His Excellencys Argument seems to us to be rather straind, when he is attempting to show, that we have "invited every other Town & District to adopt our Principles". It is this. The Town says If it should be the general Voice of the Province that the Rights as stated do not belong [to] them, trusting however that this cannot be the Case, they shall lament the Extinction of Ardor for civil & religious Liberty; THEREFORE says his Excellency The Town invited them to ADOPT their principles. Could it possibly be supposd that when his Excy had declared to the whole Province that we had invited every other Town and District in the province to adopt the same Principles he intended to avail himself of such an Explanation! Much the same Way of reasoning follows, (though it would not be to the Reputation of the other Towns if it should have any Weight). That because THEIR consequent Doings were similar to those of this Town THEREFORE they understood that they were invited to ADOPT the same Principles, & therefore they were thus invited to adopt them. Upon the whole, There can be no room to doubt but that every Town which has thought it expedient to correspond with this on the Occasion have acted their own Judgment & expressd their own principles: It is an unspeakeable Satisfaction to us that their Sentiments so nearly accord with ours, and it adds a Dignity to our Proceedings, that when the House of Representatives were called upon by the Governor to bear their Testimony against them, as "of a dangerous Nature & Tendency," they saw reason to declare that "they had not discoverd that the Principles advanced by the Town of Boston were unwarrantable by the constitution."6 The foregoing Report was accepted in the Meeting, Nemine Contradicente, and ordered to be recorded in the Town's Book, as the Sense of the Inhabitants of this Town. It was also Voted, That said Report be printed in the several News-Papers, and that the Committee of Correspondence be directed to transmit a printed Copy thereof to such Towns and Districts as they have or may correspond with. Attest. WILLIAM COOPER, Town-Clerk. _________________________________________________________________ 1The preceding portion is in the Gazette, but not in the manuscript draft. 2Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, vol. i., pp. 64, 68. 3Ibid., p. 30. 4At this point the draft originally included the words: "when they see it approaching them with hasty Strides." 5At this point the draft originally included the words: "Nature and." 6The following portion, from the Gazette is not in the autograph draft by Adams. TO JOHN DICKINSON. [MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.] BOSTON, March 27 1773 SIR, I take the Liberty of inclosing an Oration delivered by Dr Benjamin Church on the Anniversary of the 5th of March 1770, which I beg the favor of you to accept.