1774? Sr.,1

I recd. yours2 Containing an Answer, to some Conversation, I had with you before I went to Boston, & am very much surprized by the whole Drift & Spirit of yr. Letter to find you so totally mistook the design of that Conversation, you must Remember I then told you the reason of mentioning it to you was, because I was Sensible it must affect you tenderly. I supposed you would use your influence to accomodate the matter & diswade your Mother from the like Freedoms for the future, & I told523 you I intended to talk with her about it but had no proper Opportunity, had I proceeded in the regular course of my business without giving you notice, you might have had Some grounds for Complaint of my Conduct; but when from the nature of the thing, I could have no other View but yr. peace & deliverance from trouble of a delicate kind, I am surprized at the Resentment to say nothing Worse which appears in your Letter, & my private Reflections to which you refer me tell me I am influenced neither by Prejudice or Partiality, that I have no inclination to injure the innocent, but to protect & vindicate them, & that I am not fallen a Prey to i:e. urged on by the bitter Passions of Hatred & Revenge as you so plainly insinuate; indeed I am not, my Conduct for Seven Years past had been very different, If I had had the least Ill Will towards yr. Family; Facts are Stubborn things & I have had no Occasion to boast my self yr. Freind, & the time will come when you will see clearly that the Conversation I had with you, was designed to serve you & that it had a tendency so to do.

As for my espousing the Drs.3 Character, you cant wonder at it considering the Acquaintance I have had with you him & the cruel manner in which he has been treated, put yr. Self in his Place, infirm in Constitution, a growing Family, enduring many Providential afflictions, & to have the Venemous Tongue of Slander & Defamation brandish'd not only at his Peace of Mind but his very Bread, his Family thrown into such Distress that language cant paint; in Such a Scituation would you like to be forsaken by those with whom you have had the Longest Acquaintance & be left a Prey to the dire Effects of Hatred & Revenge, no you would not; & therefore tho' Virtue is its own Reward, & will eventually protect itself, yet Vice Calumny & Reproach must be born Testimony against for Peace & Truth sake.

As for the Fleer with which you conclude, I only Say, that every one judges for himself of the difference between a Man's public Capacity & private life, what yr. Opinion is of the merits of my private life I easily judge by Insinuation, if you was to hear the whole I have to say on the Subject & consider it duly without too great tenderness & partiality, you might be disposed to alter many of the expressions in yr. Letter, I have no disposition I assure you to injure or trouble you; but if Trouble comes upon you from a quarter where perhaps you might help it, you must not blame me, what I hear with my Ears & see with my Eyes I know; & what is reported to me from indubitable Evidence I must believe.

524

I think I have replied with Coolness what acceptance it will meet with depends on the Ingenuity of yr. Mind. I believe it will be better to discourse this Matter fully than to foment Resentment on a Supposition of Injury. Tho you are not mine, yet by the Rules of Civility I am yr. hble. servt.,

R. T. PAINE 4

RC ; addressed: "To Mr. Henry Stevenson at Taunton."

1.

Possibly the Henry Stevenson (1744–1838) who lived in Taunton.

2.

Not located.

3.

This reference may be to Dr. William McKinstry of Taunton who attended Col. Thomas Gilbert of Freetown who had been roughly handled by certain Sons of Liberty in 1774. McKinstry left Taunton for Boston to escape the offensive remarks and insults directed his way as a result of the incident. Gov. Gage appointed McKinstry surgeon general of the hospitals in Boston, but he died aboard a hospital ship in Boston Harbor while he and his family were awaiting evacuation with the British troops in Mar. 1776. RTP was a personal friend of the doctor and served as administrator of his estate (Sabine, Loyalists, 2:67–69; NEHGR 14[1858]: 325).

4.

Signature clipped out.