Page:American Historical Review, Vol. 23.djvu/677

Warren-Adams Letters 667 wife of James Warren, with John and Abigail Adams, Hannah Winthrop, and others, including several letters from her husband. A smaller element is some earlier correspondence of James Otis. The earliest of these is a letter from young Otis to his father, in 1743; the next is a letter from Otis to his sister (Mercy Warren), in 1766; and these are followed by four letters from John Dickinson to Otis, in 1767 and 1768, and a letter from Catharine Macaulay, in 1769. The correspondence between Samuel Adams and James Warren begins in 1771, that between Warren and John Adams in 1774. There are in the volume approximately 250 letters, of which more than 200 were written by John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Warren, and of these John Adams wrote nearly half. There are no letters from James Warren to Samuel Adams. The editor has purposely omitted, with three or four exceptions, the letters from John Adams to James Warren (of which there are fifteen) printed in John Adams's Works. Of the letters of Samuel Adams here printed (fifty in number) about one-third are found in Cushing's edition of Samuel Adams's Writings. On the other hand there are several letters from Adams to Warren printed by Gushing which are not found in this volume. It is to be observed that Gushing used for the most part the drafts of Adams's letters now deposited in the New York Public Library, whereas the present texts are printed from the letters actually sent. A comparison of the respective texts shows in general only verbal variations, yet, in a few instances, the letters sent contain considerable additions, or modifications of the drafts.

From this general survey of the contents it will be recognized that the volume contains a large measure of essentially new material; new, that is, in much of its content, although not new in character and quality. There is little, indeed, in the whole volume that does not relate directly to the all-important question of defending American rights against ministerial aggression, and the parts which the principal writers played in that contest are well known. Dickinson's letters to Otis, for instance, relate principally to the Farmer's Letters, then being presented to the public, and emphasize his views. Letters of James Warren, one of the principal participants in the Massachusetts phase of the Revolution, have been less accessible than those of either John or Samuel Adams. Concerning the Massachusetts phase of the contest his letters are of especial value. The letters of the Adamses, written as the majority of them were from their seats in the Continental Congress, are particularly informing, concerning the transactions of that body. Both of them are, however, much concerned with affairs in Massachusetts, and are prone to view the struggle from the Massachusetts point of view, although, of the two, John Adams reveals a broader outlook, a clearer vision. While the new letters in the volume are without striking revelations concerning the views, attitudes, aspirations, or predilections of the writers, they do enlarge our knowledge of plans, purposes, and motives, do put us in closer touch with personalities great and small. For this is chiefly the correspondence of intimate personal friends.