Cambridge April 23d 1781 Sir,

I1 expected at an earlier period than the present to have forwarded you a warrant from a justice in this County for apprehending the persons supposed to have committed the late riot in this place; but have been unavoidably delayed.

Mr. Mellen2 a young gentleman of the College will do himself the honour to hand you this with the complaint and warrant from Justice Mason.3 I should have waited on you my self but as those whom we intend to apprehend have been informed of my being engaged in this business—should they see me in town their apprehensions of an arrest may induce them to secrete.

Colo. Baldwin4 the Sheriff of this County is now in Boston on the committee appointed to settle the accounts of the army. Mr. Mellen will be happy faithfully to comply with any directions you may be pleased to give him with respect to finding the Colonel and all other matters in which you may need assis to give him your directions.

I presume there is a law enabling the Justice of one County to strengthen the warrant of a Justice in another though I have been unable to find it.

I mentioned to you the necessity of summoning Ferrars for a witness. The Justice has accordingly directed the Sheriff to require his attendance.

Should you be unable to attend the recognizing the persons to be apprehended I wish you would by the bearer let me know in what sum you would have them recognized and indeed every matter you wish may be 152 particularly attended to. Though I am but a youth not only in life but in my profession yet I will use my utmost endeavours that matters shall be conducted with regularity and propriety.

If possible I wish also you would let me know at what time the persons will be brought to Cambridge that such arrangments may be made as that the business may be conducted with ease and expedition.

With the greatest respect I am Sir your most obedient servant B Lincoln

PS Mr. Mellen will wait on you till he receives your directions to return to this place.

RC ; addressed: “The honble. Robert Treat Paine Esquire Boston”; endorsed.

1.

Benjamin Lincoln, Jr. (1756–1788), was the son of RTP’s classmate of the same name and like his father graduated from Harvard (A.B., 1777). He was admitted to the bar in Apr. 1781, the month this letter was written, and practiced law until his untimely death at the age of thirty-one (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, vol. 19, forthcoming).

2.

There were two brothers in the Mellen family at Harvard at this time, both graduating in 1784. They were Henry (1757–1809), later a lawyer at Dover, N.H., and Prentiss (1764–1840), later a lawyer, U.S. senator, and chief justice of Maine (J. F. Binney, History of the Prentice Family [Boston, 1883], 178, 179).

3.

Thaddeus Mason (1706–1802) graduated from Harvard (A.B., 1728), was clerk of the Middlesex County Court of Common Pleas for more than fifty years, and was appointed a justice of the peace in 1749 and register of deeds in 1781 (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 8:449–455).

4.

Loammi Baldwin (1745–1807) served as colonel of the 26th Regiment during the Revolution and then as sheriff of Middlesex County from 1780 until 1794. He is best remembered for his pioneering civil engineering work on the Middlesex Canal and his promotion of that project (American National Biography).