"MERCY TO THE PATRIOT"

             The Ordeal of James Otis and

                the American Revolution

 

                           by

 

                     Charles Deemer

 

 

            TIME & P.LACE: 1761-1783, Boston

 

                         CAST

            Mercy Otis Warren (poet, sister)

               James Otis (lawyer, House)

              Thomas Hutchinson (Lt. Gov.)

          Col. Otis (Speaker of House, father)

                    Ruth Otis (wife)

               Sam Adams (tax collector)

                  John Adams (lawyer)

           James Warren (House, M's husband)

               Andrew Oliver (Secretary)

            Gov. Francis Bernard (Governor)

                       The Crowd

                 Quartet (songs, poem)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                    cdeemer@teleport.com

                                    (503) 452-8277


 

 

 

SONG 1 (POEM): WARREN

 

"Taxation of America" by Peter St. John

 

 WARREN: While I relate my story / Americans give ear; /

  Of Britain's fading glory / You presently shall hear; /

  I'll give you true relations, / Attend to what I say /

  Concerning the taxation / Of North Ameri-kay

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: This is the story of my brother, James

  Otis. Among those who have been forgotten, there is no

  more important figure in the American Revolution.

 

 WARREN: The cruel lords of Britain / Who glory in their

  shame, / The project they have hit on / They joyfully

  proclaim; / Tis what they're striving after / Our right

  to take away / And rob us of our charter / In North

  Ameri-kay

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: I'm Mercy Otis Warren, a poet, a

  playwright -- the first American playwright, historians

  call me now. I had hoped to be the editor of my brother's

  collected writings, but history had other plans for

  Jemmy and his papers never got published. This is why

  you know so little about him today. The story of how

  this came to be begins in a courtroom in Boston, on a

  blustery day in November, 1761. Thomas Hutchinson, Lt.

  Governor of the Province of Massachusetts, presided over

  an extraordinary case.

 

SCENE 1: HUTCHINSON, OTIS

 

 HUTCHINSON: The Court now will hear James Otis...Junior.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: After the death of King George II,

  legal papers had to be replaced with new ones bearing

  the seal of King George III. The Writs of Assistance

  were documents that gave customs officials the authority

  to search for contraband. When the new Writs arrived,

  however, more than an official seal had been changed.

  The wording of these new documents had become much

  broader and more general in scope. Specific searches for

  specific contraband no longer had to be specified. The

  Writs upset my brother so much that he resigned as

  King's Advocate because in that position he would have

  to defend them.

 

 HUTCHINSON: Or does Otis, Junior, need more time?


                                                            2.

 

 

 OTIS: I'm ready, your honor ... I would like to remind

  the Court that my duty, as King's Advocate, was to

  defend these Writs of Assistance, and that I have

  resigned my position with this Court in order to argue

  in behalf of the inhabitants of Boston against them. I

  have accepted no fee in this case. Nor do I argue for

  personal gain or from personal bias. I argue as I do

  because I oppose, and shall oppose to my dying day, all

  such instruments of slavery and villainy as this Writ of

  Assistance is. It appears to me to be the worst

  instrument of arbitrary power ever found in an English

  law book. This Writ is a general power that places the

  liberty of every man, every subject in the King's

  dominions, in the hands of every petty officer. A person

  with this Writ may enter, in broad daylight, all houses

  and shops and buildings at will, and command all to

  assist him.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: The case was well argued on both

  sides, but Hutchinson decided to confer with England

  before making a decision. After court was adjourned,

  Jemmy was approached by a young admirer, John Adams.

 

SCENE 2: JOHN ADAMS, OTIS

 

 JOHN ADAMS: Your argument was very moviing, sir.

 

 OTIS: But perhaps not logical enough to convince Mr.

  Hutchinson. He has to ask England what to do.

 

 JOHN ADAMS: I think you won, sir.

 

 OTIS: And I think a delay is as good as defeat.

 

 JOHN ADAMS: I planned to take notes but was so captured

  by your eloquence I took no notes at all.

 

 OTIS: Are you a lawyer?

 

 JOHN ADAMS: Just beginning, sir.

 

 OTIS: If you let yourself be so distracted by eloquence,

  Mr. Adams, that you neglect a cold look at the logic of

  a plea, you'll find yourself swept along by every

  ignorant honeymouth in the Province.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: Our father, Colonel James Otis, Sr.,

  was the Speaker of the House and the leading candidate

  to be appointed as the new Chief Justice by Gov. Bernard.

  Father did not approve of Jemmy's resignation as King's

  Advocate.


                                                            3.

 

 

SCENE 3: OTIS, COL. OTIS

 

 OTIS: I cannot defend tyranny.

 

 COL. OTIS: That is hardly the intention of--

 

 OTIS: The Writ itself, not the intention. It compromises

  the liberty of us all. Not even the Speaker of the House

  is immune.

 

 COL. OTIS: The Speaker of the House merely came forward

  to compliment his son on a well-spoken plea.

 

 OTIS: Then you've changed your mind about the Writ?

 

 COL. OTIS: I do not have to agree with a plea in order to

  admire its execution.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: England decided against Jemmy, refusing

  to rescind the new Writs of Assistance. At about the

  same time, Hutchinson himself, not father, was appointed

  Chief Justice. Once again Jemmy was outraged. This time

  he resigned his seat in the House. He then wrote a

  scathing piece in the Gazette against Hutchinson,

  arguing that no man should occupy positions in both the

  executive and judicial branches of government. This

  article inspired another young Adams who admired my

  brother, John's cousin Samuel, the local tax collector.

 

SCENE 4: SAM ADAMS, OTIS

 

 SAMUEL ADAMS: Why are you resigning on the eve of victory?

  You under-estimate the force of your own pen. The piece

  in the Gazette is brilliant.

 

 OTIS: What victory was that? I lost the case.

 

 SAMUEL ADAMS: But you've alerted the people! Anyone using

  the Writ now would risk facing a mob ready to snatch it

  from his hands.

 

 OTIS: None of my colleagues in the House agrees with you.

  They condemn my article. And threats of violence,

  Samuel, solve nothing.

 

 SAMUEL ADAMS: When the people are outraged, they speak as

  best they can.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: Then England levied new taxes on the

  colonies, and Hutchinson appointed Andrew Oliver, the

  Secretary of the Province, to be the Stamp Master to

  administer them.


                                                            4.

 

 

SCENE 5: OLIVER, HUTCHINSON

 

 OLIVER: I have too many duties already. Where would I

  find time to administer these damned stamps?

 

 HUTCHINSON: The Crown has given us a Stamp Master, and I

  prefer someone I can trust. I don't like these new taxes

  any more than you do, but they are the law.

 

 OLIVER: Thomas, please find someone else. I'll be at the

  mercy of every drunken ruffian in town.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: The people of Boston did not welcome

  these new taxes. Meetings and rallies against them were

  held, and usually Jemmy was the leading speaker.

 

SCENE 6: OTIS, CROWD

 

 CROWD: No taxes! No taxes! No taxes!

 

 OTIS: Gentlemen, we meet here tonight to discuss the

  Stamp Act which is soon to reach our shores, the Stamp

  Act that will transfer money from our pockets to

  Britain's purse. We also are here because as free

  citizens we are obliged to be here. The God-given

  natural rights which are the foundation of government

  are also the foundation of the Constitution of Britain

  and of our Colonial Charter. Let us not forget for a

  single moment, as we list our grievances here tonight,

  that we are not here to criticize the Constitution but

  to defend it. We are against the Stamp Act because it is

  unconstitutional.

 

 CROWD: No taxes! No taxes!

 

 OTIS: Is it right that in order to raise revenue a people

  be taxed who have no say in the very form those taxes

  take? For example, would it be right for the House of

  Representatives in the Province of Massachusetts to pass

  a measure that taxed the merchants of London, who have

  no representation in our House? Of course not. And so

  London cannot tax our Boston merchants, who have no

  representation in Parliament in London. There can be no

  taxation without representation.

 

 CROWD: No taxation! No taxes!

 

 OTIS: Therefore, the Stamp Act is without effect in

  Massachusetts. It does not exist because it cannot exist.

  The Constitution does not permit it. Parliament has no

  alternative but to repeal it, and immediately. For

  taxation without representation is tyranny!

 

 CROWD: No taxation without representation! No taxes!


                                                            5.

 

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: If father was not pleased with Jemmy's

  continued rebellion, my sister-in-law Ruth was even more

  upset. Jemmy's marriage had shocked us all. All the

  Otis' belonged to the Whig Party -- and Ruth was an

  aristocratic High Tory, born and bred.

 

SCENE 7: RUTH, OTIS

 

 RUTH OTIS: Did you know your loyalty is being questioned?

 

 OTIS: Loyalty to whom?

 

 RUTH OTIS: To the Crown.

 

 OTIS: That's ridiculous. I'm  defending the Constitution!

 

 RUTH OTIS: Tonight Secretary Oliver confided to me that

  the question of your loyalty has been raised in

  Parliament itself. He asked me to talk to you.

 

 OTIS: I've never given anyone reason to question my

  loyalty.

 

 RUTH OTIS: James, I'm becoming an object of pity. You

  should hear how people are beginning to talk.

 

 OTIS: What do you want from me?

 

 RUTH OTIS: I know we have different opinions about many

  things, dear, but at least in the past you've given no

  one reason to doubt your loyalty to the Crown.

 

 OTIS: I am so loyal to the Crown that I defend its

  Constitution! What else can I do? Am I to watch the best

  document on earth whittled at until it is no more than

  the thorn of tyranny?

 

 RUTH OTIS: No one understands that this is what you're

  doing. Some think the worst, dear. The very worst.

 

SONG 2 - THE QUARTET

 

Loyalist song: "The Rebels" by Captain Smythe (Tune: Black

Joak)

 

Ye brave honest subjects who dare to be loyal,/ And have

stood the brunt of every trial,/ Of hunting shirts and rifle

guns;/ Come listen awhile and I’ll tell you a song;/ I’ll

show you those Yankees are all in the wrong,/ Who, with

blustering look and most awkward gait,/ ‘Gainst their lawful

sovereign dare for to prate,/ With their hunting shirts and

rifle guns.


                                                            6.

 

 

Forgetting the mercies of Great Britain’s King,/ Who saved

their forefathers’ necks from the string,/ With hunting

shirts and rifle guns,/ They renounce all allegiance and

take up their arms,/ Assemble together like hornets in

swarms,/ So dirty their backs, and so wretched their show,/

That carrion-crow follows wherever they go,/ With their

hunting shirts and rifle guns.

 

Come take up your glasses, each true loyal heart,/ And may

every rebel meet his due desert,/ With his hunting shirt and

rifle gun./ May Congress, Conventions, those damned

inquisitions,/ Be fed with hot sulphur from Lucifer’s

kitchens,/ May commerce and peace again be restored,/ And

Americans own their true sovereign lord./ Then oblivion to

shirts and rifle guns.

 

GOD SAVE THE KING!

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: At Ruth's insistence, Jemmy finally

  made an appointment to see Governor Bernard.

 

SCENE 8: HUTCHINSON, BERNARD, OTIS

 

 HUTCHINSON: With all due respect, Governor, if the people

  refuse to pay these taxes--

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Of course they'll pay them.

 

 HUTCHINSON: In today's Gazette, Samuel Adams suggested

  that the people of Massachusetts follow the example of

  Virginia and refuse to pay them.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Adams! I'm going to take care of him, as

  well as Otis. Adams has never collected the taxes! He

  must be putting the money in his own pockets.

 

 HUTCHINSON: I just feel that with so much popular support

  against--

 

 GOV. BERNARD: I said, Bring me Otis!

 

 HUTCHINSON: Yes, sir.

 

A beat.

 

 OTIS: Governor ...

 

 GOV. BERNARD: What is it you want?

 

 OTIS: I am here to pronounce and clarify my loyalty to

  the Crown.


                                                            7.

 

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Then what is all this constant nitpicking

  and finding fault with this administration's running of

  things? Do we not get our power from the Constitution

  and Charter?

 

 OTIS: If I ever seem critical, sir, it is only because I

  love the Constitution so much that I abhor anything that

  violates it.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: I trust you've seen these resolves out of

  Virginia, that Samuel Adams has insisted on publishing.

 

 OTIS: I've seen them.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: And how do they mix with your love of the

  Constitution?

 

 OTIS: I must confess that I find them, a few portions of

  them, close to treason.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Really? I'm surprised to hear you say that.

 

 OTIS: One does not respond to an unconstitutional act by

  advocating other unconstitutional acts. The proper

  course is for the Stamp Act to be repealed.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: But if it isn't?

 

 OTIS: It must be. It's unconstitutional.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: The citizens of Virginia have been asked by

  their own legislature to disobey the law, have they not?

  And Virginia would declare something close to war on

  those of us who accept the law. What then would you have

  the citizens of Massachusetts do?

 

 OTIS: I advocate the quick repeal of the Stamp Act.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Do we obey it or not?

 

 OTIS: It must be repealed.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: But obeyed or disobeyed in the meantime?

 

 OTIS: Governor, I have never been disloyal to the Crown.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Until repealed, should the Stamp Act be

  obeyed or not? Is it the law or not?

 

 OTIS: For the moment, it is law. But it is not a

  constitutional law and will certainly be repealed.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: But at this hour, Otis, it is the law. Am I

  correct?


                                                            8.

 

 

 OTIS: Yes.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Good. If you would be willing to publicly

  clarify your views, just as you've clarified them now, I

  think you would go far in proving your loyalty.

 

 OTIS: Are you asking me to publish something on the matter?

 

 GOV. BERNARD: A clarification, yes. A vindication,

  perhaps, to remove the suspicion of those who do not

  realize that you advocate compliance with the law.

 

 OTIS: I will write such a vindication.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Excellent. One other thing. I want to

  apologize for not appointing your father as Chief

  Justice. I was new to the Province and more familiar

  with Hutchinson's qualifications than his. However, I do

  plan to nominate him for appointment to the Governor's

  Council.

 

 OTIS: Father will be very pleased.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: I also want to reinstate you as King's

  Advocate. You're a brilliant lawyer.

 

 OTIS: I would have to think about it.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Does a man who is loyal to the Crown refuse

  honor by the Crown?

 

 OTIS: I am not disloyal.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Then you accept?

 

A beat.

 

 OTIS: Yes.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: The Crown will be pleased to be represented

  by the best lawyer in Boston.

 

SONG 3 - THE QUARTET

 

Loyalist song: "God Save the King" ("My Country Tis of Thee"

uses this tune)

 

God save great George our King,/ Long live our noble King,/

God Save the King!/ Send him victorious,/ Happy and glorius,/

Long to reign over us,/ God Save the King.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


                                                            9.

 

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: People were shocked by the publication

  of Jemmy's Vindication. He became an object of sudden

  ridicule.

 

SONG 4 (POEM) - THE QUARTET, CROWD

 

POEM - Anonymous

 

 QUARTET #1: As Jemmy is an envious dog

 

 QUARTET #2: And Jemmy is ambitious

 

 QUARTET #3: And rage and slander, spite and dirt

 

 QUARTET #4: To Jemmy are delicious

 

 QUARTET #2: So Jemmy rail'd at upper folks

 

 QUARTET #1: While Jemmy's dad was out

 

 QUARTET #3: But Jemmy's dad now has a place

 

 QUARTET #4: So Jemmy's turn'd about!

 

 CROWD: Turnabout Jemmy! Turnabout Jemmy! Turnabout Jemmy!

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: (overlapping) All over Boston,

  likenesses of Oliver, the Stamp Master, were being hung

  in effigy.

 

SCENE 9: OTIS, SAM ADAMS

 

 OTIS: Samuel, did you do this?

 

 SAMUEL ADAMS: Unfortunately, no, I can only congratulate

  its author on an excellent likeness.

 

 OTIS: Cut it down.

 

 SAMUEL ADAMS: Why have you suddenly forgotten the

  Constitution you loved so well?

 

 OTIS: I've not forgotten it.

 

 SAMUEL ADAMS: You're going to argue for the Crown again.

 

 OTIS: It's the Crown's Constitution.

 

 SAMUEL ADAMS: The Governor wants me in jail. You are now

  the agent to get me there.

 

 OTIS: Your case will be decided by the facts and by the

  law.


                                                           10.

 

 

 SAMUEL ADAMS: The people will decide the case before then.

  They're going to demand Oliver's resignation as Stamp

  Master.

 

 OTIS: They must be patient. The Stamp Act will be repealed.

 

 SAMUEL ADAMS: Maybe so. In the meantime, they'll repeal

  it themselves.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: And indeed, Oliver, facing a mob and

  fearing for his life, resigned as Stamp Master. The

  crowd then gathered outside of Hutchinson's home to

  celebrate. But, as will happen with a mob, things soon

  got out of hand ...

 

SCENE 10: HUTCHINSON, OLIVER, COL. OTIS, OTIS

 

 CROWD: Get Hutchinson! Down with Hutchinson! Get

  Hutchinson! Down with Hutchinson!

 

 HUTCHINSON: The hellish crew fell upon my house with the

  rage of devils! They gutted everything. Destroyed my

  furniture and emptied my wine cellar. Robbed my strongbox.

  Broke my windows, destroyed my drapes, vandalized my

  fine paintings. They would not quit until they had

  removed the slate from my roof!

 

 OLIVER: They threw the manuscript of your History of

  Massachusetts into the streets and trampled upon it. A

  neighbor retrieved what he could.

 

 HUTCHINSON: Then it's all I have left.

 

 OLIVER: They thought we plotted the Stamp Act ourselves.

 

 HUTCHINSON: As God is my witness, I have striven as much

  as any man to prevent it. I've never thought it fair or

  constitutional. But it is the law, and it's my duty to

  uphold the law.

 

 CROWD: No taxes! No taxes! No taxes!

 

 COL. OTIS: James! See what your inflammatory rhetoric

  leads to?

 

 OTIS: Father, I did not lead the mob!

 

 COL. OTIS: You're the one who started stirring up the

  people over this.

 

 OTIS: I only meant to defend the Constitution!

 

 COL. OTIS: Inflammatory rhetoric leads to inflammatory

  acts!


                                                           11.

 

 

 CROWD: No taxes! No taxes!

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: Boston was in mourning after the

  violence. But then news came that the Stamp Act was

  repealed. Of course, there was much celebrating in the

  streets. For my part, I celebrated by starting to write

  a play, a political satire, about the recent events.

 

SCENE 11: RUTH, MERCY

 

 RUTH OTIS: I would think you'd let a dead horse rest in

  peace.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: Dead horses can be the most fun to

  ride. And just because England has come to her senses,

  doesn't mean that Boston has.

 

 RUTH OTIS: The recent election proves that! To put so

  many Whigs in office is hardly good sense ...

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: My husband, James Warren, led a Whig

  campaign for reform. Following Jemmy's earlier arguments,

  he gathered support in the House to prevent Hutchinson

  from serving both in the judicial branch as Chief

  Justice and in the executive branch on the Governor's

  Council. John got the votes to remove the Lt. Gov. from

  the Council. But this  victory, such as it was, was

  brief. Once again the Crown levied new taxes on the

  colonies, and this time sent a Commissioner from London

  to collect them.

 

SCENE 12: HUTCHINSON, BERNARD

 

 GOV. BERNARD: The Commissioner tells me that London is

  abuzz with talk of Otis.

 

 HUTCHINSON: It's Samuel Adams who puts his Mohawks in the

  street. Otis is mostly wind.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: Then we'll have a tornado on our hands when

  he learns I vetoed his nomination as Speaker of the House.

 

 HUTCHINSON: It won't be the first Otis tornado. But it's

  still Adams who worries me most.

 

 GOV. BERNARD: The problem in Boston has always been with

  the North End and South End street gangs. They used to

  be satisfied with beating each other up on Pope Day.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: Once again, my brother was leading the

  fight against the new taxes.


                                                           12.

 

 

SCENE 13: OTIS, JOHN ADAMS

 

 OTIS: Be it resolved: that for a period of one year,

  beginning this Fall of 1767, we will not send for or

  import from Great Britain, any kind of goods or

  merchandize except the following: salt, coals, fishhooks

  and lines, hemp, duck, bar-lead and shot, wool-cards and

  card-wire. Only the repeal of the Townshend duties can

  in turn repeal this resolution.

 

 JOHN ADAMS: Sir, I'm John Adams.

 

 OTIS: I remember you.

 

 JOHN ADAMS: I don't think we're going far enough.

 

 OTIS: How do you mean?

 

 JOHN ADAMS: Since we have no representation in Parliament--

 

 OTIS: Representation in Parliament should be our next

  step. It's the only way to resolve this.

 

 JOHN ADAMS: No, I think there's another way. You're the

  one who first convinced me of this. "Taxation without

  representation is tyranny." We should put the whole

  argument on the table: they have no jurisdiction over

  us, period.

 

 OTIS: John, when you enter politics--

 

 JOHN ADAMS: Which is never!

 

 OTIS: --you'll learn you have to compromise. We have to

  get all the colonies together on this, and the southern

  colonies would never support a position that strong.

 

 JOHN ADAMS: It seems to me they just keep replacing one

  tax with another. Where does it end?

 

 OTIS: With colonial representation in Parliament.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: But this, of course, didn't happen.

  What happened was an escalation of the conflict, and the

  beginning of the history that you study in school. Today

  no one knows about James Otis but everyone knows that

  Samuel Adams and his Mohawks held a Boston Tea Party.

 

SONG 5 - THE QUARTET

 

"Revolutionary Tea", traditional


                                                           13.

 

 

There was an old lady lived over the sea/ And she was an

Island Queen./ Her daughter lived off in a new countrie,/

With an ocean of water between;/ The old lady's pockets were

full of gold/ But never contented was she,/ So she called on

her daughter to pay her a tax/ Of three pence a pound on her

tea,/ Of three pence a pound on her tea.

 

"Now mother, dear mother," the daughter replied,/ "I shan't

do the thing you ask./ I'm willing to pay a fair price for

the tea,/ But never the three penny tax."/ "You shall,"

quoth the mother, and reddened with rage,/ "For you're my

own daughter, you see,/ And sure, 'tis quite proper the

daughter should pay/ Her mother a tax on her tea,/ Her

mother a tax on her tea."

 

And so the old lady her servant called up/ And packed off a

budget of tea;/ And eager for three pence a pound, she put/

In enough for a large family./ She order'd her servants to

bring home the tax,/ Declaring her child should obey,/ Or

old as she was, and almost woman grown,/ She'd half whip her

life away.

 

The tea was conveyed to the daughter's door,/ All down by

the ocean's side;/ And the bouncing girl pour'd out every

pound/ In the dark and boiling tide./ And then she called

out to the Island Queen,/ "O mother, dear mother," quoth

she,/ "Your tea you may have when 'tis steep'd enough/ But

never a tax from me."

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: Protest against the taxes increased so

  much that England stationed troops in Boston to maintain

  law and order. What resulted was more tension than ever.

  Then, on the snowy night of March 5, 1770, a growing

  crowd began taunting soldiers at the Custom House.

  Finally British troops fired into the crowd, killing

  four men. Today you call this "the Boston Massacre." The

  soldiers were arrested and put to trial and, to the

  surprise of many, the lawyer defending them was John

  Adams.

 

SCENE 14: JOHN ADAMS

 

 JOHN ADAMS: I have the example of James Otis, who would

  insist that every man in the Province has the right to a

  fair trial and to fair legal representation. Therefore,

  though there be no less popular task in Boston, I agree

  to defend the British soldiers in the trial of the so-

  called masacre.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: When the soldiers were found innocent,

  Samuel Adams was outraged. More tension than ever filled

  the streets.

 

 CROWD: No justice! No justice! No justice!


                                                           14.

 

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: All of this depressed my brother.

  Everywhere Jemmy looked, he saw his beloved Constitution

  being violated, and as the conflict between England and

  the colonies escalated, so did Jemmy's frustration and

  instability. He started swearing at strangers on the

  streets. He fell into fits, destroying furniture and

  breaking windows. And he would say the oddest things at

  the oddest times, even in the House ...

 

 OTIS: The Lt. Governor claims that I destroyed his slate

  roof! Can anything be more patently absurd? Think of the

  logic of such a statement. The Lt. Governor admits that

  a mob of furies ransacked his home, destroying almost

  everything. If a house is destroyed, then of what use is

  its roof? But let me assure my colleagues that I did not

  destroy the Lt. Governor's slate roof or, for that

  matter, any slate roof in the Province. I could never

  destroy a slate roof because, in fact, I adore them! I

  have never uttered a sentiment in this hallowed hall

  more sincere than what I will tell you now: that I wish

  my house had a slate roof! If I had not become a lawyer,

  surely I would have taken up the trade of manufacturing

  slate roofs!

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: When Jemmy started picking fights in

  the House of Representatives, sometimes coming to blows,

  it was the last straw.

 

SCENE 15: COL. OTIS, RUTH, HUTCHINSON

 

 COL. OTIS: My son, James Otis, Jr., has behaved so

  erratically in public as to endanger himself, his

  family, his friends, and all the citizens of America. It

  is because of this that I must, as his father, and in

  behalf of all who love him, and all who mourn the loss

  of the fine intellect once uniquely his -- I must

  request that he be declared non compos mentis, and

  further request that he be removed from Boston, by

  whatever means necessary, so he may be cared for in the

  country, where we hope he will be free of those personal

  and political pressures that have contributed to his

  breakdown.

 

 RUTH OTIS: There's nothing else we can do.

 

 HUTCHINSON: Therefore, be it declared that on this day,

  December 3, 1771, James Otis, Jr., shall be bound hand

  and foot and removed from Boston.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: So Jemmy spent the war in exile in the

  country. I convinced him to organize his manuscripts.

  When the war was over, I would edit and publish them, a

  project that would require many volumes and would

  establish my brother's place in history.


                                                           15.

 

 

Beat.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: But after we'd won the war and the

  colonies struggled to piece together a new government,

  many of us wondered if Jemmy hadn't been right all along.

  Majority opinion was moving in the direction of replacing

  a King with an aristocratic President, of proposing a

  Constitution without including written guarantees of

  personal rights. Then what had we gone to war for? Often

  after the war, my husband and I debated this question

  with Jemmy.

 

SCENE 16: OTIS, WARREN, MERCY

 

 OTIS: Must we tear government down before we can repair

  its deficiencies?

 

 WARREN: England left us no choice.

 

 OTIS: England? Or ourselves?

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: England, I think.

 

 OTIS: Look at the government they want to give us now.

 

 WARREN: I know. We have a new generation to educate.

  Where was Jefferson in '61? Studying Latin -- and

  probably using Jemmy's textbook!

 

 OTIS: This new Constitution grants fewer liberties than

  the one you overthrew.

 

 WARREN: Some of us are demanding that a Bill of Rights be

  amended to it.

 

 OTIS: Our liberty was secure in the Constitution we

  already had. If only they'd granted us representation in

  Parliament ...

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: John Hancock declared a James Otis

  Day, to honor the man John Adams called "the First

  Patriot." It was a glorious celebration, but somehow it

  only depressed Jemmy further. He kept saying Hancock was

  carrying on like a High Tory, that the revolution had

  replaced one conservative aristocracy with another.

 

A beat.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: Afterwards we all came home. A

  thunderstorm was approaching. Jemmy excused himself to

  take a walk. What happened next was beyond belief.


                                                           16.

 

 

SCENE 17: WARREN, MERCY

 

 WARREN: Jemmy was standing in the doorway, after his

  walk, leaning on his cane and watching the storm. He was

  still depressed, thinking the war had been for naught.

  Suddenly there was a deafening crash of thunder, blinding

  lightning -- and Jemmy fell to the ground, dead.

  Apparently the lightning had hit the chimney, run along

  a rafter and down the doorpost, to where he was waiting

  for it.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: When God in anger saw the spot / On

  Earth to Otis given / In thunder as from Sinai's mount /

  He snatch'd him back to heaven.

 

 WARREN: Jemmy died as quickly as one blows out a flame.

 

 MERCY OTIS WARREN: A few days later I went to get his

  manuscripts, to continue editing them for publication. I

  couldn't find them. Finally I saw the remains of a page

  in the fireplace and, seeing the pile of ashes there,

  realized what had happened. In his depression, Jemmy had

  burned his life's work. Now there would be little

  historical record of the accomplishments of James Otis.

  His name would not be sung in the songs of victory. And

  history would all but forget him.

 

SONG 6 - THE QUARTET

 

"Jefferson and Liberty"

 

The gloomy night before us Dies,/ The reign of terror now is

o'er;/ Its gags, inquisitors, and spies,/ Its herds of

harpies are no more!

 

CHORUS: Rejoice, Columbia's sons, rejoice!/ To tyrants never

bend the knee,/ But join with heart, and soul, and voice,/

For Jefferson and liberty!

 

No lordling here, with gorging jaws/ Shall wring from

industry the food;/ Nor fiery bigot's holy laws/ Lay waste

our fields and streets in blood!

 

Here strangers from a thousand shores/ Compelled by tyranny

to roam,/ Shall find, amidst abundant stores,/ A nobler and

a happier home.

 

Here Art shall lift her laurelled head,/ Wealth, Iudustry,

and Peace, divine;/ And where dark, pathless forests spread,/

Rich fields and lofty cities shine.

 

THE END