought not, 
 unless they had Eepresentation in Parliament. I said it would 
 open a large field, if we should enter into any conversation 
 upon tliat subject. A gentleman present, M"" Izard, wlio 
 appeared to be very high in his principles, declared he hoped 
 the people in arms about Boston would storm it and overcome 
 the troops. He said they would never send any more from 
 home, and the affair would be settled. It was asked — How ? 
 He answered — By complying with the proposals of the 
 Congress, which were — To submit to a regulation of their 
 commerce, which was all, he thought, that ought to be 
 required of them. I did not then know that this was the man 
 who carried the challenge from Temple to Whately ; and if I 
 had not discovered something outre in him, I should probably 
 have made some reply. I am very glad I did not. 
 
 Called upon M' Jenkinson, where I found IVr Cornwall and 
 M"" Eden,* who all were in spirits; and the two former said 
 there was nothing formidable in this American news : but in 
 crossing the Park I met General Harvey, who was very serious, 
 
 * " The brother of William Eden had been the last Colonial Governor of 
 Maryland. William Eden himself was a man of rising ability on the Govern- 
 ment side in after years, under M' Pitt, Ambassador in succession to several 
 foreign Courts, and at last a Peer, with the title of Lord Aukland."— Lord 
 Mahon's Hist., vi. 223. 
 
J,T] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 475 
 
 and said it had brought them to a dilemma, which he did not 
 explain. He said the Cabinet was to meet to-night : for 
 though they had agreed that there must be a reinforcement, 
 yet there was no plan formed. 
 
 22nd. — The celebration of the King's Birthday was put off 
 until to-day, when the Court was out of mourning, except the 
 King, who had on his purple cloaths. 
 
 Dined at Lord Dartmouth's. The company were — ^Lord 
 Himtingdon, Edgecombe, Howe, Montagu, Gage, Guernsey, 
 Dudley, M' Finch his brother, S' J. Amherst, S' Adam Oughton, 
 Gen. Harvey, Com. Shouldham, M' Greville, M' Legge, M' 
 Pownall, M' Jenyns. While we were at dinner an officer came 
 in with duplicate of Gen. Gage's letter to Gov' by Browne. 
 Lord Gage had a letter from Maj. Kemball of April 30'*, 
 advising that nothing had occurred since his last : that if the 
 rebels intended an attack, they were prepared for them: 
 expressed great concern for his family in the Jerseys : advice 
 of Franklin's arrival, and being voted into the Congress, which 
 seems to have met a day or two sooner than was intended. 
 
 M' Strahan, stationer, and Member of Pari' an old friend of 
 Franklin's, told me at Court he went away in a most rancorous 
 state of mind, declared he had rather have his health drank by 
 the Congress than be Lord High Treasurer of England. 
 
 Elisha was at Court with Ms father, and the following entry 
 occurs in his Diary : — 
 
 " June 22. — At Court, being the celebration of the King's 
 Birthday, which, on account of the mourning for the Queen of 
 Denmark, was put off till this day. The Gov' dined at L* Dart- 
 mouth's. 
 
 23rd. — Called upon M' Blackburne, Marg» Street: M' 
 Thompson : Lord Loudotm : M' Strahan, &c. 
 
 To avoid being singular, I went in the afternoon at 6 to see 
 tlie Eegatta from Lord Loudoun's, Privy Gardens : tarried till 
 eight, and had patience no longer. The people were innumer- 
 able. Soon after I went home, the boats moved from West- 
 minster Bridge to Eanelagh, a shew not equal to the Lord 
 Mayor's, but being a novelty at this time of the year, the 
 
476 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [me! 
 
 people from every part of the town moved to the river, and in 
 some parts i Guinea was the price of a place, tea, &c., included. 
 
 Col. Mansell shewed me to-day his letters from N. York by 
 a ship to Bristol so late as the 13th of May, their confusions 
 continually increasing. Cruger, the father to the Bristol Member 
 came away : others coming : the President of the College, 
 Cooper, absconded to avoid the rage of the people : and it is 
 reported that they had at N. York news as late from Boston as 
 the 10'" of May, and that the ships had been fired upon from 
 the batteries erected by the inhabitants. 
 
 24tb. — Called upon Dalrymple, where I met Lord Dalrymple. 
 M' Strahan and M' Galloway called upon me. Pickman and 
 Blowers dined with us. Anxious for the state of America, and 
 my own friends in particular : no Ministers in town : no motions 
 of any sort. The trifling, puerile, insipid Regatta of yesterday, 
 or rather last night, and this morning, has its effect to-day, and 
 nobody scarce appears. 
 
 Mauduit called in the evening to take leave : going to 
 Whiewell, [?Weyhill], Andover, Hants, to Joshua Iron- 
 mouger, Esq., where he desires I would direct to him. 
 
 About 11 in the evening Dalrymple called with iutelligence 
 of an Express or Messenger from Boston, gone to Lord D. at 
 Blackheath, so late as 27'*' of May tha the Provincials from 
 Connecticut, and upper part » York, had takeii the Fort 
 Ticonderoga : that Gage's army suffered much for want of 
 necessaries, &c. And soon after Lord Gage came in with a 
 letter from his brother, of the 13"" of May only, w"" mentions 
 nothing material, except his intent" to send home his lady, &c. 
 These accounts filled my mind with anxiety. 
 
 25th. — At the Old Jewry. In the evening Col. Dalrymple 
 and Lord Gage came in with the news by Callahan more 
 particularly than before, to the 27"' of May. 
 
 Just about sunset a coach stopped at the door, whilst the 
 footman enquired whether one Stephenson lived here. A man 
 and woman going by leading a child of 2 or 3 years old, the 
 man strangely set the child upon the pavement so near the 
 coach wheel, that upon the coach's moving sooner than was 
 expected, the wheel ran over the child. We were looking out 
 
ms'] DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 477 
 
 at the window and saw it tal<en up by the father. The mother 
 was in the most inexpressible agonies, crying and shrieking 
 beyond anything I have heard. The child lived about ten 
 minutes. The coach full of ladies drove on as if nothing had 
 happened. 
 
 Elisha also witnessed this painful occurrence, and notices it in 
 his Diary. His account agrees in substance with that of his 
 father, only he imputes to the woman, instead of the man, the 
 careless act of putting the child in such a dangerous place Hie 
 narrative is this : — " [June] 25. At the Old Jewry. Towards 
 evening, whilst we were sitting at the window, a coach with some 
 ladies stopped at the door to enquire for a M' Stephenson. A 
 woman had just before set a child of between 2 and 3 years jold on 
 the pavement. The coach leaving the door, one of the wheels ran 
 over the child, which the father immediately took up, the mother 
 shrieking and crying in the most distressing manner. The child 
 was carried to a house in the neighbourhood, and lived about a 
 quarter of a hour." 
 
 26th. — ^M'' Quincy came iu at breakfast time, a passenger in 
 Callahan, with letters from my son, &c., and an account of their 
 distress ; which has made this the most distressing day to me I 
 have had since I have been in England. My house at Milton 
 in possession of the rabble : all my letters, books, papers, &c. 
 taken and carried away, and the publication of some of them 
 already begun. 
 
 M' M" and Miss Pownall, M' Jackson, Gibbon, Blackborne, 
 Thompson, and Quincy dined with us; Miss PoAuall, &c., at 
 Eanelagh, and she lodged with us. 
 
 The Mr. Quincy here mentioned, who seems to be a friend to 
 government, must not be confounded with the Mr. Josiah Quincy who 
 arrived in England in the middle of last November (see Nov. 17), 
 the friend of Lee, Franklin, and John Wilkes ; and who left again 
 about the 21st of March, his departure being alluded to on that 
 day. By the ship which brought Captain Darby, May 29, the 
 news arrived that Mr. Quincy died the night after he landed in 
 America. 
 
 No wonder that Governor Hutchinson should feel distressed at 
 learning that the rabble had possession of his country house, and 
 were publishing his private letters — not for the furtherance of 
 
478 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, \i^^l 
 
 any honourable purpose, but, repeating what they had done before, 
 and for his predecessor. Sir Francis Bernard — " to raise the fury 
 of the people against him." These letters and papers eventually 
 found their way to the city of Boston, where they are still pre- 
 served. These unbridled acts constituted the third or super- 
 lative Degree of Freedom, according to Burke's analisation. The 
 Governor quotes a passage from Melancthon, which he has written 
 on a blank leaf at the end of this volume of his Diary. The 
 rudeness of the times had doubtless taught him to understand its 
 fuU force. " Veriesime dictum est a Platone — utroque pessima, 
 libertas et servitus immoderata; Utroque optima, libertas et 
 servitus moderata ; Sed laxari vulgus libertatem, sine fine, et sine 
 modo cupit." — Melano. Epist. Joanni Mathesio, lib. 268. 
 
 27th. — My spirits very low all day from the American news. 
 Quincy dined. 
 
 And on this day he poured out his anxieties to his eldest son 
 Thomas. I quote from the original in the blue leather-back Letter 
 Book :— 
 
 " St. James's Street, ST'" June, 1775. 
 " My Dear Son, 
 
 " Your letters by Callahan contain such an account of the 
 distress you are in that it is almost too much for me. I have 
 suffered more the last twenty-four hours, than I have done since 
 I have been in England. 
 
 " It is impossible for me to make any judgment what state you 
 will be in when this letter shall reach you. Your continuance in 
 Boston or removal will depend upon the degree of danger you 
 shall be in. The state of your own affairs, of mine, of the late 
 Lieutenant Governor's,* and of M' Thompson's, seems to make 
 your removal peculiarly difficult ; but all are not to come in com- 
 petition with your safety. For any expectations you can have 
 here, I can say no more with any degree of certainty than this. 
 Whilst I have any property left, I must not leave my children to 
 suffer, and I hope I shall be able to conform in my living, be it 
 ever so moderate, to the state Providence shall reduce me to. I 
 have spent aU the money I brought to England, but there is near 
 the same sum due from Government. How long the provision 
 will be continued I cannot say. If there should be a change in 
 Ministry, I have reason to think I stand well with the King. 
 You know what money there is in Palmer's hands. This, besides 
 
 * Thomas was one of the executors of the late Lieut.-Grovemor A. Oliver, 
 and was engaged in settling his affairs. 
 
•i,";^';] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 479 
 
 what lies in America, is all I can command for myself and children. 
 I have asked nothing yet for any of you, except BiUy. Until 
 something is done for him, a further sollicitation may perhaps 
 hurt that. I must therefore leave your conduct to your own 
 discretion. 
 
 " Next to your distresses, the possession taken of the house at 
 Milton, and especially of all my papers, lies heavy upon me. I 
 have no other resource than a consciousness that there is nothing 
 in my letters which is not true, and nothing which my duty to 
 the King in the station 1 was in did not require of me ; though, 
 to have everything of the most private nature maliciously exposed 
 to publick view, is a cruelty hard to bear. This is the only letter 
 of friendship I have time to write. 
 
 " All my letters [from friends in America,] I am told by Callahan's 
 passengers, are not yet come to hand. Kemember me with affection 
 to all. Y' Affectionate Father 
 
 Addressed outside — " Tho. Hutchinson." 
 
 " To Thomas Hutchinson, Esq. 
 at Boston, New England." 
 
 Dr. Peter Oliver, being also in Boston, recorded the great events 
 of the day very laconically in his Diary, as thus : — 
 
 " Ap' lO*. Tho fatal battle of Lexington, which blocked us up 
 in Boston. 
 
 " June 17'" follow'. The fatal battle of Bunker's Hill." 
 It is to be regretted that he was so very laconic. His father, 
 the Chief Justice, did not begin his Diary until the March following, 
 when the English evacuated the city. Thomas Hutchinson did 
 not keep any diary at all : but his son (afterwards baptised 
 Andrew), was bom on the 24th of March on board ship, as the 
 packet lay in Nantasket Eoads the day before they set sail, and 
 was so badly off for nourishment during the voyage, that they did 
 not expect to get him alive to England — this Andrew surviving 
 and growing up, had heard his father relate how many dangers 
 and privations they had passed through during the blockade, and 
 how the chimneys of the houses were knocked down by passing 
 shot: and this Andrew being eventually my father, I have 
 frequently heard him repeat these things. This is but meagre 
 information, and makes us wish that those who were present had 
 committed their experiences to paper for our better knowledge. 
 I have myself seen the cannon ball still sticking in the front wall 
 of Brattle Street church. 
 
480 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^""5°. 
 
 They, however, were not alone in their troubles. The next 
 entry in the- Governor's Diary [shows us that the aged Mr. and Mrs. 
 Green had already discovered that Boston was getting too hot, and 
 that it was time to move. 
 
 28th. — M' Green, who came to town last night, called upon 
 us : seems much affected with his hard case, of being obliged, 
 with his wife, at their time of life, to leave tlieir country. 
 They are both near 70. He has never been out of America, 
 and she never 40 aiiles from Boston, He is out of health and 
 much emaciated. Called upon M"^ Pownall, and communicated 
 what intelligence I received by M' Green in letters from Judge 
 Oliver, and the L' Gov"', especially the proceedings of Rhode 
 Island. Pownall says the Cabinet meet to-night, and must 
 come to some decisive measures, and either wholly leave the 
 Colonies independent, or act more vigorously in reducing them 
 to government. Afterwards at M' Jenkinson's, but nothing 
 very material passed. Called at M' and M" Green's lodgings ; 
 and in the afternoon w'" E. and P. in the coach to visit M" 
 Copely, at M' Bromfield's, Islington. 
 
 The great painter's name appears to have been commonly written 
 Copely at this time. It has already been observed that his wife, 
 now in London with some young children — the future Lord 
 Lyndhurst being one — was a daughter of Mr. E. Clarke. Copley 
 himself had not yet arrived. 
 
 One day when I was in Boston, taking life easily and pleasantly, 
 as the Americans do, lying upon the grass on the common, some- 
 where between the great Elm Tree and the Frog Pond, nearly 
 dried up, reading Cooper's ' Lionel Lincoln,' and with my pocket- 
 knife cutting up and eating a West India pine-apple as big as an 
 ostrich egg, recently put ashore somewhere near Long Wharf, 
 out of one of those clipper schooners, and of which I had become 
 proprietor for nine Massachusetts pence — there strolled about the 
 Common sundry boys and men, and one stung his hand with a 
 nettle near the pond, and then hunted for a dock leaf to cure it, 
 and I condoled with him, and that sympathy established a pleasant 
 understanding between America and England. Having run over 
 the vices and virtues of sting-nettles and docks, the conversation 
 touched upon the Frog Pond, the Great Elm, with some of its 
 drooping Umbs held up with iron rods, the Jingo tree — ^the what ? 
 the Chinese tree imported by Mr. Greene, and planted in front of 
 
i"'n DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS mJTCHJNSON. 481 
 
 ITTS.J 
 
 his house, within the railings of the Common, and not far from the 
 steps — the Jinoko tree, if so it be spelt, but which, for jolce or from 
 uncertainty, was usually called the Jingo tree. Next to the State 
 House westward, was a block of red brick : then Hancock's old- 
 fashioned comfortable-looking house standing detached : then a 
 row of many houses running down towards the water, of which 
 Mr. Greene's was about the third or fourth. The strange tree, 
 however, bearing but a scanty crop of dark green leaves, appeared 
 ill at ease in its newly-adopted country, for it looked wan and 
 home-sick. From other sources it has been said that the Greenes 
 were in some way connected with the Copleys ; and the mention 
 of these names in the Diary above recalled to memory these 
 incidents on Boston Common. 
 
 29tli — Called upon M"" Greene in Eed Lion Square, wh^-re I 
 m-t M' Jolin Burrett. who was first cousin to my mother, and 
 who has baen in England above 20 years : and though he has 
 been in London ever since my arrival, never came near me. 
 
 30th. — Called upon M' Jenkinson, at the Dean of Norwich's 
 lodgings in York buildings, but did not find him at home. 
 After more than a month's fair weather, the rains for two 
 or three days past are set in as last year. 
 
 July 1st — I met M' George Onslow in the Park, who began 
 upon America : lamented the neglect of Government ; and 
 ol) erved that if a year ago vigorous measures had been engaged 
 in. all would have been reduced to order. 
 
 The Dean of Norwich called upon me : Monsieur Gamier, to 
 tiike leave, whi> sets out to-morrow for France. 
 
 M' Jo. Greene, M' Amory and wife, M" Copely, and Callahan 
 and wife, dined with us. 
 
 2iid. — At the Meeting in Princ's street, Westminster. M' 
 PicUard preached. Dined, (all of us), with M' John Pownall. 
 Vanbnrgh Tif Ids : a Cap. Parry, and M' Potter going a Judge 
 to Quebeck. Keports tliat the Congress at Philadelphia are 
 so high that Doctor Franklin can't go their lengths : but these 
 reports want confirmation. 
 
 3rd. — Doctor '^olander called upon ine : gave me an account 
 of a letter from Cap" CJooke, who had arrived at the Cape of 
 Good Hope, and is expected in 10 days in England. He 
 discovered a number of islands in the same track with Otaheitee, 
 
 2 I 
 
482 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \wl 
 
 \\nii. 
 
 one very large. The inbabitauts treated them with great 
 civility. No European had been there before. He went as far 
 south as 71, when he was stopped by a frozen sea, all in one 
 body. In the latitude where the Spaniards suppose a continent, 
 he sailed through without any discovery : but steering from the 
 continent of S. America towards the Cape of Good Hope, he 
 discovered two islands, one in 54, [South Georgia? 54'32 S., 
 36.11 W.], another as far south as 59, [Sandwich Land ? 59-54 S., 
 27*45 W.], but so covered with ice and snow as not to be 
 habitable : and until he came close under them, he was in doubt 
 whether they were not islands of ice. 
 
 My daughter and I dined with M' Ellis at Twickenham, and 
 were most elegantly entertained. In the afternoon in M'' Ellis's 
 Barge, we rowed up the river, and then down by Richmond, 
 &c., and took coach by Thistleworth [Isleworth ?] church. I 
 have seen nothing so picturesque as M' Ellis's house and gar- 
 dens ; the prospect from it, and the beautiful appearance of 
 the villas as we rowed upon the river. A little before we 
 landed a gardener's boat going down the river, sank with three 
 people, all of whom were taken from the bottom of the river in 
 our sight. We were in distress, expecting some or all of them 
 must have been dead, but happily they had remains of life 
 and soon recovered. General Paoli, M' Grey Cooper, M' Agar 
 and M" Agar were our company, 
 
 4th. — M' Jenkinson, Pownall, Knox, Pickman, Bliss, Vardell, 
 Col, Mansell, and M" Knox, dined with us. Called upon M' 
 Heard at the Herald's OflSce, Paul's Chain. He had seen 
 M' Bromhall, L"* North's Secj-etary : asked him wiiether what 
 was in the papers of my son's being Seer'' to the Excise was 
 true ? He said it was not : but Heard tho't, by what he said, 
 it probably would be done. I am in doubt. 
 
 The Governor need not have been anxious, if he could only have 
 looked a little way into futurity ; for Billy soon declined in health, 
 and died of a pulmonary complaint in the lifetime of his father. 
 
 5th. — At Lord Dartmouth's Levee ; who told me L" North 
 was under some difficulty about my son's appointment. I 
 represented my sufferings for doing my duty to the King, and 
 
mf.1 niARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. 483 
 
 17-3.J 
 
 that my friends tho't the encouragement I had before I left- 
 America had not been complied with. He would do every- 
 thing I could wish, I am well assured, if it was in liia power. 
 
 Lord Beauchamp called upon me : spent half an hour : seems 
 more discouraged than any person in Administration : laments 
 a disappointment in every measure : and speaks more favourably 
 of the people in the Colonies than I have heard any other 
 person : says it will not do to leave them to be independent : 
 that the Kingdom had better spend ten millions : nevertheless, 
 the people will not bear a civil war to be carried on for a 
 number of ytars. There were stronger marks of the distress 
 which Administration is now in than I have before met with, 
 and as different from those of the conveisation at M' Ellis's 
 this time twelve months, or rather less, as can be conceived. 
 In the evening, walking w'" M' Keene, I found him in much 
 the same state with Lord Beauchamp. 
 
 D' Franklin, who went away expecting, as he said, to return, 
 has ordered all his goods to be shipped to Philadelphia. 
 
 It is plain from the above remarks, and a few others of a similar 
 ominous kind, that the King's ministers were beginning to awaken 
 to the gravity of the situation. It was becoming plain that the 
 Provincials intended so show fight ; and the occurrence of a few 
 skirmishes, though at first doubted, now fully confirmed, revealed 
 the fact that they would prove to be sturdy opponents. Judging 
 by the large majorities in both Houses of Parliament that sup- 
 ported warlike and coercive measures against the revolting colonies, 
 indicating, as we may assume, that these strong measures were 
 agreeable to the feelings of the great body of the English nation, 
 it would have been to any minister as much as his place was worth 
 to have proposed giving the Americans their entire independence. 
 
 6th. — Called upon Dalrymple. M' Greene and M' PownaljL 
 at the office, who had sent him, by David Ingersoll, extract of 
 a letter from M' Wheatley at Nantucket, to M' Enderby, giving 
 the account of an action on Noddle's Island, of 20 of the troops 
 killed, and 50 wounded, and 4 only of the Provincials killed, 
 and 8 or 10 wounded : and of the burning one of the King's 
 scooners the 28'" of May. The troops on the Island were for 
 
 2 I 2 
 
484 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ml 
 
 the protection of the live stock there ; all which was drove 
 away.* 
 
 M' Greene took an airing with us to Kensington, and across 
 to Chelsea. 
 
 7tli. — Called upon M' Jenkinson. Went into the city as far 
 as M' Bliss's lodgings. Find a vessel arrived from Salem with 
 a Cambridge Paper of June 1, which makes the affair at Nodles 
 [sic] Iilaud of no great importance, and the King's scooner to 
 bd a vessel which lay on the ways at Chelsea. This vessel 
 spoke with 15 sail of Transports for Boston, off Cape Sables. 
 A Packet also from N. York. General Lee had taken the 
 command of their troops — it is said 4000 men. The Con- 
 necticut people had taken two sloops upon the Lake. A 
 motion had bsen made at the Congress by M' D f to make 
 some c.jticiliatory proposal to Government in England, which 
 was opp:)sed ; but after debate, carried in the affirmative : but 
 it does not appear what the proposal is to be. Wrote to Lord 
 Hardwicke this intelligence. 
 
 8th. — Called this morning upon M' Cornwall, and upon 
 M' Gibbon. The first thinks more favourably of the present 
 state of affairs, or rather of the issue of them, than any person 
 I converse with. 
 
 I took out a Warrant from the Treasury for the pay to 
 Ju Ige Oliver, as Commi.ssiouer at Rh' Island, for which I paid 
 two guineas, and desire him to give them to M" Prout. 
 
 Quim-y, Smith, D. Greene, and S. Oliver, dined with us. 
 
 It may be remembered that amongst the acts of persecution 
 suffered by the Chief Justice, Peter Oliver, one was a charge by 
 impeachment for receiving his Judge's salary from the King. 
 The present matter of business is distinct from that. The Gaspee 
 schooner was taken possession of and destroyed by a party of 
 Burke's Superlatives, and commissioners were afterwards ap- 
 pointed by the English authorities to enquire into the circum- 
 stances of the occurrence. At a later date than this the Judge, 
 
 * Walpole writes this day — " The general complexion is war. All advices 
 speak the Americans determined; and report says, the Government here 
 intends to pursue the same plan." 
 
 f Daeau, Devon, Deacon, &c. Hurriedly written and indistinct. 
 
.rulT 
 
 1775. 
 
 ] DT ART AND LETTEHS OF THOMAS IJUTCIIINSON. 485 
 
 having heard that there was money due to him, wrote the fol- 
 lowing letter on the subject to Elisha : — 
 
 "Boston, July 22"^ 1775. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I am informed that an allowance is made to me, as a Com- 
 missioner on the afifair of the Schooner GaspSe at Ehode Island : 
 if 80, be so good as to take out the Warrant for me, and receive 
 the money. —Your Humble Servant 
 
 Addressed — " Peter Oliver." 
 
 " To Elisha Hutchinson Esq. 
 
 St. James's Street, London." 
 
 9th. — At the Old Jewry, where a stranger preached. Saw 
 M' Curwin [Ciirwen] of Salem there, who arrived two or three 
 days since irom Philadelphia. He gave my son E. a letter 
 from Sam. Checkly at Philadelphia, full of Liberty, and de- 
 claring his being ready to expose his little all in the service 
 of his conntry ; but says nothing what business he was upon, 
 which makes us think it probable he is engaged as a Writer or 
 Sub-Clerk in the service of the Congress, or of the Boston 
 Delegates. 
 
 JM"" Bridj^en called iu tlie evening. 
 
 The Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwen, Judge of Ad- 
 miralty, have been published in New York. This is the same 
 person who now arrived in England from Philadelphia. He held 
 loyalist opinions, and preferred to withdraw out of the disturbed 
 atmosphere of party rage into the greater quiet of England ; but 
 in 1783, when the war was over, he went back to America, and 
 ended his days there. We learn from his Journal that during the 
 nine years of his residence in the old country, he travelled about 
 it a good deal at different times, and purposely directed his steps 
 to many towns where he got intelligence of other refugees, who, 
 like himself, had fled from stormy seas into the shelter of smooth 
 water. In London he found many friends similarly situated with 
 himself. Steering westward, he looked up several at Exeter, 
 bearing the names of Erving, Vassall, and Lechmere. He visited 
 Taunton, Honiton, Colyton, Ottery, arid took up his lodgings for 
 some considerable time at Sidmouth, a watering place on the south 
 coast of Devonshire, where; it may be' added, at a subseqiient 
 period, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, with their infant daughter, 
 resided, and where the Duke died. That infant daughter is now 
 
486 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [i^H 
 
 the Queen of England. Judge Curwen directed his steps to Sid- 
 mouth mainly for the purpose of seeing his old American friend 
 the Rev. Isaac Smith, minister of one of the Dissenting congrega- 
 tions in that town, who had, by a curious fatality, settled himself 
 down in so remote a place. The Puritans of Massachusetts had 
 gradually merged into Unitarianism. The chapel that Mr. Smith 
 served still exists. It is situated at MiU Cross, near the head of 
 the town, and is called the Old Presbyterian or Unitarian Meeting 
 House. When Governor Hutchinson made his journey through 
 the western counties, to visit Mount Edgcumbe, he turned aside 
 also to find Mr. Smith, and lodged one night at the inn in the 
 town, now known as the London Inn, the York, situated on the 
 beach, not having then been built. 
 
 lOth. — I went with E. and P. early in the morning to Black- 
 heath to see the Review of the Regiments of Artillery under 
 Lord Townshend. The King was upon the Heath before 9. 
 There was a vast concourse of people — perhaps 20,000. I did 
 not chuse to mix with the crowd, and could see but little, but 
 saw and heard enough of the sham fight, not to lament that I 
 could see no more. After the Review went to M' John 
 Pownall's. 
 
 Four thousand suits of cloaths I h^ar are preparing by M' 
 Harley the Contractor, to be sent to Quebec to form an army 
 of Canadians. 
 
 Judging by the Governor's slighting remarks, he does not 
 appear to have taken any delight in the common amusements 
 and recreations of most men when business is temporarily put 
 aside. He speaks with equal indifference, if not absolute dislike, 
 of the regatta, the Lord Mayor's Show, the theatre, the concert- 
 room, or the review. We have not caught him in a ball-room yet. 
 As for a horse-race, he wrote to his son and said, " The picture of 
 a horse-race is every whit as agreeable as the original."* 
 
 Elisha notices the review, but in very laconic terms. He 
 writes : — 
 
 "10. — "With the Gov. and P. to Blackheath to see the King 
 review the Reg* of Artillery under the command of L* Townshend. 
 It is supposed there [were] upwards of 20,000 people on the 
 Heath." 
 
 * See back, September 16, 1774, Note. 
 
mJ.] DIAR7 AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 487 
 
 11th. — Called upi n M' Vardell, where I saw D' Cliandler, 
 lately arrived from N. York. Went to the Custom House, to 
 the Board of Commissioners, at Cap. Callahan's and M' Lane's 
 desire, to mention the difficulty Callahan had been under, in 
 shipping his goods from home, and afterwards in landing them 
 in Boston, his ship being seized for having goods on board not 
 reported, &c. M' Boone, late Gov. of Carolina, was in the 
 Chair. I was treated w'" great civility. 
 
 Col. Pickman and M' Curwen called on me. 
 
 A remarkably cold day : some showers, but a clear air most 
 of the day. 
 
 12th. — In the city at M' Palmer's, Dev. Square, to inquire 
 into the India Securities in which he had vested the monies I 
 bad in his hand.s, and find them orders from the India Comp^ 
 to deliver Teas paid for, which he keeps in his hands as col- 
 lateral securities for the money he lends. 
 
 At M"^ Lane's Counting House : no arrivals. M' Enox told 
 me at L* D.'s office that the Congress at Philad. had resolved 
 to have an army of 17,000 men : to issue paper currency to 
 the amount of 750,000 pounds sterling: to petition the 
 King: address the people of England: remonstrate to all 
 Europe. 
 
 The people here seem more alarmed with rumours of a 
 Spanish fleet and armament, than with the loss of all America. 
 
 Why this alarm in time of peace? Spain may have been a 
 power in Europe in that day, but she has not been so since. 
 Never did a country sink into such utter nothingness when pos- 
 sessed of so many elements of greatness. Placed by her latitude 
 between the luxuriant fruits of the Tropics on one side, and the 
 abundant vegetation of the Temperate Zone on the other, so that 
 she can raise both within the circuit of her own boundary : 
 surrounded on three sides by water, and on the fourth by a chain 
 of mountains, she is free from the dangerous or the disagreeable 
 proximity of troublesome neighbours : and standing as she does at 
 the south-west end of a promontory, she commands the Atlantic 
 on one side, and the Mediterranean on the other. Where is there 
 a country in the world so happily and so advantageously situated ? 
 And yet she has sunk into absolute oblivion, and has become as 
 nothing in the councils of Europe. 
 
488 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS TIUTCHINSON. \(m. 
 
 13th.— At Lincoln's Inn Hall. Saw M' Wedderbume, an<l 
 gave him M' Clarke's j)ioposal for openinpr the port of Boston 
 for consideration. At the Treasury to soUicit Fluckei's affair. 
 Called upon Sir Francis Bernard in Salisbury Court, who, with 
 Lady B. and Miss B. came to town the eveninpj of the ll'". 
 Found S'' F. had just been seized with an epileptick fit, to 
 wliicli he is subject : and tho' soon r; covered, I chose not to spb 
 him.* 
 
 Anotlier Coffin t from Nantucket w"' letters to the 16"" of 
 June. One of the transports from Ireland arrived at Boston 
 the 14'" : the rest left about 40 leagues distant. 
 
 I met a man in the Park : — " Gov. H." says he, " I am afraid 
 this news is true : it came from the War Office — that Gibraltar 
 j.s taiien." He pulled out a paper with an account of the 
 Spanish armament : said he had seen a letter from a young 
 man to his mother, which gave an ace* of the fleet's being 
 withia 12 hours sail, " and it is impos.sible," says he, " to stand 
 against such a force." I made little or no reply. " We shall 
 lose America," he added : and presently concluded by asking — 
 " whether the carpenters had got to work again at Plimouth?" 
 I never saw the man before, and did not think it worth while 
 to ask his name. He was dressed in good plain cloaths, but 
 ungenteel. 
 
 14th. — Sir Francis, Lady, and Miss Bernard, all called 
 upon us. 
 
 Wilkes, with 2 or 3 Aldermen, and between 20 and 30 
 Common Council, presented an extravagant Remonstrance to 
 the King. I saw the procession. Even the mob did not think 
 it worth while to attend. M' Jenkinson called. A letter from 
 M' Clarke at Quebec: the first advice of his arrival in six 
 weeks passage. 
 
 15th. — Called upon M' Jenkinson. M"' J. Greene, Pickman, 
 and Curwen dined with us. 
 
 16th. — At church at Wimbledon : a M' Banks preached. 
 
 * Sir Francis lived on four years longer, and died June 16, 1779 ; so in the 
 Diary. The sixth and last holder of the title died in May 1883. There is a 
 portrait of him in the Illustrated London News for May 26, and the title is 
 extinft. 
 
 t A man's name probably. 
 
•JnJ.] DIAUY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EVTCUINSON. 480 
 
 Dined with M' Morris, Peggy with m», and other rompany. 
 We went over the Common towards evening fo IVP Brown's, 
 one of the Directors of the Bank, who has the largest Collection 
 of antique Heads, Busts, Statues, Pillars, Vase=, and Urns that 
 I have ever seen. He shewed me a bottle full of the a-hes or 
 calcined bones, which came out of one of the Urns. M' Morris 
 fent a servant with a Blunderl us to attend us over the Common, 
 robberies often hapning, even in the day time. 
 
 M' Nichols, the Episcopal clergyman of Saletn, came to our 
 house while I was absent, with letters from Boston so late as 
 the IS'" June. He sailed the 15'" or 16'". All the first 
 embarcation from Ireland arrived : lost 14 horses. Gage harl 
 jiublished a Declaration with promiiae of pnrdon to all who laid 
 down their arms and returned to their duty, except Sam. 
 Adams, and John Hancock. 
 
 17th.— Called upon M' J[enkinson ?] : upon S' F. B. S' F. 
 B., and Lady B., D' Chandler, and M' Pownall Jni/ dined with 
 us. Wrote to Lord Hardwicke, at Wrest, [Bedfordshire]. In 
 the evening at M"^ Jo. Greene's. The critical state of our 
 friends at Boston fills us with anxiety. Sir F. B., &c., went to 
 the Play, but I did not. 
 
 18th. — M"^ Jenkinson called, and Sir Jolm Blaqiiiere, to 
 inquire into the truth of a report of an action at Boston the 
 16'" of June, which is said to be occasioned by a letter from 
 Whitehaven, mentioning the arrival of a Lieut' Snow [?] at 
 Waterford. The report is that a great number of the Provin- 
 cials were slain, and many taken prisoners. The mentioning 
 the time, and the name of the person who brings the account, 
 carries a mark of probability. There are circumstances to tender 
 it doubtful. I have a letter of the 13'" [or 15th]. The Cerberus 
 was to sail the 18'" and after such an action, no doubt would 
 have hastened away. A day or two will determine. 
 
 It need scarcely be mentioned that the action here spoken of 
 was the Battle of Bunker's Hill. This rumour was the first 
 intimation of it that had reached England. Perhaps it was rather 
 sti-ange, that if an English lieutenant, conversant with the fact or 
 any of the circumstances, arriving at Waterford, did not hasten 
 immediately to report himself to the Government. 
 
490 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \J^nl 
 
 19tli. — I went to the King's Levee, who was more inquisitive 
 than usual — How I intended to spend the summer? Whether 
 I would not carry my daugliter into the country with me ? 
 How many children were in London, and how many in New 
 England ? The circumstances of the latter I related, and 
 particularly my son's being obliged to quit my house at Milton, 
 which the rebels possessed, and had turned into a Barrack. 
 Some at Court seemed to think the report of yesterday might 
 be true, Sir Jno. Blaquiere especially, and Lord Suffolk gave 
 some credit to it. I met Col. Christie at the Levee : saw Sir 
 Kalph Payne, who is lately arrived from his Government. 
 Lord Dartmouth introduced his two sous, L* Lewisliam, and 
 M' Legge, who set out on Monday on their travels. 
 
 In the evening we were at Foote's Theatre. The K. and Q. 
 there. 
 
 The printed journals of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives 
 of Massachusetts contain much information of a historical kind. 
 No. 187 is almost entirely devoted to the " Hutchinson Papers," 
 80 called. A dispute of many years' duration had existed between 
 the State on one side, and the Historical Society of Massachusetts 
 on the other, concerning the rightful ownership of some of them. 
 This controversy, which has never been brought to a satisfactory 
 conclusion, and which, for that reason, may almost be said to be 
 still pending, has reference to some of his effects that the mob 
 scattered about the street when they destroyed his town house in 
 August 1765, portions of which were afterwards recovered and 
 restored by the efforts of friends ; secondly, to several trunks full 
 of letters seized at Milton soon after the Battle of Lexington; 
 and thirdly, to other effects again in his town house, which were 
 taken after the evacuation of Boston in March 1776. 
 
 After he left Milton, on the 1st of June, 1774, his eldest son 
 Thomas, who remained behind, occasionally resided there, until, 
 not feeling safe in the country, he withdrew for greater security 
 into Boston. A passage from " Gordon's History of the American 
 Eevolution," vol. i., p. 356, giving an account of the state of 
 Milton, is printed on page 4 of No. 187, and it runs as follows : — 
 
 " When he [Governor Hutchinson] quitted the province, all his 
 furniture was left behind at his seat in Milton. After the 
 Lexington engagement, the Committee of the town removed it, 
 in order to save it from being totally ruined. M' Samuel Hen- 
 
m?.] niABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 491 
 
 shaw, desirous of seeing how the house looked when stript of all 
 the furniture, repaired thither with the gentleman who had the 
 key. He went, at length, up into a dark garret, where he dis- 
 covered an old trunk, which he was told was left behind, as it 
 contained nothing but a parcel of useless papers. Curiosity led 
 him to examine them, when he soon discovered a Letter Book of 
 M' Hutchinson's, which he secured, and then posted away to Doct. 
 Warren, to whom he related what had happened ; on which an 
 order was soon sent to Gen. Thomas, at Boxbury, to possess 
 himself of the trunk. It was brought to his quarters, and there, 
 through the imprudent exultations of some about the General, the 
 contents were too often exposed to persons resorting thither, and 
 some single letters conveyed away : one [was suppressed] for the 
 public good, it being thought that if the same was generally 
 known, it might be of disservice at the present moment, as it had 
 not a favourable aspect upon the staunch patriotism of M' Han- 
 cock. The Letter Books and other papers were afterwards taken 
 proper care of." 
 
 The last few lines of the preceding narrative are rather damag- 
 ing. The following letter is also printed on page 4 of No. 187. 
 It explains what steps General Thomas took in the matter of the 
 old trunk : — 
 
 " Gentlemen : — In consequence of directions from the Committee 
 of Safety, I sent an officer on whom I could depend, to the house 
 of Governor Hutchinson, who brought off all the papers he could 
 find in that house ; but I was informed that Colonel Taylor of 
 Milton, had lately taken several trunks out of the Governor's 
 house, not many days ago, in order to secure them from being 
 plundered. I immediately sent another messenger to Col. Taylor, 
 for all the papers that belonged to Governor Hutchinson which he 
 had in his possession. He sent me for answer, he did not know of 
 any papers that belong to said Hutchinson ; but just now comes 
 to inform me that there are several trunks in his house, which he 
 took as aforesaid, which he expects will be sent for very soon. I 
 suspect there may be papers in said trunks, and if it is thought 
 proper, two or three judicious persons be sent to break open and 
 search for papers, he will give them his assistance. This, gentle- 
 men, is submitted to the consideration of the honorable Committee. 
 
 " I have. Gentlemen, the honor to subscribe myself, your most 
 obedient humble Servant 
 
 " John Thomas. 
 
 "Roxbury Camp, May 2, a.d. 1775." 
 
492 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms^ 
 
 Kesolutions " to secure Tories' estates in the town of Boston " 
 followed in due course, the language and phraseology of most of 
 which betraying feelings of strong rancorous party nature, and 
 enough to shock all modem ideas of truth. How can authentic 
 history he written out of such passions ? Besides the destruction 
 and confiscation of such houses, lands, furniture, or private papers 
 as have come under notice in the above memorandums, he had, or 
 his ancestors had, and it is presumed they came down to him, 
 certain lands or farms at Braintree, a few miles from Milton. He 
 had also some property at Newport, Ehode Island, and at Conani- 
 cut, across the Sound opposite, which he acquired in right of his 
 wife Margaret Sanforde (now commonly written Sanford), who 
 was co-heiress with her sisters, who inherited the estates and coat 
 armour, Ar. a ch. gu., of their father William ; and he likewise 
 had some tracts of lands down east from Boston, though I do not 
 know exactly where they were situated, though when I was a boy 
 I used to hear my late father and others speak of them as the 
 " Eastern lands," and some steps were taken to try and recover 
 portions of them, or something perhaps in lieu of them ; and whilst 
 these slanders and confiscations were in operation in America, 
 Governor Hutchinson was in England, using every efibrt with the 
 Ministry to get the Boston Port Bill repealed, and the Bestraining 
 Bill mitigated, and having no stronger wish in life than to go 
 back and live and die with his countrymen. So the world wags. 
 
 On pages 8 and 9 of No. 187 there is an inventory of odds and 
 ends of household furniture, collected from the residences of the 
 Governor and his sons, and from other houses to which some 
 portions had been removed, owing to the confusion of the times. 
 As this is in print it need not be further noticed ; but on some 
 blank leaves at the end of the Fourth Volume of his Diary he has 
 entered the particulars of an inventory of goods taken at Milton, 
 together with the prices that the several articles fetched at public 
 auction or otherwise. This transcript has never been in print, 
 and therefore it is given further on under the date of the 17th of 
 November, where it comes in more appropriately, owing to a letter 
 from the Governor in London to his son in Boston, in which he 
 makes some inquiry for a list of his goods, and what had become 
 of them. So little was any permanent difficulty apprehended in 
 respect to the safety of the movables at Milton, or the feasibility 
 of getting access to them, or of taking them away at pleasure, that 
 Thomas left almost everything when he took his wife and two 
 young children (Thomas and Mary) into Boston. It is not likely 
 that he would have left portable objects of value, such as silver 
 
Julv 
 
 n-G, 
 
 ;] DIARY AND LKTTEltS Ob' THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 493 
 
 plate, if he could have foreseen that the whole country between 
 Milton and Boston would soon be taken possession of by a hostile 
 army, and all means of transport cut ofif. This, however, was 
 very soon the case, and, as rrothingham says at page 220, " The 
 environs of Boston presented at this period an animating sight." 
 General Washington set out from Philadelphia on the 21st of June 
 to join the army [Ibid. 214] ; heard of the Bunker Hill affair when 
 at New York, which made him hasten his steps ; reached Cam- 
 bridge on the 2nd of July ; and assumed the chief command the 
 day after. Nothing of all this was yet known in England. 
 
 20th. — I went into the city to Gines & Co., Bankers, and 
 took a receipt for 1300£ Bills, and £59 13s. 6d. cash, on ace' 
 of Isaac Winslow, Esq. 
 
 Called on M"^ Jenkinson. No further accounts. M"^ Curwen 
 and Pickman called while I was taking an airing, and left 
 word that the waiter at Lloyd's said he had seen a man from 
 Portsmouth who brought an account of the arrival of the 
 Cerberus : but as Government has no advite, I must doubt the 
 truth of the report. 
 
 21st. — Intelligence brought me first by M' Lane and Col. 
 Pickman, and afterwards by M'' Blowers, that the Cerberus was 
 arrived : and the latter reported that the news of the action 
 was confirmed, and that the Regulars had lost 2003, and tli^ 
 Provincials 5000; that somebody heard it from Lord Boch- 
 ford's office, and brought it to the N. England Coffee House : 
 but all is without foundation. The news from Whitehaven of 
 the 18"" stands, but is weakened, as it is supposed an Express 
 must have been here if true. Lord North, I hear, gives it up. 
 M"^ l\nox says he does not, nor M' Eden, who rec* the account. 
 
 The Treasury ordered a warr' for £269, for my Privy Seal, 
 from the 17'" May to the 5"" of July, Land Tax, &c., to be 
 deducted. This I desired Gines & Co. to receive. 
 
 We have had three or four days without rain — warm like a 
 New England day — the glasses in the shade about 75. 
 
 22nd. — Dined in the city with M' Payne at his lodgings in 
 company with Doctors Saunders and Orme, two noted city 
 Physicians, and two gentlemen I did not know. Much was 
 said of the contemptible figure the Lord Mayor aud his party 
 
494 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [m?. 
 
 now made. Before dinner walked in Kensington Gardens, 
 where we met General Burgoyne's lady in gieat anxiety for 
 news from America, which, we are yet without, and this day 
 produces scarce what may be called — The lie of the day. 
 
 23rd. — Called upon M' Greene, Bed Lion Square, and took 
 him with us to the Old Jewry, where M' White preached. 
 M"^ George Greene dined. Bliss, Nichols, &c., in the evening. 
 Much rain in the night. 
 
 24th. — No Cerberus yet, and the Waterford news seems to 
 be given up, as without foundation. 
 
 25th. — Letters to the Government by the Cerherus arrived 
 this morning, and the Waterford news seems not without 
 foundation, for we now have an account of an action in the 
 morning of the 17"" by daybreak, the Provincials having broke 
 ground upon a hill in Charlestown which, being discovered by 
 the Lively, she fired upon them, and soon after a Battery from 
 Cop's Hill fired, and some of the shot went beyond my house ; * 
 and about noon Gen. Howe landed with 1600 men, and after- 
 wards Clinton with 400 more : and after a better defence than 
 was expected, the rebels were drove from their intrenchments, 
 and beyond tlie Neck ; but it was a dear victory — between 2 
 & 300 being killed, and among them 1 L' Col. — Abercrombie : 
 two Majors, Pitcaim and Williams, and 7 Captains, besides 
 Lieutenants and Ensigns, and between 7 & 800 wounded. 
 No account of the number of Provincials killed or wounded. 
 The town of Charlestown burnt to the ground— all but about 
 20 houses at the farther end of it. 
 
 M' Ellis fi om Twickenham called : L" Gage, Sir Sampson 
 Gideon, &c. 
 
 This was the first authentic account of the battle of Bunker's 
 Hill that had arrived in England ; and it may strike us as rather 
 singular that a strong pressentiment of the occurrence of a battle 
 should have existed all over the country some time before any 
 certain evidence of it had really crossed the Atlantic. The 
 numbers given above tally pretty nearly with the more o£Scial 
 returns that came to hand afterwards;- Howe, 1600 men, and 
 Clinton 400— together, 2000 ; 2 to 300 killed, and from 7 to 800 
 
 * I did not know till now that he had a house in Charlestown. 
 
i"t5.] DIASY and letters of THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 495 
 
 •wounded. Adolphus, 2nd edit., ii. 238, says— 226 killed, 828 
 'wounded. Of the American loss, Adolphus says they had 145 
 killed and 304 wounded. Frothingham, page 192, mentions 115 
 as killed, 305 wounded, and 30 taken prisoners by the British 
 troops. All writers agree in condemning the grave errors that 
 were committed in planning the attack. The first maivel is 
 that the Provincials were ever allowed to take possession of a hill 
 that dominated all the northern half of the city of Boston, at the 
 distance of only half a mile ; and to those who know the ground, 
 the neglect of taking them in rear instead of in front, so as to 
 have cut off their retreat, and the omission of putting a floating 
 battery or gunboat in the Mystic, so as to take them behind their 
 works and rake the neck of the promontory when they fled over 
 it — all these points come out very strong ; and the fact of sending 
 over shot for the field-pieces that were too large for the guns, at 
 the time when the artillerymen were engaged with the enemy, was 
 either a very cruel joke or a very serious error. There were several 
 generals in Boston at this time. Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne 
 had recently arrived out from England ; but they had been out 
 long enough to have looked round and considered the situation, or 
 reconnoitred the ground. Since Mr. Hutchinson left. General Gage 
 had been there a twelvemonth, and being commander-in-chief, the 
 responsibility naturally rested with him. This battle took place 
 on the 17th of June, and Gage left Boston for England on the 10th 
 of October, after which General Howe took the chief command ; 
 and it is very remarkable that, though he remained in Boston 
 from that time until the beginning of March following, being 
 four whole months, thus having plenty of time to consider and 
 re-consider all the surrounding circumstances of his situation, 
 and especially the oversight of having allowed the Provincials to 
 post themselves on Bunker's HiU, he allowed them to do the very 
 same thing on Dorchester Heights, a similar elevation close to the 
 south end of the city, commanding not only all the southern half 
 of Boston, but a considerable portion of the harbour. It was this 
 that .compelled the English to evacuate the place. It is true the 
 generals had for some time become aware that in a strategical 
 point of view, Boston was not so situated as to be a good base of 
 operations, and General Gage, before he left, had written to Lord 
 Dartmouth to say as much, and to suggest that New York would 
 be better.* Perhaps General Howo thought that as all parties 
 were in winter quarters, no active works would be undertaken 
 until the spring, and that he could rest secure in the matter of 
 these hills on the smith. 
 
 * Froth., 248. 
 
496 niAHY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [j^^l 
 
 Having been several times on these hills, I am able to compre- 
 hend the force of the remarks that have been put forth respecting 
 them. When I was on Bunker's Hill, the tall slim obelisk was 
 only half its height. Though it has been compared to a factory 
 chimney, when seen at a distance, it is a beautiful specimen of 
 stonework when examined close. The top of the hill was not so 
 encroached upon by houses as it is now, nor enclosed with trim 
 railings, nor laid out with gravel walks, but all open and in its 
 original state. The remains of the redoubt (if that is the correct 
 word, for it seems to have been an enclosed work all round) 
 presented the appearance of an irregular oval, though the plans 
 make it a rectangle of oblong proportion. The ridges were much 
 flattened, and the hollows much filled up, so that it was rather 
 difficult to take measures of it with precision, but I made its 
 length 75 yards, and its width 60, and from a hole in the turf 
 near the middle 1 picked up a stone, which I put in my pocket 
 as a memento. The accounts say that General Clinton proposed to 
 attack in the rear by landing at Bunker Hill neck, but that General 
 Gage opposed it as imprudent, inasmuch as by so doing there would 
 be a risk of getting between two fires, by having the redoubt on 
 the right hand, with Cobble Hill and the main army of the Pro- 
 vincials towards Cambridge on the left. The English troops 
 embarked from the north end of Boston under Copps Hill and 
 Long Wharf, and proceeded across Charles Eiver, and it has 
 appeared strange to some, that they should have been encumbered 
 with blankets and knapsacks on a hot summer's day, and three 
 days' provisions when they were close home. Perhaps it was 
 thought that they might have to follow the retreating foe up the 
 country. Frothingham tells us, page 194 — " The house of Governor 
 Oliver, in Cambridge, known as the Gerry estate, was occupied as 
 a hospital. Many of the soldiers who died of their wounds were 
 buried in a field in front of this house." 
 
 Those who visit Boston ought to go into Copps Hill burying- 
 ground, and enjoy the view northward over the Charles Eiver to 
 Charlestovni, with the Bunker Hill obelisk or monument rising 
 above the houses. A little consideration will furnish a very good 
 idea of the range and effect of artillery across the water, about as 
 wide, perhaps, as the Thames at Westminster Bridge. Sauntering 
 about among the graves and reading the inscriptions one day, I 
 came upon an upright tombstone which had the Hutchinson coat 
 of arms cut upon the higher end of it in low relief. " Ha ! " thought 
 I, " one of my ancestors when they lived near North Square." On 
 examining closer, I found that some one had taken an old tomb- 
 OKtne, had cut out the HutchinKOn inscription, and had put in his 
 
.ri;lv 
 1775. 
 
 .] DIAEY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 497 
 
 own. Perhaps he thought the picture was an ornament, and that 
 it would suit his name just as well as mine. The new name, I 
 think, was Lewis, but I am not quite sure at this distance of 
 time. 
 
 But the finest and most commanding view of Boston is from 
 Dorchester Heights. Modern utilitarianism, however, is fast 
 encroaching upon and obliterating the old landmarks. Elevations 
 are levelled to fill up hollows : land is reclaimed from the shallows 
 all round the city to be built upon : houses are pushed up the sides 
 of the hiUs : reservoirs are constructed on the tops of them, until 
 the batteries and earthworks will soon follow those of Bunker's 
 Hill into oblivion and obliteration. 
 
 Franklin is facetious over the chances of the war. Writing to 
 Dr. J. Priestley, Oct. 3, 1775, he says : — " Britain, at the expense 
 of three millions, has killed one hundred and fifty Yankees this 
 campaign, which is 20,000Z a head; and at Bunker's Hill she 
 gained a mile of ground, half of which she lost again by our taking 
 post on Ploughed Hill. During the same time sixty thousand 
 children have been bom in America." 
 
 26th. — Eeceived my letters by post. D'' Warren and Lemuel 
 Eobinson killed among the rebels. I met Lord Dartmouth 
 under the Treasury : he doubts whether any great force can go 
 this fall ; but a very great force, he says, will certainly be sent 
 in the spring. The private letters speak of the action as 
 having saved Boston from the destruction which the rebels had 
 determined to bring upon it. 
 
 M"^ Gibbons called in the evening : Lord Beauchamp called 
 in the forenoon. 
 
 27th. — With M' Nichols, to introduce him to Lord Dart- 
 mouth. Much said upon the impractability [sic] of any 
 considerable force this fall; and upon the necessity of a very 
 great force iu the spring. Lord D. says that Gage bad only 
 3400 rank and file effectives, and that the Irish troops will not 
 make more than 5000. I saw Gen. Harvey afterwards. He 
 says 5500. M' Keene called : complains of Gage : says his 
 lady has said she hoped her husband would never be the 
 instrument of sacrificing the lives of her countrymen.* I 
 
 * She was a Miss Kemble, of New Jersey, and related to the Van Court- 
 lands, of New York. 
 
 2 E 
 
498 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^:?ll 
 
 doubted it. He said he did not, but did not chuse to 
 be quote.) for it. Called upon M' Jenkiiison, who was rather 
 low iu spirits ; was going to Lord North. Wrote to L* Loudoun 
 and Lord Hillsborough. 
 
 28th. — Lord Gage and M' Gibbon called. We dined, except 
 Billy, at Twickenham with M' Ellis. In conversation I men- 
 tioned what I had heard M"' Bolyston should say — that some 
 of the Arabs doubted whether M' Bruce had been in Abyssinia. 
 M' Ellis says, as a European, he could not have got in, but he 
 passed as an Arab, with whom he had cultivated friendship in 
 Algiers, and now experienced their friendship in return. 
 After he was discovered he was imprisoned, but by his advice 
 in cases of sick persons, he obtained liberty and favour. What 
 I could not well account for, which M' Bruce mentioned at 
 L"* Mansfield's — ^that he had enabled them to write their vulgar 
 language, which they never attempted before. M' Ellis in part 
 accounted for [this]. They had a written language, and as 
 many characters as were necessary to express it. They had a 
 vulgar tongue, and many sounds not in their written language, 
 and for them had no characters. All that Bruce, therefore, 
 had to do was to form as apt characters or letters as he could 
 for those sounds, to add to the characters before known in the 
 written language. This brought to my mind our having the 
 two letters L and R, which tlie Eastern Lidians cannot sound, 
 and all the labials which the Iroquois never sound. Bruce 
 had been Consul at Algiers : was gone upon his tour many 
 years. To induce and enable him to publish his prints of 
 ruins, buildings, &c., and the Journal of his Travels, Government 
 gave him six thousand pounds for his salary the years he was 
 absent, which has quite satisfied him, and he is now going on 
 cheerfully with his business. 
 
 Thunder and rain great part of the afternoon. 
 
 29th. — Rain more or less every day, like the weather the 
 latter end of April and beginning of May in America. Called 
 on M' Pownall early at the Board of Trade, who says he will 
 undertake some provision shall be made for the Council, and 
 that a large supply of necessary provisions shall be sent to 
 Boston for the Inhabit^ as well as the army. 
 
mi] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 499 
 
 I went into the city to M' Mauduit's, who, with W Jo. 
 Greene, M' Curwen, and M' Boylstone, dined with us. Admiral 
 Shuldam is soon to sail to supersede Graves.* Much talk of 
 a new command of the land forces. I met Col. Christie, who 
 spake with great freedom of Gage's being unequal to the place, 
 and he says nothing will be done to purpose, until there is a 
 new General. 
 
 Three months after this date General Gage returned to England. 
 It is useless for a public man to continue in office as soon as the 
 nation begins to lose confidence in him. Not that he is deficient 
 in any quality whatever, but people are ignorant of the circum- 
 stances of a case, especially at a distance ; they are impatient of 
 success, and have no idea that there are any difficulties in the 
 way ; and as hope brightens every novelty, and as it is notorious 
 that a new broom sweeps clean, a change must be made, if it is 
 only to satisfy popular clamour, even if it should turn out to 
 be a change for the worse. Such being the feeling, a change 
 of admirals soon took place, and also a change of generals. 
 
 Sentiment in England was altering materially in regard to the 
 whole aspect of American affairs. The dispute was assuming 
 serious proportions, and it would not be accommodated so speedily 
 or so easily as had been anticipated. No wonder if the refugees 
 in England were becoming alarmed for their friends and for the 
 property they had left behind them. We may quote part of 
 a letter from Gov. H. to Chief Justice Oliver, which is anything 
 but bright. He begins thus : — 
 
 "St. J. S., 8 July, 1775. 
 
 " jy S' — The sufP of my friends in Boston cause such a weight 
 upon my spirits, that I am not able to write anything upon the 
 general subject of y' letters by Callahan, except that everybody is 
 in anxious expectation of some great event upon the arrival of the 
 troops from Ireland. 
 
 " Y' particular concern I enquired into, and found your money 
 was ordered to be paid by the Comiss. of the Customs, a Warr' for 
 w"* I have taken out at the expense of two Guineas, w"", when you 
 receive your Warr' I desire you to pay to my niece [?] M" Prout, 
 as from me. 
 
 " I hope you will not let my daughter [Sarah, who married the 
 
 * Admiral Graves eventually obtained a Peerage, and as Lord Graves 
 lived at Hembury Fort House, some four miles north-west of Honitcn, and 
 ten north of Sidmouth in Devonshire. 
 
 2 K 2 
 
500 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. [l^l^l 
 
 Judge's son], and her children want anything w"'' can be procured 
 for them, to make them as comfortable as the general state of the 
 times will admit," &c. 
 
 "Writing on the same day to Mr. Sewall, the Attorney-General 
 of Massachusetts, he says — 
 
 " You must think we are in the utmost distress. We wish to 
 know the state of our country, and yet we are afraid, upon the 
 arrival of every vessel, to have it related to us. At any other 
 time, the ravages made upon my house, and the seizure of my 
 private, as well as publick letters and other papers, would have 
 been very sensibly felt ; but the publick calamities lay so heavy 
 upon my spirits before, that this present misfortune made no 
 addition worth mentioning. I cannot recollect a correspondence 
 of seven years. I am sure that I never wrote anything I did not 
 believe to be true. I am sure I never wrote anything which 
 I thought would hurt the real interest of my country, or be 
 injurious to individuals. As to the first — I have been in some 
 instances so cautious to suppress upon revisal, letters which I had 
 no doubt of when writing, and which, upon further consideration 
 I thought should not have been suppressed : and as to the latter — 
 I never indulged a secret wish to do them any other hurt than 
 was necessary to put a stop to such of their measures as must 
 prove hurtful and fatal to the country. As to some particular 
 persons — not many I am sure — it's possible a fresh sense of the 
 most cruel wrongs they had done me, may have caused more 
 acrimony than was prudent in some of my expressions. Candour, 
 it may be necessary for me to ask everyone to afford me in such 
 a case. My principles in Government I never concealed. If it be 
 considered that my publick character brought me under peculiar 
 obligations to support what, according to those principles, is the 
 established Constitution of Government in the Colonies, and to 
 counteract and effectually provide against all attempts to subvert 
 or innovate upon this Constitution, I am confident nothing will 
 appear in my Letters which I could have been justified in omitting. 
 I am sure many of my friends have repeatedly suggested to me 
 that I ought to have proposed other measures than I have done for 
 defeating and punishing all such attempts. 
 
 " I never could admit a denial of the Bight of Parliament in all 
 cases, but I wished a forbearance of the exercise in Acts of 
 Taxation; therefore it will not appear that I have encouraged 
 such Acts ; and if ever I have thought of any particular instance, 
 it has been as a substitute in the place of another deemed to be 
 
mf.] DIASY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 501 
 
 more grevious and exceptionable. I have seen and felt the ill 
 effects [of] a CounoU. annually elected by the people : but I saw 
 exceptions to every other mode proposed for constituting a CouncU : 
 and I foresaw a convulsion from the change, and therefore I never 
 proposed or promoted this alteration of the Charter, although 
 I have frequently been wrote to upon it, and have corresponded 
 upon the convenience and inconvenience, the objections against it, 
 and the reasons to support it, and have admitted or denied them 
 so far as they appeared to be sufficient for what they were 
 advanced, or otherwise, but finally have doubted and been blamed 
 for throwing blocks in the way. If therefore they should publish 
 the whole of my correspondence, and wherever it was read, this 
 explanation and vindication could be read with it, I should be 
 under no concern. But if they will publish scraps of letters, 
 and what they call the substance of letters, so far as they can 
 obtain credit, it will be in their power to make ill impressions 
 upon their leaders." 
 
 Simple man ! As if they were going to be so accommodating as 
 to read the explanation and the vindication alongside of the 
 letters ! The object of printing the scraps was purposely to vilify, 
 slander, and injure him, given neat, 'W'ithout any admixture of 
 emollients, and with an amount of party spite never exceeded in 
 the history of any country under heaven : and to those who 
 admire evil, no one deserves more renown for his industry in 
 searching for these scraps than Mr. Bancroft. The above obser- 
 vations, entered in his Letter Book by his own hand, and assisted 
 by EUsha, were communicated to a private friend, and have lam 
 quiet for a hundred years, and they will come out as new to the 
 Governor's descendants as to any of the outside public, for with 
 the exception of myself, for the purposes now in hand, I believe 
 there is not a member of the family living who has ever had 
 occasion to look into the book. The sentiments and motives of 
 action therein written put his integrity as an honest man, working 
 for those who employed him, and whom he represented, in a very 
 honourable light, in so far that he was guided only by a desire 
 to maintain the Constitution and the laws of the land for the equal 
 good of all men alike : and yet, because he declined to give up 
 these principles, and join in the war against England, he was the 
 greatest villain unhung. Wilkins, writing to Dr. Chandler, says, 
 " He hopes to hear H is hanged ! " 
 
 In the same book, to another friend, whose name however is not 
 recorded, he this month sends the following remark : — 
 
502 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \_ml 
 
 " My share in the calamity of my country is not inconsiderable. 
 The possession of my house at Milton, with all my furniture, 
 books, papers, &c., is a great loss. I feel less and less concern 
 from their knowledge of my correspondence. They will find 
 nothing in any part of it w"'' is not true, and I flatter myself 
 nothing which impartial men will not allow, the station I was in 
 required of me. They will besides, find less than they expected, 
 and have often charged me with. Some of their own characters 
 I have been rather free with, w*^ I believe they will not publish. 
 But they will publish many things w"*" they will call the substance 
 of my letters, in a sense I never intended, unless a stop is put to 
 jtheir career." 
 
 And this is exactly what they did. Many attempts were made 
 to get at the contents of his private communications sent out to 
 friends, some scraps of which they may have got at more or less 
 mutilated, and where that failed, it was easy to fill up gaps to 
 his prejudice ; wherefore he warned one of his correspondents not 
 to expose him to such treatment. He says * — " They print as 
 extracts from my letters what I never wrote. Don't suffer them 
 to print what I do write." 
 
 Gordon, in his ' History of the American Eevolution,' already 
 quoted, observes that the letters were found in an old trunk in a 
 dark garret at Milton. In a letter to Mr. Clarke of this July the 
 24th, the Governor explains how they got there. 
 
 " The possession of my house," he says, " was what human 
 vsrisdom could not foresee. I had put my Letter Books at the time 
 of the Tea mobs where I thought no persons would look for them, 
 and when I left the Province, it did not occur to me where 
 they were. At first it vexed me to think into whose hands they 
 were fallen, but I have recovered. I have vvrrote nothing but 
 what was true," &c. 
 
 Let us recur to the Diary. 
 
 30th.— At Doctor Ratcliffe's in Poor Jewry. [?] 
 M' Silsby brought me my letters, and a gold watch given me 
 by my sister Welsted, yn"^ was my mother's. He informed me 
 of many circumstances of the action on 17* June, and of the 
 state of both armies. I am much distressed for my friends. 
 M' Nichols called : says there is a certain account of the return 
 of the Span. Armada, and of their being drove from Algiers 
 
 * Marble paper Letter Book, November 8, 1774. 
 
mi] DIASY AND LE2TERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 503 
 
 with considerable loss; and adds, that it appears they intended, 
 after succeeding at Algiers, to have invaded England. He 
 mentions advice from Canada as late as the latter end of J une, 
 that Carlton had raised a considerable force, and was gone 
 down to Ticonderoga, &c. Bain. 
 
 Spain seems to have been feared as well as suspected. The 
 following letter by the anxious father is to his eldest son at Boston. 
 Forgive so many of these missives if they appear wearisome, or if 
 they contain repetitions. It is hard to know how to suppress 
 them, and what is absolutely new ought not to be suppressed in 
 this correspondence ; but where one new passage is quoted in a 
 letter, there is the danger of dragging in two or three repetitions 
 along with it that cannot be very well rejected without risk of 
 impairing the sense. This evil is not unperceived or unfelt, and 
 it is hoped that allowances will be made for it. 
 
 " St. JamL's's Street, 26 July, —75. 
 "My Dear Son, 
 
 " Although the news by the Cerberus would have been insup- 
 portable if the town had been beat about your ears from the 
 heights of Charlestown, yet, your relief cost so dear, and you are 
 afterwards so much exposed to hazard from other quarters, that 
 we are in great anxiety. I have had [a] long conversation with 
 Lord Dartmouth to-day. Some addition to the land force I think 
 is determined to be made immediately, perhaps two thousand men : 
 but such a force as they are now convinced is necessary, and which 
 he says will most certainly go early in the spring, it is not practi- 
 cable to provide so as to arrive before winter. Every necessary of 
 vegetables, and of the farinacious kind which can be transported, 
 with butter, cheese, &c., for the troops and inhabitants, shall also 
 certainly be sent. I have had hints of a plan by means of the 
 ships, to compel a supply of fresh provisions, but I am not fuUy 
 acquainted with it, nor do I depend upon it. 
 
 " The next summer will no doubt determine the fate of America, 
 and it is said, the same force will be employed, as if the inhabi- 
 tants were French or Spanish enemies. I therefore think there is 
 a strong probability that you and your sister [Sarah, Dr. P. Oliver's 
 wife], and both your children [Thomas, bom 1772, and Mary, born 
 1773], may be reinstated there. It will therefore deserve con- 
 sideration whether your present safety may not be secured upon 
 easier terms than a removal to so great a distance as England. 
 Your aunt too [Grizel Sanford], who must be taken care of, will 
 
504 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTUHINSON. [i"«. 
 
 find insupperatle \aic\ difficulties in Buch a removal. I know not 
 what will be the state of Ehode Island, but hear whispers. If 
 your families could be there with safety, you or they, will be near 
 the two estates. [The Sanfords had property at Khode Island and 
 Conanicut.] What do you think of Nantucket? Or could you 
 bear the cold winter of Quebec ? If it was not for the difficulty of 
 crossing the sea, I think I would have chose to spend the next 
 winter there rather than in London. If you find it necessary to 
 leave the town, you will secure, as far as you are able, what plate, 
 furniture, books, papers, and other property was left, and still 
 remains. I now wish I had brought great part of [it] with me, as 
 it would have saved me considerable [expenses] which I now pay, 
 extraordinary in rent for having a house furnished. 
 
 " Whatever you have received belonging to me, you must apply 
 for the comfort of your own, and your sister's family ; and what 
 may be further necessary for you, wherever you may be, you must 
 value yourself upon me, for as long as I have anything left for to 
 assist you. 
 
 " The change in our condition has been great, sudden, and 
 unexpected ; and however adverse it is ordered by the infinitely 
 Wise Governor of the World, and we not only ought not to 
 murmur and repine, but to fortify ourselves against a depression 
 of spirits. We have cause to be thankful that we have yet the 
 necessaries, though we are deprived of many of the comforts of 
 life. M' Nichols came to town the 16"* Cap. Shad the 24"" of the 
 month. I believe M' Silsby is not yet in town. I had a message 
 from Lady Frankland, with compliments, and hear she does not 
 intend to come to London. [Thus far in the Letter Book, appa- 
 rently in Elisha's handwriting: the rest in the Governor's.] I 
 have been blamed for being the cause that no greater force was 
 sent. There never was a more unjust charge. I thought the 
 force insufficient [to frighten 'em ?] and that it would be mercy to 
 the people to increase it to such a degree as to discourage them 
 from taking arms to oppose it : but Col. Dalrymple will be able to 
 set that matter in its true light. 
 
 " I comm* you to the protection of Heaven, and am 
 
 Y' Aff. Father." 
 
 Further light is thrown upon the expression respecting a large 
 or small force in another communication to a correspondent 
 whose name is not legible, and bearing date July 28. If the 
 large force were intended to frighten the Provincials into submis- 
 sion, the idea may raise a smile ; on the other hand, common sense 
 
mJ.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 505 
 
 and common prudence suggest that tlie bravest men would not be 
 wise in resisting a force that was manifestly overwhelming. He 
 writes thus : — 
 
 " I know not of the least ground for the opinion w*'' you say 
 prevails, that I prevented a larger force being sent. As soon as 
 I knew it was determined forces should be sent, I immediately 
 gave my opinion that it was better to send none than a small 
 force ; and that the kindest thing w""" could be done by Gov' was 
 to send a force so large as to convince them they were not able to 
 withstand it." 
 
 It is a custom with us in the present day to exclaim, " What 
 happens is the unexpected!" It was just the same a hundred 
 years ago, for there is nothing new under the sun. "Who would 
 have thought that Milton would have been turned into a barrack ? 
 To his brother, on the same day as above, he writes : — 
 
 " Human foresight will not secure us against all adverse events. 
 If I had supposed my house at Milton could ever be made use of 
 as a Barrack, I would have left nothing in it. If it had not been 
 made use of as a Barrack, tho' a mob had entred to search for 
 papers, it is not likely they would have found the Lett' Books. 
 When I was threatened by the Tea mobs, I carried them to Milton 
 [from Boston], and when I was obliged to return to the Castle, 
 upon Gen. Gage's arrival, it did not come into my mind where I 
 had put them. I am sure there is nothing in them but what wiE 
 evidence an upright aim and endeavour to keep o£f the miseries 
 which, in spite of my endeavours, a few men have brought upon 
 the country : and if they will take the whole of them, they will 
 find an uniform plan for preserving the authority of Farliam', and 
 at the same tim.e indulging the Colonies in every point in which 
 the people imagined they were aggrieved." 
 
 3Ist. — The letters from Carlton are dated from Montreal. 
 No intimation of anything more than defending his own Gov*, 
 as I understand from M' Knox. Orders are on their way to 
 him for offensive measures. 
 
 We all dined with W Knox at his lodgings in Chelsea, 
 Paradise Eow, with M' Keene, M' Nutt and his wife, and 
 W Blackburn — the two last, citizens. 
 
 M' Galloway, M"" and M" Heald, called to day. Little 
 rain. 
 
506 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [till 
 
 tms. 
 
 Aug. 1st. — Called on the New Yorkers in Margaret Street. 
 Col. Mansell shewed me a long letter he had wrote to one of 
 the Committee of N. York, condemning the Americans for not 
 accepting proposals for conciliation, assuring them England 
 was united, and would exert its power, &c., and asked me if he 
 should first shew it to Lord North ? I thought there could be 
 no harm. Mansell says he has a letter from one of the 
 Comittee, which says they begin to see they were deceived, for 
 they expected the manufacturers to have rose in their favour, 
 &c. Such amusements have attended all the American Oppo- 
 sition from the first of it. 
 
 Left my letters with M' Pollock, to go by the Oerierus and 
 two to Quebec to M' Clarke. M' White, the Minister of Old 
 Jewry called, and drank tea with us. Showery. 
 
 2nd. — Called upon Paul Wentworth. M' Gibbon called: 
 observes a great spirit against the Americans : mentions five 
 Regiments complete * to go from Ireland, besides four com- 
 panies of Artillery, w""" Gen. Harvey confirms : says L* 
 Kenmure has engaged for 3000 Irish Catholicks, and Gen. 
 Frazer offers 2000 Highland', but not settled ; but it must be 
 some months before the last can be raised. 
 
 Showers again in the forenoon. 
 
 Elisha, writing yesterday to his wife, speaks thus : — 
 
 " St. James's Street, August 1", 1775. 
 " My Dear Polly, 
 
 " The Cerberus arrived last week, and brings account of the 
 action at Charlestown, and burning of the town. The loss of so 
 many brave men on the side of the King's troops is much lamented 
 here, but our letters from Boston say it was absolutely necessary 
 the intrenchments should be forced ; and add, if the troops had 
 been repulsed, the destruction of the town must have followed. 
 Our expectations have all along been that, on the arrival of the 
 Irish troops, something decisive would be effected ; but if every 
 small hill or rising ground about Boston is to be recovered in the 
 same "way, I see no prospect of an end to the war. Our gentry 
 seem to be alarmed, and give out that a large force should 
 
 * The word was usually written compleat in George III.'s day, but here it 
 is written complete, as at present in vogue. I like to notice these changes. 
 
^,"1:1 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 507 
 
 1VV5.J 
 
 certainly go out this fall, if the Beason was not so far advanced as 
 to render it impracticable. They however, talk of recruiting 
 what Eegiments are at Boston, and threaten to prosecute it in the 
 spring in the same manner as if it was a Trench or Spanish war. 
 
 " Enough of politicks, unless they were better. My principal 
 concern is for you and my little baby. I am without a letter from 
 you," &c., &c. 
 
 The following is Lord Loudoun's opinion of the state of affairs, 
 written this day. It will be remembered that his Lordship had a 
 military command in America at the time when Mr. Hutchinson 
 was Governor there. This letter is the original, bearing his sign- 
 manual at the end in bold characters, but as the writing in the 
 body of it is smaller, it is rather uncertain whether he wrote it or 
 employed an amanuensis. It is bound up among the Original 
 Letters in volumes with blue leather backs. The writer has been 
 rather careless or peculiar in his spelling. 
 
 " Loudoun, 2" August, 1775. 
 " My Dear Sir, 
 
 " I am extreemly obleaged to you for your kind letter of July 
 26"" which I received last night. Alace poor Abercrumbie, he 
 realy is a publick loss, and verry particularly so to me. 
 
 " I thank you for the extract of the letter you sent me. I agree 
 with your friend in his openion that an imediat and spirited 
 exertion from hence is absolutely necessary, and that nou it will 
 require at least duble the force that would have put an end to the 
 rebellion two years ago. I have served against the rebels in one 
 rebeUion in this country, and from the little experience I had in 
 that, I am clearly of opeinion that whilest they remain in arms 
 they ought to be treated with all the severities of ware, but as 
 soon as they submite, the Goverment ought to have its armes open 
 to receive them, making a few examples of the Bingleaders, but 
 by no means to carry on a long prosecution and execution after- 
 wards ; that only ireterats [irritates ?] and never and never [sic] 
 Beconsiles. 
 
 " It appears to me that the Generals will be obleadged to make 
 a new attack on the rebels' works as soon as the second imbarka- 
 tion arives from Ireland. I don't doubt but the troops will carrie 
 it, but that must ever be atended with a great loss, where so few 
 troops are to atacke such numbers ; and this I am afraid will 
 reduce the King's armie verry low before they can be Bainforsed. 
 " I am afraid, if they cannot open the comunication with the 
 country, their horses will be lost for want of forrage j the mea 
 
508 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. [ml; 
 
 will be starved for want of fireing to dress their victuals ; and 
 without they can procure fresh provisions, the whole armie will 
 fall down in scurvies. 
 
 " I am afraid there is not a good understanding betwixt the 
 armie and Fleet, for I imagin the Admiral, with his small craft 
 might have protected the parties sent into the Islands, to bring off 
 live stock and forrage. 
 
 " I am with great regaird and esteem 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your most Obed' 
 
 " and most Humble Serv' 
 
 " Loudoun." 
 
 3rd. — In the city at M' Syme's in Barge [?] Court in the 
 morning, and at M' Lane's Counting House. Saw M' Black- 
 burn, who mentions a letter from N. York, by way of Boston 
 [?] of July 4, that Washington had arrived, accompanied by 
 a thousand horse, the same day Gov. Tryon arrived from 
 England, who was received very silently, but Cap" Vandeput 
 [?] of the navy, had let the people know, if any insult was 
 offered the Gov. or servants of the Crown, he would beat down 
 the town. 
 
 At Court, but did not go into the drawing-room. M' 
 Onslow assured me orders were gone by the Cerberus to recall 
 Gage, that Howe might command. Gage's Comission not 
 revoked. In the afternoon we all went to Kew, and went round 
 the Gardens for the first time. 
 
 4th. — M"^ Knox confirmed the recall of Gage, &c. Lord 
 Dartmouth gone into Staffordshire, and none of the Ministry 
 left in town. A vessel from N. Hampshire, a day or two later 
 than the Cerberus. Col. Warren, Presid' of the Provincial 
 Congress, in the room of Jy Warren deceased. 
 
 5th. — M' Pownall tells me orders are gone to Gage to make 
 an allowance to the Council. I spake to him in behalf of 
 Silvester Oliver, and afterwards wrote to him. 
 
 Pickman, Curwen, Taylor, Silsby, Smith, and S. dined with 
 us. 
 
 6th. — ^At, the Old Jewry : M' White preached, and ad- 
 ministered the Sacrament. Curwen, Pickman, E. and myself. 
 
f,'Jg;] BIASY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 509 
 
 were at the Communion. I think, perhaps, from prejudice, 
 that either tlie Communion as in the Church of Eng., or as in 
 the churches of N. England, more decent than this, which is a 
 sort of middle way : the Minister taking the Elements first 
 himself, and then carrying them round one part of the church, 
 using some Scripture passages to excite devotion, while an 
 Assistant goes round the other part of the church. The Table 
 was scarcely decent; the Bread in single cakes in a small 
 plate ; four or five small cups ; and the wine in 3 glass quart 
 common bottles ; which I believe has not been known in any 
 country church in New England. 
 
 Nor in any other in Old England, it is to be hoped. Judging 
 by the solemn and reverential way in which these things are 
 done in the days in which we live, there are few who will not 
 agree with the Governor in censuring the mode of administer- 
 ing the Sacrament on that occasion. 
 
 Somewhere about the year 1698, or perhaps earlier, the Old 
 Second Church at the north end of Boston wanted a vessel for 
 the Communion wine, when the Governor's father gave his silver 
 tankard with cover, and the Hutchinson arms engraved on the 
 front of it, holding near three pints and a half, to the church for 
 the purposes required. This incident has before been alluded to 
 at page 394, when speaking of the Old Iforth, and would not have 
 been repeated here but for the subject of the Communion wine. 
 In the early days of the colony it could not be expected that 
 sacred vessels for such purposes could be found, in the jewellers' 
 shops, so that a private individual made a pious gift of the 
 most suitable object that could then be found; and after an 
 interval of 170 years it is back again in the possession of the 
 
 family. 
 
 On the fly-leaves at the beginning and ends of several of the 
 volumes of his Diary, the Governor has jotted down notes and 
 memorandums, as thoughts have struck him appropriate to the 
 topics of the day, and to the peculiar circumstances in which he 
 found himself so unexpectedly placed ; or quotations more or less 
 apt and striking, which he happened to light upon during the 
 variety of his discursive reading. The turmoil of political and 
 forensic struggle, by which two countries were distracted, naturally 
 usurped a large place in his thoughts ; and he has one or two notes 
 on the doctrine and discipline of the numerous sects and bodies of 
 
510 DTABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mf; 
 
 Christians, bo styled in common parlance, though not always all 
 Christians in principle and practice, inasmuch as from the times 
 of the Puritans and Pilgrims downwards, they had kept the Old 
 and the New Worlds in water quite as hot as anything that had 
 characterised the ehullitions of secular party strife. 
 
 " Melancthon," he writes, on a fly-leaf at the end of the third 
 volume of his Diary, " in an Epistle to Luther, 17, 6. 1. says of the 
 first Eeformers — De doctrina nihil laborani, tantum de regno et libertate 
 sunt solliciti. The Puritans in England did not separate upon 
 Doctrinal points : it was the government by Bishops they were 
 sollicitouB ahout. The ceremonies were said to be scrupled, but 
 they were scrupled, not so much as being in themselves un- 
 lawful, but as being enjoined, when they were in their nature 
 indifferent." 
 
 We here perceive the germs of those notions of Liberty that so 
 distinguished them in after times : and there is a short memo- 
 randum from Melancthon at the end of vol. 6, at page 11, in red 
 ink : — " Melancthon, after he had recommended the form he 
 observed in his own church, adds — Sed ritiia humanos non necesse eat 
 similes esse.'' 
 
 But on the same page there immediately follows another memo- 
 randum which strongly portrays how little of stability or fixity of 
 aim there is in human nature — how credulous and how careless in 
 speech the so-called Lords of Creation. " Sorbiere," he writes, " in 
 his Journey to England the beginning of Charles the Second's 
 reign, after the Eestoration — speaking of a Mountebank, says — 
 Notre pauvre humanite pourrait etre definiepar V inclination au mensonge, 
 et par la credulite. — Homo est animal eredulum et mendax. — Voyage, 
 &c., p. 145." 
 
 Written on page 35 in red : — " The state of Ecclesiastical affairs 
 in England in 1642 is well described in a letter from Vossius to 
 Grotius, dated Amsterdam, Septem. 1642. — Bellum Puritanicum hie 
 vmltos hdbet sollicitos. * * [too long to quote] * * Atque hi 
 db Episcopalibus et Presiyteralibus, (sicuti vocantur^ distincti Indepen- 
 dentes nuncupantur. Pinsitis [?] cujus magna in Parliamento est auctoritaa 
 prioris esse sententice, dicitur. Sed multi hae parte ei adversantur, qui 
 ccetera convenire videntur." — &c. &c., and in very hostile terms 
 against Kings and Bishops : and a passage taken from Erasmus, at 
 the end of vol. 4, gives us a fearful picture of the way in which 
 Bishops were sometimes put up and put down by the giddy 
 multitude : — 
 
 " Olim populi suffragiis creahantur Episcopi : ejusdem libidine dejicie- 
 bantur : interdum lapidahuntur. Bes erat plena tumulius, interdum et 
 
f,"i:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 511 
 
 caedis. Itaque res ipsa jpersuasit, ut penes paucos ac certos homines esset 
 jus designandi Episcopos, aut etiam suhmovendi." 
 
 To get men to agree on doctrinal points, or, indeed, on moat 
 other points, is a hopeless endeavour. Henry VIII. tried it at the 
 time of the Eeformation, and Queen Elizabeth gave her attention 
 to the same task. Gov. H. jots down as foUows : — 
 
 " When Grotius was endeavouring a reconciliation between the 
 Church of Eome and the Eeformed Churches, he wrote to his friend, 
 XJytenbogard, for his opinion. The good old man, who was then 
 87, excused himself on account of his great age ; and adds, that if 
 he was to live 25 years in the fuU use of his powers, he was in 
 doubt whether it would be enough time to read and thoroughly 
 weigh all that would be necessary on the subject : and then, says 
 that he often calls to mind a saying of Molinaeus — Lea choses neees- 
 saire a salut sont si clairement couchees en I'Ecriture, qu'il n'est point 
 hesoin d'interprete pour les entendre suffisamment a salut. L'Ecriture 
 nous enseigne que Dieu a crSe le monde, que Jesus Christ est mort pour 
 nous, qii'il est ressuscite. Elle commande d' aimer Dieu de tout son coeur, 
 et son prochain comme soymesme. Elle defend de tuer, de paillarder, 
 de deroher, &c. Or, je dis, qu'en I'Ecriture, les choses qui sont ainsi 
 claire, suffisent a salut." 
 
 The quiet reading of the Bible is the best cure for all the wild, 
 fanciful, and foolish fuss that people in aU ages have made, and 
 continue to make, in matters of Church government, external forms, 
 ceremonies, and conflicting theological dogmata. And looking to 
 the future condition of men, as well as their present state, he has 
 noted down passages from various authors that touch upon this 
 train of thought, as well as others suggested by new views of old 
 subjects. 
 
 " Posteriiati rectius creditur, non quod ilia futura sit melior, sed 
 quod sequior defunetis ; quippe, alios habitura quos exerceat. 
 
 " Grot. Epist. ad GaUos, p. 50." 
 " Nimirum ea est sors rerum mortalium humanarum, ut non modo 
 perpetvam, sed diuternam quoque filicitatem non ferard. — Ibid. p. 61." 
 
 On the fly-leaf marked 37, in red ink, at the end of vol. 6, he 
 writes : — 
 
 " In a Pamphlet published in 1775 — Bight of Brit. Legist, to tax 
 the Colonies, &c., which I take to be written by Doctor Lind, 
 [Lynde ?] there is a quotation from Bacon's Remains, published by 
 Eawleigh : — ' This Kingdom, now first in His Majesty's times, 
 hath gotten a lot or portion in the new world by the Plantation 
 of Virginia and the Summer Islands, and certainly it is with 
 the kingdoms on earth, as it is in the Kingdom of Heaven : 
 
512 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS nUTCEINSON. [ 
 
 1775. 
 
 sometimes a grain of mustard seed proves a great tree. Who can 
 tell?' 
 
 " Tn the Cabala, p. 50. Edit. 1663, there is a more full evidence 
 of Bacon's sentiments upon Plantations. — ' They must have their 
 Commission in Letters Patent from the King, so that they may 
 acknowledge their dependency upon the Crown of England, and 
 being under its protection, — But the general law by which they 
 must be guided and governed, must be the Common Law of 
 England. — For the Discipline of the Church, it will be necessary 
 that it agree with that which is settled in England, else it will 
 make a schism and a rent in Christ's coat — and it will be fit that 
 by the King's supreme power in causes ecclesiastical within all his 
 dominions, they be subordinate under some Bishop and Bishoprick 
 of this realm : That the King's reasonable profit be not neglected, 
 partly upon reservation of moderate rents and services, and partly 
 upon customs, and partly upon importation of merchandise, which, 
 for a convenient time after the Plantation begins, would (should) 
 be very easy to encourage the work ; but after it is well settled, 
 may bo raised to a considerable proportion, worthy the acceptation.' 
 
 " There is no date to this letter, but it must have been written 
 about 1616, when Sir G. Villiers supplanted Carr, Earl of Somerset. 
 Bacon was Chancellor when the Charter to the Council of Plimouth 
 in 1620 was framed. You may see much of his plan in it. 
 
 " The writer of this pamphlet has taken notice of several parts 
 of the Messages of the Mass' Assembly in my controversy with 
 them, but not the most exceptionable, and his remarks upon them 
 are such as I made in my Answers, but he gives them as his own, 
 and varies the words, not the sense. He speaks of the absurd 
 expectations of the Bostonians in their Valedictory Address to 
 Governor Hutchinson. I recollect no Address from the Bostonians, 
 except that from about 110 Merchants, or generally such, and I 
 don't find what he quotes in words or substance in that Address.* 
 [A note says — They are in an Address from the Magistrates of 
 Middlesex.] He says in another place — * The cohmies were, 
 according to the just expression of Governor Hutchinson, parva 
 effigies, or small resemblances of the parent state.' " 
 
 But we are keeping him waiting. He is stepping into his 
 carriage to start for Aylesbury. 
 
 Till. — Set out about 9 with my daughter in the coacli for 
 
 * The Marchants' Addrs is pmtd m the Procdngs of the Mass. Hist. Soc. 
 for Jan. Feb. Mar. & Ap. — 71, p. 43. Also the Solm. League and Covnt, 
 p. 45. Also the Protest, p. 46. Also Gen. Gage's Proclamatn, p. 47. 
 
mi:] BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 513 
 
 Aylesbury. Eeached Berkhamsted about i after two, and 
 dined at the Inn; Sir F. B. and Lady, and two children came 
 in soon after, and dined with D' Jefferds, the Eector, brother 
 to the Comiss' of the Customs. We drank tea at the Rectory 
 House, very pleasantly situated, and reached Aylesbury before 
 nine in the evening. 
 
 8th. — Made a visit to S' W™ Lee, who was abroad. In the 
 evening he and Lady Elizabeth came to see us. I rode on 
 horseback through Stone to — ^"s * Castle, about 4 miles. 
 Have not been on horseback before, since last September, 
 when I was last at Aylesbury. M'' Amory [?] and wife, 
 Quincy, Greene, Sears, and Callahan and wife, came from 
 Bristol, &c., and lodged at Aylesbury. Quincy came in the 
 evening to Sir Francis Bernard's. 
 
 9th. — Bode before breakfast to Wendover, (5 miles), which 
 lies at the bottom of the Ohiltem Hills. Gentle rain soon 
 after I set out: none the two days before. We dined at 
 Berkhamstead, at M' Noyes's, a gentleman of estate, and a friend 
 of S' F. B., a clergyman, M' Bland, and a son of Col. Peachell, 
 and Bland's daughter, w* Lady, M" and Scroop [?] Bernard, 
 besides Sir F. Eetumed to Aylesbury in the evening. 
 
 10th. — Dined at S" W™ Lee's. Conversation turned upon 
 America. He says a Revolution is coming on in England : is 
 much attached to the Grenville interest, and seems not well 
 satisfied with the . • . t himself. In every other respect 
 amiable. His Lady is daughter of Lord Harcourt, L" L' of 
 Ireland, &c. 
 
 Sir William seems to have been opposed to Lord North's Ministry. 
 The great subject of America was now freely discussed in all 
 societieB, and with various degrees of feeling. There were some 
 few persons in England who thought that the Colonies had better 
 be given up, but they were only the few. Even the Marquis of 
 Bockingham, Lords Chatham and Camden, and Edmund Burke, 
 who did a great deal in fomenting and encouraging the Eebellion 
 in America, never went so far as this ; but only so far as to express 
 sympathy with Eepublican aspirations, without intending to satisfy 
 
 * Blank in MS. 
 
 t Blotted out and f)bliterated. 
 
 2 L 
 
514 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [*°f: 
 
 lb. 
 
 them. The two pressing questions, however, that demanded the 
 first attention from the home authorities, were these : — The relief 
 of Boston, now closely blockaded and in danger of assault, by 
 sending out additional forces : and the relief of the beleaguered 
 inhabitants, who were in danger of starration. The Governor had 
 written out by the Cerberus on the 1st of August, to the then 
 acting Lieutenant-Governor, and a paragraph in his letter, copied 
 into his Letter Book with his own hand, thus alludes to these 
 points : — 
 
 " I do not see the least disposition to give up America. Further 
 force is going this fall. What, I do not know. But all their 
 depend[ance] seems to be upon one grand exertion in the spring. 
 I am assured y' proposal of supplies of every kind, except fresh 
 meat, shall be sent from Europe for the Troops and Inhabit'. But 
 does Block Island, Garden Island, Elizabeth, Fisher's, Gonanicut, 
 or even 'R^ Isl. &c., &c., afford no oxen, sheep, poultry, &c., w""" one 
 would think here might be come at ? but at this distance we do 
 not know how far it may be impracticable to find vessels for that 
 purpose. 
 
 " I am under continued distress for the state of my children and 
 friends, and cannot enlarge or write anything upon such a subject 
 without pain." 
 
 Again, on the second of this month, he writes to some friend not 
 named : — 
 
 " Your passage I hope was good. Our last news of the Charl. 
 affair seems to have awakened the Kingdom. Four Eegimt', w""" 
 will be complete, and four Companies of the Artillery, are going 
 immediately : and Gen. Harvey says they will be in season for 
 service this fall. I am told, but I don't know whether the authority 
 is good, that more will follow before the spring. If they should 
 not, a very large force may then be depended on." 
 
 Lower down in the same : — 
 
 " I am told very large quantities of portable soup are ordered : 
 some of w""" I hope will be ordered for the inhabit', unless a way is 
 found to come at fresh provisions, which I am sure may be had in 
 some way or other from E* Island Colony. But what state this 
 letter will find you in, it is not possible to guess." 
 
 llth. — My daughter and self, accompanied by S^ F. B. and 
 Lady, went to Stow — about 20 miles. The rain hindered any 
 view of the Gardens, until five o'clock, after which we went 
 
ml;] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 515 
 
 about half through, and then drank tea with Lord and Lady 
 Temple, who pressed our lodging there, and Lady T. was so 
 polite as to go through the several apartments. The House is 
 now repairing, but is the most magnificent of any I have seen 
 in England. We lodged, S' F. B. refusing Lord Temple's oifer, 
 at a villainous Inn. 
 
 Peter Temple, Esq., sowed a grain of mustard seed about 1554, 
 which has grown to a large tree. The house he built was taken 
 down, and another erected by Sir Eichard Temple, K.B., who died 
 in 1697. But his son, Lord Cobham, added wings and a new front : 
 Eichard, Earl Temple, proceeded with other additions, which were 
 in course of progress at the time of this visit: the Marquis of 
 Buckingham, a nephew of the former, added still more to the 
 buildings, and the adornment of the exterior as well as the interior, 
 and also improved the beauty of the grounds and gardens : and 
 the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos within our own time, have 
 promoted other works, and have endeavoured to enlarge the estate. 
 
 12th. — Before breakfast we took a view of the remaining 
 part of the Gardens, which are said to contain 400 acres. 
 When I was in England in 1741, they were said to contain 
 200 only. The House is greatly enlarged and adorned, but 
 the Gardens struck me as agreeably then as now. Some of the 
 buildings are gone, others added, and some in different places 
 from what they were then in. We returned to Ailesbury 
 before three. In our road to Stow we passed thro' the villages 
 of Hardwick, Whitchurch, both small ; Winslow, a decent 
 market town ; a little village two miles short of Buckingham, 
 which is the shire town, but not so much larger than Winslow 
 as I expected. M' Lowndes has a large brick house in 
 Winslow. Buckingham is not more than two miles from 
 Stow. 
 
 13th. — M"" Stocking the Curate Lecturer and Schoolmaster, 
 preached in the morning; a stranger in the afternoon. My 
 daughter and I, and Miss Fanny B. drank tea with S' W. Lee 
 and Lady. 
 
 14th. — Left Ailesbury about 9 o'clock, and went through 
 Tring ; saw Ivingho a little on the left, 2 or 3 miles from 
 Tring, where we crossed the Chiltern Hills, and liad a very 
 
 2 L 2 
 
516 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ 
 
 Aug. 
 
 extensive prospect of the country; stopped at Dunstable, 
 18 miles from Ailesbury, where we found Doctor Jeffards and 
 wife. They went forward to Wrest, leaving us to rest our 
 horses ; and we followed so as to arrive at four to dine, being 
 30 miles from Sir F. B.'s. 
 
 1 5th. — In the forenoon rode with L* Hardwicke in his chaise 
 round his grounds. The afternoon rainy, spent in viewing the 
 house, library, &c. 
 
 16th. — Went with Doctor Jeffards to Ampthill. Saw the house 
 of the late Marquis of Tavistock, formerly the Earl of Ailes- 
 bury's, a large brick building, old, but in good repair ; came 
 thro' L** Ossory's Park, who married the Dutchess of Grafton. 
 The House very elegant. He has erected a Pillar to the 
 memory of Q. Catherine [Parr] divorced from H. the 8*", for at 
 Ampthill she resided after the divorce. The inscription is in 
 blank verse, by Hor. Walpole. Ampthill is a neat small 
 market town, pleasantly situated : several new well built brick 
 houses : the streets well paved and airy. We returned through 
 Silsoe, the town not being more than half a mile from L* 
 Hardwicke's. The afternoon was taken up in dining and 
 ranging round the Park. 
 
 17th. — On horseback again w* D' J. to Tlitton, the parish 
 where is a church in whic-h we viewed the monuments of the 
 Kent family. Called at the Rector's, Archdeacon Cox, who 
 married a daughter of General Parslow. Silsoe has a chapel 
 only, dependant on the parish church. Thursday being Lord 
 H.'s day to see company, the Archdeacon, his wife, and son, 
 and M' Rouse [or Rowe], to whom his L'^ship gave a living in 
 the next parish, and who, three times a week, officiates in the 
 private chapel, made all the company, besides what lodged in 
 the house. 
 
 The accounts of Flitton say that the family of Grey have 
 buried there from the time of Henry VIII., and that amongst 
 the several Earls of Kent buried there may be seen a monument 
 to Henry, fifth Earl, who sat in judgment on Mary Queen of 
 Scots. In the chancel there is a record of an uncommon instance 
 of longevity in the case of one Thomas Hill, who died in 1601, 
 aged 128. We read in mediaeval history of many persons who 
 
nil:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 517 
 
 have attained very great ages— much greater than this of Hill ; 
 but when those cases have been more closely investigated, there 
 has almost always been a want of sufiBcient proof to satisfy exact 
 minds. In modern days, when the Eegisters of ages are more 
 carefully kept, the undoubted proofs of ages amounting to a 
 century were found to be so few, that the late Sir Cornwall 
 Lewis was led to look with suspicion at all of them, and hardly 
 to be persuaded to believe that any person nowadays ever 
 reached to 100 years. In drawing this hard-and-fast line perhaps 
 he went too far; for it is generally now admitted, that within 
 our own time several well-authenticated instances have been 
 established of persons having attained, and a little exceeded, the 
 advanced period of 100 years. 
 
 When I was at the Falls of Niagara I was told that amongst 
 the wonders of the neighbourhood was a free Negro who was 116 
 years old, who did not live far off, and that most visitors went to 
 see him and talk to him ; and then perhaps, I may add, give him 
 a dollar for telling a very good story. Comparatively young in 
 that day, I believed everything that was told me, either by Blacks 
 or Whites, and I fully intended to go to Drummond Village or 
 Lundy's Lane and find him; but during the week that I was 
 dallying in that pleasant locality, listening to the roar of many 
 waters, and much taken up with the Falls above and below, the 
 Bapids, Table Bock, the Eainbow about three in the afternoon, 
 the Burning Spring towards Chippaway, or the gyrations of the 
 Whirlpool lower down, and then across the Ferry to Goat Island, 
 the Terrapin Bridge, and the Tower, I found at last that it was 
 time to be leaving, and with some feeling of regret I relinquished 
 the determination of visiting my black friend. Aside — I am glad 
 now — I saved my dollar. 
 
 Climbing one day from the river up the steep path and the 
 steps to the town above, on the United States side, at one of the 
 landings I fell in with a brisk and neatly dressed young man, all 
 smiles and talk, with a tinge of black blood in his complexion. 
 He fell in love with a small rifle I had bought in Boston, and 
 which was lying on my left arm, and asked if I would sell it. I 
 had never contemplated such a thing. I intended to take it to 
 England. He was rather persistent, however, and I naturally 
 concluded that he was an expert rifleman. Continuing the conver- 
 sation as we paced together up the zig-zag inclines, I began to 
 consider whether I would yield to his whim or not, and when a 
 person begins to hesitate, it is all up with him. In my peregrin- 
 ations I had increased my incumbrances, as most people do when 
 
518 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, fml: 
 
 Luis. 
 
 they travel, by a curiosity here and a relic there, and I began to 
 find that I had not got hands enough or pockets enough. To give 
 up the rifle would relieve my hands of something to carry, and I 
 knew I could get another in Boston. Arrived at the top, we 
 sauntered away among some of the gardens and buildings on the 
 outskirts of the town, and, stopping a moment, he said to me — 
 " Which do you put in first, the powder or the shot ? " I thought 
 I should have dropped. As soon as I had sufficiently recovered to 
 speak, I replied that I generally put in the powder first, but 
 perhaps I was wrong. This incident made me look with more 
 interest at my new friend, and I had a growing wish to find 
 out what he was, and whence he came. The recreation or use of 
 firearms seems to be a natural bent in the temperament of the 
 human race. Where are the school-boys that do not delight in 
 firing little cannons, or in going out to shoot small birds on a 
 half holiday? And where are the grown men that do not try 
 their hands at occasional sporting, or take part in military affairs, 
 or join Eifle Corps, or the MUitia, or the Line ? Besides, I was 
 In a country where dexterity in the use of the rifle had never 
 been exceeded — where one man will take a squirrel off the top of 
 a tree by putting a baU through the two eyes, without damaging 
 the skin ; and where another wiU drive a naU into the trunk of a 
 tree by standing off and firing at the head of it. I asked him 
 something of his history. He had nothing to be ashamed of. He 
 told me he was a Barber and Perfumer of Philadelphia, and that 
 he was out on a holiday to enjoy himself. I enquired if he had 
 ever loaded or fired a rifle ? He said he had not, but he should 
 like to. I thought it better to go through the positions and 
 words of command of a Drill Sergeant, to show him how it was 
 done, and then I asked him if he thought he could hit a door at 
 ten paces ? He did not know, for he had never tried ; so I imme- 
 diately fired at the nearest door within reach, and put a bullet 
 through it, without enquiring who was on the other side. On 
 running up to the door, and examining the shot hole, he was so 
 delighted, that he insisted on having the rifle without more ado. 
 Finding how ignorant he was in the use of such a weapon, I began 
 to feel afraid of letting him have it at all, lest he might do some 
 grievous harm either to himself or others, and so I told him ; but 
 he declared he should soon understand all about it, and that he 
 would be very careful. So have it he would ; and in spite of my 
 misgivings, have it he did; and we parted excellent friends ; but 
 for a whole month afterwards I hunted over all the newspapers I 
 could lay hands on to see what had happened. 
 
wl] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 519 
 
 Rambling about on Goat Island one day, amongst the trees and 
 underwood, I thought I should like to carry some little memento 
 of so delightful a spot to England, so I went in among the hushes, 
 and with my pocket-knife cut a stick of the kind called Blue- 
 beech. How many hundred miles the hand now relieved of the 
 rifle carried this stick it would be hard to say, or how many 
 trimmings and finishing touches it got at odd times from the 
 pocket-knife, to make it presentable in Europe, would be equally 
 difficult to enumerate. I took the rail to Tonewonta and Buffalo, 
 and sundry other places, and eventually began to turn eastward, 
 wishing sooner or later to get to Albany, and then down the 
 Hudson. Near Utica I was at a place on the banks of the Erie 
 Canal, and on the wharf there lay two or three cubes of freestone 
 (so called), which some boat had left there for building purposes. 
 I sat down upon one of them, placing my stick upon the same 
 stone by my side. I determined to go to Schenectady by the 
 canal. There was an tmusual amount of bustle going on. What 
 could be the matter ? People began to congregate and stand in 
 groups talking. Some ran one way and some another, as if they 
 were collecting their forces. Then some men moved about, and 
 with an air of authority and animated gestures spoke loud and 
 roughly from one end of the wharf to the other. There were two 
 opposition boats running at this time on the canal, each drawn by 
 two horses, which they put at a canter, for the boats were light 
 and narrow, and well fitted for expedition. Was I going on? 
 cried one of these busy agents. " Yes ! " Well, then, I was told to 
 hold myself in readiness, and jump into the first boat that came 
 to the wharf, whether she stopped or no, for the time was now up, 
 and the race would be a close one. The interest began to intensify : 
 all eyes were turned in one direction ; people looked as if they 
 wanted to grow taller, judging by the way they stood on tiptoe 
 and stretched their necks : and soon a great cry was raised, and 
 two panting horses came into view, and then the nose of the 
 boat that " carried a white bone in her mouth." She somewhat 
 slackened her pace, and slid along by the wharf. The excitement 
 had reached its height. Out jumped about a dozen peojple: 
 then another dozen, of whom I was one, made a rush and a 
 jump and tumbled into the boat somehow, to be shaken down as 
 you are in a London omnibus : smack went the whip : we felt 
 the jerk, and knew that the boat was again under weigh ; and as 
 we got on our legs and stood on our feet and looked in each other's 
 faces, everybody was grinning, and enjoyed the fun : then there 
 was a great cry astern, for the second boat drew up to the wharf 
 
520 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EVTOHINSON. [f,"|: 
 
 almost as soon as we had quitted it ; our boat soon began to mend 
 her pace : our horses began to trot, and, gliding along through 
 the smooth water, we threw the spray to the right and left in 
 sheets of white foam. I looked back with a feeling of triumph 
 and pride at the boat we were leaving behind us. Oh ! my stick ! 
 There it lay upon the block of stone ! Oh horror ! How could I 
 leave it behind ? My first impulse was to jump overboard and 
 swim ashore. I knew I could do it, for two months before I had 
 been capsized out of a boat in Boston Harbour, and swam with 
 my clothes on to some floating balks of timber that lay alongside 
 of a wharf under Fort Hill ; but in a few seconds more a turn in 
 the canal shut out everything from view, and with a sigh I 
 came to my senses. The voyage was full of incident. We had 
 not gone much further, sometimes having the hinder boat in sight, 
 and sometimes losing her just as a bend in our course shortened the 
 view, when a great shoiit and a vast ebullition of feeling among 
 those at the bow drew everybody's attention in that direction ; 
 then some of the passengers threw themselves down upon the 
 gunwale and reached over into the water with their hands until 
 they were in danger of losing their balance ; others stabbed at 
 something with sticks ; and others seized baskets and scooped up 
 the water, and something more. We were passing through a 
 group of fine ripe melons— literally water-melons — floating about 
 the canal, that were supposed to have fallen out of some boat 
 carrying fruit that had preceded us. With much exultation we 
 took out our pocket-knives and feasted on melon all the way to 
 Schenectady. 
 
 Let us now return to the more sober Diary, where our nerves 
 will settle down, and we shall be able to breathe. 
 
 18th. — We rode this forenoon about 4 or 5 miles to view 
 S"^ George Osborne's seat, which was a Priory, and retains in 
 great pai-t the ancient form more than any building I have 
 seen in England. The gardens and grounds are elegant, and 
 the prospect from them very pleasing. Chikesand is the name 
 of the Priory, and the date upon some late erected ruins, 
 where the chapel is said to have stood, is 1342 ; but Dugdale 
 makes the foundation rather earlier, and dates a grant to the 
 church there, the 10'"- of Edward 2""*, w'" is about 1317. 
 S^ George is son and heir to S'' Danvers Osborne, who was 
 Gov. of New York.* We took leave in the evening of L" H. 
 
 * During one of my three visits to New York, a sociable American one day 
 
ml:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 521 
 
 and Lady Grey, Lady Mary, Doctor and M" Jeffards, and 
 CD the — 
 
 19tli. — Between six and seven, set out on our return to 
 London. Barton Clay, a small parish, is about 3 miles from 
 Wrest, and about 7 more carried us to Luton, a market town. 
 We rode through Lord Bute's Park, and had a view of the 
 outside of the house, &c., but the house inside is never shewn, 
 nor is Lord Bute seen, but by a few of his family, or most 
 intimate friends. We took a second breakfast at St. Albans, 
 between 11 and 12 : viewed a part of the large town, par- 
 ticularly of the huge pile, the ancient Abbey of St. Albans, 
 in a ruinous state, though a parochial church, the whole 
 buildings, as I was informed, having been sold at the Dissolu- 
 tion by H. the 8"' for 400£. — a small part now serves for 
 Divine Service. We added a pair of horses at Barnet, a good 
 to\vn, the environs finely situated for country seats, only as the 
 Gibbets upon Finchley Common, indicate danger in travelling. 
 Highgate and Kentish Town were next, and we reached St. 
 James's Street half after four, having ordered dinner at that 
 time. 
 
 Wrest, where we spent near a week, is a rival to Stow : not 
 in the expense and grandeur, for Stow gardens are 400 acres, 
 and Wrest but 100, but in the neatness and elegance of the 
 walks and plantations. In the grounds about Stow, the gar- 
 dens, buildings, &c., appear to much greater advantage than 
 those at Wrest appear in its environs. 
 
 20th. — Bain came on as I was going to the Temple, and I 
 turned in to St. James's Church, where a young clergyman 
 with a cheerful countenance read prayers, and one somewhat 
 older preached, whose name I could not learn, but was told he 
 was a stranger. 
 
 In the evening my sons* came home from a journey they 
 
 called my attention to an oval enclosure surrounded with iron railings towards 
 the lower end of Broadway. There was nothing then within it ; hut he told 
 me that before the war broke out, there had been a statue of George III. 
 there, but that when hostilities began, it was remembered that this statue 
 was made of lead, so they pulled it down and cast it into bullets. And then 
 he added; — " And we returned the statue to the British again." 
 
 * Elisha and Billy. Elisha's Diary does not record the fact, for it ends 
 
522 LIAEY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [mf; 
 
 had been upon ever since Thursday sennight, thro' Derbyshire, 
 Staffordshire, Worcester, &c. Young M"^ Smith accompanied 
 them. 
 
 21st.— I called at L" Dartmouth's office, and L* Suffolk's : 
 saw M' Pownall and M"^ Eden. A report to-day which I had 
 first from M' T. Townshend, that a vessel into Liverpool had 
 spoken w*" a vessel from Boston, w"" gave an account of an 
 action on the 14'" of July, and that the rebels were defeated 
 and dispersed : but before night it had lost all credit. I wrote 
 to Lord Hardwicke at his desire. Sprinklings of rain all day. 
 
 22nd. — We hear to-day of a scooner w"" left Boston the 16*" 
 of July : spoke with by a ship arrived from Jamaica, which 
 makes some think she is sent express with some interesting 
 news. Kained a little in tlie afternoon. 
 
 23rd. — I met Mazeres, Carsitor Baron, in the street. He 
 says Col. Christie thinks less than 30,000 men insufficient for 
 reducing America; but Mazeres doubts whether it had not 
 better be given up. M*^ Strahan showed me a short letter 
 from Franklin of 7 July from Philadelphia, which makes light 
 of something Strahan had wrote him [that] M' Eigby said in 
 the H. of Commons : puts Strahan in mind of what passed 
 between them in England, and that he (F.) had not proved a 
 false prophet : they had now got to cutting throats — horrid 
 war: the people of England might bum and destroy their 
 towns, but that would not make the Americans to be better 
 customers, nor better [able] to pay their debts. He concludes 
 with saying he was in good health, and never busier in his 
 life. 
 
 23rd.* — Called upon M^ Eobinson, and mentioned to him 
 the case of M"^ Flucker, and S. Oliver, and my son W. At 
 Mauduit's, Clements Lane. M' Wentworth, in the evening, 
 mentions that a New York vessel had also spoke with a scooner 
 from Boston ; and that a vessel with 600 brls. of powder, which 
 cleared from London for Africa, was seized by a cutter on the 
 
 abruptly with July 15, 1775 ; but there are many detached fragments of his 
 Diary in and after 1777. But there are two letters of August 12 and 28 
 from Elisha to his wife, mentioning the journey and other things. 
 * The date " 23rd " occurs twice over, as here copied. 
 
^,"f:] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 523 
 
 coast of N. England, and carried into Boston. Q. What 
 offence ? No Rebellion declared. 
 
 24th. — Sat out between 8 and 9 w"" my daughter in a post- 
 chaise for Lord Gage's at Furle, in Sussex. We went as far 
 as Maresfield in the road we took last year, and then thro' 
 Uckfield, where we dined, and arrived between six and seven, 
 where we found M' Willis, a son of the late Bishop of Win- 
 chester, and M' Nickolls, late from New England. 
 
 25th. — ^M' Willis went to London in the morning. We all 
 dined at Lord Pelham's at Stanmer. Besides his L*ship's 
 family, were a M' OflBey, M' Holroyd and Lady, M' Trevor, 
 second son to Lord Trevor, and a gentleman who has some 
 place in the navy. L" Pelham has a most elegant place : the 
 house furnished in the newest taste : the grounds admirable, 
 but no water. He says they go 300 feet for a spring : his 
 house is surrounded with cisterns underground to collect all 
 the rain from the roof. M' Pelham, the eldest son, (not of 
 age,) promises to make a figure in publick life. Lady Pelham 
 is an immediate descendant from Cromwell, by the Eich family : 
 has a very amiable character. 
 
 In the evening a letter from my son E. at London, with news 
 from Boston to the 20"' of July, which deprived me of a good 
 part of my usual sleep. 
 
 26th.— We had a very agreeable tour to the sea across the 
 hill and Downs to Seaforth, where Lord Gage went into the 
 sea to bathe and swim, the latter of which he was extremely 
 expert at. 
 
 Li the afternoon walked 4 or 5 miles over L* Gage's farms. 
 
 27th. — ^In the morning there being no 'service at Furle, we 
 attended at Glynde, where there is a very elegant chapel, built 
 by the last Bishop of Durham, uncle to the present Lord Trevor, 
 A M' Davis, the Clergyman, preached. Li the afternoon at 
 Furle, and in the evening. Lady Gage read prayers and a 
 sermon, M' Nickolls the Clergyman, being one of the hearers. 
 There were 13 or 14 men servants, and 11 maid servants be- 
 longing to the family attending. 
 
 28th. — A misty rainy day confined us to the house, until 
 towards evening it grew so fair as to admit of a walk. Lord 
 
524 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ml: 
 
 Gage has got letters from his brother-in-law M' Tasborongh at 
 Leghorn, the same who went to Jerusalem with Boylstone, 
 which says we have nothing to fear from the Spaniards, for it 
 is allowed by their own friends, that in the Barbary expedition 
 they lost 8,000 men, 600 of them officers. 
 
 29th. — M"^ Holrood \sic\ and his wife, who we saw at Lord 
 Pelham's, breakfasted at Lord Gage's, and M' Fuller of Lewes, 
 a Member of the last Parliament. Showery, but found sun 
 enough for a walk in the forenoon. The newspaper brings us 
 Burgoyne's answer to Lee's letter, and Lee's Card in return. 
 We think Lee so infamous, that he did not deserve the ten- 
 derness shewn him by Burgoyne. 
 
 30th. — We went to Lewes and took a full view of the re- 
 mains of the Castle, built by Warren, Earl of Surrey. One of 
 the Gates is entire. One of the Towers is it \sic\ at the full 
 height. We went to the top and had a fine prospect : saw the 
 hill where Henry 3"^"* had his camp, and the field between it 
 and Lewes where he fought with the Barons. There are part 
 of the Castle walls at a distance which shew it must have been 
 very large and of great strength when it was built, and when 
 cannon were not in use. It's now the property of M"^ Kemp, 
 a gentleman of Lewes. We saw the stone in the walls of an 
 old church, St. John's, with the inscription, part in Saxon 
 characters, probably as old as the time of the Conquest, and 
 is the mommient of a Magnus, descended from the Eoyal 
 Family of the Danes, and is noted in Camden's Britannia. 
 
 We returned through Glynde, by Colonel Haye's, who, with 
 two Clergymen, dined at Lord Gage's. 
 
 31st. — M'^ Nickolls left us this morning at 6 o'clock, in order 
 to go to Lewes, and from thence in the stage to London. A 
 very rainy forenoon. After dinner, near 6 o'clock, went in a 
 single horse chaise with Lord Gage to Lauton [Laughton] 
 across the fields, supposing it to be 3 miles, but made it more 
 than 5, and did not get to the church till half an hour after 
 sunset. We expected to have seen the Duke of New Castle's 
 and M' Henry Pelham's Monuments, but were disappointed. 
 Since the Duke's death a Chancel has been built very near, 
 which we were told cost 1500£ ; but we did not see so much 
 
nrs:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 525 
 
 as an inscription, tlio' it's the repository of the Pelhara family. 
 We came home in the dark tliro' Eingmore and Glynde, 7 or 
 8 miles, and as neither of us had good eyes for the dark, found 
 it very unpleasant. 
 
 September 1st. — We went with Lord and Lady Gage to 
 Brighthelmstone, and returned to dine about six in the evening. 
 Saw M"^ Knox and family : Col. Cunningham, M' Blair, Clerk 
 of the Council, who desired to see me in town : M' Mitchell 
 the Minister of the town, who treated me with great politeness, 
 &c., &c. 
 
 Small showers : wind high, raw, and so penetrating that for 
 a person relaxed, I think no situation more unfit. M' Knox 
 finds it so, and is running away to Tunbridge. 
 
 2nd. — Without company to-day. Walked through the 
 village, which I had never done before. 
 
 And to-day the Governor wrote a long letter at Furle to Mr. 
 Daniel Leonard, of Boston, the loyal vmter who was known as 
 " Massachusettensis," and whom we had occasion frequently to 
 quote near the commencement of this volume. The letter opens 
 with some remarks about Solicitors of the Customs, and then pro- 
 ceeds as follows : — 
 
 " For the last four weeks, except three or four days, I have been 
 at a distance from London, and I cannot tell you so much news, as 
 you will hear from other correspondents you may have, or from 
 other letters which your friends may receive in Boston. It is said 
 everything is doing which is possible, for encreasing the Naval 
 and Land force in America, until it shall be equal to the object 
 for which it is raised. Wherever I have been in the country there 
 is a perfect calm, and the cessation of American trade has no effect 
 upon the manufactures, for, by new channels, or by enlargement 
 of old, the demand is greater now than last year. AH the concern 
 in the minds of the well wishers to the cause of Government arises 
 from the distresses of the people in Boston. If they can hold out 
 tiU spring, there seems to be no doubt of their being then relieved. 
 I wish it may be sooner. ' 
 
 " It is unpleasant to have private papers made publick, but I 
 am not afraid that the publication of my private letters may affect 
 my character as an honest man. You will find nothing contrary 
 to my professions to the world, or to particular friends ; and there 
 
526 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [fjfj; 
 
 will as little appear, reflecting on men in opposition to Govern- 
 ment, as can well be conceived. I am sure I even scrupled writing 
 anything injurious to any man ; and I never did make a proposal 
 respecting the publick, which I did not think for the public in- 
 terest. The printer makes so many blunders, that he may bring 
 an imputation upon my understanding. 
 
 " In printing my letters, wrote when I adjourned the Court to 
 Cambridge, they seem to insinuate, that as I had no positive in- 
 struction, it was a measure which I wished. In all the contro- 
 versy with the House, I never said I had a positive instruction : 
 but that I had such instruction as made it necessary. The Secre- 
 tary of State, for divers reasons enumerated, informed me that it 
 was judged highly expedient I should remove the Court to Cam- 
 bridge, unless I had more weighty reasons which would justify 
 me in not doing it. I sought for reasons, for I wished not to do 
 it, and thought I had found them ; but before the ship sailed, I 
 changed my opinion, — ^was convinced I should make myself 
 obnoxious to y* King, especially as the Governor [Bernard] was 
 upon the spot, and would have said he wrote to me, and advised 
 me by all means to do it. It became therefore, as necessary for 
 me before the meeting of the Court, as if I had received the most 
 positive instruction. I remember besides, that upon their desiring 
 a copy of my Instructions, I let them know I considered the King's 
 Orders by his Secretary of State, of the same force as under his 
 Sign Manual : so that there is no reason to pretend I deceived them. 
 
 " It was easy to forsee that the scheme of the Leaders of the 
 people would bring on that distress which America now feels. I 
 wished further provision by Acts of Parliament to deter men from 
 such schemes. I wished at the same time for every indulgence 
 with respect to taxation, and all other parts of legislation which 
 could consist with our continuing part of the Empire ; and who- 
 ever reads the whole of my correspondence will find it a consistent 
 plan for these purposes ; and no particular letters, without per- 
 verting, will appear inconsistent with it. I am still of the same 
 sentiments. I wish to see the Leaders deterred from their pur- 
 suits : and I wish the poor deluded people may return to the full 
 enjoyment "of every blessing of good Government, and I do not 
 despair of living to see the day. I expect in two or three days 
 to be in London." 
 
 It may indeed be observed, that the above mild, forbearing, and 
 truly Christian remarks towards those who were doing him so 
 much wrong are not a little to his credit. 
 
^fs,i] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 527 
 
 3rd. — M"^ Morton read prayers and preached. M"^ Knox 
 came and was at church witb us, and returned in the evening 
 to Lewes. He says orders are gone to Graves to send ships to 
 Carolina, Virginia, Pensilvania, and New York; and gives 
 such account of their orders as makes it probable hostilities 
 will be offered. 
 
 4th. — We returned to London. Intended when we sat out 
 to have gone through Chaley [or Ohailey], and called upon 
 M"^ Holroyd by invitation ; but at Lewes we were informed 
 that L"* Pelham had engaged all the horses at Chaley, and so 
 we returned thro' Uckfield, and were at home in season for 
 dinner before five. 
 
 Writing from Furle to Elisha, the Governor announced his 
 coming as follows : — * 
 
 " Furle, 28 August, 1775. 
 " My Dear Son, 
 
 " I was not -without some hopes of a more favourable account 
 from Boston. I now almost despair of our friends being able to 
 continue there through the winter. 
 
 " We design to be in town Friday or Saturday. Don't stay to 
 dine on Friday, but keep your fish on Saturday till half after four, 
 if we should not be at home sooner. 
 
 " I shall be glad of a line under Lord Gage's cover, by to- 
 morrow's post, to know that Billy and you, &c., are well, and to 
 hear what you have been able to collect further of American news, 
 
 and am 
 
 " Your Affection' Father 
 
 " Tho. Hutchinson." 
 
 After he and Peggy had returned, Lord Gage sent the following 
 letter. It is written in a large disjointed style of writing, and 
 very difficult to decipher. It is in the same book. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " After you have received an apology for troubling you with 
 my letter, I must desire you and your fair daughter will accept 
 our sincere and hearty thanks for your kind and friendly visit ; 
 and I flatter myself the regret we expressed at parting with you, 
 sufficiently shewed how much we wished you could have made a 
 longer stay with us. 
 
 " I have letters from M' Kemble, which make no mention of 
 
 * From the original letter in the blue leather-hack vol. 
 
528 DJABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \^t^. 
 
 Major Shireffs [?] intention to accompany M' [?] Gage. It 
 Shireff [?] I find does : and to this I attribute Col. James's mistake, 
 as he brought our dispatches : it is not probable he should know 
 more of our friends' motions than we are informed of: at all 
 events therefore, I shall be obliged to you if you will forward the 
 letters, the contents [?] of which, being nothing [?] but meer 
 Inquiries after y" health and welfare of his acquaintance, they 
 may take their chance ...[?]. consequence, for should they mis- 
 carry, [?] I care not what hands they fall into. 
 
 " Though you could not readily construe Doctor [?] James's [?] 
 Latin [?] I hope you will easily construe my English, when I say 
 that I am 
 
 " Very Sincerely 
 
 " Your Most Obed* 
 
 " Humble Serv' 
 
 " Gage. 
 "Furle. 
 
 " Monday mom«, 
 
 " Sep"*' y 11* 1775." 
 
 5th. — By vessels yesterday and to-day, I received letters 
 from L* Gov. Oliver,* and tlie Chief Justice : the first the 24'" 
 the other the lO**" of July,t when the strength of the rebels 
 was much increased, and that of the King's forces diminished 
 by sickness, as well as in the two Actions, at Lexington and 
 Charleston : and their holding the town thro' the winter 
 looks doubtful. I had conversation with M' Pownall, who 
 observed that he had great difficulty to get the Cabinet to 
 town, and they had all left it again. L" Uaiiraouth in York- 
 shire. 
 
 6th. — Col. James, who left Nantasket the 29'" July, confirms 
 my opinion, that the troops are preparing to quit Boston. He 
 says the Koyal Battery was partly blown up at the Castle 
 before he came away : all the platforms taken up, and the 
 merlons thrown down into the sea. The cannon, &c., they 
 would bring away. The ship he came in bro't 40 pi' canon 
 from the Fort at Piscataqua. He tells an odd story of the 
 intention of the officers the 5 March, that 300 were in the 
 
 * This was Thomas Oliver, and no relation of Lieut.-Governor Andrew 
 Oliver, who died March 23, 1774. 
 
 t 'I'hese letters do not seem to have been preser\'ed. 
 
n?6:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 529 
 
 Meeting to hear D' Warren's Oration: that if he had said 
 anything against the King, &c., an officer was prepared, who 
 stood near, with an egg, to have thrown in his face, and that 
 was to have been a signal to draw swords, and they would have 
 massacred Hancock, Adams, and hundreds more ; and he added, 
 he wished they had. I am glad they did not : for I think it 
 would have been an everlasting disgrace to attack a body of 
 people without arms to defend themselves. 
 
 He says one officer cried " Fy ! fy ! " and Adams immediately 
 asked who dared say so? And then said to the officer he 
 should mark him. The officer answered "And I will mark 
 you. I live at such a place, and shall be ready to meet you." 
 Adams said he would go to his General, The officer said his 
 General had nothing to do with it: the affair was between 
 them two, &c. 
 
 I was at the Levee. L" Suffolk, the Attorney-General, &c., 
 but very thin. The prospect is gloomy. 
 
 7th. — Called upon Col. James at his lodgings. Charing Cross. 
 The more I hear of the state of Boston the more I am dis- 
 tressed : the prospect of ruin is so great. 
 
 Payne, Hooper, and Cap. Martin dined with us, and Miss 
 Byles of Wells. 
 
 In the evening called on Col. Haldimand. Waited on L* 
 Suffolk at his office, and desired him to speak to L* North for 
 Billy. 
 
 Elisha -wrote to his wife on the 28th of August, and made his 
 remarks upon the succession of startling portions of news that 
 from time to time had arrived in England: and in the book 
 containing his original letters there is the following, which he 
 wrote yesterday, as we have now arrived at the 7th : — 
 
 " St. James's Street, Si-p' 6", 1775. 
 " My Dear Polly, 
 
 " I wrote to you not long since hy a vessel in the government 
 service, and having this moment heard that M' Hughes, who was 
 to have sailed at the same time is still in town, I will give him a 
 short letter, though it is doubtful when, or whether ever you will 
 receive it; for I hear that all my letters whicli arrived since the 
 19'" of April, are in Boston, and cannot find their way to you. 
 "I was in hopes by this time, you would have been able \a 
 
 2 M 
 
530 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [n?5 
 
 have smuggled a letter into Boston for me, or by some other way I 
 should have received one or more from yon, but I am disap- 
 pointed. It is however, no small pleasure to meet with Cap. 
 Davis, who tells me he saw you and your little baby, and the 
 rest of the family, the latter end of June, and then you were all 
 well and in good spirits ; and your Pa' was permitted to drink his 
 ■Punch at twelve as usual, which is a privilege, I dare say, he 
 would be loth to give up, especially if the weather is uncommonly 
 hot, as we are told it is. 
 
 "If you was in Boston, instead of Plymouth, though in the 
 miserable state which they are in at present, I cannot wish it, I 
 should immediately embark, and share with you, or take you with 
 me to some other part of the globe ; but it would be madness, 
 however I may desire to return to you, by doing it, to involve 
 both of us in further trouble. 
 
 " The Gov' and Peggy returned Monday noon. 
 
 " I shall wiite by the next opportunity, and am, with anxious 
 care and concern for your welfare and happiness, wholly and 
 entirely yours, 
 
 " E. Hutchinson." 
 
 And, chronologically speaking, according to the date in his 
 Diary to which we have now arrived, the Governor wrote to-day, 
 that is to say, the 7th of September, to a Colonel, whose names 
 look like Abijah Williams. It is to be regretted that the names 
 of his correspondents have been for the most part so hastily and 
 so carelessly written, that they are many of them very hard to 
 decipher; and it may also be observed, that in a number of 
 instances they are not recorded at all. He comments on the 
 unhappy state of the town of Boston. " You must have suffered," 
 he says to the Colonel, " much in so long confinement in the T. of 
 B." And he makes this amusing remark — " The plundering my 
 house, y° News Papers say, was providential." This shews with 
 what different eyes different people look at the same event. And 
 he concludes by remarking — " I am charged w"" arbitrary prin- 
 ciples : but I am as far from them as any man in the world, and 
 never wished for a greater restraint of natural liberty than is 
 necessary to answer the end of Gov' ; and I had rather be the 
 subject of a despotic Prince, than be the Prince himself: but I 
 think T have no reed to vindicate this part of my character 
 to you." 
 
 These are reasonable remarks. If this moderate restraint of 
 natural liberty, for the purposes of Constitutional Government, 
 
?;?5:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 531 
 
 had been more recognised by" all parties, and without which no 
 community can hold together, very little quarrelling would have 
 taken place in America. 
 
 8th. — Col. James breakfasted with us : says the next news 
 we may expect to hear, Salem is burnt to ashes. At M"" 
 Nfckolls' lodgings in the Temple. 
 
 9th. — We, except Billy, went to Fulham. I intended to 
 speak to the Bishop in behalf of M' Nickolls, but he was 
 in Oxfordshire. 
 
 M' F. Greene, Smith, Swett, Curwen, dined with us, and 
 M' Bridgen came in unexpected. 
 
 10th.— At St. Paul's with Doctor and M" Tarpley. I could 
 not find who was the preacher, nor any of the Readers. The 
 chanting Te Deum and Jubilate at Ailesbury was not disagree- 
 able, but the tone in the Litany, and this part of the prayers, I 
 could not be reconciled to; and upon the whole, I much 
 dislike Cathedral service. 
 
 11th. — I wrote to my son, brother, and others in America, 
 and forwarded the letters to M' Gambler at Portsm"" to go by 
 the Phoenix, or next vessel. 
 
 Bliss dined with us. 
 
 The following are what he alludes to, as copied from his Letter 
 Book covered with marble paper. They were entered by Peggy, 
 judging by the handwriting. 
 
 " My Dear Son, 
 
 " I am so unable to make a judgment what will be your state, 
 or even where you will he at the time when this letter may arrive 
 at Boston, that I am at a loss what to write to you, or what to do 
 for you. In your letter of 20"" July, [not preserved,] you say, if 
 you remain the winter, you shall want a supply of beef, pork, 
 potatoes, &c., from abroad. If you had intimated a wish to have 
 them from hence, I would have sent them by a Transport vessel. 
 In a letter from Judge Oliver, he says a number of the Council and 
 others, were sending the vessels to Ireland for supplies. This 
 letter was to your brother, dated the [blank : letter missing.] I 
 will stay till Deverson arrives, unless I hear from you before, when 
 I may be able to form a better judgment. 
 
 " I think you will soon determine how to conduct [these affairs]. 
 I depend upon Judge Oliver's care of Sally and her children, as it 
 
 2 M 2 
 
532 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [f??^ 
 
 is not possible for me to know enough here to be able to give her 
 any advice. As I suppose General Gage -will be come [coming] 
 away, I have wrote to General Howe, desiring his protection and 
 indulgence to my family and friends, whose distresses I feel to a 
 very great degree. I am going for a week to a gentleman's house 
 in Hampshire, and purpose to write to you again the first oppor- 
 tunity after my return. — I am, &c. 
 
 " Pray tell M' J. Winslow, by advice of M' Greene, I shall place 
 his money in the Bank, for w** purpose T expect a Stock Broker in 
 the morning, and shall write him on my return from Hampshire 
 or before.'' 
 
 The following is the letter to General Howe, written at this 
 time : — 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I am informed that it is probable General Gage will have 
 left Boston before this letter can arrive, and that the command of 
 His Majesty's land forces will consequently devolve upon you, I 
 beg leave to recommend to your favourable protection, my children 
 and near relations, who have been long confined in the town of 
 Boston. If they should be obliged to leave the town, I beg they 
 may be allowed to take away as much of their and my effects as 
 may be. I hope I may presume upon this, from a share in your 
 friendship, and that you will think I have some further claim, as 
 the misfortunes they are under arise from resentment against me, 
 for my fidelity to the King, in the discharge of my trust when 
 Governor of the Province. My son and daughter, each of them 
 with their families, were happily settled at a distance from the 
 town, and I suppose might have remained quiet and unmolested if 
 they had not been my children. All the advantages of my public 
 employment will not countervail the losses I have sustained, 
 besides the distress of mind from the sufferings of my friends for 
 a twelvemonth past, and the anxiety I am under concerning their 
 future destiny. 
 
 " Gen. Howe. I have the Honor to be, &c." 
 
 At the risk of being somewhat tedious and too prolix, the letter 
 to Judge Oliver, which was sent with the others, shall also be 
 inserted here. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I am so uncertain when, and in what state this letter wiU 
 find you, or whether it will ever find you, I will only tell you that 
 
flfs':] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 533 
 
 I have received yours by Col. James, and then repeat my former 
 desire that you take care of the Doctor's [Dr. Peter Oliver's] family; 
 to the support of which I am very ready to contribute : but my 
 main concern is for their security and comfort the ensuing winter ; 
 whether the troops will or will not leave Boston, I cannot judge. 
 If they should, I suppose there is no place where they can winter, 
 so advantageously as in Ehode Island Government, and no part of 
 that Colony so convenient for the main body as Conanicut Island ; 
 and if the town of Newport should not be capable of receiving 
 such of the friends of Government as shall be left in Boston, I have 
 two houses on my farm on Conanicut. This is a hint I throw out 
 at a venture, which is all I am capable of doing. 
 
 " Such measures seem to be resolved on here, that if you can 
 subsist through the winter, I cannot help flattering myself, before 
 another, peace may be restored. To the protection of Heaven I 
 commit you all, and remain 
 
 " Judge Oliver. Yours Affectionately, &c." 
 
 12th. — Two letters published in the P. Advertiser, as Irom 
 Boston, 10'" and 11'" of Aug., giving an ace' of the defeat of 
 the Provincials, tho' no vessel is arrived. This is to lidicule 
 such persons as have any hopes of a successful.* A report 
 also spread, tliat a vessel was arrived w'" news of two Regiments 
 of the Eegulars being cut off; but no authenticity. Made a 
 visit to M*^ Montagu at Hampstead, but he was not at Lome. 
 We met him and his lady as we returned. Billy Bernard and 
 Silvester [Oliver] dined with us. 
 
 13th. — The papers declare to-day the two letters in the 
 P. Advertiser of yesterday were groundless, no accounts having 
 arrived to Government of any action. The N. York packet 
 arrives with articles to 10'" Aug. and of 3"* from Cambridge. 
 The frequent attacks made by the Provincials on tlie K.'s troops 
 out on small parties, must tend to dishearten them, but wliat 
 we have by packet are all of one side. 
 
 On the 14th, the day on which the Governor and Peggy Bot out 
 to pay a visit to Mr. Ellis at Tylney HaU, in Hampshire, he wrote 
 a letter to some friend, whose name is not preserved. He speaks 
 
 • A word forgotten. " Successful termination," perhap;;, or something of 
 that sort. 
 
534 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [nTs] 
 
 of the notion, 'brought to England by a new arrival from America, 
 that when the troops leave Boston, they will probably set the 
 town on fire to strike a terror ; but he points out the impolicy, the 
 nselessness, and the injustice of such a step. 
 
 " I suppose it's probable," he says, " the troops will remove from 
 Boston before winter. I wish they may not be obliged to do it, 
 but I find it is the general expectation that they will. In conver- 
 sation with a gentleman arrived from the Army, he discovered his 
 opinion, that upon quitting the town, they would set fire to it, and 
 reduce it to asshes [sic], and gave this reason, that it would strike 
 terror, and cause all the other sea-port towns to expect the same 
 fate. If Philadelphia, New York, or Newport had been summoned 
 to a submission to Government, or to a contribution of provisions, 
 or other necessaries, which they withheld from the King's forces, 
 and a compliance had been refused, the destruction of the towns 
 might have been a necessary punishment : but in the case of 
 Boston it cannot be considered as a punishment of the inhabitants 
 for any delinquency. I have no doubt the greatest part of the 
 property belongs to those who have firmly adhered to Government, 
 or who will declare in favour of it as soon as they are freed from 
 the restraint they are under. One motive for this declaration will 
 be a future quiet enjoyment of their estates, which motive will 
 cease after they are destroyed. The rebels would indeed be deprived 
 of the possession of the town the ensuing winter ; but this will be 
 of no consequence, seeing, if the Castle is dismantled, or if neces- 
 sary, demolished, it wiU be in the power of a single ship in the 
 spring, to drive them out, and if it shall then be thought expedient, 
 entirely to destroy the town. But burning upon leaving it, will 
 rather render the rebels more obstinate; for they, in general, 
 consist of people who have no interest, or whose interest does not ly 
 in sea-port towns ; and nothing will strike terror into them but what 
 is called by the army a good drubbing. Possibly I may be under 
 some bias, as, besides ten or twelve houses, and large well-built 
 wharves, I have an exceeding good house there, in which I dwelt, 
 which, exclusive of the land, cost my ancestors two thousand 
 pounds sterK 
 
 " If what I have suggested appears to be of any weight, I should 
 hope you would improve it either here or in America to prevent so 
 tragical an event, and which I think will tend to strengthen the 
 disaiFection of the Colonies to the Kingdom more than the slaughter 
 of twenty thousand men in battle. Ehode Island has been thought 
 the best wintering place for the Army and Navy. It has been 
 thought by some an objection, that in divers parts of the Island, it 
 
^fsi] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 535 
 
 IS but about a mile, and in some parts less than a mile from the 
 main. ,If the objection should be of weight, there is an Island in 
 the same harbour called Conanicut, near as long as Ehode Island, 
 and opposite to it, about three miles distant, and about the same 
 distance from the main. Capital ships cannot go round Ehode 
 Island, and smaller ships could not pass if Batteries should be 
 erected on the heights of the main land : but the other Island may 
 be covered in every part by the largest ships. There are more 
 than fifty good Farm houses on it. It is covered with sheep and 
 homed cattle, and as fertile a tract as any in America : and if 
 boards, &c., can be furnished to cover the troops, is beyond com- 
 parison the best place in any of the Colonies. 
 
 " If these hints should appear to you of no importance, I hope 
 you will nevertheless, consider them as proceeding from a good 
 intention, and forgive me for taking up a few moments of your 
 time. — I have the honour to be, &c." 
 
 The friend to whom the above was sent seems to have been on 
 the point of leaving for America, as he is entreated to use his 
 influence " to prevent so tragical an event " as the destruction of 
 the city of Boston, which could serve no end, except to exasperate 
 the Americans and embitter the quarrel. Until reading this letter 
 the Governor's own descendants did not know he had so much 
 property in Boston. The description of Conanicut as it existed in 
 1775 is very interesting in a historical point of view. 
 
 14th. — Pf ggy and I set out in a postchaise upon an invitation 
 from M' Ellis to Tylney Hall in Hampshire, where we arrived 
 before dinner. It's about 42;^ miles from London : about J a 
 mile out of the road on the right as you go to Basingstoke, 
 from which it is distant 5 miles and J. 
 
 M' Jones the Curate, and a Miss Sloane are all the visitors. 
 
 15th. — Bain most of the day, confines us to the house. 
 General Johnson, late Governor of Minorca, and Gapt. Hoggin 
 came in before dinner from Hampton Court. 
 
 16th. — In M' Ellis's coach we rode to Hackwood, about 
 4 miles (towards Basingstoke), the seat and Park of the Duke 
 of Bolton; under fine improvements for pleasure and profit 
 together; extremely well wooded, choice land, well stocked 
 with deer, sheep, dc, the ploughs going with oxen, not usual 
 in Eagland: three yokei to a plough. 
 
536 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \f^l 
 
 Ll"B- 
 
 The morning cloudy, and some rain : the afternoon fair, but 
 not a day for shooting. 
 
 17th. — General Johnson and his Captain set out after break- 
 fast for Ireland, where the General's Eegim' of horse is stationed. 
 I went with M' Jones to church, about haK a mile : the damp- 
 ness of the church this rainy season, excused the rest of the 
 family who, M" Ellis especially, generally attend. M' Baker 
 and wife, who live 3 or 4 miles off, dined with us. He is a 
 Counsellor at Law, a man of estate, and a great hop planter, 6 
 or 7 years with success. 
 
 A fine day. A letter from Gen. Harvey by post. 
 
 18th. — Great dependance on weather for shooting, but disap- 
 pointed, the weather being bad in the forenoon : towards noon 
 the sun breaks out, but afternoon rainy. 
 
 My daughter went with M" Ellis in her coach to General 
 Pitt's, about 4 miles towards Bedding. M'' Hans Stanley came 
 before dinner from his seat at Polton, between 40 and 50 miles 
 distant, and 8 or 10 miles from Southampton. 
 
 19tli. — A rainy day wliich confined us to the house. 
 
 20th. — Fair and warm. In the forenoon had a most pleasing 
 ride to Sir John Cope's, about 4 miles thro' a by road, and the 
 village of Mattiiily [Mattingley]. Sir Jn° Cope's seat formerly 
 belonged to Lord Zouch, and in the Park Archbishop Abbot 
 killed the man with a crossbow by accident, which gave him so 
 much trouble all his life after. Except some repairs in the 
 wings, the house remains as it was built early in King James 
 the First's time ; and a grand venerable old pile it is. S' John 
 is about 45 ; a plain man who has a taste for books, and is much 
 esteemed in the country. Admiral Perry joined us before 
 dinner. I received by post a letter of 16 August from Jud. 
 Oliver at Boston. [Not preserved.] 
 
 21st. — ^We left Tylney Ball J after ten, and were in London 
 at four, 42 miles and J. We found M' Waldo, M' Sewall, H. 
 Gray, and their wives, and a young Sewall, arrived from N. 
 England. M' Boutineau and family are said to be at Bristol. 
 M' W" Vassall and family, and Tho» Brattle in another vessel 
 from Nantucket. Auchmuty and M" Borland [?] and family, 
 also at Bristol. 
 
n?5:] DIAB7 AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 537 
 
 22nd, — I called upon M' Vassall, who lodges with his son-in- 
 law Symes, in the city. He is naturally timid, and seems to 
 despair of ever seeing peace restored to America. I suffer in 
 being banished so late in life from my native country. My 
 friends which remain there are so distressed, that they would 
 think themselves happy here, and I wish for my children, how 
 ever expensive it must prove to me. 
 
 This day the Governor wrote the following letter to his son 
 Thomas, in Boston, and the original is preserved : — 
 
 " St. James's Street, 22°" Sep, 1775. 
 " My Dear Son,— 
 
 " I am just returned to town after 8 or 10 days' absence. I 
 wrote you before I went into the country, and the vessel has 
 hardly yet left the Chanel : but hearing of another vessel going this 
 morning, I have just time to write two or three lines, to tell you 
 your two letters of 14** and 19"* of Aug' are come to hand with 
 your Bills, which y' brother took out in my absence, and will 
 negotiate. 
 
 " If you should be come away, I take it for granted you will 
 leave as little valuable effects as may be. I have wished for the 
 Epergne, knives and forks, tea kettle, and indeed all the useful 
 plate, and still should he glad of it if there is an opportunity by 
 any trusty hand. Everything is so uncertain which respects you, 
 that I know not what to add, except that wherever you are, I shall 
 remain, your Affectionate Father, 
 
 "Tho. Hutchinson." 
 
 The inventory of his effects at Milton, which was obtained after 
 some delay, and which is given further on, will show what became 
 of the epergne and a few other things. They suffered the fortune 
 of war. 
 
 23rd, — Sewall, Gray, and their wives, M' Waldo, and Sam, 
 Sewall, dined with us. Sewall says that when the rebels were 
 drove out of their trenches at Charlestown, the whole army was 
 in such consternation that they all fled, both from Cambridge 
 and Eoxbury, except about 100 men, who were at the end of 
 Cambridge Bridge, next Brookliue, ready to take up the planks 
 of the bridge in case of a pursuit. 
 
 24th. — At the Temple Church with M' Sewall. 
 
538 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [fjjs. 
 
 The consternation that seized the American blockading army on 
 the termination of the affair at Bunker Hill, as mentioned by Judge 
 Sewall above, was natural enough. Considering that a great pro- 
 portion of the blockaders consisted of new levies or volunteers 
 hastily drawn together, who had had little time to settle down 
 into the routine of their new mode of life, who had had no 
 experience of actual warfare in the open field, and whose com- 
 manding officers were mostly civilians, it need cause no astonish- 
 ment that the apprehension of a pursuit and of a general sortie 
 from Boston, should have spread a feeling of confusion among 
 them. The Americans had fully proved their bravery ; and 
 this had been felt and acknowledged, either tacitly or openly, 
 by all orders of men in England, since the accounts of this im- 
 portant event had been received. But General Gage and his 
 officers well knew that they were wholly deficient in forces, 
 especially in cavalry, to undertake anything of the kind ; but even 
 allowing that in the surprise and excitement of the moment, they 
 could have succeeded in dislodging the Provincials from all the 
 fortified posts on the land side of Boston, in which they had 
 stationed themselves, such a consummation could have afforded no 
 permanent advantage, inasmuch as they had not troops enough to 
 man them and retain them afterwards. And it had been dis- 
 covered that Boston was not a good base of operations, so that 
 the advisability of withdrawing from it had already been mooted 
 by the English Generals. 
 
 In the midst of these momentous events no wonder that Mr. 
 Hutchinson, in London, should feel anxious about his children in 
 Boston. He wrote as follows under date of this day, and his 
 original letter is at hand : — 
 
 " St. James's Street, 24"- Sept. 24"' [sic-j, 1775. 
 " My Dear Son, — 
 
 " I am now left without doubt that Boston will be deserted, 
 1 hope you have come to such determination as to leave no doubt, 
 or the least doubt, of the personal safety of you and yours. If 
 you are not come away, and have not already taken that care, I 
 think you should apply to the Governor and Admiral for favour 
 in bringing your and my effects of every kind, as I may claim 
 every right to be distinguished, on account of my service and 
 sufferings. Though I imagine, among so many storeships gone 
 and going, many will be returning, and glad of freight and 
 passengers^on easy terms. If you can bring all the furniture of 
 the several families, your brother's included, we can take one 
 
n?5:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 539 
 
 large house in the country, if not in town, and be able to furnish 
 it ; but I know not what to expect or what to fancy in so un- 
 certain a state of things, and must rely upon you that you will 
 do the best you can. Your Affectionate Father, 
 
 "Tho. Hutchinson. 
 
 " Admiral Shuldam has promised me every favour for myself 
 and friends." 
 
 To some friend, whose name is not preserved, he alludes in a 
 letter of the same date in his Letter Book, to the same points of 
 his solicitude : — 
 
 " If they shall be come away for England," he says, " and you 
 should remain, I could wish to have whatever furniture, books, 
 or other effects they may have left, sent to me here, as I doubt 
 not, in so many transports, freight may be had on easy terms, or 
 much better [terms] than to have any of it fall to the enemy. 
 But I think my son will have taken that care, if it was in his 
 power." 
 
 Again, the same day, to the Lieut.-Govemor, he writes : — 
 
 " I think it probable my son and daughter, and grandchildren, 
 will be come away. I hope they have brought my books, furni- 
 ture, carriage, &c. If not, I beg your friendship in securing w" 
 may remain. I have wrote to Gen. Howe, and prayed his protec- 
 tion, and Adm. Shuldam, who I think very highly of, has promised 
 me everything I could desire, as far as may come within his 
 department." 
 
 25th. — ^Admiral Shuldam called on me. In conversation he 
 mentioned, in such manner as if to suppose me to be well 
 acquainted with it, the destination of the troops from Ireland 
 to Quebec and Halifax, instead of Boston. The transports have 
 got the flat-bottom boats aboard, w""" Howe wrote for, and I 
 believe will be wanted at Boston. This makes it plainer than 
 ever that it is determined the troops shall quit Boston. 
 
 Wrote to L" Hardwicke. 
 
 The mention of Quebec above suggests that there is an original 
 letter from that place of the 24th inst., bound up in the blue, 
 leather back volumes. It is from Jon. Clarke, a relative of Mary 
 Clarke, wdfe of the Chief Justice Oliver, and as Quebec is new 
 ground, perhaps the epistle may be quoted. 
 
540 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \^l: 
 
 " Quebec, September 24"-, 1775. 
 " Dear Sir,— 
 
 " I know that I had hut one chance more of hearing from you 
 this season, p the Adamant ; she is arrived, and I have the pleasure 
 of a letter from you of July 2"^, for which I thank you. I am not 
 at all surprised to find you still remain in England, and think the 
 acco** you must continually have of the disorderly state of the 
 Colonies will prevent you or your family returning to any part of 
 America for some time : hut if this place should not he taken by 
 the American forces this fall, we assure ourselves that such a force 
 will he here in the spring as wiU sufficiently protect us ; and no 
 great force is necessary neither : if we could have only one thousand 
 more regular forces here this fall, the army they have in the country 
 might all be cut off. 
 
 " I wrote you a few days since of my having prepared myself to 
 embark for Newfoundland, if we had acco'" of their taking St. 
 John's, and there was a probability of their reaching this place 
 before winter ; but our acco" within a few days have been more 
 encourage* ; by the best intelligence their force does not consist of 
 above 1500 men, and those wretchedly provided with necessaries. 
 A party of them am* to 200 have been engaged by a detachment 
 of the King's forces at St. John's, and about 50 Canadians, and 40 
 of them killed ; and one Hazen [?], a most perfidious villain, taken 
 prisoner, w"" some others. The Fort of St. John's is so well 
 fortify'd, and the season grows so late, and weather so cold and 
 rainy, that I think they must cross the Lakes, and return to 
 Ticonderoga ; and another year I hope we shall give a better acco* 
 of the situation of this Province. 
 
 " Eespecting myself, I can only say that I hold myself in readi- 
 ness, that if I find they penetrate into this country, and this town 
 cannot probably resist thpm, in that case I shall embark ; nothing 
 but the greatest hazard will tempt me to go. 
 
 " M'' Watson possibly wiU deliver you this. I am heartily glad 
 he was in this country, to be witness of the consequence of resist- 
 ing the authority of the Mother country. He has been very 
 serviceable at Montreal. I refer you to him for full information 
 respecting the situation of this country : we live happy eno' here 
 if we are not molested by the Provincials : if we tarry the winter, 
 it wUl be a very dull one, for we are deprived of the company of 
 the Ladies: the Gov" family have already left : M™ Ainslie and 
 others go in this vessel : M' Coffin's family still remain, and 
 intend it this winter. Eemember me kindly to the Gov'. I hope 
 his health and spirits continue. I suppose Miss Hutchinson, on 
 
■n?5:] BJAEY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 541 
 
 seeing so many of her Boston friends, is becoming reconciled to 
 London before now. I am sorry I am not like to have the 
 pleasure of your brother's comp". [Alluding to Billy's expected 
 appointment.] If he had done me the favour of [a] line, it would 
 have given me great pleasure to find myself remember'd by him. 
 I have only to add my best wishes for your health and happiness, 
 and that you may soon meet your family and friends. Believe me 
 still to be your Friend and Serv', 
 
 "JoN° Clarke. 
 
 " M" Ainslie has alter'd her resolution of going to England." 
 
 Addressed outside : — 
 
 " To M' Elisha Hutchinson 
 
 at Governor Hutchinson's 
 " p favor St. James's Street 
 
 M' Pownal. London." 
 
 There is no evidence to show in what degree of relationship 
 the M' "Watson mentioned above may have stood to Col. Geo. 
 "Watson, the father of Elisha's wife, or what M' Pownall favoured 
 the transmission of the letter. As the French had been suspected 
 of fomenting rebellion in the Colonies in revenge for having had 
 Canada wrested from them by the English in 1763, so the attack 
 on Quebec by the Provincials was now looked upon by some as 
 the probable result of French intrigue. 
 
 26th, — Called upon M"^ Keene and General Harvey. Made 
 a visit to the Bishop of London at Fulbam. Bliss and Quincy 
 and S. O. dined with us. Wrote to Lord Hillsborough. 
 
 27th.— Called upon M-^ Pownall at the B. of Trade. "Walked 
 into the City to Devonshire Square and back. Hear a report 
 of a sortie from Howe's camp the 27 Aug., by a Nantucket 
 vessell, the truth of which is doubted. Dislike the alteration of 
 the troops ; it's still generally understood they are going to 
 Boston. 
 
 28th. — At Court. The King enquired what tour I had made 
 since my last being there? and the Queen where I had spent 
 the summer ? Saw the Prince of Hesse, a younger son of the 
 King's aunt. Admiral Shuldam said two expresses went last 
 Thursday to Ireland, to alter the destination of the Eegim** for 
 America. 
 
542 DIARY AND LETTEBS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \mi. 
 
 It was to-day, at Court, that Admiral Shuldam took leave of 
 their Majesties, preparatory to emharking for America. This 
 appears from a passage in a letter from the Governor to Col. 
 Browne, of to-day's date, in his Letter Book. He says : — 
 
 " Adm. Shuldam, who has a very good character, has taken leave 
 of the K. and Q. to-day, and wiU relieve Adm. Graves." 
 
 29th. — Dined with the Bishop of London at Fulham ; took 
 D' Chandler with me in the coach. The Bishop and his lady, 
 and daughter, wife of Archdeacon Hamilton, and tlie Bishop's 
 Cliaplain, made the company. 
 
 M' Robinson, the Coinissioner of the Customs, lately arrived 
 from the West Indies, called on me in the evening. Judge 
 Sewall borrowed 10 Guineas. 
 
 SOth.^I made a visit to Lord Mansfield at Canewood. Judge 
 Auchmuty, who arrived yesterday in town, called. 
 
 M' Greene, Pickman, Curwen, Berry, Oxnard, Porter, Sears, 
 and Eouth, all Americans, dined with us. 
 
 October 1st.— At the Old Jewry, M' White. [Word in 
 shorthand.] Judge and M" Auchmuty dined with us. 
 
 2nd. — M"^ Agar called upon me. He says he has seen a 
 letter from Gen. Clinton to a Colonel he did not name, which 
 gives an acconnt of a sortie, in order to burn certain houses 
 which had served as shelter, and had given them trouble, which 
 was accomplished. He speaks of a fire for 15 miles, and that 
 the troops did not lose a man. Nothing of this sort had 
 hapned when M' Sewall and others left Boston, and we cannot 
 account for the passage of a letter since. Ellis Agar thinks 
 it was dated Aug. 27'\ and will endeavour to obtain an 
 extract. 
 
 3rd. — Are in suspense about the contents of Clinton's letter, 
 not being able to obtain a copy, but conclude there is nothing 
 in it very important. 
 
 Bliss and Smith dined with us. Smith says D"' Franklin has 
 wrote to D"^ Price that something very extraordinary will 
 happen in the spring, and surprise all Europe. Suspicions of 
 a Treaty between the Colonies and France or Spain. 
 
 4th. — Folger and another vessel from Nantucket, but nothintr 
 
1^5.] DTAHY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 543 
 
 new. The letter from Clinton was to Gen. Harvey, who told 
 me it was dated Aug. 16, and the sortie is a small affair, by a 
 party under Barry, w"" burnt a house by Penny Ferry, and 
 scarce made any talk at Boston, M' Agar mistaking the 
 letter. 
 
 5th, — Peggy at Court to-day w'" M" Keene. Sir Egerton 
 Leigh says that at South Carolina the Negroes are very 
 insolent : that they [the Whites] have a Company of Indians 
 in Charlestown, as a guard against the Negroes : that tliey 
 have an Act called the Negro Act, prescribing a particular 
 mode of trial of Negroes : that under this Act they tried a free 
 Negro, a Pilot, for saying that — If the King should send troops, 
 he would join them — found him guilty of exciting the Negroes 
 to an insurrection, and sentenced him to die : that upon an 
 apprehension that Lord W" Campbell, the .Governor, would 
 respite him, a message was sent him, that if he offered to stay 
 execution, they would erect a gallows before his door, and make 
 him the executioner of the Negro : and so he suffered the poor 
 fellow to be hanged. Surely such tyranny cannot last. 
 
 It is hard to imagine how the Grovemor oould be intimidated 
 as above described, and we prefer hoping that the story was either 
 exaggerated or wrongly reported. 
 
 Chi this day Dr. Peter Oliver, in Boston, Mass., writes a very 
 doleful letter to Elisha, describing himself as " sick a-bed with a 
 slight fever." He recovered in due time, and on the 17th of 
 November he wrote another of a more energetic character, to which 
 we will recur further on. 
 
 6th. — Called upon M' Sewall at his new lodgings, Brompton 
 Bow, and find him ill, and apprehensive of a fixed fever. 
 
 7th. — With Judge Auchmuty and D' Chandler, in my coach 
 to Fulham, but the Bishop was gone out airing. Called, as we 
 went out, upon SewaU, and found him ill. 
 
 M' Eden thinks two of the Irish Beg" will be gone before 
 [the] express arrived. 
 
 8th. — ^At the Temple Church with Auchmuty. In the 
 evening at Sewall's, who had taken advice from D' Huck, and 
 seemed in somewhat better spirits, but sits up very little. 
 
 9th.— At Lord Dartmouth's office. M"^ P. read me the advice 
 
544 DIARY AND LB3:TERS OF THOMAS BUTCHINSON. [^m. 
 
 from Ireland, that two of the Regiments had sailed for Boston ; 
 but small vessels were sent to strive to overtake them before 
 they left the coast. Two more were embarking Transports r 
 not all arrived for the office. Spent two or three hours taking 
 extracts from Board of Trade Books. 
 
 M"^ P. mentioned his suspicions of IngersoU ; and hinted at 
 some information he hadrec"*; and concluded with saying — 
 " It's well if he don't get hanged." 
 
 10th. — Called upon M' Sewall, who remains ill. Waldo, 
 Bliss, Gray and wife, and S. Oliver dined with us. In the 
 evening visited M' Amory and wife, at M' Harrison's, College 
 Hill. M' Gibbon left a card. 
 
 11th. — Called upon M"^ Gibbon, Bentinck Street. He gave 
 me this account of the state of the Treaty w'" Bussia about 
 men for America: — that the Empress some time since, ex- 
 pressed to M' Gunning, the British Ambassador, her concern 
 about the troubles in America, and gave such hints that he 
 made no doubt of her disposition to lend her troops for the 
 English service. This he acquainted his Court with ; and he 
 was thereupon ordered to sound and search out whether, if a 
 number of troops, from 10 to 15,000 should be wanted, they 
 might be had ? And M' Gibbon says the question was answered 
 in such manner that the Ambassador had no doubt of a com- 
 pliance : that he was then directed to signify, that it was not 
 the King's intention to receive them as Auxiliaries, but as 
 intirely in the British service, under the full direction and 
 command of His Majesty's General : or, I think he said, the 
 King had wrote with his own hand to the Empress to this 
 purpose ; and an answer to this letter was expected about the 
 20th of this month, which is the present, or was last Sunday, 
 the then state of this Treaty. 
 
 12th. — A vessel said to arrive to-day from Quebec, and a 
 letter to M"^ Grant, with advice that a Company of the Pro- 
 vincials had been cut off by the Indians, and the head of the 
 Captain Baker, sent in to Montrea,l. This is not altogether 
 certain. At Lord Dartmouth's. 
 
 13th.— A vessel. Pain [?] Master, from Plymouth, N.E., 
 came out Sep' 12'" : M' Tho. Greenough a passenger : E. H. 
 
msj DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 545 
 
 a letter from his wife Sept. S"*, but she was restrained from 
 saying anything of news. Nothing remarkable spoke of by 
 the Master. D' Chandler called and gave me his accounts 
 from N. York by the Packet. Everything carried to the most 
 extravag' lengths : 20 cannon removed from the Fort to fortify 
 the banks of Hudson's river. While it was doing, Vandepal, [?] 
 in the Asia, fired upon the Fort, but did little damage : frighted 
 the inhab' who expected the town to be beat down, and great 
 numbers quitted it. Franklin Superintendant of Indian 
 affairs, with a salary of 2500£, I suppose Currency, a year. 
 
 14th. — M' Burrow, Comptroller, and of the Council at 
 Halifax, arrived yesterday, and a report spread that he brought 
 bad news : but upon enquiry at Lord Dartmouth's office, I am 
 told that he is seut by the Governor, to represent the state of 
 the Province, and the insufficiency of the force there, if the 
 inhabitants prove refractory. Went out to Brompton to visit 
 Sewall, who I found very low : but he was persuaded to take 
 an airing in my coach. 
 
 J. Greene, Pickman, Curwen, Bliss, Smith, and Oliver, and 
 Paine, dined with us. 
 
 15th.— At the Old Jewry. M' White. 
 
 M."^ Sewall, being very low, I gave him an airing to Fulham. 
 He mentioned to me what Auchmuty afterwards confirmed, 
 that upon G. Gage's acquainting the Selectmen that he would 
 not support their poor, they told him, as the Gen. Court was 
 sitting at Watertown, they would apply for directions: and 
 accordingly they did ; and produced to the General a vote of 
 the H. of Eep., that the Committee of Corresp. at Salem or 
 M-head [Marblehead] should receive and take care of the poor, 
 provided all the donations were left that belonged to them : 
 and that they were sent in a vessel without any armed force on 
 board, or as convoy. This vote signed by the Clerk of the 
 House, and by the new appointed Secretary, and consented to 
 by 15 Counsellors, was brought the General, and he sent the 
 poor away. Sewall says he mentioned it to Lord Dartmouth. 
 
 16tb. — Called upon M' Jenkinson : afterwards upon M' 
 Ellis. Mauduit returned to town, and called, but I did not 
 see him. An airing with Sewall, &c. 
 
 2 N 
 
546 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ws. 
 
 17th. — la the city at Mauduit's. Smith teUs me he saw 
 a letter, very insolent, not signed, but known to be from M"" 
 Gordon, the Minister of Koxbury to M' Frake [? Feake, Frape,] 
 a Dissenting Minister in the city. Bliss dined with us. 
 
 18th.— Several late News Papers, 21'' and 28'" Aug., and 
 4 Sept. of Edes's, [?] I sent to Lord North. M"^ Cornwall 
 called, and afterwards M' Jenkinson : the latter will have it 
 that Putnam is gone with 1200 men to Halifax, and says he 
 has it from two Under Secretaries of State ; and that Gov. 
 Legge has wrote so, and that he had been at St. John's, and 
 destroyed a King's scooner, &c. 
 
 19th. — Called upon M' Pownall, and upon M' Stanley, who 
 had left town this morning. A strong southerly wind, and 
 much rain, after a long spell of fine weather. 
 
 The Members of Parliament of more importance, drop one 
 after another into town, for several days past. 
 
 20th. — M'' Smith brought me a letter from Kittery of the 
 8 September from one of his contemporaries at College, sup- 
 posed to be D' Eliot's son John : mentions that the Students 
 were to meet at Concord : that the Presid. had refused Degrees 
 to several candidates, because their fathers were Tories : that 
 great expectation of Parliam' conceding to all demands, and 
 that there was a total change in England : that John Adams 
 was to be Ch. Justice, and Paine a Superior Judge: that 
 [illegible] was at Ticonderoga w'" 5 or 6000 men, but had 
 wrote to Washington for 1500 more, which were then drafting 
 from the Army at Cambridge : that he dreaded their success 
 because France would retake it by connivance of the English 
 Ministry: that Gov. Wentworth was gone to Boston in the 
 Scarborough, and the N. Hampshire people had erected Bat- 
 teries to stop them, &c. I sent extracts to Lord North. 
 
 21st. — At Lord D.'s office. D"^ Chandler, M' Greene, Sam. 
 Sewall, and Auchmuty and wife, dined with us. Chandler 
 will have it still, that if there was a body of troops at New 
 York, one half the Colony would declare in favour of Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Wrote to L" Hardwicke, and sent him the New England 
 News Papers. 
 
^li] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 547 
 
 22nd. — A rainy day. At the Old Jewry, where a stranger 
 preached, 
 
 23rd. — Walked early into the city to M' Blackhuriie's, 
 Scotch Yard, Bush Lane. A ship from Quebec in 25 days 
 brings Gov. Carlton's lady and family. The Provincial army 
 had attempted twice to land, but had been repulsed by the 
 Indians and a few of the troops, or enlisted inhabitants, I am 
 uncertain which, the Canadians in general, standing neuter, 
 and some joining the rebels, w"** caused the Indians to retire ; 
 and by the last news of the rebels, they had landed without 
 opposition. Carlton and Lord Pitt escaped from a house w"" 
 was beset with Canadians, and got to Montreal which, as also 
 Quebec, is in the utmost danger. 
 
 Sayer, the late Sheriff, was apprehended by a Warrant from 
 Lord Kochford, for High Treason, and sent to the Tower. 
 
 Admiral Shuldam, in the Cliatham, did not sail until yester- 
 day from Portsmouth. 
 
 24th. — M' Gibbon called : thinks the Russian troops doubt- 
 ful : says the Minister who proposed them stands ticklish. 
 M' Ellis left his name. I called upon M' Mckenzie, and 
 Stanley : from home. At Lord D.'s office ; they had a very 
 circumstantial account of the taking of Halifax by Provincials : 
 somebody had been there : said they saw a letter of the 6 Sept. 
 from the Lieut' of the Tartar to his father M"" Qualme, Deputy 
 Usher of the Black Eod, w"" gave the account. Pollock gave 
 full credit to it. I sent after dinner, and found it all false. 
 
 M"^ Nichols and Bliss dined with me. 
 
 25th. — At Court to-day, being the King's Accession ; and 
 very full Court. By another vessel from Quebec there are 
 letters of Sep. 24'\ The rebels were sending Manifestoes thro' 
 the country. It looks as if a small part only of the forces at 
 Ticonderoga were then arrived at St. Johns. M' Simpson from 
 Ehode Island called with a letter of recoiSend" from Gov. 
 Wanton [?]. He left Newport Aug. 19'^ and all was quiet 
 there; the Captain and officers of the Men-of-War ashore 
 every day, and well supplied with provisions. 
 
 26th. — ^Parliament meets to-day. Rumour of an intended 
 riot brought a vast concourse of people to the Park, and from 
 
 2 N 2 
 
548 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [ms. 
 
 thenfie to the Parliament House : but all was quiet. I was in 
 the House of Lords, and heard the King's Speech, which was 
 lengthy. I think not so well delivered as tiie last. I went 
 from the H. of Lords to the H. of Commons, and did not get 
 home till near eleven at night. The House sat till four. I 
 heard Barry [Barre ?] and Wedderburne, neither of whom I 
 had heard before. Gov. Jolinstone* spoke of me by name, as 
 promoting the measures against the Colonies by my corre- 
 spondence, and referred to my printed letters. He charged 
 Gov. Littleton at the same time with quarrelling with the 
 Assembly at Jamaica. Littleton, being a Member, exculpated 
 himself, and vindicated his conduct. I sat below, and wished 
 I had been allowed to speak. The Minority was greater in 
 each House than last year against the Address, owing to the 
 defection of the Duke of Grafton, who carried off a number in 
 each house. The Bishop of Peterborough went with the Duke, 
 being made by him. M'^ Conway, who holds a place, also was 
 violent in the House of Commons. 
 
 27th. — I called at Lord Hardwicke's, and found him very 
 peevish. He did not like the Address, nor Lord Kock' amend- 
 ment, but read to me one of his own. He came away because 
 he would not vote : so did Lord Littleton. Afterwards I called 
 on Strahan. He read to me a long letter he had wrote to D' 
 Franklin : but it will have no effect. There was a great struggle 
 in the Coiiions again to-day upon the Address being reported, 
 the speakers much the same as yesterday : but carried by 
 [blank].t 
 
 I took a violent cold yesterday in coming from the H. of 
 Commons to my own house, though in a chair [or chaise ?]. 
 
 28tb. — I feel my cold increase. Eobinson, Gray and wife, 
 Quincy and Lovell, dined with us. 
 
 29th. — I kept house all day : my two sons and daughter all 
 violently seized with like colds, and feverish disorder, which is 
 
 * "George Johnstone, who retained the title of Governor, from havin" 
 filled that post in Florida, was a Member of the House of Commons and as 
 such, a keen opponent of Lord North." — Lord Mahon's Hist., vi. 223.' ' 
 
 t Amendment negatived by 69 to 29. Address carried by 76 to 33. 
 Nineteen Peers signed a protest. — ^Adolph., ii. 276. 
 
Oct. 
 1775, 
 
 J DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 549 
 
 very epidemical, and scarce any N.E. man, except M' Jenkin- 
 son, Mckenzie, and Mauduit, called. 
 
 30th. — I took an airing, hoping my cold was going off, but it 
 returned in the evening, and all the fore part of the night till 
 4 o'clock, my fever was excessive, but went off in the morning. 
 
 Slst. — I was to have dined to-day with M' Jenkinson, but 
 excused myself. Kainy day : but if it had been fair, we are 
 all too ill to have gone abroad. 
 
 Here ends the third volume of Governor Hutchinson's Diary, 
 and the first intention was to stop at this place, thinking that 
 enough had been extracted to fill this hook in the reader's hands ; 
 but considering, on second thoughts, that there are only two more 
 months to run out the remnant of the twelve months of 1776, it 
 will perhaps be better to go on to the end of the year now we are 
 so near. 
 
 The meeting of the new Parliament, as mentioned above, again 
 opened the flood-gates of angry debate and the wranglings of 
 party feeHng. At those times passion guides the tongue, and 
 truth is forgotten. " Troubled times are like troubled waters — 
 you can see little truth : when they are settled, then truth ap- 
 pears."* Governor Johnstone, in his speech on American affairs, 
 charged Mr. Hutchinson by name with having promoted measures 
 against the Colonies, and referred to his printed letters, whilst 
 the commentator who wrote remarks on them said : " I am at a 
 loss to find what there is in them, which can be a ground of 
 blame." And the New England Historical and Genealogical 
 Eegister observes : " In the Letters however, there was no senti- 
 ment which the Governor had not openly expressed in his 
 Addresses to the Legislature." In the end of vol. v. of his Diary 
 he has jotted down the following note on the fly-leaf: — 
 
 " Supposez," says Erasmus, " que dans le grand nombre des livres 
 que j'ai faits, il me soit echappe cette proposition — qu'il ne faut 
 pas faire mourire les Heretiques — y avait il de I'humanit^ de la 
 rapporter, sans avoir egard a ce que precede, a ce que suit, a ce 
 qui pouvait le rendre moins odieuse, et h mes vrais sentimens ? 
 
 " How applicable [he adds] is this to the case of my letters to 
 Whately, and the expression — there must he an abridgment of what 
 are called English liberties. Everything which preceded and fol- 
 lowed, which would have given the real sentiment, and taken 
 away all the odium, was left out." Anything in an opponent is 
 * Selden's Tabic Talk, 178. Quoted at end of vol. G of Diary. 
 
550 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, fms 
 
 Ll?V5. 
 
 eagerly laid hold of, which in a friend is not so much as perceived. 
 " Aliquid et in hostem notas," he has jotted down in another place, 
 which had caught his eye in the Continuation to Lord Clarendon's 
 'Life.'iii. 182 [or 782]. 
 
 And Mr. Johnstone then attacked Governor Littleton for 
 quarrelling with the Assembly at Jamaica, but does not say what 
 the cause of quarrel was, or for what the Assembly were con- 
 tending. If a Governor keeps within the lines of his instructions, 
 and makes the laws and constitution the rule of his conduct, he is 
 doing his duty as a trusty servant, and his quarrel is a meritorious 
 one where it is against those who wish to evade those obligations. 
 Strange, how entirely this principle is lost sight of in party 
 contention ! 
 
 The struggle had now arrived at an important poiat. The first 
 blood had been drawn — the Eubicon had been passed — and neither 
 could recede. The great efforts that were being made by the 
 Provincial leaders to secure every advantage, now they found 
 themselves fully pledged to go on, superinduced many acts of 
 oijpression in the name of liberty. "We have not forgotten the 
 words of Madame Eoland when she was being led to the guillo- 
 tine. At this time Judge Curwen withdrew temporarily to 
 England, whilst anarchy was in the ascendant, and on the 10th 
 of June, 1776, and not long after the period at which we have 
 arrived, he used the following expressions when writing to his 
 friend Dr. C. Eussell, who had withdrawn also : " I congratulate 
 you on your retreat from the land of oppression and tyranny ; 
 for, surely, greater never appeared since the days of Nimrod." 
 
 Governor Pownall, during his administration in Massachusetts, 
 had gained popularity amongst the members of the party of free- 
 dom by the countenance he had given to them ; so much so, as to 
 endanger his good understanding with the Ministry at home. 
 But by the time he was canvassing at Minehead, in Somerset, for 
 his seat ia Parliament, in the year 1774, he had presumably 
 changed his views or altered his policy, for he came in either 
 under the auspices of the Tory Prime Minister Lord North, or 
 had established an understanding with him to support his measures 
 and his colleagues in the House. Adolphus, ii. 293, describing his 
 opposition to Burke's Conciliatory Bill, introduced in November, 
 1775, says : " Governor Pownall then entered into a detail of the 
 various Acts which, from the 2oth year of Charles II., had laid 
 duties on the Colonies, for the purpose of raising a revenue for 
 England." The Americans had latterly been startling the world 
 by the one-sided assertions contained in their Addresses sent over 
 
Oct. 
 
 ins. 
 
 ] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 551 
 
 to Great Britain and Ireland, detailing their punishments, but 
 carefully leaving out their acts of insubordination which had 
 superinduced those punishments — " reading between the lines," as 
 the phrase is, some of the clauses of the charters and statutes, so 
 as to put new and altered meanings upon them, such as had never 
 been intended or even contemplated by their framers, reversing 
 the order of dates, and of cause and effect, thereby making the 
 punishment come first and the offence aftbrwards, but keeping tho 
 offence out of sight altogether, and such-like contrivances, though 
 very ingenious, were rather too plain ; and when they went so far 
 as absolutely to deny the rights of the British Parliament, PownaU 
 spoke of them in the House, in February, 1775, as "opposing 
 rights which they had always acknowledged." 
 
 It would be rather late now to say that England ought to have 
 given the Colonies their independence. Yet the time had come. 
 She forgot that they had grown from infancy to maturity. She 
 was honestly afraid, as it has been before remarked, that if their 
 freedom were given them, they would soon fall a prey to the 
 cupidity of Trance, Spain, or Holland. And in respect to com- 
 merce, which is the strongest possible bond of friendly union 
 between two states, she was afraid that her merchants and manu-J 
 facturers would be ruined by the loss of the American trade. But 
 these apprehensions were in a great degree imaginary, for an 
 amicable separation, followed by mutually advantageous treaties 
 of commerce, of a nature better than could be got elsewhere, and 
 accompanied by engagements for protection by military and naval 
 force in case of threatened danger, would have retained America 
 as a close ally better than coercion could do ; for nations, like 
 individuals, are always more tractable if kept in good humour, 
 and always buy and sell with the best customers. By this course 
 an expensive war would have been saved, the ruin of trade in 
 both countries would have been averted, and the ill-effects of an 
 embittered quarrel would have been avoided. The worst error 
 that England committed in all this was an error in judgment, for 
 she never descended so low as to enforce her arguments at thei 
 expense of truth. 
 
( 552 ) [S?i: 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 BEGINNING OF THE POUETH VOLUME OF THE DIARY. 
 
 November the first. London. 
 
 I desired D'. Heberden to visit my daughter. He was so 
 obliging as to refuse any fee, as he had done before repeatedly. 
 By his prescription, she had 8 oz. blood taken from her, and 
 took a mixture of oyl of almonds, syrup of balsam, alexiterian * 
 simple, water, and sal volat. : a doze [dose] at six ; another at 
 bed time; a third in the morning. Billy was blooded also, 
 and is to take the same. E. and I are less feverish, and with 
 Billy took an airing. The distemper is very like what was in 
 Boston about 45 years ago. Generally, those who have it, 
 speak of exceeding high fever in the night, and when it abates 
 in the day, the cough is most violent, w"" causes great pain in 
 the lower part of the stomach, and across the lower ribs. 
 When the patient is ill enough to send for a Physician, bleeds 
 ing has always been prescribed, and a very low diet, and total 
 abstinence from wine recommended. 
 
 * N. Bailey's Dictionary, 1745, has — Alexiterical and Alexiterick — that 
 which preserves from, or drives out poison ; also that is good against fevers of 
 a malignant kind, by promoting sweat. Some of the old remedies used in 
 medicine were rather remarkable, and the names of them may well startle us 
 in the present day. My late father, Andrew H., who was bom March 24, 
 1776, on board the Packet, then in Nantasket Roads, as they were leaving 
 America, was destined in due time for the medical profession. Some years 
 after the Governor's death, his son Thomas, the Judge of Probate, went down 
 to Devonshire, and took East Wonford House, near Heavitree, a mile out of 
 Exeter. My father, having been educated at the grammar school in Exeter, 
 and at Catherine Hall, Cambridge, was articled in 1795 to Samuel Luscombe 
 of Exeter, and amongst the series of drawers containing drugs and various 
 things used in medicine, ranged along the surgery wall, there was one marked 
 Toad, calcined and pounded, and another labelled cranium Humanum. I 
 have often heard my father mention this. These articles were not used in 
 his time, and he did not know what disorders they had been given for. It is 
 certain, however, that £hey could not have been very long out of use, inas- 
 much as the labels still remained on the drawers. 
 
f,"!:] DIARY AND LETTERS OF TE0MA8 HUTCHINSON. 553 
 
 Nov. 2nd. — Peggy's fever is much abated this morning, 
 having rested pretty well, after a quiet dose. I rose three 
 times to her and Billy and all the rest of us, except Peggy, are 
 but ill ; and D"^ Heberden advised me by no means to take an 
 airing, as I intended. 
 
 I received a letter to-day from M' Clarke at Quebec, dated 
 Sep. 29th [not preserved], when there was more troops than in 
 his last : that the rebels would be stopped in their progress. I 
 sent it to L" North. 
 
 3rd. — My fever was high the latter part of the night, but 
 before noon D'. Heberden tells me he thinks it is near gone : — 
 advises to keep house a little longer, and be careful of diet. 
 
 M^ Strahan called, and shewed me a letter he had received 
 from David Hume, who falls in with Dean Tucker, and is for 
 suffering the Americans to go off, because they are not worth 
 the charge of retaining. " But if you will not part with them," 
 he says, "they are to be retained only, by taking away all 
 charters — establishing an absolute government — and," he adds, 
 " hanging two-thirds of their clergy." Franklin speaks of his 
 acquaintance with Hume in one of his Letters, or I have 
 met elsewhere with an account of it. Strahan shew [shewed] 
 me also, what I thought a good answer to Hume's letter. 
 
 4th. — ^We are all so much better to-day, that if the weather 
 had been good, we should have taken an airing. D' Heber- 
 den has visited us four days, declining any fees. This is 
 kind, and he has in other instances been obliging to me ; but 
 it is not to me only : he has the general character of one 
 the kindest, best of men. 
 
 Lord Townshend and his Aide-du-Camp Bloomfield called. 
 Lord T. finds great fault with an inactive Ministry. I told 
 him it did not become me to say what his Lordship might. 
 I thought a change of Ministry would be attended with every 
 bad consequence. 
 
 Lord Gage and Sir Sampson Gideon called : spoke of a fat 
 member — ^Douglas, who had never opened his mouth in the 
 House, though he had sat in former Parliaments ; but being 
 willing to declare his mind in the American business, broke 
 out — "M' Speaker: As for the yonng gentleman who spoke 
 
554 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCEINSON. [mli 
 
 so largely in this debate, I differ from him in everything he 
 said : but as for the Hon"" Gent who spoke last, I approve of 
 every word he said, and shall vote accordingly ;" — and so sat 
 down, the whole House being set into a roar. 
 
 Mauduit is very ill with this Influenza. 
 
 We are distressed for our Boston friends ; no accounts since 
 the 21st of August by Sewall, &c., who have been arrived 
 these six weeks. 
 
 5th. — We all kept house, the weather being raw and driz- 
 zling all day. The people in the streets were remarkably few, 
 and I dare say the places of public worship are almost empty. 
 [It was Sunday.] 
 
 M^ John Pownall called. He tells me the two Eegiments 
 designed to Quebec, did not sail from Ireland until the 16*'' 
 of October ; and after that, by contrary winds, put into Mil- 
 ford Haven, and there received orders not to proceed. 
 
 When Lord Pitt arrived from Quebec on Thursday evening, 
 M' Pownall came to town with him, in the post-chaise from 
 Blackheath. By the New Cross Inn they were stopped by a 
 single Highwayman. Lord Pitt had pistols, which they sup- 
 posed the Highwayman perceived when he stopped the pos- 
 tilion, for he immediately put his arm round the postilion, and 
 fired a pistol, but no ball entered the chaise ; upon which 
 they both jumped out, each taking a pistol, M' Pownall 
 burnt priming, but the pistol did not go off. The Highway- 
 man then set spurs to his horse, and they saw no more 
 of him. 
 
 6th. — A rainy day, but I went out at 5 in my carriage to 
 consult D' Hunter upon my disorder in my head, which he 
 thinks best to leave without any application, except the steam 
 of hot water. 
 
 7th. — A dull foggy misty day. I visited Lord Geo. Ger- 
 maine. I think he would not refuse the Secretary's place, 
 if offered to him. He supposes that an expedition to the 
 southern colonies is preparing. Eeceived me very kindly. 
 Afterwards to Lord Loudoun's. M' Stanley was not at home. 
 Called upon M' Jo. Greene. He has an account of M' John 
 Gray's death at Boston, in a letter from I'rovidence Sept. 
 
ml] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 555 
 
 9th, and that it was very sickly at Boston. We are in great 
 distress for our friends there. 
 
 8th. — It is fair to-day, or rather, not rainy : the wind east 
 of north, and we have no chance for arrivals. I went to Lord 
 Daitmouth's Levee : discoursed upon the bad state of affairs, 
 and the wickedness of the Opposition, whose protest, he agreed, 
 was calculated to keep up the Kebellion in America, and to 
 stir up sedition here. Not a word of his going out of office. 
 
 M' Jenkinson not at home; but found M' Ellis at home. 
 He supposes Lord Geo. Germaine is to be Secretary of State : 
 doubts whether a southern expedition will answer any good 
 purpose. His plan has always been to crush the N. Eng- 
 land governments and church, and foster those to the south- 
 ward. Speaking of the desperate pushes of Opposition, he 
 observed that it was an instance of the wisdom of the Creator, 
 that men were not sufiered to live any longer in the world to 
 perfect their wicked designs. This, he said, we had talked of 
 in the country. 
 
 We all took an airing as far as Islington. Paul Went- 
 worth called after my return. I walked before dinner as 
 far as the Adelphi and back, which is more than I have done 
 for 8 days. 
 
 9th. — Called upon M' Cornwall. He opened very largely 
 on the state of affairs : seems to think L* N. too much afraid 
 of the Opposition : says the Majority is enough. The dis- 
 carded Ministers will always have a train, and this makes the 
 Opposition. All the independent landed interest of the King- 
 dom vote w* Government, in what relates to America. Gov. 
 Pownall, in a set speech, declared it to be a practicable thing 
 to bring about a reconciliation: that he knew how it could 
 be done so as quite to satisfy the Americans, and yet save 
 all the dignity and authority of Parliament. — but he kept it 
 to himself. Burke said he had always been against torture; 
 but it was of so much importnnce to know this plan, that he 
 thought the gentleman ought to be put to the torture to 
 compel him to disclose. 
 
 10th. — Governor Eichard Penn was examined at the Bar 
 
556 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^1; 
 
 of the House of Lords, to authenticate the Petition he brought 
 over from the Congress to the King. It is said he sought it, 
 but got no credit. Among other questions, he was asked, 
 how the Pensylvanians got over tliat Clause in their Charter 
 which makes them liable to taxation by Parliament ? He 
 gave this answer, which was evading the question — That he 
 never heard any exception taken to it until the power was 
 carried into exercise. The motion was, that the Letter or 
 Petition to the King contained ground of conciliation : 33, 
 6 of w* proxies, for the Question of which 
 
 proxies, against it.* 
 
 11th, — ^I consulted D' Hunter upon the disorder which I 
 have had several months in one of my nostrils, and the side 
 of my head, having been in great pain the two last nights ; 
 but received little satisfaction. 1 am told he has no great 
 character as a Surgeon, his chief practice being midwifery. 
 
 M." Copely and daughter, Pickman, Curwen, Bliss, Boyl- 
 stone, and S. Oliver, dined with us. 
 
 12th. — At the Old Jewry, after a poor night from the pain 
 in my head ; M' White preached. Peggy and I dined with 
 M' Jenkinson, M' Ellis, and Lady Doily, Lady Cornwall, and 
 Lady and M' John Jenkinson, made the company. 
 
 In last ni;^ht's Gazette we have the appointment of L* 
 Dartmouth to the Privy Seal, in the room of the Duke of 
 Grafton ; L* G. Germaine, Seer, of State vice L* Dartmouth ; 
 and L" Weymouth vice L* Eochford, who has a pension. 
 
 It was said to-day that a Secretary of State's place is worth 
 5200£ a year clear : the Privy Seal only 3000£ nominal. L* 
 Eochford is to have a pension. 
 
 13th. — I spent the forenoon in finding M' Pitt, the Surgeon, 
 at the comer of Lincoln's Inn Fields; who I found more 
 acquainted with the disorder in my head than any person, and 
 who attributed it all to a protuberance in my jaw, which he 
 thinks of no great consequence. 
 
 A plan, [or proposal, put over,] which M"^ Burke was 
 
 * Adolpb., 2nd edit., ii. 289, says 33 Peers for, and 86 against the motion. 
 The spaces are in the original. 
 
Nov. 
 1775 
 
 :] DIAEY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 557 
 
 to make to-day in the House of Commons, was put off on 
 account of the death of his father-in-law ; and the House went 
 upon the Land Tax, and Toted 4/ in the pound by a great 
 majority. 
 
 14th. — General Gage and his Secretary M' Flucker came 
 to town in the evening : left Boston the 11th October. My 
 families well. My property which was at Milton, sold at 
 vendue. Washington, it is said, rides in my coach at Cambridge. 
 The farm people were doubtful about purchasing, and there- 
 fore it is leased out. Cushing's papers being left in his house 
 in Boston, Gage took into his possession, which makes great 
 discoveries. An intercepted letter from one of the Congress, — 
 Harrison to Gates — opens their intention in the Petition to the 
 King, to be only to prevent their friends in Opposition here 
 from giving up their cause : the consequence of which would 
 be, a more fuU exertion of the powers of the kingdom, &c. 
 'Jhe army and inhabitants less afraid of invasion from the 
 enemy in the winter than at the date of our last accounts, tho' 
 nothing very material had hapned between the armies. 
 
 15th. — Called upon Sir Grey Cooper, M' Jenkinson, Ellis, 
 Lord Suffolk, and Lord Hardwicke. 
 
 Flucker, Waldo, Gray, and Nicholls dined with us. Corbyn 
 Morris in the evening. 
 
 16th. — At M' Jo. Greene's, and M' Mauduit's. Afterwards 
 at Lord North's Levee, where I had an opportunity of thanking 
 M' Stanley for answering Hartley yesterday in the House of 
 Commons, when he abused Gov. Bernard, L'-Gov. Oliver, and 
 myself. Introduced M'^ Flucker to Lord North. 
 
 17th. — Packet arrived from N. York. Articles to the 18 of 
 October. Tryon gone on board the Man-of-War or other 
 vessel in the harbour. The Congress had ordered, as he 
 supposed, the officers of Gov* to be seized. D' Chandler has 
 a letter which hints at great dissentions and great complaint 
 of the tyranny of the Congress ; and that 1200 men at Hamp- 
 stead were resolute to defend themselves, &c. 
 
 This day the Governor wrote a letter to his son Thomas, which 
 has been entered in his Letter Book, apparently by the hand ol 
 his youngest daughter Margaret or Peggy. It runs thus : — 
 
558 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. [j 
 
 Nov. 
 177S. 
 
 "St. J. S. 17 Nov. 1775. 
 " My Dear Son. 
 
 " We have been many weeks in anxious suspense for our 
 friends in Boston. General Gage arrived the 14th., and has re- 
 moved the suspense, but the anxiety in a considerable degree 
 remains. From the account I received of the General's letters of 
 the 20th of August, and from the demolition of the Castle, I had 
 little doubt left that we should hear the troops had quitted Boston. 
 I flattered myself, however, that as soon as you knew this was 
 determined, you would come away with your household and effects, 
 notwithstanding my letter by the Cerberus; for when I wrote 
 that letter I did not know those circumstances of the General's 
 letter, and the state of the Castle. I hope from what the General 
 tells me, you will not be in danger in the winter ; but at this 
 distance I must be uncertain of your state, and your own discretion 
 must be your guide.. I think M' Flucker must be satisfied the 
 town was not in danger, or he would not have left his family 
 there, which circumstance increases my encouragement that you 
 are safe. 
 
 "M' Flucker teUs me my property which was at Milton, has 
 been sold at atiction, and the estate is leased out. I can make no 
 sort of judgment what you left there when you removed from 
 thence, all your letters being short, and taking no notice of it. By 
 the help of nurse's memory, I believe you will be able to make out 
 an Inventory of most of the articles : what hay, com, stock, &c., 
 was without doors, must depend on your memory. I don't know 
 that I can obtain any compensation : but if I was possessed of such 
 an Inventory, I would try what could be done. It may do me 
 some service. It should be sworn to before the Lieut'-Govemor ; 
 and as there is no Province Seal, may have his private seal to it. 
 
 "Tou speak in one of your letters of the neighbours having 
 carried off some of the furniture, but whether it is gone with the 
 rest, or can be recovered, I can make no judgment. 
 
 " I hope a great supply of fewel [fuel] wiU arrive before winter. 
 You were cutting up the timber of Parker's shop and warehouse. 
 I had rather you should pull down any of the warehouses or houses, 
 and bum them, than your families should suffer by the cold. I 
 have sent your bills to my Banker, who will receive them, and I 
 will take care that Fisher is satisfied. I shall cover a protested 
 bill of M' Tileston, [?] which Palmer has sent me, which he desires 
 you to take proper care of. 
 
 " We have all been sick for three weeks past with a most 
 malignant disorder, called the Influenza, which has been very 
 
Nov.- 
 H75, 
 
 :] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 559 
 
 epidemical, not one in ten escaping. I have not had so mnch of a 
 fever for 35 years past, but through the goodness of God, we are 
 upon the borders of health. 
 
 " I am Y' Affect. Father, &c. 
 
 " If you can find anybody to take care of them, the Epergne, 
 the Mahogany Case of knives, and the Tea-kettle and stand, would 
 be of use whilst we are here. I conclude they were not left at 
 Milton. And I could wish to know what books are wanting in the 
 broken setts." 
 
 We may conclude that they really were left at Milton. Indeed, 
 there can be no doubt about it, or that the Epergne and some other 
 articles of silver plate were seized and sold; for about this time 
 the Governor received the Inventory for which he had been 
 enquiring — or rather, he received an Inventory in answer to his 
 enquiries, though not exactly what he wanted. When Thomas 
 witiidrew from Milton into Boston, it may be inferred that he 
 thought the move would only be temporary, and that everything 
 would remain there safe enough until he should find it convenient 
 to go to and fro, being only a distance of six miles, and remove 
 what he might want, as occasion suggested. The Inventory of 
 the Milton effects as copied below, is vmtten on the blank leaves 
 at the end of the Fourth Volume of the Diary. 
 
 " Inventory of Goods at Milton, as sent me by my son. 
 
 In the Hall. 
 
 £ s. 
 
 2 largo hair settees 10 — 
 
 6 chairs ditto 4 — 
 
 2 card tables 4 — 
 
 1 mahogany table 3 — 
 
 My own picture 9 — 
 
 [More about this picture presently.] 
 
 M-^ Palmer's 9 — 
 
 A set of Marriage a la Mode, 
 
 rich frames and glass .... 4 10 
 
 3 large landscapes 3 — 
 
 Large floor cloth 5 — 
 
 Two damask window squabs ... 2 10 
 
 54 — 
 
560 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [f^'^l] 
 
 Brought forward £54 — 
 
 In the Parlour. 
 
 £. s. 
 
 6 hair bottom chairs 4 - - 
 
 2 large easy chairs, hair bottoms and 
 
 back 4 10 
 
 1 large dining table 1 15 
 
 Book-case and drawers .... 12 10 
 Table linen of damask : sheeting, shirt- 
 ing, [?]&e 60 — 
 
 A looking-glass, gilt 2 — 
 
 Window curtains 2 — 
 
 Turkey carpet 4 — 
 
 Andirons, shovel, and tongs ... 1 10 
 
 Walnut desk 4 10 
 
 2 Bronzes, Shakespear and Milton, 
 
 fixed on each side the chimney . . 3 — 
 
 99 15* 
 
 In the Dining Eoom. 
 
 8 red morocco bottom chairs ... 6 16 
 
 1 couch, black leather 1 5 
 
 2 dining tables 4 10 
 
 1 breakfast ditto 18 
 
 1 tea table 15 
 
 A desk and book-case 6 10 
 
 A spring clock 8 10 
 
 A glass globe 15 
 
 A large Scotch carpet 4 — 
 
 A large looking glass 6 — 
 
 2 pourtraits [sic] 8 — 
 
 2 ditto 6 — 
 
 10 prints, framed 5 — 
 
 2 window curtains 4 — 
 
 Andirons and shovel and tg . . . 1 10 
 
 64 9 
 
 * The sum of the figures for the parlour is set down as 98 „ 15 : it ought 
 to be 99 „ 15. 
 
'ms.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 561 
 
 Brought forward £218 4 
 
 In the Closet. 
 
 £. s. 
 3 cases silver handled knives and forks, 
 
 with spoons * 45 — 
 
 3 cases ivory and china ditto ... 12 — 
 A silver Epergne, 144 oz. with glasses 
 
 and case 54 — 
 
 China table services, besides bowles, 
 
 cups, and saucers, &c 28 — 
 
 Two fruit baskets 1 — 
 
 Warters [? waiters ?] 1 18 
 
 Copper urn for tea 1 16 
 
 A compleat set of Queen's ware . . 3 15 
 
 147 9 
 
 In the Ked Bed Room. 
 
 2 glass sconces 4 — 
 
 Crimson damask curtains, head cloth, 
 tester, vallians, [? vallance] and 
 
 counterpane 15 — 
 
 Bed, bolster, pillows, and blankets . 10 — 
 
 2 damask window curtains .... 4 — 
 
 6 mahogany chairs : damask bottoms 6 — 
 
 2 japanned tables 4 — 
 
 A Wilton carpet for the whole floor . 6 — 
 
 Andirons, shovel, and tongs ... 1 15 
 
 50 15 
 In the Yellow Bed Eoom. 
 
 Bed, bolster, pillows, and 
 
 pair of blankets, and bedstead . . 10 10 
 Curtains, &c. Check furnit[ure,] 
 
 and counterpane 4 10 
 
 * The Governor brought with him to England, for personal use, one dozen 
 of silver-handled knives and forks. These I now have, except one fork which 
 was stolen at Sidmouth about forty years ago, probably for the sake of the 
 handle. My late father and mother suspected a footman who was hired to 
 assist at an evening party. I heard them say so more than once. 
 
 2 o 
 
562 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, fj^rs 
 
 Ll7«. 
 
 Brought forward £416 8 
 
 £ s. 
 
 Table and drawers 2 10 
 
 Looking glass : gilt frame ... 3 — 
 
 6 cheap chairs . . . . ^ . . 1 10 
 
 A Scotch carpet 2 — 
 
 3 metzotintos [sic] glazed .... 1 10 
 
 25 10* 
 In the Gov' Bed Eoom. 
 
 Bed, bolsters, &c 10 — 
 
 Fine white callico curtains, 
 
 head cloth, tester, vallians ... 4 10 
 
 6 chairs • . 1 10 
 
 Drawers and table 2 — 
 
 Looking glass 1 10 
 
 19 10 
 Miss Hutchinson's Bed Eoom. 
 
 Bed, bolster, pillows, and blankets . 10 — 
 
 Chintz curtains, and quilt .... 15 — 
 
 Burau, [sic] table, and draw. ... 1 18 
 
 6 chairs 2 2 
 
 . A looking glass 2 — 
 
 31 — 
 
 Miss Sanford's Eoom. 
 
 Camp-bed, bolster, pillows, blankets, 
 
 and quilt 10 10 
 
 Burau table 2 — 
 
 Looking glass 2 10 
 
 6 chairs and trunk 2 10 
 
 17 10 
 
 Nursery. 
 
 Bed,bolster,pillows,blankets,quilt,&c. 10 10 
 
 Chest of drawers and ta,ble ... 4 — 
 
 Looking glass 2 10 
 
 6 chairs 1 10 
 
 18 10 
 
 * The sum of the figures of the yellow room is set down as £24 10. It 
 ought to be £25 10. 
 
Nov. 
 
 1:] BIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTOEINSON. 563 
 
 Brought forward £528 8 
 
 In the Kitchen. 
 
 £ 8. 
 
 6 copper potts, stew pan, large 
 fish kettle, iron pott, kettles, 
 brass kettles, pewter, jack, 
 andirons, fenders, shovels, and 
 tongs, chafindishea [sic], tables, 
 chairs, &c. 
 
 I compute more than . . • . 60 — 
 
 60 — 
 
 In the Upper Eoom. 
 
 4 beds with bed cloaths, curtains, 
 chairs, &c., brought from the 
 Province House * 75 — 
 
 A suit of cloaths with wrought 
 
 gold holes and buttons : little wore 10 — 
 
 A blue drab surtout, and other cloaths 8 — 
 
 93 
 
 In the Barn. 
 
 15 tons best English hay .... 30 — 
 
 10 tons meadow hay 10 — 
 
 Indian corn : 60 bush. [?].... 6 — 
 
 46 — 
 
 In the Coach House. 
 
 A new coach, cost, besides freight t . 105 
 
 An old coach new lined .... 25 
 
 A chariot 25 
 
 2 chaises [?] 25 
 
 180 — 
 
 • The Province House is alluded to presently, 
 t Alluded to presently. 
 
 2 2 
 
564 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^^75. 
 
 Brought forward £907 8 
 
 ■■o 
 
 In the Cellar. 
 
 £ s. 
 
 35 dozen old Madeira wine; . . .50 — 
 
 20 dozen other wines 25 — 
 
 A box of citron 3 — 
 
 A box of candles 2 — 
 
 Cyder 4 — 
 
 20 bushels parsnips, carrots, and 
 
 potatoes s ....... • 3 — 
 
 87 — 
 
 Upon tlie Farm. 
 
 A pair of coach horses 25 — 
 
 A farm horse 7 10 
 
 7 cows 24 10 
 
 A yoke of large oxen 12 — 
 
 A p' of steer 6 — 
 
 2 heifers 3 10 
 
 3 hogs, and great plenty of turkeys 
 
 and poultry 5 — 
 
 Carts, waggons, ploughs, iron barrs, 
 
 and all neeessaiy farm utensils . . 15 — 
 
 98 10 
 £1092 18 
 
 TMs grand total of £1092 18s. is £2 more than what is given in 
 the Governor's memorandum; and this is accounted for by the 
 £1 too little in the Parlour, and the £1 too little in the Yellow 
 Bedroom. 
 
 As regards portraits, there are two mentioned as being in the 
 Hall, and four in the dining room. Of the two in the Hall, one is 
 his own, according to his own words, and the other Mr. Palmer's. 
 Of the two paintings of Governor Hutchinson now hanging up in 
 the rooms of the Historical Society in Boston, there is no reason to 
 doiibt that the one in the Milton inventory is certainly one of 
 these two ; and all belief, tradition, evidence, and common consent 
 assign it to the younger one. The following is a memorandum 
 
Nov. 
 1775. 
 
 ] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 565 
 
 given to me by a friend who examined them Taoth since I was in 
 America : — 
 
 " Portraits of Governor Hutchinson. Two portraits are in the 
 possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society. One is a half- 
 length, and nearly life size. The face is very youthful, even 
 boyish; he looks hardly twenty. This portrait has been much 
 injured. It was left at Milton, and the eyes were pierced with 
 bayonets by the mob, the whole picture meeting with rough usage. 
 It has been restored, and, as I thought, rather badly. I do not 
 remember how it came to the possession of the Historical Society." 
 
 So much for the younger portrait : the memorandum then 
 proceeds as follows to describe the elder one : — 
 
 " The other is quite small, and gives only a short distance below 
 the shoulders. He is here shewn as advanced in life. There is 
 a doubtful tradition, that when his house [in Boston] was destroyed, 
 this portrait was picked up in the street by a Mr. Mayhew, and 
 presented by him, or by his grandson, Mr. Wainwright, to the 
 Society. It was' engraved for the New England Historical and 
 Genealogical Eegister. But neither the engraving nor the photo- 
 graph does it justice, for the expression is thoughtful and rather 
 sad. I do not remember hearing the name of the painter of either 
 of the portraits." 
 
 It may be observed that, at about the period of the adolescence 
 of the Governor, the portrait painter Smybert was very generally 
 employed in Massachusetts, and had as much work on his hands 
 as he could well get through ; but it must be for those who are 
 familiar with the pictures, and have opportunities of comparing 
 them with paintings known to have been done by that artist, to 
 say whether one or both of them may have been done by him 
 
 or not. 
 
 Judging from the engraving of the elder portrait, and from 
 photographs, I have for some time past experienced a growing 
 misgiving as to whether that painting is correctly attributed to 
 the Governor or not. At least, I do not see in it the least trace of 
 a Hutchinson feature. The Hutchinsons, as far as I know them, 
 never could pretend to the fine large full eyes of that face, nor the 
 full lips, nor to the straight thin nose. The general type of their 
 face has been thin and bony, with rather small blue eyes, brown 
 hair, and prominent nose. That the large nose was a well- 
 recognised feature before the Colonies were separated from the 
 Mother Country, is borne out by the evidence of two lines which 
 
566 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [h/s 
 
 \\11i. 
 
 are said to have appeared in a Boston newspaper, one of the family- 
 having been away on some official bnsiness, when his return, by 
 water, was announced in the following manner : — 
 
 " When Hutchinson came the people arose 
 To clear a place to land his nose." 
 
 I have often heard my late father repeat them, and he had had 
 them in like manner from those who had gone before. But I 
 may be quite mistaken in my misgivings. 
 
 Eecurring to the inventory, the Province House is mentioned 
 when speaking of the things " In the Upper Eoom." This old 
 official residence of the Governor's, situated on the west side of 
 Washington Street, standing back some twenty to thirty yards, 
 was formerly open to the street ; but when I was there it was 
 blocked out by some houses built in front of it, so that it stood in 
 a sort of paved court with a thoroughfare passage going through, 
 and proceeding on backwards along the southern side of the 
 building. The house had five windows in a row, it was three 
 storeys high, raised on a stone basement of about four feet, and 
 with a flight of stone steps up to a Boman Doric portico, and the 
 front door. Cooper, in his novel of Lionel Lincoln, lays some of 
 the scenes in this old-fashioned place. When I was there it was a 
 tavern, with a sign-board fixed over the door, where strong waters 
 and baser liquors were sold. 
 
 " In the Coach House " there were several vehicles of different 
 kinds. The first enumerated is — " A new coach, cost, besides 
 freight — £105." This has been alluded to before; and from the 
 mention of freight, this carriage had evidently been had out from 
 England ; and as we are informed that Washington appropriated 
 one of them to his own use, we will give his intelligence the credit 
 of supposing that he selected the best, which was this. 
 
 The Governor uses the expression — " My property which was 
 at Milton." This looks as if he had already given it up for lost ; 
 and it does not appear that he was ever compensated or indemni- 
 fied for it. He was differently circumstanced from all the other 
 Governors of Massachusetts, who were Englishmen sent out, and 
 whose interests and property lay in England; whereas all his 
 interests and worldly goods were planted in America ; and he had 
 only got to join the Liberty Party to have saved everything, and 
 continued a rich man. 
 
 As the prices of the articles are given in the above inventory, it 
 seems to have been the result of an actual sale, and not jotted 
 down from memory. 
 
ml:] BIARY AND LETTESS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 567 
 
 It is remarked in the letter above, where mention is made of the 
 necessity of attesting the inventory by an oflacial seal, that " there 
 is no Province Seal," and that the Lieut.-Govemor might " have 
 his private seal to it." This might imply that there never had 
 been a Province Seal. Governor Hutchinson's private seal is a 
 large oval one with his armorials on it. There is an impression 
 of this seal on an original letter of his, bearing date, Milton, 
 Feb. 6, 1774. 
 
 The epergne had 144 ounces of silver in it, and is set down 
 at £54. A silver kettle and stand would have been worth taking. 
 Such articles are not in the inventory and may have been saved. 
 After making due inquiry among the present representatives of 
 the family in England, it does not appear that such things are in 
 existence among them in the present day, nor have they ever 
 heard of them. All the silver-handled and other knives and forks 
 were seized and sold, except the dozen which I have, as mentioned 
 before. 
 
 18th. — Waited on Lord George Germaiiie to compliment 
 him on his appointment. Dined at Lord Hardwicke's. M' 
 Harris, M' Ju". Yorke, Sir Jn». Goodrick, and Miss Gregory, 
 L* Hardwicke, Lady Mary. Peggy was with me. M' Burch 
 and his wife, &c., came to town to-day, having been in danger 
 in the Downs, a Jamaica ship lost very near tliem. 
 
 Lord George Germaine, who had been Lord George Sackvillo, 
 resigned the office of Lord Privy Seal, and had now been recently 
 appointed Secretary to the American Department ; * whilst the 
 Earl of Dartmouth, a more popular nobleman, having withdrawn 
 from this latter appointment, received the Privy Seal — thus 
 effecting an exchange. This alteration had been completed within 
 a very few days, for on the 7th of this mcnth, only eleven days 
 ago, the Governor says — " I visited Lord Geo. Germaine. I think 
 he would not refuse the Secretary's place, if offered to him." And 
 on the next day, only ten days ago, he writes — 
 
 " I went to Lord Dartmouth's Levee. . . . Not a word of his 
 going out of office." 
 
 Another change had taken place in the defection of the Duke 
 of Grafton, who, on the meeting of Parliament three weeks ago, 
 openly joined the opposition by his unfavourable criticisms on the 
 King's speech, and opposing the Address. 
 
 * "Lord George Germaine is made Socretaiy of State for America." — 
 Waliwle's Letters, vi. 280. 
 
568 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. Fms 
 
 L1775. 
 
 There is a hurried letter of to-day's date, written apparently to 
 
 catch the first ship, and entered in the Governor's marble paper 
 
 Letter Book, which contains a few remarks worth transcribing. 
 
 It runs thus : — 
 
 " St. James's Street, 18 Nov', 1775. 
 
 D' S', — I feared that I should not be able to write to you by 
 this opportunity, but as I have seen L'' Geo. Germaine this morn- 
 ing, I will just tell you that a Bill is preparing to repeal the 
 Boston Port Act, and the restricting Acts upon Trade, to make a 
 more general provision, and to regulate trials, [?] &o., and to pro- 
 vide for licences to trade, or particular voyages by all persons who 
 are not in rebellion. I mentioned to him the propriety of return- 
 ing [or retaining ?] the claim to the payment of the Teas, which he 
 supposed would be done : but it is an Embargo at present. Excuse 
 me for this matter. I have been much indisposed. I love and 
 esteem you, and am, &c." 
 
 The name of the correspondent to whom the preceding was sent 
 is not recorded. Writing by the same opportunity, Elisha says to 
 his wife : — 
 
 " St. James's Street, Nov' 17, 1775. 
 " My Dear Polly. 
 
 "It is a long time since I have taken pen in hand, and I 
 now do it without knowing when or whether ever you will receive 
 this letter. I have but very short notice of this Man-of-War's 
 sailing, and can only acquaint you that after over six months 
 impatient waiting and anxious expectation, I received your letter 
 of the 3"^ Sep', the 13"" of last month, and you wUl believe me 
 when I say, no letter was ever so acceptable, or gave me equal 
 pleasure. About a fortnight ago I received another of the 15 
 Aug', inclosed to M' Brattle, and yesterday a short letter, dated 
 at Middlebro', 25"* Aug'. The one which you mention, of the 
 lO"", is not come to hand. I suspect it is carried into Boston. 
 
 G. Gage, M' Elucker, M' and Mr Burch, M' Eobinson, &c., are 
 arrived, and by them, after being twelve weeks without any 
 advices from Boston, we are acquainted of the iatention of the 
 troops to winter there ; which, had I known two months ago, I 
 think I should have been in Boston before this time; but M' 
 Flucker tells me it would be absolutely impracticable to get you 
 there," &c. 
 
 19t]).— M' Burch called, D' Chandler, M' Knox, General 
 Harvey. My distemper has not wholly left me. I was very 
 feverish last night, and staid at home to-day from church. 
 
 Went in a chair, and dined upon invitation from Doctor 
 
nisi] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 569 
 
 Douglas at the Chaplain's table, St. James's. Doctor Mariot, 
 M' John Jenkinson, M"^ Strahan, and Col. [blank], made the 
 company. They relied much upon Lord George G.'s declara- 
 tion in the H. of Commons, that he did not doubt they should 
 be able to procure as large a number of men as the Generals 
 judged to be necessary. 
 
 20th.— M' Burch and family, and M' Powell, and Flucker 
 dined with us. 
 
 21st. — I had a very poor night ; much of a fever ; the influ- 
 enza still sticking close to me. D' Murray came to town in 
 the evening, and called on us, from Norwich. 
 
 22nd. — I walked a mile in the morning, and thro' Piccadilly, 
 returning home by St. James's Park at noon, but have not 
 recovered my usual vigor. D' Murray and family, and M' 
 Greenough dined with us to-day. M' Ellis, who spent half an 
 hour with me yesterday, seems cool [?] in the present measures. 
 He said he would go to the Opera House, instead of the House 
 at Westminster ; and it hapned that so many other Members 
 were absent the same day, that they could not make 100, the 
 number requisite in order to ballot for a Contested Election, 
 which hindered all other business going on, as the Act for 
 Elections provides. There is a mystery also in the Opposition 
 being joined by a number of Lord Bute's people, as L** Ossory, 
 M' Fitzpatrick, besides his son-in-law Sir James Lowther, who 
 has been some time with them. 
 
 23rd. — Lord Gage called. The Bouse last evening went 
 upon the Militia Bill ; upon w""' the House divided — 26 only, 
 against 150 or 60. Charles Fox reflected on M' Ackland, a 
 Member, for the part he took in an Address from the Eegiment 
 of Malitia, and s* the Guards might as well have addressed. 
 Ackland says the Militia were not mercenary troops, but the 
 oflScers were men of estates sufficient to render them indepen- 
 dent — not Catiline's men of profligate lives who had wasted 
 their fortunes in gaming and debauchery. Some of the 
 Members roared : others called to Order. Charles Fox sat 
 still, as if it could not be supposed to fit him. 
 
 24th. — Dined with M' Paul Wentworth, where were pre- 
 sent Col" Nesbit, Major Williamson, M' Ware, the E. India 
 
670 DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTOHINSON. [f,Z'. 
 
 Director, M' Nutt, Thornton, a fat man, M' Delany of New 
 York, and F. Waldo. 
 
 One of the company mentioned the arrival of Michael Went- 
 worth from Piscataqua, and his dining with Washington at 
 Cambridge a few days before he came away, tIz. the 12"' of 
 September, This is extraordinary. 
 
 25tli. — Lord Townshend and M' John Yorke called. The 
 former says he is not without fears of Quebec; comj)lain8 of 
 Ministry's beginning too late to raise men. Sir Francis Bernard, 
 who came to town yesterday, dined with us ; T. Bernard, M' 
 Jo. Greene, and Jn°. Pownall, Jun'. 
 
 26th. — At the Drawing Koom, which was not full. In the 
 evening at Lord Mansfield's : company small : knew only Lord 
 March, and M' Davenport, a noted lawyer. 
 
 At Lord Chancellor's, where came in the Duke of North- 
 umberland, and the Bishop of LandafiFe. Afterwards at D^ 
 Heberden's, where found the Bishop of [blank], D' Hurd, a 
 Physician, D' Reed, Mauduit. 
 
 27th.— A dull day. I walked to Sewell's and Flucker's at 
 Brompton Row ; and spent the rest of the day in writing and 
 reading at home. 
 
 M' Oliver, [M.P.,j moved to address the L, [?] to inform the 
 movers to Amer. meas. [?] 10 for, 163 against.* 
 
 Whilst the Governor was thus employed in London, his son- 
 in-law Dr. Peter Oliver was writing the following letter in Boston, 
 which he sent to England : but which of the party he sent it to is 
 not mentioned. 
 
 "Boston, Nov' 27", 1775. 
 "Sir, 
 
 " I received a short letter from you some time back, but can't 
 
 find it at present. Sure I am I have preserved it among my 
 
 papers. To-morrow or next day my three children are to be 
 
 innoculated by D' Hope, Surgeon of the 52'^ Eegiment ; as also 
 
 Nurse, about a week hence : 2-3'^ of the remaining inhabitants are 
 
 innoculated — M' Spooner, among the Eefugees, as also Euggles, 
 
 Edson, Murray, Gilbert, &c., all in a few days. 
 
 " A droll life we live here, in constant expectation of every 
 
 kind of combustible, eatable, and drinkable materials from Eng- 
 
 * Rather obscure sentence. 
 
fZ\] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 571 
 
 land and Ireland ; when, instead thereof, once a month a ship or 
 brigg, either with soldiers a few, or a provision vessell from Cork 
 or Flimouth arrives, and but just escapes the Pirates who are in 
 the Bay. We have heard of a large fleet of soldiers and provisions 
 expected a month ago, but just one or two vessells have arrived 
 yet. The Pirates, or, as the rebells term them. Privateers, have 
 taken a Cork vessell. Cap" Bobbins of this town, with provision, 
 and carried into Marblehead ; and a number of Wood Vessells from 
 the eastward are carried into the worthless town of Plimouth. 
 
 " Casco Bay is burnt down by order of the Admiral. It is very 
 strange that piratical vessells will come into the Bay, and take 
 what they please, and Men-of-War lay [lie] in the Harbour and do 
 
 nothing. If you don't send us a senior A 1, to supersede the 
 
 present A 1, it won't be worth Lord North's while to send any 
 
 reinforcements more, for the rebells have almost got masters of 
 the sea already, and by the spring they will be quite. 
 
 " We are shamefully neglected — ^I mean the friends of Govern- 
 ment. If only 10,000 troops could have arrived here this fall, the 
 matter would have been over. 
 
 " I was taken sick the moment the Cerberus Man-of-War arrived 
 near enough to be known in the Harbour, with a slow fever, and 
 was confined 5 weeks to my chamber. Whether it was owing 
 to the joy and pleasure I felt, (for I must say I never felt 
 greater pleasure in my life) knowing by her return that the 
 matter was not going to be settled by any concessions on the part 
 of Great Britain. Bless me, how I felt ! However, either that or 
 an easterly breeze knockt me up, as I tell you ; but it has been of 
 infinite service to my constitution, and I never felt better. I want 
 some of the good porter you are wasting, and some of your mild 
 cheese. 
 
 " I wish if you come across any pretty view of any gentleman's 
 seat, you would send it me ; the Duke of Bridgwater's Canal, I 
 have a fancy, may be among some views. 
 
 " Eemember me to all friends — M' Bliss, and Blowers, &c. 
 
 " The Judge will write you ab' your wife, that is, about his 
 receiving a letter from her. None of your letters have gone to 
 Plimouth for these 6 months : there is no possible way, for the 
 rebells break open every letter. 
 
 " There are a number of vessells below. If, before the Boyne 
 sails, as I mean to send this letter by her, I should receive any 
 letter from you, I shall further acknowledge it. 
 " I am Y' Affectionately 
 
 Petee Olivke, Ju'. 
 
572 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. \ml 
 
 L1775. 
 
 " P.S. — If I ever thought I should enjoy my house again, and it 
 should not he destroy'd nor damaged, in the inside, I would remind 
 you of the paper hangings that are wanted in the diiFerent apart- 
 ments, hut at present am uncertain. 
 
 " I want to know where Jenny's whim is in London : we know 
 where it is here." 
 
 The Editor cannot explain half of Jenny's whims. 
 
 28th. — At Lord Dartmouth's, who I found reading my 
 History,* and more cheerful than at any time of late. After- 
 wards at the Treasury w*" M' Flucker, on his business. M'' Knox 
 tells me some of the transports are sailed from the river for 
 Ireland; that L* Cornwallis commands the seven Regiments; 
 but on their arrival in America, one of the Major Generals is 
 to meet them, and take the command. Lord Dartmouth thought 
 it would be the best way to go direct to Carolina, and not 
 to Virginia, which makes me think that was the first plan. 
 
 29th. — Went iuto the city to Devonshire Square and back 
 — the longest walk I have taken for five weeks past. D' 
 Cooper and Chandler called w"" Nichols : the former had a 
 letter of 11* October, w"'' he read, from New York, giving an 
 account of the rebels seizing 6000£ worth of the King's stores, 
 and of Vandeput's [?] threatening to fire on the town if they 
 were not returned, and of the Provincial Congress ordering 
 their return. 
 
 30th.— Called on M' Watts of New York. Dined with M' 
 Nesbitt, Grafton Street, with most of the company which dined 
 at M'^ Wentwortli's the 24*. 
 
 Four thousand men more it is said are to go from Ireland, to 
 be replaced by Hessians, for which purpose L* North intends to 
 move in the H. of Commons. A vessel at Barnstaple from 
 Boston. M' Flucker has a letter of Oct' 22°". What Franklin, 
 Harrison, and Lynch are gone about to the Camp before 
 Boston, is matter of great speculation here in Englaml. Some 
 think it is to excite Washington to action before winter : others, 
 to reconcile Washington and Lee. 
 
 ' This must refer to the two first volumes printed in America before the 
 war ; the third, which he left in MS. at his death, was not published till 1828, 
 and in England. Further on in his Diary he occasionally alludes to his 
 being at work on the third volume. 
 
Not.- 
 HT5 
 
 :] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 573 
 
 At this date the Chief Justice favours us with one of his 
 characteristic letters — always amusing, generally witty, Bometimes 
 sarcastic, and not infrequently very severe. He had, however, 
 been very hardly treated by his countrjonen, for whom, as a 
 zealous and an upright lawyer, he had for many years laboured for 
 a shamefully small salary; and he would have been something 
 above human if he could have suffered all this unmoved. He 
 writes as follows to Elisha Hutchinson : — 
 
 " Boston, Nov' 30, 1775. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Yours of Sep' 6 1 have before me. I have not heard from 
 Polly since I wrote to you last. I can get no letter to her. When 
 she receives what I have by me to send, they will employ her 
 some time in reading and meditation. 
 
 "I have no news to write but what I have wrote to your 
 father. 
 
 " You forgot to send to me 4 pounds of the best Scotch snuff at 
 4/ sterling g pound. We have little else to do now but to take 
 snuff; we snuff in the air for want of food : we take snuff at the 
 rebels for their barbarities : and we enjoy the snuff of candles, 
 when we can get them to burn ; and that sort of snuff often, 
 recovers expiring life. 
 
 " If you have mony [money] of mine in your hands, as I sup- 
 pose you have, pray send me two barrells of choice port wine. 
 Cox & Berry, whom I mentioned to you to pay for me, I have paid 
 them myself. 
 
 " If you have any of our N. E. Wilkes's fraternity with you, 
 pray be cautious, and tell the Governor, cavendo tutus [safe, by 
 being on your guard] : such anecdotes I have had which chagrin.* 
 
 " Give my love to Peggy, and to all my N. E. friends. 
 
 " The ship Jupiter from Nova Scotia with hay, was burnt last 
 week in the Bay, by the hay its taking fire : the men were saved. 
 Another, taken by the rebels, and carried into Cohasset. Several 
 provision vessells taken, and carried into Plimouth. 
 
 " I am obliged to mention one thing : — Gen" B le t expects, 
 
 I believe, to be made a Counsellor by your father's interest. He 
 behaves in such a manner as to possess nothing but contempt from 
 mankind. It would be debasing the Council lower than they ever 
 were sunk in years past. 
 
 * Chagriner, v. a., to vex, trouble, annoy ; an Anglicism of a French word 
 not now in use. 
 
 ■| Better not venture to fill up the omitted letters of this name.. 
 
574 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. !?,« 
 
 \1116. 
 
 " I cannot help complaining of distress, when occasioned by 
 man. There are a few of the Army who monopolize, and dis- 
 tress us. A load of sea coal is just bought by them @ 10 dollars 
 p chaldron, and we are forced to pay £3 6/ sterling for it. A 
 quantity of rum was lately fairly purchased @ 2/8 p gallon ; but 
 it being in possession of the Admiral, the monopolizers gave ^ 
 penny more and got it ; and now rum is sold @ 9/ sterling by the 
 hh''. A galled horse will wince. I do not suppose the General 
 knows of it. 
 
 " I have no agreeables to communicate, and so I break off with 
 assurances of Esteem and Affection. 
 
 " Elisha Hutchinson, Esq. Peter Oliver." 
 
 These beleaguered and imprisoned people must have heard 
 many interesting narratives of stirring events, and have witnessed 
 many strange scenes, and it is to be regretted that they did not 
 commit to paper accounts more full and more perfect than any 
 that have come down to us. The Chief Justice did not begin to 
 keep a Diary till the beginning of March, 1776. 
 
 December Ist. — Paid M' Ludiman half a year's rent of my 
 house to this day, and renewed the same agreement as the 
 last year. 
 
 Lord Hardwicke called, when D' Chandler hapned to be 
 come in just before, discoursed on American affairs. 
 
 In the evening we were all at Drury Lane house, Garrick in 
 the character of Archer [?] in Farquhar's Beams Stratagem, 
 Either he is too old for such a character, or I am too old to see 
 the excellencies which draw such crowds after him. 
 
 2nd. — M' Boutineau called upon me, arriving yesterday from 
 Bristol. Auchmuty, M' and M", with D' Cooper, jy Chandler, 
 and Silsby, dined with us. Mauduit, in the evening, says there 
 is a vessel from Quebec, and another from Boston. The latter 
 I doubt, and think it may be the Barnstaple man got into 
 Bristol. 
 
 3rd.— At the Old Jewry. W White. [Some shorthand.] 
 
 4th. — The reports from Boston were without foundation: 
 but two vessels from Quebec agree that the Provincials were 
 besieging St. John's Fort, and that Carleton was at the head of 
 1600 Canadians. It is said they were in want of provisions, 
 and few at St. Johns. 
 
T»c. 
 Ills. 
 
 ,] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, bib 
 
 After a brief interval of four days the Chief Justice seizes on 
 another opportunity, and writes again. As his late wife was Mary 
 Clarke, his mention of this family will be understood. 
 
 " Boston, Dec' 4, 1775. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 I have wrote fully by Gen' Burgoyne in the Boyne. I could 
 
 not let brother Clarke go without a line. He will tell you what 
 
 is new since. Doubtless Quebec is taken, and his two sons in it, 
 
 unless they could get off. We hear that the Ordnance Brig is 
 
 taken, and carried into Cape Ann. 
 
 " There is no "safe conveyance of letters but by a King's ship. — 
 Yours 
 
 " Elisha Hutchinson, Esq. Peter Olivek." 
 
 5th.^Called and spent half an hour at M' Mackenzie's, Hill 
 Street. M' Ellis called : expresses his doubt of the vigour of 
 the present measures. They seem, he says, to go on, but 
 Lord N. frequently lets drop some expressions which savour of 
 diffidence. He complains of the want of a plan, every part of 
 which to be subservient to the grand point, and which point 
 will be carried, if the plan be well executed. This, he thinks, 
 is yet wanting. 
 
 6th. — ^We had a large company to-day, feasting upon a very 
 fine haunch of venison, a present from L" Hardwicke : viz. — 
 M', M", and Miss Burch, Flucker, Waldo, Gray and wife, 
 Boutineau, Kobinson and wife. In the evening M' Ellis called, 
 and found a company of 14 Americans. 
 
 7th. — ^Introduced M'^ Sewall to L'* George Germaine.* Lord 
 Hardwicke sent me what are cailed Montcalm's Letters, which I 
 doubt not are fictitious, as they agree in no circumstance with 
 the true state of the Colonies at the time of the pretended 
 dates. 
 
 8th. — In the city : Clements Lane. Left with M'' Mauduit a 
 
 brief vindication of my character from the abuse of Johnstone, 
 
 Hartley, &c., in the House of Commons, for his advice upon the 
 
 propriety of printing it. 
 
 * According to Lord Mahon, this noble Lord got into hot water with his 
 colleagues. In his Hist., 3rd edit., vi. 218, he says — " That nobleman, ever 
 prompt and able, and in the Cabinet at least courageous, but hasty and 
 violent, had embroiled himself in quarrels with the chief officers under his 
 direction." 
 
576 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [? 
 
 Drc. 
 17T5. 
 
 M' Hunter, a merchant in the city, is said to have a letter 
 from Quebec, which mentions Gov'^ Carleton's march at the 
 head of 1600 men, and Maclean's at the head of 1200, to relieve 
 Fort St. Johns. 
 
 There is no evidence that Mr. Mauduit recommended that the 
 Vindication ahove allnded to should be printed, and perhaps it 
 never was printed. Attacks made by Members of Parliament in 
 the Honse of Commons upon the character or administration of 
 Mr. Hutchinson, where he had no power of reply, might well be 
 calculated to wound him at the time ; for party rancour then ran 
 high, and he knew that such abuse, however false, could be made 
 use of to serve party purposes. In contentions of this nature it 
 is too commonly the practice of a speaker not to run after truth 
 on an elevated platform, hut to descend to low-level language, and 
 try to justify himself by heaping indiscriminate abuse on his 
 opponent. If he cannot make himself right, he will, at all events, 
 make the other very wrong, so that the contrast shall be in his 
 favour : and, though he may not swim among virtues himself, he 
 will sink his adversary by heaping a multitude of crimes upon his 
 head. This may serve the turn in the heat of quarrel : but when 
 men have had time to cool, and reconsider the principles of attack, 
 their feelings will turn right round upon the accuser. Among the 
 collection of papers now in the possession of the Governor's repre- 
 sentatives, there are nineteen pages of folio size MS. in his hand- 
 writing, that appear, from the nature of the topics treated of, to 
 contaia the Vindication spoken of: and as it has been looked 
 over, and annotated upon in a different handwriting, we are invited 
 to conjecture that possibly these are notes or interlineations by 
 Mr. Mauduit. The points chiefly handled in this composition are 
 not new: they are such as we have encountered in this book 
 almost to weariness. It commences as follows, and a few passages 
 may be extracted just to show its nature : — 
 
 " The indiscriminate abuse of the servants of the Crown in the 
 public newspapers is become so common, as to make no great 
 impression upon the minds of their readers, &c. 
 
 " By acts of fraud and violence the late Governor Hutchinson's 
 most private papers have, at different times, come into the posses- 
 sion of persons disposed to do him hurt, who for that purpose have 
 published detached parcells of them, with comments and remarks, 
 torturing his words to an unnatural sense and meaning, totally 
 different from what they were intended to convey. It is never- 
 
Dec. 
 
 n?5. 
 
 J DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. Ull 
 
 thelesB now asserted, that no one fact has ever appeared to have 
 been materially misrepresented by him, nor any one proposal made 
 unfriendly to the rights and liberties of mankind in general, or 
 tending to take from the Province, of which he was Governor, the 
 privileges enjoyed by its Charter, or any powers or privileges from 
 the inhabitants of the Colonies, which can be made to consist with 
 their relation to Parliament as the supreme authority of the 
 British dominions [Empire is interlined over dominions], nor has 
 it been shewn that in his public character, he has interested himself 
 in controversies or disputes with the people of his Province farther 
 than the posts which he sustained, required and made his indis- 
 pensable duty. 
 
 * « • « « 
 
 " To a person long acquainted with the temper and disposition of 
 the people [in America], it was easy to foresee the effects of the 
 Stamp Act ; and although M' Hutchinson never doubted the 
 authority of Parliament, yet he doubted the expediency of 
 exercising its authority in that instance, and did everything 
 within his sphere to prevent it, by representations for that purpose 
 to persons of character in England. * * * 
 
 " A gentleman in England had procured and sent to Boston 
 several private letters from M' Hutchinson, all but one before he 
 came to the Chair, and from M' OUver, when he was Secretary of 
 the Province, to the late M' Whately. Every fallacious art had 
 been used to raise the expectations of the people, to inflame and 
 enrage them, before the contents of the letters were made pubUck. 
 The words of the great Eoman Orator, though in a case not exactly 
 similar, may be used with propriety on this occasion — Quis enim 
 unquam qui paulum modo bonorum consuetudinem nosset, literas 
 ad se ab amico missas, offensione aliqua interposita in medium 
 protulit, palamque recitavit ? Quid est aHud toUere e vita vitae 
 societatem, toUere amioorum coUoquia absentium ? Quam multa 
 
 joca Solent esse in epistolis, quae prolata si sint, iaepta divulganda. 
 
 « * » • » 
 
 " The great charge against him was, his obstinate attachment to 
 the prerogative of the Crown, and the authority of Parliament, &c. 
 
 « • * * * 
 
 " Britain and its Colonies are alike dependent upon the supreme 
 authority of the whole Empire. The King, Lords, and Commons 
 
 this supreme authority appeared to him to be the sole bond which 
 
 kept the several parts of the Empire together. If any way could 
 be found to give the subjects in the Colonies the same proportion 
 
 2 p 
 
578 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [' 
 
 Dec. 
 1775. 
 
 or share in this authority, whether as memhers of one or other of 
 the Houses of Parliament, or as Electors of the Kepresentatives of' 
 the people, he has ever thought they had a fair claim to it. If 
 their local circumstances made any distinction necessary, he thought 
 they had, for that reason, a stronger claim to as great a share of 
 legislative authority within each Colony respectively, as can 
 consist with the supreme authority of Parliament, which at all 
 events must be maintained so far as is necessary for the purpose 
 of preventing a separation, and preserving the peace and order of 
 
 the whole. 
 
 » « « * • 
 
 " It is a remark more ancient than any British Colony that — 
 Guhomatorum vituperatio populo placet; and every Governor of 
 Massachusets Bay, for near a century past, has hy experience 
 found the truth of it," &c. 
 
 We would wish to let bygones be bygones. Governor Hutchin- 
 son needs no laboured attempt to put his character in its proper 
 light. The sentiments scattered through the above Vindication 
 are those of a faithful servant to those who had consigned him to 
 a very important and responsible trust. If he had forsworn all 
 his oaths of fidelity and allegiance, he would have been highly 
 popular in America, but he would have been held in contempt by 
 all right-thinking people everywhere else. Though he had every- 
 thing in this life to lose, and nothing to gain by the constitutional 
 course which he took, and though his children had almost to begin 
 life over again in England after their reverses, his descendants 
 now living at all events look back with pride on the memory of 
 an honest man. 
 
 9tli. — At Lord Hardwicke's, who is fully of my sentiments as 
 to Montcalm's Letters. Afterwards at the Bishop of London's, 
 where I saw M"^ Eyder, his son-in-law, son of the late Chief 
 Justice, and Member for Tiverton ; and now a candidate for a 
 Peerage, his father dying whilst a Patent was making out for 
 him. He says a motion for postponing the Bill prohibiting all 
 intercourse, &c., until after the holidays, was rejected last night 
 by 120 odd against 30 odd. 
 
 Lord Gage called, and mentioned a letter his brother Gen. 
 Gage had rec"*, giving an ace' of a floating Battery coming 
 down Medford river, sunk after firing 95 shot. This Major 
 Duncan wrote from Bristol, receiving it from a Master of a 
 
^i] DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 579 
 
 vessel, who left Boston Oct' 25, and says it hapned the night 
 before. 
 
 In the evening at Oovent Garden Play House, to see the 
 Duenna Opera: M' Burch and family, Flucker, and my 
 daughter. 
 
 10th. — At the Temple Church, where Doctor Thurlow 
 preached. 
 
 At Court. Was introduced to Lord Cornwailis, who goes 
 this week for America. 
 
 In the evening at Doctor Heberden's : Bishop of Ely, W 
 Burrill [?] Cole, Holford, Watsou, &c. 
 
 11th. — Peggy and I dined at L" Dartmouth's : M" Pownall 
 and daughter, M' Todd, Nutt, and Blackburne. M' Pownall, 
 L* Galloway, and L" Warwick, were to have been there. 
 
 12th. — M' Blackburne called : says he has a letter of Oct' 17, 
 from the Mayor of Albany : mentions 600 of Schuyler's men 
 having returned home thro' that city sick, without clothes, in 
 want of rum, &c. 
 
 There seems to be a general expectation here that the 
 attempt against Canada will be frustrated. 
 
 M' Sewall and wife, Mauduit, Nichols, Burch, and Sewall Jun', 
 dined with us. 
 
 13th. — At M' Burch's desire went with him to the Levee, 
 St. James's. Dined at the Deanery, Westminster, by invita- 
 tion from the B"" of Rochester, who, with his Lady, the 
 Portug[uese] Ambassador, Abp. of Canterbury, Lord North, 
 Lord Dartmouth, B"" of Wor'ster, S' Geo. Howard, and M' 
 Kobinson, and the young Lord Apsley, made tlie company. 
 
 In the evening at Westminster school, where Terence's 
 Andria* was acted, with great applause : and I was much more 
 pleased than at Cov. Garden, or D. Lane. 
 
 14th.— At Lord Geo, G.'s Levee w* M' Burch. He says 
 letters from L"* Dunmore advise his having made three or four 
 descents with a small party of Regulars : taken 45 pi[eces] of 
 
 * Terence, originally a manumitted slave, was the author of the words — 
 " Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto." His Andria is said to have 
 been adapted from Menander. 
 
 2 p 2 
 
580 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [^ 
 
 Dec. 
 1775. 
 
 cation of diff* bores, and one of the Provincial Congress, and a 
 Captain of the Whiteshirts, prisoners. 
 
 15th.— At W Ellis's. He dislikes L" North's not better 
 digesting his plan of 8 Ocf^, on imports to the Colonies, in 
 consequence of the proposal from Nova Scotia. When the 
 Bill came before the House, Burke was prepared, and observed 
 how unequally such a general duty would affect the Colonies : 
 and besides, it would be a reduction in some instances of the 
 duty laid at present [on] molasses in particular, and also wines. 
 He says L* N. saw it [?], and his friends did not know what to 
 say ; and so the Bill is put off till after the holidays. 
 
 Called upon M' John Yorke, and left my name. 
 
 16th. — Lord Townshend called just before dinner, the second 
 time, and apologized. Blowers and wife, Taylor, with D' 
 Chandler, dined with us. 
 
 17th. — At the Old Jewry: W White; being the annual 
 collection for poor Dissenting Ministers in the country. The 
 congregation was small. Mauduit was there, and I have seen 
 him once before. 
 
 We are now impatiently expecting news from Boston. The 
 wind for 2 or 3 days past has been easterly, or in that quarter. 
 
 News from Boston imported momentous events at this period. 
 There is an original letter of Dr. Peter Oliver, written in Boston 
 on the 7th inst., and now on the water. He says he intends to 
 send a journal of the siege from its commencement on the 19th of 
 April. This is just what we want, for narratives of occurrences, 
 and descriptions of the interior of the city during this time are 
 far too few, and would be extremely interesting. Unhappily the 
 family in England have nothing of the kind among their papers. 
 There is his Diary, but it skips over and takes no notice of the 
 very period about which we should like to be informed. Perhaps 
 he never carried out his intention ; but his letters to a certain 
 degree supply this want, though very imperfectly. His letters 
 are amusing from the great flutter he is in from the state of affairs 
 by which he is surrounded. 
 
 " Boston, Dec' r, 1775. 
 " Sir, — This by Nath' CoiBn Jun'. I determine to write you by 
 all the opportunities for the future, when I have anything to 
 relate. 
 
D-c. 
 1?T5 
 
 ,] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 581 
 
 " I intend to send you a Journal of our Siege since April the 
 19'". At present we are concerned for the Ordinance [sic] Brigg : 
 there is one coming up which some suppose to be her : but many- 
 are afraid that the rebell Privateers have taken, her, which will 
 soon harrass us here. 
 
 " General Burgoine sail'd in the Boyne, Tuesday the 5th, by 
 whom I sent you a letter : also to the Governor, and Peggy, and 
 M' Selsby. If any more news transpires from Canada you shall 
 have it. 
 
 " 8th Instant. The Brigg supposed yesterday to be the Ordi- 
 nance Brigg, has turned out to be a Eebell Pirate, 75 men, chiefly 
 Irish people : 10 carriage guns, and 10 swi veils : taken by the 
 Fowey Man-of-Warr : George Montague, off of Gape Ann. The 
 Ordinance Brigg was taken the 1st Instant, by one of their pirates, 
 and carried into Cape Ann. 
 
 " Now for Bombardment, &c. 
 
 " It seems to us here that you in England are very ignorant of 
 our situation : you don't appear to be alarm'd at all. Sometimes 
 I think we shall all be swallowed up before the Nation gets 
 arousde [«tc]. 
 
 " To send an Ordinance Brigg of such a value out so poorly 
 mann'd and arm'd, looks very odd. We have 8 or 10 Pirate 
 vessells out between the Capes, and yet our Men-of-Warr are 
 chiefly in the Harbour. Two thirds of the troop and provision 
 vessells are out, yet we expect they will be taken, many of them. 
 
 " If I should not send you a small Journal of our Siege by this 
 opportunity, I will by the next, which will be in a few days. 
 
 " 9th Instant. Some of us believe, and some disbelieve the 
 Brigg being taken, but General Burgoine I believe has carried to 
 you the certainty of it. 
 
 " A number of Plimouth people are on board the Eebell Pirate. 
 I have heard one of the Howlands, own cousin to Ned Winslow 
 for one. Bless me ! What times do we live in. Drove from my 
 home — robb'd of my property and estate — and in no business — it 
 is enough to distract one. A very different winter I shall spend, 
 and much less agreeable than the winter before you married, when 
 I cou'd have Quails 10/. O.T. p' dozen, and now 5/. & 5/6 Sterling 
 will but just fetch a fowl : porck 1/6 Sterl. p' pound. 
 
 " Your wife braves it out : by the last accounts from her in 
 Sep', she is President of a Club composed of 8 ladies. They meet 
 over a tea table once or twice a week, in opposition to the Eebells. 
 They keep up their spirits strangely. As to the Col. [Watson ?] 
 I can't hear particularly ab' him. 
 
582 DIABY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTGHINSON. [J^/j. 
 
 " Do you really expect to live in N. England again in peace and 
 plenty ? I telieve you don't. For my part I don't know what to 
 expect, nor where I can he next summer : some think we shall be 
 ahle to go home in peace by July next. I think it impossible for 
 anyone but the supreme Being to form the least idea of what will 
 be the state of us. If we may judge from the Eesolutions of the 
 Grand Congress, from the conduct of the Colonies, &c., it won't 
 appear the least probable that we poor disconsolate Eefugees will 
 be able to visit our once peaceable habitations these 2 or 3 years, 
 without the greatest danger, and not untill these Eebell Breed are 
 entirely demolished. This once happy country must for the future 
 be miserable. Most of the Governments, especially these 4 Govern- 
 ments of N. England, are inevitably forfeited to His Majesty. All 
 we poor Eefugees must be made good our losses and damage. 
 Hanging people won't pay me for what I have suffered. Nothing 
 short of forfeited estates will answer : and after damages are 
 sufficiently compensated, then hang all the Massachusetts Eebells 
 by dozens, if you will. 
 
 " You may remember our Wilder, the Blacksmith : he has tum'd 
 Eebell. Neighbour Tupper, on the hill as you turn to the Meeting 
 House, or Boston Eoad : in fine, but a very few in Middleborough 
 but what are Eebells or Devills. The Parson stands foremost in 
 the list : he must be looked up one of the first. The rest of this 
 matter in my next. 
 
 " Sally [his wife, the Governor's daughter] sends her love to 
 you. — I am Y" Affectionately 
 
 " Petee Oliver, Jun'." 
 
 There is no address given, but the letter was evidently intended 
 for Elisha. 
 
 Considering that this letter is divided into several paragraphs, 
 distinguished under different dates of the month, possibly he in- 
 tended that this should serve for the journal of the siege of which 
 he speaks, for no other journal has come to hand ; and, as before 
 remarked, his Diary, in a small bound book, skips over this 
 interesting period, and begins again when they left Boston for 
 England, in March, 1776. 
 
 There is another letter by him further on, dated Dec. 20, which 
 is a continuation of the preceding, but it is sadly deficient in the 
 information we so much desire to have. It is given a few pages 
 in advance, and after the date Dec. 20. 
 
 18th.~Called upon General Gage, and had some talk with 
 
?,^5.J DIABT AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 583 
 
 him on the state of Boston. Afterwards at L" G. G. 
 office, where M' Pownall informed me of the accounts by 
 the N. York packet of Nov. 14, of the surrender of St. 
 John's and Chambly to the Prov. forces. The N, York 
 papers mention the burning of Falmouth, in Casco Bay, by 
 Cap" Mowat.* 
 
 Government here, from the last advices, seemed to be sure 
 Canade was safe ; w"'' makes this news more unpleasing, being 
 altogether unexpected. 
 
 19 th. — Walked into the city to Devons* Square and back. 
 Called upon M."^ Blackburne, Scotch Yard, Bush Lane. He 
 thinks the New Yorkers are more la favour of Government 
 than they have been, but fears the consequence of the Canada 
 news. 
 
 It is generally believed that Falmouth in Casco Bay, is 
 burnt by Cap. Mowat, and 2 or 3 more ships. The last time 
 I saw Lord G. G., he observed, that Adm. Graves had been 
 put in mind of his remissness : and he imagined he would 
 run to the other extreme. 
 
 20th. — Capt. Holland, who arrived in the packet from N. 
 York, called with Flucker, &c. He says the floating battery 
 was a small affair. The night a play was to be acted in 
 the town, the rebels sent from Phipps' Farm, a machine 
 to fire on the town : that one of their cannon burst, and 
 blew up their works, and one or two of their people were 
 killed or badly wounded. He confirms the stoiy of Churcli,t 
 and says he has copies of the letters for which he lies [?] 
 confined. 
 
 The following letter by Dr. Peter Oliver is very disappointing. 
 All the middle of it is taken up with particidars concerning the 
 innoculation of his children, and how many spots they had : and 
 as that is a part of American history that cannot interest general 
 
 * Frothingham's ' Hist, of Siege of Boston,' p. 253, speaks of Mowatt taking 
 his fleet out of Boston on the 4th of October. " It consisted of a sixty-four, a 
 twenty-gun ship, two sloops of eighteen guns, two transports and six hundred 
 men. They took two mortars, four howitzers, and other artillery. This was 
 the Fleet that burnt Falmouth. 
 
 ■f Dr. Church, an American, was charged with holding a correspondence 
 with the English.— See ' Hist, of Siege of Boston,' p. 258. 
 
584 DIART AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. [ 
 
 Dec. 
 1775. 
 
 readers, the Editor takes upon himself the responsibility of leaving 
 it out. The readable part of the letter runs thus — 
 
 "Boston, Dec' 20, 1775. 
 " Dear M'. EUsha ! 
 
 " I wrote you by Nat' Coffin, Ju', who went in the Tartar 
 Man-of-Warr, but sail'd before I was aware of it : so I send now 
 by M' Apthorp the letter I design'd by Coffin, and this. 
 
 " This is now the 22^ day since my children were inocou- 
 lated, &o. 
 
 " D' Hope, Surgeon of the 52* Regiment, was their Doctor. 
 
 " There are near 1500 inocculated in the new method of ex- 
 posing them to the open air. 
 
 " My duty to the Governor, and love to Billy. We expect soon 
 an engagement, for the Eebells have built or thrown up a strong 
 Redoubt upon the lower part of Phipps' Farm. We now and then 
 send them a shot, and a few shells. 
 
 " The Benown Man-of-Warr, with 5 transports, arriv'd last 
 Sunday ; and the Eebells have taken two or three rich ships from 
 up in the Bay. 
 
 " I am I remain [sic] Y" Affectionately, 
 
 " Your wife was well \ " Petee Oliver, Jun'." 
 
 10 days ago, and child."/ 
 
 This is but meagre information from the inside of Boston at so 
 momentous a season. The floating battery above mentioned came 
 down the Medford or Mystic river, to the north-west of Boston. 
 Phipps' Farm lay across the water, within range of Copp's HUl, or 
 thereabout. This place is omitted from most of the maps. It is 
 not down in Thomas Jefferys' interesting old map of Massa- 
 chusetts, 39 X 42 inches, bearing date Nov. 29, 1774, London. 
 
 When I was in Boston I was told there was an old lady still 
 living — a Miss Byles, whose late father had been on the Loyalist 
 side, and was connected with the family of Lieut.-Govemor 
 Andrew Oliver : and as this old lady represented one of the links 
 connecting the present with the past struggles of the Revolu- 
 tionary period, I thought I would go and see her ; and as some- 
 body said I had better make haste, I went at once. To the best 
 of my recoUeotion the house was situated towards Boston Neck, 
 somewhere in Hollis Street, and at a comer with some other street. 
 1 was given to understand that the city authorities wanted to 
 clear it away in order to effect some improvement at that place. 
 
Dec. 
 1775, 
 
 .] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 585 
 
 but she would not have it touched as long as she lived. It was 
 one of those old-fashioned houses covered on the outside with 
 horizontal planks lapping one over another, and painted some 
 light colour. My appeal at the front door was answered hy an 
 elderly female servant, and as I was a total stranger I had to 
 introduce myself. This I managed to do by recounting a few 
 particulars referring to the Byles family, and also to the Olivers 
 and the Hutchinsons, of which latter I was one ; and then, by 
 referring to some of the prominent events of the War of Inde- 
 pendence, of which she had heard, the aged domestic was softened, 
 and invited me to come inside. After a short interval she led 
 me to an inner room, and I found Miss Byles reclining on a 
 sofa; but I soon saw that there had already set in a consider- 
 able decay both of mental and physical power. As old people 
 remember the circumstances of youth best, I roused her by speak- 
 ing of Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, and of the hard usage that 
 an honest man had met with for being true to his trust — of 
 the blockade of Boston— the Battle of Bunker's Hill — and when 
 I said I was a great-grandson of Governor Hutchinson, she seemed 
 to awake ; and opening her eyes wide, she fixed them full upon 
 me. She was too feeble to say much : and her mind had also lost 
 its vigour, so that I was disappointed in picking up any scraps of 
 history, which I was in hopes I might have done from her own 
 personal knowledge, or from hearsay from her father who was 
 in Boston during the siege. She was too far gone to enter into 
 anything of this sort, and soon seemed quite lost, so I did not 
 prolong the interview further. 
 
 As I was coming away, the attendant stopped me in the par- 
 lour to show^ me something that might interest me, and it was 
 something in which she herself seemed to take interest. She 
 directed my attention to a fair size sash-window, the shutters of 
 which folded back right and left against the slope or splay of 
 the opening of the wall ; and unfolding the shutter next to her 
 right hand, so as to close half the window, she shewed me a 
 circular hole about four inches in diameter, cut out near the 
 upper part of it. This was a relic of the period of the siege. 
 She said that Miss Byles's father made this hole to spy through 
 when it became known that the Americans had seized Dorchester 
 Heights, and were fortifying their position on that hill, at the 
 distance of about half a mile south-east from his house. By 
 shutting the shutters he escaped observation, and he directed 
 the end of his glass through the hole. 
 
 The old lady, I afterwards heard, did not survive very long. 
 
 Keturu we then to the Diary. 
 
586 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS EUTCHINSON. \^i. 
 
 21st. — G. G., who had been appointed Secretary of Georgia, 
 came to me in the utmost distress, having received a letter 
 from M' Pownall last Saturday, acquainting him that the 
 King had no further occasion for his service, and had ordered 
 the Warrant for making out his Commission to be superseder). 
 He had wrote several letters to Boston, which had been opened : 
 one to his wife, wherein he says, that Gov* was still pursuing 
 the same cruel and unrighteous measures against America. I 
 never saw a man more distressed ; he having spent several 
 years of time, and all his fortune, in solliciting a place, and 
 now is ruined in an instant. He says Lord D. advised him to 
 come to me, and promised to speak to me. I told him I 
 had it not in my power to serve him. I saw no possibility of 
 explaining away his words. I cannot account for Lord D.'s 
 sending him to me.* I pity him under his misfortune. His 
 wife's family, I suppose, are high Liberty people, and he had a 
 mind to please them.f 
 
 22nd. — Called upon M'. Knox at the office. He says Gov* 
 will obtain men for America: — 4000 Brunswickers ; 4 or 
 6000 of the Scotch Keg*" in Holland ; and 3000 Scotch High- 
 landers, by Frazer and Murray ; which, with 4000 in Ireland, 
 and 3500 now embarking for S. Carolina, he supposes certain, 
 besides recruits daily raising in the Kingdom. 
 
 In the evening at Brompton Eow. 
 
 23rd. — At Lord Hardwicke's. Coming home. Brook Watson 
 overtook me, just arrived from Quebec, who confirms the taking 
 St. John's, and gives a most discouraging" account of tlie 
 state of Montreal and Quebec. 
 
 Caldwell, Copley % and wife, Jo. Green, Curwen, and Pick- 
 man, dined with us. 
 
 24th.— At the Temple Church. D' MorelL 
 
 A very dull Court. Lord Eobert Bertie told me that when 
 
 * To get rid of him ? 
 
 t He tried to serve two masters. Who " G. Gr." was, the Editor is not able 
 to say. A little research coxild ascertain who was Secretary of Georgia at 
 this date ; but as Georgia is so far from the field of our labours, it is not 
 necessary to turn aside after new pursuits. 
 
 X Often spelt Gopely, but now Copley. The great painter had recently 
 arrived from America, his wife and children having been for some time living in 
 England. I never spoke to his son Lord Lyndhurst but once, and that w.is at 
 his house in George Street, Hanover Square. 
 
mj.] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 587 
 
 the rebels inserted in one of the Articles of Capitulation, that 
 they were sorry the King's troops were eiigaged in so bad a 
 cause, his Eegiment all declared they would die in defending 
 the place, rather than agree to such an Article, which was sent 
 back with such declaration ; and returned without the clause ; 
 said to be inserted by mistake. 
 
 In the evening at D" Heberden's. 
 
 25th.— At the Temple Ch. D"^ Morell. [A few words in 
 shorthand.] D^ Chandler dined with us. 
 
 26th. — At Lord Hardwicke's, who told me another vessell 
 was arrived from Quebec. Carleton had returned : called a 
 Council of War, taking in the navy Commanders : resolved to 
 hall [haul] up the ships : take their men ashore ; found that, 
 of inhabitants, and all together, they could muster 1200 men, 
 and would hold out as long as they could : but its a very dark 
 affair. 
 
 We all dined with M' Comissioner Robinson at Brompton : 
 M' Watts, Doctor Cooper, and Chandler. 
 
 27th. — About ^ after nine, with my daughter in a post- 
 chaise, set out for Tylney Hall, and arrived ^ after three. 
 Found M^ and M" Doyley at M' Ellis's, and two nephews of 
 M' Ellis, scholars at Westminster. 
 
 28th. — A fine pleasant day, which I improved in a long walk, 
 tho' I have a bad cold. 
 
 29th. — ^Very fine day again. Kode on M' Ellis's horse in 
 comp'' w"' M"^ Doyley several times round the Park. The 
 breed of Alderney cows are singular : small heads, small, and 
 almost strai[gh]t horns. Sheep from Portland weigh about 1] 
 or 12 pounds a quarter : short legs, and thick, but are the 
 best flavoured meat I have met with. 
 
 M' St. John the H. Sheriff, and wife, his son a Clergyman, 
 and wife, and a Miss Lucas, dined and spent the evening. 
 
 The post brings an account of Gen. Burgoyne's arrival from 
 Boston, w*"* he left Dec. 5 ; and of a vessel with Ordnance 
 stores falling into the hands of the rebels. 1 have no letters 
 from N. England, nor London, which is mysterious. 
 
 30th. — Being a very fine day I walked an hour or more in 
 the Park and fields: and finding among M' Ellis's books 
 
588 DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON, [l^^^j. 
 
 Kempfer's History of Japan, which I had never met with 
 before, spent what time the family rules admit of in reading : 
 I say family rules, for never was a family more regular. Pre- 
 sently after nine the bell is heard for breakfast : it takes near 
 half an hour before all are together : breakfast and chat after 
 it, takes till near eleven : from twelve to two, in riding, walking, 
 or airing : from two to J after three, in dressing for dinner ; 
 which is followed with coffee, and some time after [with] tea ; 
 and the ladies for half an hour after, work or read ; which 
 brings eight o'clock, when the cards are called for; until 
 towards ten, the bell calls to supper ; and precisely at eleven 
 every one retires to his apartment to prepare for bed : — and 
 this I suppose to be the exact round for months together. 
 
 31st. — Although a pleasant day, yet it was agreed the church 
 was very damp and cold, and unsafe for any but M' Jones, the 
 Curate, and therefore the rest of the family excused them- 
 selves. My bad cough was a valid excuse for me. There are 
 two parishes — Eotherick and Newnham ; one of which M^ 
 Jones serves in the forenoon, the other in the afternoon. 
 
 Eeceived letters from Boston from L' Gov. and Judge Oliver, 
 and my son, so late as Decemb. 4. They continued to suffer 
 from want of necessaries, and the weather was severe. 
 
 COLOPHON. 
 
 The letters received from Boston, bearing date so late as Decem- 
 ber the 4th, as mentioned above, are unfortunately not forthcoming, 
 80 that we lose what additional information concerning the interior 
 of the place they may have contained. 
 
 We have now arrived at the end of the year 1775, and, as the 
 volume is thick enough, this is a good place to stop. What relates 
 to the end of the siege, the evacuation of the city, and the depar- 
 ture of the Loyalists, some to Halifax or some to England, must 
 stand over for the present. In this volume nothing of Governor 
 Hutchinson's Diary has been curtailed or omitted ; but, as far as 
 we have gone, the whole has been transcribed faithfully, to the 
 best of our knowledge and belief, without attempting to disguise 
 any of the carelessnesses of grammar or phraseology incident to 
 hurried and unstudied writing. This has been done in order to 
 
Dec. 
 1775 
 
 .] DIARY AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HUTCHINSON. 589 
 
 give the reader everything as it stands in the originals; but 
 considering that the Diary goes on to May, 1780, that the whole 
 Diary comprises seven volumes, that little more than the three 
 first and three thinnest have hitherto been dealt with, and that 
 the four thickest are yet to come, together with the letters of 
 concurrent date, it is plain that one more volume could not con- 
 tain everything if the same plan were followed ; nor would it be 
 desirable, for the length and the repetitions would become tedious 
 and wearisome. Should such an undertaking be entered upon, a 
 judicious selection of the salient points and the newer facts would 
 serve all the purposes of historical information. 
 
 By the date at which we have arrived, both countries were 
 engaged in open war ; and this war, as between a Mother Country 
 and her Colonies, in its dimensions, and in its consequences, has 
 never been exceeded in the history of the world. It would be 
 childish now to speculate upon what ought to have been done, or 
 what ought not to have been done. We must imagine ourselves 
 living before the fact, as the actors in it were, and not afterwards, 
 as we are at present. It is so easy to be wise afterwards. 
 
 With these remarks the Editor begs to bid his readers farewell ; 
 and he does so with the sincere wish that it will give them as 
 much amusement to turn over this volume as it has given him 
 amusement to compile it. 
 
 THE END. 
 
( 590 •) 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abekcbombie, Col., on Gen. Gage, 232, 
 
 391. 
 Account book mems., 33, 75, 559. 
 Acts of Parliatiient, 4 ; Boston Port 
 
 Bill, 178, 181 ; for restraining trade, 
 
 376-7, 379, 392 ; of conciliation, 402-3, 
 
 408 ; for bribery, 439. 
 Adams, S., 16, 163, 167, 183, 356. . 
 Allegiance in tlieory, 234. 
 American grievances, 19. 
 Amherst, Sir J., 61, 226, 369. 
 Amptliill Park, 516. 
 Anburey's remarks on the war, 1. 
 Apthorp, Bev. Dr., 223. 
 Autliority of Parliament, 4 ; admitted, 
 
 6, 12; denied, 13, 14; enforced, 213, 
 
 233. 
 Aylesbury visited, 249, 513. 
 
 Baiikes, Mr., and the hot room, 428. 
 Baronetcy offered, 221, 280, 283. 
 Barrington, Lord, Sec. at War, 309, 
 
 310. 
 Bath, 313, 348, 354. 
 Battle of Lexington, 455, 466. 
 Battle on Noddle's Island, 483-4. 
 Battle of Bunker's Hill, 489, 494, 503, 
 
 506, 637. 
 Beaiichamp, Lord, on America, 197-8, 
 
 315. 
 Beans at their market value, 399. 
 Bernard, Sir Francis, 8, 18, 21, 64; 
 
 threatened with impeachment, 22-3 ; 
 
 at Aylesbury, 194-5 ; death, 24, 
 
 Note. 
 Bernard, Lady, 22. 
 Bevor (Beevor), Mr., 239, 240, 467. 
 Blackstone, Judge, 325. 
 
 Blaquiere, Col., invested, 204, 489, 
 
 490. 
 BlisB, Mr., 341-2. 
 Blowers, S. L., Notice of, 341. 
 Boat sunk, 482. 
 
 Books for Harvard College, 450. 
 Boston, Mass., 16, 17, 178, 181, 186, 
 
 188, 263, 353, 357. 
 Bribery Acts, 439. 
 Bribery at Aylesbury, 249 ; elsewhere, 
 
 318. 
 Brick and tile making, 235. 
 Bristol described, 345. 
 British Museum visited, 228. 
 Bruce, the traveller, 193, 202, 404, 
 
 498. 
 Buckingham House settled on the 
 
 Queen, 425, 449. 
 Buckinghamshire, Lord, 240, 256, 311. 
 Bunker's Hill battle, 489, 496, 503, 506, 
 
 537. 
 Bnrch, Mr., of N. England, in Norfolk, 
 
 242. 
 Burke, Edmund, 16, 62, 187, 316. 362, 
 
 381 ; his qualification, 454. 
 
 Cambhidge, Mass., 526. 
 
 Camden, Lord, 311, 373, 408, 410, 
 
 471. 
 Canada conquered, 8. 
 Canal boat on the Erie canal, 519. 
 Canor, Dr., 169. 
 Carriages, 563, 568. 
 Cash accounts, 33, 75, 559. 
 Chancellor, Lord, 196, 312. 
 Chatham, Lord, asserts the authority of 
 
 Parliament, &c., 213, 219, 220, 331, 
 
 366, 376, 388. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 591 
 
 Chelmsford, 252. 
 
 Chelsea physic garden, 402. 
 
 Chicksand Priory, and Sir G. Osborne, 
 
 520. 
 Chief Justice P. Oliver, 133, 140. 
 CliilJ run over, 476. 
 Cliiltern Hills, 515. 
 Clarke family, 59, 181, 488, 540. 
 Olive, Lord, 303, 424. 
 Communion, 509 ; at the Temple 
 
 church, 464. 
 Cooke, Captain, 481. 
 Cope, Sir J., his mansion, 536. 
 Copley, the painter, 480, 586. 
 Copp's Hill, Boston, 496. 
 Cornwall, Mr., 188, 366. 
 Cornwallis, Lord, 579. 
 Court and Levees, 184, 204, 269; 
 
 etiquette, 273-4-5, 281, 547. 
 Court removed to Cambridge, Mass., 
 
 526. 
 Crisis impending, 338. 
 Currency depreciated, 49, 53. 
 Curweu, Judge of Admiralty, quoted, 6. 
 
 Dalby's arbitration case, 440, 445, 456. 
 Dalrymple, Col., 27, 79, 188, 228. 
 D.irtmouth, Lord, 284; Privy Seal, 
 
 556. 
 De Grey, Lord Chief Justice, 289. 
 Debates in Parliament, 360, 366, 406, 
 
 408, 411, 415,424, 446, 547, 553, 555, 
 
 569. 
 Degrees at Harvard College, 292. 
 Devises described, 344. 
 Domesday Book, 343. 
 Dorchester Heights, 497. 
 Douglas, M.P., and his speech, 553. 
 Duel betvreen Temple and Whately, 
 
 88. 
 Dunning, Lord Ashburton, 368. 
 Dutch trade with America, 339. 
 
 Edbn, Mr., 197, 474. 
 
 Election at Norwich, 257. 
 
 Elephants, 440, 448. 
 
 Ellis, Welbore, 197, 203, 320, 482, 498, 
 
 535, 587. 
 Enoenia at Oxford, 180. 
 Erasmus quoted, 510. 
 Erving, Mr. George, 177, 178. 
 
 Etiquette at Court, 273, 274. 
 Expense accounts, 33, 75, 559. 
 
 Falls of Niagara, 517. 
 
 Falmouth, Casco Bay, burnt, 583. 
 
 Fifth of Novembc-r, 280. 
 
 Finchley Common and the Gibbets, 
 
 521. 
 Fishery at Newfoundland, 407. 
 Fitzroy, Lady, 225. 
 Flitton, and the Grey family, 516. 
 Floating battery, 578, 583. 
 Fort Hill. Boston, 441. 
 Fossils for Harvard Museum, 450. 
 Foster, Col. John, 32, 195, 249. 
 Fox, Charles, 327, 362, 368, 569. 
 Fraiiklin, Benjamin, 5 (note), 12, 
 
 13, 59, 82, 
 
 185, 192, 356, 420, 483, 497. 
 Franklin, Gov. William, 219. 
 French in Canada, 7, 8, 340. 
 Furle, or Firle, in Sussex, 223, 523. 
 
 G. G. in a dilemma, 586. 
 Gage, Gen., 125 ; appointed, 149 ; re- 
 called, 508; arrived in England, 557, 
 
 558. 
 Gage, Mrs., 223, 497. 
 Gage, Lord, 183, 223, 229, 523. 
 Gardening operations, 399. 
 Gairick, David, 575. 
 Geology and agriculture, 345. 
 George IIL's statue at New York, 520, 
 
 note. 
 Grermaine, Lord George, 294 (note), 320, 
 
 554, 556, 567. 
 Gibbets on Finchley Common, 521. 
 Gideon, Sir Sampson, 235. 
 Glynde, in Sussex, 224, 523. 
 Godolphin, Lord, 235. 
 GofTe and Whalley, 32. 
 Gooseberry bushes, 399. 
 Gordon, Sir Archibald, 343. 
 Governors salary, 136; appointment, 
 
 148. 
 Grafton, Duke of, 374 ; and his old 
 
 clothes, 429 ; defection of, 548, 556, 
 
 567. 
 Granada lawsuit, 307. 
 Graves, Admiral and Lord, 499, 527, 
 
 583. 
 
592 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Grey family at Flitton, 516. 
 Grotii'.s quoted, 511. 
 
 H. not aspirated, 256. 
 
 Hack wood, Hants, seat of the Duke of 
 Bolton, 535. 
 
 Hanby family, 253. 
 
 Hancock, John, 130, 165, 340, 349,356. 
 
 Haidwicke, Lord, 185; his thirst for 
 news, 337 ; bis estate at Wrest, 516. 
 
 Hartley and Quincy, 317. 
 
 Harvard College grants degrees, 292. 
 
 Heberden, Sir W., 228 : Dr. Heberden, 
 329, 422, 552, 553. 
 
 Highwayman's attack, 554. 
 
 Hobart, Earl of Buckinghamshire, 240. 
 
 Holkam, and Lady Leicester's house, 
 241. 
 
 Hollis, Mr., his temper and his death, 
 322. 
 
 Hot loom, 428. 
 
 Howe, Sir W., 371. 
 
 Hubbard's History, 163 (note). 
 
 Hume, David, and the Colonies, 553. 
 
 Huntingdon, Lady, 348. 
 
 Hutchinson, Abigail, account book of ,33. 
 
 Hutchinson, Thomas, birth of, 41 ; 
 enters Harvard University and takes 
 his B.A. degree, 46; marries, 49; 
 fever, 50 ; visits England, 51 ; chosen 
 Repreeentntive, 49 ; wife dies, 54 ; 
 Judge of Probate and Justice of the 
 Common Pleas, 55 ; Lieut.-Govemor, 
 57 ; Chief Justice, 66 ; house attacked 
 by a mob, 67, 71 ; Governor's Com- 
 mission, 81 ; his appointment, 148 ; 
 voyage to England, 152 ; audience 
 with the King, 157, 287 ; endeavours 
 to remove the Port Bill, 178, 190, 
 353, 357 ; examines Domesday Book, 
 343 ; at Bath, 343 ; Col. Hamilton's 
 house in the Crescent, 348 ; Bristol, 
 345 ; visits Lady Huntingdon, 348 ; 
 account of liis death, 450 ; his anxie- 
 ties, 261, 500 ; bis wife's tomb, 394 ; 
 his seal. 111 (note). 
 
 Hutchinson, T., Junr., 96, 370 ; Mary, 
 or Peggy, 108, 200, 274. 
 
 Impeachment of Sir F. Bernard,' 22, 
 23; of Chief Justice P. Oliver, 138. 
 
 Importation and non-importation, 24. 
 Independence mooted, 11 ; deprecated, 
 
 15 ; declared, 16, 181, 267, 390. 
 Indians, 8. 
 
 Instructions to Governors, 64 (note). 
 Inventory of goods, 559. 
 
 Jamaica lawsuit, 308. 
 
 Jenkinson, Mr., 184. 
 
 Johnson quoted, 10, 13. 
 
 Johnstone, Gov. Geo., 548. 
 
 Judges' salaries, 133; their amount, 
 
 136, 139. 
 Justice, Chief, 69. 
 Justices of the Peace, 75, 409, 410. 
 
 Keenb, Mrs., 197, 287. 
 
 Kellond, Thomas, 32. 
 
 Kett's Castle, near Norwich, 237, 239. 
 
 King, the, did not attend Council, 378. 
 
 Kings, the, conference with Gov. H., 
 
 157. 
 Kingstone, Duchess of, 322. 
 Kappis, Dr., 193, 370. 
 
 Ladies' Parliament, 318. 
 
 Land-tax, 557. 
 
 I^aughton church, Sussex, 524. 
 
 Lee, Sir W., 194, 249. 
 
 Lee-Junius Americanua, 331, 339, 398, 
 
 419, 434, 465. 
 Letters, printed and published, 82, 160, 
 
 192, 210, 219, 221, 222, 244, 300, 309, 
 
 353, 398, 420, 474, 501, 525, 577. 
 Lev^e at St. James's, 184, &c. 
 Lewes, Sussex, 225, 524. 
 Lexington, battle of, 455, 466. 
 Lieut.-Gov. A. Oliver, his death, 129, 
 
 132 ; his burial, 130, 133. 
 Lighthouse at the Nore, by Stanley, 
 
 243. 
 Lime, price of, 235. 
 Lind, Dr., quoted, 511. 
 Livius, Mr., 187. 
 London Tavern, 204. 
 Longevity, 196, 396, 517, 
 Lord Mayor's Show, 279, 291. 
 Loudoun, Lord, 56, 60, 507. 
 Loyal families giving way, 267. 
 Loyalists and their losses, 271. 
 Lyude, Judge, 61, 74, 81 (note). 
 
INDEX. 
 
 593 
 
 Mackie, Gen., cautious about writing, 
 340. 
 
 Magistrates appointed, 75. 
 
 Magna carta, 228. 
 
 Mansfield, Lord, 191, 193, 202, 373. 
 
 Marlborough described, 841. 
 
 Marsbfield and Scituate, 403, 409. 
 
 Martial law, 422, 423, 428. 
 
 Maacarene, Gen., 282. 
 
 Massachusetts settled, 2 ; boundary 
 lines, 3, 4; disloyal from the be- 
 ginning, 12 (note), 16; old nobility 
 of, 269. 
 
 Medical prescriptions, 552. 
 
 Meeting at Boston, 529. 
 
 Melancthon quoted, 510. 
 
 Michaelmaa Term procession, 281. 
 
 MUton, House at, 165, 490, 502, 557, 
 559. 
 
 Mob law in Massachusetts, 246-7-8. 
 
 MolinsBus quoted, 511 
 
 Monmoath, Duke of, bed-chamber, 309. 
 
 Montagu family, 211. 
 
 Montcalm's Letters, 575, 578. 
 
 Museum, British, 228. 
 
 Museum, Cox's, 229. 
 
 Neqbo hanged, 543. 
 
 New York, 24, 520 (note). 
 
 Newfoundland fishery, 407. 
 
 Newmarket and the Bace Course, 236, 
 243. 
 
 NoB-importation resolves, 79. 
 
 Norwich visited, 236 ; election at, 257. 
 
 North, Lord, 11, 62, 287 ; slipped and 
 fell, 315, 326 ; his conciliatory mea- 
 sure, 380, 386. 
 
 North-west Passage attempted, 454. 
 
 Oliteb, Lieut.-Govemor Andrew, 18, 
 21 ; his conunission, 81, 136 ; death, 
 129 ; funeral, 133. 
 
 Oliver, Peter, Chief Justice, 133, 137. 
 
 Oliver, Dr. Peter, 68, 76, 151, 246, 
 263. 
 
 Oliver, Tiiomas [?], the new Lieut.- 
 Govemor, 173, 320. 
 
 Opposition encourage rebellion, 58, 
 355. 
 
 Osborne, Sir George, 520. 
 
 Otis, 6, 9, 65, 74. 
 
 Paou, Gen. 401, 407, 482. 
 Parliament dissolved, 253, 254 ; opened 
 
 by the King, 310. 
 Parliamentary authority, 4, 11, 266 ; 
 
 grants, 10; debates, 360, 366, 3G7, 
 
 547, 553, 555. 
 Pelham, Lord, at Stanmer, 523. 
 Pemberton, Dr., 168. 
 Penn, Gov. E., 555. 
 Pequod Indians, 8 (note), 174. 
 Petitions to the King, 837, 339, 349, 
 
 356, 390; from the Merchants of 
 
 London, 358, 360, 363; from New 
 
 York, 445; from Wilkes, 488. 
 Philadelphia, 24. 
 Physic, 402, 522. 
 
 Pitt, Mr., 322 ; Lord Pitt, 547, 554. 
 Plate, silver, 394, 537, 561, 567. 
 Polton, Mr. Hans Stanley's seat, 536. 
 Pope's villa, Twickenham, 197, 482. 
 Portraits, 564. 
 Pownall, Gov. Thomas, 6, 17, 56, 251, 
 
 264, 266, 303, 313; and the Council, 
 
 194 ; joins the Tory Ministry, 303, 
 
 355. 
 PownaU, John, 21, 183, 273. 
 Province Seal, 139. 
 Puritans, and their persecutors, 2, 3, 
 
 510. 
 
 Quack doctor and dead wife, 422. 
 
 Quebec, 540, 547, 587. 
 
 Queen of Denmark, 447. 
 
 Queen's sympathy, 439. 
 
 Queen's elephants, 440, 448. 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, 296, 298 ; visit to Lord 
 North, 299, 326 ; to Lord Dartmouth, 
 304; to Hartley, 317; to Morris, 
 318,322; his death, 455. 
 
 Babbit warrens, 236. 
 
 Bebels, in Parliament, 58, 59; to \>v 
 tried in England, 183, 219, 220. 
 
 Begatta on the Thames, 475. 
 
 Begloides, 32, 45. 
 
 Bemonstrance &om New York, 445. 
 
 Bepresentation in Parliament, not pos- 
 sible to the Americans, owing to 
 distance, 13, 335. 
 
 Beview on Blackheath, 486. 
 
 Bichmond, Duke of, 311, 406. 
 
 2q 
 
594 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Eifle-ahooting, 517. 
 Robbins family, 161 (note). 
 Rochford, Lord, 556. 
 RoekiDgham, Marquis of, 373, 406. 
 Romney Mafsli, 280. 
 Royal Nursery, 276. 
 
 Ut. Albans, 521. 
 
 Salisbury described, 350. 
 
 Sanford family, 48. 
 
 Saye and Sele, Lord, 194, 195, 446. 
 
 Seal of the Province, 139. 
 
 Sedan chairs, 274. 
 
 Sewall, Attorney Gen. in Mass., 25, 
 
 536, 537. 
 Sheep from Portland, 587 
 Shuldam, Admiral, 539, 542, 547. 
 Silver tankard, 394; and plate, 537, 
 
 561, 567. 
 Sloane, Sir Hana, 228. 
 Smith, Lord Chief Baron, 225. 
 Solander, Dr., 405, 428, 481. 
 Soldiers in Boston, 79. 
 Sorbiero quoted, 510. 
 Spain mistrusted, 448. 
 Stamp Act, 72, 73, 577. 
 Stanley, and his Lighthouse, 243. 
 Stanmer, seat of Lord Felbam, 623. 
 Statue of George III. at New York, 
 
 520 (note). 
 Stow palace, 515, 521. 
 Suffolk, Lord, 192, 207, 267, 279. 
 Supreme and unlimited, 14, 409. 
 
 Tankabd of silver, 394. 
 
 Tar and feather, 164, 435, 436. 
 
 Taxation, 4, 10, 11 ; internal and ex- 
 ternal, 334. 
 
 Taylor, "the rich Peter Taylor," 847, 
 349, 392. 
 
 Tea daatroyed, 94, 139, 181, 186, 190, 
 
 233, 270. 
 Temple family, of Stow, 515. 
 Temple, John, 85, 86, 184, 192, 205, 
 
 208, 209, 222, 226, 244, 279. 
 Theatre, 278, 396, 441, 446. 
 Thuanus to hia deceased wife, 54. 
 Thurlow, Mr., the Attorney-General. 
 
 197. 
 Tomb of his wife, 394. 
 Tombstone appropriated, 497. 
 Tooth left at Whitchurch, 351. 
 Townshend, Lord, at Baynham, 241. 
 Troops in America, 186. 
 Tylney Hal], Hants, 535, 587. 
 
 Uppeb 10,000 in New England, 269. 
 
 Van. Mr., a blunt M.P., 316, 319, 327. 
 
 Vindication, 575, 576. 
 
 Vosaius quoted, 510. 
 
 Voyage to England, 130, 140, 152. 
 
 Warjunster described, 349. 
 
 Warren's oration, 529. 
 
 Watson family, 149. 
 
 Wedderbum, Sol.-Gen., 183, 195. 
 
 Wells, Norfolk, 240. 
 
 Welsted, Rev. Mr., 49. 
 
 Welsted, Mrs., her death, 419; lier 
 
 gold watch, 502. 
 Wentworth, Paul, 186, 218. 
 Whately, and the Letters, 81, 203. 
 Wheat dibbled instead of sowed, 240. 
 Whitchurch, and his tooth, 351. 
 Wilkes made Lord Mayor, 259, 291, 
 
 488 ; elected M.P., 267. 
 Wilton carpets, 350. 
 Wrest, Lord Hardwicke's seat, 516 
 
 521. 
 
 ^.ONDOK : rraSTSD BY WiLI.IAM CLOWES ASD SOKS, JJMITED, ST-VUTOED STBEET 
 AND CBAItINO CItOSS.