I thank you, my dear Sir, for the information you gave Mrs A of Mr Dugans coming.  Pray let her know that I receivd her Letter & am well.  My Compts to the Circle about you.

Your affectionate,

1 Speaker of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts.

ARTICLE, UNSIGNED.

[Boston Gazette, April 16, 1781; a draft is in the Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.1]

Extract of a Letter from the Southward.

“Before this will reach you, your Countrymen will have finished the important business of electing their Legislators, Magistrates and Governors for the ensuing year.  I hope they have made a wise choice.  At least, from the opinion I entertain of their virtue, I am persuaded they have acted with all that deliberation and caution which the solemnity of the transaction required.  They may then reflect, each one on his own integrity, and appeal to the Monitor within his breast, that he has not trifled with the sacred trust reposed in him by god and his country—­that he has not prostituted his honor and conscience to please a friend or a patron —­that he has not been influenced with the view of private emolument to himself and his family, but has faithfully given his vote for the candidate whom he thought most worthy the choice of free and virtuous citizens—­I congratulate that Legislator, Magistrate & Governor, who knows that neither smiles, entreaties, gifts, dissimulation, intrigue, nor any base and dishonorable practices have procured him this exalted station.  His fellow citizens, unsollicited by him, have called him into their service, from the opinion they have formed of his integrity and adequate abilities.—­He feels himself happy in their opinion of him—­happy is he indeed, if he is conscious he deserves it.

But our countrymen will not imagine, that having filled the several departments of government, they have no further concern about it.  It is, I humbly conceive, their duty and interest to attend to the manner in which it is administered by those whom they have entrusted.  How often has the finishing stroke been given to public virtue, by those who possessed, or seemed to possess many amiable virtues?  Gustavus Vasa was viewed by the Swedes as the deliverer of their country from the Danish yoke.  The most implicit obedience, says the historian, was considered by them as a debt of gratitude, and a virtue.  He had many excellent qualities.  His manners were conciliating—­His courage and abilities great—­But the people by an entire confidence in him suffered him to lay a foundation for absolute monarchy.  They were charmed with his moderation and wisdom, qualities which he really possessed; but they did not consider his ambition, nor had they a thought of his views.  They found peace restored, order established, justice administered, commerce protected, and the arts and sciences encouraged, and