George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 6, 10th edition.

[463] what is life without the esteem of one's fellow-men!

Chap. XLIX.} 1773. June.

Had he been but honest, how New England would have cherished his memory! Now his gray hairs, which should ever be kept purer than the ermine, were covered with shame; his ambition was defeated, and he suffered all the tortures of avarice trembling or the loss of place. It was Hancock,¹ who, taking advantage of the implied permission of Hutchinson, produced to the House copies of the letters, which were then published and scattered throughout New England and the Continent. A series of Resolves was adopted, expressing their true intent, and was followed by a Petition to the King, that he would remove Hutchinson and Oliver for ever from the Government. The Council in like manner, after a thorough analysis of the real intent of the correspondence, joined in the same prayer. So great unanimity had never been known.

Timid from nature, from age, and from an accusing conscience, Hutchinson bowed to the storm; and expressed his desire to resign. ‘I hope,’ he said, ‘I shall not be left destitute, to be insulted and triumphed over. I fall in the cause of Government; and whenever it shall be thought proper to supersede me, I hope for some appointment;’² and calumniating Franklin as one who wished to supplant him in the Government of Massachusetts, he himself made interest for Franklin's desirable office of Deputy Postmaster General.³

All the summer long the insidious letters, that