After 230 Years, Lord North Letter to John Adams Discovered in Constitutional Hall Attic

BB NOTE: BabyBlueOnline has learned that the following letter was recently discovered during the annual cleaning of the Independence Hall Attic in Philadelphia. Only now made public, BabyBlueOnline blows off the dust and publishes it for general - and perhaps timely - reflection.

May 9, 1776

Mister John Adams, Esquire
Delegate, Province of Massachusetts Bay
Second Continental Congress
State House
Philadelphia

My Dear Mr. Adams,

I have seen reports of your letter to other delegates in His Majesty’s American Provinces and Colonies and Dominions, which apparently urges delegates to your upcoming Second Continental Congress to take action to leave the Crown. I would ask you to confirm the accuracy of those reports. If true, you must be aware that such action would likely be seen as a violation of your oath of allegiance to the Crown, as a subject of His Majesty, King George III. I must strongly urge you to consider the consequences of such action, not only for yourself but especially for all loyalists under your charge and care.

I certainly understand that you personally disagree with decisions by His Majesty, King George III over the past 30 and more months. You are, however, a subject of His Majesty King George III. If you now feel that you can no longer serve the Crown, the more honorable course would be to renounce your position of leadership in the Province of Massachusetts Bay and seek a home elsewhere. Your public assertion that your duty is to violate your position as a loyal subject of the Crown puts many, many people at hazard of profound temporal violence. I urge you, as a gentleman, to consider that hazard with the utmost gravity.

As you contemplate this action I would also remind you of the trust which you and I both hold for those who have come before and those who will come after us. None of us has received the property held by the Crown today to use as we will. We have received it as stewards, for those who enjoy it today and those who will be permitted to use it in the future. Our forebears did not build empires or give memorials with the intent that they be removed from the Crown. Nor did our forebears give liberally to fund endowments with the intent that they be consumed by litigation.

The Crown will endure whatever decision you make in Philadelphia. The people who are its members, however, will suffer in the midst of this conflict, and probably suffer unnecessarily. As His Majesty King George III reminds us daily, we are called to take up our crosses, but not in the service of division and antagonism to the Crown. Would that you might lead the people of Massachusetts Bay toward decisions that build up the Crown, that bring abundant life to those subjects within and beyond the Crown, that restore us to oneness.

I stand ready for conversation and reconciliation. May God bless your deliberation.

Sincerely,

Lord North
Prime Minister of All Great Britain