ABSTRACT
“Vindex” did not have the local press to himself. “Philanthrop” came right back at him in the pages of the Boston Evening-Post, the first counter-punch being thrown on December 17, 1770, the last on February 18, 1771. The author, Jonathan Sewall, had written as “Philanthrop” before, during the Stamp Act crisis. Coming to Francis Bernard’s defense, he contended that the governor had had no choice but to support legislation with which he personally disagreed because it was the law and he served as the king’s representative to the people. In so arguing he probably did not help Bernard’s case with opposition leaders; he also ran the risk of damaging his own reputation, which to then had been as a lawyer who put principle above politics and who counted John Adams among his closet friends.
