mments thereon by Rives, _Life of Madison_, i.
63, 64.

[137] 4 _Am. Arch._ i. 928.

[138] 4 _Ibid._ i. 947.

[139] _Ibid._

[140] 4 _Am. Arch._ i. 949, 950.

[141] _Ibid._ i. 953.

[142] _Ibid._ 858.

[143] _Ibid._ i. 963.

[144] Hildreth, iii. 52.

[145] 4 _Am. Arch._ i. 1032.

[146] 4 _Am. Arch._ i. 1022.

[147] _Ibid._ i. 1145.

[148] _Ibid._ i. 1254.

[149] _Ibid._ i. 1062.

[150] _Ibid._ i. 1139.

[151] _Ibid._ i. 1171.

[152] 4 _Am. Arch._ i. 1340.

[153] 4 _Am. Arch._ ii. 167, 168.

[154] MS.

[155] Curtis, _Life of Webster_, i. 585.

[156] MS.

[157] Randall, _Life of Jefferson_, i. 101, 102.

[158] Now in the library of Cornell University.

[159] MS.

[160] _Va. Conv. of 1776_, 150, note.

[161] MS.

[162] 4 _Am. Arch._ ii. 168.

[163] 4 _Am. Arch._ ii. 1742.

[164] _Ibid._ 170.

CHAPTER X

THE RAPE OF THE GUNPOWDER

Several of the famous men of the Revolution, whose distinction is now
exclusively that of civilians, are supposed to have cherished very
decided military aspirations; to have been rather envious of the more
vivid renown acquired by some of their political associates who left
the senate for the field; and, indeed, to have made occasional efforts
to secure for themselves the opportunity for glory in the same pungent
and fascinating form. A notable example of this class of Revolutionary
civilians with abortive military desires, is John Hancock. In June,
1775, when Congress had before it the task of selecting one who should
be the military leader of the uprisen colonists, John Hancock, seated
in the president's chair, gave unmistakable signs of thinking that the
choice ought to fall upon himself. While John Adams was speaking in
general terms of the military situation, involving, of course, the
need of a commander-in-chief, Hancock heard him "with visible
pleasure;" but when the orator came to point out Washington as the man
best fitted for the leadership, "a sudden and striking change" came
over the countenance of the president. "Mortification and resentment
were expressed as forcibly as his face could exhibit them;"[165] and
it is probable that, to the end of his days, he was never able
entirely to forgive Washington for having carried off the martial
glory that he had really believed to be within his own reach. But even
John Adams, who so pitilessly unveiled the baffled military desires of
Hancock, was perhaps not altogether unacquainted with