THE PATRIOT, SAMUEL ADAMS.
By Edward P. Guild.
Three years ago the old State House in Boston was restored to its original architectural appearance. After having fallen a prey to the ruthless hand of commerce, been surmounted with a "Mansard roof," disfigured by a legion of business signs, made a hitching place for scores of telegraph wires, and lastly been threatened with entire demolition by the ever arrogant spirit of "business enterprise"; the sentiment of patriotic veneration asserted itself and came to the rescue. With an appropriation of $35,000 from the city, work was begun in the fall of 1881, and by the following July the ancient building had been restored to almost exactly its appearance in the last century. As the Old State House now stands, it is identical with the Town House which Boston first used for its town meeting May 13, 1713. This was nine years before the birth of the man destined to become the foremost character in the Boston town meeting of the eighteenth century—Samuel Adams. Probably no other man who ever lived has been so identified with the history of the Old State House as was he. The town meetings were held in Faneuil Hall after 1742, but through the stormy years when the Assembly met in the old building, Samuel Adams was in constant attendance as clerk. His desk, on which he wrote the first sentences ever ventured for American independence, and by which he arose, and, with hands often tremulous with nervous energy, directed the exciting debates, is to-day in the old Assembly chamber in the western end of the building. In 1774 he went to Congress, but for a long period afterward the Old State House was again his field of labor, as senator, as lieutenant governor and then as governor.
The life of Samuel Adams ought to be more familiar than it is to the patriotic young men of to-day, but some excuse is found in the fact that a popular, concise biography has, until lately, not been written. The excellent three volume work of Mr. Wells, Adams' great grandson, although admirable as an exhaustive biography, is too voluminous for the common reader; but since the appearance of Prof. Hosmer's recent book[2] there can be no reason why any schoolboy should not have a clear idea of the life of the man who organized the Revolution.
It is only as a patriot that Samuel Adams claims our attention. Although college bred he was a man of letters only so far as his pen could write patriotic resolutions and scathing letters against the government of King George. These letters were printed for the most part in the "Boston Gazette," published by Edes & Gill in Court Street. As a business man he was never a success. For years he kept the old malt house on Purchase Street, but he gave the business little thought, for his mind was constantly engrossed in public matters, and at last he made no pretext of attending to any matter of private business, depending for support only upon his small salary as clerk of the assembly. No one will ever accuse Samuel Adams of any selfish ambition, and, although his every act will not bear the closest application of the square and rule, yet he never deceived nor used a doubtful method in the least degree for personal gain.
Adams did not begin his public career early in life. In 1764 he was chosen a member of the committee to instruct the representatives just elected to the General Court, and the paper drafted on that occasion is the first document from his pen of which we now have any trace, and is memorable, moreover, because it contains the first public denial of the authority of the Stamp Act. Adams was now forty-two, his hair was already touched with gray, and "a peculiar tremulousness of the head and hands made it seem as if he were already on the threshold of old age." He had, however, a remarkably sound constitution, a medium sized, muscular frame, and clear, steel-gray eyes.
Among those closely connected with Adams in the public service, which, from this time on, became his only thought, were John Hancock and James Otis. Adams contrasted strongly with both of these men. Hancock was the richest man in the province and as liberal as he was wealthy. In the general jubilation that followed the repeal of the Stamp Act, he opened a pipe of Madeira wine before his elegant mansion opposite the Common, and so long as it lasted it was freely dispensed to the crowd. The dress of Hancock when at home is described as a "red velvet cap, within which was one of fine linen, the edge of this turned up over the velvet one, two or three inches. He wore a blue damask gown lined with silk, a white plaited stock, a white silk embroidered waistcoat, black silk small-clothes, white silk stockings and red morocco slippers." Adams was in marked contrast with Otis in temperament. The former, always cool and collected and his words based on deliberate reason, was the extreme of the other who carried his arguments in a flood of impetuous eloquence. "Otis was a flame of fire," says Sewall. But although Otis was once almost the ideal of the people, his erratic tendencies at last unfitted him for a leader.
One reason of Sam Adams' prestige with the masses was his common and familiar intercourse with mechanics and artisans. Hancock, Otis, Bowdoin and Curtis, on account of their wealth and ideas of aristocracy, kept more or less aloof from the workmen; while Adams, plainly clad and with familiar but dignified manner, was often found in the ship yards or at the rope walks engaged in earnest conversation with the homely craftsmen. Indeed, nothing pleased him more than to be talking with a ship carpenter as they sat side by side on a block of oak, or with some shopkeeper in a sheltered fence corner. Most of his writing was done in a little room in his Purchase Street house where night after night his busy mind and quill were kept at work on his trenchant letters for the "Gazette," which were signed with significant nom de plumes in Latin.
The year 1768 was made notable by the arrival in Boston from England of the 14th and the 29th regiments. The main guard was quartered in King (now State) Street, with the cannon pointed toward the State House, and the troops occupied various houses in the vicinity. In the next year the Governor, Bernard, was recalled, and Thomas Hutchinson, although remaining nominally lieutenant governor, became acting chief magistrate. He now appeared the most conspicuous figure among the royalists, and Samuel Adams became more distinctly the leader of the patriots. Neglecting all other affairs, he was content to live on a pittance, which he was enabled to do by a frugal and helpful wife.
Affairs were now approaching a crisis. A consignment of goods from England, sent in defiance of the non-importation agreements, was not allowed to land and had to be returned. One importer, a Scotchman, would not sign the agreements, so after much remonstrance, Samuel Adams arose in town meeting and grimly moved that the number present, about two thousand, should resolve itself into a committee of the whole, wait upon the obstinate merchant and use such persuasion as should be necessary to secure a compliance. But no vote was needed, for the Scotchman was present, and rushing to the front with knees trembling and in a squeaking voice, rolling his r's like a well-played drum, exclaimed:— "Mr. Mode-r-r-rater, I agr-r-ree, I agr-r-ree!" greatly to the amusement of the people.
It was early in the next year, 1770, that the hostility between towns-people and soldiers led for the first time to the shedding of blood. In February a boy, Christopher Snyder, was shot and killed during a disturbance, and in March occurred the "Boston Massacre." The story has been many times told. Quarrels had grown frequent between the soldiers and the rope-walk hands, the soldiers usually getting the worst of it. On the evening of the 5th, an altercation began just below the Old State House, between the sentinel of the guard and a crowd of townsfolk. An alarm was rung from one of the steeples, and many citizens hurried to the place, most of them thinking that a fire had broken out. A sentry was at the corner of King and Exchange streets, where the Custom House stood, and he was assaulted by the boys with snowballs. Captain Preston with seven or eight men rushed to the scene, loaded their muskets and made ready to fire. The mob hooted, struck their muskets and dared them to fire. At last a volley came. Three were killed and eight wounded. At once there was a tumult. The bells were all rung and the populace hurried to and fro. The bodies of the slain lay on the ground which was sprinkled with a light snow, serving to plainly reveal in the clear moon-light the stains of blood.
The 29th regiment repaired to the spot prepared for firing, and there would have been a fierce contest but for the excellent conduct of the acting governor, Hutchinson. He took Captain Preston severely to task for firing at the people without the orders of a civil magistrate, and then, quickly working his way to the State House, took his stand in the balcony of the council-chamber looking down King Street, and made an address promising that the law should prevail and justice should be done to all. The next morning Hutchinson was waited upon by the selectmen who informed him that there would be no peace until the soldiers should depart. Hutchinson claimed, however, that the regiments were not under his command.
A mass meeting was soon held in Faneuil Hall, and was addressed by Samuel Adams. It may readily be believed that he advocated no compromise, and a committee of fifteen was immediately appointed of which Adams was a member. According to instructions, they at once repaired to the council chamber, and demanded the instant removal of the troops. At three o'clock a regular town meeting assembled in Faneuil Hall, but, owing to the great number present, adjourned to the Old South Meeting House. Then the committee of fifteen appeared making their way from the council-chamber to the meeting-house. Samuel Adams was at the head, and as the crowd made way on either hand he bared his head, and, inclining to the right and left, as he passed through the line, kept repeating: "Both regiments or none!" "Both regiments or none!"
In the presence of the dense multitude in the Old South, the governor's reply was rendered: the 29th regiment should go to the castle, but the 14th must remain. Then the cry arose, "Both regiments or none!" and as the shout echoed from every quarter it was plain that the people had caught the meaning of the watchword, given shortly before by Adams. A new committee, also including Adams, was appointed and sent back to the governor, and as they stood in the council chamber the scene was one that John Adams pronounced long after as worthy a historical painting. A few sentences from Adams' address to Hutchinson are clear enough to show the intense earnestness and patriotism of the man.
"It is well known," he said, "that acting as governor of the Province, you are by its charter the commander-in-chief of the military forces within it; and as such, the troops now in the capital are subject to your orders. If you, or Colonel Dalrymple under you, have the power to remove one regiment, you have the power to remove both; and nothing short of their total removal will satisfy the people or preserve the peace of the Province. A Multitude highly incensed now wait the result of this application. The voice of ten thousand freemen demands that both regiments be forthwith removed. Their voice must be respected, their demand obeyed. Fail not then at your peril to comply with this requisition! On you alone rests the responsibility of this decision; and if the just expectations of the people are disappointed, you must be answerable to God and your country for the fatal consequences that must ensue. The committee have discharged their duty, and it is for you to discharge yours. They wait your final determination."
Hutchinson for a long time stood firm, but yielded at last and the troops were removed.
It is not the purpose of this paper to follow Samuel Adams through his active career in the years of the Revolution and the succeeding period. It is always Samuel Adams, the unswerving patriot, the adroit leader, the man of the people. It had long been felt in England that his was the most active spirit in the cause of the patriots, and there was much talk of effecting his arrest and bringing him to trial on the charge of treason, but the move was never made. Adams' courage never failed. He had long given up the idea of any compromise between the colonies and the Crown, and there is nothing conciliatory in his words or acts. When the tea was emptied into Boston Harbor it was easily understood that Adams was the real leader in the action. No one familiar with the life of the great town meeting man, as Prof. Hosmer likes to call him, can doubt that he had the essential qualities of an adroit strategist. Cromwell once locked Parliament out, Adams once locked the Assembly in. He had secured a majority of the members to vote for a Continental Congress, but could the resolve be presented and brought to a final vote before Governor Gage could prorogue the Assembly, as he would use all speed to do, the instant the first knowledge of the scheme reached his ears? On the 17th of June, just one year before the Battle of Bunker Hill, that question was answered. The resolve was offered that day providing for the appointment of delegates to such a congress. Tory members at once essayed to leave the hall to dispatch the news to the governor, but the bolts were fast, and Samuel Adams had the key in his pocket. Two months later the delegates were on their way to Philadelphia,—Thomas Cushing, Samuel and John Adams and Robert Treat Paine.
Events then transpired rapidly. So far, Samuel Adams was almost wholly alone in the idea of independence, but it was declared by Congress less than two years later. For more than twenty years longer, Adams continued in public life, but his greatest work was before the Declaration of Independence rather than after. There were times when the cause of the patriots must have fallen through but for the nerve and skill of this man. Bowdoin, Cushing, Hancock, Otis, and even John Adams could not have been thoroughly trusted in the last years of the colony to bring affairs to a successful issue. But Samuel Adams was fitted by intellect and character, adroitness and courage, tireless energy and by never failing devotion to the public good, to be the man for the time.
When America had become a Republic, and Adams had returned from Congress to his native town, he served as presiding officer of the Senate, then as lieutenant governor, and, upon the death of Hancock, governor, to which office he was several times chosen by the people. He died in 1803, and his dust lies to-day in the old Granary Burying Ground, close by the common grave of the four victims of the Boston Massacre.
The statue in bronze now standing in Adams Square is noble in design, and appropriate for situation. It is in almost the busiest position of the great city, and daily across its shadow pass tens of thousands of mechanics and artisans—the class of men with whom Samuel Adams used to love to hold intercourse. The Old State House and Faneuil Hall are only a stone's-throw distant from the statue, but the face is not looking in the direction of either; it is turned directly toward the visible shaft of granite on Bunker Hill—the monument which marks the first great battle in the struggle for that Independence toward which, in all his labors for so many years, the eyes of Samuel Adams were ever turned.
1 ([return])
For the reproduction of the above portrait and the two following views of the Old State House, we are indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. Ticknor & Co., the well-known Boston publishers.—Ed.
2 ([return])
Samuel Adams. By James K. Hosmer, 1 vol., 442 pp. American Statesmen Series. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1883.