All which Sums of Money and Bills as aforesaid I have receivd of
the said Samuel Adams in behalf of the Committee appointed by the
General Assembly of this Colony at the last Session, to receive
Donations that are or have been made, for the Reliefe of the poor
Sufferers by the Boston Port bill and others in the Town of
Boston and Colony of the Massachusetts Bay.
MOSES GILL, Treasurer to sd Committee.
_________________________________________________________________ 1Wholly in the autograph of Adams; except the signature. 2Cf, page 204. [back] 3Cf, page 193. [back]
TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.
[J. T. Austin, Life of Elbridge Gerry, vol. i., pp. 113, 114; the text is in Force, American Archives, 4th ser., vol. iii., p. 806.]
PHILADELPHIA, Sep. 26, 1775.
MY DEAR SIR,
I arrived in this city on the 12th instant, having rode full three hundred miles on horseback, an exercise which I have not used for many years past. I think it has contributed to the establishment of my health, for which I am obliged to my friend Mr. John Adams, who kindly offered me one of his horses the day after we sat off from Watertown.
I write you this letter, principally to put you in mind of the promise you made me to give me intelligence of what is doing in our assembly and the camp. Believe me, Sir, it is of great importance that we should be informed of every circumstance of our affairs. The eyes of friends and foes are attentively I fixed on our province, and if jealousy or envy can sully its reputation, you may depend upon it they will not miss the opportunity. It behoves our friends, therefore, to be very circumspect, and in all their public conduct to convince the world, that they are influenced not by partial or private motives, but altogether with a view of promoting the public welfare.
Some of our military gentlemen have, I fear, disgraced us; it is then important that every anecdote that concerns a man of real merit among them, and such I know there are, be improved, as far as decency will admit of it, to their advantage and to the honor of a colony, which, for its zeal in the great cause, well as its sufferings, deserves so much of America.