Copies of letters from Sir Francis Bernard to the Earl of Hillsborough (two editions, without place, and one, Boston, 1769,—Sabin, ii. 4,921).
There had already been efforts made by the Boston authorities to get at the contents of these letters by a request to Bernard for a statement respecting his transmissions to England (Mass. State Papers, ed. Bradford, 115, 120; Papers pub. by the Seventy-Six Soc.; Lee MSS. in Harvard College library, i. nos. 42-45). Bernard ascribed all his tribulations to his enforcement of the laws of trade (Bernard Papers in Sparks MSS., iii. 150). For Bernard's character, see John Adams, iv. 21, Mahon, v. 235, and Palfrey in his review of Mahon. Bernard left Boston Aug. 2, 1769.
[211] The general belief is that the author of this defence was Samuel Adams (Wells, i. 282; Bancroft, vi. 312), though it has been ascribed to William Cooper, to James Otis, and to Otis and Adams combined. Cf. Barry's Mass., ii. 399; Franklin, viii. 459; Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., i. 485; Mem. Hist. Boston, iii. p.28; Carter-Brown, iii. nos. 1,643, 1,644, 1,716. See Report as spread on the Town Records, in Rec. Com. Rept., xvi. p. 303.
[212] A letter to the right honourable the earl of Hillsborough, on the present situation of affairs in America. Also an appendix in answer to a pamphlet intitled, The constitutional right of Great-Britain to tax the colonies (London, 1769; Boston, 1769,—Sabin, viii. p. 297; Carter-Brown, iii. 1,681).
This also has been attributed to S. Adams; but Hutchinson (iii. 228, 237) believed that James Bowdoin was the writer.
[213] The notes include comments on the Protest of the Lords against the repeal of the Stamp Act (Franklin, iv. 206); on A letter from a merchant in London (iv. 211); on Good Humour, or a way with the Colonies (iv. 215); on An inquiry into the nature and causes of the present disputes (iv. 281); on The true constitutional means of putting an end to the disputes (iv. 298). On Franklin in London at this time, see Sparks's Franklin, vii. 338, 350, 354, etc. The tracts above noted are said by Sparks to be in the Philadelphia Athenæum, but some of these titles appear, as having Franklin's notes, in the Brinley Catal. ii. nos. 3,218-22. Israel Mauduit's Short View of the Hist. of the Colony of Mass. Bay (Lond., 1769) is noted in Brinley, and not by Sparks.
[214] Sparks's Franklin, iv. 258. Some letters of Strahan (1767-8, etc.) are in the Penna. Mag. of Hist., x. 322. The letters of Wm. Samuel Johnson are also of importance (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., xlix.). He describes Barré and others in debate. Barré, in March, 1769, predicted the loss of the colonies (Smyth, Lectures, ii. 384), and in April Johnson is writing, "It seems pretty probable that we shall go on contending, and fretting each other, till we become separate and independent empires" (Beardsley's Life of W. S. Johnson, p. 65; also see pp. 38, 42).
A few of the other more significant pamphlets of 1769 may be mentioned: The rights of the Colonies and the extent of the legislative authority of Great Britain (London, 1769), by Phelps, the under-secretary to Lord Sandwich. Allan Ramsay's Thoughts on the origin and nature of government (London, 1769). Alexander Cluny's American Traveller, or Observations on the British Colonies in America by an old and experienced trader (London, 1769), said to have been instigated by Chatham. The present state of liberty in Great Britain and her Colonies (London, 1769). The present state of the Nation (London, 1768), by Robert Tickle, and the reply to it, called Considerations on the dependencies of Great Britain (London, 1769), and Burke's Observations on it in his Works (Boston, 1865, i. p. 269). The Case of Great Britain and America, addressed to the King and both houses of parliament (London, 1769; Philad., 1769). Richard Bland's Enquiry into the rights of the British Colonies, intended as an answer to The Regulations lately made concerning the Colonies (Williamsburg, 1769; London, 1769). Cf. Carter-Brown, iii. nos. 1,646, 1,652, 1,660, 1,661; Stevens's Hist. Coll., i. 510; Sabin, xvi. nos. 61,401, 67,679.
[215] Hutchinson's History, vol. iii. John Adams's Works, ii. 224; ix. 317; x. 204.
[216] Barry's Mass., ii. 407 and references.