In Answer to a part of yours of the 20th of Feb. which I overlookd, I will transcribe an Extract of a Letter which I wrote last December to the Council of Massachusetts State. You may show it to my Friends & inform that I am still determind to return to Boston in April or May--there to resign the place I hold as Secretary and to get my self excusd from any further Service here. No "Bribe" shall prevail on me to desert my Country. I will still exert my poor Abilities in her Service. But as I am satisfied that there are others who are much more capable of serving her in this Department than I am, I may be allowd to say, that after near five years absense from my Family, and in a Climate unfriendly to my Health. I have Reason to expect I may be permitted to spend the Remainder of my Days in my native Place and enjoy the Pleasures of domestick Life. There, I shall on all occasions contribute my Mite in promoting the Peace and Prosperity of my fellow Citizens. In their Service, I began my political Race. I have ever kept their Interest in View. It will never be in my Power to render them much more Service; but my best Wishes for them will be coequal with my Life. I do not think my Countrymen are ungrateful; but I am affraid there is a Faction among them, consisting of a few Men, who are under the Dominion of those Passions which have been the Bane of Society in all Ages--Ambition and Avarice. I wish their Number may not increase. They are congenial Spirits with Hutchinson and those who aimd at grasping Wealth and Power. America, when she was wise, was jealous of such Designs. She opposd them though they were backd with the Wealth and Power of Great Britain. Such Kind of Men do me great Honor as they ever have done in being my Enemies. While such Men exist, and I believe they ever will in this World of Vanity, an honest Man would feel mortified indeed, to have it said that all Men spoke well of him. These Men hate, but I would not believe them if they were to say, they despisd the Man whose Integrity they cannot shake. They dread, but they cannot despise him of whom they entertain an opinion, that he is a virtuous Citizen.--I do not covet their Esteem. They are not among the Multitude of my Brethren, of whom I should count it an Honor to be accepted. The Eclat of the World is Vanity. There is a solid Satisfaction in ones having, and being conscious that he merits the good opinion of Men of true Discernment and real Worth. But to have a Name among the weak and the wicked is Shame and Reproach. Adieu my Dear. I hope to see you shortly, and then I will explain to you why I have written in this Strain. TO JAMES WARREN. [MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.] PHILADE March 23 1779 MY DEAR SIR