USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > St. Botolph's town; an account of old Boston in colonial days > Part 10
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extract of Mrs. Norton's Deed [this lady was the widow of the Reverend John Norton, had owned the land upon which the church was built 1 and had given the same in trust for ever " for the erecting of a house for their assem- bling themselves together publiquely to wor- ship God."] and How 'twas built by particu- lar persons as Hull, Oliver £100 a piece &c." All this appears to have been of non-avail, how- ever, for three days later, the Diary sadly re- cords: "The Govr has service in ye South Meetinghouse; Goodm. Needham (the Sex- ton) tho' had resolv'd to ye Contrary, was prevail'd upon to Ring ye Bell and open ye door at ye Governour's Comand, one Smith and Hill, Joiner and Shoemaker, being very busy about it. Mr. Jno. Usher was there, whether at ye very begining, or no, I can't tell."
Yet a year later even Sewall has so far capitulated as to be willing to attend part of a Church of England service in this same church. The occasion, to be sure, was one to make a tender-hearted man forget enmities for the nonce, for it was the " Funeral of ye Lady Andros, I having been invited by ye Clark of ye South-Company. Between 7 and 8 Lychrs
1 See " Romance of Old New England Churches."
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[torches ] illuminating ye cloudy air The Corps was carried into the Herse drawn by six Horses. The Souldiers making a Guard from ye Governour's House down ye Prison Lane to ye South-M. House, there taken out and car- ried in at ye western dore and set in ye Alley before ye pulpit with six Mourning women by it. House made light with candles and Torches; was a great noise and clamor to keep people out of ye House, yt might not rush in too soon. I went home, where about nine a clock I heard ye Bell toll again for ye Funeral. It seems Mr. Ratcliff's Text was, Cry, all flesh is Grass." Three years later an Episcopal church, the King's Chapel, was built on the spot where it now stands. But by this time Sir Edmund Andros had paid the penalty of the affront he had put upon the Puritans by for- cing them to lend their cherished meeting-house for a service utterly obnoxious to them.
Besides the church affront two others even more vital were offered by this choice of the English crown. One of these was his assump- tion of the power of taxation without their con- sent; the other was the laying down of the principle that all titles to lands had been vacated along with the charter and that who- ever wanted a sound title must get his claim
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1
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confirmed by Sir Edmund, - and pay for it. In short, as Cotton Mather said, " all was done that might be expected from a Kirk, Except the Bloody Part. But that was coming on." He and his father honestly believed, as did many other good people of New England that their heads were in danger! Increase Mather ac- cordingly opposed Andros in every possible way beseeching God the while to " send Revi- ving News out of England." As if in answer to this prayer James II issued in April, 1687, his Declaration of Indulgence which, though designed, of course, to relieve the Catholics, was very grateful to Dissenters as well assur- ing them, as it did, of entire freedom to meet and serve God in their own way.
So full of joy were the ministers of New England that they wished to hold a public thanksgiving and when Sir Edmund forbade this, with threats of military force, they drew up, on the motion of Increase Mather, an ad- dress of thanks to the king. This it was thought best to intrust to some " well qualified person " who " might by the Help of such Protestant Dissenters as the King began, upon Political Views, to cast a fair Aspect upon, Obtain some Relief to the Growing Distresses of the Country; and Mr, Mather was the Per-
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son that was pitch'd upon." Since 1685 this busy minister had been president of Harvard College as well as one of the first citizens of Boston. Randolph hated him violently and was determined to prevent his embarkation, if pos- sible. So, when his church had released him and the college had bidden him God Speed he had to slip off, in disguise, in order to avoid arrest! After being concealed at what was afterwards the Pratt House in Chelsea he was carried by boat, on a night early in April, 1688, to the ship, President, lying outside the bay. Safely aboard he sailed away to England, charged with the enormous task of persuading a Catholic king to restore, of his own free will, the vacated charter of Massachusetts.
The Mathers feared that it was James's pur- pose to set up the Roman Catholic religion in America, and Increase Mather was secretly determined, therefore, to bring back into power the theocratic democracy of the fathers. As a means to this end he hoped to obtain for the College, whose head he had the honour to be, a royal charter by which it should be perma- nently secured to the Calvinists who had founded and cherished it.
King James received him graciously enough, but answered his requests only in fair-sounding
..
.
THE PRATT HOUSE, CHELSEA
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promises. He could, indeed, do little else for his own seat was far from secure; and, in less than a year from the time Increase Mather sailed from Boston William and Mary were proclaimed rulers of England and its terri- tories. Sewall, who had gone to join Mather in London, gives us a vivid account of these rapid and far-reaching changes.
In Boston several very important steps were taken even before the accession of William and Mary was established as a fact. For on April 4, 1689, there came over a young man named John Winslow, bearing with him a copy of the Declaration issued by the Prince of Orange upon his landing in England. Sir Edmund Andros would not listen to Winslow and an- grily committed him to prison " for bringing traitorous and treasonable libels and papers of news." But the people of Massachusetts were willing to take their chance on William's turning out the king he had proclaimed himself to be and, on April 18, Boston rose in arms and seized the chief magistrates.
This was perhaps the most astounding inci- dent in the whole history of Boston. There does not appear to have been any plan to seize the reins of government or to rise up in arms. Yet it was just this which was done. " I knew
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not anything of what was intended until it was begun," writes an eye-witness, " yet being at the north end of the town where I saw boys running along the streets with clubs in their hands, encouraging one another to fight, I be- gan to mistrust what was intended; and, ha- sting towards the Town Dock I soon saw men running for their arms, but before I got to the Red Lion I was told that Captain George and the Master of the Frigate [upon which Andros had tried to escape] were seized and secured in Mr. Colman's house, at the North End; and when I came to the Town Dock I understood that Bullivant and some others of them were laid hold of, and then, immediately the drums began to beat and the people hastened and ran, some with and some for arms. Young Dudley and Colonel Lidget with some difficulty attained to the Fort."
The fort, in which Andros had promptly in- trenched himself, was at the summit of Fort Hill, on the site of what is now Fort Hill Square. This hill was formerly one of the three great hills of "Treamount " (Copp's Hill and Beacon Hill being the two others) and ascended sharply from the foot of what is now Milk street. From this safe place Andros sent forth messengers, requesting the four minis-
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ters and one or two other persons of impor- tance in the town to come to him for consulta- tion. But they refused on the ground that they did not think such action safe.
For, " by this time," as our eye-witness con- tinues, " all the persons who they [the revo- lutionists] concluded not to be for their side were seized and secured. ... All the com- panies were soon rallied together at the Town House, where assembled Captain Winthrop, Shrimpton, Page and many other substantial men to consult matters: in which time the old Governor [Bradstreet] came among them at whose appearance there was a great shout by the soldiers."
The self-restraint exercised both by the peo- ple and by Andros on this occasion seem to me very remarkable. Both sides were full of de- sire to fight, but neither was quite sure just how things stood in England and so let wisdom be the better part of valour. In the Assembly the following paper was drawn up and sent to Andros :
" AT THE TOWN HOUSE IN BOSTON, " April 18, 1689.
" To SIR EDMUND ANDROS,
" SIR: Ourselves and many others, the in-
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habitants of this town and the places adjacent, being surprised with the people's sudden ta- king up of arms; in the first motion, whereof we were wholly ignorant, being driven by the present accident, are necessitated to acquaint your Excellency that for the quieting and se- curing of the people inhabiting in this country from the imminent dangers they many ways lie open and disposed to, and tendering your own safety, we judge it necessary you forthwith surrender and deliver up the Government and Fortifications to be preserved and disposed ac- cording to order and direction from the Crown of England, which suddenly is expected may arrive; promising all security from violence to yourself or any of your gentlemen or soul- diers in person and estate; otherwise we are assured they will endeavour the taking of the Fortification by storm, if any opposition be made : -
SIMON BRADSTREET,
JOHN RICHARDS,
ELISHA COOKE,
Js. ADDINGTON,
JOHN FOSTER,
SAMUEL SHRIMPTON,
PETER SERGEANT,
DAVID WATERHOUSE,
ADAM WINTHROP,
J. NELSON, WAIT WINTHROP,
WILLIAM STOUGHTON,
THOMAS DANFORTH,
WILLIAM BROWNE,
BARTHOLO. GEDNEY."
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At first Andros refused to do what was here demanded, but, after a little reflection, he com- plied and Captain Fairweather, with his sol- diers proceeded to take peaceable possession of the fort. The deposed governor with his friends was then marched with scant ceremony to the Town House, from the balcony of which William's Declaration had already been read to the assembled crowd. Upon the demand of the country people, who had come armed into the town, he was bound and straightway sent back as a prisoner to the fort he had just sur- rendered. The people, too, were all for resu- ming the vacated charter, but it was finally de- cided that the old officers of the government of 1686 should assume a sort of conservative control until more news should be received from England. The day following this ar- rangement a ship arrived proclaiming that William and Mary were indeed king and queen. The writers of the time pronounce this " the most joyful news ever before re- ceived in Boston." Certainly the Puritans were unwontedly gay in celebrating it, " civil and military officers, merchants and principal gentlemen of the Town and Country, being on horseback, the regiment of the Town and many companies of horses and foot from the Country
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appearing in arms; a grand entertainment was prepared in the Town-house and wine was served out to the soldiers! "
All that summer and the following autumn Sir Edmund Andros, Joseph Dudley and " the rest of his crew," as Cotton Mather express- ively put it, were kept prisoners. Some at- tempts at escape were made by the chief cap- tive, and at one time he even got as far as Rhode Island before being retaken. On one previous occasion, he had passed two guards in the disguise of woman's clothing, and if he had taken as much care about his boots, in preparing for flight, as with the rest of his make-up, he would undoubtedly have secured his liberty. The Provisional Government did not keep him confined because it wanted to however, only because it did not know what else to do with him. We can be sure the whole town gave a deep sigh of relief when an order from the king was received, the following Feb- ruary, that the prisoners should be sent to England.
Meanwhile Increase Mather in England had been rapidly making friends with the new sov- ereign. At first it even looked as if he would be able to obtain the first charter again, but while the matter was hanging fire, the enemies
SIR WILLIAM PHIPS
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of the old system busied themselves against it. Yet if Mather failed to reinstate the old charter, he did succeed in separating New Eng- land from the other colonies and in securing for it a charter much more liberal than was granted to any other colony. And while he could not prevent the provision of a royal gov- ernor equipped with a veto power, he was adroit enough to have the territories of Nova Scotia, Maine and Plymouth annexed to Mas- sachusetts and to gain a confirmation for all the grants made by the General Court. Also he was able practically to select the new gov- ernor. After four years of unremitting effort, therefore, he sailed in March, 1692, for New England pretty well satisfied with himself.
The new governor was Sir William Phips and his lieutenant-governor was William Stoughton, who had been bred for the church and who possessed just enough bigotry to make him very acceptable to the clergy. The news of the men whom the elder Mather had caused to be put into office was so glorious to the son, who had been watching and working at home, that he broke into a shout of triumph when he heard it: " The time has come. The set time has come. I am now to receive an answer of so many prayers. All the counsellor's of the
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province are of my father's nomination; and my father-in-law with several related unto me, and several brethren of my own church are among them. The governor of the province is not my enemy but one whom I baptized; namely Sir William Phips, one of my own flock and one of my dearest friends."
A most romantic figure was this new gov- ernor. Born in the woods of Maine, one of a family of twenty-six children, he had early been left to pick up, as best he could, his living and his scanty education. At the age of twenty-two he came to Boston in pursuit of the fortune he had determined should be his and, while working at his trade of carpenter, attracted the attention of a prosperous widow. This lady had the advantage of him both in years and in estate, but the marriage which soon followed proved a fairly happy one, - and it certainly helped Phips to launch out into the profession of ship-builder, through which he afterwards came to renown. On one of his voyages he heard of a Spanish treasure- ship which had been sunk in the waters of the Spanish main and, fired with ambition to raise from the deep the untold wealth the ship was supposed to contain, he went to London and, young and unknown though he was, managed
E
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so to plead his cause that (in 1684) James II gave him an eighteen-gun ship and ninety-five men with which to make his fortune - and the king's. For two years he cruised in the West Indies without any very striking success, but he did obtain, during this time, knowledge of the precise spot where the treasure-ship had foundered, nearly half a century before, and when he returned to England he gave such a good account of this to the Duke of Albermarle and other courtiers that he managed to obtain from them another vessel, on shares. This time he succeeded in his expedition.
One wonders if Stevenson had not freshly read the story of Phips's adventures when he wrote his incomparable Treasure Island. Cer- tainly in this case history fairly rivals fiction. For Phips's men mutinied, one poor fellow went mad at the mere thought of the wealth which was to be his if only he would do his duty, there was a lot of fighting, much diplomacy of a sort and through it all the cleverness of a born sea dog. But Phips accomplished his purpose. From the sunken galleon he raised bullion to the value of £300,000 together with many precious stones. After the shares had been distributed according to contract there was about £20,000 for his own share. Armed
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with this, a gold cup that the Duke of Alber- marle had caused to be fashioned for his wife, and reinforced by the rank of knight, the Maine carpenter was able to sail in triumph back to his native New England. The time when he thus arrived was that of Andros, and the office bestowed upon the doughty sailor by James II had been " High Sheriff of New England." But since Phips knew nothing of law and could not write plainly, he was not a very great success as a sheriff. He did better as head of the expedition sent out in 1690 against Port Royal. But he failed in that against Quebec and so happened to be back in England and " out of a job " just at the time Increase Mather wanted a promising person to be first governor of the royal Province of Massachusetts.
Sir William Phips particularly recom- mended himself to the Mathers because they saw in him one whom the people would respect as self-made, and who would respect them as ministers of the Gospel. Increase Mather had preached the sermon, away back in 1674, which caused Phips to feel himself a sinner and seek for enrolment among the righteous of the state; Increase Mather also had now named him for the office which crowned his worldly
COTTON MATHER
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ambition. Why, then, might not Increase Mather expect, through Sir William Phips and a new charter, which gave the governor more power than he had ever had under the former one, to bring back the good old days of the theocracy? Unhappily for his hopes an unex- pected influence now entered into the life of the people. And it was because Cotton Mather was so intimate a part of this that the Mather dynasty finally fell.
The great tragedy of witchcraft! This and the part Cotton Mather played in it did for the theocracy, I repeat, what no mortal power could undo. Long before the time of the great outbreak at Salem, which constituted the most marked event of Phips's administration, there had occurred in Boston the somewhat notori- ous affair of the Goodwin children. To go deeply into the subject of witchcraft would not be fitting in this volume, especially as I have elsewhere 1 advanced what seems to me as good a theory as any concerning the delusion. More- over, certain phases of the whole matter are now beginning to be pretty well understood under the name of hypnotism, suggestion and the like. But they were not at all understood in Cotton Mather's time, and to blame him for
1 See " Romance of Old New England Roof-Trees."
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not possessing scientific knowledge to which we, two centuries later, have scarcely found the key seems as unfair as it is unnecessary. He had to pay the price, however, of the witch- craft trials which he incessantly urged on. And the process by which he paid it is cer- tainly our concern.
Let us therefore look into the affair of the children who were his special care. We may perhaps get the facts most clearly in mind by quoting from Governor Hutchinson's account, reproduced by Mr. Poole in the Memorial His- tory of Boston.
" In 1687 or 1688 began a more alarming in- stance than any that had preceded it. Four of the children of John Goodwin, a grave man and good liver at the north part of Boston, were generally believed to be bewitched. I have often heard persons who were in the neigh- bourhood speak of the great consternation it occasioned. The children were all remarkable for ingenuity of temper, had been religiously educated, were thought to be without guile. The eldest was a girl of thirteen or fourteen years. She had charged a laundress with ta- king away some of the family linen. The mother of the laundress was one of the wild Irish, of bad character, and gave the girl harsh
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language; soon after which she fell into fits which were said to have something diabolical in them. One of her sisters and two brothers followed her example, and, it is said, were tor- mented in the same part of their bodies at the same time, although kept in separate apart- ments and ignorant of one another's com- plaints. ... Sometimes they would be deaf, then dumb, then blind; and sometimes all these disorders together would come upon them. Their tongues would be drawn down their throats, then pulled out upon their chins. Their jaws, necks, shoulders, elbows and all other joints would appear to be dislocated, and they would make the most piteous outcries of burnings, of being cut with knives, beat, etc., and the marks of wounds were afterwards to be seen.
" The ministers of Boston and Charlestown kept a day of fasting and prayer at the troubled house; after which the youngest child made no more complaints. The others perse- vered and the magistrates then interposed, and the old woman was apprehended; but upon ex- amination would neither confess nor deny, and appeared to be disordered in her senses. Upon the report of physicians that she was compos
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mentis, she was executed, declaring at her death the children should not be relieved."
This case derives its peculiar interest from the fact that Cotton Mather wrote a book about it and then engaged in numerous controversies in defence of statements which were made therein. He also preached upon the subject more than was either wise or good when one considers that all delusions grow by what they feed upon. Such words as these seem clearly reprehensible from a " man of God: " " Con- sider the misery of them whom witchcraft may be let loose upon. ... O what a direful thing it is to be prickt with pins and stabbed with knives all over, and to be fill'd all over with broken bones." In a credulous community the mere circulation of suggestions like these served almost literally to pour oil upon the fire.
So by the time Sir William Phips landed in the chief city of his province the prisons were filled to overflowing with those suspected of witchcraft and those who had given informa- tion on the subject. One of his first acts, there- fore, - and there is little reason to doubt that it was suggested by the Mathers, - was to ap- point a special court of Oyer and Terminer to try the witches. Of this court William Stough-
WILLIAM STOUGHTON
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ton, the bigoted Deputy Governor, was made chief justice; and Samuel Sewall was ap- pointed one of his associates. When their stomachs for the horrible work upon which they had enlisted failed them they applied to
the Boston ministers for advice.
Cotton
Mather " earnestly recommended that the pro- ceedings should be vigorously carried on." It is for this recommendation that he is execrated to-day. But I do not see why we should doubt the honesty of his purpose in giving this harsh counsel. Witchcraft was to him a terrible reality and the active presence of the devil in the world a thing in which he implicitly be- lieved. More than once in his various writings he adduces as evidence of the devil's activity the fact that steeples of churches are more often struck by lightning than are any other edifices !
Soon no one was safe from accusation, even Mr. Willard, the pastor of the Old South, being threatened and Lady Phips herself named. Possibly it was this bringing of the thing home which made the governor put an abrupt stop to proceedings that had already begun to menace the well-being of the entire community. Very likely, too, he had come to fear, that he might be called to account in England. At any
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rate the court so unceremoniously instituted by him was summarily dismissed and a general pardon issued to all those who had been con- victed or accused. And though a few infatu- ated individuals continued to urge prosecu- tions juries refused to bring in the verdict of guilty, - and Judge Samuel Sewall stood up manfully (in 1696) at the old South Church while his confession of having done wrong in admitting " spectral evidence " at the witch- craft trials was read aloud by one of the clergy- men. Stoughton, when he heard of this, de- clared that he had no such confession to make having acted according to the best light God had given him. Nor did Cotton Mather feel at this time any consciousness of wrong-doing. Seventeen years later, however, when his pub- lic influence was on the wane and the power of the Church, for which he had had such hopes, was also notably diminished he wrote in his Diary: " I entreated the Lord that I might un- derstand the meaning of the Descent from the Invisible World which, nineteen years ago, pro- duced a sermon from me, a good part of which is now published." The sermon in question was the one which had done so much to incite the witch trials. Evidently Cotton Mather had at last come to doubt its inspiration.
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Witchcraft, however, was by no means the worst of poor Sir William Phips's troubles. He had to carry on French and Indian wars not all of which turned out well, the new charter was not nearly so much liked as the Mathers had hoped it might be, and, - what was of more importance than anything else, - the governor had a hasty temper and was in-
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