<P> The depositions that Hutchinson collected and sent to London were eventually published in a pamphlet entitled A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance in Boston . Drawn mainly from depositions by soldiers, its account of affairs sought to blame selfish Bostonians for denying the validity of Parliamentary laws . It also blamed the city's hoodlums and gangs for the lawlessness preceding the event, and claimed that they set up an ambush of the soldiers . However, as it was not published until well after the first pamphlet had arrived in London, it ended up having a much smaller impact on the public debate there . </P> <P> The Part I took in Defence of Cptn . Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough . It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country . Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently . As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right . This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused them to be sent here . But it is the strongest Proofs of the Danger of Standing Armies . </P> <P> The government was determined to give the soldiers a fair trial so there could be no grounds for retaliation from the British and so moderates would not be alienated from the Patriot cause . After several lawyers with Loyalist leanings refused to defend him, Preston sent a request to John Adams, pleading for him to work on the case . Adams, who was already a leading Patriot and who was contemplating a run for public office, agreed to help, in the interest of ensuring a fair trial . Adams was joined by Josiah Quincy II after the latter was assured that the Sons of Liberty would not oppose his appointment, and by Robert Auchmuty, a Loyalist . They were assisted by Sampson Salter Blowers, whose chief duty was to investigate the jury pool, and Paul Revere, who drew a detailed map of the bodies to be used in the trial of the British soldiers held responsible . Massachusetts Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney Robert Treat Paine, hired by the town of Boston, handled the prosecution . Preston was tried separately in late October 1770 . He was acquitted after the jury was convinced that he had not ordered the troops to fire . </P> <P> The trial of the eight soldiers opened on November 27, 1770 . Adams told the jury to look beyond the fact the soldiers were British . He argued that if the soldiers were endangered by the mob, which he called "a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes, and molattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tarrs (i.e. sailors)", they had the legal right to fight back, and so were innocent . If they were provoked but not endangered, he argued, they were at most guilty of manslaughter . </P>

In court i defended british soldiers who were in the boston massacre. who am i