USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 37
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The completion of the railroad lines connecting the city with the Canadas and the great lakes was celebrated in September of this year. The official report published by the city says: " However extensive and brilliant may have been the public pageants on other occasions, not one, it is believed, has on this continent surpassed, if any have equalled, that of September 17, 18, and 19." On the first day the President of the United States, accompa- nied by the members of his cabinet, arrived and were received by the city and State authorities ; and there was a military review on the Common. On the second day there was an excursion down the harbor in the morning; in the afternoon, Lord Elgin, Captain General and Governor-in-chief of the British Possessions in North America, arrived with his suite, and was formally re- ceived by the Mayor; and in the evening there was a grand military ball in
1 [See the chapter on " The Antislavery Movement." - ED.]
VOL. III. - 33.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
Union Hall. On the third day there was a procession, followed by a dinner on the Common, at which three thousand six hundred persons sat down ; and in the evening, fireworks and illuminations. Altogether it was a very brilliant affair, and the Mayor did the honors of the city very handsomely.1
At the charter clection on Dec. 8, 1851, there were four candidates for the mayoralty. John H. Wilkins received a plurality of votes, but not a majority; and a new election was held on December 24, at which Ben- jamin Seaver,2 the Whig candidate, was elected, receiving only one vote more than the united votes of his opponents. Mr. Seaver held the office for two terms. A service of five years (1845-49) in the common council had given him a knowledge of city affairs which, with his business training and his executive ability, made him an excellent chief magistrate. It was said that he owed his first election to the police; and it is undoubtedly true that Marshal Tukey directed his men to work for Mr. Seaver; but if the mar- shal looked for special favor on account of his political support, he had a very imperfect knowledge of the character of the man whom he had as- sisted to office. The law then in force required the annual appointment of police officers ; and when the Mayor came to make his appointments for the year he made some changes which the marshal criticised rather freely. Mr. Seaver was not a man to be criticiscd with impunity by a subordinate. He lost no time in putting another man at the head of the police force, and Marshal Tukey ceased to be a terror to anybody.
The new mayor looked upon the office to which he had been elected as essentially a business office, and he applied business principles to his admin- istration of it. During the preceding six ycars the city had been engaged in works which had added largely to the city debt. Those works had been substantially completed, and the Mayor felt that it was time to pause and husband the city's resources for a while before entering on any new enter- prises. That the record of his administration does not occupy so large a space as that of some others is an evidence of the Mayor's firmness in re- sisting the temptation to make a name at the expense of the city. The most important act of his administration was the vote to erect a building for the Public Library; but the story of that institution's inception and progress is to be told elsewhere.3
On the recommendation of the Mayor a board of land commissioners was established in 1853, to take the place of a joint committee of the city council which had been found unequal to the duties imposed upon it; and burials within the city limits, except in particular cases, were prohibited after the first of July, 1853.
Henry J. Gardner, afterward Governor of the Commonwealth, was presi- dent of the common council during Mr. Seaver's two terms; and on retir-
1 [See the chapter on "Canals and Rail- at the time of his election was engaged in busi- roads," in Vol. IV .- ED.] ness as an auctioneer.
2 He was born in Roxbury, April 12, 1795; 8 [In Vol. IV., by the Editor of the present educated at the Roxbury Grammar School; and work. - ED.]
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BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.
ing from the chair on Dec. 29, 1853, he delivered an address in which he gave prominence to the question of revising the city charter. He pointed out so clearly and forcibly the changes which an experience of thirty years had shown to be necessary, that the city council of the following year ap- plied to the Legislature for a new act of incorporation which was granted on April 29, 1854.
At the municipal election on Dec. 12, 1853, there were three candidates ' for mayor : Benjamin Seaver, the nomince of the Whigs; Jerome Van Crown- inshield Smith,' the nomince of the Native American party; and Jacob Sleeper, the nominee of the Temperance men. Mr. Seaver received the highest number of votes, but not a majority; and on the third ballot, taken Jan. 9, 1854, Dr. Smith was elected. During the interval beween the first Monday in January and the date at which the new mayor was sworn in (the sixteenth of that month) Mr. Benjamin L. Allen, the chairman of the board of aldermen, acted as mayor.
The new mayor was a most indefatigable worker, and seemed to have an ambition to leave some enduring memento in every department of science, art, literature, and politics. Without undertaking to pass upon his achievements in the more retired walks of life, it may be said that as a man of affairs he was not entirely successful. He made a great many suggestions for the improvement of the city government, but fortunately for the city's credit few of them were carried out. He thought the po- lice appointments would be improved if twelve men were elected by pop- ular vote, one from each ward, with power to appoint all police officers, subject to the approval of the mayor and aldermen. He recommended the sale of Quincy Market to private individuals; the erection of an in- sanc asylum at Deer Island; the crection of a tall tower on Beacon Hill, for the use of the fire telegraph and fire department offices; the forced sale of city lands in order to promote the erection of buildings; the ap- pointment of a physician in every ward to be paid by the city for serving the poor. He was never taken quite seriously as a chief magistrate.
In 1853 an act had been passed authorizing the city council to unite, by ordinance, the watch and police departments; but no action was taken un- til the following year. On May 26, 1854, the old watch, which had been in
1 Dr. Smith was born in Conway, New Hamp- shire, on July 20, 1Soo; graduated at Brown University in 1818, and subsequently took the de- gree of Medicina Doctor at Williams College. lle served in the office of city physician for a number of years, and in that way became familiar with city affairs. Like the famous Whittington, he had a sort of premonition of his coming great- ness. The day on which he came to Boston to seek his fortune happened to be the very day when the first mayor of the city was sworn into office. Sceing a large number of people moving in one direction he asked the cause, and was told that a mare was to be inaugurated in Faneuil
Hall. Finding that the exhibition could be en- joyed without expense, he joined the moving throng, and was presently looking down from a quiet. corner in the gallery upon what appeared to be a religious ceremony. He awaited in breath- less expectation the advent of the animal whose name was in everybody's mouth ; and it was not until after the ceremony was concluded that he could be made to understand the significance of what he had witnessed. He had a presentiment that he should some day be the central figure of such an exhibition, and he shaped his career accordingly.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
existence as a department of the town and city government since 1631, was abolished, and a police department was established, consisting of two hun- dred and fifty men under the charge of a chief of police, two deputies, and eight captains of divisions. The form of organization adopted at this time was not materially changed until 1878, when the department was placed tin- der a commission appointed by the mayor. By an ordinance passed in 1863, the system of annual appointments was changed to appointments during good behavior.
On the very day that the new police force entered tipon its duties it was called upon, at a moment's notice, to suppress a riot in Court Square, caused by the attempt to release Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave, who had been arrested by United States officers and confined temporarily in the city prison. For nine days, while the hearing on the question of Burns's rendition was going on, the city was in a fever of excitement. The efforts of the city au- thorities were directed solely to the preservation of order, and the execution of the niandates of the court.1
On November 15 of this year the inhabitants voted to accept the revised city charter. It went into effect for the purpose of electing municipal officers on the second Monday in December, and for all other purposes on the first Monday in January following. The principal changes intro- duced by the new charter may be briefly summarized as follows: the persons having the highest number of votes at municipal elections were to be declared elected; the mayor was deprived of his vote on matters coming before the board of aldermen, and was given a qualified right to veto all acts of the city council, and all acts of either branch where an ex- penditure of money was involved; the board of aldermen was enlarged from eight to twelve members, and all the executive powers of the corpor- ation, formerly vested in the selectmen of the town and in the board of mayor and aldermen of the city, were transferred to it; the mayor, when present at meetings of the board, had the right to preside; the school com- mittee, which had consisted of the mayor, the president of the council, and two persons elected annually from each ward, was enlarged by the election of six persons from each ward, two being elected annually.
It was not the intention of those who drafted the new charter to curtail the mayor's powers, but their work had that effect. Following the prece- dent established by the elder Quincy, it had been customary for the mayor
1 Burns was taken into custody on the even- ing of May 24, 1854, and on the following day taken before Edward Greely Loring, who was a United States commissioner, and who also held the office of judge of probate for Suffolk County. On the evening of May 26, a great meeting was held in Faneuil Hall to protest against the outrage on liberty. George R. Russell presided. While Wendell Phillips was speaking, a person entered the hall and announced that a mob of negroes was in Court Square attempting to rescue Burns. The meeting immediately dissolved, and the per-
sons composing it flocked to the Court House and attempted to break down the doors. One constable was killed and several persons were seriously wounded. Burns was finally remanded to slavery ; but subsequently he was bought by some Northern people and sent to Canada, where he died in 1862. Edward G. Loring was removed from the office of judge of pro- bate, and was then appointed by the President judge of the court of claims at Washington. [See the chapter on "The Antislavery Move- ment " in this volume. - ED.]
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BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.
to act as chairman of all the most important committees of the city council ; and as the chief executive officer of the corporation, and as a member and chairman of the board which had not only succeeded to all the executive powers formerly exercised by the selectmen of the town, but which had equal powers with the common council as a legislative body, he was in a position to exercise a powerful influence upon the management of city affairs. Under the new charter, the mayor continued to have the power of appointing police officers, but his appointments were subject to approval by the aldermen, and the administration of the police department was placed entirely in the hands of the aldermen. That board also had control of the fire department, the health department, the markets, the streets, the county buildings and the granting of licenses for various purposes ; and where their action did not involve an expenditure of money the mayor had no power to pass upon it.
There has been no general revision of the city charter since 1854. Nu- merous changes have been made, both directly and indirectly, by subse- quent legislation, the most important of which will be pointed out further on; but the mayor's power, although somewhat increased, is still far from being what is necessary to secure a responsible and an efficient executive.
At the charter election in December, 1855, Alexander Hamilton Rice,1 the " Citizens'" candidate, was chosen mayor for the ensuing year. The Native American, or " Know-Nothing " party, as it had come to be called, had fallen into disrepute, and its candidate, Dr. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, failed of an election by some two thousand votes. Mr. Rice possessed most of the qualifications by which an enduring success in public life is achieved, - a pleasing address, a knowledge of men and affairs, more than ordinary readiness and ability as a public speaker, and a keen sense of the popular wishes. During the two years that he served in the office of mayor the affairs of the city were managed with prudence and economy. In his first address to the city council he announced as the guiding principle of his administration the improvement of the institutions and means already pos- sessed by the city, and the avoidance of new and dazzling enterprises which, however promising, might prove in the end to be only costly experiments.
The most important act of the government during Mr. Rice's first term was an agreement on the part of the city with the Commonwealth and the Boston Water-Power Company, by which provision was made for the im- provement of the territory now known as the Back Bay. It should be stated that previous to the year 1827 the city held the fee in about one hundred acres of flats in this locality. In that year it ceded to the Boston Water- Power Company its title to these flats in consideration of the right to dis-
1 Mr. Rice was born in Newton, Mass., on Aug. 30, 1818, and received his education in the public and private schools of the neighborhood, and in Union College at Schenectady. On leav- ing school he sought employment in Boston, and
at the time of his election was the leading mem- ber of a firm engaged in the manufacture of paper. He had served as a member of the school committee and the common council, hav- ing been president of the latter body in 1854.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
charge the drainage from the adjoining territory into the Back Bay basin. It was provided in the agreement made at that time that the water in this basin should be kept at a certain specified depression below high-water mark. This led to the erection of buildings on the surrounding territory at a grade fixed with reference to the drainage into a bay several feet below high-water mark, and presently the accumulation of sewage matter caused a nuisance from which the city has not yet ceased to suffer. In assenting to this arrangement with the Water-Power Company, it must be said that Mr. Quincy did not show his accustomed foresight. The exercise of the right which the city had acquired created a nuisance which made the right valuc- less. The new agreement entered into on Dec. 11, 1856, provided, among other things, for the construction of a large sewer from Camden Street, through lands of the Water-Power Company and the Commonwealth, to Charles River. This tripartite agreement, although forming the basis of the great improvement on the Back Bay, was never fully carried out; and in 1864 a new agreement was entered into, establishing a more complete sys- tem of streets and sewers for this territory.
The management of the public institutions of the city, including under that head the House of Correction, the Houses of Industry and Reforma- tion, and the Lunatic Hospital, was at this time in the hands of three distinct boards, which were not always in harmony on questions affecting the city's interests. Mr. Rice recommended that all these institutions should be placed under the government of one board elected for different periods of service, and composed in part of members of the city council and in part of persons chosen from the citizens at large. In 1857 the Legislature passed an act establishing such a board, and providing for the election of its mem- bers by concurrent vote of the city council. The board is still in existence, and has fully answered the purpose for which it was organized.
In 1857 the Mayor recommended the establishment of a city hospital, transmitting to the city council at the same time a memorial from several leading physicians, giving their opinion of the necessity and value of such an institution. In the following year an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing the city to establish and maintain " a hospital for the reception of persons who, by misfortune or poverty, may require relief during temporary sickness." Elisha Goodnow, who died in 1851, had bequeathed to the city twenty-five thousand dollars for a local hospital, provided it was cstab- lished either at the South End or South Boston; but no definite action was taken until 1860, when a site was selected at the South End on land reclaimed from the sea, and a hospital building was erected thereon and opened in 1864.
On Dec. 14, 1857, Frederic Walker Lincoln, Jr.,1 was chosen mayor for the following year. He was known as the Faneuil-Hall candidate, having
1 Mr. Lincoln was a descendant of Samuel Ile was born in Boston Feb. 27, 1817, and re- Lincoln, who settled in Hingham as early as 1637.
ceived his education in the public and private
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BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.
been nominated by representatives of different parties who held a conven- tion for that purpose in Fancuil Hall. Charles B. Hall, his opponent, was also put forward as a Citizens' candidate, but was badly beaten, Mr. Lincoln receiving a majority of nearly four thousand votes.
As an administrative officer Mr. Lincoln was eminently successful. That he won the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens to an unusual de. gree is shown by the fact that, without any effort on his part, he held the office of mayor for a longer time than any individual who preceded him or who has succeeded him.
The first year of his administration was not marked by any measures of special importance, unless the uniforming of the police may be so regarded. That was an act of great local interest, and the policemen and their friends said a good deal about copying the customs of the Old World, and turning free Americans into livericd servants. But the citizens who had often searched in vain for a policeman in citizen's dress looked favorably upon a change which would enable them to know an officer when they saw him.
In 1859 an act was passed by the Legislature, to take effect when ac- cepted by the citizens of Boston, annexing to the city a considerable tract of land and flats on the Back Bay, formerly included within the city of Rox- bury; and providing that no buildings should be crected between Arlington Street and Charles Street. The act was accepted by an almost unanimous vote of the citizens on April 26, 1859, and a plan was soon after adopted for the improvement of the Public Garden. An attempt was made by several public-spirited individuals to preserve the Back Bay as an open space for sanitary purposes, and to that end a number of elaborate plans were submitted to the State and city authorities; ' but the General Court saw an opportunity to put some money into the State treasury by cutting the territory into house lots, and greed carried the day.
In 1859 Mr. Lincoln was successful in securing the co-operation of the United States authorities in the preservation of Boston Harbor. It appeared from the testimony of the old pilots that the water was shoaling in many places in the harbor, owing to the encroachments upon the headlands and islands. In a special message to the city council, the Mayor recommended the appointment of a commission of United States officers to make a sci- entific examination of the subject. The recommendation was approved, and the Mayor went to Washington and saw the heads of the Treasury, War, and Navy departments, - Cobb, Floyd, and Touccy,-three men who occupy a bad eminence among American cabinet officers. They were ex- tremely gracious to the representative of Boston, and immediately complied with his request to detail General Totten, chief of the engineer corps, Pro-
schools. When only thirteen years of age he was apprenticed to a maker of mathematical in- struments, and at the time of his election to the mayoralty he had risen to a prominent position among the business men of the city. He had served Iwo terms as a member of the lower
branch of the State Legislature (1847-48), and had been a delegate to the Constitutional Con- vention of 1853.
I [One is given in the folio edition of Drake's Boston. See also Documents of the Massachusetts Senate, No. 186, 1859. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
fessor Bache, superintendent of the coast survey, and Commander Davis of the Navy, to make the proposed examination. During the seven years following, the commissioners made ten reports, which have been of in- mense value in securing appropriations from the National Government for the improvement of the harbor, and in preventing by wise legislation any further encroachments upon the ship-channels.1
The national census of 1860 gave the city a population of 177,992. The valuation of real and personal property for purposes of taxation amounted to $276,861,000. The amount of tax raised for State, county, and city pur- poses was $2,530,000; and the rate was $8.99 on the $1,000. The funded city debt amounted to $8,491,599.
In the latter part of this year another collision occurred between the Abolitionists and those who were opposed to the Antislavery agitation. Through the instrumentality of some rather obscure individuals a meeting was called in Tremont Temple, on December 3, to commemorate the anni- versary of the execution of John Brown, and to consider the question, How can American Slavery be abolished? The election of a Republican President, and the threatening attitude assumed by the South, had the effect of making a good many men, especially those whose business inter- ests would be endangered by any disturbance of the established order of things, deprecate any expressions in this section of the country which would appear to identify the Republican party with the supporters of John Brown ; but in undertaking forcibly to prevent such expressions they only scattered the coals and propagated the fire. The promoters of this meeting, having hired the hall for a legal purpose, had a right to be protected in its use ; but the city authorities did not protect them. A large number of persons opposed to the objects of the meeting quietly entered the hall as soon as the doors were open, elected their own chairman and secretary, and adopted a series of resolutions, in which John Brown and all " aiders and abettors in his nefarious enterprise." were heartily denounced; and it was declared that the people of this city "had submitted too long in allowing irrespon- sible persons and political demagogues of every description to hold public meetings to disturb the public peace and misrepresent us abroad." " They have become a nuisance," the resolutions said, "which in self-defence we are determined shall henceforward be summarily abated." In the midst of the confusion consequent upon these proceedings the chief of police en- tered the hall accompanied by several trustees of the building, and stated that he had orders from the Mayor to dismiss the meeting and to clear the hall; which he proceeded to do. In the evening the Antislavery people held a meeting in a small church for colored people at the West End, and although riotous demonstrations were made in the streets, the police force was sufficient to preserve order. It was known that the Mayor had taken the precaution to have two companies of cavalry under arms at
1 For further details in regard to the meas- the chapter on " Boston Harbor" in Vol. IV .; ures taken for the preservation of the harbor, see also City Documents, 1859-66.
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their armories to act in case of emergency. On the following morning the Advertiser said : -
" The cry of ' free speech,' which will no doubt be set up on behalf of those who yesterday saw their meeting taken out of their hands, can find little support among unprejudiced observers. . . . Sensitive as the chord is which any appeal for free speech touches, it will hardly vibrate in response to the appeals of those who claim that glorious privilege only to abuse it ; and what abuse of it could be more flagrant or more deserve condemnation than to use it simply as the means of adding to a great national excitement the peril of misleading one section of the country as to the senti- ment which pervades the other, and embittering still further that controversy which now divides the States of the Union."
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