TO WILLIAM CHECKLEY.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
BOSTON June 1 1774
MY DEAR SIR
It was with singular pleasure that I recd a Letter from you by Mr Howe, and another since by your worthy Townsman. I began to think you had at last entirely forgot me. I sincerely congratulate you on the birth of a Daughter. May God preserve her life & make her a Blessing in the World. Assure Mrs Checkley of our kind Regards for her. I hope she will enjoy a better State of Health than she has had in time past. You have now devolvd upon you the weighty Cares of a Parent; you will perhaps find it difficult "to train up the Child in the way it should go" in an Age of Levity Folly and Vice. Doubtless you will consider your self more interrested than ever in the Struggles of your Country for Liberty, as you hope your Infant will outlive you, and share in the Event. Your native Town which I am perswaded is dear to you, is now suffering the Vengeance of a cruel and tyrannical Administration; and I can assure you she suffers with Dignity. She scorns to own herself the Slave of the haughtiest nation on earth; and rather than submit to the humiliating Terms of an Edict, barbarous beyond Precedent under the most absolute monarchy, I trust she will put the Malice of Tyranny to the severest Tryal. It is a consolatory thought, that an Empire is rising in America, and will not THIS first of June be rememberd at a time, how soon God knows! when it will be in the power of this Country amply to revenge its Wrongs. If Britain by her multiplied oppressions is now accelerating that Independency of the Colonies which she so much dreads, and which in process of time must take place, who will she have to blame but herself? We live in an important Period, & have a post to maintain, to desert which would be an unpardonable Crime, and would entail upon us the Curses of posterity. The infamous Tools of Power are holding up the picture of Want and Misery; but in vain do they think to intimidate us; the Virtue of our Ancestors inspires us—they were contented with Clams & Muscles. For my part, I have been wont to converse with poverty; and however disagreable a Companion she may be thought to be by the affluent & luxurious who never were acquainted with her, I can live happily with her the remainder of my days, if I can thereby contribute to the Redemption of my Country.
The naval Power of Britain has blocked up this Harbour; but the Laws of Nature must be alterd, before the port of Salem can become an equivalent. The most remote inland Towns in the province feel the want of a mart, & resent the Injury done to themselves in the Destruction of Boston. The British Minister appears to me to be infatuated. Every step he takes seems designd by him to divide us, while the necessary Tendency is to unite. Our Business is to make Britain share in the miseries which she has unrighteously brought upon us. She will then see the Necessity of returning to moderation & Justice.
Adieu,