William Tudor to John Adams, February 27, 1791
Boston 27 Feb. 1791
Dear Sir
I was greatly obliged by your Letter of the 15 th Instant, although it gave me some Mortification arising
from the Reflection that I might set it down to my own Inattention that I have been so
long without such a Mark of your Friendship.
It is impossible not to smile at hearing M r. Oliver complain of his Misfortunes. No Man who deserved so little, has been
more fortunate. Unless to be removed from a State of humiliating pecuniary Perplexity, & relieved from a Station which he had neither Learning or Talents to
dignify or render easy, & to be placed in affluence & Repose, is to be
considered by a Man on the wrong Side of Seventy as an Evil.
I have full Faith in the Feelings, Sense & Resentments of my
Countrymen; but I am also persuaded that the Revolution was hastened by a few choice
Spirits, much fewer than present Envy & Rivalship admit, & Whom posthumous
History will select & perhaps do Justice to. The anti-revolution domestic Enemies of
America to a Man supposed that You was the most energic Plotter, & intrepid
Projector of all the Authors of the Revolution. And they too may have their Historian.
Thus my dear Sir, I don’t see how it is possible for this Truth to escape the knowlege
of Posterity.
Congress having dispatched so much Business this Session, or being
thought to have done it, are rising into Popularity. There is no People on Earth who
would more cheerfully submit to Taxation, which is not direct, than the Subjects of this
State. The Excise Bill which the southern Patriots affect to deprecate & dread so
much, is generally here approved of. Indeed Humanity, Policy, Revenue, Morals call for a
Tax on ardent Spirits. And it is supposed that if the Collection is inforced as
vigourously & steadily as the Impost, that it will exceed in Product the Calculation
of the Secretary Hamilton.
I was rejoiced to learn from M r Cranch
your Intention to spend your Summer at Braintree. 1 As a Farmer You must do good there. The North
Precinct have petitioned the Legislature for a Seperation, & would have succeeded,
could they have got more of the Inhabitants of Squantum to have united with them in the
Petition. 2
Our Sup. Jud. C t. is now sitting, but
the civil Business is greatly impeded by the Number of Criminal Trials, which grand
& petty Villainy furnish. We much Want a New System of criminal judicial Process
especially in Suffolk.
Yours, most faithfully,
W m Tudor