September 3, 2025 • 19 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 eighteen of John Hancock, The Picturesque Patriot by Lorenzo Sears.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain treasurer of
Harvard College. In the diminuation of his fortune and the
increased outlay incident to the Chief Magistracy of Massachusetts, Hancock
wrote on September twenty fourth, seventeen eighty one, to Robert Morris,
(00:26):
the financier of the Revolution, with regard to reimbursement for
outlays attending his presidency of Congress, Pray, my friend, when
will be the properest time for me to be considered
for my expenses while President of Congress. They wrote me
on the subject some two years ago, but I waived
troubling them, knowing the delicacy of their situation. Indeed, I
(00:50):
kept no account of my expenses, nor had I time
for it. As you well know how my time was engrossed,
and the labours and fatigue I underwent, and the expense
says I must have necessarily incurred. I can speak plain
to you confident I am that fifteen hundred pounds sterling
would not amount to the expenses I incurred as president.
(01:11):
In this I think I merit consideration, more especially as
grants have been made to all my successors. It is
not known that he ever received compensation for his labors
during the two and a half years of his service
as President of the Continental Congress. It will do no
harm to keep this in mind, and particularly his statement
(01:32):
that he kept no account of his expenses in the
engrossment of his time amidst the labor and fatigue of
his office. Since what has been regarded as a sad
dereliction in a place of trust must not be passed
over as an instance of undertaking too many responsibilities at once.
This may be an explanation, but it cannot serve as
(01:53):
a justification of a course pursued for years, which a
resignation of the treasure ship of Harvard College would have
made him possible. As far back as seventeen seventy three,
in fulfilling the liberal intention of his uncle Thomas, and
by adding something of his own, Hancock had gained the
credit of being a generous benefactor to the college. The
(02:14):
most popular man in the province, Wealthy, liberal, and patriotic,
he was considered as a most desirable person to be
connected with the monetary affairs of the institution, its funds
would be secured by his ample fortune. His integrity was undoubted,
But soon after his election it was discovered that these
qualifications were not all that were required in a college treasurer.
(02:38):
At that time, attention to business and keeping accounts in
such order that the condition of the treasury could be
known on demand were found to be of more consequence
than personal riches and popularity. Neglect of those unpretentious virtues
was as perilous as dishonesty. It was unfortunate for Harvard
(02:58):
that the patriotism of its treasure diverted his attention from
its financial affairs to the larger sphere of congressional business.
His own business was slack enough in the days of
the Port Bill and the siege, but when he was
elected President of Congress, the concerns of the college doubtless
seemed remote and inferior to those of the country at large,
(03:20):
with its legislation and warfare. Accounting for funds and paying
salaries of college professors was a petty occupation compared with
the visual correspondence and presiding over a Congress which represented
the whole country. He could have easily thrown off the
lesser responsibility, and the college stood ready to concur in
(03:40):
a year after his appointment. His first mistake was in
not disencumbering himself of this burden. That he did not do.
This was not for the lack of hints and requests.
At an early day, President Langdon, who had been elected
by the corporation at a meeting held at Hancock's house,
wrote him urging the importance of an immediate statement in settlement.
(04:04):
No answer was received to this suggestion. Two months later
another appeal was sent with the same result. A third letter,
couched in the most considerate terms and entreating a reply,
elicited the information that mister Hancock is busily engaged and
will soon appoint a day to attend to the business.
Not appearing on the day appointed, he postponed the matter
(04:27):
to the next week. When he did not arrive. Another
entreated to settle before he should leave town, and to
leave his accounts with college authorities called out no reply.
Then they voted that Colonel Hancock be requested to deliver moneies, bonds,
and other papers belonging to the College treasury into the
hands of the President or of others specified, and take
(04:50):
a receipt for the same A messenger took this request,
and Hancock could not escape returning something. It was the
following letter. Mister Hancock presents his compliments to the Reverend
President and the other gentlemen who were present yesterday at
the meeting, and acquaints them that he has at heart
(05:10):
the interest of the college as much as any one,
and will pursue it. He is much surprised and astonished
at the contents of the President's letter, as well as
at the doings of the gentleman present, which he very
seriously resents. And however great the gentleman may think the
burden upon his mind may be, mister Hancock is not
(05:30):
disposed to look upon it in that light. Nor shall
the college suffer any detriment in his absence, as he
has already determined those matters. But if the gentleman choose
to make him a public choice of a gentleman to
the displacing him, they will please act their pleasure. Mister
Hancock writes in a very great hurry, being much engaged,
(05:53):
but shall write very particularly or be at Cambridge in
person as soon as the Congress rises. He leaves all
his matters in the hands of a gentleman of approved
integrity during his absence, which he is not disposed to alter,
and peradventure, his absence may not be longer than a
voyage to Imachius. Conquered three o'clock PM, eleven April seventeen
(06:17):
seventy five. In ten days he started for Philadelphia, and
the corporation was silenced for three quarters of a year.
But they appointed the President receiver of rents from their
real estate, of legacies and donations, and of the Charlestown
Ferry earnings, the treasurer having been long absent in there
being no expectation of his speedy return, conditions becoming insupportable.
(06:41):
By March seventeen seventy six, another supplicatory letter begging a
moment's attention. Reluctant to interrupt, mister Hancock engaged in momentous
affairs on which the salvation of the United Colonies depends.
Just to mention the difficulties of the Seminary of Learning,
it was a humble and pitiful statement of ruin, defacement
(07:02):
by troops, dispersion of students, with no income available, and
no treasurer to receive what little could be collected. No
answer was received another month and another letter lame apologies
were returned in three weeks with the information that mister
Hancock had sent a messenger to Boston to bring all
(07:23):
the books and papers across the country to Philadelphia for
his arrangement. By a shrewd suggestion, he placed the responsibility
of requesting his resignation upon the college. With many obediences.
They tried to throw this upon his sense of duty
to the college and the country, with the possibility of
reconciling both, intimating as plainly as they dared, their wish
(07:47):
that he would resign. After three months. The committee was appointed,
which in a week evolved another letter that in seven
weeks drew a reply, which left them to consider further
what to do with the evasive treasurer. They sent Tudor
Hall to Philadelphia for the college papers. Two months afterward.
(08:07):
These were in the corporation's possession, with bonds and other
obligations amounting to sixteen hundred pounds. Then they were bold
enough to vote, after a complimentary preamble, that it was
highly expedient that another Treasurer who shall consistently reside within
the state be elected in the stead or in the
place of mister Hancock. But they were too timid to
(08:29):
elect another until he should resign. Three meetings were held
to prepare an answer to a letter which Hall brought
with the securities. This reply consisted of twenty eight pages
of justification of the corporation's action. Hancock took no notice
of it or their vote. After three months more of waiting,
the authorities proceeded to elect Ebeneze Restorer Esquire in the
(08:54):
room of the Honorable John Hancock, who regarded this action
as a personal affront and never forgave the corporation to
conciliate him. They entreated him to present his portrait, to
be drawn at the expense of the Corporation and placed
in the Philosophy Chamber by that of his honorable uncle.
He took no notice of this compliment. He might have
(09:17):
vanity and abundance, but it had been wounded too severely
to rise to that lure. He had moreover a cash
balance in his hands. After much soliciting by another committee
to no purpose, it was voted to enter suit against
the late treasurer of Harvard College. The authorities hesitated in
(09:39):
postponed action, and finally rescinded their vote. The college feared
that the legislature in which Hancock's influence was predominant and
his popularity undiminished. Another appeal was unnoticed. Then came his
election as governor after these years, a solicitation disregarded. In
(09:59):
his inaug address, as has been mentioned, he warmly commended
Harvard College to the care and patronage of the legislature
and the corporation. Manifested their gratitude by expressing their happiness
that a gentleman is placed at the head of the
general Court and of the Overseers, who has given such
substantial evidence of his love of letters and affection by
(10:21):
the College, which the generous and repeated benefactions which now
he hath endowed it honors were even now. But when
as ex officio Chairman of the Board of Overseers he
took his seat, he made no answer to their mention
that his accounts were still unsettled, nor to the repetition
of it once and again. So requests and silences succeeded
(10:46):
one another through five terms of governorship, until in his
last one, when giving notice of his intention to resign,
he finally made a statement of his accounts, which he
had withheld nearly eleven years from the first request by
the corporation in seventeen seventy four. It then appeared that
there was due from him to the college a balance
(11:08):
of one thousand, fifty four pounds, but no payment was made.
Two years afterward, a letter was sent to him saying
that the university could not subsist without receiving its interest money.
He replied enigmatically, it is very well. More letters elicited
promises to pay in a week, with repeated postponements and
(11:30):
failures to pay. The last promise was for January seventeen
ninety three, to be unfulfilled. In October of that year,
he died, leaving the debt unpaid. Two years later, his
heirs paid nine years interest on the account, and in
the course of six or seven years completed payment of
(11:51):
the principle, but refused to pay compound interest, whereby the
college lost upwards of five hundred and twenty six dollars.
The following letter is of interest as showing the efforts
to restore friendly relations, Boston, October twentieth, seventeen eighty three.
(12:11):
Reverend Sir, however illiberal the treatment I have met with
from some of the former and president governors of the
College has been, it shall never operate in my mind
to the prejudice of the University at Cambridge. I most
sincerely wish its enlargement. The present appearance of those buildings
is very disagreeable. For want of a reputable enclosure, they
(12:34):
must appear to a stranger as buildings totally neglected and deserted.
Instead of being improved for the noble purposes they are
now occupied. I wish to remedy this inconvenience, and have
to request, if worthy your notice, that you would be
pleased to give orders to your college corporation to erect
a respectable fence around these buildings, such as one as
(12:58):
shall not disgrace the buildings, and such an one as
shall be pointed out to them by yourself and Doctor Cooper,
whose instructions they are to follow. And upon your signifying
the corporation of the business and transmitting to me the
bill of its amount, it shall meet with immediate payment.
(13:19):
My best wishes for your prosperity and that of the
university under your charge, concludes me, Reverend Sir, your very
humble servant, John Hancock, Reverend Mister President Willard, to this offer.
President Willard replied three months later referring the whole matter
of defence to Governor Hancock to direct everything agreeably to
(13:42):
his taste, which I am confident will strike the taste
of every judge of architecture. Two years later, President Willard
explained at length that he did not intend to treat
the Governor with disrespect in assigning him a seat on
the occasion of the dinner in honor of Marquis de
la Fille, who is seated below the President on the
same bench the third place, and your excellency directly opposite
(14:07):
the second place. Cordial understanding appears to have been restored
by seventeen ninety one, when President Willard returns his most
respectful compliments to his excellency the Governor, with his best
thanks for his very generous and acceptable president of Madera,
and a quarter cask of sherry wine and two large
(14:28):
loaves of sugar. The President wishes it was in his
power more fully to express his feelings of gratitude to
the Governor for his munificence and kindness. At a distance
of one hundred and nineteen years from its close, the
whole transaction looks like an instance of financial irregularity through
absence and pressure of more important affairs with continued postponement
(14:51):
of an evil day of settlement. That there was premeditated
purpose to use the funds of the College, or, if used,
never to repay them, would be the worst interpretation that
can be put upon the attitude of Governor Hancock towards
his alma mater. After reading President Josiah Quincy's detailed account
in his History of Harvard College of the long negotiation,
(15:14):
of which a brief abstract has been given above, it
seems uncharitable to insist that fraud was intended. But Hancock's
gross in attention to a trust that had been committed
to him, coupled with an uncivil neglect to reply to
most courteous requests for information and finally for relief by
transfer of the office to another, is beyond apology and
(15:37):
without excuse. Although a partial explanation may be found in
his undertaking too much business and in the willingness to
hold too many offices, and a reluctance to surrender any
one of accumulated honors, still the explanation does not contain
the essential elements of an excuse or even an apology.
(15:59):
There is, however, one circumstance in this chapter of Hancock's
history that is so unaccountable that it cannot be passed
over without mention. The writer of ten letters of detraction
over the signature of Laco in the year seventeen eighty nine,
for some reason, failed to take up the most important
and damaging charge that he might have used against the
(16:21):
re election of Hancock that year. He accused him of vanity, caprice, extravagance,
social dissipation, pliancy, timidity, lack of statemanship, favoritism, abuse of
the prerogative, and other faults which had their value in
a campaign document, but not a word about his delinquencies
(16:43):
as Treasurer of Harvard. Such silence is almost equivalent to
an enemy's praise. So also Governor Hutchinson, who could not
be expected to favor Hancock, defended him before the King,
who had received impressions of financial irregulars, among other evil
reports about the arch rebel. And if Samuel Adams had
(17:05):
been disposed to make capital out of Hancock's delinquency, as
he was not, there was a restraining paragraph in the
Town Record's reading. We also find that there still remains
to be paid into the Province's treasury on account of
mister Samuel Adams the sum of fifty pounds, and from
the information given us by mister Robert Pierpont, it appears
(17:27):
that there is no probability that any part of the
sum of one thousand, one hundred and forty nine pounds
or remaining unpaid of mister Adams's debt to the town
will ever be received and paid into the treasury. Thomas
Cushing Esquire and John Ruddick Esquire also owed one hundred
and fifty five pounds and eighty two pounds, respectively, on
(17:50):
account of a lottery authorized by the General Court. Perhaps
the quantity of glass in some houses did not encourage
stone throwing at Hancock. In any case, harvard misdemeanors do
not appear to have affected his popularity with the people
of Massachusetts, who continued to elect him as their chief
magistrate year after year. It is also probable that the College,
(18:15):
knowing its dependence upon the General Court, and having a
prudent sense of the Governor's influence with that body, kept
as quiet about his mismanagement as circumstances would permit. There
was a final interchange of compliments when at the installation
of President Willard Governor. Hancock called the College, in some sense,
(18:35):
the parent and nurse of the late happy Revolution, and
the Corporation termed him an affectionate and liberal son, to
which the historian of this affair ads that Hancock's polished manners,
wealth and liberality, and patriotism had rendered him the most
popular man in the province. Some, however, have not yet
(18:56):
forgiven him after one hundred and nineteen years, and much
of a existing prejudiced against him can be attributed to
this unfortunate part of his career. End of Chapter eighteen
Chapter eighteen of John Hancock, The Picturesque Patriot by Lorenzo Sears.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain treasurer of
Harvard College. In the diminuation of his fortune and the
increased outlay incident to the Chief Magistracy of Massachusetts, Hancock
wrote on September twenty fourth, seventeen eighty one, to Robert Morris,
(00:26):
the financier of the Revolution, with regard to reimbursement for
outlays attending his presidency of Congress, Pray, my friend, when
will be the properest time for me to be considered
for my expenses while President of Congress. They wrote me
on the subject some two years ago, but I waived
troubling them, knowing the delicacy of their situation. Indeed, I
(00:50):
kept no account of my expenses, nor had I time
for it. As you well know how my time was engrossed,
and the labours and fatigue I underwent, and the expense
says I must have necessarily incurred. I can speak plain
to you confident I am that fifteen hundred pounds sterling
would not amount to the expenses I incurred as president.
(01:11):
In this I think I merit consideration, more especially as
grants have been made to all my successors. It is
not known that he ever received compensation for his labors
during the two and a half years of his service
as President of the Continental Congress. It will do no
harm to keep this in mind, and particularly his statement
(01:32):
that he kept no account of his expenses in the
engrossment of his time amidst the labor and fatigue of
his office. Since what has been regarded as a sad
dereliction in a place of trust must not be passed
over as an instance of undertaking too many responsibilities at once.
This may be an explanation, but it cannot serve as
(01:53):
a justification of a course pursued for years, which a
resignation of the treasure ship of Harvard College would have
made him possible. As far back as seventeen seventy three,
in fulfilling the liberal intention of his uncle Thomas, and
by adding something of his own, Hancock had gained the
credit of being a generous benefactor to the college. The
(02:14):
most popular man in the province, Wealthy, liberal, and patriotic,
he was considered as a most desirable person to be
connected with the monetary affairs of the institution, its funds
would be secured by his ample fortune. His integrity was undoubted,
But soon after his election it was discovered that these
qualifications were not all that were required in a college treasurer.
(02:38):
At that time, attention to business and keeping accounts in
such order that the condition of the treasury could be
known on demand were found to be of more consequence
than personal riches and popularity. Neglect of those unpretentious virtues
was as perilous as dishonesty. It was unfortunate for Harvard
(02:58):
that the patriotism of its treasure diverted his attention from
its financial affairs to the larger sphere of congressional business.
His own business was slack enough in the days of
the Port Bill and the siege, but when he was
elected President of Congress, the concerns of the college doubtless
seemed remote and inferior to those of the country at large,
(03:20):
with its legislation and warfare. Accounting for funds and paying
salaries of college professors was a petty occupation compared with
the visual correspondence and presiding over a Congress which represented
the whole country. He could have easily thrown off the
lesser responsibility, and the college stood ready to concur in
(03:40):
a year after his appointment. His first mistake was in
not disencumbering himself of this burden. That he did not do.
This was not for the lack of hints and requests.
At an early day, President Langdon, who had been elected
by the corporation at a meeting held at Hancock's house,
wrote him urging the importance of an immediate statement in settlement.
(04:04):
No answer was received to this suggestion. Two months later
another appeal was sent with the same result. A third letter,
couched in the most considerate terms and entreating a reply,
elicited the information that mister Hancock is busily engaged and
will soon appoint a day to attend to the business.
Not appearing on the day appointed, he postponed the matter
(04:27):
to the next week. When he did not arrive. Another
entreated to settle before he should leave town, and to
leave his accounts with college authorities called out no reply.
Then they voted that Colonel Hancock be requested to deliver moneies, bonds,
and other papers belonging to the College treasury into the
hands of the President or of others specified, and take
(04:50):
a receipt for the same A messenger took this request,
and Hancock could not escape returning something. It was the
following letter. Mister Hancock presents his compliments to the Reverend
President and the other gentlemen who were present yesterday at
the meeting, and acquaints them that he has at heart
(05:10):
the interest of the college as much as any one,
and will pursue it. He is much surprised and astonished
at the contents of the President's letter, as well as
at the doings of the gentleman present, which he very
seriously resents. And however great the gentleman may think the
burden upon his mind may be, mister Hancock is not
(05:30):
disposed to look upon it in that light. Nor shall
the college suffer any detriment in his absence, as he
has already determined those matters. But if the gentleman choose
to make him a public choice of a gentleman to
the displacing him, they will please act their pleasure. Mister
Hancock writes in a very great hurry, being much engaged,
(05:53):
but shall write very particularly or be at Cambridge in
person as soon as the Congress rises. He leaves all
his matters in the hands of a gentleman of approved
integrity during his absence, which he is not disposed to alter,
and peradventure, his absence may not be longer than a
voyage to Imachius. Conquered three o'clock PM, eleven April seventeen
(06:17):
seventy five. In ten days he started for Philadelphia, and
the corporation was silenced for three quarters of a year.
But they appointed the President receiver of rents from their
real estate, of legacies and donations, and of the Charlestown
Ferry earnings, the treasurer having been long absent in there
being no expectation of his speedy return, conditions becoming insupportable.
(06:41):
By March seventeen seventy six, another supplicatory letter begging a
moment's attention. Reluctant to interrupt, mister Hancock engaged in momentous
affairs on which the salvation of the United Colonies depends.
Just to mention the difficulties of the Seminary of Learning,
it was a humble and pitiful statement of ruin, defacement
(07:02):
by troops, dispersion of students, with no income available, and
no treasurer to receive what little could be collected. No
answer was received another month and another letter lame apologies
were returned in three weeks with the information that mister
Hancock had sent a messenger to Boston to bring all
(07:23):
the books and papers across the country to Philadelphia for
his arrangement. By a shrewd suggestion, he placed the responsibility
of requesting his resignation upon the college. With many obediences.
They tried to throw this upon his sense of duty
to the college and the country, with the possibility of
reconciling both, intimating as plainly as they dared, their wish
(07:47):
that he would resign. After three months. The committee was appointed,
which in a week evolved another letter that in seven
weeks drew a reply, which left them to consider further
what to do with the evasive treasurer. They sent Tudor
Hall to Philadelphia for the college papers. Two months afterward.
(08:07):
These were in the corporation's possession, with bonds and other
obligations amounting to sixteen hundred pounds. Then they were bold
enough to vote, after a complimentary preamble, that it was
highly expedient that another Treasurer who shall consistently reside within
the state be elected in the stead or in the
place of mister Hancock. But they were too timid to
(08:29):
elect another until he should resign. Three meetings were held
to prepare an answer to a letter which Hall brought
with the securities. This reply consisted of twenty eight pages
of justification of the corporation's action. Hancock took no notice
of it or their vote. After three months more of waiting,
the authorities proceeded to elect Ebeneze Restorer Esquire in the
(08:54):
room of the Honorable John Hancock, who regarded this action
as a personal affront and never forgave the corporation to
conciliate him. They entreated him to present his portrait, to
be drawn at the expense of the Corporation and placed
in the Philosophy Chamber by that of his honorable uncle.
He took no notice of this compliment. He might have
(09:17):
vanity and abundance, but it had been wounded too severely
to rise to that lure. He had moreover a cash
balance in his hands. After much soliciting by another committee
to no purpose, it was voted to enter suit against
the late treasurer of Harvard College. The authorities hesitated in
(09:39):
postponed action, and finally rescinded their vote. The college feared
that the legislature in which Hancock's influence was predominant and
his popularity undiminished. Another appeal was unnoticed. Then came his
election as governor after these years, a solicitation disregarded. In
(09:59):
his inaug address, as has been mentioned, he warmly commended
Harvard College to the care and patronage of the legislature
and the corporation. Manifested their gratitude by expressing their happiness
that a gentleman is placed at the head of the
general Court and of the Overseers, who has given such
substantial evidence of his love of letters and affection by
(10:21):
the College, which the generous and repeated benefactions which now
he hath endowed it honors were even now. But when
as ex officio Chairman of the Board of Overseers he
took his seat, he made no answer to their mention
that his accounts were still unsettled, nor to the repetition
of it once and again. So requests and silences succeeded
(10:46):
one another through five terms of governorship, until in his
last one, when giving notice of his intention to resign,
he finally made a statement of his accounts, which he
had withheld nearly eleven years from the first request by
the corporation in seventeen seventy four. It then appeared that
there was due from him to the college a balance
(11:08):
of one thousand, fifty four pounds, but no payment was made.
Two years afterward, a letter was sent to him saying
that the university could not subsist without receiving its interest money.
He replied enigmatically, it is very well. More letters elicited
promises to pay in a week, with repeated postponements and
(11:30):
failures to pay. The last promise was for January seventeen
ninety three, to be unfulfilled. In October of that year,
he died, leaving the debt unpaid. Two years later, his
heirs paid nine years interest on the account, and in
the course of six or seven years completed payment of
(11:51):
the principle, but refused to pay compound interest, whereby the
college lost upwards of five hundred and twenty six dollars.
The following letter is of interest as showing the efforts
to restore friendly relations, Boston, October twentieth, seventeen eighty three.
(12:11):
Reverend Sir, however illiberal the treatment I have met with
from some of the former and president governors of the
College has been, it shall never operate in my mind
to the prejudice of the University at Cambridge. I most
sincerely wish its enlargement. The present appearance of those buildings
is very disagreeable. For want of a reputable enclosure, they
(12:34):
must appear to a stranger as buildings totally neglected and deserted.
Instead of being improved for the noble purposes they are
now occupied. I wish to remedy this inconvenience, and have
to request, if worthy your notice, that you would be
pleased to give orders to your college corporation to erect
a respectable fence around these buildings, such as one as
(12:58):
shall not disgrace the buildings, and such an one as
shall be pointed out to them by yourself and Doctor Cooper,
whose instructions they are to follow. And upon your signifying
the corporation of the business and transmitting to me the
bill of its amount, it shall meet with immediate payment.
(13:19):
My best wishes for your prosperity and that of the
university under your charge, concludes me, Reverend Sir, your very
humble servant, John Hancock, Reverend Mister President Willard, to this offer.
President Willard replied three months later referring the whole matter
of defence to Governor Hancock to direct everything agreeably to
(13:42):
his taste, which I am confident will strike the taste
of every judge of architecture. Two years later, President Willard
explained at length that he did not intend to treat
the Governor with disrespect in assigning him a seat on
the occasion of the dinner in honor of Marquis de
la Fille, who is seated below the President on the
same bench the third place, and your excellency directly opposite
(14:07):
the second place. Cordial understanding appears to have been restored
by seventeen ninety one, when President Willard returns his most
respectful compliments to his excellency the Governor, with his best
thanks for his very generous and acceptable president of Madera,
and a quarter cask of sherry wine and two large
(14:28):
loaves of sugar. The President wishes it was in his
power more fully to express his feelings of gratitude to
the Governor for his munificence and kindness. At a distance
of one hundred and nineteen years from its close, the
whole transaction looks like an instance of financial irregularity through
absence and pressure of more important affairs with continued postponement
(14:51):
of an evil day of settlement. That there was premeditated
purpose to use the funds of the College, or, if used,
never to repay them, would be the worst interpretation that
can be put upon the attitude of Governor Hancock towards
his alma mater. After reading President Josiah Quincy's detailed account
in his History of Harvard College of the long negotiation,
(15:14):
of which a brief abstract has been given above, it
seems uncharitable to insist that fraud was intended. But Hancock's
gross in attention to a trust that had been committed
to him, coupled with an uncivil neglect to reply to
most courteous requests for information and finally for relief by
transfer of the office to another, is beyond apology and
(15:37):
without excuse. Although a partial explanation may be found in
his undertaking too much business and in the willingness to
hold too many offices, and a reluctance to surrender any
one of accumulated honors, still the explanation does not contain
the essential elements of an excuse or even an apology.
(15:59):
There is, however, one circumstance in this chapter of Hancock's
history that is so unaccountable that it cannot be passed
over without mention. The writer of ten letters of detraction
over the signature of Laco in the year seventeen eighty nine,
for some reason, failed to take up the most important
and damaging charge that he might have used against the
(16:21):
re election of Hancock that year. He accused him of vanity, caprice, extravagance,
social dissipation, pliancy, timidity, lack of statemanship, favoritism, abuse of
the prerogative, and other faults which had their value in
a campaign document, but not a word about his delinquencies
(16:43):
as Treasurer of Harvard. Such silence is almost equivalent to
an enemy's praise. So also Governor Hutchinson, who could not
be expected to favor Hancock, defended him before the King,
who had received impressions of financial irregulars, among other evil
reports about the arch rebel. And if Samuel Adams had
(17:05):
been disposed to make capital out of Hancock's delinquency, as
he was not, there was a restraining paragraph in the
Town Record's reading. We also find that there still remains
to be paid into the Province's treasury on account of
mister Samuel Adams the sum of fifty pounds, and from
the information given us by mister Robert Pierpont, it appears
(17:27):
that there is no probability that any part of the
sum of one thousand, one hundred and forty nine pounds
or remaining unpaid of mister Adams's debt to the town
will ever be received and paid into the treasury. Thomas
Cushing Esquire and John Ruddick Esquire also owed one hundred
and fifty five pounds and eighty two pounds, respectively, on
(17:50):
account of a lottery authorized by the General Court. Perhaps
the quantity of glass in some houses did not encourage
stone throwing at Hancock. In any case, harvard misdemeanors do
not appear to have affected his popularity with the people
of Massachusetts, who continued to elect him as their chief
magistrate year after year. It is also probable that the College,
(18:15):
knowing its dependence upon the General Court, and having a
prudent sense of the Governor's influence with that body, kept
as quiet about his mismanagement as circumstances would permit. There
was a final interchange of compliments when at the installation
of President Willard Governor. Hancock called the College, in some sense,
(18:35):
the parent and nurse of the late happy Revolution, and
the Corporation termed him an affectionate and liberal son, to
which the historian of this affair ads that Hancock's polished manners,
wealth and liberality, and patriotism had rendered him the most
popular man in the province. Some, however, have not yet
(18:56):
forgiven him after one hundred and nineteen years, and much
of a existing prejudiced against him can be attributed to
this unfortunate part of his career. End of Chapter eighteen
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