Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2
In the Year 1774 Govr. Hutchinson was superceded by Genl. Gage who came as a Military, as well as a Civil Commander in chief, & to him was committed the Exn. of the Boston Port Bill.
Accordingly, agreable to his instructions, after the General Court had met at the end of May, he adjourn'd them to meet at Salem on Tuesday the 7th. day of June. the Court as soon as met there, proceeded to Organize themselves as usual, one perticular of wch. was to choose a Committee of Nine Members to Consider & report on the State of the Province, as the Usage for many years then past had been1; the honble. T. Cushing2 having been Chosen Speaker, had to put the question on the nomination of members for this Committee, eight persons were Nominated & chosen who were considered as firm in the Opposition to British measures,3 but by the mixture of nominations from both parties in the House the Name of Daniel Leonard4 was so repeated, that the Speaker found himself Obliged to nominate him & he was chosen.
Mr. Leonard was a Gentleman of natural good Sence & Eloquence, polite & of engaging Adress & had been Chosen Several Years as member for the Town of Taunton, on the Idea of his being a firm & able freind to the Opposition in wch. his Town was so determined; but on the prevailing Address & Sollicitation of Govr. Hutchinson he had changed his principles, & considered himself now at Market to make the best of them; all this was well known to the members of the Court & the rest of the Committee more especially to his Colleague the writer hereof; it was therefore considered unsafe for that committee to enter into the consideration of the State of the Province on principles of Opposition while he was present, & as it appeared by the Port bill that the only releif from the Continual Exn. of it was the payment for the Tea that was destroy'd, the Committee turn'd their whole Attention to that; & as it was known to all but Mr. Leonard, that Another Committee of vastly more importance, form'd from Members of the house of Representatives by their own inclinations was beginning to operate in secret the committee of nine talkd very favourably of paying for the Tea, as a thing not to be compar'd with the Sufferings from the Port Bill: it would be hard to discribe the Smooth & placid Observations made by Mr. S. Adams,5 Saying that it was an irritating affair, & must be handled Cautiously; that the people must have time545to think & form their minds, & that hurrying the matter would certainly create such an Opposition as would defeat the matter; & many Observations of this kind, all tending to induce Mr. Leonard the Oblique Member of that Committee to think that matters would work terminate in Obedience to the Port Bill were made by Several other Members of the Committee, & then it was Observ'd that it was very hot, & that they had been engag'd in Court all day, & that it was unprofitable to set any longer at that time for the people must have time to bring their minds to a Compromise; Proceedings of this kind took place on the PM & Evning of three days; as soon as the Committee on the State of the Province was adjournd, all the Members except Mr. Leonard immediately repaird to a retired room where the Self Created Committee before mention'd mett, & being cornpos'd of Such members only as had Signalized themselves in their Opposition to the British Aggressions of Tyrannick Govt., they Shut their Doors & entered freely & fully on all the Subjects of Grievances; this was continued Severall Evnings during which it was fully debated Considered & determin'd to Appoint a General Congress of all the Colonies to meet on the Subject of their Grievances, a Set of Resolves were formed for that purpose, five members were chosen Vizt. James Bowdoin,6 S. Adams, T. Cushing, J. Adams & R. T. Paine. A Sum of money was voted to bear their expences, & an assessment was made on a number of Towns to raise the Same; but a Question arose, how Should this Plan (wch. was as yet a profound secret) be carried into Execution; it was Considered that the regular Method was for the Committee on the State of the Province to make report of these doings as their Report; eight of that Committee were then present, but the ninth was known to be adverse to any Such measure & therefore could not be trusted, least the whole should be defeated by the Governor; hereupon the writer hereof Undertook to carry off Mr. Leonard who with himself were practicing Lawyers in the County of Bristol; this was effected by Stating to him that it had been usual for Years past, to adjourn the Common Pleas Court at Taunton which was to set the then next Tuesday in Order that the Members of the General Court from that County might attend the General Court; but that the Neglect of it always gave uneasiness to many persons; especially the Tavern keepers, who from the great Concourse of people Collected there (the days being long & the Season pleasant) reaped great profits &c., &c., & that we might agree to Shorten the Court by Demurrers & Continuances & get back to Court in Season to attend to all important busi-546ness; accordingly on Saturday Mr. Leonard & the writer hereof rode home, Attended the Court the Next Week, & together with Col. G. Leonard7 were appointed by the Court of Sessions (the Cheif of whom were firm Freinds to the Opposition to British Aggression) a committee to Address Govr. Gage on his accession to the Chair which Address, by the desire of the Committee was drafted by Mr. Paine, on principles of political politeness & consistency as the State of Government then was & on the Saturday after they rode to Boston on the way to the Genl. Court, & on the road were informed that the Genl. Court was dissolv'd the day before on the Govr. being inform'd that they had appointed the Congress as before describ'd; after this on the 30th. day of June the Said Committee of the Court of Sessions of the County of Bristol presented their Address to Govr. Gage.
By what appeared in Genral Court after the Absence of the said two Members, it is evident, that had Mr. Leonard not been carried off as aforsaid, he would easily have defeated the Appointing of a Congress by the General Court, which at any Rate must have delay'd the matter if it had been done at all.
The committee appointed this day was to consider the Measure proper to be taken by this House upon the Removal of the General Assembly from its ancient and convenient Seat to the Court-House in Salem, and report previous to the doing Business." It consisted of Samuel Adams, Joseph Hawley, Col. James Warren, Col. Edward Bacon of Barnstable, John Pickering of Salem, RTP, Dr. Samuel Holten of Salem, Nathaniel Gorham of Charlestown, and Capt. William Heath of Roxbury (Journals of the House of Representatives, 50:261).
Thomas Cushing (1725–1788) was first elected to the House of Representatives from Boston in 1761 and was elected speaker in 1766. He was part of the Massachusetts delegation to the Continental Congress but was replaced by the more radical Elbridge Gerry in 1776. Cushing returned to Boston, where he served in the Council and allied with John Hancock, serving as his lieutenant governor (1781–1785), and continued in that post under James Bowdoin until his death (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 11:377–395).
On June 9, another committee was appointed to consider the State of the Province, more particularly under the Operation of the Act of the British Parliament upon shutting up the Harbour of Boston, and report." This committee consisted of the Speaker Thomas Cushing, Joseph Hawley, Samuel Adams, William Phillips of Boston, RTP, Col. James Warren, Col. William Tyng of Falmouth (Cumberland Co.), Col. Daniel Leonard, and John Pickering.
Daniel Leonard (1740–1829).
Samuel Adams (1722–1803).
James Bowdoin (1726–1790) graduated from Harvard in 1745 and was a wealthy Boston businessman whose interest in science led to a lifelong friendship with Benjamin Franklin. He became a prominent member of the Council and of the Sons of Liberty, was chosen to be the president of the Massachusetts constitutional convention of 1779; governor of Massachusetts, 1785–1787; and delegate547 to the Massachusetts conventions which met on Jan. 9, 1788, to adopt the federal constitution (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 11:514–550; DAB).
George Leonard (1729–1819).