" [Footnote: Hutch.
_Hist._ iii. 279.] And at this cheap rate a reputation for magnanimity was
earned.
How thoroughly the clergy sympathized with their champion appears from
their clamors for blood. As the time drew near it was rumored Hutchinson
would reprieve the prisoners, should they be convicted, till the king's
pleasure could be known. Then Dr. Chauncy, the senior minister of Boston,
cried out in his pulpit: "Surely he would not counteract the operation of
the law, both of God and of man! Surely he would not suffer the town and
land to lie under the defilement of blood! Surely he would not make
himself a partaker in the guilt of murder, by putting a stop to the
shedding of their blood, who have murderously spilt the blood of others!"
[Footnote: Hutch. _Hist._ iii. 329, note.] Adams attended when the
causes were heard and took notes of the evidence; and one of the few
occasions in his long life on which his temper seems to have got beyond
control was when the accused were acquitted. His writings betray
unmistakable chagrin; and nothing is more typical of the man, or of the
clerical atmosphere wherein he had been bred, than his comments upon the
testimony on which the lives of his enemies hung. His piety caused him to
doubt those whose evidence was adverse to his wishes, though they appeared
to be trying to speak the truth.
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