No censure, however, was passed upon
him." [Footnote: _Diary and Letters of T. Hutchinson_, p. 80.]
Had the pacification of his country been the object near his heart, Samuel
Adams, after his victory, would have abstained from any act however
remotely tending to influence the course of justice; for he must have
known that it was only by such conduct the colonists could inspire respect
for the motives which actuated them in their resistance. A capital
sentence would have been doubly unfortunate, for had it been executed it
would have roused all England; while had the king pardoned the soldiers,
as assuredly he would have done, a deep feeling of wrong would have
rankled in America.
A fanatical and revolutionary demagogue, on the other hand, would have
longed for a conviction, not only to compass his ends as a politician, but
to glut his hate as a zealot.
Samuel Adams was a taciturn, secretive man, whose tortuous course would
have been hard to follow a century ago; now the attempt is hopeless. Yet
there is one inference it seems permissible to draw: his admirers have
always boasted that he was the inspiration of the town meetings,
presumably, therefore, the the votes passed at them may be attributed to
his manipulation. And starting from this point, with the help of
Hutchinson and his own writings, it is still possible to discern the
outlines of a policy well worthy of a theocratic statesman.
Pages:
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550