Hutchinson

Samuel Adams whose son became the bitterest
of Hutchinson's political enemies. Meantime
the bills of credit increased in number and de-
creased in value, and no solution seemed pos-
sible until 1748, when Hutchinson proposed to
use the money (£183,649. 2s. yd.), sent over by
the British government to reimburse Massachu-
setts for the expenses incurred in the Louisburg
campaign, to call in the major part of the out-
standing bills of credit at eleven to one. The
proposal was at first regarded as Utopian, but
in spite of opposition and largely owing to
Hutchinson's persistence the measure was car-
ried in 1749. Thereafter he always regarded
himself, rightly enough, as "the father of the
present fixed medium."

This achievement gave Hutchinson a leading
position among the conservative classes. Fail-
ing of reelection to the House in 1749, he was at
once chosen to the Council, and thereafter con-
tinuously until 1766. In 1752 he was appointed
judge of probate, and justice of common pleas
in Suffolk County. In 1754 he represented the
province at the Albany Congress, and there sup-
ported Franklin's plan of union. In 1758 he be-
came lieutenant-governor, serving in that ca-
pacity until he received the commission as gov-
ernor in 1771. In 1760, upon the death of Sew-
all, he accepted somewhat reluctantly, after
warning Governor Bernard that James Otis
[#.z>.] might resent the appointment, the office of
chief justice. In 1761 he opposed the issue of
general search warrants by the governor, claim-
ing that only the courts had authority to issue
them. His interest in commerce, which involved
much technically illegal trading, disposed him to
oppose general warrants by whomsoever issued;
but when, upon inquiry, it was found that such
warrants were commonly issued in England,
he recognized their legality, and insisted only
that the form used should follow that employed
in England. By 1763 Hutchinson was the most
influential man in Massachusetts politics. Of-
fices, unsolicited on his part but not undesired,
had been conferred upon him because of his rec-
ognized ability and integrity. As lieutenant-
governor, chief justice, president of the Council,
judge of probate, and until recently justice of
common pleas, he could, with some appearance
of justice, be charged with having appropriated
offices and salaries. Already a rich man, his of-
ficial salaries netted him annually perhaps £300
at a time when a family of the "common sort"
could live comfortably on £40 a year. His oppo-
sition to the Land Bank had injured Samuel
Adams [$#.]; his appointment as chief justice
and his support of general writs had offended

Hutchinson

the Otises. "This trial (the Writs of Assistance)
and my pernicious principles about the cur-
rency," he writes in 1763, "have taken away a
great number of friends" (Hosmer, post, p. 70).
At the opening of the controversy with Parlia-
ment on the question of taxation Hutchinson
was a strongly marked "prerogative man," the
outstanding leader of the "court party."

Nevertheless, in February 1764, both houses
(eight members only dissenting) voted to send
Hutchinson to England to protest against the
proposed sugar duties (Hutchinson Correspon-
dence, II, 76). Unable to leave his "family and
business upon ten days notice," he asked permis-
sion (which was denied) to postpone the jour-
ney three or four months. The truth is that
Hutchinson was too much enamored of hierarch-
ical authority to like the role of protesting
against measures proposed by his superiors: he
desired to go to England chiefly to get his His-
tory of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, the
first volume of which was already published in
Boston (1764), republished in London. To both
the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act Hutchinson
was opposed on the ground that they would in-
jure both British and colonial trade, but the
right of Parliament to govern and tax the col-
onies as it saw fit he never denied (Hutchinson
Correspondence, II, 89; George Bancroft, His-
tory of the United States, 1866, V, 206); and
"as a servant of the Crown" he used all his in-
fluence to get both acts enforced and to "dis-
countenance . , . violent opposition" (Diary and
Letters, II, 58). This attitude on his part, to-
gether with the fact that his brother-in-law, An-
drew Oliver, was stamp distributor, convinced
the popular leaders (notably Samuel Adams, at
this time rising to the height of his influence)
that Hutchinson was for personal reason sub-
servient to "ministerial measures"; and on the
night of Aug. 26, 1765, the mob, led chiefly by
the shoemaker Mackintosh (Adams had nothing
to do with it), entered and destroyed his splen-
did mansion in Garden Court Street, and "cast
into the street, or carried away all his money,
plate, and furniture . ,« his apparel, books, pa-
pers" (Diary and Letters, I, 67; Hosmer, pp.
91-92).. Hutchinson barely escaped with his
life, and the next morning, appearing in court
to make a quorum, he apologized for his dress.
"Indeed I had no other. Destitute of everything
—no other shirt; no other garment but what I
have on; and not one of my family in a better
situation" (Hosmer, p. 95), He estimated his
losses at about £3,000, and was later idemnified
(£3,194.17$. 6d.). But for a man who with such
loving care cherished and catalogued his pos-

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