Collected Political Writings of James Otis. Otis James

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СКАЧАТЬ be tolerably filled by any Gentleman from the Bar, or elsewhere, without he would condescend to take upon him the Office of Chief Justice, in Addition to the Rest of his lucrative Places, he is highly to be praised for his disinterested Benevolence to an otherwise sinking Province. But then it would have been but consentaneous to that superlatively great, disinterested and candid Behaviour, for which his Honor is so eminently distinguish’d, if he had sooner intimated this Change of Sentiments to his old Friend, that he might either chearfully have given up his own personal Advantage for the good of the commonwealth, or have sought to other Friends to support his Pretensions. I don’t at present recollect Col. Otis ever applied to one Gentleman for his Interest but the Lieutenant Governor and Secretary, and that by the Letters above mentioned. The Application to Mr. Paxton must be considered as a Consequence only of the Application to the Secretary. I have ever taken a sincere Pleasure in saying the best Things I possibly could of his Honor, and am now ready to subscribe that this Father of his Country stands fully excused by the Example of the Father of Poets.

      [print edition page 67]

      Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus.¹⁶

      Homer outshines all Bards, all Heroes, and all gods; Yet Homer, the immortal Homer, sometimes nods!

      Did not such Conduct as this however afford some Excuse for Offence, before it was perfectly understood? The Fruits of Col. Otis’s Friendship, as could easily be demonstrated, his Honor was at this Time enjoying. Now because a Son felt the ungrateful Treatment of a Father, real or imaginary, ought it to be presumed that every part of his Conduct flows from the foul Sources of Envy and disappointed Ambition? Because a Man imagined he had just Cause to be offended with another, does it follow he is incapable of forming a true Estimate of his Abilities, or a sound Judgment of his Intentions by his Actions?

      During the whole of these Transactions, Col. Otis was at a Distance 70 Miles from Town, and upon his coming up about six Weeks after, in the ordinary Course of his Business, he was told by the Governor, that he might be appointed as the youngest Judge of the Superior Court if the Lieutenant Governor would relinquish his Pretensions: Upon which he waited on his Honor, and finding him as he informed me extremely fond of the Place of Chief Justice, and set upon having it, He never gave himself the least farther Concern about the Affair from that Day to this. The Truth is, Col. Otis at that Time would have been pleased with so reputable a Retirement from the Fatigues of his Practice at the Bar, but is and was very soon heartily glad he did not succeed in his Application, for Reasons the Public has no concern in.

      It happens to be well known that since I have had the Honor of a Seat in the House of Representatives, I have in divers Instances been so hardy as to appear openly in Opposition to the Sentiments of the Lieutenant Governor. This alone in the Eyes of some is an unpardonable Sin. However, I have had the Satisfaction in more of those Instances than one, of having almost the unanimous Voice of both Houses, and to my immortal Honor his Excellency at the Head of them, approving of my Sentiments.

      It is a very easy Thing to persuade an unthinking Group of prerogative Slaves, and other strange Figures, that the whole of my Conduct is to be attributed to Envy and disappointed Ambition. Such Insinuations and their Authors, great and small; I hold in greater Contempt than Words can express. The Consciousness of having acted upon honest Principles affords me infinitely more solid Satisfaction than any have in the Smiles of the Great, or the Reptile Buz of their Adherents.

      [print edition page 68]

      I never asked a Court Favour, and am determined I never will accept any during the present Administration. Before I belonged to the General Court, I had the Office of Advocate General unasked, and unexpectedly, by the Recommendation of the late Chief Justice PRATT, and the unmerited Good-Will of Governor POWNALL. I soon found the Place did not suit with my Way of Thinking, & resigned it after clearing by my Office about Two Guineas, instead of a Hundred Pounds Sterling per Annum, that may be made of it by those who understand & can conform to all the Ways of this World.^* I am so unfashionable as to be of Opinion, that any Gentleman who accepts of a Place while he is a Representative, deserves to be branded with a Degree of Infamy, and disqualified from ever serving afterwards; at least, he should be sent home again, as such are from the House of Commons in Great Britain, in order to see if a Town will re-elect a Man who in all Probability has carried his Constituents to Market. If this were the Fate of all who lift their Hands at the Beck of Power, we should not see so many selling their Votes and their Country for a Feather, as I have often discovered in two Years Experience upon a Stage that I have trod, with as much Pain to myself, as to any one else. It may be said, I can form no Pretensions to Favour. If Independency and Freedom of Speech exclude a Man From Favour, I own I am excluded, and glory in the Exclusion. I hope I shall never be over aw’d by the Frowns, nor captivated by the Enchantments of the Great. As long as I live, I shall speak, write and act my Sentiments. I have not, nor ever had the least Inclination to act in a public Sphere, and should be much more heartily rejoiced at my Dismission, than my Enemies could be. Modern Politicians and modern Politics are my Aversion. But while I am concerned in public Business, I hope I shall ever discharge a good Conscience.

      Whenever I see corrupt and arbitrary Measures, I will both oppose and expose them; and those who are active in such Measures, are at full Liberty to give my Conduct what Colouring they please. I shall only add, that should there be a Gentleman so vain as to imagine there is no Man qualified for any of the Great Offices of a Province but himself; that the Rewards of Learning and Virtue ought therefore to be monopolized, and all Power, Legislative and Executive, may be rightly concentrated in his Person, tho’ contrary to the very Spirit of the Constitution, and in direct Tendency to the Ruin of the Body Politick, I say he would be far, very far from being an Object of my Envy.

      James Otis.

      [print edition page 69]

April 11, 1763

      I WAS agreeably surprized when I was first told that the Lieut. Governor had condescended to answer what I published last week in vindication of my conduct as a Representative, and to exculpate myself from the false accusation of enmity to his Honor. That piece was written in the spirit of love and meekness, and so shall this be. Before I had opportunity to peruse the new Gazette, I had the most delightful self-flattering imaginations. First, that after more than a year’s separation, I was like to be again upon a footing with his Honor, and invested with a right to talk to him as it were face to face. The reader will now consider his Honor abstractly from all power, but that of reason and argument. My love of peace with all men is so great, and my opinion of his Honor’s placid disposition was so high that I promised myself the pleasure of soon writing a panygeric on his benevolence. But alas! how was I astonished, grieved and disappointed to find instead of that calm serene mind we have so often heard of, anger and bitter reproaches, in spite of all the studied restraint, breaking out in almost every period and such things uttered that if they had not been signed no evidence would ever have convinced the world his Honor wrote them. I don’t recollect that I ever cast an “injurious reflection of a general nature” upon his Honour since I was born. I have indeed had frequent occasion to make particular observations upon his Honor, but have always treated him like a Gentleman and ever will. If his Honor will be pleased to point out one instance to the contrary in my writing, or in the transactions public or private, which I have had the honor to be joined with him in, I will make him any concession or satisfaction he can desire. As to the weekly ribaldry his Honor seems to complain of, he surely would act very injuriously to impute any of it to me, after I have condescended to clear myself upon oath from a piece published about two years since, imagined by some to bear hard upon him. I have been treated by name worse than his Honor ever was, or I hope ever will be, even by supposing blanks and feigned names to be applicable. I wish some Gentlemen would recollect that all the late squibs began with a most scandalous libel on Jasper Mauduit, Esq; the agent of this province СКАЧАТЬ