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mark; and, as for the remaining two, the operations were like those before described, in the forenoon. But the afternoons were more notably distinguished.

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The foot divide and open a passage for the bounding steeds. The horse drive furious through the lengthened lane, beset on either side with fire and smoke. Then they renew the fight with redoubled ardor. attack closes the dusty scene. to seek refreshment.

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After this a third
The parties retreat

If the methods of teaching prescribed in the Norfolk Exercise be observed, particularly to do it at first in small parties, where the motion of every man may be seen and every error corrected, they will make a surprising progress in a short time. And as the men will by this means be fully employed, they will have neither time nor inclination to commit the many disorders before mentioned.

These are observations founded in fact and experience. . . . The officers and sergeants of the several companies [in Salem], it seems, have taken pains to acquaint themselves with all the parts of exercise most necessary for a militia to understand, to wit, the manual exercise and most usual evolutions. And the effects are answerable. Their militia, I have been told, is the best in the Province, and perhaps in America; not

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only for their military skill, but also for their good order the regularity of behavior. But I am further informed, that these officers have not stopped here, but still continue to meet frequently for conversing about, and perfecting themselves in, military matters, that they may the better discharge the duty of their offices. And [the foregoing method] may now be practised with greater success than ever, as the militia officers have an opportunity of seeing regular troops; from whom, by an attentive observation, they may gather many useful hints, to facilitate their instructing the militia; (and fas est et ab hoste doceri.)

Octavius Pickering, The Life of Timothy Pickering (Boston, 1867), I. 16-19 passim.

9. An Historic Picture of a Colonial Controversy (1770)

By EX-PRESIDENT JOHN ADAMS
(Written 1817)

A Massachusetts schoolmaster and lawyer. A mainstay in the Revolution. Later minister abroad, vice president and president. (See note, p. 251.)

Now for the picture. The theatre and the scenery are the same with those at the discussion of writs of assistance. The same glorious por

traits of King Charles II. and King James II., to which might be added, and should be added, little miserable likenesses of Governor Winthrop, Governor Bradstreet, Governor Endicott, and Governor Belcher, hung up in obscure corners of the room. Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, commander-in-chief in the absence of the Governor, must be placed at the head of the council table. Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, commander-in-chief of his Majesty's military forces, taking rank of all his Majesty's counsellors, must be seated by the side of the Lieutenant-Governor and commander-in-chief of the province. Eightand-twenty counsellors must be painted, all seated at the council board. Let me see what costume? What was the fashion of that day, in the month of March? Large white wigs, English scarlet cloth cloaks, some of them with gold-laced hats, not on their heads, indeed, in so august a presence, but on the table before them, or under the table beneath them. Before these illustrious personages appeared SAMUEL ADAMS, a member of the House of Representatives and their clerk, now at the head of the committee of the great assembly at the Old South Church. . . . He represented the state of the town and the country; the dangerous, ruinous, and fatal effects of standing armies in populous cities in time of peace, and the determined resolution of the public, that the regular troops, at all events should be re

Lieutenant-Governor

moved from the town. Hutchinson, then commander-in-chief, at the head of a trembling council, said, "he had no authority over the king's troops; that they had their separate commander and separate orders and instructions, and that he could not interfere with them." Mr. Adams instantly appealed to the charter of the province, by which the Governor, and in his absence the Lieutenant-Governor, was constituted commander-in-chief of all the military and naval power within its jurisdiction. You, Mr. Tudor, knew Mr. Adams from your childhood to his death. In his common appearance he was a plain, simple, decent citizen, of middling stature, dress, and manners. He had an exquisite ear for music, and a charming voice, when he pleased to exert it. Yet his ordinary speeches in town meetings, in the House of Representatives, and in Congress exhibited nothing extraordinary; but, upon great occasions, when his deeper feelings were excited, he erected himself, or rather nature seemed to erect him, without the smallest symptom of affectation, into an upright dignity of figure and gesture, and gave a harmony to his voice which made a strong impression on spectators and auditors,-the more lasting for the purity, correctness, and nervous elegance of his style.

This was a delicate and a dangerous crisis. The question in the last resort was, whether the town

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of Boston should become a scene of carnage and desolation, or not? Humanity to the soldiers conspired with a regard for the safety of the town, in suggesting the wise measure of calling the town together to deliberate. . . . The whole militia of the city was in requisition, and military watches and guards were everywhere placed. We were all upon a level; no man was exempted; our military officers were our only superiors. I had the honor to be summoned, in my turn, and attended at the State House with my musket and bayonet, my broadsword and cartridge-box, under the command of the famous Paddock. I know you will laugh at my military figure; but I believe there was not a more obedient soldier in the regiment, nor one more impartial between the people and the regulars. In this character I was upon duty all night in my turn. No man appeared more anxious or more deeply impressed with a sense of danger on all sides than our commander, Paddock. He called me, common soldier as I was, frequently to his councils. I had a great deal of conversation with him, and no man appeared more apprehensive of a fatal calamity to the town or more zealous by every prudent measure to prevent it.

Such was the situation of affairs, when Samuel Adams was reasoning with Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson and Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple. He had fairly driven them from all their out

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