The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bay State Monthly, Volume I. No. VI.
June, 1884, by Various
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Title: The Bay State Monthly, Volume I. No. VI. June, 1884
A Massachusetts Magazine
Author: Various
Release Date: October 16, 2004 [EBook #13761]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, ***
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[Illustration: Ben F. Butler]
THE
BAY STATE MONTHLY.
_A Massachusetts Magazine_
VOL. I.
JUNE,1884.
No. VI.
* * * * *
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER.
There is a belt extending irregularly across the State of New Hampshire,
and varying in width, from which have gone forth men who have won a
national reputation. From this section went Daniel Webster, Lewis Cass,
Levi Woodbury, Zachariah Chandler, Horace Greeley, Henry Wilson, William
Pitt Fessenden, Salmon P. Chase, John Wentworth, Nathan Clifford, and
Benjamin F. Butler.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER was born in the town of Deerfield, New
Hampshire, November 5, 1818.
His father, Captain John Butler, was a commissioned officer in the War
of 1812, and served with General Andrew Jackson at New Orleans. As
merchant, supercargo, and master of the vessel, he was engaged for some
years in the West India trade, in which he was fairly successful, until
his death in March, 1819, while on a foreign voyage. In politics he was
an ardent Democrat, an admirer of General Jackson, and a personal friend
of Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire.
Left an orphan when an infant, the child was dependent for his early
training upon his mother; and faithfully did she attend to her duties.
Descended from the Scotch Covenanters and Irish patriots, Mrs. Butler
possessed rare qualities: she was capable, thrifty, diligent, and
devoted. In 1828, Mrs. Butler removed with her family to Lowell, where
her two boys could receive better educational advantages, and where her
efforts for their maintenance would be better rewarded, than in their
native village.
As a boy young Butler was small, sickly, and averse to quarrels. He was
very fond of books, and eagerly read all that came in his way. From his
earliest youth he possessed a remarkably retentive memory, and was such
a promising scholar that his mother determined to help him obtain a
liberal education, hoping that he would be called to the Baptist
ministry. With this end in view, he was fitted for college at the public
schools of Lowell and at Exeter Academy, and at the early age of sixteen
entered Waterville College. Here for four years, the formative period of
his life, his mind received that bent and discipline which fitted him
for his future active career.
He was a student who appreciated his advantages, and acquired all the
general information the course permitted outside of regular studies; but
his rank was low in the class, as deportment and attention to college
laws were taken into account. During the latter part of his course he
was present at the trial of a suit at law, and was so impressed with the
forensic battle he then witnessed, that he chose law as his profession.
He was graduated from the college in 1838, in poor health, and in debt,
but a fishing cruise to the coast of Labrador restored him, and in the
fall he entered upon the study of the law at Lowell. While a student he
practised in the police court, taught school, and devoted every energy
to acquiring a practical knowledge of his profession.
MILITIA.
While yet a minor he joined the City Guards, a company of the fifth
regiment of Massachusetts Militia. His service in the militia was
honorable, and continued for many years; he rose gradually in the
regular line of promotion through every grade, from a private to a
brigadier-general.
LAW.
In 1840, Mr. Butler was admitted to the bar. He was soon brought into
contact with the mill-owners, and was noted for his audacity and
quickness. He won his way rapidly to a lucrative practice, at once
important, leading, and conspicuous. He was bold, diligent, vehement,
and an inexhaustible opponent. His memory was such, that he could retain
the whole of the testimony of the longest trial without taking a note.
His power of labor seemed unlimited. In fertility of expedient, and in
the lightning quickness of his devices to snatch victory from the jaws
of defeat, his equal has seldom lived.
For twenty years Mr. Butler devoted his whole energies to his
profession. At the age of forty he was retained in over five hundred
cases, enjoyed the most extensive and lucrative practice in New England,
and could at that age have retired from active business with an
independent fortune.
POLITICS.
Despite his enormous and incessant labors at the bar, Mr. Butler, since
early manhood, has been a busy and eager politician, regularly for many
years attending the national conventions of the Democratic party, and
entering actively into every campaign.
Before the Rebellion he was twice elected to the Massachusetts
Legislature: once to the House in 1853, and once to the Senate in 1859;
and was a candidate for governor in 1856, receiving fifty thousand
votes, the full support of his party.
In April, 1860, Mr. Butler was a delegate to the Democratic convention
held at Charleston. There he won a national reputation. In June, at an
adjourned session of the convention, at Baltimore, Mr. Butler went out
with the delegates who were resolved to defeat the nomination of Stephen
A. Douglas. The retiring body nominated Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky,
for the Presidency, and Mr. Butler returned home to help his election.
It may be here stated that Mr. Breckinridge was a Southern pro-slavery
unionist. Mr. Butler was the Breckinridge candidate for the governorship
of Massachusetts, and received only six thousand votes.
In December, 1860, after the election of Abraham Lincoln was an
established fact, there was a gathering of politicians at Washington,
Mr. Butler among the rest. South Carolina had passed the ordinance of
secession, and had sent commissioners or embassadors to negotiate a
treaty with the general government. Mr. Butler told his Southern friends
that they were hastening on a war; that the North would never consent to
a disunion of the States, and that he should be among the first to offer
to fight for the Union. He counselled the administration to receive the
South Carolina commissioners, listen to their communication, arrest
them, and try them for high treason. Mr. Butler foresaw a great war, and
on his return to Massachusetts advised Governor Andrew to prepare the
militia for the event. This was quietly done by dropping those who could
not be depended upon to leave the State, and enlisting others in their
stead. Arms and clothing were also prepared. On April 15, 1861, a
telegram was received by Governor Andrew from Senator Henry Wilson
asking for troops to defend the capital. A little before five o'clock,
Mr. Butler was, trying, a case before a court in Boston, when Colonel
Edward F. Jones, of the sixth regiment, brought to him for endorsement
an order from Governor Andrew to muster his regiment forthwith on Boston
Common, prepared to go to the defence of Washington. Two days later Mr.
Butler received the order to take command of the troops.
IN THE WAR.
General Butler's command consisted of four regiments. The sixth was
despatched immediately to Washington by the way of Baltimore, two
regiments were sent in transports to garrison Fortress Monroe, while
General Butler accompanied the eighth regiment in person. At
Philadelphia, on the nineteenth of April, General Butler was apprised of
the attack on the sixth regiment during their passage through Baltimore,
and he resolved to open communication with the capital through
Annapolis.
At Annapolis, General Butler's great executive qualities came into
prominence. He was placed in command of the "Department of Annapolis,"
and systematically attended to the forwarding of troops and the
formation of a great army. On May 13, with his command, he occupied the
city of Baltimore, a strategic movement of great importance. On May 16,
he was commissioned major-general, and on the twenty-second was saluted
as the commander of Fortress Monroe. Two days later, he gave to the
country the expressive phrase "contraband of war," which proved the
deathblow of American slavery.
A skirmish at Great Bethel, June 10, was unimportant in its results
except that it caused the loss of twenty-five Union soldiers, Major
Theodore Winthrop among the number, and was a defeat for the Northern
army. This was quickly followed by the disastrous battle of Bull Run,
which fairly aroused the North to action.
On August 18, General Butler resigned the command of the department of
Virginia to General Wool, and accepted a command under him. The first
duty entrusted to General Butler was an expedition sent to reduce the
forts at Hatteras Inlet, in which with a small force he was successful.
Early in September, he was authorized by the war department to raise and
equip six regiments of volunteers from New England for the war. This
task was easy for the energetic general.
Early in the year 1862, the capture of New Orleans was undertaken, and
General Butler was placed in command of the department of the Gulf, and
fifteen thousand troops entrusted to him. After innumerable delays, the
general with a part of his force arrived, March 20, 1862, at Ship
Island, near the delta of the Mississippi River, at which rendezvous the
rest of the troops had already been assembled. From this post the
reduction of New Orleans was executed.
On the morning of April 24, the fleet under command of Captain Farragut
succeeded in passing the forts, and a week later the transport
Mississippi with General Butler and his troops was alongside the levee
at New Orleans.
On December 16, 1862, General Butler formally surrendered the command of
the department of the Gulf to General Banks. What General Butler did at
New Orleans during the months he was in command in that city is a matter
of history, and has been ably chronicled by James Parton. He there
displayed those wonderful qualities of command which made him the most
hated, as well as the most respected, Northern man who ever visited the
South. He did more to subject the Southern people to the inevitable
consequence of the war than a division of a hundred thousand soldiers.
He even conquered that dread scourge, yellow fever, and demonstrated
that lawlessness even in New Orleans could be suppressed.
The new channel for the James River, known as the Dutch Gap, planned by
General Butler, and ridiculed by the press, but approved by the officers
of the United States Engineer Corps, remains to this day the
thoroughfare used by commerce.
The fame of General Butler's career at New Orleans, and his presence,
quieted the fierce riots in New York City, occasioned by the drafts.
General Butler resigned his commission at the close of the war, and
resumed the practice of his profession. He is now, and has been for many
years, the senior major-general of all living men who have held that
rank in the service of the United States.
IN CONGRESS.
In 1867, Mr. Butler was elected to the fortieth Congress from the fifth
congressional district of Massachusetts, and in 1869 from the sixth
district. He was re-elected in 1871, 1873, and in 1877. He was a
recognized power in the House of Representatives, and with the
administration. In 1882, he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and
gracefully retired in December, 1883, to the disappointment of more than
one hundred and fifty thousand Massachusetts voters.
Mr. Butler is a man of vast intellectual ability--in every sense of the
word a great man. He possesses a remarkable memory, great executive
abilities, good judgment, immense energy, and withal a tender heart. He
has always been a champion of fair play and equal rights.
As an orator he has great power to sway his hearers, for his words are
wise. Had the Democratic party listened to Mr. Butler at the Charleston
convention, its power would have continued; had the South listened to
him, it would not have seceded. Mr. Butler is a man who arouses popular
enthusiasm, and who has a great personal following of devoted friends
and admirers.
Books have already been written about him--more will follow in the years
to come. He is the personification of the old _ante bellum_ Democratic
party of the Northern States--a party that believed in the
aggrandizement of the country, at home and abroad; which placed the
rights of an American citizen before the gains of commerce; which
fostered that commerce until it whitened the seas; and which provided
for the reception of millions, who were sure to come to these shores, by
acquiring large areas of territory.
This hastily prepared sketch gives but a meagre outline of this
remarkable man, whose history is yet by no means completed.
* * * * *
THE BOUNDARY LINES OF OLD GROTON.--II.
By THE HON. SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D.
The report of the Comitty of the Hon'ble Court vpon the petition of
Concord Chelmsford Lancaster & Stow for a grant of part of Nashobe
lands
Persuant to the directions giuen by this Hon'ble Court bareng Date
the 30'th of May 1711 The Comity Reports as foloweth that is to say
&ce
That on the second day of October 1711 the s'd comitty went vpon
the premises with an Artis and veved [viewed] and servaied the Land
mentioned in the Peticion and find that the most southerly line of
the plantation of Nashobe is bounded partly on Concord & partly on
Stow and this line contains by Estimation vpon the servey a bought
three miles & 50 polle The Westerly line Runs partly on Stowe &
partly on land claimed by Groton and containes four miles and 20
poll extending to a place called Brown hill. The North line Runs a
long curtain lands claimed by Groton and contains three miles, the
Easterle line Runs partly on Chelmsford, and partly on a farm cald
Powersis farm in Concord; this line contains a bought fouer miles
and twenty fiue pole
The lands a boue mentioned wer shewed to vs for Nashobe Plantation
and there were ancient marks in the seuerall lines fairly marked,
And s'd comite find vpon the servey that Groton hath Run into
Nashobe (as it was showed to vs) so as to take out nere one half
s'd plantation and the bigest part of the medows, it appears to vs
to Agree well with the report of M'r John Flint & M'r Joseph
Wheeler who were a Commetty imployed by the County Court in
midlesexs to Run the bounds of said plantation (June y'e 20'th 82)
The plat will demonstrate how the plantation lyeth & how Groton
coms in vpon it: as aleso the quaintete which is a bought 7840
acres
And said Comite are of the opinion that ther may [be] a township in
that place it lying so remote from most of the neighboreng Towns,
provided this Court shall se reson to continew the bounds as we do
judg thay have been made at the first laieng out And that ther be
sum addition from Concord & Chelmsford which we are redy to think
will be complyed with by s'd Towns And s'd Comite do find a bought
15 famelys setled in s'd plantation of Nashobe (5) in Groton
claimed and ten in the remainder and 3 famelys which are allredy
setled on the powerses farm: were convenient to joyn w s'd
plantation and are a bought Eaight mille to any meting-house (Also,
ther are a bought Eaight famelys in Chelmsford which are allredy
setled neer Nashobe line & six or seven miles from thir own meeting
house
JONATHAN TYNG
THOMAS HOW
JOHN STEARNS
In the Houes of Representatives
Nov'm 2: 1711. Read
Oct'o. 23, 1713.
In Council
Read and accepted; And the Indians native Proprietors of the s'd
Planta'con. Being removed by death Except two or Three families
only remaining Its Declared and Directed That the said Lands of
Nashoba be preserved for a Township.
And Whereas it appears That Groton Concord and Stow by several of
their Inhabitants have Encroached and Setled upon the said Lands;
This Court sees not reason to remove them to their Damage; but will
allow them to be and remain with other Inhabitants that may be
admitted into the Town to be there Setled; And that they have full
Liberty when their Names and Number are determined to purchase of
the few Indians there remaining for the Establishment of a Township
accordingly.
Saving convenient Allotments and portions of Land to the remaining
Indian Inhabitants for their Setling and Planting.
Is'a ADDINGTON Secry.
In the House of Representatives
Octo'r: 23th: 1713. Read
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 600.]
The inhabitants of Groton had now become alarmed at the situation of
affairs, fearing that the new town would take away some of their land.
Through neglect the plan of the original grant, drawn up in the year
1668, had never been returned to the General Court for confirmation, as
was customary in such cases; and this fact also excited further
apprehension. It was not confirmed finally until February 10, 1717,
several years after the incorporation of Nashobah.
In the General Court Records (ix, 263) in the State Library, under the
date of June 18, 1713, it is entered:--
Upon reading a Petition of the Inhabitants of the Town of Groton,
Praying that the Return & Plat of the Surveyor of their Township
impowered by the General Court may be Accepted for the Settlement &
Ascertaining the Bounds of their Township, Apprehending they are
likely to be prejudiced by a Survey lately taken of the Grant of
Nashoba;
Voted a Concurrence with the Order pass'd thereon in the House of
Represent'ves That the Petitioners serve the Proprietors of Nashoba
Lands with a copy of this Petition, That they may Shew Cause, if
any they have on the second Fryday of the Session of this Court in
the Fall of the Year, Why the Prayer therof may not be granted, &
the Bounds of Groton settled according to the ancient Plat of said
Town herewith exhibited.
It is evident from the records that the Nashobah lands gave rise to much
controversy. Many petitions were presented to the General Court, and
many claims made, growing out of this territory. The following entry is
found in the General Court Records (ix, 369) in the State Library, under
the date of November 2, 1714:--
The following Order pass'd by the Represent'ves. Read & Concur'd;
viz,
Upon Consideration of the many Petitions & Claims relating to the
Land called Nashoba Land; Ordered that the said Nashoba Land be
made a Township, with the Addition of such adjoining Lands of the
Neighbouring Towns, whose Owners shall petition for that End, &
that this Court should think fit to grant, That the said Nashoba
Lands having been long since purchased of the Indians by M'r
Bulkley & Henchman one Half, the other Half by Whetcomb & Powers,
That the said purchase be confirmed to the children of the said
Bulkley, Whetcomb & Powers, & Cpt. Robert Meers as Assignee to M'r
Henchman according to their respective Proportions; Reserving to
the Inhabitants, who have settled within these Bounds, their
Settlements with Divisions of Lands, in proportion to the Grantees,
& such as shall be hereafter admitted; the said Occupants or
present Inhabitants paying in Proportion as others shall pay for
their Allotments;. Provided the said Plantation shall be settled
with Thirty five Families & an orthodox Minister in three years
time, And that Five hundred Acres of Land be reserved and laid out
for the Benefit of any of the Descendants of the Indian Proprietors
of the said Plantation, that may be surviving; A Proportion
thereof to be for Sarah Doublet alias Sarah Indian;. The Rev. M'r.
John Leveret & Spencer Phips Esq'r. to be Trustees for the said
Indians to take Care of the said Lands for their Use. And it is
further Ordered that Cpt. Hopestill Brown, M'r. Timothy Wily & M'r.
Joseph Burnap of Reading be a Committee to lay out the said Five
hundred Acres of Land reserved for the Indians, & to run the Line
between Groton & Nashoba, at the Charge of both Parties & make
Report to this Court, And that however the Line may divide the Land
with regard to the Township, yet the Proprietors on either side may
be continued in the Possession of their Improvements, paying as
aforesaid; And that no Persons legal Right or Property in the said
Lands shall [be] hereby taken away or infringed,
Consented to J DUDLEY
The report of this committee is entered in the same volume of General
Court Records (ix, 395, 396) as the order of their appointment, though
the date as given by them does not agree with the one there mentioned.
The following Report of the Committee for Running the Line between
Groton & Nashoba Accepted by Represent'ves. Read & Concur'd; Viz.
We the Subscribers appointed a Committee by the General Court to
run the Line between Groton & Nashoba & to lay out Five hundred
Acres of Land in said Nashoba to the the [_sic_] Descendants of the
Indians; Pursuant to said Order of Court, bearing Date Octob'r
20'th [November 2?] 1714, We the Subscribers return as follows;
That on the 30'th. of November last, we met on the Premises, &
heard the Information of the Inhabitants of Groton, Nashoba &
others of the Neighbouring Towns, referring to the Line that has
been between Groton & Nashoba & seen several Records, out of Groton
Town Book, & considered other Writings, that belong to Groton &
Nashoba, & We have considered all, & We have run the Line (Which we
account is the old Line between Groton & Nashoba;) We began next
Chelmsford Line, at a Heap of Stones, where, We were informed, that
there had been a great Pine Tree, the Northeast Corner of Nashoba,
and run Westerly by many old mark'd Trees, to a Pine Tree standing
on the Southerly End of Brown Hill mark'd N and those marked Trees
had been many times marked or renewed, thô they do not stand in a
direct or strait Line to said Pine Tree on said Brown Hill; And
then from said Brown Hill we turned a little to the East of the
South, & run to a white Oak being an old Mark, & so from said Oak
to a Pitch Pine by a Meadow, being an other old Mark; & the same
Line extended to a white Oak near the North east Corner of Stow:
And this is all, as we were informed, that Groton & Nashoba joins
together: Notwithstanding the Committees Opinion is, that Groton
Men be continued in their honest Rights, thô they fall within the
Bounds of Nashoba; And We have laid out to the Descendants of the
Indians Five hundred Acres at the South east Corner of the
Plantation of Nashoba; East side, Three hundred Poles long, West
side three hundred Poles, South & North ends, Two hundred & eighty
Poles broad; A large white Oak marked at the North west Corner, &
many Line Trees we marked at the West side & North End, & it takes
in Part of two Ponds.
Dated Decem'r 14. 1714.
HOPESTILL BROWN
TIMOTHY WILY
JOSEPH BURNAP
Consented to
J Dudley.
The incorporation of Nashobah on November 2, 1714, settled many of the
disputes connected with the lands; but on December 3 of the next year,
the name was changed from Nashobah to Littleton. As already stated, the
plan of the original Groton grant had never been returned by the
proprietors to the General Court for confirmation, and this neglect had
acted to their prejudice. After Littleton had been set off, the town of
Groton undertook to repair the injury and make up the loss. John Shepley
and John Ames were appointed agents to bring about the necessary
confirmation by the General Court. It is an interesting fact to know
that in their petition (General Court Records, x, 216, February 11,
1717, in the office of the secretary of state) they speak of having in
their possession at that time the original plan of the town, made by
Danforth in the year 1668, though it was somewhat defaced. In the
language of the Records, it was said to be "with the Petitioner," which
expression in the singular number may have been intentional, referring
to John Shepley, probably the older one, as certainly the more
influential, of the two agents. This plan was also exhibited before the
General Court on June 18, 1713, according to the Records (ix, 263) of
that date.
The case, as presented by the agents, was as follows:--
A petition of John Sheply & John Ames Agents for the Town of Groton
Shewing that the General Assembly of the Province did in the year
1655, Grant unto M'r Dean Winthrop & his Associates a Tract of Land
of Eight miles quare for a Plantation to be called by the name of
Groton, that Thom's & Jonathan Danforth did in the year 1668, lay
out the said Grant, but the Plat thereof through Neglect was not
returned to the Court for Confirmation that the said Plat thô
something defaced is with the Petitioner, That in the Year 1713 M'r
Samuel Danforth Surveyour & Son of the abovesaid Jonathan Danforth,
at the desire of the said Town of Groton did run the Lines & make
an Implatment of the said Township laid out as before & found it
agreeable to the former. W'h. last Plat the Petitioners do herewith
exhibit, And pray that this Hon'ble Court would allow & confirm the
same as the Township of Groton.
In the House of Represent'ves; Feb. 10. 1717. Read, Read a second
time, And Ordered that the Prayer of the Petition be so far granted
that the Plat herewith exhibited (Althô not exactly conformable to
the Original Grant of Eight Miles quare) be accounted, accepted &
Confirmed as the Bounds of the Township of Groton in all parts,
Except where the said Township bounds on the Township of Littleton,
Where the Bounds shall be & remain between the Towns as already
stated & settled by this Court, And that this Order shall not be
understood or interpreted to alter or infringe the Right & Title
which any Inhabitant or Inhabitants of either of the said Towns
have or ought to have to Lands in either of the said Townships
In Council, Read & Concur'd,
Consented to Sam'll Shute
[General Court Records (x, 216), February 11, 1717, in the office of the
secretary of state.]
The proprietors of Groton felt sore at the loss of their territory along
the Nashobah line in the year 1714, although it would seem without
reason. They had neglected to have the plan of their grant confirmed by
the proper authorities at the proper time; and no one was to blame for
this oversight but themselves. In the autumn of 1734 they represented to
the General Court that in the laying out of the original plantation no
allowance had been made for prior grants in the same territory, and that
in settling the line with Littleton they had lost more than four
thousand acres of land; and in consideration of these facts they
petitioned for an unappropriated gore of land lying between Dunstable
and Townsend.
The necessary steps for bringing the matter before the General Court at
this time were taken at a town meeting, held on July 25, 1734. It was
then stated that the town had lost more than twenty-seven hundred and
eighty-eight acres by the encroachment of Littleton line; and that two
farms had been laid out within the plantation before it was granted to
the proprietors. Under these circumstances Benjamin Prescott was
authorized to present the petition to the General Court, setting forth
the true state of the case and all the facts connected with it. The two
farms alluded to were Major Simon Willard's, situated at Nonacoicus or
Coicus, now within the limits of Ayer, and Ralph Reed's, in the
neighborhood of the Ridges; so Mr. Butler told me several years before
his death, giving Judge James Prescott as his authority, and I carefully
wrote it down at the time. The statement is confirmed by the report of a
committee on the petition of Josiah Sartell, made to the House of
Representatives, on June 13, 1771. Willard's farm, however, was not laid
out before the original plantation was granted, but in the spring of
1658, three years after the grant. At this time Danforth had not made
his plan of the plantation, which fact may have given rise to the
misapprehension. Ralph Reed was one of the original proprietors of the
town, and owned a fifteen-acre right; but I do not find that any land
was granted him by the General Court.
It has been incorrectly supposed, and more than once so stated in print,
that the gore of land, petitioned for by Benjamin Prescott, lay in the
territory now belonging to Pepperell; but this is a mistake. The only
unappropriated land between Dunstable and Townsend, as asked for in the
petition, lay in the angle made by the western boundary of Dunstable and
the northern boundary of Townsend. At that period Dunstable was a very
large township, and included within its territory several modern towns,
lying mostly in New Hampshire. The manuscript records of the General
Court define very clearly the lines of the gore, and leave no doubt in
regard to it. It lay within the present towns of Mason, Brookline,
Wilton, Milford, and Greenville, New Hampshire. Benjamin Prescott was at
the time a member of the General Court and the most influential man in
town. His petition was presented to the House of Representatives on
November 28, 1734, and referred to a committee, which made a report
thereon a fortnight later. They are as follows:--
A Petition of _Benjamin Prescot_, Esq; Representative of the Town
of _Groton_, and in behalf of the Proprietors of the said Town,
shewing that the General Court in _May_ 1655, in answer to the
Petition of Mr. _Dean Winthrop_ and others, were pleased to grant
the Petitioners a tract of Land of the contents of eight miles
square, the Plantation to be called _Groton_, that in taking a Plat
of the said tract there was no allowance made for prior Grants &c.
by means whereof and in settling the Line with _Littleton Anno_
1715, or thereabouts, the said Town of _Groton_ falls short more
than four thousand acres of the Original Grant, praying that the
said Proprietors may obtain a Grant of what remains undisposed of
of a Gore of Land lying between _Dunstable_ and _Townshend_, or an
equivalent elsewhere of the Province Land. Read and _Ordered_, That
Col. _Chandler_, Capt. _Blanchard_, Capt. _Hobson_, Major _Epes_,
and Mr. _Hale_, be a Committee to take this Petition under
consideration, and report what may be proper for the Court to do in
answer thereto.
[Journal of the House of Representatives, November 28, 1734, page
94.]
Col. _Chandler_ from the Committee appointed the _28th._ ult. to
consider the Petition of _Benjamin Prescot_, Esq; in behalf of the
Proprietors of _Groton_, made report, which was read and accepted,
and in answer to this Petition, _Voted_, That a Grant of ten
thousand eight hundred acres of the Lands lying in the _Gore_
between _Dunstable_ and _Townshend_, be and hereby is made to the
Proprietors of the Town of _Groton_, as an equivalent for what was
taken from them by _Littleton_ and _Coyachus_ or _Willard's Farm_
(being about two acres and a half for one) and is in full
satisfaction thereof, and that the said Proprietors be and hereby
are allowed and impowred by a Surveyor and Chain-men on Oath to
survey and lay out the said ten thousand eight hundred acres in the
said _Gore_, and return a Plat thereof to this Court within twelve
months for confirmation to them their heirs and assigns
respectively.
Sent up for Concurrence.
[Journal of the House of Representatives, December 12, 1734, page
119.]
The proprietors of Groton had a year's time allowed them, in which they
could lay out the grant, but they appear to have taken fifteen months
for the purpose. The record of the grant is as follows:--
A Memorial of Benj'a Prescott Esq: Represent'a of the Town of
Groton in behalf of the Proprietors there, praying that the Votes
of the House on his Memorial & a plat of Ten Thousand Eight hundred
Acres of Land, lately Granted to the said Proprietors, as Entred in
the House the 25 of March last, may be Revived and Granted, The
bounds of which Tract of Land as Mentioned on the said Plat are as
follows viz't.: begining at the North West Corner of Dunstable at
Dram Cup hill by Sohegan River and Runing South in Dunstable line
last Perambulated and Run by a Com'tee of the General Court, two
Thousand one hundred & fifty two poles to Townshend line, there
making an angle, and Runing West 31 1-2 Deg. North on Townshend
line & province Land Two Thousand and Fifty Six poles to a Pillar
of Stones then turning and Ruñing by Province Land 31 1-2 deg North
two Thousand & forty Eight poles to Dunstable Corner first
mentioned
In the House of Represent'a. Read & Ordered that the prayer of the
Memorial be Granted, and further that the within Plat as Reformed
and Altered by Jonas Houghton Survey'r, be and hereby is accepted
and the Lands therein Delineated and Described (Excepting the said
One Thousand Acres belonging to Cambridge School Farm and therein
included) be and hereby are Confirmed to the Proprietors of the
Town of Groton their heirs and Assignes Respectivly forever,
According to their Several Interests; Provided the same do not
interfere with any former Grant of this Court nor Exceeds the
Quantity of Eleven thousand and Eight hundred Acres and the
Committee for the Town of Ipswich are Allowed and Impowred to lay
out such quantity of Land on their West line as is Equivalent to
what is taken off their East line as aforesaid, and Return a plat
thereof to this Court within twelve Months for confirmation.
In Council Read & Concurr'd.
Consented to J Belcher
And in Answer to the said Memorial of Benj'a Prescott Esq'r
In the House of Represent'a. Ordered that the prayer of the
Memorial be Granted and the Com'tee. for the new Township Granted
to some of the Inhabitants of Ipswich are hereby Allowed to lay out
an Equivalent on the West line of the said New Township
Accordingly.
In Council Read & Concurr'd
Consented to J Belcher
[General Court Records (xvi, 334), June 15, 1736, in the office of
the secretary of state.]
This grant, now made to the proprietors of Groton, interfered with the
territory previously given on April, 1735, to certain inhabitants of
Ipswich, but the mistake was soon rectified, as appears by the
following:--
_Voted_, That one thousand seven hundred Acres of the
unappropriated Lands of the Province be and hereby is given and
granted to the Proprietors or Grantees of the Township lately
granted to sixty Inhabitants of the Town of _Ipswich_, as an
Equivalent for about that quantity being taken off their Plat by
the Proprietors of the Common Lands of _Groton_, and that the
_Ipswich_ Grantees be allowed to lay out the same on the Northern
or Westerly Line of the said new Township or on both sides.
Sent up for Concurrence.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 108), January 12,
1736.]
[Illustration: Groton Gore in 1884]
The record of the grant clearly marks the boundaries of Groton Gore, and
by it they can easily be identified. Dram Cup Hill, near Souhegan River,
the old northwest corner of Dunstable, is in the present territory of
Milford, New Hampshire. From that point the line ran south for six or
seven miles, following the western boundary of Dunstable, until it came
to the old Townsend line; then it turned and ran northwesterly six miles
or more, when turning again it made for the original starting-place at
Dunstable northwest corner. These lines enclosed a triangular district
which became known as Groton Gore; in fact, the word _gore_ means a lot
of land of triangular shape. This territory is now entirely within the
State of New Hampshire, lying mostly in Mason, but partly in Brookline,
Wilton, Milford, and Greenville. It touches in no place the tract,
hitherto erroneously supposed to comprise the Gore. It was destined,
however, to remain only a few years in the possession of the
proprietors; but during this short period it was used by them for
pasturing cattle. Mr. John B. Hill, in his History of the Town of Mason,
New Hampshire, says:--
Under this grant, the inhabitants of Groton took possession of, and
occupied the territory. It was their custom to cut the hay upon the
meadows, and stack it, and early in the spring to send up their
young cattle to be fed upon the hay, under the care of Boad, the
negro slave. They would cause the woods to be fired, as it was
called, that is, burnt over in the spring; after which fresh and
succulent herbage springing up, furnished good store of the finest
feed, upon which the cattle would thrive and fatten through the
season. Boad's camp was upon the east side of the meadow, near the
residence of the late Joel Ames. (Page 26.)
In connection with the loss of the Gore, a brief statement of the
boundary question between Massachusetts and New Hampshire is here given.
During many years the dividing-line between these two provinces was the
subject of controversy. The cause of dispute dated back to the time when
the original grant was made to the colony of Massachusetts Bay, The
charter was drawn up in England at a period when little was known in
regard to the interior of this country; and the boundary lines,
necessarily, were very indefinite. The Merrimack River was an important
factor in fixing the limits of the grant, as the northern boundary of
Massachusetts was to be a line three miles north of any and every part
of it. At the date of the charter, the general direction of the river
was not known, but it was incorrectly assumed to be easterly and
westerly. As a matter of fact, the course of the Merrimack is southerly,
for a long distance from where it is formed by the union of the
Winnepeseogee and the Pemigewasset Rivers, and then it turns and runs
twenty-five or thirty miles in a northeasterly direction to its mouth;
and this deflexion in the current caused the dispute. The difference
between the actual and the supposed direction was a matter of little
practical importance so long as the neighboring territory remained
unsettled, or so long as the two provinces were essentially under one
government; but as the population increased it became an exciting and
vexatious question. Towns were chartered by Massachusetts in territory
claimed by New Hampshire, and this action led to bitter feeling and
provoking legislation. Massachusetts contended for the land "nominated
in the bond," which would carry the line fifty miles northward into the
very heart of New Hampshire; and on the other hand that province
strenuously opposed this view of the case, and claimed that the line
should run, east and west, three miles north of the mouth of the river.
At one time, a royal commission was appointed to consider the subject,
but their labors produced no satisfactory result. At last the matter was
carried to England for a decision, which was rendered by the king on
March 5, 1739-40. His judgment was final, and in favor of New Hampshire.
It gave that province not only all the territory in dispute, but a strip
of land fourteen miles in width, lying along her southern border, mostly
west of the Merrimack, which she had never claimed. This strip was the
tract of land between the line running east and west, three miles north
of the southernmost trend of the river, and a similar line three miles
north of its mouth. By the decision twenty-eight townships were taken
from Massachusetts and transferred to New Hampshire. The settlement of
this disputed question was undoubtedly a public benefit, although it
caused, at the time, a great deal of hard feeling. In establishing the
new boundary Pawtucket Falls, situated now in the city of Lowell, and
near the most southern portion of the river's course, was taken as the
starting-place; and the line which now separates the two States was run
west, three miles north of this point. It was surveyed officially in the
spring of 1741.
The new boundary passed through the original Groton grant, and cut off a
triangular portion of its territory, now within the limits of Nashua,
and went to the southward of Groton Gore, leaving that tract of land
wholly in New Hampshire.
A few years previously to this time the original grant had undergone
other dismemberment, when a slice of its territory was given to
Westford. It was a long and narrow tract of land, triangular in shape,
with its base resting on Stony Brook Pond, now known as Forge Pond, and
coming to a point near Millstone Hill, where the boundary lines of
Groton, Westford, and Tyngsborough intersect. The Reverend Edwin R.
Hodgman, in his History of Westford, says:--
Probably there was no computation of the area of this triangle at
any time. Only four men are named as the owners of it, but they, it
is supposed, held titles to only a portion, and the remainder was
wild, or "common," land, (Page 25.)
In the Journal of the House of Representatives (page 9), September 10,
1730, there is recorded:--
A petition of _Jonas Prescot, Ebenezer Prescot, Abner Kent_, and
_Ebenezer Townsend_, Inhabitants of the Town of _Groton_, praying,
That they and their Estates, contained in the following Boundaries,
_viz._ beginning at the _Northwesterly_ Corner of _Stony Brook_
Pond, from thence extending to the _Northwesterly_ Corner of
_Westford_, commonly called _Tyng's_ Corner, and so bound
_Southerly_ by said Pond, may be set off to the Town of _Westford_,
for Reasons mentioned. Read and _Ordered_, That the Petitioners
within named, with their Estates, according to the Bounds before
recited, be and hereby are to all Intents and Purposes set off from
the Town of _Groton_, and annexed to the said Town of _Westford_.
Sent up for Concurrence.
This order received the concurrence of the council, and was signed by
the governor, on the same day that it passed the House.
During this period the town of Harvard was incorporated. It was made up
from portions of Groton, Lancaster, and Stow, and the engrossed act
signed by the governor, on June 29, 1732. The petition for the township
was presented to the General Court nearly two years before the date of
incorporation. In the Journal of the House of Representatives (pages 84,
85), October 9, 1730, it is recorded:--
A Petition of _Jonas Houghton, Simon Stone, Jonathan Whitney_, and
_Thomas Wheeler_, on behalf of themselves, and on behalf and at the
desire of sundry of the Inhabitants on the extream parts of the
Towns of _Lancaster, Groton_ and _Stow_, named in the Schedule
thereunto annexed; praying, That a Tract of Land (with the
Inhabitants thereon, particularly described and bounded in said
Petition) belonging to the Towns above-mentioned, may be
incorporated and erected into a distinct Township, agreeable to
said Bounds, for Reasons mentioned. Read, together with the
Schedule, and _Ordered_, That the Petitioners serve the Towns of
_Lancaster, Groton_ and _Stow_ with Copies of the Petition, that
they may shew Cause (if any they have) on the first Thursday of the
next Session, why the Prayer thereof may not be granted.
Sent up for Concurrence.
Further on, in the same Journal (page 136), December 29, 1730, it is
also recorded:--
The Petition of _Jonas Houghton, Simon Stone_, and others, praying
as entred the 9th. of _October_ last. Read again, together with the
Answers of the Towns of _Lancaster, Groton_ and Stow, and
_Ordered_, That Maj. _Brattle_ and Mr. _Samuel Chandler_, with such
as the Honourable Board shall appoint, be a Committee, (at the
Charge of the Petitioners) to repair to the Land Petitioned for to
be a Township, that they carefully view and consider the Situation
and Circumstances of the Petitioners, and Report their Opinion what
may be proper for this Court to do in Answer thereto, at their next
Session.
Sent up for Concurrence.
_Ebenezer Burrel_ Esq; brought from the Honourable Board, the
Report of the Committee appointed by this Court the 30th of
_December_ last, to take under Consideration the Petition of _Jonas
Houghton_ and others, in behalf of themselves and sundry of the
Inhabitants of the _Eastern_ part of the Towns of _Lancaster,
Groton_ and _Stow_, praying that they may be erected into a
separate Township. Likewise a Petition of _Jacob Houghton_ and
others, of the _North-easterly_ part of the Town of _Lancaster_,
praying the like. As also a Petition of sundry of the Inhabitants
of the _South-west_ part of the _North-east_ Quarter of the
Township of _Lancaster_, praying they may be continued as they are.
Pass'd in Council, _viz._ In Council, _June_ 21, 1731. Read, and
_Ordered_, That this Report be accepted.
Sent down for Concurrence. Read and Concurred.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 52), June 22, 1731.]
The original copy of the petition for Harvard is now probably lost; but
in the first volume (page 53) of "Ancient Plans Grants &c." among the
Massachusetts Archives, is a rough plan of the town, with a list of the
petitioners, which may be the "Schedule" referred to in the extract from
the printed Journal. It appears from this document that, in forming the
new town, forty-eight hundred and thirty acres of land were taken from
the territory of Groton; and with the tract were nine families,
including six by the name of Farnsworth. This section comprised the
district known, even now, as "the old mill," where Jonas Prescott had,
as early as the year 1667, a gristmill. The heads of these families were
Jonathan Farnsworth, Eleazer Robbins, Simon Stone, Jr., Jonathan
Farnsworth, Jr., Jeremiah Farnsworth, Eleazer Davis, Ephram Farnsworth,
Reuben Farnsworth, and [_torn_] Fransworth, who had petitioned the
General Court to be set off from Groton. On this plan of Harvard the
names of John Burk, John Burk, Jr., and John Davis, appear in opposition
to Houghton's petition.
The town of Harvard took its name from the founder of Harvard College,
probably at the suggestion of Jonathan Belcher, who was governor of the
province at the time and a graduate of the college.
To his Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esq'r. Cap't General and
Governour in Chief The Hon'ble. The Council and the Honourable
House of Representatives of His Majestys Province of the
Massachusetts Bay in New England in General Court Assembled by
Adjournment Decemb'r 16 1730
The Memorial of Jonas Houghton Simon Stone Jonathan Whitney and
Thomas Wheeler Humbly Sheweth
That upon their Petition to this Great and Honourable Court in
October last [the 9th] praying that a Certain Tract of Land
belonging to Lancaster Stow and Groton with the Inhabitants thereon
may be Erected into a Distinct and Seperate Township (and for
Reasons therein Assigned) your Excellency and Honours were pleased
to Order that the petitioners Serve The Towns of Lancaster Groton
and Stow with a Copy of their said Petition that they may shew
Cause if any they have on the first Thursday of the next Sessions
why the prayers thereof may not be granted.
And for as much as this great and Hon'ble. Court now Sitts by
Adjournment and the next Session may be very Remote And your
Memorialists have attended the Order of this Hon'ble: Court in
serving the said Several Towns with Copys of the said Petition And
the partys are attending and Desirous the hearing thereon may be
brought forward y'e former order of this Hon'l Court
notwithstanding.
They therefore most humbly pray your Excellency & Honours would be
pleased to Cause the hearing to be had this present Session and
that a Certain day may be assigned for the same as your Excellency
& Honours in your great wisdom & Justice shall see meet.
And your Memorialists as in Duty bound Shall Ever pray.
JONAS HOUGHTON
SIMON STOON JUNER
JONATHAN WHITNEY
THOMAS WHELER
In the House of Rep'tives Dec'r 17, 1730 Read and in Answer to this
Petition Ordered That the Pet'rs give Notice to the Towns of
Lancaster Groton and Stow or their Agents that they give in their
Answer on the twenty ninth Inst't. why the Prayer of the Petition
within referred to may not be granted.
Sent up for Concurrence
J QUINCY Sp'kr:
In Council Dec. 18, 1730; Read and Concur'd.
J WILLARD Secry
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 6-8.]
The next dismemberment of the Groton grant took place in the winter of
1738-39, when a parcel of land was set off to Littleton. I do not find a
copy of the petition for this change, but from Mr. Sartell's
communication it seems to have received the qualified assent of the
town.
To his Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esq'r Captain General &
Governour in Chief &c the Honorable Council and House of
Representatives in General Court assembled at Boston January 1,
1738.
May it please your Excellency and the Honorable Court.
Whereas there is Petition offered to your Excellency and the
Honorable Court by several of the Inhabitants of the Town of Groton
praying to be annexed to the Town of Littleton &c.
The Subscriber as Representative of said Town of Groton and in
Behalf of said Town doth hereby manifest the Willingness of the
Inhabitants of Groton in general that the Petitioners should be
annexed to the said Town of Littleton with the Lands that belong to
them Lying within the Line Petitioned for, but there being a
Considerable Quantity of Proprietors Lands and other particular
persons Lying within the Line that is Petitioned for by the said
Petitioners. The Subscriber in Behalf of said Town of Groton & the
Proprietors and others would humbly pray your Excellency and the
Honorable Court that that part of their Petition may be rejected if
in your Wisdom you shall think it proper and that they be sett off
with the lands only that belong to them Lying within the Line
Petitioned for as aforesaid, and the Subscriber in Behalf of the
Town of Groton &c will as in Duty Bound ever pray &c.
NATHANIEL SARTELL
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 300.]
_John Jeffries_, Esq; brought down the Petition of _Peter Lawrence_
and others of _Groton_, praying to be annexed to _Littleton_, as
entred the 12th ult. Pass'd in Council, _viz._ In Council _January
4th_, 1738. Read again, together with the Answer of _Nathanael
Sartell_, Esq; Representative for the Town of _Groton_, which
being considered, _Ordered_, That the Prayer of the Petition be so
far granted as that the Petitioners with their Families & Estates
within the Bounds mentioned in the Petition be and hereby are set
off from the Town of _Groton_, and are annexed to and accounted as
part of the Town of _Littleton_, there to do Duty and receive
Priviledge accordingly.
Sent down for Concurrence. Read and concur'd.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 86), January 4,
1738.]
In the autumn of 1738, many of the settlers living in the northerly part
of Groton, now within the limits of Pepperell, and in the westerly part
of Dunstable, now Hollis, New Hampshire, were desirous to be set off in
a new township. Their petition for this object was also signed by a
considerable number of non-resident proprietors, and duly presented to
the General Court. The reasons given by them for the change are found in
the following documents:--
To His Excellency Jon'a. Belcher Esq'r. Captain General and
Governour in Chief &c The Hon'ble. the Council and House of
Rep'tives in General Court Assembled at Boston November the 29th
1738
The Petition of the Subscribers Inhabitants and Proprietors of the
Towns of Dunstable and Groton.
Humbly Sheweth
That your Petitioners are Situated on the Westerly side Dunstable
Township and the Northerly side Groton Township those in the
Township of Dunstable in General their houses are nine or ten miles
from Dunstable Meeting house and those in the Township of Groton
none but what lives at least on or near Six miles from Groton
Meeting house by which means your petitioners are deprived of the
benefit of preaching, the greatest part of the year, nor is it
possible at any season of the year for their familys in General to
get to Meeting under which Disadvantages your pet'rs has this
Several years Laboured, excepting the Winter Seasons for this two
winters past, which they have at their Own Cost and Charge hired
preaching amongst themselves which Disadvantages has very much
prevented peoples Settling land there.
That there is a Tract of good land well Situated for a Township of
the Contents of about Six miles and an half Square bounded thus,
beginning at Dunstable Line by Nashaway River So running by the
Westerly side said River Southerly One mile in Groton Land, then
running Westerly a Paralel Line with Groton North Line, till it
comes to Townsend Line and then turning and running north to
Grotton Northwest Corner, and from Grotton Northwest Comer by
Townsend line and by the Line of Groton New Grant till it comes to
be five miles and an half to the Northward of Groton North Line
from thence due east, Seven miles, from thence South to Nashua
River and So by Nashua River Southwesterly to Grotton line the
first mentioned bounds, which described Lands can by no means be
prejudicial either to the Town of Dunstable or Groton (if not
coming within Six miles or thereabouts of either of their Meeting
houses at the nearest place) to be taken off from them and Erected
into a Seperate Township.
That there is already Settled in the bounds of the aforedescribed
Tract near forty familys and many more ready to come on were it not
for the difficulties and hardships afores'd of getting to meeting.
These with many other disadvantages We find very troublesome to Us,
Our living so remote from the Towns We respectively belong to.
Wherefore your Petitioners most humbly pray Your Excellency and
Honours would take the premises into your Consideration and make an
Act for the Erecting the aforesaid Lands into a Seperate and
distinct Township with the powers priviledges and Immunities of a
distinct and Seperate Township under such restrictions and
Limitations, as you in your Great Wisdom shall see meet.
And Whereas it will be a great benefit and Advantage to the Non
resident proprietors owning Lands there by Increasing the Value of
their Lands or rendering easy Settleing the same, Your Pet'rs also
pray that they may be at their proportionable part according to
their respective Interest in Lands there, for the building a
Meeting-house and Settling a Minister, and so much towards Constant
preaching as in your wisdom shall be thought proper.
Settlers on the afore'sd Lands
Obadiah Parker Will'm Colburn
Josiah Blood Stephen Harris
Jerahmal Cumings Tho's Dinsmoor
Eben'r Pearce Peter Pawer
Abr'm Taylor Jun'r Benj'a Farley
Henry Barton Peter Wheeler
Robert Colburn David Vering
Philip Woolerick Nath'l Blood
William Adams Joseph Taylor
Moses Procter Will'm Shattuck
Tho's Navins
Non Resident Proprietors
Samuel Browne W Browne
Joseph Blanchard John Fowle Jun'r
Nath Saltonstall Joseph Eaton
Joseph Lemmon Jeremiah Baldwin
Sam'l Baldwin Daniel Remant
John Malven Jon'a Malven
James Cumings Isaac Farwell
Eben'r Procter
In the House of Representatives Dec'r 12th. 1738. Read and Ordered
that the Petitioners Serve the Towns of Grotton and Dunstable with
Coppys of the petition.
In Council January 4'th. 1738.
Read again and Ordered that the further Consideration of this
Petition be referred to the first tuesday of the next May Session
and that James Minot and John Hobson Esq'rs with Such as the
Honourable Board shall joine be a Committee at the Charge of the
Petitioners to repair to the Lands petitioned for to be Erected
into a Township first giving Seasonable notice as well to the
petitioners as to the Inhabitants and Non Resident Proprietors of
Lands within the s'd Towns of Dunstable and Groton of the time of
their going by Causing the same to be publish'd in the Boston
Gazette, that they carefully View the s'd Lands as well as the
other parts of the s'd Towns, so farr as may be desired by the
Partys or thought proper, that the Petitioners and all others
Concerned be fully heard in their pleas and Allegations for, as
well as against the prayer of the Petition; and that upon Mature
Consideration on the whole the Committee then report what in their
Opinion may be proper for the Court to do in Answer there to Sent
up for Concurrence.
J QUINCY Sp'kr.
In Council Jan'ry 9'th. 1738
Read and Concurred and Thomas Berry Esq'r is joined in the Affair
SIMON FROST Dep'ty. Sec'ry.
Consented to
J. BELCHER
A true Copy Exam'd per Simon Frost, Dep'y Sec'ry.
In the House of Rep'tives June 7'th: 1739
Read and Concurred
J QUINCY Sp'kr;
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 268-271.]
The Committee Appointed on the Petition of the Inhabitants and
Proprietors situated on the Westerly side of Dunstable and
Northerly side of Groton, Having after Notifying all parties,
Repaired to the Lands, Petitioned to be Erected into a Township,
Carefully Viewed the same, Find a very Good Tract of Land in
Dunstable Westward of Nashuway River between s'd River and Souhegan
River Extending from Groton New Grant and Townsend Line Six Miles
East, lying in a very Commodious Form for a Township, and on said
Lands there now is about Twenty Families, and many more settling,
that none of the Inhabitants live nearer to a Meeting House then
Seven miles and if they go to their own Town have to pass over a
ferry the greatest part of the Year. We also Find in Groton a
sufficient Quantity of Land accommodable for settlement, and a
considerable Number of Inhabitants thereon, that in Some Short Time
when they are well Agreed may be Erected into a Distinct Parish;
And that it will be very Form prayed for or to Break in upon
Either Town. The Committee are of Opinion that the Petitioners in
Dunstable are under such Circumstances as necessitates them to Ask
Relief which will be fully Obtained by their being made Township,
which if this Hon'ble. Court should Judge necessary to be done; The
Committee are Further of Opinion that it Will be greatly for the
Good and Interest of the Township that the Non Resident
Proprietors, have Liberty of Voting with the Inhabitants as to the
Building and Placing a Meeting House and that the Lands be Equally
Taxed, towards said House And that for the Support of the Gosple
Ministry among them the Lands of the Non Resident Proprietors be
Taxed at Two pence per Acre for the Space of Five Years.
All which is Humbly Submitted in the Name & by Order of the
Committee
THOMAS BERRY
In Council July 7 1739
Read and ordered that the further Consideration of this Report be
referred to the next Sitting, and that the Petitioners be in the
meantime freed from paying any thing toward the support of the
ministry in the Towns to which they respectively belong
Sent down for Concurrence
J WlLLARD Sec'ry
In the House of Rep'tives June 7: 1739 Read and Concurred
J QUINCY Sp'kr:
Consented to
J BELCHER
In Council Decem'r 27, 1739.
Read again and Ordered that this Report be so far accepted as that
the Lands mentioned and described therein, with the Inhabitants
there be erected into a Separate & distinct precinct, and the Said
Inhabitants are hereby vested with all Such Powers and Priviledges
that any other Precinct in this Province have or by Law ought to
enjoy and they are also impowered to assess & levy a Tax of Two
pence per Acre per Annum for the Space of Five years on all the
unimproved Lands belonging to the non residents Proprietors to be
applied for the Support of the Ministry according to the Said
Report.
Sent down for Concurrence
SIMON FROST Dep'y Sec'ry
In the House of Rep'tives Dec 28. 1739 Read and Concur'd.
J QUINCY Sp'kr:
Janu'. 1: Consented to,
J BELCHER
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 272, 273.]
While this petition was before the General Court, another one was
presented praying for a new township to be made up from the same towns,
but including a larger portion of Groton than was asked for in the first
petition. This application met with bitter opposition on the part of
both places, but it may have hastened the final action on the first
petition. It resulted in setting off a precinct from Dunstable, under
the name of the West Parish, which is now known as Hollis, New
Hampshire. The papers relating to the second petition are as follows:--
To His Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esquire Captain General and
Governor in Chief in and over His Majesty's Province of the
Massachusetts Bay in New England, the Honourable the Council and
House of Representatives of said Province, in General Court
Assembled Dec. 12'th, 1739.
The Petition of Richard Warner and Others, Inhabitants of the Towns
of Groton and Dunstable.
Most Humbly Sheweth
That Your Petitioners dwell very far from the place of Public
Worship in either of the said Towns, Many of them Eight Miles
distant, some more, and none less than four miles, Whereby Your
Petitioners are put to great difficulties in Travelling on the
Lord's Days, with our Families.
Your Petitioners therefore Humbly Pray Your Excellency and Honours
to take their circumstances into your Wise and Compassionate
Consideration, And that a part of the Town of Groton, Beginning at
the line between Groton and Dunstable where inconvenient to Erect a
Township in the it crosses Lancaster [Nashua] River, and so up the
said River until it comes to a Place called and Known by the name
of Joseph Blood's Ford Way on said River, thence a West Point 'till
it comes to Townshend line &c. With such a part and so much of the
Town of Dunstable as this Honourable Court in their great Wisdom
shall think proper, with the Inhabitants Thereon, may be Erected
into a separate and distinct Township, that so they may attend the
Public Worship of God with more ease than at present they can, by
reason of the great distance they live from the Places thereof as
aforesaid.
And Your Petitioners, as in Duty bound, shall ever Pray &c.
Richard Warner
Benjamin Swallow
William Allin
Isaac Williams
Ebenezer Gilson
Ebenezer Peirce
Samuel Fisk
John Green
Josiah Tucker
Zachariah Lawrence Jun'r
William Blood
Jeremiah Lawrence
Stephen Eames
"[Inhabitants of Groton]"
Enoch Hunt
Eleazer Flegg
Samuel Cumings
William Blanchard
Gideon Howe
Josiah Blood
Samuel Parke
Samuel Farle
William Adams
Philip Wolrich
"[Inhabitants of Dunstable]"
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 274, 273.]
Province of the Massachusetts Bay
To His Excellency The Governour The Hon'ble Council & House of
Rep'tives in Generall Court Assembled Dec'r 1739
The Answer of y'e Subscribers agents for the Town of Groton to y'e
Petition of Richard Warner & others praying that part of Said Town
with part of Dunstable may be Erected into a Distinct & Seperate
Township.
May it please your Excellency & Hon'rs
The Town of Groton Duely Assembled and Taking into Consideration
y'e Reasonableness of said Petition have Voted their Willingness,
That the prayer of y'e Petition be Granted as per their Vote
herewith humbly presented appears, with this alteration namely That
they Include the River (viz't Nashua River) over w'ch is a Bridge,
built Intirely to accommodate said Petitioners heretofore, & your
Respondents therefore apprehend it is but Just & Reasonable the
same should for the future be by them maintain'd if they are Set of
from us.
Your Respondents Pursuant to y'e Vote Aforesaid, humbly move to
your Excellency & Hon'rs That no more of Dunstable be Laid to
Groton Then Groton have voted of, for one Great Reason that Induced
Sundry of y'e Inhabitants of Groton to come into Said Vote was This
Namely They owning a very Considerable part of the Lands Voted to
be set of as afores'd were willing to Condesent to y'e Desires of
their Neighbours apprehending that a meeting House being Erected on
or near y'e Groton Lands & a minister settled it would Raise their
Lands in Vallue but should considerable part of Dunstable be set of
more then of Groton it must of course draw the Meeting House
farther from y'e Groton Inhabitants which would be very hurtfull
both to the people petitioners & those that will be Non Resident
proprietors if the Township is made.
Wherefore they pray That Said New Township may be Incorporated
Agreeable to Groton Vote viz't Made Equally out of both Towns & as
in Duty bound Shall Ever pray
Nat'ell Sartell
William Lawrence
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 378, 279.]
At A Legall town Meeting of the Inhabitants & free holders of the
town of Groton assembled December y'e 24th: 1739 Voted & Chose
Cap't William Lawrance Madderator for said meeting &c:
In Answer to the Petion of Richard Warnor & others Voted that the
land with the Inhabitance mentioned in said Petion Including the
Riuer from Dunstable Line to o'r. ford way Called and Known by y'e.
Name of Joseph Bloods ford way: be Set of from the town of Groton
to Joyn with sum of the westerdly Part of the town of Dunstable to
make a Distinct and Sepprate town Ship Prouided that their be no:
More taken from Dunstable then from Groton in making of Said new
town. Also Voted that Nathaniel Sawtell Esq'r. and Cap't. William
Lawrance be Agiants In the affair or Either of them to wait upon
the Great and Generial. Cort: to Vse their Best in Deauer to set
off the Land as a fores'd so that the one half of y'e said New town
may be made out of Groton and no: more.
Abstract Examined & Compaird of the town book of Record for Groton
per
Iona't. Sheple Town Clark
Groton Decem'br: 24'th: A:D: 1739
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 281.]
Province of y'e Mass'tts Bay
To His Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esq'r Governour &c To The Hon'd.
His Majesty's Councill & House of Representatives in Gen'll Court
Assembled December 1739
Whereas some few of the Inhabitants of Groton & Dunstable have
Joyned in their Petition to this Hon'd. Court to be erected with
Certain Lands into a Township as per their Petition entered the
12'th: Curr. which prayer if granted will very much Effect y'e.
Quiet & Interest of the Inhabitants on the northerly part of Groton
Wherefore the Subscribers most Humbly begg leave To Remonstrate to
y'or Excellency & Hon'rs. the great & Numerous Damages that we and
many Others Shall Sustain if their Petition should be granted and
would Humbly Shew
That the Contents of Groton is ab't. forty Thousand Acres Good Land
Sufficient & happily Situated for Two Townships, and have on or
near Two Hundred & Sixty Familys Setled there with Large
Accomodations for many more
That the land pray'd for Out of Groton Could it be Spared is in a
very Incomodious place, & will render a Division of the remaining
part of the town Impracticable & no ways Shorten the travel of the
remotest Inhabit'nts.
That it will leave the town from the northeast and to the Southwest
end at least fourteen miles and no possibillity for those ends to
be Accomodated at any Other place which will render the
Difficulties we have long Laboured under without Remidy
That part of the lands Petitioned for (will when This Hon'd. Court
shall see meet to Divide us) be in & near the Middle of one of y'e.
Townships
And Althô the number of thirteen persons is there Sett forth to
Petition. it is wrong and Delusive Severall of them gave no Consent
to any Such thing And to compleat their Guile have entered the
names of four persons who has no Interest in that part of the town
viz Swallow Tucker Ames & Green
That there is near Double the number On the Lands Petit'd. for and
Setled amongst them who Declare Against their Proceedings, & here
Signifie the Same
That many of us now are at Least Seven miles from Our meeting And
the Only Encouragement to Settle there was the undeniable
Accomodations to make An Other town without w'ch. We Should by no
means have undertaken
That if this their Pet'n. Should Succed--Our hopes must
Perish--thay by no means benifitted--& we put to all the Hardships
Immaginable.
That the whole tract of Land thay pray may be Taken Out of groton
Contains about Six or Seven Thousand Acres, (the Quantity and
Situation may be Seen on y'e. plan herewith And but Ab't. four Or
five hundred Acres thereof Owned by the Petit'rs. and but very
Small Improvements On that. Under all w'ch. Circumstances wee
Humbly conceive it unreasonable for them to desire thus to Harrase
and perplex us. Nor is it by Any means for the Accomodation of
Dunstable thus to Joyn who have land of their Own Sufficient and
none to Spare without prejudicing their begun Settlement Wherefore
we most Humbly pray Y'or. Excellency & Hon'rs. to compassionate Our
Circumstances and that thay may not be set off and as in Duly bound
&c
Benj'a. Parker John Woods
Josiah Sartell Samuel Shattuck iu
Joseph Spoaldeng James Larwance
Juner Jonathan Shattuck
Nath'll. Parker James Shattuck
Jacob Lakin John Chambrlen
Thomas Fisk John Cumings
Isaac Lakin Henery Jefes
John Shattuck David Shattuck
John Scott Seth Phillips
Benj'n. Robines Samuel Wright
Isaac Woods John Swallow
Enoch larwance William Spoalding
John Blood Jonathan Woods
James Green Wiliam Cumings
Joseph Blood Nathaniel Lawrence iu
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 282-284.]
Wee the Sub'rs: Inhab'ts: of y'e Town of Dunstable & Resident in
that part of it Called Nissitisitt Do hereby authorize and Fully
Impower Abraham Taylor Jun'r. and Peter Power to Represent to
Gen'll. Court our unwillingness that any Part of Dunstable should
[be] sett off to Groton to make a Township or Parish and to Shew
forth our Earness Desire that a Township be maide intirely out out
[_sic_] off Dunstable Land, Extending Six mils North from Groton
Line which will Bring the on the Line on y'e Brake of Land and Just
Include the Present Setlers: or otherwise As y'e Ho'll. Commitee
Reported and Agreeable to the tenour thereoff as The Hon'rd Court
shall see meet and as Duly bound &c
Tho's: Dinmore, and 20 others.
Dunstable Dece'r; y'e 21'st; 1739
These may sertifie to y'e Hon'rd. Court that there is Nomber of
Eleven more y't has not signed this Nor y'e Petetion of Richard
Worner & others, that is now setled and About to setle
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 277.]
* * * * *
TUBEROSES.
By LAURA GARLAND CARR.
In misty greenhouse aisles or garden walks,
In crowded halls or in the lonely room,
Where fair tuberoses, from their slender stalks,
Lade all the air with heavy, rich perfume,
My heart grows sick; my spirits sink like lead,--
The scene before me slips and fades away:
A small, still room uprising in its stead,
With softened light, and grief's dread, dark array.
Shrined in its midst, with folded hands, at rest,
Life's work all over ere 'twas well begun,
Lies a fair girl in snowy garments dressed,
And all the place with bud and bloom o'errun;
Pinks, roses, lilies, blend in odorous death,
But over all the tuberose sends its wealth,
Seeming to hold the lost one by its breath
While creeping o'er our living hearts in stealth.
O subtle blossoms, you are death's own flowers!
You have no part with love or festal hours.
* * * * *
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS.
BY RUSSELL STURGIS, JR.
[Illustration: GEORGE WILLIAMS. Founder of Young Men's Christian
Associations.]
There is an old French proverb which runs: "L'homme propose, et Dieu
dispose," which is but the echo of the Scripture, "A man's heart
deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps." In truth, God alone
sees the end from the beginning.
From the beginning men have been constantly building better than they
knew. No unprejudiced man who looks at history can fail to see from how
small and apparently unimportant an event has sprung the greatest
results to the individual, the nation, and the world. The Christian, at
least, needs no other explanation of this than that his God, without
whose knowledge no sparrow falleth to the ground, guides all the affairs
of the world. Surely God did not make the world, and purchase the
salvation of its tenants by the sacrifice of his Son, to take no further
interest in it, but leave it subject either to fixed law or blind
chance! Indeed the God who provided for the wants of his people in the
wilderness is a God who changeth not. The principles which once guided
him must guide him to-day and forever. There never has been a time when
to the open eye it was not clear that he provides for every want of his
creatures. Did chance or the unassisted powers of man discover coal,
when wood was becoming scarce? and oil and gas from coal, when the whale
was failing? Cowper's mind was clear when he said:--
"Deep in unfathomable mines
With never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his gracious will."
If in his temporal affairs God cares for man, much more will he do for
his soul. Great multitudes of young men came to be congregated in the
cities, and Satan spread his nets at every street-corner to entrap them.
In 1837, George Williams, then sixteen years of age, employed in a
dry-goods establishment, in Bridgewater, England, gave himself to the
service of the Lord Jesus Christ. He immediately began to influence the
young men with him, and many of them were converted. In 1841, Williams
came to London, and entered the dry-goods house of Hitchcock and
Company. Here he found himself one of more than eighty young men, almost
none of them Christians. He found, however, among them a few professed
Christians, and these he gathered in his bedroom, to pray for the rest.
The number increased--a larger room was necessary, which was readily
obtained from Mr. Hitchcock. The work spread from one establishment to
another, and on the sixth of June, 1844, in Mr. Williams's bedroom the
first Young Men's Christian Association was formed.
In 1844, one association in the world: in November, 1851, one
association in America, at Montreal; in December, one month after, with
no knowledge on the part of either of the other's plan, one association
in the United States, at Boston. Was it a mere hap that these two groups
formed simultaneously the associations which were always to unite the
young Christian men of the two countries, and to grow together, till
to-day the little one has become a thousand?
Forty years ago, one little association in London: to-day Great Britain
dotted all over with them; one hundred and ninety in England and Wales;
one hundred and seventy-eight in Scotland, and twenty in Ireland. France
has eight districts, or groups, containing sixty-four associations.
Germany, divided into five _bunds_, has four hundred; Holland, its
eleven provinces, with three hundred and thirty-five; Romansch
Switzerland, eighty-seven; German Switzerland, one hundred and
thirty-five; Belgium, eighteen; Spain, fourteen; Italy, ten Turkey in
Europe, one, at Philippopolis; Sweden and Norway, seventy-one; Austria,
two, at Vienna and Budapesth; Russia, eight, among them Moscow and St.
Petersburg; Turkey in Asia, nine; Syria, five, at Beirût, Damascus,
Jaffa, Jerusalem, and Nazareth; India, five; Japan, two; Sandwich
Islands, one, at Honolulu; Australia, twenty-seven; South Africa, seven;
Madagascar, two; West Indies, three; British Guiana, one, at Georgetown;
South America (besides), three; Canada and British Provinces, fifty-one.
In the United States, seven hundred and eighty-six.
In all, nearly twenty-seven hundred, scattered over the world, and all
the outgrowth of forty years. It has been said that the sun never rises
anywhere that it is not saluted by the British reveille. Look how
quickly the organization of young men has stretched its cordon round the
world, and dotted it all over with the tents of its conflict for them
against the opposing forces of the evil one.
[Illustration: CEPHAS BRAINERD, ESQ.
Chairman of the International Executive Committee Y.M.C.A.]
What are its characteristics?
1. It is the universal church of Christ, working through its young men
for the salvation of young men. In the words of a paper, read at the
last world's conference, at London:--
"The fundamental idea of the organization, on which all subsequent
substantial development has been based, was simply this: that in the
associated effort of young men connected with the various branches of
the church of Christ lies a great power to promote their own development
and help their fellows, thus prosecuting the work of the church among
the most-important, most-tempted, and least-cared-for class in the
community."
[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE Y.M.C.A. IN MONTREAL, CANADA.]
The distinct work for young men was thus emphasized at the Chicago
convention in 1863, in the following resolutions presented by the
Reverend Henry G. Potter, then of Troy, and now assistant bishop of the
diocese of New York:--
"Resolved, That the interests and welfare of young men in our cities
demand, as heretofore, the steadfast sympathies and efforts of the Young
Men's Christian Associations of this country.
"Resolved, That the various means by which Christian associations can
gain a hold upon young men, and preserve them from unhealthy
companionship and the deteriorating influences of our large cities,
ought to engage our most earnest and prayerful consideration."
2. It is a Christian work. It stands upon the basis of the faith of the
church of all ages, which is thus set forth in the formula of this
organization.
The convention in 1856 promptly accepted and ratified the Paris basis,
adopted by the first world's conference of the associations, in the
following language:--
"The Young Men's Christian Associations seek to unite those young men
who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour, according to the
Holy Scriptures, desire to be his disciples in their doctrine and in
their life, and to associate their efforts for the extension of his
kingdom among young men."
This was reaffirmed in the convention of 1866 at Albany. In 1868, at the
Detroit convention, was adopted what is known as the evangelical test,
and at the Portland convention of 1869 the definition of the term
evangelical; they are as follows:--
"As these associations bear the name of Christian, and profess to be
engaged directly in the Saviour's service, so it is clearly their duty
to maintain the control and management of all their affairs in the hands
of those who love and publicly avow their faith in Jesus the Redeemer as
divine, and who testify their faith by becoming and remaining members of
churches held to be evangelical: and we hold those churches to be
evangelical which, maintaining the Holy Scriptures to be the only
infallible rule of faith and practice, do believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ (the only begotten of the Father, King of kings and Lord of
lords, in whom dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead, bodily, and who was
made sin for us, though knowing no sin, bearing our sins in his own body
on the tree) as the only name under heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved from everlasting punishment."
But while the management is thus rightly kept in the hands of those who
stand together upon the platform of the church of Christ, the benefits
and all other privileges are for all young men of good morals, whether
Greek, Romanist, heretic, Jew, Moslem, heathen, or infidel. Its field,
the world. Wherever there are young men, there is the association field,
and an extended work must be organized. Already in August, 1855, the
importance of the work made conference necessary, and thirty-five
delegates met at Paris, of whom seven were from the United States, and
the same number from Great Britain.
In 1858, a second conference was held at Geneva, with one hundred and
fifty-eight delegates. In 1862, at London, were present ninety-seven
delegates; in 1865, at Elberfeld, one hundred and forty; in 1867, at
Paris, ninety-one; in 1872, at Amsterdam, one hundred and eighteen; in
1875, at Hamburg, one hundred and twenty-five; in 1878, at Geneva, two
hundred and seven,--forty-one from the United States; in 1881, in
London, three hundred and thirty-eight,--seventy-five from the United
States.
At the conference of 1878, in Geneva, a man in the prime of life, and
partner in a leading banking-house of that city, was chosen president.
He spoke with almost equal ease the three languages of the
conference--English, French, and German. Shortly after that convention
Mr. Fermand gave up his business and became the general secretary of the
world's committee of the Young Men's Christian Associations. He traveled
over the whole continent of Europe, visiting the associations, and then
came to America to make acquaintance with our plans of work. Now
stationed at Geneva, with some resident members of the convention, he
keeps up the intercourse of the associations through nine members
representing the principal nations. I have spoken of the three languages
of the conference. It is a wonderful inspiration to find one's self in a
gathering of all nations, brought together by the love of one person,
each speaking in his own tongue, praising the one name, so similar in
each,--that name alone in each address needing no interpretation.
[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE Y.M.C.A. IN NEW YORK.]
The conference meets this year, in August, at Berlin, when probably as
many as one hundred delegates will be present from the United States.
But inter-association organization has gone much further in this country
than elsewhere, and communication is exceedingly close between the nine
hundred associations of America.
The first conception of uniting associations came to the Reverend
William Chauncey Langdon, then a layman, and a member of the Washington
Association, now rector of the Episcopal Church at Bedford,
Pennsylvania. Mr. McBurney, in his fine Historical Sketch of
Associations, says: "Many of the associations of America owe their
individual existence to the organization effected through his wise
foresight. The associations of our land, and in all lands, owe a debt of
gratitude to Mr. Langdon far greater than has ever been recognized."
Oscar Cobb, of Buffalo, and Mr. Langdon signed the call to the first
convention, which assembled on June 7, 1854, at Buffalo. This was the
first conference of associations held in the English-speaking world.
Here was appointed a central committee, located at Washington, and six
elsewhere.
In 1860, Philadelphia was made the headquarters. The confederation of
associations and its committee came to an end in Chicago, June 4, 1863,
and the present organization with its international executive committee
was born, with members increasing in number. The committee now numbers
thirty-three, two being resident in New York City.
In the year 1865, a committee was appointed by the convention at
Philadelphia. The president of this convention became the chairman of
the international executive committee, consisting of ten members
resident in New York City, and twenty-three placed at different
prominent points in the United States and British Provinces. There is
also a corresponding member of the committee in each State and province,
and means of constant communication between the committee and each
association, and between the several associations, through the Young
Men's Christian Association Watchman, a sixteen-paged paper, published
each fortnight in Chicago.
On the sixteenth day of April, 1883, the international committee, which
had been superintending the work since 1865, was incorporated in the
State of New York. Cephas Brainerd, a lawyer of New York City, a direct
descendant of the Brainerds of Connecticut, and present owner of the
homestead, has always been chairman of the committee, and, from a very
large practice, has managed to take an immense amount of time for this
work, which has more and more taken hold on his heart,--and here let me
say that I know no work, not even that of foreign missions, which takes
such a grip upon those who enter upon it. Time, means, energy, strength,
have been lavishly poured out by them. Mr. Brainerd and his committee
work almost as though it were their only work, and yet each member of
the committee is one seemingly fully occupied with his business or
professional duties. See the members of the Massachusetts committee, so
fired with love for this work that, in the gospel canvasses of the
State, after working all day, many of them give from forty to fifty
evenings, sometimes traveling all night to get back to their work in the
morning. It is no common cause that thus draws men out of themselves for
others. Then, too, I greatly doubt where there are such hard-worked men
as the general secretaries,--days and evenings filled with work that
never ends; the work the more engrossing and exacting because it
combines physical and mental with spiritual responsibility. We who know
this are not surprised to find the strength of these men failing. Those
who employ them should carefully watch that relief is promptly given
from time to time as needed. There are now more than three hundred and
fifty of these paid secretaries. Now, look back over the whole history
of the associations, and can you doubt that he who meets the wants of
his creatures has raised up the organization for the express purpose of
saving young men as a class? And to do this he employs the church
itself--not the church in its separate organizations, but the church
universal. A work for all young men should be by the young men of the
whole church. First, because it is young manhood that furnishes the
common ground of sympathy. Second, because the appliances are too
expensive for the individual churches. Large well-situated buildings,
with all possible right attractions, are simply necessary to success in
this work. These things are so expensive that the united church only can
procure them. That in Philadelphia cost $700,000; in New York, $500,000;
in Boston, more than $300,000; in Baltimore, $250,000; in Chicago,
$150,000; San Francisco, $76,000; Montreal, $67,000; Toronto, $48,000;
Halifax, $36,000; West New Brighton, New York, $19,000; at the small
town of Rockport, Massachusetts, about $4,000; and at Nahant, $2,000. In
all these are eighty buildings, worth more than $3,000,000, while as
many more have land or building-funds. Third, how blessedly this sets
forth the vital unity of Christ's church, "that they may all be one,"
and also distinguishes them from all other religious bodies. "Come out
from among them and be ye separate."
[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE Y.M.C.A. AT JACKSONVILLE, ILL.]
This association work is divided into local (the city or town), state or
home mission, the international and foreign mission.
The local is purely a city or town work. The "state," which I have
called the home mission, is thoroughly to canvass the State, learn where
the association is needed, plant it there, strengthen all existing
associations, and keep open communication between all. This is also the
international work, but its field is the United States and British
Provinces, under the efficient management of this committee.
As has been said, the convention of 1866 appointed the international
committee, which was directed to call and arrange for state and
provincial conventions. This is the result: in 1866, no state or
provincial committee or conventions. Now, thirty-three such committees,
thirty-one of which hold state or provincial conventions, together with
a large number of district and local conferences.
[Illustration: BUILDING OF Y.M.C.A. AT LYNN, MASS.]
In 1870, Mr. R.C. Morse, a graduate of Yale College, and a minister of
the Presbyterian Church, became the general secretary of the committee
and continues such to-day. Of the missionary work of the committee the
most conspicuous has been that at the West and South. In 1868, the
convention authorized the employment of a secretary for the West. This
man, Robert Weidansall, a graduate of Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg,
was found working in the shops of the Pacific Railroad Company at Omaha.
He had intended entering the ministry, but his health failed him. To-day
there is no question as to his health--he has a superb physique, travels
constantly, works extremely hard, and has been wonderfully successful.
When he began there were thirty-nine associations in the States of
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri,
Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, and Tennessee. There was only one secretary,
and no building. Now there are nearly three hundred associations,
spending more than one hundred and ten thousand dollars; twenty general
secretaries, and five buildings. Nine States are organized, and five
employ state secretaries. The following words from a recent Kansas
report sound strangely, almost like a joke, to one who remembers the
peculiar influence of Missouri upon the infant Kansas: "Kansas owes much
of her standing to-day to the fostering care and efforts of the Missouri
state executive committee." In 1870, two visitors were sent to the
Southern States. There were then three associations only between
Virginia and Texas. There are now one hundred and fifty-seven.
[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE Y.M.C.A. AT TORONTO, CANADA.]
Previous to the Civil War the work was well under way, but had been
almost entirely given up. Our visitors were not at once received as
brethren, but Christian love did its work and gradually all differences
were forgotten by these Christians in the wonderful tie which truly
united them, and when, in 1877, the convention met at Richmond, not only
harmony prevailed, but it seemed as though each were trying to prove to
the other his intenser brotherly love. The cross truly conquered. No one
who was present can ever forget those scenes, or cease to bless God for
what I truly believe was the greatest step toward the uniting again of
North and South. Mr. T.K. Cree has had charge of this work since the
beginning. Not only has sectional spreading of associations been done by
the committee, but, in the language of the report already quoted:
"Special classes of young men, isolated in a measure from their fellows
by virtue of occupation, training, or foreign birth, have from time to
time so strongly appealed to the attention of the American associations
as to elicit specific efforts in their behalf." Thus, in 1868, the first
secretary of the committee was directed to devote his time to railroad
employees. For one year he labored among them. The general call on his
time then became so imperative that he was obliged to leave the
railroad work. This work had been undertaken at St. Albans, Vermont, in
1854, and in Canada in 1855. The first really important step in this
work was at Cleveland in 1872, when an employee of a railroad company,
who had been a leader in every kind of dissipation, was converted. He
immediately began to use his influence among his comrades, and such was
the power of the Spirit that the Cleveland Association took up the work
and began holding meetings especially for these men. In 1877, Mr. E.D.
Ingersol was appointed by the international committee to superintend the
work. There has been no rest for him in this. A leading railroad
official says: "Ingersol is indeed a busy man. Night and day he travels.
To-day a railroad president wants him here, to-morrow a manager summons
him. He is going like a shuttle back and forth across the country,
weaving the web of railroad associations." When he entered on the work
there were but three railroad secretaries; now there are nearly seventy.
There are now over sixty branches in operation; and the work is going on
besides at twenty-five points; almost a hundred different places,
therefore, where specific work is done for railroad men. They own seven
buildings, valued at thirty-three thousand two hundred and fifty
dollars. The expense of maintaining these reading-rooms is over eighty
thousand dollars, and more than two thirds of this is paid by the
corporations themselves; most of the secretaries are on the regular
pay-rolls of the companies. How can this be done? Simply because the
officers see such a return from this expenditure in the morals and
efficiency of their men that they have no doubt as to the propriety of
the investment.
Mr. William Thaw, vice-president of the Pennsylvania Company, writes:
"This work is wholly good, both for the men and the roads which they
serve." Mr. C. Vanderbilt, first vice-president of the New York Central
and Hudson River Railroad, writes: "Few things about railroad affairs
afford more satisfactory returns than these reading-rooms." Mr. J.H.
Devereux, of Cleveland, president of the Cleveland, Columbus,
Cincinnati, and Indianapolis Railway, writes: "The association work has
from the beginning (now ten years ago) been prosecuted at Cleveland
satisfactorily and with good results. The conviction of the board of
superintendents is that the influence of the room and the work in
connection with it has been of great value to both the employer and the
employed, and that the instrumentalities in question should not only be
encouraged but further strengthened." Mr. John W. Garrett, president of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, says: "A secretary of the Young
Men's Christian Association, for the service of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad Company, was appointed in 1879, and I am gratified to be able
to say that the officers under whose observation his efforts have been
conducted informed me that this work has been fruitful of good results."
Mr. Thomas Dickson, president of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company,
writes: "This company takes an active interest in the prosperity of the
association, and will cheerfully co-operate in all proper methods for
the extension of its usefulness." Mr. H.B. Ledyard, general manager of
the Michigan Central Railroad Company, writes: "I have taken a deep
interest in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association among
railroad men, and believe that, leaving out all other questions, it is a
paying investment for a railroad company."
[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE Y.M.C.A. IN CHICAGO.]
These are a few out of a great number of assurances from railroad men of
the value of this organization. In Chicago, the president of one of the
leading railroads, the general superintendent of another, and other
officials, are serving on the railroad committee of the Young Men's
Christian Association, and it is hoped that at every railway centre
there may soon be an advisory committee of the work. Such a committee is
now forming in Boston. This work should interest every individual,
because it touches every one who ever journeys by train. Speak as some
men may, faithlessly, concerning religion, where is the man who would
not feel safer should he know that the engineer and conductor of his
train were Christians? men not only caring for others, but themselves
especially cared for.
Frederick von Schluembach, of noble birth, an officer in the Prussian
army, was a leader there in infidelity and dissipation to such a degree
as to drive him to this country at the time of our Civil War. He went
into service and attained to the rank of captain. His conversion was
remarkable and he brought to his Saviour's service all the intense
earnestness and zeal that he had been giving to Satan. He joined the
Methodists and became a minister among them. His heart went out to the
multitudes of his countrymen here, and especially to the young; thus he
came in contact with the central committee and was employed by them to
visit German centres. This was in 1871, in Baltimore, where took place
the first meeting of the national bund of German-speaking associations.
At their request Mr. Von Schluembach took the field, which has resulted,
after extreme opposition on the part of the German churches, in eight
German Young Men's Christian Associations, besides an equal number of
German committees in associations. When we remember that there are more
than two million Germans in this country, and that New York is the
fourth German city in the world, we can scarcely overestimate the
greatness of this work. Mr. Von Schluembach was obliged on account of
ill health to go to Germany for a while, and, recovering, formed
associations there,--the one in Berlin being especially powerful, some
of "Caesar's household" holding official positions in it. He has now
returned, and with Claus Olandt, Jr., is again at work among his
countrymen. His first work on returning was to assist in raising fifty
thousand dollars for the German building in New York City.
Mr. Henry E. Brown has always since the war been intensely interested in
the colored men of the South. Shortly after graduation at Oberlin
College, Ohio, he founded, and was for two years president of, a college
for colored men in Alabama. He is now secretary for the committee among
this class at the South, and speaks most encouragingly of the future of
this work.
In 1877, there was graduated a young man named L.D. Wishard, from
Princeton College. To him seems to have been given a great desire for an
inter-collegiate religious work. He, with his companions, issued a call
to collegians to meet at the general convention of Young Men's Christian
Associations at Louisville. Twenty-two colleges responded and sent
delegates. Mr. Wishard was appointed international secretary. One
hundred and seventy-five associations have now been formed, with nearly
ten thousand members. These colleges report about ninety Bible-classes
during the past year. Fifteen hundred students have professed conversion
through the association; of these forty have decided to enter the
ministry, and two of these are going to the foreign fields.
The work is among the men most likely to occupy the highest position in
the country, hence its importance is very great. Mr. Wishard is quite
overtaxed and help has been given him at times, but he needs, and so
also does the railroad work, an assistant secretary.
There is a class of men in our community who are almost constantly
traveling. Rarely at home, they go from city to city. The temptations to
these men are peculiar and very great. In 1879, Mr. E.W. Watkins,
himself one of this class of commercial travelers, was appointed
secretary in their behalf. He has since visited all the principal
associations, and has created an interest in these neglected men. Among
the appliances which are productive of the most good is the traveler's
ticket, which entitles him to all the privileges of membership in any
place where an association may be. A second most valuable work is the
hotel-visiting done by more than fifty associations each week. The
hotel-registers are consulted on Saturday afternoon, and a personal note
is sent to each young man, giving him the times of service at the
several churches and inviting him to the rooms. Is it necessary to call
the attention of business men to the importance to themselves of this
work? Is it not patent? You cannot follow the young man whose honesty
and clear-headedness is of such consequence to you. God has put it into
the heart of this association to try and care for those men, upon whom
your success largely depends. Can you be blind to its value? Every
individual man who employs commercial travelers should aid the work. But
how is all this great work for young men carried on? It requires now
thirty thousand dollars a year to do it. Of this sum New York pays more
than one half, Pennsylvania about one sixth, and Massachusetts less than
one fifteenth. But to do this work properly,--this work of the universal
church of Christ for young men,--at least one third more, or forty
thousand dollars a year, is needed. There is another need, however, much
harder to meet--the men to fill the places calling earnestly for general
secretaries. There are nearly three hundred and fifty paid employees in
the field, representing about two hundred associations. Since every
association should have a secretary, and there are nearly, if not quite,
nine hundred, the need will be clearly seen. This need it is proposed to
meet by training men in schools established for the purpose. Something
of this has already been done in New York State and at Peoria, Illinois,
and there must soon be a regular training-school established to
accommodate from fifty to one hundred men.
This is a very meagre sketch of a great work. How inadequately it
portrays it, none know so well as those who are immediately connected
with it. Could you have been present at a dinner given a few months ago
to the secretaries of the international committee, and heard each man
describe his field and its needs; could you have seen the intensity with
which each endeavored to make us feel what he himself realized, that his
special field was the most important,--you would have come to our
conclusion: that each field was all-important, and that each man was in
his proper place, peculiarly fitted for it and assigned to it by the
Master.
A prominent divine has lately said: "I believe the Young Men's Christian
Association to be the greatest religious fact of the nineteenth
century."
What has been effected by this fact? Thousands of young men in all parts
of the world have been brought to Jesus Christ. It has been the
training-school for Moody, Whittle, and hosts of laymen who are to-day
proclaiming the simple Gospel. It has organized great evangelistic
movements both here and abroad. It formed the Christian Commission,
which not only relieved the wants of the body during our war, but sent
hundreds of Christ's missionaries to the hospitals and battle-fields. It
has gloriously manifested the unity of Christ's true church. It stands
to-day an organic body, instinct with one life, spreading its limbs
through the world, active, alert, ready at any moment to respond to the
call of the church, and enables it to present an unbroken front to
superstition and infidelity, which already rear their brazen heads
against Christ and his church, and will soon be in open rebellion and
actual warfare, and which Christ at his coming will forever destroy.
[NOTE.--Through the kindness of Messrs. Harper and Brothers, of New
York, we present to our readers the two portraits in this article. For
the cuts of the buildings we are indebted to the Chicago Watchman,
mention of which is made above.--R.S., Jr.]
* * * * *
GEORGE FULLER.
BY SIDNEY DICKINSON.
The death of George Fuller has removed a strong and original figure from
the activity of American art, and added a weighty name to its history.
To speak of him now, while his work is fresh in the public mind, is a
labor of some peril; so easy is it, when the sense of loss is keen, to
make mistakes in judgment, and to allow the friendly spirit to prevail
over the judicial, in an estimation of him as a man and a painter. Yet
he has gone in and out before us long enough to make a study of him
profitable, and to give us, even now, some occasion for an opinion as to
the place he is likely to occupy in the annals of our native art. Mr.
Fuller held a peculiar position in American painting, and one which
seems likely to remain hereafter unfilled. He followed no one, and had
no followers; his art was the outgrowth of personal temperament and
experience, rather than the result of teaching, and although he studied
others, he was himself his only master. In other men whose names are
prominent in our art, we seem to see the direction of an outside
influence. Stuart and Copley confessed to the teaching of the English
school of their day--a school brilliant but formal, and holding close
guiding-reins over its disciples; Benjamin West became denationalized,
so far as his art was concerned; Allston showed the impression of
England, Italy, and Flanders, all at once, in his refined and thoughtful
style, and Hunt manifested in every stroke of his brilliant brush the
learned and facile methods that are in vogue in the leading ateliers of
modern Paris. In these men, and in the followers whom their preëminent
ability drew after them, we perceive the dominant impulse to be of alien
origin; Fuller alone, of all the great ones in our art, was in thought
and action purely and simply American. The influence that led others
into the error of imitation, seems to have been exerted unavailingly
upon his self-reliant mind. We shall search vainly if we look elsewhere
than within himself for the suggestions upon which his art was
established. Superficial resemblances to other painters are sometimes to
be noted in his works, but in governing principle and habit of thought
he was serenely and grandly alone.
We must regard him thus if we would study him understandingly, and gain
from our observation a correct estimate of his power. We think of our
other painters as in the crowd, and amid the affairs of men, and detect
in their art a certain uneasiness which the bustle about them
necessarily caused. We perceive this most in Hunt, who was emphatically
a man of the world, and in Stuart, who shows in some of his later work
that his position as the court painter of America, while it aided his
purse and reputation, harmed his repose; least in Allston, whose tastes
were literary, whose love was in retirement, and who would have been a
poet had not circumstances first placed a brush and palette in his
hands. Allston, however, enjoyed popularity, and was courted by the best
society of his time, and was not permitted, although he doubtless longed
for it, to indulge to its full extent his chaste and dreamy fancy. It
may be said without disrespect to his undoubted powers, that he would
have been less esteemed in his own day if his art had not been largely
conventional, and thus easily understood by those who had studied the
accepted masters of painting. He lacked positive force of idea, as his
works clearly show,--that quality which was among the most
characteristic traits of Fuller's method, and made him at once the
greatest genius, and the man most misunderstood, among contemporary
American painters.
Although men who have not had "advantages" in life are naturally prone
to regret their deprivation, they frequently owe their success to this
seeming bar against opportunity. We have often seen illustrated in our
art the fact that favorable circumstances do not necessarily insure
success, and now from the life of Fuller we gain the still more
important truth, that power is never so well aroused as in the face of
obstacles. Few men endured more for art than he; none have waited more
uncomplainingly for a recognition that was sure to come by-and-by, or
received with greater serenity the approbation which the dull world came
at last to bestow. His history is most wholesome in its record of
steadfast resting upon conviction, and teaches quite as strongly as his
pictures do, the value of absorption in a lofty idea.
If the saying that those nations are the happiest that have no history
is true of men, Mr. Fuller's life must be regarded as exceptionally
fortunate. Considered by itself, it was quiet and uneventful, and had
little to excite general interest; but when viewed in its relation to
the practice of his art, it is found to be full of eloquent suggestions
to all who, like him, have been appointed to win success through
suffering. The narrative of his experience comprises two great
periods--the preparation, which covered thirty-four years, and the
achievement, to the enjoyment of which less than eight years were
permitted. The first period is subdivided into two, of which one
embraces eighteen years, from the time when, at the age of twenty, he
entered upon the study of his art, to his retirement from the world to
the exile of his Deerfield farm; the other including sixteen years of
seclusion, until, at the age of fifty-four, he came forth again to
proclaim a new revelation. The first part of his career may be dismissed
without any extended consideration. Its record consists of an almost
unrelieved account of struggle, indifferent success, and lack of
appreciation and encouragement, in the cities of Boston and New York.
In Boston he appeared as the student, rather than the producer of works,
and laid the foundation of his style in observation of the paintings of
Stuart, Copley, Allston, and Alexander,--all excellent models upon which
to base a practice, although destined to show little of their influence
upon the pictures which he painted in the maturity of his power. It is
not to be doubted, however, that all these men, and particularly Stuart,
made an impression upon him which he was never afterward wholly able to
conceal. We may see even in some of his latest works, under his own
peculiar manner, suggestions of Stuart, particularly in portraits of
women, which in pose and expression, and to a considerable degree in
color, show much of that dignity and composure which so distinguish the
female heads of our greatest portrait-painter. He always admired Stuart,
and in his later years spoke much of him, with strong appreciation for
his skill in describing character, and the refined taste which is such a
marked feature of his best manner.
His work in Boston made no particular impression upon the public mind,
and after five years' trial of it he removed to New York, where he
joined that brilliant circle of painters and sculptors which, with its
followers, has made one of the strongest impressions, if not the most
valuable or permanent, upon the art of America. During his residence in
that city he devoted himself almost exclusively to portrait-painting, in
which he developed a manner more distinguished for conventional
excellence than any particular individuality. It was remarked of him,
however, that he was disposed, even at this time, to seek to present the
thought and disposition of his subjects more strongly than their merely
physical features, and among his principal associates excited no little
appreciative comment upon this tendency. In some of his portraits of
women of that period, wherein he evidently attempted to present the
superior fineness and sensibility of the feminine nature, this effort
toward ideality is quite strongly indicated; they are painted with a
more hesitating and lingering touch than his portraits of men, and with
a certain seeming lack of confidence, which throws about them a thin
fold of that veil of etherialism and mystery which so enwraps nearly all
his pictures of the last eight years. This treatment, however, seems to
have been at that time more the result of experiment than conviction;
later in life he wrought its suggestions into a system, the principles
of which we may study further on. His earlier work, as has been said,
was chiefly confined to portrait-painting, although it is a significant
fact that among his pictures of that time are two which show that the
feeling for poetical and imaginative effort was working in him. At a
comparatively early age he painted an impression of Coleridge's
Genevieve, which showed marked evidence of power, and later, after
seeing a picture of the school of Rubens, which was owned by one of his
artist friends, produced a study which he afterward seems to have
developed into his well-known Boy and Bird; a Cupid-like figure, holding
a bird closely against its breast. These exercises, however, seem to
have been, as it were, accidental, and had little or no effect in
leading him to the practice in which he afterward became absorbed.
His life in New York, which was interrupted only by three winter trips
to the South, whither he went in the hope of securing some commissions
for portraits, was an uneventful experience of very modest pecuniary
success, and brought him as the only official honor of his life an
election as associate of the National Academy of Design. He then went to
Europe, where, for eight months, he carefully studied the old masters in
the principal galleries of England and the Continent. This visit to the
Old World was of incalculable value to him in the method of painting
which he afterward made his own, and, in point of fact, gave him his
first decided inclination toward it. Its best influence, however, was in
giving him confidence in himself, and assurance of the reasonableness of
the views which he had already begun to entertain. He had been led
before to regard the old masters as superior to rivalry and incapable of
weakness, superhuman characters, indeed, whose works should discourage
effort. Instead of this, however, he found them to be men like himself,
with their share of defect and error, yet made grand by inspiration and
idea, and this knowledge greatly encouraged him, a man who of all
painters was at once the most modest and devoted. Most painters who
resort to Europe to study the old art find there one or two men whose
works make the strongest appeals to their liking, and, devoting their
attention chiefly to these, they show ever after the marks of an
influence that is easily traced to its source; Fuller, however, observed
with broader and more penetrating view, and, as his works show, seems to
have studied men less than principles, and to have been filled with
admiration, not so much for particular practices as for the common and
lofty spirit in which the greatest of the world's painters labored. The
colorists and chiaroscurists, such as Titian on the one hand and
Rembrandt on the other, seem to have impressed him particularly, and of
all men Titian the most strongly, as many of his pictures testify, and
as such glowing works as the Arethusa and the Boy and Bird unmistakably
show. Yet it was not in matter or in manner, but in the expression of a
great truth, that the old masters most strongly affected him. He felt at
once, and grew to admire greatly, their repose and modesty, calm
strength and undisturbed temper, and drew from them the important
principle that true genius may be known by its confessing neither pride
nor self-distrust. The serenity of their style he sought at once to
appropriate, and thereafter worked as much as possible in imitation of
their evident purpose, striving simply to do his best, without any
question of whether the result would please, or another's effort be
reckoned as greater than his own. It became a governing principle with
him never to seek to outdo any one, or to feel anything but pleasure at
another's success, for he was not a man who could fail to recognize the
truth that envy is fatal to a fine mood in any labor. Few artists, we
may well believe, study the great art of the world in this spirit, or
derive from it such a lesson.
On his return to America, he betook himself to his native town of
Deerfield, to assume for a time the care of the ancestral farm, which
the death of his father had placed in his hands. He had returned from
Europe full of inspired ideas, and was apparently ready to go on at once
in new paths of labor; but the voice of duty seemed to him to call him
away from his chosen life, and he obeyed its summons without hesitation.
Moreover, he loved the country and the family homestead, and may have
perceived, also, that the condition of art in Boston and New York was
not such as to encourage an original purpose, and that, if he was ever
to gain success, he must develop himself in quiet, and aloof from the
distracting influences of other methods and men. It is easy to perceive,
with the complete record of his life before us, that this experience of
labor and thought upon the Deerfield farm, although at first sight
forming an hiatus in his career, was really its most pregnant period,
and that without it the Fuller who is now so much admired might have
been lost to us, and the spirit that appears in his later works never
have been awakened. It is, indeed, a spirit that can find no congenial
dwelling-place in towns, but makes its home in the fields and on the
hillsides, to which the poet-painter, depressed but not cast down by his
experience of life, repaired to work and dream. For sixteen years, in
the midst of the fairest pastoral valley of New England, he lived in the
contemplation of the ideas that had passed across his mind in the quiet
of European galleries, and now became more definite impressions. The
secret of those years, with their deep, slow current of refined and
melancholy thought, is now sealed with him in eternal sleep; but from
the works that remain to us as the matured fruits of his life, we may
gain some hint of his experiences. It is not to be questioned that he
drew from the New-England soil that he tilled, and the air that he
breathed, an inspiration which never failed him. The flavor of the quiet
valley fills all his canvases. We see in them the spaciousness of its
meadows, the inviting slope of its low hills, the calm grandeur of its
encircling mountains, the mysterious gloom and wholesome brightness of
its changing skies, the atmosphere of history and romance which is its
breath and life. Song and story have found many incidents for treatment
in this locality. Not far from the farm where Fuller's daily work was
done, the tragedy of Bloody Brook was enacted; the fields which he
tilled have their legend of Indian ambuscade and massacre; the soil is
sown, as with dragon's teeth, with the arrow-heads and battle-axes of
many bitter conflicts; even to the ancient house where, in recent years,
the painter's summer easel was set up, a former owner was brought home
with the red man's bullet in his breast. The menace of midnight attack
seems even now to the wanderer in the darkness to burden the air of
these mournful meadows, and tradition shows that here were felt the
ripples of that tide of superstitious frenzy which flowed from Salem
through all the early colonies. No place could have furnished more
potent suggestions to the art-idealist than this, and although it did
not lead him to paint its tragic history (for no man had less liking for
violence and passion than he), it impressed him deeply with its
concurrent records of endurance and devotion. Nor did it invite him, as
it might have done in the case of a weaker man, into mere description,
but having aroused his thought, it submitted itself wholly to the
treatment of his strong and original genius. He approached his task with
a broad and comprehensive vision, and a loving and inquiring soul. He
was not satisfied with the revelation of his eyes alone, but sought
earnestly for the secret of nature's life, and of its influence upon
the sensitive mind of man. He perceived the truth that nature without
man is naught, even as there is no color without light, and strove
earnestly to show in his art the relations that they sustain to each
other. He saw, also, that the material in each is nothing without the
spirit which they share in common, and thus he painted not places, but
the influence of places, even as he painted not persons merely, but
their natures and minds. It is for this reason that, although we see in
all his pictures where landscape finds a place the meadows, trees, and
skies of Deerfield, we also see much more,--the general and unlocated
spirit of New-England scenery.
This is the true impressionism--a system to which Fuller was always
constant in later life, and which he developed grandly. He was, however,
as far removed as possible from that cheap, shallow, and idealess school
of French painters whose wrongful appropriation of the name
"Impressionist" has prejudiced us against the principle that it
involves. The inherent difference between them and Fuller lies in
this--he exercised a choice, and thought the beautiful alone to be
worthy of description, while they selected nothing, but painted
indiscriminately all things, with whatever preference they indicated
lying in the direction of the strong and ugly, as being most imperative
in its demands for attention. Fuller's subjects were always sweet and
noble, and it followed as a matter of course that his treatment of them
was refined and strong. His idea was also broad; he sought for the
typical in nature and life, and grew inevitably into a continually
widening and more comprehensive style. He taught himself to lose the
sense of detail, and to strike at once to the centre, presenting the
vital idea with decision, and departing from it with increasing
vagueness of treatment, until the whole area of his work was filled with
a harmonious and carefully graduated sense of suggestion. He arrived at
his method by an original way of studying the natural world. He did not,
as most artists do, take his paint-box and easel and devote himself to
description, and from his studies work out the finished picture.
Instead, he disencumbered himself of all materials for making memoranda,
and merely stood before the scene that impressed him, looking upon it
for hours at a time. Then he betook himself to his studio, and there
worked from the impression that his mind had formed under the
guiding-hand of his fancy, the result being that nature and human
thought appeared together upon the canvas, giving a double grace and
power. The process was subtle, and not to be described clearly even by
the painter himself, who found his work so largely a matter of
inspiration that he was never able to make copies of his pictures. They
grew out of his consciousness in a strange way whose secret he could not
grasp; to the end of his life he was an inquirer, always hesitating, and
never confident in anything except that art was truth, and that he who
followed it must walk in modesty and humbleness of spirit before the
greatness of its mystery. A man of ideas and sentiment, remote from the
clamor of schools and the complaints of critics, with recollections of
the grandest art of the world in his mind, and beautiful aspects of
nature continually before his eyes, he could hardly fail to work out a
style of marked originality. The effort, however, was slow; one does not
erase on the instant the impressions that eighteen years of study and
practice have made, and Fuller found his life at Deerfield none too long
to rid him of his respect for formulas.
His experience there was a continuous round of study. He completed
little, although he painted much, inexorably blotting out, no matter
after what expenditure of labor, the work that failed to respond to his
idea, and striving constantly to be simple, straightforward, and
impressive, without being vapid, arrogant, or dogmatic. He possessed in
large measure that rarest of gifts to genius--modesty--and approached
the secrets of nature and life more tremblingly as he passed from their
outer to their inner circles. It was a necessity of his peculiar feeling
and manner of study that he should develop a lingering, hesitating,
half-uncertain style of painting, which, however variously it may be
viewed by different minds, is undoubtedly of the utmost effectiveness in
describing the principles, rather than the facts, of nature and life.
This way of presenting his idea, which some call a "mannerism,"--a term
that has wrongly come to have a suggestion of contempt attached to
it,--was with him a principle, and employed by him as the one in which
he could best express truth. Art may justly claim great latitude in this
endeavor, and schools and systems arrogate too much when they seek to
define its limitations. Absolute truth to nature is impossible in art,
which is constrained to lie to the eye in order to satisfy the mind, and
continually transposes the harmonies of earth and sky into the minor
key. Fuller offended the senses often, but he touched that nerve-centre
in the heart, without which impressions are not truly recognized. He won
liking, rather than startled men into it, and his art, instead of
approaching, retired and beckoned. His figures never "came out of the
frame at you," as is the common expression of admiration nowadays. He
put everything at a distance, made it reposeful, and drew about figure
and landscape an atmosphere which not only made them beautiful, but
established a strange and reciprocal mood of sentiment between them. He
alone of all American painters filled the whole of his canvas with air;
others place a barrier to atmosphere in their middle distance, and it
comes no farther, but he brought it over to the nearest inch of
foreground. This treatment, while it aided the quietness and restful
mystery of his pictures, also strengthened his constant effort to avoid
marked contrasts. He sought always a general impression, and ruthlessly
sacrificed everything that called attention to itself at the expense of
the whole. Yet he was not a man of swift insight in comprehensive
matters, nor one who could be called clever. Weighty in thought as in
figure, he moved slowly and in long waves, and although of marked
quickness in intuition, he seemed to distrust this quality in himself
until he had proved it by reason. He received his motive as by a spark
quicker than the lightning's, and when he began a work saw its intention
clearly, although its form and details were wholly obscured. Out of a
mist of darkness he saw a face shine dimly with some light of joy or
sorrow that was in it, and at the moment caught its suggestion upon the
waiting canvas. Then came inquiry, explanation, reasoning, the exercise
of a manly and poetic sensibility, and endless experiment with lines and
forms, of which the greater part were meaningless, until by unwearied
searching, and constant trial and correction, the complete idea was
expressed at last.
When a painter produces works in this strange fashion, an involved and
confused manner of technical treatment becomes inevitable. The schools,
which glorify manual skill and the swift and exhilarating production of
effects, cannot appreciate it, for all their teaching is opposed to the
principle that makes technique subordinate to idea, and they cannot look
with favor upon a man who boldly reverses everything. The perfect art
undoubtedly rests upon a combination of sublime thought and entire
command of resources, but while we wait for this we shall not make
mistake if we consider the effective, even if unlicensed, expression of
idea superior to a facility that has become cheap from hundreds
mastering it yearly. We cannot close our eyes to Fuller's technical
faults and weaknesses, but his pictures would undeniably be a less
precious heritage to American art than they now are, if he had not been
great enough to perceive that academic skill becomes weak by just so
much as it is magnified, and is strong only when viewed in its just
relation, as the means to an end. We perplex and confuse ourselves in
studying his work, and are naturally a little irritated that he keeps
his secret of power so well; yet we cannot help feeling that his style
is wonderfully adapted to the end in view, and perhaps the only
appropriate medium for the expression of a habit of thought that is as
peculiar as itself. Schools will insist, and with reason, upon working
by rule; yet in art, as in other discipline of teaching, genius does not
develop itself until it escapes from its instructors.
Mr. Fuller's life was constantly swayed by circumstances, and through it
all he was impelled to steps which he might never have taken of his own
accord. He was drawn by influences that he could not control into his
fruitful course of study and experience at Deerfield, where his farm
gave him support, and permitted him to indulge in an unembarrassed
practice of his art; then, when his time was ripe, he was driven by the
sharp lash of financial embarrassment into the world again. Eight years
ago he reappeared in Boston, with about a dozen paintings of landscapes,
ideal heads, and small figures, which were exhibited and promptly sold
amid every expression of interest and favor. Confirmed and strengthened
in his belief by this success, he again established his studio here, and
began that series of remarkable works which have given him a place among
the greatest of American painters. The touch of popular favor quickened
him into a lofty and quiet enthusiasm, and stimulated both his
imagination and his descriptive powers. During all his experience at
Deerfield a certain lack of self-confidence seems to have prevented him
from making any large endeavor, but with his convictions endorsed by the
public, he attempted at once to labor on a more ambitious scale. He
broadened his canvases, and increased the size of his figures and
landscapes, and where he was before sweet and inviting, became strong
and impressive, yet still holding all his former qualities. The first
year of his new residence in Boston saw the production of The Dandelion
Girl, a light-hearted, careless creature, full of a life that had no
touch of responsibility, and descriptive of a joyous and ephemeral mood.
A long step forward was taken in The Romany Girl, which immediately
followed,--a work full of fire and freedom, strongly personal in
suggestion, and marked by a wild and impatient individuality which
revealed in the girl the impression of a lawless ancestry, that somehow
and somewhere had felt the action of a finer strain of blood. The next
year Fuller reached the highest point of his inspiration and power in
The Quadroon, a work which is likely to be held for all time as his
masterpiece, so far as strength of idea, importance of motive, and vivid
force of description are concerned. Without violence, even without
expression of action, but simply by a pair of haunting eyes, a
beautiful, despairing face, and a form confessing utter weariness and
abandonment of hope, he revealed all the national shame of slavery, and
its degradation of body and soul. Every American cannot but blush to
look upon it, so simple and dignified is its rebuke of the nation's long
perversity and guilt. The artist's next important effort was the famous
Winifred Dysart, as far removed in purpose from The Quadroon as it could
well be, yet akin to it by its added testimony to the painter's constant
sympathy with weak and beseeching things, and worthy to stand at an
equal height with the picture of the slave by virtue of its beauty of
conception, loveliness of character, and pathetic appeal to the
interest. It was in all respects as typical and comprehensive as The
Quadroon itself, holding within its face and figure all the sweetness
and innocence of New-England girlhood, yet with the shadow of an
uncongenial experience brooding over it, and perhaps of inherited
weakness and early death. And the wonder of it all was that the girl had
no sign about herself of longing or discontent; she was not of a nature
to anticipate or dream, and the spectator's interest was intensified at
seeing in her and before her what she herself did not perceive. That art
can give such power of suggestion to its creations is a marvel and a
delight.
Following these two works--and at some distance, although near enough to
confirm and even increase the painter's fame--came the Priscilla,
Evening; Lorette, Nydia, Boy and Bird, Hannah, Psyche, and others,
ending this year with the Arethusa, whose glowing and chastened
loveliness makes it his strongest purely artistic work, and confirms the
technical value of his method as completely as The Quadroon and Winifred
Dysart do his habit of thought. He painted innumerable landscapes,
portraits, and ideal heads, and in figure compositions produced, among
others, two works of great and permanent value, the And She Was a Witch,
and The Gatherer of Simples, to whose absorbing interest all who have
studied them closely will confess. The latter, particularly, is of
importance as showing how carefully Fuller studied into the secret of
expression, and of nature's sympathy with human moods. This poor, worn,
sad, old face, in which beauty and hope shone once, and where
resignation and memory now dwell; this trembling figure, to whose
decrepitude the bending staff confesses as she totters _down_ the hill;
the gathering gloom of the sky, in which one ray of promise for a bright
to-morrow shines from the setting sun; the mute witnessing of the trees
upon the hill, which have seen her pass and repass from joyful youth to
lonely age, and even her eager grasp upon the poor treasure of herbs
that she bears,--all these items of the scene impress one with a
sympathy whose keenness is even bitter, and excite a deep respect and
love for the man who could paint with so much simplicity and power. It
is not strange that when the news of his death became known, many who
had never seen him, but had studied the pictures in his latest
exhibition, should have come, with tears in their eyes, to the studios
which neighbored his, to learn something of his history.
Such works are not struck out in a heat, but grow and develop like human
lives, and it will not surprise many to know that most of them were
labored on for years. With Fuller, a picture was never completed. His
idea was constantly in advance of his work, and persisted in new
suggestions, so that the Winifred Dysart was two years in the painting,
the Arethusa five, and The Gatherer of Simples and the Witch, after an
even longer course of labor, were held by him at his death as not yet
satisfactory. The figures in the two works last mentioned have suffered
almost no change since first put upon the canvas, but they have from
time to time appeared in at least a dozen different landscapes, and
would doubtless have been placed in as many more before he had satisfied
his fastidious and exacting taste.
The artist found as much difficulty in naming his pictures when they
were done as he did in painting them. It is a prevalent, but quite
erroneous, impression that his habit was to select a subject from some
literary work, and then attempt to paint it in the light of the author's
ideas. His practice exactly reversed this method: he painted his picture
first, and then tried to evolve or find a name that would fit it. The
name Winifred Dysart, which is without literary origin or meaning, and
yet in some strange way seems the only proper title for the work to
which it is attached, came out of the artist's own mind. His Priscilla
was started as an Elsie Venner, but he found it impossible to work upon
the lines another had laid down without too much cramping his own fancy;
when half done he thought of calling it Lady Wentworth, and at last gave
it its present name by chance of having taken up The Blithedale Romance,
and noting with pleased surprise how closely Hawthorne's account of his
heroine fitted his own creation. The Nydia was started with the idea of
presenting the helplessness of blindness, with a hint of the exaltation
of the other senses that is consequent upon the loss of sight, and
showed at first merely a girl groping along a wall in search of a door;
and the Arethusa was the outgrowth of a general inspiration caused by a
reading of Spenser's Faerie Queen, and did not receive its present very
appropriate name until its exhibition made some designation necessary.
I have devoted this study on of Mr. Fuller to his quality as an artist
rather than to his character as a man, but shall have written in vain if
some hint has not been given of the loveliness of his disposition, the
modesty of his spirit, the chaste force of his mind. A man inevitably
paints as he himself is, and shows his nature in his works: Fuller's
pictures are founded upon purity of thought, and painted with dignity
and single-heartedness, and the grace of his life dwells in them.
* * * * *
[GEORGE FULLER was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1822. He was
descended from old Puritan stock, and his ancesters were among the early
settlers of the Connecticut River valley. He inherited a taste for art,
as an uncle and several other relatives of the previous generation were
painters, although none of them attained any particular reputation. He
began painting by himself at the age of about sixteen years, and at the
age of twenty entered the studio of Henry K. Brown, of Albany, New York,
where he received his first and only direct instruction. His work, until
the age of about forty years, was almost entirely devoted to portraits;
but he is best known, and will be longest remembered, for his ideal work
in figure and landscape painting, which he entered upon about 1860, but
did not make his distinctive field until 1876. From the latter date, to
the time of his death, he painted many important works, and was
pecuniarily successful. He received probably the largest prices ever
paid to an American artist for single figures: $3,000 for the Winifred
Dysart, and $4,000 each for the Priscilla and Evening; Lorette. He died
in Boston on the twenty-first of March, 1884, leaving a widow, four
sons, and a daughter. During May, a memorial exhibition of his works was
held at the Museum of Fine Arts.--EDITOR.]
* * * * *
THE LOYALISTS OF LANCASTER.
By HENRY S. NOURSE.
The outburst of patriotic rebellion in 1775 throughout Massachusetts was
so universal, and the controversy so hot with the wrath of a people
politically wronged, as well as embittered by the hereditary rage of
puritanism against prelacy, that the term _tory_ comes down to us in
history loaded with a weight of opprobrium not legitimately its own.
After the lapse of a hundred years the word is perhaps no longer
synonymous with everything traitorous and vile, but when it is desirable
to suggest possible respectability and moral rectitude in any member of
the conservative party of Revolutionary days, it must be done under the
less historically disgraced title,--loyalist. In fact, then, as always,
two parties stood contending for principles to which honest convictions
made adherents. If among the conservatives were timid office-holders and
corrupt self-seekers, there were also of the Revolutionary party blatant
demagogues and bigoted partisans. The logic of success, though a success
made possible at last only by exterior aid, justified the appeal to arms
begun in Massachusetts before revolt was prepared or thought imminent
elsewhere. Now, to the careful student of the situation, it seems among
the most premature and rash of all the rebellions in history. But for
the precipitancy of the uprising, and the patriotic frenzy that fired
the public heart at news of the first bloodshed, many ripe scholars,
many soldiers of experience, might have been saved to aid and honor the
republic, instead of being driven into ignominious exile by fear of mob
violence and imprisonment, and scourged through the century as enemies
of their country. In and about Lancaster, then the largest town in
Worcester County, the royalist party was an eminently respectable
minority. At first, indeed, not only those naturally conservative by
reason of wealth, or pride of birthright, but nearly all the
intellectual leaders, both ecclesiastic and civilian, deprecated revolt
as downright suicide. They denounced the Stamp Act as earnestly, they
loved their country in which their all was at stake as sincerely, as did
their radical neighbors. Some of them, after the bloody nineteenth of
April, acquiesced with such grace as they could in what they now saw to
be inevitable, and tempered with prudent counsel the blind zeal of
partisanship: thus ably serving their country in her need. Others would
have awaited the issue of events as neutrals; but such the committees of
safety, or a mob, not unnaturally treated as enemies.
On the highest rounds of the social ladder stood the great-grandsons of
Major Simon Willard, the Puritan commander in the war of 1675. These
three gentlemen had large possessions in land, were widely known
throughout the Province, and were held in deserved esteem for their
probity and ability. They were all royalists at heart, and all connected
by marriage with royalist families. Abijah Willard, the eldest, had just
passed his fiftieth year. He had won a captaincy before Louisburg when
but twenty-one, and was promoted to a colonelcy in active service
against the French; was a thorough soldier, a gentleman of stately
presence and dignified manners, and a skilful manager of affairs. For
his first wife, he married Elizabeth, sister of Colonel William
Prescott; for his second, Mrs. Anna Prentice, but had recently married a
third partner, Mrs. Mary McKown, of Boston. He was the wealthiest
citizen of Lancaster, kept six horses in his stables, and dispensed
liberal hospitality in the mansion inherited from his father Colonel
Samuel Willard. By accepting the appointment of councillor in 1774, he
became at once obnoxious to the dominant party, and in August, when
visiting Connecticut on business connected with his large landed
interests there, he was arrested by the citizens of the town of Union,
and a mob of five hundred persons accompanied him over the state line
intending to convey him to the nearest jail. Whether their wrath became
somewhat cooled by the colonel's bearing, or by a six-mile march, they
released him upon his signing a paper dictated to him, of which the
following is a copy, printed at the time in the Boston Gazette:--
STURBRIDGE, August 25, 1774.
Whereas I Abijah Willard, of Lancaster, have been appointed by
mandamus Counselor for this province, and have without due
Consideration taken the Oath, do now freely and solemnly and in
good faith promise and engage that I will not set or act in said
Council, nor in any other that shall be appointed in such manner
and form, but that I will, as much as in me lies, maintain the
Charter Rights and Liberties of the Province, and do hereby ask
forgiveness of all the honest, worthy Gentlemen that I have
offended by taking the abovesaid Oath, and desire this may be
inserted in the public Prints. Witness my Hand
ABIJAH WILLARD.
From that time forward Colonel Willard lived quietly at home until the
nineteenth of April, 1775; when, setting out in the morning on horseback
to visit his farm in Beverly, where he had planned to spend some days in
superintending the planting, he was turned from his course by the
swarming out of minute-men at the summons of the couriers bringing the
alarm from Lexington, and we next find him with the British in Boston.
He never saw Lancaster again. It is related that, on the morning of the
seventeenth of June, standing with Governor Gage, in Boston,
reconnoitring the busy scene upon Bunker's Hill, he recognized with the
glass his brother-in-law Colonel William Prescott, and pointed him out
to the governor, who asked if he would fight. The answer was: "Prescott
will fight you to the gates of hell!" or, as another historian more
mildly puts it: "Ay, to the last drop of his blood." Colonel Willard
knew whereof he testified, for the two colonels had earned their
commissions together in the expeditions against Canada. An officer of so
well-known skill and experience as Abijah Willard was deemed a valuable
acquisition, and he was offered a colonel's commission in the British
army, but refused to serve against his countrymen, and at the evacuation
of Boston went to Halifax, having been joined by his own and his
brother's family. In 1778, he was proscribed and banished. Later in the
war he joined the royal army, at Long Island, and was appointed
commissary; in which service it was afterwards claimed by his friends
that his management saved the crown thousands of pounds. A malicious
pamphleteer of the day, however, accused him of being no better than
others, and alleging that whatever saving he effected went to swell his
own coffers. Willard's name stands prominent among the "Fifty-five" who,
in 1783, asked for large grants of land in Nova Scotia as compensation
for their losses by the war. He chose a residence on the coast of New
Brunswick, which he named _Lancaster_ in remembrance of his beloved
birthplace, and there died in May, 1789, having been for several years
an influential member of the provincial council. His family returned to
Lancaster, recovered the old homestead, and, aided by a small pension
from the British government, lived in comparative prosperity. The son
Samuel died on January 1, 1856, aged ninety-six years and four months.
His widowed sister, Mrs. Anna Goodhue, died on August 2, 1858, at the
age of ninety-five. Memories of their wholly pleasant and beneficent
lives, abounding in social amenities and Christian graces, still linger
about the old mansion.
Levi Willard was three years the junior of Abijah. He had been collector
of excise for the county, held the military rank of lieutenant-colonel,
and was justice of the peace. With his brother-in-law Captain Samuel
Ward he conducted the largest mercantile establishment in Worcester
County at that date. He had even made the voyage to England to purchase
goods. Although not so wealthy as his brother, he might have rivaled him
in any field of success but for his broken health; and he was as widely
esteemed for his character and capacity. At the outbreak of hostilities
he was too ill to take active part on either side, but his sympathies
were with his loyalist kindred. He died on July 11, 1775. His partner in
business, Captain Samuel Ward, cast his lot with the patriot party, but
his son, Levi Willard, Jr., graduated at Harvard College in 1775, joined
his uncle Abijah, and went to England and there remained until 1785,
when he returned and died five years later.
Abel Willard, though equally graced by nature with the physical gifts
that distinguished his brothers, unlike them chose the arts of peace
rather than those of war. He was born at Lancaster on January 12,
1731-2, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1752, ranking third in
the class. His wife was Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of the loyalist
minister of Littleton. His name was affixed to the address to Governor
Gage, June 21, 1774, and he was forced to sign, with the other justices,
a recantation of the aspersions cast upon the people in that address. He
has the distinction of being recorded by the leading statesman of the
Revolution--John Adams--as his personal friend. So popular was Abel
Willard and so well known his character as a peacemaker and well-wisher
to his country, that he might have remained unmolested and respected
among his neighbors in spite of his royalist opinions; but, whether led
by family ties or natural timidity, he sought refuge in Boston, and
quick-coming events made it impossible for him to return. At the
departure of the British forces for Halifax, he accompanied them. A
letter from Edmund Quincy to his daughter Mrs. Hancock, dated Lancaster,
March 26, 1776, contains a reference to him: ... "Im sorry for poor Mrs
Abel Willard your Sisters near neighbour & Friend. Shes gone we hear
with her husband and Bro and sons to Nova Scotia P'haps in such a
situation and under such circumstances of Offense respecting their
Wors'r Neighbours as never to be in a political capacity of returning to
their Houses unless w'th power & inimical views w'ch God forbid should
ever be ye Case."
In 1778, the act of proscription and banishment included Abel Willard's
name. His health gave way under accumulated trouble, and he died in
England in 1781.
The estates of Abijah and Abel Willard were confiscated. In the
Massachusetts Archives (cliv, 10) is preserved the anxious inquiry of
the town authorities respecting the proper disposal of the wealth they
abandoned.
_To the Honourable Provincial Congress now holden at Watertown in
the Proviance of the Massachusetts Bay._
We the subscribers do request and desire that you would be pleased
to direct or Inform this proviance in General or the town of
Lancaster in Partickeler what is best to be done with the Estates
of those men which are Gone from their Estates to General Gage and
to whose use they shall Improve them whether for the proviance or
the town where s'd Estate is.
EBENEZER ALLEN,
CYRUS FAIRBANK,
SAMLL THURSTON,
The Selectmen of Lancaster.
Lancaster June 7 day 1775.
The Provincial Congress placed the property in question in the hands of
the selectmen and Committee of Safety to improve, and instructed them to
report to future legislatures. Finally, Cyrus Fairbank is found acting
as the local agent for confiscated estates of royalists in Lancaster,
and his annual statements are among the archives of the State. His
accounts embrace the estates of "Abijah Willard, Esq., Abel Willard,
Esq., Solomon Houghton, Yeoman, and Joseph Moore Gent." The final
settlement of Abel Willard's estate, October 26, 1785, netted his
creditors but ten shillings, eleven pence to the pound. The claimants
and improvers probably swallowed even the larger estate of Abijah
Willard, leaving nothing to the Commonwealth.
Katherine, the wife of Levi Willard, was the sister, and Dorothy, wife
of Captain Samuel Ward, the daughter, of Judge John Chandler, "the
honest Refugee." These estimable and accomplished ladies lived but a
stone's throw apart, and after the death of Levi Willard there came to
reside with them an elder brother of Mrs. Ward, one of the most notable
personages in Lancaster during the Revolution. Clark Chandler was a
dapper little bachelor about thirty-two years of age, eccentric in
person, habits, and dress. Among other oddities of apparel, he was
partial to bright red small-clothes. His tory principles and
singularities called down upon him the jibes of the patriots among whom
his lot was temporarily cast, but his ready tongue and caustic wit were
sufficient weapons of defence. In 1774, as town clerk of Worcester, he
recorded a protest of forty-three royalist citizens against the
resolutions of the patriotic majority. This record he was compelled in
open town meeting to deface, and when he failed to render it
sufficiently illegible with the pen, his tormentors dipped his fingers
into the ink and used them to perfect the obliteration. He fled to
Halifax, but after a few months returned, and was thrown into Worcester
jail. The reply to his petition for release is in Massachusetts Archives
(clxiv, 205).
Colony of the Massachusetts Bay. By the Major part of the Council
of said Colony. Whereas Clark Chandler of Worcester has been
Confined in the Common Prison at Worcester for holding
Correspondence with the enemies of this Country and the said Clark
having humbly petitioned for an enlargement and it having been made
to appear that his health is greatly impaired & that the Publick
will not be endangered by his having some enlargement, and Samuel
Ward, John Sprague, & Ezekiel Hull having Given Bond to the Colony
Treasurer in the penal sum of one thousand Pounds, for the said
Clarks faithful performance of the order of Council for his said
enlargement, the said Clark is hereby permitted to go to Lancaster
when his health will permit, and there to continue and not go out
of the Limits of that Town, he in all Respects Conforming himself
to the Condition in said Bond contained, and the Sheriff of said
County of Worcester and all others are hereby Directed to permit
the said Clark to pass unmolested so long as he shall conform
himself to the obligations aforementioned. Given under our Hands at
ye Council Chambers in Watertown the 15 Day of Dec. Anno Domini
1775.
By their Honors Command,
James Prescott W'm Severs
Cha Channey B. Greenleaf
M. Farley W. Spooner
Moses Gill Caleb Cushing
J. Palmer J. Winthrop
Eldad Taylor John Whitcomb
B. White Jed'n Foster
B. Lincoln
Perez Morton
Dp't Sec'ry.
The air of Lancaster, which proved so salubrious to the pensioners of
the British government before named, grew oppressive to this tory
bachelor, as we find by a lengthy petition in Massachusetts Archives
(clxxiii, 546), wherein he begs for a wider range, and especially for
leave to go to the sea-shore. A medical certificate accompanies it.
LANCASTER, OCT. 25. 1777
This is to inform whom it may Concern that Mr. Clark Chandler now
residing in this Town is in such a Peculiar Bodily Indisposition as
in my opinion renders it necessary for him to take a short Trip to
the Salt Water in order to assist in recovering his Health.
JOSIAH WILDER Phn.
He was allowed to visit Boston, and to wander at will within the bounds
of Worcester County. He returned to Worcester, and there died in 1804.
Joseph Wilder, Jr., colonel, and judge of the court of common pleas of
Worcester County,--as his father had been before him,--was prominent
among the signers of the address to General Gage. He apologized for this
indiscretion, and seems to have received no further attention from the
Committee of Safety. In the extent of his possessions he rivaled Abijah
Willard, having increased a generous inheritance by the profits of very
extensive manufacture and export of pearlash and potash: an industry
which he and his brother Caleb were the first to introduce into America.
He was now nearly seventy years of age, and died in the second year of
the war.
Joseph House, at the evacuation of Boston, went with the army to
Halifax. He was a householder, but possessed no considerable estate in
Lancaster. In 1778, his name appears among the proscribed and banished.
The Lancaster committee of correspondence, July 17, 1775, published
Nahum Houghton as "an unwearied pedlar of that baneful herb tea," and
warned all patriots "to entirely shun his company and have no manner of
dealings or connections with him except acts of common humanity." A
special town meeting was called on June 30, 1777, chiefly "to act on a
Resolve of the General Assembly Respecting and Securing this and the
other United States against the Danger to which thay are Exposed by the
Internal Enemies Thereof, and to Elect some proper person to Collect
such evidence against such Persons as shall be demed by athority as
Dangerous persons to this and the other United States of America." At
this meeting Colonel Asa Whitcomb was chosen to collect evidence against
suspected loyalists, and Moses Gerrish, Daniel Allen, Ezra Houghton,
Joseph Moor, and Solomon Houghton, were voted "as Dangerous Persons and
Internal Enemies to this State." On September 12 of the same year,
apparently upon a report from Colonel Asa Whitcomb, it was voted that
Thomas Grant, James Carter, and the Reverend Timothy Harrington, "Stand
on the Black List." It was also ordered that the selectmen "Return a
List of these Dangerous Persons to the Clerk, and he to the Justice of
the Quorum as soon as may be." This action of the extremists seems to
have aroused the more conservative citizens, and another meeting was
called, on September 23, for the purpose of reconsidering this
ill-advised and arbitrary proscription, at which meeting the clerk was
instructed not to return the names of James Carter and the Reverend
Timothy Harrington before the regular town meeting in November.
Thomas Grant was an old soldier, having served in the French and Indian
War, and, if a loyalist, probably condoned the offence by enlisting in
the patriot army; his name is on the muster-roll of the Rhode Island
expedition in 1777, and in 1781 he was mustered into the service for
three years. He was about fifty years of age, and a poor man, for the
town paid bills presented "for providing for Tom Grant's Family."
Moses Gerrish was graduated at Harvard College in 1762, and reputed a
man of considerable ability. Enoch Gerrish, perhaps a brother of Moses,
was a farmer in Lancaster who left his home, was arrested and imprisoned
in York County, and thence removed for trial to Worcester by order of
the council, May 29, 1778. The following letter uncomplimentary to these
two loyalists is found in Massachusetts Archives (cxcix, 278).
Sir. The two Gerrishes Moses & Enoch, that ware sometime since
apprehended by warrant from the Council are now set at Libberty by
reason of that Laws Expiring on which they were taken up. I would
move to your Hon'rs a new warrant might Isue, Directed to Doc'r.
Silas Hoges to apprehend & confine them as I look upon them to be
Dangerous persons to go at large. I am with respect your Hon'rs.
most obedient Hum. Ser't.
JAMES PRESCOTT.
Groton 12 of July 1778.
To the Hon'e Jereh. Powel Esq.
An order for their rearrest was voted by the council. Moses Gerrish
finally received some position in the commissary department of the
British army, and, when peace was declared, obtained a grant of free
tenancy of the island of Grand Menan for seven years. At the expiration
of that time, if a settlement of forty families with schoolmaster and
minister should be established, the whole island was to become the
freehold of the colonists. Associated with Gerrish in this project was
Thomas Ross, of Lancaster. They failed in obtaining the requisite number
of settlers, but continued to reside upon the island, and there Moses
Gerrish died at an advanced age.
Solomon Houghton, a Lancaster farmer in comfortable circumstances,
fearing the inquisition of the patriot committee, fled from his home. In
1779, the judge of probate for Worcester County appointed commissioners
to care for his confiscated estate.
Ezra Houghton, a prosperous farmer, and recently appointed justice of
the peace, affixed his name to the address to General Gage in 1775, and
to the recantation. In May, 1777, he was imprisoned, under charge of
counterfeiting the bills of public credit and aiding the enemy. In
November following he petitioned to be admitted to bail (see
Massachusetts Archives, ccxvi, 129) and his request was favorably
received, his bail bond being set at two thousand pounds.
Joseph Moore was one of the six slave-owners of Lancaster in 1771,
possessed a farm and a mill, and was ranked a "gentleman." On September
20, 1777, being confined in Worcester jail, he petitioned for
enlargement, claiming his innocence of the charges for which his name
had been put upon Lancaster's black list. His petition met no favor, and
his estate was duly confiscated. (See Massachusetts Archives, clxxxiii,
160.)
At the town meeting on the first Monday in November, 1777, the names of
James Carter and Daniel Allen were stricken from the black list,
apparently without opposition. That the Reverend Timothy Harrington,
Lancaster's prudent and much-beloved minister, should be denounced as an
enemy of his country, and his name even placed temporarily among those
of "dangerous persons," exhibits the bitterness of partisanship at that
date. This town-meeting prosecution was ostensibly based upon certain
incautious expressions of opinion, but appears really to have been
inspired by the spite of the Whitcombs and others, whose enmity had been
aroused by his conservative action several years before in the church
troubles, known as "the Goss and Walley war," in the neighboring town of
Bolton. The Reverend Thomas Goss, of Bolton, Ebenezer Morse, of
Boylston, and Andrew Whitney, of Petersham, were classmates of Mr.
Harrington in the Harvard class of 1737, and all of them were opposed to
the revolution of the colonies. The disaffection, which, ignoring the
action of an ecclesiastical council, pushed Mr. Goss from his pulpit,
arose more from the political ferment of the day than from any advanced
views of his opponents respecting the abuse of alcoholic stimulants. For
nearly forty years Mr. Harrington had perhaps never omitted from his
fervent prayers in public assemblies the form of supplication for
divine blessing upon the sovereign ruler of Great Britain. It is not
strange, although he had yielded reluctant submission to the new order
of things, and was anxiously striving to perform his clerical duties
without offense to any of his flock, that his lips should sometimes
lapse into the wonted formula, "bless our good King George." It is
related that on occasions of such inadvertence, he, without embarrassing
pause, added: "Thou knowest, O Lord! we mean George Washington." In the
records of the town clerk, nothing is told of the nature of the charges
against Mr. Harrington, or of the manner of his defence. Two deacons
were sent as messengers "to inform the Rev'd Timo'o Harrington that he
has something in agitation Now to be Heard in this Meeting at which he
has Liberty to attend." Joseph Willard, Esq., in 1826, recording
probably the reminiscence of some one present at the dramatic scene,
says that when the venerable clergyman confronted his accusers, baring
his breast, he exclaimed with the language and feeling of outraged
virtue: "Strike, strike here with your daggers! I am a true friend to my
country!"
Among the manuscripts left by Mr. Harrington there is one prepared for,
if not read at, this town meeting, containing the charges in detail, and
his reply to each. It is headed: "Harrington's answers to ye Charges
&c." It is a shrewd and eloquent defence, bearing evidence, so far as
rhetoric can, that its author was in advance of his people and his times
in respect of Christian charity, if not of political foresight. The
charges were four in number: the first being that of the Bolton
Walleyites alleging that his refusal to receive them as church members
in regular standing brought him "under ye censure of shutting up ye
Kingdom of Heaven against men." To this, calm answer is given by a
review of the whole controversy in the Bolton Church, closing thus: "Mr.
Moderator, as I esteemed the Proceedings of these Brethren at Bolton
Disorderly and Schismatical, and as the Apostle hath given Direction to
mark those who cause Divisions and Offences and avoid them, I thought it
my Duty to bear Testimony against ye Conduct of both ye People at
Bolton, and those who were active in settling a Pastor over them in the
Manner Specified, and I still retain ye sentiment, and this not to shut
the Kingdom of Heaven against them, but to recover them from their
wanderings to the Order of the Gospel and to the direct way to the
Kingdom of Heaven. And I still approve and think them just."
The second charge, in full, was as follows:--
"It appears to us that his conduct hath ye greatest Tendency to subvert
our religious Constitution and ye Faith of these churches.--In his
saying that the Quebeck Bill was just--and that he would have done the
same had he been one of ye Parliament--and also saying that he was in
charity with a professed Roman Catholick, whose Principles are so
contrary to the Faith of these churches,--That for a man to be in
charity with them we conceive that it is impossible that he should be in
Charity with professed New England Churches. It therefore appears to us
that it would be no better than mockery for him to pretend to stand as
Pastor to one of these churches." To this Mr. Harrington first replies
by the pointed question: "Is not Liberty of Conscience and ye right of
judging for themselves in the matters of Religion, one grand professed
Principle in ye New England Churches; and one Corner Stone in their
Foundation?" He then explicitly states his abhorrence of "the
anti-Christian tenets of Popery," adding: "However on the other hand
they receive all the articles of the Athanasian Creed--and of
consequence in their present Constitution they have some Gold, Silver,
and precious stones as well as much wood, hay, and stubble." He
characterizes the accusation in this pithy paragraph: "Too much Charity
is the Charge here brought against me,--would to God I had still more of
it in ye most important sense. Instead of a Disqualification, it would
be a most enviable accomplishment in ye Pastor of a Protestant New
England Church." A sharp _argumentum ad hominem_, for the benefit of the
ultra-radical accuser closes this division of his defence. "But, Mr.
Moderator, if my charity toward some Roman Catholicks disqualified me
for a Protestant Minister, what, what must we think of ye honorable
Congress attending Mass in a Body in ye Roman Catholic Chappel at
Philadelphia? Must it not be equal mockery in them to pretend to
represent and act for the United Protestant States?" ...
The third charge was that he had declared himself and one of the
brethren to "be a major part of the Church." This, like the first
charge, was a revival of an old personal grievance within the church,
rehabilitated to give cumulative force to the political complaints. The
accusation is summarily disposed of; the accused condemning the
sentiment "as grossly Tyrannical, inconsistent with common sense and
repugnant to good order"; and denying that he ever uttered it.
Lastly came the political charge pure and simple.
"His despising contemning and setting at naught and speaking Evil of all
our Civil Rulers, Congress, Continental and Provincial, of all our
Courts, Legislative and Executive, are not only subversive of good
Order: But we apprehend come under Predicament of those spoken of in 2
Pet. II. 10, who despise government, presumptuous, selfwilled, they are
not afraid to speak evil of Dignities &c."
Mr. Harrington acknowledges that he once uttered to a Mr. North this
imprudent speech. "I disapprove abhor and detest the Results of Congress
whether Continental or Provincial," but adds that he "took the first
opportunity to inform Mr. North that I had respect only to two articles
in said Results." He apologizes for the speech, but at the same time
defends his criticism of the two articles as arbitrary measures. He also
confesses saying that "General Court had no Business to direct
Committees to seize on Estates before they had been Confiscated in a
course of Law," and "that their Constituents never elected or sent them
for that Purpose," but this sentiment he claimed that he had
subsequently retracted as rash and improper to be spoken. These
objectionable expressions of opinion, he asserts, were made "before ye
19th of April 1775."
It is needless to say that the Reverend Timothy Harrington's name was
speedily erased from the black list, and, to the credit of his people be
it said, he was treated with increased consideration and honor during
the following eighteen years that he lived to serve them. In the
deliberations of the Lancaster town meeting, as in those of the
Continental Congress, broad views of National Independence based upon
civil and religions liberty, finally prevailed over sectional prejudice
and intolerance. The loyalist pastor was a far better republican than
his radical inquisitors.
* * * * *
[Since the paper upon Lancaster and the Acadiens was published in The
Bay State Monthly for April, I have been favored with the perusal of
Captain Abijah Willard's "Orderly Book," through the courtesy of its
possessor, Robert Willard, M.D., of Boston, who found it among the
historical collections of his father, Joseph Willard, Esq. The volume
contains, besides other interesting matter, a concise diary of
experiences during the military expedition of 1755 in Nova Scotia; from
which it appears that the Lancaster company was prominently engaged in
the capture of Forts Lawrence and Beau Séjour. Captain Willard, though
not at Grand Pré, was placed in command of a detachment which carried
desolation through the villages to the westward of the Bay of Minas; and
the diary affords evidence that this warfare against the defenceless
peasantry was revolting to that gallant officer; and that, while
obedient to his positive orders, he tempered the cruelty of military
necessity with his own humanity.
The full names of his subalterns, not given in the list from General
Winslow's Journal, are found to be
"Joshua Willard, _Lieutenant_,
Moses Haskell, "
Caleb Willard, _Ensign_."
Of the Lancaster men, Sergeant James Houghton died, and William Hudson
was killed, in Nova Scotia.
The diary is well worthy of being printed complete.
H.S.M.]
* * * * *
LOUIS ANSART.
BY CLARA CLAYTON.
One of the notable citizens of Revolutionary times was Colonel Louis
Ansart. He was a native of France, and came to America in 1776, while
our country was engaged in war with England. He brought with him
credentials from high officials in his native country, and was
immediately appointed colonel of artillery and inspector-general of the
foundries, and engaged in casting cannon in Massachusetts. Colonel
Ansart understood the art to great perfection; and it is said that some
of his cannon and mortars are still serviceable and valuable. Foundries
were then in operation in Bridgewater and Titicut, of which he had
charge until the close of the Revolutionary War.
Colonel Ansart was an educated man--a graduate of a college in
France--and of a good family. It is said that he conversed well in seven
different languages.
His father purchased him a commission of lieutenant at the age of
fourteen years; and he was employed in military service by his native
country and the United States, and held a commission until the close of
the Revolutionary War, when he purchased a farm in Dracut and resided
there until his death. He returned to France three times after he first
came to this country, and was there at the time Louis XVI was arrested,
in 1789.
Colonel Ansart married Catherine Wimble, an American lady, of Boston,
and reared a large family in Dracut--in that portion of the town which
was annexed to Lowell in 1874. Atis Ansart, who still resides there, in
the eighty-seventh year of his age, is a son of Colonel Ansart; also
Felix Ansart, late of New London, Connecticut, and for twenty-four years
an officer of the regular army, at one time stationed at Fort Moultrie,
South Carolina, and afterwards at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he
remained eight years, and died in January, 1874.
There were five boys and seven girls. The boys were those above named,
and Robert, Abel, and Louis. The girls were Julia Ann, who married
Bradley Varnum; Fanny, who died in childhood; Betsey, who married
Jonathan Hildreth, moved to Ohio, and died in Dayton, in that State;
Sophia, who married Peter Hazelton, who died some twenty years ago,
after which she married a Mr. Spaulding; Harriet, who married Samuel N.
Wood, late of Lowell; Catherine, who married Mr. Layton; and Aline, who
died at the age of eighteen years.
Colonel Ansart was trained in that profession and in those times which
had a tendency to develop the sterner qualities, and was what would be
termed in these times a man of stern, rigid, and imperious nature. It is
said he never retired at night without first loading his pistols and
swinging them over the headboard of his bed.
After settling in Dracut,--and in his best days he lived in excellent
style for the times, kept a span of fine horses, rode in a sulky, and
"lived like a nabob,"--he always received a pension from the government;
but his habits were such that he never acquired a fortune, but spent his
money freely and enjoyed it as he went along.
Before he came to America he had traveled in different countries. On one
occasion, in Italy, he was waylaid and robbed of all he had, and
narrowly escaped with his life. He had been playing and had been very
successful, winning money, gold watches, and diamonds. As he was riding
back to his hôtel his postilion was shot. He immediately seized his
pistols to defend himself, when he was struck on the back of the head
with a bludgeon and rendered insensible. He did not return to
consciousness until the next morning, when he found himself by the side
of the road, bleeding from a terrible wound in his side from a
dirk-knife. He had strength to attract the attention of a man passing
with a team, and was taken to his hôtel. A surgeon was called, who
pronounced the wound mortal. Mr. Ansart objected to that view of the
case, and sent for another, and with skilful treatment he finally
recovered.
It is said that he was a splendid swordsman. On a certain occasion he
was insulted, and challenged his foe to step out and defend himself with
his sword. His opponent declined, saying he never fought with girls,
meaning that Mr. Ansart was delicate, with soft, white hands and fair
complexion, and no match for him, whereupon the young Frenchman drew his
sword to give him a taste of his quality. He flourished it around his
opponent's head, occasionally stratching his face and hands, until he
was covered with wounds and blood, but he could not provoke him to draw
his weapon and defend himself. After complimenting him with the name of
"coward," he told him to go about his business, advising him in future
to be more careful of his conduct and less boastful of his courage.
During the inquisition in France, Colonel Ansart said that prisoners
were sometimes executed in the presence of large audiences, in a sort of
amphitheatre. People of means had boxes, as in our theatres of the
present day. Colonel Ansart occupied one of these boxes on one occasion
with his lady. Before the performance began, another gentleman with his
lady presented himself in Colonel Ansart's box, and requested him to
vacate. He was told that he was rather presuming in his conduct and had
better go where he belonged. The man insisted upon crowding himself in,
and was very insolent, when Colonel Ansart seized him and threw him over
the front, when, of course, he went tumbling down among the audience
below. Colonel Ansart was for this act afterward arrested and imprisoned
for a short time, but was finally liberated without trial.
History informs us that a combined attack by D'Estaing and General
Sullivan was planned, in 1778, for the expulsion of the British from
Rhode Island, where, under General Pigot, they had established a
military dépôt. Colonel Ansart was _aide-de-camp_ to General Sullivan in
this expedition, and was wounded in the engagement of August 29.
On a certain occasion he was taking a sleigh-ride with his family, and
in one of the adjacent towns met a gentleman with his turn-out in a
narrow and drifted part of the road, where some difficulty occurred in
passing each other. Colonel Ansart suggested to him that he should not
have driven into such a place when he saw him coming. The man denied
that he saw the colonel, and told him he lied. Colonel Ansart seized his
pistol to punish him for his insolence, when his wife interfered, an
explanation followed, and it was ascertained that both gentlemen were
from Dracut. One was deacon of the church, and the other
"inspector-general of artillery." Of course the pistols were put up, as
the deacon didn't wish to be shot, and the colonel _wouldn't tell a
lie_.
In his prime, our hero stood six feet high in his boots, and weighed two
hundred pounds. He died in Dracut, May 28, 1804, at the age of sixty-two
years.
Mrs. Ansart was born in Boston, and witnessed the battle of Bunker Hill,
and often described the appearance of the British soldiers as they
marched along past her residence, both in going to the battle and in
returning. She was thirteen years of age, and recollected it perfectly.
She said they were grand as they passed along the streets of Boston
toward Charlestown. The officers were elegantly dressed and were in
great spirits, thinking it was only a pleasant little enterprise to go
over to Charlestown and drive those Yankees out of their fort; but when
they returned it was a sad sight. The dead and dying were carried
through the streets pale and ghastly and covered with blood. She said
the people witnessed the battle from the houses in Boston, and as
regiment after regiment was swept down by the terrible fire of the
Americans, they said that the British were feigning to be frightened and
falling down for sport; but when they saw that they did not get up
again, and when the dead and wounded were brought back to Boston, the
reality began to be made known, and that little frolic of taking the
fort was really an ugly job, and hard to accomplish.
Mrs. Ansart died in Dracut at the age of eighty-six years, January 27,
1849. She retained her mental and physical faculties to a great degree
till within a short time before her death. She was accustomed to walk to
church, a distance of one mile, when she was eighty years of age.
Colonel and Mrs. Ansart were both buried in Woodbine Cemetery, in the
part of Lowell which belonged to Dracut at the time of their interment.
* * * * *
BEACON HILL BEFORE THE HOUSES.
BY DAVID M. BALFOUR.
The visitor to the dome of the Capitol of the State, as he looks out
from its lantern and beholds spread immediately beneath his feet a
semi-circular space, whose radius does not exceed a quarter of a mile,
covered with upward of two thousand dwelling-houses, churches, hotels,
and other public edifices, does not in all probability ask himself the
question: "_What did this place look like before there was any house
here?_" When Lieutenant-Colonel George Washington visited Boston in
1756, on business connected with the French war, and lodged at the
Cromwell's Head Tavern, a building which is still standing on the north
side of School Street, upon the site of No. 13, where Mrs. Harrington
now deals out coffee and "mince"-pie to her customers, Beacon Hill was a
collection of pastures, owned by thirteen proprietors, in lots
containing from a half to twenty acres each. The southwesterly slope of
the prominence is designated upon the old maps as "Copley Hill."
We will now endeavor to describe the appearance of the hill, at the
commencement of the American Revolution, with the beacon on its top,
from which it took its name, consisting of a tall mast sixty feet in
height, erected in 1635, with an iron crane projecting from its side,
supporting an iron pot. The mast was placed on cross-timbers, with a
stone foundation, supported by braces, and provided with cross-sticks
serving as a ladder for ascending to the crane. It remained until 1776,
when it was destroyed by the British; but was replaced in 1790 by a
monument, inclosed in a space six rods square, where it remained until
1811. It was surmounted by an eagle, which now surmounts the speaker's
desk in the hall of the House of Representatives, and had tablets upon
its four sides with inscriptions commemorative of Revolutionary events.
It stood nearly opposite the southeast corner of the reservoir lot, upon
the site of No. 82 Temple Street, and its foundation was sixty feet
higher up in the air than the present level of that street. The lot was
sold, in 1811, for the miserable pittance of _eighty cents_ per square
foot!
Starting upon our pedestrian tour from the corner of Tremont and Beacon
Streets, where now stands the Albion, was an acre lot owned by the heirs
of James Penn, a selectman of the town, and a ruling elder in the First
Church, which stood in State Street upon the site of Brazer's Building.
The parsonage stood opposite, upon the site of the Merchants Bank
Building, and extended with its garden to Dock Square, the water flowing
up nearly to the base of the Samuel Adams statue. Next comes a half-acre
lot owned by Samuel Eliot, grandfather of President Eliot of Harvard
University. Then follows a second half-acre lot owned by the heirs of
the Reverend James Allen, fifth minister of the First Church, who, in
his day, as will be shown in the sequel, owned a larger portion of the
surface of Boston than any other man, being owner of thirty-seven of the
seven hundred acres which inclosed the territory of the town. His name
is perpetuated in the street of that name bounding the Massachusetts
General Hospital grounds. Somerset Street was laid out through it. The
Congregational House, Jacob Sleeper Hall, and Boston University
Building, which occupies the former site of the First Baptist Church,
under the pastorship of the Reverend Rollin H. Neale, stand upon it.
Next comes Governor James Bowdoin's two-acre pasture, extending from the
last-named street to Mount Vernon Street, and northerly to Allston
Street; the upper part of Bowdoin Street and Ashburton Place were laid
out through it; the Church of Notre Dame des Victoires, formerly
Freeman-place Chapel, built by the Second Church, under the pastoral
care of the Reverend Chandler Robbins, and afterwards occupied by the
First Presbyterian Church, the Church of the Disciples, the
Brattle-square Church, the Old South Church, and the First Reformed
Episcopal Church; so that the entire theological gamut has resounded
from its walls; the Swedenborgian Church, over which the Reverend Thomas
Worcester presided for a long series of years, also stands upon it.
Having reached the summit of the hill, we come abreast of the
five-and-a-half-acre pasture of Governor John Hancock, the first signer
of the immortal Declaration of American Independence, extending from
Mount Vernon Street to Joy Street, and northerly to Derne Street,
embracing the Capitol lot, and also the reservoir lot, for which last
two he paid, in 1752, the modest sum of eleven hundred dollars! It is
now worth a thousand times as much. For the remainder of his possessions
in that vicinity he paid nine hundred dollars more. The upper part of
Mount Vernon Street, the upper part of Hancock Street, and Derne Street,
were laid out through it. Then, descending the hill, comes Benjamin
Joy's two-acre pasture, extending from Joy Street to Walnut Street, and
extending northerly to Pinckney Street; forty-seven dwelling-houses now
standing upon it. Mr. Joy paid two thousand dollars for it. At the time
of its purchase he was desirous of getting a house in the country, as
being more healthy than a town-residence, and he selected this localty
as "being country enough for him." The upper part of Joy Street was laid
out through it. Now follows the valuable twenty-acre pasture of John
Singleton Copley, the eminent historical painter, one of whose
productions (Charles the First demanding in the House of Commons the
arrest of the five impeached members) is now in the art-room of the
Public Library. It extended for a third of a mile on Beacon Street, from
Walnut Street to Beaver Street, and northerly to Pinckney Street, which
he purchased in lots at prices ranging from fifty to seventy dollars per
acre. Walnut, Spruce, a part of Charles, River, Brimmer, Branch Avenue,
Byron Avenue, Lime, and Chestnut Streets, Louisburg Square, the lower
parts of Mount Vernon and Pinckney Streets, and the southerly part of
West Cedar Street, have been laid out through it. Copley left Boston, in
1774, for England, and never returned to his native land. He wrote to
his agent in Boston, Gardner Greene (whose mansion subsequently stood
upon the enclosure in Pemberton Square, surrounded by a garden of two
and a quarter acres, for which he paid thirty-three thousand dollars),
to sell the twenty-acre pasture for the best price which could be
obtained. After a delay of some time he sold it, in 1796, for eighteen
thousand four hundred and fifty dollars; equivalent to nine hundred
dollars per acre, or _two cents_ per square foot. It is a singular fact
that a record title to only two and a half of the twenty acres could be
found. It was purchased by the Mount Vernon Proprietors, consisting of
Jonathan Mason, three tenths; Harrison Gray Otis, three tenths; Benjamin
Joy, two tenths; and Henry Jackson, two tenths. The barberry bushes
speedily disappeared after the Copley sale. The southerly part of
Charles Street was laid out through it. And the first railroad in the
United States was here employed. It was gravitation in principle. An
inclined plane was laid from the top of the hill, and the dirt-cars slid
down, emptying their loads into the water at the foot and drawing the
empty cars upward. The apex of the hill was in the rear of the Capitol
near the junction of Mount Vernon and Temple Streets, and was about
sixty feet above the present level of that locality, and about even with
the roof of the Capitol. The level at the corner of Bowdoin Street and
Ashburton Place has been reduced about thirty feet, and at the northeast
corner of the reservoir lot about twenty feet, and Louisburg Square
about fifteen feet. The contents of the excavations were used to fill up
Charles Street as far north as Cambridge Street, the parade-ground on
the Common, and the Leverett-street jail lands. The territory thus
conveyed now embraces some of the finest residences in the city. The
Somerset Club-house, the Church of the Advent, and the First African
Church, built in 1807 by the congregation worshiping with the Reverend
Daniel Sharp, stand upon it.
[Illustration: MAP OF BEACON HILL AND WEST END IN BOSTON]
Bounded southerly on Copley's pasture, westerly on Charles River, and
northerly on Cambridge Street, was Zachariah Phillips's nine-acre
pasture, which extended easterly to Grove Street; for which he paid one
hundred pounds sterling, equivalent to fifty dollars per acre. The
northerly parts of Charles and West Cedar Streets, and the westerly
parts of May and Phillips Streets have been laid out through it. The
Twelfth Baptist Church, formerly under the pastorship of the Reverend
Samuel Snowdon, stands upon it. Proceeding easterly was the
sixteen-and-a-half-acre pasture of the Reverend James Allen, before
alluded to as the greatest landowner in the town of Boston, for which he
paid one hundred and fifty pounds, New-England currency, equivalent to
twenty-two dollars per acre. It bounded southerly on Copley's, Joy's and
Hancock's pastures, and extended easterly to Temple Street. Anderson,
Irving, Garden, South Russell, Revere, and the easterly parts of
Phillips and Myrtle Streets, were laid out through it. Next comes
Richard Middlecott's four-acre pasture, extending from Temple Street to
Bowdoin Street, and from Cambridge Street to Allston Street. Ridgeway
Lane, the lower parts of Hancock, Temple, and Bowdoin Streets, were
laid out through it. The Independent Baptist Church, formerly under the
pastorship of the Reverend Thomas Paul; the First Methodist Episcopal
Church, built in 1835 by the parish of Grace Church, under the
rectorship of the Reverend Thomas M. Clark, now bishop of the diocese of
Rhode Island; the Mission Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, which was
erected in 1830 by the congregation of the Reverend Lyman Beecher, just
after the destruction of their edifice by fire, which stood at the
southeast corner of Hanover and (new) Washington Streets, stand upon it.
Next comes the four-acre pasture of Charles Bulfinch, the architect of
the Capitol at Washington, also of the Massachusetts Capitol, Faneuil
Hall, and other public buildings, and for fourteen years chairman of the
board of selectmen of the town of Boston, extending from Bowdoin Street
to Bulfinch Street, and from Bowdoin Square to Ashburton Place, for
which he paid two hundred pounds, New-England currency, equivalent to
six hundred and sixty-seven dollars. Bulfinch Street and Bulfinch Place
were laid out through it. The Revere House, formerly the mansion of Kirk
Boott, one of the founders of the city of Lowell; Bulfinch-place Church,
which occupies the site of the Central Universalist Church, erected in
1822 by the congregation of the Reverend Paul Dean; and also Mount
Vernon Church, erected in 1842 by the congregation over which the
Reverend Edward N. Kirk presided, stand upon it. Then follows the
two-acre pasture of Cyprian Southack, extending to Tremont Row easterly,
and westerly to Somerset Street, Stoddard Street and Howard Street were
laid out through it. The Howard Athenæum, formerly the site of Father
Miller's Tabernacle, stands upon it. Then follows the
one-and-a-half-acre pasture of the heirs of the Reverend John Cotton,
second minister of the First Church, extending from Howard Street to
Pemberton Square, which constitutes a large portion of that enclosure.
And lastly, proceeding southerly, comes the four-acre pasture of William
Phillips, extending from the southeasterly corner of Pemberton Square to
the point of beginning, and enclosing the largest portion of that
enclosure. The Hotel Pavilion, the Suffolk Savings Bank, and Houghton
and Dutton's stores, stand upon it.
Less than a century ago Charles River flowed at high tide from the
southeast corner of Cambridge Street and Anderson Street across
intervening streets to Beacon Street, up which it flowed one hundred and
forty-three feet easterly across Charles Street to No. 61. When Mr. John
Bryant dug the cellar for that building he came to the natural beach,
with its rounded pebbles, at the depth of three or four feet below the
surface. It also flowed over the Public Garden, across the southern
portion of the parade-ground, to the foot of the hill, upon which stands
the Soldiers' Monument. A son of H.G. Otis was drowned, about seventy
years ago, in a quagmire which existed at that spot. It also flowed
across the westerly portion of Boylston Street and Tremont Street, and
Shawmut Avenue, to the corner of Washington Street and Groton Street,
where stood the fortifications during the American Revolution, across
the Neck, which was only two hundred and fifty feet in width at that
point, and thence to the boundary of Roxbury. A beach existed where now
is Charles Street, and the lower part of Cambridge Street, on both
sides, was a marsh.
Less than a century ago, land on Beacon Hill was as cheap as public
documents. Ministers are enjoined not to be worldly minded, and not to
be given to filthy lucre. But the Reverend James Allen would furnish an
excellent pattern for a modern real-estate speculator. In addition to
his pasture on the south side of Cambridge Street, he had also a
twenty-acre pasture on the north side of that street, between Chambers
Street and Charles River, extending to Poplar Street, for which he paid
one hundred and forty pounds, New-England currency, equivalent to four
hundred and sixty-seven dollars, equal to twenty-three dollars per acre.
He was thus the proprietor of all the territory from Pinckney Street to
Poplar Street, between Joy Street and Chambers Street on the east, and
Grove Street and Charles River on the west; for which he paid the
magnificent sum of nine hundred and sixty-seven dollars! It was called
"Allen's Farm." The Capitol lot, containing ninety-five thousand square
feet, was bought by the town of Boston of John Hancock (who, though a
devoted patriot to the American cause, yet in all his business
transactions had an eye to profit), for the sum of thirteen thousand
three hundred and thirty-three dollars; only _twenty_ times as much as
he gave for it! The town afterward conveyed it to the Commonwealth for
five shillings, upon condition that it should be used for a Capitol. In
1846, the city of Boston paid one hundred and forty-five thousand one
hundred and seven dollars for the reservoir lot containing thirty-seven
thousand four hundred and eighty-eight square feet. In 1633, the town
granted to William Blackstone fifty acres of land wherever he might
select. He accordingly selected upon the south-westerly slope of Beacon
Hill, which included the Common. Being afterward compelled by the town
to fence in his vacant land, he conveyed back to the town, for thirty
pounds, all but the six-acre lot at the corner of Beacon and Spruce
Streets, and extending westerly to Charles River, and northerly to
Pinckney Street, where he lived until 1635, when he removed to Rhode
Island, and founded the town which bears his name.
It will thus be perceived that the portion of Beacon Hill, included
between Beacon Street, Beaver Street, Cambridge Street, Bowdoin Square,
Court Street, Tremont Row, and Tremont Street, containing about
seventy-three acres, was sold, less than a century ago, at prices
ranging from twenty-two to nine hundred dollars per acre, aggregating
less than thirty thousand dollars. It now comprises the ninth ward of
the city of Boston, and contains within its limits a real estate
valuation of sixteen millions of dollars. Its name and fame are
associated with important events and men prominent in American annals.
Upon its slopes have dwelt Josiah Quincy, of ante-Revolutionary fame,
and his son and namesake of civic fame; and also his grandson and
namesake, and Edmund, equally distinguished; Lemuel Shaw, Robert G.
Shaw, Daniel Webster, Abbott Lawrence, Samuel, Nathan, and William
Appleton, Samuel T. Armstrong, Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis, J. Lothrop
Motley, William H. Prescott, Charles Sumner, John A. Andrew, John C.
Warren, Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, Lyman Beecher, William E. Channing, and
Hosea Ballou. Lafayette made it his temporary home in 1824, and Kossuth
in 1852. During the present century, the laws of Massachusetts have been
enacted upon and promulgated from its summit, and will probably continue
so to be for ages to come.
* * * * *
BRITISH FORCE AND THE LEADING LOSSES IN THE REVOLUTION.
[From Original Returns in the British Record Office.]
COMPILED BY HENRY B. CARRINGTON, U.S.A.
At Boston, in 1775, 9,147.
At New York, in 1776, 31,626.
In America: June, 1777, 30,957; August, 1778, 33,756; February, 1779,
30,283; May, 1779, 33,458; December, 1779, 38,569; May, 1780, 38,002;
August, 1780, 33,020; December, 1780, 33,766; May, 1781, 33,374;
September, 1781, 42,075.
CASUALTIES.
Bunker Hill, 1,054; Long Island, 400; Fort Washington, 454; Trenton,
1,049 (including prisoners); Hubbardton, 360; Bennington, 207 (besides
prisoners); Freeman's Farm, 550; Bemis Heights, 500; Burgoyne's
Surrender, 5,763; Forts Clinton and Montgomery, 190; Brandywine, 600;
Germantown, 535; Monmouth, 2,400 (including deserters); Siege of
Charlestown, 265; Camden, 324; Cowpens, 729; Guilford Court House, 554;
Hobkirk's Hill, 258; Eutaw Springs, 693; New London, 163; Yorktown, 552;
Cornwallis's Surrender, 7,963.
* * * * *
HISTORICAL NOTES.
BIRD AND SQUIRREL LEGISLATION IN 1776.
"_Whereas_, much mischief happens from Crows, Black Birds, and
Squirrels, by pulling up corn at this season of the year, therefore, be
it enacted by this Town meeting, that ninepence as a bounty per head be
given for every full-grown crow, and twopence half-penny per head for
every young crow, and twopence half-penny per head for every crow
blackbird, and one penny half-penny per head for every red-winged
blackbird, and one penny half-penny per head for every thrush or jay
bird and streaked squirrel that shall be killed, and presented to the
Town Treasurer by the twentyeth day of June next, and that the same be
paid out of the town treasury."
BARRINGTON, RHODE ISLAND.
At the meeting of the town held on the fourteenth of March, 1774, James
Brown, the fourth, was the first on the committee to draw up resolves to
be laid before the meeting respecting the infringements made upon the
Americans by certain "ministerial decrees." These were laid before a
meeting held March 21, 1774, and received by the town's votes, as
follows:--
"The inhabitants of this Town being justly Alarmed at the several acts
of Parliament made and passed for having a revenue in America, and, more
especially the acts for the East India Company, exporting their tea into
America subject to a duty payable here, on purpose to raise a revenue in
America, with many more unconstitutional acts, which are taken into
consideration by a number of our sister towns in the Colony, therefore
we think it needless to enlarge upon them; but being sensible of the
dangerous condition the Colonies are in, Occasioned by the Influence of
wicked and designing men, we enter into the following Resolves;
"_First_, That we, the Inhabitants of the Town ever have been & now are
Loyal & dutiful subjects to the king of G. Britain.
"_Second_, That we highly approve of the resolutions of our sister
Colonies and the noble stand they have made in the defense of the
liberties & priviledges of the Colonys, and we thank the worthy Author
of 'the rights of the Colonies examined.'
"_Third_, That the act for the East India Company to export their Tea to
America payable here, and the sending of said tea by the Company, is
with an intent to enforce the Revenue Acts and Design'd for a precedent
for Establishing Taxes, Duties & Monopolies in America, that they might
take our property from us and dispose of it as they please and reduce us
to a state of abject slavery.
"_Fourth_, That we will not buy or sell, or receive as a gift, any
dutied Tea, nor have any dealings with any person or persons that shall
buy or sell or give or receive or trade in s'd Tea, directly or
indirectly, knowing it or suspecting it to be such, but will consider
all persons concern'd in introducing dutied Teas ... into any Town in
America, as enemies to this country and unworthy the society of free
men.
"_Fifth_, That it is the duty of every man in America to oppose by all
proper measures to the uttermost of his Power and Abilities every
attempt upon the liberties of his Country and especially those mentioned
in the foregoing Resolves, & to exert himself to the uttermost of his
power to obtain a redress of the grievances the Colonies now groan
under.
"We do therefore solemnly resolve that we will heartily unite with the
Town of Newport and all the other Towns in this and the sister Colonies,
and exert our whole force in support of the just rights and priviledges
of the American Colonies.
"_Sixth_, That James Brown, Isaiah Humphrey, Edw'd Bosworth, Sam'l
Allen, Nathaniel Martin, Moses Tyler, & Thomas Allen, Esq., or a major
part of them, be a committee for this town to Correspond with all the
other Committees appointed by any Town in this or the neighboring
Colonies, and the committee is desir'd to give their attention to every
thing that concerns the liberties of America; and if any of that
obnoxious Tea should be brought into this Town, or any attempt made on
the liberties of the inhabitants thereof, the committee is directed and
empowered to call a town meeting forthwith that such measures may be
taken as the publick safty may require.
"_Seventh_, That we do heartily unite in and resolve to support the
foregoing resolves with our lives & fortunes."
JOHN ROGERS, ESQUIRE.
A descendant of John Rogers, of Smithfield farm, came to America in the
early emigration. Can any one give any information as to the life and
death of a son, John Rogers, Jr., of Roxbury?
_Answer_.--John Rogers, Jr., or second, was born at Duxbury, about
February 28, 1641. He married Elisabeth Peabody, and, after King
Philip's War, removed to Mount Hope Neck, Bristol, Rhode Island, about
1680. He again removed to Boston in 1697; to Taunton in 1707; and to
Swansea in 1710. He became blind in 1723, and died after nine days'
sickness, June 28, 1732, in the ninety-second year of his age, leaving
at the time of his death ninety-one descendants, children,
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He was buried at Prince's Hill
Cemetery, in Barrington, Rhode Island, where his grave is marked by a
fine slate headstone in excellent preservation.
M.H.W.
* * * * *
PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT.
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In the announcement of THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, and the issue of the first
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JOHN N. MCCLINTOCK, of THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, has written and has in
press, a History of the town of Pembroke, New Hampshire. Modesty
prevents our dwelling at too great a length upon the merits of the book.
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We copy, by permission, from the Boston Daily Advertiser, the following
RECORD OF EVENTS IN JANUARY.
1. President Clark of the New York and New England Railroad
appointed its receiver.
Successful opening of the improved system of sewerage in Boston.
2. James Russell Lowell declines the rectorship of St. Andrew's
University, to which he was elected.
3. Inauguration of the Hon. George D. Robinson as governor.
7. Inauguration of the Boston city government, and of the new
governments in the cities of the Commonwealth.
8. Appointment by the governor of Mrs. Ellen C. Johnson, of Boston,
as superintendent of the Sherborn reformatory prison for women.
12. Close of the foreign exhibition in Boston.
15. Minister Lowell accepts the presidency of the Birmingham and
Midland Institute for 1884.
17. Francis W. Rockwell elected to Congress from the twelfth
Massachusetts district to succeed Governor Robinson.
Mr. Robert Harris elected president of the Northern Pacific
Railroad, in place of Mr. Henry Villard, resigned.
18. Steamer City of Columbus of the Boston and Savannah line
wrecked off Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, with the loss of one
hundred lives.
28. The State Senate votes to abolish the annual Election Sermon.
DEATHS IN JANUARY.
3. The Rev. Lawrence Walsh, of Rhode Island, treasurer of the
American National Land League.
9. Brigadier-General James F. Hall, of Massachusetts.
10. The Rev. George W. Quimby, D.D., of Maine.
12. John William Wallace, president of the Pennsylvania Historical
Society.
13. The Hon. Francis T. Blackmen, district attorney of Worcester
County, Mass.
16. Amos D. Lockwood, of Providence, R.I. Dr. John Taylor Gilman,
of Portland, Me.
19. General William C. Plunkett, of Adams, Mass.
21. Commodore Timothy A. Hunt, U.S.N., of Connecticut.
The History of Georgia, by Charles C. Jones, Jr., LL.D. (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 2 vols.) This is one of the most important
recent contributions to American history. Mr. Jones has done for Georgia
what Palfrey did for New England. The first volume deals with the
settlement of the State, while the second covers its history during the
war of the Revolution. With the single exception of omitting to give a
picture of the manners and customs of the people, which is always
essential to a comprehensive history of any community or nation, the
work merits the high praise it has already received.
The first volume of Suffolk County Deeds was published more than two
years ago, by permission of the city authorities of Boston. The second
one, upon petition of the Suffolk bar, was also printed and distributed
at the close of 1883. These volumes contain valuable original historical
information of the county, and of the city itself. Among other
historically-famous names appear those of Simon Bradstreet, John
Endicott, John Winthrop, and Samuel Maverick. The Indian element of the
colony, also, is shown here several times. The local topography of
Boston and its suburbs, as they existed more than two centuries ago, are
all preserved in this second volume. Other volumes will no doubt follow
in time, thus preserving records that are indeed precious.
The advanced state of our civilization, and the general prevalence of
intelligence, naturally leads to the desire to contrast the past with
the present; and to trace to their origin, the laws, customs, and
manners of the leading civilized nations of the world. Much research and
strength have been expended in this direction, with gratifying results.
Two such accomplishments have been recently published, which discuss the
early history of property. The first is entitled The English Village
Community, by Frederic Seebohm, (London: Longmans, Green, & Co. 1 vol.)
The other, by Denman W. Ross, PH.D., treats of The Early History of
Landholding among the Germans. (Boston: Soule & Bugbee. 1 vol.) It is
generally admitted that the earliest organization of society was by
family group, and that the earliest occupation of land was by these same
family groups, and it is with the discussion of the theories growing out
of these two that both books are occupied.
An Old Philadelphian contains sketches of the life of Colonel William
Bradford, the patriot printer of 1776, by John William Wallace.
(Philadelphia. Privately printed, 1 vol.) "He was the third of the
earliest American family of printers, and his memoir serves as an
admirable account of the interesting period in which he was one of the
prominent figures in Philadelphia, and when that city was, in every
sense, the capital of the country." It should be printed for public
sale.
The initial volume of American Commonwealths, edited by Horace E.
Scudder, and published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, was Virginia:
A History of the People, by John Esten Cooke. This is followed by
Oregon: The Struggle for Possession, written by William Barrows. The
books are intended to give a rapid but forcible sketch of each of those
States in the Union whose lives have had "marked influence upon the
structure of the nation, or have embodied in their formation and growth,
principles of American polity."
A History of the American People, by Arthur Gilman, published by D.
Lothrop & Co., Boston, I vol. Illustrated. This is a compact account of
the discovery of the continent, settlement of the country, and national
growth of this people. It is treated in a popular way, with strict
reference to accuracy, and is profusely illustrated.
History of Prussia to the accession of Frederick the Great, 1134-1740,
by Herbert Tuttle. Published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, I vol.
The author, who is Professor of History in Cornell University, "spent
several years in Berlin, studying with the greatest care the Germany of
the past and present. The results are contained in this volume, with the
purpose to describe the political development of Prussia from the
earliest time down to the death of the second king."
The Magazine of American History, No. 30 Lafayette Place, New York.
Terms, $5 per annum, single numbers 50 cents. Mrs. Martha J. Lamb,
editor.
This is the only periodical exclusively devoted to the history and
antiquities of America; containing original historical and biographical
articles by writers of recognized ability, besides reprints of rare
documents, translations of valuable manuscripts, careful and
discriminating literary reviews, and a special department of notes and
queries, which is open to all historical inquirers.
This publication is now in its seventh year and firmly established, with
the support of the cultivated element of the country. It is invaluable
to the reading public, covering a field not occupied by ordinary
periodical literature, and is in every way an admirable table companion
for the scholar, and for all persons of literary and antiquarian tastes.
It forms a storehouse of valuable and interesting material not
accessible in any other form.
Mrs. Lamb is the author of the elaborate History of the City of New
York, in two volumes, royal octavo, which is the standard authority in
that specialty of local American history.
We welcome The Magazine of American History, and thank the accomplished
editor for her appreciation of our own more especially New England
enterprise.
The Magazine of American History, has one element which insures its
merit and its permanence, and that is its list of contributors. Its
previous editors have included John Austin Stevens, the Rev. Dr. B.F.
DeCosta, and others. Its contributors include such names as Bancroft,
Carrington, DePeyster, George E. Ellis, Gardner, Greene, Hamilton,
Stone, Horatio Seymour, Trumbull, Walworth, Rodenbough, Amory, Cooper,
Delafield, Brevoort, Anthon, Bacheller, Arnold, Dexter, Windsor, etc.
Historical students will find that the facile pen, the painstaking
research, and the scholarly taste of Mrs. Lamb, assure her a place with
the first of American female writers; and that she deserves most
considerate and enthusiastic support. Steel engravings, historical maps,
and many illustrations, add beauty, character, and dignity to the work.
ERRATUM. In the January number, on pages 39 and 41 the word "Gates"
should read "Gage."
* * * * *
AN
ORATION,
PRONOUNCED AT
HANOVER, NEW-HAMPSHIRE,
THE 4th DAY of JULY,
1800;
BEING THE TWENTY-FOURTH
ANNIVERSARY
OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
* * * * *
BY DANIEL WEBSTER,
_Member of the Junior Class_, DARTMOUTH UNIVERSITY.
* * * * *
"Do thou, great LIBERTY, inspire our souls,
And make our lives in thy possession happy,
Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence!"
ADDISON.
(PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SUBSCRIBERS.)
* * * * *
PRINTED AT HANOVER,
BY MOSES DAVIS.
1800.
AN _ORATION_.
COUNTRYMEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS,
We are now assembled to celebrate an anniversary, ever to be held in
dear remembrance by the sons of freedom. Nothing less than the birth of
a nation, nothing less than the emancipation of three millions of
people, from the degrading chains of foreign dominion, is the event we
commemorate.
Twenty four years have this day elapsed, since United Columbia first
raised the standard of Liberty, and echoed the shouts of Independence!
Those of you, who were then reaping the iron harvest of the martial
field, whose bosoms then palpitated for the honor of America, will, at
this time, experience a renewal of all that fervent patriotism, of all
those indescribable emotions, which then agitated your breasts. As for
us, who were either then unborn, or not far enough advanced beyond the
threshold of existence, to engage in the grand conflict for Liberty, we
now most cordially unite with you, to greet the return of this joyous
anniversary, to hail the day that gave us Freedom, and hail the rising
glories of our country!
On occasions like this, you have heretofore been addressed, from this
stage, on the nature, the origin, the expediency of civil
government.--The field of political speculation has here been explored,
by persons, possessing talents, to which the speaker of the day can have
no pretensions. Declining therefore a dissertation on the principles of
civil polity, you will indulge me in slightly sketching on those events,
which have originated, nurtured, and raised to its present grandeur the
empire of Columbia.
As no nation on the globe can rival us in the rapidity of our growth,
since the conclusion of the revolutionary war--so none, perhaps, ever
endured greater hardships, and distresses, than the people of this
country, previous to that period.
We behold a feeble band of colonists, engaged in the arduous undertaking
of a new settlement, in the wilds of North America. Their civil liberty
being mutilated, and the enjoyment of their religious sentiments denied
them, in the land that gave them birth, they fled their country, they
braved the dangers of the then almost unnavigated ocean, and fought, on
the other side the globe, an asylum from the iron grasp of tyranny, and
the more intolerable scourge of ecclesiastical persecution. But gloomy,
indeed, was their prospect, when arrived on this side the Atlantic.
Scattered, in detachments, along a coast immensely extensive, at a
remove of more than three thousand miles from their friends on the
eastern continent, they were exposed to all those evils, and endured all
those difficulties, to which human nature seems liable. Destitute of
convenient habitations, the inclemencies of the seasons attacked them,
the midnight beasts of prey prowled terribly around them, and the more
portentous yell of savage fury incessantly assailed them! But the fame
undiminished confidence in Almighty GOD, which prompted the first
settlers of this country to forsake the unfriendly climes of Europe,
still supported them, under all their calamities, and inspired them
with fortitude almost divine. Having a glorious issue to their labors
now in prospect, they cheerfully endured the rigors of the climate,
pursued the savage beast to his remotest haunt, and stood, undismayed,
in the dismal hour of Indian battle!
Scarcely were the infant settlements freed from those dangers, which at
first evironed them, ere the clashing interests of France and Britain
involved them anew in war. The colonists were now destined to combat
with well appointed, well disciplined troops from Europe; and the
horrors of the tomahawk and the scalping knife were again renewed. But
these frowns of fortune, distressing as they were, had been met without
a sigh, and endured without a groan, had not imperious Britain
presumptuously arrogated to herself the glory of victories, achieved by
the bravery of American militia. Louisburgh must be taken, Canada
attacked, and a frontier of more than one thousand miles defended by
untutored yeomanry; while the honor of every conquest must be ascribed
to an English army.
But while Great-Britain was thus ignominiously stripping her colonies of
their well earned laurel, and triumphantly weaving it into the
stupendous wreath of her own martial glories, she was unwittingly
teaching them to value themselves, and effectually to resist, in a
future day, her unjust encroachments.
The pitiful tale of taxation now commences--the unhappy quarrel, which
issued in the dismemberment of the British empire, has here its origin.
England, now triumphant over the united powers of France and Spain, is
determined to reduce, to the condition of slaves, her American
subjects.
We might now display the Legislatures of the several States, together
with the general Congress, petitioning, praying, remonstrating; and,
like dutiful subjects, humbly laying their grievances before the throne.
On the other hand, we could exhibit a British Parliament, assiduously
devising means to subjugate America--disdaining our petitions, trampling
on our rights, and menacingly telling us, in language not to be
misunderstood, "Ye shall be slaves!"--We could mention the haughty,
tyrannical, perfidious GAGE, at the head of a standing army; we could
show our brethren attacked and slaughtered at Lexington! our property
plundered and destroyed at Concord! Recollection can still pain us, with
the spiral flames of burning Charleston, the agonizing groans of aged
parents, the shrieks of widows, orphans and infants!--Indelibly
impressed on our memories, still live the dismal scenes of Bunker's
awful mount, the grand theatre of New-England bravery; where _slaughter_
stalked, grimly triumphant! where relentless Britain saw her soldiers,
the unhappy instruments of despotism, fallen, in heaps, beneath the
nervous arm of injured freemen!--There the great WARREN fought, and
there, alas, he fell! Valuing life only as it enabled him to serve his
country, he freely resigned himself, a willing martyr in the cause of
Liberty, and now lies encircled in the arms of glory!
Peace to the patriot's shades--let no rude blast
Disturb the willow, that nods o'er his tomb.
Let orphan tears bedew his sacred urn,
And fame's loud trump proclaim the heroe's name,
Far as the circuit of the spheres extends.
But, haughty Albion, thy reign shall soon be over,--thou shalt triumph
no longer! thine empire already reels and totters! thy laurels even now
begin to wither, and thy fame decays! Thou hast, at length, roused the
indignation of an insulted people--thine oppressions they deem no longer
tolerable!
The 4th day of July, 1776, is now arrived; and America, manfully
springing from the torturing fangs of the British Lion, now rises
majestic in the pride of her sovereignty, and bids her Eagle elevate his
wings!--The solemn declaration of Independence is now pronounced, amidst
crowds of admiring citizens, by the supreme council of our nation; and
received with the unbounded plaudits of a grateful people!!
That was the hour, when heroism was proved, when the souls of men were
tried. It was then, ye venerable patriots, it was then you stretched the
indignant arm, and unitedly swore to be free! Despising such toys as
subjugated empires, you then knew no middle fortune between liberty and
death. Firmly relying on the patronage of heaven, unwarped in the
resolution you had taken, you, then undaunted, met, engaged, defeated
the gigantic power of Britain, and rose triumphant over the ruins of
your enemies!--Trenton, Princeton, Bennington and Saratoga were the
successive theatres of your victories, and the utmost bounds of creation
are the limits to your fame!--The sacred fire of freedom, then enkindled
in your breasts, shall be perpetuated through the long descent of future
ages, and burn, with undiminished fervor, in the bosoms of millions yet
unborn.
Finally, to close the sanguinary conflict, to grant America the
blessings of an honorable peace, and clothe her heroes with laurels,
CORNWALLIS, at whose feet the kings and princes of Asia have since
thrown their diadems, was compelled to submit to the sword of our father
WASHINGTON.--The great drama is now completed--our Independence is now
acknowledged; and the hopes of our enemies are blasted
forever!--Columbia is now seated in the forum of nations and the empires
of the world are loft in the bright effulgence of her glory!
Thus, friends and citizens, did the kind hand of over-ruling Providence
conduct us, through toils, fatigues and dangers, to Independence and
Peace. If piety be the rational exercise of the human soul, if religion
be not a chimera, and if the vestiges of heavenly assistance are clearly
traced in those events, which mark the annals of our nation, it becomes
us, on this day, in consideration of the great things, which the LORD
has done for us, to render the tribute of unfeigned thanks, to that GOD,
who superintends the Universe, and holds aloft the scale, that weighs
the destinies of nations.
The conclusion of the revolutionary war did not conclude the great
achievements of our countrymen. Their military character was then,
indeed, sufficiently established; but the time was coming, which should
prove their political sagacity.
No sooner was peace restored with England, the first grand article of
which was the acknowledgment of our Independence, than the old system of
confederation, dictated, at first, by necessity, and adopted for the
purposes of the moment, was found inadequate to the government of an
extensive empire. Under a full conviction of this, we then saw the
people of these States, engaged in a transaction, which is, undoubtedly,
the greatest approximation towards human perfection the political world
ever yet experienced; and which, perhaps, will forever stand on the
history of mankind, without a parallel. A great Republic, composed of
different States, whose interest in all respects could not be perfectly
compatible, then came deliberately forward, discarded one system of
government and adopted another, without the loss of one man's blood.
There is not a single government now existing in Europe, which is not
based in usurpation, and established, if established at all, by the
sacrifice of thousands. But in the adoption of our present system of
jurisprudence, we see the powers necessary for government, voluntarily
springing from the people, their only proper origin, and directed to the
public good, their only proper object.
With peculiar propriety, we may now felicitate ourselves, on that happy
form of mixed government under which we live. The advantages, resulting
to the citizens of the Union, from the operation of the Federal
Constitution, are utterly incalculable; and the day, when it was
received by a majority of the States, shall stand on the catalogue of
American anniversaries, second to none but the birth day of
Independence.
In consequence of the adoption of our present system of government, and
the virtuous manner in which it has been administered, by a WASHINGTON
and an ADAMS, we are this day in the enjoyment of peace, while war
devastates Europe! We can now sit down beneath the shadow of the olive,
while her cities blaze, her streams run purple with blood, and her
fields glitter, a forest of bayonets!--The citizens of America can this
day throng the temples of freedom, and renew their oaths of fealty to
Independence; while Holland, our once sister republic, is erased from
the catalogue of nations; while Venice is destroyed, Italy ravaged, and
Switzerland, the once happy, the once united, the once flourishing
Switzerland lies bleeding at every pore!
No ambitious foe dares now invade our country. No standing army now
endangers our liberty.--Our commerce, though subject in some degree to
the depredations of the belligerent powers, is extended from pole to
pole; and our navy, though just emerging from nonexistence, shall soon
vouch for the safety of our merchantmen, and bear the thunder of freedom
around the ball!
Fair Science too, holds her gentle empire amongst us, and almost
innumerable altars are raised to her divinity, from Brunswick to
Florida. Yale, Providence and Harvard now grace our land; and DARTMOUTH,
towering majestic above the groves, which encircle her, now inscribes
her glory on the registers of fame!--Oxford and Cambridge, those
oriental stars of literature, shall now be lost, while the bright sun of
American science displays his broad circumference in uneclipsed
radiance.
Pleasing, indeed, were it here to dilate on the future grandeur of
America; but we forbear; and pause, for a moment, to drop the tear of
affection over the graves of our departed warriors. Their names should
be mentioned on every anniversary of Independence, that the youth, of
each successive generation, may learn not to value life, when held in
competition with their country's safety.
WOOSTER, MONTGOMERY, and MERCER, fell bravely in battle, and their ashes
are now entombed on the fields that witnessed their valor. Let their
exertions in our country's cause be remembered, while Liberty has an
advocate, or gratitude has place in the human heart.
GREENE, the immortal hero of the Carolinas, has since gone down to the
grave, loaded with honors, and high in the estimation of his countrymen.
The corageous PUTNAM has long slept with his fathers; and SULLIVAN and
CILLEY, New-Hampshire's veteran sons, are no more numbered with the
living!
With hearts penetrated by unutterable grief, we are at length
constrained to ask, where is our WASHINGTON? where the hero, who led us
to victory--where the man, who gave us freedom? Where is he, who headed
our feeble army, when destruction threatened us, who came upon our
enemies like the storms of winter; and scattered them like leaves before
the Borean blast? Where, O my country! is thy political saviour? where,
O humanity! thy favorite son?
The solemnity of this assembly, the lamentations of the American people
will answer, "alas, he is now no more--the Mighty is fallen!"
Yes, Americans, your WASHINGTON is gone! he is now consigned to dust,
and "sleeps in dull, cold marble." The man, who never felt a wound, but
when it pierced his country, who never groaned, but when fair freedom
bled, is now forever silent!--Wrapped in the shroud of death, the dark
dominions of the grave long since received him, and he rests in
undisturbed repose! Vain were the attempt to express our loss--vain the
attempt to describe the feelings of our souls! Though months have rolled
away, since he left this terrestrial orb, and fought the shining worlds
on high, yet the sad event is still remembered with increased sorrow.
The hoary headed patriot of '76 still tells the mournful story to the
listening infant, till the loss of his country touches his heart, and
patriotism fires his breath. The aged matron still laments the loss of
the man, beneath whose banners her husband has fought, or her son has
fallen.--At the name of WASHINGTON, the sympathetic tear still glistens
in the eye of every youthful hero, nor does the tender sigh yet cease to
heave, in the fair bosom of Columbia's daughters.
Farewel, O WASHINGTON, a long farewel!
Thy country's tears embalm thy memory:
Thy virtues challenge immortality;
Impressed on grateful hearts, thy name shall live,
Till dissolution's deluge drown the world!
Although we must feel the keenest sorrow, at the demise of our
WASHINGTON, yet we console ourselves with the reflection, that his
virtuous compatriot, his worthy successor, the firm, the wise, the
inflexible ADAMS still survives.--Elevated, by the voice of his country,
to the supreme executive magistracy, he constantly adheres to her
essential interests; and, with steady hand, draws the disguising veil
from the intrigues of foreign enemies, and the plots of domestic foes.
Having the honor of America always in view, never fearing, when wisdom
dictates, to stem the impetuous torrent of popular resentment, he stands
amidst the fluctuations of party, and the explosions of faction, unmoved
as Atlas,
While storms and tempests thunder on its brow,
And oceans break their billows at its feet.
Yet, all the vigilance of our Executive, and all the wisdom of our
Congress have not been sufficient to prevent this country from being in
some degree agitated by the convulsions of Europe. But why shall every
quarrel on the other side the Atlantic interest us in its issue? Why
shall the rife, or depression of every party there, produce here a
corresponding vibration? Was this continent designed as a mere satellite
to the other?--Has not nature here wrought all her operations on her
broadest scale? Where are the Missisippis and the Amazons, the
Alleganies and the Andes of Europe, Asia or Africa? The natural
superiority of America clearly indicates, that it was designed to be
inhabited by a nobler race of men, possessing a superior form of
government, superior patriotism, superior talents, and superior virtues.
Let then the nations of the East vainly waste their strength in
destroying each other. Let them aspire at conquest, and contend for
dominion, till their continent is deluged in blood. But let none,
however elated by victory, however proud of triumphs, ever presume to
intrude on the neutral station assumed by our country.
Britain, twice humbled for her aggressions, has at length been taught to
respect us. But France, once our ally, has dared to insult us! she has
violated her obligations; she has depredated our commerce--she has
abused our government, and riveted the chains of bondage on our unhappy
fellow citizens! Not content with ravaging and depopulating the fairest
countries of Europe, not yet satiated with the contortions of expiring
republics, the convulsive agonies of subjugated nations, and the groans
of her own slaughtered citizens, she has spouted her fury across the
Atlantic; and the stars and stripes of Independence have almost been
attacked in our harbours! When we have demanded reparation, she has told
us, "give us your money, and we will give you peace."--Mighty Nation!
Magnanimous Republic!--Let her fill her coffers from those towns and
cities, which she has plundered; and grant peace, if she can, to the
shades of those millions, whose death she has caused.
But Columbia stoops not to tyrants; her sons will never cringe to
France; neither a supercilious, five-headed Directory, nor the
gasconading pilgrim of Egypt will ever dictate terms to sovereign
America. The thunder of our cannon shall insure the performance of our
treaties, and fulminate destruction on Frenchmen, till old ocean is
crimsoned with blood, and gorged with pirates!
It becomes us, on whom the defence of our country will ere long devolve,
this day, most seriously to reflect on the duties incumbent upon us. Our
ancestors bravely snached expiring liberty from the grasp of Britain,
whose touch is _poison_; shall we now consign it to France, whose
embrace is _death_? We have seen our fathers, in the days of Columbia's
trouble, assume the rough habiliments of war, and seek the hostile
field. Too full of sorrow to speak, we have seen them wave a last
farewel to a disconsolate, a woe-stung family! We have seen them return,
worn down with fatigue, and scarred with wounds; or we have seen them,
perhaps, no more!--For us they fought! for us they bled! for us they
conquered! Shall we, their descendants, now basely disgrace our lineage,
and pusilanimously disclaim the legacy bequeathed us? Shall we pronounce
the sad valediction to freedom, and immolate liberty on the altars our
fathers have raised to her? NO! _The response of a nation is, "NO!" Let
it be registered in the archives of Heaven!_--Ere the religion we
profess, and the privileges we enjoy are sacrificed at the shrines of
despots and demagogues, let the pillars of creation tremble! let world
be wrecked on world, and systems rush to ruin!--Let the sons of Europe
be vassals; let her hosts of nations be a vast congregation of slaves;
but let us, who are this day FREE, whose hearts are yet unappalled, and
whose right arms are yet nerved for war, assemble before the hallowed
temple of Columbian Freedom, AND SWEAR, TO THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS, TO
PRESERVE IT SECURE, OR DIE AT ITS PORTALS!
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THE GOODWIN GAS STOVE AND METER CO.
MANUFACTURERS OF
The Sun Dial Gas Cooking and Heating Stoves.
The most economical in use. Over fifty different kinds. Suitable for
Families, Hotels, Restaurants, and Public Institutions. Laundry,
Hatters', and Tailors' Heaters. Hot-Plates, Warming-Closets for
Pantries, Hot-Water Generators, etc. etc.
1012-1018 Filbert Street, Philadelphia.
142 Chambers Street, New York.
126 Dearborn Street, Chicago.
Waldo Bros., Agents, 88 Water Street, Boston, Mass.
* * * * *
In every town in the Northern States there should be an Agent for the
BAY STATE MONTHLY. Those desiring exclusive territory should apply at
once, accompanying their application with letter of recommendation from
some postmaster or minister. Liberal terms and prompt pay. Address the
BAY STATE MONTHLY, 31 Milk Street, Boston, Mass.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bay State Monthly, Volume I. No.
VI. June, 1884, by Various
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