The Writings of Samuel Adams - Volume 3Adams, Samuel
History
The Writings of Samuel Adams - Volume 3
Adams, Samuel
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1809
Government may be establishd there & transmitted to their latest
posterity. The Enemies of American Liberty will surely be
chagrind when they find, that the People of Quebeck have in
common with other Americans the true Sentiments of Liberty. How
confounded must they be, when they see those very Peoples upon
whom they depended to aid them in their flagitious Designs,
lending their Assistance to oppose them, cheerfully adopting the
resolutions of the late Continental Congress & joyning their own
Delegates in another, to be held at Philadelphia on the l0th of
May next. The Accession of that Colony in particular will add
great Reputation & Weight to the Common Cause.
We rejoyce in the opportunity of informing you that the Assembly
of the Island of Jamaica have warmly espousd our Interest. We
have seen a Copy of their Petition to the King in which they
declare . . . .
We promise ourselves that great Good will be the Effect of this
ingenuous Application in Behalf of the Northern Colonies.
As it is possible you may not have seen the Kings Speech at the
opening of the Parliament we inclose it. Lord Dartmouth in a
Circular Letter to the Governors in America, a Copy of which we
have seen is pleasd to say "The Resolutions of both Houses to
support the great CONSTITUTIONAL Principles by which his Majestys
Conduct hath been governd, and their entire Approbation of the
Steps his Majesty has taken for carrying into Execution THE LAWS
PASSED IN THE LAST SESSION, will, I trust, have the Effect to
remove the FALSE IMPRESSIONS which have been made upon the Minds
of his Majestys Subjects in America, and put an End to those
EXPECTATIONS OF SUPPORT in their UNWARRANTABLE PRETENSIONS, which
have been held forth by ARTFUL & DESIGNING MEN." Dated Whitehall
Decr 20 1774. What Ideas his Lordship has of the Consistency of
the Quebec Act with constitutional Principles, which deprives the
Subjects in Canada of those darling Privileges of the British
Constitution, JURORS and the HABEAS CORPUS Act, and in all Crown
Causes, consigns them over to Laws made without their Consent in
person or by their Representatives, perhaps by a Governor &
Council dependent upon the Crown for their Places & Support, & to
be tryed by Judges equally dependent, we will leave to your
Consideration. The Boston Port Bill is another act passed the
last Session & it is executed with the utmost Rigour. How
consistent was it with the great Principles of the Constitution
founded on the Laws of Nature & reason, to punish forty or fifty
thousand Persons for what was done in all Probability by only
forty or fifty. His Lordship may possibly find it very difficult
with his superior understanding to prove that the Destruction of
the Tea in Boston was, considering the Circumstances of the
Action, morally or politically wrong, or, if he must needs think
it was so, could his Lordship judge it inconsistent with the Laws
of God for a Tribunal to proceed to try condemn and punish even
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