statesmen looked to him for counsel. He aided Otis in preparing state papers; and a direction to the printers, attached to some of Josiah Quincy's manuscripts, reads -"Let Samuel Adams, Esq., correct the press." In fact there were few, if any, important documents published between 1764 and 1769, in Boston, that were not revised by the cool and solid judgment of the New England Phocion.

The idea of assembling the first Congress not only originated with him, but he early became a conspicuons delegate in that body. He was placed upon every important committee, wrote or revised every report, and had a hand in every measure designed to counteract foreign tyranny. The people of America soon recognized in him one of their most efficient supporters, and the government in England openly proclaimed him one of the most inveterate of their opponents.

Samuel Adams possessed various instrumentalities for promoting political and moral designs, and not the least among them was his versatile and potent pen. He is said to have wielded that almost omnipotent engine, a free press, with the irresistible arm of a giant. Clear and cogent paragraphs, scattered about in newspapers, stung the popular mind to the quick; while more elaborate essays, like those of Junius, convinced and impelled leading men, and prompted all classes to execute the purposes at which the great patriot aimed.

In the second place, his living eloquence was a powerful auxiliary to the popular cause. But of this orator, as of James Otis, there are but few written remains. The patriots of those times acted, wrote and spake, as

though they felt deeply that they were born for their country and for mankind. They were evidently more intent in laying the foundation of great institutions for the benefit of posterity, than in recording transient memorials of themselves.

Several traits in the eloquence of Samuel Adams are worthy of particular notice; among these were his sagacity, his knowledge of man, his fearlessness of kings, and his devotion to republican liberty.

He commenced his public life as a legislator in 1765, in the General Assembly, as a representative from Boston. He very soon became distinguished in that body. for his wisdom, foresight, and ardent support of popular rights. His commanding influence and stern defiance of foreign aggression, soon attracted the notice of the agents of Parliament. Overtures were made to him by Governor Hutchinson, but they were indignantly rejected; and Hutchinson, referring to his discomfiture in a letter to a friend, said: "Such is the obstinacy and inflexible disposition of the man, that he can never be conciliated by any office or gift whatever." No language could express a higher tribute to the integrity and patriotism of Mr. Adams.

During the angry contention whieh lasted for several years between the citizens and the military force quartered in Boston, and which came to the melancholy issue in the massacre of March 5th, 1770, Samuel Adams, aided by John Adams, Hancock and others, bore a prominent part, in efforts to effect their removal. from the town. On the morning after the outrage was committed, a public meeting was held, and Samuel

Adams was placed at the head of a committee to wait on the acting governor, Hutchinson, and demand the removal of the troops. Hutchinson at first evaded the immediate request, by offering some frivolous plea; but, being told by Mr. Adams that the people still remained in session, determined on redress, and that the consequences of his refusal must rest upon his own head, he at last promised compliance with their demands.

Not long after another occasion occurred when the sagacious firmness of this great moral hero was called into profitable requisition. Governor Hutchinson, having refused to receive his salary from the province, and being paid by the crown, was made independent of the people, who saw at once in this move a dangerous innovation. They remonstrated with the Governor, but their memorials were treated with indifference and contempt. On November 2d, 1772, on the motion of Samuel Adams, a large committee of citizens were appointed "to state the rights of the Colonists, and of this province in particular, as men, as Christians, and as subjects; to communicate and publish the same to the several towns in this province and to the world, as the sense of this town, with the infringements and violations thereof, that have been, or from time to time may be made; also requesting of each town a free communication of their sentiments on this subject." This was the original committee of correspondence, out of which grew the subsequent union of the Colonies, and the Congress of the United States.

Governor Gage arrived in Boston in May, 1774, and presuming upon the truth of a maxim which originated

among British politicians, and is generally believed there, that "every man has his price," offered a heavy "consideration" through Colonel Fenton, his agent, to Samuel Adams. But those minions of regal power and rotten aristocracy were destined to learn, that there is such a thing as patriotism, which thrones cannot awe nor bribes corrupt. If the sturdy patriot was found to be proof against venality and corruption, then the agent of tyrannical arrogance was directed to threaten him with an arrest for treason. Mr. Adams, glowing with indignation at such attacks upon his honor and patriotism, first demanded of the messenger, Fenton, a solemn pledge that he would return to Gage his reply just as it was given, and then rising in a firm manner, said, “I trust that I have long since made my peace with the King of kings. No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause of my country. Tell Governor Gage, it is the advice of Samuel Adams to him, no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated people."

The Governor having vetoed no less than thirteen Councilors, chosen by the people in May, 1774, and adjourned the General Court to Salem, the Assembly at length advised a Congress of the Colonies at Philadelphia, in September. Samuel Adams was one of the five delegates sent from Massachusetts. In the Continental Congress, as everywhere else, he was indefatigable and earnest in his labors to promote the cause of freedom. John Adams, in a magnanimous allusion to Thomas Jefferson, speaks of his namesake and co-patriot in a way illustrative of our present topic. Jefferson, said he,

"though a silent member, he was so prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive upon committees-not even SAMUEL ADAMS was more so that he soon seized. my heart." Indeed, all cotemporary proof goes to show that in the committees of Congress, and in the associations of the "Sons of Liberty," at Boston, he was the soul of their

movements.

Another peculiarity of Samuel Adams was, his profound and accurate acquaintance with the nature of man. He had studied its secret springs, and could move them at pleasure. He knew that the human. heart is like the earth. "You may sow it, and plant it, and build upon it in all manner of forms; but the earth, however cultivated by man, continues none the less spontaneously to produce its verdures, its wild flowers, and all varieties of natural fruits." The spade and the plough trouble not the profounder depths where innumerable germs are hid. The identity of this planet on which we live is not more perpetual than that of human nature. Its latent impulses we must know. Its spontaneous productions we must learn to employ, if we would toil among mankind with success.

One or two instances will suffice to illustrate Mr. Adams' skill in dealing with mankind. A great "townmeeting" was held in Faneuil Hall, to form an association against the importation of goods into Boston from Britain, until certain grievances were redressed. That the leaders in this business contemplated a limited time is evident from the fact that at a subsequent period, both Samuel and John Adams opposed, in Congress, the nonimportation scheme, lest the country should be exhaust