TO MRS. ADAMS.1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
PHILADELPHIA July 30 1775
MY DEAR BETSY
As I have no doubt but the Congress will adjourn in a few days, perhaps tomorrow, I do not expect to have another opportunity of writing to you before I set off for New England. The arduous Business that has been before the Congress and the close Application of the Members, added to the Necessity and Importance of their visiting their several Colonies & attending their respective Conventions, have inducd them to make a Recess during the sultry Month of August. My Stay with you must be short, for I suppose the Congress will meet again early in September. I have long ago learnd to deny my self many of the sweetest Gratifications in Life for the Sake of my Country. This I may venture to say to you, though it might be thought Vanity in me to say it to others. I hear that my Constituents have given me the Choice of a Seat in either House of our new Assembly—that is, that Boston have chosen me again one of their Members, and the House have chosen me one of the Council—you know better than I do, whether there be a foundation for the Report. My Constituents do as they please, and so they ought. I never intrigud for their Suffrages,and I never will. I am intimately conscious that I have servd them as well as I could, and I believe they think so themselves. I heartily wish I could serve them better—but the Testimony of my own Conscience and their Approbation, makes me feel my self superior to the Threats of a Tyrant, either at St Jamess or in the Garrison of Boston.
I have receivd a Letter from my Friend Mr Dexter dated the 18 Instant. Present my due Regards to him. He informd me that you had been at his house a few Evenings before and was well, and that you deliverd a Letter to a young Gentleman present, to carry to Cambridge for Conveyance to me. I am greatly mortified in not having receivd it by the Express that brought me his Letter.
Mr Adams2 of Roxbury also wrote me that he had often met with you and was surprised at your Steadiness & Calmness under Tryal. I am always pleasd to hear you well spoken of, because I know it is doing you Justice.
I pray God that at my Return I may find you and the rest of my dear Friends in good health. The Treatment which those who are still in Boston meet with fills me with Grief and Indignation. What Punishment is due to General Gage for his Perfidy!
Pay my proper Respects to your Mother & Family, Mr & Mrs Henshaw, my Son & Daughter, Sister Polly &c. Tell Job and Surry that I do not forget them. I conclude, my dear, with the warmest Affection
Your
P. S. Mr William Barrell will deliver you this Letter—he was kind enough to tell me he would go out of his way rather than not oblige me in carrying it—he boards with us at Mrs Yards, and is a reputable Merchant in this City. Richard Checkley is his Apprentice—you know his Sister Mrrs Eliot. I know you will t[re]at him with due respect.
_________________________________________________________________ 1Addressed "To Mrs Elizabeth Adams at Dedham, near the Hon Mr Dexters Favord by Mr Barrell." 2Amos Adams; under date of July 18, 1775.