The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III, Part 3

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897
Publication date: 1880-1881
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood
Number of Pages: 770

USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 3

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1833. See 1819.

1835. Plan of Boston (4 × 234 inches), by Annin; peninsula only; in Boston Almanac.

INTRODUCTION.

1835. Map of Boston (21 × 21 inches); includes Charlestown and Lechmere Point ; engraved by G. G. Smith.

1835. Map of Boston (31 × 22 inches) ; drawn by Alonzo Lewis ; engraved by G. W. Boynton ; published by the Bewick Company.

1836. Map of Massachusetts, from surveys ordered by the Legislature in 1830 ; has a marginal map of Boston (55% × 47/8 inches); published by Otis, Broaders, & Co.

1837. Map of Boston (51/2 × 5 inches) ; engraved by Boynton for Boston Almanac ; used in later years.

1837. Chart of Boston Harbor ; surveyed by B F. Perbam ; directed by commis- sioners (L. Baldwin, S. Thayer, and James Hayward) appointed March, 1835.

1837. A Plan of South Boston, old bridge to free bridge ; surveyed and drawn by B. F. Perham, - L. Baldwin, S. Thayer, and J. Hayward, commissioners.

1837. A Plan of South Boston, East Boston, and Charlestown ; surveyed and drawn by B. F. Perham, - L. Baldwin, S. Thayer, and J. Hayward, commissioners.

1837. A Plan of Cambridge Bridge, and Boston and Roxbury Milldam ; was surveyed and drawn by B. F. Perham, under authority of L. Baldwin, S. Thayer, and J. Hayward, commissioners ; and of the same date and authority one of Cambridgeport, East Cam- bridge, and Charlestown. [No title.]

1837. A Plan of Cambridgeport, East Cambridge, Charlestown, Chelsea, East Boston, and South Boston ; drawn by B. F. Perham, under the authority of the commissioners, L. Baldwin, S. Thayer, and J. Hayward. [No title.]

1838. Plan of Boston (15 × 11 inches); in T. G. Bradford's Illustrated Atlas of the United States, Boston.

1838. Plan of Boston (15/2 × 91/2 inches), by Hazen Morse and J. W. Tuttle ; in Boston Directory, 1839, and in later years.

1839. Plan of Boston (18 × 17 inches), showing Governor's and Castle islands; en- graved by G. W. Boynton for Nathaniel Dearborn ; issued with various dates, and pub- lished from 1860 to 1867, with alterations, by E. P. Dutton & Co. It is based on the 1835 map of Lewis.

1839. A Plan of South Boston, showing the additional wharves since 1835, also harbor line recommended by Commissioners in 1839; drawn by G. P. Worcester, - H. A. S. Dearborn, J. F. Baldwin, C. Eddy, commissioners.

1839. A plan of Charlestown, Chelsea, and East Boston, showing the harbor line ; was drawn by G. P. Worcester under the authority of the commissioners, H. A. S. Dear- born, J. F. Baldwin, and C. Eddy. [No title].

1839. A plan of Cambridgeport, East Cambridge, and Charlestown, showing the har- bor line ; recommended by the commissioners, H. A. S. Dearborn, J. F. Baldwin, and C. Eddy. [No title].

1841. Boston and Vicinity, by Nathaniel Dearborn. It follows the large State map.

1842. Boston and Vicinity (4 × 4 inches) : in Mitchell's Traveller's Guide through the United States ; issued with later dates.

1842. Map of Boston (14 × 11/2 inches); engraved by Boynton for Goodrich's Pictorial Geography.

1842. Map of Boston, including the Charlestown peninsula (15 × 12 inches) ; en- graved by R. B. Davies for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, London.

1843. Map of the City of Roxbury (34 X 25 inches) ; surveyed in 1843 by Charles Whitney ; published in 1849; scale, 1,320 feet to 1 inch.

1844. Topographical Map of Massachusetts, by Simeon Boyden, shows Boston Har- bor, with considerable detail, on a size of about 5 × 5 inches.

1844. Map of Boston (111/2 × 9 inches); peninsula only; in Dickinson's Boston Almanac.

1844. Map of East Boston (34 × 21 inches), by R. H. Eddy ; drawn by John Noble, June, 1844.

1846. Map of Boston, including East and South Boston ; engraved by G. G. Smith

xii

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

1846. Mystic River ; J. Hayward, E. Lincoln, Jr .. commissioners.

1846. Charles River to the head of tide waters ; drawn by L. Briggs, Jr.,- J. Hayward, and E. Lincoln, commissioners.

1846. Plan of part of the City and harbor, showing lines of high and low water; by G. R. Baldwin.

1846. South Bay ; J. Hayward, E. Lincoln, Jr., commissioners.

1847. Boston Harbor and the Approaches ; from a trigonometrical survey, under the direction of A. D. Bache, by commissioners S. T. Lewis and E. Lincoln.

1847. Plan of Boston ; an original manuscript plan, made by W. S. Whitwell for the water commissioners; in the city surveyor's department. See City Document, 1879, No. 119.

1847. Chart of the Inner Harbor ; T. G. Cary, S. Borden, E. Lincoln, commissioners ; A. D. Bache, superintendent United States coast-survey.

1848. Plan of the City of Charlestown, made by order of the City Council from actual survey ; by Felton & Parker, and Eben'. Barker. Scale, 400 feet to an inch. Litho- graphed by J H. Bufford, Boston. (3212 × 25 inches.)

1848. Map of Boston, including South and East Boston, by N. Dearborn.

1848. In N. Dearborn's Boston Notions, and engraved by him, appeared these maps : 1. Plan of Boston (6 × 434) inches ; 2. Boston and Vicinity (3 × 4 inches) ; 3. Boston Harbor (434 × 8 inches). These maps appeared in other of Dearborn's publications about Boston, Guides, etc.

1849. Boston and Vicinity (11 × 91/2 inches); in Boston Almanac, and in Homans's Sketches of Boston.

1849. J. H. Goldthwait's Railroad Map of New England has a marginal map (21/2 X 21/2 inches) of Boston and vicinity.

1849. See Roxbury map of 1843.

1849. Chelsea Creek, between East Boston and Chelsea. Exhibiting the circumscribing line to which wharves may be extended ; surveyed by J. Low and J. Noble, - S. T. Lewis, and E. Lincoln, Jr., commissioners.

1850. Map of Boston (11 X 91/2 inches) ; engraved by Boynton for the Boston Almanac.

1850. Map of Dorchester (36 × 28 inches); surveys made by Elbridge Whiting for S. Dwight Eaton ; lithographed by Tappan and Bradford.

1850. Inner Harbor, showing commissioners' lines proposed by S. Greenleaf, F. Giles, and E. Lincoln, commissioners.

1850. South Bay ; S. Greenleaf, J. Giles, and E. Lincoln, commissioners.

After this date the maps are very numerous.

Justin Voient.

THE

MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON. 1

The Revolutionary period.

CHAPTER I.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

BY THE REV. EDWARD G. PORTER, Pastor of the Hancoch Church, Lexington.

W HATEVER period we fix upon as the beginning of the American Revolution, we are sure to find some preceding event which, in a greater or less degree, might justly claim recognition on that account. It has generally been conceded that the war opened with the outbreak of hostilities on the morning of April 19, 1775; and that opinion will prob- ably never be reversed. But as there were reformers before the Reforma- tion, so there were many public acts in the Province deemed revolutionary before the memorable engagement on Lexington Common. Blood had been previously shed in a collision between the king's troops and American citizens in the streets of Boston. Remonstrances against the arbitrary measures of the British Government had repeatedly taken the shape of open and defiant resistance. The Congress of 1765 had issued a Declaration of Rights which, though accompanied by expressions of loyalty to the king. was a very pronounced, step towards colonial union and independence. The utterances of Franklin, of Otis, and of Samuel Adams, and the favor with which they were received, clearly indicated the ardent aspirations of the people for political liberty. Every successive encroachment of the Crown was met by an immediate and determined protest. For years the public mind had been in a state of such chronic agitation that the peace was at any time liable to be disturbed by acts of violence.

It is greatly to the credit of the colonists, as British subjects, that the final rupture was so long in coming. They would certainly have been justi- fied in the judgment of mankind had they precipitated rebellion in the VOL. 111. - 1. .

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

carlier stages of their oppression When we remember what indignities had been heaped upon them ever since the abrogation of the charter in 1684; when we recall the sufferings to which they were subjected by the passage of the numerous navigation laws restricting their commerce and prostrating their industries; when we bear in mind that the affection, which for a century and a half the colonists sincerely cherished for the mother country, was never cordially reciprocated, -we are not surprised that a feel- ing of estrangement at last grew up among them. The wonder is that it did not assert itself long before. For, be it remembered, the spirit of frec- dom which took up arms in 1775 was not a sudden development nor an accidental discovery. The people had always had it. They brought it with them from the Old World, where, from the days of King John, it had been the birthright of the English race.1

And so the Revolution, when it came, was only the assertion of this old principle, - a fundamental principle with the colonists, and one which they had never surrendered. Under its guidance they had repeatedly engaged in acts which they considered lawful and patriotic, but which the officers of government condemned as refractory, rebellious, or treasonable. These public acts, extending through many years, constitute no unimportant part of our history, since they contributed largely to bring about the final issue, and, by their close relation to subsequent events, belong to the Revolu- tionary period.

The excitement in Boston during the winter of 1760-61, connected with the application of officers of the customs for writs of assistance in searching houses for contraband goods, must ever be regarded as one of the most important of the early movements foreshadowing the approaching conflict. To understand the bearing of this event, it is necessary to take a glance at the condition of political affairs at that time.

George III. had just come to the throne. Canada had been conquered from the French. England, flushed with victory, was yet oppressed with a heavy debt; and the attention of her ministers was turned to the system of colonial administration with a view to a large increase of the revenue. The Colonies came out of the war with many losses, to be sure, but trained and strengthened by hardship, encouraged by success, and cager to return to the pursuits of peace. The population was increasing; new and valuable lands were occupied; and business began to revive with extraordinary rapidity.

From this period we can distinctly trace the growth of two opposing political principles, both of which had existed in New England side by side from the very beginning with only an occasional clashing, but which now were destined to contend with each other in an irrepressible conflict.

1 [The development of the spirit is more ad- mirably traced than elsewhere in Richard Froth- ingham's Rise of the Republic. The inevitable

outcome of independence was not faced seriously till quite late. For references in this matter see Winsor's Handbook, p. 102. - En.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

These principles found expression in the two parties long existing,1 but which now began to draw apart more and more; namcly; the party of frec- dom, and the party of prerogative, - the former insisting upon the right of self-government under the Crown, and the latter maintaining the authority of the Crown in the place of self-government. The question at issue was a radical one, and upon it turned the whole history of the country.

Without stopping to discuss the weakness of England's position, the want of statesmanship in her councils, and the strange infatuation with which she pursued her fatal policy, we cannot overlook certain acts of trade which at this time were enforced by the Court of Admiralty, and which were designed to make the enterprising commercial spirit of America tributary to Great Britain. Much of the mischief brought upon the Colonies can be traced to the Board of Trade, - a powerful organization devised originally by Charles II. and re-established by William III. to regulate the national and colonial commerce. Though only an advisory council, having no executive power, its influence with the king and ministry was such that its recommendations were usually adopted. Burke 2 speaks of this notable body as a kind of political " job, a sort of gently-ripening hot-house, where eight members of Parliament receive salaries of a thousand a year for a certain given time, in order to mature, at a proper season, a claim to two thousand." The Board was intended to make the Colonies "auxiliary to English trade. The Englishman in America was to be employed in making the fortune of the Englishman at home," 3

At the time of which we are now speaking, a profitable though illicit trade had sprung up between the northern colonics and the West Indies. Instructions were sent to the colonial governors to put a stop to this tradc. Francis Bernard, late Governor of New Jersey, and a well known friend of British authority, having succeeded Pownall as Governor of Massachusetts, informed the Legislature in a speech shortly after his arrival "that they derived blessings from their subjection to Great Britain." The Council, in a carefully worded reply, joined in acknowledging the "happiness of the times," but instead of recognizing their " subjection," they spoke only of their " relation " to Great Britain; and the House, weighing also its words, spoke of " the connection between the mother country and the provinces on the principles of filial obedience, protection, and justice."4 An oppor- tunity soon occurred to show that the difference in language between the Royal Governor and the General Court was a deep-seated difference of principle and of purpose.

For many years the custom-house officers had availed themselves of their position to accumulate large sums, especially from a misuse of forfeit-

1 [They were exemplified in the long strug- gle for the maintenance of the first charter (see Mr. Deane's chapter in Vol. I.), and in the conflict over the royal governors' salaries sub- sequently (see Dr. Ellis's chapter in Vol. II). - ED.]

2 Speech on the Economical Reform.

8 Palfrey, History of New England, vol. iv. p. 21.

4 Barry, Hist. of Mass., ii. 256; Bancroft, iv. 378; and Dr. Ellis's chapter in Vol. II, of this History.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

ures under the old Sugar Act of 1733. This practice, added to the official rigor and party spirit with which they enforced the commercial laws, Icd to a general and deep-seated feeling of antipathy towards them on the part of the merchants.1 This antipathy was greatly aggravated by a decision in the Superior Court against the treasurer of the Province, and in support of the attitude of the officers of customs.2

In November, 1760, Charles Paxton,8 who was the head of the customs in Boston, instructed a deputy in Salem to petition the Court for "writs of Char Parson assistance," to enable them forcibly to enter dwelling-houses and warc- houses in the execution of their duty. Exceptions were at once taken to this applica- tion, and a hearing was asked for by James Otis, an ardent young patriot, whose connection with this case forms one of the most brilliant chapters in our history. At the first agitation of the question he held the post of advocate-general for the Colony, but rather than act for the Crown he had resigned the position. "This is the opening scene of American resistance.4 It began in New England, and made its first battle-ground in a court-room. A lawyer of Boston, with a tongue of flame and the inspiration of a seer, stepped forward to demonstrate that all arbitrary authority was unconstitu- tional and against the law."5 The trial came on in February, 1761. Thomas Hutchinson, who had just succeeded Stephen Sewall as chief-justice, sat with his four associates, " with voluminous wigs, broad bands, and robes of scarlet cloth," in the crowded council chamber of the old Boston town house, " an imposing and elegant apartment, ornamented with two splendid full- length portraits of Charles II. and James II." The case was opened for the Crown by Jeremiah Gridley as the king's attorney, and the validity of writs of assistance was maintained by an appeal to statute law and to English practice. Oxenbridge Thacher calmly replied with much legal and technical ability, claiming that the rule in English courts was not applicable in this case to America. James Otis 6 now appeared for the inhabitants of Boston, and in an impassioned speech of over four hours in length he swayed both .the court and the crowded audience with marvellous power. He said: -

1 A petition was sent to the General Court at this time, charging the officers of the Crown with appropriating to their own use moneys be- longing to the Province. This petition was signed by over fifty leading merchants, whose names may be found in Drake's Hist. of Boston, 657, note.

2 Hutchinson, Massachusetts Bay, iii. 89-92 ; Minot, Ilist. of Mass., ii. 80-87 ; Barry, 262, 263.

$ [There is a portrait of Paxton in the Mass. Hist. Society's gallery. One, supposed to be by Copley, is in the American Antiqua- rian Society at Worcester. It is not recognized by Perkins. - ED.]

4 John Adams to the Abbé Mably. Works, v. 492.

5 Bancroft, iv. 414.

6 This eloquent champion of liberty was a native of Barnstable, and a graduate of Har- vard in 1743. He began the practice of law at Plymouth, but two years later removed to Boston, where he rose to distinction as an carnest advo- cate of his country's rights. Ilis father, the elder Otis, was a distinguished politician and Speaker of the House, and a candidate for the vacant judgeship which Governor Bernard had given to Hutchinson. See Tudor's Life of Otis ; Hutch- inson, iii. 86, et seq .; Barry, pp. 258-259.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

" I am determined, to my dying day, to oppose, with all the powers and facul- ties God has given me, all such instruments, of slavery on the one hand and villany on the other, as this writ of assistance is. . .. I argue in favor of British liberties at a time when we hear the greatest monarch upon earth declaring from his throne that he glories in the name of Briton, and that the privileges of his people are dearer to him than the most valuable prerogatives of the Crown. I oppose that kind of power the exercise of which, in former periods of English history, cost one King of England his head and another his throne."

Otis then proceeded to argue that while special writs might be legal, the present writ, being general, was illegal. Any one with this writ might be a tyrant. Again, he said, this writ was perpetual. There was to be no return, and whoever executed it was responsible to no one for his doings. He might reign secure in his petty tyranny, and spread terror and desolation around him. The writ was also unlimited. Officers might enter all houses at will, and command all to assist them; and even menial servants might enforce its provisions. He said : -

" Now the freedom of one's house is an essential branch of English liberty. A man's house is his castle ; and while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince. This writ, if declared legal, totally annihilates this privilege. Custom-house officers might enter our houses when they please, and we could not resist them. Upon bare suspicion they could exercise this wanton power. . .. Both reason and the Con- stitution are against this writ. The only authority that can be found for it is a law enacted in the zenith of arbitrary power, when, in the reign of Charles II., Star Chamber powers were pushed to extremity by some ignorant clerk of the exchequer. But even if the writ could be elsewhere found, it would still be illegal. All precedents are under the control of the principles of law. ... No acts of Parliament can establish such a writ. Though it should be made in the very words of the petition it would be void, for every act against the Constitution is void." 1

Notwithstanding this forcible argument, and the soul-stirring eloquence with which it was presented, it did not prevail. The older members of the

1 It is greatly to be regretted that this cele- brated speech, which, in the judgment of many, originated the party of Revolution in Massachu- setts, was never committed to writing. For such fragments of it as we have we are indebted to a few notes taken at the time, and to some inci- dental allusions found in letters of Bernard and Hutchinson. John Adams, late in life, "after a lapse of fifty-seven years," wrote out, by request, as much as he could remember of the argument of the speech. See Minot, ii. 91-99; Tudor's Life of Otis; Bancroft, iv. 416, note ; Corres- pondence of John Adams and Mrs. Warren in 5 Muss. Hist. Coll. iv. 340; Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. Aug. 1860; Adams's Life and Works of John Adams, i. 59, 81, 82 ; ii. 124, 523, 524. [The case can be studied from a contemporary point of view in the reports made hy the Josiah Quincy of that day, of cases in the Massachusetts Supe-

rior Court, 1761-1772, which were published in 1865, edited by his great-grandson General Sam- uel M. Quincy, with an appendix on the writs of assistance by Horace Gray, the present Chief- Justice of the Commonwealth. The late Horace Binney of l'hiladelphia wrote of the book, at the time, to Miss E. S. Quincy : " I have now read the reports, and with great satisfaction. They had good law in Massachusetts in the days of your grandfather, as well as good lawyers and a good reporter. Mr. Gray's appendix is one of the most clear, accurate, and exhaustive exposi- tions that I have read, and has brought me much better instruction than I had before. I rather think they were legal under the act of Parlia- ment. but I cannot believe they were constitu- tional, either here or in England, except as any- thing an act of Parliament does is constitu- tional."-ED.]

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

court were favorably disposed; but they yielded to the solicitations of Hutchinson, who proposed to continue the cause to the next term, in order, meanwhile, to apply to England for definite instructions. In due time the

James Otis 1

answer came, in support of his well known position; and the court, with the semblance of authority rather than law, decided that the writs of assistance should be granted whenever the revenue officers applied for them.2

1 [This cut follows a painting hy Blackburn, in 1755, now owned by Mrs. Henry Darwin Rogers, by whose permission it is here copied. Having been more than once before engraved (see A. B. Durand's in Tudor's Life of Otis ; another by I. R. Smith ; and a poor one in Loring's Hundred Boston Orators), it was admirably put on steel by Schlecht, in 1879, for Bryant and Gay's United States, iii. 332. There is a gene- alogy of the Otis family in N. E. Hist. and Geneal.

Reg. iv. and v .; also see Freeman's History of Cape Cod. Otis at one time lived where the Adams Express Company's building on Court Street now is. No American has received a more splendid memorial than Crawford has be- stowed on Otis in the statue in the chapel at Mount Auburn. See an estimate of Otis in Mr. Goddard's chapter in the present volume. - ED.]

2 Hutchinson, iii. 96; Bancroft, iv. 418; Barry, p. 267.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

But Thacher and Otis had not spoken in vain.1 They had electrified the people, and scattered the seeds which soon germinated in a spirit of combined resistance against the encroachments of unlawful power. Among those attending the court was the youthful John Adams, who had just been admitted as a barrister, and whose soul was ready to receive the patriotic fire from the lips of Otis. " It was to Mr. Adams like the oath of Hamilcar administered to Hannibal. It is doubtful whether Otis himself, or any person of his auditory, perceived or imagined the consequences which were to flow from the principles developed in that argument."" Patriots were created by it on the spot, - men who awoke that day as from a sleep, and shook themselves for action. Every one felt that a crisis was approaching in the affairs of the Province, if indeed it had not already come.

In tracing the causes which led to the final independence of America, it is always to be borne in mind that independence, in the political sense of the word, was not what the colonists originally desired. They were proud of their position as British subjects ; and not until their loyalty had endured a long series of shocks, did it occur to any one that a separation was either possible or desirable. This will explain the docility with which the people of New England submitted to gross 'abuses and high-handed political measures through a period of over thirty years without doing more than to assert their rights, and to seek peaceable means of redress. They loved the mother country, and rejoiced in her prosperity.3 Her his- tory, her greatness, her triumphs, were all theirs. Their literature, their laws, their social life, their religious faith, were all English. Most of the towns and counties in Massachusetts were named after those in England, showing the affection the colonists had for the country from which they came. The architecture of Boston houses was almost an exact reproduc- tion of that which prevailed in London or Bristol. A relationship of blood, of affection, and of interest was maintained by the closest com- munication which that age afforded. Packets were continually plying between the two countries; personal and business correspondence was frequent ; and, in ordinary times, this intimacy was not affected by the official character and conduct of those who represented British authority on these shores. If the exercise of that authority had not exceeded its just limits, it would certainly have been a long tinie before the colonists would have demanded or accepted anything like a political separation. They were not adventurers, seeking capital out of conflict, but peaccable, industrious, law-abiding citizens; asking only for equality with their fellow- subjects, and deliverance from special and unequal legislation. They knew their rights under the charter, and were resolved to maintain them; and in this they were simply true to the traditions of the Anglo-Saxon race

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The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III, Part 3

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897 Publication date: 1880-1881 Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood Number of Pages: 770

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897
Publication date: 1880-1881
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood
Number of Pages: 770