USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > St. Botolph's town; an account of old Boston in colonial days > Part 4
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continently to convene Mr. Cotton " before that " infamous " Court. Some time previ- ously the Earl of Dorset had promised to do what he could for Cotton should he be perse- cuted as others before him had been, but now, when appealed to, he replied " that if Mr. Cot- ton had been guilty of drunkenness, of unclean- ness, or any such lesser fault, he could have obtained his pardon; but inasmuch as he had been guilty of Nonconformity and Puritanism, the crime was unpardonable and therefore he must fly for his safety ! "
Accordingly, Mr. Cotton travelled in dis- guise to London and while hesitating between Holland, Barbadoes and New England decided to set sail for the last-named place. To this decision he was no doubt much influenced by the pressing invitations of friends and by " letters procured from the Church of Boston by Mr. Winthrop, the Governor of the Col- ony." Boston in New England was certainly very glad to welcome him. It was a figurative saying there for many years that the lamp in the lantern of St. Botolph's ceased to burn when Cotton left that church to become a shi- ning light in the wilderness of New England.
His ascendency seems to have been a purely personal one, however. Though Hutchinson
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says that he was more instrumental in the set- tlement of the civil as well as the ecclesiastical polity of New England than any other person one finds little in his writing to explain his power. And the "insinuating and melting way " which Hubband attributed to him is con- spicuous chiefly by its absence from the pub- lished sermons which have come down to us. He became the progenitor of many of the best and most useful citizens Boston has had, and these good people are ever zealous to link the Old Boston to the new. This very winter of 1908, for instance, they have been approached by the mayor of the old-world city to help re- pair a portion of St. Botolph's church as a sign of love for its " shining light."
The request this functionary made seems rather odd until one has heard what our Bos- ton gladly did in this respect more than fifty years ago. The story is told briefly in a sound- ing Latin inscription written by the Honour- able Edward Everett and engraved upon a memorial plate in the southwest chapel of St. Botolph's, now called Cotton Chapel, in honour of him who was once minister of the church. Put into English it reads :
" In perpetual remembrance of John Cotton who, during the reigns of James and Charles
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was, for many years, a grave, skilful and la- borious vicar of this church. Afterward, on account of the miserable commotion amongst sacred affairs in his own country, he sought a new settlement in a new world, and remained even to the end of his life a pastor and teacher of the greatest reputation and of the greatest authority in the first church of Boston in New England, which city received this venerable name in honour of Cotton. Two hundred and twenty-five years having passed away since his migration, his descendants and the American citizens of Boston were invited to this pious work by their English brethren in order that the name of an illustrious man, the love and honour of both worlds, might not any longer be banished from that noble temple in which he diligently, learnedly and sacredly ex- pounded the divine oracles for so many years; and they have willingly and gratuitously caused this shrine to be restored, and this tab- let to be erected, in the year of our recovered salvation, 1855."
Those who then subscribed to the chapel have, almost all of them, descendants bearing the same names who are to-day living in and about Boston. These people it is, no doubt, who will gladly respond to the request of the
COTTON CHAPEL, ST. BOTOLPH'S, BOSTON, ENGLAND
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English mayor. For the original contributors were, in the majority of cases, either descend- ants of John Cotton, or husbands of wives so descended. To the former class belonged John Eliot Thayer, who gave $250; Edward, Gor- ham, Sidney and Peter C. Brooks, who gave $100 each, and John Chipman Gray, who gave $50. Among the husbands of Cotton's women descendants who contributed were Charles Francis Adams, Edward Everett and Langdon Frothingham, each of whom gave $100. Other well-known names on the list of donors are Nathan and William Appleton, George Ban- croft, Martin Brimmer, Abbott Lawrence, John Amory Lowell, Jonathan Phillips, Jared Sparks, Frederic Tudor and John Collins Warren.
The good feeling between the two Bostons, which was cemented by these generous gifts toward the Cotton Chapel, seems to date from the reopening of the church, two years earlier, for which occasion several gentlemen from our Boston were invited to England, at least four of whom were able to be present.
In our public library may be found a curious little sheet which gives an account of the exer- cises. In print so poor and so small as to nearly ruin the eyes are there recorded the
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speeches of the day. One of these, made by Col. T. B. Lawrence of this city, expresses regret that " the domestic institutions of the states of the south " were being warmly de- bated in the English drawing-rooms of that time. Happily, Cotton's Boston descendants did not all think alike on this important sub- ject !
V
SIR HARRY VANE - - PROPHET AND MARTYR
THOMAS DUDLEY, whom Cotton's zeal had caused to be chosen as Winthrop's successor, was himself left out of the governorship at the election of May, 1635, and John Haynes elected in his stead. Then there arrived in Boston two men of very different character both of whom, however, were destined to make a deep mark in the history of their time and eventually to die on the scaffold for allegiance to the truth as they saw it. These two men were Hugh Peters and Sir Harry Vane. Peters had been the pastor of the English church in Rotterdam and had there been per- secuted by the English ambassador. Vane was heir to Sir Harry Vane, Comptroller of the king's household, a man of great impor- tance in the politics of the time. And his son has a personality of so much interest that I am resolved to trace his life fom its bright beginning to its glorious end even if, in so
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doing, I run somewhat ahead of my narrative and carry my readers far away from Boston in New England. The fact is that one usually encounters only the Massachusetts segment of Vane's wonderful life and so is deprived of opportunity to judge his career in its whole- ness and to realize that he, more than any other man, is the " link that binds together the severed divisions of the English-speaking race."
One American writer, Charles Wentworth Upham, has pointed out in the preface to his really capital " Life of Sir Harry Vane," that there is an interesting parallel between the career of this hero and that of Lafayette. Both were scions of an aristocratic house and might easily have passed their youth follow- ing the pleasures of court life and indulging in those enervating relaxations commonly as- sociated with young aristocrats. Instead, however, both yearned towards America, Lafayette because he saw in the new land a chance to realize the vision of political free- dom which illumined his young soul, Harry Vane because he thought to find here " free- dom to worship God." Both paid dearly in youth and in middle life for their devotion to an ideal, and Vane finally suffered death upon
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the block. But because of them American his- tory contains at least two highly romantic chapters and is more deeply inspiring than it could ever have been without them. For each served in his own era to point the truth that the only really great man is he who, with never a thought of self, unswervingly " follows the gleam " even when it leads to exile, prison and death.
Sir Harry Vane was born in 1612, one of a very numerous family of children. His father had been knighted by James I and though only in the early twenties at the time of the younger Harry's birth, was already on the way to eminence in the government of England. At the preparatory school in Westminster and while at Magdalen College in Oxford young Vane bade fair to follow a similar career along the line of least resistance. He was gay, ad- dicted to pleasure and, as he himself says, fond of "good fellowship." But when he was about seventeen he began to interest himself in theology and, the fascination of this subject growing rapidly upon him, he pursued it further and further, at the same time aliena- ting himself as a natural result from the form of worship and doctrine established by law. When the period of his matriculation arrived
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he declined to take the oath of allegiance and, leaving Oxford, passed over to Holland and France, finally settling down for some time in Geneva.
Residence in the stronghold of Calvinism naturally strengthened the young man's bent towards doctrinal speculations and spiritual exercises and as it was never part of his habit to conceal his opinions, the king was soon being informed by his bishops that the heir of an important family, closely connected with the throne, had conceived a dislike for the dis- cipline and ceremonies of the Church of Eng- land. Whereupon, Laud was instructed to ex- postulate with the young Puritan and wean him back to the true faith. The young dis- senter had learned his new lesson well, how- ever, and he was much more than a match for Laud in theological discussion. Perceiving which, the haughty prelate lost his temper and tried to threaten where he could not persuade. This naturally did not endear his doctrines to Harry Vane, whose ardent soul was aflame with love for the meek and gentle One Laud only professed to serve. Accordingly he an- nounced his purpose of going to New England, where those who believed as he did stood ready to give him a warm welcome and, although his
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HARRY VANE Afterwards Sir Henry Vane
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father at first opposed the plan, he soon as- sented to it, having found the king to be quite in favour of removing the aristocratic heretic.
The excitement occasioned by the coming to the colony of this brilliant youth, not yet twenty-three, who was heir to a title and a fine estate, whose hand had not yet been pledged in marriage and who was, besides, exceedingly handsome and distinguished-looking, can be better imagined than described. That he should at such an age, after visiting foreign capitals and witnessing all the splendours and enticements which the gay and brilliant world holds out to those of his rank and condition, voluntarily take up the self-denying unevent- ful life of the Boston of that day was held to mean, as indeed it did mean, deep desire to realize himself spiritually. Accordingly Win- throp and the rest gave him the right hand of fellowship without any of the usual delays and, within a month after his arrival young Vane found himself an honoured member of John Cotton's congregation.
A year later he was chosen governor of the colony, Winthrop, who was twice his age, being appointed his deputy. "Because he was son and heir to a Privy Councillor in England, the ships congratulated his election with a volley
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of great shot," comments the Journal. But Vane deserved the salutes of the cannon on his own account as well as on his family's. He was a remarkable youth. In the perplexing civil and religious controversies which now came crowding thick and fast, he soon found scope, however, for all the tolerance and good judgment he could possibly command.
The most appealing of these controversies, from the point of view of those who care chiefly for the human side of history, was that which centred about Mrs. Hutchinson. A later chapter will discuss this matter in some detail, so we will here touch upon it only so far as it concerns the young governor, precip- itated, at twenty-four, into disputes that would have made many an older head ache with their complexities. Like a youth he took the gen- erous and what proved to be the wrong ( ?) side of the question. And this, added to the fact that his sudden elevation had nursed deep jealousies of him, proved his undoing in Mas- sachusetts. Naught did it avail that he showed great sagacity in dealing with the Indians and extraordinary tact in smoothing the ruffled sensibilities of the older magistrates. The fact remained that he was too popular with the masses, too young, too handsome, too zealous
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for liberty of conscience to be acceptable to those who had borne the burden and heat of colonization and who saw their hard-won peace threatened by people with opinions subversive of theirs.
Even the noble Winthrop indulged, on at least one occasion, in jealousy of Vane's pop- ularity. The case in point occurred after the elder man had again been elected governor and so would, in the natural order of things, have entertained all distinguished visitors from abroad. But Lord James Ley (after- wards the Earl of Marlborough) snubbed his advances. He was then only a youth of nine- teen and he made no secret of preferring the society of the magnetic Vane to that of the dig- nified Winthrop. Vane had no house of his own for, upon arriving in Boston, he went to live with Mr. Cotton and there, or in an addi- tion made to the parsonage, stayed throughout his sojourn in Boston. But if he could not entertain Lord Ley in his own mansion he could put him up at the inn of a friend, which he at once proceeded to do, Winthrop at the moment being away on a two-days' visit to Lynn and Salem. The inn in question was that of Mr. Cole 1 and when the governor, upon his
1 See " Among Old New England Inns."
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return, proffered hospitality to Lord Ley, the latter politely declined, saying he " came not to be troublesome to any and the house where he was, was so well governed that he could be as private here as elsewhere." That Win- throp deeply resented this and an incident that followed is shown by an entry in his Journal under date of July, 1637: "The differences grew so much here," he wrote, referring to the religious troubles, " as tended fast to a separation; so as Mr. Vane being among oth- ers, invited by the Governor to accompany the Lord Ley at dinner, not only refused to come, alleging by letter that his conscience withheld him, but also, at the same hour, he went over to Noddle's Island to dine with Mr. Maverick, and carried the Lord Ley with him." This happened at the end of Vane's stay in Amer- ica, however, and we are only at the beginning.
The first act of his administration, accom- plished within a week of his induction into office, was one at which no one could cavil. It was an amicable arrangement by which all in- ward-bound vessels agreed to come to anchor below the fort in the harbour and wait there for the governor's pass; further, the captains agreed to submit their invoices to the inspec- tion of the government before discharging
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their cargoes; and, in addition, they gave their word that their crews should never be per- mitted to remain on shore after sunset except under urgent necessity. These measures, all of which made for the preservation of order in the community, were exceedingly important; but only a Vane could have carried them through, for they required the kind of han- dling no previous governor could give.
Soon, however, there arose a complication which no human creature could have solved to the satisfaction of everybody. A contuma- cious mate of the British vessel Hector, ob- serving that the king's colours were not dis- played at the fort, declared, on the deck of his vessel and in the presence of many of the townspeople then visiting her, that the colo- nists were all "traitors and rebels." Of course, the government had to take cognizance of this and, equally of course, the mate was made to apologize. But, after the dignity of the colony had been vindicated, the fact still remained that the king's colours were not fly- ing at the fort and the British officers could not say that they were should news of the af- fair be wafted back to England and the king moved to ask questions about the matter. Would not the governor, then, be so kind as
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to run up a flag, just to save their consciences?
Now, on the surface, this seemed an exceed- ingly reasonable request for British officers to make of a colony which held a charter from the crown and resented as an insult the imputa- tion that they were " rebels." But the Eng- lish flag displayed a " papal cross," an abom- ination no Puritan could bear! And on the board of magistrates who were requested to hoist this ensign sat John Endicott who, in a fit of insensate rage against the " emblem of papacy," had cut the red cross out of the flag! The issue was for a time deferred by the ex- planation that the whole colony contained not a single flag. But when the unsuspecting cap- tains courteously offered to present a flag to be hoisted at the fort, the magistrates, unable longer to dodge the issue, had to explain how matters stood. But they promised to display the king's colours on the king's fort, though protesting that they were fully persuaded that the cross in those same colours seemed to them idolatrous. The matter being thus adjusted to the satisfaction of everybody, the confer- ence was brought to a close.
But the clergy, who had a finger in every pie, were yet to be reckoned with, and when the case was submitted to them, that evening,
JOHN ENDICOTT
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in accordance with the practice of the govern- ment upon all important and difficult questions, they gave it as their opinion that the magis- trates had erred in saying that a flag bearing the badge of Romish superstition should be displayed on any terms whatever over Puritan soil. Whereupon the poor captains were or- dered to appear next morning, the whole mat- ter was again threshed out and the board voted, on reconsideration, not to display the flag. Governor Vane, though as conscientious a Puritan as any of them, could not sympa- thize with such proceedings. They seemed to him not only inconsistent but absurdly over- scrupulous. Mr. Dudley agreed with him and, the magistrates obstinately adhering to their last determination, the flag was displayed with- out the authority of the government and upon the personal responsibility of Mr. Vane and Mr. Dudley. In this case, as in dozens of crises which came later in his life, Sir Harry exhib- ited an admirable sense of proportion and jus- tified Milton's characterization of him as " Vane, young in year, but in sage counsel old." For had he not taken the action which he did on this occasion the colony would with- out doubt have been precipitated into enor- mous difficulties with which it was in no posi-
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tion then to cope. But, of course, he had to pay the price of his diplomacy. Had he not begun his career by defying the clergy? The attitude which he took in the Mrs. Hutchinson affair naturally did not help his cause. He believed with all his soul in religious liberty and, into the bargain, he admired Mrs. Hutch- inson as a woman of unquestionable piety as well as talent. Moreover, he was fresh from Geneva, where the impress of Calvin was still sharp and inclined all interested in intellectual pursuits to a delight in fine-spun theological discussion.
The occasion of his break with the ruling powers was, however, a law passed after Win- throp was again governor to the effect that a heavy penalty should be imposed upon any person who should receive into his house a stranger coming with intent to reside, or let to such an one a lot or habitation, without, in every instance, obtaining particular permis- sion of one of the standing council, or two of the assistant magistrates; and a large fine was also to be levied upon any person, which should without such permission, allow a stranger a residence. This law was aimed to prevent the reception into the colony of several friends of Rev. John Wheelwright, who would have
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joined the Hutchinson faction, but it was felt by many beside Harry Vane to be a violation of the rights of the people. So incensed were the inhabitants of Boston that they refused to meet the governor, as was their custom, when he returned from the legislature. Vane's stand in the matter was the broad liberty-lov- ing one of a man cosmopolitan by nature, Win- throp's that of a colonist bent, above every- thing else, upon preserving peace in the coun- try for which he had given his all. Both were honest with themselves and right from their own standpoint, only Vane had the far view as against Winthrop's short sight. In all jus- tice to the latter, however, it seems fair to re- member that he had suffered much more than Vane for the peace he was bent upon securing. Nor could he sail away, as Vane soon did, to a glorious career elsewhere. It is good, in this connection, to be able to record that Vane never forgot the country to which he had dedi- cated his ardent youth, and that Winthrop has left to posterity this cordial eulogy of the man who, for a time, utterly eclipsed him in a com- munity of which he was founder and patri- arch: " Although he might have taken occa- sion against us for some dishonor, which he apprehended to have been unjustly put upon
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him here, yet he showed himself at all times a true friend to New England and a man of noble and generous mind."
Soon after returning to England Vane mar- ried, and for a time it seemed as though he would remain in retirement and lead the quiet happy life of an English country-gentleman. But in the spring of 1640 he was induced to enter Parliament and, soon after, he was made Treasurer of the Navy and knighted by King Charles. Almost immediately, as a result of this preferment, he was singled out for ven- geance and insult by Sir Thomas Wentworth, afterward the Earl of Strafford. The means chosen by Wentworth to incense Sir Harry seems rather clumsy to us of to-day. The fam- ily seat of the Vanes was Raby Castle, and it was here that Sir Harry's father had been wont to entertain King Charles with such feu- dal splendour and princely pageantry as Scott has described for all time in " Kenilworth." To this castle the younger Sir Harry Vane would naturally fall heir, and so, purely out of contempt, as Wentworth's own biographer admits, the Earl of Strafford had his patent to the peerage made out with the style and title Baron Raby of Raby Castle, " an act of the most unnecessary provocation and one
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which was the chief occasion of the loss of Strafford's head."
For the elder Sir Harry Vane was not of a forgiving nature and, from now on, he pur- sued Lord Strafford with a fixed and deadly hostility. His son, on the other hand, felt himself free of embarrassing loyalties to a king who would permit his father to be so insulted and he forthwith devoted himself openly to the advocacy of those principles of freedom for which he had always contended. When Charles dissolved Parliament because it had not voted him the supplies he had asked for our Sir Harry was immediately reelected. And as he was now in the Long Parliament (so called in consequence of an act which it passed early in its session, and which the king was infatuated enough to sign, by which the body was assured against its own dissolution, except by its con- sent in both houses), the young member for Kingston upon Hull was for quite a term of years in a position greatly to influence the Eng- land of his time.
Here, as in the Massachusetts colony, he soon came to be a leader. Hallam, in his Constitu- tional History of England, accounts for this fact thus : " He was not only incorrupt but dis- interested, inflexible in conforming his public
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conduct to his principles, and averse to every sanguinary and oppressive measure; qualities not common in revolutionary chiefs." This very temperate dictum gives one rather a chill for the fact of the matter was that Vane was positively heroic in his contention for peace and liberty of conscience and abhorred every form of persecution and bigotry. Great as was his personal dislike for all that Papacy implied, he so exerted himself in the cause of Catholic emancipation as to bring down upon his head denunciations from Protestants whose cause he would have died for. Similarly, in the nego- tiations between Charles and the Parliament, he struggled with all his might for such terms as would assure to the people the rights which they had lost. And yet, when Colonel Pride forcibly ejected the members opposed to his views and principles he would not stay with " The Rump," preferring retirement to a tri- umph gained in so illegal a manner. Of all the republicans he alone refused to profit by power thus gained.
Consequently Sir Harry Vane cannot be held in the least degree responsible for the impeach- ment, trial and execution of King Charles. He heartily disapproved of the whole proceeding. And when Cromwell came to him in February,
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