EDITOR'S PREFACE

UR present Extra is one of a sort not before represented in our Series—a very

rare tract on the Tory side of the question of England's right to tax the colonies. It was written by Jonathan Sewall (1728-96) a Harvard graduate and Boston lawyer, who “inclined to the patriotic side until chagrined by the refusal of the State to pay the debts left by his uncle (Chief Justice Stephen Sewall 1704-1760-) "and by the opposition of the Otises to his petition. No lawyer in the State surpassed him in eloquence or acuteness. He was esteemed one of the ablest writers in New England, and defended the doctrines of Coercion with force and learning in the Tory newspapers," and was rewarded by the British government with lucrative appointments, but in 1775 was forced to leave his native country for England, and in 1779 his estate was confiscated. His last years were spent in St. John, New Brunswick. As the pamphlet was printed in Boston in 1775, but without either author's or printer's name, it is probably the last thing printed from his pen. It is very rare the only copy sold in many years brought $40 in 1918.

Though all the arguments, advanced by his hero, Parson Sharp, have been refuted by history, the tract is very well written, and not a great deal of imagination is required to visualize the scene in the tavern, "over a friendly tankard and pipe” with the Parson's six less-educated companions, who gradually draw out of the conversation, allow him to do most of the talking, and are finally converted by his presentation of his side of the case. Anyone who has ever seen the "taproom" of an old New England tavern will agree that the story of the meeting offers an excellent opportunity for the brush of a historical painter.