Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
Last night I recived your letter with Great Joy and was So Glad to hear that you had not forgotten me but you Dont write me Word when you Shall Come home for that the news I Long to hear but Docter Cobb tells me that Mr. Revere Brings news that the Congress would rise Last week which I hope is true.1 Our family are well at present. Sally has been very much unwell but is better. We have harvested our potates & theirs is 350 Bushels of them. I am in want of a Cloak which I Should be Glad you would Consult Mrs. Greenleaf about. I have Sent to her to Buy one for me when you Desine her to & She knows what one I want & we want Some Loaf Sugar for their is not any to bought in Taunton. I am in haste your Loving wife,
Mr. Austins has Brought us two Barrals of Cyder.
The First Continental Congress “dissolved” on Oct. 26, and RTP began his journey home two days later. He traveled with the other members of the Massachusetts delegation as far as New York, where he boarded a sloop bound for Newport, where he visited Ezra Stiles and William Ellery. On Nov. 10, he took another boat to Swansea, Mass., whence he returned to Taunton by rowboat. At home on Nov. 12, he was “recd. by Sons of Liberty with Joy &c.” (RTP diary).
I recd. your favr.1 by Mr. Adam yesterday & shall engage the butter for you of my brother. The congress are secret in all their doings Except the choice of members for the continental congress. I congratulate you upon your being rechosen. The Scarboro’ ariv’d here last night, the reports are various:2 some say three frigates ships of the line are ordered here with marines, & that matters are to be pushed, other reports are that they are bound to Jamaica which place tis expected will soon be attacked by the Spaniards. Gage had a conference last night with his new fangled 18council but nothing has transpired.3 I suppose tomorrow’s papers will give us more particular intelligence.
I am glad you have a prospect of escaping a feavor, but think you had better not resque venture so far from home as Cambridge. A relapse might be fatal. I am Sr. yr. huml. Servt.,
Not located.
The Scarborough was a British troop transport. About this time the troop build-up in Boston was enormous. On Oct. 23, four transports arrived from New York with troops from the Royal Artillery, the Royal Regiment of Ireland (the 18th), and the 47th Regiment. Within the week several other transports arrived from Quebec with troops from the 10th and 52nd regiments (“Diary of Thomas Newell,”
Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society
, 1st ser., 4[1858–1860]:223).
Parliament enacted the Massachusetts Government Act in May 1774, although it was not officially received in Boston and enforced until early August. This act brought about four major changes in governmental structure. First, it abrogated the provision in the 1691 charter for election of the council by the House of Representatives and provided that after Aug. 1, 1774, the king in council would appoint the colony’s council. Second, it altered the charter to allow the governor to remove all judges, justices of the peace, the attorney general, and like officers. Third, it disallowed provincial legislation that permitted town meetings to be called for any purpose and restricted them to the election of town officers, representatives to the general court, or other purposes specifically allowed by the governor. Finally, it changed the procedure for selection of grand and petit juries. Governor Gage quickly convened the new council (the “Mandamus Council”), administering the oath to Lt. Gov. Andrew Oliver and 10 councilors on Aug. 8 and to another 14 on Aug. 16. Eleven additional members were appointed but never sworn, largely due to the unpopularity of this action (L. Kinvin Wroth, “Province in Rebellion: An Interpretive Essay,” in Province in Rebellion: A Documentary History of the Founding of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ed. L. Kinvin Wroth et al. [Cambridge, Mass., 1975], 39–40, 47).