September 3, 2025 • 15 mins
This captivating biography delves into the life of John Hancock, one of the most influential figures in American history. As a Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and a key Patriot of the American Revolution, Hancocks story is one of resilience and leadership. The author skillfully narrates Hancocks journey from his childhood and education to his significant political and military contributions, providing a comprehensive look at the man behind the iconic signature. - Summary by GoodReads
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter fourteen of John Hancock, The Picturesque Patriot by Lorenzo Sears.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. A wedding.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Dorothy Quincy did not go back to Boston after the
conquered in Lexington fight, despite her assertion that she was
not yet under her lover's control. He could safely leave
the woeful girl to the management of a still more
determined woman who had her own method of persuading the
younger one that it was much better to continue their
flight from the beleagued town of Boston. They had not
(00:34):
been out of Lexington three weeks when the maiden's father,
whom she wished to visit, had left Boston and from Lancaster.
May eleventh wrote to his son that your sister Dolly,
with missus Hancock, came from Shirley to your brother Greenleaf's
and dined and proceeded to Worcester, where Colonel h and
mister A were on their way. This was ten days
(00:56):
before I got hither, so that I missed seeing them.
As I hear she proceeded with mister h to Fairfield.
I don't expect to see her till peaceable times are restored.
The Burghs were an ancient Massachusetts family, a branch of
which had drifted from the Bay down into Fairfield, Connecticut.
Thaddeus Burr was the occupant of the old homestead for
(01:19):
which the aunt Lydia Hancock headed, with Dorothy Quincey in charge,
and her nephew John conveniently on the way alone. She
appears to have been equal to the task of personally
conducting the spirit and vivacious Dorothy into the staid Connecticut household.
There Hancock could leave his fiancee with the comforting assurance
(01:39):
that she was in safe hands where he could find her.
When his congressional duties should be sufficiently relaxed to permit
a temporary absence from Philadelphia. He did not wait to
reach that city before he wrote the letter of May
seventh from New York, describing his journey and flattering reception.
A month afterward, he wrote from philadelph a letter by
(02:01):
which it appears that Dorothy was not so faithful a
correspondent as he was, and perhaps not so ardent a lover.
I am almost prevailed on to think that my letters
to my aunt and you are not read, for I
cannot obtain a reply. I have asked million questions and
not an answer to one. I begged you to let
me know what things my aunt wanted in you, and
(02:23):
many other matters I wanted to know, but not one
word in answer. I really take it extreme, unkind pray,
my dear, not use so much ceremony and reservedness. Why
can't you use freedom in writing?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Be not afraid of me. I want long letters.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I am glad the little things I sent you were agreeable.
Why did you not write me of the top of
the umbrella? I am so sorry it was spoiled, but
I will send you another by my express which will
go in a few days.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
How did my aunt like her gown?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
And do let me know if the stalking suited her?
She had better say the pattern, shoe and stalking I
warrant I will suit her. The enclosed letter for your
father you will read and seal and forward him. You
will observe I mention in it your writing your sister
Katie about a few necessaries for Katie, sewell what you
think write let her have and Roy James, and this
(03:18):
only between you and.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I do write your father.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I should be glad to hear from him, and I
beg my dear dolly. You will write me often and
long letters.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I will forgive the.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Past if you will mend in the future. Do ask
my aunt to make up and send me a watch string,
And do you make up another and send me I
wear them out fast. I want some little thing of
your doing. Remember me to all friends with you, as
if named, I am called upon and must obey. I
(03:51):
have sent you, by Doctor Church in a paper box
directed to you, the following things for your acceptance, in
which I do insist you wear.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
If you do not, I.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Shall think the donor is the objection. Two pair white silk,
four pair white thread stalkings, which I think will fit you.
One pair black satin shoes, one pair black calum doo.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
The other shall be sent when done.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
One very pretty light hat, one neat airy summer cloak.
I asked Doctor Church. Two caps, one fan. I wish
these may please you. I shall be gratified if they do.
Pray write me. I will attend to all your commands. Adieu,
my dear girl, and believe me with great esteem and affection,
(04:39):
Yours without reserve, John Hancock. Remember me to Katie Brackett.
It is too evident that despite the lover's entreaties, supplemented
by hoysiery Hat and Cloak. Dorothy Quincy was so sadly
in arrears in the matter of letter writing, that, out
of regard to her loyalty to her prospective husband, some
(05:00):
search ought to be made for a woman's reason, which
will explain such neglect, in part, at least in the
house where she was staying. Was born on November sixth,
seventeen fifty six, a son to Aaron Burr and Esther,
his wife, who was a daughter of Reverend Jonathan Edwards,
the most distinguished theologian and terrific preacher of his generation, and,
(05:22):
for a short period before his death, president of Princeton College.
Young Aaron Burr inherited intellectual gifts that were a credit
to his illustrious ancestry, and possessed, moreover, a personal fascination
equaled only by his grandfather's fearful attraction when delivering one
of his lurid sermons. For a while, the grandson pursued
(05:44):
the study of divinity, but a revolt from calvinistic dogmatism
ended in legal studies and practice. He had been three
years out of college, a youth of nineteen when he
appeared one summer day at the old homestead, both of
his parents having died in his childhood. Much history has
descended with his name, but it is a uniform tradition
(06:05):
that what is of chief consequence here his attractions.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Were well nigh irresistible by women.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
An equally well attested tradition declares that Dorothy Quincy was
by no means insensible to his charms of appearance and conversation.
Aunt Lydia soon became alarmed for the prospects of her
nephew Congressman, by the daily presence in her house of
this winsome and brilliant student of theology and law, whose
enchantments may have been passed her matronly and aged understanding,
(06:36):
or they may not, but were so evident that some
drastic policy became imperative for the safe keeping of her charge. Plainly,
she did not disclose the situation to John, since omit
all his complaints and surmisings in such letters as have survived,
there is no hint of a rival's advantageous propinquity in
(06:56):
the household where Dorothy was living.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
It It is not certain.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
How long she was exposed to the hypnotic influences of
a young man ten years her junior. But it is
on record that during the recess of Congress from August
first to September fifth, its president claimed the willing or
reluctant betrothed as his own, and they were married on
the twenty eighth day of August seventeen seventy five, as
(07:21):
was duly chronicled in the New York Gazette of September fourth,
this evening was married at the seat of Thaddeus Burr, Esquire,
at Fairfield, Connecticut, by the Reverend mister Elliott, the Honorable
John Hancock, Esquire, President of the Continental Congress, to Miss
Dorothy Quincy, daughter of Edmund Quincy, Esquire of Boston. Floris
(07:44):
informs us that, in the Second Punic War, when Hannibal
besieged Rome and was very near making himself master of it,
a field upon which part of his army lay was
offered for sale and was immediately purchased by a Roman
in a strong assurance that the Roman valor encouraged would
soon raise the siege. Equal to the conduct of that
(08:06):
illustrious citizen was the marriage of the Honorable John Hancock, Esquire, who,
with his amiable lady has paid as great a compliment
to American valor and discovered equal patriotism by marrying now
while all the colonies are as much convulsed as Rome
when Hannibal was at her gates. No doubt Hancock appreciated
(08:28):
the compliment to his confidence in American valor by some
newspaper Floris, and at the same time he may also
have had his own apprehensions about the wisdom of a
Fabian policy in delaying his marriage much longer, in which
aunt Lydiau was sure to agree with him. Dolly, too
might have had her compensations in the fact that she
(08:49):
had wedded a man of wealth and exalted position, with
the accessories of good looks, manners, and breeding. Settled in
a boarding house in Philadelphia with other people from Massade Choosets,
she won the reputation of a devoted wife. John Adams,
writing to his wife on November fourth, says two pair
of colors belonging to the seventh Regiment were brought here
(09:11):
last night from Chambly and hung up in Missus Hancock's
chamber with great splendor and elegance. The lady sends her
compliments and good wishes among a hundred men almost at
this house. She lives and behaves with modest decency, dignity,
and discretion.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I assure you her.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Behavior is easy and genteel. She avoids talking upon politics
in large and mixed companies. She is totally silent, as
a lady ought to be. But whether her eyes are
so penetrating and her attention so quick to the words, looks, gestures, sentiments,
et cetera of the company as yours would be saucy
(09:50):
as you are in this way, I won't say.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Probably.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Abigail Adams understood her husband well enough to believe that
this was an intention did compliment to herself, and that
he was immune against other attractions in her own By springing,
the Hancocks took a house from which the President of
Congress sent an invitation to the Commander in Chief on
the sixteenth of May seventeen seventy six to make his
home with them on the occasion of his visit to
(10:18):
Philadelphia to consult with Congress about the ensuing campaign, where
he was to be joined by Missus Washington. I reside
in an airy, open part of the city, in Arch
Street and Fourth Street. Your favor of the twentieth incidant
I received this morning and cannot help expressing the great
pleasure it would afford Missus Hancock and myself to have
(10:40):
the happiness of accommodating you during your stay in this city.
As the house I live in is large and roomy,
it will be entirely in your power to live in
that manner you should wish. Missus Washington will be as
retired as she pleases while under inoculation, and Missus Hancock
will esteem it an honor to have Missus Wahier Washington
(11:00):
inoculated in her house. And as I am informed, mister
Randolph has not any lady about his house to take
the necessary care of Missus Washington, I flatter myself she
will be as well attended.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
In my family.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
In short, Sir, I must take the freedom to repeat
my wish that you will be pleased to condescend to
dwell under my roof. I assure you, Sir, I will
do all in my power to render your stay agreeable,
and my house shall be entirely at your disposal. I must, however,
submit this to your determination, and only add that you
will peculiarly gratify Missus h and myself in affording me
(11:37):
an opportunity of convincing of this truth that I am
with every sentiment of regard for you and your connections,
and with much esteem, dear Sir, your faithful and most obedient,
humble servant, John Hancock. In his reply of May twentieth
to the official letter which accompanied this invitation, Washington expressed
(11:58):
his gratitude to Congress for their kind attention to the
means which they think may be conducive to my health,
and with particular thanks to you for the politeness of
your invitation to your house. I conclude, dear Sir, your
most obedient, et cetera. There is no indication that he
accepted Hancock's offer of hospitality. Possibly the non acceptance was
(12:23):
the cause of the following note from the President of
Congress soon after the arrival of Washington in Philadelphia. I
am extremely sorry. It is not in my power to
wait on you in person to execute the commands of Congress,
but being deprived of that pleasure by a severe fit
of the gout, I am under the necessity of taking
this method to acquaint you that the Congress have directed
(12:45):
me in their name to make the thanks of that
body to you for the unremitted attention you have paid
to your important trust, and in particular for the assistance
they have derived from your military knowledge and experience in
adopting the best plans for them the defense of the
United Colonies. In this note also there is evidence that
Washington did not accept Hancock's preferred hospitality, Nor was this
(13:10):
the only occasion on which the convenient gout served the
latter sense of what was due him. He had been
profuse in his cordial tender of entertainment to one who
occupied a position which he had coveted. The recognition of
his offer was courteous, but almost curt in response to
the somewhat effusive, but evidently genuine initiative of Hancock. At
(13:31):
this distance, a sudden recurrence of his malady seems excusable,
if not natural. On the twenty fourth of August, it
became the duty of the President of Congress to write
the Commander in Chief in commendation of his action in
the matter of Lord Drummond's proposal of a plan of
reconciliation between Great Britain and the Colonies, which Washington had
(13:52):
promptly declined to receive from a man who was violating
his parole as he considered, Sir. The late conduct of
Lord Drummond is as extraordinary as his motives are dark
and mysterious. To judge the most favorably of his intentions,
it should seem that an overweening vanity has betrayed him
(14:13):
into a criminal.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Breach of honor.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
But whether his views were upright or intended only to
mislead and deceive, cannot at present be a matter of
any importance. In the meantime, I have the pleasure to
acquaint you that Congress highly approved the manner in which
you have checked the officious and intemperance zeal of his lordship.
Whether his designs were hostile or friendly.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
He equally merited the reproof you gave him, and I
hope for the future he will be convinced that it
is highly imprudent to attract the attention of the public
to a character which will only pass without censure when
it passes without notice.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I have the honor to be etc. John Hancock. It
may be admitted that.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Hancock succeeded in separating his officials duty from his personal inclinations.
He could not fail to have the Commander in chief
often in his thoughts, as that dignitary was frequently the
subject of discussion in Congress. In communicating the sentiments of
that body, he allowed no note of personal feeling to
color the expression of its opinions or will. If in
(15:20):
the privacy of his fireside the attitude of General Washington
was sometimes discussed, the two most concerned were not likely
to let their neighbors have the opportunity to repeat anything
to the detriment of the man who was having abuse
enough from the envious and ambitious, from pretended friends and
open enemies.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
End of Chapter fourteen.
Chapter fourteen of John Hancock, The Picturesque Patriot by Lorenzo Sears.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. A wedding.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Dorothy Quincy did not go back to Boston after the
conquered in Lexington fight, despite her assertion that she was
not yet under her lover's control. He could safely leave
the woeful girl to the management of a still more
determined woman who had her own method of persuading the
younger one that it was much better to continue their
flight from the beleagued town of Boston. They had not
(00:34):
been out of Lexington three weeks when the maiden's father,
whom she wished to visit, had left Boston and from Lancaster.
May eleventh wrote to his son that your sister Dolly,
with missus Hancock, came from Shirley to your brother Greenleaf's
and dined and proceeded to Worcester, where Colonel h and
mister A were on their way. This was ten days
(00:56):
before I got hither, so that I missed seeing them.
As I hear she proceeded with mister h to Fairfield.
I don't expect to see her till peaceable times are restored.
The Burghs were an ancient Massachusetts family, a branch of
which had drifted from the Bay down into Fairfield, Connecticut.
Thaddeus Burr was the occupant of the old homestead for
(01:19):
which the aunt Lydia Hancock headed, with Dorothy Quincey in charge,
and her nephew John conveniently on the way alone. She
appears to have been equal to the task of personally
conducting the spirit and vivacious Dorothy into the staid Connecticut household.
There Hancock could leave his fiancee with the comforting assurance
(01:39):
that she was in safe hands where he could find her.
When his congressional duties should be sufficiently relaxed to permit
a temporary absence from Philadelphia. He did not wait to
reach that city before he wrote the letter of May
seventh from New York, describing his journey and flattering reception.
A month afterward, he wrote from philadelph a letter by
(02:01):
which it appears that Dorothy was not so faithful a
correspondent as he was, and perhaps not so ardent a lover.
I am almost prevailed on to think that my letters
to my aunt and you are not read, for I
cannot obtain a reply. I have asked million questions and
not an answer to one. I begged you to let
me know what things my aunt wanted in you, and
(02:23):
many other matters I wanted to know, but not one
word in answer. I really take it extreme, unkind pray,
my dear, not use so much ceremony and reservedness. Why
can't you use freedom in writing?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Be not afraid of me. I want long letters.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I am glad the little things I sent you were agreeable.
Why did you not write me of the top of
the umbrella? I am so sorry it was spoiled, but
I will send you another by my express which will
go in a few days.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
How did my aunt like her gown?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
And do let me know if the stalking suited her?
She had better say the pattern, shoe and stalking I
warrant I will suit her. The enclosed letter for your
father you will read and seal and forward him. You
will observe I mention in it your writing your sister
Katie about a few necessaries for Katie, sewell what you
think write let her have and Roy James, and this
(03:18):
only between you and.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I do write your father.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I should be glad to hear from him, and I
beg my dear dolly. You will write me often and
long letters.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I will forgive the.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Past if you will mend in the future. Do ask
my aunt to make up and send me a watch string,
And do you make up another and send me I
wear them out fast. I want some little thing of
your doing. Remember me to all friends with you, as
if named, I am called upon and must obey. I
(03:51):
have sent you, by Doctor Church in a paper box
directed to you, the following things for your acceptance, in
which I do insist you wear.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
If you do not, I.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Shall think the donor is the objection. Two pair white silk,
four pair white thread stalkings, which I think will fit you.
One pair black satin shoes, one pair black calum doo.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
The other shall be sent when done.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
One very pretty light hat, one neat airy summer cloak.
I asked Doctor Church. Two caps, one fan. I wish
these may please you. I shall be gratified if they do.
Pray write me. I will attend to all your commands. Adieu,
my dear girl, and believe me with great esteem and affection,
(04:39):
Yours without reserve, John Hancock. Remember me to Katie Brackett.
It is too evident that despite the lover's entreaties, supplemented
by hoysiery Hat and Cloak. Dorothy Quincy was so sadly
in arrears in the matter of letter writing, that, out
of regard to her loyalty to her prospective husband, some
(05:00):
search ought to be made for a woman's reason, which
will explain such neglect, in part, at least in the
house where she was staying. Was born on November sixth,
seventeen fifty six, a son to Aaron Burr and Esther,
his wife, who was a daughter of Reverend Jonathan Edwards,
the most distinguished theologian and terrific preacher of his generation, and,
(05:22):
for a short period before his death, president of Princeton College.
Young Aaron Burr inherited intellectual gifts that were a credit
to his illustrious ancestry, and possessed, moreover, a personal fascination
equaled only by his grandfather's fearful attraction when delivering one
of his lurid sermons. For a while, the grandson pursued
(05:44):
the study of divinity, but a revolt from calvinistic dogmatism
ended in legal studies and practice. He had been three
years out of college, a youth of nineteen when he
appeared one summer day at the old homestead, both of
his parents having died in his childhood. Much history has
descended with his name, but it is a uniform tradition
(06:05):
that what is of chief consequence here his attractions.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Were well nigh irresistible by women.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
An equally well attested tradition declares that Dorothy Quincy was
by no means insensible to his charms of appearance and conversation.
Aunt Lydia soon became alarmed for the prospects of her
nephew Congressman, by the daily presence in her house of
this winsome and brilliant student of theology and law, whose
enchantments may have been passed her matronly and aged understanding,
(06:36):
or they may not, but were so evident that some
drastic policy became imperative for the safe keeping of her charge. Plainly,
she did not disclose the situation to John, since omit
all his complaints and surmisings in such letters as have survived,
there is no hint of a rival's advantageous propinquity in
(06:56):
the household where Dorothy was living.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
It It is not certain.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
How long she was exposed to the hypnotic influences of
a young man ten years her junior. But it is
on record that during the recess of Congress from August
first to September fifth, its president claimed the willing or
reluctant betrothed as his own, and they were married on
the twenty eighth day of August seventeen seventy five, as
(07:21):
was duly chronicled in the New York Gazette of September fourth,
this evening was married at the seat of Thaddeus Burr, Esquire,
at Fairfield, Connecticut, by the Reverend mister Elliott, the Honorable
John Hancock, Esquire, President of the Continental Congress, to Miss
Dorothy Quincy, daughter of Edmund Quincy, Esquire of Boston. Floris
(07:44):
informs us that, in the Second Punic War, when Hannibal
besieged Rome and was very near making himself master of it,
a field upon which part of his army lay was
offered for sale and was immediately purchased by a Roman
in a strong assurance that the Roman valor encouraged would
soon raise the siege. Equal to the conduct of that
(08:06):
illustrious citizen was the marriage of the Honorable John Hancock, Esquire, who,
with his amiable lady has paid as great a compliment
to American valor and discovered equal patriotism by marrying now
while all the colonies are as much convulsed as Rome
when Hannibal was at her gates. No doubt Hancock appreciated
(08:28):
the compliment to his confidence in American valor by some
newspaper Floris, and at the same time he may also
have had his own apprehensions about the wisdom of a
Fabian policy in delaying his marriage much longer, in which
aunt Lydiau was sure to agree with him. Dolly, too
might have had her compensations in the fact that she
(08:49):
had wedded a man of wealth and exalted position, with
the accessories of good looks, manners, and breeding. Settled in
a boarding house in Philadelphia with other people from Massade Choosets,
she won the reputation of a devoted wife. John Adams,
writing to his wife on November fourth, says two pair
of colors belonging to the seventh Regiment were brought here
(09:11):
last night from Chambly and hung up in Missus Hancock's
chamber with great splendor and elegance. The lady sends her
compliments and good wishes among a hundred men almost at
this house. She lives and behaves with modest decency, dignity,
and discretion.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I assure you her.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Behavior is easy and genteel. She avoids talking upon politics
in large and mixed companies. She is totally silent, as
a lady ought to be. But whether her eyes are
so penetrating and her attention so quick to the words, looks, gestures, sentiments,
et cetera of the company as yours would be saucy
(09:50):
as you are in this way, I won't say.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Probably.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Abigail Adams understood her husband well enough to believe that
this was an intention did compliment to herself, and that
he was immune against other attractions in her own By springing,
the Hancocks took a house from which the President of
Congress sent an invitation to the Commander in Chief on
the sixteenth of May seventeen seventy six to make his
home with them on the occasion of his visit to
(10:18):
Philadelphia to consult with Congress about the ensuing campaign, where
he was to be joined by Missus Washington. I reside
in an airy, open part of the city, in Arch
Street and Fourth Street. Your favor of the twentieth incidant
I received this morning and cannot help expressing the great
pleasure it would afford Missus Hancock and myself to have
(10:40):
the happiness of accommodating you during your stay in this city.
As the house I live in is large and roomy,
it will be entirely in your power to live in
that manner you should wish. Missus Washington will be as
retired as she pleases while under inoculation, and Missus Hancock
will esteem it an honor to have Missus Wahier Washington
(11:00):
inoculated in her house. And as I am informed, mister
Randolph has not any lady about his house to take
the necessary care of Missus Washington, I flatter myself she
will be as well attended.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
In my family.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
In short, Sir, I must take the freedom to repeat
my wish that you will be pleased to condescend to
dwell under my roof. I assure you, Sir, I will
do all in my power to render your stay agreeable,
and my house shall be entirely at your disposal. I must, however,
submit this to your determination, and only add that you
will peculiarly gratify Missus h and myself in affording me
(11:37):
an opportunity of convincing of this truth that I am
with every sentiment of regard for you and your connections,
and with much esteem, dear Sir, your faithful and most obedient,
humble servant, John Hancock. In his reply of May twentieth
to the official letter which accompanied this invitation, Washington expressed
(11:58):
his gratitude to Congress for their kind attention to the
means which they think may be conducive to my health,
and with particular thanks to you for the politeness of
your invitation to your house. I conclude, dear Sir, your
most obedient, et cetera. There is no indication that he
accepted Hancock's offer of hospitality. Possibly the non acceptance was
(12:23):
the cause of the following note from the President of
Congress soon after the arrival of Washington in Philadelphia. I
am extremely sorry. It is not in my power to
wait on you in person to execute the commands of Congress,
but being deprived of that pleasure by a severe fit
of the gout, I am under the necessity of taking
this method to acquaint you that the Congress have directed
(12:45):
me in their name to make the thanks of that
body to you for the unremitted attention you have paid
to your important trust, and in particular for the assistance
they have derived from your military knowledge and experience in
adopting the best plans for them the defense of the
United Colonies. In this note also there is evidence that
Washington did not accept Hancock's preferred hospitality, Nor was this
(13:10):
the only occasion on which the convenient gout served the
latter sense of what was due him. He had been
profuse in his cordial tender of entertainment to one who
occupied a position which he had coveted. The recognition of
his offer was courteous, but almost curt in response to
the somewhat effusive, but evidently genuine initiative of Hancock. At
(13:31):
this distance, a sudden recurrence of his malady seems excusable,
if not natural. On the twenty fourth of August, it
became the duty of the President of Congress to write
the Commander in Chief in commendation of his action in
the matter of Lord Drummond's proposal of a plan of
reconciliation between Great Britain and the Colonies, which Washington had
(13:52):
promptly declined to receive from a man who was violating
his parole as he considered, Sir. The late conduct of
Lord Drummond is as extraordinary as his motives are dark
and mysterious. To judge the most favorably of his intentions,
it should seem that an overweening vanity has betrayed him
(14:13):
into a criminal.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Breach of honor.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
But whether his views were upright or intended only to
mislead and deceive, cannot at present be a matter of
any importance. In the meantime, I have the pleasure to
acquaint you that Congress highly approved the manner in which
you have checked the officious and intemperance zeal of his lordship.
Whether his designs were hostile or friendly.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
He equally merited the reproof you gave him, and I
hope for the future he will be convinced that it
is highly imprudent to attract the attention of the public
to a character which will only pass without censure when
it passes without notice.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I have the honor to be etc. John Hancock. It
may be admitted that.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Hancock succeeded in separating his officials duty from his personal inclinations.
He could not fail to have the Commander in chief
often in his thoughts, as that dignitary was frequently the
subject of discussion in Congress. In communicating the sentiments of
that body, he allowed no note of personal feeling to
color the expression of its opinions or will. If in
(15:20):
the privacy of his fireside the attitude of General Washington
was sometimes discussed, the two most concerned were not likely
to let their neighbors have the opportunity to repeat anything
to the detriment of the man who was having abuse
enough from the envious and ambitious, from pretended friends and
open enemies.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
End of Chapter fourteen.
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