USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Boston, September 17, 1880 > Part 7
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The love of liberty has always been a marked feature in the character of the people of Boston. The sentiment has been deep, earnest, and intense, - subordinating all other sentiments except that of religion. A watchful and almost morbid jealousy of their political rights is conspicuous in all their history, from the time Winthrop, as represented in the statue, stepped upon the soil of New England with the colonial charter. Burke, in his speech on conciliation with America, says, "they augur misgoverment at a distance, and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze."
This is not surprising when we consider the character of the Puritans. They were the men to appreciate liberty, to know, assert, and defend their rights.
It has been thought by many that the chartists and those who came over with them intended, when they left England, to ignore the authority of the crown to make laws controlling them here, and ultimately to sever their connec-
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tion with the mother-country. Their secrecy in respect to transferring the charter and the government of the colony to New England has been cited as evidence of this inten- tion. But when we consider the provisions of the charter it is not easy to see how the fact of its being in New England or Old England could warrant any such inference. The patent clearly sets forth that the patentees and their posterity are to be considered subjects of the realm; they were required to take the oath of allegiance and supremacy, and, although they were empowered to legislate for the government of the colony, they could make "no laws repugnant to the laws of England."
If the provisions of the charter were violated, it could be anmulled by quo warranto, as it was in 1684, wherever the charter happened to be. Without doubt most of the emigrants came over, with no defined opinions in respect to the political future, although some of the more sagacious and far-seeing may have thought that circumstances might arise when the obligations of the "higher law " would com- pel them to renonce their allegiance and declare their independence; but, as Chahners has well said in his Annals of the United Colonies, written during the Revolution, "A people of such principles, religious and political, settling at so great a distance from control, would necessarily form an independent State."
But, whether or not the first settlers entertained any disloyal intentions when they came here, it is clear that in 1631, to quote again from Chalmers, "The nature of their government was changed by a variety of regulations, the - legality of which cannot easily be supported by any other than those principles of independence which sprang up among them and have at all times governed their actions."
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SETTLEMENT OF BOSTON.
From their first arrival they viewed with alarm the least encroachment upon their liberties, from whatever source it came. There were growing fears that, when they should increase in wealth and numbers, there would be oppressive in- terference from the home government, which would imperil not only their material, but their political interests; and there was a growing determination to resist and repel such interfer- ence at every cost. These fears and this determination found expression in no uncertain language, and it was evident to the slightest observer that, when the resisting power had sufficiently augmented, colonial loyalty would bear no heavy strain. It is to be remembered that the allegiance of colonists is gener- ally of a qualified character, and that they naturally regard the domination of the home government as that of a foreign power. What reason had the New England colonists to love the mother-country? She was ever an unnatural parent. Her persecutions drove her children into exile. Her jealousy made her treat them as enemies. Loyalty and attachment come from kindly, not hostile relations. There was no more cause for our Puritan ancestors to love England than there is for the Irish people to love her to-day; and if Ireland had the benefit of three thousand miles of ocean between her and her op- pressor, as we have, instead of sixty-four, her five millions of people would soon assert their rights, and establish, after our example, an independent Republic.
On every occasion of encroachment, real or fanciful, the people of Boston pleaded the privileges of their charter, which they secretly construed to exempt them from all English inter- ference, and on this charter, says Chalmers, "they most dexterously engrafted, not only the original government of the colony, but even independence itself."
It may not be uninteresting to give a few facts, which not
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only illustrate the temper of the early colonists respecting their political rights, but show how soon the light of civil liberty, which in the next century was to blaze with such refulgent splendor, began to appear in the political horizon. In 1633, when that ruthless persecutor of the Puritans, Archbishop Laud, proposed to break up by military force the two New England colonies, Roger Williams not only called in question the right of the crown to the soil of the colonies, but asserted the then astounding doctrine, that "the people were the origin of all power in the government."
In 1634 Endicott dared to cut out the cross from the English colors, because it was thought to be a relie of Anti- christ ; and in the same year, at a meeting of all the ministers of the colony, when the question was propounded by the Governor and Assistants, "what was to be done if a general Governor were sent over from England," it was decided that he ought not to be received. Subsequently, in 1658, when the Quakers appealed to England from a decision which denied them trial by jury, Governor Endicott treated the demand with derision, and showed that spirit of American Independence which a hundred years afterwards culminated in the Great Declaration.
The colonists were warm friends of Cromwell and his government, and were much concerned when the Common- wealth was overthrown. After the restoration of Charles II. the King's commissioners, appointed for the correction of errors and abuses in the administration of the government, complained against the colony, that the regicides, "Whalley and Goffe, were entertained by the magistrates with great solemnity, and feasted in every place, after they were told that they were traitors, and ought to be apprehended ;" and when one of the magistrates was inquired of concerning them, he,
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" standing upon the privilege of the charter, refused to answer the commissioners."
These commissioners were thwarted by the colonial authorities in every way they could be, without coming into actual collision, and when the former finally put the question to the Governor and Council, "whether they acknowledged Ilis Majesty's Commission, they avoided a direct answer by pleading their charter; but an explicit response being demanded, they declared, "that it was enough for them to give their sense of the powers granted to them by the charter, and that it was beyond their line to determine the power, intent, or purpose of Ilis Majesty's Commission."
In 1676, a hundred years before the united colonies declared the principle that "taxation and representation should go together," the people of Boston refused to comply with certain acts regulating the trade of the plantations, because they were " an invasion of their rights, liberties, and property, they not being represented in Parliament."
All the evidence shows that the early settlers were what Clarendon declared them to be, "already hardened repub- lieans ; " that they were filled with the spirit of civil as well as religious liberty, and that, whether their charter gave them or not the right of self-goverment, such right would be main- tained if circumstances should make it necessary to do so. Year after year showed that the opposition to the royal government was increasing, and commissioners and remon- strances were constantly sent over from England ; but, as has been observed by one of our historians, " the people of Boston were determined to have their own way as long as they could, and they succeeded in thwarting the former and evading the latter in the most dexterous manner." At last, in 1681, a royal letter came, containing a long array of "crimes and mis-
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demeanors" of which Boston had been guilty. In it the king says, referring to the treatment of his commissioners, "nothing could prevail with you to let those commissioners hear and determine those particular causes which we had commanded them to take care of; and, in opposition to our authority, it was then proclaimed, by sound of trumpet, within our town of Boston, that the General Court was the Supreme Judicature in that province, and that the commissioners pretending to hear was a breach of your charter ; and a paper was also published, by order of Court, to deter all persons from making any complaints and appeals unto them, and many of our subjects were imprisoned for applying to our commissioners." "For these and many other irregularities, crimes, and misdemeanors," the letter says the king intends to direct his attorney-general to take the necessary steps to annul the charter. Such steps were accordingly taken ; but, before the legal proceedings were concluded, an offer was made by the king, that if the " colony would make full submission and entire resignation to his pleasure," he " would regulate their charter for his service and their good ;" but at a meeting of the freemen of the town the proposition was rejected by unanimous vote, "nemine con- tradicente," as the record states.
Without doubt our ancestors were encouraged to claim political rights to which they were not entitled, and to indulge a more aggressive spirit of independence because of the dis- turbed condition of England during so many years. The long and bitter contests between the Stuarts and their opponents had prevented the government from giving serious attention to colonial affairs, and compelled it to overlook much in the conduct of its American subjects which otherwise would have received its prompt interference. It is probable, also, that the action of the colonists was largely influenced by the conscious-
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ness that the three thousand miles of intervening ocean, already alluded to, give them immense advantage in case resort were had to arms to defend their rights; for, as Burke well observes, "no contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in weakening government."
The loss of their charter, in 1684, did not dishearten the people of Boston, nor dispose them to abandon any of the political rights they had claimed under it. On the contrary, this hostile act of the crown only served to make them more watchful of all encroachments, and awaken a fiercer spirit of resistance. Soon there was just reason for suspecting the government of serious measures of oppression. The long- slumbering jealousy of the colonies began to be active. Their growing prosperity and power, their expanding commerce, their activity and enterprise on land and sea, their increasing manufactures, alarmed this " nation of shopkeepers," as Napo- leon well called the English, - not contemptuously, as many have supposed, but because trade had been made the chief object of national solicitude and care.
The colonists must be suppressed, and Parliament adopted the unnatural policy of checking the industrial interests of English subjects in America by the most atrocions legislation. They showed that English blood had not degenerated in cross- ing the Atlantic by counteracting measures of resistance. We treasure among our proudest historic reminiscences the fact that Boston led the way in this resistance. She began with protest and remonstrance. She vehemently denounced every measure hostile to colonial interests. She opposed the Stamp Act, the Revenue Act, the Writs of Assistance, the - Tea Tax, and all other arbitrary measures. When the crown, with the madness which despotie power has so often shown, persisted in its suicidal policy, and ignored the plainest claims
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of right and justice, she followed up her protest with the bold denial of the right of Parliament to make laws for the colonies, and the declaration of the principle on which the Revolution was subsequently based, that taxation without representation was tyranny. Through the eloquence of her statesmen she inflamed the sister colonies with the fire of her own daring, and created a public opinion on which was firmly based the resolution to resist to the end British tyranny, at every cost. Against her, as the cause, the fons et origo of revolution, the crown directed its fiercest vengeance. Her port was closed, her commerce destroyed, her people proscribed, and a price put upon the heads of her patriotic sons, Hancock and Adams. The destruction of her material interests did not coerce her people to refuse the sacrifices that Liberty demanded. Upon her altar every oblation was freely placed, with the pledges of life, fortune, and sacred honor in her defence.
The first threat of armed resistance was here uttered; the first act of resistance was here done; the first recommendation that Independence be declared was here made; the first blood in the cause was here shed; and the steady valor of our "minute men " in what may be called the first battle of the Revolution, the Battle of Bunker Hill, first assured Wash- ington that the cause of American Independence was safe.
Boston has always exercised great influence with the colonies. For a long period she was practically Massachu- setts. She was, to quote again the words of the eloquent divine, in 1730, " the chief part of the land." From the begin- ning she directed the affairs of the colony, shaped its legisla- tion, and formed its policy. Some of her acts have resulted in consequences of the greatest importance to colonial inter- ests. She originated, as has been stated, under the sagacious direction of Winthrop, the colonial confederation of 1643. She
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suggested the congress of the colonies which adopted the Confederation of 1775; largely through her influence the Dec- laration of Independence was made; during all the war of the Revolution she held a controlling position; her voice was everywhere heard, her influence everywhere felt. Animated by her patriotic spirit, New England furnished more than one- half of that heroic army which achieved independence, of which Massachusetts alone contributed nearly one-third.
IIer ideas touching moral, religious, social, and govern- mental questions have largely obtained in the country. They have greatly influenced American thought and action, and most of the important events of our history will be found, when effects are traced to their causes, to have had their origin in the Puritan principles which first germinated here.
I may be permitted to observe that Boston not only established the first church, the first free school, and the first college, as has been stated, but she built the first vessel, the first printing-press, the first hotel, and first railroad. She started the first newspaper and the first temperance movement, when Governor Winthrop broke up the custom for everybody to be drinking his neighbor's health. She organized the first abolition movement and the first Thanksgiving cele- bration. She originated stump-speaking, when the Rev. John Wilson, in 1637, during the canvass for Governor, addressed the people from a tree in behalf of Winthrop, who was elected. She created the first public park, - in our Boston Common, - and here let me say, that we owe the possession of this beautiful spot - the pride of the city -to the forecast and wisdom of Governor Winthrop, for it was through his exer- - tions that the law was passed by which it was saved from division among the settlers, and dedicated forever to public purposes. This service alone should make his name dear to
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Bostonians. His statue should have stood on this rescued ground, as its guardian protector, for no vandal hand would dare disturb its integrity while the bronze figure of the ancient governor stood there holding the charter and the Bible.
We have reason to be proud, not only of our political history, but of our material growth and prosperity. Boston originally contained seven hundred acres; to-day she has more than twenty-three thousand. As has been stated, her popula- tion, including that of the suburbs, is ahnost half a million; her tax valuation is nearly six hundred and fifty million dollars; her credit in all the financial markets of the world is unchallenged; she has one hundred and seventy-one free schools; she has the largest library on this continent, containing nearly four hundred thousand volumes; she has two hundred and sixteen churches; she has six hundred and sixty-six charitable, relig- ious, literary, scientific, and art societies. Her architecture, public and private, is for the most part substantial, convenient, and elegant; her suburbs, with their varied surface, their sloping hills, their green meadows, their beautiful trees, their tasteful shrubbery, their cultivated gardens, their picturesque villas and charming cottages, are objects of attraction and delight to every spectator.
All this is the product of industry, frugality, and intelli- gence, and of those moral and religious principles implanted here by the early Puritans. It is our duty to transmit these blessings, with the good goverment and free institutions we have inherited, unimpaired, to the generations that are to suc- ceed us. This trust is a solemn oue, and can only be executed by maintaining the virtues of our ancestors; for the same agencies which enabled them to acquire will be needed to enable us to preserve.
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SETTLEMENT OF BOSTON.
At the conclusion of the oration the members of the City Council and their guests were assigned to carriages, and, escorted by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, proceeded, through Washington, Bromfield, and Tremont streets, to the Common, where a collation was served, after which they took the position assigned them in the procession.
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CIVIC, MILITARY, AND TRADES PROCESSION.
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THE PROCESSION.
The weather on the 17th of September was all that could be wished for such an occasion. The heavy rains on the preceding days had laid the dust and freshened the atmosphere. The sun shone from an unclouded sky, but at no time was the heat uncomfortable or oppres- sive. A more propitions day for an out-door demonstration could not have been desired.
At an early hour in the morning the streets presented an animated spectacle. Multitudes of people, in holiday apparel, were hurrying to secure favorable positions from which to view the procession. Organi- zations that were to appear in the line were marching to the place of formation, their bands playing and banners flying, adding brilliancy to the scene by the variety of their uniforms and insignia.
The morning trains brought a large number of people from the neighboring cities and towns. It is estimated that two hundred and thirty thousand persons were brought into the city by the several railroads. Adding to these the large number that had arrived during the preceding week, it may not be too great an estimate to say that the population of the city was nearly doubled on that day. Never before had the streets appeared more densely thronged, and in some places, notably on Hanover street, it was a work of difficulty to open a space through the mass of spectators, sufficient for the passage of the procession. Business was generally suspended throughout the city, and there was an evident determination on the part of every one . to make the day a holiday, and give it up to pleasure.
Precisely at the hour of twelve the Chief Marshal gave the order, and the procession moved in the following formation : -
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Mounted Police, under command of CAPT. SAMUEL G. ADAMS, Superintendent of Police.
SECOND CORPS OF CADETS.
Lieut .- Col. Samuel Dalton, Surgeon D. Coggin.
Major Edward Hobbs, Assistant Surgeon S. B. Clarke,
Adjutant A. Fitz, Paymaster T. II. Johnson, Quartermaster E. A. Simonds.
Escorting
AUGUSTUS P. MARTIN, CHEF MARSHAL.
Head-quarters Flag - Yellow, with Maltese Cross.
STAFF.
Gen. Cornelius G. Attwood, Chief of Staff.
Major J. Henry Sleeper, Adjutant-General.
Col. Arnold A. Rand. Assistant Adjutant-General.
Col. Augustus N. Sampson, Assistant Adjutant-General. Major George F. Mckay, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Lient .- Commander Edward F. Devens, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Col. Joseph A. Ingalls, Chief Quartermaster.
Col. Joseph W. Gelray, U.S. A., Assistant Quartermaster.
Major William L. Horton, Assistant Quartermaster.
Rev. E. A. Horton, Chaplain. Major Benjamin S. Calef, Chief Signal Officer.
Major William P. Shreve, Assistant Signal Officer.
Dr. Melville E. Webb, Surgeon.
Dr. John Dixwell, Assistant Surgeon. Captain William II. Cundy, Engineer. Captain Edward E. Currier, Assistant Engineer. Mr. Francis M. Stanwood, Military Secretary.
AIDS TO CHIEF MARSHAL.
Capt. Edward E. Allen, Mr. Francis II. Allen. Lient. Edward II. Baker, Mr. Francis Batcheller,
Mr. Edwin S. Barrett. Capt. Franklin G. Bixby, Lieut. Charles II. Boardman, Mr. Robert S. Bradley,
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SETTLEMENT OF BOSTON.
Mr. Francis W. Brewer, Mr. Alonzo HI. Briggs, Capt. D. Austin Brown. Mr. Charles Butler. Lieut. Gardner A. Churchill, Mr. Charles M. Clapp, Mr. George D. Clapp.
Capt. Horace B. Clapp.
Lieut. William A. Conthony, Major James W. Coverly,
Mr. Samuel Cowdrey, Mr. Henry M. Cox. Mr. William E. Cox,
Mr. Joseph B. Crosby, Major Charles G. Davis, Mr. Thomas H. Devlin. Mr. Arthur W. Dewey, Mr. S. N. Dickerman, Mr. Thomas F. Doherty,
Col. George B. Dyer,
Major J. Homer Edgerly,
Mr. Will T. Farley, Capt. Benjamin F. Field, Jr.,
Mr. James G. Freeman,
Mr. Charles Edward French, Capt. II. W. Gore, Mr. Allen C. Goss,
Mr. Lyman B. Greenleaf, Major Cyrus S. Haldeman, Mr. C. Merton Haley, Col. P. T. Hanley,
Mr. Charles M. Hanson, Mr. Richard G. Haskell, Mr. Edward T. Hastings, Major George E. Henry, Capt. Albert W. Hersey, Mr. Henry L. Hiscock,
Capt. Lowell B. Hiscock, Mr. Edward J. Howard. Mr. Weston F. Hutchins. Capt. Win. Il. Jackson. Dr. William L. Jackson, Major Henry G. Jordan. Major John E. Killian. Major Everett Lane, Mr. Walter D. Lathrop, Mr. Arthur C. Lawrence. Mr. Albert HI. Lewis,
Mr. Frederic W. Lincoln. Jr., Col. William II. Long, Major John W. Mahan. Capt. W. Gordon MeCabe.
Capt. Dennis Mechan,
Mr. William Mechan, Major Benjamin F. Meservey, Mr. William K. Millar. Mr. Martin Milmore, Capt. Richard S. Milton. Capt. Charles L. Mitchell, Major Loring W. Muzzey, Mr. S. B. Newton, Mr. Stephen R. Niles. Col. Hemy G. Parker, Lient. William M. Paul. Mr. W. Prentiss Parker. Lieut. Jacob Pfaff. Mr. James R Poor, Mr. Gordon Prince, Col. Albert E. Proctor, Col. John HI. Rice, Mr. J. Willard Rice, Mr. Arthur G. Richardson, Mr. Edwards Roberts. Lieut. Silas Sanborn, Jr ,
.
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Mr. William I. Scandlin,
C'apt. John A. Scott,
Lieut. Henry Sherwin,
Capt. Henry F. Spach,
Mr. Norris II. Spaulding,
Mr. Frederic S. Stanwood,
Mr. Frank L. Stevenson,
Capt. Henry B. White,
Lieut .- Com. Phinchas J. Stone, Jr.,
Major Benjamin F. Talbot,
Mr. Walter Eliot Thwing, Capt. Charles F. Thurston, General William S. Tilton, Mr. Phineas S. Tobey, Col. C. de Kay Townsend, Col. Louis N. Tucker,
Mr. Charles G. Wood, Jr., Mr. John A. Woodward.
HONORARY STAFF.
Members of the Military Order Loyal Legion United States.
Major Wm. E. Barrows,
Captain Joseph Murdoch, Major Geo. S. Osborne,
Lieut. Chas. E. Bowers,
Brig .- Gen. Henry S. Briggs,
Captain Josiah A. Osgood,
Major David T. Bunker,
Major Elliot C. Pierce,
Commander Thomas L. Churchill,
Col. Albert A. Pope,
Colonel Theodore A. Dodge, U.S.A., Lieut. Lemuel Pope,
Capt. Wm. W. Douglas,
Lieut. Charles II. Porter,
Major Ezra T. Goukl,
Paymaster John Reed,
Major Milbrey Green,
Colonel Chas. Edward Hapgood,
Lieut .- Col. James II. Rice, U.S.A., Commander Win. Roberts, Capt. Edward B. Robins,
Lieut .- Col. J. Theodore Heard,
Major Russell Sturgis, Jr.,
Lieut. Charles R. Howard,
Lieut. Freeman A. Tabor,
Lieut. Theodore C. Hurd,
Surgeon G. B. Twitchell,
Colonel Jesse E. Jacobs,
Major-Gen. A. B. Underwood,
Lieut. Joseph II. Lathrop,
Lieut. Geo. W. Morse,
Capt. Nicholas Van Slyek, Col. John W. Wolcott.
Buglers : Warner Bailey, William Nevel. Color-Bearer : Brooks B. Martis. Orderly : George II. Inness.
Cadet Band. FIRST CORPS OF CADETS,
Lieut .- Colonel Thomas F. Edmands commanding,
Col. Charles E. Fuller,
Lieut. Seth A. Ranlett,
Master Franklin Haskins,
MASS. VOL. MILITIA, ARTILLERY.
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