"INSTRUMENTAL OF DISTURBING THE PEACE AND HARMONY OF THE GOVERNMENT, AND CAUSING UNNATURAL AND HATEFUL DISCORDS AND ANIMOSITIES": THE HUTCHINSON LETTERS AFFAIR
(HUTCHINSON, Thomas) (OLIVER, Thomas) (FRANKLIN, Benjamin). The Letters of Governor Hutchinson, and Lieut. Governor Oliver, &c. Printed at Boston. And Remarks Thereon. With the Assembly's Address, And the Proceedings Of the Lords Committee of Council. Together with The Substance of Mr. Wedderburn's Speech relating to those Letters. And the Report of the Lords Committee to His Majesty in Council. London: J. Wilkie, 1774. Octavo, original self-wrappers in period-style gray paper boards, uncut; pp. (i-iv), (1), 2-142. Housed in a custom half calf slipcase. $2500.
Second English edition, expanded from the American edition, with excerpts of Franklin's testimony before the Privy Council.
Thomas Hutchinson, a successful merchant who became Governor of Massachusetts in 1771, has been called "the most important figure on the loyalist side in pre-Revolutionary Massachusetts" (Wroth & Zobel, eds. Legal Papers of John Adams V1:cii). Following the Stamp Act and the Townsend Acts, he wrote a series of letters not intended for public consumption, making his thoughts clear on the disturbances in Massachusetts and how the British Parliament should react, including suggestions on reorganizing the colonial government. The letters were sent to Thomas Whately; after Whately's death, his papers were turned over to his brother and eventually a set of the letters came into Benjamin Franklin's possession. "Publication of these letters—copies of which Franklin had secured in London—fanned revolutionary sentiment in America more than any other book in the period" (Howes). The letters were printed in Boston in 1773 and first published in London in the following year; the present edition "was published, with remarks, in exculpation of Gov. Hutchinson, by his friend Israel Mauduit" (Monthly Review, L. 157) in an attempt to defend Hutchinson from what had become violent criticism and to calm the increasingly turbulent reactions on both sides of the Atlantic. Franklin, for his part in publicizing the private correspondence and for whipping up resentment against British authority, was severely reprimanded in the proceedings recorded here—an experience which solidified his commitment to the Revolutionary cause. Contains letters by Hutchinson and by Robert Auchmuty, Jr., Andrew Oliver, Charles Paxton, Nathaniel Rogers, Thomas Cushing, John Pownall, George Rome and Benjamin Franklin along with "Remarks in Defense of the foregoing Letters, by Israel Maudit"; "Proceedings on the Address of the Assembly of Massachusetts Bay, to Remove His Majesty's Governor and Lieutenant Governor"; and other court documents. Adams, American Controversy 73-5e. ESTC T38507. Howes H851. Sabin 34072.
Text clean, pages with spotting in margins, minor expert reinforcement to text block. A very good copy of this important turning point in the American Revolution.