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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13632-0.txt b/13632-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2399e47 --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3832 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13632 *** + +[Illustration: Chester A. Arthur] + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +_A Massachusetts Magazine_. + +VOL. I. + +MAY, 1884. + +No. V. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by John N. +McClintock and Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at +Washington. + + * * * * * + +CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR. + +BY BEN: PERLEY POORE. + + +Chester Alan Arthur was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 5, 1830. His +father, the Reverend Doctor William Arthur, was a Baptist clergyman, who +emigrated from county Antrim, Ireland, when only eighteen years of age. +He had received a thorough classical education, and was graduated from +Belfast University, one of the foremost institutions of learning in +Ireland. Marrying an American, Miss Malvina Stone, soon after his +arrival, he became the father of several children. Chester was the +eldest of two sons, having four sisters older and two younger than +himself. While fulfilling his clerical duties as the pastor, +successively, of a number of Baptist churches in New York State, Dr. +Arthur edited for several years The Antiquarian, and wrote a work on +Family Names, which is highly prized by genealogists. Of Scotch-Irish +descent, he was a man of great force of character, impatient of +restraint, at home in a controversy, and frank in the expression of his +opinions. He was a pronounced emancipationist, although he never +expected to see the overthrow of slavery, which it was his good fortune +to witness, as his life was spared until the twenty-seventh of October, +1875, when he died at Newtonville, near Albany. He was a personal friend +of Gerrit Smith, and they had participated in the organization of the +New York State Anti-Slavery Society, which was dispersed by a mob during +its first meeting at Utica, on the twenty-first of October, 1835 (the +day on which William Lloyd Garrison was mobbed in Boston, and was lodged +in jail for his own protection). A friend of the slave from conscience +and from conviction, Dr. Arthur was never backward in expressing his +convictions, and his children imbibed his teachings. + +When a lad, young Arthur enjoyed at home the tutelage of his father, +whose thorough knowledge of the classics enabled him to lay the +foundation of his son's future education broad and deep. He entered +Union College in 1845, when only fifteen years of age. His collegiate +course was full of promise, and every successive year he was declared to +be one of those who had taken "maximum honors," although he was +compelled to absent himself during two winters, when he taught school to +earn the requisite funds for defraying his expenses, without drawing +upon his father's means. Yet he kept up with his class, and when he was +graduated in 1848, he was one of six out of a class of over one hundred, +who were elected members of the Phi Beta Kappa, an honor only conferred +on the best scholars. + +Following the natural inclination of his mind, young Arthur began the +study of law, supporting himself by teaching and by preparing boys for +college. It so happened that two years after he was the preceptor of an +academy at North Pownal, Vermont, a student from Williams College, named +James A. Garfield, came there and taught penmanship in the same academy +for several months. + +In 1853, young Arthur went to New York City, by the invitation of the +Honorable Erastus D. Culver, whose acquaintance he had made when that +gentleman represented the Washington County district, and Dr. Arthur was +the pastor of the Baptist Church at Greenwich. Mr. Culver had been noted +in Congress as an advanced, anti-slavery man, and he was prompted to +take an interest in the son of a clergyman-constituent, who did not fear +to express anti-slavery sentiments, at a time when the occupants of +pulpits were generally so conservative that they were dumb upon this +important question. Before the close of the year, young Arthur displayed +such legal ability and business tact, that he was admitted into +partnership, and became a member of the firm of Culver, Parker, and +Arthur. The firm had numerous clients, and the junior partner soon +became a successful practitioner, uniting to a thorough knowledge of the +law a vigorous understanding and an untiring industry which gained for +him an enviable reputation. + +Among other cases on the docket of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, was one +known as the Lemon slave-case. A Virginian named Jonathan Lemon +undertook to take eight slaves to Texas on steamers, by the way of New +York. While in that city a writ of _habeas corpus_ was issued, and the +slaves were brought into the court before Judge Elijah Paine; Mr. Culver +and John Jay appearing for the slaves, while H.D. Lapaugh and Henry L. +Clifton were retained by Lemon. Judge Paine, after hearing long +arguments, declared that the fugitive slave law did not apply to slaves +who were brought by their masters into a free State, and he ordered +their release. The Legislature of Virginia directed the attorney-general +of that State to employ counsel to appeal from Judge Paine's decision to +the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Mr. Arthur, who was the +attorney of record in the case for the people, went to Albany, and after +earnest efforts procured the passage of a joint resolution, requesting +the governor to employ counsel to defend the interests of the State. +Attorney-General Hoffman, E.D. Culver, and Joseph Blunt were appointed +by the governor as counsel, and Mr. Arthur as the State's attorney. The +Supreme Court sustained Judge Paine's decision. The slave-holder, +unwilling to lose his "property," then engaged Charles O'Conor to argue +the case before the State Court of Appeals. There the counsel for the +State were again successful in defending the decision of Judge Paine, +and from that day no slave-holder dared to bring his slaves into the +city of New York. + +Mr. Arthur, who had naturally taken a prominent part in this case, was +regarded by the colored people of New York as a champion of their +interests, and it was not long before they sought his aid. At that time, +colored people were not permitted to ride in the street-cars in New York +City, with the exception of a few old and shabby cars set aside for +their occupation. The Fourth-avenue line permitted them to ride when no +other passenger made objection. + +One Sunday, in 1855, Lizzie Jennings, a colored woman, returning from +having fulfilled her duties as superintendent of a colored +Sunday-school, entered a Fourth-avenue car, and the conductor took her +fare. Soon after, a drunken white man objected to her presence, and +insisted that she be made to leave the car. The conductor pulled the +bell, and when the car stopped, told her that she must get out, offering +to return her fare. She refused, and the conductor then offered to put +her off by force. She made vigorous resistance, exclaiming: "I have paid +my fare, and I have a right to ride." Finally, the conductor called in +several policemen, and, by their joint efforts, she was removed from the +car, her clothing having nearly all been torn from her in the struggle. +When the leading colored people of the city heard of this, they sent a +committee to the office of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, and requested +them to make it a test case. + +Mr. Arthur brought suit against the railroad company for Miss Jennings, +in the Supreme Court, at Brooklyn. The case came on for trial before +Judge Rockwell, who then sat upon the bench there. He had just decided, +in a previous case, that a corporation was not liable for the wrongful +acts of its agent or servant, and when Mr. Arthur handed him the +pleadings, he said that the railroad company was not liable, and was +about to order a nonsuit. Mr. Arthur called his attention, however, to a +recently revised section of the Revised Statutes, making certain +railroad corporations which carried passengers liable for the acts of +their conductors and drivers, whether wilful or negligent, under which +the action had been brought. The judge was silenced, the case was tried, +and the jury rendered a verdict of five hundred dollars damages in favor +of the colored woman. The railroad company paid the money without +further contest, and issued orders to its conductors to permit colored +people to ride in its cars, an example that was followed by all the +other street railroads in New York. The colored people, especially "The +Colored People's Legal Rights Association," were very grateful to Mr. +Arthur, and for years afterward they celebrated the anniversary of the +day on which he won the case that asserted their rights in public +conveyances. + +When a lad, young Arthur had always taken a great interest in politics, +and it is related of him that during the Clay-Polk campaign of 1844, +while he and some of his companions were raising an ash pole in honor of +Harry Clay, they were attacked by some Democratic boys, when young +Arthur, who was the leader of the party, ordered a charge, and drove the +young Democrats from the field with sore heads and subdued spirits. His +first vote was cast in 1852 for Winfield Scott for President, and he +identified himself with the Whigs of his ward when he located in New +York City. In those days the best citizens served as inspectors of +elections at the polls, and for some years Mr. Arthur served in that +capacity at a voting-place in a carpenter's shop, which occupied the +site of the present Fifth Avenue Hotel. When, in 1856, the Republican +party was formed, Mr. Arthur was a prominent member of the Young Men's +Vigilance Committee, which advocated the election of Fremont and Dayton. +It was during this campaign that he became acquainted with Edwin D. +Morgan, and gained his ardent life-long friendship. + +Animated by a military spirit, Mr. Arthur sought recreation by joining +the volunteer militia of New York, and he was appointed +judge-advocate-general on the staff of Brigadier-General Yates, who +commanded the second brigade. The general was a strict disciplinarian, +and required his field, line, and staff officers to meet weekly for +drill and instruction. Mr. Arthur thus acquired the rudiments of a +military education, and became acquainted with many of those who +afterwards distinguished themselves as officers in the volunteer army of +the Union. + +General Arthur was married in 1859 to Ellen Lewis Herndon, of +Fredericksburg, Virginia, a daughter of Captain William Lewis Herndon, +of the United States Navy, who had gained honorable distinction when in +command of the naval expedition sent to explore the river Amazon. His +heroic death, in 1857, is recorded in history among those "names which +will never be forgotten as long as there is remembrance in the world for +fidelity unto death." In command of the steamer Central America, which +went down, with a loss of three hundred and sixty lives, he stood at his +post on the wheelhouse, and succeeded in having the women and children +safely transferred to the boats, remaining himself to perish with his +vessel. General Sherman has characterized this grand deed of unselfish +devotion as the most heroic incident in our naval history. Mrs. Arthur +was a lady of the highest culture, and in the varied relations of +life--wife, mother, friend--she illustrated all that gives to womanhood +its highest charm, and commands for it the purest homage. She died in +1880, after an illness of but three days, leaving a son and a daughter, +with a large number of mourning friends, not only in society, of which +she was an ornament, but among the poor and the distressed, whose wants +and whose sufferings she had tenderly cared for. + +When the Honorable Edward D. Morgan was elected Governor of the State of +New York, he appointed Mr. Arthur engineer-in-chief on his staff, and +when Fort Sumter was fired upon, the governor telegraphed to him to go +to Albany, where he received orders to act as state +quartermaster-general in the city of New York. General Arthur at once +began to organize regiments,--uniform, arm, and equip them,--and send +them to the defence of the capital. His capacity for leadership and +organization was soon manifest. There was no lack of men or of money, +but it needed organizing powers like his to mould them into disciplined +form, to grasp the new issues with a master-hand, and to infuse +earnestness and obedience into the citizens, suddenly transformed into +soldiers. His accounts were kept in accordance with the army +regulations, and their subsequent settlement with the United States, +without deduction for unwarranted charges, was an easy task. It was by +his exertions, to a great extent, that the Empire State was enabled to +send to the front six hundred and ninety thousand men, nearly one fifth +of the Grand Army of the Union. + +There were, of course, many adventurers who sought commissions, and some +of the regiments were recruited from the rough element of city life, who +soon refused to obey their officers. General Arthur made short work of +these cases, exercising an authority which no one dared to dispute. +Neither would he permit the army contractors to ingratiate themselves +with him by presents, returning everything thus sent him. Although a +comparatively poor man when he entered upon the duties of +quartermaster-general at New York, he was far poorer when he gave up the +office. A friend describing his course at this period, says: "So jealous +was he of his integrity, that I have known instances where he could have +made thousands of dollars legitimately, and yet he refused to do it on +the ground that he was a public officer and meant to be, like Caesar's +wife, above suspicion." + +When the rebel ironclad steamer Merrimac had commenced her work of +destruction near Fortress Monroe, General Arthur, as engineer-in-chief, +took efficient steps for the defence of New York, and made a thorough +inspection of all the forts and defences in the State, describing the +armament of each one. His report to the Legislature, submitted to that +body in a little more than three weeks after his attention was called to +the subject by Governor Morgan, was thus noticed editorially in the New +York Herald of January 25, 1862:-- + +"The report of the engineer-in-chief, General Arthur, which appeared in +yesterday's Herald, is one of the most important and valuable documents +that have been this year presented to our Legislature. It deserves +perusal, not only on account of the careful analysis it contains of the +condition of the forts, but because the recommendations, with which it +closes, coincide precisely with the wishes of the administration with +respect to securing a full and complete defence of the entire Northern +coast." + +Governor Morgan appointed General Arthur state inspector-general in +February, 1862, and ordered him to visit and inspect the New York troops +in the army of the Potomac. While there, as an advance on Richmond was +daily expected, he volunteered for duty on the staff of his friend, +Major-General Hunt, commander of the Reserve Artillery. He had +previously, when four fine volunteer regiments had been organized under +the auspices of the metropolitan police commissioners of of the city of +New York, and consolidated into what was known as the "Metropolitan +Brigade," been offered the command of it by the colonels of the +regiments, but on making formal application, based on a desire to see +active service in the field, Governor Morgan was unwilling that he +should accept, stating that he could not be spared from the service of +the State, and that while he appreciated General Arthur's desire for +war-service, he knew that he would render the country more efficient aid +for the Union cause by remaining at his State post of duty. + +When, in June, 1862, the situation had an unfavorable appearance, and +there were apprehensions that a general draft would be necessary, +Governor Morgan telegraphed General Arthur, then with the Army of the +Potomac, to return to New York. The General did so, and was requested, +on his arrival, to act as secretary at a confidential meeting of the +governors of loyal States, held at the Astor House, on the twenty-eighth +of July, 1862. After a full and frank discussion of the condition of +affairs in their respective States, the governors united in a request to +the President to call for more troops. President Lincoln, on the first +of July, issued a proclamation, thanking the governors for their +patriotism, and calling for three hundred thousand three-years +volunteers, and three hundred thousand nine-months militia-men. Private +intimation that such a call was to be issued would have enabled army +contractors to have made millions; but the secret was honorably kept by +all until after the issue of the proclamation. The quota of New York was +59,705 volunteers, or sixty regiments, and it was desirable that they +should be recruited and sent to the front without delay. General Arthur, +by special request of Governor Morgan, resumed his duties as +quartermaster-general and established a system of recruiting and +officering the new levies, which proved wonderfully successful. In his +annual report, made to the governor on the twenty-seventh of January, +1863, he said:-- + +"In summing up the operations of the department during the last levy of +troops, I need only state as the result the fact that through the single +office and clothing department of this department in the city of New +York, from August 1 to December 1, the space of four months, there were +completely clothed, uniformed, and equipped, supplied with camp and +garrison equipage, and transported from this State to the seat of war, +sixty-eight regiments of infantry, two battalions of cavalry, and four +battalions and ten batteries of artillery." + +In December, 1863, the incoming of the Democratic state administration +deprived General Arthur of his office. His successor, +Quartermaster-General Talcott, in a report to Governor Seymour, paid the +following just tribute to his predecessor:-- + +"I found, upon entering on the discharge of my duties, a well-organized +system of labor and accountability, for which the State is chiefly +indebted to my predecessor, General Chester A. Arthur, who, by his +practical good sense and unremitting exertion, at a period when +everything was in confusion, reduced the operations of the department to +a matured plan by which large amounts of money were saved to the +government, and great economy of time secured in carrying out the +details of the same." + +Resuming his professional duties, at first in partnership with Mr. +Gardiner and afterward alone, he became counsel to the city department +of taxes and assessments, with an annual salary of ten thousand dollars, +but he abruptly resigned the position when the Tammany Hall city +officials attempted to coerce the Republicans connected with the +municipal departments. + +When the next presidential election drew near, General Arthur entered +enthusiastically into the support of General Grant, and was made +chairman of the Grant Central Club, of New York. He also served as +chairman of the executive committee of the Republican State Committee of +New York. In 1871, he formed the afterwards well-known firm of Arthur, +Phelps, Knevals, and Ransom. + +President Grant, without solicitation and unexpectedly, appointed +General Arthur collector of the port of New York, on the twentieth of +November, 1871. He accepted the position with much hesitation, but it +met with the general approval of the business community, many of the +merchants having become personally acquainted with his business ability +during the war. He instituted many reforms in the management of the +custom-house, all calculated to simplify the business and to divest it, +to a great extent, of all the details and routine so vexatious to the +mercantile classes. The number of his removals during his administration +was far less than during the rule of any other collector since 1857, and +the expense of collecting the duties was far less than it had been for +years. So satisfactory was his management of the custom-house, that, +upon the close of his term of service, December, 1875, he was +renominated by President Grant. The nomination was unanimously confirmed +by the Senate without reference to a committee, a compliment very rarely +paid, except to ex-senators. He was the first collector of the port of +New York, with one or two exceptions, who in fifty years ever held the +office for more than the whole term of four years. + +Two years later General Arthur was superseded as collector by General +Merritt. The Honorable John Sherman, secretary of the treasury, on being +questioned as to the cause of the removal of General Arthur as collector +of customs at New York, said:-- + +"I have never said one word impugning General Arthur's honor or +integrity as a man and a gentleman, but he was not in harmony with the +views of the administration in the management of the custom-house. I +would vote for him for Vice-President a million times before I would +vote for W.H. English, with whom I served in Congress." + +General Arthur, in a letter written by him to Secretary Sherman, on his +administration of the New York custom-house, said:-- + +"The essential elements of a correct civil service I understand to be: +First, permanance in office, which, of course, prevents removals, except +for cause. Second, promotion from the lower to the higher grades, based +upon good conduct and efficiency. Third, prompt and thorough +investigation of all complaints and prompt punishment of all misconduct. +In this respect I challenge comparison with any department of the +Government, either under the present or under any past national +administration. I am prepared to demonstrate the truth of this statement +on any fair investigation." + +Appended to this letter was a table in which General Arthur showed that +during the six years he had managed the office the yearly percentage of +removals for all causes had been only two and three-quarters per cent. +against an annual average of twenty-eight per cent. under his three +immediate predecessors, and an annual average of about twenty-four per +cent. since 1857, when Collector Schell took office. Out of nine hundred +and twenty-three persons who held office when he became collector on +December 1, 1871, there were five hundred and thirty-one still in office +on May 1, 1877, having been retained during his entire term. Concerning +promotions, the statistics of the office show that during his entire +term the uniform practice was to advance men from the lower to the +higher grades, and almost without exception on the recommendation of +heads of departments. All the appointments, excepting two, to the one +hundred positions paying two thousand dollars salary a year, and over, +were made on this method. + +Senator George K. Edmunds, at a ratification meeting, held in +Burlington, Vermont, on the twenty-second of June, 1880, said:-- + +"I have long known General Arthur. The only serious difficulty I have +had with the present administration was when it proposed to remove him +from the collectorship of New York. No one questioned his personal honor +and integrity. I resisted the attempt to the utmost. Since that time it +has turned out that all the reforms suggested had long before been +recommended by General Arthur himself, and pigeonholded at Washington." + +Meanwhile General Arthur had rendered great services as a member, and +subsequently a chairman, of the Republican State Committee, and had +united his party from one success to another through all the mazes and +intricacies which characterize the politics of New York City. +Vice-President Wheeler said of him:-- + +"It is my good fortune to know well General Arthur, the nominee for +Vice-President. In unsullied character and in devotion to the principles +of the Republican party no man in the organization surpasses him. No man +has contributed more of time and means to advance the just interests of +the Republican party." + +The National Republican Convention, which assembled at Chicago, in June, +1880, was an exemplification of the popular will. The respective friends +of General Grant and of Mr. Blaine, equally confident of success, +indulged during a night's session in prolonged demonstrations of +applause when the candidates were presented that were unprecedented and +that will not probably ever be repeated. Neither side was successful +until the thirty-sixth ballot, when the nomination of President was +finally bestowed on General Garfield, who had, as a delegate from Ohio, +eloquently presented the name of John Sherman as a candidate. + +The convention then adjourned for dinner and for consultation. When it +reassembled in the evening, the roll of States was called for the +nomination for Vice-President. California presented E.B. Washburne; +Connecticut, ex-Governor Jewell; Florida, Judge Settle; Tennessee, +Horace Maynard. These successive names attracted little attention, but +when ex-Lieutenant-Governor Woodford, of New York, rose, and, after a +brief reference to the loyal support which New York had given to General +Grant, presented the name of General Chester A. Arthur for the second +place on the ticket, it was received with applause and enthusiasm. The +nomination was seconded by ex-Governor Denison, of Ohio, Emory A. +Storrs, of Illinois, and John Cessna, of Pennsylvania. A vote was then +taken with the following result: Arthur, 468; Washburne, 19; Maynard, +30; Jewell, 44; Bruce, 8; Davis, 2; and Woodford, 1. The nomination of +General Arthur was then made unanimous, and a committee of one from each +State, with the presiding officer of the convention, Senator Hoar, as +chairman, was appointed to notify General Garfield and General Arthur of +their nomination. The convention then adjourned _sine die_. + +Returning to New York, General Arthur was welcomed by a large and +influential gathering of Republicans, who greeted him with hearty +cheers. That night he was serenaded by a large procession of +Republicans, which assembled in Union Square and marched past his +residence in Lexington Avenue, with music and fireworks. A few weeks +later, a letter was addressed to him, signed by Hamilton Fish, Noah +Davis, and upwards of a hundred other prominent Republicans, inviting +him to dine with them at the Union League Club, and stating that, in +common with all true Republicans, they rejoiced at the happy issue of +the earnest struggle in the Chicago convention. They hailed the general +approval of its work as an auspicious omen, and looked forward +confidently to the labors of the canvass. They felt an especial and +personal gratification in the fact that the ticket selected at Chicago +bore his name. His faithfulness in public duties, his firmness and +sagacity in political affairs, so well understood by his fellow-citizens +in New York, had met with national recognition and won for him this +well-deserved honor. Their efforts in his support would be prompted, not +only by personal zeal and enthusiasm, but by the warmth and zeal of +strong personal friendship and esteem. That they might have an +opportunity more fully to express to him their sincere congratulations +and hearty good wishes, they invited him to meet them at dinner at the +Union League Club. + +General Arthur, in acknowledging the receipt of this letter, expressed +his sense of the kindness which had prompted both the invitation itself +and the flattering assurances of confidence and regard by which it was +accompanied. If circumstances had permitted, he should have been pleased +to have accepted the proffered hospitality, and for that purpose no more +congenial spot could have been selected than the headquarters of the +Union League Club, an association so widely famed for its patriotic zeal +and energy, and so efficient in the support of the principles and policy +of the Republican party. He was constrained, however, from +considerations of a private nature known to many, to decline the +invitation. + +On the fifteenth of July, 1880, General Arthur formally accepted the +position assigned to him by the Chicago convention, and expressed at +length his own personal views on the election laws, public service +appointments, the financial problems of the day, common schools, the +tariff, national improvements, and a Republican ascendency, saying, in +conclusion, that he did not doubt that success awaited the Republican +party, and that its triumph would assure a just, economical, and +patriotic administration. + +The political campaign of 1880 was earnestly contested by the great +political parties. The Republicans were victorious, and their ticket +bearing the names of Garfield and Arthur was triumphantly elected. On +the fourth of March, 1881, General Arthur took the oath of office in the +Senate Chamber as Vice-President of the United States, and half an hour +later General Garfield was inaugurated on a platform before the east +front of the Capitol, in the presence of the imposing military and civil +procession which had escorted him with music and banners. When the +ceremony was concluded, the distinguished personages around the new +President tendered their congratulations, the assembled multitude +cheered, and a salute fired by a light battery stationed near by was +echoed by the guns at the navy yard, the arsenal, and the forts around +the metropolis. + +Republicans congratulated each other on the indications of a vigorous +administration, governed by a conscientious determination to promote +harmony. But a few months had elapsed, however, before President +Garfield was cruelly assassinated, in the full vigor of his manhood, and +the Republican party was at first stricken with apprehensions. These +gloomy doubts, however, soon disappeared as the incidents of Mr. +Arthur's patriotic and useful life were recalled, and a generous +confidence was soon extended to the new President. + +President Arthur took the oath of office in New York immediately after +the death of General Garfield, and he repeated it in the Capitol on the +twenty-second of September, in the Vice-President's room. The members of +General Garfield's cabinet, who had been requested by his successor to +continue for the present in charge of their respective departments, were +present, with General Sherman in full uniform, ex-Presidents Hayes and +Grant, and Chief Justice Waite in his judicial robes, escorted by +Associate Justices Harlan and Matthews. There were, also, present +Senators Anthony, Sherman, Edmunds, Hale, Blair, Dawes, and Jones, of +Nevada, and Representatives Amos Townsend, McCook, Errett, Randall, +Hiscock, and Thomas. Ex-Vice-President Hamlin, of Maine, and Speaker +Sharpe, of New York, were also present. + +When President Arthur entered the room, escorted by General Grant and +Senator Jones, he advanced to a small table, on which was a Bible, and +behind which stood the Chief Justice, who raised the sacred volume, +opened it, and presented it to the President, who placed his right hand +upon it. Chief Justice Waite then slowly administered the oath, and at +its conclusion the President kissed the book, responding, "I will, so +help me God." He then read the following address:-- + + +THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + +For the fourth time in the history of the Republic its Chief Magistrate +has been removed by death. All hearts are filled with grief and horror +at the hideous crime which has darkened our land; and the memory of the +murdered President, his protracted sufferings, his unyielding fortitude, +the example and achievements of his life and the pathos of his death, +will forever illumine the pages of our history. For the fourth time the +officer elected by the people and ordained by the Constitution to fill a +vacancy so created is called to assume the executive chair. The wisdom +of our fathers, foreseeing even the most dire possibilities, made sure +that the Government should never be imperiled because of the uncertainty +of human life. Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions +remain unshaken. No higher or more assuring proof could exist of the +strength and permanence of popular government than the fact that, though +the chosen of the people be struck down, his constitutional successor is +peacefully installed without shock or strain except the sorrow which +mourns the bereavement. All the noble aspirations of my lamented +predecessor which found expression in his life, the measures devised and +suggested during his brief administration to correct abuses and enforce +economy, to advance prosperity and promote the general welfare, to +insure domestic security and maintain friendly and honorable relations +with the nations of the earth, will be garnered in the hearts of the +people, and it will be my earnest endeavor to profit, and to see that +the Nation shall profit, by his example and experience. Prosperity +blesses our country; our fiscal policy is fixed by law, is well +grounded, and generally approved. No threatening issue mars our foreign +intercourse, and the wisdom, integrity, and thrift of our people may be +trusted to continue undisturbed the present assured career of peace, +tranquillity, and welfare. The gloom and anxiety which have enshrouded +the country must make repose especially welcome now. No demand for +speedy legislation has been heard. No adequate occasion is apparent for +an unusual session of Congress. The Constitution defines the functions +and powers of the executive as clearly as those of either of the other +two departments of the government, and he must answer for the just +exercise of the discretion it permits and the performance of the duties +it imposes. Summoned to these high duties and responsibilities, and +profoundly conscious of their magnitude and gravity, I assume the trust +imposed by the Constitution, relying for aid on Divine guidance and the +virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of the American people. + + * * * * * + +As President Arthur read his message his voice trembled, but his manner +was impressive, and the eyes of many present were moistened with tears. +The first one to congratulate him when he had concluded was Chief +Justice Waite, and the next was Secretary Blaine. After shaking him by +the hand, those present left the room, which was closed to all except +the members of the Cabinet, who there held their first conference with +the President. At this cabinet meeting the following proclamation was +prepared and signed by President Arthur, designating the following +Monday as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer:-- + + + _By the President of the United States of America_; + + A PROCLAMATION: + + Whereas, in his inscrutable wisdom, it has pleased God to remove + from us the illustrious head of the Nation, James A. Garfield, late + President of the United States; and whereas it is fitting that the + deep grief which fills all hearts should manifest itself with one + accord toward the throne of infinite grace, and that we should bow + before the Almighty and seek from him that consolation in our + affliction and that sanctification of our loss which he is able and + willing to vouchsafe: + + Now, therefore, in obedience to sacred duty, and in accordance with + the desire of the people, I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the + United States of America, do hereby appoint Monday next, the + twenty-sixth day of September, on which day the remains of our + honored and beloved dead will be consigned to their last + resting-place on earth; to be observed throughout the United States + as a day of humiliation and mourning; and I earnestly recommend all + the people to assemble on that day in their respective places of + divine worship, there to render alike their tribute of sorrowful + submission to the will of Almighty God and of reverence and love + for the memory and character of our late Chief Magistrate. + + In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal + of the United States to be affixed. + + [Sidenote: [SEAL.]] + + Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-second day of September, + in the year of our Lord 1881, and of the independence of the United + States the one hundred and sixth. + + CHESTER A. ARTHUR. + + By the President: + + JAMES G. BLAINE. Secretary of State. + +President Arthur soon showed his appreciation of the responsibilities of +his new office. Knowing principles rather than persons, he subordinated +individual preferences and prejudices to a well-defined public policy. +While he was, as he always had been, a Republican, he had no sympathy +for blind devotion to party; he had "no friends to reward, no enemies to +punish;"--and he has been governed by those principles of liberty and +equality which he inherited. His messages to Congress have been +universally commended, and even unfriendly critics have pronounced them +careful and well-matured documents. Their tone is more frank and direct +than is customary in such papers, and their recommendations, extensive +and varied as they have been, show that he has patiently reviewed the +field of labor so sadly and so unexpectedly opened before him, and that +he was not inclined to shirk the constitutional duty of aiding Congress +by his suggestions and advice. An honest man, who believes in his own +principles, who follows his own convictions, and who never hesitates to +avow his sentiments, he has given his views in accordance with his +deliberate ideas of right. + +The foreign relations of the United States have been conducted by +Secretary Frelinghuysen, under the President's direction, in a friendly +spirit and when practicable with a view to mutual commercial advantages. +He has taken a conservative view of the management of the public debt, +approving all the important suggestions of the secretary of the +treasury, and recognizing the proper protection of American industry. He +is in favor of the great interests of labor, and opposed to such +tinkering with the tariff as will make vain the toil of the industrious +farmer, paralyze the arm of the sturdy mechanic, strike down the hand of +the hardy laborer, stop the spindle, hush the loom, extinguish the +furnace-fires, and degrade all independent toilers to the level of the +poor in other lands. The architect of his own fortune, he has a strong +and abiding sympathy for those bread-winners who struggle against +poverty. + +The reform of the civil service has met with President Arthur's earnest +support, and his messages show that every department of the government +has received his careful administration. Following the example of +Washington, he has personally visited several sections of the United +States, and has especially made himself acquainted with the great +problem of Indian civilization. + +President Arthur's administration has been characterized by an elevated +tone at home and abroad. All important questions have been carefully +discussed at the council table, at which the President has displayed +unusual powers of analysis and comprehension. The conflicting claims of +applicants for appointments to offices in his gift, have been carefully +weighed, and no action has been taken until all parties interested have +had a hearing. The President has a remarkable insight into men, promptly +estimating character with an accuracy that makes it a difficult matter +to deceive him, or to win his favor either for visionary schemes, +corrupt attacks upon the treasury, or incompetent place-hunters. He has +shown that he has been guided by a wise experience of the past, and a +sagacious foresight of the future, exhibiting sacrifices of individual +friendship to a sense of public duty. + +Possessing moral firmness and a just self-reliance, President Arthur did +not hesitate about vetoing the "Chinese Bill" and the "Bill making +appropriations for rivers and harbors" for reasons which he laid before +Congress in his veto messages. The wisdom and sagacity which he has +displayed in his management of national affairs has been especially +acceptable to the business interests of the country. They have tested +his administration by business principles, and they feel that, so long +as he firmly grasps the helm of the ship of state, she will pursue a +course of peace and prosperity. + +In dispensing the hospitalities of the White House, President Arthur has +exhibited the resources of a naturally generous disposition and a +refined taste. His remembrance of persons who call upon him, and whom he +may not have seen for years, is remarkable, and his hearty, genial +temperament enables him to make his visitors at home. His vigorous +vitality of body and mind, his manly figure and expressive face, add to +the dignity of his manner. A ready speaker, he at all times rises to the +level of an emergency, and he invariably charms those who hear him by +his courtesy of expression, which is the outward reflection of a large, +kind heart. + +President Arthur's numerous friends contemplate the prominent events of +his eventful life without regret, and with a sincere belief that they +will be sustained by the verdict of impartial history. Utility to the +country has been the rule of his political life, and he has arrived at +that high standard of official excellence which prevailed in the early +days of the Republic, when honesty, firmness, patriotism, and stability +of character were the characteristics of public men. Under his lead, the +Republican party, disorganized and disheartened after the sad death of +General Garfield, has gradually become strengthened and united on the +eve of another presidential victory. + + * * * * * + +YESTERDAY. + +BY KATE L. BROWN. + + + Adown the aisles of yesterday + What fairy notes are ringing, + And strange, sweet odors, rich and rare, + The western winds are bringing! + + The deeds we counted poor and mean, + Now shine with added glory, + And like a romance, reads the page + Of life's poor, meagre story. + + But vanished from our wistful sight, + Too late for vain regretting, + The joys, that the remorseful heart + With sacred gold is setting. + + Ah! dearest of all earthly hopes + Within the soul abiding, + The lost, lost life of yesterday + The heart is ever hiding. + + + + * * * * * + + +THE BOUNDARY LINES OF OLD GROTON.--I. + +BY THE HON. SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D. + + +The original grant of the township of Groton was made by the General +Court, on May 25, 1655, and gave to the proprietors a tract of land +eight miles square; though during the next year this was modified so +that its shape varied somewhat from the first plan. It comprised all of +what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of Pepperell and Shirley, large +parts of Dunstable and Littleton, smaller parts of Harvard and Westford, +Massachusetts, and a portion of Nashua, New Hampshire. The grant was +taken out of the very wilderness, relatively far from any other town, +and standing like a sentinel on the frontiers. Lancaster, fourteen miles +away, was its nearest neighbor in the southwesterly direction on the one +side; and Andover and Haverhill, twenty and twenty-five miles distant, +more or less, in the northeasterly direction on the other. No settlement +on the north stood between it and the settlements in Canada. Chelmsford +and Billerica were each incorporated about the same time, though a few +days later. + +When the grant was made, it was expressly stipulated that Mr. Jonathan +Danforth, of Cambridge, with such others as he might desire, should lay +it out with all convenient speed in order to encourage the prompt +settlement of a minister; and furthermore that the selectmen of the town +should pay a fair amount for his services. During the next year a +petition, signed by Deane Winthrop and seven others, was presented to +the General Court asking for certain changes in the conditions, and +among them the privilege to employ another "artist" in the place of Mr. +Danforth, as he was overrun with business. The petition was referred to +a committee who reported favorably upon it, and the request was duly +granted. Formerly a surveyor was called an artist, and in old records +the word is often found with that meaning. + +Ensign Peter Noyes, of Sudbury, was then engaged by the grantees and he +began the survey; but his death, on September 23, 1657, delayed the +speedy accomplishment of the work. It is known that there was some +trouble in the early settlement of the place, growing out of the +question of lands, but its exact character is not recorded; perhaps it +was owing to the delay which now occurred. Ensign Noyes was a noted +surveyor, but not so famous as Jonathan Danforth, whose name is often +mentioned in the General Court records, in connection with the laying +out of lands and towns, and many of whose plans are still preserved +among the Archives in the State House. Danforth was the man wanted at +first for the undertaking; and after Noyes's death he took charge of it, +and his elder brother, Thomas, was associated with him. The plat or plan +of the land, however, does not appear to have been completed until +April, 1668. The survey was made during the preceding year. At a meeting +of the selectmen of the town, held on November 23, 1667, it is recorded +that a rate should be levied in order to pay "the Artest and the men +that attended him and his diet for himself and his horse, and for two +sheets of parchment, for him to make two platts for the towne, and for +Transportation of his pay all which amounts to about twenty pounds and +to pay severall other town debts that appear to us to be due." + +[Illustration: Groton Plantation as shown on a plan made in 1668 by +Jonathan Danforth] + +A little further on in the records a charge of five shillings is made +'ffor two sheats of Parchment.' These entries seem to show that two +plans were made, perhaps one for the town and the other for the Colony; +but neither copy is now to be found. An allusion is made to one of them +in a petition, presented to the General Court on February 10, 1717, by +John Shepley and John Ames. It is there mentioned that "the said Plat +thô something defaced is with the Petitioner;" and is further stated +"That in the year 1713 M'r Samuel Danforth Surveyor & Son of the +aforesaid Jonathan Danforth, at the desire of the said Town of Groton +did run the Lines & make an Implatment of the said Township laid out as +before & found it agreeable to the former. W'h last Plat the Petitioners +do herewith exhibit, And pray that this Hon'ble Court would allow & +confirm the same as the Township of Groton." + +While the original plan has been lost or destroyed, it is fortunate that +many years ago a copy was made, which is still preserved. In June, 1825, +the Honorable James Prescott was in the possession of the original, +which Caleb Butler, Esq., at that time transcribed into one of the town +record-books, and thereby saved it for historical purposes. Even with +this clew a special search has been made for the missing document, but +without success. If it is ever found it will be by chance, where it is +the least looked for. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the +outlines or the faithfulness of the copy. The relative distances between +the streams emptying into the Nashua River, however, are not very exact; +and in the engraving for the sake of clearness I have added their names, +as well as the name of Forge Pond, formerly called Stony Brook Pond. + +Accompanying the copy is a description of the survey, which in +connection with the drawing gives a good idea of the general shape of +the township. Perhaps in the original these two writings were on the +same sheet. In the transcript Mr. Butler has modernized the language and +made the punctuation conform to present usage. In the engraved cut I +have followed strictly the outlines of the plan, as well as the course +of the rivers, but I have omitted some details, such as the distances +and directions which are given along the margins. These facts appear in +the description, and perhaps were taken from it by the copyist. I have +also omitted the acreage of the grant, which is grossly inaccurate. + + + Whereas the Plantation of Groton, containing by grant the + proportion of eight miles Square, was begun to be laid out by + Ensign Noyes, and he dying before he had finished his work, it is + now finished, whose limits and bounds are as followeth, + + It began on the east side of Nashua River a little below + Nissitisset hills at the short turning of the River bounded by a + pine tree marked with G. and so running two miles in a direct line + to buckmeadow which _p'rtains_ to Boston Farms, Billerica land and + Edward Cowells farm until you come to Massapoag Pond, which is full + of small islands; from thence it is bounded by the aforesaid Pond + until you come to Chelmsford line, after that it is bounded by + Chelmsford and Nashoboh lines until you come to the most southerly + corner of this Plantation, and from thence it runs West-North-West + five miles and a half and sixty four poles, which again reacheth to + Nashua River, then the former west-north-west line is continued one + mile on the west side of the river, and then it runs one third of a + point easterly of north & by east nine miles and a quarter, from + thence it runneth four miles due east, which closeth the work to + the river again to the first pine below Nissitisset hills, where we + began: it is bounded by the Farms and plantations as aforesaid and + by the wilderness elsewhere; all which lines are run and very + sufficiently bounded by marked trees & pillars of stones: the + figure or manner of the lying of it is more fully demonstrated by + this plot taken of the same. + + By JONATHAN DANFORTH, + April 1668. + Surveyor. + +The map of Old Dunstable, between pages 12 and 13 in Fox's History of +that town, is very incorrect, so far as it relates to the boundaries of +Groton. The Squannacook River is put down as the Nissitissett, and this +mistake may have tended to confuse the author's ideas. The southern +boundary of Dunstable was by no means a straight line, but was made to +conform in part to the northern boundary of Groton, which was somewhat +irregular. Groton was incorporated on May 25, 1655, and Dunstable on +October 15, 1673, and no part of it came within the limits of this town. +The eastern boundary of Groton originally ran northerly through +Massapoag Pond and continued into the present limits of Nashua, New +Hampshire. + +On the southeast of Groton, and adjoining it, was a small township +granted, in the spring of 1654, by the General Court to the Nashobah +Indians, who had been converted to Christianity under the instruction of +the Apostle Eliot and others. They were few in numbers, comprising +perhaps ten families, or about fifty persons. During Philip's War this +settlement was entirely deserted by the Indians, thus affording a good +opportunity for the English to encroach on the reservation, which was +not lost. These intruders lived in the neighboring towns, and mostly in +Groton. Some of them took possession with no show of right, while others +went through the formality of buying the land from the Indians, though +such sales did not, as was supposed at the time, bring the territory +under the jurisdiction of the towns where the purchasers severally +lived. It is evident from the records that these encroachments gave rise +to controversy. The following entry, under date of June 20, 1682, is +found in the Middlesex County Court records at East Cambridge, and shows +at that time to re-establish the boundary lines of Nashobah:-- + + + Cap't Thomas Hinchman, L't. Joseph Wheeler, & L't. Jn'o flynt + surveyo'r, or any two of them are nominated & impowred a Comittee + to run the ancient bounds of Nashobah Plantation, & remark the + lines, as it was returned to the geñall Court by said m'r flynt at + the charge of the Indians, giving notice to the select men of + Grotton of time & place of meeting, w'ch is referred to m'r flint, + to appoint, & to make return to next Coun Court at Cambridge in + order to a finall settem't + +Again, under date of October 3, 1682 ("3. 8. 1682."), it is entered +that-- + + + The return of the committee referring to the bounds of Nashobey + next to Grotton, was p'rsented to this Court and is on file. + + Approved + +The "return" is as follows: + + + We Whose names are underwritten being appointed by y'e Hon'rd + County Court June: 20'th 1682. To ruñ the Ancient bounds of + Nashobey, haue accordingly ruñ the said bounds, and find that the + town of Groton by theire Second laying out of theire bounds have + taken into theire bounds as we Judge neer halfe Indian Plantation + Seuerall of the Select men and other inhabitants of Groton being + then with us Did See theire Erro'r therein & Do decline that laying + out So far as they haue Inuaded the right of y'e Indians. + + Also we find y't the Norwest Corner of Nashobey is run into y'e + first bounds of Groton to y'e Quantity of 350 acres according as + Groton men did then Show us theire Said line, which they Say was + made before Nashobey was laid out, and which bounds they Do + Challenge as theire Right. The Indians also haue Declared them + Selves willing to forego that Provided they may haue it made up + upon theire West Line, And we Judge it may be there added to + theire Conveniance. + + 2: October: 1682. + Exhibited in Court 3: 8: 82: + & approved T D: R. + + JOSEPH WHEELER + + JOHN FLINT + + A true Coppy of y'e originall on file w'th y'e Records of County + Court for Middx. + + Ex'd p'r Sam'll: Phipps Cle'r + + [Massachusetts Archives, cxii, 331.] + +Among the Groton men who had bought land of the Nashobah Indians were +Peleg Lawrence and Robert Robbins. Their names appear, with a diagram of +the land, on a plan of Nashobah, made in the year 1686, and found among +the Massachusetts Archives, in the first volume (page 125) of "Ancient +Plans Grants &c." Lawrence and Robbins undoubtedly supposed that the +purchase of this land brought it within the jurisdiction of Groton. +Lawrence died in the year 1692; and some years later the town made an +effort to obtain from his heirs their title to this tract, as well as +from Robbins his title. It is recorded at a town meeting, held on June +8, 1702, that the town + + + did uote that they would giue Peleg larraness Eairs three acers of + madow whare thay ust to Improue and tenn acers of upland neare that + madow upon the Conditions following that the aboue sd Peleg + larrances heirs do deliuer up that Indian titelle which thay now + haue to the town + +At the same meeting the town voted that + + + thay would giue to robart robins Sener three acers of madow where + he uste to Improue: and ten acers of upland near his madow upon the + Conditions forlowing that he aboue sd Robart Robbins doth deliuer: + up that Indian titels which he now hath: to the town. + +It appears from the records that no other business was done at this +meeting, except the consideration of matters growing out of the Nashobah +land. It was voted to have an artist lay out the meadow at "Nashobah +line," as it was called, as well as the land which the town had granted +to Walter and Daniel Powers, probably in the same neighborhood; and also +that Captain Jonas Prescott be authorized to engage an artist at an +expense not exceeding six shillings a day. + +Settlers from the adjacent towns were now making gradual encroachments +on the abandoned territory, and among them Groton was well represented. +All the documents of this period relating to the subject show an +increased interest in these lands, which were too valuable to remain +idle for a long time. The following petition, undoubtedly, makes a +correct representation of the case:-- + + + To his Excellency Joseph Dudley Esq'r Captain Gen'll & Governour in + Chief in & over her Majesties Province of the Massachusets Bay &c: + togeither with the honourable Council, & Representatives in Great + and Gen'll Court Assembled at Cambridge Octobe'r 14'th. 1702. + + The Petition of the Inhabitants of Stow humbly sheweth. + + That Whereas the honourable Court did pleas formerly to grant vnto + vs the Inhabitants of Stow a certain Tract of Land to make a + Village or Township of, environed with Concord, Sudbury, Marlbury, + Lancaster, Groton, & Nashoby: And Whereas the said Nashoby being a + Tract of Land of four miles square, the which for a long time hath + been, and still is deserted and left by the Indians none being now + resident there, and those of them who lay claim to it being + desireous to sell said land; and some English challenging it to be + theirs by virtue of Purchase; and besides the Town of Groton in + particular, hath of late extended their Town lyne into it, takeing + away a considerable part of it; and Especially of Meadow (as wee + are Well informed) Wherefore wee above all o'r Neighbour Towns, + stand in the greatest need of Enlargement; having but a pent up + smale Tract of Land and very little Meadow. + + Whence we humbly Pray the great & Gen'll Court, that if said + Nashoby may be sold by the Indians wee may have allowance to buy, + or if it be allready, or may be sold to any other Person or + Persons, that in the whole of it, it be layed as an Addition to vs + the smale Town of Stow, it lying for no other Town but vs for + nighness & adjacency, togeither with the great need wee stand of + it, & the no want of either or any of the above named Towns. Shall + it Pleas the great & Gen'll Court to grant this o'r Petition, wee + shall be much more able to defray Publick Charges, both Civil, & + Ecclesiasticall, to settle o'r Minister amongst vs in order to o'r + Injoyment of the Gospel in the fullness of it. Whence hopeing & + believing that the Petition of the Poor, & needy will be granted. + Which shall forever oblidge yo'r Petition'rs to Pray &c: + + THO: STEEVENS. Cler: + In the Towns behalfe + + [Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 330.] + +This petition was granted on October 21, 1702, on the part of the House +of Representatives, but negatived in the Council, on October 24. + +During this period the territory of Nashobah was the subject of +considerable dispute among the neighboring towns, and slowly +disappearing by their encroachments. Under these circumstances an effort +was made to incorporate a township from this tract and to establish its +boundaries. The following petition makes a fair statement of the case, +though the signatures to it are not autographs: + + + To His Excel'cy: Joseph Dudley Esq: Cap't: Generall & Gov'r: in + Chief in and over Her Maj'ties: Province of Mass'ts: Bay in + New-England, Together with y'e Hon'ble: the Council, & + Representatives in Gen'll: Court Assembled on the 30'th of May, In + the Tenth Year of Her Maj'ties: Reign Annoq Dom'i: 1711,--The + Humble Petition of us the Subscribers Inhabitants of Concord, + Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow &c within the County of Midd'x in the + Province Afores'd. + + Most Humbly Sheweth + + That there is a Considerable Tract of Land Lying vacant and + unimproved Between the Towns of Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow & + Groton, as s'd Groton was Survey'd & Lay'd out by Mr. Noyce, & the + Plantation Call'd Concord Village, which is Commonly known by the + Name of Nashoba, in the County of Midd'x: Afores'd. & Sundry + Persons having Made Entrys thereupon without Orderly Application to + the Government, and as we are Inform'd, & have reason to believe, + diverse others are designing so to do. + + We Yo'r Hum'ble Petitioners being desirous to Prevent the + Inconveniences that may arise from all Irregular Intrusions into + any vacant Lands, and also In a Regular manner to Settle a Township + on the Land afores'd, by which the frontier on that Side will be + more Clos'd & Strengthened & Lands that are at Present in no wise + beneficiall or Profitable to the Publick might be rendred + Servicable for the Contributing to the Publlick Charge, Most Humbly + Address Ourselves to your Excy: And this Honourable Court. + + Praying that your Petitioners may have a Grant of Such Lands + Scituate as Afores'd. for the Ends & Purposes afores'd. And that a + Committee may be appointed by this Hon'ble: Court to View, Survey + and Set out to Yo'r. Petitioners the s'd. Lands, that so Yo'r. s'd. + Petitioners may be enabled to Settle thereupon with Such others as + shall joyn them In an orderly and regular manner: Also Praying that + Such Powers and Priviledges may be given and confered upon the same + as are granted to other Towns, And Yo'r Petitioners shall be Most + ready to attend Such Directions, with respect to Such Part of the + s'd. Tract as has been formerly reserv'd for the Indians, but for a + Long time has been wholly Left, & is now altogether unimprov'd by + them, And all other things which this Hon'ble: Court in their + Wisdom & justice Shall See meet to appoint for the Regulation of + such Plantation or Town. + + And Yo'r: Hum'ble: Petitioners as in Duty Bound Shall Ever Pray &c. + + Gershom Procter + Sam'll. Procter + John Procter + Joseph Fletcher + John Miles + John Parlin + Robert Robins + John Darby + John Barker + Sam'l: Stratton + Hezekiah Fletcher + Josiah Whitcomb + John Buttrick + Will'm: Powers + Jonathan Hubburd + W'm Keen + John Heald + John Bateman + John Heywood + Thomas Wheeler + Sam'll: Hartwell, jun'r: + Sam'll: Jones + John Miriam + + In the House of Representatives + June 6: 1711. Read & Comitted. + 7 ... Read, & + + Ordered that Jo'a. Tyng Esq'r: Thom's: Howe Esq'r: & M'r: John + Sternes be a Comittee to view the Land mentioned in the Petition, & + Represent the Lines, or Bounds of the severall adjacent Towns + bounding on the s'd. Lands and to have Speciall Regard to the Land + granted to the Indians, & to make report of the quantity, & + circumstances thereof. + + Sent up for Concurrence. + + JOHN BURRIL Speaker + In Council + June 7. 1711, Read and Concurr'd. + ISA: ADDINGTON, Secry. + + [Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 602, 603.] + +The committee, to whom was referred this subject, made a report during +the next autumn; but no action in regard to it appears to have been +taken by the General Court until two years later. + + * * * * * + +THE NEW ENGLAND TOWN-HOUSE. + +By J.B. SEWALL. + + +A Recollection of my boyhood is a large unpainted barnlike building +standing at a point where three roads met at about the centre of the +town. When all the inhabitants of the town were of one faith +religiously, or at least the minority were not strong enough to divide +from the majority, and one meeting-house served the purposes of all, +this was the meeting-house. To this, the double line of windows all +round, broken by the long round-topped window midway on the back side, +and the two-storied vestibule on the front, and, more than all, the old +pulpit still remaining within, with the sounding-board suspended above +it, bore witness. Here assembled every spring, at the March meeting, the +voters of the town, to elect their selectmen and other town officers for +the ensuing year, to vote what moneys should be raised for the repair of +roads, bridges, maintaining the poor, etc., and take any other action +their well-being as a community demanded; in the autumn, to cast their +votes for state representative, national representative, governor of the +State, or President of the United States, one or all together, as the +case might be. + +Many such town-houses, probably, are standing to-day in the New England +States,--I know there are such in Maine,--and they are existing +witnesses to what was generally the fact: towns, at the first, when +young and small, built the meeting-house for two purposes; first, for +use as a house of worship; second, for town meetings; and when in +process of time a new church or churches were built for the better +accommodation of the people, or because different denominations had come +into existence, or because the young people wanted a smarter building +with a steeple, white paint, green blinds, and a bell, the old building +was sold to the town for purely town purposes. + +When the settlements were made, the first public building erected was +generally the meeting-house, and this in the case of the earlier +settlements was very soon. In Plymouth, the first building was a house +twenty feet square for a storehouse and "for common occupation," then +their separate dwellings. + +The "common" building was used for religious and other meetings until +the meeting-house with its platform on top for cannon, on Burial Hill, +was built in 1622. "Boston seems to have had no special building for +public worship until, during the year 1632, was erected the small +thatched-roof, one-story building which stood on State Street, where +Brazer's building now stands."[A] This was in the second year, the +settlement having been made in the autumn of 1630. In Charlestown, "The +Great House," the first building erected that could be called a house, +was first used as the official residence of the governor, and the +sessions of the Court of Assistants appear to have been held in it until +the removal to Boston, but when the church was formed, in 1632, it was +used for a meeting-house. + +[Footnote A: Memorial History of Boston, vol. i, p. 119.] + +Dorchester had the first meeting-house in the Bay, built in 1631, the +next year after settlement, and by the famous order passed "mooneday +eighth of October, 1633," it appears that it was the regular +meeting-place of the inhabitants of the plantation for general purposes. +The Lynn church was formed in 1632, and the meeting-house appears to +have been built soon after, and was used for town meetings till 1806. It +was the same in towns of later settlement. In Brunswick, Maine, which +became a township in 1717, the first public building was the +meeting-house, and this also was the town-house for almost one hundred +years. Belfast, Maine, incorporated in 1773, held its first two town +meetings in a private house, afterwards, for eighteen years, "at the +Common on the South end of No. 26" (house lot),[A] whether under cover +or in open air is not known, after that, in the meeting-house generally, +till the town hall was built. In Harpswell, Maine, the old +meeting-house, like that described, when abandoned as a house of +worship, was sold to the town for one hundred dollars and is still in +use as a town-house. + +[Footnote A: Williamson's History of Belfast.] + +The town-house, therefore, though it cannot strictly be said to have +been coëval with the town, was essentially so, the meeting-house being +generally the first public building, and used equally for town meetings +and public worship. + +How early, then, was the town? When the settlement at Plymouth took +place, in one sense a town existed at once. It was a collection of +families living in neighborhood and united by the bonds of mutual +obligation common in similar English communities. But it was a town as +yet only in that sense. In fact, it was a state. The words of the +compact signed on board the Mayflower were, in part: "We, whose names +are underwritten ... do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the +presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves +together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and +preservation, ... and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame +such just and equal laws, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to +time, as shall be most meet and convenient for the general good of the +colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." + +These words were the constitution of more than a town government. They +erected a democratic state--a commonwealth. It was a general government +separate from and above the town governments which were afterwards +instituted. It enacted general laws by an assembly of deputies in which +the eight plantations in the colony, which afterwards became towns, were +represented. These laws were executed by a governor and an assistant, +and were of equal binding force in all the plantations after, as well as +before, these plantations became towns. + +The Massachusetts Colony came over as a corporation with a royal charter +which gave power to the freemen of the company to elect a governor, +deputy-governor, and assistants, and "make laws and ordinances, not +repugnant to the laws of England, for their own benefit and the +government of persons inhabiting their territory." The colonists divided +themselves into plantations, part at Naumkeag (Salem), at Mishawum +(Charlestown), at Dorchester, Boston, Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and +Saugus (Lynn), and while the General Court, as the governor, +deputy-governor, and assistants were called, made general "laws and +ordinances" for the whole, the plantations were at liberty to manage +their own particular affairs as they pleased. They called meetings and +took action by themselves, as at Watertown, when, in 1632, the people +assembled and expressed their discontent with a tax laid by the court, +and at Dorchester as previously referred to. To Dorchester, however, +belongs the honor of leading the way to that form of town government +which has prevailed in New England ever since. It came about in this +way. The settlement was begun in June, 1630, and for more than three +years the people seem to have managed their affairs under the +administration of the Court of Assistants by means of meetings. At such +a meeting, held October 8, 1633, it was ordered "for the generall good +and well ordering of the affaires of the plantation," that there should +be a general meeting of the inhabitants at the meeting-house every +Monday morning before the court, which was four times a year, or became +so the next year, "to settle & sett downe such orders as may tend to the +general good as aforesayd, & every man to be bound thereby without +gainsaying or resistance." This very interesting order is given entire +in the Memorial History of Boston.[A] There were also appointed _twelve +selectmen_, "who were to hold monthly meetings, & whose orders were +binding when confirmed by the Plantation." + +[Footnote A: Vol. i, p. 427.] + +Here was our New England town almost exactly as it is to-day. The +inhabitants met at stated times and voted what seemed necessary for +their own local order and welfare, and committed the execution of their +will to twelve selectmen, who were to meet monthly. Our towns now have +an annual meeting for the same purpose, and elect generally three +selectmen, who meet at stated times,--sometimes as often as once a week. +Watertown followed, about the same time, selecting three men "for the +ordering of public affairs." Boston appears to have done the same thing +in 1634, and Charlestown in the following year, the latter being the +first to give the name _Selectmen_ to the persons so chosen, a name +which soon was generally adopted and has since remained. + +The reason of this action it is easy to conjecture, but it is fully +stated in the order of the inhabitants of Charlestown at the meeting in +which the action for the government of the town by selectmen was taken: +"In consideration of the great trouble and charge of the inhabitants of +Charlestown by reason of the frequent meeting of the townsmen in +general, and that, by reason of many men meeting, things were not so +easily brought into a joint issue; it is therefore agreed, by the said +townsmen, jointly, that these eleven men ... shall entreat of all such +business as shall concern the townsmen, the choice of officers excepted; +and what they or the greater part of them shall conclude of, the rest of +the town willingly to submit unto as their own proper act, and these +eleven to continue in this employment for one year next ensuing the date +hereof." + +Town government, thus instituted, was recognized the next year--1636--by +the General Court, and thereafter the towns were corporations lawfully +existing and endowed with certain fixed though limited powers. + +The plantations of the Plymouth Colony followed the example. In 1637, +Duxbury was incorporated, and at the General Court of the colony, in +1639, deputies were in attendance from seven towns. + +"Thus," says Judge Parker,[A] "there grew up a system of government +embracing two jurisdictions, administered by the same people; the +Colonial government, having jurisdiction over the whole colony, +administered by the great body of the freemen, through officers elected +and appointed by them; and the town governments, having limited local +jurisdiction, such as was conceded to them by the Colonial government, +administered by the inhabitants, through officers and agents chosen by +them." + +[Footnote A: Origin, Organization, etc., of the Towns of New England.] + +By this change,--the invention of the colonists themselves without copy +or pattern,--the colonies were transformed from pure democracies into a +congeries of democratic republics; and each town-house, or whatever +building was used for such, became the state-house of a little republic. +And this is what it is in every New England town to-day. + +Was not, then, the New England town-house a thing of inheritance at all? +Yes, so far as it was a building for the common meeting of the +inhabitants of the town, and so far as it was a place for free +discussion and the ordering of purely local affairs. The colonists came +from their English homes already familiar with the town-hall and its +uses so far. If one will turn to any gazetteer or encyclopædia which +gives a description of Liverpool, England, he will find the town-hall +described as one of the noble edifices of that town. The present +structure was opened in 1754, but it was the successor of others, the +first of which must have dated back somewhere near the time when King +John gave the town its charter--1207. Or he may turn to the town of +Hythe in the county of Kent. In its corporation records, it is said, is +the following entry, bearing date in the year 1399: "Thomas Goodeall +came before the jurats _in the common hall_ on the 10th day of October, +and covenanted to give for his freedom 20_d_., and so he was received +and sworn to bear fealty to our Lord the King and his successors, and to +the commonalty and liberty of the port of Hethe, and to render faithful +account of his lots and scots[A] as freeman there are wont." In another +entry, in the same year, the building is mentioned again as the "Common +House." + +[Footnote A: The "lot" was the obligation to perform the public services +which might fall to the inhabitants by due rotation. "Scot" means tax.] + +We may go further back than this. History tells us that "the boroughs +(towns) of England, during the period of oppression, after the Norman +invasion, led the way in the silent growth and elevation of the English +people; that, unnoticed and despised by prelate and noble, they had +alone preserved the full tradition of Teutonic liberty; that, by their +traders and shopkeepers, the rights of self-government, of free speech +in free meeting, of equal justice by one's equals, were brought safely +across the ages of Norman tyranny."[A] The rights of self-government and +free speech in free meeting, then, were rights and practices of our +Anglo-Saxon ancestry, and we are to go back with them across the English +channel to their barbarian German home, and to the people described by +Tacitus in his Germania, for the origin, as far as we can trace it, of +this part of our inheritance. These people were famed for their spirit +of independence and freedom. The mass are described as freemen, voting +together in the great assemblies of the tribe, and choosing their own +leaders or kings from the class of nobles, who were nobles not as +constituting a distinct and privileged caste. "It was their greater +estates and the greater consequence which accompanied these that marked +their rank." When we first learn of these assemblies, they are +out-of-doors, under the broad canopy of heaven alone, but the time came, +as the rathhaus of the German town to-day attests, when they built the +common hall or town-house; and we, to-day, in this remote and then +unknown and unconjectured land of the West, are in this regard their +heirs as well as descendants.[B] + +[Footnote A: Green's Short History of the English People, chap. ii, sec. +6.] + +[Footnote B: The present rathhaus of the quaint old city of Nuremberg, +built in 1619, is a notable building, much visited by travelers. Around +the wall of the hall within runs the legend: "Eins manns red ist eine +halbe red, man soll die teyl verhören bed,"--"One man's talk is a half +talk; one should hear both sides."] + +In what, then, is the New England town-house more than, or different +from, the English town-house? In this, that it is the state-house of a +little democratic republic which came into existence of and by itself of +a natural necessity, and not merely governs itself, making all the laws +of local need and executing them--levying taxes, maintaining schools, +and taking charge of its own poor, of roads, bridges, and all matters +pertaining to the health, peace, and safety of all within its bounds, in +a word, all things which it can do for itself,--but also in +confederation with other little democratic republics has called into +being, and clothed with all the power it has for those matters of common +need which the town cannot do, the State. The State of Massachusetts, +from the day that the people created the General Court the body it still +is, by electing deputies from the towns,--representatives we now call +them,--to sit instead of the whole body of freemen, with the governor +and council, for the performance of all acts of legislation for the +common good, is the outgrowth of and exists only by virtue of the towns. +The towns created it, compose it, send up to it its heart-and-life +blood. This it is which makes the New England town unique, attracting +the attention and interest of intelligent foreigners who visit our +shores. Judge Parker says: "I very well recollect the curiosity +expressed by some of the gentlemen in the suite of Lafayette, on his +visit to this country in 1825, respecting these town organizations and +their powers and operations." In the same connection he adds that "a +careful examination of the history of the New England towns will show +that," instead of being modeled after the town of our Anglo-Saxon +ancestors, or the free cities of the continent of the twelfth century, +"they were not founded or modeled on precedent" at all. Mr. E.A. +Freeman, however, puts it more truthfully in saying: "The circumstances +of New England called the primitive assembly (that is, the Homeric +agora, Athenian ekklesia, Roman comitia, Swiss landesgemeinde, English +folk-moot) again into being, when in the older England it was well-nigh +forgotten. What in Switzerland was a _sur_vival was in New England +rather a _re_vival."[A] + +[Footnote A: Introduction to American Institutional History, Johns +Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science.] + +Our New England town-house, therefore, is a symbol of institutions, +partly original with our fathers, partly a priceless inheritance from +Old England the land of our fathers, and nearly in the whole, if not +quite, a regermination and new growth of old race instincts and +practices on a new soil. + +The New England town is not an institution of all the States, but its +principle has invaded the majority. To the West and Northwest it has +been carried by the New Englander himself, and is being carried by him +both directly and indirectly into the South and Southwest, and will show +there in no great length of time its prevailing and vitalizing power. + +It was Jefferson, himself a Virginian, reared in the midst of another +system, aristocratical and central in its character, who said: "These +wards, called townships in New England, are the vital principle of their +governments, and have proved themselves the wisest invention ever +devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self-government +and for its preservation." + +The New England town-house, therefore, is significant of more than its +predecessor in England or Germany. While with them it means freedom in +the management of local affairs, beyond them it means a relation to the +State and the National government which they did not. It means not +merely a broad basis for the general government in the people, that the +people are the reason and remote source of governing power, but that +they are themselves the governors. Every man who enters a New England +town-house and casts his vote knows that that expression of his will is +a force which reaches, or may reach, the Legislature of his State, the +governor in his chair, the National Congress, and the President in the +White House at Washington. He feels an interest therefore, and a +responsibility which the voter in no other land in the world feels, and +the town-house is an education to him in the art of self-government +which no other country affords, and because of it the town is an +institution teaching how to maintain government, local, state, and +general, and so bases that government in self-interest and beneficial +experience, that it is a pledge of security and perpetuity as regards +socialism, communism, and as it would seem every other revolutionary +influence from within. It is in strong contrast with the commune of +France. France is divided for the purposes of local government into +departments; departments into arrondissements; and arrondissements into +communes, the commune being the administrative unit. The department is +governed by a préfet and a conseil-général, the préfet being appointed +by the central government and directly under its control, and the +conseil-général an elective body. The arrondissement is presided over by +a sous-préfet and an elective council. The commune is governed by a +maire and a conseil-municipal. + +The conseil-municipal is an elective body, but its duties "consist in +assisting and to some extent controlling the maire, and in the +management of the communal affairs," but the maire is appointed by the +central government and is liable to suspension by the préfet. + +The relation of the citizen to the general government in France is +therefore totally different from that of the citizen of the United +States to his general government, and the town organization is a school +of free citizenship which the commune is not, and so far republican +institutions in America have a guaranty which in France they have not. + + * * * * * + +BUNKER HILL. + +BY HENRY B. CARRINGTON, U.S.A., LL.D. + +Author of The Battles of the American Revolution. + + + [(a) The occupation of Charlestown Heights on the night of June 16, + 1775, was of strategic value, however transient, equalizing the + relations of the parties opposed, and projecting its force and fire + into the entire struggle for American Independence. (Pages + 290-302.) + + (b)The Siege of Boston, which followed, gave to the freshly + organized Continental army that discipline, that instruction in + military engineering, and that contact with a well-trained enemy + which prepared it for immediate operations at New York and in New + Jersey. (Pages 37-44.) + + (c) The occupation and defence of New York and Brooklyn, so + promptly made, was also an immediate strategic necessity, fully + warranted by the existing conditions, although alike temporary. + (Pages 34-161.)] + + +An exhaustless theme may be so outlined that fairly stated data will +suggest the possibilities beyond. + +Waterloo is incidentally related to the crowning laurels of Wellington; +but, primarily, to the downfall of Napoleon, while rarely to the assured +growth of genuine popular liberty. + +No battle during the American Rebellion of 1861-65 was so really +decisive as was the first battle of Bull's Run. As that Federal failure +enforced the issue which freed four millions of people from slavery, and +had its sequence and culmination, through great struggle, in a +perpetuated Union, so did the battle of Bunker Hill open wide the breach +between Great Britain and the Colonies, and render American Independence +inevitable. + +The repulse of Howe at Breed's Hill practically ejected him from Boston, +enforced his halt before Brooklyn, delayed him at White Plains, +explained his hesitation at Bound Brook, near Somerset Court-House, in +1777, as well as his sluggishness after the battle of Brandywine, and +equally induced his inaction at Philadelphia, in 1778. + +[Illustration: The Battle of Breeds Hill, on Bunker Hill. Compiled and +Drawn by Col. Carrington.] + +Just as a similar resistance by Totlben at Sevastapol during the Crimean +War prolonged that struggle for twelve months, so did the hastily +constructed earthworks on Breed's Hill forewarn the assailants that +every ridge might serve as a fortress, and every sand-hill become a +cover, for a persistent and earnest foe. + +Historical research and military criticism suggest few cases where so +much has been realized by the efforts of a few men, in a few hours, +during the shelter of one night, and by the light of one day. + +The simple narrative has been the subject of much discussion. Its +details have been shaped and colored, with supreme regard for the +special claims of preferred candidates for distinction, until a plain +consideration of the issue then made, from a purely military point of +view, as introductory to a detail of the battle itself, cannot be barren +of interest to the readers of a Magazine which treats largely of the +local history of Massachusetts. + +The city of Boston was girdled by rapidly increasing earthworks. These +were wholly defensive, to resist assault from the British garrison, and +not, at first, as cover for a regular siege approach against the Island +Post. They soon became a direct agency to force the garrison to look to +the sea alone for supplies or retreat. + +Open war against Great Britain began with this environment of Boston. +The partially organized militia responded promptly to call. + +The vivifying force of the struggle through Concord, Lexington, and West +Cambridge (Arlington now), had so quickened the rapidly augmenting body +of patriots, that they demanded offensive action and grew impatient for +results. Having dropped fear of British troops, as such, they held a +strong purpose to achieve that complete deliverance which their earnest +resistance foreshadowed. + +Lexington and Concord were, therefore, the exponents of that daring +which made the occupation and resistance of Breed's Hill possible. The +fancied invincibility of British discipline went down before the rifles +of farmers; but the quickening sentiment, which gave nerve to the arm, +steadiness to the heart, and force to the blow, was one of those +historic expressions of human will and faith, which, under deep sense of +wrong incurred and rights imperilled, overmasters discipline, and has +the method of an inspired madness. The moral force of the energizing +passion became overwhelming and supreme. No troops in the world, under +similar conditions, could have resisted the movement. + +The opposing forces did not alike estimate the issue, or the relations +of the parties in interest. The troops sent forth to collect or destroy +arms, rightfully in the hands of their countrymen, and not to engage an +enemy, were under an involuntary restraint, which stripped them of real +fitness to meet armed men, who were already on fire with the conviction +that the representatives of national force were employed to destroy +national life. + +The ostensible theory of the Crown was to reconcile the Colonies. The +actual policy, and its physical demonstrations, repelled, and did not +conciliate. Military acts, easily done by the force in hand, were +needlessly done. Military acts which would be wise upon the basis of +anticipated resistance were not done. + +Threats and blows toward those not deemed capable of resistance were +freely expended. Operations of war, as against an organized and skilful +enemy, were ignored. But the legacies of English law and the inheritance +of English liberty had vested in the Colonies. Their eradication and +their withdrawal were alike impossible. The time had passed for +compromise or limitation of their enjoyment. The filial relation toward +England was lost when it became that of a slave toward master, to be +asserted by force. This the Americans understood when they environed +Boston. This the British did not understand, until after the battle of +Bunker Hill. The British worked as against a mob of rebels. The +Americans made common cause, "liberty or death," against usurpation and +tyranny. + + +THE OUTLOOK. + +Reference to map, "Boston and vicinity," already used in the January +number of this Magazine to illustrate the siege of Boston, will give a +clear impression of the local surroundings, at the time of the American +occupation of Charlestown Heights. The value of that position was to be +tested. The Americans had previously burned the lighthouses of the +harbor. The islands of the bay were already miniature fields of +conflict; and every effort of the garrison to use boats, and thereby +secure the needed supplies of beef, flour, or fuel, only developed a +counter system of boat operations, which neutralized the former and +gradually limited the garrison to the range of its guns. This close +grasp of the land approaches to Boston, so persistently maintained, +stimulated the Americans to catch a tighter hold, and force the garrison +to escape by sea. The capture of that garrison would have placed +unwieldy prisoners in their hands and have made outside operations +impossible, as well as any practical disposition of the prisoners +themselves, in treatment with Great Britain. Expulsion was the purpose +of the rallying people. + +General Gage fortified Boston Neck as early as 1774, and the First +Continental Congress had promptly assured Massachusetts of its sympathy +with her solemn protest against that act. It was also the intention of +General Gage to fortify Dorchester Heights. Early in April, a British +council of war, in which Clinton, Burgoyne, and Percy took part, +unanimously advised the immediate occupation of Dorchester, as both +indispensable to the protection of the shipping, and as assurance of +access to the country for indispensable supplies. + +General Howe already appreciated the mistake of General Gage, in his +expedition to Concord, but still cherished such hope of an accommodation +of the issue with the Colonies that he postponed action until a +peaceable occupation of Dorchester Heights became impossible, and the +growing earthworks of the besiegers already commanded Boston Neck. + +General Gage had also advised, and wisely, the occupation of Charlestown +Heights, as both necessary and feasible, without risk to Boston itself. +He went so far as to announce that, in case of overt acts of hostility +to such occupation, by the citizens of Charlestown, he would burn the +town. + +It was clearly sound military policy for the British to occupy both +Dorchester and Charlestown Heights, at the first attempt of the +Americans to invest the city. + +As early as the middle of May, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, as +well as the council, had resolved "to occupy Bunker Hill as soon as +artillery and powder could be adequately furnished for the purpose," and +a committee was appointed to examine and report respecting the merits of +Dorchester Heights, as a strategic restraint upon the garrison of +Boston. + +On the fifteenth of June, upon reliable information that the British had +definitely resolved to seize both Heights, and had designated the +eighteenth of June for the occupation of Charlestown, the same Committee +of Safety voted "to take immediate possession of Bunker Bill." + +Mr. Bancroft states that "the decision was so sudden that no fit +preparation could be made," Under the existing conditions, it was indeed +a desperate daring, expressive of grand faith and self-devotion, worthy +of the cause in peril, and only limited in its immediate and assured +triumph by the simple lack of powder. + +Prescott, who was eager to lead the enterprise and was entrusted with +its execution, and Putman, who gave it his most ardent support, were +most urgent that the council should act promptly; while Warren, who long +hesitated to concur, did at last concur, and gave his life as the test +of his devotion. General Ward realized fully that the hesitation of the +British to emerge from Boston and attack the Americans was an index of +the security of the American defences, and, therefore, deprecated the +contingency of a general engagement, until ample supplies of powder +could be secured. + +The British garrison, which had been reinforced to a nominal strength of +ten thousand men, had become reduced, through inadequate supplies, +especially of fresh meat, to eight thousand effectives, but these men +were well officered and well disciplined. + + +THE POSITION. + +Bunker Hill had an easy slope to the isthmus, but was quite steep on +either side, having, in fact, control of the isthmus, as well as +commanding a full view of Boston and the surrounding country. Morton's +Hill, at Moulton's Point, where the British landed, was but thirty-five +feet above sea level, while Breed's Pasture (as then known) and Bunker +Hill were, respectively, seventy-five and one hundred and ten feet high. +The Charles and Mystic Rivers, which flanked Charlestown, were +navigable, and were under the control of the British ships-of-war. + + +AMERICAN POLICY. + +To so occupy Charlestown, in advance, as to prevent a successful British +landing, required the use of the nearest available position that would +make the light artillery of the Americans effective. To occupy Bunker +Hill, alone, would leave to the British the cover of Breed's Hill, under +which to gain effective fire and a good base for approach, as well as +Charlestown for quarters, without prejudice to themselves. + +When, therefore, Breed's Hill was fortified as an advanced position, it +was done with the assurance that reinforcements would soon occupy the +retired summit, and the course adopted was the best to prevent an +effective British lodgment. The previous reluctance of the garrison to +make any effective demonstration against the thin lines of environment +strengthened the belief of the Americans that a well-selected hold upon +Charlestown Heights would securely tighten the grasp upon the city +itself. + + +BRITISH POLICY. + +As a fact, the British contempt for the Americans might have urged them +as rashly against Bunker Hill as it did against the redoubt which they +gained, at last, only through failure of the ammunition of its +defenders; but, in view of the few hours at disposal of the Americans to +prepare against a landing so soon to be attempted, it is certain that +the defences were well placed, both to cover the town and force an +immediate issue before the British could increase their own force. + +It is equally certain that the British utterly failed to appreciate the +fact that, with the control of the Mystic and Charles Rivers, they +could, within twenty-four hours, so isolate Charlestown as to secure the +same results as by storming the American position, and without +appreciable loss. This was the advice of General Clinton, but he was +overruled. They did, ultimately, thereby check reinforcements, but +suffered so severely in the battle itself that fully two thirds of the +Americans retired safely to the main land. + +The delay of the British to advance as soon as the landing was effected +was bad tactics. One half of the force could have followed the Mystic +and turned the American left wing, long before Colonel Stark's command +came upon the field. The British dined as leisurely as if they had only +to move any time and seize the threatening position, and thereby lost +their chief opportunity. + +One single sign of the recognition of any possible risk-to themselves +was the opening of fire from Boston Neck and such other positions as +faced the American lines, as if to warn them not to attempt the city, or +endanger their own lives by sending reinforcements to Charlestown. + + +THE MOVEMENT. + +It is not the purpose of this article to elaborate the details of +preparation, which have been so fully discussed by many writers, but to +illustrate the value of the action in the light of the relations and +conduct of the opposing forces. + +Colonel William Prescott, of Pepperell, Massachusetts, Colonel James +Frye, of Andover, and Colonel Ebenezer Bridge, of Billerica, whose +regiments formed most of the original detail, were members of the +council of war which had been organized on the twentieth of April, when +General Ward assumed command of the army. Colonel Thomas Knowlton, of +Putnam's regiment, was to lead a detachment from the Connecticut troops. +Colonel Richard Gridley, chief engineer, with a company of artillery, +was also assigned to the moving columns. + +To ensure a force of one thousand men, the field order covered nearly +fourteen hundred, and Mr. Frothingham shows clearly that the actual +force as organized, with artificers and drivers of carts, was not less +than twelve hundred men. + +Cambridge Common was the place of rendezvous, where, at early twilight +of June 16, the Reverend Samuel Langdon, president of Harvard College, +invoked the blessing of Almighty God upon the solemn undertaking. + +This silent body of earnest men crossed Charlestown Neck, and halted for +a clear definition of the impending duty. Major Brooks, of Colonel +Dodge's regiment, joined here, as well as a company of artillery. +Captain Nutting, with a detachment of Connecticut men, was promptly +sent, by the quickest route, to patrol Charlestown, at the summit of +Bunker Hill. Captain Maxwell's company, of Prescott's regiment, was next +detailed to patrol the shore in silence and keenly note any activity on +board the British men-of-war. + +The six vessels lying in the stream were the Somerset, sixty-eight, +Captain Edward Le Cross; Cerberus, thirty-six, Captain Chads; Glasgow, +thirty-four, Captain William Maltby; Lively, twenty, Captain Thomas +Bishop; Falcon, twenty, Captain Linzee, and the Symmetry, transport, +with eighteen guns. + +While one thousand men worked upon the redoubt which had been located +under counsel of Gridley, Prescott, Knowlton, and other officers, the +dull thud of the pickaxe and the grating of shovels were the only sounds +that disturbed the pervading silence, except as the sentries' "All's +well!" from Copp's Hill and from the warships, relieved anxiety and +stimulated work. Prescott and Putnam alike, and more than once, visited +the beach, to be assured that the seeming security was real; and at +daybreak the redoubt, nearly eight rods square and six feet high, was +nearly complete. + +Scarcely had objects become distinct, when the battery on Copp's Hill +and the guns of the Lively opened fire, and startled the garrison of +Boston from sleep, to a certainty that the Colonists had taken the +offensive. + +General Putnam reached headquarters at a very early hour, and secured +the detail of a portion of Colonel Stark's regiment, to reinforce the +first detail which had already occupied the Hill. + +At nine o'clock, a council of war was held at Breed's Hill. Major John +Brooks was sent to ask for more men and more rations. Richard Devens, of +the Committee of Safety, then in session, was influential in persuading +General Ward to furnish prompt reinforcements. By eleven o'clock, the +whole of Stark's and Reed's New Hampshire regiments were on their march, +and in time to meet the first shock of battle. Portions of other +regiments hastened to the aid of those already waiting for the fight to +begin. + +The details of men were not exactly defined, in all cases, when the +urgent call for reinforcements reached headquarters. Little's regiment +of Essex men; Brewer's, of Worcester and Middlesex, with their +Lieutenant-Colonel Buckminster; Nixon's, led by Nixon himself; Moore's, +from Worcester; Whitcomb's, of Lancaster, and others, promptly accepted +the opportunity to take part in the offensive, and challenge the British +garrison to a contest-at-arms, and well they bore their part in the +struggle. + + +THE AMERICAN POSITION. + +The completion of the redoubt only made more distinct the necessity for +additional defences. A line of breastworks, a few rods in length, was +carried to the left, and then to the rear, in order to connect with a +stone fence which was accepted as a part of the line, since the fence +ran perpendicularly to the Mystic; and the intention was to throw some +protection across the entire peninsula to the river. A small pond and +some spongy ground were left open, as non-essential, considering the +value of every moment; and every exertion was made for the protection +of the immediate front. The stone fence, like those still common in New +England, was two or three feet high, with set posts and two rails; in +all, about five feet high, the top rail giving a rest for a rifle. A +zigzag "stake and rider fence" was put in front, the meadow +division-fences being stripped for the purpose. The fresh-mown hay +filled the interval between the fences. This line was nearly two hundred +yards in rear of the face of the redoubt, and near the foot of Bunker +Hill. Captain Knowlton, with two pieces of artillery and Connecticut +troops, was assigned, by Colonel Prescott, to the right of this +position, adjoining the open gap already mentioned. Between the fence +and the river, more conspicuous at low tide, was a long gap, which was +promptly filled by Stark as soon as he reached the ground, thus, as far +as possible, to anticipate the very flanking movement which the British +afterward attempted. + +Putnam was everywhere active, and, after the fences were as well secured +as time would allow, he ordered the tools taken to Bunker Hill for the +establishment of a second line on higher ground, in case the first could +not be maintained. His importunity with General Ward had secured the +detail of the whole of Reed's, as well as the balance of Stark's, +regiment, so that the entire left was protected by New Hampshire troops. +With all their energy they were able to gather from the shore only stone +enough for partial cover, while they lay down, or kneeled, to fire. + +The whole force thus spread out to meet the British army was less than +sixteen hundred men. Six pieces of artillery were in use at different +times, but with little effect. The cannon cartridges were at last +distributed for the rifles, and five of the guns were left on the field +when retreat became inevitable. + +Reference to the map will indicate the position thus outlined. It was +evident that the landing could not be prevented. Successive barges +landed the well-equipped troops, and they took their positions, and +their dinner, under the blaze of the hot sun, as if nothing but ordinary +duty was awaiting their leisure. + + +THE BRITISH ADVANCE. + +It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon when the British army +formed for the advance. General Howe was expected to break and envelop +the American left wing, take the redoubt in the rear, and cut off +retreat to Bunker Hill and the mainland. The light infantry moved +closely along the Mystic. The grenadiers advanced upon the stone fence, +while the British left demonstrated toward the unprotected gap which was +between the fence and the short breastwork next the redoubt. General +Pigot with the extreme left wing moved directly upon the redoubt. The +British artillery had been supplied with twelve-pound shot for +six-pounder guns, and, thus disabled, were ordered to use only grape. +The guns were, therefore, advanced to the edge of an old brick-kiln, as +the spongy ground and heavy grass did not permit ready handling of guns +at the foot of the hill slope, or even just at its left. This secured a +more effective range of fire upon the skeleton defences of the American +centre, and an eligible position for a direct fire upon the exposed +portion of the American front, and both breastwork and redoubt. + +The advance of the British army was like a solemn pageant in its steady +headway, and like a parade for inspection in its completeness. This +army, bearing knapsacks and full campaign equipment, moved forward as +if, by the force of its closely knit columns, it must sweep every +barrier away. But, right in the way was a calm, intense love of liberty. +It was represented by men of the same blood and of equal daring. + +A strong contrast marked the opposing Englishmen that summer afternoon. +The plain men handled plain firelocks. Oxhorns held their powder, and +their pockets held their bullets. Coatless, under the broiling sun, +unincumbered, unadorned by plume or service medal, pale and wan after +their night of toil and their day of hunger, thirst, and waiting, this +live obstruction calmly faced the advancing splendor. + +A few hasty shots, quickly restrained, drew an innocent fire from the +British front rank. The pale, stern men behind the slight defence, +obedient to a strong will, answer not to the quick volley, and nothing +to the audible commands of the advancing columns,--waiting, still. + +No painter can make the scene more clear than the recital of sober +deposition, and the record left by survivors of either side. History has +no contradictions to confuse the realities of that momentous tragedy. + +The British left wing is near the redoubt. It has only to mount a fresh +earthbank, hardly six feet high, and its clods and sands can almost be +counted,--it is so near, so easy--sure. + +Short, crisp, and earnest, low-toned, but felt as an electric pulse, are +the words of Prescott. Warren, by his side, repeats. The words fly +through the impatient lines. The eager fingers give back from the +waiting trigger. "Steady, men." "Wait until you see the white of the +eye." "Not a shot sooner." "Aim at the handsome coats." "Aim at the +waistbands." "Pick off the commanders." "Wait for the word, every +man,--_steady_." + +Those plain men, so patient, can already count the buttons, can read the +emblems on the breastplate, can recognize the officers and men whom they +had seen parade on Boston Common. Features grow more distinct. The +silence is awful. The men seem dead--waiting for one word. On the +British right the light infantry gain equal advance just as the left +wing almost touched the redoubt. Moving over more level ground, they +quickly made the greater distance, and passed the line of those who +marched directly up the hill. The grenadiers moved firmly upon the +centre, with equal confidence, and space lessens to that which the +spirit of the impending word defines. That word waits behind the centre +and left wing, as it lingers at breastwork and redoubt. Sharp, clear, +and deadly in tone and essence, it rings forth,--_Fire_! + + +THE REPULSE. + +From redoubt to river, along the whole sweep of devouring flame, the +forms of men wither as in a furnace heat. The whole front goes down. For +an instant the chirp of the cricket and grasshopper in the fresh-mown +hay might almost be heard; then the groans of the wounded, then the +shouts of impatient yeomen who spring forth to pursue, until recalled to +silence and duty. Staggering, but reviving, grand in the glory of their +manhood, heroic in restored self-possession, with steady step in the +face of fire, and over the bodies of the dead, the British remnant +renew battle. Again, a deadly volley, and the shattered columns, in +spite of entreaty or command, speed back to the place of landing, and +the first shock of arms is over. + +A lifetime, when it is past, is but as a moment. A moment, sometimes, is +as a lifetime. Onset and repulse. Three hundred lifetimes ended in +twenty minutes. + +Putnam hastened to Bunker Hill to gather scattering parties in the rear +and urge coming reinforcements across the isthmus, where the fire from +British frigates swept with fearful energy, but nothing could bring them +in time. The men who had toiled all night, and had just proved their +valor, were again to be tested. + +The British reformed promptly, in the perfection of their discipline. +Their artillery was pushed forward nearer the angle made by the +breastwork next the redoubt, and the whole line advanced, deployed as +before, across the entire American front. The ships-of-war increased +their fire across the isthmus. Charlestown had been fired, and more than +four hundred houses kindled into one vast wave of smoke and flame, until +a sudden breeze swept its quivering volume away and exposed to view of +the watchful Americans the returning tide of battle. No scattering shots +in advance this time. It is only when a space of hardly five rods is +left, and a swift plunge could almost forerun the rifle flash, that the +word of execution impels the bullet, and the entire front rank, from +redoubt to river, is swept away. Again, and again, the attempt is made +to rally and inspire the paralyzed troops; but the living tide flows +back, even to the river. + +Another twenty minutes,--hardly twenty-five,--and the death angel has +gathered his sheaves of human hopes, as when the Royal George went down +beneath the waters with its priceless value of human lives. + +At the first repulse the thirty-eighth regiment took shelter by a stone +fence, along the road which passes about the base of Breed's Hill; but +at the second repulse, supported by the fifth, it reorganized, just +under the advanced crest of Breed's Hill for a third advance. + +It was an hour of grave issues. Burgoyne, who watched the progress from +Copp's Hill, says: "A moment of the day was critical." + +Stedman says: "A continuous blaze of musketry, incessant and +destructive." + +Gordon says: "The British officers pronounced it downright butchery to +lead the men afresh against those lines." + +Ramsay says: "Of one company not more than five, and of another not more +than fourteen, escaped." + +Lossing says: "Whole platoons were lain upon the earth, like grass by +the mower's scythe." + +Marshall says: "The British line, wholly broken, fell back with +precipitation to the landing-place." + +Frothingham quotes this statement of a British officer: "Most of our +grenadiers and light infantry, the moment they presented themselves, +lost three fourths, and many nine tenths, of their men. Some had only +eight and nine men to a company left, some only three, four, and five." + +Botta says: "A shower of bullets. The field was covered with the slain." + +Bancroft says: "A continuous sheet of fire." + +Stark says: "The dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold." + +It was, indeed, a strange episode in British history, in view of the +British assertion of assured supremacy, whenever an issue challenged +that supremacy. + +Clinton and Burgoyne, watching from the redoubt on Copp's Hill, realized +at once the gravity of the situation, and Clinton promptly offered his +aid to rescue the army. + +Four hundred additional marines and the forty-seventh regiment were +promptly landed. This fresh force, under Clinton, was ordered to flank +the redoubt and scale its face to the extreme left. General Howe, with +the grenadiers and light infantry, supported by the artillery, undertook +the storming of the breastworks, bending back from the mouth of the +redoubt, and so commanding the centre entrance. + +General Pigot was ordered to rally the remnants of the fifth, +thirty-eighth, forty-third, and fifty-second regiments, to connect the +two wings, and attack the redoubt in front. + +A mere demonstration was ordered upon the American left, while the +artillery was to advance a few rods and then swing to its left, so as to +sweep the breastwork for Howe's advance. + + +THE ASSAULT. + +The dress parade movement of the first advance was not repeated. A +contest between equals was at hand. Victory or ruin was the alternative +for those who so proudly issued from the Boston barracks at sunrise for +the suppression of pretentious rebellion. Knapsacks were thrown aside. +British veterans stripped for fight. Not a single regiment of those +engaged had passed such a fearful ordeal in its whole history as a +single hour had witnessed. The power of discipline, the energy of +experienced commanders, and the pressure of honored antecedents, +combined to make the movement as trying as it was momentous. + +The Americans were no less under a solemn responsibility. At the +previous attack, some loaded while others fired, so that the expenditure +of powder was great, almost exhaustive. The few remaining cannon +cartridges were economically distributed. There was no longer a +possibility of reinforcements. The fire from the shipping swept the +isthmus. There were less than fifty bayonets to the entire command. + +During the afternoon Ward sent his own regiment, as well as Patterson's +and Gardner's, but few men reached the actual front in time to share in +the last resistance. Gardner did, indeed, reach Bunker Hill to aid +Putnam in establishing a second line on that summit, but fell in the +discharge of the duty. Febiger, previously conspicuous at Quebec, and +afterward at Stony Point, gathered a portion of Gerrishe's regiment, and +reached the redoubt in time to share in the final struggle; but the +other regiments, without their fault, were too late. + +At this time, Putnam seemed to appreciate the full gravity of the +crisis, and made the most of every available resource to concentrate a +reserve for a second defence, but in vain. + +Prescott, within the redoubt, at once recognized the method of the +British advance. The wheel of the British artillery to the left after it +passed the line of the redoubt, secured to it an enfilading fire, which +insured the reduction of the redoubt and cut off retreat. There was no +panic at that hour of supreme peril. The order to reserve fire until the +enemy was within twenty yards was obediently regarded, and it was not +until a pressure upon three faces of the redoubt forced the last issue, +that the defenders poured forth one more destructive volley. A single +cannon cartridge was distributed for the final effort, and then, with +clubbed guns and the nerve of desperation, the slow retreat began, +contesting, man to man and inch by inch. Warren fell, shot through the +head, in the mouth of the fort. + +The battle was not quite over, even then. Jackson rallied Gardner's men +on Bunker Hill, and with three companies of Ward's regiment and +Febiger's party, so covered the retreat as to save half of the garrison. +The New Hampshire troops of Stark and Reed, with Colt's and Chester's +companies, still held the fence line clear to the river, and covered the +escape of Prescott's command until the last cartridge had been expended, +and then their deliberate, well-ordered retreat bore testimony alike to +their virtue and valor. + + +THE END. + +Putnam made one final effort at Bunker Hill, but in vain, and the army +retired to Prospect Hill, which Putnam had already fortified in advance. + +The British did not pursue, Clinton urged upon General Howe an immediate +attack upon Cambridge; but Howe declined the movement. The gallant +Prescott offered to retake Bunker Hill by storming if he could have +three fresh regiments; but it was not deemed best to waste further +resources at the time. + +Such, as briefly as it can be clearly outlined, was the battle of Bunker +Hill. + +Nearly one third of each army was left on the field. + +The British loss was nineteen officers killed and seventy wounded, +itself a striking evidence of the prompt response to Prescott's orders +before the action began. Of rank and file, two hundred and seven were +killed and seven hundred and fifty-eight were wounded. Total, ten +hundred and fifty-four. + +The American loss was one hundred and forty-five killed and missing, and +three hundred and four wounded. Total, four hundred and forty-nine. + +Such is the record of a battle which, in less than two hours, destroyed +a town, laid fifteen hundred men upon the field, equalized the relations +of veterans and militia, aroused three millions of people to a definite +struggle for National Independence, and fairly opened the war for its +accomplishment. + + +NOTES. + +NOTE 1. The hasty organization of the command is marked by one feature +not often regarded, and that is the readiness with which men of various +regiments enlisted in the enterprise. Washington, in his official report +of the casualties, thus specifies the loss:-- + +Colonel of Regiment. Killed. Wounded. Missing. + + Frye, 10 38 4 + Little, 7 23 - + Brewer, 12 22 - + Gridley, - 4 - + Stark, 15 45 - + Woodbridge, - 5 - + Scammon, - 2 - + Bridge, 17 25 - + Whitcomb, 5 8 2 + Ward, 1 6 - + Gerrishe, 3 5 - + Reed, 3 29 1 + Prescott, 43 46 - + Doolittle, 6 9 - + Gardner, - 7 - + Patterson, - 1 1 + Nixon, 3 - - + +NOTE 2. The record, brief as it is, shows that hot controversies as to +the question of precedence in command are beneath the merits of the +struggle, because all worked just where the swift transitions of the +crisis best commanded presence and influence. + +NOTE 3. As both the Morton and Moulton families had property near the +British landing-place, it is immaterial whether hill or point bear the +name of one or the other. Hence the author of this sketch, in a memorial +examination of this battle, elsewhere, deemed it but just to recognize +both, without attempt to harmonize differences upon an immaterial +matter. + +NOTE 4. The occupation of Lechmere Point, Cobble Hill, Ploughed Hill, +and Prospect Hill, as shown upon the map of Boston and vicinity, +rendered the British occupation of Bunker Hill a barren victory, +silenced the activity of a thousand men, vindicated the wisdom of the +American occupation, however transient, rescued Boston, and projected +the spirit of the battle of Bunker Hill into all the issues which +culminated at Yorktown, October 19, 1781. + + * * * * * + +THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF MASSACHUSETTS. + +BY RUSSELL STURGIS, JR. + + +In the sketch of the Boston Association, which appeared in the April +number of this Magazine, mention was made of the work of Mr. L.P. +Rowland, corresponding member of Massachusetts of the international +committee, in establishing kindred associations throughout the State, +This article is to give a brief history of the spread and work of these +associations, and I am largely indebted to Mr. Sayford, late state +secretary, for the data. It was natural that as soon as it was known +that an organization had been formed in Boston to do distinctive work +for young men, that in other places where the need was realized the +desire for a like work should spring up; but, in the absence of +organized effort to promote this, very little was done, and in 1856, +five years after the parent association was formed, there were only six +in all, that is, in Boston, Charlestown, Worcester, Lowell, Springfield, +and Haverhill. + +In December, 1866, the Boston Association called a convention, when +twelve hundred delegates met and sat for two days at the Tremont Temple. +General Christian work was discussed, but the distinctive work for young +men was earnestly advocated. + +When Mr. Rowland undertook the work, as an officer of the international +committee, it spread rapidly, and in 1868 there were one hundred and +two, and in 1869, one hundred and nine, associations in Massachusetts. +This number was, later, somewhat further increased. + +Up to 1867 there had been no conference of the state associations, but +at the international convention, at Montreal, in that year, it was +strongly urged upon the corresponding members of the various States and +provinces that they should call state conventions, and thus the first +Massachusetts convention of Young Men's Christian Associations was held +at Springfield, October 10 and 11. The Honorable Whiting Griswold, of +Greenfield, was president, and among the prominent men present were +Henry F. Durant and ex-Vice-President Wilson. In 1868, the convention +met at Worcester; in 1869, at Lowell. At this time there were fifty +associations reporting reading-rooms, and thirty were holding _open-air +meetings_, which means, that, since there are many persons who never +enter a building to hear the gospel, it should be taken to them. Since +these services are almost peculiarly a characteristic of association +work, let me describe them. One or two men, clergymen or laymen, are +appointed to take charge of the meeting, while from six to ten men go +with them to lead the singing. Having reached the common or public +square where men and women are lounging about, the group start a +familiar hymn and sing, perhaps, two or three, by which time many have +drawn near and most are listening; then mounting a bench or packing-box, +the leader says he proposes to pray to the God of whom they have been +singing, and asks them to join with him; then with uncovered head he +speaks to God and asks him to bless the words that shall be spoken. +Another hymn, and then some Bible scene or striking incident is read and +commented upon, and when interest is fairly roused the gospel is +_preached in its simplicity_ and a _direct appeal_ made to the people. +There is a wonderful fascination in this service--a naturalness in all +the surroundings, so like the circumstances of our Lord's discourses, +that makes God's nearness felt, and inspires great faith for results. +Great have been these results--how great we shall know by-and-by. Many a +soul has thus been born by the sea, in the grove, on the village green, +at the place where streets meet in the busy city. How can we reach the +masses? is the earnest question of the church. _Go to them!_ To the +association is due the fact that thousands of laymen are to-day +proclaiming the gospel in all parts of the world, successful through +their simple study of the Word and the encouragement and training which +they have received in this school. + +The fourth convention was held in Chelsea, in 1870, on which occasion +the Honorable Cephas Brainard, chairman of the international executive +committee, said: "To promote the permanency of associations, our labor +must be chiefly for young men; increasing as rapidly as possible +edifices of our own; and cultivating frequent fraternal intercourse with +the eight hundred associations in the land." Up to 1881 no agents had +been appointed by the state convention to superintend its work. Mr. +Rowland was taking time, given him for rest, to visit associations and +towns needing them. + +At the international convention, in 1868, at Detroit, two Massachusetts +men met, who were to be largely instrumental in carrying on the work in +the State so dear to them; and in 1871, in far-off Illinois, these two +men--K.A. Burnell, and he who has almost without a break served on the +Massachusetts committee to this day--met again, prayed for +Massachusetts, consulted together, and the result was that at the +convention of 1871, at Northampton, a state executive committee was +appointed. + +At this time calls from many parts of the State were coming to the +association workers from pastors of churches for lay help and they felt +that these calls must be met. Mr. Burnell was engaged to conduct the +work, and with the help of the committee individually, meetings of two +and three days were held in from forty to sixty towns each year for +three years. This work was continued by paid secretaries, still largely +aided by the committee, till 1879. + +During this time but little was done to strengthen existing +associations, and nothing in establishing new ones, therefore, while the +influence of the convention of associations was greatly felt throughout +the State, the associations themselves suffered. Very many were doing +nothing, and many had ceased to exist. + +We should not dare to say that the associations did wrong in thus giving +themselves to the evangelistic work, while the calls for it were greater +than the committee could meet. This work engrossed them till the calls +began to slacken, and then they awoke to the fact that they were +neglecting their true work, a special instrumentality in which they +believed and for which they existed--that is, "A work for young men by +young men through physical, social, mental, and spiritual appliances." + +This led to a series of resolutions at the Lowell convention, in 1879, +directing the committee to confine their efforts to the strengthening +and organizing of associations, and to appoint a secretary to give his +whole time to the work. + +Mr. Sayford was called from New York, appointed general secretary, and +began to work in January, 1880. + +At this time there were thirty-five associations in the State, only four +of which had general secretaries, paid men who gave all their time to +the work. + +In October, the number of secretaries had more than doubled, nine being +at work. The total membership at this time was, in round numbers, six +thousand, with property amounting to about two hundred and ten thousand +dollars. + +The thirty-three associations which reported at this time at the Lynn +convention represented somewhat more than five hundred active working +men, and they conducted one hundred and ten religious meetings a week. + +In 1881, the only addition of note was the beginning of the railway work +in the State, when a general secretary was employed, and rooms opened at +Springfield by the Boston and Albany Railroad Company. This important +work, carried on most vigorously at various railway centres in other +States, had for some time been pressed upon the state committee, but +they had been unable to obtain any footing till now. At the convention +of this year, at Spencer, the advantage of association work in colleges +was brought out in an able paper by our present state secretary, then a +representative of Williams College. + +At this convention the committee on executive committee's report said: +"It is evident from the reports of executive committee and state +secretary, that, while the process of the last two years has decreased +the number of the associations in the State, it has greatly increased +their efficiency. Some associations were found to have been long since +privately buried, though the name was allowed to remain upon the door. +These have been removed. Others had been left to die uncared for in the +field. These have been decently buried. Some were found so sick as to be +past hope, and their last days were made as comfortable as possible +under the circumstances. Others were found to be more or less seriously +ill, and have been skilfully treated. The result is that at least +twenty-four associations are well, and could do much more work if they +chose; while ten, in robust condition, and under the management and +inspiration of skilled general secretaries, are doing grand work for +young men in their several localities." + +The reduction here spoken of is from one hundred and nine associations +in 1869 to thirty-four in 1881; yet the work was being better done by +the smaller number, and it is thus accounted for: Few dreamed to what +this work would grow, therefore their aim was extremely vague, and the +methods were inadequate. Seeing the need,--deeply interested in the +salvation of young men,--the _idea_ of the association took everywhere. +They sprang up all over the State. Organization followed organization in +rapid succession, and then they waited to be told what to do, or flung +themselves into the first seeming opening with no thought whether it was +the work for which they were formed; and we remember of hearing of one +Young Men's Christian Association whose whole energies were concentrated +upon a mission Sunday-school in a deserted district,--a good work, but +not a proper Young Men's Christian Association's work, when it +represented all that was being done. + +Two things, however, were accomplished, even in those early days, for +which we must always be very grateful, and in themselves are a +sufficient _raison d'etre. Young men were trained_ to work, and the +reflex influence upon their minds was very great, and the real unity of +the church of Christ was manifested as never before. The Young Men's +Christian Association in town and village formed the natural +rallying-point for all united work. A third great blessing should be +mentioned. Not only has the unity of Christ's church been manifested, +but also its distinctive standing upon the great Bible doctrines of the +cross, which vitally separate it from all other religious bodies. + +Gradually the greatness of this work for young men has been appreciated, +as the strong opposing forces have been met. The association is intended +to influence those who are in the energy and full flush of young +manhood, when the desires are strong, most responsive, and least +guarded. The social instinct then is very strong. It is natural, and +must be met in some form. Sinful allurements of every kind invite the +young man, hurtful companionship welcomes him, the ordinary appliances +of the church have no attraction for him. The association must see to it +that his social craving is met by that which is interesting enough to +attract him, and yet is safe. To counteract baleful attractions, others +which call forth strong sympathy, and appliances which _cost_, in every +sense of the word, must be furnished. + +This means pleasant rooms, books, papers, good companionship, classes, +lectures, concerts, the hall, and the gymnasium; but more important than +all, a trained man who shall give his whole time and heart to the work, +and be amply remunerated. + +Since these things are more or less necessary to successful effort for +young men, it will readily be seen why so many associations have ceased +to exist. + +The committee have come to the conclusion that every town in the State +where rooms can be kept open in charge of a general secretary should +have a Young Men's Christian Association, and where these cannot be +furnished we are not anxious to establish it. + +At the convention of 1882, in Charlestown, it became apparent that, to +meet the calls for evangelistic work and push the distinctive +association work, two men were required. Two, therefore, were appointed: +one to give his time largely to evangelistic work, the other wholly to +that of the association. In the following year, 1883, the evangelistic +secretary decided to do the same work independently of the committee, +and the whole energy of the state secretary has been devoted to the +organization of association work. + +We may safely say that, although numerically small, never before has +this work been so efficiently organized as now, and never has there been +so much done as now for young men. At the convention of 1881, a +constitution was adopted which binds the different state associations in +organic union. These hold an annual convention of three days, at which +time one half of the executive committee is chosen, thus making it a +perpetual body. This committee represents every section of the State, +and meets monthly for consultation; while the individual members are +means of communication between headquarters in Boston and other +respective sections. There is a further subdivision into three +districts, each of which holds a quarterly conference of one day, under +the management of the district committee. + +The associations now number 35. +Membership, about 11,300. +Employing general secretaries, 19. +Having buildings, 7. +Value of buildings, say, $490,000. +Value of building funds and lots, $50,000. +Having rooms, 23. +Having gymnasiums, 8. +Annual expenses, about $65,000. + +This is only a beginning. This work for young men is far too important +to remain within such limits. Every town in the Commonwealth of seven +thousand inhabitants should have a fully equipped association. Some +smaller towns already have. + +My excuse for this sketch is: first, the importance of the subject; +second, the ignorance concerning it of a large portion of the Christian +community; third, that the blessings of the work and its support may be +shared by far greater numbers; and, lastly, that the courtesy of the +editors of The Bay State Monthly afforded altogether too good an +opportunity for making this work known, to be lost. + + * * * * * + +TOWN AND CITY HISTORIES. + +BY ROBERT LUCE. + + +The United States government has now in press two volumes of the census +of 1880, entitled The Social Statistics of Cities. These statistics have +been in process of preparation for some four years, under direction of +Colonel George E. Waring, jr., the eminent sanitary engineer, of +Newport, Rhode Island. They will fill two large quarto volumes of +something over six hundred pages each; and as each page will average +over one thousand words, it will be seen that the work will, at least, +be massive and imposing, like most government publications. Unlike many +of these, however, it will not be dull, unintelligible, or valueless. +The fact that one half of it is devoted to the history of the cities of +our land is well-nigh sufficient proof that these epithets cannot be +applied to it, and the question is settled beyond a doubt when it is +learned that the greater part of the labor has been performed by people +who are well known in the literary world, and who brought to their task +experience and ability,--rare qualifications to be found combined in +government employees. Colonel Waring himself, though a clear thinker and +good writer, furnished comparatively little manuscript to the volumes, +but he has revised them thoroughly, and has stamped them with his +individuality. + +It was Colonel Waring's original design to embrace in his work the +statistics of the twenty largest cities of the country, and these +happened to be the cities that in 1880 had more than one hundred +thousand inhabitants. Then it was decided to allow the smaller cities to +be represented if they chose, and early in the work steps were taken to +induce them to furnish the necessary material. Over two hundred of the +largest were given all the opportunities for representation that could +be asked for, and, as a consequence, nearly every community in the land +containing more than ten thousand inhabitants has a more or less full +account. Each one of these is prefaced by a small outline plan, on which +is marked the direction in which the surrounding cities lie, and the +distance to each. Accompanying this plan are tables of the population at +different decades, and of the sex, color, and nativity of the present +population. Then comes an historical sketch, and then an account of the +present condition of the community. This last describes the location and +topography fully; gives the principal features of the country +immediately tributary; details the facilities for communication given by +railroads and by water; gives statistics about the climate; describes +the public buildings and public works, including water and gas works; +gives figures about the streets, horse railroads, and markets; touches +upon the places and methods of amusement, and the parks and +pleasure-grounds; the sewers, the cemeteries, sanitary organization +(boards of health), and the system, or lack of system, of municipal +cleansing,--all receive especially full treatment, as would naturally be +expected when a sanitary engineer of Colonel Waring's stamp had charge +of the work; the police department gets its share of the space; and in +some cases the schools, fire department, and commerce are represented. +The material from which these accounts were compiled was, in the main, +obtained by sending schedules of questions to the various town and city +officials; in the case of some of the largest cities the material was +secured by special agents, but in general, the desire of the cities to +be represented was considered sufficient guaranty that the schedule +would be filled out fully and accurately, and this generally proved to +be the case. + +The historical sketches of the smaller cities and towns were compiled +from information obtained in the same way, and from gazetteers, +encyclopaedias, town and city histories, and all other sources available +at the headquarters of the bureau. To the preparation of the sketches of +the twenty largest cities, especial attention was devoted, and the +results have been correspondingly valuable. Perhaps the most important, +both from the historical and literary point of view, will be the sketch +of the history of New Orleans, written by George W. Cable, who is better +known as a novelist, but who has no mean abilities as an historian. His +familiarity with the Creole element in New Orleans past and present, +together with a very happy style of writing, have made for him more +than a national reputation, from which this sketch will not detract. +Originally his work was intended to occupy some ninety pages of the +report, but later, unfortunately, it had to be condensed into fifty. +Luckily it will not be found necessary to omit a number of interesting +maps that accompany it. + +Next in value, perhaps from the purely historical point of view the most +valuable, or at least the most complete, of all, comes the sketch of the +early history of St. Louis, by Professor Waterhouse. The author became +greatly interested in his task, and spent a vast amount of time in +collecting materials for it. From the care bestowed on the work, it may +be taken for granted that this will be as full and accurate an account +of the settlement and early history of the "Philadelphia of the West" as +can possibly be compiled. It is expected that it will occupy fifty or +sixty pages of the report, and even then it will only bring the history +down to 1823, when the first city government was organized. + +The largest of the Eastern cities furnish little chance for original +work in an historical line, but yet the sketch of New York by Martha J. +Lamb, of Philadelphia by Susan Cooledge, and of Boston by Colonel +Waring, will be acceptable additions to the very scanty stock of +American historical literature. + +The words "very scanty" are used most advisedly, for in very truth the +American _historian_ is a _rara avis_. Of American compilers-of-facts, +to be sure, there have been and are very many, but an aggregation of +details is not a history, nor can a man who makes a book out of local +gossip and the biographies of local heroes and heroines be called an +historian. The truth of this fact has been most forcibly impressed on +the writer in the course of preparing for the Census Bureau historical +sketches of many of the leading cities of the country, and he has become +thoroughly convinced that of all the vulnerable portions of American +literature that which pertains to the history of American towns and +cities is the most vulnerable. + +In the first place, American town and city _histories_ are few. In the +second place, the books that pretend to be such are many, and as a rule +historically worthless. In the third place, both the real and the sham +are intensely dull. + +Real histories are few, evidently because there is not demand enough to +encourage historians to enter the field, and not because material is +lacking. With the exception of the Atlantic seaboard, our country has +been developed in an age pre-eminent for records and statistics; and +there is scarcely a town or city in the land that has not its records +and its public documents, its newspaper files and its Fourth-of-July +orations,--all replete with information waiting for the historian. +Nearly every State has its Historical Society, and Pioneer Associations +are as plenty in our glorious West as was the fever and ague with which +their members were baptized. If the golden opportunities of +autobiography are lost, the American historian of the future will have +to be satisfied, as must be satisfied the New England historian of +to-day, with the meagre, lifeless information given by records, and the +hyperbolical, untrustworthy knowledge to be obtained from local +tradition and gossip. + +We need go no farther to find the first reason why American histories +are so meagre and dull. They are not pictures from life. The fact is, +that the historian might as well try to write a valuable and interesting +history from the materials which our older cities possess, as a painter +might try to paint the battle of Crecy from the details given by +Froissart. To be sure we have all seen such pictures, but who has more +than admired them? + +The absence of contemporaneous literature has been the greatest +misfortune of all history. Every student knows how great and deplorable +are the breaks constantly met with in tracing the thread of past events. +Shall we, then, let the students of posterity remain in the dark on such +questions as these: why Providence became the second city of New +England; why she left Newport so badly in the race for prosperity; why +Buffalo and Cincinnati went up, while Black Rock and North Bend went +down; why Chicago became the largest manufacturing city on the +continent; why New England kept the town-meeting, and the West preferred +the township and the county; and why a thousand and one other important +things happened. To be sure we have had Bancroft, and Sparks, and +Hildreth, but these and their brethren have told us as little about the +history of the people as Lingard, Hume, Hallam, and all the rest of them +told England. Within a very few years historians have begun to see this +defect, and such men as Green, Lodge, and MacMaster have undertaken to +give us histories of the people, the first and last taking the lead on +their respective sides of the Atlantic. MacMaster's work is excellent as +far as it goes. His first volume is deep and scholarly, and does credit +to American literature. It is clear that the task of its preparation was +immense, and more time must have been spent in merely collecting +authorities than has been bestowed altogether on more pretentious +histories. Where Mr. MacMaster found all these authorities is a puzzle, +for even such libraries as those in Boston and Cambridge have not all +the materials for such an undertaking. Yet even he leaves many points +untouched, or cursorily disposed of. Among the subjects referred to, of +which we would like to learn more, may be mentioned: the township system +of the West, the development of American municipal institutions, and, +above all, the origin and rise of the various centres of population and +business which we call cities. + +The history of a nation should be compiled in the same way that the +French people of the _ancien régime_ compiled their lists of grievances +to be presented to the king. In the early States-generals the deputies +of all the orders received from the electors mandates of instructions +containing an enumeration of the public grievances of which they were to +demand redress. From the multitude of these _cahiers_ (or codices), the +three estates, that is, the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate +(the people), compiled each a single cahier to serve as the exponent of +its grievances and its demands. When this complex process had been +completed and the three residual cahiers had been given to the king, the +States-general, the only representative body of France, was dissolved. + +Thus it should be with our national history. Already the clergy have +presented their cahiers in the shape of church histories and theological +essays innumerable. The nobles, that is, the statesmen and politicians, +have formulated their lists of grievances in such works as Thirty +Year's View, The Great Conflict, Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in +America, etc. But where is the cahier of the third estate? The +States-general has met and the _tiers état_ is not ready. What excuse +have they? Quick comes the answer: "Our electors have sent in but few +cahiers, and these are defective. We cannot tell our king, the nation, +what the people were and what they are, what they have and what they +want, until they tell us. Our cahier must wait the pleasure of the +people." Meanwhile, the regent, irreverently called Uncle Sam, who rules +the land while his master is away in Utopia, reads the cahiers of the +nobles, laughs in his sleeve at that of the clergy, and forgets all +about that of the third estate. Or if he thinks of it at all, it is only +to try to fill its place with twenty-four-volume Census Reports and +massive tomes from the other departments. + +The cahiers of the third estate are, in truth, few and defective, yet +there are some communities that have done their work well. For example, +there is The Memorial History of Boston which does credit even to the +Hub of American historical literature. It was the work of cultivated +men, and although the cooks were many, the broth is excellent. That the +people were a-hungering for just such broth is shown by the fact that +the net profits from it in the first twelve months after publication, as +it is said, were over fifty thousand dollars. + +Boston is almost the only city in the land that has been the subject of +a full, accurate, and interesting history. The History of New York, by +Martha J. Lamb, is not so full as might have been wished, but is +otherwise unexceptionable. New York is fortunate in having the most +graphic and humorous history of its early days that any city in the +world ever had, but nobody except Diedrich Knickerbocker himself ever +claimed a great amount of accuracy and truthfulness for his unrivaled +work. + +It was to be expected that our older cities,--those whose seeds were +planted by Puritans, Dutch traders, Catholic fugitives, Quakers, +Cavalier spendthrifts and rogues, Huguenot exiles, and in general the +motley crowd that sought the land of milk and honey in the seventeenth +and early part of the eighteenth centuries,--it was to be expected that +these cities would have historians _ad nauseam_. The very nature of the +early colonization of America, the elements of romance and adventure so +conspicuous in the history of early days on the Atlantic coast, gave +warrant to such expectations, and the event has justified them. But +where the romance and adventure end, the historian lays down his pen. It +is left to the census enumerator to complete the work, and the brazen +age of statistics follows the golden age of history. + +As the cities in the heart of the continent have very little of the +picturesque in their history, the same line of reasoning would lead us +to expect that the historian would carefully avoid them, or else write +only of their earliest days, when Dame Fortune was yet coquetting on the +boards with Mr. Yankee Adventurer. Again we are not mistaken, for we +find that what few critics are present when the curtain is rung up, +leave the house when the first act ends with the death of the aforesaid +adventurer. How the fickle dame flirts with all the neighboring young +men, and at last, at the end of the second act, has her attention led +by Captain Location to the hero of the piece as a suitable mate for her +wayward daughter, Miss Prosperity,--all this is usually written up from +hearsay. For the third act, wherein the twin brothers Steamboat +Navigation and Railroad Communication help the hero to press his suit, +the imagination often suffices. The grand finale, however, brings back +some of the old set of critics, together with a host of new ones, who +describe in glowing language the setting of the act, the costumes, the +music, etc., and tell minutely how young Miss Prosperity blushingly yet +boldly promises to be forever true to the gallant hero, now known under +his rightful name of Mr. Metropolis. Ac-cording to the critic, this +grand drama always ends happily for all concerned; the acting is always +perfect,--the best ever seen on the stage; the scenery has seldom been +equaled, never excelled. And this is the way the public hears about +every "greatest drama ever produced on any stage." + +Do you think the critic too harshly criticized? Look for yourself. Take +Cleveland, if you want a good city with which to begin your explorations +among the histories of Western cities. Here is one of the loveliest +places in all the basin of the Great Lakes--rich, prosperous, beautiful. +It was the one city which alt the travelers through the West in the +second quarter of this century united in declaring to be attractive. For +instance, J.S. Buckingham, who visited America forty-three years ago, +complimented Cleveland as follows, in a book called The Eastern and +Western States of America: "The buildings of Cleveland are all +remarkably clean and neat, many of them in excellent architectural +style, and, like the dwellings we saw at Cincinnati and other towns of +Ohio, all evincing more taste, love of flowers, and attention to order +and adornment than in most of the States of the Union." Mrs. Pulzky, who +accompanied Kossuth in his journey through America, in 1852, wrote in +her diary: "Cleveland is a neat, clean, and agreeable city, on Lake +Erie. Americans call it the 'Forest City,' though the original forests +have disappeared. Cleveland has a most lovely aspect; with the exception +of the business streets, every house is surrounded by a garden. It was +for the first time that I found love of nature in an American +population. On the journey, until here, I had always missed +pleasure-grounds and trees around the cottages." + +The growth of Cleveland was steady and healthy. Although foreigners came +to it in large numbers, it has been and is a representative American +city. The spirit of public improvement early made itself felt here, as +has been intimated by the above quotations; wide avenues, beautiful +dwellings, pleasure-grounds, both public and private,--all the +attractions that a lavish expenditure of money can secure were bestowed +upon it. The oil discoveries of a quarter of a century ago made many of +its citizens wealthy, and their city was so pleasant to live in, that, +unlike most Western people who have gained sudden wealth, they stayed at +home to spend their money. + +From the history of the rise of such a community, much might be learned. +Yet in the large libraries of the East we find only one book on the +subject, and Poole's mammoth Index--that "Open, sesame," of the literary +man--refers us to not a single magazine article of any sort on +Cleveland. The book referred to is entitled Early History of Cleveland, +with Biographical Notices of the Pioneers and Survivors; its author was +Colonel Charles Whittlesey. As is the case in almost all such histories, +the biographical notices form a very considerable portion of the book, +and, as usual, its value is diminished in an exactly equivalent degree; +for the biographies of Western pioneers are fully as tedious and +valueless as the catalogue of ships in the second book of Homer. And, +oh! the garrulity of the biographers, the minuteness of detail, the +petty incidents, the host of dates! With these we are inflicted because +some adventurous Yankee happened, by sheer luck, to build the first +shanty on what became the site of a great city, or chanced there to be a +pioneer victim of the "shakes" or the jaundice! + +Whittlesey's book contains four hundred and eighty-seven pages. Of these +he uses up seventy-six before he gets a civilized man in what became +Cuyahoga County, and fifty more before he gets any actual settlers to +the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The history of the next thirteen or +fourteen years, down to the War of 1812, fills the mass of the book, +details being here given that really have historical value. The last +forty pages are devoted to the history of the two or three following +decades. Nothing is told us about the actual development of a great +city,--the haps and mishaps, the successes and failures, in short, the +growth, of the community. + +This same Colonel Whittlesey, in a volume entitled Fugitive Essays, +published a sketch of the history of Cleveland covering the same ground +more concisely, and also giving a few extra details about the history +between 1812 and 1840. + +These constituted the sum total of works solely devoted to Cleveland +which were accessible to a writer in the East. The Ohio Historical +Collections, by Henry Howe, a series of sketches of the counties, +cities, and towns of the State, added a little to the meagre stock of +information. For further knowledge, the public must be thankful that the +argus-eyed tourist has not left the place unnoticed, and that the +mathematically-inclined gazetteer has told us from time to time the +number of Cleveland's churches, banks, and city councilmen, and other +equally important facts! + +Take another lake city--Buffalo. The growth of this city has been rapid. +Its sudden rise to the dignity of a metropolis was largely due to that +most interesting of the many important internal improvements of the +first half of the century,--the Erie Canal. With the development of +Buffalo was identified the rise of lake navigation and the grain +elevator. Its population has been increased by the addition of a large +foreign element, which has had its due influence on manners, morals, and +public life. It appears from the report of the board of health for 1879, +that, in 1878, of the children born in Buffalo, nineteen hundred and +seventy-five were of German descent; of all other descents, two thousand +and fifty-six,--a difference of only eighty-one. The city has indeed +been thoroughly Germanized, if we may coin the word. + +Here are things of which we would know more. Yet what do we find about +them? Save in meagre or verbose pamphlets, nothing. To be sure, there +was a book written which claimed to be about Buffalo, but a microscopic +examination would fail to find in it anything worth knowing about the +history of this community. The author of that book, William Ketchum, had +the audacity to name it, as we read on the title-page, "An Authentic and +Comprehensive History of Buffalo, with some account of its early +inhabitants, both savage and civilized." It was published in Buffalo in +1864, in two octavo volumes, containing respectively four hundred and +thirty-two and four hundred and forty-three pages. To comprehend the +utter absurdity of the thing, we shall have to glance at history a bit. + +It will be remembered that during and for some time after the +Revolutionary War the country about the Niagara River remained in the +possession of the British. The Seneca Indians, who sided against the +Colonies in that war, and who were driven from their homes by the +expedition of General Sullivan in 1779, gathered around Fort Niagara and +became such a nuisance that the English had to set up anew in +housekeeping these faithful allies and disagreeable neighbors. One of +the villages they started was at Buffalo Creek. Our historian, Ketchum, +has twenty-five chapters in the first volume of his Authentic and +Comprehensive History of Buffalo. He gets the Senecas settled at Buffalo +Creek in the twenty-fourth! + +During the rest of the century the inhabitants of this Indian village on +the ground where Buffalo was to stand, consisted of redskins and +semi-redskins, a few Indian traders who doled out the firewater, and a +settler or two. The present city of Buffalo, according to the +encyclopaedia (and for once that mass of condensed wisdom is correct +about the date of settlement of a Western city), was founded in 1801, by +the Holland Land Company, which opened a land office here in January of +that year. The notice of this event may be found in the region of page +146, in vol. ii, of Ketchum's book,--the uniform lack of concise +statement, the huge amount of irrevelant matter, and the absence of +lucid summaries and intelligent comment, making more exact reference +impossible. + +The rest of this "comprehensive history" is occupied with the course of +events down to December 30, 1813, when the British burnt the town, +leaving but two houses standing--a dwelling-house and a blacksmith's +shop. Here, having brought his Phoenix to ashes, our comprehensive +historian brings his narrative to an abrupt end. This is at page 304. +Then follows the "appendix," an invariable feature of city histories, +which makes of every one of them a huge anti-climax. In this instance, +one hundred and thirty-nine pages of appendix contain, according to the +author, "for the purpose of preservation, a mass of papers not +absolutely necessary to the elucidation of the history contained in the +body of the work. Most of them consist of original papers and letters +never before published, and which are now, for the first time, placed in +an accessible and permanent form." To compare small things with great, +these documents are made just about as "accessible" as are the State +papers to which Carlyle devotes so much paper and bile in his book on +Oliver Cromwell. + +In short, this book contains much valuable information, which is very +hard to extract, and when extracted is not germane to the history of the +city of Buffalo. + +Some information about Buffalo's history was found in a pamphlet on the +Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo, published in 1866. In it +were historical sketches, covering about twenty-five pages,--verbose, +with little meat, written in the flowery style so dear to the heart of +the American editor or "Honorable" when extolling the virtues of his +constituency. Turner's History of the Holland Purchase, published in +1849, and containing six hundred and sixty-six pages, would have been +more useful, had it not been composed for the greater part of the +biographies of insignificant pioneers, and had not the rest related in +the main to the early history of the section. A book promising much on +the outside was Hotchkin's History of Western New York. An examination +of the title-page, however, dampened our expectations, for there was +added the rest of the title, namely, "And of the Rise, Progress, and +Present State of the Presbyterian Church." The book proved indeed a +delusion and a snare, for of its six hundred pages more than nine tenths +pertained to church affairs,--were part and parcel of the cahiers of the +clergy. As for the magazine articles on Buffalo, they are few and, from +the historical point of view, insignificant. + +Of far more interest than the histories of either Cleveland or Buffalo, +though perhaps no more important, is that of their nearest common +neighbor of equal rank,--Pittsburgh. In very many respects this is one +of the most interesting cities in the Union, which is mostly due to the +fact that it has such a remarkable location, and that its topography is +picturesquely unique. Here we have the strange combination of the +blackest, smuttiest, dirtiest hole in the United States,--at night, as +Parton said: "All hell with the lid taken off,"--with surroundings half +rural, half urban, which for loveliness can scarcely be rivaled by any +other city in the land. Sir Henry Holland, who was of the Prince of +Wales's suite, when he visited Pittsburgh, remarked to one of the +committee of reception that he had, in 1845, spent a week in an +equestrian exploration of the suburbs of Pittsburgh; that he had +traveled through all the degrees of the earth's longitude, and had not +elsewhere found any scenery so diversified, picturesque, and beautiful +as that around Pittsburgh. He likened it to a vast panorama, from which, +as he rode along, the curtain was dropping behind and rising before him, +revealing new beauties continually. "If the business portion of +Pittsburgh is a city, half enchanted, of fire and smoke, inhabited by +demons playing with fire, the surrounding portion is also under +enchantment, of a different kind, and smiles a land of beauty, +brightness, and quiet. The one section might be a picture by Tintoretto, +and the other by Claude Lorraine." + +On the twenty-fourth of November, 1753, no human habitation stood on the +peninsula between the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers. On that day +Washington recorded in his journal: "I think it extremely well situated +for a fort, as it has absolute command of both rivers." In the following +spring the English began the erection of a stockade here, which, on the +twenty-fourth of April, was surrendered to the French under Captain +Contrecoeur Who at once proceeded to the erection of Fort Du Quesne. + +Round this name centres a wealth of incident, romance, and history, but +no one has risen to do it justice. Braddock's ill-starred expedition was +followed by the abandonment of the fort by the French, in November, +1758, and its subsequent rebuilding as Fort Pitt. The fate of the little +hamlet which sprang up around it was for a long time most dubious, but +its position as a frontier post on the line of the ever +westward-retreating Indians, and on the edge of the vast unknown +wilderness, just beginning to allure adventurous pioneers, kept it from +falling into the oblivion with which it was threatened by the +dismantling of the fort and the troublous Revolutionary times. Yet as +late as 1784 so experienced a man as Arthur Lee, the Virginian, who had +been a commissioner at the court of Versailles with Franklin and Deane, +and who visited this hamlet in December of this year, said of it: +"Pittsburgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in +paltry log-houses, and are as dirty as in the north of Ireland, or even +in Scotland. There is a great deal of small trade carried on, the goods +being brought at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per cwt. from +Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops money, flour, and +skins. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a +priest of any persuasion, nor church, nor chapel; so that they are +likely to be damned without the benefit of clergy. _The place, I +believe, will never be considerable_." + +This "small trade" which Lee speaks of was to develop in a very few +years to gigantic proportions, and was to make Pittsburgh for the while +the commercial metropolis of the West. She maintained this position +until the westward march of civilization had left her far in the rear; +and then the garrison which the vast army of pioneers left here found in +the coal and iron under their very feet a Fortunatus's purse. Thus, far +different was the fate of Pittsburgh from that of Marietta, Portsmouth, +Lexington, and the like, which sank into comparative obscurity as soon +as they had ceased to be outposts of Uncle Sam's army of emigrants. + +Here, then, do we lack materials for history? What historian could ask +for a more romantic starting-point than Old Fort Du Quesne? a more +interesting topic for a chapter than Fort Pitt? a more picturesque +subject than the batteurs and voyageurs of the Ohio? What more fruitful +themes can there be than the rise of the iron, the glass, the oil +industry, the steamboat commerce of our interior, the subjection of the +Monongahela, the combination of a city which reminds the traveler of +Hades, with suburbs which suggest metaphors about Paradise? And can he +not find food for inquiry and thought in the great riots of 1877? + +Yet the only historian of Pittsburgh is Neville B Craig, whose short and +not over-attractive history ends with the middle of this century, if we +remember rightly. His subject is neither thoroughly nor ably treated, +and it is not presented to the public in an agreeable form. The book is +one of the past generation, and we publish better histories than did our +fathers. In 1876, Samuel H. Thurston presented the public with a small +volume, entitled Pittsburgh and Alleghany in the Centennial. It +contained a little history and a great deal of bombast; and, moreover, +the greater part of it was filled with statistical details pertaining to +the Centennial year alone. Yet from this book had to be taken most of +the historical sketch which will be found in the Census Report. Egle's +History of Pennsylvania tells us something about Pittsburgh, and +magazine articles are plenty, though historically of little value. + +St. Louis is more plentifully supplied with histories than any other +Western city, and these histories are as much worse as they are more +numerous. One of these deserves notice, from the fact that its +title-page so ridiculously and exasperatingly misrepresents its +contents. This page reads as follows: "Edwards's Great West and her +Commercial Metropolis, embracing a complete History of St. Louis, from +the landing of Ligueste, in 1764, to the present time; with portraits +and biographies of some of the old settlers, and many of the most +prominent business men. By Richard Edwards and M. Hopewell, M.D. +Splendidly illustrated. 1860. $5." This seemed to promise well, but when +we turned the page and read the introduction, our expectations were, to +say the least, somewhat shaken, and our sense of the eternal fitness of +things somewhat shocked, when we found the citizens of St. Louis called +"a powerful Mæcenas." Shade of Virgil! What a profanation! + +Any book that is preceded by a dedication, a preface, an introduction, +and a full-page portrait of the author (with a big A), must, in the very +nature of things, be a monstrosity. But, leaving these anomalies out of +account, in the present instance, the composition of the book is +sufficient proof that the epithet is not undeserved. "And this is so, +for,"--as Herodotus would say,--in a book called Edwards's Great West, +the "Great West" is summarily and mercilessly disposed of in just five +pages. Then follow eighty-two pages of biographies and portraits, +ingeniously defended by the author as follows: "Biographies of those who +have become identified with the progress of the great city, who have +guarded and directed its business currents year by year, swelling with +the elements of prosperity, and who have left the impress of their +genius and judgment upon the legislative enactments of the State, must +be sought after with avidity, and must be fraught with useful +instruction." There is no question that these biographies are fraught +with useful instruction--all biographies are; but to assert that they +must be sought after with avidity is a little too much to be swallowed. +Such assertions show either deplorable ignorance or unwarrantable +misrepresentation of human nature, and in this case we are convinced it +must be the latter. Edwards knew perfectly well--for he seems to have +been sane--that nobody but the subjects of these biographies would seek +them "with avidity," and he made these plausible, bombastic assertions +to excuse himself for having sprung such a trap on an unsuspecting +public. That he tries to palliate the offence is, sufficient proof of +his guilt. + +Mark what he says about the "splendidly illustrated" portion of his +book. "It will be a source of satisfaction to the reader," says he, +"that the engravings of individuals who adorn this work are not drawn by +the flighty imagination from airy nothingness, but represent the +lineaments of men," etc. "Airy nothingness" is refreshing! + +Part II, also, is almost wholly devoted to biographies, one batch being +introduced with this sage remark: "Biography is the most important +feature of history; for the record of the lives of individuals appears +to be invested with more vitality and interest than the dry details of +general historical narrative." Q.E.D.--of course. With Part III we reach +the history of St. Louis, contained in one hundred and eighty pages, +and worth more or less as a history. Then come one hundred and seventy +pages more of biographies, an appendix of fifteen pages, and about +thirty pages of views of manufacturing establishments. And this book is +called The Great West. No further comment seems necessary. + +Of all the many rich and racy things the writer has run across in his +explorations in the literature of American cities, the richest and +raciest is a book called St. Louis: The Future Great City of the World, +by L.U. Reavis. The very title-page gives an inkling of the nature of +the contents by its motto, savoring somewhat of cant: "Henceforth St. +Louis must be viewed in the light of the future--her mightiness in the +empire of the world--her sway in the rule of states and nations." This +book, strangely enough, was "published by order of the St Louis County +Court," in 1870, on the petition of forty-five of the leading citizens +and firms of the city, who were represented before the court by a +committee headed by Captain James B. Eads, the renowned engineer, and +containing one captain, five honorables, and two esquires. The first +edition consisted of one hundred and six pages, which were as +vainglorious and boastful, as crowded with laudatory adjectives, glowing +periods, and bombastic prophecies, as ever one hundred and six published +pages were. + +However, it evidently suited the St. Louis palate, for a second edition +bears date of the same year, and in 1871 a third appeared in a +considerably enlarged form. This last one is the most interesting, for +it contains a preface and a finis which for pure, undiluted presumption +have never been excelled. The former is entitled "Explanatory," and is +worth quoting entire: "A presentation of Causes in Nature and +Civilization which, in their reciprocal action tend to fix the position +of the FUTURE GREAT CITY OF THE WORLD in the central plain of North +America, showing that the centre of the world's commerce and +civilization will, in less than one hundred years, be organized and +represented in the Mississippi Valley, and by St. Louis, occupying as +she does the most favored position on the continent and the Great River; +also a complete representation of the great railway system of St. Louis, +showing that in less than ten years she will be the greatest railway +centre in the world." Even the most arrogant citizen of St. Louis would +hardly have the boldness to maintain that ten years after this prophecy +was made, in 1881, St. Louis was "the greatest railway centre in the +world," or even that she was one of the greatest. As to the one-hundred +years prophecy nothing can as yet be affirmed, for it has eighty-seven +years more to run, but if the last thirteen can be taken as a criterion, +St. Louis has a big contract on her hands. + +The last page is the most curious in the book, and in its way is +certainly unique. It is called "A Closing Word," and, being printed in +italics, has an air of emphasis and force peculiarly appropriate. The +author begins: "Thus have I written a new record--a new prophecy of a +city central to a continent of resources;" and so he goes on for half a +page of ridiculous bombast until he finishes the climax of epithets by +calling this "the Apocalyptic City-- + + 'The New Jerusalem, the ancient seer + Of Patmos saw.' + +"All hail! mistress of nations and beautiful queen of civilization! I +view thee in the light of thy destiny. Thou art transfigured before me +from thy present state to one infinitely more grand, and which +overshadows and dwarfs all civic forms in history. + +"The influence of thy empire will pervade the world with invisible and +electric force. Yet, vivifying and benignant capital,--emporium of trade +and industry, seat of learning and best-applied labor, pivotal point in +history, supreme and superb city of all lands,--I behold thy majesty +from afar, and salute thee reverently as the consummation of all that +the best human energies can accomplish for the elevation and happiness +of our race. + +"All hail! Future Great City of the World, and 'Glory to God in the +Highest and on Earth Peace, Goodwill toward Men.'" + +This reminds one equally of Walt Whitman and Artemas Ward. Yet it is not +burlesque. It appears to have been written in good faith, and for this +reason the incongruity of such a grandiloquent rhapsody on such a +prosaic subject is all the more noticeable. As an example of "fine +writing" it has seldom been surpassed, and for sheer nonsense it is +unequaled in American literature. + +These books on St. Louis call to mind a history of Milwaukee of a +somewhat similar nature--similar in its magnificent pretensions to the +last-described work, and in its biographical characteristics to +Edwards's Great West. The book referred to was published in Chicago, in +1881, by the Western Historical Company, A.T. Andreas, proprietor. Holy +Herodotus! To think of history becoming a thing of "companies"--on a par +with life insurance, railroads, gas-works, and cotton factories! And an +"historical company" with a proprietor, too! + +But let us look into this monumental tome. (Do not think that adjective +hyperbolical, for surely monumental is not too strong a word to describe +a book which would just about balance in weight an unabridged +dictionary.) Some idea of the immensity of the undertaking can be +obtained when, as the preface says, "it is known that nearly one year's +time was consumed and an average force of twenty-five men employed in +the labor of obtaining information and preparing the manuscript for the +printer's hands. The result of this vast effort is the presentation of a +History which stands unparalleled in the experience of publishers." The +book is a quarto and contains sixteen hundred and sixty-three pages. The +letter-press is unexceptionable; each page is surrounded by a neat +border; the paper is good; the binding is excellent. + +And yet the actual history of this city dates back little more than half +a century--not a lifetime. Here is history with a vengeance! The riddle, +however, is solved the instant we glance over the pages, for we find the +mass of the book made up of biographies,--biographies in front, +biographies to the right, biographies to the left, everywhere +biographies,--to the grand sum total of nearly four thousand. A book +much like this would have been made had the Crown published the Giant +Petition trundled into Parliament on a wheelbarrow in the times of +George the Third, when Lord George Gordon was the hero of the day. About +as valuable, about as readable, about as bulky, about as good for +kindling fires! + +But let the perpetrator plead his cause in his own words--and it must be +conceded he does it well. "The plan of the History of the city of +Milwaukee, which is herewith presented to the public," he says in his +preface, "possesses the merit of originality. It is based upon the fact +that in all older regions, a serious deficiency exists even in the most +exhaustive histories which it is possible now to compile through the +absence of personal and detailed records of pioneer men and deeds. The +primary design of this work is to preserve for future historians as +complete an encyclopædia of early events in Milwaukee, and the actors +therein, as patient labor and unstinted financial expenditure can +procure." + +We thank the Western Historical Company, or Mr. Andreas, for this +benevolent and philanthropic spirit, but really he must not expect us to +believe that pecuniary profit is only a _secondary_ design of this work. +But supposing for a moment that the primary design was as philanthropic +and unselfish as Mr. Andreas would have us think, let us consider its +worth; for, if we grant this premise, we must admit the truth of the +conclusion reached, and then must give unstinted praise to the fruits of +such a conclusion, a volume like the one before us. But the premise is +specious and false. The deficiency that exists through the absence of +personal and detailed records of _pioneer_ men and deeds is not serious: +on the contrary, in most cases, we should be devoutly thankful that it +exists. Of the generations after that of the pioneers we would know +much; of that of the pioneers themselves, something. But who is there, +or will there be, that cares a picayune whether the third cobbler in +Milwaukee (this history would call him the third manufacturer of shoes) +was born in April or June, 1806, or whether he came from Tipperary or +Heidelberg, or whether his wife died of the pneumonia or the +whooping-cough? To be sure we would be glad to know whether the early +settlers of Milwaukee were mainly young or mainly old when they came +here, whether they were mainly German or Irish, and what where the +prevalent diseases in different localities at an early period, but to +ask an intelligent being to wade through nearly four thousand "personal +histories" in order ascertain these facts is, to say the least, somewhat +of an imposition on his good nature. + +Later on in his preface the author contradicts himself in this regard, +for he shows us how far from philanthropic were the publisher's motives +and how little he thought of posterity in inserting these biographies, +by writing the following well-turned and suggestive sentences: "It may +be asked, Why have the biographical sketches of comparatively obscure +men been inserted? The reasons are obvious to business men and should be +to all. None but citizens are represented. Whatever Milwaukee is her +citizens have made her. Shall the publisher exercise a power higher than +the law, and erect a caste distinction or estimate each man's work from +some fictitious standard of his own? Assuredly not. If, in the +preparation of this work, a citizen has shown commendable pride, and +aided its publisher by his patronage, he is entitled to mention in its +pages. Such men and women have received a sketch, but the fact of +pecuniary assistance has not biased the character of the book." + +This is a very specious attempt to throw a glamour of respectability +over a very unpleasant and repugnant fact, namely: that a mass of +"biographical sketches of comparatively obscure men" has been given to +the public under the guise of a history of a city, with the sole object +of making money. It is indeed consoling to know that "none but citizens +have been represented," but why this statement should be coupled with +the platitude that follows it would be hard to say. And then the utter +ridiculousness of the nonsense about the publisher exercising a power +higher than the law and erecting a caste distinction! "What fools these +mortals be!" + +But whatever may be said of the historical value of such books as the +above, there can be little doubt that they are remunerative business +enterprises, for the country has of late years been flooded with them. +Perhaps we ought to be thankful for any history at all of these new +Western cities, even though the wheat therein be so scarce and the chaff +so plenty. The prevalence of this same affliction--the biographical +history--in literary New England seems more anomalous than it does in +the West, but it is even more widespread. A fair type of the Eastern +species is the Quarter-Centennial History of Lawrence, Massachusetts, +compiled by H.A. Wadsworth, in 1878. It contained seventy-five very poor +wood-engravings, called portraits by courtesy, which, with the +accompanying biographies, were inserted to represent the leading (?) men +of the city at an entrance fee of five or ten dollars apiece. + +Next in number below the biographical histories, but far above them in +value, come what may be called the chronological histories, that is, +those which make little or no attempt to group the important facts of a +city's history in homogeneous chapters, but which, diary-like, give all +facts, important as well as insignificant, in the order of their +occurrence. Fortunately most local historians of this sect have made +more or less attempt at bringing like to like, although they have +generally preserved the purely chronological order within their groups, +whether these be of subjects or periods. Among the histories of the +larger cities, Scharf's Chronicles of Baltimore comes to mind as typical +of this class. This work, published in 1874, is an octavo of seven +hundred and fifty-six pages. The author tells the truth when he says in +his preface: "The only plan in the work that has been followed has been +to chronicle events through the years in their order; beginning with the +earliest in which any knowledge on the subject is embraced, and running +on down to the present." The book is printed "solid," with not a single +chapter-heading from one end to the other, so it is not strange that it +contains such an immense amount of material. + +The great fault of this book, as of all books of this class, is the lack +of the proper classification, the scholarly reflection and comment, the +thoughtful contrast and comparison, the exercise of intelligent judgment +in forming conclusions,--all which are necessary to make history +palatable, not to say valuable. Nowhere is this lack shown more forcibly +than in this book in the treatment of the subject of riots and mob +violence. It may not be generally known, especially among the younger +portion of the community, that no American and but few European cities +have such an unenviable and disgraceful record on this head as +Baltimore. The accounts of its riots remind one too forcibly of the +worst days of the French Revolution, and all of them read more like the +incidents so plentiful in the sensational stories of the day, than like +the cold, dispassionate record of history. And this, mind you, is the +record of a city famed far more for monuments, pleasure-grounds, and +beautiful women, than for lawlessness and sans-culottism, a city proud +of its families and its culture, a city one of the oldest and richest in +the land. However unpleasant it may be to look at the black side of such +a city's history, yet the study must be profitable if by it we +Americans, proud of our tolerance and our humanity, jealous of aught +past or present that may blot our escutcheon, wondering at and +scornfully pitying nations that could have had Lord George Gordon riots +and blood-thirsty land-leagues, a reign of terror and a commune,--if we +may learn not to be quite so arrogant in our righteousness, quite so +boastful in our Pharisaism; if we may learn how much reason we of the +New World have to bear in mind, when we read about the past and present +of the Old World, the divine command: "He that is without sin among you, +let him first cast a stone at her." + +Yet Scharf gives merely the bare details of these, the most vivid scenes +in Baltimore's history, and goes little into causes or results, leaving +us almost wholly in the dark as to how a civilized city in the most +enlightened country on earth could have grafted on its history such +anomalous things as these riots. This feature of Baltimore's history +seems to us to be the feature most peculiar to itself, and, therefore, +like that feature of a human face peculiar to the person we are +studying, the most interesting; but our historian gives it no +distinctive treatment, puts no emphasis on it, forces the reader to +compare, contrast, account for, explain, and draw conclusions for +himself. That he should slide over this side of Baltimore's history +would be natural enough, but of this he cannot be accused. His treatment +of this subject is characteristic of the whole book. + +As a good example of an even more disappointing type of chronological +histories we may take the History of Lynn, including Lynnfield, Saugus, +Swampscott, and Nahant, by Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall, an octavo +of six hundred and twenty pages, published in 1865. The book seems to +have been condensed from a series of very poor diaries, and the mass of +detail under the year-headings is ridiculous in its minuteness and +laughable in its absurdity. Every year has its paragraphic entries, more +or less full. The narrative of one year may here be quoted to show the +nature of the whole, and, for that matter, the nature of fifty similar +town histories. + +1758. "Thomas Mansfield, Esquire, was thrown from his horse on Friday, +January 6, and died the next Sunday. + +"A company of soldiers, from Lynn, marched for Canada, on the +twenty-third of May. Edmund Ingalls and Samuel Mudge were killed. + +"In a thunder-shower, on the fourth of August, an ox belonging to Mr. +Henry Silsbee was killed by lightning. + +"A sloop from Lynn, commanded by Captain Ralph Lindsay, was cast away on +the fifteenth of August, near Portsmouth." + +In this pretended "History," the whole of the eighteenth century +receives but sixty-two pages, and that part of the nineteenth which had +elapsed at the time of publication receives only one hundred and +seventeen. In the latter an average entry is the following, under date +of 1856:-- + +"Patrick Buckley, the 'Lynn Buck,' ran five miles in twenty-eight +minutes and thirty-eight seconds, at the Trotting Park, for a belt +valued at fifty dollars. And on the fourth of December, William Hendley +ran the same distance in twenty-eight minutes and thirty seconds." + +The "Lynn Buck," seems to have been an important personage in those +days, for we read under date of 1858:-- + +"The 'Lynn Buck,' so called, walked a plank at Lowell, in February, a +hundred and five consecutive hours and forty-four minutes, and with but +twenty-nine minutes' rest. A strict watch was kept on him." + +We are very glad to know about the "strict watch," but really it was too +bad of the authors not to let us know if those forty-four minutes, also, +were not consecutive. They might, too, have told us to advantage +something about the _modus operandi_ of "walking a plank." It has been +the general impression that the man who walks a plank performs the +operation in an unpleasant hurry--unpleasant for him; and that he will +take all the rest he can get--before he begins; and that he has an +eternal rest, or unrest, after he has finished. But perhaps this has +been a wrong impression. If the authors are alive, it is due to the +public that they should rise and explain. + +Enough of pleasantry. Let us examine the book with serious mind, if we +can. Everybody knows that shoes have been the making of Lynn, that they +are and have been for years the backbone of its prosperity, the life of +its business. To say that Lynn is the greatest shoe-manufacturing city +in the country, and, for that matter, in the world, may be an +exaggeration, but it is a very common one. In a history of Lynn we might +expect this fact to be at least recognized. Let us see how that is in +the present case. + +The shoe business was not unknown in Lynn before 1750, but in that year +it first got a firm footing here. So we are not surprised to find the +fact mentioned, but we are somewhat disappointed to find only half a +page given to it. Beyond this, mention of the shoe trade in the last +century is very slight, as, no doubt, was the trade itself. Since 1800, +however, the trade has been rapidly increasing, and has gradually +assumed enormous proportions. Yet in this precious volume we find the +subject mentioned just once in the chronological annals, _three lines_ +being devoted to it under the head of 1810: "It appeared, by careful +estimation, that there were made in Lynn, this year, one million pairs +of shoes, valued at eight hundred thousand dollars. The females (!) +earned some fifty thousand dollars by binding." To be sure, the burning +of two shoe factories received, respectively, two and three lines; the +formation of an ineffective board of trade by shoemakers, ten lines; and +of an equally fruitless union by journeymen shoemakers, ten lines. A +page and a quarter (_mirabile dictu_) is devoted to a shoemakers' strike +with no definite result. In a biography, the connection of its subject +with the shoe business is mentioned in a quoted letter. A quick job by a +shoemaker receives six lines, and one by another, four; and the death of +a third is mentioned. + +In an appendix the state of the shoe business in 1864 is discussed at +length in a third of a half-page! All we learn from it is that by the +State returns in the year ending June 1, 1833, there were made +9,275,593 pairs of shoes valued at $4,165,529. In the year ending +September 1, 1864, about ten million pairs of shoes were made, valued at +fourteen million dollars (probably paper, not gold, value), and the +number of shoe manufacturers was 174; of men and women employed, 17,173. +As the total population of Lynn at that time was little if anything over +twenty-three thousand, it will be seen that even these figures are +untrustworthy, or else the shoe business played even a greater part in +Lynn affairs than is generally supposed. + +And this is all the mention to be found in a History of Lynn concerning +the backbone of the city--that great industry to which it almost wholly +owed its population of 38,274 in 1880. Can any one maintain that this +sort of a book is a history? + +And so we might go on, finding history after history of the towns and +cities scattered through New England and the Middle States, most of them +on a par with those last mentioned, in all styles of print and binding, +some decrepit and musty with age, others fresh and enticing, with gaudy +covers and scores of illustrations; some like Sewall's History of Woburn +with no table of contents or index, and so practically useless; a few +like Staples's Annals of Providence, scholarly and creditable; yet none +of them ideal histories. But occasionally we meet an oasis in this vast +waste, and though it may not be a paradise, yet we are too grateful for +the water that nourishes the palms and the grass, that refreshes our +parched mouths and wearied bodies, to think that in other climes we +might call it brackish and unclean. + +Such is the effect that the History of Pittsfield, Massachusetts has on +us. Here is a book that might well be taken as a standard by town +historians. The very history of the History will show its merits. + +At a town meeting held in the Town Hall, in Pittsfield, August 25, 1866, +so the preface says, Mr. Thomas Allen rose, and stated that on the +centennial of the First Congregational Church and parish, namely, April +18, 1864, he had been requested by a vote of the parish to prepare an +historical memoir of that parish and church, embodying substantially, +but extending, the remarks he made at that meeting. He stated that, in +looking over the records of the town and parish, he found them +intimately connected, so that a history of the one would also be a +history of the other; and he had found the history of the town highly +interesting, and honorable to its inhabitants. True, there were no +classic fields in Pittsfield, consecrated by patriotic blood spilled in +battle in defence of the country, as in Lexington and Concord, simply +because no foreign foe in arms ever invaded its soil; but it was not the +less true that Pittsfield had always promptly performed her part, and +furnished her quota of men and means, in every war waged in defence of +the country and the Union; and that in the intellectual contests +through which the just principles of republican government, and civil +and religious freedom, have been established in this country, the men of +Pittsfield, on their own ground and elsewhere, have ever borne a part +creditable alike to their wisdom, their sagacity, and their patriotism. +Pittsfield, therefore, had a history which deserved to be written. The +first settlers had all passed away; and their immediate descendants, +witnesses of their earlier struggles, were whitening with the frosts of +age, and were also rapidly disappearing. If the records of their history +were to be gathered together, and preserved in a durable form, it was +time that the duty be undertaken. He was satisfied that an honorable +record would appear, and worthy of the place to which God had given so +much that is beautiful in nature. + +These remarks were so sensible, their spirit was so noble, their form so +forcible, that at once a committee of five was appointed to compile, +write, and supervise the publication of a history of the town, and an +appropriation was made to defray the expense. This committee chose Mr. +J.E.A. Smith to aid them, and, according to the title-page, he compiled +and wrote the book under their general direction. It was published in +two octavo volumes: the first contained five hundred and eighteen pages, +and appeared in 1868, bringing the history from 1734 down to 1800; the +second, containing seven hundred and twenty-five pages, was not +published until eight years later. The second volume brought the history +down to date, and with the first formed an unbroken, readable narrative, +written in perhaps as good a style as town history could warrant us in +expecting. Not the least deserving of praise are the indexes, the lack +of which found in most books of the sort does more to lower their value +than any other defect. The man who writes a history without indexing it +thereby shows his utter lack of the most essential requisite in an +historian--a knowledge of the art of codification. He also calls down +upon his head the curses of every student who tries to use his book. + +An abundance of illustrations is not rare enough in town histories to +merit applause, but they are so seldom worth looking at that the +presence of such admirable ones as we find here attracts more than +passing notice. If American art were to be judged by the generality of +such illustrations, we would do well to say as little as possible about +the slurs and sneers of foreign critics. In such case silence would be +the better plan. + +The preface to the second volume contained the following suggestive +sentences:-- + +"The original plan of the work was to make the earlier portions more +full than the later: indeed, to give but a brief skeleton of recent +affairs: it being exceedingly difficult to make contemporary history +satisfactory to those who have taken part in it. We have, in a few +instances, departed from this course, for reasons which will suggest +themselves to the reader." + +In these sentences may be found the germ of almost the only idea in the +making of this truly admirable book which deserves severe criticism, and +most certainly the severest condemnation should be given to this and all +similar ideas. The notion that history should be written in a way that +will be _satisfactory_ to those engaged in it is radically wrong, unless +perchance by a _satisfactory_ way is meant a way that in point of truth, +accuracy, and fulness, will suit those who have a more or less personal +share in the events to be recorded. But here it is evident that the word +has not this meaning, or at least has a great deal more than this +meaning. In this connection it seems to be a euphemism for _pleasant_. +Certainly no one will dispute that an historian of contemporary events +would find very difficult even the attempt to make his work pleasant to +his contemporaries. It is the endeavor to do this which has vitiated +all the histories so far written of the late Civil War. The same +principle made Thiers's French Revolution an almost worthless book as a +history. To come down to lesser things, the same principle underlying +and pervading all American local histories has done more toward making +them worthless than any other single defect. In the name of truth and +justice we ask, "Why should the writing of history be made satisfactory, +pleasant, to those who aid in the making of it?" We want the _truth_ +about the near, as well as the far, past. Let us do unto our descendants +as we would that our ancestors had done by us, and tell them the truth +about ourselves. + +Perhaps we ought to be more lenient in the case of this history of +Pittsfield, in consideration of the fact that this was a _public_ work, +and, therefore, more caution had to be exercised than we would otherwise +have expected. Of course no employee would like to displease even a +single member of the corporation that employed him. Possibly the same +argument might be raised in defence of any historian, in that the public +is virtually his employer. Here, however, reasoning by analogy fails, +for the public is a very large body, and will seldom take up the cudgel +in defence of any single individual. This is a question, however, which +should be settled on the ground of right, not of expediency. But even if +the right be left out of account, the expedient in this case is not +necessarily opposed to truth and accuracy. This is well shown by the +phenomenal success of The Memorial History of Boston, mentioned above. +It may be well just here to say a little more about this admirable work, +for it is even more typical of what an ideal city history should be, +than that of Pittsfield is of the ideal town history. + +From the title-page we learn that The Memorial History of Boston, +including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, was edited by Justin +Winsor, and issued under the business superintendence of the projector, +Clarence F. Jewett, in 1880. The nature of the book is learned from the +preface, which says: "The history is cast on a novel plan: not so much +in being a work of co-operation, but because, so far as could be, the +several themes, as sections of one homogeneous whole, have been treated +by those who have some particular association and, it may be, long +acquaintance with the subject. In the diversity of authors there will, +of course, be variety of opinions, and it has not been thought +ill-judged, considering the different points of view assumed by the +various writers, that the same events should be interpreted sometimes in +varying and, perhaps, opposite ways. The chapters may thus make good the +poet's description: + + 'Distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea,'-- + +and may not be the worse for each offering a reflection, according to +its turn to the light, without marring the unity of the general +expanse." + +Among those who contributed one or more chapters to this work were +Justin Winsor (the editor), Charles Francis Adams, Jr., R.C. Winthrop, +T.W. Higginson, Edward Everett Hale, H.E. Scudder, F.W. Palfrey, +Phillips Brooks, Andrew P. Peabody, Henry Cabot Lodge, Josiah P. Quincy, +and Edward Atkinson. Such names as these are more than enough to insure +the truth, accuracy, and historical value of the book. Each one of them +discussed one or more topics, and then their work with that of the less +famous contributors was arranged chronologically, making a logically +consecutive series of essays complete in themselves. The whole was +published in four elegantly printed volumes, containing, in all, +twenty-five hundred and seventy-seven pages. + +This is the kind of a history which is of value, not only for immediate +use, but also for future reference; and this is the kind that gladdens +the heart and cheers the labors of the student and the writer. It is the +lack of such histories which makes incomplete and unsatisfactory such +works as the one in the hands of the government which called forth this +article. For it must not be supposed that the historical part of The +Social Statistics of Cities of 1880 will be either complete in every +part or wholly satisfactory. Yet perhaps it will be complete enough to +answer its end, which is to afford an opportunity for seeing why the +cities and towns described have reached their present condition. It is +on the accounts of their present condition that the value of the work +must chiefly rest. + +To the historians in succeeding generations these accounts will be +invaluable, for they will give information about the cities as they were +in the year 1880, which is not likely to be embodied in any other +permanent form. It has been shown how large a proportion of the local +histories of America have been found wanting in these things. It is not +to be expected that the immediate future will see any decided +reformation. Then it is clear of how great value to the "future +historian of recent events," to quote one of Daniel Webster's phrases, +will be such work as this that has been undertaken by the National +government. It will be of so great value because, as we can say with +little exaggeration, the history of the cities is the history of the +nation. The city to-day plays a most important part in national affairs. +It is, indeed, and for aught we can see must continue to be, the Hamlet +of the play. Few people realize this. Few people know that over one +fifth of the population of the land is gathered in the large towns and +cities. At the beginning of the century the ratio of the urban +population to the rural was only as one to fifteen. No reason is +apparent why the increase in the ratio should not be equally steady and +rapid for many generations. That this same change has taken place in all +_civilized_ portions of the world is, in truth, most significant. In +England the progress of the cities has been in the same direction, and, +as nearly as can be judged, in the same ratio as that of wealth, +learning, and happiness. + +Call to mind what Macaulay said, nearly half a century ago, in chapter +iii of his History of England: "Great as has been the change in the +rural life of England since the Revolution (1688), the change which has +come to pass in the cities is still more amazing. At present, a sixth +part of the kingdom is crowded into provincial towns of more than thirty +thousand inhabitants. In the reign of Charles II, no provincial town in +the kingdom contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and only four +provincial towns contained so many as ten thousand inhabitants." Since +this was written, the change, if not so marvelous, has been equally +important. + +As to our own country, the change can in no way be shown more clearly +than by the following table, which will be published in the Census +Report:-- + + + + +TABLE SHOWING THE GROWTH OF UNITED STATES CITIES FROM 1800 TO 1880. + +[Transcriber's note--This table has been transposed to make it fit. For +each year, Pop. is the Aggregate Population of all cities in that size +range; % is the percentage of the total Population of the United +States.] + +______________________________________________________________________ + | Total | Cities of Population: | + |Population| 10,000- 50,000- 100,000- Over | + | of U.S. | 49,999. 99,999. 499,999. 500,000.|Grand total +______________________________________________________________________ +1800| 5,308,483|Pop.| 161,134 24,945 60,989 104,113| 351,181 + | | % | .03 .0047 .011 .019 | .068 +1820| 9,633,822|Pop.| 214,270 43,997 186,293 194,683| 639,243 + | | % | .021 .0046 .019 .02 | .069 +1830|12,866,020|Pop.| 316,360 83,960 278,067 289,980| 968,367 + | | % | .025 .0065 .021 .0225 | .075 +1840|17,069,453|Pop.| 461,671 150,682 504,016 447,078| 1,563,487 + | | % | .027 .0088 .029 .025 | .091 +1850|23,191,876|Pop.| 990,080 314,182 933,039 763,724| 3,001,025 + | | % | .043 .013 .04 .033 | .13 +1860|31,433,321|Pop.|1,654,183 446,575 1,483,472 1,750,020| 5,334,250 + | | % | .052 .014 .047 .055 | .17 +1870|38,558,783|Pop.|2,526,432 676,990 2,302,961 2,311,410| 7,817,793 + | | % | .066 .017 .059 .06 | .20 +1880|50,155,783|Pop.|3,479,658 947,918 3,087,592 3,123,317|10,638,485 + | | % | .069 .019 .06 .062 | .21 +______________________________________________________________________ + +The city is not only the growing centre of a growing nation--it is also +the centre of all intellectual growth. The city is the home of the bar, +the hospital, the press, the church, and the state. The city is the +outcome of civilization, for it is the product of commerce and +manufactures, and these mean civilization. + +Then if any history be of value, if the record of the past be of any use +in guiding the present and helping toward the future, surely the history +of the city is the most important of all history. + +PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT. + + +A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. By Justin McCarthy, M.P. One volume, +pp. 448. Harper and Brothers: New York. 1884. + + +The brilliant History of Our Own Times, in two volumes, by the same +author, and published four years ago, has now been presented to the +public in a reduced size. While it was necessary to leave out many of +the striking and rhetorical passages in the process of condensation, +which formed so pleasing a portion in the larger work, the strictly +historical matter remains unchanged. His history, beginning with the +accession of Queen Victoria, in 1837, and extending to the general +election, in 1880, the date of the appointment of the Honorable W.E. +Gladstone to the premiership of England, covers a period of intense +interest, and with which every intelligent person should be familiar. +Mr. McCarthy's work is destined to be, for some time to come, the +standard account of English affairs for the last fifty years. + +One of the most valuable reference works of recent publication is The +Epitome of Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern History. By Carl Ploetz. +Translated from the German, with extensive additions, by William H. +Tillinghast, of the Harvard University library. One volume. pp. 618. +Houghton, Mifflin, and Company: Boston. 1884. + +The author of the original work, Professor Doctor Carl Ploetz, is well +known in Germany as a veteran teacher and writer of educational books +which have a high reputation, excellence, and authority. With regard to +the present work, it should be observed that it has passed through seven +editions in Germany. As a book of reference, either for the student or +the general reader, its tested usefulness is a sufficient guaranty for +its wide adoption in the present enlarged form. The scope of The Epitome +may be summarized as follows: Universal history is first treated by +dividing it into three periods. First, ancient history, from the +earliest historical information to the year 375 A.D. Second, mediæval, +from that date to the discovery of America, in 1492. Third, modern +history, from the last date to the year 1883. + +We have received from the author, the Honorable Samuel Abbott Green, +M.D., a pamphlet entitled "Notes on a Copy of Dr. William Douglass's +Almanack for 1743, touching on the subject of medicine in Massachusetts +before his time." It is specially interesting to the members of the +medical fraternity, as well as to antiquaries. + +CORRECTION.--The article upon Lovewell's fight at Pigwacket, printed in +the February number of the Bay State (page 83), contained a trifling +error, but one which deserves correction. It is stated that the township +of land with which the General Court, in 1774, rewarded the services of +the troops under Lovewell, was subsequently divided, forming the towns +of Lovell and New Sweden. The mistake was upon the name of the latter +town. It should have been written Sweden. New Sweden is the recent +Swedish colony of Aroostook County. + +I.B.C. + + + + +[Illustration: Boar's Head House] + +From the eastern end of Long Island, toward the west and south, extends +a dreary monotony of sandbeach along the whole Atlantic coast, to the +extreme southern cape of Florida, thence along the shores of the Gulf of +Mexico to the Rio Grande, broken only by occasional inlets. The +picturesque coast scenery is mostly north and east of Cape Cod. +Following along the seaboard from Cape Ann, one comes, a few miles north +of the mouth of the Merrimack River, in view of a bold promontory +extending into the waters of the Atlantic, and aptly named, in years +agone, Boar's Head. + +The traveler in search of a delightful seaside resort for the summer +need go no further. For here, amidst the most charming of marine +scenery, that veteran landlord and genial host, Stebbins H. Dumas, has +erected, for the benefit of the public, a hotel, spacious, well +appointed, and ably conducted; inviting and especially homelike; every +room commanding a view of the ocean. + +Boar's Head is a promontory; its level summit of about a dozen acres, +sixty feet above the highest tide, clothed in the greenest verdure. It +is in the form of a triangle, the cliffs on two sides of which are +lashed by the waves of the restless ocean; while toward the main, the +land falls away gently to the level of the marshes. The hotel is situate +on the crest of this incline. From the veranda, which commands the +landward view, the prospect is wide and pleasing. To the north trends +Hampton Beach in a long sweep to Little Boar's Head and the shores of +Rye and Newcastle; inland are broad stretches of salt marsh, its surface +interwoven with the silver ribbon of the creek and stream; beyond are +glimpses of restful rustic scenes, improved by near approach; spires +pointing heavenward from all the peaceful villages, and, further away, +Agamenticus and the granite hills of New England; to the south, the +beach runs on toward Salisbury and Newburyport. But the great view from +Boar's Head is from the ocean apex of the promontory. Here, beneath the +grateful shade of an awning, with the waves breaking rythmically at the +foot of the cliff far beneath, one can sit and ponder on the immensity +of the ocean and dream of the lands beyond the horizon. From here the +whole seaboard, from Thatcher's Island to York and Wells, is in view; +the Isles of Shoals loom up on the horizon, while the offing is dotted +with coasters and yachts of every rig and construction. Calm, indeed, +must it be when no wind is felt on Boar's Head; and during those +exceptional days of the summer, when the land-breeze prevails, the broad +verandas around three sides of the hotel afford the most grateful shade. +The broad acres between the house and the bluff is a lawn for the use of +the guests, where croquet and tennis may be highly enjoyed in the +invigorating ocean air. + +During the evening, when the atmosphere is clear, there are visible from +the Head thirteen lighthouses. When the shades of night and the dew have +driven the guests to seek shelter within doors, the great parlor affords +to the young people ample room for the cotillion or German, while the +reception-room, office, and reading-room lure the seniors to whist or +magazines. Of a Sunday, the dining-room answers for a chapel; and in +years past, the voice of many an eloquent preacher has echoed through +the room, and reached, through the open windows, hardy but devout +fishermen on the outside. + +These same fishermen bring great codfish from the outlying shoals, +delicious clams from the flats, canvas-back duck, and teal, and +yellow-leg plovers from the marshes, to tempt the delicate appetite of +the valetudinarian. + +Boar's Head is on the seacoast of the old town of Hampton, in the State +of New Hampshire. Taking a team from Mr. Dumas' well-stocked stable, one +will find the most delightful drives, extending in all directions +through the ancient borough. The roads follow curves, like the drives in +Central Park, and two centuries and a half of wear have rendered them as +solid and firm as if macadamized. Three short miles from the hotel is +the station of Hampton, on the Eastern Railroad, by which many trains +pass daily. + +[Illustration] + +For the historical student the region affords much of interest. Here, in +the village of Hampton, in the year 1638, in the month of October, +settled the Reverend Stephen Batchelder [Bachiler] and his followers, +intent to serve God in their own way and establish homes in the +wilderness. The river and adjoining country was then known as +Winnicunnett. The settlers, for the most part, came from Norfolk, +England, and so desirable did they find their adopted home that many +descendants of the original grantees occupy to-day the land opened and +cleared by their ancestors. In this town, in 1657, settled Ebenezer +Webster, the direct progenitor of the Great Expounder, and here the +family remained for several generations. + +Within the limits of the old township, which was bounded on the south by +the present Massachusetts line, on the north by Portsmouth and Exeter, +and extended ten miles inland, were included the territory of some half +dozen of the adjoining townships of to-day. Here lived Meshach Weare, +who guided the New Hampshire ship of state through the troublous times +of the Revolution. Over yonder, near the site of the first log +meeting-house, is pointed out the gambrel-roofed house of General +Jonathan Moulton, the great land-owner. He it was, in the good old +colony days, who drove a very large and fat ox from his township of +Moultonborough, and delivered it to the jovial Governor Wentworth as a +present to his excellency, and said there was nothing to pay. When the +governor insisted on making some return, General Moulton informed him +that there was an ungranted gore of land adjoining his earlier grant +which he would accept. In this manner he came into possession of the +town of New Hampton--a very ample return for the ox; at least, so +asserts tradition. + +Colonel Christopher Toppan, in those early days, was largely engaged in +ship-building. For many years the people of Hampton were employed in +domestic and foreign commerce, and it was not until the advent of the +railroad that Hampton surrendered its dreams of commercial +aggrandizement. + +One road leads up the coast to Rye and Portsmouth; another, through a +most charming country, to Exeter; another, to Salisbury and Newburyport, +and many others inland in every direction. + +Boar's Head is the best base from which to operate to rediscover the +whole adjoining territory. + +The first house on the Head was built, in 1808, by Daniel Lamprey, whose +son, Jeremiah Lamprey, began to entertain guests about 1820. The first +public house in the vicinity, a part of the present Boar's Head House, +was built, in 1826, by David Nudd and associates. From them it came, in +1865, into the possession of Stebbins Hitchcock Dumas, who, nineteen +years before, had commenced hotel life at the Phenix, in Concord. Under +Mr. Dumas' management the house has grown steadily in size as well as in +popularity, until to-day it ranks as one of the great seaside +caravansaries of the Atlantic coast. + +When a fisherman in his wanderings through the forest discovers a pond +or stream well stocked with sparkling trout, he keeps his information to +himself, and frequently revisits his treasure. So is it apt to be with +the tourist and pleasure-seeker. Here, season after season, have +appeared the same men and the same families--noticeably those who +appreciate a table supplied with every delicacy of the season, served up +in the most tempting manner. + +Has the guest a desire to compete with the fishermen, he is furnished +every convenience, and by a basket of fish "expressed" to some distant +friend can demonstrate his piscatorial powers. On the favoring beach, +hard by the hotel, are bathhouses where one can prepare to sport in the +refreshing billows. The halls and rooms of the hotel were built before +those days when those who resort to the seabeach were expected to be +accommodated within the area of their Saratoga trunks. Spacious, +comfortably furnished, each opening on a view of the ocean, the rooms of +the hotel are very attractive and pleasing. + +The hotel is opened for the reception of the public early in June, and +remains open into October, before the last guest departs. + +The gentle poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, thus writes of Hampton +Beach:-- + + "I sit alone: in foam and spray + Wave after wave + Breaks on the rocks.--which, stern and gray, + Shoulder the broken tide away,-- + Or murmurs hoarse and strong through mossy cleft and cave. + + "What heed I of the dusty land + And noisy town? + I see the mighty deep expand + From its white line of glimmering sand + To where the blue of heaven on bluer waves shuts down. + + "In listless quietude of mind + I yield to all + The change of cloud and wave and wind; + And passive, on the flood reclined, + I wander with the waves, and with them rise and fall. + + * * * * * + + "So then, beach, bluff, and wave, farewell! + I bear with me + No token stone nor glittering shell; + But long and oft shall memory tell + Of this brief thoughtful hour of musing by the sea." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue +5, May, 1884, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13632 *** diff --git a/13632-h/13632-h.htm b/13632-h/13632-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a38bae --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/13632-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3576 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta name="generator" + content="HTML Tidy for Linux/x86 (vers 1st November 2002), see www.w3.org" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + <title>The Bay State Monthly - Volume 1, Number 5</title> + <style title="Standard Format" type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + p.TOC {text-align: left;} + p.sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + html>body p.TOC {margin-left: 20%; 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text-align: center;} + .figcenter {margin: auto;} + .figright {float: right;} + .figleft {float: left;} + span.rightnote {position: absolute; left: 88%; right: 1%; font-size: 0.7em; + border-bottom: solid 1px; text-align: left;} + table.receipts {margin-top: 2em; margin-left: 10%; width: 75%;} +/* Use this if there are inline transliterations. */ +/* [lang][title]:after {content: " [Trans: " attr(title) "]";} */ + --> + /*]]>*/ + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13632 ***</div> + + <a name="page265" id="page265"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 265]</span> + <h1>THE BAY STATE MONTHLY.</h1> + <center> + <i>A Massachusetts Magazine</i>. + </center> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image1_full.png"><img src="images/image1_thumbnail.png" + alt="Chester A. Arthur - May 15, 1882" /></a> + <p>Chester A. Arthur - May 15, 1882</p> + </div> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">Volume I.<br /> + May, 1884.<br /> + Number V.</p> + <hr /> + <p style="text-align: center;">Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year + 1884, by John N. McClintock and Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress + at Washington.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Ben: Perley Poore.</p> + <p>Chester Alan Arthur was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 5, 1830. His father, + the Reverend Doctor William Arthur, was a Baptist clergyman, who emigrated from + county Antrim, Ireland, when only eighteen years of age. He had received a thorough + classical education, and was graduated from Belfast University, one of the foremost + institutions of learning in Ireland. Marrying an American, Miss Malvina Stone, soon + after his arrival, he became the father of several children. Chester was the eldest + of two sons, having four sisters older and two younger than himself. While fulfilling + his clerical duties as the pastor, successively, of a number of Baptist churches in + New York State, Dr. Arthur edited for several years The Antiquarian, and wrote a work + on Family Names, which is highly prized by genealogists. Of Scotch-Irish descent, he + was a man of great force of character, impatient of restraint, at home in a + controversy, and frank in the expression of his opinions. He was a pronounced + emancipationist, although he never expected to see the overthrow of slavery, which it + was his good fortune to witness, as his life was spared until the twenty-seventh of + October, 1875, when he died at Newtonville, near Albany. He was a personal friend of + Gerrit Smith, and they had participated in the organization of the New York State + Anti-Slavery Society, which was dispersed by a mob during its first meeting at Utica, + on the twenty-first of October, 1835 (the day on which William Lloyd Garrison was + mobbed in Boston, and was lodged in jail for his own protection). A friend of the + slave from conscience and from conviction, Dr. Arthur was never backward in + expressing his convictions, and his children imbibed his teachings.</p> + <p>When a lad, young Arthur enjoyed at home the tutelage of his father, whose + thorough knowledge of the classics enabled him to lay the foundation of his son's + future education broad and deep. He entered Union College in 1845, when only fifteen + years of age. His collegiate course was full of promise, and every successive year he + was declared to be one of those who had taken "maximum honors," although he was + compelled to absent himself during two winters, when he taught school to earn the + requisite funds for defraying his expenses, without drawing upon his father's means. + Yet he kept up with his class, and when he was graduated in 1848, he was one of six + out of a class of over one hundred, who were elected members of the Phi Beta Kappa, + an honor only conferred on the best scholars.</p> + <a name="page266" id="page266"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 266]</span> + <p>Following the natural inclination of his mind, young Arthur began the study of + law, supporting himself by teaching and by preparing boys for college. It so happened + that two years after he was the preceptor of an academy at North Pownal, Vermont, a + student from Williams College, named James A. Garfield, came there and taught + penmanship in the same academy for several months.</p> + <p>In 1853, young Arthur went to New York City, by the invitation of the Honorable + Erastus D. Culver, whose acquaintance he had made when that gentleman represented the + Washington County district, and Dr. Arthur was the pastor of the Baptist Church at + Greenwich. Mr. Culver had been noted in Congress as an advanced, anti-slavery man, + and he was prompted to take an interest in the son of a clergyman-constituent, who + did not fear to express anti-slavery sentiments, at a time when the occupants of + pulpits were generally so conservative that they were dumb upon this important + question. Before the close of the year, young Arthur displayed such legal ability and + business tact, that he was admitted into partnership, and became a member of the firm + of Culver, Parker, and Arthur. The firm had numerous clients, and the junior partner + soon became a successful practitioner, uniting to a thorough knowledge of the law a + vigorous understanding and an untiring industry which gained for him an enviable + reputation.</p> + <p>Among other cases on the docket of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, was one known as + the Lemon slave-case. A Virginian named Jonathan Lemon undertook to take eight slaves + to Texas on steamers, by the way of New York. While in that city a writ of <i>habeas + corpus</i> was issued, and the slaves were brought into the court before Judge Elijah + Paine; Mr. Culver and John Jay appearing for the slaves, while H.D. Lapaugh and Henry + L. Clifton were retained by Lemon. Judge Paine, after hearing long arguments, + declared that the fugitive slave law did not apply to slaves who were brought by + their masters into a free State, and he ordered their release. The Legislature of + Virginia directed the attorney-general of that State to employ counsel to appeal from + Judge Paine's decision to the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Mr. Arthur, who + was the attorney of record in the case for the people, went to Albany, and after + earnest efforts procured the passage of a joint resolution, requesting the governor + to employ counsel to defend the interests of the State. Attorney-General Hoffman, + E.D. Culver, and Joseph Blunt were appointed by the governor as counsel, and Mr. + Arthur as the State's attorney. The Supreme Court sustained Judge Paine's decision. + The slave-holder, unwilling to lose his "property," then engaged Charles O'Conor to + argue the case before the State Court of Appeals. There the counsel for the State + were again successful in defending the decision of Judge Paine, and from that day no + slave-holder dared to bring his slaves into the city of New York.</p> + <a name="page267" id="page267"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 267]</span> + <p>Mr. Arthur, who had naturally taken a prominent part in this case, was regarded by + the colored people of New York as a champion of their interests, and it was not long + before they sought his aid. At that time, colored people were not permitted to ride + in the street-cars in New York City, with the exception of a few old and shabby cars + set aside for their occupation. The Fourth-avenue line permitted them to ride when no + other passenger made objection.</p> + <p>One Sunday, in 1855, Lizzie Jennings, a colored woman, returning from having + fulfilled her duties as superintendent of a colored Sunday-school, entered a + Fourth-avenue car, and the conductor took her fare. Soon after, a drunken white man + objected to her presence, and insisted that she be made to leave the car. The + conductor pulled the bell, and when the car stopped, told her that she must get out, + offering to return her fare. She refused, and the conductor then offered to put her + off by force. She made vigorous resistance, exclaiming: "I have paid my fare, and I + have a right to ride." Finally, the conductor called in several policemen, and, by + their joint efforts, she was removed from the car, her clothing having nearly all + been torn from her in the struggle. When the leading colored people of the city heard + of this, they sent a committee to the office of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, and + requested them to make it a test case.</p> + <p>Mr. Arthur brought suit against the railroad company for Miss Jennings, in the + Supreme Court, at Brooklyn. The case came on for trial before Judge Rockwell, who + then sat upon the bench there. He had just decided, in a previous case, that a + corporation was not liable for the wrongful acts of its agent or servant, and when + Mr. Arthur handed him the pleadings, he said that the railroad company was not + liable, and was about to order a nonsuit. Mr. Arthur called his attention, however, + to a recently revised section of the Revised Statutes, making certain railroad + corporations which carried passengers liable for the acts of their conductors and + drivers, whether wilful or negligent, under which the action had been brought. The + judge was silenced, the case was tried, and the jury rendered a verdict of five + hundred dollars damages in favor of the colored woman. The railroad company paid the + money without further contest, and issued orders to its conductors to permit colored + people to ride in its cars, an example that was followed by all the other street + railroads in New York. The colored people, especially "The Colored People's Legal + Rights Association," were very grateful to Mr. Arthur, and for years afterward they + celebrated the anniversary of the day on which he won the case that asserted their + rights in public conveyances.</p> + <p>When a lad, young Arthur had always taken a great interest in politics, and it is + related of him that during the Clay-Polk campaign of 1844, while he and some of his + companions were raising an ash pole in honor of Harry Clay, they were attacked by + some Democratic boys, when young Arthur, who was the leader of the party, ordered a + charge, and drove the young Democrats from the field with sore heads and subdued + spirits. His first vote was cast in 1852 for Winfield Scott for President, and he + identified himself with the Whigs of his ward when he located in New York City. In + those days the best citizens served as inspectors of elections at the polls, and for + some years Mr. Arthur served in that capacity at a voting-place in a carpenter's + shop, which occupied the site of the present Fifth Avenue Hotel. When, in 1856, the + Republican party was formed, Mr. Arthur was a prominent member of the Young Men's + Vigilance Committee, which advocated the election of Fremont and Dayton. It was + during this campaign that he became acquainted with Edwin D. Morgan, and gained his + ardent life-long friendship.</p> + <a name="page268" id="page268"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 268]</span> + <p>Animated by a military spirit, Mr. Arthur sought recreation by joining the + volunteer militia of New York, and he was appointed judge-advocate-general on the + staff of Brigadier-General Yates, who commanded the second brigade. The general was a + strict disciplinarian, and required his field, line, and staff officers to meet + weekly for drill and instruction. Mr. Arthur thus acquired the rudiments of a + military education, and became acquainted with many of those who afterwards + distinguished themselves as officers in the volunteer army of the Union.</p> + <p>General Arthur was married in 1859 to Ellen Lewis Herndon, of Fredericksburg, + Virginia, a daughter of Captain William Lewis Herndon, of the United States Navy, who + had gained honorable distinction when in command of the naval expedition sent to + explore the river Amazon. His heroic death, in 1857, is recorded in history among + those "names which will never be forgotten as long as there is remembrance in the + world for fidelity unto death." In command of the steamer Central America, which went + down, with a loss of three hundred and sixty lives, he stood at his post on the + wheelhouse, and succeeded in having the women and children safely transferred to the + boats, remaining himself to perish with his vessel. General Sherman has characterized + this grand deed of unselfish devotion as the most heroic incident in our naval + history. Mrs. Arthur was a lady of the highest culture, and in the varied relations + of life—wife, mother, friend—she illustrated all that gives to womanhood + its highest charm, and commands for it the purest homage. She died in 1880, after an + illness of but three days, leaving a son and a daughter, with a large number of + mourning friends, not only in society, of which she was an ornament, but among the + poor and the distressed, whose wants and whose sufferings she had tenderly cared + for.</p> + <p>When the Honorable Edward D. Morgan was elected Governor of the State of New York, + he appointed Mr. Arthur engineer-in-chief on his staff, and when Fort Sumter was + fired upon, the governor telegraphed to him to go to Albany, where he received orders + to act as state quartermaster-general in the city of New York. General Arthur at once + began to organize regiments,—uniform, arm, and equip them,—and send them + to the defence of the capital. His capacity for leadership and organization was soon + manifest. There was no lack of men or of money, but it needed organizing powers like + his to mould them into disciplined form, to grasp the new issues with a master-hand, + and to infuse earnestness and obedience into the citizens, suddenly transformed into + soldiers. His accounts were kept in accordance with the army regulations, and their + subsequent settlement with the United States, without deduction for unwarranted + charges, was an easy task. It was by his exertions, to a great extent, that the + Empire State was enabled to send to the front six hundred and ninety thousand men, + nearly one fifth of the Grand Army of the Union.</p> + <a name="page269" id="page269"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 269]</span> + <p>There were, of course, many adventurers who sought commissions, and some of the + regiments were recruited from the rough element of city life, who soon refused to + obey their officers. General Arthur made short work of these cases, exercising an + authority which no one dared to dispute. Neither would he permit the army contractors + to ingratiate themselves with him by presents, returning everything thus sent him. + Although a comparatively poor man when he entered upon the duties of + quartermaster-general at New York, he was far poorer when he gave up the office. A + friend describing his course at this period, says: "So jealous was he of his + integrity, that I have known instances where he could have made thousands of dollars + legitimately, and yet he refused to do it on the ground that he was a public officer + and meant to be, like Caesar's wife, above suspicion."</p> + <p>When the rebel ironclad steamer Merrimac had commenced her work of destruction + near Fortress Monroe, General Arthur, as engineer-in-chief, took efficient steps for + the defence of New York, and made a thorough inspection of all the forts and defences + in the State, describing the armament of each one. His report to the Legislature, + submitted to that body in a little more than three weeks after his attention was + called to the subject by Governor Morgan, was thus noticed editorially in the New + York Herald of January 25, 1862:—</p> + <blockquote> + "The report of the engineer-in-chief, General Arthur, which appeared in yesterday's + Herald, is one of the most important and valuable documents that have been this + year presented to our Legislature. It deserves perusal, not only on account of the + careful analysis it contains of the condition of the forts, but because the + recommendations, with which it closes, coincide precisely with the wishes of the + administration with respect to securing a full and complete defence of the entire + Northern coast." + </blockquote> + <p>Governor Morgan appointed General Arthur state inspector-general in February, + 1862, and ordered him to visit and inspect the New York troops in the army of the + Potomac. While there, as an advance on Richmond was daily expected, he volunteered + for duty on the staff of his friend, Major-General Hunt, commander of the Reserve + Artillery. He had previously, when four fine volunteer regiments had been organized + under the auspices of the metropolitan police commissioners of of the city of New + York, and consolidated into what was known as the "Metropolitan Brigade," been + offered the command of it by the colonels of the regiments, but on making formal + application, based on a desire to see active service in the field, Governor Morgan + was unwilling that he should accept, stating that he could not be spared from the + service of the State, and that while he appreciated General Arthur's desire for + war-service, he knew that he would render the country more efficient aid for the + Union cause by remaining at his State post of duty.</p> + <a name="page270" id="page270"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 270]</span> + <p>When, in June, 1862, the situation had an unfavorable appearance, and there were + apprehensions that a general draft would be necessary, Governor Morgan telegraphed + General Arthur, then with the Army of the Potomac, to return to New York. The General + did so, and was requested, on his arrival, to act as secretary at a confidential + meeting of the governors of loyal States, held at the Astor House, on the + twenty-eighth of July, 1862. After a full and frank discussion of the condition of + affairs in their respective States, the governors united in a request to the + President to call for more troops. President Lincoln, on the first of July, issued a + proclamation, thanking the governors for their patriotism, and calling for three + hundred thousand three-years volunteers, and three hundred thousand nine-months + militia-men. Private intimation that such a call was to be issued would have enabled + army contractors to have made millions; but the secret was honorably kept by all + until after the issue of the proclamation. The quota of New York was 59,705 + volunteers, or sixty regiments, and it was desirable that they should be recruited + and sent to the front without delay. General Arthur, by special request of Governor + Morgan, resumed his duties as quartermaster-general and established a system of + recruiting and officering the new levies, which proved wonderfully successful. In his + annual report, made to the governor on the twenty-seventh of January, 1863, he + said:—</p> + <blockquote> + "In summing up the operations of the department during the last levy of troops, I + need only state as the result the fact that through the single office and clothing + department of this department in the city of New York, from August 1 to December 1, + the space of four months, there were completely clothed, uniformed, and equipped, + supplied with camp and garrison equipage, and transported from this State to the + seat of war, sixty-eight regiments of infantry, two battalions of cavalry, and four + battalions and ten batteries of artillery." + </blockquote> + <p>In December, 1863, the incoming of the Democratic state administration deprived + General Arthur of his office. His successor, Quartermaster-General Talcott, in a + report to Governor Seymour, paid the following just tribute to his + predecessor:—</p> + <blockquote> + "I found, upon entering on the discharge of my duties, a well-organized system of + labor and accountability, for which the State is chiefly indebted to my + predecessor, General Chester A. Arthur, who, by his practical good sense and + unremitting exertion, at a period when everything was in confusion, reduced the + operations of the department to a matured plan by which large amounts of money were + saved to the government, and great economy of time secured in carrying out the + details of the same." + </blockquote> + <p>Resuming his professional duties, at first in partnership with Mr. Gardiner and + afterward alone, he became counsel to the city department of taxes and assessments, + with an annual salary of ten thousand dollars, but he abruptly resigned the position + when the Tammany Hall city officials attempted to coerce the Republicans connected + with the municipal departments.</p> + <p>When the next presidential election drew near, General Arthur entered + enthusiastically into the support of General Grant, and was made chairman of the + Grant Central Club, of New York. He also served as chairman of the executive + committee of the Republican State Committee of New York. In 1871, he formed the + afterwards well-known firm of Arthur, Phelps, Knevals, and Ransom.</p> + <a name="page271" id="page271"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 271]</span> + <p>President Grant, without solicitation and unexpectedly, appointed General Arthur + collector of the port of New York, on the twentieth of November, 1871. He accepted + the position with much hesitation, but it met with the general approval of the + business community, many of the merchants having become personally acquainted with + his business ability during the war. He instituted many reforms in the management of + the custom-house, all calculated to simplify the business and to divest it, to a + great extent, of all the details and routine so vexatious to the mercantile classes. + The number of his removals during his administration was far less than during the + rule of any other collector since 1857, and the expense of collecting the duties was + far less than it had been for years. So satisfactory was his management of the + custom-house, that, upon the close of his term of service, December, 1875, he was + renominated by President Grant. The nomination was unanimously confirmed by the + Senate without reference to a committee, a compliment very rarely paid, except to + ex-senators. He was the first collector of the port of New York, with one or two + exceptions, who in fifty years ever held the office for more than the whole term of + four years.</p> + <p>Two years later General Arthur was superseded as collector by General Merritt. The + Honorable John Sherman, secretary of the treasury, on being questioned as to the + cause of the removal of General Arthur as collector of customs at New York, + said:—</p> + <blockquote> + "I have never said one word impugning General Arthur's honor or integrity as a man + and a gentleman, but he was not in harmony with the views of the administration in + the management of the custom-house. I would vote for him for Vice-President a + million times before I would vote for W.H. English, with whom I served in + Congress." + </blockquote> + <p>General Arthur, in a letter written by him to Secretary Sherman, on his + administration of the New York custom-house, said:—</p> + <blockquote> + "The essential elements of a correct civil service I understand to be: First, + permanance in office, which, of course, prevents removals, except for cause. + Second, promotion from the lower to the higher grades, based upon good conduct and + efficiency. Third, prompt and thorough investigation of all complaints and prompt + punishment of all misconduct. In this respect I challenge comparison with any + department of the Government, either under the present or under any past national + administration. I am prepared to demonstrate the truth of this statement on any + fair investigation." + </blockquote> + <p>Appended to this letter was a table in which General Arthur showed that during the + six years he had managed the office the yearly percentage of removals for all causes + had been only two and three-quarters per cent. against an annual average of + twenty-eight per cent. under his three immediate predecessors, and an annual average + of about twenty-four per cent. since 1857, when Collector Schell took office. Out of + nine hundred and twenty-three persons who held office when he became collector on + December 1, 1871, there were five hundred and thirty-one still in office on May 1, + 1877, having been retained during his entire term. Concerning promotions, the + statistics of the office show that during his entire term the uniform practice was to + advance men from the lower to the higher grades, and almost without exception on the + recommendation of heads of departments. All the appointments, excepting two, to the + one hundred positions paying two thousand dollars salary a year, and over, were made + on this method.</p> + <a name="page272" id="page272"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 272]</span> + <p>Senator George K. Edmunds, at a ratification meeting, held in Burlington, Vermont, + on the twenty-second of June, 1880, said:—</p> + <blockquote> + "I have long known General Arthur. The only serious difficulty I have had with the + present administration was when it proposed to remove him from the collectorship of + New York. No one questioned his personal honor and integrity. I resisted the + attempt to the utmost. Since that time it has turned out that all the reforms + suggested had long before been recommended by General Arthur himself, and + pigeonholded at Washington." + </blockquote> + <p>Meanwhile General Arthur had rendered great services as a member, and subsequently + a chairman, of the Republican State Committee, and had united his party from one + success to another through all the mazes and intricacies which characterize the + politics of New York City. Vice-President Wheeler said of him:—</p> + <blockquote> + "It is my good fortune to know well General Arthur, the nominee for Vice-President. + In unsullied character and in devotion to the principles of the Republican party no + man in the organization surpasses him. No man has contributed more of time and + means to advance the just interests of the Republican party." + </blockquote> + <p>The National Republican Convention, which assembled at Chicago, in June, 1880, was + an exemplification of the popular will. The respective friends of General Grant and + of Mr. Blaine, equally confident of success, indulged during a night's session in + prolonged demonstrations of applause when the candidates were presented that were + unprecedented and that will not probably ever be repeated. Neither side was + successful until the thirty-sixth ballot, when the nomination of President was + finally bestowed on General Garfield, who had, as a delegate from Ohio, eloquently + presented the name of John Sherman as a candidate.</p> + <p>The convention then adjourned for dinner and for consultation. When it reassembled + in the evening, the roll of States was called for the nomination for Vice-President. + California presented E.B. Washburne; Connecticut, ex-Governor Jewell; Florida, Judge + Settle; Tennessee, Horace Maynard. These successive names attracted little attention, + but when ex-Lieutenant-Governor Woodford, of New York, rose, and, after a brief + reference to the loyal support which New York had given to General Grant, presented + the name of General Chester A. Arthur for the second place on the ticket, it was + received with applause and enthusiasm. The nomination was seconded by ex-Governor + Denison, of Ohio, Emory A. Storrs, of Illinois, and John Cessna, of Pennsylvania. A + vote was then taken with the following result: Arthur, 468; Washburne, 19; Maynard, + 30; Jewell, 44; Bruce, 8; Davis, 2; and Woodford, 1. The nomination of General Arthur + was then made unanimous, and a committee of one from each State, with the presiding + officer of the convention, Senator Hoar, as chairman, was appointed to notify General + Garfield and General Arthur of their nomination. The convention then adjourned + <i>sine die</i>.</p> + <a name="page273" id="page273"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 273]</span> + <p>Returning to New York, General Arthur was welcomed by a large and influential + gathering of Republicans, who greeted him with hearty cheers. That night he was + serenaded by a large procession of Republicans, which assembled in Union Square and + marched past his residence in Lexington Avenue, with music and fireworks. A few weeks + later, a letter was addressed to him, signed by Hamilton Fish, Noah Davis, and + upwards of a hundred other prominent Republicans, inviting him to dine with them at + the Union League Club, and stating that, in common with all true Republicans, they + rejoiced at the happy issue of the earnest struggle in the Chicago convention. They + hailed the general approval of its work as an auspicious omen, and looked forward + confidently to the labors of the canvass. They felt an especial and personal + gratification in the fact that the ticket selected at Chicago bore his name. His + faithfulness in public duties, his firmness and sagacity in political affairs, so + well understood by his fellow-citizens in New York, had met with national recognition + and won for him this well-deserved honor. Their efforts in his support would be + prompted, not only by personal zeal and enthusiasm, but by the warmth and zeal of + strong personal friendship and esteem. That they might have an opportunity more fully + to express to him their sincere congratulations and hearty good wishes, they invited + him to meet them at dinner at the Union League Club.</p> + <p>General Arthur, in acknowledging the receipt of this letter, expressed his sense + of the kindness which had prompted both the invitation itself and the flattering + assurances of confidence and regard by which it was accompanied. If circumstances had + permitted, he should have been pleased to have accepted the proffered hospitality, + and for that purpose no more congenial spot could have been selected than the + headquarters of the Union League Club, an association so widely famed for its + patriotic zeal and energy, and so efficient in the support of the principles and + policy of the Republican party. He was constrained, however, from considerations of a + private nature known to many, to decline the invitation.</p> + <p>On the fifteenth of July, 1880, General Arthur formally accepted the position + assigned to him by the Chicago convention, and expressed at length his own personal + views on the election laws, public service appointments, the financial problems of + the day, common schools, the tariff, national improvements, and a Republican + ascendency, saying, in conclusion, that he did not doubt that success awaited the + Republican party, and that its triumph would assure a just, economical, and patriotic + administration.</p> + <p>The political campaign of 1880 was earnestly contested by the great political + parties. The Republicans were victorious, and their ticket bearing the names of + Garfield and Arthur was triumphantly elected. On the fourth of March, 1881, General + Arthur took the oath of office in the Senate Chamber as Vice-President of the United + States, and half an hour later General Garfield was inaugurated on a platform before + the east front of the Capitol, in the presence of the imposing military and civil + procession which had escorted him with music and banners. When the ceremony was + concluded, the distinguished personages around the new President tendered their + congratulations, the assembled multitude cheered, and a salute fired by a light + battery stationed near by was echoed by the guns at the navy yard, the arsenal, and + the forts around the metropolis.</p> + <a name="page274" id="page274"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 274]</span> + <p>Republicans congratulated each other on the indications of a vigorous + administration, governed by a conscientious determination to promote harmony. But a + few months had elapsed, however, before President Garfield was cruelly assassinated, + in the full vigor of his manhood, and the Republican party was at first stricken with + apprehensions. These gloomy doubts, however, soon disappeared as the incidents of Mr. + Arthur's patriotic and useful life were recalled, and a generous confidence was soon + extended to the new President.</p> + <p>President Arthur took the oath of office in New York immediately after the death + of General Garfield, and he repeated it in the Capitol on the twenty-second of + September, in the Vice-President's room. The members of General Garfield's cabinet, + who had been requested by his successor to continue for the present in charge of + their respective departments, were present, with General Sherman in full uniform, + ex-Presidents Hayes and Grant, and Chief Justice Waite in his judicial robes, + escorted by Associate Justices Harlan and Matthews. There were, also, present + Senators Anthony, Sherman, Edmunds, Hale, Blair, Dawes, and Jones, of Nevada, and + Representatives Amos Townsend, McCook, Errett, Randall, Hiscock, and Thomas. + Ex-Vice-President Hamlin, of Maine, and Speaker Sharpe, of New York, were also + present.</p> + <p>When President Arthur entered the room, escorted by General Grant and Senator + Jones, he advanced to a small table, on which was a Bible, and behind which stood the + Chief Justice, who raised the sacred volume, opened it, and presented it to the + President, who placed his right hand upon it. Chief Justice Waite then slowly + administered the oath, and at its conclusion the President kissed the book, + responding, "I will, so help me God." He then read the following address:—</p> + <blockquote> + <center> + THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + </center> + <p>For the fourth time in the history of the Republic its Chief Magistrate has been + removed by death. All hearts are filled with grief and horror at the hideous crime + which has darkened our land; and the memory of the murdered President, his + protracted sufferings, his unyielding fortitude, the example and achievements of + his life and the pathos of his death, will forever illumine the pages of our + history. For the fourth time the officer elected by the people and ordained by the + Constitution to fill a vacancy so created is called to assume the executive chair. + The wisdom of our fathers, foreseeing even the most dire possibilities, made sure + that the Government should never be imperiled because of the uncertainty of human + life. Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions remain unshaken. No + higher or more assuring proof could exist of the strength and permanence of popular + government than the fact that, though the chosen of the people be struck down, his + constitutional successor is peacefully installed without shock or strain except the + sorrow which mourns the bereavement. All the noble aspirations of my lamented + predecessor which found expression in his life, the measures devised and suggested + during his brief administration to correct abuses and enforce economy, to advance + prosperity and promote the general welfare, to insure domestic security and + maintain friendly and honorable relations with the nations of the earth, will be + garnered in the hearts of the people, and it will be my earnest endeavor to profit, + and to see that the Nation shall profit, by his example and experience. Prosperity + blesses our country; our fiscal policy is fixed by law, is well grounded, and + generally approved. No threatening issue mars our foreign intercourse, and the + wisdom, integrity, and thrift of our people may be trusted to continue undisturbed + the present assured career of peace, tranquillity, and welfare. The gloom and + anxiety which have enshrouded the country must make repose especially welcome now. + No demand for speedy legislation has been heard. No adequate occasion is apparent + for an unusual session of Congress. The Constitution defines the functions and + powers of the executive as clearly as those of either of the other two departments + of the government, and he must answer for the just exercise of the discretion it + permits and the performance of the duties it imposes. Summoned to these high duties + and responsibilities, and profoundly conscious of their magnitude and gravity, I + assume the trust imposed by the Constitution, relying for aid on Divine guidance + and the virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of the American people.</p> + </blockquote> + <a name="page275" id="page275"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 275]</span> + <p>As President Arthur read his message his voice trembled, but his manner was + impressive, and the eyes of many present were moistened with tears. The first one to + congratulate him when he had concluded was Chief Justice Waite, and the next was + Secretary Blaine. After shaking him by the hand, those present left the room, which + was closed to all except the members of the Cabinet, who there held their first + conference with the President. At this cabinet meeting the following proclamation was + prepared and signed by President Arthur, designating the following Monday as a day of + fasting, humiliation, and prayer:—</p> + <blockquote> + <p><i>By the President of the United States of America</i>;</p> + <center> + A PROCLAMATION: + </center> + <p>Whereas, in his inscrutable wisdom, it has pleased God to remove from us the + illustrious head of the Nation, James A. Garfield, late President of the United + States; and whereas it is fitting that the deep grief which fills all hearts should + manifest itself with one accord toward the throne of infinite grace, and that we + should bow before the Almighty and seek from him that consolation in our affliction + and that sanctification of our loss which he is able and willing to vouchsafe:</p> + <p>Now, therefore, in obedience to sacred duty, and in accordance with the desire + of the people, I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States of America, do + hereby appoint Monday next, the twenty-sixth day of September, on which day the + remains of our honored and beloved dead will be consigned to their last + resting-place on earth; to be observed throughout the United States as a day of + humiliation and mourning; and I earnestly recommend all the people to assemble on + that day in their respective places of divine worship, there to render alike their + tribute of sorrowful submission to the will of Almighty God and of reverence and + love for the memory and character of our late Chief Magistrate.</p> + <p><span class="rightnote">[SEAL.]</span>In witness whereof I have hereunto set my + hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.</p> + <a name="page276" id="page276"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 276]</span> + <p>Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-second day of September, in the year + of our Lord 1881, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and + sixth.</p> + <p>CHESTER A. ARTHUR.</p> + <p>By the President:</p> + <p>JAMES G. BLAINE. Secretary of State.</p> + </blockquote> + <p>President Arthur soon showed his appreciation of the responsibilities of his new + office. Knowing principles rather than persons, he subordinated individual + preferences and prejudices to a well-defined public policy. While he was, as he + always had been, a Republican, he had no sympathy for blind devotion to party; he had + "no friends to reward, no enemies to punish;"—and he has been governed by those + principles of liberty and equality which he inherited. His messages to Congress have + been universally commended, and even unfriendly critics have pronounced them careful + and well-matured documents. Their tone is more frank and direct than is customary in + such papers, and their recommendations, extensive and varied as they have been, show + that he has patiently reviewed the field of labor so sadly and so unexpectedly opened + before him, and that he was not inclined to shirk the constitutional duty of aiding + Congress by his suggestions and advice. An honest man, who believes in his own + principles, who follows his own convictions, and who never hesitates to avow his + sentiments, he has given his views in accordance with his deliberate ideas of + right.</p> + <p>The foreign relations of the United States have been conducted by Secretary + Frelinghuysen, under the President's direction, in a friendly spirit and when + practicable with a view to mutual commercial advantages. He has taken a conservative + view of the management of the public debt, approving all the important suggestions of + the secretary of the treasury, and recognizing the proper protection of American + industry. He is in favor of the great interests of labor, and opposed to such + tinkering with the tariff as will make vain the toil of the industrious farmer, + paralyze the arm of the sturdy mechanic, strike down the hand of the hardy laborer, + stop the spindle, hush the loom, extinguish the furnace-fires, and degrade all + independent toilers to the level of the poor in other lands. The architect of his own + fortune, he has a strong and abiding sympathy for those bread-winners who struggle + against poverty.</p> + <p>The reform of the civil service has met with President Arthur's earnest support, + and his messages show that every department of the government has received his + careful administration. Following the example of Washington, he has personally + visited several sections of the United States, and has especially made himself + acquainted with the great problem of Indian civilization.</p> + <p>President Arthur's administration has been characterized by an elevated tone at + home and abroad. All important questions have been carefully discussed at the council + table, at which the President has displayed unusual powers of analysis and + comprehension. The conflicting claims of applicants for appointments to offices in + his gift, have been carefully weighed, and no action has been taken until all parties + interested have had a hearing. The President has a remarkable insight into men, + promptly estimating character with an accuracy that makes it a difficult matter to + deceive him, or to win his favor either for visionary schemes, corrupt attacks upon + the treasury, or incompetent place-hunters. He has shown that he has been guided by a + wise experience of the past, and a sagacious foresight of the future, exhibiting + sacrifices of individual friendship to a sense of public duty.</p> + <a name="page277" id="page277"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 277]</span> + <p>Possessing moral firmness and a just self-reliance, President Arthur did not + hesitate about vetoing the "Chinese Bill" and the "Bill making appropriations for + rivers and harbors" for reasons which he laid before Congress in his veto messages. + The wisdom and sagacity which he has displayed in his management of national affairs + has been especially acceptable to the business interests of the country. They have + tested his administration by business principles, and they feel that, so long as he + firmly grasps the helm of the ship of state, she will pursue a course of peace and + prosperity.</p> + <p>In dispensing the hospitalities of the White House, President Arthur has exhibited + the resources of a naturally generous disposition and a refined taste. His + remembrance of persons who call upon him, and whom he may not have seen for years, is + remarkable, and his hearty, genial temperament enables him to make his visitors at + home. His vigorous vitality of body and mind, his manly figure and expressive face, + add to the dignity of his manner. A ready speaker, he at all times rises to the level + of an emergency, and he invariably charms those who hear him by his courtesy of + expression, which is the outward reflection of a large, kind heart.</p> + <p>President Arthur's numerous friends contemplate the prominent events of his + eventful life without regret, and with a sincere belief that they will be sustained + by the verdict of impartial history. Utility to the country has been the rule of his + political life, and he has arrived at that high standard of official excellence which + prevailed in the early days of the Republic, when honesty, firmness, patriotism, and + stability of character were the characteristics of public men. Under his lead, the + Republican party, disorganized and disheartened after the sad death of General + Garfield, has gradually become strengthened and united on the eve of another + presidential victory.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>YESTERDAY.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Kate L. Brown.</p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + Adown the aisles of yesterday + </div> + <div class="line"> + What fairy notes are ringing, + </div> + <div class="line"> + And strange, sweet odors, rich and rare, + </div> + <div class="line"> + The western winds are bringing! + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + The deeds we counted poor and mean, + </div> + <div class="line"> + Now shine with added glory, + </div> + <div class="line"> + And like a romance, reads the page + </div> + <div class="line"> + Of life's poor, meagre story. + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + But vanished from our wistful sight, + </div> + <div class="line"> + Too late for vain regretting, + </div> + <div class="line"> + The joys, that the remorseful heart + </div> + <div class="line"> + With sacred gold is setting. + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + Ah! dearest of all earthly hopes + </div> + <div class="line"> + Within the soul abiding, + </div> + <div class="line"> + The lost, lost life of yesterday + </div> + <div class="line"> + The heart is ever hiding. + </div> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <a name="page278" id="page278"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 278]</span> + <h2>THE BOUNDARY LINES OF OLD GROTON.—I.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By The Hon. Samuel Abbott Green, M.D.</p> + <p>The original grant of the township of Groton was made by the General Court, on May + 25, 1655, and gave to the proprietors a tract of land eight miles square; though + during the next year this was modified so that its shape varied somewhat from the + first plan. It comprised all of what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of Pepperell + and Shirley, large parts of Dunstable and Littleton, smaller parts of Harvard and + Westford, Massachusetts, and a portion of Nashua, New Hampshire. The grant was taken + out of the very wilderness, relatively far from any other town, and standing like a + sentinel on the frontiers. Lancaster, fourteen miles away, was its nearest neighbor + in the southwesterly direction on the one side; and Andover and Haverhill, twenty and + twenty-five miles distant, more or less, in the northeasterly direction on the other. + No settlement on the north stood between it and the settlements in Canada. Chelmsford + and Billerica were each incorporated about the same time, though a few days + later.</p> + <p>When the grant was made, it was expressly stipulated that Mr. Jonathan Danforth, + of Cambridge, with such others as he might desire, should lay it out with all + convenient speed in order to encourage the prompt settlement of a minister; and + furthermore that the selectmen of the town should pay a fair amount for his services. + During the next year a petition, signed by Deane Winthrop and seven others, was + presented to the General Court asking for certain changes in the conditions, and + among them the privilege to employ another "artist" in the place of Mr. Danforth, as + he was overrun with business. The petition was referred to a committee who reported + favorably upon it, and the request was duly granted. Formerly a surveyor was called + an artist, and in old records the word is often found with that meaning.</p> + <p>Ensign Peter Noyes, of Sudbury, was then engaged by the grantees and he began the + survey; but his death, on September 23, 1657, delayed the speedy accomplishment of + the work. It is known that there was some trouble in the early settlement of the + place, growing out of the question of lands, but its exact character is not recorded; + perhaps it was owing to the delay which now occurred. Ensign Noyes was a noted + surveyor, but not so famous as Jonathan Danforth, whose name is often mentioned in + the General Court records, in connection with the laying out of lands and towns, and + many of whose plans are still preserved among the Archives in the State House. + Danforth was the man wanted at first for the undertaking; and after Noyes's death he + took charge of it, and his elder brother, Thomas, was associated with him. The plat + or plan of the land, however, does not appear to have been completed until April, + 1668. The survey was made during the preceding year. At a meeting of the selectmen of + the town, held on November 23, 1667, it is recorded that a rate should be levied in + order to pay "the Artest and the men that attended him and his diet for himself and + his horse, and for two sheets of parchment, for him to make two platts for the towne, + and for Transportation of his pay all which amounts to about twenty pounds and to pay + severall other town debts that appear to us to be due."</p> + <a name="page279" id="page279"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 279]</span> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image2_full.png"><img src="images/image2_thumbnail.png" + alt="Groton Plantation as shown on a plan made in 1668 by Jonathan Danforth" /></a> + </div> + <p>A little further on in the records a charge of five shillings is made 'ffor two + sheats of Parchment.' These entries seem to show that two plans were made, perhaps + one for the town and the other for the Colony; but neither copy is now to be found. + An allusion is made to one of them in a petition, presented to the General Court on + February 10, 1717, by John Shepley and John Ames. It is there mentioned that "the + said Plat thô something defaced is with the Petitioner;" and is further stated + "That in the year 1713 M<sup>r</sup> Samuel Danforth Surveyor & Son of the + aforesaid Jonathan Danforth, at the desire of the said Town of Groton did run the + Lines & make an Implatment of the said Township laid out as before & found it + agreeable to the former. W<sup>h</sup> last Plat the Petitioners do herewith exhibit, + And pray that this Hon<sup>bl</sup>e Court would allow & confirm the same as the + Township of Groton."</p> + <a name="page280" id="page280"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 280]</span> + <p>While the original plan has been lost or destroyed, it is fortunate that many + years ago a copy was made, which is still preserved. In June, 1825, the Honorable + James Prescott was in the possession of the original, which Caleb Butler, Esq., at + that time transcribed into one of the town record-books, and thereby saved it for + historical purposes. Even with this clew a special search has been made for the + missing document, but without success. If it is ever found it will be by chance, + where it is the least looked for. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the + outlines or the faithfulness of the copy. The relative distances between the streams + emptying into the Nashua River, however, are not very exact; and in the engraving for + the sake of clearness I have added their names, as well as the name of Forge Pond, + formerly called Stony Brook Pond.</p> + <p>Accompanying the copy is a description of the survey, which in connection with the + drawing gives a good idea of the general shape of the township. Perhaps in the + original these two writings were on the same sheet. In the transcript Mr. Butler has + modernized the language and made the punctuation conform to present usage. In the + engraved cut I have followed strictly the outlines of the plan, as well as the course + of the rivers, but I have omitted some details, such as the distances and directions + which are given along the margins. These facts appear in the description, and perhaps + were taken from it by the copyist. I have also omitted the acreage of the grant, + which is grossly inaccurate.</p> + <blockquote> + <p>Whereas the Plantation of Groton, containing by grant the proportion of eight + miles Square, was begun to be laid out by Ensign Noyes, and he dying before he had + finished his work, it is now finished, whose limits and bounds are as + followeth,</p> + <p>It began on the east side of Nashua River a little below Nissitisset hills at + the short turning of the River bounded by a pine tree marked with G. and so running + two miles in a direct line to buckmeadow which <i>p<sup>rt</sup>ains</i> to Boston + Farms, Billerica land and Edward Cowells farm until you come to Massapoag Pond, + which is full of small islands; from thence it is bounded by the aforesaid Pond + until you come to Chelmsford line, after that it is bounded by Chelmsford and + Nashoboh lines until you come to the most southerly corner of this Plantation, and + from thence it runs West-North-West five miles and a half and sixty four poles, + which again reacheth to Nashua River, then the former west-north-west line is + continued one mile on the west side of the river, and then it runs one third of a + point easterly of north & by east nine miles and a quarter, from thence it + runneth four miles due east, which closeth the work to the river again to the first + pine below Nissitisset hills, where we began: it is bounded by the Farms and + plantations as aforesaid and by the wilderness elsewhere; all which lines are run + and very sufficiently bounded by marked trees & pillars of stones: the figure + or manner of the lying of it is more fully demonstrated by this plot taken of the + same.</p> + <p>By JONATHAN DANFORTH,<br /> + April 1668.<br /> + Surveyor.<br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <a name="page281" id="page281"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 281]</span> + <p>The map of Old Dunstable, between pages 12 and 13 in Fox's History of that town, + is very incorrect, so far as it relates to the boundaries of Groton. The Squannacook + River is put down as the Nissitissett, and this mistake may have tended to confuse + the author's ideas. The southern boundary of Dunstable was by no means a straight + line, but was made to conform in part to the northern boundary of Groton, which was + somewhat irregular. Groton was incorporated on May 25, 1655, and Dunstable on October + 15, 1673, and no part of it came within the limits of this town. The eastern boundary + of Groton originally ran northerly through Massapoag Pond and continued into the + present limits of Nashua, New Hampshire.</p> + <p>On the southeast of Groton, and adjoining it, was a small township granted, in the + spring of 1654, by the General Court to the Nashobah Indians, who had been converted + to Christianity under the instruction of the Apostle Eliot and others. They were few + in numbers, comprising perhaps ten families, or about fifty persons. During Philip's + War this settlement was entirely deserted by the Indians, thus affording a good + opportunity for the English to encroach on the reservation, which was not lost. These + intruders lived in the neighboring towns, and mostly in Groton. Some of them took + possession with no show of right, while others went through the formality of buying + the land from the Indians, though such sales did not, as was supposed at the time, + bring the territory under the jurisdiction of the towns where the purchasers + severally lived. It is evident from the records that these encroachments gave rise to + controversy. The following entry, under date of June 20, 1682, is found in the + Middlesex County Court records at East Cambridge, and shows at that time to + re-establish the boundary lines of Nashobah:—</p> + <blockquote> + Cap<sup>t</sup> Thomas Hinchman, L<sup>t</sup>. Joseph Wheeler, & + L<sup>t</sup>. Jn<sup>o</sup> flynt surveyo<sup>r</sup>, or any two of them are + nominated & impowred a Comittee to run the ancient bounds of Nashobah + Plantation, & remark the lines, as it was returned to the geñall Court + by said m<sup>r</sup> flynt at the charge of the Indians, giving notice to the + select men of Grotton of time & place of meeting, w<sup>ch</sup> is referred to + m<sup>r</sup> flint, to appoint, & to make return to next Coun Court at + Cambridge in order to a finall settem<sup>t</sup> + </blockquote> + <p>Again, under date of October 3, 1682 ("3. 8. 1682."), it is entered + that—</p> + <blockquote> + <p>The return of the committee referring to the bounds of Nashobey next to Grotton, + was p<sup>r</sup>sented to this Court and is on file.</p> + <p>Approved</p> + </blockquote> + <p>The "return" is as follows:</p> + <blockquote> + <p>We Whose names are underwritten being appointed by y<sup>e</sup> + Hon<sup>rd</sup> County Court June: 20<sup>th</sup> 1682. To ruñ the Ancient + bounds of Nashobey, haue accordingly ruñ the said bounds, and find that the + town of Groton by theire Second laying out of theire bounds have taken into theire + bounds as we Judge neer halfe Indian Plantation Seuerall of the Select men and + other inhabitants of Groton being then with us Did See theire Erro<sup>r</sup> + therein & Do decline that laying out So far as they haue Inuaded the right of + y<sup>e</sup> Indians.</p> + <p>Also we find y<sup>t</sup> the Norwest Corner of Nashobey is run into + y<sup>e</sup> first bounds of Groton to y<sup>e</sup> Quantity of 350 acres + according as Groton men did then Show us theire Said line, which they Say was made + before Nashobey was laid out, and which bounds they Do Challenge as theire Right. + The Indians also haue Declared them Selves willing to forego that Provided they may + haue it made up upon theire West Line, And we Judge it may be there added to theire + Conveniance.</p> + <a name="page282" id="page282"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 282]</span> + <p>2: October: 1682.<br /> + Exhibited in Court 3: 8: 82:<br /> + & approved T D: R.</p> + <p>JOSEPH WHEELER</p> + <p>JOHN FLINT</p> + <p>A true Coppy of y<sup>e</sup> originall on file w<sup>th</sup> y<sup>e</sup> + Records of County Court for Middx.</p> + <p>Ex<sup>d</sup> p<sup>r</sup> Sam<sup>ll</sup>: Phipps Cle<sup>r</sup></p> + <p>[Massachusetts Archives, cxii, 331.]</p> + </blockquote> + <p>Among the Groton men who had bought land of the Nashobah Indians were Peleg + Lawrence and Robert Robbins. Their names appear, with a diagram of the land, on a + plan of Nashobah, made in the year 1686, and found among the Massachusetts Archives, + in the first volume (page 125) of "Ancient Plans Grants &c." Lawrence and Robbins + undoubtedly supposed that the purchase of this land brought it within the + jurisdiction of Groton. Lawrence died in the year 1692; and some years later the town + made an effort to obtain from his heirs their title to this tract, as well as from + Robbins his title. It is recorded at a town meeting, held on June 8, 1702, that the + town</p> + <blockquote> + did uote that they would giue Peleg larraness Eairs three acers of madow whare thay + ust to Improue and tenn acers of upland neare that madow upon the Conditions + following that the aboue sd Peleg larrances heirs do deliuer up that Indian titelle + which thay now haue to the town + </blockquote> + <p>At the same meeting the town voted that</p> + <blockquote> + thay would giue to robart robins Sener three acers of madow where he uste to + Improue: and ten acers of upland near his madow upon the Conditions forlowing that + he aboue sd Robart Robbins doth deliuer: up that Indian titels which he now hath: + to the town. + </blockquote> + <p>It appears from the records that no other business was done at this meeting, + except the consideration of matters growing out of the Nashobah land. It was voted to + have an artist lay out the meadow at "Nashobah line," as it was called, as well as + the land which the town had granted to Walter and Daniel Powers, probably in the same + neighborhood; and also that Captain Jonas Prescott be authorized to engage an artist + at an expense not exceeding six shillings a day.</p> + <p>Settlers from the adjacent towns were now making gradual encroachments on the + abandoned territory, and among them Groton was well represented. All the documents of + this period relating to the subject show an increased interest in these lands, which + were too valuable to remain idle for a long time. The following petition, + undoubtedly, makes a correct representation of the case:—</p> + <blockquote> + <p>To his Excellency Joseph Dudley Esq<sup>r</sup> Captain Gen<sup>ll</sup> & + Governour in Chief in & over her Majesties Province of the Massachusets Bay + &c: togeither with the honourable Council, & Representatives in Great and + Gen<sup>ll</sup> Court Assembled at Cambridge Octobe<sup>r</sup> 14<sup>th</sup>. + 1702.</p> + <p>The Petition of the Inhabitants of Stow humbly sheweth.</p> + <p>That Whereas the honourable Court did pleas formerly to grant vnto vs the + Inhabitants of Stow a certain Tract of Land to make a Village or Township of, + environed with Concord, Sudbury, Marlbury, Lancaster, Groton, & Nashoby: And + Whereas the said Nashoby being a Tract of Land of four miles square, the which for + a long time hath been, and still is deserted and left by the Indians none being now + resident there, and those of them who lay claim to it being desireous to sell said + land; and some English challenging it to be theirs by virtue of Purchase; and + besides the Town of Groton in particular, hath of late extended their Town lyne + into it, takeing away a considerable part of it; and Especially of Meadow (as wee + are Well informed) Wherefore wee above all o<sup>r</sup> Neighbour Towns, stand in + the greatest need of Enlargement; having but a pent up smale Tract of Land and very + little Meadow.</p> + <a name="page283" id="page283"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 283]</span> + <p>Whence we humbly Pray the great & Gen<sup>ll</sup> Court, that if said + Nashoby may be sold by the Indians wee may have allowance to buy, or if it be + allready, or may be sold to any other Person or Persons, that in the whole of it, + it be layed as an Addition to vs the smale Town of Stow, it lying for no other Town + but vs for nighness & adjacency, togeither with the great need wee stand of it, + & the no want of either or any of the above named Towns. Shall it Pleas the + great & Gen<sup>ll</sup> Court to grant this o<sup>r</sup> Petition, wee shall + be much more able to defray Publick Charges, both Civil, & Ecclesiasticall, to + settle o<sup>r</sup> Minister amongst vs in order to o<sup>r</sup> Injoyment of the + Gospel in the fullness of it. Whence hopeing & believing that the Petition of + the Poor, & needy will be granted. Which shall forever oblidge yo<sup>r</sup> + Petition<sup>rs</sup> to Pray &c:</p> + <p>THO: STEEVENS. Cler:<br /> + In the Towns behalfe</p> + <p>[Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 330.]</p> + </blockquote> + <p>This petition was granted on October 21, 1702, on the part of the House of + Representatives, but negatived in the Council, on October 24.</p> + <p>During this period the territory of Nashobah was the subject of considerable + dispute among the neighboring towns, and slowly disappearing by their encroachments. + Under these circumstances an effort was made to incorporate a township from this + tract and to establish its boundaries. The following petition makes a fair statement + of the case, though the signatures to it are not autographs:</p> + <blockquote> + <p>To His Excel<sup>cy</sup>: Joseph Dudley Esq: Cap<sup>t</sup>: Generall & + Gov<sup>r</sup>: in Chief in and over Her Maj<sup>ti</sup>es: Province of + Mass<sup>ts</sup>: Bay in New-England, Together with y<sup>e</sup> + Hon<sup>bl</sup>e: the Council, & Representatives in Gen<sup>ll</sup>: Court + Assembled on the 30<sup>th</sup> of May, In the Tenth Year of Her + Maj<sup>ti</sup>es: Reign Annoq Dom<sup>i</sup>: 1711,—The Humble Petition of + us the Subscribers Inhabitants of Concord, Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow &c + within the County of Midd<sup>x</sup> in the Province Afores<sup>d</sup>.</p> + <p>Most Humbly Sheweth</p> + <p>That there is a Considerable Tract of Land Lying vacant and unimproved Between + the Towns of Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow & Groton, as s<sup>d</sup> Groton + was Survey'd & Lay'd out by Mr. Noyce, & the Plantation Call'd Concord + Village, which is Commonly known by the Name of Nashoba, in the County of + Midd<sup>x</sup>: Afores<sup>d</sup>. & Sundry Persons having Made Entrys + thereupon without Orderly Application to the Government, and as we are Inform'd, + & have reason to believe, diverse others are designing so to do.</p> + <p>We Yo<sup>r</sup> Hum<sup>bl</sup>e Petitioners being desirous to Prevent the + Inconveniences that may arise from all Irregular Intrusions into any vacant Lands, + and also In a Regular manner to Settle a Township on the Land afores<sup>d</sup>, + by which the frontier on that Side will be more Clos'd & Strengthened & + Lands that are at Present in no wise beneficiall or Profitable to the Publick might + be rendred Servicable for the Contributing to the Publlick Charge, Most Humbly + Address Ourselves to your Excy: And this Honourable Court.</p> + <p>Praying that your Petitioners may have a Grant of Such Lands Scituate as + Afores<sup>d</sup>. for the Ends & Purposes afores<sup>d</sup>. And that a + Committee may be appointed by this Hon<sup>bl</sup>e: Court to View, Survey and Set + out to Yo<sup>r</sup>. Petitioners the s<sup>d</sup>. Lands, that so + Yo<sup>r</sup>. s<sup>d</sup>. Petitioners may be enabled to Settle thereupon with + Such others as shall joyn them In an orderly and regular manner: Also Praying that + Such Powers and Priviledges may be given and confered upon the same as are granted + to other Towns, And Yo<sup>r</sup> Petitioners shall be Most ready to attend Such + Directions, with respect to Such Part of the s<sup>d</sup>. Tract as has been + formerly reserv<sup>d</sup> for the Indians, but for a Long time has been wholly + Left, & is now altogether unimprov'd by them, And all other things which this + Hon<sup>bl</sup>e: Court in their Wisdom & justice Shall See meet to appoint + for the Regulation of such Plantation or Town.</p> + <a name="page284" id="page284"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 284]</span> + <p>And Yo<sup>r</sup>: Hum<sup>bl</sup>e: Petitioners as in Duty Bound Shall Ever + Pray &c.</p> + <p>Gershom Procter<br /> + Sam<sup>ll</sup>. Procter<br /> + John Procter<br /> + Joseph Fletcher<br /> + John Miles<br /> + John Parlin<br /> + Robert Robins<br /> + John Darby<br /> + John Barker<br /> + Sam<sup>l</sup>: Stratton<br /> + Hezekiah Fletcher<br /> + Josiah Whitcomb<br /> + John Buttrick<br /> + Will<sup>m</sup>: Powers<br /> + Jonathan Hubburd<br /> + W<sup>m</sup> Keen<br /> + John Heald<br /> + John Bateman<br /> + John Heywood<br /> + Thomas Wheeler<br /> + Sam<sup>ll</sup>: Hartwell, jun<sup>r</sup>:<br /> + Sam<sup>ll</sup>: Jones<br /> + John Miriam</p> + <p>In the House of Representatives<br /> + June 6: 1711. Read & Comitted.<br /> + 7 ... Read, &</p> + <p>Ordered that Jo<sup>a</sup>. Tyng Esq<sup>r</sup>: Thom<sup>s</sup>: Howe + Esq<sup>r</sup>: & M<sup>r</sup>: John Sternes be a Comittee to view the Land + mentioned in the Petition, & Represent the Lines, or Bounds of the severall + adjacent Towns bounding on the s<sup>d</sup>. Lands and to have Speciall Regard to + the Land granted to the Indians, & to make report of the quantity, & + circumstances thereof.</p> + <p>Sent up for Concurrence.</p> + <p>JOHN BURRIL Speaker<br /> + In Council<br /> + June 7. 1711, Read and Concurr'd.<br /> + ISA: ADDINGTON, Secry.</p> + <p>[Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 602, 603.]</p> + </blockquote> + <p>The committee, to whom was referred this subject, made a report during the next + autumn; but no action in regard to it appears to have been taken by the General Court + until two years later.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>THE NEW ENGLAND TOWN-HOUSE.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By J.B. Sewall.</p> + <p>A Recollection of my boyhood is a large unpainted barnlike building standing at a + point where three roads met at about the centre of the town. When all the inhabitants + of the town were of one faith religiously, or at least the minority were not strong + enough to divide from the majority, and one meeting-house served the purposes of all, + this was the meeting-house. To this, the double line of windows all round, broken by + the long round-topped window midway on the back side, and the two-storied vestibule + on the front, and, more than all, the old pulpit still remaining within, with the + sounding-board suspended above it, bore witness. Here assembled every spring, at the + March meeting, the voters of the town, to elect their selectmen and other town + officers for the ensuing year, to vote what moneys should be raised for the repair of + roads, bridges, maintaining the poor, etc., and take any other action their + well-being as a community demanded; in the autumn, to cast their votes for state + representative, national representative, governor of the State, or President of the + United States, one or all together, as the case might be.</p> + <p>Many such town-houses, probably, are standing to-day in the New England + States,—I know there are such in Maine,—and they are existing witnesses + to what was generally the fact: towns, at the first, when young and small, built the + meeting-house for two purposes; first, for use as a house of worship; second, for + town meetings; and when in process of time a new church or churches were built for + the better accommodation of the people, or because different denominations had come + into existence, or because the young people wanted a smarter building with a steeple, + white paint, green blinds, and a bell, the old building was sold to the town for + purely town purposes.</p> + <a name="page285" id="page285"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 285]</span> + <p>When the settlements were made, the first public building erected was generally + the meeting-house, and this in the case of the earlier settlements was very soon. In + Plymouth, the first building was a house twenty feet square for a storehouse and "for + common occupation," then their separate dwellings.</p> + <p>The "common" building was used for religious and other meetings until the + meeting-house with its platform on top for cannon, on Burial Hill, was built in 1622. + "Boston seems to have had no special building for public worship until, during the + year 1632, was erected the small thatched-roof, one-story building which stood on + State Street, where Brazer's building now stands."<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1" href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> This was in the second year, + the settlement having been made in the autumn of 1630. In Charlestown, "The Great + House," the first building erected that could be called a house, was first used as + the official residence of the governor, and the sessions of the Court of Assistants + appear to have been held in it until the removal to Boston, but when the church was + formed, in 1632, it was used for a meeting-house.</p> + <p>Dorchester had the first meeting-house in the Bay, built in 1631, the next year + after settlement, and by the famous order passed "mooneday eighth of October, 1633," + it appears that it was the regular meeting-place of the inhabitants of the plantation + for general purposes. The Lynn church was formed in 1632, and the meeting-house + appears to have been built soon after, and was used for town meetings till 1806. It + was the same in towns of later settlement. In Brunswick, Maine, which became a + township in 1717, the first public building was the meeting-house, and this also was + the town-house for almost one hundred years. Belfast, Maine, incorporated in 1773, + held its first two town meetings in a private house, afterwards, for eighteen years, + "at the Common on the South end of No. 26" (house lot),<a id="footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2" href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> whether under cover or in open + air is not known, after that, in the meeting-house generally, till the town hall was + built. In Harpswell, Maine, the old meeting-house, like that described, when + abandoned as a house of worship, was sold to the town for one hundred dollars and is + still in use as a town-house.</p> + <p>The town-house, therefore, though it cannot strictly be said to have been + coëval with the town, was essentially so, the meeting-house being generally the + first public building, and used equally for town meetings and public worship.</p> + <p>How early, then, was the town? When the settlement at Plymouth took place, in one + sense a town existed at once. It was a collection of families living in neighborhood + and united by the bonds of mutual obligation common in similar English communities. + But it was a town as yet only in that sense. In fact, it was a state. The words of + the compact signed on board the Mayflower were, in part: "We, whose names are + underwritten ... do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God + and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body + politic, for our better ordering and preservation, ... and by virtue hereof to enact, + constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, acts, constitutions, and offices, + from time to time, as shall be most meet and convenient for the general good of the + colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."</p> + <a name="page286" id="page286"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 286]</span> + <p>These words were the constitution of more than a town government. They erected a + democratic state—a commonwealth. It was a general government separate from and + above the town governments which were afterwards instituted. It enacted general laws + by an assembly of deputies in which the eight plantations in the colony, which + afterwards became towns, were represented. These laws were executed by a governor and + an assistant, and were of equal binding force in all the plantations after, as well + as before, these plantations became towns.</p> + <p>The Massachusetts Colony came over as a corporation with a royal charter which + gave power to the freemen of the company to elect a governor, deputy-governor, and + assistants, and "make laws and ordinances, not repugnant to the laws of England, for + their own benefit and the government of persons inhabiting their territory." The + colonists divided themselves into plantations, part at Naumkeag (Salem), at Mishawum + (Charlestown), at Dorchester, Boston, Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and Saugus (Lynn), + and while the General Court, as the governor, deputy-governor, and assistants were + called, made general "laws and ordinances" for the whole, the plantations were at + liberty to manage their own particular affairs as they pleased. They called meetings + and took action by themselves, as at Watertown, when, in 1632, the people assembled + and expressed their discontent with a tax laid by the court, and at Dorchester as + previously referred to. To Dorchester, however, belongs the honor of leading the way + to that form of town government which has prevailed in New England ever since. It + came about in this way. The settlement was begun in June, 1630, and for more than + three years the people seem to have managed their affairs under the administration of + the Court of Assistants by means of meetings. At such a meeting, held October 8, + 1633, it was ordered "for the generall good and well ordering of the affaires of the + plantation," that there should be a general meeting of the inhabitants at the + meeting-house every Monday morning before the court, which was four times a year, or + became so the next year, "to settle & sett downe such orders as may tend to the + general good as aforesayd, & every man to be bound thereby without gainsaying or + resistance." This very interesting order is given entire in the Memorial History of + Boston. <a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3" href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> + There were also appointed <i>twelve selectmen</i>, "who were to hold monthly + meetings, & whose orders were binding when confirmed by the Plantation."</p> + <p>Here was our New England town almost exactly as it is to-day. The inhabitants met + at stated times and voted what seemed necessary for their own local order and + welfare, and committed the execution of their will to twelve selectmen, who were to + meet monthly. Our towns now have an annual meeting for the same purpose, and elect + generally three selectmen, who meet at stated times,—sometimes as often as once + a week. Watertown followed, about the same time, selecting three men "for the + ordering of public affairs." Boston appears to have done the same thing in 1634, and + Charlestown in the following year, the latter being the first to give the name + <i>Selectmen</i> to the persons so chosen, a name which soon was generally adopted + and has since remained.</p> + <a name="page287" id="page287"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 287]</span> + <p>The reason of this action it is easy to conjecture, but it is fully stated in the + order of the inhabitants of Charlestown at the meeting in which the action for the + government of the town by selectmen was taken: "In consideration of the great trouble + and charge of the inhabitants of Charlestown by reason of the frequent meeting of the + townsmen in general, and that, by reason of many men meeting, things were not so + easily brought into a joint issue; it is therefore agreed, by the said townsmen, + jointly, that these eleven men ... shall entreat of all such business as shall + concern the townsmen, the choice of officers excepted; and what they or the greater + part of them shall conclude of, the rest of the town willingly to submit unto as + their own proper act, and these eleven to continue in this employment for one year + next ensuing the date hereof."</p> + <p>Town government, thus instituted, was recognized the next year—1636—by + the General Court, and thereafter the towns were corporations lawfully existing and + endowed with certain fixed though limited powers.</p> + <p>The plantations of the Plymouth Colony followed the example. In 1637, Duxbury was + incorporated, and at the General Court of the colony, in 1639, deputies were in + attendance from seven towns.</p> + <p>"Thus," says Judge Parker, <a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4" + href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> "there grew up a system of government embracing + two jurisdictions, administered by the same people; the Colonial government, having + jurisdiction over the whole colony, administered by the great body of the freemen, + through officers elected and appointed by them; and the town governments, having + limited local jurisdiction, such as was conceded to them by the Colonial government, + administered by the inhabitants, through officers and agents chosen by them."</p> + <p>By this change,—the invention of the colonists themselves without copy or + pattern,—the colonies were transformed from pure democracies into a congeries + of democratic republics; and each town-house, or whatever building was used for such, + became the state-house of a little republic. And this is what it is in every New + England town to-day.</p> + <p>Was not, then, the New England town-house a thing of inheritance at all? Yes, so + far as it was a building for the common meeting of the inhabitants of the town, and + so far as it was a place for free discussion and the ordering of purely local + affairs. The colonists came from their English homes already familiar with the + town-hall and its uses so far. If one will turn to any gazetteer or + encyclopædia which gives a description of Liverpool, England, he will find the + town-hall described as one of the noble edifices of that town. The present structure + was opened in 1754, but it was the successor of others, the first of which must have + dated back somewhere near the time when King John gave the town its + charter—1207. Or he may turn to the town of Hythe in the county of Kent. In its + corporation records, it is said, is the following entry, bearing date in the year + 1399: "Thomas Goodeall came before the jurats <i>in the common hall</i> on the 10th + day of October, and covenanted to give for his freedom 20<i>d</i>., and so he was + received and sworn to bear fealty to our Lord the King and his successors, and to the + commonalty and liberty of the port of Hethe, and to render faithful account of his + lots and scots <a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5" + href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> as freeman there are wont." In another entry, in + the same year, the building is mentioned again as the "Common House."</p> + <a name="page288" id="page288"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 288]</span> + <p>We may go further back than this. History tells us that "the boroughs (towns) of + England, during the period of oppression, after the Norman invasion, led the way in + the silent growth and elevation of the English people; that, unnoticed and despised + by prelate and noble, they had alone preserved the full tradition of Teutonic + liberty; that, by their traders and shopkeepers, the rights of self-government, of + free speech in free meeting, of equal justice by one's equals, were brought safely + across the ages of Norman tyranny."<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6" + href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> The rights of self-government and free speech in + free meeting, then, were rights and practices of our Anglo-Saxon ancestry, and we are + to go back with them across the English channel to their barbarian German home, and + to the people described by Tacitus in his Germania, for the origin, as far as we can + trace it, of this part of our inheritance. These people were famed for their spirit + of independence and freedom. The mass are described as freemen, voting together in + the great assemblies of the tribe, and choosing their own leaders or kings from the + class of nobles, who were nobles not as constituting a distinct and privileged caste. + "It was their greater estates and the greater consequence which accompanied these + that marked their rank." When we first learn of these assemblies, they are + out-of-doors, under the broad canopy of heaven alone, but the time came, as the + rathhaus of the German town to-day attests, when they built the common hall or + town-house; and we, to-day, in this remote and then unknown and unconjectured land of + the West, are in this regard their heirs as well as descendants.<a id="footnotetag7" + name="footnotetag7" href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a></p> + <p>In what, then, is the New England town-house more than, or different from, the + English town-house? In this, that it is the state-house of a little democratic + republic which came into existence of and by itself of a natural necessity, and not + merely governs itself, making all the laws of local need and executing + them—levying taxes, maintaining schools, and taking charge of its own poor, of + roads, bridges, and all matters pertaining to the health, peace, and safety of all + within its bounds, in a word, all things which it can do for itself,—but also + in confederation with other little democratic republics has called into being, and + clothed with all the power it has for those matters of common need which the town + cannot do, the State. The State of Massachusetts, from the day that the people + created the General Court the body it still is, by electing deputies from the + towns,—representatives we now call them,—to sit instead of the whole body + of freemen, with the governor <a name="page289" id="page289"></a><span + class="newpage">[pg 289]</span> and council, for the performance of all acts of + legislation for the common good, is the outgrowth of and exists only by virtue of the + towns. The towns created it, compose it, send up to it its heart-and-life blood. This + it is which makes the New England town unique, attracting the attention and interest + of intelligent foreigners who visit our shores. Judge Parker says: "I very well + recollect the curiosity expressed by some of the gentlemen in the suite of Lafayette, + on his visit to this country in 1825, respecting these town organizations and their + powers and operations." In the same connection he adds that "a careful examination of + the history of the New England towns will show that," instead of being modeled after + the town of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, or the free cities of the continent of the + twelfth century, "they were not founded or modeled on precedent" at all. Mr. E.A. + Freeman, however, puts it more truthfully in saying: "The circumstances of New + England called the primitive assembly (that is, the Homeric agora, Athenian ekklesia, + Roman comitia, Swiss landesgemeinde, English folk-moot) again into being, when in the + older England it was well-nigh forgotten. What in Switzerland was a <i>sur</i>vival + was in New England rather a <i>re</i>vival."<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8" + href="#footnote1"><sup>8</sup></a></p> + <p>Our New England town-house, therefore, is a symbol of institutions, partly + original with our fathers, partly a priceless inheritance from Old England the land + of our fathers, and nearly in the whole, if not quite, a regermination and new growth + of old race instincts and practices on a new soil.</p> + <p>The New England town is not an institution of all the States, but its principle + has invaded the majority. To the West and Northwest it has been carried by the New + Englander himself, and is being carried by him both directly and indirectly into the + South and Southwest, and will show there in no great length of time its prevailing + and vitalizing power.</p> + <p>It was Jefferson, himself a Virginian, reared in the midst of another system, + aristocratical and central in its character, who said: "These wards, called townships + in New England, are the vital principle of their governments, and have proved + themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect + exercise of self-government and for its preservation."</p> + <p>The New England town-house, therefore, is significant of more than its predecessor + in England or Germany. While with them it means freedom in the management of local + affairs, beyond them it means a relation to the State and the National government + which they did not. It means not merely a broad basis for the general government in + the people, that the people are the reason and remote source of governing power, but + that they are themselves the governors. Every man who enters a New England town-house + and casts his vote knows that that expression of his will is a force which reaches, + or may reach, the Legislature of his State, the governor in his chair, the National + Congress, and the President in the White House at Washington. He feels an interest + therefore, and a responsibility which the voter in no other land in the world feels, + and the town-house is an education to him in the art of self-government which no + other country affords, and because of it the town is an institution teaching how to + maintain government, local, state, and general, and so bases that government in + self-interest and beneficial experience, that it is a pledge of security and + perpetuity as regards socialism, communism, and as it would seem every other + revolutionary influence from within. It is in strong contrast with the commune of + France. France is divided for the purposes of local government into departments; + departments into arrondissements; and arrondissements into communes, the commune + being the administrative unit. The department is governed by a préfet and a + conseil-général, the préfet being appointed by the central + government and directly under its control, and the conseil-général an + elective body. The arrondissement is presided over by a sous-préfet and an + elective council. The commune is governed by a maire and a conseil-municipal.</p> + <a name="page290" id="page290"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 290]</span> + <p>The conseil-municipal is an elective body, but its duties "consist in assisting + and to some extent controlling the maire, and in the management of the communal + affairs," but the maire is appointed by the central government and is liable to + suspension by the préfet.</p> + <p>The relation of the citizen to the general government in France is therefore + totally different from that of the citizen of the United States to his general + government, and the town organization is a school of free citizenship which the + commune is not, and so far republican institutions in America have a guaranty which + in France they have not.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>BUNKER HILL.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Henry B. Carrington, U.S.A., Ll.D.</p> + <center> + Author of The Battles of the American Revolution. + </center> + <blockquote> + <p>[(a) The occupation of Charlestown Heights on the night of June 16, 1775, was of + strategic value, however transient, equalizing the relations of the parties + opposed, and projecting its force and fire into the entire struggle for American + Independence. (Pages 290-302.)</p> + <p>(b)The Siege of Boston, which followed, gave to the freshly organized + Continental army that discipline, that instruction in military engineering, and + that contact with a well-trained enemy which prepared it for immediate operations + at New York and in New Jersey. (Pages 37-44.)</p> + <p>(c) The occupation and defence of New York and Brooklyn, so promptly made, was + also an immediate strategic necessity, fully warranted by the existing conditions, + although alike temporary. (Pages 34-161.)]</p> + </blockquote> + <p>An exhaustless theme may be so outlined that fairly stated data will suggest the + possibilities beyond.</p> + <p>Waterloo is incidentally related to the crowning laurels of Wellington; but, + primarily, to the downfall of Napoleon, while rarely to the assured growth of genuine + popular liberty.</p> + <p>No battle during the American Rebellion of 1861-65 was so really decisive as was + the first battle of Bull's Run. As that Federal failure enforced the issue which + freed four millions of people from slavery, and had its sequence and culmination, + through great struggle, in a perpetuated Union, so did the battle of Bunker Hill open + wide the breach between Great Britain and the Colonies, and render American + Independence inevitable.</p> + <p>The repulse of Howe at Breed's Hill practically ejected him from Boston, enforced + his halt before Brooklyn, delayed him at White Plains, explained his hesitation at + Bound Brook, near Somerset Court-House, in 1777, as well as his sluggishness after + the battle of Brandywine, and equally induced his inaction at Philadelphia, in + 1778.</p> + <a name="page291" id="page291"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 291]</span> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image3_full.png"><img src="images/image3_thumbnail.png" + alt="The Battle of Breeds Hill, on Bunker Hill. Compiled and Drawn by Col. Carrington." /> + </a> + </div> + <a name="page292" id="page292"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 292]</span> + <p>Just as a similar resistance by Totleben at Sevastapol during the Crimean War + prolonged that struggle for twelve months, so did the hastily constructed earthworks + on Breed's Hill forewarn the assailants that every ridge might serve as a fortress, + and every sand-hill become a cover, for a persistent and earnest foe.</p> + <p>Historical research and military criticism suggest few cases where so much has + been realized by the efforts of a few men, in a few hours, during the shelter of one + night, and by the light of one day.</p> + <p>The simple narrative has been the subject of much discussion. Its details have + been shaped and colored, with supreme regard for the special claims of preferred + candidates for distinction, until a plain consideration of the issue then made, from + a purely military point of view, as introductory to a detail of the battle itself, + cannot be barren of interest to the readers of a Magazine which treats largely of the + local history of Massachusetts.</p> + <p>The city of Boston was girdled by rapidly increasing earthworks. These were wholly + defensive, to resist assault from the British garrison, and not, at first, as cover + for a regular siege approach against the Island Post. They soon became a direct + agency to force the garrison to look to the sea alone for supplies or retreat.</p> + <p>Open war against Great Britain began with this environment of Boston. The + partially organized militia responded promptly to call.</p> + <p>The vivifying force of the struggle through Concord, Lexington, and West Cambridge + (Arlington now), had so quickened the rapidly augmenting body of patriots, that they + demanded offensive action and grew impatient for results. Having dropped fear of + British troops, as such, they held a strong purpose to achieve that complete + deliverance which their earnest resistance foreshadowed.</p> + <p>Lexington and Concord were, therefore, the exponents of that daring which made the + occupation and resistance of Breed's Hill possible. The fancied invincibility of + British discipline went down before the rifles of farmers; but the quickening + sentiment, which gave nerve to the arm, steadiness to the heart, and force to the + blow, was one of those historic expressions of human will and faith, which, under + deep sense of wrong incurred and rights imperilled, overmasters discipline, and has + the method of an inspired madness. The moral force of the energizing passion became + overwhelming and supreme. No troops in the world, under similar conditions, could + have resisted the movement.</p> + <p>The opposing forces did not alike estimate the issue, or the relations of the + parties in interest. The troops sent forth to collect or destroy arms, rightfully in + the hands of their countrymen, and not to engage an enemy, were under an involuntary + restraint, which stripped them of real fitness to meet armed men, who were already on + fire with the conviction that the representatives of national force were employed to + destroy national life.</p> + <p>The ostensible theory of the Crown was to reconcile the Colonies. The actual + policy, and its physical demonstrations, repelled, and did not conciliate. Military + acts, easily done by the force in hand, were needlessly done. Military acts which + would be wise upon the basis of anticipated resistance were not done.</p> + <a name="page293" id="page293"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 293]</span> + <p>Threats and blows toward those not deemed capable of resistance were freely + expended. Operations of war, as against an organized and skilful enemy, were ignored. + But the legacies of English law and the inheritance of English liberty had vested in + the Colonies. Their eradication and their withdrawal were alike impossible. The time + had passed for compromise or limitation of their enjoyment. The filial relation + toward England was lost when it became that of a slave toward master, to be asserted + by force. This the Americans understood when they environed Boston. This the British + did not understand, until after the battle of Bunker Hill. The British worked as + against a mob of rebels. The Americans made common cause, "liberty or death," against + usurpation and tyranny.</p> + <h3>THE OUTLOOK.</h3> + <p>Reference to map, "Boston and vicinity," already used in the January number of + this Magazine to illustrate the siege of Boston, will give a clear impression of the + local surroundings, at the time of the American occupation of Charlestown Heights. + The value of that position was to be tested. The Americans had previously burned the + lighthouses of the harbor. The islands of the bay were already miniature fields of + conflict; and every effort of the garrison to use boats, and thereby secure the + needed supplies of beef, flour, or fuel, only developed a counter system of boat + operations, which neutralized the former and gradually limited the garrison to the + range of its guns. This close grasp of the land approaches to Boston, so persistently + maintained, stimulated the Americans to catch a tighter hold, and force the garrison + to escape by sea. The capture of that garrison would have placed unwieldy prisoners + in their hands and have made outside operations impossible, as well as any practical + disposition of the prisoners themselves, in treatment with Great Britain. Expulsion + was the purpose of the rallying people.</p> + <p>General Gage fortified Boston Neck as early as 1774, and the First Continental + Congress had promptly assured Massachusetts of its sympathy with her solemn protest + against that act. It was also the intention of General Gage to fortify Dorchester + Heights. Early in April, a British council of war, in which Clinton, Burgoyne, and + Percy took part, unanimously advised the immediate occupation of Dorchester, as both + indispensable to the protection of the shipping, and as assurance of access to the + country for indispensable supplies.</p> + <p>General Howe already appreciated the mistake of General Gage, in his expedition to + Concord, but still cherished such hope of an accommodation of the issue with the + Colonies that he postponed action until a peaceable occupation of Dorchester Heights + became impossible, and the growing earthworks of the besiegers already commanded + Boston Neck.</p> + <p>General Gage had also advised, and wisely, the occupation of Charlestown Heights, + as both necessary and feasible, without risk to Boston itself. He went so far as to + announce that, in case of overt acts of hostility to such occupation, by the citizens + of Charlestown, he would burn the town.</p> + <p>It was clearly sound military policy for the British to occupy both Dorchester and + Charlestown Heights, at the first attempt of the Americans to invest the city.</p> + <a name="page294" id="page294"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 294]</span> + <p>As early as the middle of May, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, as well as + the council, had resolved "to occupy Bunker Hill as soon as artillery and powder + could be adequately furnished for the purpose," and a committee was appointed to + examine and report respecting the merits of Dorchester Heights, as a strategic + restraint upon the garrison of Boston.</p> + <p>On the fifteenth of June, upon reliable information that the British had + definitely resolved to seize both Heights, and had designated the eighteenth of June + for the occupation of Charlestown, the same Committee of Safety voted "to take + immediate possession of Bunker Bill."</p> + <p>Mr. Bancroft states that "the decision was so sudden that no fit preparation could + be made," Under the existing conditions, it was indeed a desperate daring, expressive + of grand faith and self-devotion, worthy of the cause in peril, and only limited in + its immediate and assured triumph by the simple lack of powder.</p> + <p>Prescott, who was eager to lead the enterprise and was entrusted with its + execution, and Putman, who gave it his most ardent support, were most urgent that the + council should act promptly; while Warren, who long hesitated to concur, did at last + concur, and gave his life as the test of his devotion. General Ward realized fully + that the hesitation of the British to emerge from Boston and attack the Americans was + an index of the security of the American defences, and, therefore, deprecated the + contingency of a general engagement, until ample supplies of powder could be + secured.</p> + <p>The British garrison, which had been reinforced to a nominal strength of ten + thousand men, had become reduced, through inadequate supplies, especially of fresh + meat, to eight thousand effectives, but these men were well officered and well + disciplined.</p> + <h3>THE POSITION.</h3> + <p>Bunker Hill had an easy slope to the isthmus, but was quite steep on either side, + having, in fact, control of the isthmus, as well as commanding a full view of Boston + and the surrounding country. Morton's Hill, at Moulton's Point, where the British + landed, was but thirty-five feet above sea level, while Breed's Pasture (as then + known) and Bunker Hill were, respectively, seventy-five and one hundred and ten feet + high. The Charles and Mystic Rivers, which flanked Charlestown, were navigable, and + were under the control of the British ships-of-war.</p> + <h3>AMERICAN POLICY.</h3> + <p>To so occupy Charlestown, in advance, as to prevent a successful British landing, + required the use of the nearest available position that would make the light + artillery of the Americans effective. To occupy Bunker Hill, alone, would leave to + the British the cover of Breed's Hill, under which to gain effective fire and a good + base for approach, as well as Charlestown for quarters, without prejudice to + themselves.</p> + <p>When, therefore, Breed's Hill was fortified as an advanced position, it was done + with the assurance that reinforcements would soon occupy the retired summit, and the + course adopted was the best to prevent an effective British lodgment. The previous + reluctance of the garrison to make any effective demonstration against the thin lines + of environment strengthened the belief of the Americans that a well-selected hold + upon Charlestown Heights would securely tighten the grasp upon the city itself.</p> + <a name="page295" id="page295"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 295]</span> + <h3>BRITISH POLICY.</h3> + <p>As a fact, the British contempt for the Americans might have urged them as rashly + against Bunker Hill as it did against the redoubt which they gained, at last, only + through failure of the ammunition of its defenders; but, in view of the few hours at + disposal of the Americans to prepare against a landing so soon to be attempted, it is + certain that the defences were well placed, both to cover the town and force an + immediate issue before the British could increase their own force.</p> + <p>It is equally certain that the British utterly failed to appreciate the fact that, + with the control of the Mystic and Charles Rivers, they could, within twenty-four + hours, so isolate Charlestown as to secure the same results as by storming the + American position, and without appreciable loss. This was the advice of General + Clinton, but he was overruled. They did, ultimately, thereby check reinforcements, + but suffered so severely in the battle itself that fully two thirds of the Americans + retired safely to the main land.</p> + <p>The delay of the British to advance as soon as the landing was effected was bad + tactics. One half of the force could have followed the Mystic and turned the American + left wing, long before Colonel Stark's command came upon the field. The British dined + as leisurely as if they had only to move any time and seize the threatening position, + and thereby lost their chief opportunity.</p> + <p>One single sign of the recognition of any possible risk-to themselves was the + opening of fire from Boston Neck and such other positions as faced the American + lines, as if to warn them not to attempt the city, or endanger their own lives by + sending reinforcements to Charlestown.</p> + <h3>THE MOVEMENT.</h3> + <p>It is not the purpose of this article to elaborate the details of preparation, + which have been so fully discussed by many writers, but to illustrate the value of + the action in the light of the relations and conduct of the opposing forces.</p> + <p>Colonel William Prescott, of Pepperell, Massachusetts, Colonel James Frye, of + Andover, and Colonel Ebenezer Bridge, of Billerica, whose regiments formed most of + the original detail, were members of the council of war which had been organized on + the twentieth of April, when General Ward assumed command of the army. Colonel Thomas + Knowlton, of Putnam's regiment, was to lead a detachment from the Connecticut troops. + Colonel Richard Gridley, chief engineer, with a company of artillery, was also + assigned to the moving columns.</p> + <p>To ensure a force of one thousand men, the field order covered nearly fourteen + hundred, and Mr. Frothingham shows clearly that the actual force as organized, with + artificers and drivers of carts, was not less than twelve hundred men.</p> + <p>Cambridge Common was the place of rendezvous, where, at early twilight of June 16, + the Reverend Samuel Langdon, president of Harvard College, invoked the blessing of + Almighty God upon the solemn undertaking.</p> + <p>This silent body of earnest men crossed Charlestown Neck, and halted for a clear + definition of the impending duty. Major Brooks, of Colonel Dodge's regiment, joined + here, as well as a company of artillery. Captain Nutting, with a detachment of + Connecticut men, was promptly sent, by the quickest route, to patrol Charlestown, at + the summit of Bunker Hill. Captain Maxwell's company, of Prescott's regiment, was + next detailed to patrol the shore in silence and keenly note any activity on board + the British men-of-war.</p> + <a name="page296" id="page296"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 296]</span> + <p>The six vessels lying in the stream were the Somerset, sixty-eight, Captain Edward + Le Cross; Cerberus, thirty-six, Captain Chads; Glasgow, thirty-four, Captain William + Maltby; Lively, twenty, Captain Thomas Bishop; Falcon, twenty, Captain Linzee, and + the Symmetry, transport, with eighteen guns.</p> + <p>While one thousand men worked upon the redoubt which had been located under + counsel of Gridley, Prescott, Knowlton, and other officers, the dull thud of the + pickaxe and the grating of shovels were the only sounds that disturbed the pervading + silence, except as the sentries' "All's well!" from Copp's Hill and from the + warships, relieved anxiety and stimulated work. Prescott and Putnam alike, and more + than once, visited the beach, to be assured that the seeming security was real; and + at daybreak the redoubt, nearly eight rods square and six feet high, was nearly + complete.</p> + <p>Scarcely had objects become distinct, when the battery on Copp's Hill and the guns + of the Lively opened fire, and startled the garrison of Boston from sleep, to a + certainty that the Colonists had taken the offensive.</p> + <p>General Putnam reached headquarters at a very early hour, and secured the detail + of a portion of Colonel Stark's regiment, to reinforce the first detail which had + already occupied the Hill.</p> + <p>At nine o'clock, a council of war was held at Breed's Hill. Major John Brooks was + sent to ask for more men and more rations. Richard Devens, of the Committee of + Safety, then in session, was influential in persuading General Ward to furnish prompt + reinforcements. By eleven o'clock, the whole of Stark's and Reed's New Hampshire + regiments were on their march, and in time to meet the first shock of battle. + Portions of other regiments hastened to the aid of those already waiting for the + fight to begin.</p> + <p>The details of men were not exactly defined, in all cases, when the urgent call + for reinforcements reached headquarters. Little's regiment of Essex men; Brewer's, of + Worcester and Middlesex, with their Lieutenant-Colonel Buckminster; Nixon's, led by + Nixon himself; Moore's, from Worcester; Whitcomb's, of Lancaster, and others, + promptly accepted the opportunity to take part in the offensive, and challenge the + British garrison to a contest-at-arms, and well they bore their part in the + struggle.</p> + <h3>THE AMERICAN POSITION.</h3> + <p>The completion of the redoubt only made more distinct the necessity for additional + defences. A line of breastworks, a few rods in length, was carried to the left, and + then to the rear, in order to connect with a stone fence which was accepted as a part + of the line, since the fence ran perpendicularly to the Mystic; and the intention was + to throw some protection across the entire peninsula to the river. A small pond and + some spongy ground were left open, as non-essential, considering the value of every + moment; and every exertion was made for the protection <a name="page297" + id="page297"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 297]</span> of the immediate front. The + stone fence, like those still common in New England, was two or three feet high, with + set posts and two rails; in all, about five feet high, the top rail giving a rest for + a rifle. A zigzag "stake and rider fence" was put in front, the meadow + division-fences being stripped for the purpose. The fresh-mown hay filled the + interval between the fences. This line was nearly two hundred yards in rear of the + face of the redoubt, and near the foot of Bunker Hill. Captain Knowlton, with two + pieces of artillery and Connecticut troops, was assigned, by Colonel Prescott, to the + right of this position, adjoining the open gap already mentioned. Between the fence + and the river, more conspicuous at low tide, was a long gap, which was promptly + filled by Stark as soon as he reached the ground, thus, as far as possible, to + anticipate the very flanking movement which the British afterward attempted.</p> + <p>Putnam was everywhere active, and, after the fences were as well secured as time + would allow, he ordered the tools taken to Bunker Hill for the establishment of a + second line on higher ground, in case the first could not be maintained. His + importunity with General Ward had secured the detail of the whole of Reed's, as well + as the balance of Stark's, regiment, so that the entire left was protected by New + Hampshire troops. With all their energy they were able to gather from the shore only + stone enough for partial cover, while they lay down, or kneeled, to fire.</p> + <p>The whole force thus spread out to meet the British army was less than sixteen + hundred men. Six pieces of artillery were in use at different times, but with little + effect. The cannon cartridges were at last distributed for the rifles, and five of + the guns were left on the field when retreat became inevitable.</p> + <p>Reference to the map will indicate the position thus outlined. It was evident that + the landing could not be prevented. Successive barges landed the well-equipped + troops, and they took their positions, and their dinner, under the blaze of the hot + sun, as if nothing but ordinary duty was awaiting their leisure.</p> + <h3>THE BRITISH ADVANCE.</h3> + <p>It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon when the British army formed for the + advance. General Howe was expected to break and envelop the American left wing, take + the redoubt in the rear, and cut off retreat to Bunker Hill and the mainland. The + light infantry moved closely along the Mystic. The grenadiers advanced upon the stone + fence, while the British left demonstrated toward the unprotected gap which was + between the fence and the short breastwork next the redoubt. General Pigot with the + extreme left wing moved directly upon the redoubt. The British artillery had been + supplied with twelve-pound shot for six-pounder guns, and, thus disabled, were + ordered to use only grape. The guns were, therefore, advanced to the edge of an old + brick-kiln, as the spongy ground and heavy grass did not permit ready handling of + guns at the foot of the hill slope, or even just at its left. This secured a more + effective range of fire upon the skeleton defences of the American centre, and an + eligible position for a direct fire upon the exposed portion of the American front, + and both breastwork and redoubt.</p> + <a name="page298" id="page298"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 298]</span> + <p>The advance of the British army was like a solemn pageant in its steady headway, + and like a parade for inspection in its completeness. This army, bearing knapsacks + and full campaign equipment, moved forward as if, by the force of its closely knit + columns, it must sweep every barrier away. But, right in the way was a calm, intense + love of liberty. It was represented by men of the same blood and of equal daring.</p> + <p>A strong contrast marked the opposing Englishmen that summer afternoon. The plain + men handled plain firelocks. Oxhorns held their powder, and their pockets held their + bullets. Coatless, under the broiling sun, unincumbered, unadorned by plume or + service medal, pale and wan after their night of toil and their day of hunger, + thirst, and waiting, this live obstruction calmly faced the advancing splendor.</p> + <p>A few hasty shots, quickly restrained, drew an innocent fire from the British + front rank. The pale, stern men behind the slight defence, obedient to a strong will, + answer not to the quick volley, and nothing to the audible commands of the advancing + columns,—waiting, still.</p> + <p>No painter can make the scene more clear than the recital of sober deposition, and + the record left by survivors of either side. History has no contradictions to confuse + the realities of that momentous tragedy.</p> + <p>The British left wing is near the redoubt. It has only to mount a fresh earthbank, + hardly six feet high, and its clods and sands can almost be counted,—it is so + near, so easy—sure.</p> + <p>Short, crisp, and earnest, low-toned, but felt as an electric pulse, are the words + of Prescott. Warren, by his side, repeats. The words fly through the impatient lines. + The eager fingers give back from the waiting trigger. "Steady, men." "Wait until you + see the white of the eye." "Not a shot sooner." "Aim at the handsome coats." "Aim at + the waistbands." "Pick off the commanders." "Wait for the word, every + man,—<i>steady</i>."</p> + <p>Those plain men, so patient, can already count the buttons, can read the emblems + on the breastplate, can recognize the officers and men whom they had seen parade on + Boston Common. Features grow more distinct. The silence is awful. The men seem + dead—waiting for one word. On the British right the light infantry gain equal + advance just as the left wing almost touched the redoubt. Moving over more level + ground, they quickly made the greater distance, and passed the line of those who + marched directly up the hill. The grenadiers moved firmly upon the centre, with equal + confidence, and space lessens to that which the spirit of the impending word defines. + That word waits behind the centre and left wing, as it lingers at breastwork and + redoubt. Sharp, clear, and deadly in tone and essence, it rings + forth,—<i>Fire</i>!</p> + <h3>THE REPULSE.</h3> + <p>From redoubt to river, along the whole sweep of devouring flame, the forms of men + wither as in a furnace heat. The whole front goes down. For an instant the chirp of + the cricket and grasshopper in the fresh-mown hay might almost be heard; then the + groans of the wounded, then the shouts of impatient yeomen who spring forth to + pursue, until recalled to silence and duty. Staggering, but reviving, grand in the + glory of their manhood, heroic in restored self-possession, with steady step in the + face of fire, and over the bodies of the dead, the British remnant renew battle. + Again, a deadly volley, and the shattered columns, in spite of entreaty or command, + speed back to the place of landing, and the first shock of arms is over.</p> + <a name="page299" id="page299"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 299]</span> + <p>A lifetime, when it is past, is but as a moment. A moment, sometimes, is as a + lifetime. Onset and repulse. Three hundred lifetimes ended in twenty minutes.</p> + <p>Putnam hastened to Bunker Hill to gather scattering parties in the rear and urge + coming reinforcements across the isthmus, where the fire from British frigates swept + with fearful energy, but nothing could bring them in time. The men who had toiled all + night, and had just proved their valor, were again to be tested.</p> + <p>The British reformed promptly, in the perfection of their discipline. Their + artillery was pushed forward nearer the angle made by the breastwork next the + redoubt, and the whole line advanced, deployed as before, across the entire American + front. The ships-of-war increased their fire across the isthmus. Charlestown had been + fired, and more than four hundred houses kindled into one vast wave of smoke and + flame, until a sudden breeze swept its quivering volume away and exposed to view of + the watchful Americans the returning tide of battle. No scattering shots in advance + this time. It is only when a space of hardly five rods is left, and a swift plunge + could almost forerun the rifle flash, that the word of execution impels the bullet, + and the entire front rank, from redoubt to river, is swept away. Again, and again, + the attempt is made to rally and inspire the paralyzed troops; but the living tide + flows back, even to the river.</p> + <p>Another twenty minutes,—hardly twenty-five,—and the death angel has + gathered his sheaves of human hopes, as when the Royal George went down beneath the + waters with its priceless value of human lives.</p> + <p>At the first repulse the thirty-eighth regiment took shelter by a stone fence, + along the road which passes about the base of Breed's Hill; but at the second + repulse, supported by the fifth, it reorganized, just under the advanced crest of + Breed's Hill for a third advance.</p> + <p>It was an hour of grave issues. Burgoyne, who watched the progress from Copp's + Hill, says: "A moment of the day was critical."</p> + <p>Stedman says: "A continuous blaze of musketry, incessant and destructive."</p> + <p>Gordon says: "The British officers pronounced it downright butchery to lead the + men afresh against those lines."</p> + <p>Ramsay says: "Of one company not more than five, and of another not more than + fourteen, escaped."</p> + <p>Lossing says: "Whole platoons were lain upon the earth, like grass by the mower's + scythe."</p> + <p>Marshall says: "The British line, wholly broken, fell back with precipitation to + the landing-place."</p> + <p>Frothingham quotes this statement of a British officer: "Most of our grenadiers + and light infantry, the moment they presented themselves, lost three fourths, and + many nine tenths, of their men. Some had only eight and nine men to a company left, + some only three, four, and five."</p> + <p>Botta says: "A shower of bullets. The field was covered with the slain."</p> + <p>Bancroft says: "A continuous sheet of fire."</p> + <p>Stark says: "The dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold."</p> + <a name="page300" id="page300"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 300]</span> + <p>It was, indeed, a strange episode in British history, in view of the British + assertion of assured supremacy, whenever an issue challenged that supremacy.</p> + <p>Clinton and Burgoyne, watching from the redoubt on Copp's Hill, realized at once + the gravity of the situation, and Clinton promptly offered his aid to rescue the + army.</p> + <p>Four hundred additional marines and the forty-seventh regiment were promptly + landed. This fresh force, under Clinton, was ordered to flank the redoubt and scale + its face to the extreme left. General Howe, with the grenadiers and light infantry, + supported by the artillery, undertook the storming of the breastworks, bending back + from the mouth of the redoubt, and so commanding the centre entrance.</p> + <p>General Pigot was ordered to rally the remnants of the fifth, thirty-eighth, + forty-third, and fifty-second regiments, to connect the two wings, and attack the + redoubt in front.</p> + <p>A mere demonstration was ordered upon the American left, while the artillery was + to advance a few rods and then swing to its left, so as to sweep the breastwork for + Howe's advance.</p> + <h3>THE ASSAULT.</h3> + <p>The dress parade movement of the first advance was not repeated. A contest between + equals was at hand. Victory or ruin was the alternative for those who so proudly + issued from the Boston barracks at sunrise for the suppression of pretentious + rebellion. Knapsacks were thrown aside. British veterans stripped for fight. Not a + single regiment of those engaged had passed such a fearful ordeal in its whole + history as a single hour had witnessed. The power of discipline, the energy of + experienced commanders, and the pressure of honored antecedents, combined to make the + movement as trying as it was momentous.</p> + <p>The Americans were no less under a solemn responsibility. At the previous attack, + some loaded while others fired, so that the expenditure of powder was great, almost + exhaustive. The few remaining cannon cartridges were economically distributed. There + was no longer a possibility of reinforcements. The fire from the shipping swept the + isthmus. There were less than fifty bayonets to the entire command.</p> + <p>During the afternoon Ward sent his own regiment, as well as Patterson's and + Gardner's, but few men reached the actual front in time to share in the last + resistance. Gardner did, indeed, reach Bunker Hill to aid Putnam in establishing a + second line on that summit, but fell in the discharge of the duty. Febiger, + previously conspicuous at Quebec, and afterward at Stony Point, gathered a portion of + Gerrishe's regiment, and reached the redoubt in time to share in the final struggle; + but the other regiments, without their fault, were too late.</p> + <p>At this time, Putnam seemed to appreciate the full gravity of the crisis, and made + the most of every available resource to concentrate a reserve for a second defence, + but in vain.</p> + <p>Prescott, within the redoubt, at once recognized the method of the British + advance. The wheel of the British artillery to the left after it passed the line of + the redoubt, secured to it an enfilading fire, which insured the reduction of the + redoubt and cut off retreat. There was no panic at that hour of supreme peril. The + order to reserve fire until the enemy was within twenty yards was obediently + regarded, and it was not until a pressure upon three faces of the redoubt forced the + last issue, that the defenders poured forth one more destructive volley. A single + cannon cartridge was distributed for the final effort, and then, with clubbed guns + and the nerve of desperation, the slow retreat began, contesting, man to man and inch + by inch. Warren fell, shot through the head, in the mouth of the fort.</p> + <a name="page301" id="page301"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 301]</span> + <p>The battle was not quite over, even then. Jackson rallied Gardner's men on Bunker + Hill, and with three companies of Ward's regiment and Febiger's party, so covered the + retreat as to save half of the garrison. The New Hampshire troops of Stark and Reed, + with Colt's and Chester's companies, still held the fence line clear to the river, + and covered the escape of Prescott's command until the last cartridge had been + expended, and then their deliberate, well-ordered retreat bore testimony alike to + their virtue and valor.</p> + <h3>THE END.</h3> + <p>Putnam made one final effort at Bunker Hill, but in vain, and the army retired to + Prospect Hill, which Putnam had already fortified in advance.</p> + <p>The British did not pursue, Clinton urged upon General Howe an immediate attack + upon Cambridge; but Howe declined the movement. The gallant Prescott offered to + retake Bunker Hill by storming if he could have three fresh regiments; but it was not + deemed best to waste further resources at the time.</p> + <p>Such, as briefly as it can be clearly outlined, was the battle of Bunker Hill.</p> + <p>Nearly one third of each army was left on the field.</p> + <p>The British loss was nineteen officers killed and seventy wounded, itself a + striking evidence of the prompt response to Prescott's orders before the action + began. Of rank and file, two hundred and seven were killed and seven hundred and + fifty-eight were wounded. Total, ten hundred and fifty-four.</p> + <p>The American loss was one hundred and forty-five killed and missing, and three + hundred and four wounded. Total, four hundred and forty-nine.</p> + <p>Such is the record of a battle which, in less than two hours, destroyed a town, + laid fifteen hundred men upon the field, equalized the relations of veterans and + militia, aroused three millions of people to a definite struggle for National + Independence, and fairly opened the war for its accomplishment.</p> + <h3>NOTES.</h3> + <p>NOTE 1. The hasty organization of the command is marked by one feature not often + regarded, and that is the readiness with which men of various regiments enlisted in + the enterprise. Washington, in his official report of the casualties, thus specifies + the loss:—</p> + <table summary="Casualties" border="1"> + <tr> + <th>Colonel of Regiment.</th> + <th>Killed.</th> + <th>Wounded.</th> + <th>Missing.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Frye</td> + <td>10</td> + <td>38</td> + <td>4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Little</td> + <td>7</td> + <td>23</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Brewer</td> + <td>12</td> + <td>22</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gridley</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>4</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Stark</td> + <td>15</td> + <td>45</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Woodbridge</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>5</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Scammon</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>2</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Bridge</td> + <td>17</td> + <td>25</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Whitcomb</td> + <td>5</td> + <td>8</td> + <td>2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ward</td> + <td>1</td> + <td>6</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gerrishe</td> + <td>3</td> + <td>5</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Reed</td> + <td>3</td> + <td>29</td> + <td>1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Prescott</td> + <td>43</td> + <td>46</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Doolittle</td> + <td>6</td> + <td>9</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gardner</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>7</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Patterson</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>1</td> + <td>1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Nixon</td> + <td>3</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + </table> + <a name="page302" id="page302"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 302]</span> + <p>NOTE 2. The record, brief as it is, shows that hot controversies as to the + question of precedence in command are beneath the merits of the struggle, because all + worked just where the swift transitions of the crisis best commanded presence and + influence.</p> + <p>NOTE 3. As both the Morton and Moulton families had property near the British + landing-place, it is immaterial whether hill or point bear the name of one or the + other. Hence the author of this sketch, in a memorial examination of this battle, + elsewhere, deemed it but just to recognize both, without attempt to harmonize + differences upon an immaterial matter.</p> + <p>NOTE 4. The occupation of Lechmere Point, Cobble Hill, Ploughed Hill, and Prospect + Hill, as shown upon the map of Boston and vicinity, rendered the British occupation + of Bunker Hill a barren victory, silenced the activity of a thousand men, vindicated + the wisdom of the American occupation, however transient, rescued Boston, and + projected the spirit of the battle of Bunker Hill into all the issues which + culminated at Yorktown, October 19, 1781.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF MASSACHUSETTS.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Russell Sturgis, Jr.</p> + <p>In the sketch of the Boston Association, which appeared in the April number of + this Magazine, mention was made of the work of Mr. L.P. Rowland, corresponding member + of Massachusetts of the international committee, in establishing kindred associations + throughout the State, This article is to give a brief history of the spread and work + of these associations, and I am largely indebted to Mr. Sayford, late state + secretary, for the data. It was natural that as soon as it was known that an + organization had been formed in Boston to do distinctive work for young men, that in + other places where the need was realized the desire for a like work should spring up; + but, in the absence of organized effort to promote this, very little was done, and in + 1856, five years after the parent association was formed, there were only six in all, + that is, in Boston, Charlestown, Worcester, Lowell, Springfield, and Haverhill.</p> + <p>In December, 1866, the Boston Association called a convention, when twelve hundred + delegates met and sat for two days at the Tremont Temple. General Christian work was + discussed, but the distinctive work for young men was earnestly advocated.</p> + <p>When Mr. Rowland undertook the work, as an officer of the international committee, + it spread rapidly, and in 1868 there were one hundred and two, and in 1869, one + hundred and nine, associations in Massachusetts. This number was, later, somewhat + further increased.</p> + <p>Up to 1867 there had been no conference of the state associations, but at the + international convention, at Montreal, in that year, it was strongly urged upon the + corresponding members of the various States and provinces that they should call state + conventions, and thus the first Massachusetts convention of Young Men's Christian + Associations was held <a name="page303" id="page303"></a><span class="newpage">[pg + 303]</span> at Springfield, October 10 and 11. The Honorable Whiting Griswold, of + Greenfield, was president, and among the prominent men present were Henry F. Durant + and ex-Vice-President Wilson. In 1868, the convention met at Worcester; in 1869, at + Lowell. At this time there were fifty associations reporting reading-rooms, and + thirty were holding <i>open-air meetings</i>, which means, that, since there are many + persons who never enter a building to hear the gospel, it should be taken to them. + Since these services are almost peculiarly a characteristic of association work, let + me describe them. One or two men, clergymen or laymen, are appointed to take charge + of the meeting, while from six to ten men go with them to lead the singing. Having + reached the common or public square where men and women are lounging about, the group + start a familiar hymn and sing, perhaps, two or three, by which time many have drawn + near and most are listening; then mounting a bench or packing-box, the leader says he + proposes to pray to the God of whom they have been singing, and asks them to join + with him; then with uncovered head he speaks to God and asks him to bless the words + that shall be spoken. Another hymn, and then some Bible scene or striking incident is + read and commented upon, and when interest is fairly roused the gospel is <i>preached + in its simplicity</i> and a <i>direct appeal</i> made to the people. There is a + wonderful fascination in this service—a naturalness in all the surroundings, so + like the circumstances of our Lord's discourses, that makes God's nearness felt, and + inspires great faith for results. Great have been these results—how great we + shall know by-and-by. Many a soul has thus been born by the sea, in the grove, on the + village green, at the place where streets meet in the busy city. How can we reach the + masses? is the earnest question of the church. <i>Go to them!</i> To the association + is due the fact that thousands of laymen are to-day proclaiming the gospel in all + parts of the world, successful through their simple study of the Word and the + encouragement and training which they have received in this school.</p> + <p>The fourth convention was held in Chelsea, in 1870, on which occasion the + Honorable Cephas Brainard, chairman of the international executive committee, said: + "To promote the permanency of associations, our labor must be chiefly for young men; + increasing as rapidly as possible edifices of our own; and cultivating frequent + fraternal intercourse with the eight hundred associations in the land." Up to 1881 no + agents had been appointed by the state convention to superintend its work. Mr. + Rowland was taking time, given him for rest, to visit associations and towns needing + them.</p> + <p>At the international convention, in 1868, at Detroit, two Massachusetts men met, + who were to be largely instrumental in carrying on the work in the State so dear to + them; and in 1871, in far-off Illinois, these two men—K.A. Burnell, and he who + has almost without a break served on the Massachusetts committee to this + day—met again, prayed for Massachusetts, consulted together, and the result was + that at the convention of 1871, at Northampton, a state executive committee was + appointed.</p> + <p>At this time calls from many parts of the State were coming to the association + workers from pastors of churches for lay help and they felt that these calls must be + met. Mr. Burnell was engaged to conduct the work, and with the help of the committee + individually, meetings of two and three days were held in from forty to sixty towns + each year for three years. This work was continued by paid secretaries, still largely + aided by the committee, till 1879.</p> + <a name="page304" id="page304"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 304]</span> + <p>During this time but little was done to strengthen existing associations, and + nothing in establishing new ones, therefore, while the influence of the convention of + associations was greatly felt throughout the State, the associations themselves + suffered. Very many were doing nothing, and many had ceased to exist.</p> + <p>We should not dare to say that the associations did wrong in thus giving + themselves to the evangelistic work, while the calls for it were greater than the + committee could meet. This work engrossed them till the calls began to slacken, and + then they awoke to the fact that they were neglecting their true work, a special + instrumentality in which they believed and for which they existed—that is, "A + work for young men by young men through physical, social, mental, and spiritual + appliances."</p> + <p>This led to a series of resolutions at the Lowell convention, in 1879, directing + the committee to confine their efforts to the strengthening and organizing of + associations, and to appoint a secretary to give his whole time to the work.</p> + <p>Mr. Sayford was called from New York, appointed general secretary, and began to + work in January, 1880.</p> + <p>At this time there were thirty-five associations in the State, only four of which + had general secretaries, paid men who gave all their time to the work.</p> + <p>In October, the number of secretaries had more than doubled, nine being at work. + The total membership at this time was, in round numbers, six thousand, with property + amounting to about two hundred and ten thousand dollars.</p> + <p>The thirty-three associations which reported at this time at the Lynn convention + represented somewhat more than five hundred active working men, and they conducted + one hundred and ten religious meetings a week.</p> + <p>In 1881, the only addition of note was the beginning of the railway work in the + State, when a general secretary was employed, and rooms opened at Springfield by the + Boston and Albany Railroad Company. This important work, carried on most vigorously + at various railway centres in other States, had for some time been pressed upon the + state committee, but they had been unable to obtain any footing till now. At the + convention of this year, at Spencer, the advantage of association work in colleges + was brought out in an able paper by our present state secretary, then a + representative of Williams College.</p> + <p>At this convention the committee on executive committee's report said: "It is + evident from the reports of executive committee and state secretary, that, while the + process of the last two years has decreased the number of the associations in the + State, it has greatly increased their efficiency. Some associations were found to + have been long since privately buried, though the name was allowed to remain upon the + door. These have been removed. Others had been left to die uncared for in the field. + These have been decently buried. Some were found so sick as to be past hope, and + their last days were made as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. Others + were found to be more or less seriously ill, and have been skilfully treated. The + result is that at least twenty-four associations are well, and could do much more + work if they chose; while ten, in robust condition, and under the management and + inspiration of skilled general secretaries, are doing grand work for young men in + their several localities."</p> + <a name="page305" id="page305"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 305]</span> + <p>The reduction here spoken of is from one hundred and nine associations in 1869 to + thirty-four in 1881; yet the work was being better done by the smaller number, and it + is thus accounted for: Few dreamed to what this work would grow, therefore their aim + was extremely vague, and the methods were inadequate. Seeing the need,—deeply + interested in the salvation of young men,—the <i>idea</i> of the association + took everywhere. They sprang up all over the State. Organization followed + organization in rapid succession, and then they waited to be told what to do, or + flung themselves into the first seeming opening with no thought whether it was the + work for which they were formed; and we remember of hearing of one Young Men's + Christian Association whose whole energies were concentrated upon a mission + Sunday-school in a deserted district,—a good work, but not a proper Young Men's + Christian Association's work, when it represented all that was being done.</p> + <p>Two things, however, were accomplished, even in those early days, for which we + must always be very grateful, and in themselves are a sufficient <i>raison d'etre. + Young men were trained</i> to work, and the reflex influence upon their minds was + very great, and the real unity of the church of Christ was manifested as never + before. The Young Men's Christian Association in town and village formed the natural + rallying-point for all united work. A third great blessing should be mentioned. Not + only has the unity of Christ's church been manifested, but also its distinctive + standing upon the great Bible doctrines of the cross, which vitally separate it from + all other religious bodies.</p> + <p>Gradually the greatness of this work for young men has been appreciated, as the + strong opposing forces have been met. The association is intended to influence those + who are in the energy and full flush of young manhood, when the desires are strong, + most responsive, and least guarded. The social instinct then is very strong. It is + natural, and must be met in some form. Sinful allurements of every kind invite the + young man, hurtful companionship welcomes him, the ordinary appliances of the church + have no attraction for him. The association must see to it that his social craving is + met by that which is interesting enough to attract him, and yet is safe. To + counteract baleful attractions, others which call forth strong sympathy, and + appliances which <i>cost</i>, in every sense of the word, must be furnished.</p> + <p>This means pleasant rooms, books, papers, good companionship, classes, lectures, + concerts, the hall, and the gymnasium; but more important than all, a trained man who + shall give his whole time and heart to the work, and be amply remunerated.</p> + <p>Since these things are more or less necessary to successful effort for young men, + it will readily be seen why so many associations have ceased to exist.</p> + <p>The committee have come to the conclusion that every town in the State where rooms + can be kept open in charge of a general secretary should have a Young Men's Christian + Association, and where these cannot be furnished we are not anxious to establish + it.</p> + <p>At the convention of 1882, in Charlestown, it became apparent that, to meet the + calls for evangelistic work and push the distinctive association work, two men were + required. Two, therefore, were appointed: one to give his time largely to + evangelistic work, the other wholly to that of the association. In the following + year, 1883, the evangelistic secretary decided to do the same work independently of + the committee, and the whole energy of the state secretary has been devoted to the + organization of association work.</p> + <a name="page306" id="page306"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 306]</span> + <p>We may safely say that, although numerically small, never before has this work + been so efficiently organized as now, and never has there been so much done as now + for young men. At the convention of 1881, a constitution was adopted which binds the + different state associations in organic union. These hold an annual convention of + three days, at which time one half of the executive committee is chosen, thus making + it a perpetual body. This committee represents every section of the State, and meets + monthly for consultation; while the individual members are means of communication + between headquarters in Boston and other respective sections. There is a further + subdivision into three districts, each of which holds a quarterly conference of one + day, under the management of the district committee.</p> + <p>The associations now number 35.</p> + <p>Membership, about 11,300.</p> + <p>Employing general secretaries, 19.</p> + <p>Having buildings, 7.</p> + <p>Value of buildings, say, $490,000.</p> + <p>Value of building funds and lots, $50,000.</p> + <p>Having rooms, 23.</p> + <p>Having gymnasiums, 8.</p> + <p>Annual expenses, about $65,000.</p> + <p>This is only a beginning. This work for young men is far too important to remain + within such limits. Every town in the Commonwealth of seven thousand inhabitants + should have a fully equipped association. Some smaller towns already have.</p> + <p>My excuse for this sketch is: first, the importance of the subject; second, the + ignorance concerning it of a large portion of the Christian community; third, that + the blessings of the work and its support may be shared by far greater numbers; and, + lastly, that the courtesy of the editors of The Bay State Monthly afforded altogether + too good an opportunity for making this work known, to be lost.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>TOWN AND CITY HISTORIES.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Robert Luce.</p> + <p>The United States government has now in press two volumes of the census of 1880, + entitled The Social Statistics of Cities. These statistics have been in process of + preparation for some four years, under direction of Colonel George E. Waring, jr., + the eminent sanitary engineer, of Newport, Rhode Island. They will fill two large + quarto volumes of something over six hundred pages each; and as each page will + average over one thousand words, it will be seen that the work will, at least, be + massive and imposing, like most government publications. Unlike many of these, + however, it will not be dull, unintelligible, or valueless. The fact that one half of + it is devoted to the history of the cities of our land is well-nigh sufficient proof + that these epithets cannot be applied to it, and the question is settled beyond a + doubt when it is learned that the greater part of the labor has been performed by + people who are well known in the literary world, and who brought to their task + experience and ability,—rare qualifications to be found combined in government + employees. Colonel Waring himself, though a clear thinker and good writer, furnished + comparatively little manuscript to the volumes, but he has revised them thoroughly, + and has stamped them with his individuality.</p> + <a name="page307" id="page307"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 307]</span> + <p>It was Colonel Waring's original design to embrace in his work the statistics of + the twenty largest cities of the country, and these happened to be the cities that in + 1880 had more than one hundred thousand inhabitants. Then it was decided to allow the + smaller cities to be represented if they chose, and early in the work steps were + taken to induce them to furnish the necessary material. Over two hundred of the + largest were given all the opportunities for representation that could be asked for, + and, as a consequence, nearly every community in the land containing more than ten + thousand inhabitants has a more or less full account. Each one of these is prefaced + by a small outline plan, on which is marked the direction in which the surrounding + cities lie, and the distance to each. Accompanying this plan are tables of the + population at different decades, and of the sex, color, and nativity of the present + population. Then comes an historical sketch, and then an account of the present + condition of the community. This last describes the location and topography fully; + gives the principal features of the country immediately tributary; details the + facilities for communication given by railroads and by water; gives statistics about + the climate; describes the public buildings and public works, including water and gas + works; gives figures about the streets, horse railroads, and markets; touches upon + the places and methods of amusement, and the parks and pleasure-grounds; the sewers, + the cemeteries, sanitary organization (boards of health), and the system, or lack of + system, of municipal cleansing,—all receive especially full treatment, as would + naturally be expected when a sanitary engineer of Colonel Waring's stamp had charge + of the work; the police department gets its share of the space; and in some cases the + schools, fire department, and commerce are represented. The material from which these + accounts were compiled was, in the main, obtained by sending schedules of questions + to the various town and city officials; in the case of some of the largest cities the + material was secured by special agents, but in general, the desire of the cities to + be represented was considered sufficient guaranty that the schedule would be filled + out fully and accurately, and this generally proved to be the case.</p> + <p>The historical sketches of the smaller cities and towns were compiled from + information obtained in the same way, and from gazetteers, encyclopaedias, town and + city histories, and all other sources available at the headquarters of the bureau. To + the preparation of the sketches of the twenty largest cities, especial attention was + devoted, and the results have been correspondingly valuable. Perhaps the most + important, both from the historical and literary point of view, will be the sketch of + the history of New Orleans, written by George W. Cable, who is better known as a + novelist, but who has no mean abilities as an historian. His familiarity with the + Creole element in New Orleans past and present, together with a very happy style of + writing, have made for him more than a national reputation, from which this sketch + will not detract. Originally his work was intended to occupy some ninety pages of the + report, but later, unfortunately, it had to be condensed into fifty. Luckily it will + not be found necessary to omit a number of interesting maps that accompany it.</p> + <a name="page308" id="page308"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 308]</span> + <p>Next in value, perhaps from the purely historical point of view the most valuable, + or at least the most complete, of all, comes the sketch of the early history of St. + Louis, by Professor Waterhouse. The author became greatly interested in his task, and + spent a vast amount of time in collecting materials for it. From the care bestowed on + the work, it may be taken for granted that this will be as full and accurate an + account of the settlement and early history of the "Philadelphia of the West" as can + possibly be compiled. It is expected that it will occupy fifty or sixty pages of the + report, and even then it will only bring the history down to 1823, when the first + city government was organized.</p> + <p>The largest of the Eastern cities furnish little chance for original work in an + historical line, but yet the sketch of New York by Martha J. Lamb, of Philadelphia by + Susan Cooledge, and of Boston by Colonel Waring, will be acceptable additions to the + very scanty stock of American historical literature.</p> + <p>The words "very scanty" are used most advisedly, for in very truth the American + <i>historian</i> is a <i>rara avis</i>. Of American compilers-of-facts, to be sure, + there have been and are very many, but an aggregation of details is not a history, + nor can a man who makes a book out of local gossip and the biographies of local + heroes and heroines be called an historian. The truth of this fact has been most + forcibly impressed on the writer in the course of preparing for the Census Bureau + historical sketches of many of the leading cities of the country, and he has become + thoroughly convinced that of all the vulnerable portions of American literature that + which pertains to the history of American towns and cities is the most + vulnerable.</p> + <p>In the first place, American town and city <i>histories</i> are few. In the second + place, the books that pretend to be such are many, and as a rule historically + worthless. In the third place, both the real and the sham are intensely dull.</p> + <p>Real histories are few, evidently because there is not demand enough to encourage + historians to enter the field, and not because material is lacking. With the + exception of the Atlantic seaboard, our country has been developed in an age + pre-eminent for records and statistics; and there is scarcely a town or city in the + land that has not its records and its public documents, its newspaper files and its + Fourth-of-July orations,—all replete with information waiting for the + historian. Nearly every State has its Historical Society, and Pioneer Associations + are as plenty in our glorious West as was the fever and ague with which their members + were baptized. If the golden opportunities of autobiography are lost, the American + historian of the future will have to be satisfied, as must be satisfied the New + England historian of to-day, with the meagre, lifeless information given by records, + and the hyperbolical, untrustworthy knowledge to be obtained from local tradition and + gossip.</p> + <a name="page309" id="page309"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 309]</span> + <p>We need go no farther to find the first reason why American histories are so + meagre and dull. They are not pictures from life. The fact is, that the historian + might as well try to write a valuable and interesting history from the materials + which our older cities possess, as a painter might try to paint the battle of Crecy + from the details given by Froissart. To be sure we have all seen such pictures, but + who has more than admired them?</p> + <p>The absence of contemporaneous literature has been the greatest misfortune of all + history. Every student knows how great and deplorable are the breaks constantly met + with in tracing the thread of past events. Shall we, then, let the students of + posterity remain in the dark on such questions as these: why Providence became the + second city of New England; why she left Newport so badly in the race for prosperity; + why Buffalo and Cincinnati went up, while Black Rock and North Bend went down; why + Chicago became the largest manufacturing city on the continent; why New England kept + the town-meeting, and the West preferred the township and the county; and why a + thousand and one other important things happened. To be sure we have had Bancroft, + and Sparks, and Hildreth, but these and their brethren have told us as little about + the history of the people as Lingard, Hume, Hallam, and all the rest of them told + England. Within a very few years historians have begun to see this defect, and such + men as Green, Lodge, and MacMaster have undertaken to give us histories of the + people, the first and last taking the lead on their respective sides of the Atlantic. + MacMaster's work is excellent as far as it goes. His first volume is deep and + scholarly, and does credit to American literature. It is clear that the task of its + preparation was immense, and more time must have been spent in merely collecting + authorities than has been bestowed altogether on more pretentious histories. Where + Mr. MacMaster found all these authorities is a puzzle, for even such libraries as + those in Boston and Cambridge have not all the materials for such an undertaking. Yet + even he leaves many points untouched, or cursorily disposed of. Among the subjects + referred to, of which we would like to learn more, may be mentioned: the township + system of the West, the development of American municipal institutions, and, above + all, the origin and rise of the various centres of population and business which we + call cities.</p> + <p>The history of a nation should be compiled in the same way that the French people + of the <i>ancien régime</i> compiled their lists of grievances to be presented + to the king. In the early States-generals the deputies of all the orders received + from the electors mandates of instructions containing an enumeration of the public + grievances of which they were to demand redress. From the multitude of these + <i>cahiers</i> (or codices), the three estates, that is, the clergy, the nobility, + and the third estate (the people), compiled each a single cahier to serve as the + exponent of its grievances and its demands. When this complex process had been + completed and the three residual cahiers had been given to the king, the + States-general, the only representative body of France, was dissolved.</p> + <a name="page310" id="page310"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 310]</span> + <p>Thus it should be with our national history. Already the clergy have presented + their cahiers in the shape of church histories and theological essays innumerable. + The nobles, that is, the statesmen and politicians, have formulated their lists of + grievances in such works as Thirty Year's View, The Great Conflict, Rise and Fall of + the Slave Power in America, etc. But where is the cahier of the third estate? The + States-general has met and the <i>tiers état</i> is not ready. What excuse + have they? Quick comes the answer: "Our electors have sent in but few cahiers, and + these are defective. We cannot tell our king, the nation, what the people were and + what they are, what they have and what they want, until they tell us. Our cahier must + wait the pleasure of the people." Meanwhile, the regent, irreverently called Uncle + Sam, who rules the land while his master is away in Utopia, reads the cahiers of the + nobles, laughs in his sleeve at that of the clergy, and forgets all about that of the + third estate. Or if he thinks of it at all, it is only to try to fill its place with + twenty-four-volume Census Reports and massive tomes from the other departments.</p> + <p>The cahiers of the third estate are, in truth, few and defective, yet there are + some communities that have done their work well. For example, there is The Memorial + History of Boston which does credit even to the Hub of American historical + literature. It was the work of cultivated men, and although the cooks were many, the + broth is excellent. That the people were a-hungering for just such broth is shown by + the fact that the net profits from it in the first twelve months after publication, + as it is said, were over fifty thousand dollars.</p> + <p>Boston is almost the only city in the land that has been the subject of a full, + accurate, and interesting history. The History of New York, by Martha J. Lamb, is not + so full as might have been wished, but is otherwise unexceptionable. New York is + fortunate in having the most graphic and humorous history of its early days that any + city in the world ever had, but nobody except Diedrich Knickerbocker himself ever + claimed a great amount of accuracy and truthfulness for his unrivaled work.</p> + <p>It was to be expected that our older cities,—those whose seeds were planted + by Puritans, Dutch traders, Catholic fugitives, Quakers, Cavalier spendthrifts and + rogues, Huguenot exiles, and in general the motley crowd that sought the land of milk + and honey in the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries,—it was + to be expected that these cities would have historians <i>ad nauseam</i>. The very + nature of the early colonization of America, the elements of romance and adventure so + conspicuous in the history of early days on the Atlantic coast, gave warrant to such + expectations, and the event has justified them. But where the romance and adventure + end, the historian lays down his pen. It is left to the census enumerator to complete + the work, and the brazen age of statistics follows the golden age of history.</p> + <p>As the cities in the heart of the continent have very little of the picturesque in + their history, the same line of reasoning would lead us to expect that the historian + would carefully avoid them, or else write only of their earliest days, when Dame + Fortune was yet coquetting on the boards with Mr. Yankee Adventurer. Again we are not + mistaken, for we find that what few critics are present when the curtain is rung up, + leave the house when the first act ends with the death of the aforesaid adventurer. + How the fickle dame flirts with all the neighboring young men, and at last, at the + end of the second act, has her attention led by Captain Location to the hero of the + piece as a suitable mate for her wayward daughter, Miss Prosperity,—all this is + usually written up from hearsay. For the third act, wherein the twin brothers + Steamboat Navigation and Railroad Communication help the hero to press his suit, the + imagination often suffices. The grand finale, however, brings back some of the old + set of critics, together with a host of new ones, who describe in glowing language + the setting of the act, the costumes, the music, etc., and tell minutely how young + Miss Prosperity blushingly yet boldly promises to be forever true to the gallant + hero, now known under his rightful name of Mr. Metropolis. Ac-cording to the critic, + this grand drama always ends happily for all concerned; the acting is always + perfect,—the best ever seen on the stage; the scenery has seldom been equaled, + never excelled. And this is the way the public hears about every "greatest drama ever + produced on any stage."</p> + <a name="page311" id="page311"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 311]</span> + <p>Do you think the critic too harshly criticized? Look for yourself. Take Cleveland, + if you want a good city with which to begin your explorations among the histories of + Western cities. Here is one of the loveliest places in all the basin of the Great + Lakes—rich, prosperous, beautiful. It was the one city which alt the travelers + through the West in the second quarter of this century united in declaring to be + attractive. For instance, J.S. Buckingham, who visited America forty-three years ago, + complimented Cleveland as follows, in a book called The Eastern and Western States of + America: "The buildings of Cleveland are all remarkably clean and neat, many of them + in excellent architectural style, and, like the dwellings we saw at Cincinnati and + other towns of Ohio, all evincing more taste, love of flowers, and attention to order + and adornment than in most of the States of the Union." Mrs. Pulzky, who accompanied + Kossuth in his journey through America, in 1852, wrote in her diary: "Cleveland is a + neat, clean, and agreeable city, on Lake Erie. Americans call it the 'Forest City,' + though the original forests have disappeared. Cleveland has a most lovely aspect; + with the exception of the business streets, every house is surrounded by a garden. It + was for the first time that I found love of nature in an American population. On the + journey, until here, I had always missed pleasure-grounds and trees around the + cottages."</p> + <p>The growth of Cleveland was steady and healthy. Although foreigners came to it in + large numbers, it has been and is a representative American city. The spirit of + public improvement early made itself felt here, as has been intimated by the above + quotations; wide avenues, beautiful dwellings, pleasure-grounds, both public and + private,—all the attractions that a lavish expenditure of money can secure were + bestowed upon it. The oil discoveries of a quarter of a century ago made many of its + citizens wealthy, and their city was so pleasant to live in, that, unlike most + Western people who have gained sudden wealth, they stayed at home to spend their + money.</p> + <a name="page312" id="page312"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 312]</span> + <p>From the history of the rise of such a community, much might be learned. Yet in + the large libraries of the East we find only one book on the subject, and Poole's + mammoth Index—that "Open, sesame," of the literary man—refers us to not a + single magazine article of any sort on Cleveland. The book referred to is entitled + Early History of Cleveland, with Biographical Notices of the Pioneers and Survivors; + its author was Colonel Charles Whittlesey. As is the case in almost all such + histories, the biographical notices form a very considerable portion of the book, + and, as usual, its value is diminished in an exactly equivalent degree; for the + biographies of Western pioneers are fully as tedious and valueless as the catalogue + of ships in the second book of Homer. And, oh! the garrulity of the biographers, the + minuteness of detail, the petty incidents, the host of dates! With these we are + inflicted because some adventurous Yankee happened, by sheer luck, to build the first + shanty on what became the site of a great city, or chanced there to be a pioneer + victim of the "shakes" or the jaundice!</p> + <p>Whittlesey's book contains four hundred and eighty-seven pages. Of these he uses + up seventy-six before he gets a civilized man in what became Cuyahoga County, and + fifty more before he gets any actual settlers to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The + history of the next thirteen or fourteen years, down to the War of 1812, fills the + mass of the book, details being here given that really have historical value. The + last forty pages are devoted to the history of the two or three following decades. + Nothing is told us about the actual development of a great city,—the haps and + mishaps, the successes and failures, in short, the growth, of the community.</p> + <p>This same Colonel Whittlesey, in a volume entitled Fugitive Essays, published a + sketch of the history of Cleveland covering the same ground more concisely, and also + giving a few extra details about the history between 1812 and 1840.</p> + <p>These constituted the sum total of works solely devoted to Cleveland which were + accessible to a writer in the East. The Ohio Historical Collections, by Henry Howe, a + series of sketches of the counties, cities, and towns of the State, added a little to + the meagre stock of information. For further knowledge, the public must be thankful + that the argus-eyed tourist has not left the place unnoticed, and that the + mathematically-inclined gazetteer has told us from time to time the number of + Cleveland's churches, banks, and city councilmen, and other equally important + facts!</p> + <p>Take another lake city—Buffalo. The growth of this city has been rapid. Its + sudden rise to the dignity of a metropolis was largely due to that most interesting + of the many important internal improvements of the first half of the + century,—the Erie Canal. With the development of Buffalo was identified the + rise of lake navigation and the grain elevator. Its population has been increased by + the addition of a large foreign element, which has had its due influence on manners, + morals, and public life. It appears from the report of the board of health for 1879, + that, in 1878, of the children born in Buffalo, nineteen hundred and seventy-five + were of German descent; of all other descents, two thousand and fifty-six,—a + difference of only eighty-one. The city has indeed been thoroughly Germanized, if we + may coin the word.</p> + <a name="page313" id="page313"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 313]</span> + <p>Here are things of which we would know more. Yet what do we find about them? Save + in meagre or verbose pamphlets, nothing. To be sure, there was a book written which + claimed to be about Buffalo, but a microscopic examination would fail to find in it + anything worth knowing about the history of this community. The author of that book, + William Ketchum, had the audacity to name it, as we read on the title-page, "An + Authentic and Comprehensive History of Buffalo, with some account of its early + inhabitants, both savage and civilized." It was published in Buffalo in 1864, in two + octavo volumes, containing respectively four hundred and thirty-two and four hundred + and forty-three pages. To comprehend the utter absurdity of the thing, we shall have + to glance at history a bit.</p> + <p>It will be remembered that during and for some time after the Revolutionary War + the country about the Niagara River remained in the possession of the British. The + Seneca Indians, who sided against the Colonies in that war, and who were driven from + their homes by the expedition of General Sullivan in 1779, gathered around Fort + Niagara and became such a nuisance that the English had to set up anew in + housekeeping these faithful allies and disagreeable neighbors. One of the villages + they started was at Buffalo Creek. Our historian, Ketchum, has twenty-five chapters + in the first volume of his Authentic and Comprehensive History of Buffalo. He gets + the Senecas settled at Buffalo Creek in the twenty-fourth!</p> + <p>During the rest of the century the inhabitants of this Indian village on the + ground where Buffalo was to stand, consisted of redskins and semi-redskins, a few + Indian traders who doled out the firewater, and a settler or two. The present city of + Buffalo, according to the encyclopaedia (and for once that mass of condensed wisdom + is correct about the date of settlement of a Western city), was founded in 1801, by + the Holland Land Company, which opened a land office here in January of that year. + The notice of this event may be found in the region of page 146, in vol. ii, of + Ketchum's book,—the uniform lack of concise statement, the huge amount of + irrevelant matter, and the absence of lucid summaries and intelligent comment, making + more exact reference impossible.</p> + <p>The rest of this "comprehensive history" is occupied with the course of events + down to December 30, 1813, when the British burnt the town, leaving but two houses + standing—a dwelling-house and a blacksmith's shop. Here, having brought his + Phoenix to ashes, our comprehensive historian brings his narrative to an abrupt end. + This is at page 304. Then follows the "appendix," an invariable feature of city + histories, which makes of every one of them a huge anti-climax. In this instance, one + hundred and thirty-nine pages of appendix contain, according to the author, "for the + purpose of preservation, a mass of papers not absolutely necessary to the elucidation + of the history contained in the body of the work. Most of them consist of original + papers and letters never before published, and which are now, for the first time, + placed in an accessible and permanent form." To compare small things with great, + these documents are made just about as "accessible" as are the State papers to which + Carlyle devotes so much paper and bile in his book on Oliver Cromwell.</p> + <p>In short, this book contains much valuable information, which is very hard to + extract, and when extracted is not germane to the history of the city of Buffalo.</p> + <a name="page314" id="page314"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 314]</span> + <p>Some information about Buffalo's history was found in a pamphlet on the + Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo, published in 1866. In it were + historical sketches, covering about twenty-five pages,—verbose, with little + meat, written in the flowery style so dear to the heart of the American editor or + "Honorable" when extolling the virtues of his constituency. Turner's History of the + Holland Purchase, published in 1849, and containing six hundred and sixty-six pages, + would have been more useful, had it not been composed for the greater part of the + biographies of insignificant pioneers, and had not the rest related in the main to + the early history of the section. A book promising much on the outside was Hotchkin's + History of Western New York. An examination of the title-page, however, dampened our + expectations, for there was added the rest of the title, namely, "And of the Rise, + Progress, and Present State of the Presbyterian Church." The book proved indeed a + delusion and a snare, for of its six hundred pages more than nine tenths pertained to + church affairs,—were part and parcel of the cahiers of the clergy. As for the + magazine articles on Buffalo, they are few and, from the historical point of view, + insignificant.</p> + <p>Of far more interest than the histories of either Cleveland or Buffalo, though + perhaps no more important, is that of their nearest common neighbor of equal + rank,—Pittsburgh. In very many respects this is one of the most interesting + cities in the Union, which is mostly due to the fact that it has such a remarkable + location, and that its topography is picturesquely unique. Here we have the strange + combination of the blackest, smuttiest, dirtiest hole in the United States,—at + night, as Parton said: "All hell with the lid taken off,"—with surroundings + half rural, half urban, which for loveliness can scarcely be rivaled by any other + city in the land. Sir Henry Holland, who was of the Prince of Wales's suite, when he + visited Pittsburgh, remarked to one of the committee of reception that he had, in + 1845, spent a week in an equestrian exploration of the suburbs of Pittsburgh; that he + had traveled through all the degrees of the earth's longitude, and had not elsewhere + found any scenery so diversified, picturesque, and beautiful as that around + Pittsburgh. He likened it to a vast panorama, from which, as he rode along, the + curtain was dropping behind and rising before him, revealing new beauties + continually. "If the business portion of Pittsburgh is a city, half enchanted, of + fire and smoke, inhabited by demons playing with fire, the surrounding portion is + also under enchantment, of a different kind, and smiles a land of beauty, brightness, + and quiet. The one section might be a picture by Tintoretto, and the other by Claude + Lorraine."</p> + <p>On the twenty-fourth of November, 1753, no human habitation stood on the peninsula + between the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers. On that day Washington recorded in his + journal: "I think it extremely well situated for a fort, as it has absolute command + of both rivers." In the following spring the English began the erection of a stockade + here, which, on the twenty-fourth of April, was surrendered to the French under + Captain Contrecoeur Who at once proceeded to the erection of Fort Du Quesne.</p> + <a name="page315" id="page315"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 315]</span> + <p>Round this name centres a wealth of incident, romance, and history, but no one has + risen to do it justice. Braddock's ill-starred expedition was followed by the + abandonment of the fort by the French, in November, 1758, and its subsequent + rebuilding as Fort Pitt. The fate of the little hamlet which sprang up around it was + for a long time most dubious, but its position as a frontier post on the line of the + ever westward-retreating Indians, and on the edge of the vast unknown wilderness, + just beginning to allure adventurous pioneers, kept it from falling into the oblivion + with which it was threatened by the dismantling of the fort and the troublous + Revolutionary times. Yet as late as 1784 so experienced a man as Arthur Lee, the + Virginian, who had been a commissioner at the court of Versailles with Franklin and + Deane, and who visited this hamlet in December of this year, said of it: "Pittsburgh + is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in paltry log-houses, and + are as dirty as in the north of Ireland, or even in Scotland. There is a great deal + of small trade carried on, the goods being brought at the vast expense of forty-five + shillings per cwt. from Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops money, + flour, and skins. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a priest + of any persuasion, nor church, nor chapel; so that they are likely to be damned + without the benefit of clergy. <i>The place, I believe, will never be + considerable</i>."</p> + <p>This "small trade" which Lee speaks of was to develop in a very few years to + gigantic proportions, and was to make Pittsburgh for the while the commercial + metropolis of the West. She maintained this position until the westward march of + civilization had left her far in the rear; and then the garrison which the vast army + of pioneers left here found in the coal and iron under their very feet a Fortunatus's + purse. Thus, far different was the fate of Pittsburgh from that of Marietta, + Portsmouth, Lexington, and the like, which sank into comparative obscurity as soon as + they had ceased to be outposts of Uncle Sam's army of emigrants.</p> + <p>Here, then, do we lack materials for history? What historian could ask for a more + romantic starting-point than Old Fort Du Quesne? a more interesting topic for a + chapter than Fort Pitt? a more picturesque subject than the batteurs and voyageurs of + the Ohio? What more fruitful themes can there be than the rise of the iron, the + glass, the oil industry, the steamboat commerce of our interior, the subjection of + the Monongahela, the combination of a city which reminds the traveler of Hades, with + suburbs which suggest metaphors about Paradise? And can he not find food for inquiry + and thought in the great riots of 1877?</p> + <p>Yet the only historian of Pittsburgh is Neville B Craig, whose short and not + over-attractive history ends with the middle of this century, if we remember rightly. + His subject is neither thoroughly nor ably treated, and it is not presented to the + public in an agreeable form. The book is one of the past generation, and we publish + better histories than did our fathers. In 1876, Samuel H. Thurston presented the + public with a small volume, entitled Pittsburgh and Alleghany in the Centennial. It + contained a little history and a great deal of bombast; and, moreover, the greater + part of it was filled with statistical details pertaining to the Centennial year + alone. Yet from this book had to be taken most of the historical sketch which will be + found in the Census Report. Egle's History of Pennsylvania tells us something about + Pittsburgh, and magazine articles are plenty, though historically of little + value.</p> + <a name="page316" id="page316"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 316]</span> + <p>St. Louis is more plentifully supplied with histories than any other Western city, + and these histories are as much worse as they are more numerous. One of these + deserves notice, from the fact that its title-page so ridiculously and exasperatingly + misrepresents its contents. This page reads as follows: "Edwards's Great West and her + Commercial Metropolis, embracing a complete History of St. Louis, from the landing of + Ligueste, in 1764, to the present time; with portraits and biographies of some of the + old settlers, and many of the most prominent business men. By Richard Edwards and M. + Hopewell, M.D. Splendidly illustrated. 1860. $5." This seemed to promise well, but + when we turned the page and read the introduction, our expectations were, to say the + least, somewhat shaken, and our sense of the eternal fitness of things somewhat + shocked, when we found the citizens of St. Louis called "a powerful Mæcenas." + Shade of Virgil! What a profanation!</p> + <p>Any book that is preceded by a dedication, a preface, an introduction, and a + full-page portrait of the author (with a big A), must, in the very nature of things, + be a monstrosity. But, leaving these anomalies out of account, in the present + instance, the composition of the book is sufficient proof that the epithet is not + undeserved. "And this is so, for,"—as Herodotus would say,—in a book + called Edwards's Great West, the "Great West" is summarily and mercilessly disposed + of in just five pages. Then follow eighty-two pages of biographies and portraits, + ingeniously defended by the author as follows: "Biographies of those who have become + identified with the progress of the great city, who have guarded and directed its + business currents year by year, swelling with the elements of prosperity, and who + have left the impress of their genius and judgment upon the legislative enactments of + the State, must be sought after with avidity, and must be fraught with useful + instruction." There is no question that these biographies are fraught with useful + instruction—all biographies are; but to assert that they must be sought after + with avidity is a little too much to be swallowed. Such assertions show either + deplorable ignorance or unwarrantable misrepresentation of human nature, and in this + case we are convinced it must be the latter. Edwards knew perfectly well—for he + seems to have been sane—that nobody but the subjects of these biographies would + seek them "with avidity," and he made these plausible, bombastic assertions to excuse + himself for having sprung such a trap on an unsuspecting public. That he tries to + palliate the offence is, sufficient proof of his guilt.</p> + <p>Mark what he says about the "splendidly illustrated" portion of his book. "It will + be a source of satisfaction to the reader," says he, "that the engravings of + individuals who adorn this work are not drawn by the flighty imagination from airy + nothingness, but represent the lineaments of men," etc. "Airy nothingness" is + refreshing!</p> + <p>Part II, also, is almost wholly devoted to biographies, one batch being introduced + with this sage remark: "Biography is the most important feature of history; for the + record of the lives of individuals appears to be invested with more vitality and + interest than the dry details of general historical narrative." Q.E.D.—of + course. With Part III we reach the history of St. Louis, contained in one hundred and + eighty pages, and worth more or less as a history. Then come one hundred and seventy + pages more of biographies, an appendix of fifteen pages, and about thirty pages of + views of manufacturing establishments. And this book is called The Great West. No + further comment seems necessary.</p> + <a name="page317" id="page317"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 317]</span> + <p>Of all the many rich and racy things the writer has run across in his explorations + in the literature of American cities, the richest and raciest is a book called St. + Louis: The Future Great City of the World, by L.U. Reavis. The very title-page gives + an inkling of the nature of the contents by its motto, savoring somewhat of cant: + "Henceforth St. Louis must be viewed in the light of the future—her mightiness + in the empire of the world—her sway in the rule of states and nations." This + book, strangely enough, was "published by order of the St Louis County Court," in + 1870, on the petition of forty-five of the leading citizens and firms of the city, + who were represented before the court by a committee headed by Captain James B. Eads, + the renowned engineer, and containing one captain, five honorables, and two esquires. + The first edition consisted of one hundred and six pages, which were as vainglorious + and boastful, as crowded with laudatory adjectives, glowing periods, and bombastic + prophecies, as ever one hundred and six published pages were.</p> + <p>However, it evidently suited the St. Louis palate, for a second edition bears date + of the same year, and in 1871 a third appeared in a considerably enlarged form. This + last one is the most interesting, for it contains a preface and a finis which for + pure, undiluted presumption have never been excelled. The former is entitled + "Explanatory," and is worth quoting entire: "A presentation of Causes in Nature and + Civilization which, in their reciprocal action tend to fix the position of the FUTURE + GREAT CITY OF THE WORLD in the central plain of North America, showing that the + centre of the world's commerce and civilization will, in less than one hundred years, + be organized and represented in the Mississippi Valley, and by St. Louis, occupying + as she does the most favored position on the continent and the Great River; also a + complete representation of the great railway system of St. Louis, showing that in + less than ten years she will be the greatest railway centre in the world." Even the + most arrogant citizen of St. Louis would hardly have the boldness to maintain that + ten years after this prophecy was made, in 1881, St. Louis was "the greatest railway + centre in the world," or even that she was one of the greatest. As to the one-hundred + years prophecy nothing can as yet be affirmed, for it has eighty-seven years more to + run, but if the last thirteen can be taken as a criterion, St. Louis has a big + contract on her hands.</p> + <p>The last page is the most curious in the book, and in its way is certainly unique. + It is called "A Closing Word," and, being printed in italics, has an air of emphasis + and force peculiarly appropriate. The author begins: "Thus have I written a new + record—a new prophecy of a city central to a continent of resources;" and so he + goes on for half a page of ridiculous bombast until he finishes the climax of + epithets by calling this "the Apocalyptic City—</p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="line"> + 'The New Jerusalem, the ancient seer + </div> + <div class="line"> + Of Patmos saw.' + </div> + </div> + <p>"All hail! mistress of nations and beautiful queen of civilization! I view thee in + the light of thy destiny. Thou art transfigured before me from thy present state to + one infinitely more grand, and which overshadows and dwarfs all civic forms in + history.</p> + <a name="page318" id="page318"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 318]</span> + <p>"The influence of thy empire will pervade the world with invisible and electric + force. Yet, vivifying and benignant capital,—emporium of trade and industry, + seat of learning and best-applied labor, pivotal point in history, supreme and superb + city of all lands,—I behold thy majesty from afar, and salute thee reverently + as the consummation of all that the best human energies can accomplish for the + elevation and happiness of our race.</p> + <p>"All hail! Future Great City of the World, and 'Glory to God in the Highest and on + Earth Peace, Goodwill toward Men.'"</p> + <p>This reminds one equally of Walt Whitman and Artemas Ward. Yet it is not + burlesque. It appears to have been written in good faith, and for this reason the + incongruity of such a grandiloquent rhapsody on such a prosaic subject is all the + more noticeable. As an example of "fine writing" it has seldom been surpassed, and + for sheer nonsense it is unequaled in American literature.</p> + <p>These books on St. Louis call to mind a history of Milwaukee of a somewhat similar + nature—similar in its magnificent pretensions to the last-described work, and + in its biographical characteristics to Edwards's Great West. The book referred to was + published in Chicago, in 1881, by the Western Historical Company, A.T. Andreas, + proprietor. Holy Herodotus! To think of history becoming a thing of + "companies"—on a par with life insurance, railroads, gas-works, and cotton + factories! And an "historical company" with a proprietor, too!</p> + <p>But let us look into this monumental tome. (Do not think that adjective + hyperbolical, for surely monumental is not too strong a word to describe a book which + would just about balance in weight an unabridged dictionary.) Some idea of the + immensity of the undertaking can be obtained when, as the preface says, "it is known + that nearly one year's time was consumed and an average force of twenty-five men + employed in the labor of obtaining information and preparing the manuscript for the + printer's hands. The result of this vast effort is the presentation of a History + which stands unparalleled in the experience of publishers." The book is a quarto and + contains sixteen hundred and sixty-three pages. The letter-press is unexceptionable; + each page is surrounded by a neat border; the paper is good; the binding is + excellent.</p> + <p>And yet the actual history of this city dates back little more than half a + century—not a lifetime. Here is history with a vengeance! The riddle, however, + is solved the instant we glance over the pages, for we find the mass of the book made + up of biographies,—biographies in front, biographies to the right, biographies + to the left, everywhere biographies,—to the grand sum total of nearly four + thousand. A book much like this would have been made had the Crown published the + Giant Petition trundled into Parliament on a wheelbarrow in the times of George the + Third, when Lord George Gordon was the hero of the day. About as valuable, about as + readable, about as bulky, about as good for kindling fires!</p> + <a name="page319" id="page319"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 319]</span> + <p>But let the perpetrator plead his cause in his own words—and it must be + conceded he does it well. "The plan of the History of the city of Milwaukee, which is + herewith presented to the public," he says in his preface, "possesses the merit of + originality. It is based upon the fact that in all older regions, a serious + deficiency exists even in the most exhaustive histories which it is possible now to + compile through the absence of personal and detailed records of pioneer men and + deeds. The primary design of this work is to preserve for future historians as + complete an encyclopædia of early events in Milwaukee, and the actors therein, + as patient labor and unstinted financial expenditure can procure."</p> + <p>We thank the Western Historical Company, or Mr. Andreas, for this benevolent and + philanthropic spirit, but really he must not expect us to believe that pecuniary + profit is only a <i>secondary</i> design of this work. But supposing for a moment + that the primary design was as philanthropic and unselfish as Mr. Andreas would have + us think, let us consider its worth; for, if we grant this premise, we must admit the + truth of the conclusion reached, and then must give unstinted praise to the fruits of + such a conclusion, a volume like the one before us. But the premise is specious and + false. The deficiency that exists through the absence of personal and detailed + records of <i>pioneer</i> men and deeds is not serious: on the contrary, in most + cases, we should be devoutly thankful that it exists. Of the generations after that + of the pioneers we would know much; of that of the pioneers themselves, something. + But who is there, or will there be, that cares a picayune whether the third cobbler + in Milwaukee (this history would call him the third manufacturer of shoes) was born + in April or June, 1806, or whether he came from Tipperary or Heidelberg, or whether + his wife died of the pneumonia or the whooping-cough? To be sure we would be glad to + know whether the early settlers of Milwaukee were mainly young or mainly old when + they came here, whether they were mainly German or Irish, and what where the + prevalent diseases in different localities at an early period, but to ask an + intelligent being to wade through nearly four thousand "personal histories" in order + ascertain these facts is, to say the least, somewhat of an imposition on his good + nature.</p> + <p>Later on in his preface the author contradicts himself in this regard, for he + shows us how far from philanthropic were the publisher's motives and how little he + thought of posterity in inserting these biographies, by writing the following + well-turned and suggestive sentences: "It may be asked, Why have the biographical + sketches of comparatively obscure men been inserted? The reasons are obvious to + business men and should be to all. None but citizens are represented. Whatever + Milwaukee is her citizens have made her. Shall the publisher exercise a power higher + than the law, and erect a caste distinction or estimate each man's work from some + fictitious standard of his own? Assuredly not. If, in the preparation of this work, a + citizen has shown commendable pride, and aided its publisher by his patronage, he is + entitled to mention in its pages. Such men and women have received a sketch, but the + fact of pecuniary assistance has not biased the character of the book."</p> + <a name="page320" id="page320"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 320]</span> + <p>This is a very specious attempt to throw a glamour of respectability over a very + unpleasant and repugnant fact, namely: that a mass of "biographical sketches of + comparatively obscure men" has been given to the public under the guise of a history + of a city, with the sole object of making money. It is indeed consoling to know that + "none but citizens have been represented," but why this statement should be coupled + with the platitude that follows it would be hard to say. And then the utter + ridiculousness of the nonsense about the publisher exercising a power higher than the + law and erecting a caste distinction! "What fools these mortals be!"</p> + <p>But whatever may be said of the historical value of such books as the above, there + can be little doubt that they are remunerative business enterprises, for the country + has of late years been flooded with them. Perhaps we ought to be thankful for any + history at all of these new Western cities, even though the wheat therein be so + scarce and the chaff so plenty. The prevalence of this same affliction—the + biographical history—in literary New England seems more anomalous than it does + in the West, but it is even more widespread. A fair type of the Eastern species is + the Quarter-Centennial History of Lawrence, Massachusetts, compiled by H.A. + Wadsworth, in 1878. It contained seventy-five very poor wood-engravings, called + portraits by courtesy, which, with the accompanying biographies, were inserted to + represent the leading (?) men of the city at an entrance fee of five or ten dollars + apiece.</p> + <p>Next in number below the biographical histories, but far above them in value, come + what may be called the chronological histories, that is, those which make little or + no attempt to group the important facts of a city's history in homogeneous chapters, + but which, diary-like, give all facts, important as well as insignificant, in the + order of their occurrence. Fortunately most local historians of this sect have made + more or less attempt at bringing like to like, although they have generally preserved + the purely chronological order within their groups, whether these be of subjects or + periods. Among the histories of the larger cities, Scharf's Chronicles of Baltimore + comes to mind as typical of this class. This work, published in 1874, is an octavo of + seven hundred and fifty-six pages. The author tells the truth when he says in his + preface: "The only plan in the work that has been followed has been to chronicle + events through the years in their order; beginning with the earliest in which any + knowledge on the subject is embraced, and running on down to the present." The book + is printed "solid," with not a single chapter-heading from one end to the other, so + it is not strange that it contains such an immense amount of material.</p> + <p>The great fault of this book, as of all books of this class, is the lack of the + proper classification, the scholarly reflection and comment, the thoughtful contrast + and comparison, the exercise of intelligent judgment in forming + conclusions,—all which are necessary to make history palatable, not to say + valuable. Nowhere is this lack shown more forcibly than in this book in the treatment + of the subject of riots and mob violence. It may not be generally known, especially + among the younger portion of the community, that no American and but few European + cities have such an unenviable and disgraceful record on this head as Baltimore. The + accounts of its riots remind one too forcibly of the worst days of the French + Revolution, and all of them read more like the incidents so plentiful in the + sensational stories of the day, than like the cold, dispassionate record of history. + And this, mind you, is the record of a city famed far more for monuments, + pleasure-grounds, and beautiful women, than for lawlessness and sans-culottism, a + city proud of its families and its culture, a city one of the oldest and richest in + the land. However unpleasant it may be to look at the black side of such a city's + history, yet the study must be profitable if by it we Americans, proud of our + tolerance and our humanity, jealous of aught past or present that may blot our + escutcheon, wondering at and scornfully pitying nations that could have had Lord + George Gordon riots and blood-thirsty land-leagues, a reign of terror and a + commune,—if we may learn not to be quite so arrogant in our righteousness, + quite so boastful in our Pharisaism; if we may learn how much reason we of the New + World have to bear in mind, when we read about the past and present of the Old World, + the divine command: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at + her."</p> + <a name="page321" id="page321"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 321]</span> + <p>Yet Scharf gives merely the bare details of these, the most vivid scenes in + Baltimore's history, and goes little into causes or results, leaving us almost wholly + in the dark as to how a civilized city in the most enlightened country on earth could + have grafted on its history such anomalous things as these riots. This feature of + Baltimore's history seems to us to be the feature most peculiar to itself, and, + therefore, like that feature of a human face peculiar to the person we are studying, + the most interesting; but our historian gives it no distinctive treatment, puts no + emphasis on it, forces the reader to compare, contrast, account for, explain, and + draw conclusions for himself. That he should slide over this side of Baltimore's + history would be natural enough, but of this he cannot be accused. His treatment of + this subject is characteristic of the whole book.</p> + <p>As a good example of an even more disappointing type of chronological histories we + may take the History of Lynn, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, by + Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall, an octavo of six hundred and twenty pages, + published in 1865. The book seems to have been condensed from a series of very poor + diaries, and the mass of detail under the year-headings is ridiculous in its + minuteness and laughable in its absurdity. Every year has its paragraphic entries, + more or less full. The narrative of one year may here be quoted to show the nature of + the whole, and, for that matter, the nature of fifty similar town histories.</p> + <blockquote> + 1758. "Thomas Mansfield, Esquire, was thrown from his horse on Friday, January 6, + and died the next Sunday. + </blockquote> + <blockquote> + "A company of soldiers, from Lynn, marched for Canada, on the twenty-third of May. + Edmund Ingalls and Samuel Mudge were killed. + </blockquote> + <blockquote> + "In a thunder-shower, on the fourth of August, an ox belonging to Mr. Henry Silsbee + was killed by lightning. + </blockquote> + <blockquote> + "A sloop from Lynn, commanded by Captain Ralph Lindsay, was cast away on the + fifteenth of August, near Portsmouth." + </blockquote> + <p>In this pretended "History," the whole of the eighteenth century receives but + sixty-two pages, and that part of the nineteenth which had elapsed at the time of + publication receives only one hundred and seventeen. In the latter an average entry + is the following, under date of 1856:—</p> + <a name="page322" id="page322"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 322]</span> + <blockquote> + "Patrick Buckley, the 'Lynn Buck,' ran five miles in twenty-eight minutes and + thirty-eight seconds, at the Trotting Park, for a belt valued at fifty dollars. And + on the fourth of December, William Hendley ran the same distance in twenty-eight + minutes and thirty seconds." + </blockquote> + <p>The "Lynn Buck," seems to have been an important personage in those days, for we + read under date of 1858:—</p> + <blockquote> + "The 'Lynn Buck,' so called, walked a plank at Lowell, in February, a hundred and + five consecutive hours and forty-four minutes, and with but twenty-nine minutes' + rest. A strict watch was kept on him." + </blockquote> + <p>We are very glad to know about the "strict watch," but really it was too bad of + the authors not to let us know if those forty-four minutes, also, were not + consecutive. They might, too, have told us to advantage something about the <i>modus + operandi</i> of "walking a plank." It has been the general impression that the man + who walks a plank performs the operation in an unpleasant hurry—unpleasant for + him; and that he will take all the rest he can get—before he begins; and that + he has an eternal rest, or unrest, after he has finished. But perhaps this has been a + wrong impression. If the authors are alive, it is due to the public that they should + rise and explain.</p> + <p>Enough of pleasantry. Let us examine the book with serious mind, if we can. + Everybody knows that shoes have been the making of Lynn, that they are and have been + for years the backbone of its prosperity, the life of its business. To say that Lynn + is the greatest shoe-manufacturing city in the country, and, for that matter, in the + world, may be an exaggeration, but it is a very common one. In a history of Lynn we + might expect this fact to be at least recognized. Let us see how that is in the + present case.</p> + <p>The shoe business was not unknown in Lynn before 1750, but in that year it first + got a firm footing here. So we are not surprised to find the fact mentioned, but we + are somewhat disappointed to find only half a page given to it. Beyond this, mention + of the shoe trade in the last century is very slight, as, no doubt, was the trade + itself. Since 1800, however, the trade has been rapidly increasing, and has gradually + assumed enormous proportions. Yet in this precious volume we find the subject + mentioned just once in the chronological annals, <i>three lines</i> being devoted to + it under the head of 1810: "It appeared, by careful estimation, that there were made + in Lynn, this year, one million pairs of shoes, valued at eight hundred thousand + dollars. The females (!) earned some fifty thousand dollars by binding." To be sure, + the burning of two shoe factories received, respectively, two and three lines; the + formation of an ineffective board of trade by shoemakers, ten lines; and of an + equally fruitless union by journeymen shoemakers, ten lines. A page and a quarter + (<i>mirabile dictu</i>) is devoted to a shoemakers' strike with no definite result. + In a biography, the connection of its subject with the shoe business is mentioned in + a quoted letter. A quick job by a shoemaker receives six lines, and one by another, + four; and the death of a third is mentioned.</p> + <a name="page323" id="page323"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 323]</span> + <p>In an appendix the state of the shoe business in 1864 is discussed at length in a + third of a half-page! All we learn from it is that by the State returns in the year + ending June 1, 1833, there were made 9,275,593 pairs of shoes valued at $4,165,529. + In the year ending September 1, 1864, about ten million pairs of shoes were made, + valued at fourteen million dollars (probably paper, not gold, value), and the number + of shoe manufacturers was 174; of men and women employed, 17,173. As the total + population of Lynn at that time was little if anything over twenty-three thousand, it + will be seen that even these figures are untrustworthy, or else the shoe business + played even a greater part in Lynn affairs than is generally supposed.</p> + <p>And this is all the mention to be found in a History of Lynn concerning the + backbone of the city—that great industry to which it almost wholly owed its + population of 38,274 in 1880. Can any one maintain that this sort of a book is a + history?</p> + <p>And so we might go on, finding history after history of the towns and cities + scattered through New England and the Middle States, most of them on a par with those + last mentioned, in all styles of print and binding, some decrepit and musty with age, + others fresh and enticing, with gaudy covers and scores of illustrations; some like + Sewall's History of Woburn with no table of contents or index, and so practically + useless; a few like Staples's Annals of Providence, scholarly and creditable; yet + none of them ideal histories. But occasionally we meet an oasis in this vast waste, + and though it may not be a paradise, yet we are too grateful for the water that + nourishes the palms and the grass, that refreshes our parched mouths and wearied + bodies, to think that in other climes we might call it brackish and unclean.</p> + <p>Such is the effect that the History of Pittsfield, Massachusetts has on us. Here + is a book that might well be taken as a standard by town historians. The very history + of the History will show its merits.</p> + <p>At a town meeting held in the Town Hall, in Pittsfield, August 25, 1866, so the + preface says, Mr. Thomas Allen rose, and stated that on the centennial of the First + Congregational Church and parish, namely, April 18, 1864, he had been requested by a + vote of the parish to prepare an historical memoir of that parish and church, + embodying substantially, but extending, the remarks he made at that meeting. He + stated that, in looking over the records of the town and parish, he found them + intimately connected, so that a history of the one would also be a history of the + other; and he had found the history of the town highly interesting, and honorable to + its inhabitants. True, there were no classic fields in Pittsfield, consecrated by + patriotic blood spilled in battle in defence of the country, as in Lexington and + Concord, simply because no foreign foe in arms ever invaded its soil; but it was not + the less true that Pittsfield had always promptly performed her part, and furnished + her quota of men and means, in every war waged in defence of the country and the + Union; and that in the intellectual contests through which the just principles of + republican government, and civil and religious freedom, have been established in this + country, the men of Pittsfield, on their own ground and elsewhere, have ever borne a + part creditable alike to their wisdom, their sagacity, and their patriotism. + Pittsfield, therefore, had a history which deserved to be written. The first settlers + had all passed away; and their immediate descendants, witnesses of their earlier + struggles, were whitening with the frosts of age, and were also rapidly disappearing. + If the records of their history were to be gathered together, and preserved in a + durable form, it was time that the duty be undertaken. He was satisfied that an + honorable record would appear, and worthy of the place to which God had given so much + that is beautiful in nature.</p> + <a name="page324" id="page324"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 324]</span> + <p>These remarks were so sensible, their spirit was so noble, their form so forcible, + that at once a committee of five was appointed to compile, write, and supervise the + publication of a history of the town, and an appropriation was made to defray the + expense. This committee chose Mr. J.E.A. Smith to aid them, and, according to the + title-page, he compiled and wrote the book under their general direction. It was + published in two octavo volumes: the first contained five hundred and eighteen pages, + and appeared in 1868, bringing the history from 1734 down to 1800; the second, + containing seven hundred and twenty-five pages, was not published until eight years + later. The second volume brought the history down to date, and with the first formed + an unbroken, readable narrative, written in perhaps as good a style as town history + could warrant us in expecting. Not the least deserving of praise are the indexes, the + lack of which found in most books of the sort does more to lower their value than any + other defect. The man who writes a history without indexing it thereby shows his + utter lack of the most essential requisite in an historian—a knowledge of the + art of codification. He also calls down upon his head the curses of every student who + tries to use his book.</p> + <p>An abundance of illustrations is not rare enough in town histories to merit + applause, but they are so seldom worth looking at that the presence of such admirable + ones as we find here attracts more than passing notice. If American art were to be + judged by the generality of such illustrations, we would do well to say as little as + possible about the slurs and sneers of foreign critics. In such case silence would be + the better plan.</p> + <p>The preface to the second volume contained the following suggestive + sentences:—</p> + <blockquote> + "The original plan of the work was to make the earlier portions more full than the + later: indeed, to give but a brief skeleton of recent affairs: it being exceedingly + difficult to make contemporary history satisfactory to those who have taken part in + it. We have, in a few instances, departed from this course, for reasons which will + suggest themselves to the reader." + </blockquote> + <p>In these sentences may be found the germ of almost the only idea in the making of + this truly admirable book which deserves severe criticism, and most certainly the + severest condemnation should be given to this and all similar ideas. The notion that + history should be written in a way that will be <i>satisfactory</i> to those engaged + in it is radically wrong, unless perchance by a <i>satisfactory</i> way is meant a + way that in point of truth, accuracy, and fulness, will suit those who have a more or + less personal share in the events to be recorded. But here it is evident that the + word has not this meaning, or at least has a great deal more than this meaning. In + this connection it seems to be a euphemism for <i>pleasant</i>. Certainly no one will + dispute that an historian of contemporary events would find very difficult even the + attempt to make his work pleasant to his contemporaries. It is the endeavor to do + this which has vitiated all the histories so far written of the late Civil War. The + same principle made Thiers's French Revolution an almost worthless book as a history. + To come down to lesser things, the same principle underlying and pervading all + American local histories has done more toward making them worthless than any other + single defect. In the name of truth and justice we ask, "Why should the writing of + history be made satisfactory, pleasant, to those who aid in the making of it?" We + want the <i>truth</i> about the near, as well as the far, past. Let us do unto our + descendants as we would that our ancestors had done by us, and tell them the truth + about ourselves.</p> + <a name="page325" id="page325"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 325]</span> + <p>Perhaps we ought to be more lenient in the case of this history of Pittsfield, in + consideration of the fact that this was a <i>public</i> work, and, therefore, more + caution had to be exercised than we would otherwise have expected. Of course no + employee would like to displease even a single member of the corporation that + employed him. Possibly the same argument might be raised in defence of any historian, + in that the public is virtually his employer. Here, however, reasoning by analogy + fails, for the public is a very large body, and will seldom take up the cudgel in + defence of any single individual. This is a question, however, which should be + settled on the ground of right, not of expediency. But even if the right be left out + of account, the expedient in this case is not necessarily opposed to truth and + accuracy. This is well shown by the phenomenal success of The Memorial History of + Boston, mentioned above. It may be well just here to say a little more about this + admirable work, for it is even more typical of what an ideal city history should be, + than that of Pittsfield is of the ideal town history.</p> + <p>From the title-page we learn that The Memorial History of Boston, including + Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, was edited by Justin Winsor, and issued + under the business superintendence of the projector, Clarence F. Jewett, in 1880. The + nature of the book is learned from the preface, which says: "The history is cast on a + novel plan: not so much in being a work of co-operation, but because, so far as could + be, the several themes, as sections of one homogeneous whole, have been treated by + those who have some particular association and, it may be, long acquaintance with the + subject. In the diversity of authors there will, of course, be variety of opinions, + and it has not been thought ill-judged, considering the different points of view + assumed by the various writers, that the same events should be interpreted sometimes + in varying and, perhaps, opposite ways. The chapters may thus make good the poet's + description:</p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="line"> + 'Distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea,'— + </div> + </div> + <p>and may not be the worse for each offering a reflection, according to its turn to + the light, without marring the unity of the general expanse."</p> + <p>Among those who contributed one or more chapters to this work were Justin Winsor + (the editor), Charles Francis Adams, Jr., R.C. Winthrop, T.W. Higginson, Edward + Everett Hale, H.E. Scudder, F.W. Palfrey, Phillips Brooks, Andrew P. Peabody, Henry + Cabot Lodge, Josiah P. Quincy, and Edward Atkinson. Such names as these are more than + enough to insure the truth, accuracy, and historical value of the book. Each one of + them discussed one or more topics, and then their work with that of the less famous + contributors was arranged chronologically, making a logically consecutive series of + essays complete in themselves. The whole was published in four elegantly printed + volumes, containing, in all, twenty-five hundred and seventy-seven pages.</p> + <a name="page326" id="page326"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 326]</span> + <p>This is the kind of a history which is of value, not only for immediate use, but + also for future reference; and this is the kind that gladdens the heart and cheers + the labors of the student and the writer. It is the lack of such histories which + makes incomplete and unsatisfactory such works as the one in the hands of the + government which called forth this article. For it must not be supposed that the + historical part of The Social Statistics of Cities of 1880 will be either complete in + every part or wholly satisfactory. Yet perhaps it will be complete enough to answer + its end, which is to afford an opportunity for seeing why the cities and towns + described have reached their present condition. It is on the accounts of their + present condition that the value of the work must chiefly rest.</p> + <p>To the historians in succeeding generations these accounts will be invaluable, for + they will give information about the cities as they were in the year 1880, which is + not likely to be embodied in any other permanent form. It has been shown how large a + proportion of the local histories of America have been found wanting in these things. + It is not to be expected that the immediate future will see any decided reformation. + Then it is clear of how great value to the "future historian of recent events," to + quote one of Daniel Webster's phrases, will be such work as this that has been + undertaken by the National government. It will be of so great value because, as we + can say with little exaggeration, the history of the cities is the history of the + nation. The city to-day plays a most important part in national affairs. It is, + indeed, and for aught we can see must continue to be, the Hamlet of the play. Few + people realize this. Few people know that over one fifth of the population of the + land is gathered in the large towns and cities. At the beginning of the century the + ratio of the urban population to the rural was only as one to fifteen. No reason is + apparent why the increase in the ratio should not be equally steady and rapid for + many generations. That this same change has taken place in all <i>civilized</i> + portions of the world is, in truth, most significant. In England the progress of the + cities has been in the same direction, and, as nearly as can be judged, in the same + ratio as that of wealth, learning, and happiness.</p> + <p>Call to mind what Macaulay said, nearly half a century ago, in chapter iii of his + History of England: "Great as has been the change in the rural life of England since + the Revolution (1688), the change which has come to pass in the cities is still more + amazing. At present, a sixth part of the kingdom is crowded into provincial towns of + more than thirty thousand inhabitants. In the reign of Charles II, no provincial town + in the kingdom contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and only four provincial towns + contained so many as ten thousand inhabitants." Since this was written, the change, + if not so marvelous, has been equally important.</p> + <p>As to our own country, the change can in no way be shown more clearly than by the + following table, which will be published in the Census Report:—</p> + <a name="page327" id="page327"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 327]</span> + <h3 style="font-variant: small-caps;">Table Showing The Growth Of United States + Cities From 1800 To 1880.</h3> + <table summary="Table Showing The Growth Of United States Cities From 1800 To 1840." + border="1"> + <tr> + <th> + </th> + <th colspan="2">1800</th> + <th colspan="2">1820</th> + <th colspan="2">1830</th> + <th colspan="2">1840</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Population of the United States</th> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">5,308,483</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">9,633,822</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">12,866,020</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">17,069,453</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Cities</th> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>10,000 to 49,999</th> + <td>161,134</td> + <td>.03</td> + <td>214,270</td> + <td>.021</td> + <td>316,360</td> + <td>.025</td> + <td>461,671</td> + <td>.027</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>50,000 to 99,999</th> + <td>24,945</td> + <td>.0047</td> + <td>43,997</td> + <td>.0046</td> + <td>83,960</td> + <td>.0065</td> + <td>150,682</td> + <td>.0088</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>100,000 to 499,999</th> + <td>60,989</td> + <td>.011</td> + <td>186,293</td> + <td>.019</td> + <td>278,067</td> + <td>.021</td> + <td>504,016</td> + <td>.029</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Over 500,000</th> + <td>104,113</td> + <td>.019</td> + <td>194,683</td> + <td>.02</td> + <td>289,980</td> + <td>.0225</td> + <td>447,078</td> + <td>.025</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Grand total</th> + <td>351,181</td> + <td>.068</td> + <td>639,243</td> + <td>.069</td> + <td>968,367</td> + <td>.075</td> + <td>1,563,487</td> + <td>.091</td> + </tr> + </table> + <br /> + + <table summary="Table Showing The Growth Of United States Cities From 1850 To 1880." + border="1"> + <tr> + <th> + </th> + <th colspan="2">1850</th> + <th colspan="2">1860</th> + <th colspan="2">1870</th> + <th colspan="2">1880</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Population of the United States</th> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">23,191,876</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">31,433,321</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">38,558,783</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">50,155,783</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Cities</th> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>10,000 to 49,999</th> + <td>990,080</td> + <td>.043</td> + <td>1,654,183</td> + <td>.052</td> + <td>2,526,432</td> + <td>.066</td> + <td>3,479,658</td> + <td>.069</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>50,000 to 99,999</th> + <td>314,182</td> + <td>.013</td> + <td>446,575</td> + <td>.014</td> + <td>676,990</td> + <td>.017</td> + <td>947,918</td> + <td>.019</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>100,000 to 499,999</th> + <td>933,039</td> + <td>.04</td> + <td>1,483,472</td> + <td>.047</td> + <td>2,302,961</td> + <td>.059</td> + <td>3,087,592</td> + <td>.06</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Over 500,000</th> + <td>763,724</td> + <td>.033</td> + <td>1,750,020</td> + <td>.055</td> + <td>2,311,410</td> + <td>.06</td> + <td>3,123,317</td> + <td>.062</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Grand total</th> + <td>3,001,025</td> + <td>.13</td> + <td>5,334,250</td> + <td>.17</td> + <td>7,817,793</td> + <td>.20</td> + <td>10,638,485</td> + <td>.21</td> + </tr> + </table> + <p>The city is not only the growing centre of a growing nation—it is also the + centre of all intellectual growth. The city is the home of the bar, the hospital, the + press, the church, and the state. The city is the outcome of civilization, for it is + the product of commerce and manufactures, and these mean civilization.</p> + <p>Then if any history be of value, if the record of the past be of any use in + guiding the present and helping toward the future, surely the history of the city is + the most important of all history.</p> + <a name="page328" id="page328"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 328]</span> + <h2>PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT.</h2> + <blockquote> + <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">A Short History Of Our Own Times.</span> By + Justin McCarthy, M.P. One volume, pp. 448. Harper and Brothers: New York. 1884. + </blockquote> + <p>The brilliant History of Our Own Times, in two volumes, by the same author, and + published four years ago, has now been presented to the public in a reduced size. + While it was necessary to leave out many of the striking and rhetorical passages in + the process of condensation, which formed so pleasing a portion in the larger work, + the strictly historical matter remains unchanged. His history, beginning with the + accession of Queen Victoria, in 1837, and extending to the general election, in 1880, + the date of the appointment of the Honorable W.E. Gladstone to the premiership of + England, covers a period of intense interest, and with which every intelligent person + should be familiar. Mr. McCarthy's work is destined to be, for some time to come, the + standard account of English affairs for the last fifty years.</p> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <p>One of the most valuable reference works of recent publication is The Epitome of + Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern History. By Carl Ploetz. Translated from the + German, with extensive additions, by William H. Tillinghast, of the Harvard + University library. One volume. pp. 618. Houghton, Mifflin, and Company: Boston. + 1884.</p> + <p>The author of the original work, Professor Doctor Carl Ploetz, is well known in + Germany as a veteran teacher and writer of educational books which have a high + reputation, excellence, and authority. With regard to the present work, it should be + observed that it has passed through seven editions in Germany. As a book of + reference, either for the student or the general reader, its tested usefulness is a + sufficient guaranty for its wide adoption in the present enlarged form. The scope of + The Epitome may be summarized as follows: Universal history is first treated by + dividing it into three periods. First, ancient history, from the earliest historical + information to the year 375 A.D. Second, mediæval, from that date to the + discovery of America, in 1492. Third, modern history, from the last date to the year + 1883.</p> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <p>We have received from the author, the Honorable Samuel Abbott Green, M.D., a + pamphlet entitled "Notes on a Copy of Dr. William Douglass's Almanack for 1743, + touching on the subject of medicine in Massachusetts before his time." It is + specially interesting to the members of the medical fraternity, as well as to + antiquaries.</p> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <p><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Correction.</span>—The article upon + Lovewell's fight at Pigwacket, printed in the February number of the Bay State (page + 83), contained a trifling error, but one which deserves correction. It is stated that + the township of land with which the General Court, in 1774, rewarded the services of + the troops under Lovewell, was subsequently divided, forming the towns of Lovell and + New Sweden. The mistake was upon the name of the latter town. It should have been + written Sweden. New Sweden is the recent Swedish colony of Aroostook County.</p> + <p style="text-align: right;">I.B.C.</p> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <a name="page329" id="page329"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 329]</span> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image4_full.png"><img src="images/image4_thumbnail.png" + alt="Boar's Head House" /></a> + <p>Boar's Head House</p> + </div> + <p>From the eastern end of Long Island, toward the west and south, extends a dreary + monotony of sandbeach along the whole Atlantic coast, to the extreme southern cape of + Florida, thence along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the Rio Grande, broken only + by occasional inlets. The picturesque coast scenery is mostly north and east of Cape + Cod. Following along the seaboard from Cape Ann, one comes, a few miles north of the + mouth of the Merrimack River, in view of a bold promontory extending into the waters + of the Atlantic, and aptly named, in years agone, Boar's Head.</p> + <p>The traveler in search of a delightful seaside resort for the summer need go no + further. For here, amidst the most charming of marine scenery, that veteran landlord + and genial host, Stebbins H. Dumas, has erected, for the benefit of the public, a + hotel, spacious, well appointed, and ably conducted; inviting and especially + homelike; every room commanding a view of the ocean.</p> + <a name="page330" id="page330"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 330]</span> + <p>Boar's Head is a promontory; its level summit of about a dozen acres, sixty feet + above the highest tide, clothed in the greenest verdure. It is in the form of a + triangle, the cliffs on two sides of which are lashed by the waves of the restless + ocean; while toward the main, the land falls away gently to the level of the marshes. + The hotel is situate on the crest of this incline. From the veranda, which commands + the landward view, the prospect is wide and pleasing. To the north trends Hampton + Beach in a long sweep to Little Boar's Head and the shores of Rye and Newcastle; + inland are broad stretches of salt marsh, its surface interwoven with the silver + ribbon of the creek and stream; beyond are glimpses of restful rustic scenes, + improved by near approach; spires pointing heavenward from all the peaceful villages, + and, further away, Agamenticus and the granite hills of New England; to the south, + the beach runs on toward Salisbury and Newburyport. But the great view from Boar's + Head is from the ocean apex of the promontory. Here, beneath the grateful shade of an + awning, with the waves breaking rythmically at the foot of the cliff far beneath, one + can sit and ponder on the immensity of the ocean and dream of the lands beyond the + horizon. From here the whole seaboard, from Thatcher's Island to York and Wells, is + in view; the Isles of Shoals loom up on the horizon, while the offing is dotted with + coasters and yachts of every rig and construction. Calm, indeed, must it be when no + wind is felt on Boar's Head; and during those exceptional days of the summer, when + the land-breeze prevails, the broad verandas around three sides of the hotel afford + the most grateful shade. The broad acres between the house and the bluff is a lawn + for the use of the guests, where croquet and tennis may be highly enjoyed in the + invigorating ocean air.</p> + <p>During the evening, when the atmosphere is clear, there are visible from the Head + thirteen lighthouses. When the shades of night and the dew have driven the guests to + seek shelter within doors, the great parlor affords to the young people ample room + for the cotillion or German, while the reception-room, office, and reading-room lure + the seniors to whist or magazines. Of a Sunday, the dining-room answers for a chapel; + and in years past, the voice of many an eloquent preacher has echoed through the + room, and reached, through the open windows, hardy but devout fishermen on the + outside.</p> + <p>These same fishermen bring great codfish from the outlying shoals, delicious clams + from the flats, canvas-back duck, and teal, and yellow-leg plovers from the marshes, + to tempt the delicate appetite of the valetudinarian.</p> + <p>Boar's Head is on the seacoast of the old town of Hampton, in the State of New + Hampshire. Taking a team from Mr. Dumas' well-stocked stable, one will find the most + delightful drives, extending in all directions through the ancient borough. The roads + follow curves, like the drives in Central Park, and two centuries and a half of wear + have rendered them as solid and firm as if macadamized. Three short miles from the + hotel is the station of Hampton, on the Eastern Railroad, by which many trains pass + daily.</p> + <a name="page331" id="page331"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 331]</span> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image5_full.png"><img src="images/image5_thumbnail.png" alt="" /> + </a> + </div> + <p>For the historical student the region affords much of interest. Here, in the + village of Hampton, in the year 1638, in the month of October, settled the Reverend + Stephen Batchelder [Bachiler] and his followers, intent to serve God in their own way + and establish homes in the wilderness. The river and adjoining country was then known + as Winnicunnett. The settlers, for the most part, came from Norfolk, England, and so + desirable did they find their adopted home that many descendants of the original + grantees occupy to-day the land opened and cleared by their ancestors. In this town, + in 1657, settled Ebenezer Webster, the direct progenitor of the Great Expounder, and + here the family remained for several generations.</p> + <p>Within the limits of the old township, which was bounded on the south by the + present Massachusetts line, on the north by Portsmouth and Exeter, and extended ten + miles inland, were included the territory of some half dozen of the adjoining + townships of to-day. Here lived Meshach Weare, who guided the New Hampshire ship of + state through the troublous times of the Revolution. Over yonder, near the site of + the first log meeting-house, is pointed out the gambrel-roofed house of General + Jonathan Moulton, the great land-owner. He it was, in the good old colony days, who + drove a very large and fat ox from his township of Moultonborough, and delivered it + to the jovial Governor Wentworth as a present to his excellency, and said there was + nothing to pay. When the governor insisted on making some return, General Moulton + informed him that there was an ungranted gore of land adjoining his earlier grant + which he would accept. In this manner he came into possession of the town of New + Hampton—a very ample return for the ox; at least, so asserts tradition.</p> + <p>Colonel Christopher Toppan, in those early days, was largely engaged in + ship-building. For many years the people of Hampton were employed in domestic and + foreign commerce, and it was not until the advent of the railroad that Hampton + surrendered its dreams of commercial aggrandizement.</p> + <a name="page332" id="page332"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 332]</span> + <p>One road leads up the coast to Rye and Portsmouth; another, through a most + charming country, to Exeter; another, to Salisbury and Newburyport, and many others + inland in every direction.</p> + <p>Boar's Head is the best base from which to operate to rediscover the whole + adjoining territory.</p> + <p>The first house on the Head was built, in 1808, by Daniel Lamprey, whose son, + Jeremiah Lamprey, began to entertain guests about 1820. The first public house in the + vicinity, a part of the present Boar's Head House, was built, in 1826, by David Nudd + and associates. From them it came, in 1865, into the possession of Stebbins Hitchcock + Dumas, who, nineteen years before, had commenced hotel life at the Phenix, in + Concord. Under Mr. Dumas' management the house has grown steadily in size as well as + in popularity, until to-day it ranks as one of the great seaside caravansaries of the + Atlantic coast.</p> + <p>When a fisherman in his wanderings through the forest discovers a pond or stream + well stocked with sparkling trout, he keeps his information to himself, and + frequently revisits his treasure. So is it apt to be with the tourist and + pleasure-seeker. Here, season after season, have appeared the same men and the same + families—noticeably those who appreciate a table supplied with every delicacy + of the season, served up in the most tempting manner.</p> + <p>Has the guest a desire to compete with the fishermen, he is furnished every + convenience, and by a basket of fish "expressed" to some distant friend can + demonstrate his piscatorial powers. On the favoring beach, hard by the hotel, are + bathhouses where one can prepare to sport in the refreshing billows. The halls and + rooms of the hotel were built before those days when those who resort to the seabeach + were expected to be accommodated within the area of their Saratoga trunks. Spacious, + comfortably furnished, each opening on a view of the ocean, the rooms of the hotel + are very attractive and pleasing.</p> + <p>The hotel is opened for the reception of the public early in June, and remains + open into October, before the last guest departs.</p> + <p>The gentle poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, thus writes of Hampton Beach:—</p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + "I sit alone: in foam and spray + </div> + <div class="line"> + Wave after wave + </div> + <div class="line"> + Breaks on the rocks.—which, stern and gray, + </div> + <div class="line"> + Shoulder the broken tide away,— + </div> + <div class="line"> + Or murmurs hoarse and strong through mossy cleft and cave. + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + "What heed I of the dusty land + </div> + <div class="line"> + And noisy town? + </div> + <div class="line"> + I see the mighty deep expand + </div> + <div class="line"> + From its white line of glimmering sand + </div> + <div class="line"> + To where the blue of heaven on bluer waves shuts down. + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + "In listless quietude of mind + </div> + <div class="line"> + I yield to all + </div> + <div class="line"> + The change of cloud and wave and wind; + </div> + <div class="line"> + And passive, on the flood reclined, + </div> + <div class="line"> + I wander with the waves, and with them rise and fall. + </div> + </div> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + "So then, beach, bluff, and wave, farewell! + </div> + <div class="line"> + I bear with me + </div> + <div class="line"> + No token stone nor glittering shell; + </div> + <div class="line"> + But long and oft shall memory tell + </div> + <div class="line"> + Of this brief thoughtful hour of musing by the sea." + </div> + </div> + </div> + <hr class="full" /> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag1">return</a>) + <p>Memorial History of Boston, vol. i, p. 119.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag2">return</a>) + <p>Williamson's History of Belfast.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag3">return</a>) + <p>Vol. i, p. 427.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> <b>Footnote 4</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag4">return</a>) + <p>Origin, Organization, etc., of the Towns of New England.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> <b>Footnote 5</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag5">return</a>) + <p>The "lot" was the obligation to perform the public services which might fall to + the inhabitants by due rotation. "Scot" means tax.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> <b>Footnote 6</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag6">return</a>) + <p>Green's Short History of the English People, chap. ii, sec. 6.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> <b>Footnote 7</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag7">return</a>) + <p>The present rathhaus of the quaint old city of Nuremberg, built in 1619, is a + notable building, much visited by travelers. Around the wall of the hall within + runs the legend: "Eins manns red ist eine halbe red, man soll die teyl + verhören bed,"—"One man's talk is a half talk; one should hear both + sides."</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a> <b>Footnote 8</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag8">return</a>) + <p>Introduction to American Institutional History, Johns Hopkins University Studies + in Historical and Political Science.</p> + </div> + + <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13632 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/13632-h/images/image1_full.png b/13632-h/images/image1_full.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c9bd90 --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image1_full.png diff --git a/13632-h/images/image1_thumbnail.png b/13632-h/images/image1_thumbnail.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b96a023 --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image1_thumbnail.png diff --git a/13632-h/images/image2_full.png b/13632-h/images/image2_full.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0018926 --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image2_full.png diff --git a/13632-h/images/image2_thumbnail.png b/13632-h/images/image2_thumbnail.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0207a8d --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image2_thumbnail.png diff --git a/13632-h/images/image3_full.png b/13632-h/images/image3_full.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab17564 --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image3_full.png diff --git a/13632-h/images/image3_thumbnail.png b/13632-h/images/image3_thumbnail.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0356442 --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image3_thumbnail.png diff --git a/13632-h/images/image4_full.png b/13632-h/images/image4_full.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7c81aa --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image4_full.png diff --git a/13632-h/images/image4_thumbnail.png b/13632-h/images/image4_thumbnail.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c24d880 --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image4_thumbnail.png diff --git a/13632-h/images/image5_full.png b/13632-h/images/image5_full.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..91ebe8d --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image5_full.png diff --git a/13632-h/images/image5_thumbnail.png b/13632-h/images/image5_thumbnail.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..17de555 --- /dev/null +++ b/13632-h/images/image5_thumbnail.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71cb106 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13632 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13632) diff --git a/old/13632-8.txt b/old/13632-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..245c503 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13632-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4222 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 5, +May, 1884, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 5, May, 1884 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 5, 2004 [EBook #13632] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team and Cornell University + + + + + +[Illustration: Chester A. Arthur] + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +_A Massachusetts Magazine_. + +VOL. I. + +MAY, 1884. + +No. V. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by John N. +McClintock and Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at +Washington. + + * * * * * + +CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR. + +BY BEN: PERLEY POORE. + + +Chester Alan Arthur was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 5, 1830. His +father, the Reverend Doctor William Arthur, was a Baptist clergyman, who +emigrated from county Antrim, Ireland, when only eighteen years of age. +He had received a thorough classical education, and was graduated from +Belfast University, one of the foremost institutions of learning in +Ireland. Marrying an American, Miss Malvina Stone, soon after his +arrival, he became the father of several children. Chester was the +eldest of two sons, having four sisters older and two younger than +himself. While fulfilling his clerical duties as the pastor, +successively, of a number of Baptist churches in New York State, Dr. +Arthur edited for several years The Antiquarian, and wrote a work on +Family Names, which is highly prized by genealogists. Of Scotch-Irish +descent, he was a man of great force of character, impatient of +restraint, at home in a controversy, and frank in the expression of his +opinions. He was a pronounced emancipationist, although he never +expected to see the overthrow of slavery, which it was his good fortune +to witness, as his life was spared until the twenty-seventh of October, +1875, when he died at Newtonville, near Albany. He was a personal friend +of Gerrit Smith, and they had participated in the organization of the +New York State Anti-Slavery Society, which was dispersed by a mob during +its first meeting at Utica, on the twenty-first of October, 1835 (the +day on which William Lloyd Garrison was mobbed in Boston, and was lodged +in jail for his own protection). A friend of the slave from conscience +and from conviction, Dr. Arthur was never backward in expressing his +convictions, and his children imbibed his teachings. + +When a lad, young Arthur enjoyed at home the tutelage of his father, +whose thorough knowledge of the classics enabled him to lay the +foundation of his son's future education broad and deep. He entered +Union College in 1845, when only fifteen years of age. His collegiate +course was full of promise, and every successive year he was declared to +be one of those who had taken "maximum honors," although he was +compelled to absent himself during two winters, when he taught school to +earn the requisite funds for defraying his expenses, without drawing +upon his father's means. Yet he kept up with his class, and when he was +graduated in 1848, he was one of six out of a class of over one hundred, +who were elected members of the Phi Beta Kappa, an honor only conferred +on the best scholars. + +Following the natural inclination of his mind, young Arthur began the +study of law, supporting himself by teaching and by preparing boys for +college. It so happened that two years after he was the preceptor of an +academy at North Pownal, Vermont, a student from Williams College, named +James A. Garfield, came there and taught penmanship in the same academy +for several months. + +In 1853, young Arthur went to New York City, by the invitation of the +Honorable Erastus D. Culver, whose acquaintance he had made when that +gentleman represented the Washington County district, and Dr. Arthur was +the pastor of the Baptist Church at Greenwich. Mr. Culver had been noted +in Congress as an advanced, anti-slavery man, and he was prompted to +take an interest in the son of a clergyman-constituent, who did not fear +to express anti-slavery sentiments, at a time when the occupants of +pulpits were generally so conservative that they were dumb upon this +important question. Before the close of the year, young Arthur displayed +such legal ability and business tact, that he was admitted into +partnership, and became a member of the firm of Culver, Parker, and +Arthur. The firm had numerous clients, and the junior partner soon +became a successful practitioner, uniting to a thorough knowledge of the +law a vigorous understanding and an untiring industry which gained for +him an enviable reputation. + +Among other cases on the docket of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, was one +known as the Lemon slave-case. A Virginian named Jonathan Lemon +undertook to take eight slaves to Texas on steamers, by the way of New +York. While in that city a writ of _habeas corpus_ was issued, and the +slaves were brought into the court before Judge Elijah Paine; Mr. Culver +and John Jay appearing for the slaves, while H.D. Lapaugh and Henry L. +Clifton were retained by Lemon. Judge Paine, after hearing long +arguments, declared that the fugitive slave law did not apply to slaves +who were brought by their masters into a free State, and he ordered +their release. The Legislature of Virginia directed the attorney-general +of that State to employ counsel to appeal from Judge Paine's decision to +the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Mr. Arthur, who was the +attorney of record in the case for the people, went to Albany, and after +earnest efforts procured the passage of a joint resolution, requesting +the governor to employ counsel to defend the interests of the State. +Attorney-General Hoffman, E.D. Culver, and Joseph Blunt were appointed +by the governor as counsel, and Mr. Arthur as the State's attorney. The +Supreme Court sustained Judge Paine's decision. The slave-holder, +unwilling to lose his "property," then engaged Charles O'Conor to argue +the case before the State Court of Appeals. There the counsel for the +State were again successful in defending the decision of Judge Paine, +and from that day no slave-holder dared to bring his slaves into the +city of New York. + +Mr. Arthur, who had naturally taken a prominent part in this case, was +regarded by the colored people of New York as a champion of their +interests, and it was not long before they sought his aid. At that time, +colored people were not permitted to ride in the street-cars in New York +City, with the exception of a few old and shabby cars set aside for +their occupation. The Fourth-avenue line permitted them to ride when no +other passenger made objection. + +One Sunday, in 1855, Lizzie Jennings, a colored woman, returning from +having fulfilled her duties as superintendent of a colored +Sunday-school, entered a Fourth-avenue car, and the conductor took her +fare. Soon after, a drunken white man objected to her presence, and +insisted that she be made to leave the car. The conductor pulled the +bell, and when the car stopped, told her that she must get out, offering +to return her fare. She refused, and the conductor then offered to put +her off by force. She made vigorous resistance, exclaiming: "I have paid +my fare, and I have a right to ride." Finally, the conductor called in +several policemen, and, by their joint efforts, she was removed from the +car, her clothing having nearly all been torn from her in the struggle. +When the leading colored people of the city heard of this, they sent a +committee to the office of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, and requested +them to make it a test case. + +Mr. Arthur brought suit against the railroad company for Miss Jennings, +in the Supreme Court, at Brooklyn. The case came on for trial before +Judge Rockwell, who then sat upon the bench there. He had just decided, +in a previous case, that a corporation was not liable for the wrongful +acts of its agent or servant, and when Mr. Arthur handed him the +pleadings, he said that the railroad company was not liable, and was +about to order a nonsuit. Mr. Arthur called his attention, however, to a +recently revised section of the Revised Statutes, making certain +railroad corporations which carried passengers liable for the acts of +their conductors and drivers, whether wilful or negligent, under which +the action had been brought. The judge was silenced, the case was tried, +and the jury rendered a verdict of five hundred dollars damages in favor +of the colored woman. The railroad company paid the money without +further contest, and issued orders to its conductors to permit colored +people to ride in its cars, an example that was followed by all the +other street railroads in New York. The colored people, especially "The +Colored People's Legal Rights Association," were very grateful to Mr. +Arthur, and for years afterward they celebrated the anniversary of the +day on which he won the case that asserted their rights in public +conveyances. + +When a lad, young Arthur had always taken a great interest in politics, +and it is related of him that during the Clay-Polk campaign of 1844, +while he and some of his companions were raising an ash pole in honor of +Harry Clay, they were attacked by some Democratic boys, when young +Arthur, who was the leader of the party, ordered a charge, and drove the +young Democrats from the field with sore heads and subdued spirits. His +first vote was cast in 1852 for Winfield Scott for President, and he +identified himself with the Whigs of his ward when he located in New +York City. In those days the best citizens served as inspectors of +elections at the polls, and for some years Mr. Arthur served in that +capacity at a voting-place in a carpenter's shop, which occupied the +site of the present Fifth Avenue Hotel. When, in 1856, the Republican +party was formed, Mr. Arthur was a prominent member of the Young Men's +Vigilance Committee, which advocated the election of Fremont and Dayton. +It was during this campaign that he became acquainted with Edwin D. +Morgan, and gained his ardent life-long friendship. + +Animated by a military spirit, Mr. Arthur sought recreation by joining +the volunteer militia of New York, and he was appointed +judge-advocate-general on the staff of Brigadier-General Yates, who +commanded the second brigade. The general was a strict disciplinarian, +and required his field, line, and staff officers to meet weekly for +drill and instruction. Mr. Arthur thus acquired the rudiments of a +military education, and became acquainted with many of those who +afterwards distinguished themselves as officers in the volunteer army of +the Union. + +General Arthur was married in 1859 to Ellen Lewis Herndon, of +Fredericksburg, Virginia, a daughter of Captain William Lewis Herndon, +of the United States Navy, who had gained honorable distinction when in +command of the naval expedition sent to explore the river Amazon. His +heroic death, in 1857, is recorded in history among those "names which +will never be forgotten as long as there is remembrance in the world for +fidelity unto death." In command of the steamer Central America, which +went down, with a loss of three hundred and sixty lives, he stood at his +post on the wheelhouse, and succeeded in having the women and children +safely transferred to the boats, remaining himself to perish with his +vessel. General Sherman has characterized this grand deed of unselfish +devotion as the most heroic incident in our naval history. Mrs. Arthur +was a lady of the highest culture, and in the varied relations of +life--wife, mother, friend--she illustrated all that gives to womanhood +its highest charm, and commands for it the purest homage. She died in +1880, after an illness of but three days, leaving a son and a daughter, +with a large number of mourning friends, not only in society, of which +she was an ornament, but among the poor and the distressed, whose wants +and whose sufferings she had tenderly cared for. + +When the Honorable Edward D. Morgan was elected Governor of the State of +New York, he appointed Mr. Arthur engineer-in-chief on his staff, and +when Fort Sumter was fired upon, the governor telegraphed to him to go +to Albany, where he received orders to act as state +quartermaster-general in the city of New York. General Arthur at once +began to organize regiments,--uniform, arm, and equip them,--and send +them to the defence of the capital. His capacity for leadership and +organization was soon manifest. There was no lack of men or of money, +but it needed organizing powers like his to mould them into disciplined +form, to grasp the new issues with a master-hand, and to infuse +earnestness and obedience into the citizens, suddenly transformed into +soldiers. His accounts were kept in accordance with the army +regulations, and their subsequent settlement with the United States, +without deduction for unwarranted charges, was an easy task. It was by +his exertions, to a great extent, that the Empire State was enabled to +send to the front six hundred and ninety thousand men, nearly one fifth +of the Grand Army of the Union. + +There were, of course, many adventurers who sought commissions, and some +of the regiments were recruited from the rough element of city life, who +soon refused to obey their officers. General Arthur made short work of +these cases, exercising an authority which no one dared to dispute. +Neither would he permit the army contractors to ingratiate themselves +with him by presents, returning everything thus sent him. Although a +comparatively poor man when he entered upon the duties of +quartermaster-general at New York, he was far poorer when he gave up the +office. A friend describing his course at this period, says: "So jealous +was he of his integrity, that I have known instances where he could have +made thousands of dollars legitimately, and yet he refused to do it on +the ground that he was a public officer and meant to be, like Caesar's +wife, above suspicion." + +When the rebel ironclad steamer Merrimac had commenced her work of +destruction near Fortress Monroe, General Arthur, as engineer-in-chief, +took efficient steps for the defence of New York, and made a thorough +inspection of all the forts and defences in the State, describing the +armament of each one. His report to the Legislature, submitted to that +body in a little more than three weeks after his attention was called to +the subject by Governor Morgan, was thus noticed editorially in the New +York Herald of January 25, 1862:-- + +"The report of the engineer-in-chief, General Arthur, which appeared in +yesterday's Herald, is one of the most important and valuable documents +that have been this year presented to our Legislature. It deserves +perusal, not only on account of the careful analysis it contains of the +condition of the forts, but because the recommendations, with which it +closes, coincide precisely with the wishes of the administration with +respect to securing a full and complete defence of the entire Northern +coast." + +Governor Morgan appointed General Arthur state inspector-general in +February, 1862, and ordered him to visit and inspect the New York troops +in the army of the Potomac. While there, as an advance on Richmond was +daily expected, he volunteered for duty on the staff of his friend, +Major-General Hunt, commander of the Reserve Artillery. He had +previously, when four fine volunteer regiments had been organized under +the auspices of the metropolitan police commissioners of of the city of +New York, and consolidated into what was known as the "Metropolitan +Brigade," been offered the command of it by the colonels of the +regiments, but on making formal application, based on a desire to see +active service in the field, Governor Morgan was unwilling that he +should accept, stating that he could not be spared from the service of +the State, and that while he appreciated General Arthur's desire for +war-service, he knew that he would render the country more efficient aid +for the Union cause by remaining at his State post of duty. + +When, in June, 1862, the situation had an unfavorable appearance, and +there were apprehensions that a general draft would be necessary, +Governor Morgan telegraphed General Arthur, then with the Army of the +Potomac, to return to New York. The General did so, and was requested, +on his arrival, to act as secretary at a confidential meeting of the +governors of loyal States, held at the Astor House, on the twenty-eighth +of July, 1862. After a full and frank discussion of the condition of +affairs in their respective States, the governors united in a request to +the President to call for more troops. President Lincoln, on the first +of July, issued a proclamation, thanking the governors for their +patriotism, and calling for three hundred thousand three-years +volunteers, and three hundred thousand nine-months militia-men. Private +intimation that such a call was to be issued would have enabled army +contractors to have made millions; but the secret was honorably kept by +all until after the issue of the proclamation. The quota of New York was +59,705 volunteers, or sixty regiments, and it was desirable that they +should be recruited and sent to the front without delay. General Arthur, +by special request of Governor Morgan, resumed his duties as +quartermaster-general and established a system of recruiting and +officering the new levies, which proved wonderfully successful. In his +annual report, made to the governor on the twenty-seventh of January, +1863, he said:-- + +"In summing up the operations of the department during the last levy of +troops, I need only state as the result the fact that through the single +office and clothing department of this department in the city of New +York, from August 1 to December 1, the space of four months, there were +completely clothed, uniformed, and equipped, supplied with camp and +garrison equipage, and transported from this State to the seat of war, +sixty-eight regiments of infantry, two battalions of cavalry, and four +battalions and ten batteries of artillery." + +In December, 1863, the incoming of the Democratic state administration +deprived General Arthur of his office. His successor, +Quartermaster-General Talcott, in a report to Governor Seymour, paid the +following just tribute to his predecessor:-- + +"I found, upon entering on the discharge of my duties, a well-organized +system of labor and accountability, for which the State is chiefly +indebted to my predecessor, General Chester A. Arthur, who, by his +practical good sense and unremitting exertion, at a period when +everything was in confusion, reduced the operations of the department to +a matured plan by which large amounts of money were saved to the +government, and great economy of time secured in carrying out the +details of the same." + +Resuming his professional duties, at first in partnership with Mr. +Gardiner and afterward alone, he became counsel to the city department +of taxes and assessments, with an annual salary of ten thousand dollars, +but he abruptly resigned the position when the Tammany Hall city +officials attempted to coerce the Republicans connected with the +municipal departments. + +When the next presidential election drew near, General Arthur entered +enthusiastically into the support of General Grant, and was made +chairman of the Grant Central Club, of New York. He also served as +chairman of the executive committee of the Republican State Committee of +New York. In 1871, he formed the afterwards well-known firm of Arthur, +Phelps, Knevals, and Ransom. + +President Grant, without solicitation and unexpectedly, appointed +General Arthur collector of the port of New York, on the twentieth of +November, 1871. He accepted the position with much hesitation, but it +met with the general approval of the business community, many of the +merchants having become personally acquainted with his business ability +during the war. He instituted many reforms in the management of the +custom-house, all calculated to simplify the business and to divest it, +to a great extent, of all the details and routine so vexatious to the +mercantile classes. The number of his removals during his administration +was far less than during the rule of any other collector since 1857, and +the expense of collecting the duties was far less than it had been for +years. So satisfactory was his management of the custom-house, that, +upon the close of his term of service, December, 1875, he was +renominated by President Grant. The nomination was unanimously confirmed +by the Senate without reference to a committee, a compliment very rarely +paid, except to ex-senators. He was the first collector of the port of +New York, with one or two exceptions, who in fifty years ever held the +office for more than the whole term of four years. + +Two years later General Arthur was superseded as collector by General +Merritt. The Honorable John Sherman, secretary of the treasury, on being +questioned as to the cause of the removal of General Arthur as collector +of customs at New York, said:-- + +"I have never said one word impugning General Arthur's honor or +integrity as a man and a gentleman, but he was not in harmony with the +views of the administration in the management of the custom-house. I +would vote for him for Vice-President a million times before I would +vote for W.H. English, with whom I served in Congress." + +General Arthur, in a letter written by him to Secretary Sherman, on his +administration of the New York custom-house, said:-- + +"The essential elements of a correct civil service I understand to be: +First, permanance in office, which, of course, prevents removals, except +for cause. Second, promotion from the lower to the higher grades, based +upon good conduct and efficiency. Third, prompt and thorough +investigation of all complaints and prompt punishment of all misconduct. +In this respect I challenge comparison with any department of the +Government, either under the present or under any past national +administration. I am prepared to demonstrate the truth of this statement +on any fair investigation." + +Appended to this letter was a table in which General Arthur showed that +during the six years he had managed the office the yearly percentage of +removals for all causes had been only two and three-quarters per cent. +against an annual average of twenty-eight per cent. under his three +immediate predecessors, and an annual average of about twenty-four per +cent. since 1857, when Collector Schell took office. Out of nine hundred +and twenty-three persons who held office when he became collector on +December 1, 1871, there were five hundred and thirty-one still in office +on May 1, 1877, having been retained during his entire term. Concerning +promotions, the statistics of the office show that during his entire +term the uniform practice was to advance men from the lower to the +higher grades, and almost without exception on the recommendation of +heads of departments. All the appointments, excepting two, to the one +hundred positions paying two thousand dollars salary a year, and over, +were made on this method. + +Senator George K. Edmunds, at a ratification meeting, held in +Burlington, Vermont, on the twenty-second of June, 1880, said:-- + +"I have long known General Arthur. The only serious difficulty I have +had with the present administration was when it proposed to remove him +from the collectorship of New York. No one questioned his personal honor +and integrity. I resisted the attempt to the utmost. Since that time it +has turned out that all the reforms suggested had long before been +recommended by General Arthur himself, and pigeonholded at Washington." + +Meanwhile General Arthur had rendered great services as a member, and +subsequently a chairman, of the Republican State Committee, and had +united his party from one success to another through all the mazes and +intricacies which characterize the politics of New York City. +Vice-President Wheeler said of him:-- + +"It is my good fortune to know well General Arthur, the nominee for +Vice-President. In unsullied character and in devotion to the principles +of the Republican party no man in the organization surpasses him. No man +has contributed more of time and means to advance the just interests of +the Republican party." + +The National Republican Convention, which assembled at Chicago, in June, +1880, was an exemplification of the popular will. The respective friends +of General Grant and of Mr. Blaine, equally confident of success, +indulged during a night's session in prolonged demonstrations of +applause when the candidates were presented that were unprecedented and +that will not probably ever be repeated. Neither side was successful +until the thirty-sixth ballot, when the nomination of President was +finally bestowed on General Garfield, who had, as a delegate from Ohio, +eloquently presented the name of John Sherman as a candidate. + +The convention then adjourned for dinner and for consultation. When it +reassembled in the evening, the roll of States was called for the +nomination for Vice-President. California presented E.B. Washburne; +Connecticut, ex-Governor Jewell; Florida, Judge Settle; Tennessee, +Horace Maynard. These successive names attracted little attention, but +when ex-Lieutenant-Governor Woodford, of New York, rose, and, after a +brief reference to the loyal support which New York had given to General +Grant, presented the name of General Chester A. Arthur for the second +place on the ticket, it was received with applause and enthusiasm. The +nomination was seconded by ex-Governor Denison, of Ohio, Emory A. +Storrs, of Illinois, and John Cessna, of Pennsylvania. A vote was then +taken with the following result: Arthur, 468; Washburne, 19; Maynard, +30; Jewell, 44; Bruce, 8; Davis, 2; and Woodford, 1. The nomination of +General Arthur was then made unanimous, and a committee of one from each +State, with the presiding officer of the convention, Senator Hoar, as +chairman, was appointed to notify General Garfield and General Arthur of +their nomination. The convention then adjourned _sine die_. + +Returning to New York, General Arthur was welcomed by a large and +influential gathering of Republicans, who greeted him with hearty +cheers. That night he was serenaded by a large procession of +Republicans, which assembled in Union Square and marched past his +residence in Lexington Avenue, with music and fireworks. A few weeks +later, a letter was addressed to him, signed by Hamilton Fish, Noah +Davis, and upwards of a hundred other prominent Republicans, inviting +him to dine with them at the Union League Club, and stating that, in +common with all true Republicans, they rejoiced at the happy issue of +the earnest struggle in the Chicago convention. They hailed the general +approval of its work as an auspicious omen, and looked forward +confidently to the labors of the canvass. They felt an especial and +personal gratification in the fact that the ticket selected at Chicago +bore his name. His faithfulness in public duties, his firmness and +sagacity in political affairs, so well understood by his fellow-citizens +in New York, had met with national recognition and won for him this +well-deserved honor. Their efforts in his support would be prompted, not +only by personal zeal and enthusiasm, but by the warmth and zeal of +strong personal friendship and esteem. That they might have an +opportunity more fully to express to him their sincere congratulations +and hearty good wishes, they invited him to meet them at dinner at the +Union League Club. + +General Arthur, in acknowledging the receipt of this letter, expressed +his sense of the kindness which had prompted both the invitation itself +and the flattering assurances of confidence and regard by which it was +accompanied. If circumstances had permitted, he should have been pleased +to have accepted the proffered hospitality, and for that purpose no more +congenial spot could have been selected than the headquarters of the +Union League Club, an association so widely famed for its patriotic zeal +and energy, and so efficient in the support of the principles and policy +of the Republican party. He was constrained, however, from +considerations of a private nature known to many, to decline the +invitation. + +On the fifteenth of July, 1880, General Arthur formally accepted the +position assigned to him by the Chicago convention, and expressed at +length his own personal views on the election laws, public service +appointments, the financial problems of the day, common schools, the +tariff, national improvements, and a Republican ascendency, saying, in +conclusion, that he did not doubt that success awaited the Republican +party, and that its triumph would assure a just, economical, and +patriotic administration. + +The political campaign of 1880 was earnestly contested by the great +political parties. The Republicans were victorious, and their ticket +bearing the names of Garfield and Arthur was triumphantly elected. On +the fourth of March, 1881, General Arthur took the oath of office in the +Senate Chamber as Vice-President of the United States, and half an hour +later General Garfield was inaugurated on a platform before the east +front of the Capitol, in the presence of the imposing military and civil +procession which had escorted him with music and banners. When the +ceremony was concluded, the distinguished personages around the new +President tendered their congratulations, the assembled multitude +cheered, and a salute fired by a light battery stationed near by was +echoed by the guns at the navy yard, the arsenal, and the forts around +the metropolis. + +Republicans congratulated each other on the indications of a vigorous +administration, governed by a conscientious determination to promote +harmony. But a few months had elapsed, however, before President +Garfield was cruelly assassinated, in the full vigor of his manhood, and +the Republican party was at first stricken with apprehensions. These +gloomy doubts, however, soon disappeared as the incidents of Mr. +Arthur's patriotic and useful life were recalled, and a generous +confidence was soon extended to the new President. + +President Arthur took the oath of office in New York immediately after +the death of General Garfield, and he repeated it in the Capitol on the +twenty-second of September, in the Vice-President's room. The members of +General Garfield's cabinet, who had been requested by his successor to +continue for the present in charge of their respective departments, were +present, with General Sherman in full uniform, ex-Presidents Hayes and +Grant, and Chief Justice Waite in his judicial robes, escorted by +Associate Justices Harlan and Matthews. There were, also, present +Senators Anthony, Sherman, Edmunds, Hale, Blair, Dawes, and Jones, of +Nevada, and Representatives Amos Townsend, McCook, Errett, Randall, +Hiscock, and Thomas. Ex-Vice-President Hamlin, of Maine, and Speaker +Sharpe, of New York, were also present. + +When President Arthur entered the room, escorted by General Grant and +Senator Jones, he advanced to a small table, on which was a Bible, and +behind which stood the Chief Justice, who raised the sacred volume, +opened it, and presented it to the President, who placed his right hand +upon it. Chief Justice Waite then slowly administered the oath, and at +its conclusion the President kissed the book, responding, "I will, so +help me God." He then read the following address:-- + + +THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + +For the fourth time in the history of the Republic its Chief Magistrate +has been removed by death. All hearts are filled with grief and horror +at the hideous crime which has darkened our land; and the memory of the +murdered President, his protracted sufferings, his unyielding fortitude, +the example and achievements of his life and the pathos of his death, +will forever illumine the pages of our history. For the fourth time the +officer elected by the people and ordained by the Constitution to fill a +vacancy so created is called to assume the executive chair. The wisdom +of our fathers, foreseeing even the most dire possibilities, made sure +that the Government should never be imperiled because of the uncertainty +of human life. Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions +remain unshaken. No higher or more assuring proof could exist of the +strength and permanence of popular government than the fact that, though +the chosen of the people be struck down, his constitutional successor is +peacefully installed without shock or strain except the sorrow which +mourns the bereavement. All the noble aspirations of my lamented +predecessor which found expression in his life, the measures devised and +suggested during his brief administration to correct abuses and enforce +economy, to advance prosperity and promote the general welfare, to +insure domestic security and maintain friendly and honorable relations +with the nations of the earth, will be garnered in the hearts of the +people, and it will be my earnest endeavor to profit, and to see that +the Nation shall profit, by his example and experience. Prosperity +blesses our country; our fiscal policy is fixed by law, is well +grounded, and generally approved. No threatening issue mars our foreign +intercourse, and the wisdom, integrity, and thrift of our people may be +trusted to continue undisturbed the present assured career of peace, +tranquillity, and welfare. The gloom and anxiety which have enshrouded +the country must make repose especially welcome now. No demand for +speedy legislation has been heard. No adequate occasion is apparent for +an unusual session of Congress. The Constitution defines the functions +and powers of the executive as clearly as those of either of the other +two departments of the government, and he must answer for the just +exercise of the discretion it permits and the performance of the duties +it imposes. Summoned to these high duties and responsibilities, and +profoundly conscious of their magnitude and gravity, I assume the trust +imposed by the Constitution, relying for aid on Divine guidance and the +virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of the American people. + + * * * * * + +As President Arthur read his message his voice trembled, but his manner +was impressive, and the eyes of many present were moistened with tears. +The first one to congratulate him when he had concluded was Chief +Justice Waite, and the next was Secretary Blaine. After shaking him by +the hand, those present left the room, which was closed to all except +the members of the Cabinet, who there held their first conference with +the President. At this cabinet meeting the following proclamation was +prepared and signed by President Arthur, designating the following +Monday as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer:-- + + + _By the President of the United States of America_; + + A PROCLAMATION: + + Whereas, in his inscrutable wisdom, it has pleased God to remove + from us the illustrious head of the Nation, James A. Garfield, late + President of the United States; and whereas it is fitting that the + deep grief which fills all hearts should manifest itself with one + accord toward the throne of infinite grace, and that we should bow + before the Almighty and seek from him that consolation in our + affliction and that sanctification of our loss which he is able and + willing to vouchsafe: + + Now, therefore, in obedience to sacred duty, and in accordance with + the desire of the people, I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the + United States of America, do hereby appoint Monday next, the + twenty-sixth day of September, on which day the remains of our + honored and beloved dead will be consigned to their last + resting-place on earth; to be observed throughout the United States + as a day of humiliation and mourning; and I earnestly recommend all + the people to assemble on that day in their respective places of + divine worship, there to render alike their tribute of sorrowful + submission to the will of Almighty God and of reverence and love + for the memory and character of our late Chief Magistrate. + + In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal + of the United States to be affixed. + + [Sidenote: [SEAL.]] + + Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-second day of September, + in the year of our Lord 1881, and of the independence of the United + States the one hundred and sixth. + + CHESTER A. ARTHUR. + + By the President: + + JAMES G. BLAINE. Secretary of State. + +President Arthur soon showed his appreciation of the responsibilities of +his new office. Knowing principles rather than persons, he subordinated +individual preferences and prejudices to a well-defined public policy. +While he was, as he always had been, a Republican, he had no sympathy +for blind devotion to party; he had "no friends to reward, no enemies to +punish;"--and he has been governed by those principles of liberty and +equality which he inherited. His messages to Congress have been +universally commended, and even unfriendly critics have pronounced them +careful and well-matured documents. Their tone is more frank and direct +than is customary in such papers, and their recommendations, extensive +and varied as they have been, show that he has patiently reviewed the +field of labor so sadly and so unexpectedly opened before him, and that +he was not inclined to shirk the constitutional duty of aiding Congress +by his suggestions and advice. An honest man, who believes in his own +principles, who follows his own convictions, and who never hesitates to +avow his sentiments, he has given his views in accordance with his +deliberate ideas of right. + +The foreign relations of the United States have been conducted by +Secretary Frelinghuysen, under the President's direction, in a friendly +spirit and when practicable with a view to mutual commercial advantages. +He has taken a conservative view of the management of the public debt, +approving all the important suggestions of the secretary of the +treasury, and recognizing the proper protection of American industry. He +is in favor of the great interests of labor, and opposed to such +tinkering with the tariff as will make vain the toil of the industrious +farmer, paralyze the arm of the sturdy mechanic, strike down the hand of +the hardy laborer, stop the spindle, hush the loom, extinguish the +furnace-fires, and degrade all independent toilers to the level of the +poor in other lands. The architect of his own fortune, he has a strong +and abiding sympathy for those bread-winners who struggle against +poverty. + +The reform of the civil service has met with President Arthur's earnest +support, and his messages show that every department of the government +has received his careful administration. Following the example of +Washington, he has personally visited several sections of the United +States, and has especially made himself acquainted with the great +problem of Indian civilization. + +President Arthur's administration has been characterized by an elevated +tone at home and abroad. All important questions have been carefully +discussed at the council table, at which the President has displayed +unusual powers of analysis and comprehension. The conflicting claims of +applicants for appointments to offices in his gift, have been carefully +weighed, and no action has been taken until all parties interested have +had a hearing. The President has a remarkable insight into men, promptly +estimating character with an accuracy that makes it a difficult matter +to deceive him, or to win his favor either for visionary schemes, +corrupt attacks upon the treasury, or incompetent place-hunters. He has +shown that he has been guided by a wise experience of the past, and a +sagacious foresight of the future, exhibiting sacrifices of individual +friendship to a sense of public duty. + +Possessing moral firmness and a just self-reliance, President Arthur did +not hesitate about vetoing the "Chinese Bill" and the "Bill making +appropriations for rivers and harbors" for reasons which he laid before +Congress in his veto messages. The wisdom and sagacity which he has +displayed in his management of national affairs has been especially +acceptable to the business interests of the country. They have tested +his administration by business principles, and they feel that, so long +as he firmly grasps the helm of the ship of state, she will pursue a +course of peace and prosperity. + +In dispensing the hospitalities of the White House, President Arthur has +exhibited the resources of a naturally generous disposition and a +refined taste. His remembrance of persons who call upon him, and whom he +may not have seen for years, is remarkable, and his hearty, genial +temperament enables him to make his visitors at home. His vigorous +vitality of body and mind, his manly figure and expressive face, add to +the dignity of his manner. A ready speaker, he at all times rises to the +level of an emergency, and he invariably charms those who hear him by +his courtesy of expression, which is the outward reflection of a large, +kind heart. + +President Arthur's numerous friends contemplate the prominent events of +his eventful life without regret, and with a sincere belief that they +will be sustained by the verdict of impartial history. Utility to the +country has been the rule of his political life, and he has arrived at +that high standard of official excellence which prevailed in the early +days of the Republic, when honesty, firmness, patriotism, and stability +of character were the characteristics of public men. Under his lead, the +Republican party, disorganized and disheartened after the sad death of +General Garfield, has gradually become strengthened and united on the +eve of another presidential victory. + + * * * * * + +YESTERDAY. + +BY KATE L. BROWN. + + + Adown the aisles of yesterday + What fairy notes are ringing, + And strange, sweet odors, rich and rare, + The western winds are bringing! + + The deeds we counted poor and mean, + Now shine with added glory, + And like a romance, reads the page + Of life's poor, meagre story. + + But vanished from our wistful sight, + Too late for vain regretting, + The joys, that the remorseful heart + With sacred gold is setting. + + Ah! dearest of all earthly hopes + Within the soul abiding, + The lost, lost life of yesterday + The heart is ever hiding. + + + + * * * * * + + +THE BOUNDARY LINES OF OLD GROTON.--I. + +BY THE HON. SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D. + + +The original grant of the township of Groton was made by the General +Court, on May 25, 1655, and gave to the proprietors a tract of land +eight miles square; though during the next year this was modified so +that its shape varied somewhat from the first plan. It comprised all of +what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of Pepperell and Shirley, large +parts of Dunstable and Littleton, smaller parts of Harvard and Westford, +Massachusetts, and a portion of Nashua, New Hampshire. The grant was +taken out of the very wilderness, relatively far from any other town, +and standing like a sentinel on the frontiers. Lancaster, fourteen miles +away, was its nearest neighbor in the southwesterly direction on the one +side; and Andover and Haverhill, twenty and twenty-five miles distant, +more or less, in the northeasterly direction on the other. No settlement +on the north stood between it and the settlements in Canada. Chelmsford +and Billerica were each incorporated about the same time, though a few +days later. + +When the grant was made, it was expressly stipulated that Mr. Jonathan +Danforth, of Cambridge, with such others as he might desire, should lay +it out with all convenient speed in order to encourage the prompt +settlement of a minister; and furthermore that the selectmen of the town +should pay a fair amount for his services. During the next year a +petition, signed by Deane Winthrop and seven others, was presented to +the General Court asking for certain changes in the conditions, and +among them the privilege to employ another "artist" in the place of Mr. +Danforth, as he was overrun with business. The petition was referred to +a committee who reported favorably upon it, and the request was duly +granted. Formerly a surveyor was called an artist, and in old records +the word is often found with that meaning. + +Ensign Peter Noyes, of Sudbury, was then engaged by the grantees and he +began the survey; but his death, on September 23, 1657, delayed the +speedy accomplishment of the work. It is known that there was some +trouble in the early settlement of the place, growing out of the +question of lands, but its exact character is not recorded; perhaps it +was owing to the delay which now occurred. Ensign Noyes was a noted +surveyor, but not so famous as Jonathan Danforth, whose name is often +mentioned in the General Court records, in connection with the laying +out of lands and towns, and many of whose plans are still preserved +among the Archives in the State House. Danforth was the man wanted at +first for the undertaking; and after Noyes's death he took charge of it, +and his elder brother, Thomas, was associated with him. The plat or plan +of the land, however, does not appear to have been completed until +April, 1668. The survey was made during the preceding year. At a meeting +of the selectmen of the town, held on November 23, 1667, it is recorded +that a rate should be levied in order to pay "the Artest and the men +that attended him and his diet for himself and his horse, and for two +sheets of parchment, for him to make two platts for the towne, and for +Transportation of his pay all which amounts to about twenty pounds and +to pay severall other town debts that appear to us to be due." + +[Illustration: Groton Plantation as shown on a plan made in 1668 by +Jonathan Danforth] + +A little further on in the records a charge of five shillings is made +'ffor two sheats of Parchment.' These entries seem to show that two +plans were made, perhaps one for the town and the other for the Colony; +but neither copy is now to be found. An allusion is made to one of them +in a petition, presented to the General Court on February 10, 1717, by +John Shepley and John Ames. It is there mentioned that "the said Plat +thô something defaced is with the Petitioner;" and is further stated +"That in the year 1713 M'r Samuel Danforth Surveyor & Son of the +aforesaid Jonathan Danforth, at the desire of the said Town of Groton +did run the Lines & make an Implatment of the said Township laid out as +before & found it agreeable to the former. W'h last Plat the Petitioners +do herewith exhibit, And pray that this Hon'ble Court would allow & +confirm the same as the Township of Groton." + +While the original plan has been lost or destroyed, it is fortunate that +many years ago a copy was made, which is still preserved. In June, 1825, +the Honorable James Prescott was in the possession of the original, +which Caleb Butler, Esq., at that time transcribed into one of the town +record-books, and thereby saved it for historical purposes. Even with +this clew a special search has been made for the missing document, but +without success. If it is ever found it will be by chance, where it is +the least looked for. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the +outlines or the faithfulness of the copy. The relative distances between +the streams emptying into the Nashua River, however, are not very exact; +and in the engraving for the sake of clearness I have added their names, +as well as the name of Forge Pond, formerly called Stony Brook Pond. + +Accompanying the copy is a description of the survey, which in +connection with the drawing gives a good idea of the general shape of +the township. Perhaps in the original these two writings were on the +same sheet. In the transcript Mr. Butler has modernized the language and +made the punctuation conform to present usage. In the engraved cut I +have followed strictly the outlines of the plan, as well as the course +of the rivers, but I have omitted some details, such as the distances +and directions which are given along the margins. These facts appear in +the description, and perhaps were taken from it by the copyist. I have +also omitted the acreage of the grant, which is grossly inaccurate. + + + Whereas the Plantation of Groton, containing by grant the + proportion of eight miles Square, was begun to be laid out by + Ensign Noyes, and he dying before he had finished his work, it is + now finished, whose limits and bounds are as followeth, + + It began on the east side of Nashua River a little below + Nissitisset hills at the short turning of the River bounded by a + pine tree marked with G. and so running two miles in a direct line + to buckmeadow which _p'rtains_ to Boston Farms, Billerica land and + Edward Cowells farm until you come to Massapoag Pond, which is full + of small islands; from thence it is bounded by the aforesaid Pond + until you come to Chelmsford line, after that it is bounded by + Chelmsford and Nashoboh lines until you come to the most southerly + corner of this Plantation, and from thence it runs West-North-West + five miles and a half and sixty four poles, which again reacheth to + Nashua River, then the former west-north-west line is continued one + mile on the west side of the river, and then it runs one third of a + point easterly of north & by east nine miles and a quarter, from + thence it runneth four miles due east, which closeth the work to + the river again to the first pine below Nissitisset hills, where we + began: it is bounded by the Farms and plantations as aforesaid and + by the wilderness elsewhere; all which lines are run and very + sufficiently bounded by marked trees & pillars of stones: the + figure or manner of the lying of it is more fully demonstrated by + this plot taken of the same. + + By JONATHAN DANFORTH, + April 1668. + Surveyor. + +The map of Old Dunstable, between pages 12 and 13 in Fox's History of +that town, is very incorrect, so far as it relates to the boundaries of +Groton. The Squannacook River is put down as the Nissitissett, and this +mistake may have tended to confuse the author's ideas. The southern +boundary of Dunstable was by no means a straight line, but was made to +conform in part to the northern boundary of Groton, which was somewhat +irregular. Groton was incorporated on May 25, 1655, and Dunstable on +October 15, 1673, and no part of it came within the limits of this town. +The eastern boundary of Groton originally ran northerly through +Massapoag Pond and continued into the present limits of Nashua, New +Hampshire. + +On the southeast of Groton, and adjoining it, was a small township +granted, in the spring of 1654, by the General Court to the Nashobah +Indians, who had been converted to Christianity under the instruction of +the Apostle Eliot and others. They were few in numbers, comprising +perhaps ten families, or about fifty persons. During Philip's War this +settlement was entirely deserted by the Indians, thus affording a good +opportunity for the English to encroach on the reservation, which was +not lost. These intruders lived in the neighboring towns, and mostly in +Groton. Some of them took possession with no show of right, while others +went through the formality of buying the land from the Indians, though +such sales did not, as was supposed at the time, bring the territory +under the jurisdiction of the towns where the purchasers severally +lived. It is evident from the records that these encroachments gave rise +to controversy. The following entry, under date of June 20, 1682, is +found in the Middlesex County Court records at East Cambridge, and shows +at that time to re-establish the boundary lines of Nashobah:-- + + + Cap't Thomas Hinchman, L't. Joseph Wheeler, & L't. Jn'o flynt + surveyo'r, or any two of them are nominated & impowred a Comittee + to run the ancient bounds of Nashobah Plantation, & remark the + lines, as it was returned to the geñall Court by said m'r flynt at + the charge of the Indians, giving notice to the select men of + Grotton of time & place of meeting, w'ch is referred to m'r flint, + to appoint, & to make return to next Coun Court at Cambridge in + order to a finall settem't + +Again, under date of October 3, 1682 ("3. 8. 1682."), it is entered +that-- + + + The return of the committee referring to the bounds of Nashobey + next to Grotton, was p'rsented to this Court and is on file. + + Approved + +The "return" is as follows: + + + We Whose names are underwritten being appointed by y'e Hon'rd + County Court June: 20'th 1682. To ruñ the Ancient bounds of + Nashobey, haue accordingly ruñ the said bounds, and find that the + town of Groton by theire Second laying out of theire bounds have + taken into theire bounds as we Judge neer halfe Indian Plantation + Seuerall of the Select men and other inhabitants of Groton being + then with us Did See theire Erro'r therein & Do decline that laying + out So far as they haue Inuaded the right of y'e Indians. + + Also we find y't the Norwest Corner of Nashobey is run into y'e + first bounds of Groton to y'e Quantity of 350 acres according as + Groton men did then Show us theire Said line, which they Say was + made before Nashobey was laid out, and which bounds they Do + Challenge as theire Right. The Indians also haue Declared them + Selves willing to forego that Provided they may haue it made up + upon theire West Line, And we Judge it may be there added to + theire Conveniance. + + 2: October: 1682. + Exhibited in Court 3: 8: 82: + & approved T D: R. + + JOSEPH WHEELER + + JOHN FLINT + + A true Coppy of y'e originall on file w'th y'e Records of County + Court for Middx. + + Ex'd p'r Sam'll: Phipps Cle'r + + [Massachusetts Archives, cxii, 331.] + +Among the Groton men who had bought land of the Nashobah Indians were +Peleg Lawrence and Robert Robbins. Their names appear, with a diagram of +the land, on a plan of Nashobah, made in the year 1686, and found among +the Massachusetts Archives, in the first volume (page 125) of "Ancient +Plans Grants &c." Lawrence and Robbins undoubtedly supposed that the +purchase of this land brought it within the jurisdiction of Groton. +Lawrence died in the year 1692; and some years later the town made an +effort to obtain from his heirs their title to this tract, as well as +from Robbins his title. It is recorded at a town meeting, held on June +8, 1702, that the town + + + did uote that they would giue Peleg larraness Eairs three acers of + madow whare thay ust to Improue and tenn acers of upland neare that + madow upon the Conditions following that the aboue sd Peleg + larrances heirs do deliuer up that Indian titelle which thay now + haue to the town + +At the same meeting the town voted that + + + thay would giue to robart robins Sener three acers of madow where + he uste to Improue: and ten acers of upland near his madow upon the + Conditions forlowing that he aboue sd Robart Robbins doth deliuer: + up that Indian titels which he now hath: to the town. + +It appears from the records that no other business was done at this +meeting, except the consideration of matters growing out of the Nashobah +land. It was voted to have an artist lay out the meadow at "Nashobah +line," as it was called, as well as the land which the town had granted +to Walter and Daniel Powers, probably in the same neighborhood; and also +that Captain Jonas Prescott be authorized to engage an artist at an +expense not exceeding six shillings a day. + +Settlers from the adjacent towns were now making gradual encroachments +on the abandoned territory, and among them Groton was well represented. +All the documents of this period relating to the subject show an +increased interest in these lands, which were too valuable to remain +idle for a long time. The following petition, undoubtedly, makes a +correct representation of the case:-- + + + To his Excellency Joseph Dudley Esq'r Captain Gen'll & Governour in + Chief in & over her Majesties Province of the Massachusets Bay &c: + togeither with the honourable Council, & Representatives in Great + and Gen'll Court Assembled at Cambridge Octobe'r 14'th. 1702. + + The Petition of the Inhabitants of Stow humbly sheweth. + + That Whereas the honourable Court did pleas formerly to grant vnto + vs the Inhabitants of Stow a certain Tract of Land to make a + Village or Township of, environed with Concord, Sudbury, Marlbury, + Lancaster, Groton, & Nashoby: And Whereas the said Nashoby being a + Tract of Land of four miles square, the which for a long time hath + been, and still is deserted and left by the Indians none being now + resident there, and those of them who lay claim to it being + desireous to sell said land; and some English challenging it to be + theirs by virtue of Purchase; and besides the Town of Groton in + particular, hath of late extended their Town lyne into it, takeing + away a considerable part of it; and Especially of Meadow (as wee + are Well informed) Wherefore wee above all o'r Neighbour Towns, + stand in the greatest need of Enlargement; having but a pent up + smale Tract of Land and very little Meadow. + + Whence we humbly Pray the great & Gen'll Court, that if said + Nashoby may be sold by the Indians wee may have allowance to buy, + or if it be allready, or may be sold to any other Person or + Persons, that in the whole of it, it be layed as an Addition to vs + the smale Town of Stow, it lying for no other Town but vs for + nighness & adjacency, togeither with the great need wee stand of + it, & the no want of either or any of the above named Towns. Shall + it Pleas the great & Gen'll Court to grant this o'r Petition, wee + shall be much more able to defray Publick Charges, both Civil, & + Ecclesiasticall, to settle o'r Minister amongst vs in order to o'r + Injoyment of the Gospel in the fullness of it. Whence hopeing & + believing that the Petition of the Poor, & needy will be granted. + Which shall forever oblidge yo'r Petition'rs to Pray &c: + + THO: STEEVENS. Cler: + In the Towns behalfe + + [Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 330.] + +This petition was granted on October 21, 1702, on the part of the House +of Representatives, but negatived in the Council, on October 24. + +During this period the territory of Nashobah was the subject of +considerable dispute among the neighboring towns, and slowly +disappearing by their encroachments. Under these circumstances an effort +was made to incorporate a township from this tract and to establish its +boundaries. The following petition makes a fair statement of the case, +though the signatures to it are not autographs: + + + To His Excel'cy: Joseph Dudley Esq: Cap't: Generall & Gov'r: in + Chief in and over Her Maj'ties: Province of Mass'ts: Bay in + New-England, Together with y'e Hon'ble: the Council, & + Representatives in Gen'll: Court Assembled on the 30'th of May, In + the Tenth Year of Her Maj'ties: Reign Annoq Dom'i: 1711,--The + Humble Petition of us the Subscribers Inhabitants of Concord, + Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow &c within the County of Midd'x in the + Province Afores'd. + + Most Humbly Sheweth + + That there is a Considerable Tract of Land Lying vacant and + unimproved Between the Towns of Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow & + Groton, as s'd Groton was Survey'd & Lay'd out by Mr. Noyce, & the + Plantation Call'd Concord Village, which is Commonly known by the + Name of Nashoba, in the County of Midd'x: Afores'd. & Sundry + Persons having Made Entrys thereupon without Orderly Application to + the Government, and as we are Inform'd, & have reason to believe, + diverse others are designing so to do. + + We Yo'r Hum'ble Petitioners being desirous to Prevent the + Inconveniences that may arise from all Irregular Intrusions into + any vacant Lands, and also In a Regular manner to Settle a Township + on the Land afores'd, by which the frontier on that Side will be + more Clos'd & Strengthened & Lands that are at Present in no wise + beneficiall or Profitable to the Publick might be rendred + Servicable for the Contributing to the Publlick Charge, Most Humbly + Address Ourselves to your Excy: And this Honourable Court. + + Praying that your Petitioners may have a Grant of Such Lands + Scituate as Afores'd. for the Ends & Purposes afores'd. And that a + Committee may be appointed by this Hon'ble: Court to View, Survey + and Set out to Yo'r. Petitioners the s'd. Lands, that so Yo'r. s'd. + Petitioners may be enabled to Settle thereupon with Such others as + shall joyn them In an orderly and regular manner: Also Praying that + Such Powers and Priviledges may be given and confered upon the same + as are granted to other Towns, And Yo'r Petitioners shall be Most + ready to attend Such Directions, with respect to Such Part of the + s'd. Tract as has been formerly reserv'd for the Indians, but for a + Long time has been wholly Left, & is now altogether unimprov'd by + them, And all other things which this Hon'ble: Court in their + Wisdom & justice Shall See meet to appoint for the Regulation of + such Plantation or Town. + + And Yo'r: Hum'ble: Petitioners as in Duty Bound Shall Ever Pray &c. + + Gershom Procter + Sam'll. Procter + John Procter + Joseph Fletcher + John Miles + John Parlin + Robert Robins + John Darby + John Barker + Sam'l: Stratton + Hezekiah Fletcher + Josiah Whitcomb + John Buttrick + Will'm: Powers + Jonathan Hubburd + W'm Keen + John Heald + John Bateman + John Heywood + Thomas Wheeler + Sam'll: Hartwell, jun'r: + Sam'll: Jones + John Miriam + + In the House of Representatives + June 6: 1711. Read & Comitted. + 7 ... Read, & + + Ordered that Jo'a. Tyng Esq'r: Thom's: Howe Esq'r: & M'r: John + Sternes be a Comittee to view the Land mentioned in the Petition, & + Represent the Lines, or Bounds of the severall adjacent Towns + bounding on the s'd. Lands and to have Speciall Regard to the Land + granted to the Indians, & to make report of the quantity, & + circumstances thereof. + + Sent up for Concurrence. + + JOHN BURRIL Speaker + In Council + June 7. 1711, Read and Concurr'd. + ISA: ADDINGTON, Secry. + + [Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 602, 603.] + +The committee, to whom was referred this subject, made a report during +the next autumn; but no action in regard to it appears to have been +taken by the General Court until two years later. + + * * * * * + +THE NEW ENGLAND TOWN-HOUSE. + +By J.B. SEWALL. + + +A Recollection of my boyhood is a large unpainted barnlike building +standing at a point where three roads met at about the centre of the +town. When all the inhabitants of the town were of one faith +religiously, or at least the minority were not strong enough to divide +from the majority, and one meeting-house served the purposes of all, +this was the meeting-house. To this, the double line of windows all +round, broken by the long round-topped window midway on the back side, +and the two-storied vestibule on the front, and, more than all, the old +pulpit still remaining within, with the sounding-board suspended above +it, bore witness. Here assembled every spring, at the March meeting, the +voters of the town, to elect their selectmen and other town officers for +the ensuing year, to vote what moneys should be raised for the repair of +roads, bridges, maintaining the poor, etc., and take any other action +their well-being as a community demanded; in the autumn, to cast their +votes for state representative, national representative, governor of the +State, or President of the United States, one or all together, as the +case might be. + +Many such town-houses, probably, are standing to-day in the New England +States,--I know there are such in Maine,--and they are existing +witnesses to what was generally the fact: towns, at the first, when +young and small, built the meeting-house for two purposes; first, for +use as a house of worship; second, for town meetings; and when in +process of time a new church or churches were built for the better +accommodation of the people, or because different denominations had come +into existence, or because the young people wanted a smarter building +with a steeple, white paint, green blinds, and a bell, the old building +was sold to the town for purely town purposes. + +When the settlements were made, the first public building erected was +generally the meeting-house, and this in the case of the earlier +settlements was very soon. In Plymouth, the first building was a house +twenty feet square for a storehouse and "for common occupation," then +their separate dwellings. + +The "common" building was used for religious and other meetings until +the meeting-house with its platform on top for cannon, on Burial Hill, +was built in 1622. "Boston seems to have had no special building for +public worship until, during the year 1632, was erected the small +thatched-roof, one-story building which stood on State Street, where +Brazer's building now stands."[A] This was in the second year, the +settlement having been made in the autumn of 1630. In Charlestown, "The +Great House," the first building erected that could be called a house, +was first used as the official residence of the governor, and the +sessions of the Court of Assistants appear to have been held in it until +the removal to Boston, but when the church was formed, in 1632, it was +used for a meeting-house. + +[Footnote A: Memorial History of Boston, vol. i, p. 119.] + +Dorchester had the first meeting-house in the Bay, built in 1631, the +next year after settlement, and by the famous order passed "mooneday +eighth of October, 1633," it appears that it was the regular +meeting-place of the inhabitants of the plantation for general purposes. +The Lynn church was formed in 1632, and the meeting-house appears to +have been built soon after, and was used for town meetings till 1806. It +was the same in towns of later settlement. In Brunswick, Maine, which +became a township in 1717, the first public building was the +meeting-house, and this also was the town-house for almost one hundred +years. Belfast, Maine, incorporated in 1773, held its first two town +meetings in a private house, afterwards, for eighteen years, "at the +Common on the South end of No. 26" (house lot),[A] whether under cover +or in open air is not known, after that, in the meeting-house generally, +till the town hall was built. In Harpswell, Maine, the old +meeting-house, like that described, when abandoned as a house of +worship, was sold to the town for one hundred dollars and is still in +use as a town-house. + +[Footnote A: Williamson's History of Belfast.] + +The town-house, therefore, though it cannot strictly be said to have +been coëval with the town, was essentially so, the meeting-house being +generally the first public building, and used equally for town meetings +and public worship. + +How early, then, was the town? When the settlement at Plymouth took +place, in one sense a town existed at once. It was a collection of +families living in neighborhood and united by the bonds of mutual +obligation common in similar English communities. But it was a town as +yet only in that sense. In fact, it was a state. The words of the +compact signed on board the Mayflower were, in part: "We, whose names +are underwritten ... do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the +presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves +together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and +preservation, ... and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame +such just and equal laws, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to +time, as shall be most meet and convenient for the general good of the +colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." + +These words were the constitution of more than a town government. They +erected a democratic state--a commonwealth. It was a general government +separate from and above the town governments which were afterwards +instituted. It enacted general laws by an assembly of deputies in which +the eight plantations in the colony, which afterwards became towns, were +represented. These laws were executed by a governor and an assistant, +and were of equal binding force in all the plantations after, as well as +before, these plantations became towns. + +The Massachusetts Colony came over as a corporation with a royal charter +which gave power to the freemen of the company to elect a governor, +deputy-governor, and assistants, and "make laws and ordinances, not +repugnant to the laws of England, for their own benefit and the +government of persons inhabiting their territory." The colonists divided +themselves into plantations, part at Naumkeag (Salem), at Mishawum +(Charlestown), at Dorchester, Boston, Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and +Saugus (Lynn), and while the General Court, as the governor, +deputy-governor, and assistants were called, made general "laws and +ordinances" for the whole, the plantations were at liberty to manage +their own particular affairs as they pleased. They called meetings and +took action by themselves, as at Watertown, when, in 1632, the people +assembled and expressed their discontent with a tax laid by the court, +and at Dorchester as previously referred to. To Dorchester, however, +belongs the honor of leading the way to that form of town government +which has prevailed in New England ever since. It came about in this +way. The settlement was begun in June, 1630, and for more than three +years the people seem to have managed their affairs under the +administration of the Court of Assistants by means of meetings. At such +a meeting, held October 8, 1633, it was ordered "for the generall good +and well ordering of the affaires of the plantation," that there should +be a general meeting of the inhabitants at the meeting-house every +Monday morning before the court, which was four times a year, or became +so the next year, "to settle & sett downe such orders as may tend to the +general good as aforesayd, & every man to be bound thereby without +gainsaying or resistance." This very interesting order is given entire +in the Memorial History of Boston.[A] There were also appointed _twelve +selectmen_, "who were to hold monthly meetings, & whose orders were +binding when confirmed by the Plantation." + +[Footnote A: Vol. i, p. 427.] + +Here was our New England town almost exactly as it is to-day. The +inhabitants met at stated times and voted what seemed necessary for +their own local order and welfare, and committed the execution of their +will to twelve selectmen, who were to meet monthly. Our towns now have +an annual meeting for the same purpose, and elect generally three +selectmen, who meet at stated times,--sometimes as often as once a week. +Watertown followed, about the same time, selecting three men "for the +ordering of public affairs." Boston appears to have done the same thing +in 1634, and Charlestown in the following year, the latter being the +first to give the name _Selectmen_ to the persons so chosen, a name +which soon was generally adopted and has since remained. + +The reason of this action it is easy to conjecture, but it is fully +stated in the order of the inhabitants of Charlestown at the meeting in +which the action for the government of the town by selectmen was taken: +"In consideration of the great trouble and charge of the inhabitants of +Charlestown by reason of the frequent meeting of the townsmen in +general, and that, by reason of many men meeting, things were not so +easily brought into a joint issue; it is therefore agreed, by the said +townsmen, jointly, that these eleven men ... shall entreat of all such +business as shall concern the townsmen, the choice of officers excepted; +and what they or the greater part of them shall conclude of, the rest of +the town willingly to submit unto as their own proper act, and these +eleven to continue in this employment for one year next ensuing the date +hereof." + +Town government, thus instituted, was recognized the next year--1636--by +the General Court, and thereafter the towns were corporations lawfully +existing and endowed with certain fixed though limited powers. + +The plantations of the Plymouth Colony followed the example. In 1637, +Duxbury was incorporated, and at the General Court of the colony, in +1639, deputies were in attendance from seven towns. + +"Thus," says Judge Parker,[A] "there grew up a system of government +embracing two jurisdictions, administered by the same people; the +Colonial government, having jurisdiction over the whole colony, +administered by the great body of the freemen, through officers elected +and appointed by them; and the town governments, having limited local +jurisdiction, such as was conceded to them by the Colonial government, +administered by the inhabitants, through officers and agents chosen by +them." + +[Footnote A: Origin, Organization, etc., of the Towns of New England.] + +By this change,--the invention of the colonists themselves without copy +or pattern,--the colonies were transformed from pure democracies into a +congeries of democratic republics; and each town-house, or whatever +building was used for such, became the state-house of a little republic. +And this is what it is in every New England town to-day. + +Was not, then, the New England town-house a thing of inheritance at all? +Yes, so far as it was a building for the common meeting of the +inhabitants of the town, and so far as it was a place for free +discussion and the ordering of purely local affairs. The colonists came +from their English homes already familiar with the town-hall and its +uses so far. If one will turn to any gazetteer or encyclopædia which +gives a description of Liverpool, England, he will find the town-hall +described as one of the noble edifices of that town. The present +structure was opened in 1754, but it was the successor of others, the +first of which must have dated back somewhere near the time when King +John gave the town its charter--1207. Or he may turn to the town of +Hythe in the county of Kent. In its corporation records, it is said, is +the following entry, bearing date in the year 1399: "Thomas Goodeall +came before the jurats _in the common hall_ on the 10th day of October, +and covenanted to give for his freedom 20_d_., and so he was received +and sworn to bear fealty to our Lord the King and his successors, and to +the commonalty and liberty of the port of Hethe, and to render faithful +account of his lots and scots[A] as freeman there are wont." In another +entry, in the same year, the building is mentioned again as the "Common +House." + +[Footnote A: The "lot" was the obligation to perform the public services +which might fall to the inhabitants by due rotation. "Scot" means tax.] + +We may go further back than this. History tells us that "the boroughs +(towns) of England, during the period of oppression, after the Norman +invasion, led the way in the silent growth and elevation of the English +people; that, unnoticed and despised by prelate and noble, they had +alone preserved the full tradition of Teutonic liberty; that, by their +traders and shopkeepers, the rights of self-government, of free speech +in free meeting, of equal justice by one's equals, were brought safely +across the ages of Norman tyranny."[A] The rights of self-government and +free speech in free meeting, then, were rights and practices of our +Anglo-Saxon ancestry, and we are to go back with them across the English +channel to their barbarian German home, and to the people described by +Tacitus in his Germania, for the origin, as far as we can trace it, of +this part of our inheritance. These people were famed for their spirit +of independence and freedom. The mass are described as freemen, voting +together in the great assemblies of the tribe, and choosing their own +leaders or kings from the class of nobles, who were nobles not as +constituting a distinct and privileged caste. "It was their greater +estates and the greater consequence which accompanied these that marked +their rank." When we first learn of these assemblies, they are +out-of-doors, under the broad canopy of heaven alone, but the time came, +as the rathhaus of the German town to-day attests, when they built the +common hall or town-house; and we, to-day, in this remote and then +unknown and unconjectured land of the West, are in this regard their +heirs as well as descendants.[B] + +[Footnote A: Green's Short History of the English People, chap. ii, sec. +6.] + +[Footnote B: The present rathhaus of the quaint old city of Nuremberg, +built in 1619, is a notable building, much visited by travelers. Around +the wall of the hall within runs the legend: "Eins manns red ist eine +halbe red, man soll die teyl verhören bed,"--"One man's talk is a half +talk; one should hear both sides."] + +In what, then, is the New England town-house more than, or different +from, the English town-house? In this, that it is the state-house of a +little democratic republic which came into existence of and by itself of +a natural necessity, and not merely governs itself, making all the laws +of local need and executing them--levying taxes, maintaining schools, +and taking charge of its own poor, of roads, bridges, and all matters +pertaining to the health, peace, and safety of all within its bounds, in +a word, all things which it can do for itself,--but also in +confederation with other little democratic republics has called into +being, and clothed with all the power it has for those matters of common +need which the town cannot do, the State. The State of Massachusetts, +from the day that the people created the General Court the body it still +is, by electing deputies from the towns,--representatives we now call +them,--to sit instead of the whole body of freemen, with the governor +and council, for the performance of all acts of legislation for the +common good, is the outgrowth of and exists only by virtue of the towns. +The towns created it, compose it, send up to it its heart-and-life +blood. This it is which makes the New England town unique, attracting +the attention and interest of intelligent foreigners who visit our +shores. Judge Parker says: "I very well recollect the curiosity +expressed by some of the gentlemen in the suite of Lafayette, on his +visit to this country in 1825, respecting these town organizations and +their powers and operations." In the same connection he adds that "a +careful examination of the history of the New England towns will show +that," instead of being modeled after the town of our Anglo-Saxon +ancestors, or the free cities of the continent of the twelfth century, +"they were not founded or modeled on precedent" at all. Mr. E.A. +Freeman, however, puts it more truthfully in saying: "The circumstances +of New England called the primitive assembly (that is, the Homeric +agora, Athenian ekklesia, Roman comitia, Swiss landesgemeinde, English +folk-moot) again into being, when in the older England it was well-nigh +forgotten. What in Switzerland was a _sur_vival was in New England +rather a _re_vival."[A] + +[Footnote A: Introduction to American Institutional History, Johns +Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science.] + +Our New England town-house, therefore, is a symbol of institutions, +partly original with our fathers, partly a priceless inheritance from +Old England the land of our fathers, and nearly in the whole, if not +quite, a regermination and new growth of old race instincts and +practices on a new soil. + +The New England town is not an institution of all the States, but its +principle has invaded the majority. To the West and Northwest it has +been carried by the New Englander himself, and is being carried by him +both directly and indirectly into the South and Southwest, and will show +there in no great length of time its prevailing and vitalizing power. + +It was Jefferson, himself a Virginian, reared in the midst of another +system, aristocratical and central in its character, who said: "These +wards, called townships in New England, are the vital principle of their +governments, and have proved themselves the wisest invention ever +devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self-government +and for its preservation." + +The New England town-house, therefore, is significant of more than its +predecessor in England or Germany. While with them it means freedom in +the management of local affairs, beyond them it means a relation to the +State and the National government which they did not. It means not +merely a broad basis for the general government in the people, that the +people are the reason and remote source of governing power, but that +they are themselves the governors. Every man who enters a New England +town-house and casts his vote knows that that expression of his will is +a force which reaches, or may reach, the Legislature of his State, the +governor in his chair, the National Congress, and the President in the +White House at Washington. He feels an interest therefore, and a +responsibility which the voter in no other land in the world feels, and +the town-house is an education to him in the art of self-government +which no other country affords, and because of it the town is an +institution teaching how to maintain government, local, state, and +general, and so bases that government in self-interest and beneficial +experience, that it is a pledge of security and perpetuity as regards +socialism, communism, and as it would seem every other revolutionary +influence from within. It is in strong contrast with the commune of +France. France is divided for the purposes of local government into +departments; departments into arrondissements; and arrondissements into +communes, the commune being the administrative unit. The department is +governed by a préfet and a conseil-général, the préfet being appointed +by the central government and directly under its control, and the +conseil-général an elective body. The arrondissement is presided over by +a sous-préfet and an elective council. The commune is governed by a +maire and a conseil-municipal. + +The conseil-municipal is an elective body, but its duties "consist in +assisting and to some extent controlling the maire, and in the +management of the communal affairs," but the maire is appointed by the +central government and is liable to suspension by the préfet. + +The relation of the citizen to the general government in France is +therefore totally different from that of the citizen of the United +States to his general government, and the town organization is a school +of free citizenship which the commune is not, and so far republican +institutions in America have a guaranty which in France they have not. + + * * * * * + +BUNKER HILL. + +BY HENRY B. CARRINGTON, U.S.A., LL.D. + +Author of The Battles of the American Revolution. + + + [(a) The occupation of Charlestown Heights on the night of June 16, + 1775, was of strategic value, however transient, equalizing the + relations of the parties opposed, and projecting its force and fire + into the entire struggle for American Independence. (Pages + 290-302.) + + (b)The Siege of Boston, which followed, gave to the freshly + organized Continental army that discipline, that instruction in + military engineering, and that contact with a well-trained enemy + which prepared it for immediate operations at New York and in New + Jersey. (Pages 37-44.) + + (c) The occupation and defence of New York and Brooklyn, so + promptly made, was also an immediate strategic necessity, fully + warranted by the existing conditions, although alike temporary. + (Pages 34-161.)] + + +An exhaustless theme may be so outlined that fairly stated data will +suggest the possibilities beyond. + +Waterloo is incidentally related to the crowning laurels of Wellington; +but, primarily, to the downfall of Napoleon, while rarely to the assured +growth of genuine popular liberty. + +No battle during the American Rebellion of 1861-65 was so really +decisive as was the first battle of Bull's Run. As that Federal failure +enforced the issue which freed four millions of people from slavery, and +had its sequence and culmination, through great struggle, in a +perpetuated Union, so did the battle of Bunker Hill open wide the breach +between Great Britain and the Colonies, and render American Independence +inevitable. + +The repulse of Howe at Breed's Hill practically ejected him from Boston, +enforced his halt before Brooklyn, delayed him at White Plains, +explained his hesitation at Bound Brook, near Somerset Court-House, in +1777, as well as his sluggishness after the battle of Brandywine, and +equally induced his inaction at Philadelphia, in 1778. + +[Illustration: The Battle of Breeds Hill, on Bunker Hill. Compiled and +Drawn by Col. Carrington.] + +Just as a similar resistance by Totlben at Sevastapol during the Crimean +War prolonged that struggle for twelve months, so did the hastily +constructed earthworks on Breed's Hill forewarn the assailants that +every ridge might serve as a fortress, and every sand-hill become a +cover, for a persistent and earnest foe. + +Historical research and military criticism suggest few cases where so +much has been realized by the efforts of a few men, in a few hours, +during the shelter of one night, and by the light of one day. + +The simple narrative has been the subject of much discussion. Its +details have been shaped and colored, with supreme regard for the +special claims of preferred candidates for distinction, until a plain +consideration of the issue then made, from a purely military point of +view, as introductory to a detail of the battle itself, cannot be barren +of interest to the readers of a Magazine which treats largely of the +local history of Massachusetts. + +The city of Boston was girdled by rapidly increasing earthworks. These +were wholly defensive, to resist assault from the British garrison, and +not, at first, as cover for a regular siege approach against the Island +Post. They soon became a direct agency to force the garrison to look to +the sea alone for supplies or retreat. + +Open war against Great Britain began with this environment of Boston. +The partially organized militia responded promptly to call. + +The vivifying force of the struggle through Concord, Lexington, and West +Cambridge (Arlington now), had so quickened the rapidly augmenting body +of patriots, that they demanded offensive action and grew impatient for +results. Having dropped fear of British troops, as such, they held a +strong purpose to achieve that complete deliverance which their earnest +resistance foreshadowed. + +Lexington and Concord were, therefore, the exponents of that daring +which made the occupation and resistance of Breed's Hill possible. The +fancied invincibility of British discipline went down before the rifles +of farmers; but the quickening sentiment, which gave nerve to the arm, +steadiness to the heart, and force to the blow, was one of those +historic expressions of human will and faith, which, under deep sense of +wrong incurred and rights imperilled, overmasters discipline, and has +the method of an inspired madness. The moral force of the energizing +passion became overwhelming and supreme. No troops in the world, under +similar conditions, could have resisted the movement. + +The opposing forces did not alike estimate the issue, or the relations +of the parties in interest. The troops sent forth to collect or destroy +arms, rightfully in the hands of their countrymen, and not to engage an +enemy, were under an involuntary restraint, which stripped them of real +fitness to meet armed men, who were already on fire with the conviction +that the representatives of national force were employed to destroy +national life. + +The ostensible theory of the Crown was to reconcile the Colonies. The +actual policy, and its physical demonstrations, repelled, and did not +conciliate. Military acts, easily done by the force in hand, were +needlessly done. Military acts which would be wise upon the basis of +anticipated resistance were not done. + +Threats and blows toward those not deemed capable of resistance were +freely expended. Operations of war, as against an organized and skilful +enemy, were ignored. But the legacies of English law and the inheritance +of English liberty had vested in the Colonies. Their eradication and +their withdrawal were alike impossible. The time had passed for +compromise or limitation of their enjoyment. The filial relation toward +England was lost when it became that of a slave toward master, to be +asserted by force. This the Americans understood when they environed +Boston. This the British did not understand, until after the battle of +Bunker Hill. The British worked as against a mob of rebels. The +Americans made common cause, "liberty or death," against usurpation and +tyranny. + + +THE OUTLOOK. + +Reference to map, "Boston and vicinity," already used in the January +number of this Magazine to illustrate the siege of Boston, will give a +clear impression of the local surroundings, at the time of the American +occupation of Charlestown Heights. The value of that position was to be +tested. The Americans had previously burned the lighthouses of the +harbor. The islands of the bay were already miniature fields of +conflict; and every effort of the garrison to use boats, and thereby +secure the needed supplies of beef, flour, or fuel, only developed a +counter system of boat operations, which neutralized the former and +gradually limited the garrison to the range of its guns. This close +grasp of the land approaches to Boston, so persistently maintained, +stimulated the Americans to catch a tighter hold, and force the garrison +to escape by sea. The capture of that garrison would have placed +unwieldy prisoners in their hands and have made outside operations +impossible, as well as any practical disposition of the prisoners +themselves, in treatment with Great Britain. Expulsion was the purpose +of the rallying people. + +General Gage fortified Boston Neck as early as 1774, and the First +Continental Congress had promptly assured Massachusetts of its sympathy +with her solemn protest against that act. It was also the intention of +General Gage to fortify Dorchester Heights. Early in April, a British +council of war, in which Clinton, Burgoyne, and Percy took part, +unanimously advised the immediate occupation of Dorchester, as both +indispensable to the protection of the shipping, and as assurance of +access to the country for indispensable supplies. + +General Howe already appreciated the mistake of General Gage, in his +expedition to Concord, but still cherished such hope of an accommodation +of the issue with the Colonies that he postponed action until a +peaceable occupation of Dorchester Heights became impossible, and the +growing earthworks of the besiegers already commanded Boston Neck. + +General Gage had also advised, and wisely, the occupation of Charlestown +Heights, as both necessary and feasible, without risk to Boston itself. +He went so far as to announce that, in case of overt acts of hostility +to such occupation, by the citizens of Charlestown, he would burn the +town. + +It was clearly sound military policy for the British to occupy both +Dorchester and Charlestown Heights, at the first attempt of the +Americans to invest the city. + +As early as the middle of May, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, as +well as the council, had resolved "to occupy Bunker Hill as soon as +artillery and powder could be adequately furnished for the purpose," and +a committee was appointed to examine and report respecting the merits of +Dorchester Heights, as a strategic restraint upon the garrison of +Boston. + +On the fifteenth of June, upon reliable information that the British had +definitely resolved to seize both Heights, and had designated the +eighteenth of June for the occupation of Charlestown, the same Committee +of Safety voted "to take immediate possession of Bunker Bill." + +Mr. Bancroft states that "the decision was so sudden that no fit +preparation could be made," Under the existing conditions, it was indeed +a desperate daring, expressive of grand faith and self-devotion, worthy +of the cause in peril, and only limited in its immediate and assured +triumph by the simple lack of powder. + +Prescott, who was eager to lead the enterprise and was entrusted with +its execution, and Putman, who gave it his most ardent support, were +most urgent that the council should act promptly; while Warren, who long +hesitated to concur, did at last concur, and gave his life as the test +of his devotion. General Ward realized fully that the hesitation of the +British to emerge from Boston and attack the Americans was an index of +the security of the American defences, and, therefore, deprecated the +contingency of a general engagement, until ample supplies of powder +could be secured. + +The British garrison, which had been reinforced to a nominal strength of +ten thousand men, had become reduced, through inadequate supplies, +especially of fresh meat, to eight thousand effectives, but these men +were well officered and well disciplined. + + +THE POSITION. + +Bunker Hill had an easy slope to the isthmus, but was quite steep on +either side, having, in fact, control of the isthmus, as well as +commanding a full view of Boston and the surrounding country. Morton's +Hill, at Moulton's Point, where the British landed, was but thirty-five +feet above sea level, while Breed's Pasture (as then known) and Bunker +Hill were, respectively, seventy-five and one hundred and ten feet high. +The Charles and Mystic Rivers, which flanked Charlestown, were +navigable, and were under the control of the British ships-of-war. + + +AMERICAN POLICY. + +To so occupy Charlestown, in advance, as to prevent a successful British +landing, required the use of the nearest available position that would +make the light artillery of the Americans effective. To occupy Bunker +Hill, alone, would leave to the British the cover of Breed's Hill, under +which to gain effective fire and a good base for approach, as well as +Charlestown for quarters, without prejudice to themselves. + +When, therefore, Breed's Hill was fortified as an advanced position, it +was done with the assurance that reinforcements would soon occupy the +retired summit, and the course adopted was the best to prevent an +effective British lodgment. The previous reluctance of the garrison to +make any effective demonstration against the thin lines of environment +strengthened the belief of the Americans that a well-selected hold upon +Charlestown Heights would securely tighten the grasp upon the city +itself. + + +BRITISH POLICY. + +As a fact, the British contempt for the Americans might have urged them +as rashly against Bunker Hill as it did against the redoubt which they +gained, at last, only through failure of the ammunition of its +defenders; but, in view of the few hours at disposal of the Americans to +prepare against a landing so soon to be attempted, it is certain that +the defences were well placed, both to cover the town and force an +immediate issue before the British could increase their own force. + +It is equally certain that the British utterly failed to appreciate the +fact that, with the control of the Mystic and Charles Rivers, they +could, within twenty-four hours, so isolate Charlestown as to secure the +same results as by storming the American position, and without +appreciable loss. This was the advice of General Clinton, but he was +overruled. They did, ultimately, thereby check reinforcements, but +suffered so severely in the battle itself that fully two thirds of the +Americans retired safely to the main land. + +The delay of the British to advance as soon as the landing was effected +was bad tactics. One half of the force could have followed the Mystic +and turned the American left wing, long before Colonel Stark's command +came upon the field. The British dined as leisurely as if they had only +to move any time and seize the threatening position, and thereby lost +their chief opportunity. + +One single sign of the recognition of any possible risk-to themselves +was the opening of fire from Boston Neck and such other positions as +faced the American lines, as if to warn them not to attempt the city, or +endanger their own lives by sending reinforcements to Charlestown. + + +THE MOVEMENT. + +It is not the purpose of this article to elaborate the details of +preparation, which have been so fully discussed by many writers, but to +illustrate the value of the action in the light of the relations and +conduct of the opposing forces. + +Colonel William Prescott, of Pepperell, Massachusetts, Colonel James +Frye, of Andover, and Colonel Ebenezer Bridge, of Billerica, whose +regiments formed most of the original detail, were members of the +council of war which had been organized on the twentieth of April, when +General Ward assumed command of the army. Colonel Thomas Knowlton, of +Putnam's regiment, was to lead a detachment from the Connecticut troops. +Colonel Richard Gridley, chief engineer, with a company of artillery, +was also assigned to the moving columns. + +To ensure a force of one thousand men, the field order covered nearly +fourteen hundred, and Mr. Frothingham shows clearly that the actual +force as organized, with artificers and drivers of carts, was not less +than twelve hundred men. + +Cambridge Common was the place of rendezvous, where, at early twilight +of June 16, the Reverend Samuel Langdon, president of Harvard College, +invoked the blessing of Almighty God upon the solemn undertaking. + +This silent body of earnest men crossed Charlestown Neck, and halted for +a clear definition of the impending duty. Major Brooks, of Colonel +Dodge's regiment, joined here, as well as a company of artillery. +Captain Nutting, with a detachment of Connecticut men, was promptly +sent, by the quickest route, to patrol Charlestown, at the summit of +Bunker Hill. Captain Maxwell's company, of Prescott's regiment, was next +detailed to patrol the shore in silence and keenly note any activity on +board the British men-of-war. + +The six vessels lying in the stream were the Somerset, sixty-eight, +Captain Edward Le Cross; Cerberus, thirty-six, Captain Chads; Glasgow, +thirty-four, Captain William Maltby; Lively, twenty, Captain Thomas +Bishop; Falcon, twenty, Captain Linzee, and the Symmetry, transport, +with eighteen guns. + +While one thousand men worked upon the redoubt which had been located +under counsel of Gridley, Prescott, Knowlton, and other officers, the +dull thud of the pickaxe and the grating of shovels were the only sounds +that disturbed the pervading silence, except as the sentries' "All's +well!" from Copp's Hill and from the warships, relieved anxiety and +stimulated work. Prescott and Putnam alike, and more than once, visited +the beach, to be assured that the seeming security was real; and at +daybreak the redoubt, nearly eight rods square and six feet high, was +nearly complete. + +Scarcely had objects become distinct, when the battery on Copp's Hill +and the guns of the Lively opened fire, and startled the garrison of +Boston from sleep, to a certainty that the Colonists had taken the +offensive. + +General Putnam reached headquarters at a very early hour, and secured +the detail of a portion of Colonel Stark's regiment, to reinforce the +first detail which had already occupied the Hill. + +At nine o'clock, a council of war was held at Breed's Hill. Major John +Brooks was sent to ask for more men and more rations. Richard Devens, of +the Committee of Safety, then in session, was influential in persuading +General Ward to furnish prompt reinforcements. By eleven o'clock, the +whole of Stark's and Reed's New Hampshire regiments were on their march, +and in time to meet the first shock of battle. Portions of other +regiments hastened to the aid of those already waiting for the fight to +begin. + +The details of men were not exactly defined, in all cases, when the +urgent call for reinforcements reached headquarters. Little's regiment +of Essex men; Brewer's, of Worcester and Middlesex, with their +Lieutenant-Colonel Buckminster; Nixon's, led by Nixon himself; Moore's, +from Worcester; Whitcomb's, of Lancaster, and others, promptly accepted +the opportunity to take part in the offensive, and challenge the British +garrison to a contest-at-arms, and well they bore their part in the +struggle. + + +THE AMERICAN POSITION. + +The completion of the redoubt only made more distinct the necessity for +additional defences. A line of breastworks, a few rods in length, was +carried to the left, and then to the rear, in order to connect with a +stone fence which was accepted as a part of the line, since the fence +ran perpendicularly to the Mystic; and the intention was to throw some +protection across the entire peninsula to the river. A small pond and +some spongy ground were left open, as non-essential, considering the +value of every moment; and every exertion was made for the protection +of the immediate front. The stone fence, like those still common in New +England, was two or three feet high, with set posts and two rails; in +all, about five feet high, the top rail giving a rest for a rifle. A +zigzag "stake and rider fence" was put in front, the meadow +division-fences being stripped for the purpose. The fresh-mown hay +filled the interval between the fences. This line was nearly two hundred +yards in rear of the face of the redoubt, and near the foot of Bunker +Hill. Captain Knowlton, with two pieces of artillery and Connecticut +troops, was assigned, by Colonel Prescott, to the right of this +position, adjoining the open gap already mentioned. Between the fence +and the river, more conspicuous at low tide, was a long gap, which was +promptly filled by Stark as soon as he reached the ground, thus, as far +as possible, to anticipate the very flanking movement which the British +afterward attempted. + +Putnam was everywhere active, and, after the fences were as well secured +as time would allow, he ordered the tools taken to Bunker Hill for the +establishment of a second line on higher ground, in case the first could +not be maintained. His importunity with General Ward had secured the +detail of the whole of Reed's, as well as the balance of Stark's, +regiment, so that the entire left was protected by New Hampshire troops. +With all their energy they were able to gather from the shore only stone +enough for partial cover, while they lay down, or kneeled, to fire. + +The whole force thus spread out to meet the British army was less than +sixteen hundred men. Six pieces of artillery were in use at different +times, but with little effect. The cannon cartridges were at last +distributed for the rifles, and five of the guns were left on the field +when retreat became inevitable. + +Reference to the map will indicate the position thus outlined. It was +evident that the landing could not be prevented. Successive barges +landed the well-equipped troops, and they took their positions, and +their dinner, under the blaze of the hot sun, as if nothing but ordinary +duty was awaiting their leisure. + + +THE BRITISH ADVANCE. + +It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon when the British army +formed for the advance. General Howe was expected to break and envelop +the American left wing, take the redoubt in the rear, and cut off +retreat to Bunker Hill and the mainland. The light infantry moved +closely along the Mystic. The grenadiers advanced upon the stone fence, +while the British left demonstrated toward the unprotected gap which was +between the fence and the short breastwork next the redoubt. General +Pigot with the extreme left wing moved directly upon the redoubt. The +British artillery had been supplied with twelve-pound shot for +six-pounder guns, and, thus disabled, were ordered to use only grape. +The guns were, therefore, advanced to the edge of an old brick-kiln, as +the spongy ground and heavy grass did not permit ready handling of guns +at the foot of the hill slope, or even just at its left. This secured a +more effective range of fire upon the skeleton defences of the American +centre, and an eligible position for a direct fire upon the exposed +portion of the American front, and both breastwork and redoubt. + +The advance of the British army was like a solemn pageant in its steady +headway, and like a parade for inspection in its completeness. This +army, bearing knapsacks and full campaign equipment, moved forward as +if, by the force of its closely knit columns, it must sweep every +barrier away. But, right in the way was a calm, intense love of liberty. +It was represented by men of the same blood and of equal daring. + +A strong contrast marked the opposing Englishmen that summer afternoon. +The plain men handled plain firelocks. Oxhorns held their powder, and +their pockets held their bullets. Coatless, under the broiling sun, +unincumbered, unadorned by plume or service medal, pale and wan after +their night of toil and their day of hunger, thirst, and waiting, this +live obstruction calmly faced the advancing splendor. + +A few hasty shots, quickly restrained, drew an innocent fire from the +British front rank. The pale, stern men behind the slight defence, +obedient to a strong will, answer not to the quick volley, and nothing +to the audible commands of the advancing columns,--waiting, still. + +No painter can make the scene more clear than the recital of sober +deposition, and the record left by survivors of either side. History has +no contradictions to confuse the realities of that momentous tragedy. + +The British left wing is near the redoubt. It has only to mount a fresh +earthbank, hardly six feet high, and its clods and sands can almost be +counted,--it is so near, so easy--sure. + +Short, crisp, and earnest, low-toned, but felt as an electric pulse, are +the words of Prescott. Warren, by his side, repeats. The words fly +through the impatient lines. The eager fingers give back from the +waiting trigger. "Steady, men." "Wait until you see the white of the +eye." "Not a shot sooner." "Aim at the handsome coats." "Aim at the +waistbands." "Pick off the commanders." "Wait for the word, every +man,--_steady_." + +Those plain men, so patient, can already count the buttons, can read the +emblems on the breastplate, can recognize the officers and men whom they +had seen parade on Boston Common. Features grow more distinct. The +silence is awful. The men seem dead--waiting for one word. On the +British right the light infantry gain equal advance just as the left +wing almost touched the redoubt. Moving over more level ground, they +quickly made the greater distance, and passed the line of those who +marched directly up the hill. The grenadiers moved firmly upon the +centre, with equal confidence, and space lessens to that which the +spirit of the impending word defines. That word waits behind the centre +and left wing, as it lingers at breastwork and redoubt. Sharp, clear, +and deadly in tone and essence, it rings forth,--_Fire_! + + +THE REPULSE. + +From redoubt to river, along the whole sweep of devouring flame, the +forms of men wither as in a furnace heat. The whole front goes down. For +an instant the chirp of the cricket and grasshopper in the fresh-mown +hay might almost be heard; then the groans of the wounded, then the +shouts of impatient yeomen who spring forth to pursue, until recalled to +silence and duty. Staggering, but reviving, grand in the glory of their +manhood, heroic in restored self-possession, with steady step in the +face of fire, and over the bodies of the dead, the British remnant +renew battle. Again, a deadly volley, and the shattered columns, in +spite of entreaty or command, speed back to the place of landing, and +the first shock of arms is over. + +A lifetime, when it is past, is but as a moment. A moment, sometimes, is +as a lifetime. Onset and repulse. Three hundred lifetimes ended in +twenty minutes. + +Putnam hastened to Bunker Hill to gather scattering parties in the rear +and urge coming reinforcements across the isthmus, where the fire from +British frigates swept with fearful energy, but nothing could bring them +in time. The men who had toiled all night, and had just proved their +valor, were again to be tested. + +The British reformed promptly, in the perfection of their discipline. +Their artillery was pushed forward nearer the angle made by the +breastwork next the redoubt, and the whole line advanced, deployed as +before, across the entire American front. The ships-of-war increased +their fire across the isthmus. Charlestown had been fired, and more than +four hundred houses kindled into one vast wave of smoke and flame, until +a sudden breeze swept its quivering volume away and exposed to view of +the watchful Americans the returning tide of battle. No scattering shots +in advance this time. It is only when a space of hardly five rods is +left, and a swift plunge could almost forerun the rifle flash, that the +word of execution impels the bullet, and the entire front rank, from +redoubt to river, is swept away. Again, and again, the attempt is made +to rally and inspire the paralyzed troops; but the living tide flows +back, even to the river. + +Another twenty minutes,--hardly twenty-five,--and the death angel has +gathered his sheaves of human hopes, as when the Royal George went down +beneath the waters with its priceless value of human lives. + +At the first repulse the thirty-eighth regiment took shelter by a stone +fence, along the road which passes about the base of Breed's Hill; but +at the second repulse, supported by the fifth, it reorganized, just +under the advanced crest of Breed's Hill for a third advance. + +It was an hour of grave issues. Burgoyne, who watched the progress from +Copp's Hill, says: "A moment of the day was critical." + +Stedman says: "A continuous blaze of musketry, incessant and +destructive." + +Gordon says: "The British officers pronounced it downright butchery to +lead the men afresh against those lines." + +Ramsay says: "Of one company not more than five, and of another not more +than fourteen, escaped." + +Lossing says: "Whole platoons were lain upon the earth, like grass by +the mower's scythe." + +Marshall says: "The British line, wholly broken, fell back with +precipitation to the landing-place." + +Frothingham quotes this statement of a British officer: "Most of our +grenadiers and light infantry, the moment they presented themselves, +lost three fourths, and many nine tenths, of their men. Some had only +eight and nine men to a company left, some only three, four, and five." + +Botta says: "A shower of bullets. The field was covered with the slain." + +Bancroft says: "A continuous sheet of fire." + +Stark says: "The dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold." + +It was, indeed, a strange episode in British history, in view of the +British assertion of assured supremacy, whenever an issue challenged +that supremacy. + +Clinton and Burgoyne, watching from the redoubt on Copp's Hill, realized +at once the gravity of the situation, and Clinton promptly offered his +aid to rescue the army. + +Four hundred additional marines and the forty-seventh regiment were +promptly landed. This fresh force, under Clinton, was ordered to flank +the redoubt and scale its face to the extreme left. General Howe, with +the grenadiers and light infantry, supported by the artillery, undertook +the storming of the breastworks, bending back from the mouth of the +redoubt, and so commanding the centre entrance. + +General Pigot was ordered to rally the remnants of the fifth, +thirty-eighth, forty-third, and fifty-second regiments, to connect the +two wings, and attack the redoubt in front. + +A mere demonstration was ordered upon the American left, while the +artillery was to advance a few rods and then swing to its left, so as to +sweep the breastwork for Howe's advance. + + +THE ASSAULT. + +The dress parade movement of the first advance was not repeated. A +contest between equals was at hand. Victory or ruin was the alternative +for those who so proudly issued from the Boston barracks at sunrise for +the suppression of pretentious rebellion. Knapsacks were thrown aside. +British veterans stripped for fight. Not a single regiment of those +engaged had passed such a fearful ordeal in its whole history as a +single hour had witnessed. The power of discipline, the energy of +experienced commanders, and the pressure of honored antecedents, +combined to make the movement as trying as it was momentous. + +The Americans were no less under a solemn responsibility. At the +previous attack, some loaded while others fired, so that the expenditure +of powder was great, almost exhaustive. The few remaining cannon +cartridges were economically distributed. There was no longer a +possibility of reinforcements. The fire from the shipping swept the +isthmus. There were less than fifty bayonets to the entire command. + +During the afternoon Ward sent his own regiment, as well as Patterson's +and Gardner's, but few men reached the actual front in time to share in +the last resistance. Gardner did, indeed, reach Bunker Hill to aid +Putnam in establishing a second line on that summit, but fell in the +discharge of the duty. Febiger, previously conspicuous at Quebec, and +afterward at Stony Point, gathered a portion of Gerrishe's regiment, and +reached the redoubt in time to share in the final struggle; but the +other regiments, without their fault, were too late. + +At this time, Putnam seemed to appreciate the full gravity of the +crisis, and made the most of every available resource to concentrate a +reserve for a second defence, but in vain. + +Prescott, within the redoubt, at once recognized the method of the +British advance. The wheel of the British artillery to the left after it +passed the line of the redoubt, secured to it an enfilading fire, which +insured the reduction of the redoubt and cut off retreat. There was no +panic at that hour of supreme peril. The order to reserve fire until the +enemy was within twenty yards was obediently regarded, and it was not +until a pressure upon three faces of the redoubt forced the last issue, +that the defenders poured forth one more destructive volley. A single +cannon cartridge was distributed for the final effort, and then, with +clubbed guns and the nerve of desperation, the slow retreat began, +contesting, man to man and inch by inch. Warren fell, shot through the +head, in the mouth of the fort. + +The battle was not quite over, even then. Jackson rallied Gardner's men +on Bunker Hill, and with three companies of Ward's regiment and +Febiger's party, so covered the retreat as to save half of the garrison. +The New Hampshire troops of Stark and Reed, with Colt's and Chester's +companies, still held the fence line clear to the river, and covered the +escape of Prescott's command until the last cartridge had been expended, +and then their deliberate, well-ordered retreat bore testimony alike to +their virtue and valor. + + +THE END. + +Putnam made one final effort at Bunker Hill, but in vain, and the army +retired to Prospect Hill, which Putnam had already fortified in advance. + +The British did not pursue, Clinton urged upon General Howe an immediate +attack upon Cambridge; but Howe declined the movement. The gallant +Prescott offered to retake Bunker Hill by storming if he could have +three fresh regiments; but it was not deemed best to waste further +resources at the time. + +Such, as briefly as it can be clearly outlined, was the battle of Bunker +Hill. + +Nearly one third of each army was left on the field. + +The British loss was nineteen officers killed and seventy wounded, +itself a striking evidence of the prompt response to Prescott's orders +before the action began. Of rank and file, two hundred and seven were +killed and seven hundred and fifty-eight were wounded. Total, ten +hundred and fifty-four. + +The American loss was one hundred and forty-five killed and missing, and +three hundred and four wounded. Total, four hundred and forty-nine. + +Such is the record of a battle which, in less than two hours, destroyed +a town, laid fifteen hundred men upon the field, equalized the relations +of veterans and militia, aroused three millions of people to a definite +struggle for National Independence, and fairly opened the war for its +accomplishment. + + +NOTES. + +NOTE 1. The hasty organization of the command is marked by one feature +not often regarded, and that is the readiness with which men of various +regiments enlisted in the enterprise. Washington, in his official report +of the casualties, thus specifies the loss:-- + +Colonel of Regiment. Killed. Wounded. Missing. + + Frye, 10 38 4 + Little, 7 23 - + Brewer, 12 22 - + Gridley, - 4 - + Stark, 15 45 - + Woodbridge, - 5 - + Scammon, - 2 - + Bridge, 17 25 - + Whitcomb, 5 8 2 + Ward, 1 6 - + Gerrishe, 3 5 - + Reed, 3 29 1 + Prescott, 43 46 - + Doolittle, 6 9 - + Gardner, - 7 - + Patterson, - 1 1 + Nixon, 3 - - + +NOTE 2. The record, brief as it is, shows that hot controversies as to +the question of precedence in command are beneath the merits of the +struggle, because all worked just where the swift transitions of the +crisis best commanded presence and influence. + +NOTE 3. As both the Morton and Moulton families had property near the +British landing-place, it is immaterial whether hill or point bear the +name of one or the other. Hence the author of this sketch, in a memorial +examination of this battle, elsewhere, deemed it but just to recognize +both, without attempt to harmonize differences upon an immaterial +matter. + +NOTE 4. The occupation of Lechmere Point, Cobble Hill, Ploughed Hill, +and Prospect Hill, as shown upon the map of Boston and vicinity, +rendered the British occupation of Bunker Hill a barren victory, +silenced the activity of a thousand men, vindicated the wisdom of the +American occupation, however transient, rescued Boston, and projected +the spirit of the battle of Bunker Hill into all the issues which +culminated at Yorktown, October 19, 1781. + + * * * * * + +THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF MASSACHUSETTS. + +BY RUSSELL STURGIS, JR. + + +In the sketch of the Boston Association, which appeared in the April +number of this Magazine, mention was made of the work of Mr. L.P. +Rowland, corresponding member of Massachusetts of the international +committee, in establishing kindred associations throughout the State, +This article is to give a brief history of the spread and work of these +associations, and I am largely indebted to Mr. Sayford, late state +secretary, for the data. It was natural that as soon as it was known +that an organization had been formed in Boston to do distinctive work +for young men, that in other places where the need was realized the +desire for a like work should spring up; but, in the absence of +organized effort to promote this, very little was done, and in 1856, +five years after the parent association was formed, there were only six +in all, that is, in Boston, Charlestown, Worcester, Lowell, Springfield, +and Haverhill. + +In December, 1866, the Boston Association called a convention, when +twelve hundred delegates met and sat for two days at the Tremont Temple. +General Christian work was discussed, but the distinctive work for young +men was earnestly advocated. + +When Mr. Rowland undertook the work, as an officer of the international +committee, it spread rapidly, and in 1868 there were one hundred and +two, and in 1869, one hundred and nine, associations in Massachusetts. +This number was, later, somewhat further increased. + +Up to 1867 there had been no conference of the state associations, but +at the international convention, at Montreal, in that year, it was +strongly urged upon the corresponding members of the various States and +provinces that they should call state conventions, and thus the first +Massachusetts convention of Young Men's Christian Associations was held +at Springfield, October 10 and 11. The Honorable Whiting Griswold, of +Greenfield, was president, and among the prominent men present were +Henry F. Durant and ex-Vice-President Wilson. In 1868, the convention +met at Worcester; in 1869, at Lowell. At this time there were fifty +associations reporting reading-rooms, and thirty were holding _open-air +meetings_, which means, that, since there are many persons who never +enter a building to hear the gospel, it should be taken to them. Since +these services are almost peculiarly a characteristic of association +work, let me describe them. One or two men, clergymen or laymen, are +appointed to take charge of the meeting, while from six to ten men go +with them to lead the singing. Having reached the common or public +square where men and women are lounging about, the group start a +familiar hymn and sing, perhaps, two or three, by which time many have +drawn near and most are listening; then mounting a bench or packing-box, +the leader says he proposes to pray to the God of whom they have been +singing, and asks them to join with him; then with uncovered head he +speaks to God and asks him to bless the words that shall be spoken. +Another hymn, and then some Bible scene or striking incident is read and +commented upon, and when interest is fairly roused the gospel is +_preached in its simplicity_ and a _direct appeal_ made to the people. +There is a wonderful fascination in this service--a naturalness in all +the surroundings, so like the circumstances of our Lord's discourses, +that makes God's nearness felt, and inspires great faith for results. +Great have been these results--how great we shall know by-and-by. Many a +soul has thus been born by the sea, in the grove, on the village green, +at the place where streets meet in the busy city. How can we reach the +masses? is the earnest question of the church. _Go to them!_ To the +association is due the fact that thousands of laymen are to-day +proclaiming the gospel in all parts of the world, successful through +their simple study of the Word and the encouragement and training which +they have received in this school. + +The fourth convention was held in Chelsea, in 1870, on which occasion +the Honorable Cephas Brainard, chairman of the international executive +committee, said: "To promote the permanency of associations, our labor +must be chiefly for young men; increasing as rapidly as possible +edifices of our own; and cultivating frequent fraternal intercourse with +the eight hundred associations in the land." Up to 1881 no agents had +been appointed by the state convention to superintend its work. Mr. +Rowland was taking time, given him for rest, to visit associations and +towns needing them. + +At the international convention, in 1868, at Detroit, two Massachusetts +men met, who were to be largely instrumental in carrying on the work in +the State so dear to them; and in 1871, in far-off Illinois, these two +men--K.A. Burnell, and he who has almost without a break served on the +Massachusetts committee to this day--met again, prayed for +Massachusetts, consulted together, and the result was that at the +convention of 1871, at Northampton, a state executive committee was +appointed. + +At this time calls from many parts of the State were coming to the +association workers from pastors of churches for lay help and they felt +that these calls must be met. Mr. Burnell was engaged to conduct the +work, and with the help of the committee individually, meetings of two +and three days were held in from forty to sixty towns each year for +three years. This work was continued by paid secretaries, still largely +aided by the committee, till 1879. + +During this time but little was done to strengthen existing +associations, and nothing in establishing new ones, therefore, while the +influence of the convention of associations was greatly felt throughout +the State, the associations themselves suffered. Very many were doing +nothing, and many had ceased to exist. + +We should not dare to say that the associations did wrong in thus giving +themselves to the evangelistic work, while the calls for it were greater +than the committee could meet. This work engrossed them till the calls +began to slacken, and then they awoke to the fact that they were +neglecting their true work, a special instrumentality in which they +believed and for which they existed--that is, "A work for young men by +young men through physical, social, mental, and spiritual appliances." + +This led to a series of resolutions at the Lowell convention, in 1879, +directing the committee to confine their efforts to the strengthening +and organizing of associations, and to appoint a secretary to give his +whole time to the work. + +Mr. Sayford was called from New York, appointed general secretary, and +began to work in January, 1880. + +At this time there were thirty-five associations in the State, only four +of which had general secretaries, paid men who gave all their time to +the work. + +In October, the number of secretaries had more than doubled, nine being +at work. The total membership at this time was, in round numbers, six +thousand, with property amounting to about two hundred and ten thousand +dollars. + +The thirty-three associations which reported at this time at the Lynn +convention represented somewhat more than five hundred active working +men, and they conducted one hundred and ten religious meetings a week. + +In 1881, the only addition of note was the beginning of the railway work +in the State, when a general secretary was employed, and rooms opened at +Springfield by the Boston and Albany Railroad Company. This important +work, carried on most vigorously at various railway centres in other +States, had for some time been pressed upon the state committee, but +they had been unable to obtain any footing till now. At the convention +of this year, at Spencer, the advantage of association work in colleges +was brought out in an able paper by our present state secretary, then a +representative of Williams College. + +At this convention the committee on executive committee's report said: +"It is evident from the reports of executive committee and state +secretary, that, while the process of the last two years has decreased +the number of the associations in the State, it has greatly increased +their efficiency. Some associations were found to have been long since +privately buried, though the name was allowed to remain upon the door. +These have been removed. Others had been left to die uncared for in the +field. These have been decently buried. Some were found so sick as to be +past hope, and their last days were made as comfortable as possible +under the circumstances. Others were found to be more or less seriously +ill, and have been skilfully treated. The result is that at least +twenty-four associations are well, and could do much more work if they +chose; while ten, in robust condition, and under the management and +inspiration of skilled general secretaries, are doing grand work for +young men in their several localities." + +The reduction here spoken of is from one hundred and nine associations +in 1869 to thirty-four in 1881; yet the work was being better done by +the smaller number, and it is thus accounted for: Few dreamed to what +this work would grow, therefore their aim was extremely vague, and the +methods were inadequate. Seeing the need,--deeply interested in the +salvation of young men,--the _idea_ of the association took everywhere. +They sprang up all over the State. Organization followed organization in +rapid succession, and then they waited to be told what to do, or flung +themselves into the first seeming opening with no thought whether it was +the work for which they were formed; and we remember of hearing of one +Young Men's Christian Association whose whole energies were concentrated +upon a mission Sunday-school in a deserted district,--a good work, but +not a proper Young Men's Christian Association's work, when it +represented all that was being done. + +Two things, however, were accomplished, even in those early days, for +which we must always be very grateful, and in themselves are a +sufficient _raison d'etre. Young men were trained_ to work, and the +reflex influence upon their minds was very great, and the real unity of +the church of Christ was manifested as never before. The Young Men's +Christian Association in town and village formed the natural +rallying-point for all united work. A third great blessing should be +mentioned. Not only has the unity of Christ's church been manifested, +but also its distinctive standing upon the great Bible doctrines of the +cross, which vitally separate it from all other religious bodies. + +Gradually the greatness of this work for young men has been appreciated, +as the strong opposing forces have been met. The association is intended +to influence those who are in the energy and full flush of young +manhood, when the desires are strong, most responsive, and least +guarded. The social instinct then is very strong. It is natural, and +must be met in some form. Sinful allurements of every kind invite the +young man, hurtful companionship welcomes him, the ordinary appliances +of the church have no attraction for him. The association must see to it +that his social craving is met by that which is interesting enough to +attract him, and yet is safe. To counteract baleful attractions, others +which call forth strong sympathy, and appliances which _cost_, in every +sense of the word, must be furnished. + +This means pleasant rooms, books, papers, good companionship, classes, +lectures, concerts, the hall, and the gymnasium; but more important than +all, a trained man who shall give his whole time and heart to the work, +and be amply remunerated. + +Since these things are more or less necessary to successful effort for +young men, it will readily be seen why so many associations have ceased +to exist. + +The committee have come to the conclusion that every town in the State +where rooms can be kept open in charge of a general secretary should +have a Young Men's Christian Association, and where these cannot be +furnished we are not anxious to establish it. + +At the convention of 1882, in Charlestown, it became apparent that, to +meet the calls for evangelistic work and push the distinctive +association work, two men were required. Two, therefore, were appointed: +one to give his time largely to evangelistic work, the other wholly to +that of the association. In the following year, 1883, the evangelistic +secretary decided to do the same work independently of the committee, +and the whole energy of the state secretary has been devoted to the +organization of association work. + +We may safely say that, although numerically small, never before has +this work been so efficiently organized as now, and never has there been +so much done as now for young men. At the convention of 1881, a +constitution was adopted which binds the different state associations in +organic union. These hold an annual convention of three days, at which +time one half of the executive committee is chosen, thus making it a +perpetual body. This committee represents every section of the State, +and meets monthly for consultation; while the individual members are +means of communication between headquarters in Boston and other +respective sections. There is a further subdivision into three +districts, each of which holds a quarterly conference of one day, under +the management of the district committee. + +The associations now number 35. +Membership, about 11,300. +Employing general secretaries, 19. +Having buildings, 7. +Value of buildings, say, $490,000. +Value of building funds and lots, $50,000. +Having rooms, 23. +Having gymnasiums, 8. +Annual expenses, about $65,000. + +This is only a beginning. This work for young men is far too important +to remain within such limits. Every town in the Commonwealth of seven +thousand inhabitants should have a fully equipped association. Some +smaller towns already have. + +My excuse for this sketch is: first, the importance of the subject; +second, the ignorance concerning it of a large portion of the Christian +community; third, that the blessings of the work and its support may be +shared by far greater numbers; and, lastly, that the courtesy of the +editors of The Bay State Monthly afforded altogether too good an +opportunity for making this work known, to be lost. + + * * * * * + +TOWN AND CITY HISTORIES. + +BY ROBERT LUCE. + + +The United States government has now in press two volumes of the census +of 1880, entitled The Social Statistics of Cities. These statistics have +been in process of preparation for some four years, under direction of +Colonel George E. Waring, jr., the eminent sanitary engineer, of +Newport, Rhode Island. They will fill two large quarto volumes of +something over six hundred pages each; and as each page will average +over one thousand words, it will be seen that the work will, at least, +be massive and imposing, like most government publications. Unlike many +of these, however, it will not be dull, unintelligible, or valueless. +The fact that one half of it is devoted to the history of the cities of +our land is well-nigh sufficient proof that these epithets cannot be +applied to it, and the question is settled beyond a doubt when it is +learned that the greater part of the labor has been performed by people +who are well known in the literary world, and who brought to their task +experience and ability,--rare qualifications to be found combined in +government employees. Colonel Waring himself, though a clear thinker and +good writer, furnished comparatively little manuscript to the volumes, +but he has revised them thoroughly, and has stamped them with his +individuality. + +It was Colonel Waring's original design to embrace in his work the +statistics of the twenty largest cities of the country, and these +happened to be the cities that in 1880 had more than one hundred +thousand inhabitants. Then it was decided to allow the smaller cities to +be represented if they chose, and early in the work steps were taken to +induce them to furnish the necessary material. Over two hundred of the +largest were given all the opportunities for representation that could +be asked for, and, as a consequence, nearly every community in the land +containing more than ten thousand inhabitants has a more or less full +account. Each one of these is prefaced by a small outline plan, on which +is marked the direction in which the surrounding cities lie, and the +distance to each. Accompanying this plan are tables of the population at +different decades, and of the sex, color, and nativity of the present +population. Then comes an historical sketch, and then an account of the +present condition of the community. This last describes the location and +topography fully; gives the principal features of the country +immediately tributary; details the facilities for communication given by +railroads and by water; gives statistics about the climate; describes +the public buildings and public works, including water and gas works; +gives figures about the streets, horse railroads, and markets; touches +upon the places and methods of amusement, and the parks and +pleasure-grounds; the sewers, the cemeteries, sanitary organization +(boards of health), and the system, or lack of system, of municipal +cleansing,--all receive especially full treatment, as would naturally be +expected when a sanitary engineer of Colonel Waring's stamp had charge +of the work; the police department gets its share of the space; and in +some cases the schools, fire department, and commerce are represented. +The material from which these accounts were compiled was, in the main, +obtained by sending schedules of questions to the various town and city +officials; in the case of some of the largest cities the material was +secured by special agents, but in general, the desire of the cities to +be represented was considered sufficient guaranty that the schedule +would be filled out fully and accurately, and this generally proved to +be the case. + +The historical sketches of the smaller cities and towns were compiled +from information obtained in the same way, and from gazetteers, +encyclopaedias, town and city histories, and all other sources available +at the headquarters of the bureau. To the preparation of the sketches of +the twenty largest cities, especial attention was devoted, and the +results have been correspondingly valuable. Perhaps the most important, +both from the historical and literary point of view, will be the sketch +of the history of New Orleans, written by George W. Cable, who is better +known as a novelist, but who has no mean abilities as an historian. His +familiarity with the Creole element in New Orleans past and present, +together with a very happy style of writing, have made for him more +than a national reputation, from which this sketch will not detract. +Originally his work was intended to occupy some ninety pages of the +report, but later, unfortunately, it had to be condensed into fifty. +Luckily it will not be found necessary to omit a number of interesting +maps that accompany it. + +Next in value, perhaps from the purely historical point of view the most +valuable, or at least the most complete, of all, comes the sketch of the +early history of St. Louis, by Professor Waterhouse. The author became +greatly interested in his task, and spent a vast amount of time in +collecting materials for it. From the care bestowed on the work, it may +be taken for granted that this will be as full and accurate an account +of the settlement and early history of the "Philadelphia of the West" as +can possibly be compiled. It is expected that it will occupy fifty or +sixty pages of the report, and even then it will only bring the history +down to 1823, when the first city government was organized. + +The largest of the Eastern cities furnish little chance for original +work in an historical line, but yet the sketch of New York by Martha J. +Lamb, of Philadelphia by Susan Cooledge, and of Boston by Colonel +Waring, will be acceptable additions to the very scanty stock of +American historical literature. + +The words "very scanty" are used most advisedly, for in very truth the +American _historian_ is a _rara avis_. Of American compilers-of-facts, +to be sure, there have been and are very many, but an aggregation of +details is not a history, nor can a man who makes a book out of local +gossip and the biographies of local heroes and heroines be called an +historian. The truth of this fact has been most forcibly impressed on +the writer in the course of preparing for the Census Bureau historical +sketches of many of the leading cities of the country, and he has become +thoroughly convinced that of all the vulnerable portions of American +literature that which pertains to the history of American towns and +cities is the most vulnerable. + +In the first place, American town and city _histories_ are few. In the +second place, the books that pretend to be such are many, and as a rule +historically worthless. In the third place, both the real and the sham +are intensely dull. + +Real histories are few, evidently because there is not demand enough to +encourage historians to enter the field, and not because material is +lacking. With the exception of the Atlantic seaboard, our country has +been developed in an age pre-eminent for records and statistics; and +there is scarcely a town or city in the land that has not its records +and its public documents, its newspaper files and its Fourth-of-July +orations,--all replete with information waiting for the historian. +Nearly every State has its Historical Society, and Pioneer Associations +are as plenty in our glorious West as was the fever and ague with which +their members were baptized. If the golden opportunities of +autobiography are lost, the American historian of the future will have +to be satisfied, as must be satisfied the New England historian of +to-day, with the meagre, lifeless information given by records, and the +hyperbolical, untrustworthy knowledge to be obtained from local +tradition and gossip. + +We need go no farther to find the first reason why American histories +are so meagre and dull. They are not pictures from life. The fact is, +that the historian might as well try to write a valuable and interesting +history from the materials which our older cities possess, as a painter +might try to paint the battle of Crecy from the details given by +Froissart. To be sure we have all seen such pictures, but who has more +than admired them? + +The absence of contemporaneous literature has been the greatest +misfortune of all history. Every student knows how great and deplorable +are the breaks constantly met with in tracing the thread of past events. +Shall we, then, let the students of posterity remain in the dark on such +questions as these: why Providence became the second city of New +England; why she left Newport so badly in the race for prosperity; why +Buffalo and Cincinnati went up, while Black Rock and North Bend went +down; why Chicago became the largest manufacturing city on the +continent; why New England kept the town-meeting, and the West preferred +the township and the county; and why a thousand and one other important +things happened. To be sure we have had Bancroft, and Sparks, and +Hildreth, but these and their brethren have told us as little about the +history of the people as Lingard, Hume, Hallam, and all the rest of them +told England. Within a very few years historians have begun to see this +defect, and such men as Green, Lodge, and MacMaster have undertaken to +give us histories of the people, the first and last taking the lead on +their respective sides of the Atlantic. MacMaster's work is excellent as +far as it goes. His first volume is deep and scholarly, and does credit +to American literature. It is clear that the task of its preparation was +immense, and more time must have been spent in merely collecting +authorities than has been bestowed altogether on more pretentious +histories. Where Mr. MacMaster found all these authorities is a puzzle, +for even such libraries as those in Boston and Cambridge have not all +the materials for such an undertaking. Yet even he leaves many points +untouched, or cursorily disposed of. Among the subjects referred to, of +which we would like to learn more, may be mentioned: the township system +of the West, the development of American municipal institutions, and, +above all, the origin and rise of the various centres of population and +business which we call cities. + +The history of a nation should be compiled in the same way that the +French people of the _ancien régime_ compiled their lists of grievances +to be presented to the king. In the early States-generals the deputies +of all the orders received from the electors mandates of instructions +containing an enumeration of the public grievances of which they were to +demand redress. From the multitude of these _cahiers_ (or codices), the +three estates, that is, the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate +(the people), compiled each a single cahier to serve as the exponent of +its grievances and its demands. When this complex process had been +completed and the three residual cahiers had been given to the king, the +States-general, the only representative body of France, was dissolved. + +Thus it should be with our national history. Already the clergy have +presented their cahiers in the shape of church histories and theological +essays innumerable. The nobles, that is, the statesmen and politicians, +have formulated their lists of grievances in such works as Thirty +Year's View, The Great Conflict, Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in +America, etc. But where is the cahier of the third estate? The +States-general has met and the _tiers état_ is not ready. What excuse +have they? Quick comes the answer: "Our electors have sent in but few +cahiers, and these are defective. We cannot tell our king, the nation, +what the people were and what they are, what they have and what they +want, until they tell us. Our cahier must wait the pleasure of the +people." Meanwhile, the regent, irreverently called Uncle Sam, who rules +the land while his master is away in Utopia, reads the cahiers of the +nobles, laughs in his sleeve at that of the clergy, and forgets all +about that of the third estate. Or if he thinks of it at all, it is only +to try to fill its place with twenty-four-volume Census Reports and +massive tomes from the other departments. + +The cahiers of the third estate are, in truth, few and defective, yet +there are some communities that have done their work well. For example, +there is The Memorial History of Boston which does credit even to the +Hub of American historical literature. It was the work of cultivated +men, and although the cooks were many, the broth is excellent. That the +people were a-hungering for just such broth is shown by the fact that +the net profits from it in the first twelve months after publication, as +it is said, were over fifty thousand dollars. + +Boston is almost the only city in the land that has been the subject of +a full, accurate, and interesting history. The History of New York, by +Martha J. Lamb, is not so full as might have been wished, but is +otherwise unexceptionable. New York is fortunate in having the most +graphic and humorous history of its early days that any city in the +world ever had, but nobody except Diedrich Knickerbocker himself ever +claimed a great amount of accuracy and truthfulness for his unrivaled +work. + +It was to be expected that our older cities,--those whose seeds were +planted by Puritans, Dutch traders, Catholic fugitives, Quakers, +Cavalier spendthrifts and rogues, Huguenot exiles, and in general the +motley crowd that sought the land of milk and honey in the seventeenth +and early part of the eighteenth centuries,--it was to be expected that +these cities would have historians _ad nauseam_. The very nature of the +early colonization of America, the elements of romance and adventure so +conspicuous in the history of early days on the Atlantic coast, gave +warrant to such expectations, and the event has justified them. But +where the romance and adventure end, the historian lays down his pen. It +is left to the census enumerator to complete the work, and the brazen +age of statistics follows the golden age of history. + +As the cities in the heart of the continent have very little of the +picturesque in their history, the same line of reasoning would lead us +to expect that the historian would carefully avoid them, or else write +only of their earliest days, when Dame Fortune was yet coquetting on the +boards with Mr. Yankee Adventurer. Again we are not mistaken, for we +find that what few critics are present when the curtain is rung up, +leave the house when the first act ends with the death of the aforesaid +adventurer. How the fickle dame flirts with all the neighboring young +men, and at last, at the end of the second act, has her attention led +by Captain Location to the hero of the piece as a suitable mate for her +wayward daughter, Miss Prosperity,--all this is usually written up from +hearsay. For the third act, wherein the twin brothers Steamboat +Navigation and Railroad Communication help the hero to press his suit, +the imagination often suffices. The grand finale, however, brings back +some of the old set of critics, together with a host of new ones, who +describe in glowing language the setting of the act, the costumes, the +music, etc., and tell minutely how young Miss Prosperity blushingly yet +boldly promises to be forever true to the gallant hero, now known under +his rightful name of Mr. Metropolis. Ac-cording to the critic, this +grand drama always ends happily for all concerned; the acting is always +perfect,--the best ever seen on the stage; the scenery has seldom been +equaled, never excelled. And this is the way the public hears about +every "greatest drama ever produced on any stage." + +Do you think the critic too harshly criticized? Look for yourself. Take +Cleveland, if you want a good city with which to begin your explorations +among the histories of Western cities. Here is one of the loveliest +places in all the basin of the Great Lakes--rich, prosperous, beautiful. +It was the one city which alt the travelers through the West in the +second quarter of this century united in declaring to be attractive. For +instance, J.S. Buckingham, who visited America forty-three years ago, +complimented Cleveland as follows, in a book called The Eastern and +Western States of America: "The buildings of Cleveland are all +remarkably clean and neat, many of them in excellent architectural +style, and, like the dwellings we saw at Cincinnati and other towns of +Ohio, all evincing more taste, love of flowers, and attention to order +and adornment than in most of the States of the Union." Mrs. Pulzky, who +accompanied Kossuth in his journey through America, in 1852, wrote in +her diary: "Cleveland is a neat, clean, and agreeable city, on Lake +Erie. Americans call it the 'Forest City,' though the original forests +have disappeared. Cleveland has a most lovely aspect; with the exception +of the business streets, every house is surrounded by a garden. It was +for the first time that I found love of nature in an American +population. On the journey, until here, I had always missed +pleasure-grounds and trees around the cottages." + +The growth of Cleveland was steady and healthy. Although foreigners came +to it in large numbers, it has been and is a representative American +city. The spirit of public improvement early made itself felt here, as +has been intimated by the above quotations; wide avenues, beautiful +dwellings, pleasure-grounds, both public and private,--all the +attractions that a lavish expenditure of money can secure were bestowed +upon it. The oil discoveries of a quarter of a century ago made many of +its citizens wealthy, and their city was so pleasant to live in, that, +unlike most Western people who have gained sudden wealth, they stayed at +home to spend their money. + +From the history of the rise of such a community, much might be learned. +Yet in the large libraries of the East we find only one book on the +subject, and Poole's mammoth Index--that "Open, sesame," of the literary +man--refers us to not a single magazine article of any sort on +Cleveland. The book referred to is entitled Early History of Cleveland, +with Biographical Notices of the Pioneers and Survivors; its author was +Colonel Charles Whittlesey. As is the case in almost all such histories, +the biographical notices form a very considerable portion of the book, +and, as usual, its value is diminished in an exactly equivalent degree; +for the biographies of Western pioneers are fully as tedious and +valueless as the catalogue of ships in the second book of Homer. And, +oh! the garrulity of the biographers, the minuteness of detail, the +petty incidents, the host of dates! With these we are inflicted because +some adventurous Yankee happened, by sheer luck, to build the first +shanty on what became the site of a great city, or chanced there to be a +pioneer victim of the "shakes" or the jaundice! + +Whittlesey's book contains four hundred and eighty-seven pages. Of these +he uses up seventy-six before he gets a civilized man in what became +Cuyahoga County, and fifty more before he gets any actual settlers to +the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The history of the next thirteen or +fourteen years, down to the War of 1812, fills the mass of the book, +details being here given that really have historical value. The last +forty pages are devoted to the history of the two or three following +decades. Nothing is told us about the actual development of a great +city,--the haps and mishaps, the successes and failures, in short, the +growth, of the community. + +This same Colonel Whittlesey, in a volume entitled Fugitive Essays, +published a sketch of the history of Cleveland covering the same ground +more concisely, and also giving a few extra details about the history +between 1812 and 1840. + +These constituted the sum total of works solely devoted to Cleveland +which were accessible to a writer in the East. The Ohio Historical +Collections, by Henry Howe, a series of sketches of the counties, +cities, and towns of the State, added a little to the meagre stock of +information. For further knowledge, the public must be thankful that the +argus-eyed tourist has not left the place unnoticed, and that the +mathematically-inclined gazetteer has told us from time to time the +number of Cleveland's churches, banks, and city councilmen, and other +equally important facts! + +Take another lake city--Buffalo. The growth of this city has been rapid. +Its sudden rise to the dignity of a metropolis was largely due to that +most interesting of the many important internal improvements of the +first half of the century,--the Erie Canal. With the development of +Buffalo was identified the rise of lake navigation and the grain +elevator. Its population has been increased by the addition of a large +foreign element, which has had its due influence on manners, morals, and +public life. It appears from the report of the board of health for 1879, +that, in 1878, of the children born in Buffalo, nineteen hundred and +seventy-five were of German descent; of all other descents, two thousand +and fifty-six,--a difference of only eighty-one. The city has indeed +been thoroughly Germanized, if we may coin the word. + +Here are things of which we would know more. Yet what do we find about +them? Save in meagre or verbose pamphlets, nothing. To be sure, there +was a book written which claimed to be about Buffalo, but a microscopic +examination would fail to find in it anything worth knowing about the +history of this community. The author of that book, William Ketchum, had +the audacity to name it, as we read on the title-page, "An Authentic and +Comprehensive History of Buffalo, with some account of its early +inhabitants, both savage and civilized." It was published in Buffalo in +1864, in two octavo volumes, containing respectively four hundred and +thirty-two and four hundred and forty-three pages. To comprehend the +utter absurdity of the thing, we shall have to glance at history a bit. + +It will be remembered that during and for some time after the +Revolutionary War the country about the Niagara River remained in the +possession of the British. The Seneca Indians, who sided against the +Colonies in that war, and who were driven from their homes by the +expedition of General Sullivan in 1779, gathered around Fort Niagara and +became such a nuisance that the English had to set up anew in +housekeeping these faithful allies and disagreeable neighbors. One of +the villages they started was at Buffalo Creek. Our historian, Ketchum, +has twenty-five chapters in the first volume of his Authentic and +Comprehensive History of Buffalo. He gets the Senecas settled at Buffalo +Creek in the twenty-fourth! + +During the rest of the century the inhabitants of this Indian village on +the ground where Buffalo was to stand, consisted of redskins and +semi-redskins, a few Indian traders who doled out the firewater, and a +settler or two. The present city of Buffalo, according to the +encyclopaedia (and for once that mass of condensed wisdom is correct +about the date of settlement of a Western city), was founded in 1801, by +the Holland Land Company, which opened a land office here in January of +that year. The notice of this event may be found in the region of page +146, in vol. ii, of Ketchum's book,--the uniform lack of concise +statement, the huge amount of irrevelant matter, and the absence of +lucid summaries and intelligent comment, making more exact reference +impossible. + +The rest of this "comprehensive history" is occupied with the course of +events down to December 30, 1813, when the British burnt the town, +leaving but two houses standing--a dwelling-house and a blacksmith's +shop. Here, having brought his Phoenix to ashes, our comprehensive +historian brings his narrative to an abrupt end. This is at page 304. +Then follows the "appendix," an invariable feature of city histories, +which makes of every one of them a huge anti-climax. In this instance, +one hundred and thirty-nine pages of appendix contain, according to the +author, "for the purpose of preservation, a mass of papers not +absolutely necessary to the elucidation of the history contained in the +body of the work. Most of them consist of original papers and letters +never before published, and which are now, for the first time, placed in +an accessible and permanent form." To compare small things with great, +these documents are made just about as "accessible" as are the State +papers to which Carlyle devotes so much paper and bile in his book on +Oliver Cromwell. + +In short, this book contains much valuable information, which is very +hard to extract, and when extracted is not germane to the history of the +city of Buffalo. + +Some information about Buffalo's history was found in a pamphlet on the +Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo, published in 1866. In it +were historical sketches, covering about twenty-five pages,--verbose, +with little meat, written in the flowery style so dear to the heart of +the American editor or "Honorable" when extolling the virtues of his +constituency. Turner's History of the Holland Purchase, published in +1849, and containing six hundred and sixty-six pages, would have been +more useful, had it not been composed for the greater part of the +biographies of insignificant pioneers, and had not the rest related in +the main to the early history of the section. A book promising much on +the outside was Hotchkin's History of Western New York. An examination +of the title-page, however, dampened our expectations, for there was +added the rest of the title, namely, "And of the Rise, Progress, and +Present State of the Presbyterian Church." The book proved indeed a +delusion and a snare, for of its six hundred pages more than nine tenths +pertained to church affairs,--were part and parcel of the cahiers of the +clergy. As for the magazine articles on Buffalo, they are few and, from +the historical point of view, insignificant. + +Of far more interest than the histories of either Cleveland or Buffalo, +though perhaps no more important, is that of their nearest common +neighbor of equal rank,--Pittsburgh. In very many respects this is one +of the most interesting cities in the Union, which is mostly due to the +fact that it has such a remarkable location, and that its topography is +picturesquely unique. Here we have the strange combination of the +blackest, smuttiest, dirtiest hole in the United States,--at night, as +Parton said: "All hell with the lid taken off,"--with surroundings half +rural, half urban, which for loveliness can scarcely be rivaled by any +other city in the land. Sir Henry Holland, who was of the Prince of +Wales's suite, when he visited Pittsburgh, remarked to one of the +committee of reception that he had, in 1845, spent a week in an +equestrian exploration of the suburbs of Pittsburgh; that he had +traveled through all the degrees of the earth's longitude, and had not +elsewhere found any scenery so diversified, picturesque, and beautiful +as that around Pittsburgh. He likened it to a vast panorama, from which, +as he rode along, the curtain was dropping behind and rising before him, +revealing new beauties continually. "If the business portion of +Pittsburgh is a city, half enchanted, of fire and smoke, inhabited by +demons playing with fire, the surrounding portion is also under +enchantment, of a different kind, and smiles a land of beauty, +brightness, and quiet. The one section might be a picture by Tintoretto, +and the other by Claude Lorraine." + +On the twenty-fourth of November, 1753, no human habitation stood on the +peninsula between the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers. On that day +Washington recorded in his journal: "I think it extremely well situated +for a fort, as it has absolute command of both rivers." In the following +spring the English began the erection of a stockade here, which, on the +twenty-fourth of April, was surrendered to the French under Captain +Contrecoeur Who at once proceeded to the erection of Fort Du Quesne. + +Round this name centres a wealth of incident, romance, and history, but +no one has risen to do it justice. Braddock's ill-starred expedition was +followed by the abandonment of the fort by the French, in November, +1758, and its subsequent rebuilding as Fort Pitt. The fate of the little +hamlet which sprang up around it was for a long time most dubious, but +its position as a frontier post on the line of the ever +westward-retreating Indians, and on the edge of the vast unknown +wilderness, just beginning to allure adventurous pioneers, kept it from +falling into the oblivion with which it was threatened by the +dismantling of the fort and the troublous Revolutionary times. Yet as +late as 1784 so experienced a man as Arthur Lee, the Virginian, who had +been a commissioner at the court of Versailles with Franklin and Deane, +and who visited this hamlet in December of this year, said of it: +"Pittsburgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in +paltry log-houses, and are as dirty as in the north of Ireland, or even +in Scotland. There is a great deal of small trade carried on, the goods +being brought at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per cwt. from +Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops money, flour, and +skins. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a +priest of any persuasion, nor church, nor chapel; so that they are +likely to be damned without the benefit of clergy. _The place, I +believe, will never be considerable_." + +This "small trade" which Lee speaks of was to develop in a very few +years to gigantic proportions, and was to make Pittsburgh for the while +the commercial metropolis of the West. She maintained this position +until the westward march of civilization had left her far in the rear; +and then the garrison which the vast army of pioneers left here found in +the coal and iron under their very feet a Fortunatus's purse. Thus, far +different was the fate of Pittsburgh from that of Marietta, Portsmouth, +Lexington, and the like, which sank into comparative obscurity as soon +as they had ceased to be outposts of Uncle Sam's army of emigrants. + +Here, then, do we lack materials for history? What historian could ask +for a more romantic starting-point than Old Fort Du Quesne? a more +interesting topic for a chapter than Fort Pitt? a more picturesque +subject than the batteurs and voyageurs of the Ohio? What more fruitful +themes can there be than the rise of the iron, the glass, the oil +industry, the steamboat commerce of our interior, the subjection of the +Monongahela, the combination of a city which reminds the traveler of +Hades, with suburbs which suggest metaphors about Paradise? And can he +not find food for inquiry and thought in the great riots of 1877? + +Yet the only historian of Pittsburgh is Neville B Craig, whose short and +not over-attractive history ends with the middle of this century, if we +remember rightly. His subject is neither thoroughly nor ably treated, +and it is not presented to the public in an agreeable form. The book is +one of the past generation, and we publish better histories than did our +fathers. In 1876, Samuel H. Thurston presented the public with a small +volume, entitled Pittsburgh and Alleghany in the Centennial. It +contained a little history and a great deal of bombast; and, moreover, +the greater part of it was filled with statistical details pertaining to +the Centennial year alone. Yet from this book had to be taken most of +the historical sketch which will be found in the Census Report. Egle's +History of Pennsylvania tells us something about Pittsburgh, and +magazine articles are plenty, though historically of little value. + +St. Louis is more plentifully supplied with histories than any other +Western city, and these histories are as much worse as they are more +numerous. One of these deserves notice, from the fact that its +title-page so ridiculously and exasperatingly misrepresents its +contents. This page reads as follows: "Edwards's Great West and her +Commercial Metropolis, embracing a complete History of St. Louis, from +the landing of Ligueste, in 1764, to the present time; with portraits +and biographies of some of the old settlers, and many of the most +prominent business men. By Richard Edwards and M. Hopewell, M.D. +Splendidly illustrated. 1860. $5." This seemed to promise well, but when +we turned the page and read the introduction, our expectations were, to +say the least, somewhat shaken, and our sense of the eternal fitness of +things somewhat shocked, when we found the citizens of St. Louis called +"a powerful Mæcenas." Shade of Virgil! What a profanation! + +Any book that is preceded by a dedication, a preface, an introduction, +and a full-page portrait of the author (with a big A), must, in the very +nature of things, be a monstrosity. But, leaving these anomalies out of +account, in the present instance, the composition of the book is +sufficient proof that the epithet is not undeserved. "And this is so, +for,"--as Herodotus would say,--in a book called Edwards's Great West, +the "Great West" is summarily and mercilessly disposed of in just five +pages. Then follow eighty-two pages of biographies and portraits, +ingeniously defended by the author as follows: "Biographies of those who +have become identified with the progress of the great city, who have +guarded and directed its business currents year by year, swelling with +the elements of prosperity, and who have left the impress of their +genius and judgment upon the legislative enactments of the State, must +be sought after with avidity, and must be fraught with useful +instruction." There is no question that these biographies are fraught +with useful instruction--all biographies are; but to assert that they +must be sought after with avidity is a little too much to be swallowed. +Such assertions show either deplorable ignorance or unwarrantable +misrepresentation of human nature, and in this case we are convinced it +must be the latter. Edwards knew perfectly well--for he seems to have +been sane--that nobody but the subjects of these biographies would seek +them "with avidity," and he made these plausible, bombastic assertions +to excuse himself for having sprung such a trap on an unsuspecting +public. That he tries to palliate the offence is, sufficient proof of +his guilt. + +Mark what he says about the "splendidly illustrated" portion of his +book. "It will be a source of satisfaction to the reader," says he, +"that the engravings of individuals who adorn this work are not drawn by +the flighty imagination from airy nothingness, but represent the +lineaments of men," etc. "Airy nothingness" is refreshing! + +Part II, also, is almost wholly devoted to biographies, one batch being +introduced with this sage remark: "Biography is the most important +feature of history; for the record of the lives of individuals appears +to be invested with more vitality and interest than the dry details of +general historical narrative." Q.E.D.--of course. With Part III we reach +the history of St. Louis, contained in one hundred and eighty pages, +and worth more or less as a history. Then come one hundred and seventy +pages more of biographies, an appendix of fifteen pages, and about +thirty pages of views of manufacturing establishments. And this book is +called The Great West. No further comment seems necessary. + +Of all the many rich and racy things the writer has run across in his +explorations in the literature of American cities, the richest and +raciest is a book called St. Louis: The Future Great City of the World, +by L.U. Reavis. The very title-page gives an inkling of the nature of +the contents by its motto, savoring somewhat of cant: "Henceforth St. +Louis must be viewed in the light of the future--her mightiness in the +empire of the world--her sway in the rule of states and nations." This +book, strangely enough, was "published by order of the St Louis County +Court," in 1870, on the petition of forty-five of the leading citizens +and firms of the city, who were represented before the court by a +committee headed by Captain James B. Eads, the renowned engineer, and +containing one captain, five honorables, and two esquires. The first +edition consisted of one hundred and six pages, which were as +vainglorious and boastful, as crowded with laudatory adjectives, glowing +periods, and bombastic prophecies, as ever one hundred and six published +pages were. + +However, it evidently suited the St. Louis palate, for a second edition +bears date of the same year, and in 1871 a third appeared in a +considerably enlarged form. This last one is the most interesting, for +it contains a preface and a finis which for pure, undiluted presumption +have never been excelled. The former is entitled "Explanatory," and is +worth quoting entire: "A presentation of Causes in Nature and +Civilization which, in their reciprocal action tend to fix the position +of the FUTURE GREAT CITY OF THE WORLD in the central plain of North +America, showing that the centre of the world's commerce and +civilization will, in less than one hundred years, be organized and +represented in the Mississippi Valley, and by St. Louis, occupying as +she does the most favored position on the continent and the Great River; +also a complete representation of the great railway system of St. Louis, +showing that in less than ten years she will be the greatest railway +centre in the world." Even the most arrogant citizen of St. Louis would +hardly have the boldness to maintain that ten years after this prophecy +was made, in 1881, St. Louis was "the greatest railway centre in the +world," or even that she was one of the greatest. As to the one-hundred +years prophecy nothing can as yet be affirmed, for it has eighty-seven +years more to run, but if the last thirteen can be taken as a criterion, +St. Louis has a big contract on her hands. + +The last page is the most curious in the book, and in its way is +certainly unique. It is called "A Closing Word," and, being printed in +italics, has an air of emphasis and force peculiarly appropriate. The +author begins: "Thus have I written a new record--a new prophecy of a +city central to a continent of resources;" and so he goes on for half a +page of ridiculous bombast until he finishes the climax of epithets by +calling this "the Apocalyptic City-- + + 'The New Jerusalem, the ancient seer + Of Patmos saw.' + +"All hail! mistress of nations and beautiful queen of civilization! I +view thee in the light of thy destiny. Thou art transfigured before me +from thy present state to one infinitely more grand, and which +overshadows and dwarfs all civic forms in history. + +"The influence of thy empire will pervade the world with invisible and +electric force. Yet, vivifying and benignant capital,--emporium of trade +and industry, seat of learning and best-applied labor, pivotal point in +history, supreme and superb city of all lands,--I behold thy majesty +from afar, and salute thee reverently as the consummation of all that +the best human energies can accomplish for the elevation and happiness +of our race. + +"All hail! Future Great City of the World, and 'Glory to God in the +Highest and on Earth Peace, Goodwill toward Men.'" + +This reminds one equally of Walt Whitman and Artemas Ward. Yet it is not +burlesque. It appears to have been written in good faith, and for this +reason the incongruity of such a grandiloquent rhapsody on such a +prosaic subject is all the more noticeable. As an example of "fine +writing" it has seldom been surpassed, and for sheer nonsense it is +unequaled in American literature. + +These books on St. Louis call to mind a history of Milwaukee of a +somewhat similar nature--similar in its magnificent pretensions to the +last-described work, and in its biographical characteristics to +Edwards's Great West. The book referred to was published in Chicago, in +1881, by the Western Historical Company, A.T. Andreas, proprietor. Holy +Herodotus! To think of history becoming a thing of "companies"--on a par +with life insurance, railroads, gas-works, and cotton factories! And an +"historical company" with a proprietor, too! + +But let us look into this monumental tome. (Do not think that adjective +hyperbolical, for surely monumental is not too strong a word to describe +a book which would just about balance in weight an unabridged +dictionary.) Some idea of the immensity of the undertaking can be +obtained when, as the preface says, "it is known that nearly one year's +time was consumed and an average force of twenty-five men employed in +the labor of obtaining information and preparing the manuscript for the +printer's hands. The result of this vast effort is the presentation of a +History which stands unparalleled in the experience of publishers." The +book is a quarto and contains sixteen hundred and sixty-three pages. The +letter-press is unexceptionable; each page is surrounded by a neat +border; the paper is good; the binding is excellent. + +And yet the actual history of this city dates back little more than half +a century--not a lifetime. Here is history with a vengeance! The riddle, +however, is solved the instant we glance over the pages, for we find the +mass of the book made up of biographies,--biographies in front, +biographies to the right, biographies to the left, everywhere +biographies,--to the grand sum total of nearly four thousand. A book +much like this would have been made had the Crown published the Giant +Petition trundled into Parliament on a wheelbarrow in the times of +George the Third, when Lord George Gordon was the hero of the day. About +as valuable, about as readable, about as bulky, about as good for +kindling fires! + +But let the perpetrator plead his cause in his own words--and it must be +conceded he does it well. "The plan of the History of the city of +Milwaukee, which is herewith presented to the public," he says in his +preface, "possesses the merit of originality. It is based upon the fact +that in all older regions, a serious deficiency exists even in the most +exhaustive histories which it is possible now to compile through the +absence of personal and detailed records of pioneer men and deeds. The +primary design of this work is to preserve for future historians as +complete an encyclopædia of early events in Milwaukee, and the actors +therein, as patient labor and unstinted financial expenditure can +procure." + +We thank the Western Historical Company, or Mr. Andreas, for this +benevolent and philanthropic spirit, but really he must not expect us to +believe that pecuniary profit is only a _secondary_ design of this work. +But supposing for a moment that the primary design was as philanthropic +and unselfish as Mr. Andreas would have us think, let us consider its +worth; for, if we grant this premise, we must admit the truth of the +conclusion reached, and then must give unstinted praise to the fruits of +such a conclusion, a volume like the one before us. But the premise is +specious and false. The deficiency that exists through the absence of +personal and detailed records of _pioneer_ men and deeds is not serious: +on the contrary, in most cases, we should be devoutly thankful that it +exists. Of the generations after that of the pioneers we would know +much; of that of the pioneers themselves, something. But who is there, +or will there be, that cares a picayune whether the third cobbler in +Milwaukee (this history would call him the third manufacturer of shoes) +was born in April or June, 1806, or whether he came from Tipperary or +Heidelberg, or whether his wife died of the pneumonia or the +whooping-cough? To be sure we would be glad to know whether the early +settlers of Milwaukee were mainly young or mainly old when they came +here, whether they were mainly German or Irish, and what where the +prevalent diseases in different localities at an early period, but to +ask an intelligent being to wade through nearly four thousand "personal +histories" in order ascertain these facts is, to say the least, somewhat +of an imposition on his good nature. + +Later on in his preface the author contradicts himself in this regard, +for he shows us how far from philanthropic were the publisher's motives +and how little he thought of posterity in inserting these biographies, +by writing the following well-turned and suggestive sentences: "It may +be asked, Why have the biographical sketches of comparatively obscure +men been inserted? The reasons are obvious to business men and should be +to all. None but citizens are represented. Whatever Milwaukee is her +citizens have made her. Shall the publisher exercise a power higher than +the law, and erect a caste distinction or estimate each man's work from +some fictitious standard of his own? Assuredly not. If, in the +preparation of this work, a citizen has shown commendable pride, and +aided its publisher by his patronage, he is entitled to mention in its +pages. Such men and women have received a sketch, but the fact of +pecuniary assistance has not biased the character of the book." + +This is a very specious attempt to throw a glamour of respectability +over a very unpleasant and repugnant fact, namely: that a mass of +"biographical sketches of comparatively obscure men" has been given to +the public under the guise of a history of a city, with the sole object +of making money. It is indeed consoling to know that "none but citizens +have been represented," but why this statement should be coupled with +the platitude that follows it would be hard to say. And then the utter +ridiculousness of the nonsense about the publisher exercising a power +higher than the law and erecting a caste distinction! "What fools these +mortals be!" + +But whatever may be said of the historical value of such books as the +above, there can be little doubt that they are remunerative business +enterprises, for the country has of late years been flooded with them. +Perhaps we ought to be thankful for any history at all of these new +Western cities, even though the wheat therein be so scarce and the chaff +so plenty. The prevalence of this same affliction--the biographical +history--in literary New England seems more anomalous than it does in +the West, but it is even more widespread. A fair type of the Eastern +species is the Quarter-Centennial History of Lawrence, Massachusetts, +compiled by H.A. Wadsworth, in 1878. It contained seventy-five very poor +wood-engravings, called portraits by courtesy, which, with the +accompanying biographies, were inserted to represent the leading (?) men +of the city at an entrance fee of five or ten dollars apiece. + +Next in number below the biographical histories, but far above them in +value, come what may be called the chronological histories, that is, +those which make little or no attempt to group the important facts of a +city's history in homogeneous chapters, but which, diary-like, give all +facts, important as well as insignificant, in the order of their +occurrence. Fortunately most local historians of this sect have made +more or less attempt at bringing like to like, although they have +generally preserved the purely chronological order within their groups, +whether these be of subjects or periods. Among the histories of the +larger cities, Scharf's Chronicles of Baltimore comes to mind as typical +of this class. This work, published in 1874, is an octavo of seven +hundred and fifty-six pages. The author tells the truth when he says in +his preface: "The only plan in the work that has been followed has been +to chronicle events through the years in their order; beginning with the +earliest in which any knowledge on the subject is embraced, and running +on down to the present." The book is printed "solid," with not a single +chapter-heading from one end to the other, so it is not strange that it +contains such an immense amount of material. + +The great fault of this book, as of all books of this class, is the lack +of the proper classification, the scholarly reflection and comment, the +thoughtful contrast and comparison, the exercise of intelligent judgment +in forming conclusions,--all which are necessary to make history +palatable, not to say valuable. Nowhere is this lack shown more forcibly +than in this book in the treatment of the subject of riots and mob +violence. It may not be generally known, especially among the younger +portion of the community, that no American and but few European cities +have such an unenviable and disgraceful record on this head as +Baltimore. The accounts of its riots remind one too forcibly of the +worst days of the French Revolution, and all of them read more like the +incidents so plentiful in the sensational stories of the day, than like +the cold, dispassionate record of history. And this, mind you, is the +record of a city famed far more for monuments, pleasure-grounds, and +beautiful women, than for lawlessness and sans-culottism, a city proud +of its families and its culture, a city one of the oldest and richest in +the land. However unpleasant it may be to look at the black side of such +a city's history, yet the study must be profitable if by it we +Americans, proud of our tolerance and our humanity, jealous of aught +past or present that may blot our escutcheon, wondering at and +scornfully pitying nations that could have had Lord George Gordon riots +and blood-thirsty land-leagues, a reign of terror and a commune,--if we +may learn not to be quite so arrogant in our righteousness, quite so +boastful in our Pharisaism; if we may learn how much reason we of the +New World have to bear in mind, when we read about the past and present +of the Old World, the divine command: "He that is without sin among you, +let him first cast a stone at her." + +Yet Scharf gives merely the bare details of these, the most vivid scenes +in Baltimore's history, and goes little into causes or results, leaving +us almost wholly in the dark as to how a civilized city in the most +enlightened country on earth could have grafted on its history such +anomalous things as these riots. This feature of Baltimore's history +seems to us to be the feature most peculiar to itself, and, therefore, +like that feature of a human face peculiar to the person we are +studying, the most interesting; but our historian gives it no +distinctive treatment, puts no emphasis on it, forces the reader to +compare, contrast, account for, explain, and draw conclusions for +himself. That he should slide over this side of Baltimore's history +would be natural enough, but of this he cannot be accused. His treatment +of this subject is characteristic of the whole book. + +As a good example of an even more disappointing type of chronological +histories we may take the History of Lynn, including Lynnfield, Saugus, +Swampscott, and Nahant, by Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall, an octavo +of six hundred and twenty pages, published in 1865. The book seems to +have been condensed from a series of very poor diaries, and the mass of +detail under the year-headings is ridiculous in its minuteness and +laughable in its absurdity. Every year has its paragraphic entries, more +or less full. The narrative of one year may here be quoted to show the +nature of the whole, and, for that matter, the nature of fifty similar +town histories. + +1758. "Thomas Mansfield, Esquire, was thrown from his horse on Friday, +January 6, and died the next Sunday. + +"A company of soldiers, from Lynn, marched for Canada, on the +twenty-third of May. Edmund Ingalls and Samuel Mudge were killed. + +"In a thunder-shower, on the fourth of August, an ox belonging to Mr. +Henry Silsbee was killed by lightning. + +"A sloop from Lynn, commanded by Captain Ralph Lindsay, was cast away on +the fifteenth of August, near Portsmouth." + +In this pretended "History," the whole of the eighteenth century +receives but sixty-two pages, and that part of the nineteenth which had +elapsed at the time of publication receives only one hundred and +seventeen. In the latter an average entry is the following, under date +of 1856:-- + +"Patrick Buckley, the 'Lynn Buck,' ran five miles in twenty-eight +minutes and thirty-eight seconds, at the Trotting Park, for a belt +valued at fifty dollars. And on the fourth of December, William Hendley +ran the same distance in twenty-eight minutes and thirty seconds." + +The "Lynn Buck," seems to have been an important personage in those +days, for we read under date of 1858:-- + +"The 'Lynn Buck,' so called, walked a plank at Lowell, in February, a +hundred and five consecutive hours and forty-four minutes, and with but +twenty-nine minutes' rest. A strict watch was kept on him." + +We are very glad to know about the "strict watch," but really it was too +bad of the authors not to let us know if those forty-four minutes, also, +were not consecutive. They might, too, have told us to advantage +something about the _modus operandi_ of "walking a plank." It has been +the general impression that the man who walks a plank performs the +operation in an unpleasant hurry--unpleasant for him; and that he will +take all the rest he can get--before he begins; and that he has an +eternal rest, or unrest, after he has finished. But perhaps this has +been a wrong impression. If the authors are alive, it is due to the +public that they should rise and explain. + +Enough of pleasantry. Let us examine the book with serious mind, if we +can. Everybody knows that shoes have been the making of Lynn, that they +are and have been for years the backbone of its prosperity, the life of +its business. To say that Lynn is the greatest shoe-manufacturing city +in the country, and, for that matter, in the world, may be an +exaggeration, but it is a very common one. In a history of Lynn we might +expect this fact to be at least recognized. Let us see how that is in +the present case. + +The shoe business was not unknown in Lynn before 1750, but in that year +it first got a firm footing here. So we are not surprised to find the +fact mentioned, but we are somewhat disappointed to find only half a +page given to it. Beyond this, mention of the shoe trade in the last +century is very slight, as, no doubt, was the trade itself. Since 1800, +however, the trade has been rapidly increasing, and has gradually +assumed enormous proportions. Yet in this precious volume we find the +subject mentioned just once in the chronological annals, _three lines_ +being devoted to it under the head of 1810: "It appeared, by careful +estimation, that there were made in Lynn, this year, one million pairs +of shoes, valued at eight hundred thousand dollars. The females (!) +earned some fifty thousand dollars by binding." To be sure, the burning +of two shoe factories received, respectively, two and three lines; the +formation of an ineffective board of trade by shoemakers, ten lines; and +of an equally fruitless union by journeymen shoemakers, ten lines. A +page and a quarter (_mirabile dictu_) is devoted to a shoemakers' strike +with no definite result. In a biography, the connection of its subject +with the shoe business is mentioned in a quoted letter. A quick job by a +shoemaker receives six lines, and one by another, four; and the death of +a third is mentioned. + +In an appendix the state of the shoe business in 1864 is discussed at +length in a third of a half-page! All we learn from it is that by the +State returns in the year ending June 1, 1833, there were made +9,275,593 pairs of shoes valued at $4,165,529. In the year ending +September 1, 1864, about ten million pairs of shoes were made, valued at +fourteen million dollars (probably paper, not gold, value), and the +number of shoe manufacturers was 174; of men and women employed, 17,173. +As the total population of Lynn at that time was little if anything over +twenty-three thousand, it will be seen that even these figures are +untrustworthy, or else the shoe business played even a greater part in +Lynn affairs than is generally supposed. + +And this is all the mention to be found in a History of Lynn concerning +the backbone of the city--that great industry to which it almost wholly +owed its population of 38,274 in 1880. Can any one maintain that this +sort of a book is a history? + +And so we might go on, finding history after history of the towns and +cities scattered through New England and the Middle States, most of them +on a par with those last mentioned, in all styles of print and binding, +some decrepit and musty with age, others fresh and enticing, with gaudy +covers and scores of illustrations; some like Sewall's History of Woburn +with no table of contents or index, and so practically useless; a few +like Staples's Annals of Providence, scholarly and creditable; yet none +of them ideal histories. But occasionally we meet an oasis in this vast +waste, and though it may not be a paradise, yet we are too grateful for +the water that nourishes the palms and the grass, that refreshes our +parched mouths and wearied bodies, to think that in other climes we +might call it brackish and unclean. + +Such is the effect that the History of Pittsfield, Massachusetts has on +us. Here is a book that might well be taken as a standard by town +historians. The very history of the History will show its merits. + +At a town meeting held in the Town Hall, in Pittsfield, August 25, 1866, +so the preface says, Mr. Thomas Allen rose, and stated that on the +centennial of the First Congregational Church and parish, namely, April +18, 1864, he had been requested by a vote of the parish to prepare an +historical memoir of that parish and church, embodying substantially, +but extending, the remarks he made at that meeting. He stated that, in +looking over the records of the town and parish, he found them +intimately connected, so that a history of the one would also be a +history of the other; and he had found the history of the town highly +interesting, and honorable to its inhabitants. True, there were no +classic fields in Pittsfield, consecrated by patriotic blood spilled in +battle in defence of the country, as in Lexington and Concord, simply +because no foreign foe in arms ever invaded its soil; but it was not the +less true that Pittsfield had always promptly performed her part, and +furnished her quota of men and means, in every war waged in defence of +the country and the Union; and that in the intellectual contests +through which the just principles of republican government, and civil +and religious freedom, have been established in this country, the men of +Pittsfield, on their own ground and elsewhere, have ever borne a part +creditable alike to their wisdom, their sagacity, and their patriotism. +Pittsfield, therefore, had a history which deserved to be written. The +first settlers had all passed away; and their immediate descendants, +witnesses of their earlier struggles, were whitening with the frosts of +age, and were also rapidly disappearing. If the records of their history +were to be gathered together, and preserved in a durable form, it was +time that the duty be undertaken. He was satisfied that an honorable +record would appear, and worthy of the place to which God had given so +much that is beautiful in nature. + +These remarks were so sensible, their spirit was so noble, their form so +forcible, that at once a committee of five was appointed to compile, +write, and supervise the publication of a history of the town, and an +appropriation was made to defray the expense. This committee chose Mr. +J.E.A. Smith to aid them, and, according to the title-page, he compiled +and wrote the book under their general direction. It was published in +two octavo volumes: the first contained five hundred and eighteen pages, +and appeared in 1868, bringing the history from 1734 down to 1800; the +second, containing seven hundred and twenty-five pages, was not +published until eight years later. The second volume brought the history +down to date, and with the first formed an unbroken, readable narrative, +written in perhaps as good a style as town history could warrant us in +expecting. Not the least deserving of praise are the indexes, the lack +of which found in most books of the sort does more to lower their value +than any other defect. The man who writes a history without indexing it +thereby shows his utter lack of the most essential requisite in an +historian--a knowledge of the art of codification. He also calls down +upon his head the curses of every student who tries to use his book. + +An abundance of illustrations is not rare enough in town histories to +merit applause, but they are so seldom worth looking at that the +presence of such admirable ones as we find here attracts more than +passing notice. If American art were to be judged by the generality of +such illustrations, we would do well to say as little as possible about +the slurs and sneers of foreign critics. In such case silence would be +the better plan. + +The preface to the second volume contained the following suggestive +sentences:-- + +"The original plan of the work was to make the earlier portions more +full than the later: indeed, to give but a brief skeleton of recent +affairs: it being exceedingly difficult to make contemporary history +satisfactory to those who have taken part in it. We have, in a few +instances, departed from this course, for reasons which will suggest +themselves to the reader." + +In these sentences may be found the germ of almost the only idea in the +making of this truly admirable book which deserves severe criticism, and +most certainly the severest condemnation should be given to this and all +similar ideas. The notion that history should be written in a way that +will be _satisfactory_ to those engaged in it is radically wrong, unless +perchance by a _satisfactory_ way is meant a way that in point of truth, +accuracy, and fulness, will suit those who have a more or less personal +share in the events to be recorded. But here it is evident that the word +has not this meaning, or at least has a great deal more than this +meaning. In this connection it seems to be a euphemism for _pleasant_. +Certainly no one will dispute that an historian of contemporary events +would find very difficult even the attempt to make his work pleasant to +his contemporaries. It is the endeavor to do this which has vitiated +all the histories so far written of the late Civil War. The same +principle made Thiers's French Revolution an almost worthless book as a +history. To come down to lesser things, the same principle underlying +and pervading all American local histories has done more toward making +them worthless than any other single defect. In the name of truth and +justice we ask, "Why should the writing of history be made satisfactory, +pleasant, to those who aid in the making of it?" We want the _truth_ +about the near, as well as the far, past. Let us do unto our descendants +as we would that our ancestors had done by us, and tell them the truth +about ourselves. + +Perhaps we ought to be more lenient in the case of this history of +Pittsfield, in consideration of the fact that this was a _public_ work, +and, therefore, more caution had to be exercised than we would otherwise +have expected. Of course no employee would like to displease even a +single member of the corporation that employed him. Possibly the same +argument might be raised in defence of any historian, in that the public +is virtually his employer. Here, however, reasoning by analogy fails, +for the public is a very large body, and will seldom take up the cudgel +in defence of any single individual. This is a question, however, which +should be settled on the ground of right, not of expediency. But even if +the right be left out of account, the expedient in this case is not +necessarily opposed to truth and accuracy. This is well shown by the +phenomenal success of The Memorial History of Boston, mentioned above. +It may be well just here to say a little more about this admirable work, +for it is even more typical of what an ideal city history should be, +than that of Pittsfield is of the ideal town history. + +From the title-page we learn that The Memorial History of Boston, +including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, was edited by Justin +Winsor, and issued under the business superintendence of the projector, +Clarence F. Jewett, in 1880. The nature of the book is learned from the +preface, which says: "The history is cast on a novel plan: not so much +in being a work of co-operation, but because, so far as could be, the +several themes, as sections of one homogeneous whole, have been treated +by those who have some particular association and, it may be, long +acquaintance with the subject. In the diversity of authors there will, +of course, be variety of opinions, and it has not been thought +ill-judged, considering the different points of view assumed by the +various writers, that the same events should be interpreted sometimes in +varying and, perhaps, opposite ways. The chapters may thus make good the +poet's description: + + 'Distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea,'-- + +and may not be the worse for each offering a reflection, according to +its turn to the light, without marring the unity of the general +expanse." + +Among those who contributed one or more chapters to this work were +Justin Winsor (the editor), Charles Francis Adams, Jr., R.C. Winthrop, +T.W. Higginson, Edward Everett Hale, H.E. Scudder, F.W. Palfrey, +Phillips Brooks, Andrew P. Peabody, Henry Cabot Lodge, Josiah P. Quincy, +and Edward Atkinson. Such names as these are more than enough to insure +the truth, accuracy, and historical value of the book. Each one of them +discussed one or more topics, and then their work with that of the less +famous contributors was arranged chronologically, making a logically +consecutive series of essays complete in themselves. The whole was +published in four elegantly printed volumes, containing, in all, +twenty-five hundred and seventy-seven pages. + +This is the kind of a history which is of value, not only for immediate +use, but also for future reference; and this is the kind that gladdens +the heart and cheers the labors of the student and the writer. It is the +lack of such histories which makes incomplete and unsatisfactory such +works as the one in the hands of the government which called forth this +article. For it must not be supposed that the historical part of The +Social Statistics of Cities of 1880 will be either complete in every +part or wholly satisfactory. Yet perhaps it will be complete enough to +answer its end, which is to afford an opportunity for seeing why the +cities and towns described have reached their present condition. It is +on the accounts of their present condition that the value of the work +must chiefly rest. + +To the historians in succeeding generations these accounts will be +invaluable, for they will give information about the cities as they were +in the year 1880, which is not likely to be embodied in any other +permanent form. It has been shown how large a proportion of the local +histories of America have been found wanting in these things. It is not +to be expected that the immediate future will see any decided +reformation. Then it is clear of how great value to the "future +historian of recent events," to quote one of Daniel Webster's phrases, +will be such work as this that has been undertaken by the National +government. It will be of so great value because, as we can say with +little exaggeration, the history of the cities is the history of the +nation. The city to-day plays a most important part in national affairs. +It is, indeed, and for aught we can see must continue to be, the Hamlet +of the play. Few people realize this. Few people know that over one +fifth of the population of the land is gathered in the large towns and +cities. At the beginning of the century the ratio of the urban +population to the rural was only as one to fifteen. No reason is +apparent why the increase in the ratio should not be equally steady and +rapid for many generations. That this same change has taken place in all +_civilized_ portions of the world is, in truth, most significant. In +England the progress of the cities has been in the same direction, and, +as nearly as can be judged, in the same ratio as that of wealth, +learning, and happiness. + +Call to mind what Macaulay said, nearly half a century ago, in chapter +iii of his History of England: "Great as has been the change in the +rural life of England since the Revolution (1688), the change which has +come to pass in the cities is still more amazing. At present, a sixth +part of the kingdom is crowded into provincial towns of more than thirty +thousand inhabitants. In the reign of Charles II, no provincial town in +the kingdom contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and only four +provincial towns contained so many as ten thousand inhabitants." Since +this was written, the change, if not so marvelous, has been equally +important. + +As to our own country, the change can in no way be shown more clearly +than by the following table, which will be published in the Census +Report:-- + + + + +TABLE SHOWING THE GROWTH OF UNITED STATES CITIES FROM 1800 TO 1880. + +[Transcriber's note--This table has been transposed to make it fit. For +each year, Pop. is the Aggregate Population of all cities in that size +range; % is the percentage of the total Population of the United +States.] + +______________________________________________________________________ + | Total | Cities of Population: | + |Population| 10,000- 50,000- 100,000- Over | + | of U.S. | 49,999. 99,999. 499,999. 500,000.|Grand total +______________________________________________________________________ +1800| 5,308,483|Pop.| 161,134 24,945 60,989 104,113| 351,181 + | | % | .03 .0047 .011 .019 | .068 +1820| 9,633,822|Pop.| 214,270 43,997 186,293 194,683| 639,243 + | | % | .021 .0046 .019 .02 | .069 +1830|12,866,020|Pop.| 316,360 83,960 278,067 289,980| 968,367 + | | % | .025 .0065 .021 .0225 | .075 +1840|17,069,453|Pop.| 461,671 150,682 504,016 447,078| 1,563,487 + | | % | .027 .0088 .029 .025 | .091 +1850|23,191,876|Pop.| 990,080 314,182 933,039 763,724| 3,001,025 + | | % | .043 .013 .04 .033 | .13 +1860|31,433,321|Pop.|1,654,183 446,575 1,483,472 1,750,020| 5,334,250 + | | % | .052 .014 .047 .055 | .17 +1870|38,558,783|Pop.|2,526,432 676,990 2,302,961 2,311,410| 7,817,793 + | | % | .066 .017 .059 .06 | .20 +1880|50,155,783|Pop.|3,479,658 947,918 3,087,592 3,123,317|10,638,485 + | | % | .069 .019 .06 .062 | .21 +______________________________________________________________________ + +The city is not only the growing centre of a growing nation--it is also +the centre of all intellectual growth. The city is the home of the bar, +the hospital, the press, the church, and the state. The city is the +outcome of civilization, for it is the product of commerce and +manufactures, and these mean civilization. + +Then if any history be of value, if the record of the past be of any use +in guiding the present and helping toward the future, surely the history +of the city is the most important of all history. + +PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT. + + +A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. By Justin McCarthy, M.P. One volume, +pp. 448. Harper and Brothers: New York. 1884. + + +The brilliant History of Our Own Times, in two volumes, by the same +author, and published four years ago, has now been presented to the +public in a reduced size. While it was necessary to leave out many of +the striking and rhetorical passages in the process of condensation, +which formed so pleasing a portion in the larger work, the strictly +historical matter remains unchanged. His history, beginning with the +accession of Queen Victoria, in 1837, and extending to the general +election, in 1880, the date of the appointment of the Honorable W.E. +Gladstone to the premiership of England, covers a period of intense +interest, and with which every intelligent person should be familiar. +Mr. McCarthy's work is destined to be, for some time to come, the +standard account of English affairs for the last fifty years. + +One of the most valuable reference works of recent publication is The +Epitome of Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern History. By Carl Ploetz. +Translated from the German, with extensive additions, by William H. +Tillinghast, of the Harvard University library. One volume. pp. 618. +Houghton, Mifflin, and Company: Boston. 1884. + +The author of the original work, Professor Doctor Carl Ploetz, is well +known in Germany as a veteran teacher and writer of educational books +which have a high reputation, excellence, and authority. With regard to +the present work, it should be observed that it has passed through seven +editions in Germany. As a book of reference, either for the student or +the general reader, its tested usefulness is a sufficient guaranty for +its wide adoption in the present enlarged form. The scope of The Epitome +may be summarized as follows: Universal history is first treated by +dividing it into three periods. First, ancient history, from the +earliest historical information to the year 375 A.D. Second, mediæval, +from that date to the discovery of America, in 1492. Third, modern +history, from the last date to the year 1883. + +We have received from the author, the Honorable Samuel Abbott Green, +M.D., a pamphlet entitled "Notes on a Copy of Dr. William Douglass's +Almanack for 1743, touching on the subject of medicine in Massachusetts +before his time." It is specially interesting to the members of the +medical fraternity, as well as to antiquaries. + +CORRECTION.--The article upon Lovewell's fight at Pigwacket, printed in +the February number of the Bay State (page 83), contained a trifling +error, but one which deserves correction. It is stated that the township +of land with which the General Court, in 1774, rewarded the services of +the troops under Lovewell, was subsequently divided, forming the towns +of Lovell and New Sweden. The mistake was upon the name of the latter +town. It should have been written Sweden. New Sweden is the recent +Swedish colony of Aroostook County. + +I.B.C. + + + + +[Illustration: Boar's Head House] + +From the eastern end of Long Island, toward the west and south, extends +a dreary monotony of sandbeach along the whole Atlantic coast, to the +extreme southern cape of Florida, thence along the shores of the Gulf of +Mexico to the Rio Grande, broken only by occasional inlets. The +picturesque coast scenery is mostly north and east of Cape Cod. +Following along the seaboard from Cape Ann, one comes, a few miles north +of the mouth of the Merrimack River, in view of a bold promontory +extending into the waters of the Atlantic, and aptly named, in years +agone, Boar's Head. + +The traveler in search of a delightful seaside resort for the summer +need go no further. For here, amidst the most charming of marine +scenery, that veteran landlord and genial host, Stebbins H. Dumas, has +erected, for the benefit of the public, a hotel, spacious, well +appointed, and ably conducted; inviting and especially homelike; every +room commanding a view of the ocean. + +Boar's Head is a promontory; its level summit of about a dozen acres, +sixty feet above the highest tide, clothed in the greenest verdure. It +is in the form of a triangle, the cliffs on two sides of which are +lashed by the waves of the restless ocean; while toward the main, the +land falls away gently to the level of the marshes. The hotel is situate +on the crest of this incline. From the veranda, which commands the +landward view, the prospect is wide and pleasing. To the north trends +Hampton Beach in a long sweep to Little Boar's Head and the shores of +Rye and Newcastle; inland are broad stretches of salt marsh, its surface +interwoven with the silver ribbon of the creek and stream; beyond are +glimpses of restful rustic scenes, improved by near approach; spires +pointing heavenward from all the peaceful villages, and, further away, +Agamenticus and the granite hills of New England; to the south, the +beach runs on toward Salisbury and Newburyport. But the great view from +Boar's Head is from the ocean apex of the promontory. Here, beneath the +grateful shade of an awning, with the waves breaking rythmically at the +foot of the cliff far beneath, one can sit and ponder on the immensity +of the ocean and dream of the lands beyond the horizon. From here the +whole seaboard, from Thatcher's Island to York and Wells, is in view; +the Isles of Shoals loom up on the horizon, while the offing is dotted +with coasters and yachts of every rig and construction. Calm, indeed, +must it be when no wind is felt on Boar's Head; and during those +exceptional days of the summer, when the land-breeze prevails, the broad +verandas around three sides of the hotel afford the most grateful shade. +The broad acres between the house and the bluff is a lawn for the use of +the guests, where croquet and tennis may be highly enjoyed in the +invigorating ocean air. + +During the evening, when the atmosphere is clear, there are visible from +the Head thirteen lighthouses. When the shades of night and the dew have +driven the guests to seek shelter within doors, the great parlor affords +to the young people ample room for the cotillion or German, while the +reception-room, office, and reading-room lure the seniors to whist or +magazines. Of a Sunday, the dining-room answers for a chapel; and in +years past, the voice of many an eloquent preacher has echoed through +the room, and reached, through the open windows, hardy but devout +fishermen on the outside. + +These same fishermen bring great codfish from the outlying shoals, +delicious clams from the flats, canvas-back duck, and teal, and +yellow-leg plovers from the marshes, to tempt the delicate appetite of +the valetudinarian. + +Boar's Head is on the seacoast of the old town of Hampton, in the State +of New Hampshire. Taking a team from Mr. Dumas' well-stocked stable, one +will find the most delightful drives, extending in all directions +through the ancient borough. The roads follow curves, like the drives in +Central Park, and two centuries and a half of wear have rendered them as +solid and firm as if macadamized. Three short miles from the hotel is +the station of Hampton, on the Eastern Railroad, by which many trains +pass daily. + +[Illustration] + +For the historical student the region affords much of interest. Here, in +the village of Hampton, in the year 1638, in the month of October, +settled the Reverend Stephen Batchelder [Bachiler] and his followers, +intent to serve God in their own way and establish homes in the +wilderness. The river and adjoining country was then known as +Winnicunnett. The settlers, for the most part, came from Norfolk, +England, and so desirable did they find their adopted home that many +descendants of the original grantees occupy to-day the land opened and +cleared by their ancestors. In this town, in 1657, settled Ebenezer +Webster, the direct progenitor of the Great Expounder, and here the +family remained for several generations. + +Within the limits of the old township, which was bounded on the south by +the present Massachusetts line, on the north by Portsmouth and Exeter, +and extended ten miles inland, were included the territory of some half +dozen of the adjoining townships of to-day. Here lived Meshach Weare, +who guided the New Hampshire ship of state through the troublous times +of the Revolution. Over yonder, near the site of the first log +meeting-house, is pointed out the gambrel-roofed house of General +Jonathan Moulton, the great land-owner. He it was, in the good old +colony days, who drove a very large and fat ox from his township of +Moultonborough, and delivered it to the jovial Governor Wentworth as a +present to his excellency, and said there was nothing to pay. When the +governor insisted on making some return, General Moulton informed him +that there was an ungranted gore of land adjoining his earlier grant +which he would accept. In this manner he came into possession of the +town of New Hampton--a very ample return for the ox; at least, so +asserts tradition. + +Colonel Christopher Toppan, in those early days, was largely engaged in +ship-building. For many years the people of Hampton were employed in +domestic and foreign commerce, and it was not until the advent of the +railroad that Hampton surrendered its dreams of commercial +aggrandizement. + +One road leads up the coast to Rye and Portsmouth; another, through a +most charming country, to Exeter; another, to Salisbury and Newburyport, +and many others inland in every direction. + +Boar's Head is the best base from which to operate to rediscover the +whole adjoining territory. + +The first house on the Head was built, in 1808, by Daniel Lamprey, whose +son, Jeremiah Lamprey, began to entertain guests about 1820. The first +public house in the vicinity, a part of the present Boar's Head House, +was built, in 1826, by David Nudd and associates. From them it came, in +1865, into the possession of Stebbins Hitchcock Dumas, who, nineteen +years before, had commenced hotel life at the Phenix, in Concord. Under +Mr. Dumas' management the house has grown steadily in size as well as in +popularity, until to-day it ranks as one of the great seaside +caravansaries of the Atlantic coast. + +When a fisherman in his wanderings through the forest discovers a pond +or stream well stocked with sparkling trout, he keeps his information to +himself, and frequently revisits his treasure. So is it apt to be with +the tourist and pleasure-seeker. Here, season after season, have +appeared the same men and the same families--noticeably those who +appreciate a table supplied with every delicacy of the season, served up +in the most tempting manner. + +Has the guest a desire to compete with the fishermen, he is furnished +every convenience, and by a basket of fish "expressed" to some distant +friend can demonstrate his piscatorial powers. On the favoring beach, +hard by the hotel, are bathhouses where one can prepare to sport in the +refreshing billows. The halls and rooms of the hotel were built before +those days when those who resort to the seabeach were expected to be +accommodated within the area of their Saratoga trunks. Spacious, +comfortably furnished, each opening on a view of the ocean, the rooms of +the hotel are very attractive and pleasing. + +The hotel is opened for the reception of the public early in June, and +remains open into October, before the last guest departs. + +The gentle poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, thus writes of Hampton +Beach:-- + + "I sit alone: in foam and spray + Wave after wave + Breaks on the rocks.--which, stern and gray, + Shoulder the broken tide away,-- + Or murmurs hoarse and strong through mossy cleft and cave. + + "What heed I of the dusty land + And noisy town? + I see the mighty deep expand + From its white line of glimmering sand + To where the blue of heaven on bluer waves shuts down. + + "In listless quietude of mind + I yield to all + The change of cloud and wave and wind; + And passive, on the flood reclined, + I wander with the waves, and with them rise and fall. + + * * * * * + + "So then, beach, bluff, and wave, farewell! + I bear with me + No token stone nor glittering shell; + But long and oft shall memory tell + Of this brief thoughtful hour of musing by the sea." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue +5, May, 1884, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, *** + +***** This file should be named 13632-8.txt or 13632-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/6/3/13632/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team and Cornell University + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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+ content: attr(title); + text-align: right; + } + /* To indent wrapped lines */ + .poem .line { + height: auto; + margin-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; + } + .figure, .figcenter, .figright, .figleft + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;} + .figure img, .figcenter img, .figright img, .figleft img + {border: none;} + .figure p, .figcenter p, .figright p, .figleft p + {margin: 0; text-align: center;} + .figcenter {margin: auto;} + .figright {float: right;} + .figleft {float: left;} + span.rightnote {position: absolute; left: 88%; right: 1%; font-size: 0.7em; + border-bottom: solid 1px; text-align: left;} + table.receipts {margin-top: 2em; margin-left: 10%; width: 75%;} +/* Use this if there are inline transliterations. */ +/* [lang][title]:after {content: " [Trans: " attr(title) "]";} */ + --> + /*]]>*/ + </style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 5, +May, 1884, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 5, May, 1884 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 5, 2004 [EBook #13632] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team and Cornell University + + + + + + +</pre> + + <a name="page265" id="page265"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 265]</span> + <h1>THE BAY STATE MONTHLY.</h1> + <center> + <i>A Massachusetts Magazine</i>. + </center> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image1_full.png"><img src="images/image1_thumbnail.png" + alt="Chester A. Arthur - May 15, 1882" /></a> + <p>Chester A. Arthur - May 15, 1882</p> + </div> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">Volume I.<br /> + May, 1884.<br /> + Number V.</p> + <hr /> + <p style="text-align: center;">Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year + 1884, by John N. McClintock and Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress + at Washington.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Ben: Perley Poore.</p> + <p>Chester Alan Arthur was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 5, 1830. His father, + the Reverend Doctor William Arthur, was a Baptist clergyman, who emigrated from + county Antrim, Ireland, when only eighteen years of age. He had received a thorough + classical education, and was graduated from Belfast University, one of the foremost + institutions of learning in Ireland. Marrying an American, Miss Malvina Stone, soon + after his arrival, he became the father of several children. Chester was the eldest + of two sons, having four sisters older and two younger than himself. While fulfilling + his clerical duties as the pastor, successively, of a number of Baptist churches in + New York State, Dr. Arthur edited for several years The Antiquarian, and wrote a work + on Family Names, which is highly prized by genealogists. Of Scotch-Irish descent, he + was a man of great force of character, impatient of restraint, at home in a + controversy, and frank in the expression of his opinions. He was a pronounced + emancipationist, although he never expected to see the overthrow of slavery, which it + was his good fortune to witness, as his life was spared until the twenty-seventh of + October, 1875, when he died at Newtonville, near Albany. He was a personal friend of + Gerrit Smith, and they had participated in the organization of the New York State + Anti-Slavery Society, which was dispersed by a mob during its first meeting at Utica, + on the twenty-first of October, 1835 (the day on which William Lloyd Garrison was + mobbed in Boston, and was lodged in jail for his own protection). A friend of the + slave from conscience and from conviction, Dr. Arthur was never backward in + expressing his convictions, and his children imbibed his teachings.</p> + <p>When a lad, young Arthur enjoyed at home the tutelage of his father, whose + thorough knowledge of the classics enabled him to lay the foundation of his son's + future education broad and deep. He entered Union College in 1845, when only fifteen + years of age. His collegiate course was full of promise, and every successive year he + was declared to be one of those who had taken "maximum honors," although he was + compelled to absent himself during two winters, when he taught school to earn the + requisite funds for defraying his expenses, without drawing upon his father's means. + Yet he kept up with his class, and when he was graduated in 1848, he was one of six + out of a class of over one hundred, who were elected members of the Phi Beta Kappa, + an honor only conferred on the best scholars.</p> + <a name="page266" id="page266"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 266]</span> + <p>Following the natural inclination of his mind, young Arthur began the study of + law, supporting himself by teaching and by preparing boys for college. It so happened + that two years after he was the preceptor of an academy at North Pownal, Vermont, a + student from Williams College, named James A. Garfield, came there and taught + penmanship in the same academy for several months.</p> + <p>In 1853, young Arthur went to New York City, by the invitation of the Honorable + Erastus D. Culver, whose acquaintance he had made when that gentleman represented the + Washington County district, and Dr. Arthur was the pastor of the Baptist Church at + Greenwich. Mr. Culver had been noted in Congress as an advanced, anti-slavery man, + and he was prompted to take an interest in the son of a clergyman-constituent, who + did not fear to express anti-slavery sentiments, at a time when the occupants of + pulpits were generally so conservative that they were dumb upon this important + question. Before the close of the year, young Arthur displayed such legal ability and + business tact, that he was admitted into partnership, and became a member of the firm + of Culver, Parker, and Arthur. The firm had numerous clients, and the junior partner + soon became a successful practitioner, uniting to a thorough knowledge of the law a + vigorous understanding and an untiring industry which gained for him an enviable + reputation.</p> + <p>Among other cases on the docket of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, was one known as + the Lemon slave-case. A Virginian named Jonathan Lemon undertook to take eight slaves + to Texas on steamers, by the way of New York. While in that city a writ of <i>habeas + corpus</i> was issued, and the slaves were brought into the court before Judge Elijah + Paine; Mr. Culver and John Jay appearing for the slaves, while H.D. Lapaugh and Henry + L. Clifton were retained by Lemon. Judge Paine, after hearing long arguments, + declared that the fugitive slave law did not apply to slaves who were brought by + their masters into a free State, and he ordered their release. The Legislature of + Virginia directed the attorney-general of that State to employ counsel to appeal from + Judge Paine's decision to the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Mr. Arthur, who + was the attorney of record in the case for the people, went to Albany, and after + earnest efforts procured the passage of a joint resolution, requesting the governor + to employ counsel to defend the interests of the State. Attorney-General Hoffman, + E.D. Culver, and Joseph Blunt were appointed by the governor as counsel, and Mr. + Arthur as the State's attorney. The Supreme Court sustained Judge Paine's decision. + The slave-holder, unwilling to lose his "property," then engaged Charles O'Conor to + argue the case before the State Court of Appeals. There the counsel for the State + were again successful in defending the decision of Judge Paine, and from that day no + slave-holder dared to bring his slaves into the city of New York.</p> + <a name="page267" id="page267"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 267]</span> + <p>Mr. Arthur, who had naturally taken a prominent part in this case, was regarded by + the colored people of New York as a champion of their interests, and it was not long + before they sought his aid. At that time, colored people were not permitted to ride + in the street-cars in New York City, with the exception of a few old and shabby cars + set aside for their occupation. The Fourth-avenue line permitted them to ride when no + other passenger made objection.</p> + <p>One Sunday, in 1855, Lizzie Jennings, a colored woman, returning from having + fulfilled her duties as superintendent of a colored Sunday-school, entered a + Fourth-avenue car, and the conductor took her fare. Soon after, a drunken white man + objected to her presence, and insisted that she be made to leave the car. The + conductor pulled the bell, and when the car stopped, told her that she must get out, + offering to return her fare. She refused, and the conductor then offered to put her + off by force. She made vigorous resistance, exclaiming: "I have paid my fare, and I + have a right to ride." Finally, the conductor called in several policemen, and, by + their joint efforts, she was removed from the car, her clothing having nearly all + been torn from her in the struggle. When the leading colored people of the city heard + of this, they sent a committee to the office of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, and + requested them to make it a test case.</p> + <p>Mr. Arthur brought suit against the railroad company for Miss Jennings, in the + Supreme Court, at Brooklyn. The case came on for trial before Judge Rockwell, who + then sat upon the bench there. He had just decided, in a previous case, that a + corporation was not liable for the wrongful acts of its agent or servant, and when + Mr. Arthur handed him the pleadings, he said that the railroad company was not + liable, and was about to order a nonsuit. Mr. Arthur called his attention, however, + to a recently revised section of the Revised Statutes, making certain railroad + corporations which carried passengers liable for the acts of their conductors and + drivers, whether wilful or negligent, under which the action had been brought. The + judge was silenced, the case was tried, and the jury rendered a verdict of five + hundred dollars damages in favor of the colored woman. The railroad company paid the + money without further contest, and issued orders to its conductors to permit colored + people to ride in its cars, an example that was followed by all the other street + railroads in New York. The colored people, especially "The Colored People's Legal + Rights Association," were very grateful to Mr. Arthur, and for years afterward they + celebrated the anniversary of the day on which he won the case that asserted their + rights in public conveyances.</p> + <p>When a lad, young Arthur had always taken a great interest in politics, and it is + related of him that during the Clay-Polk campaign of 1844, while he and some of his + companions were raising an ash pole in honor of Harry Clay, they were attacked by + some Democratic boys, when young Arthur, who was the leader of the party, ordered a + charge, and drove the young Democrats from the field with sore heads and subdued + spirits. His first vote was cast in 1852 for Winfield Scott for President, and he + identified himself with the Whigs of his ward when he located in New York City. In + those days the best citizens served as inspectors of elections at the polls, and for + some years Mr. Arthur served in that capacity at a voting-place in a carpenter's + shop, which occupied the site of the present Fifth Avenue Hotel. When, in 1856, the + Republican party was formed, Mr. Arthur was a prominent member of the Young Men's + Vigilance Committee, which advocated the election of Fremont and Dayton. It was + during this campaign that he became acquainted with Edwin D. Morgan, and gained his + ardent life-long friendship.</p> + <a name="page268" id="page268"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 268]</span> + <p>Animated by a military spirit, Mr. Arthur sought recreation by joining the + volunteer militia of New York, and he was appointed judge-advocate-general on the + staff of Brigadier-General Yates, who commanded the second brigade. The general was a + strict disciplinarian, and required his field, line, and staff officers to meet + weekly for drill and instruction. Mr. Arthur thus acquired the rudiments of a + military education, and became acquainted with many of those who afterwards + distinguished themselves as officers in the volunteer army of the Union.</p> + <p>General Arthur was married in 1859 to Ellen Lewis Herndon, of Fredericksburg, + Virginia, a daughter of Captain William Lewis Herndon, of the United States Navy, who + had gained honorable distinction when in command of the naval expedition sent to + explore the river Amazon. His heroic death, in 1857, is recorded in history among + those "names which will never be forgotten as long as there is remembrance in the + world for fidelity unto death." In command of the steamer Central America, which went + down, with a loss of three hundred and sixty lives, he stood at his post on the + wheelhouse, and succeeded in having the women and children safely transferred to the + boats, remaining himself to perish with his vessel. General Sherman has characterized + this grand deed of unselfish devotion as the most heroic incident in our naval + history. Mrs. Arthur was a lady of the highest culture, and in the varied relations + of life—wife, mother, friend—she illustrated all that gives to womanhood + its highest charm, and commands for it the purest homage. She died in 1880, after an + illness of but three days, leaving a son and a daughter, with a large number of + mourning friends, not only in society, of which she was an ornament, but among the + poor and the distressed, whose wants and whose sufferings she had tenderly cared + for.</p> + <p>When the Honorable Edward D. Morgan was elected Governor of the State of New York, + he appointed Mr. Arthur engineer-in-chief on his staff, and when Fort Sumter was + fired upon, the governor telegraphed to him to go to Albany, where he received orders + to act as state quartermaster-general in the city of New York. General Arthur at once + began to organize regiments,—uniform, arm, and equip them,—and send them + to the defence of the capital. His capacity for leadership and organization was soon + manifest. There was no lack of men or of money, but it needed organizing powers like + his to mould them into disciplined form, to grasp the new issues with a master-hand, + and to infuse earnestness and obedience into the citizens, suddenly transformed into + soldiers. His accounts were kept in accordance with the army regulations, and their + subsequent settlement with the United States, without deduction for unwarranted + charges, was an easy task. It was by his exertions, to a great extent, that the + Empire State was enabled to send to the front six hundred and ninety thousand men, + nearly one fifth of the Grand Army of the Union.</p> + <a name="page269" id="page269"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 269]</span> + <p>There were, of course, many adventurers who sought commissions, and some of the + regiments were recruited from the rough element of city life, who soon refused to + obey their officers. General Arthur made short work of these cases, exercising an + authority which no one dared to dispute. Neither would he permit the army contractors + to ingratiate themselves with him by presents, returning everything thus sent him. + Although a comparatively poor man when he entered upon the duties of + quartermaster-general at New York, he was far poorer when he gave up the office. A + friend describing his course at this period, says: "So jealous was he of his + integrity, that I have known instances where he could have made thousands of dollars + legitimately, and yet he refused to do it on the ground that he was a public officer + and meant to be, like Caesar's wife, above suspicion."</p> + <p>When the rebel ironclad steamer Merrimac had commenced her work of destruction + near Fortress Monroe, General Arthur, as engineer-in-chief, took efficient steps for + the defence of New York, and made a thorough inspection of all the forts and defences + in the State, describing the armament of each one. His report to the Legislature, + submitted to that body in a little more than three weeks after his attention was + called to the subject by Governor Morgan, was thus noticed editorially in the New + York Herald of January 25, 1862:—</p> + <blockquote> + "The report of the engineer-in-chief, General Arthur, which appeared in yesterday's + Herald, is one of the most important and valuable documents that have been this + year presented to our Legislature. It deserves perusal, not only on account of the + careful analysis it contains of the condition of the forts, but because the + recommendations, with which it closes, coincide precisely with the wishes of the + administration with respect to securing a full and complete defence of the entire + Northern coast." + </blockquote> + <p>Governor Morgan appointed General Arthur state inspector-general in February, + 1862, and ordered him to visit and inspect the New York troops in the army of the + Potomac. While there, as an advance on Richmond was daily expected, he volunteered + for duty on the staff of his friend, Major-General Hunt, commander of the Reserve + Artillery. He had previously, when four fine volunteer regiments had been organized + under the auspices of the metropolitan police commissioners of of the city of New + York, and consolidated into what was known as the "Metropolitan Brigade," been + offered the command of it by the colonels of the regiments, but on making formal + application, based on a desire to see active service in the field, Governor Morgan + was unwilling that he should accept, stating that he could not be spared from the + service of the State, and that while he appreciated General Arthur's desire for + war-service, he knew that he would render the country more efficient aid for the + Union cause by remaining at his State post of duty.</p> + <a name="page270" id="page270"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 270]</span> + <p>When, in June, 1862, the situation had an unfavorable appearance, and there were + apprehensions that a general draft would be necessary, Governor Morgan telegraphed + General Arthur, then with the Army of the Potomac, to return to New York. The General + did so, and was requested, on his arrival, to act as secretary at a confidential + meeting of the governors of loyal States, held at the Astor House, on the + twenty-eighth of July, 1862. After a full and frank discussion of the condition of + affairs in their respective States, the governors united in a request to the + President to call for more troops. President Lincoln, on the first of July, issued a + proclamation, thanking the governors for their patriotism, and calling for three + hundred thousand three-years volunteers, and three hundred thousand nine-months + militia-men. Private intimation that such a call was to be issued would have enabled + army contractors to have made millions; but the secret was honorably kept by all + until after the issue of the proclamation. The quota of New York was 59,705 + volunteers, or sixty regiments, and it was desirable that they should be recruited + and sent to the front without delay. General Arthur, by special request of Governor + Morgan, resumed his duties as quartermaster-general and established a system of + recruiting and officering the new levies, which proved wonderfully successful. In his + annual report, made to the governor on the twenty-seventh of January, 1863, he + said:—</p> + <blockquote> + "In summing up the operations of the department during the last levy of troops, I + need only state as the result the fact that through the single office and clothing + department of this department in the city of New York, from August 1 to December 1, + the space of four months, there were completely clothed, uniformed, and equipped, + supplied with camp and garrison equipage, and transported from this State to the + seat of war, sixty-eight regiments of infantry, two battalions of cavalry, and four + battalions and ten batteries of artillery." + </blockquote> + <p>In December, 1863, the incoming of the Democratic state administration deprived + General Arthur of his office. His successor, Quartermaster-General Talcott, in a + report to Governor Seymour, paid the following just tribute to his + predecessor:—</p> + <blockquote> + "I found, upon entering on the discharge of my duties, a well-organized system of + labor and accountability, for which the State is chiefly indebted to my + predecessor, General Chester A. Arthur, who, by his practical good sense and + unremitting exertion, at a period when everything was in confusion, reduced the + operations of the department to a matured plan by which large amounts of money were + saved to the government, and great economy of time secured in carrying out the + details of the same." + </blockquote> + <p>Resuming his professional duties, at first in partnership with Mr. Gardiner and + afterward alone, he became counsel to the city department of taxes and assessments, + with an annual salary of ten thousand dollars, but he abruptly resigned the position + when the Tammany Hall city officials attempted to coerce the Republicans connected + with the municipal departments.</p> + <p>When the next presidential election drew near, General Arthur entered + enthusiastically into the support of General Grant, and was made chairman of the + Grant Central Club, of New York. He also served as chairman of the executive + committee of the Republican State Committee of New York. In 1871, he formed the + afterwards well-known firm of Arthur, Phelps, Knevals, and Ransom.</p> + <a name="page271" id="page271"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 271]</span> + <p>President Grant, without solicitation and unexpectedly, appointed General Arthur + collector of the port of New York, on the twentieth of November, 1871. He accepted + the position with much hesitation, but it met with the general approval of the + business community, many of the merchants having become personally acquainted with + his business ability during the war. He instituted many reforms in the management of + the custom-house, all calculated to simplify the business and to divest it, to a + great extent, of all the details and routine so vexatious to the mercantile classes. + The number of his removals during his administration was far less than during the + rule of any other collector since 1857, and the expense of collecting the duties was + far less than it had been for years. So satisfactory was his management of the + custom-house, that, upon the close of his term of service, December, 1875, he was + renominated by President Grant. The nomination was unanimously confirmed by the + Senate without reference to a committee, a compliment very rarely paid, except to + ex-senators. He was the first collector of the port of New York, with one or two + exceptions, who in fifty years ever held the office for more than the whole term of + four years.</p> + <p>Two years later General Arthur was superseded as collector by General Merritt. The + Honorable John Sherman, secretary of the treasury, on being questioned as to the + cause of the removal of General Arthur as collector of customs at New York, + said:—</p> + <blockquote> + "I have never said one word impugning General Arthur's honor or integrity as a man + and a gentleman, but he was not in harmony with the views of the administration in + the management of the custom-house. I would vote for him for Vice-President a + million times before I would vote for W.H. English, with whom I served in + Congress." + </blockquote> + <p>General Arthur, in a letter written by him to Secretary Sherman, on his + administration of the New York custom-house, said:—</p> + <blockquote> + "The essential elements of a correct civil service I understand to be: First, + permanance in office, which, of course, prevents removals, except for cause. + Second, promotion from the lower to the higher grades, based upon good conduct and + efficiency. Third, prompt and thorough investigation of all complaints and prompt + punishment of all misconduct. In this respect I challenge comparison with any + department of the Government, either under the present or under any past national + administration. I am prepared to demonstrate the truth of this statement on any + fair investigation." + </blockquote> + <p>Appended to this letter was a table in which General Arthur showed that during the + six years he had managed the office the yearly percentage of removals for all causes + had been only two and three-quarters per cent. against an annual average of + twenty-eight per cent. under his three immediate predecessors, and an annual average + of about twenty-four per cent. since 1857, when Collector Schell took office. Out of + nine hundred and twenty-three persons who held office when he became collector on + December 1, 1871, there were five hundred and thirty-one still in office on May 1, + 1877, having been retained during his entire term. Concerning promotions, the + statistics of the office show that during his entire term the uniform practice was to + advance men from the lower to the higher grades, and almost without exception on the + recommendation of heads of departments. All the appointments, excepting two, to the + one hundred positions paying two thousand dollars salary a year, and over, were made + on this method.</p> + <a name="page272" id="page272"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 272]</span> + <p>Senator George K. Edmunds, at a ratification meeting, held in Burlington, Vermont, + on the twenty-second of June, 1880, said:—</p> + <blockquote> + "I have long known General Arthur. The only serious difficulty I have had with the + present administration was when it proposed to remove him from the collectorship of + New York. No one questioned his personal honor and integrity. I resisted the + attempt to the utmost. Since that time it has turned out that all the reforms + suggested had long before been recommended by General Arthur himself, and + pigeonholded at Washington." + </blockquote> + <p>Meanwhile General Arthur had rendered great services as a member, and subsequently + a chairman, of the Republican State Committee, and had united his party from one + success to another through all the mazes and intricacies which characterize the + politics of New York City. Vice-President Wheeler said of him:—</p> + <blockquote> + "It is my good fortune to know well General Arthur, the nominee for Vice-President. + In unsullied character and in devotion to the principles of the Republican party no + man in the organization surpasses him. No man has contributed more of time and + means to advance the just interests of the Republican party." + </blockquote> + <p>The National Republican Convention, which assembled at Chicago, in June, 1880, was + an exemplification of the popular will. The respective friends of General Grant and + of Mr. Blaine, equally confident of success, indulged during a night's session in + prolonged demonstrations of applause when the candidates were presented that were + unprecedented and that will not probably ever be repeated. Neither side was + successful until the thirty-sixth ballot, when the nomination of President was + finally bestowed on General Garfield, who had, as a delegate from Ohio, eloquently + presented the name of John Sherman as a candidate.</p> + <p>The convention then adjourned for dinner and for consultation. When it reassembled + in the evening, the roll of States was called for the nomination for Vice-President. + California presented E.B. Washburne; Connecticut, ex-Governor Jewell; Florida, Judge + Settle; Tennessee, Horace Maynard. These successive names attracted little attention, + but when ex-Lieutenant-Governor Woodford, of New York, rose, and, after a brief + reference to the loyal support which New York had given to General Grant, presented + the name of General Chester A. Arthur for the second place on the ticket, it was + received with applause and enthusiasm. The nomination was seconded by ex-Governor + Denison, of Ohio, Emory A. Storrs, of Illinois, and John Cessna, of Pennsylvania. A + vote was then taken with the following result: Arthur, 468; Washburne, 19; Maynard, + 30; Jewell, 44; Bruce, 8; Davis, 2; and Woodford, 1. The nomination of General Arthur + was then made unanimous, and a committee of one from each State, with the presiding + officer of the convention, Senator Hoar, as chairman, was appointed to notify General + Garfield and General Arthur of their nomination. The convention then adjourned + <i>sine die</i>.</p> + <a name="page273" id="page273"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 273]</span> + <p>Returning to New York, General Arthur was welcomed by a large and influential + gathering of Republicans, who greeted him with hearty cheers. That night he was + serenaded by a large procession of Republicans, which assembled in Union Square and + marched past his residence in Lexington Avenue, with music and fireworks. A few weeks + later, a letter was addressed to him, signed by Hamilton Fish, Noah Davis, and + upwards of a hundred other prominent Republicans, inviting him to dine with them at + the Union League Club, and stating that, in common with all true Republicans, they + rejoiced at the happy issue of the earnest struggle in the Chicago convention. They + hailed the general approval of its work as an auspicious omen, and looked forward + confidently to the labors of the canvass. They felt an especial and personal + gratification in the fact that the ticket selected at Chicago bore his name. His + faithfulness in public duties, his firmness and sagacity in political affairs, so + well understood by his fellow-citizens in New York, had met with national recognition + and won for him this well-deserved honor. Their efforts in his support would be + prompted, not only by personal zeal and enthusiasm, but by the warmth and zeal of + strong personal friendship and esteem. That they might have an opportunity more fully + to express to him their sincere congratulations and hearty good wishes, they invited + him to meet them at dinner at the Union League Club.</p> + <p>General Arthur, in acknowledging the receipt of this letter, expressed his sense + of the kindness which had prompted both the invitation itself and the flattering + assurances of confidence and regard by which it was accompanied. If circumstances had + permitted, he should have been pleased to have accepted the proffered hospitality, + and for that purpose no more congenial spot could have been selected than the + headquarters of the Union League Club, an association so widely famed for its + patriotic zeal and energy, and so efficient in the support of the principles and + policy of the Republican party. He was constrained, however, from considerations of a + private nature known to many, to decline the invitation.</p> + <p>On the fifteenth of July, 1880, General Arthur formally accepted the position + assigned to him by the Chicago convention, and expressed at length his own personal + views on the election laws, public service appointments, the financial problems of + the day, common schools, the tariff, national improvements, and a Republican + ascendency, saying, in conclusion, that he did not doubt that success awaited the + Republican party, and that its triumph would assure a just, economical, and patriotic + administration.</p> + <p>The political campaign of 1880 was earnestly contested by the great political + parties. The Republicans were victorious, and their ticket bearing the names of + Garfield and Arthur was triumphantly elected. On the fourth of March, 1881, General + Arthur took the oath of office in the Senate Chamber as Vice-President of the United + States, and half an hour later General Garfield was inaugurated on a platform before + the east front of the Capitol, in the presence of the imposing military and civil + procession which had escorted him with music and banners. When the ceremony was + concluded, the distinguished personages around the new President tendered their + congratulations, the assembled multitude cheered, and a salute fired by a light + battery stationed near by was echoed by the guns at the navy yard, the arsenal, and + the forts around the metropolis.</p> + <a name="page274" id="page274"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 274]</span> + <p>Republicans congratulated each other on the indications of a vigorous + administration, governed by a conscientious determination to promote harmony. But a + few months had elapsed, however, before President Garfield was cruelly assassinated, + in the full vigor of his manhood, and the Republican party was at first stricken with + apprehensions. These gloomy doubts, however, soon disappeared as the incidents of Mr. + Arthur's patriotic and useful life were recalled, and a generous confidence was soon + extended to the new President.</p> + <p>President Arthur took the oath of office in New York immediately after the death + of General Garfield, and he repeated it in the Capitol on the twenty-second of + September, in the Vice-President's room. The members of General Garfield's cabinet, + who had been requested by his successor to continue for the present in charge of + their respective departments, were present, with General Sherman in full uniform, + ex-Presidents Hayes and Grant, and Chief Justice Waite in his judicial robes, + escorted by Associate Justices Harlan and Matthews. There were, also, present + Senators Anthony, Sherman, Edmunds, Hale, Blair, Dawes, and Jones, of Nevada, and + Representatives Amos Townsend, McCook, Errett, Randall, Hiscock, and Thomas. + Ex-Vice-President Hamlin, of Maine, and Speaker Sharpe, of New York, were also + present.</p> + <p>When President Arthur entered the room, escorted by General Grant and Senator + Jones, he advanced to a small table, on which was a Bible, and behind which stood the + Chief Justice, who raised the sacred volume, opened it, and presented it to the + President, who placed his right hand upon it. Chief Justice Waite then slowly + administered the oath, and at its conclusion the President kissed the book, + responding, "I will, so help me God." He then read the following address:—</p> + <blockquote> + <center> + THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + </center> + <p>For the fourth time in the history of the Republic its Chief Magistrate has been + removed by death. All hearts are filled with grief and horror at the hideous crime + which has darkened our land; and the memory of the murdered President, his + protracted sufferings, his unyielding fortitude, the example and achievements of + his life and the pathos of his death, will forever illumine the pages of our + history. For the fourth time the officer elected by the people and ordained by the + Constitution to fill a vacancy so created is called to assume the executive chair. + The wisdom of our fathers, foreseeing even the most dire possibilities, made sure + that the Government should never be imperiled because of the uncertainty of human + life. Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions remain unshaken. No + higher or more assuring proof could exist of the strength and permanence of popular + government than the fact that, though the chosen of the people be struck down, his + constitutional successor is peacefully installed without shock or strain except the + sorrow which mourns the bereavement. All the noble aspirations of my lamented + predecessor which found expression in his life, the measures devised and suggested + during his brief administration to correct abuses and enforce economy, to advance + prosperity and promote the general welfare, to insure domestic security and + maintain friendly and honorable relations with the nations of the earth, will be + garnered in the hearts of the people, and it will be my earnest endeavor to profit, + and to see that the Nation shall profit, by his example and experience. Prosperity + blesses our country; our fiscal policy is fixed by law, is well grounded, and + generally approved. No threatening issue mars our foreign intercourse, and the + wisdom, integrity, and thrift of our people may be trusted to continue undisturbed + the present assured career of peace, tranquillity, and welfare. The gloom and + anxiety which have enshrouded the country must make repose especially welcome now. + No demand for speedy legislation has been heard. No adequate occasion is apparent + for an unusual session of Congress. The Constitution defines the functions and + powers of the executive as clearly as those of either of the other two departments + of the government, and he must answer for the just exercise of the discretion it + permits and the performance of the duties it imposes. Summoned to these high duties + and responsibilities, and profoundly conscious of their magnitude and gravity, I + assume the trust imposed by the Constitution, relying for aid on Divine guidance + and the virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of the American people.</p> + </blockquote> + <a name="page275" id="page275"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 275]</span> + <p>As President Arthur read his message his voice trembled, but his manner was + impressive, and the eyes of many present were moistened with tears. The first one to + congratulate him when he had concluded was Chief Justice Waite, and the next was + Secretary Blaine. After shaking him by the hand, those present left the room, which + was closed to all except the members of the Cabinet, who there held their first + conference with the President. At this cabinet meeting the following proclamation was + prepared and signed by President Arthur, designating the following Monday as a day of + fasting, humiliation, and prayer:—</p> + <blockquote> + <p><i>By the President of the United States of America</i>;</p> + <center> + A PROCLAMATION: + </center> + <p>Whereas, in his inscrutable wisdom, it has pleased God to remove from us the + illustrious head of the Nation, James A. Garfield, late President of the United + States; and whereas it is fitting that the deep grief which fills all hearts should + manifest itself with one accord toward the throne of infinite grace, and that we + should bow before the Almighty and seek from him that consolation in our affliction + and that sanctification of our loss which he is able and willing to vouchsafe:</p> + <p>Now, therefore, in obedience to sacred duty, and in accordance with the desire + of the people, I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States of America, do + hereby appoint Monday next, the twenty-sixth day of September, on which day the + remains of our honored and beloved dead will be consigned to their last + resting-place on earth; to be observed throughout the United States as a day of + humiliation and mourning; and I earnestly recommend all the people to assemble on + that day in their respective places of divine worship, there to render alike their + tribute of sorrowful submission to the will of Almighty God and of reverence and + love for the memory and character of our late Chief Magistrate.</p> + <p><span class="rightnote">[SEAL.]</span>In witness whereof I have hereunto set my + hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.</p> + <a name="page276" id="page276"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 276]</span> + <p>Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-second day of September, in the year + of our Lord 1881, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and + sixth.</p> + <p>CHESTER A. ARTHUR.</p> + <p>By the President:</p> + <p>JAMES G. BLAINE. Secretary of State.</p> + </blockquote> + <p>President Arthur soon showed his appreciation of the responsibilities of his new + office. Knowing principles rather than persons, he subordinated individual + preferences and prejudices to a well-defined public policy. While he was, as he + always had been, a Republican, he had no sympathy for blind devotion to party; he had + "no friends to reward, no enemies to punish;"—and he has been governed by those + principles of liberty and equality which he inherited. His messages to Congress have + been universally commended, and even unfriendly critics have pronounced them careful + and well-matured documents. Their tone is more frank and direct than is customary in + such papers, and their recommendations, extensive and varied as they have been, show + that he has patiently reviewed the field of labor so sadly and so unexpectedly opened + before him, and that he was not inclined to shirk the constitutional duty of aiding + Congress by his suggestions and advice. An honest man, who believes in his own + principles, who follows his own convictions, and who never hesitates to avow his + sentiments, he has given his views in accordance with his deliberate ideas of + right.</p> + <p>The foreign relations of the United States have been conducted by Secretary + Frelinghuysen, under the President's direction, in a friendly spirit and when + practicable with a view to mutual commercial advantages. He has taken a conservative + view of the management of the public debt, approving all the important suggestions of + the secretary of the treasury, and recognizing the proper protection of American + industry. He is in favor of the great interests of labor, and opposed to such + tinkering with the tariff as will make vain the toil of the industrious farmer, + paralyze the arm of the sturdy mechanic, strike down the hand of the hardy laborer, + stop the spindle, hush the loom, extinguish the furnace-fires, and degrade all + independent toilers to the level of the poor in other lands. The architect of his own + fortune, he has a strong and abiding sympathy for those bread-winners who struggle + against poverty.</p> + <p>The reform of the civil service has met with President Arthur's earnest support, + and his messages show that every department of the government has received his + careful administration. Following the example of Washington, he has personally + visited several sections of the United States, and has especially made himself + acquainted with the great problem of Indian civilization.</p> + <p>President Arthur's administration has been characterized by an elevated tone at + home and abroad. All important questions have been carefully discussed at the council + table, at which the President has displayed unusual powers of analysis and + comprehension. The conflicting claims of applicants for appointments to offices in + his gift, have been carefully weighed, and no action has been taken until all parties + interested have had a hearing. The President has a remarkable insight into men, + promptly estimating character with an accuracy that makes it a difficult matter to + deceive him, or to win his favor either for visionary schemes, corrupt attacks upon + the treasury, or incompetent place-hunters. He has shown that he has been guided by a + wise experience of the past, and a sagacious foresight of the future, exhibiting + sacrifices of individual friendship to a sense of public duty.</p> + <a name="page277" id="page277"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 277]</span> + <p>Possessing moral firmness and a just self-reliance, President Arthur did not + hesitate about vetoing the "Chinese Bill" and the "Bill making appropriations for + rivers and harbors" for reasons which he laid before Congress in his veto messages. + The wisdom and sagacity which he has displayed in his management of national affairs + has been especially acceptable to the business interests of the country. They have + tested his administration by business principles, and they feel that, so long as he + firmly grasps the helm of the ship of state, she will pursue a course of peace and + prosperity.</p> + <p>In dispensing the hospitalities of the White House, President Arthur has exhibited + the resources of a naturally generous disposition and a refined taste. His + remembrance of persons who call upon him, and whom he may not have seen for years, is + remarkable, and his hearty, genial temperament enables him to make his visitors at + home. His vigorous vitality of body and mind, his manly figure and expressive face, + add to the dignity of his manner. A ready speaker, he at all times rises to the level + of an emergency, and he invariably charms those who hear him by his courtesy of + expression, which is the outward reflection of a large, kind heart.</p> + <p>President Arthur's numerous friends contemplate the prominent events of his + eventful life without regret, and with a sincere belief that they will be sustained + by the verdict of impartial history. Utility to the country has been the rule of his + political life, and he has arrived at that high standard of official excellence which + prevailed in the early days of the Republic, when honesty, firmness, patriotism, and + stability of character were the characteristics of public men. Under his lead, the + Republican party, disorganized and disheartened after the sad death of General + Garfield, has gradually become strengthened and united on the eve of another + presidential victory.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>YESTERDAY.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Kate L. Brown.</p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + Adown the aisles of yesterday + </div> + <div class="line"> + What fairy notes are ringing, + </div> + <div class="line"> + And strange, sweet odors, rich and rare, + </div> + <div class="line"> + The western winds are bringing! + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + The deeds we counted poor and mean, + </div> + <div class="line"> + Now shine with added glory, + </div> + <div class="line"> + And like a romance, reads the page + </div> + <div class="line"> + Of life's poor, meagre story. + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + But vanished from our wistful sight, + </div> + <div class="line"> + Too late for vain regretting, + </div> + <div class="line"> + The joys, that the remorseful heart + </div> + <div class="line"> + With sacred gold is setting. + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + Ah! dearest of all earthly hopes + </div> + <div class="line"> + Within the soul abiding, + </div> + <div class="line"> + The lost, lost life of yesterday + </div> + <div class="line"> + The heart is ever hiding. + </div> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <a name="page278" id="page278"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 278]</span> + <h2>THE BOUNDARY LINES OF OLD GROTON.—I.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By The Hon. Samuel Abbott Green, M.D.</p> + <p>The original grant of the township of Groton was made by the General Court, on May + 25, 1655, and gave to the proprietors a tract of land eight miles square; though + during the next year this was modified so that its shape varied somewhat from the + first plan. It comprised all of what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of Pepperell + and Shirley, large parts of Dunstable and Littleton, smaller parts of Harvard and + Westford, Massachusetts, and a portion of Nashua, New Hampshire. The grant was taken + out of the very wilderness, relatively far from any other town, and standing like a + sentinel on the frontiers. Lancaster, fourteen miles away, was its nearest neighbor + in the southwesterly direction on the one side; and Andover and Haverhill, twenty and + twenty-five miles distant, more or less, in the northeasterly direction on the other. + No settlement on the north stood between it and the settlements in Canada. Chelmsford + and Billerica were each incorporated about the same time, though a few days + later.</p> + <p>When the grant was made, it was expressly stipulated that Mr. Jonathan Danforth, + of Cambridge, with such others as he might desire, should lay it out with all + convenient speed in order to encourage the prompt settlement of a minister; and + furthermore that the selectmen of the town should pay a fair amount for his services. + During the next year a petition, signed by Deane Winthrop and seven others, was + presented to the General Court asking for certain changes in the conditions, and + among them the privilege to employ another "artist" in the place of Mr. Danforth, as + he was overrun with business. The petition was referred to a committee who reported + favorably upon it, and the request was duly granted. Formerly a surveyor was called + an artist, and in old records the word is often found with that meaning.</p> + <p>Ensign Peter Noyes, of Sudbury, was then engaged by the grantees and he began the + survey; but his death, on September 23, 1657, delayed the speedy accomplishment of + the work. It is known that there was some trouble in the early settlement of the + place, growing out of the question of lands, but its exact character is not recorded; + perhaps it was owing to the delay which now occurred. Ensign Noyes was a noted + surveyor, but not so famous as Jonathan Danforth, whose name is often mentioned in + the General Court records, in connection with the laying out of lands and towns, and + many of whose plans are still preserved among the Archives in the State House. + Danforth was the man wanted at first for the undertaking; and after Noyes's death he + took charge of it, and his elder brother, Thomas, was associated with him. The plat + or plan of the land, however, does not appear to have been completed until April, + 1668. The survey was made during the preceding year. At a meeting of the selectmen of + the town, held on November 23, 1667, it is recorded that a rate should be levied in + order to pay "the Artest and the men that attended him and his diet for himself and + his horse, and for two sheets of parchment, for him to make two platts for the towne, + and for Transportation of his pay all which amounts to about twenty pounds and to pay + severall other town debts that appear to us to be due."</p> + <a name="page279" id="page279"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 279]</span> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image2_full.png"><img src="images/image2_thumbnail.png" + alt="Groton Plantation as shown on a plan made in 1668 by Jonathan Danforth" /></a> + </div> + <p>A little further on in the records a charge of five shillings is made 'ffor two + sheats of Parchment.' These entries seem to show that two plans were made, perhaps + one for the town and the other for the Colony; but neither copy is now to be found. + An allusion is made to one of them in a petition, presented to the General Court on + February 10, 1717, by John Shepley and John Ames. It is there mentioned that "the + said Plat thô something defaced is with the Petitioner;" and is further stated + "That in the year 1713 M<sup>r</sup> Samuel Danforth Surveyor & Son of the + aforesaid Jonathan Danforth, at the desire of the said Town of Groton did run the + Lines & make an Implatment of the said Township laid out as before & found it + agreeable to the former. W<sup>h</sup> last Plat the Petitioners do herewith exhibit, + And pray that this Hon<sup>bl</sup>e Court would allow & confirm the same as the + Township of Groton."</p> + <a name="page280" id="page280"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 280]</span> + <p>While the original plan has been lost or destroyed, it is fortunate that many + years ago a copy was made, which is still preserved. In June, 1825, the Honorable + James Prescott was in the possession of the original, which Caleb Butler, Esq., at + that time transcribed into one of the town record-books, and thereby saved it for + historical purposes. Even with this clew a special search has been made for the + missing document, but without success. If it is ever found it will be by chance, + where it is the least looked for. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the + outlines or the faithfulness of the copy. The relative distances between the streams + emptying into the Nashua River, however, are not very exact; and in the engraving for + the sake of clearness I have added their names, as well as the name of Forge Pond, + formerly called Stony Brook Pond.</p> + <p>Accompanying the copy is a description of the survey, which in connection with the + drawing gives a good idea of the general shape of the township. Perhaps in the + original these two writings were on the same sheet. In the transcript Mr. Butler has + modernized the language and made the punctuation conform to present usage. In the + engraved cut I have followed strictly the outlines of the plan, as well as the course + of the rivers, but I have omitted some details, such as the distances and directions + which are given along the margins. These facts appear in the description, and perhaps + were taken from it by the copyist. I have also omitted the acreage of the grant, + which is grossly inaccurate.</p> + <blockquote> + <p>Whereas the Plantation of Groton, containing by grant the proportion of eight + miles Square, was begun to be laid out by Ensign Noyes, and he dying before he had + finished his work, it is now finished, whose limits and bounds are as + followeth,</p> + <p>It began on the east side of Nashua River a little below Nissitisset hills at + the short turning of the River bounded by a pine tree marked with G. and so running + two miles in a direct line to buckmeadow which <i>p<sup>rt</sup>ains</i> to Boston + Farms, Billerica land and Edward Cowells farm until you come to Massapoag Pond, + which is full of small islands; from thence it is bounded by the aforesaid Pond + until you come to Chelmsford line, after that it is bounded by Chelmsford and + Nashoboh lines until you come to the most southerly corner of this Plantation, and + from thence it runs West-North-West five miles and a half and sixty four poles, + which again reacheth to Nashua River, then the former west-north-west line is + continued one mile on the west side of the river, and then it runs one third of a + point easterly of north & by east nine miles and a quarter, from thence it + runneth four miles due east, which closeth the work to the river again to the first + pine below Nissitisset hills, where we began: it is bounded by the Farms and + plantations as aforesaid and by the wilderness elsewhere; all which lines are run + and very sufficiently bounded by marked trees & pillars of stones: the figure + or manner of the lying of it is more fully demonstrated by this plot taken of the + same.</p> + <p>By JONATHAN DANFORTH,<br /> + April 1668.<br /> + Surveyor.<br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <a name="page281" id="page281"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 281]</span> + <p>The map of Old Dunstable, between pages 12 and 13 in Fox's History of that town, + is very incorrect, so far as it relates to the boundaries of Groton. The Squannacook + River is put down as the Nissitissett, and this mistake may have tended to confuse + the author's ideas. The southern boundary of Dunstable was by no means a straight + line, but was made to conform in part to the northern boundary of Groton, which was + somewhat irregular. Groton was incorporated on May 25, 1655, and Dunstable on October + 15, 1673, and no part of it came within the limits of this town. The eastern boundary + of Groton originally ran northerly through Massapoag Pond and continued into the + present limits of Nashua, New Hampshire.</p> + <p>On the southeast of Groton, and adjoining it, was a small township granted, in the + spring of 1654, by the General Court to the Nashobah Indians, who had been converted + to Christianity under the instruction of the Apostle Eliot and others. They were few + in numbers, comprising perhaps ten families, or about fifty persons. During Philip's + War this settlement was entirely deserted by the Indians, thus affording a good + opportunity for the English to encroach on the reservation, which was not lost. These + intruders lived in the neighboring towns, and mostly in Groton. Some of them took + possession with no show of right, while others went through the formality of buying + the land from the Indians, though such sales did not, as was supposed at the time, + bring the territory under the jurisdiction of the towns where the purchasers + severally lived. It is evident from the records that these encroachments gave rise to + controversy. The following entry, under date of June 20, 1682, is found in the + Middlesex County Court records at East Cambridge, and shows at that time to + re-establish the boundary lines of Nashobah:—</p> + <blockquote> + Cap<sup>t</sup> Thomas Hinchman, L<sup>t</sup>. Joseph Wheeler, & + L<sup>t</sup>. Jn<sup>o</sup> flynt surveyo<sup>r</sup>, or any two of them are + nominated & impowred a Comittee to run the ancient bounds of Nashobah + Plantation, & remark the lines, as it was returned to the geñall Court + by said m<sup>r</sup> flynt at the charge of the Indians, giving notice to the + select men of Grotton of time & place of meeting, w<sup>ch</sup> is referred to + m<sup>r</sup> flint, to appoint, & to make return to next Coun Court at + Cambridge in order to a finall settem<sup>t</sup> + </blockquote> + <p>Again, under date of October 3, 1682 ("3. 8. 1682."), it is entered + that—</p> + <blockquote> + <p>The return of the committee referring to the bounds of Nashobey next to Grotton, + was p<sup>r</sup>sented to this Court and is on file.</p> + <p>Approved</p> + </blockquote> + <p>The "return" is as follows:</p> + <blockquote> + <p>We Whose names are underwritten being appointed by y<sup>e</sup> + Hon<sup>rd</sup> County Court June: 20<sup>th</sup> 1682. To ruñ the Ancient + bounds of Nashobey, haue accordingly ruñ the said bounds, and find that the + town of Groton by theire Second laying out of theire bounds have taken into theire + bounds as we Judge neer halfe Indian Plantation Seuerall of the Select men and + other inhabitants of Groton being then with us Did See theire Erro<sup>r</sup> + therein & Do decline that laying out So far as they haue Inuaded the right of + y<sup>e</sup> Indians.</p> + <p>Also we find y<sup>t</sup> the Norwest Corner of Nashobey is run into + y<sup>e</sup> first bounds of Groton to y<sup>e</sup> Quantity of 350 acres + according as Groton men did then Show us theire Said line, which they Say was made + before Nashobey was laid out, and which bounds they Do Challenge as theire Right. + The Indians also haue Declared them Selves willing to forego that Provided they may + haue it made up upon theire West Line, And we Judge it may be there added to theire + Conveniance.</p> + <a name="page282" id="page282"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 282]</span> + <p>2: October: 1682.<br /> + Exhibited in Court 3: 8: 82:<br /> + & approved T D: R.</p> + <p>JOSEPH WHEELER</p> + <p>JOHN FLINT</p> + <p>A true Coppy of y<sup>e</sup> originall on file w<sup>th</sup> y<sup>e</sup> + Records of County Court for Middx.</p> + <p>Ex<sup>d</sup> p<sup>r</sup> Sam<sup>ll</sup>: Phipps Cle<sup>r</sup></p> + <p>[Massachusetts Archives, cxii, 331.]</p> + </blockquote> + <p>Among the Groton men who had bought land of the Nashobah Indians were Peleg + Lawrence and Robert Robbins. Their names appear, with a diagram of the land, on a + plan of Nashobah, made in the year 1686, and found among the Massachusetts Archives, + in the first volume (page 125) of "Ancient Plans Grants &c." Lawrence and Robbins + undoubtedly supposed that the purchase of this land brought it within the + jurisdiction of Groton. Lawrence died in the year 1692; and some years later the town + made an effort to obtain from his heirs their title to this tract, as well as from + Robbins his title. It is recorded at a town meeting, held on June 8, 1702, that the + town</p> + <blockquote> + did uote that they would giue Peleg larraness Eairs three acers of madow whare thay + ust to Improue and tenn acers of upland neare that madow upon the Conditions + following that the aboue sd Peleg larrances heirs do deliuer up that Indian titelle + which thay now haue to the town + </blockquote> + <p>At the same meeting the town voted that</p> + <blockquote> + thay would giue to robart robins Sener three acers of madow where he uste to + Improue: and ten acers of upland near his madow upon the Conditions forlowing that + he aboue sd Robart Robbins doth deliuer: up that Indian titels which he now hath: + to the town. + </blockquote> + <p>It appears from the records that no other business was done at this meeting, + except the consideration of matters growing out of the Nashobah land. It was voted to + have an artist lay out the meadow at "Nashobah line," as it was called, as well as + the land which the town had granted to Walter and Daniel Powers, probably in the same + neighborhood; and also that Captain Jonas Prescott be authorized to engage an artist + at an expense not exceeding six shillings a day.</p> + <p>Settlers from the adjacent towns were now making gradual encroachments on the + abandoned territory, and among them Groton was well represented. All the documents of + this period relating to the subject show an increased interest in these lands, which + were too valuable to remain idle for a long time. The following petition, + undoubtedly, makes a correct representation of the case:—</p> + <blockquote> + <p>To his Excellency Joseph Dudley Esq<sup>r</sup> Captain Gen<sup>ll</sup> & + Governour in Chief in & over her Majesties Province of the Massachusets Bay + &c: togeither with the honourable Council, & Representatives in Great and + Gen<sup>ll</sup> Court Assembled at Cambridge Octobe<sup>r</sup> 14<sup>th</sup>. + 1702.</p> + <p>The Petition of the Inhabitants of Stow humbly sheweth.</p> + <p>That Whereas the honourable Court did pleas formerly to grant vnto vs the + Inhabitants of Stow a certain Tract of Land to make a Village or Township of, + environed with Concord, Sudbury, Marlbury, Lancaster, Groton, & Nashoby: And + Whereas the said Nashoby being a Tract of Land of four miles square, the which for + a long time hath been, and still is deserted and left by the Indians none being now + resident there, and those of them who lay claim to it being desireous to sell said + land; and some English challenging it to be theirs by virtue of Purchase; and + besides the Town of Groton in particular, hath of late extended their Town lyne + into it, takeing away a considerable part of it; and Especially of Meadow (as wee + are Well informed) Wherefore wee above all o<sup>r</sup> Neighbour Towns, stand in + the greatest need of Enlargement; having but a pent up smale Tract of Land and very + little Meadow.</p> + <a name="page283" id="page283"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 283]</span> + <p>Whence we humbly Pray the great & Gen<sup>ll</sup> Court, that if said + Nashoby may be sold by the Indians wee may have allowance to buy, or if it be + allready, or may be sold to any other Person or Persons, that in the whole of it, + it be layed as an Addition to vs the smale Town of Stow, it lying for no other Town + but vs for nighness & adjacency, togeither with the great need wee stand of it, + & the no want of either or any of the above named Towns. Shall it Pleas the + great & Gen<sup>ll</sup> Court to grant this o<sup>r</sup> Petition, wee shall + be much more able to defray Publick Charges, both Civil, & Ecclesiasticall, to + settle o<sup>r</sup> Minister amongst vs in order to o<sup>r</sup> Injoyment of the + Gospel in the fullness of it. Whence hopeing & believing that the Petition of + the Poor, & needy will be granted. Which shall forever oblidge yo<sup>r</sup> + Petition<sup>rs</sup> to Pray &c:</p> + <p>THO: STEEVENS. Cler:<br /> + In the Towns behalfe</p> + <p>[Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 330.]</p> + </blockquote> + <p>This petition was granted on October 21, 1702, on the part of the House of + Representatives, but negatived in the Council, on October 24.</p> + <p>During this period the territory of Nashobah was the subject of considerable + dispute among the neighboring towns, and slowly disappearing by their encroachments. + Under these circumstances an effort was made to incorporate a township from this + tract and to establish its boundaries. The following petition makes a fair statement + of the case, though the signatures to it are not autographs:</p> + <blockquote> + <p>To His Excel<sup>cy</sup>: Joseph Dudley Esq: Cap<sup>t</sup>: Generall & + Gov<sup>r</sup>: in Chief in and over Her Maj<sup>ti</sup>es: Province of + Mass<sup>ts</sup>: Bay in New-England, Together with y<sup>e</sup> + Hon<sup>bl</sup>e: the Council, & Representatives in Gen<sup>ll</sup>: Court + Assembled on the 30<sup>th</sup> of May, In the Tenth Year of Her + Maj<sup>ti</sup>es: Reign Annoq Dom<sup>i</sup>: 1711,—The Humble Petition of + us the Subscribers Inhabitants of Concord, Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow &c + within the County of Midd<sup>x</sup> in the Province Afores<sup>d</sup>.</p> + <p>Most Humbly Sheweth</p> + <p>That there is a Considerable Tract of Land Lying vacant and unimproved Between + the Towns of Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow & Groton, as s<sup>d</sup> Groton + was Survey'd & Lay'd out by Mr. Noyce, & the Plantation Call'd Concord + Village, which is Commonly known by the Name of Nashoba, in the County of + Midd<sup>x</sup>: Afores<sup>d</sup>. & Sundry Persons having Made Entrys + thereupon without Orderly Application to the Government, and as we are Inform'd, + & have reason to believe, diverse others are designing so to do.</p> + <p>We Yo<sup>r</sup> Hum<sup>bl</sup>e Petitioners being desirous to Prevent the + Inconveniences that may arise from all Irregular Intrusions into any vacant Lands, + and also In a Regular manner to Settle a Township on the Land afores<sup>d</sup>, + by which the frontier on that Side will be more Clos'd & Strengthened & + Lands that are at Present in no wise beneficiall or Profitable to the Publick might + be rendred Servicable for the Contributing to the Publlick Charge, Most Humbly + Address Ourselves to your Excy: And this Honourable Court.</p> + <p>Praying that your Petitioners may have a Grant of Such Lands Scituate as + Afores<sup>d</sup>. for the Ends & Purposes afores<sup>d</sup>. And that a + Committee may be appointed by this Hon<sup>bl</sup>e: Court to View, Survey and Set + out to Yo<sup>r</sup>. Petitioners the s<sup>d</sup>. Lands, that so + Yo<sup>r</sup>. s<sup>d</sup>. Petitioners may be enabled to Settle thereupon with + Such others as shall joyn them In an orderly and regular manner: Also Praying that + Such Powers and Priviledges may be given and confered upon the same as are granted + to other Towns, And Yo<sup>r</sup> Petitioners shall be Most ready to attend Such + Directions, with respect to Such Part of the s<sup>d</sup>. Tract as has been + formerly reserv<sup>d</sup> for the Indians, but for a Long time has been wholly + Left, & is now altogether unimprov'd by them, And all other things which this + Hon<sup>bl</sup>e: Court in their Wisdom & justice Shall See meet to appoint + for the Regulation of such Plantation or Town.</p> + <a name="page284" id="page284"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 284]</span> + <p>And Yo<sup>r</sup>: Hum<sup>bl</sup>e: Petitioners as in Duty Bound Shall Ever + Pray &c.</p> + <p>Gershom Procter<br /> + Sam<sup>ll</sup>. Procter<br /> + John Procter<br /> + Joseph Fletcher<br /> + John Miles<br /> + John Parlin<br /> + Robert Robins<br /> + John Darby<br /> + John Barker<br /> + Sam<sup>l</sup>: Stratton<br /> + Hezekiah Fletcher<br /> + Josiah Whitcomb<br /> + John Buttrick<br /> + Will<sup>m</sup>: Powers<br /> + Jonathan Hubburd<br /> + W<sup>m</sup> Keen<br /> + John Heald<br /> + John Bateman<br /> + John Heywood<br /> + Thomas Wheeler<br /> + Sam<sup>ll</sup>: Hartwell, jun<sup>r</sup>:<br /> + Sam<sup>ll</sup>: Jones<br /> + John Miriam</p> + <p>In the House of Representatives<br /> + June 6: 1711. Read & Comitted.<br /> + 7 ... Read, &</p> + <p>Ordered that Jo<sup>a</sup>. Tyng Esq<sup>r</sup>: Thom<sup>s</sup>: Howe + Esq<sup>r</sup>: & M<sup>r</sup>: John Sternes be a Comittee to view the Land + mentioned in the Petition, & Represent the Lines, or Bounds of the severall + adjacent Towns bounding on the s<sup>d</sup>. Lands and to have Speciall Regard to + the Land granted to the Indians, & to make report of the quantity, & + circumstances thereof.</p> + <p>Sent up for Concurrence.</p> + <p>JOHN BURRIL Speaker<br /> + In Council<br /> + June 7. 1711, Read and Concurr'd.<br /> + ISA: ADDINGTON, Secry.</p> + <p>[Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 602, 603.]</p> + </blockquote> + <p>The committee, to whom was referred this subject, made a report during the next + autumn; but no action in regard to it appears to have been taken by the General Court + until two years later.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>THE NEW ENGLAND TOWN-HOUSE.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By J.B. Sewall.</p> + <p>A Recollection of my boyhood is a large unpainted barnlike building standing at a + point where three roads met at about the centre of the town. When all the inhabitants + of the town were of one faith religiously, or at least the minority were not strong + enough to divide from the majority, and one meeting-house served the purposes of all, + this was the meeting-house. To this, the double line of windows all round, broken by + the long round-topped window midway on the back side, and the two-storied vestibule + on the front, and, more than all, the old pulpit still remaining within, with the + sounding-board suspended above it, bore witness. Here assembled every spring, at the + March meeting, the voters of the town, to elect their selectmen and other town + officers for the ensuing year, to vote what moneys should be raised for the repair of + roads, bridges, maintaining the poor, etc., and take any other action their + well-being as a community demanded; in the autumn, to cast their votes for state + representative, national representative, governor of the State, or President of the + United States, one or all together, as the case might be.</p> + <p>Many such town-houses, probably, are standing to-day in the New England + States,—I know there are such in Maine,—and they are existing witnesses + to what was generally the fact: towns, at the first, when young and small, built the + meeting-house for two purposes; first, for use as a house of worship; second, for + town meetings; and when in process of time a new church or churches were built for + the better accommodation of the people, or because different denominations had come + into existence, or because the young people wanted a smarter building with a steeple, + white paint, green blinds, and a bell, the old building was sold to the town for + purely town purposes.</p> + <a name="page285" id="page285"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 285]</span> + <p>When the settlements were made, the first public building erected was generally + the meeting-house, and this in the case of the earlier settlements was very soon. In + Plymouth, the first building was a house twenty feet square for a storehouse and "for + common occupation," then their separate dwellings.</p> + <p>The "common" building was used for religious and other meetings until the + meeting-house with its platform on top for cannon, on Burial Hill, was built in 1622. + "Boston seems to have had no special building for public worship until, during the + year 1632, was erected the small thatched-roof, one-story building which stood on + State Street, where Brazer's building now stands."<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1" href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> This was in the second year, + the settlement having been made in the autumn of 1630. In Charlestown, "The Great + House," the first building erected that could be called a house, was first used as + the official residence of the governor, and the sessions of the Court of Assistants + appear to have been held in it until the removal to Boston, but when the church was + formed, in 1632, it was used for a meeting-house.</p> + <p>Dorchester had the first meeting-house in the Bay, built in 1631, the next year + after settlement, and by the famous order passed "mooneday eighth of October, 1633," + it appears that it was the regular meeting-place of the inhabitants of the plantation + for general purposes. The Lynn church was formed in 1632, and the meeting-house + appears to have been built soon after, and was used for town meetings till 1806. It + was the same in towns of later settlement. In Brunswick, Maine, which became a + township in 1717, the first public building was the meeting-house, and this also was + the town-house for almost one hundred years. Belfast, Maine, incorporated in 1773, + held its first two town meetings in a private house, afterwards, for eighteen years, + "at the Common on the South end of No. 26" (house lot),<a id="footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2" href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> whether under cover or in open + air is not known, after that, in the meeting-house generally, till the town hall was + built. In Harpswell, Maine, the old meeting-house, like that described, when + abandoned as a house of worship, was sold to the town for one hundred dollars and is + still in use as a town-house.</p> + <p>The town-house, therefore, though it cannot strictly be said to have been + coëval with the town, was essentially so, the meeting-house being generally the + first public building, and used equally for town meetings and public worship.</p> + <p>How early, then, was the town? When the settlement at Plymouth took place, in one + sense a town existed at once. It was a collection of families living in neighborhood + and united by the bonds of mutual obligation common in similar English communities. + But it was a town as yet only in that sense. In fact, it was a state. The words of + the compact signed on board the Mayflower were, in part: "We, whose names are + underwritten ... do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God + and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body + politic, for our better ordering and preservation, ... and by virtue hereof to enact, + constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, acts, constitutions, and offices, + from time to time, as shall be most meet and convenient for the general good of the + colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."</p> + <a name="page286" id="page286"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 286]</span> + <p>These words were the constitution of more than a town government. They erected a + democratic state—a commonwealth. It was a general government separate from and + above the town governments which were afterwards instituted. It enacted general laws + by an assembly of deputies in which the eight plantations in the colony, which + afterwards became towns, were represented. These laws were executed by a governor and + an assistant, and were of equal binding force in all the plantations after, as well + as before, these plantations became towns.</p> + <p>The Massachusetts Colony came over as a corporation with a royal charter which + gave power to the freemen of the company to elect a governor, deputy-governor, and + assistants, and "make laws and ordinances, not repugnant to the laws of England, for + their own benefit and the government of persons inhabiting their territory." The + colonists divided themselves into plantations, part at Naumkeag (Salem), at Mishawum + (Charlestown), at Dorchester, Boston, Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and Saugus (Lynn), + and while the General Court, as the governor, deputy-governor, and assistants were + called, made general "laws and ordinances" for the whole, the plantations were at + liberty to manage their own particular affairs as they pleased. They called meetings + and took action by themselves, as at Watertown, when, in 1632, the people assembled + and expressed their discontent with a tax laid by the court, and at Dorchester as + previously referred to. To Dorchester, however, belongs the honor of leading the way + to that form of town government which has prevailed in New England ever since. It + came about in this way. The settlement was begun in June, 1630, and for more than + three years the people seem to have managed their affairs under the administration of + the Court of Assistants by means of meetings. At such a meeting, held October 8, + 1633, it was ordered "for the generall good and well ordering of the affaires of the + plantation," that there should be a general meeting of the inhabitants at the + meeting-house every Monday morning before the court, which was four times a year, or + became so the next year, "to settle & sett downe such orders as may tend to the + general good as aforesayd, & every man to be bound thereby without gainsaying or + resistance." This very interesting order is given entire in the Memorial History of + Boston. <a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3" href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> + There were also appointed <i>twelve selectmen</i>, "who were to hold monthly + meetings, & whose orders were binding when confirmed by the Plantation."</p> + <p>Here was our New England town almost exactly as it is to-day. The inhabitants met + at stated times and voted what seemed necessary for their own local order and + welfare, and committed the execution of their will to twelve selectmen, who were to + meet monthly. Our towns now have an annual meeting for the same purpose, and elect + generally three selectmen, who meet at stated times,—sometimes as often as once + a week. Watertown followed, about the same time, selecting three men "for the + ordering of public affairs." Boston appears to have done the same thing in 1634, and + Charlestown in the following year, the latter being the first to give the name + <i>Selectmen</i> to the persons so chosen, a name which soon was generally adopted + and has since remained.</p> + <a name="page287" id="page287"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 287]</span> + <p>The reason of this action it is easy to conjecture, but it is fully stated in the + order of the inhabitants of Charlestown at the meeting in which the action for the + government of the town by selectmen was taken: "In consideration of the great trouble + and charge of the inhabitants of Charlestown by reason of the frequent meeting of the + townsmen in general, and that, by reason of many men meeting, things were not so + easily brought into a joint issue; it is therefore agreed, by the said townsmen, + jointly, that these eleven men ... shall entreat of all such business as shall + concern the townsmen, the choice of officers excepted; and what they or the greater + part of them shall conclude of, the rest of the town willingly to submit unto as + their own proper act, and these eleven to continue in this employment for one year + next ensuing the date hereof."</p> + <p>Town government, thus instituted, was recognized the next year—1636—by + the General Court, and thereafter the towns were corporations lawfully existing and + endowed with certain fixed though limited powers.</p> + <p>The plantations of the Plymouth Colony followed the example. In 1637, Duxbury was + incorporated, and at the General Court of the colony, in 1639, deputies were in + attendance from seven towns.</p> + <p>"Thus," says Judge Parker, <a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4" + href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> "there grew up a system of government embracing + two jurisdictions, administered by the same people; the Colonial government, having + jurisdiction over the whole colony, administered by the great body of the freemen, + through officers elected and appointed by them; and the town governments, having + limited local jurisdiction, such as was conceded to them by the Colonial government, + administered by the inhabitants, through officers and agents chosen by them."</p> + <p>By this change,—the invention of the colonists themselves without copy or + pattern,—the colonies were transformed from pure democracies into a congeries + of democratic republics; and each town-house, or whatever building was used for such, + became the state-house of a little republic. And this is what it is in every New + England town to-day.</p> + <p>Was not, then, the New England town-house a thing of inheritance at all? Yes, so + far as it was a building for the common meeting of the inhabitants of the town, and + so far as it was a place for free discussion and the ordering of purely local + affairs. The colonists came from their English homes already familiar with the + town-hall and its uses so far. If one will turn to any gazetteer or + encyclopædia which gives a description of Liverpool, England, he will find the + town-hall described as one of the noble edifices of that town. The present structure + was opened in 1754, but it was the successor of others, the first of which must have + dated back somewhere near the time when King John gave the town its + charter—1207. Or he may turn to the town of Hythe in the county of Kent. In its + corporation records, it is said, is the following entry, bearing date in the year + 1399: "Thomas Goodeall came before the jurats <i>in the common hall</i> on the 10th + day of October, and covenanted to give for his freedom 20<i>d</i>., and so he was + received and sworn to bear fealty to our Lord the King and his successors, and to the + commonalty and liberty of the port of Hethe, and to render faithful account of his + lots and scots <a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5" + href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> as freeman there are wont." In another entry, in + the same year, the building is mentioned again as the "Common House."</p> + <a name="page288" id="page288"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 288]</span> + <p>We may go further back than this. History tells us that "the boroughs (towns) of + England, during the period of oppression, after the Norman invasion, led the way in + the silent growth and elevation of the English people; that, unnoticed and despised + by prelate and noble, they had alone preserved the full tradition of Teutonic + liberty; that, by their traders and shopkeepers, the rights of self-government, of + free speech in free meeting, of equal justice by one's equals, were brought safely + across the ages of Norman tyranny."<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6" + href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> The rights of self-government and free speech in + free meeting, then, were rights and practices of our Anglo-Saxon ancestry, and we are + to go back with them across the English channel to their barbarian German home, and + to the people described by Tacitus in his Germania, for the origin, as far as we can + trace it, of this part of our inheritance. These people were famed for their spirit + of independence and freedom. The mass are described as freemen, voting together in + the great assemblies of the tribe, and choosing their own leaders or kings from the + class of nobles, who were nobles not as constituting a distinct and privileged caste. + "It was their greater estates and the greater consequence which accompanied these + that marked their rank." When we first learn of these assemblies, they are + out-of-doors, under the broad canopy of heaven alone, but the time came, as the + rathhaus of the German town to-day attests, when they built the common hall or + town-house; and we, to-day, in this remote and then unknown and unconjectured land of + the West, are in this regard their heirs as well as descendants.<a id="footnotetag7" + name="footnotetag7" href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a></p> + <p>In what, then, is the New England town-house more than, or different from, the + English town-house? In this, that it is the state-house of a little democratic + republic which came into existence of and by itself of a natural necessity, and not + merely governs itself, making all the laws of local need and executing + them—levying taxes, maintaining schools, and taking charge of its own poor, of + roads, bridges, and all matters pertaining to the health, peace, and safety of all + within its bounds, in a word, all things which it can do for itself,—but also + in confederation with other little democratic republics has called into being, and + clothed with all the power it has for those matters of common need which the town + cannot do, the State. The State of Massachusetts, from the day that the people + created the General Court the body it still is, by electing deputies from the + towns,—representatives we now call them,—to sit instead of the whole body + of freemen, with the governor <a name="page289" id="page289"></a><span + class="newpage">[pg 289]</span> and council, for the performance of all acts of + legislation for the common good, is the outgrowth of and exists only by virtue of the + towns. The towns created it, compose it, send up to it its heart-and-life blood. This + it is which makes the New England town unique, attracting the attention and interest + of intelligent foreigners who visit our shores. Judge Parker says: "I very well + recollect the curiosity expressed by some of the gentlemen in the suite of Lafayette, + on his visit to this country in 1825, respecting these town organizations and their + powers and operations." In the same connection he adds that "a careful examination of + the history of the New England towns will show that," instead of being modeled after + the town of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, or the free cities of the continent of the + twelfth century, "they were not founded or modeled on precedent" at all. Mr. E.A. + Freeman, however, puts it more truthfully in saying: "The circumstances of New + England called the primitive assembly (that is, the Homeric agora, Athenian ekklesia, + Roman comitia, Swiss landesgemeinde, English folk-moot) again into being, when in the + older England it was well-nigh forgotten. What in Switzerland was a <i>sur</i>vival + was in New England rather a <i>re</i>vival."<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8" + href="#footnote1"><sup>8</sup></a></p> + <p>Our New England town-house, therefore, is a symbol of institutions, partly + original with our fathers, partly a priceless inheritance from Old England the land + of our fathers, and nearly in the whole, if not quite, a regermination and new growth + of old race instincts and practices on a new soil.</p> + <p>The New England town is not an institution of all the States, but its principle + has invaded the majority. To the West and Northwest it has been carried by the New + Englander himself, and is being carried by him both directly and indirectly into the + South and Southwest, and will show there in no great length of time its prevailing + and vitalizing power.</p> + <p>It was Jefferson, himself a Virginian, reared in the midst of another system, + aristocratical and central in its character, who said: "These wards, called townships + in New England, are the vital principle of their governments, and have proved + themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect + exercise of self-government and for its preservation."</p> + <p>The New England town-house, therefore, is significant of more than its predecessor + in England or Germany. While with them it means freedom in the management of local + affairs, beyond them it means a relation to the State and the National government + which they did not. It means not merely a broad basis for the general government in + the people, that the people are the reason and remote source of governing power, but + that they are themselves the governors. Every man who enters a New England town-house + and casts his vote knows that that expression of his will is a force which reaches, + or may reach, the Legislature of his State, the governor in his chair, the National + Congress, and the President in the White House at Washington. He feels an interest + therefore, and a responsibility which the voter in no other land in the world feels, + and the town-house is an education to him in the art of self-government which no + other country affords, and because of it the town is an institution teaching how to + maintain government, local, state, and general, and so bases that government in + self-interest and beneficial experience, that it is a pledge of security and + perpetuity as regards socialism, communism, and as it would seem every other + revolutionary influence from within. It is in strong contrast with the commune of + France. France is divided for the purposes of local government into departments; + departments into arrondissements; and arrondissements into communes, the commune + being the administrative unit. The department is governed by a préfet and a + conseil-général, the préfet being appointed by the central + government and directly under its control, and the conseil-général an + elective body. The arrondissement is presided over by a sous-préfet and an + elective council. The commune is governed by a maire and a conseil-municipal.</p> + <a name="page290" id="page290"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 290]</span> + <p>The conseil-municipal is an elective body, but its duties "consist in assisting + and to some extent controlling the maire, and in the management of the communal + affairs," but the maire is appointed by the central government and is liable to + suspension by the préfet.</p> + <p>The relation of the citizen to the general government in France is therefore + totally different from that of the citizen of the United States to his general + government, and the town organization is a school of free citizenship which the + commune is not, and so far republican institutions in America have a guaranty which + in France they have not.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>BUNKER HILL.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Henry B. Carrington, U.S.A., Ll.D.</p> + <center> + Author of The Battles of the American Revolution. + </center> + <blockquote> + <p>[(a) The occupation of Charlestown Heights on the night of June 16, 1775, was of + strategic value, however transient, equalizing the relations of the parties + opposed, and projecting its force and fire into the entire struggle for American + Independence. (Pages 290-302.)</p> + <p>(b)The Siege of Boston, which followed, gave to the freshly organized + Continental army that discipline, that instruction in military engineering, and + that contact with a well-trained enemy which prepared it for immediate operations + at New York and in New Jersey. (Pages 37-44.)</p> + <p>(c) The occupation and defence of New York and Brooklyn, so promptly made, was + also an immediate strategic necessity, fully warranted by the existing conditions, + although alike temporary. (Pages 34-161.)]</p> + </blockquote> + <p>An exhaustless theme may be so outlined that fairly stated data will suggest the + possibilities beyond.</p> + <p>Waterloo is incidentally related to the crowning laurels of Wellington; but, + primarily, to the downfall of Napoleon, while rarely to the assured growth of genuine + popular liberty.</p> + <p>No battle during the American Rebellion of 1861-65 was so really decisive as was + the first battle of Bull's Run. As that Federal failure enforced the issue which + freed four millions of people from slavery, and had its sequence and culmination, + through great struggle, in a perpetuated Union, so did the battle of Bunker Hill open + wide the breach between Great Britain and the Colonies, and render American + Independence inevitable.</p> + <p>The repulse of Howe at Breed's Hill practically ejected him from Boston, enforced + his halt before Brooklyn, delayed him at White Plains, explained his hesitation at + Bound Brook, near Somerset Court-House, in 1777, as well as his sluggishness after + the battle of Brandywine, and equally induced his inaction at Philadelphia, in + 1778.</p> + <a name="page291" id="page291"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 291]</span> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image3_full.png"><img src="images/image3_thumbnail.png" + alt="The Battle of Breeds Hill, on Bunker Hill. Compiled and Drawn by Col. Carrington." /> + </a> + </div> + <a name="page292" id="page292"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 292]</span> + <p>Just as a similar resistance by Totleben at Sevastapol during the Crimean War + prolonged that struggle for twelve months, so did the hastily constructed earthworks + on Breed's Hill forewarn the assailants that every ridge might serve as a fortress, + and every sand-hill become a cover, for a persistent and earnest foe.</p> + <p>Historical research and military criticism suggest few cases where so much has + been realized by the efforts of a few men, in a few hours, during the shelter of one + night, and by the light of one day.</p> + <p>The simple narrative has been the subject of much discussion. Its details have + been shaped and colored, with supreme regard for the special claims of preferred + candidates for distinction, until a plain consideration of the issue then made, from + a purely military point of view, as introductory to a detail of the battle itself, + cannot be barren of interest to the readers of a Magazine which treats largely of the + local history of Massachusetts.</p> + <p>The city of Boston was girdled by rapidly increasing earthworks. These were wholly + defensive, to resist assault from the British garrison, and not, at first, as cover + for a regular siege approach against the Island Post. They soon became a direct + agency to force the garrison to look to the sea alone for supplies or retreat.</p> + <p>Open war against Great Britain began with this environment of Boston. The + partially organized militia responded promptly to call.</p> + <p>The vivifying force of the struggle through Concord, Lexington, and West Cambridge + (Arlington now), had so quickened the rapidly augmenting body of patriots, that they + demanded offensive action and grew impatient for results. Having dropped fear of + British troops, as such, they held a strong purpose to achieve that complete + deliverance which their earnest resistance foreshadowed.</p> + <p>Lexington and Concord were, therefore, the exponents of that daring which made the + occupation and resistance of Breed's Hill possible. The fancied invincibility of + British discipline went down before the rifles of farmers; but the quickening + sentiment, which gave nerve to the arm, steadiness to the heart, and force to the + blow, was one of those historic expressions of human will and faith, which, under + deep sense of wrong incurred and rights imperilled, overmasters discipline, and has + the method of an inspired madness. The moral force of the energizing passion became + overwhelming and supreme. No troops in the world, under similar conditions, could + have resisted the movement.</p> + <p>The opposing forces did not alike estimate the issue, or the relations of the + parties in interest. The troops sent forth to collect or destroy arms, rightfully in + the hands of their countrymen, and not to engage an enemy, were under an involuntary + restraint, which stripped them of real fitness to meet armed men, who were already on + fire with the conviction that the representatives of national force were employed to + destroy national life.</p> + <p>The ostensible theory of the Crown was to reconcile the Colonies. The actual + policy, and its physical demonstrations, repelled, and did not conciliate. Military + acts, easily done by the force in hand, were needlessly done. Military acts which + would be wise upon the basis of anticipated resistance were not done.</p> + <a name="page293" id="page293"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 293]</span> + <p>Threats and blows toward those not deemed capable of resistance were freely + expended. Operations of war, as against an organized and skilful enemy, were ignored. + But the legacies of English law and the inheritance of English liberty had vested in + the Colonies. Their eradication and their withdrawal were alike impossible. The time + had passed for compromise or limitation of their enjoyment. The filial relation + toward England was lost when it became that of a slave toward master, to be asserted + by force. This the Americans understood when they environed Boston. This the British + did not understand, until after the battle of Bunker Hill. The British worked as + against a mob of rebels. The Americans made common cause, "liberty or death," against + usurpation and tyranny.</p> + <h3>THE OUTLOOK.</h3> + <p>Reference to map, "Boston and vicinity," already used in the January number of + this Magazine to illustrate the siege of Boston, will give a clear impression of the + local surroundings, at the time of the American occupation of Charlestown Heights. + The value of that position was to be tested. The Americans had previously burned the + lighthouses of the harbor. The islands of the bay were already miniature fields of + conflict; and every effort of the garrison to use boats, and thereby secure the + needed supplies of beef, flour, or fuel, only developed a counter system of boat + operations, which neutralized the former and gradually limited the garrison to the + range of its guns. This close grasp of the land approaches to Boston, so persistently + maintained, stimulated the Americans to catch a tighter hold, and force the garrison + to escape by sea. The capture of that garrison would have placed unwieldy prisoners + in their hands and have made outside operations impossible, as well as any practical + disposition of the prisoners themselves, in treatment with Great Britain. Expulsion + was the purpose of the rallying people.</p> + <p>General Gage fortified Boston Neck as early as 1774, and the First Continental + Congress had promptly assured Massachusetts of its sympathy with her solemn protest + against that act. It was also the intention of General Gage to fortify Dorchester + Heights. Early in April, a British council of war, in which Clinton, Burgoyne, and + Percy took part, unanimously advised the immediate occupation of Dorchester, as both + indispensable to the protection of the shipping, and as assurance of access to the + country for indispensable supplies.</p> + <p>General Howe already appreciated the mistake of General Gage, in his expedition to + Concord, but still cherished such hope of an accommodation of the issue with the + Colonies that he postponed action until a peaceable occupation of Dorchester Heights + became impossible, and the growing earthworks of the besiegers already commanded + Boston Neck.</p> + <p>General Gage had also advised, and wisely, the occupation of Charlestown Heights, + as both necessary and feasible, without risk to Boston itself. He went so far as to + announce that, in case of overt acts of hostility to such occupation, by the citizens + of Charlestown, he would burn the town.</p> + <p>It was clearly sound military policy for the British to occupy both Dorchester and + Charlestown Heights, at the first attempt of the Americans to invest the city.</p> + <a name="page294" id="page294"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 294]</span> + <p>As early as the middle of May, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, as well as + the council, had resolved "to occupy Bunker Hill as soon as artillery and powder + could be adequately furnished for the purpose," and a committee was appointed to + examine and report respecting the merits of Dorchester Heights, as a strategic + restraint upon the garrison of Boston.</p> + <p>On the fifteenth of June, upon reliable information that the British had + definitely resolved to seize both Heights, and had designated the eighteenth of June + for the occupation of Charlestown, the same Committee of Safety voted "to take + immediate possession of Bunker Bill."</p> + <p>Mr. Bancroft states that "the decision was so sudden that no fit preparation could + be made," Under the existing conditions, it was indeed a desperate daring, expressive + of grand faith and self-devotion, worthy of the cause in peril, and only limited in + its immediate and assured triumph by the simple lack of powder.</p> + <p>Prescott, who was eager to lead the enterprise and was entrusted with its + execution, and Putman, who gave it his most ardent support, were most urgent that the + council should act promptly; while Warren, who long hesitated to concur, did at last + concur, and gave his life as the test of his devotion. General Ward realized fully + that the hesitation of the British to emerge from Boston and attack the Americans was + an index of the security of the American defences, and, therefore, deprecated the + contingency of a general engagement, until ample supplies of powder could be + secured.</p> + <p>The British garrison, which had been reinforced to a nominal strength of ten + thousand men, had become reduced, through inadequate supplies, especially of fresh + meat, to eight thousand effectives, but these men were well officered and well + disciplined.</p> + <h3>THE POSITION.</h3> + <p>Bunker Hill had an easy slope to the isthmus, but was quite steep on either side, + having, in fact, control of the isthmus, as well as commanding a full view of Boston + and the surrounding country. Morton's Hill, at Moulton's Point, where the British + landed, was but thirty-five feet above sea level, while Breed's Pasture (as then + known) and Bunker Hill were, respectively, seventy-five and one hundred and ten feet + high. The Charles and Mystic Rivers, which flanked Charlestown, were navigable, and + were under the control of the British ships-of-war.</p> + <h3>AMERICAN POLICY.</h3> + <p>To so occupy Charlestown, in advance, as to prevent a successful British landing, + required the use of the nearest available position that would make the light + artillery of the Americans effective. To occupy Bunker Hill, alone, would leave to + the British the cover of Breed's Hill, under which to gain effective fire and a good + base for approach, as well as Charlestown for quarters, without prejudice to + themselves.</p> + <p>When, therefore, Breed's Hill was fortified as an advanced position, it was done + with the assurance that reinforcements would soon occupy the retired summit, and the + course adopted was the best to prevent an effective British lodgment. The previous + reluctance of the garrison to make any effective demonstration against the thin lines + of environment strengthened the belief of the Americans that a well-selected hold + upon Charlestown Heights would securely tighten the grasp upon the city itself.</p> + <a name="page295" id="page295"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 295]</span> + <h3>BRITISH POLICY.</h3> + <p>As a fact, the British contempt for the Americans might have urged them as rashly + against Bunker Hill as it did against the redoubt which they gained, at last, only + through failure of the ammunition of its defenders; but, in view of the few hours at + disposal of the Americans to prepare against a landing so soon to be attempted, it is + certain that the defences were well placed, both to cover the town and force an + immediate issue before the British could increase their own force.</p> + <p>It is equally certain that the British utterly failed to appreciate the fact that, + with the control of the Mystic and Charles Rivers, they could, within twenty-four + hours, so isolate Charlestown as to secure the same results as by storming the + American position, and without appreciable loss. This was the advice of General + Clinton, but he was overruled. They did, ultimately, thereby check reinforcements, + but suffered so severely in the battle itself that fully two thirds of the Americans + retired safely to the main land.</p> + <p>The delay of the British to advance as soon as the landing was effected was bad + tactics. One half of the force could have followed the Mystic and turned the American + left wing, long before Colonel Stark's command came upon the field. The British dined + as leisurely as if they had only to move any time and seize the threatening position, + and thereby lost their chief opportunity.</p> + <p>One single sign of the recognition of any possible risk-to themselves was the + opening of fire from Boston Neck and such other positions as faced the American + lines, as if to warn them not to attempt the city, or endanger their own lives by + sending reinforcements to Charlestown.</p> + <h3>THE MOVEMENT.</h3> + <p>It is not the purpose of this article to elaborate the details of preparation, + which have been so fully discussed by many writers, but to illustrate the value of + the action in the light of the relations and conduct of the opposing forces.</p> + <p>Colonel William Prescott, of Pepperell, Massachusetts, Colonel James Frye, of + Andover, and Colonel Ebenezer Bridge, of Billerica, whose regiments formed most of + the original detail, were members of the council of war which had been organized on + the twentieth of April, when General Ward assumed command of the army. Colonel Thomas + Knowlton, of Putnam's regiment, was to lead a detachment from the Connecticut troops. + Colonel Richard Gridley, chief engineer, with a company of artillery, was also + assigned to the moving columns.</p> + <p>To ensure a force of one thousand men, the field order covered nearly fourteen + hundred, and Mr. Frothingham shows clearly that the actual force as organized, with + artificers and drivers of carts, was not less than twelve hundred men.</p> + <p>Cambridge Common was the place of rendezvous, where, at early twilight of June 16, + the Reverend Samuel Langdon, president of Harvard College, invoked the blessing of + Almighty God upon the solemn undertaking.</p> + <p>This silent body of earnest men crossed Charlestown Neck, and halted for a clear + definition of the impending duty. Major Brooks, of Colonel Dodge's regiment, joined + here, as well as a company of artillery. Captain Nutting, with a detachment of + Connecticut men, was promptly sent, by the quickest route, to patrol Charlestown, at + the summit of Bunker Hill. Captain Maxwell's company, of Prescott's regiment, was + next detailed to patrol the shore in silence and keenly note any activity on board + the British men-of-war.</p> + <a name="page296" id="page296"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 296]</span> + <p>The six vessels lying in the stream were the Somerset, sixty-eight, Captain Edward + Le Cross; Cerberus, thirty-six, Captain Chads; Glasgow, thirty-four, Captain William + Maltby; Lively, twenty, Captain Thomas Bishop; Falcon, twenty, Captain Linzee, and + the Symmetry, transport, with eighteen guns.</p> + <p>While one thousand men worked upon the redoubt which had been located under + counsel of Gridley, Prescott, Knowlton, and other officers, the dull thud of the + pickaxe and the grating of shovels were the only sounds that disturbed the pervading + silence, except as the sentries' "All's well!" from Copp's Hill and from the + warships, relieved anxiety and stimulated work. Prescott and Putnam alike, and more + than once, visited the beach, to be assured that the seeming security was real; and + at daybreak the redoubt, nearly eight rods square and six feet high, was nearly + complete.</p> + <p>Scarcely had objects become distinct, when the battery on Copp's Hill and the guns + of the Lively opened fire, and startled the garrison of Boston from sleep, to a + certainty that the Colonists had taken the offensive.</p> + <p>General Putnam reached headquarters at a very early hour, and secured the detail + of a portion of Colonel Stark's regiment, to reinforce the first detail which had + already occupied the Hill.</p> + <p>At nine o'clock, a council of war was held at Breed's Hill. Major John Brooks was + sent to ask for more men and more rations. Richard Devens, of the Committee of + Safety, then in session, was influential in persuading General Ward to furnish prompt + reinforcements. By eleven o'clock, the whole of Stark's and Reed's New Hampshire + regiments were on their march, and in time to meet the first shock of battle. + Portions of other regiments hastened to the aid of those already waiting for the + fight to begin.</p> + <p>The details of men were not exactly defined, in all cases, when the urgent call + for reinforcements reached headquarters. Little's regiment of Essex men; Brewer's, of + Worcester and Middlesex, with their Lieutenant-Colonel Buckminster; Nixon's, led by + Nixon himself; Moore's, from Worcester; Whitcomb's, of Lancaster, and others, + promptly accepted the opportunity to take part in the offensive, and challenge the + British garrison to a contest-at-arms, and well they bore their part in the + struggle.</p> + <h3>THE AMERICAN POSITION.</h3> + <p>The completion of the redoubt only made more distinct the necessity for additional + defences. A line of breastworks, a few rods in length, was carried to the left, and + then to the rear, in order to connect with a stone fence which was accepted as a part + of the line, since the fence ran perpendicularly to the Mystic; and the intention was + to throw some protection across the entire peninsula to the river. A small pond and + some spongy ground were left open, as non-essential, considering the value of every + moment; and every exertion was made for the protection <a name="page297" + id="page297"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 297]</span> of the immediate front. The + stone fence, like those still common in New England, was two or three feet high, with + set posts and two rails; in all, about five feet high, the top rail giving a rest for + a rifle. A zigzag "stake and rider fence" was put in front, the meadow + division-fences being stripped for the purpose. The fresh-mown hay filled the + interval between the fences. This line was nearly two hundred yards in rear of the + face of the redoubt, and near the foot of Bunker Hill. Captain Knowlton, with two + pieces of artillery and Connecticut troops, was assigned, by Colonel Prescott, to the + right of this position, adjoining the open gap already mentioned. Between the fence + and the river, more conspicuous at low tide, was a long gap, which was promptly + filled by Stark as soon as he reached the ground, thus, as far as possible, to + anticipate the very flanking movement which the British afterward attempted.</p> + <p>Putnam was everywhere active, and, after the fences were as well secured as time + would allow, he ordered the tools taken to Bunker Hill for the establishment of a + second line on higher ground, in case the first could not be maintained. His + importunity with General Ward had secured the detail of the whole of Reed's, as well + as the balance of Stark's, regiment, so that the entire left was protected by New + Hampshire troops. With all their energy they were able to gather from the shore only + stone enough for partial cover, while they lay down, or kneeled, to fire.</p> + <p>The whole force thus spread out to meet the British army was less than sixteen + hundred men. Six pieces of artillery were in use at different times, but with little + effect. The cannon cartridges were at last distributed for the rifles, and five of + the guns were left on the field when retreat became inevitable.</p> + <p>Reference to the map will indicate the position thus outlined. It was evident that + the landing could not be prevented. Successive barges landed the well-equipped + troops, and they took their positions, and their dinner, under the blaze of the hot + sun, as if nothing but ordinary duty was awaiting their leisure.</p> + <h3>THE BRITISH ADVANCE.</h3> + <p>It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon when the British army formed for the + advance. General Howe was expected to break and envelop the American left wing, take + the redoubt in the rear, and cut off retreat to Bunker Hill and the mainland. The + light infantry moved closely along the Mystic. The grenadiers advanced upon the stone + fence, while the British left demonstrated toward the unprotected gap which was + between the fence and the short breastwork next the redoubt. General Pigot with the + extreme left wing moved directly upon the redoubt. The British artillery had been + supplied with twelve-pound shot for six-pounder guns, and, thus disabled, were + ordered to use only grape. The guns were, therefore, advanced to the edge of an old + brick-kiln, as the spongy ground and heavy grass did not permit ready handling of + guns at the foot of the hill slope, or even just at its left. This secured a more + effective range of fire upon the skeleton defences of the American centre, and an + eligible position for a direct fire upon the exposed portion of the American front, + and both breastwork and redoubt.</p> + <a name="page298" id="page298"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 298]</span> + <p>The advance of the British army was like a solemn pageant in its steady headway, + and like a parade for inspection in its completeness. This army, bearing knapsacks + and full campaign equipment, moved forward as if, by the force of its closely knit + columns, it must sweep every barrier away. But, right in the way was a calm, intense + love of liberty. It was represented by men of the same blood and of equal daring.</p> + <p>A strong contrast marked the opposing Englishmen that summer afternoon. The plain + men handled plain firelocks. Oxhorns held their powder, and their pockets held their + bullets. Coatless, under the broiling sun, unincumbered, unadorned by plume or + service medal, pale and wan after their night of toil and their day of hunger, + thirst, and waiting, this live obstruction calmly faced the advancing splendor.</p> + <p>A few hasty shots, quickly restrained, drew an innocent fire from the British + front rank. The pale, stern men behind the slight defence, obedient to a strong will, + answer not to the quick volley, and nothing to the audible commands of the advancing + columns,—waiting, still.</p> + <p>No painter can make the scene more clear than the recital of sober deposition, and + the record left by survivors of either side. History has no contradictions to confuse + the realities of that momentous tragedy.</p> + <p>The British left wing is near the redoubt. It has only to mount a fresh earthbank, + hardly six feet high, and its clods and sands can almost be counted,—it is so + near, so easy—sure.</p> + <p>Short, crisp, and earnest, low-toned, but felt as an electric pulse, are the words + of Prescott. Warren, by his side, repeats. The words fly through the impatient lines. + The eager fingers give back from the waiting trigger. "Steady, men." "Wait until you + see the white of the eye." "Not a shot sooner." "Aim at the handsome coats." "Aim at + the waistbands." "Pick off the commanders." "Wait for the word, every + man,—<i>steady</i>."</p> + <p>Those plain men, so patient, can already count the buttons, can read the emblems + on the breastplate, can recognize the officers and men whom they had seen parade on + Boston Common. Features grow more distinct. The silence is awful. The men seem + dead—waiting for one word. On the British right the light infantry gain equal + advance just as the left wing almost touched the redoubt. Moving over more level + ground, they quickly made the greater distance, and passed the line of those who + marched directly up the hill. The grenadiers moved firmly upon the centre, with equal + confidence, and space lessens to that which the spirit of the impending word defines. + That word waits behind the centre and left wing, as it lingers at breastwork and + redoubt. Sharp, clear, and deadly in tone and essence, it rings + forth,—<i>Fire</i>!</p> + <h3>THE REPULSE.</h3> + <p>From redoubt to river, along the whole sweep of devouring flame, the forms of men + wither as in a furnace heat. The whole front goes down. For an instant the chirp of + the cricket and grasshopper in the fresh-mown hay might almost be heard; then the + groans of the wounded, then the shouts of impatient yeomen who spring forth to + pursue, until recalled to silence and duty. Staggering, but reviving, grand in the + glory of their manhood, heroic in restored self-possession, with steady step in the + face of fire, and over the bodies of the dead, the British remnant renew battle. + Again, a deadly volley, and the shattered columns, in spite of entreaty or command, + speed back to the place of landing, and the first shock of arms is over.</p> + <a name="page299" id="page299"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 299]</span> + <p>A lifetime, when it is past, is but as a moment. A moment, sometimes, is as a + lifetime. Onset and repulse. Three hundred lifetimes ended in twenty minutes.</p> + <p>Putnam hastened to Bunker Hill to gather scattering parties in the rear and urge + coming reinforcements across the isthmus, where the fire from British frigates swept + with fearful energy, but nothing could bring them in time. The men who had toiled all + night, and had just proved their valor, were again to be tested.</p> + <p>The British reformed promptly, in the perfection of their discipline. Their + artillery was pushed forward nearer the angle made by the breastwork next the + redoubt, and the whole line advanced, deployed as before, across the entire American + front. The ships-of-war increased their fire across the isthmus. Charlestown had been + fired, and more than four hundred houses kindled into one vast wave of smoke and + flame, until a sudden breeze swept its quivering volume away and exposed to view of + the watchful Americans the returning tide of battle. No scattering shots in advance + this time. It is only when a space of hardly five rods is left, and a swift plunge + could almost forerun the rifle flash, that the word of execution impels the bullet, + and the entire front rank, from redoubt to river, is swept away. Again, and again, + the attempt is made to rally and inspire the paralyzed troops; but the living tide + flows back, even to the river.</p> + <p>Another twenty minutes,—hardly twenty-five,—and the death angel has + gathered his sheaves of human hopes, as when the Royal George went down beneath the + waters with its priceless value of human lives.</p> + <p>At the first repulse the thirty-eighth regiment took shelter by a stone fence, + along the road which passes about the base of Breed's Hill; but at the second + repulse, supported by the fifth, it reorganized, just under the advanced crest of + Breed's Hill for a third advance.</p> + <p>It was an hour of grave issues. Burgoyne, who watched the progress from Copp's + Hill, says: "A moment of the day was critical."</p> + <p>Stedman says: "A continuous blaze of musketry, incessant and destructive."</p> + <p>Gordon says: "The British officers pronounced it downright butchery to lead the + men afresh against those lines."</p> + <p>Ramsay says: "Of one company not more than five, and of another not more than + fourteen, escaped."</p> + <p>Lossing says: "Whole platoons were lain upon the earth, like grass by the mower's + scythe."</p> + <p>Marshall says: "The British line, wholly broken, fell back with precipitation to + the landing-place."</p> + <p>Frothingham quotes this statement of a British officer: "Most of our grenadiers + and light infantry, the moment they presented themselves, lost three fourths, and + many nine tenths, of their men. Some had only eight and nine men to a company left, + some only three, four, and five."</p> + <p>Botta says: "A shower of bullets. The field was covered with the slain."</p> + <p>Bancroft says: "A continuous sheet of fire."</p> + <p>Stark says: "The dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold."</p> + <a name="page300" id="page300"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 300]</span> + <p>It was, indeed, a strange episode in British history, in view of the British + assertion of assured supremacy, whenever an issue challenged that supremacy.</p> + <p>Clinton and Burgoyne, watching from the redoubt on Copp's Hill, realized at once + the gravity of the situation, and Clinton promptly offered his aid to rescue the + army.</p> + <p>Four hundred additional marines and the forty-seventh regiment were promptly + landed. This fresh force, under Clinton, was ordered to flank the redoubt and scale + its face to the extreme left. General Howe, with the grenadiers and light infantry, + supported by the artillery, undertook the storming of the breastworks, bending back + from the mouth of the redoubt, and so commanding the centre entrance.</p> + <p>General Pigot was ordered to rally the remnants of the fifth, thirty-eighth, + forty-third, and fifty-second regiments, to connect the two wings, and attack the + redoubt in front.</p> + <p>A mere demonstration was ordered upon the American left, while the artillery was + to advance a few rods and then swing to its left, so as to sweep the breastwork for + Howe's advance.</p> + <h3>THE ASSAULT.</h3> + <p>The dress parade movement of the first advance was not repeated. A contest between + equals was at hand. Victory or ruin was the alternative for those who so proudly + issued from the Boston barracks at sunrise for the suppression of pretentious + rebellion. Knapsacks were thrown aside. British veterans stripped for fight. Not a + single regiment of those engaged had passed such a fearful ordeal in its whole + history as a single hour had witnessed. The power of discipline, the energy of + experienced commanders, and the pressure of honored antecedents, combined to make the + movement as trying as it was momentous.</p> + <p>The Americans were no less under a solemn responsibility. At the previous attack, + some loaded while others fired, so that the expenditure of powder was great, almost + exhaustive. The few remaining cannon cartridges were economically distributed. There + was no longer a possibility of reinforcements. The fire from the shipping swept the + isthmus. There were less than fifty bayonets to the entire command.</p> + <p>During the afternoon Ward sent his own regiment, as well as Patterson's and + Gardner's, but few men reached the actual front in time to share in the last + resistance. Gardner did, indeed, reach Bunker Hill to aid Putnam in establishing a + second line on that summit, but fell in the discharge of the duty. Febiger, + previously conspicuous at Quebec, and afterward at Stony Point, gathered a portion of + Gerrishe's regiment, and reached the redoubt in time to share in the final struggle; + but the other regiments, without their fault, were too late.</p> + <p>At this time, Putnam seemed to appreciate the full gravity of the crisis, and made + the most of every available resource to concentrate a reserve for a second defence, + but in vain.</p> + <p>Prescott, within the redoubt, at once recognized the method of the British + advance. The wheel of the British artillery to the left after it passed the line of + the redoubt, secured to it an enfilading fire, which insured the reduction of the + redoubt and cut off retreat. There was no panic at that hour of supreme peril. The + order to reserve fire until the enemy was within twenty yards was obediently + regarded, and it was not until a pressure upon three faces of the redoubt forced the + last issue, that the defenders poured forth one more destructive volley. A single + cannon cartridge was distributed for the final effort, and then, with clubbed guns + and the nerve of desperation, the slow retreat began, contesting, man to man and inch + by inch. Warren fell, shot through the head, in the mouth of the fort.</p> + <a name="page301" id="page301"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 301]</span> + <p>The battle was not quite over, even then. Jackson rallied Gardner's men on Bunker + Hill, and with three companies of Ward's regiment and Febiger's party, so covered the + retreat as to save half of the garrison. The New Hampshire troops of Stark and Reed, + with Colt's and Chester's companies, still held the fence line clear to the river, + and covered the escape of Prescott's command until the last cartridge had been + expended, and then their deliberate, well-ordered retreat bore testimony alike to + their virtue and valor.</p> + <h3>THE END.</h3> + <p>Putnam made one final effort at Bunker Hill, but in vain, and the army retired to + Prospect Hill, which Putnam had already fortified in advance.</p> + <p>The British did not pursue, Clinton urged upon General Howe an immediate attack + upon Cambridge; but Howe declined the movement. The gallant Prescott offered to + retake Bunker Hill by storming if he could have three fresh regiments; but it was not + deemed best to waste further resources at the time.</p> + <p>Such, as briefly as it can be clearly outlined, was the battle of Bunker Hill.</p> + <p>Nearly one third of each army was left on the field.</p> + <p>The British loss was nineteen officers killed and seventy wounded, itself a + striking evidence of the prompt response to Prescott's orders before the action + began. Of rank and file, two hundred and seven were killed and seven hundred and + fifty-eight were wounded. Total, ten hundred and fifty-four.</p> + <p>The American loss was one hundred and forty-five killed and missing, and three + hundred and four wounded. Total, four hundred and forty-nine.</p> + <p>Such is the record of a battle which, in less than two hours, destroyed a town, + laid fifteen hundred men upon the field, equalized the relations of veterans and + militia, aroused three millions of people to a definite struggle for National + Independence, and fairly opened the war for its accomplishment.</p> + <h3>NOTES.</h3> + <p>NOTE 1. The hasty organization of the command is marked by one feature not often + regarded, and that is the readiness with which men of various regiments enlisted in + the enterprise. Washington, in his official report of the casualties, thus specifies + the loss:—</p> + <table summary="Casualties" border="1"> + <tr> + <th>Colonel of Regiment.</th> + <th>Killed.</th> + <th>Wounded.</th> + <th>Missing.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Frye</td> + <td>10</td> + <td>38</td> + <td>4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Little</td> + <td>7</td> + <td>23</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Brewer</td> + <td>12</td> + <td>22</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gridley</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>4</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Stark</td> + <td>15</td> + <td>45</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Woodbridge</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>5</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Scammon</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>2</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Bridge</td> + <td>17</td> + <td>25</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Whitcomb</td> + <td>5</td> + <td>8</td> + <td>2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ward</td> + <td>1</td> + <td>6</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gerrishe</td> + <td>3</td> + <td>5</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Reed</td> + <td>3</td> + <td>29</td> + <td>1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Prescott</td> + <td>43</td> + <td>46</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Doolittle</td> + <td>6</td> + <td>9</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gardner</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>7</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Patterson</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>1</td> + <td>1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Nixon</td> + <td>3</td> + <td>-</td> + <td>-</td> + </tr> + </table> + <a name="page302" id="page302"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 302]</span> + <p>NOTE 2. The record, brief as it is, shows that hot controversies as to the + question of precedence in command are beneath the merits of the struggle, because all + worked just where the swift transitions of the crisis best commanded presence and + influence.</p> + <p>NOTE 3. As both the Morton and Moulton families had property near the British + landing-place, it is immaterial whether hill or point bear the name of one or the + other. Hence the author of this sketch, in a memorial examination of this battle, + elsewhere, deemed it but just to recognize both, without attempt to harmonize + differences upon an immaterial matter.</p> + <p>NOTE 4. The occupation of Lechmere Point, Cobble Hill, Ploughed Hill, and Prospect + Hill, as shown upon the map of Boston and vicinity, rendered the British occupation + of Bunker Hill a barren victory, silenced the activity of a thousand men, vindicated + the wisdom of the American occupation, however transient, rescued Boston, and + projected the spirit of the battle of Bunker Hill into all the issues which + culminated at Yorktown, October 19, 1781.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF MASSACHUSETTS.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Russell Sturgis, Jr.</p> + <p>In the sketch of the Boston Association, which appeared in the April number of + this Magazine, mention was made of the work of Mr. L.P. Rowland, corresponding member + of Massachusetts of the international committee, in establishing kindred associations + throughout the State, This article is to give a brief history of the spread and work + of these associations, and I am largely indebted to Mr. Sayford, late state + secretary, for the data. It was natural that as soon as it was known that an + organization had been formed in Boston to do distinctive work for young men, that in + other places where the need was realized the desire for a like work should spring up; + but, in the absence of organized effort to promote this, very little was done, and in + 1856, five years after the parent association was formed, there were only six in all, + that is, in Boston, Charlestown, Worcester, Lowell, Springfield, and Haverhill.</p> + <p>In December, 1866, the Boston Association called a convention, when twelve hundred + delegates met and sat for two days at the Tremont Temple. General Christian work was + discussed, but the distinctive work for young men was earnestly advocated.</p> + <p>When Mr. Rowland undertook the work, as an officer of the international committee, + it spread rapidly, and in 1868 there were one hundred and two, and in 1869, one + hundred and nine, associations in Massachusetts. This number was, later, somewhat + further increased.</p> + <p>Up to 1867 there had been no conference of the state associations, but at the + international convention, at Montreal, in that year, it was strongly urged upon the + corresponding members of the various States and provinces that they should call state + conventions, and thus the first Massachusetts convention of Young Men's Christian + Associations was held <a name="page303" id="page303"></a><span class="newpage">[pg + 303]</span> at Springfield, October 10 and 11. The Honorable Whiting Griswold, of + Greenfield, was president, and among the prominent men present were Henry F. Durant + and ex-Vice-President Wilson. In 1868, the convention met at Worcester; in 1869, at + Lowell. At this time there were fifty associations reporting reading-rooms, and + thirty were holding <i>open-air meetings</i>, which means, that, since there are many + persons who never enter a building to hear the gospel, it should be taken to them. + Since these services are almost peculiarly a characteristic of association work, let + me describe them. One or two men, clergymen or laymen, are appointed to take charge + of the meeting, while from six to ten men go with them to lead the singing. Having + reached the common or public square where men and women are lounging about, the group + start a familiar hymn and sing, perhaps, two or three, by which time many have drawn + near and most are listening; then mounting a bench or packing-box, the leader says he + proposes to pray to the God of whom they have been singing, and asks them to join + with him; then with uncovered head he speaks to God and asks him to bless the words + that shall be spoken. Another hymn, and then some Bible scene or striking incident is + read and commented upon, and when interest is fairly roused the gospel is <i>preached + in its simplicity</i> and a <i>direct appeal</i> made to the people. There is a + wonderful fascination in this service—a naturalness in all the surroundings, so + like the circumstances of our Lord's discourses, that makes God's nearness felt, and + inspires great faith for results. Great have been these results—how great we + shall know by-and-by. Many a soul has thus been born by the sea, in the grove, on the + village green, at the place where streets meet in the busy city. How can we reach the + masses? is the earnest question of the church. <i>Go to them!</i> To the association + is due the fact that thousands of laymen are to-day proclaiming the gospel in all + parts of the world, successful through their simple study of the Word and the + encouragement and training which they have received in this school.</p> + <p>The fourth convention was held in Chelsea, in 1870, on which occasion the + Honorable Cephas Brainard, chairman of the international executive committee, said: + "To promote the permanency of associations, our labor must be chiefly for young men; + increasing as rapidly as possible edifices of our own; and cultivating frequent + fraternal intercourse with the eight hundred associations in the land." Up to 1881 no + agents had been appointed by the state convention to superintend its work. Mr. + Rowland was taking time, given him for rest, to visit associations and towns needing + them.</p> + <p>At the international convention, in 1868, at Detroit, two Massachusetts men met, + who were to be largely instrumental in carrying on the work in the State so dear to + them; and in 1871, in far-off Illinois, these two men—K.A. Burnell, and he who + has almost without a break served on the Massachusetts committee to this + day—met again, prayed for Massachusetts, consulted together, and the result was + that at the convention of 1871, at Northampton, a state executive committee was + appointed.</p> + <p>At this time calls from many parts of the State were coming to the association + workers from pastors of churches for lay help and they felt that these calls must be + met. Mr. Burnell was engaged to conduct the work, and with the help of the committee + individually, meetings of two and three days were held in from forty to sixty towns + each year for three years. This work was continued by paid secretaries, still largely + aided by the committee, till 1879.</p> + <a name="page304" id="page304"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 304]</span> + <p>During this time but little was done to strengthen existing associations, and + nothing in establishing new ones, therefore, while the influence of the convention of + associations was greatly felt throughout the State, the associations themselves + suffered. Very many were doing nothing, and many had ceased to exist.</p> + <p>We should not dare to say that the associations did wrong in thus giving + themselves to the evangelistic work, while the calls for it were greater than the + committee could meet. This work engrossed them till the calls began to slacken, and + then they awoke to the fact that they were neglecting their true work, a special + instrumentality in which they believed and for which they existed—that is, "A + work for young men by young men through physical, social, mental, and spiritual + appliances."</p> + <p>This led to a series of resolutions at the Lowell convention, in 1879, directing + the committee to confine their efforts to the strengthening and organizing of + associations, and to appoint a secretary to give his whole time to the work.</p> + <p>Mr. Sayford was called from New York, appointed general secretary, and began to + work in January, 1880.</p> + <p>At this time there were thirty-five associations in the State, only four of which + had general secretaries, paid men who gave all their time to the work.</p> + <p>In October, the number of secretaries had more than doubled, nine being at work. + The total membership at this time was, in round numbers, six thousand, with property + amounting to about two hundred and ten thousand dollars.</p> + <p>The thirty-three associations which reported at this time at the Lynn convention + represented somewhat more than five hundred active working men, and they conducted + one hundred and ten religious meetings a week.</p> + <p>In 1881, the only addition of note was the beginning of the railway work in the + State, when a general secretary was employed, and rooms opened at Springfield by the + Boston and Albany Railroad Company. This important work, carried on most vigorously + at various railway centres in other States, had for some time been pressed upon the + state committee, but they had been unable to obtain any footing till now. At the + convention of this year, at Spencer, the advantage of association work in colleges + was brought out in an able paper by our present state secretary, then a + representative of Williams College.</p> + <p>At this convention the committee on executive committee's report said: "It is + evident from the reports of executive committee and state secretary, that, while the + process of the last two years has decreased the number of the associations in the + State, it has greatly increased their efficiency. Some associations were found to + have been long since privately buried, though the name was allowed to remain upon the + door. These have been removed. Others had been left to die uncared for in the field. + These have been decently buried. Some were found so sick as to be past hope, and + their last days were made as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. Others + were found to be more or less seriously ill, and have been skilfully treated. The + result is that at least twenty-four associations are well, and could do much more + work if they chose; while ten, in robust condition, and under the management and + inspiration of skilled general secretaries, are doing grand work for young men in + their several localities."</p> + <a name="page305" id="page305"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 305]</span> + <p>The reduction here spoken of is from one hundred and nine associations in 1869 to + thirty-four in 1881; yet the work was being better done by the smaller number, and it + is thus accounted for: Few dreamed to what this work would grow, therefore their aim + was extremely vague, and the methods were inadequate. Seeing the need,—deeply + interested in the salvation of young men,—the <i>idea</i> of the association + took everywhere. They sprang up all over the State. Organization followed + organization in rapid succession, and then they waited to be told what to do, or + flung themselves into the first seeming opening with no thought whether it was the + work for which they were formed; and we remember of hearing of one Young Men's + Christian Association whose whole energies were concentrated upon a mission + Sunday-school in a deserted district,—a good work, but not a proper Young Men's + Christian Association's work, when it represented all that was being done.</p> + <p>Two things, however, were accomplished, even in those early days, for which we + must always be very grateful, and in themselves are a sufficient <i>raison d'etre. + Young men were trained</i> to work, and the reflex influence upon their minds was + very great, and the real unity of the church of Christ was manifested as never + before. The Young Men's Christian Association in town and village formed the natural + rallying-point for all united work. A third great blessing should be mentioned. Not + only has the unity of Christ's church been manifested, but also its distinctive + standing upon the great Bible doctrines of the cross, which vitally separate it from + all other religious bodies.</p> + <p>Gradually the greatness of this work for young men has been appreciated, as the + strong opposing forces have been met. The association is intended to influence those + who are in the energy and full flush of young manhood, when the desires are strong, + most responsive, and least guarded. The social instinct then is very strong. It is + natural, and must be met in some form. Sinful allurements of every kind invite the + young man, hurtful companionship welcomes him, the ordinary appliances of the church + have no attraction for him. The association must see to it that his social craving is + met by that which is interesting enough to attract him, and yet is safe. To + counteract baleful attractions, others which call forth strong sympathy, and + appliances which <i>cost</i>, in every sense of the word, must be furnished.</p> + <p>This means pleasant rooms, books, papers, good companionship, classes, lectures, + concerts, the hall, and the gymnasium; but more important than all, a trained man who + shall give his whole time and heart to the work, and be amply remunerated.</p> + <p>Since these things are more or less necessary to successful effort for young men, + it will readily be seen why so many associations have ceased to exist.</p> + <p>The committee have come to the conclusion that every town in the State where rooms + can be kept open in charge of a general secretary should have a Young Men's Christian + Association, and where these cannot be furnished we are not anxious to establish + it.</p> + <p>At the convention of 1882, in Charlestown, it became apparent that, to meet the + calls for evangelistic work and push the distinctive association work, two men were + required. Two, therefore, were appointed: one to give his time largely to + evangelistic work, the other wholly to that of the association. In the following + year, 1883, the evangelistic secretary decided to do the same work independently of + the committee, and the whole energy of the state secretary has been devoted to the + organization of association work.</p> + <a name="page306" id="page306"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 306]</span> + <p>We may safely say that, although numerically small, never before has this work + been so efficiently organized as now, and never has there been so much done as now + for young men. At the convention of 1881, a constitution was adopted which binds the + different state associations in organic union. These hold an annual convention of + three days, at which time one half of the executive committee is chosen, thus making + it a perpetual body. This committee represents every section of the State, and meets + monthly for consultation; while the individual members are means of communication + between headquarters in Boston and other respective sections. There is a further + subdivision into three districts, each of which holds a quarterly conference of one + day, under the management of the district committee.</p> + <p>The associations now number 35.</p> + <p>Membership, about 11,300.</p> + <p>Employing general secretaries, 19.</p> + <p>Having buildings, 7.</p> + <p>Value of buildings, say, $490,000.</p> + <p>Value of building funds and lots, $50,000.</p> + <p>Having rooms, 23.</p> + <p>Having gymnasiums, 8.</p> + <p>Annual expenses, about $65,000.</p> + <p>This is only a beginning. This work for young men is far too important to remain + within such limits. Every town in the Commonwealth of seven thousand inhabitants + should have a fully equipped association. Some smaller towns already have.</p> + <p>My excuse for this sketch is: first, the importance of the subject; second, the + ignorance concerning it of a large portion of the Christian community; third, that + the blessings of the work and its support may be shared by far greater numbers; and, + lastly, that the courtesy of the editors of The Bay State Monthly afforded altogether + too good an opportunity for making this work known, to be lost.</p> + <hr /> + <h2>TOWN AND CITY HISTORIES.</h2> + <p class="sc" style="text-align: center;">By Robert Luce.</p> + <p>The United States government has now in press two volumes of the census of 1880, + entitled The Social Statistics of Cities. These statistics have been in process of + preparation for some four years, under direction of Colonel George E. Waring, jr., + the eminent sanitary engineer, of Newport, Rhode Island. They will fill two large + quarto volumes of something over six hundred pages each; and as each page will + average over one thousand words, it will be seen that the work will, at least, be + massive and imposing, like most government publications. Unlike many of these, + however, it will not be dull, unintelligible, or valueless. The fact that one half of + it is devoted to the history of the cities of our land is well-nigh sufficient proof + that these epithets cannot be applied to it, and the question is settled beyond a + doubt when it is learned that the greater part of the labor has been performed by + people who are well known in the literary world, and who brought to their task + experience and ability,—rare qualifications to be found combined in government + employees. Colonel Waring himself, though a clear thinker and good writer, furnished + comparatively little manuscript to the volumes, but he has revised them thoroughly, + and has stamped them with his individuality.</p> + <a name="page307" id="page307"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 307]</span> + <p>It was Colonel Waring's original design to embrace in his work the statistics of + the twenty largest cities of the country, and these happened to be the cities that in + 1880 had more than one hundred thousand inhabitants. Then it was decided to allow the + smaller cities to be represented if they chose, and early in the work steps were + taken to induce them to furnish the necessary material. Over two hundred of the + largest were given all the opportunities for representation that could be asked for, + and, as a consequence, nearly every community in the land containing more than ten + thousand inhabitants has a more or less full account. Each one of these is prefaced + by a small outline plan, on which is marked the direction in which the surrounding + cities lie, and the distance to each. Accompanying this plan are tables of the + population at different decades, and of the sex, color, and nativity of the present + population. Then comes an historical sketch, and then an account of the present + condition of the community. This last describes the location and topography fully; + gives the principal features of the country immediately tributary; details the + facilities for communication given by railroads and by water; gives statistics about + the climate; describes the public buildings and public works, including water and gas + works; gives figures about the streets, horse railroads, and markets; touches upon + the places and methods of amusement, and the parks and pleasure-grounds; the sewers, + the cemeteries, sanitary organization (boards of health), and the system, or lack of + system, of municipal cleansing,—all receive especially full treatment, as would + naturally be expected when a sanitary engineer of Colonel Waring's stamp had charge + of the work; the police department gets its share of the space; and in some cases the + schools, fire department, and commerce are represented. The material from which these + accounts were compiled was, in the main, obtained by sending schedules of questions + to the various town and city officials; in the case of some of the largest cities the + material was secured by special agents, but in general, the desire of the cities to + be represented was considered sufficient guaranty that the schedule would be filled + out fully and accurately, and this generally proved to be the case.</p> + <p>The historical sketches of the smaller cities and towns were compiled from + information obtained in the same way, and from gazetteers, encyclopaedias, town and + city histories, and all other sources available at the headquarters of the bureau. To + the preparation of the sketches of the twenty largest cities, especial attention was + devoted, and the results have been correspondingly valuable. Perhaps the most + important, both from the historical and literary point of view, will be the sketch of + the history of New Orleans, written by George W. Cable, who is better known as a + novelist, but who has no mean abilities as an historian. His familiarity with the + Creole element in New Orleans past and present, together with a very happy style of + writing, have made for him more than a national reputation, from which this sketch + will not detract. Originally his work was intended to occupy some ninety pages of the + report, but later, unfortunately, it had to be condensed into fifty. Luckily it will + not be found necessary to omit a number of interesting maps that accompany it.</p> + <a name="page308" id="page308"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 308]</span> + <p>Next in value, perhaps from the purely historical point of view the most valuable, + or at least the most complete, of all, comes the sketch of the early history of St. + Louis, by Professor Waterhouse. The author became greatly interested in his task, and + spent a vast amount of time in collecting materials for it. From the care bestowed on + the work, it may be taken for granted that this will be as full and accurate an + account of the settlement and early history of the "Philadelphia of the West" as can + possibly be compiled. It is expected that it will occupy fifty or sixty pages of the + report, and even then it will only bring the history down to 1823, when the first + city government was organized.</p> + <p>The largest of the Eastern cities furnish little chance for original work in an + historical line, but yet the sketch of New York by Martha J. Lamb, of Philadelphia by + Susan Cooledge, and of Boston by Colonel Waring, will be acceptable additions to the + very scanty stock of American historical literature.</p> + <p>The words "very scanty" are used most advisedly, for in very truth the American + <i>historian</i> is a <i>rara avis</i>. Of American compilers-of-facts, to be sure, + there have been and are very many, but an aggregation of details is not a history, + nor can a man who makes a book out of local gossip and the biographies of local + heroes and heroines be called an historian. The truth of this fact has been most + forcibly impressed on the writer in the course of preparing for the Census Bureau + historical sketches of many of the leading cities of the country, and he has become + thoroughly convinced that of all the vulnerable portions of American literature that + which pertains to the history of American towns and cities is the most + vulnerable.</p> + <p>In the first place, American town and city <i>histories</i> are few. In the second + place, the books that pretend to be such are many, and as a rule historically + worthless. In the third place, both the real and the sham are intensely dull.</p> + <p>Real histories are few, evidently because there is not demand enough to encourage + historians to enter the field, and not because material is lacking. With the + exception of the Atlantic seaboard, our country has been developed in an age + pre-eminent for records and statistics; and there is scarcely a town or city in the + land that has not its records and its public documents, its newspaper files and its + Fourth-of-July orations,—all replete with information waiting for the + historian. Nearly every State has its Historical Society, and Pioneer Associations + are as plenty in our glorious West as was the fever and ague with which their members + were baptized. If the golden opportunities of autobiography are lost, the American + historian of the future will have to be satisfied, as must be satisfied the New + England historian of to-day, with the meagre, lifeless information given by records, + and the hyperbolical, untrustworthy knowledge to be obtained from local tradition and + gossip.</p> + <a name="page309" id="page309"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 309]</span> + <p>We need go no farther to find the first reason why American histories are so + meagre and dull. They are not pictures from life. The fact is, that the historian + might as well try to write a valuable and interesting history from the materials + which our older cities possess, as a painter might try to paint the battle of Crecy + from the details given by Froissart. To be sure we have all seen such pictures, but + who has more than admired them?</p> + <p>The absence of contemporaneous literature has been the greatest misfortune of all + history. Every student knows how great and deplorable are the breaks constantly met + with in tracing the thread of past events. Shall we, then, let the students of + posterity remain in the dark on such questions as these: why Providence became the + second city of New England; why she left Newport so badly in the race for prosperity; + why Buffalo and Cincinnati went up, while Black Rock and North Bend went down; why + Chicago became the largest manufacturing city on the continent; why New England kept + the town-meeting, and the West preferred the township and the county; and why a + thousand and one other important things happened. To be sure we have had Bancroft, + and Sparks, and Hildreth, but these and their brethren have told us as little about + the history of the people as Lingard, Hume, Hallam, and all the rest of them told + England. Within a very few years historians have begun to see this defect, and such + men as Green, Lodge, and MacMaster have undertaken to give us histories of the + people, the first and last taking the lead on their respective sides of the Atlantic. + MacMaster's work is excellent as far as it goes. His first volume is deep and + scholarly, and does credit to American literature. It is clear that the task of its + preparation was immense, and more time must have been spent in merely collecting + authorities than has been bestowed altogether on more pretentious histories. Where + Mr. MacMaster found all these authorities is a puzzle, for even such libraries as + those in Boston and Cambridge have not all the materials for such an undertaking. Yet + even he leaves many points untouched, or cursorily disposed of. Among the subjects + referred to, of which we would like to learn more, may be mentioned: the township + system of the West, the development of American municipal institutions, and, above + all, the origin and rise of the various centres of population and business which we + call cities.</p> + <p>The history of a nation should be compiled in the same way that the French people + of the <i>ancien régime</i> compiled their lists of grievances to be presented + to the king. In the early States-generals the deputies of all the orders received + from the electors mandates of instructions containing an enumeration of the public + grievances of which they were to demand redress. From the multitude of these + <i>cahiers</i> (or codices), the three estates, that is, the clergy, the nobility, + and the third estate (the people), compiled each a single cahier to serve as the + exponent of its grievances and its demands. When this complex process had been + completed and the three residual cahiers had been given to the king, the + States-general, the only representative body of France, was dissolved.</p> + <a name="page310" id="page310"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 310]</span> + <p>Thus it should be with our national history. Already the clergy have presented + their cahiers in the shape of church histories and theological essays innumerable. + The nobles, that is, the statesmen and politicians, have formulated their lists of + grievances in such works as Thirty Year's View, The Great Conflict, Rise and Fall of + the Slave Power in America, etc. But where is the cahier of the third estate? The + States-general has met and the <i>tiers état</i> is not ready. What excuse + have they? Quick comes the answer: "Our electors have sent in but few cahiers, and + these are defective. We cannot tell our king, the nation, what the people were and + what they are, what they have and what they want, until they tell us. Our cahier must + wait the pleasure of the people." Meanwhile, the regent, irreverently called Uncle + Sam, who rules the land while his master is away in Utopia, reads the cahiers of the + nobles, laughs in his sleeve at that of the clergy, and forgets all about that of the + third estate. Or if he thinks of it at all, it is only to try to fill its place with + twenty-four-volume Census Reports and massive tomes from the other departments.</p> + <p>The cahiers of the third estate are, in truth, few and defective, yet there are + some communities that have done their work well. For example, there is The Memorial + History of Boston which does credit even to the Hub of American historical + literature. It was the work of cultivated men, and although the cooks were many, the + broth is excellent. That the people were a-hungering for just such broth is shown by + the fact that the net profits from it in the first twelve months after publication, + as it is said, were over fifty thousand dollars.</p> + <p>Boston is almost the only city in the land that has been the subject of a full, + accurate, and interesting history. The History of New York, by Martha J. Lamb, is not + so full as might have been wished, but is otherwise unexceptionable. New York is + fortunate in having the most graphic and humorous history of its early days that any + city in the world ever had, but nobody except Diedrich Knickerbocker himself ever + claimed a great amount of accuracy and truthfulness for his unrivaled work.</p> + <p>It was to be expected that our older cities,—those whose seeds were planted + by Puritans, Dutch traders, Catholic fugitives, Quakers, Cavalier spendthrifts and + rogues, Huguenot exiles, and in general the motley crowd that sought the land of milk + and honey in the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries,—it was + to be expected that these cities would have historians <i>ad nauseam</i>. The very + nature of the early colonization of America, the elements of romance and adventure so + conspicuous in the history of early days on the Atlantic coast, gave warrant to such + expectations, and the event has justified them. But where the romance and adventure + end, the historian lays down his pen. It is left to the census enumerator to complete + the work, and the brazen age of statistics follows the golden age of history.</p> + <p>As the cities in the heart of the continent have very little of the picturesque in + their history, the same line of reasoning would lead us to expect that the historian + would carefully avoid them, or else write only of their earliest days, when Dame + Fortune was yet coquetting on the boards with Mr. Yankee Adventurer. Again we are not + mistaken, for we find that what few critics are present when the curtain is rung up, + leave the house when the first act ends with the death of the aforesaid adventurer. + How the fickle dame flirts with all the neighboring young men, and at last, at the + end of the second act, has her attention led by Captain Location to the hero of the + piece as a suitable mate for her wayward daughter, Miss Prosperity,—all this is + usually written up from hearsay. For the third act, wherein the twin brothers + Steamboat Navigation and Railroad Communication help the hero to press his suit, the + imagination often suffices. The grand finale, however, brings back some of the old + set of critics, together with a host of new ones, who describe in glowing language + the setting of the act, the costumes, the music, etc., and tell minutely how young + Miss Prosperity blushingly yet boldly promises to be forever true to the gallant + hero, now known under his rightful name of Mr. Metropolis. Ac-cording to the critic, + this grand drama always ends happily for all concerned; the acting is always + perfect,—the best ever seen on the stage; the scenery has seldom been equaled, + never excelled. And this is the way the public hears about every "greatest drama ever + produced on any stage."</p> + <a name="page311" id="page311"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 311]</span> + <p>Do you think the critic too harshly criticized? Look for yourself. Take Cleveland, + if you want a good city with which to begin your explorations among the histories of + Western cities. Here is one of the loveliest places in all the basin of the Great + Lakes—rich, prosperous, beautiful. It was the one city which alt the travelers + through the West in the second quarter of this century united in declaring to be + attractive. For instance, J.S. Buckingham, who visited America forty-three years ago, + complimented Cleveland as follows, in a book called The Eastern and Western States of + America: "The buildings of Cleveland are all remarkably clean and neat, many of them + in excellent architectural style, and, like the dwellings we saw at Cincinnati and + other towns of Ohio, all evincing more taste, love of flowers, and attention to order + and adornment than in most of the States of the Union." Mrs. Pulzky, who accompanied + Kossuth in his journey through America, in 1852, wrote in her diary: "Cleveland is a + neat, clean, and agreeable city, on Lake Erie. Americans call it the 'Forest City,' + though the original forests have disappeared. Cleveland has a most lovely aspect; + with the exception of the business streets, every house is surrounded by a garden. It + was for the first time that I found love of nature in an American population. On the + journey, until here, I had always missed pleasure-grounds and trees around the + cottages."</p> + <p>The growth of Cleveland was steady and healthy. Although foreigners came to it in + large numbers, it has been and is a representative American city. The spirit of + public improvement early made itself felt here, as has been intimated by the above + quotations; wide avenues, beautiful dwellings, pleasure-grounds, both public and + private,—all the attractions that a lavish expenditure of money can secure were + bestowed upon it. The oil discoveries of a quarter of a century ago made many of its + citizens wealthy, and their city was so pleasant to live in, that, unlike most + Western people who have gained sudden wealth, they stayed at home to spend their + money.</p> + <a name="page312" id="page312"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 312]</span> + <p>From the history of the rise of such a community, much might be learned. Yet in + the large libraries of the East we find only one book on the subject, and Poole's + mammoth Index—that "Open, sesame," of the literary man—refers us to not a + single magazine article of any sort on Cleveland. The book referred to is entitled + Early History of Cleveland, with Biographical Notices of the Pioneers and Survivors; + its author was Colonel Charles Whittlesey. As is the case in almost all such + histories, the biographical notices form a very considerable portion of the book, + and, as usual, its value is diminished in an exactly equivalent degree; for the + biographies of Western pioneers are fully as tedious and valueless as the catalogue + of ships in the second book of Homer. And, oh! the garrulity of the biographers, the + minuteness of detail, the petty incidents, the host of dates! With these we are + inflicted because some adventurous Yankee happened, by sheer luck, to build the first + shanty on what became the site of a great city, or chanced there to be a pioneer + victim of the "shakes" or the jaundice!</p> + <p>Whittlesey's book contains four hundred and eighty-seven pages. Of these he uses + up seventy-six before he gets a civilized man in what became Cuyahoga County, and + fifty more before he gets any actual settlers to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The + history of the next thirteen or fourteen years, down to the War of 1812, fills the + mass of the book, details being here given that really have historical value. The + last forty pages are devoted to the history of the two or three following decades. + Nothing is told us about the actual development of a great city,—the haps and + mishaps, the successes and failures, in short, the growth, of the community.</p> + <p>This same Colonel Whittlesey, in a volume entitled Fugitive Essays, published a + sketch of the history of Cleveland covering the same ground more concisely, and also + giving a few extra details about the history between 1812 and 1840.</p> + <p>These constituted the sum total of works solely devoted to Cleveland which were + accessible to a writer in the East. The Ohio Historical Collections, by Henry Howe, a + series of sketches of the counties, cities, and towns of the State, added a little to + the meagre stock of information. For further knowledge, the public must be thankful + that the argus-eyed tourist has not left the place unnoticed, and that the + mathematically-inclined gazetteer has told us from time to time the number of + Cleveland's churches, banks, and city councilmen, and other equally important + facts!</p> + <p>Take another lake city—Buffalo. The growth of this city has been rapid. Its + sudden rise to the dignity of a metropolis was largely due to that most interesting + of the many important internal improvements of the first half of the + century,—the Erie Canal. With the development of Buffalo was identified the + rise of lake navigation and the grain elevator. Its population has been increased by + the addition of a large foreign element, which has had its due influence on manners, + morals, and public life. It appears from the report of the board of health for 1879, + that, in 1878, of the children born in Buffalo, nineteen hundred and seventy-five + were of German descent; of all other descents, two thousand and fifty-six,—a + difference of only eighty-one. The city has indeed been thoroughly Germanized, if we + may coin the word.</p> + <a name="page313" id="page313"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 313]</span> + <p>Here are things of which we would know more. Yet what do we find about them? Save + in meagre or verbose pamphlets, nothing. To be sure, there was a book written which + claimed to be about Buffalo, but a microscopic examination would fail to find in it + anything worth knowing about the history of this community. The author of that book, + William Ketchum, had the audacity to name it, as we read on the title-page, "An + Authentic and Comprehensive History of Buffalo, with some account of its early + inhabitants, both savage and civilized." It was published in Buffalo in 1864, in two + octavo volumes, containing respectively four hundred and thirty-two and four hundred + and forty-three pages. To comprehend the utter absurdity of the thing, we shall have + to glance at history a bit.</p> + <p>It will be remembered that during and for some time after the Revolutionary War + the country about the Niagara River remained in the possession of the British. The + Seneca Indians, who sided against the Colonies in that war, and who were driven from + their homes by the expedition of General Sullivan in 1779, gathered around Fort + Niagara and became such a nuisance that the English had to set up anew in + housekeeping these faithful allies and disagreeable neighbors. One of the villages + they started was at Buffalo Creek. Our historian, Ketchum, has twenty-five chapters + in the first volume of his Authentic and Comprehensive History of Buffalo. He gets + the Senecas settled at Buffalo Creek in the twenty-fourth!</p> + <p>During the rest of the century the inhabitants of this Indian village on the + ground where Buffalo was to stand, consisted of redskins and semi-redskins, a few + Indian traders who doled out the firewater, and a settler or two. The present city of + Buffalo, according to the encyclopaedia (and for once that mass of condensed wisdom + is correct about the date of settlement of a Western city), was founded in 1801, by + the Holland Land Company, which opened a land office here in January of that year. + The notice of this event may be found in the region of page 146, in vol. ii, of + Ketchum's book,—the uniform lack of concise statement, the huge amount of + irrevelant matter, and the absence of lucid summaries and intelligent comment, making + more exact reference impossible.</p> + <p>The rest of this "comprehensive history" is occupied with the course of events + down to December 30, 1813, when the British burnt the town, leaving but two houses + standing—a dwelling-house and a blacksmith's shop. Here, having brought his + Phoenix to ashes, our comprehensive historian brings his narrative to an abrupt end. + This is at page 304. Then follows the "appendix," an invariable feature of city + histories, which makes of every one of them a huge anti-climax. In this instance, one + hundred and thirty-nine pages of appendix contain, according to the author, "for the + purpose of preservation, a mass of papers not absolutely necessary to the elucidation + of the history contained in the body of the work. Most of them consist of original + papers and letters never before published, and which are now, for the first time, + placed in an accessible and permanent form." To compare small things with great, + these documents are made just about as "accessible" as are the State papers to which + Carlyle devotes so much paper and bile in his book on Oliver Cromwell.</p> + <p>In short, this book contains much valuable information, which is very hard to + extract, and when extracted is not germane to the history of the city of Buffalo.</p> + <a name="page314" id="page314"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 314]</span> + <p>Some information about Buffalo's history was found in a pamphlet on the + Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo, published in 1866. In it were + historical sketches, covering about twenty-five pages,—verbose, with little + meat, written in the flowery style so dear to the heart of the American editor or + "Honorable" when extolling the virtues of his constituency. Turner's History of the + Holland Purchase, published in 1849, and containing six hundred and sixty-six pages, + would have been more useful, had it not been composed for the greater part of the + biographies of insignificant pioneers, and had not the rest related in the main to + the early history of the section. A book promising much on the outside was Hotchkin's + History of Western New York. An examination of the title-page, however, dampened our + expectations, for there was added the rest of the title, namely, "And of the Rise, + Progress, and Present State of the Presbyterian Church." The book proved indeed a + delusion and a snare, for of its six hundred pages more than nine tenths pertained to + church affairs,—were part and parcel of the cahiers of the clergy. As for the + magazine articles on Buffalo, they are few and, from the historical point of view, + insignificant.</p> + <p>Of far more interest than the histories of either Cleveland or Buffalo, though + perhaps no more important, is that of their nearest common neighbor of equal + rank,—Pittsburgh. In very many respects this is one of the most interesting + cities in the Union, which is mostly due to the fact that it has such a remarkable + location, and that its topography is picturesquely unique. Here we have the strange + combination of the blackest, smuttiest, dirtiest hole in the United States,—at + night, as Parton said: "All hell with the lid taken off,"—with surroundings + half rural, half urban, which for loveliness can scarcely be rivaled by any other + city in the land. Sir Henry Holland, who was of the Prince of Wales's suite, when he + visited Pittsburgh, remarked to one of the committee of reception that he had, in + 1845, spent a week in an equestrian exploration of the suburbs of Pittsburgh; that he + had traveled through all the degrees of the earth's longitude, and had not elsewhere + found any scenery so diversified, picturesque, and beautiful as that around + Pittsburgh. He likened it to a vast panorama, from which, as he rode along, the + curtain was dropping behind and rising before him, revealing new beauties + continually. "If the business portion of Pittsburgh is a city, half enchanted, of + fire and smoke, inhabited by demons playing with fire, the surrounding portion is + also under enchantment, of a different kind, and smiles a land of beauty, brightness, + and quiet. The one section might be a picture by Tintoretto, and the other by Claude + Lorraine."</p> + <p>On the twenty-fourth of November, 1753, no human habitation stood on the peninsula + between the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers. On that day Washington recorded in his + journal: "I think it extremely well situated for a fort, as it has absolute command + of both rivers." In the following spring the English began the erection of a stockade + here, which, on the twenty-fourth of April, was surrendered to the French under + Captain Contrecoeur Who at once proceeded to the erection of Fort Du Quesne.</p> + <a name="page315" id="page315"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 315]</span> + <p>Round this name centres a wealth of incident, romance, and history, but no one has + risen to do it justice. Braddock's ill-starred expedition was followed by the + abandonment of the fort by the French, in November, 1758, and its subsequent + rebuilding as Fort Pitt. The fate of the little hamlet which sprang up around it was + for a long time most dubious, but its position as a frontier post on the line of the + ever westward-retreating Indians, and on the edge of the vast unknown wilderness, + just beginning to allure adventurous pioneers, kept it from falling into the oblivion + with which it was threatened by the dismantling of the fort and the troublous + Revolutionary times. Yet as late as 1784 so experienced a man as Arthur Lee, the + Virginian, who had been a commissioner at the court of Versailles with Franklin and + Deane, and who visited this hamlet in December of this year, said of it: "Pittsburgh + is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in paltry log-houses, and + are as dirty as in the north of Ireland, or even in Scotland. There is a great deal + of small trade carried on, the goods being brought at the vast expense of forty-five + shillings per cwt. from Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops money, + flour, and skins. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a priest + of any persuasion, nor church, nor chapel; so that they are likely to be damned + without the benefit of clergy. <i>The place, I believe, will never be + considerable</i>."</p> + <p>This "small trade" which Lee speaks of was to develop in a very few years to + gigantic proportions, and was to make Pittsburgh for the while the commercial + metropolis of the West. She maintained this position until the westward march of + civilization had left her far in the rear; and then the garrison which the vast army + of pioneers left here found in the coal and iron under their very feet a Fortunatus's + purse. Thus, far different was the fate of Pittsburgh from that of Marietta, + Portsmouth, Lexington, and the like, which sank into comparative obscurity as soon as + they had ceased to be outposts of Uncle Sam's army of emigrants.</p> + <p>Here, then, do we lack materials for history? What historian could ask for a more + romantic starting-point than Old Fort Du Quesne? a more interesting topic for a + chapter than Fort Pitt? a more picturesque subject than the batteurs and voyageurs of + the Ohio? What more fruitful themes can there be than the rise of the iron, the + glass, the oil industry, the steamboat commerce of our interior, the subjection of + the Monongahela, the combination of a city which reminds the traveler of Hades, with + suburbs which suggest metaphors about Paradise? And can he not find food for inquiry + and thought in the great riots of 1877?</p> + <p>Yet the only historian of Pittsburgh is Neville B Craig, whose short and not + over-attractive history ends with the middle of this century, if we remember rightly. + His subject is neither thoroughly nor ably treated, and it is not presented to the + public in an agreeable form. The book is one of the past generation, and we publish + better histories than did our fathers. In 1876, Samuel H. Thurston presented the + public with a small volume, entitled Pittsburgh and Alleghany in the Centennial. It + contained a little history and a great deal of bombast; and, moreover, the greater + part of it was filled with statistical details pertaining to the Centennial year + alone. Yet from this book had to be taken most of the historical sketch which will be + found in the Census Report. Egle's History of Pennsylvania tells us something about + Pittsburgh, and magazine articles are plenty, though historically of little + value.</p> + <a name="page316" id="page316"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 316]</span> + <p>St. Louis is more plentifully supplied with histories than any other Western city, + and these histories are as much worse as they are more numerous. One of these + deserves notice, from the fact that its title-page so ridiculously and exasperatingly + misrepresents its contents. This page reads as follows: "Edwards's Great West and her + Commercial Metropolis, embracing a complete History of St. Louis, from the landing of + Ligueste, in 1764, to the present time; with portraits and biographies of some of the + old settlers, and many of the most prominent business men. By Richard Edwards and M. + Hopewell, M.D. Splendidly illustrated. 1860. $5." This seemed to promise well, but + when we turned the page and read the introduction, our expectations were, to say the + least, somewhat shaken, and our sense of the eternal fitness of things somewhat + shocked, when we found the citizens of St. Louis called "a powerful Mæcenas." + Shade of Virgil! What a profanation!</p> + <p>Any book that is preceded by a dedication, a preface, an introduction, and a + full-page portrait of the author (with a big A), must, in the very nature of things, + be a monstrosity. But, leaving these anomalies out of account, in the present + instance, the composition of the book is sufficient proof that the epithet is not + undeserved. "And this is so, for,"—as Herodotus would say,—in a book + called Edwards's Great West, the "Great West" is summarily and mercilessly disposed + of in just five pages. Then follow eighty-two pages of biographies and portraits, + ingeniously defended by the author as follows: "Biographies of those who have become + identified with the progress of the great city, who have guarded and directed its + business currents year by year, swelling with the elements of prosperity, and who + have left the impress of their genius and judgment upon the legislative enactments of + the State, must be sought after with avidity, and must be fraught with useful + instruction." There is no question that these biographies are fraught with useful + instruction—all biographies are; but to assert that they must be sought after + with avidity is a little too much to be swallowed. Such assertions show either + deplorable ignorance or unwarrantable misrepresentation of human nature, and in this + case we are convinced it must be the latter. Edwards knew perfectly well—for he + seems to have been sane—that nobody but the subjects of these biographies would + seek them "with avidity," and he made these plausible, bombastic assertions to excuse + himself for having sprung such a trap on an unsuspecting public. That he tries to + palliate the offence is, sufficient proof of his guilt.</p> + <p>Mark what he says about the "splendidly illustrated" portion of his book. "It will + be a source of satisfaction to the reader," says he, "that the engravings of + individuals who adorn this work are not drawn by the flighty imagination from airy + nothingness, but represent the lineaments of men," etc. "Airy nothingness" is + refreshing!</p> + <p>Part II, also, is almost wholly devoted to biographies, one batch being introduced + with this sage remark: "Biography is the most important feature of history; for the + record of the lives of individuals appears to be invested with more vitality and + interest than the dry details of general historical narrative." Q.E.D.—of + course. With Part III we reach the history of St. Louis, contained in one hundred and + eighty pages, and worth more or less as a history. Then come one hundred and seventy + pages more of biographies, an appendix of fifteen pages, and about thirty pages of + views of manufacturing establishments. And this book is called The Great West. No + further comment seems necessary.</p> + <a name="page317" id="page317"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 317]</span> + <p>Of all the many rich and racy things the writer has run across in his explorations + in the literature of American cities, the richest and raciest is a book called St. + Louis: The Future Great City of the World, by L.U. Reavis. The very title-page gives + an inkling of the nature of the contents by its motto, savoring somewhat of cant: + "Henceforth St. Louis must be viewed in the light of the future—her mightiness + in the empire of the world—her sway in the rule of states and nations." This + book, strangely enough, was "published by order of the St Louis County Court," in + 1870, on the petition of forty-five of the leading citizens and firms of the city, + who were represented before the court by a committee headed by Captain James B. Eads, + the renowned engineer, and containing one captain, five honorables, and two esquires. + The first edition consisted of one hundred and six pages, which were as vainglorious + and boastful, as crowded with laudatory adjectives, glowing periods, and bombastic + prophecies, as ever one hundred and six published pages were.</p> + <p>However, it evidently suited the St. Louis palate, for a second edition bears date + of the same year, and in 1871 a third appeared in a considerably enlarged form. This + last one is the most interesting, for it contains a preface and a finis which for + pure, undiluted presumption have never been excelled. The former is entitled + "Explanatory," and is worth quoting entire: "A presentation of Causes in Nature and + Civilization which, in their reciprocal action tend to fix the position of the FUTURE + GREAT CITY OF THE WORLD in the central plain of North America, showing that the + centre of the world's commerce and civilization will, in less than one hundred years, + be organized and represented in the Mississippi Valley, and by St. Louis, occupying + as she does the most favored position on the continent and the Great River; also a + complete representation of the great railway system of St. Louis, showing that in + less than ten years she will be the greatest railway centre in the world." Even the + most arrogant citizen of St. Louis would hardly have the boldness to maintain that + ten years after this prophecy was made, in 1881, St. Louis was "the greatest railway + centre in the world," or even that she was one of the greatest. As to the one-hundred + years prophecy nothing can as yet be affirmed, for it has eighty-seven years more to + run, but if the last thirteen can be taken as a criterion, St. Louis has a big + contract on her hands.</p> + <p>The last page is the most curious in the book, and in its way is certainly unique. + It is called "A Closing Word," and, being printed in italics, has an air of emphasis + and force peculiarly appropriate. The author begins: "Thus have I written a new + record—a new prophecy of a city central to a continent of resources;" and so he + goes on for half a page of ridiculous bombast until he finishes the climax of + epithets by calling this "the Apocalyptic City—</p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="line"> + 'The New Jerusalem, the ancient seer + </div> + <div class="line"> + Of Patmos saw.' + </div> + </div> + <p>"All hail! mistress of nations and beautiful queen of civilization! I view thee in + the light of thy destiny. Thou art transfigured before me from thy present state to + one infinitely more grand, and which overshadows and dwarfs all civic forms in + history.</p> + <a name="page318" id="page318"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 318]</span> + <p>"The influence of thy empire will pervade the world with invisible and electric + force. Yet, vivifying and benignant capital,—emporium of trade and industry, + seat of learning and best-applied labor, pivotal point in history, supreme and superb + city of all lands,—I behold thy majesty from afar, and salute thee reverently + as the consummation of all that the best human energies can accomplish for the + elevation and happiness of our race.</p> + <p>"All hail! Future Great City of the World, and 'Glory to God in the Highest and on + Earth Peace, Goodwill toward Men.'"</p> + <p>This reminds one equally of Walt Whitman and Artemas Ward. Yet it is not + burlesque. It appears to have been written in good faith, and for this reason the + incongruity of such a grandiloquent rhapsody on such a prosaic subject is all the + more noticeable. As an example of "fine writing" it has seldom been surpassed, and + for sheer nonsense it is unequaled in American literature.</p> + <p>These books on St. Louis call to mind a history of Milwaukee of a somewhat similar + nature—similar in its magnificent pretensions to the last-described work, and + in its biographical characteristics to Edwards's Great West. The book referred to was + published in Chicago, in 1881, by the Western Historical Company, A.T. Andreas, + proprietor. Holy Herodotus! To think of history becoming a thing of + "companies"—on a par with life insurance, railroads, gas-works, and cotton + factories! And an "historical company" with a proprietor, too!</p> + <p>But let us look into this monumental tome. (Do not think that adjective + hyperbolical, for surely monumental is not too strong a word to describe a book which + would just about balance in weight an unabridged dictionary.) Some idea of the + immensity of the undertaking can be obtained when, as the preface says, "it is known + that nearly one year's time was consumed and an average force of twenty-five men + employed in the labor of obtaining information and preparing the manuscript for the + printer's hands. The result of this vast effort is the presentation of a History + which stands unparalleled in the experience of publishers." The book is a quarto and + contains sixteen hundred and sixty-three pages. The letter-press is unexceptionable; + each page is surrounded by a neat border; the paper is good; the binding is + excellent.</p> + <p>And yet the actual history of this city dates back little more than half a + century—not a lifetime. Here is history with a vengeance! The riddle, however, + is solved the instant we glance over the pages, for we find the mass of the book made + up of biographies,—biographies in front, biographies to the right, biographies + to the left, everywhere biographies,—to the grand sum total of nearly four + thousand. A book much like this would have been made had the Crown published the + Giant Petition trundled into Parliament on a wheelbarrow in the times of George the + Third, when Lord George Gordon was the hero of the day. About as valuable, about as + readable, about as bulky, about as good for kindling fires!</p> + <a name="page319" id="page319"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 319]</span> + <p>But let the perpetrator plead his cause in his own words—and it must be + conceded he does it well. "The plan of the History of the city of Milwaukee, which is + herewith presented to the public," he says in his preface, "possesses the merit of + originality. It is based upon the fact that in all older regions, a serious + deficiency exists even in the most exhaustive histories which it is possible now to + compile through the absence of personal and detailed records of pioneer men and + deeds. The primary design of this work is to preserve for future historians as + complete an encyclopædia of early events in Milwaukee, and the actors therein, + as patient labor and unstinted financial expenditure can procure."</p> + <p>We thank the Western Historical Company, or Mr. Andreas, for this benevolent and + philanthropic spirit, but really he must not expect us to believe that pecuniary + profit is only a <i>secondary</i> design of this work. But supposing for a moment + that the primary design was as philanthropic and unselfish as Mr. Andreas would have + us think, let us consider its worth; for, if we grant this premise, we must admit the + truth of the conclusion reached, and then must give unstinted praise to the fruits of + such a conclusion, a volume like the one before us. But the premise is specious and + false. The deficiency that exists through the absence of personal and detailed + records of <i>pioneer</i> men and deeds is not serious: on the contrary, in most + cases, we should be devoutly thankful that it exists. Of the generations after that + of the pioneers we would know much; of that of the pioneers themselves, something. + But who is there, or will there be, that cares a picayune whether the third cobbler + in Milwaukee (this history would call him the third manufacturer of shoes) was born + in April or June, 1806, or whether he came from Tipperary or Heidelberg, or whether + his wife died of the pneumonia or the whooping-cough? To be sure we would be glad to + know whether the early settlers of Milwaukee were mainly young or mainly old when + they came here, whether they were mainly German or Irish, and what where the + prevalent diseases in different localities at an early period, but to ask an + intelligent being to wade through nearly four thousand "personal histories" in order + ascertain these facts is, to say the least, somewhat of an imposition on his good + nature.</p> + <p>Later on in his preface the author contradicts himself in this regard, for he + shows us how far from philanthropic were the publisher's motives and how little he + thought of posterity in inserting these biographies, by writing the following + well-turned and suggestive sentences: "It may be asked, Why have the biographical + sketches of comparatively obscure men been inserted? The reasons are obvious to + business men and should be to all. None but citizens are represented. Whatever + Milwaukee is her citizens have made her. Shall the publisher exercise a power higher + than the law, and erect a caste distinction or estimate each man's work from some + fictitious standard of his own? Assuredly not. If, in the preparation of this work, a + citizen has shown commendable pride, and aided its publisher by his patronage, he is + entitled to mention in its pages. Such men and women have received a sketch, but the + fact of pecuniary assistance has not biased the character of the book."</p> + <a name="page320" id="page320"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 320]</span> + <p>This is a very specious attempt to throw a glamour of respectability over a very + unpleasant and repugnant fact, namely: that a mass of "biographical sketches of + comparatively obscure men" has been given to the public under the guise of a history + of a city, with the sole object of making money. It is indeed consoling to know that + "none but citizens have been represented," but why this statement should be coupled + with the platitude that follows it would be hard to say. And then the utter + ridiculousness of the nonsense about the publisher exercising a power higher than the + law and erecting a caste distinction! "What fools these mortals be!"</p> + <p>But whatever may be said of the historical value of such books as the above, there + can be little doubt that they are remunerative business enterprises, for the country + has of late years been flooded with them. Perhaps we ought to be thankful for any + history at all of these new Western cities, even though the wheat therein be so + scarce and the chaff so plenty. The prevalence of this same affliction—the + biographical history—in literary New England seems more anomalous than it does + in the West, but it is even more widespread. A fair type of the Eastern species is + the Quarter-Centennial History of Lawrence, Massachusetts, compiled by H.A. + Wadsworth, in 1878. It contained seventy-five very poor wood-engravings, called + portraits by courtesy, which, with the accompanying biographies, were inserted to + represent the leading (?) men of the city at an entrance fee of five or ten dollars + apiece.</p> + <p>Next in number below the biographical histories, but far above them in value, come + what may be called the chronological histories, that is, those which make little or + no attempt to group the important facts of a city's history in homogeneous chapters, + but which, diary-like, give all facts, important as well as insignificant, in the + order of their occurrence. Fortunately most local historians of this sect have made + more or less attempt at bringing like to like, although they have generally preserved + the purely chronological order within their groups, whether these be of subjects or + periods. Among the histories of the larger cities, Scharf's Chronicles of Baltimore + comes to mind as typical of this class. This work, published in 1874, is an octavo of + seven hundred and fifty-six pages. The author tells the truth when he says in his + preface: "The only plan in the work that has been followed has been to chronicle + events through the years in their order; beginning with the earliest in which any + knowledge on the subject is embraced, and running on down to the present." The book + is printed "solid," with not a single chapter-heading from one end to the other, so + it is not strange that it contains such an immense amount of material.</p> + <p>The great fault of this book, as of all books of this class, is the lack of the + proper classification, the scholarly reflection and comment, the thoughtful contrast + and comparison, the exercise of intelligent judgment in forming + conclusions,—all which are necessary to make history palatable, not to say + valuable. Nowhere is this lack shown more forcibly than in this book in the treatment + of the subject of riots and mob violence. It may not be generally known, especially + among the younger portion of the community, that no American and but few European + cities have such an unenviable and disgraceful record on this head as Baltimore. The + accounts of its riots remind one too forcibly of the worst days of the French + Revolution, and all of them read more like the incidents so plentiful in the + sensational stories of the day, than like the cold, dispassionate record of history. + And this, mind you, is the record of a city famed far more for monuments, + pleasure-grounds, and beautiful women, than for lawlessness and sans-culottism, a + city proud of its families and its culture, a city one of the oldest and richest in + the land. However unpleasant it may be to look at the black side of such a city's + history, yet the study must be profitable if by it we Americans, proud of our + tolerance and our humanity, jealous of aught past or present that may blot our + escutcheon, wondering at and scornfully pitying nations that could have had Lord + George Gordon riots and blood-thirsty land-leagues, a reign of terror and a + commune,—if we may learn not to be quite so arrogant in our righteousness, + quite so boastful in our Pharisaism; if we may learn how much reason we of the New + World have to bear in mind, when we read about the past and present of the Old World, + the divine command: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at + her."</p> + <a name="page321" id="page321"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 321]</span> + <p>Yet Scharf gives merely the bare details of these, the most vivid scenes in + Baltimore's history, and goes little into causes or results, leaving us almost wholly + in the dark as to how a civilized city in the most enlightened country on earth could + have grafted on its history such anomalous things as these riots. This feature of + Baltimore's history seems to us to be the feature most peculiar to itself, and, + therefore, like that feature of a human face peculiar to the person we are studying, + the most interesting; but our historian gives it no distinctive treatment, puts no + emphasis on it, forces the reader to compare, contrast, account for, explain, and + draw conclusions for himself. That he should slide over this side of Baltimore's + history would be natural enough, but of this he cannot be accused. His treatment of + this subject is characteristic of the whole book.</p> + <p>As a good example of an even more disappointing type of chronological histories we + may take the History of Lynn, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant, by + Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall, an octavo of six hundred and twenty pages, + published in 1865. The book seems to have been condensed from a series of very poor + diaries, and the mass of detail under the year-headings is ridiculous in its + minuteness and laughable in its absurdity. Every year has its paragraphic entries, + more or less full. The narrative of one year may here be quoted to show the nature of + the whole, and, for that matter, the nature of fifty similar town histories.</p> + <blockquote> + 1758. "Thomas Mansfield, Esquire, was thrown from his horse on Friday, January 6, + and died the next Sunday. + </blockquote> + <blockquote> + "A company of soldiers, from Lynn, marched for Canada, on the twenty-third of May. + Edmund Ingalls and Samuel Mudge were killed. + </blockquote> + <blockquote> + "In a thunder-shower, on the fourth of August, an ox belonging to Mr. Henry Silsbee + was killed by lightning. + </blockquote> + <blockquote> + "A sloop from Lynn, commanded by Captain Ralph Lindsay, was cast away on the + fifteenth of August, near Portsmouth." + </blockquote> + <p>In this pretended "History," the whole of the eighteenth century receives but + sixty-two pages, and that part of the nineteenth which had elapsed at the time of + publication receives only one hundred and seventeen. In the latter an average entry + is the following, under date of 1856:—</p> + <a name="page322" id="page322"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 322]</span> + <blockquote> + "Patrick Buckley, the 'Lynn Buck,' ran five miles in twenty-eight minutes and + thirty-eight seconds, at the Trotting Park, for a belt valued at fifty dollars. And + on the fourth of December, William Hendley ran the same distance in twenty-eight + minutes and thirty seconds." + </blockquote> + <p>The "Lynn Buck," seems to have been an important personage in those days, for we + read under date of 1858:—</p> + <blockquote> + "The 'Lynn Buck,' so called, walked a plank at Lowell, in February, a hundred and + five consecutive hours and forty-four minutes, and with but twenty-nine minutes' + rest. A strict watch was kept on him." + </blockquote> + <p>We are very glad to know about the "strict watch," but really it was too bad of + the authors not to let us know if those forty-four minutes, also, were not + consecutive. They might, too, have told us to advantage something about the <i>modus + operandi</i> of "walking a plank." It has been the general impression that the man + who walks a plank performs the operation in an unpleasant hurry—unpleasant for + him; and that he will take all the rest he can get—before he begins; and that + he has an eternal rest, or unrest, after he has finished. But perhaps this has been a + wrong impression. If the authors are alive, it is due to the public that they should + rise and explain.</p> + <p>Enough of pleasantry. Let us examine the book with serious mind, if we can. + Everybody knows that shoes have been the making of Lynn, that they are and have been + for years the backbone of its prosperity, the life of its business. To say that Lynn + is the greatest shoe-manufacturing city in the country, and, for that matter, in the + world, may be an exaggeration, but it is a very common one. In a history of Lynn we + might expect this fact to be at least recognized. Let us see how that is in the + present case.</p> + <p>The shoe business was not unknown in Lynn before 1750, but in that year it first + got a firm footing here. So we are not surprised to find the fact mentioned, but we + are somewhat disappointed to find only half a page given to it. Beyond this, mention + of the shoe trade in the last century is very slight, as, no doubt, was the trade + itself. Since 1800, however, the trade has been rapidly increasing, and has gradually + assumed enormous proportions. Yet in this precious volume we find the subject + mentioned just once in the chronological annals, <i>three lines</i> being devoted to + it under the head of 1810: "It appeared, by careful estimation, that there were made + in Lynn, this year, one million pairs of shoes, valued at eight hundred thousand + dollars. The females (!) earned some fifty thousand dollars by binding." To be sure, + the burning of two shoe factories received, respectively, two and three lines; the + formation of an ineffective board of trade by shoemakers, ten lines; and of an + equally fruitless union by journeymen shoemakers, ten lines. A page and a quarter + (<i>mirabile dictu</i>) is devoted to a shoemakers' strike with no definite result. + In a biography, the connection of its subject with the shoe business is mentioned in + a quoted letter. A quick job by a shoemaker receives six lines, and one by another, + four; and the death of a third is mentioned.</p> + <a name="page323" id="page323"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 323]</span> + <p>In an appendix the state of the shoe business in 1864 is discussed at length in a + third of a half-page! All we learn from it is that by the State returns in the year + ending June 1, 1833, there were made 9,275,593 pairs of shoes valued at $4,165,529. + In the year ending September 1, 1864, about ten million pairs of shoes were made, + valued at fourteen million dollars (probably paper, not gold, value), and the number + of shoe manufacturers was 174; of men and women employed, 17,173. As the total + population of Lynn at that time was little if anything over twenty-three thousand, it + will be seen that even these figures are untrustworthy, or else the shoe business + played even a greater part in Lynn affairs than is generally supposed.</p> + <p>And this is all the mention to be found in a History of Lynn concerning the + backbone of the city—that great industry to which it almost wholly owed its + population of 38,274 in 1880. Can any one maintain that this sort of a book is a + history?</p> + <p>And so we might go on, finding history after history of the towns and cities + scattered through New England and the Middle States, most of them on a par with those + last mentioned, in all styles of print and binding, some decrepit and musty with age, + others fresh and enticing, with gaudy covers and scores of illustrations; some like + Sewall's History of Woburn with no table of contents or index, and so practically + useless; a few like Staples's Annals of Providence, scholarly and creditable; yet + none of them ideal histories. But occasionally we meet an oasis in this vast waste, + and though it may not be a paradise, yet we are too grateful for the water that + nourishes the palms and the grass, that refreshes our parched mouths and wearied + bodies, to think that in other climes we might call it brackish and unclean.</p> + <p>Such is the effect that the History of Pittsfield, Massachusetts has on us. Here + is a book that might well be taken as a standard by town historians. The very history + of the History will show its merits.</p> + <p>At a town meeting held in the Town Hall, in Pittsfield, August 25, 1866, so the + preface says, Mr. Thomas Allen rose, and stated that on the centennial of the First + Congregational Church and parish, namely, April 18, 1864, he had been requested by a + vote of the parish to prepare an historical memoir of that parish and church, + embodying substantially, but extending, the remarks he made at that meeting. He + stated that, in looking over the records of the town and parish, he found them + intimately connected, so that a history of the one would also be a history of the + other; and he had found the history of the town highly interesting, and honorable to + its inhabitants. True, there were no classic fields in Pittsfield, consecrated by + patriotic blood spilled in battle in defence of the country, as in Lexington and + Concord, simply because no foreign foe in arms ever invaded its soil; but it was not + the less true that Pittsfield had always promptly performed her part, and furnished + her quota of men and means, in every war waged in defence of the country and the + Union; and that in the intellectual contests through which the just principles of + republican government, and civil and religious freedom, have been established in this + country, the men of Pittsfield, on their own ground and elsewhere, have ever borne a + part creditable alike to their wisdom, their sagacity, and their patriotism. + Pittsfield, therefore, had a history which deserved to be written. The first settlers + had all passed away; and their immediate descendants, witnesses of their earlier + struggles, were whitening with the frosts of age, and were also rapidly disappearing. + If the records of their history were to be gathered together, and preserved in a + durable form, it was time that the duty be undertaken. He was satisfied that an + honorable record would appear, and worthy of the place to which God had given so much + that is beautiful in nature.</p> + <a name="page324" id="page324"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 324]</span> + <p>These remarks were so sensible, their spirit was so noble, their form so forcible, + that at once a committee of five was appointed to compile, write, and supervise the + publication of a history of the town, and an appropriation was made to defray the + expense. This committee chose Mr. J.E.A. Smith to aid them, and, according to the + title-page, he compiled and wrote the book under their general direction. It was + published in two octavo volumes: the first contained five hundred and eighteen pages, + and appeared in 1868, bringing the history from 1734 down to 1800; the second, + containing seven hundred and twenty-five pages, was not published until eight years + later. The second volume brought the history down to date, and with the first formed + an unbroken, readable narrative, written in perhaps as good a style as town history + could warrant us in expecting. Not the least deserving of praise are the indexes, the + lack of which found in most books of the sort does more to lower their value than any + other defect. The man who writes a history without indexing it thereby shows his + utter lack of the most essential requisite in an historian—a knowledge of the + art of codification. He also calls down upon his head the curses of every student who + tries to use his book.</p> + <p>An abundance of illustrations is not rare enough in town histories to merit + applause, but they are so seldom worth looking at that the presence of such admirable + ones as we find here attracts more than passing notice. If American art were to be + judged by the generality of such illustrations, we would do well to say as little as + possible about the slurs and sneers of foreign critics. In such case silence would be + the better plan.</p> + <p>The preface to the second volume contained the following suggestive + sentences:—</p> + <blockquote> + "The original plan of the work was to make the earlier portions more full than the + later: indeed, to give but a brief skeleton of recent affairs: it being exceedingly + difficult to make contemporary history satisfactory to those who have taken part in + it. We have, in a few instances, departed from this course, for reasons which will + suggest themselves to the reader." + </blockquote> + <p>In these sentences may be found the germ of almost the only idea in the making of + this truly admirable book which deserves severe criticism, and most certainly the + severest condemnation should be given to this and all similar ideas. The notion that + history should be written in a way that will be <i>satisfactory</i> to those engaged + in it is radically wrong, unless perchance by a <i>satisfactory</i> way is meant a + way that in point of truth, accuracy, and fulness, will suit those who have a more or + less personal share in the events to be recorded. But here it is evident that the + word has not this meaning, or at least has a great deal more than this meaning. In + this connection it seems to be a euphemism for <i>pleasant</i>. Certainly no one will + dispute that an historian of contemporary events would find very difficult even the + attempt to make his work pleasant to his contemporaries. It is the endeavor to do + this which has vitiated all the histories so far written of the late Civil War. The + same principle made Thiers's French Revolution an almost worthless book as a history. + To come down to lesser things, the same principle underlying and pervading all + American local histories has done more toward making them worthless than any other + single defect. In the name of truth and justice we ask, "Why should the writing of + history be made satisfactory, pleasant, to those who aid in the making of it?" We + want the <i>truth</i> about the near, as well as the far, past. Let us do unto our + descendants as we would that our ancestors had done by us, and tell them the truth + about ourselves.</p> + <a name="page325" id="page325"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 325]</span> + <p>Perhaps we ought to be more lenient in the case of this history of Pittsfield, in + consideration of the fact that this was a <i>public</i> work, and, therefore, more + caution had to be exercised than we would otherwise have expected. Of course no + employee would like to displease even a single member of the corporation that + employed him. Possibly the same argument might be raised in defence of any historian, + in that the public is virtually his employer. Here, however, reasoning by analogy + fails, for the public is a very large body, and will seldom take up the cudgel in + defence of any single individual. This is a question, however, which should be + settled on the ground of right, not of expediency. But even if the right be left out + of account, the expedient in this case is not necessarily opposed to truth and + accuracy. This is well shown by the phenomenal success of The Memorial History of + Boston, mentioned above. It may be well just here to say a little more about this + admirable work, for it is even more typical of what an ideal city history should be, + than that of Pittsfield is of the ideal town history.</p> + <p>From the title-page we learn that The Memorial History of Boston, including + Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, was edited by Justin Winsor, and issued + under the business superintendence of the projector, Clarence F. Jewett, in 1880. The + nature of the book is learned from the preface, which says: "The history is cast on a + novel plan: not so much in being a work of co-operation, but because, so far as could + be, the several themes, as sections of one homogeneous whole, have been treated by + those who have some particular association and, it may be, long acquaintance with the + subject. In the diversity of authors there will, of course, be variety of opinions, + and it has not been thought ill-judged, considering the different points of view + assumed by the various writers, that the same events should be interpreted sometimes + in varying and, perhaps, opposite ways. The chapters may thus make good the poet's + description:</p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="line"> + 'Distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea,'— + </div> + </div> + <p>and may not be the worse for each offering a reflection, according to its turn to + the light, without marring the unity of the general expanse."</p> + <p>Among those who contributed one or more chapters to this work were Justin Winsor + (the editor), Charles Francis Adams, Jr., R.C. Winthrop, T.W. Higginson, Edward + Everett Hale, H.E. Scudder, F.W. Palfrey, Phillips Brooks, Andrew P. Peabody, Henry + Cabot Lodge, Josiah P. Quincy, and Edward Atkinson. Such names as these are more than + enough to insure the truth, accuracy, and historical value of the book. Each one of + them discussed one or more topics, and then their work with that of the less famous + contributors was arranged chronologically, making a logically consecutive series of + essays complete in themselves. The whole was published in four elegantly printed + volumes, containing, in all, twenty-five hundred and seventy-seven pages.</p> + <a name="page326" id="page326"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 326]</span> + <p>This is the kind of a history which is of value, not only for immediate use, but + also for future reference; and this is the kind that gladdens the heart and cheers + the labors of the student and the writer. It is the lack of such histories which + makes incomplete and unsatisfactory such works as the one in the hands of the + government which called forth this article. For it must not be supposed that the + historical part of The Social Statistics of Cities of 1880 will be either complete in + every part or wholly satisfactory. Yet perhaps it will be complete enough to answer + its end, which is to afford an opportunity for seeing why the cities and towns + described have reached their present condition. It is on the accounts of their + present condition that the value of the work must chiefly rest.</p> + <p>To the historians in succeeding generations these accounts will be invaluable, for + they will give information about the cities as they were in the year 1880, which is + not likely to be embodied in any other permanent form. It has been shown how large a + proportion of the local histories of America have been found wanting in these things. + It is not to be expected that the immediate future will see any decided reformation. + Then it is clear of how great value to the "future historian of recent events," to + quote one of Daniel Webster's phrases, will be such work as this that has been + undertaken by the National government. It will be of so great value because, as we + can say with little exaggeration, the history of the cities is the history of the + nation. The city to-day plays a most important part in national affairs. It is, + indeed, and for aught we can see must continue to be, the Hamlet of the play. Few + people realize this. Few people know that over one fifth of the population of the + land is gathered in the large towns and cities. At the beginning of the century the + ratio of the urban population to the rural was only as one to fifteen. No reason is + apparent why the increase in the ratio should not be equally steady and rapid for + many generations. That this same change has taken place in all <i>civilized</i> + portions of the world is, in truth, most significant. In England the progress of the + cities has been in the same direction, and, as nearly as can be judged, in the same + ratio as that of wealth, learning, and happiness.</p> + <p>Call to mind what Macaulay said, nearly half a century ago, in chapter iii of his + History of England: "Great as has been the change in the rural life of England since + the Revolution (1688), the change which has come to pass in the cities is still more + amazing. At present, a sixth part of the kingdom is crowded into provincial towns of + more than thirty thousand inhabitants. In the reign of Charles II, no provincial town + in the kingdom contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and only four provincial towns + contained so many as ten thousand inhabitants." Since this was written, the change, + if not so marvelous, has been equally important.</p> + <p>As to our own country, the change can in no way be shown more clearly than by the + following table, which will be published in the Census Report:—</p> + <a name="page327" id="page327"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 327]</span> + <h3 style="font-variant: small-caps;">Table Showing The Growth Of United States + Cities From 1800 To 1880.</h3> + <table summary="Table Showing The Growth Of United States Cities From 1800 To 1840." + border="1"> + <tr> + <th> + </th> + <th colspan="2">1800</th> + <th colspan="2">1820</th> + <th colspan="2">1830</th> + <th colspan="2">1840</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Population of the United States</th> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">5,308,483</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">9,633,822</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">12,866,020</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">17,069,453</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Cities</th> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>10,000 to 49,999</th> + <td>161,134</td> + <td>.03</td> + <td>214,270</td> + <td>.021</td> + <td>316,360</td> + <td>.025</td> + <td>461,671</td> + <td>.027</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>50,000 to 99,999</th> + <td>24,945</td> + <td>.0047</td> + <td>43,997</td> + <td>.0046</td> + <td>83,960</td> + <td>.0065</td> + <td>150,682</td> + <td>.0088</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>100,000 to 499,999</th> + <td>60,989</td> + <td>.011</td> + <td>186,293</td> + <td>.019</td> + <td>278,067</td> + <td>.021</td> + <td>504,016</td> + <td>.029</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Over 500,000</th> + <td>104,113</td> + <td>.019</td> + <td>194,683</td> + <td>.02</td> + <td>289,980</td> + <td>.0225</td> + <td>447,078</td> + <td>.025</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Grand total</th> + <td>351,181</td> + <td>.068</td> + <td>639,243</td> + <td>.069</td> + <td>968,367</td> + <td>.075</td> + <td>1,563,487</td> + <td>.091</td> + </tr> + </table> + <br /> + + <table summary="Table Showing The Growth Of United States Cities From 1850 To 1880." + border="1"> + <tr> + <th> + </th> + <th colspan="2">1850</th> + <th colspan="2">1860</th> + <th colspan="2">1870</th> + <th colspan="2">1880</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Population of the United States</th> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">23,191,876</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">31,433,321</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">38,558,783</td> + <td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">50,155,783</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Cities</th> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + <td>Aggregate Population</td> + <td>Per cent. to Total Population</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>10,000 to 49,999</th> + <td>990,080</td> + <td>.043</td> + <td>1,654,183</td> + <td>.052</td> + <td>2,526,432</td> + <td>.066</td> + <td>3,479,658</td> + <td>.069</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>50,000 to 99,999</th> + <td>314,182</td> + <td>.013</td> + <td>446,575</td> + <td>.014</td> + <td>676,990</td> + <td>.017</td> + <td>947,918</td> + <td>.019</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>100,000 to 499,999</th> + <td>933,039</td> + <td>.04</td> + <td>1,483,472</td> + <td>.047</td> + <td>2,302,961</td> + <td>.059</td> + <td>3,087,592</td> + <td>.06</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Over 500,000</th> + <td>763,724</td> + <td>.033</td> + <td>1,750,020</td> + <td>.055</td> + <td>2,311,410</td> + <td>.06</td> + <td>3,123,317</td> + <td>.062</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>Grand total</th> + <td>3,001,025</td> + <td>.13</td> + <td>5,334,250</td> + <td>.17</td> + <td>7,817,793</td> + <td>.20</td> + <td>10,638,485</td> + <td>.21</td> + </tr> + </table> + <p>The city is not only the growing centre of a growing nation—it is also the + centre of all intellectual growth. The city is the home of the bar, the hospital, the + press, the church, and the state. The city is the outcome of civilization, for it is + the product of commerce and manufactures, and these mean civilization.</p> + <p>Then if any history be of value, if the record of the past be of any use in + guiding the present and helping toward the future, surely the history of the city is + the most important of all history.</p> + <a name="page328" id="page328"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 328]</span> + <h2>PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT.</h2> + <blockquote> + <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">A Short History Of Our Own Times.</span> By + Justin McCarthy, M.P. One volume, pp. 448. Harper and Brothers: New York. 1884. + </blockquote> + <p>The brilliant History of Our Own Times, in two volumes, by the same author, and + published four years ago, has now been presented to the public in a reduced size. + While it was necessary to leave out many of the striking and rhetorical passages in + the process of condensation, which formed so pleasing a portion in the larger work, + the strictly historical matter remains unchanged. His history, beginning with the + accession of Queen Victoria, in 1837, and extending to the general election, in 1880, + the date of the appointment of the Honorable W.E. Gladstone to the premiership of + England, covers a period of intense interest, and with which every intelligent person + should be familiar. Mr. McCarthy's work is destined to be, for some time to come, the + standard account of English affairs for the last fifty years.</p> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <p>One of the most valuable reference works of recent publication is The Epitome of + Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern History. By Carl Ploetz. Translated from the + German, with extensive additions, by William H. Tillinghast, of the Harvard + University library. One volume. pp. 618. Houghton, Mifflin, and Company: Boston. + 1884.</p> + <p>The author of the original work, Professor Doctor Carl Ploetz, is well known in + Germany as a veteran teacher and writer of educational books which have a high + reputation, excellence, and authority. With regard to the present work, it should be + observed that it has passed through seven editions in Germany. As a book of + reference, either for the student or the general reader, its tested usefulness is a + sufficient guaranty for its wide adoption in the present enlarged form. The scope of + The Epitome may be summarized as follows: Universal history is first treated by + dividing it into three periods. First, ancient history, from the earliest historical + information to the year 375 A.D. Second, mediæval, from that date to the + discovery of America, in 1492. Third, modern history, from the last date to the year + 1883.</p> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <p>We have received from the author, the Honorable Samuel Abbott Green, M.D., a + pamphlet entitled "Notes on a Copy of Dr. William Douglass's Almanack for 1743, + touching on the subject of medicine in Massachusetts before his time." It is + specially interesting to the members of the medical fraternity, as well as to + antiquaries.</p> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <p><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Correction.</span>—The article upon + Lovewell's fight at Pigwacket, printed in the February number of the Bay State (page + 83), contained a trifling error, but one which deserves correction. It is stated that + the township of land with which the General Court, in 1774, rewarded the services of + the troops under Lovewell, was subsequently divided, forming the towns of Lovell and + New Sweden. The mistake was upon the name of the latter town. It should have been + written Sweden. New Sweden is the recent Swedish colony of Aroostook County.</p> + <p style="text-align: right;">I.B.C.</p> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <a name="page329" id="page329"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 329]</span> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image4_full.png"><img src="images/image4_thumbnail.png" + alt="Boar's Head House" /></a> + <p>Boar's Head House</p> + </div> + <p>From the eastern end of Long Island, toward the west and south, extends a dreary + monotony of sandbeach along the whole Atlantic coast, to the extreme southern cape of + Florida, thence along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the Rio Grande, broken only + by occasional inlets. The picturesque coast scenery is mostly north and east of Cape + Cod. Following along the seaboard from Cape Ann, one comes, a few miles north of the + mouth of the Merrimack River, in view of a bold promontory extending into the waters + of the Atlantic, and aptly named, in years agone, Boar's Head.</p> + <p>The traveler in search of a delightful seaside resort for the summer need go no + further. For here, amidst the most charming of marine scenery, that veteran landlord + and genial host, Stebbins H. Dumas, has erected, for the benefit of the public, a + hotel, spacious, well appointed, and ably conducted; inviting and especially + homelike; every room commanding a view of the ocean.</p> + <a name="page330" id="page330"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 330]</span> + <p>Boar's Head is a promontory; its level summit of about a dozen acres, sixty feet + above the highest tide, clothed in the greenest verdure. It is in the form of a + triangle, the cliffs on two sides of which are lashed by the waves of the restless + ocean; while toward the main, the land falls away gently to the level of the marshes. + The hotel is situate on the crest of this incline. From the veranda, which commands + the landward view, the prospect is wide and pleasing. To the north trends Hampton + Beach in a long sweep to Little Boar's Head and the shores of Rye and Newcastle; + inland are broad stretches of salt marsh, its surface interwoven with the silver + ribbon of the creek and stream; beyond are glimpses of restful rustic scenes, + improved by near approach; spires pointing heavenward from all the peaceful villages, + and, further away, Agamenticus and the granite hills of New England; to the south, + the beach runs on toward Salisbury and Newburyport. But the great view from Boar's + Head is from the ocean apex of the promontory. Here, beneath the grateful shade of an + awning, with the waves breaking rythmically at the foot of the cliff far beneath, one + can sit and ponder on the immensity of the ocean and dream of the lands beyond the + horizon. From here the whole seaboard, from Thatcher's Island to York and Wells, is + in view; the Isles of Shoals loom up on the horizon, while the offing is dotted with + coasters and yachts of every rig and construction. Calm, indeed, must it be when no + wind is felt on Boar's Head; and during those exceptional days of the summer, when + the land-breeze prevails, the broad verandas around three sides of the hotel afford + the most grateful shade. The broad acres between the house and the bluff is a lawn + for the use of the guests, where croquet and tennis may be highly enjoyed in the + invigorating ocean air.</p> + <p>During the evening, when the atmosphere is clear, there are visible from the Head + thirteen lighthouses. When the shades of night and the dew have driven the guests to + seek shelter within doors, the great parlor affords to the young people ample room + for the cotillion or German, while the reception-room, office, and reading-room lure + the seniors to whist or magazines. Of a Sunday, the dining-room answers for a chapel; + and in years past, the voice of many an eloquent preacher has echoed through the + room, and reached, through the open windows, hardy but devout fishermen on the + outside.</p> + <p>These same fishermen bring great codfish from the outlying shoals, delicious clams + from the flats, canvas-back duck, and teal, and yellow-leg plovers from the marshes, + to tempt the delicate appetite of the valetudinarian.</p> + <p>Boar's Head is on the seacoast of the old town of Hampton, in the State of New + Hampshire. Taking a team from Mr. Dumas' well-stocked stable, one will find the most + delightful drives, extending in all directions through the ancient borough. The roads + follow curves, like the drives in Central Park, and two centuries and a half of wear + have rendered them as solid and firm as if macadamized. Three short miles from the + hotel is the station of Hampton, on the Eastern Railroad, by which many trains pass + daily.</p> + <a name="page331" id="page331"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 331]</span> + <div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/image5_full.png"><img src="images/image5_thumbnail.png" alt="" /> + </a> + </div> + <p>For the historical student the region affords much of interest. Here, in the + village of Hampton, in the year 1638, in the month of October, settled the Reverend + Stephen Batchelder [Bachiler] and his followers, intent to serve God in their own way + and establish homes in the wilderness. The river and adjoining country was then known + as Winnicunnett. The settlers, for the most part, came from Norfolk, England, and so + desirable did they find their adopted home that many descendants of the original + grantees occupy to-day the land opened and cleared by their ancestors. In this town, + in 1657, settled Ebenezer Webster, the direct progenitor of the Great Expounder, and + here the family remained for several generations.</p> + <p>Within the limits of the old township, which was bounded on the south by the + present Massachusetts line, on the north by Portsmouth and Exeter, and extended ten + miles inland, were included the territory of some half dozen of the adjoining + townships of to-day. Here lived Meshach Weare, who guided the New Hampshire ship of + state through the troublous times of the Revolution. Over yonder, near the site of + the first log meeting-house, is pointed out the gambrel-roofed house of General + Jonathan Moulton, the great land-owner. He it was, in the good old colony days, who + drove a very large and fat ox from his township of Moultonborough, and delivered it + to the jovial Governor Wentworth as a present to his excellency, and said there was + nothing to pay. When the governor insisted on making some return, General Moulton + informed him that there was an ungranted gore of land adjoining his earlier grant + which he would accept. In this manner he came into possession of the town of New + Hampton—a very ample return for the ox; at least, so asserts tradition.</p> + <p>Colonel Christopher Toppan, in those early days, was largely engaged in + ship-building. For many years the people of Hampton were employed in domestic and + foreign commerce, and it was not until the advent of the railroad that Hampton + surrendered its dreams of commercial aggrandizement.</p> + <a name="page332" id="page332"></a><span class="newpage">[pg 332]</span> + <p>One road leads up the coast to Rye and Portsmouth; another, through a most + charming country, to Exeter; another, to Salisbury and Newburyport, and many others + inland in every direction.</p> + <p>Boar's Head is the best base from which to operate to rediscover the whole + adjoining territory.</p> + <p>The first house on the Head was built, in 1808, by Daniel Lamprey, whose son, + Jeremiah Lamprey, began to entertain guests about 1820. The first public house in the + vicinity, a part of the present Boar's Head House, was built, in 1826, by David Nudd + and associates. From them it came, in 1865, into the possession of Stebbins Hitchcock + Dumas, who, nineteen years before, had commenced hotel life at the Phenix, in + Concord. Under Mr. Dumas' management the house has grown steadily in size as well as + in popularity, until to-day it ranks as one of the great seaside caravansaries of the + Atlantic coast.</p> + <p>When a fisherman in his wanderings through the forest discovers a pond or stream + well stocked with sparkling trout, he keeps his information to himself, and + frequently revisits his treasure. So is it apt to be with the tourist and + pleasure-seeker. Here, season after season, have appeared the same men and the same + families—noticeably those who appreciate a table supplied with every delicacy + of the season, served up in the most tempting manner.</p> + <p>Has the guest a desire to compete with the fishermen, he is furnished every + convenience, and by a basket of fish "expressed" to some distant friend can + demonstrate his piscatorial powers. On the favoring beach, hard by the hotel, are + bathhouses where one can prepare to sport in the refreshing billows. The halls and + rooms of the hotel were built before those days when those who resort to the seabeach + were expected to be accommodated within the area of their Saratoga trunks. Spacious, + comfortably furnished, each opening on a view of the ocean, the rooms of the hotel + are very attractive and pleasing.</p> + <p>The hotel is opened for the reception of the public early in June, and remains + open into October, before the last guest departs.</p> + <p>The gentle poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, thus writes of Hampton Beach:—</p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + "I sit alone: in foam and spray + </div> + <div class="line"> + Wave after wave + </div> + <div class="line"> + Breaks on the rocks.—which, stern and gray, + </div> + <div class="line"> + Shoulder the broken tide away,— + </div> + <div class="line"> + Or murmurs hoarse and strong through mossy cleft and cave. + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + "What heed I of the dusty land + </div> + <div class="line"> + And noisy town? + </div> + <div class="line"> + I see the mighty deep expand + </div> + <div class="line"> + From its white line of glimmering sand + </div> + <div class="line"> + To where the blue of heaven on bluer waves shuts down. + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + "In listless quietude of mind + </div> + <div class="line"> + I yield to all + </div> + <div class="line"> + The change of cloud and wave and wind; + </div> + <div class="line"> + And passive, on the flood reclined, + </div> + <div class="line"> + I wander with the waves, and with them rise and fall. + </div> + </div> + <hr class="thoughtbreak" /> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="line"> + "So then, beach, bluff, and wave, farewell! + </div> + <div class="line"> + I bear with me + </div> + <div class="line"> + No token stone nor glittering shell; + </div> + <div class="line"> + But long and oft shall memory tell + </div> + <div class="line"> + Of this brief thoughtful hour of musing by the sea." + </div> + </div> + </div> + <hr class="full" /> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag1">return</a>) + <p>Memorial History of Boston, vol. i, p. 119.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag2">return</a>) + <p>Williamson's History of Belfast.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag3">return</a>) + <p>Vol. i, p. 427.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> <b>Footnote 4</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag4">return</a>) + <p>Origin, Organization, etc., of the Towns of New England.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> <b>Footnote 5</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag5">return</a>) + <p>The "lot" was the obligation to perform the public services which might fall to + the inhabitants by due rotation. "Scot" means tax.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> <b>Footnote 6</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag6">return</a>) + <p>Green's Short History of the English People, chap. ii, sec. 6.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> <b>Footnote 7</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag7">return</a>) + <p>The present rathhaus of the quaint old city of Nuremberg, built in 1619, is a + notable building, much visited by travelers. Around the wall of the hall within + runs the legend: "Eins manns red ist eine halbe red, man soll die teyl + verhören bed,"—"One man's talk is a half talk; one should hear both + sides."</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a> <b>Footnote 8</b>: (<a + href="#footnotetag8">return</a>) + <p>Introduction to American Institutional History, Johns Hopkins University Studies + in Historical and Political Science.</p> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue +5, May, 1884, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, *** + +***** This file should be named 13632-h.htm or 13632-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/6/3/13632/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team and Cornell University + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 5, May, 1884 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 5, 2004 [EBook #13632] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team and Cornell University + + + + + +[Illustration: Chester A. Arthur] + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +_A Massachusetts Magazine_. + +VOL. I. + +MAY, 1884. + +No. V. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by John N. +McClintock and Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at +Washington. + + * * * * * + +CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR. + +BY BEN: PERLEY POORE. + + +Chester Alan Arthur was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 5, 1830. His +father, the Reverend Doctor William Arthur, was a Baptist clergyman, who +emigrated from county Antrim, Ireland, when only eighteen years of age. +He had received a thorough classical education, and was graduated from +Belfast University, one of the foremost institutions of learning in +Ireland. Marrying an American, Miss Malvina Stone, soon after his +arrival, he became the father of several children. Chester was the +eldest of two sons, having four sisters older and two younger than +himself. While fulfilling his clerical duties as the pastor, +successively, of a number of Baptist churches in New York State, Dr. +Arthur edited for several years The Antiquarian, and wrote a work on +Family Names, which is highly prized by genealogists. Of Scotch-Irish +descent, he was a man of great force of character, impatient of +restraint, at home in a controversy, and frank in the expression of his +opinions. He was a pronounced emancipationist, although he never +expected to see the overthrow of slavery, which it was his good fortune +to witness, as his life was spared until the twenty-seventh of October, +1875, when he died at Newtonville, near Albany. He was a personal friend +of Gerrit Smith, and they had participated in the organization of the +New York State Anti-Slavery Society, which was dispersed by a mob during +its first meeting at Utica, on the twenty-first of October, 1835 (the +day on which William Lloyd Garrison was mobbed in Boston, and was lodged +in jail for his own protection). A friend of the slave from conscience +and from conviction, Dr. Arthur was never backward in expressing his +convictions, and his children imbibed his teachings. + +When a lad, young Arthur enjoyed at home the tutelage of his father, +whose thorough knowledge of the classics enabled him to lay the +foundation of his son's future education broad and deep. He entered +Union College in 1845, when only fifteen years of age. His collegiate +course was full of promise, and every successive year he was declared to +be one of those who had taken "maximum honors," although he was +compelled to absent himself during two winters, when he taught school to +earn the requisite funds for defraying his expenses, without drawing +upon his father's means. Yet he kept up with his class, and when he was +graduated in 1848, he was one of six out of a class of over one hundred, +who were elected members of the Phi Beta Kappa, an honor only conferred +on the best scholars. + +Following the natural inclination of his mind, young Arthur began the +study of law, supporting himself by teaching and by preparing boys for +college. It so happened that two years after he was the preceptor of an +academy at North Pownal, Vermont, a student from Williams College, named +James A. Garfield, came there and taught penmanship in the same academy +for several months. + +In 1853, young Arthur went to New York City, by the invitation of the +Honorable Erastus D. Culver, whose acquaintance he had made when that +gentleman represented the Washington County district, and Dr. Arthur was +the pastor of the Baptist Church at Greenwich. Mr. Culver had been noted +in Congress as an advanced, anti-slavery man, and he was prompted to +take an interest in the son of a clergyman-constituent, who did not fear +to express anti-slavery sentiments, at a time when the occupants of +pulpits were generally so conservative that they were dumb upon this +important question. Before the close of the year, young Arthur displayed +such legal ability and business tact, that he was admitted into +partnership, and became a member of the firm of Culver, Parker, and +Arthur. The firm had numerous clients, and the junior partner soon +became a successful practitioner, uniting to a thorough knowledge of the +law a vigorous understanding and an untiring industry which gained for +him an enviable reputation. + +Among other cases on the docket of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, was one +known as the Lemon slave-case. A Virginian named Jonathan Lemon +undertook to take eight slaves to Texas on steamers, by the way of New +York. While in that city a writ of _habeas corpus_ was issued, and the +slaves were brought into the court before Judge Elijah Paine; Mr. Culver +and John Jay appearing for the slaves, while H.D. Lapaugh and Henry L. +Clifton were retained by Lemon. Judge Paine, after hearing long +arguments, declared that the fugitive slave law did not apply to slaves +who were brought by their masters into a free State, and he ordered +their release. The Legislature of Virginia directed the attorney-general +of that State to employ counsel to appeal from Judge Paine's decision to +the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Mr. Arthur, who was the +attorney of record in the case for the people, went to Albany, and after +earnest efforts procured the passage of a joint resolution, requesting +the governor to employ counsel to defend the interests of the State. +Attorney-General Hoffman, E.D. Culver, and Joseph Blunt were appointed +by the governor as counsel, and Mr. Arthur as the State's attorney. The +Supreme Court sustained Judge Paine's decision. The slave-holder, +unwilling to lose his "property," then engaged Charles O'Conor to argue +the case before the State Court of Appeals. There the counsel for the +State were again successful in defending the decision of Judge Paine, +and from that day no slave-holder dared to bring his slaves into the +city of New York. + +Mr. Arthur, who had naturally taken a prominent part in this case, was +regarded by the colored people of New York as a champion of their +interests, and it was not long before they sought his aid. At that time, +colored people were not permitted to ride in the street-cars in New York +City, with the exception of a few old and shabby cars set aside for +their occupation. The Fourth-avenue line permitted them to ride when no +other passenger made objection. + +One Sunday, in 1855, Lizzie Jennings, a colored woman, returning from +having fulfilled her duties as superintendent of a colored +Sunday-school, entered a Fourth-avenue car, and the conductor took her +fare. Soon after, a drunken white man objected to her presence, and +insisted that she be made to leave the car. The conductor pulled the +bell, and when the car stopped, told her that she must get out, offering +to return her fare. She refused, and the conductor then offered to put +her off by force. She made vigorous resistance, exclaiming: "I have paid +my fare, and I have a right to ride." Finally, the conductor called in +several policemen, and, by their joint efforts, she was removed from the +car, her clothing having nearly all been torn from her in the struggle. +When the leading colored people of the city heard of this, they sent a +committee to the office of Culver, Parker, and Arthur, and requested +them to make it a test case. + +Mr. Arthur brought suit against the railroad company for Miss Jennings, +in the Supreme Court, at Brooklyn. The case came on for trial before +Judge Rockwell, who then sat upon the bench there. He had just decided, +in a previous case, that a corporation was not liable for the wrongful +acts of its agent or servant, and when Mr. Arthur handed him the +pleadings, he said that the railroad company was not liable, and was +about to order a nonsuit. Mr. Arthur called his attention, however, to a +recently revised section of the Revised Statutes, making certain +railroad corporations which carried passengers liable for the acts of +their conductors and drivers, whether wilful or negligent, under which +the action had been brought. The judge was silenced, the case was tried, +and the jury rendered a verdict of five hundred dollars damages in favor +of the colored woman. The railroad company paid the money without +further contest, and issued orders to its conductors to permit colored +people to ride in its cars, an example that was followed by all the +other street railroads in New York. The colored people, especially "The +Colored People's Legal Rights Association," were very grateful to Mr. +Arthur, and for years afterward they celebrated the anniversary of the +day on which he won the case that asserted their rights in public +conveyances. + +When a lad, young Arthur had always taken a great interest in politics, +and it is related of him that during the Clay-Polk campaign of 1844, +while he and some of his companions were raising an ash pole in honor of +Harry Clay, they were attacked by some Democratic boys, when young +Arthur, who was the leader of the party, ordered a charge, and drove the +young Democrats from the field with sore heads and subdued spirits. His +first vote was cast in 1852 for Winfield Scott for President, and he +identified himself with the Whigs of his ward when he located in New +York City. In those days the best citizens served as inspectors of +elections at the polls, and for some years Mr. Arthur served in that +capacity at a voting-place in a carpenter's shop, which occupied the +site of the present Fifth Avenue Hotel. When, in 1856, the Republican +party was formed, Mr. Arthur was a prominent member of the Young Men's +Vigilance Committee, which advocated the election of Fremont and Dayton. +It was during this campaign that he became acquainted with Edwin D. +Morgan, and gained his ardent life-long friendship. + +Animated by a military spirit, Mr. Arthur sought recreation by joining +the volunteer militia of New York, and he was appointed +judge-advocate-general on the staff of Brigadier-General Yates, who +commanded the second brigade. The general was a strict disciplinarian, +and required his field, line, and staff officers to meet weekly for +drill and instruction. Mr. Arthur thus acquired the rudiments of a +military education, and became acquainted with many of those who +afterwards distinguished themselves as officers in the volunteer army of +the Union. + +General Arthur was married in 1859 to Ellen Lewis Herndon, of +Fredericksburg, Virginia, a daughter of Captain William Lewis Herndon, +of the United States Navy, who had gained honorable distinction when in +command of the naval expedition sent to explore the river Amazon. His +heroic death, in 1857, is recorded in history among those "names which +will never be forgotten as long as there is remembrance in the world for +fidelity unto death." In command of the steamer Central America, which +went down, with a loss of three hundred and sixty lives, he stood at his +post on the wheelhouse, and succeeded in having the women and children +safely transferred to the boats, remaining himself to perish with his +vessel. General Sherman has characterized this grand deed of unselfish +devotion as the most heroic incident in our naval history. Mrs. Arthur +was a lady of the highest culture, and in the varied relations of +life--wife, mother, friend--she illustrated all that gives to womanhood +its highest charm, and commands for it the purest homage. She died in +1880, after an illness of but three days, leaving a son and a daughter, +with a large number of mourning friends, not only in society, of which +she was an ornament, but among the poor and the distressed, whose wants +and whose sufferings she had tenderly cared for. + +When the Honorable Edward D. Morgan was elected Governor of the State of +New York, he appointed Mr. Arthur engineer-in-chief on his staff, and +when Fort Sumter was fired upon, the governor telegraphed to him to go +to Albany, where he received orders to act as state +quartermaster-general in the city of New York. General Arthur at once +began to organize regiments,--uniform, arm, and equip them,--and send +them to the defence of the capital. His capacity for leadership and +organization was soon manifest. There was no lack of men or of money, +but it needed organizing powers like his to mould them into disciplined +form, to grasp the new issues with a master-hand, and to infuse +earnestness and obedience into the citizens, suddenly transformed into +soldiers. His accounts were kept in accordance with the army +regulations, and their subsequent settlement with the United States, +without deduction for unwarranted charges, was an easy task. It was by +his exertions, to a great extent, that the Empire State was enabled to +send to the front six hundred and ninety thousand men, nearly one fifth +of the Grand Army of the Union. + +There were, of course, many adventurers who sought commissions, and some +of the regiments were recruited from the rough element of city life, who +soon refused to obey their officers. General Arthur made short work of +these cases, exercising an authority which no one dared to dispute. +Neither would he permit the army contractors to ingratiate themselves +with him by presents, returning everything thus sent him. Although a +comparatively poor man when he entered upon the duties of +quartermaster-general at New York, he was far poorer when he gave up the +office. A friend describing his course at this period, says: "So jealous +was he of his integrity, that I have known instances where he could have +made thousands of dollars legitimately, and yet he refused to do it on +the ground that he was a public officer and meant to be, like Caesar's +wife, above suspicion." + +When the rebel ironclad steamer Merrimac had commenced her work of +destruction near Fortress Monroe, General Arthur, as engineer-in-chief, +took efficient steps for the defence of New York, and made a thorough +inspection of all the forts and defences in the State, describing the +armament of each one. His report to the Legislature, submitted to that +body in a little more than three weeks after his attention was called to +the subject by Governor Morgan, was thus noticed editorially in the New +York Herald of January 25, 1862:-- + +"The report of the engineer-in-chief, General Arthur, which appeared in +yesterday's Herald, is one of the most important and valuable documents +that have been this year presented to our Legislature. It deserves +perusal, not only on account of the careful analysis it contains of the +condition of the forts, but because the recommendations, with which it +closes, coincide precisely with the wishes of the administration with +respect to securing a full and complete defence of the entire Northern +coast." + +Governor Morgan appointed General Arthur state inspector-general in +February, 1862, and ordered him to visit and inspect the New York troops +in the army of the Potomac. While there, as an advance on Richmond was +daily expected, he volunteered for duty on the staff of his friend, +Major-General Hunt, commander of the Reserve Artillery. He had +previously, when four fine volunteer regiments had been organized under +the auspices of the metropolitan police commissioners of of the city of +New York, and consolidated into what was known as the "Metropolitan +Brigade," been offered the command of it by the colonels of the +regiments, but on making formal application, based on a desire to see +active service in the field, Governor Morgan was unwilling that he +should accept, stating that he could not be spared from the service of +the State, and that while he appreciated General Arthur's desire for +war-service, he knew that he would render the country more efficient aid +for the Union cause by remaining at his State post of duty. + +When, in June, 1862, the situation had an unfavorable appearance, and +there were apprehensions that a general draft would be necessary, +Governor Morgan telegraphed General Arthur, then with the Army of the +Potomac, to return to New York. The General did so, and was requested, +on his arrival, to act as secretary at a confidential meeting of the +governors of loyal States, held at the Astor House, on the twenty-eighth +of July, 1862. After a full and frank discussion of the condition of +affairs in their respective States, the governors united in a request to +the President to call for more troops. President Lincoln, on the first +of July, issued a proclamation, thanking the governors for their +patriotism, and calling for three hundred thousand three-years +volunteers, and three hundred thousand nine-months militia-men. Private +intimation that such a call was to be issued would have enabled army +contractors to have made millions; but the secret was honorably kept by +all until after the issue of the proclamation. The quota of New York was +59,705 volunteers, or sixty regiments, and it was desirable that they +should be recruited and sent to the front without delay. General Arthur, +by special request of Governor Morgan, resumed his duties as +quartermaster-general and established a system of recruiting and +officering the new levies, which proved wonderfully successful. In his +annual report, made to the governor on the twenty-seventh of January, +1863, he said:-- + +"In summing up the operations of the department during the last levy of +troops, I need only state as the result the fact that through the single +office and clothing department of this department in the city of New +York, from August 1 to December 1, the space of four months, there were +completely clothed, uniformed, and equipped, supplied with camp and +garrison equipage, and transported from this State to the seat of war, +sixty-eight regiments of infantry, two battalions of cavalry, and four +battalions and ten batteries of artillery." + +In December, 1863, the incoming of the Democratic state administration +deprived General Arthur of his office. His successor, +Quartermaster-General Talcott, in a report to Governor Seymour, paid the +following just tribute to his predecessor:-- + +"I found, upon entering on the discharge of my duties, a well-organized +system of labor and accountability, for which the State is chiefly +indebted to my predecessor, General Chester A. Arthur, who, by his +practical good sense and unremitting exertion, at a period when +everything was in confusion, reduced the operations of the department to +a matured plan by which large amounts of money were saved to the +government, and great economy of time secured in carrying out the +details of the same." + +Resuming his professional duties, at first in partnership with Mr. +Gardiner and afterward alone, he became counsel to the city department +of taxes and assessments, with an annual salary of ten thousand dollars, +but he abruptly resigned the position when the Tammany Hall city +officials attempted to coerce the Republicans connected with the +municipal departments. + +When the next presidential election drew near, General Arthur entered +enthusiastically into the support of General Grant, and was made +chairman of the Grant Central Club, of New York. He also served as +chairman of the executive committee of the Republican State Committee of +New York. In 1871, he formed the afterwards well-known firm of Arthur, +Phelps, Knevals, and Ransom. + +President Grant, without solicitation and unexpectedly, appointed +General Arthur collector of the port of New York, on the twentieth of +November, 1871. He accepted the position with much hesitation, but it +met with the general approval of the business community, many of the +merchants having become personally acquainted with his business ability +during the war. He instituted many reforms in the management of the +custom-house, all calculated to simplify the business and to divest it, +to a great extent, of all the details and routine so vexatious to the +mercantile classes. The number of his removals during his administration +was far less than during the rule of any other collector since 1857, and +the expense of collecting the duties was far less than it had been for +years. So satisfactory was his management of the custom-house, that, +upon the close of his term of service, December, 1875, he was +renominated by President Grant. The nomination was unanimously confirmed +by the Senate without reference to a committee, a compliment very rarely +paid, except to ex-senators. He was the first collector of the port of +New York, with one or two exceptions, who in fifty years ever held the +office for more than the whole term of four years. + +Two years later General Arthur was superseded as collector by General +Merritt. The Honorable John Sherman, secretary of the treasury, on being +questioned as to the cause of the removal of General Arthur as collector +of customs at New York, said:-- + +"I have never said one word impugning General Arthur's honor or +integrity as a man and a gentleman, but he was not in harmony with the +views of the administration in the management of the custom-house. I +would vote for him for Vice-President a million times before I would +vote for W.H. English, with whom I served in Congress." + +General Arthur, in a letter written by him to Secretary Sherman, on his +administration of the New York custom-house, said:-- + +"The essential elements of a correct civil service I understand to be: +First, permanance in office, which, of course, prevents removals, except +for cause. Second, promotion from the lower to the higher grades, based +upon good conduct and efficiency. Third, prompt and thorough +investigation of all complaints and prompt punishment of all misconduct. +In this respect I challenge comparison with any department of the +Government, either under the present or under any past national +administration. I am prepared to demonstrate the truth of this statement +on any fair investigation." + +Appended to this letter was a table in which General Arthur showed that +during the six years he had managed the office the yearly percentage of +removals for all causes had been only two and three-quarters per cent. +against an annual average of twenty-eight per cent. under his three +immediate predecessors, and an annual average of about twenty-four per +cent. since 1857, when Collector Schell took office. Out of nine hundred +and twenty-three persons who held office when he became collector on +December 1, 1871, there were five hundred and thirty-one still in office +on May 1, 1877, having been retained during his entire term. Concerning +promotions, the statistics of the office show that during his entire +term the uniform practice was to advance men from the lower to the +higher grades, and almost without exception on the recommendation of +heads of departments. All the appointments, excepting two, to the one +hundred positions paying two thousand dollars salary a year, and over, +were made on this method. + +Senator George K. Edmunds, at a ratification meeting, held in +Burlington, Vermont, on the twenty-second of June, 1880, said:-- + +"I have long known General Arthur. The only serious difficulty I have +had with the present administration was when it proposed to remove him +from the collectorship of New York. No one questioned his personal honor +and integrity. I resisted the attempt to the utmost. Since that time it +has turned out that all the reforms suggested had long before been +recommended by General Arthur himself, and pigeonholded at Washington." + +Meanwhile General Arthur had rendered great services as a member, and +subsequently a chairman, of the Republican State Committee, and had +united his party from one success to another through all the mazes and +intricacies which characterize the politics of New York City. +Vice-President Wheeler said of him:-- + +"It is my good fortune to know well General Arthur, the nominee for +Vice-President. In unsullied character and in devotion to the principles +of the Republican party no man in the organization surpasses him. No man +has contributed more of time and means to advance the just interests of +the Republican party." + +The National Republican Convention, which assembled at Chicago, in June, +1880, was an exemplification of the popular will. The respective friends +of General Grant and of Mr. Blaine, equally confident of success, +indulged during a night's session in prolonged demonstrations of +applause when the candidates were presented that were unprecedented and +that will not probably ever be repeated. Neither side was successful +until the thirty-sixth ballot, when the nomination of President was +finally bestowed on General Garfield, who had, as a delegate from Ohio, +eloquently presented the name of John Sherman as a candidate. + +The convention then adjourned for dinner and for consultation. When it +reassembled in the evening, the roll of States was called for the +nomination for Vice-President. California presented E.B. Washburne; +Connecticut, ex-Governor Jewell; Florida, Judge Settle; Tennessee, +Horace Maynard. These successive names attracted little attention, but +when ex-Lieutenant-Governor Woodford, of New York, rose, and, after a +brief reference to the loyal support which New York had given to General +Grant, presented the name of General Chester A. Arthur for the second +place on the ticket, it was received with applause and enthusiasm. The +nomination was seconded by ex-Governor Denison, of Ohio, Emory A. +Storrs, of Illinois, and John Cessna, of Pennsylvania. A vote was then +taken with the following result: Arthur, 468; Washburne, 19; Maynard, +30; Jewell, 44; Bruce, 8; Davis, 2; and Woodford, 1. The nomination of +General Arthur was then made unanimous, and a committee of one from each +State, with the presiding officer of the convention, Senator Hoar, as +chairman, was appointed to notify General Garfield and General Arthur of +their nomination. The convention then adjourned _sine die_. + +Returning to New York, General Arthur was welcomed by a large and +influential gathering of Republicans, who greeted him with hearty +cheers. That night he was serenaded by a large procession of +Republicans, which assembled in Union Square and marched past his +residence in Lexington Avenue, with music and fireworks. A few weeks +later, a letter was addressed to him, signed by Hamilton Fish, Noah +Davis, and upwards of a hundred other prominent Republicans, inviting +him to dine with them at the Union League Club, and stating that, in +common with all true Republicans, they rejoiced at the happy issue of +the earnest struggle in the Chicago convention. They hailed the general +approval of its work as an auspicious omen, and looked forward +confidently to the labors of the canvass. They felt an especial and +personal gratification in the fact that the ticket selected at Chicago +bore his name. His faithfulness in public duties, his firmness and +sagacity in political affairs, so well understood by his fellow-citizens +in New York, had met with national recognition and won for him this +well-deserved honor. Their efforts in his support would be prompted, not +only by personal zeal and enthusiasm, but by the warmth and zeal of +strong personal friendship and esteem. That they might have an +opportunity more fully to express to him their sincere congratulations +and hearty good wishes, they invited him to meet them at dinner at the +Union League Club. + +General Arthur, in acknowledging the receipt of this letter, expressed +his sense of the kindness which had prompted both the invitation itself +and the flattering assurances of confidence and regard by which it was +accompanied. If circumstances had permitted, he should have been pleased +to have accepted the proffered hospitality, and for that purpose no more +congenial spot could have been selected than the headquarters of the +Union League Club, an association so widely famed for its patriotic zeal +and energy, and so efficient in the support of the principles and policy +of the Republican party. He was constrained, however, from +considerations of a private nature known to many, to decline the +invitation. + +On the fifteenth of July, 1880, General Arthur formally accepted the +position assigned to him by the Chicago convention, and expressed at +length his own personal views on the election laws, public service +appointments, the financial problems of the day, common schools, the +tariff, national improvements, and a Republican ascendency, saying, in +conclusion, that he did not doubt that success awaited the Republican +party, and that its triumph would assure a just, economical, and +patriotic administration. + +The political campaign of 1880 was earnestly contested by the great +political parties. The Republicans were victorious, and their ticket +bearing the names of Garfield and Arthur was triumphantly elected. On +the fourth of March, 1881, General Arthur took the oath of office in the +Senate Chamber as Vice-President of the United States, and half an hour +later General Garfield was inaugurated on a platform before the east +front of the Capitol, in the presence of the imposing military and civil +procession which had escorted him with music and banners. When the +ceremony was concluded, the distinguished personages around the new +President tendered their congratulations, the assembled multitude +cheered, and a salute fired by a light battery stationed near by was +echoed by the guns at the navy yard, the arsenal, and the forts around +the metropolis. + +Republicans congratulated each other on the indications of a vigorous +administration, governed by a conscientious determination to promote +harmony. But a few months had elapsed, however, before President +Garfield was cruelly assassinated, in the full vigor of his manhood, and +the Republican party was at first stricken with apprehensions. These +gloomy doubts, however, soon disappeared as the incidents of Mr. +Arthur's patriotic and useful life were recalled, and a generous +confidence was soon extended to the new President. + +President Arthur took the oath of office in New York immediately after +the death of General Garfield, and he repeated it in the Capitol on the +twenty-second of September, in the Vice-President's room. The members of +General Garfield's cabinet, who had been requested by his successor to +continue for the present in charge of their respective departments, were +present, with General Sherman in full uniform, ex-Presidents Hayes and +Grant, and Chief Justice Waite in his judicial robes, escorted by +Associate Justices Harlan and Matthews. There were, also, present +Senators Anthony, Sherman, Edmunds, Hale, Blair, Dawes, and Jones, of +Nevada, and Representatives Amos Townsend, McCook, Errett, Randall, +Hiscock, and Thomas. Ex-Vice-President Hamlin, of Maine, and Speaker +Sharpe, of New York, were also present. + +When President Arthur entered the room, escorted by General Grant and +Senator Jones, he advanced to a small table, on which was a Bible, and +behind which stood the Chief Justice, who raised the sacred volume, +opened it, and presented it to the President, who placed his right hand +upon it. Chief Justice Waite then slowly administered the oath, and at +its conclusion the President kissed the book, responding, "I will, so +help me God." He then read the following address:-- + + +THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + +For the fourth time in the history of the Republic its Chief Magistrate +has been removed by death. All hearts are filled with grief and horror +at the hideous crime which has darkened our land; and the memory of the +murdered President, his protracted sufferings, his unyielding fortitude, +the example and achievements of his life and the pathos of his death, +will forever illumine the pages of our history. For the fourth time the +officer elected by the people and ordained by the Constitution to fill a +vacancy so created is called to assume the executive chair. The wisdom +of our fathers, foreseeing even the most dire possibilities, made sure +that the Government should never be imperiled because of the uncertainty +of human life. Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions +remain unshaken. No higher or more assuring proof could exist of the +strength and permanence of popular government than the fact that, though +the chosen of the people be struck down, his constitutional successor is +peacefully installed without shock or strain except the sorrow which +mourns the bereavement. All the noble aspirations of my lamented +predecessor which found expression in his life, the measures devised and +suggested during his brief administration to correct abuses and enforce +economy, to advance prosperity and promote the general welfare, to +insure domestic security and maintain friendly and honorable relations +with the nations of the earth, will be garnered in the hearts of the +people, and it will be my earnest endeavor to profit, and to see that +the Nation shall profit, by his example and experience. Prosperity +blesses our country; our fiscal policy is fixed by law, is well +grounded, and generally approved. No threatening issue mars our foreign +intercourse, and the wisdom, integrity, and thrift of our people may be +trusted to continue undisturbed the present assured career of peace, +tranquillity, and welfare. The gloom and anxiety which have enshrouded +the country must make repose especially welcome now. No demand for +speedy legislation has been heard. No adequate occasion is apparent for +an unusual session of Congress. The Constitution defines the functions +and powers of the executive as clearly as those of either of the other +two departments of the government, and he must answer for the just +exercise of the discretion it permits and the performance of the duties +it imposes. Summoned to these high duties and responsibilities, and +profoundly conscious of their magnitude and gravity, I assume the trust +imposed by the Constitution, relying for aid on Divine guidance and the +virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of the American people. + + * * * * * + +As President Arthur read his message his voice trembled, but his manner +was impressive, and the eyes of many present were moistened with tears. +The first one to congratulate him when he had concluded was Chief +Justice Waite, and the next was Secretary Blaine. After shaking him by +the hand, those present left the room, which was closed to all except +the members of the Cabinet, who there held their first conference with +the President. At this cabinet meeting the following proclamation was +prepared and signed by President Arthur, designating the following +Monday as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer:-- + + + _By the President of the United States of America_; + + A PROCLAMATION: + + Whereas, in his inscrutable wisdom, it has pleased God to remove + from us the illustrious head of the Nation, James A. Garfield, late + President of the United States; and whereas it is fitting that the + deep grief which fills all hearts should manifest itself with one + accord toward the throne of infinite grace, and that we should bow + before the Almighty and seek from him that consolation in our + affliction and that sanctification of our loss which he is able and + willing to vouchsafe: + + Now, therefore, in obedience to sacred duty, and in accordance with + the desire of the people, I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the + United States of America, do hereby appoint Monday next, the + twenty-sixth day of September, on which day the remains of our + honored and beloved dead will be consigned to their last + resting-place on earth; to be observed throughout the United States + as a day of humiliation and mourning; and I earnestly recommend all + the people to assemble on that day in their respective places of + divine worship, there to render alike their tribute of sorrowful + submission to the will of Almighty God and of reverence and love + for the memory and character of our late Chief Magistrate. + + In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal + of the United States to be affixed. + + [Sidenote: [SEAL.]] + + Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-second day of September, + in the year of our Lord 1881, and of the independence of the United + States the one hundred and sixth. + + CHESTER A. ARTHUR. + + By the President: + + JAMES G. BLAINE. Secretary of State. + +President Arthur soon showed his appreciation of the responsibilities of +his new office. Knowing principles rather than persons, he subordinated +individual preferences and prejudices to a well-defined public policy. +While he was, as he always had been, a Republican, he had no sympathy +for blind devotion to party; he had "no friends to reward, no enemies to +punish;"--and he has been governed by those principles of liberty and +equality which he inherited. His messages to Congress have been +universally commended, and even unfriendly critics have pronounced them +careful and well-matured documents. Their tone is more frank and direct +than is customary in such papers, and their recommendations, extensive +and varied as they have been, show that he has patiently reviewed the +field of labor so sadly and so unexpectedly opened before him, and that +he was not inclined to shirk the constitutional duty of aiding Congress +by his suggestions and advice. An honest man, who believes in his own +principles, who follows his own convictions, and who never hesitates to +avow his sentiments, he has given his views in accordance with his +deliberate ideas of right. + +The foreign relations of the United States have been conducted by +Secretary Frelinghuysen, under the President's direction, in a friendly +spirit and when practicable with a view to mutual commercial advantages. +He has taken a conservative view of the management of the public debt, +approving all the important suggestions of the secretary of the +treasury, and recognizing the proper protection of American industry. He +is in favor of the great interests of labor, and opposed to such +tinkering with the tariff as will make vain the toil of the industrious +farmer, paralyze the arm of the sturdy mechanic, strike down the hand of +the hardy laborer, stop the spindle, hush the loom, extinguish the +furnace-fires, and degrade all independent toilers to the level of the +poor in other lands. The architect of his own fortune, he has a strong +and abiding sympathy for those bread-winners who struggle against +poverty. + +The reform of the civil service has met with President Arthur's earnest +support, and his messages show that every department of the government +has received his careful administration. Following the example of +Washington, he has personally visited several sections of the United +States, and has especially made himself acquainted with the great +problem of Indian civilization. + +President Arthur's administration has been characterized by an elevated +tone at home and abroad. All important questions have been carefully +discussed at the council table, at which the President has displayed +unusual powers of analysis and comprehension. The conflicting claims of +applicants for appointments to offices in his gift, have been carefully +weighed, and no action has been taken until all parties interested have +had a hearing. The President has a remarkable insight into men, promptly +estimating character with an accuracy that makes it a difficult matter +to deceive him, or to win his favor either for visionary schemes, +corrupt attacks upon the treasury, or incompetent place-hunters. He has +shown that he has been guided by a wise experience of the past, and a +sagacious foresight of the future, exhibiting sacrifices of individual +friendship to a sense of public duty. + +Possessing moral firmness and a just self-reliance, President Arthur did +not hesitate about vetoing the "Chinese Bill" and the "Bill making +appropriations for rivers and harbors" for reasons which he laid before +Congress in his veto messages. The wisdom and sagacity which he has +displayed in his management of national affairs has been especially +acceptable to the business interests of the country. They have tested +his administration by business principles, and they feel that, so long +as he firmly grasps the helm of the ship of state, she will pursue a +course of peace and prosperity. + +In dispensing the hospitalities of the White House, President Arthur has +exhibited the resources of a naturally generous disposition and a +refined taste. His remembrance of persons who call upon him, and whom he +may not have seen for years, is remarkable, and his hearty, genial +temperament enables him to make his visitors at home. His vigorous +vitality of body and mind, his manly figure and expressive face, add to +the dignity of his manner. A ready speaker, he at all times rises to the +level of an emergency, and he invariably charms those who hear him by +his courtesy of expression, which is the outward reflection of a large, +kind heart. + +President Arthur's numerous friends contemplate the prominent events of +his eventful life without regret, and with a sincere belief that they +will be sustained by the verdict of impartial history. Utility to the +country has been the rule of his political life, and he has arrived at +that high standard of official excellence which prevailed in the early +days of the Republic, when honesty, firmness, patriotism, and stability +of character were the characteristics of public men. Under his lead, the +Republican party, disorganized and disheartened after the sad death of +General Garfield, has gradually become strengthened and united on the +eve of another presidential victory. + + * * * * * + +YESTERDAY. + +BY KATE L. BROWN. + + + Adown the aisles of yesterday + What fairy notes are ringing, + And strange, sweet odors, rich and rare, + The western winds are bringing! + + The deeds we counted poor and mean, + Now shine with added glory, + And like a romance, reads the page + Of life's poor, meagre story. + + But vanished from our wistful sight, + Too late for vain regretting, + The joys, that the remorseful heart + With sacred gold is setting. + + Ah! dearest of all earthly hopes + Within the soul abiding, + The lost, lost life of yesterday + The heart is ever hiding. + + + + * * * * * + + +THE BOUNDARY LINES OF OLD GROTON.--I. + +BY THE HON. SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D. + + +The original grant of the township of Groton was made by the General +Court, on May 25, 1655, and gave to the proprietors a tract of land +eight miles square; though during the next year this was modified so +that its shape varied somewhat from the first plan. It comprised all of +what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of Pepperell and Shirley, large +parts of Dunstable and Littleton, smaller parts of Harvard and Westford, +Massachusetts, and a portion of Nashua, New Hampshire. The grant was +taken out of the very wilderness, relatively far from any other town, +and standing like a sentinel on the frontiers. Lancaster, fourteen miles +away, was its nearest neighbor in the southwesterly direction on the one +side; and Andover and Haverhill, twenty and twenty-five miles distant, +more or less, in the northeasterly direction on the other. No settlement +on the north stood between it and the settlements in Canada. Chelmsford +and Billerica were each incorporated about the same time, though a few +days later. + +When the grant was made, it was expressly stipulated that Mr. Jonathan +Danforth, of Cambridge, with such others as he might desire, should lay +it out with all convenient speed in order to encourage the prompt +settlement of a minister; and furthermore that the selectmen of the town +should pay a fair amount for his services. During the next year a +petition, signed by Deane Winthrop and seven others, was presented to +the General Court asking for certain changes in the conditions, and +among them the privilege to employ another "artist" in the place of Mr. +Danforth, as he was overrun with business. The petition was referred to +a committee who reported favorably upon it, and the request was duly +granted. Formerly a surveyor was called an artist, and in old records +the word is often found with that meaning. + +Ensign Peter Noyes, of Sudbury, was then engaged by the grantees and he +began the survey; but his death, on September 23, 1657, delayed the +speedy accomplishment of the work. It is known that there was some +trouble in the early settlement of the place, growing out of the +question of lands, but its exact character is not recorded; perhaps it +was owing to the delay which now occurred. Ensign Noyes was a noted +surveyor, but not so famous as Jonathan Danforth, whose name is often +mentioned in the General Court records, in connection with the laying +out of lands and towns, and many of whose plans are still preserved +among the Archives in the State House. Danforth was the man wanted at +first for the undertaking; and after Noyes's death he took charge of it, +and his elder brother, Thomas, was associated with him. The plat or plan +of the land, however, does not appear to have been completed until +April, 1668. The survey was made during the preceding year. At a meeting +of the selectmen of the town, held on November 23, 1667, it is recorded +that a rate should be levied in order to pay "the Artest and the men +that attended him and his diet for himself and his horse, and for two +sheets of parchment, for him to make two platts for the towne, and for +Transportation of his pay all which amounts to about twenty pounds and +to pay severall other town debts that appear to us to be due." + +[Illustration: Groton Plantation as shown on a plan made in 1668 by +Jonathan Danforth] + +A little further on in the records a charge of five shillings is made +'ffor two sheats of Parchment.' These entries seem to show that two +plans were made, perhaps one for the town and the other for the Colony; +but neither copy is now to be found. An allusion is made to one of them +in a petition, presented to the General Court on February 10, 1717, by +John Shepley and John Ames. It is there mentioned that "the said Plat +tho something defaced is with the Petitioner;" and is further stated +"That in the year 1713 M'r Samuel Danforth Surveyor & Son of the +aforesaid Jonathan Danforth, at the desire of the said Town of Groton +did run the Lines & make an Implatment of the said Township laid out as +before & found it agreeable to the former. W'h last Plat the Petitioners +do herewith exhibit, And pray that this Hon'ble Court would allow & +confirm the same as the Township of Groton." + +While the original plan has been lost or destroyed, it is fortunate that +many years ago a copy was made, which is still preserved. In June, 1825, +the Honorable James Prescott was in the possession of the original, +which Caleb Butler, Esq., at that time transcribed into one of the town +record-books, and thereby saved it for historical purposes. Even with +this clew a special search has been made for the missing document, but +without success. If it is ever found it will be by chance, where it is +the least looked for. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the +outlines or the faithfulness of the copy. The relative distances between +the streams emptying into the Nashua River, however, are not very exact; +and in the engraving for the sake of clearness I have added their names, +as well as the name of Forge Pond, formerly called Stony Brook Pond. + +Accompanying the copy is a description of the survey, which in +connection with the drawing gives a good idea of the general shape of +the township. Perhaps in the original these two writings were on the +same sheet. In the transcript Mr. Butler has modernized the language and +made the punctuation conform to present usage. In the engraved cut I +have followed strictly the outlines of the plan, as well as the course +of the rivers, but I have omitted some details, such as the distances +and directions which are given along the margins. These facts appear in +the description, and perhaps were taken from it by the copyist. I have +also omitted the acreage of the grant, which is grossly inaccurate. + + + Whereas the Plantation of Groton, containing by grant the + proportion of eight miles Square, was begun to be laid out by + Ensign Noyes, and he dying before he had finished his work, it is + now finished, whose limits and bounds are as followeth, + + It began on the east side of Nashua River a little below + Nissitisset hills at the short turning of the River bounded by a + pine tree marked with G. and so running two miles in a direct line + to buckmeadow which _p'rtains_ to Boston Farms, Billerica land and + Edward Cowells farm until you come to Massapoag Pond, which is full + of small islands; from thence it is bounded by the aforesaid Pond + until you come to Chelmsford line, after that it is bounded by + Chelmsford and Nashoboh lines until you come to the most southerly + corner of this Plantation, and from thence it runs West-North-West + five miles and a half and sixty four poles, which again reacheth to + Nashua River, then the former west-north-west line is continued one + mile on the west side of the river, and then it runs one third of a + point easterly of north & by east nine miles and a quarter, from + thence it runneth four miles due east, which closeth the work to + the river again to the first pine below Nissitisset hills, where we + began: it is bounded by the Farms and plantations as aforesaid and + by the wilderness elsewhere; all which lines are run and very + sufficiently bounded by marked trees & pillars of stones: the + figure or manner of the lying of it is more fully demonstrated by + this plot taken of the same. + + By JONATHAN DANFORTH, + April 1668. + Surveyor. + +The map of Old Dunstable, between pages 12 and 13 in Fox's History of +that town, is very incorrect, so far as it relates to the boundaries of +Groton. The Squannacook River is put down as the Nissitissett, and this +mistake may have tended to confuse the author's ideas. The southern +boundary of Dunstable was by no means a straight line, but was made to +conform in part to the northern boundary of Groton, which was somewhat +irregular. Groton was incorporated on May 25, 1655, and Dunstable on +October 15, 1673, and no part of it came within the limits of this town. +The eastern boundary of Groton originally ran northerly through +Massapoag Pond and continued into the present limits of Nashua, New +Hampshire. + +On the southeast of Groton, and adjoining it, was a small township +granted, in the spring of 1654, by the General Court to the Nashobah +Indians, who had been converted to Christianity under the instruction of +the Apostle Eliot and others. They were few in numbers, comprising +perhaps ten families, or about fifty persons. During Philip's War this +settlement was entirely deserted by the Indians, thus affording a good +opportunity for the English to encroach on the reservation, which was +not lost. These intruders lived in the neighboring towns, and mostly in +Groton. Some of them took possession with no show of right, while others +went through the formality of buying the land from the Indians, though +such sales did not, as was supposed at the time, bring the territory +under the jurisdiction of the towns where the purchasers severally +lived. It is evident from the records that these encroachments gave rise +to controversy. The following entry, under date of June 20, 1682, is +found in the Middlesex County Court records at East Cambridge, and shows +at that time to re-establish the boundary lines of Nashobah:-- + + + Cap't Thomas Hinchman, L't. Joseph Wheeler, & L't. Jn'o flynt + surveyo'r, or any two of them are nominated & impowred a Comittee + to run the ancient bounds of Nashobah Plantation, & remark the + lines, as it was returned to the genall Court by said m'r flynt at + the charge of the Indians, giving notice to the select men of + Grotton of time & place of meeting, w'ch is referred to m'r flint, + to appoint, & to make return to next Coun Court at Cambridge in + order to a finall settem't + +Again, under date of October 3, 1682 ("3. 8. 1682."), it is entered +that-- + + + The return of the committee referring to the bounds of Nashobey + next to Grotton, was p'rsented to this Court and is on file. + + Approved + +The "return" is as follows: + + + We Whose names are underwritten being appointed by y'e Hon'rd + County Court June: 20'th 1682. To run the Ancient bounds of + Nashobey, haue accordingly run the said bounds, and find that the + town of Groton by theire Second laying out of theire bounds have + taken into theire bounds as we Judge neer halfe Indian Plantation + Seuerall of the Select men and other inhabitants of Groton being + then with us Did See theire Erro'r therein & Do decline that laying + out So far as they haue Inuaded the right of y'e Indians. + + Also we find y't the Norwest Corner of Nashobey is run into y'e + first bounds of Groton to y'e Quantity of 350 acres according as + Groton men did then Show us theire Said line, which they Say was + made before Nashobey was laid out, and which bounds they Do + Challenge as theire Right. The Indians also haue Declared them + Selves willing to forego that Provided they may haue it made up + upon theire West Line, And we Judge it may be there added to + theire Conveniance. + + 2: October: 1682. + Exhibited in Court 3: 8: 82: + & approved T D: R. + + JOSEPH WHEELER + + JOHN FLINT + + A true Coppy of y'e originall on file w'th y'e Records of County + Court for Middx. + + Ex'd p'r Sam'll: Phipps Cle'r + + [Massachusetts Archives, cxii, 331.] + +Among the Groton men who had bought land of the Nashobah Indians were +Peleg Lawrence and Robert Robbins. Their names appear, with a diagram of +the land, on a plan of Nashobah, made in the year 1686, and found among +the Massachusetts Archives, in the first volume (page 125) of "Ancient +Plans Grants &c." Lawrence and Robbins undoubtedly supposed that the +purchase of this land brought it within the jurisdiction of Groton. +Lawrence died in the year 1692; and some years later the town made an +effort to obtain from his heirs their title to this tract, as well as +from Robbins his title. It is recorded at a town meeting, held on June +8, 1702, that the town + + + did uote that they would giue Peleg larraness Eairs three acers of + madow whare thay ust to Improue and tenn acers of upland neare that + madow upon the Conditions following that the aboue sd Peleg + larrances heirs do deliuer up that Indian titelle which thay now + haue to the town + +At the same meeting the town voted that + + + thay would giue to robart robins Sener three acers of madow where + he uste to Improue: and ten acers of upland near his madow upon the + Conditions forlowing that he aboue sd Robart Robbins doth deliuer: + up that Indian titels which he now hath: to the town. + +It appears from the records that no other business was done at this +meeting, except the consideration of matters growing out of the Nashobah +land. It was voted to have an artist lay out the meadow at "Nashobah +line," as it was called, as well as the land which the town had granted +to Walter and Daniel Powers, probably in the same neighborhood; and also +that Captain Jonas Prescott be authorized to engage an artist at an +expense not exceeding six shillings a day. + +Settlers from the adjacent towns were now making gradual encroachments +on the abandoned territory, and among them Groton was well represented. +All the documents of this period relating to the subject show an +increased interest in these lands, which were too valuable to remain +idle for a long time. The following petition, undoubtedly, makes a +correct representation of the case:-- + + + To his Excellency Joseph Dudley Esq'r Captain Gen'll & Governour in + Chief in & over her Majesties Province of the Massachusets Bay &c: + togeither with the honourable Council, & Representatives in Great + and Gen'll Court Assembled at Cambridge Octobe'r 14'th. 1702. + + The Petition of the Inhabitants of Stow humbly sheweth. + + That Whereas the honourable Court did pleas formerly to grant vnto + vs the Inhabitants of Stow a certain Tract of Land to make a + Village or Township of, environed with Concord, Sudbury, Marlbury, + Lancaster, Groton, & Nashoby: And Whereas the said Nashoby being a + Tract of Land of four miles square, the which for a long time hath + been, and still is deserted and left by the Indians none being now + resident there, and those of them who lay claim to it being + desireous to sell said land; and some English challenging it to be + theirs by virtue of Purchase; and besides the Town of Groton in + particular, hath of late extended their Town lyne into it, takeing + away a considerable part of it; and Especially of Meadow (as wee + are Well informed) Wherefore wee above all o'r Neighbour Towns, + stand in the greatest need of Enlargement; having but a pent up + smale Tract of Land and very little Meadow. + + Whence we humbly Pray the great & Gen'll Court, that if said + Nashoby may be sold by the Indians wee may have allowance to buy, + or if it be allready, or may be sold to any other Person or + Persons, that in the whole of it, it be layed as an Addition to vs + the smale Town of Stow, it lying for no other Town but vs for + nighness & adjacency, togeither with the great need wee stand of + it, & the no want of either or any of the above named Towns. Shall + it Pleas the great & Gen'll Court to grant this o'r Petition, wee + shall be much more able to defray Publick Charges, both Civil, & + Ecclesiasticall, to settle o'r Minister amongst vs in order to o'r + Injoyment of the Gospel in the fullness of it. Whence hopeing & + believing that the Petition of the Poor, & needy will be granted. + Which shall forever oblidge yo'r Petition'rs to Pray &c: + + THO: STEEVENS. Cler: + In the Towns behalfe + + [Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 330.] + +This petition was granted on October 21, 1702, on the part of the House +of Representatives, but negatived in the Council, on October 24. + +During this period the territory of Nashobah was the subject of +considerable dispute among the neighboring towns, and slowly +disappearing by their encroachments. Under these circumstances an effort +was made to incorporate a township from this tract and to establish its +boundaries. The following petition makes a fair statement of the case, +though the signatures to it are not autographs: + + + To His Excel'cy: Joseph Dudley Esq: Cap't: Generall & Gov'r: in + Chief in and over Her Maj'ties: Province of Mass'ts: Bay in + New-England, Together with y'e Hon'ble: the Council, & + Representatives in Gen'll: Court Assembled on the 30'th of May, In + the Tenth Year of Her Maj'ties: Reign Annoq Dom'i: 1711,--The + Humble Petition of us the Subscribers Inhabitants of Concord, + Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow &c within the County of Midd'x in the + Province Afores'd. + + Most Humbly Sheweth + + That there is a Considerable Tract of Land Lying vacant and + unimproved Between the Towns of Chelmsford, Lancaster & Stow & + Groton, as s'd Groton was Survey'd & Lay'd out by Mr. Noyce, & the + Plantation Call'd Concord Village, which is Commonly known by the + Name of Nashoba, in the County of Midd'x: Afores'd. & Sundry + Persons having Made Entrys thereupon without Orderly Application to + the Government, and as we are Inform'd, & have reason to believe, + diverse others are designing so to do. + + We Yo'r Hum'ble Petitioners being desirous to Prevent the + Inconveniences that may arise from all Irregular Intrusions into + any vacant Lands, and also In a Regular manner to Settle a Township + on the Land afores'd, by which the frontier on that Side will be + more Clos'd & Strengthened & Lands that are at Present in no wise + beneficiall or Profitable to the Publick might be rendred + Servicable for the Contributing to the Publlick Charge, Most Humbly + Address Ourselves to your Excy: And this Honourable Court. + + Praying that your Petitioners may have a Grant of Such Lands + Scituate as Afores'd. for the Ends & Purposes afores'd. And that a + Committee may be appointed by this Hon'ble: Court to View, Survey + and Set out to Yo'r. Petitioners the s'd. Lands, that so Yo'r. s'd. + Petitioners may be enabled to Settle thereupon with Such others as + shall joyn them In an orderly and regular manner: Also Praying that + Such Powers and Priviledges may be given and confered upon the same + as are granted to other Towns, And Yo'r Petitioners shall be Most + ready to attend Such Directions, with respect to Such Part of the + s'd. Tract as has been formerly reserv'd for the Indians, but for a + Long time has been wholly Left, & is now altogether unimprov'd by + them, And all other things which this Hon'ble: Court in their + Wisdom & justice Shall See meet to appoint for the Regulation of + such Plantation or Town. + + And Yo'r: Hum'ble: Petitioners as in Duty Bound Shall Ever Pray &c. + + Gershom Procter + Sam'll. Procter + John Procter + Joseph Fletcher + John Miles + John Parlin + Robert Robins + John Darby + John Barker + Sam'l: Stratton + Hezekiah Fletcher + Josiah Whitcomb + John Buttrick + Will'm: Powers + Jonathan Hubburd + W'm Keen + John Heald + John Bateman + John Heywood + Thomas Wheeler + Sam'll: Hartwell, jun'r: + Sam'll: Jones + John Miriam + + In the House of Representatives + June 6: 1711. Read & Comitted. + 7 ... Read, & + + Ordered that Jo'a. Tyng Esq'r: Thom's: Howe Esq'r: & M'r: John + Sternes be a Comittee to view the Land mentioned in the Petition, & + Represent the Lines, or Bounds of the severall adjacent Towns + bounding on the s'd. Lands and to have Speciall Regard to the Land + granted to the Indians, & to make report of the quantity, & + circumstances thereof. + + Sent up for Concurrence. + + JOHN BURRIL Speaker + In Council + June 7. 1711, Read and Concurr'd. + ISA: ADDINGTON, Secry. + + [Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 602, 603.] + +The committee, to whom was referred this subject, made a report during +the next autumn; but no action in regard to it appears to have been +taken by the General Court until two years later. + + * * * * * + +THE NEW ENGLAND TOWN-HOUSE. + +By J.B. SEWALL. + + +A Recollection of my boyhood is a large unpainted barnlike building +standing at a point where three roads met at about the centre of the +town. When all the inhabitants of the town were of one faith +religiously, or at least the minority were not strong enough to divide +from the majority, and one meeting-house served the purposes of all, +this was the meeting-house. To this, the double line of windows all +round, broken by the long round-topped window midway on the back side, +and the two-storied vestibule on the front, and, more than all, the old +pulpit still remaining within, with the sounding-board suspended above +it, bore witness. Here assembled every spring, at the March meeting, the +voters of the town, to elect their selectmen and other town officers for +the ensuing year, to vote what moneys should be raised for the repair of +roads, bridges, maintaining the poor, etc., and take any other action +their well-being as a community demanded; in the autumn, to cast their +votes for state representative, national representative, governor of the +State, or President of the United States, one or all together, as the +case might be. + +Many such town-houses, probably, are standing to-day in the New England +States,--I know there are such in Maine,--and they are existing +witnesses to what was generally the fact: towns, at the first, when +young and small, built the meeting-house for two purposes; first, for +use as a house of worship; second, for town meetings; and when in +process of time a new church or churches were built for the better +accommodation of the people, or because different denominations had come +into existence, or because the young people wanted a smarter building +with a steeple, white paint, green blinds, and a bell, the old building +was sold to the town for purely town purposes. + +When the settlements were made, the first public building erected was +generally the meeting-house, and this in the case of the earlier +settlements was very soon. In Plymouth, the first building was a house +twenty feet square for a storehouse and "for common occupation," then +their separate dwellings. + +The "common" building was used for religious and other meetings until +the meeting-house with its platform on top for cannon, on Burial Hill, +was built in 1622. "Boston seems to have had no special building for +public worship until, during the year 1632, was erected the small +thatched-roof, one-story building which stood on State Street, where +Brazer's building now stands."[A] This was in the second year, the +settlement having been made in the autumn of 1630. In Charlestown, "The +Great House," the first building erected that could be called a house, +was first used as the official residence of the governor, and the +sessions of the Court of Assistants appear to have been held in it until +the removal to Boston, but when the church was formed, in 1632, it was +used for a meeting-house. + +[Footnote A: Memorial History of Boston, vol. i, p. 119.] + +Dorchester had the first meeting-house in the Bay, built in 1631, the +next year after settlement, and by the famous order passed "mooneday +eighth of October, 1633," it appears that it was the regular +meeting-place of the inhabitants of the plantation for general purposes. +The Lynn church was formed in 1632, and the meeting-house appears to +have been built soon after, and was used for town meetings till 1806. It +was the same in towns of later settlement. In Brunswick, Maine, which +became a township in 1717, the first public building was the +meeting-house, and this also was the town-house for almost one hundred +years. Belfast, Maine, incorporated in 1773, held its first two town +meetings in a private house, afterwards, for eighteen years, "at the +Common on the South end of No. 26" (house lot),[A] whether under cover +or in open air is not known, after that, in the meeting-house generally, +till the town hall was built. In Harpswell, Maine, the old +meeting-house, like that described, when abandoned as a house of +worship, was sold to the town for one hundred dollars and is still in +use as a town-house. + +[Footnote A: Williamson's History of Belfast.] + +The town-house, therefore, though it cannot strictly be said to have +been coeval with the town, was essentially so, the meeting-house being +generally the first public building, and used equally for town meetings +and public worship. + +How early, then, was the town? When the settlement at Plymouth took +place, in one sense a town existed at once. It was a collection of +families living in neighborhood and united by the bonds of mutual +obligation common in similar English communities. But it was a town as +yet only in that sense. In fact, it was a state. The words of the +compact signed on board the Mayflower were, in part: "We, whose names +are underwritten ... do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the +presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves +together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and +preservation, ... and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame +such just and equal laws, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to +time, as shall be most meet and convenient for the general good of the +colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." + +These words were the constitution of more than a town government. They +erected a democratic state--a commonwealth. It was a general government +separate from and above the town governments which were afterwards +instituted. It enacted general laws by an assembly of deputies in which +the eight plantations in the colony, which afterwards became towns, were +represented. These laws were executed by a governor and an assistant, +and were of equal binding force in all the plantations after, as well as +before, these plantations became towns. + +The Massachusetts Colony came over as a corporation with a royal charter +which gave power to the freemen of the company to elect a governor, +deputy-governor, and assistants, and "make laws and ordinances, not +repugnant to the laws of England, for their own benefit and the +government of persons inhabiting their territory." The colonists divided +themselves into plantations, part at Naumkeag (Salem), at Mishawum +(Charlestown), at Dorchester, Boston, Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and +Saugus (Lynn), and while the General Court, as the governor, +deputy-governor, and assistants were called, made general "laws and +ordinances" for the whole, the plantations were at liberty to manage +their own particular affairs as they pleased. They called meetings and +took action by themselves, as at Watertown, when, in 1632, the people +assembled and expressed their discontent with a tax laid by the court, +and at Dorchester as previously referred to. To Dorchester, however, +belongs the honor of leading the way to that form of town government +which has prevailed in New England ever since. It came about in this +way. The settlement was begun in June, 1630, and for more than three +years the people seem to have managed their affairs under the +administration of the Court of Assistants by means of meetings. At such +a meeting, held October 8, 1633, it was ordered "for the generall good +and well ordering of the affaires of the plantation," that there should +be a general meeting of the inhabitants at the meeting-house every +Monday morning before the court, which was four times a year, or became +so the next year, "to settle & sett downe such orders as may tend to the +general good as aforesayd, & every man to be bound thereby without +gainsaying or resistance." This very interesting order is given entire +in the Memorial History of Boston.[A] There were also appointed _twelve +selectmen_, "who were to hold monthly meetings, & whose orders were +binding when confirmed by the Plantation." + +[Footnote A: Vol. i, p. 427.] + +Here was our New England town almost exactly as it is to-day. The +inhabitants met at stated times and voted what seemed necessary for +their own local order and welfare, and committed the execution of their +will to twelve selectmen, who were to meet monthly. Our towns now have +an annual meeting for the same purpose, and elect generally three +selectmen, who meet at stated times,--sometimes as often as once a week. +Watertown followed, about the same time, selecting three men "for the +ordering of public affairs." Boston appears to have done the same thing +in 1634, and Charlestown in the following year, the latter being the +first to give the name _Selectmen_ to the persons so chosen, a name +which soon was generally adopted and has since remained. + +The reason of this action it is easy to conjecture, but it is fully +stated in the order of the inhabitants of Charlestown at the meeting in +which the action for the government of the town by selectmen was taken: +"In consideration of the great trouble and charge of the inhabitants of +Charlestown by reason of the frequent meeting of the townsmen in +general, and that, by reason of many men meeting, things were not so +easily brought into a joint issue; it is therefore agreed, by the said +townsmen, jointly, that these eleven men ... shall entreat of all such +business as shall concern the townsmen, the choice of officers excepted; +and what they or the greater part of them shall conclude of, the rest of +the town willingly to submit unto as their own proper act, and these +eleven to continue in this employment for one year next ensuing the date +hereof." + +Town government, thus instituted, was recognized the next year--1636--by +the General Court, and thereafter the towns were corporations lawfully +existing and endowed with certain fixed though limited powers. + +The plantations of the Plymouth Colony followed the example. In 1637, +Duxbury was incorporated, and at the General Court of the colony, in +1639, deputies were in attendance from seven towns. + +"Thus," says Judge Parker,[A] "there grew up a system of government +embracing two jurisdictions, administered by the same people; the +Colonial government, having jurisdiction over the whole colony, +administered by the great body of the freemen, through officers elected +and appointed by them; and the town governments, having limited local +jurisdiction, such as was conceded to them by the Colonial government, +administered by the inhabitants, through officers and agents chosen by +them." + +[Footnote A: Origin, Organization, etc., of the Towns of New England.] + +By this change,--the invention of the colonists themselves without copy +or pattern,--the colonies were transformed from pure democracies into a +congeries of democratic republics; and each town-house, or whatever +building was used for such, became the state-house of a little republic. +And this is what it is in every New England town to-day. + +Was not, then, the New England town-house a thing of inheritance at all? +Yes, so far as it was a building for the common meeting of the +inhabitants of the town, and so far as it was a place for free +discussion and the ordering of purely local affairs. The colonists came +from their English homes already familiar with the town-hall and its +uses so far. If one will turn to any gazetteer or encyclopaedia which +gives a description of Liverpool, England, he will find the town-hall +described as one of the noble edifices of that town. The present +structure was opened in 1754, but it was the successor of others, the +first of which must have dated back somewhere near the time when King +John gave the town its charter--1207. Or he may turn to the town of +Hythe in the county of Kent. In its corporation records, it is said, is +the following entry, bearing date in the year 1399: "Thomas Goodeall +came before the jurats _in the common hall_ on the 10th day of October, +and covenanted to give for his freedom 20_d_., and so he was received +and sworn to bear fealty to our Lord the King and his successors, and to +the commonalty and liberty of the port of Hethe, and to render faithful +account of his lots and scots[A] as freeman there are wont." In another +entry, in the same year, the building is mentioned again as the "Common +House." + +[Footnote A: The "lot" was the obligation to perform the public services +which might fall to the inhabitants by due rotation. "Scot" means tax.] + +We may go further back than this. History tells us that "the boroughs +(towns) of England, during the period of oppression, after the Norman +invasion, led the way in the silent growth and elevation of the English +people; that, unnoticed and despised by prelate and noble, they had +alone preserved the full tradition of Teutonic liberty; that, by their +traders and shopkeepers, the rights of self-government, of free speech +in free meeting, of equal justice by one's equals, were brought safely +across the ages of Norman tyranny."[A] The rights of self-government and +free speech in free meeting, then, were rights and practices of our +Anglo-Saxon ancestry, and we are to go back with them across the English +channel to their barbarian German home, and to the people described by +Tacitus in his Germania, for the origin, as far as we can trace it, of +this part of our inheritance. These people were famed for their spirit +of independence and freedom. The mass are described as freemen, voting +together in the great assemblies of the tribe, and choosing their own +leaders or kings from the class of nobles, who were nobles not as +constituting a distinct and privileged caste. "It was their greater +estates and the greater consequence which accompanied these that marked +their rank." When we first learn of these assemblies, they are +out-of-doors, under the broad canopy of heaven alone, but the time came, +as the rathhaus of the German town to-day attests, when they built the +common hall or town-house; and we, to-day, in this remote and then +unknown and unconjectured land of the West, are in this regard their +heirs as well as descendants.[B] + +[Footnote A: Green's Short History of the English People, chap. ii, sec. +6.] + +[Footnote B: The present rathhaus of the quaint old city of Nuremberg, +built in 1619, is a notable building, much visited by travelers. Around +the wall of the hall within runs the legend: "Eins manns red ist eine +halbe red, man soll die teyl verhoeren bed,"--"One man's talk is a half +talk; one should hear both sides."] + +In what, then, is the New England town-house more than, or different +from, the English town-house? In this, that it is the state-house of a +little democratic republic which came into existence of and by itself of +a natural necessity, and not merely governs itself, making all the laws +of local need and executing them--levying taxes, maintaining schools, +and taking charge of its own poor, of roads, bridges, and all matters +pertaining to the health, peace, and safety of all within its bounds, in +a word, all things which it can do for itself,--but also in +confederation with other little democratic republics has called into +being, and clothed with all the power it has for those matters of common +need which the town cannot do, the State. The State of Massachusetts, +from the day that the people created the General Court the body it still +is, by electing deputies from the towns,--representatives we now call +them,--to sit instead of the whole body of freemen, with the governor +and council, for the performance of all acts of legislation for the +common good, is the outgrowth of and exists only by virtue of the towns. +The towns created it, compose it, send up to it its heart-and-life +blood. This it is which makes the New England town unique, attracting +the attention and interest of intelligent foreigners who visit our +shores. Judge Parker says: "I very well recollect the curiosity +expressed by some of the gentlemen in the suite of Lafayette, on his +visit to this country in 1825, respecting these town organizations and +their powers and operations." In the same connection he adds that "a +careful examination of the history of the New England towns will show +that," instead of being modeled after the town of our Anglo-Saxon +ancestors, or the free cities of the continent of the twelfth century, +"they were not founded or modeled on precedent" at all. Mr. E.A. +Freeman, however, puts it more truthfully in saying: "The circumstances +of New England called the primitive assembly (that is, the Homeric +agora, Athenian ekklesia, Roman comitia, Swiss landesgemeinde, English +folk-moot) again into being, when in the older England it was well-nigh +forgotten. What in Switzerland was a _sur_vival was in New England +rather a _re_vival."[A] + +[Footnote A: Introduction to American Institutional History, Johns +Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science.] + +Our New England town-house, therefore, is a symbol of institutions, +partly original with our fathers, partly a priceless inheritance from +Old England the land of our fathers, and nearly in the whole, if not +quite, a regermination and new growth of old race instincts and +practices on a new soil. + +The New England town is not an institution of all the States, but its +principle has invaded the majority. To the West and Northwest it has +been carried by the New Englander himself, and is being carried by him +both directly and indirectly into the South and Southwest, and will show +there in no great length of time its prevailing and vitalizing power. + +It was Jefferson, himself a Virginian, reared in the midst of another +system, aristocratical and central in its character, who said: "These +wards, called townships in New England, are the vital principle of their +governments, and have proved themselves the wisest invention ever +devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self-government +and for its preservation." + +The New England town-house, therefore, is significant of more than its +predecessor in England or Germany. While with them it means freedom in +the management of local affairs, beyond them it means a relation to the +State and the National government which they did not. It means not +merely a broad basis for the general government in the people, that the +people are the reason and remote source of governing power, but that +they are themselves the governors. Every man who enters a New England +town-house and casts his vote knows that that expression of his will is +a force which reaches, or may reach, the Legislature of his State, the +governor in his chair, the National Congress, and the President in the +White House at Washington. He feels an interest therefore, and a +responsibility which the voter in no other land in the world feels, and +the town-house is an education to him in the art of self-government +which no other country affords, and because of it the town is an +institution teaching how to maintain government, local, state, and +general, and so bases that government in self-interest and beneficial +experience, that it is a pledge of security and perpetuity as regards +socialism, communism, and as it would seem every other revolutionary +influence from within. It is in strong contrast with the commune of +France. France is divided for the purposes of local government into +departments; departments into arrondissements; and arrondissements into +communes, the commune being the administrative unit. The department is +governed by a prefet and a conseil-general, the prefet being appointed +by the central government and directly under its control, and the +conseil-general an elective body. The arrondissement is presided over by +a sous-prefet and an elective council. The commune is governed by a +maire and a conseil-municipal. + +The conseil-municipal is an elective body, but its duties "consist in +assisting and to some extent controlling the maire, and in the +management of the communal affairs," but the maire is appointed by the +central government and is liable to suspension by the prefet. + +The relation of the citizen to the general government in France is +therefore totally different from that of the citizen of the United +States to his general government, and the town organization is a school +of free citizenship which the commune is not, and so far republican +institutions in America have a guaranty which in France they have not. + + * * * * * + +BUNKER HILL. + +BY HENRY B. CARRINGTON, U.S.A., LL.D. + +Author of The Battles of the American Revolution. + + + [(a) The occupation of Charlestown Heights on the night of June 16, + 1775, was of strategic value, however transient, equalizing the + relations of the parties opposed, and projecting its force and fire + into the entire struggle for American Independence. (Pages + 290-302.) + + (b)The Siege of Boston, which followed, gave to the freshly + organized Continental army that discipline, that instruction in + military engineering, and that contact with a well-trained enemy + which prepared it for immediate operations at New York and in New + Jersey. (Pages 37-44.) + + (c) The occupation and defence of New York and Brooklyn, so + promptly made, was also an immediate strategic necessity, fully + warranted by the existing conditions, although alike temporary. + (Pages 34-161.)] + + +An exhaustless theme may be so outlined that fairly stated data will +suggest the possibilities beyond. + +Waterloo is incidentally related to the crowning laurels of Wellington; +but, primarily, to the downfall of Napoleon, while rarely to the assured +growth of genuine popular liberty. + +No battle during the American Rebellion of 1861-65 was so really +decisive as was the first battle of Bull's Run. As that Federal failure +enforced the issue which freed four millions of people from slavery, and +had its sequence and culmination, through great struggle, in a +perpetuated Union, so did the battle of Bunker Hill open wide the breach +between Great Britain and the Colonies, and render American Independence +inevitable. + +The repulse of Howe at Breed's Hill practically ejected him from Boston, +enforced his halt before Brooklyn, delayed him at White Plains, +explained his hesitation at Bound Brook, near Somerset Court-House, in +1777, as well as his sluggishness after the battle of Brandywine, and +equally induced his inaction at Philadelphia, in 1778. + +[Illustration: The Battle of Breeds Hill, on Bunker Hill. Compiled and +Drawn by Col. Carrington.] + +Just as a similar resistance by Totlben at Sevastapol during the Crimean +War prolonged that struggle for twelve months, so did the hastily +constructed earthworks on Breed's Hill forewarn the assailants that +every ridge might serve as a fortress, and every sand-hill become a +cover, for a persistent and earnest foe. + +Historical research and military criticism suggest few cases where so +much has been realized by the efforts of a few men, in a few hours, +during the shelter of one night, and by the light of one day. + +The simple narrative has been the subject of much discussion. Its +details have been shaped and colored, with supreme regard for the +special claims of preferred candidates for distinction, until a plain +consideration of the issue then made, from a purely military point of +view, as introductory to a detail of the battle itself, cannot be barren +of interest to the readers of a Magazine which treats largely of the +local history of Massachusetts. + +The city of Boston was girdled by rapidly increasing earthworks. These +were wholly defensive, to resist assault from the British garrison, and +not, at first, as cover for a regular siege approach against the Island +Post. They soon became a direct agency to force the garrison to look to +the sea alone for supplies or retreat. + +Open war against Great Britain began with this environment of Boston. +The partially organized militia responded promptly to call. + +The vivifying force of the struggle through Concord, Lexington, and West +Cambridge (Arlington now), had so quickened the rapidly augmenting body +of patriots, that they demanded offensive action and grew impatient for +results. Having dropped fear of British troops, as such, they held a +strong purpose to achieve that complete deliverance which their earnest +resistance foreshadowed. + +Lexington and Concord were, therefore, the exponents of that daring +which made the occupation and resistance of Breed's Hill possible. The +fancied invincibility of British discipline went down before the rifles +of farmers; but the quickening sentiment, which gave nerve to the arm, +steadiness to the heart, and force to the blow, was one of those +historic expressions of human will and faith, which, under deep sense of +wrong incurred and rights imperilled, overmasters discipline, and has +the method of an inspired madness. The moral force of the energizing +passion became overwhelming and supreme. No troops in the world, under +similar conditions, could have resisted the movement. + +The opposing forces did not alike estimate the issue, or the relations +of the parties in interest. The troops sent forth to collect or destroy +arms, rightfully in the hands of their countrymen, and not to engage an +enemy, were under an involuntary restraint, which stripped them of real +fitness to meet armed men, who were already on fire with the conviction +that the representatives of national force were employed to destroy +national life. + +The ostensible theory of the Crown was to reconcile the Colonies. The +actual policy, and its physical demonstrations, repelled, and did not +conciliate. Military acts, easily done by the force in hand, were +needlessly done. Military acts which would be wise upon the basis of +anticipated resistance were not done. + +Threats and blows toward those not deemed capable of resistance were +freely expended. Operations of war, as against an organized and skilful +enemy, were ignored. But the legacies of English law and the inheritance +of English liberty had vested in the Colonies. Their eradication and +their withdrawal were alike impossible. The time had passed for +compromise or limitation of their enjoyment. The filial relation toward +England was lost when it became that of a slave toward master, to be +asserted by force. This the Americans understood when they environed +Boston. This the British did not understand, until after the battle of +Bunker Hill. The British worked as against a mob of rebels. The +Americans made common cause, "liberty or death," against usurpation and +tyranny. + + +THE OUTLOOK. + +Reference to map, "Boston and vicinity," already used in the January +number of this Magazine to illustrate the siege of Boston, will give a +clear impression of the local surroundings, at the time of the American +occupation of Charlestown Heights. The value of that position was to be +tested. The Americans had previously burned the lighthouses of the +harbor. The islands of the bay were already miniature fields of +conflict; and every effort of the garrison to use boats, and thereby +secure the needed supplies of beef, flour, or fuel, only developed a +counter system of boat operations, which neutralized the former and +gradually limited the garrison to the range of its guns. This close +grasp of the land approaches to Boston, so persistently maintained, +stimulated the Americans to catch a tighter hold, and force the garrison +to escape by sea. The capture of that garrison would have placed +unwieldy prisoners in their hands and have made outside operations +impossible, as well as any practical disposition of the prisoners +themselves, in treatment with Great Britain. Expulsion was the purpose +of the rallying people. + +General Gage fortified Boston Neck as early as 1774, and the First +Continental Congress had promptly assured Massachusetts of its sympathy +with her solemn protest against that act. It was also the intention of +General Gage to fortify Dorchester Heights. Early in April, a British +council of war, in which Clinton, Burgoyne, and Percy took part, +unanimously advised the immediate occupation of Dorchester, as both +indispensable to the protection of the shipping, and as assurance of +access to the country for indispensable supplies. + +General Howe already appreciated the mistake of General Gage, in his +expedition to Concord, but still cherished such hope of an accommodation +of the issue with the Colonies that he postponed action until a +peaceable occupation of Dorchester Heights became impossible, and the +growing earthworks of the besiegers already commanded Boston Neck. + +General Gage had also advised, and wisely, the occupation of Charlestown +Heights, as both necessary and feasible, without risk to Boston itself. +He went so far as to announce that, in case of overt acts of hostility +to such occupation, by the citizens of Charlestown, he would burn the +town. + +It was clearly sound military policy for the British to occupy both +Dorchester and Charlestown Heights, at the first attempt of the +Americans to invest the city. + +As early as the middle of May, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, as +well as the council, had resolved "to occupy Bunker Hill as soon as +artillery and powder could be adequately furnished for the purpose," and +a committee was appointed to examine and report respecting the merits of +Dorchester Heights, as a strategic restraint upon the garrison of +Boston. + +On the fifteenth of June, upon reliable information that the British had +definitely resolved to seize both Heights, and had designated the +eighteenth of June for the occupation of Charlestown, the same Committee +of Safety voted "to take immediate possession of Bunker Bill." + +Mr. Bancroft states that "the decision was so sudden that no fit +preparation could be made," Under the existing conditions, it was indeed +a desperate daring, expressive of grand faith and self-devotion, worthy +of the cause in peril, and only limited in its immediate and assured +triumph by the simple lack of powder. + +Prescott, who was eager to lead the enterprise and was entrusted with +its execution, and Putman, who gave it his most ardent support, were +most urgent that the council should act promptly; while Warren, who long +hesitated to concur, did at last concur, and gave his life as the test +of his devotion. General Ward realized fully that the hesitation of the +British to emerge from Boston and attack the Americans was an index of +the security of the American defences, and, therefore, deprecated the +contingency of a general engagement, until ample supplies of powder +could be secured. + +The British garrison, which had been reinforced to a nominal strength of +ten thousand men, had become reduced, through inadequate supplies, +especially of fresh meat, to eight thousand effectives, but these men +were well officered and well disciplined. + + +THE POSITION. + +Bunker Hill had an easy slope to the isthmus, but was quite steep on +either side, having, in fact, control of the isthmus, as well as +commanding a full view of Boston and the surrounding country. Morton's +Hill, at Moulton's Point, where the British landed, was but thirty-five +feet above sea level, while Breed's Pasture (as then known) and Bunker +Hill were, respectively, seventy-five and one hundred and ten feet high. +The Charles and Mystic Rivers, which flanked Charlestown, were +navigable, and were under the control of the British ships-of-war. + + +AMERICAN POLICY. + +To so occupy Charlestown, in advance, as to prevent a successful British +landing, required the use of the nearest available position that would +make the light artillery of the Americans effective. To occupy Bunker +Hill, alone, would leave to the British the cover of Breed's Hill, under +which to gain effective fire and a good base for approach, as well as +Charlestown for quarters, without prejudice to themselves. + +When, therefore, Breed's Hill was fortified as an advanced position, it +was done with the assurance that reinforcements would soon occupy the +retired summit, and the course adopted was the best to prevent an +effective British lodgment. The previous reluctance of the garrison to +make any effective demonstration against the thin lines of environment +strengthened the belief of the Americans that a well-selected hold upon +Charlestown Heights would securely tighten the grasp upon the city +itself. + + +BRITISH POLICY. + +As a fact, the British contempt for the Americans might have urged them +as rashly against Bunker Hill as it did against the redoubt which they +gained, at last, only through failure of the ammunition of its +defenders; but, in view of the few hours at disposal of the Americans to +prepare against a landing so soon to be attempted, it is certain that +the defences were well placed, both to cover the town and force an +immediate issue before the British could increase their own force. + +It is equally certain that the British utterly failed to appreciate the +fact that, with the control of the Mystic and Charles Rivers, they +could, within twenty-four hours, so isolate Charlestown as to secure the +same results as by storming the American position, and without +appreciable loss. This was the advice of General Clinton, but he was +overruled. They did, ultimately, thereby check reinforcements, but +suffered so severely in the battle itself that fully two thirds of the +Americans retired safely to the main land. + +The delay of the British to advance as soon as the landing was effected +was bad tactics. One half of the force could have followed the Mystic +and turned the American left wing, long before Colonel Stark's command +came upon the field. The British dined as leisurely as if they had only +to move any time and seize the threatening position, and thereby lost +their chief opportunity. + +One single sign of the recognition of any possible risk-to themselves +was the opening of fire from Boston Neck and such other positions as +faced the American lines, as if to warn them not to attempt the city, or +endanger their own lives by sending reinforcements to Charlestown. + + +THE MOVEMENT. + +It is not the purpose of this article to elaborate the details of +preparation, which have been so fully discussed by many writers, but to +illustrate the value of the action in the light of the relations and +conduct of the opposing forces. + +Colonel William Prescott, of Pepperell, Massachusetts, Colonel James +Frye, of Andover, and Colonel Ebenezer Bridge, of Billerica, whose +regiments formed most of the original detail, were members of the +council of war which had been organized on the twentieth of April, when +General Ward assumed command of the army. Colonel Thomas Knowlton, of +Putnam's regiment, was to lead a detachment from the Connecticut troops. +Colonel Richard Gridley, chief engineer, with a company of artillery, +was also assigned to the moving columns. + +To ensure a force of one thousand men, the field order covered nearly +fourteen hundred, and Mr. Frothingham shows clearly that the actual +force as organized, with artificers and drivers of carts, was not less +than twelve hundred men. + +Cambridge Common was the place of rendezvous, where, at early twilight +of June 16, the Reverend Samuel Langdon, president of Harvard College, +invoked the blessing of Almighty God upon the solemn undertaking. + +This silent body of earnest men crossed Charlestown Neck, and halted for +a clear definition of the impending duty. Major Brooks, of Colonel +Dodge's regiment, joined here, as well as a company of artillery. +Captain Nutting, with a detachment of Connecticut men, was promptly +sent, by the quickest route, to patrol Charlestown, at the summit of +Bunker Hill. Captain Maxwell's company, of Prescott's regiment, was next +detailed to patrol the shore in silence and keenly note any activity on +board the British men-of-war. + +The six vessels lying in the stream were the Somerset, sixty-eight, +Captain Edward Le Cross; Cerberus, thirty-six, Captain Chads; Glasgow, +thirty-four, Captain William Maltby; Lively, twenty, Captain Thomas +Bishop; Falcon, twenty, Captain Linzee, and the Symmetry, transport, +with eighteen guns. + +While one thousand men worked upon the redoubt which had been located +under counsel of Gridley, Prescott, Knowlton, and other officers, the +dull thud of the pickaxe and the grating of shovels were the only sounds +that disturbed the pervading silence, except as the sentries' "All's +well!" from Copp's Hill and from the warships, relieved anxiety and +stimulated work. Prescott and Putnam alike, and more than once, visited +the beach, to be assured that the seeming security was real; and at +daybreak the redoubt, nearly eight rods square and six feet high, was +nearly complete. + +Scarcely had objects become distinct, when the battery on Copp's Hill +and the guns of the Lively opened fire, and startled the garrison of +Boston from sleep, to a certainty that the Colonists had taken the +offensive. + +General Putnam reached headquarters at a very early hour, and secured +the detail of a portion of Colonel Stark's regiment, to reinforce the +first detail which had already occupied the Hill. + +At nine o'clock, a council of war was held at Breed's Hill. Major John +Brooks was sent to ask for more men and more rations. Richard Devens, of +the Committee of Safety, then in session, was influential in persuading +General Ward to furnish prompt reinforcements. By eleven o'clock, the +whole of Stark's and Reed's New Hampshire regiments were on their march, +and in time to meet the first shock of battle. Portions of other +regiments hastened to the aid of those already waiting for the fight to +begin. + +The details of men were not exactly defined, in all cases, when the +urgent call for reinforcements reached headquarters. Little's regiment +of Essex men; Brewer's, of Worcester and Middlesex, with their +Lieutenant-Colonel Buckminster; Nixon's, led by Nixon himself; Moore's, +from Worcester; Whitcomb's, of Lancaster, and others, promptly accepted +the opportunity to take part in the offensive, and challenge the British +garrison to a contest-at-arms, and well they bore their part in the +struggle. + + +THE AMERICAN POSITION. + +The completion of the redoubt only made more distinct the necessity for +additional defences. A line of breastworks, a few rods in length, was +carried to the left, and then to the rear, in order to connect with a +stone fence which was accepted as a part of the line, since the fence +ran perpendicularly to the Mystic; and the intention was to throw some +protection across the entire peninsula to the river. A small pond and +some spongy ground were left open, as non-essential, considering the +value of every moment; and every exertion was made for the protection +of the immediate front. The stone fence, like those still common in New +England, was two or three feet high, with set posts and two rails; in +all, about five feet high, the top rail giving a rest for a rifle. A +zigzag "stake and rider fence" was put in front, the meadow +division-fences being stripped for the purpose. The fresh-mown hay +filled the interval between the fences. This line was nearly two hundred +yards in rear of the face of the redoubt, and near the foot of Bunker +Hill. Captain Knowlton, with two pieces of artillery and Connecticut +troops, was assigned, by Colonel Prescott, to the right of this +position, adjoining the open gap already mentioned. Between the fence +and the river, more conspicuous at low tide, was a long gap, which was +promptly filled by Stark as soon as he reached the ground, thus, as far +as possible, to anticipate the very flanking movement which the British +afterward attempted. + +Putnam was everywhere active, and, after the fences were as well secured +as time would allow, he ordered the tools taken to Bunker Hill for the +establishment of a second line on higher ground, in case the first could +not be maintained. His importunity with General Ward had secured the +detail of the whole of Reed's, as well as the balance of Stark's, +regiment, so that the entire left was protected by New Hampshire troops. +With all their energy they were able to gather from the shore only stone +enough for partial cover, while they lay down, or kneeled, to fire. + +The whole force thus spread out to meet the British army was less than +sixteen hundred men. Six pieces of artillery were in use at different +times, but with little effect. The cannon cartridges were at last +distributed for the rifles, and five of the guns were left on the field +when retreat became inevitable. + +Reference to the map will indicate the position thus outlined. It was +evident that the landing could not be prevented. Successive barges +landed the well-equipped troops, and they took their positions, and +their dinner, under the blaze of the hot sun, as if nothing but ordinary +duty was awaiting their leisure. + + +THE BRITISH ADVANCE. + +It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon when the British army +formed for the advance. General Howe was expected to break and envelop +the American left wing, take the redoubt in the rear, and cut off +retreat to Bunker Hill and the mainland. The light infantry moved +closely along the Mystic. The grenadiers advanced upon the stone fence, +while the British left demonstrated toward the unprotected gap which was +between the fence and the short breastwork next the redoubt. General +Pigot with the extreme left wing moved directly upon the redoubt. The +British artillery had been supplied with twelve-pound shot for +six-pounder guns, and, thus disabled, were ordered to use only grape. +The guns were, therefore, advanced to the edge of an old brick-kiln, as +the spongy ground and heavy grass did not permit ready handling of guns +at the foot of the hill slope, or even just at its left. This secured a +more effective range of fire upon the skeleton defences of the American +centre, and an eligible position for a direct fire upon the exposed +portion of the American front, and both breastwork and redoubt. + +The advance of the British army was like a solemn pageant in its steady +headway, and like a parade for inspection in its completeness. This +army, bearing knapsacks and full campaign equipment, moved forward as +if, by the force of its closely knit columns, it must sweep every +barrier away. But, right in the way was a calm, intense love of liberty. +It was represented by men of the same blood and of equal daring. + +A strong contrast marked the opposing Englishmen that summer afternoon. +The plain men handled plain firelocks. Oxhorns held their powder, and +their pockets held their bullets. Coatless, under the broiling sun, +unincumbered, unadorned by plume or service medal, pale and wan after +their night of toil and their day of hunger, thirst, and waiting, this +live obstruction calmly faced the advancing splendor. + +A few hasty shots, quickly restrained, drew an innocent fire from the +British front rank. The pale, stern men behind the slight defence, +obedient to a strong will, answer not to the quick volley, and nothing +to the audible commands of the advancing columns,--waiting, still. + +No painter can make the scene more clear than the recital of sober +deposition, and the record left by survivors of either side. History has +no contradictions to confuse the realities of that momentous tragedy. + +The British left wing is near the redoubt. It has only to mount a fresh +earthbank, hardly six feet high, and its clods and sands can almost be +counted,--it is so near, so easy--sure. + +Short, crisp, and earnest, low-toned, but felt as an electric pulse, are +the words of Prescott. Warren, by his side, repeats. The words fly +through the impatient lines. The eager fingers give back from the +waiting trigger. "Steady, men." "Wait until you see the white of the +eye." "Not a shot sooner." "Aim at the handsome coats." "Aim at the +waistbands." "Pick off the commanders." "Wait for the word, every +man,--_steady_." + +Those plain men, so patient, can already count the buttons, can read the +emblems on the breastplate, can recognize the officers and men whom they +had seen parade on Boston Common. Features grow more distinct. The +silence is awful. The men seem dead--waiting for one word. On the +British right the light infantry gain equal advance just as the left +wing almost touched the redoubt. Moving over more level ground, they +quickly made the greater distance, and passed the line of those who +marched directly up the hill. The grenadiers moved firmly upon the +centre, with equal confidence, and space lessens to that which the +spirit of the impending word defines. That word waits behind the centre +and left wing, as it lingers at breastwork and redoubt. Sharp, clear, +and deadly in tone and essence, it rings forth,--_Fire_! + + +THE REPULSE. + +From redoubt to river, along the whole sweep of devouring flame, the +forms of men wither as in a furnace heat. The whole front goes down. For +an instant the chirp of the cricket and grasshopper in the fresh-mown +hay might almost be heard; then the groans of the wounded, then the +shouts of impatient yeomen who spring forth to pursue, until recalled to +silence and duty. Staggering, but reviving, grand in the glory of their +manhood, heroic in restored self-possession, with steady step in the +face of fire, and over the bodies of the dead, the British remnant +renew battle. Again, a deadly volley, and the shattered columns, in +spite of entreaty or command, speed back to the place of landing, and +the first shock of arms is over. + +A lifetime, when it is past, is but as a moment. A moment, sometimes, is +as a lifetime. Onset and repulse. Three hundred lifetimes ended in +twenty minutes. + +Putnam hastened to Bunker Hill to gather scattering parties in the rear +and urge coming reinforcements across the isthmus, where the fire from +British frigates swept with fearful energy, but nothing could bring them +in time. The men who had toiled all night, and had just proved their +valor, were again to be tested. + +The British reformed promptly, in the perfection of their discipline. +Their artillery was pushed forward nearer the angle made by the +breastwork next the redoubt, and the whole line advanced, deployed as +before, across the entire American front. The ships-of-war increased +their fire across the isthmus. Charlestown had been fired, and more than +four hundred houses kindled into one vast wave of smoke and flame, until +a sudden breeze swept its quivering volume away and exposed to view of +the watchful Americans the returning tide of battle. No scattering shots +in advance this time. It is only when a space of hardly five rods is +left, and a swift plunge could almost forerun the rifle flash, that the +word of execution impels the bullet, and the entire front rank, from +redoubt to river, is swept away. Again, and again, the attempt is made +to rally and inspire the paralyzed troops; but the living tide flows +back, even to the river. + +Another twenty minutes,--hardly twenty-five,--and the death angel has +gathered his sheaves of human hopes, as when the Royal George went down +beneath the waters with its priceless value of human lives. + +At the first repulse the thirty-eighth regiment took shelter by a stone +fence, along the road which passes about the base of Breed's Hill; but +at the second repulse, supported by the fifth, it reorganized, just +under the advanced crest of Breed's Hill for a third advance. + +It was an hour of grave issues. Burgoyne, who watched the progress from +Copp's Hill, says: "A moment of the day was critical." + +Stedman says: "A continuous blaze of musketry, incessant and +destructive." + +Gordon says: "The British officers pronounced it downright butchery to +lead the men afresh against those lines." + +Ramsay says: "Of one company not more than five, and of another not more +than fourteen, escaped." + +Lossing says: "Whole platoons were lain upon the earth, like grass by +the mower's scythe." + +Marshall says: "The British line, wholly broken, fell back with +precipitation to the landing-place." + +Frothingham quotes this statement of a British officer: "Most of our +grenadiers and light infantry, the moment they presented themselves, +lost three fourths, and many nine tenths, of their men. Some had only +eight and nine men to a company left, some only three, four, and five." + +Botta says: "A shower of bullets. The field was covered with the slain." + +Bancroft says: "A continuous sheet of fire." + +Stark says: "The dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold." + +It was, indeed, a strange episode in British history, in view of the +British assertion of assured supremacy, whenever an issue challenged +that supremacy. + +Clinton and Burgoyne, watching from the redoubt on Copp's Hill, realized +at once the gravity of the situation, and Clinton promptly offered his +aid to rescue the army. + +Four hundred additional marines and the forty-seventh regiment were +promptly landed. This fresh force, under Clinton, was ordered to flank +the redoubt and scale its face to the extreme left. General Howe, with +the grenadiers and light infantry, supported by the artillery, undertook +the storming of the breastworks, bending back from the mouth of the +redoubt, and so commanding the centre entrance. + +General Pigot was ordered to rally the remnants of the fifth, +thirty-eighth, forty-third, and fifty-second regiments, to connect the +two wings, and attack the redoubt in front. + +A mere demonstration was ordered upon the American left, while the +artillery was to advance a few rods and then swing to its left, so as to +sweep the breastwork for Howe's advance. + + +THE ASSAULT. + +The dress parade movement of the first advance was not repeated. A +contest between equals was at hand. Victory or ruin was the alternative +for those who so proudly issued from the Boston barracks at sunrise for +the suppression of pretentious rebellion. Knapsacks were thrown aside. +British veterans stripped for fight. Not a single regiment of those +engaged had passed such a fearful ordeal in its whole history as a +single hour had witnessed. The power of discipline, the energy of +experienced commanders, and the pressure of honored antecedents, +combined to make the movement as trying as it was momentous. + +The Americans were no less under a solemn responsibility. At the +previous attack, some loaded while others fired, so that the expenditure +of powder was great, almost exhaustive. The few remaining cannon +cartridges were economically distributed. There was no longer a +possibility of reinforcements. The fire from the shipping swept the +isthmus. There were less than fifty bayonets to the entire command. + +During the afternoon Ward sent his own regiment, as well as Patterson's +and Gardner's, but few men reached the actual front in time to share in +the last resistance. Gardner did, indeed, reach Bunker Hill to aid +Putnam in establishing a second line on that summit, but fell in the +discharge of the duty. Febiger, previously conspicuous at Quebec, and +afterward at Stony Point, gathered a portion of Gerrishe's regiment, and +reached the redoubt in time to share in the final struggle; but the +other regiments, without their fault, were too late. + +At this time, Putnam seemed to appreciate the full gravity of the +crisis, and made the most of every available resource to concentrate a +reserve for a second defence, but in vain. + +Prescott, within the redoubt, at once recognized the method of the +British advance. The wheel of the British artillery to the left after it +passed the line of the redoubt, secured to it an enfilading fire, which +insured the reduction of the redoubt and cut off retreat. There was no +panic at that hour of supreme peril. The order to reserve fire until the +enemy was within twenty yards was obediently regarded, and it was not +until a pressure upon three faces of the redoubt forced the last issue, +that the defenders poured forth one more destructive volley. A single +cannon cartridge was distributed for the final effort, and then, with +clubbed guns and the nerve of desperation, the slow retreat began, +contesting, man to man and inch by inch. Warren fell, shot through the +head, in the mouth of the fort. + +The battle was not quite over, even then. Jackson rallied Gardner's men +on Bunker Hill, and with three companies of Ward's regiment and +Febiger's party, so covered the retreat as to save half of the garrison. +The New Hampshire troops of Stark and Reed, with Colt's and Chester's +companies, still held the fence line clear to the river, and covered the +escape of Prescott's command until the last cartridge had been expended, +and then their deliberate, well-ordered retreat bore testimony alike to +their virtue and valor. + + +THE END. + +Putnam made one final effort at Bunker Hill, but in vain, and the army +retired to Prospect Hill, which Putnam had already fortified in advance. + +The British did not pursue, Clinton urged upon General Howe an immediate +attack upon Cambridge; but Howe declined the movement. The gallant +Prescott offered to retake Bunker Hill by storming if he could have +three fresh regiments; but it was not deemed best to waste further +resources at the time. + +Such, as briefly as it can be clearly outlined, was the battle of Bunker +Hill. + +Nearly one third of each army was left on the field. + +The British loss was nineteen officers killed and seventy wounded, +itself a striking evidence of the prompt response to Prescott's orders +before the action began. Of rank and file, two hundred and seven were +killed and seven hundred and fifty-eight were wounded. Total, ten +hundred and fifty-four. + +The American loss was one hundred and forty-five killed and missing, and +three hundred and four wounded. Total, four hundred and forty-nine. + +Such is the record of a battle which, in less than two hours, destroyed +a town, laid fifteen hundred men upon the field, equalized the relations +of veterans and militia, aroused three millions of people to a definite +struggle for National Independence, and fairly opened the war for its +accomplishment. + + +NOTES. + +NOTE 1. The hasty organization of the command is marked by one feature +not often regarded, and that is the readiness with which men of various +regiments enlisted in the enterprise. Washington, in his official report +of the casualties, thus specifies the loss:-- + +Colonel of Regiment. Killed. Wounded. Missing. + + Frye, 10 38 4 + Little, 7 23 - + Brewer, 12 22 - + Gridley, - 4 - + Stark, 15 45 - + Woodbridge, - 5 - + Scammon, - 2 - + Bridge, 17 25 - + Whitcomb, 5 8 2 + Ward, 1 6 - + Gerrishe, 3 5 - + Reed, 3 29 1 + Prescott, 43 46 - + Doolittle, 6 9 - + Gardner, - 7 - + Patterson, - 1 1 + Nixon, 3 - - + +NOTE 2. The record, brief as it is, shows that hot controversies as to +the question of precedence in command are beneath the merits of the +struggle, because all worked just where the swift transitions of the +crisis best commanded presence and influence. + +NOTE 3. As both the Morton and Moulton families had property near the +British landing-place, it is immaterial whether hill or point bear the +name of one or the other. Hence the author of this sketch, in a memorial +examination of this battle, elsewhere, deemed it but just to recognize +both, without attempt to harmonize differences upon an immaterial +matter. + +NOTE 4. The occupation of Lechmere Point, Cobble Hill, Ploughed Hill, +and Prospect Hill, as shown upon the map of Boston and vicinity, +rendered the British occupation of Bunker Hill a barren victory, +silenced the activity of a thousand men, vindicated the wisdom of the +American occupation, however transient, rescued Boston, and projected +the spirit of the battle of Bunker Hill into all the issues which +culminated at Yorktown, October 19, 1781. + + * * * * * + +THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF MASSACHUSETTS. + +BY RUSSELL STURGIS, JR. + + +In the sketch of the Boston Association, which appeared in the April +number of this Magazine, mention was made of the work of Mr. L.P. +Rowland, corresponding member of Massachusetts of the international +committee, in establishing kindred associations throughout the State, +This article is to give a brief history of the spread and work of these +associations, and I am largely indebted to Mr. Sayford, late state +secretary, for the data. It was natural that as soon as it was known +that an organization had been formed in Boston to do distinctive work +for young men, that in other places where the need was realized the +desire for a like work should spring up; but, in the absence of +organized effort to promote this, very little was done, and in 1856, +five years after the parent association was formed, there were only six +in all, that is, in Boston, Charlestown, Worcester, Lowell, Springfield, +and Haverhill. + +In December, 1866, the Boston Association called a convention, when +twelve hundred delegates met and sat for two days at the Tremont Temple. +General Christian work was discussed, but the distinctive work for young +men was earnestly advocated. + +When Mr. Rowland undertook the work, as an officer of the international +committee, it spread rapidly, and in 1868 there were one hundred and +two, and in 1869, one hundred and nine, associations in Massachusetts. +This number was, later, somewhat further increased. + +Up to 1867 there had been no conference of the state associations, but +at the international convention, at Montreal, in that year, it was +strongly urged upon the corresponding members of the various States and +provinces that they should call state conventions, and thus the first +Massachusetts convention of Young Men's Christian Associations was held +at Springfield, October 10 and 11. The Honorable Whiting Griswold, of +Greenfield, was president, and among the prominent men present were +Henry F. Durant and ex-Vice-President Wilson. In 1868, the convention +met at Worcester; in 1869, at Lowell. At this time there were fifty +associations reporting reading-rooms, and thirty were holding _open-air +meetings_, which means, that, since there are many persons who never +enter a building to hear the gospel, it should be taken to them. Since +these services are almost peculiarly a characteristic of association +work, let me describe them. One or two men, clergymen or laymen, are +appointed to take charge of the meeting, while from six to ten men go +with them to lead the singing. Having reached the common or public +square where men and women are lounging about, the group start a +familiar hymn and sing, perhaps, two or three, by which time many have +drawn near and most are listening; then mounting a bench or packing-box, +the leader says he proposes to pray to the God of whom they have been +singing, and asks them to join with him; then with uncovered head he +speaks to God and asks him to bless the words that shall be spoken. +Another hymn, and then some Bible scene or striking incident is read and +commented upon, and when interest is fairly roused the gospel is +_preached in its simplicity_ and a _direct appeal_ made to the people. +There is a wonderful fascination in this service--a naturalness in all +the surroundings, so like the circumstances of our Lord's discourses, +that makes God's nearness felt, and inspires great faith for results. +Great have been these results--how great we shall know by-and-by. Many a +soul has thus been born by the sea, in the grove, on the village green, +at the place where streets meet in the busy city. How can we reach the +masses? is the earnest question of the church. _Go to them!_ To the +association is due the fact that thousands of laymen are to-day +proclaiming the gospel in all parts of the world, successful through +their simple study of the Word and the encouragement and training which +they have received in this school. + +The fourth convention was held in Chelsea, in 1870, on which occasion +the Honorable Cephas Brainard, chairman of the international executive +committee, said: "To promote the permanency of associations, our labor +must be chiefly for young men; increasing as rapidly as possible +edifices of our own; and cultivating frequent fraternal intercourse with +the eight hundred associations in the land." Up to 1881 no agents had +been appointed by the state convention to superintend its work. Mr. +Rowland was taking time, given him for rest, to visit associations and +towns needing them. + +At the international convention, in 1868, at Detroit, two Massachusetts +men met, who were to be largely instrumental in carrying on the work in +the State so dear to them; and in 1871, in far-off Illinois, these two +men--K.A. Burnell, and he who has almost without a break served on the +Massachusetts committee to this day--met again, prayed for +Massachusetts, consulted together, and the result was that at the +convention of 1871, at Northampton, a state executive committee was +appointed. + +At this time calls from many parts of the State were coming to the +association workers from pastors of churches for lay help and they felt +that these calls must be met. Mr. Burnell was engaged to conduct the +work, and with the help of the committee individually, meetings of two +and three days were held in from forty to sixty towns each year for +three years. This work was continued by paid secretaries, still largely +aided by the committee, till 1879. + +During this time but little was done to strengthen existing +associations, and nothing in establishing new ones, therefore, while the +influence of the convention of associations was greatly felt throughout +the State, the associations themselves suffered. Very many were doing +nothing, and many had ceased to exist. + +We should not dare to say that the associations did wrong in thus giving +themselves to the evangelistic work, while the calls for it were greater +than the committee could meet. This work engrossed them till the calls +began to slacken, and then they awoke to the fact that they were +neglecting their true work, a special instrumentality in which they +believed and for which they existed--that is, "A work for young men by +young men through physical, social, mental, and spiritual appliances." + +This led to a series of resolutions at the Lowell convention, in 1879, +directing the committee to confine their efforts to the strengthening +and organizing of associations, and to appoint a secretary to give his +whole time to the work. + +Mr. Sayford was called from New York, appointed general secretary, and +began to work in January, 1880. + +At this time there were thirty-five associations in the State, only four +of which had general secretaries, paid men who gave all their time to +the work. + +In October, the number of secretaries had more than doubled, nine being +at work. The total membership at this time was, in round numbers, six +thousand, with property amounting to about two hundred and ten thousand +dollars. + +The thirty-three associations which reported at this time at the Lynn +convention represented somewhat more than five hundred active working +men, and they conducted one hundred and ten religious meetings a week. + +In 1881, the only addition of note was the beginning of the railway work +in the State, when a general secretary was employed, and rooms opened at +Springfield by the Boston and Albany Railroad Company. This important +work, carried on most vigorously at various railway centres in other +States, had for some time been pressed upon the state committee, but +they had been unable to obtain any footing till now. At the convention +of this year, at Spencer, the advantage of association work in colleges +was brought out in an able paper by our present state secretary, then a +representative of Williams College. + +At this convention the committee on executive committee's report said: +"It is evident from the reports of executive committee and state +secretary, that, while the process of the last two years has decreased +the number of the associations in the State, it has greatly increased +their efficiency. Some associations were found to have been long since +privately buried, though the name was allowed to remain upon the door. +These have been removed. Others had been left to die uncared for in the +field. These have been decently buried. Some were found so sick as to be +past hope, and their last days were made as comfortable as possible +under the circumstances. Others were found to be more or less seriously +ill, and have been skilfully treated. The result is that at least +twenty-four associations are well, and could do much more work if they +chose; while ten, in robust condition, and under the management and +inspiration of skilled general secretaries, are doing grand work for +young men in their several localities." + +The reduction here spoken of is from one hundred and nine associations +in 1869 to thirty-four in 1881; yet the work was being better done by +the smaller number, and it is thus accounted for: Few dreamed to what +this work would grow, therefore their aim was extremely vague, and the +methods were inadequate. Seeing the need,--deeply interested in the +salvation of young men,--the _idea_ of the association took everywhere. +They sprang up all over the State. Organization followed organization in +rapid succession, and then they waited to be told what to do, or flung +themselves into the first seeming opening with no thought whether it was +the work for which they were formed; and we remember of hearing of one +Young Men's Christian Association whose whole energies were concentrated +upon a mission Sunday-school in a deserted district,--a good work, but +not a proper Young Men's Christian Association's work, when it +represented all that was being done. + +Two things, however, were accomplished, even in those early days, for +which we must always be very grateful, and in themselves are a +sufficient _raison d'etre. Young men were trained_ to work, and the +reflex influence upon their minds was very great, and the real unity of +the church of Christ was manifested as never before. The Young Men's +Christian Association in town and village formed the natural +rallying-point for all united work. A third great blessing should be +mentioned. Not only has the unity of Christ's church been manifested, +but also its distinctive standing upon the great Bible doctrines of the +cross, which vitally separate it from all other religious bodies. + +Gradually the greatness of this work for young men has been appreciated, +as the strong opposing forces have been met. The association is intended +to influence those who are in the energy and full flush of young +manhood, when the desires are strong, most responsive, and least +guarded. The social instinct then is very strong. It is natural, and +must be met in some form. Sinful allurements of every kind invite the +young man, hurtful companionship welcomes him, the ordinary appliances +of the church have no attraction for him. The association must see to it +that his social craving is met by that which is interesting enough to +attract him, and yet is safe. To counteract baleful attractions, others +which call forth strong sympathy, and appliances which _cost_, in every +sense of the word, must be furnished. + +This means pleasant rooms, books, papers, good companionship, classes, +lectures, concerts, the hall, and the gymnasium; but more important than +all, a trained man who shall give his whole time and heart to the work, +and be amply remunerated. + +Since these things are more or less necessary to successful effort for +young men, it will readily be seen why so many associations have ceased +to exist. + +The committee have come to the conclusion that every town in the State +where rooms can be kept open in charge of a general secretary should +have a Young Men's Christian Association, and where these cannot be +furnished we are not anxious to establish it. + +At the convention of 1882, in Charlestown, it became apparent that, to +meet the calls for evangelistic work and push the distinctive +association work, two men were required. Two, therefore, were appointed: +one to give his time largely to evangelistic work, the other wholly to +that of the association. In the following year, 1883, the evangelistic +secretary decided to do the same work independently of the committee, +and the whole energy of the state secretary has been devoted to the +organization of association work. + +We may safely say that, although numerically small, never before has +this work been so efficiently organized as now, and never has there been +so much done as now for young men. At the convention of 1881, a +constitution was adopted which binds the different state associations in +organic union. These hold an annual convention of three days, at which +time one half of the executive committee is chosen, thus making it a +perpetual body. This committee represents every section of the State, +and meets monthly for consultation; while the individual members are +means of communication between headquarters in Boston and other +respective sections. There is a further subdivision into three +districts, each of which holds a quarterly conference of one day, under +the management of the district committee. + +The associations now number 35. +Membership, about 11,300. +Employing general secretaries, 19. +Having buildings, 7. +Value of buildings, say, $490,000. +Value of building funds and lots, $50,000. +Having rooms, 23. +Having gymnasiums, 8. +Annual expenses, about $65,000. + +This is only a beginning. This work for young men is far too important +to remain within such limits. Every town in the Commonwealth of seven +thousand inhabitants should have a fully equipped association. Some +smaller towns already have. + +My excuse for this sketch is: first, the importance of the subject; +second, the ignorance concerning it of a large portion of the Christian +community; third, that the blessings of the work and its support may be +shared by far greater numbers; and, lastly, that the courtesy of the +editors of The Bay State Monthly afforded altogether too good an +opportunity for making this work known, to be lost. + + * * * * * + +TOWN AND CITY HISTORIES. + +BY ROBERT LUCE. + + +The United States government has now in press two volumes of the census +of 1880, entitled The Social Statistics of Cities. These statistics have +been in process of preparation for some four years, under direction of +Colonel George E. Waring, jr., the eminent sanitary engineer, of +Newport, Rhode Island. They will fill two large quarto volumes of +something over six hundred pages each; and as each page will average +over one thousand words, it will be seen that the work will, at least, +be massive and imposing, like most government publications. Unlike many +of these, however, it will not be dull, unintelligible, or valueless. +The fact that one half of it is devoted to the history of the cities of +our land is well-nigh sufficient proof that these epithets cannot be +applied to it, and the question is settled beyond a doubt when it is +learned that the greater part of the labor has been performed by people +who are well known in the literary world, and who brought to their task +experience and ability,--rare qualifications to be found combined in +government employees. Colonel Waring himself, though a clear thinker and +good writer, furnished comparatively little manuscript to the volumes, +but he has revised them thoroughly, and has stamped them with his +individuality. + +It was Colonel Waring's original design to embrace in his work the +statistics of the twenty largest cities of the country, and these +happened to be the cities that in 1880 had more than one hundred +thousand inhabitants. Then it was decided to allow the smaller cities to +be represented if they chose, and early in the work steps were taken to +induce them to furnish the necessary material. Over two hundred of the +largest were given all the opportunities for representation that could +be asked for, and, as a consequence, nearly every community in the land +containing more than ten thousand inhabitants has a more or less full +account. Each one of these is prefaced by a small outline plan, on which +is marked the direction in which the surrounding cities lie, and the +distance to each. Accompanying this plan are tables of the population at +different decades, and of the sex, color, and nativity of the present +population. Then comes an historical sketch, and then an account of the +present condition of the community. This last describes the location and +topography fully; gives the principal features of the country +immediately tributary; details the facilities for communication given by +railroads and by water; gives statistics about the climate; describes +the public buildings and public works, including water and gas works; +gives figures about the streets, horse railroads, and markets; touches +upon the places and methods of amusement, and the parks and +pleasure-grounds; the sewers, the cemeteries, sanitary organization +(boards of health), and the system, or lack of system, of municipal +cleansing,--all receive especially full treatment, as would naturally be +expected when a sanitary engineer of Colonel Waring's stamp had charge +of the work; the police department gets its share of the space; and in +some cases the schools, fire department, and commerce are represented. +The material from which these accounts were compiled was, in the main, +obtained by sending schedules of questions to the various town and city +officials; in the case of some of the largest cities the material was +secured by special agents, but in general, the desire of the cities to +be represented was considered sufficient guaranty that the schedule +would be filled out fully and accurately, and this generally proved to +be the case. + +The historical sketches of the smaller cities and towns were compiled +from information obtained in the same way, and from gazetteers, +encyclopaedias, town and city histories, and all other sources available +at the headquarters of the bureau. To the preparation of the sketches of +the twenty largest cities, especial attention was devoted, and the +results have been correspondingly valuable. Perhaps the most important, +both from the historical and literary point of view, will be the sketch +of the history of New Orleans, written by George W. Cable, who is better +known as a novelist, but who has no mean abilities as an historian. His +familiarity with the Creole element in New Orleans past and present, +together with a very happy style of writing, have made for him more +than a national reputation, from which this sketch will not detract. +Originally his work was intended to occupy some ninety pages of the +report, but later, unfortunately, it had to be condensed into fifty. +Luckily it will not be found necessary to omit a number of interesting +maps that accompany it. + +Next in value, perhaps from the purely historical point of view the most +valuable, or at least the most complete, of all, comes the sketch of the +early history of St. Louis, by Professor Waterhouse. The author became +greatly interested in his task, and spent a vast amount of time in +collecting materials for it. From the care bestowed on the work, it may +be taken for granted that this will be as full and accurate an account +of the settlement and early history of the "Philadelphia of the West" as +can possibly be compiled. It is expected that it will occupy fifty or +sixty pages of the report, and even then it will only bring the history +down to 1823, when the first city government was organized. + +The largest of the Eastern cities furnish little chance for original +work in an historical line, but yet the sketch of New York by Martha J. +Lamb, of Philadelphia by Susan Cooledge, and of Boston by Colonel +Waring, will be acceptable additions to the very scanty stock of +American historical literature. + +The words "very scanty" are used most advisedly, for in very truth the +American _historian_ is a _rara avis_. Of American compilers-of-facts, +to be sure, there have been and are very many, but an aggregation of +details is not a history, nor can a man who makes a book out of local +gossip and the biographies of local heroes and heroines be called an +historian. The truth of this fact has been most forcibly impressed on +the writer in the course of preparing for the Census Bureau historical +sketches of many of the leading cities of the country, and he has become +thoroughly convinced that of all the vulnerable portions of American +literature that which pertains to the history of American towns and +cities is the most vulnerable. + +In the first place, American town and city _histories_ are few. In the +second place, the books that pretend to be such are many, and as a rule +historically worthless. In the third place, both the real and the sham +are intensely dull. + +Real histories are few, evidently because there is not demand enough to +encourage historians to enter the field, and not because material is +lacking. With the exception of the Atlantic seaboard, our country has +been developed in an age pre-eminent for records and statistics; and +there is scarcely a town or city in the land that has not its records +and its public documents, its newspaper files and its Fourth-of-July +orations,--all replete with information waiting for the historian. +Nearly every State has its Historical Society, and Pioneer Associations +are as plenty in our glorious West as was the fever and ague with which +their members were baptized. If the golden opportunities of +autobiography are lost, the American historian of the future will have +to be satisfied, as must be satisfied the New England historian of +to-day, with the meagre, lifeless information given by records, and the +hyperbolical, untrustworthy knowledge to be obtained from local +tradition and gossip. + +We need go no farther to find the first reason why American histories +are so meagre and dull. They are not pictures from life. The fact is, +that the historian might as well try to write a valuable and interesting +history from the materials which our older cities possess, as a painter +might try to paint the battle of Crecy from the details given by +Froissart. To be sure we have all seen such pictures, but who has more +than admired them? + +The absence of contemporaneous literature has been the greatest +misfortune of all history. Every student knows how great and deplorable +are the breaks constantly met with in tracing the thread of past events. +Shall we, then, let the students of posterity remain in the dark on such +questions as these: why Providence became the second city of New +England; why she left Newport so badly in the race for prosperity; why +Buffalo and Cincinnati went up, while Black Rock and North Bend went +down; why Chicago became the largest manufacturing city on the +continent; why New England kept the town-meeting, and the West preferred +the township and the county; and why a thousand and one other important +things happened. To be sure we have had Bancroft, and Sparks, and +Hildreth, but these and their brethren have told us as little about the +history of the people as Lingard, Hume, Hallam, and all the rest of them +told England. Within a very few years historians have begun to see this +defect, and such men as Green, Lodge, and MacMaster have undertaken to +give us histories of the people, the first and last taking the lead on +their respective sides of the Atlantic. MacMaster's work is excellent as +far as it goes. His first volume is deep and scholarly, and does credit +to American literature. It is clear that the task of its preparation was +immense, and more time must have been spent in merely collecting +authorities than has been bestowed altogether on more pretentious +histories. Where Mr. MacMaster found all these authorities is a puzzle, +for even such libraries as those in Boston and Cambridge have not all +the materials for such an undertaking. Yet even he leaves many points +untouched, or cursorily disposed of. Among the subjects referred to, of +which we would like to learn more, may be mentioned: the township system +of the West, the development of American municipal institutions, and, +above all, the origin and rise of the various centres of population and +business which we call cities. + +The history of a nation should be compiled in the same way that the +French people of the _ancien regime_ compiled their lists of grievances +to be presented to the king. In the early States-generals the deputies +of all the orders received from the electors mandates of instructions +containing an enumeration of the public grievances of which they were to +demand redress. From the multitude of these _cahiers_ (or codices), the +three estates, that is, the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate +(the people), compiled each a single cahier to serve as the exponent of +its grievances and its demands. When this complex process had been +completed and the three residual cahiers had been given to the king, the +States-general, the only representative body of France, was dissolved. + +Thus it should be with our national history. Already the clergy have +presented their cahiers in the shape of church histories and theological +essays innumerable. The nobles, that is, the statesmen and politicians, +have formulated their lists of grievances in such works as Thirty +Year's View, The Great Conflict, Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in +America, etc. But where is the cahier of the third estate? The +States-general has met and the _tiers etat_ is not ready. What excuse +have they? Quick comes the answer: "Our electors have sent in but few +cahiers, and these are defective. We cannot tell our king, the nation, +what the people were and what they are, what they have and what they +want, until they tell us. Our cahier must wait the pleasure of the +people." Meanwhile, the regent, irreverently called Uncle Sam, who rules +the land while his master is away in Utopia, reads the cahiers of the +nobles, laughs in his sleeve at that of the clergy, and forgets all +about that of the third estate. Or if he thinks of it at all, it is only +to try to fill its place with twenty-four-volume Census Reports and +massive tomes from the other departments. + +The cahiers of the third estate are, in truth, few and defective, yet +there are some communities that have done their work well. For example, +there is The Memorial History of Boston which does credit even to the +Hub of American historical literature. It was the work of cultivated +men, and although the cooks were many, the broth is excellent. That the +people were a-hungering for just such broth is shown by the fact that +the net profits from it in the first twelve months after publication, as +it is said, were over fifty thousand dollars. + +Boston is almost the only city in the land that has been the subject of +a full, accurate, and interesting history. The History of New York, by +Martha J. Lamb, is not so full as might have been wished, but is +otherwise unexceptionable. New York is fortunate in having the most +graphic and humorous history of its early days that any city in the +world ever had, but nobody except Diedrich Knickerbocker himself ever +claimed a great amount of accuracy and truthfulness for his unrivaled +work. + +It was to be expected that our older cities,--those whose seeds were +planted by Puritans, Dutch traders, Catholic fugitives, Quakers, +Cavalier spendthrifts and rogues, Huguenot exiles, and in general the +motley crowd that sought the land of milk and honey in the seventeenth +and early part of the eighteenth centuries,--it was to be expected that +these cities would have historians _ad nauseam_. The very nature of the +early colonization of America, the elements of romance and adventure so +conspicuous in the history of early days on the Atlantic coast, gave +warrant to such expectations, and the event has justified them. But +where the romance and adventure end, the historian lays down his pen. It +is left to the census enumerator to complete the work, and the brazen +age of statistics follows the golden age of history. + +As the cities in the heart of the continent have very little of the +picturesque in their history, the same line of reasoning would lead us +to expect that the historian would carefully avoid them, or else write +only of their earliest days, when Dame Fortune was yet coquetting on the +boards with Mr. Yankee Adventurer. Again we are not mistaken, for we +find that what few critics are present when the curtain is rung up, +leave the house when the first act ends with the death of the aforesaid +adventurer. How the fickle dame flirts with all the neighboring young +men, and at last, at the end of the second act, has her attention led +by Captain Location to the hero of the piece as a suitable mate for her +wayward daughter, Miss Prosperity,--all this is usually written up from +hearsay. For the third act, wherein the twin brothers Steamboat +Navigation and Railroad Communication help the hero to press his suit, +the imagination often suffices. The grand finale, however, brings back +some of the old set of critics, together with a host of new ones, who +describe in glowing language the setting of the act, the costumes, the +music, etc., and tell minutely how young Miss Prosperity blushingly yet +boldly promises to be forever true to the gallant hero, now known under +his rightful name of Mr. Metropolis. Ac-cording to the critic, this +grand drama always ends happily for all concerned; the acting is always +perfect,--the best ever seen on the stage; the scenery has seldom been +equaled, never excelled. And this is the way the public hears about +every "greatest drama ever produced on any stage." + +Do you think the critic too harshly criticized? Look for yourself. Take +Cleveland, if you want a good city with which to begin your explorations +among the histories of Western cities. Here is one of the loveliest +places in all the basin of the Great Lakes--rich, prosperous, beautiful. +It was the one city which alt the travelers through the West in the +second quarter of this century united in declaring to be attractive. For +instance, J.S. Buckingham, who visited America forty-three years ago, +complimented Cleveland as follows, in a book called The Eastern and +Western States of America: "The buildings of Cleveland are all +remarkably clean and neat, many of them in excellent architectural +style, and, like the dwellings we saw at Cincinnati and other towns of +Ohio, all evincing more taste, love of flowers, and attention to order +and adornment than in most of the States of the Union." Mrs. Pulzky, who +accompanied Kossuth in his journey through America, in 1852, wrote in +her diary: "Cleveland is a neat, clean, and agreeable city, on Lake +Erie. Americans call it the 'Forest City,' though the original forests +have disappeared. Cleveland has a most lovely aspect; with the exception +of the business streets, every house is surrounded by a garden. It was +for the first time that I found love of nature in an American +population. On the journey, until here, I had always missed +pleasure-grounds and trees around the cottages." + +The growth of Cleveland was steady and healthy. Although foreigners came +to it in large numbers, it has been and is a representative American +city. The spirit of public improvement early made itself felt here, as +has been intimated by the above quotations; wide avenues, beautiful +dwellings, pleasure-grounds, both public and private,--all the +attractions that a lavish expenditure of money can secure were bestowed +upon it. The oil discoveries of a quarter of a century ago made many of +its citizens wealthy, and their city was so pleasant to live in, that, +unlike most Western people who have gained sudden wealth, they stayed at +home to spend their money. + +From the history of the rise of such a community, much might be learned. +Yet in the large libraries of the East we find only one book on the +subject, and Poole's mammoth Index--that "Open, sesame," of the literary +man--refers us to not a single magazine article of any sort on +Cleveland. The book referred to is entitled Early History of Cleveland, +with Biographical Notices of the Pioneers and Survivors; its author was +Colonel Charles Whittlesey. As is the case in almost all such histories, +the biographical notices form a very considerable portion of the book, +and, as usual, its value is diminished in an exactly equivalent degree; +for the biographies of Western pioneers are fully as tedious and +valueless as the catalogue of ships in the second book of Homer. And, +oh! the garrulity of the biographers, the minuteness of detail, the +petty incidents, the host of dates! With these we are inflicted because +some adventurous Yankee happened, by sheer luck, to build the first +shanty on what became the site of a great city, or chanced there to be a +pioneer victim of the "shakes" or the jaundice! + +Whittlesey's book contains four hundred and eighty-seven pages. Of these +he uses up seventy-six before he gets a civilized man in what became +Cuyahoga County, and fifty more before he gets any actual settlers to +the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The history of the next thirteen or +fourteen years, down to the War of 1812, fills the mass of the book, +details being here given that really have historical value. The last +forty pages are devoted to the history of the two or three following +decades. Nothing is told us about the actual development of a great +city,--the haps and mishaps, the successes and failures, in short, the +growth, of the community. + +This same Colonel Whittlesey, in a volume entitled Fugitive Essays, +published a sketch of the history of Cleveland covering the same ground +more concisely, and also giving a few extra details about the history +between 1812 and 1840. + +These constituted the sum total of works solely devoted to Cleveland +which were accessible to a writer in the East. The Ohio Historical +Collections, by Henry Howe, a series of sketches of the counties, +cities, and towns of the State, added a little to the meagre stock of +information. For further knowledge, the public must be thankful that the +argus-eyed tourist has not left the place unnoticed, and that the +mathematically-inclined gazetteer has told us from time to time the +number of Cleveland's churches, banks, and city councilmen, and other +equally important facts! + +Take another lake city--Buffalo. The growth of this city has been rapid. +Its sudden rise to the dignity of a metropolis was largely due to that +most interesting of the many important internal improvements of the +first half of the century,--the Erie Canal. With the development of +Buffalo was identified the rise of lake navigation and the grain +elevator. Its population has been increased by the addition of a large +foreign element, which has had its due influence on manners, morals, and +public life. It appears from the report of the board of health for 1879, +that, in 1878, of the children born in Buffalo, nineteen hundred and +seventy-five were of German descent; of all other descents, two thousand +and fifty-six,--a difference of only eighty-one. The city has indeed +been thoroughly Germanized, if we may coin the word. + +Here are things of which we would know more. Yet what do we find about +them? Save in meagre or verbose pamphlets, nothing. To be sure, there +was a book written which claimed to be about Buffalo, but a microscopic +examination would fail to find in it anything worth knowing about the +history of this community. The author of that book, William Ketchum, had +the audacity to name it, as we read on the title-page, "An Authentic and +Comprehensive History of Buffalo, with some account of its early +inhabitants, both savage and civilized." It was published in Buffalo in +1864, in two octavo volumes, containing respectively four hundred and +thirty-two and four hundred and forty-three pages. To comprehend the +utter absurdity of the thing, we shall have to glance at history a bit. + +It will be remembered that during and for some time after the +Revolutionary War the country about the Niagara River remained in the +possession of the British. The Seneca Indians, who sided against the +Colonies in that war, and who were driven from their homes by the +expedition of General Sullivan in 1779, gathered around Fort Niagara and +became such a nuisance that the English had to set up anew in +housekeeping these faithful allies and disagreeable neighbors. One of +the villages they started was at Buffalo Creek. Our historian, Ketchum, +has twenty-five chapters in the first volume of his Authentic and +Comprehensive History of Buffalo. He gets the Senecas settled at Buffalo +Creek in the twenty-fourth! + +During the rest of the century the inhabitants of this Indian village on +the ground where Buffalo was to stand, consisted of redskins and +semi-redskins, a few Indian traders who doled out the firewater, and a +settler or two. The present city of Buffalo, according to the +encyclopaedia (and for once that mass of condensed wisdom is correct +about the date of settlement of a Western city), was founded in 1801, by +the Holland Land Company, which opened a land office here in January of +that year. The notice of this event may be found in the region of page +146, in vol. ii, of Ketchum's book,--the uniform lack of concise +statement, the huge amount of irrevelant matter, and the absence of +lucid summaries and intelligent comment, making more exact reference +impossible. + +The rest of this "comprehensive history" is occupied with the course of +events down to December 30, 1813, when the British burnt the town, +leaving but two houses standing--a dwelling-house and a blacksmith's +shop. Here, having brought his Phoenix to ashes, our comprehensive +historian brings his narrative to an abrupt end. This is at page 304. +Then follows the "appendix," an invariable feature of city histories, +which makes of every one of them a huge anti-climax. In this instance, +one hundred and thirty-nine pages of appendix contain, according to the +author, "for the purpose of preservation, a mass of papers not +absolutely necessary to the elucidation of the history contained in the +body of the work. Most of them consist of original papers and letters +never before published, and which are now, for the first time, placed in +an accessible and permanent form." To compare small things with great, +these documents are made just about as "accessible" as are the State +papers to which Carlyle devotes so much paper and bile in his book on +Oliver Cromwell. + +In short, this book contains much valuable information, which is very +hard to extract, and when extracted is not germane to the history of the +city of Buffalo. + +Some information about Buffalo's history was found in a pamphlet on the +Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo, published in 1866. In it +were historical sketches, covering about twenty-five pages,--verbose, +with little meat, written in the flowery style so dear to the heart of +the American editor or "Honorable" when extolling the virtues of his +constituency. Turner's History of the Holland Purchase, published in +1849, and containing six hundred and sixty-six pages, would have been +more useful, had it not been composed for the greater part of the +biographies of insignificant pioneers, and had not the rest related in +the main to the early history of the section. A book promising much on +the outside was Hotchkin's History of Western New York. An examination +of the title-page, however, dampened our expectations, for there was +added the rest of the title, namely, "And of the Rise, Progress, and +Present State of the Presbyterian Church." The book proved indeed a +delusion and a snare, for of its six hundred pages more than nine tenths +pertained to church affairs,--were part and parcel of the cahiers of the +clergy. As for the magazine articles on Buffalo, they are few and, from +the historical point of view, insignificant. + +Of far more interest than the histories of either Cleveland or Buffalo, +though perhaps no more important, is that of their nearest common +neighbor of equal rank,--Pittsburgh. In very many respects this is one +of the most interesting cities in the Union, which is mostly due to the +fact that it has such a remarkable location, and that its topography is +picturesquely unique. Here we have the strange combination of the +blackest, smuttiest, dirtiest hole in the United States,--at night, as +Parton said: "All hell with the lid taken off,"--with surroundings half +rural, half urban, which for loveliness can scarcely be rivaled by any +other city in the land. Sir Henry Holland, who was of the Prince of +Wales's suite, when he visited Pittsburgh, remarked to one of the +committee of reception that he had, in 1845, spent a week in an +equestrian exploration of the suburbs of Pittsburgh; that he had +traveled through all the degrees of the earth's longitude, and had not +elsewhere found any scenery so diversified, picturesque, and beautiful +as that around Pittsburgh. He likened it to a vast panorama, from which, +as he rode along, the curtain was dropping behind and rising before him, +revealing new beauties continually. "If the business portion of +Pittsburgh is a city, half enchanted, of fire and smoke, inhabited by +demons playing with fire, the surrounding portion is also under +enchantment, of a different kind, and smiles a land of beauty, +brightness, and quiet. The one section might be a picture by Tintoretto, +and the other by Claude Lorraine." + +On the twenty-fourth of November, 1753, no human habitation stood on the +peninsula between the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers. On that day +Washington recorded in his journal: "I think it extremely well situated +for a fort, as it has absolute command of both rivers." In the following +spring the English began the erection of a stockade here, which, on the +twenty-fourth of April, was surrendered to the French under Captain +Contrecoeur Who at once proceeded to the erection of Fort Du Quesne. + +Round this name centres a wealth of incident, romance, and history, but +no one has risen to do it justice. Braddock's ill-starred expedition was +followed by the abandonment of the fort by the French, in November, +1758, and its subsequent rebuilding as Fort Pitt. The fate of the little +hamlet which sprang up around it was for a long time most dubious, but +its position as a frontier post on the line of the ever +westward-retreating Indians, and on the edge of the vast unknown +wilderness, just beginning to allure adventurous pioneers, kept it from +falling into the oblivion with which it was threatened by the +dismantling of the fort and the troublous Revolutionary times. Yet as +late as 1784 so experienced a man as Arthur Lee, the Virginian, who had +been a commissioner at the court of Versailles with Franklin and Deane, +and who visited this hamlet in December of this year, said of it: +"Pittsburgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in +paltry log-houses, and are as dirty as in the north of Ireland, or even +in Scotland. There is a great deal of small trade carried on, the goods +being brought at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per cwt. from +Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops money, flour, and +skins. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a +priest of any persuasion, nor church, nor chapel; so that they are +likely to be damned without the benefit of clergy. _The place, I +believe, will never be considerable_." + +This "small trade" which Lee speaks of was to develop in a very few +years to gigantic proportions, and was to make Pittsburgh for the while +the commercial metropolis of the West. She maintained this position +until the westward march of civilization had left her far in the rear; +and then the garrison which the vast army of pioneers left here found in +the coal and iron under their very feet a Fortunatus's purse. Thus, far +different was the fate of Pittsburgh from that of Marietta, Portsmouth, +Lexington, and the like, which sank into comparative obscurity as soon +as they had ceased to be outposts of Uncle Sam's army of emigrants. + +Here, then, do we lack materials for history? What historian could ask +for a more romantic starting-point than Old Fort Du Quesne? a more +interesting topic for a chapter than Fort Pitt? a more picturesque +subject than the batteurs and voyageurs of the Ohio? What more fruitful +themes can there be than the rise of the iron, the glass, the oil +industry, the steamboat commerce of our interior, the subjection of the +Monongahela, the combination of a city which reminds the traveler of +Hades, with suburbs which suggest metaphors about Paradise? And can he +not find food for inquiry and thought in the great riots of 1877? + +Yet the only historian of Pittsburgh is Neville B Craig, whose short and +not over-attractive history ends with the middle of this century, if we +remember rightly. His subject is neither thoroughly nor ably treated, +and it is not presented to the public in an agreeable form. The book is +one of the past generation, and we publish better histories than did our +fathers. In 1876, Samuel H. Thurston presented the public with a small +volume, entitled Pittsburgh and Alleghany in the Centennial. It +contained a little history and a great deal of bombast; and, moreover, +the greater part of it was filled with statistical details pertaining to +the Centennial year alone. Yet from this book had to be taken most of +the historical sketch which will be found in the Census Report. Egle's +History of Pennsylvania tells us something about Pittsburgh, and +magazine articles are plenty, though historically of little value. + +St. Louis is more plentifully supplied with histories than any other +Western city, and these histories are as much worse as they are more +numerous. One of these deserves notice, from the fact that its +title-page so ridiculously and exasperatingly misrepresents its +contents. This page reads as follows: "Edwards's Great West and her +Commercial Metropolis, embracing a complete History of St. Louis, from +the landing of Ligueste, in 1764, to the present time; with portraits +and biographies of some of the old settlers, and many of the most +prominent business men. By Richard Edwards and M. Hopewell, M.D. +Splendidly illustrated. 1860. $5." This seemed to promise well, but when +we turned the page and read the introduction, our expectations were, to +say the least, somewhat shaken, and our sense of the eternal fitness of +things somewhat shocked, when we found the citizens of St. Louis called +"a powerful Maecenas." Shade of Virgil! What a profanation! + +Any book that is preceded by a dedication, a preface, an introduction, +and a full-page portrait of the author (with a big A), must, in the very +nature of things, be a monstrosity. But, leaving these anomalies out of +account, in the present instance, the composition of the book is +sufficient proof that the epithet is not undeserved. "And this is so, +for,"--as Herodotus would say,--in a book called Edwards's Great West, +the "Great West" is summarily and mercilessly disposed of in just five +pages. Then follow eighty-two pages of biographies and portraits, +ingeniously defended by the author as follows: "Biographies of those who +have become identified with the progress of the great city, who have +guarded and directed its business currents year by year, swelling with +the elements of prosperity, and who have left the impress of their +genius and judgment upon the legislative enactments of the State, must +be sought after with avidity, and must be fraught with useful +instruction." There is no question that these biographies are fraught +with useful instruction--all biographies are; but to assert that they +must be sought after with avidity is a little too much to be swallowed. +Such assertions show either deplorable ignorance or unwarrantable +misrepresentation of human nature, and in this case we are convinced it +must be the latter. Edwards knew perfectly well--for he seems to have +been sane--that nobody but the subjects of these biographies would seek +them "with avidity," and he made these plausible, bombastic assertions +to excuse himself for having sprung such a trap on an unsuspecting +public. That he tries to palliate the offence is, sufficient proof of +his guilt. + +Mark what he says about the "splendidly illustrated" portion of his +book. "It will be a source of satisfaction to the reader," says he, +"that the engravings of individuals who adorn this work are not drawn by +the flighty imagination from airy nothingness, but represent the +lineaments of men," etc. "Airy nothingness" is refreshing! + +Part II, also, is almost wholly devoted to biographies, one batch being +introduced with this sage remark: "Biography is the most important +feature of history; for the record of the lives of individuals appears +to be invested with more vitality and interest than the dry details of +general historical narrative." Q.E.D.--of course. With Part III we reach +the history of St. Louis, contained in one hundred and eighty pages, +and worth more or less as a history. Then come one hundred and seventy +pages more of biographies, an appendix of fifteen pages, and about +thirty pages of views of manufacturing establishments. And this book is +called The Great West. No further comment seems necessary. + +Of all the many rich and racy things the writer has run across in his +explorations in the literature of American cities, the richest and +raciest is a book called St. Louis: The Future Great City of the World, +by L.U. Reavis. The very title-page gives an inkling of the nature of +the contents by its motto, savoring somewhat of cant: "Henceforth St. +Louis must be viewed in the light of the future--her mightiness in the +empire of the world--her sway in the rule of states and nations." This +book, strangely enough, was "published by order of the St Louis County +Court," in 1870, on the petition of forty-five of the leading citizens +and firms of the city, who were represented before the court by a +committee headed by Captain James B. Eads, the renowned engineer, and +containing one captain, five honorables, and two esquires. The first +edition consisted of one hundred and six pages, which were as +vainglorious and boastful, as crowded with laudatory adjectives, glowing +periods, and bombastic prophecies, as ever one hundred and six published +pages were. + +However, it evidently suited the St. Louis palate, for a second edition +bears date of the same year, and in 1871 a third appeared in a +considerably enlarged form. This last one is the most interesting, for +it contains a preface and a finis which for pure, undiluted presumption +have never been excelled. The former is entitled "Explanatory," and is +worth quoting entire: "A presentation of Causes in Nature and +Civilization which, in their reciprocal action tend to fix the position +of the FUTURE GREAT CITY OF THE WORLD in the central plain of North +America, showing that the centre of the world's commerce and +civilization will, in less than one hundred years, be organized and +represented in the Mississippi Valley, and by St. Louis, occupying as +she does the most favored position on the continent and the Great River; +also a complete representation of the great railway system of St. Louis, +showing that in less than ten years she will be the greatest railway +centre in the world." Even the most arrogant citizen of St. Louis would +hardly have the boldness to maintain that ten years after this prophecy +was made, in 1881, St. Louis was "the greatest railway centre in the +world," or even that she was one of the greatest. As to the one-hundred +years prophecy nothing can as yet be affirmed, for it has eighty-seven +years more to run, but if the last thirteen can be taken as a criterion, +St. Louis has a big contract on her hands. + +The last page is the most curious in the book, and in its way is +certainly unique. It is called "A Closing Word," and, being printed in +italics, has an air of emphasis and force peculiarly appropriate. The +author begins: "Thus have I written a new record--a new prophecy of a +city central to a continent of resources;" and so he goes on for half a +page of ridiculous bombast until he finishes the climax of epithets by +calling this "the Apocalyptic City-- + + 'The New Jerusalem, the ancient seer + Of Patmos saw.' + +"All hail! mistress of nations and beautiful queen of civilization! I +view thee in the light of thy destiny. Thou art transfigured before me +from thy present state to one infinitely more grand, and which +overshadows and dwarfs all civic forms in history. + +"The influence of thy empire will pervade the world with invisible and +electric force. Yet, vivifying and benignant capital,--emporium of trade +and industry, seat of learning and best-applied labor, pivotal point in +history, supreme and superb city of all lands,--I behold thy majesty +from afar, and salute thee reverently as the consummation of all that +the best human energies can accomplish for the elevation and happiness +of our race. + +"All hail! Future Great City of the World, and 'Glory to God in the +Highest and on Earth Peace, Goodwill toward Men.'" + +This reminds one equally of Walt Whitman and Artemas Ward. Yet it is not +burlesque. It appears to have been written in good faith, and for this +reason the incongruity of such a grandiloquent rhapsody on such a +prosaic subject is all the more noticeable. As an example of "fine +writing" it has seldom been surpassed, and for sheer nonsense it is +unequaled in American literature. + +These books on St. Louis call to mind a history of Milwaukee of a +somewhat similar nature--similar in its magnificent pretensions to the +last-described work, and in its biographical characteristics to +Edwards's Great West. The book referred to was published in Chicago, in +1881, by the Western Historical Company, A.T. Andreas, proprietor. Holy +Herodotus! To think of history becoming a thing of "companies"--on a par +with life insurance, railroads, gas-works, and cotton factories! And an +"historical company" with a proprietor, too! + +But let us look into this monumental tome. (Do not think that adjective +hyperbolical, for surely monumental is not too strong a word to describe +a book which would just about balance in weight an unabridged +dictionary.) Some idea of the immensity of the undertaking can be +obtained when, as the preface says, "it is known that nearly one year's +time was consumed and an average force of twenty-five men employed in +the labor of obtaining information and preparing the manuscript for the +printer's hands. The result of this vast effort is the presentation of a +History which stands unparalleled in the experience of publishers." The +book is a quarto and contains sixteen hundred and sixty-three pages. The +letter-press is unexceptionable; each page is surrounded by a neat +border; the paper is good; the binding is excellent. + +And yet the actual history of this city dates back little more than half +a century--not a lifetime. Here is history with a vengeance! The riddle, +however, is solved the instant we glance over the pages, for we find the +mass of the book made up of biographies,--biographies in front, +biographies to the right, biographies to the left, everywhere +biographies,--to the grand sum total of nearly four thousand. A book +much like this would have been made had the Crown published the Giant +Petition trundled into Parliament on a wheelbarrow in the times of +George the Third, when Lord George Gordon was the hero of the day. About +as valuable, about as readable, about as bulky, about as good for +kindling fires! + +But let the perpetrator plead his cause in his own words--and it must be +conceded he does it well. "The plan of the History of the city of +Milwaukee, which is herewith presented to the public," he says in his +preface, "possesses the merit of originality. It is based upon the fact +that in all older regions, a serious deficiency exists even in the most +exhaustive histories which it is possible now to compile through the +absence of personal and detailed records of pioneer men and deeds. The +primary design of this work is to preserve for future historians as +complete an encyclopaedia of early events in Milwaukee, and the actors +therein, as patient labor and unstinted financial expenditure can +procure." + +We thank the Western Historical Company, or Mr. Andreas, for this +benevolent and philanthropic spirit, but really he must not expect us to +believe that pecuniary profit is only a _secondary_ design of this work. +But supposing for a moment that the primary design was as philanthropic +and unselfish as Mr. Andreas would have us think, let us consider its +worth; for, if we grant this premise, we must admit the truth of the +conclusion reached, and then must give unstinted praise to the fruits of +such a conclusion, a volume like the one before us. But the premise is +specious and false. The deficiency that exists through the absence of +personal and detailed records of _pioneer_ men and deeds is not serious: +on the contrary, in most cases, we should be devoutly thankful that it +exists. Of the generations after that of the pioneers we would know +much; of that of the pioneers themselves, something. But who is there, +or will there be, that cares a picayune whether the third cobbler in +Milwaukee (this history would call him the third manufacturer of shoes) +was born in April or June, 1806, or whether he came from Tipperary or +Heidelberg, or whether his wife died of the pneumonia or the +whooping-cough? To be sure we would be glad to know whether the early +settlers of Milwaukee were mainly young or mainly old when they came +here, whether they were mainly German or Irish, and what where the +prevalent diseases in different localities at an early period, but to +ask an intelligent being to wade through nearly four thousand "personal +histories" in order ascertain these facts is, to say the least, somewhat +of an imposition on his good nature. + +Later on in his preface the author contradicts himself in this regard, +for he shows us how far from philanthropic were the publisher's motives +and how little he thought of posterity in inserting these biographies, +by writing the following well-turned and suggestive sentences: "It may +be asked, Why have the biographical sketches of comparatively obscure +men been inserted? The reasons are obvious to business men and should be +to all. None but citizens are represented. Whatever Milwaukee is her +citizens have made her. Shall the publisher exercise a power higher than +the law, and erect a caste distinction or estimate each man's work from +some fictitious standard of his own? Assuredly not. If, in the +preparation of this work, a citizen has shown commendable pride, and +aided its publisher by his patronage, he is entitled to mention in its +pages. Such men and women have received a sketch, but the fact of +pecuniary assistance has not biased the character of the book." + +This is a very specious attempt to throw a glamour of respectability +over a very unpleasant and repugnant fact, namely: that a mass of +"biographical sketches of comparatively obscure men" has been given to +the public under the guise of a history of a city, with the sole object +of making money. It is indeed consoling to know that "none but citizens +have been represented," but why this statement should be coupled with +the platitude that follows it would be hard to say. And then the utter +ridiculousness of the nonsense about the publisher exercising a power +higher than the law and erecting a caste distinction! "What fools these +mortals be!" + +But whatever may be said of the historical value of such books as the +above, there can be little doubt that they are remunerative business +enterprises, for the country has of late years been flooded with them. +Perhaps we ought to be thankful for any history at all of these new +Western cities, even though the wheat therein be so scarce and the chaff +so plenty. The prevalence of this same affliction--the biographical +history--in literary New England seems more anomalous than it does in +the West, but it is even more widespread. A fair type of the Eastern +species is the Quarter-Centennial History of Lawrence, Massachusetts, +compiled by H.A. Wadsworth, in 1878. It contained seventy-five very poor +wood-engravings, called portraits by courtesy, which, with the +accompanying biographies, were inserted to represent the leading (?) men +of the city at an entrance fee of five or ten dollars apiece. + +Next in number below the biographical histories, but far above them in +value, come what may be called the chronological histories, that is, +those which make little or no attempt to group the important facts of a +city's history in homogeneous chapters, but which, diary-like, give all +facts, important as well as insignificant, in the order of their +occurrence. Fortunately most local historians of this sect have made +more or less attempt at bringing like to like, although they have +generally preserved the purely chronological order within their groups, +whether these be of subjects or periods. Among the histories of the +larger cities, Scharf's Chronicles of Baltimore comes to mind as typical +of this class. This work, published in 1874, is an octavo of seven +hundred and fifty-six pages. The author tells the truth when he says in +his preface: "The only plan in the work that has been followed has been +to chronicle events through the years in their order; beginning with the +earliest in which any knowledge on the subject is embraced, and running +on down to the present." The book is printed "solid," with not a single +chapter-heading from one end to the other, so it is not strange that it +contains such an immense amount of material. + +The great fault of this book, as of all books of this class, is the lack +of the proper classification, the scholarly reflection and comment, the +thoughtful contrast and comparison, the exercise of intelligent judgment +in forming conclusions,--all which are necessary to make history +palatable, not to say valuable. Nowhere is this lack shown more forcibly +than in this book in the treatment of the subject of riots and mob +violence. It may not be generally known, especially among the younger +portion of the community, that no American and but few European cities +have such an unenviable and disgraceful record on this head as +Baltimore. The accounts of its riots remind one too forcibly of the +worst days of the French Revolution, and all of them read more like the +incidents so plentiful in the sensational stories of the day, than like +the cold, dispassionate record of history. And this, mind you, is the +record of a city famed far more for monuments, pleasure-grounds, and +beautiful women, than for lawlessness and sans-culottism, a city proud +of its families and its culture, a city one of the oldest and richest in +the land. However unpleasant it may be to look at the black side of such +a city's history, yet the study must be profitable if by it we +Americans, proud of our tolerance and our humanity, jealous of aught +past or present that may blot our escutcheon, wondering at and +scornfully pitying nations that could have had Lord George Gordon riots +and blood-thirsty land-leagues, a reign of terror and a commune,--if we +may learn not to be quite so arrogant in our righteousness, quite so +boastful in our Pharisaism; if we may learn how much reason we of the +New World have to bear in mind, when we read about the past and present +of the Old World, the divine command: "He that is without sin among you, +let him first cast a stone at her." + +Yet Scharf gives merely the bare details of these, the most vivid scenes +in Baltimore's history, and goes little into causes or results, leaving +us almost wholly in the dark as to how a civilized city in the most +enlightened country on earth could have grafted on its history such +anomalous things as these riots. This feature of Baltimore's history +seems to us to be the feature most peculiar to itself, and, therefore, +like that feature of a human face peculiar to the person we are +studying, the most interesting; but our historian gives it no +distinctive treatment, puts no emphasis on it, forces the reader to +compare, contrast, account for, explain, and draw conclusions for +himself. That he should slide over this side of Baltimore's history +would be natural enough, but of this he cannot be accused. His treatment +of this subject is characteristic of the whole book. + +As a good example of an even more disappointing type of chronological +histories we may take the History of Lynn, including Lynnfield, Saugus, +Swampscott, and Nahant, by Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall, an octavo +of six hundred and twenty pages, published in 1865. The book seems to +have been condensed from a series of very poor diaries, and the mass of +detail under the year-headings is ridiculous in its minuteness and +laughable in its absurdity. Every year has its paragraphic entries, more +or less full. The narrative of one year may here be quoted to show the +nature of the whole, and, for that matter, the nature of fifty similar +town histories. + +1758. "Thomas Mansfield, Esquire, was thrown from his horse on Friday, +January 6, and died the next Sunday. + +"A company of soldiers, from Lynn, marched for Canada, on the +twenty-third of May. Edmund Ingalls and Samuel Mudge were killed. + +"In a thunder-shower, on the fourth of August, an ox belonging to Mr. +Henry Silsbee was killed by lightning. + +"A sloop from Lynn, commanded by Captain Ralph Lindsay, was cast away on +the fifteenth of August, near Portsmouth." + +In this pretended "History," the whole of the eighteenth century +receives but sixty-two pages, and that part of the nineteenth which had +elapsed at the time of publication receives only one hundred and +seventeen. In the latter an average entry is the following, under date +of 1856:-- + +"Patrick Buckley, the 'Lynn Buck,' ran five miles in twenty-eight +minutes and thirty-eight seconds, at the Trotting Park, for a belt +valued at fifty dollars. And on the fourth of December, William Hendley +ran the same distance in twenty-eight minutes and thirty seconds." + +The "Lynn Buck," seems to have been an important personage in those +days, for we read under date of 1858:-- + +"The 'Lynn Buck,' so called, walked a plank at Lowell, in February, a +hundred and five consecutive hours and forty-four minutes, and with but +twenty-nine minutes' rest. A strict watch was kept on him." + +We are very glad to know about the "strict watch," but really it was too +bad of the authors not to let us know if those forty-four minutes, also, +were not consecutive. They might, too, have told us to advantage +something about the _modus operandi_ of "walking a plank." It has been +the general impression that the man who walks a plank performs the +operation in an unpleasant hurry--unpleasant for him; and that he will +take all the rest he can get--before he begins; and that he has an +eternal rest, or unrest, after he has finished. But perhaps this has +been a wrong impression. If the authors are alive, it is due to the +public that they should rise and explain. + +Enough of pleasantry. Let us examine the book with serious mind, if we +can. Everybody knows that shoes have been the making of Lynn, that they +are and have been for years the backbone of its prosperity, the life of +its business. To say that Lynn is the greatest shoe-manufacturing city +in the country, and, for that matter, in the world, may be an +exaggeration, but it is a very common one. In a history of Lynn we might +expect this fact to be at least recognized. Let us see how that is in +the present case. + +The shoe business was not unknown in Lynn before 1750, but in that year +it first got a firm footing here. So we are not surprised to find the +fact mentioned, but we are somewhat disappointed to find only half a +page given to it. Beyond this, mention of the shoe trade in the last +century is very slight, as, no doubt, was the trade itself. Since 1800, +however, the trade has been rapidly increasing, and has gradually +assumed enormous proportions. Yet in this precious volume we find the +subject mentioned just once in the chronological annals, _three lines_ +being devoted to it under the head of 1810: "It appeared, by careful +estimation, that there were made in Lynn, this year, one million pairs +of shoes, valued at eight hundred thousand dollars. The females (!) +earned some fifty thousand dollars by binding." To be sure, the burning +of two shoe factories received, respectively, two and three lines; the +formation of an ineffective board of trade by shoemakers, ten lines; and +of an equally fruitless union by journeymen shoemakers, ten lines. A +page and a quarter (_mirabile dictu_) is devoted to a shoemakers' strike +with no definite result. In a biography, the connection of its subject +with the shoe business is mentioned in a quoted letter. A quick job by a +shoemaker receives six lines, and one by another, four; and the death of +a third is mentioned. + +In an appendix the state of the shoe business in 1864 is discussed at +length in a third of a half-page! All we learn from it is that by the +State returns in the year ending June 1, 1833, there were made +9,275,593 pairs of shoes valued at $4,165,529. In the year ending +September 1, 1864, about ten million pairs of shoes were made, valued at +fourteen million dollars (probably paper, not gold, value), and the +number of shoe manufacturers was 174; of men and women employed, 17,173. +As the total population of Lynn at that time was little if anything over +twenty-three thousand, it will be seen that even these figures are +untrustworthy, or else the shoe business played even a greater part in +Lynn affairs than is generally supposed. + +And this is all the mention to be found in a History of Lynn concerning +the backbone of the city--that great industry to which it almost wholly +owed its population of 38,274 in 1880. Can any one maintain that this +sort of a book is a history? + +And so we might go on, finding history after history of the towns and +cities scattered through New England and the Middle States, most of them +on a par with those last mentioned, in all styles of print and binding, +some decrepit and musty with age, others fresh and enticing, with gaudy +covers and scores of illustrations; some like Sewall's History of Woburn +with no table of contents or index, and so practically useless; a few +like Staples's Annals of Providence, scholarly and creditable; yet none +of them ideal histories. But occasionally we meet an oasis in this vast +waste, and though it may not be a paradise, yet we are too grateful for +the water that nourishes the palms and the grass, that refreshes our +parched mouths and wearied bodies, to think that in other climes we +might call it brackish and unclean. + +Such is the effect that the History of Pittsfield, Massachusetts has on +us. Here is a book that might well be taken as a standard by town +historians. The very history of the History will show its merits. + +At a town meeting held in the Town Hall, in Pittsfield, August 25, 1866, +so the preface says, Mr. Thomas Allen rose, and stated that on the +centennial of the First Congregational Church and parish, namely, April +18, 1864, he had been requested by a vote of the parish to prepare an +historical memoir of that parish and church, embodying substantially, +but extending, the remarks he made at that meeting. He stated that, in +looking over the records of the town and parish, he found them +intimately connected, so that a history of the one would also be a +history of the other; and he had found the history of the town highly +interesting, and honorable to its inhabitants. True, there were no +classic fields in Pittsfield, consecrated by patriotic blood spilled in +battle in defence of the country, as in Lexington and Concord, simply +because no foreign foe in arms ever invaded its soil; but it was not the +less true that Pittsfield had always promptly performed her part, and +furnished her quota of men and means, in every war waged in defence of +the country and the Union; and that in the intellectual contests +through which the just principles of republican government, and civil +and religious freedom, have been established in this country, the men of +Pittsfield, on their own ground and elsewhere, have ever borne a part +creditable alike to their wisdom, their sagacity, and their patriotism. +Pittsfield, therefore, had a history which deserved to be written. The +first settlers had all passed away; and their immediate descendants, +witnesses of their earlier struggles, were whitening with the frosts of +age, and were also rapidly disappearing. If the records of their history +were to be gathered together, and preserved in a durable form, it was +time that the duty be undertaken. He was satisfied that an honorable +record would appear, and worthy of the place to which God had given so +much that is beautiful in nature. + +These remarks were so sensible, their spirit was so noble, their form so +forcible, that at once a committee of five was appointed to compile, +write, and supervise the publication of a history of the town, and an +appropriation was made to defray the expense. This committee chose Mr. +J.E.A. Smith to aid them, and, according to the title-page, he compiled +and wrote the book under their general direction. It was published in +two octavo volumes: the first contained five hundred and eighteen pages, +and appeared in 1868, bringing the history from 1734 down to 1800; the +second, containing seven hundred and twenty-five pages, was not +published until eight years later. The second volume brought the history +down to date, and with the first formed an unbroken, readable narrative, +written in perhaps as good a style as town history could warrant us in +expecting. Not the least deserving of praise are the indexes, the lack +of which found in most books of the sort does more to lower their value +than any other defect. The man who writes a history without indexing it +thereby shows his utter lack of the most essential requisite in an +historian--a knowledge of the art of codification. He also calls down +upon his head the curses of every student who tries to use his book. + +An abundance of illustrations is not rare enough in town histories to +merit applause, but they are so seldom worth looking at that the +presence of such admirable ones as we find here attracts more than +passing notice. If American art were to be judged by the generality of +such illustrations, we would do well to say as little as possible about +the slurs and sneers of foreign critics. In such case silence would be +the better plan. + +The preface to the second volume contained the following suggestive +sentences:-- + +"The original plan of the work was to make the earlier portions more +full than the later: indeed, to give but a brief skeleton of recent +affairs: it being exceedingly difficult to make contemporary history +satisfactory to those who have taken part in it. We have, in a few +instances, departed from this course, for reasons which will suggest +themselves to the reader." + +In these sentences may be found the germ of almost the only idea in the +making of this truly admirable book which deserves severe criticism, and +most certainly the severest condemnation should be given to this and all +similar ideas. The notion that history should be written in a way that +will be _satisfactory_ to those engaged in it is radically wrong, unless +perchance by a _satisfactory_ way is meant a way that in point of truth, +accuracy, and fulness, will suit those who have a more or less personal +share in the events to be recorded. But here it is evident that the word +has not this meaning, or at least has a great deal more than this +meaning. In this connection it seems to be a euphemism for _pleasant_. +Certainly no one will dispute that an historian of contemporary events +would find very difficult even the attempt to make his work pleasant to +his contemporaries. It is the endeavor to do this which has vitiated +all the histories so far written of the late Civil War. The same +principle made Thiers's French Revolution an almost worthless book as a +history. To come down to lesser things, the same principle underlying +and pervading all American local histories has done more toward making +them worthless than any other single defect. In the name of truth and +justice we ask, "Why should the writing of history be made satisfactory, +pleasant, to those who aid in the making of it?" We want the _truth_ +about the near, as well as the far, past. Let us do unto our descendants +as we would that our ancestors had done by us, and tell them the truth +about ourselves. + +Perhaps we ought to be more lenient in the case of this history of +Pittsfield, in consideration of the fact that this was a _public_ work, +and, therefore, more caution had to be exercised than we would otherwise +have expected. Of course no employee would like to displease even a +single member of the corporation that employed him. Possibly the same +argument might be raised in defence of any historian, in that the public +is virtually his employer. Here, however, reasoning by analogy fails, +for the public is a very large body, and will seldom take up the cudgel +in defence of any single individual. This is a question, however, which +should be settled on the ground of right, not of expediency. But even if +the right be left out of account, the expedient in this case is not +necessarily opposed to truth and accuracy. This is well shown by the +phenomenal success of The Memorial History of Boston, mentioned above. +It may be well just here to say a little more about this admirable work, +for it is even more typical of what an ideal city history should be, +than that of Pittsfield is of the ideal town history. + +From the title-page we learn that The Memorial History of Boston, +including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, was edited by Justin +Winsor, and issued under the business superintendence of the projector, +Clarence F. Jewett, in 1880. The nature of the book is learned from the +preface, which says: "The history is cast on a novel plan: not so much +in being a work of co-operation, but because, so far as could be, the +several themes, as sections of one homogeneous whole, have been treated +by those who have some particular association and, it may be, long +acquaintance with the subject. In the diversity of authors there will, +of course, be variety of opinions, and it has not been thought +ill-judged, considering the different points of view assumed by the +various writers, that the same events should be interpreted sometimes in +varying and, perhaps, opposite ways. The chapters may thus make good the +poet's description: + + 'Distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea,'-- + +and may not be the worse for each offering a reflection, according to +its turn to the light, without marring the unity of the general +expanse." + +Among those who contributed one or more chapters to this work were +Justin Winsor (the editor), Charles Francis Adams, Jr., R.C. Winthrop, +T.W. Higginson, Edward Everett Hale, H.E. Scudder, F.W. Palfrey, +Phillips Brooks, Andrew P. Peabody, Henry Cabot Lodge, Josiah P. Quincy, +and Edward Atkinson. Such names as these are more than enough to insure +the truth, accuracy, and historical value of the book. Each one of them +discussed one or more topics, and then their work with that of the less +famous contributors was arranged chronologically, making a logically +consecutive series of essays complete in themselves. The whole was +published in four elegantly printed volumes, containing, in all, +twenty-five hundred and seventy-seven pages. + +This is the kind of a history which is of value, not only for immediate +use, but also for future reference; and this is the kind that gladdens +the heart and cheers the labors of the student and the writer. It is the +lack of such histories which makes incomplete and unsatisfactory such +works as the one in the hands of the government which called forth this +article. For it must not be supposed that the historical part of The +Social Statistics of Cities of 1880 will be either complete in every +part or wholly satisfactory. Yet perhaps it will be complete enough to +answer its end, which is to afford an opportunity for seeing why the +cities and towns described have reached their present condition. It is +on the accounts of their present condition that the value of the work +must chiefly rest. + +To the historians in succeeding generations these accounts will be +invaluable, for they will give information about the cities as they were +in the year 1880, which is not likely to be embodied in any other +permanent form. It has been shown how large a proportion of the local +histories of America have been found wanting in these things. It is not +to be expected that the immediate future will see any decided +reformation. Then it is clear of how great value to the "future +historian of recent events," to quote one of Daniel Webster's phrases, +will be such work as this that has been undertaken by the National +government. It will be of so great value because, as we can say with +little exaggeration, the history of the cities is the history of the +nation. The city to-day plays a most important part in national affairs. +It is, indeed, and for aught we can see must continue to be, the Hamlet +of the play. Few people realize this. Few people know that over one +fifth of the population of the land is gathered in the large towns and +cities. At the beginning of the century the ratio of the urban +population to the rural was only as one to fifteen. No reason is +apparent why the increase in the ratio should not be equally steady and +rapid for many generations. That this same change has taken place in all +_civilized_ portions of the world is, in truth, most significant. In +England the progress of the cities has been in the same direction, and, +as nearly as can be judged, in the same ratio as that of wealth, +learning, and happiness. + +Call to mind what Macaulay said, nearly half a century ago, in chapter +iii of his History of England: "Great as has been the change in the +rural life of England since the Revolution (1688), the change which has +come to pass in the cities is still more amazing. At present, a sixth +part of the kingdom is crowded into provincial towns of more than thirty +thousand inhabitants. In the reign of Charles II, no provincial town in +the kingdom contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and only four +provincial towns contained so many as ten thousand inhabitants." Since +this was written, the change, if not so marvelous, has been equally +important. + +As to our own country, the change can in no way be shown more clearly +than by the following table, which will be published in the Census +Report:-- + + + + +TABLE SHOWING THE GROWTH OF UNITED STATES CITIES FROM 1800 TO 1880. + +[Transcriber's note--This table has been transposed to make it fit. For +each year, Pop. is the Aggregate Population of all cities in that size +range; % is the percentage of the total Population of the United +States.] + +______________________________________________________________________ + | Total | Cities of Population: | + |Population| 10,000- 50,000- 100,000- Over | + | of U.S. | 49,999. 99,999. 499,999. 500,000.|Grand total +______________________________________________________________________ +1800| 5,308,483|Pop.| 161,134 24,945 60,989 104,113| 351,181 + | | % | .03 .0047 .011 .019 | .068 +1820| 9,633,822|Pop.| 214,270 43,997 186,293 194,683| 639,243 + | | % | .021 .0046 .019 .02 | .069 +1830|12,866,020|Pop.| 316,360 83,960 278,067 289,980| 968,367 + | | % | .025 .0065 .021 .0225 | .075 +1840|17,069,453|Pop.| 461,671 150,682 504,016 447,078| 1,563,487 + | | % | .027 .0088 .029 .025 | .091 +1850|23,191,876|Pop.| 990,080 314,182 933,039 763,724| 3,001,025 + | | % | .043 .013 .04 .033 | .13 +1860|31,433,321|Pop.|1,654,183 446,575 1,483,472 1,750,020| 5,334,250 + | | % | .052 .014 .047 .055 | .17 +1870|38,558,783|Pop.|2,526,432 676,990 2,302,961 2,311,410| 7,817,793 + | | % | .066 .017 .059 .06 | .20 +1880|50,155,783|Pop.|3,479,658 947,918 3,087,592 3,123,317|10,638,485 + | | % | .069 .019 .06 .062 | .21 +______________________________________________________________________ + +The city is not only the growing centre of a growing nation--it is also +the centre of all intellectual growth. The city is the home of the bar, +the hospital, the press, the church, and the state. The city is the +outcome of civilization, for it is the product of commerce and +manufactures, and these mean civilization. + +Then if any history be of value, if the record of the past be of any use +in guiding the present and helping toward the future, surely the history +of the city is the most important of all history. + +PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT. + + +A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. By Justin McCarthy, M.P. One volume, +pp. 448. Harper and Brothers: New York. 1884. + + +The brilliant History of Our Own Times, in two volumes, by the same +author, and published four years ago, has now been presented to the +public in a reduced size. While it was necessary to leave out many of +the striking and rhetorical passages in the process of condensation, +which formed so pleasing a portion in the larger work, the strictly +historical matter remains unchanged. His history, beginning with the +accession of Queen Victoria, in 1837, and extending to the general +election, in 1880, the date of the appointment of the Honorable W.E. +Gladstone to the premiership of England, covers a period of intense +interest, and with which every intelligent person should be familiar. +Mr. McCarthy's work is destined to be, for some time to come, the +standard account of English affairs for the last fifty years. + +One of the most valuable reference works of recent publication is The +Epitome of Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern History. By Carl Ploetz. +Translated from the German, with extensive additions, by William H. +Tillinghast, of the Harvard University library. One volume. pp. 618. +Houghton, Mifflin, and Company: Boston. 1884. + +The author of the original work, Professor Doctor Carl Ploetz, is well +known in Germany as a veteran teacher and writer of educational books +which have a high reputation, excellence, and authority. With regard to +the present work, it should be observed that it has passed through seven +editions in Germany. As a book of reference, either for the student or +the general reader, its tested usefulness is a sufficient guaranty for +its wide adoption in the present enlarged form. The scope of The Epitome +may be summarized as follows: Universal history is first treated by +dividing it into three periods. First, ancient history, from the +earliest historical information to the year 375 A.D. Second, mediaeval, +from that date to the discovery of America, in 1492. Third, modern +history, from the last date to the year 1883. + +We have received from the author, the Honorable Samuel Abbott Green, +M.D., a pamphlet entitled "Notes on a Copy of Dr. William Douglass's +Almanack for 1743, touching on the subject of medicine in Massachusetts +before his time." It is specially interesting to the members of the +medical fraternity, as well as to antiquaries. + +CORRECTION.--The article upon Lovewell's fight at Pigwacket, printed in +the February number of the Bay State (page 83), contained a trifling +error, but one which deserves correction. It is stated that the township +of land with which the General Court, in 1774, rewarded the services of +the troops under Lovewell, was subsequently divided, forming the towns +of Lovell and New Sweden. The mistake was upon the name of the latter +town. It should have been written Sweden. New Sweden is the recent +Swedish colony of Aroostook County. + +I.B.C. + + + + +[Illustration: Boar's Head House] + +From the eastern end of Long Island, toward the west and south, extends +a dreary monotony of sandbeach along the whole Atlantic coast, to the +extreme southern cape of Florida, thence along the shores of the Gulf of +Mexico to the Rio Grande, broken only by occasional inlets. The +picturesque coast scenery is mostly north and east of Cape Cod. +Following along the seaboard from Cape Ann, one comes, a few miles north +of the mouth of the Merrimack River, in view of a bold promontory +extending into the waters of the Atlantic, and aptly named, in years +agone, Boar's Head. + +The traveler in search of a delightful seaside resort for the summer +need go no further. For here, amidst the most charming of marine +scenery, that veteran landlord and genial host, Stebbins H. Dumas, has +erected, for the benefit of the public, a hotel, spacious, well +appointed, and ably conducted; inviting and especially homelike; every +room commanding a view of the ocean. + +Boar's Head is a promontory; its level summit of about a dozen acres, +sixty feet above the highest tide, clothed in the greenest verdure. It +is in the form of a triangle, the cliffs on two sides of which are +lashed by the waves of the restless ocean; while toward the main, the +land falls away gently to the level of the marshes. The hotel is situate +on the crest of this incline. From the veranda, which commands the +landward view, the prospect is wide and pleasing. To the north trends +Hampton Beach in a long sweep to Little Boar's Head and the shores of +Rye and Newcastle; inland are broad stretches of salt marsh, its surface +interwoven with the silver ribbon of the creek and stream; beyond are +glimpses of restful rustic scenes, improved by near approach; spires +pointing heavenward from all the peaceful villages, and, further away, +Agamenticus and the granite hills of New England; to the south, the +beach runs on toward Salisbury and Newburyport. But the great view from +Boar's Head is from the ocean apex of the promontory. Here, beneath the +grateful shade of an awning, with the waves breaking rythmically at the +foot of the cliff far beneath, one can sit and ponder on the immensity +of the ocean and dream of the lands beyond the horizon. From here the +whole seaboard, from Thatcher's Island to York and Wells, is in view; +the Isles of Shoals loom up on the horizon, while the offing is dotted +with coasters and yachts of every rig and construction. Calm, indeed, +must it be when no wind is felt on Boar's Head; and during those +exceptional days of the summer, when the land-breeze prevails, the broad +verandas around three sides of the hotel afford the most grateful shade. +The broad acres between the house and the bluff is a lawn for the use of +the guests, where croquet and tennis may be highly enjoyed in the +invigorating ocean air. + +During the evening, when the atmosphere is clear, there are visible from +the Head thirteen lighthouses. When the shades of night and the dew have +driven the guests to seek shelter within doors, the great parlor affords +to the young people ample room for the cotillion or German, while the +reception-room, office, and reading-room lure the seniors to whist or +magazines. Of a Sunday, the dining-room answers for a chapel; and in +years past, the voice of many an eloquent preacher has echoed through +the room, and reached, through the open windows, hardy but devout +fishermen on the outside. + +These same fishermen bring great codfish from the outlying shoals, +delicious clams from the flats, canvas-back duck, and teal, and +yellow-leg plovers from the marshes, to tempt the delicate appetite of +the valetudinarian. + +Boar's Head is on the seacoast of the old town of Hampton, in the State +of New Hampshire. Taking a team from Mr. Dumas' well-stocked stable, one +will find the most delightful drives, extending in all directions +through the ancient borough. The roads follow curves, like the drives in +Central Park, and two centuries and a half of wear have rendered them as +solid and firm as if macadamized. Three short miles from the hotel is +the station of Hampton, on the Eastern Railroad, by which many trains +pass daily. + +[Illustration] + +For the historical student the region affords much of interest. Here, in +the village of Hampton, in the year 1638, in the month of October, +settled the Reverend Stephen Batchelder [Bachiler] and his followers, +intent to serve God in their own way and establish homes in the +wilderness. The river and adjoining country was then known as +Winnicunnett. The settlers, for the most part, came from Norfolk, +England, and so desirable did they find their adopted home that many +descendants of the original grantees occupy to-day the land opened and +cleared by their ancestors. In this town, in 1657, settled Ebenezer +Webster, the direct progenitor of the Great Expounder, and here the +family remained for several generations. + +Within the limits of the old township, which was bounded on the south by +the present Massachusetts line, on the north by Portsmouth and Exeter, +and extended ten miles inland, were included the territory of some half +dozen of the adjoining townships of to-day. Here lived Meshach Weare, +who guided the New Hampshire ship of state through the troublous times +of the Revolution. Over yonder, near the site of the first log +meeting-house, is pointed out the gambrel-roofed house of General +Jonathan Moulton, the great land-owner. He it was, in the good old +colony days, who drove a very large and fat ox from his township of +Moultonborough, and delivered it to the jovial Governor Wentworth as a +present to his excellency, and said there was nothing to pay. When the +governor insisted on making some return, General Moulton informed him +that there was an ungranted gore of land adjoining his earlier grant +which he would accept. In this manner he came into possession of the +town of New Hampton--a very ample return for the ox; at least, so +asserts tradition. + +Colonel Christopher Toppan, in those early days, was largely engaged in +ship-building. For many years the people of Hampton were employed in +domestic and foreign commerce, and it was not until the advent of the +railroad that Hampton surrendered its dreams of commercial +aggrandizement. + +One road leads up the coast to Rye and Portsmouth; another, through a +most charming country, to Exeter; another, to Salisbury and Newburyport, +and many others inland in every direction. + +Boar's Head is the best base from which to operate to rediscover the +whole adjoining territory. + +The first house on the Head was built, in 1808, by Daniel Lamprey, whose +son, Jeremiah Lamprey, began to entertain guests about 1820. The first +public house in the vicinity, a part of the present Boar's Head House, +was built, in 1826, by David Nudd and associates. From them it came, in +1865, into the possession of Stebbins Hitchcock Dumas, who, nineteen +years before, had commenced hotel life at the Phenix, in Concord. Under +Mr. Dumas' management the house has grown steadily in size as well as in +popularity, until to-day it ranks as one of the great seaside +caravansaries of the Atlantic coast. + +When a fisherman in his wanderings through the forest discovers a pond +or stream well stocked with sparkling trout, he keeps his information to +himself, and frequently revisits his treasure. So is it apt to be with +the tourist and pleasure-seeker. Here, season after season, have +appeared the same men and the same families--noticeably those who +appreciate a table supplied with every delicacy of the season, served up +in the most tempting manner. + +Has the guest a desire to compete with the fishermen, he is furnished +every convenience, and by a basket of fish "expressed" to some distant +friend can demonstrate his piscatorial powers. On the favoring beach, +hard by the hotel, are bathhouses where one can prepare to sport in the +refreshing billows. The halls and rooms of the hotel were built before +those days when those who resort to the seabeach were expected to be +accommodated within the area of their Saratoga trunks. Spacious, +comfortably furnished, each opening on a view of the ocean, the rooms of +the hotel are very attractive and pleasing. + +The hotel is opened for the reception of the public early in June, and +remains open into October, before the last guest departs. + +The gentle poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, thus writes of Hampton +Beach:-- + + "I sit alone: in foam and spray + Wave after wave + Breaks on the rocks.--which, stern and gray, + Shoulder the broken tide away,-- + Or murmurs hoarse and strong through mossy cleft and cave. + + "What heed I of the dusty land + And noisy town? + I see the mighty deep expand + From its white line of glimmering sand + To where the blue of heaven on bluer waves shuts down. + + "In listless quietude of mind + I yield to all + The change of cloud and wave and wind; + And passive, on the flood reclined, + I wander with the waves, and with them rise and fall. + + * * * * * + + "So then, beach, bluff, and wave, farewell! + I bear with me + No token stone nor glittering shell; + But long and oft shall memory tell + Of this brief thoughtful hour of musing by the sea." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue +5, May, 1884, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BAY STATE MONTHLY, *** + +***** This file should be named 13632.txt or 13632.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/6/3/13632/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team and Cornell University + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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