The Stamp Act kindled an enduring flame of indignation in the patriotic bosom of Mr. Adams. He at once became a champion for chartered rights and rational freedom. He published an essay on Canon and Feudal Law which proved him a fearless, able and vigorous writer. It penetrated the joints and marrow of royal power as _practised_ and parliamentary legislation as _assumed_. He traced the Canon law to the Roman clergy--shrewdly planned, acutely managed and rigorously enforced to advance their own aggrandizement. He delineated the servile dogmas of the Feudal code, each manor being the miniature kingdom of a petty tyrant. He exposed the unholy and powerful confederacy of the two, aiming to spread the mantle of ignorance over mankind, drive virtue from the earth, producing the memorable era of the dark ages, shrouded in mental obscurity. He then ushered in the dawn of returning light, exhibited the gigantic struggles of the reformers--the bloody scenes of persecution and finally placed his readers upon the granite shores of New England, where, for a century, LIBERTY had shed its happy influence upon the sons and daughters of freemen, undisturbed by canons or feuds. "Tyranny has again commenced its desolating course--it _must be_ arrested or we are _slaves_." This is a mere syllabus of a pamphlet of over forty pages, strong in language, bold in sentiment, and nervous in style. Mr. Adams became associated with other prominent whigs, Samuel Adams, Quincy, Otis and many kindred spirits, whose influence produced the repeal of the Stamp Act and the removal of Mr. Grenville from the ministry. An apparent but delusive calm ensued on the part of the crown officers. At intervals, a cloven foot would be seen, festering wounds would be irritated and no balm was found to restore them to perfect soundness. In 1766 Mr. Adams removed to Boston where his talents became so strongly developed that the king's governor thought him worth purchasing. He was offered the most lucrative office in the colony--Advocate General in the court of Admiralty. He spurned the bribe with the disdain that none but freemen can exhibit. In 1769 he was on the committee that prepared instructions for the legislature, which were very obnoxious to the royal governor. He had outraged the people by quartering a mercenary army in the town--was unyielding in his purposes and hastened a tragedy that gave a fresh impetus to the embryo revolution. On the 5th of March 1770, an affray occurred between the military and citizens, in which five of the latter were killed and others wounded. Mr. Adams thus describes the result.