USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some places in its vicinity > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
It is not, however, from local position, nor from general circumstances of life and fortune, that the peculiar felicity of this metropolis is to be de- duced. Her enviable distinction is, that she is among the chiefest of that happy New England family, which claims descent from the early emi- grants. If we take a survey of that family, and, excluding from our view the unnumbered multitudes of its members who have occupied the vacant wilderness of other states, we restrict our thoughts to the local sphere of New England, what scenes open upon our sight! How wild and visionary would seem our prospects, did we indulge only natural an- ticipations of the future ! Already, on an area of seventy thousand square miles, a population of two millions ; all, but comparatively a few, descendants of the early emigrants! Six independent Commonwealthis, with constitutions varying in the relations and proportions of power, yet uniform in all their general principles ; diverse in their political arrange- ments, yet each sufficient for its own necessities ; all harmonious witlı those without, and peaceful within; embracing under the denomination of fourns, upwards of twelve hundred effective republics, with qualified powers, indeed, but possessing potent influences ; subject themselves to the respective state sovereignties, yet directing all their operations, and shaping their policy by constitutional agencies ; swayed, no less than the greater republics, by passions, interests, and affections ; like them, exciting
01
.
21
BOSTON.
competitions which rouse into action the latent energies of mind, and infuse into the mass of each society a knowledge of the nature of its in- terests, and a capacity to understand and share in the defence of those of the Commonwealth. The effect of these minor republics is daily seen in the existence of practical talents, and in the readiness with which those talents can be called into the public service of the state.
If, after this general survey of the surface of New England, we cast our eyes on its cities and great towns, with what wonder should we be- hold, did not familiarity render the phenomenon almost unnoticed, men, combined in great multitudes, possessing freedom and the consciousness of strength, - the comparative physical power of the ruler less than that of a cobweb across a lion's path, - yet orderly, obedient, and respectful to authority ; a people, but no populace ; every class in reality existing, which the general law of society acknowledges, except one, -and this exception characterizing the whole country. The soil of New England is trodden by no slave. In our streets, in our assemblies, in the halls of election and legislation, men of every rank and condition meet, and unite or divide on other principles, and are actuated by other motives, than those growing out of such distinctions. The fears and jealousies, which in other countries separate classes of men and make them hostile to each other, have here no influence, or a very limited one. Each individual, of whatever condition, has the consciousness of living under known laws, which secure equal rights, and guarantee to each whatever portion of the goods of life, be it great or small, chance, or talent, or industry may have bestowed. All perceive that the honors and rewards of society are open equally to the fair competition of all; that the distinctions of wealth, or of power, are not fixed in families ; that whatever of this nature exists to-day, may be changed to-morrow, or, in a coming generation, be abso- lutely reversed. Common principles, interests, hopes, and affections, are the result of universal education. Such are the consequences of the equality of rights, and of the provisions for the general diffusion of knowledge and the distribution of intestate estates, established by the laws frained by the earliest emigrants to New England.
If from our cities we turn to survey the wide expanse of the interior, how do the effects of the institutions and example of our early ancestors appear, in all the local comfort and accommodation which mark the gen- eral condition of the whole country ; - unobtrusive, indeed, but substan- tial ; in nothing splendid, but in every thing sufficient and satisfactory. Indications of active talent and practical energy exist everywhere. With a soil comparatively little luxuriant, and in great proportion either rock, or hill, or sand, the skill and industry of man are seen triumphing over the obstacles of nature; making the rock the guardian of the field ; moulding the granite, as though it were clay ; leading cultivation to the hill-top, and spreading over the arid plain, hitherto unknown and unan-
25
EARLY HISTORY.
ticipated harvests. The lofty mansion of the prosperous adjoins the lowry dwelling of the husbandman; their respective inmates are in the daily interchange of civility, sympathy, and respect. Enterprise and skill, which once held chief affinity with the ocean or the sea-board, now begin to delight the interior, haunting our rivers, where the music of the water- fall, with powers more attractive than those of the fabled harp of Orpheus, collects around it intellectual man and material nature. Towns and cities, civilized and happy communities, rise, like exhalations, on rocks and in forests, till the deep and far-resounding voice of the neighbouring torrent is itself lost and unheard, amid the predominating noise of suc- cessful and rejoicing labor.
What lessons has New England, in every period of her history, given to the world! What lessons do her condition and example still give ! How unprecedented ; yet how practical ! How simple; yet how power- ful ! She has proved, that all the variety of Christian sects may live to- gether in harmony, under a government which allows equal privileges to all, - exclusive preeminence to none. She has proved, that ignorance among the multitude is not necessary to order, but that the surest basis of perfect order is the information of the people. She has proved the old maxim, that " No government, except a despotism with a standing army, can subsist where the people have arms," is false. Ever since the first settlement of the country, arms have been required to be in the hands of the whole multitude of New England ; yet the use of them in a private quarrel, if it have ever happened, is so rare, that a late writer, of great intelligence, who had passed his whole life in New England, and pos- sessed extensive means of information, declares, "I know not a single instance of it." She has proved, that a people, of a character essentially military, may subsist without duelling. New England has, at all times, been distinguished, both on the land and on the ocean, for a daring, fear- less, and enterprising spirit ; yet the same writer asserts, that during the whole period of her existence, her soil has been disgraced but by fire duels, and that only two of these were fought by her native inhabitants ! Perhaps this assertion is not minutely correct. There can, however, be no question, that it is sufficiently near the truth to justify the position for which it is here adduced, and which the history of New England, as well as the experience of her inhabitants, abundantly confirms ; that, in the present and in every past age, the spirit of our institutions has, to every important practical purpose, annihilated the spirit of duelling.
Such are the true glories of the institutions of our fathers! Such the natural fruits of that patience in toil, that frugality of disposition, that temperance of habit, that general diffusion of knowledge, and that sense of religious responsibility, inculcated by the precepts, and exhibited in the example of every generation of our ancestors !
What then, in conclusion of this great topic, are the elements of the
26
BOSTON.
liberty, prosperity, and safety, which the inhabitants of New England at this day enjoy ? In what language, and concerning what comprehensive truths, does the wisdom of former times address the inexperience of the future ?
Those elements are simple, obvious, and familiar.
Every civil and religious blessing of New England, all that here gives happiness to human life, or security to human virtue, is alone to be per- petuated in the forms and under the auspices of a free commonwealth.
The commonwealth itself has no other strength or hope, than the in- telligence and virtue of the individuals that compose it.
For the intelligence and virtue of individuals, there is no other human assurance than laws providing for the education of the whole people.
These laws themselves have no strength, or efficient sanction, except in the moral and accountable nature of man, disclosed in the records of the Christian's faith ; the right to read, to construe, and to judge concerning which, belongs to no class or cast of men, but exclusively to the indi- vidual, who must stand or fall by his own acts and his own faith, and not by those of another.
The great comprehensive truths, written in letters of living light on every page of our history, - the language addressed by every past age of New England to all future ages is this ; - Human happiness has no per- fect security but freedom ; - freedom none but virtue ; - virtue none but knowledge ; and neither freedom, nor virtue, nor knowledge has any vigor, or immortal hope, except in the principles of the Christian fuith and in the sanctions of the Christian religion.
Men of Massachusetts! Citizens of Boston ! descendants of the early emigrants! consider your blessings ; consider your duties. You have an inheritance acquired by the labors and sufferings of six successive gener- ations of ancestors. They founded the fabric of your prosperity, in a severe and masculine morality ; having intelligence for its cement, and religion for its groundwork. Continue to build on the same foundation, and by the same principles ; let the extending temple of your country's freedom rise, in the spirit of ancient times, in proportions of intellectual and moral architecture, - just, simple, and sublime. As from the first to this day, let New England continue to be an example to the world, of the blessings of a free government, and of the means and capacity of man to maintain it. And, in all times to come, as in all times past. may Bos- ton be among the foremost and the boldest to exemplify and uphold what- ever constitutes the prosperity, the happiness, and the glory of New England.
-
1
NOTICES
OF PROMINENT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF
BOSTON.
[The following narrative is but little more than an abbreviated compilation from Snow's History of Boston. Holmes's Annals, and other works, have been occasion- ally consulted. ]
IF the city of Boston, and the surrounding communities, in their present state of population and general prosperity, are regarded as the successful issue of a great enterprise, conceived in the highest spirit of adventure, demanding in its commencement courage to overcome great obstacles and fortitude to endure sharp trials, and in its progress, judg. ment, energy, and that perseverance which keeps honor bright, its his- tory, however briefly written, must possess attractions for the contempla- tive mind.
If, as has been observed, the relation is deficient in all those mysterious and uncertain traditions which claim to invest the local histories of the Old World with the charmy of poetry, it will not be denied by those who trace the present state of things from its humble beginning, and consider how comparatively short has been the
" blossoming time, That from the seedness the bare fallow brings To teeming faison,"
that it abounds in features of development, and in incidents, which are to be counted among those truths more strange than fiction, upon which the thoughts and sympathies dwell, not with the evanescent feelings stimu- lated by tales of fancy, but with profound and lasting emotions of wonder and gratitude.
To those who are familiarly acquainted with the nature of our people, and our city's institutions, and are fitly imbued with the spirit of the early founders of this republic, it must be always a pleasing occupation to
ـد
----
1 Y
23
HISTORY OF
pass in review the various forms under which our social and political life has been unfolded here, in what may with propriety be called the seat and centre of its being. In Boston may be found the most perfect mani- festation of the New England character throughout all its phases, from the severe and exclusive Puritan, contending for " freedom to worship God," whose contest would never have witnessed its present triumph had he been less stern and exacting, that is, less suited to the age in which he wrought, to the present advocate and practiser of universal toleration in religion and opinion, -the latter being the natural and rightful descendant of the former, - the liberty and independence once established (and for the first time on earth), expanding its broad wings to shield all sects and cover all doctrines.
But while this subject must be one of special interest to Americans, and above all to the people of New England, still observers of less pene- tration, such as regard the history of this city only with that general concern belonging to the affairs of men, cannot fail on looking back to discern and follow out a natural and necessary sequence of events, ac- cording to which the present extent and flourishing condition of Boston and its dependencies are only the natural expansion of an originally vigorous root.
On the 19th of March, 1627 - 23, the council of Plymouth, in England, sold to some knights and gentlemen about Dorchester, that part of New England which lies between a great river called Merrimack, and a certain other river there called Charles. But shortly after this, these honorable persons were brought into an acquaintance with several other persons of quality about London, who associated with them, and jointly petitioned the king to confirm their right by a new patent, which he did in the fourth year of his reign. This patent, or charter, was dated on the 4th of March; and it is singular that this day, which dates the beginning of the first social contract in the history of mankind based upon self-govern- ment, and the broadest principles of civil and religious liberty, should still be preserved in our Federal Constitution as the period of those peace- ful changes in the administration of the affairs of the nation, which, in their constant recurrence, demonstrate that self-government is the secret of society, - that democracy is successful.
This charter constituted the associates, and all others who should be admitted into the association, one corporate body politic, by the name of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. Their general business was to be disposed and ordered by a court com- posed of a Governor, Deputy-Governor, and eighteen assistants. Be- tween the time of the purchase above mentioned, and the grant of the charter, one expedition of fifty or sixty persons, and another of three hundred and eighty-six men, women, and children, were sent out by the company, and formed establishments at Charlestown and Salem. Adven-
الـ
BOSTON.
turers from the latter place were well received by the Indian Chief Saga. more, the Sachem of that tribe, who is described as a man of gentle and good disposition.
The success attending these plantations, encouraged the company to persevere, and several of the principal members entered into an agree- ment to remove with themselves and families, provided the whole govern. ment, together with the patent, was legally transferred and established to remain in perpetuity with themselves, and the future inhabitants and free associates of the settlement.
This last proposition was accepted with hesitation, but finally acceded to as an inducement to gentlemen of wealth and quality to embark in the expedition with their property and families. Without retaining in their own hands the administration of the government, they would not have consented to risk their fortunes and happiness on such an arduous and distant enterprise. It is not probable that the full importance of this measure was foreseen at the time of its adoption, even by our fathers. It was demanded as a means of personal security and independence, and was characteristic of that self-respect. personal pride of character, and jealous love of liberty, which, after their religious zeal, most distinguished the founders of the city. Who, however, not endowed with the gift of prophecy, could have anticipated all the consequences which lay intreas- ured in those weak beginnings ?
But, if the men of that day, the kings and statesmen, the wise men of England, - wise in their generation only, we mean the hierarchy, - were utterly unconscious of the momentous results involved in their de- cisions, we, who live to witness those results, find no difficulty in tracing them back, through the progress of things, to their first elements. We must remember that the leading men in this enterprise were wealthy, and well connected at home; that they had honorable pursuits, and were in possession of ' fruitful lands, stately buildings, goodly orchards and gar- dens' in the country of their birth. They are spoken of as " persons of quality and distinction." They were, moreover, "an excellent set of real and living Christians." By separating themselves from all the estab- lished societies of the Old World, and occupying a fresh and open field of action in the New World, they were able, without obstacle or inter- ruption, to create a community embodying and exemplifying all their peculiar opinions and traits of character.
The change in the affairs of the company before spoken of, occurred in August, 1629, and on the 20th of the ensuing October, a special court was held for the election of a Governor, Deputy-Governor, and Assistants, from among those who were about to emigrate. Mr. John Winthrop was chosen Governor, and Mr. Thomas Dudley, Deputy.
Preparations were immediately begun for the embarkation of a great colony, and they were carried on with such vigor, that by the end of
-
-
30
HISTORY OF
February, 1630, a fleet of fourteen sail was furnished with men, women, and children, with all the necessaries of life, with mechanics, and with people of good condition, wealth, and quality, to make a firm plantation. The number of the colonists embarked in this fleet was fifteen hundred, and the cost of the outfit of the expedition was about one million of dol- lars, at that time a very large sum. On the 14th of June, the Admiral of the New England fleet arrived at Salem. In the vessel that bore that distinction, Governor Winthrop and Mr. Isaac Johnson came passengers, and the Governor has left a journal containing a circumstantial account of the voyage, one event of which was, that the ship was cleared for action to engage a fleet of Dunkirkers, as they were thought to be; but the Dunkirkers proved to be their own friends, and so their "fear and danger was turned into mirth and friendly entertainment."
During this voyage, very strict attention to religious duties was ob- served, and the most rigid discipline enforced.
The original design, that the principal part of the colony should settle in one place, to be called Boston, was frustrated by various circumstances .. Governor Winthrop himself stopped at Charlestown, where several Eng- lish were already established; detachments that had arrived in other ves- sels before the Governor, set themselves down at Watertown and Dorches- ter. Salem was already inhabited, though the colony was found in a sad condition. Above eighty deaths had occurred the winter before, and many of the survivors were weak and sickly.
The first intention of the Governor, and those with him, was to make Charlestown their permanent abode, but from this he was deterred by the increasing sickness there also, attributed to the bad water, for as yet the inhabitants had found only one brackish spring, and that not accessible except when the tide was down. Besides those settled at Charlestown, there was one Englishman of the name of Samuel Maverick living on Noddle's Island, now East Boston, who made some figure in the history of the after times; and another named William Blackstone, an Episcopal clergyman, who resided in a small cottage on the south side of Charles River, near a point on the western side of a peninsula, which, at high water, appeared like two islands. The Indians called this peninsula Shawmut, but the English settlers had given it the name of TRIMOUN- TAIN, on account of its presenting the appearance, when seen from Charlestown, of three large hills, on the westernmost of which were three eminences, whilst on the brow of one of these eminences appeared three hillocks. This singular repetition of the same form gave rise, probably, to the name of Trimountain.
Mr. Blackstone, taking compassion upon the unhappy condition of the colony, invited the Governor and his friends to remove to his side of the river ; and in August, Mr. Johnson, an influential and leading man, to- gether with several others, began a settlement. But previous to this, on
·
1
31
BOSTON.
the 30th day of July, Governor Winthrop, Deputy.Governor Dudley, Mr. Johnson, and the Rev. Mr. Wilson, signed a covenant in the following terms : -
"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in obedience to his holy will and divine ordinance,
" We, whose names are here underwritten, being by his most wise and good providence brought together into this part of America, in the Bay of Massachusetts, and desirous to unite into one congregation or church, under the Lord Jesus Christ, our head, in such sort, as becometh all those whom he hath redeemed and sanctified to himself, do hereby solemnly and religiously, as in his most holy presence, promise and bind ourselves to walk in all our ways according to the rule of the gospel, and in all sincere conformity to his holy ordinances, and in mutual love and respect to each other so near, as God shall give us grace."
Others were soon added to this church. The covenant itself, and the immediate attention of the prominent individuals of the colony to re- ligion, and the establishment of a visible church, are introduced as sig- hificant indications of the true spirit of the time, and the objects of the expedition.
The first meeting of the Court of Assistants under the authority of the new patent was held on board the ship Arabella, at Charlestown, on the 23d of August, at which the first question propounded was, - How shall the ministers be maintained ? That was met by ordering that houses should be built for them at the public charge, and that their salaries should be established. The minister at Watertown, Mr. Phillips, was to have thirty pounds a year, and Mr. Wilson twenty pounds a year, until his wife came over. All this was at the common charge, and Governor Winthrop undertook to see it executed.
At the second meeting of the Court of Assistants, the name of Boston was given to the settlement of Trimountain ; this took place on the 7th day of September, 1630, which is the date of the foundation of the city, now preserved on the city seal. It is understood that this name was selected partly in compliment to the Rev. John Cotton, at that time an eminent dissenting preacher at Boston, in Lincolnshire, who was soon expected to join the colony, and partly because Boston had been one of the noted scenes of persecution of the Puritans, and partly again because several of the first settlers were born there. The name of Boston was originally designed for the chief city, and it is not improbable that Win- throp and Johnson had the sagacity to perceive that the peninsula pos- sessed all the physical features suited to great commercial prosperity and enterprise.
Having now brought our fathers to the permanent earthly home of themselves and their posterity, let us endeavor to create to our minds some idea of the state and appearance of this now world-renowned spot,
32
HISTORY OF
when it was in a state of almost savage nature, only inhabited by Aborigi- nal Indians. We look in vain for any recognizable trace of this period in the present condition of the region. The hills of Boston have been dug down and carried away for the convenience of building, and the loose material thus collected has been used to fill up large tracts of marsh and mud-lands; woods have been cut down on the main land and the islands ; the forest of trees is supplanted by the forest of masts, the forest of na. ture by that of art ; and in every direction the tokens of a highly flour- ishing and populous society have usurped the seat of a comparatively bleak solitude. But the imagination of an agreeable writer, Mr. Lothrop Motley, of Boston, has supplied us with a picture of the original Shaw- mut, both graphic and natural, in his work called "Merry Mount," to which we must refer the reader.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.