I was very sorry I did not know of Mr. Cary's going; it would have been so good an opportunity to have sent this, as I lament the loss of. You have heard, no doubt, of the people's preventing the court from sitting in various counties; and last week, in Taunton, Angier urged the court's opening and calling out the actions, but could not effect it. I saw a letter from Miss Eunice,[53] wherein she gives an account of it, and says there were two thousand men assembled round the court-house, and, by a committee of nine, presented a petition requesting that they would not sit, and with the utmost order waited two hours for their answer, when they dispersed. You will burn all these letters, lest they should fall from your pocket, and thus expose your most affectionate friend. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 48: This was the great meeting of delegates from all parts of Suffolk County which passed the resolves commonly known as the Suffolk Resolves.] [Footnote 49: Josiah Quincy, a graduate of Harvard College in 1728, and the father of the two others here named.] [Footnote 50: Dr. Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph, had distinguished himself by his opposition to the policy of the Government upon two occasions. The first in a sermon preached in February, 1773, before the society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which received the warm approbation of Lord Chatham. The second by a speech in the House of Lords. It is to the latter that the reference is made.] [Footnote 51: John Thaxter, already mentioned, and Nathan Rice, who graduated at Harvard College in 1773, and entered immediately as a clerk in Mr. Adams's office. The latter took a commission in the army, and served with credit through the war. He survived until 1834.] [Footnote 52: John Quincy Adams, at this time seven years old.] [Footnote 53: Miss Eunice Paine, a sister of Robert Treat Paine, and for many years an intimate friend of the writer.] 19. JOHN ADAMS. Philadelphia, 16 September, 1774. Having a leisure moment, while the Congress is assembling, I gladly embrace it to write you a line.