Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
I left your hospitable house on monday last all the family in good health & Spirits, for particular circumstances I refer you to the inclosed letters. I thank you for yr. three letters, especially the last. You seem anxious to have a particular accot. of the capitulation with Gage. You have, (no doubt) since you wrote seen the accot. published by Mr. Alleyn who was then Town clerk pro. tempo. The business was not transacted by writing (on the side of Gage) & in the published accot. many material Things are not mentioned.1
It was stipulated that the inhabitants, upon condition of their delivering up their arms, should have liberty to remove out of town with all their effects. 77It was our general expectation, that, as soon as the inhabitants had complied, they were at liberty to remove; & accordingly they packed up their effects; & after having sent the constables thro’ all the wards to see whether the inhabitants had complyed, a report was made to the general with which he was satisfied. We then began to remove, many goods were put on board vessells, before engaged for that purpose. We were then told that we must not go without passes, & the goods were relanded. Passes were ordered to be printed, people began again to remove wth. all their effects, according to the very letter of the printed pass, but the merchandize was turn’d back on pretence that merchandize was not effects. The officer that signed the passes was then ordered to under-write on them merchantdize excepted, in consequence of this, a remnant of new lining purchased to mend a garment, a pr. of shoes not worn, & every new thing purchased by any person for their own necessary use, was torn out of their trunks, called merchandize, & turned back. After this, more provision than would last one day, became merchandize, & was Stopped, So that many persons who had provisions in plenty, (by being so suddenly drove from their habitations, & having no money by them) were reduced to this sad dilemma, either to bed
Lest it should be sd. that it is possible Gage in the profundity of his ignorance did not know that all a mans effects included his merchand. I have only this to say. When he had compleated the bargain with the committee of the town, who waited upon him to negotiate this affair, he told them, that he should be glad if they would not remove their West-India goods, because they would be wanted in Boston & they might have the money for them.
The poor of the town of Boston, & such as inclined to remain there, Gage promised to protect & feed. They are now pinched for provisions, & he presses the congress hard, by his tools the S——t-men, to provide for them, & promises to land them at Salem, if he can have a safe pass & repass warranted for his men & vessells. Upon this condition he promises, by them, that the remainder of the inhabitants with their effects shall have leave to come out of the town. Secretary Flucker is the medium between Gage and the S——tmen.
One important matter I have forgot to mention, namely, after the capitulation was finished between Gage & the Town, he asked it as a favour, 78that the town would write to the president of the Provincial congress, desiring him to obtain leave of them (for any persons who were desirous) to remove into Boston with their effects, & added he knew of but one who wanted to remove, & voluntarily undertook to send the whole capitulation & letter & did really send them to the president aforesd., which is a good presumptive evidence of his consenting to the whole.
I am obliged to you for the notice you have taken of me in your letters to Colo. W——n & others. I shall be in the way if any thing falls, but cannot solicit. My service for the public for four years past, expence of time, and money, cannot be forgotten by a greatfull people who have so frequently spoken of them, & thanked me for them, in conjunction with my brethren of the Comttee. If I am found capable to sustain any office of small Income I doubt not but I shall have it, if not ’tis not fit I should especially if any better qualified person presents. I would not be so selfish as to injure my country in this critical time by depriving them of a better servant than myself.
If my effects in Boston should be restored to me I shall be better pleased with a dependance upon my own Industry & a retired life then to live upon the public.
The paper will inform you of the honours confer’d upon you & our other delegates. I wish you & them Joy. I think you all deserving. Please to present my compliments to them. I have read Dr. Smith’s sermon & think it a pritty one. I very much like both yr. address & declaration. I admire the plan of adhereing to the Charter. If there be a breach let it be on the side of the Crown then we shall then stand fair in the view of the world and vindicated (from the necessity of the thing) in taking the whole government upon ourselves. We have, to use the great Statesman ADAMS’S2 expression, put our enemy in the wrong, let us keep him there & we shall do well. I wish wisdom from above, to you all, in your arduous task. May you hold out to the end in the cause of God & yr. country, & you will establish yr. fame here and happiness hereafter which is the wish of all good men especially of yr. affectionate brother,
P.S. My son Thos. has but a trifling employment here. If he could find business in the printing way at Philadelphia for the present I should be glad. I should be obliged to you if you would make inquiry. Tomy is an adept in that business. Yrs. &c., J:G.
The capitulation, or agreement, by Gen. Thomas Gage was the result of an Apr. 28 meeting with a committee from the board of selectmen. In it, “General Gage gives liberty to the inhabitants to remove out of town with their effects; and desires that such inhabitants as intend to remove, would give their names to the selectmen, and signify whether they mean to convey out their effects by land or water, in order that passes maybe prepared.” The text was not published until the June 26 issue of the Boston Gazette.
Henry Alline, Jr. (1736–1804) was a Boston retailer then acting as town clerk, pro tem. He was later register of deeds from 1791 to 1796 (Thwing Index).
Probably Samuel Adams.
It was long ago observed that Man is the Child of Adversity, & the Subject of Affliction; the Experience of every Age has confirmed the Remark, & we, the Inhabitants of Boston, (that once blest Abode) can now in the Bitterness of our Souls, subscribe to its Truth. I mean not, however, by this Beginning, to pour out my Heart before you, in unavailing Complaints, & fruitless Lamentations: no Sir I am sensible this would be unbecoming the Spirit of a Man, wch. may & ought to sustain its Infirmities & Sorrows. My Intention is only to apprize you of the Sense I have of your Kindness towards me, & to place your Benevolence in a proper Point of Light. That when pressed by the iron Hand of Affliction, your Pen has furnished a Cordial to revive my drooping Soul, & endeavoured to procure me Comfort in the midst of Trouble. I must nevertheless express my Surprize that you repeatedly caution me against taking Offence at what you write. Could you think it possible I should be disgusted at what tis evident Friendship prompted, & Charity communicates?
I shall not now attempt a Recital of the Difficulties wth. wch. we have been obliged to struggle, but must excuse myself wth. the Quotation of
Infadum! Regina jubes renovare Dolorem!1 and Shall proceed to acquaint you, that after having been thrown about as the Sport of Fortune, not knowing where to fix, we are are at last settled in this Place, & by the greatest Accident have our Abode in the House of Mr. John White, whose Wife was the late Mrs. LeBaron,2 & of whom I think I have heard you speak very favourably. We are here elegantly & 80commodiously lodged, but the mean Accomodations of the old House at the Corner of Wilsons Lane, would be preferred, not to this Residence only, but to the Royal Apartments of Versailles also. However, notwithstanding the Pressure of the Times, we enjoy ourselves as well as we possibly can, & my Spirits are greatly higher than my Expectations were concerning them. Since my leaving the Town I have purchased a Horse & Chaise, wch. tho’ not needful for me in Boston, where I was constantly engaged in Business, yet I judged would be absolutely necessary in the Country, especially as I expected to take many Journeys. I have not hitherto journeyed much, not finding that Relief wch. I fondly wished from it under a temporary Depression. For you may well concieve that notwithstanding my general good State, I yet have my melancholy Moments. Journeying does not answer the Purpose of easing a troubled Mind.
Those who beyond Sea go will Sadly find
They change their Climate only, not their Mind.3
I think I need make no Apology to you my Preceptor & Friend, when I acknowledge, as I have done, that I feel wth. Strong Emotion the Distresses of my dear native Town, my beloved Country, my valued Friends, & my worthless Self.
He Surely must be less, or more than Man, who can remain unaffected in such Circumstances as we are brought into; & I concieve it to be disgraceful to a Philosophic or Christian Character, to attempt to wrap itself up in a Stoical Apathy. This would be to counteract not only the highest & best Precepts of our Religion, but the Law written upon our Hearts. But enough of this.
I have left my House in the Hands of a very careful Tenant. Your Maps are put in my upper front Chamber, where I have stored the most of my Furniture, under Lock & Key. Your other Things are in the Situation they have long been in & doubt not they will continue safe, unless general Ruin (wch. God forbid) Should take Place.
I had a Letter from Mr. B. the other Night in wch. he acquaints me wth. my Sister having fallen down Cellar, that she had broken her arm in the Fall, & displaced the Bones of three Fingers. My Sister Betsy is at Dover with Mr. B.4
We have had no Letters from Boston since the 16th June. Mr. A is still there, so is Dr. E. whose Tarry must be ascribed to the very best Principles. His Conduct in this dreadful Season has advanced his Reputation. May Heaven preserve him!
81I beg you would divest yourself of every Suspicion, & think of me as favourably as you can. I shall endeavour to my utmost to know & do my Duty.
Mrs. E. is obliged in a high Degree by the Concern you express for her. Her best Regards attend you. Mrs. A. desires her Compliments as do Mr. W. & Lady. Believe me wth. every grateful Sentiment yr. much indebted Friend.
When may I expect another Letter from you?5
You command me, O Queen, to renew an unspeakable grief. Virgil, Æneid, Liber II, l. 3.
Sarah Leonard (1726–1802) was a sister of Dr. William McKinstry’s wife Priscilla and a distant cousin of Paine’s wife Sally. Her first husband was Dr. Joseph LeBaron, who died in 1761. Later the same year, she married John White of Haverhill.
Variant of Horace, Epistles, xi, l. 27.
Rev. Jeremy Belknap (1744–1798) of Dover, N.H., was married to Eliot’s sister Ruth (1741–1809). In 1787 Belknap moved to Boston as pastor of the Church in Long Lane and in 1791 was instrumental in founding the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Written at the bottom of the previous page, this line is intended as a postscript.