“Their little, low, dirty, and sly insinuating arts and machinations”

As I recounted yesterday, as 1776 began the Massachusetts General Court was in the process of replacing Thomas Cushing as a Continental Congress delegate with Elbridge Gerry.

When he heard that news, John Hancock wrote to Cushing from Philadelphia on 17 January:

I hope this will find you safe arrivd and in the Enjoyment of Domestic Ease and happiness, that you found all your particular Connections well, and not Destitute of many Friends, altho’ some would gladly have it thought that you are totally deserted, but by no means, My Good Friend, let the Circumstance of the Election discourage you from the noble pursuit in which you are engaged, your Cause is just, and I am Confident your Conscience will acquit you.

I can tell you for a truth that you have left in Congress many who are peculiarly friendly to you, and who, had they a Suspicion that you would not have Returnd to Congress, would have given you many Expressions of their Friendship previous to your Departure. I never flatter, but shall ever in future unbosom my self to you, and write freely in Confidence that I can Rely on your Friendship, and from a Conviction that you are Deserving of the Esteem I have for you, and I shall ever feel a pleasure in doing any thing that can Contribute to your Ease or Reputation, as I must say I have Reason to think Endeavours have been made to Disturb both, and which I will not let pass over unnotic’d, for it may Operate further and be the means of stirring up Jealousies and Animosities which had better be nipt in the Bud; of which more in my next.

Severall Members of Congress have mention’d to me the Desire they have to Establish you in that agreeable point of light which your Conduct in their Estimation merits, for that purpose they are framing a Letter to you, to be made such use of as you think best, to be sign’d by a number of them, as they have some how an Opinion that undue Methods have been practic’d which have Operated to your Disadvantage in the late Election, they are very sanguine in this matter, and I assure you that you are mention’d by Respectable Members in the most Advantageous and Agreeable Light, and you may Rely I do not throw any Contradictory Strokes in the way; of this more in my next.

That outreach confirmed an alliance between the two men, both Boston merchants of moderate political instincts. Cushing was now on the Massachusetts Council, helping to exercise executive power in the colony outside Boston. He and Hancock had lots to correspond about, including their political rivals.

Here’s some of Cushing’s 30 January letter, as quoted in Herbert S. Allen’s John Hancock, Patriot in Purple:

Am sincerely obliged to you for your kind offers of…friendship…at a time when I am represented to you as deserted by all others. . . .

Soon after I arrived here, I found you, as well as myself, had been placed in a disagreeable light and measures taken to hurt our influence. I instantly endeavored to remove every impression of this kind. I think I have succeeded and…I shall leave no stone unturned to serve you here. . . .

It is true, I am informed, some few whom…you are well acquainted with…have endeavored by their little, low, dirty, and sly insinuating arts and machinations to destroy my influence among the new members of the House.

Hancock replied to that on 13 February:

…am glad to hear the Reception you met with, and have no Doubt but you will ever Acquit your self the honest Man, and be superior to the Arts and Cunning of Designing Men. I am Oblig’d to you for the hints you give respecting the Designs of some against me, and wish in your next [you] would be as particular as possible, and let me know every thing passing in your Quarter, by the State of the Elections neither you or I were much Neglected.

In particular, Hancock encouraged Cushing to push the Massachusetts government forward in outfitting two warships. On 7 March he wrote:

I must most earnestly entreat and Beg of you that you exert every Nerve in forwarding our two Ships, & that you Employ as many Men in every Department as can possibly work & be of Service in expediting them, in short spare no Expence in forwarding them, for inter nos [between us] some here who are not very friendly to you & I (& of our province you know who) begin publickly to Say that the Massachusetts Ships will be the last finish’d, that they are in no forwardness &c. I want to Counteract them, in order to which you must Exert your self,…

In that letter Hancock also asked, “how were Mr. P— Letters Relish’d”? Hancock evidently wanted to hear how people had reacted to Robert Treat Paine’s bitter complaints in early January about how James Warren had written about him (and Cushing).

Back here I noted how Massachusetts Patriots had urged Paine to let the dispute die. Hancock either hadn’t gotten that message or wanted to hear what people were saying privately.

TOMORROW: The question of independence.