JOHN HANCOCK. narrow, punctilious bigotry and stubborn self-will of his provincial ancestors." In the later stages of the Revolution, however, Adams became very narrow-minded, was always opposed to Washington, and used his utmost endeavors to prevent the granting of any greater powers to Washington on the plea that he feared the latter would become a dictator. He suspected that France had some ulterior purpose in aiding the American cause. He reached the zenith of his power at the time of the tea episode, after which his influence began to decline.* a "Hancock differed widely from Adams in manners, character, and condition. He was possessed of an ample fortune, and maintained splendid equipage; yet he ruled the wealth which commonly rules its possessors; for, while he indulged a gay disposition in elegant and expensive pleasures, he manifested a generous liberality in the most munificent contributions to every charitable and patriotic purpose; insomuch that his fellow-citizens declared of him, that he plainly preferred their favor to great riches, and embarked his fortune in the cause of his country. Courteous and graceful in his address, eager and enthusiastic in his disposition, endowed with a prompt * See the sketch of his life in Fisher, Struggle for American Independence, vol. i., p. 192 et seq., the life by S. V. Wells, and J. K. Hosmer, Samuel Adams, the Man of the Town-Meeting, in Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, series ii., no. iv. 251 and lively eloquence, which was supported by ported by considerable abilities, though not united with brilliant genius or commanding capacity, he embraced the popular cause with the most unbridled ardor; and, leaving to more philosophical patriots the guardianship of public virtue and the control of popular license, he devoted himself exclusively to the promotion of whatever objects tended immediately to gratify the wishes of the majority of the people. He continued to hope for a reconciliation with Britain much longer than Adams, who, after the promulgation of the Stamp Act, neither expected nor desired such an issue; but when, in consequence of the final rupture between the two countries, and the overthrow of regal dominion in America, America, a republican constitution. was to be composed,- Adams showed himself the more desirous to secure an energetic government, in which the magistrates, though appointed by the choice of the people, should be invested with force enough to withstand unreasonable or unrighteous movements of popular passion and caprice, - while Hancock preferably advocated an unbounded scope to democratical principle, or rather license, in a government pliable to every gust of popular will. Adams was termed the Cato, and Hancock the Lucullus of New England. Among the first generations of the inhabitants of this country, the severer virtue of Adams, in competition with the gayer disposi 252 CUSHING, BOWDOIN, COOPER, PAINE. tion of Hancock, would have carried almost all the suffrages of their fellow citizens; and even at no distant date retrospective from the present era, the manners of Hancock would have been rather tolerated and pardoned, than generally approved. But a change, gradually arising in the taste and opinion of the public, had latterly been so widely developed that Hancock was now by far the most popular character in Massachusetts. He was, indeed, the idol of the great mass of the people, and openly preferred to Adams by all but a small minority of the community, consisting of staunch Puritans and stern republicans. "Cushing was less distinguished by energy or talent than by his descent from a family renowned in New England for ardent piety and liberal politics. Bowdoin, one of the wealthiest persons in Massachusetts, was also a man of great information and ability, regulated by strong good sense; liberal, honorable and upright; a prudent and moderate, but firm and consistent patriot. Cooper, pious, eloquent, and accomplished, was first prompted to unite the character of a politician with the office of a minister of the Gospel by the tidings of the Stamp Act, which suggested to him, he declared, that tyranny was opposed not more to civil than to religious liberty. From that period, he took an active part in behalf of the liberties of his country, both as a contributor of political essays to the periodical publications of Boston, and as a correspondent of Dr. Franklin. He was eminent as a scholar, and ardent as a patron and coadjutor of every institution for the advancement of learning, liberty, piety or virtue; and, doubtless, his previous character as a divine contributed to promote the efficacy of his exertions as a politician. Quincy, a distinguished lawyer and orator, the descendant of one of those English barons who extorted from King John the signature of Magna Charta, showed that the spirit displayed by his ancestor at Runnymede was transmitted to him, unimpaired by the eclipse of family grandeur and the lapse of five centuries. He was the protomartyr of American liberty, in defence of which, both with his tongue and pen, he exerted an energy so disproportioned to his bodily strength, as to occasion his death a short time previous to the Declaration of American Independence. Robert Treat Paine, one of the most eminent lawyers in Massachusetts, held a high place in the public estimation for intelligence, firmness and zeal. Ever prompt, active, and decided as a champion of American liberty, he was universally admired for the brilliancy of his wit, and respected even by his political opponents for his pure and inflexible uprightness. Winthrop, who inherited one of the most venerable names in New England, revived its ancient honor and still farther embellished it by the highest attainments in science |