Philada. Jany. 1. 1776 Sr.,

I wrote you last from Hackinsac when I was on dated Novr. that I was sorry had put my Trunk on board a Waggon bound for Cambridge & had directed it to yr. Care. This Letter I think I sent by the Post, but the Waggon & Trunk Never set out from Philada.1 By this means you are saved the any further Trouble & I the burthen of being under any future further obligation to you. How far your malevolent 120disposition towards me would have sufferd you to have kept up the External appearance of External good Offices I know not, tho’ I believe another disposition would have prompted you to it. I dare say by this time you are trying to pretend to yr. Self A Suprize at this kind of Expression from a person whom you supposed considered you as your his best Freind, but I dare appeal to yr. Conscience which will at some time do the strictest Justice that you deserve severe Censures from me, however it is not my design to take notice of yr. Conduct towards me in any other way than Expostulation & call back yr. mind to the first principles of our Cmmn. Opposition from wch. it seems to me yo. are widely straying; Union is undoubtedly the Platform of our Opposition. Upon this we sat out & when ever we depart from it there is an End of our Defence. Whoever directly or indirectly doth any thing to break this union is So far an Enemy to American Liberty, whosoever abuses, undervalues disparages or discourages a fellow Labourer is so far an Enemy to the Cause; witht. enlarging in this strain to which there would be no End, I must referr yr. Contemplations to a Letter you sent to Mr. John Adams dated Novr. 3d. 1775,2 John Mr. Adams Met this Letter on the Road home & forgetting what distinction the discovery of traducing Letters has brought on . . . some others & how necessary it is that such a correspondance be kept secret in order to answer the vile purposes of it Sent it open to his brother Delegates; I cannot describe the Astonishment, Greif & vexation I felt when I read it—if possible explain to me wherein I deserve such Treatment from you—in the close acquaintance of 15 yrs. & more did yo. ever find me unfaithful. Was I not watchfully observant of yr. Interest Reputation & happiness. Has any person been more attentive to the Interest & Welfare of the Family with wch. you are Connected your dulce Domus & presidium & that at a time when my Interest & promotion would have been much promoted advanced by Contrary Conduct. I mention not these matters to upbraid, but to give you an Idea of the Reasons Reflections with wch. yr. Conduct agitate my mind; I know not what principle to derive yr. Treatment of me from, unless it be that to the opposing of which in Other Persons you owe all yr. Glory, could you not have “perticular freinds” witht. Calumniating ridiculing & degrading your other Freinds. “Paine I hear is gone to gratify his Curiosity in Canada.” Did you hear this from any of yr. perticular freinds, alass I fear what you call “freindship” has for its 121object a very Contracted monopolizing System for the Support of wch. many incumbrances must be cleared off. “A good Journey to him, he may possibly do as much good there as at Philada.” What knowledge apprehension have you of the little good I do at Philada. unless from the intimation of yr perticular freinds & pray Sr. what good do you do you do at Watertown or Cambridge? Do you Consider how far & to what Subjects Such enquiry may be extended? & do you know as well as I do what the answer might be? “Tho I find some people here would not have pitched on him for the business we suppose he is gone on & perhaps there are Some who would not have done it for any.” By all accts. if your Machinations had succeeded I had not been chosen into the Council & I could clearly percieve when there last that the influence of one of your Party in favour of one of yr. perticular freinds degraded me in point of Rank: & what other Plotts you have laid against me you well know. Pray Sr. do you really think that when such important matters were to be consulted & determined respecting our Expeditions in the North, that I took that fatiguing Journy at such a Season to gratify my Curiosity. If you knew how I spent all the time I was absent in this Journey & what Report the Cmttee. made you would not think that Curiosity either prompted or engaged my persuit. I certainly took great pains to be excused from the Service but was urged to it by one of yr. perticuler freinds. If I have not Acquitted my Self well in this matter let it be pointed out I am sure it was not . . . of sufficient abilitys & merit the exertions of yr. freind here & all other political undertakings let my deficiency be pointed out to me that I may amend.

That there are some in our Colony who would not have chosen me to this or any other business may be true, but if you were not one of them wherefore this insidious Clandestine way of Spreading the knowledge of it. Who these people are & how many of them owe their Sentiments to yr. influence you do not say. Are there any or how many do you think there are who have the same Opinion of you.

Do yo. really think I have done & I do no good here? Do you know how I have spent & do spend my time? I could sett this matter in a Light that would Sufficiently account for some things but I have affairs of more importance to attend to. That you are my Enemy & have been labouring my disgrace I am Satisfyed; that finding yr. self discovered your implacable Temper will urge you on to your ill will I have so much Reason to think that I must necessarily take Care of my Self.

122

Dft.

1.

Letter not located. RTP noted in his diary, Nov. 12, 1775, Philadelphia:

“Cold. At 11 oClock sat out with Mr. R. R. Livingston & Mr. Langdon. Rode to Bristol & din’d thence to Trenton by 7 oClock Mm this Morning I carried to Mr. Charles Marshall my travalling Trunk filled with my Summer Cloaths to be sent next Wednesday to Watertown in a Waggon that is to carry some to the & I directed the Trunk to Col. Warren & wrote a Letter to him informing him of the Same NB the Waggon not the Trunk didn’t go.”

And on Nov. 15, Hackinsack:

“Rainy morning breakfasted at Mr. Sobieski’s he dind with us at Tavern here. Wrote by Post to Col. Warren & my Wife. Rainy day PM sat out & rode 10m to Hoppmans & put up road naturally good but now wett.”

2.

Warren to Adams, published in Warren-Adams Letters, 1:187–190, under the date Dec. 3, 1775. Warren stated in his letter: “Paine, I hear, is gone to gratify his curiosity in Canada. A good journey to him. He may possibly do as much good there as at Philadelphia, tho’ I find some people here would not have pitched on him for the business we supose he is gone on, and perhaps there are some who would not have done it for any. Many men, you know, are of many minds.”

The dispute within the Massachusetts delegation had been simmering for some months. On July 23, 1775, John Adams had complained to Warren of the “unfortunate and fatal Divisions” in the delegation, “which have lost us Reputation, as well as many great Advantages which We might otherwise have obtained for our Colony” (Warren-Adams Letters, 1:85–88). The same month Abigail Adams interpreted the situation for Mercy Warren: “they have to combat not only other provinces but their own—a doubly difficult task when those who ought to aid, become stumbling blocks” (Abigail Adams to Mercy Warren, July 24, 1775. Adams Family Correspondence , 1:255).

Philada. Jany. 1. 1776

I arrived at this place the 28th. ult. where I found a Letter of Octr. 28 ult. from Mr. Morton Dpty. Secry.1 wrote by the direction of the Major part of the honble. the Council of the Province of Massa: Bay by wch. I am acquainted that they have honored me with an appointment as one of the Justices of the Supr. Ct. of Judicature &c. for that Province. I am also favored with a List of the other Gentlemen appointed to the Supr. Bench and of our Arrangment in Rank. I am also requested to Signify to the honble. Board as soon as may be my acceptance or Refusal in Writing.2

I am sorry That my Answer has been so long delayed from the arrival of this Letter has been intirely owing to my Absence on a Cmsn. to the Northward, so that I have really been notified but a few days of my appointment to that important Office, & have not had that time & opportunity to Consider & advise upon the matter which I could have wished, but as yr. Honrs. have thought it expedient that a Supr. Court Should be appointed, & the Appointmt. is of so long a standing, I think 123it necessary to give my answer by this first Oppo. well knowing that however indulgent & candid your Honrs. might be if I should take some further time to consider it, there are not those wanting in our province to put injurious Constructions on it least the matter remaining any longer undetermined might prevent the accomplishment of yr. Honours determinations.

After expressing my Sincere thanks for the Honor you have Conferred upon me by this appointmt. I find my self constrained to decline accepting it, & witht. troubling yr. Honrs. with a detail of Reasons wch. are not required I beg leave to observe that I have the highest Sence of the importance of that Office, & am Satisfyed, that if sufficiently qualified, I could not attend to the due execution of it, while the Attacks made by our Enemys on every thing we hold dear appear to me to demand our constant Attention.3

I heartily wish the Establishment of Peace & the Due Admn. of Justice in our Province Success to yr. Honors Endeavours to effect those valuable purposes & happiness to yr. persons & am with unfeigned Respects yr. Honors most Obedt. & obliged & devoted hble. Sert.,

Dft.

1.

Perez Morton (1751–1837) served as deputy secretary from August 1775 to June 1776.

2.

RTP did not note his letter to Warren in his diary for Jan. 1. The entry reads:

“fair moderate, wrote to Majr. Hawley, Col Palmer Dr Cobb & uxr. by Mr. Cushing, & also an answer to the hble. Council of Massa. signifying my non Acceptance of their Appointment as a Justice of the Supr. Court, din’d Mr. Reads.”

The letters to his wife and to Dr. Cobb have not been located.

3.

Abigail Adams wrote to her husband on Apr. 21: “you have perhaps heard that the Bench is fill’d by Mr. Foster and Sullivan, so that a certain person is now excluded. I own I am not of so forgiveing a disposition as to wish to see him holding a place which he refused merely from a spirit of envy” ( Adams Family Correspondence , 1:389). On June 9, 1776, John Adams wrote to William Cushing: “Paine has acted in his own Character, tho scarcely consistent with the public Character, which he has been made to wear. At this, however, I am not much mortified, for the bench will not be the less respectable, for having a little less Wit, Humour, Drollery, or Fun upon it, very different Qualities being requisite in that Department” (Cushing Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society).