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THE
HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS
APPOINTED BY THE
MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES AND OTHER PUBLIC BODIES,
FROM 1770 TO 1852;
', • .*. •••
COMPEISIXG ,'"-'- - - - , , ,
HISTOEICAL GLEANINGS,
ILLTJSTHATING THE
PRINCIPLES AND PROGRESS OF OUR REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS.
BY JAMES SPEAR LORING.
JJouttf) EDitiou, toiti) an KmpvobeU KnUej: of Xamcs.
" I would have these orations collected and printed in volumes, and then write the history of the last
forty-five years in commentaries upon them." John Adams, in 1816.
" Xhe precious spark of liberty had been Itindled and was preserved by the Puritans alone ; * ♦ •
•nd it was to this sect that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution.'' David IlriiE.
BOSTON:
JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.
CLEVELAND, OHIO:
JEWETT, PROCTOR & WORTinXGTON.
1855.
« » • • » « •
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852,
r.v JAMES SPEAR L01UN(J,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of MassaehusetW.
SIEREOTVI'ED BT
nOBART & KOBBIXS,
HEW ESGLiSD XyPIi ASD STEREOTYPE FOCNDERIT,
BOSTON
L^9
i^t3^:
A WORD TO THE READER.
The editor, after a careful research pursued with an intense devotion during a
period of nearly four years, presents this volume to the public, and here takes occasion
to dedicate its pages to the glorious memory of Samuel Adams, John Hancock and
Thomas Gushing, — a noble triumvirate, among the foremost of the great promoters
of the American Revolution. Aspiring to no higher claim than that of editor, lie
remarks, in addition to what has been stated at the close of the introduction on tlie
Boston Massacre, — of which event Daniel Webster emphasizes, " from that moment
we may date the severance of the British empire," — that he has embodied a great
^ mass of materials in relation to our own political and national history, after poring
fH over valuable manuscripts, newspapers printed for more than a hundred years past,
< every variety of periodicals, pamphlets, and a multitude of other authorities essential
to the completion of his design. The editor has generally been careful to cite authori-
ties ; but sometimes through inadvertence, sometimes for the reason that writers have
3 adopted the language and statements of others as original, he has not designated
2 authorities. A great disparity in the sketches of the orators will be observed. In the
5 gathering of materials, the editor has mostly been thrown on his own resom-ces.
• While, by interviews with parties interested, a great body of original matter has been
obtained in relation to a large number of the orators, very meagre materials only, like
^ a monumental inscription, could be gathered in regard to others ; and this is an
2e apology for what may, at the first blush, appear an act of injustice to some of the
* most worthy characters in the catalogue ; — but there are in the volume such frequent
allusions to the same person, that they partially atone for the scanty materials of a
separate article. Notwithstanding the vigilance of the editor, many errors appear
in the work ; but, to adopt the language of Cotton Mather, " it seems the hands of
Briareus and the eyes of Argus will not prevent them."
Unlike old Homer's " hundred-gated Thebes," — which, however, according to the
best authorities, never was a walled city, and lost the honored name of capital by the
conquest of Cambyses, — Boston hath ever been the capital of our famed Bay State,
and, by the eloquence of her more than hundred orators, hath given character to the
nation. Would this mother of New England and exemplar of America continue worthy
IV A WORD TO THE READER.
of her elevated position, unceasing must be her regard to the schools of learning, the
influences of the pulpit, and an uncontaminated public press.
The editor, in offering the present edition of the Hundred Boston Orators, at so
short a period from its first appearance, acknowledges his grateful remembrance of
the late Samuel Appleton, an eminent merchant of Boston, for his liberal distribu-
tion of this book to the public schools of this city, to academies in this state, to every
college in the United States, and other institutions ; by 'whose munificence the pub-
lishers are thus early enabled to present the work with improvements. Indeed,
Mr. Appleton was the most generous patron of literary works then living in Boston.
as was evinced in his defraying the largest part of the expenses of publishing the
elaborate and liighly elegant edition of the History of New Ipswich, besides a gift of
five hundred dollars to each of the authors, Frederic Kidder, Esq., and Dr. Augustus
A. Gould. Moreover, he bestowed two hundred dollars for the distribution of Dr.
Hall's Memoir of Mary Lovell Ware to clergymen who had not received it. It was
impressive to look upon this venerable octogenarian, dressed in his maroon velvet
robe de chambre, listen to his tender expressions of sympathy to applicants, and
witness his prompt and hearty appropriation of funds for laudable objects. His
noble heart glowed with patriotic fervor ; his recollection was distinct of witnessing
the departure of his father on horseback to the Concord fight, and listening to the
remark of a neighbor, Mrs. William McClary, to his mother, that she was fortunate
in not having sons old enough to march to battle, while her own husband and three
sons had gone to engage in the conflict at Concord. Although the sons of Mrs. Apple-
ton — the last survivor of whom is now an honored citizen among us — were not
called to offer their blood in the cause of liberty, they lived to become eminently
useful to the descendants of our patriotic fathers.
The most beautiful feature in the character of the solid men of our country, next to
patriotism, is their munificence. In this connection the editor acknowledges the liber-
ality of Dr. John Collins Warren, of Boston, since the publication of the thii-d edition
of this work, for the gift of the same to the theological institutions in the United States.
His princely donation of the Anatomical Museum to Harvard University, — an accumu-
lation of fifty years, — the value of which is estimated at ten thousand dollars, together
with the appropriation of five thousand dollars for its preservation, will ever entitle
him to an honored remembrance. So long as public libraries have an existence in
this country and in Europe, Dr. Warren's gifts to them of valuable works will also be
gratefully recognized ; among which are his treatise on the Mastodon Giganteus of
North America, a very costly quarto volume, with engravings ; his Genealogy of War-
ren, with historical sketches and elegant engravings, a superb quarto volume — and
bis popular work on the Preservation of Health, more than a thousand copies of which
he has presented to individuals.
CONTENTS
The Massacre of
1771.
March 5.
1771.
April 2.
1772.
March 5.
1773.
JIarch 8.
1774.
March 5.
1775.
March 5.
1776.
IMarch 0.
April 8.
1777.
March 5.
1778.
JIarch 5.
1779.
March 5.
1780.
March 5.
1781.
March 5.
1782.
March 5.
1783.
March 5.
July 4.
1784.
July 4.
1785.
July 4.
1786.
July 4.
1787.
July 4.
1788.
July 4.
1789.
July 4.
1790.
July 4.
1791.
July 4.
PAGB
March 5, 1770 1
Thomas Youxg. Boston Massacre 24
James Lovell. Do 29
Joseph "Warren. Do 45
Benjamin Church. Do 37
John Hancock. Do 72
Joseph Warren. Do 59
Peteb Tuacuer. Do 122
Perez Morton. Over the Remains of Warren. . . . 12T
Benjamin Highborn. Boston Massacre 130
Jonathan AVilliams Austin. Do. 133
William Tudor. Do 135
Jonathan Mason. Do 139
Thomas Da^ves. Do. . • 141
George PiIcuards Minot. Do 146
TuoM-is AVelsh. Do .154
John Warren. Town Orator. National Independence. . .156
Benjamin Highborn. Do 167
John Gardiner. Do 168
Jonathan Loring Austin. Do 172
Thojias Daates. Do 182
John Brooks. Mass. Soc. of Cincinnati 184
Harrison Gray Otis. Town Orator 188
Willl\m Hull. Mass. Soc. of Cincinnati 218
Samuel Stillman. Town Orator 222
Samuel Whitwell. Mass. Soc. of Cincinnati. . . . 228
Edward Gray. Town Orator 220
WiLLiAsi Tudor. Mass. Soc. of Cincinnati 220
Thojus Crafts, Jr. Town Orator 230
1*
VI CONTENTS.
PAGB
1792. July 4. Joseph Blake, Jr. Town Orator 231
1793. July 4. John Quixcy Adams. Do. 233
1794. July 4. John Phillips. Do 248
1795. July 4. George Blake. Do . 253
1796. July 4. John Lathrop. Do 255
1797. July 4. John Callexder. Do. 257
1798. July 4. Josiaii Quincy. Do 258
1799. July 4. John Lowell. Do 278
July 17. Robert Treat Paixe. Young Men of Boston 283
Dec. 29. John Thornton Kirkland. Eulogy on Washington. . . 287
1800. Feb. 8. Fisher Ames. State Eulogy on Washington 291
Feb. 11. Timothy Bigelow. Mass. Grand Lodge. .... 298
Feb. 19. John Davis. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. . . 304
July 4. Joseph Hall. ToAvn Orator 307
1801. July 4. Charles Paixe. Do . . .310
1802. July 4. William Emerson. Do 311
1803. July 4. William Sullivan. Do 313
1804. July 4. Thomas Danforth. Do 320
1805. July 4. Warren Dutton. Do 321
Ebexezer Frexch. Young Republicans 822
1806. July 4. Fraxcis Daxa Chaxnixg. Town Orator 322
Joseph Gleason. Young Republicans 323
1807. July 4. Peter Oxenbridge Thacuer. Town Orator. . • . . 823
1808. July 4. Andrew Ritchie, Jr. Do 325
July 4. Charles Pinoknet Sumxer. Young Picpublicans. . . . 325
1809. July 4. William Tcdor. Town Orator 333
July 4. David Everett. Bunker Hill Association 337
July 4. William Charles White. Do 344
1810. July 4. Alexander Towxsexd. Town Orator 349
Daniel AValdo Lincoln. Bunker Hill Association. . . 351
1811. July 4. James Savage. Town Orator 353
Henry A. S. Dearborn. Bunker Hill Association. . . . SCO
1812. July 4. Benjaaun Pollard. Town Orator 865
1813. July 4. Edward St. Loe Livermore. Do 367
1814. July 4. Benjamin Whitwell. Do 868
1815. Apr. 30. Horace Holley. Washington Benevolent Society. . . 368
July 4. Lemuel Shaav. Town Orator. 375
William Gale. Washington Society 381
1816. July 4. George SuLLiv.iN. Town Orator 381
AsHUR Ware. Washington Society 382
1817. July 4. Edward Tyrell Channino. To>vn Orator 884
1818. July 4. Fr-vkcis Galley Gray. Do 385
1819.
1820.
1821.
1822.
1823.
July 4.
July 4.
July 4.
July 4.
July 4.
1824. July 4.
1825.
July 4.
1826.
July 4.
Aug. 2.
Aug. 6.
1827.
July 4.
1828.
Jan. 8.
July 4.
1829.
M'ch 4.
July 4.
1830.
July 4.
1831.
July 4.
July 11
1832.
July 4.
1833. July 4.
1834. July 4.
CONTENTS. VII
FAGB
Feakklix Dextek. Town Orator 383
Samuel Adams Wells. Washington Society 391
Theodore Lyjlix. To'ma Orator 391
Henry Oene. Washington Society 393
Chables Greely Loring. Town Orator 393
Gerry Fairbanks. Washington Society 308
JoHX CnipjLiN Gray. City Orator 398
Charles Pelium Curtis. Do 400
Russell Jartis. Washington Society 403
Joseph Bartlett. Volunteer 405
Francis Bassett. City Orator 406
John Everett. Washington Society 407
Charles Sprague. City Orator 408
JOSIAH QuiNCY. Do 418
1835.
Sept. G.
July 4.
David Lee Child. AVashington Society. .
Daniel AYebster. Eulogy on AJams and Jefiferson.
Samuel Lorenzo Knapp. Young Men of Boston. ,
AViLLiAM Powell RLisON. City Orator.
Nathaniel Greene. Battle of New Orleans. .
Bradford Sumner. City Orator
James Davis Knowles. Baptist Churches.
Joseph Hardy Prince. AVashington Society.
John AYarren James. Inauguration of Jackson.
James Trecothic Austin. City Orator.
Charles Gordon Greene. AA^ashington Society.
Alexander Hill Everett. City Orator. .
Henry Barney Smith. AYasliington Society. .
John Gorhaji Palfrey. City Orator. .
AA'illiam Foster Otis. Young Men of Boston.
Timothy Fuller. Anti-Masonic. . . .
JosiAH QuiNCY, Jr. City Orator
Edward Goldsborough Prescott. Boston Regiment.
Andrew Dunlap. Washington Society. .
Edward Goldsborough Prescott. City Orator.
John Wade, Jr. AA'ashington Society.
Amasa AValker. Twelve Young Men's Societies.
Caleb Cushing. Amer. Colonization Society. .
RiciLiRD Sullivan Fay. City Orator.
Frederick Robinson. Boston Trades Union. .
Edward Everett. Eulogy on Lafiyette.
George Stillman Hillard. City Orator. . .
420
.421
445
.447
449
.449
455
.453
460
.470
477
.480
483
.485
493
.494
495
.500
504
.501
507
.508
513
.524
524
625
546
VIII CONTENTS.
PAGB
1835. July 4. Jerotie Van Crovtxixgshield Smith. South Boston. . . 551
Theophilus Fiske. Boston Trades Union 555
Oct. 15. Joseph Story. Eulogy on Chief Justice Marshall. . . .555
183G. July 4. Henry Willis Kinsman. City Orator 564
David IIensuaw. People of Massachusetts 564
Edward Cruft. Washington Society 570
1837. July 4. Jonathan Chapman. City Orator, 571
1838. July 4. Hubbard Winslow. Do 57G
William Lloyd Garrison. Mass. Anti-Slavery Society. . . 677
1839. July 4. Ivers Jajies Austin. City Orator 584
1840. July 4. Thomas Power. Do 586
1841. Apr. 21. RuFus Choate. Eulogy on President Harrison. . . . 588
July 4. George Ticknor Curtis. City Orator 595
1842. July 4. Horace Mann. Do 598
1843. July 4. Charles Francis Adams. Do 609
1844. July 4. Peleg Whitman Chandler. Do 613
1845 July 4. Charles Sumner. Do 617
July 9. Pliny Merrick. Eulogy on President Jackson. . . . 635
Oct. 15. RoBERr Charles Winthrop. Merc. Lib. Assoc 638
1846. July 4. Fletcher Webster. City Orator 648
1-847. July 4. Thomas Greaves Cary. Do 653
1848. July 4. Joel Giles. Do • 656
1849. July 4. William Wiiitwell Greenough. Do 658
July 2o. Levi Woodbury. Eulogy on President Polk 660
1850. July 4. Eowix Percy Whipple. City Orator 664
1851. July 4. Charles Theodore Russell. Do 670
1852. July 5. Thojlvs Starr King 676
1853. July 4. Timothy Bigelow 683
1854. July 4. Andrew Leete Stone 688
I
' J .'
THE
HUNDRED BOSTON OKATORS.
To the sages who spoke,
To the heroes Tvho bled.
To the day and the deed.
Strike the harp-strings of glory !
Let the song of the ransomed
Remember the dead,
And the tongue of the eloquent
Hallow the story.
O'er the bones of the bold
Be that story long told,
And on Fame's golden tablets
Their triumphs enrolled.
Who on Freedom's green hills
Freedom's banner unfurled,
And the beacon-fire raised
That gave light to the world.
Sprague.
"The origin of our national independence may be traced to the nati^i?
fervid sense of freedom," says Tudor, "which our ancestors brought
with them, and fostered in the forests of America, and which, with
pious care, they taught their offspring never to forego;" and it wa3
not until the expiration of one century and a half that the colonists
inflexibly resolved to govern themselves, uncontrolled by the mother
country. Innumerable tendencies accelerated this determination. The
noble wife of the elder Adams, in writing to ]\Irs. Cranch, remarked,
with laudable pride: — "Amongst those who A'Oted against receiving
an explanatory charter, in the Massachusetts, stands the name of our
venerable grandfather Quincy, accompanied Avith only one other, to his
immortal honor." By vesting the governor with the veto power,
opposing an elected speaker of the house, and forbidding them to adjourn
at their own option more than two days, King George the First
1
2 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
inflicted a fatal vrovlriil on tho -damiiiaiit power of Old England over
New England, and showed ^himself" iinworthy an aspiration of holy
George Herb.ei^t,; m "tto days ;bf tlie^'jilayiiower Pilgrims, —
" Religion stands on tiptoe in our land,
Ready to pass to the American strand ! "
It is evident, however, that Madam Adams was mistaken regarding
the minority. On turning to the records of the council, we find there
were four who voted in the negative ; and the records of the house
exliibit the names of thirty -two who negatived also the acceptance of
this oppressive charter. As it will gratify the descendants of tliis
honored minority to know this fact of their ancestors, we have carefully
transcribed their names. The record is dated Jan. 15, 1725 : Isaiah
Tay, William Clark, Esq., Ezekiel Lewis, Thomas Gushing, Boston;
John Wadsworth, jNIilton; John Quincy, Esq., Braintree; John Torrey,
Weymouth; Capt. Thomas Loring, Hingham; John Brown, Mendon;
Edward "Wliite, Brookline ; Jolm Sanders, Haverhill ; John Hobson,
Rowley ; Benjamin Barker, Andover ; Joseph Hale, Boxford ; Samuel
'Teiuiey, Bradford ; Capt. William Rogers, Wenham ; Joseph Da\'is,
Amesbury ; Richard Ward, Newton ; John Rice, Sudbury ; Capt.
Samuel Bullard. Sherburne ; Joseph Wilder, Lancaster ; Capt. Edward
Croddard, Framingham ; John Blanchard, Billeric'a ; Daniel Pierce,
Woburn; Jonathan Sargent, Maiden ; Samuel Chamberlain, Chelmsford;
'Thomas Bryant, Scituate ; Nathaniel Southworth, INIiddleboro' ; Isaac
■Cushman, Plympton ; Ehsha Bisby, Pembroke ; Edward Shove,
Dighton ; William Stone, Norton. There Avere forty-eight in the
affirmative.
According to Pembcrton's IMassachusctts Chronicle, — a manuscript
of great value, in the library of the JMassachusetts Historical Society, —
in an article regarding the odious Writs of Assistance to the officers of
the customs, it is stated that the power of the Court of Exchequer had
never been exercised by the Svrpcrior Court, for a period of about
sixty years after the act of this province investing them with such
power had been in force. The writ, which was the first instance of
their exercising that power now granted, was never requested ; or, if
sohcited, was constantly denied for this long course of years, until
Charles Paxton, Esq., the Commissioner of the Revenue, apphcd for it
in 1754. It was granted by the court in 1756, sub silentio, and
continued until the demise of George the Second.
THE MASSACRE. 3
The first clarion notes that aroused to independence were sounded
by the patriotic James Otis, in the February term of 1761, of the
Superior Court, in the council-chamber of the town-house, ■where he
delivered an eloquent argument in opposition to the arbitrary Writs of
Assistance. The elder Adams said that Otis ''burst forth as with a
flame of fire, and every man was made ready to take arms against it."
The name of Liberty-tree owes its origin to a popular gathering under
its branches, Aug. 14, 1765, expressive of indignation at revenue
oppressions. The event, however, which most eflEcQtually inflamed
popular wrath, was that of the fifth of March, 1770, when five citi-
zens were killed in King-street by regulars of the standing army.
The people were resolved to assert their rights, though rivers of blood
rolled down that street. The patriotic Lathrop, of the Second
Church, delivered a warm sermon on the Sabbath after the event ; and
in another, in 1778, said, " The inhabitants of these States must have
been justified by the impartial world, had they resolved, from that
moment, never to suffer one in the livery of George the Third to walk
this ground."
The immediate origin of the massacre was an attack of a mob on
the sentinel who was stationed before the custom-house at the corner
of Royal Exchange Lane, Avhere the king's treasure was deposited.
The regular loaded his gun, and retreated up the steps as far as he
could, and often shouted for protection. A corporal and six j)rivates
of the main guard, stationed near the head of King-street, directly
opposite the door on the south side of the town-house, were sent
to his relief, who, after being grossly insulted and attacked, fired upon
the crowd. Three men were instantly killed, five men were danger-
ously wounded, and several slightly injured.
The most exciting causes which urged to a decided disaffection in
the people of Boston towards the mother country may be traced to
the circumstances related in the narrative of the town, published
shortly after the massacre. "While the town was surrounded by
British ships of Avar, two regiments landed, Oct. 1, 1768, and took
possession of it ; and, to support these, two other regiments arrived,
some time after, from L-eland, one of Avhich landed at Castle Island,
and the other in the town. They were forced upon the people con-
trary to the spirit of the Magna Charta, — conti-ary to the very letter
of the bill of rights, in which it is declared that the raising or keepino-
a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be
4 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
•vvitli the consent of Parliament, is against law, — and Avitliout tlie desire
of the civil magistrates, to aid -whom was the pretence for sending the
troops hither. The conduct of this military force in Boston was
highly aggravating. Gov. Bernard, without consulting the Council,
having given up the state-house to the troops at their landing, they
took possession of the chambers where the representatives of the
province and the courts of law held their meetings, and (except the
council-chamber) of all other parts of that house, in wliich they con-
tinued a considerable time, to the great annoyance of those courts
while they sat, and of the merchants and gentlemen of the town, who
had always used its lower floor as their exchange. They had a rtght
so to do, as the property of it was in the town ; but they were deprived
of that right by mere power. The governor, soon after, by every
stratagem, and by every method but a forcible entry, endeavored to
obtain possession of the manufactory house, to make a barrack of it
for the troops ; and for that purpose caused it to be besieged by the
troops, and the people in it to be used with severity, which created
universal uneasiness, arising from the apprehension that the troops,
under the influence of such a man, would be employed to cfiect the
most dangerous purposes ; but, failing of that, other houses were pro-
cured, in which, contrary to act of Parhament, he caused the troops
to be quartered. After their quarters were settled, the main guard
was posted at one of the said houses, directly opposite the state-house,
and not twelve yards distant, where the General Court and all the law
courts were held, Avith two field-pieces pointed to the state-house.
This situation of the main guard and field-pieces seemed to indicate
an attack upon the constitution, and a defiance of the law, and to be
intended to afii'ont the legislative and executive authority of the prov-
ince. ^
"When the Superior Court met at the state-house, Nov. 1, 1TG9,
a motion was made by James Otis, Esq., one of the bar, that tlie
court Avould adjourn to Faueuil Hall, not only as the stench occasioned
by the regulars in the representatives' chamber may prove infectious,
but as it was derogatory to the honor of the court to administer justice
at the mouths of cannon and the points of bayonets.
In a new liberty song at this period, it was sung, — tune '"liule
Britannia,'' —
" No haughty Bernard, svroln -with pride,
Shall e'er fair Freedom's sous subdue ;
THE MASSACRE. O
The rights old Britain — old Britain once denied,
We bravely purchased in the new.
Guard, Americans ! Americans, guard your land !
And spurn a tyrant's iron hand ! "
A particular relation of the occasion of the event -wliich occurred
on the massacre thus appears in the narrative already gleaned. It
was probably from the hand of James Bowdoin, chairman of the town's
committee. "A difference having happened near Mr. Gray's rope-
walk, between a soldier and a man belongincr to it, the soldier chal-
lengcd the ropemakers to a boxing match. The challenge was
accepted by one of them, and the soldier worsted. He ran to the
barrack in the neighborhood, and returned with several of his com-
panions. The fray was renewed, and the soldiers were driven off.
They soon returned, with recruits, and were again worsted. Tliis
happened several times, till at length a considerable body of soldiers
was collected, and they also were driven off, the ropemakers having
been joined by their brethren of the contiguous ropewalks. By this
time, Mr. Gray, being alarmed, interposed, and, with the assistance of
some gentlemen, prevented any further disturbance. To satisfy the
soldiers, and punish the man who had been the occasion of the first
difference, and as an example to the rest, he turned him out of his
service, and waited on Col. Dalrymple, the commanding officer of the
troops, ajid with him concerted measures for preventing further mis-
chief /Though this affair ended thus, it made a strong impression on
the minds of the soldiers in general, who thought the honor of the
regiment concerned to revenge those repeated repulses.) For this
purpose, they secrti to have formed a combination to comnnt some out-
rage upon the inhabitants of the town indiscriminately : and tliis was
to be done on the evening of the fifth of March, or soon after."
Appended to this relation of the town, ai'c the depositions of ninety-
six witnesses, clearly unfolding the circumstances of the massacre.
The minute evidence in the case advanced at the trials of the re"-ulars
involved in this event is, moreover, of greater importance than th§
town depositions, and a perpetual evidence of the blighting curse of
standins; armies.
The most interesting statement that we find of this memorable mas-
sacre, yet conflicting with that of the town, is gathered from the work
of a British author, entitled " The History of the American War,
1*
6 THE UUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
etc., by C. Stcdman," wlio served under Sir William Howe, Avliich is
as follows :
"On the evening of the fifth of March, the same day on Avhich
the British minister, Lord North, moved his resolutions in the House
of Commons for discontinuing the American duties, a quarrel arose at
Boston between two or three young men of the town and as many
soldiers, at or near their barracks. From words, they proceeded to
blows ; and the soldiers, having vanquished their opponents, were seen
pursuing them through the streets. The alarm to the populace was
given by ringing the bells of the churches, and the people of the town,
assembling in great numbers at the custom-house, began to crowd
around the sentinel who was posted there, and not only insulted him,
but threatened his life. Captain Preston, the ofBcer on duty for the
day, who had by this time received information of the tumult, pro-
ceeded immediately to the main guard, and hearing that the sentinel
placed at the custom-house might be in danger, sent a party, under the
command of a sergeant, to protect the one and secure the other ; and,
from greater precaution, soon afterwards followed, and took command
of the party himself He endeavored to prevail upon the people to
disperse, but in vain. The mob soon became more riotous, not only
reviling the soldiers with abusive language, but throwing stones at
them, and whatever else came in their way. One of the soldiers
received a blow from something that was thrown, and levelled his
musket ; the officer, stretching out his arm to prevent the soldier from
firing, was struck with a club, and the musket was discharged. The
attack from the mob became more violent, and the rest of the soldiers,
following the example of their comrades, discharged 'their pieces singly
and in a scattered manner, by Avhich four of the populace were killed,
and several others Avounded. They were intimidated, and for a
moment fled ; but, soon afterwards collecting, took their station in an
adjoining street. The drums beat to arms, the rest of the troops
were assembled, and the Avhole town was in the utmost confusion. A
town-meeting was held, and a deputation was sent to the governor,
requesting him to remove the troops from the town. The governor
called together the Council, and the Council giving it as their opinion
that the removal of the troops from the town would be for his
majesty's service, the commanding officer promised to comply with
their advice. Capt. Preston surrendered himself for trial, and the
soldiers under his command at the custom-house were taken into
THE MASSACRE. 7
custody ; the mob dispersed, and the following day the troops were
removed to Castle William.
In the Diary of John Adams, it is recorded as follows : — "The
evening of the fifth of March I spent at Mr. Henderson Inches'
house, at the south end of Boston, in company with a club, Avith Avhom
I had been associated for several years. About nine o'clock Ave were
alarmed Avith the ringing of bells, and supposing it to be the signal
of fire, Ave snatched our hats and cloaks, broke up the club, and
went out to assist in quenching the fire, or aiding our friends Avho
misiht be in danfrer. In the street Ave were informed that the British
soldiers had fired on the inhabitants, killed some and Avounded others,
near the town-house. A croAvd of people were floAving down the street
to the scene of action. "When Ave arriA'cd, we saAV nothing but some
field-pieces before the south door of the tOAvn-house, and some engi-
neers and grenadiers draAvn up to protect them. Mrs. Adams Avas
then in circumstances to make me apprehensiA'e of the effect of the
surprise upon her, Avho Avas alone, excepting her maids and a boy, in
the house. Ilavincr, therefore, surveyed round the house, and seeino;
all quiet, I Avalked down Boylston-alley, into Brattle-square, where a
company or tAvo of regular soldiers Avere draAvn up in front of Dr,
Cooper's old church, Avith their muskets shouldered, and their bayonets
all fixed. I had no other Avay to proceed but along the whole front,
in a very narrow space which they had left for foot-passengers. Pur-
suing my Avay Avithout taking the least notice of them, or they of me,
any more than if they had been marble statues, I went directly home
to Cole-lane."
We Avill relate particulars of the town-meeting. The excited Bos-
tonians, overA\'helmed with indignation at the outrage of the British
regulars, on the very next day. as with one tread, repaired to the
Cradle of Liberty. The tOAvn record of that day states that the
selectmen not being present, and the inhabitants being informed that
they were at the council-chamber, it Avas A'oted that Mr. "William
Greenleaf be desired to proceed there, and acquaint the selectmen that
the inhabitants desire and expect their attendance at the hall. The
town-clerk, William Cooper, presided at this meeting in the interim.
The selectmen forth Avith attended, and it Avas A^oted that constable
Lindsey George Wallace wait on Rev. Dr. Cooper, and acquaint him
that the inhabitants desire him to open the meeting Avith prayer.
Hon. Thomas Cushing was chosen moderator, by hand vote.
8 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
The first object of this democratic assembly, in defiance of British
control, -R-as to listen to relations of the people respecting the massacre
of last night ; and, that the same might be recorded by the town-clerk,
they were requested to give written statements. The persons that
appeared to give information relative to the conduct of the soldiers
beino- many, it was inconvenient to receive them all at that meeting,
and William Greenleaf, William Whitwell and Samuel "VMiitwell, were
appointed to take the depositions offered regarding the conduct of the
regulars.
The statements of four persons at this meeting are on the town
records in substance as follows : — " Mr. John S. Copley related that
Mr. Pclham and his wife, and some persons of Mr. Samuel Winthrop's
J fhmily, heard a soldier say, after the firing on the last night, that the
^devil might give quarters — he should give them none." Here we
will cease a moment to relate further testimony, in order to make
allusions to John Singleton Copley, who was the most eminent
painter of his day in Boston, a pupil of Smibert, and memorable for
his portraits of Hancock and Warren, and for the paintings of the
death of Chatham, and the siege of Gibraltar. The associations that
twine around his name are of peculiar interest to the people of Boston,
where he was born, in 1738. The Mr. Pelham to whom he alludes is
supposed to have been one Peter Pelham, a Avriting and dancing
master, whose wife ]\Iary was the widow of Richard Copley, a tobac-
conist, his probable father. Mv. Copley married a daughter of
Richard Clarke, one of the consignees of the tea destroyed in 1773,
by whom his son John S., born in Boston, May 21, 1772, known as
Lord Lyndhurst, became Lord Chancellor of England. Gardiner
Greene, the late millionaire, of Boston, married his daughter Eliza-
beth. He was one of the addressers to Gov. Hutchinson in 1774,
and departed for London in June of that year, where he died, Septem-
ber 25, 1815. Copley's Pasture extended doAvn Beacon, from Walnut
street to the water, and over Chestnut and Mount Vernon streets.
His residence Avas on the present location of David Sears' man-
sion.
We will now return to the town-meeting. The next relation was
that of John Scott, who reported that a lad of INIr. Pierpont had said
^t Mr. Chardon's, that a soldier was heard to say his officer had
»/ acquainted them that if they went abroad at night, they should go
.armed and in companies. Mr. Pierpont stated that before the firing
THE MASSACRE. 9
m the last night, he had disarmed a soldier ^Yho had struck down one
^of the inhabitants. Mr. Pool Spear related that last week he heard
one Kilson, a soldier of 0"Hara's company, say that he did not know
what the inhabitants were after, for they had broken the windows of an
officer, one Nathaniel Rogers, but they had a scheme which would
soon put a stop to our procedure ; that parties of soldiere were ordered
with pistols in their pockets, and to fire upon those who should assault
said house again ; and that ten pounds sterhng was to be given as a y
reward for their kilHng one of those persons, and fifty pounds sterliuj^/
for a prisoner.
A committee of fifteen was appointed to inform Lieut. Gov. Hutch-
inson that it is the unanimous opinion of this meeting that the iidiab-
itants and soldiers can no longer dwell together in safety ; that nothing
can restore the peace of the town, and/ prevent blood and carnage, but
the immediate removal of the troops.^ The hall was crowded to excess,
and adjourned to the Old South, to meet in the afternoon. Originally,
Faneuil Hall could accommodate one thousand persons only. It was
built of brick, two stories in height, and measured one hundred feet
• by forty. The offices of the town w'ere established there, of the naval
office, and of the notary public ; and underneath was the market-house,
used for that purpose until Aug. 2G, 1826, on the erection of the
splendid Quincy jMarket-housc.
We will digress here to exhibit the prejudiced and slanderous opinion
of the character of the Coopers, advanced in the London Political Reg-
ister for 1780 : — " William Cooper was formerly town-clerk of Boston,
and is one of the great knaves and most inveterate rebels in New Eng-
land. He is a very hot-headed man, and constantly urged the most
violent measures. He was prompted secretly by his brother, the
Rev. Samuel Cooper, who, though a minister of peace, and to all out-
ward appearance a meek and heavenly man, yet was one of the chief
instruments in stirring up the people to take arms. Hancock, and
many leaders of the rebellion, were his parishioners. When the Boston |
rioters made their concerted attack on the custom-house to plunder the
money-chest, March, 1770, the bell of tliis reverend rogue's church was
the signal which summoned them to the assault." This pastor of
Brattle-street church, ever noted as the silver-tongued orator, was
of such remarkable popularity, that the aisles of the church would be
thronged with eager listeners, and he was a favorite of royalists and
rebels. William Cooper had rendered himself specially obnoxious to
10 TUE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
the royalists by his Journal of Occurrences from the time of the
arrival of the rcgiilars to the year 1770, published in the Boston
Gazette.
The folloAving effusion, characterizing the Boston clergy of 1770,
ascribed to John Fenno, keeper of the granary, and to Joseph Green,
has long been famous. It was probably written by more than one
hand : —
The Mather race -will ne'er disgrace
Their ancient pedigree,
And Charles Old Brick, ' if well or sick.
Will cry for Liberty.
There 's puffing Pemb,'^ who does contemn
All Liberty's noble sons ;
And Andrew Sly ,^ who oft draws nigh
To Tommy Skin and Bones.^
In Brattle Street we seldom meet
With silver-tongued Sam,^
Who gently glides between both sides.
And thus escapes a jam.
Little Hopper,^ when he thinks proper.
In Liberty's cause is bold ;
And John Old North," though little worth.
Won't sacrifice to gold.
Penuel Puff ^ is heai-ty enough.
And so is Simeon Howard ;
And Long Lane Teague^ will join the league.
He never was a coward.
Trout's'" Sunday aim is to reclaim
lliose that in sin are sunk ;
When Monday comes he stills them rum.
And gets them woful drunk.
There 's punning Byles provokes our smiles,
A man of stately parts ;
He visits folk to crack his jokes ,
AVhich never mend their hearts.
With strutting gait, and wig so great,
He walks along the streets.
And throws out Avit, or what 's like it,
To every one he meets.
We will further quote the Political Register, for the allusions to
the moderator of this meeting: — "Among the rebels in Massachu-
^ Chauncy. ^ Pemberton. ^ Eliot. ^ Gov. Hutchinson. ^ Cooper. * Stillman.
' Lathrop. ^ Bowen. ^ Moorhead. '° Troutbec.
THE MASSACRE. 11
. aetts there are maay-iealoasks. The staunch repubhcans have placed
John Hancock and Tommy Gushing at the head of their state, — the
first as governor, the second as lieutenant-governor, — chosen since the
rebellion commenced. Bo^'doin, who had been at the head of their
affairs for these last five years, as president of the Council, was a candi-
date for the governorship in opposition to Hancock, but lost it by a
great majority ; he was then offered the place of lieutenant-go vernof,\
but refused it on a pretence of ill health : that place was then offered '
to Warren, of Plymouth, who also declined it : at length, that the
place might not go a-begging any longer, they offered it to Cusb
ing, who they were sure would not refuse it." We have praise
enough for Thomas Gushing, to say of him, in the language of John
Adams in 1765, that he was "steady and constant, busy in the inter-
est of liberty and the opposition, famed for secrecy and his talent in
procuring intelligence ; " indeed, he Avas the chief operator in the
under current of liberty.
We gather from Tudor's Life of James Otis this graphic statement
of the meeting of the Gouncil: — "The lieutenant-governor Hutchin-
son convened the Gouncil : a town-meeting was held March 6, and
adjourned to the Old South Ghurch, because Faneuil Hall could con-
tain only a part of the multitude that assembled. The British
soldiers were all kept in readiness at their quarters, and all the militia
of the town were called out. Every brow was anxious, every heart
resolute. A vote of the town was passed that ' it should be evac-
uated by the soldiers, at all hazards.' A committee was appointed to
wait on the lieutenant-governor, to make this demand. Samuel
Adams was the chairman of this committee, and discharged its duties
with an ability commensurate to the occasion. Golonel Dalrymple was
by the side of Hutchinson, who, at the head of the Gouncil, received the
delegation. He at first denied that he had the power to grant the
request. Adams plainly, in few words, proved to him that he had the
power by the charter. Hutchinson then consulted Avith Dalrymple in
a wliisper, the result of which was an offer to remove one of the
regiments. At this critical moment, Adams showed the most noble
presence of mind. The military and civil officers were in reality
abashed before this plain committee of a democratic assembly. They
kncAV the imminent danger that impended ; the very air was filled with
the breathings of compressed indignation. They shrunk, fortunately
shrunkj from all the arrogance which they had hitherto maintained.
12 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Their reliance on a standing army faltered before the undaunted, irre-
sistible resolution of free unarmed citizens ; and when the orator,
seeming not to represent, but to personify, the universal feeling and
opinion, with unhesitating promptness and dignified firmness replied,
' If tlic lieutenant-governor or Colonel Dalrymple, or both together,
W have authority to remove one regiment, they have authority to remove
two ; and nothing short of the total evacuation of the town by all the
regular troops will satisfy the public mind, or preserve the peace of
.this province,' the desired effect was produced. The commanding oflfi-
*^ cer pledged his honor that the troops should leave the town, and it
was immediately evacuated." It is related that when Lord North
was informed of this remarkable instance of the dignified energy of
the town's chairman, he called the regulars Samuel Adams' two regi-
ments, in a tone of contempt. Hutchinson, who was of a cowardly
^XSpii"it of ambition, had declared publicly that he had no authority over
the king's troops ; that the military force had no separate command,
and he could do nothing without Dalrymple ; moreover. Brigadier
Iluggles, the commander-in-chief of the Massachusetts troops, was
-, *undcr the command of a British ensign for an entire campaign.
Samuel Adams was one of the most remarkable men of the Revolu-
tion, and we cannot resist the pleasure of citing the opinion of his
character from the hand of Thomas Jefferson, the clearest and best
compressed conception of this dauntless patriot ever written : —
"I can say that ho was truly a great man. — wise in council, fer-
tile in resources, immovable in his purposes, — and had, I think, a
greater share than any other member in advising and directing our
measures in the northern war. As a speaker, he could not be com-
pared with his living colleague and namesake, whose deep conceptions,
nervous style, and undaunted firmness, made him truly our bulwark
in debate. But Mr. Samuel Adams, although not of fluent elocution,
was so rigorously logical, so clear in his views, abundant in good sense,
and master always of his subject, that he commanded the most pro-
found attention whenever he rose in an assembly by which the froth
of declamation was heard with sovereign contempt."
Samuel Adams was emphatically the man of the people ; and the
editor, who has had conversation with his namesake, the ancient town-
crier, now ninety-two years of age and with clear memory, was
informed that Adams once remarked to him, — "We, the people, are
like hens laying eggs ; when they hatch, you must take care of the
THE MASSACRE. 18
chickens. You are a young man, Samuel, and as you grow old, you
must abide by our proceedings." At another time, our political patri-
arch observed to him, — "It is often stated that I am at the head of
the Revolution, whereas a few of us merely lead the way as the people
follow, and we can go no further than we are backed up by them ; for,
if we attempt to advance any further, we make no progress, and may
lose our labor in defeat."^ Samuel Adams was ever at the head of
Boston deputations before the Revolution, and conducted the corre-
spondence with patriots in remote jjlaces ; or, to adopt the language of
the venerable town-crier, " Samuel Adams did the writing, and John
Hancock paid the postage."
In order to effect a more clear apprehension of the indignation of
the Bostonians at this appalling crisis, and in justice to Lieutenant-gov-
ernor Hutchinson, who descends to a relation of full particulars of the
immediate occurrences succeeding the massacre, in his History of Mas-
sachusetts Bay, we glean at large his statements ; and the reader, in
obserAnng discrepancies between his relation and that of the revolu-
tionists, Avill bear in mind that Hutchinson was a minion of the throne,
desu-ous to albert Bi-ilish control. He writes in the third person,
stating that two or three of the men who had seen the action ran to
the lieutenant-governor's house, which was about half a mile distant
in Garden-court, near North-square, and begged for God's sake
he would go to King-street, where, they feared, a general action
would come on between the troops and the inhabitants. "He went
immediately, and, to satisfy the people, called for Capt. Preston, and
inquired why he fired upon the inhabitants without the direction of a
civil magistrate. The noise was so great that his answer could not
be understood, and some, who were apprehensive of the lieutenant-
governor's danger, from the general confusion, called out, ' The town-
house ! the town-house ! ' and, with irresistible violence, he was forced
up by the crowd into the council-chamber. There, demand was imme-
diately made of him to order the troops to withdraw from the town-
house to their barracks. He refused to comply ; and, calling from
the balcony to the great body of the people which remained in the
street, he expressed his great concern at the unhappy event, assured
them he would do everything in his power in order to a full and impar-
tial inquiry, that the law might have its course, and advised them to
go peaceably to their several homes. Upon this, there was a cry,
' Home ! home ! ' and a great part separated and went home. He then
n
14 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
signified his oiMnion to Lieut. Col. Carr, that if the companies in arras
were ordered to their barracks, the streets ^YOuld be cleared ami the
town in quiet for that night. Upon their retiring, the rest of the
mhabitants, except those of the council-chamber, retired also."
The elegant mansion of Gov. Hutchinson stood on Garden-court,
adjoining that of Sir Henry Frankljn, in the rear' of which was a
beautiful garden extending to Hanover and on Fleet street. It was
erected of brick, painted in stone color. The capital of a Corinthian
pilaster, of which there were six worked into the wall of this edifice,
is deposited in the Historical Library. The crown of Britain sur-
mounted each window. The hall of entrance displayed a spacious
arch, from the roof of which a dimly-lighted lamp gave a rich twilight
view. The finely carved and gilded arch, in massy magnificence,
was most tastefully ornamented with busts and statues, says Mrs.
Child, in the Rebels, who visited the structure when it was occupied by
William Little, Esq. The light streamed full on the soul-beaming
countenance of Cicero, and playfully flickered on the brow of Tulliola,
the tenderness of Avhose diminutive appellation delightfully associates
the fiither with the orator, and blends intellectual vigor with the best
affections of the heart. The panelling of the parlor was of the dark
richly-shaded mahogany of St. Domingo, and elaborately ornamented.
The busts of George III. and his queen were in front of a splendid
mirror, with bronze lamps on each side, covered with transparencies of
the destruction of the Spanish Armada and the other battle-ships before
the rock of Gibraltar. Around the room were arches surmounted with
the arms of England. The library Avas hung with canvas tapestry,
emblazoning the coronation of George II., interspersed with the royal
arms. The portraits of Anne and the Georges hung in massive
frames of antique splendor, and the crowded shelves of books wei-e sur-
mounted with busts of the house of Stuart. In the centre of the
apartment stood a table of polished oak. In the year 1832, this
building was demolished for modern changes.
Lieut. Col. Dalrymple, at the desire of the lieutenant-governor,
came to the council-chamber, while several justices were examining
persons who were present at the transactions of the evening. From
the evidence of several, it was apparent that the justices would commit
Capt. Preston, if taken. Several houi's possed before he could be
found, and the people suspected that he would not run the hazard of a
trial ; bu*^ at length, he surrendered himself to a warrant for appre-
THE MASSACRE. 15
hending him, and having been examined, \\-as committed to prison.
The next morning, the soldiers Avho were upon guard surrendered also,
and were committed. This was not sufficient to satisfy the people,
and early in the forenoon they wci-e in motion again. The lieutenant-
governor caused his Council to be summoned, and desired the two
lieutenant-colonels of the regiments to be present. The selectmen of
Boston Avere waiting the lieutenant-governor's coming to Council, and
being admitted, made their representation that, from the contentions
arising from the troops quartered in Boston, and, above all, from the
tragedy of the last night, the minds of the inhabitants were exceedingly
disturbed; that they would. presently be assembled in a town-meeting ;
and that, unless the ti'oops should be removed, the most terrible con-
sequences were to be expected. The justices, also, of Boston and
several of the neighboring towns, had assembled, and desired to signify
their opinion that it would not be possible to keep the people under
restraint, if the troops remained in town. The lieutenant-governor
acquainted both the selectmen and the justices that he had no author-
ity to alter the place of destination of the king's troops : that he
expected the commanding officers of the two regiments, and would let
them know the applications which had been made. Presently ofter their
coming, a large committee from the town-meeting presented an address
or message to the lieutenant-governor, declaring it to be the unanimous
opinion of the meeting that nothing can rationally be expected to
restore the peace of the town, "and prevent blood and carnage," but
the withdrawal of the troops. The committee withdrew into another
room, to wait for an answer. Some of the Council urged the necessity
of complying with the people's demand. The lieutenant-governor
thereupon declared that he would upon no consideration whatever give
orders for their removal. Lieut. Col. Dalrymple then signified that,
as the 29th regiment had originally been designed to be placed at the
Castle, and was now peculiarly obnoxious to tlie town, he Avas content
that it should be removed to the Castle until the general's pleasure
should be known. Gen. Gage was commander-in-chief of the British
forces in America. The committee was informed of this offer, and the
lieutenant-governor rose from the Council, intending to receive no
further application upon the subject ; but the Council prayed that he
would meet them again in the afternoon, and Col. Dalrymple desiring
it also, he complied, before the Council met again, it had been inti-
mated to them that tho "desire" of the governor and Council to the
16 THE HUNDRED BOSTOX ORATORS.
commanding officer (Maj. Gen. Wm. Keppel was colonel of the British
regiments at Boston and at the Castle) to remove the troops, "would
, cause him to do it, though he should receive no authoritative " order."
As soon as thej met, a committee from the tOAvn-meeting attended,
with a second message, to acquaint the lieutenant-governor that it was
the unanimous voice of the people assembled, consisting, as they said,
of near three thousand persons, that nothing less than a total and
immediate removal of the troops would satisfy them. Here Hutchin-
son adds, in a note, at the end of this page, as follows : — "The chair-
man of the committee, in conversation Avith Lieut. Col. Dalrymple,
said to him, that if he could remove the 29th regiment, he could
remove the 14th also, and it was at his peril to refuse it. This was a
strong expression of that determined spirit Avhich animated all future
measures."
The Council, continues Hutchinson, who were divided in the
forenoon, were now unanimous ; and each of them, separately, declared
his opinion, and gave his reason for it ; and one or more of them
observed to the lieutenant-governor that he would not be able to justify
a refusal to comply with the unanimous advice of the Council, and
that all the consequences Avould be chargeable upon him alone. The
secretary of the province, Andrew Oliver, Esq., who thought differ-
ently in the morning, the two lieutenant-colonels, and the commander
^ of one of his majesty's ships then upon the station, who were all
present in Council, concurred in the necessity of his complying. He
had signified his own opinion that, at all events, the governor and
Council should avoid interfei'ing in the destination of the troops, and
leave it to the commanding officer ; but Avhen he considered that, by
the charter, the Council was constituted for advice and assistance to
him. — that he had called them together for that purpose, — that his
standing out alone would probably bring on a general convulsion,
Avliich the unanimity of the king's servants might have prevented, —
he consented to signify his desire, founded upon the unanimous opinion
and advice of the Council, that the troops might be removed to the
barracks in the Castle ; at the same time disclaiming all authority to
order their removal.
Some of the officers of the regiments appeared, the next day, to be
^greatly dissatisfied with being compelled by the people to leave the tOAvn
so disgracefully. Expresses were sent away immediately to the gen-
eral. The jealousy that the general avouM forbid the removal caused
THE MASSACRE. 17
further measures to force tlie troops from the town before there could be
sufficient time for his answer. Roxburj, the next town to Boston,
assembled, and sent a committee of their principal inhabitants with an
address to the lieutenant-governor, praying him to interpose, and to
order the immediate removal of the troops ; but he refused to concern
himself any further in the aifair. As the time approached when a return
might be expected from New York, it was thought fit to have another
meeting of the town of Boston, and a committee was appointed further
to apply to the lieutenant-governor to order the troops out of town ;
Mr. Adams, their prolocutor, pressing the matter with great vehe-
mence, and intimating that, in case of refusal, the rage of the people
would vent itself against the lieutenant-governor in particular. He
gave a peremptory refusal, and expressed his resentment at the men-
ace. The committee then applied to the commanding officer, and the
same day, IMarch 10, the 29th regiment, and the next morning the
14th, were removed to the Castle. This success, concludes Hutchin-
son, gave greater assurances than ever that, by firmness, the great
object, exemption from all exterior power, civil or military, would
finally be obtained. Checks and temporary interruptions might hap-
pen, but they would be surmounted, and the progress of hberty would
recommence.
The time for holding the Superior Court for Suffolk was the next,
week after the tragical action in King-street. Although bills were
o o o
found by the grand jury, yet the court, says Hutchinson, considering
the disordered state of the town, had thought fit to continue the trials y
to the next term, when the minds of people would be more free from _-/
prejudice, and a dispassionate, impartial jury might be expected, after
there had been sufficient time for the people to cool.
A considerable number of the most active persons in all public
measures of the town having dined together, relates Hutchinson,
went in a body from table to the Superior Court, then sitting, with
Samuel Adams at their head, and, in behalf of the town, pressed the
bringing on the trial at the same term with so much spirit, that
the judges did not think it advisable to abide by their own order, but
appointed a day for the trials, and adjourned the court for that pur-
pose. But even this irregularity the lieutenant-governor thought it
best not to notice in a public message ; and for the grand point, the rela-
tion between the Parliament and the colonies, he had determined to
avoid any dispute with the assembly, unless he should be forced into
9*
18 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
it. Therefore, after acquainting them that he should transmit the
remonstrance to be hiiJ before the king, and attempting a vindication
of his ONvn character from their charges against it, he dissolved the
assembly, — the time, by charter, for a new assembly approaching.
The trials of the soldiers implicated in the massacre occurred on the
p- October term of that year. The evidence against the four persons
tried for firing from the custom-house being only that of a French
boy, the jury acquitted them without leaving the bar. It was proved
that the boy was at a remote part of the town the whole time that he
swore he was at the custom-house and in King-street. The court
ordered that he should be committed and prosecuted for wilful per-
jury ; and, by his own confession, he was convicted. ,
Captain Preston had been well advised to retain two gentlemen of
the law, says Hutchinson, — Josiah Quincy and John Adams, — who
were strongly attached to the cause of liberty, and to stick at no
reasonable fees for that purpose ; and this measure proved of great
service to him. He was also well informed of the characters of the
jury, and challenged such as were most likely to be under bias.
Three or four witnesses swore that he ordered his men to fire ; but
their evidence was encountered by that of several other witnesses, who
stood next to him, and were conversing with him at a different place
from that which the witnesses for the crown swore he was in ; and the
judges, in summing up the evidence to the jury, were unanimous in their
*/ opinion that he did not order his men to fire; but if he did, they were
of opinion that, from the evidence of many other witnesses, the assault
both upon the officer and men, while upon duty, was so violent, that
.the homicide could not amount even to manslaughter, but must be con-
sidered as excusable homicide. The jury soon agreed upon a verdict
■of not guilty, and the prisoner, being discharged, retired to the Castle,
•and remained thereuntil he sailed for England, where he was pen-
sioned. A few days after the trials, while the court continued to sit,
an incendiary paper Avas posted in the night upon the door of the
town-house, complaining of the court for cheating the people Avith a
show of justice, and calling upon them to rise and free the world from
sucii domestic tyrants. We refer to the printed trials for the results
jn the other cases.
In order to repel the insinuation of Hutchinson regarding abundant
feG3, we will give the relation of John Adams on this point. After
stating that he accepted a single guinea as a retaining fee, Mr. Adamg
THE MASSACRE. 19
states : — "From first to last, I never said a word about fees, in any of
those cases ; and I should have said nothing about them here, if calum- ^^
nies and insinuations had not been propagated, that I was tempted by
great fees and enormous sums of money. Before or after the trial.
Preston sent me ten guineas, and at the trial of the soldiers after-
wards, eight guineas more, which Avere all the fees I ever received, or
were offered to me ; and I should not have said anything on the sub-
ject to my clients, if they had never offered me anything. This was
all the pecuniary reward I ever had for fourteen or fifteen days' labor
in the most exhausting and fatiguing causes I ever tried, for hazard-
ing a popularity very general and very hardly earned, and for incur-
ring a clamor of popular suspicions and prejudices, which are not yet
worn out, and never will be forgotten as long as the history of this ,
period is read." And, on another occasion, Mr. Adams further
remarked : — "I have reason to remember that fatal night. The j)art
I took in defence of Capt. Preston and the soldiers procured me anxi-
ety and obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant,
generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of
the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country. Judgment
of death against those soldiers would have been as foul a stain upon
this country as the executions of the Quakers or witches anciently.
As the e\idence was, the verdict of the jury was exactly right. This,
however, is no reason why the town should not call the action of that
night a massacre ; nor is it any argument in fiivor of the governor or
minister who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strono-est of
proofs of the danger of standing armies.'.'
The Boston Athentcum overlooks the cemetery where were deposited
the remains of our fellow-citizens martyred in the cause of liberty,
March 5, 1770. Here repose the ashes of Hancock and Gushing, the
latter of whom was lieutcnant-govci*nor during the administration of
the former. Though Sumner speaks of "Hancock's broken column,"
the idea is merely poetical, for no monument has ever been erected
over his remains. It is stated in the Boston Ncavs Letter that four
of the victims were conveyed on hearses, and buried on the eighth of
^larch, in one vault, in the Middle Burying Ground. The funeral
consisted of an immense number of pereons in ranks of six, followed
by a long train of carriages belonging to the principal gentry of the
town, at which time the bells of Boston and adjoining towns were
tolled. It is supposed that a greater number of people of Boston and
20 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
vicinity attended this funeral than were ever congregated on this con-
tinent on any occasion. In this procession emblematical banners were
displayed. The following effusion appeared in Fleet's Post, March
12, 1770:
/•' With fire enwrapt, surcharged ■with sudden death,
Lo, the poised tube convolves its fatal breath !
The flying ball, ■with heaven-directed force.
Rids the free spirit of its fallen corse.
Well-ftited shades ! let no unmanly tear .
Fi-om pity's eye distain your honored bier.
Lost to their view, surviving friends may mourn,
• Yet o'er thy pile celestial flames shall burn.
I Long as in Freedom's cause the wise contend,
\ Dear to your country, shall your fame extend ;
While to the world the lettered stone shall tell
How Caldwell, Attucks, Gray and Maverick fell."
On the fourteenth of March, Patrick Carr, who died of the wound
received in the massacre, was buried from Faneuil Hall, in the same
grave in which the other victims were deposited.
The poet who wrote the effusion above quoted predicts that the let-
tered stone shall tell the tale of the martyred sons of liberty ; but no
stone appears on the spot where they were buried. Indeed, if any
stone were ever erected over their remains, it may have been destroyed
by the British regulars, or removed in making repaii-s on the ground.
Let the prediction be realized by the erection of a beautiful marble
monument on the site to the memory of this event, which, with the
battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, insured our independence.
Our venerable native citizen of Boston, the Hon. Thomas Handy-
side Perkins, probably the only survivor Avho has any remembrance
of the Boston massacre, stated to the editor of this Avork, at an inter-
view with him on Jan. 3, 1851, that at that period he was five years
of age, and asleep at home on the evening of its occurrence. His
fiither, James Perkins, a wine-merchant, resided in King-street, on
the present location of Tappan's stone building, opposite Mackerel-
lane, now Kilby-street. On the next day, his father's man-servant,
being desirous that he should witness the effects of this occurrence,
imprudently, as Mr. Perkins remarked, went with him to the Royal
Exchange Tavern, located on the opposite side of the custom-house,
now the site of the Messrs. Gilberts, brokers, kept by Mr. Stone.
Alexander Cruikshank testified that when he was at the head of
THE MASSACRE. 21
Royal Exchange-lane, he stopped at Stone's tavern, and the people
were abusing the sentinel, and showed him the dead bodj of Crispus
Attacks, one of the victims. He then pointed to him the frozen blood
in the gutter, opposite the Exchange Tavern, and proceeded with him
to the residence of Tuthill Hubbard, on Cornhill, a short distance from
the north side of Queen-street, where lay the dead body of another of
the victims ; and this is the whole of his recollection of the tragical
event, which has never been effaced from his mind. ^THonel Perkins
is unable to state which of the victimg^'he'Saw at Mr. Hubbard's resi-
dence ; but, as Joseph Hinckley testified, according to the trial, that,
after the regulars had fired, he assisted in the removal of Samuel
Gray, who had foUen, to the apothecary's shop of Dr. John Loring,
which Avas adjoining or very near Mr. Hubbard's dwelling, and could
not find admittance, as it was closed, — doubtless, that was the name
of the other victim whose remains were exhibited to his youthful
eye.
In order to a further elucidation of this matter, we have recurred to
the papers of the day, by which it appears„that Grajjwa^, JdUcd-oa-
the spot, as the ball entered his head and broke the skull. He was a
ropcmaKer, and, on the day of interment, his body was conveyed
from the residence of Benjamin Gray, his brother, on the south side
of the Exchange Tavern. Now, Col. Perkins is either mistaken regard-
ing the house where he saw the pale corpse, or else it was removed
from Mr. Hubbard's dwelling on the next day. James Caldwell, also
killed on the spot by two balls entering his breast, Avas mate of Captain
^ioil21ils-i^es«eI,-and his body w^as removed from" the captain's resi-
dence in Cole-lane on the day of interment. Crispus Attucks being
a stranger, his remains were conveyed from Faneuil Hall. He was
killed by two balls entering his breast, and was a native of Framing-
ham ; and Samuel, a son of widow INIary Maverick, a promising youth
of seventeen years, an apprentice to Mr. Greenwood, a joiner, was
wounded by a ball that entered his abdomen and escaped through his
back, which caused his death, and his remains were removed from
his mother's house on the day of interment. Patrick Carr, who
died a few days after, of a ball that entered near his hip and went out
at his side, was in the employ of one Mr. Field, leather-breeches
maker in Queen-street, and aged about thirty years. Among other
matters in the warrant for the annual town-meeting of Boston. March
12, 1770, is the following clause: — " "Whether the town will take any
22 THE ^^^'DEED BOSTOX Or.ATOKS.
measures that a public monument may be erected on the spot •where
the late tragical scene Avas acted, as a memento to posterity of that
horrid massacre, and the destructive consequences of military troops
being quartered in a -well-regulated city." We notice, on turning to
the records, that no action "v^-as taken on this point ; but the tOTvn
' voted their thanks to the towns of Roxbury, Cambridge, CharlestOAvn
and Watertown, for their kind concern in this deplorable event. As
the precise location of this scene ■will ever be a point of great interest
t/ to Bostonians, we gather, from the deposition of Samuel Drowne", that
it occurred between Crooked, noAv Wilson's lane, and Royal Exchange-
lane. He states that he was standing on the steps of the Exchange
Tavern, being the next house to the custom-house ; and soon after saw
Captain Preston, whom he well knew, with a number of soldiers drawn
near the west corner of the custom-house, and heard Preston say,
" Damn your bloods ! why don't you fire ? " after which they £red.
At a town-meet'ing, Boston, March 19, 1771, Hon. Thomas Gush-
ing moderator, the committee appointed to consider of some suitable
method to perpetuate the memory of the horrid massacre perpetrated
^. on the evening of the fifth of March, 1770, by a party of soldiers of
the 29th regiment, reported as their opinion that, for the present, the
town make choice of a proper person to deliver an oration at such
time as may be judged most convenient, to commemorate the barbarous
murder of five of our fellow-citizens on that fatal day, and to impress
upon our minds the ruinous tendency of standing armies in free cities,
and the necessity of such noble exertions, in all future times, as the
inhabitants of the town then made, whereby the designs of the con-
spirators against the public liberty may be still frustrated : and the
committee, in order to complete the plan of some standing monument
of military tyranny, begged leave to be indulged with further time.
Their report being accepted, it was voted unanimously that the town
will now come to the choice of an orator, A committee was then
appointed ; Samuel Hunt and JamesJLovell were nominated as candi-
dates to delivei' the oration. The inhabitants then voted, and the
latter was elected. A committee was appointed to wait on James
Lovell, and invite his acceptance.
In regard to the location of the site where the victims of the Boston
massacre were deposited, the editor has the evidence of the venerable
Col. Joseph May, a Avarden of King's Chapel, possessing great integ-
rity and a tenacious memory, stated previous to his decease in 18-11,
THE MASSACRE. 23
and -who witnessed their interment, being then ten years of age, and a
scholar in the public Latin schooL Pointing to the spot which is the
site of a tomb once owned by the city, in the rear of the tomb of
Deacon Richard Checkley, an apothecary, CoL May stated that was
the place where he saw them interred. A beautiful larch-tree flour-
ishes at the side of the city tomb, Avhich is opposite Montgomery-place.
When, during the mayoralty of Jonathan Chapman, an iron fence
was erected on the Granary cemetery, in the month of June, 1840,
an excavation was made over this spot, for the erection of this city
tomb, human bones, and a skull with a bullet-hole perforated through
it, were discovered, which probably were remains of these victims ;
and we have the evidence of the late Martin Smith, sexton of Kinjr's
Chapel church, that he assisted in throwing the skull and other bones
:nto the earth near the larch-tree.
When General Warren gave an oration on the massacre, March 5th, >
1772, James Allen, one of the Boston poets, commemorated the event
in verse, at his request ; and John Adams states in his diary, probably
in allusion to this poem, that James Otis reads to large circles of the
common people Allen's oration on the beauties of liberty, and recom-
mends it as an excellent production. Allen thus apostrophised King
George, in these prophetic terms :
" In vain shall Britain lift her suppliant eye,
An alienated oifspring feels no filial tie.
Her tears in vain shall bathe the soldiers' feet, —
Remember, ingrate, Boston's crimsoned street !
"Whole hecatoTiibs of lives the deed shall pay, />
And purge the mui-ders of that guilty day."
May the sons of Boston be sure that a centennial oration, commem-
orative of the Boston massacre, be pronounced by the most eminent
/ and eloquent orator of the day !
One of the most popular celebrations in Boston, previous to the /,
massacre, was that of the GunpoAvder Plot, which, according to Dr.
Charles Chauncy, in a letter to Dr. Stiles, dated May 23d, 1768, was
to that day commemorated; and was in especial memorable to him, as
his ancestor was at Westminster school, adjoining the parliament house,
pursuing his studies, when the plot was discovered. The latest date
of its celebration in Boston, of whicli we find the most particular
account, was on Monday, Kov. Gth, 1769, when the guns at the Castle
24 THE HUNDRED BOSTON 0B.AT0R3.
and at the batteries in town Avcre fired, and a pageantry exhibited,
elevated on a stage, carried in derision through the streets, and fol-
lowed by crowds of people, with ludicrous effigies of the Pope and
others, which, when they reached Copp's Hill, were committed to the
flames. One of the regulars was flogged by one of the party, for
attempting to detain the procession, as it passed the main guard sta-
tioned at the door of the state-house. On a lantern was a descrip-
tion of the Pope in 1769; on another was inscribed "Love and
Unity. The American whig. Confusion to the tories ; and a total
banishment to bribery and corruption." And on the right side was
this profane acrostic, below a caricature of John Mein, the royalist
editor of the Chronicle, and warm opponent of the people :
•'Insulting Tvretch ! we '11 liim expose, —
O'er the whole world liis deeds disclose.
Hell now gapes wide to take him in ;
Now he is ripe ; 0, lump of sin !
Mean is the man, — M**n is his name ;
Enough he 's spread his hellish fame.
Infernal furies hurl his soul
Nine million times from pole to pole."
"Wilkes and Liberty" was inscribed on another lantern, over
highly inflammatory verses. We find no allusion to this celebration
after 1774.
When the evening of the first anniversary of the massacre arrived,
an address was delivered at the JNIanufactory House, by Dr. Thomas
Youn^T. This buildino; was selected for the occasion, because the first
opposition to the British regulars, October, 1768, was made there,
when one Ehsha Brown, having possession of the building, which was
located at the corner of Hamilton-place, as a tenant under the province,
refused admission to the military. The high sherifi" was sent by Gov.
Bernard, for admission; and, on a third attempt, he found an open
window, and entered that ; upon, which the people gathered about him,
and made him prisoner. This outrage occurred just after the arrival
of the regulars. We transcribe the particulars of this public demon-
stration, from the BostoB_S£WS Letter of Marchjth and 14 th : The
bells of the churches were tolled from twelve o'clock at noon until
one. An oration was delivered in the evening, by Dr. Young, at the
hall of the Manufactory, a building originally designed for encouraging
manufactories, and employing the poor. The oration, it is said, con-
THE MASSACRE. 25
tained a brief account of the massacre ; of the imputations of treason
and rebellion, Avith -which the tools of power endeavored to brand the
inhabitants; and a descant upon the nature of treasons, with some
threats of the British ministry to take awaj the Massachusetts charter.
In the evening there was a very striking exhibition at the house of Mr.
Paul Revere, fronting the old North-square, so called. At one of the
chamber windows was the appearance of the ghost of Christopher
Snider, with one of his fingers in the wound, endeavoring to stop the
blood issuing therefrom; near him his friends weeping; at a small
distance, a monumental pyramid, with his name on the top, and the
names of those killed on the fifth of March round the base ; under-
neath, the following hues :
" Snider 's pale ghost fresh bleeding stands.
And vengeance for his death demands."
In the next window were represented the soldiers drav,'n up, firing at
the people assembled before them, — the dead on the ground, and the
wounded falling, with the blood running in streams from their wounds,
— over which was written, " Foul Play." In the third window, was
the figure of a woman, representing America, sitting on the stump of
a tree, with a stafi' in her hand, and the cap of liberty on the top
thereof; one foot on the head of a grenadier, lying prostrate, grasping
a serpent ; her finger pointing to the tragedy.
Another authority states that the bells of Boston tolled from nine
to ten o'clock in the evening, and they were muffled.
The allusion, in Dr. Young's oration, to the threats of Great Britain,
and the imputations of treason, forcibly remind one of the firmness
with which the Massachusetts colonists resisted every device to decoy
and divert, most artfully attempted by the minions of the throne. The
eloquence of bribery fell powerless. Lord Paramount urged, in the
Revolutionary play, written by the author of the American Chron-
icles of the Times, published in 177G, — "Don't you know there 's
such sweet music in the shaking of the treasury keys, that they will
instantly lock the most babbling patriot's tongue? transform a tory
into a whig, and a whig into a tory ? make a superannuated old miser
dance, and an old cynic philosopher smile? How many thousand
times has your tongue danced at Westminster Hall to the sound of
such music !"
3
2G THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
The bold daring of the times was thus forcibly expressed, in an old
almanac, printed during the contest :
" Let tyrants rage, and sycophants exclaim ;
Let tories grumble, parasites defame.
And all the herd of trembling despots roar,
And plot revenge ; dejDendence is no more.
'T is independence that we will maintain.
And Britain's tyrant shall no longer reign.
Britain, adieu ! we seek your aid no more ;
Nor call you Mother, as we did before."
^ We know little of Dr. Thomas Young. He was a member of the
Committee of Correspondence in 1772. He was a talented writer in
papers of the day, and in the Royal American Magazine, on medical,
political, and religious subjects. He was one of the tea-party in 1773 ;
but a groundless tradition exists, that he was the person Avho filled
his pockets Avith the detestable herb, which being discovered when he
was on the way home from the ships, some one cut off the skirts of his
coat, and threw away the tea. The old crier witnessed this scene,
but cannot state who committed the act. John Adams writes of him
as his physician. He was an army surgeon in 1776.
y In the Life and Times of General Thomas Lamb, of Revolutionary
fame, are highly spirited letters from Dr. Young, in one of which he
says, that " Lord North endeavors to still the rising rage of his coun-
trymen, by assuring them that no other province will, in the least,
countenance the rebellious Bostonians." And, in allusion to a town-
meeting at Faneuil Hall, Dr. Young says, it "was conducted with a
freedom and energy becoming the orators of ancient Rome." We
descendants of the patriot fathers have no conception of their perils,
and arc prompted by emotions of veneration, at their decided tone,
amid the glare of royal ])ayonets. In Edes and GilFs North American
/' Almanac, printed in 1770, we find what is termed " A New Song,
now much in vogue in North America," which entwines this rebel
passage :
*' All ages shall speak with amaze and applause
Of the courage we '11 show in support of our laws.
To die we don't fear, but to serve we disdain ;
We had better not be, than not freemen remain.
In freedom we 're born, and in freedom we '11 live ;
Our purses arc ready, —
Steady, friends, steady ;
Not as slaves, but as freemen, our money we '11 give."
THE MASSACRE. 27
The earliest orations ^vere delivered in the Old Brick Church, on the
site of Cornhill-square, or at the Old South Church, and attended by
immense crowds of people. Originally, a small stage was erected in
the northern section of the church, on Avhich were exhibited the sur-
vivors wounded at the massacre, and a_contribution v^'ji^ iMli^tr'toTllioir
beneirr! TliC!5(i patriotic orations are a protective shield to our consti-
tution, as they illustrate the principles of civil liberty.
, jj'he honored successor of "Washington to the presidency of this glo- '
^rious Union, when writing to Dr. Morse in allusion to the memorable
orations on the massacre, and those succeedinoj on the national inde-
pendence, from the peace of 1783 down to the year 1816, thus
emphasizes : — " These orations were read. I had almost said, by every-
body that could read, and scarcely ever Avith dry eyes. They have
now been continued for forty-five years. Will you read them all ?
They were not long continued in their original design ; but other gen-
tlemen, with other views, had influence enouo-h to obtain a chancre
from ' standing armies ' to 'feelings Avhich produced the Revolution.'
Of these forty-five orations, I have read as many as I have secn/J^
They have varied with all the changes of our politics. They have
been made the engine of bringing forward to public notice young
gentlemen of promising genius, whose connections and sentiments
were tolerable to the prevailing opinions of the moment. There is
juvenile ingenuity in all that I have read. There are few men of
consequence among us who did not commence their career by an ora-
tion on the fifth of JNIarch. I have read these orations Avith a mi.xture
of pleasure and pity. Young gentlemen of genius describing scenes
they never saw, and descanting on feelings they never felt, — and ^
which great pains had been taken they never should feel. When will
these orations end ? And when will they cease to be monuments of
the fluctuations of public opinion, and general feeling, in Boston, Mas-
sachusetts, and the United States ? They are infinitely more indica-
tive of the feelings of the moment than of the feelings that produced
the Revolution."^ And, in the conclusion of this letter, he remarks,
" If I could be fifty years younger, and had nothing better to do, I
would have these orations collected and printed in volumes, and then
write the history of the last forty-five years in commentaries upon
them." The conception of this work was matured, and the materials
mostly gathered, in relation to every one of the orators introduced,
before the editor ever read or was aware of the paragraph last quoted
28 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
from tlie venerable Adams the elder. An entire collection of the
orations noticed in tliis book, and published in a connected form, would
prove a valual^le acquisition to the history and literature of our
country. Our plan differs materially from that suggested by the
great Nestor of this repubhc. We exhibit striking specimens from
some of the best of those performances, with opinions respecting their
character, and present a statement of the lives of their authors, inter-
spersed with political, historical, and literary reminiscences, unfolding
a period of eighty years.
Our plan extends, moreover, to the orators of the Massachusetts
Cincinnati, the Washington Benevolent, and the Democratic Washing-
ton Societies ; the eulogists on the deceased presidents, on Warren, on
Lafayette and Marshall, and almost every other political occasion in
the great head-quarters of the Revolution, — our own noble Eoston! —
tending to establish the permanence of republican institutions. While
we mainly concur with President Adams in opinion regarding the
merits of those which he had examined, we venture to assert that a
large portion of these productions indicate an ability and patriotic
spirit that would honor the heads and the hearts of the most eminent
politicians of any age or nation ; and wp should view the period when
such orations would cease as a strong indication of the decline of this
great exemplar of all nations.
A large portion of the materials for this production were gathered
from the libraries of the Massachusetts Historical Society, of the Gore
Library at Cambridge, of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society, of the State Library, of the Boston Library, and of the
Boston Athenceum ; to the librarians of which institutions the editor
renders his grateful acknowledgments for the ready focility extended
during the research for information. The editor is more especially
indebted to the Massachusetts Historical Society for the generous per-
mission of access to valuable unpublished manuscripts in their posses-
sion, from which passages are embodied in this Avork, greatly enhanc-
inf' its value. Moreover, the editor renders his grateful thanks to Rev.
Joseph Barlow Felt, the courteous librarian of this institution, and
author of an Ecclesiastical History of New England, and to Lucius
Manlius Sargent, Esq., whose experience in historical research ranks
them with the most profound antiquarians in our country ; to Sam-
uel G. Drake, Esq., the chronicler of Lidian History; and to Dr.
John C. Warren, for the free use of the Revolutionary manuscript
JAMES LOVELL. 29
journal of Dr. John Warren, his patriotic father. The editor -will
never forget the courtesy of gentlemen of the leading professions, in
rendering information essential to the accuracy of this ■'^•ork, the cata-
logue of -Nvhose names would fill a chapter ; and to recount the mass
of facts furnished -would embrace a large appendix.
JAMES LOYELL.
APRIL 2, 1771. ON THE BOSTOIiT MASSACRE.
As the father and son -were remarkable men, and effected much in
moulding the intellects of the principal actors of the Ecvolution, we
will exhibit first the scanty materials regarding the father. IMastcr
John Lovell was the eldest son of John Lovell, who married Priscilla
Gardiner, June 16th, 1709; and was born at Boston, June 16th, 1710.
He entered the public Latin school in 1717 ; graduated at Harvard
College in 1728; became usher of the Latin school in 1729, until
he Avas appointed principal in 1734 ; which station he occupied until
April 19th, 1775, when the school was dispersed by the siege of the
town, and consequent occupation of the royalists. Mr. Lovell married
Abigail Green, Sept., 1734. He was an excellent critic, and one of
the best classical scholars of his day. Though a severe teacher, yet
he was remarkably humorous, and an agreeable companion. It is
worthy of record, that he delivered the first published address in
Faneuil Hall, March 14th, 1742, at the annual meeting of the town,
occasioned by the death of Peter Faneuil, Esq., the noble donor of the
hall to the town of Boston. In the peroration of ]Mr. Lovell" s funeral
oration, he said: "May this hall be ever sacred to the interests of
truth, of justice, of loyalty, of honor, of liberty. May no private
views, nor party broils, ever enter these walls." Heaven, in mercy,
however, otherwise decreed, and to the permanence of republican insti-
tutions. When the royal troops evacuated Boston, there was left
unremoved, at the residence of Master Lovell, adjoining the public
3*
30 THE HUNDEED BOSTON ORATORS.
r
Latin school in School-street, the coach of General Gage, whose head-
quarters were at the Province House, together with a phaeton and
harness entire. Moreover, a chariot of the governor was taken out
of the dock on Long Wharf, greatly defaced. He was a warm advo-
cate for the crown, and embarked with the British troops for Halifax,
when they evacuated the town, March 14th, 1776. We find no
particulars of his history at Halifax, Avhere he died in 1778. In the
gallery of paintings at Harvard College is his portrait, taken by
Nathaniel, son of John Smybert, who came to this country in 1728,
in company with Bishop Berkeley. Judge Cranch once remarked, " I
remember that one of his first portraits was the picture of his old
master Lovell, drawn while the terrific impressions of the pedagogue
were yet vibrating upon his nerves. I found it so perfect a likeness of
my old neighbor, that I did not wonder when my young friend told
me that a sudden, undesigned glance at it, had often made him
shudder."
• INIaster Lovell was a contributor to the Pietas et Gratulatio Colleo-ii
Cantabrigiensis, etc., published in 1761. The numbers 2, 25, 26,
and 27, are ascribed to his hand. The following is the twenty-seventh
article in the Pietas :
" TVhile Halley views the heavens with curious eyes,
And notes the changes in the stormy skies, —
"What constellations 'bode descending rains,
Swell the proud streams, and fertilize the j^lains, —
What call the zephyrs forth, with favoring breeze
To waft Britannia's fleets o'er subject seas ; —
In ditferent orbits how the planets run,
Reflecting rays they borrow from the sun ; —
Sudden, a distant prospect charms his sight, —
Venus encircled in the soui-ce of light !
Wonders to come his ravished thought unfold,
And thus the Heaven-instructed bard foretold
What glorious scenes, to ages past unknown.
Shall in one summer's rolling months be shown.
Auspicious omens yon bright regions wear ;
Events responsive in the earth appear.
A golden Phoebus decks the rising morn, —
Such, glorious George ! thy j'outhful brows adorn ;
Nor sparkles Venus on the ethereal plain,
Brighter than Charlotte, midst the virgin train.
The illustrious pair conjoined in nuptial ties,
Britannia shines a rival to the skies ! ' '
JAMES LOVELL. 31
Master Lovell was author, also, of " The Seasons, an Interlocutory
Exercise at the South Latin School," spoken at the annual visitation,
June 26, 1765, by Daniel Jones and Jonathan "Williams Austin, in
which the latter exclaims :
" Happy the man, ■when age has spread
Its hoary honors ou his head,
Whose mind, on looking bacl^, surveys
A fruitful life and well-spent days.
As on the verge of both he stands.
Both worlds, at once, his view commands :
Sees earth unwished for, wished for skies, —
Contented lives, and joyful dies."
The British troops ascribed their repulse at the battle of Bunker
Hill to the following circumstance : Directly after they had landed,
it was discovered that most of the cannon-balls which had been
brought over were too large for the pieces, and that it was necessary
to send them back, and obtain a fresh supply. "This wretched
blunder of over-sized balls," says Gen. Howe, "arose from the dotage
of an officer of rank in the ordnance department, who spends all his
time with the schoolmaster's daughter." It seems that Col. Cleveland,
who, "though no Samson, must have his Delilah," was enamored of
the beautiful daughter of old Master Lovell, and in order to win favor
with the damspl, had given her younger brother an appointment in the
ordnance, for which he was not qualified ; and Dr. Jeffries confirmed
this relation. This error, to whatever cause it might have been owing,
created delay, and somewhat diminished the effect of the British fire
durino; the first two attacks. A tradition exists that durino; the battle
suddenly the fire of the British artillery ceases. Gen. Howe, in con-
sternation, demands the reason. " The balls are too large." " Fatal
error!" says Howe; "what delusion drives Col. Cleveland to pass all
his time with the schoolmaster's daughter, instead of minding hi
s
business? Pour in grape ! " The forthcoming allusion to this affair
appears in a song ascribed to a British soldier, Avritteu after the battle :
" Our conductor, he got broke
For his misconduct, sure, sir ;
The shot he sent for twelve-pound guns.
Were made for twenty-four, sii\
There 's some in Boston pleased to say,
As we the field were taking,
32 THE HUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS,
We went to kill their countrymen
While they their hay were making.
For such stout whigs I never saw, —
To hang them all, I 'd rather.
For making hay M'ith musket-balls
And buck-shot mixed together."
"We will now exhibit the outline of the history of INIaster James
Lovell, Avho was born at Boston, Oct. 31, 1737; entered the public
Latin school in 1744, and graduated at Harvard College in 1756. He
became the usher of this school in 1757, which station he filled until
April 19, 1775, when the school was suspended bj the Avar. He Avas
also master of the North Grammar, noAV the Eliot school. The Latin
school Avas revived, Nov. 8, 1776. He married, at Trinity Church,
ISIary, daughter of Alexander Middleton, a native of Scotland, Nov.
24, 1760.
On the morning before the town committee had reached his resi-
dence, to invite him to deliver an oration on the massacre, his father
took occasion, at the breakfast-table, according to the tradition, to
advise him not to accept the appointment, as his inexperience in public
matters Avas not equal to the effort ; nor could he expect, if he Avere,
that the undertaking ayouM result in any public benefit, or personal
^dA'antage to himself. " Besides, my son," said the old gentleman,
W ' ' there is a consideration in this matter, above all others : there is
danger in the attempt, — your hfe will be in jeopardy." " Is that the
case, father?" said Lovell; "then my mind is decided; my resolu-
tion is fixed, that I Avill attempt it at every hazard ! " Whether or not
this relation be fixct, it Avas perfectly characteristic of the man. The
• people assembled at Fancuil Hall to listen to the young orator, when
the throng being too great, the audience forthwith adjourned to the
Old South Church, and after a fervent prayer by the Rev. Dr.
Chauncy, an oration Avas pronounced by James Lovell, that received
"the universal acceptance of the audience;" after which, the thanks
of the tOAvn Avere voted him, and a committee appointed to request a
copy for the press. He remarked, in this performance, that "the
/'design of this ceremony was decent, wise, and honorable. Make the
V' bloody fifth of March the era of the resurrection of your birthrights,
which have been murdered by the very strength that nursed them in
their infancy." And towards the close of the oration, he remarks :
" Having declared myself an American son of liberty, of true
JAMES LOVELL. 33
charter principles; — having sho^yn the critical and dangerous situation
of our birthrights, and the true course for speedy redress, — I shall
take the freedom to recommend -with boldness one previous step. Let
us show we understand the true value of what we are claiming."'
Mr. Lovell was an excellent scholar, and of famous reputation ; but
detraction, ever seeking to wound those most esteemed, frowned its
odious visage upon him. John Adams says, in his diary, under date
of -January 7, 1766 : '•' Samuel Waterhouse, of the customs, the most
notorious scribbler, satirist, and libeller, in the service of the conspira-
tors against the liberties of America, made a most malicious, ungen-
erous attack upon James Lovell, Jr., the usher of the grammar school,
as others had attacked him about idleness, and familiar spirits, and
zanyship, and expectancy of a deputation."
The residence of James Lovell, during the Revolution, was on the
estate where Chapman Hall is now located, and his family witnessed
on the house-top the burning of Charlestown during the battle of
Bunker Hill. While Mr. Lovell was imprisoned in the Boston jail, in
Queen-street, in consequence of General Howe having discovered a
prohibited correspondence, proving his adherence to the Revolutionary
cause, his devoted wife Avas daily accustomed to convey his food to the
prison door. They had eight sons, and one daughter, Mary, who was-
married to Mark Pickard, a merchant of Boston, whose daughter was
the wife of Rev. Henry Ware, of Harvard College. After the Revo-
lution, Mr. Lovell resided in Hutchinson-street, located on Sturgis-
place.
After the battle of Bunker Hill, thirty-one captives were imprisoned'
in Boston jail, among whom was Mr. Lovell, Avho wrote a pathetic-
letter to Washington, dated' Provost's Prison, Boston, Nov. 19, 1775,.
in which he said: "Your excellency is already informed that the
powers of the military government established in this town have been
wantonly and cruelly exercised against me, from the 29th of June last.
I have in vain repeatedly solicited to be brought to some kind of trial
for my pretended crimes. In answer to a petition of that sort, pre-
sented on the 16th of October, I am directed, by Col. Balfour, aid-de-
camp to Gen. Howe, to seek the release of Col. Skene and his soUj
as the sole means of my enlargement.
" This proposition appears to me extremely disgraceful to the party
from which it comes ; and a compliance with it pregnant with danger-
ous consequences to my fellow-citizens. But, while my own spirit
34 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
prompts me to reject it directly with the keenest disdain, the impor-
tunity of my distressed wife, and the advice of some whom I esteem,
have checked me down to a consent to give your excellency this inform-
ation. I have the fullest confidence in your wisdom, and I shall be
perfectly resigned to your determination, whatever it may be. I must
not, however, omit to say, that should you condescend to stigmatize
the proceeding of my enemies by letter, the correction might work
some change in favor of myself, or at least of my family; which must,
I think, perish through want of fuel and provisions, in the approach-
ing winter, if they continue to be deprived of my assistance."
Master Lovell addressed another letter, Dec. 6, 1775, to General
Washington, in which he remarked: " Charged with being a spy, and
giving intelligence to the rebels, I have been suffering the pains and
indignities of imprisonment from the 29th of June last, without any
sort of trial. Capt. Balfour, aid-de-camp to Gen. Howe, some time
«go directed JMrs. Lovell to tell me, from the commander-in-chief, that
I must obtain the exchange of Col. Skene and his son, as the only
■condition of my enlargement ; and I have waited weeks in a vain hope
of being enabled to write with more precision to your excellency. I
have no argument but of a private nature to make use of, upon this
•occasion ; and it is addressed to your excellency's humanity, which I
am well satisfied will attend the decision of your wisdom. I myself
am reduced to such a risk of life, and my family to such miseries, by
my imprisonment, as to make both objects of compassion to all who are
not learnedly barbarous and cruel."
Washington wrote to Hancock, in a letter dated Jan. 30, 177G : "I
■shall, in obedience to the order of Congress, though interdicted by
Gen. IIoAve, propose an exchange of Col. Skene for JNIr. Lovell and
his family ; and shall be happy to have an opportunity of putting this
■deserving man, who has shown his fidelity and regard to his country
to be too great for persecution and cruelty to overcome, in any post
agreeable to his wishes and inclinations." Here is a tribute to Lovell
from the immortal Washington, of greater value than the most
•renowned heraldry.
Mr. Lovell was detained in prison, regardless of the intercession of
Washington, until the British army evacuated the town, when he Avas
conveyed to Halifax, where he was kept in close confinement. Thus,
while the father Avas at Halifax an honored follower of the crown, the
son was degraded for an adherence to the eagle. His family were pro-
4
JAMES LOVELL. 85
tected bj the respected Dr. Joseph Gardner, in \\iiose dwelling tliey
resided, — located on Marlboro' -street, — until his return from cap-
tivity. INIr. Lovell happened to be doomed to the same prison in
■which the famous Col. Ethan Allen was confined, with several other
Americans. Allen had been a wanderer during his captivity, having
been first sent from Montreal to England in ii'ons, and then trans-
ported back to Halifax, by way of Ireland and North Carolina. INIr.
Lovell was finally exchanged for Gov. Skene, of Ticonderoga, on Nov.
1776, and arrived in Boston on the 30th day, by way of New York.
The hardships of imprisonment rather impaired his intellect, though
its power was never dethroned. There was a deep rancor against
Mr, Lovell, when in Boston jail, for having publicly repeated, in his
oration on the massacre, what the royalists had taught him by experi-
ence, "that slaves envy the freedom of others, and take malicious
pleasure in contributing to destroy it; " — being a citation from Black-
stone. And another matter that excited prejudice was the getting
possession of a note written to one going to Point Shirley, which Gen.
Howe had intercepted. Consequently he was closely locked up, and
debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper, though he declared his inno-
cence of any forbidden correspondence.
In Dec. 1776, James Lovell was elected to the Continental Con-
gress, for his native state. On the third of May, 1778, ]Mr. Lovell
wrote to Arthur Lee as follows: "In the month of October, 1775, I
used the freedom of writing to you from Boston prison, by a Mr.
"William Powell, who had also in charge some papers to enable you to
sti2;matize the mean cruelties of Gao-e, who was then exulting in his
command: but the papers which I afterwards sent you from ILilifix
jail, by an amiable lady, afforded proofs of scientific barbarity in
Howe, which tended to obliterate the memory of what I had endured
under his predecessor. I had the imagination, at that time, of pur-
suing those men personally to Europe ; but when I heard my country-
men had wisely declared independence, I felt myself instantly repaid
for all my losses and bodily injuries. I will not endeavor to constrain
you to believe that I am governed, at this day, by feelings and
motives of the most laudable patriotism. I am not anxious to disavow
a degree of the spirit of retaliation, Avhich our enemies seem to have
been industrious to excite in us. It would be false affectation of
universal benevolence to say I lament the present disgrace of Britain.
36 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Whether she mends upon it or not, I must rejoice at it, though upon
diiFerent principles."
It is a singular coincidence to this remark, that the editor, while
■writing in the book-store of Drake the antiquarian, had his attention
directed to a passage in Boswcll's Johnson, -which INIr. Drake held in
his hand at the moment, -where Johnson, in. conversing with Miss
Se-ward, says, April 15th, 1778, " I am -willing to love all mankind,
except an American." INIiss Se-ward, looking at him -with mild and
steady astonishment, said, " Sir, this is an instance that we are always
most violent against those we have injured."
"We find in the London Political Register for 1780 the following:
severe remarks on the character of INIr. Lovell, because of his repub-
lican course : "In the pockets of Warren, the rebel commander, killed
at Bunker Hill, Avere found letters from James Lovell, a rebel spy,
stating the number and disposition of the troops in Boston, with a
variety of other information. The spy, instead of being sentenced to
the gallows and executed, was only taken up and detained in custody ;
and when our army was at New York, he was discharged, at the
request of some of the rebel chiefs. The deputy commissary of
prisoners saw him safely on board the cartel ship, and laid in for him
the best provisions the place could supply. Lovell, instead of being
grateful for this, the instant he landed in the rebel territory, wrote
the commissary a most abusive letter ; and, by this infamous behavior,
having arrived at the summit of villany, was, in the opinion of the
rebels of Massachusetts, deemed a fit person to represent them in Con-
gress ; accordingly, as soon as he set his foot in Boston, he was chosen
one of their delegates to Congress. The rebel spies and prisoners
taken by our troops have been always treated with a lenity nearly
akin to folly ; the rebels never imputed it to our humanity, but to our
timidity and dread of them."
Tlie Political Register quotes a passage from an intercepted letter
of :Mr. Lovell, dated Philadelphia, Nov. 20, 1780, addressed to Mr.
Gerry, in which he said : " Is it not time to pay a visit to Massachu-
setts? Does my wife look^as if she wanted a toothless, grayheaded,
sciatic husband near her 7 I am more benefit to her at a distance
than in conjunction, as the almanac has it."
In 1784 Mr. Lovell was appointed receiver of Continental taxes, -
and during the confederacy of 1788 and '89 he Avas the collector for
DR. BENJAMIN CHrECH. 37
the port of Boston. He -was the naval officer of Boston from 1790
until his decease, at "Windham, Maine, July 14, 1814.
Mr. Lovell published several tracts. In 1760 he dehvered an
oration in Latin, to the memorj of the venerable Henry Flint, "^ho
•was fifty-five years a tutor of Harvard College. In 1808, Propaga-
tion of Truth, or Tyranny Anatomized ; Sketches of Man as He is,
connected with the Past and Present I\Iode of Education ; A Letter
to the President of the United States, supposed by the writer to be
fitted specially for the Age and Courage of the Young Federal Repub-
licans of Boston, and also to be calculated generally to promote the
comfort of all gray-headed as well as green-headed free citizens every-
where : dated, July 4, 1805.
DR. BENJAMIN CHURCH.
MAECn5,17-3. ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
Dr. Benja:min Church was a son of Deacon Benjamin Church,
of Mather Bylcs' church, in Boston; and was born at Newport, R. I.,
Aug. 24, 1734. He entered the Latin school in 1745, and graduated
at Harvard College in 1754. He was a student in the London Med-
ical College, and walked the hospitals, daily visiting all the wards.
He married Miss Hannah Hill, of Ross, in Herefordshire, a sister of
his early friend, a young student in London. He returned to Boston,
and had Benjamin, who married a lady of London, and became a
surgeon in the British army ; James ^liller, born 1759 ; Sarah,
born 1761, who married Benjamin Weld, a tory refugee ; Hannah,
born 1764, who married William Kirkby, a merchant of London, and
had sixteen children. It is to a descendant of this branch that the
editor is indebted for information.
Dr. Church was the surgeon who examined the body of Crispus
Attucks, killed by the British soldiers in the massacre of 1770 ; and
his deposition is printed in the narrative of the town. He was the
4
38 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
first Grand Master of the Rising Sun Lodge, instituted in 1772. Dr.
Churcli pronounced the oration on the massacre, at the Old South ; and
SO vast Avas the throng of people to hear it, that the orator, and John
Hancock, the moderator of this adjourned town-meeting, were obliged to
be taken in at a windoAv. It w^as received "with universal applause,"
and directly after its delivery the people unanimously requested a copy
for the press. Dr. Eliot says of it, that "it is certainly one of the
very best of the Boston orations." He had genius and taste, and was
an excellent writer in poetry and prose, consisting mostly of essays of
a witty and philological nature, which are scattered in newspapers
and publications almost obsolete.
On the evening after the delivery of this oration, the lantern
exhibition appeared from Mrs. Clapham's balcony, in King-street; and
in one of the chamber windows was inscribed the following impas-
sioned effusion :
^
" Canst thou, spectator, view this crimsoned scene,
And not reflect what these sad portraits mean ?
Or can thy slaughtered brethren's guiltless gore
Revenge, in Tain, from year to year implore ?
Ask not Tvhere Preston or his butchers are !
But ask, who brought those bloody villains here?
Never for instruments forsake the cause,
Nor spare the wretch who would subvert the laws !
That ruthless fiend, who, for a trifling hire,
"Would murder scores, or set a town on fire.
Compared with him who would a land enslave.
Appears an inconsiderable knave.
And shall the first adorn the fatal tree.
While, pampered and caressed, the last goes free ?
Forbid it, thou whose eye no bribe can blind.
Nor fear can influence, nor favor bind !
Thy justice drove one murderer to despair ;
And shall a number live in riot here ?
Live and appear to glory in the crimes
Which hand destruction doAvn to future times ?
Yes, ye shall live ! but live like branded Cain,
In daily dread of being nightly slain ;
And when the anxious scene on earth is o'er.
Your names shall stink till time shall be no more ! "
We cannot restrain the desire to present the peroration of the
oration so much applauded: " By Heaven, they die ! Thus nature
spoke, and the swollen heart leaped to execute the dreadful purpose.
Dire was the interval of rage, — fierce was the conflict of the soul. In
DE. BEXJAMix cnuKcn. 39
that important hour, did not the stalking ghosts of our stern fore-
fathers point us to bloody deeds of vengeance 1 Did not the con-
sideration of our expiring liberties impel us to remorseless havoc?
But, hark ! the guardian God of New England issues his awful man-
date, — Peace, be still ! Hushed was the bursting war ; the lowering
tempest frowned its rage away. Confidence in that God, beneath
whose wing we shelter all our cares, — that blessed confidence released
the dastard, the cowering prey; with haughty scorn we refused to
become their executioners, and nobly gave them to the wrath of
Heaven. But words can poorly paint the horrid scene. Defenceless,
prostrate, bleeding countrymen, — the piercing, agonizing groans. —
the mingled moan of weeping relatives and friends. — these best can
speak, to rouse the luke-warm into noble zeal. — (o fire the zealous into
manly rage against the foul oppression of quartering troops in pop-
ulous cities in times of peace."
There is but one sentence in this admired production that could bo
construed in the least degree to indicate the fear that this vigorous
mind would ever forsake the cause of injured humanity, wherein he
says, '•' The constitution of England I revere to a degree of idolatry."
This, however, is directly qualified, for he continues, "but my attach-
ment is to the common weal. The magistrate will ever command my
respect by the integrity and wisdom of his administrations."
Dr. Church was a Boston representative, a me^nber of the Provin-
cial Qongress in 1774, and physician-general to the patriot array in
that year.
About the year 17G8. Dr. Church erected an elegant mansion at
Raynham, on the side of Nippenickit pond, '• allured, perhaps," says
Dr. Allen, " by the pleasures of fishing." Probably it was thus that
he created a pecuniary embarrassment, which led to his defection from
the cause of his country. A letter Avritten in cipher, to his brother
in Boston, was intrusted by him to a young woman, with whom he was
said to be living in crime. The mysterious letter was found upon her ;
but, the doctor having opportunity to speak to her, it was only by the
force of threats that the name of the writer was extorted from her.
It was for some time difficult to find any person capable of decipher-
ing Dr. Church's letter, but at length it Avas effected by Rev. Dr.
Samuel West, of New Bedford. When Washington charged him witli
his baseness, he never attempted to vindicate himself
AYashington stated, in a letter to Hancock, dated Cambridge, Oct. 5.
40 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
1775: "I have now a painful, though a necessary duty to perform,
respecting Dr. Church, director-general of the hospital. About a
week ago, Mr. Secretary Ward, of Providence, sent up to me one
Yfainwood, an inhabitant of Newport, with a letter directed to Major
Cane, in Boston, in characters ; which, he said, had been left wuth
Wainwood some time ago, by a woman who was kept by Dr. Church.
She had before pressed Wainwood to take her to Capt. Wallace, at
Newport, Mr. Dudley the collector, or George Rowe, which he
declined. She then gave him a letter, with a strict charge to deliver
it to either of those gentlemen. He, suspecting some improper cor-
respondence, kept the letter, and after some time opened it ; but, not
being able to read it, laid it up, where it remained until he received an
obscure letter from the woman, expressing an anxiety after the original
letter. He then communicated the whole matter to Mr. Ward, who
sent him up Avith the papers to me. I immediately secured the
woman ; but for a long time she was proof against every threat and
persuasion to discover the author. However, at length she was
brought to a confession, and named Dr. Church. I then immediately
secured him, and all his papers. Upon his first examination, he readily
acknowledged the letter ; said it Avas designed for his brother Fleming,
and when deciphered would be found to contain nothing criminal.
He acknowledged his never having communicated the correspondence to
any person here, but the girl, and made many protestations of the
purity of his intentions. Having found a person capable of decipher-
ing the letter, I, in the mean time, had all his papers searched, but
found nothing criminal among them. But it appeared, on inquiry,
that a confidant had been among the papers before my messenger
arrived."
We select this passage from Dr. Church's intercepted letter: "For
the sake of the miserable convulsed empire, repeal the acts, or Britain
is undone. This advice is the result of warhi affection to my king
and the realm. Remember, I never deceived you."
He was convicted by court-martial, Oct. 3, 1775, of which Wash-
ington was president, "of holding a criminal correspondence Avith the
enemy." He was imprisoned at Cambridge. On Oct. 27, he was
called to the bar of the House of Representatives, and examined. His
defence before the house, printed in the Historical Collections, was a
specimen of brilliant talents and great ingenuity. That the letter Avas
designed for his brother, but, not being sent, he had communicated no
DR. BENJAMIN CHURCH. 41
intelligence : that there Avas nothing in the letter but notorious facts :
that his exaggerations of the American force could only be designed
to favor the cause of liberty : and that the object was purely patriotic. .
"Confirmed," said he, "in assured innocence, I stand prepared for
your keenest searchings. The warmest bosom here does not flame with
a brighter zeal for the security, happiness, and liberties, of America."
He was expelled from the house ; and the Continental Congress after-
wards resolved that he should be confined in jail in Connecticut, and
"debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper." He Avas afterwards
allowed to occasionally ride out, under a trusty guard. Madam
Adams, in alluding to the treachery of Dr. Church, remarked at
that time: "You may as Avell hope to bind up a hungry tiger Avith
a cobAveb, as to hold such debauched patriots in the visionary chains
of decency, or to charm them Avitli the intellectual beauty of truth
and reason." His residence, in Boston, was at the south corner of
A\'on-place. Dr. Thatcher says, " There Avere not a fcAV among the
most respectable and intelligent in the community Avho expressed
strong doubts of a criminal design in his conduct." Our readers,
howcA-er, need only to examine the statement of Paul Revere, in the
succeeding paragraphs, to have their minds satisfied of his treacherous
conduct. It appears in a letter to Rev. Dr. John Eliot, corresponding
secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society, dated Boston, Jan.
1, 1798: "In the fall of 1774, and Avinter of 1775, I Avas one of
upwards of thirty, chiefly mechanics, AA'ho formed ourselves into a
committee, for the purpose of Avatching the movements of the British
soldiers, and gaining cA^ery intelligence of the moA'cments of the tories.
We held our meetings at the Green Dragon Tavern. We Avere so care-
ful that our meetings should be kept secret, that CA'cry time we met,
every person swore upon the Bible tliat they Avould not discoA'er any
of our transactions, but to Hancock, Adams, Drs. Warren, Church,
and one or two more. About November, Avhen things began to grow
serious, a gentleman who had connections with the tory parfv, but
was a Avhig at heart, acquainted me that our meetings Avere discovered,
and mentioned the identical Avords that Avere spoken among us the
night before. We did not then distrust Dr. Church, but supposed it
must be some one among us. We remoAxd to another place, Avhich
Ave thoun^ht Avas more secure ; but here Ave found that all our transac-
tions Avere communicated to Gov. Gage. This came to me through
the then secretary, Flucker. He told it to the gentleman mentioned
4:*
42 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
above. It was then a common opinion that there was a traitor in the
Provincial Congress, and that Gage was possessed of all their secrets.
Dr. Church appeared to be a high son of liberty. He frequented all
the places where they met ; was encouraged by all the leaders of the
sons of liberty ; and it appeared he Avas respected by them, though I
knew that Dr. Warren had not the greatest respect for him. Though
it was known that some of the liberty songs which he composed were
parodized by him in fiivor of the British, yet none dare charge him
Avith it, I was a constant and critical observer of liim, and I must
say that I never thought him a man of principle, and I doubted much,
in my own mind, whether he was a real whig. I knew that he kept
company with a Capt. Price, a half-pay British officer ; and that he
frequently dined with him and Robinson, one of the commissioners.
I knoAV that one of his intimate acquaintance asked him why he was
so often with Robinson and Price. His answer was, that he kept
company with them on purpose to find out their plans. The day after
the battle of Lexington, I met him in Cambridge, when lie shew me
some blood on his stocking, which, he said, spirted on him from a man
who was killed near him, as he was urging the militia on. I well
remember that I argued with myself, if a man will risk his life in a
cause, he must be a friend to that cause ; and I never suspected him
after, till he Avas charged with being a traitor.
"The same day, J met Dr. Warren. He was president of the
Committee of Safety". He engaged me as a messenger to do the out-
of-doors business for the committee, which gave me an opportunity of
being frequently with them. The Friday evening after, about sunset,
I Avas sitting Avith some or near all that committee, in their room,
Avhich Avas at Mr. Hastings' house, in Cambridge. Dr. Church, all at
once, started up. 'Dr. Warren,' said he, 'I am determined to go
into Boston to-morrow.' It set them all a storing. Dr. Warren
replied, ' Are you serious. Dr. Church? They will hang you, if they
catch jou in Boston.' He replied, 'I am serious, and am determined
to fro, at all adventures.' After a considerable conversation. Dr. War-
ren said, 'If you are determined, let us make some business for you.'
They agreed that he should go to get medicine for their and our
•wounded officers. He went the next morning, and I think he came
back on Sunday evening. After he had told the committee hoAV
things were, I took him aside, and inquired particularly hoAV they
treated him. He said, that ' as soon as he got to their lines, on
DR. BENJAMIN CHURCH, 43
Boston Neck, they m^de him a prisoner, and carried him to Gen.
Gage, -where he was examined ; and then he was sent to Gould's bar-
racks, and was not suffered to go home but once. After he was taken
up for holding a correspondence with the British, I came across Dea.
Caleb Davis. We entered into conversation about him. He told me
that the morning Church went into Boston, he (Davis) received a
billet for Gen. Gage ; — (he then did not know that Church was in
town.) When he got to the general's house, he was told the general
could not be spoke with, — that he was in private with a gentleman ;
that he waited near half an hour, when Gen. Gage and Dr. Church
came out of a room, discoursing together like persons who had been long
acquainted. He appeared to be quite surprised at seeing Dea. Davis
there ; that he (Church) went where he pleased, while in Boston, only
a Major Caine, one of Gage's tools, Avent with him. I was told by
another person, whom I could depend upon, that he saw Church go into
Gen. Gage's house at the above time ; that he got out of the chaise
and went up the steps more like a man that was acquainted than a
prisoner.
" Some time after, — perhaps a year or two, — I fell in company
with a gentleman who studied with Church. In discoursing about him,
I related what I have mentioned above. He said he did not doubt that
he was in the interest of the British, and that it was he who informed
Gen. Gage ; that he knew for certain that, a short time before the
Battle of Lexington, — for he then lived with him. and took care of his
business and books, — he had no money by him, and was much drove
for money; that, all at once, he had several hundred new British
guineas; and that he thought at the time where they came from."
When released from his imprisonment in Norwich jail. Conn., jNIay,
1776, he set sail from Boston for London, — some say for the West
Lidies ; and, according to a family tradition, the vessel was wrecked
near the Boston Light-house, and all on board perished. Our prin-
cipal authorities state, however, that after he left Boston he was never
heard from. His family was pensioned by the crown.
We cannot conclude this article before introducing an incident.
Col. Revere was the first President of the Massachusetts Mechanics'
Charitable Association, and a copper-plate engraver. In the year
1768, the Legislature of Massachusetts voted to send a circular letter
to the several Provinces, on the alarming state of this country, and
inviting a convention to oppose a taxation without the consent of the
44 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
representatives of the people. The king directed Governor Bernard
to demand that the said vote be rescinded and obhterated. A vote Avas
passed, June 30, 17G8, not to conform to it, seventeen members only
voting in favor of it, and ninety-two in the negative. The seventeen
members -were stigmatized -with the name of Rescinders, and treated
with contempt. Paul Revere engraved a caricature, entitled "A Warm
Place — Hell." The dehneation was a pair of monstrous open jaws,
resembling those of a shark, with flames issuing ; and Satan, with a
large pitchfork, driving the seventeen Rescinders into the flames,
exclaiming, "Now I've got you! A fine haul, by Jove!" As a
reluctance is shown by the foremost man at entering, who is supposed
to represent the Hon. Timothy Ruggles, afterward a brigadier-general
of Worcester county, another devil is drawn, with a fork, flying
towards him, and crying out, "Push on, Tim!" Over the upper
jaw is seen, in the back-ground, the cupola of the Province-house,
Avith the Indian and bow and arrow, the arms of the Province, where
was the residence of the governor. When Revere was engaged in
executing this caricature. Dr. Benj. Church came into his office, and
seeing what he was about, took a pen and wrote the following lines as
an accompaniment :
"On, brave Rescinders ! to yon yawning cell, —
Seventeen such miscreants sure will startle hell.
Tliere puny villains, damned for petty sin,
On such distinguished scoundrels gaze and grin ;
The outdone Devil vrill resign his sway, —
He never curst liis millions in a day."
" Instead of subject colonies," remarks Daniel Webster, " England
noAV beholds on these shores a mighty rival, rich, powerful, intelligent,
like herself And may these countries be forever friendly rivals. May
their power and greatness, sustaining themselves, be always directed
to the promotion of the peace, the prosperity, the enlightenment, and
the liberty of mankind ; and, if it be their united destiny, in the course
of human events, that they be called ujwn, in the cause of humanity
and in the cause of freedom, to stand against a world in arms, they
are of a race and of a blood to meet that crisis, without shrinking from
danger, and without quailing in the presence of earthly power."
JOSEPH WARREX, M. D. 45
JOSEPH WAR KEN, M. D.
MARCH 5, 1TT2. OX THE BOSTOX MASSACRE.
The name of Warren appears on tlie Roll of Battle Abbey, as
being of those engaged in the Battle of Hastings, under AVilliam the
Conqueror, Oct. 14, 10G6. It appears also in Doomsday Book, pub-
lished in 1081. "William de Warrene, the first of the name according
to Duncan's Dukes of Normandy, related to Duke William on the side
of his mother, Avho Avas niece to the Duchess Gouner. took his name
from the fief of Varenne, or Warrene, in the district of St. Aub-in-le-
Cauf. Warrene received from the Conqueror two hundred and ninety-
eight manors, and in 1073 he was adjoined to Richard de Bienfaite
as Grand Justiciary of England. He was created Earl of Surrey, by
Wilham Rufus, in 1089, and died shortly afterwards. He was buried
in the Abbey of Lewes, in Sussex, which he had founded.
The ancestry of General Joseph Warren has long been a subject of
doubtful speculation, as it could not be traced to the ancient families
either of Plymouth or Watertown. After careful research, we believe
it traceable to the public records of Boston. Doubtless the ancestor of
this fiimily was Peter Warren, a mariner, who, according to Suffolk
Deeds, purchased an estate of Theodore Atkinson, of Boston, March
8. 1659, " situated on the south side of Boston, next the Avater-side,
opposite and against Dorchester Neck." This Avas a part of ancient
Mattapan, now South Boston. On his decease, he gave his dwelling-
house and land to his widow Esther, for and during her natural life, in
case she continue a Avidow, and not otherAvise. In case she happen to
marry again, the estate should revert to his son Joseph ; or, at her
decease, if a widow, he bequeathed the same to him. He married
three times, and died at Boston, Nov. 15, 1704, aged 76 years. Ilis
Avill is in Suffolk Probate. His son Joseph, according to Suffolk Deeds,
couA-eyed, April 15, 1714, this estate to Henry Hill, distiller, for eighty
pounds, with the reserve, that his widowed mother Esther should have
a life occupancy, and profits and benefits of the same. It Avas located
in Boston, at the south part of the tOAvn, and bounded southerly at
the front by Essex-street, fifty-scA'en feet; Avesterly by the land of
46 THE IIUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Isaac Goose, eighty-one feet ; northerly by the land of Henry Cole,
thirty-one feet ; easterly by the land of Whitman, eighty-four feet : —
■with the buildings, V"ells, -water-courses, kc. A distillery has long
been located on this estate, bounded by South-street, and is improved
by William E. French. This was doubtless the ancestral residence.
We find no conveyance of real estate to Peter Warren at any other
period.
Sarah, the first wife of Peter Warren, was admitted to the Old
South Church, by dismission. May 22, 1670. His second -wife, Han-
nah, was received in the same church, by dismission also, April 30,
1675 ; and his third wife, Esther, was admitted to that church, also
by dismission, Oct. 11, 1687.
The baptisms of the children are on the records of the Old South
Church, and correspond with the births on the records of Boston, as
follows : Peter Warren married Sarah, a daughter of Robert Tucker,
of Dorchester, Aug. 1, 1660, by whom he had John, born Sept. 8,
1661 ; Joseph, born Feb. 19, 1662; Benjamin, born July 25, 1665;
Elizabeth, born Jan. 4, 1667; Robert, born Dec. 14, 1670 ; Ebenezer,
born Feb. 11, 1672 ; Peter, born x\pril 20, 1676 ; Hannah, by his
wife Hannah, born May 19, 1680 ; Mary, born Nov. 24, 1683 ;
Robert, born Dec. 24, 1684.
Joseph, the second son of Peter, who, according to Suffolk Deeds,
was a housewright, married Deborah, a daughter of Samuel Williams,
of Roxbury, where ^he settled, and had eight children ; among whom
was Joseph, born Feb. 2, 1696. He died at Roxbury, July 13, 1729,
aged 66 ; and this corresponds with the Boston record of his birth.
His will was proved August 1st of that date.
Joseph, Jr., son of Joseph of Roxbury, married Mary, daughter of
Dr. Samuel Stevens, of that town, ]May 29, 1740. He is named, on
Suffolk Probate, as "gentleman." He was a respectable farmer, and
Avas the first person who cultivated an apple, Avith a fine blush on one
side, famous as the Warren Russet. The Boston NcAvs-Letter thus
relates the tale of his decease, in a note dated Roxbury, Oct. 25, 1755:
"On Wednesday last a sorroAvful accident happened here. As jNIr.
Joseph Warren, of this town, was gathering apples from a tree, standing
upon a ladder at a considerable distance from the ground, he fell from
thence, broke his neck, and expired in a fcAv moments. He A\'as
esteemed a man of good understanding, industrious, upright, honest,
and faithful, — a serious, exemplary Christian, a useful member of
JOSEPH WARREX, M. D. 47
society. He "^vas generally respected amongst us. and liis death is
nnivcrsaHj lamented."'
Joseph, 3d, a son of Joseph, Jr., Avas born at Roxburj, June 11,
1741. He graduated at Harvard College, 1759, and Avas a public-
school teacher at Roxbury, in 1760. The old mansion in -which he
was born has been demolished, and an exact model of it, made jiartly
of the original materials, is retained in the family of Dr. Brown. Avho
married a daughter of Dr. John Warren. A painting of the estate
is in the family of Dr. John C. Warren. An elegant stone building
has been erected on the location. The inscriptions herewith are chis-
eled on the front side of the second storv of the edifice ; that on the
right hand is as follows :
" On this spot stood the house erected in 1720 by Joseph Warren, of
Boston, remarkable for being the birthplace of General Joseph War-
ren, his grandson, who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, June
17, 1775." The inscription on the left hand is as folloAvs : "John
Warren, a distinguished physician and anatomist, was also born here.
The original mansion being in ruins, this house was built by John C.
Warren, M. D., in 1846, son of the last named, as a permanent
memorial of the spot." The estate is in Warren-street, on Warren-
place, opposite St. James' -street.
Warren was ever remarkable for fearless intrepidity. When at
college, some of his classmates were engaged in a merriment which
they knew Warren would not approve, and adopted a plan to prevent
his attendance. They fastened the door of the apartment, which was
in the upper story of a college building. Warren, finding that he
could not get in at the door, and perceiving that there was an open
window, determined to effect his entrance by that way, from the roof
He accordingly ascended the stairs to the top of the building, and, getting
out upon the roof, let himself down to the eaves, and thence, by the
aid of a spout, to a level with the open window, through which he
leaped into the midst of the conspirators. The spout, which was of
wood, was so much decayed by time, that it fell to the ground as
Warren relaxed his hold upon it. His classmates, hearing the crash,
rushed to the window, and when they perceived the cause, loudly con-
gratulated him upon the escape. He coolly remarked that the spout
had retained its position just long enough to scY\'e his purpose; and,
without further notice of the accident, proceeded to remonstrate with
48 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS,
them on the mischief they intended to perpetrate, -which had the
desired effect.
In the period of the Revolution a gallows -was erected on the Neck,
near Roxburj, for the public execution of criminals. One day, when
he Avas passing the spot, he met three British officers, one of whom
called to him, saying, "Go on, Warren; you will soon come to the
galloAvs ! " It was very evident they meant to insult him, as they
burst into a loud laugh as soon as it was uttered. Warren was not a
man to submit to an insult from any one, least of all from them. He
immediately turned back, walked up to them, and calmly requested to
know which of them had thus addressed him. Not one of them had
the courage to avow his insolence. Finding he could obtain no answer,
he at last left them, ashamed of themselves and each other, but pleased
to escape so easily. This is related on the authority of Dr. John C.
Warren.
Gen. Warren resided several years in Boston, on the location of
the present American House, nearly opposite Elm-street. Wired
skulls, from his anatomical room, were discovered, in excavating the
earth, about the year 1835. He was a member of Rev. Dr. Cooper's
church, in Brattle-street, and his pew was located opposite the old
southern door, in the body of the house, which he selected for the pre-
vention of disturbance, when abruptly called on for medical aid.
The late Governor Eustis, Avho was, in 1774, a student of medicine
under Warren, relates that, in returning to his dwelling, he passed
several British officers in Queen-street, among whom was Col. AVol-
cott, who subsequently became notorious for a paltry insult, in address-
ing General Washington as "Mr. Washington," in a letter on the
subject of prisoners ; and, as the friends of Warren were then con-
stantly expecting that some attempt would be made to seize him by
the regulars, Eustis stated the circumstance, and advised him not to
leave the house. Warren replied, " I have a visit to make to a lady in
Cornhill, this evening, and I will go at once; come with me." He
then put his pistols in his pocket, and they went out. They passed
several British officers, without molestation from them. It was ascer-
tained, the next day, that they were watching for two pieces of cannon
which had been removed by some Bostonians, of which a relation is
given in the outhne of John Hancock. Warren, having his spirit
fretted, one day, by some of the taunts frequently uttered by British
officers, exclaimed, " These fellows say we won't fight. By heavens *
JOSEPH AVARREX, M. D. 49
I hope I shall die up to my knees in blood ! " This was spoken but a
few weeks before the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Gen. Warren married Elizabeth, a daughter of the late Dr. Richard
Hooton, of Boston, Sept. 6, 17G4. Their childi-en were Joseph, who
graduated at Harvard College, in 178G, — died single in 1790 ; Richard,
who died at twenty-one years of age ; Elizabeth, who was the wife of
Gen. Arnold Welles; and Mary, wife of Judge Newcomb, of Greenfield,
who died Feb. 7, 1826. Their son Joseph Warren Newcomb, coun-
sellor at Springfield, has two children, the last living descendants. The
three younger children of Gen. Warren were for a period under the
care of Miss ^Nlercy Scollay. of Boston, a lady to whom he was betrothed
for a second wife. His wife died April 29, 1773, aged twenty-six years.
This impressive tribute to the virtues of his lamented partner appeared
in the Boston Gazette of that year :
" If fading lilies, when they droop and die,
Robbed of each charm that pleased the gazing eye,
AVith sad regi'et the grieving mind inspire,
What, then, when virtue's brightest lamps expire?
Ethereal spirits see the systems right,
But mortal minds demand a clearer sight.
In spite of reason's philosophic art,
A tear must fall to indicate the heart.
Could reason's force disarm the tyrant foe.
Or calm the mind that feels the fatal blow.
No clouded thought had discomposed the mind
Of him whom Heaven ordained her dearest friend.
Good sense and modesty with virtue crowned
A sober mind, when furtune smiled or frowned ;
So keen a feeling for a friend distressed,
She could not bear to see a worm oppressed.
These virtues fallen enhance the scene of woe.
Swell the big drops that scarce confinement know,
And force them down in copious showera to flow.
But know, thou tyrant Death, thy force is spent, —
Thine arm is weakened, and thy bow unbent.
Secured from insults of your guilty train
Of marshalled slaves, inflict disease and pain,
She rides triumphant on the aerial courec.
To land at pleasure's inexhausted source ;
Celestial Genii line the heavenly way.
And guard her passage to the realms of day. ' '
Gen. Warren, in the year 1766, addressed the following letter to
the Rev. Edmund Dana, a graduate of Harvard College in 1759, who
5
50 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
became the Rector of Wroxeter, Salop, in England, where he died
in 1823, and was a brother of Judge Francis Dana. This letter
passed into the care of his grandson, Thomas Oatlej, Esq., of Bishton
Hall, Salop, and has recently been brought to this country bj Edmund
Trowbridge Hastings, Esq., a relative of the Dana family. It is a
precious relic, as presenting a view of the state of feeling in New
England in relation to the odious Stamp Act.
''Boston, Nero England, March 19, 1766.
" Dear Sir : — I have not had the pleasure of a line from you since
you left this country. I wrote to you soon after I knew of your arrival
in England, and I have not at any time been negligent in inquiring
concerning you, whenever an opportunity presented. I have, with
great satisfaction, heard of that agreeable life which you lead amidst
all the gayeties and diversions of that jovial city, London; but I
received a peculiar pleasure from the intelligence which I have latelj''
liad of your happy marriage with a lady of noble birth, and every
accomplishment, both natural and acquired. Accept the sincerest
wishes of your long absent (but I hope not forgotten) friend, that you
may long enjoy, with your charming consort, that unequalled happi-
ness Avhich must arise from an union of persons so amiable.
" Perhaps it may not be disagreeable at this time to hear something
■of the present state of your native country. Never has there been a
time, since the first settlement of America, in which the people had so
much reason to be alarmed, as the present. The whole continent is
inflamed to the highest degree. I believe this country may be
■esteemed as truly loyal in their principles as any in the universe ; but
the strange project of levying a stamp duty, and of depriving the peo-
ple of the privilege of trials by juries, has roused their jealousy and
resentment. They can conceive of no liberty where they have lost
the power of taxing themselves, and where all controversies between
the crown and the people are to be determined by the opinion of one
•dependent ; and they think that slavery is not only the greatest mis-
fortune, but that it is also the greatest crime (if there is a possibility
■of escaping it). You are sensible that the inhabitants of this country
liave ever been zealous lovers of their civil and religious liberties. For
the enjoyment of these, they fought battles, left a pleasant and pop-
ulous country, and exposed themselves to all the dangers and hardships
in this new world; and their laudable attachment to freedom has hith-
JOSEPH WARREN, M. D. 51
erto been ti'ansmitted to tlieir posterity. Moreover, in all new coun-
tries (and especially in this, which was settled by private adventurers),
there is a more equal division of property amongst the people ; in con-
setjuence of which, their influence and authority must be nearly equal,
and every man will think himself deeply interested in the support of
pu])lic liberty. Freedom and equality is the state of nature ; but
slavery is the most unnatural and violent state that can be conceived
of, and its approach must be gradual and imperceptible. In many old
countries, where, in a long course of years, some particular families
have been able to acquire a very large share of property, from which
must arise a kind of aristocracy, — that is, the power and authority
of some persons or families is exercised in proportion to the decrease
of the independence and property of the people in general ; — had
America been prepared in this manner for the Stamp Act, it might
perhaps have met with a more favorable reception ; but it is absurd to
attempt to impose so cruel a yoke on a people who arc so near to the
state of original equality, and who look upon their liberties not merely
as arbitrary grants, but as their unalienable, eternal rights, purchased
by the blood and treasure of their ancestors, — which liberties, though
granted and received as acts of favor, could not, without manifest
injustice, have been refused, and cannot now. or at any time hereafter,
be revoked. Certainly, if the connection was rightly understood,
Great Britain would be convinced that, without laying arbitrary taxes
upon her colonies, she may and does reap such advantages as ought to
satisfy her. Indeed, it amazes the more judicious people on this side
the water, that the late minister Avas so unacquainted with the state of
America, and the manners and circumstances of the people ; or, if he
was acquainted, it still surprises them to find a man, in his high station,
so ignorant of natm-e, and of the operations of the human mind, as
madly to provoke the resentment of millions of men who would esteem
death, with all its tortures, preferable to slavery. Most certainly'-, in
whatever light the Stamp Act is viewed, an uncommon Avant of policy is
discoverable. If the real and only motive of the minister was to raise
money from the colonies, that method should undoubtedly have been
adopted which was least grievous to the pco|)lc. Instead of this, the
most unpopular that could be imagined is chosen. If there was any
jealousy of the colonics, and the minister designed by this act more effect-
ually to secure their dependence on Great Britain, the jealousy was first
groundless. But if it had been founded on good reasons, could any-
thing have been worse calculated to answer this purpose ? Could not
52 THE HUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
the minister have found out, either from history or from his own
observation, that the strength of any country depended on its being
united -within itself? Has he not, by this act, brought about what the
most zealous colonist never could have expected 7 The colonies, until
now, Avere ever at variance, and foohshly jealous of each other. They
arc now, by the refined policy of I\Ir. George Grenville, united for
their common defence against what they believe to be oppression ; nor
Avill they soon forget the weight which this close union gives them.
The impossibility of accounting in any other way for the imposition of
the stamp duty has induced some to imagine that the minister designed
by this act to force the colonies into a rebellion, and from thence to
take occasion to treat them with severity, and, by mihtary power,
reduce them to servitude. But this supposes such a monstrous degree
of wickedness, that charity forbids us to conclude him guilty of so black
a villany. But, admitting this to have been his aim (as it is known
that tja-annical ministers have at som.e time embraced even this hellish
measure to accomplish their cursed designs), should he not have con-
sidered that every power in Europe looks with envy on the colonies
which Great Britain enjoys in America ? Could he suppose that the
powerful and politic France w^ould be restrained by treaties, Avhen so
fair an opportunity offered for the recovery of their ancient possessions ?
At least, was he so ignorant of nature as not to know that when the
rage of the people is raised by oppression to such a height as to break
out in rebellion, any new alliance would be preferred to the miseries
which a concjuercd country must necessarily expect to suffer? And
would no power in Europe take advantage of such an occasion ? And,
above all, did he not know that his royal, benevolent master, when he
discovered his views, would detest and punish him ? But whatever
was proposed by the Stamp Act, of this I am certain, that the regard
which the colonies still bear to His Majesty arises more from an
exalted idea of His Majesty's integrity and goodness of heart than
from any prudent conduct of his late minister.
"I have Avritten, sir, much more than I intended when I first sat
down, but I hope you will pardon my prolixity upon so important a
subject.
" I am, sir, your most sincere friend and humble servant,
'•'Joseph Warren.
" To Mr. Edmund Dana.
" P. S. I hope for the fiivor of a line fi'om you. the first opportu-
nity."
JOSEPH WARREX, M. D. 53
Gen. Warren published three highly spirited articles, in the Boston
Gazette, originated bj the exercise of the arbitrary powers of Gov.
Bernard, in negativing councillore elected by the representatives; and
further, for severe censures on leading members of the house, unjustly
expressed in letters addressed to Lord Shelburne, the king's minister
of state, -who, in reply, unequivocally sanctioned his measures, and also
expressed displeasure that the house should object to the lieutenant-
governor, who was not a member of the council, taking a seat in that
body. In the first of these articles, Warren's quotation from Roches-
ter excited the ire of Bernard, who sent a message to the house, and
another to the council, declaring the article libellous, and calling it to
their serious consideration. The council pronounced it an insolent and
licentious attack, and that the author deserved punishment. The house
expressed a different opinion, and that the liberty of the press is a
great bulwark of the liberty of the people. There were fifty-six in
the affirmative, to eighteen in the negative. It was introduced to the
gratid jury, who would not find a bill of indictment. As these are all
of the political newspaper productions of Warren that we have discov-
ered, and as they are strongly characteristic of his energy of charac-
ter, they are here presented entire. Bradford, in his History of Mas-
sachusetts, not appearing to be aware that Warren was the author,
remarks of the first communication, that it was "a very scurrilous
piece." Pemberton, Dorr, and Rees, in the Cyclopedia, ascribe them
to liim. Hutchinson alludes to it as " a most abusive piece against the
governor."
From Boston Gazette, Feb. 29, 1768.
"Messrs. Edes & Gill,
'• Please insert the following :
'■ May it please your . We have for a long time known your
enmity to this province. We have had full proof of your cruelty to a
loyal people. No age has perhaps furnished a more glaring instance
of obstinate perseverance in the path of mahce than is now exhibited
in your . Could you have reaped any advantage from injuring
this people, there would have been some excuse for the manifold abuses
with which you have loaded them. But when a diabohcal thirst for
mischief is the alone motive of your conduct, you must not wonder if
you are treated with open dislike ; for it is impossible, how much
soever we endeavor it, to feel any esteem for a man like you. Bad
as the world may be, there is yet in every breast something wliich
5*
54 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATOKS.
points out the good man as an object -worthy of respect, and marks
the guileful, treacherous man-hater, for disgust and infamy.
'• Nothing has ever been more intolerable than your insolence on a
late occasion, -vvhen you had, by your Jesuitical insinuations, induced
a worthy minister of state to form a most unfavorable opinion of the
province in general, and some of the most respectable inhabitants in
particular. You had the effrontery to produce a letter from his lord-
ship, as a proof of your success in calumniating us. Surely you
must suppose we have lost all feeling, or you would not dare thus
tauntingly to display the trophies of your slanders, and upbraidingly
to make us sensible of the inexpressible misfortunes which you have
brought upon us. But I refrain, lest a full representation of the hard-
ships suffered by this too long insulted people should lead them to an
unwarrantable revenge. We never can treat good and patriotic rulers
with too great reverence. But it is certain that men totally aban-
doned to wickedness can never merit our regard, be their stations ever
so high.
•If such men are by God appointed,
The devil may be the Lord's anointed.'
"A True Patriot."
From Boston Gazette, March 7, 17G8.
"Messrs. Edes & Gill,
" Please to insert the following :
" My first performance has, by a strange kind of compliment, been
by some applied to his excellency Gov. Bernard. It is not for me to
account for the construction put upon it. Every man has a right to
make his own remarks, and if he satisfies himself, he will not displease
me. I will, however, inform the public that I have the most sacred
regard to the characters of all good men, and would sooner cut my
hand from my body than strike at the reputation of an honest member
of the community. But there are circumstances, in which not justice
alone, but humanity itself, obliges us to hold up the villain to view,
and expose his guilt, to prevent his destroying the innocent. Whoever
he is whose conscience tells him he is not the monster I have por-
traited, may rest assured I did not aim at him ; but the person who
knows the black picture exhibited to be his own, is welcome to take it
to himself. The imputation of disaffection to the king and the govern-
ment, brought against me by Ilis Majesty's Council, I shall answer
JOSEPH AVAEREX, M. D. 55
onlj by a quotation from the paper "which they have been pleased to
censure, Avhere I say, ' We can never ti'eat good and patriotic rulers
with too great reverence.' In which sentence I hope the honoralile
board will not say I have omitted to declare my sentiments of the duty
which evei-y good subject owes to his present majesty, and all worthy
subordinate magistrates ; and I flatter myself that the sentiments of
the board coincide with mine. If they do not, I must dissent from
them. Their charge of profaneness, I humbly apprehend, was occa-
sioned by their forcing a sense upon the two last lines totally different
from what I intended they should convey. My design was to compare
wicked men, and especially wicked magistrates, to those enemies to
mankind, the devils ; and to intimate that the devils themselves mifht
boast of divine authority to seduce and ruin mankind, with as much
reason and justice as wicked rulers can pretend to derive from God. or
from his word, a right to oppress, harass, and enslave their fellow-
creatures. The beneficent Lord of the universe delights in viewing
the happiness of all men. And so for as civil government is of divine
institution, it was calculated for the greatest good of the whole com-
munity ; and whenever it ceases to be of general advantage, it ceases
to be of divine appointment, and the magistrates in such a community
have no claim to that honor which the Divine Le(2;islator has assi^rned
to magistrates of his election. I hope the honorable board will not
condemn a man for expressing his contempt for the odious doctrines
of divine hereditary right in princes, and of passive obedience, which
he thinks dishonorary to Almighty God, the common and impartial
Father of the species, and ruinous both to kings and subjects : and
which, if adhered to, would dethrone his present majesty, and destroy
the British nation. The honorable board is humbly requested to
examine whether the above is not the most natural and obvious sense
of the quoted lines. Certainly, when I read them, I thought it the
only sense ; and I shall think myself very unhappy in my readers,
should they generally put that construction upon them Avhich the
honorable board have been pleased to adopt.
•'I shall, at all times, write my sentiments with freedom, and with
decency too, — the rules of which I am not altogether unacquainted
with. While the press is open, I shall publish whatever I think con-
ducive to general emolument ; when it is suppressed, I shall look upon
my country as lost, and, with a steady fortitude, expect to feel the
general shock. A TnuE Patriot."
56 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
From Boston Gazette, March 14, 1768.
"Messrs. Edes & Gill,
" Please insert the folio-wing :
" With pleasure I hear the general voice of this peojile in favor of
freedom ; and it gives me solid satisfaction to find all orders of unplaced,
independent men, firmly determined, as far as in them lies, to support
their own rights and the liherty of the press. The honorable House
of Representatives have showed themselves resolute in the cause of
justice. The Grand Jurors have convinced us that no influence is
able to overcome their attachment to their country, and our free consti-
tution. They deserve honor. But this is one of those cases in which,
by doing as they have done, they really merit praise ; yet the path
was so plain, that to have done otherwise Avould have rendered them
indeed !
'•While this people know their true interest, they -will be able to
distinguish their friends from their enemies ; and, mth uniform cour-
age, will defend from tyrannic violence all those who generously offer
themselves volunteers in the cause of truth and humanity. But if
ever a mistaken complaisance leads them to sacrifice their privileges, or
the well-meaning assertors of them, they will deserve bondage, and
soon will find themselves in chains.
' ' Every society of men have a clear right to refute any unjust asper-
sions upon their characters, especially when they feel the ill effects of
such aspersions ; and, though they may not pursue the slanderer from
motives of revenge, yet are obliged to detect him, that so he may be
prevented from injuring tliem again. This pro^dnce has been most
bai'barously traduced, and now groans under the weight of those mis-
fortunes which have been thereby brought upon it. We have detected
some of the authors ; we will zealously endeavor to deprive them of
the power of injuring us hereafter. We will strip the serpents of their
stings, and consign to disgrace all those guileful betrayers of their
country. Tliere is but one way for men to avoid being set up as
objects of general hate, which is — NOT TO deserve it.
"A True Patriot."
In the Diary of John Adams, it is stated that he was frequefitly
solicited to attend the tOAvn-meetings, in 1768, after the British ti'oops
had arrived in Boston, and harangue there, which was constantly
refused ; and Dr. Warren the most frequently urged him to this, and
JOSEPH WARREX, M. D. 57
his reply to him always was, "That way madness lies." The S3-mp-
toms of our great friend Otis, at that time, suggested to Warren a-
sufficient comment on those words, at which he dways smiled, and
said, '"It was true."
Gen. Warren once said of John Adams, that he thought he was
rather a cautious man, but he could not say he was ever a trimmer.
Wlicn he spoke at all, he always spoke his sentiments.
Hutchinson remarks, in his history, under date of 1772, that " Mr. \
Adams had been pressed to pronounce the oration upon the Boston
Massacre, but declined it; and Dr. Warren, whose popularity was
increasing, undertook it. Though he gained no great applause for his
oratorical abilities, yet the fervor, which is the most essential part of
such compositions, could not fail of its effect upon the minds of the
great concourse of people present." It Avas delivered in the Old
South Church. \Vg will select a passage from this performance, with
one remark of wonder and admiration, — that he could have thecouran-e
to express such opinions in the presence of a British governor, amid
the glare of royal bayonets. Here is reasoning of greater value than
splendid declamation :
" I would ask whether the members of the British House of Com-
mons are the democracy of this province ? If they are, they are
either the people of this province, or are elected by the people of tliis
province to represent them, and have therefore a constitutional right
to originate a bill for taxing them. It is most certain they are neither,
and therefore nothing done by them can be said to be done by the
democratic branch of our constitution. I would next ask, whether the
lords, who compose the aristocratic branch of the legislature, are peers
of America? I never heard it was, even in these extraordinarv times,
so much as pretended ; and if they are not, certainly no act of theirs
can be said to be the act of the aristocratic branch of our constitution.
The power of the monarchic branch, we with pleasure acknowledge,
resides in the king, who may act either in person or by his represent-
ative ; and I freely confess that I can sec no reason why a proclaraa-,
tion for raising money in America, issued by the king's sole authority,
would not be equally consistent with our own constitution, and there-
fore equally binding upon us, with the late acts of the British Parlia-
ment for taxing us, — for it is plain, that, if there is any validity in
those acts, it must arise altogether from the monarchical branch of the
legislature. And I further think that it would be at least as equita-
58 THE nUNDRED BOSTON OKATORS.
ble ; for I do not conceive it to be of the least importance to us by
•whom our property is taken away, so long as it is taken without our
consent. And I am very much at a loss to know by what figure of
rhetoric the inhabitants of this province can be called free subjects,
■when they are obliged to obey implicitly such laws as arc made for
them by men three thousand miles off, whom they know not, and whom
they never have empowered to act for them ; or how they can be said
to have property, when a body of men, over whom they have not the
least control, and who are not in any way accountable to them, shall
oblige them to deliver up any part or the whole of their substance, with-
out even asking their consent : and yet, whoever pretends that the late
acts of the British Parliament for taxino; America ought to be deemed
binding upon us, must admit at once that we are absolute slaves,
and have no property of our owm, — or else that we may be freemen,
and at the same time under a necessity of obeying the arbitrary
commands of those over Avhom we have no control or influence ; and
that we may have property of our own which is entirely at the disposal
of another. Such gross absurdities, I believe, will not be relished in
this enlightened age ; and it can be no matter of wonder that the peo-
ple quickly perceived and seriously complained of the inroads which
these acts must unavoidably make upon their liberty, and of the hazard
to which their whole property is by them exposed, — for, if they may
be taxed without their consent, even in the smallest trifle, they may
also, without their consent, be deprived of anything they possess,
although never so valuable — never so dear. Certainly it never
entered the hearts of our ancestors, that, after so many dangers in
this then desolate wilderness, their hard-earned property should be at
the disposal of the British Parliament ; and as it was soon found that
this taxation could not be supported by reason and argument, it seemed
necessary that one act of oppression should be enforced by another ;
and, therefore, contrary to our just rights as possessing — or, at least,
having a just title to possess — all the liberties and immunities of
British su])jects, a standing army was established among us in a time
of peace, and evidently for the purpose of effecting that which it was
one principal design of the founders of the constitution to prevent,
when they declared a standing army, in a time of peace, to be against
law, — namely, for the enforcement of obedience to acts which, upon
fair examination, appeared to be unjust and unconstitutional."
On the evening after the delivery of this effective oration, a lantern
JOSEPH WARREX, M. D. 59
of transparent paintings was exhibited on the balcony at Mrs. Clap-
ham's, in King-street, Avell dra-wn by an ingenious young artist, repre-
senting in front the melancholy scene which occurred near that spot,
over -which was inscribed, " The Fatal Effects of a Standing Army in a
Free City." At the east end was a representation of a monument,
inscribed to the memory of those who were killed, with their names,
etc. : at the west end was the figure of America, sitting in a mourning
posture, and looking down on the spectators, with this label, "Behold
my sons!" At a quarter after nine, the painting was taken in, and
the bells tolled from that time until ten o'clock. |
On the 21st of November, 1774, Gen. Warren addressed a higldy
patriotic letter to Josiah Quincy, from which we select this remarkable
passage :
" It is the united voice of America to preserve their freedom, or
lose their lives in defence of it. Their resolutions arc not the effects
of inconsiderate rashness, but the sound result of sober inquiry and
deliberation. I am convinced that the true spirit of liberty was never
so universally diffused through all ranks and orders of people, iij any
country on the face of the earth, as it now is through all North
A;.. -rica."
When Warren pronounced his second oration on the Massacre,
March 5, 1775, at the Old South Church, the Boston papers of the
day merely stated that it was an elegant and spirited performance.
The pulpit stairs and the pulpit itself were occupied by officers and
soldiers of the garrison, who were doubtless stationed there to overawe
the orator, and perhaps prevent him by force from proceeding. War-
ren, to avoid interruption and confusion, entered from the rear by the
pulpit window ; and, unmoved by the hostile military array that sur-
rounded him and i.rcssed upon his person, delivered the bold and
thrilling oration. Avhich was published, in which he said: "If pacific
measures are ineffectual, and it appears that the only way to safety is
through fields of blood, I know you Avill not turn your f ices from your
foes, but will, undauntedly, press forward, until tyranny is trodden
under foot, and you have fixed your adored goddess Liberty fist by
Brunswick's side, on the American throne."" The editor of this work
has seen the original manuscript, which is in the care of Dr. John C.
Warren, his nephew, and is Avrittcn on white English laid folio post, in
a handsome round hand, with but few interlineations, and is in a black
"«iper cover. Wu know no rehc. of ancient or modern date, tendin-^ to
60 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
inspire more thrilling sensations of veneration, tlian this fervent dcfenco
of freedom. The Rev. Dr. Homer, late of Newton, who was present
at its delivery, states there was at least one silent, but not wholly
insignificant, demonstration of feeling from the military. While the
oration Avas in progress, a captain of the Royal Welsh Fusileers, who
was seated on the pulpit stairs, held up one of his hands in view of
Warren, with several pistol bullets on the open palm, and, with a vehe-
ment and fierce exclamation, endeavored to alarm the audience Avith
the cry of fire. Warren observed the action, and, without discontin-
uing his discourse, dropped a white handkerchief upon the olEcer's
hand ; and William Cooper, the town-clerk, with a voice of thunder,
appeased the tumult, Avhich, being silenced, the exercises were con-
cluded Avithout much further disturbance.
We Avill noAV rcA'^ert to the abusive statement of the rovalists, regard-
ing this celebration, published in "Rivington's New York Gazetteer,
March 16, 1775 : "On Monday, the 5th instant, the Old South meet-
ing-house being crowded Avith mobility and fame, the selectmen, Avith
Adams, Church and Hancock, Cooper and others, assembled in the
pulpit, Avhich Avas covered Avith black ; and we all sat gaping at one
another, above an hour, expecting ! At last, a single horse chair
stopped at the apothecary's, opposite the meeting, from Avhich descended
the orator (Warren) of the day ; and, entering the shop, Avas foUoAved
by a ser\^ant Avith a bundle, in Avhich Avere the Ciceronian toga, etc.
" Having robed himself, he proceeded across the street to the meeting,
and, being received into the pulpit, he was announced by one of his fra-
ternity to be the person appointed to declaim on the occasion. He then
put himself into a Demosthenian posture, Avitli a Avhite handkerchief in
his right hand, and his left in his breeches, — began and ended Avithout
action. He Avas applauded by the mob, but groaned at by people of
understanding. One of the pulpiteers (Adams) then got up and pro-
posed the nomination of another to speak next year on the bloody
massacre, — the first time that expression Avas made to the audience, —
Avhen some oflicers cried, 0 fie, fie ! The gallerians, apprehending
fire, bounded out of the AvindoAvs, and SAvarmed doAvn the gutters, like
rats, into the street. The 43d regiment, returning accidentally from
exercise, Avith drums beating, tlircAV the Avhole body into the greatest
consternation. There were neither pageantry, exhibitions, processions,
or bells toUing, as usual, but the night Avas remarked for being the
quietest these many months past."
JOSEPH WARREX, M. D. 61
We have seen an original letter of Gen. Warren, acldrcssccl to Dr.
Benjamin Franklin, London, accompanied -with a pamphlet, probably
his oration delivered on the 5th of March, 1775, which he very mod-
estly wishes was more deserving of his notice. We will quote the
whole letter.
^'Boston, April 3, 1775.
" Sir, — Although I have not the pleasure either of a personal or
epistolary acquaintance with you, I have taken the liberty of sending
you, by Mr. Dana, a pamphlet which I wish was more deserving of
your notice. The abiUty and firmness with which you have defended
the rights of mankind, and the liberties of this country in particular,
have rendered you dear to all America. ]May you soon see your
enemies deprived of the power of injuring you, and your friends in a
situation to discover the grateful sense they have of your exertions in
the cause of freedom.
" I am, sir, with the greatest esteem and respect,
"Your most obedient, humble servant,
" Doctor Franklix. Joseph Warrex."
On the day after the Battle of Lexington, when the British troops
reached West Cambridge, on their return from Concord, Warren was
at this place, in attendance on the Committee of Safety. When the
British regulars were near, he went out, in company with Gen. Heath,
to repel them ; and, on descending the elevated ground of jMcnotomy,
in West Cambridge, toward the plain, the firing was brisk, and at this
instant a musket-ball came so near the head of Warren as to strike the
pin from the hair of liis forelock, and took away one of the long, close,
horizontal curls, which, according to the fashion of the times, he wore
above the ears.
When Gov. Gage issued an extraordinary proclamation, on June
12. 1775, denouncing "the present unnatural rebellion," remarking,
" Li this exigency of complicated calamities, I avail myself of the last
effort within the bounds of rny duty to spare the effusion of blood, to
offer, — and I do hereby offer in His Majesty's name, — offer and promise
His iNIajesty's most gracious pardon to all persons who shall forthwith
lay down their arms, and return to the duties of peaceable subjects ;
excepting only from the benefit of such pardon Samuel Adams and
John Hancock, whose offences are of too flagitious a nature to admit
of any other consideration than that of condign punishment; "' — the
Q
C2 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Provincial Congress appointed a committee, on the next clay, of which
Joseph Warren, — a delegate from Boston, in 1774, elected its presi-
dent, May 31, 1775, — -svas the chairman, to report on the subject, \vho
prepared also a dignified proclamation, adopted by Congress on the day
before its president was killed at Bunker Hill, recounting a statement
of the oppressions inflicted on the people, and the treachery of Gov.
Gage ; extending " a full and free pardon to all persons Avho have fled to
the town of Boston for refuge, and to all other public offenders against
the rights and liberties of this country, of what kind or denomination
soever, — excepting only from the benefit of such pardon, Thomas
Gage, Samuel Graves ; those councillors who were appointed by
mandamus, and have not signified their resignation, namely, Jonathan
Sewall, Charles Paxton, Benjamin Hallowell ; and all the natives of
America, not belonging to the navy or army, who went out with the
regular troops on the lOtli of April last, and were countenancing, aid-
ing, and assisting them in the robberies and murders then committed,
whoso offences are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other con-
sideration than that of condign punishment : provided that they take
the benefit hereof by a surrender of themselves," and subscribe a
declaration of their readiness to support and abide by the decisions of
Congress and of the State Legislature, within thirty days from date. It
is probable that this was the last public act of Joseph Warren in the
Provincial Congress.
The following noble passage from a letter of Dr. Warren to Arthui
Lee, dated May, 1775, expresses a sentiment that should be inscribed
on the Bunker Hill Monument, or on the base of a statue of his per-
son, in old Faneuil Hall :
" God forbid that the nation should be so infatuated as to do any-
thing further to irritate the colonies ! If they should, the colonies
will sooner throw themselves into the arms of any other power on
earth, than ever consent to an accommodation with Great Britain.
That patience, which I frequently told you would be at last exhausted,
is no longer to be expected from us. Danger and war are become
pleasing ; and injured virtue is now armed to avenge herself"
'•I verily believe," said Warren to Reed, in a letter of May 15,
1775, '• that the night preceding the barbarous outrages committed by
the soldiery at Lexington, Concord, etc., there were not fifty people in
the whole colony that ever expected any blood would be shed in the
contest between us and Great Britain."
JOSEPH WARREX, M. D. 63
This was one of Warren's last letters previous to tlie Battle of Bun-
ker Hill. We have the evidence of Dr. John Jeffries, "who ■s>as a
surgeon in the British service, under Gen. Howe, at Boston, for stating
that five days previous to the Battle of Bunker Hill the noble Warren
had, with his accustomed fearlessness, ventured in a small canoe to
Boston, that he might personally gather information of the designs of
the British, and urged the surgeon to return and espouse the cause of
liberty.
Gen. Warren, on the IGth of June, had a conversation with
Elbridge Gerry, at Cambridge, with whom he slept all night, respect-
ing the determination of Congress to take possession of Bunker's
Hill. He said that for himself he had been opposed to it, but
that the majority had decided upon it. and he would hazard his life
to effect this. Mr. Gerry expressed, in strong terms, his disapproba-
tion of the measure, as the situation was such that it would be in vain
to attempt to hold it; adding, " But if it must be so, it is not worth
while for you to be present. It will be madness for you to expose
yourself, where your destruction will be almost inevitable." " I know
it," he answered, '• but I live within the sound of their cannon. How
could I hoar their roaring in so glorious a cause, and not be there ! "
Again Mr. Gerry remonstrated, and concluded with saying, "As
surely as you go there, you will be slain." Warren replied, enthu-
siastically, " Dulce et decorum, est pro patria mori." — It is pleasant
and honorable to die for one's country. — The next day his princi-
ples were sealed with his blood. Having spent the greater part of the
night in public business at Watertown, he arrived at Cambridge at
about five o'clock in the morning, and being unwell, threw himself on a
bed. About noon he was informed of the state of preparation for.
battle at Charlestown. He directly arose, saying he was well again,
and mounting a horse, rode to the place. He arrived at Breed's Hill
a short time before the action. Col. Prescott, the brave, as Washing-
ten was afterwards in the habit of calling him, was then in command.
He came up to Gen. Warren to extend it to him, and asked Avhat were
his orders. Gen. Warren told him he came not to command, but
to leai-n ; he had not received his commission. And having, as it is
said, borrowed a musket and cartouch-box from a sergeant, who was
retiring, he mingled in the thickest of the fight, animating and encour-
aging the men more by his example than it was possible to do in any
other Avay.
G4 THE HUNDRED BOSTO:^^■ ORATORS,
The revolutionarj play, previously alluded to, relates of Warren,
" His nervous arm, like a giant refreshed with Avine, hurled destruction
•where'er he came, breathing heroic ardor to adventurous deeds ; and
lono- time in even scale the battle hung." After Col. Prescott
ordered a retreat, says Everett, it was not without the greatest reluc-
tance that Warren quitted the redoubt ; and he was sloAvly retreating
from it, being still at a few rods distance only, when the British had full
possession. His person, of course, was in imminent danger. At this
critical moment, Maj. Small, wdiose life had been saved in a similar
emergency by the intervention of Gen. Putnam, attempted to requite
the service, by rendering one of a like character to Warren. Col.
Swett relates, that Maj. Small called to AYarren, for God's sake, to
stop and save his life. He turned, and seemed to recognize him, but
still continued on. Small ordered his men not to fire at him, and
threw up the muskets with his sword. But in vain, — the fatal ball
had sped ! Eighty yards from the redoubt, Warren received a musket-
ball through the head, which killed him instantly. Everett further
relates, that Gen. Howe, though slightly wounded in the foot, passed
the night upon the field of battle. The next morning, as he was rest-
ing, wrapped in his cloak, upon a mound of hay, word w"as brought to
him that the body of Warren was found among the dead. It had been
recognized by Gen. Winslow, then a youth. Howe refused, at first, to
credit the intelligence. It was impossible that the president of Con-
gress could have exposed his life in such an action. When assured
of the fact, he declared that his death was an offset for the loss of five
hundred men. Col. Swett relates that Dr. Jeffries Avas on the field,
dressing the British Avounded and the Avounded American prisoners,
with his usual humanity and skill. Gen. HoAve inquired of him if he
could identify Warren. He recollected that he had lost a finger-nail,
and Avore a false tooth ; and the general A\'as satisfied of its identity.
The Cambridge N. E. Chronicle, of April 25, 1776, remarking on
the identity of the remains of Gen. Warren, relates that, "though the
body, Avhich our savage enemies scarce privileged AA'ith earth enough to
hide it from the birds of prey, was disfigured Avhen taken up, yet Avas
sufficiently known by tAvo artificial teeth, Avhich were set for him a
short time before his glorious exit." EA'erett states Warren was
buried at the place where ho fell. Bev. Dr. Allen states of Warren :
Just as the retreat commenced, a ball had struck him on the head, and
'•' he died in the trenches "
JOSEPH WARRENj .AI. D. 65
The Hon. Nceclliam Maynard, of AVhitcsto\>-n, N. Y., a natiA'O of
Framingham, who states that he acted as Warren's aid in the battle,
testified, on June 20, 1843, — then aged 88 years, — that on the
night of the 16th of June, 1775, Col. Prescott was sent oif with a
detachment of men to break ground on Bunker Hill. It was found
that Breed's was better, and S' tliey laid the fort, and Avent back to
work there. We were ordered out early in the morning. I was in
Jonathan Brewer's regiment. "We came there, at last, and found them
at work. We found Col. Prescott there, and Col. BroAver. The balls
were then flying about us very thick. At about eleven o'clock, Gen.
Warren came on; and when Col. Brewer met him. he said, " General, if
you have come to take the command, I am glad to see you." " No,"
said Warren, " I have come only as a volunteer. I did not come to
take the command, but to act as a volunteer, in any station. Our
perils are commencing, and I have come to take my part." " Well,"
they said to him, " do you mean to stay with us. general? " "Yes,"
said Warren, "I mean to stay:" and then the other officers insisted
upon his taking the command. They said, We have no officer to lead,
— that we ought to have some particular one for the orders to come
from, — and they urged him to take the command : and he replied that
he did not think it would be proper. Then Col. Brewer said, "We
must have a head, and he ought to be a general. We are all colonels
here, and one colonel is as good as another." Then he found Prescott
was there, and Warren said, " If you will continue to act as a council, I
will give you my views as commander ; and if you approve them, they
can go as commands." And they said that amounted to the same
thing as if he was commander ; and so he went on, when anything was
done, giving the orders. Col. ]Maynard was not with Warren when he
fell, having gone into the redoubt, and he was there detained by Pres-
cott, who said to him, " Stop ; I may want to send you, in a minute ; "
and then the new contest of their breakinji; into the redoubt becran.
Mr. Maynard gave an account of an interview between Washington
and the officers, on Bunker Hill, subsequently, when Washington,
alluding to Warren, said, "You lost your commander-in-chief."
"Why," continued INIr. Maynard, "in that time, there was nobody
so lamented ; " and Col. Brewer went on to relate to Washington, how
he lost sight of Warren as he was going towards the redoubt, and sup-
posed that he was gone on ahead, and followed on with as much speed as
he could, but found nothing of him. Then he thought he must have
6*
66 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
been shot down by a dead shot, not many steps ^yhe^e they started
from. They had started together from the place they had occupied
during the battle, just on the other side of the gap, against the hay
breast\York, only about one rod from the gap. " Warren had a dark
eye, was a little under six feet in height, well formed, with a pleasant
face, and a remarkable countenance."
Col. John Trumbull, of New York, who visited Col. John Small, at
London, in 1786, received of him the relation herewith, which is too
interesting to be kept out of view : At the moment when the troops
succeeded in carrying the redoubt, and the Americans were in full
retreat, Gen. Howe, who had been hurt by a spent bullet which
bruised his ankle, was leaning upon my arm. He called suddenly to
me, " Do you see that elegant young man who has just fallen? Do
you know him ? " I looked to the spot to which he pointed. ' • Good
God ! " he exclaimed; "I believe it is my friend Warren. Leave me,
then, instantly — run — keep off the troops — save him, if possible."
I flew to the spot. " My dear friend," I said to him, " I hope you are
not badly hurt." He looked up, seemed to recollect, smiled, and
■died. A musket-ball had passed through the upper part of his head.
Dea. Samuel Lawrence, of Groton, the father of the Minister to the
Court of St. James, who was a minute-man in the Battle of Bunker
Hill, testified, in 1818, in relation to Gen. AYarren, that, just before
the battle commenced, Gen. Warren came to the redoubt. He had on
a blue coat, white waistcoat, and I think a cocked hat, — but of this I
am not certain. Col. Prescott advanced to him, said he was glad to
see him, and hoped he would take the command. Gen. Warren
replied, " No, — he came to see the action, but not to take command;
•that he was only a volunteer on that (Jay." Afterwards I saw him
when the ball struck him, and from that time until he expired. No
British officer was Avithin forty or fifty rods of him, from the time the
ball struck him until I saw he was dead. This statement utterly
refutes that of Col. Small, who says he spoke to Warren, as he looked
at him and expired. Dr. John Warren, his brother, has related that,
when the dead body of the general was discovered after the battle, his
right hand was covered with blood, though there was no wound upon
it, occurring as if he had raised his hand to the back of his head, on
the right side, when the ball fractured his skull. What an affecting
scene ! A small piece of granite, on which is inscribed in gilt letters,
"Here fell Warren, June 17, 1775," laid in the ground on Bunker
i,
JOSEPH WARREN, M. D. 67
Hill, designates the sjwt wlierc it is supposed he was killed. It is on
Concord-street, nearly opposite the high-school.
The identical bullet by which Warren was said to be killed was
exhibited to the audience, by Alexander H. Everett, on the dehvcry
of an oration at Charlestown, June 17, 183G, in -ftdiich he exclaimed,
'• This is the one, fellow-citizens, which I now hold in my hand ! The
cartridge-paper, which still partly covers it, is stained, as you see, with
the hero's blood." This ball, enclosed in linen cartridge-paper, is depos-
ited in the library of the New England Genealogical and Historical
Society. If this be not the ball that entered his skull, it is highly
probable that it was one of the balls that entered his body. "We will
present the affidavit which is declared by Rev. William INIontague,
pastor of Christ Church, Boston, from 1786 to '91: '-'I, William
Montague, of Dedham, County of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts,
clergyman, do certify to whom it may concern, that, in the year 1789
or 1790, I was in London, and became acquainted Avith Mr. Savage,
formerly an officer of the customs for the port of Boston, and who left
there when the royalists and royal troops evacuated that town in 1770.
When in London, Mr. Savage gave me a leaden ball, which is now
in my possession, with the following account of it, namely : ' On the
morning of the 18th of June, 1775, after the battle of Bunker or
Breed's Hill, I, with a number of other royalists and British officers,
among whom was Gen. Burgoyne, went over from Boston to Charles-
town, to view the battle-field. Among the fallen, we found the body
of Dr. Joseph Warren, with whom I had been personally acquainted.
AVhen he fell, he fell across a rail. This ball I took from his body ;
and, as I never shall visit Boston again. I will give it to you to take
to America, where it will be valuable as a relic of your llevolution.'
His sword and belt, with some other articles, were taken by some of
the officers present, and I believe brought to England.
"(Signed) William Montague."
" Norfolk ss.
" Dedham, March 5, 1833. The above-named William Montague
appeared before me, and made oath to the above statement,
" (Signed) Sherman Leland,
Justice of the Peace.^'
The Rev. Mr. Montague received the bullet of Arthur Savao-e, at
the residence of Harrison Gray, formerly Treasurer of Massachusetts
68 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Province ; and Mr. Gray, in a letter dated London, 1792, addressed
to Rev. ]Mr. Montague, alluding to the bullet supposed to have killed
Gen. Warren, Avrote: "I hope you will take good care to preserve
that relic which was given you at my house, for in future time it will
be a matter of interest to you rebels." This letter was found, by his
son, Mr. William Henry Montague, among the papers of Rev. Mr.
Montague, who Avas a frequent correspondent with Mr. Gray.
Letter from Hon. Judge JVeivcomb.
''■Greenfield, Mass., April 14, 1843.
"William II. Montague, Esq., Boston.
'• My Dear Sir, — I have just seen, in the ' Boston Daily American '
of the 8th inst., a note under your name, addressed to Edward War-
ren, Esq., junior editor of that paper, stating that you have deposited
with him, till called for, the hall that put an end to the life of Gen.
Joseph Warren. INIy object, in this communication, is to inquire
whether you are willing or feel at liberty to part with that fatal piece
of lead. ]My late wife, Mary, was the youngest and only surviving
child of the late Gen. J. Warren. She died on Feb. 7, 1826, lefiving
an only child, — a son, — who bears the name of his grandfather, Joseph
Warren. He is an attorney at law, and now lives at Springfield, in
this State. He, with the exception of his two children, is the only
descendant, in the direct line, of him who fell on Bunker Hill, by force
of that ball. If consistent with your views of propriety, it would be
grateful to his feelings, as well as my OAvn, if some arrangement could
be made by which the ball might be confided to his keeping, as a fam-
ily relic. The interest I feel in the subject is my apology for
intruding myself upon a stranger.
"I am, with much respect, your obed't serv't,
" Richard E. Newcomb.
"N. B. For any inquiries you may wish to make, I would refer
you to Dr. John C. Warren and Dr. John B. Brown, Boston.
"R. E. N."
A British soldier, on his return to London, exhibited a Psalm-book
to Rev. Dr. Samuel Wilton, of that city, stating that he took the vol-
ume from the pocket of Gen. Warren, after the battle of Bunker Hill.
The clero-yman, knowino; that it would be a treasure to the Warren
family, purchased the book of the soklier, and transmitted it to the
JOSEPU WARREX, M. D. G9
Rev. Dr. William Gordon, of Roxbury, the historian, with a request
that it might be given to the nearest relative of the general. It was,
therefore, given to his youngest brother, Dr. John Warren, of Boston,
INIareh 15, 1778. The title of the volume, which the editor has exam-
ined, is as follows: "The Boke of Psalmes, wherein are contained
praires, meditations and thanksgivings to God, for his benefits toward
his Church, translated faithfully according to the Hebrew. With brief
and apt annotations in the margin. Printed at Geneva, by Rowland
Hall. 1559." It is less than the 32mo. size. On the inside cover
of this book is inscribed, — " Taken at ye Battle of Bunker Hill, June
17, 1775, out of Dr. Warren's pocket." On the inside cover, at the
end of the book, is written, "Thomas Knight," — probably the regu-
lar who secured the book. Warren's signature was on a blank leaf,
but it has been abstracted.
On the session of Conjiress after the decease of Warren, it was
resolved that a monument should be erected to his memory in Boston,
and that the eldest son should be educated at the national expense ;
and, in July, 1786, Congress resolved further, — that it should be
recommended to the executive of Massachusetts Bay, to make pro-
vision for the maintenance and education of his three younger chil-
dren ; and that Congress would defray the expense, to the amount of
the half-pay of a major-general, to commence at the time of his death,
and continue till the youngest of the children should be of age. Yet,
to this day, no monument or statue has been erected to his memory.
If the statue of Brutus was placed among those of the gods, who were
the preservers of Roman freedom, should not that of Warren fill a lofty
niche in old Faneuil Hall, — - that temple for the perpetuation of our
birth-right as a nation of freemen? Mrs. Perez Morton, Avho irivcs a
description of this world-renowned battle, in a poem, — Beacon Hill, —
says of Warren :
" The prophetic poet's piercing eyes
Will guard the sod where ■wouuded valor lies,
Till a victorious country's grateful claim
Shall bear his relics to eternal fame; —
And genius, rising o'er the rescued bier.
Wake every woi'th, and hallow evci-y tear ;
"With all the light that eloquence can give.
Shine round his deeds, and bid their glory live."
70 THE IIUXDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
THE GODLIKE WARREN.
From an Elegy, published July 3, 1775.
Sure, godlike Warren, on thy natal hour
Some star propitious shed its brightest power ;
By nature's hand with taste and genius formed.
Thy generous breast with every virtue warmed ;
Thy mind endued with sense, thy form with grace,
And all thy virtues pencilled in thy foce.
Grave wisdom marked thee as his favorite child.
And on thy youth indulgent science smiled ;
Well pleased, she led thee to her sacred bower.
And to thy hands consigned her healing power.
Illustrious shade ! forgive our mingled woes.
Which not for thee, but for our country, flows.
We mourn her less — we mourn our hero gone ;
AVe mourn thy patriot soul, thy godlike virtue flown.
I
warren's GHOST.
From the Public Ledger, JVbvember, 1775.
Let little tyrants, conscience gored,
Tlieir sable vigils keep ;
Bute on his downy pillow snored, —
Thus greater tyrants sleep !
An hour ere day began to break,
•There Warren's spectre stood ;
The curtains shook, — it cried, " Awake ! '*
Awake ! — thou log of wood !
Thy veins hath apathy congealed,
Unthawed by pity's tear ;
One spark a flinty heart may yield,
Struck by the steel of fear !
For know, that head so proud of crest.
Sunk on the cygnet's plume.
May for an eminence be dressed,
To meet a Straffoi-d's doom !
Or, crouched in abject, careworn plight.
Beneath its sorrows low.
Its bread by day, its rest by night,
To Bourbon's bounty OAve.
Speak, minion, which of Stuart's race
Could match thy cruel work ?
Go, read where Strafford was in place, —
A Jeffries, and a Kirk. ■
*
JOSEPH WARREX, M. 1).
Then, foiling history's modern page.
Skilled ill her ancient lore,
Tell if Bejanus in his age —
If Borgia could do more ?
Tyrant ! dismiss your rebel clans, —
The impious task forbear.
Nor let that blood imbrue thine hands
Which brought a sceptre tliere.
That liberty you would invade
Gave George his only right ;
Thus in their sous our sires are paid,
"Whilst you for slavery fight.
Shall not for tliee, sunk deep in hell.
Grim Satan forge his tongs,
And fiends, who guard his inmost cell,
Twine scorpions round their throngs ?
But, hark ! I hear the ill-omened cock, —
The Gallic San shall rise ;
Lo ! commerce founders on a rock.
The British Lion dies I
Bute felt the dream, — fetched many a shriek,
And, though the ghost is gone.
Starts from his bed, — still hears it speak, —
A cold, damp sweat comes on.
With that, like Gloster in his tent,
He throws him on the ground,
And by these words, seems to repent,
" Boston ! bind up thy wound !
Just Heaven, give back the blood that 's spilt
Bostonians' lives restore ! "
He wakes, — and to atone his guilt.
Bids Gage go slaughter more.
ACROSTIC ON -VVARREX.
Cambridge Almanac for 1776.
Just as .Joseph took his flight
Onward to the realms of light,
Satan hurled his hellish darts, —
Evil spirits play their parts.
Percy, Burgoyne, Howe, and Gage,
Hove about infernal rage.
Warren stept beyond their path,
Awed by none, nor feared their wrath
Ran his race to joy and rest, —
Eose 'mongst the royal blest ;
Entered in the rolls of fiime, —
North and devil miss their aim.
72 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
JOHN HANCOCK.
MARCH 5, 1T74. ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE,
Was born at Braintree, Jan. 23, 1737, the son of Rev. John Han-
cock, of that town, whose wife was Mary Hawke, of Hingham. He was
a grandson of Rev. John Hancock, of Lexington. His father deceased
when he was but seven years of age, on which he was removed to the
family of his grandfather, at Lexington, who attended to his early
education. He entered the Boston Latin School in 1745, and grad-
uated at Harvard College in 1754. His uncle, Thomas Hancock, a
Boston bookseller, who became one of the wealthiest merchants in
the province, and died in August 1764, bequeathed him more than
fifty thousand pounds sterling, besides the reversion of twenty thou-
sand pounds at the decease of his widow, who was a daughter of
Daniel Henchman, in whose bookstore he had been a clerk. When
young, John visited London, in 1760, on mercantile business, in com-
pany Avith Gov. Pownal, who was recalled. He Avitnessed the funeral
obsequies of George the Second, and subsequently the coronation of
George the Third, not anticipating that he beheld the monarch who
was destined to offer a reward for his head. Young Hancock learned
the art of swimming, in the river Thames. Gov. Hutchinson, who
very naturally indulged detracting views of John Hancock, who became
a powerful opponent of his administration, remarks, in the History of
Massachusetts Bay, that his ruling passion was a fondness for popular
applause ; and he changed the course of his patron's business, in whose
counting-room he had been a clerk, and built and employed in trade
a great number of ships, — and in this way, and by building at the same
time several houses, he found work for a great number of tradesmen,
made himself popular, was chosen selectman, representative in 1769,
moderator of town-meetings, etc. Li relation to the demeanor of
Hancock, it is stated by John Adams, that Dr. Eliot Rawson thinks
Hancock vain, — told a story : I was at school Avith him, and then
upon a level with him. My father was richer than his. But I was
not long since at his store, and said to Mr. Glover, whom I knew,
'•' This, I think, is Mr. Hancock. He just asked my name, and nothing
JOHN HAXCOCK. 73
more, — it was sucli a piece of vanitj ! There is not the merest crea-
ture that comes from jour way, but I take notice of him, — and I
ought. What tliough I am worth a little more than they ] I am
glad of it, and that I have it, that I may give some of it." I told the
doctor that Mr. Hancock was far from beins: arrotrant.
In order to gratify persons of antiquarian taste, we transcribe the
following advertisement of John Hancock, when in commercial business,
which is inserted in the Boston Evening Post of Dec. 25, 1 764 :
" To be sold by John Hancock, at his Store No. 4, at the East End
of Faneuil Hall jNIarket, A general Assortment of English and India
Goods, also choice Newcastle Coals, and Irish Butter, cheap for Cash.
Said Hancock desires those persons Avho are still indebted to the Estate
of the late Hon. Thomas Hancock, Esq., deceased, to be speedy in paying
their respective balances, to prevent trouble. N. B. In the Lydia,
Capt. Scott, from London, came the following packages : I W. No. 1,
a Trunk, No. 2, a small Parcel. The owner, by applying to John
Hancock and paying freight, may have his Goods."
This store was last occupied by Jabez Fisher & Co., and in 1824
was demolished, oh the erection of the Quincy Market. It was located
on the present South Market-street. His warehouses for the storage of
foreign merchandise were located on the wharf well known as Hancock's
Wharf
One day, John Adams and Samuel Adams, relates Waterhouse, were
walking in the Boston IMall, and when they came opposite the stately
mansion of John Hancock, the latter, turning to the former, said, with
emphasis, ' ' I have done a very good thing for our cause, in the course
of the past week, by enlisting the master of that house into it. He is
well disposed, and has great riches, and we can give him consequence
to enjoy them." And Mr. Hancock did not disappoint his expcct;i-
tions ; for, in spite of his occasional capriciousness, owing jiartly to
disease, he threw all the weight of his fortune and extraordinary pop-
ularity into the scale of opposition to British encroachments.
" The natural powers of Hancock were moderate," says Hutchin-
son, "and had been very little improved by study or application to any
kind of science. His ruling passion kept him from ever losing sight
of his object, but he was fickle and inconstant in the means of pur-
suing it ; and though for the most part he was closely attached to IMr.
Samuel Adams, yet he was repeatedly broken off from all connection
with him for several months together. Partly by inattention to his
T
74 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
private affiiirs, and partly from Avant of judgment, lie became greatly
involved and distressed, and the estate was lost -with mncli greater
rapidity than it bad been acquired." He was Tinboundedly lavish in
his liberality. At the time of a great fire in Boston, when many of
his tenements were destroyed, his tenants gathered around him, and
expressed sympathy at his loss, knowing that was a way to reach his
heartj on which he remarked, they Avere the greatest suiferers, having
been alaiost ruined, while he was able to erect new buildings, — at the
same time passing a shower of guineas around them. His generous
spirit appeared in a multitude of forms. He presented the Bostonians
a valuable fire-engine. He distributed deck-loads of Avood to the suf-
fering poor, in times of great peril, and gave the poor the free use of
his extensive Avood-lot m the town of Milton ; and in Adams' Diary Ave
have an incident arising from his liberality, related by James Otis, who
stated that Col. Irving having met Parson Moorhead near his meet-
ing-house, "You haA^e a fine steeple and bell," says he, "to your
meeting-house, noAV." "Yes, by the liberality of Mr. Hancock, and
the subscriptions of some other gentlemen, Ave have a very handsome
and convenient house of it, at last." " But Avhat has happened to the
vane, Mr. Moorhead? It don't traA^rse, — it has pointed the same
Avay these three Aveeks." "Ay, I did n't know it; I '11 see about it."
AAvay goes Moorhead, storming among his parish and the tradesmen
who had built the steeple, for fastening the vane so that it could not
m.ove. The tradesmen were alarmed, and went to examine it ; but
soon found that the fault Avas not in the vane, but the Aveather, the
Avind having set very constantly at east three weeks before.
Hutchinson Avas a native of Boston, and a graduate of the same col-
lei2;e as Hancock and the tAvo Adamses, tOAvard each of AA'hom his
detracting spirit AA^as parallel. He Avas dark, intriguing, insinuating,
haughty, and ambitious, the extreme of avarice marking each feature.
Oxenbridge Thachcr gave Hutchinson the soubriquet of "Summa
Potcstatis." Hutchinson said of Samuel Adams that "he acquired
a talent of artfully and fallaciously insinuating into the minds of his
readers a prejudice against the characters of all whom he attacked,
beyond any other;" and he said of John Adams, that "his ambition
was Avithout bounds, and he has acknoAvledged to his acquaintance that
he could not look with complaisance upon any man who Avas in pos-
session of more wealth, more honors, or more knoAvledge, than him
self" These are CA'idently the carpings of disappointed ambition;
JOHN HANCOCK. 75
and it is related that ^\hen Ilutcliinson fled to England, he experienced
the neglect and contempt of the House of Lords, and ditd at Bramp-
ton, June, 1780, in melancholy despondence.
Trumbull thus alludes to Hutchinson, Avho
" Affirmed he never wrote a line,
Your chartered rights to undermine ;
AVhen his own letters then were by,
That proved his message all a lie.
How many promises he sealed
To get the oppressive acts repealed !
Yet once arrived on England's shore,
Set on the premier to pass more."
When the t^Y0 regiments of British troops debarked in Boston, Oct.,
1768, they were received as unwelcome intruders, and the selectmen
absolutely refused to grant them quarters. One of the regiments
encamped on Boston Common. The other, after a fruitless attempt to
obtain possession of the Manufxctory House, marched at sunset to Fan-
euil Hall, where they waited several hours, before they had leave of
occupation ; Col. Dalrymple having pledged his honor that Faneuil
Hall should be cleared as soon as possible, otherwise they must have
suffered in the streets. The next day, the State-house, in King-
street, was opened, by order of Gov. Bernard, for their reception.
John Hancock being well known as a decided advocate of the Provin-
cialists, and the wealthiest merchant of Boston, an attempt was made
to stigmatize his character. A writer in the Boston Gazette, of Nov.
7, 1768, remarked, in an article: "I have lately heard, from good
authority, of an attempt to sully the reputation of a gentleman of
great merit, as Avell as superior fortune, in this town, — a gentleman
who has the oitire confidence of his fellow-citizens, in various public
Stations ; — who has repeatedly served them in the General Assembly,
and the last May had the honor of being chosen a member of His
Majesty's Council, by a great majority of the suffrages of the two
Houses of Assembly, though it must be acknowledged he was neg-
atived by Gov. Bernard. What could induce a scribbler to forge a
letter, and publish it in a coffee-house, in New York, under the name
of that gentleman, requesting Gen. Gage that he might supply the
troops now in town or expected, — so unwelcome to the inhabitants,
considering the errand on which all agree they are come, — unless it
was to induce a belief in the minds of gentlemen in New York that,
76 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
from a sordid love of gain, he had counteracted his professed senti-
ments, and .so to render him ridiculous there '1 I doubt not but that
both the general and Mr. Hancock know it to be a falsehood." The
charge was repelled as follows, in the very next Gazette :
" Messrs. Edes & Gill :
"I observe in your last paper a piece signed Veritas, the writer
of which says he had it from good authority, that a letter under
my hand was published in a coffee-house, at New York, requesting
His Excellency Gen. Gage that I might supply the troops then
expected, and which have since arrived in this town. If such a letter
has been produced there, or anywhere else, I declare it to hen forgery ;
for I have never made application to any for the supply of said troops,
nor did I ever desire any person to do it for me. The person whq pro-
duced the letter could have no other design but to injure my reputa-
tion, and abuse the gentlemen of New York. I therefore desire you
would give this a place in your next, in which you will oblige
" Your humble servant, John Hancock.
^'Boston, Nov. 12, 1T68."
In the fall of this year, a great uproar wos raised in Boston on
account of the unlading in the night of a cargo of wines from the
sloop Liberty, from jSIadeira, belonging to John Hancock, without pay-
ing the customs. Mr. Hancock was prosecuted upon a great number
of libels, for penalties upon acts of rirliament, amounting to ninety or a
hundred thousand pounds sterhng. •• He thought fit to engage me as
his counsel and advocate," says John Adams, "and a painful drudgery
I had of his cause. There were few days, through the whole winter,
when I was not summoned to attend the Court of Admiralty. It
seemed as if the officers of the crown were determined to examine the
whole town as witnesses. Almost every day a fresh witness was to be
examined upon interrogatories. They interrogated many of his near
relations and most intimate friends, and threatened to summon his
amiable and venerable aunt, the relict of his uncle, Thomas Hancock,
who had left the greatest part of his fortune to him. I was thoroughly
weary and disgusted with the court, the officers of the crown, the
cause, and even with the tyrannical bell that dangled me out of my
house every morning; and this odious cause was suspended at last only
by the Battle of Lexington, which put an end forever to all such pros-
JOHN HAXCOCK. 77
ecutions." Hutcliinson, Avbo enlarges on this aflfair, remarks, that an
entry was made at the custom-house, upon oath, of four or five pipes
only as the Avhole cargo : and tliis "was as much a submission to the
authority of the act as if the whole cargo had been entered. The
remainder was landed in the night, or evening : and the -wines, or
freight, were sent to the owners, and no duty demanded. A furious
riot ensued. The collector and comptroller had their windows broken,
and a boat, belonging to the custom-house, was dra^vTl in triumph
through the streets of Boston, and burnt on the Common.
Hancock constantly associated with the avowed advocates of liberty,
and was an active member o-f the North End Caucus, which frequently
gathered at \Yiniam Campbell's house, near the ^Sforth Battery, orig-
inated by Dr. Joseph "Warren, who, with another person, drew up the
regulations of the caucus. Here the committees of public service
were formed, the plan for military companies and means of defence,
and the resolves for the destruction of the detestable tea. Dr. Thomas
Young was its first president, when it consisted of sixty-one members.
It was here, when the best mode of expelling the regulars from Boston
was discussed, that Hancock exclaimed, " Burn Boston, and make
John Hancock a beggar, if the public good requires it !"
King George the Third sanctioned Lord North's bill repealing
duties, excepting that on tea, April 12, 1770. Shortly after this
decision, several cargoes of tea had arrived in Boston, and nothing
would satisfy the people but its immediate return. The ladies signed
a pledge not to drink any tea. except in sickness ; and John Hancock
offered one of his vessels, freight free of expense, for that purpose, and
a load of the detestable weed was conveyed to the London consignees.
Samuel Adams was the chief counsellor in the destruction of the tea,
Dec. 1773, and the hall of council was the back room of the Boston
Gazette, at the corner of Queen and Brattle streets. In Thomas' Spy
we find a poetical efi'usion on this subject :
"Farewell the tea-board, Avitli its equipage
Of cups and saucers, cream-bucket and sugar-tongs ;
The pretty tea-chest, also, lately stored
With hyson, congo, and best double fine.
Full many a joyous moment have I sat by you.
Hearing the girls tattle, the old maids talk scandal,
And the spruce coxcomb laugh at may-be nothing.
No more shall I dish out the once-loved liquor,
Though now detestable,
7*
78 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Because I am taught, and I believe it true,
Its use will fasten slavish chains upon my country ;
And Liberty 's the goddess I would choose
To reign triumphant in America ! ' '
In the year 1772 Hancock was elected to the command of the Inde-
pendent Cadets, well known as the governor's guard ; and we find, by the
Boston Gazette of May 12, at this date, the announcement of the elec-
tion of John Hancock as a Boston representative, as moderator of the
town-meeting, and his appointment by Gov. Hutchinson as commander
of the Cadets, Avhich is stated as follows : " His Excellency the Captain
General has been pleased to commissionate John Hancock, Esq., to be
Captain of the Company of Cadets, with the rank of Colonel :" and
the promptness with which Col. Hancock entered upon the duties of his
office is shown by the following advertisement, which appears in the
next column of the Gazette: "Wanted, Immediately, For his
Excellency's Company of Cadets, Two Fifers that understand Play-
ing. Those that are Masters of Musick, and are inclined to engage
with the Company, are desired to apply to Col. John Hancock."
When Thomas Gage landed at Long Wharf, May 19, 1774, this
company escorted the new governor, in an extensive civil and mihtary
procession, to the council-chai\iber, at the old State-house, in King-
street, after which they conducted Gage, under Col. Hancock, to the
Province-house, then the governor's residence. Gov. Gage soon
became jealous of Hancock, for in August of this year he was noti-
fied, by Secretary Flucker, that the governor had no further occasion
for his services as the commander ; on which, the corps disbanded
themselves, and deputed a committee to wait on Gage, at Danvers,
surrendering to him the standard with his arms, which his excellency
had presented them on his arrival from London, informing him that -they
no longer considered themselves as the governor's Independent Cadets.
In an address to Hancock, Aug. 18, 1774, signed by fifty-two mem-
bers, they remark, "At a period when the post of honor is a private
station, it cannot be thought strange that a gentleman of your distin-
guished character should meet with every discouragement from men in
power;" and Col. Hancock said, in reply, "I am ever ready to
appear in a public station, when the honor or the interest of the com-
munity calls me ; but shall always prefer retirement in a private sta-
tion, to being a tool in the hand of power to oppress my countrymen."
Gage and Hancock never came together again as political friends.
JOHN HAXCOCK. 79
The orator on the Massacre, in the year 17T4, was Col. John Han-
cock. His performance was remarkably bold and eifective, giving
great offence to the executive, and more especially to the officers of the
standing army ; indeed, it was a striking act of intrepidity. At the
close of the exercises, a very generous collection Avas taken up for the
unfortunate Christopher Monk. noAV about twenty-three years old, then
present, who was wounded on the fatal evening of the jNIassacre, and
was a shocking monument of that horrid catastrophe. This produc-
tion was elegant, pathetic, and spirited. The allusion of Hancock to
the attempt of Parliament to enforce obedience to acts which neither
God nor man ever authorized them to make, forcibly reminds us of
James Otis, their most effective opponent, who was as "a wedge to
split the lignum vitoe block of parliamentary usurpation." John
Adams, who was present on the occasion, remarks, the composition,
the pronunciation, the action, all exceeded the expectation of every-
body. They exceeded even mine, which were very considerable.
Many of the sentiments came with great propriety from him. His
invective, particularly against a preference of riches to virtue, came
from him with a singular grace and dignity : " Despise the glare of
wealth. The people who pay greater respect to a wealthy villain than
to an honest, upright man in poverty, almost deserve to be enslaved.
They plainly show that wealth, however it may be acquired, is in their
esteem to be preferred to virtue." The lantern exhibition occurred on
the succeeding INIonday. In one of the Avindows at INIrs. Clapham's,
was a painting of Gov. Hutchinson and Judge Peter Oliver, in the
horrors occasioned by the appearance of the ghosts of Empson and
Dudley, advising them to think of their fate :
" Ye traitors ! Is there not some chosen curse, —
Some hidden tliuuder iu the stores of heaven,
Red witli uncommon Avrath, to bhist the men
"Who owe their greatness to their country's ruin ? "
On turning to Hutchinson, it is related that, on the evening after
the delivery of the oration, "a select number of persons, styled in the
newspapers friends of constitutional liberty, assembled at a house in
King-street, Boston. Among them were the speaker and divers mem-
bers of the House of Representatives. Figures were exhibited, through
the windows of the room, to the people in the street, of the governor
and chief-justice, in derision. Such abuse of private characters it is
80 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
generally best to treat "\Yith contempt ; " and the Boston Post printed
an orio;inal sons; for tlie Fifth of March, -written in eidit verses, the
first of which says :
" When the foes of the land our destruction had planned.
They sent ragged troops for our masters ;
But, fi'om former defeat, they must noAV understand
Their wolves shall not prowl iu our pastures."
As an embodiment of the condition and spirit of the Bostonians is
indicated in this passage, we make no apology for its insertion here .
"It was easy to foresee the consequences which so naturally followed
upon sending troops into America, to enforce obedience to acts of the
British Parliament which neither God nor man ever empowered
them to make. It was reasonable to expect that troops who knew the
errand they were sent upon would treat the people whom they were to
subjugate with a cruelty and haughtiness Avhich too often buries the
honorable character of a soldier in the dis2;raceful name of an unfeel-
ing ruffian. The troops, upon their first arrival, took possession of our
senate-house, and pointed their cannon against the judgment-hall, and
even continued them there whilst the Supreme Court of judicature for
this province was actually sitting to decide upon the lives and fortunes
of the king's subjects. Our streets nightly resounded with the noise
of riot and debauchery ; our peaceful citizens were hourly exposed to
shameful insults, and often felt the effects of their violence and out-
rage. But this was not all. As though they thought it not enough
to violate our civil rights, they endeavored to deprive us of our religious
privileges ; to vitiate our morals, and thereby render us deserving of
destruction. Hence the rude din of arms which broke in upon your
solemn devotions in your temples, on that halloAved day by Heaven, and
set apart by God himself for his peculiar worship. Hence impious
oaths and blasj^hemies so often tortured your unaccustomed ear.
Hence all the arts which idleness and luxury could invent were used
to betray our youth of one sex into extravagance and effeminacy, and
of the other to infamy and ruin. And did they not succeed but too
well ? Did not a reverence for religion sensibly decay 7 Did not our
infants almost learn to lisp out curses before they knew their horrid
import 7 Did not our youth forget they were Americans, and, regard-
less of the admonitions of the wise and aged, servilely copy from their
fyrants those vices which must finally overthrow the empire of Great
JOHN HANCOCK. 81
Britain ? And must I be compelled to acknowledge that even the
noblest, fairest part of all the lower creation, did not entirely escape
the cursed snare ? When virtue has once erected her throne vrithin
the female breast, it is upon so solid a basis that nothing is able to
expel the heavenly inhabitant. Eut have there not been some — few,
indeed, I hope — whose youth and inexperience have rendered them a
prey to wretches, whom, upon the least reflection, they would have
despised and hated, as foes to God and their country 7 I fear there
have been such unhappy instances ; or why have I seen an honest
father clothed with shame ? — or why a virtuous mother drowned in
tears?"
Mr. Hancock was. a delegate from Suffolk to the first Provincial
Congress, which convened at Concord. Oct. 11, 1774, when he Avas
elected its president. He was also president of the second Provincial
Congress, until he was succeeded by Dr. Joseph Warren.
When Gov. Gage sent the regular troops to Concord, for the
destruction of the stores of the provincials, another design was to
apprehend John Hancock and Samuel AcTams, his most formidable
foes.
In the narrative of Col. Revere, we find a statement of the escape-
of Hancock and Adams, at Lexington : "On Tuesday evening, the 18th
of April, 1775, it was observed that a number of soldiers were march-
ing towards Boston Common. About ten o'cbck, Dr. Warren sent ia
great haste for me, and begged that I would immediately set off for
Lexington, Avhere were Hancock and Adams, and acquaint them of
the movement, and that it was thought they were the objects. When
I got to Dr. Warren's house, I found he had sent an express by land
to Lexington — a Mr. William Dawes. The Sunday before, by desire
of Dr. Warren, I had been to Lexington to see Hancock and Adams,
who were at Rev. Mr. Clark's. I returned at ni<i;ht, through Charles-
town. There I agreed with a Col. Conant, and some other gentlemen,
that if the British went out by water, we would show two lanterns m
the North Church steeple, and if by land, one, as a signal ; for we
were apprehensive it would be difficult to cross the Charles River, or
get over Boston Neck. I left Dr. Warren, called upon a friend, and
desired him to make the signals. I then went home, took my boots
and surtout, went to the north part of the town, where I had kept a
boat. Two friends rowed me across Charles River, a little to the
eastward, where the Somerset man-of-war lay. It was then young
82 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATOES.
flood ; the ship was winding, and the moon was rising. They landed
mo on the Charlestown side. "When I got into town, I met CoL
Conant and several others. They said they had seen our signals. I
told them what was acting, and went to get me a horse. I got a horse
of Dca. Larkin. While the horse was preparing, Richard Devens,
Esq., who was one of the Committee of Safety, came to nie, and told
me that he came down the road from Lexington, after sundown, that
evening ; that he met ten British officers, all well mounted and armed,
going up the road.
"I set off upon a very good horse. It was then about eleven o'clock,
and very pleasant. After I had passed Charlestown Neck, and got
nearly opposite where Mark was hung in chains, I saw two men on
horseback, under a tree. When I got near them, I discovered they
were British officers. One tried to get ahead of me, and the other to
take me. I turned my horse very quick, and galloped towards Charles-
town Neck, and then pushed for the JNIedford road. The one who
chased me, endeavoring to cut me off, got into a clay-pond, near where
the new tavern is now built. I got clear of him, and went through
Medford, over the bridge, and up to Menotomy. In JNIedford, I
avfaked the captain of the minute-men ; and after that, I alarmed
almost every house, till I got to Lexington. I found Hancock and
Adams at the Rev. Mr. Clark's. I told them my errand, and inquired
for Mr. Dawes. They said he liad not been there. I related the
story of the two officers, and supposed that he must have been stopped,
as he oucrht to have been there before me. After I had been there
about half an hour, Mr. Dawes came. We refreshed ourselves, and
set off for Concord, to secure the stores, etc., there. We were over-
taken by a young Dr. Prescott, whom we found to be a high son of
liberty. I told them of the ten officers that Mr. Devens met, and that
it was probable we might be stopped before we got to Concord ; for I
supposed that after night they divided themselves, and that two of
them had fixed themselves in such passages as were most Hkely to
stop any intelligence going to Concord. I likewise mentioned that we
had better alarm all the inhabitants till we got to Concord. The
young doctor much approved of it, and said he would stop with either
of us, for the people between that and Concord knew him, and would
give the more credit to what Ave said. We had got nearly half way.
Mr. Dawes and the doctor stopped to alarm the people of a house. I
was about one hundred rods ahead, when I saw two men in nearly the
JOHN HANCOCK. 83
same situation as those oflScers were near Charlesto-\NTi. I called for
the doctor and Mr. Dawes to come up. In an instant I was sur-
rounded by four. They had placed themselves in a straight road that
inchned each Avay. They had taken down a pair of bars on the north
side of the road, and two of them were under a tree in the pasture.
Dr. Prescott, being foremost, came up, and we tried to get past them ;
but they being armed with pistols and swords, they forced us into the
pasture. The doctor jumped his horse over a low stone-wall, and got
to Concord. I observed a wood at a small distance, and made for
that. "When I got there, out started six officers on horseback, and
ordered me to dismount. One of them, who appeared to have the
command, examined me, where I came from, and Avhat my name was.
I told him. He asked me if I was an express. I answered in the
affirmative. He demanded what time I left Boston. I told him : and
added, that their troops had catched aground in passing the river, and
that there would be five hundred Americans there in a short time, for
I had alarmed the country all the way up. He immediately rode
towards those who stopped us, when all five of them came down upon
a full gallop. One of them, whom I afterwards found to be a ]Maj.
Mitchell, of the 5th regiment, clapped his pistol to my head, called
me by name, and told me he was going to ask me some questions, and
if I did not give him true answers, he would blow my brains out. He
then asked me similar questions to those above. He then ordered me
to mount my horse, after searching me for arms. He then ordered
them to advance, and to lead me in front. When we got to the road,
they turned down towards Lexington. When we had got about one
mile, Maj. Mitchell rode up to the officer that was leading me, and told
him to give me to the sergeant. As soon as he took me, the major
ordered him, if I attempted to run, or anybody insulted them, to blow
my brains out. We rode till we got near Lexington meeting-house,
when the militia fired a volley of guns, which appeared to alarm them
very much. The major inquired of me how far it was to Cambridge,
and if there were any other road. After some consultation, the major
rode up to the sergeant, and asked if his horse was tired. He answered
him, he was. He was a sergeant of grenadiers, and had a small horse ;
then said he, Take that man's horse. I dismounted, and the sergeant
mounted my horse, when they all rode towards Lexington meeting-
house. I went across the burying-ground and some pastures, and came
to the Rev. Mr. Clark's house, where I found Hancock and Adams. I
84 THE nUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
told tliem of my treatment, and tliey concluded to go from that house
towards Woburn. I went -with them and a Mr. Lowell, who was a
clerk to Mr. Hancock. "VMien we got to the house Avhere they intended
to stop, Mr. Lowell and myself returned to Mr. Clark's, to find what
was going on. "When we reached there, an elderly man came in. He
said he had just come from the tavern, — that a man had come from
Boston, who said there were no British troops coming. Mr. Lowell
and myself went tOAvards the tavern, when ,we met a man, on a full
gallop, who told us the troops were coming up the rocks. We after-
wards met another, who said they were close by. Mr. Lowell asked
me to go to the tavern with him, to get a trunk of papers belonging to
jNIr. Hancock. We went up chamber, and while we were getting the
trunk, we saw the British very near, upon a full march. We hurried
towards Mr. Clark's house. In our way, we passed through the
militia. There were about fifty. When we had got about one hun-
dred yards from the meeting-house, the British troops appeared on
both sides of the meeting-house. Li their front was an officer on
horseback. They made a short halt, when I saw and heard a gun fired,
wdiich appeared to be a pistol. Then I could distinguish tAvo guns,
and then a continued roar of musketry, when Ave made off Vtith the
trunk."
In Frothingham's Siege of Boston Ave find it stated that Hancock
CD o
and Adams, whose safety Avas regarded as of the utmost importance,
Avere persuaded to retire to the then second precinct of Woburn, to the
house occupied by Madam Jones, Avidow of Rev. Thomas Jones, and
Bev. Mr. Marett, Avhich is now" standing in Burlington, and occupied
by Rev. Samuel ScAvell, a descendant of the venerable chief-justice.
Dorothy Quincy accompanied her intended husband — Hancock.
Here, at noon, they had just sat doAvn to an elegant dinner, AA'hen
a man broke suddenly in upon them Avitli a shriek, and they believed
the regulars Avere upon them. Mr. Marett then piloted Adams and
Hancock along a cartAvay to Mr. Amos Wy man's house, in a corner
of Billerica, Avhere they Avere glad to dine off of cold salt pork and
potatoes, served in a Avooden tray. Thus the proud anticipations of
the British troops, in regard to their capture, Avere blasted. As John
Hancock Avas accustomed to wear a scarlet coat of red velvet, Avith
rufiles on his sleeves, after the fashion of the judges of the court, Gov.
Gage is made to say, in the old revolutionary play, at the period of
the Battle of Lexington. '• If Col. Smith succeeds in his embassy, —
1
jonx HAXcocK. 85
and I think there is no doubt of it, — I shall have the pleasure this
evening, I expect, of having my friends Hancock and Adams' good
company. I '11 make each of them a present of a pair of handsome
iron ruffles, and Maj. Provost shall provide a suitable entertainment."
In another passage of the same play, it is said, " Let us have one good
dinner before we part, and leave us half a dozen pipes of Hancock's
wine to drink your health; and don't let us part with dry lips." On
the 12th of June succeeding, Gov. Gage issued a proclamation ofiering
pardon to all the rebels, excepting Samuel Adams and John Hancock,
"whose offences are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other
consideration than that of condign punishment;" —
'* As for their king, John Hancock,
And Adams, if they 're taken,
Their heads for signs shall hang up high
Upon that hill called Beacon ;" —
and the Provincial Congress, as noticed more esiDCcially in the memoir
of Gen. Warren, issued a proclamation of like nature, excepting Thomas
Gage, Admiral Graves, and others.
There is no doubt that Gov. Gage was alarmed at his position, some
months previous to this date, as, in his despatches to the throne, to the
18th of March, acknowledging the king's orders to apprehend Messrs.
Cushinfr;. Adams, and Hancock, and send them over to London for
trial (the second order, which was to hang them in Boston, he had
not received), he expressed his fears on the occasion; and, hoping a
reverse of the order, he stated that he should delay the execution a
while longer, because, if the order were fulfilled, he must come to an
engagement, the event of which he had every reason to apprehend
would be fatal to the king's troops and to himself, as the jNIassachusetts
provincials had at least fifteen thousand men ready for the onset, and
every public and private road occupied for defence. Ho earnestly
requested a reinforcement of regulars, if that disagreeable order must
be enforced.
About this period, a party of British soldiers entered the residence
of John Hancock, according to the Gazette, who began to pillage and
break down the fences ; but on complaint being made by the selectmen
to Gov. Gage, he ordered the fences to be repaired, and appointed Earl
Percy to take possession of the premises. We find additional partic-
ulars, in relation to this affair, in the letter of a gentleman to a friend
8
86 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
in New York, dated March 22, 1775 : "In the evening of the 17th
instant, Coh Hancock's elegant seat, situate near the Common, -was
attacked by a numher of officers, -who. -with their swords, cut and
hacked the fence before his house in a most scandalous manner, and
behaved verj abusively, by breaking people's windows, and insulting
almost every person they met. On the 19th instant, Col. Hancock
was again insulted by a number of inferior officers and privates, who
entered his enclosures, and refused to retire, after his requesting them
so to do, telling him that his house and stables would soon be theirs,
and then they would do as they pleased. However, on his application
to the general, he immediately sent one of his aids-de-camp to the
officer of the guard, at the bottom of the Common, to seize any officer
or private who should molest Col. Hancock, or any inhabitant, in their
lawful calling."
The editor of the New York Knickerbocker, who once enjoyed the
hospitality of the present Hancock family, remarks : '• From this house
was driven the fair and noble-looking lady whose portrait hangs in the
drawing-room below, that the Percy, who
' Fouglit for King George at Lexington,
A major of dragoons,'
might here establish his quarters. As I sat there, in what was for-
merly the state-chamber, conjuring up thoughts of that past time. I
could almost fancy that I heard the measured tread of the red-coated
sentinel in the grand old entrance-hall below, and saw the glancing
bavonets in the remains of the British intrenchments on the Common,
nearly opposite the house.
' I wandered througli the lofty halls
Trod by the Percys of old fame,
And traced upon the chapel walls
Each high heroic name, —
From him who once his standard set
"Where now, o'er mosque and minaret.
Glitter the Sultan's crescent moons.
To him who, when a younger son,
Fouglit for King George at Lexington,
A major of dragoons ! ' "
.f'ir. Hancock married, at Fairfield, Conn., Dorothy, daughter of
Edmund Quincy, of Boston, Aug. 28, 1775. He had a daughter, who
died in infancy, at Philadelphia, 177G ; and one son, John George
JOHN iiAXCocK. 87
Washington, who received a contusion in the head, when skating at
Milton, of which he died, Jan. 27, 1787, aged nine years. He hjft
no descendant. The quaint conceit of Lord Bacon may be applied to
Hancock : " Surely, man shall see the noblest works and foundations
have proceeded from childless men, who have sought to express the
imao-es of their minds where those of their bodies have failed ; so the
care of posterity is most in them that have no posterity."
In Quincy's History of Harvard University appears a statement
of the difficulties of the college with John Hancock, who was the
treasurer from 1773 to 1777, which exhibits a dark shade in his his-
torv: — not that he was wilfullv dishonorable, but he could not be
aroused to an adjustment of financial duties towards the institution;
and Rev. Dr. Gray, of Roxburj', relates, that Dr. Samuel Cooper and
Dr. William Gordon agreed that, at an overseers' meeting, the former
should introduce a motion for the immediate settlement of the treas-
urer's accounts, and which Avas seconded by the latter. But Dr. Gor-
don spoke so plainly his mind of the singular neglect of the treasurer,
though so often urged to do it, that the manner was thought by Dr.
Cooper, who was perfectly mild and polite in everything, to be as gross ;
and therefore he forbore to utter a syllable upon the subject, and it
passed off at the meeting in perfect silence. This circumstance so
greatly offi?nded Gov. Hancock, that he removed immediately from
Jamaica Plain to his residence in Boston, and ceased all futurx) inter-
course Avith Dr. Gordon.
Xo name stands emblazoned on the records of the corporation,
remarks Quincy, as a benefactor, with more laudatory epithets, than
that of John Hancock. But his title to this distinction must depend
upon the view Avhich is taken of his first subscription of <£500. In
July, 17G7, when no motives of policy influenced the corporation, this
donation is stated to be "the proposed gift of Thomas Hancock;" his
"signified intention to subscribe, towards the restoration of the library,
the sum of five hundred pounds sterling, the completion of Avhich Avas
preA-entcd by his sudden death;" the act of John Hancock is recorded
as a demonstration of his generous affection to the college, and as hav-
ing done honor to the memory of his uncle, by A^oluntarily fulfilling
his noble intention. " In the donation-book of the college, collected by
order of the corporation in 1778," the year in Avhich Mr. Hancock, as
treasurer, took his scat in that board, and when he was at the height
of his popularity, this gift is recorded on one page as exclusively "the
88
THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
gift of John Ilancoels;;" and on tlie next but one, as "liis gen-
erous fulfilment of the intentions of his late uncle, the Honorable
Thomas Hancock." It ^vas generally regarded, and probably by jNIr.
Hancock, as an indispensable obligation; and it would have been
almost impossible for a young man ambitious of popularity and power,
on receiving an estate, estimated at X70,000 sterling, from the bounty
of a relative, to refuse to fulfil " his signified intention" to subscribe
£500 in favor of an institution which every man of influence in the
province was laboring to raise from its ruins.
If the subscription be placed to the account of its avowed origin,
the good will of Thomas Hancock, the college was indebted to the
bounty of John Hancock, as stated in the records of the college, "for
a curious dipping needle," and, after that event, for the sum of <£5-4
4ff. sterling, being the excess of the cost of the books ordered by the
corporation beyond the £500 derived from the good will of his uncle ;
for '-a full-length picture of that benefactor," and also for a set of
the most elegant carpets to cover the floor of the library, the apparatus
and philosophy chambers, and covering the walls of the latter with a
rich paper ; " for an Account of London and its Environs, in six vol-
umes," and " a curious Coralline in its natural bed." The entire
value of these donations certainly did not greatly exceed — and was
probably less than — the actual loss sustained, according to the state-
ment of treasurer Storer, liis successor, "by jNIr. Hancock's long denial
of the rights of the college, and withholding its property." He says
that "justice to a public institution, which he essentially embarrassed
during a period of nearly twenty years," etc., requires a statement of
the foots.
A very obvious apology for the delinquency of John Hancock is to
be ascribed to the great financial distress of the Old Bay State, inci-
dent upon the war of the Revolution, rendering it almost impossible to
command funds for the liquidation of large demands, until long after
the peace of 1783. Did not treasurer Hancock secure an estate on
Merchant' s-row, by mortgage, to Harvard College, Dec. 29, 1785 7 —
and, in two years after his decease, did not his nephew, John Hancock,
Esq., make a payment of nine years' interest due the college? — and,
Dec. 13, 1802, did not he discharge the payment of the principal due,
and the interest in full to that date, as appears by the records in theofiice
of the Sufiblk Register of Deeds 1 But treasurer Storer complains that
the heirs refused to pay compound interest, whereby the college was a
JOHN IIAXCOCK. 89
loser of five hundred and twenty-six dollars. This was a very natural
decision of the heirs : but we will not censure the memory of Gov.
Hancock for this act of the heirs, which was their legal right. ' ' Per-
haps there is not a person in America," remarked the Rev. Peter
Thacher, his pastor, in the sermon at his funeral, " who has done more
generous and noble actions than Gov. Hancock, and who has, upon all
occasions, contributed more liberally to public institutions. Besides
the grand and hospitable manner in which he entertained foreigners
and others in his house, he expended large sums for every patriotic
purpose, and for the benefit of our university, and equalled the gen-
erosity of his worthy patron to it by his own donations. I should be
guilty of base ingratitude," continues Dr. Thacher, ''did I not thus
publicly acknowledge numberless instances of kindness, attention, and
liberality, which I have received at his hands. These now lie heavy
at my heart, and increase my sorrow for his loss, though they have not
bribed me to exceed the truth in delineating his character." America
never had a more devoted patriot than John Hancock ; and the secret
motive of his soul was disclosed in the declaration he made on taking
the oath of office in the old State-house, in King-street, Oct. 26, 1780,
when he became the first governor under the new constitution, which
is another apology for delay, where he remarked, '-Having, in the
early stage of this contest, determined to devote my whole time and
services, to the utter exclusion of all private business, even to the end
of the war, and being ever ready to obey the call of my country, I
venture to offer myself, and shall endeavor strictly to adhere to the
laws of the constitution."
Before we continue the history of John Hancock, we will revert a
while to an incident that occurred in Boston when it v.as a besieged
town, as his name is associated with it. At the close of 177-1, and in
the early part of 1775, Gov. Gage began to take possession of all the
arms and military stores belonging to individuals and the public. These
measures, which accelerated hostilities, occasioned a transaction which
illustrates the popular feeling. The General Court, in Nov., 1766,
ordered four brass cannon to l)e purchased for the use of the artillery
companies in Boston. Two of these guns, which were three-pounders,
were kept in a gun-house that stood opposite the Mall, at the corner
of West-street. A school-house was the next building, and a yard,
enclosed Avith a high fence, was common to both. Maj. Adino Pad-
dock, Avho then commanded the artillery, having been heard to express
8*
90 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
his intention of surrendering these guns to the governor, a few indi-
viduals resolved to secure for the country a property which belonged
to it, and which at this time Avas of great value. Maj. Paddock was a
coach-maker, and a devoted loyalist. The row of elm-trees in front
of the Granary Cemetery was planted by him, and long known as
Paddock's Walk. He left Boston with the royal troops, in March,
1776.
Having concerted their plan, the party passed through the school-
house into the gun-house, and were able to open the doors which were
upon the yard by a small crevice, through which they raised the bar
that secured them. The moment for the execution of the project was
that of the roll-call, when the sentinel, Avho was stationed at one door
of the building, Avould be less likely to hear their operations. The
guns were taken off their carriages, carried into the school-room, and
placed in a large box under the master's desk, in Avhich wood was
kept. Directly after the roll-call, a lieutenant and sergeant came into
the gun-house, to look at the cannon, previously to removing them. A
young man — Samuel Gore, captain of the governor's troop of horse,
of Avhom this narration was received, and who had assisted in their
removal — remained by the building, and followed the officer, as an
innocent spectator. The persons who aided in the plot were Nathaniel
Balch, Jeremiah Gridley, Whiston, and others, together with master
Abraham Holbrook, the schoolmaster. When the carriages were
found without the guns, the sergeant exclaimed, with an oath, " They
are gone ! These fellows will steal the teeth out of your head, while
you are keeping guard." They then began to search the building for
them, and afterwards the yard ; and when they came to the gate, and
opened into the street, the officer observed that they could not have
passed that Avay, because a cobweb across the opening was not broken.
They went next into the school-house, which they examined all over,
except the box, on which the master placed his foot, which was lame,
and the officer, with true courtesy, on that account excused him from
rising. Some boys were present, but not one lisped a Avord. The
officers Avent back to the gun-room, Avhen their volunteer attendant,
in kind sympathy for their embarrassment, suggested to them that
perhaps they had been carried into Mr. Greenleaf 's garden, opposite,
— afterAvards the "Washington Garden." On this, the sergeant took
him by the collar, gaA^e him a push, and said, it Avas very likely that
he Avas one of the daring rebels who helped to get them off, and that
JOHN HAXCOCK. 91
he had better make himself scarce. This ^vas too near a guess to
make it worth -while to wait for a second hint, and he left them. They
soon after reti-red, in vexation.
The guns remained in that box for a fortnight, and many of the boys
were acquainted with the fact, but not one of them betrayed the secret.
At the end of that time, the persons who had withdrawn them came,
in the evening. Avith a large trunk on a wheelbarrow. The guns were
put into it, and carried up to Whiston's blacksmith's shop, at the south
end, and there deposited under the coal. After lying there for a
while, they were put into a boat in the night, and safely transported
within the American lines. The guns were in actual service through
the whole war. After the peace, the State of Massachusetts applied
to Constress for their restoration, which vras '^ranted, accordino- to this
resolve, dated May 19, 1788 : " Congress assembled. Present — iSew
Hampshire. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir-
ginia, and South Carolina; and from Pthode Island, Mr. Arnold;
from New York, Mr. Hamilton ; from North Carolina, Mv. William-
son ; and from Georgia. Mr. Bakhvin. The Secretary at "War having
represented to Congress that there arc in the arsenals of the United
States two brass cannon, which constituted one moiety of the field
artillery with which the last war was commenced on the part of ximcr-
ica. and which were constantly on service throughout the war : that
the said cannon are the property of the CommonAvealth of Massachu-
setts, and that the governor thereof hath requested that they be
returned; Therefore, Resolved, that the Secretary at War cause a
suitable inscription to be placed on the said cannon ; and that he
deliver the same to the order of his Excellency the Governor of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts."
Gen. Knox, then Secretary at War, who liad commanded the artillery
of the American army during the Revolution, — one of the most gallant,
generous, high-minded men that the army contained, — Avell knew the
history of these cannon, as they Avero the fellow-townsmen of his natiA'e
town of Boston. In pursuance of the orders of Congress, he caused
the arms of Massachusetts, and the inscription hercAvith, to be chiselled
upon them in bold relief These two cannon were in charge of the
"Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company" of Boston, and called
the Hancock and Adams, in honor of the two patriots proscribed by
Gov. Gage, from AAdiose grasp they were rescued ; and John Hancock
was governor of Massachusetts Avhen the cannon were returned to the
92 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
State. They are deposited on the Avail inside of the top of the Bun-
ker Hill Monument, where they hang perpendicularly suspended.
The Hancock :
Sacred to Liberty.
This is one of four canuon,
"which coustituted the whole train
of Field Artillery
possessed by the British Colonies of
North America,
at the commencement of the war,
on the 19th of April, 1775.
This cannon
and its fellow,
belonging to a number of citizens of
Boston,
were used in many engagements
during the war.
The other two, the property of the
Government of Massachusetts,
were taken by the enemy.
By order of the United States
in Congress assembled.
May 19, 1788.
The other cannon referred to were concealed in the stable of the second
house west from the court-house, on the south side of Queen-street.
Mr. Williams, a respectable farmer of Roxbury, drove in his own team
with a load of hay, which was taken into that stable; the cannon
were then put in the bottom of the cart, which was loaded with manure,
and in this way they were taken out of town without opposition. The
British officers heard, on the same day, that the cannon were concealed
in that street, and were to be removed in the evening ; and, in conse-
quence, many of them patrolled the street for several hours, but the
guns were already safe Avithin the American lines.
Hancock was a deleffiite to the Continental Congress convened at
Philadelphia, May 10, 1775. During his tour to that city, he remained
at Worcester tAvo days, waiting for a suitable escort, and for the approach
of his colleagues, when he addressed the folloAvino; letter to the gentle-
men Committee of Safety, among whom were Joseph Warren and Ben-
jamin Church, besides himself:
an
Worcester, April 24, 1775, Monday evening.
'Gkxtlemen: Mr. S. Adams and myself, just arrived here, find
no intelli-^ence from you, and no guard. We just hear an express has
JOHX HANCOCK. 93
just passed through this place to you, from Kew York, informing that
adrtiinistration is bent upon pushing matters ; and that four regiments
are expected there. How are we to proceed 7 AYhere are our brethren ]
Surely, we ought to be supported. I had rather be with you ; and, at
present, am fully determined to be with you, before I proceed. I beg,
by the return of this express, to hear from you ; and pray, furnish us
with depositions of the conduct of the troops, the certainty of their
firing first, and every circumstance relative to the conduct of the
troops from the 19th instant to this time, that we may be able to give
some account of matters as Ave proceed, especially at Philadelphia.
Also, I beg you would order your secretary to make out an account
of your proceedings since Avhat has taken place : Avhat your plan is ;
what prisoners Ave ha\'e, and Avhat they have of ours ; who of note Avas
killed, on both sides ; who commands our forces, &c.
"Are our men in good spirits ? For God's sake, do not suffer the
spirit to subside, until they have perfected the reduction of our ene-
mies. Boston must be entered : the troops must be sent aAvay, or
* * * Our friends are A'aluable, but our country must be saA'ed.
I have an interest in that town. "What can be the enjoyment of that
to me, if I am obliged to hold it at the will of Gen. Gage, or any one
else 7 I doubt not your vigilance, your fortitude, and resolution. Do
let us know hoAV you proceed. AVe must have the Castle. The ships
must be * * Stop up the harbor against large ATSsels coming.
You know better Avhat to do than I can point out. Where is ]Mr.
Gushing? Are Mr. Paine and Mr. John Adams to be Avith us?
"What are we to depend upon ? We travel rather as deserters, which I
will not submit to. I Avill return and join you, if I cannot detain this
man. as I Avant much to hear from you. How goes on the Congress ?
Who is your president ? Are the members hearty ? Pray remember
Mr. S. Adams and myself to all friends. God be with you.
"I am, gentlemen, your faithful and hearty countryman.
"John Hancock."
On May loth of this date, he Avas chosen successor to Pe3^ton Ran-
dolph, as president of that assembly. When the unanimous election
was declared, he felt deeply embarrassed ; and it was not until Ben-
jamin Harrison, a strong-nerved man and noble-hearted, a member
from Virginia, had borne him in his A'iirorous arms, amid the [reneral
acclamation, to the chair, that his Avonted self-possessioh returned.
94 THE IIUXDRED BOSTON ORATOllS.
When the Declaration of Independence first appeared on the floor of
Congress, it Avas circulated over the name of John Hancock, singly and
alone, as President of the Congress ; and the bold and striking char-
acters ■which form his signature were the first to proclaim the fact.
He resigned this station in October, 1777, owing to the severity of the
The nomination of Washington to be the commander-in-chief was
first made by John Adams. The president, John Hancock, was then
in the chair, and Washington himself was present. Hancock was
ambitious for that appointment. The effect of Mr. Adams' motion
upon the two patriots is thus related by himself Washington was at
a su])sequent period. May 26, 1775, unanimously chosen. At the
conclusion of a speech on the state of the colonies, after making a
motion that Congress would adopt the army before Boston and appoint
Col. Washington commander of it, Mr. Adams remarked, that he was
"a gentleman whose skill as an officer, whose independent fortune,
great talents, and excellent universal character, would command the
approbation of all America, and unite the cordial exertion of all the
colonies better than any other person in the Union. Mr. Washington,
who happened to be near the door, as soon as he heard me allude to him,
from his usual modesty, darted into the library-room. Mr. Hancock,
who was our president, which gave me an opj^ortunity to observe his
countenance, while I was speaking on the state of the colonies, the army
at Cambridge, and the enemy, heard me with visible pleasure ; but
when I came to describe Washington for the commander, I never
remarked a more sudden and strikino; chano;e of countenance. Morti-
fication and resentment were expressed as forcibly as his face could
exliibit them. JSIr. Samuel Adams seconded the motion, and that did
not soften the president's physiognomy at all."
The announcement herewith is copied from a Hartford journal, under
date Nov. 19, 1777: "On Friday last, passed through this town,
escorted by a party of light dragoons, the Hon. John Hancock, Pres-
ident of the American Congress, with his lady, on his way to Boston,
after an absence, on public business, of more than two and a half
years."
President Hancock addressed a letter to Gen. Washington, July 10,
1775, in which he proposed as follows : " I must beg the favor that
you will reserve some berth for me, in such department as you may
judge most proper ; for I am determined to act under you, if it be to
JOHN HANCOCK. 95
take the firelock and join the ranks as a volunteer." It does not
appear, lio\vever, that he joined the army, under Washington, in any
military capacity. Washington addressed the following reply to Han-
cock, dated
^'' Cambridge, July 21, 1775.
"Dear Sir: I am particularly pleased to acknowledge that part
of your favor of the 10th instant wherein you do me the honor of
determining to join the army under my command. I need certainly
make no professions of the pleasure I shall have in seeing you. At the
same time, I have to regret that so little is in my power to offer equal
to Col. Hancock's merits, and worthy of his acceptance. I shall be
happy, in every opportunity, to show the regard and esteem with which
"I am, sir, your most obedient and very humble servant,
" George Washington."
The official correspondence of John Hancock, as President of Con-
gress, is rich in patriotic fervor. In a letter to Washington, dated
Dec. 22, 1775, he writes : " For your future proceedings, I must beg
leave to refer you to the enclosed resolutions. I would just inform
you that the last resolve, relative to an attack upon Boston, passed
after a most serious debate in a committee of the whole house. You
are now left to the dictates of prudence and your own judgment.
May God crown your attempt with success. I most heartily wish it,
though, individually, I may be the greatest sufferer." In an address
to the inhabitants of Canada, Hancock says : "Let it be the pride of
those whose souls are warmed and illuminated by the sacred flames of
freedom, to be discouraged by no check, and to surmount every obsta-
cle that may be interposed between them and the darling object of their
wishes. We anticipate, in our pleased imaginations, the happy period
when the standard of tyranny shall find no place in North America."
In addressing Gen. Philip Schuyler, after the surrender of Montreal,
Hancock writes : " You have hitherto risen superior to a thousand dif-
ficulties, in giving freedom to a great and an oppi'essed people. You
have already reaped many laurels, but a plentiful harvest still invites
you. Proceed, therefore, and let tlie footsteps of victory open a way
for the blessings of liberty and the happiness of a -well-ordered govern-
ment to visit that extensive dominion. Consider that the road to glory
is seldom strewed with flowers; and that, when the black and bloody
Standard of tyranny'- is erected in a land possessed by freemen, patriots
96 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
cease to remain inactive spectators of their country's fall." In an
address to Gen. INIontgomery, in relation to the surrender of Montreal,
Hancock writes : " The Congress, utterly abhorrent from every species
of cruelty to prisoners, and determined to adhere to this benevolent
maxim till the conduct of their enemies renders a deviation from it
indispensably necessary, -will ever applaud their officers for beautifully
blending the Christian with the conqueror, and never, in endeavoring
to acquire the character of the hero, to lose that of the man."
Hancock thus writes to Gen. "Washington, under date of Philadel-
phia, March 25, 1776 : " Sir, — I had the honor of receiving yester-
day yours of the 19th, containing the agreeable information of the
ministerial troops having abandoned Boston. The partial victory we
have obtained over them in that quarter, I hope, will turn out a happy
presage of a more general one. Whatever place may be the object of
their destination, it must certainly give a sincere pleasure to every friend
of the country to sec the most diligent preparations everywhere making
to receive them. What may be their views, it is, indeed, impossible to
tell with any degree of exactness. We have all the reason, however,
from that rage of disappointment and revenge, to expect the worst.
Nor have I any doubt that, as far as their power extends, they will
inflict every species of calamity upon us. The same Providence that
has bafiled their attempt against the Province of Massachusetts Bay
will, I trust, defeat the deep-laid scheme they are now meditating
against some other part of our country.
" The intelligence that our army had got possession of Boston, you
will readily suppose, gave me heartfelt pleasure. I beg, sir, you will
be pleased to accept my Avarmest thanks for the attention you have
shoAved to my ^Droperty in tliat town. I have only to request that
Capt. Cazneau Avill continue to look after and take care that it be
noways destroyed or damaged. This success of our arms naturally
calls upon me to congratulate you, sir, to whose wisdom and conduct it
has been owing. Permit me to add, that if a constant discharge of
the most important duties, and the fame attending thereon, can afford
genuine satisfaction, the pleasure you feel must be the most rational
and exalted."
Hancock says, on the 30th April, 1776 : " The unprepared state
of the colonies, on the commencement of the war, and the almost
total want of everything necessary to carry it on, are the true sources
from whence all our difficulties have proceeded. This fact, however,
JOHN HANCOCK. 97
furnishes a proof most striking of the weakness or wickeclness of those
>vho charge them -with an original intention of -withdrawing from the
government of Great Britain, and erecting an independent empire.
Had such a scheme been formed, the most -warlike preparations -would
have been necessary to effect it."
Hancock, in a letter to Gen. Washington, dated Philadelphia, iNIay
21, 1776, -where he rene-ws an invitation to receive a visit from him,
stating, "I reside in an airy, open part of the city, in Arch-street
and Fourth-street," says: "Your favor of the 20th inst. I received
this morning, and cannot help expressing the very great pleasure it
would aflFord both Mrs. Hancock and myself to have the happiness of
accommodating you during your stay in this city. As the house I
live in is large and roomy, it -will be entirely in your po-wer to live in
that manner you should -wish. jNIrs. Washington may be as retired
as she pleases, while under inoculation, and Mrs. Hancock will esteem
it an honor to have Mrs. Washington inoculated in her house ; and, as
I am informed Mr. Randolph has not any lady about his house to take
the necessary care of Mrs. Washington, I flatter myself she will be as
well attended in my family. In short, sir, I must take the freedom to
repeat my wish, that you would be pleased to condescend to dwell under
my roof I assure you, sir, I will do all in my power to render your
stay agreeable, and my house shall be entirely at your disposal. I
must, however, submit this to your determination, and only add that
you will peculiarly gratify Mrs. H. and myself, in affording me an
opportunity of convincing you of this truth, that I am, with every
sentiment of regard for you and your connections, and with much
esteem, dear sir, your faithful and most obedient humble servant."
In a letter to the convention of New Hampshire, dated June 4,
1776. Hancock writes: "The militia of the United Colonies area
body of troops that may be depended upon. To their -virtue their del-
egates in Congress now make the most solemn appeal. They are called
upon to say whether they will live slaves, or die freemen. They are
requested to step forth in defence of their wives, their children, their
liberty, and everything they hold dear. The cause is certainly a most
glorious one, and I trust that every man of New Hampshire is deter-
mined to see it gloriously ended, or to perish in the ruins of it. In
short, on your exertions, at this critical period, together with those of
the other colonies, in the common cause, the salvation of America evi-
9
98 THE HUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
dently depends. Your colony, I am persuaded, will not be behindhand.
Exert, therefore, every nerve to distinguish yourselves. Quicken your
preparations, and stimulate the good people of your government, and
there is no danger, notwithstanding the mighty armament with which
we are threatened, but you will be able to lead them to victory, to
liberty, and to happiness."
Under date of July 4, 1776, John Hancock writes to the govern-
ments of Maryland and Delaware, in language breathing the fervor of
burning patriotism. We select a passage from this truly noble docu-
ment : " Gen. Howe having taken possession of Staten Island, and
the Jerseys being drained of their militia for the defence of New York,
I am directed by Congress to request you will proceed immediately to
€mbody your militia for the establishment of the flying camp, and
inarch them, with all possible expedition, either by battalions, detach-
ments of battalions, or by companies, to the city of Philadelphia. The
present campaign, I have no doubt, if we exert ourselves properly, will
secure the enjoyment of our liberties forever. All accounts agree that
'Great Britain will make her greatest effort this summer. Should we,
therefore, be able to keep our ground, we shall afterwards have little
to apprehend from her. I do, therefore, most ardently beseech and
request you, in the name and by the authority of Congress, as you
regard your own freedom, and as you stand engaged by the most solemn
ties of honor to support the common cause, to strain every nerve to
.send forward your militia. This is a step of such infinite moment,
that, in all human probability, your speedy compliance will prove the
salvation of your country. It is impossible we can have any higher
motives to induce us to act. We should reflect, too, that the loss of
this campaign will inevitably protract the war ; and that, in order to
gain it, we have only to exert ourselves, and to make use of the means
which God and nature have given us to defend ourselves. I must,
therefore, again repeat to you, that the Congress most anxiously expect
and request you will not lose a moment in carrying into effect this
requisition, with all the zeal, spirit, and despatch, Avhich are so indis-
pensably required by the critical situation of our affairs." On the 6th
of July, 1776, Hancock, in. writing to Washington, thus emphasizes :
' ' The Congress, for some days past, have had their attention occupied
by one of the most interesting and important subjects that could pos-
sibly come before them, or any other assembly of men. Although it
JOHN HANCOCK. 99
is not possible to foresee the consequences of human actions, yet it is,
nevertheless, a duty we owe ourselves and posterity, in all our public
counsels, to decide in the best manner we are able, and to trust the
event to that Being, who controls both causes and events, to bring
about his own determinations. Impressed with this sentiment, and at
the same time fully convinced that our affairs may take a more favora-
ble turn, the Congress have judged it necessary to dissolve all connec-
tion between Great Britain and the American Colonics, and to declare
them free and independent States, as you will perceive by the enclosed
Declaration, which I am directed by Congress to transmit to you, and
to request you will have proclaimed at the head of the army, in the way
you shall think most jiroper." Hancock says to Washington, in
another letter, written on the memorable 4th of July: "Sir, — The
enclosed resolves, to which I must beg leave to refer your attention,
will inform you of the steps Congress has taken to establish the flying
camp. To the unhappy confusion that has prevailed in this colony
must be principally ascribed the , delays that have hitherto attended
that salutary measure. However, I flatter myself things will now take
a different turn, as the contest to keep possession of power is now at
an end, and a new mode of government, equal to the exigencies of our
affairs, Avill soon be adopted, agreeably to the recommendations of Con-
gress to the United Colonies."
In an eloquent appeal to the thirteen United States, dated at Phil-
adelphia, Sept. 24, 1776, our spirited Hancock says : "Let us con-
vince our enemies that, as Ave are entered into the present contest
for the defence of our li'jcrtics, so we are resolved, with the firmest
reliance on Heaven for the justice of our cause, never to relinquish it,
but rather to perish in the ruins of it. If we do but remain firm, —
if we are not dismayed at the httle shocks of fortune, and are deter-
mined, at all hazards, that we will be free, — I am persuaded, under the
gracious smiles of Providence, assisted by our own most strenuous
endeavors, we shall finally succeed, agreeably to our wishes, and thereby
establish the independence, the happiness, and the glory, of the United
States of America."'
In the same letter, he writes: "You will perceive, by the
enclosed resolves, which I have the honor to forward in obedience to
the commands of Congress, that they have come to a determination to
augment our army, and to engage the troops to serve during the con-
tinuance of the war. As an inducement to enhst on these terms, the
100 THE IIUXDRED BOSTON OnATORS.
Congress have agreed to give, besides a bounty of twenty dollars, a
hundred acres of land to each soldier ; and, in case he should fall in
battle, they have resolved, that his children, or other representatives,
shall succeed to such land. The many ill consequences arising from
a short and limited enlistment of troops are too obvious to be men-
tioned. In general, give me leave to observe, that to make men -well
acquainted Avith the duties of a soldier requires time ; and to bring
them under proper subordination and discipline, not only requires time,
but has always been a work of much difficulty. We have had too fre-
quent experience that men of a few days' standing will not look for-
ward, but, as the time of their discharge approaches, grow careless
of their arms, ammunition, &c.,-and impatient of all restraint. The
consequence of which is, the latter part of the time for which the sol-
dier was engaged is spent in iindoing what the greatest pains had been
taken to inculcate at first. Need I add to this, that the fall of the late
Gen. Montgomery before Quebec is vxndoubtedly to be ascribed to the
limited time for which the troops were engaged, — whose impatience to
return home compelled him to make the attack, contrary to the convic-
tion of his own judgment. This fact alone furnishes a striking argu-
ment of the danger and impropriety of sending troops into tlie field
under any restriction as to the time of the enlistment. The noblest
enterprise may be left unfinished by troops in such a predicament, or
abandoned at the very moment success must have crowned the attempt.
The heavy and enormous expenses consequent upon calling forth the
militia, the delay attending their motions, and the difficulty of keeping
them in camp, render it extremely improper to place our whole depend-
ence upon them. Experience hath uniformly convincal us of this,
some of the militia having actually deserted the camp at the very
moment their services were most wanted. In the mean time, the
strength of the British army, which is great, is considered much more
formidable by the superior order and regularity which prevail in it."'
In a manly letter to Gen. Schuyler, dated Philadelphia, Oct. 4,
1776, Hancock writes, transmitting the resolve of Congress expressive
of their high sense of his past conduct, that " Congress cannot give
their consent to your retiring from the army in its present situation.
Such a step would give your enemies occasion to exult, as they might
suppose you were induced to take it from an apprehension of the truth
and reality of their charges against you. The unmerited reproaches
of ignorance and mistaken zeal are infinitely overbalanced by the sat-
JOHN HANCOCK. 101
isfaction arising from a conscious integrity. As long, tlierefore. as
jou can wrap yourself in your innocence, I flatter myself you will
not pay so great a regard to the calumnies of your enemies as to
deprive your country of any services which you may have it in your
power to render his." In a spirited letter to six of the States, dated
Philadelphia, Oct. 9, 1776, Hancock writes : " The Congress, for very
obvious reasons, are extremely anxious to keep the army together.
The dangerous consequences of their breaking up, and the difficulty
of forming a new one. are inconceivable. Were this barrier once
removed, military power would quickly spread desolation and ruin
over the face of our country. The importance, and, indeed, the abso-
lute necessity, of filling up the army, of providing for the troops, and
engaging them to serve during the war, is so apparent, and has been
so frequently urged, that I shall only request your attention to the
resolves of Congress on this subject ; and bosecih vou,.by thvit bye you
have for your country, her rights and liberties, to exert yourselves to
carry them speechly and efiectually, as _ the only means j^f pi^s<n*y/rig
her in this her critical and alarming situation." In a letter to four of
the States, dated Baltimore, Dec. 25, 1776, Hancock writes: '"It is
needless to use arguments on this occasion, or to paint the dreadful
consequences, to gentlemen alread}'- fully acquainted with them, of leav-
ing the back settlements of the New England States open to the rav-
ages of our merciless foes. If anything can add to your exertions, at
this time, it must be the reflection that your own most immediate safety
calls upon you to strain every nerve. Should we heedlessly abandon
the post of Ticonderoga, wc give up inconceivable advantages. Should
we resolutely maintain it, — and it is extremely capable of defence, —
we may bid defiance to Gen. Carleton, and the northern army under
his command. But our exertions for this purpose must be immediate,
or they will not avail anything. The 31st of this inst. the time will
expire for which the troops in that important garrison were enlisted,
and Lake Champlain will, in all probability, be frozen over soon after.
For the sake, therefore, of all that is dear to freemen, be entreated to
pay immediate attention to this requisition of Congress, and let nothing
divert you from it. The affairs of our country are in a situation to
admit of no delay. Tliey may still be retrieved, but not without the
greatest expedition and vigor."
Gov. Hancock, in Avriting to the Hon. Robert Morris, Financier
General at Washington, under date Philadelphia, Sept. 24, 1781, says:
9*
102 THE HUXDRED BOSTON ORATOKS.
* ' Pray, my friend, •ulien "will be the properest time for me to be con-
sidered for my expenses wbile President of Congress 1 They -n-rote
me on the subject some two years ago ; but I waived troubhng them,
knowing the dehcacy of their situation. Indeed, I kept no account of
my expenses ; nor had I time for it, as you ^yell know how my time
Avas engrossed, and the labors and fatigue I underwent, and the expenses
I must have necessarily incurred. I can speak plain to you : confident
I am that fifteen hundred pounds sterling would not amount to the
expenses I incurred as president. In this I think I merit considera-
tion, more especially as grants have been made to all my successors."
Had Congress remitted Hancock twice that amount, it would have
been no equivalent to the sacrifices of this devoted patriot.
President Hancock was appointed, by the General Court of his
native State, Feb. 8, 1778, first jNIajor-general of the Massachusetts
Mihtia; tied, during a' recess of Congress in July, on the very day
succeeding that when he acted as moderator of a town-meeting, Aug.
6tk/of' that 'yes-r.'A\hen the, people at Faneuil Hall unanimously decided
that persons Avho have left the town, and have sought and received pro-
tection from the British king, cannot return to it again without greatly
endangering the peace and safety of Boston, the Cadet company,
headed by Maj. Gen. Hancock, and commanded by Col. Hichborn,
and the company of Light Infiintry, commanded by Capt. Hinckley,
both of this town, set out for head-quarters, to engage in an enter-
prise in cooperation with the fleet of the French admiral, the Count
D'Estaing, against Newport, in Rhode Island, conducted by a detach-
ment from the regular army of Washington, and seven thousand of the
mihtia of New England, — an expedition which excited great anticipa-
tions,— the whole under command of Maj. Gen. Sulhvan, aided by the
Marquis De La Fayette and Maj. Gen. Greene. On August 9th they
landed on Newport Island, and took possession of two of the enemy's
forts, under Lord Howe, and the whole island north of their lines, with-
out a gun fired on either side. The second line of this army was com-
manded by Gen. Hancock, who, Avarm with ardor, despatched intelli-
gence, on the 11th instant, to Hon. Jeremiah Powell, President of the
State Council. On the arrival of these troops in the island, the fleet
of Lord Howe appeared upon the coast. We would have our readers
revert to the Massachusetts Historical Collections, and Bradford's
Massachusetts, for a relation of this contest.
Count D'Estaino;, resiardless of his obli";ations with the American
JOHN HANCOCK. 103
troops, instead of defending them, hastened to the pursuit of the Brit-
ish, and exposed the army of his allies to all the calamities of a defeat ;
and the Americans were left, in the midst of great danger, to a morti-
fying retreat, -which they achieved, however, without the loss of artil-
lery or baggage, and the fleet arrived at the same time in Boston
harbor, shattered by a furious storm.
Under these circumstances, the French were not received in Boston
with the usual hospitality of its inhabitants, says Sanderson's Biogra-
phy, and with a displeasure which threatened unhappy results ; but
Gen. Hancock, interposing, relieved his country from such a calamity,
by his conciliating manners and unbounded hospitality. His elegant
mansion was thrown open to the French admiral and all his officers,
about forty of whom dined every day at his table, loaded with the lux-
uries of the season ; and, in addition, he gave a grand public ball at
Concert Hall, attended by the admiral. On turning to the Gazette,
however, we find that Admiral D'Estaing, Sept. 21, made a splendid
entry into Boston. He was saluted from the Castle, the ships and
forts in the harbor, as he approached the town. Upon landing, he was
received by the State authorities, at the Council-chamber in King-
street, and breakfasted with Gen. Hancock at his seat : and a superb
entertainment was given that week at Faneuil Hall, Avhere were
upwards of five hundred guests. The retreat of the Americans was,
indeed, a remarkable escape. The delay of a single day would proba-
bly have been fotal ; for Sir Henry Clinton, who had been detained by
adverse winds, arrived with a reinforcement of four thousand men the
very next day, when a retreat, it is suspected, would have been imprac-
ticable.
In the reminiscences of John Trumbull are two allusions to Hancock.
It appears that Gen. Gates, who had been appointed to the command of
the northern department in Canada, had. previous to his entrance on
the station, appointed Mr. Trumbull a deputy adjutant-general on that
station, which was rejected by Congress as premature and unmilitary.
This occurred in 1775, Avhen Hancock was president; and the circum-
stance probably excited a prejudice unflivorable to Trumbull, who
relates that, " While I was in Gen. Washington's family, in 1775, Mr.
Hancock made a passing visit to the general, and, observing me, he
inquired of Mr. Mifuin who I was : and, when told that I was his fellow
aid-de-camp, and son of Gov. Trumbull, he made the unworthy observa-
tion, that ' that familij teas icell jirovided for.'' Mr. ^lifflin did not
104 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
tell me this until after Mr. Hancock had left head-quarters, but then
observed that he deserved to be called to an account for it. I answered,
' No, — he is right ; my father and his three sons are doubtless well
provided for. We are secure of four halters, if we do not succeed.' "
There is a strong probability that Hancock regretted this remark, and
felt that Trumbull was wronged; and after Col. Trumbull's service, as
aid-de-camp to Gen. Sullivan, in the attack on Rhode Island, in 1778,
when he returned to Boston overcome with fatigue and severe indispo-
sition, before he rose next morning, a visit from Gov. Hancock was
announced. " He followed the servant to my bedside," says Trumbull,
'■■ and, with great kindness, insisted that I should be removed to his house
immediately, where, if my illness should become serious, I could be
more carefully attended than was possible in a boarding-house. I made
light of my illness, and, Avith many thanks, declined his pressing invi-
tation. But it was a proud and consoling reflection, that he, who had
been President of Congress at the time of my resignation, and who
had both signed and forwarded the misdated commission which had
driven me from the service, had now witnessed my military conduct,
and seen that I was not a man to ask, but to earn, distinction." No
doubt these patriots were soon reconciled, as Gov. Hancock sat to
Trumbull for his portrait.
In 1780 Hancock was elected a member of the convention that
framed a State constitution, of which James Bowdoin was president.
At that time the people of the State were divided into two political par-
ties, with one of which the popularity of John Hancock was unbounded ;
with the other, James Bowdoin was the flivorite. "In the Hancock
party," says Josiah Quincy, " were included many of the known mal-
contents with Harvard College, — men who had no sympathy for science
ox classical education, and who were ready to oppose any proposition
for the benefit of that institution." Is not this a sweeping denuncia-
tion, too severe to credit ? On the contrary, the party of which James
Bowdoin maybe considered the exponent "included all the active
friends of that seminary, and was chiefly composed of men regarded by
the opposite faction with jealousy and fear, to some of whom Hancock
then gave the sobriquet of 'The Essex Junto,' — the delegates from
that county being among the most talented and eflEicient members of
the convention." Would it be uncandid to concede that the Hancock
party embraced a few friends of Harvard College l Did not Gov.
Hancock prove, by his public messages, the paternal interest of his
JOHN HANCOCK. 105
heart in the welfare of the college ? Does not President Quincy prove
it by his own statement, Avhere he relates that '• Gov. Hancock was
induced to allude to the necessity of legislative aid, in his speech to
the General Court, in May, 1791, and to introduce, by a special mes-
sage, the memorial of Samuel Adams and others, a committee of the
overseers and corporation, of the necessity of 'making up by the
arrearages of the usual grants to college officers, — without which, they
averred, that ' either the assessment on the students must be aug-
mented, or some of the institutions of the college must fail of support ' '?
After great debates, the subject Avas again referred to the next session
of the Legislature;" and on another occasion, in 1781, did not Han-
cock remark, that the college was, "in some sense, the parent and
nurse of the late happy revolution in this Commonwealth''?
On the adoption of the State constitution at that date, John Han-
cock was elected governor, which station he occupied until his decease,
with the exception of the years 1785 and G, when his grea.t rival,
James Bowdoin, became his successor.
One who saw John Hancock in June, 1782, relates that he had the
appearance of advanced age. He had been repeatedly and severely
afflicted Avith the gout ; probably owing in part to the custom of drink-
ing punch, — a common practice, in high circles, in those days. As
recollected at this time, Gov. Hancock was nearly six feet in height,
and of thin person, stooping a little, and apparently enfeebled by dis-
ease. His manners Avere very gracious, of the old style of dignified
complaisance. His face had been very handsome. ■ Dress Avas adapted
quite as much to be ornamental as useful. Gentlemen Avore Avigs Avhen
abroad, and, commonly, caps Avhen at home. At this time, about noon,
Hancock Avas dressed in a red velvet cap, Avithin Avhich AA'as one of fine
linen. The latter Avas turned up over the loAver edge of the velvet
one, two or three inches. He Avore a blue damask gOAvn lined Avith
silk, a Avhite stock, a white satin embroidered Avaistcoat, black satin
small-clothes, Avhite silk stockings, and red morocco slippers. It Avas
a general practice, in genteel families, to have a tankard of punch
made in the morning, and placed in a cooler Avhen the season required
it. At this visit, Hancock took from the cooler, standin"- on the
hearth, a full tankard, and drank first himself, and then oilered it to
those present. His equipage Avas splendid, and such as is not custom-
ary at this day. His apparel was sumptuously embroidered Avith gold
and silver and lace, and other decorations fashionable amongst men of
106 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
fortune of that period ; and he rode, especially upon public occasions,
"with six beautiful bay horses, attended by servants in livery. He
wore a scarlet coat, with ruffles on his sleeves, which soon became the
prevailing fiishion; and it is related of Dr. Nathan Jacques, the
famous pedestrian, of West Newbury, that he paced all the way to
Boston, in one day, to procure cloth for a coat like that of John Han-
cock, and returned with it under his arm, on foot.
Hancock was hospitable. There might have been seen, at his table,
all classes, from grave and dignified clergy, down to the gifted in song,
narration, anecdote, and wit, with whom "noiseless falls the foot of
Time, that only treads on flowers."
Madam Hancock gratified the ambition of her husband, in presiding
with so much graceful ease at his hospitable board and in the social
circle, that her presence ever infused an enlivening charm. So famed
was Hancock for hospitality, that his mansion was often thronged with
visiters ; and frequently did Madam Hancock send her maids to milk
their cows on Boston Common, early in the morning, to replenish the
exhausted supply of the previous evening. On July 28, 1796, widow
Dorothy Hancock was married, by Peter Thacher, D. D., to James
Scott, the master of a London packet, formerly in the employ of the
governor. She outlived Capt. Scott many years, and retained her
mental faculties until near the close of life. She was a lady of superior
education, and delightful powers of conversation.
Her last days were retired and secluded, in the dwelling No. 4 Fed-
eral-street, next the corner of jNIilton-place, in Boston ; and those were
most honored who received an invitation to her little supper-table.
She spoke of other days Avith cheerfulness, and seldom sighed that they
had gone. Her memory was tenacious of past times ; and there were
but few officers of the British army quartered in Boston Avhose per-
sonal appearance, habits, and manners, she could not describe with
accuracy. Her favorite was Earl Percy, whose forces encamped on
Boston Common during the winter of 1774-5; and this nobleman,
accustomed to all the luxuries of Old England, slept among his com-
panions in arms in a tent on the Common, exposed to the severity of
the weather as much as Avere they. The traces of those tents have
been visible, to a very recent jjeriod, on the Common, when the grass
was freshly springing from the earth, and the circles around the tents
were very distinct. At the dawn of day, Madam Scott related, that
JOHN HANCOCK. 107
Earl Percy's voice Avas heard drilling the regulars near the oH
mansion.
Madam Hancock had an opportunity, after the capture of Burgoyne,
of extending her courtesies to the ladies of his army, while at Cam-
bridge, under the treaty with Gates. They were gratefully received
by the fair Britons, and ever remembered. When Lafayette Avas in
Boston, during his last visit, in August, 1824, he made an early call
on Madam Scott. Those who witnessed this hearty interview speak of
it with admiration. The once youthful chevahcr and the unrivalled
belle met as if only a summer had passed since they had enjoyed
social interviews in the perils of the Revolution. While they both were
contemplating the changes effected by long time, they smiled in each
other's faces, but no allusion was made to such an ungallant subject:
yet she was not always so silent on this point. One of her young
friends complimented her on her good looks. She laughingly replied,
'•What you have said is more than half a hundred years old. ]My
ears remember it; but what were dimples once are wrinkles noAV."
To the last day of life, she Avas as attentive to her dress as Avhen first
in the circles of fashion. " She Avould ne\'er forgiA'e a young girl,"
she said, "who did not dress to please, nor one who seemed pleased
with her dress." Madam Scott died in Boston, Feb. 3, 1830, aged
83 years.
The munificence of John Hancock, in the bosom of the church, AA'as
as proverbial as it Avas in forAvarding the glory of the republic. In the
year 1772 he ofiicially proposed to contribute largely towards a new
meetino--house for Brattle-street Church, of Avhich he Avas a member.
A plan for an edifice, drawn by John S. Copley, the artist, was
rejected, because of the expense; but another, draAvn by Maj. Thomas
DaAves, father of the judge, Avas adopted. The admirers of genius Avill
ever deplore the loss of Copley's design. There Avere seventy-five
"free-gift" subscribers, of whom Gov. Bowdoin gaA^e X200, and Gov.
Hancock gave <£1000, reserving to himself the right of erecting a
mahonany pulpit and furniture, a mahogany deacon's seat and com-
munion-table, and seats for poor Avidows, and others unable to provide
for themselves. When the bell, Avhich Avas his gift also, Avas hung and
rung for the first time, Oct. 28, 1774, Aveigliing 3220 pounds, this
motto had been inscribed upon it :
"I to the Church the living call,
And to the grave I summous all."
108 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
During the years 1775-6, regiments of the British troops were
quartered in the new church, in a sugar-house to the north of it, and in
houses in the near vicinity. Dr. Cooper was often a subject of their
notice, in passing into the church at service-time, when paraded in the
square; and the provost once, in breaking open the church door,
declared that if Dr. Cooper and Dr. Warren were there, he would
break their heads. The congregation was dispersed, on the 16th of
April, 1775, when it was used as a barrack for the British regulars,
until the evacuation of Boston, March 17, 1776. Gov. Gage had his
military head-quarters opposite the church. He told Mr. Turell he
had no fear of the shot from Cambridge, for his troops, while within
such walls. The morning on which the British evacuated, Dea. New-
ell and Mr. Turell entered the church, and quenched the fires which
they had left burning. A shot which struck the tower the night before
was preserved in his family until the committee for making late repairs
had it fxstened in the tower where it had penetrated. When the Brit-
ish were about to occupy the church. Deacons Gore and Newell were
permitted to encase the pulpit and columns, and remove the body pews,
which were conveyed to the paint loft of the former. When the church
was erected, the name of "Hon. John Hancock, Esq." was inscribed
on one of the rustic quoins, of Connecticut stone, at the south-west
corner, which the royal regulars badly defaced, and the stone remains
to this day in the condition in which they left it ; and a similar inscrip-
tion, unrautilated, appears on one of the rustic quoins in the south-west
corner of the tower. Palfrey's history of the church relates most of
these facts.
Thouo-h Hutchinson relates that the estate of Hancock was lost with
greater rapidity than it was acquired, he was, at the latest period, one
of the largest owners of real estate in Boston. His ancient stone
mansion, opposite which, in the summer, a band of music played for
the people, stands on the front ground of the possessions inherited
from his uncle, bounded eastward on Beacon, from Mount Vernon to
Clapboard, now Belknap street, including the grounds of the State-
house, Hancock-avenue, and Mount Vernon-place ; and westerly,
embracing j\Iount Vernon-street, Avhich he gave to the town : a part
of Hancock-street, Avhere was his gardener's extensive nursery ; and
other laryls, including a part of Beacon Hill, now occupied for a
Cochituate Reservoir^ never before improved by any building, until it
was sold to the city in 1817 His lands were originally of orchards and
JOHX HAXCOCK. 109
pastures. Hancock was the most public-spirited person ever knoAvn
in Boston, and it is said that he sacrificed more than one hundred
thousand dollars in the cause of liberty.
There was a lofty and spacious hall on the northern wing of his
mansion, extending sixty feet, devoted to festive parties, and built of
wood. It was removed, in 1818, to Allen-street; and a complaint
beinn; entered that it endan^-ered the nei2;hljorhood, brick walls were
built around it. and the buildino; is still standins^. Public dinners,
now given at the public expense, were provided by Hancock from his
own private purse. The bill of cost for the dinner on election-day, at
Faneuil Hall, May 25, 1791, was £90 ; and for 163 bottles of wine,
also, and other items, it was £Qd Qs. 6cl. The bill was made out to
John Hancock, and paid by himself On the 6th of June following,
Gov. Hancock gave a splendid entertainment in his glorious hall, it
being election-day. Among the company present, were Col. Azor
Orne, and Solomon Davis, Esq., a merchant who resided in Tremont-
street, opposite the Savings Bank. He was very facetious. A superb
plum-cake graced the centre of the table. It Avas noticed by the
guests that Mr. Davis partook very freely of this cake ; and, more-
over, that the silver tankard of punch was greatly lightened of its
li(][uid, by liberal draughts through his lips. As was the natural habit
of jMr. Davis, he set the table in a roar ; and in one of his puns being
specially felicitous, Col. Orne remarked, "Go home, Davis, and die; —
you can never beat that ! " Mr. Davis, on his way home, fell dead, in
a fit of apoplexy, near King's Chapel, and his pockets were found
filled with plum-cake. His decease is recorded in RusselFs Centinel
of that date.
Gov. Hancock would gather in his hall all the rare wits of the town,
of whom Nathaniel Balch. a hatter, was a never-failing guest, well
known as the governor's jester. His shop was on Washington opposite
Water street ; and he would, when seated in his broad arm-chair at the
shop-door, keep his visiters in a roar at his witticisms. So strong was
the attachment of the governor towards him, that if the former were
called away, at no matter what distance. Squire Balch attended him,
like his shadow, — which we will illustrate. Hancock was called on to
visit the District of Maine, on Avhich occasion he travelled in state,
and was attended by Hon. Azor Orne, of the Council, of ^larblehcad,
and his old friend Balch. Their arrival at Portsmouth. N. H., was
thus humorously announced : On Thursday last, arrived in this town,
10
110 THE IIUXDRED BOSTOX ORATORS.
Nathaniel Balch, Esq., accompanied by His Excellency John Hancock,
and the Hon. Azor Orne, Esq.
Among the most tenacious political opponents of John Hancock was
Stephen Higginson. a nervous writer of great spirit, whose articles,
signed "Laco," in Russell's Ccntinel, effected a strong feeling. Mr.
Higginson was a merchant on Long Wharf, and passed down State-street
to his store. The truckmen who stood in State-street used great efforts
to teach a parrot, that hung in a cage at the corner of Merchant' s-row,
to recognize "Laco," and to curse him, relates Thomas ; and so com-
pletely successful were they, that pretty Poll no sooner saw Mr. Higgin-
son approach, than she began to " Hurrah for Hancock ! Down with
Laco ! " — and continued to do so until he Avas out of sight. Li con-
nection with this, we will relate another incident. One evening, early
in the year 1789, in a party, according to Russell's Centinel, consist-
ing of the advocates of Gov. Hancock and of his political opponents,
one of the latter, long famous for his unfriendly air, began a long
harangue on Hancock's unwise administration ; but before he had ended,
he observed one of the company asleep. Offended at the indignitj^, he
ceased, until the speaker's friends awoke the slumberer, who apolo-
gized, and proposed, as a reparation, to relate his dream. " Gentle-
men," said he, " I dreamed I was in the abodes of misery. The first
spirit I met was Lucifer, who, as usual for him, came to welcome me,
and asked, 'What news upon earth?' 'Not much,' said L 'What
are they doing at Boston 7 ' said he. I told him they were trying to
again elect John Hancock as governor. ' That will never do,' cried
Lucifer ; ' Jack, fetch my horse, boots, and spurs. But pray what
has become of Laco'?' 'He is there, very busy.' '0, never mind,
then. Jack ; let the horse go, and put away my boots and spurs ; for
while Laco is in Boston, there is no need of my presence. He can
perform the work of confusion to admiration, without my aid.' " This
sally of wit set the club in a roar, and the ranter was so chagrined that
he uttered no more declamation. Hancock was that year elected
governor of the Old Bay State.
It was asserted, in Russell's Centinel, that it was generally known
that privateers were fitting out of the port of Boston, and have been,
by American and French citizens, notwithstanding President Wash-
ington had proclaimed that our country was in a state of neutrality.
A town-meeting was notified, which took place on July 25, 1703.
Thomas Dawes, the moderator, called upon Mr. Benjamin Russell for
JOnX HANCOCK. Ill
his authority, on which he declared that Stephen Iligginson related the
statement. The latter roundly denied the charge. The one vras
accused of asserting -what he could not prove, and the other for print-
ing what was never stated. Mr. Russell, therefore, was impelled to
retract, saying that he had been misinformed. The editor of the Bos-
ton Mercury very pleasantly said, in his paper :
" Stephen and Ben are now both even ;
Stephen beat Ben, and Ben beat Stephen."
Gov. Hancock was elected a delegate to the Massachusetts State
Convention, on the adoption of the federal constitution. Avhich
assembled at the Rev. Jeremy Belknap's church, in Long-lane, —
afterwards named Federal-street, in honor of the convention, — Jan.
9, 1788, on which occasion Hancock was elected president, and George
Richards Minot, secretary. Hancock had been absent some days, from
illness. On the 31st day he resumed his jilace ; and, after remarking
on the diflfercnce of opinion which prevailed in the convention, he pro-
posed that the constitution should be adopted, but that it should be
accompanied by certain amendments, to be submitted to Congress. He
expressed his belief that it would be safe to adopt the constitution,
under the hope that the amendments would be ratified, which led to a
discussion on its probability. "It cannot be assumed, for certainty,"
says Sullivan, "that this measure of Hancock's secured the adoption;
but it is highly probable. The convention may have been influenced
by another circumstance. About this time, a great meeting of
mechanics was held at the Green Drai^ron Tavern, which was thronsi-ed.
At this meeting resolutions were passed, with acclamation, in favor of
the adoption. But notwithstanding Hancock's conciliatory proposal,
and this strong public expression, the constitution was adopted by the
small majority of nineteen, out of three hundred and fifty votes." On
taking this question. Gov. Hancock said : "I should have considered it
as one of the most distressing misfortunes in my life, to be deprived
of giving my aid and support to a system which, if amended, as I
feel assured it will be, according to your proposals, cannot fiiil to give
the people of the United States a greater degree of political freedom,
and eventually as much national dignity as falls to the lot of any
nation on the earth. The question now before you is such as no
nation on earth, without the limits of America, have ever had the
112 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
privilege of deciding." The proposed amendments were twelve in
number. They were submitted to the States. Ten of them were
adopted, and now form a part of the constitution of the United States.
The adoption was celebrated in Boston by a memorable procession, in
which the various orders of mechanics displayed appropriate banners.
It was hailed with joy throughout the republic. Gen. Washington is
well known to have expressed his hearty satisfaction that the import-
ant State of Massachusetts had acceded to the Union. The proces-
sion was so vast, that though Faneuil Hall could then accommodate
fifteen hundred persons, not half the people could find room to enter.
"The 'Vention did in Boston meet, —
But State-house could not hold 'em ,
So then they went to Federal-street,
And there the truth vras told 'em.
" They every morning went to prayer.
And then began disputing,
Till opposition silenced were.
By arguments refuting.
" Then Squire Hancock, like a man
"Who dearly loves the nation,
By a conciliatory plan,
Prevented much vexation.
" lie made a woundy Federal speech,
AVith sense and elocution ;
And then the 'Vention did beseech
T' adopt the constitution.
" The question being outright put.
Each voter independent.
The Federalists agreed to adopt,
And then propose amendment.
" The other party, seeing then
The people were against them.
Agreed, like honest, faithful men,
To mix in peace amongst 'em.
" The Boston folks are deuced lads.
And always full of notions ;
The boys and girls, their marms and dads,
Were filled with joy's commotions ;
JOHN HANCOCK. 113
" So straightway they procession made, —
Lord ! how nation fine, sir !
For every man of every trade
Went with his tools to dine, sir.
** John Foster Williams, in a ship.
Joined in the social band, sir ;
And made the lasses dance and skip.
To see him sail on land, sir !
•* 0 then a whopping feast began,
And all hands went to eating ;
They drank their toasts, shook hands, and sung, —
Huzza for 'Vention meeting !
" Now, politicians of all kinds.
Who are not yet derided,
Maj' see how Yankees speak their minds, -
And yet are not decided.
" Then, from this sample, let 'em cease
Inflammatory writing ;
For freedom, happiness, and peace.
Are better far than fighting.
•' So here I end my Federal song.
Composed of thirteen verses ;
May agriculture flourish long,
And commerce fill our purses."
Just three days previous to the entry of Washington into Boston, in
the year 1789, an effusion appeared in Russell's Centinel, addressed to
the citizens. Its fervor of affection must be our apology for its insertion
here :
*' The man beloved approaches nigh, —
Revere him, ye Bostonian sons !
Embrace the chance before you die.
And cannonade with all your guns.
" Let lively squibs dance through the town.
And pleasing rockets gild the air ;
There 's not a man can show a frown.
But all shall joyously appear.
" Let punch in casks profusely flow.
And wine luxuriantly be spread ;
That townsmen all, both high and low.
May hand in hand by mirth be led."
10*
114 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
We "will proceed to relate a memorable reminiscence of this reception
of President "Washington, -which discloses an instance of frailtj in
regard to etiquette on the part of Gov. Hancock.
It is well known that when Washington, with a mind oppressed with
more painful sensations than he had words to express, accepted the
presidency, and undertook the more difficult task of guiding in peace
the nation Avhich he had saved in war. he thought it a proper expression
of his respect to the republic to take the tour of his country. Where-
ever he came, he was received with every mark of honor and regard
that a grateful and confiding people could bestow. Hancock was
willing to show him attention in any way which allowed the governor
to take precedence of the president. The State, though confederate,
was sovereign; and who greater here than its chief magistrate 7 So it
'was settled, in his mind, that etiquette required his excellency to be
waited on first in his own house by the president, and not make the
.■advance to his illustrious visiter. The president, as appeared in the
result, had different ideas. On Gen. Washington's approach to Bos-
rton, Oct. 25, 1789, at some miles distance, attended by two secretaries
and six servants, he was met by the governor's suite, and an invitation
to dinner, but no governor. He intends to present himself, thought
Washington, at the suburbs ; but, on arriving at the Neck, he still
missed Gov. Hancock. The day was unusually cold and murky.
The president, with his secretaries, had been mounted for a considerable
time, waiting to enter the town. He made inquiry of the cause of
the delay ; and, on receiving information of the important difficulty, is
said to have expressed impatience. Turning to Maj. Jackson, his sec-
retary, he asked, " Is there no other avenue to the town?" and he was
in the act of turning his charger, when he was informed that he would
be received by the municipal authorities, and was conducted amidst the
universal acclamation of the people. He passed the long procession,
and reached the entrance of the State-house, but no governor. He
stopped, and demanded of the secretary if his excellency was above,
because, if he were, he should not ascend the stairs. Upon being
assured he was not, he ascended, saw the procession pass, and then
went to his lodgings. A message came from the governor's mansion
that dinner was waiting. The president declined, and dined at home.
Loud expressions of resentment were heard from all quarters at this
indignity toward the first of men, whom the town had received, on their
part, with every possible respect. They had not added an entertain-
JOHN HANCOCK. 115
ment to their plan, because this was claimed by Hancock. In the
evening, two of the Council came to Wasliington, with explanations and
apologies in behalf of the chief magistrate, — " He was not well," etc.
" Gentlemen," said Washington, " I am a frank man, and will be frank
on this occasion. For myself, you Avill believe me, I do not regard
ceremony ; but there is an etiquette due to my office which I am not
at liberty to waive. My claim to the attention that has been omitted
rests upon the question whether the whole is greater than a part. I
am told," said Washington, " that the course taken has been designed,
and that the subject was considered in Council." This was denied.
One gentleman said, however, it was observed that the President of the
United States was one personage, and the ambassador of the French
republic was another personage. "Why that remark, sir, if the sub-
ject was not before the Council?" Washington continued. '-This
circumstance has been so disagreeable and mortifying, that I must say,
notwithstanding all the marks of respect and affection received from
the inhabitants of Boston, had I anticipated it, I would have avoided
the place."
The friends of Gov. Hancock held a consultation on the matter, the
same evening ; and, in compliance with their advice, he concluded to
waive the point of etiquette, as will appear by a note written to Pres-
ident Washington :
" Sunday, 26 October, half past ticelve o'clock.
" The Governor's best respects to the President. If at home, and at
leisure, the Governor will do himself the honor to pay his respects in
half an hour. This would have been done much sooner, had his
health in any degree permitted. He now hazards everything, as it
respects his health, for the desirable purpose."
Washington's Reply.
" Sunday, 26 October, one o'clock.
"The President of the United States presents his best respects to
the Governor, and has the honor to inform him that he shall be at home
till two o'clock. The President needs not express the pleasure it will
give him to see the Governor ; but, at the same time, he most earnestly
beo;s that the Governor will not hazard his health on the occasion."
O"'
Hancock rode in his coach, without delay, enveloped in red baize,
to the lodgings of Washington, at the boarding-house of Joseph Inger-
116 THE HUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
sollj on the corner of Court and Tremont streets, to whose apartment
he was borne in the arms of attendants. Washington accepted of an
invitation to dine with Hancock, partook of a pubhc dinner of the
State authoi^ities where Hancock was not present, and attended an
oratorio of Jonah, and other pieces, in King's Chapel, on which occa-
sion he was dressed in a black suit of velvet. The profits of this
oratorio were appropriated to the expense of finishing the colonnade,
or portico, of the chapel ; and it is stated that Washington contributed
handsomely for the object.
We find the following apostrophe to Hancock, in a poetical tribute
to Washington, contained in Russell's Centinel, Oct. 31, 1789:
" Thou, too, illustrious Hancock ! by liis side
In every lowering hour of danger tried;
AVith lilm conspicuous o'er the beamy page.
Descend the theme of every future age.
When first the sword of early war we drew.
The king, presaging, fixed his eye on you;
'T was your dread finger pressed the sacred seal
AVhence rose to sovereign power the public weal !"
When Washington entered Boston, he came on horseback, dressea
in his old continental uniform, with his head uncovered. He did not
bow to the throngs that crowded around him, but sat on his horse, with
a calm, dignified air. When he dismounted, at the old State-house, he
came out on a temporary balcony at the west end. A long procession
passed before him, whose salutations he occasionally returned. A tri-
umphal arch was erected across the street at that place, and a choir of
singers were stationed there. When Washington came forward, he
was saluted by the clear, powerful voice of Daniel Rea, who sang the
ode prepared for the occasion.
There is no question that the punctilious exactness of Gov. Hancock,
in matters of etiquette, more especially in relation to the beloved Wash-
ington, had a tendency to diminish the respect for him, in the minds
of our political leaders, that they had been accustomed to extend ; and
\Yilliam Cunningham, in the famous correspondence with John Adams,
reminds him of what he himself once said of him in the summer of
1791, probably when Adams had in his mind this unfortunate affair
of Washington's reception. Some conversation respecting Hancock
led Mrs. Adams to remark that he was born near your residence, says
Cunningham, — "You turned yourself towards your frontdoor, and
JOHN HANCOCK. 117"
pointing to a spot in view, you laughingly exclaimed, ' Yes. — there "s
the place ■where the great Gov. Hancock was born.' Then, composing
your countenance, and rolling y(5ur eye, you went on with these excla-
mations : ' John Hancock ! A man without head and without heart !
— the mere shadow of a man ! — and yet a Governor of old Massachu-
setts ! ' Pausing a moment, you breathed a sigh, which sorrowed, as
plainly as a sigh could sorrow, for poor Massachusetts." Sullivan
remarks that Hancock was not supposed to be a man of great intellect-
ual force ; and we have heard it stated, by a person of political emi-
nence, that Dr. Cooper was the author of Hancock's oration on the
Massacre, and that Dr. Thacher Avrote for him his messages. More-
over, we have heard that Hon. Judge Parsons wrote for him the
resolves of the State convention on the adoption of the federal consti-
tution, which he had the reputation of preparing ; but such detracting
traditions should be received with decided impressions of disbelief It
is evident that he was an ardent friend of popular education ; as in
the first year of his administration, and in 1789, he made a persuasive
appeal to the State Legislature to provide by law for public schools,
and for suitable instruction. In relation to the opinion, of John Adams,
we have stronger evidence than the statement of Cunningham, in his
letter to Judge "William Tudor, dated June 5, 1813, contained in
Felt's Memorials of "William S. Shaw, wherein he remarks that '"the
two young men whom I have known to enter the stage of life with
the most luminous, unclouded prospects, and the best-founded hopes,
were James Otis and John Hancock. They were both essential to the
Revolution, and both fell sacrifices to it." And in another part of the
same letter, John Adams further asserts of them and Samuel Adams,
that " they were the. first movers, the most constant, steady, perse-
vering springs, agents, and most disinterested sufferers, and firmest pil-
lars, of the whole Revolution." Moreover, John Adams remarked, in
a letter to Rev. Jedediah Morse, D. D., written in 1818, as follows :
"Of Mr. Hancock's life, character, generous nature, great and disin-
terested sacrifices, and important services, if I had forces, I should
be glad to Avrite a volume. But this, I hope, will be done by some
younger and abler hand." It is honor enough to John Hancock,
that his daring patriotism, in the direst period of his country's perils,
rendered him especially obnoxious to the British throne.
Old ^lassachusetts is greatly indebted to Gov. Hancock for his efii-
cient measures in the suppression of Shays' Rebellion, which occurred
118 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
in 1786, and for the withdi-awal of three hundred pounds of his salary
as governor, which act of patriotism and generosity elicited the public
thanks of the General Court.
In the year 1792, a company of comedians, under the direction of
Charles Powell, arrived at Boston from London, and established theat-
rical entertainments in a stable, in Board-alley, fitted up for the occa-
sion. A law having been in existence ever since 1750 against such
amusements, the exhibitions were advertised under the covert name of
Moral Lectures. Gov. Hancock was highly offended at such a trans-
gression, and made it a special topic of censure in his message to the
Legislature, stating that it was an open breach of the laws, and a most
contemptuous insult upon the government, advising that these aliens
and foreigners be brought to condign punishment. A writer in the
Chronicle of Nov. 22, indignant not only that foreigners should palm
themselves on a republican people, but also with " tales of love between
my Lord and Lady, or Sir Charles and his Maid," in this land of lib-
erty and equality, as preachers of moral lectures, thus versifies :
" Bostonians !
• Shall a lawless Bandittis, the faeces.
The refuse of a degenerate i^eople,
Pass unnoticed, and be suffered
To triumph over the opinions,
And the long, well-established maxims
Of our venerable ancestors ?
Shall vile minions, from a foreign land.
Affect to treat with open, marked contempt,
The mild influence of our government.
In the prevention of those evils
Which experience and well-known prudence
Long since stampt by the slow finger of time,
'With wisdom and success ?
What insult is not to be awaited
From men, who, regardless of their honor.
Trample upon our laws, — our sacred rights, —
When the history of whose lives would put
Modesty and every kindred virtue
To the blush ! ' Philo Dkajviatis."
On "Wednesday, Dec. 3d inst., there was advertised to be performed,
at the New England Exhibition-room, Board-alley, Eeats on the Tight
Rope ; after which, a Moral Lecture — The True-born Irishman, or
Irish Fine Lady, etc. On that evening, on the complaint of IMr. Sul-
livan, the Attorney -general, Jeremiah Allen, the sheriff of Suffolk,
JOHN HANCOCK. 119
arrested Mr. Harper, one of the company of comedians who for some
time past had entertained the people of Boston, as guiltj of a breach
of the laAV, and held him to bail to appear the next day before the
justices, and enter into recognizance to appear at the next Supreme
Court. At the period of the scene Bosworth Field, in Richard the
Third, the sheriff came unceremoniously forward upon the stage, and
made prisoner the humpbacked tyrant, and declared, unless the per-
formances ceased, he should forthwith arrest the whole company.
Much excitement ensued, and the citizens trod under foot the portrait
of Hancock, that hung in front of the stage-box. A loud call ensued
for the performance to proceed, but the actors advised the audience
quietly to withdraw, and receive the entrance-pay. The performances
were discontinued until the last day of that year, when the law was
abolished ; and it is said that many attended, at that time, armed with
weapons. The building on Federal-street was shortly after erected for
stage-plays.
' To return : The examination was held at Faneuil Hall, when
Attorney Sullivan read a special order from Gov. Hancock. H. G.
Otis, counsel for Harper, objected to the legality of the warrant, as
contrary to the 14th article of the Declaration of Rights, which requires
that no warrants shall be issued except upon complaints made on oath.
Mr. Tudor, also of his counsel, supported Mr. Otis, which was com-
bated by Mr. Sullivan. The justices acceded, and the defendant was
discharged, amid loud applause.
The last appearance of Gov. Hancock in the presence of the State
Legislature occurred in the afternoon of Sept. 18, 1793, in the old
State-house, in State-street, when, owing to debility, he was brought
in attended by Mr. Secretary Avery and Sheriff Allen. Being seated,
Gov. Hancock informed the Legislature that the condition of his health
would not permit him to address them in the usual way. He there-
fore hoped they Avould keep their seats, and requested their indulgence
while the Secretary of State would read his address, as his infirmity
rendered it totally impossible for him to speak so as to be heard.
Eager to maintain the rights of the people, he had summoned the Leg-
islature to decide on the important question of the suability of the
States, or rather, the sovereignty of ^NLissachusetts. It was viewed as
rather remarkable that he should summon a special session for this
object, as before the period to which tho Court ^Yas prorogued it was
120 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATOES.
ordained that Hancock should be numbered -with the dead, — as if it
were the intention of Heaven that the man who had ever been fore-
most in asserting the liberties of the States, should be first to check
any encroachment on their sovei'eignty and independence.
After Secretary Avery had finished reading this valuable and per-
tinent speech, Gov. Hancock made the following truly pathetic apol-
ogy, with a tone of voice which at once demonstrated the sincerity of
his heart, and which could not fail of making a deep impression on the
mind of every spectator. Hancock said : "I beg pardon of the hon-
orable Legislature, and I rely on your candor, gentlemen, to forgive
this method of addressing you. I feel the seeds of mortality growing
fast within me ; but I think I have, in this case, done no more than
my duty, as the servant of the people. I never did, and I never will,
deceive thera, Avhile I have life and strength to act in their service."
Whilst Great Britain dwells with enthusiasm, says the Chronicle, on
the death of Chatham, who expired amid his fellow-peers, in making
one glorious effort to save his country from impending ruin, let Mas-
sachusetts remember, and to the latest posterity be it known, that Gov.
Hancock met his constituents, in General Assembly convened, when he
was unable to articulate, except a few broken, pathetic sentences, and
there delivered to the Senate and Representatives, through the medium
of his secretary, the last political legacy of the dying patriot, replete
with sentiments which deserve to be engraven on the pillars of time.
The Legislature concurred in the opinion of Hancock, that a State was
sovereign and independent, and not suable. This last exalted scene
was worthy the pencil of Trumbull, and beamed with brighter glories
than the death of Chatham.
The Assembly rose. Hancock was conveyed to his carriage, and
taken to his residence, but never again appeared in public. His
decease occurred Oct. 8, 1793, at the age of fifty-six, of gout and
exhaustion. The corpse was embowelled, and remained unburied for
eight days, to give an opportunity for the citizens, from remote parts
of the State, to render the last tribute of respect to liis memory ; and
they came in tens of thousands. The procession was an hour and one
half in passing along, and it Avas conducted with great ceremony.
Samuel Adams, who was lieutenant-governor, followed the bier as
chief mourner ; but the venerable patriot could not endure the fatigue,
and on reaching State-street was compelled to retire from the proces-
sion.
JOHN HANCOCK. 121
" As the dead patriot's honored relics passed.
The pomp was darkened, and the scene o'ercast;
The world of pleasure passed unheeded by,
And tears of soitow stood in every eye."
The militia of the town and the country added to the imposing effect
of the scene. The judges of the Supreme Judicial Court had, to this
period, worn immense Avigs and broad bands above robes of scarlet
English cloth, faced with black velvet, in winter, and black silk gowns,
in summer. On this occasion they appeared in the latter, with their
broad, flowing wigs ; the barristers, also, were in black gowns and club
wigs. There is a tradition in the family, that on the night after the
funeral of Hancock, the tomb, located in the Granary, was forcibly
entered, and the right hand of Hancock was severed from the arm, and
taken away. This rumor is probably unfounded, as when, in the year
1841, the remains were gathered, together with the relics of his only
son, and carefully deposited in a new cofSn, no missing hand was
observed. Peace to the manes of our American Trajan ! May his
grave, like his fame, bloom forever ! No monument has ever been
erected to the memory of John Hancock; and in the New York Mer-
chant's Magazine of December, 1840, is a brief memoir of Hancock,
written by George Mountfort, Esq., a native of Boston, in which it is
proposed that a statue of John Hancock should be erected in the
building of the Merchant's Exchange, on Wall-street, remarking :
" Let an American sculptor breathe into chiselled marble the soul, and
invest it with the form, of him who should be the merchant's pride
and boast ; and let it stand the presiding genius of a temple reared
and consecrated to the commercial interests of our great city." How
much more seemly is it that the sons of the Old Bay State erect an
exquisite marble statue to the memory of this most eminent patriot
and munificent Bostonian, either over, his unhonored remains in the
Granary, or in the near view of that to Bowditch, at Mount Auburn,
the sacred forest of monuments !
Thy political reputation, Hancock, says Benjamin Austin, Avill ever
be revered by the republicans of America ! Thou wilt live, illustrious
spirit, in the hearts of thy countrymen ; and while liberty and the
rights of thy country are duly estimated, thy name will be held in
grateful remembrance. The proscription of George the Third is a
"mausoleum" to thy memory, which will survive a ponderous mon-
ument of marble !
11
122 THE HUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
ON JOHN HANCOCK.
BY CHAPMAN -WHITCOMB. 1795.
Jove, armed in thunder, ne'er appeared more great.
Old Delai Lama, on his throne of state,
Had not more votaries, no Turkish Dey,
Nor eastern sage, had more respect than he ;
His house the scat of hospitality.
And famed for alms and deeds of charity.
Noble his mien, and elegant his air ;
Comely his person, and his visage fair ;
Old Cato's virtues did his actions grace,
Courtiers were awed, and senators gave place ;
Knowledge and dignity shone in his face.
PETER THACHER, D. D.
MARCH 6, 1776. ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
As Boston was at tbis time garrisoned by tbe Britisb regulars, and
the patriotic inbabitants were in tbe country, a meeting was assembled
in tbe meeting-bouse at Watertown, at ten A. M., Marcb 5, 1776, and
after cboosing tbe Hon. Benjamin Austin moderator, and after a fer-
vent prayer by Rev. Dr. Cooper, tbe Rev. Peter Thacber delivered an
oration, Avbich was received witb universal approbation, it being tbe
anniversary of Preston's Massacre, says tbe New England Cbronicle,
effected " by a band of rufSans sent bitber by George, tbe brutal tyrant
of Britain, in order to execute bis infernal plans for enslaving a free
people." Tbe oration was published by Benjamin Edes, at Watertown.
Boston being occupied by tbe royabsts at tbis day, there was no lan-
tern exhibition, or other transparencies, wbicb had previously occurred
at the inn of Mrs. ]Mary Clapbam. an antique, spacious, two-story brick
house located on tbe site of tbe present Merchant's Bank. Many
British officers boarded with Mrs. Clapbam, who bad several beautiful
daughters, one of whom eloped with one of the officers, and is said to
have become bis wife.
PETER THACIIER, D. D. 123
In the patriotic performance before us, it is remarked : " English-
men have been M'ont to boast of the excellence of their constitution. —
to boast that it contained whatever was excellent in every form of gov-
ernment hitherto bj the wit of man devised. In their king, whose
power was limited, they have asserted that they enjoyed the advantages
of monarchy, without fear of its evils ; while their House of Commons,
chosen by the suffrages of the people, and dependent upon them, repre-
sented a republic, their House of Peers, forming a balance of power
between the king and the people, gave them the benefit of an aristoc-
racy. In theory, the British constitution is, on many accounts,
excellent ; but Avhen we observe it reduced to practice, — when we
observe the British government, as it has been for a long course
of years administered, — we must be con\anced that its boasted advan-
tages are not real. The management of the public revenue, the
appointment of civil and military officers, are vested in the king.
Improving the advantages which these powers give him, he hath
found means to corrupt the other branches of the legislature. Britons
please themselves with the thought of being free. Their tyrant suffers
them to enjoy the shadow, whilst he himself grasps the substance, of
power. Impossible would it have been for the kings of England to
have acquired such an exorbitant power, had they not a standing-
army under their command. With the officers of this army, they have
bribed men to sacrifice the rights of their country. Having artfully
got their arms out of the hands of the people, with their mercenary
forces they have awed them into submission. When they have appeared
at any time disposed to assert their freedom, these troops have been
reajdy to obey the mandates of their sovereign, to imbrue their hands in
the blood of their brethren. Having found the efficacy of this method
to quell the spirit of liberty in the people of Great Britain, the right-
eous administration of the righteous King George the Third determined
to try the experiment upon the people of xVmerica. To fright us into
submission to their unjustifiable claims, they sent a military force to
the town of Boston. This day leads us to reflect upon the fatal effects
of the measure. By their intercourse with the troops, made up in gen-
eral of the most abandoned of men, the morals of our youth were
corrupted ; the temples and the day of our God were scandalously pro-
faned ; we experienced the most provoking insults ; and at length saw
the streets of Boston strewed with the corpses of five of its inhabit-
ants, murdered in cool blood by the British mercenaries."
124 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
This pathetic allusion herewith to the death of Warren should ever
appear in the record of the times : " This day, upon which the gloomy
scene was first opened, calls upon us to mourn for the heroes who have
already died on the bed of honor, fighting for God and their countrj'.
Especially does it lead us to recollect the name and the virtues of Gen,
Warren ; — the kind, the humane, the benevolent friend, in the private
walks of life, — the inflexible patriot, the undaunted commander, in his
public sphere, — deserves to be recollected with gratitude and esteem !
This audience, acquainted in the most intimate manner with his num-
berless virtues, must feel his loss, and bemoan their beloved, their
intrusted fellow-citizen. Ah ! my countrymen, what tender, what
excruciating sensations, rush at once upon our burdened minds, when
we recall his loved idea. When we reflect upon the manner of liis
death, — when we fancy that we see his savage enemies exulting o'er
his corpse, beautiful even in death, — when we remember that, desti-
tute of the rites of sepulture, he was cast into the ground, without the
distinction due to his rank and merit, — we cannot restrain the startinrr
tear — we cannot^ repress the bursting sigh ! We mourn thine exit,
illustrious shade ! with undissembled grief; we venerate thine exalted
character ; we will erect a monument to thy memory in each of our
grateful breasts, and to the latest ages will teach our tender infants to
lisp the name of Warren with veneration and applause ! "
Rev. Peter Thacher was born at Milton, March 21, 1752. He was
a son of Oxenbridge Thacher, who published a tract, in 1764, entitled
" The Sentiments of a British American, occasioned by the Act to
lay certain Duties on the British Colonies," Avherein he remarks :
" Trade is a nice and delicate lady; she must be courted and won by
soft and fair addresses ; she will not bear the rude hand of a ravisher.
Penalties increased, heavy taxes laid on, the checks and oppressions of
violence removed, — these things must drive her from her pleasant
abode." Our tracts were of no avail with Parliament, and the Stamp
Act was passed in the next year. John Adams writes of Thacher, that
" From 1758 to 1765 I attended every superior and inferior court in
Boston, and recollect not one in which he did not invite me home to
spend evenings with him, when he made me converse with him as well
as I could on all subjects of religion, mythology, cosmogony, metaphys- ''
ics, — Locke, Clarke, Leibnitz, Bolingbroke, Berkley, — the preestab-
lished harmony of the universe, the nature of matter and of spirit, and
the eternal establishment of coincidences between their operations, fate,
I
PETER THACIIER, D, D. 125
foreknowledge absolute, — and we reasoned on sucli unfathomable sub-
jects, as high as Milton's gentry in pandemonium ; and v;e understood
them as well as they did, and no better. But his favorite sul)ject Avas
politics, and the impending threatening system of parliamentary taxa-
tion, and universal government over the colonies. On this subject he
was so anxious and agitated, that I have no doubt it occasioned his
premature death."
Young Peter entered the Boston Latin School in 1763, graduated
at Harvard College in 1769, and was a school-teacher at Chelsea soon
after that date. From his childhood he had devoted himself to the
ministry of religion ; and his whole mind, as it expanded, had formed
itself to this work. The father of Rev. Aaron Green, formerly of
Maiden, being intimate with him, invited him to pass the Sabbath with
him. playfully remarking, "You had better bring a couple of sermons
with you, for perhaps we shall make you preach." Accordingly, it
came about that he officiated at the morning service. His youthful and
engaging mien, his silvery voice and golden eloquence, so charmed the
disturbed elements of this divided church, that, during the intermis-
sion, it was decided, by acclamation, that he was* the man to heal the
dissensions, and he became their pastor in 1770. During his resi-
dence in that town, he took an active part in the measure which
effected the Revolution ; and wrote, at the request of the Massachusetts
Committee of Safety, a Narrative of the Battle of Bunker Hill, dated
June 25, 1775, published in the journals of the Provincial Congress,
of which he was a member, and said to be the best statement of that
battle ever prepared. Dr. Thacher drafted, also, the spirited resolves
and revolutionary instructions recorded on the Maiden records of
1775. He was a delegate to the i\Iassachusetts Convention of 1780,
and strenuously contended against establishing the office of Governor
of the State ; and, when the matter was decided contrary to his wishes,
he still objected to the title of " His Excellency," which was given to
the chief magistrate ; — but when the constitution was adopted, he
gave it his decided support. He was often a chaplain of the State
Lesiislature.
On the 8th of October, 1770, Mr. Thacher married the widow
Elizabeth Pool, and had ten children, of whom were .Rev. Thomas
Gushing, minister of Lynn, and Hon. Peter Oxenbridge, judge of the
Boston Municipal Court.
AVhen Mr. Thacher was invited to the Brattle-street Church, the
11*
126 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
good people of Maiden did not relinquish their admired pastor without
a struo;o;le. After much excited negotiation, it was agreed that the
Brattle-street Church should pay the debt of the INlalden Church,
amounting to a thousand dollars, — a debt undoubtedly contracted in
consccjuence of the general depression of the Revolution. His preach-
ing -was direct, practical, and earnest ; and, like Samuel Cooper, his
predecessor of Brattle-street Church, he possessed, in singular excel-
lence, the gift of prayer ; and so charmed with him was George Whit-
field, that ho called him "The Young Elijah." And it is related of
his brother. Rev. Thomas Thacher, of Dcdham, a man of strong intel-
lectual powers, that he once remarked of him, " I know brother Peter
excels me in prayer, but I can give the best sermons." We have
heard it stated, that when Rev. Peter Thacher first appeared in the
flowing silk gown and bands given him by John Hancock, and read
from the elegant Bible in the new mahogany pulpit, — also the gift of
the generous governor, — and the people listened to the musical tones
of his voice, reasoning for the best interests of the soul, in the graceful
gestures of oratoiy, he efiected a deep impression. He was settled in
Boston, Jan. 12, 1785. and with him orthodoxy departed from Brat-
tle-street Church. He was a frequent inmate of Hancock's festive
board, who was his parishioner. The degree of Doctor of Divinity,
from the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, was conferred upon
him. Being; afilictcd with an affection of the lunges, he \nsited Savan-
nah, Ga., where he died in six weeks after leaving home. A eulogy
on his character was pronounced, Dec. 31, 1802, by Rev. William
Emerson, at Brattle-street Church ; and a brief memoir was written by
Gov. Sullivan, who was his parishioner and devoted admirer. He pub-
lished twenty pamphlets of a religious and political character, written
in an easy and famihar style.
♦' There is a history in all men's lives,
Figuring the nature of the times deceased ;
The which observed, a man may prophesy.
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life; which, in their
Seeds and weak beginnings, lie entreasured.
Such things become the hatch and brood of time."
}
PEREZ MORTON. 127
PEREZ MORTON.
APRIL 8, 1776. OVER THE REMAINS OF WARREN.
The first object of public interest to the Bostonians, after the evac-
uation of the British troops, was the recovery of the remains of the
beloved Warren. Thej were found on the heights of Charlestown.
According to Rees' Cyclopedia, '-a native of Great Britain, who was
in Boston at the time of the battle, came to the friends of Warren, ten
months after that period, and told them he could point out the spot
where the remains were deposited. He was offered a reward, if his
information should be correct ; and two brothers of the general, with
some other gentlemen, accompanied him to the field. A sexton com-
menced digging on the spot he pointed out, and a corpse soon began
to appear. The brothers, unable to remain longer, retired, having
informed the other gentlemen that their brother might be distinguished
by a particular false tooth. He was identified accordingly." We
are credibly informed, that the Rev. Andrew Eliot, D.D., who, accord-
ing to his private diary, received of the munificent Hancock, in the
year 1777, a three-cornered hat, a wig, a fine suit of clothes, and a
cask of Madeira wine, has related to his son, Dr. Ephraim Eliot, that
a barber, who was accustomed to dress the head of General Warren,
being on the battle-ground at the time of the burial of those who were
killed on Bunker's Hill, accidentally recognized the body of Warren,
just as the British regulars were in the act of throwing it into a grave,
over another body, and on his stating the fact to them, they wrapped
a mat around his remains previous to covering up the earth ; and this
was probably the individual alluded to in the Cyclopedia.
" No useless coffin enclosed his breast, —
Not in sheet or in shroud they -wound him ;
But he liiy, lil^e a -wiwrior taking liis rest,
With his martial cloak around him."
We have reason to believe that the above relation is mainly correct ; and
we have gathered from Dr. John C. Warren, a nephew of the general,
the followino; statement of additional facts :
The remains of Gen. Warren were deposited in a grave under a
locust-tree, and the spot is now designated in gilt letters on a granite
128 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
stone in the ground. They were interred beside the body of a butcher, on
the day subsequent to the fatal contest, and were personally identified,
on the April succeeding, by Dr. John Warren, and El)enezer Warren,
Esq., the brothers of the general, who readily recognized a false tooth,
secured by wires, in the place of an eye-tooth which had been pre-
viously removed ; and, although his body and that of the butcher were
reduced to skeletons, the discovery of the false tooth, which was famil-
iar to their eyes, and the aperture in the skull, together with the froclc
of the butcher, which remained entire, satisfied them that they witnessed
the precious relics of their brother ; and they were removed to Boston,
where they were entombed in the family vault of Hon. George Rich-
ards Minot, adjoining the tomb of Governor Hancock, in the Granary
Burying-ground, and directly in the rear of the residence of Dr. John
C. Warren. On turning to the letters of Mrs. Abigail Adams, we find
it stated, under date of April 7, 1776 : "Yesterday, the remains of our
worthy General Warren Avere dug up upon Bunker's Hill, and carried
into town, and on Monday are to be interred with all the honors of
war."
A procession was formed, on the 8th inst., at the State-house, in
Kinw-street, consistino; of a detachment of the continental forces, a
numerous body of the Free and Accepted Masons, the mourners, mem-
bers of the General Assembly, selectmen, and citizens of the town.
The pall was supported by Hon. Gen. Ward, Brig. Gen. Frye, Dr.
Morgan, Col. Gridley, Hon. Mr. Gill, and J. Scollay, Esq. The
remains Avere conveyed into King's Chapel, and a very pertinent prayer
was offered by the Rev. Dr. Cooper, after an excellent dirge. Presi-
dent Adams' lady wrote on the occasion, and remarked at the time, in |
relation to the orator : "I think the subject must have inspired him.
A young fellow could not have wished a finer opportunity to display
his talents. The amiable and heroic virtues of the deceased, recent in
the minds of the audience ; the noble cause to which he fell a martyr ;
their own sufferings and unparalleled injuries, all fresh in their minds,
must have given weight and energy to whatever could be delivered on
the occasion. The dead body, like that of Caesar, before their eyes,
whilst each wound,
' Like dumb mouths, did ope tlieir ruby lips
To beg the voice and utterance of a tongue : ,
Woe to the hands that shed this costly blood
A curse shall light upon their line.' "
.i\
4
PEREZ MORTON. 129
Indeed, this oration of INIorton over the remains of "Warren instinct-
ively reminds one of the oration of Mark Antony over the remains of
Juhus Cresar : and the occasion and the scene were of equal sublimity.
The coming apostrophe, taken from the exordium of this splendid
eulogy, must have deeply awakened the sensibility of the audience :
"Illustrious relics!
"What tidings from the grave? Why hast thou left the peaceful
mansions of the tomb, to visit again this troubled earth 7 Art thou
the welcome messenger of peace 7 Art thou risen again to exhibit thy
glorious wounds, and through them proclaim salvation to thy country 1
Or art thou come to demand that last debt of humanity to which your
rank and merit have so justly entitled you, but which has been so long;
ungenerously withheld '? And art thou angry at the barbarous usage 7
Be appeased, sweet ghost ! for, though thy body has long laid undis-
tinguished among the vulgar dead, scarce privileged with earth enough
to hide it from the birds of prey, — though not a kindred tear was
dropped, though not a friendly sigh was uttered, o'er thy grave, — and
though the execrations of an impious foe were all thy funeral knells, —
yet, matchless patriot ! thy memory has been embalmed in the affec-
tions of thy grateful countrymen, who, in their breasts, have raised
eternal monuments to thy bravery ! " In another passage, Morton
exclaims: "Like Harrington he Avrote, — like Cicero he spoke, — like
Hampden he hved, — and like Wolfe he died ! "
A few years since, the remains of Gen. Warren were removed from
the tomb of the Minots to the family tomb of his nephew, Dr. Joha
C. Warren, under St. Paul's Church. His skull is in a careful state-
of preservation.
Perez jNIorton was born at Plymouth, Nov. 13, 1751. His father
settled at Boston, and was keeper of the White Horse Tavern, opposite
Hay ward-place, and died in 1793. The son entered the Boston Latin
School in 1760, and graduated at Harvard College in 1771, when he
studied law ; but the revolutionary war prevented his engaging in the
practice, and he took an active part in the cause of freedom. In 1775
he was one of the Committee of Safety, 'and in the same year became
deputy-secretary of the province. After the war, he opened an office
as an attorney at law, at his residence in State-street, on the present
site of the Union Bank. In 1778 he married Sarah Wcntworth
Apthorp, at Quincy, noted by Paine as the American Sappho. Mr.
Morton was a leader of the old Jacobin Club, which held meetings at
130 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
the Green Dragon Tavern, and became a decided Democrat. A polit-
ical poet of Boston thus satirizes Perez Morton :
" Perez, thou art in earnest, thougli some doubt thee !
In truth, the Club could never do without thee I
My reasons thus I give thee in a trice, —
You want their votes, and they want your advice !
"Thy tongue, shrewd Perez, favoring ears insures, —
The cash elicits, and the vote secures.
Thus the ftit oyster, as the poet tells.
The lawyer ate, — his clients gained the shells."
Mr. Morton was Speaker of the House from 1806 to 1811, and was
attorney-general from 1810 to 1832 ; was a delegate from Dorches-
ter to the convention for revising the State constitution, in 1820, and
■was vigorous in general debate. He died at Dorchester, Oct. 14, 1837.
He was an ardent patriot, an eloquent speaker, of an elegant figure
.and polished manners.
BENJAMIN HIGHBORN.
MARCH 5, 1T77. ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
We will cite a passage from this performance, which was delivered
:at the old brick meeting-house, to indicate its patriotic spirit: "We can
■easily conceive," says Mr. Hichborn, " a mixture of prejudice and fear,
that will excite such awful ideas of the person to whom we have been
taught from our cradles to annex the properties of a most gracious
isovereign, most sacred majesty, and a train of such God-like attributes,
as would make us feel conscious of a degree of impiety in calling a
villain by his proper name, while shrouded under this garb of sanctity.
But it is exceedingly diverting to view the influence of this chimerical
•divinity in those who are made the immediate tools of supporting it.
They will tell you it is a task most ungrateful to men of their sensibil-
ity and refinement, to be made the instruments of sending fire and
death indiscriminately among the innocent, the helpless, and the fair,
—but they have sworn to be faithful to their sovereign, and, were they
BENJAMIN niCIIBORN. 131
ordered to scale the walls of the new Jerusalem, tlicy should not dare
to decline the impious attempt.
" Were it not for this ridiculous faith in the omnipotence of the tyrant
whom they serve, we must suppose them fools or madmen. Indeed,
that very faith would justify the charge of extreme madness and folly
against all mankind who had not been nurtured in this cradle of
infatuation. Were it not for the indulgence that a generous mind
will always show to the weakness and prejudices of the worst of men,
many whom the chance of war has thrown into our hands must have felt
the severity and contempt of a justly enraged people, while they, with
all their vanity and ostentation, remain the unhurt objects of our pity.
"It is surely rather a subject of merry ridicule, than deserving of
serious resentment, to see many of this kind of gentry affecting to
deny the character of prisoners, and attributing that indulgence, Avhich
is the effect of unparalleled generosity, to the mean motive of fear ; but
we will let them know that they cannot provoke us even to justice in
the line of punishment, and we leave them to their own consciences,
and the impartial censures of surrounding nations, to make some
returns for the unexampled cruelties that many of our friends have
suffered from their barbarous hands, — in lieu of that severity which,
however just, humanity shudders to inflict. But we cannot think it
strange to find people, in the subordinate departments of life, influ-
enced by such ridiculous notions, Avhile their haughty masters seem to
labor under the misfortune of the same infatuation."
Benjamin Hichborn was born at Boston, Feb. 24, 1746, graduated
at Harvard College in 17G8, was admitted to the bar July 27th of
that 3'ear, and became an eminent barrister. lie was ardent in the
cause of the Revolution, and one of the most fearless, dauntless patri-
ots. In 1775, a Tory wrote of him as a prisoner on board the Pres-
ton, and, as a 3'oung lawyer, standing a fair -chance for the gallows.
He was imprisoned on board of a ship of war in Boston harbor, and a
note of his oration thus alludes to the fact :
" Capt. Johnson and his crew, the prisoners in general at New York
and Halifax, i\Ir. Lovell and many others in Boston, are instiinces suf-
ficient to destroy the little creclit the British ever had for humanity ;
and the sufferings of some to which I myself have been a witness,
exposed to all the inconveniences and hazards of a languishing disease
in confinement on ship-board, in view of the persons and habitations
of their nearest friends, and a sympathizing parent turned over the side,
132 THE nUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
with reproaches for attempting to speak to his sick, suffering, dying
child, must give the characters of the polite, sensible, humane Admiral
Graves, and his nephew Sam, a stamp of infamy which the power of
time can never wipe away."
When Mr. Hichborn took his degree at the college, his commence-
ment part was in Latin : "An Crimen, non Republics noxium, Cogni-
tioni humanoe subjici dcbeat?" He married Hannah Gardner, March
2, 1780, the widow of Benjamin Andrews, a hardware merchant,
whom tradition relates he shot with a pistol at the dinner-table of her
husband, stating he was not aAvare that the pistol was loaded with ball.
To obviate the tendency of the imputation against him, Ave quote from
the Boston Gazette of Jan. 11, 1779, the following relation of the
unfortunate death of Benjamin Andrews, which occurred on the Sat-
urday evening previous : " Sitting in his parlor, with his lady and a
friend, he had been comparing an elegant pair of pistols, which he had
bought the preceding day, with a pair which he had some time before,
and Avhich Avere supposed to be unloaded. Upon one of these Mr.
Andrews observed some rust in a place left for the engraver to mark
the owner's name upon. His fi-iend undertook to rub it off. Having
accomplished it, he was returning the pistol to Mr. Andrews, who was
sitting in a chair at the table by the fireside. Unhappily, as he took
it from his friend, INIr. Andrews grasped it in such a manner as
brought his thumb upon the trigger, which happened to have no guard,
and it instantly discharged its contents into his head, near his temple,
and he expired in less than half an hour. It is remarkable that a few
minutes before he had taken the screw-pins from both these pistols,
and one of them almost to pieces ; and had handled them without any
caution, and in every direction against his own body, and those who
were in the room with him." The verdict of the jury of inquest was,
that Mv. Andrews came to his death by misfortune.
As colonel of the Cadets of Boston, he marched to Rhode Island
in 1778. Mr. Hichborn was a representative of Boston, a democrat
of the old school, and a warm advocate of Jefferson. INIany famous
lawyers read law in his office. He died at Dorchester, Sept. 15, 1817.
A witty political poet of Boston, in 1795, thus alludes to Hichborn
in a poem, "The Lyars," which, when pubhshed, excited furious riots:
" Sooner shall Vinal in his school remain,
Or Hewes, my pack-horse, common sense attain ;
Soonei- shall Morton's speeches seem too long.
Or Hichborn to lay a tax upon the tongue ,
JONATHAN WILLIAMS AUSTIN. 133
Sooner shall Language 'scape the clam-like lip
Of Tommy Edwards, ere he drinks his flip ;
Sooner shall Dexter use a word uncouth,
Than Dr. Jarvis ever speak the ti'uth."
JONATHAN WILLIAMS AUSTIN.
MARCH 5, 1778. ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
Jonathan Williams Austin was born at Boston, April 18, 1751.
He entered the Latin School 1759, graduated at Harvard College
17G9. The first English exercise at this college, it is said, on com-
mencement day, July, 1769, was a dialogue between Mr. Austin and
"William Tudor. He read law Avith John Adams at the same period.
Adams wrote to Washington of Austin, who had the command at
Castle William in 1776, that he was a young man of real genius and
great activity.
Mr. Austin was the first witness examined in the trial of the Brit-
ish soldiers for the murder of the victims on the 5th of March, 1770.
He is recorded as clerk to John Adams, Esq., and recognized one
William McCauley, a prisoner at the bar. He related as follows :
"On the evening of the 5th of March last, I heard the bells ring, and
immediately went into King-street.*' In answer to the question how
many people Avere present on his entrance there, he replied, "There
might be twenty or thirty, I believe. I saw the sentry at the custom-
house door, swinging his gun and bayonet. There were a parcel of
men and boys round him. I desired them to come away, and not
molest the sentry. Some of them came ofiF, and went to the middle
of the street. I then left them, and went up towards the main guard.
Immediately a party came down. I walked by the side of them till I
came to the sentry-box, at the custom-house. jNIcCauley then got to
the right of the sentry-box ; he Avas then loading his piece. I Avas
about four feet off. McCauley said, ' Damn you, stand off ! ' and pushed
his bayonet at me. I did so. Immediately I heard the report of a gun.
He came round the sentry-box, and stood close to it on the right. I
stood inside the gutter, close by the box, Avhich Avas thi-ee or four feet
12
134 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
from the corner of tlie custom-liouse." In ans\Yer to the question
hoAV many guns did you hear fired, Mr. Austin replied that there were
five or six. Mr. Austin was admitted to Suftblk bar July 27, 1772.
We cannot find that Mr. Austin was ever married ; we infer, how-
ever, from an " Epitaph for Himself," as follows, that matrimony was
a subject near his heart, — but he was removed in early life :
" I had my failings, be the truth confest ;
And, reader, canst thou boast a blameless breast '
Nor hold me all defect ; I had a mind
That wished all happiness to all mankind, —
That more than Tvished, — the little in my power
I cheered the sorrowing, soothed the dying hour.
Yearned, though in vain, to save life's parting thread,
Which mourned the pious, more the vicious, dead.
Spare me one tear, and then, kind reader, go ;
Live foe to none, and die without a foe.
Live, and, if possible, enlarge thy plan ;
Not live alone, — die, too, the friend of man.
And when our dust obeys the trumpet's call.
He '11 prove our friend who lived and died for all."
He was an elegant writer, and an eloquent speaker. He was a
member of the Middlesex Convention, in 1774, and chairman of the
committee that prepared resolutions adopted by the convention. He
was author of Poetical and Political Essays, and a colonel in the army
of the Revolution. He died in a southern State, in 1779.
The patriotic oration of Mr, xVustin, delivered at the Old Brick,
burns warm with pure love of country, and we select one passage to
the point: "It is standing armies in time of peace, and the conse-
quences thence resulting, that we deprecate. Armies, in defence of
our country unjustly invaded, are necessary, and in the highest sense
justifiable. We. my friends, attacked by an arbitrary tyrant, under
the sanction of a force the efiects of which we have attempted to illus-
trate, have been obliged to make the last solemn appeal. And I can-
not but feel a pleasing kind of transport, when I see America, undaunted
by the many trying scenes that have attended her, still baffling the
efibrts of the most formidable power in Europe, and exhibiting an
instance unknown in history. To see an army of veterans, who had
fought and conquered in different quarters of the globe, headed by a
general tutored in the field of war, illustrious by former victories, and
flushed with repeated successes, threatening, with all the pomp of
WILLIAM TUDOR. 135
expression, to spread havoc, desolation, and ruin, around him, — to see
such a soldiery and such a general yielding to a hardy race of men,
new to the field of war, — while, on the one hand, it exalts the character
of the latter, convincingly proves the folly of those who. under pre-
tence of having a body of troops bred to war and ever ready for
action, adopt this dangerous system, in subversion of every principle
of lawfhl government. Here, if, after having depictured scenes of so
distressing nature, it may not appear too descending, I could not for-
bear smiling at the British general and liis troops, who, not Avilling to
reflect on their present humiliating condition, affect the air of arrogant
superiority, -^ut Americans have learnt them that men, fighting on
the principles of freedom and honor, despise the examples that have
been set them by an enemy ; and, though in the field they can brave
every danger in defence of those principles, to a vanquished enemy
they know how to be generous, — but that this is a generosity not weak
and unmeaning, but founded on just sentiments, and if wantonly pre-
sumed upon, will never interfere with that national justice which ever
ought, and lately has been, properly exerted."
WILLIAM TUDOR.
MARCn 5, 1779. OX THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
William Tudor Avas born at Boston, ISIarch 28, 1750, a son of
Dea. John Tudor, of Rev. Dr. Lathrop's church, who records, in 1779,
that "the sudden judgments of an eartlupiake, terrible storm, and fire,
have all three done damage to the meeting-house, within his remem-
brance." The son entered the Latin School in 1758, graduated at
Harvard College in 1769, studied law with John Adams, was admitted
to Suffolk bar July 27, 1772, was an eminent counsellor, a colonel in
the army of the Revolution, and Judge Advocate General from 1775
to 1778. He married Delia Jarvis, jNIarch 5, 1778. He was a mem-
ber of the House and Senate, and in 1809-10 the Secretary of State.
136 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Col. Tudor -was Vice-president of the Society of Cincinnati of Massa-
chusetts, in 1816, and was the last orator of that institution, in J791.
He acted as Judge Advocate in the trials of officers eng-ao-ed in the war
of the Revolution. He was one of the founders of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, in Avhose collections appears an extended memoir.
He died Julv 8, 1819.
Mr. Tudor was, by the war of the Revolution, separated from the
lady to whom his affections were engaged, and whom he afterwards
married. For the benefit of a better air, she resided some time on
Noddle's Island, in the family of Mr. Williams. One of his boyish
acquisitions was now of use to him. He was, in his youth, an excel-
lent swimmer. When a boy, being on a visit on board of an English
ship of the line in the harbor, the conversation turned upon swimming;
and he proposed to jump from thetaffrail rail over the stern, — which,
in ships of the old model, was a considerable height, — if any one
would do the same. A sailor offered himself The boy took the leap,
but the man was afraid to follow. He now profited by a knowledge of
this art. To have attempted visiting the island in a boat, would have
exposed him to certain capture by the enemy ; but, tying his clothes
in a bundle on his head, he used to swim from the opposite shore of
Chelsea to the island, make his visit, and return to the continent in
the same manner.
In the elegant and spirited oration of Col. William Tudor, delivered
at the Old Brick, we find a passage specially worthy of perpetual
record: "In 1764 the plan for raising a revenue from this country
was resolved on by the British ministry, and their obsequious Parlia-
ment were instructed to pass an act for that purpose. Not content
with having for a century directed the entire commerce of America, and
centred its profits in their own island, thereby deriving from the colo-
nies every substantial advantage which the situation and trans-marine
distance of the country could afford them ; not content with appointing
the principal officers in the different governments, while the king had a
negative upon every law that was enacted ; not content with our
supporting the whole charge of our municipal establishments, although
their own creatures held the chief posts therein ; not content with lay-
in gexternal duties upon our mutilated and shackled commerce, — they,
by this statute, attempted to rob us of even the curtailed property,
the hard-earned peculium which still remained to us, to create a rev-
enue for the support of a fleet and army ; in reahty, to overawe and
WILLIAM TUDOR. 137
secure our subjection, — not (as they insidiously pretended) to protect
our trade, or defend our frontiers ; the first of -which they annoyed,
and the latter deserted.
"After repealing this imperious edict, — not because it was unjust in
principle, but inexpedient in exercise, — they proceeded to declare, by
a public act of the whole legislature, that we had no property but what
was at their disposal, and that Americans, in future, were to hold their
privileges and lives solely on the tenure of the good will and pleasure
of a British Parliament. Acts soon followed correspondent to this
righteous determination, which not quadrating Avith American ideas of
right, justice and reason, a fleet and army were sent to give them that
force which laws receive when promulgated from the mouths of can-
non, or at the points of bayonets. AVe then first saw our harbor
crowded Avith hostile ships, our streets with soldiers, — soldiers accus-
tomed to consider military prowess as the standard of excellence ; and,
vain of the splendid pomp attendant on regular armies, they contempt-
uously looked down on our peaceful orders of citizens. Conceiving
themselves more powerful, they assumed a superiority which they did
not feel ; and whom they could not but envy, they aifected to despise.
Perhaps, — knowing they were sent, and believing they were able, to
subdue us, — they thought it was no longer necessary to observe any
measures Avith slaves. Hence that arrorrance in the carriao-e of the
officers; hence that licentiousness and brutality in the common soldiers,
which at length broke out with insufferable violence, and proceeding to
personal insults and outrageous assaults on the inhabitants, soon roused
them to resentment, and produced the catastrophe which we now com-
memorate. The immediate horrors of that distressful night have been
80 often and so strikingly painted, that I sliall not again wring your
feeling bosoms with the affecting recital. To the faithful pen of his-
tory I leave them to be represented, as the horrid prelude to those more
extensive tragedies Avliich, under the direction of a most obstinate and
sanguinary prince, have since been acted in every corner of America
where his armies have been able to penetrate."
Judge Tudor, Avhen on a tour in Europe, about the year 1800. after
his arrival at London, Avas presented at court by our ambassador, Rufus
King. On the mention of his name, King George smiled, and observed,
in his rapid manner, "Tudor! Avhat — one of us?" Having been
told that he had just come from France, he eagerly made many inquiries
respecting the state of that country, the situation of Paris, and the
12*
138 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
opinions of the inhabitants. These court presentations are generally a
mere mutter of form ; but foreigners, introduced by their ambassadors,
are received apart by the king, and before the subjects of the country.
The king's curiosity continued the interview so long, that Lord Gal-
loway, the lord in waiting, who had a great amount of duty to perform,
grew impatient, and said, " His Majesty seems to be so deeply engaged
with his cousin, that he forgets what a number of persons are in wait-
ing to be presented." The king, in this audience, exhibited all the
courtesy and inquisitive good sense which always distinguished him.
When at Paris, in 1807, the Empress Josephine had it in charge to
amuse the courtiers during the absence of Napoleon. She gave enter-
tainments at the palace, which were called cercles. The first singers
and actors Avere called to perform a few select pieces on these evenings,
and a light but most exquisite supper Avas given to the guests. After
Mr. Tudor and the ladies of his family had been presented, they Avere
iuAnted several times to these cercles^ and also to similar entertainments
from the other branches of the imperial family. A trifling circum-
stance Avill here show how minute the French are in their attentions.
In the absence of Napoleon, gentlemen were presented to Cambaceres,
and afterAvards invited to his table. From very abstemious and simple
habits in early life, he became one of the most luxurious and ostenta-
tious of the imperial court. He Avas remarkable for the expense and
excellence of his table. Mr. Tudor was invited to dine with him ; and.
as he did not speak French, though he understood it, a gentleman Avas
placed by him Avho spoke English perfectly. In the course of the din-
ner, he Avas offered a piece of plum-pudding, Avhich he declined. He
was told that it had been prepared purposely for him, thinking it
Avas a national dish. Of course, he could not refuse to take a piece.
Though he Avas fonder of the simple dishes of his OAvn country than
the costly and scientific preparations of French cookery, he Avas ahvays
Avillino- to admit that this dinner of the arch-chancellor could not be
surpassed.
Judge Tudor, in the year 1777, conducted the trial of Col. David
Henely, arrested, on the accusation of Gen. Burgoyne, for military
oppression. It Avas an eloquent argument, conceded by the judge as
unsurpassed by any speech he had ever heard ; and Burgoyne granted
that Tudor managed the case as one profound in the law, and with
great dignity. Col. Henely was acquitted.
JOXATIIAX MASON. , 139/
JONATHAN MASON.
MARCH 5, 1780. ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
Jonathan Mason was born in Boston, Aug. 30, 1752, a son of
Dea. Jonathan Mason of the Old South Church ; entered the Latin
School in 1763, graduated at Princeton College in 1774, a student at
law under John Adams, and an attorney in 1777. Mr. Mason was
one of the ninoty-siv n||^t;tntra;»-<;^ tlio 1^r><tnn Massacre, and confirms
a fact regarding Hutchinson, related in the History of Massachusetts :
"Jonathan Mason, of lawful age, testifies and says, that on the
evening of the 5th of March, 1770, about ten o'clock, beins; in Kinr^-
street, Boston, standing near His Honor the lieutenant-governor, he
heard him say to an officer at the head of the king's troops, who, it
was said, was Capt. Preston, ' Sir, you are sensible you had no right
to fire, unless you had orders from a magistrate.' To which Capt.
Preston replied, 'Sir, we were insulted,'— or words to that purpose;
upon which Capt. Preston desired His Honor to go with him to the
guard-house, which His Honor dechned, and repaired to the council-
chamber.
''Boston, March 21, 1770."
On the Monday after the memorable 5th March, 1780, Mr. Mason
delivered a spirited oration in the Old Brick Church, when a collection
was taken for the unhappy Monk, still languishing from the cruel wounds
received at the INIassacre. " The living history of our own times will
carry conviction to the latest posterity," says Jonathan Mason in his
eloquent performance, "that no state, that no community, — I may say,
that no family, — nay, even that no individual, — can possibly flourish
and be happy, without some portion of the sacred fire of patriotism.
It was this that raised America from beins; the haunt of the savaije,
and the dwelling-place of the beast, to her present state of civil-
ization and opulence ; it was this that hath supported her under the
severest trials ; it was this that taught her sons to fight, to conquer
and to die, in support of freedom and its blessings. And what is it,
but this ardent love of liberty, that has induced you, my fellow-citi-
zens, to attend on this solemn occasion, again to encourage the streams
of sensibility, and to hsten with so much attention and candor to one
140 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of the youngest of your fellow-citizens, whose youth and inability
plead powerfully against him, while the annual tribute is paid to the
memory of those departed citizens who fell the first sacrifices to arbi-
trary power ? Check not such generous feelings. They are the fruits
of virtue and humanity ; and, Avhile the obligations you remain under
to those unhappy men lead you to shed the sympathetic tear, to dwell
with pleasure upon their memories, and execrate the causes of their
death, remember that you can never repay them. Ever bear it in
your minds, that so implicit was the confidence you wilhngly placed in
that country that owed to you her afiection, that, notwithstanding the
introduction of that inhuman weapon of tyrants into the very heart of
your peaceful villages, you still would fain rely on their deceitful asser-
tions, and paint the deformed monster to your imaginations as the min-
ister of peace and protection. Men born in the bosom of liberty,
living in the exercise of the social aifections in their full vifcor, havins:
once fixed them upon particular objects, they are not hastily eradi-
cated. Unaccustomed to sport with and wantonly sacrifice these sensi-
ble overflowings of the heart, to run the career of passion and blinded
lust, to be familiar with vice and sneer at virtue, to surprise innocence
by deceitful cunning, and assume the shade of friendship to conceal
the greater enmity, you could not at once realize the fixed, the delib-
erate intention of those from whom you expected freedom to load you
with slavery and chains; — and not till insult repeated upon insult, —
not till oppression stalked at noonday through every avenue in your
cities, — nay, not till the blood of your peaceful brethren flowed
through your streets, — was the envenomed serpent to be discovered
in the bushes ; — not till a general trespass had been made upon the
keenest feelings of human nature, and the widowed mother was sum-
moned to entomb the cold remains of her affectionate son, the virtuous
bosom to resign its tender partner, and social circles their nearest
friends, could you possibly convince yourselves that you and Britain
were to be friends no more. Thrice happy day ! the consequences of
which have taught the sons of America that a proper exercise of pub-
lic spirit and the love of virtue hath been able to surprise and baffle
the most formidable and most powerful tyranny on earth."
Jonathan Mason was an eminent counsellor at law, and a member
of the State Legislature. In 1798 he was of the Governor's Council;
in 1800 he was elected to the United States Senate, and in 1819 to the
House in Congress, when he voted for the Missouri Compromise. In
THOMAS DAWES. 141
his political relations he was a firm adherent of the federal party.
He was distinguislied for great energy of character and dignity of
manners. In stature he Avas tall and erect. He died at Boston,
November 1, 1831. ]\Ir. Mason married Susanna, daughter of
William Powell, April 13, 1779. Dr. John C. Warren married their
daughter Susan in 1803, and Hon. David Scars married their
daughter Miriam C. in 1809. An admirable portrait of Mr. INIason,
by Gilbert Stuart, is in the family of Mr. Sears.
THOMAS DAWES.
MARCH 5, 1781. OX THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
Thomas Dawes was a son of Col. Thomas Dawes, an eminent archi-
tect, and patriot of the Revolution. He was born at Boston, July 8, 1 758.
He entered the Latin School in 1766, graduated at Harvard College
in 1777, early entered the profession of law, and became an eminent
counsellor. He married Margaret Greenlcaf in 1781, and resided on
the paternal estate in Purchase-street, a place famous in the Revolu-
tion for private caucuses. He ever evinced a lively imagination, and
natural thirst for polite literature. His witticisms are proverbial,
and his patriotic and literary poetic effusions were highly popular.
When about thirty years of age, he was appointed one of the associate
justices of the Supreme .Judicial Court of the State, which he filled until
1803, when he became judge of the Municipal Court for Boston until
1823. He was appointed judge of Probate for Suffolk county, -which
station he occupied until his decease, July 22, 1825. Judge Dawes
was a delegate to the State Convention of 1820 for revising the con-
stitution. He Avas of very small stature, being not five feet in height,
but rotund and fleshy round the waist. His face was florid and small,
with expressive eyes. His hair was long and gray. His utterance
was of a striking lisp, and his voice was soft and clear. He wore
small-clothes and buckled shoes. "When it was announced that Thomas
142 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Dawes was appointed to the Supreme Court, Col. Hichborn. it is
related, who was displeased, contemptuously said of him, "I could put
him into mj pocket." Upon being informed of this, Judge Dawes
promptly remarked, with great dignity and good-nature, "If he did
pocket me, he would have had more law in his pocket than he ever
had in his head." On another occasion, standincr amonsr five other
guests in a drawing-room, just before dinner was announced, all of
whom were tall or stouter than himself, — Gen. Arnold Welles, Col.
Roulstone, Maj. Benjamin Russell, and others, — one of them jocosely
asked him how he felt, being so small, and surrounded as he was by so
many large men ; to whom he promptly replied, ' ' Like a silver six-
penny piece among five copper cents, — much less in size than any one,
but of more intrinsic value than all of them together."
When the liberty-pole was erected on the spot where the Liberty
Tree once flourished, opposite Frog-lane, Judge Dawes wrote as
follows :
•' Of high renown here grew the tree, —
The elm so dear to liberty.
Your sires, beneath its sacred shade,
To Freedom early homage paid ;
This day, with filial awe, surround
Its root, that sanctifies the ground ;
And, by your fiithers' spirits, swear
The rights they left you '11 not impair."
"Do we not see the darkened spring of 1770," said Judge Dawes
in his oration at the Old Brick, "like the moon in a thick atmosphere,
rising in blood, and ushered in by the figure of Britain plunging her
poignard in the 3'oung bosom of America? 0, our bleeding country !
was it for this our hoary sires sought thee through all the elements,
and having found thee sheltering away from the western wave, discon-
solate, cheered thy sad face, and decked thee out like the garden of
God? Time was Avhen we could all affirm to this gloomy question, —
when we were ready to cry out that our fathers had done a vain thing.
I mean upon that unnatural right which we now commemorate ; when
the fire of Brutus was on many a heart, — when the strain of Gracchus
was on many a tongue. ' Wretch that I am ! — whither shall I
retreat 7 — whither shall I turn me ? — to the capitol 1 The capitol
swims in my brother's blood. To my family 1 There must I see a
wretched, a mournful and afflicted mother.' Misery loves to brood
over its own woes : and so peculiar were the woes of that night, so
THOMAS DAWES. 143
expressive the pictures of despair, so various the face of death,
that not all the grand tragedies Avhich have been since acted can crowd
from our minds that era of the human passions, that preface to the
general conflict that now rages. May we never forget to offer a sac-
rifice to the manes of our brethren Avho bled so early at the foot of Lib-
erty. Hitherto we have nobly avenged their fall ; but as ages cannot
expunge the debt, their melancholy ghosts still rise at a stated season,
and will forever wander in the night of this noted anniversary. Let
us, then, be frequent pilgrims at their tombs. There let us profit of
all our feelings ; and, while the senses are ' struck deep with woe,'
give wing to the imagination. Hark ! even now, in the hollow wind, I
hear the voice of the departed : ' 0 ye who listen to wisdom, and aspire
to immortality, as ye have avenged our blood, thrice blessed ! as ye
still war against the mighty hunters of the earth, your names are
recorded in heaven ! '
" Such are the suggestions of fancy; and, having given them their
due scope, — having described the memorable Fifth of March as a sea-
son of disaster, — it w^ould be an impiety not to consider it in its other
relation ; for the rising honors of these States are distant issues, as
it were, from the intricate though all-wise divinity which presided
upon that night. Strike that night out of time, and Ave quench the
first ardor of a resentment which has been ever since increasing, and
now accelerates the fall of tyranny. The provocations of that night
must be numbered among the master springs which gave the first
motion to a vast machinery, a noble and comprehensive system of
national independence. ' The independence of America,' says the
writer under the signature of ' Common Sense.' ' should have been
considered as dating its era from the first musket j;hat was fired against
her.' Be it so ! but Massachusetts may certainly date many of its .
blessings from the Boston Massacre, — a dark hour in itself, but from
■which a marvellous light has arisen. From that nio-ht, revolution
became inevitable, and the occasion commenced of the present most
beautiful form of government. We often read of the original contract,
and of mankind, in the early ages, passing from a state of nature to
immediate civilization. But what eye could penetrate through Gothic
night and barbarous fable to that remote period 1 Such an eye, per-
haps, was present, when the Deity conceived the universe, and fixed his
compass upon the great deep. And ^^et the people of Massachusetts
have reduced to practice the wonderful theory. A numerous people
144 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
have convened in a state of nature, and, like our ideas of the patriarchs,
have deputed a few fathers of the land to draw up for them a glorious
covenant. It has been drawn. The people have signed it with rap-
ture, and have thereby bartered among themselves an easy degree of
obedience for the highest possible civil happiness. To render that cov-
enant eternal, patriotism and political virtue must forever blaze, — must
blaze at the present day with superlative lustre, being watched, from
different motives, by the eyes of all mankind. Nor must that patriot-
ism be contracted to a single commonwealth. A combination of the
States is requisite to support them individually. ' Unite, or die,' is our
indispensable motto."
Mr. Robert Patterson presented a petition to the town of Boston,
on this day, March 5, 1781, setting forth that he received a wound in
the right arm, on the 5th of March, 1770, by a shot from Preston's
party, Avhereby he has entirely lost the use of it ; and that, since the
death of Mr. Monk, he is the only one of the unhoppy number, then
badly wounded, that survives ; and therefore praying the charity of the
town; — "voted, that a collection be made, at the close of this meeting,
for the unhappy sufferer." Boxes we-re placed at each door of the Old
Brick Meeting-house, to receive the contributions ; and also on the tAvo
^'ears succeeding.
p?i We cannot resist the insertion of Judge Dawes' patriotic effusion,
repeated to the editor from memory, by Thomas Somes, a merchant of
Boston, and a nephew of the judge, one day in the street, when stand-
ing nearly opposite the Athenreum, and who died suddenly a few days
after the recital. It was sung June 17, 1786, at the festival on the
opening of CharlestOAvn Bridge, after the announcement of this senti-
ment : " May this anniversary be forever marked with joy, as its birth
was with glory."
"Now let rich music sound,
And all the region round '
With rapture fill ;
Let the full trump of fixme
To heaven itself proclaim
The everlasting name
Of Bunker's Hill.
' ' Beneath his sky-wrapt brow
What heroes sleep below, —
How dear to Jove !
THOMAS DAWES. 145
Not more heloved were those
Who foiled celestial foe^
When the old giants rose
To arms above !
" Now scarce eleven short years
Have rolled their rapid spheres
Through heaven's high road,
Since o'er yon swelling tide
, Passed all the British pride.
And watered Bunker's side
With foreign blood.
" Then Charlestown's gilded spires
Felt unrelenting fires,
And sunk in night ;
But, phoenix-like, they '11 rise
From where their ruin lies.
And strike the astonished eyes
With glories bright.
" Meandering to the deep,
Majestic Charles shall weep
Of war no more.
Famed as the Appian Way,
The world's first bridge, to-day
All nations shall convey
From shore to shore.
•' On our blessed mountain's head
The festive-board we '11 spread
With viands high ;
Let joy's broad bowl go round,
With public spirit crowned ;
We '11 consecrate the ground
To Liberty."
"When Judsre Dawes was a delesrate in the State Convention of
1820, lie made several speeches. On one occasion he remarked, the
constitution was adopted just after he left the law office of one of its
I principal founders, and he had an opportunity of witnessing the anxiety
of those who raised this bulwark of our liliertics. Of the spirit of
amity which prevailed in the convention of 1788, he could speak with
confidence. He was one of the twelve gentlemen chosen from Boston
to that convention, nine of whom have gone to render their account,
and he must soon follow. Those gentlemen were obliged to change
their minds, as light beamed upon them on the various subjects dis-
13
145 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
cussed. Even Samuel Adams, vfho was remarkable for the inflexibil-
ity of his opinions, after hearing Fisher Ames' speech upon the bien-
nial election of members of Congress, got up, — not to oppose, as was
expected, but to tell us that he vras satisfied with the reasons which
had been given by Ames. This conduct, in such a man as Mr. Adams,
had a great eifect upon the other members of the convention.
Mr. Dawes opposed a resolution directing the manner in which the
votes on the amendments are to be given by the people, where the per-
sons voting are to express their opinion by annexing to each number
the word Yes, or No, or any other words that may signify his opinion
of the proposed amendment. He thought this latitude might lead to
difficulty. It would permit a man to read a whole sermon. They had
often heard whole sermons read in the Assembly, — they might read
them in town-meeting, and put them on file, to express their opinion.
It was amended. Judge Dawes was a member also of the convention
for the adoption of a State constitution in 1780.
Thomas Dawes always exhibited an honest and friendly feeling,
which shone forth in his social intercourse, enlivened by classic and
literary taste, undiminished by the assumption of measured mcumer,
loo often exercised to supply the place of real merit.
GEORGE RICHARDS MINOT.
MARCH 5, 1782. ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
George Richards Minot was born at Boston, Dec. 22, 1758, and
was the youngest of ten children. He entered the Latin School in
1767, where he was a shining scholar. When the important period
drew near in which he was to leave school, he was not only required
by Master James Lovell to compose his own oration, but he was also
enjoined to aid several of his classmates in the same duty. While at
Harvard College he devoted himself with great industry and success to
classical and historical studies. He graduated in 1778. His most
GEOKGE RICHARDS MINOT. 147
admired models were Robertson's Charles the Fifth, and the London
Annual Register. At his graduation he received the highest honors of
the college, without an expression of envy from his classmates ; such
is the force of superior merit towards the ^^outh Avho loved every one,
and who veiled his talent in the garb of modesty. Mr. INIinot entered
on the study of law under Judge Tudor, towards whom he had a
warm veneration. It was in his office that he enjoyed the advantage
of being the fellow-student of Fisher Ames, Avhere his own genius
caught fire from the flame which burned so intensely in the imagina-
tion of his companion. Fisher Ames was at that time unknown to the
world, but Minot never spoke of him without enthusiasm ; and ho
often predicted the splendid reputation which this powerful orator
would in comins; time attain.
On the adoption of the State constitution, in 1780, ]Mr. Minot was*
elected clerk of the House of Representatives. During this period,
the causes which led to the insurrection of Daniel Shays were in opera-
tion, and he had the opportunity of being familiar with the debates,
which were of intense public interest. This insurrection was a primary
cause of the adoption of the constitution of the United States. Mr.
Minot was appointed secretary of the State Convention of 1788, on
the discussion of its adoption. Mr. Minot was married in March,
1783, to Mary Speakman, of Marlboro', the lady of his early love,
whose warmth of aifection towards him was ardent as that of his
towards herself. At this period he was a liberal contributor to the
Boston Magazine, and was an editor of three early volumes of the
Massachusetts Historical Collections, of which society, t]je Humane,
the Charitable, and the American Academy, he was a devoted mem-
ber. He was appointed judge of Probate in 1792, which office he
honored with impartiality and humanity. He became judge of the
Municipal Court from 1800, and wisely sustained its duties until his
decease, Jan. 2, 1802. His residence was in Devonshire-street, on
the site of the Type and Stereotype Foundery, and no private mansion
in Boston was more famous for a free and generous hospitality. He
was remarkable for sprightly sallies of Avit, radiant benignity, and
blandness of manners. In 1795 his address for the Massachusetts
Charitable Society, of which he was president, was published. His
impassioned eulogy on the character of Washington, pronounced at the
request of the town of Boston, Avas ready for sale on the day after its
delivery, and was more rapidly sought than even that by Fisher Ames,
148 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
an edition being sold in one day, and two more shortly after being
taken up. His intimate friend and pastor, Dr. James Freeman,
remarked of this eulogy, that a kindred likeness may be traced in the
features of the minds, in Minot's delineations of the character of
AVashington, so striking as to be obvious to those who best knew them
both. Judge Minot had but ten days' notice to prepare the funeral
oration, and thus described the emotions of his mind at this time :
'•My only refuge was in an enthusiastic pursuit of my subject, which
stimulated what little powers I possessed to their utmost exertion. A
candor and mild expectation prevailed through all ranks of people,
which encouraged me. A like kind of attentive silence enabled me to
deliver mj^self so as to be heard. I sat down unconscious of the effect,
feeling as though the music Avas at once playing the dirge of Washing-
ton's memory and my own reputation. I was soon astonished at my
good fortune. All praised me ; a whole edition of my eulogy sold in
a day; the printers. Manning and Loring, presented me with an addi-
tional number of copies, on account of their success ; invitations were
sent me to dine in respectable companies ; my friends are delighted,
and, although nearly exhausted by sickness, I am happy. Such was
the successful issue of the most unpropitious undertaking that I was
ever enirao;ed in."
In 1798, Judge Minot published a Continuation of Hutchinson's
History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and the second volume
in 1803. Our American Sallust is peculiar for veracity, perspicuity
and vigor, and was the first purely elegant historian of New England.
His History of the Insurrection in Massachusetts, and the Rebellion
consequent thereon, published by Manning and Loring, in 1798, ,
is the best record of that perilous period ever prepared.
In the polished oration of George Richards Minot, pronounced at the
Old Brick, on the Boston Massacre, in 1782, we find an appeal to the
moral sense of this republic, where he remarks :
'• Let us not trust to laws. An uncorruptcd people can exist with-
out them ; a corrupted people cannot long exist with them, or any other
human assistance. They are remedies which, at best, always disclose
and confess our evils. The body politic once distempered, they may
indeed be used as a crutch to support it a while, but they can never
heal it. Rome, when her bravery conquered the neighboring nations
and united them to her own empire, was free from all danger within,
because her armies, being urged on by a love for their country, would
■ 1
1
GEORGE RICHARDS MIXOT. 149
as readily suppress an internal as an external enemy. In those times
she made no scruple to throw out her kings who had abused their
power. But when her subjects sought not for the advantage of the
commonwealth, — when they thronged to the Asiatic wars for the spoils
they produced, and preferred prostituting the rights of citizenship upon
any barbarian that demanded them, to meeting him in the field for their
support, — then Rome grew too modest to accept from the hands of a
dictator those rights which she ought to have impaled him for daring
to invade. No alteration in her laws merely could have effected this.
Had she remained virtuous, she might as Avell have expelled her
dictators as her kings. But Avhat laws can save a people who, for
the very purpose of enslaving themselves, choose to consider them
rather as counsels which they may accept or refuse, than as precepts
which they are bound to obey 1 With such a people they must ever
want a sanction, and be contemned. Virtue and long life seem to be
as intimately allied in the political as in the moral world. She is the
guard which Providence has set at the gate of freedom."
Here we have the peroration of Minot's oration: "America once
guarded against herself, what has she to fear ? Her natural situation
may well inspire her with confidence. Her rocks and her mountains
are the chosen temples of liberty. The extent of her climate, and the
variety of its produce, throw the means of her greatness into her own
hands, and insure her the traffic of the world. Navies shall launch
from her forests, and her bosom be found stored with the most precious
treasures of nature. jSIay the industry of her people be a still surer
pledge of her wealth ! The union of her States, too, is founded upon
the most durable principles. The similarity of the manners, religion
and laAvs, of their inhabitants, must ever support the measure which
their common injuries originated. Her government, while it is
restrained from violating the rights of the subject, is not disarmed
against the public foe. Could Junius Brutus and his colleagues have
beheld her republic erecting itself on the disjointed neck of tyranny,
^ how Avould they have wreathed a laurel for her temples as eternal as
their own memories ! America ! fiiirest copy of such great originals !
be virtuous, and thy reign shall be as happy as durable, and as dura-
ble as the pillars of the world you have enfranchised."
The character of Judge Minot was thus admirably described by Hon.
John Quincy Adams, on the year of his decease :
I "Are you an observer of men, and has it been your fortune onlv
...
150 THE HUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
once to behold George Ricliards ISIinot ? You have remarked the ele-
gance of his person, and the peculiar charm of expression in his coun-
tenance. Have you ^vitnessed his deportment? It bore the marks of
graceful simplicity, of dignified modesty, of unassuming urbanity.
Have you listened to his conversation ? It was the voice of harmony ;
it ^Yas the index of a penetrating and accurate mind ; it was the echo
to a warm and generous heart. Such appeared Mr. Minot on a first
and transient acquaintance, from which pci'iod to that of the most con-
fidential intimacy, our own knowledge, and the unvaried testimony of
indisputable authority, concur in affirming that every trace of pleas-
ing first impression was proportionably deepened, every anticipation of
sterling worth abundantly fulfilled. His character, as the citizen of a
free country, was not less exemplary. The profoundest historian of
antiquity has adduced the life of Agricola as an extraordinary proof
that it is possible to be a great and good man, even under the despot-
ism of the worst of princes.
"Minot's example may be alleged as a demonstration equally rare,
under a free republic, that, in times of the greatest dissensions, and
amidst the most virulent rancor of factions, a man may be great
and good, and yet acquire and preserve the esteem and veneration of
all. In the bitterness of civil contention he enjoyed the joint applause
of minds the most irreconciled to each other. Before the music of his
character, the very scorpions dropped from the lash of discord, — the
very snakes of faction hstened and sunk asleep ! Yet did he not pur-
chase this unanimous approbation by the sacrifice of any principle at
the shrine of popularity. From that double-tongued candor which
fashions its doctrines to its company, — from that cowardice, in the
garb of good-nature, which assents to all opinions because it dares sup-
port none, — from that obsequious egotism, ever ready to bow before
the idol of the day, to make man its God, and hold the voice of mortal-
ity for the voice of Heaven, — he was pure as the crystal streams.
Personal invectives and odious imputations against political adversaries
he knew to be seldom necessary. He kncAV that, when unnecessary,
whether exhibited in the disgusting deformity of their nakedness, or
tricked out in the gorgeous decorations of philosophy, — whether hvid
with the cadaverous colors of their natural complexion, or flaring with
the cosmetic washes of pretended patriotism, — they are ever found
among the profligate prostitutes of party, and not among the vestal vir-
gins of truth. He disdained to use them ; but, as to all great ques-
GEORGE RICHARDS MINOT. 151
tions upon principle, which are at the bottom of our divisions, there
was no more concealment or disguise in his lips than hesitation or
wavering in his mind. So flir was he from courting the prejudices or
compromising with the claims of faction, that he published the History
of the Insurrection in the commonwealth, at a time Avhen the passions
which had produced them were still rancorous and flourishing ; and
although nothing contributed more than that work to consign the rebel-
lion it recorded to infamy, none of its numerous abettors ever raised a
reclamation against the veracity of the history, or the worth of the
historian."
In Democracy Unveiled, canto 3, on INIobocracy, by Christopher
Caustic, appears a happy allusion to George Richards INIinot. as fol-
lows :
" But I '11 purloin a little — why not '
From classic history of Minot ;
For theft can need no other plea
Than this — our government is free '■
Our Demo"'s steal each other's trash.
While Coleman plies in vain the lash.
And prithee, therefore, why can I not
Steal my Mobocracy from Minot ?
Fas est ab lioste doceri, —
If that be true, why then 't is clear I.
Eut, gentle reader, have you read it ?
' Yes,' — then I '11 give my author credit."
The nature and operation of the causes which led to the rebellion in
Massachusetts, saj'S Caustic, in a note to Mobocracy, are explained in
a lucid and masterly manner, in the history of George Richards INIinot,
the style of which might rank its author as the Sallust of America.
According to that writer, the commonwealth of Massachusetts was in
debt upwards of XI, 350, 000 private State debt, exclusive of the fed-
eral debt, which amounted to one million and a half of the same money.
And, in addition to that, every town was embarrassed by advances they
had made to comply with repeated requisitions for men and supplies to
support the army, and which had been done upon their own credit.
The people, Minot informs us, had been laudably employed, during the
nine years in which this debt had been accumulating, in the defence of
their liberties ; but though their contest had instructed them in the
nobler science of mankind, yet it gave them no proportionable insight
into the mazes of finance. Their honest prejudices were averse to duties
152 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of i impost and excise, which were at that time supposed to be anti-repub-
lican by many judicious and influential characters. The consequences
of the public debt did not at first appear among the citizens at large.
The bulk of mankind are too much engaged in private concerns to
anticipate the operation of national causes. The men of landed inter-
est soon began to speak plainly against trade, as the source of luxury,
and the cause of losing the circulating medium. Commercial men,
on the other hand, defended themselves by insisting that the fault was
only in the regulations which the trade happened to be under. Minot
then proceeds to point out other causes which contributed to lead the
people astray ; and his history exhibits abundant proof that the people
at large are not always correct judges of what political measures may
best subserve their own prosperity.
«' To paint the ills which power attend,
Our men of mind their talents lend ;
But overlook the great propriety
Of power to guarantee society."
The following effusion was addressed to the Hon. George Richards
Minot. when he was preparing the History of Massachusetts :
" Let jarring spirits turn the leaf,
And Coke and Littleton explore ;
Pleased with the logic of a brief.
And wise with metaphysic lore.
Let others on the laws decide.
And on the Norman records grope ;
Lay thou the wrangling bar aside.
And give thy genius ampler scope.
Thy equal mind, on truth intent.
To paltry strife must not descend ;
Another task for thee is meant, —
Thy country's genius to defend.
What though that country's tardy voice
Nor urge thy labor nor reward ?
The historic Muse approves the choice.
And all the wise and good applaud.
Ere laurelled science twine the wreath,
The bud of genius must unfold ;
Our hardy sires, the snow beneath.
Grew strong, unmindful of the cold.
Mark'st thou yon river's peopled shore,
Its wheat-crowned hills, its bleating meads.
Taught through delicious banks to pour,
"Where not a stone its course impedes ?
GEORGE RICHARDS MIXOT. 153
Mark'st thou, too, the industrious sires
Who cleared the current, crowned the hills?
"What love and gratitude inspires
One sweet memorial of thy skill ?
Yet more than if the castle told
' Some wily victor ravaged here,
Your sires to vassalage he sold.
Or scourged, the pyramid to rear.'
For Avhere no crowning castles found.
No despotism has been known ;
The honest peasant reaps the ground
By free-born fathers tamed and sown.
Short is the tale of tyrant power, —
Easy the story of its reign, —
Whose marc|i was destined to devour.
Whose glory, to recount the slain.
But the slow progress of a tribe
By nature's energies alone
Cool reason only can describe.
Ere the first principles have flown.
Yet, lo ! with careless ease we sleep.
While rapid sweeps unstable time
Disgorgeless to oblivion's deep.
The records of a nation's prime.
While to hoar winter's snowy wells,
B,idged by eternal frost and hail,
When spring the laughing current swells.
And cheers, swift Merrimac, thy vale ;
Urged as the vernal streams descend.
Exciting wonder as they flow,
Some ardent minds their source ascend,
And meet the untravelled realms of snow
Shall, from a country's wasting page.
Which moth and rust and reason maim,
Ere darkened by a crowding age.
None snatch the unmutilated name ?
Yes, ere the fabled tale is wrought,
While yet the features are imprest,
Shall thy discriminating thought
Portray the Pilgrims of the West."
" The series of events," says Washington to Minot, " which followed from the con-
clusion of the war, forms a link of no ordinary magnitude in the chain of the ^\jnerican
annals. That portion of domestic history which you have selected for your narrative
deserved particularly to be discussed, and set in its proper point of light, while mate-
rials for the purpose were attainable. Nor was it unbecoming or unimportant to
enlighten the Europeans, who seem to have been extremely ignorant with regard to
these transactions. While I comprehend fully the difficulty of stating facts on the
spot, amidst the living actors and recent animosities, I approve the more cordially
that candor with which you appear to have done it."
154
THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
THOMAS WELSH, M. D.
MARCH 5, 1T83. ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
Thomas Welsh was born at Charlestown, June 1, 1754, and mar-
ried Mary Kent, of that toAvn. He was an army-surgeon at Lex-
ington and Bunker Hill. He was in attendance at the latter battle,
principally at a house under the western side of the hill, in company
with Lieut. Col. Brickett, a physician, who came off with the first of
the Avounded, and of whom Gen. Warren obtained his arms for the battle.
Dr. Welsh was afterwards near Winter Hill, by which route the troops
who went to Cambridge retreated. Dr. Welsh and Samuel Blodgett
assisted in arresting the retreat of the New Hampshire troops. On
the morning of the Battle of Lexington, Dr. Warren, at about ten
o'clock, rode on horseback through Charlestown, says Frothingham.
He had received, by express, intelligence of the events of the morn-
ing, and told the citizens of Charlestown that the news of the firing
was correct. Among others, he met Dr. Welsh, who said, '-Well,
they are gone out." '• Yes," replied the doctor, " and we will be up
with them before night."
Dr. Welsh, Avho Avas on Prospect Hill when the British were pass-
ing from Lexington, saw Col. Pickering's regiment on the top of Win-
ter Hill, near the front of Mr. Adams' house, the enemy being very
near in Charlestown road. Washington wrote of this period : "If the
retreat had not been as precipitate as it was from Lexington, — and
God knows it could not well have been more so, — the ministerial
troops must have surrendered, or been totally cut off; for they had
not arrived in CharlestOAvn (under cover of their ships) half an hour,
before a powerful body of men from Marblehead and Salem were at
their heels, and must, if they had happened to be up one hour sooner,
inevitably have intercepted their retreat from Charlestown." Dr.
Welsh was surgeon at Castle Island, 1799. He was the hospital phy-
sician at Rainsford's Island for many years ; was member of the Bos-
ton Board of Health, and vice-president of the Massachusetts ]\Iedi-
cal Society, in 1814 ; was a member of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences. Dr. Welsh was a decided Whig of the Revolution,
an amiable, social, and estimable citizen, and died at Boston, Febru-
ary, 1831. He graduated at Harvard College in 1772.
The 1
THOMAS WELSH, M. D. 155
'he patriotic Dr. Welsh, the last of the orators at the Old Brick,
on the eventful Boston Massacre, thus remarks in the peroration :
" "When we consider our own prosperous condition, and view the state
of that nation of Avhich we were once a part, we even weep over our
enemy, when we reflect that she was once great; that her navies rode
formidalile upon the ocean ; that her commerce was extended to every
harbor of the globe; that her name was revered wherever it was
known ; that the wealth of nations was deposited in her island ; and
that America was her friend. But, by means of standing armies, an
immense continent is separated from her kingdom. Near eight full
years have now rolled away since America has been cast oflf from the
bosom and embraces of her pretended, parent, and has set up her own
name among the empires. The assertions of so young a country were
at first beheld with dubious expectation ; and the world were ready to
stamp the name of rashness, or enterprise, according to the event. But
a manly and fortunate beginning soon insured the most generous assist-
ance. The renowned and the ancient Gauls came early to the combat,
— wise in council, mighty in battle ! Then with new fury raged the
storm of war ! The seas were crimsoned with the richest blood of
nations ! America's chosen legions waded to freedom through rivers
dyed with the mingled blood of her enemies and her citizens, — through
fields of carnage, and the gates of death !
"At length, independence is ours ! — the halcyon day appears ! Lo !
from the east I see the harbinger, and from the train 't is peace her-
self,— and, as attendants, all the gentle arts of life. Commerce dis-
plays her snow-white navies, fraught Avith the wealth of kingdoms ;
Plenty, from her copious horn, pours forth her richest gifts. Heaven
commands ! The east and the Avest give up, and the north keeps not
back. All nations meet, and beat their SAVords into ploughshares and
their spears into pruning-hooks, and resolve to learn AA-ar no more.
Henceforth shall the American Avilderness blossom as the rose, and
eA'ery man shall sit under his fig-tree, and none shall make him
afraid." We may emphasize of Dr. Welsh :
" Whoe'er amidst the sons
Of reason, valor, lihertj' and virtue.
Displays distinguished merit, is a noble
Of nature's own creating. Such have risen, —
Sprung from the dust, — or Avhere had been our honors? "
156 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
JOHN WARREN, M. D.
\
JULY 4, 1783. ON THE NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE.
The last public act in the career of James Otis, that presiding genius
of our colonial Revolution, occurred at a town-meeting of the inhabitants
of Boston, March 5, 1783, at FaneuilHall, -when he officiated as moder-
ator ; and it was voted to substitute the celebration of the Declaration of
Independence for that of the Boston Massacre, after Dr. Thomas Welsh
had pronounced the annual oration on the latter occasion. Otis was
struck out of existence by a flash of lightning, at Andover, in Massa-
chusetts, on the 23d day of May succeeding. Who can tell but what
this time-honored festival of liberty originated in his penetrative mind 7
It maybe said of Otis that his political career was as a poem that lights
warm hearts Avith living flame. How cheering was it to witness the
eagle-eyed, round-faced, plump, short-necked, and smooth-skinned
Otis, as he has been described by an enemy, at the head of the assem-
bly in old Faneuil Hall on this glorious occasion !
William Cooper, the town-clerk, made the following motion :
"Whereas, the annual celebration of the Boston Massacre, on the
5th of March, 1770, by the institution of a public oration, has been
found to be of eminent advantage to the cause of virtue and patriotism
among her citizens ; and whereas, the immediate motives which induced
the commemoration of that day do now no longer exist in their primi-
tive force, while the benefits resulting from the institution may and
ought ever to be preserved, by exchanging that anniversary for another,
the foundation of which will last so long as time endures : — it is there-
fore resolved, that the celebration of the 5th of March from henceforth
shall cease, and that instead thereof, the anniversary of the Fourth Day
of July, 177G, — a day ever memorable in the annals of this country
for the Declaration of Independence, — shall be constantly celebrated
by the delivery of a public oration, in such place as the town shall
determine to be most convenient for the purpose, — in which the orator
shall consider the feelings, manners and principles, which led to this
great national event, as well as the important and happy efiects, whether
general or domestic, which have already, and will forever continue, to
flow from this auspicious epoch."
At a town-meeting on May of that date, Hon. Samuel Adams mod-
JOHN WARREN, M. D. 157
erator, the resolve was accepted, and a committee consisting of Perez
Morton, William Tudor, Thomas DaAves, Joseiih Barrell. and Charles
Jarvis, were chosen to consider this matter at large, and report at
the adjournment. At a town-meeting, July 4th inst., Hon. James
Sullivan moderator, the committee announced that they had unani-
mously made choice of Dr. John Warren to deliver an oration on the
4th of July inst. , who had accordingly accepted that service. They also
voted that, as Faneuil Hall not being capacious enough to receive the
inhabitants that may attend upon that occasion, it should be delivered
at Dr. Cooper's church, as soon as the General Court is ended ; and that
leave be requested of the committee of said church for the use of that
building.
According to Edes' Boston Gazette, that mirror of patriotism, the
joy of the day was announced by the ringing of bells and discharge of
cannon. At eleven o'clock, His Honor the Lieutenant-governor, Thomas
Gushing, — His Excellency, John Hancock, being absent by reason of
sickness, — the Hon. Council, the Senate and Representatives, escorted
by the brigade train of artillery, commanded by Maj. Davis, repaired
to the church in Brattle-street, where the Rev. Dr. Cooper, after a
polite and elegant address to the auditory, returned thanks to Almighty
God for his goodness to these American States, and the glory and suc-
cess with which he had crowned their exertions ; then an anthem Avas
sung suitable to the occasion, and the solemnity Avas concluded by a
most ingenious and elegant oration, delivered by Dr. John Warren, at
the request of the town. They were conducted back to the Senate-
chamber, where an agreeable entertainment was provided. At two
o'clock, the brigade train, and the regiment of militia, commanded by
Col. Webb, paraded in State-street, where the former saluted with
thirteen discharges from the field-pieces, and the mihtia Avitli thirteen
feii-de-joies, in honor of the occasion. The officers of the militia dined,
together at the Bunch of Grapes and the brigade train at the Exchange
taverns. Thirteen patriotic toasts were drunk by each corps, and the
same number, which were given in the Senate-chamber, appear in the
Gazette, one of which was, "May the spirit of union prevail in our
country." On the next day the selectmen of the town, consisting of
John Scollay, Harbottle Dorr, Thomas Greenough, Ezekicl Price,
Capt. William Mackay, Tuthill Hubbard, Esq., DaAid Jeffries, Esq.,
requested a copy of the oration for the press. Here we have the
modest reply of the author :
14
158 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Gentlemen, — On condition that the honesty of my intentions, and
the warmth of my feelings, on the important event which was the sub-
ject of this oration, may be admitted to atone for the imperfection of
t^e performance, I deliver a copy for the press.
" I am, with the greatest respect,
" Your obedient servant,
"John Warren."
This was a brilliant production, breathing patriotic ardor and fra-
ternal warmth, of which we present a specimen : " Transported from
a distant clime less friendly to its nurture, you have planted here the
stately tree of Liberty, and lived to see it flourish. But whilst you
pluck the fruit from the bending branches, remember that its roots
were Avatered with your blood ! Remember the price at Avhich you
purchased it, nor barter liberty for gold. Go, search the vaults where
lay enshrined the relics of your martyred fellow-citizens, and from
their dust receive a lesson on the value of your freedom ! When virtue
fails, — when luxury and corruption shall undermine the pillars of the
State, and threaten a total loss of liberty and patriotism, — then sol-
emnly repair to those sacred repositories of the dead, and, if you can,
return and sport away your rights. When you forget the value of
your freedom, read over the history that recounts the wounds from
which your country bled, — • peruse the picture Avhich brings back to
your imaginations, in the lively colors of undisguised truth, the wild,
distracted feelings of your hearts ! But if your happy lot has been
not to have felt the pangs of convulsive separation from friend or
kindred, learn them of those that have."
The noble remark of John Adams, the apostle of liberty, in allu-
sion to this great natal day, should be printed in capitals in every
newspaper of our vast republic, on every anniversary of that event :
"The 4th day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in
the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated
by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought
to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts to God
Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with
shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one
end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever-
more."
The attention of the Bostonians was involuntarily directed to the
JOHN "WARREX, M. D. 159
brother of the hero of Bunker Hill, as wc have seen, as the most suit-
able person to deliver the first town oration on our national independ-
ence.
John Warren was born at Roxburj, July 27, 1753, and gradu-
ated at Harvard College, 1771, where he was leader of a College Club
for the study of anatomy. He was a student in medicine under his
brother, Gen. Joseph Warren. In 1773 he established himself at
Salem, and was associated with the famous Dr. Holyoke. On the
19th of April, 1775, the regiment of that town marched to Lexington,
and Dr. Warren acted as their surgeon. Tavo of his brothers were in
that scene of contest. " The life which has been devoted to the public
good," said Dr. Warren, in a eulogy on Thomas Russell, "must be an
interesting theme of historical narration ; because scarcely any events
can take place, in the course of such a life, but what must derive dig-
nity and importance from the character wdiich it sustains," — and this
may be suitably said of John Warren. We will continue his history
in the language of his own journal, dated June 17, 1775: "This
day, — a day ever to be remembered by the United American Colonies,
— at about four o'clock in the afternoon, I was alarmed with the inces-
sant report of cannon, which appeared to be at or near Boston. Towards
sun-setting a very great fire was discovered, nearly in a direction from
Salem for Boston; at the be2;innin2; of the evenins;, news arrived
that a smart engagement had happened in the afternoon on Bunker
Hill, in Charlestown, between the king's regular troops and the pro-
vincials : and, soon after, we received intelligence our own troops
were repulsed with great loss, and the enemy had taken possession of
the ground which we had broke the night before. I was very anxious,
as I was informed that great numbers had fallen on both sides, and
that my brother was in all probability in the engagement. I, however,
went home, with a determination to take a few hours' sleep, and then
to go immediately for Cambridge with my arms. Accordingly, in the
morning, at about two o'clock, I prepared myself, and Avent off on
horsc))ack ; and Avhen I arrived at jNIedford, received the melancholy
and distressing tidings that my brother was missing. Upon the dread-
ful intelligence, I went immediately to Cambridge, and inquired of
almost every person I saw whether they could give me any informa-
tion of him. Some told me that he was undoubtedly alive and well,
others that he was wounded, and others that he fell on the field. Thus
perplexed almost to distraction, I went on, inquiring with a solicitude
160 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
wtich Tvas such a mixture of hope and fear as none but such as have
felt it can form any conception. In this manner I passed several days,
every day's information diminishing the probability of his safety.
"0, ye blood-thirsty ^Yretche3, who planned this dreadful scene
which you are now forcing your bloodhounds to execute ! Did you but
feel the pangs of heartfelt, pungent grief for the cruel wounds you
inflicted upon the tenderest part of the public, as well as individuals,
you would have execrated those diabolical measures which by your
counsels have been adopted, and precipitated us into all the horrors of
a civil war. Unfeehng wretches ! reflect, a moment, if you have still
one feature of humanity which is still unobliterated from your minds,
and view the helpless orphan bereft of its fond and only parent, stript
of every comfort of life, driven into an inhospitable wild, and exposed
to all the misery which are the results of your brutal violence, and
forbear, if you can ; but I defy even you to show yourselves so refined
in your darling acts of cruelty as to be capable of supporting the
shocking reflection. Here stay your hands, ye miscreants ! stay your
bloody hands, still warmed with the purple fluid, and ask yourselves if
you are not sated with the inhuman carnage — your hearts long since
inured to view these shocking scenes without emotion ! Go on, then,
ye dastard butchers ! let desolation and destruction mark your bloody
steps wherever your brave opposers are by fortune destitute of proper
arms for their defence ; but give up forever your pretensions to honor,
justice or humanity, and know that this brave, undaunted and oppressed
people, have an arm which will soon be exerted to defend themselves,
their wives and children, — an arm which will ere long inflict such
vengeance on their haughty, presumptuous foes, as shall convince them
they are determined that British cowards, though their number be as
the sands on the sea-shore, shall never subjugate the brave and inno-
cent inhabitants of the American continent. Cover your heads with
shame, ye guilty wretches ! Go home, and tell your blood-thirsty mas-
ter your pitiful tale ; and tell liim, too, that the laurel which once dec-
orated the soldier has withered on the brow, upon the American shore !
Tell him that the British honor and fame have received a mortal stab
from the brave conduct of the Americans. Tell him that even your
conquests have but served to inspire the sufferers with fresh courage
and determined resolution ; and let him know that since that accursed
day when first the hostile forces of Britain planted their foot on the
American shore, your conduct has been such as has resulted in a con-
JOHN WARREN, M. D. 161
tinued series of disgraceful incidents, Avcuk councils, and operations
replete with ignorance and follj. Tell him this, ye contemptible cow-
ards ! hide yourselves like menial slaves in your master's kitchens, nor
dare approach the happy asylum of once extinct liberty, — for if ye
dare, ye die !
" It appears that about 2500 men were sent off from the ministerial
in Boston to dispossess a number, — about 700 of our troops, — -who
had, in the course of the night, cast up a small breastwork upon the
hill. They accordingly attacked them, and, after having retreated
three times, carried their point ; upon Avhich our men retreated with
precipitation, having lost about 200 dead and 300 wounded ; the ene-
my, according to Gage's account, 1025 killed and wounded, amongst
whom were a considerable proportion of olEcers, Lieut. Col. Abercrom-
bie, Maj. Pitcairn, etc., — a dear purchase to them, indeed."
" Look back, ye lionored veterans few.
Whose locks are thin, of silver hue.
That ran, at war's loud piercing thrill,
To Lexington and Bunker's Hill !
When Charlestown's flame in pillars rose.
Caused by om* ci'uel British foes.
Midst thundeilng cannon, blood and fire,
You saw Lord Percy's host expire !
With faltering tongue, you yet can tell
Where some dear friend or brother fell ;
With palsied limbs, and glimmering eyes.
Point to the place where Warren lies ! ' '
Dr. John Warren had a portion of the care of administering to tho
wounded in the Battle of Bunker Hill, and was appointed hospital-
surgeon by Washington, during the siege of Boston ; and he was one
of the detachment ordered to take possession of Boston, on its evacua-
tion by the British troops. We will present the statement of Dr. War-
ren regarding the condition of the town on the day of its evacuation,
as the relation is too interesting to be dispensed with, and the most
authentic statement extant :
^'■March 17, 1776. — This morning, all the soldiers belonging to
Bunker Hill were seen marching towards the ferry ; soon after which,
two men went upon the hill, and finding the posts entirely deserted by
the enemy, gave a signal, upon Avhich a body of our forces went on
and took possession of Charlestown. At the same time, tAvo or three
thousand men were paraded at the boats in Cambridge, for the purpose
14*
162 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of going to Boston, if there should appear any pi-obabihty of opposition
from the regulars. The boats carried the men to SewalFs Point,
■where they landed ; and, upon intelligence being received, from the
selectmen avIio had come out of town, that all the troops had left, only
a small body of men, ^Yho had recovered of the small-pox, were selected
from several regiments to take possession of the heights in town. Being
one of the party, by permit from the general, I had an opportunity of
seeing everything just as it was left, about two hours before, by the
enemy. Two redoubts in the neighborhood of Mount Whoredom
appeared to me to be considerably strong. There were two or three
half moons at the hill, upon the bottom of the Common, for small
arms, and there were no ambrosiers at the redoubt above mentioned.
Just by the shore, opposite Lechmere's Point, is a bomb-battery lined
Avith plank, and faced with a parapet of horse-dung, being nothing but
a simple line ; near it lies a thirteen-inch mortar, a little moved from
its bed. This is an exceeding fine piece, being, as I am sure, seven
and a half inches thick at the muzzle, and near twice that over the
chamber, with an iron bed all cast as one piece, the touch-hole all
spiked up, and sJiot drove into the bores ; there was only a simple line,
being plank filled with dirt. Upon Beacon Hill Avere scarcely more
than the fortifications of nature, — a very insignificant shallow ditch,
with a few short pickets, a platform, and one twenty- four-pounder, which
could not be brought to bear upon any part of the hill. Tliis was left
spiked up, and the bore crammed. On Copp's Hill, at the north, Avas
nothing more than a few barrels, filled with dirt, to form parapets.
Three twenty-four-pounders, upon a platform, were left spiked and
crammed ; all these, as Avell as the others, on carriages. The parapet
in this fort and Beacon Hill did not at all cover the men who should
work the cannon. There was a small redoubt behind, for small arms,
very slender indeed. On Fort Hill were only five lines of barrels
filled with earth, — very trifling indeed. Upon the Neck the works Avere
strong, consisting of redoubts, number of lines with ambrosier for can-
non, a few of Avhich were left as the others. A very strong work at
the old Fortification, and another near the Haymarkct. All these were
ditched and picketed. On Hatch's Wharf Avas a battery of rafters
Avith dirt, and tAVO twelve-pounders left as the others ; one of these I
saAV drilled out and cleared for use, Avithout damage.
"A great number of other cannon Avere left at the north and south
batteries, Avith one or both trunnions beat off. Shot and shells Avere in
JOHN WARREN, 31. D. 163
divers parts of the to^yn. Some cartridges, great quantities of -wheat,
ha J, oil, medicine, horses, and other articles to the amount of a great
sum. The houses I found to be considerably abused inside, where they
had been inhabited by the common soldiery, but the external parts of
the houses made a tolerable appearance. The streets were clean, and,
upon the whole, the town looks much better than I expected. Sev-
eral hundreds of houses were pulled down, but these were very old
ones. The inhabitants in general appeared to rejoice at our success,
but a considerable number of Tories have tarried in the town to throw
themselves upon the mercy of the people ; the others are aboard with
the shipping, all of which now lay before the Castle. They appear to
have gone off in a hurry. In consec|uence of our having, the night
before, erected a fort upon Nook Hill, which was very near the town,
some cannon were fired from their lines, even this morning, to the
Point.
' ' We now learn certainly that there was an intention, in consequence
of a court-martial held upon the occasion of our taking possession of
Dorchester Hills, to make an attack ; and three thousand men, under
command of Lord Percy, went to the Castle for the purpose. It was
the intention to have attacked us, at the same time, at Roxbury hues.
It appears that Gen. Howe had been very careful to prevent his men
from committing depredations ; that he, with other officers, had an
high opinion of Gen. Washington, — of the army in general, — much
higher than formerly. Lord Percy said he never knew us do a foohsh
action yet, and therefore he believed we would not induce them to burn
the town by firing upon their fleet. They say they shall come back
again soon. The small-pox is in about ten or a dozen places in town-
^'■March 20. — This evening they burn the Castle, and demolish, by
blowing up, all the fortifications there ; they leave not a building stand-
ino;."
Before parting with this treasure, we will give Dr. Warren's visit
to Chai'lestown and Bunker Hill, with his reflections on the event,
inspiring sensations not less thrilling than a view of the battle-field of
Waterloo, where Napoleon met his last great defeat :
'''March 21. — Our men go upon the Castle, and soon begin to erect
new fortresses, as they had begun, a day or two before, on Tort Hill ;
and the fleet all fall down into Nantasket Road. The winds have been
fair for them to sail, but their not embracing the opportunity favors a
suspicion of some intended attack. It seems, indeed, very improbable
164 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
that they will be willing to leave us in so disgraceful manner as this.
It is very surprising that they should not burn the town, when they
had it entirely in their power to do it. The soldiers, it appears, were
mudi dissatisfied at being obliged to leave the town without glutting
their revengeful tempers Avith the blood of the Yankees.
'' This day I visit Charlestown, and a most melancholy heap of ruins
it is. Scarcely the vestiges of those beautiful buildings remain, to dis-
tin<Tuish them from the mean cottages. The hill which was the theatre
upon which the bloody tragedy of the 17th of June Avas acted com-
mands the most affecting view I ever saw in my life. The walls of
magnificent buildings, tottering to the earth, below ; above, a great num-
ber of rude hillochs, under which are deposited the remains of clusters
of those deathless heroes who fell in the field of battle. The scene
was inexpressibly solemn. When I considered myself as walking over
the bones of many of my worthy fellow-countrymen, who jeoparded
and sacrificed their lives in these high places, — when I considered that
perhaps, Avhilst I was musing over the objects around me, I might be
standing over the remains of a dear brother, AvJiose blood has stained
these hallowed walks. — with veneration did this inspire me. How many
endearing scenes of fraternal friendship, now past and gone forever, pre-
sented themselves to my view I But it is enough ; the blood of the inno-
cent calls for vengeance on the guilty heads of the vile assassins. 0,
may our arms be strengthened to fight the battles of our God ! When
I came to Bunker Hill, I found it exceeding strong ; the front parapet,
about thirteen feet high from the bottom of the trench, composed of
earth, containing plank supported by huge timber, with two look-outs
upon the top. In the front of this were two bastions, and a semi-
circular line with very wide trenches, and very long picket as well as
trenches. Within, the causeway was secured with a hedge and brush.
All that part of the main fort which vras not incjuded within the high
works above-mentioned, — namely, the rear. — was secured by another
parapet, with a trench picketed inside as well as out.
"ThercAvasa half-moon which commanded the river at the side.
There was, moreover, a block-house upon Sclioolhouse Hill, enclosed by
a very strong fence spiked, and a dungeon and block-house upon Breed's
Hill, enclosed in a redoubt of earth, with trenches and pickets ; the
-Works which had been cast up by our forces had been entirely lev-
' elled."
In Dr. Warren's manuscript we find a beautiful and patriotic tribute
JOHN WARREN, M. D. 165
to Gen. Montgomery: '-'This brave man was determined eitlier to
take Quebec or lose his life. He accordingly died nobly on the field.
His course of victory -was short, rapid, and uninterrupted, but truly
great and glorious. He has, in his conquest, behaved like the hero
and like the patriot. 0, America ! thy land is -watering with the
blood of thy richest sons. Evei-y drop calls for vengeance upon the
infamous administration Avliich authorized this unnatural butchery.
God grant that, in this great man's stead, and for that of every hero
•who perishes in the noble struggle, double the number may rise up !
Peace to his beloved shade !' The tears of a grateful country shall flow
copiously whilst they lament your death. Ten thousand ministers of
glory shall keep vigils around the sleeping dust of the invincible war-
rior, whilst the precious remains shall be the resort of every true
patriot in every future age ; and whilst the truly good and great shall
approach the place sacred with the dust of the hero, they shall point
to the little hillock, and say, There rests the great Montgomery. Avho
bravely conquered the enemies to freedom in this province ; who, with
utmost rapidity, with his all-conquering arms, reduced no less than
three strong fortresses, and bravely died in the noble attempt to take
possession of the strongest garrison upon the whole continent of Amer-
ica. He died, it is true, and in dying became invincible."
Dr. Warren was in the disastrous action on Long Island. He was
in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, and narrowly escaped captiv-
ity. In 1777 he was appointed superintending surgeon of the military
hospitals in Boston, which he occupied until the peace. Dr. Warren
married Abigail, daugliter of Gov. John Collins, of Newport, R. I.,
Kov. 2, 1777, by Avhom he had five sons and four daughters. His
eldest son, John Collins, the Astley Cooper of New England, has long
been the most eminent surgeon in Massachusetts, whose son, Jonathan
Mason, is destined to be as elevated in surgery as his fathers.
In the year 1780, according to Thacher, a contemporary, Dr. War-
ren gave a course of dissections to his colleagues, with great success, in
connection with a series of lectures, in the ^lilitary Hospital, situated
in a pasture in the rear of the present jNIassachusetts General Hos-
pital, at the corner of Milton and Spring streets. They were con-
ducted with the greatest secrecy, owing to the popular prejudice
against dissections. In 1781. his lectures, given at the same place,'^
became public, when the students of Harvard College were permitted
to attend; and at this time he performed the amputation at the
166 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
shouldei'-joint, with complete success. The third course was given in
the year 1782, at the Mohneux House, located on Beacon-street, oppo-
site the north side of the State-house. This, or a preceding course,
•was delivered at the request of the Boston Medical Society, when Har-
vard students attended.
Dr. Warren was founder of the medical institution of Harvard Uni-
versity, arising from these lectures ; and, on the request of President
"Willard, originated the plan for the present medical institution, which was
organized in the year 1783, Avhen three professors were inducted. Dr.
Warren was at that time appointed Professor of Anatomy and Surgery.
and efficiently performed the duties of that station until his decease.
In the year 1806. Dr. John C. Warren, his son, was appointed adjunct
professor on the same foundation, and continued in the discharge of
the office during the period of forty years. jMany a student, to the
last day of life, has heartily responded to the fervent tribute of Susanna
Rowson, to the memory of Dr. John Warren, which may be applied
to the son with like effect :
•' How sweet was the voice that instructerl oui- youth !
What ■wisdom, wliat science, that voice could impart !
How bright was that face, where the radiance of truth
Beamed over each feature direct from the heart ! "
In 1784, he established the small-pox hospital, at Point Shirley.
In 1804, he was elected President of the Massachusetts INIedical Soci-
ety, and Avas ever viewed as the IN^agnus Apollo, the life and soul,
of that institution. He was president, also, of the Massachusetts
Humane, Massachusetts Agricultural, and the Massachusetts INIedical
societies, of the last of which he was an originator, in 1783.
Dr. Warren was of middling stature ; an elevated forehead, black
eyes, aquihne nose, and hair retreating from the forehead, gave an air
of dignity to his polished manners, inspired by intercourse with officers
from France. As a lecturer, his voice was most harmoniously sono-
rous, his utterance distinct and full, and his language perspicuous. His
perception Avas quick and acute, his imagination lively and strong, his
actions prompt and decided. The rapidity in all his -intellectual oper-
ations constituted a very striking trait in his character. Dr. Warren
died April 4, 1815, at his residence in School-street, of an inflamma-
tion of the lungs, in connection with an organic disease which had long
BENJAMIN HIGHBORN. 167
affected his system. His remains are deposited under St. Paul's
Church, beside those of his brother, Gen. Joseph Warren.
In 1782, Dr. Warren dehvered a Charge to the Masons, on the fes-
tival of St. John the Baptist ; and, in 1813, he published a View of
Mercurial Practice in Febrile Disease. A eulogy on Dr. Warren was
pronounced by Dr. James Jackson. April 8, 1815, before the Massa-
chusetts Medical Society; and another eulogy was delivered by Josiah
Bartlett. for the Massachusetts Grand Lodge.
President Quincy, in the History of Harvard University, remarks
of Dr. AVarren, that he '• has just claims to be ranked among the dis-
tinguished men of our country, for his spirit as a patriot, his virtues
as a man, and his preeminent surgical skill. The qualities of his heart,
as well as of his mind, endeared him to his contemporaries."
BENJAMIN HIGHBORN.
JULY 4, 1784. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
The quotation herewith, from this patriotic oration on the union of
the States, and the dangers of an increased territory in. this republic,
comes upon us at this period with great power.
'•The American States." says Hichborn, "seem by nature to have
such an intimate connection, that necessity will oblige them to be close
friends, or the most inveterate enemies. Friends they may be for
ages, but cannot long exist in a state of war with each other. Sepa-
rated only by mathematical or imaginary lines, a very small superiority
of force in either must be fiital to the neighborhood. Every acquisi-
tion will render the victorious party more irresistible ; and in propor-
tion as the conquerors advance, the power of opposing them will be
lessened, till the whole are subdued by a rapacious discontented part.
But experience having taught us that the force of government is gen-
erally lessened in proportion to the extent of territory over which it
is to be exerted, we must expect, in a country like this, inhabited by
men too sensible of their rights to rest easy under a control founded in
ft-aud and supported by oppression, that discontent will break out in
every quarter, till, by the clashing of various powers, a new division
168 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of territory \vill take place, which must soon be succeeded -with fresh
quarrels, similar to those which disturbed the original tranquillity. Thus
this happy land, formed for the seat of freedom and resort of the dis-
tressed, may, like other countries, in her turn, become a prey to the
restless temper of her own inhabitants. But should any of the States,
pressed by unequal force, call in the aid of some foreign power, the
consequences must be equally ruinous. A demand of foreign aid in
one State will produce a similar application from another, till America
becomes the common theatre on which all the warlike powers on earth
shall be engaged. But since this combined force, without an adequate
power somewhere to give it a proper direction, can only operate like a
mass of unanimated matter to check and destroy the natural activity
of the body from whence it originates, it becomes an object of the last
importance to form some great continental arrangements."
JOHN GARDINER.
JULY 4, 1785. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
The nervous and comprehensive oration of John Gardiner, showing
a relation of some of the historical causes of the Revolution, states
that an event occurred in the fifth year of Queen Anne, of vast import-
ance to this country. "A statute was passed for the union of the two
kingdoms of England and Scotland ; by the fourth article of which, it
is declared that all the subjects of the United Kingdom shall have full
freedom of ti-ade and navigation to any port within the United King-
dom, and the dominions thereto belonging ; and that there should be a
communication of all other rights which belonged to the subjects of
either kingdom. By this article, our tender, nursing mother, — as she
has most falsely and impudently been called, — without consulting our
legislative bodies, or asking the consent of any one individual of our
countrymen, — assumed upon herself to convey, as stock in trade,
one full undivided moiety of all the persons, and all the estates and
property, of the freemen of America, to an alien, who will pi*ove a
harsh, cruel, and unrelenting stepmother. Then, too much blinded
"with foolish affection for that country whose oppressions had forced our
JOHN GARDINER. 169
stern, free-minded progenitors into these remote regions of the world,
— into an howling and a savage wilderness, — like children not yet
attained to the years of reason and discretion, Avho inconsiderately sup-
pose their parent ever in the right, our predecessors sat quiet under the
arbitrary disposition, nor once murmured aloud at the unnatural, and
to us iniquitous, transaction.
"Our new parent. Great Britain, then made our kings, appointed our
governors, and kindly sent many of her needy sons to live upon the
fruits of our toil ; to reap where neither she nor they had sown, and
to fill the various offices which she had generally created here, for her
and their own emolument. Every twentieth cousin of an alehouse-
keeper, who had a right of voting in the election of a member of Par-
liament, was cooked up into a gentleman, and sent out here commis-
sioned to insult the hand that gave him daily bread. Although greatly
displeased with these injurious proceedings, Ave submitted to the harsh
hand of our unfeeling, selfish stepmother, nor once remonstrated against
these, her unjust, her cruel usurpations."
John, son of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, was born at Boston, in the year
1731. He was in early life sent to England, and entered on the study
of law at the Inner Temple. He was admitted to practice in the
courts of Westminster Hall, and became an intimate friend of Church-
ill, the famous poet. Whilst reading law in the Temple, he formed an
acquaintance with Lord INIansficld, with whom he became a favorite;
and, having the assurance of his pati'onage, he commenced legal prac-
tice, with every prospect of rising in England to considerable emi-
nence. But, being eccentric in character, fearless and independent in
action, he adopted Whig principles, and, to the surprise of Lord Mans-
field, appeared as junior counsel in the famous case of John Wilkes,
the reformer : and arcrued with success in the defence of Beardmore
and Meredith, who, for writings in support of Wilkes, had been impris-
oned on a general warrant. His zeal on this occasion blasted all hope
of fivor from court or Tory influence. In reference to JNIr. Gardiner's
efforts in these trials, there now remains in the possession of William
H. Gardiner, his grandson, and a counscllor-at-law, a valuable and
beautiful piece of plate, bearing this inscription :
" ' Pro libertate semper strenuus.'
"To John Gardiner, Esq., this waiter is presented by Arthur Beard-
more, as a small token of gratitude, for pleading his cause, and that
15
170 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of his clerk, David Meredith, against the Earl of Halifax, then Sec-
retary of State, for false imprisonment, under his warrant, commonly
called a Secretary of State's warrant, that canker of English lib-
erty.—1766."
He practised a period at South Wales, Haverford West, where he mar-
ried j^Iargaret Harris. Their eldest son, John Sylvester John, Avas born
June, 1765, in Haverford West, and educated under the tuition of the
celebrated Dr. Samuel Parr, in England. In 1766, Mr. Gardiner
was appointed chief-justice of the province of New York, which was
declined. Mr. Gardiner, having been appointed attorney-general in
the island of St. Christopher, removed his family to the West Indies,
where he continued until the close of the -American Revolution, in
1783, when he removed his family to Boston, where he soon became
an eminent barrister-at-law, and distinguished himself .by the highly
learned oration pronounced July 4, 1785. The notes at the end of
this production, exceeding in matter the text, are of great historic value.
In the next year, Mr. Gardiner settled at Pownalboro', Maine, where
he was elected a representative to the Massachusetts Legislature, and
was an ardent advocate for the abolition of special pleading, but was
defeated. He effected, however, an abolition of the law of primogen-
iture. On Jan. 26, 1702, Mr. Gardiner strenuously vindicated the
establishment of the Boston Theatre, in the Legislature, and was
decidedly opposed by Samuel Adams and Harrison Gray Otis. His
speech was published, and was entitled "The Expediency of Eepealing
the Law against Theatrical Exhibitions." This essay elicited from a
Roman Catholic priest — one John Thayer — some strictures on what
he viewed to be "not solid arguments." Mr. Gardiner replied, over
the signature of Barcbones, with great warmth and bitterness. The
controversy continued for some time, and originated the following
epigram :
" Thayer squibs at Gardiner, — Gardiner bangs at Thayer, —
A contest quite beneath the jiublic care ;
Each calls the otlier fuol, and rails so long,
'T is hard to say that either 's iu the wrong."
This production is probably the most scholastic argument in defence
of the stage ever written by an American ; and it was in this speech
that Charles Jarvis Avas first termed " the towering bald eagle of the
Boston seat." " If the door be opened to the repeal of the act against
the stage," said Gardiner, "there can be no doubt but that, in time,
JOHN GARDINER.
171
this country will produce poets who may tower into the subliraest
paths of tragedy, and lightly tread along the smiling, flowery road of
chaste comedy. But if in sullen silence the door is to be forever kept
shut, and this Gothic statute is to remain unrepealed, our genius will
be stifled, and our ears will continue to be harassed with nothing better
than the untuned screechings of the dull votaries of old Sternhold and
Hopkins ! " In the same year he published A Dissertation on the
Ancient Poetry of the Romans, in which he said, when contrasting the
Roman church with the English Established church : "The first of
their thirty-nine articles is superstitious, contradictory, and unintel-
lio-ible : for, if the first part of that article be true, to a plain, honest
mind, the latter part thereof cannot, in my opinion, be also true ; and
if the latter part be true, it is a direct contradiction of the first part,
for the second person there mentioned had parts and passions. Their
di^niified clergy claim an heavenly, or divine, hereditary succession,
and to have a certain spiritual something, bottled in their carcasses,
which they can communicate to whom they please, and which none but
themselves, and those whom they touch for that purpose, can possess
or enjoy. They deny transubstantiation, and yet they cherish con-
substantiation, Avhich difiers only in the name. In short, they are in
a very small degree removed from the Mother of Harlots." The opin-
ions of John Gardiner, barrister, are Avide apart from John Sylvester
John, his son, the divine, who published a very learned discourse,
entitled "A Preservative against Unitarianism," at Boston, in 1810,
wherein he thus contemptuously lashes the Unitarians: "No faction
was ever more active in spreading its tenets than the Unitarians. In
Eno-land they have long conducted the most popular magazines and
reviews, and here they are eager to seize on every avenue to the pub-
lic eye and ear. From the slight opposition which they have encoun-
tered, they really seem to imagine that they are the only wise, and that
all learning and genius are confined to themselves. But if there be a
man of superemincnt talents among them, let him be pointed out. I
know him not. The pert conceit, the supercilious sneer, the claim to
infallibility, the declamation against liigotry and superstition, by which
they mean belief in the essential doctrines of Christianity, may excite
admiration among the thoughtless and superficial, but will gain them
little credit with the sensible and reflecting. The Unitarians are for-
ever harping upon candor and liberality, which they display by ineffa-
ble contempt for all sects but their own. The candor of a Unitariau
172 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
resembles the liumaiiity of a revolutionary Frenchman. It is entirely
confined to words ; and I -will venture to affirm that no greater out-
raf^es against good manners can be found than in the -writings of their
leaders, Wakefield, Belsham, and Priestley. But let them measure
their own moderate stature 'with the gigantic dimensions of a Bacon, a
Milton, and a Johnson, and perhaps they will be candid enough to
allow that all genius and knowledge are not confined to Unitarians,
and that a man may be a Trinitarian without being necessarily either a
blockhead or a hypocrite."
In 1785, John Gardiner took an active part in the alteration of the
Liturgy in the Common Prayer, being on a committee, with Perez INIor-
ton and others, of King's Chapel church, striking out the doctrine of
the Trinity. Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, long a warden of King's Chapel,
was the father of the subject of this article, of whom John Adams said,
that "he had a thin, grasshopper voice, and an affected squeak; a
meagre visage, and an awkward, unnatural complaisance." Barrister
Gardiner was a ripe scholar, a rare wit, and the most vigorous writer
of his day; but highly sarcastic and vituperative toward his opponents.
He was a zealous politician, learned in his profession, of tenacious
memory, and of nervous eloquence.
When on his passage to the General Court of Massachusetts, in the
packet Londoner, wrecked off Cape Ann in a storm, he Avas drowned,
October, 1793, where his chest of clothing floated ashore.
JONATHAN LORING AUSTIN.
JULY 4, 178G. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
In the smooth and animated oration of Mr. Austin, glowing with
patriotic fervor, it is said : "What country, my friends, can produce
so many events, in the course of a few years, as must ever distinguish
the American page, — a young continent, contending with a nation
whose establishment had been for ajres, and whose armies had con-
quered the powers of the world 7 What spirit, short of an heavenly
enthusiasm, could have animated these infant colonies, boldly to
JONATHAN LORING AUSTIN. 173
renounce the arbitrary mandates of a British Parliament, and, instead
of fawning like suppliants, to arm themselves for their common defence?
You dared to appeal to that God -who first planted the principles of
natural freedom in the human breast, — principles repeatedly impressed
on our infmt minds by our great and glorious ancestors ; and may
yonder sun be shorn of its beams, ere their descendants forget the
heavenly admonitions !
" When I behold so many worthy patriots, who. during the late glo-
rious struggle, have shone conspicuous in the cabinet and in the field,
— when I read in each smihng face and placid eye the happy occasion
for joy and gratulation, — the transporting subject fires my bosom, and,
with emotions of pleasure, I congratulate my country on the return of
this anniversary. Hail, auspicious day ! an era in the American
annals to be ever remembered with joy, while, as a sovereign and
independent nation, these United States can maintain with honor and
applause the character they have so gloriously acquired ! How shall
we maintain, as a nation, our respectability, should be the grand sub-
ject of inquiry. This is the object to which we must attend ; for the
moment America sullies her name, by forfeiting her honor, the fame
she has acquired from the heroism of her sons, and the virtues she
has displayed in the midst of her distress, will only serve, like a train
of mourners, to attend the funeral of her glory. But, by a due culti-
vation of manners, a firm adherence to the faith we have pledged, an
union in council, a refinement in sentiment, a liberality and benevo-
lence of conduct, we shall render ourselves happy at home and
respectable abroad ; our constellation will brighten in the political hem-
isphere, and the radiance of our stars sparkle with increasing lustre."
Jonathan Loring, son of Hon. Benjamin Austin, was born at Bos-
ton, Jan. 2, 1748 ; entered the Latin School in 1755 ; graduated at
Harvard College in 17G6, on Avhich occasion he delivered the first Eng-
lish oration ever assigned to a candidate for the bachelor's degree. The
recent repeal of the Stamp Act had spread universal joy among the
people, and naturally superseded all classical subjects for such an occa-
sion. The boldness of some of the sentiments was not much approved
by the faculty, and had well-nigh cost the candidate the honors of his
class. Mr. xiustin's father was of the Council, and a selectman in Bos-
ton in 1775, whose upright and venerable form, large, white wig, scarlet
roquelot, and gold-headed cane, were the personification of the man-
ners and dress of that period.
15*
174 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
After leaving Cambridni;e, Mr. Austin commenced business as a mer-
chant, in Portsmouth, N. H. He was appointed a major in a volun-
teer reo'iment, under the command of the late Gov. Lang-don, raised
for the protection of that place. On the commencement of hostilities,
he became aid-de-camp to Gen. Sullivan ; but being about that period
appointed Secretary of the Board of War in Massachusetts, he directly
accepted the latter situation, -which he sustained until October, 1777.
Mr. Austin married Miss Hannah Ivers.
When it became probable that Gen. Gates and the northern army
would be able by their success to counterbalance the loss of Philadel-
phia and the gloomy character of the southern campaign, the executive
Council of Massachusetts resolved to transmit the intelligence by a
safe and early conveyance to the American Commissioners at Paris.
For this purpose a vessel was chartered at Boston, and Mr. Austin
was appointed a special messenger. As soon as the official despatches
of the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne could be prepared, Mr. Austin
sailed from Boston, October, 1777. It would seem that the feeble
resources of the State were exhausted by the expense of the vessel.
Their messenger was allowed to provide his cabin stores at his own
charge, and to trust to the eftect of his intelligence for the means of
compensation. The pious habit of New England did not at that time
permit a voyage to Europe, without proposing a note at church on the
Sunday previous, for the prayers of the congregation. Such was
accordingly offered at the Old Brick, where his father's family wor-
shipped. The good Dr. Chauncy, though not gifted like Dr. Cooper
in prayer, was on this occasion strongly excited. He thanked the Lord
most fervently for the great and glorious event which required the
departure of a special messenger. He prayed that it might pull down
the haughty spirit of our enemies ; that it might warm and inspirit our
friends ; that it might be the means of procuring peace, so anxiously
desired by all good men ; and he prayed that no delay might retard
the arrival in Europe of the packet which conveyed this great news.
He invoked a blessing, as desired, on the person who w^as about to
expose himself to the dangers of the deep to carry this wonderful intel-
ligence across the mighty Avaters ; but, said he, good Lord, whatever, in
thy wise providence, thou seest best to do with the young man, we
beseech thee most fervently, at all events, to preserve the packet. The
vessel arrived at Nantes, November, 1777.
The commissioners had assembled at Dr. Franklin's apartments, on
I
JONATHAN LORING AUSTIN. 175
the rumor that a special messenger had arrived, and were too impatient
to suffer a moment's delay. Thej received him in the court-yard.
Before he had time to alight, Dr. Franklin addressed him, — " Sir, is
Philadelphia taken 7 " " Yes, sir ! " The old gentleman clasped ]iis
hands, and went to the hotel. "But, sir, I have greater news than
that; General Burgoyne and his whole army are prisoners of Avar ! "
The effect was electrical. The despatches were scarcely read before
they were put under copy. Mr. Austin was liimself impressed into
the service of transcribing them. Communication was, without delay,
made to the French ministry. Lord Stormont, the English ambassa-
dor, left Paris, and. on the 6th of December, official information was
given to the American commissioners that the king recognized the
independence of the United States. Treaties to that effect, and for
commerce and alliance, were negotiated and signed in sixty days from
that date ; and the American commissioners, who before were obliged
almost to keep themselves prisoners, were received into favor at court,
and into unbounded popularity through all France.
Dr. Franklin transferred to Mr. Austin the affection of a father, as
if he had been not merely the messenger, but the cause, of this glorious
information. He took him directly into his family, constituted him an
additional private secretary, and continued towards him the kindest
regards during the whole period of liis abode in France. Often, at
breakfast or other occasions of their meeting, the old gentleman would
break from one of those musings in which it was his habit to indulge,
and, clasping his hands together, exclaim, " 0 ! Mr. Austin, you
brouo-ht glorious news ! " He made it a matler of etiquette that Mr.
Austin should accompany him wherever he was invited. He held him
at his bedside during the intervals of the painful disease with wliich he
was visited ; taught him to play chess, that he might have some con-
stant cause for the enjoyment of his society, to heap upon him every
mark of personal attachment during the period of nearly two years of
his residence in France.
Dr. Franklin was from that moment the object of unbounded curi-
osity and interest. The saloons of Paris were incomplete without his
presence. There was an enthusiasm excited concerning him, which
brought him into all the most beautiful society of that great metropolis,
and in which his dress and simplicity of appearance formed a singular
contrast to the rich and splendid attire of all others of the company.
The young American, it may well be imagined, was deliglited with the
176 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
splendor and fascinations of these novel scenes ; and might have found
in their allurements a too dangerous occupation, if the cause of all this
attraction had not extended to him as well the Avatchfulness of a father
as the kindness of a friend.
A rigid etiquette controlled the court di'ess, of which a sword and
bag were indispensable parts. The costume, which was regulated by
the season, was so strictly enforced, that admission was refused to him
who wore lace ruffles when the time required cambric ; but a sword
Avas as inappropriate to Franklin as it would be in the hands of a
woman, and he determined to go unarmed. This resolution aston-
ished the chamberlain of the palace, and delnycd, for a time, the
presentation of the American commissioners. But Franklin knew his
ground ; and, although it is not probable he would have sacrificed the
advantage of an introduction at court to any vain regard to costume,
he determined, if possible, to appear in the simple fashion of his own
country. The privilege was accorded to him, and the novelty of his
appearance served to increase admiration for his character.
Attended by his suite, he had a public audience of the king, and
was introduced to the private circle of the queen ; and from that
moment, everything Franklin, and everything American, was first in
style in the gay coteries of the French capital. Dr. Franklin's
quarters became the point of attraction to all that was distinguished or
desirous of being prominent in philosophy or fashion, in politics and
taste ; and the duty of receiving and attending to their numerous calls
generally devolved on Loring Austin. Ten thousand marks of jxn--
sonal kindness which were lavished on Dr. Franklin could not but
sometimes excite the good-natured jealousy of the other commissioners,
who, though his equals in political rank, seemed to be forgotten entirely
by the French people ; and it required some address, certainly, on the
part of Franklin, to preserve harmony. Among numberless simjilar
instances of the consideration in which he was held, a large cake was
sent, one morning, to the commissioners' apartment, inscribed, " Le
digne Franklin," or. For the worthy Franklin. " We have," said
one of the gentlemen, " as usual, to thank you for our accommodations,
and to appropriate your present to our joint use." " Not at all," said
Franklin ; " this must be intended for all the commissioners, only these
French people cannot Avrite English. They mean, no doubt, ' Lee,
Dean, Franklin.' " " That might answer," said Mr. Lee; " but we
know, whenever they remember us at all, they always put you first."
JONATHAN LORIXG AUSTIN, 177
The capture of Burgoyne, and the French alliance, changed "wholly
the character of the xVmerican cause, and it began to be believed in
Europe that the independence of the Colonies might be maintained.
The members of the English opposition in Parliament maintained a
correspondence ■5\-ith Dr. Franklin ; and it has been said that he was
privately visited in Paris by more than one of them. The ministry, it
was known, was desirous of keeping the nation in great ignorance of
the state of xVmerican affairs. Little confidence was placed in their
accounts ; and the most intelli^ient men souoiht information from other
sources, and especially through France. The Americans in England
were principally loyalists, and the fairness of their representations was
liable to suspicion. There was in the conduct and constitution of
American affairs a great departure from the usual course of European
politics ; — the mode of government, the strength, resources and
prospects of the country, were little understood ; — how the war was
conducted, when there was none of that machinery which was thought
indispensable to raise taxes, support armies, and enforce authority.
They were desirous of having these matters explained, especially as
the enemies of the American cause made this the constant theme for
their prophecy of ruin. To communicate this information in an
authentic and satisfactory manner, to explain and illustrate the actual
state of things in the United States, it was thought could best be
done by personal interviews with some intelligent and confidential per-
son ; and Dr. Franklin proposed a mission for this purpose to Loring
Austin. It may readily be supposed that the young American acceded
to this proposal with pleasure.
The business was in a high degree confidential ; and, as preparatory
to it, Franklin required of Austin to burn in his presence every letter
which he had brou(i;ht from his friends in America, — in exchano;e for
which he gave him two letters, Avhich he assured him Avould open an
easy communication to whatever was an object of interest or curiosity,
either among men or things. One difficulty had, however, nearly
destroyed this plan. Franklin was unwilling that Austin should be
known, lest his connection with the commissioners in France mi^ht be
suspected. But he had many relatives in England of distinction, and
was, besides, personally acquainted with all the loyalists who had left
Boston. Trusting, however, to his prudence, and enjoining on him
the most scrupulous attention to preserve from all but the proper per-
178 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS,
sons the secret of his connection ■u"ith the commissioners, Franklin
furnished him with the means of a passage to England.
Probably no American ever visited England under more fortunate
circumstances than did Loring Austin. Few of our countrymen have
the means of associating with the rank and wealth of that nation.
Those who gain this access by means of official station maintain a cold
and formal intercourse, limited in its character, and confined to official
circles. But the letters of Dr. Franklin, and the desire that was felt
by the leaders of the opposition to see and converse with an intelligent
American, who had the confidence of that eminent man, and was from
the country of their absorbing interest, brought Loring Austin into
fiimiliar personal intercourse with the master spirits of the age.
In narrating the progress of his commission, Mr. Austin writes :
^'My time passes with so little of the appearance of business, that if I
was not assured it was otherwise, I should think myself without useful
employment. The mornings I devote to seeing such objects of curi-
osity or interest as I am advised to, and wholly according to my own
inclination. I attend constantly the debates of Parliament, to which
I have ready admission ; and have been particularly enjoined to
attend, that I may not miss any question on our affiiirs. Dinner, —
or, as it ought to be called, supper, — which follows afterward, is
the time allotted to conversation on the affiiirs of our country. I am
invariably detained to parties of this kind, sometimes consisting of
seven or eight, and sometimes of the number of twenty. The com-
pany is always composed of members of Parliament, with very few
additions ; indeed, I do not know of any ; and no question which you
can conceive is omitted, to all which I give such answers as my knowl-
edge permits. I am sadly puzzled with the various titles which differ-
ent ranks require. My small knowledge of French prevented this
trouble in Paris ; but here I frequently find mj'self at fault, which
subjects me to embarrassment, that is yet forgiven to a stranger."
A constant and familiar intercourse with whatever was noble or
learned or eminent in the British capital must have made this a most
delightful winter in London to a young American, educated in the plain
habits of New England. Mr. Austin was domesticated in the family
of the Earl of Shelburne ; placed under the particular care of his chap-
lain, the celebrated Dr. Priestley ; introduced to the king, then a youth ;
in company with Mr. Fox, present at all the coteries of the opposition,
and called upon to explain and defend the cause and character of
* JONATHAN LORING AUSTIN. 179
t
his countrymen, in the freedom of colloquial discussion, before the
greatest geniuses of the age, against the doubts of some, the ridicule
of others, the censure of many, and the inquiries of all.
The communications made by Mr. Austin were calculated to explain
the condition and circumstances of his countrymen, to give a better
conception of their physical and moral strength, to do away the
impression of their being at variance among themselves, to explain
what might otherwise lead to a belief of their want of harmony ; and,
by stating facts Avhich, with the minuteness that was known to him,
his hearers could not be acquainted with, he effected a very useful
impression.
The object of his visit to England was accomplished to the satisfaction
of Dr. Franklin, in whose family he continued for some time after his
return to Paris. Being charged with the despatches of the commis-
sioners to Congress, he left France, and arrived at Philadelphia, jMay,
1779. A very liberal compensation was made him by Congress for
his services in Europe ; and jMr. Austin again returned to his business
in Boston, as an owner of a rope- walk, and interested in shipping.
On the 11th January, 1780, Mr. Austin was appointed by the State
of Massachusetts a commissioner to negotiate in Europe for a loan of
one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, " and to pledge the
faith of the government for the repayment of the same ; " and shortly
after embarked for Spain. Such, however, Avas the low credit of the
country abroad, or the want of information among monied men of its
resources and condition, that this small sum could not be obtained.
]Mr. Austin was captured on his outwai'd passage, and carried a
prisoner into England. Personal incivility, inconsistent with the
usages of more modern warfare, was practised towards him by the
captor, for the purpose of discovering the object of his vo^^agc, the
papers concerning it having been thrown overboard during the chase ;
and. on the appearance of an American vessel of force, the master of
the English ship actually confined him to the main-mast, and threat-
ened to keep him there during the action, — a threat which he would
probably have put in execution, if an engagement had ensued. Mr.
Austin, having obtained his liberation in England, by means of friends
to whom he had formerly been known, passed over to France, and there
and in Spain and Holland pursued the object of his mission, with
very indifferent success. He Avas enabled, by adding his OA>'n per-
sonal credit to that of the State, to procure some articles of clothing,
180 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATOflS.
but far short of the amount desired by the commonwealth. ^ Mr.
Austin continued his exertions in Holland until the summer of 1781 ;
and, after twenty-two months' absence, returned to the United States.
After the close of the Revolutionary War, Mr. Austin engaged again
in commercial and manuflicturing pursuits, and confined himself chiefly
to these occupations. In his native town he was repeatedly honored
with the confidence of the people. He served for many years on the
boards of overseers of the poor and school committee, and in the State
Senate, as a member from Suffolk. On removing to Cambridge, Avhcre
he resided during the period his sons were passing through the uni-
versity. — one of whom prepared the greatest part of this sketch, —
jNIr. Austin was elected a representative from that town to the Legis-
lature, and was successively elected secretary and treasurer of the
commonwealth.
The associations of his early life, and his intercourse with educated
society in the courts of Europe, had given a refinement and polish to
his manners and mode of thinking, that entitled him to the reputation
he then universally enjoyed, of being one of the most accomplished
gentlemen of the day. There are those remaining who remember that
he. whom for many years we had been accustomed to see bowed down
by infirmity and age, was once
" The glass of fashion and the mould of form.
The observed of all observers."
Shortly before his death, Mr. Austin interested some young friends,
by reciting, memoriter, several of the fine descriptions of Homer and
Yirgil, which he was ever able fluently to repeat. He died at Boston,
May 15, 1826.
The Hon. Benjamin Austin, an active and zealous leader of the old
Republican party, and a brother of Jonathan Loring Austin, was a
frequent writer in the Independent Chronicle, over the signature
of Honestus, and author also of a warm political work, entitled '• Old
South," comprising 350 pages, Svo. His political articles eifected a
greater sensation than the productions of any writer in his party, and
elicited the following severe eSusion from the most satirical poet of
Boston ;
" In vain our literary champions write, —
Their satire tickles, and their praises bite.
They, by their poor, dull nonsense, clearly own
Our depth of anguish to the laughing town.
JONATHAN LORIXG ArSTIX. 181
Their pens inflict not e'en a moment's pain.
And Honee scribbles, and his friends, in Tain ;
Like angry flies that buzz upon the -.ving,
They show the will, but not the power, to sting ;
Ambitious with ephemeras to vie,
Or moles that thunder into light, and die."
Here follows an account of the fruitless efforts of Honestus to make
a speech at the Jacobin Club, which met at the Green Dragon Tavern :
" Thrice from his seat his form Honestus reared,
And thrice in attitude to speak appeared ;
His lean left hand he stretched as if to smite.
And manful grasped his breeches with his right.
Thrice he essayed to speak, and thrice his tongue
la his half-opened mouth suspended hung ;
Once more he rose, with mortifying pain, —
Once more he rose, — and then sat down again.
His disappointed bosom heaved a sigh,
And tears of anguish started from his eye.
* if -if 0
Thrice he essayed, and thrice, in spite of scorn.
Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth at last ;
Words, interwove with sighs, found out their way.
* * * *
Of all her sons, none gained so much applause
As lank Honestus , with his Ian thorn jaws.
* * * *
Once, too, misguided by some adverse power.
You aped patrician's airs in evil hour.
And Federal Russell, in resentful fit.
Thy back belabored, and thy face bespit."
in "The Democratiacl," a political satire, published at Philadel-
phia in 1795, we find the following allusion to a speech of Benjamin
Austin, in Faneuil Hall, on Jay's treaty, and in our sketch of Joseph
Ilall are further allusions. The "satirizing priest" of whom the
poet says ]\Ir. Austin had such dread was probably Dr. Gardiner :
" Now, sage Honestus from his seat arose.
Thrice stroked his chops, and thrice surveyed his toes ;
Thrice strove his mighty project to declare.
Thrice stopped to see if Parson G. wei'e there ; —
- For well he knew the satirizing priest
Would hang him up, a scarecrow and a jest,
If once he saw his wayward footsteps stray
But a small distance in the factious way.
16
182 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Ah ! timid man, thou nothing hadst to dread, •
Among thy Club appeared no honest head ;
No Parson G. was there thy steps to trace,
And paint the guilty terrors of thy face."
THOMAS DAWES.
JULY 4, 1787. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Judge I) awes introduced the follo^^ng felicitous figure, in this pro-
duction: "One of the late aerostatic navigators," — probably Dr.
John Jeffries, — "has intimated that, when sailing; in his balloon through
the blue climes of air, over European territories, the eye was gratified
in the accuracy with which the divisions were made between contiguous
owners of the lands below. The circumstance sus-o-ested the idea of
firm laws. Had this philosopher made his aerial voyage over the fields
of Massachusetts, he would have enjoyed an additional sentiment,— an
idea of equality Avould have been joined to that of certainty. The senti-
mentalist would not only have discovered the justness of outlines in the
bounds of property, but he would have observed the equality of por-
tions of the respective owners, — a species of equality how exalted
above the condition of those countries where the peasant is alienated
with the soil, and the price of acres is the number of slaves ! Kot,
indeed, that perfect equality which deadens the motives of industry,
and places demerit on a footing "with virtue ; but that happy mediocrity
which soars above bondage, without aspiring to domination. Less
favorable to liberty were those agrarian laws which lifted the ancient
republics into grandeur."
In the peroration of this oration. Judge Dawes says, in a strain
of eloquence : " Poverty of genius is not our misfortune. The forms
of free and justly balanced politics maintain our title to legislative Avis-
dom. Nor have we narrowed the gates of our religious institutions.
Libei^ality is not an exotic that dies on our soil. Independent ground
is not watered with the blood of unbelievers. We have not contracted
the worship of the Deity to a single establishment, but we have opened
an asylum to all people, and kindred, and tongues, and nations. No !
THOMAS DAWES. 183
Mediocrity is not the bane of independent minds. Nature has dealt
with us not on the minute scale of economy, but the broader principles
of bounty. What remains, then, but that Ave improve the gratuities
of Providence 7 Roused by a sense of past suffering and the dignity
of freedom, we have once more called on venerable sages of our first
Congress, on other immortal characters, to add new strength and
beauty to the fair fabric of independence.
"A legislation, common in certain cases to all the States, will m.ake
us a nation in reality, as well as in name. This will permit us to
respect our o^Yn station, and to treat on equal grounds Avith other
powers ; Avill suffer us to be just at home and respectable abroad ;
Avill render property'' secure, and convince us that the payment of debts
is our truest policy and highest honor. This Avill encourage husbandry
and arts ; Avill settle, Avith numerous and happy families, the banks
of the Ohio and the borders of Kennebec. Huron's neglected waves
— Superior's Avildcrness of Avaters, now forlorn and unemployed —
shall bear the countless vessels of internal traffic. Niagara's foamino;
cataract, croAA'ned Avith columns of vapor and refracted lines, shall not
always bar the intercourse of mighty lakes. The mechanic arts shall
find a passage from Erie to Ontario, and Champlain shall be led in
triumph to the bosom of the deep.
" Hail, glorious age ! when the potent rays of perfect liberty shall
burst upon the now benighted desert ; Avhen the taAvny natiA'cs of
America, and the descendants of those Avho fled hither from the old
AYOrld, shall forget their animosities ; Avhen all parts of this immense
continent shall be happy in ceaseless communications, and the mutual
exchange of benefits; Avhen the cornucopia of peace shall lie pre-
ferred to the waste of Avar, as the genial gales of summer to the ruf-
fian blasts of Avintcr : Avhen nations, Avho noAv hold the same jealous
relation to each other which individuals held before society Avas formed,
shall find ,some grand principle of combination, like that Avhich rolls
the heavenly bodies round a common centre. The distinct fires of
American States, Avhich arc now blended into one, rising just through
broken clouds from the horizon, shall blaze bright in the zenith, — the
glory of the uniA^ersc ! "
'■You and I," says John Adams to Samuel Adams, "haA-e seen
four noble families rise up in Boston. — the Crafts, Gores, Dawes and
Austins. These are as really a nobility, in our tOAvn, as the Howards,
Somersets, Berties, &c., in England. By nobles I mean not peca-
liarly an hereditary nobility, or any particular modification, but the
natural and actual aristocracy among mankind."
184 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
JOHN BROOKS.
JULY 4, 1T87. FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI.
Before the dissolution of the American army, the officers, in their
cantonments near Hudson's river, instituted a society, May 10, 1783,
which, from simihirity in tlieir situation to that of the celebrated
Roman, was to be denominated '• The Society of the Cincinnati." It
was to be designated by a medal of gold, representing the American
eao-le, bearing; on its breast the devices of the order, which was to be
suspended by a deep blue ribbon, edged with white, descriptive of the
union of America and France. The immutable principles of the
society required the members to preserve the rights and privileges of
human nature, for which they had fought and bled, and to promote
and cherish union and honor between the respective States. Its objects
were to perpetuate the remembrance of the American Revolution, as
well as a cordial aifcction among the officers, and to extend acts of
beneficence to those officers and their families Avhose situation might
require assistance. A common fund was to be created, by the deposit
of one month's pay on the part of every officer becoming a member.
This institution excited no inconsiderable degree of jealousy and oppo-
sition. The ablest dissertation against it was entitled "Considerations
on the Society or Order of Cincinnati," dated Charleston, S. C, Oct.
10, 1783, and signed " Cassius." It was the production of Acdamus
Burke, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of South Carohna,
who undertook to prove that the Cincinnati creates two distinct orders
among our people : a race of hereditary nobles founded on the military,
too-cther with the most influential families and men in the State, — and
the people, or plebeians. On about the year 1803, Col. Humphrey
Avrote, in reply, that "more than twenty years have elapsed, and not
one fact has occurred to countenance these jealous insinuations." This
institution is said to have been originated by Maj. Gen. Knox. Its
first president was George Washington, who gave his signature at the
head of the list of members on its establishment. Gen. Knox was
secretary-general. The first officers for the INIassachusetts branch of
that society were as follows :
Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, President; Maj. Gen. Henry Knox,
Vice President; Col. John Brooks, Secretary] Col. Henry Jackson,
Treasurer; Capt. Benjamin Haywood, Assistaiit Treasurer.
JOHN BROOKS. 185
The first orator for this branch of the institution was Hon, John
Brooks, in 1787. After 1790, the dehvcry of orations for this society
ceased ; but annual meetings, and civic feasts, viith. toasts and senti-
ments, on the anniversary of independence, are to this day perpetuated.
A strong indication of the patriotic motives of this remnant of revo-
lutionary heroes is evident from the eloquent appeal of Gen. John
Brooks, in this oration. " Considering the temper of the times," says
Gen. Brooks, " in -which you live, the part you have to act is confess-
edly diflBcult. For, although, as a society, friendship and benevolence
are your great objects, yet apathy in you with regard to the pul>lic
■welfare "would be construed into disaffection, and uncommon sensibility
into design. It is impossilile for men, Avhose great ambition it has
been to deserve the approbation of their fellow-citizens, to \'iew Avith
indifference the reproach which has been cast upon your institution.
But there is a degree of respect due from every man to himself, as well
as to others ; and there are situations from which one may not recede,
without the unavoidable imputation of weakness or of guilt. While,
therefore, a consciousness of \irtuous and laudable views will prompt
you to cherish the benevolent principles which first induced you to
associate, you will be led to respect that spirit of jealousy which
always characterizes a free government, and, when not carried to
excess, is useful in its support. Time, which places everything in its
true light, will convince the world that your institution is founded in
virtue, and leads to patriotism.
" Besides the motives you have, in common with others, to seek the
public welflirc, a regard to the consistence of your own character,
that sense of honor which has raised you superior to every temptation
and to every distress, the reiterated testimonials you have received
from your country of their sense of your patriotism and military merit,
are ties that must forever bind you most sacredly to her interests.
Prosecute, then, with resolution, what you have instituted in sincerity,
^lake it the great object of your ambition, as 3'ou have shone as
soldiers, to excel as citizens. Treat with just indifference the insinua-
tions which envy may be disposed to throw out against you. Silence
the tongue of slander, by the rectitude of your conduct and the bril-
liance of your virtues. Suffer not the affected jealousy of individuals
to abate the ardor of your patriotism. As you have fought for Hb-
erty. convince the world you know its value. As you have greatly
contributed to establish these governments, teach the licentious traitor
16*
186 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
that you will support tbcm ; and as you have particularly fought under
the banners of the Union, inculcate, in your several circles, the neces-
sity of preserving the unity of the national character. Fortify your
minds against that foe to integrity, that bane of republicanism, an
immoderate thirst for popularity."
Hon. John Brooks Avas born at Medford, June 6, 1752, and received
a town-school education. He was an indented apprentice to Simon
Tufts, M. D., at the age of fourteen, until he became of age. He
early settled at Reading, in medical practice, and married Lucy Smith,
an orphan. While at Reading, he became captain of a company of
minute-men, and it being at the period when Boston Avas in the pos-
session of the British troops, under pretext of going into town for
medicine to be used in his profession, he engaged a drill-sergeant of
the regulars to secretly instruct him in the manual exercise ; and he
often rem^arked, it was of this British soldier that he acquired the
rudiments of military tactics. He Avas not at the battle of Bunker
Plill, but was engaged in other services on that day and night, at
Cambridge. His daughter Lucy was prematurely born, at Reading,
on that memorable day ; and, being remarkable for active and ener-
getic habits, her brother Alexander observed to her, one day, when she
was bustling about the house, " Why, Lucy, you was born in a
bustle, and I believe you will die in a bustle." Mr. Brooks was
a schoolmate with the eminent Count Rumford. Hon. Loammi
Baldwin, of Woliurn, was his early friend ; and each was destined
for college, but neither of them ever received a literary education,
being diverted from their purpose by patriotic ardor. Capt. Brooks
was in the battle of Lexington, and, meeting the British force on
their return from Concord, he ordered his men to post themselves
behind the barns and fences, and fire incessantly upon them. Col.
Brooks, in the battle of Saratoga, at the head of his regiment, stormed
and carried the intrenchments of the German troops. In the battle
of Monmouth, Brooks was acting adjutant-general. After the battle
of Saratoga, he thus laconically wrote to a friend: ''We have met
the British and Hessians, and have beat them ; and, not content
with this victory, Ave liaA'e assaulted their intrenchments, and carried
them."
Col. Brooks detected a conspiracy of officers at Newburgh, early in
1783. He kept them Avithin quarters, to prevent an attendance on
the insurgent meeting. On this occasion, which was probably the
JOHN BROOKS. 187
most anxious period in the career of Washington, A^■ho rode up to him
for counsel on this point, Brooks said, " Sir, I have anticipated your
wishes, and my orders are given."' Washington, with tears in his eyes,
extended to him his hand, and said, " Coh Brooks, this is just Avhat
I expected from you." What a scene for an artist! In 1780, Col.
Brooks delivered a Masonic oration at West Point, in the presence of
the noble Washington. He was commander of the Ancient and Hon-
orable Ai-tillery Company in 1786, and major-general of the Massa-
chusetts troops in Shays' insurrection. In 1788 he was a member of
the State convention for the adoption of the federal constitution.
Was president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. In 1795 Gen.
Brooks published an oration for the Massachusetts Humane Society.
In 1800 he published a eulogy on Washington, delivered at Medford.
He had, previous to this period, been appointed a U. S. marshal,
and supervisor of the direct tax. He was vice-jDresident of the first
temperance society in 'New England, on its institution, in 1813. He
was the State adjutant-general under Caleb Strong, and Governor
of the State from 1816 to 1823. We well remember the beautiful
scene of August 25, 1824, wdien Lafayette stood on the balcony of the
mansion-house at the head of Park-street, attended by Gov. Eustis on
the right, and his immediate predecessor. Gov. Brooks, on the left side
of him, each in full military dress amid the cheerings of the gathered
multitude, and the escort of the Boston re!::iment, on retiring; to
their quarters. When Lafayette visited his old companion-in-arms,
during this month, one of the arches displayed, on his entrance into
Medford, this inscription, " Welcome to our Hills and Brooks."
Gov. Brooks died at Medford, jNIarch 1, 1825.
Lieut. John, a son of Gov. Brooks, of youthful beautj'- and generous
enterprise, fell in the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, on
board Perry's flag-ship Lawrence. Alexander S., his other son, en-
tered the U. S. army. Lucy married Rev.- Geo. 0. Stuart, of Canada.
'•In the character of this estimable man," remarks his pastor,
Andrew Bigclow, D. D., " there was a junction of qualities etpially
great and good. Great qualities he certainl}'- possessed. The faculties
of his mind, naturally of no inferior order, had been unusually strength-
ened by culture and exercise. Separately, they were all entitled to
respect on the score of power ; and, had the entire assemblage centred
in some one not endued with his genuine goodness of heart, or in
whose breast a baleful ambition reigned, they would have clearly
188 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
proved the possessor to be a talented man, in the popular sense of the
phrase. In the case supposed, thej would have stood all naked and
open, and have glared upon human observation."' The best memoir
of John Brooks extant is that written by his pastor.
HARRISON GRAY OTIS.
JULY 4, 1788. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
In this spirited and elegant oration of Mr. Otis, it is remarked :
" A review of the history of the North American settlements exhibits
an early and almost a continual struggle between tyranny and avarice
upon one side, and an ardent sense of native liberty upon the other.
Those are mistaken who think that the original source of oppression
may be traced in the ordinance of the Stamp Act. The first colonial
institution established in Virginia was subjected to an arbitrary
council, dependent upon the capricious pleasure of a king. Patience
and enterprise at length had discovered to the inhabitants a staple
production at that period peculiar to the colony, when the harsh man-
date of a tyrant foe had the cultivation of it, and condemned commerce
to defile her infant hands in the fruitless, ignoble drudgery of searching
after mines. In other southern colonies, instances are not wantino;
of inquisitorial writs and of violated charters.
" It must, however, be allowed, that, sheltered by the canopies of
their paramounts, they were in general less exposed than their sister
provinces to the scorching rays of supreme majesty. Advancing into
New England, the system of oppression becomes more uniform, and
the resistance consequently more conspicuous. No aflluent proprie-
tary appeared to protect our hardy ancestors. The immeasurable wild
had yielded to their industry a vacancy barely sulficient for their
household gods. xVt the same moment, the pestilential breath of a
despot blew into their country a swarm of locusts, commissioned to
corrode their liberties to the root. Even in those early times, not
only the freedom, but the use of the press, was prohibited ; new taxes
were imposed ; old charters were abrogated ; citizens were impressed.
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 189
The crown of England restrained emigrations from that country, dis-
couraged population upon this side of the Atlantic, confiscated estates,
suppressed the habitual modes of public worship, and precluded the
wretched privilege of complaint. Oppressed in a manner so irritating,
so unworthy, how did our forefathers sustain these accumulated mis-
eries 7 Did they crouch, dismayed, beneath the iron sceptre 7 Did
they commit treason against themselves, by alienating the dearest pre-
rogatives of humanity 7 No ; we find them persevering in decent,
pathetic remonstrances, in the time of Charles the First, refusing to
surrender their patent to Cromwell, and exhibiting a bill of rights at
the time of the restoration. After the abdication of James, the tri-
umph of liberty in Britain became complete. Ministers naturally
grew fearful lest her pervading influence should extend to the colonies ;
and from the era of the Revolution until the gloomy hour of the
Stamp Act, the plan of our slavery was always resumed in the inter-
vals of domestic peace. Affairs now assumed a more serious aspect.
The minds of men became vehemently agitated ; and, after a sad vari-
ety of disappointment, the citizens of these provinces were compelled
to draw their swords, and to appeal to the God of armies. What, then,
may we hence infer, were the principles which actuated the high-spir-
ited Americans, placed in a situation so critical and disastrous? They
were elevated, patriotic, godlike. They induced a voluntary sacrifice
of ease and fortune, a contempt for danger, and inspired confidence in
leaders chosen by themselves. What were the manners ? These con-
sisted in honor, temperance, fortitude, religion. What were the feel-
ings 7 These, no power of language can describe. Had they still
continued to animate our bosoms, they might have supplied the want
of a new government, which now alone can save us from perdition."
Harrison Gray Otis was a son of Samuel Alleyne Otis, a native of
Barnstable, who married Elizabeth, the only daughter of Harrison
Gray, Receiver-general of this province ; and second to Mary, the widow
of Edward Gray, Esq., and daughter of Isaac Smith. His father was
early in mercantile hfe, settled in Boston, and Avas active in the cause
of liberty, but was too youthful to become eminent in the Revolution,
like his brother James, the great advocate. lie was, however, a rep-
resentative from Boston in 1776, and member of the State convention
of 1780. He was a member of the Board of War, and Speaker of the
House, 1784. In 1787 he was appointed one of the commissioners
to negotiate regarding Shays' insurrection. He was elected a member
190 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of Congress in 1788, and after the adoption of the federal constitu-
tion -was chosen Secretary of the Senate of the United States, uhich
he filled with scrupulous fidelity, blandness and courtesy, — -vvithout,
it is said, being absent from his post a single day during a period of
thirty years, and till his decease, amid the collision of party strife, to
the approbation of all parties. He died at Washington, April 22,
1814, aged 73.
The grandfather of the subject of this article — Harrison Gray, Esq.
— adhered to the royal cause, and removed from Boston, March 17,
1776, with the British troops, on their evacuation. John Adams once
impulsively said of Harrison Gray, that he has a very tender mind,
and is extremely timid. He says, "When he meets a man of the other
side, he talks against him; when he meets a man of our side, he
opposes him, — so that he fears he shall be thought against everybody,
and so everybody will be against him." And at another time, Mr. Adams
remarked : "I went in to take a pipe with brother Cranch, and there
I found Zab Adams. He told me he heard that I had made two very
powerful enemies in this town, and lost two very valuable clients —
Treasurer Gray and Ezekiel Goldthwaite ; and that he heard that
Gray had been to me for my account, and paid it off, and determined to
have nothing more to do with me. 0, the wretched, impotent mahce !
They show their teeth, — they are eager to bite, — but they have not
strength. I despise their anger, their resentment, and their threats ;
but I can tell Mr. Treasurer that I have it in my power to tell the
world a tale which will infallibly unhorse him, whether I am in the
house or out. If this province knew that the public money had never
been counted these twenty years, and that no bonds were given last
year, nor for several years before, there would be so much uneasiness
about it that Mr. Treasurer Gray would lose his election another year."
And Trumbull, in McFingal, satirically says :
" What Puritan could ever pray
In godlier tone than Treasurer Gray ?
Or at town-meetings, speechifying,
Could utter moi'e melodious whine,
And shut his eyes, and vent his moan,
, Like owl afflicted in the sun ? "
Bold imputations having been declared that Treasurer Gray had
appropriated funds of this province to private purposes, the grand-
son prepared a clear refutation of the unjust accusation, from which we
UARRISOX GRAY OTIS. 191
select a portion. It may be found entire in Russell's Centinel, June,
1830. Alluding to grandfather Gray, Mr. Otis says: " I "was indeed
only nine years old Avhen I last saw him, but my recollections of him
and of the circumstances of his exile are associated •with the most vivid
and alfectionate impressions of that tender age. My paternal ances-
tors were, in the phrase of the day, high Whigs. ISIy paternal grand-
father was president of the council held in 1774, immediately after
the dissolution de facto of the regular government, by Gage ; and in
the years next following the departure of the British from Boston, my
uncles and father were, some of them, in the General Court, and inti-
mately connected with the public transactions of the times. In 1775,
my father, with his wife, the treasurer's only daughter and children,
took refuge in my paternal grandfather's mansion in the country. In
1776, immediately after the evacuation, we returned to Boston. Though
the opposite political attitudes of the two families never interrupted for
a moment the tender attachment of my parents for each other, yet the
separation of my father from her father, Avhose darling child she was,
preyed upon her peace of mind, and finally destroyed her health. Thus
it may well be conceived that the public relation and affairs of Treas-
urer Gray, from November, 1774, when the people took the reins of
government into their own hands, — my paternal grandfather then being,
in fact, the presiding officer, — to the time of his leaving the country,
and that his departure itself and the circumstances attending it, were
themes of constant discussion and intense interest in the family circle,
in my hearing ; and that, had any suspicion, hint or accusation, of
his carrying away the public money, prevailed among the ruling party,
they could not have been hidden or forgotten by me. Two years after
this time, at the age of twelve, I began a correspondence with the
treasurer. After the peace, and before I Avas of age, he employed me
in attempting to save and convey to him something from the wreck of
his fortune. In 1794, at the advanced age of eighty-four, this excellent
and virtuous man sunk to rest. Yet, through the long period of eighteen
years of constant correspondence with him, and the longer time of
six-and-thirty years, during which his bones have been mouldering in
the grave, I solemnly declare that I never heard of the suggestion of
any defalcation of the public money by him, or of any offence commit-
ted against his country, but his acceptance of the mandamus commis-
sion. But I well remember the constant exultation of my mother, in
the midst of her troubles, that ' his enemies could say nothing against
192 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
him.' -This negative testimony should suffice to put down the idle and
unsupported fabrication." Mr. Otis, after going into a detail unequiv-
ocally proving the financial honor of his maternal grandfather, thus
eloquently remarks : "I have never, to the best of my remembrance,
■written a line in vindication of my own public character, though for
years together I have been doomed to run the gauntlet through rank
and file of my political opponents. But I have now no choice. Some
old resurrectionist, in fumbling over the tomb of a relative recently
deceased, disturbs the ashes of another long since dead. It is my duty
to protect them. They are the sacred relics of my earliest friend and
benefactor, whose name I bear, whose blood is in my veins, and whose
exile I was taught to regard as the heaviest calamity that befell my
childhood and youth. He atoned for a solitary political error of judg-
ment by sacrificing fortune to principle, and left instead of it the leg-
acy only of a good name. An attempt is now made to conjure up o.
mist of slander or suspicion over his antiquated tomb. To the name
of the dark magician I have no clue. He calls himself Senex, and
deals in the gossip by which ' narrative old age ' betrays its approxima-
tion to dotage. I hope the exceeding absurdity of the statement into
whicli he has been led will naturally restrain him hereafter, — the pro-
pensity natural to old folks of prating about sixty years' since, — and
that he will remember, when they grow anecdotical, they become
obnoxious to the character once given by a lady to an old busy-body,
who, inquiring what the world thought of him, was answered, ' All the
women think you an old man, and all the men consider you an old
woman.' "
Harrison Gray, in a letter to Rev. Mr. Montague, of Christ Church,
Boston, dated London, Aug. 1, 1791, remarks to him, in a spirit of
loyalty to the crown of Britain, as folloAVS : " The melancholy state in
which you represent religion to be in Boston and New England is con-
firmed by all who come from thence. Is this one of the blessings of
your independence; to obtain which you sacrificed so many lives 7 I
am glad that your federal constitution ' has had a very great and good
effect,' but very much question whether you will ever be so happy as
you were under the mild and gentle government and protection of Great
Britain ; for, notwithstanding the freedom my countrymen boast of, if,
in order to obtain it, they have sacrificed their religion, they have made
a poor bargain. They cannot, in a religious sense, be called a free
people, till the Son of God has made them free.
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 193
*• It is very surprising, considering the establishment of the Roman
Catholic religion at Quebec -was one of the heavy grievances the Amer-
ican Congress complained of, that your governor and other great men
in your town should attend the -worship of God in a Roman Catholic
church, to hear a Romish bishop, on a Sunday ; and that he should be
one of the chaplains who officiated at a public dinner ! I cannot, at
present, account for their inconsistency any otherwise than by supposing
the part they took in the late unhappy contest lays so heavy upon their
consciences that they imagine no one can absolutely absolve them but
a Romish priest."
Harrison Gray Otis was born in Boston, Oct. 8, 1765, on the estate
adjoining the Revere House, and next that of the late Capt. Jonathan
Chapman. He remembered standing at the window of his birth-place,
to see the British regulars, when on the march to Lexington. He
entered the public Latin School in 1773. The youthful days of Mr.
Otis, at this period, are narrated by himself, in his speech at the dedi-
cation of the Otis School, on Lancaster-street, March 13,. 1845 ; and
this was his last public address. INIr. Otis said that nothing was more
remote from his mind than the idea of making an address upon a sub-
ject of such importance as education. The day for making addresses
had long since passed with him. Old men should know when to
retire. They should not, like old ladies, appear in public bedizened
with the ornaments of youth. He was not competent to make one
now, but he could do what all old men could, — tell a story about him-
self As the school had been named after him, he was vain enough to
suppose that some of the pupils would be interested in hearing some-
thing that related to his school-boy days. He was a Boston boy, and
he had received all his education at the public schools after he was
seven years old. He cherished a great affection for those days, and he
thought with pleasure on the memory of his schoolmasters, with whom
he had always been on good terms, excepting an occasional flogging.
The first school he went to was a quasi public school. It was kept by
Master Griffith, in Hanover-street. His friend. Deacon Grant, who
was near him, knew exactly wdierc it Avas. Master Griffith was a
worthy old creature, and had some pretensions to facetiousness. His
ideas, as to rewards, were a little pccuhar. Every "Wednesday after-
noon, the boys who had demeaned themselves with propriety expected
to receive a prize, which expectation was not disappointed. But what
did they think it was ? Shellbarksj thrown out of the window, for
17
194 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
whicli the boys scrambled ! He then went to the Latin School, which
was in School-street. The master, Mr. Lovell, was a worthy old gen-
tleman ; but there had been a sort of rivalry between the Latin and
the writing schools, which was the cause of several curious doggerel
effusions on the part of the boys, some extracts of which were repeated
by ]\Ir. Otis with humorous effect.
Forty years ago, continued Mr. Otis, the place where this school was
built was a mill-pond. The tide flowed into it to the depth of ten or
twelve feet. There was then no expectation that a school-house would
ever be erected on this spot. There were '' schools" of fishes here,
but there was no schoolmaster, except the successor of St. Anthony,
who, it was said, could preach to the fishes. Mr. Otis said he was
entirely inadequate to describe the great advantages which the children
of the present day had over the boys and girls of his time. What did
they learn then 1 A few Latin roots to squeeze them into college, and
mere ciphering. They had then none of those advantages which he
now saw. There was not then that group of learned teachers, who were
deserving of the thanks of the country. He spoke with great venera-
tion of those who had lived in his time ; but he did not think it was
any disparagement to their memory to say that they were not to be
compared to the instructors of the present day. He commended them
to their teachers, and their teachers to them ; and he prayed them to be
satisfied of the great advantages which they enjoyed, and to improve
the opportunity which was afforded to them of becoming good and
enlightened citizens. He hoped that, as the school had been called
after him, they would remember him in their good will ; and he more
affectionately and fervently commended them — teachers and pupils —
to the care and protection of their Maker.
In connection with this period in the youth of Otis, we have a rem-
iniscence, finely woven in his own charming language. " Barnstable,"
says he, "was not only the place of the birth and residence of my
immediate ancestors for four generations, but it afforded to my child-
hood an asylum from the storms of war, and a retreat for niy peaceful
studies, durins; the siege of Boston. I had been there but a few weeks
before the news arrived of the conflagration of Charlestown. This
came to us not in the shape which it has since assumed, of a real vic-
tory, though nominal defeat ; but with the unmitigated horrors of con-
flagration and massacre, and as a specimen of the mode in which our
peaceful villages were intended to be swept with the fire and sword.
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 195
" I was placed at school," continues Mr. Otis, " with the admirable
pastor, Mr. Hilliard, of the cast parish, where I passed my time from
Mondays to Saturdays. On the last day of the week, I was sent for
and conveyed to the patriarchal mansion, and attended on Sundays the
religious instructions of the pious and venerable Mr. Shaw. In these
weekly journeyings, I became familiar with the location of every house
and building between m^points of departure, and with the younger
inmates of many of them ; and I feel as if I could jot down the principal
part of them upon a plan of the road. Barnstable was not only the
scene of my earliest friendship, but of my first love. I became enam-
ored of a very charming young person, nearly of my own age, — but
the course of this love did not run smoothly. In an innocent ramble
over the fields and hedges with her and other young persons, she had
the misfortune to lose a necklace of genuine gold beads : the fault was
neither hers nor mine, but of the string on which they were threaded ;
but still, as real mint-drops were in that day very valuable, and treasury-
notes greatly on the decline, the circumstance brought me into some
discredit with the family, as accessory to a loss which impaired the
faculty of resuming specie payments when the time should arrive, and
resulted in a future non-intercourse." The mother of young Otis, in
a letter to her father, while in this seclusion, speaking of him, says,
" I shall enclose you a letter from Harry, of his own writing and indit-
ing, which will enable you to form some judgment of his genius, Avhich,
his tutor tells me, is very uncommon."
Young Otis graduated at Harvard College in 1783, when but
eighteen years of age, receiving the highest honors of a class among
whom were William Prescott, Artemas Ward, and Ambrose Spencer.
At that period, his young friends warmly conceded that the mantle
of his eloquent uncle, James Otis, had encircled him, for he was
greatly admired for brilliant and graceful oratory :
" Otis rises like a vernal morn,
Clear, brilliant, sweet, in nature's gifts arrayed,
AVhere not a cloud obtrudes its devious shade."
Here we will again recur to the sprightly and delightful remembrance
of Mr. Otis in relation to this period, contained in his letter read at
the centennial celebration of Harvard University, Sept. 8, 183G. "It
is now fifty-three years since I first received the honors of the univer-
sity. The surviving number of my fellow-classmates is very small.
196 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
To those of us who are present — ' remnant of ourselves ' — these
years probably appear like the ' tale that is told.' My 0'^^•n career,
through the long period, seems, in the retrospect, like a rapid journey
through a path beset "with flowers and thorns ; — the wounds received
from the latter remaining, while the color and fragrance of the former
are gone forever. In the year in which I was graduated, the com-
mencement was preceded by the acknowled^ent of independence and
the treaty of peace, and the English oration was assigned to me. You
will naturally presume that the event, adapted to enkindle enthusiasm
in an orator of the gravest character and age, would stimulate the fervid
imagination of eighteen to paint in somewhat gorgeous colors the pros-
pects unfolded to our country by this achievement of its liberties, and
its probable effect upon the destinies of other nations. I remember
that I did so, and indulged the impulse of a sanguine temperament in
building what doubtless seemed to others, and perhaps to myself,
castles in the air. But, had it been in my imagination to conceive,
and in my power to describe, what Ave now know to be a reality, I
should have been considered as ballooning in the regions of bombast,
and appeared ridiculously aiming to be sublime."
My. Otis, in the same admirable epistle, of which we cite only a part,
makes very shrewd remarks on the great topic of education. "It is
of incomparably less moment," says he, "that a few persons should
wear the gown of the scholar, than that the great body of the commu-
nity should be clad in the costume of fixed principles. But one cannot
flourish without the other. Unless a due proj^ortion of the people be
educated in universities and colleges, learning must run wild. There
might be plenty of itinerant orators and preachers to the dear people,
and of political sportsmen to set man-traps for straggling patriots. It
is vain to say ' the schoolmaster is abroad, ' unless he is qualified for
his vocation. "When the schoolmaster has been educated at a uni-
vei'sity, or has otherwise, by means of instruction from scholars, become
fit for the calling, then, indeed, he goes abroad a most respectable and
interesting member of an honorable profession, implanting the seeds of
religion and of morahty, private and public, wherever he goes. With-
out these, he travels, like a pedler, with bundles of trashy pamphlets
and orations on liis back, scattering his miserable wares through all the
cottages and workshops and kitchens in the country, defrauding the
humble purchasers. It is from the colleges that the wants of the
legislatures, the pulpits, the courts and the school, can be most effectu-
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 197
ally supplied. Thcj are the mints in -^vLich the genuine bullion i3
kept, and the pure coin stamped. The pulpit, the press and the school,
are the banks of deposit, whence it is circulated ; and, without fre-
quent recurrence to the standards kept in the mints, they will put in
circulation base coin and rag money, to the confusion and destruction
of the sound currency. Let us cultivate and adhere to the principles
taught here, and not trust' to the promises of the conductors on the
modern intellectual railroad, to grade and level the hills of science,
and to take us along at rates that will turn our heads and break our
bones. Let us eschew the vagaries and notions of the noAV schools,
and let each of us be reminded of a quotation which Burke did not
think unwortliy of him, and be ready to say,
' AVhat tliougli the flattering tapster Thomas
Hangs his new angel two doors from us,
As fine as painter's daub can make it,
Thinking some traveller may mistake it ?
I hold it both a shame and sin
To quit the good old Angel Inn.' "
On the year previous to graduating at college, Mr. Otis had an
impressive interview with his noble uncle, the great advocate ; and as
it was the last period of intercourse with him, we will quote his own
words: "I brought James Otis in a gig from Andover to Boston, in
the year 1782, at a period when my father and his friends thought he
was recovered. Nothing could be more delightfully instructive than
his conversation on the journey, but it was in reference chiefly to the
study of my profession, which it was intended I should pursue under
his patronage. But I went back to college. He remained at home
for a few weeks, and was induced to go into the Court of Common
Pleas, where, it is said, he displayed great pov^ers in a very pathetic
case, but, as I have learnt from those who heard him, he appeared a sun
shorn of his beams. His house, however, became the resort of much
company, calling to visit and converse with him. Gov. Hancock was
particularly attentive, and forced him to dine with liim in a very large
party. He was observed, before this time, to become thoughtful and
sad, lying in bed until a very late hour ; but immediately after the dinner
there was a visible oscillation of his intellect. He was overwhelmed by
the recollection of past days, impressed, probably, with greater force by
the presence of Hancock and others of the convives, by the scene alto-
17*
198 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
gether. There was, however, no frenzy. A hint was given him, by
my father, that he had better return to Andover ; and he went hke a
lamb, where in a very short period he was struck with hghtning."
This statement imphes that this was the last time of his visit to
Boston. It is a fact, however, that his uncle was moderator of a town-
meeting, in March, 1783. Perhaps Mr. Otis mistook the date of
conveying him from Andover.
The profession of law was the pursuit of his choice while at college,
and he long anticipated the privilege of entering Temple Inns, London ;
but the confiscation of his grandfather Gray's estate, and the derange-
ment of his father's pecuniary afiairs, consequent on the Revolution,
crushed that hope. He, however, prepared himself for the profession
under the guidance of Judge John Lowell, the jurist and patriot. He
pursued his studies with an intensity of application unsurpassed by
any young student in the courts of Suffolk, being well apprized of the
opinions of his uncle James, who said once, in relation to his father,
when he had it in view to study law, " I hold it to be of vast import-
ance that a young man should be able to make some iclat at his
opening. It has been observed, before I was born, if a man don't
obtain a character in any profession soon after his first appearance,
he hardly ever will obtain one." We will relate a remarkable fact in
relation to his devotion to study. Mr. Bussey, afterwards an eminent
merchant, who was accustomed to rise early to go to his store, often
noticed, in passing Judge Lowell's office, a pair of shoes posted at the
window, and soon discovered that a young man was engaged there in
close study. Feeling curiosity to know whether he was engaged there
all night, Mr. Bussey arose one morning before daybreak, and, as he
passed, he saw the shoes were on the window. He then ventured
to inquire of the young law-student if he engaged there all night in
study. On Avhich Mr. Otis replied that early study in the morning
was his decided choice.
" On leaving college, in 1783," relatd's Mr. Otis, " I entered Mr.
Lowell's office as a pupil, and in the following autumn was graciously
invited by him, and permitted by my father, to accompany him. Dr.
Lloyd, and Mr. Adam Babcock, in a journey to Philadelphia. This
afforded me a better opportunity of seeing him in hours of unguarded
relaxation from the cares of business than afterwards occurred. The
whole journey was a continued scene of pleasant and instructive con-
versation, and on his part of kind and condescending manners, spark-
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 199
*
ling anecdotes, and poetical quotations. We came to Nc^y York
before the evacuation by the British army was consummated.
There Mr. Lowell found Col. Upham, aid of Sir Guy Carleton, and
]\Ir. Ward Chipman, judge-advocate, as I recollect, of the British
army, — both old acquaintances and early companions. Their inter-
view, after eight years' separation and various fortunes, was most
cordial. They introduced 'Sh: Lowell to Sir Guy, with whom he and
my other fellow-travellers dined, with a large and splendid party of
military and civilians, into which they had me worked, as an attache
to the Boston delegation ; and it seemed to me as brilliant as Alexan-
der's feast. While in New York, Mr. Lowell received the hospitality
and attentions of the distinguished citizens who had begun to return
■ from exile. Li Philadelphia, among others, he was waited upon by
j\Ir. Robert IMorris, who was still in his glory, and regarded in public
estimation next to Washington, as the man on whose financial exer-
tions had depended the success of the Revolution. He entertained us,
I still hanging as a bob to the kite, at a dinner of thirty persons, in a
style of magnificence which I have never seen equalled. I left him at
Philadelphia, and went on an excursion to Baltimore for a few days.
On my return to Boston, I resumed my desk and books in his office.
At the end of my probationary term, in 178G, Mr. Amory, the partner
of Mr. Lowell, set up on his own account. I was thereupon invited
by Judge Lowell to take his place and business in the lower courts,
which I gladly accepted." A few weeks after Mr. Otis had opened
his office, the late Benjamin Bussey, already alluded to. — a gentleman
still remembered in this city, — needing the services of a lawyer at an
early hour in the morning, found none of the profession in their cham-
bers but ]Mr. Otis, whom he consequently employed, and who was his
advocate ever after. Mr. Otis having at this time no books, and no
other means of obtaining any, borrowed of Mordccai M. Hayes, Esq.,
one hundred and sixteen pounds, in December, 1786, which he
expended in purchasing a law library. At the close of his first year's
practice at the bar, the loan was refunded out of his professional
income.
About this period Mr. Otis partially turned his attention to military
tactics, and in 1787 he was elected captain of a company of young
gentlemen, — the Light Infantry, which in 1789 escorted AVashington
on his entrance into Boston, — which station he held until 1793;
and, presuming that the present Boston Light Infantry is a scion of
200 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
that stock, he gave this company a splendid entertainment at his resi-
dence, shortly before his death. He Y,-as an aid-de-camp to Major
General John Brooks in Shays' Insurrection. In 1790 Mr. Otis
married Sarah, daughter of William Foster.
In 1792, when Mr. Otis spoke with great eloquence in town-meeting,
at Faneuil Hall, in opposition to Gardiner's proposed instructions to
the repi'esentatives, tolerating the drama in Boston, so strong was his
rhetorical power, that Samuel Adams lifted up his hands in ecstasy,
and thanked God that there was one young man willing to step forth
in defence of the good old cause of morality and religion. At another
town-meeting, in the Old South Church, in a period of political excite-
ment, Mr. Otis, standing amid a great throng of people, on the top of
a pew, exclaimed, " There is ever a strong spirit of discontent among .
these democrats. Why, Mr. Moderator, I sincerely believe, if they
were in heaven, they would forthwith rebel." On this, the famous
Dr. Charles Jarvis, who was in the gallery, sprang upon his feet, and
remarked, " That's good, Mr. Otis; I should like to have said that,
myself"
In 1796 Mr. Otis was elected one of seven representatives from
Boston to the State Legislature ; and in this year he was elected to
Congress as the successor of Fisher Ames, and became a decided
opponent of the measures of Thomas Jefferson. He was one of the
embarrassed number who had to choose between Jefferson and Aaron
Burr. From that period to the close of Madison's war, Mr. Otis was
constantly in Congress ; and towards the close of Adams' administra-
tion he was U. S. District Attorney, which station he occupied until
he was succeeded by George Blake.
During the prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, in 179.8,
the government was located at Trenton. In that summer. President
John Adams visited his seat in Quincy : and whilst there, Mr. Otis,
one morning, meeting his friend William Lee in State-street, Boston,
who was an auditor of the treasury at Washington, and a decided
opponent of IMr. Adams, proposed to him to ride out and present their
respects to the president. Mr. Lee objected, on account of the pohtical
stand he had taken against the federal administration, and presuming
he would not be a welcome visiter to his excellency just at that time.
Mr. Otis replied that himself being a strong advocate to the president's
principles was a sufficient passport, not only to the president, but to
the whole Essex junto. This decided Mr. Lee to visit Quincy with
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. • 201
•
Mr. Otis. On arriving, they found George Cabot, with a committee
of the old Essex junto, wlio had come out to remonstrate against the
appointment of Elbridge Gerry's mission abroad. Mr. Otis, ^vith his
friend Lee, entered the room in the midst of the president's reply to
the committee. He most cordially received them ; and, after inviting
them to be seated, turned to the committee, and continued in -warm
terms his positive and fixed determination in favor of Mr. Gerry.
Otis, seeing the committee Avince at the strong expressions from the
president, and tliinking himself an intruder in the eyes of the discom-
fited committee, all of whom were his political friends, gave a wink to
Lee that it was high time to retire ; and, taking a hasty leave of the
president and his speech to the Federal committee, returned to Boston
highly elated ; and from that day Lee became a convert to the Adams
dynasty, for the independent course which the president pursued
towards the Essex junto committee.
In the year 1802, a political vilifier of Harrison Gray Otis publicly
declared that he was a member from the royal State of IMassachusetts,
who labored, with all the cunning of a quibbling attorney, to have the
alien bill passed into a law. This man, it was said, is not entirely
devoid of fancy, but is a stranger to argument, and unacquainted with
the virtues of truth and candor. The interested British merchants, it
is reported, procured him to be one of the directors of the Bank of the
United States ; and several pecuniary favors which he has granted these
gentlemen in return prove that he possesses in an eminent degree the
qualification of gratitude, and a bountiful hand to his friends. He is
neither devoid of filial affection, if we may judge from his petty man-
oeuvres to procure an addition of two hundred dollars to the salai'y of
his father. But the fear he expresses of the Frenchmen, and his
hatred at Irishmen, are the two striking characteristics of his mind.
In the summer of 1798, jSIr. Otis so much dreaded a French invasion,
that it is said he would have removed into some of the back settle-
ments, had it not been for the persuasion of Dwight Foster and George
Thacher. " No man," says Callender, one of the rudest and coarsest
politicians of that day, ' ' can be more ambitious to be the scavenger of
his party than this calumniator of the Irish nation. Mr. Otis has
since obtained his wish, for no man is more employed in rallying and
collecting together the scattered dregs of Federahsm than Harrison
Gray Otis."
The most decided refutation of vituperative slander, like that in the
202 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
paragvapli preceding, appears in the eloquent eulogium of Samuel L.
Knapp; -who remarked of Harrison Graj Otis, that "from his cradle,
as from Plato's, swarmed the Hyblean bees, and left the honeys of elo-
quence on his tongue. Minerva was his tutelar goddess, but the
Graces had no small share in his education. His jwlitical course was
early shaped ; and from the dawn of manhood to this his meridian day,
he has been a firm, undeviating disciple of "Washington. Long in pub-
lic life, he has constantly been the champion of the cause he espoused.
In every political contest he has carried terror and dismay into the
ranks of his opponents, searched the dark caverns of corruption and
intrigue, and dragged, with Herculean streno-th, each Cacus to the
light, and held him up for the contempt and derision of the world.
Democracy knew his worth, and has used every endeavor to allure him
to come over to her cause. INIighty meeds of honor have been hinted
as his rewards, but he did not yield. We love him, for he has fre-
quently turned aside from his labors, and, with reverence and homage,
sacrificed at the tomb of the immortal Hamilton. No envy, which
disturbs little minds, chafed his breast ; but, penetrated with grief, he
shed upon Hamilton's grave such tears as genius weeps at the loss of
kindred souls."
Mr. Otis Avas elected Speaker of the House in 1803 until 1805, and
President of the Senate in 1805. which stations he filled during tAvelve
years, with grace, dignity, and urbanity. He was appointed judge of
the Court of Common Pleas, on its institution in 1814, and continued
in that vocation until April, 1818, when he was succeeded by Wilham
Prescott, the father of the historian.
The most important event in the jwlitical life of j\Ir. Otis was his
connection with the Hai'tford Convention. He was chairman of the
legislative committee which, Octobt^r, 1814, urged arguments in favor
of calling a convention of the New England States, because of internal
difficulties arising from the war with Great Britain. He was a member
of this convention, which gathered at Hartford, Dec. 15th of that year,
when Hon. George Cabot was elected president. The nature of this
conclave may be apprehended from the instructions extended to com-
missioners sent to the General Government, January, 1815, by this
State and Connecticut. Mr. Otis, Thomas H. Perkins, and William
Sullivan, represented Massachusetts in this matter. They were
instructed to make earnest and respectful application to the government
of the United States, requesting their consent to some arrangement
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 203
whereby the State of Massachusetts, separately, or in concert with
neighboring States, may be enabled to assurae the defence of their ter-
ritories against the enemy: and that, to this end, a reasonable portion
of the taxes collected within said States may be paid into the respective
treasuries thereof, and appropriated to the payment of the balance due
to the said States, and to the future defence of the same, — the amount
so paid into the treasuries to be credited, and the disbursements so
made to be charged, to the United States. The commissioners were
further required to consult with, and to solicit the assistance and coop-
eration of, the senators and representatives of this commonwealth in
the Congress of the United States. The commission was dated Jan.
31, 1815. The commissioners had just arrived at AYashington, about
the 14th of February, when the joyful news of peace was proclaimed,
thus rendering nugatory the necessity of their object ; and this result
was doubtless hastened by a fear of the consequences of this conven-
tion.
The popular clamor was forthwith raised against the Hartford Con-
tion, accusing its managers of an attempt to dissolve the Union ; and,
at a national festival of the Washington Society, a democratic leader
said that it was a dangerous combination of internal foes, who had art-
fully entwisted themselves within the legitimate branches of our federal
and State governments. And the charge has been reiterated — Novem-
ber, 1850 — by another democratic leader, the moderator of a party
caucus at Faneuil Hall, that the Hartford Convention designed a north-
ern confederacy, involving an entire change in the organization of our
institutions. The lively and forcible language of Fisher Ames, that
falsehood will travel from Maine to Georgia Avhile truth is putting on
her boots, was fully verified in the early efforts to assert the patriotic
intent of this assembly. The inquiry has often been urged. Was not
the Hartford Convention conceived by that constellation of veiy estima-
ble and talented men, the Essex junto, as it was brought forth by that
lesser light, the Bay State Legislature of Caleb Strong 7 We will
cite ]Mr. Otis on this question. The convention was not the plan or
contrivance of one man, or of a junto, or cabal ; but a simultaneous
and instinctive conception of many, prompted by the nature and the
imagined necessity of the case.
The surpassingly eloquent defence of the Hartford Convention, from
the highly-polished hand of Harrison Gray Otis, like his speeches,—^
or, rather, orations, as they should be termed. — so often pronounced
204 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
at Funeuil Hall, in the halls of Congress, and in our State Legislature,
for force and beauty of argument, will be treasured by posterity among
the noblest efforts of patriotism ; and posterity will rank the epistles of
Junius and Otis, for purity of diction, effective sarcasm and elevation of
thought, as models of diction, in both hemispheres. Moreover, the
speeches of Otis, when Napoleon was in the zenith of his power,
avfakened in the Bostonians a keen jealousy of his thirst for conquest,
and remind one of the eloquence of Demosthenes, when rousing the
Athenians to precautions against the ambition of Philip of IMacedon.
Mr. Otis remarks that his mission to Hartford was forced upon him
by three-fourths of the Massachusetts Legislature, against his most
earnest remonstrances, and to the great sacrifice of his convenience.
The germ of the expedient may be traced to Gov. Jones, of Rhode
Island, Avho, in September, 1814, proposed to this State, in case of
invasion, to march his troops to the aid of any neighboring State, and
requested the cooperation of our State in like emergency. The great
objects of the convention were, to devise, if possible, means of security
and defence, consistent with presei-vation from total ruin, adapted to
their local situation, and not repugnant to their obligations as members
of the Union. The faculty of defending the States by their own
militia, and at the expense of the United States, has since been sanc-
tioned by Congress. ]Mr. Otis says, here is a curious subject of specu-
lation for posterity. The principal measure of an assembly intended,
as was said, to concentrate all the force of opposition to the constituted
authorities of the nation, was, by deliberate act of those authorities,
virtually adopted ; and the egg that was laid in the darkness of the
Hartford conclave was hatched by daylight, under the wing and
incubation of the national eagle. Those Avho serve the State in the
civil department have no court of inquiry, like those in the naval and
military service, for protection, but are at the mercy of every popinjaj-,
says Otis, who can throw a squib or discharge an air-gun from a garret
window, — of editors who pander for the bad passions of party, and for
rivals who humble themselves to imitate the starlings and halloo ''• Mor-
timer," instead of giving an elevated tone to the public sentiment, in
which all men of high minds, even of their own party, would be glad
to harmonize.
There is no doubt that this convention Avas influenced by a decided
love of country, and, of course, by the most honorable motives. Another
serious object of this convention Avas to prevent the danger of a civil
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 205
war, as in the vrestern parts of Massachusetts and in Connecticut tlicre
was a decided opposition to an internal tax, for the purpose of contin-
uing the contest with Great Britain. We make this statement on the
authority of the Hon. Judge Wilde, probably the last survivor of the
delegates to the convention. " I am sensible," remarks Mr. Otis, '• that
among such men I was not meet to be called an 'Apostle.' But hav-
ing nothing to retract, no favors to ask, no propitiatory incense to offer
upon new altars, I hope there Avill be seen neither vanity nor conde-
scension in my declaring that I am unconscious of any conduct that
would justify the singling me out as a political desperado, who offered
to the convention projects by which they were revolted. I challenge
the production or quotation of any speech or writing for which I am
accountable, without garbling or interpolation, conspicuous for unseemly
violonce, intolerance, or even disrespect for my political adversaries ;
much less, pointing to a disunion of the States, which I should dread
as a national and perpetual earthquake. In the ardor of debate, I have
repelled personalities by giving ' m.easure for measure ; ' but if I am
inimical to republican principles and equal rights, I must have basely
degenerated from my parent stock. And though I claim no merit
from ' genus et proavos^^ yet, that I should go into the convention
to instigate others to pull down that ' temple ' which, for at least
forty-and-two years, my ancestors with their countrymen had been
engaged in building, from the first trench and corner-stone, and in
which I had always professed to worship, would seem to be an unnatu-
ral act, at least, of which all just men will one day require better proof
than has been or can be furnished by the unjust. ]My politicol sins
are those of congresses, senates, and houses of representatives, — of a
majority of the people, first of the United States, then of my native
State and city. Of my full aliquot part of these, I would nothing
extenuate, and more should not be set down to me in malice. I have
lived to see triumphant all the principles of the great original Federal
party, of which Washington was the head, and of which I was an indi-
vidual member, though, by the perversity of the course of human
affairs, I have survived the downfall of the party itself There is no
prominent feature of Federal policy, — unless the alien and sedition law
be so regarded, by means of a factitious importance, — which the ruling
party has not found itself compelled to adopt, and place in a bolder
relief The funding system, bank, navy, army, loans, taxes, embas-
sies,— in short, Avhatever appertaining to the civil and mihtary estab-
18
206 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS,
lishmcnts was formcrlj a theme of opposition, — have been patronized
not merely as appendages, but essentials tc^ the machinery of govern-
ment. All the hydras and chimeras arc transformed into goodly
shapes and proper agents. And not a question has been decided — nor,
as far as I am informed, agitated — upon old party principles, since the
peace."
Let it never bo forgotten that the very system recommended by the
Hartford Convention became, by act of Congress, the law of the land,
and its eifect has been to consolidate the national union ; and though Mr.
Otis has often been denounced by political Hotspurs, in public caucus,
as an enemy to his country, posterity in all coming time will simulta-
neously concede the purity of his motives, and exclaim, in their pro-
found sense of his honesty, like Aufidius in Shakspeare :
"If Jupiter should, from yond cloud,
Speak divine things, and say 't is true,
I' d not believe them more than thee, all noble Marcius ! "
President John Quincy Adams declared, in a communication under
his authority, in the National Intelligencer of Oct. 21, 1828, that
during the session of Congress in 1808 he had informed his confiden-
tial correspondents that he knew, from unequivocal evidence, although
not provable in a court of law, that the object of certain leaders of the
party which had in its hands the management of the Legislature of
Massachusetts was, and had been for several years, "a dissolution of
the Union, and the establishment of a separate confederation ; and that,
in case of a civil war, the aid of Great Britain to effect that purpose
would be as surely resorted to as it would be indispensably necessary
to the design." And in a communication addressed to the following
persons, namely, H. G. Otis, Israel Thorndike, T. H. Perkins, Wil-
liam Prescott, Daniel Sargent, John Lowell, William SulUvan, Charles
Jackson, Warren Dutton, Benjamin Pickman, Henry Cabot (son of
Hon. George Cabot), C. C. Parsons (son of Chief Justice Theophilus
Parsons), Franklin Dexter (son of lion. Samuel Dexter), who had
requested him to state who are the persons designated as leaders of the
party prevailing in Massachusetts in the year 1808, whose object, he
asserted, was, and had been for several years, a dissolution of the
Union, and the establishment of a separate confederation, together with
the whole evidence on Avhich that charge is founded, — at the same
time protesting that, constrained by a regard to their deceased friends
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 207
and to posterity, as ■well as hy a sense of Avliat was due to their own
honor, most solemnly to declare that they have never known nor sus-
pected that any party in Massachusetts ever entertained the design of
a dissolution of the Union, or the establishment of a separate confed-
eracy,— President Adams replied : "That project, I repeat, had gone to
the length of fixing upon a military leader for its execution; and,
although the circumstances of the time never admitted of its execution,
nor even of its full development, I had yet no doubt in 1808 and
1809, and have no doubt at this time, that it is the key to all the great
movements of these leaders of the Federal party in New England, from
that time forward till its final catastrophe in the Hartford Convention."
And President Adams said, in the conclusion of his letter: "It is
not improbable that, at some future day, a solemn sense of duty to my
country may require me to disclose the evidence which I do possess,
and for which you call. But of that day the selection must be at my
own judgment ; and it may be delayed till I myself shall have gone to
answer for the testimony I may bear, before the tribunal of your God
and mine. Should a disclosure of names ever then be made by me, it
will, if possible, be made with such reserve as tenderness to the feelings
of the living, and to the families and friends of the dead, may admon-
ish." The evidence in support of this opinion of John Quincy Adams
never ha\ang to this day been exhibited, and it being admitted that
it is not such as would sufiice to establish the charge in a court of
justice, the opinion remains, for all purposes of evidence, utterly inef-
fective. We have the charity to express the opinion that President
Adams over-estimated the weight of the evidence on Avhicli he relied,
— an opinion which, at the worst, does him no injustice, since, should
it be well founded, his mistake of judgment would be like that of
heated partisans of every name and age. The origin of the whole
mystery is probably traceable to the disclosures of John Henry, an
officer in the British army, who, in the year 1809, was employed by
Sir James Craig, the Governor of Canada, to visit the United States for
the purpose of ascertaining whether the dominant party of New Eng-
land would favor a dissolution of the Union, and a connection with
Great Britain. We refer our readers to Dwight's History of the Hart-
ford Convention, and to Walsh's review of that work in the American
Quarterly Review, for a clear development of this subject. In reply
to the inquiry, Why not leave the honor of the Hartford Convention
where Ford's heroine left her fame, "to IMemory, and Time's old
208 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS. '
daughter, Truth " ? — jNIr. Walsh says, in reply, for the simple reason
that all experience has taught us that memory is always defective, and
truth frequently perverted. Already, in the case before us, newspaper
surmises have gradually grown up into rhetorical text ; and these, by
dint of repetition, are fast forming into materials for history.
In the year 1817 JMr. Otis was elected, by a strong vote of the State
Legislature, to the United States Senate, in the place of Gen. Joseph
B'. Varnum, the successor of Timothy Pickering. Here IMr. Otis
shone with peculiar lustre, for his force as a statesman and graceful
rhetoric. His speech in reply to Mr. Pinckney, on the Missouri ques-
tion, January, 1820, was a noble burst of eloquence, in a caveat on
slavery, classed among the imperishable few of the floor of Congress.
He was ever devoted to the interest of his native State, especially in
asserting her claims in public service during the contest with Britain.
ISIr. Otis resigned his seat in 1823 ; and, on the retirement of John
Brooks from the chair of State, he became the Federal candidate, in
competition with William Eustis. Mr. Otis was defeated ; and he
remarked to a friend, " My failure in this contest was a mortification
and a severe disappointment to me at the time, but I look back upon
it now without regret. I regai'd it as the most fortunate event of my
life. I have been a happier and better man, since I was thrown out of
political life, than I should ever have been had I remained in it."
Mr. Otis was elected mayor of his native city in 1829, and in the
inaugural address delivered on the occasion he remarks: "With the
friends of former days, whose constancy can never be forgotten, others
have been pleased to unite, and to honor me with their suffrages, who
hold in high disapprobation the part I formerly took in political aflliirs.
Their support of me on this occasion is no symptom of a change of
their sentiment in that particular. I presume not to infer from it even
a mitigation of the rigor with which my public conduct has been
judged. But it is not presumptuous to take it for granted that those
who have favored me with their countenance on this occasion confide
in my sense of the obligation of veracity, and of the aggravated prof-
ligacy that would attend a violation of it, standing here in the presence
of God and my country. On this faith, I feel myself justified by cir-
cumstances to avail myself of this occasion, — the first, and probably
the last, so appropriate, that it will be in my power, — distinctly and
solemnly to assert, that in no time in the course of my life have I
been present at any meeting of indi\'iduals, public or private, of the
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 209
many or tlie few, or privy to any correspondence of -whatever descrip-
tion, in -which any proposition having for its object the dissolution of
the Union, or its dismemberment in any shape, or a separate confed-
eracy, or a forcible resistance to the government or la-^vs, -^vas ever
made or debated; that I have no reason to believe that any such
scheme -was ever meditated by distinguished individuals of the old Fed-
eral party. But, on the other hand, every reason -^vhich habits of
intimacy and communion of sentiment "with most of them afforded, for
the persuasion that they looked to the remote possibility of such events
as the most to be deprecated of all calamities, and that they -^\-ould
have received any serious proposal, calculated for those ends, as a par-
oxysm of political delirium. This statement will bear internal evi-
dence of truth to all -who reflect that among those men -were some by
the firesides of -^-hose ancestors the principles of the union and inde-
pendence of these States -were first asserted and digested ; from -which
-v^•as taken the coal that kindled the hallo-wed -flame of the Revolution;
from -whose ashes the American eagle rose into life. Others, -who had
conducted the measures and the armies of that Revolution, — Solo-
mons in council, and Samsons in combat ; others, -who assisted at the
birth of the federal constitution, and -watched over its infancy -^ith
paternal anxiety ; — and, I may add, to the best of my kno-ivledge and
belief, that all of them regarded its safety and success as the best hope
of this people, and the last hope of the friends of liberty throughout
the -world. I again express my hope that these remarks -will not be
considered ill-timed. They are a testimony offered in defence of the-
memory of the honored dead, and of patriotic survivoi's, Avho have not
the same opportunity of speaking for themselves. Their object is not
personal favor, though I am free to admit that I am not indiSerent to
the desire of removing doubts and giving satisfaction to the minds of
any who, by a magnanimous pledge of kind feelings toward me, have a
claim upon me for every candid explanation and assurance in my power
to afford."
In this connection, we cannot restrain the desire to introduce an
instance of the condescension and courtesy of Mr. Otis towards his
political opponents. x\t a festival of Federal advocates of the admin-
istration of Andrew Jackson, in Faneuil Hall, Avhen it was splendidly
decorated with the banners of the old Washington Benevolent Society,
March 4, 1829, Mr. Otis, the mayor, gave — " Homage to the con-
stitution, manifested in respect to its chief functionary : May New
18*
210 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
England conquer his esteem, as lie conquered the public enemy, by
meeting him more than half-way." And when Mr. Otis had retired,
the Hon. Theodore Lyman, who presided on the occasion, gave this
sentiment — " The Mayor : May the discerning citizens of Boston ren-
der full justice to his patriotic endeavors for the Avelfare of a city of
which he has so long been a conspicuous ornament."
On the morning of the 17th day of September, 1830, just previous
to the delivery of the centennial discourse on the history of Boston, by
Josiah Quincy, an address was dehvered by Mr. Otis, the mayor, on
the removal of the municipal government to the old State-house, in
which he chronicles the men and the occurrences giving celebrity to the
edifice, thereafter named the City Hall, until its "removal to Court-
square. We will cite a few passages from this graphic view of remem-
brances : The history of the town-house, considered as a compages of
brick and wood, is short and simple. It was erected between the years
1657 and '59, and Avas principally of wood, as far as can be ascer-
tained. The contractor received six hundred and eighty pounds, on a
final settlement, in full of all contracts. This was probably the whole
amount of the cost, being double that of the estimate, — a ratio pretty
regularly kept up in our times. The population of the toAvn, sixty
years afterwards, was about ten thousand; and it is allowing an
increase beyond the criterion of its actual numbers at subsequent peri-
ods, to presume that at the time of the first erection of the Town-house
it numbered three thousand souls. In 1711 the building was burnt
to the ground, and soon afterwards it was built with brick. In 1747
the interior was again consumed by fire, and soon repaired in the form
which it retained until the present improvement, with the exception of
some alterations in the apartments made upon the removal of the Leg-
islature to the new State-house. The eastern chamber was originally
occupied by the Council, afterwards by the Senate. The representa-
tives constantly held their sittings in the western chamber. The floor
of these was supported by pillars, and terminated at each end by doors,
and at one end by a flight of steps leading into State-street. In the
day-time the doors were kept open, and the floor served as a walk for
the inhabitants, always much frequented, and during the sessions of
the courts thronaied. On the north side were ofiices for the clerks of
the supreme and inferior courts. In these the judges robed them-
selves, and walked in procession, followed by the bar, at the opening
of the courts. Committee-rooms were provided in the upper story. .
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 211
Since the removal of the Legislature, it lias been internally divided
into apartments and leased for various uses, in a mode familiar to you
all, and it has now undergone great repairs. This floor being adapted
to the accommodation of the city government and principal officers,
while the first floor is allotted to the post-office, news-room, and private
warehouses.
"In this brief account of the natural body of the building, which, it is
believed, comprehends whatever is material, there is notliing certainly
dazzling or extraordinary. It exhibits no pomp of architectural grand-
eur, or refined taste ; and has no pretensions to vie with the magnifi-
cent structures of other countries, or even of our own. Yet it is a
goodly and venerable pile ; and, with its recent improvements, is an
ornament of the place of whose liberty it was once the citadel. And
it has an interest for Bostonians who enter it this day, like that which
is felt by grown children for an ancient matron by whom they were
reared, and whom visiting after years of absence, they find in her neat,
chaste, old-fashioned attire, spruccd-up to receive them, with her com-
forts about her. and the same kind, hospitable creature and excellent,
whom they ' left in ' less flourishing circumstances. But to this
edifice there is not only a natural, but ' a spiritual body,' which is
the immortal soul of independence. Nor is there on the face of the
earth another building, — however venerable for its antiquity, or stately
in its magnificence, however decorated by columns, and porticos, and
cartoons, and statues, and altars, and outshining ' the wealth of Ormus
or of Ind,' — entitled in history to more honorable mention, or whose
spires and turrets arc surrounded Avitli a more glorious halo, than this
unpretending building.
'•This assertion might be justified by a review of the parts performed
by those who have made laws, for a century after the first settlement
of Boston ; of their early contention for their chartered rights ; of their
perils and difficulties with the natives; of their costly and heroic
exertions, in favor of the mother country, in the common cause. But
I pass over them all, replete as they are with interest, with wonder, and
with moral. Events posterior to these — growing out of them, indeed,
and taking from them their complexion — are considered, by reflecting
men, as having produced more radical changes in the character, rela-
tions, prospects, and, so far as becomes us to prophesy, in the destinies
of the human family, than all other events and revolutions that have
transpired since the Christian era. I do not say that the principles
212 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
which have led to these events originated here. But I venture to
assert that here, within these Avails, thej were first practically applied
to a Avcll-rco-ulated machinery of human passions, conscious rights and
steady movements, which, forcing these United States to the summit
of prosperity, has been adopted as a model by which other nations have
been, and will yet be, propelled on the railroad which leads to universal
freedom. The power of these engines is self-moving, and the motion is
perpetual. Sages and philosophers had discovered that the world was
made for the people who inhabit it, and that kings Avere less entitled
in their own right to its government, than lions, whose claims to be
lords of the forest are supported by physical prowess. But the books
and treatises which maintained these doctrines were read by the admir-
ers of the Lockes, and Sidneys, and jMiltons, and Harringtons, and
replaced on their shelves as brilliant theories. Or, if they impelled to
occasional action, it ended in bringing new tyrants to the throne, and
sincere patriots to the scaffold. But your progenitors, who occupied
these seats, first taught a whole people systematically to combine the
united force of their moral and physical energies, to learn the rights of
insurrection not as written in the language of the passions, but in
codes and digests of its justifiable cases ; to enforce them, under the
restraints of discipline ; to define and limit its objects ; to be content
with success, and to make sure of its advantages. All this they did ;
and when the propitious hour had arrived, they called on their coun-
trymen, as the angel called upon the apostles, ' Come, rise up quickly !
— and the chains fell from their hands.' The inspiring voice echoed
through the welkin in Europe and America, and awakened nations.
He who would learn the efiects of it must read the history of the
world for the last half-century. He Avho would anticipate the conse-
quences must ponder well the probabilities with which time is preg-
nant, for the next. The memory of these men is entitled to a full
share of all the honor arising from the advantage derived to mankind
from this change of condition, but yet is not chargeable with the crimes
and misfortunes, more than is the memory of Fulton with the occa-
sional bursting of a boiler.
" Shall I. then, glance rapidly at some of the scenes, and the
actors who figured in them, within these Avails 7 Shall I carry you
back to the controversies between Gov. Bernard and the House of
Representatives, commencing nearly seventy years ago, respecting the
claims of the mother country to tax the colonics Avithout their consent ?
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 213
To the stand made against Avrits of assistance, in the chamber now
intended for your mayor and aldermen, where and when, according to
John Adams, 'Independence was born,' and whose star was then
seen in the east by wise men. To the memorable vindication of the
House of Representatives by one of its members? To the '-Rights
of the Colonies," adopted by the Legislature as a text-book, and traos-
mitted to the British ministry ? To the series of patriotic resolutions,
protests, and State papers, teeming with indignant eloquence and irre-
sistible argument in opposition to the stamp and other tax acts — to
the landing and quartering of troops in the town ? To the rescinding
of resolutions in obedience to royal mandates 7 To the removal of the
seat of government, and the untiring struggle in which the Legislature
was engaged for fourteen or fifteen years, supported by the Adamses,
the Thachers, the Hawleys, the Hancocks, the Bowdoins, the Quincys,
and their illustrious colleagues ? In fact, the most important measures
which led to the emancipation of the colonies, according to Hutchinson,
a competent judge, originated in this house, in this apartment, with
those men who, putting life and fortune on the issue, adopted for their
motto
' Let such, such only, tread this sacred floor,
Who dare to love their country and be poor.'
" Events of a different complexion are also associated with the Boston
Town-house. At one time it was desecrated by the king's troops
quartered in the Representatives' chamber, and on the lower floor.
At another time, cannon were stationed and pointed towards its doors.
Below the balcony in King-street, on the doleful night of the fifth of
March, the blood of the first victims to the military executioners was
shed. On the appearance of the governor in the street, he was sur-
rounded by an immense throng, who, to prevent mischief to his person,
though he had lost their confidence, forced him into this building, with
the cry, ' To the Town-House ! to the Town-House ! ' He then
went forth into the balcony, and, promising to use his endeavors to
bring the offenders to justice, and advising the peojjle to retire, they
dispersed, vociferating ' Home ! home ! ' The Governor and Council
remained all night deliberating in dismal conclave, Avhile the friends of
their country bedewed their pillows with tears, ' such tears as patriots
shed for dying laws.' But I would not wish, under any circumstances,
to dwell upon incidents like these, thankful as I am that time, which
214 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
has secured our freedom, has extinguished our resentments. I there-
fore turn from these painful reminiscences; and refer you to the day
■when Independence, mature in age and lovehness, advanced with angehc
grace from the chamber in which she Avas born, into the same balcony ;
and, holding in her hand the immortal scroll on which her name and
cliaracter and claims to her inheritance were inscribed, received, from
the street filled with an impenetrable phalanx, and windows glittering
with a blaze of beauty, the heartfelt homage and electrifying peals of
the men, women and children, of the whole city. The splendor of that
glorious vision of my childhood seems to be now present to my view,
and the harmony of universal concert to vibrate in my ear."
When our immortal Webster, — that presiding genius of the consti-
tution, often characterized as the modern Dexter, — on the decision of
the Whig party, in the presidential contest, to adopt Zachary Taylor
as their candidate, exclaimed, in the heat of disappointed ambition,
that it was a nomination not fit to be made, thus exciting confusion in
the minds of the party, our venerable octogenarian, the Hon. Mr.
Otis, in a magnanimous spirit of conciliation, addressed an epistle to
the public, in the style of freshness, beauty and efiect, so peculiar to
him before the prime of life, advocating the expediency of this nomina-
tion. It had a tendency to unite the party, and insure the elevation of
Zachary Taylor ; and this last generous act of his life so overpowered
his mind, that it accelerated his decease, written as it was under the
pressure of years and infirmity. " The general objections to placing a
military chieftain at the head of the nation are two-fold," says Mr.
Otis, in this document : " first, the apprehension that the habits of
absolute authority may be carried from the field to the cabinet, — that
he may thus be inclined to say, ' I am the State ; ' and, if he cannot
bend the constitution to his will, to pierce it with his sword. But a
soldier of this species, before he is intrusted with civil offices, displays
his character sufficiently to give warning. Like the rattlesnake, he
may be known by his notes of preparation ; and if the people will incur
a danger equal to plague, pestilence and famine, it is their own fault.
Second, the want of political experience, and other qualifications for a
new sphere of action. But, for these, the constituency must generally
take its chance. In our country, few persons ' make commonwealth's
affairs their only study.' Politics are not a regular profession for
which men are educated, though too many make it a trade. This
last objection, therefore, applies to all other professions. Eminence
HARRISOX GRAY OTIS. 215
in cither of them, especially of the bar, is regarded as an earnest
of ability adequate to the most elevated station. Yet a great lawyer,
in full practice, can do little more, if so much, to qualify himself for a
new vocation, than a general. They will each have acquired a knowl-
edge of the current of affairs from the public journals and from inter-
course with others ; and neither will have been able to do more. The
soldier, perhaps, has most leisure for such pursuits, except in time of
actual war. The studies and occupation of the lawyer seem to be
most congenial to those of a civil chieftain ; yet great names may be
found to contend that these very studies and pursuits contract the
mind of the practical jurist, and impair his qualifications for enlarged
views of civil administration and adroit diplomacy.
" The truth, however, is, that a truly great man will always show
himself great. The talents called forth by the strategy of a succession
of military campaigns, in a country new and unexplored, and inacces-
sible by ordinary means, where resources must be created, and embar-
rassments not to be foreseen are constantly met and surmounted,
would easily accommodate themselves to the varying, though less
difiicult exigencies of civil affairs. For myself, I rest satisfied that
General Taylor would be found fully competent to the office of presi-
dent, for the same reasons that I think Daniel Webster would make a
great general. Each would require some little training and experience,
in a neAv harness, and, perhaps, a good deal of consultation with others.
History is replete with heroes ti-ansformed into statesmen. AVho is
unacquainted with the agency and influence of the great Marlborough,
in the councils as well as in the wars of Queen Anne 7 Where did
the greater Duke of Wellington qualify himself to settle the peace of
Europe, which he had won by his sword, associated in congress with
emperors and kings, and the most accomplished diplomatists from the
principal cabinets of the old world '? And whence did he derive the
faculty which since that period has been displayed, in the intuitive
sagacity with which he has controlled the measures of the British
cabinet and peerage, and enabled his country to persevere in her
career of power and glory, despite the most novel and serious embar-
rassments? In what school did the great Napoleon acquire the
knowledge of affairs which enabled him to hold the strings of his
administration in his own hands, to reform the interior management of
the whole empire, and to preside in a council of the most distinguished
jurists and civilians in the formation of the civil code, himself initiating
216 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
some of the most essential improvements ? Finally, our own great
Washington was a Samson in combat before lie became a Solomon in
council. On very mature reflection, I am satisfied that General
Taylor, in a short time after he shall have taken the chair, will acquit
himself of his high duties to the entire i:)ublic satisfaction.
" It is further objected that General Taylor is a slave-holder. This
objection comes sixty years too late. It was disposed of in substance
by the original articles of confederation, and annulled in form by the
constitution of the United States. The Northern States were glad
enough to avail themselves of the cooperation of the South in their
struggle for independence, and 'no questions asked.' Not less thankful
were they to cement the incipient alHance by a most solemn compact,
expressly recognizing their right to property in their slaves, and engag-
ing to protect it, — treating Avith them, as proprietors of slaves, as our
equals in all respects, and eligible, of consequence, to all offices under
the constitution. "What would have been the fate of a motion in that
glorious assembly which formed the constitution, or of those who might
have made it, — George Washington present, — to declare a slave-holder
ineligible to any office under it 7 I well remember the adoption of the
constitution by my fellow-citizens of the State, when Hancock, muffled
in red baize, was brought into the convention, to sign the ratification.
The evening preceding, a demonstration in favor of the measure was
made in the streets of Boston, by an assemblage favorable to it, whose
numbers, Paul Revere assured Samuel Adams, were like the sands of
the sea-shore, or like the stars in heaven."
This vigorous document w\as published on Oct. 2, and the decease
of Otis occurred on the 28th of October 1848. His remains were
entombed at jNIount Auburn. He was aged 83 years and twenty days.
" Of no distemper, of no blast, he died,
But fell like autumn fruit that mellowed long, —
E'en wondered at, because he dropped no sooner ;
Fate seemed to wind him up to fourscore years,
Yet freshly ran he on three winters more.
Till, like a clock worn out with eating time,
The wheels of weary life at lost stood still."
Old Faneuil Hall will ever be memorable as the forum whence, with
a voice of silvery sweetness, the flashes of wit and stirring eloquence of
our Boston Cicero captivated the people. Like Cicero, our Otis was
by nature a statesman ; but the honestly-conceived Hartford Couven-
HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 217
tion, of which he was the most powerful advocate, blighted his political
elevation above that of the Senate in Congress. CHis, however, was the
pride of the Bostonians ; and, while many a political opponent, both
from the press and the rostrum, to use the words of our native poet,
Sprague,
" Soils the green garlands that for Otis bloom,
And plants a brier even on Cabot's tomb,"
"we are confident that posterity will view him as a luminous star in
the constellation of American patriots. He was never rivalled for
eloquence by any politician of his native city, or any of his native
State, excepting only his noble kinsman, and the accomplished Fisher
Ames. The contour of his head was beautiful, with animated eyes,
and a ruddy complexion. He was rather tall, of noble bearing, grace-
ful gestures, and courteous manners. A full-length portrait of Otis is
in the care of the Massachusetts INIechanics' Charitable Association, and
an accurate portrait by Stuart is in the family. William Sullivan aptly
remai'ks of him, that he w-as the orator of all popular assemblies, — the
guide of popular opinion in all the trying scenes of commercial restric-
tions, embargo, and war. With a fine person and commanding elo-
quence, with a clear perception and patriotic purpose, he was the first
among his equals, alike ready at all times with his pen and his tongue.
And Samuel K. Lothrop, his pastor, says of him, that the action and
play of his mental power was so easy, that one was apt to forget the
profound and subtle nature of the subjects with which he was dealing.
His power of nice analysis and sharp discrimination was extraordinary,
and the broad and deep wisdom of his thought was often as remarkable
as the lansuase in which he clothed it was brilliant and beautiful.
The biography of Harrison Gray Otis remains to be written. It was
well said of him, at the Harvard centennial, by William II. Gard-
iner, that he was the first scholar of the first class of a new nation,
the career of whose life has been according to the promise of his youth;
who has touched nothing which he has not adorned, and who has been
rewarded with no ofiice, nor honor, nor emolument, to which he was
not richly entitled.
19
218 THE HUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
GEN. WILLIAM HULL.
JULY 4, 1788. FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF CINCINXATI.
The patriotic appeal of the orator to his companions in arms
arouses in their descendants an impressive conception of the burning
ardor of our Revolutionary heroes : The return of this joyful anniver-
sary, my dear friends and companions, -will naturally recall to your
minds the various interesting scenes which have fallen to your lot
while on the theatre of action. The rugged and thorny paths you
have together trod, — the dangerous but honorable part you have been
called to act, — the mingled emotions -which have been excited, while
the fate of your country was uncertain, and the scenes of your military
drama were continually shifting. In the recollection of these important
transactions, you will not be unmindful of your companions in danger.
Are they all present to partake in the festivity of the day, and to com-
memorate those great events for the acquisition of which their valor
and their virtue have largely contributed ? No, my friends, many of
the most ornamental pillars have fallen, in erecting the great fabric of
freedom ; and, while our feelings are alive on the subject, scarcely does
the magnitude of the object compensate the magnitude of the sacrifice.
May unfading laurels ever bloom around their tombs ! May monu-
ments more durable than marble be erected to their memories ! May
we, my brethren, ever bear on our minds the amiable and manly virtues
by which they were distinguished while actors on the stage, and the
glory and dignity with which they closed the scene. And while their
memories live deeply engraven on the hearts and affections of a grate-
ful people, may faithful history transmit their illustrious deeds to the
latest time, and her fairest pages be ornamented Avith the lustre of their
fame !
The memorable day we now celebrate, and the purposes for which
we are assembled, will recall to our recollection the period which gave
birth to our institution, the motives from whence it originated, and the
principles upon which it is founded. Having for more than eight years
devoted our lives to the service of our country, — having cheerfully
endured the dangers and fatigues which are incident to a military
emplo^anent, and having seen our efforts crowned with success, the
period arrived when we were to take a farewell of each other. A
■WILLIAM HULL. 219
crisis so interesting must have excited a variety of emotions. "While,
on the one hand, -we were animated with joy that our country was freed
from danger, and honorably seated in the chair of independence, — on
the other, -we must have been penetrated with grief; not that wc were
about to quit the splendid scenes of military command, and mingle
with our fellow-citizens ; not that toil and poverty would probably be
our portion, — for to them we had long been wedded; — but that we were
to act the last affectionate part of our military connection, and to sep-
arate, perhaps never to meet again. Was it possible to suppress the
feelings Avhich the occasion excited? Did not the same principles
which had animated you to endure the fatiarucs of war and dancrers of
the field, for the attainment of independence, loudly call upon you to
institute a memorial of so great an event ?
When the representatives of your country bestowed upon you the
honorable appellation of the patriot army, and honored you Avith the
united thanks of America for the part you had acted, was it not your
duty, by your future conduct, to give the highest possible evidence
that the applause was not unmerited '? Could you possibly have exhib-
ited a more striking example, or given a higher proof, than by forming
an institution which inculcated the duty of laying dowfi in peace the
arms you had assumed for public defence ? If the various fortunes
of war had attached you to each other, if there was sincerity in that
friendship you professed, if you wished to contribute a small portion
of the little you possessed to the relief of your unfortunate compan-
ions, was it possible for you to separate. Avithout forming yourselves
into a society of friends, for the continuance and exercise of these
benevolent purposes 1 Heaven saw with approbation the purity of your
intentions, and your institution arose on the broad foundation of patri-
otism, friendship, and charity.
William Hull was born at Derby. Ct., June 24, 1753. He grad-
uated at Yale College in 1772 ; studied divinity during one year, and
then attached himself to the Law School in Litchfield, Ct., and entered
the bar in 1775 ; after which he engaged in the war of the Revolution
as a captain.
The first incident recorded by Capt. Hull, on his arrival in camp, is
a striking illustration of the deficiency of military order, discipline and
etiquette, Avith Avhich Washington had to contend. A body of the
enemy landed at Lechmere's Point, in Cambridge. It Avas expected
an attack would be made on the American lines. The alarm was
220 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
given, and the troops ordered to their respective stations. "When the
regiment of CoL Webb was formed for action, the captains and subal-
terns appeared dressed in long cloth frocks, Avith kerchiefs tied about
their heads. Capt. Hull Avas the only man in uniform. The officers
inquired why he came out in full dress. — that the regiment was going
into action, and that he would be a mark for the enemy's fire. He
replied that he thought the uniform of an officer was designed to aid
his influence and increase his authority over his men ; and if ever
important in these points, it Avas more particularly so in the hour
of battle. They referred to their experience, remarking that in the
French war it Avas not customary, and they had never Avorn it. Capt.
Hull yielded to age and experience, sent his servant for a frock and
kerchief, and dressed himself after the fashion of his companions. His
company Avas in advance of the British lines. While at this station,
Gen. Washington and suite, in the course of revicAving the troops,
stopped at the redoubt, and asked what officer conmianded there. With
feelings of inexpressible mortification, says Gen. Hull, I came forward
in my savage costume, and reported that Capt. Hull had the honor of
commanding the redoubt. As soon as Gen. Washington passed on,
Capt. Hull availed himself of the first moment to despatch his ser-
vant, Avith all possible speed, to bring him his uniform. As he put it
on, he quietly resolved never more to subscribe to the opinions of men,
however loyal and braA'e in their country's service, Avhose views Avere
so little in unison Avith his OAvn, After the troops had waited four or
five hours in expectation of an attack, the enemy returned to his
encampment, having no other object in making the descent than to
procure provisions. Hull Avas in the surprise on Dorchester Heights,
at White Plains, battle of Trenton, and Princeton, Avhere he Avas
promoted as major ; Avas at Ticonderoga, at the surrender of Bur-
goyne, in the battle of Monmouth, and at the capture of Stoney Point ;
Avas appointed army-inspector under Baron Steuben, became a colonel
in the capture of CornAA'allis, and was sent on a mission to Quebec
to demand the surrender of Forts Niagara, Detroit, and scA'cral
smaller forts. In Shays' insurrection. Col. Hull had command of
the left Aving of the troops under Gen. Lincoln, and, in making a
forced march through a violent snoAv-storm, surprised the insur-
gents in their camp, Avho fled in eA^ery direction. In 1781 Col. Hull
married Sarah, daughter of Judge Fuller, of NcAvton. In 1789 he
was the commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.
WILLIAM HULL. 221
In 1793 he -was a commissioner to Upper Canada for a treaty uith
the Indians. In 1798 he visited Europe, and on his return he was
appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and Avas in the Mas-
sachusetts Senate. In 1805 he was appointed by Congress the Gov-
ernor of Michigan, -when he surrendered Detroit to Moj. Gen. Isaac
Brock, Aug. 15, 1812. In 1814 he was condemned by court-martial
for cowardice, and sentenced to be shot, but was pardoned by President
Madison. In 1824 Maj. Gen. Hull published a series of letters in
defence of his conduct in the campaign of 1812. The North Amer-
v;an Review said that, from the public documents collected and pub-
lished in them, the conclusion must unequivocally be drawn that Gen.
Hull was required by the government to do what it was morally and
physically impossible tl^at he should do; and his grandson. Rev. James
Freeman Clarke, author of the Military and Civil Life of Gen. "William
Hull, in 482 pages 8vo., after a critical examination of the whole case,
remarks that the charge of cowardice, when examined, becomes incred-
ible and absurd. The only questions which can now be raised by rea-
sonable men are these : Did not Gen. Hull err in judgment in some
of his measures 1 Might it not have been better to have attacked Mai-
den 1 And was the surrender of his post at Detroit, without a struggle
for its defence, reconcilable with his situation at that time 1
The reason for not attacking Maiden was the deficiency of suitable
cannon for that purpose ; and a want of confidence in the militia, as
acknowledged by the ofiicers in command, to storm the works at IMal-
den, which were defended by cannon batteries, while reliance on the
part of the Americans was on militia bayonets almost entirely.
Li considering the conduct of Gen. Hull, in surrendering Detroit,
we ought always to bear in mind that he was governor of the territory
as well as general of the army ; that he accepted the command of the
army for the express purpose of defending the territory ; and that
though, in compliance with the orders of government, he had invaded
Canada, a principal object was still the defence of the people of Mich-
igan. If, therefore, his situation was such that even a successful tem-
porary resistance could not finally prevent the fill of Detroit, had he
any right to expose the people of Michigan to that universal massacre
which would unquestionably have been the result of a battle at Detroit?
It must also be remembered that at the time of the surrender the fort
was crowded with women and children, who had fled thither for protec-
tion from the town, which tended still more to embarrass the situation
19*
222 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
and move the sympathies of the governor. If, therefore, some persons,
with whom mihtarj glory stands higher than humanity and plain duty,
may still blame Gen. Hull for not fighting a useless battle, and for not
causing blood to be shed Avhere nothing was to be gained by its effusion,
we are confident that all high-minded and judicious persons will con-
clude that, to sign the surrender of Detroit, was an act of greater cour-
age and truer manliness, on the part of Gen. Hull, than it would have
been to have sent out his troops to battle. On his death-bed, he
expressed his happiness that he had thus saved the wanton destruction
of the peaceful citizens of Michigan. He died at Newton, Mass ; Nov.
29, 1825.
SAMUEL STILLMAN, D. D.
JULY 4, 1789. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Samuel Stillman was born at Philadelphia, Feb. 27, 1737 ; was
educated at Charleston, S. C, and married Hannah, daughter of Evin
Morgan, merchant of Philadelphia, May 23, 1759. He settled in the
ministry at James' Island, but impaired health occasioned his removal
to Bordentown, N. J., in 17G0, where, after continuing two years, ho
\isited Boston, became an assistant at the Second Baptist Church, and
was, on Jan. 9, 1765, installed as successor of Rev. Jeremiah Condy,
over the First Baptist Church.
On the repeal of the Stamp Act, Mr. Stillman published a patriotic
sermon, which was greatly admired. This occurred May 17, 1766.
" Should I serve you a century in the gospel of Christ," says Stillman
iu this performance. " I might never again have so favorable an oppor-
tunity to consider this passage, — 'As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is
good news from a fiir country.' It is a proverb, the truth of which you
are now feeling ; hence, great is the propriety of improving its spirit-
ual meaning. And the preacher will have the advantage, while he
attempts to illustrate the glories of the Gospel, by what the people feel.
Has not a general joy diffused itself amongst us '? Does not Boston
and the country wear a flice of pleasantness 7 You may read good
news in every countenance. How great the alteration that has taken
place amongst us, in consequence of a late most interesting decision in
SAMUEL STILLMAN, D. D. 223
our favor ! ^Yhen the news arrived, so as to be confidently bcli.eved,
there was a universal shout. It now became impossible for every lover
of liberty and his country to conceal the gladness of his heart, — pub-
lic and private Avere the expressions of joy on this important occasion.
Yea, your children, yet ignorant of the importance of this event to
these colonies, bear a part in the triumphs of the day, — in imitation,
no doubt, of their parents and others, whom they observe pleased on
this happy occurrence. Well, thought I, good news from an earthly
prince, that brings deliverance, and gives us the prospect of the contin-
uance of our most dear and invaluable rights and privileges, which we
apprehended on the brink of departing from us, fill us with such a gen-
eral gladness that scarce a tongue will be silent. 0 ! how much more
might we expect that the glad tidings of salvation — salvation from
everlasting misery, to the fruition of endless happiness — would diffuse
a universal joy ! " Samuel Stillman, at that period, was a loyal subject
of King George the Third, as appears by this passage: "May the
British Parliament receive that deference from us that they deserve,
and be convinced by our future conduct that we aim not at independ-
ency, nor wish to destroy distinctions where distinctions are necessary,
— that we rejoice in being governed according to the principles of that
constitution of which we make our boast as Englishmen ; yea, further,
that if it was put to our choice, whether our connection with Great
Britain should be dissolved, we, the inhabitants of these colonies, would
rise like a cloud, and deprecate such a disunion."
Mr. Stillman soon became one of the most popular pulpit orators of
his day, and Avas consequently appointed to preach on great occasions.
He pronounced a sermon before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery
Company, under William Heath, and the train of Artillery, under
Capt. Adino Paddock, June 4, 1770. In allusion to the massacre in
King-street, he says, " On account of which ayc have Avept sore, our
tears are still on our cheeks ; Avhich doubtless Avill be a mournful
anniA'ersary in years to come. And it is but entertaining such an
opinion of his majesty's paternal regards for his subjects as they ought
ever to cherish, to suppose that he has Avept, or Avill Aveep with us, OA-er
the five unhappy men who fell on that gloomy night. What heart is
hard enough to refuse a tear '] " And in a note Stillman says, '• IIoav-
CA'er Avell a wound may be healed, a scar always remains. So, hoAvever
satisfactorily to the colonists the present disputes may terminate, they
Avill not forget the names of those Avho Avere the cause of troops being
224 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
quartered in this metropolis in a time of peace, nor the errand on
•svliich they came.'^ Pure eloquence like this, together Avith the
livino- voice, whose tones and emphases, in an orator like our own
Stillman, says Dr. Park, of Andover, are themselves almost a doc-
trine : not Avith the voice alone, but with the hand, which opens in
order to give out the truth ; Avith the eye, Avhich radiates a thought
unutterable by the lips ; Avith the whole person, which bodies forth what
is concealed Avithin. Mr. Stillman. in this discourse, urges the neces-
sity of a well-organized militia, and says: " Li this town there are
aboA-e two thousand men able to bear arms, many of whom are excused
from duty, except in cases of alarm ; others, inattentive to the import-
ance of a Well-disciplined militia, choose rather to pay their fines than
appear in the field. Permit me, then, with modesty to ask, how is it
possible, things continuing thus, that the regiment should appear either
complete or respectable? Whereas, Avould gentlemen of reputation
among us set the good example, it Avould render our militia repu-
table, and tend to increase the number of volunteers in the service.
Hence it is in their power, in a great degree, to strengthen the things
which remain in this respect, and seem ready to die. This, among
other things, Avould be an evidence of a truly public spirit, and an
honor to those who should lead the Avay." In Mr. Stillman' s Election
Sermon, delivered May, 1779, we find the following'bold passage, in
which he says that " the very men who were appointed the guardians
and conservators of the rights of the people have dismembered the
empire, and, by repeated acts of injustice and oppression, have forced
from the bosom of tlieir parent country millions of Americans, Avho
might have been draAvn by a hair, but were not to be driven by all the
thunder of Britain. A few soft words would have fixed them in her
interest, and have turned away that wrath Avhich her cruel conduct
had enkindled. The sameness of religion, of language, and of man-
nei'S, together with interest, that poAverful motive, and a recollection
of that reciprocation of kind offices which had long prevailed, Avould
have held America in closest friendship Avith Great Britain, had she
not governed too much;" and, in the oration at the head of this
article, Dr. Stillman remarks, " We have often been told that the
independence of America hath taken place fifty or an hundred years
too soon. Rather, it hath happened at the very time Infinite Wisdom
saAV best. He without whoso knoAvledge the sparrow doth not fall to
the ground hath directed the innumerable intermediate events which
SAMUEL STILLMAN, D. D. 225
connect the settlement of the country -with the declaration of independ-
ence, in 1776. It is because unerring wisdom chose it should be.
What makes this event appear altogether providential is, that it was
not the ground of the quarrel with Great Britain, nor the object for
which the Americans first contended. They fought for liberty, not for
independence. There was a period, after the contest began, when they
would have rejoiced to be placed in the same condition in which they
were in 1763. And when the proposition of independence was first
made, the people in general were much opposed to it, and consented to
it at last as a matter of absolute necessity."
Dr. Stillman was a delegate from Boston to the Massachusetts
State convention, on the acceptance of the federal constitution, in
February, 1788. In his speech on the last day of the session, he
remarked : " I have no interest to influence me to accept this constitu-
tion of government, distinct from the interest of my country at large.
We are all embarked in one bottom, and must sink or swim together.
Heaven has stationed me in a line of duty that precludes every pros-
pect of the honors and emoluments of ofiice. Let who will govern, I
must obey. Nor would I exchange the pulpit for the highest honors
my country can confer. I, too, have personal liberties to secure, as
dear to me as any gentleman in the convention ; and as numerous a
family, probably, to engage my attention. Besides which, I stand
here, with my very honorable colleagues, as a representative of the
citizens of this great metropolis, who have been pleased to honor me
with their confidence. — an honor, in my vicAV, unspeakably greater
than a peerage or a pension." After an elaborate course of argument,
he remarks : " Viewing the constitution in this light, I stand ready to
give my vote for it, without any amendments at all. I am ready to
submit my life, my liberty, my family, my property, and, as far as
my vote will go, the interest of my constituents, to this general gov-
ei'nnient. After all, if tliis constitution were as perfect as is the sacred
volume, it would not secure the liberties of the people, unless they
watch their own liberties. Nothing written on paper will do this. It
is, therefore, necessary that the people should keep a vigilant, not an
over-jealous eye, on their rulers ; and that they should give all due
encouragement to our colleges and schools of learning, that so knowl-
edge may be difiused through every part of our country." Dr.
Stillman Avas a decided Whig, and a Federalist of the Washington
school. He died March 13, 1807.
226 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
A bio^rapliy of Dr. Stillman, written by his son-in-law, Thomas
Gray, D. D., of Roxbury, is prefixed to a volume of occasional ser-
mons, published in 1808. It should be stated that the analysis of his
doctrinal opinions was written by a layman of Dr. Stillman"s church.
Madam Stillman, his wife, founded the Boston Female Asylum, in
1800, where her portrait is exhibited. A person detractingly re-
marked of Stillman, in conversation with Moses Stuart, of Andover,
that he was not a man of talents. "How long was Dr. Stillman
pastor of the church?" inquired Stuart. " He was its pastor forty
years," was the reply. "Was he popular during all that period 7"
" He was." " What ! and not a man of talents — impossible ! " said
Stuart.
The oratory of Stillman was a rare exception to the reply of Garrick
to a clergyman who inquired of him how it was that the stage pro-
duced so much greater an effect on an audience than the pulpit. " The
difference consists in this," said Garrick; "that Ave speak fiction as if
we believed it fact, Avhile you preach the truth as if you supposed it
Action." So flexile was the bow of Stillman, however, that the well-
directed arrow was sure to reach the heart.
" One of the best specimens of effect in preaching," remarks the
Panoplist, "was Dr. Stillman, of the Baptist church. It should
always be remembered that when speaking of oratory we mean two
distinct things, which are seldom found united in one person. We
call Burke an orator, and the same appellation we give to White-
£eld. But how different ! Burke was a very tedious speaker ;
no man thinned the benches of the House of Commons more,—
and it was not until his rich and flowing style appeared from
the press that liis merits were appreciated. With Whitefield it was
exactly the reverse. He was thrilling from the desk, but it would
have been happy for his memory if none of his discourses had ever
been published. We cannot claim for Dr. Stillman the oratory of
Burke. His printed sermons are no reflection of the man. The
voice is wanting, — the melting tones, the restless activity, the match-
less emphasis (sometimes, at least), the fervor, the life, the energy.
He Avas a thin, spare man, dressed with the utmost neatness ; he
wore a large, poAvdered, bushy wig ; his motions \'ery quick, and his
tones some of the most melting and quickening ayo ever heard.
There was a sort of nervous impatience in him during the singing of
the last hymn before the sermon, which seemed to say to you, ' J
SAMUEL STILLMAN, D. D. 227
long to be at my -work ;' and the moment the choir stopped, he started
from his seat, like shot from the cannon's mouth, and was announcing
his text before your hymn-book was half closed. It was once our lot
to see him enter the jail, in Court-street, where a criminal was con-
fined, waiting for execution. A vast crowd was assembled in the yard,
around the old court-house, blocking up all the passages. He was
driven up by an elderly negro man, who sat on a strapped scat before
the body of the chaise. The impatient chaplain leaped from his carriage
like a bird ; and I shall never forget the impression his motions made
on me, as he darted through the crowd, like a glancing arrow or a
bounding rocket, rushing through every opening, and almost pushing
one one way, and another anothpr, seeming to say by his very motions,
' iMake way, gentlemen, make way ; your business cannot be equal to
mine. I have but one work to do ; it must be done ; I go to rescue a
sinner from the darkness of his ignorance and the pangs of the second
death. Make way, gentlemen, make way.'
"His enunciation was rapid, and his emphasis, as I have before
said, sometimes inimitable. He had some nice flexures of voice, which
I have never heard from another man. and which never can be restored,
now that the voice that modulated them is silent in the grave. For
example, the following hymn :
' Well, the Redeemer 's gone,
To appear before our God ;
To sprinkle o'er the flaming throne,
With his atoning blood.'
'■'• Some cold-blooded critic has lately censured this verse ; but I think
he must have been disarmed, could he have heard Dr. Stillraan read it..
His voice had a beautiful circumflex to it ; he threw this emphasis on
the word ' well,' then a pause, and the rest of the verse pronounced in
that cheerful and animating tone Avhich seemed to rend the veil, and
transport the hearer into the unseen world. The most skilful actor
never made a more sudden and happy transition. His voice, however,
was more felicitous in sweetness and pathos than in majesty and terror.
The solemn, guttural tones were entirely wanting to him ; and there
was no apparent art in his style or deUvery. It was all earnest sim-
plicity."
228 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
DR. SAMUEL WHITWELL.
JULY 4. 1789. FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI.
Was born at Boston; entered the Latin School, 1762; graduated
at Princeton, 1774 ; student of medicine under Dr. James Lloyd, and
married Lucy Tyler, of Boston, 1783. Was an army surgeon in Col.
James Jackson's regiment, and died at Newton, November, 1791,
aged 38 years.
In Dr. WhitAvell's oration we have a happy allusion to the adoption
of the federal constitution : " Fearful of exhibiting any appearance of
despotism, at a time when every heart Avas animated with republican
principles, the most rigid in their form ; at a period when the cry of
liberty was ushered to the ear as the goddess of the country, ensigns
of which were waved around as emblems of true contentment, and a
name which our little offspring were taught to repeat before they could
scarcely articulate ; when all ranks of people united in sentiment to
repel every principle that seemed derogating from freedom, suspicious
of infringing their darling rights, — it was wisdom, and, indeed, neces-
sary, to adapt public conduct and measures to the temper and feeling
of the times. But what a train of evils, my friends, was hence gener-
ated,— our treasures exhausted, trade decaying, credit sinking, our
national character blasted, and ruin and destruction the gloomy pros-
pect ! Where was the soul that was not affected with the most poignant
sensations ? Where was the patriot that did not bleed at every vein,
and shed tears of sorrow for his expiring country ? — But what do 1
say — expiring ? I recall the Avord ; phoenix-like, from the ruins of
the old, a new constitution is framed, adopted, and is now in operation.
What prospects of future benefits will hence result, I leave my antici-
pating audience to determine ; but, as your countenances bespeak the
sentiments of your hearts and the Avishes of your breasts, suffer me, in
all the Avarmth of enthusiastic zeal, to congratulate you on this memo-
rable era. May Ave prostrate ourselves before the great potentate of
the universe, and, in the sublime language of inspiration, exclaim,
' Praise Avaited for thee, oh God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow
be performed.' "
EDWARD GRAY. 229
EDWARD GRAY.
JULY 4, 1790. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES
Edavard Gray was born at Boston, 1764 ; entered the Latin School
1772. graduated at Harvard College 1782, Avas a counsellor-at-law, and
married Susanna Turell, 1790 ; was a polished gentleman of great
blandness of manners, and highly esteemed. Rev. Frederick T. Gray
was his son. He died at Boston, Dec. 10, 1810, aged forty-six.
WILLIAM TUDOR.
JULY i, 1790. FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI.
William Tudor, the last orator for this veteran institution, very
pertinently remarks, that " to ascertain the precise time, under the
administration of a Cecil or a Chatham, when Britain and her colonies
must have separated, might afford amusement to a speculative inquirer,
but can be of no utihty now. That the crisis was precipitated, is con-
ceded. But it was not the despotic statutes of England, — it was not
the haughty and fiistidious manners of her officers, civil or military,
— which compelled the mighty Revolution which severed her empire.
These did rouse, but they could not create, that unconquerable spirit
which stimulated America to vindicate, and irrevocably to fi.x, those
rights which distance and other causes might for ages have kept indef-
inite, dependent, and precarious. No ; it was that native, fervid sense
of freedom, which our enlightened ancestors brought with them and fos-
tered in the forests of America, and which, with pious care, they taught
their offspring never to forego. Although the present age cannot
forget, and posterity shall learn to remember, those violences which
impelled their country to war, yet it must be admitted that the period
of parting had arrived. British influence and foreign arts might have
corrupted, silenced or destroyed, that spirit which, thus eai'ly outraged,
became invincible, gave birth to the immortal edict, and all those glo-
rious circumstances in which we this day rejoice.
20
230 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
" Whole oceans rolled between, yet the colonies retained a strong
attachment to their parent State. The numerous memorials transmit-
ted from every province to that infatuated country remain the evidence
of their patience and affection. But, deaf to the voice of supplication
and aloof to entreaty, she added indignity to ^Yrong, until ' humility
was tortured into rage.' Oppression was crowded upon oppression,
until submission Avas criminal, and resistance became an oWigation. On
this auspicious day, and througli every revolving year, the magnanimity
exhibited by our country at that all-interesting and momentous crisis
shall cheer the patriot mind, and raise a glow of honest pride. She
neither hesitated nor halted ; but, sacrificing her attachments at the
shrine of duty, appealed to God and to her sword for justice and suc-
cess. Heaven approbated the appeal, invigorated her councils, and
pointed the road to victory. That sword w^hich she drew by compul-
sion she wore with honor, and her enemies have confessed that she
sheathed it without revenge."
THOMAS CRAFTS, JR.
JULY 4, 1791. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES
In the peroration of this performance Blr. Crafts says: " Locally
remote from the causes of quarrel which drench the European world
in blood, what have we to do but cultivate in peace those virtues which
make a nation great, as well as happy ? The goddess of Liberty has
condescended to reside among us. Let us cherish the lovely guest, —
for where will she find an asylum, if driven from these happy shores ?
To look before us, a field presents itself over which the excursive wing
of fancy might soar unwearied. Li a few years, our extensive lakes
shall be crowded with ships charged with the rich produce of yet unfur-
rowed soils. On the banks of rivers, where human footstep yet has
never trod, cities shall rear their gilded spires. The trackless wilder-
ness, where now the tawny aboriginals, in frantic yells, celebrate their
orgies, shall become the peaceful abodes of civilized life. And America
shall be renowned for the seat of science and the arts, as she already
has been for the wisdom of her counsels and the valor of her arms."
JOSEPH BLAKEj JR. 231
Thomas Crafts, Jr., was born at Boston, April 9, 1767 ; entered the
Latin School 1774, and graduated at Harvard College 1785, where ho
took part in a syllogistic disputation — " Sol est habitabilis," and read
law Avith Gov. Gore. He was probably a son of Col. Thomas Crafts,
who proclaimed the Declaration of Independence from the balcony of
the old State-house, in 1776, in presence of the people. The son was
counsellor-at-law. He was secretary to Hon. Mr. Gore, in the mission
to the court of St. James, and was appointed United States consul for
Bourdeaux. He was a bachelor. He was an effective political writer,
and his chaste productions often appeared in Russell's Centinel. He
had an infinite fund of wit and humor, and his companionship was
eagerly sought. The elder Adams remarked of him that he was one
of the rarest wits he ever knew. He died Aug. 25, 1798.
This was not the person so graphically characterized by the Boston
satirist. Mr. Crafts was too decided an advocate for the Federal party
to be the subject of such shafts. Old Democratic Justice Crafts was
probably a near kinsman.
" Dear Justice Crafts, fair faction's partisan,
I like thee much, thou fiery-visagecl man ;
I love to hear thee charm the listening throng,
Thy head and T\ig still moving with thy tongue '
Thus Jove of old, the heathen's highest god,
Their minor godsliips governed with his nod.
In this you diSer from that great divine, —
Once from his head came wisdom, ne'er from thine.
The mind of Justice Crafts no subject balks.
Of kingcraft, priestcraft, craftily he talks ;
Oft have we heard his crafty tales, and laughed,
But never knew him mention justice-craft."
JOSEPH BLAKE, JR.
JULY 4, 1792. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Joseph Blake, Jr., was baptised at Hardwick, a brother of Hon.
George Blake ; graduated at Harvard College in 1786, when he gave
an English oration ; became an attorney-at-laAv, and married Anna
232 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Black, in 1793. He removed to New York, and died at Kingston,
Jamaica, July 10, 1802, aged thirty-four years.
We find in the Democratiad, printed in 1796, a poetical sketch of
Dr. Charles Jar vis' speech at Faneuil Hall, against Jay's treaty, -which
elicited an allusion to Mr. Blake :
" Now loud and clamorous the debate begins, —
Jai-vis his thread of tropes and figures spins ;
And often pauses, often calls aloud,
To every member of the gaping crowd,
To show him, if the treaty should go down,
Why faction's hopes were not forever flown.
He wished delay — delays must not be had ;
I 've never read it, but I say 'tis bad.
If it goes down, I '11 bet my ears and eyes
It will the people all unpopularize ;
Boobies may hear it read ere they decide, —
I move it quickly be unratified."
We quote the above for the purpose of introducing the allusion in
a note of the Democratiad, as follows: "The doctor said this 'in a
manner that would have done honor to a Cicero,' says his printer, Mr.
Adams.' Pray, Mr. Adams, who ever told you anything about Cicero 1
Why did you not say, which would have done honor to a Joseph Blake,
Jr., that classical young orator who seconded the doctor at the town-
meetings in routing poor Mr. Hall ? You might then have appealed for
proof to an oration he spoke a few years ago, on the 4th of July, in
which he says that this continent is very happily situated, being ' bar-
ricaded on one side by vast regions of soil.' Be so good, INIr. Blake,
before you decide against the treaty, as to tell us which side of this con-
tinent is barricaded by vast regions of soil." We will quote the passage
exactly as it is given in Mr. Blake's oration : "Most favorable is the
situation of this continent. It stands a world by itself Barricaded
from external danger on one side by vast regions of soil ; on the other,
by wide plains of ocean. The Atlantic, upon her bosom, may undulate
riches to its shore, but all the artillery in Europe cannot shake it to
its centre."
As political meetings in Boston are known by the terra caucns, it is
not irrelevant to cite Gordon, who, in his history of the American
Bcvolution, pubhshed in 1788, says, "More than fifty years ago Mr.
Samuel Adams' father, and twenty others, — one or two from the north
end of the town, where all ship business is carried on, — used to meet,
make a caucus, and lay their plan for introducing certain persons into
places of trust and power."
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 233
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
JULY 4, 1793. rOR THE TOWN AUTHOKITIES,
In this model oration, our orator, -svitli a burst of fervor, exclaims :
"Americans ! let us pause for a moment to consider the situation of our
country at that eventful day -when our national existence commenced.
In the full possession and enjoyment of all those prerogatives for which
you then dared to adventure upon ' all the varieties of untried being,'
the calm and settled moderation of the mind is scarcely competent to
conceive the tone of heroism to which the souls of freemen were exalted
in that hour of perilous magnanimity. Seventeen times has the sun, in
the progress of his annual revolutions, diftused his prolific radiance
over the plains of independent America. Millions of hearts, which
then palpitated with the rapturous glow of patriotism, have already
been translated to a brighter world, — to the abodes of more than mor-
tal freedom ! Other millions have arisen, to receive from their parents
and benefactors the inestimable recompense of their achievements. A
large proportion of the audience whose benevolence is at this moment
listening to the speaker of the day, like him, were at that period too little
advanced beyond the threshold of life to partake of the divine enthu-
siasm which inspired the American bosom, Avhich prompted her voice
to proclaim defiance to the thunders of Britain, which consecrated
the banners of her armies, and, finally, erected the holy temple of
American Liberty over the tomb of departed tyranny. It is from
those who have already passed the meridian of life, — it is from you, ye
venerable assertors of the rights of mankind, — that we are to be informed
what were the feelings Avhich swayed within your breasts, and impelled
you to action, when, like the stripling of Israel, with scarce a weapon
to attack, and without a shield for your defence, you met, and. undis-
mayed, engaged Avith the gigantic greatness of the British power.
Untutored in the disgraceful science of human butchery, — destitute of
the fatal materials which the ingenuity of man has combined to sharpen
the scythe of death, — unsupported by the arm of any friendly alliance,
and unfortified against the powerful assaults of an unrelenting enemy,
— you did not hesitate at that moment, when your coasts were invaded
by a numerous and veteran army, to pronounce the sentence of eter-
nal separation from Britain, and to throw the gauntlet at a power the
20*
234 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATOKS.
terror of -whose recent triumphs Tvas almost coextensive with the earth.
The interested and selfish propensities, which in times of prosperous
tranquillity have such powerful dominion over the heart, were all
expelled ; and, in their stead, the public virtues, the spirit of personal
devotion to the common cause, a contempt of every danger in compar-
ison with the subserviency of the country, had an unlimited control
The passion for the public had absorbed all the rest, as the glorious
luminary of the heaven extinguishes, in a flood of refulgence, the
twinkling splendor of every inferior planet. Those of you, my coun-
trymen, who were actors in those interesting scenes, will best know
how feeble and impotent is the language of this description to express
the impassioned emotions of the soul with which you were then agi-
tated ; yet it were injustice to conclude from thence, or from the
greater prevalence of private and personal motives in these days of
calm serenity, that your sons have degenerated from the virtues of
their fithers. Let it rather be a subject of pleasing reflection to you,
that the generous and disinterested energies which you were summoned
to display are permitted, by the bountiful indulgence of Heaven, to
remain latent in the bosoms of your children. From the present pros-
perous appearance of our public affairs, we may admit a rational hope
that our country will have no occasion to require of us those extraor-
dinary and heroic exertions which it was your fortune to exhibit. But,
from the common versatility of all human destiny, should the prospect
hereafter darken, and the clouds of public misfortune thicken to a tem-
pest,— should the voice of our country's calamity ever call us to her
relief, — we swear, by the precious memory of the sages who toiled and
of the heroes who bled in her defence, that we will prove ourselves not
unworthy of the prize which they so dearly purchased, — that we will
act as the faithful disciples of those who so magnanimously taught us
the instructive lesson of republican virtue."
President John Adams, the father of the subject of this article, —
one of the most ardent patriots of the Revolution, one of the firmest
advocates for the Declaration of Independence, and the first ambassa-
dor to the court of St. James, — was characterized by Thomas Jeffer-
son as our Colossus on the floor of Congress ; not graceful, not elegant,
not always fluent in his public addresses, yet he came out with a power,
both of thought and expression, that moved us from our seats. On
his interview with King George, in 1785, Mr. Adams displayed a
manly dignity that would have honored the representative of the most
JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. 235
powerful monarch of any nation. King George said to him : ''I was
the last to conform to the separation ; but, the separation having become
ineAitable, I have always said, as I say now. that I would be the first
to meet the friendship of the United States, as an independent power."
In reply to an insinuation from the king, regarding an attachment to
France, Adams remarked, '"I must avow to your majesty I have no
attachment but to my o\mi country." The king replied, as quick as
lightning, " An honest man will never have any other."
As an indication of the malignant pi'ejudice of the royalists towards
this eminent statesman, we will cite a paragraph w"ritten by a Tory
refugee, published in the London Political Magazine of 1781 : " This
Adams was originally bred to the law, and is a native of the province
of Massachusetts, in New England; he was born at Braintree, a
villat^e ten miles south, or rather south-east, of Boston. In person, he
is a clumsy, middle-sized man ; and, according to all appearance, by
taking to the law and politics, has spoiled an able ploughman or porter,
thouo^h the trade of a butcher would have better suited the bent of his
mind. He has read Tristram Shandy, and affects, aAvkwardly enough,
a smartness Avhich does not at all correspond either with his personal
figure or with his natural dulness. What has tended chiefly to distin-
guish him among the rebels is, the eagerness with which he urged the
taking up arms, and his continued malignity towards all the friends of
peace and the mother country. For these excellent qualities, he was
chosen a delegate from INIassachusetts to the first Congress. When at
Philadelphia, several of his letters to his friends in New England were
intercepted in the mail, as the post courier was crossing Narraganset
Ferry. In one of them, dated July 24, 1775, and addressed to Ins
wife. Mrs. Abigail Adams, he tells her, by way of secret, that no
mortal tale could equal the fidgets, the whims, the caprice, the vanity,
the superstition and the irritability, of his compatriots, on their journey
from New England to Philadelphia. These compatriots Avere, Thomas
Cushin'T, Samuel Adams, and Robert Treat Paine. The fii-st of these
was a distiller, and the last a lawyer ; and both were weak and insig-
nificant men, the tools of Samuel Adams, the grand confederate and
correspondent of that hoary traitor, Frankhn. In another letter,
dated the day after, addressed to Col. Warner, of Plymouth, then at
Watertown, President of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, he
displayed the barbarity of his disposition, by asking him, ' Will your
new legislative and executive feel bold or irresolute ] Will your
236 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
judicial hang, and whip, and fine, and imprison, -without scruple?
It is to this advice that he alludes, when he mentions the refugees, in
his letter from Amsterdam. He was for stopping their career by hang-
ing them on the spot, without favor or affection. If this man should
live till the close of the rebellion, and be found in America, no good
subject will lament if he should meet with that fate which he so strenu-
ously prescribed for others. The public will not be surprised that, with
respect to the refugees from America, there should be such a coinci-
dence of opinion between certain speechifiers and a rebel ambassador.
Neither will they be surprised that this man should regret his rebel
confederate Laurens ; prognosticate the ruin of this country ; promise
his rebel friends the assistance of Russia, and money from the Dutch ;
abuse the British ministry ; talk of sumptuary laws to restrain super-
fluities in dress, where there is not even a sufficiency of the most ordi-
nary clothing ; and of paying the whole of their army expenses in a
manner that would not be felt, by a few duties and excises, in a
country where the paper money has gone to wreck, and where solid
coin is not to be seen."
John Quincy Adams was born in a house still standing, in the near
vicinity of that in which his father had been born, within what is now
Quincy, and was then Braintree, July 11, 1767 ; and was baptized in
the meeting-house of the First Church, by Rev. Anthony Wibird, on
the day after his birth. Mr. Adams once related, in regard to his grand-
father Quincy : " The house at Mount Wollaston has a peculiar inter-
est to me, as the dwelling of my great-grandfather, whose name I bear.
The incident which gave rise to this circumstance is not without its moral
to my heart. He was dying when I was baptized ; and his daughter,
my grandmother, present at my birth, requested that I might receive
his name. The fact, recorded by my father at the time, has connected
with that portion of my name a charm of mingled sensibihty and
devotion. It was filial tenderness that gave the name. It was the
name of one passing from earth to immortalit3^ These have been
among the strongest links of my attachment to the name of Quincy,
and have been to me, through life, a perpetual admonition to do nothing
unworthy of it." Senator Davis said of him, "the cradle hymns of
the child were the songs of liberty;" it being the period when our
country was struggling for liberty. To the plastic influence of his
mascuhne mother, John Quincy ascribed whatever he had been, and
hoped to be in futurity. His mother writes to one, "I have taken a.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 237
very great fondness for reading Rollin's Ancient History, since you left
me. I am determined to go through with it, if possible, in these days
of my soHtude. I find great pleasure and entertainment from it, and
have persuaded Johnny to read a page or t'.vo every day, and hope he
will, from his desire to oblige me, entertain a fondness for it." " The
child of seven years old," says Everett, " who reads a serious book
W'ith fondness, from his desire to oblige his mother, has entered the
high road of usefulness and honor."
An eifective reminiscence of JNIr. Adams was related by Robert C.
AYinthrop, at the Acton celebration, Oct. 29, 1851, which, remarked
he, is "one of the most interesting personal incidents that I can
look back upon in the course of a ten-years' service in Congress. It
was an interview which I had with our late venerated fellow-citizen,
John Quincy Adams, about five or six years ago. It was on the floor
of the Capitol, not far from the spot where he soon afterwards fell.
The house had adjourned one day somewhat suddenly, and at an
early hour ; and it happened that after all the other members had left
the hall, Mr. Adams and myself were left alone in our seats, engaged
in our private correspondence. Presently the messengers came in
rather uncei^emoniously to clean up the hall, and began to wield that
inexorable implement which is so often the plague of men, both under
public and private roofs. Disturbed by the noise and dust, I observed
Mr. Adams approaching me with an unfolded letter in his hands.
' Do you know John J. Gurney 7 ' said he. ' I know him well, sir,
by reputation ; but I did not have the pleasure of meeting him per-
sonally when he was in America.' ' Well, he has been w'riting me a
letter, and I have been writin<z; him an answer. He has been calliuG;
me to account for my course on the Oregon question, and taking
me to task for what he calls my belligerent spirit and warlike tone
towards England.'
'•And then the * old man eloquent' proceeded to read tome, so
far as it was finished, one of the most interesting letters I ever read
or heard in my life. It was a letter of auto-biography, in which
he described his parentage and early life, and in which he particu-
larly alluded to the sources from which he derived his jealousy of
Great Britain, and his readiness to resist her, even unto blood, when-
ever he thought that she was encroachinf' on American rights. He
said that he was old enough in 1775 to understand what his father was
about m those days ; and he described the lessons which his mother
238 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
taught him during ais father's absence in attending the Congi'ess of
independence. Everj day, he said, after saying his prayers to God,
he was required to r^jpeat those exquisite stanzas of Collins, which he
had carefully transcribed in his letter, and which he recited to me with
an expression and an energy which I shall never forget — the tears
coursing down his cheeks, and his voice, every now and then, choked
with emotion :
' How sleep the brave, who sink to rest,
By all their country's wishes blest !
When sirring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallowed mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.
' By fairy hands their knell is rung ;
By forms unseen their dirge is sung ;
There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray.
To bless the turf tliat wraps their clay.
And Freedom shall a while repair.
To dwell, a weeping hermit, there.'
" And there was another ode, by the same author, which, he said,
he was also obliged to repeat, as a part of this same morning exercise, — •
the ode, I believe, on the death of Col. Charles Ross, in the action at
Fontenoy, one verse of which, with a slight variation, would not be
inapplicable to your own Davis :
' By rapid Scheld's descending wave,
His country's vows shall bless the grave,
Where'er the youth is laid ;
That sacred spot the village hind
With every sweetest turf shall bind.
And Peace protect the shade.'
" Such, sir, was the education of at least one of our Massachusetts
children at that day. And, though I do not suppose that all the
mothers of 1775 were like Mrs. Adams, yet the great majority of
them, we all know, had as much piety and patriotism, if not as much
poetry, and their children were brought up at once in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord and of hberty."
In February, 1778, being then a lad in the eleventh year of his ago,
he was taken to France by his father (in ship Boston, Capt. Tucker),
who was sent by Congress as joint commissioner with Benjamin
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 239
Franklin and Arthur Lee, to the court of France: During the pas-
sage, they were exposed to extreme danger in a violent storm. a*nd his
father said of him, " I confess I often regretted tL it I had brought my
son. I was not so clear that it was my duty to expose him as myself;
but I had been led to it by the child's inclination, and by the advice
of all my friends. Mr. Johnny's behavior gave me a satisfaction that
I cannot express; fully sensible of our danger, he was constantly
endeavoring to bear it with a manly patience, very attentive to me, and
his thoughts constantly running in a serious strain. My little son is
very proud of his knowledge of all the sails, and the captain put him
to learn the mariner's compass." His father established himself at
Passy, the residence of Franklin. Here he was sent to school, and
acquired the French language. His dear mother, in writing to him,
says : "I would much rather you should have found your grave in the
ocean you have crossed, or that any untimely death should crop you in
your infant j^ears, than see you an immoral, profligate, or graceless
child." And his father, in writing to his mother under date of 1779,
says, young John " is respected wherever he goes, for his vigor and
vivacity both of mind and body, for his constant good humor, and for
his rapid progress in French, as well as for his general knowledge,
which at his age is uncommon." The treaty of alliance being consum-
mated, John Adams returned with his son, and arrived at Boston Aug.
2, 1779.
In 1781, when only fourteen years of age, he became private secre-
tary to Hon. Francis Dana, the minister to Russia. He remained at
St. Petersburg until October, 1782, Avhen he left Mr. Dana, and
journeyed alone to Holland, where he joined his father, April, 1783.
After the ti'caty at Paris, signed in September of that year, he went
to the court of St. James with his father, which occurred in 1785. He
was a remarkably precocious youth, and since he was twelve years old
had talked with men. Mr. Jefferson, then minister at Paris, in writ-
ing to Mr. Gerry, says : "I congratulate your country on their pros-
pect in this young man."
In 1786 he was admitted at Harvard College at an advanced stand-
ing, and graduated in 1787. The subject of his oration evinces the
maturity of his mind; it was on " The Importance and Necessity of
Public Faith to the Well-being of a Community." He entered on
the study of law under the instruction of the celebrated Theophilus
Parsons, at Newburyport; and in 1700 he commenced legal practice,
240 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
which he continued until 1794, during -which period he pronounced the
oration at the head of this article, and became a Hberal contributor of
political essays in Russell's Centinel, over the signatures of Pubhcola
and Marcellus, which developed the true policy of union at home, and
independence of all foreign combinations abroad. Over " Colum-
bus " he also advocated a national neutral policy toward foreign
nations.
Washington, in 1794, appointed Mr. Adams minister to the Hague,
who remained in Europe on public business un^il his recall by his
father, the successor of Washington. In 1797, our first president
declared that he Avas "the most valuable public character we have
abroad, and the ablest of all our diplomatic corps." On the 26th
of July. 1797, Mr. Adams was married to Louisa, the daughter of
Joshua Johnson, of Maryland, then acting as consular agent of the
United States at London, who for more than fifty years Avas the
partner of his affections and fortunes.
In 1801 he was elected to the Senate of his native State, and in
1803 he was elected to the Senate of the United States. This station
in the national councils he filled until he became obnoxious to the
Legislature of his native State, from the support which he gave to
parts of .Jefferson's administration ; and, in consequence, he resigned
his seat, in March, 1808. He Avas the first Boylston Professor of
Rhetoric and Oratory in Harvard College, from 1806 to 1809. In
1810 he published his lectures on rhetoric and oratory, in tAVO
volumes, 8vo. At this period he Avas confirmed as minister to Russia,
on the nomination of Madison, and Avas abroad eight years. In
1814 he Avas one of the commissioners AA'ho negotiated, at Ghent, the
treaty of peace Avhich closed the second Avar betAveen Great Britain
and the United States. In 1815 Mr Adams was appointed minister
to the court of St. James, under Madison. In 1817 he returned to
America, and discharged the duties of Secretary of State during the
Avholc administration of President Monroe. It will be recollected
that x\ndreAV Jackson said, at this period, of Mr. Adams, that he Avas
" the fittest person for the office ; a man who would stand by the
country in the hour of danger."
In 1825 Mr. Adams Avas elected to the presidency of the United
States by the National House of Representatives, on the first ballot.
His administration, in its principles and policy, Avas similar to that of
bis very popular predecessor. Not long after Mr, Adams was sue-
JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 241
ceeded by Andrew Jackson, he Avrotc to a friend, saying, " One of the
most pathetic and terrible passages in that masterpiece of Shakspcare
and of the drama is that exclamation of the dying Hamlet :
• 0 God ! Horatio, what a wounded name
Things standing thus unknown shall live behind me ! '
I cannot describe to you the thrill "with which I first read these lines,
generalizing the thought as one of the melancholy conditions of human
hfe and death ; nor say to you how OTtcn, in the course of my long
career, I have apphed these lines to myself My name, conduct and
character, have been many years open to the constant inspection of a
large portion of the civilized world. Of that portion whose notice
they have attracted. I am deeply conscious that the estimate they have
formed of me has been and is neither just nor kind." But it is equally
certain, says Lunt, that, between the time when the words just quoted
were penned and his death, he lived long enough to have his name
vindicated. He continued on the stage of action till he could put his
ear to the confessional of posterity, and hear much that must have
gratified a mind conscious of high aims and patriotic endeavors. .
Mr. Adams pronounced eulogies on his two immediate predecessors,
at the request of the city authorities of Boston. " Too happy should
I be," said Mr. Adams, " if, with a voice speaking from the last to the
coming generation of my country, I could effectively urge them to seek,
in the temper and moderation of James Madison, that healing balm
which assuages the malignity of the deepest-seated political disease,
redeems to life the rational mind, and restores to health the incorpo-
rated union of our country, even from the brain fever of party strife."
And of James JMonroe he emphasized, that he was of a mind anxious
and unwearied in the pursuit of truth and right, patient of inquiry,
patient of contradiction, courteous even in the collision of sentiment,
sound in ultimate judgments, and firm in its final conclusions. In liis
administration strengthening and consolidating the federative edifice of
his country's union, till he was entitled to say, like Augustus Cuesar
of his imperial city, that he had found her built of brick, and left her
constructed of marble.
Mr. Adams, ever ready for political life, once more put on the har-
ness, and served ten successive years as Representative in Congress
from the twelfth district of jNIassachusetts, until, in 1842, upon a new
21
242 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
distribution of political power, he was elected to represent the eighth
district of his native State, where he was succeeded by Horace Mann.
In the autumn of the year 1833, Hon. John Quincy Adams was
unanimously nominated, at a large convention of the Anti-masonic
party, as their candidate for the office of Governor of Massachusetts.
The result was a triangular contest, at the election, between the three
political parties into Avhich the State was divided, and the failure of a
choice. The election devolved on the State Legislature, on which Mr.
Adams withdrew from the contest. During the periods of 1831 and
1833, Mr. Adams published, in papers of the day, a series of letters
to eminent persons on the nature and tendency of Freemasonry. We
select a striking passage from his letter to Hon. Edward 'Livingston,
Secretary of State, and Grand High Priest of the U. S. Royal Arch
Chapter of Masonry.
" When John INIilton," says Mr. Adams, "published his Paradise
Lost, Andrew Marvell declared that he for some time misdoubted his
intent, —
' That he would ruin
The sacred truths to fable and old song.'
And he adds, —
' Or, if a work so infinite be spanned,
Jealous I was that some less skilful hand
Might hence presume the whole creation's day
To change in scenes, and show it in a play.'
" That which the penetrating sagacity and sincere piety of Andrew
Marvell apprehended as an evil which might result even from the sub-
lime strains of the Paradise Lost, is precisely what the contrivers of the
Masonic mysteries have effected. They have travestied the awful and
miraculous supernatural communications of the ineffable Jehovah to
his favored people into stage-plays. That Word, Avhich in the begin-
ning was Avitli God, and was God ; that abstract, incorporeal, essential,
and ever-living existence ; that eternal presence, without past, without
future time ; that Being, without beginning of days or end of years,
declared to Moses under the name of I Am that I Am, — the moun-
tebank juggleries of Masonry turn into a farce. A companion of the
Royal Arch personates Almighty God, and declares himself the Being
of all eternity, — I Am that I Am. Your intention, in the perform-
ance of this ceremony, is to strike the imagination of the candidate
with terror and amazement. I acquit the fraternity, therefore, of
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. • 24B
blasphemy; but I cannot acquit tliem of extreme indiscretion, and
inexcusable abuse of the Holy Scriptures. The sealed obligation, the
drinking of wine from a human skull, is a ceremony not less objection-
able. This you know, sir, is the scene in which the candidate takes
the skull in his hand and says, ' As the sins of the whole world were
laid upon the head of our Saviour, so may the sins of the person whose
skull this once was be heaped upon my head in addition to my o^^-n.
and may they appear in judgment against me both here and hereafter,
should I violate any obligation in INIasonry, or the orders of knight-
hood, which I have heretofore taken, take at this time, or may be here-
after instructed in, — so help me God ! ' and he drinks the wine from
the skull. And is not this enough ? Xo ; "the Knight Templar takes
an oath, containing many promises, binding himself under no less pen-
alty than to have his head struck off and placed on the highest spire in
Christendom, should he knowingly or willingly violate any part of his
solemn obligation of a Knight Templar."
The fearless stand which Mr. Adams maintained through all the
storm and tempest of opposition on the right of petition, says "\Yater-
ston, alone were enough to give him immortality. He looked upon
slavery as the unmitigated curse of his country. He loathed it with
an utter detestation ; and when the slave-power refused to hear the cry
that was coming more and more loudly from distant sections of the
land, and trampled beneath its feet the holiest privileges of the consti-
tution, the fire in his soul kindled. His efforts and his triumphs at
that time will never be forgotten.
We have an important political reminiscence of this period, related
by President Millard Fillmore, in an address to the people of Freder-
icksburgh, Va., June, 1851, on his arrival in that city. Mr. Fillmore
was a colleague of Mr. Adams in Congress : "I had an old and val-
ued friend, — one Avhom I esteemed, yet who possessed some eccentric-
ities and peculiar notions of political duty which I did not approve. I
need not say that I allude to the venerable jMr. Adams. You are all
well aware that he was early imbued with the principle, upon which he
universally practised, that every citizen had the right to be heard in Con-
gress by his petition ; and that he Avas often made the medium of pre-
senting to the house matters of which he entirely disapproved. His
maxim was, that every citizen had the right to petition, and that it was
the duty of Congress to consider such petition. Acting upon this
known principle, he was often played upon, doubtless, by those who were
24-i THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
influenced by mischievous purposes. I •well recollect, on one occasion,
that he rose and stated to the house that he had received a petition of
a very peculiar character, the sentiments of which he did not approve ;
but, on the principle upon which he universally acted, he felt it to be
his duty to present it to the house. He stated that it was a petition
from certain citizens whose names were signed to it, praying for a dis-
solution of the Union ; but, for the purpose of freeing himself from
the imputation of favoring such a sentiment, he, at the same time that
he discharged his duty in the presentation of the petition, felt it also
to be his duty to accompany it with a resolution that it be referred to a
select committee, with positive instructions to report against the prayer
of the petitioners. What were the proceedings upon that occasion ?
Tills annunciation was no sooner made in the House of Representatives,
than the whole house seemed to be in a ferment ; and in a very few
moments a resolution was introduced for the purpose of expelling Mr.
Adams from the house, for having dared to introduce a petition there
for a dissolution of the Union, altliough accompanied at the same
time with a positive declaration on his part that he was ojjposed to it,
and an appeal to the house to sanction his sentiments on the subject.
But what do we see now ? Ten years have not elapsed since that scene
took place, and since that man who for four years had discharged the
duties of Chief Magistrate of this Union stood at the bar of that
house, and morning after morning came to me and asked of me not to
move the public business, so as to force a vote on the resolution expel-
ling him from the house, until he had a chance to be heard. He
feared that he might be expelled from that body, for doing what he
deemed to be his imperative duty, in preservation of the right of peti-
tion, although he was imbued with the strongest sentiments in favor of
the Union of these States. I was forced, from a feeling of sympathy
and regard for him, to suffer the public business to be delayed, from
day to day, for one or two weeks, in order that he might present his
sentiments to the house on the subject, to convince them that, although
he presented a petition for the dissolution of the Union, he did not
approve of those sentiments. I doubt whether anything short of that
could have saved this distinguished man from expulsion from that
body."
'• The patriotism of Mr. Adams," says Horace Mann, his successor in
Congress, " was coextensive with his country; it could not be crushed
and squeezed in between party lines. Though liable to err, — and
JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. 245
what human being is not ? — yet his principles were believed by him
to be in accordance -with the great moral laws of the universe. They
were thought out from duty and religion, and not carved out from expe-
diency. When invested with patronage, he never dismissed a man from
office because he was a political opponent, and never appointed one to
office merely because he was a political friend. Hence he drew from
Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, this noble eulogium, — a eulogiura,
considering the part of the country from which it came, as honorable
to its author as to its object, — that ' he crushed no heart beneath the
rude gi-asp of proscription ; he left no heritage of widows' cries or
orphans' tears.' Could all the honors which Mr. Adams ever won
from offices held under the first five presidents of the United States,
and from a public service which, commencing more than fifty years
ago, continued to the day of his death, be concentrated in one effulgent
blaze, they Avould be far less shining and inextinguishable than the
honor of sacrificing his election for a second presidential term, because
he would not, in order to obtain it, prostitute the patronage and power
which the constitution had placed in his hands. I regard this as the
sublimest spectacle in his long and varied career. He stood within
reach of an object of ambition doubtless dearer to him than life. He
could have laid his hands upon it. The still small voice said. No !
Without a murmur, he saw it taken and borne away in triumph by
another. Compared with this, the block of many a martyr has been
an easy resting-place."
Perhaps one of the most remarkable features of his mind was the
universality of its acquirements. There was hardly a subject upon
w^hich he had not thought, and few u]5on w^hich he was not wise. The
amount of his information was immense. He was well versed in polit-
ical economy, and all matters pertaining to civil government. As a
philologist, he passed much time in critical research. He was skilled
in science and art. Philosophy had not been neglected, and religion
was a subject of laborious study. He was thoroughly versed in gen-
eral literature ; was passionately fond of poetry, and the words of our
great dramatic and epic poets were fiimiliar to him as household words.
The wide sweep of history seemed to lay clearly open to his mind ;
while he was intimate, also, with its minutest details, and could repeat
names and dates as if they had been the sole subject of his thoughts.
By the wonderful power of his memory, he seemed able to recall what-
ever he read, or saw, or heard. He repeated, without limit, passages from
21*
246 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
books in various languages. To liim, the events and characters of past
history were hke the occurrences of to-day. And the circumstances of
his own hfe, back to his early childhood, seemed clothed in transparent
light. Conversations he had enjoyed with persons more than a half-
century back, he could recall at pleasure ; and the varied scenes he had
witnessed stood out like pictures before his view. Quick in feeling,
indignant at injustice and wrong, there was at times impetuosity; and,
when occasion called for it, his words were like consuming; li^htnino-
and shattered what they struck. No man could be more witheringly
severe, — withering with terrific truth. But then he was also simple
as a child, and naturally overflowing with genial aifection. Of few
could it be more aptly said :
" lie was a scholar, and a ripe and good one ;
Exceeding wise, fair-spoken, and persuading :
Lofty and sour to them that loved him not ;
But to those men that sought him, sweet as summer."
A few years before his decease, .Mr. Adams was invited, by the
school-committee of the town of Quincy, to accompany them in their
round of visits to the several district schools in the town. He com-
plied very readily ; gave his attention, during a session of three hours
in the forenoon and three in the afternoon of each day, to the lessons
of the pupils ; and entered into the humble work before him with as
much animation of manner as he would have evinced in political dis-
cussions, or in managing the affiirs of a nation. Lord Bacon has said
that " he who cannot contract the sight of his mind, as well as disperse
and dilate it, Avanteth a great quality." This mark of true greatness
was not wanting in President Adams.
On the first day of the indisposition of Mr. Adams, he gave his sig-
nature to the effusion herewith, laid aside in his desk in the hall of
Congress, addressed to the Muse of History, perched on her rook-
wheeled and winged car over the front door of the House of Repre-
sentatives at Washington :
" Muse ! quit thy car, come down upon the flooi".
And with thee bring that volume in thy hand ;
Rap with thy marble knuckles at the door.
And take at a reporter's desk thy stand.
Send round thy album, and collect a store
Of autograj^hs from rulers of the land ;
Invite each Solon to inscribe his name,
A self-recorded candidate for fame."
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 247
Mr. Adams, on the 21st of February, 1848, entered the hall of
the House of llcpresentatives apparently in his usual health and spirits.
When the house had been in session about an hour, the yeas and nays
being ordered on the question of a vote of the thanks of Congress,
and awarding gold medals, to Generals Twiggs, Worth, Pillow, Shields,
Quitman, and others, for their services in the Mexican -war, Mr. Adams
responded in the negative in a voice unusually clear, and with more than
ordinary emphasis. After the speaker had risen to put another ques-
tion to the house, a sudden cry was heard on the left of the chair,
" Mr. Adams is dying ! " Turning their eyes to the spot, the mem-
bers beheld the venerable man in the act of falling over the left
arm of his chair, while his right arm Avas extended, grasping his desk
for support. He would have dropped upon the floor, had he not been
caught in the arms of the member sitting next to him. A great sensa-
tion was created in the house ; members from all quarters rushing
from their seats, and gathering round the fallen statesman, who was
immediately lifted into the area in front of the clerk's table. The
speaker instantly suggested that some gentleman move an adjourn-
ment, which being promptly done, the house adjourned. A sofa
was brought, and Mr. Adams, in a state of perfect helplessness,
though not of entire insensibility, Avas gently laid upon it. The sofa
was then taken up and borne out of the hall into the rotunda, where it
was set down ; and the members of both houses, and strangers who
were fast crowding around, were with some difficulty repressed, and an
open space cleared in its immediate vicinity ;' but a medical gentleman,
a member of the house, advised that he be removed to the door of the
rotunda, opening on the east portico, where a fresh wind was blowing.
This was done ; but, the air being chilly and loaded with vapor, the
sofa was, at the suggestion of Mr. Winthrop, once more t;\ken up and
removed to the speaker's apartment, the doors of which were forthwith
closed to all but professional gentlemen and particular friends. While
lying in this apartment, Mr. Adams partially recovered the use of his
speech, and observed, in faltering accents, "This is the end of earth;"
but quickly added, " I am cortiposed." Members had by this time
reached Mr. Adams' abode with the melancholy intelligence, and soon
after, Mrs. Adams and his nephew and niece arrived, and made their
way to the appaUing scene. Mrs. Adams was deeply affected, and for
some moments quite prostrated, by the sight of her husband, now
insensible, the pallor of death upon his countenance, and those sad pre-
248 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
monitories fast making their appearance •whicli fall with such a chill
upon the heart.
Mr. Adams, after having been removed to the apartment of Speaker
Winthrop, sank into a state of apparent insensibility, and expired at a
quarter past seven o'clock, on the evening of Feb. 23, 1848.
JOHN PHILLIPS.
JULY 4, 1794. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
This production bears the finest marks of intellectual vigor and cor-
rect principles ; and so well was it received, that extracts from it were
for a long time going the rounds in the newspapers of the day, and
some of these passages have a permanent place in our school-books, as
models for our youth. We will glean a passage : "The effects of
the event we this day commemorate were not confined to our own
country, but soon extended across the Atlantic. The prospect of
humbling a powerful rival induced an arbitrary prince to aid the
American cause with numerous armies and powerful fleets, exhibiting
the paradoxical appearance of slavery fighting the battles of freedom.
The subjects of despotism soon imbibed the principles they were
employed to defend, and caught the ardor which flamed in the Amer-
ican bosom. Surrounding circumstances led to reflections highly unfa-
vorable to their own situation. They perceived the tree of liberty
profusely watered with their blood ; its foliage spreading, yet yielding
them no shelter ; its fruit blooming and mellowing in luxuriance, yet
denied the dehcious taste, it excited no passion but despair. When
the mandate of their sovereign summoned them to their native shoi-es,
a deeper horror seemed to shade the darkness of despotism. They
beheld, with mingled grief and indignation, a people in the most fertile
country of Europe, amid the profusion of the bounties of nature,
obliged to live on the gleanings of their own industry. The scanty pit-
tance, saved from the exactions of arbitrary power, yielded by igno-
rance and superstition, to satisfy the boundless demands of a rapacious
clergy. A kingdom converted to a Bastile, in which the mind was
imprisoned by a triple impenetrable wall of ignorance, superstition,
and despotism. The fervid spirit which glowed within them soon per-
I
JOHN PHILLIPS. 249
vaded their country, and threatened destruction to their government.
On the first favoraJjle contingency, the enthusiastic energies of reviving
Freedom burst the cerements -which had confined it for two thousand
years, and the Gothic fabric of feudal absurdity, -with all its pompous
pageants, colossal pillars and prescriptive buhvarks, the vrondcr and
veneration of ages, was instantly levelled with the dust.
"An astonished world viewed with awful admiration the stupendous
wreck. They beheld, with pleasing exultation, the fair fobric of
Freedom rising in simple proportion and majestic grace upon the mighty
ruin. The gloomy horrors of despotism fled before the splendid efful-
gence of the sun of hberty. The potent rays of science pierced the
mist of ignorance and error, ' republican visions were realized, and the
reign of reason appeared to commence its splendid progress.' But the
■whirlwind of discord threatened to raze the fabric from its foundation.
The lowering clouds of contention hung around, and darkened the
horizon. Fayette, the apostle of liberty, w"as abandoned by the people
whom he saved, and became a victim to despotic cruelty and coward-
ice. The damp, poisonous exhalations of a gloomy dungeon now
encircle and chill that bosom, whose philanthropy was coextensive with
the universe, whose patriotism no power could extinguish, no dan-
gers appal. But, illuminated by the rectitude of thy heart and the
magnanimity of thy virtue, the trickling dews of thy prison- walls shall
sjaarkle with more enviable lustre than the most luminous diadem that
glitters on the brow of the haughtiest emperor." The apostrophe to
Lafliyette was uttered at the precise time when the patriot was lan-
guishing in the dungeon of Olmutz.
John Phillips, a son of William Phillips and ^Margaret, a daughter
of Jacob Wendell, was born in Boston, Nov. 26, 1770. His mother
■was a lady of fervent piety ; and Rev. Dr. Palfrey relates that her son
informed him that his mother, at the last interview when she was able
to sustain a connected conversation, on the occasion of an assurance from
him that her directions should be strictly fulfilled after her death,
raised herself, and, addressing him in a manner of the most emphatic
solemnity, she charged him to remember then the many official oaths
he had taken. His birthplace was on the ancient Phillips estate, now
known as No. 39 Washington-street, where his widowed mother kept
a dry-goods shop for many years.
When seven years of age, he entered Phillips' Academy, at Ando-
ver, founded by his relatives, where he received instruction, residing
250 THE HUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
in the family of Lieut. Gov. Samuel Phillips, until he entered Harvard
College in 1784. After his graduation, Avhen he gave the salutatory
oration, he read law with Judge Dawes, the successor of Oliver Wen-
dell, in Suifolk Probate. On being of age, he was admitted to practice
in the Suffolk bar, and in 1794 married Sally, daughter of Thomas
Walley, a merchant and selectman of Boston.
In the year 1800, says Knapp, the population of Boston had so
much increased that it was found necessary to petition the Legisla-
ture to establish a Municipal Court of criminal jurisdiction for the
county of Suffolk. The Supreme Judicial Court, and the Common
Pleas, had become burdened by the numerous entries on the criminal
side of the docket; and parties in civil actions suffered tedious
delays, while the courts were engaged in jail delivery. The Muni-
cipal Court was estabhshed in 1800, and George Richards Minot
became its first judge, and John Phillips Avas selected as a public pros-
ecutor, to vindicate the majesty of the laws. He was annually elected
town advocate for this purpose, until he was succeeded by Peter 0.
Thacher. Li 1803 he Avas elected a representative, and in 1804 he
was sent to the Senate, which station he occupied for twenty years, and
was president of this body for ten years. In 1809 he became a judge
of the Court of Common Pleas, until that court was abolished for
another on a new model. In 1820 Mr. Phillips was elected to the
convention for revising the constitution of the State, where he dis-
played great wisdom and playful humor. In remarks on the third
article of the bill of rights, on which there was great diversity of opin-
ion, he urged its indefinite postponement, saying it was well to remem-
ber the adage. When you know not what to do, take care not to do you
know not what. He hoped they should not resemble the man who had
the epitaph on his tombstone, "I was Avell; I would be better, and
here I am."
In 1812 Mr. Phillips was elected a member of the corporation of
Harvard College, which station he filled until his decease, and was
frequently moderator of the town-meetings of the old town of
Boston.
Mr. Phillips was chairman of the committee of twelve who reported
a city charter, which was adopted by the town on January 1, 1822.
One attempt having been made to elect a mayor, without success, Mr.
Phillips Avas solicited to stand as candidate, in order to effect a union ;
and he received nearly a unanimous vote. He was inaugurated,
JOHN PHILLIPS 251
Ma}'- 1. 1822. A powerful minority of the citizens decidcdlj preferred
the patriarchal system of the selectmen. Others decidedly advocated
reform and energetic measures. In acting out the principles of the
charter, Mayor Phillips was kind, conciliatory, and conservative.
Such was the general confidence at the time in his taste and judgment,
that he could have taken what direction he preferred in regard to the
mode in which the mayor should in future bear the forms of office.
Some were for display and pomp. Mr. Phillips preferred republican
simplicity, and probably, by his example, we are saved the trappings
of a lord mayor's day, or any profuseness at an annual organization of
the city authorities. Mayor Quincy, his successor, said, '-The first
administration have laid the foundation of the prosperity of our city
deep, and on right principles ; and whatever success may attend those
who come after them, they will be largely indebted for it to the wisdom
and fidelity of their predecessors." The course of his control over the
city government was unruffled as Lake Ontario on a calm, sunny day,
and a striking contrast to the measures of his successor, whose opera-
tions, like the rushings of the resistless Niagara, in its vicinity, washed
away the old landmarks, when Boston lost its identity as a town.
As a speaker, Mr. Phillips was clear, forcible, conciliatory and
judicious. His voice was strong, Avithout harshness, and his words
flowed without any great effort. If he never gave any striking speci-
men of eloquence, he certainly never mortified his friends by a failure
in debate, so often the misfortune amongst those who sometimes reach
the sublime. He was not unfrequently, in the course of a week, called
to make speeches before several different bodies of men, on various
subjects, — political, educational, commercial, financial or philanthropic,
— and at all times he was listened to with profound attention and
pleasure ; and probably no cotemporary of any standing, in a moment
of rivalry, could say to him, " My advice is as often followed as yours,
and the influence you have I have also."
Mayor Phillips was of the common height in stature. His face was
oval, with expressive eyes, and his checks were of a very ruddy hue ;
with partially gray hair, like a half-powdered dressing, and very neat
attire. His appearance as president of the Senate, or at the meetings of
the municipal authorities, was manly and dignified. In his countenance
there was a peculiar calmness, indicative of that purity of heart for
which he was greatly distinguished. Indeed, from the decease of hij
excellent mother, there was more than a commonly serious train of
252 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
tliouo;ht in his letters and conversation ; and it is not sinnjular that the
last impressions of a man should be religious, who learned to pray as
he learned his alphabet, in his mother's arms, and, at school, was as
careful to commit his biblical lesson as to retain his classical studies.
He presided in the Senate on the day previous to his death, and was a
spectator at the delivery of the election sermon at the Old South
Church. In the course of the succeeding night he became so unwell
as to require the attendance of a physician, and in the morning he for
a short time appeared relieved, but, on a relapse of spasms, occasioned
by an ossification of the heart, at nine o'clock in the morning he
expired. May 29, 1823. The clamorous notes of fame, breathed over
the conqueror's bier, have no music in them, without the conception of
indestructible virtue in his mind, as it shone in Phillips.
The ancestor of the Phillips family of New England was Rev.
George Phillips, of Raymond, Norfolk county. Old England, who came
to America in 1630, and was the first minister of Watertown. The
children of Mayor Phillips were Thomas Walley, H. C. 1814 ; George
W., H. C. 1829; Wendell, H. C. 1831, ever active in the cause of
humanity, a graceful speaker and fine classical scholar ; Grenville
Tudor, II. C. 1836; John C, H. C. 1826, in the ministry; Sarah
H., married Alonzo Gray, of Brookline; INIargaret W., married Dr.
Edward Reynolds, of Boston ; Miriam, married Rev. Dr. Elagden, of
the Old South Church. The eldest son was for many years clerk of
S-uffolk Municipal Court. It were glory enough to have had such a
family, and lived in the shades of retirement, without being in elevated
public stations. Blessings on the memory of the first mayor of Boston !
Mr. Otis, a successor, said of him, that " his aim Avas to allure, and
not to repel ; to reconcile by gentle reform, not to revolt by startling
innovation, — so that, while he led us into a new and fairer creation,
we felt ourselves surrounded by the scenes and comforts of home."
" His hand and heart both open and both free.
For what he has he gives, — what thinks, he shows ;
Yet gives he not till judgment guides his bounty
, Nor dignifies an impure thought with breath."
GEORGE BLAKE. 253
GEORGE BLAKE.
JULY 4, 1795. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES,
The impassioned and declamatory oration of Mr. Blake is strongly
evincive of the zeal of a youtliful politician : " The "^'hole continent of
America, according to ministerial calculations, was destined to become
a mere appendage to the patrimonial inheritance of George the Third ;
and the people of America, like the dragon of Hesperidcs, -would have
been allowed the honor to cherish and protect the fruit of \Yhich they
were refused the power to participate. A project so infernal in its
design, at the same time so uncertain in its event, could have been
generated but by a ministry in the very dotage of wickedness, approved
but by a monarch in leading-strings, and seconded only by the
unthinking automatons who never move or act but from the impulse of
their sovereign. In justice, however, to the more rational part of tliat
deluded people, we shall not forget the feeling remonstrances which
were poured forth by the purer spirits of the kingdom. But in vain !
In vain did a Chatham, and a Camden, like the oracles of old, foresee
and pronounce the fatal issue that awaited the measures of their gov-
ernment." Again Mr. Blake says, " Parhament, by their usual sanc-
tity of pretension, could no longer conceal the malignity of their
designs. That secret cabinet of iniquity was now thrown open, and,
behold ! like the den of the Cyclops, it exhibited a group of demons
busied in forging engines of destruction, — in fabricating chains, dag-
gers, and fetters, to enslave or destroy her devoted colonies."
George Blake was a descendant of William Blake, the common
ancestor, who died at Dorchester, Oct. 25, 1663, and bequeathed by
his will funds for keeping a fence or Avail around the burying-ground
in Dorchester, " so y' swine & other vermine may not Anoy y=
graucsofy" saints." George, the subject of this outline, was born at
Hardwick, Mass., 1769, and graduated ot Harvard College in 1789,
when he took part in a conference with Samuel Haven — * ' "Whether
unlimited toleration be prejudicial to the cause of religion." He was a
student at law under Governor Sullivan, and admitted to the bar in
1794. He settled in the practice of law in Boston, when he delivered
the oration at the request of the town. On the same day, Gov.
22
254 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Samuel Adams laid the corner-stone of the State-house in Boston,
who said, "May the principles of our excellent constitution, founded
in nature and in the rights of man, be ably defended here;" and in
the year previous. Gov. Adams said, in Faneuil Hall, at the celebration
of the destruction of the Bastile in Paris, " May the laurel of victory
never wither on the brow of repubhcanisra." Mr. Blake married
Rachel Baty, who died in early life, and he married a second time
Sarah Murdock. On the fourth of February, 1800, Mr. Blake deliv-
ered a eulogy on Washington, for St. John's Lodge. In 1801 he was
appointed the United States District Attorney for Massachusetts, at
which time he was a representative in the State Legislature. Mr.
Blake was a delegate to the Massachusetts State convention for the
revision of the State constitution, in 1820. His speeches on important
topics were frequent, and no man displayed a keener jealousy for the
democracy, or readier adroitness of conception. In his speech on sen-
atorial apportionment, he remarked that he considered the constitution
of this commonwealth the purest and most perfect model of republican
government that ever existed on the face of the globe. There cannot
be found in any State, or in the world, a constitution so free and so
liberal as that of Massachusetts, which we now have, independent of
any amendments which may be proposed. He had been a republican
in the most gloomy times, — it was fashionable to be republican now, —
and he should not be disposed to desert republicanism at such a time.
He said that he had used the other day a very improper figure, Avhen
he called the Senate the rich man's citadel. It was no more the
citadel of the rich than of the poor man. It was the only branch of
the government which was particularly designed for the protection of
property, and the protection was as important for those who have httle
as for those who have much. My. Blake opposed the investiture of
Boston into a city corporation, and also opposed the city charter, as
subversive of democracy. He was the first Democratic candidate for
the mayoralty. In 1829 Mr. Blake resigned his ofiice of District
Attorney, and was again elected to the House, until his advance to the
Senate, in 1833. He was profound in legal acquirement, and his
forensic powers were of a high order. His control over the jury was
often irresistible. The proj^riety and elegance of his diction, and his
fervor in debate, excited admiration. He was an active leader of the
Democratic party, and a frequent contributor to the Worcester
National ^gis, edited by his brother, Francis Blake, and a decided
JOHN LATIIROP, JR. 255
advocate of the measures of Jefferson. His speeches in General Court,
and learned arguments at the bar, were often published. All that
Mr. Blake said was delivered
" in such apt and gracious words
That younger ears played truant at his tale,
And older hearings vrere quite ravished,
So voluble and sweet was his discourse."
He died October 6, 1841.
JOHN LATHROP, JR.
JULY i, 179G. FOR THE TOWX AUTHORITIES.
In the nervous and patriotic performance of our orator, we have
this happy exordium : " It is now acknoNvledged as a fact in political
biography, that Liberty descended from heaven on the 4th of July,
1776. We are assembled on this day, the twentieth anniversary of
her advent, to sympathize in those pleasures which none but freemen
can enjoy, to exchange those mutual congratulations which none but
freemen can express.
"The first promulgation of the gospel of liberty was the declaration
of American independence. Her apostles, the venerable Congress,
whose mode of evangchzing made many a Felix tremble, scaled the
doom and issued the death-warrant of despotism. The measure of
her iniquity was filled up. The decree was gone forth, and Amer-
icans were elected by God to redeem from bondage the miserable
victims of arbitrary power. But it would have been of no avail for
them to publish to the enslaved the beauties of freedom, describe her
charms, and urge the duty of possessing her, while they themselves
were declared, by an act of the British legislature, liable to be bounden
by the will and laws of that overbearing kingdom, ' in all cases what-
soever.' They disdained an inconsistency of character, — they pre-
sented the world with a glorious example, by effecting their own
emancipation. Yes, my fellow-countrymen ! you indignantly refused
a base submission to the usurpation of Great Britain — to the imposi-
tions of her Parhament, and the insolence of her mini5tr3^ After
opposing reasoning and argument to her absurd pretensions, and digni-
256 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OEATORS.
fied remonstrance to her unjustifiable encroachments, the solemn appeal
•was made to Heaven, — the sword was drawn, and the once inseparable
tie of connection between the two countries severed in twain. The
mighty blow resounded through the universe. The nations of the
earth were astonished, dumb with surprise, or trembling with appre-
hension. The deep-rooted thrones of aged monarchies were shaken to
their centres. The Bastiles of tyranny, riven by the shock, reluctantly
admitted the rays of hope to gladden the desponding hearts of their
wretched tenants, and opened to their view a distant prospect of
scenes illumined with Liberty's full and perfect day."
John Lathrop was born in Boston, January, 1772. His father was
pastor of the New Brick Church, of which Pemberton had been
the minister. Owino- to differences in the church, which ori^iinated
the New North Church, when Rev. Peter Thacher was its first
pastor, the New Brick Society elevated the figure of a cock, as a vane,
upon the steeple, out of derision to Mr. Thacher, whose Christian
name was Peter, says Eliot, and, taking advantage of a north wind,
which turned the head of the cock towards the New North Church,
when it was placed upon the spindle, a merry fellow sat astride over
it, and crowed three times, to complete the ceremony. Rev. Dr.
Lathrop was a fervent patriot ; and, on the Sunday after the massacre
in King-street, delivered a sermon, which was printed, entitled "Inno-
cent Blood Crying to God from the Streets of Boston." The subject
of this outline pursued the study of law under Christopher Gore, but
he was soon known more as a poet than a lawyer, as his poetry
appeared in the journals. Li 1797, after the delivery of the oration
at the head of this article, he removed to Dedham, and became clerk
of Norfolk courts, but soon returned to Boston, where he became an
intimate with Paine and Prentiss, the poets.
In 1799 he made a voyage to Calcutta, where he hoped the patron-
age of the Marquis of Wellesley. In the ardor of his zeal for
instructing the rising generation of Calcutta, Mr. Lathrop presented to
the Marquis of "Wellesley, then governor-general, a plan of an insti-
tution at Avhich the youths of India might receive an education, patron-
ized by government, without going to England for that purpose. In
an interview with his lordship, ]Mr. Lathrop urged with great eloquence
the advantages of such a plan ; but his lordslnp decidedly opposed
him, remarking, with vehemence, "No, no, sir; India is, and ever
ought to be, a colony of Great Britain ; the seeds of independence
JOHN CALLENDER. 257
must not be sown here. Establishing a seminary in New England at
so earl J a period of time hastened your revolution half a century."
He established a school for the instruction of youth, and became a
writer for the Calcutta Post ; and, after a ten years' residence, returned
to his country. His first wife Avas daughter of Joseph Peirce, Esq.,
whom he married in 1793; and he married a second time. — Miss
Bell, of Calcutta. His woi'k on the manners and customs of India
was never published. On his return to Boston, he taught a school,
delivered lectures on natural philosophy, published songs and orations,
and contributed to the public journals. He published a school-book
on the use of globes. He soon removed to "Washington, where, and at
Georgetown in the vicinity, he practised as an instructor, lecturer, and
writer in the newspapers. He obtained a situation in the post-office,
and died Jan. 30, 1820, a victim of sensibility, and a son of frailties
and misfortune.
Lathrop's best poem was the " Speech of Canonicus." In 1813 he
delivered the first anniversary discourse for the Associate Instructors
of Youth in Boston ; in 1798, an oration for 4th of July, at Dedham ;
a Masonic address at Charlesto^Mi, in 1811, and a Monody on John L.
Abbot, in 1815. When he graduated at college, in 1789, he delivered
a poem on the Influence of Civil Institutions on the Social and Moral
Faculties. Lathrop once closed an ode as follows :
" Ye sainted spirits of the just,
Departed friends, we raise our eyes
From humbler scenes of mouldering dust.
To brighter mansions in the skies, —
Where Faith and Hope, their trials past.
Shall smile in endless joy secure.
And Charity's blest reign shall last
While heaven's eternal courts endure."
JOHN CALLENDER.
JULY 4, 1797. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
John Callender was born at Boston, Feb. 4, 1772, and son of
Capt. Eleazar Callender, who married Elizabeth, sister of Gov. Gore
22*
258 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Nov. 23. 1768. He entered the Latin School in 1779, and graduated
at Harvard College in 1790. His topic at commencement was an ora-
tion, in French, on the revolution in France. He was an attorney-
at-law, and married Catharine Templeman, of Georgetown, Md.,
Nov. 23, 1794 ; Avas lieutenant of the Boston Light Infantry, on its
institution, in 1798 ; was a representative in the State Legislature,
secretary of Massachusetts Society of Cincinnati, and clerk of the
Supreme Judicial Court. He died in Boston, Nov. 21, 1833.
In the oration of Mr. Callender it is remarked ' ' that our Revolution
was so little disgraced by cruelty and injustice, much is due to the exer-
tions of our clergy; and it is with pride I here offer my humble tribute
of applause to that devout and learned profession. The holy precepts
of our religion which they inculcated, and the bright examples of virtue
which they exhibited, gave them a great and merited influence with
the people. To their eternal honor be it recorded, that influence,
exerted on the side of liberty and humanity, in a great measure
restrained those wild excesses which have too frequently blasted in the
execution a cause designed by the noblest motives of the human mind."
JOSIAH QUINCY.
JULY i, 1T98. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Our orator remarks, with nervous vigor : '• The factious spirits
whose intrigues have produced such losses and distress to the United
States, and forced our federated stars from the pathway of peace and
heaven, are servile copyists of those ancient enemies of colonial inde-
pendence. They have neither the claim of originals, the merit of
ingenuity, or the charm of novelty. It is not a mere general resem-
blance ; it is the old piece in a new position, — the same in character
and attitude, in expression and passion, in drapery and design. The
tories and royalists of old time, compared with the true friends of Amer-
ica, were a small and weak party, unable to acquire the confidence of
the people. AmJjition which cannot be gratified by honorable means
has a sure resource in intrigue. Their invitations stimulated and
encouraged aggression. They marked out the plan for our enemies.
JOSIAH QUINCY. 259
Divide and conquer. Insert your influence amid the parties of the
State. Corrupt tlie avaricious, frighten the "weak, vilify virtue, turn
talents to ridicule, weaken the obligations of morality, destroy the
influence of religion, make men worthy to be slaves, and they will sue
for fetters. How minutely the oi^ponents of the will of the people
have adhered to these principles in our day, is too obvious to remark.
We shall find the likeness not less striking, if, keeping our own times
in view, we call to recollection the arts by wliich the tories and royal-
ists formerly played this eternal game of tyranny. To encourage and
unite the inhabitants of the Old World, they everywhere proclaimed us
a divided people : that, embarked in a common cause, we refused to
bear our share of expense ; that, reared under their wing, in our strength,
we were unmindful of our patrons. In America different changes were
rung. They attempted to set at variance the southern and northern
colonics ; to make the orders of State contend ; to render the poor sus-
picious of the rich, — the rich fearful of the poor. They told the people
of fleets and armies ; of the power of the adversary, and their weak-
ness. The arms and victories of a nation, then styled terrible to her
enemies and generous to her friends, were painted in colors best suited
to alarm. The sin, the crying sin, of ingratitude to a nation who had
fou2;ht our battles, the bones of whose warriors were mingled in the
same plains v.'ith ours, was blazoned in terms designed to make us
odious and contemptible at home and abroad. Every man of talent
and virtue was designated as an object of the most atrocious slander.
Our clergy, — God ever preserve to them the glorious prerogative ! —
calumniated by the enemies of their country. Our patriots, loaded with
every insult which abandoned minds could invent : — Otis, the spirited
and elegant statesman ; Mayhew, the man of wit, learning, and piety ;
Adams, the equal pride of past and present times."
Josiah Quincy was the son of Josiah Quincy, Jr., and Abigail Phil-
lips, who were married October, 17G9. The memory of his father
will be ever dear in the records of patriotism, for his dignified defence
of the British soldiers, and his manly arguments on the Boston Port
Bill. Previous to his death, which occurred April 26, 1775, just as
he reached within sight of Cape Ann, in his beloved country, Avhcn on
his return from a visit to London for his health, Mr. Quincy says, in
his will, " I give to my son, Avhen he shall arrive to the age of fifteen
years, Algernon Sidney's works, John Locke's works. Lord Bacon's
works, Gordon's Tacitus, and Cato's Letters. May the spirit of hberty
260 TUE IIL'NDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
rest upon him ! " This only son, Josiah, was born at Boston, Feb. 4,
1772, on the Callender estate, now 166 Washington-street, then Marl-
boro'-street ; and, by the Old South records, he was baptized Feb. 16,
1772. It is said that his father was the first Boston lawyer who put
up a sign-board over his office-door. Many of his nearest connec-
tions were dispersed by the siege of Boston. His mother had been
detained in the town by the dangerous illness of both their children.
His only sister died April 13, 1775. After this event, his mother, with
her only surviving child, sought the protection of her parents, at their
place of refuge at Norwich, in Connecticut. Young Josiah was prepared
for college at Phillips' Academy, in Andover, an institution established
by a relative in 1778. He graduated at Harvard College in 1790,
when he gave an English oration on the Ideal Superiority of the Present
Age in Literature and Politics ; engaged in legal studies under Hon.
Judge Tudor ; was early admitted to the bar, and married Eliza Susan,
daughter of John Morton, Esq., merchant and banker, of New Yoi'k, June,
1797. He delivered the Phi Beta Kappa oration at Cambridge, in 1791.
In 1796 Mr. Quincy became a member of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, and AA'as its treasurer from 1803 to 1820. He was president
of the Boston Athenreum from 1820 to 1830, and author of its History
and Biography of its Founders, published in 1851. Mr. Quincy was
in 1804 elected to the State Senate ; a representative in Congress
from the year 1805 to 1813, and consequently present at the creation
of commercial restrictions, embargo, and war. Naturally impetuous
from his earliest youth, indiscretion often marked his career ; but his
ingenuous heart always guided him to retract his rashness. He was
ever fearless, and of fervent eloquence. His speeches are among the
best specimens of the spirit of the times. His admirable minority
address in Congress is imperishable. As an indication of the playful
wit of Mr. Quincy, we find in the diary of his pastor, Rev. Joseph S.
Buckminster, this record under date September, 1805 : " President
Nott preached in Brattle-street Church ; the fullest audience ever
known there, except on ordination-day. Epigram made on by Josiah
Quincy.
' Deliglit and instruction have people, I wot,
Who in seeing not see, and in hearing hear not.' "
Mr. Quincy was major of the Boston Hussars, on its institution, in
1810, and continued its commander until 1816. It was the most
superb troop of horse ever known in the town.
JOSIAII QUINCY. 261
Durino; the discussion in Conj^ress on the war with Great Britain, Mr.
Quincy suffered himself at times to be so passionately inflamed with
opposition to the Democratic members, as to forget, in the warm excite-
ment, the pure feeling of decorum and dignified respect so important
to their elevated station ; and the poignancy of his grief, after impetu-
ously pouring out syich figures as follow, far overbalanced the moment-
ary pleasure of hurling around bitter invectives. lie described them,
it is said, as "young politicians, with the pin-feathers yet unshed, and
the shell sticking upon them, — perfectly unfledged, — though they
fluttered and cackled upon the floor of Congress ; bloodhound mongrels,
who Avere kept in pay to hunt down all that opposed the court ; a pack
of mangy dogs of recent importation, their backs still sore with the
stripes of European castigation, and their necks marked Avith the
check-collar." At another time he described them as " fawning syc-
ophants, reptiles who crawled at the feet of the president, and left
their filthy slime upon the carpet of the palace."
Henry Clay, then the champion of the Democratic party, repelled
the rude severity of Josiali Quincy with great eflect, remarking of Jef-
ferson, that "he is not more elevated by his lofty residence upon the
summit of his own favorite mountain, than he is lifted by the serenity
of his mind, and the consciousness of a well-spent life, above the
malignant passions and bitter feelings of the day. No ! his own
beloved Monticello is not less moved by the storms that beat against
its sides, than is this illustrious luan by the whole British pack, set
loose from the Essex kennel ! When the gentleman to whom I have
been compelled to allude shall have mingled his dust with that of his
abused ancestors, — when he shall have been consigned to oblivion, or,
if he lives at all, shall live only in the treasonable annals of a certain
junto, — the name of Jefferson will be hailed with gratitude, his mem-
ory honored and cherished as the' second founder of the liberties of
the people, and the period of his administration will be looked back to
as one of the happiest and brightest epochs of American history — an
oasis in the midst of a sandy desert. But I beg the gentleman's
pardon ; he has, indeed, secured to himself a more imperishable fame
than I had supposed. I think it was about four years ago that he
submitted to the House of Representatives an instructive proposition
for an impeachment of Mr. Jcfl'erson. The house condescended to
consider it. The gentleman debated it with his usual temper, moder-
ation, and urbanity. The house decided upon it in the most solemn
262 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATOKS.
manner, and, although the gentleman had somewhere obtained a
second, the final vote stood, one for, and one hundred and seventeen
against, the proposition ! The same historic page that transmitted to
posterity the virtue and the glory of Henry the -Great, of France, for
their admiration and example, has preserved the infamous name of the
frantic assassin of that excellent monarch ! "
In the speech of Mr. Quincy on the proposal to revive and enforce
the non-intercourse law against Great Britain, wherein he argues that
it is not fiscal, nor protective of manufactures, nor competent to coerce,
nor the product of any prospective intelligence, but the result of
chaotic opinions, he remarked that "they Avho introduced it abjured
it. They who advocated it did not wish, and scarcely knew, its nse.
And now that it is said to be extended over us, no man in this nation,
Avho A'alues his reputation, will take his Bible oath that it is in efiectual
and legal operation. There is an old riddle, on a cofiin," said Mr.
Quincy, " which I presume we all learnt when we were boys, that is
as perfect a representation of the origin, progress, and present state of
this thing called non-intercourse, as is possible to be conceived :
' There vras a man bespoke a thing,
Which, ^Then the maker home did bring,
That same maker did refuse it, —
The man that spoke for it did not use it, —
And he who had it did not know
Whether he had it, yea or no.'
True it is, that if this non-intercourse shall ever be, in reality, sub-
tended over us, the similitude will fail, in a material point. The poor
tenant of the coffin is ignorant of his state. But the poor people of
the United States will be literally buried alive in non-intercourse, and
realize the grave closing on themselves and their hopes, with a full
and cruel consciousness of all the horrors of their condition."
Our rustic bard, Dinsmore, says :
" Non-intercourse ! the thing is hollow, —
A measure causeless, vague, and shallow !
The heads who formed it sure were mellow ! "
We find the following bold figure in Mr. Quincy's speech on the
necessity of repealing the embargo law: "An embargo liberty was
never cradled in Massachusetts. Our liberty was not so much a
JOSIAH QUIXCT. 263
mountain, as a sea-nymph. She -was free as air. She could s\\im,
or she could run. The ocean -was her cradle. Our fathers met lier
as she came, like the goddess of beautjr, from the Avaves. They
caught her as she "was sporting on the beach. They courted her
whilst she Avas spreading her nets upon the rocks. But an embargo
liberty, a handcuffed liberty, a liberty in fetters, a liberty traversing
between the four sides of a prison, and beating her head against the
Avails, is none of our offspring. AVe abjure the monster. Its parent-
age is all inland."
When the exciting question of the admission of Louisiana into the
Union Avas agitated, Mr. Quincy used strong language against it,
remarking, "I am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opinion,
that, if this bill passes, the bonds of this Union are A'irtually dissolved ;
that the States AA'hich compose it are free from their mox'al obligations,
and that, as it aauII be the right of all, so it Avill be the duty of some,
to prepare definitely for a separation, — amicably if they can, A'iolently
if they must." Language like this excited the severe rebuke of Mr.
Poindexter, of Mississippi, Avho said : " Lifluenced by a desire to stamp
on these expressions their merited disgrace, and to preserve dignity and
decorum in our delibei-ations, I feel it my duty to call the gentleman
to order. These sacred A\'alls ought not to be polluted by direct invi-
tations to rebellion." Li allusion to Aaron Burr, Mr. Poindexter
said, that, had he used such expressions, " instead of exile, he Avould
have been consigned to a gibbet ; and his fate ought to be a Avarning
against treasonable machinations." Mr. Quincy promptly replied to
Mr. Poindexter, that, on the adoption of the constitution, it Avas agreed,
in the treaty-making poAver, that old States Avithin the ancient limits
could not be sold from us ; " and I maintain," said he, "that by it
new States, without the ancient limits, cannot be saddled upon us. It
was agreed at that time that the treaty-making power could not cut off
a limb. And I maintain that neither has it the competency to clap a
hump upon our shoulders." In relation to the moral and political con-
sequences of usurping this jWAver, said Mr, Quincy, " I have said that
it Avould be a virtual dissolution of the Union ; and gentlemen express
great sensibility at the expression. But the true source of terror is
not the declaration I have made, but the deed you propose. With
respect to this love of our Union, I have no fear about analyzing its
nature. There is in it nothing of mystery. It depends upon the
qualities of that Union, and it results from its effects upon our and ovu'
264 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
country's happiness. It is valuable for 'that sober certainty of
waking bliss ' which it enables us to realize. It grows out of the
affections, and has not, and cannot be made to have, anything universal
in its nature. Sir, I confess it, the first public love of my heart is
the commonwealth of Massachusetts. There is my fireside, there are
the tombs of my ancestors :
' Low lies that land, yet blest with fruitful stores ;
Strong are her sons, though rocky are her shores ;
And none, ah ! none so lovely to my sight.
Of all the lands which heaven o'erspi'eads with light.'
The love of the Union grows out of this attachment to my native soil,
and is rooted in it. I cherish it because it affords the best external
hope of her peace. I oppose this bill from no animosity to the people
of New Orleans, but from the deep conviction that it contains a prin-
ciple incompatible with the liberties and safety of my country. I have
no concealment of my opinion. The bill, if it passes, is a death-blow
to the constitution. It may afterwards linger, but, hngering, its fate
will at no very distant period be consummated."
The speech of Josiah Quincy in Congress, January 1, 1811, on the
influence of place and imtronage, was one of his most successful efforts ;
and John Quincy Adams exclaimed, after its ctehvery, " It ought to be
hung up in every office of every office-holder in the Union." We will
cite two passages from this effective, patriotic speech :
"Is there on this earth any collection of men, in which exists a
more intrinsic, hearty, and desperate love of office or place, particularly
of fat places 7 Is there any country more infested than this with the
vermin that breed in the corruptions of power 1 Is there any in Avhich
place and official emolument more certainly follow distinguished ser-
vility at elections, or base scurrility in the press 7 And as to eager-
ness for the reward, what is the fact 7 Let, now, one of your great
office-holders — a collector of the customs, a marshal, a commissioner
of loans, a post-master in one of your cities, or any officer, agent, or
factor, for your territories, or public lands, or person holding a place
of minor distinction, but of considerable profit — be called upon to pay
the last great debt of nature. The poor man shall hardly be dead, —
he shall not be cold, — long before the corpse is in the coffin, the mail
shall be crowded to repletion with letters, certificates, recommendations
.and representations, and every species of sturdy, sycophantic solicita-
JOSIAH QUINCY. 265
tion, by wliicli obtrusive mendicity seeks charity or imites compassion.
Why, sir, we hear the clamor of the craving animals at the treasury-
trough here in this capitol. Such running, such jostling, such wrig-
ghng, such clambering over one another's backs, such squealing,
because the tub is so narrow and the company so crowded ! No, sir ;
let us not talk of stoical apathy towards the things of the national
treasury, either in this people, or in the representatives, or senators."
Mr. Quincy, in this speech, uttered a prediction which should be
revived previous to every presidential election. " Without meaning,
in this place," says he, " to cast any particular reflections upon this,
or upon any other executive, this I will say, that if no additional
guards are provided, and now, after the spirit of party has brought
into so full activity the spirit of patronage, there never will be a pres-
ident of these United States, elected by means now in use, who, if he
deals honestly with himself, will not be able, on quitting, to address
his presidential chair as John Falstaff addressed Prince Hal : ' Before I
knew thee I knew nothing, and now I am but little better than one of
the wicked.' The possession of that station, under the reign of party,
will make a man so acquainted with the corrupt principles of human
conduct, — he will behold our nature in so hungry and shivering and
craving a state, and be compelled so constantly to observe the solid
rewards daily demanded by way of compensation for outrageous patri-
otism,— that, if he escape out of that atmosphere without partaking
of its corruption, he must be below or above the ordinary condition
of mortal nature. Is it possible, sir, that he should remain altogether
uninfected ] "
Mr. Quincy was an aixlent opponent of the embargo, and the war
with Great Britain ; and, in his oration for the Washington Benevolent
Society, April 30, 1813, — an institution consisting of the Federal
party, — he impugns the motives of our national rulers. " The prin-
ciple of Washington, which lay at the foundation of his glory," says
Quincy, " and was the basis of the blessing of his day, was to introduce
virtue and talent into the conduct of public affairs. The princi[)le of
our present rulers is to introduce tools and instruments. "With these
men, the great rcfuiisite is political subserviency. This single feature is,
alone, sufficient to account for the whole difference of our political con-
dition. For the particular in which that difference consists is, in fact,
the corner-stone of the republican system of government. The theory
of which rests ujion this basis, that, in its result, the virtue and talents
23
266 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of a country sliall preside over its destinies. Whenever this fail, and
attachment to a p rty, or fidelity to a chief, or subserviency to a
cabal. — whenever,' iS was distinctly avowed in the outset of the power
of these men, other 'Considerations than ' honesty, capacity, and fidelity
to the constitution,' ecome the criterions of office and appointment, —
the moral basis of the republic is gone. Its form may, indeed, remain ;
but its vital spirit has fled. The stream of corruption, when once it
begins to flow, in a free country, never retreats to its fountain, nor
does the spring which feeds it ever become dry. At first, it winds its
way in secrecy and silence, attracting to its current only what is light
and hollow, and rotten and feculent ; but soon, gathering boldness in
its course, it advances with an irresistible torrent, and sweeps away
every honor of the field, and every mound of safety.
" Whenever the rulers of a nation become the mere heads of a party,
the last and least consideration with them is the good of the people.
How to secure their power, — how to manage the elections,- — who is
the fittest tool, — who will run the fastest, go the farthest, and hold out
the longest for the least wages of corruption, — are the only inquiries.
To give muscle and durability to their influence is the single end of
their political system. For this, British antipathies are stimulated.
For this, British injuries are magnified. For this. French afTcctions
are cultivated, and French insults and injuries palliated or concealed.
For this, we had restriction. For this, embargo. For this, we have
war. For this, war shall be continued. And if peace come, for this
peace shall be concluded. For unprincipled ambition, in power, effects
not even public good, except from corrupt motives." '
Mr. Quincy was elected to the State Senate, June, 1813, when a
proposition was made for the adoption of resolutions expressive of their
sense of the gallantry and good conduct of Capt. James Lawrence, of
the U. S. sloop-of-war Hornet, and the officers and crew of that ship,
in the destruction of the British ship-of-war Peacock, the preamble
and resolve of Avhich were proposed by Hon. Josiah Quincy. As this
resolve is a political curiosity, expressive of the sentiment of the Legis-
lature, and the decided opposition of the author to the existing war, we
will quote the document almost entire : ^
'•Whereas, It has been found that former resolutions of this kind,
passed on similar occasions, relative to other officers engaged in similar
service, have given great discontent to many of the good people of this
commonwealth, it being considered by them as an encouragement and
JOSIAH QUIXCY. 267
excitement to the countenance of the present unjust, unnecessary, and
iniquitous ^var ; and, on this account, the Senate ot Massachusetts have
deemed it their duty to refrain from acting on • ne said proposition.
And Avhereas, this determination of the Senate may, 'VN^ithout explana-
tion, be misconstrued into an intentional slight o Japt. Lawrence, and
a denial of his particular merits, the Senate therefore deem it their
duty to declare that they have a high sense of the naval still and mil-
itary and civil virtues of Capt. James Lawrence ; and they have been
■withheld from acting on said proposition solely from considerations
relative to the nature and principle of the present war : and, to the end
that all misapprehension on this subject may be obviated, Resolved,
as the sense of the Senate of Massachusetts, that, in a war like the
present, waged Avithout justifiable cause, and prosecuted in a manner
which indicates that conquest and ambition are its real motives, it is not
becoming a moral and religious people to express any approbation of
military or naval exploits which are not immediately connected with
the defence of our sea-coast and soil." On Feb. 10, 1814, Mr. Holmes
moved that this resolution be erased from the journal of the Senate ;
on which it was decided in the negative, by twenty-one nays to eight
yeas. In the administration of Gov. Eustis, on the motion of Hon.
Seth Sprague, Jan. 23, 1824, it was voted that the preamble and reso-
lution be expunged, as it Avas predicated upon an erroneous estimate
of the nature and character of the late war, and involves and asserts
principles unsound in policy, and dangerous and alarming in tendency.
It is related in Russell's Centinel, that on Jan. 2G, 1814, after a
speech from Hon. John Holmes, warmly advocating the war with Great
Britain, which closed at seven o'clock in the evening, the Hon. Mr.
Quincy rose and entered on a full exposition of the measures of Mas-
sachusetts on the subject ; but, after having spoken about forty min-
utes, in a room crowded to overflowing, and in a hot and close air, he
found his strength fail him, and, fainting, he fell in his chair. The
Senate immediately voted to adjourn ; the windows were thrown open,
and in a short time he Avas recovered. The Chronicle relates of this
incident that Mr. Quincy drank " two tumblers of cold Avater in about
thirty minutes, to extinguish the volcano Avithin his bosom ; and yet,
with all this salutary cooling application, he Avas so far burnt up Avith
ardent passion, that he cried out, ' I am gone,' and fell immediately 1)ack-
wards into his chair. But if this Avas a faint attempt to imitate the Earl
of Chatham, it Avas a poor description of that subUme scene. The Earl
268 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of Chatham rccally expired ; but Josiah Quincy, on the next day, vras
more alert than ever." And Forsyth, of Georgia, said on the floor of
Congress, in allusion to this incident, ascribed to severe illness, that he
who cowers under the falcon eye of an indignant adversary will not
court the fiery glance of angry steel.
This war with Great Britain prompted the philanthropic Noah
Worcester to originate the Massachusetts Peace Society, in 1815, and
Mr. Quincy was one of its earliest members. In 1820 Mr. Quincy deliv-
ered an address for the society, in which he said that Avar establish-
ments are everywhere scions of despotism, which, when engrafted on
republics, always begin by determining the best sap to their own
branch, and never fail to finish by withering every branch exceptino-
their own. Peace societies are the moral armories destined to break in
pieces the sword, the Ipear and the battle-axe, in like manner as the
rays of light and of truth, concentrated by the magic mirror of Cer-
vantes, melted into air and dissipated the dwarfs, the knights, the
giants, the enchanters and battlements, of ancient chivalry.
Mr. Quincy continued a member of the Senate until 1821, and in
the two successive years he was elected to the house, on the last of
which he was chosen speaker. He was a delegate to the convention of
1820, on revising the State constitution. In 1822 he was appointed
judge of the Municipal Court, which he resigned on his election to the
mayoralty of Boston, on the decease of Hon. John Phillips, the first
incumbent of that station.
At one of the political meetings subsequent to the contest between
Mr. Otis and his quondam fi-iend and rival, Josiah Quincy, who Avas
viewed as the most efficient man to effect the great projects in founding
the city, the latter took occasion to account for his success over his
brilliant competitor, on the decease of Phillips, by remarking that the
result was, after all, an indirect compliment to the superior genius of
]Mr. Otis, inasmuch as it demonstrated the conviction, on the part of
their mutual constituents, that to degrade Mr. Otis by such a compar-
atively subordinate office Avould be like makino; a common drao--chain
of a diamond necklace.
Mayor Quincy Avas a more vigorous and energetic director of the
municipal interests of his native city than any of his successors, and
effected most for its advancement and elegance. The establishment of
the House of Industry, the House of Reformation for Juvenile Offend-
ers, the new avenue to the north part of the city by Commercial-
JOSIAH QUIXCY. 2G9
street, and the Quincy Market-house, standing between two very
broad streets, are alone monuments of his taste and enterprise. He
transformed, as it were by enchantment, the antiquated town of Boston
into the most elegant city of the United States. At daylight. Mayor
Quincy mounted his horse, and traversed the streets and lanes of the
city, reforming abuses, devising improvements, and performing the
duties of a vigilant police-officer. He was founder of the noble fire
department, in 1827. Our city exhibits traces of his efficiency never
to be obliterated.
We cannot resist here introducing an effective allusion to the Quincy
Market-house. At the annual festival for the public schools of Bos-
ton, in Faneuil Hall, August 1826, and on the completion of the
granite market-house, the Hon. Judge Story, being present, volunteered
the sentiment herewith : " May the fame of our honored mayor prove
as durable as the material of which the beautiful market-house is con-
structed." On which, quick as light, Mayor Quincy responded as fol-
lows : " That stupendous monument of the wisdom of our forefathers,
the Supreme Court of the United States : In the event of a vacancy,
may it be raised one Story higher; " which was received with raptur-
ous applause. At the public dinner of the Phi Beta Kappa Society,
after the institution of the Story Association, INIr. Quincy gave this
sentiment : " The Members of the Bar : Let them rise as high as they
may, they can never rise higher than 07ie Story." We will relate an
incident to illustrate the opinion of Mr. Otis, his successor, in regard to
his character for energy of action. On the occasion when Mayor Otis
was inspecting the excavation of earth, "where the gravestone of Wil-
liam Paddy and human bones were discovered," Mr. Quincy, who was
present, remarked to Mr. Otis that, in the whole of his administration,
he had never been accused of disturl»ing the bones of his ancestors.
On this, Mr. Otis archly replied, "Why, Mr. Quincy, I always sup-
posed you never made any bones of doing anything."
During the early period of the mayoralty of INIr. Quincy. in conse-
quence of the destructive fire in Central and Kilby streets, which
occurred April 8, 1825, when fifty warehouses of our merchants were
destroyed, it w^as resolved by the city authorities, on the 12th of that
date, to eflFect the construction of reservoirs for protection from fire ;
and, on the second of May following, a joint committee on this subject,
of which Mayor Quincy was chairman, recommended also the estab-
lishment of a new fire department, which was organized June 18th of
23*
270 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
that year. On tin's committee was John Parker Rice, Esq., a native
of Princeton, Mass., a resident of Boston since 1818, and a member
of the Common Council from ward No. 10, who proposed to the com-
mittee the consideration of the subject of obtaining a supply of pure,
soft water, for domestic purposes, as well as for security against fire, at
the expense and under the control of the city. INIr. Quincy promptly
expressed the opinion that the Mayor and Aldermen could not bring the
sul)ject before the public, if they wished to retain their official stations,
or their due influence. " But," he added, "if you gentlemen of the
Common Council will take the responsibihty of bringing forward the
subject, it shall receive due attention." On the 16th of May, Mr.
Kice introduced the following order to the notice of the Council, which
•was accepted : " Ordered, that the committee on the subject of protect-
ing the city against fire be instructed to inquire into the practicability,
expense and expediency, of supplying the city with good, wholesome,
soft water, both for the general use of the inhabitants, and for the pur-
pose of extinguishing fire." It is not named on the original record
who presented this order ; but the Boston Daily Advertiser of that date
states that it was adopted on the motion of John P. Rice, who confirms
the fact also himself, and further states that the report of the commit-
tee on the subject of protecting the city against fire was made and
accepted at this meeting : and their duties havino; thus been brousfht
to a close, a new committee was appointed on the subject of introducing
water, and the order was made to conform accordingly. Moreover, it was
the opinion of Mr. Rice that Spot Pond was a source that could be ren-
dered and kept more pure, under the control of the city authorities,
than any other source. At a meeting of the Council, on June 9th fol-
lowing, it was resolved, on the report of this committee on the subject,
that "the Mayor and Aldermen be empowered to cause a survey of
suitable points for this object." In the mean time, Mr. Quincy had
decided to forward the enterprise; and Mr. Daniel Tread well was
appointed to make a survey, who reported to the city Council, Nov.
14, 1825, his opinion in favor of Spot Pond, in Stoneham. Mr. Quincy
decidedly advocated the project in his inaugural address, Jan. 2, 1826,
arguing the necessity of '"a sufficient and never-failing supply for our
city of pure river or pond water, which shall be adequate for all pur-
poses of protection against fire, and for all culinary and other domestic
purposes, and capable of being introduced into every house in the city.
I deem it my duty to state, unequivocally, that the object ought never
JOSIAn QUINCT. 271
to bo lost sight of by the city Council, until effected upon a scale pro-
portionate to its convenience and our urgent necessities. If there be
any privilege -which a city ought to reserve exclusively in its own hands,
and under its own control, it is that of supplying itself with water,"
During a period of twenty years this vastly important enterprise was
a subject of warm controversy, until the breaking up of the earth, by
the hands of John Quincy Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr., on the
embankments of Lake Cochituate, Aus;. 20, 1846,
jNIr. Quincy was succeeded by INIr. Otis to the mayoralty of his
native city, in the year 1829 ; and President Kirkland having resigned
his station as the head of Harvard University in the year previous,
Mr. Quincy was elected by the corporation to the presidency, Jan.
15, 1829. The intellectual capacities, energetic manners, and espec-
ially the financial penetration, of Mr. Quincy, induced such men as
Bowditch, Story and Jackson, to single him as the individual peculiarly
qualified to improve the fiscal concerns and control the insubordinate
spirit of the students. The inauguration occurred June 2, 1829 ; and,
after the seal of the university and other badges of office were extended
to the president elect, by Gov. Lincoln, Mr. Quincy I'esponded in Latin,
when he made a happy allusion to the fact of his being unexpectedly
called, from the dust and clamor of the capital, to preside over our great
literary institution, which elicited a prompt expression of applause from
the audience. The president tlien took his seat in the pulpit, and
assumed the academic cap, on which occasion the old house rang again
with applause. He delivered an inaugural discourse on the occasion, in
which he urged the expediency of concentrating public patronage to
one great university, in preference to wasting away the resources of the
State upon small institutions, Avherc its benefits would not be generally
felt. An apt volunteer sentiment for this university was given at the
dinner, which Avas — " May it unite the beauty, strength and dura-
bility, of Quincy granite." The same decision of character, so
strongly marked in his city administration, forthwith operated to the
benefit of this ancient seat of learning, which, from being heavily encum-
bered with debt, emerged into the light of pecuniary independence;
and he has done more to improve and beautify the premises of venera-
ble Harvard than any of his predecessors. He once said of the uni-
versity, "May it, like the royal mail packets, distribute good letters
over our land."
We cannot forbear introducing an incident illustrative of Mr. Quia-
272 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
cy's tappy presence of mind. We find it in a letter of William Wirt,
addressed to William Pope, Aug. 29, 1829, in wliicli he relates of
President Quincy : " He haj^pened, when I made him a visit, to ask
me in ^^dlat college I had graduated. I was obliged to admit that I
had never been a student at any college. A shade of embarrassment,
scarcely perceptible, just flitted across his countenance; but he recov-
ered in an instant, and added, most gracefully, "Upon my "word, you
furnish a very strong argument against the utility of a college educa-
tion."
Mr. Quincy had but just entered on his new sphere of usefulness,
when he was called to prepare an address on the celebra.tion of the close
of the second century from the settlement of his native city, in the last
sentence of Avhich he says : "In all times to come, as in all times past,
may Boston be among the foremost and the boldest to exemplify and
uphold whatever constitutes the prosperity, the happiness, and the glory,
of New England." At the festival in Faneuil Hall, Sept. 17, 1830, on
this occasion, the following sentiment was advanced by William Hayden:
" The Peninsula of Shawmut : Bought by Edmund Quincy, for the
benefit of our ancestors. The City of Boston : Improved and embel-
lished by Josiah Quincy, for our benefit."
At the centennial celebration of Harvard College, September, 1836,
the Rev. Dr. Palfrey read a passage from the Avill of the father of
President Quincy, by which he bequeathed two thousand pounds
sterling to the college, in case his son should die a minor. After com-
puting the relative value of money at the date of the will, and its value
at the present day, Dr. Palfrey estimated the conditional bequest to be
equal to ten thousand dollars, and forthwith proposed this toast : "Har-
vard College : A strangely fortunate yet disappointed legatee, who, in
losing ten thousand dollars, gained a president." On this occasion,
Edward Everett, in allusion to a remark of President Quincy,
announced the sentiment, that "his fame shall not be left to a dog-
gerel dirge and a Latin epitaph ; we pronounce him, while he lives, in
our mother tongue, the ornament of the forum, the senate, and the
academy."
President Quincy was remarkable for ready wit on public festive
occasions, one of the finest specimens of which appears in his speech
at the dinner to Charles Dickens, the famous author of the Pickwick
Club, at the Papantis Hall, in Boston, Feb. 2, 1842. When Judge
Loring introduced a happy compliment to Mr. Quincy, in an allusion
JOSIAH QriNCY. 273
to Harvard College at the close of an effective speech, — that there is
one lesson of hers that we have learned by heart, and would repeat
now w'hen we meet her at our OAvn festival; it is, "To give honor to
those who in their high office do honor to her," — President Quincy,
amid enthusiastic greetings, immediately replied : " It isn't quite fair,
gentlemen ; it is n't quite fair. When I received your invitation, I had
great doubts on the subject of accepting it ; for I saw very plainly that
if I did, by some hook or crook, I should be set up for a speech ; and I
felt like giving myself the same advice that Swift gave to the man.
Said the man, 'I have set up for a wit.' 'Well,' replied Swift, 'I
would now advise ^'■ou to sit down.' But I thought that I had laid an
anchor to the Avindward ; that I was not to be assailed by toast or
sentiment, and that no machinery of any kind would be set to work
here to rasp speeches out of dry and reluctant natures. But, gentle-
men, I belong to a past age, and you should no more expect a man of
three-score and ten to make an after-dinner speech than to dance a
hornpipe. Nature is against you ; for, to make a good after-dinner
speech, many things are required which an old man has not. Such a
speech should be witty as well as wise ; and, with an abundance of
imagination, it should have a sprinkling of salt — the pure Attic. It
should be strewn with roses, such as are grown on the sides of Parnas-
sus. There should be alternate layers of the utile and the dulce^ and
on the top of all these should be a layer of sugared sentiment. Gen-
tlemen, it is impossible that an old man can compound anything like
this, for he is deficient in the two great requisites, memory and fancy.
To an old man. memory is an arrant jade, and she is no way delicate-
in letting him know that, like the rest of her sex, she gives young men
the preference. An old man's fancy will neither run nor walk ; and
still less can it fly, for there is not a pin-feather in its Avings. Besides,
gentlemen, it is a universal rule, that Avhen a son has set up for himself
in the Avorld, and is doing a pretty good business, it is time for the
father to retire, lest his presence may give rise to unpleasant compari-
sons. For to say that the young man beats the old man, Avould be
cruel ; and to say, as in this case I fear it cannot be said, the old man
beats the young man, Avould be anything but complimentary.'"' After
a round of witty remarks, President Quincy said, "I Avill detain you
no longer, but conclude by giA'ing you a toast, if my treacherous mem-
ory Avill so far serve me. I Avill give you. Genius — in ' ' Here,
hoAA"e\'er, the A'enerable pi'esidcnt's memory did desert him ; and, after
274 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
a brief interval spent in vain attempts to summon her to his aid, he
looked pleasantly round, and said: '-Gentlemen, a good memory is a
great thing, and I Avill give you all a piece of advice, which it may be
useful to you to remember : -when you are not certain that you can
keep a thing in your memory, be sure to keep it in your pocket." He
then, enforcing his precept by example, drew from his own pocket a
scrap of paper, and read : "Genius, in its legitimate use, uniting wit
with purity ; instructing the high in their duties to the low ; and, by
improving the morals, elevating the social condition of man." During
the delivery of his speech, Mr. Quincy was frequently interrupted with
bursts of applause and hearty peals of laughter ; and the happy sally
with which he got over his concluding difficulty set the company in a
roar, which continued until the president of the company, Josiah
Quincy, Jr.. arose and said that as the president of Harvard Univer-
sity had introduced to them Samuel Weller, he would take the liberty
to read to them one of the sayings of that distinguished personage :
'"If ever I wanted anything of my father," said Sam, "I always
asked for it in a werry 'spectful and obhging manner. If he did n't give
it me, I took it, for fear I should be led to do anything wrong, through
not having it." President Quincy had felt an intense desire to know
whether the present company was to be composed of any but young
men, and said, by way of illustration : "I felt, in regard to the com-
position of this meeting; much as Sam Weller did. You have all heard
of Sam Weller. gentlemen, when ho was invited to dine upon veal-pie :
' A weal-pie is a werry nice thing — werry nice ; but I should like to
know beforehand how it is composed, and whether there is anything
there besides kittens.' " This was the point to which the president of
the meeting alluded.
Amid the arduous duties necessarily involved in the administration
of the university, INIr. Quincy prepared an extensive history of this
ancient seat of learning, in two volumes, published in the year 1840,
with engravings. This work, though deeply lined with personal and
sectarian prejudice, exhibits profound research, and furnishes valuable
materials for a candid and impartial history. It should be specially
noticed that Quincy lashes the Mathers with a caustic severity unwor-
thy of this golden age of toleration. IMoreover, is there not a shade
of injustice to the memory of our time-honored Hancock? The
memoir of Josiah Quincy, Jr., by his son, one of the most valuable
works of the sort, representing his revered image in the best expres-
JOSIAH QUIXCY. 275
sions, should be printed in a popular form. Ills History of the Boston
Athenaeum, with the Biography of its Founders, is another production
of his last days, evincing the research of an antiquarian, and the pol-
ish of a scholar. He prepared also the Memoirs of Maj. Samuel Shaw,
and the Memoir of James Grahame, productions of historical value.
President Quincy, on the inauguration of Edward Everett as suc-
cessor to the presidency of Harvard University, April 30, 1846. in
expressing his grateful sense to the corporation and the faculty, for
their friendly concurrence in his measures, remarked, they had received
him covered with the dust from the streets of Boston, in which he had
been sent to work, as if it had been gathered on the top of Hel-
icon, or in the walks of Plato's academy. He stated that seventeen
years ago he proposed Mr. Everett for the presidency, to the eminent
Bowditch. who replied. " That may do in twenty years hence, but it will
not do now." ""Why not?" said Quincy. "The eagle must have
its flight," said Bowditch. And so j\Ir. Quincy was called to the sta-
tion, who was as much surprised by it, to use his own words, "as if
he had received a call to the pastoral charge of the Old South Church,"
where he was baptized.
The' greatest achievement probably ever effected by Mr. Quincy con-
sists of the concise History of Boston from its first settlement, in
1630, and more especially from its incorporation as a city, — a labor
Avhich has absorbed many of the best days of his hfe, during a period
of nearly twenty years. Tliis valuable legacy to his native city can
only be measured in importance by the inconceivable advantages he
secured to its citizens during his administration over its destinies. "We
know not the man whose decision and perseverance could ha-ve conceived
and completed such a noble memorial for posterity as our own Josiah
Quincy. We know not the writer, in the length and breadth of this
city, Avho has nerved himself to more intense mental labor than the
venerated Josiah Quincy. In his address, or rather elo(|uent appeal,
on taking final leave of the mayoralty, on Jan. 3, 1829, Mr. Quincy
implied his intention to prepare a history of the city; when he remarked
that it was his purpose in another way and in a more permanent form
to do justice to those who had favored his most important measures.
This farewell exhibit of his six years' administration was prepared as a
shield to ward off the calumnies of partisans who wished him to retire
from his station. " The public officer," said Mr. Quincy, "'who. from
a sense of public duty, dares to cross strong interests in their way to
276 THE nUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
gratification at the public expense, always has had, and ever will have,
raeted to him the same measure. The beaten course is first to slander
in order to intimidate ; and if that fail, to slander in order to sacrifice,
lie Avho loves his ofiice better than his duty will yield, and be flattered
as long as he is a tool. He who loves his duty better than his office
will stand erect, and take his fate." Mr. Quincy had been absorbed in
a laborious fulfilment of every knoAvn duty, a prudent exercise of every
invested power, a disposition shrinking from no official responsibility,
and an absolute self-devotion to the interest of the city. This is an
eloquent defence, comprising thirty-two pages of argument, exhibiting
the fact that he retired from tlie mayoralty when the real estate owned
by the city exceeded more than seven hundred thousand dollars, and
the debt of the city was six hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars ;
the income and interest of their real estate, including bonds and mort-
gages, amounting to fifty-two thousand dollars, while the annual inter-
est of the debt was only forty-seven thousand dollars. Mayor Quincy
further exhibits what he had effected for the public health, the popular
education, and advance in the public morals.
The last political communication of Josiah Quincy to the people of
his native city, with the exception of his successful remonstrance to
proposed alterations of the city charter, was presented at a meeting
in Faneuil Hall, October 14, 1850, on the expediency of the fugitive-
slave law, occasioned by the invitation of citizens without distinction
of party, at the head of which was his own name. Mr. Quincy
expressed a hope, in his letter to the meeting, that this assembly would
not partake of a part}'- or political character, as he had been assured
that it was the intention of those interested in this invitation that it
should not be a party movement. The meeting was, however, con-
ducted by advocates of the free-soil or abolition project. The Hon.
Charles Francis Adams was appointed the moderator; and it was
at this meeting that the proposed resolve of Rev. Nathaniel Colver
was adopted, declaring, emphatically, " Constitution or no constitution,
law or no law, we will not allow a fugitive slave to be taken from
Massachusetts." It was in allusion to the policy of this party, that
Daniel Webster advanced the bold comparison herewith, in his famous
speech at Albany. " It was in Cromwell's time," remarks he, " there
sprung up a race of saints, who called themselves Fifth Monarchy
Men. A happy, felicitous, glorious people they were; for they had
practised so many virtues, they were so enlightened, so perfect, that
JOSIAH QUIXCY. 277
they got to be, in the language of that clay, above ordinances. That
is the higher law of this day, exactly. It is the old doctrine of the
Fifth ]\Ionarchy Men of CromAvell's time revived. They were above
ordinances, — walked about like the man in the play, prim and spruce,
self-satisfied, thankful to God that they were not as other men, but
had attained so far to salvation as to be above ordinances." We are
of opiriion that this figure is not too broad to cover the shoulders of
many enthusiasts of the free-soil party ; at the same time, it is our
decided belief, that Josiah Quincy, Charles Sumner, and the almost
entire majority of advocates for emancipation, would repudiate such a
doctrine. Indeed, Ave know that our country never had a more devoted
advocate of the constitution and the laws than Josiah Quincy.
Mr. Quincy's letter, dated Quincy, Oct. 14, 1850, contains an inter-
esting pohtical reminiscence in his own career, which Ave Avill quote :
" I can speak of this subject Avith a somcAvhat personal certainty, so
far as respects the existence of the feeling prevalent on this subject
fifty-six years ago. Sometime about the year 1794, soon after the
first laAV on this subject AA'as passed, I Avas sent for, as a counsellor-at-
laAV, to appear before one of our acting justices of the peace, — Green-
leaf, — to defend a person then on trial, under the charge of being a
slave, on the claim of his master for delivery to him. On appearing
before the justice, I found the room filled Avith a crowd of persons, not
one of Avhom I kncAv, but who Avcre attending the court apparently
from interest or curiosity. Among them AVcre the constables, and the
agent of the master ; but avIio the other persons Avcre, or AA'hat was
the object of their assembling, I Avas ignorant. I entered, of course,
on my duties as an advocate ; called for the evidence of the agent's
authority, and denied the authority of the law of Congress, and of the
magistrate under it, to deliver an inhabitant of Massachusetts into the
custody of another, unless after trial by jury, according to the consti-
tution of the State. "While occupied Avith my argument, I Avas
suddenly interrupted by a loud noise behind me ; and, on turning
round, I found, to my astonishment, both the constable and the agent
on the floor, and the alleged slave passing out of the room between the
files of bystanders, Avhich Avcrc opened to the right and left fjr his
escape.
" About a fortnight elapsed, when I AA'as called upon by Rufus
Greene Amory, a laAvyer of eminence at the Boston bar in that day,
who shoAA'cd me a letter from a southern slave-holder, dii'ecting him to
24
278 THE HUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
prosecute Josiah Quincj for the penalty under the law of 1793, for
obstructing the agent of the claimant in obtaining his slave under the
process established by that law.
"Mr. Amory felt, not less than myself, the folly of such a pre-
tence ; and I never heard from him, or from any one, anything more
upon the subject of prosecution. This fact, and the universal gratifi-
cation which the result appeared to give to the public, satisfied my
-mind, that, unless by accident, or stealth, or in some very thin-settled
parts of the country, the law of 1793 would forever be inoperative, as
the event has proved, in Massachusetts. And the same will, in my
opinion, be the case, as I have already said, Avith the Jaw of 1850."
President Quincy, having represented Suffolk eight years in the
national Congress, his native city in the State Legislature eight years,
the mayoralty for a period of six years, and the presidency of Harvard
University during sixteen years, has retired to his residence on the
location of Beacon Hill, now levelled and overspread by elegant dwell-
ings and the granite Cochituate reservoir ; the spot from the summit
of which was a striking view of Bunker Hill, thus famed by Mrs.
I^Iorton :
" Witness yon tract, where first the Briton bled !
Driven by our youth, redoubted Percy fled.
There Breed ascends, and Bunker's bleeding steeps.
Still o'er whose brow abortive victory weeps."
JOHN LOWELL.
JULY 4, 1799. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
"A FREE government," says our orator, "is the very hot-bed of
ambition. Ambition is an indigenous plant in democracies, which pro-
duces and scatters its seeds like the balsamine, and propagates Avith
indescribable rapidity. In such governments, therefore, there is
always a plentiful crop of candidates for promotion, — of proud and
haughty claimants, as well as servile beggars, of popular favor. These
gormandizers of popularity are no epicures, — they have not very nice
discriminating palates. They are ready to taste the sweets of every
JOIIX LOWELL. 279
office, from the liig-li dignity of the presidency, down to the lowest muni-
cipal employment in the State. Still, however, with this humble
spirit of accommodation, they cannot all be gratified. The disappointed
will pursue their revenge Avith an acrimony proportioned to the raven-
ous hunger after fame which impelled them. The mortified ambitious
are never in Avant of tools to carry on the trade of faction. The igno-
rant, the jealous, and the envious, — the bankrupt in morals and char-
acter, and the insolvent in purse, — are the small weapons with which
the great leviathans in opposition continually operate. Review the
past history of the United States, and what page is there in which the
proofs of these principles, arc not inscribed ? Coeval with our govern-
ment has been an inveterate opposition, — an opposition growing with
our frrowth, and streno;thenin2' with our streno;th. At first, small and
feeble, it uttered its discontents only in the gentle "whispers of disap-
probation ; — now, bold, hardy and shameless, it thunders its anathemas
in the lano;ua2i;e of rebellion. We have remarked, that faction is the
spontaneous production of a free soil ; but, like all native plants, it is
not destined wholly to destroy the vegetation which surrounds it. It
is by the introduction of exotics, alone, that the work of extermination
can be effected. In vain would our domestic enemies assail the goodly
ftxbric of our constitution, — vain would be the calumny against our
ablest patriots, — feeble and nerveless would be the assaults of our
internal enemies, — if they were not supported by foreign gold, and
encouraged by external assistance. Without this aid, our infant
Hercules would have strangled the rebellious reptile in his cradle.
Still our young and vigorous Samson would have bcirst asunder the
cords Avith which an insidious faction had bound him, if this internal
foe had not entered into a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive,
Avith a foreign adversary."
In the oration of iNIr. Loaa^cII, an object of Avhich is to vindicate our
ItiCA-olution from the misrepresentation and calumnies of those Avho
have endeavored, by its examj)le, to justify that of France, our orator
has, with much Avarmth of coloring and fervor of imagination, exhib-
ited a comparison between the spirit and character of both. Tiie two
pictures present a perfect contrast. In that of America, Ave behold a
people distinguished for unsullied virtue, uncorruptcd simplicity, and
a pure and undefiled religion, impelled by an ardent love of liberty, an
unconquerable spirit of independence, a hatred of foreign dominion,
and detestation of domestic oppression, calmly and dispassionately
280 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
resolve to resist the earliest encroachments of arbitrary power, and
pursuing, with moderation and firmness, that one legitimate object,
preserving inviolate moral and religious institutions, the principles of
justice, the order of civil society, and the rights of persons, — and,
when their lofty purpose was accomplished, return to the enjoyment
of innocence and repose.
In another passage, Mr. Lowell points out the more imminent and
striking hazards to which the United States were then exposed, from
the open attacks and secret machinations of the rulers of France,
boundless in their ambition, and insatiable in their avarice, whose
support was pkmder, whose nutriment was carnage, and whose pastime
was human wretchedness. He depicted the conduct of the French
republic towards surrounding nations, and demands if from so ferocious
a monster we have reason to expect forbearance, to hope for its friend-
ship, to trust to its moderation, or to confide in its justice. Those who
still cherished the love of peace, and persevered in their faith of the
professions of France, he reproaches for their supineness and credulity,
reminding them of the opinion of John Adams, then the president,
that "there can be no peace without degradation and submission, and
no security in negotiation and convention." The law dissolving the
treaties and consular convention with France was approved by Presi-
dent Adams, July 7, 1798.
John Lowell was the son of Hon. John Lowell, Avhom Harrison
Gray Otis very graphically describes as being about five feet ten
inches in height, and inclined to corpulence. " His gait was rapid and
hurried ; his conversation, animated and ardent. He appeo-rcd to
strangers, at first, to speak too much ex cathedra ; but he was free
of all propensity to browbeat or show ill humor. On the contrary,
he was the very mirror of benevolence, Avhich beamed in and made
attractive a countenance not remarkable for symmetry of feature or
beauty ; and his companionable talents, though never displayed at the
expense of dignity, made liim the delight of the society in, Avhich he
moved, and which he always put at ease. His private character was
irreproachable ; his honesty and moderation, proverbial. In a satirical
and very personal farce, got up by a witty desperado, and which had
a great run, he was dubljed by the author — no friend of his — Lawyer
Candor ; a most appropriate sobriquet, which the world unanimously
applied to him. He was most ardent in his attachment to his partic-
ular friends, who, in their turn, looked to him as their oracle. His
JOHN LOWELL. 281
general hecalth," continues Mr. Otis, '-'during the time of mj intimacy
with him, was good, though occasionally inclined to be a inalade imag-
inaire. an ordinary symptom of ardent temperament and ethereal
genius." He was known to be one of the confidential advisers of the
measures that were successfully adopted to suppress that formidable
outbreak of Shays' Insurrection, and was appointed judge of the Dis-
trict Court U. S. by Washington, on its institution.
John Lowell, Jr., was born in Newburyport, Oct. 6, 1769. Soon
after the town and harbor of Boston were evacuated by the royalists,
in 1776, his father removed to the city with his family, where his res-
idence was in the dwelling afterwards occupied by the late Samuel
Eliot, Esq., directly opposite King's Chapel. He was for a brief
period in the Latin School, but was fitted for college in Phillips' Acad-
emy, and graduated at Harvard College in 1786. On this occasion
his part was in a forensic dispute on this subject : Whether the happi-
ness of the people consists most in the constitution or administration
of government ; and in the year 1789, when a candidate for the degree
of JNIaster of Arts, he engaged in another forensic dispute, with Isaac
Parker, afterwards the chief-justice of Massachusetts : Whether a law
making administration between an insolvent by vice and one by mis-
fortune, would tend to the good of society ? He studied law with his
father, and was admitted to the bar before he was twenty years of age.
In preparing arguments, he was laborious and searching. In his man-
ner he was animated, eloquent, vehement, rapid, and highly logical ;
his memory was tenacious. In his person he was a great contrast to
his father, being very short and slender. On June 3, 1793, Mr.
Lowell married Rebecca Amory. He was a representative in the
State Legislature from 1798 to 1801. He was a member of the cor-
poration of Harvard College from 1810 to 1822, and was an overseer
from that period to 1827. He was an honored member of the State
Senate.
Mr. Lowell's articles in RusseU's Centinel, over the si^-nature of the
Boston Rebel, in opposition to the war of the United States and Great
Britain, were of a character the most inflammatory of any political
writings of that day. His productions were in a highly nervous style,
abounding in piquant philippics. His remarks on Madison's war, in
a lai'ge pamphlet, exhibited the most exciting attack on the democratic
administration that emanated from any political Avriter. His fervid
genius and rapid pen poured forth pamphlet after pamphlet, and column
24*
282 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
after column in the newspapers, replete with spirit and force and pur-
pose, on the side of the Federal partj, in Avarm opposition to the gen-
eral government. In these exciting times, a rumor was circulated
that some of those who had been exasperated bj his political remarks
had threatened to burn his house in Roxbury to the ground. This
rumor was so far believed, that some of his friends went out or sent
out from Boston to offer themselves as the guard of his person and
property for the night. ]\Ir. Lowell expressed his belief that his fel-
low-townsmen were incapable of such an act, and insisted on declining
the offer of defence. Indeed, no assistance beyond the limits of
the town would in any case have been required ; for several of the
most respectable inhabitants of Eoxbury itself, and of both political
parties, voluntarily offered to stand ready to defend to the last extrem-.
ity. Indeed, Mr. Lowell was an extraordinary man, adapted to
exciting times. He was a tenacious sectarian in theology, and wrote
with fervent severity. He entered Avith delight on the pursuits of
agriculture. To hear him converse in his farm or his garden, one
would suppose that his entire occupation was farming and gardening.
He Avould discuss the qualities of a fruit-tree, or an exotic plant, Avith
the same earnestness, copiousness and tact, that he Avould have given
to a question of politics, law or divinity. Horticulture Avas also an
object of devoted interest, and the periodical Avas enriched with articles
for the florist from his ready hand. His residence in Boston was
directly opposite Horticultural Hall, in School-street.
Amid tlio violence of contending parties, Mr. LoavcH's sincerity and
integrity Avere never seriously questioned. His motives were manifestly
pure. " He never sought a political office, and never would accept one.
Amid all the buffets of the conflict, he never cherished one spark of
malice," says GreenAA'Ood, " or one root of bitterness, in his heart, which
Avas no place for one or the other ; and, as I lately glanced over some
of the pamphlets of Avhich he Avas the author, — not Avith all the attention
they deserved, but Avith all I could spare, — entertaining the common
impression that the zeal of the times and the zeal of his OAvn nature
had betrayed him into offensive and uncharitable statements, and
remembering also, as I well remembered, the language of mutual exas-
peration Avhich was everywhere to be heard during that tempestuous
period, I Avas surprised to find hoAV little there was of an objection-
able description in these Avritings ; and was rather struck Avith their
poAver of argument and store of rich illustration, than Avith their heat.
EGBERT TREAT PAINE. 283
That niglit has gone by ; and, though the side w'hich he espoused so
disinterestedly did not prevail. I am disposed to think that his and his
friends' efforts, Avith all the deductions -which may be made from them,
contributed to restore the morning." By resolute opposition, they most
probably modified the measures of the other party to beneficial results.
The Avinter of 1839 was spent by Mr. Lowell in the West India Islands,
which he had -visited for his health. He returned Avith improved health,
but very much enfeebled. On the 12th of March, 1840, as he was
reading a daily paper in his residence in the city, the summoner came ;
the paper dropped from his hands, and he expired that very hour,
without suffering. He was buried in Roxbury. Dinsmore thus
emphasizes :
" Lowell and Chauning may debate,
As politicians wise and great
Predict their country's future fate.
By reasoning clear,
And show blind rulers of the State
What course to steer."
ROBERT TREAT PAINE.
JULY 17, 1799. ON THE DISSOLLTION OF THE TREATIES AND CONSULAR CON-
VENTION BETWEEN FRANCE AND THE UNITED STATES. FOR TUE YOUNG
MEN OF BOSTON.
" It is a day," says our orator, "which will forever be illustrious in
our annals. It is the completion of our liberties, the acme of our inde-
pendence. The Fourth of July will be celebrated by our latest pos-
terity, as the splendid era of our national glory ; but the Seventh Avill
be venerated as the dignified epoch of our national character. The
one annihilated our colonial submission to a powerful, avowed, and
determined foe ; the other emancipated us from the oppressive friend-
ship of an ambitious, malignant, treacherous ally. The former asserted
our political supremacy, which preserved to us our country from sub-
jection, our liberties from encroachment, and our government from for-
eign control; the latter united to the same momentous object a
declaration of our moral sovereignty, Avhich rescued our principles
from subjugation, as well as our persons from slavery; which secured
284 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
our cities from massacre, as ^vcll as their inhabitants from debasement ;
■which preserved our fair ones from violation, as well as our religion
from bondage. In fine, the Declaration of Independence, which dis-
solved our connection with Great Britain, may be correctly denomi-
nated the birth-day of our nation, when, as its infant genius was ushered
into political existence, a lambent flame of glory played around its
brows, in presage of its future greatness. But the period which sun-
dered our alliance with France may be pronounced the day of our
nation's manhood, when this genius had become an Hercules, who, no
longer amused with the coral and bells of ' liberty and equality,' —
no longer 'pleased with the rattles, tickled with' the straws,' of
•health and fraternity,' — no longer willing to trifle at the distaff" of
a 'lady negotiator,' — boldly invested himself in the toga virilis, and
assumed his rank in the forum of nations.
" It will, therefore, in all a^es be pointed to as a luminous page in
our history, when the patriotic statesmen of America, with a decision
of character which has shot a ray of enthusiasm into the coldest regions
of Europe, cut asunder the inexplicable knot of so contagious a con-
nection, and forever abolished the im])olitic and deleterious instrument
which had created it ; Avhen that memorable treaty, which had linked
together two heterogeneous nations in an unnatural, unequal and hate-
ful alliance, after an attenuated life of twenty years, was ignominiously
committed to the grave, where, in the language of French philosophy,
'its death will prove an eternal sleep.' "
Kobert Treat Paine, whose name was originally Thomas, and changed
in 1801 by an act of the Massachusetts Legislature, as he was desirous
of being known by a Christian name, abhorring an association of the
man who, in his Age of Reason, lost his Common Sense, was born
in Taunton, Bristol county, Mass., Dec. 9, 1773. His father was the
celebrated Robert Treat Paine, who acted as counsel for the jrown, in
company with Samuel Quincy, in the trial of the British soldiers for
the massacre in King-street ; and was, moreover, one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence, whose residence Avas at the corner
of Milk and Federal streets. Young Robert was early in the school
of Master James Carter. In the year 1781 he entered the Latin
School, under Master Saml. Hunt ; he graduated at Harvard College
in 1792, on which occasion he delivered an oration on the Nature and
Progress of Liberty, — a theme naturally expected from a scion of
the Revolution. He was stimulated to a taste for poetry by the famous
ROBERT TREAT PATNE. 285
Joseph Allen, the laureate of his class, "who inscribed on the college-
wall several abusive satirical verses on Paine, who fearlessly repelled
him in rhyme ; and he once remarked, that if it were not for this cir-
cumstance, probably he never should have undertaken a couplet. On
leaving college, he entered the store of Mr. James Tisdalc, a Boston
merchant ; but his mind was so much absorbed in poetry, that he made
entries in the day-book in verse, and once made out a charter party in
the same style. He soon became devoted to the theatre, which, con-
trary to law, had been established in Board-alley, in 1792, by a small
party of actors from England, —
" And plays their heathen names forsook,
And those of ' Moral Lectures ' took."
The law was abrogated, and in 1793 an elegant brick theatre was
erected in Federal -street, on which occasion the prize medal was
awarded to him for the best prologue on the occasion. His mind was
so averse to mercantile pursuits, that he left Mr. Tisdale in 1794. In
October of that year he established a political and literary paper, —
"The Federal Orrery," — in which appeared "The Jacobiniad," a
political poem, and also " The Lyars,'"' from both of which passages
appear in this volume. So caustic and pei'sonal were these produc-
tions, that it drew upon him the summary vengeance of a mob, who
attacked the dwelling of jMajor Wallach, with whom he resided, and
who gallantly defended his castle, and compelled them to retreat. The
son of a gentleman at whom the shafts of wit had been aimed called
upon Paine for satisfaction, which was denied. The parties accident-
ally met, — Mr. Paine presented his pistol, but the assailant fearlessly
rushed forward, and violently assaulted him. In 1797 ^Ir. Paine
married Elizabeth Baker, who was a retired actress, and they were
forbid his father's dwelling. They were hospitably sheltered in the
family of ]Major Wallach for the period of fifteen months. With tears
of gratititde Mr. Paine once remarked, '-When I lost a father, I
gained a wife and found a friend." In the year 1798 a reconciliation
was eflfccted ; and it is related that at a congratulatory party the forth-
coming sentiments were publicly advanced, • ' The love of liberty and
the liberty of loving; " " Champagne to real friends, and real pain to
sham friends." Paine was bold in his views, quick at retort, and
sometimes fearfully sarcastic. His genius was certainly of a high
order, and his imagination prolific. His talents always commanded
286 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
admiration, his wit excited meiTiment and delight. He was followed
and eulogized, honored by social attentions in the higher ranks, and
viewed as the first poet of the town. ^ His poem on " The Invention
of Letters" was greatly admired, and Washington sent him a letter
highly expressive of admiration at its merits. It afforded him a profit
of fifteen hundred dollars. " The Ruling Passion," intended as a
gallery of portraits, is a rare production, for which he realized a profit
of twelve hundred dollars.
In 1798 ]Mr. Paine wrote the celebrated national song of Adams
and Liberty ; and never was a political song more favorably received
than this patriotic effusion. Visiting Major Russell, of the Centinel,
it was pronounced as imperfect, for the conception of Washington was
not advanced. The sideboard was replenished, and Paine was ready
for a libation, Avhen Major Russell familiarly interposed, and insisted,
in his humorous manner, that he should not slake his thirst till he
had written an additional stanza, in which Washington should be
introduced. Paine paced back and forth a few minutes, and, suddenly
starting, called for a pen. He forthwith wrote the following sublime
stanza :
" Should the tempest of war overshadow our land,
Its bolts could ne'er rend Freedom's temple asunder ;
For, unmoved, at its portal, would Washington stand,
And repulse, with his breast, the assaults of the thunder !
His sword from the sleep
Of its scabbai'd would leap,
And conduct with its point every flasli to the deep ! "
Paine's eulogy on the death of Washington was serious even to
sadness, with the melancholy reflections inspired by that event.
In a political discussion, which was conducted with warmth, in
1807, Mr. Paine once said of the Essex Junto, "Washington was its
sublime head, and the tower of its strength ; it was informed by the
genius and guided by the energy of Hamilton. Since their decease,
nothing but the Attic salt of Fisher Ames has preserved it from putre-
faction. When the ethereal spirits escaped, the residuum settled into
faction. It has captured Boston, and keeps it in tow, like a prize-ship."
In 1799 Mr. Paine became a student at laAV under the eminent
Judge Parsons, at Newburyport, who greatly esteemed him; Avas
admitted to Suffolk bar in 1802 ; retired from the profession in 1809,
and removed to Dorchester ; but he soon returned to Boston, and
became an inmate at his father's mansion, where he wrote, at the
JOHN THORNTON KIRKLAND. 287
request of the Jockey Club, " The Steeds of Apollo." This was his
last fiimous effusion. Depressed in spirits, afflicted with disease, and
reduced in his circumstances, he died, Xov. 14, 1811.
President Allen remarks of Paine, "There is nothing of simple,
natural beauty in his writings ; his poetry is entirely unworthy of
the praise extended in its favor, and his prose is in bad taste : " while
Bradford, on the other hand, was of opinion that Paine resembled
Pope more than any English poet, and was always happy in liis
phraseology : but it is probable the foet lies between the two extremes.
Boston may well be proud of his talent, and throw away the weeds
that blemish his fame. Everett says that "Paine was a luckless
man, but. oh ! how sweet a bard ! "
" Never shall his tuneful numbers
Charm the listening ear again, —
Cold and silent where he slumbers,
Genius weeps the fate of Paine."
The Hon. Judge Story remarks of him that he enjoyed reputation, in
his day, not since attained by any ximerican poet.
JOHN THORNTON KIRKLAND.
DEC. 29, 1799. EULOGY ON WASHINGTON.
"America, without Washington," says Kirkland, "resembles the
earth without the light of day. Associated as he was with all wo
loved and valued in our country, possessions, pursuits and pleasures,
for a time, sink in our esteem. We exulted in our country, because
it gave him birth ; we thought better of our nature, because it pro-
duced such a man. The sense of this gift of Heaven increased the
fervor of our devotions ; and our national felicity seemed to be crowned
in AVashington. Time has been, when, indeed, his services wore more
immediately necessary, and the political salvation of his country
seemed to depend on the continuance of his hfe. But if his departure
at this time has a less unpropitious aspect upon the public prosperity,
yet it cannot be thought unimportant to the momentous interests of the
288 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS,
empire, "whilst it arrests our melanclioly feelings, and wounds our
fond attachment to his name. His sun approached the horizon ; yet,
with delighted eyes, we gazed on its parting splendor, believing that,
if clouds should thicken to a tempest in our political sky, it would
shine out in all its meridian brightness,. and chase them away. Though
he had left the drama to distinguished actors, yet he might again be
called out to support a part in some master scene, to which no other
man might be found suited. Nay, he was already prepared, if the
catastrophe should require it, to step upon the stage, and be the hero
of the eventful tragedy into which his country seemed to be hastening.
Was the nation to be roused from dangerous sleep 7 — his name was
sounded in their ears. Was faction to be driven from the light? — it
was pointed to his awful frown. Was a foreign foe to be deterred from
invasion ? — it was shown his hand upon his sword. With him its
patron, the federal administration would not despair of final support ;
Avith him their leader, the armies of America would be ineffectually
held up to odium, would be created Avith facility, and, in every con-
flict, would feel invincible. In the present dubious aspect of our
national interests, everything was hoped, in aid of the present system,
from the part which he would take, in case of civil dissension, or
increased dan^-cr from foreign arts or arms."
John Thornton Kirkland was born at Little Falls, Herkimer
county. N. Y., August 17, 1770; entered Phillips' Academy in
1784; graduated at Harvard College in 1789; became assistant
teacher at Andover Academy ; studied theology, and was a tutor in
Harvard College, when he gave the salutatory oration. A singular
episode in his college life was his having borne arms in the winter
vacation of his sophomore year, during the campaign to suppress
Shays' Insurrection. He was pastor of the New South Church, from
Feb. 5, 1794, until his induction to the presidency of Harvard College,
Nov. 14, 1810, which station he occupied until his resignation, Aug.
27, 1828. He was the Phi Beta Kappa orator at Cambridge in
1798. He married Elizabeth, the only daughter of Hon. George
Cabot. Sept. 1, 1827. After his retirement from public life, Dr.
Kirkland suffered from the effects of a paralysis, with powers of mind
and body considerably impaired ; but with the same undisturbed and
delightful temper, and with an occasional flash of those clear and
profound thoughts, says Eliot, that intellectual humor, and those
generous afiections, which in previous years had been the delight of all
JOHN THORNTON KIRKLAND. 289
who knew him. The carelessness which made him Avrite his sermons
upon mere scraps of paper, in an ahnost illegible hand, and the physical
indolence which made him neglect to transcribe or arrange them, might
excite a smile, rather than provoke a fro^v■n ; and it has been well said
of Dr. Kirkland, that his sermons were full of intellectual wealth and
practical wisdom, Avith sometimes a quaintncss that bordered on humor,
yet had never been inspired by the peculiar genius of pulpit eloquence.
He was president of the Anthology Club. Ilis biography of Fisher
Ames is one of the most classic productions of an American mind.
After having visited Europe, Egypt, and Palestine, he died at Boston,
of an invetei-ate disease that had long afflicted him, April 26, 1840.
His successor. President Quincy, remarks of him: "Possessing
talents of a high order, which he had diligently cultivated, enjoying
the friendship and confidence of many of the most influential and
eminent men among his contemporaries, combining great sagacity with
great knowledge of human nature, he conducted this seminary for a
succession of years prosperously and with great popularity. Under
his auspices, the standard necessary for obtaining admission to its
privileges was raised, its literary character elevated, the general sphere
of its usefulness extended, and great improvements effected ; " and Dr.
Young, his successor in the pastoral care of the New South Church,
says of him, in his highly graphic biography, of which a divine of another
sect said he did not see how it could be better written, "What style-
shall I set forth of this excellent man, to whom I never came but I
grew stronger in moral virtue, from whom I never went but I parted
better instructed ] If I speak much, it were not to be marvelled ; if I
speak frankly, it is not to be blamed ; and though I speak partially,,
it were to be pardoned."
The preaching of Kirkland Avas of the same character with his
conversation, says Young. It was sententious, and full of apo-
thegms. There was not much visible logic or induction in his dis-
courses. The description which he gives of Fisher Ames' writings is
strikingly applicable to his own. When the result of his researches
was exhibited in discourse, the steps of a logical pi'ocess were in some
measure concealed by the coloring of rhetoric. It was the prerogative
of his mind to discern by a glance, so' rapid as to seem intuition,
those truths which common capacities struggle hard to comprehend.
His style is conspicuous for sententious brevity, for antithesis and
point. Single ideas appear with so much lustre and prominence, that
25
290 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
the connection of the several parts of his discourse is not always obvioua
to the common mind, and the aggregate impression of the composition
is not always completely obtained. His learning seldom appeared as
such, but was interwoven with his thoughts, and became his own.
There was little apparent method, arrangement or connection, in
Dr. Kirkland's preaching ; so that it was not uncommon for him to
bring into the pulpit half a dozen sermons or more, and, on the instant,
' construct a new sermon as he went along, turning the leaves backwards
and forwai'ds, and connecting them together by the thread of his
extemporaneous discourse. These scattered leaves resembled those of
the Sybil, not only in their confusion, causing many to marvel how he
could marshal and manage them so adroitly, but also in their hidden
nvisdom, and in the fact that when two-thirds of what he had thus
ibrought into the pulpit was omitted, — thrown by, as unworthy of
delivery, — the remaining third, which he uttered, Avas more precious
(than the entire pile of manuscript, containing, as it did, the spirit and
■essence, the condensed and concentrated wisdom, of the whole.
Condensation, indeed, continues Dr. Young, Avas his crowning
faculty. It Avas here, especially, that he manifested the supremacy of
his intellect. He always spoke from a croAvded and OA'erflowing mind.
Although he said so much, you felt that there was much more behind
unsaid. He poured himself forth into a full stream of thought, which
evidently floAved from a living and inexhaustible fountain. Chief
Justice Parsons used to say that Dr. Kirkland put more thought into
one sermon than other ministers did into five. And hoAV much Aveight
and wisdom Avere there even in single sentences of his Avritings, as
when, in his Life of Fisher Ames, he says, "He did not need tbe
smart of guilt to make him Aartuous, nor the regret of folly to make
him Avise; " and when, in the same Avork, he says, " The admission of
danger implies duty ; and many refuse to be alarmed, because they
wish to be at ease." Such Avas his AA'onderful and accurate knoAvlcdge
-of human nature, and his clear insight into the springs of human
.action, that sometimes, Avhen I haA^e heard Kirkland preach, it seerned
to me that he had actually got his hand into my bosom, and that I
•could feel him moving it about, and inserting his fingers into all the
interstices and crevices of my heart. According to Dr. Palfrey,
there were twelve hundred graduates of Harvard College who enjoyed
his care, having been, at the period of his decease, nearly one quarter
part of the whole that had been educated at that institution.
FISHER AMES. 291
FISHER AMES.
FEB. 8, ISOO. STATE EULOGY ON WASIIINGTOX,
In the speech of Hon. Fisher x\mes, on Jay's treaty, April 28,
1796, dehvered on the floor of Congress, he says : " We arc either to
execute this treaty, or break our faith. To expatiate on the value of
public faith, may pass "with some men for declamation. To such men
I have nothing to say. To others, I M"ill urge, can any circumstance
mark upon a people more turpitude and debasement? Can anything
tend more to make men think themselves mean, or degrade to a lower
point their estimation of virtue, and their standard of action 7 It would
not merely demorahze mankind ; it tends to break all the ligaments of
society, to dissolve that mysterious charm Avhich attracts individuals to
the nation, and to inspire in its stead a repulsive sense of shame and
disgust.
'•' What is patriotism ? Is it a narrow affection for the spot where a
man was born 1 Are the very clods where we tread entitled to this
ardent preference, because they are greener ? No, sir ; this is not
the character of the virtue, and it soars higher for its object. It is an
extended self-love, mingling with all the enjoyments of life, and twist-
ing itself with the minutest filaments of the heart. It is thus we
obey the laws of society, because they are the laws of virtue. In
their authority we see not the array of force and terror, but the vener-
able image of our country's honor. Every good citizen makes that
honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious, but as sacred. He
is willing to risk his life in its defence, and is conscious that he gains
protection while he gives it. For what rights of a citizen will be
deemed inviolable, when a State renounces the principles that consti-
tute their security ? Or. if his life should not be invaded, what would
its enjoyment be, in a country odious in the eyes of strangers, and dis-
honored in his own? Could he look with affection and veneration to
such a country as his parent ? The sense of having one would die
Avithin him. He would blush for his patriotism, if he retained any ;
and justly, for it would be a vice. He would be a banished man in his
native land.
" I see no exception to the respect that is paid among nations to the
law of good faith. If there are cases in this enlightened period when
u >
292
THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
it is violated, there are none wlien it is denied. It is the philosophy
of politics, the religion of governments. It is observed by barbarians.
A whiff of tobacco-smoke, or a string of beads, gives not merely bind-
ing force, but sanctity, to treaties. Even in Algiers, a truce may be
bought for money ; but, •when ratified, even Algiers is too wise or too
just to disown and annul its obligation. Thus, we see, neither the igno-
rance of savages, nor the principles of an association for piracy and
rapine, permit a nation to despise its engagements. If, sir, there could
be a resurrection from the foot of the gallows, — if the victims of jus-
tice could live again, collect together, and form a society, — they would,
however loath, soon find themselves obliged to make justice — that
justice under which they fell — the fundamental laAV of their state.
They would perceive it was their interest to make others respect, and
they would therefore soon pay some respect themselves, to the obliga-
tions of good faith."
Fisher Ames was born at Dedham, April 9, 1758, and was the
youngest son of Dr. Nathaniel Ames, who was for forty years a noted
author of almanacs ; of whom it is related, having accidentally entered
in one of them the prediction of snow in June, and a snow-storm
occurring on the day named, it caused a rapid sale of his almanacs.
It is related in the Massachusetts Historical Collections, that Dr.
Nathaniel Ames, whose son Nathaniel was a surgeon in the army of
the Revolution, had two wives, Mary and Deborah, successively of the
name of Fisher. The first dying young, but not until after his
mother, and her estate having vested in him. gave rise to the fixmous
lawsuit, in which it was first determined that real estate ascended, con-
trary to the English rule, to the fiither, as next of kin, by the province
law. Dr. Ames was a public taverner at Dedham ; and there is a
tradition that, after this case was decided, a sign-board was suspended
over his door, with the painted figure of the judges, in full-bottomed
wigs and robes, among \Vhom were caricatured the two who were of
adverse opinion. This being viewed as a contempt of court, it was
shortly after taken down. Dr. Ames died at Dedham in 1TG4, aged
fifty-seven years. His son Fisher was born in the "Woodward man-
sion, on the north side of the court-house, opposite the monumental
stone, surmounted by a pillar and a bust, erected in honor of "William
Pitt, for his services to the colonies. He graduated at Harvard College
in 1774 ; studied law under Judge Tudor, and became a counsellor-at-
law. In 1788 he was a representative in the State Legislature; and
i>. tn
FISHER AMES. 293
was elected to Congress for Suifolk county, December 18tli of tlie same
year, in opposition to Samuel Adams, and -was probably the junior
member of the house. He Avas also a delecrate to the State convention
on the federal constitution, in 1788 ; and '.vas of the State Executive
Council, in 1800. ]Mr. Ames married Frances, daughter of John
"\Yorthington, Esq., July 15, 1792. He continued in Congress during
a period of eight years, where he displayed irresistible eloquence ; and,
after his memorable speech in favor of the treaty with Great Britain,
from which a passage is presented at the head of this article, a mem-
ber, opposed to Ames, objected to taking a vote at that time, as they
had been overwhelmed by his eloquence. One day, when in the book-
store of INIanning & Loring, in Boston, on observing their new edi-
tion of Perry's Dictionary, which Avas on the counter, in which Avords
are accented, — "Here is a book," said Ames, "showing us hoAv to
pronounce Avords." After a moment's reflection, he continued, •• But
Ave are told that the best standard of pronunciation is the imitation of
the best speakers." The residence of Fisher Ames Avas in the dwell-
ing now occupied by John Gardner, Esq. He died at Dedham, July
4, 1808. The stanzas herewith added Avere sung in King's Chapel,
July 6, 1808, after the delivery of the eulogy of Samuel Dexter over
the remains of Fisher Ames, and are ascribed to Rev. Dr. Gardiner :
" As, ■when dark clouds obscure the dawn,
The day-star's lustre disappears.
So Ames beheld our natal morn,
And left desponding friends in tears.
Soon as the distant cannon's roar
Announced that morn's returning ray,
He feared its early hopes were o'er,
And tlew to cverla'sting day.
0, drop thj' mantle, sainted shade,
On some surviving patriot name,
Who, great by thy example made,
^lay yet retrieve a nation's fame !
The manly genius, ardent thought.
The love of truth, and wit refined.
The eloquence that wonders wrought.
And flashed its light on every mind, —
These gifts were thine, immortal Ames !
Of motive pure, of life sublime ;
Their loss our flowing sorrow claims, —
Their praise survives the wreck of time."
25*
\
294 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OKATORS,
President Dwiglit, of Yale College, remarked of Fisher Ames that
few men have so much good sense, and none with whom I have con-
versed, a mind so readj to furnish, at every call, the facts which should
be remembered, the truths which should be declared, the arguments
Avhich should be urged, language in which they might be clearly and
forcibly expressed, and images with which they might be beautifully
adorned. His imagination was perhaps too brilliant, and too rich. It
could hardly be said that any of the pictures which it drew were ill-
drawn or out of place ; yet it might, I think, be truly said, that the
gallery was crowded. The excess was not, however, the consequence
of a defective taste, or a solicitude to shine ; but the produce of a fancy
over creative, always exuberant, and exerting its powers more easily in
this manner than in any other. To speak and write as he actually
spoke and wrote, was only to permit the thoughts and images which
first offered themselves to flow from his lips or his pen.
"Mr. Ames was distinguished by a remarkable and very amiable sim-
plicity of character. In circles where any man would have thought it
an honor to shine, and where he always shone w^th superior lustre, he
appeared entirely to forget himself, and to direct all his observations to
the entertainment of the company, and the elucidation of the subject.
Whenever he conversed, it was impossible to fail of receiving both
instruction and delight. But the instruction flowed nOt from the pride
of talents, or the ambition of being brilliant. Whatever Avas the field
of thought, he expanded it ; whatever was the theme of discussion, he
gave it new splendor. But the manner in which he did both showed
irresistibly that they were the most obvious and the least laborious
employments of such a fancy. His sense of rectitude, both public
and personal, was not only exact, but delicate and exquisite. His
patriotism was glowing. Eminent as he was among those Avho were
most eminent, I should more strongly covet his private character;" and
President Allen says of Ames, he compelled assent more by striking
allusions than by regular deductions, and for charms of conversation
was unequalled. Ames was opposed to democracy, as it would end in
monarchy ; and was an ardent advocate of the Federal party, as being
the shield of our constitution.
Though the professional brethren of Fisher Ames held him in the
highest respect, they concurred with President Kirkland, who prepared
the biography prefixed to his collected works, that he was more adapted
for the senate than the bar. It was easy and delightful to him to illus-
FISHER AMES. 295
trate by a picture, but painful and labovious to prove by a diagram.
He was a man of purest morals, of most amiable disposition, and most
sincerely beloved by his friends, among whom were some of the most
eminent men of that day. He was graphically sketched by Sullivan,
" as above the middle stature, and well formed. His features were not
strongly marked. His forehead was neither high nor expansive. His
eyes were blue and of middling size, his mouth handsome, his hair
black, and short on the forehead, and in his latter years unpowdered.
He was very erect, and when speaking he raised his head, or rather his
chin, Avith the most projected part of his face. His face had a most
complacent expression when he was speaking ; and when he meant to
be severe, it was seen in good-natured sarcasm, rather than in ill-natured
words. It was said that the beautiful productions of his pen were the
first Sowings of his mind, and hardly corrected for the press. His life
is supposed to have been shortened by his excessive anxiety about his
country. INIany of his predictions have been realized, and some of
them in his lifetime. His air, manner and countenance, were those
of an honest and sincere man. The condition of the country furnishes
abundant proof that he was, politically, a wise man. All his mournful
prophecies seem to be in the course of fulfilment."
Fisher Ames once said : "If every gravestone of a departed repub-
lic bore a lesson of wisdom and warning, the democrats would shut their
eyes rather than look upon it. They have no idea of any principles,
excepting their extremes Avhen they are no longer principles;" and,
in his Dangers of American Liberty, he asserts "it never happened
in the world, and it never will, that a democracy has been kept out of
the control of the fiercest and most turbulent spirits in the society.
They breathe into it all their own fury, and make it subservient to the
worst designs of the worst men ; " and in another paragraph exclaims :
"All history lies open for our warning, — open like a church-yard,
all whose lessons are solemn, and chiselled for eternity in the hard
stone; — lessons that whisper, — 0 ! that they could thunder to repub-
lics,— ' Your passions and your vices forbid you to be free ! ' "
Upon one occasion, Judge Story related the following anecdote in
relation to three great men. " Samuel Dexter," said he, "was one
of those men whom, as was said of Burke, if you should meet on a
rainy day beneath a shed, you would at once distinguish as a great
man. A few moments' conversation with ]Mr. Dexter showed this ;
and I remember that when I first met him. not knowing who he was,. I
/
296 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
stared in -wonderment, — and yet his mind was rather of a brilliant
shade than a great one. Mr. Dexter was once in company with Fisher
Ames and Chief Justice INIarshall. The latter commenced a conver-
sation, or rather an opinion (for he was almost solus in the dialogue),
which lasted some three hours. On breaking up, the two former com-
menced, on their way homeward, praising the depth and learning of
their noble host. Said Ames, after a short talk, 'To confess the
truth. Dexter, I have not understood a word of his argument for half
an hour.' 'And I,' good-humoredly rejoined Dextei', 'have been out
of my depth for an hour and a half "
In Felt's Memorials of William S. Shaw, we find it stated by Hannah
Adams, in a letter to Mr. Shaw, that in the year 1790 she sent a
petition to Congress, which Mr. Ames presented at her request, for a
general law to be passed which would secure to authors the exclusive
right of their publications. We find, on turning to the laAvs of Con-
gress, that this act, which is entitled an act for the encouragement of
learning, etc., was established on the 31st of May, 1790.
The following incident regarding Fisher Ames is worthy of record.
There lived in Dedham a farmer of great natural wit and smartness of
repartee, — one Joseph Kingsbury, — who had a great partiality for Mr.
Ames, yet would never let pass an opportunity of showing his tact, even
at the expense of his friend. A town-meeting was held, at which Mr.
Ames made an eloquent speech. Kingsbury, in his dirty frock and
trousers, had taken a seat in the i^djoining pew ; and no sooner had our
orator finished, than he rose and said, " Mr. Moderator, my brother
Ames' eloquence reminds me of nothing but the shining of a fire-fly,
which gives just light enough to show its own insignificance ; " and
down he sat, having thus, at a blow, by exciting the risibles of the
audience, defeated the effect of Mr. Ames' eloquence.
In public speaking, Fisher Ames trusted much to excitement, and
did little more in his closet than draw the outlines of his speech and
reflect on it, till he had received deeply the impressions he intended to
make ; depending for the turns and figures, says Kirkland, of lan-
guage, illustrations, and modes of appeal to the passions, on his imag-
ination and feelings at the time. This excitement continued, when the
cause had ceased to operate. After debate, his mind was agitated like
the ocean after a storm, and his nerves were like the shrouds of a ship
torn by the tempest. When Washington died, he pronounced his
eulogy before the State Legislature. This performance, though it
FISHER AMES. 297
contains touches of real patlios, is less impassioned than might at first
be expected. The numerous funeral honors paid to the memory of this
beloved man had already made a great demand on the public sensibil-
ity. ]\Ir. Ames chose rather to dwell on the political events and acts
which illustrated his character, than merely to draw tears for his loss ;
and it abounds in accurate discrimination and sententious wisdom.
From his knowledge of affairs, says Kirkland, and his confidential
standing with those who were principals in effecting a measure regard-
ing the public credit, he might have made himself a gainer, along with
the public, by the funding system. But he consulted his lively sense
of reputation by a scrupulous abstinence from participating in this
advantage. He observed upon a calumny, which was uttered not
because it was deserved, but because it might be believed, " I have too ^
good proofs of the want of property for surmise to the contrary to have
weight ; I have much more occasion to justify myself to my family for
being poor, than to repel the charge by being rich." His delicate
mind and amiable temper made the contests of his public station often
irksome. Though he did not allow himself to complain, yet he some-
times felt these irritations with much sensibility. '• Tlie value of
friends," he observes, "is the most apparent and highest rated to
those who mingle in the conflicts of political life. The sharp contests
for little points wound the mind, and the ceaseless jargon of hypocrisy
overpowers the faculties. I turn from scenes which provoke and dis-
gust me, to the contemplation of the interest I have in private life, and
to the pleasures of society with those friends Avhom I have so much
reason to esteem."
Fisher Ames Avas a devoted member of the Episcopal churcli in
Dedham, and ever entered with spirit and devotion into the service, by
audibly responding in the litany and gloria patri. He observed to a
friend, one day, after reading " Nelson on the Fasts and Feasts," that
he admired the church, though he Avould wish to be understood that he
did not consider all those holy days to be essential. It was observed
to him that the Episcopal church differed very widely from the Con-
gregational platform, in her ordination, government, and mode of wor-
ship. He replied : " The difference is what I like, and for which I give
the church the preference." He directed his parish taxes to be paid to
the rector of the Episcopal church, whom he requested, during his last
illness, to come to his house and have the church service, and make it
familiar to his family. On the Christmas eve of 1807, he had his
!
298 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
house decorated -with green boughs, and made some beautiful observa-
tions on that ancient custom, which has become as venerable by age as
the church catechism. Some time after he was a member of the
church, one Madam Sprague proposed to dispose of her pew in the
Confreo-ational church at a very low rate, and which was the best
pew in the house. He replied to her that he did not desire it. She
then said, " If the j build a new, splendid meeting-house, Mr. Ames, I
presume you will return to the old society." On which he gravely
replied : "No, madam ; if they erect a meeting-house of silver, and
line it with gold, and give me the best pew in it. I shall go to the
Episcopal church."
In the poem by John Pierpont, recited at the celebration of the
Newbury port Washington Benevolent Society, Oct. 27, 1812, appears
this o;lo^Yin2; tribute to Fisher Ames :
" Then a bright spirit, free from every vice
As was the rose that bloomed in Paradise, —
A zeal as warm to see his country blest
As lived in Cato's or Lycurgus' breast ;
A fancy chaste and vigorous as strong
To holy tliemes Isaiah's hallowed tongue ;
And strains as eloquent as Zion heard,
"When, on his golden harp, her royal bard
Walied to a glow devotion's dying flames,
Flowed from the lips and warmed the soul of Ames.
Lil^e Memnon's harp, that breathed a mournful tone
"When on its strings the rays of morning shone,
That stainless spirit, on ajjpi-oaching night,
"Was touched and saddened by prophetic light ;
• And, as the vision to his view was given.
That spirit sunk, and, sighing, fled to heaven."
TIMOTHY BIGELOW.
FEB. 11, 1800. EULOGY ON "WASHINGTON, FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS GRAND
LODGE.
"His administration was a satire on those who are born to rule,"
says Mr. Bigelow. " Making the general good the sole object of his
pursuit, and carefully distinguishing the attention Avhich was due from
TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 299
him as an individual to the claims of relation and friendship, from the
duties he owed to the public, he never yielded to the influence of
private partiality, nor stooped to the low policy of aggrandizing his
family by the gifts of office. lie bestowed employments on those only
who added to integrity the qualities necessary to discharge them.
Patient in investigation, and caiitious in research, he formed his reso-
lutions with delil)eration, and executed them with decision. Conscious
of the purity of his motives, and satisfied with the propriety of his
determinations, — daily estimating, also, the sacred duty of maintaining
the constitutional rii^-lits of his office, — he was not to be soothed into
dishonorable compliance by the blandishments of flattery, nor diverted
from his purposes by the terror of numbers, or the imposing weight of
public character. AVhen a revolution, unprecedented in its kind, had
involved the European world in confusion, and the flame of war
was spreading into other quarters of the globe, neither the insidious
attempts of the emissaries of France, nor the treacherous arts of her
American adherents, could induce him to hazard our quiet. Though
himself a soldier, and equal to the emergencies of war, he perceived
not only the true interests of his country, but justice and humanity,
enjoined a continuance of peace. He therefore wisely adjusted the
misunderstandings which threatened our tranquillity, and resolved on
a strict neutrality. Our own experience, and the events which have
since transpired in other countries, have fully justified the measure.
Yet, strange to tell, disappointed faction, despairing of success in an
impeachment of his discernment or understanding, has dared here to
arraign the purity of his motives. Circumstances seem to have placed
him beyond the reach of suspicion. Ilis wealth was more than suf-
ficient for all the purposes oflSplendid enjoyment; he had no posterity
to inherit hereditary honors ; and he w^as surely too wise not to know
that a crown would tarnish his glory, — that his own reputation was
inseparably connected with the prosperity of his country. — that his
fame would mount no higher than her eagle could soar. What more
than he possessed could ambition pant for? What further had the
world to bestOAV 7 * * * * Animated with a generous philan-
thropy, our deceased brother early sought admission into our ancient
and honorable fraternity, at once to enable him to cherish with advan-
tage this heavenly principle, and enlarge the sphere of its operation.
He cultivated our art with sedulous attention, and never lost an
opportunity of advancing the interest or promoting the honor of the
300 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
craft. While commander-in-chief of the American Revolutionary
army, he countenanced the establishment and encouraged tjie labors
of a travelling lodge among the militaiy. He wisely considered it as
a school of urbanity, well calculated to disseminate those mild virtues
of the heart so ornamental to the human character, and so peculiarly
useful to correct the ferocity of soldiers, and alleviate the miseries of
war. The cares of his high office engrossed too much of his time
to admit of his engaging in the duties of the chair ; yet he found
frequent opportunities to visit the lodge, and thought it no derogation
from his dignity there to stand on a level with the brethren. True to
our principles on all occasions, an incident once occurred which enabled
him to display their influence to his foes. A body of American troops,
in some successful rencounter Avith the enemy, possessed themselves,
among other booty, of the jewels and furniture of a British travelling
lodge of Masons. This property was directed by the commander-in-
chief to be returned, under a flag of truce, to its former proprietors,
accompanied with a message, purporting that the Americans did not
make war upon institutions of benevolence."
We find a highly independent and dignified passage in the oration
of Mr. Eigelow, pronounced for the Washington Benevolent Society,
that deserves to be perpetuated : " Thanks be to Grod, we still retain
the right of expressing our opinions ! Nor will we ever surrender it.
It is our inheritance. For let it be remembered that our ancestors,
from the moment of their first landing on these shores, were always
free ; that their resistance to Great Britain was not so much the
effect of actual suffering, as of apprehension of approaching danger.
It was not the resistance of slaves, but of those who were determined
never to become such. It is proverbial,* in our country, that Boston
is the cradle of liberty. It is not so much her cradle as her asylum ;
not so much her place of nurture as her citadel. If this were her
birth-place, she must have been produced at once, as Minerva is said
to have sprung forth from the brain of Jupiter, full-grown and com-
plete in armor. Except a short exile at the commencement of the
Revolution, this always was, and I trust always Avill be, her favorite
abode."
Col. Timothy, the father of Hon. Timothy Bigelow, married Anna
Andrews, of Worcester, an orphan, July 7, 1762. He was an intrepid
adherent of the cause of the Revolution ; and, after the battle of Lex-
ington, with the assistance of General Warren, effected the removal
TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 801
of the printing-press and the materials of the printing-office of the Mas-
sachusetts Spy, a decided AVhig paper, conducted by Isaiah Thomas,
founder of the American Antiquarian Society, incorporated in 1812.
They were conveyed across Charles River to Lechmere Point, thence
to AVorcester, and deposited in the dwelling-house of Col. Bigelow,
where the operations of this patriot paper were boldly executed.
During the Revolution, many towns voted that they would have no
slaves ; and it is related of Col. Bigelow, that, when solicited to make
sale of a slave whom he OAvned, he replied that, "while filihtinn- for
liberty, he would never be guilty of selling slaves." Col. Bigelow, then
a major, was captured in the attack on Quebec, when Montgomery
was killed. In 1777 he became a colonel in the continental army,
and assisted in the capture of Burgoyne. He was active at Saratof^a,
Valley Forge, and "West Point. After the war, he was appoiated to
the command of the national arsenal at Springfield, and died jMarch
31, 1790, aged 51.
Hon. Timothy Bigelow, the second child of six children, was born at
Worcester, April 30, 1767. His elementary education was at the
pubhc school of his native town ; but the perils of the war suspending
school operations, he entered the office of Thomas' Spy, Avhere he was
occupied during two years, in which period Benjamin Russell was also
employed in the same office. In 1778 he became a pupil of Rev.
Joseph Pope, of Spencer, and was finally prepared for college under
the care of Hon. Samuel Dexter. He graduated at Harvard Colle"-e
in 1786, and on commencement day he took part in a forensic dispute,
whether religious disputation promotes the interest of true piety.
Mr. Bigelow engaged in the study of law, under the guidance of Levi
Lincoln, senior, at Worcester. Previous to entering college, he first
engaged in classical studies under the care of Benjamin, son of Gen.
Benjamin Lincoln, of Hingham. Among his fellow-companions pre-
paring for the bar, were Judge Edward Bangs, Joseph Dennie, the
essayist, and Theophilus AV heeler. The insurrection of Shays occur-
ring in 1786, these young patriots threw aside Blackstone and the dry
study of law, and shouldered their muskets, and marched to Petersham
as volunteers, to thwart the treasonable designs of the reckless rebels,
who were soon defeated. In 1789 Mr. Bigelow entered on the prac-
tice of law at Groton, in INIassachusetts. In 1806 he removed to
Mcdford, and jiractised law in Boston. He Avas of the State Legisla-
ture during more than twenty years. He was Speaker of the House
26
802 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
during eleven years. He was a State Senator during four years, and
of the Executive Council during two years.
In tlie popular period of Freemasonry, Mr. Bigelow presided during
two triennial terms at the head of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts ;
and, in that capacity, with a splendid escort of craftsmen, in the year
1808, made a journey to Portland, for the instalment of officers of the
Grand Lodge of JNIaine. He was a member of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, and vice-president of the American Antiquarian
Society. He was an originator of the institution of Middlesex Hus-
bandmen. His devoted taste for horticulture prompted him to adopt a
tasteful j)lan of ornamental gardening around his mansion at Medford,
which his social spirit made the seat of hospitality, and where were
exhibited domestic virtues rendering his society as desirable as his
public -career was eminent. He was profoundly endowed with a knowl-
edge of theology, and was so well versed in Greek and Hebrew as to
easily read the Scriptures in the original languages.
In a period of political excitement, when an anonymous writer in
Dr. Park's Repertory was pouring out his political philippics, inflaming
the whole State, Mr. Bigelow, having a great desire to know who he
was, proceeded to the printing-office, where he remarked that he was
somewhat familiar with case-work, and requested leave to try his
hand ; on which, some manuscript copy was passed to him, when,
seizing the composing-stick, he set up several lines, and immediately
recognizing the hand-writing as that of the famous John Lowell, he
quitted the office, rejoiced at the discovery.
There are those hWng who remember the eminent position sustained
by Mr. Bigelow, both in law and politics. They have not forgotten
the manly dignity which he sustained in presiding over the Legisla-
ture of the State ; nor of his remarkable memory, which enabled him
to call all the seven hundred members of that house by name, on the
second day after they had assembled ; nor the unexampled influence
which he exercised over that body during sessions of intense political
excitement. They may be able to repeat a few of his brilliant sayings
and admirable repartees ; but this is all that can now be related of his
wit, which ever shone at the bar and in the halls of legislation, and
enlivened the social banquet, for which he was not excelled by any of
his associates, of whom were Strong, Gore, Dexter, and Otis. A few
printed orations are all that inform the present day of the clear
reason, strong logic, and fervid eloquence, which marked the advocate
TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 303
and the politician, and which rendered his control over juries and
popular gatherings almost unbounded. His exordium on the immor-
tality of the soul, in his oration on Samuel Dana, is worthy of a di\nne.
It should be stated, moreover, that several of his speeches and reports
are to be found in the papers of the day, and may still be read by men
of taste -vvith applause who embrace his political views, and with
veneration by his opponents. Some of those who loved him best can
declare how honorable was his legal and political course, and how
scrupulous he was in observing the duties of religion. But these
memorials are all that can be gathered of this eminent civilian : and
before many of these have faded away, a learned scion of the stock,
the Rev. Dr. Bigelow, would perform a great public service by gath-
ering memoirs and remains of his venerated father, embracing orations,
political speeches, and legal arguments that he has delivered, to be
published in a permanent form.
Mr. Bigelow was a ready speaker, and during a practice of thirty-
two years he argued more cases than any one of the profession in Xew
England. Possessing rax'e wit, as we have said, and force of argu-
ment, with fluent narrative powers, his society was endeared to all that
knew him. His figure was tall, and courtesy graced his manners.
He was an ardent friend of the old Federal party. His oration for
the Washington Benevolent Society is one of the best specimens of
political spirit in that burning period. He was an honored member
of the greatly-defamed Hartford Convention. May our country ever
have such men as Cabot, Otis, Bliss, Dane, Prescott, and Bigelow, —
not forgetting Baylies, Thomas, Waldo, Lyman, Wilde, and Longfel-
low ! The gathering of this venerable convocation was the principal
means of hastening the peace with Great Britain, and the contest
advanced the glory of the nation.
]\Ir. Bigelow married Lucy, daughter of Judge Oliver Prescott, of
Groton, September, 1791. His children were, Katharine, who mar-
ried Hon. Abbott LaAvrence, minister at the court of St. James. Rev.
Dr. Andrew, formerly of ^ledford and Taunton, minister at large for
Boston, and author of Leaves of a Journal in North Britain and
Ireland, also Notes of Travels in Sicily and jNIalta; whose life of
philanthropy will sweeten his last days. Hon. John Prescott, for-
merly Secretary of State, of the Executive Council, and Ma3-or of
Boston, elected in 1849. When at the festival in Fancuil Ilall, on
the centennial celebration of the settlement of Boston, September 17,
804 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
1830, Mayor Bigelow gave the forthcoming sentiment: " The two
most celebrated cradles in history. — the cradle of Hercules, and this
old Cradle of Liberty : Both memorable for the energy of their infant
occupants in resisting the emissaries of oppression." Edward, a
brother beloved, who died in 1838; Francis, a merchant of Boston;
and tAvo daughters, one of whom married Henry Stevens, Esq., a
merchant of New York. Hon. Timothy Bigelow died in Medford,
May 18, 1821.
JOHN DAVIS.
FEB. 19, 1800. EULOGY ON "WASHINGTON. FOR THE AMERICAN ACADEMY
OP ARTS AND SCIENCES.
Was born at Plymouth, Jan. 25, 1761. Graduated at Harvard Col-
lege in 1781 ; and when he took his degree, his theme was a poem on
" Commencement." He became teacher in the family of Gen. Joseph
Otis, a brother of the patriot. He prepared for the bar under the
direction of Benjamin, a son of General Benjamin Lincoln, and com-
pleted under Oakes Angier. Esq., of Bridge water. He married Ellen
"Watson, June 7, 1786, and was elected as a delegate to the convention
on the adoption of the federal constitution in 1788, and last of the
survivors. Was a senator for Plymouth county in 1795, and a
Comptroller of the United States Treasury in 1795. Was appointed
by Washington U. S. District Attorney for Massachusetts. Li 1801
he was appointed by President Adams a judge of the U. S. District
Court for this State. Was counsellor of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, and member of that institution, and of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society, from their foundation. Judge Davis was
treasurer of Harvard University, member of the corporation and board
of overseers of that college, and member of the N. E. Genealogical
Historical Society. He was also a delegate to the Massachusetts
convention on revising; the State constitution, in 1820. He devised
the city seal, with this inscription, adopted by Boston on its incorpora-
tion, Feb. 23, 1822: "As with our fathers, so may God be with us."
Judge Davis resigned his station as district judge of U. S. Court,
JOHN DAVIS. 305
Julj, 1841, on which occasion he said to the court, " It is painful to
employ the solemn word dissolved. Our official connection will cease ;
but reciprocal esteem and good-will will, I crust, remain in continued
exercise." Judge Davis was present at the festival in Faneuil Hall on
the centennial celebration of the settlement of Boston, on Avhich occasion
he advanced the following sentiment, "History and poetry, — Black-
stone's spring and the Pierian spring : ' To keep the Pilgrims'
memory green,' Boston is satisfied." This occurred after the delivery
of the oration by Quincy, and the poem by Spraguc.
Judge Davis was one of the most profound antiquarians in New
England. His learned notes to Morton's New England ^Memorial have
done more to incite research into the history of the Pilgrim Fathers than
any other work. It created a new era in antiquarian lore ; and, had he
possessed the active vigor of Camden of Old England, he would have
been his rival in New England.
On the occasion of a dinner party, at which Judge Story and others
eminent in the legal profession were present, the" conversation turned
upon the comparative advantages of the different periods of life.
Some preferred for enjoyment youth and manhood ; others ascribed
more satisfactions to old age. When the opinion of Judge Davis was
asked, he said, Avith his usual calm simplicity of manner, " In the
warm season of the year, it is my delight to be in the country ; and,
every pleasant evening while I am there, I love to sit at the window,
and look upon some beautiful trees which grow near my house. The
murmuring of the Avind through the branches, the gentle play of the
leaves, and the flickering of light upon them when the moon is up, fill
me with indescribable pleasure. As the autumn comes on, I feel very
sad to see these leaves falling, one by one ; but when they are all gone,
I find that they were only a screen before my eyes ; for I experience
a new and higher satisfaction, as I gaze through the naked branches at
the glorious stars beyond."
The following version of Judge Davis' sentiment on the autumn of
life, is from the hand of Allen C. Spooner, Esq. :
" Before my door, in summer's heat,
Proudly the elms their brandies spread ;
Cool verdure sprang beneath my feot,
And shadows played around my head ;
Joyful I passed the sultry hours,
And mocked the sun's meridian power.
26*
306 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
•' But when, with withering hand, the frost
Shrivelled the leaves, and, gaunt and bare,
Their naked arms the elm-trees tossed,
AVhile autumn tempests rent the air,
I mourned the summer's glories fled.
And copious tears of sadness shed.
" When winter came, and, cold and still.
The ice-king forged his frozen chain.
And over snow-clad vale and hill
Midnight assumed her solemn reign.
Forth-looking from my window-bars.
Through the stripped limbs I saw the stars.
" Thus earthly loves, like summer leaves.
Gladden, but intercept our view ;
But when bereft, the spirit grieves.
And hopes are crushed, and comforts few.
Lo ! in the depth of sorrow's night
Beams forth from far celestial light."
Judge Davis once said : "In the happy country which we inhabit,
we find from its earliest history principles of polity and rules of conduct
!havc prevailed that give it an honorable rank among the nations, and
to which our unexampled growth and prosperity must, in a degree, be
;ascribed. In its infant condition, a sober regard to the happiness of
men, tlu-ough the Avhole of their existence, distinguished its illustrious
founders. Their scrupulous care to render satisfaction for a scanty por-
tion of grain which the erratic savage had left buried in the sand mani-
fests their delicate regard to justice. And when we follow a Winslow
travelling through the wilderness to visit the sick sachem JNIasassoit,
y{Q behold an amiable example of that mercy which droppeth as the
■gentle dew from heaven. ' Faithful to ourselves,' said the revered
Washington, ' we have violated no obligations to others.' " In allu-
sion to the spirit of American social polity. Judge Davis remarked, nt
another time, "Onward, ever onward, mo7-e mf/Jonftn in the march
of improvement and advancement of human happiness."
How inexpressibly beautiful was his own estimation of old age !
Simplicity and truthfulness, says Dr. Francis, Avere essential elements
of his whole being. No provocation could tempt him to be unjust to
any person or subject. The evenness of his mind and the serenity of
his spirit had a sedative effect on the ruffled feelings of others. The
very atmosphere of his presence was a restraint on impetuosity. He
died Jan. 14, 1847.
JOSEPH HALL. 307
JOSEPH HALL.
JULY i, 1800. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Joseph Hall was born April 26, 1761, in Portland-street, Boston .
graduated at Harvard College in 1781 ; student at law with Col.
Benjamin Hicliborn, and married Anna Adams in 1787 ; he married
a second time, Sarah, a daughter of Ellis Gray. On the evening of
the march of the British regulars upon Lexington and Concord, he
was despatched by his father to Roxbury, in order to convey intelli-
gence to General Warren of the intended attack. His father had
learned at that early period the purpose for which the troops were
mustering, through a domestic in the family, who was intimate with
one of the nurses employed in the military hospital near the family
residence, in Portland-street. In 1786 Mr. Hall was an aid to Major
General Brooks, in Shays' Lisurrection. In 1788 he was a member
of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was a Boston
representative. In 1818 he was appointed High Sheriff of Suffolk.
In 1825 he succeeded Judge Dawes as judge of Suffolk Probate,
which station he resigned in 1836. Judge Hall died April 15,
1848.
A prominent feature in the character of Judge Hall was a manly
and decided honesty, which was exliibited in a strikincr incident. The
treaty with Great Britain, conducted by John Jay, was, like, the
Mexican treaty of 1847, surreptitiously disclosed previous to its
confirmation in the Senate. This treaty was at first violently con-
tested. In Boston opposition to it was decided. On the 10th of July,
1795, a town-meeting was held at Boston, and, amid universal enthu-
siasm, a vote was passed appointing a committee to report objections to
the articles of the treaty, that the same may be returned to President
Washington. This committee reported at an adjourned meeting, held
July 13 ; and, according to the town records, this report Avas unani-
mously accepted. The record is not strictly correct. One person
had the firmness to oppose their measures, — and that man was Joseph
Hall. The Rev. S. K. Lothrop, his last pastor, states that he
received the facts from his own lips. ^Ir. Hall stood in the gallery at
Faneuil Hall, and, before the question was put, addressed the audience.
Being at this time a young man of popular character, and an energetic
308 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
speaker, he readily gained listening ears; but the moment it was
perceived he intended to advocate the treaty, in opposition to their
proposed measures, he was overwhelmed with groans and hisses. He
persevered, however, in stating boldly his arguments for approving the
treaty, and opposing the doings of the town. Mr. Hall concluded his
speech by reprobating a proceeding which ho said would have a tend-
ency to unscnatorize the Senate. The citizens, excited already by the
publication in the Chronicle, were frenzied by the inflammatory elo-
quence of Dr. Jarvis, the unrivalled declaimer of the day, who
instantly caught the expression. " The gentleman," exclaimed he,
"would not unscnatorize the Senate : I will never consent to unpop-
ularize the people." Old Faneuil Hall rang with applauding shouts,
and the measure was adopted with acclamation. The public excite-
ment was so strong that mobs paraded the streets of Boston, and in
one of which was a riotous procession of watermelon lanterns, with the
intention of burning John Jay in effigy. Several of the boys engaged
in it declared, when they were taken into custody, that Mr. Benjamin
Austin, Jr., had given them one shilling and sixpence each to effect
this design ; and it was thus celebrated by a satirical poet :
" To acts of bril)ery it belongs the prize,
Let my bold fete of yesternight suffice,
When half the school-boys in the town I paid.
Our streets in mob-like phalanx to jjarade,
A melon lanthorn on a pole display,
And burn it for an effigy of Jay."
In less than one year from that time, — on the 27th of April, 1796,
— Mr. Hall had the satisfaction of witnessing another town-meeting,
so densely crowded that it was necessary to adjourn from Faneuil Hall
to the Old South Church, at which, chiefly through the influence of
an eloquent speech dehvered by Harrison Gray Otis, it was voted,
almost unanimously, to address a memorial to Congress, urging that
body to make the necessary appropriations to fulfil the stipulations of
the treaty. The memorial was signed by thirteen hundred citizens of
Boston, At this final meeting the rolling thunder of Jarvis was
again heard ; but a new and bright planet blazed through the darkness,
and dispelled the cl9uds. Harrison Gray Otis for the first time came
before the people on a political question ; and they, to their admiration,
discovered that the talent of popular eloquence was not a monopoly.
i
JOSEPH HALL. 309
Bishop Cheverus, afterwards a cardinal, in the rapture of his admira-
tion, threw his arms around Otis, and while tears were streaming down
his cheeks, exclaimed, "Future generations, young man, will rise up
and call thee blessed ! "
Dr. Charles Jarvis was one of the greatest orators that ever con-
trolled the people in Faneuil Hall. He was both vehement and ardent ;
and when he Avent over to the Jacobin party, the Boston political poet
thus apostrophized, in the Federal Orrery of 1795, edited by Paine:
" Much I regret from power thy forced retreat,
By Ames out-voted, and by Woodward beat ;
Was it for this, before the listening throng,
You poured the patriot torrent of your tongue ?
* ♦ * *
Then shall thy sons, oh goddess, never more
From anti-Federal throats their voices pour.
Your warmest friends will suifer fresh defeat,
And Ames, your bitterest foe, retain his seat ;
On our whole corps contempt and scandal fall.
And universal ruin whelm us all.
* * * *
Yet to thyself, regretted Charles, return, —
Bid that warm heart with nobler passions burn ;
With conscious pride those twining weeds disclaim,
That kill the laurels of thy former fame."
The candidate for Congress, in opposition to Fisher Ames, besides
Samuel Adams, was Charles Jarvis, Avho, it is said, forsook the old
Federal party, and became a leader of the Jefferson party, — an orator
of tall, fine person, expression and voice ; fluent, accurate and grace-
ful, in oratory ; with a head bald, and face rather large, beautifully
shaped, an aquiline nose, small, piercing eyes, and remarkably express-
ive countenance. He was charactei'ized by Gardiner as the Bald
Eagle of the Boston scat. «
Dr. Jarvis was accustomed to pause in his eloquence, when he had
said something which he thought impressive, and to look round upon
his audience for the effect ; and he never seemed to fail of success. It
is said that, in early life, he was one of a party given to fox-hunt-
ing and cock-fighting ; and, meeting a friend shortly previous to an
evening lecture, who inquired if he should attend there, Jarvis
replied that he did not know that he should be ready in season. On
this, a game-cock; which he had concealed under his cloak, most lustily
310 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
crowccl, to the surprise of his friend, who -was satisfied that his mind
was unfitted for devotion at that time.
He -was born in Boston in 1748, and married the sister of Sir Wilham
Pepperell ; was appointed by Jefferson surgeon to the Marine Hospital
at Charlestown ; in 1788 was a delegate to the Massachusetts convention,
and was of the State Legislature until 1796. Dr. Jarvis was elected
president of the Society of Republican Citizens, gathered at the State-
house July 4, 1803, on Avhich occasion he gave this sentiment : " May
the light of Heaven disappear, before the people of this country shall
cease to be free." This was probably the first democratic society in Mas-
sachusetts. He was of ready conception and acute penetration, highly
popular, until his opinions on Jay's Treaty and the French Revolution
left him in the minority. Dr. Jarvis, in the last days of his existence,
when he had given up all hopes of life, remarked, with composure,
that he should not die like a certain French philosopher, who boasted
that he died without hope and without fear ; for, though he should die
Avithout fear, he should not die without hope. Benjamin Austin said
of Charles Jarvis, that he was a Demosthenes in eloquence, a Cato in
integrity, a Howard in philanthropy, and a Sidney in patriotism. It
is said of Jarvis in the poem '■ The Demos in Council " :
" A fairer intellect, more active mind,
AVarped not from truth and government ;
For his tongue dropt manna, and could sometimes
^ Make the worse appear the better reason."
CHARLES PAINE.
JULY 4, 1801. FOR THE TOAA'N AUTHORITIES.
Charles Paine Avas a son of Hon. Robert Treat Paine, and born
at Taunton, Aug. 30, 1776 ; entered the Boston Latin School in 1782 ;
graduated at Harvard College in 1793, Avhen he engaged in a con-
ference on the comparatiA'e advantages Avhich haA^e resulted to mankind
from the mariner's compass, gunpowder, and the art of printing ; Avas
a counsellor-at-law, a partner of Harrison Gray Otis, and married
Sarah, a daughter of Brig. Gen. Charles Gushing, cleik of the Suffolk
"WILLIAM EMER50X. 811
courts. He delivered an address for the INIassachusetts Charitable
Fire Society, in 1808. Mr. Paine was a young man of great powers
of -wit and force of character. Had he not died in early life, it is
highly probable that he -would have risen to ' eminence. He died in
Boston, Feb, 15, 1810.
WILLIAM EMERSON.
JULY 4, 1802. FOR TUE TOWN AUTUOIIITIES.
"The dust of Zion," says Emerson, "was precious to the exiled
Jew, and in her very stones and ruins he contemplated the resurrec-
tion of her walls, and the augmented magnificence of her towers, A
new glory, too, shall yet overspread our beloved constitution. The
guardian God of America — he who heard the groans of her oppression,
and led her hosts to victory and peace — has still an ear for her com-
plaints, and an arm for her salvation. That confidence in his care
which consists in steadfastness to his eternal statutes will dispel the
clouds which darken her hemisphere.
" Ye, therefore, to whom the welfare of your country is dear, unite in
the preservation of the Christian, scientific, political, and military insti-
tutions of your fathers. This high tribute is due to those venerable
sages who established this Colum])ian festival, to the surviving officers
and soldiers of that army which secured your rights with the sword, and
to the memory of their departed brethren. You owe it to the ashes of
him who, whether considered as a man among men, or an hero among
heroes, will command the love and admiration of every future age.
Yes, immortal Washington ! amidst all the rancor of party and Avar of
opinions, we Avill remember thy dying voice, Avhich was raised against
the madness of innovation : ' We will cherish a cordial, habitual, and
immovable attachment to our national union, accustoming ourselves
to think and speak of it as the palladium of our political safety and
prosperity.' You owe it to his great successor, who has now carried
into retirement the sublime and delightful consciousness of having been
an everlasting benefactor to his country. Enjoy, illustrious man, both
here and hereafter, the recompense of the Avise and good ! And may
the principles of free government Avhich you have developed, and the
312 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
constitutions which you have defended, continue the pride of America,
until the earth, palsied with age, shall shake the mountains from their
bases, and empty her oceans into the immensity of space ! You owe
it to the civil fathers of this commonwealth, and in particular to him
who, thrice raised to its highest dignity, watches over its immunities
with painful diligence, and governs it with unrivalled wisdom, modera-
tion, and clemency. You owe it, in fine, Americans, to yourselves, to
your posterity and to mankind."
WilKam Emerson was son of Rev. William Emerson, of Concord,
Mass., who left his church in 1776 to serve as chaplain in the army at
Ticonderoga; and was born at Concord, May, 1769; graduated at Har-
vard College in 1789, when he engaged in a colloquy on the compara-
tive value of riches, knowledge, and refinement of manners ; was
installed as pastor of the church in Harvard, 1792, and installed as
pastor of the First Church in Boston, in 1799. He was Phi Beta
Kappa orator in 1789. In 1805 he was elected the first vice-presi-
dent of the Literary Anthology Club, and was editor of the J\Ionthly
Anthology. It was on his motion, seconded by William Smith ShaAV,
the vote to establish a library of periodical publications was adopted by
the society ; and this was the first step towards the establishment of the
Boston Athengeum. Mr. Emerson prepared a history of the First
Church in Boston, a work which will ever identify him with antiqua-
rian research. He published several occasional discouj'ses, and died
May 11, 1811.
He was a devoted student, and of chaste classical taste, both in com-
position and rhetoric, and was a graceful and dignified speaker. The
sweetness of his demeanor, being attended with general courtesy, was
a ready passport to the heart. Though he had not the fervor that
rouses the many, or the originality to overpower the few, the elegance
of his style, united to his natural equanimity and kindness of heart,
gave him devoted admirers. He married Ruth Ilaskins, of Boston,
Oct. 25, 1796. His son, Ralph Waldo Emerson, formerly pastor of
the Second Church in Boston, is an ingenious writer, of peculiar fiime,
who, in writing of the impossibility of acting or reciting the plays of
Shakspeare, on alluding to the marvellous suggestiveness of his dic-
tion, remarks, in a sentence almost as striking as the thing it describes,
that "the recitation begins; one golden word leaps out immortal
from all this painted pedantry, and sweetly torments one with invita-
tions to its own inaccessible homes."
WILLIAM SULLIVAN. 313
WILLIAM SULLIVAN.
JULY 4, 1803. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
'• The evils which are said to menace our happiness," remarks Sul-
livan, " are attributed to the monarchical and aristocratical tendencies
of our government on the one part, and to its democratical prepon-
derance on the other. We are told that there are men among us who
covet distinctions incompatible with the general welfare, — distinctions
■which will require the radiance of monarchy and the force of obedient
legions to cherish and support them. The throne, it is said, must first
be established, because it is the fountain of honoi', whence is to flow the
stream which is to render its partakers illustrious and noble. A throne
could be established only by the will of the people, or by military
power. Who will be mad enough to expect such a will amongst people
who possess the best information, and to whom death and dependence
have equal terrors 7 And whence do the plottings of turpitude, or the
dreams of imbecility, pretend to gather that force which is to vanquish
a people who have arms in their hands, and whose hearts are the
dwellings of valor ?
" It is often repeated, that aristocrats will raise the storm of civil
discord, and will direct its course to the accomplishment of their designs.
Can it be seriously pretended that men, who must be allowed to have
some understanding, — men Avho must know something of the history
of their species, — men to whom are secured, by the admired results
of legislation, their patrimonial possessions and their fruits of industry,
— men Avho enjoy all that life can give, — will court the bloochcst con-
flicts, and hazard everything dear to them, to obtain an empty titular
distinction l They who tell us that such distinctions are pursued seek
to deceive us. They do not tell the truth. Well do they know that,
with whatever materials and by whatever hands the fabric of nobility
may be raised, it Mill rise only to fall, and to crush its short-sighted
founders. The informed and the opulent ask only that their country
may be saved from the horrors of democracy. They want no other
nobility than that which springs from the union of wisdom with good-
ness ; a nobility whose orders are registered in heaven ; a nobility
founded by the Author of the universe.
" It is not from monarchy — it is not from aristocracy — that dangers
27
814 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
threaten ; but do they not threaten from democracy? In the affairs of
men there is no test of truth but experience ; and experience proves that,
whenever free governments have been lost, their loss is dated from the
innovations of those who pronounce themselves patriots and friends of
the people. Our republic is said to resemble that of Carthage more
than any other of ancient times. Like us, its citizens cultivated let-
ters, arms, and commerce. It flourished in remarkable splendor dur-
ing five hundred years, and -was that power which opposed the most
formidable resistance to the dominion of Rome. The evils which arose
from popular turbulence at length enabled the Romans to enumerate
among their triumphs the total destruction of the Carthaginian people.
Such Avas the debasement which preceded their last days, that they
were reproached with having wept for the loss of their jewels, while
the loss of their honor and of their liberties could not command a sigh."
William Sullivan was the second son of Gov. James Sullivan, whose
father, John, came from Ireland in 1730, as passenger in a ship which
W'as driven by stress of weather into a port on the coast of Maine, and
settled at Berwick, then a town of jNIassachusetts.
The subject of this sketch was born at Saco, in the District of Maine,
Nov. 12, 1774; entered the Latin School in 1781. and was prepared
for college under the instruction of Rev. Philhps Pa3^son, D. D., of
Chelsea, near Boston; and graduated at Harvard College in 1792, at
which time he took part in a conference on law, physic, and divinity.
He engaged in the study of law under the direction of his father, Avas
admitted to the Suffolk bar at the July term of the Court of Common
Pleas, in 1795, and married Sarah Webb, a daughter of Col. James
Swan, of Dorchester, Mass., May, 1802. He soon became an emi-
nent counsellor. At this period, it was his habit to rise at four o'clock
in the morning, and closely engage in study. He thus acquired that
taste for intense application which led him gradually into such sedentary
practice that shortened his days. In the yesjr 1803 he pronounced the
oration on our national independence ; and it is related that it effected
such a strong impression, that it led to his election to the House of
Representatives in 1804, and was afterwards elected to the Senate and
Executive Council, until his withdrawal in 1830. In 1820 Mr. Sullivan
w^as a delega^ to the convention on the revision of the State constitu-
tion, and was appointed by the convention to draft an address to the
people, which accompanied the amendments, and was published Jan. 9,
1821. He was major of the Independent Cadets, a member of the
WILLIAM SULLIVAN. 815
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and brigadier-general of the
Boston militia. In 1812 Mr. Sullivan pronounced the first oration for
the Washington Benevolent Society ; a zealous political effort, in which,
remarking of Washington, he says : "If, from the abode -which his vir-
tues have acquired to him, he can behold the concerns of men, — if the
hearts of this assembly are open to him, — he sees that we have con-
tinued to deserve his praise and benedictions; " and, in 1814, he was
elected president of this political institution, which was opposed to the
war with Great Britain. In 1815 Gen. Sullivan, H. G. Otis, and
Thomas H. Perkins, were appointed by the State Legislature as com-
missioners to the government at Washington, to present the resolves of
the State in relation to the contest with Great Britain. Gen. Sulhvan
was one of the committee of the tow^n of Boston who reported a city
charter, and was the author of the sections on theatrical amusements,
and of the bill providing for the establishment of a police court. He
was elected to the city Council, on its institution, in 1822. He was
president of the Social Law Library of Suffolk, originated by Hon,
Judge Jackson; and in 1824 proposed the establishment of a His-
torical Law Library. When Lafiyette dined with the Phi Beta Kappa
Society of Harvard College, August, 1824, Gen. Sullivan gave the
sentiment herewith : " Minerva, Apollo, and the Muses, who have done
themselves so much honor this day in their homage to Mars." He
was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of the
Massachusetts Historical Society, and of the Pennsylvania Historical
Society. Gen. Sullivan Avas an elegant belles-lettres scholar, an accom-
plished gentleman, remarkable for bland and affable manners, and per-
suasive oratory. His eloquence at Faneuil Hall was truly captivating,
but not of so masterly stamp as that of his compeer, Otis. Mr. Sul-
livan once said, " A man may be a profound lawyer, yet no advocate;
but he cannot be an advocate without being a laAvycr : " and it maybe
fiiirly said of him, that he united both qualities in himself; for his elo-
quence at the bar and in political assemblies, and his sagacity as coun-
sel, embodied as much effective power as did his rhetoric. What Justice
Story remarked, in allusion to Samuel Dexter, may be with great pro-
priety applied to William Sullivan, that no man was ever more exempt
from finesse or cunning, in addressing a jury. He disdained the little
arts of sophistry or popular appeal. It was in his judgment sometliing
more degrading than the sight of Achilles playing with a lady's distaff.
Mr. Sulhvan was about six feet in height, and well formed. He was
316 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
dignified and moderate in his gait ; and rather reserved in manners, on
the first approach, but very agreeable on acquaintance. His manners
were those of olden time, and would more deeply wound with a formal
bow, than many men, less dignified, with a blow. He used to say that
dignified civility, founded on self-respect, was a gentleman's weapon
and defence. He delighted to have his family about him, and see them
happy. His son says of him, in a biographical sketch prefixed to an
edition of his " Public Men of the Revolution," published since his
decease: "Oftentimes he would steal an hour from his professional
duties, to remain after dinner with his children at the table, where
agreeable conversation, song and anecdote, softened the cold realities of
life, and united more closely the natural tics of afiection which bound
his circle to<rether. He was attentive to the education of his dauirh-
ters, and many of his works were originally written with a particular
view to their instruction."
In order to illustrate the narrative powers of Gen. Sullivan, we cite
a reminiscence of Gen. Knox, in which he was concerned, to whom we
have frequently alluded. The son gives this relation, as near as he
can remember, in Sullivan's own language. " Generals Knox, Lincoln
and Jackson, had been companions in the Revolution ; had laughed,
eaten and drank, fought and lived, together, and were on the most
intimate terms. They loved each other to a degree but little known
among men of the present day. After the struggle of the war, they
retired to their homes, and Avere all comfortable in their Avorldly cir-
cumstances, if not rich ; but Knox, possessing large tracts of land in
the State of Maine, upon the rapid sales of which he confidently
relied, imagined himself more wealthy than he was, and lived in luxu-
rious style. He built himself a superb mansion at Thomaston, Me.,
where all his friends met with a cordial welcome, and enjoyed the most
liberal hospitality. It was not an unusual thing for Knox to kill, in
summer, Avhen great numbers of friends visited him, an ox and twenty
sheep on every Monday morning, and to make up an hundred beds
daily in his own house. He kept, for his own use and that of his
friends, twenty saddle-horses, and several pairs, of carriages, in his sta-
bles. This expensive style of living was too much for his means, as
he was disappointed in the sale of his lands; and he was forced to bor-
row sums of money on the credit of his friends. Generals Lincoln and
Jackson. He soon found himself involved to a large amount, and was
obliged to acquaint his friends of his embarrassments, into which he
■O'lLLIAM SULLIVAN. 317
ft
had unfortunately drawn them. Lincoln was at that time collector of
the port of Boston, and occupied a house in State-street, now torn
down, part of which he used for the custom-house, and part he occu-
pied as his dwelling. It Avas agreed that the three should meet there,
and a full exposition of Knox's affairs he made known. I was applied
to as counsel on the occasion, and was the first one who came at the
time appointed. Jackson soon entered ; after him, Knox ; and almost
immediately. Lincoln came in. They seated themselves in a semi-
circle, Avhilst I took my place at the table, for the purpose of drawing
up the necessary papers, and taking the notes of this melancholy dis-
closure. These men had often met before, but never in a moment of
such sorrow. Both Lincoln and Jackson knew and felt that Knox, the
kindest heart in the world, had unwittingly involved them. They v.ere
all too full to speak, and maintained for some minutes a sorrov/ful
silence. At last, as if moved by the same impulse, they raised their
eyes. Their glances met, and Knox burst into tears. Soon, however,
Lincoln rose, brushed the tear from his eye, and exclaimed, ' Gentle-
men, this will never do ! We came hither to transact business ; let us
attend to it.' This aroused the others, and Knox made a full dis-
closure of his afllairs. Although Lincoln and Jackson suffered severe
losses, it never disturbed the feelings of friendship and intimacy which
had existed between these generous-hearted men."
We will introduce another reminiscence related by Gen. Sullivan.
" Soon after the war had been declared, I chanced to be at Saratoga
Springs, Avhere I met with the lion. Calvin Goddard, of Norwich, Ct.,
and with Hon. Jon. D wight, of Springfield, iNIass. Gov. Griswold, of
Connecticut, was also at the hotel, but confined to his chamber. It
was the habit of these gentlemen and myself to pay the governor a
daily visit ; and, Avhen he announced himself too ill to receive us, we
strolled into the neighboring woods to talk over the state of the Union,
respecting the welfare and durability of which we entertained serious and
painful fears. On one of these occasions, it was concluded that a con-
vention should be gathered at New York, during the following Septem-
ber, at which as many States should be represented as could be induced
to send delegates. The object of this convention was to determine
upon the expediency of ]Madi3on"s reelection, by running De Witt
Clinton as the opposing candidate for the presidency. Goddard was
intrusted with the State of Connecticut, Dwight with New York, and
I was to awaken Massachusetts to the importance of this convention,
27*
318 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
while all three were to assist in rousing the other States. The conven-
tion met at New York, September, 1812 ; and eleven States were rep-
resented by seventy delegates. The convention during two days had
been unable to come to any determination ; and, on the third day. were
about dissolving, without any fixed plan of operation. Hon. Rufus
King had pronounced the most impassioned invective against Clin-
ton, and was so excited, during his address, that his knees trembled
under him. Governeur Morris doubted much the expediency of this
measure, and was seconded in these doubts by Theo. Sedgwick, as well
as by Judge Hopkinson. Many of the members were desirous of return-
ing to Philadelphia by the steamboat, at two o'clock, p. m., of the third
day. It was approaching the hour, and nothing had been determined,
when Mr. Otis arose, apparently much embarrassed, holding his hat in
bis hand, and seeming as if he were almost sorry he had arisen. Soon
he warmed with the subject, his hat fell from his hand, and he poured
forth a strain of eloquence that chained all present to their seats ; and
when, at a late hour, the vote was taken, it was almost unanimously
resolved to support Clinton. This effort was unprepared, but only
proves how entirely Mr. Otis deserves the reputation he enjoys of
being a great orator."
Mr. Sullivan will ever deserve the gratitude of the public for his
excellent moral and pohtical productions. The Political Class-book
entitles him to the reputation of having first introduced the study of
the nature and principles of our government into the schools of our
land ; and he was promptly followed by Judge Story and President
Duer, with works of like nature. Such labors are indications of a
return to the days of Socrates and Plato, of Cicero and Quintilian,
The Moral Class-book, The Historical Class-book, Historical Causes
and Effects, from the Fall of the Roman Empire, 476, to the Reforma-
tion, 1517. He published a discourse, delivered for the Pilgrim Soci-
ety, at Plymouth, 1829 ; a Discourse on Intemperance, 1832. In 1837
he published a little treatise on " Sea Life : or what may or may not
be done, and what ought to be done, by Shipowners, Shipmasters,
Mates, and Seamen." He published a highly antiquarian address to
the members of the bar of Suffolk, Mass., March, 1824, giving a view
of legal practice from the earliest date.
During the last ten years of his life, Mr. Sullivan declined profes-
sional business, being only counsellor for a few institutions who were
unwilling to lose the benefit of his advice. His last days were devoted
WILLIAM SULLIVAN. 310
to studies purely moral and historical. lie said to an intimate friend,
•who expressed extreme regret that he had retired from his profession :
" I believe I mistook, in my selection of a profession, the course most
favorable to my happiness ; for I have never been conscious of real
enjoyment, or of the true bent of my talents, if I have any, until I
devoted myself to literature."
At the centennial celebration of Harvard College, Gen. Sulhvan, in
concluding an eloquent speech, gave the sentiment:. "May the
educated conscientiously remember that they are the trustees of
knowledge, for the use and benefit of those who have been less fortu-
nate than themselves."
An intimate friend of Sullivan remarked of him: "His manners
among his friends and intimate associates were very delightful. He
was not forgetful of himself, nor unaware of his talents for conversa-
tion ; but his habitual kindness of heart and the natural nobleness of
his character, gave him, in a very unusual measure, the power of call-
ing out from his guests whatever there was in them which was most
interesting ; and many a person has left his table with the feeling that,
althoudi he misrht elsewhere have seen men who talked more, he had
never been himself so agreeable. Mr. Sullivan never forgot a friend,
nor failed to requite, wdth ample interest, any kindness. He accord-
ingly sought out, and was constantly entertaining at his table, or in
the charming evening parties which he gathered in his parlors, persons
from various parts of the country, whose only claim was some slight
attention paid, perhaps many years before, to Mr. Sullivan, or some
of his friends." He possessed extreme pride of character, and never
deviated from a certain course of conduct and demeanor, which secured
to him the esteem of friends, and the respect of all who came in contact
with him, both in public and in private life. His style of writing was
simple and clear, full of anecdote, and often conversational. As an
author, he shone like a brilliant star. His style was smooth, chaste
and classical. His Public iNIen of the Revolution is almost inimitable
for its images of real character. He was a Federalist of the Washing-
ton school, and tenaciously opposed to the policy of Jefferson ; and his
own principles are clearly developed in this Avork.
320 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
THOMAS DANFORTH.
JULY 4, 1804. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
The Montlily Anthology states of this production, that its politi-
cal sentiments are dignified, and evince that the author glows with a
patriotic zeal for the honor and happiness of his country. We take
this opportunity to remark that it was pronounced in a superior style
of elocution. To the clear and commandino; tone of voice, the animated
expression, and elegant gesture, of the orator, combined with the just-
ness of the sentiment and its unison with the feelings of the audience,
must we attribute the enthusiasm with which it was received. He
unfolds the dangers to which our country is exposed from mere fac-
tion and party rage, those avenging angels, delighting in the calamity
of republics.
"In all governments there must be a preponderating influence, — a
sovereign power, — doubtless dei'iving its origin from the people, but
guaranteed by fundamental laws, in order that the liberty of all may
not be the sport of the licentiousness of any. There never has, and
there never will exist a true democracy. If, says the elegant author
of the social compact, ' there Avere a people of gods, they might be gov-
erned democratically ; a state so perfect will never belong to man.'
In our own government, so happily blended and equipoised the powers
of state, that, though sovereignty exists, it may be said never to remain
fixed, but, like the vibrations of the pendulum, gives to every part and
portion its uniform spring and action. The federal compact is not
merely the sketch of liberty ; it is the work complete ; it is the only
government under heaven yet known where every man may be said to
exercise his right in the aggregate system of power. Founded in reason
and the analogy of nature, like the fair form of the human body, it
exhibits the beauty, strength and proportions, of a well-ordered system.
The executive is its brain, the judiciary its lungs, and the legislative
its whole heart, circulating the very paljulum of its existence, and
issuing the powers which warm and invigorate its remotest extremities.
As essential to the existence of our bodies as are the brain, lungs or
heart, equally as essential are the distinct and independent branches
of our government to its life and preservation. Drawn out of the
experience of ages, it contains the principles of a republic, sublimely
rectified. It is the palladium of your future peace, — •& bond of union
WARREN BUTTON. 821
and obligation, "whicli, when violated, -will convulse to its centre the
delicate frame of your liberty."
Thomas Danforth, the son of the eminent Dr. Samuel Danforth,
was born in Boston, July 31, 1772; entered the Latin School in
1781 ; graduated at Harvard College in 1792, when he engaged in a
conference on the comparative importance of the American, French,
and Polish revolutions, upon mankind; married Elizabeth, daughter
of Jarathmiel Blowers, of Somerset, Mass., March, 1800 ; was a
physician ; and died in Dorchester, July 12, 1817.
Dr. Danforth delivered a discourse for the Massachusetts Humane
Society, in 1808, which was published.
WARREN DUTTON.
JULY 4, 1S05. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
While Russell's Centinel remarks of Dutton's oration that it was a
spirited and well-adapted production, the Independent Chronicle says,
that, had Pitt deputed missionaries to this rescued nation, to debauch
the public mind from the fair knowledge of political truth, they could
not, in our feeble judgment, have used language more fitted for such
purposes. But, as the governor (Strong) sat and heard these declam-
atory arts without evincing displeasure at their apparent disloyalty,
we must resign our opinion to the more correct authority of the public.
Mr. Dutton was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, and married Eliza,
daughter of Judge Lowell ; was a counsellor-at-law, and the first editor
of the New Eno;land Palladium ; a delegate to the State convention
for revising the constitution, in 1820 ; a representative in the State
Legislature, and of the State Senate. In 1800 Mr. Dutton gave the
poem at the commencement at Yale College, on the Present State of
Literature ; and an address to the Suffolk Bar, in 1819, on the
Advancement of the Legal Pi'ofession. When will some Lord Camp-
bell rise up in our country to body forth the eminent civilians of past
days, showing their habits, sayings, and persons ?
322 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
EBENEZER FRENCH.
JULY 4, 1805. FOR THE YOUNG DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICANS, AT THE
CHURCH OF REV. JOHN MURRAY.
Ebenezer French was born in Boston, and was a practical printer.
The oration at the head of this article, 0id another, delivered at Port-
land, in 1806, on our national independence, were published, and are in
the collection of the INIassachusetts Historical Society. Mr. Fi-ench
was in early life married to Mrs. Hannah Grice, the widow of Samuel
Bangs, of Boston, after having been previously engaged to her beau-
tiful daughter. A rare incident here in romance, — the mother stole
from the daughter the heart of her young lover ! After the delivery
of the oration in Boston, the young Republicans proceeded to Faneuil
Hall, where, on partaking a rich repast, the following sentiment was
advanced by Benjamin Austin, the great apostle of democracy, who
"was elected president of the Society of Republican Young Men at this
time: "The young Republican orator of the day: May our young
men never lose, by the subtlety of their enemies, those blessings trans-
mitted to them by their Republican ancestors." Mr. Austin viewed
the people and the constitution of the United States as the real senti-
nels and palladiums of American independence.
Mr. French was an inspector of the customs in 1810, and in the
next year he became a publisher of the Boston Patriot, in company
with Isaac Munroe ; where they continued until 1814, when they sold
the paper to Mr. Ballard, and both removed to Baltimore, where they
established a new journal, under the name of the Baltimore Patriot, a
paper of wide political influence.
FRANCIS DANA CHANNING.
JULY 4, 1806. FOR THE TOAVN AUTHORITIES.
This oration was not printed. ]\Ir. Channing was born at Newport,
R. I., and brother of Rev. William Ellcry Channing. He graduated
JOSEPH GLEASON. — PETER OXENBRIDGE TEACHER, 323
at Harvard College in 1794, on Tvliicli occasion he gave the salutatory
oration in Latin. In 1801 he pronounced the Phi Beta Kappa ora-
tion; and married Susan Higginson, of Boston, November, 1806. He
was a counsellor-at-law, a State representative, and Secretary of the
Boston Social Law Library in 1810. He died at sea, when on his
passage to Rio Janeiro, November 8, 1810. Mr. Channing was born
at Newport, August 16, 1775.
JOSEPH GLEASON.
JULY 4, 180G. FOR THE DEMOCRATIC YOUNG MEN.
Joseph Gleason was born at Boston, and the son of a truckman,
who was a ready speaker at Faneuil Hall caucuses. He married
Mary Le Baron, daughter of Gov. Hunt, of Detroit ; and was a com-
positor in the office of the Independent Chronicle, and only eighteen
years of age, on the delivery of this oration, which was printed a
second time. In the last war with Great Britain he wns a captain in
Col. Miller's regiment, and in 1816 an army commissary, and major
of a brigade. He died at Mackinaw, in 1820.
PETER OXENBRIDGE THACHER.
JULY 4, 1807. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Was born at Maiden, Dec. 22, 1776, and son of Rev. Peter, who
pronounced an oration on the Boston jNIassacre in that year. He
entered the Latin School in 1785, and graduated at Harvard College
in 1796, on which occasion Mr. Thacher engaged in a forensic dispu-
tation — Whether reason unassisted by revelation would have led man-
kind to just notions even of the first principles of natural religion?
324 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
He studied law under Governor Sullivan, and was three years a teacher
in Exeter Academy,
Mr. Thacher visited Savannah, Ga., Nov. 2, 1802, in company
with his father, Rev. Peter Thacher, for the purpose of relief in pul-
monary consumption, where they arrived Dec. 3 of that date, and his
father expired. on the 16th of that month. Mr. Thacher recorded an
account of the voyage from Boston, and of the last hours of his father.
One incident is related, for the reason that it illustrates the influence
and shows the importance of early religious culture. On laying down
for the last time, in the early part of the evening, a few hours before
his death, he repeated the nursery prayer :
" Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep ;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take ; ' '
and, turning to his son, said, "My son, this little prayer I have not
omitted to repeat, on going to bed, for forty years. This may be the
last time ; I charge you never to omit it."
In 1805 Mr. Thacher pronounced the oration for the Phi Beta
Kappa Society. He became a counsellor-at-law, and married Charlotte
I., daughter of Thomas MacDonough, a British consul. He was
Town Advocate for Boston in 1807, and Avas judge of the Municipal
Court for SuJBfolk from 1823 to the year 1843. He was a member of
the Literary Anthology Club, on its institution, in 1805 ; and a
director of the Boston Athenaeum, on its institution, in 1807.
Judge Thacher was endowed with great integrity, and firm decision
of character, and often stigmatized as a very severe judge ; but he was
not more rigid than just. He Avas peculiarly qualified for the period
and station, and wisely effected more in the restraint of crime among
us than any other man on the bench. He was compelled to deal
with the worst passions of men, says the Law Reporter, but there is
no act of his life which has left any stain on his character.
The Criminal Cases of Judge Thacher, edited by Woodman, in
1845, is a standard text-book for the bar and the bench. Several of
his charges were published, and a copy of them is in the library of the
ffistorical Society. Li 1833 the Trial of Ebenczer Glough, for
Embracery, was published, with the arguments of Thacher on the
case.
ANDREW RITCniEj JR. — CHARLES PINCKNEY SUMNER. 325
ANDREW RITCHIE, JR.
JULY 4, 1808. FOR THE TOWN AUTUORITIES.
Andrew Ritchie was born in Boston, and graduated at Harvard
College in 1802, when he gave an oration on "Innovation." He
read law with Rufus G. Amory, and married a daughter of Cornelius
Durant, a West India planter. He married a second time, Sophia
Harrison, a daughter of the Hon. H. G. Otis, and settled on his plant-
ation in St. Croix. He was early a counsellor-at-law in Boston, of
which town he was a representative in 1816.
In 1805 Mr. Ritchie gave an oration on the Ancient and Modern
Eloquence of Poetry; and in 1818 an address for the Massachusetts
Peace Society. He was a tasteful and effective writer, and says, in
the oration at the head of this article : " We are not required, like
young Hannibal, to approach the altar and vow eternal hatred to a
rival nation ; but we will repair to the neighboring heights, at once the
tombs and everlasting monuments of our heroes, and swear that, as
they did, so would we, rather sacrifice our lives than our country."
CHARLES PINCKNEY SUMNER.
JULY 4, 1803. BEPORE THE YOUNG REPUBLICANS OF BOSTON.
Born at Milton, Jan 20, 1776 ; graduated at Harvard College,
1796. He was the only child of Maj. Job Sumner, of the continental
army in the Revolution, whose ancestry may be traced to 1637. His
father was a native of Milton. He entered Harvard College in 1771 ;
but Avhen, after the Battle of Lexington, the students were dispersed,
and the college edifice converted into barracks, he joined the army, iu
which he continued until the peace. He was second in command of
the American troops who took possession of New York, on its evacua-
tion by the British, Nov. 25, 1783 ; and was also second in command
of the battalion of light infantry which rendered to Gen. Washington
28
326 THE HUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
the last military respects of the Revolutionary army, when, in Dec. 4,
1783, at Francis' Tavern, New York city, he took leave of his brother
officers and comrades in arms in terms of warm affection.
After the close of the war, Maj. Sumner was appointed commis-
sioner to settle the accounts between the United States and Georgia ;
and in this capacity, for several successive winters, visited that State.
On the voyage, upon his return from one of these visits, he was taken
ill, after eating of a dol^ohin caught off the copper banks of Cape Hat-
teras ; and, though his vessel made a rapid passage to New York, and
he landed without delay, he died on the day after his arrival, Sept.
16, 1789. He was buried with distinguished military honors. Among
the pall-bearers at his funeral was Alexander Hamilton. His remains
were interred near the middle of St. Paul's church-yard, in New York ;
and, about one month afterwards, Maj. Lucas, of Georgia, was buried
by his side. One monumental stone covers them both, with an appro-
priate inscription over the body of each. That over Maj. Sumner
is as follows : " This tomb contains the remains of Maj. Job Sumner,
of the Massachusetts line of the army of the Revolution ; who, having
supported an unblemished character through life, as the soldier, citizen
and friend, died in this city, after a short illness, universally regretted
by his acquaintance, on the 16tli day of September, 1789, aged 33
[35] years."
At the time of Maj. Sumner's decease, his son was a student at
Andover Academy, under jMr. Pcmberton, where he Avas prepared for
college. He entered Harvard College in 1792, and received the degree
of Bachelor of Arts in 1796. Among his classmates with whom he
was on terms of friendship Avas John Pickering, the eminent Greek
lexicographer, James Jackson, the head of the medical profession in
Boston, Leonard Woods, of Andover, the profound divine. With the
latter Mr. Sumner was ever on terms of aflFectionate intimacy. While
in college he developed poetical talents which were then highly favored.
He delivered a "Valedictory Poem" before the Speaking Club, when
his classmates left that society at the end of the junior year; also, at
one of the college exhibitions, a poem entitled "The Compass," which
was much admired, and was shortly afterwards printed in a pamphlet.
There is now in the possession of his family a copy, of Shakspeare
and Young's Night Thoughts, inscribed in each as follows, in the beau-
tiful and distinct handwriting of the Rev. Dr. Jenks, a fellow-student
and friend of INIr. Sumner, though two years after him in college :
CnARLES PINCKNEY SUMXER. 327
"These volumes are prcsentcil to C. P. Summer, by several members
of Harvard Univcrsitj, Avho are desirous of expressing their acknowl-
edgments for the pleasure afforded by his poem entitled ' The Com-
pass,' and for the honor ■which it confers upon the literary chai-acter
of the University." The same poem prompted from another friend,
Joseph Story, afterwards the illustrious judge, a few poetical lines,
expressive of Avarm approval of the production, and hvcly anticipa-
tion of his future success. We here transcribe the apostrophe from
the autograph of Justice Story, very neatly inscribed on the back of
the title-page of a printed* copy of this poem, in the possession of
Charles Sumner, our Senator to Congress, which may be viewed as a
valuable part of his patrimony :
" TO THE AUTHOR.
" Sure some celestial Muse thy pen inspired,
With noblest thoughts thy glowing bosom fired,
To trace, with magic art, the varied line.
And to Pope's smoothness Milton's grandeur join.
Sumner, thy worth Columbia's sons shall own,
Long as the magnet's mighty power is known ;
Enraptured seraphs shall thy praise rehearse.
And Fame with laurels consecrate thy verse ;
Genius shall place her crown upon thy head.
And future bards revere the poet dead.
"J. S. June, 1796."
We cull a passage from " The Compass : "
*' May weeping man the era never see,
"When as is Carthage shall Columbia be ;
"When glorious works of art shall mouldering lie.
And threatening ruins hold the distant eye ;
Statues of Washington shall sink in dust.
His name unrcscued from oppressive rust ;
Adams shall sleep unhonored mid the dead,
And Hancock's broken column scarce be read."
On commencement-day, Avhcn he took his degree, Mr. Sumner deliv-
ered a poem on "Time." He also pronounced the valedictory poem
before his classmates, when they completed their studies. The verses
herewith, from the valedictory, in apt words picture the kindred friend-
ship among liis fellow-classmates :
" From this loved spot to festal-board we go,
And give the cordial hand to friend and foe ;
828 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
One firm alliance, one enduring peace,
From this time forth, shall never cease ;
Each shall to each a cheering wish extend.
And live through life befriended and a friend."
All his productions at this early period, as through life, indicate a
philanthropic spirit. The happiness of mankind was his controlling
passion. Shortly after he left college an incident occurred expressive
of this character. He passed a winter in the West Indies. The ves-
sel in which he was a passenger happened to stop at the Island of Hayti,
which was then rejoicing in its independeiite ; and the officers and pas-
sengers, with other American citizens there, were invited to a public
entertainment on the anniversary of the birth-day of Washington, at
which Gen. Boyer, afterwards president of that republic, presided. ]Mr.
Sumner, when called upon for a toast, gave the following : " Liberty,
Equality and Happiness, to all men;" which so much pleased Boyer,
that he sent one of his aids-de-camp to invite the young American to
take the seat of honor by his side at the feast.
Mr. Sumner was early associated, as a private teacher, under the
Rev. Henry Ware, pastor of the first church in Hingham, and Professor
of Divinity in Harvard College, 1805, towards whom he ever sus-
tained relations of friendship. He shortly made a visit to Georgia,
partly to settle the estate of his father, and journeyed home by land
through the Southern States. On his return, he devoted himself to
the study of the law, in the office of Hon. George Richards Minot ;
and, on the decease of that ornament of Suffolk bar, he finished his
initiation under the guidance of Hon. Josiah Quincy, with whom,
though differing in politics, he always sustained the relations of warm
regard. In 1798 Mr. Sumner delivered the poem before the Phi Beta
Kappa of Harvard College, and the oration on this occasion was deliv-
ered by Rev. John T. Kirkland. On Feb. 22, 1800, Mr. Sumner
delivered at Milton a eulogy on Washington, which was published at
Dedliam, and was afterwai'ds embodied in the octavo volume entitled
'•' Eulogies and Orations on Washington," as being one of the best
pronounced on the virtues of that illustrious father of the Union.
About the year 1805, when political excitement was warm, William
Austin, of the Democratic party, author of Letters from London, in
consequence of political differences Avith Gen. Simon Elliott, in
the Chronicle, over " Decius," was challenged by James H., son
of the general. Mr. Sumner was the second for Mr. Austin,
CHARLES PIXCKXEY SUMNER. 329
and the field of combat was in Rhode Island. One of the parties, Mr.
Austin, was slightly wounded by a pistol-shot. Mr. Sumner deeply
regretted having taken a part in this conflict, and the subject was
unknown to his children until after his decease.
Mr. Sumner early attached himself to the Democratic party. He
was a constant and tenacious advocate of the administration of Jeifer-
son. His name appears on important local committees during this
period. He wrote in the Republican newspapers, and took part in pub-
lic meetings. He delivered a public address on the second, inaugura-
tion of Thomas Jefferson, and also an oration on the 4th of July, 1808,
as named at the head of this article. It was published in a newspaper
of the period. AVe find in this production a passage as well adapted to
the present political excitement as it was to the fever of embargo and
non-intercourse, forty-two years ago : "There is, indeed, no diversity
of interest between the people of the north and the people of the south ;
and they are no friends to either who endeavor to stimulate and embit-
ter the one against the other. What if the sons of Massachusetts
rank high on the roll of Revolutionary fame ? The wisdom and hero-
ism for which they have been distinguished will never permit them to
indulge an inglorious boast. The independence and liberty we possess
are 'the result of joint counsels and joint efforts, — of common dan-
gers, sufferings and successes ; ' and God forbid that those who have
every motive of sympathy and interest to act in concert should ever
become the prey of party bickerings among themselves."
For several years during the period of 180G, and excepting one year,
until 1813, j\Ir. Sumner was clerk of the House of Representatives,
when Perez Morton and Joseph Story were speakers, and Marcus
Morton, afterwards governor, was clerk of the Senate. In 1810 ]Mr.
Sumner was a lieutenant in the Boston regiment, and his punctilious
observance of military etiquette is in the memory of old men among
us. Mr. Sumner did not long actively engage in political matters.
The care of a large family occupied much of his time. He was mar-
ried, April 25, 1810. to Miss Relief Jacob, of a respectable family, in
Hanover, Plymouth county, and had nine children ; of these, only five
survive. Mrs. Sumner has been a lovely, devoted mother, who hag
largely contributed to the formation of their character. JNIr. Sumner
was a well-read lawyer, and faithful in all that he undertook. He waa
peculiarly fortunate in the intimate regard of the memlpers of the bar,
38*
330 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
and especially that of Chief Justice Parker ; but he never engaged in
extensive practice.
In 1825 ]Mr. Sumner was appointed by Gov. Lincoln to the elevated
station of sheriff of the county of Suffolk. This office he retained, by
successive appointments, down to the time of his decease, in April 24,
1839. Perhaps no incumbent has ever filled that office in this county
who made its duties the subject of more careful study. He explored
the history and origin of the office in the English law, and its intro-
duction into Massachusetts. Peculiar evidence of this appears in the
discourse which he delivered before the court and bar, in the court-
house, Boston, June, 1829, on some points of difference between the
sheriff's office in Massachusetts and in England. This was published
in the American Jurist for July, 1829, vol. 2. It was also published
in a pamphlet. It is a valuable production, both in a historical and
judicial point. It concludes Avith personal sketches of his predecessors
in office. He relates of Jeremiah Allen, the earliest sheriff whom he
ever saw. that he was a rich and a moral old bachelor, of whom it was
once jocularly said, in his presence and hearing, that " the sheriff knew
very well how to arrest men and to attach women ; " a piece of humor
well intended and well received, and
" Praise enough
To fill the ambition of a private man."
Mr. Sumner, through life, was remarkable for his strict and most
conscientious integrity. More than one person remarked of him, that
he would trust his whole fortune to him, without bond or security of
any kind. He felt keenly the responsibilities of his office ; and, at
times, to such a deirree, that he talked of resignincf that he mio-ht be
relieved from their anxieties. He ahvays preserved his interest in lit-
erature, especially in history and poetry ; and, in advanced life, he
joined in the classical studies of his children. Though at times aus-
tere and reserved, his general manners were simple, easy, flowing, and
affable. He has been characterized as "the best-mannered man in
Boston;" and, to show how near his heart was such a habit, we will
cite the sentiment given in Faneuil Hall, August, 1827, at the festival
after the annual exhibition of the public schools : " Good learning and
good manners : Two good companions. Happy when they meet, they
ought never to part." Sheriff Sumner was small of stature, an ema-
ciatcdj attenuated figure, and a remarkable contrast to Stephen Badlam,
CHARLES PIXCKNEY SUMWER. 331
the jailer of Suffolk, the most rotundj ponderous man in Boston, and
the Lambert of New England.
There are several occasional poems of his -which are still preserved,
particularly odes and songs for charitable and political festivals. Among
his publications was a letter in reply to one from the Anti-masonic com-
mittee for the county of Suffolk, dated Oct. 19, 1829, in which he
exposed, in temperate language, the character and pretensions of the
Masonic institution. This was published in a pamphlet, and exten-
sively circulated. It is a document marked by great gentleness and
forbearance, and some refinement of taste. A published collection of
his fugitive pieces would be a memorial of his patriotic spirit.
In giving toasts at public festivals, he Avas often called upon, and
not unfrcquently expressed himself in verse. Some of these are very
felicitous. The Hon. Josiah Quincy, our model mayor, in calling upon
him once, gave as a toast : " The Sheriff of Suffolk : The only sheriff,
except Walter Scott, born on Parnassus." The following toasts, given
July 4, 1826, might well vindicate this compliment : " The United
States : One and indivisible.
" Firm like the oak may our blest Union rise.
No less distinguished for its strength and size ;
The unequal branches emulous unite
To shield and grace the trunk's majestic height ;
Through long succeeding years and centuries live,
No yigor losing from tlie aid they give."
We cite another toast, given July 4, 1828, which gives a just tribute
to agriculture, and a skilful compliment to Gov. Lincoln, who, like Cin-
cinnatus, though at the head of the commonwealth, was a practical
farmer : " Agriculture :
*' In China's realms, from earliest days till now,
The well-loved emperor annual liolds the plough ;
Here, too, our worthiest candidates for fame,
With unsoiled honor, sometimes do the same.
Upholding such, our yeomen's generous hearts
Show a just reverence to the first of arts."
In the latter days of his life he rarely voted, and was reluctant
to be called of any particular party; but he always remembered,
with satisfaction, his early connection with the old Republican party,
and with many of the leaders of the old Federal party he was on
332 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
friendly terms. He was invited to be the Anti-masonic candidate for
Governor of the State, which he dechned. He was also urged to be a
candidate for the mayoralty of Boston, at the time when Quincy finally
lost his election. But he resolutely declined, preferring the office he
held ; but adding, with expressive warmth, that he could never consent
to be a candidate against his early friend.
His memory will be venerated, in his descendants, long as elo-
quence, literature, science and purity, are recognized in sons such as
Charles, George and Horace Sumner, the second of whom is widely
known as a traveller, and by the accuracy and extent of his attain-
ments. He was born Feb. 5, 1817. He was educated in the Boston
High School ; visited Europe in 1838, and has remained there to this
period. While in Russia he enjoyed the peculiar favor of the Empe-
ror Nicholas, and has travelled some time as his guest. Nicholas
reposed more confidence in him, for information on this country, than
on any other American. He made a voyage round the Black Sea.
with the Russian fleet, and also an excursion to the Caucasus. Here
he visited and made observations on mud volcanoes, not described before
since Marco Polo ; visited Constantinople, Syria, the Holy Land,
Egypt, and Greece. In the latter country he wrote an elaborate letter
on its condition, which was published in the Democratic Review. He
then passed a year in Italy, Sicily, — ascending Mount ^tna, — and
next visited Germany, Hungary, Holland, Belgium, and France. At
Leyden he made curious investigations into the history of the Pilgrim
Fathers, especially of John Robinson, published in the Collections of
the Massachusetts Historical Society. He then proceeded to England,
and from thence to Spain, where he passed a year. Since his return
from Spain, he has resided in Paris, with an occasional visit to England
and Germany. In all these countries he has become personally
acquainted with those who are most eminent in science, literature, and
politics. In Hungary, several years before its unsuccessful attempts
at revolution, he formed a personal acquaintance with Kossuth. He
has for years enjoyed an intimacy with the great Humboldt, who has
expressed a great interest in his conversation and opinions. He was
familiarly acquainted with Lamartine and De Tocqueville, in France.
The latter, in a recent letter to Gen. Cavaignac, has characterized him
as follows: "Mr. Sumner is a man of superior intelligence, very
accomphshed, perfectly familiar with all European affairs, and knowing
WILLIAM TUDOR. 333
the cliiFerent parties and politics of Europe much better than any
European." He is a member of several learned societies of Europe.
The youngest son of Mr. Sumner, Horace, born Dec. 25, 1824,
and educated in the Boston High School, perished in the wreck of the
ship Elizabeth, on Fire Island, near New York city, July 18, 1850.
He was an invalid, returning from a year in Italy, whither he had
been in pursuit of health. Among his companions in misfortune was
the jNIarchioness Fuller Ossoli, her husband and child ; but her lofty
intellectual character did not excite a stronger interest than the
moral excellences of young Sumner. This lady was the daughter of
Hon. Timothy Fuller, whom we have sketched as an orator for July,
1831. The Christian Register for July 27, 1850, states that =-In
the same ship was a young man of the most pure, unambitious, loving
and gentle life, whose quiet virtues had singularly endeared him to the
few who knew him, and whose death at any time could only be
regarded as a blessed dispensation to him, however severe it might be
to his friends." Horace Sumner, says the Register, was retiring in
his habits and tastes, but his memory will long be cherished by his
friends with peculiar interest and affection.
WILLIAM TUDOR.
JULY 4, 1809. I'OR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Was born in Boston, Jan. 28, 1779, and was the son of Hon. Judge
Tudor; was educated at Pliillips' Academy, Andovcr; and graduated
at Harvard College in 1796, at which time he engaged in a dialogue
on the Advantages of Public Education. Having an ambition for
mercantile pursuits, he entered the counting-room of John Codman,
an eminent merchant, who early sent him to Paris as his confidential
agent; and, after his return to Boston, he sailed for Leghorn, and
made the tour of Europe, cultivating his natural taste for literature
and hterary men wherever he went. In 1805 he was one of the
founders of the Literary Anthology Club, the most delightful literary
and social institution ever formed in Boston ; and in November of this
334 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
year embarked for the West Indies, in company -with James Savage,
for the purpose of establishing a new object of commerce, by the trans-
portation of ice to tropical climates, and the erection of ice-houses as
places of deposit. He founded the traffic, as agent of Frederic Tudor,
his brother, to his entire approbation. He was a State representative
for Boston ; and clerk of Suffolk County Courts, in 1816, and a
counsellor-at-law. In 1810 he published a Phi Beta Kappa oration,
the delivery of which was prevented by his departure for Europe,
when he became agent for Stephen Higginson, Esq., in an endeavor
to introduce large quantities of English manufactures into the conti-
nent of Europe, contrary to the hostile decrees of Napoleon against the
rights of neutrals.
In 1815 Mr. Tudor delivered an address for the Phi Beta Kappa
Society, the object of which was to refute the opinion, that one reason
why we have not produced more good poems was owing to the want
of subjects, — that the appi'opriate themes of other countries had been
exhausted by their own poets, and that none existed in ours. In this
admirable performance, he makes it evident that the scenery and history
of our country afford abundant material to the man of genius. His
concluding; sentence is as follows : " The same block of marble which,
in the hands of an artisan, might only have formed a step for the
meanest feet to trample on, under the touch of genius unfolded the
Belvidere Apollo, glowing with divine beauty and immortal youth,
the destroyer of the Python, the companion of the JMuses, the majes-
tic god of eloquence and poetry."
In allusion to the novel enterprise of transporting ice to tropical
climates, originated by the Tudors, the Hon. Edward Everett renders
the following beautiful and emphatic tribute :
" The gold expended by this gentleman at Nahant," — Mr. Frederick
Tudor, — "whether it is httle or much, was originally derived, not from
California, but from the ice of our own Fresh Pond. It is all Middlesex
gold, every pennyweight of it. The sparkling surface of our beautiful
ponds, restored by the kindly hand of nature as often as it is removed,
has yielded and will continue to yield, ages after the wet diggings
and the dry diggings of the Sacramento and the Feather river^ are
exhausted, a perpetual reward to the industry bestowed upon them.
The sallow Genius of the mine creates but once ; when rifled by man,
the glittering prize is gone forever. Not so with our pure crystal
WILLIAM TUDOR. 335
lakes. Them, witli each returning winter, the austere but healthful
spn-it of the North,
' With mace petrific, cold and dry,
As with a trident smites, and fixes firm
As Delos floating once.'
" This is a branch of IMiddlesex industry that we have a right to be
proud of. I do not think we have yet done justice to it ; and I look
upon Mr. Tudor, the first person who took up this business on a large
scale, as a great public benefactor. He has carried comfort, in its
most inoffensive and salutary form, not only to the dairies and tables
of our own community, but to those of other regions, throughout the
tropics, to the furthest east. If merit and benefits conferred gave
power, it might be said of him, with more truth than of any prince or
ruler living,
' super et Garamantas et Indos
Proferet imperium.'
' ' When I had the honor to represent the country at London, I was
a little struck, one day, at the royal drawing-room, to see the President
of the Board of Control (the board charged Avith the supervision of the
government of India) approaching me with a stranger, at that time
much talked of in London, — the Babu Dwarkanauth Tagore. This
person, Avho is not now living, was a Hindoo of great Avealth, liberality
and intelligence. He was dressed with oriental magnificence ; — he
had on his head, by way of turban, a rich cashmere shawl, held
together by a large diamond broach ; another cashmere around his
body ; his countenance and manners were those of a highly intelligent
and remarkable person, as he was. After the ceremony of introduc-
tion was over, he said he wished to make his acknowledgments to me,
as the American minister, for the benefits which my countrymen had
conferred on his countrymen. I did not at first know what he referred
to ; I thought he might have in view the mission schools, knowing as
I did that he himself had done a great deal for education. He imme-
diately said that he referred to the cargoes of ice sent from America to
India, conducing not only to comfort, but health ; adding, that numer-
ous lives Avere saved every year, by apjdying lumps of American ice
to the head of the patient, in cases of high fever. He asked me if I
knew from Avhat part of America it came. It gave me great pleasure
to tell him that I lived, Avhen at home, Avithin a very short distance of
33G THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
the spot from -wliich it was brought. It was a most agreeable circum-
stance to hear, in this authentic '>vay, that the sagacity and enterprise
of my friend and neighbor had converted the pure waters of our lakes
into the means, not only of promoting health, but saving life, at the
antipodes. I must say I almost envied INIr. Tudor the honest satis-
faction which he could not but feel, in reflecting that he had been able
to stretch out an arm of benevolence from the other side of the globe,
by which he was every year raising up his fellow-men from the verge
of the grave. How few of all the foreigners who have entered India,
from the time of Sesostris, or Alexander the Great, to the present
time, can say as much ! Others, at best, have gone to govern, too
often to plunder and to slay ; — our countryman has gone there, not to
destroy life, but to save it, — to benefit them, while he reaps a well-
earned harvest himself"
Mr. Tudor originated the North American Review, in 1815, and the
first four volumes of this national repository of literature, politics and
science, are almost entirely from his own hand : and this journal soon
exerfcised an unbounded influence over the American mind. His
Letters on the Eastern States, published in 1819. and his volume of
collected miscellanies, mark him as one of the ripest scholars of New
England. Mr. Tudor pubhshed the " Life of James Otis," in 1823,
of which it has been remarked that Tudor exhibits Otis, not in a
solitary portrait, but, like Napoleon on his brazen column, or Wel-
lington in his silver shield, as the prominent figure in a variety of
interesting scenes, the head of an illustrious group. Mr. Tudor was
the originator of the present Bunker Hill Monument. It came to his
knowledge accidentally that a part of Bunker Hill was for sale ; and
he ascertained, on inquiry, that the residue embraced the spot on
which the American redoubt had been raised, and where Warren fell,
and that this might probably be purchased at that period. Mr. Tudor,
in the year 1822, expressed a desire to see on the battle-ground " the
noblest column in the world ; " and witnessed the laying of the corner-
stone by the noble Lafayette, June 17, 1825. He died before its
completion, which was not elfccted until July, 1842.
Mr. Tudor was the secretary, of the Bunker Hill Monument Asso-
ciation, instituted June 17, 1823, of which John Brooks was its first
president, and Daniel Webster was the first orator, June 17, 1825.
Mr. Tudor has the reputation of conceiving and originating the city
* DAVID EVERETT. 837
charter of his native city, in 1822, -which v;a5 matured and dra-wn up
bj the Hon. Lemuel Shaw.
Mr. Tudor, in the next year, was appointed consul for the United
States at Lima and the ports of Peru, and again set sail from his
native city in Nov. 1823. after which he never returned to his beloved
country. In 1827 he was appointed Charge d' Affaires of the United
States at Rio Janeiro ; and, Avhile resident in that place, "My. Tudor
wrote a Avork of imagination, entitled "Gebel Teir,"' the name of a
mountain on the east bank of the Nile, on Avhich, according to an
Arabian legend, the birds from all countries of the world annually
assemble for the purpose of counsel and debate, — on which he con-
structed an allegory, by way of report to this supposed assembly of
birds, showing his views and opinions on the condition and policy of
this country and the nations of Europe. While Mr. Tudor was in
Brazil, the Rev. C. S. Stewart, a chaplain in the United States navy,
who visited him at the Praya de Flamengo, relates that he was received
by Mr. Tudor with tlic cordiality of a brother, and was admitted at once
to the confidence of his bosom. He discovered in him traits truly
noble and fascinating, which excited an admiration and an attachment
never to be forgotten.
The treaty of Mr. Tudor with the court of Rio Janeiro was the last
public service he was permitted to render his country. On the 9th.
March, 1830, he died of a fever incident to the climate. Mr. Tudor-
left many manuscripts regarding the countries in which he resided,
some of them nearly completed. His official correspondence is also^
preserved ; and it is hoped that all his productions Avill be published in
a connected form, as they arc an honor to the literature of this nation.
DAVID EVERETT.
JULY 4, 1809, FOR THE BUNKER HILL ASSOCIATION,
Mr. Everett delivered an oration at Amherst, July 4, 180-4, which
is one of his best productions, when he remarked : "It was from the
assiduous care of our forefathers to make good citizens, their habitual
and exalted virtues as such, that our country's prosperity increased by
29
838 THE HUNDRED BOSTOX ORATORS.
sure and progressive steps, that the sturdy roots of independence shot
deep and spread Avide before its bi'anchcs scarcely appeared, and long
before its fruit was anticipated by the imagination. This tree, ^vhich
may yet prove the tree of life to America, or the upas of her dissolu-
tion, has been protected by the memorable heroism of the veterans of
our Revolutionary war. From that struggle, its branches have sprung
up to luxuriance, and its exuberant fruit clustered on pvery bough.
We vainly call it the work of our own hands, and are elated at the
sight of the gorgeous wonder. Ambitious to ascend and enjoy the
fruit, we neglect to prune its branches and cultivate its roots. Heed-
less of the annoying insect and insidious worm which devour, we imag-
ine our toils are ended, and the blessing secure. But as this blessing
was growing to our hands before we sought it, ere we are aware it may
be taken from us. Common observation shows that we may soon lose,
by neglect, Avhat has been acquired by the prudence of years ; and
that precipitate folly may destroy, in an hour, Avhat has been accumu-
lated by the wisdom of ages. It is to stimulate, not to discourage, our
exertion, that all which most adorns private life and sheds lasting lustre
on a nation is acquired by assiduous efforts, and maintained by con-
stant care. It is not enough, therefore, that our ancestors were virtuous
and brave. — that they were exemplary in private life, and conspicuous
for their devotion to the common good of their country. The spirit
of gratitude and a laudable jOTde require that we should commemorate
their characters with filial reverence. Our duty to ourselves, our
country, and our God, demand more than the empty homage of the
tongue. They urge us to revere their example ; to make their correct
habits and wholesome precepts familiar to ourselves and our children ;
:to view wealth as useless lumber, Avithout the former, and knowledge
as worse than vain, without the latter. Pursuing their well-known
track, we cannot essentially err. It has ' line upon line, and. precept
upon precept,' for all the vicissitudes of life, from the pure and simple
lesson that falls on the listening infant's ear from the hps of the affec-
tionate mother, to those sublime truths which awe our reason, and
point the way to heaven. With these sure guides, we have it in our
power to convince the doubting world that a republican government is
not an idle theory, — that its strength is the union of its citizens, its
wealth their public spirit, its stability their virtue, its independence the
result of all, and its only mystery the simplicity of its principles, exhib-
iting, in obvious social duties, the whole theory of its policy."
DAVID EVERETT. 339
David Everett was born at Princeton, Mass., in 1769, and was early
left an orphan, his father hanng fallen in military service in the war
of the Revolution. He lived and was under the guardian care of rel-
atives at Wrentham, whence he went to the New Ipswich Academy at
about the age of twenty-one. He graduated at Dartmouth College in
1795, and on that occasion had the honor of the valedictory poem, in
which he predicted of our country as follows :
" The Muse prophetic views the coming day,
When federal laws beyond the line shall sway ;
Where Spanish indolence inactive lies,
And every ai-t and every virtue dies, —
Where pride and avarice their empire hold,
Ignobly great, and poor amid their gold, —
Columbia's genius shall the mind inspire.
And fill each breast with patriotic fire.
Nor east nor western oceans shall confine
The generous flame that dignifies the mind ;
O'er all the earth shall Freedom's banner wave,
The tyrant blast, and liberate the slave ;
Plenty and peace shall spread from pole to pole,
Till earth's grand family possess one soul."
Ilavinof studied law Avith John j\I. Forbes, he entered the bar in
Boston, and had an office in Court-street, in company with the noted
Thomas 0. Selfridge. who killed Charles Austin, in State-street ; in
1801 was poet for the Phi Beta Kappa celebration at Cambridge ; in
1802 he removed to Amherst, N. H., and remained in that town until
1807, when he returned to Boston, and established the Boston Patriot
in 1809, devoted to the interests of the Democratic party. It was in
the paper that President John Adams, who had become disaffected
towards the Federal party, wrote historical reminiscences and political
Gssaj's.
jNIr. Everett was author of a very agreeable little work, entitled
"Common Sense in Dishabille," written after the manner of Noah
Webster's " Prompter," which should be published in a tasteful form,
and widely scattered. He wrote dramatic pieces, one of Avhich — " Da-
ranziel, or the Persian Patriot" — was performed in 1800 at the Fed-
eral-street Theatre. ]Mr. Everett early engaged in politics, and wi'ote
in the Boston Gazette over the signature of "Junius Amcricanus."
He was at this period warm in the interests of the Federal party ; but
he took sides, in the great division of the party between President
340 THE HUNEllED BOSTON ORATORS.
Adams, on tlie one hand, and that section of the Federal party known
as the Essex junto, and inclined in opposition to the latter. Mr. Ever-
ett married Dorothj, daughter of Dea. Isaac Appleton, Dec. 29, 1799,
who was sister of the eminent Appletons of Boston. In 1811 Mr.
Everett published the first number of a Demonstration on the Divinity
of the Scriptures in the fulfilment of the Prophecies, being a series of
essays, in which he Avrites: " I have endeavored to prove that the peo-
ple of the United States of America are distinctly alluded to and char-
acterized by the inspired writers, Daniel and St. John : in one, by the
stone cut out of the mountain, Avithout hands ; in the other, by the
man-child of the church militant. AYe have seen that those symbols
must, upon every principle of analogy and sound reasoning, necessarily
represent some new character in the prophetic drama, at or before its
grand catastrophe ; and that the subject represented must, upon the
same principles, be a people or nation deriving their origin from Chris-
tendom. Such are the people of the United States. Their origin was
the result of no edict or formal act of secular power, as signified by
the figurative expression in Daniel. They are the offspring of the per-
secuted and reforming church, as designated by St. John. They have
been the peculiar subjects of that protecting care of Divine Providence,
so strongly intimated by those striking symbols which appear to give
the first distinct view of them, and so clearly expressed in the further
development of their history and character by both these prophets.
They have also attained their national independence, as evidently rep-
resented by their being caught up to the throne of God, the manifest
emblem of sovereign power, and perhaps of the excellence of its form
of government." We do not discover that this production ever
extended to another number. It comprises forty pages in octavo,
and displays great ingenuity of argument. In 1812 Mr. Everett
espoused the cause of De Witt Clinton for the presidency, in oppo-
sition to James INIadison, thus returning to the Federal party. He
conducted, also, "The Yankee," and engaged in "The Pilot," which
survived but a brief period. In 1813 he removed to Marietta, Ohio,
where, before succeeding in establishing a proposed newspaper, he died,
Dec. 21, 1813, aged forty-four years.
Mr. Everett had a sprightliness of mind, with a liberal share of Avit ;
rare poetic taste, as his poems show ; and was a racy, pungent writer,
admirably fitted for popular eifcct. Mr. Everett, in the winter pre-
vious to entering Dartmouth College, in 1791, when a teacher in the
DAVID EVERETT. S-ll
grammar school, at New Ips^Yicll, prepared a little poem to be recited
at an exhibition got up in the academic style, composed expressly for
Ephraim H. Farrar, to be spoken by him on the occasion, when only
seven years of age. We quote this curiosity, as it appears in Bing-
ham's Columbian Orator. It is a rare sample of juvenile wit, and will
be famous so long as a youthful orator appears on the floor of a school
or an academy: — written at the birthplace of Samuel Appleton.
" You 'd scarce expect one of my age
To speak iu public ou the stage ;
Aud if I cliauce to fall below
Demosthenes or Cicero,
Don't view me with a critic's eje,
But pass my imperfections by:
Large streams from little fountains flow ;
Tall oaks from little acorns grow ;
And though I now am small aud young,
Of judgment weak, and feeble tongue.
Yet all great learned men, like me,
Once learned to I'cad their A, B, C.
But why may not Columbia's soil
Rear men as great as Britain's Isle, —
Exceed what Greece and Rome have done,
Or any land beneath the sun ?
Slay n't JNIassachusetts boast as gi-eat
As any other sister State ?
Or where 's the town, go far and near,
That does not find a rival here ?
Or Avhere 's the boy, but three feet high.
Who 's made improvement more than I ?
These thoughts inspire mj^ youthful mind
To be the greatest of mankind : —
Great, not like Coesar, stained with blood.
But only great as I am good."
It having been a question of contest, for more than half a centurj-,
as to whom this little poem may be ascribed, and for whom it was
written, — the prevailing opinion being that it was prepared for Edward
Everett, — we find in a speech of this gentleman, delivered at Cam-
bridge, after the public school examination in the High School, July
23, 1850, his own declaration to the contrai-y. After being called on
by the mayor to address the company, Mr. Everett, in the exordium,
remarked : " May it please your honor, I cheerfully comply Avith your
request that I would say a few words on the present occasion, although
I am aware that this respectable company is not assembled to hear me.
29*
842 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
I may, in fact, with propriety, use the words of a favorite little poem,
which many persons have done me the honor to ascribe to me, but
which was, in reality, written by a distant relative and namesake of
mine, — and, if I mistake not, before I was born. It begins —
' You 'd scarce expect one of 7ny age
To speak in public on the stage.'
This place and the day belong to the young ; and, after what we have
heard from them, I need not say that they need no assistance from their
seniors to give interest to the occasion." And, in the conclusion of an
extended speech on popular education, Mr. Everett cautions the scholars
against studying too hard in vacation, and advises them, after the
fatigues of three months at school, not to enarao-e in work for eisht or
ten hours a day at home. " I hope your fathers and mothers will not
permit it," says Everett. "If you insist upon a half an hour or so
in the morning, and as much more in the afternoon and evening, by
way of amusement, I do not know that I should gixatly object ; but
take care to have a right good time, and come back at the end of the
holidays with rosy cheeks and bright eyes, ready to engage with eager-
ness in the duties of the new term."
In our outline of the Hon. Edward Everett appears a choice little
poem, written for him, and spoken by him at a school exhibition in his
native town of Dorchester. The boy who spoke the simple speech
written by David Everett, whose name was Ephraim Hartwell Farrar,
was writing-master, in 1813, in the elementary school of Lawson Lyon,
located on the north side of Dr. Channing's church, in Boston, where
sons of our most distinguished families were educated ; among whom
were boys who have risen to eminence in public life, such as Rev.
Stephen H. Tyng, and Rev. William Furness, of Philadelphia ; Alex-
ander Young, D.D., Rev. Samuel J. INIay, Rev. Ralph Waldo Emer-
son, Rev. Wm. P. Lunt, William H. Gardiner, John Everett, William
Parsons, son of the late chief-justice, and the Gilberts, brokers, in State-
street. Master Farrar was remarkable for a mild and even temper.
A gentler soul never breathed, and his benignant light stroke of the
rattan was a striking contrast to the eight severe blows of the button-
wood ferule vigorously applied by Master Lyon, the terror of the
school. As posterity will ever desire to know the history of the boy
for whom the inimitable speech was written, we will relate that he was
the youngest son of Rev. Stephen Farrar, the first minister of New
DAVID EVERETT. 343
Ipswich, who graduated at Harvard College, 1755. He was born
Dec. 8, 1783, and married Phebe Parker in 1825, widow of Jonas C.
Chatnpncy, by whom he had one daughter. His wife died in 1848 ;
and Master Farrar died in New Ipswich, Jan. 8, 1851. After being
many years a teacher in Boston, he became a partner in trade with a
Mr. Ccirleton; and, on returning to his native town, he became the
town-clerk, which station he occupied until his decease. He was edu-
cated at the New Ipswich Academy ; and it was at one of the annual
exhibitions of that institution when he Avas called on to recite this
beautiful poem. It is interesting to remark, that at the centennial
celebration in that town, Sej^tember, 1850, when he was an old man,
he was called out again to personate the youth for whom that eflfusion
was written ; and, immediately rising, merely repeated the first two
lines :
" You 'tl scarce expect one of mtj age
To speak in public on tlie stage,"
which excited the risibles of the audience.
We cannot be parted from these pleasant reminiscences without
introducing jNIaster Farrar's own criticisms on the subject. In writing
from New Ipswich, under date of July 27, 1849, he relates that Mr.
Everett kept the grammar school in the centre of this town, and got
up an exhibition in the academic style, and at this time wrote the lines
expressly for and to be spoken by the writer of this communication,
then a little boy seven years of age. " The ' Lines ' were handed to
me in manuscript. After they had been given to me, I had always
considered them as in a sense belonging to me, to my native state, my
native town. When, therefore, I saw, in the printed copy, the substi-
tution of two words for two in the original, namely, ' ^Massachusetts '
and 'sister,' for ' New Hampshire ' and 'Federal,' I thought there
was either a gross mistake in the printer, or an infringement upon my
rights ; this changing the i^lace broke up all my former associations,
and entirely destroyed the intrinsic merits of the piece. Whctlier this
.was done by the author or not, I am not able to say. I am rather
inclined to think the latter was ; for he afterwards became a politician
of the Jefferson school, edited a paper called 'The Patriot,' and the
word ' Federal ' became extremely obnoxious to many of that party.
This, however, I never quarrelled much about. But that my native
State should receive such an insult, I felt very indignant. It seemed
to my youthful heart to say, there was one man who might possibly
344 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
have some doubts whether New Hampshire could boast as great as any
other federal State, — so, to end all dispute everywhere, he would put
in Massachusetts ; but, after a residence of several years in the very
heart of that State, thus becoming more expatriated from the one, and
naturalized to the other, and seeing, also, that every little boy read
the piece just as if it were his own, I gave over the contest, and
became reconciled to the change, with this proviso, that, from that
time, every boy who should speak the piece should have the liberty to
substitute his own State."
WILLIAM CHARLES WHITE.
JULY 4, 1809. FOR THE BUNKER HILL ASSOCLATION.
On this occasion, Mr. White pronounced a brief oration, after which,
another was given, by David Everett. We glean two eloquent pas-
sages from his oration^ at Worcester, which indicate marks of a power-
ful imagination : " The liberty of the press forms the broad basis of
that pyramid of freedom which rises in awful grandeur to the heavens,
the majestic monument of our glory. Tear away this, and that super-
structure, now the envy and the glory of the world, must fall, a heap
of ruins, to the earth. Be it remembei'ed, my countrymen, that
against this right the tyrant has ever directed his eye, with jealous
vigilance. The slavery of the mind forms the blackest joreface to his
voluminous despotism. So long as this remains, so long may he
securely riot in the miseries of his sul^jects. He may steep them in
poverty to the very lips, and bend and chain doAvn their captive and
servile spirits to the lowest deep of debasement. Yet how often have
we been told of the kingly benefactions to which literature is indebted !
How often has it been vociferated in our ears that the soil of a republic
is unfriendly to the growth of the fine arts ! Tins is a theme upon
which many of our scholars have dwelt with proud satisfaction. They
are welcome to the peevish pleasure of such paltry prejudices. Have
these men forgotten that every Athenian was a critic in eloquence 1
and that a Roman populace has often been alternately soothed and
WILLIAM CHARLES WHITE. 345
inflamed by the fire and pathos of Cicero ? Let it not be said that the
two repuWics were inauspicious to the fine arts. Were not the Muses
passionately wooed by the favorite votaries ? Did not the canvas glow
with mimic life 1 and the marble emulate the noble exterior of
humanity 7 "
Here we have an eulogium of Washington, in a highly poetic sti-ain :
" How do your finest heart-strings tremble and vibrate at the mention
of Washington ! He smiled at the tempest ; he defied the storm con-
jured up by the black incantations of ministerial witchcraft, and hurled
upon our devoted country by the dreadful machinery of parliamentary
furies ! No proud abbey boasts the exclusive honor of his precious
relics. His solitary grave is hallowed from the profane tread of curi-
ous and crowding spectators. In this consecrated spot the poppy
shall never fix its downy root, nor the wormwood thrive, nor the thistle
shoot its bearded and unsalutary stalk. No ; this holy soil is con-
genial only to those eternal laurels that there spring up, and bloom,
and flourish, in thick and emulatinrr clusters ! There 2;enius has often
knelt in humble and fervent devotion, and rendered up his varied and
rival offerings. But, how imperfect, how unworthy, how vain, are
his best and brightest gifts ! The historian has sat down to his record,
— but how cold are his facts, how inanimate his reflections ! The
sculptor has plied his chisel, — but what art can mould the reluctant
marble into the representative of that form and those features where
every god did seem to set his seal ? The painter has spread his can-
vas, — but, how faint the resemblance ! what an awkward mimicry of
the original ! So would it still have been, though a Raphael had
sketched the design, a Titian had shed his colors, a Guide had lavished
his graces, a Salvator had accumulated his sublimities ! The poet has
poured his verse, — but ho-w far belo^Y the subject would have been
even their powers, though a Pindar had thrown his bold and heedless
hand amidst the strings, or the pathetic Muse had trembled out the
tenderest note that ever faltered from her melancholy lyre ! "
William Charles White was born in Boston in 1777, and the son of
William White, a merchant of Boston, who apprenticed him to Joseph
Coolidge, an importing Boston merchant, in whose employ he con-
tinued for a few years. A taste for polite literature soon rendered the
journal and the ledger irksome to his mind. In 179G, William had
written "Orlando," a tragedy, afterwards printed, with a likeness of
the author. In the Avinter of this year, his father visited New York
846 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
city, where he remained during a long period. He felt an abhorrence
of the drama, and was deeply affected to find his son's passion for it so
strong that reproof made him almost insane :
" A son his father's spirit doomed to cross,
By penning stanzas while he should engross."
His father writes to a friend in Boston as follows: "William had
for some time discovered his propensity for theatric exhibitions, and by
all opportunities. I discountenanced in him this inordinate passion.
During my absence from Boston last summer, he wrote a play, which,
on my return, some of the family mentioned to me. Although I was
not pleased with his study and writings in this stylo, yet I supposed it
a good opportunity to turn his attention, and destroy gradually his pre-
dilection for the stage. About a month previous to my leaving Boston,
he grew sick, and was apparently in a decline. I was very anxious,
and postponed my journey for some time. A few days before I left
home, he seemed to be in better spirits, and declai'ed himself to feel
essentially better than he had been ; and when I came away, opened
himself in a very dutiful and respectful manner, by observing that his
illness arose from his insatiable thirst for the stage ; but that his reso-
lution had gained the ascendency of his desires, — and entreated me
not to have the least uneasiness respecting him in that particular, for
he had determined not to give way to that inclination." However
sincere was the promise, it Avas soon broken. The conflict of filial
duty with passionate desire was so violent as to bring its victim to the
verge of distraction. Unable to resist his dramatic love, he made his
first appearance at the Federal-street Theatre, Dec. 14, 1796, in the
character of Nerval, in the tragedy of Douglas, and was received Avith
great applause. In a letter of apology, written the next day to his
father, he says : " I am sorry I was compelled by violence of inclina-
tion to deviate from my promises to you ; but life was one series of
vexations, disappointment and wretchedness. Pray let this considera-
tion have some weight with you. But, for Heaven's sake, for your
own sake, and for my own sake, do not tear me from a profession which,
if I am deprived of, Avill be attended with fatal consequences ! " Never
did parent mourn more inconsolably for the worst follies or darkest
crimes of his offspring, than did the f ither of the actor over this
example of perversity in his family. His epistles are filled with
expressions of distress so extravagant that they are only redeemed from
WILLIAM CHARLES WHITE. 347
being ludicrous bj the deep sorrow they breathe. He thus addresses
the tragedian: "Dear William, — for so I will still call you, — my
beloved son ! stain not the memory of your amiable and tender mother
by your folly; break not the heart of your father, — bring not down
his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, but rouse yourself from this
seeming state of insanity ! Your youth will excuse you, for once.
But, for God's sake, and everything you hold dear, I pray you to
refrain, and be not again seen on a common stage ! " The temporary
success of the aspirant for theatric fame alleviated the sufferings of the
distressed parent, and he reluctantly yielded to the advice of friends,
and consented that William might occasionally tread the boards, but
only in the elevated walks of tragedy. " Let me enjoin it upon you,"
he writes, " never to appear, — no, not for once, — in any comic act,
where the mimic tricks of a monkey are better fitted to excite laugh-
ter, and where dancing, singing and kissing, may be thought amuse-
ment enough for a dollar. No, William ; I had, much as I love you,
rather follow you to the grave, than to see you, and myself, and my
family, so disgraced."
He appeared as Orlando in his own tragedy, Dezio ; as Tancred. in
Thompson's Tancred and Sigismundi, Jan. 2, 1797. He personated
Romeo, and Octavian, in the Mountaineers, also, on the Boston stage.
The tide of popular favor effected what parental admonition and
entreaty failed to accomplish. Controversy with the manager arose, —
the applause which followed his first efforts grew fainter, — the fit of
romantic enthusiasm exhausted itself, — and the earliest exertion of
reflection resulted in the determination to adopt the profession of the
law. In July, 1797, he entered the office of Levi Lincoln, in AVor-
cester, as a student. Li July, 1800, he removed to Providence,
where he completed his studies, under Judge Howell, and opened an
office in that city. In 1801 Mr. White delivered an oration on the
national independence, at Worcester. Not finding business, and l)cing
embarrassed for funds, he again resorted to the stage. Dunlap
relates, in his History of the American Theatre, that, " On the 19th
of January a young man from Worcester, ^lass., was brought out with
some proim'se of success, in young Nerval. Curiosity Avas excited,
and a house of six hundred and fourteen dollars obtained. He had
performed in Boston, when quite a boy, with that applause so
freely and often so industriously bestowed on such efforts ; had since
studied law, and was at this time a tall, handsome youth, but not
348 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
destined by nature to shine. He attempted Romeo, and gave hopes of
improvement ; but much improvement was wanting to constitute him
an artist." He played Alonzo, in Columbus; Aimwell, in the Beaux
Stratagem ; Theodore, in the Court of Narbonne ; Elvira, in the
Christian Suitor ; and Altamont, in the Fair Penitent. In the play
of the Abbe de I'Epee he failed altogether in the part of St. Alme,
Avas hissed, and withdrawn by his own consent, — as it was announced
to the public, " on finding the character too difficult." About this
time was begun, and nearly completed, a drama, with the title, " The
Conflict of Love and Patriotism, or the Afflicted Queen," still pre-
served in manuscript, and never finished. A visit to Richmond, Va.,
where he performed a few nights, was crowned Avith success, and he
desi2;ned to devote his life to the stao;e. The reverse of fortune in
some of his efforts again cured the dramatic mania. Iji the summer
of 1801 he returned to the bar, and established himself at Rutland,
Worcester county, where some of his relatives then resided, and where
his father, who had become unfortunate in business, soon after removed.
He was married to Tamar Smith, the daughter of a respectable farmer
of Rutland. The degree of eminence and emolument he attained as
counsellor did not satisfy his ambition, and he sought a wider field.
He delivered a patriotic oration at Rutland, July 4, 1802. In INIay,
1809, he prepared to publish a Compendium of the Laws of Massa-
chusetts, printed in that year and in 1810, — a work useful in that
period, but soon superseded by a revision of the statutes, — and its
publication was attended with great loss of money. The severe but
witty comment of an eminent jurist on this work was, that it resem-
bled the tessellated pavement in Burke's description, " here a little
Blackstone, there a little White." To superintend the printing of
this work, Mr. White removed to Boston in 1810, and formed a pro-
fessional engagement with David Everett, Esq., of, brief continuance.
It was in the year previous that Mr. White delivered in Boston the
oration named at the head of this article, on which occasion, in the pro-
cession, appeared the ship United States, full rigged, drawn by thirteen
white horses, with mounted guns, and eight artillery-men on each
side. In 1810 Mr. White pronounced another oration on the national
independence, at Hubbardston. On the resignation of Judge Bangs
in 1811, he was appointed County Attorney, which station he retained
until his death. In 1812 he removed to Grafton, and in 1813 resided
at Worcester, when he published the Avowals of a Republican, being
ALEXANDER TOWNSEND. 849
a vindication repelling the charge of apostasy from democratic princi-
ples, comprised in forty-eight octavo pages. In 1814 Mr. White
removed to Sutton, where he married a second Avife, Susan Johonnot,
a daughter of Dr. Stephen Monroe, Aug. 13, 1815. He returned to
Worcester in 1816, and, during the last years of his life, owing to an
organic disease, — the dropsy, — a mortal paleness overspread his
countenance, and he died May 2, 1818, aged 41.
Through the whole of his active and singular career, the irrepress-
ible love of the drama was his ruling passion. The Clergyman's
Daughter, by ]Mr. White, a play founded on McKenzie's INIan of the
{ World, was first acted on the Boston stage Jan. 1, 1810, was pub-
lished, and received with great favor. In December of that year Mr.
White produced The Poor Lodger, a comedy (adopting the incidents
of Evelina, an exquisite tale by Miss Burney), which Avas also pub-
lished. He was an editor of the National JEgis.
Mr. Lincoln remarks of him, in the History of Worcester, from
which a large portion of this sketch is condensed, that he possessed a
high grade of talent which is called genius. In Mr. White's addresses
at the bar, there were splendid passages of eloquence ; but they were
unequal, — although parts were strong, they were not connected, with
logical method and clearness. His taste was refined and correct.
Greater constancy and perseverance might have raised him to high
rank in many of the departments of forensic exertion, literary effort, or
dramatic exliibition.
ALEXANDER TOWNSEND.
JULY 4, isy» FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
In the oration of Mr. Townscnd, we find a happy allusion to a pre-
diction advanced in Smith's Wealth of Nations : '• The tree of our
republican liberty, like the fableil myrtle of ^neas, sinks its roots in
blood. To agitate it extremely, might disturb the repose of our
fathers. Like Polydore, they Avould cry to us from the ground,
' That every drop this living tree contains
Is kindred blood, and ran in patriotic veins.'
30
350 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Let us rally under its branches. Its leaves are healing to the taste.
Transatlantic genius long since predicted, when we were one in govern-
ment with Britain, that in little more than a century, perhaps, Amer-
ican taxation would be more productive than British, and the seat of
empire change."
" Riot robbed glory of scarcely a life," says Mr. Townsend. " Not
a drop of the blood that was poured out for liberty could be spared for
licentiousness. Little mob violence disgraced our proceedings. The
din of arms could not drown the voice of law. Men, hurrying on to
liberty, still stopped to do homage to justice. The fifth of March,
i7T0, while it did much to establish our independence, did more to
prove we were worthy of it. The very soldiers, viewed in the most
odious light, as members of a standing army quartered upon us in
time of peace, whose firing upon the populace produced death and
liberty, Avere almost immediately, by that populace, and for that firing,
solemnly, deliberately and righteously, acquitted of murder. My
friends, this is the greatest glory in our history, the brightest gem in
our national diadem. Brutes have passions ; men should govei'n them.
We have another instance. In the temple of justice a voice was after-
wards heard : ' I will this day die soldier, or sit judge ; ' and then was
suddenly expressed what since, thank God, has proved a permanent
feature of the New England jvidiciary."
Alexander Townsend was born in Boston, and son of David Towns-
end, formerly a watch-maker in State-street. He graduated at Har-
vard Collesie in 1802, read law under the eminent Samuel Dexter,
was an attorney of Suffolk bar in 1806, and soon became a counsellor-
at-law. He was an unmarried man. After the delivery of the oration
at the head of this article, the following sentiment was given for the
orator of the day, by the president, at the dinner in Faneuil Hall :
" I\Iay the principles he has this day eulogized long have the support
of his talents and his eloquence." Mr. Townsend gave, on this occa-
sion, " Faneuil Hall : May it never rock to sleep the independence it
created."
My. Townsend was a large owner of real estate in Boston : and was
proprietor of the Marlboro' Hotel, originally a dark, unsightly build-
ing, which he remodelled in handsome style ; and, when advertising
the edifice to let, informed those who complained that the building
was deficient in light that they had better blame their eyes than the
edifice. Mr. Townsend was warmly interested in the political topics
DANIEL WALDO LINCOLN. 351
of the day, and frequently engaged in active debate at Faneuil Hall ;
but was not a popular speaker, more because of bis uncouth, declama-
tory manner, than for want of forcible argument. He died in Bos-
ton, April 13, 1835, aged 51 years.
DANIEL WALDO LINCOLN.
JULY 4, 1810. FOR THE BUNKER HILL ASSOCIATION.
Was son of Levi Lincoln, and born in "Worcester, ]\Iarch 2, 1784 ;
graduated at Harvard College in 1803, on which occasion he delivered
a poem on "Benevolence." He studied law "ftath his father, settled
in Portland, Me., and was appointed by Gov. Sullivan the county
attorney of Cumberland; he removed to Boston in 1810, and retun.ed
to Portland in 1813. The early decease of the beautiful jNIiss Cald-
well, of "Worcester, to whom he was engaged, shortened his days. He
was a brother of Governor Lincoln. He died April 17, 1815.
The Bunker Hill Association was originated on the brow of the
battle-field, in Charlestown, July 4, 1808, in consequence, probably,
of the refusal of the Federal selectmen of Boston to permit the Repub-
lican party the use of Faneuil Hall, for the celebration of our national
independence, thus subjecting them to the necessity of obtaining a
church, or pul)lic hall, for several years; which elicited the forth-
coming sentiment at the public festival, July 4, 1810, after the dehv-
ery of the oration by D. W. Lincoln : " The Republican Orator of the
Day : Well might his enemies endeavor to obstruct his passage to a
rostrum ; the name of Cicero was not more dreadful to the Catilines of
Rome than is that of Lincoln to the Essex Junto."
The oration pronounced this day, and another, delivered at Worces-
ter, July 4, 1808, are the only printed memorials of this writer of fine
rhetorical power. "Tyrants, beware! " commences our orator, in the
peroration. "Dare not to invade the sacred rights chartered to
nature's children by nature's God ! Dare not to provoke the ven-
geance of valor, the indignation of virtue, the anathema of Heaven !
Restrain the savage myrmidons of thy power from the sacrilegious
violation of peace, the prostration of law, the destruction of estate, and
852 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
the sacrifice of life ! Such were the dictates of reason, ere usurping
pride trampled on the prerogatives and immunities of freemen. Such
were the arguments of justice, ere legislative voracity -wrested from
the stubborn hand of labor the wages of toilsome industry. Such
•were the petitions of loyalty, ere Avanton cruelty had curdled the
mantling blood of kindred affection, or annulled the hallowed obligation
of filial submission. Such were the entreaties of humanity, ere tht
ministers of royal barbarity were unleashed, ere ruin revelled at his
harvest home, or death celebrated his carnival." There were present at
its delivery John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, and Governor Gerry,
signers of the Declaration of Independence ; H. G. Otis, President of
the Senate, and Perez Morton, Speaker of the House. Without
doubt, the abrupt outbreak of the orator prompted the men of power
to gaze at him, as the audience involuntarily cast their eyes upon
them, dcsirino; to know who were rebuked. We will cite another
passage from the one at this date, in which our orator enlarges on the
direful effects of party strife : " Like the enchantment of Circe's bale-
ful cup, party spirit has transformed mankind, unmoulding reason's
mintage. It has frozen the current of the heart, and paralyzed the
pulses of love. Friendship meets a stranger in forgotten sympathy ;
fraternity turns aside from alienated affection ; and parental tenderness
petrifies in filial estrangement. The demon of party spirit has per-
vaded even to the penetralia, and subverted the altars of the Penates,
while, enthroned on the ruins, he triumphs in domestic discord. Party
spirit has invaded places most sacred, reverend and holy; has pol-
luted the judgment-seat, and profaned the temples of the ISIost High.
History points to her sanguine leaf, the mournful memorial of party
rage. See INIarius' spear reeking with gore ! Behold, expiring breath
lingers on Sylla's blade ! Can the drops be numbered that fiill from
Julius' sword? Can the stains be scoured from Antonius' helm?
Mark the rose dripping with blood, where brother falls beneath a
brother's hand, where man is unhumanized, and the savage is fleshed
in kindred carnage ! Father of mercies ! let not such be the destiny
of my country ! Let not the evening star go down in blood ! Educa-
tion can unlock the clasping charm, and thaw the murmuring spell of
party spirit. By informing man how little man can know, it will
relax the dogmatical pertinacity of ignorance, and infuse a temper of
candor and kind conciliation ; not the obsequious conciliation which
receives and adopts errors, but that which forgives them."
JAMES SAVAGE. 353
JAMES SAVAGE.
JULY 4, 1811, FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
In the peroration of the eloquent performance of Mr. Savage, we
have a remonstrance against the commercial encroachments of Napo-
leon, at the very period when he was the most powerful despot in the
world, which evinces a manly and patriotic spirit.
"Can we be deluded, my countrymen," says Mr. Savage, "out of
our liberties by him who announces that ' the Americans cannot hes-
itate as to the part which they are to take ; ' who declares that ' we
ought either to tear to pieces the act of our independence,' or coincide
with his plans ; who implicitly calls our administration ' men with-
out just political views, without honor, without energy;' and who
threatens them ' that it will be necessary to fight for interest, after
having refused to fight for honor ' ? Shall the emperor, who is no less
versed in the tactics of desolation than in the vocabulary of insult and
the promises of perfidy, deceive our government by assertions that ' His
Majesty loves the Americans,' — their prosperity and their commerce
are within the scope of his policy? \Ve knew before that his political
magazine contains rattles for babies, as well as whips for cowards.
Our commerce has, indeed, long been within the scope of his policy, as-
our merchants and mariners will forever remember. His Majesty, no-
doubt, does love the Americans, as the butcher delights in the lamb he
is about to slaughter, as the tiger courts the kid he would mangle and
devour. For such promises, the sacrifice of honor, of interest, of
peace, of liberty, and of hope, is required. For such promises, some
are willing to stir up former national antipathies, and, when these are
too weak for their purpose, to employ new artifices of treachery, to
excite the passions of those who are sIoav to reason ; while others pro-
mote the design by reproaching opponents with idle words, and threat-
ening them with empty menaces. If Heaven has abandoned us to be
so deceived into ruin, on some future anniversary of our national exist-
ence we may exclaim, with Antony, in the bitterness of despair :
* They tell us 't is our birthday, and -vve '11 keep it
With double pomp of sadness ;
'T is what the day deserves that gave us breath.
Why were we raised the meteor of the world,
SO*
354: THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Hung in the skies, and blazing as ■we travelled,
Till all our fires were spent, and then cast downwards
To be trod oufc by Csesar ? '
" "Without adverting to the pohtical questions of our own govern-
ment, we have, my fellow-citizens, a criterion by which to distinguish
the supporters of American independence. They who behold with
, indifference the freedom of other nations prostrated are no friends of
our own. One country after another, in melancholy and rapid suc-
cession, is absorbed in the imperial vortex ; and some of our citizens
are led, by the enmity against England which they are instructed to
cherish, to exult in these forewarnings of our destruction. Shall the
delusion be corrected 7 Shall we feel that our own existence is haz-
arded, when Holland, and Switzerland, and Naples, and Spain, dissolve
into the heated mass of French power, like the towering ice-mountains
•of the pole, as they float towards the south ? Shall our rulers ' suffer
scorn till they merit it,' and lose the inheritance of valor by the expe-
'dients of imbecility 7 Shall they adhere to error till it becomes trea-
son ?■ Ardent as is my execration of the cowardly policy that submits
■without resistance to degradation, I should more earnestly abhor the
■alhance in which many apprehend that we are irrevocably bound,
^very part of our body that was sensible to pain has smarted with the
iash of French enmity ; but the sighs and groans of Europe, from the
Baltic to the Hellespont, witness the exquisite torments inflicted by
their friendship. Let the spirit of our fathers be evoked from their
tombs, to recall their posterity to the recollection of their honorable
'Origin, to the vindication of their ancient glory. There is, avc hope, a
redeeming spirit in the j)eople, Avhich will restore dignity to govern-
ment and prosperity to the country. — which will bring us back to the
principles of better times, and the practice of Washington. — which will
assert our independence wherever the enterprise of our commerce has
iDcen exhibited, and make it lasting and incorruptible as the private
•virtues of our countrymen."
The ancestor of James Savage, who was j\Iaj. Thomas Savage, came
to Boston from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, April, 1635, in the ship
Planter, Nic. Trarice, master ; Avas one of the Court of Assistants, and
a founder of the Old South Church. He was one of those who under-
took, in 1673, to erect a barricade in Boston harbor, for security against
a fleet then expected from Holland ; out of which grew, in less than
forty years, the Long Wharf, a small portion of which has continued
JAMES SAVAGE. 355
ever since, the property of some of his descendants. The father of
James Savage was' Ilabijah, a merchant of Boston, who married Ehz-
abeth, daughter of John Tudor, Avhose residence was in "Winter-sti'eet,
on the south side, opposite the Common, where the subject of this out-
line was born, July 13. 178-1. Ilis mother died before he Avas four
years of age, and he early entered Derby Academy, in Ilingham,
under the tuition of Abncr Lincoln, and Washington Academy, at
Machias, Me., under Daniel P. Upton. Pie graduated at Harvard
Colleirc in 1803. on which occasion he gave an oration in English on
the Patronage of Genius. Mr. Savage engaged in the study of law
under the late Chief Justice Parker, Samuel Dexter, and William Sul-
livan, and entered Suffolk bar, January, 1807 : previous to Avhich he
became a member of the Boston Anthology Society, and was its secre-
tary in January of that year ; and being, previous to this period, in
dcclinins; health, he visited, with his relative and devoted friend, Wil-
liam Tudor, Jr., in 1805, the islands of Martinicjue, Dominique, St.
Thomas, St. Domingo, and Jamaica. He was an original founder and
life-subscriber of the Boston AthenjBum, in the same year.
Mr. Savage was, during a period of five years, an editor of the
Monthly Anthology, which was the first purely literary periodical in
New England, conducted by members of the Anthology Society, a lit-
erary club of many of our finest scholars, which met at private dwell-
ings, and after supper devoted their time to literary criticisms and
general discussions on polite literature, theology, and varied contro-
versy. When this periodical was discontinued, in 1811, New England
was without a literary review of like character ; and it was not until
1815 that the North American Review, like a phoenix, arose from its
ruins, originated by such scions of the parent club as William Tudor
and William S. Shaw', to wdiich review j\Ir. Savage was a contributor.
There is, in the pages of the Anthology, a curious controversy
between Dr. J. S. J. Gardiner and Bev. J. S. Buckminster, on the
merits of Gray as a poet. This dispute bears some resemblance to the
discussions between the romantic and classical schools in literature, says
the biographer of Buckminster. Dr. Gardiner maintains, with dry
reasoning, that Pope's is the only true model for real poetry. The
object of an allusion to this controversy is to introduce an anecdote
related by ^Mr. Savage, then a member of the society. " Controversy,"
said he, '• sprang up in the club, on the literary nature of Gray's Odes ;
and the war began with a burlesque ode to Winter, by our president. Rev.
856 • THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
J, S. J. Gardiner, who followed it up witli one on Summer, also in the
Anthology. In the same number, Buckminster gave a forcible defence
of the imagery and epithets of the poet, which the next month was
replied to by the assailant, and in the following number Avas strength-
ened by the other side ; and this also was counteracted by another par-
ody of the lyric inspiration, in which Gray's Odes were caricatured.
A fourth attempt at the ludicrous, by our president, contained some-
thing unguardedly personal from the satirist to his antagonist, which
produced strong though silent emotions of sympathy in many of the
party. In an instant, the writer threw the inconsiderate effusion into
the fire. From that moment, no allusion was made in the club to
Gray's merits."
In 1806, when Mr. Savage was a candidate for the degree of Master
of Arts, he gave an oration on the progress and advancement of com-
merce; and in 1812 he pronounced the PhiBeta Kappa oration. Mr.
Savage was elected a State representative several times, first in 1812 ;
to the State Senate, first in 1826 ; to the Executive Council, first in
1830, and is an overseer of Harvard College. In 1819 Mr. Savage
visited Demarara. He was elected to the Common Council first in
1823, to the board of Aldermen, first in 1827, and to the school com-
mittee. In April, 1823, Mr. Savage married Elizabeth Otis, widow
of James Otis Lincoln, Esq., and daughter of George Stillman. of
Machias, Me., an officer of the Revolution ; by whom he had one son,
James, and three daughters, one of whom married Prof William B.
Rogers, of the University of Virginia, 1849 ; another daughter married
Amos Binney, of Boston.
Mr. Savage was a delegate to the State convention on the revision of
the constitution in 1820, and was actively engaged in the debates. In
a discussion on education, he remarked, the common schools are the
children of religion, and relisiion not the child of tovvn-schools. He
hoped that the children would never succeed to destroy their mother.
An abstract of his excellent speech against religious tests appears in
the printed journal of the convention.
Mr. Savage published, in the year 1825, The History of New Eng-
land from 1630 to 1649, by John "Winthrop, first Governor of the Col-
ony of Massachusetts Bay, from his original manuscripts : with Notes
to illustrate the civil and ecclesiastical concerns, the geography, settle-
ment, and institutions of the country, and the lives and manners of
the principal planters. The learned Notes of Mr. Savage to this work
JAMES SAVAGE. 357
will ever rank him among the most profound antiquaries of his coun-
try. But ■would it detract from the reputed candor of Mr. Savage,
should the Notes to a new edition of this work he entirely divested of
his own expression of sectarian feeling? Whenever Mr. Savage has
restored the true reading, he has accompanied it with a note of ref-
erence to the corresponding word or sentence in the first edition as
inserted at the bottom of the page. Who will suppose that Gov. Win-
throp could say, in speaking of a night which he was obliged to pass
in the woods in consequence of losing his way, that it was through
God's mercy a Aveary night, instead of a warm night ; or, that one
Noddle, an honest man of Salem, was drowned while running Avood in
a canoe, instead of carrying Avood : or, lastly, that all breeches were
made up, and the church saA'ed from ruin beyond all expectation,
instead of breaches 7 The good sense and impartiality of Mr. Savage's
comments form a singular contrast to the strong and unqualified par-
tiality too often extended by editors tOAvards authors Avhom they have
labored to render fimous.
The last days of James Savage are devoted to antiquarian research.
" During the summer of 1842," says he, '• in a A-isit to England, I was
chiefly occupied Avith searching for materials to illustrate our early
annals ; and, although disappointment Avas a natural consequence of
some sanguine expectations, yet labor Avas followed by success in sev-
eral. Accident thrcAV in my Avay richer acquisitions, which Avere
secured Avith diligence." These comprise gleanings from New Eng-
land history, extending along one hundred pages in the Massachusetts
Historical Collections, of names of early settlers, extracts from records,
and an account of rare books and tracts Avritten in Ncav England. ]\Iay
the shade of Prince enAdron our antiquary ! His last, best days arc
intensely devoted, both by day and sometimes to the last hour of night,
in preparing an elaborate Avork exhibiting the early genealogy of the
first settlers of New England ; and no subtle divine or civilian ever
followed up the minutest point of doubt with more conscientious regard
to accuracy. Avhich Avill render him the most eminent genealogist in
America. The very exordium to the oration of Mr. Savage, at the
head of this article, exhibits the ruling passion of his mind ; for he
says : "If the accidental advantage of generous birth may Avell be a
cause of congratulation to an individual, how greatly ought we to
exult, my countrymen, on a revicAV of our national origin ! Descended
from the only people to AAdiom Heaven has afforded the enjoyment of
U
358 THE UUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
liberty, '^^"ith a -well-balanced government, the means of securing its
continuance in an age of general refinement, in a season of universal
peace, our fxtliers began the controversy wliich ended in the glorious
event that we this day celebrate."
Islr. Savage published, in the New England Magazine for 1832, a
History of the Adoption of the Constitution of Massachusetts, a per-
formance of great merit. In the paragraph on popular representation
in the Legislature, of which he had been a member, he remarks :
'■' Twenty years ago I had a right to a seat here, when the representa-
tives Avere seven hundred ; and one town favored the commonwealth
with its delegate whose constituents were so few that, had an equal pro-
portion through tlie State been allowed to show equal kindness, the num-
ber would have exceeded five thousand and three hundred. A stranger
midit have been astonislied at the manner in which Mr. Kuhn, the
doorkeeper, performed his anxious duty ; and he would perhaps have
irreverently said, that the members had been subjected to the treatment
whicli carcasses undergo from the inspector-general of provisions.
"In the diminution of the State, by the loss of Maine," continues
]Mr. Savage, in a note, " the relative weight of Hull has increased.
Instead of one five thousand three hundred and twentieth, it is now
one three thousand and eighteenth of the whole. But it has had no
representative since, and I presume never had before." The well-
known accuracy of Mr. Savage is proverbial. We know not the man
of more scrupulous nicety ; but in this point of Hull he is off his
guard. The editor of this work, being descended of the far-famed
peninsula, of which is an old saying, "As goes Hull, so goes the
State," feels some ambition that its representation be accurately stated.
The General Court records show that Hull sent John Loring as its rep-
resentative in 1692 ; the venerable Benjamin Gushing in 1810 ; and
since 1812, Samuel Loring, the justice of Hull, who was also of the
house in the two years previous. The fiicetious editor of the Boston
Courier, INIr. Kettelle, whose sprightly articles over the signature of
Peeping Tom at Hull have extended its fame, said of this watering-
place : " While stands the Pickerelneum, Hull stands; when falls the
Pickereloeum, Hull fiills ; and when Hull falls, then roof and rafter
of Boston town come tumbling after."
One of the most profound instances of antiquarian research in James
Savage appears in his argument on ancient and modern dating, com-
prising the report of a committee of the Pilgrim Society, of which he was
JAMES SAVAGE. 359
chairman, on the question of the day to be observed as that of the
landing of the Plymouth Pilgrims. It has been stated that the lion.
Judge Davis urged an attention to this subject in the year 1830. being
of opinion that the date was Dec. 21, instead of the day usually cele-
brated. jMorcover, it is stated in the Perpetual Calendar for Old and
New Style, prepared by Dr. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff. printed in 1848 :
" Our Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth on ^Monday, the 11th day
of December, 1620, 0. S. By the New Style, this occurrence would
be on JNIonday, Dec. 21, 1620. and not on Dec. 22, as was erroneously
adopted at Plymouth, at the first celebration of that event. This error
arose by adopting the correction of eleven days, in use after the year
1700, it not being noticed that this event happened in the prcA-ious cen-
tury, when ten days only were required." The protracted existing
doubts on this point induced the Pilgrim Society of Plymouth to
appoint a committee, Dec. 15. 1849, to consider the expediency of cel-
ebrating in future the landing of the Pilgrims on the 21st day of
December, instead of the 22d day. The learned report, prepared by
Mr. Savage, tending to establish the former date, was unanim.ously
accepted by the committee ; and accepted unanimously, also, by the
Pilgrim Society, ]\Iay 27. 1850. Mr. Savage enlarges, moreover, in
this document, which should be perpetuated in the Collections of the
Massachusetts Historical Societj^, on mistakes in relation to the date of
the surrender of Louisburg, to the date of the landing of Endicott, in
Salem, of the landing of "Wintlirop in Charlestown, of the naming of
Boston, which Jud^e Davis ascertained in 1830, and to the mistake of
the Historical Society regarding the period of the confederation of the
four New England colonics. And, in conclusion, Mr. Savage very pleas-
antly remarks : " "Why should we celebrate a day later, for that of our
flxthers' landing? The truth should be good enough for us ; and that
is the only reason for preference of one day to another. When, by
habit, the right day has become the day of reverence, it will be won-
dered why the Avrong was so often observed." Indeed, we cannot leave
this subject without noticing an error of the American Antiquarian
Society, alluded to in the Perpetual Calendar, in adopting Oct. 23,
1492, as the date of the discovery of America by Columbus, for the
annual meeting of the society, instead of Oct. 21, which was the actual
date, and arising from the same cause as that of the Pilgrim Society.
We hope this investigation will prevent the recurrence of similar
mistakes, and, with Shakspeare, —
360 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
" Let 's take the instant by the fonvard top ;
For ■\vc are old, and on our quick'st deci'ees
The inaudible and noiseless foot of time
Steals, ere we can effect them."
My. Savage is a man of untiring industry. He prepared the
index to the Ancient Charter and Laws of Massachusetts Bay, and
revised the work for the press, pubhshed in 1814. He edited Paley's
works, and the press-work of American State papers, in ten volumes,
selected by John Quincy Adams. He is president of the Massachu-
setts Historical Society, and editor of a few volumes of its Historical
Collections, and contributor of many valuable articles in that work, and
in the Boston Daily Advertiser. He is a member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, of the New York Historical Society ;
and is a vice-president, and has been treasurer, of the Provident Insti-
tution for Savings in Boston, of which he was the principal originator,
on its foundation, in 1816. He originated, also, in ISIT, the Boston
primary school system.
HENBY ALEXANDER SCAMMELL DEARBORN.
JULY 4, 1811. FOR THE BUNKER HILL ASSOCIATION.
In this performance of Gen. Dearborn, delivered in the presence also
of the State executive, he remarks : "On Bunker's ever-memorable
heights was first displayed the lofty spirit of invincible patriotism which
impelled the adventurous soldier to brave the severest hardships of the
tented field, and endure in northern climes the rugged toils of war,
uncanopicd from- the boreal storm and rude inclemencies of Canadian
winters. On that American Thermopylre, where, wrapt in the dim
smoke of wanton conflagration, fought the assembled sovereigns of their
native soil, the everlasting bulwarks of freedom, and thrice rolled back
the tremendous tide of war, was evinced that unconquerable intrepid-
ity, that national ardor and meritorious zeal, which secured victory on
the plains of Saratoga, stormed the ramparts of Yorktown, and bore
the bannered eagle in triumph from the shores of the Atlantic to the
furthest confines of the wilderness.
" By that destructive battle were awakened the most exalted facul-
ties of the mind. Reason, unrestrained, burst forth in the plenitude
HENRY ALEXANDER SCAMMELL DEARBORN. 361
/
of its effulgence. Man, regenerated and disentlirallcd, beat down the
walls of slavish incarceration, and trampled on the broken chains of
regal bondage. The vast resources of an emancipated people were
called into generous exertion. An enthusiastic spirit of independence
glowed in every breast, and spread the uncontaniinated sentiments of
emulative freemen over the broad extent of an exasperated republic.
The united energies of a virtuous people were strenuously directed to
the effectual accomplishment of national independence. During those
portentous times Avei'e achieved the most honorable deeds Avhich arc
inscribed on the evcr-during records of flime. Stimulated by accumu-
lating wrongs, and elated by the purest feelings of anticipated success,
no disastrous events could check the progress of their arms, — no fas-
cinating allurements deflect them from that honorable path which they
had sworn to pursue, or perish in the hazardous attempt. Inspired by
the guardian genius of Liberty, no barriers could oppose their impet-
uous career. Like the ' Pontic Sea, whose icy current and compul-
sive course ne'er feels retiring ebb,' the irrefluent tide of freedom rolls
unrestrained. Bv the courao-eous virtue of our illustrious heroes were
secured those inestimable blessings which we have since enjoyed. To
the warriors and statesmen of the Revolution are we indebted for all
those distinguished privileges which place the citizens of the United '
States beyond the predatory yengeance of ruthless oppression. This
invaluable inheritance is the prize of slaughter acquired by the lives
of contending freemen, secui'ed with the blood of battling patriots."
The father of Gen. Dearborn, who was in the battle of Bunker
Hill, and a captain in Col. Stark's regiment, relates that, being desti-
tute of ammunition, the regiment formed in front of a house occupied
as an arsenal, where each man received a gill-cup full of powder, fifteen
balls, and one flint. The several captains were then ordered to march
their companies to their respective quarters, and make up their powder
and ball into cartridges, Avith the greatest possible despatch. As there
were scarcely two muskets in a company of equal calibre, it was nec-
essary to reduce the size of the balls for many of them ; and as but a
small proportion of the men had cartridge-boxes, the remainder made
use of powder-horns and ball-pouches. Every platoon-oflicer was
engaged in discharging his own musket, and left his men to fire as
they pleased, but never without a sure aim at some particular object.
He did not see a man quit his post during the action ; and did not
believe a single soldier who was brought into the field fled until the
31
3G2 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
■whole army was obliged to retreat for want of powder and ball. It is
a most extraordinary fact, that the British did not make a single charge
during the battle ; which, if attempted, would have been decisive and
fatal to the Americans, as they did not carry into the field fifty bay-
onets. In his company there was but one. Not an officer or sol-
dier of the continental troops engaged was in uniform, but was in the
plain and ordinary dress of citizens ; nor was there an officer on horse-
back.
Henry A. S. Dearborn was born in Exeter, N. H., March 3, 1783 ;
was the son of Gen. Henry, who married Dorcas Osgood, March 28,
1780. He early entered Williamstown Academy; was first a student
at Williamstown College : entered, in advance, at William and Mary's
College, Williamsburgli, Va., where he graduated in 1803. He
studied law under Hon. William Wirt, and closed his course with
Judge Story, of Salem ; begun the practice of law in Portland, in
1806, and married Hannah Swett, a daughter of Col. William R. Lee,
of Marblehcad, at Salem, Mass., May 3, 1807. He became a coun-
sellor-at-law ; was deputy-collector of Boston, under hfs father, in
1811, and his successor as collector of the port of Boston in 1813,
which station he occupied until the appointment of David Hen-
shaw, in 1830. Gen. Dearborn delivered the oration on our national
independence, July 4, 1811, for the Bunker Hill Association; which,
with the Republican Society, were merged in a new society, called the
Washington Society, of which Charles Hood was the first president. He
was commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, in
1816 : was brir<-adier-2;eneral of the Massachusetts militia, in 1814 ;
was a member from Roxbury of the convention for revising the State
constitution, 1820. He was a Roxbury representative in 1830 ; of
the Governor's Council, of the State Senate, from Norfolk, 1831, and
a member of Congress in 1832. He was also the adjutant-general
of ]\Iassachusetts, 1835. In 1847 Gen. Dearborn was the second
elected ]\Iayor of Roxbury, which station he honored to the day of his
decease. July 29, 1851.
The reports of the speeches of Gen. Dearborn, in the journal of the
convention of 1820, evince force of argument and political sagacity.
In his speech on religious tests, he remarked that political opinions
were not subject to a test, — Avhy should those upon religion be subject to
any ? They had no right to compel a man to throw open the portals
of the mind, and discover his religious sentiments. He trusted such
HENRY ALEXANDER SCAMMELL DEARBORN. 3G3
oppression "would not prevail in this free and enlightened country.
There was no authority for it in the Scriptures ; and it was not until
the third century that persons raised to civil offices were re(|uired to
believe in any particular rcliij;ious creed. He had heard it said that
this test "will exclude immoral and wicked men from office. He asked
if such had been the cifect of tests in other countries. The offi}r of a
sceptre had induced princes to cross themselves, or to throw off their
allegiance to the Pope, just as suited their views of aggrandizement.
In England a man goes to take the sacrament, not to repent of his
sins, but because he is chosen First Lord of the Treasury. The Dec-
laration of Independence "which proclaims, and the United States con-
stitution which prescribes, our rights, require no test — no reason
requires a test in the State constitution.
Tiie origin of the Rural Cemetery at Mount Auburn may be traced
to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, whose anniversary discourse
he delivered September, 1828 ; and was its first president, when a com-
mittee was selected to devise measures for this purpose, in connection
•v\-ith an experimental garden. Gen. Dearborn, Avhile president of this
society, was chairman of this committee, and prepared a report, in
"which an extensive and able exposition was made of the advantages of
the undertaking; and, on the 8th of June, 1831, another committee,
of which Gen. Dearborn was a member, was appointed to forward this
object, — and for sixty days a horse and chaise Avas ready at his door,
that he might traverse the grounds and execute the design. On Sept.
24th, of the same year, the cemetery was consecrated, and Hon. Judge
Story gave an eloquent address on the occasion; and much credit
should be conceded to Gen. Dearborn for the architectural and rural
taste exhibited in the order of Mount Auburn Cemetery. The city
of Roxbury is under peculiar obligation to ^layor Dearboi'u as the
originator of Forest Hills Cemetery, consecrated June 28, 1848. In
allusion to this noble repository of the dead, the honored Mayor Dear-
born remarks of it as "a retired, umbrageous, magnificent, and sacred
garden, which will continually augment the number and variety of
funereal monuments, as Avell as insure the erection of such other struc-
tures as may be deemed expedient, and so capacious as to entirely
supersede the occasion for any other burial-place in that city."
Mayor Dearborn, of Roxbury, had accumulated ninety volumes of
manuscript, largely of his own production ; among which is the Life
and Times of Maj. Gen. Henry Dearborn, including an extensive cor-
II
364 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
respondcnce Avltli the greatest men of our country, in eleven volumes.
He had written a Diary, or joui-nal of his o^vn life and times, and cor-
respondence with famous men, in forty-five volumes. He had written
Grecian xirchitecture, in two volumes folio ; a volume on, Flowers,
with drawings, and compiled a Harmony of the Life of Christ, 8vo.,
prepared for the instruction of his children, when they were educated.
He had written the jNIcmoirs of Commodore William Bainbridge, in
400 pages ; a History of the Battle of Bunker Hill, in several hundred
pages of quarto, besides literary and scientific works. He was author,
moreover, of the Memoirs of Col. William R. Lee, in two volumes
quarto. Gen. Dearborn had an extensive library in his romantic cot-
tage in Roxbury, where the intervals of leisure were devoted to his
diary and literary research. Would that he had lived to complete the
hundredth volume of mental power ! No man in New England was
more devoted to literature and science. He had great force of intel-
lect, and a large share of varied learning. His unpublished produc-
tions will add new illustrations to American history, and would be a
valuable legacy to the Massachusetts Historical Society, should they
never be published. The most valuable work ever printed of which
he was the author is the History of the Commerce of the Black Seas,
in two volumes octavo, which has a high character in the North Amer-
ican Review of 1820. Should his residence be destroyed by fire, with
all the manuscripts, it would cause a vacuum that never can be filled.
In the peroration of Dr. Putnam's eulogy on Gen. Dearborn we
find this glowing passage: "Lie lightly upon his bosom, ye clods of
the valley; for he trod softly on you, in loving regard for every green
thing that ye bore ! Bend benignantly over him, ye towering trees of
the forest, and soothe his slumbers with the whisperings of your sweet-
est requiem; for he loved you as his very brothers of God's garden,
and nursed you, and knew almost every leaf on your boughs ! Guard
sacredly his ashes, ye steep, strong cliifs that gird his grave ; for ye
were the altars at which he worshipped the Almighty One, who
planted you there in your strength."
Mayor Dearborn was a member of the American Antiquarian Soci-
ety, Massachusetts Historical Society, New England Genealogical
Historic Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Amer-
ican Association for Advancement of Science.
BENJAMIN POLLARD. 365
BENJAMIN POLLARD.
JULY 4, 1812. FOR THE TOAVN AUTHORITIES.
The ancestor of this family was "William PollarJ, wliose wife, Anne
-, died in Boston, Dec. 6. 1725, aged one hundred and five
years, and left of her offspring one hundred and thirty. She used to
relate that she Avent over in the first boat that crossed Charles River,
in 1G30, to what has since been called Boston ; that she was the first
that jumped ashore; and she described the place as being at that time
very uneven, abounding in small hollows and swamps, and covered with
blueberry and other bushes. In the library of the Massachusetts His-
torical Society is a portrait of this centenarian, taken in 1723, pre-
sented by Isaac Winslow, Esq. Col. Benjamin Pollard, a member of
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1726. Sheriff of
Suffolk for thirteen years, and founder of the Boston Cadets in 1714.
whose portrait is also in the Historical Society, was father of Col.
Jonathan Pollard, who married Mary Johnson; was a goldsmith, whose
shop adjoined that of the bookstore of Gen. Kiiox, and in 1777 was an
aid-de-camp to the latter in the Revolutionary War ; and Benjamin,
the subject of this notice, was his son, born in Boston in 1780, on the
site of the Tremont Temple. His teacher was Francis Nichols, in
Scollay's Buildings, who Avas an importer of books from London. He
was Clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1811
to 1815. He was secretary of the State convention for revising the
constitution, in 1820 ; and was the City Marshal of Boston from its
incorporation, in 1822, until his decease, November, 1836, aged fifty-
si.\.
Marshal Pollard was very partial to polite literature and politics,
and was the reputed editor of two periodicals, — the Emerald, and the
Ordeal, — Avhich, it is said, went down at no distant period from each
other. Ignorant of this fact, a literary stranger inquired of Robert
Treat Paine " what rank this gentleman held among the literati."
Paine answered, "He possesses the greatest literary execution of any
man in America. Two journals have perished under his hands, in six
mouths." The Ordeal was first issued in January, 1801), in connec-
tion Avith Joseph T. Buckingham ; and its objects Avere, to attack the
Democratic party, to revicAV and ridicule the small hterary publica-
31*
3G6 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
tions of the press, and to discipline the children of Thespis. Pollard
was a vigorous writer. His letters, revicAvs, and essays on political
topics, evinced rare ability. He was an admirer of Ames, Hamilton,
Strong, Gore, Lowell, and other Federal authors, and a real hater of
Jefferson, Madison, and the Avritcrs in the Independent Chronicle. He
wrote a review of Giles' speech in the U. S. Seriate, on the resolution
of Hillhouse to repeal the embargo laws. He addressed, in part, a
series of letters to Madison, signed "Marcus Brutus." He wrote on
the " Spanish cause," Napoleon being then at war with that country
and showed much vituperation. The political articles in this periodi-
cal were in a tone of caustic and vindictive censure, and "rather
applied to personages of scale and office," said Mr. Pollard, "than
to individuals who, however they might have deserved, have found
protection in insignificance."
jNIr. Pollard, though not possessing a liberal share of charity toward
his political opponents, gave peculiar evidence of a warm spirit of
benevolence in the cause of common humanity. He remarked, in an
address for a charitable society : "As the faculty of speech marks the
chief distinction between man and the brute creation, so the sympathies
of his heart arc the elevating qualities which exalt him to a rank
among celestial beings. And perhaps the divinity of his origin and
his destiny is in nothing more fully evinced than in the relief which
he extends to his felloAV-men in the various vicissitudes of their lives.
The majesty of his soul expands by the natural enlargement of his
charity, Avhich comprehends the whole human race within its folds ;
his grovelling appetites and passions are left at an infinite distance
below him, and though his feet are fixed upon earth, yet his ethereal
essence is combining with congenial spirits in the skies. His common
feelings extend beyond the reach of the sudden impulses of ordina}-y
men, as a great river is always superior to a smaller stream, however
swelled by accidental accumulations." Mr. Pollard was an early editor
of the Boston Evening Gazette, and his talent Avas mostly devoted to
dramatic criticism in that paper. A friend wrote of him, in the
Gazette, after his decease, that he had the ready wit of Garrick, and
more dignity than Sterne.
Marshal Pollard had the qualities of an orator. His enunciation
was clear and sonorous, and he for many years read in a manly and
eloquent manner the "Declaration of Independence " at Fourth-of-
July celebrations, previous to the delivery of an oration by a speaker
EDWARD ST. LOE LIVERMORE. 367
for tlie occasion. The oration of Mr. Pollard at the head of this article
•was not printed. Russell's Centinel remarked that the prayer of Rev.
Mr. Ilollej, and the oration, -were peculiarly pertinent, animating and
patriotic. Mr. Pollard Avas about si.K feet in height. Avith rather a
bending of the shoulders. He was highly accomplished in manners,
and a finished gentleman. With what graceful ease and dignity he
performed the ceremony of introducing the citizens of Boston to the
admired Lafayette, in the Doric hall of the State House, xVugust,
1824, is strong in the memory of many who enjoyed the honor. The
refined taste and social qualities of Marshal Pollard were better suited
for the drawing-room than for the purlieus of the City Hall, or the
duties of a police-officer. Marshal Pollard, though amply qualified to
de\'ise projects for the prevention of crime, had not the efficiency to
execute them. His successors were, Parkman. "Weston, Blake, Gibbs,
and Tukcy. It may be a question whether Francis Tukey is to the
municipality what Fouche was to the court of Napoleon ; but can there
be a doubt that he is the Eugene Yidocq of New England, as regards
the vigilant detection of offenders]
EDWARD ST. LOE LIVERMORE.
JULY 4, 1813. FOR THE TOWX AUTHORITIES.
Was born at Portsmouth, April 5, 1762 ; graduated at Dartmouth
College in 1800; Avas a counscllor-at-law ; married Mchitabel, a
daughter of Robert Harris, Esq., of Concord, N. H. His second
wife, whom he married May 2, 1799, was Sarah Creese, daughter of
William Stackpole, a merchant of Boston, He had sixteen children.
He was United States Attorney to the Circuit Court ; representative to
Congress for Essex county, Mass., from 1806 to 1812, and a decided
advocate of the Federal party. Was several years a judge of the
Superior Court of New Hampshire. Was a resident of Boston during
the year when he delivered the very excellent oration at the head of
this article. Miss Harriet Livermore, the celebrated lecturer on
Christian life and doctrine, was his daughter. In 1799, Judge Liver-
more pronounced, at Portsmouth, an oration on the dissolution of the
union between this country and France : and on Jan. 6, 1809, an ora-
tion on the embargo law. He died at Lowell, Mass., Sept. 15, 1832.
868 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
BENJAMIN WHITWELL.
JULY 4, 1814. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Was born at Boston, June 22, 1772 ; entered the Latin School in
1779 ; graduated at Harvard College in 1790 ; was a counsellor-at-
law ; and mari-ied Lucy Scollay, May, 1808. Was deputy Secretary
of State in 1816 ; Avas poet for the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cam-
bridge in 1806 ; and died at Ilallowell, April 5, 1825. In 1799, at
Augusta, he gave a eulogy on Washington.
HORACE HOLLEY.
APRIL 30, 1815. FOR THE WASHINGTON BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.
This institution was organized Feb. 22, 1812, on which occasion
Gen. Arnold Welles was elected president, and William Sullivan,
Josiah Quincy, Henry Purkitt, Daniel Messenger, Francis J. Oliver,
and Benjamin Russell, were elected vice-presidents. The Washington
Benevolent Society was originated, it is said, in the office of Nathan
Hale, attorney-at-law, No. 12 Exchange-street. The object of this
society was to cherish and disseminate the principles of Washington,
and to establish a fund for the aid of those unfortunate members of the
institution who are reduced by the pressure of the times to a state of
poverty. To effect its objects, they held monthly meetings for debate
at the Exchange Coffee-house, when political speeches were delivered
by our first men. The meetings were free to all parties. Political
.editors and party leaders attended ; and the society soon increased to
more than two thousand members. An oration was delivered annually
on the 30th of April, in honor of the inauguration of Washington.
The admission fee was two dollars, to constitute a member. The
orations were pronounced until the peace of Dec. 22, 1815 ; and
its orators were Sullivan, Quincy, Bigelow and Holley, whose per-
formances, with the exception of the latter, were printed. The
HORACE HOLLEY. 869
oration of Holley was delivered in the Old South Church. Kus-
scll, of the Centinel; remarked of this performance, that it comprised a
full and able commentary upon the principles professed by the disciples
of Washington ; an application of them to the recent events "which have
occurred since the elevation of the Jcffersonian administration, etc.
It is highly probable that the Hartford Convention owes its origin
more especially to this institution than to the Essex Junto. In the
absence of Holley's oration, we will introduce a beautiful pa.ssage from
an unpublished manuscript of his, which we have recently perused,
where, in enlarging on truly great minds of varieil influence, he lastly
introduces Washington, '^Avhose judgment presides over almost every
other power, where there is but little or no preeminence of genius ;
where there is no attempt at invention, at great and comprehensive
arguments in form ; Avhere wonder and novelties have nothing to do
with the decisions for practice ; where experiment is so mingled with
the tried result of past years as not to be distinguished ; where there
is a clear knowledge of character in the individual state, and an unri-
valled judgment to collect, sift, separate, and use for the most valu-
able purposes, the information thus obtained. Such was the mind of
Washington, — and here I stop, declaring the most gratified admira-
tion, and uttering the most fervent prayers for the wider diffusion of
this uncommon class of minds."
In the procession of this institution were four hundred boys, in a
uniform dress, decorated with wreaths and garlands, each one bearing
on his breast a copy of Washington's Legacy, in a morocco-bound
miniature volume, suspended by a ribbon. An elegant standard, and
twenty banners, were borne by twenty-one youths, on each of which
were inscribed patriotic mottoes. These sons of Sparta were drilled
for parade in Faneuil Hall ; and a complete record of their names,
preserved by Lemuel Blake, Esq., one of the managers, and a treas-
urer of the society, is appended to this volume.
This institution was watched with a keen eye of jealousy. In the
Boston Gazette of May 2, 1814, we find an impromptu, on hearing an
"envious" Democrat boast of the success of his prayers for rain ta
drench the Washington roses, on the day of the procession :
" Cease, railer ! thy prayer is both foolish and vain,
The Washington rose-tree is safe from disaster ;
The gentle effusion of April's soft rain
"Will nourish its root, and expand its buds faster.
370 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Nor think for the cloud-mantled sun that it grieves, —
It shall flourish when nature's bright glories are ended ;
Transplanted to heaven, its odorous leaves
Shall breathe their perfume where its Patron 's ascended.
From eternity's soil the Washington rose
Shall draw its nutrition, its bloom never fading,
While the poisonous plant that in Erebus grows
Shall reward, wretched slave, thy profane gasconading ! "
The eloquence of Horace Holley, on the delivery of a sermon before
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, in 1811, was so over-
powering, that a spontaneous acclamation burst forth from the crowd
that thronged the doors of the church. He was born at Salisbury,
Conn., Feb. 13, 1781, and graduated at Yale College in 1803. On
leaving college, he studied law under Peter W. Radcliff. Esq., of New
York; and in 1804 he engaged in the study of divinity with President
iDwight, at New Haven, and married Mary, daughter of Stephen
Austin, of that city, when he was settled at Greenfield Hill, Fairfield.
He was at that period a Trinitarian. In 1809 he became an avowed
•Unitarian, and Avas the successor of Rev. Dr. West, of the Hollis-
street Church, in Boston. In 1812 he was chaplain of the House of
-Representatives, and one of the school committee.
The ancestor of Horace Holley was one of the early settlers of Con-
necticut,— probably John Holley, a selectman of Stamford in 1642.
An absurd attempt has been made to trace his descent from Edmund
Halley, the eminent astronomer of England, who died in 1741, a
great-grandson of whom was said to be Luther Holley, the father of
the subject of this outline.
Mr. Holley Avas Avarmly interested in the old Federal party, but
ncA'er spoke at a political caucus ; and it is related of him, that, after
attending a debate in Faneuil Hall, Avhich he entered arm in arm Avith
Samuel Dexter, his personal friend, Avho decidedly o^^posed the expe-
diency of the Hartford Convention, Mr. Holley dcA^oted the forenoon
service of the next Sabbath to an argument in favor of its objects,
pouring out, in strains of eloquence that captiA-ated the audience, one
ihalf-hour longer than the usual period. His mind Avas also intensely
absorbed in morals and manners ; and on another Sabbath he enlarjred
in an exposition of the nature and character of the morals and
maxims of the famous Marquis de Rochefoucault, without any reference
to the Holy Scriptures for a text from Avhich to preach. He Avas
frequently solicited to publish a sermon, by his parishioners, and also
HORACE HOLLEY. o«l
for the loan of a manuscript ; but he uniformly declined the former,
and rarely consented to the latter. However, to oblige one of his
devoted friends, — jNIr. Jackson, — who was a candle-maker, and often
made him the frift of a box of candles. — ursiino; the favor of an inter-
change of light, — he occasionally consented to the request. A female
domestic once surreptitiously secreted a manuscript sermon of his
under the carpet in his study, which Avas copied, and then replaced.
Dr. Ilolley Avas a fine mechanical genius. Calling, one time, on his
bootmaker, — one Mr. Barker, — to settle an account, he offered the
man a fifty-dollar bill to be exchanged, who directly sent a boy to
obtain small bills for it ; on which, Dr. Holley forthwith seated him-
self on the bench, stitching a shoe with ready facility. The bootmaker
jocosely remarked to the divine that he ought to pay for the use of
the block. After paying his bill. Dr. Ilolley very pleasantly threw
a piece of silver on the bench, and politely withdrew from the shop.
This incident is worthy of ]\Iather Byles, his witty predecessor.
On the 22d December, 1817, Dr. Holley delivered the anniversary
discourse on the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plynjouth ; and
Thacher, in the History of Plymouth, relates that the well-known ora-
torical powers of Dr. Holley were exerted in the happiest manner, and
afforded great delidit and satisfaction to his numerous auditors. He
contemplated the scenery about our harbor, our burial-hill, and the
rock : and held a conversation with Dea. Spooner, in the morning,
which roused the best energies of his nature, and nerved his faculties
to their noblest display. In the discourse, he observed that he had
that mornino; received some new recollections, and made the following;
allusion to the venerable Dea. Spooner : '-Our venerable friend knew
and conversed with Elder Faunce, who personally knew the first set-
tlers : so Polycarp conversed with St. John, the beloved disciple of
our Saviour."' On this occasion, Dea. Spooner officiated by reading
the Psalm in the ancient form, line byline, — and thus closed the
religious services of this venerable man, who for so many years had
constantly been seen in the " deacon's seat " in the sanctuary of God,
and who died March 22, 1818, in the eighty-third j'-ear of his age.
In 1818 Dr. Holley was elected president of Transylvania Univer-
sity, in Lexington, Kentucky. Tliis passage from the golden ore of
Ilolley, brilliant as the hues of the rainbow, is gleaned from his
funeral eulogy over the remains of Col. James ]\Iorrison, the most
munificent benefactor of this university, printed at Lexington, in 1823 ;
872 THE HUNDRED BOSTOX ORATORS.
" When I look over the history of the public institutions of our coun-
try,— especially of those devoted to the great cause of education, — I
find among their donors, their patrons, the founders of professorships,
the names of those who have been most distinguished for their patriot-
ism, their liberal opinions, their services to the state, and their effective
philanthropy. "Washington, Adams, Franklin, Rumford, and Dexter,
among a host of others less distinguished, miwht be mentioned, as a
few of that glorious class of American benefactors and philanthropists
to which Morrison has so honorably added his name. Not many have
surpassed him in the extent of their munificence, and most are left far
behind.
"It deserves to be noted that the venerable sage of Monticello, after
having spent years as a diplomatist abroad, — after having witnessed
and enjoyed the diversified resources of a European life, — after being
raised to the highest honors of his country, and crowned with the
wreath of imperishable glory, — after having drank at the fountains of
enjoyment in almost every mode of existence, — has at last devoted
himself, with the ardor of a young enthusiast, and Avith the perse-
verance of a veteran in philanthropy, to the most glorious of all the
public enterprises of Virginia, the establishment, completion and
endowment, of her State university. "What an example is this to
illustrate the usefulness of age, the dignity of retirement, the results
of experience, the worth of human nature, the value of mind, and an
effectual honorable preparation for eternity ! The patriot, scholar and
philanthropist, of Quincy, too, finds no appropriation of the gifts of
fortune so dear to his heart, in the frosts of asje and on the vercje of
the grave, as that which lays a foundation for the permanent union of
literature, philosophy, and religion. What a spectacle for European
potentates to behold is thus furnished by the plain but enlightened and
truly noble servants of our republic, in private life ! What a contrast
do these beneflictions for the best of all purposes exhibit to the blood-
stained career of mad ambition ; to the selfish, haughty, and cruel doc-
trines of legitimacy : to the luxuries, debaucheries, effeminacy, and
decapitations, of too many of the crowned pageants that glitter through
a short and oppressive reign, and are known afterwards only for their
want of capacity, usefulness, and virtue ! 0, my country ! long mayst
thou boast of thy free institutions, thy equal laws, thy simple man-
ners, thy hardy and independent spirit, thy active patriots, and thy
honored statesmen, — not only in public but in private life."'
HORACE nOLLEY. 373
The above production, together with a review of Ely's Contrast of
^opkinsianism and Calvinism, an article in the Western Review, and
a few articles embraced in the memoir of his life, are nearly all that
remain of his mental efforts. The most successful result of the genius
of Gilbert Stuart was the portrait of Horace Ilolley, finished in 1818,
on the day M"hcn he left Boston for his elevated station in the west. It
was executed for James Barker. Esq., one of his parishioners. Stuart
was so delighted Avith the painting, that he exclaimed to ]\Ir. Barker,
'•I never wish to ^jaint him again. This is the only picture I ever
painted that I have no desire to alter; I am entirely satisfied with it."
A friend conversing with Sprague, the poet, regarding this inimitable
likeness, advised £im to go and see it, for it was worth a pilgrimage of
five miles on foot. Sprague replied, "I will go and see it." Our
poet remarked that he was not accustomed to speak of handsome men,
'•but I will say that Horace Holley was a man of great personal mas-
culine beauty." AYhen he ascended the pulpit, in his flowing gown,
and, assuming the air and attitude of the orator, bold and expressive,
threw his eyes around him on the gazing audience, the scene itself
was eloquent. " His voice was mellow, rich, and silver-toned, thrill-
ing at times," says Caldwell, in the eulogium, '• with the very essence
of melody," His enunciation was clear, distinct, and aptly varied.
His manner was graceful and animated, and his action was so effective
that the whole audience would be irresistibly overpowered. Holley
was, as one remarked, a sun in the firmament of pulpit eloquence, at
whose appearance "all the constellations pass away, and make no
noise." His widow graphically said of him, in the beautiful memoir
Avhich she published, that "he had clear and bright, yet expressive,
black eyes. His hair, in his youth, was black, fine, and silky. As he
advanced in life, it gradually retreated from his fair, polished forehead,
until but a remnant was left upon one of the most classic heads ever
displayed to view." "What Holley once remarked of "Whitefield avcH
applies to himself, that he has left his fame to rest upon the record of
his own personal eloquence ; and it may be safely asserted that Still-
man and Holley were the most eloquent pastors that ever graced the
Boston pulpit
President Holley resigned the oversight of the university in 1827,
with the expectation of an invitation to a new church in Boston. On
his passage from New Orleans to Xew York, he died of the yellow
fever, July 31, 1827, at the early age of forty-six years. His widow
32
374 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
has proved her devotion to the memory of her husband more affect-
ino-lv than if she had mingled his ashes in her cup, said one, and drank
them, to keep his remains ever near her heart. How exquisitely pathetic
is her burning narrative of his last moments at sea ! "Rest and quiet-
ness were out of the question," says IMrs. Ilolley ; "a still, dark room, a
bed of suitable dimensions, with constant and carefiU attendants, — any
one circumstance included in the word liome, had been more than lux-
ury. Let those who would learn the full meaning of that dearest of all
names experience a distressing, paralyzing illness at sea, and they vrill
know its full import. Hitherto, no one had expressed a fear of dan-
gerous disease on board, so little do w^ feel and understand impending
evil. It now became calm, and there was time and opportunity to
attend to the suffering and helpless. The danger of Dr. Holley's sit-
uation became too apparent. His eyes were half closed — his mind
wandering. The same medicines were repeated, the doses doubled,
and all other means of relief applied, which the kind-hearted, though
unskilled, in their goodness could command. The disease, Avhich in
its early stages might, perhaps, have been checked, had now acquired
force and strength, and soon triumphed over one of the finest constitu-
tions, as well as most brilliant of intellects. The fifth of the disease,
and the thirty-first of the month, was the ftital day.
" The sun rose in all the brightness and intense heat of a tropical
reo-ion. It was a dead calm. Not a breath of air skimmed the surface
of the sea, or flmned the burning brow of the sufferer. The writer of
this article, who still lay in silent anguish a speechless spectator of the
scene, expected, while conscious of anything but distress, to be the
next victim ; and who, losing at times all sense of suffering in the
wt)manish feeling occasioned by the circumstance of there not being a
female hand to perform the last sad offices of humanity, has a confused
recollection of horror of the solemn looks of the passengers pacing to
and fro upon the deck ; of a deathlike stillness, broken by groans and
half-uttered sentences ; and of a little, soft voice trying to soothe the
last moments, and to interpret the last accents, of his dying parent.
All this she heard, without sense enough to request to be carried to the
spot, or to realize that it meant death. When the groans and spasms
had ceased, it seemed to be only a release from pain — a temporary
sleep. When all was hushed, and the report of pistols and the fumes
of burnin'T tar announced the fatal issue, trusting in that divine Being
into whose presence she expected soon to be ushered, — believing, as far
J
LEMUEL SIIAW. 375
as reflection had exercise, that the separation was but for a little space,
— she heard -with the firmness of despair, and -with silent awe, the part-
ins; Avaters receive the scarce breathless form of him who had been her
pride and boast, as he had been the admiration of all to whom he was
known, — his winding-sheet a cloak, his grave the wide ocean, his mon-
ument the everlasting Tortugas ! All this she heard, and lives."
The lament of his lonely and devoted widow will ever affect the heart
of sympathy :
" 0 ! had he lived to reach his native land,
And then expired, I would have blessed the strand ;
But where my husband lies I may not lie.
I cannot come, with broken heart, to sigh
O'er his loved dust, and strew with flowers his turf;
Ilis pillow hath no cover but the surf :
I may not pour the soul-drop from mine eye
Near his cold bed ; — he slumbers in the wave.
0 ! I will love the sea, because it is thy grave."
LEMUEL SHAW. '
JULY 4, 1815. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
In the admirable performance of Chief Justice Shaw, we find an
explanation of the opposition of a powerful party amongst us to the
last war Avith Great Britain, and a magnanimous and prompt conces-
sion that the contest has strengthened the bonds of our political union :
" We rejoice in the belief that the danger which we once feared from
the ascendency of French power, and the niorc contaminating influence
of French principles, is forever removed. The secret spell, wliich
seemed to bind us in willing chains to the conqueror's car, is forever
broken. No sophistry can again deceive us into a belief that the cause
of Bonaparte is the cause of social rights, or create a momentary sym-
pathy between the champion of despotism and the friends of civil
liberty.
" One of the most alarming points of view in Avhich the sincere
opponents of the late war with England regarded that measure was,
that it tended to cement and perpetuate that dangerous and disgraceful
I
376 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OKATORS.
connection. The commercial restrictions of America corresponded, in
princij^le and in object, •with the continental system of France. We
declared war at the moment when Napoleon had prepared the whole
force of his empire to strike the last fatal blow against the liberties
of Europe, by the conquest of Russia. Of the character of that
■war we have often expressed our strong and decided opinion ; and it
'is not my design to anticipate the sentence of censure and con-
demnation which history will pronounce on its authors. Let us
rather turn from the revolting subject, to the more grateful task of
contemplating the lustre which it has given occasion to shed on the
American character. 0 ! who shall hereafter recollect the gal-
lantry of our little navy, the memorable exploits of our ocean heroes,
their skill and bravery in battle, their moderation in victory, their dig-
nity even in defeat, without higher emotions of pride and satisfaction
in the name and character of an American 7 That navy, one of the
few remaining fruits of better counsels, had survived only amidst the
utter contempt and neglect of those whose administration it has since
contributed to emblazon. But it has justified the ardent hopes and
realized the high expectations of its early and constant friends, and
redeemed the reputation of the country. It is now justly the favorite
of all ; the nation are its patrons, and it must and will be cherished.
I certainly mean to bestow the highest praise on the late American
army, when I say that, in most instances, they have well sustained the
high military reputation ^Yhich crowned the arms of America in the
war of the Revolution.
' Fas est ab hoste doceri,'
'' 'If.' said Gen. Burgoyne in his memorable defence before Parlia-
ment, ' there can be any persons who continue to doubt that the Amer-
icans possess the quality and faculty of fighting (call it by whatever
name they please), they are of a prejudice that it would be very absurd
longer to contend with.' This reputation, the battles of Niagara,
of Plattsburg and the Mississippi, will have no tendency to impair.
In this review, I should do injustice to my own feelings not to mention
with merited commendation, the courage, the spirit and patriotism, of
the American militia. Sensible of the danger as well as the burthen
of supporting a large standing force, it has been the policy of America
to arm and discipline her citizens ; and, in cases of sudden emergency,
to intrust the safety of the country, in some measure, to their zeal and
•courage. The vigorous defence of Plattsburg, of Baltimore and New
LEMUEL SHAW. 377
Orleans, has well justified tlie confidence reposed in them. I may add,
with pride and with pleasure, that the alacrity with which the militia
of Massachusetts recently rallied at the call of their illustrious chief,
in whose judgment, courage and patriotism, they justly reposed unlim-
ited confidence, the ardor and discipline they exhibited, the patience
and courage they manifested, proved — if proof Avere wanting — that
the soil of freedom will never be surrendered by its proprietors, but
with their lives."
Lemuel Shaw was born at Barnstable, Jan. 9, 1781; and was the son
of Rev. Oakes ShaA^, the venerable pastor of the first church in that
town, by Susanna Hayward, his second wife. At the age of fifteen
3'ears, young Lemuel entered Harvard College ; and, on his graduation
in 1800, he engaged in a dialogue with Timothy Flint and Abiel IIol-
brook, on the excellence of the Greek language. On leaving college,
being ambitious to disencumber his beloved father of the expenses of
his education, he became usher at the Franklin, now the Brimmer
School, then under the direction of the excellent Dr. Asa Bullard.
Here we cannot forbear to state that our own Charles Sprague, the
immortal poet of Boston, was then, a scholar at this public school.
Who can estimate the influence of such minds on youthful genius ?
Mr. Shaw engaged in legal studies, during a period of three years,
under the guidance of the famous David Everett, a counsellor, and
author of the memorable poem for youthful orators, the first lines of
which are —
" You W scai-ce expect one of my age
To speak iu public on the stage."
We find in Felt's Memorials of AVilliam S. Shaw a remark of Mrs.
Peabody, his mother and a sister of Mrs. President Adams, expressed
in her letter to him, dated Sept. 2, 1801 : " Your cousin, Lemuel Shaw,
is studying law in Boston. He is a superior young man."'
In 1805 iMr. Shaw was an entered attorney of Suffolk bar. He
was representative of Boston in the State Legislature during the entire
period of the war with Gi'eat Britain, from 1811 to 181G ; and, on the'
institution of the Washington Benevolent Society, in 1812, was elected
its secretary. Mr. Shaw married, Jan. 6, 1818, Elizabeth, a daughter
of Josiah Knapp, a merchant of Boston, who died ; and he married, the
second time, Hope, a daughter of Dr. Samuel Savage, of Barnstable,
to whom a lady made the happy allusion, — "There is Hope in the
Judiciary," — at the centennial celebration of his native town. In
32*
378 THE UUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
1811 he gave an address for the Massachusetts Humane Society. He
^yas elected to the State convention on the revision of the constitution,
'ft'here, in his arguments on the judiciary and other points, he evinced
great -wisdom ; and, in the year succeeding, he Avas one of the editors
of the General Laws of the State, revised and adapted to the amend-
ments of the convention.
In the year 1822 we find Mr. Shaw in the State Senate, at Avhich
period he was chairman of the joint committee of the Legislature on a
city charter for Boston. We venerate the man who devised our char-
tered rights. It was Chief Justice Shaw, then ail eminent counsellor,
— the sage of Trimount, — who drafted the city charter, in the com-
mittee of the town, and wrote, also, the act of incorporation establish-
ing the city of Boston, granted by the General Court, Feb. 23, 1822,
with the exception of the fourteenth section, regarding public theatres
and exhibitions, and the act establishing a Police Court, Avhich were
drafted by Hon. William Sullivan, and went into operation at the
same time ; both acts constituting the system of municipal govern-
ment. The original bill for a city charter is on file in the State
archives, and is partly in the hand-Avriting of Chief Justice Shaw.
Every avenue to an invasion of the foundation of the city charter
should be guarded with a jealous eye. At the period of its construc-
tion, a party Avas strenuous that each ward should elect its own alder-
man. This was vigorously opposed, as creating the Avards into petty
democracies, overturning the balance of power in the Council ; and
even though they be elected on a general ticket, it Avould lead to a
strife of Avards. In addition to a share in the legislative power of the
Council, they are invested Avith important executi\'e duties, Avithout
reijard to local interests. Rather tolerate the minor evils of a con-
servative charter, than endure greater by submitting to party caprice.
In a careful, conservative spirit. Justice ShaAV has avoided both the
exclusiveness of aristocracy and the arbitrary severity of democracy,
AveaA'ing the whole system on a purely republican basis. The argu-
'ments for the inviolate preservation of the charter urged by the elder
Quincy tend to its perpetuity. Our city is indebted to the ocean-
bound cape for many of its most eminent civil and mercantile men.
Lemuel ShaAV is the successor of Isaac Parker, as Chief Justice of
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, over which he has presided
since his appointment under Gov. Levi Lincoln, since his inauguration
in September, 1830, at Avhich period he was a representative in the
I
LEMUEL SHAW. 879
State Legislature. He is senior Fellow of the Corporation of Harvard
College, -which important station he has honorably filled since his elec-
tion, in 1834. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, of the Massachusetts Historical and of the Xew England
Genealogic Historical Societies.
During the whole period of his elevation to the head of the State
judiciary, Justice Shaw has made records of the legal transactions
under his superintendence, comprising nearly fifty volumes, of several
hundred pages each, lettered " Minutes of the Massachusetts Supreme
Judicial Court," handsomely bound in substantial Russia backs. —
thus giving him facilities to recur to former decisions, and learn of the
past how to operate on the present. He could not bec|ueath to the
law librai'y of Suffolk any amount of money that would compare with
the inestimable value of such a legacy as these volumes of Court
Decisions.
With the exception of Theophilus Parsons, a more profound civilian
never graced the ermine, in New England. He discerns, at a glance,
points in a case, that, to an ordinary intellect, would require protracted
reflection. He is unblemished in private life, and gi'catly esteemed for
his courtesy, candor, and ready acts of charity. His sagacity and
penetration are proverbial, and his influence on the bench is almost
without bound. He is rather corpulent, and near the common height
of man, with dark-blue, piercing eyes, that play amid expressive fea-
tures.
Justice Shaw has ever felt a devoted veneration of his parents.
His mother was a lady of more than ordinary powers of intellect ;
and of his father, the venerable pastor of Barnstable, he thus Avarmly
expressed himself, in a speech at the centennial celebration of that
town, Sept. 3, 1839: "Almost within sight of the place where we
are still stands a modest spire, marking the spot where a beloved
father stood to minister the holy word of truth, and hope, and salva-
tion, to a numerous, beloved, and attached people, for -almost half a
century. Pious, pure, simple-hearted, devoted to and beloved by his
people, never shall I cease to venerate his memory, or to love those
who knew and loved him. I speak in the presence of some who knew
him. and of many more who, I doubt not, were taught to love and
honor his memory, as one of the earliest lessons of their childhood."
He is remarkable for social qualities, and his conversation is often
so replete with wisdom and amiable vivacity that one is sure to be the
380 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
better for liis society. The sentiment here advanced, and given by
him at the celebration, so characterizes the man, that it is a choice
memento: "Cape Cod, our beloved Birth-place: May it be the
nursery and the home of the social virtues, — a place which all her
sons and daughters, whether present or absent, may, for centuries to
come, as in centuries past, delight to honor and to love." The passage
herewith transcribed is taken from the song written for the occasion,
by William Hayden, Esq., our late honored postmaster of Boston :
" To trace your debt to old Cape Cod
It needs no brush or pallet, —
There 's Dimmock, Gray, and Thacher, too,
The Searses, and George Hallett ;
Some service we have done the State, —
From us you get your law, sir ;
There 's Mr. Bassett — he 's your clerk, —
And there's Chief Justice Shaw, sir."
Justice Shaw gave the following sentiment at the first anniversary
of the Cape Cod Association, celebrated in Boston, Nov. 11, 1851:
" The Cabin of the Mayflower : The Convention Hall of the Pilgrims,
from the first dawning of whose light has emanated a blaze of consti-
tutional freedom which has lighted up every mountain and penetrated
every valley of our land."
In addition to productions already named, Chief Justice Shaw has
published his Inaugural Address ; Charge to the Grand Jury at
Ipswich, 1832 ; Address at the Opening of the New Court-house, in
Worcester, 1845 ; Charge to the Jury in the trial of Professor
J. W. Webster, in Bemis' edition.
What Justice Shaw said of his predecessor in office may, Avith great
emphasis, be apphed to himself: "His judicial character must stand
upon the published reports of his judicial decisions, which now form so
large a portion of his legal learning. These will form an enduring
monument of his fame, and constitute a large claim upon the respect
and gratitude of posterity." In transposing what Justice Shaw once
said of the law, to the lawyers, we may remark of him, that, having
been nurtured by an enlightened philosophy, invigorated by sound
learning, and polished by elegant literature, he has been an efficient
supporter of constitutional liberty.
WILLIAM GALE. — GEORGE SULLIVAN. 381
WILLIAM GALE.
JULY 4, 1815. FOR THE WASniN'GTOX SOCIETY.
WiLLAM Gale was born at Waltbam, July G, 1788, and grad-
uated at Harvard College in 1810. He became a counsellor-at-law,
and practised in the old State-house. He was a warm adherent of
the Democratic party, and a frequent contributor to the Chronicle.
The papers of the day said of the oration (delivered at the Columbian
Coffee-house, for the Washington Society, of which IMr. Gale was
president in 1817), that it was a patriotic, spirited and elegant per-
formance. Mr. Gale was the legal solicitor of the Republican Institu-
tion, on its foundation, in 1819. Possessing talents tending to an
honored eminence, it is related that he descended to habits of inebria-
tion,— an infirmity peculiar to men of literary genius, — which reduced
him to poverty, and doomed him to the House of Industry, which,
according to the records, he last entered Nov. 6, 1839, when, being
attacked with the small-pox, he was removed to Rainsford Island on
the 19th inst., where he died, Nov. 21, 1839.
" Now there he lies,
And none so poor to do him reverence."
GEORGE SULLIVAN.
JULY 4, 1816. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Was a son of Gov. Sullivan, and born in Boston February, 1782 ;
entered the Latin School in 1791, and graduated at Harvard College
in 1801, Avhen he engaged in a discussion on the importance of
national character to the United States. Was a counsellor-at-law ;
and married Sarah Bowdoin, a daughter of Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop.
He was secretary to Hon. James Bowdoin, when minister to Spain.
Was the governor's aid-de-camp, and a member of the Ancient and
Honorable Artillery Company, in 1811. Was captain of the New
882 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
England Guards. Judge-advocate of the first military division. Was
president, in 1813, of Boston Fuel Society for the Poor. Was a rep-
resentative, and a senator, in the State Legislature. His residence has
been, for many years, in New York.
General Humphries, who gave a speech at the dinner of the town
authorities, remarked of Mr. Sullivan's performance, at the head of this
article : " The orator of the day has been your faithful organ, in pro-
nouncing conciliatory doctrines, in inculcating liberal and independent
sentiments, and recommending a just and wise system of policy."
Unlike his eminent brother, William, he was a repubhcan of the
Democratic school. He is a member of the New England Historical
Society. He is a gentleman of polished manners and truly estimable
reputation, and the honored brother of the Hon. Richard Sullivan,
of this State.
ASHUR WARE.
JULY 4, 1816. FOR THE WASHINGTON SOCIETY.
Was born at Sherburne, and son of Joseph Ware, a respectable
farmer, and born in 1783. He graduated at Harvard College in
1804, at which time he took part in a forensic disputation. Whether
the law of nature be equally applicable to individuals and nations.
He was a tutor at Cambridge from 1807 to 1811, and professor of
Greek from that period to 1815. He was an attorney-at-law in Bos-
ton, 1816, and an editor of the Boston Yankee, in company with
Henry Orne. In 1817 jNIr. Ware removed to Portland, and deliv-
ered another oration on our national independence, in that town. In
1820 he was elected a member of the corporation of Bowdoin College,
which he occupied until 1844. In 1834 he was president of the
Portland Athenteum, and was an officer of the INIaine Historical
Society. He has been many years, from 1822, Judge of the U. S.
District Court of Maim. In 1830 Judge Ware married Sarah Mor-
gridge, and has one son at college. In 1839 he published Reports of
Cases aro-ued and determined in the District Court of the United
O
States for the District of Maine, from 1822 to 1839, printed at Port-
ASHUR M'ARE. 383
land. This is a work of great legal learning. Judge "Ware was the
first Secretary of State for Maine, on its separation, in 1820.
Judge Ware, in early life, entered the field of democracy, and
vrarmly espoused its cause. His brilliant talents, displayed in the two
orations, show him a devoted champion for the war with Great Britain,
and a decided opponent to the Hartford Convention. They are valua-
ble records of the party feeling of the day. He said of Samuel Dex-
ter, that he indignantly frowned on all attempts to impair the constitu-
tion, or sever the Union. We do not believe the judge indulges, after
an experience of thirty years, views like the following, extracted from
the Portland oration: "Mr. Ames, the oracle of our aristocratic
junto, feelingly lamented that we had not in this country the materials
for estal)lishing a monarchy similar to that of England. We had no
old and great families who were looked up to with that submissive rev-
erence which is inspired by the inherited greatness, the family pictures,
if I may so remark, of ancient nobility. But the times are much
improved since he wrote. All difficulties vanished before the enter-
prising geniuses of 1814. This man will surely make a very good
Duke of Norfolk, and here is an Earl of Essex waiting for his patent
of nobility. A hopeful train of titled great could be quickly formed.
But for the king ! Who shall we clothe with the awful robes of maj-
esty 7 Where shall we find the sublimity of genius and the transcend-
ent dignity that is worthy to be encircled by the glories of the crown ?
Nothing so easy. It is a maxim of the British constitution, which is
our model, that a pasteboard king is the best of all possible mouarchs ;
and so we will crown — the sage of Northampton ! Queen Malj was
busy at her fairy work. INlitres and diadems, and stars and ribbons,
were dancins; before the eager imaginations of these titled dreamers.
But the ano-el of Peace arrived, and the air-drawn phantoms of the
fairies vanished before the wand of the powerful enchanter. The
exhilarating visions of a heated fancy, the 'thrones and dominions and
princedoms,' the stars and diadems and mitres, just as the pilgrims
arrived at the wicket of their political heaven, were taken by this rude
cross wind, and,
" Upwhirlcd aloft,
Flew o'er the backside of the world fivr oflf,
Into a limbo large and broad,"
tne ancient receptacle of all the abortive and unfinished works of
nature, and all the multiformed follies of men, of politician's dreams,
384 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
and lover's sighs, and Pope's indulgences, yclept in olden time the
'Paradise of fools.' And there may the sparkling glories of the New
England monarchy, the crosses and coronets, j-hat charmed the ■waking
and sleeping fancies of our political regenerator, slumber in undis-
turbed repose, with the cowls and hoods, the relics and rosaries, of
religious delirium, till the day of the general resurrection ; " and in
another passage of like satirical vein, Gov. Strong is alluded to as our
invincible Washington, in frowning majesty, curbing his impetuous
steed, at the head of his Northampton chivalry. His very name was a
tower of strength, and of whom Paine thus emphasizes in Rule New
England :
" Old Massacbusetts' hundred hills,
Awake, and chant the matin song !
A realm's acclaim the welkin fiUs, —
The Federal sun returns Tvith Strong."
As an offset to the insinuations on the "good Duke of Norfolk,"
— meaning, we presume, Fisher Ames, — we will quote a sentence from
his eulogy on Washington, that "government was administered with such
integrity without mystery, and in so prosperous a course, that it seemed
wholly employed in acts of beneficence;" and this was an opinion
formed after being in Congress during the entire administration of
Washington. A royalist would not say this ; and Samuel Dexter, the
great political rival of Fisher Ames, pronounced the eulogy over his
unburied remains.
EDAVARD TYRRELL CHANNING.
JULY 4, 1817. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Was born at Newport, R. I., Dec. 12, 1790. He received at
Harvard College, in 1819, the degree of A. M. ; was the orator for
the Phi Beta Kappa Society in 1818 ; became a counsellor-at-law,
and married Henrietta A. S., daughter of William Ellery, Esq., of
Newport, April, 1826 ; has been the Boylston Professor of Rhetoric
and Oratory ever since 1819. At that period he became editor of the
North American Review- The oration delivered in 1817 was pro-
FRANCIS CALLEY GRAY. 885
nounced in the presence of President Monroe, tvIio was tlien on a tour
throuo-h New England. He Avas author of the IMcmoir of "William
Ellery, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, of -whom
Dr. Allen states that he died ■while he was reading Tally's Offices, in
Latin. The Rev. William E. Channing has characterized his brother
Edward as "the antiquary of the family."
Professor Channino; resigned his office at the close of the academic
year, in 1851, and was one of the oldest of the faculty at that period.
The influence he has exercised, in forming and cultivating the taste of
so many successive classes, has been surpassed by no one, probably,
ever connected with the college. He is himself a Avriter of a vigorous
and singularly pure English style. His taste is severe, and his crit-
ical perception keen. The contributions of Mr. Channing, at two long
intervals, in the North American and other periodicals, and the admi-
rable lectures delivered to his classes, have impressed the public, both
in and out of the college walls, with his rare powers as both writer and
critic. One of the most useful of his duties, and at the same time the
most laborious and wearisome, has been the reading and correcting the
Themes of the students. Perhaps in this way, quiet and unostenta-
tious though it has been, his power has been most genially and per-
manently felt.
FRANCIS CALLEY GRAY.
JULY 4, 1818. FOR THE TOW]!f AUTHORITIES.
Francis Galley Gray was born at Salem. He was a son of
Lieutenant-governor William Gray : received his preliminary education
under the care of William Bigelow and Jacob Knapp, and graduated at
Harvard College in 1809, on which occasion he gave an oration in Eng-
lish. He was a private secretary of Hon. John Quincy Adams, in
the mission to Russia. He read laAv with Hon. Judge Prescott. and
became a counsellor at Suffolk bar. He has been a representative, a
senator, and a member of the Governor's Council. He was a presi-
dent of the Boston Athenceum ; a member of the Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and corresponding secretary ; a trustee of the State Lunatic
33
386 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Hospital, at "Worcester, on its establislimcnt ; a trustee, also, of the
Massachusetts General Hospital, at Boston, and a Fellow of Harvard
Collecre from 1826 to 1836.
Mr. Gray is one of the most accomplished literary writers among
uSj and was an early contributor to the North American Review. His
performance delivered for the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge,
in the year 1816, was printed in the third volume of that periodical.
The oration at the head of this article is one of the best productions in
the whole range of Boston oratory. In the year 1832 Mr. Gray pro-
nounced a centennial oration on the birth of Washington, in the pres-
ence of the State authorities, in Avhich he felicitously characterized the
mind of Washington as of "exact proportions, and severe simplicity,
without a fault for censure, an extravagance for ridicule, or a blemish
for regret^" Mr. Gray has somewhat devoted his mind to antiquarian
pursuits. He is a devoted member of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, and has been an editor of several volumes of its published col-
iections. He was the author of Remarks on the Early Laws of ISIas-
eachusetts Bay ; and was editor of the Code of 1641, known as the Body
of Liberties, both of which are printed in the collections of this society.
■One of the productions of Mr. Gray, which indicates the greatest tal-
ent, is the treatise entitled.'- Prison Discipline in America," the basis
•of which comprises the arguments advanced by himself at the animated
discussion on Prison Discipline Reform which occurred during a period
of seven adjourned meetings, in the Tremont Temple, in the summer
of 1847. Mr. Gray was a vice-president of the Prison Discipline
Society, and had been several years chairman <5f the board of direct-
ors of the state-prison at Charlestown. He Avas a decided supporter
of the social system of associated labor, an object of philanthropy to
which he was tenaciously devoted, that has long prevailed in our state-
prison. An admirable portrait of Mr. Gray, by Alexander, is in the
family.
In an oration of j\Ir. Gray, for the Phi Beta Kappa Society of
BroAvn University, delivered in 1842, in which he states that the gen-
eration now risino; into active life in America is destined to exert a
great influence, not only on the fortunes of our country, but of the
whole human race, he points out the dangers and duties of the people.
We find the following ingenious argument,* in this excellent performance,
in relation to the ability of the United States to sustain its pohtical
freedom. " The question which the statesmen of Europe wish to have
FRANCIS GALLEY GRAY. 387
settled is this," says Mr. Gray; "vrhetlicr a nation, extensive, popu-
lous, and Avealtby enough to defend itself, unaided, against all aggres-
sion, and maintain its fleets and armies "without summoning its citizens,
on every alarm of war, from their daily occupations and their firesides,
to the field, thus letting the mere sound of the trumpet interrupt all the
pursuits of peace, — to make all the internal improvements which mod-
ern science is perpetually suggesting, — to establish the division of
labor, and the competition for success in every pursuit, essential to the
perfection of the useful arts, — to promote the cultivation of science
and literature, and supply the innumerable wants of civilized life, —
whether such a nation be capable of maintaining a system of govern-
ment, under which the citizens possess equal rights and equal political
power, without a degree of anarchy as intolerable as despotism itself
" Where else in the world can they look for the solution of the ques-
tion, but to this country, where only the elements of the problem are
found united 1 Already its population has so increased that it is sur-
passed in this respect by only four European nations : and, at the end
of the period Ave now contemplate, if the rate of increase be the same
as hitherto on both sides of the Atlantic, it will be equalled by none
but. the gigantic empire of Russia. Without meaning to dwell on this
point, there is one light in which I would present it to you, somewhat
striking. So rapid has been our increase, that the number of persons
of European descent now living on the surface of these United States
is greater than the whole aggregate number of the dead, of all genera-
tions, of the same race, that lie buried beneath it. Surprising as this
may seem, it is capable of mathematical demonstration, and this in a
form so simple that I will venture to state it even here. Taking a gen-
eration to be the period during which as many persons die as existed
at its commencement, and supposing the population to be exactly doubled
in the period of a single generation; begin your settlement with one
thousand inhabitants. At the end of the first generation, you have one
thousand dead and two thousand living. At the end of tlie second <rcn-
eration, you add the same number — two thousand — to both, making
three thousand dead and four thousand living, which last number you
add to both at the end of the third generation ; and, as you add at the
end of each generation the same number, — that is, the number living
at its commencement, — botli to the dead and to the living, the differ-
ence between them will always remain the same, and the living will
always exceed the dead by the number with which you began. Now,
388 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATOES.
this is on the supposition that the population exactly doubles in the
period of one generation. But our population is found to increase
much faster. It doubles in less than twenty-four years, and has done
so from the beginning ; so that, in fact, the number of the living far
— very far — exceeds the whole mighty congregation of the dead. As
long as the same rate of increase shall continue, — and nothing has
hitherto checked it, — this will always be so ; and the child that opens
its eyes to the light this day, and lives to see old ago, will close them
on an empire of one hundred and seventy millions of people. Should
our institutions, therefore, be henceforth successfully administered, it
will no longer be objected that the population is too small for a satis-
factory experiment."
FRANKLIN DEXTER.
JULY 4, ISIO. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
"The colonists became independent," says Mr. Dexter, "because
they had always been free ; for it is only by the long enjoyment of
liberty that men could be formed, — for a contest of liberty was their
ruling passion; — and, though they disclaimed any wish to be inde-
pendent until they solemnly declared themselves so, they were always
actuated by a spirit that could not leave them long dependent on a for-
eign power. It was a clear understanding of the principles of ci\il
liberty, and an ardent attachment to it, that were the sole and consist-
ent causes of the Revolution. Not the mere impatience of oppression
that sometimes wakes even a degraded people to resistance, to avenge
their wrongs, rather than to assert their rights, — which groans and
struggles in confinement, till there is no longer anything to be lost,
and then breaks out in violence and uproar, — not to change the gov-
ernment, but to annihilate it ; not to redress the evils of society, but
to sweep away society itself. We have seen such a revolution, and we
may be proud that ours had nothing in common with it. We have
seen a great nation shaken to its foundations, and bursting like a vol-
cano, only to shower down destruction itself, — leaving its colossal form
dark, bare and blasted, with no grandeur but its terrors. Such was
not our Revolution ; but, like the fire in our own forests, not scattered
FRANKLIN DEXTER. 389
by the hand of accident or fuiy, but deliberately to the root of the
growth of ages, \Yhich tottered and fell before it, only that from its
ashes might rise a new creation, when all was green and fair and flour-
ishing. The world has learned, by these experiments, that civil liberty
is not a mushroom, that grows up in a night from the fallen, rotten
trunk of despotism; but a hardy plant, that strikes deep, in a sound
soil, and slowly gathers strength Avith years, till oppression withers in
its shadow. Our present situation is a living proof of the difference
of the two events. Liberty never yet was the work of an outraged
and incensed populace, — as well might a w^hirlwind plant a para-
dise ! "
Franklin Dexter was born in Charlestown, and was son of Samuel
Dexter, the profound civilian and famous orator, — of whom Callcndcr
unjustly said that " he has a great deal of that kind of eloquence which
struts around the heart, without ever entering it," — and was a warm
advocate of the war with Great Britain. Samuel Dexter and The-
ophilus Parsons were at one time against each other in the court at
Dedham. Rufus Green Amory had hunted up all the authorities, and
placed a mark at each. INIr. Dexter requested his attorney to take a
seat beside him, and hand the authorities as he wished them, which
afforded the best possible opportunity of hearing every word that
escaped the lips of that great man. Placing one foot upon a chair, and
folding his arms across his breast, Mr. Dexter began ; and such a stream
of reasoning, without noise and without effort, as he poured out for four
hours, one never heard before ; it was like pouring Avater from a llask.
Parsons made several attempts to interrupt him. At last, INIr. Dexter
turned to him and said : " Mr. Parsons, if you have an OA'crfloAVof Avit,
have the goodness to reserve it for the close ; you have already driven
several ideas out of my head." The Chief Justice, Dana, remarked,
" Never mind, Mr. Dexter ; if he should deprive you of as many more,
you Avould still have enough left for Mr. Parsons." INIr. Dexter Avas
accustomed to pursue his studies in the evening, Avithout the use of a
lamp, often till towards eleven o'clock ; and so absorbed Avas his mind
that he Avould quit his office Avithout locking the door, and his landlord,
the bookseller on the lower floor, often found it necessary to wait until
jMr. Dexter left the oflice, in order to make it secure for the night.
Samuel Dexter is said to have Avritten a condensed analysis of the evi-
dences of Christianity, Avhich is one of the most conclusive arguments
ever written by a civilian.
33*
390 THE UUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Franklin Dexter graduated at Harvard College in 1812, on -vvliich
occasion he took part in tlie discussion, whether extensiveness of terri-
tory be favorable to the preservation of a republican government. He
is a counsellor-at-law, and married Catharine Elizabeth, a daughter of
Hon. William Prescott. He Avas a member of the city Council in
1825 ; was commander of the New England Guards, a representative
and senator in the State Legislature, and the United States District
Attorney for Massachusetts.
When, in July, 1841, the venerable Judge Davis resigned the
judicial station, INIr. Dexter was requested, by the members of the
Suffolk bar, to make known to him their high sense of respect and
veneration; and he performed the duty with felicitous grace, in highly
effective terms. "It can rarely happen," said he, "that a judge
who is called upon to decide so many delicate and important questions
of property and personal right should have so entirely escaped all
imputation of prejudice or passion, and should have found so general
an acquiescence in his results. Our filial respect and affection for your-
self have constantly increased with increasing years ; and, while we
acknowledge your right to seek the repose of private life, w^e feel that
your retirement is, not less than it ever would have been, a loss to the
profession and the public. May you live long and happily, — as long
as life shall continue to be a blessing to you, and so long will that life
be a blessing to your friends and society."
Mr. Dexter has been an eminent pleader at the bar ; and the ingenu-
ity with which he contended against the searching Webster, in the trial
of the Knapps for the murder of White, is in the memory of many.
Possessing brilliant talents and strong reasoning powers, Mr. Dexter
would have risen to elevated public life, had he not retired to the enjoy-
ment of literary ease. The beautiful criticism on landscape painting,
from his polished hand, extending through thirty-five pages of the
North American Review, in which he discerns no reason why painters
should not arise in our day to surpass all that was effected by Claude,
Gaspar, or Salvator, and expresses the decided opinion that he has
seen no landscapes painted since the days of Titian superior to those of
Allston, indicate him to be as tasteful in the fine arts as he has been
profound in legal learning. We are of opinion that we neither over-
state, nor exaggerate, in the remark that Mr. Dexter has been one of the
most acute, logical reasoners at the Suffolk bar, and but few competitors
felt safe in an argument with him.
II
SAMUEL ADAMS WELLS. — THEODORE LYMAN. 891
SAMUEL ADAMS WELLS.
JULY 4, 1819. FOE. THE WASHINGTOX SOCIETY.
"Was a son of Thomas "Wells. ayIio married Hannah, clautihter of
Gov. Samuel Adams. He was president of the Atlas Insurance Cora-
l^any, and married Margaret Gibbs. Mr. "Wells ^Ya3 a tenacious advo-
cate of the Democratic party, and prepared Memoirs of the Life and
Correspondence of Gov. Samuel Adams, his grandfather, comprising
three volumes in manuscript, which it is said were disposed of to George
Bancroft, the historian. This is to be regarded as a public calamity,
unless the purchaser shoald cause it to be printed. Whitcomb said of
our American Cato,
" Eclipsed by merit, rivals all submit,
Laying tlieir withered laurels at tliy feet."
Mr. "W'ells was the corresponding secretary of the Republican Insti-
tution, originated at the dwelling-house of Mr. Ebenezer Clouoh, Nov.
16, 1818. Gen. Henry Dearborn was its first president. Its annual
meetings occur on the 4th of IMarch. It was incorporated Feb. 18,
1819. The late Hon. James Lloyd founded a pohtical library for this
important engine of the party.
In 1820, Mr. "Wells was a delegate to the Massachusetts convention
for revising the State constitution, and engaged in public debate. At
the town-meeting in Faneuil Hall, Jan 2, 1822, on the subject of a
city charter of Boston, jNlr. AVells moved that the word city be stricken
out, and the word town be inserted, as a substitute. He died Aug.
12, 1840.
THEODORE LYMAN.
JULY 4, 1820. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
"Was born in Boston, Feb. 22, 1792. Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster
was his private teacher, at Waltham ; entered Exeter Academy in
1S04; was a graduate at Harvard College in 1810, became a mer-
892 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
chant, and married ]\Iary E. Henderson in 1820, by ■whom he had
Theodore and Cora. He -was a representative in 1825, and in 1824 a
senator, in the State Legislature. He engaged in mihtary Hfe ; was,
in 1821, the lieutenant of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com-
pany, an aid-de-camp to Gov. Brooks, and brigadier-general of the
Boston mihtia. He was Mayor of Boston in 1834 and '35, a period
in the history of the city stained by the spirit of insubordination, and
the dark hues of intolerance. This will ever be remembered as the
time when the disgraceful Garrison riot, and the destruction of the
Ursuline Convent, disturbed the peace of the old metropolis of the Bay
State. Gen. Lyman was the author of Diplomacy of the United
States with Foreign Nations, 2 vols. 8vo., 1826 ; The Political State
of Italy, 8vo., 1820 ; Three Weeks in Paris, — the result of his visit to
France ; and an account of the Hartford Convention, addressed to the
fair-minded and well-disposed, favoring the motives of that body, pub-
lished in 1823. He was president of the Prison Discipline Society;
was president of the Farm School three years, and a member of the
JNIassachusetts Historical and the New England Gcnealogic Historical
societies.
Our own city of Boston has never been honored with a more
munificent native citizen than was Mayor Lyman, for the last half-cen-
tury ; besides his private charities to the suifering children of abject
poverty. It was said of Lyman,
" He is gracious if he be observed ;
He hath a tear for pity, and a hand
Open as day for melting charity."
IMayor Lyman, on the foundation of the State Reform School, at
Westboro', which he originated, was the secret donor of twenty-two
thousand dollars to this institution, — a secret not publicly disclosed
until after his decease ; and by his last will he bequeathed fifty thou-
sand dollars to the same institution, in addition to his previous gifts.
He bequeathed ten thousand dollars to the Boston Farm School, which
had previously received his gifts, and ten thousand dollars to the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society. He died at Brookline, July
17, 1849.
HENRY ORXE. — CHARLES GREELY LORIXG. 393
HENRY ORNE.
JULY i, 1820. FOR THE WASHIXGTOX SOCIETY.
Was born at jMarblchead, and married Frances Bojd, daughter of
William Little, of Boston. He graduated at Dartmouth College in
1812; was a counsellor-at-law, and married, a second time, Sempronia,
the sister of his first wife ; was an eminent advocate, and one of the
committee on the city charter. He was a judge of the Police Court,
and of the city Council in 1822.
Col. Orne was a leader of the Democratic party, and a ready writer.
He was an editor of the Boston Yankee, and a liberal contributor to
the Boston Statesman. He was the author of the Letters of Colum-
bus, originally published in the Boston Bulletin, to which are added
two letters to Gen. Duff Green, in 1829. They are valuable as
unfolding the differences of the Jackson party. Col. Orne finally
removed to Oxford, Me. He was a warm-hearted and patriotic man,
and died at Orneville, Me., January 1, 1853, aged 60 years.
t
CHARLES GREELY LORING.
JULY 4, 1821. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.
Was last of the orators for the town authorities, of whose perform-
ance an eminent politician, the late Dr. William Ingalls, remarked,
that it was the only oration on our national independence, that he had
ever heard, which had a beginning, a middle, or an end. In alluding
to the result of the convention for revising the State constitution,
Mr. Loring remarks that it "affords convincing proof of the stability
of a government which they so impressively proclaim to be founded
on the affections and confidence of its citizens. Let the advocate of
the degrading maxim, that man is incapable of self-government, con-
template the scene of moral grandeur which this event unfolds ; let
him behold the reverence and affection with which the numerous del-
egates of a free people approach the institutions of their ancestors,
to effect those alterations which a change of political situation had
rendered essential ; let him observe the impressive sense of respons-
I
394 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
ibility, the unity of design, tlie solemn earnestness, ■which pervade their
deliberations, the dignified and manly deference with which prejudices
and preconceived opinions are yielded to the force of truth and reason,
and the feelings which prompt a voluntary and simultaneous homage
to that revered patriot [John Adams] who happily remains to see, in
the pride of its strength, the temple he assisted to raise ; let him view,
in the result of their labors, a confirmation of all the essential princi-
ples of our constitution ; and, following them to their homes, let him
see them diffusing an increased love and veneration for the institutions
of our country, without carrying with them a feeling of party ani-
mosity, or local jealousy, to disturb the tranquillity of the republic.
Let him look still further, and contemplate the submission of the rec-
ommendations of these dclesiatcs to the decision of their constituents ;
and, instead of the eagerness for change, characteristic of every other
than a free people, let him view our fellow-citizens rejecting most of
the proposed amendments, clinging with fond veneration to the institu-
tions of their fathers, scarce willing to touch, even with a sparing
hand, the edifice in which they had so happily and securely dwelt, —
and then let him renounce a doctrine so insulting to our race and to
God ! "
Charles Grecly, a son of Hon. Caleb Loring, was born in Boston,
May 2, 1794 ; entered the Latin School in 1804, and graduated at
Harvard College in 1812, when he pronounced the salutatory oration
in Latin; and, at an exhibition, he gave an oration on " De literis
Roraanis." He read law in Boston with the Hon. Charles Jackson
and the Hon. Samuel Hubbard ; and at Litchfield, in 1813, under
Hon. Judges Reeve and Gould, of the latter of whom Mr. Loring once
remarked: "The recollection is as fresh as the events of yesterday,
of our passing along the broad shaded streets of one of the most beau-
tiful of the villasics of New Eno-land, with our inkstands in our hands,
and our portfolios under our arms, to the lecture-room of Judge Gould,
— the last of the Romans, of Common Law lawyers — the imperson-
ation of its genius and spirit. It was, indeed, in his eyes, the perfec-
tion of human reason, by which he measured not only every principle
and rule of action, but almost every sentiment. Why, sir, his highest
visions of poetry seemed to be in the refinements of special pleading ;
and, to him, a no7i sequitur in logic was an offence deserving, at the
least, fine and imprisonment, — and a repetition of it transportation
for life. ' ' Mr. Lorino; is an eminent counsellor, and married Anna Pierce
CHARLES GEEELT ,LORING. 895
Brace, in 1818. His second wife was Mary Ann, a daugbter of Hon.
Judge Putnam, formerly of Salem, whom he married in 1840. His
third wife was INIrs. Cornelia Amorj Goddard.
The office of Mr. Loring is on the site of that occupied bj John
Adams in 1770. In 1834 he prepared the report of the city com-
mittee on the destruction of the Ursuline Convent, proposing an indem-
nity to the Roman Catholics for that outrage. He Avas for nearly
fifteen years the superintendent of the Sabbath-school of Rev. Dr.
Lowell's religious society, and has been one of the corporation of Har-
vard University from 1838. He was a decided friend of the Mercan-
tile Library Association, and drafted its act of incorporation. He
delivered for this institution, Feb. 26, 1845, at the Odeon, an address
on the Relations of the Bar to Society, exhibiting the moral and polit-
ical influence of the legal profession. Were Shakspeare now living, he
would not include Mr. Loring in the malediction, " The first thing we
do, let's kill all the lawyers." Li 1847 Mr. Loring gave an effective
speech in the Senate-chamber in favor of the "air-hne" railroad route
to New York, in contest with ]\Ir. Choate, when it was said of him
that he was a cool, deliberate speaker, " with great concentrative power
and logical force, while Mr. Choate is all excitement, wit, and imagina-
tion." He was the moderator of a political meeting in Faneuil Hall, Nov.
7, 1845, when Webster and Winthrop argued on the Native American
abstraction, and was president of the Suffolk Whig Committee at that
period. In 1848 he Avas president of the Webster Whig Club, organ-
ized previous to the nomination of Zachary Taylor. His arguments
for the Eastern Railroad, Boston and AVoonsocket corporations, have
been published.
When the coalition Legislature of 1851 proposed to the people to
call a convention for an alteration of the State constitution, — which was
decided by the people in the negative, at the election of State officers
for the year ensuing, — Mr. Loring, who had been requested to speak
at a public meeting in Faneuil Hall, Nov. 7th, of that period, having
engagements beyond his control, declined the invitation, and addressed
a letter to the county committee, from w^hich we make extracts, as it is
a fragment in political history worthy of record :
'• The only pretence of right to change the constitution in the man-
ner proposed, which I have seen stated or heard of, is the assumed
principle that the majority of the people have the right, at any time,
and in any manner which may seem meet to them, to change their form
396 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of government ; and that this is a right which is not and cannot be
controlled by any constitutional compact or provision. The obvious
flillacy of -which, as it seems to me, consists in confounding the orig-
inal right to form such a constitution as the majority might elect Avhen
entering into the contract, with the assumed right of subsequently
violating and breaking it at pleasure, — forgetting that, in morals as
well as in the law, although it maj^ be optional whether or not to enter
into a compact, no right exists, after its formation, to disregard or violate
its obligations.
" This doctrine, thus boldly announced and vindicated, if sound,
leads directly and obviously to the conclusion, that the whole or any
part of our present constitution or feature of goverment may be
changed at pleasure, by a mere expression of the will of a majority of
the people, however announced or ascertained ; and that a despotism,
an aristocracy, an oligarchy, or a pure democracy, in which every citi-
zen votes upon all public measures and appointments, may be at any
time substituted for our republican form of government; and that these
changes may be made from one to any other, whenever and as often as
such majority may see fit to will them. And, however improbable we
may imagine such changes to be under existing circumstances, their
mere possibility is a true test of the soundness of the doctrine ; and
their probability, however remote, would be vastly increased, should the
public mind become demoralized by the prevalence of such an opinion.
" Under the existing constitution, and the poAvers of the Legislature,
which are wholly derived from it, I perceive no more right in the Sen-
ate and House to call or organize a convention of the people for altering
the constitution, than exists in any other body of individuals, gathered
together for any other purpose, or in any that may choose to unite for
that end. And any attempt at such alteration, excepting in the man-
ner provided by the constitution itself, seems to me nothing short of
actual revolution, — it being in principle the same thing, whether such
change be made by force of arms, or by any other action of the major-
ity coercing an unwilling minority into a surrender of their constitu-
tional rights.
"Our national constitution, and those of many, if not of all, the other
States, contain some qualification or restriction of the power of a mere
majority of the people to alter their provisions ; and are intended for
the obvious purpose, among others, of protecting the minority. They
are restrictions which the majority have agreed to impose upon them-
CHAELE3 GREELT LORING. 397
selves for the common safety of all, that we may live under govern-
ments of law, and not of men ; and, unless they are sacredly regarded
and obeyed, there can be no such thing as constitutional liberty or
protection ; and every man holds his life, freedom and property, upon
no safer tenure than the arbitrary will of a bare majority of the people,
acting, as it often has been, and often again may be, under wild delu-
sion, or the influences of corrupt factions."
Mr. Loring said of lion. Judge Hubbard, in addressing the members
of the Suffolk bar, on his decease, that he had the pleasure of completing
his studies under his guidance, and entered the forensic arena under his
auspices, as his associate in the profession ; and how grateful and
refreshini; will ever be that recollection of the kind manners, the hon-
est love of truth, and gentleness of spirit, with which he exercised his
high powers ! and, in directing his address to Chief Justice Shaw, so
long the compeer of Judge Hubbard, he described them both as the
Achilles and Hector of the forum.
Mr. Loring is one of the profoundest advocates of the Suffolk bar,
remarkable for persevering energy. — one who throws his whole soul
in his profession, to which he is intensely devoted, and of whom it
cannot be said,
" I have been a truant in the law,
And never yet could frame my ■will to it,
And therefore frame the law to my will."
A competitor at the bar thus characterized ]Mr. Loring, for the ear-
nestness he ever infuses into his arguments, by the conviction he seems
to entertain, for the occasion, that the cause he happens to sustain is
founded in truth and in right, whatever that cause may be. "Indeed,
I know," continues his* rival, "that ]\Ir. Loring would not engage in
one. unless he were satisfied that it had two honest sides ; and whatever
that cause may be, I know that my friend will lend his whole soul to
the work. I know that he acquires a deep conviction, — or something
that passes for a conviction with others, and probably for the time being
amounts to it in his own mind, — that there will be great injustice,
alarming injustice, irretrievable injustice, unless the rights of his cli-
ents, as he understands them, are maintained." His faithfulness to his
cause, and his ability, are proverbial. ^Mr. Loring is a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the New England
Genealogic and Historical Society.
34
898 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
GERRY FAIRBANKS.
JULY 4, 1821. FOR THE WASHINGTON SOCIETY.
Was born at Dedham, in 1782 ; was a hatter, on Washington-street,
in Boston, and one of the directors of the New England Society for
the promotion of Arts and Manufactures. In 1822 Mr. Fairbanks
was one of the petitioners of Boston to the State Legislature for a city
charter. In 1827 he was an engineer of the city fire department. In
1829 he was president of the Boston Debating Society. He was com-
mander of the Independent Fusileers, and colonel of the Boston regi-
ment. Col. Fairbanks married Mary Sumner. He was an amiable
man, of great public spirit. He died in Boston, December, 1829.
JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY.
JULY 4, 1822. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
Was born at Salem, Dec. 26, 1703, and a son of Lieutenant-gov-
ernor William Gray. He married Elizabeth F., daughter of Samuel
P. Gardner, Esq., of Boston; was a counsellor-at-law, and of the city
Council five years, from 1824; and was eminent for his financial sagac-
ity when in the municipal government, and a most efficient member.
He has been a representative, a senator, and^pf the executive council.
While in the Legislature, his keen eye was ever Avatchful for the inter-
ests of his constituents. In 1821 Mr. Gray was the orator for the Phi
Beta Kappa Society. In 1834 he delivered an address for the Massa-
chusetts Horticultural Society. He graduated at Harvard College in
1811, on which occasion his subject was on the Diversity of Talents
among INIankind ; and, on an exhibition day, his part was an essay on
the Effect of the Passion for Novelty on the Character of English
Composition.
In the oration of INIr. Gray, at the head of this article, which is a
polished model from the marble quarry, w^e find a passage relating to
!
JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY. 399
the municipal form of government recently adopted in Boston : " It is
no wonder that we should fondly cling to a form of government dear to
our honest prejudices, — if, indeed, they do not deserve a better name,
— alike from its venerable antiquity, from its similarity to the munici-
pal institutions of our country brethren, and from a recollection of the
virtues of those ancestors by whom it was established and preserved.
We were at length taught, by a thorough experience, that the adminis-
tration of our town affairs in person was rendered impracticable by our
overflowing population. The frequency of our town-meetings became
a heavy and embarrassing burden, and a general attendance upon
them was utterly incompatible with a proper regard to our private
duties. Our ordinary municipal concerns were naturally managed, and
our by-laws enacted, by a small proportion of our whole number ; and
we had no alternative left but to determine whether that proportion
should be an ever-changing assemblage, collected almost wholly by
accident, or a body of responsible delegates, chosen by the deliberate
suffrages of the majority. Convinced that either the municipal consti-
tution which our ancestors had left us must be changed, or that the
good order and good principles which it was the sole object of that con-
stitution to cherish must be impaired, or hazarded, we felt ourselves
bound, by a regard not merely to our own good, but to their memory,
to sacrifice the means to the end, and to establish, under the sanction
of the Legislature, a government of representatives. This has been
framed with an accuracy and caution which will appear superfluous to
none who rightly estimate the importance of city laws. They are those,
of all others, which touch us most nearly. We feel their influence
every hour. The neatness and beauty of our streets, our public places,
and public edifices, — our general health, the quiet pursuit of our
business, the enjoyment of our innocent recreations, our daily comforts
and nightly repose, — are all materially dependent on wise and well-
executed municipal regulations. Such regulations, by their effect upon
our condition, contribute materially, though indirectly, to the forma-
tion of our character, — for who does not know how much character is •
affected by situation, how forcibly our minds and hearts are influenced
by our physical circumstances 7 Still more may the government of
every city control and guide the conduct of its inhabitants, by that
vigilant and internal police which checks vice at its very spring, and
pi'cvents the deeper guilt which more general laws can, at best, only
punish. "Without such a police among ourselves, the wisest enactments
I
400 THE nUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS,
of our Conwress or our Leo;islatures could do but little to render us a
flourishing and happy municipality. This great end, we devoutly
trust, TV'ill be materially promoted by our new form of government.
But let every citizen seriously reflect, that it is still a government of
the people, and that the talents and fidelity of our municipal oflScers
can avail us nothing, unless seconded by the prompt obedience s-nd
liberal approbation of the inhabitants in general. What, indeed, let us
inquire for a moment, is the origin, and what the nature, not only of
municipal, but of all public institutions ? They are valuable only as
instruments for promoting the happiness and virtue of the community
where they exist. They spring from the character of the people, and
are powerfully effectual in strengthening and improving that character,
by their reaction."
CHARLES PELIIAM CURTIS.
JULY 4, 1823. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES
In the eloquent performance of our orator, among other topics, we
Have a review of what would have been the probable condition of this
republic, had the British arms subdued our resistance : " Among the
privileges of which Ave should have been bereft, that of freely pos-
sessing fire-arms should be included. One of the first acts of the vic-
tors Avould have been to disarm the vanquished. Monarchs are too
jealous of their subjects to intrust them Avith arms, except under the
strictest inspection ; and the rebellious conduct of the Americans would
ha\-e brought upon them a severer chastisement than the utmost rigor
of this rule of policy could inflict. Instead of our militia, — the great,
the ultimate 2;uarantee of our liberties. — electing their OAvn command-
ers, and performing an easy and honorable service for a few days
in the year, our young men Avould be embodied under officers selected
by the croAvn, subjected to the se\'erity of regular discipline, and com-
pelled to assist the regular troops in fortifying the garrisons, or in
overawing the other provinces.
" And let us not imagine, that wliile Great Britain was pouring
forth her resources to support the war, — while she was accumulating
CHARLES PELHAM CURTIS. 401
a debt of eight hundred milhons sterling, — while she was taxing her
subjects until the invention of financiers was exhausted, — that we
should have been exempted. No ; these provinces would have been
required to furnish their proportion of the public expenses, and to sus-
tain their share of the burdensome and protracted contest. To effect
this, the odious and demoralizing system of excise, with its penalties
and its functionaries, from which, as from the plagues of Egypt, the
retirement of the bed-chamber affords no relief, Avould have been entailed
upon us, as it is upon England, forever. To the duties on stamps
and importations would have been added a tax upon Avindows, and
another on hearths, taxes on manufactures of every description, taxes
on newspapers, and taxes on law proceedings, — the last of which
has been emphatically called ' a tax upon distress.' In fine, to borrow
the language of an ingenious British writer (in the Edinburgh Re-
view), taxes would have been imposed ' on every article which enters
the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed under the foot ; taxes
upon everything which is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste ;
taxes on warmth, light, and locomotion ; taxes on everything on earth,
and in the waters under the earth ; on everything that comes from
abroad or is grown at home ; taxes on the raw material, and taxes on
every fresh value that is added to it, by the industry of man. Taxes
on the sauce which pampers man's appetite, and the drug that restores
him to health ; on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope-
that hangs the criminal ; on the poor man's salt, and the rich man's-
spices; on the ribands of the bride, and the brass nails of the coffin.'
" Had the arms of Great Britain been fated to prevail, how strongly
would she have been tempted to introduce changes in our religious
institutions. A considerable portion of the inhabitants of the colonies
were already attached to the Church of England ; and a beneficed hier-
archy is, at the same time, a powerful engine in the hands of govern-
ment, and a fruitful source of rewards for its friends. On the other
hand, freedom of thought and practice in religious matters naturally
leads to freedom of inquiry and opinion on political affairs, the growth
of which it would not have been the policy of Great Britain to encour-
age. In place of the ministers of our own choice, to whom we are
attached by every tie of friendship and respect, inspired by th^ir
virtue and reciprocal esteem, our pulpits might have been filled by
beneficiaries of the crown, accompanied by the proctors and consistory
courts, and armed with the power of levying contributions for the
34*
402 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
maintenance of a worship wliich we do not prefer, and of a clergy in
whose appointment we should have no voice.
"If there are any in this assembly who think this suggestion too
unreasonable for belief, I refer them, for an example, to the existing
state of Ireland, where an established church, possessing a revenue
of six millions of dollars, is maintained, by military force, in luxury
and splendor, at the expense of an impoverished people, of whom more
than nine-tenths reject its doctrines and embrace another faith. I am
ready to admit, however, that the circumstances of the two countries
are not entirely parallel ; and perhaps the conduct of England towards
us would not have been guided, in this particular, by similar views.
But it is sufficient, for my purpose, that such a measure had been
possible, — it is certain that the valor of our ancestors has rendered it
impossible !
"There is another innovation, however, which, if Great Britain had
succeeded, I am strongly inclined to believe she would have introduced
among us, — I mean, an hereditary order of nobility. Every principle
■of monarchial policy would have been in favor of such an institution.
The viceroy of America Avould have needed an intermediate class,
■dependent on the throne as the fountain of honor, to give strength to
his administration and dignity to his court. The pride of the richer
adherents of the crown would have been gratified by such distinctions ;
the establishment of a privileged order would have assimilated the
provinces more nearly to the mother" country ; titles had already been
conferred on a few individuals ; and ribands, and stars, and patents of
nobility, are cheap rewards for services in the council or in the field.
To support the dignity of the peerage, the entailment of estates, and
the right of primogeniture, would, of necessity, have made part of our
established law. Property, Avhich is now distributed in equal portions,
would, if thus protected, accumulate in the hands of a limited number
of great proprietors ; and the yeomanry of our country — the inde-
pendent freeholders of the soil which they cultivate — Avould be the
tenants of some noble landlord. Pensions and grants of public lands
would have been unsparingly bestOAved ; the most strenuous opponents
of the Revolution would, of course, have been the chosen objects of
royal munificence ; and as Monk received a dukedom from the hands
of Charles II., Arnold would have merited, at the least, an earldom
from those of George III."
Charles Pelham Curtis was born at Boston, June 22, 1792 ; entered
RUSSELL JARVI3. 403
the Latin School in 1803, graduated at Harvard College in ISll,
and was of the Law School ; engaged in the study of law under the
guidance of Hon. "Wilham SulHvan; married Anna AVroe Scollay,
March, 1816 ; and married again, Margaret Stevenson, the widow of
Rev. Dr. McKean. INIr. Curtis was the first legal solicitor for the
city of Boston, which station he sustained for several years, with great
honor to his reputation, and to the benefit of his constituents. He
was a member of the city Council four years, fi'om 1822. where his
influence in the practical development of the city charter has contrib-
uted to its perpetuity. As a representative in the State Legislature,
his sagacity and conciliation rendered him one of the most efficient
members of that body. He is a counsellor-at-law, and one of the most
profound practical pleaders : a whole-souled, courteous man ; one of the
most talented and most judicious advisers of the Boston bar, remark-
able for honest candor. He is one of a very select literary and social
party, known as the Friday Night Club, at which Chief Justice Shaw
often presides. IMr. Curtis was one of the originators of the Boston
Farm School, which grew out of the institution for indigent boys. He
is a man of fine Hterary parts, and has been a frequent contributor to
our public journals, especially on political topics.
RUSSELL JARVIS.
JULY 4, 1833. FOR TlIE WASHIXGTOX SOCIETY.
Was a son of Samuel Gardner Jarvis, and born in Boston ; gradu-
ated at Dartmouth College in 1810; was a counscllor-at-law, and
married Caroline, a daughter of Judge Dana, of Chelsea, V- T. ; and
married a second wife, Sarah Eliza, a daughter of Thomas Cordis,
merchant, of Boston, in 1824. His wife and two daughters lost their
fives in the burning of the steamer Lexington, Jan. 13, 1840. In
1828 he became an editor of the Washington Telegraph, in connection
with Duff Green. INIr. Jarvis is a radiant halo of his eloquent uncle,
the bald eagle of the Boston seat. He is one of the readiest political
writers amongst us, and has exercised great influence in the circle of
Democracy. He died at Kew York, April 17, 1853.
404 THE HUXDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
'•'In breathing our hopes of European emancipation." sajs the fervent
Jarvis, "let not Greece — lovely, interesting Greece — be neglected
or forgotten. 0 Greece ! the cradle of the poet and the philosopher,
the home of the hero and the statesman, — -whose name a-\yakens every
sublime recollection, and whose ancient memory is bound to the
American heart by every tie that literature, science, or love of liberty
can weave, — when the American forgets thee, ' may her right hand
forget her cunning ! ' Where are thy glories now '? The feet of bar-
barians have polluted thy soil, and the siroc of despotism has passed
over thee. Thy Acropolis is crumbled in ruins ! thy Parthenon lays
low in dust ! the Muses have fled thy Parnassus ! thy Helicon m.ur-
murs in vain ! the harp of thy Homer is broken ! thy Sapphos are
mute, and their lyres are unstrung ! And could thy sufferings excite
no sympathy in the bosoms of thy royal neighbors ? Could not one
faith, could not the worship of one Lord and one gospel, could not the
voice of humanity, call forth the Holy Alliance to protect thee, or
restrain them from monstrous combination with thy oppressors 7 0
monarchs of Europe ! members of the Holy Alliance ! who claim to be
Heaven's vicegerents, and to be set over mankind for dispensing that
happiness which you profanely say they cannot procure for themselves,
— how, in the days of your last account, will the genius of injured
Greece stand before you. and point her accusing finger to your crimes !
She will say, ' My children sought refuge among you, and you shut
your door against them ! My daughters were carried into bondage,
and your ships transported them ! My sons implored your aid, and
you gave it to their enemies ! My cities were laid in ruins, and you
furnished the firebrands ! But for you, the barbarian had been long
since subdued, and my land the abode of liberty, peace, and happiness !
But for you, the fires of Scio had never been kindled, and the blood
that now stains every blade of grass in my violated territory Avould
still have warmed hearts more generous than your own ! ' But, how-
ever great the sufferings of this people, however formidable their ene-
mies, or however efficiently aided by Christian kings, yet God will
prosper their righteous cause, and scatter confusion among their
enemies. The spirit of ancient Greece is waked from the slumber of
ases ! The tonfjue of Demosthenes is loosed ! the sword of Miltiades
is drawn ! every strait is a Salamis, and every sailor a Themistocles ! a
Leonidas starts up in every peasant, and every mountain pass becomes
a new ThermoiDylse ! And not only in Greece shall the Moloch of
JOSEPH BARTLETT. 405
royalty be overturned, but in whatever corner of Europe the idol can
find worshippers. The reign of kings is a violation of natural right.
The cause of mankind is not their cause. The day of retribution
approaches ! The clouds are gathering ! The tempest Avill soon
burst ! And -when royalty shall be swept away in its avenging fury,
the rainbow of Republicanism shall span the heavens, giving promise
of lasting peace and security ! "
JOSEPH BARTLETT.
JULY 4, 1823. A VOLUNTEER ORATION".
This oration was delivered at the hall in the Exchange Coffee-house,
including, also, a poem, an ode, and The New Vicar of Bray, — all
written and delivered by himself He was born at Plymouth, June
10, 1762; graduated at Harvard College in 1782: and married Ann
Witherell, of Plymouth. Ho was a counsellor-at-law in Woburn,
Portsmouth, and Boston. "Was captain of the Republican Volunteers,
in 1788. In 1799 Mr, Bartlett published "Physiognomy," a poem
recited before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College. He
was a senator of York, jSIaine, 1804 ; and editor of the Freeman's
Friend, at Saco, in 1805, when he delivered an oration at Biddeford,
July 4, 1805. Had not Mr. Bartlett descended to habits of inebria-
tion, his influence mi^ht have been of the highest order.
He was of highly facetious memory. The passage herewith given
is selected from The New Vicar of Bray, recited after the delivery of
the oration, at the Exchange Coffee-house :
'.' We now see mucli upon the earth.
Especially in Boston,
"Which gives to man a vigorous birth,
And keeps our souls in motion.
Boston a city now is made, —
Our officers elected, —
'T is best for every class and trade.
Our maj'or will be respected.
Our Quincy, now, by all admired, —
The city's pride and glory, —
Jlay he the difference never know
'Twixt Federalist and Tory.
408 THE HUXDRED BOSTON OEATORS.
Quincy, who now rules o'er our land,
Will keep the city safe, sir ;
He 's been found equal to command.
And ne'er neglects her good, sir.
The aldermen will turtle leave.
To rally round the board, sir ;
They to the city charter cleave, —
In those we place our trust, sir."
He was autlior of a work replete with spicy wit, comprising Aphor-
isms on Men, Manners, Principles and Things, printed at Boston,
1823. Shortly previous to his decease (Oct. 27, 1827, aged sixty-
six years), Mr. Bartlett wrote the following epitaph on himself, which
he repeated on his death-bed :
" 'T is done ! the fatal stroke is given.
And Bartlett 's fled to hell or heaven ;
His friends approve it, and his foes applaud, —
Yet he will have the verdict of his God."
Mr. Bartlett, ^vhen attending the funeral of John Hale, an estimable
citizen of Portsmouth, recited the following epitaph to his memory :
" God takes the good.
Too good by ftir to stay.
And leaves the bad,
Too bad to take away."
FRANCIS BASSETT.
JULY 4, 1822. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
Was born at Dennis, Mass., Sept. 9, 1788, and graduated at Harvard
College in 1810. He was a counsellor-at-law, and many years Clerk
of the District and Circuit Courts of the United States for the District
of Massachusetts. He was several years a member of the Legis-
lature, and when Boston became a city he was one of the school com-
mittee for the first four years, and afterwards was one year a member
of the Common Council. His oration was thus noticed in the Boston
Gazette : " The oration before us is a chaste and sensible production,
but we should think rather modelled for the press than for declama-
tion. Mr. Bassett is a man of taste and talent, with a firm voice and
person, and a ready elocution, but of too delicate a spirit for a flaming
fourth of July declaimer, or an imposing stump orator."
JOHN EVERETT. 407
JOHN EVERETT.
JULY i, lS2i. FOR THE "VVASHINGTON SOCIETY.
John Everett -was a son of the Hon. Oliver Everett, and -was
born at Dorchester, February 2*2, 1801. He received his preliminary
education under the tuition of Masters Lyon, Farrar and Clapp, in
Boston, "where he distinguished himself as the finest deckimer in the
school. He graduated at Harvard College in 1818, when he pro-
nounced an oration on the character of Byron : and at a college exhi-
bition, in the year previous, he gave an oration on the Poetry of the
Oriental Nations. He delivered another oration, on the Prospects of
the Young Men of America, before the senior class, July 14, 1818.
Immediately after his graduation, he accompanied President HoUey to
Lexington, in Kentucky, ^here he became a tutor in Transylvania
University, and delivered an unwritten oration, in the presence. of
Andrew Jackson, that was eminently successful. After his return
to Massachusetts, Mr. Everett entered the Law School, at Cambridge ;
soon after which, he visited Europe, and was attached, for a short
period, to the American legation at Brussels and the Hague. — his
elder brother, Alexander, being charge d'afiliires. On his return to
Boston, he read law under the guidance of the Hon. Daniel V/ebster,
and became an attorney at the Court of Common Pleas, in 1825. He
served as one of the aids of Governor Eustis. He was a bud of promise
early blighted. He died at Boston, Feb. 12, 1826.
Mr. Everett was intensely interested in the politics of the day; and
was an active member of the Boston Debating Society, a literary and
political institution of elevated character. Having remarkable extem-
poraneous rhetorical power, and great facility in argument, he shortly
became an important leader among these spirited young Bostonians.
He had superior poetical genius, as is clearly evinced in an ode to St.
Paul's Church ; and by another ode, written for tlic "Washington
Society (of which he was a member), and sung at Concert Hall. July
4, 1825. The first lines of this patriotic effusion are as follows :
"Hail to the day, -wlicii, imliguant, a nation
To the spirit of armies for justice appealed ;
With pride claimed the right of lier glorious station,
And truth, tauglit by wisdom, in valor revealed !
Hail to thy memory, era of liberty!
Dear is thy sun to the hearts of the free ! "
408 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
CHARLES SPRAGUE.
JULY i, 1825. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES,
" If, in remembering the oppressed, you think tlie oppressors ought
not to be forgotten," says Sprague, " I might urge that the splendid
result of the great struggle should fully reconcile us to the madness of
those who rendered that struggle necessary. We may forgive the
presumption which ' declared ' its right ' to bind the American colo-
nies,' for it was wofully expiated by the humiliation which 'acknowl-
edged ' those same ' American colonies ' to be ' sovereign and inde-
pendent States.' The immediate workers, too, of that political iniquity,
have passed away. The mildew of shame will forever feed upon their
memories : — a brand has been set upon their deeds, that even Time's
all-gnawing tooth can never desti'oy. But they have passed away ;
and of all the millions they misruled, the millions they would have
misruled, how few remain ! Another race is there to lament the folly,
another here to magnify the wisdom, that cut the knot of empire.
Shall these inherit and entail everlasting enmity 7 Like the Cartha-
ginian Hamilcar, shall we come up hither with our children, and on
this holy altar swear the pagan oath of undying hate ? Even our
goaded fathers disdained this. Let us fulfil their words, and prove to
the people of England, that ' in peace ' we know how to treat them
' as friends.' They have been twice told that ' in war ' we know how
to meet them ' as enemies ; ' and they Avill hardly ask another lesson,
for, it may be that, when the third trumpet shall sound, a voice will
echo along their sea-girt cliffs — ' The glory has departed ! '
" Some few of their degenerate ones, tainting the bowers where they
sit, decry the growing greatness of a land they will not love ; and
others, after eating from our basket, and drinking from our cup, go
home to pour forth the senseless hbel against a people at whose fire-
sides they were warmed. But a few pens dipped in gall will not
retard our progress ; let not a few tongues, festering in falsehood, dis-
turb our repose. We have those among us wli# are able both to pare
the talons of the kite and pull out the fangs of the viper ; who can lay
"bare, for the disgust of all good men, the gangrene of the insolent
reviewer, and inflict such a cruel mark on the back of the mortified
runaway, as will take long from him the blessed privilege of being
forgotten.
I
CHARLES SPPvAGUE. 409
"These rude detractors speak not, we trust, the feelings of their
nation. Time, the great corrector, is there fast enlightening both
ruler and ruled. Thej are treading in our steps, even ours ; and are
gi'adually, though slowly, pulling up their ancient religious and polit-
ical landmarks. Yielding to the liberal spirit of the age, — a spirit
born and fostered here, — they are not only loosening their own long-
riveted shackles, but are raising the voice of encouragement, and
extending the hand of assistance, to the ' rebels ' of other climes.
"In spite of all that has passed, we owe England much; and even
on this occasion, standing in the midst of my generous-minded coun-
trymen, I may fearlessly, willingly, acknowledge the debt. We owe
England much ; — nothing for her martyrdoms ; nothing for her pro-
scriptions ; nothing for the innocent blood with which she has stained
the white robes of religion and liberty ; — these claims our fathers
cancelled, and her monarch rendered them and theirs a full acquittance
forever. But for the living treasures of her mind, garnered up and
spread abroad for centuries by her great and gifted, who that has
drank at the sparkling streams of her poetry, who that has drawn
from the deep fountains of her wisdom, who that speaks and reads and
thinks her language, will be slow to own his obligation 1 One of your
purest ascended patriots, — Quincy, — h-e who compassed sea and land
for Liberty, whose early voice for her echoed round yonder consecrated
hall, whose dying accents for her went up in solitude and suffering
from the ocean, — when he sat down to bless, with the last token of
a fither's remembrance, the son Avho wears his mantle with his name,
bequeathed him the recorded lessons of England's best and wisest, and
sealed the legacy of love with a prayer, whose full accomplishment we
live to witness, — ' that the spirit of Liberty might rest upon him.' "
Charles Sprague Avas born in Boston, Oct. 26, 1791. His birth-
place was in a two-story wooden house, directly opposite Pine-street,
then No. 38 Orange-street. In 1842 this house was destrovcd. at an
extensive fire. His father, Samuel Sprague, was born at Ilingham,
Dec. 22, 1753 ; was a mason, and married Joanna Thayer, of Brain-
tree, a lady of great decision of character, who was highly effective in
developing the genius of her son. Ilingham was the homo of his
ancestors during five generations. His father was one of that famous
party who destroyed the British tea in Boston harbor, December,
1773, and was a tall and athletic person. When in the hold of one
of the tea-ships, where he was actively engaged, one of the party made
35
410 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
signs to liim, from below, to cover his face with some disguise ; ou
which, Mr. Sprague hastened to a small house near the head of Grif-
fin's, now Liverpool Wharf, with a wooden chimney, from which he
shortly collected a substance that served the purpose hinted at by his
unknown friend, when he directly returned to the work of destruction.
At this time he was an apprentice of one Mr. Etheridge, who interested
himself, also, in this bold and patriotic adventure.
We find, in Thomas' Spy, of January, 1774, the following graphic
sketch of this event, which, next to the massacre of 1770, tended to
hasten the Revolution :
" As near beauteous Boston lying,
On the gently-swelling fiood,
Without jack or pendant flying,
Three ill-fated tea-ships rode.
Just as glorious Sol was setting,
On the wharf a numerous crew.
Sons of Freedom, fear forgetting.
Suddenly appeared in view.
Armed with hammer, axe and chisels, —
Weapons new for warlike deed, —
Towards the herbage-freighted vessels
They approached with dreadful speed.
O'er their heads aloft in mid sky.
Three bright angel forms were seen ;
This was Hampden, that was Sidney,
With fair Liberty between.
' Soon,' they cried, ' your foes you '11 banish.
Soon the triumph shall be won ;
Scarce shall setting Phoebus vanish,
Ere the deathless deed be done.'
Quick as thought, the ships were boarded.
Hatches buist, and chests displayed ;
Axes, hammers, help aiforded, —
What a glorious crash they made I
Squash into the deep descended
Cursed weed of China's coast, -
TIius at once our fears were ended ;
Britisli riglits shall ne'er be lost.
Captains ! once more hoist your streamei's.
Spread your sails, and plough the wave ;
Tell your masters they were dreamers.
When they thought to cheat the brave."
Young Sprague, when about ten years of age, entered the Franklin
School, where he unfortunately lost the vision of his left eye, by a
CHARLES SPRAGUE. 411
sudden contact ^vitll a door-latch. This event probably accounts, in a
measure, for the very limited number of his poetical productions, in
after life. The school-house was located in Nassau-street ; and the
spot is occupied by a modern edifice, called the Brimmer School, in
honor of the mayor of that name ; and the name of the street is changed
to Common-street. His teachers, in the grammar department, -were
Dr. Asa Bullard and Lemuel Shaw, both of whom were benevolent,
sensible, and learned men. The teacher last named, who had recently
graduated at Harvard College, and entered this school to acquire funds
for his college expenses, was the son of a poor clergyman of Barnstable.
He has risen to eminence by energetic perseverance, and is the Chief
Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Charles received a
Franklin Medal at this school in 1803. At the early age of thirteen
years, young Sprague became an apprentice to Messrs. Thayer &
Hunt, importers of dry goods. Boys of the Brimmer School ! catch
the inspiration of the spot where the genius of Sprague budded forth,
and, like him, be ambitious to excel in learning and in manly virtue.
Two centuries elapsed before Boston knew a poet like Sprague.
Hereafter, may your nursery bloom annually with flowers as unfading.
In the year 1816 jMr. Sprague entered into partnership with his
employers, which continued until 1§20, when he was appointed a teller
in^ the State Bank ; and, on the establishment of the Globe Bank, in
1825, he was elected the cashier, which station he has occupied until
this period. His wisdom and sagacity in the conduct of this institu-
tion, aided by the directors, has tended to make it one of the safest
investments in State-street.
Waterston thus emphasizes of our poet :
" May not our lauJ be termed enchanted ground,
When on bank-bills a poet '3 name is found ?
Where poets' notes may pass for notes of hand.
And valued good, long as the Globe shall stand ?
The world can never quench that kindling fire.
Or break the strings of that immoi'tal lyre.
Sweet, and more sweet, its melting strains shall rise.
Till hia rapt spirit seeks his native skies."
The social qualities of Charles Sprague have been the delight of
eminent intellectual men, one of whom was Nathaniel Bowditch, who,
being a member of the corporation of Harvard College, and admiring
his rare genius, and close devotion to literary habits, without infringing
412 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
on the duties of his station in the bank, used his influence to effect
for jNIr, Sprague an honorary degree at the commencement of 1829,
in that college, when he delivered the ingenious poem on Curiosity,
before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, of which he has ever since been a
member. What Lander said of another may be effectively applied to
Sprague, — for his companionable habits are proverbial, and he never
walks from home without a friend at his side :
" Since Cliau3cr was alive and hale,
No man hath walked along oui' sti-eets
With step so active, so inquiring eye.
Or tongue so varied in discourse."
In alluding to the warm-hearted Dr. Bowditch, we take pleasure in
introducing two verses of a favorite effusion from the hand of Sprague,
which he had often on his lips, entitled the Winged Worshippers,
and addressed to two swallows that flew into a church during divine
service :
" Gay, guiltless pair,
What seek ye from the fields of heaven ?
Ye have no need of prayer, —
Ye have no sins to be forgiven.
" To you 't is given
To wake sweet Nature's untaught lays.
Beneath the arch of heaven
To chirp away a life of praise."
In May, 1814, Mr. Sprague was married, by Rev. Horace Holley,
to Miss Elizabeth Rand. His son, Charles James, was married to
Amelia M. Stodder; and his daughter, Helen Elizabeth, who died
April, 1851, after the decease of an infant son, was married to Ezra
Lincoln, Esq., an aid to Gov. Briggs. ]\Ir. Sprague was elected to
the city Council in 1823, '24 and '27, and was active in public debate.
His capacities would readily lead him to eminent public political rank,
but he prefers the quiet of retired hterary and financial pursuits. With
a private library of three thousand volumes, in every department of
intellect, and a rare collection of paintings and sculpture, his mind
ever revels in elevated conceptions. An accurate bust of our poet, by
Brackett, is in the care of his son-in-law.
Where is the native poet of Boston who is destined, like our own
Charles Sprague, to be a standard national author '? Indeed, it may be
safely said, that Sprague our poet, and Prescott our historian, will
CHARLES SrRAGUE. 413
never become obsolete. One has tlius sung of Spraguo, in rather cold
tenns :
" Great is his merit, — greater still his fame ;
Bright, but not dazzling, burns his steady flame ;
His is the sterling bullion thrice refined.
Bright from the rich exchequer of his mind.
Sense, strength and classic purity, combine
With genius, in his almost fiultless line.
Trained in the olden school, his tide of song
Bears truth and judgment on its breast along."
Amid a host of competitors, Charles Spraguc received the prize, six
times, for producing the best poems for the American stage, — an instance
unprecedented in our literary annals. Were it not for the quenched
light of an eye, he would have been the more universal admiration of
his country. He has been compared to Pope and Gray ; but he exhib-
its none of the artificial statcliness of the former, and more than the
mellowing sweetness of the latter, excelling both in fervid warmth.
Kettell says that we can have no difficulty in foreseeing the perpetuity
of such reputation as that which belongs to him. Every sentence is
bursting with thought. He deals in no dreamy obscurity; he allows
no inharmonious line to pass ; — all is finished, and full of purpose.
We know not the particle of dross in the beaten gold of Sprague ; for
there is not a sentence in all his productions that we Avould change,
either in sentiment or in mode of expression. It was the reply of a
friend to Mr. Sprague, who remarked that liis poems may do very well
to sleep over, — "No, sir; they are like champagne, that keeps one wide
awake all the night long." Sprague dares to acknowledge his homage
to the Nine, in the very temple of the money-changers ; and enjoys,
at the same time, the most favoring inspirations of the former, and the
unlimited confidence and credit of the latter. The Globe Bank has
never failed to make a dividend ; and its cashier has never fiiiled to be
at his station, on the very day when the books were opened for the
purpose, to this period.
When Lord Byron deceased at INIissolonglii, in Greece, April 19,
1821. a funeral oration Avas delivered by Spiridion Tucoupi over his
remains, and published by the public authorities, f The body was
embalmed, and sent, May 2d, to Zante, whence it was designed, at the
express order of Ulysses Odysseus, Governor of Athens, that he should
be deposited in the Temple of Theseus, or in the Parthenon : and it was
intended, also, that his heart should be enclosed in an urn, that Greek
35*
414 THE HUNDEED BOSTON ORATORS,
maidens, and other admirers, might weep over it. But his tenacioug
Enghsh friends caused that thej should be entombed in the ancestral
vault of the Byrons, at Huckncll, two miles from Newstead Abbey.
This urn is placed beside the coffm, on -which is inscribed. "Within
this Urn are deposited the heart, brains, &c., of the deceased Lord
Byron." Before the information of the removal of Byron's remains
from Greece, Mr. Sprague, presuming that they would remain in the
land where his ever-during poem was written, advanced the forthcom-
ing sentiment, at the celebration of independence, July 4th of that
year, when the Boston Debating Society, of which he was the vice-
president, dined at Rouillard's, in Devonshire-street : "To the memory
of the immortal Byron :
"O'er the heart of Childe Harold
Greek maidens shall weep ;
In his own native island
His body shall sleep
With the bones of the bravest and best ;
But his song shall go down
To the latest of time ;
Fame tell how he rose
For earth's loveliest clime,
And Mercy shall blot out the rest."
We have observed the remark of John Quincy Adams regarding
Sprague's poem on Art, that "in forty lines was comprised an ency-
clopedia of description." The idea is poetical, and the expression is
worthy the idea. It is, in mere execution, the most happy of all
Sprague's productions ; and it may be commended to versifiers as a
model of correct, condensed, melodious language. In the Ode on
Shakspeare, he has soared in his most daring flight ; and proved him-
self as capable of rising into the imaginative, as of flitting about
among the realities of human life, with its joys and sorrows. The
birth of Shakspeare is thus described :
" There on its bank,
Beneath the mulberry's shade,
Wrapped in young dreams,
A wild-eyed minstrel strayed ;
. Lighting there, and lingering long,
Thou didst teach the bard his song.
Thy fingers struck his sleeping shell.
And round his brows a garland curled ;
On his lips thy spirit fell,
And bade him wake, and warm the world. "
CHARLES SPRAGL'E. 415
On the triumphal entry of Lafayette into the city of Boston, Aug.
24, 1824, an arch was extended across Washington to Dover street,
above South Boston Bridge, on the very spot -where, when Lafayette
left the town in 1787, were the remains of a breastwork, erected dur-
ing the Revolutionary contest, adjoining Fort-avenue, opposite the pres-
ent Franklin School. At each side of the arch was planted a tree of
oak, and another of pine, about twenty feet in height; and the pillars
were tastefully wreathed with evergreens and flowers. The arch itself
was decorated with American flags and evergreens ; and from its centre
a scroll was suspended, bearing the inscription which follows, written, at
the impulse of the moment, by our own Charles Sprague, on the day
previous to the reception. On passing under the triumphal arch, the
thronging crowd witnessed Mayor Quincy, in a barouche with Lafay-
ette, pointing towards the inscription, directing, with animated eye, the
special notice of it to the warm-hearted Frenchman, whose patriotic
enthusiasm must have been excited to tears :
" Welcome, Lafayette !
" The fatliei's in glory shall sleeii,
That gathered with thee to the fight,
But the sons will eternally keep
The tablet of gratitude bright.
We bow not the neck,
And we bend not the knee ;
' But our hearts, Lafayette,
We surrender to thee."
A writer on American Genius remarks of Charles Sprague, in con-
trast with Robert Sou they, that the majestic and sublime march of
Sprague, Avhen it is fired by any great and enkindling theme, or the
tender and pathetic and soul-melting strains of his jNIusc, Avhen touched
by compassion, grief or love, would ill compare with the wild, desul-
tory, and almost superhuman ramblings and eccentric flights of Southey,
where we behold the most brilliant flashes of Avit and genius, strangely
and confusedly mingled with much that is trash and nonsense.
The oration of Mr. Sprague had a more extensive circulation than
any of its predecessors, six editions having been rapidly taken up.
Russell said of this performance, that " for purity, simplicity, elegant
embellishment of style, and for ardent and patriotic feeling, this effort
of self-taught genius has seldom been equalled by the great and
learned of the land." Some one said of it, that the electric shock of a
416 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
nation's gratitude towards Lafayette, that rolls on undying to free-
dom's furthest mountains, was eloquently infused in the hearts of the
audience. We cite the remarkable passage herewith, from this beauti-
ful production, for the purpose of introducing an effective compliment
from Josiah Quincy, then mayor of the city, and because of its patri-
otic spirit :
'• Fear not party zeal, — it is the salt of your existence. There are
no parties under a despotism. There, no man lingers round a ballot-
box ; no man drinlcs the poison of a licentious press ; no man plots
treason at a debating society; no man distracts his head about the sci-
ence of government. All there is a calm, unruffled sea ; even a dead
sea of black and bitter waters. But we move upon a living stream, —
forever pure, forever rolling. Its mighty tide sometimes flows higher
and rushes faster than its wont ; and, as it bounds and foams and dashes
along, in sparkling violence, it now and then throws up its fleecy cloud.
But this rises only to disappear ; and, as it fades away before the sun-
beams of intelligence and patriotism, you behold upon its bosom the
rainbow signal of returning peace, arching up to declare that there is
no danger."
One may readily conceive the inspiring effect of such conceptions on
the warm heart of Mayor Quincy. Doubtless, this splendid oration
was the theme of conversation, as the public authorities and invited
citizens proceeded in procession to the State-house, after its delivery;
and this felicitous sentiment of the ma^^or was spontaneously elicited
at the dinner in Faneuil Hall : " Real Genius : To which everything is
easy; which can spring a rainbow over the tempestuous sea of liberty,
and inscribe its own glories on the heavens with the sunbeams which
constitute it." The toast of the orator, on this occasion, was as fol-
lows : ' • Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual : The land where wisdom
creates the one, and holiness ordains the other ; and where absent mem-
bers can never vote away the rights of the people by proxy." We will
give another happily-conceived sentiment of Mr. Sprague. at the pubhc-
school festival in Faneuil Hall, August, 1825, that should be had in
perpetual remembrance : " May Boston boys remember that Benjamin
Franklin began his career as a hawker of ballads in their own streets,
and ended it by making treaties with the kings of Europe."
Is not the prediction of a recent English re\'iewer, in writing on the
poetry of America, entirely gratuitous, in stating that we have not one
national poet, and that our forests must one day drop down a poet
I
I
CHARLES SPRAGUE. ' 417
whose genius shall be worthy of their age, their vastitude. the beauty
which they enclose, and the load of gratitude below which they bend,
— when such a poet as the fervent, patriotic and compressive Charles
Sprague dwells among us, breathing such inspiring remembrances of
our forefathers as arc melodiously tuned in the Centennial Ode, — a pro-
duction destined to be revived on every Boston centennial celebration,
to the end of time 7 "We unite with the reviewer, in the hope that
a poet such as he anticipates will "one day drop down" upon our
country ; but have we not the like, in Charles Sprague, now breathing
amongst us I We will cite a passage to the point, from this patriotic
ode :
" Forget ? No, never — ne'er shall die
Those namfes to memory dear ;
I read the promise in each eye
That beams upon me here.
Descendants of a twice-recorded race,
Long may ye here your lofty lineage grace :
'T is not for you home's tender tie
To rend, and brave the waste of waves ;
'T is not for you to rouse and die,
Or yield and live a line of slaves :
The deeds of danger and of death are done ;
Upheld by inward power alone,
Unhonored by the world's loud tongue,
'T is yours to do unknown.
And then to die unsung.
To other days, to other men, belong
The penman's plaudit and the poet's song ;
Enough for glory has been wrought ;
By you be humbler praises sought ;
In peace and truth life's journey run,
And keep unsullied what your fathers won."
The irrepressible thought within him, says a reviewer of Sprague,
is the only motive that will account for his productions. In his poetry,
after the presence of those general qualities that are indispensable to
every poet, — imagination, a seeing eye, mental vigor, an artist's sense
of proportion, and a rich command of expression, — the chief quality
to be noticed is his severe and chaste simplicity. This is his peculiar-
ity : either he must exercise a rigid power of exclusion in his compo-
sition, or else there never was a creative mind more unvisited by
confused conceptions, incongruous images, or artificial conceits. His
words are as clear as his thoughts : his style is as transparent as his
spirit. What an immense distance separates liim from the whole mul-
418 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
titudinous progeny of modern misty rhapsodists and verse fanciers, so
desperately determined on originality, that if they cannot give it to us
in the idea, they Avill make up for it in outlandishness of phraseology,
and give us specimens of grand and lofty tumbling, on an arena of fog
and moonbeams ! It is getting to be understood that a mind of native
force, thirsting for wisdom, and having a messqige to utter, v;\\\ proclaim
itself as certainly from some East India House, Sheffield smithy,
London reporter's desk, or Globe Bank in Boston, as from the walks
of the professions. And, on the other hand, it is a thing not altogether
unknown, that a blockhead should find his way into and quite through
a university. It is not worth while to be paralyzed with amazement at
either spectacle, as if it were a miracle. Mr. Sprague's writings have
no occasion to derive any adventitious distinction from the fact that
their author handles bank-notes. They have been judged by their
merits, and can afford to be.
There needs no inscription to the memory of Charles Sprague, beside
that of Thomas Campbell, on the Poet's Corner, in "Westminster
Abbey :
" My Shakspeare, rise ! I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer or Spenser ; or bid Beaumont lie
A little further to make thee a room ;
Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live.
And we have M^its to read, and praise to give."
JOSIAH QUINCY.
JULY 4, 1S2G. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
This second oration of the senior Quincy breathes fervently the
spirit of patriotism. He says: "Parents and children! We have
come to the altar of our common faith, not like the Carthaginian, to
swear enmity to another nation, but, in the spirit of obedience, and
under a sense of moral and religious obligation, to inquire what it is to
fulfil well our duty to ourselves and our posterity. And while we pass
before our eyes, in long array, the outspread images of our fathers'
virtues, let us strive to excite in our own bosoms, and enkindle in each
DAVID LEE CHILD. 419
Other's, that intense and sacred zeal by -uhich their patriotism -was ani-
mated and refined. * Fifty years after the occurrence of the greatest
of our national events, Ave gather "with our children around the tombs
of our fathers, as we trust, — and may Heaven so grant ! — fifty years
hence, those children Avill gather around ours, in the spirit of gratitude
and honor, to contemplate their glory, to seek the lessons suggested by
their example, and to examine the principles on -which they laid the
foundations of their country's prosperity and greatness."
I
DAYID LEE CHILD.
JULY 4, 1826. FOR THE WASHIXGTOX SOCIETY.
AVas born at West Boylston ; graduated at Harvard College in
1817; when he took part in a disputation, whether the power of elo-
quence be diminished by the progress of literature and science ; became
a teacher in the Boston Latin School, and married Lydia Maria Francis,
author of the Boston Ilebels. He was private secretary to Gen. Dear-
born, when minister to Portugal, and was an officer in the Spanish
American service ; was captain of the Lidcpendcnt Fusileers : brigade
major and member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery ; was a
Boston representative in 1827: an editor of the Massachusetts Whig;
became a zealous abolitionist, and was author of a pamphlet on the
Blessino;s of Freedom ; was a manufacturer of bect-su2rar. and settled
in the western country. He was a fine classical Avriter, and very
tenacious of his opinions. His oration on National Lidcpcndence is a
highly spirited, classical, and patriotic performance. We will quote a
passage : '-Dr. Johnson, the pensioned advocate of passive submission,
the ministerial pamphleteer of the American Revolution, derives one
of his best titles to respect and admiration from a temporary exhibition,
on one occasion, of that inflexible firmness and proud independence of
character which belong peculiarly to repubhcans. We admire liim for
his indignant, yet decorous, reply to Lord Chesterfield, — for his Roman-
like contempt of title and wealth, coupled with meanness and hypoc-
risy ; and it may be safely asserted that Chesterfield, Avitli all his wit,
his learning, and his eloquence, — all the triumphs of the drawing-
room and the honors of the peerage, — has left no action, — nay, that all
420 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OEATORS.
his actions together, his accomplishments, his speeches, his saying
and his pohshed letters; — all do not occupy so 'large a space, in the
memory and admiration of men, as that single republican letter, in
which the lexicographer repels the cold and selfish patronage of the
peer. Where his own feelings and dignity were concerned, Johnson
could assume the port and bearing of a Roman ; but, when there was
nothing at stake but the dignity and prosperity of these distant colo-
nies, who, he said, ' did not know how to read,' he shrunk again into
the obsequious courtier, bribed by an exchequer warrant, and excited
to childish glee by a word and a smile from majesty."
DANIEL WEBSTER.
AUGUST 2, 1S2G. EULOGY ON ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.
The popular sentiment is more powerfully influenced by the ora-
tions and speeches that perpetually rise and enter the public mind,
than by anj other medium, our free press only excepted ; and, though
our poets often provide our orators with rockets, shells and artillery,
and sometimes win their battles, they are never so well rewarded for
their genius as the political orator. What Napoleon once said, —
that four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a hundred
thousand bayonets, — may be very properly applied to such men as
Daniel Webster and Edward Everett, in their power over the people.
As the orations of Demosthenes and Cicero have passed onward from
age to age, and have been received by successive generations with the
same sense of force and freshness as when first published, so the con-
densed orations of Webster and Everett are destined to become the
classics of all posterity, and receive like veneration. Indeed, we know
not the political orators of America Avho have unfolded the principles
of our constitution with more power and beauty ; and the masculine
vigor of Daniel Webster forcibly reminds one of the lion-hearted Rich-
ard, in Scott's Crusaders, whose muscular power was so eflective that
he would sever a massive bar of iron with his broad-sword as readily as
the woodman rends a sapling with a hedging-bill ; while the rhetorical
DANIEL WEBSTER. 421
poAver of Edward Everett resembles the sultan Saladin, v,-kh. his
nicely-curved scimitar, marked with meandering lines, -who applied its
fine edge so dexterously to a silken cushion, that it seemed rather to
fall asunder than to divide by force.
The eloquent eulogy of Mr. Webster, named at the head of this arti-
cle, "was pronounced on a day selected, it is said, as peculiarly suitable,
for the reason that it was the day -when the signers of the Declaration
of Independence who had not given their signatures on the fourth of
July, 1776, rendered it complete by affixing their names. The body
of Ccesar was not so much the object of solemn curiosity, as was the
eulogy of ]\Iark Antony on his character ; and, if possible, as intense
■was the interest, on this occasion, to listen to Webster's eulogy on the
great statesmen. Never, since the pathetic oration of Morton over the
remains of Warren, was there a more thrilling effort, in this country,
on a similar occasion. '• Although no sculptured marble should rise
to their memory," said Webster, "nor engraved stone bear record of
their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they
honored. Marble columns may, indeed, moulder into dust, time may
erase all impress from the crumbling stone ; but their fame remains, —
for with American liberty only can it perish." The conception of the
appellation of "the godlike Webster" was originated by the delivery
of this inimitable eulogy. The editor of the National Philanthropist,
the first temperance editor in the Union, in enlarging on .its extreme
beauty, in that journal, on the sixth day of August, remarks : "To
say of this production that it was eloquent, would be too common an
expression to apply to such a performance. It was profound, — it was
subhme, — it was godlike." This remark was heralded over the land
as of party origin, and was long the source of levity and sarcasm. It
is our opinion that the first patriot who received this superlative appel-
lation was Joseph Warren, as may be seen in a poetical tribute
written shortly after his decease, and appended to the memoir in this
volume.
"It has, perhaps," remarks Edward Everett, in his biography of
Webster, " never been the fortune of an orator to treat a subject in all
respects so extraordinary as that which called forth the eulogy on
Adams and Jefferson ; a subject in Avhich the characters commemo-
rated, the field of action, the magnitude of the events, and the peculiar
personal relations, were so important and unusual. Certainly, it is
not extravagant to add, that no similar effort of oratory was ever more
36
422 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OllATORS.
completely successful. The speech ascriuecl to John Adams, in the
Continental Congress, on the subject of declaring the independence of
the colonies, — a speech, of which the topics, of course, present them-
selves on the most superficial consideration of the subject, but of which
a few hints on'.j of what was actually said are supplied by the letters
and diaries of Mr. Adams, — is not excelled by anything of the kind in
our language. Few things have taken so strong a hold of the public
mind. It thrills and delights alike the student of history, who recog-
nizes it at once as the creation of the orator, and the common reader,
who takes it to be the composition, not of Mr. Webster, but of Mr.
Adams. From the time the eulogy Avas delivered, to the present day.
the inquiry has been often made and repeated, — sometimes even in
letters addressed to Webster himself, — whether this exquisite appeal
is his or Mr. Adams'."
Before introducing the passage from Webster's eulogy, we will
quote, from the autobiography of John Adams, his own remarks in
relation to his own speech on that august occasion. We find it under
date of July 1, 1776 : "It has been said, by some of our historians,
that I began by an invocation to the god of eloqiience. This is a mis-
representation. Nothing so puerile as this fell from me. I began by
saying that this was the first time of my life that I had ever wished
for the talents and eloquence of the ancient orators of Greece and
Rome, for I was very sure that none of them ever had before him a
question of more importance to his country and to the world. They
would, probably, upon less occasions than this, have begun by solemn
invocations to their divinities for assistance ; but the question before
me appeared so simple, that I had confidence enough in the plain
understanding and common sense that had been given me, to believe
that I could answer, to the satisfiiction of the House, all the arguments
which had been produced, notwithstanding the abilities which had been
displayed, and the eloquence with which they had been enforced. Mr.
Dickinson, some years afterwards, published his speech. I had made
no preparation beforehand, and never committed any minutes of mine
to writing. But, if I had a copy of Mr. Dickinson's before me,
ATOuld now, after ninc-and-twenty years have elapsed, endeavor to
recollect mine."
For masculine power, there is no rhetoric in the whole range of our
national oratory excelling the imagined speech of our great Nestor,
which is here introduced with the preceding supposed remarks of John
DANIEL WECSTER. 423
Dickinson, of Delaware, an over-cautious member of the same patriotic
assembly, -who, though he never signed the Declaration of Independ-
ence, stated afterwards that he was the only member who marched to
face the enemy.
In allusion to the Continental Congress, which was about to decide
a question involving the fate of the colonics, Mr. AYebster says :
"Let us open their doors, and look in upon their deliberations. Let
us survey the anxious and en re-worn countenances, let us hear the
firm-toned voices, of this band of patriots.
"Hancock presides over the solemn sitting; and one of those not
yet prepared to pronounce for absolute independence is on the floor,
and is uraiin;; his reasons for dissenting from the declaration :
" ' Let us pause ! This step, once taken, cannot be retraced. This
resolution, once passed, will cut off all hope of reconciliation. If success
attend the arms of Enn;land, Ave shall then be no longer colonies, with
charters, and with privileges ; these will all be forfeited by this act ;
and we shall be in the condition of other conquered people, at the
mercy of the conquerors. For ourselves, we may be ready to run the
hazard. — but are we ready to carry the country to that length ? Is
success so probable as to justify it 1 Where is the military, where the
naval power, by which we are to resist the whole strength of the arm
of England '? — for she will exert that strength to the utmost. Can we
rely on the constancy and perseverance of the people 7 or will they
not act as the people of other countries have acted, and, wearied with
a long war, submit, in the end, to a worse oppression? "While we
stand on our old ground, and insist on redress of grievances, we know
we are right, and are not answerable for consequences. Nothing,
then, can be imputable to us. But if we now change our ol^ject,
carry our pretensions further, and set up for absolute independence. Ave
shall lose the sympathy of mankind. We shall no longer be defending
what Ave possess, but struggling for something Avhich Ave never did
possess, and Avhich avc have solemnly and uniformly disclaimed all
intention of pursuing, from the very outset of the troubles. Aban-
doning thus our old ground, of resistance only to arbitrary acts of
oppression, the nations Avill belie\'e the Avhole to have been mere pre-
tence, and they Avill look on us, not as injured, but as ambitious,
subjects. I shudder, before this responsibility. It Avill be on us, if,
relinquishing the ground we have stood on so long, and stood on so
safely, Ave now proclaim independence, and carry on the war for that
424 THE HUNDRED BOSTOX ORATORS.
object, wliilc these cities burn, these pleasant fields ■\\'hiten and bleach
•R-ith the bones of their owners, and these streams run blood. It will
be upon us, it will be upon us, if, failing to maintain this unseasoned
and ill-judged declai-ation, a sterner despotism, maintained by military
power, shall be established over our posterity, — when we ourselves,
given up by an exhausted, a harassed, a misled people, shall have
expiated our rashness and atoned for our presumption, on the scaf-
fold ! '
" It Avas for Mr. Adams to reply to arguments like these. We
know his opinions, and we know his character. He would commence
with his accustomed directness and earnestness :
" ' Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and
my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that, in the beginning, we
aimed not at independence. But there 's a divinity which shapes our
ends. The injustice of England has driven us to arms ; and, blinded to
her own interest for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till independ-
ence is now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and
it is ours. Why, then, should we defer the declaration ? Is any man
so weak as now to hope for a reconciliation with England, which shall
leave either safety to the country and its liberties, or safety to his own
life, and his own honor 7 Are not you, sir, who sit in that chair, — ■
is not he, our venerable colleague near you, — are you not both already
the proscribed and predestined objects of punishment and of ven-
geance ? Cut off from all hope of royal clemency, what are you, what
can 3^ou be, while the power of England remains, but outlaws 1 If we
postpone independence, do Ave mean to carry on, or to give up, the
war '] Do we mean to submit to the measures of Parliament, Boston
Port Bill and all ? Do ayc mean to submit, and consent that we our-
selves shall be ground to powder, and our country and its rights
trodden down in the dust? I know we do not mean to submit. We
never shall submit. Do Ave intend to violate that most solemn obliga-
tion ever entered into by men, that plighting, before God, of our sacred
honor to Washington, when, putting him forth t6 incur the dangers of
war, as Avell as the political hazards of the times, Ave promised to adhere
to him, in every extremity, with our fortunes and our lives 'I I knoAV
there is not a man here who would not rather see a general conflagra-
tion SAveep over the land, or an earthquake sink it, than one jot or
tittle of that plighted faith fall to the ground. For myself, having,
twelve months ago, in this place, moA'cd you that George Washington
DANIEL WEBSTER. 425
be appointed commander of the forces, raised or to be raised, for
defence of American liberty, may my right hand forget her cunning,
and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I hesitate or Avaver
in the support I give him. The war, then, must go on. We must
fight it through. And if the war must go on, ■why put off longer the
declaration of independence ? That measure will strengthen us. It
will give us character abroad. The nations will then treat with us,
which they never can do while we acknowledge ourselves subjects, in
arms against our sovereign. Nay, I maintain that England, herself,
will sooner treat for peace with us on the footing of independence,
than consent, by repealing her acts, to acknowledge that her whole
conduct towards us has been a course of injustice and oppression.
Her pride will be less wounded, by submitting to that course of things
which now predestinates our independence, than by yielding the points
in controversy to her rebellious subjects. The former she would
regard as the result of fortune ; the latter she would feel as her own
deep disgrace. Why, then, — why, then, sir. do we not, as soon as
possible, change this from a civil to a national war 1 And. since Ave
must fight it through, why not put ourselves in a state to enjoy all the
benefits of victory, if we gain the victory 1
" ' If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall not fail. The
cause will raise up armies ; the cause will create navies. The people,
the people, if we are true to them, will carry us, and will carry them-
selves, gloriously, through this struggle. I care not how fickle other
people liave been found. I know the people of these colonies ; and I
know that resistance to British aggression is deep and settled in their
hearts, and cannot be eradicated. Every colony, indeed, has expressed
its willingness to follow, if we but take the lead. Sir, the declaration
will inspire the people with increased courage. Instead of a long and
bloody war for restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, for
chartered immunities, held under a British king, set before them the
glorious object of entire independence, and it will breathe into them
anew the breath of life. Read this declaration at the head of the arm}' ;
every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow
uttered, to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor. Publish it
from the pulpit ; religion will approve it, and the love of religious lib-
erty will cling round it, resolved to stand with it, or fall with it. Send
it to the public halls ; proclaim it there ; let them hear it who heard
the first roar of the enemy's cannon ; let them see it who saw their
36*
426 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill, and in the
streets of Lexington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in
its support.
" ' Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs, but I see. I see
clearly, through this day's business. You and I, in^deed, may rue it.
We may not live to the time when this declaration shall be made good.
AVe may die ; die, colonists ; die, slaves ; die, it may be, ignominiously
and on the scaffold. Be it so. Be it so. If it be the pleasure of
Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the
victim shall be ready at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when
that hour may. But. while I do live, let me have a country, — or,
at least, the hope of a country, — and that a free country !
" 'But, whatever maybe our fate, be assured, be assured, that
this declaration Avill stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost
blood; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both.
Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the
future, as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an
immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it.
They will celebrate it, with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires,
and illuminations. On its annual return, they will shed tears, — copi-
ous, gushing tears, — not of subjection and slavery, not of agony and
distress, but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy. Sir. before God,
I believe the hour is come. jNIy judgment approves this measure, and
my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all
that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it ; and I
leave off. as I begun, that, hve or die, survive or perish, I am for the
declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God,
it shall be my dying sentiment; — independence note, and inde-
pendence FOREVER.' "
Daniel Webster was a son of Hon. Ebenezer Webster ; was born in
Salisbury, N. H., Jan. 18, 1782, and was the ninth of ten children.
That portion of his native place is now a part of Franklin. His mother
was Abigail Eastman, the second wife, and a lady of superior intellect.
The house in which he was born has been demolished, and not a vestifje
of it remains, but the cellar. The old elm, planted by his father
sixty years ago, near the paternal dwelling, with its luxuriant
branches, still flourishes there ; and, not far distant, runs Punch Brook,
now diminished to a little rivulet. The old well, in which hung an
iron-bound bucket, remains, with water as pure as ever. The house
DANIEL AVE13STER. 427
in which Daniel was born stood on the north roacl. fiir up the western
hill bordering the valley of the Merrimac. In his youthful days, he
showed great eagerness for learning, and his constitution was thought
too frail for any physical pursuit; therefore, more advantages were ren-
dered to him than to the other boys of the family. His first teacher
was Thomas Chase. He could read tolerably well, and wrote a fair
hand, but spelling was not his forte. His second master Avas James
Tappan, now living, at an advanced age, in Gloucester, Mass. His
qualifications as a teacher far exceeded those of INIr. Chase. The
worthy veteran, now dignified Avith the title of Colonel, feels a pride,
it may well be supposed, in the fame of his quondam friend. At this
period he contracted a great passion for books, having access to the
library of Thomas W. Thompson, a young lawyer Avho boarded in his
fi^ther's fiimily ; and it is related, that, before he was fourteen years
of age, he became very familiar with the Bible and the poetry of Isaac
"Watts, and could recite the Avhole of Pope's Essay on Man. On the'
2oth of ]\Iay, 1796, his father mounted his horse, and young Daniel
mounted another, when they proceeded to Exeter Academy, under the
supervision of Dr. Benjamin Abbot. INIr. AVebster relates of himself
at this time, in his autobiography : "My first lessons in Latin were
recited to Joseph Stevens Buckminster. at that time an assistant at the
academy. I made tolerable progress in all the branches I attended to
under his instruction : but there Avas one thing I could not do, — I
could not speak before the school. The kind and excellent Buck-
minster, especially, sought to persuade me to perform the exercise
of declamation, like the other boys. — but I could not do it. Many a
piece did I commit to memory, and rehearse in my OAvn room, over
and over again ; but, Avhen the day came, AA'hen the school collected,
Avhen my name was called, and I saw all eyes turned upon my seat, I
could not raise myself from it. Sometimes the masters fi-OAvned;
sometimes they smiled. Mr. Buckminster ahvays pressed and en-
treated, with the most Avinning kindness, that I Avould only venture
out : but I could not command sufficient resolution, — and, when the
occasion Avas over, I went home, and Ave})t ]:>itter teai-s of mortifica-
tion." The editor acknoAvledges the liberal use of Everett's jNIemoir
and March's Reminiscences of the great statesman : and the fol-
loAving detail of further incidents in his early life he gleans from
Professor EdAvin D. Sanborn, Avho received the relation from the lips
of ^Ir. Webster, and Avrote the detail on the same day :
428 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
"From the day when he entered Exeter Academy, at the age of
fourteen, to this hour, his hfe has been one uninterrupted scene of
mental toil. Aged men, who were flimiliar with his early life, men-
tion, among their earliest recollections of his childhood, a fondness for
books above his years. His father kept open door for all travellers.
The teamsters, who came from the north, were accustomed to say,
when they arrived at Judge Webster's house, ' Come, let us give our
horses some oats, and go in and hear little Dan read a Psalm.' They
always called for him : and, leaning upon their long whip-stocks, list-
ened with delighted attention to the elocution of the young orator. This
fondness for books first prompted his father to give him a better edu-
cation than the district school afforded. At Exeter, he had no peer in
successful and accurate study. His residence there was brief The
limited means of his father would not warrant the expense of a con-
tinued residence at that academy. A cheaper method of preparing him
for college was devised. He was placed under the care of Rev. Sam-
uel Wood, of Boscawen, Avho received pupils into his family on very
moderate terms. On entering this family, his father revealed to him
his intention of sending him to college. The announcement was
received with unbounded exultation. No Roman consul ever received
with greater joy a senatorial decree for a triumph ! Under Dr. Wood's
tuition, with but an imperfect knowledge of the rudiments of the Latin
tongue, he read one hundred verses- of Virgil at a lesson. He not only
read but interpreted the poet. He understood and relished his polished
diction. The Enghsli dress which the young student put upon the
old Roman became him. His recreations then were the same which
have occupied his leisure hours in later life. In his rambles among
the neighboring woods, his rifle was his constant companion :
' linoque solebat et hamo
Decipere, et calamo salientes ducei-e pisces.'
"His kind Mentor once ventured to suggest his fears lest young
Daniel's example, in devoting so much time to his favorite amusements,
might prove injurious to the other boys. He did not complain that
his task was neglected, or that any lesson was imperfectly prepared.
This suggestion was sufficient. The sensitive boy could not bear the
suspicion of any dereliction of duty. The next night was devoted to
study. No sleep visited his eyes. His teacher appeared, in the morn-
ing, to hear his recitation. He read his hundred lines, without mistake.
DANIEL WEBSTER. 429
He was nowhere found tripping in syntax or prosodj. As his teacher
was preparing to leave, young Daniel requested him to hear a few
more lines. Another hundred was read. Breakfast was repeatedly
announced. The good doctor was impatient to go, and asked his pupil
how much further he could read. ' To the end of the twelfth book of
the iEneid,' was the prompt reply. The doctor never had occasion to
reprove him again. His study hours, ever after, were sacred. In
less than a year, he read, with his teacher. Virgil and Cicero ; and, in
private, two large works of Grotius and PufTendorf, written in Latin.
During the month of July, his flvther called him home to assist him
on the farm. At this time of life, young Daniel had but a slender
frame, and was not able to endure much fatigue. The trial of a single
half-day brought the boy home with blistered hands and wearied limbs.
The next morning, his father gave him his little bundle of books and
clothes, and bade him seek his old teacher again. Dr. Wood met him
with a cordial greeting, on his return, and assured him that, with hard
study, he might enter college at the next commencement, lie then
had two months to devote to Greek ; and he had not yet learned the
alphabet. With characteristic energy, he grappled with the task, and
achieved a victory of which few can boast. What one of those college
idlers, who talk so flippantly about the idleness of Daniel Webster when
a student, has prepared himself for a like station in two short months 7
The students of that day were deprived of many of the comforts and
luxuries of life which are now so liberally enjoyed. They usually
travelled on horseback. Their dress was entirely of domestic manu-
facture. When Daniel Webster went to college, he took the least val-
uable of his father's horses, which would not be missed from the farm,
and, depositing his scanty wardrobe and library in a pair of saddle-bags,
set out for Hanover. Scarcely had he lost sight of his father's house,
when a furious north-east storm began to beat upon the solitary trav-
eller. The rain poured down incessantly for two days and nights.
A necessity was laid upon him to be present at the commencement of
the term. He, therefore, made such speed as he could, with his slow-
paced Pvozinante, over bad roads, through the. pelting storm, and reached
the place at the close of the second day, if not a 'sorrowful knight,'
at least, in a sorrowful condition. He joined his class the next day,
and at once took the position in it which he has since held in the intel-
lectual world. By the unanimous consent, both of teachers and class-
mates, he stood at the head of his associates in study ; and was as far
430 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
above them then, ia all that constitutes human greatness, as he is now.
After a residence of two years at college, he spent a vacation at home.
He had tasted the sweets of literature, and enjoyed the victories of
intellectual effort. He loved the scholar's life. lie felt keenly for the
condition of his brother Ezekiel, who was destined to remain on the farm,
and labor to lift the mortgage from the old homestead, and furnish the
means of his brother's support. Ezekiel was a farmer in spirit and in
practice. He led his laborers in the field, as he afterwards led his class
in Greek. Daniel knew and appreciated his superior intellectual
endowments. He resolved that his brother should enjoy the same
privileges with himself That night, the two brothers retired to bed,
but not to sleep. They discoursed of their prospects. Daniel uttei-ly
refused to enjoy the fruit of his brother's labor any longer. They were
united in sympathy and affection, and they must be united in their
pursuits. But how could they leave their beloved parents, in age and
solitude, with no protector ? They talked and wept, and wept and
talked, till dawn of day. They dared not broach the matter to their
father. Finally, Daniel resolved to be the orator upon the occasion.
Judge Webster was then somewhat burdened with debt. He was
advanced in age, and had set his heart upon having Ezekiel as his
helper. The very thought of separation from both his sons was painful
to him. When the proposition was made, he felt as did the patriarch
of old, when he exclaimed, ' Joseph is not * * * and will ye
also take Benjamin away? ' A family council was called. The
mother's opinion was asked. She was a strong-minded, energetic
woman. She was not blind to the superior endowments of her sons.
With all a mother's partiality, however, she did not over-estimate their
powers. She decided the matter at once. Her reply was : ' I have
lived long in the world, and have been happy in my children. If
Daniel and Ezekiel will promise to take care of me in my old age, I
will consent to the sale of all our i^operty at once, and they may
enjoy the benefit of that which remains after our debts are paid.'
This was a moment of intense interest to all the parties. Parents and
children all mingled their tears to2;ether, and sobbed aloud, at the
thought of separation. The farther yielded to the entreaties of the sons
and the advice of his wife. Daniel returned to college, and Ezekiel
took his little bundle in his hand, and sought, on foot, the scene of his
preparatory studies. In one year he joined his younger brother in
college. His intellect was of the highest order. In clear and com-
DANIEL AYEBSTER. 481
preliensive views of the subjects studied, he had no equah He was
deficient in no branch of study pursued in college. He was distin-
guished for classical literature. He also availed himself of private
instruction in some departments of study. Professor ShurtlefF then
had a class of students reciting to him, privately, in theolog3^ Ezekiel
Webster joined that class, and wrote dissertations upon subjects pro-
posed by the professor, who still speaks, with unabated admiration, of
his character, as an earnest, truthful, and successful student. I once
asked the same venerable teacher of the deportment of the younger
brother in college. He replied : ' 0, sir, Daniel was as regular as the
sun. He never made a misstep ; he never stooped to do a mean act ;
he never countenanced, by his presence or by his conversation, any
college irregularities.' After graduating, at the early age of nineteen,
Daniel "Webster took charge of the academy in Fryeburg, 'Me. He left
his father's house again on horseback, with his whole worldly effects in a
pair of saddle-bags. His salary was three hundred and fifty dollars a
year. From such an income, how much, think you, would one of our
modern dandies save, after supporting himself as a gentleman should
live? Besides the severe labors of the school, Mr. "Webster devoted
his evenings to a still more irksome piece of drudgery. He recorded
deeds in the county records for a moderate compensation. He trans-
cribed, on an average, three deeds each evening ; and two large folios
now exist, in his hand-writing, as indubitable proofs of his industry.
He received high commendation for his fidelity as a teacher. The
records of the trustees bear testimony to their unqualified approbation
of his labors, and their sincere regret at his departure. At the close
of the year, he visited his brother in college ; and, after paying his
own debts, gave to Ezekiel the results of his year's labor, which
amounted to one hundred dollars. The attachment of these brothers to
each other was truly remarkable. They kept no separate purse, till
they were established in business. They labored cheerfully for each
other. Daniel submitted to the drudgery of copying deeds, and
encroached upon the hours due to sleep to secure the means of his
brother's education. Ezekiel taught an evening school for sailors, in
Boston, in addition to the fatigues of a large private school by day, to
save money to defray, in part, his brother's expenses in completing his
professional education."
We have seen a very impressive funeral oration on Ephraim Simonds,
a member of the senior class of Dartmouth College, who died at Han-
432 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
over, April, 18, 1801, delivered by Mr. Webster, who was also a
member of the same class. We will quote a passage from the exor-
dium : "All of him that was mortal now lies in the charnels of yonder
cemetery. By the grass that nods over the mounds of Sumner, Mer-
rill and Cook, now rests a fourth son of Dartmouth, constituting another
monument of man's mortality. The sun, as it sinks to the ocean, jDlays
its departing beams on his tomb, but they reanimate him not. The
cold sod presses on his bosom ; his hands hang down in weakness. The
bird of the evening shouts a melancholy air on the poplar, but her
voice is stillness to his ears. While his pencil was draAving scenes of
future felicity, — while his soul fluttered on the gay breezes of hope, —
an unseen hand drew the curtain, and shut him from our view." Our
young orator, at this time, had been so inspired with the brilliant and
fervid style of President Wheelock, that he gave stronger indications
of rising to eminence in poetry, than in law or politics. The first pub-
lished oration of Webster was delivered at Hanover, July 4, 1800. It
may be found in the library of the Antiquarian Society.
Mr. Webster completed his college course in August, 1801, and
became a student of law in the office of Thomas W. Thompson, the
next-door neighbor of his father, who was afterwards a senator in Con-
gress. He remained in his office as a student till, in the words of Mr.
March, " he felt it necessary to go somewhere, and do something to
earn a little money; " on which, as before related, he became preceptor
of an academy, where, among other mental exercises, he committed to
memory Fisher Ames' celebrated speech on the British treaty ; and he
has been heard to say, relates Everett, that few things moved him more
than the perusal of this celebrated speech. In September, 1802, Mr.
Webster returned to Salisbury, and resumed his studies under Mr.
Thompson, with whom he remained for eighteen months.
Daniel Webster went to Boston in July, 1804, and became a stu-
dent of Christopher Gore, where he engaged, with devoted interest, in
the study of special pleading. In March, 1805, he was admitted to
practice in the Suffolk Court of Common Pleas. At this period, he
was offered the clerkship of the Court of Common Pleas, in Hills-
borough county, N. H., which he at first was ready to accept : but Mr.
Gore opposed it, apj^ealing to the ambition of his pupil, says March ; —
once a clerk, he always would be a clerk, with no step upward. "Go
on," said Mr. Gore, " and finish your studies. You are poor enough,
but there are greater evils than poverty. Live on no man's favor.
DANIEL WEBSTER. 433
What bread you do eat, let it be the bread of independence. Pursue
your profession ; make yourself useful to your friends, and a little formi-
dable to your enemies, and you have nothing to fear." His fatlier Avas
one of the judges of this court, and was very earnest that Daniel should
accept the station. Having concurred in the advice of Christopher
Gore, he said to his father, ' ' I mean to use my tongue in the courts,
— not my pen ; to be an actor, not a register of other men's actions ; "
to which his venerable father replied : " Well, my son, your mother
has always said that you would come to something, or nothing, — she
Avas not sure which. I think you arc now about settling that doubt
for her."
Immediately on his admission to the bar, Mr. Webster went to
Amherst. N. H., where his father's court was in session. From that
place he went home with his father. He had intended to establish
himself at Portsmouth, which, as the largest town, and the seat of the
foreign commerce of the State, opened the widest field for practice.
But filial duty kept him nearer home. His father was now infirm
from the advance of years, and had no other son at home. Under these
circumstances, Mr. Webster opened an ofiicc at Boscawen, not far from
his father's residence, and commenced the practice of the law in this
retired spot. Judge Webster lived but a year after his son's entrance
upon practice, — long enough, however, says Everett, to hear his first
argument in court, and to be gratified with the confident predictions of
his future success.
It is related, on the best authority, that at his first term he had no*
case for trial, that rendered it necessary for' him to address the coui-t at
Amherst ; but he had an important motion to make, not in the order
of the docket, for which he had made elaborate preparation. Not
being familiar Avith the course of business, and having seen no favora-
ble opportunity to introduce and argue his motion, after waiting the
whole term, till the court stood on its adjournment, he rose, and stated
to the court, that he had hoped for an opportunity to bring his motion
before the court, and had prepared himself to argue it, but that he now
saw there was no time for the purpose. Nevertheless, he was unwilhng
to omit altogether acquainting the court with his case. With this intro-
duction, he proceeded to make a short statement of the circumstances of
his case, and the remedy for which he had proposed to call upon the
court ; but, at that stage of the court, he would not undertake to argue
it, though he had prepared himself for the purpose. When he had
37
434 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
resumed liis seat, the chief-justice, Timothy Farrar, turning to his
associates, remarked, in an undertone, which was, however, overheard,
"That young man's statement is a most unanswerable argument,"
and immediately granted his motion. Mr. Webster has been frequently
heard to remark that this incident has had a marked influence on liis
efforts in after life. It is related of his early appearance in pleading at
court in his native State, that in the onset there would be an indication
of restlessness ; and he would move his feet about, and run his hand
up over his forehead through his Indian-black hair, and lift his upper
lip, and show his teeth, Avhich were as white as those of a hound ; and
then he would roll on in such a stream of eloquence, that his power
was irresistible.
Mr. AYebster was admitted as an attorney and counsellor of the
Superior Court of New Hampshire, in May, 1807; and in September
•of that year, after having become a member of the Congregational
church of Salisbury, his native town, on the 13th day of that month,
Tvdien the Rev. Thomas Worcester was pastor, he removed from Bos-
•cawen to Portsmouth, where he remained for nine successive years. It
is mentioned by ]\Ir. INIarch, as a singular fact in his professional life,
that, with the exception of the occasions on which he has been asso-
ciated with the attorney -general of the United States for the time being,
lie has hardly appeared ten times as junior counsel. Mr. Webster was
married in June, 1808, to Grace, a daughter of Rev. Mr. Fletcher,
•of Hopkinton, by wliom he had five children, — Grace, Fletcher, Julia,
Charles, and Edward, who died in the Mexican war. After the
decease of his wife, he married a second time, — Caroline, daughter of
Hermon Leroy, of New York city.
jNIr. Webster was elected to Congress, for the Federal party of that
day, November, 1812 ; and continued four years in the house, and was
appointed by Henry Clay, then Speaker, a member of the committee
on foreign affairs. He was a member of the committee of the Rock-
ingham Convention, which met at Brentwood, Aug. 5, 1812, and pre-
pared a memorial to President Madison, remonstrating against the war
with Great Britain. Mr. Webster was not a member of Cono;ress when
the war was declared, nor in any other public station. The principal
subjects on which he addressed the house, during the 13th Congress,
were his own resolutions, the increase of the navy, the repeal of the
embargo, and an appeal from the decision of the chair, on a motion for
the previous question. His speeches on these questions raised him to
DANIEL WEBSTER. 435
the fi-ont rank of debaters. He cultivated friendly relations on both
sides of the house, and gained the personal respect even of those Avith
■whom he most differed. Mr. Webster, in 1814, opposed the project
for a Bank of the United States, with a capital of fifty millions, as
unsound in its principles, and sure to increase the derangement of the
currency. In the intervals of Congress, Mr. Webster was occupied,
at Portsmouth, in the pi'actice of law. The destruction of his house,
furniture, library, and many valuable manuscripts, in the extensive
fire that occurred in December, 1813, had so embarrassed his circum-
stances, that he found it his duty to endeavor to improve his condition.
On the return of the peace, Mr. Webster was active in relation to
the constitutionalitj^ of the tariflf policy, and the resumption of specie
payments.
Jlr. Webster removed to Boston in the year 1816, when commenced
a period of about six years' retirement from active political life, during
which time, with a single exception, he filled no public ofiice, and
devoted himself exclusively to his duties as a lawyer. It was accord-
ingly Avithin this period that his reputation in his profession was estab-
lished. A large share of the best business of New England passed
into his hands ; and the veterans of the Boston bar admitted him to an
entire equality of standing amongst them. Mr. Webster, on the sepa-
ration of Maine, was elected to the Massachusetts convention on revis-
ing the State constitution, in 1820, when he exhibited great intellectual
ability, and with the most eminent success. In 1822 he was elected
by the people of Boston to the State Legislature, at which period he
was also one of the framers of the city charter for Boston ; and in
November of this year he was elected to the house of Congress, as suc-
cessor of Benjamin Gorham. We find the following reminiscence of
Mr. Webster, in relation to this period : '-It has so happened."' once
said Mr. Webster, "that all tlie public services Avhich I have rendered
in the world, in my da^'- and generation, have been connected with the
general government. I think I ought to make an exception. I was
ten days a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, and I turned my
thoughts to the search of some good object, in Avhich I could be useful
in that position ; and, after much reflection, I introduced a bill, which,
with the general consent of both houses of the IMassachusetts Legis-
lature, passed into a law, and is now a law of the State, which enacts
that no man in the State shall catcli trout in any other manner than
with the ordinary hook and line. With that exception, I never was
43G THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
connected, for an hour, -with any State government, in my life. I
never held office, high or low, under any State government. Per-
haps that Avas my misfortune. At the age of thirty, I was in New
Hampshire, practising law, and had some clients. John Taylor Gil-
man, Avho for fourteen years was Governor of the State, thought that,
young man as I was, I might be fit to be an attorney-general of the
State of NcAV Hampshire, and he nominated me to the council : and
the council, taking it into their deep consideration, and not happening
to ])e of the same politics of the governor and myself, voted, three out
of five, that I was not competent, — and, very lihely, they were right.
So, you see, I never gained promotion in any State government."
Mr. AYebster was again elected to Congress for Suffolk ; and so
great a favorite had he become, that the choice was unanimous, with
the exception of three votes. In 1826 he was reelected to the house ;
but, before taking his seat, he was elected, by the Legislature, to the
Senate in Congress, in place of Elijah H. Mills, — which station he
filled until he was appointed Secretary of State, under President Har-
rison, in 1841. He was succeeded by Abel P. Upshur in 1844, and
was reelected to the U. S. Senate in 1845. which station he occupied
until his appointment as Secretary of State, under President Fillmore,
in 1850 ; and never, since the days of Jefferson, the first incumbent,
has a president of this Union been honored with a more profound and
sagacious counsellor than Daniel Webster.
In the spring of the year 1839, Mr. Webster crossed the Atlantic,
making a tour through England, Scotland, and France. His atten-
tion was drawn to the agriculture of England and Scotland ; to the
great subjects of currency and exchange ; to the condition of the labor-
ing classes ; and to the practical effect on the politics of Europe of the
system of the continental alliance. No traveller from this country
has, probably, ever been received with equal attention, says Everett,
in the highest quarters in England. Courtesies usually extended only
to ambassadors and foreim ministers were advanced to him. His
table was covered with invitations to the seats of the nobility and
gentry ; and his company was eagerly sought at the public entertain-
ments which took place while he was in the country. Among the
eminent men with whom he contracted intimacy, may be named the
late Lord Ashburton. A mutual regard, of more than usual warmth,
arose between them. This circumstance was well understood in the
higher circles of English society ; and when, two years later, a change
DAXIEL WEBSTER. 437
of administration in both countries brought the parties to which they
were respectively attached into power, the friendly relations Avell
known to exist between them were, no doubt, among the motives which
led to the appointment of Lord Ashburton as special minister to the
United States. "When the "Whig party came into power, in the year
1841, Mr. Webster displayed extraordinary sagacity in the nego-
tiation of the treaty with Great Britain, on the adjustment of the
long-contested question of the north-eastern boundary, which height-
ened his renown for diplomatic skill.
When My. Webster was elected to Congress over Jesse Putnam, in
1822, he exhibited the same energy of character in behalf of his coun-
try that had previously made him the great leader among leaders.
He labored for suifcring Greece ; on the tariff law of 1824 ; effected a
complete revision of the law for the punishment of crimes against the
United States ; gave a speech on the Congress of Panama ; and argued
on the revision of the tariff law, and the embarrassments of the contest.
His manly course in the administrations of Jackson and Van Buren,
in relation to the veto of' the bank, the rise and progress of nullifica-
tion, the force bill, the removal of the deposits, the expunging resolu-
tion, and the sub-treasury system, are identified with his history. We
do not forget his interest in other great national topics, such as the
annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, the Oregon question,
revival of the sub-treasury system, and repeal of the tariff of 1842 ;
on a territorial government for the Mexican provinces, on a constitu-
tion of State government adopted by California prohibiting slavery, on
the anti-slavery agitation relative to the Fugitive Slave Law and the
Compromise, and his great speech for the Union. We would have our
readers recur to Everett's political biography of Daniel Webster, for a
development of his action on these great national topics.
Where is a nobler passage than this of Webster: "lam," says
Webster, "where I have ever been, and ever mean to be. Standing
on the platform of the general constitution, — a platform broad enough,
and firm enough, to uphold every interest of the whole country, — I
shall still be found. Intrusted with some part in the administration
of that constitution, I intend to act in its spirit, and in the spirit of
those who framed it. I would act as if our fathers, who formed it for
us, and who bequeathed it to us, were looking on me, — as if I could
see their venerable forms bending down to behold us, from the abodes
above. I would act, too, as if the eye of posterity was gazing on me.
438 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
' Standing thus, as in the full gaze of our ancestors and our pos-
terity,— having received this inheritance from the former, to be trans-
mitted to the latter, and feeling that if I am formed for any good, in
my day and generation, it is for the good of the whole country, —
no local policy or local feeling, no temporary impulse, shall induce me
to yield my foothold on the constitution and the Union.
" I came into public life in the service of the United States. On
that broad altar my earliest and all my public vows have been made.
I propose to serve no other master. So far as depends on any agency
of mine, they shall continue united States, — united in interest and
affection, — united in everything in regard to which the constitution
has decreed their union, — united in war, for the common defence, the
common renown, and the common glory, — and united, compacted, knit
firmly together, in peace, for the common prosperity and happiness of
ourselves and our children."
Judge Story related, one time, of Chief Justice Marshall, that his
great expression was, "It is admitted." As he was a powerful
reasoner, it was often remarked, " Once admit his premises, and you
are forced to his conclusions ; therefore, deny everything he says."
Said Daniel Webster to Story, "When Judge Marshall says, ' It is
admitted, sir,' I am prepared for a bomb to burst over my head, and
demolish all my points." May not the same remark be made of
Webster, the invincible defender, as of Marshall, the profound
expounder, of the constitution ?
The address of Mr. Webster, pronounced on Bunker Hill, June 17,
1825, it is said was modelled, even to its best passages, in Marshpee
Brook, — the orator catching trout and elaborating sentences, at the
same time. It is further related, that, as the orator drew in some
trout particularly large, he was heard to exclaim, " Venerable men !
you have come down to us from a former generation. Heaven has
bounteously lengthened out your lives, that you might behold this
joyous day." Says Webster, in another passage of the same para-
graph: "Yonder proud ships, by a felicity of position, appropriately
lying at the foot of this mount, and seeming fondly to cling around it,
are not means of annoyance to you, but your country's own means of
distinction and defence."
We find in Everett's biography of Webster some excellent remarks
on the preparation of orators for public speaking, Avhere, in allusion to
Mr. Webster, he says: "It is not to be supposed that an orator hke
DANIEL WEBSTER. _ 439
Mr. Webster is slavishly tied down, on any occasion, to his manuscript
notes, or to a memor'dcr repetition of their contents. It may be
presumed that, in many cases, the noblest and the boldest, the last
and warmest tints thrown upon the canvas, in discourses of this kind,
were the unpremeditated inspiration of the moment of delivery. The
opposite view would be absurd ; because it would imply that the mind,
under the high excitement of delivery, was loss fertile and creative
than in the repose of the closet. A speaker could not, if he attempted
it, anticipate, in his study, the earnestness and fervor of spirit induced
by actual contact with the audience ; he could not, by any possibility,
forestall the sympathetic influence upon his imagination and intellect
of the listening and applauding throng. However severe the method
required by the nature of the occasion, or dictated by his own taste,
a speaker like Mr. ^yebster will not confine himself ' to pouring out
fervors a week old.' " In another passage of this memoir, Mr. Everett,
in further enlarging on this subject, says that no one will think that
the entire apostrophe to Warren, in his first Bunker Hill oration, as it
stands in the reported speech, was elaborated and committed to memory.
In fact, there is a slight grammatical inaccuracy, caused by passing
from the third person to the second in the same sentence, which is at
once the natural consequence and the proof of an unpremeditated
expansion or elevation of the preconceived idea. We see the process.
When the sentence commenced, " But, ah ! him ! " it was evidently in
the mind of the orator to close it by saying, "How shall I speak of
him?" But, in the progress of the sentence, forgetful — unconscious
— of the grammatical form, but melting -with the thought. — behold-
ing, as he stood upon the spot where the hero fell, his beloved and
beautiful image rising from the ground, — he can no longer speak of
him. Willing subject of his own witchery, he clothes his conception
with sensible forms, and speaks to the glorious being whom he has
called back to life. He no longer attempts to discourse of Warren to
the audience ; but, passing, after a few intervening clauses, from the
third person to the second, he exclaims, "How shall I struggle with
the emotions that stifle the utterance of thy name ! Our poor work
may perish, but thine shall endure ! This monument may moulder
away, the sohd ground it rests upon may sink down to a level with the
sea, — but thy memory shall not fail ! "
We concur Avith Edward Everett in what he remarks of Webster's
famous reply to Ilayne, when he says : "Of the effectiveness of Mr.
440 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Webster's manner in many parts, it would be in vain to attempt to
give any one not present the faintest idea. It has been my fortune to
hear some of the ablest speeches of the greatest living orators on both
sides of the water ; but I must confess I never heard anything which
so completely realized my conception of what Demosthenes was when
he delivered the oration for the crown."
"Sprung from a revolutionary stock," said Caleb Gushing, in a
revicAV of Webster's speeches, "nurtured in the very domains of 'the
mountain goddess, Liberty,' he rose to fame and usefulness in the
bosom of his native State. So surely as the bright stars shall move
on untiringly in , their celestial paths on high to glad the eye and
lead the footsteps of unborn generations of men, — so surely as genius,
honor, patriotism, will continue to be prized on earth when the passions
of the hour shall have fretted themselves into extinction and oblivion,
— so sure is it that the time will come when New Hampshire will
esteem it her pride and her glory to have given birth and maturity to
Daniel Webster. And yet, such are the corruptions of party, and
such the infamy to which it sometimes degrades the daily press, that,
as Mr. Webster feelingly remarked in his speech at Concord, it has
been his fortune, whether in public life or out of it, to be pursued by
a degree of reproach and accusation in his native State such as
never fell to the lot of any other of her public men.
" Of the speeches delivered by Mr. Webster in the Senate, those
devoted to the great constitutional questions display Mr. Webster
without a competitor. By a succession of unrivalled speeches in expo-
sition of disputed texts or constructions of the constitution, — by the
profound knowledge of historical facts displayed in them, the acuteness,
sagacity and comprehensiveness of view which they exhibit, and the
patriotic zeal which animates them in every line. — he has earned for
himself a most peculiar and most exalted position in the pubhc eye, as
the great expounder and champion of the fundamental law of the Union.
So long as the government of the United States shall endure, or the
memory of its honor and its liberty survive the overthrow of its insti-
tutions,— so long as our example shall occupy a page in the history
of human freedom, — so long must the speeches of Mr. Webster be
read, studied, admired. On these he may confidently rely for the
respect and applause of his country, while living; on these, for a fame
lasting as the undying spirit of constitutional liberty itself Neither
in the Philippic orations of Demosthenes, nor in the consular ones «f
DANIEL WEBSTER. 441
Cicero, nor in -whatever class among the speeches of Burke, or Pitt,
or Canning, is there anything more thoroughly imbued and saturated
with the very essence of immortality than in these constitutional
speeches of Daniel Webster.
" It is one of the characteristic traits of Mr. Webster's speeches, —
whether at the bar, in political assemblies, or in Congress, — that there
is nothins:!; in them discursive ; no di";ressions from the straiirhtforward
path of his argument, no mere episodes of embellishment, no common-
place arts of oratory. They are models of severe unity of design, of
consummate and beautiful simplicity of execution, like some master-
piece of statuary carved in the blended grace and majesty of antique
art. He sends forth no scattered rays, to dazzle with their brilliancy,
and bewilder while they dazzle, — but pours a steady stream of light,
concentrated in a broad beam of effulgence upon the point he would
illumine. His mind never stops on the course, like Atalanta, to gather
the golden fruits which glitter in its path, and thus ultimately lose the
prize of the race in pursuit of the delusive temptations of the moment.
For this reason, it is impossible to do justice to any of his more elabo-
rate efforts by bare extracts, when every sentence is an essential part
of one grand whole, and nothing can be spared from the finished per-
fection of the work, nothing added, without marring its excellent sym-
metry. Yet, amid all the dignity, strength and singleness, which
distinguish his productions, there is an occasional vividness of imagery,
so apposite, tliat it seems to be innate in the very substance of the
matter, rather than a mere illustration, — like the native lustre of a
gem, belonging to the primitive organization of its elements. It is not
difficult, therefore, to select passages which, fragments though they be,
are beautiful and strikinfir in themselves, and bear witness what that is
of which they arc but severed parts. You do not see the magnificent
temple, in its admirable Avhole : but even the solitary column, the
broken frieze, torn from its pediment, bespeak the grandeur of the
Parthenon. The following passage elucidates a great principle, by a
happy recurrence to historical facts :
" ' We are not to wait till great public mischiefs come,' says Web-
ster,— 'till the government is overthrown, or liberty itself put in
extreme jeopardy. We should not be worthy sons of our fathers,
Avere we so to regard great questions affecting the general freedom.
Those fathers accomplished the Revolution on a strict question of prin-
ciple. The Parliament of Great Britain asserted a right to tax the
442 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
colonies', in all cases -whatsoever ; and it was precisely on this question
that tliej made the Revolution to turn. The amount of taxation was
trifling ; but the claim was inconsistent with liberty, — and that was,
in their eyes, enough. It was against the recital of an act of Parlia-
ment, rather than against any suffering under its enactments, that
they took up arms. They went to war against a preamble. They
fought seven years against a declaration. They poured out their treas-
ures and their blood, like water, in a contest in opposition to an asser-
tion which those less sagacious, and not so well schooled in the princi-
ples of civil libert}'-, would have regarded as barren phraseology, or
mere pai-ade of words. They saw, in the claim of the British Parlia-
ment, a seminal principle. of mischief — the germ of unjust power;
they detected it, dragged it forth from underneath its plausible dis-
guises, struck at it, — nor did it elude either their steady eye or their
well-directed blow, till they had extirpated and destroyed it, to the
smallest fibre. On this question of principle, while actual suffering-
was yet afar off, they raised their flag against a power, to which, for
purposes of foreign conquest and subjugation, Rome, in the height of
her glory, is not to be compared, — a power which has dotted over the
surface of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts, —
whose morning drum -beat, following the sun, and keeping company
with the hours, circles the earth daily with one continuous and
unbroken strain of the martial airs of England.' "
The manners of Daniel Webster in public speaking are remarkable.
"It is in reply that he comes out in the majesty of intellectual
grandeur," says Col. Knapp, " and lavishes about him the opulence
of intellectual wealth ;• it is when the darts of the enemy have hit
him, that he is all might and soul ; it is then that he showers down
words of weight and fire. Plear him then, and you will say that his
eloquence is founded on no model, ancient or modern, however strong
may be the resemblance to any one of them ; that he never read the
works of a master for imitation ; — all is his own, excellences and
defects. lie resembles no American orator we have ever heard. He
does not imitate any one in the remotest degree : neither the Addiso-
nian eloquence of Alexander Hamilton, which was the day-spring in a
pure and vernal atmosphere, full of health and beauty ; nor does he
strive for the sweetness of Fisher Ames, whose heart, on all great
occasions, grew liquid, and he could pour it out like water. Ames
waved the wand of the enchantress, and a paradise arose, peopled with
DANIEL WEBSTER. 443
ethereal beings, all engaged in pursuing an immortal career." In Mr.
Webster's eloquence, one is sensible that there is a vast and indefinite
back-ground of character. The oratory is but as a little jet out of a
great reservoir, from "\vhich it is not missed. He would at times over-
whelm you. and draw himself back again before you recovered your
self-possession. The orator is but a fraction of the man, — the man
standing indefinitely great behind the mere orator. He is delightfully
felicitous in illustration. How effective, for instance, the passage
Avhere, in remarking on the vast extent of this republic, the two great
seas of the world washing the one and the other shore, in the concep-
tion of which, says Webster, we may realize the beautiful description
of the ornamental edo-ing; of the buckler of Achilles :
• Now the broad shield complete the artist cro-syned.
With his last hand, and poured the ocean round ;
In living silver seemed the waves to roll.
And beat the buckler's verge, and bound the whole.'
"The person of Mr. Webster is singular and commanding," says
Knapp. "His height, above the ordinary size, about five feet eleven
inches. He is broad across the chest, and stoutly and firndy built ;
but there is nothing of clumsiness either in his form or gait. His
head is very large ; his forehead high, Avith good-shaped temples. He
has a large, black, solemn-looking eye, that exhibits strength and
steadfastness, which sometimes burns, but never sparkles. His lips,
when his countenance is in repose, shut close — Lavater's mark of
firmness ; but the changes of his lips make no small part of the strong
and varied expressions of his face. His hair is of a raven-black, of great
thickness, and is generally worn rather short ; his eyebrows are thick,
more than commonly arched, and bushy, — which, on a slight contrac-
tion, give his features the appearance of sternness. But the general
expression of his face, after it is properly examined, is rather mild and
amiable than otherAvise. His movements in the senate-chamber and in
the street are slow and dignified. His voice, once heard, is always
remembered ; but there is no peculiar sweetness in it ; — its tones are
rather harsh than musical ; — still, there is great variety in them.
Some have a most startling penetration ; others, of a softer character,
catch the ear, and charm it down to the most perfect attention. His
voice has nothing of that monotony Avhich palls upon the car ; it may
be heard all day without fatiguing the audience. His emphasis is
444 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Strong, and his enunciation clear, and so distinct that not a syllable
escapes any of his hearers. The compass of his voice is so great, that
it fills any room, however large, with perfect ease to himself; and
Willis, our native poet, Avho saw him nearly twenty years after the
graphic description of Knapp was written, says : " Sombre as the lines
of his face are, unlighted with health or impulse, the eyes so cavern-
ous and dark, the eyelids so hvid. eyebrows so heavy and black, and
the features so habitually grave, — it is a face of strong affections,
genial, and foreign to all unkindness. There is not a trace in it where
a pettishness or a peevishness could lodge, and no means in its sallow
muscles for the expression of an intellectual littleness or perversion. It
is all broad and. majestic, all expansive and generous. The darkness in
it is the shadow of a Salvator Rosa, — a heightening of grandeur, with-
out injury to the clearness. His physical su[)eriority and noble dispo-
sition are in just balance with his mind. Webster, incapable of the
forecast narrowness which makes the scope of character converge when
meridian ambition and occupation fill it no longer, will walk the broad-
ening path that has been divergent and liberalizing from his childhood
to the present hour, till he steps from its expanding lines into his
grave." At the featival of the Sons of New Hampshire, General Dear-
born said of Daniel Webster, " that, on all occasions when he put forth
the fall energies of his mind, he appeared in the senate-chamber like
the lion-hearted Richard in the tournament of Ashley de la Zouch,
ready to meet all combatants ; and Avoe betide those who received the
ponderous and crushing blows of his mighty intellectual mace! " Mr.
Websterwasamemberof the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
Massachusetts Historical, New England Genealogic, and American
Antiquarian Societies.
Mr. Webster was a remarkable exemplification of an opinion which
he expressed to Rev. Samuel K. Lothrop, whose church, in Brattle-
street, he attended, and also Trinity church, during over thirty years'
residence in Boston, that, "what a man does for others, not what
others do for him, gives immortality." Our unrivalled statesman died
at his residence in Marshfield, October 24, 1852. The immediate
cause of his decease was hcmon-hage from the stomach and bowels,
owing to a morbid state of the blood, consequent upon a disease of the
liver. There was, also, dropsy on the abdomen. The cerebral organs
were of the very largest known capacity, exceeding, by thirty per
SAMUEL LOKENZO KXAPP. 445
centum, the average weight of the human brain, and, it is saii.l, -with
only two exceptions, — those of Cuvier and Dupuytren, — the largest
of which there is any record. On the day of the interment, the body
was placed upon a bier on the lawn in front of his mansion, beneath
the branches of a large poplar tree. The cover of the coffin was re-
moved, and the body appeared attired in Mr. "Webster's favorite suit, —
a blue coat, bright buttons, white vest, white pantaloons, white silk
gloves, patent leather gaiter boots, and a Avhite neckerchief, with wide
collar turned over. The coffin, or metallic burial-case, was similar in
its outlines to the human form when placed in a horizontal or recum-
bent position, and consisted of an upper and lower shell. The case
was enamelled inside and out. and was thoroughly air-tight. Upon
the body was a wreath of beautiful flowers, wrought by a girl ten
years of age, and another of oak leaves and acorns ; a pyramid bouquet
of everlasting floAvers, and another of flowers, plucked and wrought
by Ellen Fletcher, a niece of Mr. Webster, consisting of the common
and New Holland myrtle, in which were inwrought snow-white roses,
and the clematis specanium. placed on the breast of the corpse. The
tomb of Daniel Webster is in the old "Winslow burvinir-sround at
Marshfield ; and, " from the deck of every ship, bound into or out of
the city with which he Avas so long connected," said the Rev. Ebenczer
Alden, at his funeral, " and with whose prosperity, up to his death, he
was identified, his tomb shall be visible while time shall last." Since
the decease of Daniel "Webster there have been published more ser-
mons, eulogies, and orations on his character, than have ever appeared
in relation to any eminent public man, excepting, only, the immortal
"Washington.
SAMUEL LORENZO KNAPP.
AUGUST 5, 1826. EULOGY ON ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.
"Was born at Newburyport, in 1784 ; and was educated at Phillips'
Academy, in E.xeter, where he shone as one of the most brilliant
scholars, especially in declamation. He graduated at Dartmouth Col-
38
446 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OEATORS.
lege in 1804, when he entered on the study of law, under Chief Justice
Parsons, at Newburyport, and married Mary Ann, daughter of Gen.
Amasa Davis. He was an eminent counsellor, and was an active mem-
ber of the State Legislature. During the late war with Great Britain,
he commanded a regiment of State militia, in defence of the coast. In
1824 he became editor of the Boston Gazette ; and conducted, also, the
Boston Monthly Magazine, one of the most refined periodicals of polite
literature, abounding in his own tasteful contributions. In 1826 Col.
Knapp established the National Republican, which existed only two
years, when he resumed the profession of law, at New York. An
anecdote is related of Mr. Knapp, that a certain pubhsher of a peri-
odical clipped off the end of a contribution from his pen, because it was
taking up too much space, — who, when remonstrated with for putting
"a full stop" to his article where there should have been only a
comma, after several abortive attempts at pacification, said, *' 0 ! let it
go in, Knapp ; let it go in ! It is well enough as it is ; just look at it ;
see, now ; — beside, you know, nobody will read it. So, what 's the
odds, Knapp?" The whole article was indignantly withdrawn. He
was not always verbally accurate ; but his diction was easy and grace-
ful, and he gathered metaphors for illustration with as much ease and
taste as a florist selects the beauties of the garden and the meadow.
He was honored with the personal friendship and intimacy of Arch-
bishop Cheverus ; at whose suggestion he received the degree of doctor
of laws from the college at Paris, in France. His biographical memoir
of the venerable prelate was one of the most elegant performances of
that sort. He was one of the best writers of eulo2:iums and sketches
of character in the Union, His work on eminent lawyers, statesmen,
and men of letters, now out of print, is a model for writers of biography.
He was a very popular public speaker, being very fluent, easy, winning,
and graceful. He was rich in anecdote, grave, lively and humorous.
He had a decided disrelish for the technicalities of law ; and the best
of his days Avere devoted to literature. Long after the writings of the
puny revilers of American genius shall have supplied the grocer with
wrappings, and the book-worm with food, the Lectures on American
Literature, by S. L. Knapp, will have a place in the library of the
scliolar, and minister to the instruction of young persons. In defend-
ing the literary reputation of others, he has given a work on which his
own fame may securely rest. He was author of The Bachelors, and
Other Tales, founded on American Incident and Character ; Advice
WILLIAM POWELL MASON. 447
in the Pursuits of Literature ; Lives of Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson,
Daniel Webster, and Thomas Eddy; and several pohtical orations.
He Avas the editor of Ilinton's United States, and the Library of Use-
ful Knowledge. He was author, also, of Travels of Ali Eey in Boston
and its vicinity ; The Genius of Free Masonry, or a Defence of the
Order ; Female Biography of Different Ages and Nations ; Public
Character, comprising Sketches drawn from the Living and the Dead.
He died at Hopkinton, Mass., July 8, 1838, aged fifty-four.
WILLIAM POWELL MASON.
JLTiY 4, 1827. FOR THE CITY AUTnORITIES.
'■There are periods of the world," says Mr. Mason, '-and portions
of the earth, in which whole generations of men may go down silently
and unnoticed to their graves, and at least enjoy the privilege of being
forgotten ; when, if they may not dare to expect the praises of pos-
terity, they may yet hope to escape its reproaches. But such is not
the period in which we live, nor such the country we inhabit.
"I will not endeavor to stimulate you to the performance of your
duties, by promising you an immortality of fame in after ages. No;
this is your birth-right ; you cannot lose it. Neglect these duties,
ruin your country, and disappoint the world; — yet, fear not. your
names shall be immortal. — as immortal as your ancestors". On the
same page of history on which their names and deeds are recorded,
and in as imperishable characters, shall yours, alto, be inscribed.
And when the future heroes of far-distant centuries shall turn back to
that page for stimulants to their exertions, future statesmen and
patriots look there for lessons of wisdom and virtue, and the future
poet draw thence a noble theme for his aspiring muse, your name
shall not be passed by unnoticed by them ; the same voices that swell
with praises and benedictions to the memories of your ancestors shall
load yours with execrations and contempt. Let us, my countrymen,
escape so disgraceful an immortality. Let us avert so disastrous a
termination of our hitherto brilliant career. Let us turn from the
448 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
contemplation of the deeds and virtues of our ancestors, from felicita-
tions on our own happy circumstances, and from musings on the many
bright and glowing objects which spread themselves out in the splendid
prospect before us, and endeavor to expose, whilst we may yet avoid
them, some of the rocks and precipices which lay in our path, and
which are not the less dangerous because they are decked with flowers.
The moralist truly tells us, that the most perfect things of this world
yet carry with them the taint of imperfection. The all-glorious works
of nature require the constantly sustaining and corrective hand of
their great Creator. And in man, and in all the labor of his hands
and all the emanations of his mind, are contained the seeds of decay
and dissolution. We may not hope to obtain for ourselves, or our
country, an exemption from this universal law ; but we may hope to
effect what is within the power of man to do, what it was meant he
should do. We may hope, by constant watchfulness and exertions, to
repress the growth of every noxious principle in our nature, and to
stimulate and quicken into perfect operation all the great and noble
ones."
William Powell was a son of Hon. Jonathan Mason, and born in
Boston ; and was prepared for college under Rev. Dr. Prentiss, of
INIedfield. lie graduated at Harvard College in 1811, at which time
he engaged in a conference respecting the character of New England,
as resulting from the civil, literary and religious institutions of our
forefathers. He read law under Hon. Charles Jackson ; commenced
the practice of law as partner with Hon. William Sullivan ; is a coun-
scllor-at-law ; and married Hannah, a daughter of Daniel Dennison
Rogers. At the festival in Faneuil Hall, on the day of the delivery
of the oration at the head of this article, Hon. James Savage publicly
gave the sentiment, that the orator is the jNlason who builds by prin-
ciple an edifice that shall last till doomsday. Mr. Mason was a
Boston representative, and editor of Reports of Cases in the U. S.
Circuit Court, from 1816 to 1800, comprising the Decisions of Judge
Story, in 5 vols. 8vo. They will honorably class, for learning and
daily practice, with the ablest reports of Great Britain. Mr. Mason
was seven years treasurer and secretary of the Social Law Library.
BRADFORD SUMXER, — NATHANIEL GREENE. 449
BRADFORD SUMNER.
JULY 4, 1828. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
Was born ia Taunton, jMuss. ; educated at the academy under Mr.
Doggett, and graduated at Brov/n University, in 1808 ; was a tutor
in that college for nearly two years ; and read law with Hon. Theron
Metcalf during a portion of his novitiate ; settled in Boston ; and mar-
ried Ameha Bertody. Is a counsellor-at-law ; and was a Boston
representative in 1826. He delivered an address for the Massachu-
setts Peace Society, in 1831, which Avas pubhshed. Mr. Sumner is
eminent for chamber counsel, of truly estimable character, and ha.s
frequently been a candidate for Congress, and for the mayoralty of
Boston; but, not being of the popular party, was always defeated.
He is a decided friend of popular education, and has been twice elected
to the school committee.
In his oration on national independence, Mr. Sumner advances an
opinion that should ever impress the public mind : "I would not pre-
dict the dismemberment of our Union at any future period. I would
gladly indulge the belief that such an event could never, in the nature
of things, come to pass. But nothing is more certain, and nothing
more obvious to the common observer, than that all the virtue, and all
the wisdom, and all the patriotism, that we can ever hope to exercise
as a nation, will be necessary to that equal adjustment of general laws
to the various rights and interests of the people which alone can pre-
serve our Union."'
NATHANIEL GREENE.
JAN. 8, 1828. ON THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS.
Was born at Boscawen, N. H., May 20, 1797, and was son of
Nathaniel Greene, a reputable counsellor in that town at the period
when Daniel Webster opened an office there. Owing to the pecuniary
reverses and subsequent death of his fither, in 1807, Nathaniel found
himself without a home, dependent solely on his widowed mother, and
his own exertions, for support. Havmg made good progress at the
38*
450 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
village school of his native town during the short period of his element-
ary course, he was enabled to procure a situation in a variety store ;
but the business of measuring tape and weighing tea was uncongenial
to his mind. He had read the Memoirs of Franklin, and it became the
great object of his amAiition to be an editor. He was entirely absorbed
in this desire ; and the mode of effecting it was the great theme of his
thoughts by day and dreams by night. At length, a prospect opened
to his delighted vision. The famous Isaac Hill, who afterwards rose to
the highest eminence in political life, established a Democratic paper,
in May, 1809, at Concord, entitled the New Hampshire Patriot.
This paper was taken where young Greene was a clerk, and he pored
over it with great enthusiasm; and, on the fourth of July, 1809, he
proposed his service to Mr. Hill, wdio received him as an apprentice to
the printing business. He continued nearly two years in this ofBce ;
when, finding the prospect of promotion too remote from the editorial
station, he engaged in a neighboring office, where, at the premature
age of fifteen, he became editor of the Concord Gazette, until January,
1814, when he removed to Portsmouth, where, until the next year, he
assumed the charge of the New Hampshire Gazette, published by
Messrs. Beck & Foster. In April, 1815, he removed to Haverhill,
Mass., where he was in the employ of Burrell & Tileston, for a period
of two years, having the entire charge of the Haverhill Gazette, pub-
lished by them, which he ably conducted. In May, 1817, Mr. Greene
made his first appearance as an editor and publisher in his own name,
and on his own account, in a new Democratic paper, the Essex Patriot,
which he conducted until invited to Boston, for the purpose of estab-
lishing another Democratic journal in that city. He complied with
this invitation, and established the Boston Statesman, which was
issued Feb. 6, 1821, semi-weekly, then tri- weekly, and, finally, daily.
It soon became the leading Democratic journal of the State, and bore
lihe same relation to this party as had the old Independent Chronicle
■to the Republican party, and exercised a controlling influence on the
politics of the nation. It has ever been strong for the union of the
States.
Here we cannot resist the desire to remark, that, however much the
two great national parties of Whig and Democratic may be at variance
on the modes of public policy, no candid mind can doubt that patriotic
love of country is the moving motive of all the conscientious leaders of
conflicting national policy. Is it not a question whether the democracy
NATHANIEL GREENE. 451
of Thomas Jefferson -n'as far more profound and conservative than the
democracy of Andrew Jackson, and -whether the Whig party of the
present day is not more democratic than v~as the Federal party under
John Adams ? Indeed, it is our decided opinion, that the unrestrained
freedom of party poHtical discussion in our land has strengthened the
bonds of the national union ; and we heartily respond to the opinion of
the immortal Jefferson, that '• so we have gone on, and so we shall go
on, puzzled and prospering beyond example in history ; and shall con-
tinue to grow, to multiply, and to prosper, until we exhibit an associa-
tion powerful, wise, and happy beyond what has yet been seen by men."
The Statesman was not a source of pecuniary profit. Mr. Greene,
having always been a decided advocate for regular nominations, and
a firm supporter of the accustomed usages of the Democratic party,
warmly sustained the nomination of William H. Crawford, in 1823,
for the presidency. In this year. Mr. Greene was lieutenant of a
militia company, and member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery
company ; but military habits were not congenial to his taste, and he
soon laid aside the musket. At this period, a majority of the people
of NcAV England were advocates of John Quincy Adams ; and the
Boston Statesman felt the bhghting influence of its unpopular cause,
in the diminution of its patrons, and the loss of business. The termi-
nation of that contest having evinced that Andrew Jackson, although
at the time without a party in New England, had received a larger
number of Democratic votes than any other candidate, Mr. Greene
directly assumed that fact as the most effective nomination that could
be given, and pointed him out as the most suitable representative of all
those who had opposed xidams. and who, remarks the Democratic
He view, " Avere resolved to mark their indignant dissatisfaction at the
manner in which ]\Ir. Adams had been elected by the House of Repre-
sentatives, by a determined opposition to his administration." However
much the ire of the Democracy may have been excited at this decision of
the house, we merely inquire whether they would not have pursued the
same course in like circumstances. From that moment, the Statesman
gave to the cause of Andrew Jackson, saj^s the Democratic Review,
"a firm, consistent, able and efficient support, through the whole
struggle which resulted in his election in the year 1828 ; " at which
period Mr. Greene was involved in great pecuniary loss, and in debt to
a large amount.
Mr. Greene married Susan, a daughter cf Rev. AVilliam Batchelder.
452 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of Haverhill; and their son, William B., educated at West Point, for-
merly a lieutenant in the U. S. army, settled in the ministry at Brook-
field, Mass., and married a daughter of Hon. Robert G. Shaw, of
Boston.
While editor of the Statesman, Mr. Greene, by an intense applica-
tion to books, acquired a fine taste for polite literature, and made
himself familiar with several languages. In 1833 he published an
address delivered before the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Asso-
ciation. In 1836 he published a compendious History of Italy, trans-
lated from the Italian. He was translator, also, of Tales from the
German, 2 vols., published in 183T; and in 1843 he published Tales
and Sketches from the German, Italian, and French. He has been a
contributor to several annuals, and has a fine poetic fmcy.
Nathaniel Greene, in the year 1829, was appointed the post-master
of Boston, which station he occupied until th6 accession of Gen. Harri-
son to the presidency, when he was succeeded by George William
Gordon ; — and, although this was one of the first public removals of
the new administration, yet one of the last measures of President
Tyler was to reinstate Mr. Greene in the same ofiice, which he occu-
pied until after the election of Zachary Taylor, who appointed William
Hayden, a former editor of the Boston Atlas, as his successor ; but,
upon the rejection of the latter by the Senate, Mr. Gordon was again
appointed, in 1850. Mr. Greene had the reputation of conducting
this department to the entire approval of the national executive, and,
by his urbane and conciliatory deportment, to the satisfaction of the
pubhc in Boston ; and his consistent and untiring devotion to the
Democracy will ever endear his name to the party. It was declared
of him, in a toast at the public festival after the delivery of the oration
at the head of this article, that he "has portrayed the principles of
Jackson Democracy with an eloquence and spirit corresponding with
the talents and fortitude exhibited by the editor of the Boston States-
man." Since his retirement from public life, Mr. Greene has taken
the tour of Europe.
In the course of remarks on the battle of New Orleans, Mr. Greene
eloquently urges, in the oration, that the brightest flower in Jackson's
wreath of victory was, that "he knew not only to conquer, but to
spare. In the trying moment of victory, when the mind is peculiarly
liable to excess, be evinced a tenderness for human life which does
honor to his heart, and adds lustre, to his triumph. The crisis is past,
JOSEPH HARDY PRINCE. 453
and tliG country is saved : he -will not pursue a flying enemy, to swell
the tide of victory by the unnecessary effusion of human blood, —
humanity is not compelled to weep over the laurels of victory. His
country had intrusted to his hands the lives of her bravest defenders,
and he was not unmindful of the sacred trust. He watched over them
with paternal care ; and it was his greatest pride to restoi-e them
unharmed to the country they had honored, to the sacred homes they
had so gallantly protected. This it is which so richly entitles General
.Jackson to the praise bestowed upon his victorious companions-in-
arms, ' The gratitude of a country of freemen is yours, yours the
applause of an admiring world.' How changed is the scene, this day,
at New Orleans ! There is no longer the stern look, the anxious
brow, the tear in woman's eye. All, all are joyful, and festivity and
triumph rule the hour. The people crowd around, and hail their
deliverer. The men who stood by his side when the battle raged
hasten to press the hand that waved encouragement to their hearts in
that awful moment. INIothers, in the fulness of their gratitude, come
forward to present their children for the blessing of the hero who saved
the sons of Louisiana from slavery, and her daughters from violation.
They will say to him, ' We remember that, on the night when the
enemy landed, and you led your forces forth to meet him, you told us
" The enemy shall never reach the city; " and well was your pledge
redeemed. We offer to you the warm tribute of our gratitude, and
will teach our children and our children's children to cherish the
memory of their benefactor.' "
JOSEPH HARDY PRINCE.
JULY 4, 1828. FOR THE WASHINGTON SOCIETY.
Was born at Salem, and son of Capt. Henry Prince. He read law
with Hon. John Pickering, after having graduated at Harvard College
in 1819, and practised law in Boston. Was a representative for
Salem in 1825. Was appointed an inspector of customs in 1834.
Ho was private secretary for Com. Elliot, of the frigate Constitution,
in 1835, on the voyage to France, for the return of Hon. Edward
Livingston, the xVmerican minister, owing to differences with that
454 ^ THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
nation. He pursued the practice of law, and in 1848 was appointed
to the surveyor's department of customs, at Boston. ]Mr. Prince has
ever been tenaciously devoted to the Democratic party, and was an
early advocate for Andrew Jackson. After the delivery of the oration
at the head of this article, Avhen Andrew Dunlap moved that a copy
be requested for the press, Mr. Prince said, " If I have done anything
towards re-kindling the fire of the old Democracy, if I have contrib-
uted a pebble to the pile in the cause of principle against corruption, I
shall be satisfied." The reply to objections to the qualifications of the
old Roman for the presidency is thus impassionedly poured out in
caustic severity :
" Stand forth, ye spawners of fustian romance and lascivious lyric!
ye ribald rhymesters of Dusky Sally ! ye professors of rhetoric ! ye mod-
ern Priscians ! tear from the brow of the war-worn veteran and patriot
their hard-earned laurels ! Vindicate your claims to political promotion
and civil honors ! I would be the last to decry the cultivation of a
correct and elegant literature. It is our Corinthian column, that gives
grace and dignity to our institutions, and adorns and elevates national
character. We have yet to see our Augustan age, — the age Avhen
Roman literature flourished, and Roman freedom drooped. It is true
that men distinguished as orators, poets and philosophers, have risen
among us ; but Ave have not yet produced that constellation of literary
genius which is to guide and direct posterity. Our business has been
to cement and strengthen the fabric, not to adorn it. There is a char-
latanism of literature which enervates the intellect, and renders men
unfit for the arena of the world, — incapable of leading in government.
I would apply to the amalgamation of the two characters of your mere
man of literature and statesman the just and happy remark of a very
great man — Mr. Brougham — on the 'expediency of making clergy-
men magistrates. It is, that the combination produces Avhat the
alchemists call a tertian quid, with very little, indeed, of the good
qualities of either ingredient, and no little of the bad ones of both,
together with new evils, superinduced by the commixture. The
remark is equally just and applicable on either side of the water, — on
the banks of the Thames, or on those of the Charles, — in the Middle-
Bex of England, or the Middlesex of Massachusetts. Who Avere the
ethereal spirits that achieved your Revolution ? Who Avere your John
Hancocks and your Patrick Henrys 1 Who were most of the immortal
signers of the Declaration of Independence 1 They formed their esti-
JAMES DAVIS KXO^VLES. 455
mates of human character, not from books alone, but from a close
observation of men in all ages, in all times. When Themistocles was
asked to play on the lute, he replied, ' I cannot fiddle, but I know
how to make a small city a great one.' He could not sing lascivious
lyrics, but he had a practical knowledge of mankind. It is true that
the Republican candidate is not familiar with the lucubrations of a
parson. He was not nurtured in the groves of the academy. He has
never sported with Amaryllis in the shade, or with the tangles of a
Nereis' hair ; but he has the great talent of leading men, whether in
the council or the field. He had not a Avealthy aristocracy to stand
his sponsors at the baptismal font, nor the nurses of an imperial court
to amuse him with the innocent ribbons of royalty. No ; the son of
the west practised on the useful precepts of the Spartan chief, that
the child should be instructed in the arts which will be useful to the
man. At an early period of life he gave presages of his future emi-
nence. Emerging from obscurity, fatherless, motherless, friendless,
without a drop of his blood in the veins of any living creature, he has
exhibited the spectacle of a man bufieting the waves of fortune, strug-
gling with and surmounting the trying vicissitudes of place and con-
dition. Like the mighty rivers of our country, whose sources are
in the dark and hidden retreats of the mountains, whose grandeur owes
nothing to art, dashing before their impetuous tide rocks, hills and
forests, he stands the object of our gaze and admiration."
JAMES DAVIS KNOWLES.
JULY 4, 1828. FOR THE BAPTIST CHURCHES, BOSTON.
Was born in Providence, R. I., July, 1708, and the second son of
Edward Knowlcs, a Avorthy mechanic; married Susan E., daughter
of Joshua Langlej'-, of that city, in 1826. His father died when he
was twelve years of age, and he was shortly apprenticed to a printer,
where, by great diligence, he was enabled to become a contributor of
prose and verse to newspapers, often attributed to writers of maturity.
In July, 1819, Mr. Knowles was an associate editor of the R. I.
American. He often struck the lyre ; and among the most felicitous
efforts of his muse may be classed his stanzas attempting to supply the
456 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
deficiency of Gray's Elegy in religious sentiment, which, in point of
beauty and tenderness, may well compare with the sweet flowers of the
English poet. While employed as editor, so carefully did he improve
every leisure moment, that he would have his Greek grammar upon
the table at the time of his meals. To see this young man as intently
occupied in mental nourishment as he could be in his repast for phys-
ical nutriment, was often a subject of remark by his companions, and
he soon became as familiar with that language as he was with Latin
and French ; indeed, his progress in study was so efficient, that he
was admitted to college in advance of the customary period. He
earned the expenses of his education at Columbian College, mainly as
editor of the Columbian Star, established at Washington, in 1822, He
had entered the Baptist Theological Seminary, at Philadelphia, in
1821, conducted by William Staughton, D. D., and Rev. Irah Chase.
On taking his degree, December, 1824, he was elected a tutor of the
college, which station he occupied until his ordination as pastor of the
Second Baptist Church in Boston, Dec. 28, 1825.
While a student at college, he delivered an oration, July 4, 1823,
at the request of the Eusonian and the Ciceronian societies, which is
a pure specimen of polite composition, breathing the fervor of chaste
and patriotic sentiment. We glean from it this choice passage :
" Montgomery has beautifully described Columbus, while meditating
on his great expedition, as gazing with eager anticipation towards the
new world which he hoped to discover.
' " Light of heaven ! " he cried ;
" Lead on ; I go to win a glorious bride,
By nature nursed beyond the jealous sea, —
Descried to ages, but betrothed to me." '
This bride our Pilgrim Fathers found on these unvisited shores. On
her shady bowers no rude spoiler had intruded. None of the corrup-
tions of the Old World had found their Avay into her bosom. She was
worthy to be the bride of our forefathers, and to become the mother
•of a race of freemen."
Of Mr. Knowles' published sermons, we have no knowledge of
more than two, one of which was before the Boston Baptist As-
sociation, September 16, 1829. In the same year, he published
Memoirs of Ann Hasseltine Judson, missionary to Burmah, — a pro-
duction which will render his name imperishable. In 1832 he was
JAMES DAVIS KNOWLES. 457
elected Professor of Pastoral Duties and Sacred Rhetoric, in the New-
ton Theological Seminary, and his linaugural address on the Importance
of Theological Institutions was printed. In 1829 he published also a
Fast sermon, entitled " Spirituous Liquors Pernicious and Useless."
Mr. Knowles, as a sermonizer, was so smooth and insinuating, that he
captivated many, despite his distant and unsocial habits ; but he was
warm in his affections toward a few intimate friends. He was of such
keen sensibility, that an unkind glance would offend him ; and a base
slander on his faultless habits probably induced him to leave the pas-
toral office. Is it not questionable whether the spirit of discipline, in
many Baptist churches, is worthy the mantle of Roger Williams ?
He occupied the professorship, with close devotion and ability, until
his decease, which occurred May 9, 1838, on his return from the Mis-
sionary Baptist Convention, at Xew York. His death was caused by
a violent attack of the confluent small-pox ; and. to avoid the contagion
of his remains, they were laid in the grave at midnight. A devoted
friend of Professor Knowles, residing at Newton, wrote the following
effusion from the heart, on the impulse of the calamity:
" They bore him at midnight alone midst the gloom •
In which night's sable pall had bound him ;
No solemn obsequies ■were sung at his tomb, —
No kindred nor friends stood around him.
No eulogy we would pronounce on his name.
Nor praises of flattery give ;
No tombstone we 'd raise to emblazon his fixme, —
'Without them his virtues will live.
His memory, enshrined in the hearts of his friends,
Shall live when the marble hath perished ;
The influence he shed, as the dews which descend.
Shall water the plants which he nourished."
The oration pronounced by I\Ir. Knowles, at the religious celebration
of independence, in tlie year 1828, on the perils and safeguards of
American liberty, clearly evinces that his tact as editor in the political
field was equal to his ability in the more elevated sphere of divinity.
The passage on the danger from ambitious and unprincipled political
aspirants is worthy of any statesman.
One of the strongest indications of the vigorous advance of biblical
and classical literature in our republic is the establishment of quarterly
periodicals in the principal religious sects, comprising contributions of
the highest order of intellect. The Congregationalists have their
Bibliotheca Sacra and the New Euglander ; the Unitarians have their
39
458 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS,
Examiner, -whicli, for refinement, rivals the North American; the
Episcopalians have their Church Review ; the Methodists have their
Quarterly Review ; the Lutherans have their Mercershurg Review ;
the Presbyterians have their Princeton Review ; the Roman Catholics
have their Brownson's Review ; there is the Universalist Quarterly ;
and the Baptists have their Christian Review, radiating the light of
Newton Theological Seminary. Professor Knowles was the first
editor, on its establishment, in 1836, and exhibited in its management
great learning and energy. The pastors of every church should advise
their people to receive in their fixmilies the favorite cpiarterly of tneir
denomination, as a powerful aid to religious and patriotic progress ;
and more especially should it be in the hands of every student in
divinity.
As the annalist of the life and times of Roger Williams, Avere James
Davis Knowles a novitiate of Camden, or Leland, he could not have
gathered around him a greater mass of antiquarian lore. He is the
first extended biographer of this father of the doctrine that the civil
power has no control over the religious opinions of men ; and has elab-
orated a memoir that Robert Southey, of England, gave up in despair,
for want of materials ; and our own Jeremy Belknap, and more recently,
Francis Greenwood, also abandoned, chiefly for similar reasons. The
public good requires a new edition of this work, with additions ; and
no author can write a memoir of Roger Williams, without recourse to
this production. Mr. Knowles remarks that the principles of Roger
Williams are destined to spread over the earth. The State which ho
founded is his monument. Her sons, when asked for a record of Roger
Williams, ma}'- point to her history, unstained by a single act of perse-
cution,— to her prosperity, her perfect freedom, her tranquil happi-
ness ; and may reply, in the spirit of the epitaph on the tomb of Sir
Christopher Wren, in St. Paul's Cathedral, "Look around."
It is joleasant to glance at this work. Roger Williams was banished
by the General Court, Nov. 3, 1G35 ; and often remarked of Gov.
Winthrop, that, though he were carried with the stream for banishment,
he tenderly loved him to his last breath. He first pitched and began
to plant at Seekonk : and, in referring to his situation at this time, he
wrote, alluding to the Indians :
" God's providence is ricli to his, —
Let none distrustful be ; .
In wilderness, in great distress.
These ravens have fed me."
i
JAMES DAVIS KNOWLES. 459
It was probably in the summer of 163G that Roger Williams
removed to the spot near the mouth of Washassuck river, beside a
spring; to which, in grateful remembrance of "God's merciful provi-
dence to him in his distress," he gave the name of Providence. In 1643
WiUiams proceeded to England, and obtained, by the aid of Sir Henry
Vane, a charter for the colony of Khode Island. It was at this period
that he wrote his celebrated work, entitled "The Bloody Tenet of
Persecution for Cause of Conscience," etc., in which he maintained the
absolute right of every man to a full liberty in religious concernments.
Mr. Knowles says that Williams is entitled to the honor of being the first
writer, in modern times, who decidedly supported this opinion. Bishop
Heber concedes this point to Jeremy Taylor, in the Liberty of Proph-
esying ; but all the toleration urged by Taylor Avas for those Christians
only who unite in the confession of the apostles' creed. There is a
passage, however, in More's Utopia, written one hundred years before
Williams' day, Avhich is said to anticipate everything included in the
principles of civil and religious liberty at the present day. But then
Sir James INIackintosh questioned whether extravagances were not
introduced, in other parts of Utopia, to screen the bold idea, and call the
whole a rare sport of wit. Even Locke, in his Essay on Toleration,
goes only for a limited liberty ; and we must yield the palm to Roger
Williams, as the first decided advocate.
The origin of this work is too singular to be lost. A person who
was confined in Newgate, on account of his religious opinions, wrote a
paper against persecution. Not having the use of pen and iidc, he
wrote the arguments in milk, on sheets of paper brought to him by the
AYoman, his keeper, from a friend in London, as the stopples of his
milk-bottle. In such paper, written with milk, nothing will appear ;
but the way of reading it by fire being known to his friend who received
the papers, he transcribed and kept them. This essay was sent to Mr.
Cotton, of Boston. He wrote a reply, of which Roger Williams' book
is an examination. The title — "The Bloody Tenet" — is a fanciful
reference to the circumstance that the original paper of the prisoner
was written with milk. " These arguments against such persecution,
and the answer pleading for it, written, as love hopes, from godly inten-
tions, hearts and hands, yet in a marvellous different stylo and man-
ner : — the arguments against persecution, in milk ; the answer for it, as
I may say, in blood.' ^ Mr. Cotton wrote a reply, to which he gave
the quaint and punning title, "The Bloody Tenet Washed and ma^de
460 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
White in the Blood of the Lamb." Williams rejoined in the same
strain : '-The Bloody Tenet yet More Bloody, by Mr. Cotton's Endeavor
to Wash it White."
Roger Williams enjoyed the personal friendship of John Milton and
Oliver Crom-well, which no doubt had a tendency to rouse his ardor for
universal toleration. He had a passion for poetry; and the specimens
which his Key to the Indian Languages exhibits, though superior to
much of the contemporary rhyme in Morton's Memorial and Mather's
Magnalia. are inferior, in real poetic feeling and expression, to much of
his prose writings.
" I have heard ingenuous Indians saye,
In debts they could not sleepe ;
How. far worse are such English, then,
Who love in debt to keepe .'
If debts of pounds cause restless nights,
In trade with man and man,
How hard 's the heart that millions owes
To God, and yet sleepe can ?
Debts paid, sleep 's sweete;
Sins paid, death 's sweete ;
Death's night then 's turned to light ;
Who dies in sinne unpaid, that soul
Has lights eternal night."
JOHN WARREN JAMES.
MARCH 4, 1829. INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT JACKSON.
In the spirited oration of Mr. James, we have an illustration of the
fixct that " the great body of the people of Ne\Y England Lave exhib-
ited a lofty and generous democratic spirit in every period of their
political history, whether colonial or republican ; and the endeavor
to perpetuate the existence of aristocracy among our people was as
clear under the royal race of the English Stuarts, as during the Con-
federation or the Revolution. At the time when King James the
First, of England, was reproving his Parliament for presuming to
meddle in matters of state above their capacity, forbidding his subjects
in general even to discourse of such affairs, and the homilies of the
church were inculcating passive obedience to the divine right of kings,
JOHN WARREN JAMES. 461
the democracy of Boston, in the course of the three first years of their
new settlement, bid his majesty open and repeated defiance. They set
aside his royal charter, established a House of Representatives, took
into their own hands the choice of governor, deputy-governor and
assistants, and fined the executive council for disobeying their com-
mands.
' • A policy of a very different complexion was shortly after pursued
by a sinister junto at the same settlement. This party gave its sanc-
tion to a compact with certain persons of quality in the mother coun-
try, among whom Avcre the Lords Say and Brooke, to induce their
emio-ration to Boston on certain conditions, among which were these :
That the new commonwealth, to be instituted for the accommodation
of their lordships, should consist of two distinct ranks, — the first to be
hereditary gentlemen, and the second common freeholders ; and that
the governor should always be chosen from the rank of hereditary
gentlemen.
"These propositions were accordingly assented to by one of 'the
Boston clergymen of that day, who, in behalf ' of such leading men as
he thought meet to consult withal,' admitted that the two ranks of gen-
tlemen, and of the common people, mentioned by their lordships, were
sanctioned both by Scripture and the light of nature ; and the rev-
erend politician adds this declaration : Democracy I do not conceive
that ever God did ordain as a fit government, either for church or com-
monwealth ; for, if the people are governors, who shall be governed l
' ' It does not appear that the people of Boston assented to this inter-
pretation of the laws of nature and revelation ; for they established a
government on the principles of a pure democracy, which was continued
for two centuries, and then abandoned from necessity.
'"To say nothing of the Tories of the Revolution, to whom these
doctrines were regularly transmitted, and passing over the well-known
sentiments in favor of a distinction of ranks avowed by the Presiden-
tial successor of Washino;ton, as well as his recognition of an existins;
absolute oligarchy, we find opinions expressed in the convention tliat
formed the federal constitution quite repugnant to the general sentiment
of the people.
" Some of the most able of that illustrious body announced as
settled maxims that, as all communities divide themselves into the few
and the many, and as there has always been an aristocracy in every
governmentj ancient or modern, the people would never be safe, unless
89*
462 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
this aristocracy were gratified with honors and emoluments ; and that
we must proceed to the confines of a monarchical, if we would have a
solid republican government. Others thought that monarchy would be
the best government, if we could have a House of Peers ; but we Avere
too poor for that, as there were not in the whole confederacy one hun-
dred gentlemen of sufficient fortune to establish a nobility ; and it was
insisted that the executive and senatorial bi'anches of government ought
to be a wealthy aristocracy, and chosen for life. In fact, a strong party
in that convention, representing a stronger out of it, indicated in their
opinions but little sympathy with the temper of the people, manifestly
undervalued their capacity, and displayed a rooted prejudice in favor
of the European theories of government, founded on the assumption
of that incapacity.
" But they were afterwards taught their best lessons in the school
of the people : and, Avith whatever contempt a portion of these accom-
plished statesmen might have regarded the favorite maxim of Loclce,
that ' the science of politics is nothing more than common sense applied
to public affairs,' still there were some among them who profited by the
instruction, and became ornaments to the republican party of a subse-
quent period. They lived long enough to discover that too much reli-
ance might be placed on the patriotism of the government, and too
little on the wisdom of the governed.
"Tlie members of this convention were all republicans, so far as
they yielded their reluctant assent to the forms of the republican frame
of government which they had recommended to their countrymen.
Yet it was obvious that an anti-republican spirit might be infused into
its administration ; and one of its most distinguished framers, at the
time of ite ratification, declared that its character would depend upon
its construction.
'•Experience soon justified the prophetic declaration. The spirit
of the people, as expressed in that instrument, was exorcised by the
genius of philology, and their will interpreted until it passed their
comprehension. A technical system of construction Avas established,
which, like the royal prerogative claimed by the Tudors and Stuarts of
England, contains an inexhaustible fund of latent powers ; so that its
authors, as this power is to be usurped by rulers, or liberty dispensed
to the people, have found means to take by the spirit what they are
denied by the letter, and withhold by the letter Avhat is given by the
spirit.
.■•J
".'il
JOHN WARREN JAMES. 463
''It is by no means necessary to infer, from these remarks, that the
same projects -which gilded the visions of the advocates of hereditary
gentlemen among the Puritans, or of the hereditary and legislative
aristocracy among the members of the federal convention, are still
entertained by the existing opponents of democratic principles. We
need not do such injustice to their probity or their understandings.
This wary and temporizing class of society take special care to change
their means, and modify their ends, according to the exigencies of their
situation ; but the spirit that inspires them is always and everywhere
the same. Towering in their 'pride of place,' it is the instinct of
these well-trained falcons of the State to wanton at large in airy
circles, before they stoop to their quarry."
We here quote a passage of great poAver, equally adapted to the two
great political parties of the Union, which should be emblazoned in
every town-house and ward-room, or at every depository of the ballot-
box : "If you leave the tents of your fathers, where will you go?
Would you seek shelter for your republican principles — would you
teach your children to seek shelter for theirs — with those temporary
combinations of men, for temporary purposes, which, like the mountain
torrent, rise and rage, and die away with the tempest that gives them
birth 'I Or Avill you join such associations as are made up of unpopu-
lar minorities, who have lost, because they did not deserve, the public
esteem ; and of seceders from your own party, whose principles were
too lax for confidence, or whose aims were too high for gratification ?
Are these the new principles you would purchase at the expense of
old l For such novelties, are you prepared to make concessions of
principle, to conciliate mutual interests, and, to carry a single point on
which you agree, hazard a multitude on which you differ ?
"Is it for this you are ready to go where the best creed of the day
will be that which will carry the vote of the day ; Avhere the shortest
road to power will be made the right road ; where the friendship of
the people must be abandoned for the patronage of the great, and you
must become the pliant followers of men, instead of the proud votaries
of principle ; where those the most unlike the lion will take the lion's
share ; where you will be insensibly led on to support indiscriminately
any administration that will indiscriminately support you ; — a course
that banishes integrity and confidence out of public proceedings, and
confounds the best men with the worst, and is a general previous sanc-
tion to misgovernment ; where public spirit is swallowed up in cabal,
4C4 THE nUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
and party sinks into faction ; and wliere, after having been tost about '
among the shifting eddies of interest, and made dizzy ^vith a Xfild rota-
tion of opinions, you are prepared to become a mei-e free-thinker in pol-
itics, ready to propagate any doctrine that stands highest in the price-
current of the day 1 In short, fellow-citizens, as you cherish a manly
pride in the stability of a consistent scheme of politics, continue to
resist the predatory incursions of disappointed seceders, hair-brained
visionaries, and time-serving adventurers from broken-down minorities,
who would come among you to delude the weak, and to defame the
strong ; and may, in the end, as heretofore, drive you from the vantage-
ground of victory, and confound you with successive hordes of such
disorganizing and restless spirits as the great Scottish novelist describes
in one of his graphic fictions, — men who ' will run with the hare and
hunt with the hound, and be Whig or Tory, saint or sinner, as the wind
stands.' "
John Warren James was born in Boston, in the year 1802, and was
the youngest son of Serg. Benjamin James, who Avas engaged in the
Battle of Bunker Hill Avhen only sixteen years of age. Among the
throng of spectators on Copps Hill, was a young female, gazing with
intense interest to learn the result. This young person was Eunice
Jennison, who afterwards was married to the young sergeant, his
father. He received his elementary education at Master Tileston's
school, and pursued the higher branches at the Providence Academy ;
after which, he engaged in the study of law under the guidance of Wil-
liam Thurston, a respectable counsellor at Boston. He was one of the
originators of the Boston Debating Society, and his name is the first
entered on the roll of members. He was one of the readiest dis-
putants of the club ; and it was by the animated discussions among
them, on the expediency of a city charter imposing new municipal
restraints, that the change from town government was hastened. Mr.
James was admitted a counsellor-at-law at the Suffolk bar, in 1823,
and his success as advocate for a free bridge to South Boston prompted
his nomination to the State Senate in 1827 ; but his election was
defeated. He was for ten years a member of the city Council, and
prepared the report on the condition of the House of Reformation
for Juvenile Offenders, established in 1826, — a document of great
value, for an elaborate exhibition of the proper management of such
an institution. Mr. James, from a long experience in municipal affairs,
became remarkably familiar with municipal duties ; and, though often
JOHN WARREX JAMES. 465
in the minority, his persuasive arguments, advanced v{h\i peculiar
fluency, often restrained the majority from the exercise of too great a
sweep of power, and he has done as much to reform city abuses as any
member of the municipahty. In 1827 j\Ir. James was elected presi-
dent of the Boston Association of the Friends of Ii'eland for Catholic
Emancipation, — and their great object was granted by the British
government in the year succeeding.
Mr. James was an active leader of the Democracy ; and the address to
the people on behalf of the Democratic legislative convention in Boston,
extending over ten closely-printed columns of the Statesman of July
12, 1828, was the production of his hand. It is a remarkable docu-
ment, advocating the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency ;
and was said to have been the means of the appointment of Andrew
Dunlap to the office of U. S. District Attorney, it being supposed that
he was the author. In this elaborate round of argument from the
warm advocate of Andrew Jackson, when alluding to the admiration of
the intellectual acquisitions of John Quincy Adams, upon which his
adherents expatiated, j\Ir. James says, " One is sometimes led to sus-
pect, while listening to their flagrant panegyrics, that, instead of describ-
ing that devoted public spirit, that unclouded understanding, and that
knowledge of mankind, peculiarly becoming the chief magistrate of a
practical and unostentatious people, these executive admirers were-
indulging their genius in encomiastic disquisitions on a modern Pliny,
or another Sir "William Jones ; " and, in enlarging on the qualifications-
of Andrew Jackson, jNIr. James remarks, that "his varied and success-
ful avocations in the camp,~ the senate, and the forum, have contributed
to enlarge his views, and endow him Avith a fund of general knowledge-
of the most useful and practical character. As a writer, he thinks
clearly, and expresses his thoughts with an air of thorough r'onviction,
in a style of manly simplicity and freedom." Moreover, Mr. James
says that " Jackson has not studied men through the spectacles of
books ; and would reply to his detractors in the language of Ilobbcs, a
truly learned English philosopher, ' If I had read as much as some-
others, I should have been as ignorant as they are.' The dramatic-
terror inspired by the election of military chiefs to the presidency must
rapidly pass away, after escaping, unscathed, from the administrations
of such geaerals as Washington, Jackson, Harrison and Taylor. Wis-
dom and capacity are the standards in the selection of a national ruler^
rather than one's vocation.
466 THE HUNDRED BOSTON" ORATORS.
•At the festival in Washington Garden, after the delivery of the
oration named at the head of this article, Col. C. G. Greene gave the
complimentary sentiment to the orator of the day, that "his genius
and eloquence will he associated with the recollections of one of the
most glorious triumphs of Democracy — the inauguration of Andrew
Jackson ; ' ' and Gov. Marcus Morton has been heard to remark of Mr.
James, that he was the purest belles lettres scholar in the ranks of the
Boston Democracy.
Mr. James was a tenacious opponent of the United States Bank,
and prepared twenty-eight resolutions, adopted at a meeting in Faneuil
Hall, March 31, 1834, William Foster moderator, declaring that a
renewal of its charter would be injurious, "as it drains the country of
its gold and silver, and imposes inconvertible and illegal drafts as sub-
Btitutes, and charges the government giving credit to such paper with
deranging the currency; it establishes a standing premium for the
^encouragement of forgery, by issuing myriads of such drafts, bearing
an unknown number of signatures ; and votes away its funds for the
detection of counterfeiters, whose paper is as legal as the drafts they
imitate, — both issues being unknown to the law, and neither party pun-
ishable for the offence, — causing, also, revulsions in business, by abun-
-dant emissions to-day and despotic contractions to-morrow.'"' These
resolutions were sent to Congress, together with a memorial signed by
George Alexander Otis, and nearly three thousand residents of Boston.
Mr. James was, at four several elections, a candidate for the Boston
mayoralty, — first in 1834; but the Democracy found no favor. He
married Julia B., the only child of Ralph Huntington, Esq., April
14, 1836 ; and was a member of the State Board of Education from
1840 to 1849. during which period the active mind of Mr. James con-
ceived the philanthropic object of an institution for the education of
persons in mature life, who, from poverty and other causes, had never
pursued a course of common school education, and who could neither
read nor write in any language, — and more especially for the instruc-
tion of young persons of both sexes not admissible to public schools.
He was devotedly seconded, in this enterprise, by the late Dr. John D.
Fisher, Dr. Walter Channing, and George B. Emerson, all of whom
were eminent in labors of philanthropy. In the winter of 1845, they
originated the Boston Institution for the Education of Adults, which
continued in active operation for more than three years. Our city
government granted the use of the public ward-rooms during evening
JOHX "WARREN JAMES. 467
hours, but all other expenses were defrayed by the society and its
patrons. In the onset, it ^vas delightful to observe the desire of people
of various nations to receive instruction. Here you would notice tlie
Irish, French, German and Italian, acquiring knowledge with the
facility of youth, diverted from the haunts of city vice. Arrangements
were made for a course of free lectures to the pupils, on Food and
Clothing, Air and Ventilation. Morals and Political Economy, Human
Physiology, Natural Philosophy, and ^lunicipal Law. The pro-
gramme of this institution, under fourteen specifications, adopted Jan.
31, 1845, is a model for every city and town in the Union. Unsuc-
cessful endeavors have been devised to effect the adoption of evening
adult schools, under the patronage of our city authorities ; — but, to
the honor of New York and Philadelphia be it recorded, this noble
project has been established by their city authorities, and thousands,
of many nations, are reaping its benefits ; and they and their posterity
Avill have occasion to bless the generous Bostonians who originated,
here, this new lever of moral power. The period is not remote when
our municipality will adopt, also, this useful enterprise, as it will
diminish the incitements to crime amongst us, — especially as a statute
has been recently enacted by the State Legislature, authorizing every
town in the State to tax the inhabitants for the support of such
schools.
Prompted by this generous spirit of philanthropy, the natural germ-
ination of a pure scion of Bunker Hill stock, Mr. James was one of
the originators and first president of the Boston Association of the
Friends of Ireland, estalilished November, 1840, — an institution of
American citizens and denizens, and natives of Ireland not naturalized,
without distinction of sect or party (the president himself being a mem-
ber of the Protestant Episcopal Church), for purposes connected with
the suffering condition of the oppressed sons of Ireland. On the 22d
of February, 1841, JNIr. James I'cported an address, of seven columns
in extent, unanimously adopted by the Boston Repeal Association, to
be presented to the National Repeal Association of Ireland, wherein he
stated that for some time the people of Ireland have desired a parlia-
mentary separation from Great Britain, as the only means of indi-
vidual comfort or national prosperity. "Anxious to be united by
political ties, they wish to be legislatively separated, — subject to one
imperial crown, and that the English, yet each country to have its
own domestic parliament, for the benefit of laws especially adapted to
i
468 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
the peculiar condition of each. In one word, Ireland demands the
restoration of her ancient constitution, as irrevocably guaranteed to her
by the English Parliament of 1782, but sacrilegiously violated by the
fraudulent union of 1800, — ofwhicli alone they demand the repeal,
as the basis of a new union, to which both the kingdoms may be con-
senting parties."
This document was read to the National Repeal Association of Ire-
land, at their meeting in Dublin, April 16, 1841 ; and, at the same
time, a donation of one hundred pounds was announced from the asso-
ciation of Boston, which was received with enthusiastic applause. We
find it remarked in Mooney's History of Ireland, that " the address
drawn up by John Warren James, Esq., will be preserved in the
archives of Ireland while there is one memorial of her history
existing. An unexpected vista opened, through which we could dis-
tinctly see our road to freedom;" — and Daniel O'Connell said, at
this meeting: "It will be heard of along the ridges of the Himma-
laya Mountains ; it will be I'ead by the Royal Irish at Chusan, or at
China ; it will be known at the Cape of Good Hope ; it will cross over
to South America ; and it will resound again through the regions of
North America. Wherever the English language is knoAvn, it, also,
will be known, — except in England, where, to the disgrace of that
people be it spoken, their ignorance and horrible prejudices are too
strong to permit of its being allowed to appear. But they will be held
up to scorn and contempt wherever it is seen. The world will wonder
how it is that a people so brave, so temperate, so generous, and so
moral, as the Irish, have suffered so much persecution ; and that, too,
from a nation who have never at any time inflicted anything but mis-
eries upon us. Yes ; I will stand on that document as on a pyramid,
and, looking round to all the nations of the earth, I will demand of
them to tell me a sino-le o-ood act which England ever did for Ireland.
I tell English statesmen that one thing demonstrated by that lengthy
document is this, — that it is not the expression, alone, of the fcehngs
and thoughts of one individual, but that it expresses the feelings and
thoughts of the country. Eor no one man could obtain all the details
requisite to enable him to produce that document ; they must be the
famihar thoughts of the people, and the familiar subject of conversation
with each other. It proves that the entire American mind must be
impregnated with the same feeling and sentiments ; and it proves, also,
that not only are those their feelings, but they are ready to act upon
JOHN WARREX JAMES. 469
them. It came from Boston, the birth-place of American freedom,
the grave of English tjrannj; the spot -where English force and
violence shot do\yn the unresisting Americans, and the spot to -which
the defeated English troops returned in disgrace and discomfiture,
having begun the fight by assassination, and ended it by a flight."'
We M'ill quote an efiective appeal to Queen Victoria, from the elab-
orate and argumentative '"Address" of Mr. James, so splendidly pan-
egyrized by O'Connell: "Protection and allegiance arc reciprocal.
This is the conditional tie between the governors and the governed.
What has England done to discharge her part of this condition to the
allegiance of Ireland 1 History answers the question, and humanity
blushes at the response. And has Ireland, on her part, been a disloyal
kingdom 7 The Tory champion of English loyalty ansAvers, ' That
noble race was made for loyalty and religion.' True ; always true,
and emphatically so now. The Irish are as loyal as generous hearts
and warm imaginations can make them. They love their present royal
mistress, as they ought to love an amiable, upright, and liberal-minded
sovereign. Feeling that they are blessed with a good queen, they look
for a completion of the blessing in a good constitution. A^ictoria owes
them no less than this, as a debt of restitution on behalf of her ances-
tors. Irishmen demand no less than this, in the name of their progen-
itors, for the sake of the present generation, and in mercy to their pos-
terity. And, while their hearts swell, and their imaginations kindle,
with the cherished anticipation of this great act of retributive justice,
it is but natui'al that they should behold in their youthful sovereign
what the greatest of orators described in a sister potentate, as she
appeared to him, ' cheering and decorating the elevated sphere she just
began to move in, glittering like the morning star, full of life and
splendor and joy.' 0! may no sinister fortune darken this splendid
vision, as its precursor was darkened ; or harden the ro^^al heart to the
imperial luxury of living and reigning in the hearts of an enfranchised
people, — a people whom Titus might have sighed to govern; whom
Henry of Navarre would have struggled through a life of warfare to
have supplied Avith a chicken in the pot ; whom Alfred would have given
his crown to have liberated ; and to whom Washington would have been
the father he was to Americans, and have gone down to the dust of the
Emerald Isle with the prophetic consciousness that the redeemed of
no age or nation would so consecrate his memory, or defend his acqui-
sitions, as the coming generations of free and happy Irishmen."
40
470 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
JAMES TRECOTIIIC AUSTIN.
JULY 4, 1829. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
" Massachusetts is the mother of the Revolution," says Mr. Aus-
tin. " Her efforts in its commencement are too honorable to be omitted
in the heraldry of her fame. Earliest and alone, — without aid, "without
allies, connections or confederacy,— singly, by her own will, she dissolved
the royal powers Avithin her own territory and over her own people,
and assumed to herself the prerogative of independence. When her
congress of delegates assembled at Watertown, in defiance of the royal
charter, and spurned the representatives of the crown, and assumed
the powers of civil government, and took possession of the public treas-
ury, and levied taxes, and established a navy, and commissioned that
American vessel of war that first captured a British ship on the
ocean, and erected maritime courts, and appointed judges, and admin-
istered justice to belligerent and neutral by the law of nations, and
raised an army, and nominated officers, and gathered soldiers under the
pine-tree banner of Massachusetts, and poured out a rich libation of
blood on the battle-field of freedom, the colonial character was at an
end. The Revolution had begun. The State was then free, sovereign,
and independent.
" Brincf to the imao-ination that band of determined men, assembled
at Watertown, unarmed and defenceless, within cannon-shot of a disci-
plined army ; their fortunes in the camp of a military commander, whose
dignity they had offended ; their persons liable to be seized and sent to
Europe, as traitors ; their conduct impeached in a public proclamation,
and two of them proscribed as rebels, whose offences were too heijious
for the pardon of the king. Judge of their anxiety, in that time that
tried men's souls ; their immense responsibility to the country, whose
destiny they directed ; to their children, for the protection that was
due to them ; to posterity, for that political condition which would be a
legacy of honor or of shame ; to their God, before whom they were
answerable, and felt themselves answerable, for all the blood of a war
they might accelerate or prevent. How indistinct their vision of the
future, even when a strong faith threw its light upon their souls ! How
difficult their task to keep up the courage of the timid, the hopes of
the desponding, the strength of the feeble ; to enlighten the ignorant,
JAMES TRECOTIIIG AUSTIX. 471
restrain the rash, supply the destitute, and impart to all the pure
motives Avhich consecrate success. Here was no mad ambition, no lust
of power, no allurement of interest, no scheme of personal distinction.
Few of them are remembered in history. Yet these are they whose
light gave promise of a coming dawn. If they recede from the gen-
eral gaze, it is in the noon-tide splendor of a brighter day.
' They set as sets tlie moruiug star, 'whicli goes
Not down behind the darkened west, nor hides
Obscured among the tempests of the sky,
But melts away into the light of heaven.'
" Had these men proved incompetent to the task, the battle for that
generation would have been lost Avhen it began. Independence might,
indeed, have been obtained, for no foreign power could long hold a con-
tinent in its grasp ; but the struggle must have been made in this age,
and not tha,t ; and the desolation of civil war, which marks the times
of our forefiithers, would have been the melancholy history of our
own."
James Trecothic, the son of Jonathan Loring Austin, was born in
Boston, January, 1784, and early entered the Latin School, where he
received a Franklin medal. "We find, in the Independent Chronicle,
the youthful oration of jSIaster Austin, gracefully spoken, July 6,
1798, at this school, then under the direction of Mr. Samuel Hunt, it
being the town visitation of the public schools. This performance of a
youth only fourteen years of age, written by himself and revised by
his father, is a striking instance of precocity :
" The anticipation of this anniversary ever excites in our youthful
bosoms the most pleasing reflections. On this day, honored with the
presence of our political fathers and generous patrons, our little hearts
palpitate with various emotions. Emulous, on the one hand, to exhibit
to your approbation the various improvements Ave have made in our
several classes ; and, on the other, to cultivate with greater ardor those
seeds of literature planted by your munificent hand in tliis primary
garden of science.
"From the first settlement of this country, the education of youth
claimed the particular attention of our venerable ancestors ; but since
the American Revolution, it has merited a preeminent distinction, and
a more equal and diifusivc distribution of learning, — especially, in this
metropolis, has been considered by you as highly important to the secu-
rity, happiness and freedom, of the community.
472 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
"As ignorance is tlie fatal weapon which tyrants wield with so much
success, to enslave and debase mankind, so learning, like the flaming
sword in the garden of Eden, protects the fair tree of Liberty, and
repels every invader who dares to violate even the most tender branch.
Education inspires the mind with those exalted sentiments which add
lustre to virtue, veneration to the Christian, and dignity to the charac-
ter of the patriot.
"While, therefore, with so bountiful a hand, you are desirous to
make the respective stages of education pleasing and agreeable, — while
your liberal efforts are intended to embellish the youthful mind, and
supply it with rational and useful entertainment, — it behoves us not to
be unmindful of the blessings we enjoy. Here, we may lay a founda-
tion on which the faculties of the human mind may rise to their highest
elevation. Cultivated in so luxuriant a garden, Ave may here become
invigorated with those vital principles which, under proper direction,
will enable us to fulfil the benevolent designs of public schools, gratify
the ardent wishes of our indulgent parents, encourage the efforts of
our kind preceptors, and enable us, through life, to serve our God and
country with reputation.
"Much, respected sir, is due to your unabated efforts in effecting
the laudable designs of our indulgent patrons. On you devolves the
task, the important task, ' to rear the tender thought, — to teach the
young idea how to shoot.' To your patience, to your assiduity and
zeal, we are greatly indebted foi" smoothing the paths of science, by
accurately impressing on our minds the highly necessary rules and
principles of grammar, whereby we are enabled to discern the beauties
of Cicero, of Virgil, of Horace, and of Homer. Long, sir, may you
continue the ornament of your profession, and your pupils ever revere
those virtues so highly recommended by your precepts, so eminently
displayed by your example.
"In addition to the advantages of literature, may we never be
unmindful of the blessings of liberty. We dwell with admiration on
the record of that persevering fortitude, and those heroic actions, which,
under the blessing of Heaven, completed the freedom and independence
of our country. Our youthful bosoms glow with ardor at the recital
of those noble sentiments, inspired by Heaven, calculated to ameliorate
the condition of all mankind. The impressions they leave on our infant
minds we trust will grow with our growth, and ripen with our years.
A frequent recurrence to those sublime principles which led to our
JAMES TRECOTniC AUSTIN, 473
emancipation, Avill ever inspire us to chcrisli with care, to cultivate
with fervent zeal, and to transmit the rich inheritance, unimpaired, to
future generations. 'Twas here the celestial spark was blown into a
flame, and, like the lightning's flash, rushed through the land, made
jarring interests cease, and, bj the Almighty's fiat, formed the Avon-
drous union. Quick was the great event, on flattering Avings, Avafted
to distant shores, where nations, who for ages groaned beneath despotic
sway, leaped in their chains, poured forth their Avarmest blessings on
this land, and, Avhile regretting theirs, extolled our fortune. Soon,
soon may bounteous Heaven dispel those mists of error Avhich hold
mankind debased, enslaved, and teach them to revere those rights
designed by God to sAvceten and exalt existence here beloAV. Colum-
bia's f ivored sons, Avho knoAV and highly prize the heavenly gift, Avill
guard it safe from every foreign foe ; and, animated Avith their father's
fire, will even dare, in its defence, to die. But it is our ferA^ent wish,
aside of conquests or of arms, to spread both far and near its genial
influence to the world at large."
Mr. Austin graduated at Harvard College in 1802, on Avhich occa-
sion he gave the salutatory oration. He studied laAv Avith Hon. Wil-
liam SulliA'an. He became a counsellor at the bar; and married
Catharine, a daughter of Vice-president Elbridge Gerry, Oct. 3, 1806.
He was editor of the Emerald, a periodical of light literature. He
became the tOAvn advocate in 1809, and an aid to GoA-ernor Gerrv in
1812. He AvaS; for a period of twenty years, county-attorney for Suf-
folk, from 1812, and has been a represcntatiA-e and senator. He Avas
the attorney-general of jMassachusctts from 1832 to 1843. In 1820
he was a delegate to the convention for revising the State constitution.
In 1835 he Avas president of the Suffolk bar.
Mr. Austin has been a member of the Board of Overseers for Har-
vard College from 1826 ; of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and of the New England Genealogic Historical and Massa-
chusetts Historical Societies. He delivered an oration at Lexin<Tton,
July 4, 1815, which A\'as published.
Posterity Avill CA'er remember Col. Austin, as author of the Life of
Elbridge Gerry, embracing contemporary letters to the close of the
Revolution. We knoAV not how better to notice this companion of
kindred biographers, than by selecting remarks on its character from
the North American RevicAV : "It is neither overloaded Avith specula-
tion, nor destitute of the reflections necessary to explain, introduce,
40*
474 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
and connect the letters of tlie principal personages of the day. Colonel
Austin has avoided an error exceedingly obvious in the composition of
a work of this kind, — that of making it a historical sketch of the Rev-
olution. The known events of that period are now so familiar, that,
however natural it may be for the biographer of one of its great char-
acters to present a continuous narrative of its occurrences, it is a far
more judicious course — and it is that pursued by Col. Austin — to
take for granted that the reader knows the history of the Revolution,
and to introduce so much of it only as is convenient for the under-
standing of the peculiar action of his hero, and the material for
the first time presented to the reader. On a few occasions. Col.
Austin has indulged in reflections of his own, at some length ; and at
these times has discovered no little vigor and originality of thought,
and pointedness of manner.
" Elbridge Gerry is exhibited to us as the confidential associate and
coadjutor of the gi'eat leaders, — as a distinguished leader himself; and
in this imposing and dignified light he has deduced his history to the
termination of the war. There is a portion — a very large and active
portion of the community — who are prepared, already, for the contin-
uation of the narrative. We believe no man now finds it difficult to do
justice to those who opposed or who advocated the adoption of the con-
stitution. There are not many States of the Union to which this
ou<2:ht to be a more tender theme than to Massachusetts. The conven-
tion was almost equally balanced, — and the means employed to produce
the desired result do not illustrate, as much as could be wished, the
power of pure reason. Still, however, we believe we have reached an
a<Te when this subject could be treated, without risk of offence in any
quarter. The same may be said of the events of a period considerably
subsequent, in relation to the younger portion of the community, who
have come into life since other events have been the turning points of
the politics of the country. But, inasmuch as some of the politicians
of the periods specified by Col. Austin are still on the stage, we think
he has acted with a commendable discretion, in pausing at the close of
the Revolution ; and we are quite willing to rest with the same dis-
cretion the choice of the moment when the interesting narrative shall
be resumed, prepared to welcome it whenever he shall think fit to
present it to the American people." The American Quarterly Review,
conducted by Robert Walsh, expresses the opinion, on the other hand,
that "Justin proportion as Elbridge Gerry was viewed as a party leader,
JAMES TRECOTHIC AUSTIX. 475
and defamed and misunderstood, in that respect was it material — if his
proceedings and dispositions could be vindicated or set in a favorable
light — to exhibit his entire course at once, leaving no scope for the
suspicion that some fear or mysterious reluctance Avas felt about show-
ing more than the Revolutionary man. As the biography now rests,
an inveterate Federalist, of the old school, might su^-ofest the image of
Horace's mermaid, and hint that it was well not to uncover the lower
extremities. For ourselves, we shall candidly say, that, in the number
of leaders or prominent personages in the momentous party contests
of the interval mentioned abdve, Mr. Gerry is almost the only one of
whose merits or demerits we have not been able to form a positive
opinion ; and we lament still more the continuance of this difficulty,
since we have read this narrative of the anterior portion of his exist-
ence.— for it certainly has inspired us with a high idea of his Revolu-
tionary spirit and services, and docs prove, as his biographer suggests,
' the validity of his title to those large honors which his country
bestOAved upon him.' "
Col. Austin was a tenacious advocate of the old Republican party, and
a decided opponent of thiJ old Federal partj^, but not, it is said, a member
of the Democratic party ; and, on the amalgamation of the Whig and
a portion of the Democratic parties, in 1827, under the name of the
National Republican party, an object of which was to defeat the elec-
tion of Andrew Jackson, it was at this period that jSIr. Austin united
Avith the amalgamation. The high spirit of Mr. Austin, in vindication
of the old Republican school, Avas strongly evinced in his articles pub-
lished in the Boston Patriot, over the signature of Leolin, in the year
1811, on the subject of resistance to laAvs of the United States, con-
sidered in letters to the Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, and regarding the
proceedings of a Federal caucus opposed to a new non-intercourse act
of Congress, Avhich Mr. Austin declared Avould haA'c a tendency to
dissolve the Union, and lead to a northern confederacy. In allusion
to Mr. Otis, it is remarked by I\Ir. Austin that an orator can be great
only Avhen ad\'ocating a good cause. " The position is illustrated by
the gentleman. Much as I admire his talents, delighted as I am in
catching the music of his mind, on this occasion I confess my disap-
pointment. The eagle of elo([uencc labored in its course. We neither
discovered the feather that adorns the royal bird, nor the steady pinion
that supports his flight. The gentleman Avas overwhelmed between
the difficulties of denying intentional resistance, and thus subjectin^r
himself to the charge of uttering a ridiculous and unmeaning threat.
4T6 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
or of justifying opposition, and thus incurring the disgrace and ruin
of premeditated i-ebellion."
Some one said of Col. Austin, that he is small in stature, but larare
in soul. His face is well moulded, long, but exceedingly expressive,
and exhibits the man of energy. It is strongly marked with lines ;
has a full, piercing eye, and something of a sandy complexion. There
can be no mistake about his talents ; and the whole course of his pro-
fessional life has been distinguished for decision, correctness, and
despatch. When absorbed in any important debate, he commands the
most profound attention. He has been a decided opponent of the
measures of the anti-slavery party, and wrote remarks on IMr. Chan-
ning's opinions on slavery, published in 1835, and a review of his
letter to Jonathan Phillips, published in 1839. . Mr. Austin delivered
a famous speech in Fancuil Hall, Dec. 7, 1837, on the Alton riot,
which Avas published, and in a note, alluding to lawless mobs, he
remarks : " The blackened and battered walls of the Ursuline Convent
will stand by the half-raised monument of Bunker Hill,
' Like a mildewed ear,
Blasting his ■wholesome brother.'
So long as it does stand, it will frown contemptuously on any attempt
we may make to rebuke the violence of other people, or to admonish
them to respect the sanctity of the law." His arguments on the con-
vent riot, in the trial of Buzzell, were printed in 1834.
My. Austin has published many State and professional documents,
such as. The Commonwealth's Interest in the Bridges and other Ave-
nues into Boston, in 1835 ; on Enlarging the Jurisdiction of the Court
of Common Pleas, 1834 ; on the Expenses of Criminal Justice, 1839 ;
— also, an Address for the Massachusetts Society for Suppressing
Litemperance ; an Address for the jMassachusetts Mechanic Associa-
tion ; and has been a contributor to the Christian Examiner.
It may well be said of Mr. Austin, that, as counsellor at the bar, as
county-attorney, as attorney-general, as a State senator, as an overseer
of Harvard College, he has acquitted himself Avith a ready capacity,
and in a manner highly honorable to himself, and to the great benefit
of his constituents. Moreover, as a Avriter on legal and political
topics, Mr. Austin has been equalled by but few competitors ; and in
his declining life may he show forth to the public eye the sequel to the
Biography of Elbridge Gerry, a venerable signer of the Declaration of
Independence, thus immortalized in the annals of Republican fame.
CHARLES GORDON GREENE. 477
CHARLES GORDON GREENE.
JULY i, 1829. FOR THE "WASHINGTON SOCIETY.
Was born at Bosca-wen, N. 11., July 1, 1804, and a son of
Nathaniel Greene, counsellor-at-law in that town, -who -SYas a delco-ate
to the convention for revising the State constitution, moderator, and
selectman, and brother of Hon. Samuel Greene, late Chief Justice of
the Supreme Judicial Court, in New Hampshire. His parents visited
Virginia in 1811, and young Charles Avas of the party. In 1812 his
flithcr deceased; and his mother returned to Boscawen in 1813,
when he was placed under the care of his brother Nathaniel, in Haver-
hill, Mass., subsequently the post-master of Boston, who sent him to
Bradford Academy, on the opposite side of the Merrimac :
" Stream of my fathers ! sweetly, still,
The sunset rays thy valleys fill."
The famous preceptor, Benjamin Greenleaf, — Avhose pig-tailed queue
excited a reverence as profound as was the fear of the tingling ferule,
and whose knowledge in arithmetic renders him the Hutton of New
England, — was then principal of this institution. Horace jNIann once
characterized Master Greenleaf as "a huge crystallization of mathe-
matics," and w'hose practical arithmetics make the best accountants in
the old Bay State.
Young Charles was early initiated to the printing business, in his
brother's office, at Haverhill, who was editor and publisher of the
Essex Patriot ; and continued his apprenticeship in the office of Mr.
Lamson, at Exeter, N. H. He went to Boston in 1822, to which city
his brother had removed, and become the publisher of the Boston
Statesman ; and was employed in this establishment until 1825, when
he settled at Taunton, and published The Free Press one year upon
contract, and was its editor during the latter part of the period. He
returned to Boston, and published a literary journal, — the Boston
Spectator, — edited by Charles Atwood, Esq., when it was united with
another periodical, and Mr. Greene's interest in it ceased. He directly
resumed an engagement with the Statesman, which continued until
1827, when he removed to Philadelphia, and became partner with
James A. Jones, Esq., in the National Palladium, a daily paper,
which was the first in Pennsylvania to advocate the election of Andre\y
478 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Jacison to the presidency. When he withdrew from that paper, in
December, 1827, the U. S. Gazette remarked of him, that he was an
able champion of his party, greatly endeared by his conciliatory and
unobtrusive deportment. Previous to this dissolution, he visited Bos-
ton, and married Miss Charlotte Hill, of that city, Oct. 24, 1827; and
in the succeeding spring was engaged in the office of the U. S. Tele-
graph, at Washington, owned and conducted by Gen. Duff Green,
Avliere he remained until after the election of Andrew Jackson to the
presidency, when he removed to Boston, and became successor to his
brother Nathaniel, as joint proprietor and publisher, with Benjamin
True, of the Statesman, whose interest in the establishment Mr.
Greene, in a few years, purchased, when he became sole owner, and,
on November 9th, 1831, commenced the publication of the Boston
Morning Post. — Was Naval Officer for Boston in 1853.
Col. Greene has been a representative in the Legislature of this
State, and in 1848 was an aid to Gov. INIorton. He has been a can-
didate for the mayoralty of Boston, and for Congress, for presidential
elector, and for the State Senate; — but, as the Democracy is rarely a
favorite in the old Bay State, a private station is his post of honor, as
would a public station be honored in his election. The warmth of his
zeal in favor of the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency is
strikingly evinced in this glowing passage from an oration, delivered
July 4, 1831 : "His race is run out. Not a drop of his blood will
be left flowing when he is gone ; not a lip to say, ' I glory in his
memory, for he was my kinsman.' Is it not, my friends, — is it not a
spectacle to move and touch the very soul ? If there be moral sub-
limity in anything, it is in unmingled self-devotion to one's country ;
and what but this could have arrested, on the very threshold of the
tomb, the feet of him, who, though he turns to bless his country at
her call, sees no child nor relative leaning forward to catch the mantle
of his glory?"
Col. Greene is esteemed as much for his blandness and affability as
he is for candor and kindness of heart. David Henshaw said of him :
" He is the self-made, self-taught man, — the energetic and polished
writer ; he shows the superiority of real worth over fictitious great-
ness." The Daily Post is the leading Ncav England political advocate
of the Democracy, which, by its generous spirit, is moulding powerful
influences on our young men ; and will ever be famous for having
perpetrated a greater number of eSective witticisms than any of its
CHARLES GORDON GREEXE. 479
rivals ; and the general good-nature of ^Ir. Greene is cmr)liatically
characterized in the remark of the amiable Mrs. Partington, ^vllO said,
" I can't see the use of people's quarrelling. It 's very strange that
they can't live together in peace and concordance, without all this bit-
terness and antimony." We "would not assert that Mr. Greene is the
chronicler of ]Mrs. Partington, but we do say that the spirit of his paper
often partakes of her kindliness. We have seen the puns of tliis daily
as sensibly affect the risibles of the sedate old man of eighty, as they
do the merry youtlis of sixteen. Indeed, we cannot be parted from the
celebrated Mrs. Partington, without an allusion to her wedding. "I
never know'd anything gained by being too much of a hurry," said
the old lady. " When me and my dear Paul was married, he Avas in
sich a tripidation that he came nigh marrying one of the bride's-maids
instead of me, by mistake. He was sich a queer man," she continued;
"why, he jined the fire department; and one night, in his hurry, he
put his boots on hind part afore, and, as he ran along, everybody behind
him got tripped up. The papers was full of crowner's quests on
broken legs and limbs, for a week afterwards ; " and she relapsed into
an abstraction on the ups and downs of life. — All parties eagerly read
the Daily Post.
The Granite State, a noble place from which to migrate, long pro-
verbial as the political Nazareth of this republic, is ever remarkable for
the production of as great statesmen, entei'prising sous of commerce,
and successful professional men, as may be found in any other State.
Mr. Greene is a devoted advocate of the Democratic party, and is as tena-
cious for its triumph, and is as little likely to espouse the Whig cause,
as are the people of his native State ; yet we even hope a revolution of
political opinion over this granite soil. When democracy was at its
zenith in Massachusetts, he once said, "If our old opponents would
enter the Temple of Democracy, they must leave their bundle of sin
at its gates." We would hope that the Whigs would ever banish their
sins, and never enter the temple but to elevate the standard of repub-
licanism, and consign all party intolerance to the shades of oblivion.
Mr. Greene, in the oration at the head of this article, makes a remark
regarding the politics of Massachusetts, which indicates the fact that this
State and his native State are alike decided, but at directly opposite
points. " Old Massachusetts is still in leading-strings. She still follows
— though she Avill not long follow — the blind guides who have always
been anxious to persuade her ' that rebellion lay in her way,' and that
480 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
she could not choose but find it. The halls of legislation Avhich, but a
few years since, beheld Eustis and Morton at the head of a triumphant
Democratic majority, now enclose an appalling majority of the Hartford
Convention malecontents of 1814. This is a spectacle which the
unsophisticated Democrats of Massachusetts contemplate with such
sentiments of indignant contempt as the patriotic Frenchman must
have entertained when he beheld the Cossacks of the Don and Calmuc
Tartars from the wall of China establishing their bivouac in the Elysian
rields of Paris." This is the sharpest party opinion that we have
noticed from his pen. The principal object of this oration is to vindi-
cate the policy of reforms in office, and contravene the opinions of Clay
and Adams on this point.
Mr. Greene pronounced another oration, already alluded to, July 4,
1831, in Faneuil Hall. This passage is the finishing paragraph of the
peroration: " Immortal spirits, who went before us, — ye who have
given us the blessing for which the extended poean of half a world is
rin'^incr at this moment ! Fathers of our Revolution ! year after year
throws its new blaze of light upon your virtues. Revolution after rev-
olution, and unresented wrong after Avrong, shows of what temper ye
were. With unity of heart, compensating for weakness of hand ; with
inflexible energy, and high resolve, and matchless devotion, making an
infant nation stronger than its parent, and setting the bright spirit of
Liberty on her high seat, amid the resistance, and with the exacted
consent, of armed thousands, hitherto invincible !
' Immortal heirs of universal pi-aise !
Whose honors Avith increase of ages grow,
As streams roll down, enlarging as they flow ;
Nations unborn your miglity name shall sound.
And worlds applaud, that must not yet be found ' ' "
ALEXANDER HILL EVERETT.
JULY 4, 1830. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
In the oration of Mr. Everett, we find a passage showing that the
author of the draft of the Declaration of Independence — Thomas Jef-
ferson — so highly estimated the honor, as to wish that it might be
inscribed upon his tombstone, "The Author of the Declaration of
Independence ;" and this was done. The committee appointed for pre-
ALEXANDER HILL EVERETT. 481
paring this instrument, June 11, 1776, consisted of Jefferson, Adams,
Franklin, Slierman, and Livingston. " It -was a singular proof of the
force of Mr. Jefferson's character, and of the confidence that ■was gen-
erally felt in his talents and virtues, that, although one of the youngest
members of Congress," says Mr. Everett, — "probably the youngest
of all, — he was yet placed at the head of this important committee ;
containing, too, as it did, such men as Franklin and John Adams. To
the fervid and active friendship of the latter of these two statesmen,
afterwards his nolitical rival, but then his ablest and most ardent coad-
jutor, he probably owed this distinction, as appears from the account of
the circumstances attending the appointment of the committee, given
by Mr. Adams himself in his letter to ]Mr. Pickering, of August G,
1822. 'Mr. Jefferson,' he remarks, 'came into Congress in June,
1775, and brought with him a reputation for literature, science, and a
happy talent for composition. "Writings of his Avere handed about,
remarkable for their peculiar felicity of expression. Though a silent
member of Congress, he was so prompt, frank and explicit, upon com-
mittees,— not even Samuel Adams more so, — that he soon seized upon
my heart ; and upon this occasion I gave him my vote, and did all in
my power to procure him the votes of others. I think he had one
more vote than any other, and that placed him at the head of the com-
mittee. I had the next highest number, which placed me second.'
Mr. Adams then proceeds to remark, that the committee of five met,
and, after discussing the subject, appointed j\Ir. Jefferson and himself a.
sub-committee to prepare the draft. The sub-committee met in turn ;
and, after an amicable altercation upon the question which of the two-
should perform the task, — each endeavoring to devolve it on the other,
— it Avas finally assigned, as was naturally to be expected from the
order of the precedence in the committee, to jNIr. Jefferson. It ought
to be remarked, that it was not the object of either of these patriots to
avoid responsibility or labor. Each, Avitli the genuine modesty that
belongs to real merit, believed the other to be more capable than him-
self of doino; iustice to this most delicate and critical occasion: and
each was willimi and desirous to sacrifice to consideration for the
public good what both very properly regarded as an enviable distinc-
tion. That Mr. Jefferson should have been the first to yield was, as I
have just remarked, the natural result of his place in the committee.
The draft made by Mr. Jefferson having been examined by Mr. Adams^
and afterwards accepted by the committee of five, was reported to
41
482 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
•Congress without alteration, as it stood in the hand-writing of the
author.
"On the first of July, the resolutions moved by Richard Henry
Lee, for declaring independence, the further consideration of which, as
I have said before, had been postponed from the 11th of the preceding
month until that day, were taken up again in committee of the whole,
and, having been debated through the day, were reported to Congress.
The subject was then postponed until the following day, which was the
2d of July, when the resolutions were taken up in Congress, and, after
further debate, finally passed. On the 3d of July, the draft of the
Declaration of Independence was reported to Congress by Mr. Jeffer-
son, as chairman of the committee of five who had been appointed to
prepare it ; and, having been fully considered, and amended in several
points, on the following day, which was the 4th of Julj'-, was adopted.
The original draft, as reported by the author, has since been printed,
and brought into comparison with the amended form which appears in
the official publication. The alterations made in Congress, thougii not
essential to the effect of the paper, are in general for the better : and
^ive a high idea of the calmness and judgment with which our fathers
proceeded in maturing every part of this important and delicate
transaction. In this manner was prepared and adopted the celebrated
Declaration of Independence."
Alexander Ilill was son of Rev. Oliver Everett, a minister of New
South Church, in Boston, afterAvards Judge of Common Pleas for Nor-
folk, and Avas born at Boston, March 19, 1790 ; graduated at Harvard
College in 1806, on which occasion his theme was on '• the Effects of
the General Diffusion of Literature ; " became a counsellor-at-law, and
married Lucretia Orne, daughter of Judge Oliver Peabody, of Exeter,
N. XL, Oct. 21, 1816. He was the orator for the Phi Beta Kappa
Society, in 1813. In 1825 Mr. Everett Avas minister to Spain. He
succeeded Mr. Jared Sparks, in 1830, as editor of the North American
RevicAV. He became president of Jefferson College, in Louisiana, in
1841, when his inaugural address Avas published.. He was appointed,
hj President Polk, in 1847, the commissioner to China; and died at
Canton, on June 28, 1847, aged 57 years.
The Democratic RevicAv of November, 1847, remarks of Mr. Ever-
ett, that, in political life, he rose to the most conspicuous stations, Avhich
he OAved rather to the elevation of his mind, and the distinction of his
character, than to mere party service ; for, happily, he was not one of
ALEXANDER HILL EVERETT. 483
those who, in the eager pursuit of personal aggrandizement, sacrificed
to the hollow shrine of party devotion talents and acquirements des-
tined for a higher purpose and a purer sphere. No ; to his honor be
it said, that he never
" Narrowed his mind
And gave up to party what was meant for mankind."
Mr. Everett was an eminent writer ; and, besides his very useful
contributions in the North American Review, we find two very import-
ant works, which writers on political economy will ever resort to for
light on the subject. We allude to his New Ideas on Population, and
his last production, consisting of a letter on the condition of China,
in reference to the Malthusian theory, addressed to George Tucker,
dated jNIacao, April 30, 1847, which illustrates the conception, to use
Everett's own words, that "density of population, far from being a
cause of comparative scarcity, is itself the proximate cause of the com-
parative abundance of the necessaries and comforts of life which we
witness in China, and most other densely peopled countries."' He was
author of two political treatises on Europe and America, of elevated
character, and Memoirs of Gen. Warren and Patrick Henry. Two
volumes of his miscellaneous productions have been published since his
decease. He was a \ngorous writer, ambitious and unfortunate. The
political influence of his productions will perpetuate his memory for
ages to come.
HENRY BARNEY SMITH.
JULY 4, 1830. FOR THE AVASIIINGTOX SOCIETY,
Was the son of Barney Smith, a merchant in State-street ; gradu-
ated at Harvard College in 1809, Avhen he engaged in a dialogue on
the differences in the character of the ancient and modern Greeks ; was
a counscllor-at-law, and president of the Boston Debating Society. He
has been a firm advocate of the Democratic Republican party, and a man
of more than ordinary talent. In 1822 he delivered a 4th of July
oration at Dorchester. In 1824 Mr. Smith delivered another, at the
Marlboro', in Boston. It was said of him, after giving the third ora-
tion, at the pubhc dinner, that "he is an uncompromising democrat,
484 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
■who has sketched the Protean visage of aristocracy in thoughts that
breathe and -words that burn."
" Why is it," said Mr. Smith, " that some of our pohticians cling so
fondly to the superannuated perpetuities of the Old World, and view
■with ill-disguised aversion the improvements of the New? There is a
conspiracy of private interest with unprincipled ambition, in England
and our own country, to pervert history and misrepresent fact, — to
preoccupy the avenues of education, and poison the infant mind with
absurd theories and exploded doctrines. Why is Hume, the apologist
of arbitrary power, set up as a classic, and put into the hands of chil-
dren as authentic history '? Why is Julius Ccesar lauded in our public
schools, and Caius Gracchus stigmatized as a demagogue, when the one
overturned the government of his country by a military force, and the
other was put to death by a mob of Roman senators, led on by an infu-
riated high-priest of a false religion ? Whence is it that myriads may
be sacrificed on the field of battle, by executions, by imprisonments, for
the unprincipled ambition of princely power, and not a sigh — not a
murmur — is heard in after times to lament their fate ; but, if an indi-
vidual falls a sacrifice to the rage of an indignant populace, goaded to
desperation by long-continued oppression, our histories are groaning
with the details? Imagination is on the rack to invent some new hor-
ror. All that the art and ingenuity of man can conjure up is added
to heighten the picture of suffering, or deepen the shade of guilt, until
the feeling mind is excruciated with the sense of human depravity.
The people are not always aware of their rights, and may patiently
submit for a time, as in the days of the Henrys and Elizabeths, to reg-
ister the' decrees of those who usurp the sovereignty over them. But,
unfortunately, there can be no statute of limitations to debar them of
their unalienable inheritance. In the despotic governments, important
changes are sometimes obtained through the horrors of a revolution ;
but in this country every object of good government is secured through
the salutary influence of reform, and a fearless reliance on enlightened
public opinion. The spread of intelligence and the consciousness of
power among the people will necessarily keep our social, civil and
political institutions, in the onward path of i^rogressive improvement."
JOHN GORHA.M PALFREY. 485
JOHN GORHAM PALFREY.
JULY 4, 1831. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
Was born in Boston, May 2, 1796 ; and was grandson of "William
Palfrey, a pa^'raaster-gencral in the army of the Revolution, and an
aid-de-camp to Washington on the occupation of Dorchester, of whom
Harrison Gray Otis remarked : " His person was of the middle size,
his countenance animated, his gait quick, with a military air; his man-
ners genteel and commanding, and his deportment to me as a boy con-
descendins: and affable. I also think I remember the sound of his
voice, clear and sonorous ; and his image is before me as that of a gen-
tleman of the old school, — polite, manly, and elegant." The father of
the subject of this notice, John Palfrey, was in early life a merchant in
Demarara, and afterwards a ship-chandler in Boston, who removed, in
1804, to the Territory of Louisiana, where he died in the autumn of
1843, at his plantation of Isle I'xAbbaye, St. Martin's ; Avhen, among
other bequests, he left twenty-two slaves to his son John G., Avho nobly
emancipated them ; — and thus, in the language of Sumner, without
army or navy, by a simple act of self-renunciation, has given freedom
to a larger number of Christian American slaves than was done by the
sword of Decatur.
Young .John received his elementary education under William Payne,
schoolmaster, in Berry-street, who was father of the '' Young American
Roscius." He was prepared for college, in 1809, at E.xeter Academy.
When he graduated at Harvard College, in 1815. his theme Avas, On
Republican Institutions as affecting Private Character ; and, at a public
exhibition, he gave an oration on the Errors of Genius. 'Mv. Palfrey
became a student in theology, and in 1818 was ordained to the pastoral
care of the Brattle-street Church ; which station he honorably occupied
until his appointment to the office of Dexter Professor of Sacred Litera-
ture in Harvard College, in 1831, which he resigned in 1839. He
married Mary, daughter of Samuel Hammond, Esq., of Boston. The
oration at the head of this article exhibits sound and practical politics.
Its Avhole doctrine is the principle of life adapted to improve the quahty
and increase the quantity of individual happiness, and to secure the
perpetuity of national glory. He enlarges on three topics essential to
our national honor, a hearty attachment to the union of the States, a
41*
L
486 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
care to have the administration in proper hands, and a national litera-
ture. In 1839 Mr. Palfrey gave the discourse at the centennial cele-
bration of the first settlement of the town of Barnstable.
Mr. Palfrey published his own autobiography in a letter to a friend,
■with this motto on the title-page : " Let all the ends thou aim'st at be
thy country's, thy God's, and truth's."
We Avill continue the history of Mr. Palfrey, in his own language,
to the period of his election to Congress in 1847 : "In the year 1831,
after thirteen years' service in the parochial ministry in Boston, I
accepted a professorship in the theological department of the university,
and removed to Cambridge. My partial friends in the religious soci-
ety with which I had been connected objected to my tailing that step,
and urged that it was not wise ; but no doubt of its being taken under
a disinterested sense of duty ever reached me from any quarter. My
position had been everything that heart could desire ; and never more
attractive, to say the least, than when I relinquished it. Separating
myself from relatives and friends, I left for a place, to be retained, as I
supposed, for the rest of my life ; where I was to have more labor, less
leisure, less compensation, and social position and advantages certainly
not superior to what I left behind. Except that I was not in ill health,
I took the step under the same circumstances as the same step had been
taken just before by the late Be v. Dr. Ware, Jr. ; and I have never
heard that he was charged with being prompted by political or any
other worldly ambition.
" After four years, with a view to add to my pecuniary means, which
proved unequal to the wants of an increased family, I became editor
of the North American Beview. I am ashamed to write of matters of
such purely personal concern ; but the impudent and false constructions
put upon them by those who have felt justified in criticizing so distant
a period of my life compel me to the unwelcome task. At the end of
four years more, — namely, in 1839, — my situation was this : During
five days and a half of every week of the college terms, I was doing
harder and more exhausting work, in the lecture-room and in prepara-
tion for it, than I have ever done in any other w'ay. I was one of the
three preachers in the University Chapel : and, during my turn of duty,
in what remained of Saturday after the Aveek's lecturing was done, I
had to prepare for the religious service Avhich I conducted on Sunday.
As dean (or executive officer) of the theological faculty, I was charged
"with aifairs of administration in that department of the university.
JOHN GORIIAM PALFREY. 487
As editor of the North American RevieAV, I was under obh'gation to
lay before the pubhc two hundred and fifty or more closely-printed
octavo pages, every quarter. I had in press a M'ork, of some extent
and labor, on the Hebrew Scriptures. And imprudently, perhaps,
but for apparently sufficient cause, I had engaged to deliver and print
courses of Lectures for the Lowell Institute, — which, accordingly. I
did deliver, in 1839, 1840, and the two following winters.
"These things united made a task too great for the health and
strength of most men. At all events, it Avas too great for mine.
Plain indications showed that I must have some relief, or be crushed,
body and mind. My permanent engagements were, the professorship
in the university, and the editorship of the Review. In the Review
was embarked a large capital, for me ; and, to dissolve my connection
Avith it. until there should be an opportunity for an advantageous sale,
was not to be thought of, because this would have been to put it out of
my power to reimburse the friends to whom I Avas indebted for the
investment. I did not desire to resign my professorship. Nor did I
yet contemplate such a movement. My plan Avas, to obtain such relief
as seemed absolutely necessary, and no more, by a dispensation from a
portion of its duties. A recent event had put it in my poAvcr to relin-
quish a part of my income from that source. I accordingly made a
communication to the corporation of the college, proposing to give up
the less important part of my duties, and Avith them three-eighths parts
of my salary, and submitting a plan by Avhich I thought they might be
executed, at less expense to the institution, and Avithout derangement
of the system of the department. The corporation, after conference
Avith me by a committee, and consultation among themselves, acceded
to my proposal, and passed a vote accordingly. A copy Avas trans-
mitted to me, and the transaction Avas complete.
"A few days passed, and the president called upon me, to give me
information Avhich, as he A'ery properly said, he thought I ought to
possess. He told me that, at a subsequent meeting of the corporation,
more full than those at Avhich my proposid had been considered and
acted on, dissatisfaction had been expressed Avith the arrangement on
the part of members Avho had been absent, on grounds having refer-
ence to the general policy of the college, and the inexpediency of
precedents of this nature. His communication Avas limited to giving
me this information, Avithout any suggestion that further action Avas
expected from me, or Avas contemplated by the corporation, in the Avay
488 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of a reversal of wliat had taken place. But it cost little reflection to
show me that I could not, with propriety, take advantage of a vote,
which it appeared would not have been passed in full board, against
such opinions of a minority. It was equally clear that I must not
think of going on as I had done. Accordingly, on a revision of the
whole subject, I announced my intention to resign at the end of the
academical year. This was done with perfect good feeling on both
sides : of which feeling towards myself the most flattering evidence was
afforded, in documents placed in my hands by the authorities of the
collesie. I did not remain in Cambrid<2;e, where I had lived eio;ht
years, as, according to the theory lately broached of my movements, I
should have done, to pursue objects of political ambition. I removed,
in the autumn, to Boston, advertising my house in Cambridge to let,
— which was effected in the summer of the next year. And this is the
whole story of my separation from the college, — an event unexpected
and undcsired by me, and connected with no ulterior views, beyond
the preservation of my life and health. My object in it has been pre-
posterously misrepresented. There is not a shadow of proof, nor have
I any recollection or belief, that I had then any more thoughts of a
course of hfe like that into which unexpected circumstances have since
led me, than I now have of bepoming the Emperor of China.
"Having lived in Boston two years, engaged in my studies, in the
management of the North American Review, and in the preparation and
publication of my Lectures before the Lowell Institute, — not writing
a line for any newspaper, nor seeking political associations of any kind,
nor thinking of politics more than every tolerably well-informed per-
son, with whatever pursuits, maybe supposed to do, — I was elected by
my fellow-citizens of that place to represent them in the General Court
of the commonwealth, for the years 1842 and 1843. It has been said
and printed, that, by way of introducing myself to political life, I
became a frequent attendant at the primary meetings, after my removal
to Boston. To the best of my knowledge and behef, I never was in a
primary meeting until after I had taken my seat as representative in
the General Court. To the best of my knowledge and belief, I never
■was in a primary meeting but three times in my life ; namely, on the
6th of January, and the 31st of August, 1842, at Boston, and on the
21st of September, 1847, at Cambridge. To the best of my knowl-
edge and belief, no sohcitations — not so much as any hints — from
me led to my nomination for the General Court. If any one supposes
JOHN GORHAM PALFREY. 489
that he knows anything to the contrary of this, I desire him to make
it pubhc.
" Though I took a part in other measures. — for the responsibihty
of a representative was upon me, — my regular business in tlic house
was that of chairman of the committee on education, a place assigned
to me without the slightest motion, and, I will add, without the slight-
est expectation, of my own. It was a place, how^cver, I suppose, not
unsuitable for a person of my habits, as it has been repeatedly filled
by clergymen, before and since. And it procured me a pleasure of
the choicest kind. With others of that committee, I was subsequently
placed on a special joint committee, to whom Avere referred the subject
of the continuance of Normal Schools, — the first provision, for only
three years, having then expired, — and a proposal for the establish-
ment of school-district libraries. The committee determined that
resolves should be reported to continue the Normal Schools, and estab-
lish the libraries : that they should be introduced in the house, and that
I should prepare and take charge of them in that body. Under cir-
cumstances of no little difficulty, these were carried through, and
became a law on the 3d of ]March, 1842. I look back upon that day as
the date of the most useful public service I ever rendered, excepting,
only, the day of my first vote in the Congress of the United States.
" In 1843, by reason of straitened circumstances, — the causes of
which there is no need to explain, but which were not such then, or at
any other time, as to occasion to any person the loss of a cent by me,
— I disposed of the property and relinquished the editorship of the
North American Review, which, as tilings stood, Avas inadequate to
my needs, and looked about for some advantageous employment of my
time. Should it be asked, why, released from other engagements, I
did not sock to resume my former profession, there are those who will
understand why one should be reluctant to return to that profession,
when relinquished, as a resource for a livelihood. From time to time,
as opportunity has occurred, I have freely given other reasons, in my
judgment of great weight; and am alwa^^s ready to do so to any one
who has a curiosity on the subject. I shall, probably, be thought to
have already thrown off reserve quite sufficiently as to these personal
matters, without going further, now, on this point. I Avill liut add,
that, since retiring from the University, in 1839, I have published
three octavo volumes on important subjects in theology ; and I may,
hereafter, lay before the public some further evidence that I have not
490 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
forsaken the studies proper to the clerical profession, but. on the con-
trary, have devoted to them more time than the routine of parochial
services Avould have allowed me to command.
' • The administration of the State government was changed by the
result of the fall election of 1843, and it was understood that there
would be a change in the office of Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Mv desire to be considered a candidate having been made known to
my friends, I was elected to that office by the General Court in the
following January. I hope that in the four years I held it the com-
monwealth received no detriment from me.
"The duties of the secretary's office, of so diffisrent a description
from the employment to, which I had been accustomed, may well be
supposed to have been found, at first, somewhat irksome and distaste-
ful. But use and method made them easy, and not unpleasant. If
not very interesting or intellectual, they were, at all events, not at all
exhausting ; and, by method and diligence, I found myself able to per-
form them with exactness within such a daily allowance of time as to
leave considerable leisure for more congenial pursuits. The emolu-
ment, joified to my private resources, was enough to enable me to live
with frugal comfort, and educate my children. In short, I was living
very satisfactorily, and desired nothing different. But so it was not
ordered. Though, while a representative in the General Court, I had
been sent as a delegate from Boston to the Whig State convention, in
September, 1842, and though I made two or three speeches in the pres-
idential contest of 1844, — the annexation of Texas being already a
pending C[uestion, — it.Avas in the autumn of 1845 that I first became
connected, in any material w^ay, with political transactions. If I mistake
not. that was a time when Christian man or Christian minister miirlit
well think that it did not misbecome him to take an interest in public
affairs. For my part, I am most confidently of the opinion, that the
cause of truth and righteousness, of God and of man, demanded quite
as much active service, at that time, in the popular assemblies, as in
the pulpits, of the land. In the summer of 1846, my friend, Mr.
Charles Francis Adams, having assumed the editorship of the ' Boston
Whig,' I contributed to that journal a series of twenty-six numbers,
entitled ' Papers on the Slave Power.' They attracted some atten-
tion, and were presently after collected in a pamphlet, which passed
through three editions."
In the autumn of 1846, overtures were made to Mr. Palfrev to
JOnX GORIIAM PALFREY. 491
become a candidate for Confess in the fourth conojressional district, as
successor to Benjamin Thompson, -who had made knoAvn his intention
to -withdraw, -which Mr. Palfrey dechned ; but such an earnest desire
for his services was expressed, that, " after much and long hesitation,
I yielded to the representations which were made to me," said Mr.
Palfrey, " that, as a matter of public duty, I was bound to recede from
my position. I am glad that I did not then know all the personal
consequences which were involved in that decision. I fear that I
might not have had spirit to encounter them ; and then some approba-
tion of my conscience, which I now possess, for duty since honestly
performed, would have been lost." Mr. Palfrey was elected to Con-
gress for the December session of 1847, until after the March session
of 1849 ; and this appeal t(f the public was published after ten attempts
at his reelection had been defeated. This political memoir, extending
along twenty-eight pages, is interesting. We cannot forbear quoting
one more passage, regarding the loss of old friends : ' ' Up to the age
of fifty years," says he, " I suppose very few men had more; and
whether I. on my part, have been constant in friendship, — whether I
have been easily provoked, or alienated in high party times, or in any
times, — let those who have tried me answer. The little slights and
aflfronts by Avhich the common associates of former days find it suitable
to express their disapprobation are disagreeable, no doubt ; but they
are not much more. The change in friends of as many years as make
up half the recognized term of human life, — the coldness of some, the
separation from others, the loud and acrimonious hostility of others, —
is not altogether the same thing. It is pretty common for me, of late,
to meet ' hard unkindness' altered eye,' in faces which from boyhood
before never looked at me but with kindness and smiles. I have been
addressed Avitli rude language in the streets, when accosting some old
acquaintance. Persons whose youth I have tried to serve do not rec-
ognize me as we pass. I dare say it is very manly, and all that, to
say that one cares nothing about such things. But that is a virtue
beyond my mark. I do care for them ; probably too much. I care
for them so much, that I devoutly thank God that he did not let me
know to the full extent what was coming, when I took my course.
Had I known it, I hope I should have had the courage to do precisely
as I have done. But no man is entirely certain of himself; and, had
1 fully seen what I was incurring, it is possible that I might have
flinched. As it is, I am safely past the flinching point."
402 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Mr. Palfrey is a political Abolitionist, of the Free-soil party, and is
a decided advocate of the cause. While some were of opinion that his
vote against "Winthrop as the Speaker of the House in Congress was
an ineffaceable stain on the honor of Middlesex, others proclaimed that
it was probably one of the most useful acts of his life ; and John
Quincy Adams is said to have exclaimed, after the delivery of his
celebrated abolition speech in Congress, "Thank God! the seal is
broken ! " Was it consistent in INIr. Palfrey, who acted in Congress
unpledged, to endeavor to secure pledges from Mr. Winthrop in regard
to the constitution of those committees which have especial surveil-
lance of subjects connected with war and slavery 7 Some say his
former conservative spirit gave him a more elevated influence than his
radicalism will ever effect.
Mr. Palfrey is a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society,
and pronounced a valuable semi-centennial discourse before the insti-
tution, Oct 31, 1844. While Mr. Palfrey applauds the society for an
undeviating devotion to its interests, his opponents remark that it
would be a happy circumstance if the quotation he so pertinently
applied to them could be adapted to himself, as regards his political
career. He remarks to the society, it should be ours to justify it
in saying,
" While I remain above the ground, you shall
Hear from me still, and never of me aught
But what is like me formerly ; — that's
AVorthily as any ear can hear."
Mr. Pal'fi'ey is a man of varied learning. Though his style is, at
times, rather involved with qualifying clauses, we often find great
beauty of diction. He published two discourses on the History of
the Brattle-street Church. He wrote the Life of William Palfrey,
Paymaster-general in the Army of the Revolution ; Practical Dis-
courses on Domestic Duties ; Lectures on the Jewish Scriptures and
Anti(|uitics, 2 vols. 8vo. ; Lowell Lectures on the Evidences of Chris-
tianity, 2 vols. Svo. ; and many other productions. There can be no
question of the patriotic motives of Mr. Palfrey in political matters,
any more than of his devotion to the interests of general literature and
humanity.
I
WILLIAM FOSTER OTIS. 40S
WILLIAM FOSTER OTIS.
JULY 4, 1831. rOR THE YOUNG MEN OF BOSTON.
Was born in Boston, Dec. 1, 1801, and the son of Harrison Gray
Otis, and Sally Foster, his Avife. He entered the Latin School in 1813 ;
graduated at Harvard College in 1821, "where he took part in a con-
ference on the state of physical science, oratory, fine writing, and met-
aphysics, in England, during the reign of Queen Anne ; read law with
Harrison Gray Otis, Jr., -end Augustus Peabody; became a counsel-
lor-at-law, and married Emily, a daughter of Josiah Marshall, Esq., a
selectman of Boston, May 18, 1831, who died Aug. 17, 1836, aged 29.
Mr. Otis was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery
Company, in 1828 ; a major in the Boston regiment, a judge-advocate,
a representative to the State Legislature, and president of the Young
Men's Temperance Society.
At the public festival in Faneuil Hall, after the delivery of the ora-
tion for the young men of this city, the following sentiment was given
to the orator of the day : " Kich in the hereditary possession of the vir-
tues and talents of his ancestors, — far richer in possessing the hearts
of the present generation."
We will quote the peroration of this performance : "Do we suppose
that we can shed our liberty upon other countries without exertion,
and let it fall upon them like the dew which stirs not the leaf? No ;
liberty must be long held suspended over them in the atmosphere, by
our unseen and unwearied power. The more intense the heat which
oppresses them, the more must it saturate and surcharge the air, till,
at last, when the ground is parched dry, when vegetation is crisped up,
and the gasping people are ready to plunge into destruction for relief,
then will it call forth its hosts from every quarter of the horizon ;
then will the sky be overcast, the landscape darkened, and Liberty, at
one peal, with one flash, will pour down her million streams; then
will she lift up the voice, which echoed, in days of 3'ore, from the
peaks of Otter to the Grand Monadnock ; then will
' Jura answer through her misty cloud,
Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud.'
"We are asked upon what is our reliance in times of excitement;
what checks have we upon popular violence ; what compensation for
42
494 THE HUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
human infirmities ; what substitutes for bayonets, dragoons, and an
aristocracy? I answer, the reh'gion and morahty of the people. Not
the religion of the State ; not the morality of the fashionable. Thank
Heaven, our house is of no Philistine architecture ! Our trust — our
only trust — is "where it ought to be, — the religion and morality of the
■whole people. Upon that depends, and ought to depend, all that -we
enjoy or hope. Our strength is in length, in breadth, and in depth.
It is in us, and must be felt and exercised by each one and all of us,
or our downfall is doomed. For Ave are the people ; we are our gov-
ernors ; we are the Lord's anointed ; we ai^ the powers that be, and
we bear not the sword in vain. And upon us is the responsibility ;
humble and obscure, domestic and retiring, secluded and solitary, we
may be, — but ours is still the great national trust, go where we will ;
and to God are we, one and all, accountable. Our responsibility is with
us ; it weighs upon us ; it overhangs us, like the dome of this house ;
its universal pressure is the great principle of our protection. If the
just rules of religion and morality pervade through all its parts, the
prodigious weight is gracefully sustained ; but if vice and corruption
creep in its divided circles, the enfeebled fabric will yawn in dread
chasms, and, crumbling, ■^^ill overwhelm us with unutterable ruin!"
TIMOTHY FULLER.
JULY 11, 1S31. FOR THE ANTI-MASONIC SOCIETY.
Was son of Rev. Timothy Fuller, of Princeton, Mass.. and was
born at Chilmark, July 11, 1778. He graduated at Harvard College
in 1801, on which occasion he took part in the discussion, whether
occupancy creates a right of property. He was two years a teacher in
Leicester Academy, and read law with the father of Gov. Levi Lincoln,
of whom he acquired his Democratic views. He studied law, and prac-
tised in Boston, having his residence at Cambridge. His remarkable
logical acuteness, unwavering integrity, and habitual philanthropy, aided
by unwearied application, won for him rapid distinction. As a speaker,
he was remarkable for ready address and forcible language, producing
popular effect. He was an active and spirited leader in the Anti-
masonic movement of 1831. and was jiresident of the Anti-masonic
i
JOSIAH QUINCT, JR. 495
convention of Massachusetts. He espoused the cause of Democrac}'-,
and his pohtical opinions are made very obvious in an oration he deliv-
ered at Watertown. July 4, 1809. Mr. Fuller was a senator of his
native State from 1813 to '16; was a representative from Middlesex
for Congress during the period from 1817 to '25. He was speaker of
the house, in the State Legislature, in 1825, and one of the governor's
Council in 1828.
Mr. Fuller was an earnest advocate for the election of Joh» Quincy
Adams to the presidency; and that distinguished patriot owed his most
elevated station, in no small degree, to his untiring efforts. He had
put forth his energies to elevate Mr. Adams to the chair of his native
State, but without success.
Mr. Fuller made several noted speeches in Congress, among which
was his caustic philippic on the Seminole War, that attracted marked
attention. He was chairman of the naval committee, and his labors in
that department are held in grateful remembrance. In the last years
of his life, he withdrew from business, and retired to Groton. A
favorite project with him was to Avrite a history of the United States,
and that object he hoped to accomplish in his retirement, from the
ample materials he had gathered during his public career ; but his
decease, on the 1st day of October, 1835, removed him before his plan
had ripened for completion. ]Mr. Fuller married Margaret Crane, of
Canton, and had seven children, one of Avhora Avas Margaret, who
married the Marquis Ossoli, of Italy, — a lady highly estimated in
the literary world, who perished in the wreck of the ship Elizabeth,
on Fire Island, near New York, July 19, 1850. Though Mr. Fuller
was involved in the outlay of time and money incident to a political
hfe, he left a handsome fortune accumulated in his profession.
JOSIAH QUINCY, JR.
JULY 4, 1S32. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
"Citizens of Boston," says our orator, in the peroration of this
performance, "you are now assembled where, more than half a century
ago, your fathers stood, and whei'e, half a century hence, your chil-
dren will probably stand, to celebrate the glories of the American Rev-
406 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
olution. May the orator of that day speak of a confederated republic,
stretching from ocean to ocean, filled with arts, and civilization, and free-
dom ! May he speak of the fathers of the Revolution as the instru-
ments of establishing and extending the blessings of liberty over this
land, and over the ■world ! INIay he appeal to the then living constitu-
tion of our country, as an abiding -witness of the wisdom and foresight
of men who framed an instrument which a century could scarce
improve ! May he kindle the patriotism of .his hearers by pointing to
the monument that rises over the spot where Warren fell, and to the
fields throughout our land that were wet with the blood of the victims in
the cause of independence ! But, in the height of his enthusiasm, may
he pause and testify of the men of this generation. May he say, and
say truly, that they gained a victory more glorious than was ever won
on a tented field ; that the men of the east and of the west, the man-
ufacturer of the north, the planter of the south, overcame selfishness,
and immolated local interest on the altar of peace and union ; — that,
drawing wisdom from the experience of the past, and Aveighing the
consequences of their actions on the future, they calmly and deliber-
ately sacrificed temporary and transient views to the permanency of
ancient friendship ; — that they transmitted unimpaired the constitu-
tion of the United States, the palladium of their own and their coun-
try's liberty, to their descendants, and deserved the name of the pre-
servers and perpetuators of the peace, liberty and happiness, of these
States, then and forever one — united — indivisible ! "
Josiah. son of Josiah Quincy, was born at Boston, Jan. 17, 1802. in
Pearl-street, nearly opposite the old Boston Athenaeum. He was pre-
pared for college at Phillips' Academy, Andover, and graduated at
Harvard College in 1821, on which occasion he engaged in a discussion
witWVarren Burton, on the elegant literature of England and France.
He read law with AVilliam Sullivan, became a counsellor-at-law, and
married Mary Jane, daughter of Samuel II. jNIiller. He was lieuten-
ant of the Boston Light Infantry, an aid-de-camp to Gov. Lincoln, and
commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He
was a member of the city Council in 1833, and its president in 18S4
to '37. He was a member and president of the Senate in 1842. He
was elected mayor of Boston from 1845 to '49. Owing to his finan-
cial skill in the direction of the Western Bailroad enterprise, during
twelve years of the most perilous period of its course, it had become
one of the safest investments in the stock market ; was treasurer, also,
JOSIAH QUINCY, JK. 497
of the Vermont Central Kailroad. His veto, as chairman of the Board
of Aldermen, in May, 1847, on the exciting license question, redounds
as greatly to his honor as the enterprise of Long Pond ; and elicited
two famous songs, one of -which was on " The jMan that Dared Stand
Alone," and the other begiiming with,
" God bless the Mayor's casting vote !
A thousand hearts exclaim."
Mr. Quincy was elected treasurer of the Boston Athcnoeum in 1837,
and retained the station for fifteen years. He deserves the reputation
of having been the chief instrument in effectins; the erection of the
present splendid edifice of the institution, on its delightful location in
Beacon-street, by the endorsement of his name to very great amounts,
in times of pressure, and as chairman of the building committee. Thus
this noble institution is as much under obligation to Josiah Quincy, Jr.,
for its present prosperity, as to William Smith Shaw for its origin.
It is related of the Quincys, that on the day after the election of the
junior to the presidency of the Senate, in 1842, a gentleman, meeting
them in State-street, remarked that it was a singular circumstance
there should be two presidents in the same family, at the same time;
on which, President Quincy senior, breasting himself Avitli dignity,
replied, ' • There is a difference, however, in magnitude, as one star dif-
fereth from another star." Whereat, President Quincy the junior
archly remarked, '"That is true enough, father ; for you are the presi-
dent of boys, wliilc I am the president of men."
When the young men of Boston had a public festival in honor of
Charles Dickens, Feb. 2, 1842, Mr. Quincy presided ; and, in allusion
to the remark of the president of Harvard University, that it was a
very good thing for a man to carry his toast in his pocket, lest his
memory might fail, Mr. Quincy stated that he had so far acted upon
that principle as to prepare a toast which he had hoped Avould draw a
speech from Gov. Davis; but he unfortunately had kept it in his pocket
too long, for the governor had retired. The toast was, " The Political
Pilots of Old England and New England : Though their titles may be
different, they observe the same luminaries in the literary, and steer
by the same stars in the moral, horizon." The effective speech of Mr.
Quincy on this occasion — a Welcome to Charles Dickens — appears
in the Boston Book for 1850.
AVhen the telegraph wires were stretched from Boston to Salem, in
42*
498 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
December, 1847, and were in full operation, the following message was
transmitted: "The mayor of the city of Salem sends his compliments
to the mayor of the city of Boston, congratulating him on the completion
of the new bond of union between the two cities." To which Mr.
Quincy, with his usual felicity, made reply: "The mayor of Boston
reciprocates the compliments of the mayor of Salem, and rejoices that
letters of light connect the metropolis with the birth-place of Bow-
ditch." This reminds one of a happy allusion, in a burning address
of Horace Mann to his constituents, on the subject of slavery: " My
words have been cool as the telegraphic wires, while my feelings have
been like the lightning that runs through them." The junior Quincy
is one of the rarest wits amono;st us. He once remarked, with as much
truth as humor, at a military festival, that it has been discovered that
intemperate conviviality is not the only bond of mihtary union; — that
rum, mixed with gunpowder, is not the only means of inspiring cour-
age ; and that men who can stand alone are best fitted to stand bj
■one another.
The fame of the Long; Pond Water Works will ever be identified
with the two Mayors Quincy, senior and junior. To Mayor Quincy
the senior we yield the palm as being the first mayor who publicly
advised and urged, in his inaugural address, January, 1826, the uni-
versal introduction of water through all the streets, lanes and avenues,
of the city, either from Charles or Neponset rivers. To INIayor Quincy
the junior we yield the palm as being the leader who promptly effected
the project ; and to Loammi Baldwin, an eminent engineer who died
in June, 1838, Ave concede the reputation of originating the conception
in 1827, and devising the enterprise, Oct. 1, 1834, of procuring the
source of sujjply from Long Pond. The Union Water Convention of
delegates from each ward in Boston, which held its first meeting at
Tremont Temple, June 9, 1845, and elected Charles Allyn Wells, Esq.,
president, was the gretit moving cause of forwarding this enterprise,
which was completed under Josiah Quincy, Jr. The act of the State
for supplying the city of Boston with pure water from Long Pond was
approved by Gov. Briggs, JNIarch 30, 1846. Is not the name of " Cochit-
uate," on the city ordinance, a palpable misnomer, establishing a Water
Board in December, 1849 ? This magnificent enterprise, completed at
the expense of not less than five millions of dollars, transcends any
other pubhc work ever effected by the people of Boston. It has been
fehcitously said of the younger Quincy, that he has written his name
JOSIAH QriXCY, JR. 499
in water, yet it shall last forever. The imaginative vision of posterity
shall see it written in letters of light, in the rainbows of the fountains.
The people of Boston have never found him dry, and he has taken care
they never shall be so.
When Mr. Quincy attended a public festival in honor of the visiters
at the industrial exhibition in Montreal, October, 1850, he remarked,
in an effective speech at the table : " Where is civil liberty enjoyed in
a higher degree than in this, or in that other British country, the other
side of the Atlantic ? There is one difference, though, that is not so
very great an one as might at first sight appear. You — all of you
— bow down to the sovereign Lady, collectively. We bow down to
one sovereign lady, each for himself This is the only difference ; and
I fear we cannot all say, as you can of your lady, that our sovereign
lady is, as a wife and mother, an ornament and honor to her sex, the
first in virtue, and the first in place."'
At the first celebration of the Cape Cod Association, in Boston,
Nov. 11, 1851, a pleasant incident was elicited by the following toast :
"The Elder and the Younger Quincy:
While for the former. Time, ■n-ith gentle hand,
And all reluctant, slowly turns the sand,
The laiter shows some marks — we hope unfelt —
Of early snows that summer will not melt.
I crave their pardon, but must ask, for one,
How shall we know the fiither from the son ? ' '
This sentiment excited great merriment. Hon. Josiah Quincy
jmiior rose, in the midst of the universal laughter, and cried out,
'•Gentlemen, I introduce to you my son, who sits on the right of the
'chair.' " The venerable President Quincy then rose, was greeted
with cordial welcome, and proceeded to speak, with severity, of the dis-
obedience of some sons. He was very happy in his remarks. lie
concluded by giving as a toast, " The Inhabitants of Cape Cod."
]Mr. Quincy, Jr., now responded to his half of the sentiment above
given; and, among other things, said that he "was a wise child that
knew his own father, and then gave: " The Sons of Cape Cod : May
they always be better men than their fathers."
500 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
EDWARD GOLDSBOROUGH PRESCOTT.
JULY 4, 1832. FOR THE BOSTON REGIMENT.
Was grandson of Hon. William Prescott, a leader in the Battle of
Bunker Hill, -vvliom Washington described as "Prescott the brave."
It is related that when Gen. Warren came up to the works, a short
time before the action, on Bunker Hill,AYith a musket in his hand, Col.
Prescott proposed to him that he should take the command, as he under-
stood he had been appointed by Congress to be major-general, the day
previous. Warren replied, "I have no command here; I have not
received my commission. I come as a volunteer, and shall be happy
to learn service from a soldier of your experience." Daniel Webster
says, "If there was any commander-in-chief in the field, it was Pres-
cott." Frothingham's Siege of Boston is the most reliable statement
extant of the scenes around the head-quarters of the great Amer-
ican Revolution. The father of Edward was born at Pepperell,
Aug. 19, 17G2, and married Catharine G., daughter of Thomas Hick-
ling, Esq., of the Island of St. Michaers, December, 1793. He was
an Essex senator in 1805, of Gov. Gore's Council in 1809, judge
of the Court of Common Pleas for Suifolk, and in 1820 a delegate of
the convention for revising the State constitution.
Young Edward was born in Salem, Mass., Jan. 2, 180-4. His ele-
mentary education was at Brighton, under the tuition of Jacob N.
Knapp, a brother of the celebrated biographer and lawyer, who will
ever be remembered as the teacher, also, of William Hickling, the most
eminent American historian, a brother of Edward, whose researches in
Spanish, Mexican and Peruvian annals, — the more attractive in a
soul so remarkable for modesty and gentleness, — brighten the family
escutcheon. He afterwards became a pupil of the Rev. Dr. Gardiner,
a scholar of the school of Parr, wdio made his pupils men, as well as
scholars. He was further prepared for Harvard College under Master
Carter, of Lancaster ; and graduated at college in 1825, when he
engaged in the study of law under his venerated father, and soon
became a counsellor at the Suffolk bar. He was naturally eloquent,
acquitting himself fluently, and, from the force of his own convictions,
impressively. When at that bar, he received frequent applications in
eminent cases, as the counsel most likely to be effective, by his popular
EDWARD GOLDSBOROUGH PRESCOTT. 501
address, in the interests of the prisoner at the bar. He was a member
of the Boston city Council from 1830 to 1835, and a representative to
the State Legislature. Previous to 1832, he delivered an oration on
our national birth-day, at Pepperell ; and in this year he was elected
commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and was
the colonel of the Boston regiment. He was, for a period, editor of
the New England Galaxy, originated by Mr. Buckingham, Avhich he
conducted with a fair and liberal spirit. The oration of Mr. Prescott,
delivered for the city authorities of Boston, July 4, 1833, was pub-
lished.
Col. Prescott remarks, in the oration at the head of this outline, that
"the whole field of our literature is left unexplored. Our previous
situation, and the times themselves, have heretofore rendered this nec-
essary. Our inhabitants, for a long period struggling for freedom,
afterwards found themselves impoverished, and obliged to contend for
existence. It was not until of late years that we have found leisure
to become a literary nation, or the power to encourage native talent.
Both are now ours, and a territory lies before us such as has never yet
been wandered over, fraught, even in our brief history, with deeds of
daring and endurance which far outstrip the bright coloring of fiction,
and scenes of romantic and sublime interest which may challenge the
world. These are the newly-opened quarries out of which native gen-
ius has already begun to hew for itself immortality ; and from Avhich,
such men as Irving, Cooper, Bryant, Percival, Sprague. and a host of
others of our young countrymen, have drawn the materials of their early
fame."
In his earliest cliildhood, JMr. Prescott made it his chief delight, it
is said, to enact the pastor. Seldom has it happened that a life lias
wandered further astray than his, — dissolute, perhaps, even as the
immortal Col. Gardiner, — from this its earliest promise, to bring it
out so clear, and full, and beautiful, at last. From the immediate
centre of what the world calls pleasure, says Bishop Doane, with
everything that could infatuate the heart and overwork the brain, — in
professional success, in official station, in worldly prospect, — jNIr. Pres-
cott, by God's grace, escaped. Previous to taking holy orders, Mr.
Prescott remarked to a friend, "I have served the devil long enough,
and I will henceforth devote myself to God." lie gave the whole
power of his soul to divinity, prayer, and Christian efibrt; and most
502 THE IirXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
firmly, from the pure love of his boy's heart, in the parish of St. John's,
at Salem, N. J., over Avhich, about the year 183G, he became the rec-
tor, and ever sent out, towards the wide world from which he was res-
cued, warm thoughts of joyful gratitude that he had escaped its snares.
He was always anxious to show that he had taken this stand, and was
to shrink, on no occasion, from avowing himself a true follower of the
Cross. He was married by Bishop Doane, in St. John's Church, New
Jersey, in the year 1835, to Miss Margaret J. Smith, of that parish.
He loved the sanctuary and its worship. He would have lived in it.
Its very nails and hinges had for him, says Doane, a sacredness. Our
rector had devoted so much of his life to military ambition, that, long
after he had entered the clerical profession, his mind would dwell upon
it ; and one day, meeting an early military associate, at the Astor
House, in New York city, who informed him that a military review was
to take place up in the city, Mr. Prescott remarked he could not repress
his desire to witness the scene, and they proceeded directly to the
spot.
The sermons of Mr. Prescott were of high ability and eloquence,
and fruitful in doctrine and practical sentiment ; and should be rescued
from oblivion, as their appearance to the public eye would advance the
reputation of theological hterature, and extend the growth of piety in
our republic. As a catechist for the youth of his parish, he was
intensely devoted to the work, and displayed peculiar tact, endearing
himself to the young lambs of the flock. At length, the slow decay
which wasted his life brought him, as men say, to his death. On the
8th of April, 1844, he took passage from Boston for the Azores
Islands, hoping the restoration of his health. The pale cheek, that
warmed itself into a smile of melancholy, is colder now than the. salt
wave that moans his lonely requiem. Prescott waits in the deep
caves, a thousand fathoms down, until the sea shall yield her dead.
The beautiful surplice, made for him by his dear mother, in which he
ever gracefully officiated, Mr. Prescott bequeathed to his closest friend,
the Rev. Wilham Croswell, of Boston, who, on receiving it, remarked
that it would be a suitable winding-sheet for himself; and, on his recent
sudden decease, the surplice of Prescott enshrouded the remains of
Croswell. What over-payment of a father's best exertions, of a
mother's least reserving sacrifices, a ministry for souls like that of
Edward Goldsborough Prescott !
EDWARD GOLDSBOROL'G^ PRESCOTT. 503
ELEGIAC.
[Written in a copy of Milton, presented by the late Rev. Edward G. Prescott, who died on his passage
lo the Azores, on the third day after his departure from Boston, on board the Harbinger, April 11, 1M4.J
"Eheu quantum, minus est cum reliquis versari, quam tui meminisse." * /
Thy cherislieil gift, departed friend,
With trembling I unfold.
And fondly gaze upon its lids.
In crimson wrought and gold :
I open to its dirge-like strain
On one who died at sea, —
And as I reM of Lycidas,
I think the while on thee !
Thy languid spirit sought, in vain,
The beautiful Azores,
But, ere it reached the middle main.
Was wrapt to happier shores ;
As in a dream-like halcyon calm,
It entered on its rest,
Amid the groves of Paradise,
And islands of the blest.
Kind friends afar, at thy behest.
Had fitted bower and hall.
To entertain their kindred guest,
In ever green Fayal :
In greener bowers thy bed is made,
And sounder is thy sleep.
Than ever life had known among
The chambers of the deep !
No mark along the waste may tell
The place of thy repose.
But there is One who loved thee well,
And loved by thee, Wiio knows ;
And though now sunk, like Lycidas,
Beneath the watery floor.
Yet This great might who walked the waves
Shall thy dear form restore.
Though years may first pass by, no time
His purpose shall derange.
And in His guardianship thy soul
Shall sutfer no sea-change ;
And when the depths give up their charge,
0, may our welcome be,
With thine, among Christ's ransomed throngs,
Where there is no more sea !
WiLUAM CrOSWELL.
St. Peter's Parson-age, Acbi-rx, October, 18-U.
• " Alas of how much less value it is to be conversant with such as remain than to recollect thee I "
504 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
ANDREW DUNLAP.
JULY 4, 1832. FOR THE WASHINGTON SOCIETY.
Was bom at Salem, Mass., Sept. 21, 1794, and was the only son
of the late James Dunlap, a reputable merchant of that city, and a
native of Ireland. He was a scholar of the famous Rev. Dr. Bentley,
and from his earliest childhood was esteemed as a boy of brilliant parts.
On leaving Harvard College, where he graduated in 1813, he entered
on the study of law, under John Pitman, Esq., a counsellor of Salem,
afterwards the U. S. District Judge for Rhode Island. On the com-
pletion of his legal course, which he pursued with devotion, he was
entered as an attorney in his native city. He soon became distin-
guished for his eloquence and zeal in his profession. In 1819 Mr.
Dunlap gave an oration for the young men of Salem, on the fourth of
July, which excited great admiration, and was the occasion of flattering
letters to the young orator, from the early Presidents Adams and Jeffer-
son. He removed to Boston in the next year, where he married Lucy
Ann Charlotte Augusta, daughter of Samuel Tales, Esq., merchant of
Boston. Here his effective eloquence made him a popular advocate,
especially in criminal cases, and opened to him a wide field of profes-
sional practice. He delivered orations in 1822 and in 1832, in Boston,
on our national birth-day. -He was warmly attached to the Demo-
cratic party, and became a favorite speaker at their political meetings ;
and was an early advocate of the election of Andrew Jackson to the
presidency, and was friendly to his administration to the day of his
death. In 1827 Mr. Dunlap was elected as a representative for
Boston, and was defeated the same year in a contest for the State
Senate.
Mr. Dunlap was appointed, in March, 1829, the Attorney of the
United States for the District of ]Massachusetts. The important duties
of this office he discharged until within a short period of his decease,
with professional courtesy most winning towards the bar and the
bench, with generosity unrivalled towards prisoners, and with clear-
ness and fidelity to his station. That he was tenacious of his political
principles was ever obvious : he gave the following sentiment at a
public festival, July 4, 1829 : " The Ebony and Topaz of the Political
World : The aristocracy who pretend that they alone are qualified for
ANDREW DUNLAP. 505
superior stations, and the common people destined to labor — for the
liberties of mankind." He resigned the station a few months previous
to his decease, feeling admonished, bj the disease which eventually
terminated his existence, and was then casting its shadows over his
path, to retire from active labor, and not choosing ''to lag superflu-
ous" in his office when the power of fully sustaining its burdens no
longer remained. His resignation drew from Hon. Joseph Stor}', and
also from Hon. Judge Davis, testimonials expressive of their affec-
tionate personal regard, and of their decided approbation of his official
conduct. The hope was indulged by his friends that a tour to the
south would restore his health ; but it proved unavailing, or onl}^ pro-
tracted, for a short period, the hour of his final departure. He
retur«ed from "Wa.\hington, whither he had gone, to his native town,
where he died in the bosom of his fainily connections, July 27, 1835.
One of his last sentiments — uttered at that period when the mind
looks Avith clearness through all the events of life, even though the eye
of the countenance be dim — is worthy of remembrance, says Charles
Sumner, who prepared and edited the Treatise on the Pi-actice of
Courts of Admiralty in Civil Cases of Maritime Jurisdiction, pub-
lished in 1836, — a work which would perpetuate his memory, though
his eloquence and patriotic fervor were unknown. He said, that one
of his happiest reflections, at that moment, was, that*, in the whole
course of his professional life, he had never pressed hard upon any
man. He was, indeed, a man of generous impulses. All his feelings
were strong, and were the great source of his eloquence. "What he
did was the act of his whole heart. And no man's heart beat quicker
than his, at the call of patriotism or philanthropy. We are quoting
Sumner, mostly. He was fearless in his conduct, kind towards his
inferiors, and amiable towards all around him. His public addresses
were in a style vigorous, warm, and often impassioned, like his whole
character. In the responsible duties of a Avide practice, he was inva-
riably prompt, conciliatory and honorable, as he was able, learned, and
indefatigable. His arguments to the court and jury often attested, not
only a large acquaintance with the books of his profession, but, also,
with those of literature and general knowledge. Some of them are
preserved in the Reports of the Circuit Court of the United States for
the First Circuit, and in those of the Supreme Court of ^lassachusetts.
Mr. Dunlap, in his defence of Abner Kneeland, who was charged with
the crime of blasphemy, advanced a manly exposition of the rights
43
50C THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of conscience, which will be read with interest long after the excitement
of the trial shall be forgotten. May the scourge of infidelity ever be
averted from this republic !
In the oration of Andrew Dunlap, at the head of this outline, writ-
ten in a style of great eloquence, we find a passage breathing the true
spirit of the Revolution, in a manly tone: "The purity of the char-
acter of the American Revolution sheds lustre on its history. It was
a contest, not of ambition, but of principle. Those who shone in the
council and gained laui-els in the field were not pursuing the shadow of
flilse glory. Their sole desire was to secure the freedom of their
country. They knew that the conflict would be arduous, exhaust the
resources and shed the blood of an infant people. With the courage of
heroes they united the mild virtues of philosophers and philanthropists,
and never appealed to arms till the measure of injuries was full, till
all hope of redress vanished, and the only alternative left was that
before of Brutus and the Romans, — to live freemen, or die slaves.
If there ever was a people under the sun Avho were armed in honesty,
and could with sincerity appeal to Heaven for the sublime purity of
their motives and purposes, it was the people of America bursting the
ties which had united them for more than a century to Great Britain.
"The world acknowledged the justice of our cause. France and
Holland became our friends, and the great Frederick of Prussia left
on record, in his works, a condemnation of the wickedness and madness
of the British government. After the loss of thirteen provinces, a
hundred thousand of the lives of his subjects, and a hundred millions
of their treasure, the British monarch was compelled to acknowledge
American independence. Many of the most inveterate enemies of
America became convinced of their errors. Even the celebrated Gen-
eral Burgoyne recanted his political heresies, and confessed, in the
House of Commons, that the principle of the American war was wrong.
Yet this convert had been one of our most violent persecutors. He
had, to use his own language, thrown himself at his majesty's feet,
and solicited the honor of crushing those wilful outcasts, the Amer-
ican rebels, to whom he afterwards surrendered, at Saratoga. It was
this general who denounced upon our country devastation, flimine,
and every concomitant horror, and threatened to let slip those dogs of
war, his savage auxiliaries, the employment of whom the great friend
to America called in vain upon the lords bishops to oppose with the
sanctity of their lawn, and whose merciless aid had been secured at a
JOHN WADE. 507
war-feast, where, as an eminent English liistorian relates, the king's
minister-plenipotentiary to the poor Indians was invited to banquet
upon a Bostonian, and to drink his blood. The violators of cur rights
at length received the punishment of their transgressions. It was the
last wish of Lord Chatham that the venfjeance of the nation might
fall heavy upon the ministry. It Avas the hope of jNIr. Fox that they
mijrht be sent into i";nominious retirement, with the curses of their
country upon their heads. That wish was accomplished, that hope
was realized. The malediction of the country followed them, and
the reprobation of posterity will forever rest upon their memories. Is
it not a subject of the proudest reflection, that our country was right,
as well as successful ; and that the American Revolution as much
deserves admiration for the lustre of its political virtue, as the bril-
liance of its mihtary triumphs 7 "
Andrew Dunlap, beside being the legal pleader of government, Avas,
as we have seen, the rhetorical advocate of measures devised by the
managers of party political machinery : indeed, he was the most pop-
ular orator of the Democracy. At the public dinner in Faneuil Hall,
of which he once said that the soul of our ancestry ever filled the con
secrated spot, Mr. Dunlap gave this characteristic sentiment: ''The
Republican Party: By maintaining the purity of their principles, they
maintain the rights of the people ; by preserving union in their ranks,
they preserve the union of the States."
JOHN WADE.
JULY 4, 1833. FOR THE WASHIXGTOX SOCIETY.
Was son of Col. John "Wade, and born at Woburn, September,
1808. He was early educated at Lexington Academy ; graduated at
Amherst College in 1830 ; and was one year a student at the Law
School, in Cambridge. He read law two yeai-s under Bradford Sum-
ner, Esq., of Boston ; was an attorney of the Court of Common Pleas
in 1833 ; and married Ann Elizabeth Warfield, of Baltimore, where
he finally settled. The oration of ^Ir. Wade was published in the
Boston Daily Post, shortly after its delivery. He died in Baltimore,
Oct. 22, 1851.
'508 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
AMASA WALKER.
JULY 4, 1833. FOR THE YOUNG MEN'S SOCIETIES OF BOSTON.
Was born at Woodstock, Conn., May 4, 1799. His father removed,
in the year 1800, to that part of Brookfield since incorporated as North
Brookfield. He was early educated in the pubhc school, and partly
fitted for college under the tuition of Rev. Dr. Snell. Among his
fellow-students at this period were the late Dr. Mead, of New York,
Judge Cheever, of Albany, and Wilham Cullen Bryant, the poet. Ill
health compelled him to withdraw from mental studies ; and, at the age
of fifteen, he was employed in the store of Col. Charles Henshaw, at
North Brookfield. When of age, he entered in partnership with the
late Allen Newhall, Esq., at West Brookfield, with whom he continued
during a period of more than two years. In the days of his minority
he had saved the amount of one hundred and thirty-six dollars, which
was his capital for business. His father aided him with a few hundreds
more, and his net profits there were soon twenty-five hundred dollars.
In 1823 he removed to Methuen, and became an agent to the INIethuen
IManufliCturing Company, at a salary of only six hundred dollars ; but,
previous to his withdrawal, it is said, the company made him the
offer of twice that sum, which he declined. While here. Mr. Walker
originated a literary society, in connection Avith the late Timothy
Claxton, which afterwards erected what is known as Lyceum Hall. In
the year 1825 he became a commission-merchant at Boston, in South
Market-street, and engaged in the wholesale shoe business, whi^h he
continued until 1840, when, owing to ill health, he sold his stock to
Messrs. Emerson, Harris & Potter, his former partners. Mr. Walker
was one of the first in his line of business to open a trade with the
western part of our country, in the extension of which he aided largely
in our metropolis.
While a citizen of Boston, jNIr. Walker was actively engaged in
originating and sustaining the Boston Lyceum, in 1829, which com-
menced its operations in Chauncey-jolace Hall. It increased in mem-
bers and popularity, until even the Trcmont Temple did not afford
suitable room for those who desired tickets. Mv. Walker was its first
secretary, and was author of its first report ; afterwards its president,
and, during nearly fourteen years, one of the board of manao-ers.
Thi^ was the first institution of that character in New England, except-
AMASA WALKER. 509
ing one said to have been established at Worcester, in 1825 ; and wa3
the first society of young men in Boston that admitted ladies to its
lectures. Vigorous efforts were required in its operations, and to have
it properly conducted, during the earliest period of its existence;
and the eagle eye of jMr. Walker watched its course with jealous care.
Shortly after his removal from Boston, the institution was dissolved,
giving way to the Mercantile Library Association, and other popular
kindred institutions.
INIr. Walker was one of the earliest advocates of the establishment
of that glory of New England, the Western Railroad ; and wrote and
spoke warmly in advocacy of tlie measure, then deemed visionary. He
was, energetic in efforts to obtain subsci-ibers to the stock ; was one of
the directors, for three years, on the part of the stockholders ; and, in
1840, was a director on the part of the State.
He was, at an early period after he came to Boston, actively engaged
in political life, and was often nominated for city and State offices. In
1837 he was a candidate for Congress, in opposition to Hon. Richard
Fletcher, and received the entire support of the Democratic party in
that canvass. He was nominated, also, for the office of mayor by the
same party. Mr. Walker has ever been an advocate of immediate
emancipation, and was for many years connected with the Massachu-
setts Anti-slavery Society. In 1848 he was elected, by the Free Soil
party of North Brookfield, a State representative. In 1849 he was
elected to the State Senate by the coalition of the Democratic and Free
Soil parties. In 1850 he Avas the Free Soil candidate for lieutenant-
governor ; and, in October of the same year, he was president of their
convention, held at Worcester. In 1851 Mr. Walker was elected Sec-
retary of State, by the Legislature. He has been devoted to the
temperance cause, taking the lead in numerous meetings and conven-
tions. He was president of the first total abstinence society ever
formed in Boston ; and few persons, not employed in public lectures,
have endured more laborious efforts than the subject of this memoir.
Arduous as have been the mercantile pursuits of Mr. Walker during
the greater part of his life, a taste for literature has been cultivated,
and every leisure moment has been devoted to mental improvement,
especially acquiring a familiarity with the French language and scien-
tific knowledge. Having turned his attention, for many years, to the
careful study of political economy, he received, on his retirement from
mercantile life, an appointment as professor of that science in the col-
43*
510 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
lege at Oberlin. He removed thither, in 1842, with his family, and
remained there until the next year ; when, his health being impaired,
he returned to the old homestead, in North Brookfield, — his parents
having deceased, — and became president of the lyceum in that town.
Mr. Walker early married Emily, a daughter of Dea. Jonathan Carle-
ton ; and, at her decease, he married Hannah, a daughter of Stephen
Ambrose, Esq., of Concord, N. H.
After his return from Oberlin, having been appointed a delegate to
the first International Peace Convention, in London, Mr. Walker
embarked for England, and attended the sessions of that assembly,
when he was elected one of its vice-presidents. A committee of five
gentlemen was appointed to bear a memorial to Louis Philippe, King
of France, on the subject of arbitration between nations. Mr. Walker
was of this committee, and visited Paris with his colleagues. Louis
Philippe was then at the zenith of his power, and gave the delegates a
very gratifying reception, in his palace, at Neuilly. After this, Mr.
Walker returned to England, and spent some time in travelling over
that country, and in Scotland, L-eland, and Wales. In October of that
year, he left England. In 1819 he again visited Europe, as a delegate
to the Peace Congress, at Paris. In that Congress he took an active part,
and was one of its officers. After the adjournment of the Congress,
he travelled through Belgium into Germany, and up the Rhine as far
as Frankfort on the Maine, and thence to England. Here, in company
with Elihu Burritt, he travelled, attending various peace-meetings ;
and visited Scotland, also, for the same purpose. For the last few
years, Mr. Walker has devoted his time chiefly, in connection with Mr.
Burritt, to the peace movement ; and has discharged the duties of cor-
responding secretary of the League of Human Brotherhood, of which
Mr. Burritt was president.
If Mr. Walker has ever been distinguished for one purpose more
than another, it has been for his bold and uncompromising advocacy of
unpopular reforms, when few had the courage or disposition to attempt
it. As an illustration of this, we might mention his vigorous oppo-
sition to the popular doctrine, in 1840, that "a national bank was
necessary to regulate exchanges." This opinion — then almost uni-
versally supported by the mercantile community — Mr. Walker com-
bated in the most decided manner ; and so deep was the impression
he made on the audiences he addressed, that it is said his services were
in so great request, that he had on hand, at one time, nearly a hundred
AMASA WALKER. 511
applications, from as many towns in New England, to lecture on the
currency. At no period in his life did he encounter greater obloquy
than that while opposing the renewal of the national bank. Although
Mr. Walker resided at Oberlin but one year, he continued his connec-
tion with the college for nearly six years, giving an annual course of
lectures, which were received with intense interest by the students,
and which are understood to be in a course of preparation for the press.
At the late commencement of Middlcbury College, ]Mr. Walker received
the honorary degree of Master of Arts. However much conflicting
parties may differ from Mr. Walker on points of political and moral
reform, we cannot Avithhold the tribute of admiration at his persevering
energy in mercantile pursuits, and untiring vigor in public political
life.
The oration at the head of this article was delivered in the presence
of twelve societies of young men, of one of which, the Boston Lyceum,
Mr. Walker was the President ; and three hundred and seventy mem-
bers of these institutions were in the pi'ocession, to listen to its delivery,
with suitable banners. The names of these societies we perpetuate, for
the honor of our city: The Young Men's Marine Bible Society; Bos-
ton Young Men's Society ; Young Men's Association for the Promo-
tion of Literature and Science ; The Franklin Debating Society ;
Laboring Young ]\Ien's Temperance Society ; Lyceum Elocution and
Debating Society ; Mercantile Library Association ; Mechanic Appren-
tices Library Association, and the Boston Lyceum.
It was said of this oration in the Daily Advocate, edited by Benj.
F. Hallett, that •' it was admirably fitted to excite a spirit of emulation
in moral and mental improvement in young men. It was sound, sensi-
ble, instructive and eloquent, in appeals to the best feelings of our
nature," and excited repeated bursts of applause from the audience.
We would single the forthcoming as a fair specimen of the general
spirit of this performance.
" The influence of associations like ours," says ^Ir. Walker,
"formed upon popular principles, is peculiarly calculated to oblit-
' erate those distinctions of caste which exist in all communities ; and,
unless common fame be a great liar, are found especially in Boston.
The advantages these societies affoi'd to young men of all classes to
elevate their condition arc so great, that, if properly improved, there
cannot long be those marked distinctions which have hitherto prevailed.
Operating as a barrier to general improvement, and as the bane of social
512 THE nUXDKED BOSTON ORATOES.
intercourse. This tendency is a truly republican one, and is a matter
of just complacency. The greater and the more perfect the commu-
nity of interest and equality of condition that exist among any people,
the more secure the enjoyment of equal rights and equal liberties. No
one class can oppress the rest, unless possessed of superior power and
advantages. If no one possesses this preeminence, all are safe. The
proposition is a plain one. We will only further remark, in relation
to this, that any approximation towards aristocratic distinctions in
society is to be deprecated, as both unbecoming and injurious.
" We are not of the number of those Avho delight in raising spectres
of ruin. We have little feeling in common with such as indulge in
gloomy forebodings, and utter melancholy predictions, concerning the
future destiny of our beloved country. We would rather inspire in
the public mind a Avell-grounded confidence in the stability of our free
institutions, and a firm assurance of their ultimate perfection. Our
views do not harmonize with those who, in the prospective of our coun-
try's fortunes, perceive the certain indications of decay and death ;
— quite the reverse. A glorious and enchanting prospect opens on our
eyes, as we cast them down the vista of the future ; and, although we
well know that not only the liberty and happiness of a great nation,
but of the world, are suspended on this first grand exj^eriment of self-
government, we feel that they are safe. As a nation, we are fast rising
in the scale of morals; intelligence is every day becoming more widely
diffused ; and the spirit of improvement, in all that contributes to the per-
fection of human society, is abroad in vigorous and efficient action. We
are aAvare. indeed, that the glorious work is only begun, but we antici-
pate its final and triumphant completion with all the assurance of a per-
fect faith. AYe would engage in it, not Avith the excitement of fear,
but with the stimulus of hope. We know there are many who will
differ from us in this view wc take of our country's prospects. They
fancy they clearly perceive, in the bitter animosities of party strife, and
the unblushing depravity of party leadei-s, sure and fatal indications of
the corruption and premature dissolution of our repubhcan government.
It is undoubtedly true that there never existed, at any previous period
of our country's history, so much political intrigue and party manage-
ment as at the present time. Men are bought and sold, assigned and
transferred, with surprising convenience and facility, while political
somersets are but the diversions of the day.
" The science of party tactics has arrived at a high degree of per-
CALEB GUSHING, 513
fection ; and, under the direction of those able professors, ■which are
found in all political parties, the beauties and advantages of the system
certainly bid fair to be very fully developed. Now, it may be asked,
is there not great danger in all this 7 If there were no counteracting
influence. — if there were no check to these evils, no power sufficient
to correct these abuses. — they would probably eventually corrupt our
government, and overturn our liberties. Fortunately, there is a power
which can say to the angry surges of profligacy, ' Hitherto shall ye
come, and no further.' That power is the elective franchise, which a
virtuous and intelligent people can wield with irresistible energy and
effect, — which they will thus wield, whenever they feel the practical
evils of such abuses. Hitherto, the people have never realized the
effect of the mischief, — consequently have never been incited to action.
They have, indeed, seen the despicable game of party shuffling, — they
have witnessed the paltry scramble for office, — but they have not felt
their own liberties endangered by all this. The great and important
interests of the nation have not been sacrificed ; therefore the people
have not been aroused; — but let these abuses become more flagrant, —
let them encroach directly on the rights of the community, — and the
people will awake, and at a blow crush the heartless monster of unprin-
cipled ambition. They will then feel the necessity of adopting the
principle that moral integrity is an indispensable qualification for
office, and will cease to bestow their suffrage on the candidate of a party,,
without regard to private character. The time will come, we trust
soon, when those who have trampled on the laws will not be thought,
best qualified to sustain the laws, — when those who have insulted the
moral sense of the community will not be thought the safest guardians
of public virtue."
CALEB GUSHING.
JULY 4, 1833. FOR THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
Was born at Salisbury, Mass., Jan. 17 1800, and was son of Capt.
John Newmarch Gushing, an enterprising ship-owner of that town.
He was fitted for college at the public school ; graduated at Harvard
College in 1817, when he gave the salutatory oration, and was of the law
school in 1818 ; was the poet for the Phi Beta Kappa Society in ISID.
514 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATOES.
When a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts, he delivered an
oration on the durability of the Federal Union ; and, in 1819, -was
appointed a tutor in mathematics and natural philosophy in Harvard
College, ■^^•hich station he occupied until July 13, 1821, Avhen he deliv-
ered a truly pertinent farewell address, which had a strong tendency
to enkindle a decided spirit of ambition in the minds of the youthful
sons of Harvard. He remarks to the students : " Whatever profession
you may severally choose, it -will be your happiness to know, and con-
tribute to prove, that, in this country, at least, every man is the arti-
ficer of his own good or ilf fortune ; since neither can any one appeal
to the possession of rank as a substitute for personal worth, nor to the
absence of it as impeding him in the pursuit of honor. Should any
want of prosperity be our lot, in the plans of future usefulness which
we may have formed, ^xe ought to reproach ourselves alone for the
failure, saying, with the Roman patriot :
' Men, at some time, ai-e masters of their flites ,
The flxult, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.'
"You can decide whether fortune shall be in your hands, or you in
iiers, — whether you shall be driven onward upon the tide of time,
unheeded or unheeding, or whether you shall not rather sail over its
waters in the security and pride of conscious mastery over the wind
and the wave."
He entered on the study of law under Ebenezer Moseley, Esq. ; and,
on the celebration of our national birth-day, in 1821, Mr. Gushing
delivered an oration for the Debating Club of his adopted town, in
which he said: "As the grandest invention ever yet bestowed upon
the human race is that of political societies, so there is a grander still
which remains ; and that is a Federal Union, embracing within its
ample jurisdiction all the civilized nations of the globe." In 1822 he
was an entered attorney in the courts of Essex county, and gave a 4th
of July oration for the Light Inflintry Company of Newburyport. In
1825 he was elected a State representative ; and in the next year he
was seated in the State Senate, and published a History of Newbury-
port. He came out this year, also, with a treatise on the Practical
Principles of Political Economy. He had previously translated a work
from the French on Maritime Contracts for Letting to Hire. He pro-
nounced a eulogy on Jefferson and Adams, in Newburyport, at this
period, where he pursued the successful practice of the law until 1829.
CALEB CUSHIXG. 515
He married Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. Judge Wilde, of
Boston, Nov. 23, 1824.
When but twentj-six years, of age, Mr. Gushing -was a candidate for
Essex district to the House of Congress ; and was accused of recom-
mending himself in the Boston Patriot, October 14, 1826, as a suit-
able incumbent, "which he indignantly disavo'O'ed, in an eloquent
defence, published on the last daj of that month. He remarks: "It
has been said, if the author was my friend, he would put me in the
way of knowing him, or of exculpating myself, — but the assertion is
altogether gratuitous. Junius was friendly to Burke, and yet he
would not incur the risk of exposing himself, even to clear his friend
from an injurious suspicion. The shafts of calumny were assailing the
greatest and the best, and should I murmur if they chanced to descend
upon my humbler head ? The Father of his Country was compelled to
mourn in bitterness of spirit, that, after all his toils and services, he
was libelled in language fit only to be applied to a vulgar pickpocket.
Have not our seniors beheld Hamilton accused of robbing the treasury?
Sullivan, of cheating a poor man in an ordinary bargain ? and Jefferson,
of being a common defaulter 7 Nay ; scarce two years have gone by,
since, just before an election, the highest man in this nation was sued
on a charge of petty fraud.'' So powerful was the prejudice on the
public mind, in this accusation, that our young candidate was not
elected.
Were it not for this disappointment, it is highly probable that the
hterary world would never have been favored with three valuable pro-
ductions, which were the result of the tour over Europe Avith his
accomplished wife, from 1829 to 1832, shortly after this untoward mis-
fortune. In 1832 was published Letters Descriptive of Public Mon-
uments, Scenery and Manners, in France and Spain, written by his
wife, in two volumes, which convey a highly decided conception of her
intellectual and moi-al po^Yers. In the same year, Mr. Gushing pub-
hshed his Reminiscences of Spain, — the Country, its People, History
and ^Monuments, — in two volumes. He came out, this year, also, with
a Review, Historical and Political, of the late Revolution in France,
and the Consequent Events in Belgium, Poland, Great Britain, and
Other Parts of Europe, — in two volumes. In this year, moreover, ho
pronounced his admirable oration at Newburyport. In 1834 Mr.
Gushing addressed the American Institute of Instruction ; and gave,
also, a eulogy on Lafayette, for the young men of Dover, N. H., and
a reply to Cooper, the novelist.
516 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
After such striking evidence of mental power and perseverance, Mr.
Gushing rose above the shafts of calumny, and was elected, in 1833
and 1834, by the to^Yn of Newburyport, to the State Legislature,
Tvhen he acquired great fame by his speech on the currency and public
deposits, which was published. Having thus prepared the way to
public regard, Mr. Gushing again threw the gauntlet for a seat in
Gongress, and was elected by Essex district in 1835, which station he
occupied until 1843. While in Gongress, his literary pursuits ran
parallel with his interest in national politics ; for w"e find him a fre-
quent contributor to the North American Review, in his tasteful arti-
cles on the legal and social condition of women, and a review of
••Boccaccio." The history of his country is familiar to his mind as
household breathings, as his articles on Golumbus and Amerigo Ves-
pucci clearly indicate. Mr. Gushing gave an oration before the literary
societies of Amherst Gollege, Aug. 23, 1836, on the subject of popular
eloquence, and its power in our republic. We vnsh, said a reviewer,
that one in a hundred of the orations which come upon us by the
thousand, were a hundredth part as good. His style as a writer, like
his manner as a speaker, has been, generally, too formal, and moves
with a stately, buskined tread. His elements were taken too freely
from the Latin part of our vernacular tongue, to the neglect of the
pithiest and raciest words and sayings which grow upon the old Saxon
stock.
In the oration at the head of this outline, Mr. Gushing remarks that
the Golonization Society utterly disavows any sentiment or design of
ill will towards the colored citizens of the United States. " Our pur-
poses in respect of them are dictated by benevolent consideration for
their welfare. We may, it is true, be mistaken in the means we adopt
for their intended good, — all means are liable to err ; but, if we err in
this matter, it is an error of the head, not the heart. And, for myself,
I profess that the emigration from among us of all the colored inhab-
itants of the country would, in my opinion, occasion a chasm in the
various walks of industry, which I am at a loss to see how we should
supply ; and, therefore, I am not prepared to admit that their removal
would be for our interest. At the same time, I cannot sympathize in
any partial scheme of alleged philanthropy, which, out of anxiety for
the welfare of the blacks, would totally disregard that of the whites ; I
cannot desire to see my country plunged into the horrors of a servile
insurrection, or of civil war ; nor can I abstain from raising my voice
CALEB GUSHING. 517
against measures wliich, in my apprehension, sap the very foundation
of the Union."
Mr. Gushing gave another oration at Springfield, July 4, 1839, on
the material growth and territorial progress of our country. The
acquisition of Louisiana was obtained by a flagrant violation of the con-
stitution, language sanctioned by the great Jefferson himself One
object of our orator was to repress an undue ambition to widen our
national bounds. He moreover pronounced, this year, for the Phi
Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, an oration on the errors of popular
reformers, in which he displayed great abihty, and a ready rhetorical
power.
Mr. Gushing has ever had the reputation of great ambition. Would
that all men of talent among us had the nerve of Galeb Gushing ; and,
instead of burrowing unknown, Avould elevate themselves in elevating
the standard of the public welfare ! " I am also accused of youth and
ambition," says he, when his motives were impugned. "As for the
heinous fault of not being an old man, I may say, with Chatham in
his youth, that I hope time will mend it, and that the charge comes
with ill grace from some, to whom age has arrived, without wisdom.
But, in seriousness, it is needless to be wiser than the constitution.
And \ am yet to be informed what there is culpable in a pure and
single-hearted ambition, with a willingness, when called, to enter the
career of public service, which the republican institutions of our happy
country open to all its citizens, — to the low alike with the lofty." We
remember the remark of a lady of his adopted town, who, on seeing
John Quincy Adams and Caleb Gushing walking together, on Penn-
sylvania Avenue, at the capital, said she felt proud for her native
State, that it had such men ; and this reminds us of the felicitous
epigram from the pen of Hannah F. Gould, another lady of Newbury-
port, and somewhat eminent in poetry, tliat, even though he were under
ground, he would still be pushing ; and a political opponent also said
of him that there was no fear "he would ever use any other than
means worthy of his elevated character to push himself to those dis-
tinctions which would be the certain meed of his abilities, if his politics
were of a more popular cast." As the epigram of Miss Gould, and the
gallant reply of Galeb Cusliing, are ever in request, we here insert
them both :
" Lay aside all ye dead.
For in the next bed
Reposes the body of Gushing ;
44
518 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OEATORS.
The response
He has crowded his way
Through the world, as thoy say,
And, even though dead, will be pushing."
" Here lies one whose wit,
"Without wounding, could hit, —
And green grows the grass that 's above her ;
Having sent every beau
To the regions below,
She has gone down herself for a lover."
The most effective display made on the floor of Congress, by Caleb
Gushing, was in the winter session of 183G, when Benjamin Hardin, of
Kentucky, the carving-knife of John Randolph, "whetted on a brick-
bat," attacked the character of the New Englanders, and attributed to
them, in all their acts, grovelling and mercenary motives. Hardin was
a most provoking and annoying enemy, — with his deformed finger,
crooked like an audacious note of interrogation, his livid face peering,
with a sneering expression, into that of his adversary, — a seeming arro-
gant tone of voice, — his left hand thrust, country lawyer like, with
due elegance and grace, into his breeches pocket ; — altogether, he was
enough to worry the most resigned ; and, had Job been afflicted with
a speech from Ben Hardin, of Kentucky, he would have bounced, like
a parched pea, from his stabular mound, seized upon the adjacent pitch-
fork, and scattered death and destruction around him. He aimed at
cod-fishery, wooden nutmegs, and tin-peddling; and said that Caleb
Cushing came from a section of country where the people could see a
dollar with the naked eye as far as through a telescope. Mr. Cushing
replied to this philippic in a calm and dignified speech. He reviewed
the history of New England, proved her sons the worthy descendants
of the sturdy old Plymouth Pilgrims, and wove a masterly defence, of
great strength and beauty, that even silenced the heretofore unabashed
Kentuckian. That debate gave rise, in part, to an excellent article in
the North American Review, entitled Misconceptions of the New
England Character, ascribed to his hand.
Mr. Cushing Avas never found slumbering at his desk. His voice was
often resounding in vindication of important national interests. Jrlis
speeches were vigorous and effective. The land distribution, right of
petition on slavery, executive usurpation, claims on Oregon, expenses
of the Indian department, were right manfully discussed. In Con-
gress, he was seated on the left of the speaker. His person is of the
CALEB CUSIIING. 519
common height, and well-proportioned ; his face intellectual and hand-
some ; his eye quick and piercing. He has somc^vhat the rounding
shoulders of a student. He shines in polite literature, as he does in
polite society. As a public debater he ranks high, and has been one
of the most efficient actors of the Whig and Democratic parties. His
manner ^vas calm and subdued. He seemed to have studied his mode
of address ; and, if anything, -was rather formal. His voice "was gut-
.tural, and, in attempting to attain a proper level, he reduced his tones
to too lo\Y a scale ; and -when he was up, it struck the spectator that he
was listening to a public lecturer, rather than an eloquent statesman
pouring forth his thoughts to an American Congress. At a much later
period, Mr. Gushing has been disencumbered of these defects. What-
ever Gushing said was characterized by purity of style and depth of
reflection. On all subjects he applied himself with diligence, and his
extensive learning enabled him to speak sensibly and eifectively on all
topics in which ho engaged.
In 1840, Mr. Gushing became the avowed champion for Harrison,
and wrote an outline of the life and services — civil and military — of
that eminent man, urging his elevation to the presidency. This tract
was showered all over the land. On the decease of Harrison, Mr.
Gushing openly espoused the measures of President Tyler, by whom
he was nominated three times as Secretary of the Treasury, and was
rejected by the Senate. In July, 1843, he was appointed the com-
missioner to Ghina for the United States. President Tyler addressed
the following letter to the emperor, written by Daniel Webster, then
the Secretary of State :
Letter to the Emperor of China, from the President of the United States of America.
" I, John Tyler, President of the United States of America, which
States are (here follow all the names, closing with Michigan), send you
this letter of peace and friendship, signed by my own hand.
"I hope your health is good. Ghina is a great empire, extending
over a great part of the world. Tlie Ghinese are numerous. You
have millions and millions of subjects. The twenty-six United States
are as large as Ghina, though our people are not so numerous. The
rising sun looks upon the great mountains and rivers of Gliina. When
he sets, he looks upon rivers and mountains equally large in the United
States. Our territories extend from one great ocean to the other ; and
on the west we are divided from your dominions only by the sea. Leav-
520 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
ino- the moutli of one of our great rivers, and going constantly towarda
the setting sun, -we sail to Japan and to the Yellow Sea.
"Now, my words are, that the governments of two such grand
countries should be at peace. It is proper, and according to the will
of Heaven, that they should respect each other, and act wisely. I,
therefore, send to your court Caleb Gushing, one of the wise and
learned men of this country. On his first arrival in China he Avill
inquire for your health. He has strict orders to go to your great city
of PekiniT, and there to deliver this letter. He will have with him
secretaries and interpreters.
"The Chinese love to trade with our people, and to sell them tea
and silk, for which our people pay silver, and sometimes other articles.
But, if the Chinese and the Americans will trade, there shall be rules,
so that they shall not break your laws or our laws. Our minister,
Caleb Cushing, is authorized to make a treaty to regulate trade. Let
it be just. Let there be no unfair advantage on either side. Let the
people trade, not only at Canton, but also at Amoy, Ningpo, Shangan,
Fuhchang, and all such other places as may offer profitable exchanges,
both to China and the LTnited States, provided they do not break your
laws nor our laws. We shall not take the part of evil-doers. We
shall not uphold them that break your laws. Therefore, we doubt not
that you will be pleased that our messenger of peace, with this letter
in his hand, shall come to Peking, and there deliver it ; and that your
great officers will, by your order, make a treaty with him to regulate
aSixirs of trade, so that nothing may happen to disturb the peace
between China and America. Let the treaty be signed by your own
imperial hand. It shall be signed by mine, by the authority of our
great council, the Senate. And so may your health be good, and
may peace reign.
"Written at Washington, this 12th day of July, in the year of our
Lord, 1843. Your good friend."
Mr. Cushing, previous to his departure on this mission, made him-
self famihar with the Manchou language, as best adapted to his inter-
course with the court, it being more copious and expressive, as also less
figurative and obscure, than the Chinese. The emperor, and many of
the high oflBcers of State were ]\Ianchous ; and to each of the Supreme
Boards constituting the cabinet there Avas a Manchou as well as a
■Chinese president.
CALEB GUSHING. 521
In July, 1843, our minister sailed in the steam-frigate Missouri,
which was destroyed bj fire, August 22d of that year, off Gibraltar.
He fortunately rescued all his official papers from destruction ; and,
without awaiting the instructions of government, directly proceeded on
his mission, by the Avay of Egypt and India, to China, and in six months
succeeded in the negotiation of a treaty, which was signed at AVanghia,
July 3, 1844. It was ratified by Taukwang, the Emperor of China,
and finally exchanged by the United States and China, Dec. 31, 1845.
Thus Mr. Cushing had the proud satisfaction of being the first for-
eigner who ever negotiated with " the Son of Heaven" upon equal
terms, and secured for the United States an honorable standing in the
Celestial Empire.
During this journey, among other useful pursuits, he prepared a
highly valuable article on the peculiar geographical position and unique
physical characteristics of Egypt, dated Suez, Oct. 3, 1843, v.-hich he
forwarded to Francis Markoe, Esq., corresponding secretary of the
National Institute, at Washington. Mr. Cushing returned from China
through ]\Iexico, having made almost a complete circuit of the globe,
by land and sea, within a belt of forty degrees, in the period of less
than one year.
Mr. Cushing has proved himself abundantly qualified for any polit-
ical station. He was elected, in 1846, a representative of Newbury-
port to the State Legislature, and in the subsequent year was a can-
didate for the office of governor of his native State. The war with
Mexico having been declared, Mr. Cushing warmly advocated an appro-
priation of twenty thousand dollars for the benefit of the jNIassachusctts
volunteers in that service, which was rejected by the Legislature. He
Avas elected colonel of this body of volunteers in 1848, and in a few
months was appointed a brigadier-general ; and was in command of the
volunteer regiments of Virginia, South Carohnaand Mississippi, on the
front of the line at Buena Vista, under jMajor General Tajdor. Hos-
tilities having ceased on this general division, he was transferred, at his
own request, to the line of Major General Scott, under whom he served
until the peace.
On his return to the United States, Gen. Cushing was elected, in
1849, to the State Legislature, as a representative of Newbury ; and,
as has been related of his ancestor. Judge Cushing, of Scituatc, he was
the life and soul of the Court. A political opponent, writing of Caleb
Cushing in regard to a political debate in which he was engaged, in the
44*
522 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Legislature, said that he never saw sophistry and sounding verbiage cut
up into small bits more expeditiously, nor in more masterly style, than
was done by the logical scimitar of Caleb Gushing. The flash of the
blade, and the keenness of the edge, were alike incomparable. There
Avas no escape from the blows of that steel. And a political friend said
of him, that few men have either the intellectual or the physical capac-
ity to do Avhat he has accomplished ; and when the session is over, and
the people look back calmly upon the measures and reforms which
will have been effected, they will see the impress of Gen. Cushing's
mind stamped upon all the most important changes which have been
effected.
In the manly and patriotic document, written by Caleb Cushing, on
the nature of the opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act, and its tendency
to dissolve the Union, he says : " Why do any of the people of Massa-
chusetts condemn the extradition act 7 Why the extradition clause
in the constitution '? We have the answer to this inquiry in the avowed
ulterior objects of the abolitionists proper, as distinguished from the
Free Soilcrs, which abolitionists are the men who lead the agitation,
and under whose apparent leadership so large a mass of men have,
unreflectingly, suffered themselves to come to be ranked. They are
logical. They oliject to the extradition law because their avowed aim
is to abolish negro slavery in the United States by extra constitutional
and revolutionary means. They object to the extradition clause of the
constitution for the same reason. They object to the constitution itself,
because it stands in the way of abolitionism. They propose and advo-
cate nullification, and the dissolution of the Union, in perfect good faith,
as being the only means of separating themselves from slavery, and
ridding themselves of all participation in the responsibility of its con-
tinuance in the south." "iCs this imputation justifiable '?
In connection with this subject, we here present Mr. Cushing's pero-
ration to the spirited oration delivered at Newburyport, July 4, 1832 :
"This Union is a vast fabric of political forethought, sagacity, and
comprehension. Its builders were the master minds of the New
World. Shall wo, like a spendthrift heir, lavishing in an hour of riot
the treasures amassed by the parental wisdom from which he has degen-
erated,— shall we scatter our splendid heritage to the winds? I will
not believe it. I appeal to the spirits of our fathers to look down from
their blessed abode on high, to watch over our interests, and to give us
of the fire of patriotism kindled at their own holy altars. Illustrious
CALEB GUSHING. 523
and ever venerable men ! Ages yet to come, as they flourish under
the immunities -which you have bequeathed to them, shall applaud your
wisdom, and unborn generations shall be proud to emulate your virtues,
and to animate their great resolves by the contemplation of your exam-
ple. The long line of your descendants, -who peacefully reap the
advantages "svhich your blood purchased for them, shall gratefully
cherish your memory. Posterity can erect no more splendid monu-
ments to your fame, than are the public institutions which your wis-
dom planned, and your heroism established. The colleges you endowed,
the free schools you founded and protected by law, the nicely-balanced
adjustment of the powers of government you devised, the religious
ordinances you sustained, the sage and just laws you enacted, the
sober, industrious and enterprising population which such laws and
institutions fostered, and the system of defence and revenue which
supports and binds together the whole, — these are the imperishable
memorials of your renown, to which every year, in the lapse of time,
instead of tarnishing their lustre, shall but add new vigor, freshness,
and brilliancy."
Caleb Gushing w^as the first mayor of Newburyport, in 1851 ; and
a feature in the city charter, probably adopted at his suggestion, is that
the mayor shall receive no salary. He is the most public-spirited man
in the city. Two fortunes having descended to him by will, he is lib-
eral in his gifts, and in the provisions he makes for the benefit of the
public. He is ready, at any time, to throw open his house to the pub-
lic, and convert his gardens and orchards into pleasure-grounds, and to
furnish entertainment, Avhen expedient. His generosity, in this way,
flows on like a river ; and the noble reception extended to the one hun-
dred and twenty-five members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery
Company, of which he is the commander, will be memorable in the history
of that venerable body. As mayor, he is out early on horseback, like
the elder Quincy of Boston, with a watchful eye upon all police duties.
He inquires of men in every occupation, and every locality, and of every
kind of association, regarding the wants of the city ; and listens to sug-
gestions tending to public benefit. He never forgets a person, how-
ever obscure, who has ever conferred upon him a personal favor ; and
he is sure, in some way, to bestow a mark of his approbation. These
traits, and the reputation they have given him of Ijeing a noble-hearted
man, enabled him, Avhen a Whig, to command a large portion of the
Democratic votes in his vicinity ; and now, while he is a Democrat of
I
524 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
the old line, to get the votes of a large portion of the Whigs, whenever
required. Few men have the good sense to direct their ambition into
a channel like this ; and such course, on the part of Mr. Gushing, fully
accounts for his popularity at home. He has been twice elected
mayor l)y an almost unanimous vote. He is a member of the Ameri-
can Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Board of Overseers
of Harvard College. In 1852 he became an associate justice of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. In 1853 he was a member
of President Pierce's cabinet.
RICHARD SULLIVAN FAY.
JULY 4, 1834. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
"Was born at Cambridge ; a son of Hon. Judge Fay ; graduated at
Harvard College in 1825 ; was of the Law School, and a counsellor-
at-law. He married Catharine Leavitt, daughter of Dudley Pickman,
Esq., of Salem, lie was a member of the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company, and of the Boston city Council in 1835.
FREDERICK ROBINSON.
JULY 4, 1834. FOR THE TRADES UNION.
Was born at Exeter, N. H., in 1799, and entered the academy in
1821. Like Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independ-
ence, he rose from the shoemaker's bench to eminent pohtical station.
He was a self-taught lawyer, and became president of the Massachu-
setts Senate, in the administration of Gov. Morton, in the year 1843;
and was the means of abolishing special pleading in the courts of justice,
seconded by Robert Rantoul, Jr., Esq.,— a reform which the flunoua
John Gardiner failed to effect, in 1786. Mr. Kobinson married Mary
Ilutton ; was the warden of the Massachusetts State Prison, and of the
State Senate in 1851.
This was a joyful day for the Boston Trades Union, as the law for
the abolition of imprisonment for debt, which was drafted by Mr. Rob-
inson, and ably sustained by him in its passage through the Legisla-
ture, took effect this day. The oration was delivered on Fort Hill.
EDWARD EVERETT, 525
The respective trades appeared in procession, embracing more than two
thousand persons, with banners and emblems. A beautiful printing-
press, and a superb frigate completely rigged and manned, drawn by
twenty-four white horses, gave effect to the parade.
EDWARD EVERETT.
SEPT. 6, 1834. EULOGY ON LAFAYETTE.
When the eloquent Everett pronounced his first great oration, at
the age of thirty, on the circumstances favorable to the progress of
literature in the United States of America, amid the fathers, fellow-
graduates and students, of his venerable Alma Mater, and in presence
of Lafayette, whom he beautifully apostrophized, — "Welcome ! thrice
welcome to our shores ! and whithersoever your course shall take you,
throughout the limits of the continent, the ear that hears you shall bless
you, the eye that sees you shall give witness to you, and every tongue
exclaim, with heartfelt joy, ' Welcome ! welcome, Lafayette ! ' " — the
performance was received with great applause. When published, it
received greater favor than any oration ever dehvered at this ancient
seat of learning, and doubtless had an influence in shaping his future
course of life. We bless the day ; for, by this rhetorical inspiration,
there has been showered upon our republic a body of orations and
speeches, founded on the declaration of independence and the national
constitution, destined to be the admiration of all future generations.
Fortunate is it for our republic that Everett has trod in tlie paths of
Cicero ; and, though we question not his capacity to have brought out
some great production on a single subject, of enduring fame, yet the
embodiment of his national orations, in a connected, classified form,
comprises a great work itself, of more practical, sublime and enduring
nature, than the most elaborate disquisitions of the most profound
authors in the Union. More highly favored than most orators in our
land, Edward Everett has enjoyed his own fame, from the blush of
youth to the decline of maturity ; and this reminds one of the opinion
of Thomas Jefferson regarding his oration before Laflxyette : " It is all
excellent, much of it is sublimely so ; well worthy of its author and
his subject, of whom we may truly say, as was said of Germanicus,
526 TUB HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
^ Fi-u'itur fama sui.' ^^ Oratory is as clearly the inspiration of
Everett as it was of Cicero; and, like him, is so interwoven in his
physical and mental constitution, that he has excelled most of the
rhetoricians of his age.
In a lecture delivered before the Mercantile Library Association of
Boston, on the 28th of January, 1852, Mr. Everett contrasted the
immigration now going on to the United States with the invasion of
the Roman empire by the barbarous nations of the north and east, and
intimated the opinion that the number of immigrants to America since
1790 (which, with their natural increase, are supposed to be five mil-
lions) might equal the number of the barbarians who established them-
selves within the territories of Rome. Mr. Everett then proceeded as
follows :
" With this amazing fact, the comparison ends. The races that
invaded Europe came to subjugate and lay waste; the hosts that cross
the Atlantic are peaceful emigrants. The former burst upon the Roman
empire, and, by repeated and continuous blows, beat the mighty colossus
to the ground. The emigrants to America, from all countries, come to
cast in their lot with the native citizens, and to share with them this
great inheritance of civil and religious liberty. The former were fero-
cious savages, half-clad in skins, speaking strange tongues, and wor-
shipping strange gods with bloody rites ; the latter are natives of the
same countries from wliicli our fathers went forth, and belong, with
them and with us, to the one great and blessed household of the Christian
faith. The former destroyed the culture of the ancient world ; and it
was not till after a thousand years, that a better civilization grew up
on the ruins. The milHons who have established themselves in Amer-
ica, within the last sixty years, are, from the moment of their arrival,
gradually absorbed into the mass of the population, obeying the laws,
moulding themselves to the manners of the country, and contributing
their share to its prosperity and strength.
"It is a curious coincidence, that, as the first mighty wave of the
hostile immigration that burst upon the south of Europe, before our
Saviour, consisted .of tribes of the great Celtic race, the remains of
which, identified by their original dialect, are still to be traced in
Brittany, in Wales, in the highlands of Scotland, and especially in
Ireland, — so, by far the greater portion of the new and peaceful emi-
gration to the United States consists of persons belonging to the same
fervid, impulsive, and, too often, persecuted race. I have heard, in
EDWARD EVERETT. 527
the mountains of Wales, and in the highlands of Scotland, the Bible
read, and the Gospel preached, in substantially the same language in
Avhich Brennus summoned the Roman senators to surrender the
Capitol; and in Avhich, in the time of Julius Crcsar, the mystic songs
of the Druids were chanted in the depths of the primeval forests of
France and England. It is still spoken, with some variety of dia-
lect, by thousands of Scotch, Welsh, and Irish emigrants, in dif-
ferent parts of the United States, — some of whom speak no other
language.
"I regard this Celtic race as one of the most remarkable that has
appeared in history. Whether it belongs to that comprehensive Indo-
European family of nations which, in ages before the dawn of history,
took up the line of march from lower India, and, moving westward, by
a northern and a southern route, diffused itself through western Asia,
northern Africa, and the greater part of Europe, — or whether, as
others suppose, they belong to a still older family, and were themselves
driven down upon the south and west of Europe by the overwhelming
irruption of the Indo-European race, — I pretend not to decide. How-
ever this question may be settled, it would seem that now, for the first
time, as fiir as we are acquainted with the history of what are usually
classed as distinct Celtic tribes, they have found themselves in a truly
prosperous condition, in this country. Driven from the soil to which
their fathers have clung through all the storms and vicissitudes of
twenty centuries, they have at length, and for the first time, found a
real home in the land of strangers. Having been told, in their native
country, in the frightful language of political economy, that at the
great table which Nature daily spreads for the human family there is
no cover laid for them, despairing and heart-broken they have crossed
the ocean, and here, upon a foreign but friendly soil, have found shel-
ter, employment, and bread.
" This ' Celtic e.xodus,' as it has been called, is, to all the parties
concerned, as it seems to me, by very far the most important event of .
the day. To the emigrants themselves., it is often literally passing
from death to life. ,It holds out a hope of restoring the prosperity of
Ireland, by reducing her surplus population, and establishing a healthy
relation between labor and capital. It benefits England iu the same
Avay ; for there one of the greatest troubles has been, that the native
laborers of the sister isles are engaged in a death-strmifile for that
employment and bread, of which there is enough only for one of the
528 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
parties. We, in our turn, come in for our share of the benefit ; for a
chief difficulty with us has been, that our hxbor is obhged, in all
departments of industry common to Europe and America, to sustain a
competition Yr'ith the underpaid labor of the old Tvorld. In the mean
time, the constant influx into the United States of hundreds of thou-
sands of efficient hands supplies the great want of a new country, —
that is, labor, — gives value to land, and facilitates the execution of
every species of private enterprise and public work.
"lam quite aware that this fxvorable picture has its dark side.
There are inconveniences and sufferings, — evils, if you please, — inci-
dent to emigration, on both sides of the water. There is an untold
amount of hardship and privation, on the part of the emigrant; and, on
this side of the ocean, there arc serious inconveniences, although their
gravity is, I think, exaggerated. It cannot, however, be denied that
our alms-houses, our hospitals, and our asylums, are overcrowded with
foreign inmates, — that their support is a burden to the public, — and
that the resources of private benevolence arc heavily drawn upon.
" It is said, even, that, in consequence of the greater liberality of her
public establishments, Massachusetts, in proportion to her population,
supports more than her share of poor foreigners, — that they are sent
in upon her from her sister States and the British provinces. If this
is so, it is a wrong, as well as an evil. But the evil and the wrong
might be corrected, by judicious legislation, firmly administered. In
the mean time, Massachusetts might do a much worse thing, with a
portion of her surplus means, than feed the hungry, and clothe the
naked, and give a home to the stranger, and rekindle the spark of
reason in the mind of the poor lunatic, even though that lunatic may
have been (as I am ashamed, for the honor of humanity, to say has
once, at least, been the case) set on shore in the night from a coast-
ing vessel, and found in the morning, in the fields, half dead, from
cold, and fright, and hunger.
" ' But they are foreigners,' you say. And what, in the name of
Heaven, were the Pilgrim Fathers, when the poor, half-clad savage,
on Plymouth beach, met them with the cry of [ Welcome, English-
men ' 1 Foreigners, are they ? — Indeed ! Is half the Union ready
to plunge, with all the resources of the country, into a conflict with
the military despotisms of Eastern Euroije, in order to redress the
wrongs of races which feed their flocks on the slopes of the Carpathians,
and reap — not for themselves — the fields which are watered by the
EDWARD EVERETT. 529
tributaries of the Danube, — and shall v,'0 talk of the hardshij) of
relieving destitute strangers, -whom the providence of God has guided
across the ocean and laid down at our very doors 7 "
Edward Everett was born in Dorchester, April 11, 1794, and was
a son of Oliver Everett, who married Lucy Hill. His father was the
predecessor of President Kirkland, of the New South Church, in
Boston, and was afterwards Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for
Norfolk. His birth-place was an antique, gable-roofed, wooden edifice,
at the " Five Corners," now occupied by Mr. George Richardson.
His primary teacher was Miss Lucy Clapp, a daughter of Noah Clapp,
who had been the town clerk for half a century.
"My ancestors, from the first settlement of the country, were born
and bred in the prosperous town of Dedham," said Mr. Everett, in
after life. "I am proud of my descent. My forefathers were very
humble men, — formers and mechanics, — and devoted themselves to
a most unambitious career. They left nothing to their descendants,
of either fame or fortune, but a good name. There is a charm in a
single visit to one's native spot. I have not been able, even for a
single day, to breathe the air of those fields, where my fathers have
lived and acted their humble part for two hundred years, without
experiencing emotions that words fail to describe.
' I feel the gales that from ye blow
A momentary bliss bestow.
As, waving fresh your gladsome wing.
My weary soul ye seem to soothe,
And, redolent of joy and youth, *
To breathe a second spring.' "
" My own honored father," he remarked, on another occasion, " was
born and grew up to manhood here in the same humble sphere ; and,
as I came back to breathe the native air of my race, I must say, that,
with the greater experience I have had of the cares and trials of public
station, the more ready I am to wish that it had been my lot to grow
up and pass my life in harmless obscurity, in these peaceful shades^
and, after an unobtrusive career, to be gathered to my sires, in the old
Dedham grave-yard, where,
' Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.' "
"WTien I first went to a village school," said Mr. Everett, — '•!
45
530 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
remember it as yesterday ; I seem still to hold, by one band, for pro-
tection (I was of the valiant age of three years), to an elder sister's
a,pron ; with the other, I grasped my primer, a volume of about two
and a half inches in length, Avhich formed, then, the sum total of my
library, and which had lost the blue-paper cover from one corner —
my first misfortune in life ; — I say, it was the practice then, as we
were trudging along to school, to draw up by the road-side, if a travel-
ler, a stranger, or a person in years, passed along, and ' make our
manners,' as it was called. The little girls curtsied; the boys made
a bow. It was not done with much grace, I suppose, — but there was
a civility and decency about it which did the children good, and pro-
duced a pleasing impression on those who witnessed it. The age of
•school-boy chivalry is past, never to return. These manners belong
to a forgotten order of things : they are too precise and rigorous for
this enliirhtened a«;c."
" My education began at the free schools of my native village of
Dorchester," said he, on another occasion, at a meeting in Boston,
'' and of this, the beloved city of my adoption. The first distinction
which crowned my humble career was the Franklin medal, at the
reading-school in North Bennet-street, when I was not much higher
than that table ; and, if my tongue is ever silent Avhen it ought to speak
the praises of the common schools of Massachusetts, may it never be
heard with favor in any other cause ! " and, in reference to education,
Mr. Everett further emphasized, in an oration at Williams College :
" I would rather occupy the bleakest nook of the mountain that towers
above us, with the wild wolf and the rattlesnake for my nearest neigh-
bors, with a village school, well kept, at the bottom of the hill, than
dwell in a paradise of fertility, if I must bring up my children in lazy,
iwmpcred, self-sufficient ignorance."
His preceptors in the public schools of his native town were Rev.
James Blake Howe and Rev. Wilkes Allen. It was in one of these
schools that the youthful Everett recited, at an exhibition, a poem,
generally supposed to begin with these words :
" You 'd scarce expect one of my age
To speak in public on the stage." /
In order to ascertain the fact regarding this matter, which has been a
question of doubt for half a century, the editor of this work applied .
to Dr. Harris, of Gore Library, — a son of the late Rev. Dr. Harris, I
I
EDWARD EVERETT. 531
who baptized the inflmt Edward, April 13, 1794, — and learned that
the poem alluded to was not the one spoken by him, but the following,
as prefixed to the letter, dated Cambridge, Feb. 1, 1850, in which
Dr. Harris stated, '•' I have seen copies of these lines, differing slightly
and variously from the foregoing, which, according to my recollection,
agrees more nearly with the original than the others. I mean to say,
that the lines now sent are nearer to the original than other copies that
I have seen. The 'little orator' has become a great one." The
expression " little roan " applies to the color of EdAvard Everett's hair.
THE LITTLE ORATOR.
ILines written for Edward Everett, when a child, by the Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris.]
Pray how should I, a little lad.
In speaking, make a figure ?
You 're only joking, I 'm afraid, —
Do Tvait till I am bigger.
But, since you wish to hear my part.
And urge me to begin it,
I '11 strive for praise, with all my heart,
Though small the hope to win it.
I '11 tell a tale how Farmer John
A little roan-colt bred, sir.
And every night and every morn
He watered and he fed, sir.
Said Neighbor Joe to Farmer John,
" Arn't you a silly dolt, sir.
To spend such time and care upon
A little, useless colt, sir? "
Said Farmer John to Neighbor Joe,
" I bring my little roan up.
Not for the good he now can do.
But will do, when he 's grown up."'
The moral you can well espy.
To keep the tale from spoiling ; '
The little colt, you think, is I, —
I know it by your smiling.
And now, my friends, please to excuse
!My lisping and my stammers ;
I, for this once, have done my best,
And so — I '11 make my manners.
After some time spent at a public school, under ]Master Tileston,
and at a private school in Boston, kept by Ezekiel "Webster, the
elder brother of the great statesman, he entered the pubhc Latin
School, under Master Bigelow, from which he was removed to Exeter
532 THE HL'NDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
Academy, in 1807, where he remained for six months before entering
college; and, in allusion to this period, he once remarked, that
"there was no philosophical or scientific apparatus furnished at the
schools, in my day, with the exception, as I remember, in a single
instance, of a rickety gimcrack that was called a planetarium, and
showed how the heavenly bodies do not move. As for a school library,
there was not. in any school I ever attended, so much as half a dozen
books bearing that name. There was, indeed, at the academy at Exe-
ter, Avhich it was my good fortune to attend for a few months before I
entered college, a library, containing, I believe, some valuable, though
probably rather antiquated volumes. It was my privilege, Avhile I was
a pupil, never to see the inside of that apartment ; — privilege, I say,
for it was the place where tli severer discipline of the institution, in
rare cases of need, was administered.
' Hinc ex:iudiri gemitus et sceva sonare
Verbera.'
" We little fellows got to have the most disagreeable associations
with the very name of library. I ought to add, in justice to our
time-honored preceptor, good Dr. Abbott, that the use of the library
for any such purpose was of very rare occurrence. He possessed the
happy skill, which I am gratified to say has not died with him, of
governing a school by persuasion and influence, and not by force and
terror. So late as when I went to the Latin School in Boston, the
boys had to take their turn — youngsters, some of them eleven and
twelve years of age — of getting up before sunrise, in the winter, and
going to the school-house (some of them a long distance, and at times
through streets blocked up with snow), to ' sweep out school,' as it was
called, and exercise their ingenuity in making wet wood burn, and a
foul chimney draw smoke."
When Everett entered Harvard College, he was the youngest mem-
ber of his class; and. on his graduation, in 1811, his subject was,
" Literary Evils ; " and, Avhen a candidate for the degree of Master of
Arts, the topic of his oration was the " Restoration of Greece." In
1812 Mr. Everett was appointed Latin tutor in Harvard college, at
which period he delivered a poem for the Phi Beta Kappa Society, on
the American Poets, which afforded indications of forthcoming emi-
nence in a youth of eighteen. This performance Avas privately printed,
for distribution among his friends. We glean a few extracts from this
patriotic effusion :
EDWARD EVERETT. 533
" Lo, Faneuil's dome ! where Freedom's infiint days
Learned the first notes of Liberty to raise ;
AVhere Quincy's high career of worth was run,
AVho blessed his country when he gave his son ;
Where the first Otis trod the paths of fame, •
And dropt his mantle when he gave his name.
Hail, glorious pile ! shall not your simple towers
Fill the wide compass of the boldest powers, —
Ascend, like Babel, with the eagle's flight,
And reach the heavens in fame, as that in height ?
The hoary sire of ages yet to come
Shall point his ofi'spring to your honored dome ;
To the fond traveller's eager notice shoAV
The hall above, the mai ket-house below.
There came our sires to feed the patriot heart,
And here they came to feed a different part ;
From each to each, at proper times, they move.
And bought their meat below, and gave their vote above.
And mark, not far from Faneuil's honored side,
AVhere the old State-house rises in its pride.
But, oh, how changed ! its halls, alas I are fled,
And shop and office fill their slighted stead.
There, where the shade of Hancock's glory dwells,
A saddler hammers, and a grocer sells !
Hats fill the hall where councilled wisdom sate,
And Rea sells shoes where Bowdoin ruled a state ! "
We turn to a passage of a different order, wlicre Everett predicts of
future poets :
" Here our own bays some native Pope shall grace,
And lovelier beauties fill Belinda's place.
Here future hands shall Goldsmith's village rear,
And his tired traveller rest his wanderings here.
if ir- * *
Fitz James's horn Niagara's echoes wake, ^
And Katrine's lady skim o'er Erie's lake."
The best poem from tlic hand of Everett is the Dirge of Alaric, a
favorite piece for declamation. The law was the profession of his first
choice, but he yielded to the influence of the eminent Joseph Stevens
Buclcminster, to whose church his family belonged, and studied divin-
ity while officiating as tutor ; and, in 1813, became his successor over
Erattle-street Church, during which period he wrote the invincible
Defence of Christianity, in reply to the noted George B. English, a
deistical writer. The popularity of Mr. Everett was unbounded, during
his ministry.
45*
534 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
The Hon. Judge Story, who attended public worship at the cap-
itol, in Washington, in February, 1820, to hear Edward Everett, then
on a visit there, when he delivered his famous sermon, " Brethren,
the -time is short," relates, in writing to a friend, that he omitted
"some passages, and in their stead introduced beautiful extracts from
his sermon on the future prospects of America. The sermon was truly
splendid, and was heard with a breathless silence. The audience was
very large ; and, being in that magnificent apartment of the House of
Representatives, it had vast effect. I saw Mr. King, of New York,
and Mr. Otis, of Massachusetts, there. They were both very much
affected with Mr. Everett's sermon; and Mr. Otis, in particular, wept
bitterly. There were some very touching appeals to our most delicate
feelings, on the loss of our friends. Indeed, Mr. Everett was almost
universally admired, as the most eloquent of preachers. Mr. King told
me he never heard a discourse so full of unction, eloquence, and good
taste."
In 1815 Mr. Everett was appointed the professor of Greek Litera-
ture in Harvard College, which station he occupied until 1826. Shortly
after his induction, he visited Europe. He arrived at Liverpool just
after the escape of Napoleon from Elba, and Avas detained in London
until after the battle of Waterloo. From thence he went, by the way
of Holland, to Gottingen, which was at that time the seat of the most
distinguished German university. He resided there more than two
years, employed in the study of those branches of ancient and modern
literature appropriate to his new sphere. He visited Prussia, Holland,
and many of the German cities, making the acquaintance of learned
men of the day. He passed the winter of 1817-18 at Paris, employed
in literary pursuits, especially in the study of the modern Greek. In
th^ spring of 1818 he crossed the English channel, and passed several
weeks in London, at Oxford and Cambridge. In the autumn he
returned to France, and travelled through Switzerland on the way to
Italy. He passed the winter in Rome, giving his mind to ancient lit-
erature and antiquities, enjoying constant access to the library of the
Vatican, and the intimate acquaintance of Canova, then occupied on
the statue of Washington. Gen. Theodore Lyman was his fellow-
traveller, during most of the tour after leaving Germany. They went
in company to the Ionian Islands and Greece, and were kindly received
at Yanina by Ali Pacha, to whom Mr. Everett brought a letter of
introduction from Lord Byron. After luxuriating in the enchantments
EDWARD EVERETT. ' 535
of Greece, thej visited the plain of Troj, Constantinople, and Adrian-
ople ; crossed the Balkan, near the road afterwards taken by the Rus-
sian army, and then proceeded, through Wallachia and Hungary, to
Vienna, to Paris and London, returning to the United States after an
absence of nearly five years.
Shortly after his return from the tour over Europe, Mr. Everett
remarked, in an oration: "For myself, I can truly say that, after my
native land, I feel a reverence for that of my fathers. The pride I
take in my own country makes me respect that from Avhich ayc are
sprung. In touching the soil of England, I seem to return, like a
descendant, to the old family seat, — to come back to the abode of an
aged and venerable parent. I acknowledge this great consanguinity
of nations. The sound of my native language, beyond the sea, is a
music to my car. beyond the richest strains of Tuscan softness or Cas-
tilian majesty. I am not yet in a land of strangers, -while surrounded
by the manners, the habits and institutions, under -which I have been
brought up. I -wander, delighted, through a thousand scenes, which
the historians and the poets have made familiar to us, — of -which the
names are interwoven -with our earliest associations. I tread -with rev-
erence the spots -where I can retrace the footsteps of our suffering
fathers. The pleasant land of their birth has a claim on my heart.
It seems to me a classic, — yea, a holy land, — rich in the memory of
the great and good, the champions and the martyrs of liberty, the
exiled heralds of truth ; and richer, as the parent of this land of
promise in the -west."
He resumed the duties of the professorship at Cambridge, and
engaged also in the editorial care of the North American Review, -which
he conducted until 1824. It became the great periodical of the nation.
His vigorous contributions, on various important questions connected
■with the literature, history, public policy and foreign relations of the
country, identify his character -with our national history. In May 8,
1822. Mr. Everett -was married, by Rev. Nathaniel L. Frothinghara,
to Charlotte Gray, a daughter of Hon. Peter C. Brooks.
The flime of Edward Everett, as a scholar, runs back to his boyish
days. It -R'as, however, the Phi Beta Kappa oration, at Cambridge,
in 1824, remarks Professor Felton, — from whose article in the North
American Review -we have mainly condensed this relation, — that placed
him, before the public as one of the most accomplished orators who
had ever appeared in America, The occasion was a singularly happy
536 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
one, — the visit of Gen. Lafayette, in his old age, to the country, -whose
liberties he had bravely fought for in the chivalrous days of his youth.
The ardent, enthusiastic, and unanimous •welcome, which rang from city
to city, as the noble and heroic old man moved on through the successive
stages of his great ovation; the excitement of the thronging multitudes,
of the descendants of his companions in arms, who poured out from
hamlet and village, and town and city, to meet him, to follow him. to
listen to his words, to gaze upon his friendly and venerable countenance,
and to bless him Avith the warm benedictions of full and grateful hearts ;
— all these inspiring circumstances had spread a festal joy, unexampled
in the history of the country, preparing the minds of men to respond
to the inspired voices of eloquent speakers, — to beat in full accordance
with the thrilling memories of the past, — to swell with the exulting
anticipations of the future. The immense multitude who were present
in Cambridge on that anniversary will never forget the deep interest
of the occasion. The plaudits and congratulations were rapturous,
as they received among them the beloved guest of the nation, and
breathless and absorbing was the attention with which they listened to
the discourse of Mr. Everett, as it reached, with its rich harmonies, the
remotest parts of the old church, crowded to its utmost capacity with
eager and expectant throngs. The old-fashioned square pews were
filled, and every inch of space on the top of the narrow railing which
encloses them was occupied by persons who, unable to find seats or
standing-places, remained perched upon these sharp edges, hour after
hour, wholly unconscious of the discomfort of their uncertain elevation.
Mr. Everett's subject was fortunately chosen for such an assembly of
lettered men, and fell in admirably with the joyous and triumphant
spirit of the occasion. It was redolent of the most refined scholarship,
— the most exquisite learning, drawn from the highest fountains of
knowledge. It was the earnest plea of a republican scholar, in defence
of republican institutions in their bearing upon the cultivation of let-
ters and science. The argument was conducted with consummate abil-
ity and taste. None left that assembly without having their confidence
in the intellectual destinies of their country increased by its close
reasoning and glowing appeals. The orator Avas then in his early
manhood, with the fresh dews of youth still lingering about him. INIost
■of the audience had never listened to his voice or looked upon his
countenaiice before, though his literary renown had already filled the
land ; and the music of his speech came upon them with the effect of
I
EDWARD EVERETT. 537
a delicious novelty. To many of tlicm was given, on that day. the first
conception of classical oj'atory, — those triumphs achieved by the com-
bination of the gifts of genius with matured and profound studies, and
with a thorough knowledge of the principles and a careful training in
the practice of the art ; employed upon subjects of deep and immediate
concern to the hearers, and holding undivided possession of the soul,
while tasking all the mental energies of the speaker. So Demosthenes
moved the passions and swayed the minds of the Athenian assemblies,
as he addressed to them, from the Bema, those carefully meditated ora-
tions by which, year after year, he controlled the policy of the Athenian
commonwealth. So Cicero compelled the feelings of the surging mul-
titudes of the Roman forum to obey the movements of his eloquence,
as the mighty ocean tides follow the path of the serene orb of heaven,
whose attraction nature forbids them to resist.
When President Jackson visited Bunker Hill, June 2G, 1833, he
was conducted to a raised platform near the monument, where he Avas
addressed by Edward Everett in an eloquent congratulatory speech, when
the president made a pertinent reply : and was then presented with a box
made from the timber of the United States frigate Constitution, (contain-
ing "a grape-shot dug up from the sod beneath our feet," says Ever-
ett, " and a cannon-ball from the battle-field of New Orleans, brought
from the enclosure within which your head-quarters were established.
They are preserved in one casket ; and, on behalf of the citizens of
Charlestown, I now present them to you, in the hope that they will
perpetuate in your mind an acceptable association of the 17th of Juno,
1775, and the 8th of January, 1815, — the dates of the first and last
battles fought under the American standard. The spot on which Ave
are gathered is not the place for adulation. Standing over the ashes
of men Avho died for liberty, we can speak no language but that of
freemen. In an address to the chief magistrate of the United States,
there is no room for one word of compliment or flattery. But Avith
grateful remembrcBice of your services to the country. — Avith becoming
respect for your station, the most exalted on earth, — and Avith unan-
imous approbation of the firm, resolute and patriotic stand, Avhich you
assumed, in the late alarming crisis of affairs, in order to preserve that
happy Union under one constitutional head, for the establishment of
which those streets Avere Avrapped in fire and this hill Avas drenched in
blood, — Avith one heart and one voice, Ave bid you welcome to Bunker
Hill! " On the decease of President Jackson, the above-mentioned
538 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
casket passed, by bequest, into the hands of Nicholas P. Trist, for-
merly consul at Havana, who disposed of the same to Bowen &
McNamee, silk merchants, of New York, by whom it was presented
to INI. Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, December, 1851, when on his
visit to the United States.
The apostrophe of Mr. Everett to Lafayette, in his oration, was
equal in eifect, perhaps, to anything of the kind in ancient or modern
oratory, and the whole production is a most beautiful and scholarly
plea for letters in republican States. Between this and the speech on
the Sacred Scriptures, the last speech contained in the collection of INlr.
Everett's orations published in 1850, in two volumes, 8vo., Avhich forms
a fitting close of religious solemnity, to the manifold strains that fill
the intervening periods with their rich enchantments, we have had
from his lips a series of orations, discourses, addresses and speeches, on
a remarkable variety of occasions and topics, for a peculiar variety of
objects, in different countries and many places. He has given the peo-
ple elaborate literary orations, delivered before college and other soci-
eties ; discourses in commemoration of the founding of our New Eng-
land institutions ; orations for anniversary celebrations of the great
battles of the Revolution ; fourth of July orations ; eulogies on illus-
trious patriots, as Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Lafay-
ette, and Adams the younger ; lyceum lectures ; speeches at public
dinners, and other festivals ; temperance addresses ; the like for char-
itable, literary, agricultural and scientific institutions, and legislative
committees, — extending, in all that are printed in a connected form, to
the number of eighty-one ; a third more than Demosthenes wrote in
his whole life, and nearly as many as are extant of Demosthenes and
Cicero together, — much exceeding, Avith one exception, the productions
of any other political orator in our republic. The number of orations
and speeches of Daniel Webster, published in a connected forn), is
eighty-five. This refers, however, to the collection of Mr. AVebster's
speeches in three volumes. The recent edition is in six volumes, and
the number of speeches contained in them is proportionably greater.
As regards orations alone, Everett has pronounced more than any other
man.
When the representative of Middlesex, Hon. Timothy Fuller,
declined another election to Congress, in 1824, Mr. Everett was a can-
didate for the succession. It was his intention to retain his station in
Harvard College, as did John Quincy Adams, who filled the professor-
EDWARD EVERETT. 639
ship of rhetoric and oratory whilst in the United States Senate. He
was elected by a handsome majority; but it was decided by the cor-
poration of the colle^qe that his station was vacated by accepting a seat
in Congress. In December, 1825, he found himself at the capital, in
a new sphere of life, in which he engaged for ten years, devoting him-
self both on the floor and in the committee-room, to the dischartre of the
public business and the performance of the duties especially assigned to
him. During his whole term of service in Congress, he was on the
committee on foreign affairs, and for a part of the time was its chair-
man. Ilis political career in Congress was highly important to the
public interests ; and the last act of ]\Ir. Everett was in furnishing the
minority report of this committee, on the French controversy, in 1835.
His speech on that subject is said to have been commended by Louis
Philippe, in the highest terms. It was in this year that he withdrew
from the councils of the nation.
Mr. Everett was a beautiful specimen in Congress of what a politician
should be ; for he never descended to personal invective, in contending
with pohtical adversaries, ever observing a dignified and manly inde-
pendence, in a generous spirit ; and, of consequence, impassioned sar-
casm was never heaped upon him. Indeed, it may be truly asserted,
that no eminent statesman among us has more clearly escaped the
shafts of passionate partisans than our own Edward Everett.
In the year 1834 Mr. Everett pronounced the eulogy on Lafliy-
ette, for the young men of Boston. Its peroration is remarkably
impressive. The portrait of "Washington on the western wall of Fan-
euil Hall, where it. was delivered, illustrates some of the allusions.
After remarking that the great principle of the llevolutionary fathers
and the Pilgrims — the love of liberty protected by law — was the rule
of Lafayette in his political course, he makes past history, and the asso-
ciations of the old cradle of liberty, and the memorial rites in which
they are engaged, repeat the monition: "Blood Avhich our fathers
shed, cry from the ground ! Echoing arches of this renowned hall,
whisper back the voices of other days ! Glorious AYashington, l)reak
the long silence of that votive canvas ! Speak, speak, marble lips !
— (alluding to the bust of Lafayette, on the platform) — teach us the
love of liberty protected by law ! "
The patriotic tendencies of Edward Everett's mind have been thus
characterized by our own classic Hillard, in language well worthy the
subject. "His mind," says Hillard. "is not moved in remote regions
540 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Avhich He in that soft, ideal light, so dear to the intellectual voluptuary.
He has not shrunk from the homely earth, and the open day. Bunker
Hill has been to him a more magic word than Marathon. His learn-
ing has borne a practical stamp. The stream of living life has flowed
through his mind, and made it productive of rich harvests as the times
have need of To make the history of his country attractive, to
inspire a deep veneration for its great men, to develop its industrial
resources, to draw from the past lessons for the guidance.of the future,
to awaken a thoughtful and generous patriotism, to call the atten-
tion of scholars to native virtues and homeborn worth, to teach our
young men that lives better than Plutarch's are lying at their feet, —
these are the ends to which his powers and his attainments have been
devoted ; and, as the ends were noble, so has his success been triumph-
ant." As was said by Ben Jonson of Bacon, so captivating was his
eloquence, " the fear of every man that heard him Avas lest he should
make an end."
Gov. Everett was the founder of a new era in the cause of educa-
tion .among the descendants of the Pilgrim fathers, and rose above the
strong current of opposition. The Christian Examiner, in an article
on this subject, thus emphasizes : "The value of the services of Gov.
Everett, under these disadvantageous and perplexing circumstances,
cannot be over-estimated. He wrote the several annual reports of the
board ; and, as chairman of most of the sub-committees, he also dis-
charged a great amount of labor, and bore the constant burden of
responsible care. His indefatigable fidelity, his conscientious and
enlightened prudence, his extraordinary discretion as a statesman, and
his profound enthusiasm in the cause, were what the crisis absolutely
needed. While justice to the secretary demands the tribute which we
are about to render, it also requires us to acknowledge that no other
hand, perhaps, than that which then held the helm of State, could have
safely piloted the little bark through the rough sea of jealousy and
opposition." In relation to the indomitable coadjutor of Gov. Everett
in the reform, the governor himself once generously remarked : "I
honor, beyond all common names of respect, the distinguished gentle-
man — Horace Mann — who for twelve years has devoted the indomi-
table energy of his character to this noble cause. He Avill be remem-
bered till the history of Massachusetts is forgotten, as one of her greatest
benefactors. I reflect, with satisfaction, that the Board of Education
was established on a recommendation which I had the honor to submit
EDWARD EVERETT. 541
to the Legislature ; and that I had the privilege of cooperating in its
organization, in the choice of its secretary, in the establishment of the
normal schools under its pati'onage, and in the other measures which
marked its opening career." Of the Western Railroad he observed,
in 1835, " that next to the great questions of liberty and independ-
ence, the doors of Faneuil Hall were never thrown open on an occa-
sion of greater moment to the people of the city and the State.''
We find in the Memoirs of Hon. Judge Story the following trib-
ute to Gov. Everett, from a letter addressed to him, dated May 30,
1840 ; but we must take exception to the intimation that Mr. Everett
has not furnished "a great work for posterity."
" When I look back upon your administration, I do it with feelings
of lofty pride and unmixed pleasure. It was all I could have wished.
It was wise and patriotic, guided by the right spirit and the right prin-
ciple, and conducted with a deep regard for morals and justice, and
infinitely removed above the injustice and the follies of mere party. It
was just such as a Christian magistrate ought to pursue, and a Chris-
tian people feel a pride in supporting. To have a scholar and a 'gen-
tleman, second to none among us in all the attributes of taste and
genius and learning, our governor, was to me, I confess, a source of
exultation. To see him rejected by the people, when his fame had
been among their best possessions, was to me a startling proof of
their frail and unsteady judgments, and a lesson of the gratitude of
republics, which has come over my heart with many saddened thoughts
respecting our future prospects. You can have nothing to regret in
all this ; but we have much for lamentation and bitter sorrow.
" My dear sir, allow me to say one word more respecting yourself
You have, I trust, many years before you of health and labor. What
I desire is, that, in addition to the many beautiful — ay, exquisitely
beautiful — specimens of your genius, Avhich we have had upon occa-
sional topics, you would now meditate some great work for posterity,
which shall make you known and felt through all time, as we your
contemporaries now know and esteem you. This should be the crown-
ing future purpose of your life. Sat verhum supienti. If I should
live to see it, I should hail it with the highest pleasure. If I ain dead,
pray remember that it was one of the thoughts which clung most
closely to me to the very last."
Among the subjects of great public interest to which Mr. Everett
has devoted his attention, agriculture holds a large share. In one of
46
542 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
nis speeches, delivered at Dedham, after alluding to the disposition of
settlers, in a new country, to destroy trees, when they should protect
and propagate them, he remarks • " There are, in the interior of New
England, a great many noble trees, planted eighty or one hundred
years ago ; and most certainly nothing grows out of the earth, and man
can put nothing upon it, so beautiful. I hope, my friends, we shall
let our children and grandchildren enjoy the great comfort to be derived
from this source. Sir "Walter Scott represents one of his characters as
saying that his father used to tell him to be always putting down a tree.
' It will be growing, Jock, when you are sleeping.' It will be grow-
ing, sir, when we are sleeping to wake no more. The acorn which you
cover with a couj^le of inches of earth, the seedling elm which you
rescue in your garden from the spade, will outlive half a dozen of our
generations. Cicero speaks of it as a kind of natural foresight of the
continued existence of man, that ' men planted trees which were a ben-
efit to a coming generation.' Yes, sir ; and if every man, before he
goes hence, would but take care to leave one good oak or elm behind
him,- he ayouH not have lived in vain. His children and grandchildren
would bless his memory."
The conception of Cicero, that men planted trees that were to be a
benefit to coming generations, reminds one of an impressive incident
regarding James Otis, the great patriot, which occurred at Andover, a
few Aveeks before his sudden death. One morning, when he gave indi-
cations of being strongly agitated, Otis took a hatchet and Avent to a
copse of pines, standing on a rising ground a few yards from the house,
,and passed all the forenoon in trimming away the lower branches of the
wood. When Mr. Osgood, with whom Otis resided, came to invite him
to dinner, he said, with great earnestness, '• Osgood, if I die while I
am in your house, I charge you to have me buried under these trees ; "
and then added, with a little touch of humor that shone forth like a
bright gleam in a tempestuous sky, " you know my grave would over-
look all your fields, and I could have an eye upon the boys, and see if
they minded their work." jNIay the young students and laborers of
Andover be incited to perseverance, when they view the trees around
Otis' burial-place, and imagine his eye upon them !
Mr. Everett was chosen Governor of Massachusetts in 1835, and for
three succeeding terms : and was followed by Judge Morton, in 1840,
who was elected by a majority of one vote. He labored assiduously
for the moral, commercial and political interests of the State, especially
EDWARD EVERETT. 543
effecting the noble objects of the Board of Education and the "Western
Raih'oad.
He embarked for Europe in June, 1840, passing the summer in
Paris, and the succeeding year in Florence. It is related that, pre-
vious to the de^oarture of Mr. Everett from Boston, -when present at
a public dinner, Hon. Judge Story gave as a sentiment, "Learning,
genius and eloquence, are sure to be -welcome ^vlicre Ever-ett goes."
On which, Mr. Everett promptly gave, " Law, Equity and Jurispru-
dence : All their efforts to rise will never be able to get above one
Story." On the recall of AndreAV Stevenson, the minister to the
court of St. James, in 1841, Mr. Everett was appointed his successor,
where he remained until the accession of President Polk, when he was
succeeded by Louis McLane. As minister to the most important
empire in the world, he acquitted himself with an ability and dignity
highly honorable to his exalted station.
He arrived in London, to enter upon the duties of his mission, at
the close of the year 1841. Among the great questions, remarks the
Whig Review, " which were at that time open between the two coun-
tries, were, the north-eastern boundary, the affair of Mr. ]McLeod, and
the seizure of American vessels on the coast of Africa. In the course
of a few months, the affair of the Creole followed, to which were soon
added Oregon and Texas. His position must have been rendered
more difficult by the frequent changes which took place in the depart-
ment at home. Between Mr. Webster, who retired in the spring of
1843, and Mr. Buchanan, who came in with Mr. Polk in 184.5, it was
occupied, successively, by Messrs. Legare, Upshur, and Calhoun.
From all these gentlemen Mr. Everett received marks of approbation
and confidence. * '^' * * * *
'•The congressional documents are the only sources open to the
public from which may be learned the nature of the subjects which
Mr. Everett brought to a successful issue. Among these were several
claims for the seizure of vessels on the coast of Africa, and large
demands of American citizens for duties levied contrary to the com-
mercial treaty between the two countries. In reference to the latter,
Mr. Everett obtained an acknowledgment of the justice of the claims,
. and proposed the principle of offset, on which they were, soon after the
close of his mission, liquidated and paid. He obtained for our fisher-
men the right of taking fish in the Bay of Fundy, which had been h
544 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
subject of irritation and controversy between them and the provincial
authorities for thirty years. He procured, at different times, the
release from Van Diemen's Land of fifty or sixty of the misguided
Americans who had embarked in the Canadian rebellion of 1838. It
■will be remembered, however, as we have already observed, that a
small part only of his correspondence has been brought before the
public."
He returned to Boston in the autumn of 1845. President Quincy
having previously resigned the care of Harvard University, the friends
of that institution united in the request that Mr. Everett would accept
the presidency. He was inaugurated to this important station April
30, 1846, when the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop gave this sentiment, at
the public dinner: "This occasion, which witnesses the consecratioh
of the highest genius of our country to its noblest service. President
Everett continued closely devoted to the best interests of Harvard Col-
lege, until he was compelled, by the state of his health, to resign the
office; and was succeeded by Jared Sparks, June 20, 1849.
He has been, for several years, president of the American Antiqua-
rian Society, vice-president of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, a member of the iMassachusetts Historical, New York His-
torical, and New England Historical Genealogic Societies, and of the
Antiquarian, Geographical, and Agricultural Societies, of Great
Britain.
It has been well said of this prince of orators, that, as long as clear
and logical reasonino; wins the assent of the understandinsj, as lonjir
as true eloquence stirs the blood, as long as ease and grace of style
approve themselves to the taste, so long will the compositions of
Edward Everett be read and admired. He is, essentially, a rhetor-
ician, and, unless France may furnish one or two exceptions, the most
accomplished living. Whatever is requisite for rhetorical success, Mr.
Everett possesses. To the most varied culture, he adds an immense
and various learning, a memory equally retentive and prompt, great
facility and felicity of expression, a ready power of association, and a
wit and humor which seem always to be ready when the occasion
calls for them. No knight rode in the tournament arrayed in more
ghttering armor, continues a reviewer, or more dexterous in the use of
his weapons. He has enough of imagination ; he has the quick and
kindling sensibilities without which there is no eloquence ; and, above
all, he shows a wonderfully quick perception of the state of mind in
I
EDWARD EVERETT. 545
those whom he addresses. He seems to have more than a double
share of nerves in his finsers' ends. If there be truth in animal ma";-
netism, he ought to be one of the most impressible. He possesses that
greatest of charms, an exquisite voice. — round, swelling, full of melody,
particularly emotional ; naturally grave, and with a touch almost of
melancholy in some of its cadences, but, like all such emotional voices,
admirably suited to the expression of humor, and of rising from a
touching pathos into the most stirring, thrilling and triumphant tones.
There is such harmony between thought and style, manner and voice,
that each gives force to the other, and all unite in one effect on the
hearer.
We know not how so well to compress a view of his services and
character, as in the comprehensive language of Daniel Webster, at the
Norfolk Agricultural Society's first anniversary meeting: "We all
remember him, — some of us personally, — myself, certainly, with great
interest in his deliberations in the Congress of the United States,
to which he brought such a degree of learning, and ability, and elo-
quence, as few equalled, and none surpassed. He administered, after-
wards, satisfactorily to his fellow-citizens, the duties of the chair of the
commonwealth. He then, to the great advantage of his country, went
abroad. He was deputed to represent his government at the most im-
portant court of Europe ; and he carried thither many qualities, most of
them essential, and all of them ornamental and useful, to fill that high
station. He had education and scholarship. He had a reputation at
home and abroad. More than all, he had an acquaintance with the
politics of the world, with the law of this country and of nations, with
the history and policy of the countries of Europe. And how well
these qualities enabled him to reflect honor upon the literature and
character of his native land, not we only, but all the country and all
the world know. He has performed this career, and is yet at such a
period of life, that I may venture something upon the character and
privilege of my countrymen, when I predict, that those who have
known him long and know him now, those who have seen him and see
him now, those who have heard him and hear him now, are very likely
to think that his country has demands upon him for future efforts in its
service."
In addition to the speeches contained in the two volumes, Mr.
Everett is the author of some publications which have appeared sepa-
rately : such as the Defence of Christianity, before alluded to ; an
46*
546 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Essay on the Claims of Citizens of the United States on Foreign Gov-
ernments, which originally appeared in the North American Review ;
a Life of General Stark, Avhich appears as the first article in Mr.
Sparks' Library of American Biography ; and a Biographical Memoir
of Mr. Webster, forming the introduction to the new edition of his
works. The speeches and reports of Mr. Everett in Congress, and his
other political speeches and writings, would probably form a collection
as large as that of his miscellaneous orations and speeches. Above a
hundred articles are stated to have been written by him in the Xorth
American Review, and many in other journals. A hope was expressed,
by Judge Story, in the letter above cited, that Mr. Everett would
devote himself to the preparation of some elaborate work. It would
appear, from the following paragraph in the preface to the collection
of his orations, that he has contemplated such an undertaking :
"It is still my purpose, should my health permit, to offer to the
public indulgence a selection from a large number of articles contrib-
uted by me to the North American Review, and from the speeches,
reports and official correspondence, prepared in the discharge of the
duties of the several official stations which I have had the honor to fill,
at home and abroad. Nor am I wholly without hope that I shall be
able to execute the more arduous project, to which I have devoted a
good deal of time for many years, and towards which I have collected
ample materials, — that of a systematic treatise on the modern law of
nations, more especially in reference to those questions which have been
discussed between the governments of the United States and Europe
since the peace of 1783." On the decease of Daniel Webster, Mr.
Everett became his successor as the Secretary' of State in the national
cabinet, and in 1853 he succeeded Hon. John Davis as a national
senator.
GEORGE STILLMAN HILLARD.
JULY 4, 1835. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
''• It cannot be denied that we have been, for some time past, grow-
ing indifferent to the celebration of this day," sa.js Hillard. " It was
once hailed — and some Avho hear me can remember the time — with
emotions too deep for words. The full hearts of men overflowed in
the copious, gushing tears of childhood, and silently went up to heaven
on the wings of praise. With their own sweat and their own blood
il
GEORGE STILLMAN HILLARD. 54'3
they had won their inheritance of peace, and they prized it accordingly.
They Avere yet fresh from the great events which we read of as cold
matters of history. The storm had passed by, but the swell of the
troubled waters, rising in dark-heaving ridges, yet marked its duration
and violence. All things then Avore the beauty of novelty, and long
possession had not dulled the sense of enjoyment. The golden light
and glittering dews of the morning were above and around them.
The wine of life sparkled and foamed in its freshly-poured cup. The
lovely form of Liberty — to us so familiar — seemed like a bright
vision, newly lighted upon this orb, from the starry courts of heaven ;
and men hung, with the rapture of lovers, upon her inspiring glances
and her animating smiles. But a half-century has rolled by, and a
new generation has sprung up, who seem to think that their social and
political privileges belong to them as naturally as air and light, and
reflect ap httle upon the way in which they came by them. The very
magnitude of our blessings makes us insensible to their value, as the
ancients supposed that the music of the spheres could not be heard,
because it was so loud. The whole thing has become to us an old story.
We have heard so much of the spirit of Seventy-six, and of the times
that tried men's souls, that we are growing weary of the sound. The
same feelint]!; which made the Athenians tired of hearing; Aristides called
the just, makes us tired of hearing this called a glorious anniversary.
But that man is little to be envied who cannot disentangle this occa-
sion from the secondary and debasing associations which cling to it, —
from its noise, its dust, its confusion, its dull orations and vapid toasts,
— and, ascending at once into a higher region of thought and feeling,
recognize the full, unimpaired force of that grand manifestation of
moral power which has consecrated the day. A cold indifference to
this celebration would, in itself, be a sign of ominous import to the for-
tunes of the republic. lie who greets the light of this morning with
no throb of generous feeling is unworthy of a share in that heritage
of glory which he claims by right of the blood which flows in his
degenerate veins. That man, had he lived sixty years ago, would
most surely have been found wanting to his country, in her hour of
agony and struggle. Neither with tongue, nor purse, nor hand, would
he have aided the most inspiring cause that ever appealed to a mag-
nanimous breast. The same cast of character which makes one inca-
pable of feeling an absorbing emotion, makes him incapable of heroic
efforts and heroic sacrifices. He who cannot forget himself in admir-
548 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
ing true greatness, can never be great ; and the power of justly appre-
ciating and heartily reverencing exalted merit is, in itself, an unequiv-
ocal sign of a noble nature."
George Stillman Hillard was born at Macbias, Maine, Sept. 22,
1808. His mother, a daughter of Gen. Stillman, died when he
■was an infant. He entered the Boston Latin School in 1822. His
reminiscences of this schoolhouse, when it was demolished, in the year
1844, as given in the Boston Book of 1850, are very impressive.
" Certainly there were no intrinsic charms in the building to commend
it to the affectionate remembrances of the boys. There never was an}'
thing more bare, more tasteless, more uncouth," says Mr. Hillard.
" The walls were the blankest, the seats the hardest, the desks the
most inconvenient, that could be imagined. ' Going out ' was such a
farce ! It Avas only exchanging a room with a roof for one without ;
and, really, not big enough for a well-grown boy to swing a kitten in.
But Avhat did Ave care for all this ? Youth and hope, and light hearts,
are such mighty magicians ! How they gilded and colored those
■walls ! What more than regal tapestry they hung round their naked
desolation ! with w^hat roses they empurpled that dusty floor ! what
beauty they shed around that narrow staircase ! " After enlarging on
the advantage of a spacious public schoolhouse, and the fierce democ-
racy of the scholars, Mr. Hillard continues : '' There is no better illus-
tration of Homer than the daily course of a public school. His heroes
are grown-up boys. Like them, they speak out the whole truth.
Like them, they call names. Like them, they weep honest tears, and
laugh hearty laughs. When a boy chances to make an ass of himself,
by word or deed, with what distinctness is the fact communicated to
him ! He is never left to grope his way by inferences. Would that
we could all be boys again, for one day ! What faces we should see
in Court-street and State-street ! I pass daily, in the streets, some
of my old school-fellows. To me they are always boys. I see the
blooming looks of childhood through those strong and manly lines.
And yet, how many are changed ! Such cold, money-getting .eyes are
turned upon me ! Some have protuberant waistcoats, and are growing
almost gouty. Some have that compressed lip and furrowed brow
which speak of suppressed grief, — of that unspoken sorrow whose dark-
hng current mines away the heart unseen. Li some, the natural face
is so changed that it looks like a mask. Some — many — are unal-
tered. With them, the flavor of youth is unimpaired. Towards them,
GEOEGE STILLMAN HILLARD. 549
the dark cloud has not been turned. With them, the boy has flowed
into the man, as the brook expands into the river. As I pass by these
eaxly companions, with a cold nod of recognition, I have often longed
to stop them, and say to them, ' Tell me, in ten words, your history.
Where do you feci the pinch of hfe?' " After allusions to his teacher
and certain favorite schoolmates, Mr. Ilillard writes of the higher
advantages of culture now enjoyed. "We were compelled," says he,
"to feed on such husks as the Gloucester Greek Grammar, Lem-
priere's Dictionary, and a Delphin Yirgil, with an ordo meandering
along the margin, — things now as much out of date as wigs and three-
cornered hats. I hear now in the school a sound of ' logical predi-
cates,' as strange to my ears as nouns and verbs were to Jack Cade's.
These fine lads are striding after us with seven-leagued boots." jNIr.
Hillard entered Harvard College in 1824, and to his latest life has
never forgotten that period when, with heart full of fear and satchel
full of books, he went to be examined before enterino; colle^io, and
there breathed the atmosphere of letters. We cannot forbear embody-
ing here a very agreeable reminiscence of ^Ir. Hillard in regard to
Edward Everett, who w'as a professor in the college when he became a
student in that institution: "We recall, certainly with no complacent
sense of superiority for the colder heart of manhood, the boyish enthu-
siasm with which Ave ourselves hung upon his accents in those days.
He seemed to express and embody our dreams of an accomplished
scholar and a finished man. To miss hearing him, whenever he
addressed the public, was an annoyance which rose almost to the dig-
nity of a misfortune. And to this day, we confess an incapacity to
apply anything like an impartial judgment to his earlier discourses,
because they are so indissolubly associated with all the entrancements
and illusions of youth. The fresh gales of the morning blow around
as we read, and the dew of hope lies bright once more upon the untried
world. To us, there are words between the lines. Faces, now unknown
on earth, throng back upon us, and we listen again to voices locked in
the rugged cell of death. In that Nestor-like disparaging comparison,
so apt to come with coming years, we have sometimes asked ourselves,
not merely whether there was any one now capable of awakening such
enthusiasm ia young natures, but whether the feeling still survived, —
whether any fairy shapes of enchantment yet lingered in the morning
twilight of life, unscared by the invading blaze of useful knowledge."
At a college exhibition, in 1827, Mr. Hillard delivered an oration on the
550 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Abuses of Genius ; and, -when a candidate, in 1831, for the degree of
Master of Arts, lie gave another oration, on the Dangers to -which the
Minds of Young Men in our country are exposed. He was a student
in the Law School of the college until he graduated, in 1832, when he
read law with Charles P. Curtis, Esq., and was an attorney at the Suf-
folk bar. My. Hillard is an eminent counsellor. In 1835 he married
Susan T., daughter of the late Judge Howe, of Northampton. In 1845
he was elected to the city Council, of which he continued a member until
July, 1847, and was two years its president. He has been a represent-
ative to the State Legislature, and was elected to the Senate in 1849.
The manly and decided course of Mr. Hillard, in the State Senate,
elicited from Hon. Daniel "Webster, in the United States Senate, a warm
response. In his remarks on legislative instructions to representatives
in Congress, Mr. Webster made a happy allusion to Mr. Hillard, March
7, 1850. He said it had become quite too frequent a practice for State
Legislatures to present resolutions in Congress on all subjects, and to
instruct us here on all subjects. '' I took notice, with pleasure," said
Mr. Webster, "of some remarks on this subject, made the other day, in
the Senate of Massachusetts, by a young man of talent and of character,
from whom the best hopes may be entertained. I mean Mr. Hillard.
He told the Senate of Massachusetts that he would vote for no instruc-
tions whatever, to be forwarded to members of Congress, nor for any
resolutions to be offered, expressive of the sense of Massachusetts as
to what their members of Congress ought to do. He said he saw no
propriety in one set of public servants giving instructions and reading
lectures to another set of public servants. To their own master they
must stand or fall, and that master is their constituents." Mr. Webster
further remarked : "If the question be one which affects her interest,
and at the same time affects the interests of all other States, I should
no more regard her political wishes or instructions, than I would regard
the wishes of a man who might appoint me an arbiter or referee to
decide some important private right, and wljo might instruct me to
decide in his favor."
A journalist, in noticing the oration of Mr. Hillard on our national
independence, remarks that " it is full of passages of the highest elo-
quence, couched in language of a Tyrian dye." The clear fountain of
such a mind as his should not cease to pour forth coj)ious streams for
intellectual refreshment. Who would not learn a lesson from his beau-
tiful little moral of " A Patch on both Knees, and Gloves on " ? He
JEROME VAN CROWNINGSHIELD SMITH. 551
13 the purest classical scholar, of his generation, in the Boston bar.
Who, that has heard his public lectures, can ever forget his silvery voice,
its melodious intonations, and his graceful manner? He is perfect
master of a soft and beautiful diction. His style is never entangled
among the brambles of Carlylc, -whose eccentric language and figures
are, for the most part, as thorns to good taste ; and a critic, in allusion
to his oration on the Relations of the Poet to his Age, says that the
exquisite and flowing sentences seem allied to music, and touch the
outward sense, as Avell as stir the fancy and excite the reflective powers.
What Mr. Hillard felicitously remarks in regard to the orations of
Edward Everett, may be justly applied to his own productions : "We
do not find in them careless defects, redeemed by careless graces ; nor
epigrammatic point ; nor that picturesque Mosaic which is made up of
chips of aphorisms and crystals of poetry ; nor those terse and racy
expressions which take the wings of proverbs and fly over the land ;
nor those inimitable felicities of phrase, which dart from the heart of
genius like lightning from the cloud."
The introduction and notes of ]\Ir. Hillard to an edition of the
Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, in five volumes, published at
Boston, in 1839, give him a name among the very few imperishable
writers of New England. He says of the Faerie Queene that it is the
delight of imaginative youth, and of men who have preserved^ in man-
hood, the freshness of early feeling, and ceased not to reverence the
dreams of their youth. He who, at forty, reads the Faerie Queene
with as much delight as at twenty, is pretty sure to be a wise and a
happy man.
]\Ir. Hillard is author of a Memoir of Henry R. Cleveland, and a
Memoir of Capt. John Smith. His twelve admirable lectures for the
Lowell Institute, on the character and writings of John Milton, should
be published in a permanent form, as they are identified with his own
literary history. In 1854: he was elected to the oflfice of city solicitor.
JEROME VAN CROWNINGSHIELD SMITH.
JULY 4, 1835. FOR THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH BOSTON.
Was born at Conway, N. IL, July 20, 1800, and was son of Rich-
ard Ransom Smith, a respectable physician ; and bis mother was Sarah
652 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Cummings, of Ilollis, N. H. Had a degree from Brown University,
in 1818 ; and M. D. at Williams College, -wliere, in 1822, he was
elected Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, in the medical depart-
ment, located at Pittsfield, under the name of the Berkshire Medical
Institution, which, by an act of the Legislature, became an independent
institution. He married Eliza Maria, daughter of SherifiF Henry Clin-
ton Brown, of Pittsfield, Mass. He was a student in surgery under
the eminent Dr. William Ingalls, of Boston. Dr. Smith had a genius
for statuary, and executed, with artistical skill, busts of Bishop Fitz-
patrick, of Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, Bishop Eastburn, and others.
Dr. Smith estabhshed the Boston Medical Intelligencer, in quarto,
and was the editor. It had long been known as the Boston Medical
and Surgical Journal, when it assumed the octavo form. He was its
conductor through more than forty volumes, and it is a good index of
his mind. He prepared valuable notes to a Boston edition of Cooper's
Surgery. He was editor of the Boston Weekly News Letter, in two
volumes octavo, published in 1825-26, — an excellent local historical
chronicle, scarcely extant, as the copies were mostly destroyed at a
great fire in Court-street, at the same time when a part of the manu-
script of Gov. Winthrop's History was also destroyed. He prepared a
History of the American Indians, published anonymously, by Clark.
He revised an English reprint of the INIother's Medical Guide, with
additions. Dr. Smith was author of a practical treatise on the Econ-
omy, Habits and Culture, of the Honey-bee ; and of the Revelations
of Mrs. Fox, an amusing satire on Animal IMagnetism, with caricatures
by Johnston. He was editor of six volumes of Scientific Tracts, and
of Memoirs of Andrew Jackson, when first a candidate for the presi-
dency. One of his best productions is the Natural History of the
Fishes of Massachusetts. His Class-book of Anatomy, with engrav-
ings, exhibits a mind well furnished with elementary science. As
editor of the American Medical Pocket-book, he aided medical science.
His contributions to Bowen's Picture of Boston constitute the most
valuable part of that work. He has done much for the Boston Alma-
nac. Dr. Smith has kept a diary of historical and general information,
regarding Boston, for a period of more than twenty-five years, record-
ing facts of municipal history not elsewhere to be gathered. It will
be a valuable legacy to the INIassachusetts Historical Society. Dr.
Smith has been a man of untiring industry.
In 1826 Dr. Smith was elected the Port Physician for Boston, in
JEROME VAN CROWNINGSHIELD SMITH. 553
which capacity he vaccinated more persons, perhaps, than any other
physician in New England. In 1837 he Avas elected to the State Leg-
islature, and succeeded in effecting an alien law regarding foreign pau-
pers, for the collection of a capitation tax on foreigners arriving at any
port in Massachusetts ; which tax was devoted to defraying the expenses
of poor and sick emigrants, until the declaration of the United States
Supreme Court, at Washington, deciding that the collection of funds was
unconstitutional. Dr. Smith has been a useful member of the school
committee, and was a justice of the peace. In 1848 he was ao-ain
elected to the Legislature, and was chairman of a special joint com-
mittee on alien paupers. lie prepared a statistical document on the
present condition and future influence that the great influx of for-
eigners is destined to exercise over the condition of our country. In
the same year, and in 1852, he was a candidate for the mayoralty of
Boston. He was succeeded, in the quarantine department, July 1849,
by Dr. Henry G. Clark. No man has been more familiar with the
nature of small-pox and kindred loathsome infections, or more zeal-
ously devoted to the cause, than the subject of this memoir.
Dr. Smith Avas an early advocate for the universal introduction of pure
water at the expense of the city of Boston ; and delivered an address at
the Masonic Temple, Feb. 5, 1834, before the jMassachusetts Charitable
Mechanic Association, and in presence of the city authorities, urginor
reasons why pure water should be adopted by the city, and proposing a
schedule for the supply of one hundred thousand persons from Jamaica
Pond. The last, and not least, important service of Dr. Smith, was in
the gathering of the sons of New Hampshire at the great hall of the
Fitchburg depot, Nov. 7, 1849. It was on his invitation that a few
friends met at his residence. No. 12 Bowdoin-sti'cet. and in the base-
ment-room decided, Oct. 9, 1848, to attempt the fii-st universal gath-
ering of the whole brotherhood of a State, in the United States. He
has been a frequent lecturer on scientific subjects. His extensive eru-
dition, and remarkably bland and social manners, render his society
highly captivating. In the spring of 1850 he made the tour of Europe
and Asia, and was a constant contributor to Boston journals during his
travels. In 1854 he was elected the mayor of Boston.
The oration of Dr. Smith on our national birthday is almost the
only purely historical performance in this collection. It relates the
ancient history of Mattapan Neck, the noble feat of Washin'^-ton on the
heights of Dorchester, and its annexation to Boston by the annexation
47
554 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
of South Boston Bridge, in 1804. He remarks that the preservation
of Boston, and the political redemption of North America, was effected
on Dorchester Heights.
"We cannot resist the pleasure of alludin:^ to an impressive incident
that occurred during the delivery of this oration. There was present
in the audience a venerable person, then supposed to be one hundred
years of age, who was addressed by the orator, on rising from his seat,
supported on one side by Col. Henry Purkitt, and by Maj. Benjamin
Russell on the other side of him, amid the whole audience, standing
and gazing Avith intense interest. It appeared afterwards, however,
that the aged veteran had mistaken his age; as, according to the
Boston records, he was born August 25, 1742, being ninety-three
years of age. A Memoir of George Robert Twelves Hewes, one of the
Boston Tea Party of 1773, was published, written by B. B. Thacher.
He died at Little Herkimer. Herkimer county, N. Y., Nov. 5, 1840,
aged ninety-eight. Dr. Smith said :
"Nearly the last of that fearless company of patriots who consti-
tuted the celebrated Boston Tea Party is now before the audience, —
the venerable relic of a century. This is jNIr. George Robert Twelves
Hewes, who will be one hundred years old on the 5th day of the coming
September, formerly a citizen of Boston, — and who, on the verge of
eternity, earnestly desired to revisit the early scenes of youth, that his
eyes might be gladdened with objects in which they once delighted.
How wonderful ! One hundred years of age ! — yet in the full posses-
sion of his faculties, and susceptible of all the enjoyments and jjleasures
of social intercourse.
" Let the youth who have this rare opportunity of gazing upon the
features of this extraordinary, — this last man, as it were, — remem-
ber the circumstance, that in their old age they may say to their chil-
dren, they saw, on the 4th of July, 1835, a man who assisted in throw-
inf!; into the ocean three cargoes of tea, in order to resist the exactions
of foreign taskmasters. And may the spirit which animated him on
that remai'kable occasion live in them and their posterity, Avhile home
has endearments, and true patriotism exists in the land which gave
them birth ! Venerable old man ! May Heaven's choicest blessings
rest upon your frosted head ! Since you were born, three hundred
millions of human beings have probably gone down to the grave ; and
yet you are spared, by Divine Providence, to be a living monitor to us,
to cherish our precious institutions, and to transmit them unimpaired
ll
THEOPIIILrS HSKE. — JOSEPH STORY. 555
to succeeding generations. Though you come to the land of your
chiklhood leaning upon a staiF, and feeling your dependence on the
charities of a selfish woi'ld, you are surrounded by friends Avho feel that
their prosperity is referable to the privations, sacrifices and personal
labors, of you and your brave associates in arms. ]\Iay your last days
be peaceful, calm, and happy ; and "with your last breath, I beseech
you, invoke a blessing on our common country !
' May your last days in one smooth channel run.
And end in pleasure, as they first begun.' "
THEOPHILUS FISKE.
JULY 4, 1S35. FOR THE TRADES UNION.
Was born at Wilton, N. H., and married, at Cazenovia, N. Y., May,
1851, Susan, daughter of Hon. Justin Dwinette. The subject of Mr.
Fiske, in the oration at the head of this article, was on Capital against
Labor. It was delivered at Julien Hall. At this period he was editor
of the Workingman's Advocate. He removed to Virginia, in 1841,
and pubhshed the Political Reformer. He entered the ministry, and
was for a period the pastor of a Universalist church in Philadelphia ;
has since become a practical biologist, or mesmerizcr.
JOSEPH STORY.
OCT. 15, 1835. EULOGY ON CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL. FOR THE SUFFOLK
BAR.
In the eulogy before us, Justice Story thus expressively enlarges
on the capacity of Marshall as the expositor of constitutional law : "It
was here that he stood confessedly without a rival, whether we regard
his thorough knowledge of our civil and political history, his admira-
ble powers of illustration and generalization, his scrupulous integrity
and exactness in interpretation, or his consummate skill in moulding
his own genius into its elements, as if they had constituted the exclu-
556 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
sive study of his life. His proudest epitaph may be writteii in a single
line, — Here lies the Expounder of the Constitution of the United
States. I am aware of the force of this language, and have no desire
to qualify it. The task Avhich he had to perform was far different from
that which belongs to the debates in other places, where topics may be
chosen, and expressed or avoided, as the occasion may require. In
the forum, there is no choice of topics to be urged, there are no pas-
sions to be addressed, there are no interests to be courted. Critical
inquiries, nice discriminations, severe inductions, and progressive dem-
onstrations, are demanded upon the very points on which the contro-
versy hinges. Every objection must be met and sifted ; and answered,
not by single flashes of thought, but by the closest logic, reasoning out
every successive position with a copious and convincing accuracy.
"Let it be remembered, that when Chief Justice Marshall first took
his seat on the bench, scarcely more than two or three questions of con-
stitutional law had ever engaged the attention of the Supreme Court.
As a science, constitutional law was then confessedly new ; and that
portion of it, in an especial manner, which may be subjected to judicial
scrutiny, had been explored by few minds, even in the most general
forms of inquiry. Let it be remembered, that, in the course of his
judicial life, numerous questions of a practical nature, and involving
interests of vast magnitude, have been constantly before the Court,
where there was neither guide nor authority, but all was to be wrought
out by general principles. Let it be remembered, that texts which
scarcely cover the breadth of a finger have been since interpreted,
explained, limited and adjusted, by judicial commentaries, which are
now extended into volumes. Let it be remembered, that the highest
learning, genius and eloquence, of the bar, have been employed to
raise doubts and fortify objections ; that State sovereignties have stood'
impeached in their legislation, and rights of the most momentous nature
have been suspended upon the issue ; that, under such circumstances,
the infirmities of false reasoning, the glosses of popular appeal, the
scattered fire of irregular and inconclusive assertion, and the want of
comprehensive powers of analysis, had no chance to escape the instant
detection of the profession. Let these things, I say, be remembered,
and who does not at once perceive that the task of expounding the
constitution, under such circumstances, required almost superhuman
abilities 1 It demanded a mind in which vast reaches of thought should
be combined with patience of investigation, sobriety of judgment, fear-
1
JOSEPH STORY. 557
lessness of consequences, and mastery of the principles of interpreta-
tion, to an extent rarely belonging to the most gifted of our race.
" How this gigantic task of expounding the constitution was met and
executed by Chief Justice INIarshall, let the profession — let the public
— decide. Situated as I am, I may not speak for others upon such an
occasion. But, having sat by his side during twenty-four years ; hav-
ing witnessed his various constitutional labors ; having heard many of
those exquisite judgments, the fruits of his own unassisted meditations,
from which the Court has derived so much honor, — et nos aliqitod
nomenque decusqiie gessimiis^ — I confess myself unable to find lan-
guage sufficiently expressive of my admiration and reverence of his
transcendent genius. While I have followed his footsteps, — not as I
could have wished, but as I have been able, at humble distances. — in
his splendid judicial career, I have constantly felt the liveliest gratitude
to that beneficent Providence which created him for the age, that his
talents might illustrate the law, his virtues adorn the bench, and his
judgments establish the perpetuity of the constitution of the country.
Such is my humble tribute to his memory. His saltern accumalem
donis, ct fungar inani inunere. The praise is sincere, though it
may be perishable. Not so his fame. It will flow on to the most dis-
tant ages. Even if the constitution of his country should perish, his
glorious judgments will still remain to instruct mankind, until liberty
shall cease to be a blessing, and the science of jurisprudence shall vanish
from the catalogue of human pursuits."
Joseph Story, a son of Dr. Elisha Story, was born at Marblehead,
Mass., Sept. 18, 1779. His father was a native of Boston, an active
actor in the Tea Party of 1773, and a surgeon in the army of the Rev-
olution. His primary education was received in the academy of his
native town, under the carex)f the Rev. Dr. Harris, and Michael Walsh,
the noted author of the Mercantile Arithmetic. He graduated at Har-
vard College, in 1798, on Avhich occasion his theme was a poem on
" Reason." He pursued the study of law with Chief Justice Samuel
Sewall. of Marblehead, Avhere he attempted to read Coke on Littleton,
in the folio edition, thatched over with those manifold annotations which
cause the best-trained lawyer "to gasp and stare." As he strove in
vain to force his weary way through its rugged page, he was filled with
despair. It was but for a moment. The tears poured from his eyes
upon the open book. Those tears, says Sumner, were his precious bap-
tism into the learning of the law. From that time forth, he persevered
47*
558 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
■Rntli confirmed ardor and confidence, without let or lilndrance. He
pursued his legal studies at Salem, under Judge Samuel Putnam. In
1801 he was admitted to the Essex bar, and it is said was the only
avowed Democrat at that period among the lawyers of that county.
This obstacle to his success soon gave way to his attainments and
peculiar tact for his profession.
He has often avowed that literature was his earliest passion, which
yielded to the stern requirements of duty beckoning him to the toils of
professional life ; and those who knew him best cannot forget that this
sentiment pervaded his days, remarks Sumner, as with the perfume of
flowers. Being ardent in poetic fancy, and of a brilliant imagination,
his leisure time was devoted to the weaving a poem, published in 1804,
on the Power of Solitude, the idea of which was conceived by the sen-
timental work of Zimmerman. A collection of his poetical effusions
are gathered in the second edition of this volume. This production,
though a favorite effort of the author, as it is related, like the Paradise
Regained to the taste of Milton, never heightened the power of his
influence as a poet, and it has slowly passed away from the bookseller's
shelves, as a thing of gaediocrity ; yet the gushings of a warm heart
stream down its pages. It has been expressively said of perishable
poetr}'-, that it is unnoticed by men, and abhorred by the gods.
In 1804 Mr. Story delivered at Salem a Democratic oration on our
national independence. In allusion to Jefierson, he says, in this ora-
tion, " The fame of our illustrious administration is not left to the per-
ishable breath of man. It is recorded in deeds which shall descend to
posterity, and give immortality to national gratitude. Jefferson has not
lived for his own age. " The hand which traced the Declaration of Inde-
pendence may crumble in the dust, but the labors of thirty years
devoted to the public service have insured a title to a glorious perpe-
tuity." So ardent was he in political zeal, that he engaged in a per-
sonal rencounter, it is related, with Gen. Haskett Derby, in one of the
streets of Salem. In 1805 he was elected to the State Legislature, of
which he was a member until his election to Congress, in 1809, where
he served only during that session, when he declined being a candidate.
In 1810 he was again elected to the State Legislature. In 1811 Mr.
Story was chosen Speaker of the House, and resigned Jan. 12, 1812.
"When in the State Legislature, he exerted a controlling influence on
judicial reform, religious taxation, and other objects. Mr. Story has the
traditionary reputation of originating the project of newly forming the
JOSEPH STORY. 559
senatorial districts, for the purpose of insuring a Democratic majority
in the Senate. It is highly probable, however, that the Hon. Samuel
Dana, ^Yho was President of the Senate in that session, was the orig-
inator of this measure, which was caricatured in the Boston Gazette of
March, 1812, by an engraving, executed by E. Tisdale, a miniature
painter, representing the new order of districting in the form of an
unsightly skeleton, and was first exhibited in the Centinel office.
Washington Allston, calling there with James Ogilvie, a lecturer on
oratory, and noticing the figure, remarked to Russell, the editor,
"What an odd-looking creature is this ! it looks like a salamander."
On which Ogilvie, quick as light, replies, "Why, let it be named
Gerrymander, for the governor." We relate this on the authority of
Dr. Joseph Palmer, who had the statement from Benjamin Russell.
This impolitic districting effected a reaction, giving the Federal party
a decided majority in the Legislature ; the districts were altered to
their former order, and the Federalists had the ascendency for twelve
succeeding years. The history of the Gerrymander is a beacon for
pohtical intolerance.
AVhen in Congress, Mr. Story proposed an increase of the navy,
and exerted every nerve for the repeal of Jefferson's Embargo Act,
which was efibcted ; and Jefierson said, "All this I ascribe to one
Story, a pseudo Repubhcan." Mr. Story said, in a letter written in
1812, "Mr. Jefferson has honored me, by attributing to my influence
the repeal of the Embargo Act. I freely admit that I did all I could
to accomplish it, though I returned home before the act passed. The
very eagerness with which the repeal was supported by a majority of
the Republican party ought to have taught jNIr. Jefferson that it was
already considered by them as a miserable and mischievous fiiilure."
Mr. Story, after this, became greatly dissatisfied with the Democratic
party, and favored the Republican party, but not with so much zeal,
preferring, with singleness of heart, a devotion to his profession. It is
evident that the striking disparity between the generous policy of
WashinfTton and the severe and exclusive measures of Jefferson decided
the discerning mind of Story to an abandonment of Democracy. In-
deed, Justice Story stated, in a letter dated Jan. 23, 1831 : "I was
always, at all times, a firm believer in the doctrines of Washington ; and
an admirer of his conduct and principles, during liis whole administra-
tion, though they were to me matters of history. I read and examined
his principles, and have made them, in a great measure, the rule and
560 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
guide of my life. I was, and always have been, a lover, a devoted
lover, of the constitution of the United States, and a friend to the Union
of the States. I never wished to bring the government to a mere
confederacy of States, but to preserve the power of the general govern-
ment, given by all the States, in full exercise for their protection and
preservation."
Mr. Story w^is married, in 1805, to Mary Lynde, daughter of Rev.
Thomas Fitch Oliver, an Episcopal clergyman of Salem. She was a
lady of rare literary knowledge, and warm aifection, who died in a
short period j and he married a second time, — Sarah Waldo Wetmore,
of Boston, Aug. 28, 1808, by whom he had all his children.
The station of an associate judge of the U. S. Supreme Judicial
Court was vacated, November, 1811, by the decease of Hon. AVil-
liam Gushing, of Scituate, who had occupied it from the organization
of the government. It was offered to John Quincy Adams, who
declined. Pi-esident jMadison then nominated Joseph Story, who was
at that time only thirty-two years of age, — an instance unprecedented
in this republic, or of Great Britain, of such a youthful appointment.
His fervent love of truth, and sound legal learning, evinced that never
was a measure more amply justified in the result. In 1829 Justice
Story was appointed professor of the Dane Law School of Harvard
University, and settled at Cambridge. In 1820 he was a delegate to
the convention 'for revising the State constitution, where he exerted his
powers to secui-e the independence of the judiciary.
In the excellent Memoir of the Life and Times of Judge Story,
edited by his son, — a work of inestimable value, especially to the law
student, — appears a relation of his literary and domestic habits, which
we herewith take pleasure to insert :
" From the time this work [Commentaries on Bailments] was
completed, my father had been engaged upon his ' Commentaries on
the Constitution of the United States ; ' and, towards the latter part of
the year 1832, he completed the manuscript, and began to print, hav-
ing been only about a year and a half in writing the three volumes of
this learned and elaborate work. When it is considered that this was
accomplished in the intervals between his double duties as professor
and judge, — each of which would seem to be sufficient to occupy, if
not to exhaust, an intellect even of energy and power, — his fertility
of mind, and great resources, as well as his power of enduring contin-
uous labor, appear extraordinary. During the period occupied in the
JOSEPH STORY. 561
writing of these Commentaries on the Constitution, three months of his
time had been spent in attendance on the Supreme Court at Washing-
ton, "where he had borne his full part in preparing the judgments of the
court; he had also attended all his circuits in Maine, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and written the opinions of that year,
reported in the first volume of Sumner's Reports : he had corrected
and printed his Commentaries on Bailments, carefully examining every
proof and revise ; he had lectured from two to three hours, every other
day, in the Law School, while he Avas at Cambridge ; he had attended
at the moot-courts ; and, besides all this, he had written the address at
the consecration of INIount An.burn, the notice of Chief Justice Parker,
had conducted aj^ extensive correspondence, and had been ill nearly a
month.
" The secrets by which he was enabled to accomplish so much in so
short a time were, systematic industry, variation of labor, and concen-
tration of mind. He was never idle. He knew the value of those
odds and ends of time which are so often thrown away as useless, and
he turned them all to good account. His time and his work were
apportioned, so that there was always something ready for the waste
time to be expended upon. He varied his labor, never overworking
himself on one subject, never straining his faculties too long in one
direction, but recreating himself by change of occupation. ' Le
Cha/igement d'ctude est toiijours relcicJienient jionr moi^ said
D'Aguesseau of himself ; and so my father found it. He never suf-
fered himself to become nervous or excited in his studies ; but, the-
moment that one employment began to irritate him, he abandoned it
for another, which should exercise different faculties. When he woi-ked,
it was with his whole mind, and with a concentration of all his powers
upon the subject in hand. Listlessness and half attention bring little
to pass. What was worth doing at all, he thought worth doing well.
" And here it may be interesting to state his personal habits during
the day. He arose at seven in summer, and at half-past seven in
winter, — never earlier. If breakfast was not ready, he went at once
to his library, and occupied the interval, whether it was five minutes
or fifty, in writing. When the family assembled, he was called, and
breakfasted with them. After breakfast, he sat in the drawing-room,
and spent from a half to three-quarters of an hour in reading the
newspapers of the day. He then returned to his study, and wrote
until the bell sounded for his lecture at the Law School. After lee-
-562 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
turing for two, and sometimes three hours, he returned to his studj,
and worked until two o'clock, when he was called to dinner. To his
dinner (which, on his part, was always simple) he gave an hour ; and
then again betook himself to his study, where, in the winter time, he
worked as long as the daylight lasted, unless called away by a visiter,
or obliged to attend a moot-court. Then he came down and joined the
family, and work for the day was over. Tea came in at about seven
o'clock, — and how lively and gay was he then, chatting over the most
familiar topics of the day, or entering into deeper currents of con-
versation with equal ease ! All of his law he left up stairs in his
library ; he was here the domestic man in his home. During tlw;
evening he received his friends, and he was rarely without company ;
but, if alone, he read some new publication of the day, — the reviews,
a novel, an English newspaper ; sometimes corrected a proof-sheet,
listened to music, or talked with the family, or, what was very com-
mon, played a game of backgammon with my mother. This was the
only game of the kind that he hked. Cards and chess he never
played.
" In the summer afternoons he left his library towards twilight, and
might always be seen by the passer-by sitting with his family under
the portico, talking or reading some light pamphlet or newspaper, often
surrounded by friends, and making the air ring with his gay laugh.
This, with the interval occupied by tea, would last until nine o'clock.
Generally, also, the summer afternoon was varied, three or four times
a week, in fair weather, by a drive with my mother of about an hour
through the surrounding country, in an open chaise. At about ten or
half-past ten he retired for the night, never varying a half-hour from
this time."
Sir James Mackintosh has said of his Decisions of Admiralty and
Prize, that they were justly admired by all cultivators of the La^v of
Nations. Story's opinions have often been cited as authority in West-
minster Hall ; and the Chief Justice of England has made the remark-
able declaration, with regard to a point on which Story had differed
from the Queen's Bench, that his opinion would at least neutralize the
effect of the Enghsh decision, and induce any one to consider the ques-
tion as an open one. In a debate in the House of Lords, he was char-
acterized, by Lord Campbell, as greater than any law writer of which
England could boast, or which she could bring forward, since the days
of Blackstone.
JOSEPH STORY. - 563
At a meeting of the Suffolk bar, Sept. 12, 1845, occasioned by the
decease of Hon. Judge Story, -whicli occurred on the 10th instant,
Daniel Webster remarked that Justice Story has, in some measure,
repaid a debt which America owes to England ; and the mother can
receive from the daughter, without humiliation and without envy, the
reversed hereditary transmission from the child to the parent. Ey the
comprehensiveness of his mind, and by his vast and varied attainments,
he was best fitted to compare the codes of different nations, and com-
prehend the results of such research. And Judge Davis, speaking of
his legal opinions and well-digested commentaries, remarked, at this
meeting, that they are a treasure for his country, and of civilized man
in every region, and will be gratefully admired and cherished so long
as the light and love of all good learning shall remain unextinguished.
We cannot withhold the warm tribute of Charles Sumner, who was
long a devoted student at the feet of our profound jurist, and had
cherished towards him a strong affection : "It has been my fortune to
see, or to know, the chief jurists of our times, in the classical countries
of jurisprudence, France and Germany. I remember well the pointed
and effective manner and style of Dupin, in the delivery of one of his
masterly opinions in the highest court of France. I recall the pleasant
conversation of Pardessus, ,to whom commercial and maritime law is
under a larger debt, perhaps, than to any other mind, while he descanted
on his favorite theme. I wander, in fancy, to the gentle presence of
him, with flowing silver locks, who was so dear to Germany, — Thibaut, —
the expounder of the Roman law, and the earnest and successful advo-
cate of a just scheme for the reduction of the unwritten law to the cer-
tainty of a written text. From Heidelberg I fly to Berlin, where I
listen to the grave lectures and mingle in the social circle of Savigny,
so stately in person and peculiar in countenance, whom all the conti-
nent of Europe delight to honor ; — but my heart and my judgment,
untravelled, fondly turn, with new love and admiration, to my Cam-
bridge teacher and friend. Jurisprudence has many arrows in her
golden quiver, but where is one to compare with that which is now
spent on the earth? " In all coming time, our courts of justice will
concede to Joseph Story the enviable fame of such liberal interpreta-
tions of the common law, and enlightened judicial decisions, that we
hope what Yincentio says, in jNIeasure for Measure, regarding the stat-
utes and decrees of Austria, may never be said of this republic :
564 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OEATORS.
" We have strict statutes, and most biting laws,
The needful hits and curbs for headstrong steeds,
Which for these fourteen years we have let sleep.
Now, as fond flxthers,
Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch,
Only to stick it in their children's sight.
For terror, not to use, — in time, the rod
Becomes more mocked than feared, — so our decrees,
Dead to infliction, to themselves ai'e dead ;
And Liberty plucks Justice by the nose."
HENRY WILLIS KINSMAN.
JULY 4, 1836. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES
Was born at Portland ; graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1822 ;
read law with Daniel Webster, and became his jDartner in practice, in
1827. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Willis, Esq., of
Haverhill, Mass. He was a member of the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company, in 1830 ; was captain of the City Guards ; was a
member of the Boston city Council in 1832, and was of the State
Senate in 1841. He was the collector for Newburyport in 1841, and
was again appointed by President Taylor, in 1849, to the same station.
DAVID HENSHAW.
JULY 4, 1836. FOR CITIZENS FROM ALL PARTS OF THE STATE, AT FANEUIL
HALL.
In this bold and manly performance, our orator says: "We are
wont to look back and compare our republic with the ancient republics
of Greece and Rome. The constitutions of those renowned nations, in
turn the mistresses of the Avorld, Avere raised upon foundations so rad-
ically different from our own, surrounded by cii'cunistances and influ-
ences so foreign from those of the present age, that they can no more
be compared with us, than we with the Chinese. Our government is,
sni generis, the first of its race. It sprung into life from the voice
of the people, as IMinerva sprang from the head of Jupiter. We can
DAVID HEXSHAW. 565
dnlj measure our progress bj comparing the different cpoclis of our
own history. By this measure, we shall find that we have made great
advances. We shall perceive that, as Democratic doctrines have pre-
vailed,— as the Democratic party has held the reins of power, — so
has our progress in free principles been accelerated. The pomp and
stateliness of aristocratic forms, under their rule, have yielded to a
simpler garb, and a more civil deportment, in your public functionaries.
The moneyed aristocracy was curbed during the administration of Jeffer-
son ; and the shackles upon the press, which the preceding administra-
tion, regardless of the constitutional restrictions, had imposed, as the
most important step in their march to arbitrary power, were taken off
in Jefferson's time. The human mind was emancipated. Mcr>tal
slavery, so far as the laws of the United States could apply to it, was
abolished. The freedom of action, as well as the field of thought, was
enlarged. New force was given to the will of the majority, exercised
within constitutional limits. The whole course of the national govern-
ment, whi'ch was previously fast verging towards monarchical princi-
ples, was changed, and the ship of State put upon ' the republican
tack.' Time brought with it new abuses. The rigid Democracy of
Jefferson had given jilace, in the govei'nment, to loose political princi-
ples. A moneyed .aristocracy had planted itself in a fortress, which it
had occupied and strengthened for half a generation, which it thought
impregnable, and by means of which it fondly hoped to rule the coun-
try. The whole system of our national government was rapidly tending
to a complete change.
" The government was levying taxes to be spent on internal improve-
ments. It was draining the people of the old States, who had made
their own roads and bridges and canals, to pay for like improvements
in the newer sections of the Union. It was taxing the whole commu-
nity, under a ruinous tariff, for the purpose of fostering or regulatino-
the labor of a class. It was rapidly absorbing the power of the States,
and suffocating the liberties of the people. "While retrograding from
just princi})les at home, the government was fast losing its character
abroad. Our despoiled citizens called in vain for redress from the
spoiler, for protection from their country. Gen. Jackson took the helm.
He was called into power by the spontaneous votes, the unbought suf-
frages, of the people. On him the hopes of the nation reposed, lie
has not disappointed them. He has redeemed his pledges. He has
far surpassed the most sanguine anticipation of the people. The
48 * •
566 THE nUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
veto upon the Maysville Koad Bill closed the wasteful drain, from the
public treasury for internal improvements. The principle of reducing
the taxes to the wants of the government has been fully recognized.
The national debt has been extinguished ; the spoiler has been called
to his reckoning, and compelled to pay for his robberies. The charac-
ter of the country has been elevated in the eyes of the whole civilized
world ; and every American abroad moves in more safety, and is treated
with more respect. The moneyed monster, with its hydra heads, which
designed to crush and strangle our liberties in its venomous folds, has
been prostrated by the blow of this modern Hercules. But its heads
are not yet seared. The attention of the people has been aroused to the
enormities of the paper-system, — to the evils of an excess of credit
currency; and, under the'.' auspices of this administration, they are
enlarging the specie basis, and resuming the use of hard money. Gold,
which for a generation had ^iisappeared from view, — which had never
met the eye of the younger p)ortion of the community, — is now getting
into circulation. Gen. Jf son has done more than any man living to
bring back the governn to the republican path, to protect our
commerce and extend i.. junds, to elevate the national character
abroad, to restore the rights of the people at home, to confine the
action of the national government to its legitimate objects, and to keep
it within the prescribed limits of the constitution. His administration
will occupy the brightest page of American history. He will illustrate
the asre in which he liv s. His fame Avill commingle with the fame of
Washington, and after time will rank them together, as the fathers of
their country, the beneiactors of the human race."
David Henshaw was born at Henshaw Place, in Leicester, April 2,
1791. His good father, David, was the son of Daniel Henshaw, who
married Elizabeth Bass ; and was born at Boston, August 19, 1744, in
Bainsford-lane, now Harrison-avenue, in the house knoAvn as the birth-
place of Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin. His fiither was the youngest of
fourteen children, and settled at Leicester, where he died, INIay 22,
1808, aged sixty-three years. David, the father of the subject of this
outhne, was married, by his father, Daniel' Henshaw, Esq., to Mary,
daughter of Nathan Sargent, Feb. 17, 1773. Their fifth son, David,
was educated at Leicester Academy, when he was apprenticed, in Bos-
ton, to the house of Dix & Brinley, druggists. During this period,
he devoted his leisure to the acquirement of useful knowledge, perfect-
ing his mind in science and several languages. Li 1S14 he became a
DAVID HE>'SIIA-\V. 567
partner in this business with his brothers and David Rice. In 1826
Mr. Henshaw was elected to the State Senate, for Suffolk. In 1828
the Legislature created a board of internal improvement ; and Mr.
Henshaw, though not of the dominant party, was elected to that board.
He was one of the earliest advocates for the establishment of railroads,
and was highly efficient in forwarding the Worcester Railroad, viewing
it as the pioneer of the line to Albany, over which the western trade
would roll to Boston. He continued of this board until it was dis-
solved. He was elected a director of the Worcester Railroad from its
foundation until this period.
In 1830 jMr. HenshaAv was appointed, by President Jackson, to the
collectorship of the port of Boston ; ai.l was a director, also, of the
United States Bank. He resigned the oiT.ce of collector in 1836 ; but,
at the request of the president, it was wit.idrawn. He again resigned
it, on the accession of President Van Puren; but, on request, he
retained the station until he was succeedc-. by George Bancroft. On
retiring from this office, the officers of t^ • revenue presented him a
chastely wrought silver pitcher, after a r 3I of one taken from Iler-
culaneum, by Jones, of Boston, with as" stand, or salver, on which
was inscribed, " To David Henshaw : 1 10m the officers of the revenue
associated with him while Collector of the port of Boston. A token
of their esteem. Feb. 3, 1838." A very fluttering letter was also
sent, signed by John Crowningshield and fiftf-two others. In that
year he retired to the paternal estate at Lei aster. In 1839 he was
elected representative by his native town. It is related that he made
a powerful argument in favor of a liberal covstruction in all cases of
contested election. He was a tenacious advocate for the annexation of
Texas. On the accession of John Tyler to the presidency, Mr. Hen-
shaw was appointed the Secretary of the Navy.
Mr. Henshaw has invariably been a tenacious advocate of the Dem-
ocratic party. In 1839 he was invited to attend the celebration of
national independence at Abington ; and, in a letter of acceptance, he
remarked, "I consider myself, in some degree, an ' Old Colony' man,
having descended, in one branch of my ancestry, from John Alden, one
of the Pilgrims who arrived in the Mayflower, in 1620." The follow-
ing toast was given, by the committee of arrangements, at the festival :
"Hon. David Henshaw, — a Hercules in intellect, and a Democrat in
principle : We are proud to learn that he is a descendant from the Old
Colony."
568 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
This Democratic Hercules, whose club is as a broken lance to the
invulnerable buckler of the vigorous Webster, submitted to a -svicler
sweep of indiscriminate proscription, while at the head of the Boston
custom-house, than any of his predecessors, — when it was wished the
Democracy were conveniently small, as numerous factions were rushing
into their ranks, hungry for office. But the removals were immediate,
and the contention in the political hive shortly ceased. Mr. Henshaw's
oration in Faneuil Hall, at the head of this article, is a manifesto of
Democratic principles, in a manly tone. In the opinion of the oppo-
nents of David Henshaw, the letters of Henry Orne, over the signa-
ture of Columbus, published in the Boston Bulletin, in 1819, and
gathered in a pamphlet of eighty-four pages, as also Derby's Sketch
of the Origin and History of the Statesman Party of Boston, compris-
ing one hundred and seventy-two pages, are material aids to our polit-
ical history, — excepting a few mistakes naturally arising from the
ebullition of party rancor, — revealing a system of management and
intrigue unprecedented in the annals of New England, ever to be had
in remembrance as a beacon to posterity. We readily concede to
David Henshaw great native capacity and political integrity ; but the
radiation of the satellites around him, like the halo encircling the moon,
ever indicated a storm. It was in allusion to this period that the ven-
erable Harrison Gray Otis remarked, within a few weeks of his death,
as follows : "I regard the administration of Gen. Jackson as the foun-
tain of all the subsequent abuses, and refer every Whig to his own knowl-
edge and recollection of the inroads made upon the constitution by that
iron-willed oppressor."' It has been further stated, that President
Jackson was more independent and more daring in his character than
President Jefferson ; and, therefore, at times, the more arbitrary, and
the more dangerous as the ruler of this republic.
In December, 1827, Mr. HenshaAv published, in the Boston States-
man, a series of articles, entitled Observations occasioned by the
Remarks on the Character of Napoleon, etc., in the Christian Exam-
iner ; which severely repel the opinions of its author, the Rev. Dr.
Channing, who viewed Napoleon as the greatest despot of modern his-
tory. A political opponent said of this production, that it was a Quix-
otic attack on one of the greatest writers of the age, which resembles,
in more than one point, the scene of the windmill. In 1831 Mr. Hen-
shaw published Remarks on the Bank of the United States, the object
of which was to exhibit the futility of objections to the establishment of
DAVID HENSHAW. 569
a national bank, founded on the resources of government, — opinions
which he afterwards modified. He was one of the originators and
directors of the Commonwealth Insurance Company, created in 1824,
the most of which stock was invested in the Commonwealth Bank, and
ended in a total ruin, on the failure of the bank, in 1835. Judge
Hubbard's Report, relating to the failure of the bank, with the testi-
mony of witnesses examined by the legislative committee, February,
1838, is an interesting relic of banking operations. Mr. Henshaw was
also a director of the "Warren Association of Stockholders in South
Boston real estate, of which the Mount Washington House was a por-
tion. In 1839 he published letters on the internal improvement and
commerce of the west, — a production that will ever redound to his
credit.
Mr. Henshaw has the reputation of having prompted President
Jackson, when at the Tremont House, in Boston, June, 1833, to issue
the order for the removal of the government deposits from the United
States Bank. On the failure of certain favoi'ed banks at the west, to
which deposits were removed. President Jackson vented bitter maledic-
tions against certain injudicious advisers, and out of this arose the sub-
treasury measure of Martin Van Buren. Mr. Henshaw was opposed
to a strong protective tariff; and said, at a public dinner, in 1832, that
"the political tariffites, like the mistletoe of the majestic oak, fastened
upon the manufacturing interest, absorbing its power and paralyzing its
health." In 1844 there was published a refutation, by his friends, of
the calumnies against David Henshaw, in relation to the failure of the
Commonwealth Bank, and the transfer of South Boston lands to the
United States. It was comprised in a pamphlet of sixty pages.
We cannot close the sketch of this leader of Xev,- England Democ-
racy, before relating his case at law against Samuel II. Foster, Avarden,
and the inspectors of ward No. 7, in Boston, for refusing to receive his
printed vote for a representative to the General Court, presented May
11, 1829, believing it not to be a legal vote, because it was a printed
one ; and they rejected it solely on that account. In the decision of
Chief Justice Parker, the authority of Livingston was cited, who con-
tended that wherever the contrary does not appear from the context,
writing not only means words traced Avith a pen, or stamped, but
printed, or engraved, or made legible by any other device. The prac-
tice had been to elect many town officers by hand vote, and, probably,
in some instances, representatives had been so chosen. It became nee-
48*
570 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
essaiy, therefore, to prescribe that the choice should be made by bal-
lot: but even the word. ballot itself is ambiguous, and therefore it was
required that representatives shall be elected by -written votes. Now,
if writing Avas "to express by letters" according to the chirographers,
which may 'as well and better be done by writing with types than in
manuscript, no inference can be drawn, from the terms employed, against
the use of printed votes. Suppose one manuscript vote, and others
copied from it by machinery, — would these latter be legal votes 7 Sup-
pose lithographic votes, — which was said to be the character of the one
tendered by the plaintiff. The supposed inconveniences, from the sub-
stitution of printed for manuscript votes, are probably, in a great
degree, imaginary. It is said it may be the means of introducmg car-
icatures, or libellous pictures, upon the ticket; but is it not quite as
easy now 7 The picture may be stamped, and names of candidates
written over or under it, and the vote will be legal. It has been done,
and probably will be done again, in times of fervid struggle. In the
common and statute law of this commonwealth and Great Britain, both
now and at the time of making the constitution, the use of the word
writing, to express instruments generally printed, was familiar. Thus,
a bond is a writing obligatory, though printed ; a promise in writing,
to avoid the statute of frauds, may be printed. The statute of Anne,
respecting promissory notes, speaks of notes in writing, and yet nothing
is more common than to see them in print. Justice Parker rendered
judgment against the defendants. Mr. Henshaw died at Leicester,
Nov. 11, 1852.
EDWARD CRUFT, JR.
JULY 4, 1837. FOR THE WASHINGTON SOCIETY.
Was born at Boston, May 7, 1811 ; entered the Latin School in
1821, and graduated at Harvard College in 1831 ; was a counsellor-
at-law, and of the city Council in 1834-35. He settled at St. Louis ;
was never married ; and practised law in the office of the Hon. Judge
Crum, author of the INIissouri Justice, who remarks, in the preface to
that work, that he "is greatly indebted to the learning and professional
skill of Edward Cruft, Jr., Esq., of the St. Louis bar, to whose accurate
and critical supervision these subjects, in their course of preparation,
were especially committed." He died at St. Louis, Apr. 22, 1847.
JONATHAN CHAPMAN. 571
JONATHAN CHAPMAN.
JULY 4, 1S37. rOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
In the higlily patriotic performance of our orator, it is remarked :
"We extend our fortifications, and enlarge our navy, — and it is well.
But how is it with the real citadels of that which we would defend —
the principles and hearts of each citizen 7 A love of order, a respect
for right, — honesty, political, as well as private, — contentment with
the inevitable inequalities of temporal conditions which Providence has
ordained, — an honest endeavor to improve our situation, but coupled
always with the feeling that, as republican citizens, Ave are measured,
not by its elevation, but by the fidelity with which we fill it, whatever
it be, — a regard for the law, which considers the necessity for a mih-
tary police, whether permanent or temporary, as the next dreadful
thing to the invasion of a foreign foe, — an enlarged patriotism, indi-
vidual self-control, — these are the cheap yet priceless defences of our
nation's freedom, and without which forts and armies and navies are
idler than the winds. But are these the things which mark our times?
Is the internal fortress of freedom, which each citizen has in charge,
guarded as it should be ? Is there no crimson upon our cheek, as we
commune with the past, in the solemnities of this day? It was the
possession of these only supports of freedom, and the Avonderful devel-
opment of the principle of individual self-government, which sustained
our fathers, in their heroic enterprise, — bound them to it and to each
other, when there was no other earthly government Avhich they
acknowledged, and enabled them to stand forth to posterity in the
noble attitude of genuine freemen. This is the key to their whole his-
tory. In simplicity, in purity, in a sense of individual responsibility,
they planted the tree of liberty. The thin soil of the rocky mountains
was its only nurture, — but, behold its majesty! Wc may have
transplanted it to the deep soil which prosperity has enriched, but
where is its vigor ? Its sap may be more abundant, but Avherc is its
purity 7 It may be more comely to the eye, but how wrestles it Avith
the storm 7
" It was upon the basis of this liberty, founded upon individual fidel-
ity, that, when the conflict was over, our republican government was
established. Its founders, as Avise in the council as they had been val-
572 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
iant in the field, though they acknowledged and obeyed the true prin-
ciple of freedom, were aware that the time had not come when it was
to be trusted alone, — that there would yet be employment for magis-
trates and laws ; and that, accordingly, an outward government was
still indispensable. But what kind of a government '? Their answer
was ready : a government that, recognizing and based upon the true
notion of liberty, — as resting, in fact, upon the principles of individual
obligation, — should, in its form and operation, tend to the development
and perfection of this principle ; whilst, at the same time, it possessed
an external power sufficient, in all cases, to supply its want or perver-
sion ; — or, in briefer language, a government that should give every
citizen an opportunity of being a good one, from his own true idea of
freedom, if he would, — but compel him to be one, if he would not.
This is the theory of our government ; and, in this provision for the
development of the individual self-government, on which liberty rests,
consists the distinction between a republican government and a despotic
one. The mere outward object of both is the same, — to govern the
people, and to preserve order. The difference is in the means, and in
the consequent effect upon individual character ; and this is a mighty
difference. I seek no other consideration, to give unspeakable value to
our republican institutions, than this their characteristic — their basis
upon and tendency to develop the true foundation of rational freedom.
Submission to external, visible force, on which the despot relies, is in
its nature degrading ; but obedience to the inward, unseen monitor, to
which a free government appeals, is always exalting. Despotism is a
self-perpetuating curse. In all its forms, it makes and keeps its sub-
jects fit only for its iron rod. But the government that is based upon
the self-government of each citizen has an upward tendency ; and if
they who live under it Avill but give it free play, and not cramp or per-
vert it, it will carry them up with it."
Jonathan Chapman was born at Boston, Jan. 23, 1807, and was a
son of Captain Jonathan Chapman, a selectman of Boston, Avho mar-
ried Margaret Rogers. He was educated at Phillips' Academy, in
Exeter, in 1817, and graduated at Harvard College in 1825, on which
occasion he enlarged on the patronage expected by hterary men from
the present age ; and, when a candidate for the degree of jNIaster of
Arts, he gave an oration on the spirit which should accompany our
republican institutions. He pursued his legal studies under the guid-
ance of Chief Justice Shaw, and became an eminent counsellor. He
JONATHAN CHAPMAN. 573
married Lucinda, daughter of Hon. Jonathan Dwight, of Springfield,
by -whom he had one son and four daughters. He indulged an early
military spirit, and was commander of the Rifle Rangers, an aid-de-
camp to Gov. Everett, and a member of the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company, He was elected to the city Council from 1835
to 1840 ; was elected mayor of the city until 1843.
On the opening of steam navigation between Liverpool and Boston,
Mayor Chapman gave the sentiment herewith, at a public festival in a
pavilion in front of the Maverick House, in East Boston, July 22, 1840 :
" Old England and New England : Oceans may divide them, and dif-
ferent forms of government may distinguish them ; but so long as their
merchants can raise the steam., they cannot be kept asunder." And,
at a festival for the four hundredth anniversary of the invention of print-
ing, June 26th of the same year, he gave: -'The Art of Printing:
May it improve men's minds as much as it has elongated their
tongues.
>>
During the period of his mayoralty, the famous dinner was given in
honor of Charles Dickens, the facetious writer, whose sketches of char-
acter in humble life are unrivalled by any author of any date. It
occurred at the Papantis Hall, Feb. 2, 1842, on which occasion Mr.
Chapman gave an effective speech. Mr. Quincy, who presided, inquired,
after the speech of George Bancroft, if gentlemen remembered the excur-
sion made by Mr. Pickwick, and his companions, Snodgrass and Win-
kle, to Dingley Dell, and the particulars of that melancholy ride?
Presuming that they did, he would not detain them with a narration
of them, but would merely read the pathetic words of Mr. Pickwick,
in reference to the horse which he could not get rid of on that occasion.
'• It's like a dream," ejaculated Mr. Pickwick, "a hideous dream.
The idea of a man's walking about all day with a dreadful horse that
he can't get rid of." Gentlemen, continued Mr. Quincy. I v»ill give
you : The horse that Mr. Pickwick could not get rid of, and the ]\Iayor
that nobody ever wants to get rid of On this. Mayor Chapman, after
a sprightly preface, abounding in flashes of wit, related an imaginary
interview with Hon. Samuel Pickwick and the by no means dishon-
orable Mr. Samuel Weller, at his office, the object of which was to
entreat protection for the editor of the Pickwick Club. "Indeed,"
says Mr. Pickwick, "we should never have consented that he should
visit this strange country, unless some of us should have been secretly
sent to take care of him ; for we have learned that you ai-e a curious
574 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
people here," — that, as it has been said, whom the gocls love die
young, so whom the Americans love they utterly kill -with kindness."
"Yes," interrupted Mr. Well er, unable longer to repress his feel-
ings, "it is currently reported, in our circles, that, -when the Amer-
icans fancies a stranger, they makes him into weal-pie and devours
him." "Hush, Samuel," said Mr. Pickwick, "don't use hard words.
Never get into a passion, especially in foreign countries, where you
don't know the customs. But, Mr. Mayor, this is my source of
trouble, and I come to complain that your people seem determined
to extinguish our editor. I have been trying to get at him for a
week, but have not dared to trust my gaiters amidst the crowds that
surround him. I tremble when I hear of two dinners in one day, and
four suppers in one night. I fear you have designs upon his life ;
nay, that you mean to eat him up." Sir, interrupted I, do I under-
stand you aright ? Do you mean to insinuate that the American peo-
ple are cannibals 1 Do you use the words in their common sense 7
" 0, no, sir," replied Mr. Pickwick, resuming his blandest expression;
" I respect and honor the American people, — I mean to say that they
are cannibals only in a Pickwickian point of view. But, besides my
personal attachment, I desire this man's life to be spared, for the sake
of science, and for the cause of humanity and of the Club. Think not
that the Club has been sleeping whilst its editor has been visiting the
poor-houses and hovels, touching your hearts, and making you better
men, by his truthful descriptions. We have been gathering materials,
and are doing so still. Even your own country may furnish some of
these materials. Not, however, I assure you, for the purposes of bold
and coarse personalities, either of praise or of censure, but for the del-
icate and beautiful touches of character. — those life-like and soul-
stirring descriptions, — those pictures of humanity, which show that,
behind the drapery of human forms and distinctions, the true element
of a man is a warm and beating heart. These are the purposes for
which we are at work, — purposes, sir, for which, though I, Samuel
Pickwick, say it, the editor of the Pickwick Club has no superior upon
the face of the earth. I pray you, therefore, said he," rising to a pitch
of enthusiasm which almost choked his utterance; "I pray you to
protect him. Let him not be overrun. Let him not be devoured.
Spare him to return again to the halls of the Club. Spare him, sir,
and the blessings of Winkle, Tupman, Snodgrass, Pickwick, and the
whole race of Pickwickians, shall be on you and yours." Having thus
JONATHAN CHAPMAN. 575
uttered himself, and leaving his respects for you, sir, and for this assem-
bly, he took his leave. Finding myself most particularly honored by
this interview, I give you as a sentiment. — The Hon. Samuel Pick-
wick, and the Pickwick Club and its echtor: " May they never say
die,"—
" And when they next do ride abroad,
May -we be there to see."
No one among us was more ready at repartee, and numerous are
his witticisms to be found on record. He was an effective political
writer for the Boston Atlas. As chairman of the Whig State Central
Committee, he di'afted a manly and ingenious set of resolutions, during
the Harrison campaign, adopted as a model by the party in the prin-
cipal States. His abilities were equal to any civil or political station,
and he was a contributor to the North American Review and the
Christian Examiner.
It was the great object of his ambition, during the whole of his offi-
cial career as the mayor of his native city, to reduce the city debt, and
diminish the expenditures ; and he saved more to the city, by a course
of rigid economy, than any of his predecessors, or of those that have
succeeded him. Indeed, the name of Chapman should be synonymous
with the conception of economy, for his carefulness was as unbounded
as was the profuseness of Quincy and Otis before him.
Mayor Chapman, after reviewing the financial condition of the city, in
his second inaugural address, and proposing plans of economy, remarks :
" It would be pleasant and exciting, I know, to find ourselves furnished
with ample means, and called upon to embark in large and striking
enterprises. No one would enjoy such a state of things more than
myself. But, if I am right in my view of the true interest of our city,
in its present condition, the homelier and less captivating duty awaits
us, of husbanding resources and superintending details. It is remarked
by one of my most distinguished predecessors, the present president of
Harvard College, in his history of that institution, that ' those who
limit and economize are never so acceptable to mankind as those who
enlarge and expend.' And he adds, therefore, that no higher obligation
rests upon history, than to do justice to men on whom these unpleasant
and unpopular duties devolve. Let me only add, in conclusion, that
there is for all of us, whatever may be our station, and alike in public
and private life, a higher ground of reliance than what other men may
either think or write, — the simple consciousness of having done what
576 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.,
we deem our duty, without reference to the question whether it be
popular or unpopular."
INIr. Chapman was an editor of the Practice in Ci^^l Actions, and
Proceedings at Law in Massachusetts, by Hon. Judge Samuel Howe,
published in 1834. His talents, education and eloquence, made him
conspicuous in this community, says Dr. Putnam; while the integrity
of his character, the unfeigned kindness of his manners, and liis gen-
erous, frank and magnanimous spirit, won for him an unusual degree
of affection and confidence. Pei^iaps it was without precedent, that so
young a man should be called to preside over the municipal affairs of so
large a population ; and yet, Mr. Chapman's administration was as much
distinguished for calm discretion in emergencies, and a careful financial
economy, as for the grace and felicity with which he presided and spoke
on public occasions. He steadily shunned political preferment, because
he feared that its excitement might be unfavorable to that moral tran-
quillity and health which he prized above everything. His chief delight
was in his home ; and it is as seated there that we would prefer to
draw his portrait, if we were permitted. His sunny face, his warm
heart and candid speech, bound his friends to him with a singular
strength of attachment. He was a temperate advocate of the tem-
perance cause, and delivered an address for the Young Men's Temper-
ance Society of Boston, in 1832. Mr. Chapman died at Boston, May
25, 1848, aged forty-one years.
HUBBARD WINSLOW.
JULY 4, 1838. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
Was born at Williston, Vt., and graduated at Yale College in
1825. He was a student in divinity at Yale and at Andover. He
was settled as pastor of the First Church at Dover, Dec. 4, 1828, and
was dismissed Nov. 3, 1831. He married Susan, daughter of Hon.
Pliny Cutler, of Boston. He became the pastor of Bowdoin-street
Church, and successor to Rev. Lyman Beecher, D. D., Sept. 26, 1832,
which station he resigned March, 1844. The oration at the head of
this article was on the means of the perpetuity of our republic, and is
a liberal and enhghtened performance. BIr. Winslow is a useful and
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 577
efficient member of tlie city school committee, and principal of a femalo
school of elevated character. During his ministry, he was a devoted
pastor, a persuasive preacher, of fervid imagination, and fine classical
attainments. Among his publications are the Young Man's Aid,
which has been reprinted in England and Scotland ; Sermons on Chris-
tian Doctrines ; Discourses on the Doctrine of the Trinity ; Social and
Domestic Duties ; Are you a Christian ? Self-examination, reprinted
in Scotland ; and the Elements of Intellectual Philosophy, a work of
sound principles.
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
JULY 4, 1838. FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.
Was born at Newburyport, Mass., Dec. 10, 1805, and was son of
Capt. Abijah Garrison, who was a West India trader, a good navigator,
and a poet. His mother was Fanny Lloyd, a lady of superior intel-
lect, whose hair, when it was unbound, hke that of Godiva, fell around
her like a veil. His father dying when he was very young, WilHam
was employed in the family of Dea. Ezekiel Bartlett, and sent to the
grammar-school. His mother removed to Lynn, where he was appren-
ticed to a shoemaker, from whence she removed to Baltimore. Dis-
liking the cobbler's last, Dea. Bartlett sent him to a cabinet-maker, in
Haverhill ; Avhich was also so irksome an employment, that at last the
printing-office was esteemed best for him, and he was sent to the New-
buryport Herald, where, enjoying advantages of mental culture, he
became very happy, and was an anonymous correspondent of Mr.
Allen, the editor, until he was discovered by Hon. Caleb Cushing, who
was at that time in active legal practice, and a temporary editor of that
paper. At this period, William originated an Apprentices' Debating
Society; and, during the absence of the editor at Alabama, he con-
ducted the Herald, being then but nineteen years old. William, hav-
ing completed his term with Mr. Allen, in December, 1825, visited his
dear mother at Baltimore, who shortly after deceased ; and he returned
to his native town, where he established "The Free Press," a journal
which soon failed, for want of patronage. With a heavy heart, Mr.
Garrison proceeded to Boston, and was employed in the office of David
Lee Child, editor of the Massachusetts Journal. In 1827 he was
49
578 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
em'plojed in the office of the National Philanthropist, edited by Rev.
William ColHer, a tender-hearted philanthrojMst, whom he succeeded.
During this period, the mind of Mr. Garrison was absorbed in an
abolition paper, — The Genius of Universal Emancipation, — published
at Baltimore, conducted by the benevolent Benjamin Lundy. In 1828
he removed to Bennington, Vt., and established "The Spirit of the
Times," a journal devoted to the support of John Quincy Adams to the
presidency, at the same time espousing the cause of abolition. So
intense was his ardor for emancipation, that Benjamin Lundy persuaded
him to devote his talents to the journal at Baltimore, as being a wider
field of labor, whither he removed in 1829. Here Garrison became so
tenacious for the doctrine of Immediatism, that Lundy's banner of
Gradualism was lowered, and the slave-holders determined to crush
the paper by law. Garrison was fined, and imprisoned one month, when
he was hberated by a kind stranger. Soon after his release, he became
an advocate for the American Colonization Society ; but, believing that
this institution recognized the right of property in the colored race, he
renounced its interests. It may be proper to state here, that Mr. Gar-
rison gave an address, July 4, 1829, at Park-street Church, Boston,
in behalf of the claims of the colonization enterprise ; and this was
probably his last appeal for that object.
Mr. Garrison, in company with Isaac Knapp, established, Jan. 1,
1831, the Liberator, at Boston; which, for several years, was issued
from an upper room in the Merchants' Hall, on Water-street. It was
here that the first Anti-slavery Society in America was originated by
William Lloyd Garrison, consisting of only twelve members. In 1832
he published his Thoughts on American Colonization, — a production
denouncing its object, comprising two hundred and forty pages, and
an address on the progress of the abolition cause. The Liberator, by
its great zeal and tenacity, so highly inflamed the public mind, that its
editor was denied membership to the Boston Debating Society; and
the Governor of Georgia offered a reward of five thousand dollars for
the head of Garrison, and the enactment of that State has never been
repealed. We here furnish a copy of this document :
"State of Georgia: )
In Senate, Nov. 30, 1831. ]
^' Resolved, hj the Senate and House of Representatives of the State
of Georgia, in general assembly met, that the sum of five thousand
dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to be paid to any per-
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISOI!T. 579
son, or persons, "wlio shall arrest, bring to trial, and prosecute to con-
viction under the laws of this State, the editor or publisher of a certain
paper called the Liberator, pubhshed in the town of Boston and State
of ISIassachusetts ; or who shall arrest, bring to trial, and prosecute to
conviction under the laws of this State, any other person, or persons,
who shall utter, publish or circulate, within the limits of this State,
said paper, called the Liberator, or any other paper, circular, pamphlet,
letter or address, of a seditious character :
"And that His Excellency the Governor is hereby authorized and
requested to issue his warrant upon the treasurer for said sum of five
thousand dollars, in favor of any person, or persons, who shall have
arrested and brought to trial, and prosecuted to conviction under the
laws of this State, the editor or publisher of the Liberator ; or who
shall have arrested and brought to trial, or prosecuted to conviction
under the laws of this State, any other person, or persons, Avho shall
aitter, publish or circulate, within the limits of this State, said paper
called the Liberator ; or any other paper, circular, pamphlet, letter or
address, of a seditious character ; — and that these resolutions be
inserted in the appropriation act. And Resolved further, That His
E.\cellency the Governor cause the foregoing resolutions to be pub-
lished in the public journals of this State, and such other papers as he
may think proper, and pay for the publication thereof out of the con-
tingent fund.
'^xipprovedDec. 26, 183L
''Wilson LuxMI'KIX, Governor.'^
This proclamation widely extended the notoriety of Garrison, and
tended to greatly increase the number of his followers. In 1838 he
visited England, where he was cordially welcomed by Clarkson, "Wil-
berforce, Buxton, Macaulay, ]\Iary Hewitt, Harriet Martineau, and
other philanthropists, many of whom signed a protest against the Amer-
ican Colonization Society. He returned to New York ; and, on his
arrival, placards were posted around the city, inviting a public meet-
ing, "to hurry him to the tar-kettle." Mr. Garrison married Eliza, a
daughter of George Benson, of Brooklyn, Conn., Sept. 4, 1834.
Soon after the arrival of George Thompson at Boston, in September,
1835, a gallows was erected, one night, directly opposite the dwelling of
Mr. Garrison, with two ropes suspended therefrom, and on the cross-
bar was this inscription, — "Judge Lynch's Law." One of the ropes
580 THE HUXDllED BOSTON ORATORS.
was intended for Thompson, and the other for Garrison. On the 21st
daj of October following occurred that memorable outrage of an infu-
riated populace, ■which has ineifaceably stained the noble city of Boston.
There had existed for a period here a Female Anti-slavery Society.
The president of this little party. Miss Mary Parker, had announced a
meeting to take place in the Anti-slavery Hall, No. 46 Washington-
street, on Oct. 21, p. M., -when several addresses might be expected
on the occasion. It was anticipated that George Thompson would be
one of the speakers; but, that there might be no pretext for disturb-
ance, he left the city before the meeting. Various newspapers denounced
the meeting, shopkeepers petitioned the city authorities against it, plac-
ards were posted in the streets, and a rcAvard of one hundred dollars
offered to any one who would be first to convey Thompson to the tar-
kettle. A great concourse of people filled the hall, before the time of
meeting, on that day ; and, notwithstanding the excitement, the meet-
ing was called to order by the presiding lady, who read a portion o^
Scripture, and offered up a fervent prayer, — soon after which, the
ladies withdrew, amid the abuse of the populace. INIr. Garrison, who
had conducted his young wife to this meeting, was observed by the
populace, Avho, disappointed at not finding George Thompson, the more
immediate object of their wrath, resolved forthwith to seize him,
exclaiming, " Garrison is here ! We must have Garrison ! Out with
him ! Lynch him ! " For a moment, their attention was diverted to
the destruction of the anti-slavery sign, when Mayor Lyman earnestly
besought him to effect his escajoe from the rear of the building. Pre-
ceded by a devoted friend, Mr. John R. Cambell, Mr. Garrison dropped
from a back window on to a shed, and narrowly escaped filling head-
long to the ground. We will conclude this narrative in the language
of Mr. Garrison: "We entered into a carpenter's shop [kept by
Luke Brown], through which we attempted to get into Wilson's Lane,
but found our retreat cut off by the mob. They raised a shout as soon
as we came in sight ; l)utthe proprietor promptly closed the door of his
shop, kept them at bay for a time, and thus kindly afforded me an
opportunity to find some other passage. I told Mr. Cambell it would
be futile to attempt to escape. I would go out to the mob, and let
them deal with me as they might elect ; but he thought it was my duty
to avoid them as long as possible. We then went up stairs ; and, finding
a vacancy in one corner of the room, I got into it, and he and a young
lad [John Bolan] piled up some boards in front of me, to shield me
■WILLIAM LLOYD GAKRISOX. 581
from observation. In a few minutes, several ruffians broke into' the
chamber, who seized Mr. Cambell in a rough manner, and led him out
to the view of the mob, saying, ' This is not Garrison, but Garrison's
and Thompson's friend, and he says he knows where Garrison is, but
won't tell.' Then a shout of exultation was raised bv the mob, and
what became of him I do not know ; though, as I was immediately dis-
covered, I presume he escaped without material injury. On seeing
me, three or four of the rioters, uttering a yell, furiously dragged me
to the window, with the intention of hurlino; me from that height to
the ground ; but one of them relented, and said, ' Don't let us kill
him outright.' So they drew me back, and coiled a rope about my
body, probably to drag me through tlic streets. I bowed to the mob,
and requesting them to wait patiently until I could descend, went down
upon a ladder that was raised for that purpose. I fortunately extri-
cated myself from the rope, and was seized by two or three of the lead-
ing rioters, powerful and athletic men, by whom I Avas dragged along,
bareheaded (for my hat had been knocked off and cut in pieces on the
sjaot), a friendly voice in the crowd shouting, ' He shan't be hurt ! He
is an American ! ' — [Aaron Cooley, who protected his person at the
moment.] This seemed to excite sympathy in the breasts of some
others, and they reiterated the same cry. Blows, however, were aimed
at my head, by such as were of a cruel spirit ; and, at last, they suc-
ceeded in tearing nearly all my clothes from my body. Thus was I
dragged through Wilson's Lane into State-street, in the rear of the
City Hall, over the ground that Avas stained Avith the blood of the first
martyrs in the cause of Liberty and I:^depexdexce, in the memora-
ble massacre of 1770; and upon which was proudly unfurled, only a
few years since, Avith joyous acclamations, the beautiful banner pre-
sented to the gallant Poles by the yomig men of Boston, "What a
scandalous and revolting contrast ! jNIy oiTcnce Avas in pleading for
Liberty, — liberty for my ensla\'ed countrymen, colored though they
be, — liberty of speech and of the press for all! And, upon that
'consecrated spot,' I was made an object of derision and scorn, some
portions of my person being in a state of entire nudity.
" They proceeded Avith me in the direction of the City Hall, the cry
being raised, ' To the Common ! ' Avhcther to giA'e me a coat of tar and
feathers, or to throw me into the pond, Avas problematical. As Ave
approached the south door, the mayor attempted to protect me by his
presence ; but, as he Avas unassisted by any show of authority or force,
49*
582 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
he was quickly thrust aside. And now came a tremendous rush on
the part of the mob, to prevent my entering the hall. For a time, the
conflict was desperate ; but at length a rescue was effected by a posse
that came to the help of the mayor, by whom I was carried up into the
mayor's room.
"In view of my denuded condition, one individual, in the post-office
below stairs, kindly lent me a pair of pantaloons ; another, a coat ; a
third, a stock ; a fourth, a cap, &c. After a brief consultation (the
mob densely surrounding the City Hall, and threatening the safety of
the post-office), the mayor and his advisers said my life depended upon
committing me to jail, ostensibly as a disturber of the peace. Accord-
ingly, a hack was got in readiness at the door; and, supported by
Sheriff Parkman and Ebenezer Bailey, Esq. (the mayor leading the
way), I was put into it without much difficulty, as I was not at first
identified in my new garb. But noAv a scene occurred that baffles the
power of description. As the ocean, lashed into fury by the spirit of
the storm, seeks to whelm the adventurous bark beneath its mountain
waves, so did the mob, enraged by a series of disappointments, rush
like a whirlwind upon the frail vehicle in which I sat, and endeavor to
drag me out of it. Escape seemed a physical impossibility. They
clung to the wheels, dashed open the doors, seized hold of the horses^
and tried to upset the carriage. They were, however, vigorously
repulsed by the police. A constable sprang in by my side, the doors
were closed, and the driver, lustily using his whip upon the bodies of
his horses and the heads of the rioters, happily made an opening
through the crowd, and drove at a tremendous speed for Leverett-
street. But many of the rioters followed even with superior swiftness,
and repeatedly attempted to arrest the progress of the horses. To
reach the jail by a direct course was found impracticable ; and, after
going in a circuitous direction, and encountering many ' hair-breadth
'scapes,' we drove up to this new and last refuge of liberty and life,
when another desperate attempt was made to seize me by the mob, —
but in vain. In a few moments, I was locked up in a cell, safe from
my persecutors, accompanied by two delightful associates, — a good con-
science and a cheerful mind. In the course of the evening, several of
my friends came to my grated window, to sympathize and confer with
me, with whom I held a strengthening conversation until the hour of
retirement, when I threw myself upon my prison-bed, and slept tran-
<|uilly. In the morning, I inscribed upon the walls of my cell, with a
pencil, the following lines :
\YILLIAM LLOYD GARRL:;CX. 583
" '"Wm. Llo^'d Garrison was put into this cell on Wednesday after-
noon, Oct. 21, 1835, to save liira from the violence of a " respectable
and influential" mo^ -who sought to destroy him for preaching the
abominable and dangerous doctrine, "that "all men are created equal."
and that all oppression is odious in the sight of God. "Hail, Colum-
bia ! " Cheers for the autocrat of Russia, and the sultan of Turkey !
" 'Reader, let this inscription remain till the last slave in this des-
potic land be loosed from his fetters.'
"In the course of the forenoon, after passing through the mockery
of an examination, for form's sake, before Judge Whitman, I was
released from prison ; but, at the earnest solicitation of the city
authorities^ in order to tranquillize the public mind, I deemed it propel-
to leave the city for a few days, a(*companied by my wife, whose situa-
tion was such as to awaken the strongest solicitude for her life."
Mr. Garrison, in 1840, attended the World's Convention, in Lon-
don, as an agent of the American Anti-slavery Society. He was one
of the originators of the Anti-Sabbath Convention, which held its
first gathering at Boston, in the Melodeon. INIarch, 1848.
We doubt not the sincere devotion of William Lloyd Garrison to his
favorite cause of immediate emancipation ; but his published pamph-
lets and newspaper articles abound in a spirit of intolerance, sweeping
censure, and rash, injurious judgment, tending to defeat the grand
purpose of the contest. The endeavor to extend liberty forthvrith to
the slave, by the fierce, bitter, and exasperating spirit of fanaticism, has
more firmly bound the chains of servitude than when abolition soci-
eties were founded. They partake largely of the prevailing ultraisms
of the land. We doubt not Garrison's strength of principle in sympa-
thy for the oppressed. Indeed, we hope the Libert^^ Bell will resound
over the whole compass of this mighty republic, until the lash of every
overseer is thrown away ; but the system of affiliated Societies, held
together by passionate eloquence, is to be deplored, and their intoler-
ant spirit is without a parallel in any great Avork of reform in the land.
"Let the Union be dissolved," said orator Douglas, at Syracuse; "I
wish to see it dissolve. I welcome the bolt, be it from heaven or hell,
that shall shiver it to pieces ! " The twenty yeai-s' excitement for
immediate emancipation is defeated, and the impressive theme on the
mind of evei'y philanthropist must be how to soften the hard fate of
the enslaved, and what is the wisest plan of device for effacing the
curse from our country. We admire the intense devotion of Garrison
584 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
to the cause of liberty, in the same ratio that we deplore his intem-
perate zeal. Indeed, -we know nothing in our language breathing so
strongly of the spirit of disunion, as the ten violent anathemas of
Garrison, in his " accursed " article denouncing the American Union.
IVERS JAMES AUSTIN.
JULY 4, 1839. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
" ISToT solely to those who sanctioned the federal constitution by their
names," says Mr. Austin, " should its glory be ascribed. They who,
poising themselves on their personal character, dared dissent from some
of its principles, are entitled to more gratitude than posterity has
bestowed. Had the advocates of a stronger government succeeded in
the convention, — had the president been invested with the useless tin-
sel of a regal title, and the fatal brilliancy of royal authority, — this
anniversary would not now be hailed as the jubilee of freedom. If the
executive, risino; above the darkness of faction, make the national inter-
est his cynosure, experience has proved that liberty is not endangered
by the energy of government.
" But if, descending from the elevation intended by the framers of
the constitution, he mingles in the turmoil of pohtical contest, placing
himself first, his party next, and his country the last, in his thoughts,
experience has equally proved that tyranny may be concealed by repub-
lican robes. The opponents of the constitution distrusted human virtue.
They foresaw that the ' golden sceptre ' of executive authority might
become 'an iron rod to bruise and break' the disobedient. They
exerted their influence to diminish its power. Whether such appre-
hensions were founded in wisdom, modern experiment will be able to
decide. The problem is yet unsolved, whether American freedom has
most to dread from the strength or weakness of the federal head.
Executive power has already proved a formidable foe to popular virtue ;
— • whether an invincible foe, coming events will shortly declare.
"However mistaken the opponents of the constitution may have
been in the extent of their objections, their oj^position lowered the high
tones of those who desired more energy in the government. It is well
■that the ultraism of neither party prevailed ; but, were the executive
IVERS JAMES AUSTIN. 585
stronger, republicanism, in this age, would be in danger of dissolution.
The minority of the convention had a large, if not a principal share, in
the compromise it effected. The spirit of independence animated their
souls. It raised them above personal considerations. It led them to
sacrifice at the shrine of their country the reward of long and success-
ful toil for its Avelfare. If few in number, greater their praise. The
cause of opposition was to them the cause of truth. They fearlessly
maintained it ;
" And, for the testimony of ti'utli, have borne
Univei'sal reproach, — far worse to bear
Thau violence; for this was all their care.
To stand approved iu sight of God,
Though worlds judged them pervei-se."
Ivers James Austin, son of lion. James T. Austin, was born at
Boston, and entered the Latin School in 1822; pursued his edu-
cation at the United States Military Academy, in West Point, where
he graduated in 1828 : engaged in the study of law in the Law School
of Harvard College, where he received an honorary degree in 1831 ; in
the same year he entered the Suffolk bar, and pursued his legal
studies in the office of his father, and became a member of the Ancient
and Honorable Artillery Company. He has been the commander of
the Rifle Rangers, lieutenant-colonel of the Boston regiment, and its
judge-advocate. He was of the school committee in 1836 and 1837.
His elaborate report, as chairman of a sub-committee on the reorgan-
ization of the public schools of Boston, is a higbly valuable document.
In 1838 he was elected a representative to tlie State Legislature. He
became a counsellor-at-laAV ; and married Elizabeth Turner Amory,
Oct. 9, 1846. Mr. Austin possesses an unusual share of legal knowl-
edge, and is remarkable for soundness of judgment. He has been a
frequent contributor to the Law Reporter ; and his account of the
origin of the Mississippi doctrine of repudiation, in that journal, was
so highly esteemed, that it was printed in Illinois, Mississippi, and
this State, in a separate form. He furnished a valuable article for
Willis' American Monthly Magazine, on the facilities for vice and
intemperance in the Tremont Theatre ; and has contributed, also, to
the North Amei-ican Review and the Biblical Journal. His article on
the nature and claims of the Military Academy at West Point is of
great national spirit.
586 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
THOMAS POWER.
JULY 4, 1840. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
Was born at Boston, Oct. 8, 1786 ; and his birth-place was on the
estate next above the Golden Ball in Hanover-street, "whei'e Benjamin
Franklin was employed in the shop of a tallow-chandler. He gradu-
ated at Brown University in 1808, and engaged in the study of law,
under the guidance of Hon. Judge Jackson. He became a counsellor-
at-law in 1811, opened an office at Northfield, where he practised
law for a period of four years, when he settled at Boston, and was,
during a period of seven years, an efficient member of the primary
school committee. He married EUzabeth Sampson, of Duxbury, a
descendant of the Pilgrim Fathers ; and was the clerk of the Boston
Police Court, from the foundation of the city government. It was in
the office of Mr. Power, who conceived the idea, that it Avas decided to
plant the four rows of beautiful elm-trees that flourish on the main
street of Northfield.
Mr. Power possesses a highly poetical vein, besides great capacity
in the legal profession ; and whatever he attempts he executes with all
his power, whether as author or in his vocation at court. He is a
fervid national poet. His Log Cabin Song, which was sung by the
Louisiana delegation, on their entrance into Boston, in September,
1840. to attend the electioneering gathering for Gen. Harrison, and
the song for President Taylor, in 1848, —
" 'Tis a nation's jubilee, —
Honor to the brave and free ; — ' '
moreover, " The Old Grist Mill," from his hand, — reflect much credit
to the warmth of his heart. His contributions to the Daily Atlas
indicate the purity of his judgment in musical criticism. Mr. Power
has been a political admirer of the policy of Harrison Gray Otis ; and,
at a public festival in Faneuil Hall, March 4. 1829, when he was mayor
of Boston, gave this sentiment, — "Hon. H. G. Otis: Made dearer to
Bostonians by Washington railing and Boston railways." Amid the
multiplicity of his engagements, Mr. Power has found leisure to exer-
cise his native talent ; and of his productions we find Masonic Melodies,
108 pages 8vo. ; Secrecy, a poem delivered before the Knights Tern-
THOMAS POWER. 587
plars, Feb. 28, 1832. His best effort is, Lafayette, a Poem, — dedi-
cated to the young men of Boston, 1834, in twenty-eiglit pages.
He gave a INIasonic Oration at "Waltham, in 1821, and an oration at
Xorthfiekl, July 4, 1812 ; beside the oration at the head of this article.
Mr. Power should ever devote his intervals of leisure to national
literature. The poet who Avrote the elegant effusion before us should
never restrain the inspiration of his INluse. Here is a fine conception
of the Liberty Tree destroyed by the British soldiers during the siege
of Boston, in 1775, which flourished two centuries ago. We select
fi'om " Lafayette, a Poem : "
" There stood, in its unfading green,
A monarch of the forest-scene ;
Aloft, abroad its branches spread, —
'Mong its deep foliage zephyrs played, —
And fair its form, and deep its shade;
Princes and peasants, too, 'tis said.
Sought its protection -when the sun
Half his bright, burning course had run.
And owned their deep devotion due
Where thoughts are free and hands are true.
Fair, too, the verdant spot where stood
That towering monarch of the wood,
And sweet the flowers, of mingled hues,
That clustered there, in heaven's own dews.
That flourished 'ueath that holy tree
To throw their perfume on the air,
In elemental liberty.
As things of light, buoyant and free,
]\Iid kindred spirits bright and fair.
*****
The warrior hears the clash of arms.
The shock of battle, loudly rise.
And courtly mya and beauty's charms
Fade like a vapor in the skies.
Fair Freedom now has power alone
To lead his heart and guide his hand.
For pomp and honors near a throne.
He seeks a home in foreign land.
The cry is. Up '. wake ! freemen, wake !
Oppression shrinks, and man is free ;
The bolts and bare of tyrants break.
When touched by heavenly Liberty.
In the far-distant west is seen.
Where beaut}' the horizon streaks,
A lovely garden, fresh and green, —
'T is the new home the warrior seeks.
588 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
His hopes are high, and onward still
Unwearied fancy proudly bears,
Where war's loud trumpet, sharp and shrill.
The march of Freedom's host declares.
With soul on fire, his piercing eye.
Prophetic, sees that little band ;
He hears, elate, the battle-cry —
For God, our liberty, our land !
RUFUS CHOATE.
APRIL 21, 1841. EULOGY ON PRESIDENT HARRISON.
Was born at Essex (formerly Chebacco), Essex County, Oct. 1,
1799. When at scliool, he was remarkable for a great memory and
abstracted habits, — avoiding youthful sports, and ever at the head of
his class. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1819, and was a
tutor there until 1821. He entered the Dane Law School, at Cam-
bridge, and read law in the office of Hon. David Cummings, of Salem,
and under William Wirt, at Washington, who was then the U. S.
Attorney General. He practised law at Danvers, of which town he
was a representative in 1826-7. He removed to Salem, and finally
settled at Boston, in 1834. He married Helen, daughter of Hon.
Mills Olcott, of Hanover, N. H. In 1830 he was elected, for Essex,
to the State Senate ; in 1832 he was a representative in Conoress ;
and in 1842 he was elected to the U. S. Senate, from Suffolk, by the
State Legislature, — which station he resigned in 1845. Mr. Choate
is a regent of the Smithsonian Listitute, at Washington ; a member of
the Massachusetts Historical Society, and New England Historic and
Genealogic Society.
He is an eminent counsellor ; and the Law Reporter remarks of
him, that " he is certainly one of the most gifted orators of New Eng-
land. A brilliant intellect, which has been developed by exact and
laborious study, a Avonderful power of discrimination and abstraction, an
exuberant flow of language, a sparkhng wit, a lively fancy, and an over-
whelming enthusiasm, enable him to control almost any audience, and
entitle him to the name of the American Erskine. Yet, with many of
Erskine's excellences, he has some of his failings. Among these may
RUFUS CnOATE. 589
be included a strong love of the marvellous, and a disposition to make
too much of small things. As Hamlet would say, he almost tears a
passion to tatters, in his anxiety to bear upon a single point. This is
a great element of rhetorical power ; but -wo doubt -whether it be in
good taste in a court of justice, where the object is to convince, and
not to carry by storm."
"When INIr. Choate pronounced the eulogy on the beloved Harrison,
his eye kindling with excitement, his countenance overshadowed with
grief, and, in his deep-toned, musical voice, enlarged on the history and
the virtues of the departed, in language breathing the very essence of
eloquence, it was a scene as overpowering as the oratory of Greece and
Rome. "In looking over the history of his life," said Mr. Choate,
'■ more carefully, to form an estimate of the aggregate of his character,
I venture to think, that while through his life he displayed the requi-
site capacity for the formation and administration of laws, or whatever
public duty Avas required of him, it was the warm, pure and great
heart that attracted and retained for him the love of his countrymen.
He should be remembered, and Ave Avill speak of him to our children,
as the Good President. Homely as that epithet may appear, how
much more has it of real significance than the imperial title 'great,' so
often given to men Avho have Avaded through blood to thrones ! I
need give but two anecdotes, to illustrate this trait in his disposition.
He pardoned the negro who sought his life ; and rescued him, by his
own solicitation, when fastened to the stake for military punishment.
He recovered hea\^y damages, by a verdict, in a case for slander, and
then divided the money received among the children of the slanderers,
and the orphan children of some of his old soldiers. Although he Avas
hospitable beyond the usual hospitality of the Avest, it AA-as always the
remnant of the armies of Harmar and St. Clair that found the warmest
welcome at his ever ready board. When the ear heard him, it blessed
him ; Avhen the eye saw hira, it gave Avitness to him, because he deliv-
ered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to
help him. Consider, then, that combined benevolence and integrity,
Avorthy the accounts of Grecian and Roman fame, to which ho Avas not
ashamed to turn his attention backwards, — behold him tried by the
temptation of an office from Avhich he might haA'e amassed a princely
fortune, and, Avith the conscientious honor of a "Washington, retiring
from it poor, — and you Avill feel and see, in a moment, what it Avas that
impelled towards him the love of a people. The country had long been
50
590 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
unprosperous, from causes into which we need not inquire. "We were
laboring the livelong day, and feeling, as we lay down at night, that
we were growing poorer and poorer. The people were puzzled with
various theories and arguments. They were growing more and more
distrustful with all mere great talent ; there grew up a wide and irre-
pressible craving, in the public heart, for an honest man from among
themselves, to preside over their afHiirs, and help them backward to
the glories of their fathers' days. Then it was that they turned to
him. Be this the lesson of his life. Be this his eulogy. That not
for descent from an exalted line, not for his military victories, not for
his dexterity in the partisanship of professional politics, was he chosen
to relieve and reform the land, but because he was a good and just
man, fearing God and loving his country." These were the last words
of the tribute : "We stand on this spot, where the heart of an American
must throb with pride and joy. And yet, perhaps you have embellished
the glories of even this place, by hanging these emblems of mourning to
its pillars, — by this dim religious light we have added to the memories
of its ancestral glories." Mr. Choate, possessing the keenest sensi-
tiveness to impressions, is distinguished as much for his power of self-
control as his po\ver of self-excitation; and his emotions, like well-
trained troops, are " impetuous by rule." They appear always to rise
up to his mind with a personal existence. Thus New York, with him,
is not simply a city distinguished for commercial energy, but a city
which with one hand " grasps the golden harvests of the west, and with
the other, like Venice, espouses the everlasting sea." "Massachu-
setts," he says, " will ever be true to the constitution. She sat among
the most affectionate at its cradle ; she will follow, the saddest of the
procession of sorrow, its hearse." Again, he observes that, after we
came out of the war of 1812, " the baptism of fire and blood Avas on
our brow, and its influence on our spirit and legislation."
We will relate an instance of the excitable powers of our orator. In
an argument on a case of impeachment, before a legislative committee,
Mr. Choate remarked that he never read, without a thrill of sublimity,
the concluding article in the Bill of Rights, — the language of which is
borrowed directly from Harrington, Avho says he owes it to Livy, — that
" in the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department
shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of
them ; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial
powers, or either of them ; the judicial shall never exercise the legis-
lative and executive powers, or either of them ; — to the end that it
RUFU3 CIIOATE. 591
may be a government of laws, and not of men; " thus providing that
the three great departments shall be entirely independent of each
other ; and he remembered a story of a person Avho said that he could
read Paradise Lost -without aiFceting him at all, but that there was a
passage at the end of Newton's Optics which made his flesh creep and
his hair stand on end. I confess, said Mr. Choate, that I never
read that article of the constitution without feeling the same, — •• to the
end that it may be a government of laws, and not of men."
JNIr. Choate delivered an oration at New York, Dec. 22, 1S43,
before the New England Society, in the Tabernacle, on the Pilgrims,
their character and acts, as constituting one of the heroic periods of
history. He attributed much of the subsequent course of the Puritans
to the residence of a thousand leading men of their number at Geneva
for five years, Avhither they were driven by the bigoted Queen Mary.
There they found a republic. He described the valley in which Geneva
is situated, — its placid lake, the lofty mountains which stand around it ;
he expatiated upon its laws, its quiet, its independence, its learning, its
religion; and finished the description with the exclamation, '-There
they found a commonwealth without a king, and a church without a
bishop," which received such a burst of emotion, long and loud, as
never before resounded in the Tabernacle. Mr. Choate attends the
Essex-street Congregational church, at Boston ; and this bold sectarian
allusion so sensibly affected those of the Episcopal order, that it forth-
with prompted remarks from Rev. Dr. Wainwright, at the public
dinner of the occasion on that day, which elicited a warm controversy,
that continued for a twelvemonth.
In this connection, we introduce the highly felicitous allusion of
Daniel "Webster to the Mayflower, at the dinner of the New England
Pilfirim Society, apropos to a miniature model of that vessel which was
on the table. " There was," said Mr. Webster, "in ancient times, a
ship which carried Jason on his voyage for the acquisition of the golden
fleece ; there was a ship at the battle of Actium which made Augustus
Ccesar master of the Avorld ; there have been flmious ships which bore
to victory a Drake, a Howe, a Nelson ; there are ships whicli have
carried our own Hull, Decatur, and Stewart, in triumph. But Avhat
are they all, as to their chances of remembrance among men, to the
little bark Mayflower ? That ]\Iayflower was and is a flower of per-
petual blossom. It can stand the sultry blasts of summer, resist the
furious tempests of autumn, and remain untouched by the gales and
592 THE nUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
the frosts of Avinter. It can defy all climates and all times. It will
spread its petals over the whole world, and exhale a living odor and
fragrance to the last syllable of recorded time."
A satirical journalist, remarking of the rhetorical eloquence of Rufus
Choate in his arguments for the license of spirituous liquors, at Boston,
in 1847, says that, as he shot his piercing, resolute eyes, hither and
thither, drew on that solemn face, and poured out those deep tones of
awfid solemnity, rolled up those tremendous climaxes, raised his com-
manding form upon his toes, came down upon his heels like two paver's
rammers, and shook the whole firmament of the Common Council cham-
ber, like an earthquake, we could not but imagine what a sensation he
would have produced as a revival preacher, or a Richard the Third on
the stage. But, if he has mistaken his calling to either of the latter
professions, the mistake is very slight and insignificant. Seeking
undoubtedly for dramatic effect, he seemed to combine in a high degree
the talents of all three professions. Choate has a playful sympathy
with the ludicrous side of things, says Whipple, as, in his speech on the
Oregon question, in which he uses the figure of the Legislature putting
its head out of the window, and, in a voice all over the world, speaking
to the negotiators of the pending treaty, bidding them God speed ; but
insinuating that, if they did not give up the whole subject in dispute, it
would be settled by main force. It has been said of Choate, that he
drives in a substantive and six ; but unlike Burke, who had his reins
upon them all, each restrained with a care essential to a proper guidance.
Rufus Choate is more at home as a j^leader at the bar than in polit-
ical speeches or public lectures. "While pleading, his eye flashes, as
it turns rapidly from the court to the jury, and the jury to the court.
Ever remarking, Avith intuitive sagacity, the slightest traces of emotion
or thought in the eye, lip, face, position or movement, gf the judge, —
ever reading the soul revealed to him," as one graphically sketches,
"' perhaps to him alone, and comprehended by that mysterious sympathy
which unites the orator and auditor, as by an electric atmosphere,
through which thoughts and feelings pass and repass in silence, but in
power, Choate is aware, with the certainty of genius and the rapid-
ity of instinct, of the effect he has produced upon the judge, whose
slightest word, he knows, is weightier than the eloquence of counsel ;
and, at the first slight intimation of dissent, rapidly, but almost imper-
ceptibly, modifies, hmits and explains, his idea, until he feels the con-
cert of mental sympathy between mind and mind, — and then, like a
RUFUS CHOATE. 593
steed checked into noble action, or a river raising to burst over its bar-
riers, -R-ith his mind elevated and excited by opposition, he discourses to
the jury logic, eloquence and poetry, in tones that linger in the mem-
ory like the parting sound of a cathedral bell, or the dying note of an
organ. His voice is deep, musical, sad. Thrilling it can be as a fife,
but it has often a plaintive cadence, as though his soul mourned, amid
the loud and angry tumults of the forum, for the quiet grove of the
academy, or in these evil times sighed at the thought of those charms
and virtues which we dare conceive in boyhood, and pursue as men,
the unreached paradise of our despair."
The mind of Choate is as rapid as consists Avith sanity. In the
attempt to keep pace vfith him, reporters, as already intimated, throw
down their pencils in despair. His own pen traces, in the same vain
attempt, one long, waving, illegible line, scarcely to be read by himself,
and defying the scrutiny of others. It has been said of him, that, if
the magnetic telegraph were affixed to his lips, the words would leap
on the wires. His style is the poetry of prose, with here and there an
expression, wdiich, to use the questionable expression of Burke, rises
from poetry into eloquence, some thoughts which entrance, some idea
which burns. Such is that inimitable comparison, when speaking of
the principles of Henry Clay. He said they rise like the peaks of
a lofty mountain-range, from the table-land of all illustrious life. Such
is that sentiment, Avorthy of Patrick Henry, the greatest orator of Amer-
ica, when, in the very words Avhich we may suppose the forest-born
Demosthenes would have used, he said, " Wliat ! banish the Bible from
schools ! Never, while there is a piece of Plymouth Rock left large
enough to make a gun-flint of ! " The autograph of Mr. Choate, says
one, somewhat resembles the map of Ohio, and looks like a piece of
crayon sketching done in the dark, with a three-pronged fork. His
hand-writing cannot be deciphered without the aid of a pair of com-
passes and a quadrant.
Mr. Choate is a decided advocate for the union of the States. At
the Union meeting of the Whig and Democratic parties, in Faneuil
Hall, Nov. 26, 1850, when Dr. John C. Warren presided, the object
of which was to sustain the Federal Union, uphold its constitution, and
enforce the duty of obedience to the laws, occasioned by the sensation
arising from the recent Fugitive Slave Law, ^Ir. Choate delivered a
noble speech, in which he said, after a train of argument : "I submit,
that the two great political parties of the north are called upon, by
50*
594 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
every consideration of patriotism and duty, to strike this wliole subject
from their respective issues. I go for no amalgamation of parties, and
for the forming of no new party. But I admit the deepest solicitude,
that those which now exist, preserving their actual organization and
general principles and aims, — if so it must be, — should to this extent
coalesce. Neither can act in this behalf effectually alone. Honorable
concert is indispensable, and they owe it to the country. Have not
the eminent men of both these great organizations united on this
adjustment? Are they not both, primarily, national parties? Is it
not one of their most important and beautiful uses, that they extend
the whole length and breadth of our country ; and that they help, or
ought to help, to hold the extreme north to the extreme south, by a
tie stronger almost than that of mere patriotism, — by that surest cement
of friendship, common opinions on the great concerns of the republic?
You are a Democrat ; and have you not, for thirty-two years in fifty,
united with the universal Democratic party in the choice of southern
presidents ? Has it not been your function, for even a larger part of
the last half-century, to rally with the south for the support of the gen-
eral administration ? Has it not ever been your boast, your merit as a
party, that you are in an intense, and even characteristic degree,
national and unionist in your spirit and politics, although you had your
origin in the assertion of State rights ; that you have contributed, in
a thousand ways, to the extension of our territory, and the establish-
ment of our martial fame, and that you follow the flag on whatever
field or deck it waves ? And will you, for the sake of a temporary
victory in a State, or for any other cause, insert an article in your
creed, and give a direction to your tactics, which shall detach you from
such companionship, and unfit you for such service in all time to
come ?
"You are a Whig. I give my hand on that ; and is not your party
national, too ? Do you not find your fastest allies at the south ? Do
you not need the vote of Louisiana, of North Carolina, of Tennessee,
of Kentucky, to defend you from the redundant capital, matured skill,
and pauper labor, of Europe ? Did you not just now, with a wise con-
tempt of sectional issues and sectional noises, unite to call that brave,
firm and good Old Man, from his plantation, and seat him, with all
the honors, in the place of Washington ? Circumstances have forced
both these parties — the northern and the southern divisions of both
— to suspend for a space the legitimate objects of their institution. For
GEORGE TICKNOR CL'RTIS. 595
a space, laying them aside, and resolving themselves into our individual
capacities, we have thought and felt on nothing but slavery. These
circumstances exist no longer. And shall we not instantly revive the
old creeds, renew the old tics, and, by a manly and honorable concert,
resolve to spare America that last calamity, the formation of parties
according to geographical hnes?" Mr. Choate, in 1853, succeeded
Gov. Clifford as the attorney -general of this commonwealth.
I
GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS.
JULY 4, 1841. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
'■'• Our fathers conducted the Revolution a";ainst the kino-'s govern-
ment, and not against the institutions of the country," remarks our
orator, in this performance. "They tore up no ancient landmarks,''
continues he, " except those which denoted the state of colonial bond-
age. They proceeded with the machinery of society as they found
it. The provincial and continental authorities displaced those of the
crown, and Avent on to arm the country for civil war, without loosening
the bonds which held society together. Without resorting to the fiction
under which Charles I. made war upon the king in the king's name,
they took up arms for an independent government of their own, and
not to eradicate the spirit or institutions of that civilization which they
had derived from home. When, in the Declaration of Independence,
they set forth the whole substance of the controversy, and the objects
at which they aimed, moving on some of the most solid principles of
the British constitution, as well as the inalienable rights of man, they
clearly demonstrated that their design was to ' institute new govern-
ment,' but not to go beyond what the abolition of the old forms
required.
" It will be asked. What is the import of this to the present time?
Not to give it any practical bearing upon any modern subject, I cannot
but think that this forbearance — whether it was the purpose of a wise
forecast, or the happy tendency of the national temper, or the result of
circumstances — was most fortunate for the country. I cannot but
think that we owe to it, as much as to the lucky accidents of our posi-
tion, and our vast physical resources, what the country has become.
Certain and manifest it is, that we owe to it the fact, that when the
596 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
country was freed by the final accomplishment of revolution, society
did not have to be reconstructed from its foundation ; that only a form
of government had to be framed, and that immediately ; and, as if from
a goal on the race-course, the young giant started on his career. Let
us suppose, — not that our fathers, from the imperious necessity of their
position, or from a depraved appetite for destruction and overthrow, had
uprooted the whole foundations of the social state. — but that, with an
aim to be thorough in their work, stimulated by some degree of political
hatred, they had banished all they could of British origin, save their
language and their blood. To narrow the hypothesis to a single illustra-
tion, let us imagine that, when the last band of British soldiery left the
shore, the American people had cast after them, into the sea, the whole
body of the law of England ; and had then turned to cpnstruct for them-
selves, out of nothing, a jurisprudence upon which to found the social
and political relations of the country, — think you that in less than
three-quarters of a century this country could have reached its j^resent
height 'I Think you that, without history to draw from, — without
precedent and ancient usage, — without an unwritten law from the
expansive principles of which public and private rights could derive
definition and adjustment, — you would have seen this harmonious
development of society that is now going on 7 Think you that the
pubhc and international relations of the country could have acquired
that dignity which now belongs to them ; and that the new republic, of
a little more than sixty years' standing among nations, could have
spoken, as it has lately spoken, to the parent State, in terms of an
absolute equality, and with a moral power which may supersede the
use of arms?" This oration is entitled The True Uses of American
Revolutionary History.
George Ticknor, the son of Benjamin Curtis, was born at "Water-
town, Nov. 28, 1812; was a graduate of Harvard College in 1832,
when he gave a literary disquisition on the importance of independent
criticism on the growth of national literature ; and was a student in the
Dane Law School. He completed his studies for the profession in the
office of Charles P. Curtis, at Boston, and was admitted to the Suffolk
bar in August, 1836. He married, Oct. 1 7, 1844, Mary Oliver, daugh-
ter of the late Mr. Justice Story. This lady died April 28, 1848.
He married a second time, at Patterson, N. J., Nov. 6, 1851, Louise
Adale Mystrom. He is a counsellor-at-law ; was a representative for
Boston in the State Legislature from 1840 until the year 1844, and
has been a member of the school-committee at different times.
GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS. 597
Mr. Curtis has prepared more works, for tlie practical use of the
public, as author and editor, than anj one of his generation at the
Suffolk bar ; and has indicated, by his intense devotion to the legal
l^rofession. that he loves the pursuit. It was the opinion of Justice
Story, regarding his treatise on the Rights and Duties of Merchant
Seamen, that it is written with great ability, accuracy and learning, and
is by far the most valuable work on that subject now in existence. The
digest of the decisions of the courts of Common Law and Admiralty,
two volumes of which were prepared by Mr. Curtis, is a monument of
patient industry. He prepared, also, a digest of cases in the American
and English Courts of Admiralty. His American Conveyancer, being
divested of the general technicalities of the law. is of great utility to
business men. His treatise on the Law of Patents for useful inventions
in this country, and the remedies for infringement, is invaluable to the
profession and the proprietors of all useful inventions. The Equity
Precedents, supplementary to the treatise of Justice Story, ever aids
the law student. His tract on the true issue of the question relating to
the demolition of the convent at Charlestown. entitled The Rights of
Conscience and Property, is written with eloquence and power. The
most interesting production of Mr. Curtis, to the lovers of literature in
all professions, and to the general reader, is the treatise on the Law of
Copyright in Books, Dramatic and iNIusical Compositions, Letters and
other INIanuscripts, Engravings and Sculpture, as administered in
England and America, with some notices of the History of Literary
Property. We know not how more suitably to revive an interest in
this work, than to cite the opinion of the North American Review,
and to advise the printing of a new edition, as it is unknown to our
public libraries : " The author has avoided the dry and merely tech-
nical manner Avhicli writers on subjects relating to the law seem to
consider a matter of professional etiquette to adopt. Apart from the
interest which every man of letters may be supposed to feel in a dis-
cussion of copyright, he will find in Mr. Curtis' work ample scope for
literary taste. Many curious and valuable details of literary history
are introduced, and the notes are enriched with copious illustrations,
drawn from biographies, criticisms and judicial decisions, embodied in
the most agreeable manner, collected nowhere else."
In the winter of 1849 Mr. Curtis commenced the delivery of a
course of twelve lectures on the History of the Constitution of the
United States, which were closed Feb. 7, 1850. The last of the lee-
598 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
tures, the subject of which was on the strength of the constitution, was
pubhshed. They evince a profound knowledge of the philosophy of
government, a patriotic spirit, and great research. I
HORACE MANN.
JULY 4, 1842. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES,
Horace Maxn was born at Franklin, in Massachusetts, INIay 4,
1796. He was mostly self-educated, being of limited funds. He
entered Brown University in advance of the customary period, where
he graduated in 1819, and gave the valedictory address, on the improve-
ment of the human species in dignity and happiness, and became a tutor
from 1820 to 1822. "A teacher with whom I partly fitted for col-
lege. Master Samuel Barrett, an itinerant schoolmaster and a profound
linguist," says Mr. Mann, "in hearing the iEneid, the select orations
of Cicero and the four evangelists, in Greek, never took either grammar
or text-book into his hand ; and he would have considered it an indig-
nity, if a pupil had offered him one, by which to set the next lesson.
I know that this ability of his inspired one of his pupils, at least, with
sentiments of respect towards him, with conceptions of excellence, and
with an ardor for attainment, such as all the places and prizes ever
bestowed, and a life of floggings into the bargain, would never have
imparted. I well remember that, when I encountered a difficulty,
either in translation or syntax, and Avas ready to despair of success in
overcoming it, the mere thought, how easy that would be to my teacher,
seemed not only to invigorate my eifort, but to give me an enlargement
of power, so that I could return to the charge, and triumph."
INIr. Mann prepared for the legal profession at the Law School in
Litchfield, Conn., and read law in the offices of James Richardson and
Josiah J. Fiske, counsellors-at-law, in Dedham. In 1828 Mr. Mann
was elected a representative of Dedham, which station he honorably
filled for several years ; was at the same period a counsellor at the bar.
It was at about this period that the Hon. Edward Dowse, of Dedham,
remarked of Horace INIann, that if his talents were equal to his ambi-
tion, he would become a member of Congress, In 1836 he became a
resident of Boston, where he was elected for Suffolk to the State Sen-
HORACE MAXX. 599
ate, of vihich he was chosen president in that year, and until 1839.
He was the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, from
its establishment, June 29, 1837, until 1848; and was successor to
John Quincy Adams, as member of Congress for Norfolk, from that
period. He displayed the same persevering energy in political life that
rendered him so eminent in education reform, and was elected for Nor-
folk to the next term.
Horace Mann has been one of the most via;orous oricrinators of
philanthropic enterprises in New England. "When in the Legisla-
ture, he was the principal advocate and projector of the State Luna-
tic Hospital, at "Worcester, in the year 1831. and wrote all its earlier
reports. He was an energetic workman in the temperance reformation,
and was president of the Suffolk County Temperance Society ; and, in
1S34, published remarks on the comparative profits of grocers and
retailers, as derived from temperate and intemperate customers. Mr.
Mann was one of the first members of the State Legislature who made
a speech in fiivor of the railroad enterprise. He was active in effecting
the law abolishing the sale of lottery-tickets. One of our periodicals
said of him : " There is not a town or a school-district in Massachu-
setts in which his influence has not been felt ; there is not one which
has not largely profited by the spirit which he has excited, and by the
improvements which he has introduced. Many new school-houses have
been erected, and old ones much improved ; appropriations of money to
the purposes of education have greatly increased ; seminaries for teach-
ers have been established." Lideed, Mr. Mann originated the Normal
Schools, patronized by the Legislature, in 1838. Improved systems of
instruction and discipline have been introduced ; the number of scholars
is multiplied, and they are far more regular in their attendance at
school ; — and, finally, an interest in the subject has been aroused,
which promises still more brilliant results. All this has been effected
with the assistance of a few individuals, and especially by the liberality
of the late Hon. Edmund Dwight, of Boston, who supplied large
funds for the enterprise. Mr. Mann traversed towns, cities and vil-
lages, lecturing with his best energies, — urged the special regard of
the Legislature. — wrote letters, essays, circulars and reports, infusing
his own enthusiasm into every active mind within his grasp. jNIore-
over, he visited, in 1842, the principal cities in Great Britain, Ger-
many, Holland, Belgium, returning by the way of France, urging
forward the moral reform. Gov. Everett, in remarking on the benefit
GOO THE HUNDKED BOSTON ORATORS.
of education in its broadest sense, at a public festival -where Horace
Mann was present, on turning towards him, said, " I need not enlarge
upon its importance ; but there sits the person — the very apostle of
this uninspired gospel, Horace Mann — who has told you. over and
over again, that education is the great interest of every class in this
community." The Edinburgh Review says of Mann's twelfth report,
" This volume is, indeed, a noble monument of a civilized people ; and,
if America were sunk beneath the waves, would remain the fairest pic-
ture on record of an ideal commonwealth."
We regard the four years' administration of Gov. Everett as the
noblest era in the annals of the old Bay State since the times of Gov.
Hancock, it having been the period of founding an organization of pop-
ular school education, and the completion of the great Western Rail-
road. Shortly after the establishment of the State Board of Educa-
tion, which owes its origin to his indomitable decision, he advanced the
forthcoming sentiment, in a speech at Faneuil Hall, after remarking,
"Talk of public buildings, sir! Let the plain brick school-house go
down, — and, though we pile our hill-tops with structures that surpass
the time-defying solidity of Egyptian Thebes, or the immortal grace-
fulness of Corinth or Athens, they will but stand the gorgeous monu-
ments of our shame ! " " Education ! — When we feed that lamp, we
perform the highest social duty ; if we quench it, I know not where
— (humanly speaking, for time or for eternity), —
' I know not ivliere is that Promethean heat.
That can its light relume.' "
It may truly be said of Horace Mann, that he was a principal
founder of the new system of pubhc school education in Massachusetts,
which is the glory of New England. Our State, instead of sending to
ancient fatherland for counsel and plans of operation, has become the
guiding star of all Europe, and foreign kingdoms are rapidly adopting
the school system of the old Bay State. The demand for Mr. IMann's
State productions was so rapid, that they are all taken up. The twelve
first annual reports on education, written by our apostle, will ever be
in demand, and should be published in a permanent form at the expense
of the State, and given to every member of a school-committee and every
school-teacher. He has published Lectures on Education, in one vol-
ume. He was editor of the Common School Journal, from its estab-
lishment in 1838, and of the Revised Statutes of the State. He was
HORACE MAXN. 601
one of the original committee that reported in favor of codifying the
statute law, and was on the committee of revision, the last-named of
wliich was in connection with Judge Metcalf
In remarking on the pubhc indifference towards education, Mr. Mann
said, in a pubHc lecture : "In our own times, in such low estimation is
this highest of all causes held, that in these days of conventions for all
other objects of pubhc interest, — when men go hundreds of miles to
attend railroad conventions, and cotton conventions, and tobacco con-
ventions, and when the delegates of political conventions are sometimes
counted as Xerxes counted his army, by acres and square miles, — yet
such has often been the depressive effect upon the public of announcing
a common-school convention and a lecture on education, that I have
guessed, in my own mind, whether, in regard to two or three counties,
at least, in our own State, it would not be advisable to alter the law for
quelling riots and mobs ; and, instead of summoning sheriffs, and armed
magistrates, and the jJosse comitatiis^ for their dispersion, to put them
to flight by making proclamation of a discourse on common schools."
Horace Mapn, in exhibiting the vast disparity between the remuner-
ation extended to our school-teachers and those who minister to our
amusements and vitiate our morals, thus eloquently pleads : " Strolling
minstrels, catching the eye with grotesque dresses and shouting unin-
telligible words, are feasted, feted^ and garlanded ; and, when a Euro-
pean dancer, nurtured at the foul breast of theatrical corruption, visits
our land, the days of idolatry seem to have returned, — Avealth flows,
the incense of praise rises, enthusiasm rages like the mad Bacchantes.
It is said that Celeste received fifty thousand dollars in this country, in
one year, for the combined exhibition of skill and person ; and that
devotee to Venus, Fanny Ellsler, in 1841, was paid the enormous sum
of sixty thousand dollars in three months, for the same meritorious
consideration, or value received. In both these cases, a fair proportion
was contributed in the metropolis of our own State. At the rate of
compensation at wliich a majority of the female teachers in IMassachu-
setts have been rewarded for their exhausting toils, it would require
more than twenty years' continued labor to equal the receipts of Fanny
Ellsler for a single night ! Thus, in our most populous places, and
amongst people who profess to lead society, stands the relative suprem-
acy of sense and soul, of heels and head. And I blush while I reflect
that, amonfTSt all the daughters of New England who witnessed the unre-
served displays of these Cyprian women, there was not one to be found
51
602 THE IIUXDIIED BOSTON ORATORS.
in ^^■ho3e veins flowed the chaste blood of the Puritan mothers, prompt-
ing her to approach these female scms culottes backwards, and perform
for them the same friendly service which, on a like necessity, the sons
of Noah performed for him. And, although I would not silence one
note in the burst of admiration with which our young men, who assume
to be the leaders of fashion, respond to the charms of female beauty,
agility or grace, yet I do desire that, in paying their homage, they
should distinguish between the Yenus Celestial and the Venus Infer-
nal! "
The controversy of Horace Mann, running along three hundred
pages, in the contest for reform, wilh thirty-one Boston school-teach-
ers, adds to the lustre of his escutcheon ; and the city teachers might
as well have attempted, with their own right hands, to stem the force
of Niagara's dashing waters, or to dam up the St. Lawrence, as to
restrain the progress of the reform in school education. His sharp
severity towards the teachers exceede^ the tingling sting inflicted by
them on culpable pupils, which mode he warmly de^^recates. It was
said by the thirty-one, remarks Mr. Mann, that the Hon. Jonathan
Chapman, '-justly celebrated for his almost intuitive perceptions of the
public welfare," after two years' oiEcial observation, commended the
schools, in his inaugural address, in 1842. .Yes; and, in the month
following, the same gentleman, — and, as I suppose, with the same
"intuitive perceptions," — being then and there chairman of the
school-committee, prepared the report, which was accepted, — a report
which bemoans the teachers' scanty resources of general knowledge, by
whose feeble rills the parched souls of the children were so seldom
refreshed ; — a report by which it appears that grammar was taught as
though it had no relation to language, and geography as though it had
little to do with earth. Not having, as it was afiirmed, seen their
schools, my prurient imagination contented itself with the simile of
" hybernating animals."
Our American Junius, in the tenacity of his zeal, pours out strains
of caustic effective reproof, unequalled by any living man in the midst
of us, excepting only the vigorous " Sigma," of the Boston Tran-
script, whose pointed shafts, like the arrows of Hercules, never fail
of efiect. In a tirade of biting sarcasm, levelled at one victim in
especial of his wrath, he says : "Did I believe that invisible spirits
were appointed to watch over children and to rescue them from harm,
and were the edifice to be burned down," — it was destroyed by fire,
HORACE MANN. 603
June 25, 1844, but four months previous to the date of the " Reply,"
— " where such a teacher goes daily to lash and dogmatize, I should
think that some beneficent angel had applied the torch, to scatter the
pupils beyond the reach of his demoralizing government. As to
that man, until his nature changes, or my nature changes, we must
continue to dwell on opposite sides of the moral universe." An
eclipse of the moon occurring a few weeks afterwards, the Boston
Post perpetrated the following witticism, under date Nov. 27 : " We
wonder if the eclipse of the moon, on Sunday night, appeared the
same to Horace Mann and Barnum Field, they being on opposite sides
of the moral universe at the same time." Doubtless, this severe allu-
sion to the truly estimable Mr. Field, who has recently exchanged worlds,
where no burning anger ever scathes the soul, written in a moment of
impulsive fire, has often been a source of regret to ]\Ir. Maun, which
he would gladly, if possible, efface.
Horace Mann is famous for firm and devoted perseverance. Here is
the secret of his success. In his person he is tall, very erect, and
remarkably slender, with silvery gray hair, animated and expressive
features, light complexion, and rapid pace. As an orator, his smooth,
flowing style, musical voice and graceful manner, with fertility, ampli-
tude and energy of diction, often adorned with a graceful, rushing elo-
quence, that can be measured only by the celerity of his movements in
the street, irresistibly captivate the breatliloss audience ; especially when,
profoundly absorbed in the midst of his favorite theme, he advances
arguments illustrated by splendid imagery that cannot be withstood.
His figures, though strongly effective, are not uniformly elegant. His
social powers render him a great centre of attraction, and his society is
sought wherever he may be found. Horace Mann, like most reform-
ers, partakes of excessive zeal ; and, in his jealousy for the one absorb-
ing idea of education, descends to a controversy with a clergyman,
extending through several pamphlets, abounding on both sides with
severe philippic. A bust of Mann, by Carew, is the image of the man.
Let our Mercantile Library and Mechanic's Hull have a niche for it,
that his energy of character may be emulated.
j\Ir. Mann married Charlotte, a daughter of President IMesser, who
died ; and he married a second wife, Mary, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel
T. Peabody, formerly of Salem. The oration at the head of this arti-
cle, delivered on our national birthday, establishing the fact that edu-
cation is the invulnerable shield of this republic, was widely circulated
CO-1 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS,
among the education tracts published to promote reform. An eminent
pohtical Avriter once remarked of our repubhcan institutions, that they
were " like white-birch stakes, whose nature is to fail in two years,"
and that " a republic wears out its morals almost as soon as the sap of
a white-birch rots out the wood." In a vein of sarcastic humor, Mr.
Mann, in this oration, thus repels the aspersion : "If this had been the
fact, they should forthwith have saturated them with such a prep-
aration of virtue and knowledge, as would Kyanize, or render inde-
structible, even the porous structure of birch itself, and thus keep the
dry rot forever from its spongiest fibres." /
When Horace IMann was elected from the eighth district to Con-
gress, as the immediate successor of John Quincy Adams, he remarks,
in reply to his constituents, under date of March 21, 1848: "Fully
do I agree with you, and the delegates of the convention you represent,
in saying that the successor of Mr. Adams should be one ' whose voice
and vote shall, on all occasions, be exercised in extendino; and securino:
liberty to the human race.' Of course, I do not understand you to
imply any violation of the constitution of the United States, which
^very representative swears to support. Permit me to say a word per-
sonal to myself. For eleven years I have been estranged from all
political excitements. During this whole period, I have attended no
political meeting of any kind whatever. I have contented myself with
the right of private judgment, and the right of voting ; though it has
usually so happened that my official duties have demanded my absence
from home at the time of the fall elections. I have deemed this absti-
nence from actively mingling in political contests both a matter of duty
towards opposing political parties, and a proper means of subserving the
best interests of the cause in which I had embarked. I hoped, too, by
so doing, to assist in rearing men even better than those now belonging
to any party. The nature of my duties, also, and all my intercourse
and associations, have attracted me towards whatever is worthy and
beneficent in all parties, rather than towards what is peculiar to any
one. Not believing in political pledges, I should have had the honor
to decline giving any to you, had you not had the first and greater
honor of asking none from me. After what I have said above in favor
of liberty for all mankind, it would be a strange contradiction, did I
consent to be myself a slave of party. The hands which you raised in
behalf of yourselves and your constituents, when you voted for the noble
sentiments contained in the resolution I have quoted, could never degrade
HORACE MANX. 605
tliemselves by forging a fetter for the free mind of another, or fastening
one upon it ; and the hand with which I have penned my hearty response
to those sentiments can never stretch itself out to take a fetter on."
In the Drayton trial, which occurred at Washington, December,
1848, Horace Mann made the point that the servitude of the negroes
ought to be proved by something else than the claim of the master;
and likened it to the case of an indictment for stealing fo.xes, which,
wild by nature, must be shown to have been caught and subjected.
While he was enforcing this illustration, the District Attorney wrote
the following squib, and handed it over to the opposite counsel :
" To illustrate the point he 's making :
la larceny, there must be a taking.
A fox, he says, cannot be stolen.
Be he young, or be he an old 'un ;
Pursuing hounds say he 's mistaken, t
At least so far as to the taking."
It was not long before the following bitter retort, by Mr. Mann,
was written on the back of the same paper, which was left on the table
for the serious consideration of the District Attorney. The allusion to
" ten dollars a bill" regards the fee which the Attorney General. Key,
received on each of the three hundred and forty-five indictments which
he caused to be filed against the prisoners of the Pearl :
" Fox-hunting abroad, and slave-hunting in doors,
I beg leave to suggest do not run on all-fours ;
Foxes do not eat foxes, — bi"ute natures have bounds;
But Mr. District Attorney, outhounding the hounds,
Hunts men, women and children, his pockets to fill.
On three hundred indictments, at ten dollars a bill."
The political career of Horace Mann, in some respects, was extraor-
dinary as in that of the education reform, but was not followed by like
healthy results. On any exciting topic, his temperament is so impuls-
ive and uncontrollable, that though, in contending Avith an opponent, the
wrath of Achilles pervade his spirit, he effects at times a reaction. It has
been remarked of him, that no public speaker among us commands more
forcible and logical style of argument than Horace jNIann, when divested
of impassioned personalities ; but that, like one of Tasso's heroes. Avho
levelled whole forests with one stroke of the sabre, he should possess
the "Human Prudence" of Herman Mann, his namesake, would he
51*
606 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OKATORS.
be successful on tlie floor of Congress. "V^Tien in conflict witli Daniel
Webster, he pursued a course of unmitigated severity, as sharp as in
the differences with the thirty-one teachers of Boston, which elicited a
severe rebuke from his Herculean antagonist.
We will here quote the remarks of Webster, Cass, Moses Stuart,
and the North American Review, in relation to Horace Mann.
" Speaking of what I thought the impossibility of the existence of
African slavery in New Mexico," says Mr. Webster, "I would not
take pains to uselessly reafiirm an ordinance of nature, or to reenact
the will of God. Everybody knew that by the will of God I meant
that expression of the Divine purpose in the work of creation which
had given such a physical formation to the earth in this region as
necessarily to exclude African slavery from it forever. Everybody
knew I meant this, and nothing else. To represent me as speaking
in any other^ sense was gross injustice. Yet a pamphlet has been
put into circulation, in which it is said that my remark is ' under-
taking to settle by mountains and rivers, and not by the ten command-
ments, the question of human duty.' ' Cease to transcribe,' it adds,
' upon the statute-book, what our wisest and best men believed to be
the will of God, in regard to our worldly aSairs, and the passions which
we think appropriate to devils Avill soon take possession of society.'
One hardly knows which most to condemn, the nonsense or the dis-
honesty of such commentaries of another's words. I know no passion
more appropriate to devils than the passion for gross misrepresentation
and libel. And others, from whom more fairness might have been
expected, have not failed to represent me as arguing, or affording
ground of argument, against human laws to enforce the moral law of
the Deity. Such persons knew my meaning very well. They chose to
pervert and misrepresent it. That is all." Lewis Cass, who had also
taken the position of ]Mr. Webster, — that the physical circumstances
of New Mexico will prevent the introduction of slavery in that country,
— thus alludes to Horace Mann, in a speech, wherein he remarks that
Mr. ^lann says he speaks respectfully of those from whom he dissents,
"while, at the same time, he attributes the motives of those who differ
from him to what he says is ' technically a bid,' committing the too com-
mon error of measuring all other men by his own standard, after making
that standard a mercenary one. It is evident he cannot conceive how
a public man can act without 'a bid.' And. with a modesty and
charity worthy of the school of dialectics of which I understand he is
HORACE MANN. 607
a distinguished professor, lie assigns to me the preeminence of making
a greater 'sacrifice of consistency, honor and truth,' than any other
pubhc man, because I Avas the accepted candidate of the Democracy
for the office of president. It has been my fortune to receive some
comphmentary notices, during my life ; but rarely have I received a
more acceptable one than the honor of such a censure from such a
Mann. But he is not partial in his favors. He speaks of the ' wag-
gery ' of the distinguished senator from Kentucky, and of his ' practical
joke,' in the effort to put a stop to the agitation of his country, and of
' the roar of laughter ' ;vhich, ' like ?ifeu dejoie, would run down the
course of ages,' were it not for its horrible consequences. Shade of
Quintilian ! what a figure for a disciple who invokes thy name, and
appeals to thy authority!" Moses Stuart says of him, in "Con-
science and the Constitution," that he can never speak of him but
with respect. "The glowing ardor and eloquence of -his composi-
tions, the intense love of liberty with which he is inspired, the humanity
by which he is actuated, the fine, scholar-like accomplishments which
he exhibits, all command my respect and admiration. "Whether his
judgment and prudence are equal to his ardor and his energy, is an-
other question, which is not before my tribunal. He professes the
strongest regard and the highest respect for Mr. Webster, and avows,
solemnly, his intention to treat him in a manner that corresponds with
this avowal. But his impetuosity led him astray, after all. I do not
suppose that such a gentleman as I take INIr. Mann to be designed
to compliment himself, when he speaks of his words being cool as the
iron of the telegraph wire, while his mind is like the lightning which
darts through it. I am ready to acknowledge that there is not a little
of the electric fire in Mr. Mann ; but I cannot overlook the fiict that
this fire can sometimes scorch and smite down, as well as be the swift
messenger of tidings. If Mr. Mann has performed something of the
last office of electricity, he has given us, also, a pretty fair specimen
of the first. ' A wanton surrender of the right of the north,' is
not to be said of Daniel Webster. Swords would leaj). if it were
lawful and necessary, from hundreds of thousands of scabbards, to
defend him against such an assault." The North American Review
inquires, " Does Mr. Mann wish to be understood that he thinks the
slave-owner is quite as likely to remove his slaves of African descent
from a sunny and fertile region, producing an abundance of cotton,
sugar and rice, to a cold and mountainous one, yielding little but
608 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
maize and potatoes, as he is to keep them where they are ? If not, —
if he admits that so great a difference -will probably induce most plant-
ers to keep their slaves at home, then, and to the full extent of such
admission, he himself argues from physics to metaphysics, and 'deter-
mines the law of the spirit by geographical phenomena,' and ' under-
takes to settle, by mountains and rivers, the question of human duty,'
and ' looks at the thermometer to ascertain -whether the people will
obey the divine command,' and does half-a-dozen other antithetical and
strange things ; which all, however, amount to the same thing, namely,
to the simple proposition, that men of property are usually also men
of sense, and will not often remove their property from a place where
it is valuable to one where it will be entirely worthless." The North
American, however, gives Mr. JNIann the credit of urging the ablest
aro-umeut in favor of doing nothing that they have seen, or of insisting
that the extreme northern doctrine shall be carried out upon every
point, yielding to the south nothing, and of course giving up the hope
of a settlement.
The blood of sorrow mantles on our cheeks, that Horace ]\Iann, the
very apostle of education, whom Andrew Combe has compared to Rich-
ard Cobden, as being equally at home with the facts and principles of
education, and as fully sincere and in earnest, should, in a burst of
vituperation, descend to such impulsive retort, in his rejoinder to Gen.
Cass, as his epigrammatic puns here evince.
" As a general rule, I contemn punning," says Mr. Mann. "As a
malignant attack upon any gentleman, for the accident of his name, it
is wholly unpardonable. It is but barely justifiable, as a retort. To
warn the general of the danger he encounters by indulging his love of
punning, I will venture to subjoin a specimen or two of what might be
easily and indefinitely extended :
" 1. Philologicallt.
Small odds 'twixt tweedledum and tweedledee,
And Cass means much the same -without the C.
2. NUJIERICALLT.
This Ass is very big ; then call him CASS.
C's Roman for 100, — a hundred times an Ass.
3. Chemically.
The prophet boldly saith, ' All flesh is grass,'
But thistle-eating donkey's flesh is Cass ;
Cass is carbonate, -whose base is Ass.
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 609
"^Yliile Gen. Cass held territorial offices, he became renowned for
the enormous quantities of rations he consumed. I have forgotten
whether the number was such as to be represented by the Koman
numeral L or C, the initial of his first or of his last name. If the latter,
it would suggest the following :
"4. GASTROSOJnCALLT.
Greedier than he that starved 'twist stacks of hay, —
An honest ass, —
Our Jack devours C rations every day :
Hence y'clept CASS.
"I might," continues Mr. Mann, " thus carry the general tlirough
all the arts and sciences ; but, if he is now disj^osed to say ' quits,' on
the score of punning, I am, and will draw no more upon the assinine
or Cassinine associations which his name suggests."
" Life is a book of which we can have but one edition," says Horace
Mann; "as it is at first prepared, it must stand forever. Let each
day's actions, as they add another page to the indestructible volume, be
such that we shall be willing to have an assembled Avorld to read it."
IMoreover, may w"e be watchful that the last chapter in the book shall
be signalized by such a reform of past errors, and such devotion to past
virtues, that the rising generation may resist the former, and cling tO'
the latter. In 1853 he became president of Antioch College.
CHAKLES FRANCIS ADAMS.
JULY 4, 1843. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
Our orator, after enlarging on the warlike spirit of our country, and
its danger, remarks that " we may be informed that the great remedy is
universal education. Only provide the school, and you will obtain the
intelligent voter, conscious of the blessings he enjoys, and always ready
to act in a manner that shall best preserve them. Now, it is by no means
my disposition to undervalue the advantages that unquestionably follow
from instruction generally diffused. I see and admit that it must form
one of the pillars of our republican system of government. But it is
610 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
only one, and that not the most essential. What is there, I would ask,
in the mere advancement of the intellectual powers of men, which will
lead to effective resistance against the (dazzling qualities of a successful
warrior ? Did Napoleon have no servile flatterers among the literary
men of France 1 Have not poets, and historians, and orators, of all
ages, united in extolling military success above every other kind of
success ? Do the annals of mankind award the proper degree of cen-
sure to the crimes of great conquerors, from Alexander the Great down
to Cortez and Pizarro 1 Fellow-citizens ! Our fathers manifested their
patriotism by devotmi to a principle. It was in defence of that prin-
ciple that they took up arms. They manifested no aggressive spirit,
— no disposition merely to acquire. The same temper will be main-
tained among us only by developing the high moral attributes of our
nature, through the agency of a mild and catholic religious faith. This
is the true sheet-anchor of our free institutions, and this can never be
.secured by mere instruction of the mind. Our people's highest duty,
.■as a people, is self-restraint. The cry has gone out among us, Educate,
educate, — as if the schoolmaster were the sovereign remedy against
the ills which unregulated passions occasion. But I would ask whether
•education has contributed nothino; heretofore to the nursins; of immod-
erate ambition? Has it never furnished fuel for unjustifiable popular
■excitement? Does it supply no means to confuse instead of clearing
the sense of right and wrong ? Does it never pander to power, whether
residing in the many or in one man ? Was not Julius Caesar one of
the most educated men of antiquity, — and yet how did this promote his
patriotism ? And, almost within our own day, do we not know that the
most cultivated minds of France combined in an attempt to overthrow at
once its religion and its social system ? Yes : the fertile fields of that
magnificent country Avere drenched with the blood of multitudes of its
best citizens, because the arrogant intellect of its educated men chose
to institute an idol-worship of philosophy for faith in the true God,
and respect for the moral ties Avhich bind man in society with his
fellow-man.
Charles Francis, son of John Quincy Adams, was born at Boston,
Aug. 18, 1807. When his father sailed for St. Petersburg, as minis-
ter to Russia, in the summer of 1809, the infant Charles and his
mother went also with him, and he is the only surviving son. He
entered the Boston Latin School in 1816, and graduated at Harvard
College in 1825. He was a student at law in Washington city, and is
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 611
a counsellor. He married Abigail Bro^vn, a claugliter of Hon. Peter
C. Brooks. He was a representative to the Legislature of Blassachu-
setts in 1841-44, a member of the State Senate in 1845-6, when he
•was chairman of the joint committee on the library, which reported that
the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, who had applied
to the Legislature for an act of incorporation, have leave to withdraw
their petition. This report was rejected, and an act was granted, and
approved by the governor, an early member, ]\Iarch 18, 1845. While
Charles Francis Adams opposed its incorporation, — being of opinion, it
is said, that one historical society for this State Avas sufficient, — yet,
his honored father, who was elected a member Feb. 20, 1845, remarked,
in his letter of acknowledgment to this institution, "I accept gratefully
this testimonial of esteem, and shall be happy if it may be in my power
to contribute in any manner to the laudable purposes of the society."
And President Fillmore sent a very cordial letter of acceptance in the
same period, giving an outline of his family ancestry. Mr. Adams has
since proved his friendly disposition to the society, by a donation of his
grandflither's writings. The objects of this historical society cover a
ground not embraced by any similar institution ; and so popular has it
become, that, during a period of five years, it has risen to five hundred
members. Its periodical, the New England Historical and Genealog-
ical Register, Avhich has reached its sixth volume, exceeding twenty-five
hundred pages, is a work of great public benefit, on topics not viewed
in any other work.
The political history of ]Mr. Adams is identified with the origin and
progress of the Free Soil party. He was the president of the Bufialo
Convention, Aug. 8, 1848. Nearly all the free States, with several
of the slave States, were represented. The deliberations of the con-
vention, continued for three days, were signally harmonious and digni-
fied, and resulted in the nomination of INIartin Van Buren for presi-
dent, and Charles Francis Adams for vice-president. The resolutions
of this convention, usually denominated the Buffalo Platform, exhibit
an outline of the principles of the Free Soil party.
Mr. Charles Sumner, in a speech at Faneuil Hall, Aug. • 22, 1848,
when he was moderator, on its ratification by the party, remarked,
that the convention "not only propose to guard the territories against
slavery, but to relieve the federal government from all responsibility
therefor, everywhere within the sphere of its constitutional powers."
" The old and ill-compacted party organizations are broken, and from
612 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS,
their ruins is no\Y formed a new party — the party of freedom.
There are good men who longed for this, and have died without the sight.
John Quincy Adams longed for it. William Ellery Channing longed
for it. Their spirits hover over us, and urge us to persevere.'' In
allusion to Charles Francis Adams, as the candidate for the vice-presi-
dency, Charles Sumner further said, " Standing, as I now do, beneath
the images of his father and grandfather, it Avill be sufficient if I say
that he is the heir, not only to their name, but to the virtues, the abil-
ities, and the indomitable spirit, that rendered that name so illustrious."
"We found now a new party. Its corner-stone is freedom. Its
broad, all-sustaining arches are, truth, justice and humanity. Like
the ancient Roman capitol, at once a temple and a citadel, it shall be
the fit shrine of the genius of American institutions."
Mr. Adams Avas an editor of the Boston Daily Whig, afterwards
merged in the Republican, a Free Soil paper, now superseded by the
Commonwealth. He was the author of Reflections on the Currency
of the United States, a pamphlet of forty pages, published in 1837.
He published the Memoir and Letters of Mrs. Abigail Adams, and the
Letters of John Adams, with Notes. He is the editor, also, of the
Life, Diary and Works of John Adams, with appropriate notes, to com-
prise nine large volumes, which is, emphatically, an inestimable
national acquisition. We find a singular discrepancy in a note of Mr.
Adams, the editor, in allusion to a remark of Dr. Johnson in relation
to Thomas Cushing, Speaker of the House, in the period of the Revo-
lution, wherein Mr. Adams states that " He is the person, concerning
whose position Dr. Johnson, in ' Taxation no Tyranny,' made his sin-
gular blunder. ' One object of the Americans is said to be, to adorn
the brows of jNIr. C g Avith a diadem.' " We have examined the
first and third London editions of Dr. Johnson's production, published
in 1775, by Cadell; and we copy the paragraph verbatim, as it stands
in both editions. In a vein of sarcasm, the great lexicographer says :
" Since the Americans have discovered that they can make a parlia-
ment, whence comes it that they do not think themselves equally em-
powered to make a king? If they are subjects, whose government is
constituted by a charter, they can form no body of independent legis-
lature. If their rights are inherent and underivcd, they may by their
own suffrages encircle with a diadem the brows of Mr. Cushing."
Thus, it is evident that, instead of Dr. Johnson asserting that it was
the intention of the people to make Cushing the king of America, ho
PELEa WHITMAN CHANDLER. 613
merely expressed the opinion tliat, if their rights were underivetl. they
might, by their own votes, elevate Gushing to an American throne.
PELEG WHITMAN CHANDLER.
JULY 4, 1844. rg>R THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
In the very superior performance of Mr. Chandler appears a passage
on the dangers of party organizations, abounding in conceptions of
political wisdom. " I do not deprecate party spirit as the worst of
evils. In a form of government like our OAvn, it is necessary that
political principles should be earnestly discussed, and the claims of
candidates thoroughly canvassed, — and this may be done Avith zeal,
energy, enthusiasm, and yet the kindest feelings preserved. I have
no sympathy with those who are continually lamenting the party spirit
of our day, and at the same time join themselves to other organizations,
in which it is easier to obtain power and influence. There are always
disappointed men who constantly complain of party discipline, without
lifting a finger to improve it. Too selfish to devote their time to
accomplish a reform, they are contented with sounding a perpetual
alarm. Too feeble to lead, and too proud to serve, they watch, with
an impatient eye, the movements of others, but are always ready to
accept of favors from either side. Nor do I believe that party spirit
is so extensively felt, and party organizations so strict, as is generally
supposed. On this point we are liable to be deceived by appearances.
Active politicians, partisan leaders, are comparatively few, although
they usually make the noise of many. To hear their harangues on
the eve of an election, one would suppose that the fable of Cliicken
Little was about to become a truth, and that the sky was actually fall-
ing ; and so, from the statements in party newspapers, Ave often seem
to be on the eve of a revolution ; but the great mass of the people, in
reality, take very little interest in the matter. ' Because half a dozen
grasshoppers under a fern,' says Burke, ' make the field ring with
their importunate chink, while thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath
the shade, chew the cud, and are silent, do not imagine that those who
make the noise arc the only inhabitants of the fields ; that they are,
of course, many in number ; or that, after all, they are other than the
52
614 THE IIUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
little, shrivelled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects
of the hour.'
" It is also to be taken into the account, that selfish party politicians
operate as a check upon each other. The ins are exerting all their
strength to keep in, and the outs are doing all they can to get in ;
meanwhile, sober and industrious citizens ai'e ordinarily too much
occupied with their own practical concerns to give much attention to
either ; and I apprehend more danger from this indifference to politics
on the part of the people, than from the excess of party spirit. They
who are familiar Avith election returns are aware that most great polit-
ical revolutions are effected, not so much by the change of opinion
among those who ordinarily exercise the elective franchise, as by the
votes of those who do not usually perform this duty. There is, in this
country, an immense reserved corps of voters, who only come out upon
extraordinary occasions ; and, so far as party discipline tends to bring
out these voters, it is a positive good, and they Avho, from good motives,
engage in political organizations of this sort, are really entitled to great
credit.
''Infinitely more danger is to be apprehended from those organiza-
tions which involve the consideration of great moral questions, which
are hurrying forward Avith a zeal that knows no reason, and an enthu-
siasm that cannot be restrained. The doctrine is practically maintained,
that men may do acts as a society, for the accomplishment of a good
object, which it would not be laAvful for them to do as individuals.
Such a principle as this is dangerous to the State ; it is disorganizing
in its tendency, and destructive of all true freedom. An association
founded upon such a principle is, in effect, a moral mob, — a conspiracy
upon the rights and happiness of the people. What is a riot more
than this 1 Here, if the end will justify the means, — if men in a society
may do what it would not be right for them to do as individuals, a
perfect defence is made out, — for there has hardly been a riot, within
the memory of man, where the end proposed was not regarded by those
engaged in it as plausible and just. AVhat is a riot, but the joining
together of men to accomplish some good object in a less space of time
than it could otherwise be effected ; to hasten that Avhich the laws Avill
too slowly reach; to act in aid of Divine justice in the punishment of
some crime, or attempt, — to borrow a daring German expression, — to
grind down the gaps in the sword of Almighty justice 7
"It will be found that the riots of our day differ, in an important
PELEG WHITMAN CHANDLER. 615
particular, from those of an earlier date ; and the fact is remarkable, as
tending to show that these laAvless outbreaks are only the external and
gross manifestation of the principles advocated by other associations.
They are no longer the sudden ebullitions of passion and rage, rushing
forward without aim or end, and rendered comparatively harmless by
the want of system and skilful directors, but they have become organ-
ized bodies, with conspicuous leaders, and with plans deliberately
made. They go forward to the accomplishment of their object with a
coolness and deliberation, that wins for them, in some instances, the
title of respectability. "We sometimes hear of a mob of gentlemen. — a
quiet assemblage, — a peaceable gathering, which calmly accomplished
its object, and dispersed. We read of courts regularly conducted to
try culprits by Lynch law ; and a tribunal of this sort, Avhich orders
the burning of a negro, or the public whipping of a thief, or the expul-
sion of gamblers from a town, or the destruction of a newspaper press,
is not seldom praised, by implication at least, for the order and regu-
larity of its proceedings."'
Peleg Whitman Chandler Avas born at New Gloucester, Maine, Api'il
12, 1816 ; fitted for college at Bangor Seminary, in the classical
department; graduated at Bowdoin College in 1834, when his subject
was the Character and Genius of Byron ; entered the Dane Law
School, at Cambridge ; and pursued legal studies in the office of The-
ophilus Parsons, Esq., at Boston. He was admitted to the bar in
Boston, 1837. Before IMr. Chandler was admitted to the bar, he was
reporter, for the Boston Daily Advertiser, of law cases in the higher
courts, and was, during ten years, connected with that paper. He is a
counsellor eminent for chamber advice ; was three years a member of
the city Council, and its president in 1844-5. lie married, Xov. 30,
1837, Martha Ann Bush, daughter of Professor Parker Cleaveland ;
and was a State representative from 1840 to 1846. In the important
station of city solicitor, which he has occupied since 1848, Mr. Chandler
has sustained himself with a prompt enci-gy and wise forecast.
" The fulsome flattery," remarks the North American Review, "with
which Fourth-of-July orators have been very generally in the habit of
entertaining their audiences, has been made to give place to wiser and
better views ; to the lessons and warnings of experience ; to admonitions
upon our national faults, and to the circulation of a higher system of
national morality and honor. While, on the one hand, the orator does
not fail to see the faults and follies which our popular orgauizationa
C16 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
have often manifested, on the other, he does not fall into the strain of
sinister forebodings which many eminent citizens feel it impossible to
• avoid, in contemplation of the outbreaks of that anarchical spirit with
which the history of recent times has been in some quarters mournfully
signalized." Mr. Chandler originated the Law Reporter, which he
conducted for the first ten years ; and in his style exhibited clearness,
force, purity, and sound legal learning. It is a journal of practical
service to the bar and men of business. His American Criminal Trials,
commencing with the case of Anne Hutchinson, including the best
statement extant of the trial of the British soldiers in the massacre of
1770, is a valuable work, that should be brought down to a later pe-
riod. It has been published, also, in London. The Bankrupt Law
of the United States, and an Outline of the System, with Rules and
Forms in Massachusetts, was prepared by Mr. Chandler. The elab-
orate review of the D'Hauteville case, in the Law Reporter, 1841,
wherein he very learnedly argues in favor of the precedence of the
father to the custody of the children, in cases of divorce, will often be
cited in our courts.
As an instance of the playful humor of Mr. Chandler, we will relate
an incident which occurred at the dinner of the city authorities, July
4, 1848. Mayor Quincy, junior, who presided, announced the recep-
tion of a note complaining that the candles had burnt out, and gentle-
men could not light their cigars, suggesting that, as there was a
Chandler present, he should give them the benefit of his art. The
Chandler was not forthcoming, which gave occasion for the following
order from the mayor, — " Mr. City Solicitor, you will please give your
attention to this case;" whereupon, Peleg W. Chandler arose, and
censured the conception of engaging unmarried men to deliver orations,
— Mr. Giles, the present orator, being a bachelor, — and he hoped an
order would be passed, regulating this matter. Mr. Chandler's remarks
were principally directed to the bachelor state of the orator of the day.
He was surprised to see him enter Tremont Temple, take his stand
coolly upon the platform, surrounded with a bevy of young beauties — •
the girls of the public schools, — and discourse upon responsibilities.
What responsibilities had he 7 Here some arch hits were made at an
old bachelor's virtues, which excited the loud laughter of the assembly.
The Avitty solicitor concluded, with hoping that the orator, when he
retired for the night to his attic and his narrow couch, would ponder
^ell upon what he had said. It was his fault that he was not married,
CHARLES SUMNER. 617
for many men, twice as homely-looking, had wives, — and here a queer
allusion was made to somebody on the platform, that had been married
twenty years, Mr. Chandler's eye being upon his honor the mayor.
"If," said the solicitor, "the orator should address any woman with
half the eloquence he had employed in his oration, she would have to
give him her heart." In 1854 he was elected to Gov. Washburn's
council board.
CHARLES SUMNER.
JULY 4, 1845. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
" Let it not be forgotten," says our orator, '•' that the virtues which
shed their charm over the annals of war, in all its horrors, are all bor-
rowed of peace, — they are emanations of the spirit of love, which is so
strono; in the heart of man that it survives the rudest assaults. The
flowers of gentleness, of kindness, of fidelity, of humanity, which flour-
ish in unregarded luxuriance in the rich meadows of peace, receive
unwonted admiration when we discern them in war, — like violets,
shedding their perfume on the perilous edges of the precipice, beyond
the smiling borders of civilization. God bo praised for all the exam-
ples of magnanimous virtue which he has vouchsafed to mankind !
God be praised that the Roman emperor, about to start on a distant
expedition of war, encompassed by squadrons of cavalry, and by golden
eagles which swayed in the winds, stooped from his saddle to listen to
the prayer of the humble widow, demanding justice for the death of
her son ! God be praised that Sydney, on the field of battle, gave,
with dying hand, the cup of cold water to the dying soldier ! That
single act of self- forgetful sacrifice has consecrated the fennj^ field of
Zutphen far, oh ! far beyond its battle ; it has consecrated thy name,
gallant Sydney, beyond any feat of thy sword, beyond any triumph of
thy pen ! But there are humble suppliants for justice in other places
than the camp; there are hands outstretched elsewhere than on
fields of blood for so little as a cup of water ; the world constantly
affords opportunities for deeds of like greatness. But, remember well,
that these are not the product of war. They do not spring from
enmity, hatred and strife, but from those benign sentiments whose nat-
ural and ripened fruit of joy and blessing can only be found in peace,
.52*
618 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
If, at any time, tliey appear in the soldier, it is not because, but not-
withstanding, he is the hirehng of battle. Let me not be told, then,
of the virtues of war. Let not the acts of generosity and sacrifice
which have blossomed on its fields be invoked in its defence. From
such a great root of bitterness no true good can spring. The poisonous
tree, in oriental imagery, though watered by nectar and covered Avith
roses, can produce only the fruit of death. * * * * And yet
Christ and Mars are still brought into fellowship. Let us see them
together. There is now floating in this harbor a ship-of-the-line of
our country. Many of you have, perhaps, pressed its deck, and
observed, with admiration, the completeness which prevails in all its
parts, — its lithe masts, and complete net-work of ropes, — its thick
wooden walls, within Avhich are more than the soldiers of Ulysses, —
its strong defences, and numerous dread and rude-throated eno-ines of
war. There, each Sabbath, amidst this armament of blood, while the
wave comes gently plashing against the frowning sides, from a pulpit
supported by a cannon, — in repose now, but ready to awaken its dor-
mant thundei', charged with death, — a Christian jDreacher addresses
the officers and crew. May his instructions carry strength and succor
to their souls ! But he cannot pronounce, in such a place, those high-
est words of the Master he professes, 'Blessed are the peace-makers,'
'Love your enemies,' 'Render not evil for evil.' Like Macbeth's
'Amen,' they must stick in his throat ! "
Charles Sumner, a son of Charles Pinckney Sumner, the High
Sheriff of Suflblk, was born in Boston, Jan. 6, 1811. His birth-place
was on the location of the Bowdoin schoolhouse. He was fitted for
college at the Boston Latin School, where he bore off the prizes for
Enghsh composition and Latin poetry, besides the Franklin medal, at
the end of his course. During this period he was a devoted student
of history, often rising before daylight to read Hume and Gibbon. In
allusion to youthful associations, Mr. Sumner once expressively re-
marked, "We incline, by a natural emotion, to the spot where we
were born, to the fields which witnessed the sports of childhood, to the
seat of youthful studies, and to the institutions under which we have
been trained. The finger of God writes all these things, in indelible
colors, on the heart of man ; so that, in the dread extremities of death,
he reverts, in fondness, to early associations, and longs for a draught of
cold water from the bucket in his father's well." His father's family
attended divine worship at Trinity Church ; and, doubtless, the influ-
CHARLES SUMNER. 619
ence of the rector, the late Rev. Dr. Gardiner, in the illustrations of cat-
echetical instruction and learned pulpit discourse, contributed greatly
to the moulding of his hterary taste. How obvious is the Avarm love
of his native city, -where he exclaims, " Boston has always led the gen-
erous and magnanimous actions of our history. Boston led the cause of
the Revolution. Here was commenced that discussion, pregnant Avitli
the independence of the colonies, -which, at first occupying a few warm
but true spirits only, finally absorbed all the best energies of the conti-
nent,— the eloquence of Adams, the patriotism of Jefferson, the Avisdom
of Washington. Boston is the home of noble charities, the nurse of true
learning, the city of churches. By all these tokens she stands con-
spicuous, and other parts of the country arc not unwilling to follo-w
her example. Athens -was called the eye of Greece, — Boston may be
called the eye of America ; and the influence which she exerts is to be
referred, not to her size, — for there are other cities larger far, — but
to her moral and intell'ectual character."
Throuo-h the whole range of this work, we have alluded to the liter-
ary festival of commencement, whenever the occasion offered ; and we
cannot forbear citing a passage from Sumner to the point. " The
ingenuous student, who has passed his term of years — a classical
Olympiad — amidst the restraints of the academy, in the daily pursuits
of the lecture-room, observant of forms, obsequious to the college cur-
few, now renounces those restraints, heeds no longer the summoning
bell, divests himself of the youthful gown, and here, under the auspices
of Alma Mater, assumes the robe of manhood. At such a change, the
mind and heart are open to receive impressions which may send their
influence through remaining life. A seasonable word to-day may,
perad venture, like an acorn dropped into a propitious soil, send
npwai'ds its invigorating growtli, till its stately trunk, its multitudinous
branches, and sheltering foliage, shall become an ornament ai\|j a pro-
tection of unspeakable beauty."
Mr. Sumner graduated at Harvard College in 1830, when he took
a part in a conference on the Roman ceremonies, the system of the
Druids, the reli^-ion of the Hindoos, and the superstition of the Amer-
ican Indians. After having devoted his mind to literary studies until
1831, he entered the Law School at Cambridge, where he was assidu-
ous in the study of juridical science, never relying upon the text-books,
but sought the original sources, read all the authorities and references,
and made himself fiimiliar with books of the common law, from the
620 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Year Books, in uncoutli Norman, down to the latest Reports. It was
said that he could go into the law library, of which he Avas the libra-
rian, and find any volume in the dark, when in their proper places.
While still a pupil, he wrote several articles in the " American Jurist,"
which were creditable to his reputation. He read law for a period in
the office of Benjamin Rand, a counsellor of Boston, and was admitted
to the bar at Worcester in 1831, and forthwith commenced practice in
Boston, 1834, when he was appointed Reporter of the Circuit Court,
in Avhich capacity he published three volumes, known as "'Sumner's
Reports." Before his admission to the bar, he became the principal
editor of the •' American Jurist," at which period he detected a curious
error of so great a name in the law as Lord Chief Baron Comyns,
repeated, also, by Chitty, with respect to the action of replevin. Dur-
ing the first three winters after his admission to the bar, while Judnfe
Story was absent at Washington, he lectured to the law students at
Cambridge, having the sole charge of Dane School, for part of the
time, during the absence of Professor Greenleaf, and performed like
duties during Judge Story's illness, in 1843. INIr. Sumner was the
editor of "A Treatise on the Practice of the Courts of Admiralty in
Civil Causes of Maritime Jurisdiction, by Andrew Dunlap," with a
valuable appendi.x and indexes, amounting to more matter than the
original treatise, published at Philadelphia, in 1836. This labor was
attempted because of the illness of Mr. Dunlap, who died before the
work Avas completed, and stated, four days previous to his decease,
that Mr. Sumner had Avorked over it " Avith the zeal of a sincere
friend, and the accuracy of an excellent laAvyer."
In the autumn of the year 1837, Mr. Sumner departed for
Europe, Avhere he remained until the spring of 1840. In order to
show the estimate of his character extended by Judge Story, Ave here
extract a passage from his letter of introduction, addressed to a gen-
tleman in London, — James John Wilkinson, Esq., — under date of
Nov. 3, 1837 : — " Mr. Sumner is a practising laAA-yer at the Boston
bar, of very high reputation for his years, and already giving the
promise of the most eminent distinction in his profession ; his literary
and judicial attainments are truly extraordinary. He is one of the
editors — indeed, the principal editor of the 'American Jurist,' a
quarterly journal of extensive circulation and celebrity among us, and
without a rival in America. He is also the reporter of the court in
which I preside, and has already published two A'olumes of reports.
CHARLES SUMNER. 621
His private character, also, is of the best kind for purity and pro-
priety; but, to accomplish himself more thoroughly in the great
objects of his profession, — not merely to practise, but to extend the
boundaries in the science of law, — I am verv anxious that he should
possess the means of visiting the courts of Westminster Hall under
flivorable auspices : and I shall esteem it a personal favor if you can
give him any facilities in this particular."
In Paris, he attended the debates of the Chamber of Deputies, and
the lectures of all the eminent professors in different departments, at
the Sorbonne, at the College of France, and particularly in the Law
School. He became personally acquainted with several of the most
eminent jurists, — with Baron Degerando, renowned for his works on
charity ; with Pardessus. at the head of commercial law ; with Foelix,
editor of the " Review of Foreign Jurisprudence ; " and other famous
men. He attended a whole term of the Royal Court at Paris, observ-
ing the forms of procedure ; received kindness from the judges, and
was allowed to peruse the papers in the cases. His presence at some
of these trials was noticed in the reports in the law journals.
In England, a welcome awaited him such as gave gratifying evi-
dence of the power of an intelligent, upright and accomplished mind,
accompanied by simplicity and friendliness of manners, to break down
social barriers. He remained there nearly a year, attending the
debates in Parliament, hearing all the chief speakers often, and becom-
ing acquainted with many of them, of all sides in politics. AVe know
not the man that is more lovable, companionable and profitable, in
social intercourse, than is Charles Sumner ; and this letter of Justice
Story confirms our opinion.
Mr. Justice Story, in writing to Charles Sumner, under date of
August 11, 1838, says : " I have received all your letters, and have
devoured them with unspeakable delight. All the family have heard
them read aloud, and all join in their expressions of pleasure. You
are now exactly where I should wish you to be, — among the educated,
the literary, the noble, and, though last, not least, the learned of Eng-
land, of good old England, our mother land, God bless her ! Your
sketches of the bar and bench are deeply interesting to me, and so full
that I think I can see them in my mind's eye. I must return my
thanks to Mr. Justice Vaughan for his kindness to you ; it has grati-
fied me beyond measure, not merely as a proof of his liberal friend-
ship, but of his acuteness and tact in the discovery of character. It is
622 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
a just homage to your own merits. Your Old Bailey speech was cap-
ital, and hit, by stating sound truths, in the right way." In another
passage. Justice Story says to Sumner : " Pray, put your conservative
friends right as to us in America. We are not all demagogues, or mad,
conceited democrats. They seem hostile to all of us, and to our insti-
tutions, from gross mistakes of our opinions and our principles. Why,
our Whigs are quite as conservative as themselves, making only the
proper distinctions as to the form of government."
The cordial hospitality of the bar and judges made him as one of
themselves. Ho attended the courts at Westminster Hall ; and more
than once, at the pressing invitation of the judges, sat by their side at
the trials. He also observed the courts on the circuit, where he was
often the guest of the bar and bench. At the meeting of the British
Scientific Association, he experienced the same flattering attentions.
In town and country, he moved freely in society, to which intelligence
and refinement, wealth and worth, lend every charm and grace. Nor
did the evidence of such respect and confidence pass away with his
presence. Two years after his return from England, the Quarterly
Review, alluding to his visit, stepped aside to say: "He presents, in
his own person, a decisive proof that an American gentleman, without
oflicial rank or wide-spread reputation, by mere dint of courtesy, can-
dor, an entire absence of pretension, an appreciating spirit, and a cul-
tivated mind, may be received on a perfect footing of equality in the
best circles, social, political, and intellectual; which, be it observed,
are hopelessly inaccessible to the itinerant note-taker, who never gets
beyond the outskirts of the show-houses." Eight years later yet, he
received a comjiliment, which, from an English bench, is of the rarest
occurrence. On an insurance question, before the Court of Exchequer,
one of the counsel having cited an American case, Baron Parke, the
ablest of the English judges, asked him what book he quoted. He
rephed, " Sumner's Reports." Baron Rolfe said, " Is that the Mr.
Sumner who was once in England?" On receiving a reply in the
afiirmative, Baron Parke observed, " We shall not consider it entitled
to the less attention because reported by a gentleman whom we all
knew and respected." Not long ago, some of Mr. Sumner's estimates
of war expenses were quoted by ]Mr. Cobden, in debate, in the House
of Commons.
In Italy, he gave himself to the study of art and literature, and
finished the reading of all the notable works of that country in his-
CHARLES SUMNER. G23
torj, politics, or poetry. "While at Rome, Crawford took his bust, in
marble, and it is in the family. In Germany, where his visit ^yas
shorter, he accjuired the regard of the most eminent jurists, — of
Savigny, Thibaut and Mittermaier, viiih the latter of Avhom he has had
constant correspondence. He was kindly received by Prince ]\Ietter-
nich, and became acquainted with most of the professors at Heidelberg ;
and with many other individuals of those most distinguished in science
and letters, as Humboldt the philosopher, Ranke the historian, and
Ritter the geographer, at Berlin.
Mr. Sumner has highly elevated conceptions of the character of the
legal profession in the United States. When at a social dinner-party
at Heidelberg, in Germany, where were present the eminent jurists
Thibaut and ^Mittermaier, one of them inquired of Mr. Sumner what
was the position of the American lawyer, and hoih. seemed in earnest
for an answer. He promptly replied, " No person is his superior. His
position, gentlemen, if you will pardon me for saying it, is what yours
would be in Germany, if there were no aristocracy of birth."' Both
seemed penetrated by this allusion ; and, looking each other in the foce,
exclaimed, at once, in apparent consciousness of their true rank, " That
is very high, indeed."
While in Europe, he was repeatedly consulted by writers on the law
of nations. In Paris, at the request of Gov. Cass, he wrote a defence
of the American claim, in controversy with England, on the north-
eastern boundary, which was published in " Galignani's Messenger,"
republished in many papers at home, and in the Washington " Globe "
attributed to Gov. Cass. It was highly commended by that gentle-
man, who expressed his intention to make it the subject of a special
despatch. The idea of Mr. AVheaton's last work on the '= History of
the Law of Nations" occurred in conversation at Mr. Sumner's rooms.
Having conceived the plan of such a treatise, he consulted ]Mr. Wheaton
respecting it. Mr. Wheaton afterwards called upon him, and said that
he proposed to undertake it, unless IMr. Sunjner intended to execute
the plan himself. It was to be written for a prize of the Fi-ench Insti-
tute.
On his return from Europe, !Mr. Sumner was received in Boston
with flattering assiduities. He engaged in the practice of his profes-
sion only to a moderate extent, being now more interested in its science,
and in other studies. In 1844-6, he published an edition of Yesey's
Reports, in twenty volumes. In announcing this work, the Boston
624 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
"Law Reporter" bore testimony to his '-clistinguislied professional
reputation" and "great professional resources." "Wherever the
occasion oifers itself," said that journal, "the editorial note has been
expanded, till it assumes something of the port and stature of a brief
legal dissertation, in which the topics are discussed in the assured man-
ner of one who feels that his foot is planted upon familiar ground, and
whose mind is so saturated with legal knowledge, that it readily pours
it forth at the slightest pressure, reminding us of those first ' sprightly
runnings ' of the wine-press extracted by no force but the mere Aveight of
the grapes. Mr. Sumner has also introduced a new element into his
notes. We allude to his biographical notices of the eminent men Avhose
names occur in the reports, either in a judicial or forensic capacity, and
to his occasional historical, political and biographical, illustrations of the
text. In what may be called the literature of the law, — the curios-
ities of legal learning, — he has no rival among us."
On the death of Judge Story, in the autumn of 1845, he was men-
tioned in the newspapers as the natural successor in the vacant profess-
orship. Judge Story had said, more than once, " I shall die content,
so far as my professorship is concerned, if Charles Sumner is to suc-
ceed me." Chancellor Kent declared that he was " the only person
in the country competent to succeed Story." Different gentlemen of
the highest name in jurisprudence, both of Massachusetts and other
States, proposed to interest themselves Avith the corporation for his
appointment ; but he discouraged the movement, saying that, as he was
unwilling to engage to accept the post, if offered to him, he could not
sanction any application or suggestion in his behalf It never was
offered to him. Report said that his opinions on questions of great
public interest which had then begun to agitate the community weighed
against him.
In relation to Mr. Sumner's oration at the head of this article,
entitled "The True Grandeur of Nations," the Hon. Judge Story
wrote of it to the author, that " it is certainly a very striking production,
and will fully sustain your reputation for high talents, various reading,
aiid exact scholarship. There are a great many passages in it which
are wrought out with an exquisite finish, and elegance of diction, and
classical beauty. I go earnestly and heartily along with many of your
sentiments and opinions. They are such as befit an exalted mind, and
an enlarged benevolence. But, from the length and breadth of your
doctrine as to war, I am compelled to dissent. In my judgment,
CHARLES SUMNER. 625
war is, under some (although I agree not under many) circumstances,
not only justifiable, but an indispensable part of public duty; and if
the reasoning -which you have adopted be sound, it extends fJir beyond
the limits to ^yhich you have now confined it. It is not, however, my
intention to discuss the matter at all with you. I am too old to desire
or even indulge in controversy. Ko one who knows you can doubt the
entire sincerity with which you have spoken. All that I desire to
claim is as sincere a conviction that, in the extent to which you seem
to press your doctrines, they are not, in my judgment, defensible. In
many parts of your discourse, I have been struck with the strong
resemblances which it bears to the manly enthusiasm of Sir James
Mackintosh ; but I think that he would have differed from you in
respect to war, and would have maintained a moderation of views
belonging at once to his philosophy and his life."
In this performance of Mr. Sumner, at the celebration of independ-
ence, there is abundant evidence of the ability of the author to distin-
guish himself as a rhetorician and orator. There are glowing passages
in this oration, which thrill the very soul. There is here and there a
pomp of language, says the North American Review, a procession of
gorgeous periods, that hurries the reader irresistibly and willingly
along. But these spots are interspersed and intersected by veins and
seams of quite another ore. We are sometimes surprised and disap-
pointed by a prosaic dash in the very midst of an eloquent paragraph,
and occasionally bewildered by a chaotic confusion of metaphors. It
would be ungrateful and unfair to ransack a popular oration for
instances of bad taste and faulty expression ; and yet, where a per-
formance bears ample marks of supplementary additions, we could
wish that the author's privilege of retrenchment had also been more
liberally exercised. The very confines of courtesy are reached in the
phrase, "respectable citizens volunteer to look like soldiers," consid-
ering the circumstances of the occasion. We must also call the author's
attention to the incongruity of the several kinds of physical elevation
and moral grandeur that are huddled together in the following pas-
saf^e : "As the cedars of Lebanon arc higher than the grass of the
valley ; as the heavens are higher than the earth ; as man is higher
than the beasts of the field; as the angels are higher than man; as he
that ruleth his spirit is higher than he that taketh a city, — so are the
virtues and victories of peace higher than the virtues and victories of
war." Once more : we cannot conceive how, in his description of the
53
626 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
massacre of the Roman senators by the Gauls, the author could have
tortured Livy's i7i vestibulis cediurn into "on a temple." The very
ingenious and striking parallel drawn by the orator between national
wars and the old wager of battle, is the most original and effective por-
tion of the address. It was published in England, in a neat tract
form, and also in Scotland, by the advocates of peace, and scattered
over the queen's dominions by the tens of thousands ; and probably no
national oration was ever more widely circulated, on both sides of the
Atlantic. It has been carefully revised, and objectionable passages
expunged. An exuberance of classical allusions is a peculiar defect
in the compositions of Charles Sumner.
Mr. Sumner interweaves his peace principles in the admirable sketch
of Washington Allston, the artist, where he remarks that, early in life,
Allston had a fondness for pieces representing banditti, but this taste
■does not appear in his later works. And, when asked if he would
undertake to fill the vacant panels in the rotunda of the capitol at
AVashington, should Congress determine to order such a work, he is
reported to have said, in memorable words, " I will paint only one sub-
ject, and choose my own; no battle-piece." This decision Mr. Sum-
ner urges as an anti-war appeal, though it may have been a matter of
individual taste. This is about equivalent, in effect, says a critic, to a
•clergyman forbidding from the pulpit the handling, by artists, of heathen
subjects ; waging a warfare, in the name of Christianity, against Bac-
chus, Jupiter and Apollo, on the walls of our parlors ; the idolatry of
•cameos and breastpins, and the damnatory influences of pagan bronzes
.and letter-seals. If a painter has the genius of Vernet, or a Wou-
vermans, for battle-pieces, in the name of the peace-societies, let him
paint them. Are not the war-painters the true peace evangelists, by
bringing Mr. Sumner's arguments most vividly before the ''faithful
eyes" of spectators?
Hitherto, though voting with the Whig party, he had taken no active
part in politics. The confused state of public affairs in the year 1845
•drew him, by his sense of justice and philanthropy, into that line of
action. In the autumn of that year, the measures for the extension of
the slave-power, by the annexation of Texas, being in progress, meet-
ings were held in different towns of Massachusetts, as well as in othe:-
States, with a view to concentrate the public opinion opposed to the
consummation of that measure, in remonstrances to the Congress then
about to meet. At a popular convention, held at Faneuil Hall for that
CHARLES SUMNER. 627
purpose, on tlie 4th of November, Mr. Sumner pronounced the brilliant
speech preserved in the second volume of his " Orations and Speeches,"
lately published. His next appearance of the kind -was in September
of the following year, when, at the request of those charged with the
arrangements of the occasion, he addressed the Whig State Convention
" on the anti-slavery duties of the Whig party." In the following
month, he addressed through the newspapers a letter of rebuke to ]\Ir.
Winthrop, then member of Congress from Boston, for the vote in favor
of the war with Mexico, by which that gentleman had agitated a
portion of his immediate constituents, as well as the people of this
commonwealth.
The best productions of Charles Sumner are odoriferous as the
freshly gathered bouquet ; and it is tribute enough to the oration for the
Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, to respond to the sentiment of
John Quincy Adams, at the festival after it was delivered: "The
memory of the scholar, the jurist, the artist, and the philanthropist ;
and not the memory, but the long life, of the kindred spirit who has
this day embalmed them all." A reviewer, in criticizing the allusions
of Sumner to the value of classical learning on the intellect, remarks
that he shrirdvs from the moral effects of a class of writings which are
deficient in the highest charm of purity. He speaks of the torrent of
Demosthenes, dark with self-love and the spirit of vengeance, but has
quenched the recollection of his patriotic fire. Fitful philosophy is
about as appropriately asci-ibed to Tully, as intemperate eloquence with
which it is coupled. Mr. Sumner speaks, with implied censure, of
Homer's inspiring tale of blood, apparently not bearing in mind the
parting of Hector and Andromache, or the domestic beauty of the
patriarchal scenes of the Odyssey ; and the blame is extended even to
Socrates, in his ''marvellous teachings," and the "mellifluous words
of Plato," and concludes with these words : " Greek poetry has been
likened to the song of the nightingale, as she sits on the rich, symmet-
rical crown of the palm-tree, trilling her thick- warbled notes ; but even
this is less sweet and tender than the music of the human heart."
There is no charitable foot-note here, to inform us of the source from
which this comparison is drawn. This nightingale, of course, is not
Milton's, which trilled its thick warbled notes '-in the ohve-grove of
Academe," and whose song is not compared to Greek poetry. "Nor do
we clearly understand," says the reviewer, "what is meant by the music
of the human heart ; but, if the chords of that love which is stronger
628 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
than death have poAver to breathe such music, the ear must be dull
indeed -which cannot detect it in the Alcestis and the Antigone." Mr.
Snmner, however, freely and candidly concedes the "wholesome influ-
ence of ancient letters, with the exception of a clear want of moral
power ; and his performance is masculine, often genial, ornate, and
dignified.
Mr. Sumner is remarkable for rhetorical power, blandness of man-
ners, and melodious voice ; and we know not the native Bostonian who
so effectively enchains the people at Faneuil Hall, as this manly orator.
One of his Avarmest admirers expresses the opinion, that his orations and
speeches will live long as liberty and humanity continue to be the prey
of despotism and cruelty ; and his principles will live and burn in the
bosoms of liberty's own apostles, so long as war, violence and slavery,
shall be permitted to shower their curses upon the world. And it is
not likely that he will become the favorite of a party whose standard is
the muck-rake ; and a Cambridge poet thus apostrophizes :
" Sumner, from thy ■well-ordered mind there grows
The wondrous fount of learning manifold ;
Tliine eloquence o'er stores of wisdom flows,
Like a broad river over sands of gold."
There is a large portion of the community who have no doubt that,
if his philanthropic heart were divested of the ultraisms of the age, his
influence for public good would over-balance the retrograde spell that
binds him. Such radical views are rendered ineffective, as an effort
with his own extended arm to grasp and roll up, like a scroll, the entire
extent of the Niagara Suspension Bridge.
The persevering and ingenious efforts of Mr. Sumner, for prison
discipline reform, in 1847, advocating the exclusive or sohtary system
of Pennsylvania, in preference to the social system of Auburn and
Charlestown, which elicited impassioned debates during seven pro-
tracted adjourned and densely crowded meetings of the Massachusetts
Prison Discipline Society, strongly indicate the energy of his mind,
and his power of discussion.
We notice the intellectual strength, forming a rare union, in his
writings, with an acute sense of the beautiful, and delicacy in the
shadings and coloring of expression. Mr. Sumner rarely lets the har-
mony of a sentence weaken its force, or the wealth of his diction obscure
the clearness of his thought. One of the pecuharities of mere style,
CHARLES SUMNER. 629
•uliicli we have often noticed as giving the effect of vigor to his compo-
sition, is in rejecting every superfluous syllable from the latter limb of
the sentence, so as to give a short cadence, and a sharp termination.
He lavishes his riches upon the earlier clauses, but is economical at the
end ; crowds the attention at first, but spares it with a grateful sur-
prise, finally. This rarely fails to be an effective style for delivery ;
and, aided, in Sumner's case, by his fine personal qualifications, it gives
a certain character of manliness and directness to his oratory. It
affixes the charm of simplicity just where it was in danger of being
missed.
Mr. Sumner, in sketching the lineaments of another, has very gi-aph-
ically drawn his own portrait, when he says. " He was of that rare and
happy constitution of mind, in which occupation is the normal state.
He was possessed by a genius for labor. Others may moil in the law
as successfully as he, but without his loving, successful earnestness of
study. AVhat he undertook he always did with his heart, soul, and
mind ; not with reluctant, vain compliance, but with his entire nature
bent to the task. As in his friendships and in the warmth of society,
so was he in his studies. His heart embraced labor, as his hand
grasped the hand of a friend."
By his perseverance in a course opposed by a majority of the Whig
party, ]\Ir. Sumner's ties to it were weakened, though he had not
yet become entirely separated from its counsels. Partly because he
could not yet prevail upon himself to renounce a resolution long ago
formed, to avoid public office altogether (for, to use his own expression,
" the strife of parties had seemed ignoble to him "), partly from con-
siderations of delicacy, incident to the course he had taken in opposition
to "Winthrop, he refused, when urgently invited, to allow himself to be
put forward as a rival candidate to that gentleman, in the election then
coming on. On the 4th of November, 1846, at a meeting of citizens
favorable to the election of his friend who had consented to fill the unin-
viting place of candidate against an overwhelming majority, he deliv-
ered a " speech against the Mexican war, and all supplies for its pros-
ecution." Determined, as he continued to be, against public office, he
was now unavoidably embarked in politics. Ho could not be spared
from the great exigencies of the time. There was no retreat, except
in desertion of a cause to which nature and training alike had pledged
him. The course of public affairs, down to the close of the last year,
gave rise to the succession of speeches and writings contained in the
53*
630 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS. '
second of his volumes lately published, — volumes rich in exposition
and brilliant enforcement of the doctrines of Christian pohtics, applied
to the existing condition of afiliirs in this country. A great occasion
and a great impulse seized upon him, and enforced the appeal of his
friend John Quincy Adams, -when, in an interview during Mr. Adams'
illness, that illustrious man urged upon him the obligations Avhich
demanded him for the public service, and said to him. at parting, " Be
not Atticus."
Mr. Sumner was not an associate to be willingly parted with ; and,
notwithstanding his intractableness, he continued to be recognized by
the Whig party, till its presidential nomination in 1848. But in the
autumn of that year, in the presidential canvass, which issued in the
election of Gen. Taylor, he took an efficient part, repeatedly addressing
popular conventions, in different parts of Massachusetts and elsewhere,
in behalf of Mr. Van Buren, the candidate of the new Free Soil party.
On the 24th day of April, 1851, he received the election of the House
of Representatives of the State, in concurrence with the previous vote
of the Senate, after twenty-six ballottings to the U. S. Senate.
We would here take occasion to notice a pleasant allusion to the
new party that has risen amongst us, contained in a speech at
Salem, during the presidential contest of 1848 : '' I do not know
how it is with you," said Rufus Choate: "but I must confess I
have never met with any man who, having been a Whig, has devoted
himself to this new organization, and yet who, directly and in terms,
has expressed it as his opinion tliat the objects of the Whig party
have ceased to be important and of value. They say they thought
that ' the Whig party was dead ; ' very much as the Rev. Ebenezcr
Cruikshank, I believe, in the Pickwick Papers, being himself in a
genial condition, and his audience all sober, begins by saying, ' In my
opinion, the assembly is drunk.' ' The Whig party was dead; ' but I
have never met the first man who, having been a Whig, has ever
dared to say that, in his judgment, the great doctrines of our creed
are not as important and as valuable as ever, could we but be united
upon what he has come to consider a larger and a paramount object —
the rescue of our new territory from slavery. The Whig party is
'dead,' is it? This looks mightily like it! this sounds mightily like
it ! [alluding to the immense assembly, and to the cheering of the
crowd outside.] Somebody is dead, — there is no doubt of that; — but
it is not we, — it is not the Whig party. ' Thou art not dead ! ' as
Grattan used to apostrophize to Ireland, —
CHARLES SUMXER. G31
' Thou art not vanquished !
Youth and beauty still are crimson
On thy lip and on thy cheek, —
Death's pale flag is not advanced there.'
I repeat it, that I never yet heard the first man saj that any one of the
doctrines upon -which our party -was organized has lost, in the slight-
est degree its imjDortancc and value in practical politics." '"The
very madness of party strife has cemented our Union," says Mr.
Choate. '■•Idem sent ire de republica, — a community of opinions
makes the masses of the people, however widely scattered, next-door
neighbors and friends ; and thus the volcanic fires have blazed, but
have prevented the earthquake. Our railroads, our telegraphic wires
themselves, conduct along the strong galvanic stream of consentaneous
opinions and views. Time and space have been annihilated. Every
man's national politics make him at home everywhere ; and thus the
sharpest, the noisiest, and the most dangerous moments of political
discussion, have been the safest for the country."
At the Cape Cod Association, the following sentiment was advanced
by Charles Sumner : " The Demon of Political Strife : If it cannot be
exorcised from public affairs, let us, at least, prevent the evil spirit from
taking a place at the family hearth, from entering the private circle, or
from troubling the charities of hfe."
When the national Fugitive Slave Law — the principle of which,
in the minds of many eminent jurists, was recognized by our fathers
in the federal constitution — was practically tested by the return of
the slave Hamlet, from New York, to his master at the south, it pro-
duced an excitement that, like an earthquake, shook the nation from
the centre to its remotest parts ; and Charles Sumner delivered an
impassioned speech at Faneuil Hall, which was received with thunders
of applause, Nov. 6, 1850, at a Free soil meeting.
The great objects of the Free Soil party are exhibited in this
speech ; and we know not any more correct exponent of their princi-
ples than Mr. Sumner. "It is a mistake to say," remarks he, '"that
•we seek to interfere, through Congress, with slavery in the States, or
in any way to direct the legislation of Congress upon subjects within
its jurisdiction. Our jmlltical aims, as well as our political duties, are
coextensive with our political responsibilities. And, since we at the
north are responsible for slavery wherever it exists, under the juris-
diction of Congress, it is unpardonable in us not to exert every power
632 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
we possess to enlist Congress against it. Looking at details, vre
demand, first and foremost, the instant repeal of the Fugitive Slave
Bill. We demand the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.
We demand the exercise by Congress, in all territories, of its time-
honored power to prohibit slavery. We demand of Congress to refuse
to receive into the Union any new slave State. We demand the abo-
lition of the domestic slave-trade, so far as it can be constitutionally
reached, but particularly on the high seas, under the national flag.
And, generally, we demand from the federal government the exercise
of all its constitutional power to relieve itself from responsibility for
slavery. And yet one thing further must be done. The slave power
must be overturned, so that the federal government may be put
openly, actively and perpetually, on the side of^reedom.
"It happens to me to sustain an important relation to this bill.
Early in professional life, I was designated, by the late Mr. Justice
Story, one of the commissioners of the courts of the United States ;
and, though I have not very often exercised the functions of this post,
yet my name is still upon the lists. As such, I am one of those before
whom, under the recent act of Congress, the panting fugitive may be
brought for the decision of the question whether he is a freeman or a
slave. But, while it becomes me to speak with caution, I shall not
hesitate to speak with plainness. I cannot forget that I am a nia7i,
although I am a commissioner." " For myself, let me say that I can
imagine no ofSce, no salary, no consideration, which I would not gladly
forego, rather than become, in any way, an agent for enslaving my
brother man. Where for me would be comfort and solace, after such
a work ] In dreams and in waking hours, in solitude and in the street,
in the meditations of the closet, and in the affairs of men, — wherever
I turned, there my victim would stare me in the face ; from the distant
rice-fields and sugar-plantations of the south, his cries beneath the
vindictive lash, his moans at the thought of liberty, — once his, now,
alas ! ravished from him, — would pursue me, telling the tale of his
fearful doom, and sounding in my ears, ' Thou art the man ! '
" There is a legend of Venice, consecrated by the pencil of one of
her greatest artists, that the apostle St. Mark suddenly descended
into the public square, and broke the manacles of the slave, even before
the judge who had decreed his doom. Should JNIassachusetts be ever
desecrated by such a judgment, may the good apostle, with valiant
arm, once more descend to break the manacles of the slave ! " In
CHARLES SUMNER. 633
regard to the approach of the slave-hunter to our borders, "Mv. Sumner
says : " Into INIassachusctts he must not come. I counsel no violence.
I would not touch his person. Not with whips and thongs Avould I
sc^'irge him from the land. The contempt, the indignation, the abhor-
reiice of the community, shall be our weapons of offence. Wherever
he moves, he shall j5nd no house to receive him, no table spread to
nourish him, no welcome to cheer him. The dismal lot of the Roman
exile shall be his. He shall be a wanderer, without roof, fire, or
water. Men shall point at him in the streets, and on the highways, —
' Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid ;
He shall live a man forbid !
Weai-y seven nights, nine times nine.
Shall he dwindle, i)eak.and pine ! ' "
In this speech of Mr. Sumner, a parallel is drawn between the
Stamp Act and the Fugitive Slave Act, in which he showed how ••' the
unconquerable rage of the people" had compelled the stamp officers to
resign their offices, in 1765, and contended that the slave act and the
stamp act were alike unconstitutional. An energetic writer in the
Transcript, over the signature of " Sigma," and recognized as '"The
Sexton of the Old School," whose spirit of philanthropy in the tem-
perance reform has given him immortal fame on both sides of the
Atlantic, contends there is no similarity between them. " Our fath-
ers," says Sigma, "were not represented, — we are; they had no
power, by their suffi-ages, to change their law-makers, — we have : they,
and many great men, members of the British Parliament, utterly
denied the right of taxation, — wc rccogm'ze our constitutional obliga-
tions;"— and, in a tone of sarcasm, when alluding to the remark of
Mr. Sumner, "I counsel no violence," Sigma retorts, "He vivified
the fury of the masses, by reminding them of the unconqueralile rage
of the people in 1765, — but he counselled no violence'! He held up
the present and the former occasion as equally demanding an exhibition
of their unconquerable rage, — but he counselled no violence! lie
asked them if we should be more tolerant now than were those whose
unconquerable rage drove magistrates from their homes, sacked their
houses, compelled their wives and daughters to fly, in terror, for their
lives, guzzled their liquors, and stole their gold, — but he counselled
no violence ! To let them know they were not alone in their treason-
able purposes, he significantly assured them there were' not wanting
63-i THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
those who were ready to resist the laws of their country, and protect
the fugitive by force, — but he counselled no violence ! "
Mr. Sumner, in his speech on the floor of the United States Senate,
Jan. 27, 1852, in f ivor of a bill granting the right of way and making
a grant of land to the State of Iowa, in the construction of certain rail-
roads in that State, thus enlarges on the benefit which will result "from
the opening of a new communication, by which the territory beyond the
Mississippi will be brought into connection with the Atlantic seaboard,
and by which the distant posts of Council Bluffs will become a suburb
of Washington. It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of
roads as means of civilization. This, at least, may be said : where
roads are not, civilization cannot be ; and civilization advances as roads
are extended. By these, religion and knowledge are, diffused ; inter-
course of all kinds is promoted; the producer, the manufacturer and
the consumer, are all brought nearer together ; commerce is quickened ;
markets are opened ; property, wherever touched by these lines, is
changed, as by a magic rod, into new values ; and the great current of
travel, like that stream of classic fable, or one of the rivers of our own
California, hurries in a channel of golden sand. The roads, together
with the laws, of ancient Kome. are now better remembered than her
victories. The Flaminian and Appian ways, once trod by returnino-
proconsuls and tributary kings, still remain as beneficent represent-a-
tives of her departed grandeur. Under God, the road and the school-
master are the two chief agents of human improvement. The educa-
tion begun by the schoolmaster is expanded, liberalized and completed,
by intercourse with the world ; and this intercourse finds new opportu-
nities and inducements in every road that is built.
" Our country has already done much in this regard. Throuo-h a
remarkable line of steam communications, chiefly by railroad, its whole
population is now, or will be soon, brought close to the borders of
Iowa. The cities of the southern seaboard — Charleston, Savannah,
and Mobile — are already stretching their lines in this direction, soon
to be completed conductors ; while the traveller from all the principal
points of the northern seaboard, — from Portland, Boston, Providence,
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, — now passes
without impediment to this remote region, traversing a territory of
unexampled resources, — at once a magazine and a granary, — the
largest coal-field, and at the same time the largest corn-field, of the
known globe, — winding his way among churches and school-houses,
PLINY MERRICK. 035
among forests and gardens, bj villages, towns and cities, along the sea,
along rivers and lakes, with a speed which may recall the gallop of the
ghostly horseman in the ballad :
' Fled past on right and left how fast
Each forest, grove, and bower !
On riglit and left fled past how fast
Each city, town, and tower !
• Tramp ! tramp ! along the land they speed,
Splash I splash ! along the sea.'
On the banks of the Mississippi he is now arrested. The proposed
road in Iowa will bear the adventurer yet further, to the banks of the
]\lissouri ; and this distant giant stream, mightiest of the earth, leaping
from its sources in the Rocky Mountains, will be clasped Avith the
Atlantic in the same iron bracelet. In all this, I see not only further
opportunities for commerce, but a new extension to civilization, and
increased strength to our national Union.
" A heathen poet, while picturing the golden age without long lines
of road, has ignorantly indicated this circumstance as creditable to that
imaginary period, in contrast with his own. 'How well,' exclaimed
the youthful Tibullus, 'they lived while Saturn ruled, — before the
earth was opened hij long ways :^
' Quam bene Saturno vivebant rege ; priusquam
Tellus in longas est patef acta vias.^
But the true golden age is before us, — not behind us ; and one of
its tokens will be the completion of those lo7ig- icays, by which vil-
lages, towns, counties, states, provinces, nations, are all to be asso-
ciated and knit together in a fellowship that can never be broken."
PLINY MERRICK.
JULY 9, 1845. EULOGY ON PRESIDENT JACKSON.
The irresistible impression of every patriotic heart, on reading
the eloquent eulogy of Judge ]Merrick, delivered in Faneuil Hall, on
our modern Roman, must be that, if Jackson was iron-willed and
daring, his decisive energy was devoted to the welfare of his country,
636 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
and he has thus more firmly cemented our vast republican edifice.
'' Undoubtedly by far the most important and alarming political ques-
tions Avhich have ever arisen under the constitution since its adoption,"
says Judge Merrick, " were those created by the measures pursued by
South Carolina during the administration of President Jackson, in resist-
ance of the laws of the United States for the collection of its revenue.
" Not claiming to exercise that great fundamental popular right
which precedes and underlies all constitutions and forms of government,
— that incontestible, inalienable and indefeasible, right of the people,
to reform, alter or totally change the government, when their protec-
tion, safety, prosperity and happiness, require it, — South Carolina
insisted that, under the constitution, and in strict conformity to the
terms upon which she had entered the Union, and to her obligation to
the rest of the United States, it was competent for her people to
denounce a law of Congress as unconstitutional, null and void, and to
prohibit all execution of its provisions within the limits of her terri-
tory. And, in pursuance of this extravagant assumption, a popular
convention, assembled in conformity to an act of her Legislature,
assumed the tremendous responsibility of abolishing the obnoxious law,
and of placing the State in an attitude of open, direct and undisguised,
hostility to the general government. Never could there be, in the his-
tory of an ardent, generous and free people, a crisis of more thrilling
interest or portentous disaster than this ; but never could there have
been found a magistrate better fitted for so terrible an emergency than
Andrew Jackson. In the gravity of his wisdom, he paused in the reflec-
tion that the prosperity and happiness of the existing and of unborn
generations, under a constitution establishing the freest government on
earth, bound together in the bonds of a political union cemented with
the blood of a noble, self-sacrificing ancestry, depended upon his deci-
sion, his prudence, his counsel, and his strength. He examined all the
questions involved in the great controversy with the most thorough and
searching scrutiny, in every aspect in which they could be considered,
— in every light in which they could be presented ; and, throwing
himself into the arms of the people, and relying upon their stability in
Virtue, and loyalty in patriotism, he issued, in the fortu of a proclama-
tion, one of the most remarkable papers ever addressed by a govern-
ment to its citizens. Demolishing the sophistry of opposing arguments,
and unfolding, with the utmost clearness, his views of the true prin-
ciples of constitutional union, he appealed, with all the earnestness that
PLIXY MERRICK. 637
danger could inspire, and all the affection that could warm the heart of
a father, to the generous and manly people of his native State, to aban-
don the mad project of disunion, and reiinitc "with their fellow-citizens
in lawful and constitutional measures for the redress of all real or
apprehended grievances. But, finally, he announced his unalterable
determination, upon their refusal to comply with their constitutional
obligations, to enforce the execution of the laws they had assumed to
annul, at the hazard of every consequence. His simple but authorita-
tive mandate — 'the Union, it must be preserved' — came like sun-
shine through the cloud, — like the benignant light of the guiding star,
through the mists of ocean, to the anxious mariner tossed on its bil-
lows. The effect was electrical, grand, and decisive. The ranks of
opposition swayed away from their organization, and every defender of
the constitution rushed to the rampart, to stand by its noble and fear-
less representative. The voices of congratulation, of defence, of com-
promise, mingled together, and the thanksgivings for an Union pre-
served went up once more from the hearts of an united people."
Pliny Merrick was born at Brookfield, Aug. 2, 1794; was a son of
Hon. Pliny Merrick, and married jNIary R., daughter of Isaiah Thomas,
1821. He studied law Avith Gov. Levi Lincoln, during which period
he delivered the 4th of July oration, at Worcester, in 1817. when he
displayed a fertile imagination and patriotic ardor. In that year he
opened an office at Worcester, after admission to the bar, where he prac-
tised until May, 1818, when he removed to Charlton, and in three
months was located at Swanzey, Bristol county, until August, 1820.
From this town he removed to Taunton, and became partner with
lion. Marcus INIorton, during one year, to 1824, when he returned to
Worcester, July 6th of that year, and was appointed the county
attorney by Gov. Brooks. In 1829 he was elected president of the
Anti-masonic Convention of Massachusetts, and published a letter on
Speculative INIasonry at that period. In 1832 Gov. Lincoln appointed
Mr. Merrick the attorney for the middle district, on the organization of
the criminal courts distinct from the civil tribunals. In 1827 he was a
representative for Worcester, and was several years a selectman of the
town. In 1827 he delivered the agricultural address for Worcester
Fair. He was an editor of the National .^gis, in Worcester, as suc-
cessor to Edward D. Bangs. In 1843 Gov. Morton appointed ^Ir.
Merrick a judge of the Court of Common Pleas ; and, after the decease
of Judge Thacher, in 1844, he became one of the ex-oflicio judges of
54
638 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
the Municipal Court. He was elected to tlie State Senate of 1850.
Judge Merrick is a man of very active business habits, and -was presi-
dent of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad corporation. He is pro- ll
foundly learned in the law, and amply equal to civil, political, or
business stations. Ho graduated at Harvard College in 1814, on
which occasion he engaged in a conference on the relative connection,
in a free government, of the liberty of the press, political associations,
and the frequency of elections. Mr. Merrick was originally an advo-
cate of the cause of Freemasonry ; and published, in 1823, a Masonic
address, delivered at Northborough, which is much at variance with his
letter on the subject when he espoused Anti-masonry. He was a mem-
ber of the American Antiquarian Society, and will long be remembered
ampng us as the leading counsel in the defence of Prafessor John W.
Webster, for the murder of Dr. George Parkman. In 1851 he again
accepted the office of a judge of the Court of Common Vle^s, under
Gov. Briggs. In 1853 he succeeded Caleb Gushing to the bench of
the ^lassachusetts Supreme Court.
ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP.
OCT. 15, 1845. I\IERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATIGN.
'• If one were called on to say what, upon the whole, was the most
distinctive and characterizing feature of the age in which we live. I
think he might reply," says I\Ir. Winthrop, '*' that it was the rapid and
steady progress of the influence of commerce upon the social and polit-
ical condition of man. The policy of the civilized world is now every-
where and eminently a commercial policy. Ko longer do the natjons
of the earth measure their relative consequent by the number and
discipline of their armies upon the land, or their armadas upon the sea.
The tables of their imports and exports, the tonnage of their commer-
cial marines, the value and variety of their home trade, the sum total
of their mercantile exchanges, — these furnish the standards by which
national poAver and national importance are now marked and measured.
Even extent of territorial dominion is valued little, save as it gives scope
and verge for mercantile transactions ; and the great use of colonies
is what Lor.d Sheffield declared it to be, half a century ago, ' the
monopoly of their consumption, and the carriage of their produce.'
ROBERT CHARLES WIXTIIROP. G39
"Look to the domestic administration, or the foreign negotiation, of
our own, or any other civilized country. Listen to the debates of the
tAVO houses of the Imperial Parliament. What are the subjects of their
gravest and most frequent discussions ? The succession of families ?
The marriage of princes 7 The conquest of provinces 7 The balance
of power? — No; the balance of trade, the sliding scale, corn, cotton,
sugar, timber, — these furnish now the home-spun threads upon which
the statesmen of modern days are o])liged to string the pearls of their
parliamentary rhetoric. Nay, the prime minister himself is heard
discoursing upon the duties to be levied upon the seed of a certain
savory vegetable, — the use of which not even Parisian authority has
rendered quite genteel upon a fair day, — as gravely as if it Avere as
true in I'egard to the complaints against the tariff of Great Britain, as
some of us think it is true in reference to the murmurs against our
own American tariff, that ' all the tears which should water this sorrow
live in an o}iio)i ! '
" Cross over to the continent. What is the great fact of the day in
that quarter ? Lo, a convention of delegates from ten of the inde-
pendent States of Germany, forgetting their own political rivalries and
social feuds, — flinging to the winds all the fears and jealousies which
have so long sown dragon's teeth along the borders of neighboring
States of disproportioned strength and different forms of government,
— the lamb lying down with the lion, — the little city of Frankfort
with the proud kingdom of Prussia, — and all entering into a solemn
leaofue to reo"ulate commerce and secure markets ! What occupy the
thoughts of the diplomatists, — the Guizots, and Aberdcens, and Met-
ternichs? lleciprocal treaties of commerce and navigation. — treaties
to advance an honest trade, or sometimes (I thank Heaven !) to abolish
an infamous and accursed traffic, — these are tire engrossing topics of
their protocols and ultimatums. Even wars, when they have occurred,
or when they have been rumored, for a quarter of a century past, bow
almost uniformly has the real motive, whether of the menace or of the
hostile act, proved to be, — whatever may have been the pretence, —
not, as aforetime, to destroy, but to secure, the sources of commercial
wealth. Algiers, Affghanistan, China. Texas, Oregon, all point more
or less directly to one and the same pervading policy throughout the
world, — of opening new markets, securing ncAV ports, and extending
commerce and navigation over new lands and new seas.
640 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS. .
" Well mio-ht the mail-clad monarchs of the earth refuse their coun-
tenance to Columbus, and reward his matchless exploit with beggary
and chains. He projected, he accomplished, that which, in its ultimate
and inevitable consequences, Avas to Avrest from their hands the imple-
ments of their ferocious sport, — to break their bow and knap their
spear in sunder, and all but to extinguish the source of their proudest
and most absolute prerogative.
• No kinglj conqueror, since time began
The long career of ages, hath to man
A scope so ample given for Trade's bold range,
Or caused on earth's wide stage such rapid, mighty change.'
From the discovery of the New World, the mercantile spirit has been
rapidly gaining upon its old antagonist; and the establishment upon
these shores of our own republic, whose Union was the immediate
result of commercial necessities, Avhose independence found its original
impulse in commercial oppressions, and of whose constitution the reg-
ulation of commerce was the first leading idea, may be regarded as the
epoch at which the martial spirit finally lost a supremacy, which, it is
believed and trusted, it can never reacquire.
" Yes, Mr. President, it is commerce which is fast exorcising the fell
spirit of war from nations which it has so long been tearing and rend-
ing. The merchant may, indeed, almost be seen, at this moment, sum-
moning the rulers of the earth to his counting-desk, and putting them
under bonds to keep the peace ! Upon what do we ourselves rely, to
counteract the influence of the close approximation of yonder flaming
planet to our sphere 7 Let me rather say (for it is not in our stars, but
in ourselves, that we are to look for the causes which have brought the
apprehensions of war once more home to our hearts), upon what do we
rely, to save us from the bloody arbitrement of questions of mere ter-
ritory and boundary, into which our own arbitrary and ambitious views
would plunge us 7 To what do we look to prevent a protracted strife
with ^lexico, if not to arrest even the outbreak of hostilities, but to
the unwillingness of the great commercial powers that the trade of the
West Indies and of the Gulf should be interrupted I Why is it so
confidently pronounced that Great Britain will never go to war with
the United States for Oregon 7 Why, but that trade has created such
a Siamese ligament between the two countries, that every blow upon us
would be but as a blow of the right arm upon the left 7 Why, but that,
ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP. 641
in the smoke-pipe of every steamer which brings her merchandise to
our ports, we see a calumet of peace, which hei" war-chiefs dare not
extinguish? Commerce has, indeed, almost reahzed ideas Avhich the
poet, in his wildest fancies, assumed as the very standard of impossi-
bility. "We may not ' charm ache Avith air, or agony with words ; '
but may we not • fetter strong madness with a cotton thread ' '] Yes,
that little fibre, which was not known as a product of the North Amer-
ican soil when our old colonial union Avith Great Britain was dissolved,
has already been spun, by the ocean-moved power-loom of international
commerce, into a thread which may fetter forever the strong madness
of war !
"Yet let us not, let us not, experiment upon its tension too far.
Neither the influences of commerce, nor any other influences, have yet
brought about the day (if, indeed, such a day is ever to be enjoyed
before the second coming of the Prince of Peace), when we may regard
all danger of war at an end, and when we may fearlessly sport Avith
the firebrands which have heretofore kindled it. or throw down the fire-
arms by which we have been accustomed to defend ourselves against it.
Preparation — I will not say /or war, but against war — is still the
dictate of common prudence. And, Avhile I would always contend first
for that preparation of an honest, equitable, inoffensive and unaggres-
sive, policy towards all other nations, Avhich would secure us, in every
event, the triple armor of a just cause, I am not ready to abandon
those other preparations for Avhich our constitution and laws have made-
provision. Nor do I justify such preparations only on any narrow views
of State necessity and worldly policy. I know no policy, as a states-
man, which I may not pursue as a Christian. I can advocate no sys-
tem before men, which I may not justify to my own conscience, or
which I shrink from holding up, in humble trust, before my God."
Robert Charles "Winthrop Avas born in Boston, May 12, 1809, and
was a son of the Hon. Thomas Lindall Wintlirop, ayIio married Eliza-
beth, daughter of Sir John Temple, and a grand-daughter of Gov. Jamea
BoAvdoin. He AA'as a descendant of John Winthrop, the first governor
elected by the General Court of Massachusetts, in 1G30-1. The gov-
ernor's town-lot, knoAvn as " The Green," included the land noAV ONvned
by the Old South Church, on Washington-street, and his residence Avaa
nearly opposite School-street. It Avas afterAA-ards occupied by Prince, the
annalist; and was a tAvo-story wooden edifice, Avhich Avas destroyed for
fuel, by the British troops, in 1775. His father was six years lieuten-
54*
642 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
ant-fovernov of Massacliusetts, and president of the Massachusetts
Historical Society.
Youno- Winthrop entered the Boston Latin School in 1818 ; and
•when later in life, he received an invitation to attend a public school
festival in Faneuil Hall, he made the following pertinent allusion :
" There is no festival, in our political or civil calendar, -which I -would
so gladly attend as the festival of the schools. ]\Iany years have
elapsed since I enjoyed such a privilege. Indeed, my strongest asso-
ciations -with the occasion run back to the somewhat distant day when
I M'as myself a medal-boy, and when I received from the city authori-
ties a set of books, which are still the proudest ornaments of my
library." He graduated at Harvard College ; and on that occasion he
delivered an oration on "Public Station," which foreshadowed his
future career ; and, at a college exhibition, he pronounced an oration
on the influence of external circumstances on the mind. He entered
on the study of the law under the guidance of Daniel Webster, and
became a member of the Suffolk bar in 1831. He married Eliza C.
Blanchard, March 12, 1832; and married a second wife,— Laura,
daughter of John Derby, Esq., of Salem, and widow of Arnold F.
Welles, Esq., — Nov. 6, 1819. He had two sons and one daughter,
by his first wife. He was early engaged in military stations. He was
captain of the Boston Light Infantry ; lieutenant of the Ancient and
Honorable Artillery Company ; an aid-de-camp to Governors Davis,
Armstrong, and Everett. In the year 1834 he was elected a repre-
sentative to the State Legislature, until 1841, and was Speaker of the
House from 1838, until he was elected to Congress from Suffolk, in
1841, as successor to Hon. Abbott Lawrence. He resigned in 1842,
when he was succeeded by Hon. Nathan Appleton, who relinquished
the station at the close of that session, when the seat was resumed by
his personal friend. Mr. Winthrop. He was Speaker of the House in
Conf^ress during the years 1848 and '49. In the Congress of 1850,
Mr. Winthrop was again a candidate for the speaker's chair, but was
defeated, on a plurality vote, by two votes, after a contest of more than
sixty ballotings. In July, 1850, when Mr. Webster became Secretary
of State under President Fillmore, Mr. Winthrop was appointed, b}'
the executive of Massachusetts, to succeed him in the United States
Senate. We believe that Mr. Winthrop is the only native Bostonian
■who has been Speaker of the House of Congress.
We love the name of Winthrop, — it has ever been the honor of
ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP. 643
New England, and oui- late senator in Congress has added to its lustre,
in the opinion of his friends, hy an unblenching resistance to reputed
party intrigue. It appears that, on the opening of the thirtieth session
of Congress, in December, 1847, iMr. Palfrey, of Massachusetts, had
endeavored to procure pledges of Mr. AYinthrop. in regard to the con-
stitution of those committees which have especial dii'ection of subjects
connected with war and slavery. Mr. Winthrop rejected these over-
tures, and we here present the correspondence on that matter. It is a
valuable fragment of political history :
"56 Coleman^ s, WasJtlngton, Dec^ 5, 1847.
'•'Dear Sir: — It would give me pleasure to aid, by my vote,
in placing you in the chair of the House of Representatives. But I
have no personal hopes or fears to dictate my course in the matter ;
and the great consideration for me must be that of the policy which the
speaker will impress on the action of the house.
" Not to trouble you with suggestions as to subordinate points, there
are some leading questions on which it may be presumed that you
have a settled purpose. May I respectfully inquire whether, if elected
speaker, it is your intention, —
'• So to constitute the Committees of Foreign Relations, and of Ways
and Means, as to arrest the existing war 7
" So to constitute the Committee on the Territories as to obstruct
the legal establishment of slavery within any territory?
" So to constitute the Committee on the Judiciary as to favor the
repeal of the law of Feb. 12. 170-), which denies trial by jury to per-
sons charged with being slaves ; to give a fair and favorable consider-
ation to the question of the repeal of those acts of Congress which now
sustain slavery in this district ; and to further such measures as may
be in the power of Congress, to remedy the grievances of which Mas-
sachusetts complains at the hands of South Carolina, in respect to ill
treatment of her citizens ?
" I should feel much obliged to you for a reply at your early con-
venience ; and I should be happy to be permitted to communicate it,
or its substance, to some gentlemen who entertain similar views to
mine, on this class of questions.
" I am, dear sir,
" With great personal esteem,
" Your friend and servant,
"John G. Palfrey."
SM THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
On the reception of this note, Mr. Winthrop promptly addressed
the following dignified reply :
'' Washington, Coleman's Hotel, Dec. 5, 1847.
" Dear Sir: — Your letter of to-day has this moment been handed
to me. I am greatly obliged by the disposition you express ' to aid
in placing me in the chair of the House of Representatives.' But I
must be perfectly candid in saying to you that, if I am to occupy that
chair, I must go into it without pledges of any sort.
" I have not sought the place. I have solicited no man's vote. At
a meeting of the Whig members of the house, last evening (at -which,
however, I believe that you were not present), I was formally nomi-
nated as the whig candidate for speaker, and I have accepted the nom-
ination.
"But I have uniformly said, to all who have inquired of mo, that
my policy in organizing the house must be sought for in my general
conduct and character as a public man.
'• I have been for seven years a member of Congress from our com-
mon State of Massachusetts. My votes are on record. My speeches
are in print. If they have not been such as to inspire confidence in
my course, nothing that I could get up for the occasion, in the shape
of pledges or declaration of purpose, ought to do so.
" Still less could I feel it consistent Avith my own honor, after having
received and accepted a general nomination, and just on the eve of the
election, to frame answers to specific questions, like those which you
have proposed, to be shown to a few gentlemen, as you suggest, and
to be withheld from the great body of the Whigs.
" Deeply, therefore, as I should regret to lose the distinction which
the Whigs in Congress have offered to me, and, through me, to New
England, for want of the aid of a Massachusetts vote, I must ^^et
respectfully decline any more direct reply to the interrogatories which
your letter contains.
"I remain, with every sentiment of personal esteem,
" Your friend and servant,
"Robert C. Winthrop.
"Hon. John G. Palfrey, &c. &c."
It has been stated in the papers of the day, that, after receiving this
note from his brother colleague in Congress, Mr. Palfrey steadily,
ROBERT CHARLES "WINTIIROP. 645
upon three several ballotings, opposed bis election to the speakership (^f
the house : but Mr. "VVinthrop was elected, however, by a majority of
one vote.
Mr. Winthrop made a tour of England, France, and other parts of
Europe. Shortly after his departure for England, Edward Everett,
then ambassador to the court of St. James, in writing to a friend in
jMassachusetts, said of Mr. Winthrop, " A better specimen of America
never crossed the water." He was a member of the JMassachusetts
Historical Society, and of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences.
"Mr. Winthrop has been, from his earliest youth, an object of the
public regard, as a person of high qualifications for the public service,"
says George Ticknor Curtis. "In his talents, his cultivation, his cor-
rectness of principle, his uniform adherence to a true public policy,
and his capacity to judge rightly and speak eloquently upon pul)Hc
affairs, he has been all his life a representative of the people among
whom he Avas born, — of their institutions, and of the spirit of their
whole condition. To these characteristics there has been added, in his
case, the associations which gather about a name interwoven forever
with our history and our glory. Nor has he ever disappointed one of
the expectations that have fondly centred us on him, until, in this
middle period of his life, in an hour of that misapprehension or mis-
representation to which all public men are exposed, he has had charges
laid at his door which aim at his integrity of purpose and consistency
of character." This regards his vote for the war with Mexico; on
which point, jNIr. Winthrop, in a speech June 26, 1846, remarked,
" I believed, when that bill providing for the war was before us, and I
believe still, that the policy of the administration had already involved
us in a state of things which could not be made better, which could
not be either remedied or relieved, by withholding supplies or disguising
its real character. And I will say further, that, while I condemn both
the policy of annexation, as a whole, and the movement of our army
from Corpus Christi, as a most unnecessary and unwarrantable part, I
was not one of those who considered Mexico as entirely without fault."
Mr. Winthrop, on the floor of Congress, was manly, decided, and
effective. No man there ever spoke more to the purpose. This pas-
sage, from the speech on sectional controversies, shows the man :
" When I was first a candidate for Congress, now some ten winters
gone, I told the abolitionists of my district, in reply to their interrog-
646 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
atories, that, -while I agreed with them in most of their abstract prin-
ciples, and was ready to carry them out, in any just, practicable and
constitutional manner, yet, if I were elected to this house, I should
not regard it as any peculiar part of my duty to agitate the subject
of slavery. I have adhered to that declaration. I have been no agi-
tator. I have sympathized with no fanatics. I have defended the
rights and interests and piinciples of the north, to the best of my
ability, wherever and Avhencver I have found them assailed ; but I
have enhsted in no crusade upon the institutions of the south. I have
eschewed and abhorred ultraism at both ends of the Union. ' A
plague o' both your houses,' has been my constant ejaculation ; and it
is altogether natural, therefore, that both their houses should cry a
plague on me. I would not have it otherwise. I dote on their dis-
like. I covet their opposition. I desire no other testimon^^, to the
general propriety of my course, than their reproaches. I thank my
God, that he has endowed me, if with no other gifts, with a spirit of
moderation, which incapacitates me for giving satisfaction to ultraists
anywhere, and on any subject. If they were to speak well of me, I
should be compelled to exclaim, like one of old, ' "What bad thing have
I done, that such men praise me ?- ' "
In alluding to the uncontrollable spirit of annexation and conquest
that pervades our country, ]Mr. Winthrop remarked, in Congress, that
we are reaping the natural and just results of the annexation of Texas,
and of the war which inevitably followed that annexation. " We have
almost realized the fate of the greedy and ravenous bird, in the old
fiible. ^sop tells us of an eagle, which, in one of its towering flights,
seeing a bit of tempting flesh upon an altar, pounced upon it, and bore
it away in triumph to its nest. But. by chance, he adds, a coal of fire
from the altar was sticking to it at the time, which set fire to the nest,
and consumed it in a trice. And our American eagle, sir, has been seen
stooping from its pride of place, and hovering over the altars of a weak
neighboring power. It has at last pounced upon her provinces, and
borne them away from her in triumph. But burning coals have clung
to them. Discord and confusion have come with them. And our own
American homestead is now threatened with conflagration."
We cannot resist the pleasure of citing the spirited allusion to Faneuil
Hall, in the same speech: " The American Union must be preserved.
I speak for Faneuil Hall. Not for Faneuil Hall occupied, as it some-
times has been, by an anti-slavery or a liberty party convention,
ROBERT CHARLES "WINTIIROP. G4T
denouncing; the constitution and orovernment under M-hich wc live, and
breathing thrcatenings and slaughter against all ^^'ho support them, —
but for Fancuil Hall thronged as it has been so often in times past,
and as it will be so often for a thousand generations in times to come,
bj as intelligent, honest and patriotic a people, as ever the sun shone
upon ; — I speak for Faneuil Hall, and for the great masses of true-
hearted American freemen, -without distinction of party, who delight
to dwell beneath its shadow, and to gather beneath its roof ; — I speak
for Faneuil Hall, Avhen I say the Union of these States must not be
dissolved ! "
It was well said of Winthrop's speech in Congress, IMay, 1850, on
the admission of California into the Union, that it is an olive-branch
held up in the strife, and not a torch of Alecto., In reply to the objec-
tion that California has prohibited slavery in her constitution, Mr,
Winthrop remarked : "While some of us will go still further, and,
without intending any offence to others, will thank God openly that
this infant Hercules of the west has strangled the serpents in the
cradle, — that this youthful giant of the Pacific presents himself to us
self-dedicated to freedom, and stands a self-pledged and self-posted
sentinel, side by side with Oregon, against the introduction of
slavery by sea or land, into any part of that trans- Alpine territory ! "
And, in the peroration, he said, "I have the strongest belief that the
visions and phantoms of disunion Avhich now appall us will soon be
remembered only like the clouds of some April morning, or like ' the
dissolving views ' of some evening spectacle. I have the fullest con-
viction that this glorious republic is destined to outlast all, — all at
either end of the Union, — who may be plotting against its peace, or
predicting its downfall."
Mv. AVinthrop made a felicitous allusion to the railroad enterprise
of Massachusetts, at the Boston railroad jubilee festival, on the Com-
mon, Sept. 19, 1851. " Here is a miniature map," said he. holding
it to view, "exhibiting our little commonwealth as it really is, covered
all over with railroad lines. They tell us here of a hundred and twenty
passenger trains, containing no less than twelve thousand persons,
shooting into our city on a single ordinary average summer's day, with
a regularity, punctuality and precision, which makes it almost as safe
to set our watches by a railroad whistle, as by the Old South clock ! "
"Mr. Winthrop has this great advantage as a speaker," remarks
one. " His mind is eminently methodical, and his recollective flvculties
6^8 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
are strong and active, and in constant play at the same time that he is
in the full sway of extempore composition. These faculties are inval-
uable to a public speaker. They are the flying columns, the mounted
forces, of his mental battalions. The heavy artillery of the intellect
may open breaches, and even break the line of the enemy ; but the
light troops are essential to make clean work with the partially discom-
fited foe. The methodical character of Mr. Winthrop's mind enables
him to avoid all confusion or transposition in the treatment of his topics
of debate. He neither runs before nor lags behind the proper currents
of his speech. He not only says just what he desires to say, but he
says it just where and when he intends to say it. Moreover, he says
it in the manner designed. His thoughts are run in a mould, and his
expressions daguerreotype them to the hearer. They are used like
the pieces of a dissected map; and, when his work is done, you see that
every piece is put in its proper place, and that the map is harmoniously
and accurately complete. It is thus that these distinguishing charac-
teristics of Mr. Winthrop's mind, added to strong powers of intellect,
great coolness and self-possession, unusual gifts of language, a chaste
elocution, sufficient force and animation, an accomplished and dignified
manner, render him a pleasing, an effective and a rehable debater."
FLETCHER WEBSTER.
JULY i, 1846. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
One is involuntarily prompted, on looking at the subject of this arti-
cle, to revert to the noble father, toward whom so profound is the public
veneration, that, when entering a church in New York, on the evening
previous to the delivery of an eloquent speech on the celebration of the
birth of Washington, in 1852, the whole congregation rose simultane-
ously on their feet, and remained standing for a few minutes ; and, when
the service was ended, Mr. Webster, after having spoken to the preacher,
made his departure, amid the gaze, and earnest, though suppressed
greetings of the people. Who can repress admiration of the statesman
that declares, in a speech at the banquet of the city authorities of New
York, on this occasion, "I have endeavored, through life, to cherish
one idea, — that there was but one America on earth, but one free
American government on earth, and that there never was another ; and
FLETCHER WEBSTER. G-i9
if we should ever disregard the blessings of wliich we are in the enjoy-
ment, we shall never, as long as the sun shines in the heavens, estab-
lish another of equal goodness. There belongs to the people of this
country a common treasure; — a fount from which every man may
drink, — namely, the honor and glory of the nation." Honor to the
statesman of whom JNIoses Stuart emphasized, that swords v.ould leap,
if it Vv'ere lawful and necessary, from hundreds of thousands of scab-
bards, to defend him from an unjust political assault. In this connec-
tion, we take pleasure in introducing passages from the speech of Rufus
Choate, at Faneuil Hall, on the course of Daniel Webster in relation
to the great compromise of the north and the south. We feel confi-
dence in the opinion that Faneuil Hall has not resounded with a nobler
burst of eloquence, for the last half-century, than is this tribute to
Daniel Webster :
"On the 7th of March, 1S50, it was duty. I put to you, and
through you to the justice and heart of America, — it Avas duty only,
duty in her severest form, duty summoning him to her highest sacri-
fice, — duty, not the love of glory, — certainly not that glory which is
run after, — if any glory, the austere and arduous glory of civil sulTer-
ing, that cheered him on. And how has he been tried, and how has
he been judged? In that temper of the public mind, he thought he
saw clearly that, unless the whole constitution was executed, there was
no longer a nation for ^America; and that opinion is his crime!- He
deemed, after the profoundcst consideration, that the nation was in
urgent and imminent peril ; and that opinion has been his crime ! In
that conviction, he devoted himself, as the first duty of patriotism, and
morality, and Christianity, to save, and perpetuate, and prolong, that
Union ; and that devotion is his crime ! In that conflict of groat duties,
he chose the largest to be performed first ; and that selection is his
crime ! In that complication of evils, he chose the least, rightly deem-
ing that the more passing and temporary and transient ills would be
overbalanced, a thousand-fold, by the more exceeding and eternal good ;
and that choice is his crime ! In that time of insubordination, and
restlessness, and revolt, against government and institution, he has
given his sxcat faculties to inculcate obedience to the fundamental law ;
and that is his crime ! He has deemed, fellow-citizens, that the whole
duty of the inhabitants of the free States, in this great extremity of
our republic, is a little too large to delegate, to be all summed up in
the single emotion of compassion to a single class in the State, or to
55
C50 TUE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
carry out a single principle of abstract, and revolutionary, and violent,
and bloody justice to that class ; and that opinion is his crime !
" He has held fast to the old foith of Washington, the duty of patri-
otism, the duty of loving, -with a specific and unshared love, our o^vn
country. — of keeping her honor from corruption, — of advancing her
wealth, and po-^ver, and consideration, and eminence, — but by no guilty
reign of empire ; the duty of moulding her, as far as may be consistent
■with the preservation of her organic forms, into a great visible whole,
moved by a common wheel, vivified by a common life, identified by a
single soul. He has held the old faith, that the duty of patriotism is
moral virtue ; and that is his crime ! He has not thoujuht that a
Christian, and philosophical, and moral statesmanship, consisted entirely,
or even found its most adequate illustration, in taking a single idea, and
working that idea to death ; in taking a single moral and political vir-
tue out of its connection, and exac!;2:eratino; it out of its nature and
our own ; in getting up a wooden shed out there upon the Common, in
the night, and sending up another glittering abstraction, like another
Lamartine, — a worse one, — into the air; in taking the Lord's Prayer
and Declaration of Independence, and fraudulently and scandalously
undertaking to deduce from them the dogma of instantaneous and uni-
versal emancipation ; of prostrating those talents made for the universe,
and not for the cheap demagoguism of standing up and haranguing to
a shallow and approving audience, on the claims of nature and the
rights of man.
" ' Look on that picture, and on this.' He has thought that states-
manship consisted, or was best exemplified, in our time, in ascending
to a large and grand conception ; that the noblest, most difficult, most
acceptable, work to the eye of God, was the building of a nation, and
the keeping of a nation; that the noblest, most difficult, and most
pleasing to God, was the secular work of building this nation, and
keeping this nation ; and that, in order to make that great achievement,
there was demanded, in some large measure, sobriety, and a reach of
mind, and discipline, and practical reason, that could judge what things
the commonwealth can bear, and what it cannot bear ; the power of
reconciling, and blending, and tempering, the antagonism of the thing,
so that there may be drawn out from it, at last, the ultimate harmony
and perfect peace and unity of our political system itself; and this has
been hfs crime ! He has believed, fellow-citizens, — and I have the
honor to concur with him, my master, my friend, my more than guide,
FLETCHER -SVEESTER. 651
and philosopher, and friend, — he believes that, this daj. a true philan-
thropy, enlightened from above, finds in the American world no nobler
v,-OYk for its hand to do, — ay, finds no more splendid visions for its
dreams to contemplate, — than simply and solely to advance the best
interests of humanity through generations countless, by that grand
instrumentality of peace, the American Union ; to advancing the
interests of every State, and every section, and every class, the master
and the slave alike, by subjecting, through days of household calm,
this great continent, all alive and astir Avith the emulousness of free
republics, — by subjecting it, if it shall be the pleasure of Providence,
forever to the sweet and gentle influences of culture and Christianity,
and the slow and sure reformer. Time ; and lie has given those great
talents, and that influence unparalleled, to preserve forever this great
security of peace on earth and good will to men ; and this, also, is
his crime !
"Yes, fellow-citizens, it is his crime, in the judgment of some of us
— in whose judgment shall I say 7 Is it not in the judgment of a rev-
olutionary and shallow ethics of agitation ?- Is it not in the judgment
of a morality half-taught, that looks out of a loop-hole upon the Avorld,
unexercised, uninstructed from above or below; profoundly ignorant of
the nature of that great complexity of state ; profoundly ignorant of
it as an agent of human good ; profoundly ignorant of the dangers
that beset it, the means of preserving it, and the maxims and arts
imperial of its glory 7 It is a crime in the judgment of such morality
as that : but, in the vocabulary and ethics of an instructed people, so
adequately and admirably represented before me to-night, — in the
sober second thought of such a community as this, — ■ it is no crime, but
virtue heroical ; ay, such virtue as on earth is entitled to the grateful
feelings and rewarded honors of men ; and, when this mortal charge
is over, entitled, also, may I not say, with the great poet of Christian-
ity, to
' A crown of gold
Among the enthroned gods, on sainted seats.'
"And now, fellow-citizens, I should be very glad to know, Avith such
a patriotism as that, so tried and so tested, what American State, or
section, or interest, or drop of American blood, has anything to fear
from that. If there is an interest in this broad land, from one ocean
to another. lar";e enough for the constitution to know it, — if it is not so
652 'THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
minute and so distant that the flag does not wave over, it, — so minute
and so distant that the eagle's flight cannot attain to it, — is it not safe,
and more than safe, in that comprehensive nationahtj in which our
whole American system is embraced, appreciated, and guarded ?
"Fellow-citizens, before I take my leave, I ask to say one word,
and one only, on another topic altogether. It has seemed to me, — and
I am the more inclined to ask your indulgence, for a moment, while I
direct your attention to a passage in the admirable letter of our friend,
Mr. Everett, whose absence we so much deplore, and whose heart we
are sure is with us always, even unto the end of this great struggle, —
it has seemed to me, that there is something in the quality and adjust-
ment of Mr. Webster's prudential and intellectual character and tem-
perament, which fit him, in a remarkable degree, for conducting the
foreign relations of this country with Europe, in the actual aspects of
the European world. What that aspect and state exactly is, — how
wholly unsettled, — what shadows, clouds and darkness, appear to rest
upon it, — you entirely appreciate. It has seemed to me as if the pre-
rogatives of crowns, and the rights of men, and the hoarded up resent-
ments and revenges of a thousand years, were about to unsheath the
sword for a conflict, in which the blood shall flow, as in the Apocalyptic
vision, to the bridles of the horses ; and in which a whole age of men
shall pass away, — in Avhich the great bell of time shall sound out
another hour, — in which society itself shall be tried by fire and steel,
— whether it is of nature, and of nature's God, or not!"
Fletcher Webster a son of Hon. Daniel Webster, was born at
Portsmouth, N. H., July 23, 1813. He entered the Boston Latin
School in 1824. and graduated at Harvard College in 1833, on which
occasion he eno;ao;ed in a conference on Common Sense, Genius and
Learning. — their characteristics, value and success. He studied law
with his father, and became a counsellor. He married Caroline Story,
a daughter of Stephen White, Esq., of Salem. In 1843 Mr. Webster
was the secretary of legation, in the embassy of Hon. Caleb Gush-
ing to China; and, on his return, delivered lectures on the condition
of that empire. In 1847 he was a Boston representative to the State
Legislature. In 1850 he Avas appointed surveyor for the port of
Boston.
"The American character," says Mr. Webster, "is not an imita-
tion, but a creation ; no copy, but an original. It is formed by circum-
stances and position such as have never before existed. It grows up
THOMAS GREAVES CART. 653
under institutions Avhich our fathers framed and established of them-
selves,— new, extraordinary, wonderful, and like no others. "We are
here occupying the greater part of a vast continent, stretching from
sea to sea, containing within ourselves most things that human wants,
or arts, or taste, can desire ; sufficient to ourselves in all physical
things, and very independent of all other people. We are making a
great experiment of self-government, by twenty millions of people,
scattered over so vast a region that they count their distances by thou-
sands of miles. We are growing — expanding — forming. No one
can tell what we may become. We are no more to be compared to
European models, than one of our great mountain-pines is to be cut
and trimmed like the boxwood of a flower-garden." Mr. Webster thus
enlarges on some of the uses of war : " AVhere had been the sublimest
poetry, but for war 1 Where had been the Royal Psalmist, had not
the Philistines come up against Israel? Where Homer and Virgil,
had Troy never fallen before successful arms ? Milton himself had
been silent, had he not sung of war in heaven,
' When all the plain,
Covered with thick-embattled squadrons, bright
Chariots, and flaming arms, and fiery steed,
Reflecting blaze on blaze, first met his view.'
" It is true that war has tendencies to demoralization. It often pro-
duces violence, and recklessness, and disregard of justice. But, while
the vices produced by war are not to be denied, is it quite clear, men's
passions remaining as they are, that the vices of long-continued, undis-
turbed and luxurious peace, arc not equally great 7 Were the court and
the times of Alexander, or Peter the Great, or Napoleon, more vicious
than tliose of Sardanapalus, or Katherine, or Charles the Tenth, or of
other princes who reigned chiefly in peace? "
THOMAS GREAVES GARY.
JULY 4, 1847. rOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
This performance was delivered at the period when the American
armies were engaged in a war with Mexico. " The rhetoric of Burke,
55*
G54: THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
when he spoke of jealous attachment to freedom," says Mv. Carj,
where there are slaves, was fortified bj reference to history. So it
was, he said, in the ancient commonwealths. It would be wise in
us to consider what was the fate of those commonwealths. They all
passed into the shade of despotism, and disappeared in barbarous dark-
ness. Such may yet be our own fate. We have despotism to guard
against. If we are in danger, when the soldier holds himself too high,
to be made the blind instrument of rapacity and injustice, still more
should we be in danger from the janizary, — the armed automaton, —
insensible to every motive but the impulse of power that directs it. —
of power that may hereafter move it to turn the instrument of destruc-
tion which it holds upon ourselves. If there be danger in withholding
thanks to an army for doing bravely, admirably, what never should
have been done at all, there is yet greater danger in joining in shouts
of triumph for it, merely because we are prompted by fear of misrepre-
sentation from those who wear about their necks the badge of their own
perfidy to the cause of manly independence, and who would deride us,
within the year, for pusillanimity in heeding this call, if a change of
measures among their leaders should render it expedient to take oppo-
site ground.
"Human nature rejects the thought that freemen shall hesitate to
inquire whether their cause be just; and probably most of the people
of this country will be found to disregard it, if the prowess of our sol-
diers, while it excites our surprise and admiration, is to be so directed
as to make our Union a scourge rather than a blessing to mankind.
" The discipline of our regular troops, as has always been the case
in our navy, reminds us of what was said of Roman soldiers : ' Their
exercises in peace were battles without bloodshed. Their battles in
war were only bloody sports.' But, with all this power to sustain
right, if our rulers are to make us the oppressor of the weak, must wo
join in thankful gratulation for it 1 If so, then adieu to liberty !
There is no slavery more oppressive than that which binds the thought
and the tongue of him who supposes himself to be free.
"Let any one read again the descriptions by eye-witnesses of the
disorders and cruelties that took place at Monterey and elsewhere,
even after the battles were fought, — the robbery, murder, and brutal
violence to women, in open day, in spite of efibrts by oflicers of the
regular troops to prevent it, — under the vicious system of volunteers
electing their own officers, who have, therefore, popularity as Avell as
THOMAS GREAVES CART. Coo
discipline to think of. Let him reflect on the distracted state of that
■wretched country, or think of the brave ]Mexicans fighting for their
native soil at Buena Vista, half famished, but, as was said by our own
officers, ' fighting with the energy of despair ; ' let us suppose some race,
of more energy and greater skill in war than ourselves, to have invaded
us, and such scenes to have been enacted at Albany or Worcester ; or
let us suppose tlie city of Charleston or Savannah to liave been
attacked, and the -women and children to have been subjected to the
laws of war, as at Vera Cruz, — and we may then form an idea of the
consequences of this war, and of the imperious necessity that must be
shown to justify its commencement, or any measure resembling ap-
probation of it, even by thanks to an officer whom Ave admire for his
manner of conducting it, that should countenance its continuance for
a week. That our armies have lately added vastly to our reputation
as a warlike people, prepared for contest with any nation that exists, is
unquestionable. But we were in no pressing want of such reputation ;
and, if we had been, we have no right to seek it at such cost to human-
ity. As Franklin has suggested, if a spirit not yet informed of the
extent of the universe, on seeing this earth as it shines mildly from
afar, should approach it in the hope of obtaining some new view of
heaven, and light upon a scene of warfare, he might suppose that he
had arrived in hell."
Thomas Greaves Cary was born at Chelsea, Sept. 7, 1791 ; gradu-
ated at Harvard College in 1811 ; engaged in the study of law with
Hon. Judge Thacher; commenced practice in 1814; and in 1821
entered on mercantile pursuits, in New York, and subsequently was a
partner in the house of Thomas II. Perkins & Co., of Boston, the
senior of whom projected the Quincy Railroad, comi)leted in 1827,
which was the first enterprise of the kind in the United States. It
was constructed for the purpose of transporting granite from the (.narry
in that town to Neponset River. The stone for the Banker Iliil Mon-
ument, conveyed from this quarry, was furnished by the Granite
Railway Company, of which Mr. Perkins Avas the president. "We
find, on the Boston records, this curious fiict in the history of temper-
ance, relating to the fiither of Mr. Perkins, — that James Perkins,
retailer, Avas licensed by the selectmen, August 13, 17G7, to sell wine
only, at his house in King-street. Mr. Cary married Mary, a daughter
of Hon. Thomas H. Perkins ; Avas a director of the Hamilton Bank ;
commander of the Independent Cadets, in 18-47 ; and senator for Suf-
folk county, 1852.
656 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
Col. Carj is a gentleman of fine literary habits, and of truly estima-
ble character. He is president of the Boston Athenoeum, the library
of AThich was founded on that of the Anthology Literary Club, in
1807. It will advance the moral glory of Boston, should our men of
wealth continue to establish separate endowments for the literary, sci-
entific, historical, medical, legal, and theological benefit of the public.
j\Iay a Bromfield come forward for all the departments ! We hope the
period is not remote, when the fiicilitics of access to this library will
rise to the standard of the great hbraries of Europe.
]Mr. Cary is the author of several productions, beside the eloquent
oration at the head of this article ; among which we find, A Letter to a
Lady in France, on National and State Repudiation, 1844 ; a Letter
on Profits on Manufactures at Lowell, 1845 ; and an Address on the
Fine Arts, delivered before the Mercantile Library Association, in 1845,
in which he enlarges on the practicability of cultivating a taste for the
fine arts in our tumultuous democracy, and relates of a person whose
business, one would suppose, lay among the most unpoetical and least
aesthetic pursuits that may be imagined. If any form of life is unfa-
vorable to the cultivation of a taste for the fine arts, most people would
unhesitatingly say it is the life of a grocer. And yet this individual,
— ]Mr. Luman Reed, — although dying in the prime of life, left a col-
lection of paintings, engravings, shells, and other objects of beauty and
interest, altogether so valuable, that it was proposed to make them the
commencement of a public gallery in New York ; and he left an estab-
lishment in business conducted on principles so secure, that it has been
a school of industrious success to younger men, who owe their pros-
perity mainly to him. The transparent beauty of Col. Gary's per-
formance, and the force of his sentiments, so nicely harmonize, that his
pen should flow freely to the public mind.
JOEL GILES.
JULY 4, 1848. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
"Constitutions are the pohtical brain of the people," says* our
orator. " Each of our thirty States has one, and our glorious Union
has another, by which unceasing action is maintained upon all rightful
subjects of government.
JOEL GILES. 657
" Men are governed by three principles, — reason, love and force;
and -without these there is no government worthy of the name, human
or divine. The constitution of the United States is the organ of the
sovereign reason of the people. Tliis is the field for giant minds and
patriot hearts ; and its hero — for it has a hero, unrivalled and alone
in his chosen domain — is the people's Webster. xVnd do you ask for
the heroes of the heart, Avith power to acquire wealth, learning and
influence, and a will to use them all for the people's honor and the
people's good? Go to your scientific schools, your institutes, and
your libraries, and read the honored names of their founders. Go
to the missionary rolls, and admire the number and the devotion of
your Christian martyrs. Force, too, that dire necessity of fallen man,
and of nations, has its heroes, — a small and charmed band, whose
martial fame, like the forked lightning, dazzles the eyes of the people.
May they ever be few in number, great in action, and worthy to tread
in the footprints of Washington !
"Preserve, then, your constitutions, your corporations, your societies,
your towns, your cities, your free schools, and your churches. They are
organisms for the exercise, discipline and cfiicient action, of practical lib-
erty. And, especially, preserve your militia. It is the legal organiza-
tion of force, the right hand of all government, the ultimate protector of
all the fruits of liberty, and a terror only to evil doers. The people are,.
hy the constitution of the United States, armed ; and, by every prin-
ciple of liberty, they are supreme. Force always resides in the masses.
Armed, but unorganized, it is a sleeping lion, ready to spring upon,
you at any moment of famine or of passion. Then, train it, — train it,
— and it shall lie down with the lambs in the green pastures of peace
and tranquillity. Even parties are useful organizations of practical
liberty, which might otherwise fall into anarchy in the exercise of its
elective functions. And, in a country so free as this, no administra-
tion can stand without the support of a dominant party, embracing, for
the time being, a majority of the people. Be not frightened, then, at
parties ; but prove them all, by the test of practical liberty, and hold
fast that which is good. We cannot, if we would, avoid the responsi-
bility of affecting the welfare of millions of our fellow-men. The com-
mands of Heaven are upon us ! "
Joel Giles was born at Townsend, ]May 6, 1804 ; was fitted for col-
lege by Rev. David Palmer; graduated at Harvard College in 1829^
when he engaged in a disputation with Chandler Robbins, on the ques-
658 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS. '
tion, Avliether inequalities of genius in different countries be ovrino- to
moral causes. He ^vas a student of Dane Law Scliool ; a tutor in
Harvard College, from 1831 to 1834 ; and a student, also, of Benja-
min Rand, in Boston. He is a counsellor of Suffolk bar ; and was a
representative from Cambridge and Boston, in 1840 and in 1847. He
was a member of the State Senate in 1848. Mr. Giles is a man of
penetrative mind, and knows how to fathom a disputed question of pol-
itics with as much ease as a profound point of law.
Major Quincj said of Mr. Giles' oration, at the public dinner in
Faneuil Hall, "He has struck the harp of the universe with the hand
of a master."
Next to the clergy, the legal profession — which numbers four hun-
dred in Boston — exercises a stronger public moral control than any
other of the professions ; and their personal friendship towards each
•other is proverbial, as it was in the time of Shakspeare, who says of
lawyers, that they
" Do as adversaries in law strive mightily,
But eat and drink as friends."
The patriotic civilians of Suffolk bar, in their political influence, often
control the State. It is said that Mr. Giles prepared the spirited
resolves of the Whig State Convention, adopted at Worcester, Oct. 3,
1849, and they exhibit the principles of Washington : " The Union,
— the glorious Union, — the object of our fervent love ! Its preser-
vation transcends in importance any and all other pohtical questions ;
and, as we have received it from the fathers, so will we perpetuate it
to the children, entire as the sun." Inscribe this sentiment on our
banners, and cherish it in our hearts, and the Union is never dis-
severed.
WILLIAM WHITWELL GREENOUGH.
JULY 4, 1849. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
" The supporters of arbitrary power in Europe have recently urged
a new plea," says Mr. Greenough. " It is said that the wars of 1848
and 1849 are merely wars of language and of race. This position
excludes all higher questions of principle, and is intended to prevent
WILLIAM WHITWELL GREENOUGH. 659
sympathy and interference on the part of free countries. This is the
plea of Russia. This AYOuld conceal the fact, that the settlement of
each national question now at issue is an affair of much consequence to
the Avhole civilized Avorld. The causes cf the great conflict now in
progress lie fiir beneath language or race. It is not a struggle to
decide which of two parties in each state shall be uppermost. Such
may have been its appearance at the beginning ; but the real motive
powers are now visible. The free people of England and of France
may well watch, with interest and anxiety, for the results of each bat-
tle-field. The struggle is between the people and arbitrary power. A
few years will decide whether the western barriers of despotism shall
be the Rhine or the Xorth Sea ; or whether the arm of freedom shall
drive back the myrmidons of tyranny to the frozen regions of the
north.
"In all this war of principles, we, too, on this side of the Atlantic,
have a direct interest. If the experiment of free institutions had been
unsuccessful here, it would have deferred, for a long period, the striv-
ings after liberty which have already found practical results in other
quarters of the world. The example and the influence of the United
States have quietly produced great effects, of which the causes were
not clearly perceptible. For the failure of other revolutions, declaredly
based upon our own model, we are in no degree responsible. The
painter of a glorious picture, Avhose merits are admitted by the world,
is never held accountable for the bad drawings or wretched colorings of
any imitator, however ambitious. Xo one claims that our institutions
are perfect. It is sufficient, for all useful purposes, that, under their
protecting powers, every blessing can be enjoyed that is needful for the
happiness of man in this lower world. As every successful essay is a
direct incitement to human nature to go and do likewise, the position
of this country is especially traceable in the revolutions of Europe.
Every new constitution borrows, to a greater or less extent, from our
own, accordino; to the tastes of Icsjislators. The great ideas which, in
a good sense, constitute this the conquering republic, transfuse them-
selves into every popular movement. That no government may exist
without the consent of the governed, has proved a fearful principle,
when brought into collision with another principle, consecrated by the
tacit consent of a thousand years, the divine right of kings, the doc-
trine of absolute sovereignty. "Who can doubt which of the two will
ultimately come forth superior from the conflict ?- The strife is no
660 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
longer equal. It is a struggle between a human fallacy and a super-
human truth." This production is very suitably entitled The Con-
quering Republic.
William Whitwell Greenough, son of William Greenough, a merchant
of Boston, was born in Boston, June 25, 1818; entered the Latin
School in 1828, and graduated at Harvard College in 1837. lie mar-
ried Catharine Scollay, a dauditer of Charles P. Curtis, and encafed
in mercantile pursuits. He was a member of the city Council from
1847 to 1850, during which period he was a member of the water com-
mittee, and its chairman in the last year. He was treasurer of the
American Oriental Society, and a member of the New England His-
torical and Genealogical Society. Mr. Greenough has ever cherished
a love of literary and scientific pursuits. In tlie intervals of leisure,
he has prepared valuable contributions to various periodicals, among
which was one on the Anglo-Saxons, in the New York Review ; another
on the Moeso. Gothic, in the Biblical Repository ; and, more especially,
several articles in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, an
institution to which he is peculiarly devoted. Mr. Greenough has
resources of mind abundantly competent to the preparation of a liter-
ary production, of great benefit to the public, on the Races of INIan, and
Tve hope he will be closely devoted to the work until it is completed.
LEVI WOODBURY.
JULY 25, 1849. EULOGY ON PRESIDENT POLK.
'•Indiscriminate eulogy is without value or point," says Judge
Woodbury ; " and hence, at the risk of being thought by some not suf-
ficiently enthusiastic, it has been and will be my endeavor ' naught to
extenuate,' and to hold the mirror up fliithfully to the truth and nature
of the leading features in his admirable chai'acter and remarkable
administration. I do not consider it a part of his fame that he
planned many of these great events. He did not enter on his high
station Avith a magazine in his mind, full of magnificent and imposing
measures to be attempted.
' ' Though a young man, comparatively, and from the enterprising
west, his character was rather wary than rash ; rather to follow than to
LEVI "WOODBURY. 661
devise ; rather to meet, resolutely, difficulties and dangers -wlien thrust
on him, than to project them, or to indulge in novel designs, or to
court deeds of danger and blood. Not like the hero Avho sleeps near
him at the Hermitage, born to carry conquests among hostile savages,
or meet on our shores an invading foe, and drive back profaners of our
soil ; but, rather, a civilian, formed to husband carefully and defend
well what others have bravely won. Thus, while president, he found
himself in a most eventful age ; but it seemed made so by others, more
than himself. He added, to be sure, something to the great deeds
and stirring incidents of the era ; but this was rather forced on him
than sought. His ambition was more for the calm than the tempest;
and his reputation will rest chiefly on the successful manner in which
he managed the vessel of state in the various perils which he Avas
compelled to face.
" Thus, for a moment, as to Oregon. The course of events had pro-
duced a crisis almost unavoidable. Her limits and exclusive occupation
were, therefore, under his administration, settled. Though long beforo
agitated, — even a quarter of a century, — yet a regular government
by the United States was, under him, first flung beyond the Rocky
]\Iountains, and their laws and institutions first carried formally and
fully to the waves of the Pacific. Grant that all was not obtained by
his arrangement which the sanguine hoped ; grant, as was the convic-
tion of many, that our rights to 54° 40' were clear ; grant that it was,
on several accounts, desirable to stretch our limits to their utmost
verge, — yet, can it be said that the peace of the country with a great
kindred power, and the exclusive possession and settlement and growth
of twelve or thirteen degrees of latitude, and under the reign of estab-
lished laws rather than the rifle or the tomahawk, was not a high
national object, desirable to be accomplished speedily, though at the
expense of some territory ? All must admit that, on a subject most
sensitive, further painful collisions were thus obviated, doubts and dif-
ficulties of many years' standing closed, and the prospect of future war
between races almost fraternal thrown off, and, it is hoped, for ages.
Next, behold the annexation of Texas, finished under his auspices !
Though, it is conceded, far from having originated Avith him, yet this
measure was, during his administration, carried into complete effect —
consohdated. She Avas not then merely preparing to come into the
Union. — anxious and negotiating, — but was actually brought in, and
her representatives mingled with ours on the field of glory, and her
lone star united in our political gala.xy forever.
56
662 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
"The importance of this measure, thus perfected under Mr. Polk's
administration, can only be appreciated by the vindication it has afforded
to the right of self-government, and the large addition it has made
to our territory, no less than to our securities in future difficulties, and
the hostile weapons, both in peace and war, it has wrenched from our
opponents, and the vast markets for our manufactures it has opened,
and the new employments presented for our navigation. Superadded
to all this has been the acquisition of California and New Mexico,
larger in territory than half our old thirteen States combined. This
has been more exclusively a measure of his administration. There
have been added by it to our public domain, and to the Union, lands
broad enough to support a nation, rich enough in gold for half a world,
harbors capacious enough for whole, navies, and almost indispensable for
safety and supplies to the greatest whaling marine of the globe. The
chief regret, mingled with this, may be the inability, as yet, to agree
on any but a military government over this great acquisition ; and which
makes a strong demand on our liberality and exertions, as it already
has done on our sympathies, to establish the law of the Union over
what has been purchased by means of the money and blood of this con-
secrated league of fraternal States. Such remote regions are likely
soon to become alienated, if not duly protected and bound to us by
benefits and improvements such as are necessary to their growth in
commerce and close attachment to the Union, even though requiring
an isthmus railroad, or one spanning half the continent in higher lati-
tudes, and which are so much stronger ties than any of mere paper or
parchment."
Levi Woodbury, son of Hon. Peter Woodbury,' was born at Frances-
town, N. H., Nov. 2, 1789 ; Avas educated in New Ipswich Academy;
graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1809 ; studied law with Hon.
Samuel Dana, of Boston, and at the Law School, in Litchfield, Conn.,
and was admitted to the bar in 1812. "It is gratifying to see men
occasionally call to mind the purity and simplicity of the scenes of
early life," said Judge Woodbury, at the festival of the sons of New
Hampshire ; ' ' and it is creditable to them to turn aside, for at least a
few hours, from the anxieties and bustle of business, the mere mammon
of the world, and think over and talk over the farm-house and fields
of childhood, their beloved Argos, the village school and village church,
the plough and scythe, of growing youth or manhood, and the mother
sister and brother, who cheered you at dewy eve, on your return from
LEVI WOODBURY. 663
daily toil. This I's purifying. "Well, too, may some of you remember
the gun and fishing-rod, Avhich, Avhile furnishing healthy amusement,
prepared some of you, by the mimic war of the chase, to help to con-
quer so nobly at Palo Alto, and under the Avails of ^lexico." Mr.
Woodbury was elected secretary of the New Hampshire Senate, in
1816. He was appointed judge of the Superior Court in New Hamp-
shire when only twenty-seven years of age ; and acquitted himself
with great dignity, wisdom, and fearless intrepidity. He married
Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. Asa Clapp, of Portland. Mo., June, 1819,
when he settled at Portsmouth. In 1823 Mr. AYoodbury was elected
Governor of New Hampshire, and, at the expiration of the term, resumed
the profession of law. In 1825 he was elected a representative to the
State Legislature, andiwas chosen Speaker of the House. During this
session a vacancy had occurred in the Senate of the United States, when
Mr. Woodbury was elected by the Legislature to that station ; Avhere,
by his official reports and his speeches, he displayed great talent. He
was chairman of the committee of commerce, during four sessions ; and,
on the expiration of his term, he declined being a candidate to Con-
ffress. In the next month he was elected to the Senate of his native
State ; and, on the reorganization of the cabinet, in the succeeding
month, he was invited by President Jackson to the office of Secretary
of the Navy, when he resigned his seat in the Senate. After the rejec-
tion of Mr. Taney to the department of Secretary of the Treasury, Mr.
Woodbury was transferred to that sphere, and he was confirmed in
1834. He was intensely devoted to the political measures of AndrcAV
Jackson, as he was moreover to the policy of his successor, Martin A^'an
Buren, under whose 'auspices he served to the close of his administra-
tion, when he was again elected by his native State to the Senate of the
United States, for the period of six years, from March 4, 1841.
He resigned in 1845, on being appointed by Presidclit Polk as suc-
cessor to the late Justice Story, as an Associate Justice of the United
States Supreme Court. He died Sept. 3, 1851. The opinion may be
safely expressed, that no member of the cabinets of Jackson and Yun
Buren had a stronger influence in seconding the bold measures of these
originators of great experiments than the shrewd Levi Woodbury.
Judge Woodbury was a profound civilian, and presided over the
judiciary Avith general Avisdom and great dignity. He delivered a
discourse at the capitol in Washington, before the American Historical
Society, in 1837, of which he Avas a member. In remarking on the-
664 THE HUNDRED BOSTON OKATORS.
necessity of a fair and correct history of our own government he
observed that it should be a prominent duty of this society to strip
from the statue of truth all meretricious and false disguises. Let it
not be said of us, when inquirers for facts, as Aristophanes describes
the Athenians :
" No matter what the offence,
Be 't great or small,
The cry is tyranny — conspiracy."
But when we enter the sacred temple of history, let us put off the par-
tisan of the day, whether in religion or jjolitics, as well as discard our
favorite theories of philosophy and political economy, and seek faith-
fully to do justice to the most calumniated. We should hold the mirror
up to facts and nature alone, and invoke every ^ust and honorable feel-
ing, to aid us in judgment on the long array of the past.
Judge Woodbury possessed great intrepidity of character. When
the counsel in the case of Sims, the fugitive slave, had inveio^hed
against his decision, that a writ of habeas corpus should not be allowed,
as being contrary to the laws of JNIassachusetts, Judge Woodbury
promptly replied, "Massachusetts is yet a part of the Union, thank
God ! He wished the gentleman to understand that the laws of the
United States were the laws of the people of Massachusetts ; and that,
notwithstanding the action or passions of fanatics, he hoped it would be
long before — whatever Massachusetts was — she ceased to be a State
in the Union. It was his duty to see the laAvs faithfully executed ;
and he would see them executed, or perish in the attempt."
EDWIN PERCY WHIPPLE.
JULY 4, 1850. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
'•It was not the prevalence of abstract opinions," remarks Mr.
"WTiipple, "but the inspiration of positive institutions, which gave our
forefathers the heart to brave, and the ability successfully to defy, the
colossal power of England ; but it must be admitted that in its obnox-
ious colonial policy England had parted with her wisdom, and in part-
ing with her Avisdom, had weakened her power ; flailing, as Burke says,
under the operation of that immutable law ' which decrees vexation
EDWIN PERCY WHIPPLE. 065
to violence, and poverty to rapine.' The England arrayed against us
was not the England which, a few years before, its energies wielded
by the lofty and impassioned genius of the elder Pitt, had smitten the
power and humbled the pride of two great European monarchies, and
spread its fleets and armies, animated by one vehement soul, over three
quarters of the globe. The administrations of the English govern-
ment, from 1760 to the close of our Revolutionary War, were more or
less directed by the intriguing incapacity of the king. George the
Third is said to have possessed many private virtues, — and very pri-
vate for a long time he kept them from his subjects, — but, as a mon-
arch, he was Avithout magnanimity in his sentiments, or enlargement
in his ideas; prejudiced, uncultivated, bigoted, and perverse: and his
boasted morality and piety, when exercised in the sphere of govern-
ment, partook of the narrowness of his mind and the obstinacy of his
will ; his conscience being used to transmute his hatreds into duties,
and his religious sentiment to sanctify his vindictive passions ; and as
it was his ambition to rule an empire by the petty politics of a court,
he preferred to have his folly flattered hy parasites than his ignorance
enlightened by statesmen. Such a disposition in the king of a free
country was incompatible with cfiiciency in the conduct of afiairs, as it
split parties into factions, and made established principles yield to m^an
personal expedients. Bute, the king's first minister, after a short
administration, unexampled for corruption and feebleness, gave way
before a storm of popular contempt and hatred. To liim succeeded
George Grenville, the originator of the Stamp Act, and the blundering
promoter of Amei'ican independence. Grenville was a hard, sullen,
dogmatic, penurious man of afiairs, with a complete mastery of the
details of parliamentary business, and threading with ease all the
labyrinths of English law ; but limited in his conceptions, fixed in his
opinions, without any of that sagacity which reads results in their
principles, and chiefly distinguished for a kind of sour honesty, not
infrequently found in men of harsh tempers and technical intellects.
It was soon discovered that, though imperious enough to be a tyrant,
he was not servile enough to be a tool ; that the same domineering
temper which enabled him to push arbitrary measures in Parliament
made him put insolent questions in the palace ; and the king, in despair
of a servant who could not tax America and persecute "Wilkes Avith-
out at the same time insulting his master, dismissed him for the Mar-
quis of Rockingham, the leader of the great whig connection, and a
56*
GGQ THE HUXDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
sturdy friend of the Americans, both before the Revolution and during
its progress. Under him the Stamp Act was repealed ; but his admin-
istration soon proved too liberal to satisfy the fawning politicians who
governed the understanding of the king, and the experiment was tried
of a composite ministry, put together by Chatham, consisting of mem-
bers selected from different factions, but without any principle of cohe-
sion to unite them ; and the anarchy, inherent in the arrangement,
became portentously apparent when Chatham, driven by the gout into
a state of nervous imbecility, left it to work out its mission of misrule,
and its eccentric control was seized by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
— the gay, false, dissipated, veering, presumptuous and unscrupulous
Charles Townsend. This man was so brilliant and fascinating as an
orator, that Walpolc said of one of his speeches that it was like hear-
ing Garrick act extempoi-e scenes from Congreve ; but he was without
any guiding moral or political princijiles; and, boundlessly admired
by the House of Commons and boundlessly craving its admiration, he
seemed to act ever from the impulses of vanity, and speak ever from
the inspiration of champagne. Grenville, smarting under his recent
defeat, but still doggedly bent on having a revenue raised m America,
missed no opportunity of goading this versatile political roue with his
sullen and bitter sarcasms. ' You are cowards,' said he, on one occa-
sion, turning to the treasury bench ; ' you are afraid of the Ameri-
cans,— you dare not tax America.' Towi^send, stung by this taunt,
started passionately up from his seat, exclaiming, ' Fear ! cowards !
dare not tax America ! I do dare tax America ! ' and this boyish
bravado ushered in the celebrated bill, which was to cost England
thirteen colonies, add a hundred millions of pounds to her debt, and
affix an ineffaceable stain on her public character. Townsend, by the
grace of a putrid fever, was saved from witnessing the consequences
of his vain-glorious presumption ; and the direction of his policy
eventually fell into the hands of Lord North, a good-natured, second-
rate, jobbing statesman, equally destitute of lofty virtues and splendid
vices, under whose administration the American war was commenced
and consummated. Of all the ministers of George the Third, North
was the most esteemed by his sovereign ; for he had the tact to follow
plans which originated in the king's unreasoning brain and wilful dis-
position, and yet to veil their weak injustice in a drapery of arguments
furnished from his own more enlarged mind and easier temper. Chat-
ham and Camden thundered against him in the Lords ; Burke and
I
EDWIX TERCT WHIPPLE. CG7
Fox, Cassandras of ominous and eloquent prophecy, raved and shouted
statesmanship to him in the Commons, and screamed out the maxims
of wisdom in ecstasies of invective ; but he, good-naturedly tolerant to
political adversai'ies, blandly indifferent to popular execration, and
sleeping quietly through "whole hours of philippics hot -with threats of
impeachment, pursued his course of court-ordained folly with the
serene composure of an Ulysses or Somers. The war. as conducted
by his ministry, was badly managed ; but he had one wise thought,
which happily foiled to become a fact. The command in America, on
the breaking out of serious disturbances, was offered to Lord Clivc ;
but, fortunately for us, Clive, at about that time, concluded to commit
suicide, and our rustic soldiery were thus saved from meeting in the
field a general who in vigor of will and fertility of resource was
unequalled by any European commander who had appeared since the
death of Marlborough.
*ut At^ •U' 4t 4t 4t
■TV TS* T^ T^ TT 'IT
"The madcap Charles Townsend, the motion of whose pyrotechnic
mind was like the whiz of a hundred rockets, is a man of genius ; but
George Washington, raised up above the level of even eminent states-
men, and with a nature moving with the still and orderly celerity of a
planet round its sun, — he dwindles, in comparison, into a kind of
angelic dunce ! What is genius ? Is it worth anything 1 Is splen-
did folly the measure of its inspiration 7 Is wisdom its base and sum-
mit, which it recedes from, or tends towards 7 And by what definition
do you award the name to the creator of an epic, and deny it to the
creator of a country 7 On what principle is it to be lavished on him
who sculptures in perishing marble the image of possible excellence,
and withheld from him who built up in himself a transcendent charac-
ter, indestructible as the obligations of duty, and beautiful as her
rewards 7"
Edwin Percy Whipple was born at Gloucester, March 8, 1819,
and was the youngest son of Matthew Whipple, a gentleman of
strong sense and fine social powers, who died when the subject of
this article was in infancy, — in whose ancestry Ave trace a signer
of the Declaration of Independence. His mother was Lydia Gar-
diner, of Gardiner, Maine, — a family eminent for mental power.
His grandfather Avas an officer of the American Revolution, Avho
sacrificed his fortune in the glorious cause. The ready, liash-
668 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
ing, pointed wit, afterwards so agreeably developed in the productions
of Edwin, partially owes its origin to the influence of the maternal side
of the family ; and Avas divested of the envenomed sarcasm so peculiar
to the Gardiner family, by the chastening, mild blandness of his pater-
nal kindred. The scion of a stock from which sprang John Gardiner,
of Boston, the eminent barrister, having a highly cultivated mind, must
inevitably be inspired Avith similar rays of intellect. Our readers may
find an account of him, as the orator for July 4, 1785. His mother
was devotedly attached to her children, and her plastic influence largely
contributed to the shaping their character. The family removed to
Salem Avhen Edwin was but four years of age, where he was educated
. at the public schools, more especially at the English High School, under
Master William H. Brooks, where he was distinguished as one of the
ripest scholars, and pursued his studies until he Avas fifteen years of
age, during Avhich period he acquired a fondness for history and polite
literature, by a free access to the Salem Athenreum. On leaving
school, he became a clerk in the Bank of General Interest, in that city.
He commenced his first literary contributions for a newspaper in
Salem, Avhen he Avas but fourteen years of age, which he pursued for
some years. On leaving Salem, he was employed by Dana, Fenno
& HenshaAV, brokers, on State-street, Boston ; and, shortly after the
erection of the ^lerchant's E.xchange, in that street, he was appointed
to the superintendence of the news-room, and previous to that period
he became a member of the Mercantile Library Association, and was
soon a leader in debate and composition. It Avas in this model institu-
tion that young Whipple contracted a personal friendship for Fields,
an honored native poet of the Granite State, Avho made the folloAving
happy allusion to its members, and his literary companion, in an anni-
versary poem for the Association, preA^ious to entering the fields of
matrimony :
" What though grave fathers still my friends I meet.
Whose nursery floors are worn with little feet ;
What though, companion of my former years,
Thy face at market every morn appears.
While I, still ignorant as the greenest baize.
What goods domestic go the greatest ways.
Grope blindly homeward to my noontide meal.
Unknowing what my damask may reveal ; —
Heart leaps to heart, and warmer grasps the hand.
When autumn's bugle reunites our band ! "
1
EDWIN PERCY WHIPPLE. 6G9
Incidental to the Mercantile Library, there was a club known as
"The Attic Nights," which had its meetings every Saturday night, in
an attic room in an anticjue looking edifice, built of unhewn granite,
and known as "Tudor's Building," occupied by one of them. The
number of its members was at no time to exceed six. Each member
had a club name, and was obliged to take his turn at the chair, and no
"presidential term" lasted longer than a single night. The "Attic
Nights" were conducted mostly after the manner of the Noctes
Ambrosiange, or Ambrosial Nights, of old Christopher North, as pub-
lished in Blackwood's Magazine. The conversations at the club were
devoted to literary subjects : and it was the understanding that no mem-
ber should attend, uninformed of the present state of literature, or
unprepared to sustain opinions on literary subjects. Each member
was to take his turn as the scribe of the meeting, as was Professor
Wilson of the club in Edinburgh, in order to read a report of the con-
versation at the next meeting. Here Whipple was in his element. It
was profitable to hear his opinions and illustrations of Goethe and Schil-
ler, Johnson and Parr, Gifford and Jeffrey, Wordsworth and Byron,
and other poets, essayists, and historians. The works of all the dram-
atists, from Kit Marlowe and rare Ben Jonson doAvn to the days of
Sheridan, were perfectly familiar to him. It was in this club that he
became inspired with the thirst for essay-witing, and his naturally intu-
itive wit, good humor and kindness of heart, rendered him a delightful
companion ; but he is extremely modest, and rather cautious in the
presence of professed scholars. He Avas first more especially intro-
duced to public notice by the delivery of a poem before the Mercantile,
Sept. 29, 1840, which was full of playful humor, cutting up and using
up. amid satirical hits, with the skill of a master hand, the numerous
fanciful theories and abstractions that are emptying the pockets and
turning the brains of the nuiltitude, — delighting his auditors, and draw-
ing forth continued peals of rapturous applause.
Early in 1843 Mr. Whipple was introduced to a more substantial
attention, by an article of his production, inserted in the Boston Mis-
cellany, in which he accurately analyzed the powers of Macaulay, the
essayist and historian, who was so much gratified by its nature that he
addressed to Mr. Whipple a letter expressive of high regard. In Octo-
ber of the same year, he excited great public interest by his lecture, in
presence of the same institution, on the Lives of Authors, when a jour-
nahst said of it, that it was the production of a merchant's clerk, pos-
670 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATOES.
scssing only R public school instruction, but with a mind caj^able of
great things, when brought to bear upon the world of letters. For
several years since, he has been a contributor to the North American
Review, Christian Examiner, and other periodicals, most of which
appear in his volumes of Lectures and Essays. He has delivered lec-
tures of striking merit for the literary societies of Brown, Dartmouth,
and Amherst. When his admirable volume of lectures was published
so ardent was the attachment of the INIercantile Association to this most
talented member of their body, that nearly the whole edition was spon-
taneously purchased by themselves, without any preconcerted action.
To relate an agreeable instance : On the day of its publication, nine
of the members, at one and the same time, not stating their object
to each other, procured at Ticknor's several sets each. The public
being thus supplanted, a new edition was forthAvith issued. It is ster-
eotyped, and classed among standard American authors. He has sin-
gular ability in tracing out and expressing those hidden connections of
things, and those slight, ethereal and fugitive notions, Avhich float as
mere glimpses or visions in most men's minds. His keen, delicate,
aigile, genial, jubilant mind, plays around and through his subject,
threading its way along every vein of gold, like electricity. It is a
peculiar merit of his lectures, that they are nearly all upon subjects
which, though of great importance, are so evanescent in their nature
that they are generally advanced by writers in the most indifferent man-
ner. The remark of Whipple regarding Richard H. Dana the elder, in
a review of his works in the Examiner, may. Avith peculiar emphasis, be
applied to himself, that they carry with them the evidence of being the
products of his own thinking and living, and are full of those magical
signs which indicate patient meditation, and a nature rooted in the
realities of things. We advise Mr. Whipple ever to write in a smooth
transparency of style, divested of the affected quaintness of either Car-
lyle or Emerson, imitating no author.
" If any visiter go to Boston, and will take the trouble to go into the
Exchange News-room," says Giles, the famous essayist, "let him look
into a small office, on the left hand, as he enters, and he will observe
a head scarcely appearing above the door, bent down in study or com-
position. That head belongs to Edwin Percy Whipple, — a head that
has not many equals in the city where it thinks, or many superiors
in the nation. Even physically it is of imposing magnitude, — of a
massive force and breadth of brow, which might rest on the shoulders
EDWIN PERCY WHIPPLE. G71
of a Leibnitz, or a Luther. Large and of deep expansion is the capa-
pacious dome over a capacious heart ; and filled as it is "with speculations
of noble thought, with visions and colorings of beauty, it is enriched
and warmed with most manly and generous affections. A rare man is
Mr. Whipple, in a rare position. There he sits in that office, sur-
rounded by all the hard, worldly passions that journalism can put
into type, or that traffic can put into man, musing on high themes, and
deciding great questions, in the regions of pure thought, or in the
realms of many-hued imagination ; calling spirits from the vasty deep
of intellect or fancy ; settling what place they are to hold in the uni-
verse, and how they will stand related to duration, to immortality, or
to oblivion. But, withal, there is no dreaminess in our muser, and no
afiectation of absence or abstraction. Ever alive to friendship, to cour-
tesy, to duty, he can lay aside his ideas as he does his pen, to welcome
a brother, to discuss politics, or to talk about the weather. Consider-
ing that his brain may have been kindled up with the splendid concep-
tions of Shelley, with a light almost as splendid as Shelley's own ; or
that his heart may have been panting Avith feelings aroused by the
intense pages of Byron, we cannot easily conceive of more thorough
self-command, more complete mastery of manner and of mind. Look-
ing at Mr. Whipple thus, in the midst of newspapers and merchants,
and understanding in what things his faculties are generally engaged,
we have no idea of a more remarkable union of the ideal and the
actual."
While the cognomen of Youno; E norland has been conceded to a mere
clique of literati in the great metropolis, yet, in a broader and more
generous view, we readily recogiiize the embodiment of Young Boston
in the more than a thousand warm hearts of the Mercantile Library
Association, — an institution -which, with its weekly literary exercises,
its lectures, its extensive library, and its cabinet of curiosities, lays a
firm hold on commercial and intellectual progress, and is the glory of
our city. Young Boston is a nursery of genius and rare common
sense, rivalled only by our schools of learning ; and we hope to see the
day when our princely citizens will endow it with an hundred thousand
dollars, the income of which would greatly advance its noble objects.
We admire its programme, with its executive, directors, trustees, com-
mittee on lectures and librarians, backed up by committees on expendi-
tures, the library, purchase of books, newspapers and pamphlets, on
coins and curiosities, literary exercises, such as declamation, debate,
and composition.
672 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
"We will further digress, to introduce an effective allusion of Daniel
Noyes Haskell, -whose untiring efforts for this institution have mainly
established its permanent basis. In his address for the association, at
the dedication of their new rooms, Jan. 3, 1848, Mr. Haskell remarks
of the weekly literary exercises : "I am compelled to admit that we
could better afford to stop our public lectures, to sink our fund, — yes,
even to vacate these new and beautiful rooms, and to ask the Legisla-
ture to take back their parchment charter, Avith its honored autographs,
— than to give up these frequent gatherings, where mind meets mind,
truth and error grapple, where character is developed, and talents find
the standard of their influence."
Success to Young Boston, which, having fashioned and given consist-
ence to the mind of our young American INIacaulay, were honored
enough, without regard to the resistless influence most manifestly
developing talent and mental vigor, by its order of operation ! Success
to Young Boston ! jMay you ever be ambitious for eminent elevation to
the post of honor in any useful pursuit of life, as have your Whipple
and Fields, who, though never having roved in the groves of Harvard,
are honorary members of its Phi Beta Kappa Society ; and may those
of you who aspire to the post of honor in commercial life be coun-
selled by the admired Fields, who says, in answer to the inquiry.
" Does our pathway e'er conduct to fame ?
The merchant's honor is his spotless name ;
Not circumscribed, just narrowed to the rank
That passes current only at the bank, —
But, stamped with soul, howe'er the winds may blow.
Large as the sunlight, and unstained as snow;
Do good by stealth, be just, have faith in man ;
The rest to heaven, God always in the van ; —
Though silent deeds may find no tongue to bless
Through the loud trumpet of the public press.
Time-honored city ! be it ours to stand
For thy broad portals, armed with traffic's wand ;
To keep undimmed and dear thy deathless name.
That beams unclouded on the rolls of fame ;
And foster honor till the world shall say,
Trade hath no worthier home than yon bright bay."
With the ready hand of an analyst, INIr. Whipple, in his effective
oration at the head of this article, boldly exhibits the striking contrast
in the characters of George the Third and George Washington. The
three royal Georges of Old England, by an intolerant oppression of their
, EDWIN PERCY WHIPPLE. 6T3
•
New England descendants, unconsciously originated the Revolution,
which, through the wisdom and sagacity of our AYashington, cstahlished
an independent republic, and inspired with the spirit of civil liberty
every nation on the face of the whole earth.
CHARLES THEODORE RUSSELL.
JULY 4, 1851. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
Charles Theodore Russell was born at Princeton, Mass., Nov.
20, 1815 ; fitted for college in part at an academy, and in part ■with the
clergyman of his native town. He entered Harvard College in the
autumn of 1833, and graduated in 1837, on which occasion he, gave
-the salutatory oration in Latin ; and, in 1840, he delivered the val-
edictory address, when he took the degree of Master of Arts. Mr.
Russell studied law for a period in Boston, and at the Cambridge LaAv
School, and was admitted to the bar of Suffolk in September, 1839 :
and, in the succeeding month, commenced the practice of law in Bos-
ton. He married, on June 1, 1840, Miss Sarah E., daughter of
Joseph Ballister, of Dorchester. Li 1843 INIr. Russell was elected to
the House of Representatives, of which he was two years a member^
when he declined a reelection. In 1849 he was again elected to the
House, and in the year succeeding he Avas elected to the State Senate,
of which he is now a member. Mr. Russell is the author of the His-
tory of Princeton, from its first settlement ; a valuable production,
which was published in the year 1838.
Mr. Russell, in the peroration to the patriotic performance at the-
head of this article, remarks: "We hear much, in these days, of 'a
higher law.' I recognize its existence, and reverently bow before
its manifestations. I present our Union as a striking monument of
its moulding and guiding Omnipotence. I have desired to enhance
the value of the magnificent structure, by exhibiting it in the hand
of the Divine Builder. I have endeavored to show that this ' higher
law,' by a series of concurring events, reaching back through cen-
turies, has elaborated and evolved this successful experiment of
human liberty. Thus originated, I claim for it the holiest sanctions
of this law. I demand for it the support of its solemn obligations.
The union of these States has been accomphshed by the contribu-
57
674 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
tions of nations find centuries, for no transient or insignificant pur-
pose. In its sublime and ultimate end, it has a mission to humanity.
In the language of Washington, ' the preservation of the sacred fire
of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government,
are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the
experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people.' Thus,
as Madison has ' truly said, are we ' responsible for the greatest trust
ever confided to a political society.' Ours is not the duty of forming,
but preserving. The fathers were faithful to every exigency by which
God created it. "We are responsible for a like faithfulness to every
exigency by which he would preserve and perpetuate it. To such
fidelity the past urges, the future calls, and the highest law commands
us. Evils and defects within our Union we may well and earnestly
seek to remove, by the development and operation of the principles
upon which it rests. But, Avhosoever lays his hand upon the fabric
itself, or seeks, by whatever means, or under whatever pretence, or
from whatever source, to undermine its foundations, is treacherous to
liumanity, false to liberty, and, more than all, culpable to God.
"This is the inference of duty. To its performance hope, by its
smile, encourages us. All efforts for the dissolution of our Union will
be as disastrously unsuccessful as they arc singularly criminal. Never,
in its existence, has it been more earnestly and truly performing its
appropriate work than now. A people in the aggregate happy and
blessed as the sun shines upon repose in its protection. Every rolling
■tide brings to its shores multitudes seekino; its shelter. Each recedino;
wave carries back to the people they have left its liberalizing influ-
ence. Rising midway of the continent, and reaching to either ocean,
it throws over both its radiant and cheering light. Intently the strug-
gling nations contemplate its no longer doubtful experiment. Moral
and religious truth are penetrating every part of its vast domain, and
planting, in the very footsteps of the first settlers, the church, the
school, and the college. Its Christian missionaries have girdled the
globe with their stations ; and, in all of them, heroic men and women,
under its protection, with the religion of Jesus, are silently diffusing
the principles of American liberty. Already a nation in the far off
islands of the Pacific has been redeemed by them from barbarism,
assumed its place among the powers of the earth, and the very last mails
tell us is at this moment seeking admission to our republic.
'• Thus meeting its grand purposes, it will not fall. Man alone has
CHARLES THEODORE RUSSELL. 675
not reared it, the tabernacle of freedom ; and man alone cannot pros-
trate it, or gently beam bj beam take it down. Heaven directed in its
formation and growth; Avhile true to its origin, it will be heaven-
protected in its progress and maturity. The stars of God will shine
down kindlj' upon it, and angels, on the beats of their silvery wings,
will linger and hover above it. To-day it is as firmly seated as ever
in the affections of its citizens. Guarded by its hardly seen power,
reposing in its prosperity, not stopping to contemplate the character of
its origin, or to realize its transcendent purpose, men, for a moment,
may cast its value, speculate on its duration, and even threaten its dis-
solution. In the administration of its affairs, conflicts of opinion will
exist, sectional interests Avill become excited, and sometimes hostile.
The vieAvs of ardent men will be maintained with the ardor in which
they are held. A clear and fair field of combat will be left to error
and truth. The largest freedom of discussion will be scrupulously
preserved. In the consequent excitement, there may sometimes seem
to be danger to the Union itself. But, in the hour of peril, experience
shows, and ever will show, that a whole people will rally to its support,
and sink its foes beneath a weight of odium a life-time cannot alleviate.
The rain may descend, the floods come, and the winds blow and beat
upon it, — it will not fall, for it is founded upon a rock. It rests upon
guarantees stronger even than laws and compromises. For it our
interests combine in overwhelming potency; around it cluster the most
glorious associations of our history ; in it the hopes of humanity are
involved; to it our hearts cling with undying love; for it religion, lib-
erty and conscience, plead ; and, beyond all, upon it, iu its riper years
as in its infancy, the protection of God rests, a sheltering cloud for its
fiercer day, a pillar of fire in its darker night."'
" One great clime,
■Whose vigorous ofiFspring by dividing ocean
Are kept apart, and nursed in the devotion
Of Freedom, whicli tlieir fathers fought for, and
Bequeathed, a lieritagc of heart and hand,
And proud distiucti>.iu ft-om eacli other land.
Whose sons must bow them, at a monarch's motion,
As if his senseless sceptre were a -wand
Full of the magic of e.'cploded science, —
Still one great clime, in full and free defiance,
Yet rears her crest, unconquered and sublime,
Above the far Atlantic. " B v RO x.
^T6 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
THOMAS STARR KING.
JULY 5, 1852. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
" The last two centuries," said our orator, " are the most remark-
able of the world's history, for the amount of social justice that
has been established for millions of men; and the fullest expe-
rience of it has been on this continent, secured by the institutions
^Yhich have made our country an original experiment and a spectacle
in the annals of time.
"To a scientific mind, a Humboldt or an Owen, no tidin^-s would
be freighted with such absorbing interest as the information that a
new and high type of organization had arisen on this planet ; that the
creative powers around us had given birth to some beautiful plant,
some majestic tree, some strange and symmetrical animal, with higher
functions, and more intricate constitution, than any vegetable or phys-
ical organization known to the lists of science. With what reverence
would their minds bend before such a glorious miracle, and how eao-er,
how curious and minute, would their researches be into the wisdom
embodied in the last and highest creation of the Intellect that rules
the world !
. "We all know what excitement was caused, a few years since, by
the discovery of a new planet beyond the path of Uranus. But what
would the amazement of an astronomer be, if he could detect in the
sky a planet in the swift process of formation ! or what, if he could
look through the glass into some sacred district of space, and see a
vast continent of chaos organize itself rapidly into a system ; if every
process by which planets and satellites are formed out of primeval
matter could be made visible, and the forces which, upon our globe,
have so slowly deposited the landmarks of geological ages, should con-
dense their w^ork into a few years, so that he could study it at leisure,
night by night, noting each week some step of advance which on our
globe exhausted a hundred centuries, and seeing all end in the pro-
duction of a beauty which no orb of our own system wears ! How
much more clearly would the study of such a creative process of nature
reveal what the physical forces are, than any abstract description could
convey ; and how much deeper and more solemn the impression of
such a spectacle, than dry statements, chemical hypotheses, and math-
ematical formulas !
THOMAS STARR KING. G77
"And our history is most interesting and suggestive when vicAved
as a fresh creation from deeps of human nature that hud long been
sluggish, and -whose vitality seemed to be effete. The appearance of
our mighty millions of Avhite democracy, stretching from ocean to
ocean, and from the Russian latitudes to tlu tropical gulf, without a
monarch, with no hereditary rulers, no lords, no titles, no vested rights,
no despotic church, but blessed with an order such as the world has
never seen, and a prosperity that has outrun every enthusiastic dream,
and yet not exhausting more than half a century in the revelation of
its most startling results, — what is it to the political student but a
process parallel to the picture we imagined of an evolving system of
worlds in space before the eye of an astronomer, — a magnificent and
astonishing effort of organization, unexampled in human experience
for the breadth of the scale, the rapidity of the development, and the
character of the products, and revealing, as nothing else could do, the
constructive powers that slumber in the popular brain and heart ! '"
The eloquent passage, from the unpublished oration, at the head of
this article, was kindly contributed to this work at the special request
of the editor. We should sincerel}'- regret that the orator had declined
the request of the city authorities for its publication, were it not for
the consideration that it may be the means of more extended useful-
ness by being delivered before other large audiences in many places.
We admire his simplicity of manner, as in the instance of proceeding
up the mall of our beautiful Common to Park-street meeting-house, a
while previous to the period of the audience gathering there, with the
arm of his wife on one side, and his clerical gown in a neat wrapper
under his other arm. thus avoiding the parade of a long march in the
public procession. Mr. King is remarkably self-possosstd, and wo
found him as much at home on this exciting occasion as he is in the
lecture-room. Indeed, v,e view him as a rare personification of pure
eloquence, both as regards personal address and power of thought.
This performance was on " The Organization of Liberty on the West-
ern Continent," and was a fine illustration, as remarked by one of our
public journals, of the illumination which may be cast over a whole
field of reflection and investigation, by vigorously conceiving the cen-
tral principle, which includes its details, reduces the various topics of
the general subject into order and relation, and darts light and heat
into the duskiest corners of its cold abstractions. While listening to
an oration in which a large and liberal philosophy gave substance and
57*
678 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
form to a genuine love of freedom, we coukl not resist the patriotic
quibble, that, for the first time in seventy years, a Fourth of July
audience of American democrats might join the most loyal of tories in
his toast of '• Church and King."
The accustomed public dinner of the city authorities was partaken
at Faneuil Hall ; but the coming admonition of the poet to our orators,
and those who are seated at the festive-board, was not required on this
occasion, for the oration of jMr. King was of pertinent brevity, and
temperance presided at the feast :
" Solid men of Boston, banish strong potations ;
Solid men of Boston, make no long orations."
We will here digress for the purpose of introducing another instance
of a more pointed allusion to this memorable passage. It appears that
in a debate in Parliament on the Volunteer Bill, some squibbing
occurred between Sheridan and Burke. The latter gentleman
observed that long speeches without good materials were dangerous,
quoting the above popular doggerel of the American war :
" Solid men of Boston, banish strong potations ;
Solid men of Boston, make no long orations."
When Sheridan, imagining that the first line of the couplet, if not the
second, applied rather too effectively to himself, keenly retorted by
stating that he remembered some other lines from the same approved
author :
" Now it hapt to the country he went for a blessing,
•And from his state daddy to get a new lesson ;
He went to Daddy Jenky by trimmer Hal attended, —
In such company, good lack, how his morals must be mended ! "
We believe the pulpit is the most fitting sphere in which Mr. King
is adapted to move, as his heart appears absorbed in its notle duties.
We hope that his whole soul will ever be devoted to the ministry,
firmly resolving never to exchange the pulpit for the highest honor
that any civil or political power may propose to confer.
Thomas Starr King was born in the city of New York, December
17, 1824. His father was the Rev. Thomas F. King, who married
Miss Susan Starr, both of Avhom were natives of New York city.
His early boyhood was passed in Portsmouth, N. H., and his later
THOMAS STARR KING. 679
youth in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Avhcre his father had the pas-
toral care of a church. Young Mr. King was prepared for colle<Te,
but the decease of his father prevented his entrance, and he continued
his education in the intervals of leisure obtained from his duties as a
public school teacher, and a civil clerkship in the Navy Yard at
CharlestOAvn. His mind was closely devoted to a preparation for the
ministerial office ; and on September, 1846, when at the age of twenty-
one years, he was ordained the pastor of his father's parish in Charles-
town, as the immediate successor of the Rev. E. H. Chapin. Mr. Kin<T,
on the 17th December, 1848, was married to Miss Julia M. WiffT^in.
of East Boston ; and in that month, after the resignation of Rev.
David Fosdick. pastor of the Ilollis-street Church, in Boston, he was
installed to its pastoral care, wliich station he now occupies. May this
young prince of divines become a star of the first magnitude in the
theological horizon !
Our young orator delivered a very patriotic sermon on Patriotism,
for the Ancient and Honorable xVrtillcry Company, June 2, 1851, as
have all his predecessors in Hollis-street Church, e.Kcepting two. breath-
ing love of country in fervent tones worthy of a statesman, from Avhich
we Avill cite a passage : " Here we are, successors of noble men. heirs
of a providential past. Everything in our history incites to patriot-
ism. The winds would fin it into activity. Every page of our annals
preaches it. The man who cannot thank God he was born an American
is undeserving the blessing of such birth. That consciousness, enliv-
ening the sensibilities, should equalize fortunes. The poor man should
not feel poor when he thinks that his humble roof and circumstances
are sheltered by a canopy of ideas and sentiments such as never before
arched over any palace of the world. If the humlilest Catholic feels
pride in being one member of a community that stretches from Andes
to the Indus, and which has Clirist for its founder and heaven for its
goal, the lowliest citizen of this land should feel it an immense enlarge-
ment of his bein^r, — an enlarirement which mere wealth could never
give, — that he has partnership in the mission of a people along whom
God is pouring the best life of the past, enriched with additional
streams of inspiration, solicited by our own genius, into the future.
For the tendrils of our blessings stretch fir out into the centuries, and
twine around the most precious elements of history, to draw nourish-
ment. The human race is vitally one ; and, whatsoever is eminent
and best in any line of social manifestation, is somehow connected
6S0 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
ift-ith Other and distant portions of the common body, as the topmost
branch of a tree bears life that is due, in part, to the health and fidel-
ity of juices in the root, and as the wave that foams upon the shore
discharges an undulation that began far out upon the sea."
We are earnest in the wish that our Boston pulpit may never become
the arena for Sabbath political declamation, but ever be consecrated to
the unfoldings of sound divinity and persuasives to holy living;
and, though cold detractors may remark that the Rev. Mr. King is no
such orator as Horace Holley was, our persuasion is clear that we have
repeatedly heard him " discourse most eloquent music," — an instance
of which appears in his sermon occasioned by the decease of Deacon
Daniel Weld, of this church, on " The Gains and Losses of a Church,"
where appears the subjoined beautiful illustration of the gain to his-
tory in the loss of our noble Washington : " Who believes that Wash-
ington is not with us, active as a force upon our people 7 It was
a sad day, a wintry day, indeed, — dreary to the spirit as well as to
the body, — when he breathed out his last breath, when his pulse
ceased forever, and all that his form Avhich wore such majesty could
do for his land was to consecrate the district of it, where it should
recline for unbroken rest. The people felt that a patriot had gone,
such as they could not expect would be given to them again
But Washington could not have been less removed from our country
than when he died. His spirit rose to greater influence than it had
wlien housed in a mortal frame. It passed into the finer robe of liter-
ature and history, and has become a guest in every house. The states-
man and the patriot go to him now for counsel, and, as he speaks to
them through their reverent meditations, no mixture of earthly pas-
sions alloys the wisdom he imparts. His name is invoked to soften the
asperities of party conflict when they threaten the welfare of the
nation ; his grave sheds an efiluence of patriotic zeal and fliith in
heavenly help ; and his character, by its simple sublimity and strength,
teaches the eyes of American childhood what grandeur there is in vir-
tue, and what glory swathes the true patriot's name Thus
nations lose men to gain histoiy. They require a dignified past, a
noble background to their activity, from which their best minds address
the reverence and sympathy of succeeding generations with a fresh
and purifying power."
We know not how so happily to draw an outline of the intellectual
•capacities of Thomas Starr King, as is exhibited in the forthcoming
THOMAS STARR KING. 681
graphic sketch, prepared for this work by a literary friend, much
endeared to him by the strong bonds of famihar intimacy. '-Mr.
King's peculiarities of mind and style are characterized by fluency,
grace, sweetness, and vigor. His intellect appears to have no obstruc-
tions to its movement. Confusion of thought, partial grasp of matter,
obscurity of view, feeble hold upon language, have no place in his
clear, elastic, decisive mind ; and the result is a remarkable felicity
of expression, in which the thought is clothed in its appropriate form,
without any appearance of effort. With great facility, sureness and
swiftness of perception, and powers of combination capable of instjint
action on Avhat is perceived, he seems to comprehend a subject at a
glance, to dispose its various, topics in their right relations with equal
readiness, and to unfold it in sermon, or lecture, or oration, with the
lucid vigor and splendor of one to whom apt words and significant
imiiges are ' nimble servitors.' The metaphysical and imaginative
tendencies of his mind meet and cohere and work together in his ordi-
nary mental action, and he therefore touches no subject which he does
not both analyze and adorn. To talents thus active, penetrating and
brilliant, he adds solid acquirements in theology, philosophy, history
and general literature, and a largeness of view and sobriety of judg-
ment unlikely to be caught in any of the cants or entangled in any
of the crotchets of the day. As a public speaker he happily combines
elegance with energy, and is exceedingly popular."
Mr. King has been a frequent contributor to several periodicals on
various subjects, in which he displays such learning and talent, such
penetration and quickness of perception, as would reflect honor on
one Avho had received a finished classical education, though we dis-
sent from some of his opinions. Among his articles we have spec-
ially noticed his remarks on the Connection between Natural and
Revealed lleligion, Philosophy and Theology, Views of Recent Poetry,
Plato's Views of Immortality, Prospects and I'rogrcss of the Nine-
teenth Century, Universality of Christianity, the Idea of God and
Christianity, a Review of BushneU's Discourses, and an excellent
article on the Character of Edwin Percy Whipple as a Writer. The
highly felicitous allusion to IMr. Whipple in this criticism by ]Mr. King
is peculiarly characteristic of the capacities of the subject of this arti-
cle, " that the reviews he has published bear witness that his taste is
healthy and catholic, — that he is above suspicions of conventional and
clanish prejudice, and that his weights and measures are trustworthy.
682 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
His mind is a good spiritual tliermometer, and is so nicely affected by
the genius of the book he reads, that his appreciation of it is a pretty
accurate indication of its real temperature or grade." A perfectly
life-like crayon head of Mr. King, taken by the junior Martin of
London, is in the family.
" After the mercantile heart had devised and secured those iron
tracks and flying trains," says Mr. King, in preaching on the Railroad
Jubilee of September, 1851, "God took them for his purposes.
Without paying any tax for the privilege, he uses them to quicken
the activity of men ; to send energy and vitality where before were
silence and barrenness ; to multiply cities and villages, studded with
churches, dotted with schools, and filled with happy homes and bud-
ding souls ; to increase wealth which shall partially be devoted to his
service and kingdom, and all alono- their banks to make the wilderness
blossom as the rose. Without any vote of permission from legislatures
and officials, — even while the cars are loaded Avith profitable freight
and paying passengers, and the groaning engines are earning the nec-
essary interest, — Providence sends, Avithout charge, its cargoes of
good sentiment and brotherly feeling ; disburses the culture of the
city to the simplicity of the hamlet, and brings back the strength and
virtue of the village and mountain to the wasting faculties of the
metropolis ; and fastens to every steam-shuttle, that flies back and
forth and hither and thither, an invisible thread of fraternal influence,
which, entwining sea-shore and hill-country, mart and grain-field,
forge and factory, wharf and mine, slowly prepares society to realize,
one day, the Saviour's prayer, ' that they all may be one.' The
beneficent genius of the age keeps his special and invisible express,
laden with packages of providential blessings, upon every train that
runs through our communities ; and it seems, as the cars fly along the
avenues which selfish traffic has created, that the villages, which are
everywhere threaded like beads along the iron wires, are, to use the
language of another, ' counted off" by the spirit of our age as so many
pater-nosters upon its rosary, in its swift worship of gratitude for the
dawn of the age of peace.' "
TniOTHY BIGELOW. 683
TIMOTHY BIGELOW.
JULY 4, 1853. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
'•Our mission is to occupy America; and in doing this "we shall
eventually control the world. "We have rivers waiting for enterprise,
solitudes for life, and prairies for the labor of man. The tide of pop-
ulation, rolling westward, Avill soon sweep over the desert places of
the land, clothing them with fertility and beauty. The hardy
pioneer to-day is clearing the forest on the banks of the Colorado,
where in a few years will arise temples of worship and seminaries of
science. On the spot where a company of adventurers have but just
erected their rude log-huts in some smiling valley, may shortly appear
a metropolis whose prosperity will be secured by the same free insti-
tutions and laws that prevail in our midst. Our country will thus
spread like the banian-tree of eastern climes, striking root wherever
there is soil to feed it, gaining strength from the new trunks which
it plants in the ground, affording shade to all who come beneath its
branches, and food to those who partake of the fruit which its waving
boughs afford.
"Largely, even now, is the influence of America felt in Europe.
The toiling serf, as he counts the hours of his bondage, rejoices that
a day-star has arisen over his cottage, in token of a glorious morning
at hand. The peasant, as he wanders by the banks of the Danube,
the Rhone and the Volga, or rests by the ruined castles that skirt
the Rhine, is cheered by the glad tidings which come to him over the
distant waters ; and, whilst he hears the marvels which have been
wrought by the genius of Liberty, he resolves that he or his descend-
ants shall be free. The monarch begins to find that the strongest
throne may totter, that the walls of palaces cannot shut out the popu-
lar demand for rights ; and, in the event that his subjects' wishes are
not heard nor their wants heeded, he will find himself at the mercy of
a power which he cannot control. Thus already is America thunder-
in"- at the gates of Europe ; not as when the followers of INIahomet
at Constantinople, or on the plains of Xeres, demanded that conti-
nent for the propagation of the Islam faith. Theirs was the aim to
extend the rule of the Crescent, and compel nations to bow to the
684 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
will of a barbarous despot. Our mission is to carry forward the
dominion of the Cross, and make potentates and princes bend to the
will and supremacy of the people.
" Other continents are likewise to be benefited by the example of
America. Africa, injured Africa, must arise from her dust and
deserts ; and the soil that once could boast of Memphis and Carthage
will glory in new states and cities, which shall acknowledge a more
liberal sway than was ever known to a Pharaoh or a Hannibal. And
Asia, the birthplace of nations — which can point with one hand to
the spot where man was created, and the other to the place where
he was redeemed — Asia, which has so long remained a stumbling-
block in the progress of the race, — she, too, must come forth from
her fallen state, and revive under the genial influence of our beneficent
institutions. Even now is our voice beginning to be heard among the
camphor-trees of Japan ; and, whatever may be the strength of ancient
prejudices, that island must soon be brought within the pale of a
Christian civilization. In this way shall America pay back to Asia
the service she rendered by the discovery of the mariner's compass,
which opened up our continent to the knowledge of the world. And
thus will the dreams of Columbus in a measure be answered, who had
hoped to find a new route to the Indies, and with the wealth obtained
by his discoveries to commence a last crusade, which would rescue the
Holy Land and the sepulchre of the Redeemer from the hands of the
Moslem.
" Look at the golden pillars erected on the opposite shores of the
Pacific, towards which our people are rapidly moving ! California
has become a sister republic, and is alive with a prosperous and happy
population. Almost simultaneously the treasures of Australia are
brought to light. Thither are hastening the sons of freedom, from
our own and distant lands. They are laying the foundations of a
republic, which will probably be the first to establish American insti-
tutions on the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Soon will other
isles of the Pacific be instinct with fresh life ; and, as our floating
argosies pause at the Sandwich or Society group, they may help to
build new Tyres and Alexandrias, organized with free and ennobling
laws. America must advance from her western coast to the shores
of the Oriental World; and these islands may become the stepping-
stones on her triumphal march. For she carries with her the benign
TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 686
influences of Liberty, Learning, and Religion ; which, together, form
a triple alliance that can prevail against the world.
" This consummation, we know, belongs to a distant age. The
amelioration of the race is the work of time ; and wrongs that have
prevailed through centuries cannot at once be redressed or removed.
But the influences of an enlightened civilization must spread, extend-
ing their benign operation over remote regions, bringing new rewards
to labor, new hopes to the oppressed. Christianity, as announced by
the toiling missionary, must shed into the heathen mind its elevating
and ennobling truths, quickening faith by upholding an hereafter where
all wrongs shall cease and justice triumph, and by pointing continu-
ally to the glorious life of One who embodied all the virtues, and
demonstrated their eflSciency by suffering and death. Learning will
spread its gay banquet for the ignorant sons of earth. It will bring
forward the fruits of other ages and the choicest products of our own
times, furnishing a repast that shall impart life and health unto all.
These agencies must all advance long before the perfect triumph of
Liberty in the world. Still it is well, on a day like this, to ascend
some political Pisgah and look towards the promised land, watered
by fair rivers, and rich in its valleys and flowering hills. The con-
templation gives us new strength and fresh courage ; at the same time,
it reminds us of our duty by exhibiting the labor we have yet to
accomplish. In our hands is placed the Oriflamme of the race, which
the men of America, we trust, are destined to bear aloft through long
centuries to come. Let us look forward with prophetic hope to the
glad day when all nations shall turn with grateful interest to the event
we now celebrate : when they shall be able thence to trace unnum-
bered benefits and blessings, which have added to their happiness and
welfare ; and when all shall regard our era of Independence as the
anniversary of man's political redemption, — the time when the true
philosophy of government was announced, and when it was shown
that national greatness and renown are to be found in attachment to
Liberty and Law. There are flowers that grow in tropical climates,
which require long years to bring forward to perfection. A century
passes over the plant, and then only docs it shoot up its blossoms,
that reflect the beauty and supplicate the smiles of heaven. So was
the event which we this day commemorate the brilliant blossom of
centuries, and well might the smiles of heaven be asked to rest upon
the peerless flower of Liberty !"'
58
686 THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
The paternal grandfather of Timothy Bigelow was an eminent
politician and a profound civilian, of such rare social powers, and
unaffected geniality of soul, that he became one of the most popular
public men of his day. A more particular account of his character
and services appears in another part of this volume. The subject of
this article, from whose admirably conceived and chastely ornate
oration the foregoing passage is presented, was born at Medford, Mass.,
March 15, 1825. He is the son of the Rev. Dr. Andrew Bigelow,
at that period the pastor of the First Congregational Church in that
town, and the successor of Rev. Dr. Osgood. His mother was Amelia
S., the second daughter of Capt. Theodore Stanwood, of Gloucester,
Mass. In the year 1833 his father removed to Taunton, and became
the pastor of the First Church in that town. Here young Timothy
attended school at the Bristol Academy, where, being a ready scholar,
he rapidly rose above his seniors, and was early prepared for college.
He entered Harvard University in 1841, and graduated in 1845.
His class-theme at college, on commencement day, was on the recent
political changes in Greece. Shortly after this period, Mr. Bigelow
prepared an excellent anonymous work for young people, entitled,
" The Dream Fulfilled, or the Trials and Triumphs of the Moreland
Family," which has passed through five editions, and should have a
place in every juvenile library. Besides being a contributor to peri-
odicals of the day, he furnished articles for the " Sacred Tableaux" and
the " Beauties of Sacred Literature," Early in the year 1846, he
commenced the study of the law under the guidance of the late eminent
and truly estimable counsellor, Henry H. Fuller, Esq., and after the
usual period of law study he was admitted to the Suffolk bar. The
first public performance of Mr. Bigelow was an address delivered at
the opening of Williams Hall, Boston, March 8, 1853. Were this
the only production of his early ripened mind, it would insure him
an honored memory among us. We will cite a passage :
" When the stranger shall hereafter ask where are the Boston fort-
ifications of which he has read in history, bid him come here. Tell
him that this building occupies the spot where those bulwarks once
stood. Tell him that where the trump of war was formerly heard,
he can now listen to the organ-notes of peace. Tell him that where
the sentries once looked out for the approach of peril, the moral and
mental sentinels of humanity are on the constant alert, in order to
instruct and warn. Tell him, too, that this hall is dedicated to
TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 637
Religion, Liberty, and Learning; and that these are the modern
fortresses of Boston, by whose protection she has gained her present
enviable position, and whereby she can bid defiance to every vicissitude
and danger."
The glowing ardor of patriotic sentiment and the great purity of
taste exhibited in this composition, prompted the city authorities of
Boston to invite Mr. Bigelow to deliver the next oration on the anni-
versary of our National Independence. This performance was univer-
sally admired on the day of its delivery, and received great favor
from the daily press. At the public dinner in Faneuil Ilall, the
Hon. Edward Everett, our senator in Congress, in a speech on
the stability and progress of our national independence, made this
flattering allusion to the orator of the day; "who," said he, "gave us
such a treat in his ingenious, manly and fervid discourse, in which he
rose very far above the commonplaces of the occasion, and adorned his
great theme with much original and seasonable illustration. It -was
especially gratifying to me to witness the brilliant promise he afforded
us of adding new lustre to a name on which two generations in this
community have accumulated their honors." Subsequent to this great
festival, the Hon. Charles Sumner, our other senator in Congress
from Massachusetts, in congratulating the young orator on the
remarkable success which attended its delivery, whereof the papers
of the day were jubilant, remarked to him in the following terms :
" As I read it, I enjoyed its flowing style, and only desired less of
conformity with the short-lived opinions of the Boston of to-day.
For every generous sentiment I thank you, and especially for utter-
ing words which, when they come from a sincere soul, are talismanic.
' In the sacred name of justice, demand liberty for man ! ' These
contain a whole oration, and I trust that you will always be true
to them."
Mr. Bigelow, having thus unexpectedly been introduced to the pub-
lic, has, during the past lecture season, delivered an address in
upwards of seventy-five towns and cities, before lyceums and kindred
institutions. He is among the most youthful of our municipal
orators, — the youngest of whom was Harrison Gray Otis; — may
he prove himself worthy of the earnest desire of his friends, and the
high anticipations of the public !
688 THE HUJVDRED BOSTON CEATORS.
ANDREAV LEETE STONE.
JULY 4, 1854. FOR THE CITY AUTHORITIES.
" The day of compromise is past. That broken public faith has
shattered all compromises. Men will trust in them, consent to
them, no more. And this, not we fear because of an increasing
tenderness in the public conscience, but because, considered as
pledges binding to its contracts the perfidious slave power, they
are seen to be powerless as ropes of sand. And the men who have
strained their conscience to the very utmost tension, and silenced
all the protests of their nature, for the sake of peace and in loy-
alty to the Union, are those whose wounds are deepest. They
have gone farthest in concessions to the South — in the spirit of
forbearance and the hope of harmony, and this is their reward.
Like the Alpine eagle slain by an arrow feathered from its own
pinion, they have been pierced through their own generous but
mistaken policy. There will be no more compromises!
" It is a memorable thing that this new step of progress is only,
after the flight of three-fourths of a century, a return to the spirit
of the fathers. Alas, that an onward career of prosperity like
ours should have been as swiftly and surely a backward career in
the morals of this great debate. ' Slavery will soon die,^ they thought
and said ; and the old thirteen States twined their arms together
like a band of virgin sisters. ' Slavery will soon die/ and they
framed the Constitution to meet that ])resent exigency, and to ig-
nore for ever its memory. ' Slavery will soon die,' and they made
the importation of slaves piracy on the high seas. Penitently and
reverently we must tread our way back to the moral eminences
where they stood, and changing that syllable of expectation to one
of bold and determined purpose, say, here and now, after so long
a time, ' Slavery must die.'
" We must yield no more territory to the insatiable spirit of
slavery propagandism. Not another particle of freedom's sacred
dust, whatever, — I know what I say, it is a broad word, and has a
terrible significance, — whatever be the alternative. Into that
imperilled West, from which every holy guard for freedom is with-
drawn, we must pour the living streams of freemen. Let it flow,
our best New England blood, to enrich and consecrate that soil —
ANDREW LEETE STONE. '" 689
let them go, our sons and dauglitcrs, carrying thither good destinies
with them. The race course is free to us — yonder vesper star the
prize ; let us see if Freedom cannot win the race.
" We must admit on no pretence another slave State. Are not all
old pledges dead and buried ? We do put the national imprimatur
upon the system, when we add one of those malign stars to the
glorious constellation.
" We must stand for the repeal of that harsh law that goes
trampling through the sacred privacies of our homes, unearthing
the hidden, trembling fugitive, and remanding him to chains.
" Till that hour strikes, wo must lend that barbarous decree no
help or countenance. If there be penalties for such recusancy, let
thera lay their heaviest exactions on our heads. Sooner than join
our aid to the savage hunt, to lay the flying bondman by the heels,
let the avengers of such law drag us to fetters. Sweeter and
brighter than the beauty of day shall be the gloom of dungeons
in such a martyrdom — richer poverty under such proscription and
confiscation, than wealth and station the price of dishonor.
" This is no plea for armed resistance. Violence and bloodshed
win no laurels for principle. 0, my fellow-citizens, let us remem-
ber that our true love for humanity, our noble indignation at
wrong, our quenchless loyalty to right, are all mixed and sullied
with the stains of earthlicr passions when we join to them the
clenched hand, the gnashing teeth, and the gleaming blades of
popular insurrection.
" This may we do, and keep both clean hands and an honest con-
science— withdraw, on every hand, each private citizen — each
public functionary — each humblest servitor of justice, from the
processes of that legal kidnapping, and let them thrive as they
may without us. One such bright example, of laying down oflice
that cannot be administered with honor, is worth for the cause of
freedom a hundred orations. W^e shall serve our cause best, keep
its dignity and purity most inviolate, when we sufler the cruel edict
to take its way, with such allies as it can buy and yoke to its car,
amid our stern and meaning silence. Let our citizen soldiery lake
to themselves salutary caution. If they are in haste at such cri^e3,
when the authority of our own State court, the provisions of our
own State laws, the mandates of our own State magistrates, tho
rights of our own metro[)olitan proprietorship, arc nullified by
the Federal power arrayed on the side of inhumanity and un-
58*
690 ^'' THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
righteousness, — if they are in haste to flash the sheen of their
steel and the glitter of their uniform, before our eyes as the life-
guards of oppression, to display their tactics and horsemanship in
our public squares, as a terror not only to all free and generous
sentiments, but to the administration of our own forms of justice,
if they are to be associated with the pressure of the Federal Gov-
ernment upon us, overriding and overawing the course of law in
the midst of us — rather than with the conservation of these sa-
cred rights of their fellow-citizens, they must not complain if they
come to be looked upon henceforth as the myrmidons of tyranny,
rather than the defenders of Liberty.
" And if, in taking thus our unalterable position, we hear again
on every southern wind the alarm-cry of * disunion ' — let the
lolast blow, till it spend itself. It has been a periodic gale through
the lifetime of two generations. It has swept with it, as every
wind does, the light-lying surface dust and withered leaves, and
seemed to darken the hemisphere ; but it has not prostrated the
oaks or unseated the hills. Let the wind blow — after the storm
■Cometh the calm. And if that idle terror become at last a dread
reality — if the price of the Union should still be the bleeding
sacrifice of humanity, the fettered body of liberty — if there lie
within this broader nationality no redemption for the dishonored
name of our free Republican Institutions, — if our sister States of
the South choose rather to cut themselves clear from the strong
bands of the confederacy, than to yield their unholy demands upon
us, to fall down and worship their great Moloch, — if they think it
practicable and easy to adjust for themselves a separate national-
ity, with a frontier line of States touching our free North, to shut
themselves up trusting to such forces of law, police, and arms as
they can muster, with that magazine of destruction in the midst of
them, — if they will it so, even so let it be. This is not the worst.
The worst is to drag along with us forever into the world's bright-
ening future this body of death. If it will fall off from us instead
of suffering burial, let it go."
Though the rivalry of Boston orators to minister at the altar
of liberty on the great national festival, as it is a rare introduc-
tion for a young man to public fame, bears no comparison to the
competition of the actors in the Olympic games, as it regards the
rewards of success or the number of spectators, yet the applicants
for the honor are very numerous ; but the reward is nothing more
ANDREW LEETE STONE. 1st 691
than the public approbation of a patriotic and eloquent orator, or
should his performance be a failure, better were it that he had not
spoken. It was rather different, however, with the orators on the
Boston Massacre ; for we find by the records of Boston, that the
selectmen, on April 17, 1782, voted to present the Hon. George
Richards Minot, the last orator but one, five yards of broadcloth,
— it being the custom to grant that quantity as a compliment to the
orator for delivering an oration on that anniversary.
The oration of Mr. Stone, from which the above passages are
gathered, is probably the first palpable rebuke of the mighty slave
power, — which we hope will never become national, — ever pro-
nounced before the public authorities of Boston on the anniversary
of our national independence. Our exemplar president, the noble
Washington, once said to Mercer, " It is among my first desires
that slavery may be abolished by law." While it appears to be
the destiny of this republic to occupy America, it should be her
highest ambition to establish unlimited freedom to man, and thus
illustrate the force of the " declaration," when we wrested our-
selves from foreign bondage, that all men are born free and equal.
This greatest of all our national evils will never be swept from the
entire extent of our Union by intemperate zeal, popular tumults,
or mob law. Submission to the legal enactments of our repre-
sentatives being an imperative duty, should they become oppressive
and repeal prove hopeless, it is a vested power of the people to
elect others who will rescind such acts. " Mobs will never do to
govern states or command armies," said John Adams to Benjamin
Hichborn ; "I was as sensible of it in 1770 as 1787. To talk of
liberty in such a state of things! Is not a Shattuck or a Shays as
great a tyrant, when he would pluck up law and justice by the
roots, as a Bernard or a Hutchinson, wlicn he would overturn them
partially?" Our entire dependence for the abolition of slavery
rests on enlightened public opinion, rousing iu her majesty to car-
nest action through the will of the States and the concurrence of
Congress. Thank heaven, there is wisdom enough among this great
people to keep the machinery of our government well oiled, and avert
anarchy and misrule in the States. We cannot approve the heated
spirit of Garrison, who, on the present festival of this nation's birth-
day at Framingham, amid a large gathering of people, committed to
the flames copies of the fugitive slave act, the severe decision of Judge
Loring directing the rendition of a fugitive slave, the admonitory
692 1'* TliE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
charge of Judge Curtis, and finally our national constitution, fol-
lowed by applauding shouts as the deed was consummated. What
our country needs at this great period of deep feeling is, that
slaveholders themselves, warmed with the spirit of philanthropy,
should establish antislavery societies in their midst, resolving that
enslaved humanity shall be disenthralled henceforth. Though
Congress has abrogated fair compromises, which seemed as the
daybreak of liberty, we know there are benevolent hearts among
slaveholders earnest to forward unlimited emancipation ; and may
they find orators for their cause nerved with an unblenching en-
ergy, but divested of the sharp intolerance of certain ultra rad-
icals, who, in the figures of Henry W. Domett, a forcible writer
and native of Boston, like Wendell Phillips, pierce slavery with
the delicate rapier of silvery eloquence ; or, like Garrison, slash it
with the ponderous battle axe of denunciation ; or, like Theodore
Parker, stab it to the heart with the poisoned dagger of bitter sar-
casm. While, with Washington, we know that we shall not live to
see the day of emancipation, we are earnest in the assurance that
this republic is destined to become the freest nation on earth, and
that philanthropy, in the spirit of Jefferson, ever trembling that
God is just, will never rest till this great work is accomplished.
Andrew Leete Stone, the orator whose performance has elicited
the foregoing remarks, is probably an honored descendant of the
Rev. Samuel Stone, one of the first settlers of Hartford, of whom
Mather, in his Magnalia, when alluding to the glorious triumvirate
who came across the Atlantic in the ship Griffin, and arrived at
Boston September 4, 1633, remarks, that the God of heaven had
supplied the poor people in our wilderness with their three great
necessities — Cotton for their clothing. Hooker for their fishing,
and Stone for their building ; the latter of whom, in the applica-
tion of doctrine, was both a Load Stone and a Flint Stone.
Moreover, Mather says of Stone's great discourses about the logi-
cal notion of a congregational church, that some were of opinion
that it was as a Stone from the sling of David, he having mortally
wounded the head of that Goliah, a national political church. In
Drake's History of Boston, it appears that the first witticism is a
modification of what was previously said by Joshua Scottow.
"A quaternion — Mr. Cotton, eminent for spiritual clothing, and
Mather for celestial dying, Hooker for soul-fishing, and Stone for
building up in the holy faith."
ANDREW LEETE STONE. ^'' 603
Mr. Stone is a native of the good old State of Connecticut. He
was born in the town of Oxford, in New Haven county, of that State,
November 25, 1815. His father. Dr. Noah Stone, was a physician,
whose professional life was spent in the labors of that arduous calling
among the rough hills and rude valleys of that portion of the State.
His mother, Rosalind Marvin, was a daughter of ^lattliow ^larvin,
Esq., of Lyme, Connecticut, and a niece of Julius Doming, of Litch-
field, in the same State. At the age of seventeen Mr. Stone entered
Yale College, under the presidency of that venerable man, still living,
Jeremiah Day, and graduated in the year 1837, with the appoint-
ment of an oration. The theme of his oration, chosen at a time
when commercial reverses were rolling like tide waves through the
land, was "The Benefits op National Adversity." For three
years subsequent to his graduation Mr. Stone was a professor in the
"New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb,"
at the same time pursuing the study of theology in the Union The-
ological Seminary in that city. At the expiration of this period of
■ three years, he connected himself with the American Sunday School
Union at Philadelphia, and served that society first as a city mis-
sionary, then as a collecting agent for some three years more.
While residing in Philadelphia ilr. Stone married a daughter of
Abijah Fisher, Esq., a well-known merchant of New York, and an
elder in Rev. Dr. Cox's church, of Brooklyn. Having received a
call from the South Church, in the city of Middletown, Connecticut,
he was ordained their pastor in September, 18-44, aud continued
with them until January, 1849. At that time he was called to the
pastorate of the Park Street Church in Boston, and was installed
over them on the twenty-fifth day of that month.
Mr. Stone is an admirable specimen of puljiit eloquence. The
crowds of persons who patiently hover around the inner doors of
the church, waiting for seats, strongly indicate tliat the public aro
of the same opinion. Having a liberal share of the elements of
rhetorical power, he has become, during his short ministry in Bos-
ton, the most popular preacher of Park Street Church since the
days of that truly eloquent divine, Edward Dorr Grilfin, its first
pastor. His enunciation is peculiarly natural, direct, ever to the
point, and very manly. Having been a teacher in an asylum for
the deaf and dumb, our orator has acquired a success in rhetorical
action that renders his pulpit eloqucnco an important school for
public speakers. His language is in the purest style of modern
694: ^^' THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS.
elocution ; and though at times it is rather florid, which, however,
so forcible is the elTect of his action, is hardly apparent to the au-
ditors, yet it never descends to coarseness. While he is ever ready
of speech, what he has to advance is well said, and when he has
done he comes to an end. This is a great secret of eloquence ;
and what is a natural consequence, his discourses are remarkable
for their brevity, pronounced in a very clear, sonorous, and well
modulated voice, that is distinctly heard by the whole audience.
His facility of composition is not a whit behind his extempora-
neous fluency ; and we know not any one of his coadjutors in the
ministry who has the power to prepare a sermon, well elaborated
in argument and illustration, more promptly than Mr. Stone. In-
deed some of his happiest productions are the result of the shortest
period of labor. No one can estimate the influence of such a
mind when it is wholly devoted to Christ and the crucifixion.
Moreover, it is a marked peculiarity of his public performances
that he never digresses to enlarge of himself — a practice only
to be tolerated from the venerable fathers of the pulpit ; but his
mind is closely devoted to the subject before him, investing it in a
tasteful drapery that gives a charm to its unfoldings.
It is a beautiful feature in the character of Mr. Stone, that be-
sides being devoted to the work of human salvation, a position
more elevated than any other sphere occupied by man, he is deeply
interested in the great reforms of the day. His four published
reports, as secretary of the Boston City Missionary Society, from
1850 to 1854 ; his discourse for the Howard Benevolent Society ;
his sermon for the Prison Discipline Society ; his address for the
American Peace Society ; his oration for the Sons of Temperance ;
his address on the Mission of "Woman, evidently indicate a spirit
of philanthropy tending to the great moral advancement of the
city in which he delights to labor.
WEBSTEirS EAELIEST OEATIOX,
AT THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN YEARS.
JVot embodied in any edition of his published xvnrks. It icas pronounced at Hun-
over, jY. H., July i, 1800, when he was a member of the junior class in Dart-
mouth University.
" Do thou, great Liberty, inspire our souls,
And make our lives in thy possession happy.
Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence ! "
Addison.
COUNTKYJIEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS :
We are now assembled to celebrate an anniversary ever to be held in dear remera
brance by the sons of freedom. Nothing less than the birth of a nation, — nothing
less than the emancipation of three millions of people from the degrading chains of
foreign dominion, — is the event we commemorate.
Twenty-four years have this day elapsed since united Columbia first raised the
standard of liberty, and echoed the shouts of independence !
Those of you who were then reaping the iron harvest of the martial field, whose
bosoms then palpitated for the honor of America, will, at this time, experience a
renewal of all that fervent patriotism, of all those indescribable emotions, which
then agitated your breasts. As for us, who Avere eitlier then unborn, or not fur
enough advanced beyond the threshold of existence to engage in the grand conflict for
liberty, we now most cordially unite with you to greet the return of this joyous anni-
versary, to hail the day that gave us freedom, and hail the rising glories of our
country I
On occasions like this, you have heretofore been addressed from this stage on the
nature, the origin, the expediency, of civil government. The field of poUtioal specu-
lation has here been explored by persons possessing talents to wliich the speaker uf
the day can have no pretensions. Declining, therefore, a dissertation on the prlnci
pies of civil polity, you will indulge me in slightly sketching on tliosc events
which have originated, nurtured, and raised to its present grandeur, the empire of
Columbia.
As no nation on the globe can rival us in tlie rapidity of our growth since the con-
clusion of the Revolutionary war, so none perhaps ever endured greater hardships and
distresses than the people of this country previous to that period.
AVe behold a feeble band of colonists, engaged in the arduous undertaking of a
new settlement, in the wilds of North America. Their civil liberty being mutilated,
and the enjoyment of their religious sentiments dcnitnl them, in the land that gave
them birth, tliey fled their country, they braved the dangers of the then almost
unnavigated ocean, and sought, on the other side the globe, an asylum from the iron
grasp of tyranny, and the more intolerable scourge of ecclesiastical pei-secution. But
gloomy, indeed, was their prospect when arrived on this side the Atlantic. Scattered
in detachments along a coast immensely extensive, at a remove of more than three
thousand miles fi'om their friends on the eastern continent, they were exposed to all
58*
690 Webster's earliest oration.
those evils, and endured all those difficulties, to ■n'hich human nature seems liable.
Destitute of convenient habitations, the inclemencies of the seasons attacked them,
the midnight beasts of prey prowled terribly around them, and the more portentous
yell of savage fury incessantly assailed them ! But the same undiminished confidence
in Almighty God, which prompted the first settlers of this country to forsake the
unfriendly climes of Europe, still supported them under all their calamities, and
inspired them with fortitude almost divine. Having a glorious issue to their labors
now in prospect, they cheerfully endured the rigors of the climate, pursued the sav-
age beast to his remotest haunt, and stood undismayed in the dismal hour of Indian
battle !
Scarcely were the infant settlements freed from those dangers which at first envi-
roned them, ei'e the clashing interests of France and Britain involved them anew in
war. The colonists were now destined to combat with well-appointed, well-disciplined
troops from Europe ; and the horrors of the tomahawk and scalping-knife were again
renewed. But these frowns of fortune, distressing as they were, had been met with-
out a sigh and endured without a groan, had not imperious Britain presumptuously
arrogated to herself the glory of victories achieved by the braveiy of American militia.
Louisburg must be taken, Canada attacked, and a frontier of more than one thou-
sand miles defended, by untutored yeomanry, while the honor of every conquest
must be ascribed to an English army.
But, while Great Britain was thus ignominiously stripping her colonies of their
well-earned laui'cl, and triumphantly weaving it into the stupendous wreath of her
own martial glories, she was unwittingly teaching them to value themselves, and
effectually to resist, in a future day, her unjust encroachments.
The pitiful tale of taxation now commences ; the unhappy quarrel, which issued in
the dismemberment of the British empire, has here its origin.
England, now triumphant over the united powers of France and Spain, is deter-
mined to reduce to the condition of slaves her American subjects.
We might now display the legislatures of the several states, together with the general
Congress, petitioning, praying, remonstrating, and, like dutiful subjects, humbly
laying their grievances before the throne. On the other hand, we could exhibit a
British Parliament assiduously devising means to subjugate America, disdaining our
petitions, trampling on our rights, and menacingly telling us, in language not to be
misunderstood, " Ye shall be slaves ! " We could mention the haughty, tyrannical,
l^erfidious Gage, at the head of a standing army ; we could show our brethren
attacked aiid slaughtered at Lexington, our property plundered and destroyed at
Concord ! Recollection can still pain us with the spii'al flames of burning Charles-
town, the agonizing groans of aged parents, the shrieks of widows, orphans and
infants ! Indelibly impressed on our memories still live the dismal scenes of Bun-
ker's awfiil mount, — the grand theatre of New England bravery, where slaughter
stalked grimly triumphant, — whei'e relentless Britain saw her soldiers, the unhappy
instruments of despotism, fallen in heaps beneath the nervous arm of injured freemen !
There the great Warren fought ; and there, alas ! he fell. Valuing life only as it
enabled him to serve his country, he freely resigned himself a willing martyr in the
cause of liberty, and now lies encircled in the arms of glory !
Peace to the patriot's shades ! Let no rude blast
Disturb the willow that nods o'er his tomb !
Let orphan tears bedew his sacred urn,
And Fame's loud trump proclaim the hero's name
■Par as the circuit of the spheres extends !
WEBSTER'S EARLIEST ORATION. 691
But, haughty Albion, thy reign shall soon he over ! Thou shalt triumph no longer I
Thine empire already reels and totters ; tliy laurels even now hegin to wither, ami
thy fame decays ; tliou hast at length roused the indignation of an insulted people ;
— thine oppressions they deem no longer tolerable !
The 4th day of July, 1770, is now arrived ; and America, manfully springing from
the torturing fangs of the British lion, now rises nicjestic in the pride of her sover-
eignty, and bids her eagle elevate his wings ! The solemn Declaration of Independ-
ence is now pronounced, amidst crowds of admiring citizens, by the supreme council
of our nation, and received with the unbounded plaudits of a grateful people.
That was the hour when heroism was proved — when the souls of men were tricl.
It was then, ye venerable patriots, it was then you stretched the indignant arm, and
unitedly swore to be free ! Despising such toj-s as subjugated empires, you then knew
no middle fortune between liberty and death. Firmly relying on the patronage of
Heaven, unwarped in the resolution you had taken, you then, undaunted, met,
engaged, defeated the gigantic power of Britain, and rose triumphant over the ruins
of your enemies. Trenton, Princeton, Bennington and Saratoga, were the successive
theatres of your victories, and the utmost bounds of creation are the limits to your
fame. The sacred fire of freedom, then enkindled in your breasts, shall be perpetu-
ated through the long descent of future ages, and burn, with undiminished fervor, in
the bosoms of millions yet unborn.
Finally, to close the sanguinary conflict, to grant America the blessings of an hon-
orable peace, and clothe her heroes with laurels, Cornwallis, at whose feet the kings
and princes of Asia have since thrown their diadems, was compelled to submit to the
sword of our father Washington. The great drama is now completed ; our independ-
ence is now acknowledged, and the hopes of our enemies are bhustcd forever. Colum-
bia is now seated in the forum of nations, and the empires of the world are lost in the
bright effulgence of her glory.
Thus, friends and citizens, did the kind hand of overruling Providence conduct us
through toils, fatigues and dangers, to independence and peace. If piety be the
rational exercise of the human soul, if religion be not a cliimcra, and if the vestiges
of heavenly assistance are clearly traced in those events which mark the annals of our
nation, it becomes us on this day, in consideration of the great things which the Lord
has done for us, to render the tribute of unfeigned thanks to that God who superin-
tends the universe, and holds aloft the scale tliat wciglis tlie destinies of nations.
The conclusion of the Revolutionary war did not conclude the great achievements
of our countrymen. Their military character was then, indeed, sufficiently cstnl)-
lished : but the time was coming which should prove their political sagacity.
No sooner was peace restored with England, the first grand article of which was the
acknowledgment of our indeiiendcnce, than the old system of confederation, dictated
at first by necessity, and adopted for the purposes of the moment, was found inade-
quate to the government of an extensive empire. Under a full conviction of this, wo
then saw the people of these states engaged in a transaction which is undoubtedly the
greatest approximation towards human perfection the political world ever yet expe-
rienced, and which, perhaps, will forever stand, on the history of mankind, without a
parallel. A great republic, composed of different states, whose interest, in all
respects, could not be perfectly compatible, then came deliberately forward, dis-
carded one system of government and adopted another, without the loss of one man's
blood.
There is not a single government now existing in Europe which is not based in
usurpation, and established, if established at all, by the sacrifice of thousands. But,
692 "Webster's earliest oration.
in the adoption of our present system of jurisprudence, ive see the powers necessary
for government voluntarily springing from the people, theii- only proper origin, and
directed to the public good, their only proper object.
AVith peculiar propriety we may now felicitate ourselves on that happy form of
mixed government under which we live. The advantages resulting to the citizens of
the Union from the operation of the federal constitution are utterly incalculable ;
and the day when it was received by a majority of the states shall stand on the cata-
logue of American anniversaries second to none but the birth-day of independence.
In consequence of the adoption of our present system of government, and the vir-
tuous manner in which it has been administered by a Washington and an Adams, we
are this day in the enjoyment of peace, while war devastates Europe. We can now sit
down beneath the shadow of the olive, while her cities blaze, her streams run purple
with blood, and her fields glitter a forest of bayonets. The citizens of America can
this day throng the temples of freedom, and renew their oaths of fealty to independ-
ence, while Holland, our once sister rei^ublic, is erased from the catalogue of nations,
— whilst Venice is destroyed, Italy ravaged, and Switzerland, the once happy, the
once united, the once flourishing Switzerland, lies bleeding at every pore.
No ambitious foe dares now invade our country. No standing army now endangers
our liberty. Our commerce, though subject in some degree to the depredations of the
belligerent powers, is extended from pole to pole ; and our navy, though just emerg-
ing from non-existence, shall soon vouch for the safety of our merchantmen, and bear
the thunder of freedom around the ball.
Fair science, too, holds her gentle empire amongst us, and almost innumerable
altars are raised to her divinity, from Brunswick to Florida. Yale, Providence onJ
Harvard, now grace our land ; and Dartmouth, towering majestic above the groves
which encircle her, now inscribes her glory on the registers of fame. Oxford and
Cambridge, those oriental stai-s of literature, shall now be lost, while the bright sun
of American science displays his broad circumference in uneclipsed radiance.
Pleasing, indeed, were it here to dilate on the future grandeur of America ; but
we forbear, and pause, for a moment, to drop the tear of affection over the graves of
our departed warriors. Their names should be mentioned on every anniversary of
independence, that the youth of each successive generation may learn not to value
life, when held in competition with their country's safety.
AVooster, jNIontgomery and Mercer, fell bravely in battle, and their ashes are now
entombed on the fields that witnessed their valor. Let their exertions in our coun-
try's cause be remembered while liberty has an advocate or gratitude has place in the
human heart !
Greene, the immortal hero of the Cai'olinas, has since gone down to the grave loaded
with honors, and high in the estimation of his countrymen. The courageous Putnam
has long slept with his fathers ; and Sullivan and Cilley, New Hampshire's veteran
sons, are no more numbered with the living.
With hearts penetrated by unutterable grief, we are at length constrained to ask.
Where is our Washington ? Where the hero who led us to victory ? — where the
man who gave us freedom ? Where is he who headed our feeble army when destruc-
tion threatened us, who came upon our enemies like the storms of winter, and scat-
tered them like leaves before the Borean blast ? Where, 0 my country, is thy polit-
ical saviour ? Where, 0 humanity, thy favorite son ?
The solemnity of this assembly, the lamentations of the American people, will
answer, " Alas ! he is now no more — the mighty is fallen ! "
Yes, Americans, your Washington is gone ! He is now consigned to dust, and
Webster's earliest oration. 603
•' sleeps in dull, cold marble." The man who never felt a wound but when it pierced
his country, who never groaned but when fair Freedom bled, is now forever silent !
AVrai3i)ed in the shroud of death, the dark dominions of the grave long since received
him, and he rests in undisturbed repose. Vain were the attempt to express our loss,
— vain the attempt to describe the feelings of our souls. Though months have rolled
away since he left this terrestrial orb and sought the shining worlds on high, yet the
sad event is still remembered with increased sorrow. The hoary-headed partaker of
1776 still tells the mournful story to the listening infant, till the loss of his country
touches his heart, and patriotism fires his breast. Tlie age<l matron still laments the
loss of the man beneatli whose banners her husband has fought, or her son has
fallen. At the name of Washington the sympathetic tear still glistens in the eye of
every youthful hero, nor does the tender sigh yet cease to heave in the fair bosom of
Columbia's daughters.
Farewell, 0 Washington ! a long farewell !
Thy country's tears embalm thy memory.
Thy virtues challenge immortality !
Impressed on grateful hearts, t Ij' name shall live
Till dissolution's deluge drown the world.
Although we must feel the keenest sorrow at the demise of our Washington, yet we
console ourselves with the reflection that his virtuous compatriot, his worthy suc-
cessor,— the firm, the wise, the inflexible Adanw, — still survives. Elevate<l by the
voice of hLs country to the supreme executive magistracy, he constantly adheres to
her essential interests ; and, with steady hand, draws the disguising veil from the
intrigues of foreign enemies and the plots of domestic foes. Having the honor of
America always in view, never fearing, when wisdom dictates, to stem tlie impetuoa'}
torrent of popular resentment, he stands amidst the fluctuations of party and the
explosions of faction, unmoved as Atlas,
"While storms and tempests thunder on its brow,
And oceans break theu: billows at its feet."
Yet all the vigilance of our executive, and all the wisdom of our Congress, have not
been sufficient to prevent this country from being in some degree agitated by the con-
vulsions of Europe. But why shall every quarrel on the other side the Atlantic
interest us in its issue ? Why shall the rise or depression of every party there pro-
duce here a corresponding vibration? AVas this continent designed as a mere satel-
lite to the other ? lias not nature here wrought all her operations on her broadest
scale ? Where are the Mississippis and tlie Amazons, the Alleghanies and tl)o Andes, of
Europe, Asia, or Africa ? The natural superiority of America clearly indicates that
it was designed to be inhabited by a nobler race of men, possessing a superior form
of government, superior patriotism, superior talents, and superior virtues. Ixit,
then, the nations of the east vainly waste their strength in destroying each other.
Let them aspire at conquest, and contend for dominion, till their continent is deluged
in blood. But let none, however elated by victory, however proud of triumphs, ever
presume to intrude on the neutral station assumed by our country !
Britain, twice humbled for her aggressions, has at length been taught to respect
us ; but France, once our ally, has dared to insult us. ?lic h.os violattxl lior obliga-
tions ; she has depredated our commerce ; she has abused our government, and riv-
eted the chains of bondage on our unhappy fellow-citizens. Not consent with
ravaging and depopulating the fairest countries of Europe, — not j-et s:niate<l with
the contortions of expiring republics, the convulsive agonies of subjugated nations,
694 Webster's earliest oration.
and the groans of her own slaughtered citizens, — she has spouted her fui-y across the
Atlantic, and the stars and stripes of independence have almost been attacked in our
harbors. When we have demanded reparation, she has told us, "Give us your
money, and we will give you 23eace." Mighty nation ! Magnanimous republic ! Let
her fill her coifcrs from those towns and cities which she has plundered ; and grant
peace, if she can, to the shades of those millions whose death she has caused !
But Columbia stoops not to tyrants ; her sons will never cringe to France. Nei-
ther a supercilious five-headed Directory, nor the gasconading pilgrim of Egypt, will
ever dictate terms to sovei-eign America. The thunder of our cannon shall insure the
performance of our treaties, and fulminate destruction on Frenchmen, till old ocean
is crimsoned with blood and gorged with pirates !
It becomes us, on whom the defence of our country will ere long devolve, this day
most seriously to reflect on the duties incumbent upon us. Our ancestors bravely
snatched expiring liberty from the grasp of Britain, whose touch is poison. Shall we
now consign it to France, whose embrace is death ? AVe have seen our fathers, in the
days of Columbia's trouble, assume the rough habiliments of war, and seek the hos-
tile field. Too full of sorrow to speak, we have seen them wave a last farewell to a
disconsolate, a woe-stung family. We have seen them return, worn down with
fatigue and scarred with wounds ; or we have seen them, perhaps, no more. For us
they fought, for us they Ijled, for us they conquered ! Shall we, their descendants, now
basely disgrace our lineage, and pusillanimously disclaim the legacy bequeathed us ?
Shall we pronounce the sad valediction to Freedom, and immolate Liberty on the altars
our fathers have raised to her ? No ! The response of a nation is, " No ! " Let it
be registered in the archives of heaven, — Ere the religion we profess, and the priv-
ileges we enjoy, are sacrificed at the shrines of despots and demagogues, let the pillars
of creation tremble ! Let world be wrecked on world, and systems rush to ruin !
Let the sons of Europe be vassals ! Let her hosts of nations be a vast congregation
of slaves ! But let us, who are this day free, whose hearts arc yet unappalled, and
whose right arms are yet nerved for war, assemble before the hallowed temple of
Columbian freedom, and swear, to the God of our fathers, to preserve it secure, or die
at its portals !
We regard the town histories constantly rising in our country as aSbrdiug greater
facilities toward a more perfect national history than has yet appeared ; and such
a work as the History of the Town of New Ipswich, N. H., by Frederic Kidder, a
retired merchant, and by Augustus A. Gould, a physician and naturalist, is decidedly
one of the best conceptions of what a town history should be that has ever met our
eye. We find in this work the following felicitous letter of Mr. Webster to Chief
Justice Farrar, on his first appointment to a civil ofl5ce, which transpired when he
was a student at law ; in relation to whom Mr. Webster has frequently remarked that
he never knew a judge of a more calm, dispassionate, and impartial character, a better
listener to a discussion, or a man more anxious to discover the truth and to do justice.
In these traits of character he thought him very much to resemble the late Chief
Justice Marshall.
"Salisbury, July 12, 1804.
" Instances of favors conferred sometimes occur, in which it is not a little difficult
to determine whether a respectful silence or an open acknowledgment is most likely to
be well received by him who has obliged us. But, though it may be uncertain whether
DANIEL AVEDSTER. GOo
we ought to speak, it is yet sometimes difficult to be silent, when kind thingi are done
in a kind manner.
" My honored father informed me that, on an expected vacancy in the clerksliip of
the Court of Common Pleas in this county, j-ou were pleased to mention my name to
the court as a candidate for that office. I should be happy if on this occasion I could
express my gratitude in terms not likely to offend against the delicacy of your feel-
ings. I confess I was gratified, as -well as surprised, by this unexpected mark of dif-
tinction ; particularly so, as I have not the honor of much acquaintance with you,
and am destitute of many of those aids which make young men known in the world
beyond the sphere of their personal friends.
"Office and emolument have, I hope, their just, and no more than their just,
estimation in my mind ; but, aside from the consideration of these, and though I
should never in this case possess them, the nomination will add something to my hap-
piness, as I shall be the better pleased with myself for having been thought worthy
an office of trust and confidence by Judge Farrar.
" I am, sir, with high respect,
" Your humble servant, D.vxiel Webster."
" Hon. Timothy Fabear, New Ipswich, N. H."
An interesting incident has very recently been related to the etlitor of this work, as
having happened to Mr. Webster before he had been long ut the bar in the Court of
Common Pleas for the county of llockingham. He had obtained a vcnlict for his
client, which the opposing counsel — the late Gov. Plumer — had move<l to set aside.
Mr. Webster, in resisting this motion, addressed the court at considerable length, and
in a well-studied argument, upon the power of courts over the verdicts of juries, and
especially how far that power could be properly exercised by courts of inferior juris-
diction. We remember, among other authorities, he cited rather a peremptory saying
of Lord Chief Justice Holt, that he would not permit an inferior court to regard itself
as a better judge of the law than a jury of the king's subjects. When he sat down,
a member of the bar now living, 'Mr. Moody Kent, said to liim, " Now, my friend,
you have made a good argument ; but it had one great l;\ult in it, and tliat is, thai
your first proposition was so far in advance of the knowledge of the court, tliat
although we, at the bar, understooil ymi, j-et what you said was lieatlion Greek to
those you addressed." In this respect Mr. Webster soon learned a most useful les-
son from his sagacious and elder friend, the late Mr. Mason, whose shrewdness was
remarkaVjle for selecting always the most suitable and effective argument for the
tribunal.
A recent traveller from Egjpt (Picv. Alexander J. Sessions) has remarked to the
editor of this work that its title, " The Hundred Boston Orators," reminded hint of
the Hall of a Hundred Pillars at Karnak, which, on a careful examination, he found
comprised the number of political pillars noticed in this work. We think the cogno-
men ajiplied to this volume is approi)riate, as there are exau»ly one humlred of whom
a more detailed statement is furnislied. And, in passing, the eilitor repels any implied
censure for not presenting a more extended account of the residue, as materials of nuich
public interest were difficult to be obtained. In reference to the publication of every
one of the orations in an entire form, while we are well apprisol of the pleasure their
appearance would render the antiquarian, it is our decided opinion that the plan here
adopted, of selecting the noblest p;\ssage3 from a part of them, is the greatest act of
justice to the authors, and in several instances is more grateful to their memory, and
more consonant to the popular taste.
696 HARRISON GRAY OTIS.
HARRISON GRAY OTIS.
TuE passage herewith is selected from his English oration, delivered in 1783. at
Harvard College, when he was graduated.
«' The greatest danger to which a state is exposed, after deliverance from an enemy,
results from the lethargy which naturally accompanies an opinion of security. It is
particularly incumbent upon America to avoid this listless hiattention to her internal
pohce. It is true our constitution is delineated, but it is hardly advanced beyond the
outlines. Our situation is different from that of established republics. They fight for
the privilege of adhering to ancient customs ; we have fought for liberty to introduce
new. They wish only to confirm their laws ; we have ours to form. The Union of
these States was founded ujjon common danger. A coincidence of customs and laws
was not the cause ; we must labor to make it the effect. We must combat our ancient
prejudices, which are unavoidably tinctured with a regard for some old regulations,
which may insensibly lead us to swerve from principles strictly republican
" In considering the means of pi'eserving our freedom, the first idea which occui'S
is the necessity of pi-eventing restrictions upon the press.
"Independent sentiment must be the energizing principle of independent states;
and for the conveyance of this the press is the most speedy, if not the only vehicle.
Private instructions to representatives are by no means competent. They ought to be
acquainted with the general opinion i-elative to ordinary occurrences ; and, although
the press should sometimes be prostituted to the purposes of scurrihty and abuse of
the government, still it is better to give vent to these peccant humors when their
general diffusion will almost annihilate their contagion, than suSer them to mortify
in a tavern or a village, and presently burst forth with mcreased virulence.
" In short, liberty of the press was the last vestige of Britain's freedom, and that
was eflixced by the imprisonment of an honest printer. ' '
In the second English oration, delivered two years afterwards upon the all-engross-
ing topic of the existing national difficulties, we find the following eloquent remarks
"I shall, however, repeat the sentiment of a great politician, — 'If,' says he,
* there be such criminals as robbers, traitors, assassins, who deserve to be punished
with more than ordinary severity, I should not hesitate to iDlace at the head of the
bloody catalogue the man who would defeat the application of the public money to
the support of the public credit.'
" There is one expedient which some people, in the fulness of distress, have wished
to see adopted, but which we ventui'e to predict would give the death-wound to our
public credit. The emission of a paper currency, — would not this measure prove
the harbinger to a train of the most flagrant frauds and sordid vices ? Would it not
exhibit our national faith and dignity as objects of derision, hasten the decline of the
republic, and aggravate the horror of her fall ? Surely nothing can be more chimer-
ical than the idea of an unfunded, irredeemable currency, destitute of all the iutrin
sic projicrties of a medium. This description will certainly be applicable to an emis-
sion of paper at this period. It is impossible to constitute a fund that could be
appropriated to its redemption. To suppose that government should assess taxes in
specie for this purpose is a manifest absurdity, since the adoption of a paper money
implies a scai'city of coin adequate to defray the public charges ; and the distinction
between specie and paper thus authorized by government would continually hold to
view the insufficiency of the latter, and totally destroy its credit. The system adopted
in a neighboring state, of forming a loan upon mortgage, might easily be proved feeble
SOLID MEN OF BOSTON. 697
in its basis, ami injurious in its practice. The government Tvill either become the ?o1c
proprietary of the lands, or (which is more probable) will finally release them with-
out redemption, while the depreciated paper sinks in the hands of the unfortunate
persons who are compelled to receive it.
" The annihilation of our former bills of credit, without producing some dreadful
convulsion, furnishes no argument against the probability of the universal ujiroar tliat
would now ensue upon the failure of a new emission. Tlie burthen then fell princi-
pally upon the weak and impotent. Where could the helpless widow find protection ?
To whom could the little orphan lisp his wrongs .' But, should this illusion again be
introduced, the calamitous effects of the famous system in France, and the more dif-
fusive wretchedness attendant on the South Sea scheme in England, would appear an
imperfect miniature of the distress that will swallow up the nation."
"SOLID ]\IEN OF BOSTON."
BY CHARLES C. HAZEWELL.
In a number of the Boston Courier appears an article which opens thus :
" ' Solid Men of Bostox.' — Many persons have asked for the original of the quo-
tation introduced by Mr. AVebster in his speech at Faneuil Hall, May 21, 1852. It
was copied from a political jeu d'esprit, written by one of the London wits at the
time when Boston first commenced to make a noise in the world, and her port troubles
and her patriotic resolutions first became known in Europe. The whole verse ran .
' Solid men of Boston, drink no strong potations ;
Solid men of Boston, make no long orations ;
Solid men of Boston, go to bed at sundown.
And you '11 never lose your way, like the loggerheads of London.'
" The quotation was very felicitously introduced into the dinner speech of lion.
George S. Hillard, before the New England Society of New York, last winter, with a
sketch of its origin ; and, as the speech has never been printed here, we cannot do
better than to publish the whole at this time."
The Courier then proceeds to give Mr. Ilillard's speech ; and a very elegant, elo-
quent and scholarly production it is, like all the efforts of its distinguished author
that we have seen. We copy from it the ftillowing paragraph :
" Mr. President and Gentlemen of the New England Society, — I thank you for
your kind reception of me, and I would that it were in my power to coin wishes into
words, and thanks into wit, that I might the better express to j'ou my acknowledg-
ments. In the early stages of our Revolutionary struggle, it so occurred that Mr.
Pitt, then a very young man, with Mr. Dundas, and one or two other political friends,
retired from Parliament on one occasion into some suburban retreat in tlic neigh1>or-
hood of London, there, perchance, to meditate on high political themes. On tlieir
return, late at night, doubtless in a state of transcendental elevation, in reference to
the topics in the discussion of which they had indulged, they ran through a turnpike
gate without paying anj' toll, and the keeper of tlie gate discharged a musket after
them, which fortunately took no effect. The incident was taken up by the wits of the
rival party, and Captain Morris, at the time a sort of poet-laureate of the whigs, wrote
a song upon it, in which, in allusion to our lievolutionary struggle, he says,
59
G08 SOLID MEN OF BOSTON.
' Solid men of Boston, make no long orations ;
Solid men of Boston, drink no deep potations.'
•' Mr. President, I am afraid I shall not get out of the clutches of this New England
Society of New York, without violating both these precepts. I made you a long ora-
tion yesterday, and, from the temptation there is before me, I am afraid of the deep
potations to-night. But then I will take refuge in the other alternative ; for it is
very true, and you will bear me witness, that yesterday I drank no deep potations,
and to-day I will make no long oration."
It is a little curious, and perhaps rather consoling to us dull fellows, who have not
the faculty of making speeches, that so well read a man as Mr. Hillard should have
fallen into two or three amusing errors respecting a period of English history tol-
erably familiar to even Americans who can make no pretensions whatever to bein"-
Avell read. " The early stages of our Revolutionary struggle" cannot be placed fur-
ther back than 177o-G, at which time William Pitt was only some sixteen or seven-
teen years of age, and had no connection whatever with the ministry. His political
sympathies, if he felt any, were with his father, who was the greatest of those states-
men — Burke alone excepted — that opposed the attack made by the British govern-
ment on the rights of the American colonies. It is a familiar fact that a few years
later he entered Pai-liament as a member of the opposition party. In 1775-6 the
North ministry was at the height of its power, and Mr. Dundas was a supporter of
it, and a useful and influential supporter too, with no feeling in common with any
member of the Pitt family or connection. In after days, Dundas and the younger
Pitt became intimately associated, and for a long time acted together as brother min-
isters ; but, when the latter entered public life, he did so as a warm opponent of
Dundas and his party. It was one of the singular consequences of the death of the
Marquis of Rockingham, and of coalition between Fox and North, that Pitt and
Dundas became friends and associates, — bound together by ties far stronger, it
should seem, than those which usually form the connecting links of politicians and
statesmen. The Pitt ministry was formed in 1788-4, after the war between England
and America had ceased, and when the tory party had assumed a new character,
under the leadership of a man who certainly had no reason to be looked upon as
being himself a representative of tory principles.
The Maine law was, unhappily, quite unknown to those barbarian times. If there
were temperance lecturers then, history has not condescended to record their eflforts.
They are forgotten, like the brave men who lived and died so long ago. It was an
age of hard drinking, hard swearing, hard thinking, and " fast " driving. From the
first minister of the crown to the last peasant who paid taxes to the crown, there was
hardly a man in England who did not swallow enough strong drink, in a twelve-
montli, to sober a modern temperance society by the mere thought of it. Great peo-
ple drank wine and brandy ; little people swilled ale and beer, and British gin.
Altogether it might be called a beastly age, only that beasts are not so beastly as to
get drunk. It was an age of what Thomson, in the preceding generation, had called
" serious drinking." William Pitt was the first subject and the chief drunkard of
the realm of England. Drinking was both a business and a jileasure with him. As
the Irishman treated sleep, so did he treat drinking, — "he paid attention to it."
Port wine was his favorite tipple, and we maj- suppose that he took it as Job Pippins did
his ale, calling for " the best." We may be sure that, however great may have been
the consumption of logwood, elderberries, &c., in the British empire, as a conse-
SOLID MEN OF BOSTON. 699
quenco of the llethuen treaty, William Pitt drank only " genuine crusted old Port."
It was said of liim, years later, that he " die<l of Austerlitz — and Port wine." In
fact, his fate was not very unlike that of a celebrated Irishman, mentione-l by the
beautiful Donna Julia, if you substitute war for love ; and they are as nearly allied
as kissing and contention.
" Lord Mount Coffeehouse, the Irish peer,
Who killed himself for love (with wine) last year."
To get drunk, or at least to swallow liquor enough to make a modern cabinet too
drunk to be actively mischievous, was the relaxation of a great minister sixty years
since. Who shall say that the world has not improved in that time ? Were a modern
statesman to exhibit himself to the world in the character of an " old soaker," or
were he to dash through a turnpike gate in a condition not far rcmove<l from deliriutii
tremens, he would need no Austerlitz to do his business. His hquor would be suffi-
cient for that. But this is digression, into which we are tempted by the recollection
that great men do not now drink to excess, except in the strictest privacy.
It was when he was returning from a visit to ]Mr. .Icnkinson, who was afterwards
made Lord Liverpool, that Mr. Pitt " bilked " the keeper of what Mr. Weller^ould
call " a pike," at Wimbledon. To do him justice, the act was not done maliciously,
but in consequence of the gentleman who sat at the toll-gate not being ready to
take the toll. The premier was accompanied by Mr. Uundas and Lord Thurlow,
the latter being chancellor and keeper of the king's conscience, — no sinecure, by the
way, in the reign of George III. The joke had fallen in their way, and they rode on,
vastly pleased at its occurrence. Tlie pike-keeper was a ferocious fellow (all pike-
keepers are misanthropes, according to Mr. Wellcr), and he fired a heavily-loaded
gun after them, under the sly pretence that he mistook them for thieves. Captain
Morris, who was, as Mr. Ilillard says, " a sort of poet-laureate of the whigf'," made
this adventure the theme of what he called an American Song, in which a Yankee
tells the story, with suitable alterations and embellishments. The last verse of the
song is that quoted by Mr. Webster, though he slightly altered it from the original :
" Solid men of Boston, ' banish ' strong potations ;
Solid men of Boston, make no long orations ;
Solid men of Boston, go to bctl at sundown,
And you '11 never lose your way, like the loggerheads of London."
The reader who may be curious to see the whole song can find it in the Lyra
Urbanica, published years ago, in London, and which contains other good poetry of
not quite so temperate a kind as that quoted above ; for, how good .soever his advice
to the " solid men of Boston," Captain Charles Morris, like some other theoretical
temperance men whom we know, preferred the
'• bright liquid, from its mountain mother
Bom fresh, the joy of the time-hallowctl vine,"
" The limpid droppings of the virgin fount.
He was an associate of the then Prince of Wales, and water was in not much demand
at Carlton House. Asa specimen of the soldier poet's notions on the subject of
temperance, take the following verses from his True Philosophy. They ought to be
700 SOLID MEN OF BOSTON.
as offensive to the hundred millions of voters (we are not sure that we have got the right
number, but it don't matter much, as it is not a great deal further from the truth
than the statements ' ' thereanent ' ' in the Senate during the debates on the liquor-
bill) who signed the great petition, as the rhyme they sing :
' Don't you see, as we reel, the world reels up and down f
She rolls iu hkk fluid, and we in our own ;
Thus going together, we still keep our ground,
And to-morrow, thank B'ortune, are sure to come round.
'• Then, as to the matter that makes up this ball,
AVe 're all spirit, with us 't is no matter at all ;
If 't is LIFE, keep it up ; and if dcst, as they tell,
Why, before it flies ofl", let us sprinkle it well.
" Some say that by water or fire it steers,
Talk of atoms and essences, orbits and spheres ;
But, let Newton, Descartes, and Ptolemy doze,
As we push round our bottles the way the ■world goes.
*******
" Then, on subjects where fools are as wise as the sage,
Wheu we 've one we can fathom, why should we engage '
Since we cannot clear it, why puzzle our souls ?
Let Time clear the riddle, while we clear the bowls."
Not exactly moral, according to the canons of any age, but very pleasant, for all
that, or rather because of that. It is a shocking thing to reflect upon, that vicious
matters should be so pleasant, or sinful ones so welcome — we condemn botli. But
this is another digression, pardonable, however, because made for the benefit of our
temperance friends, who are entitled to all that deference which success is sure
to bring. Who would not cast his mite of incense upon the altar of moral reform ?
Mr. Webster is not the only great man by whom the " solid men of Boston " was
quoted. Burke, after he had ratted, and in allusion to his quondam friend's talking
and drinking habits, quoted these lines against Sheridan, in the House of Commons :
" Solid men of Boston, banish strong potations ;
Solid men of Boston, make no long orations."
For one second the laugh was against Sheridan ; but he jumped up, and quoted
against Burke two other lines from the song :
" He went to Daddy Jenky, by Trimmer Hal attended ;
Good lack ! in such company, how his morals must be mended I "
Daddy Jenky was Charles Jenkinson, to whom Pitt had been on a visit wheu the
aiFair making the burden of the song took place. He was chief of "the king's
friends," and supposed to be the person who gave the finishing touch to political rats.
Burke was preparing to receive the handsome reward for which he had left liis party
and friends, and therefore Sheridan's hit told. One is reminded of the scene at
Ashby-de-la-Zouche. "Thou canst not mend that shot, Locksley," said Prince
John, when Hubert had sent his arrow right into the very centre of the target, "i
will notch his shaft for him, however," said Locksley; and so he did, sending his own
arrow so truly upon that of his rival as to shiver it to pieces, and destroy the merit
of his shooting. Burke was Hubert ; Sheridan was Locksley.
THE PATROL AND CONDUCT
OF THE BRITISII SOLDIERS IN BOSTON, 1775-6.
As the Order of the Patrol of the British Troops in Boston affiirds a conception
of the condition of a besieged city when garrisoned by a standing army, we hero
present it, and quote the whole record as it stands in Waller's Orderly Book, 1775,
30th Dec.
Head-quarters, Boston. Parole, Guilford; C. Sign, Kingston. Gen'l officer for
to-morrow, Grant. . Field officer for lines, ^lajor Sill. Day, Major Mitchell. *
Major Brigade, Brown.
Adj't Qr. Mr. and Surgeon 10th Regiment.
The Districts are as follows, appointed to each Corps. The commanding officer
will accordingly inspect them, taking care to prevent all irregularities, put a stop
to Dram Shops, and to make a return of all persons' names that have licenses to
sell spirituous liquors, mentioning by whom signed. The officers of the Piquet
will leave directions from their respective commanding officers, for visiting and
patrolling within the extent of their district, taking two men ANith them from the
regimental guard to attend them.
The Soldiers' Wives are not to lodge out of their respective Districts. The
Patroles of the 10th Reg't to visit the ri^ht hand of Orani^c Street, from the new
works to the Neck ; those of the 22d Reg't from Allen's Warf, near Lieut. Col.
Campbell's quarters, on the left side of Orange Street, to the Neck, and all the
lanes leading to ye Water ; tiiose of the 03d Reg. arc to visit from wlicre tlio Ilay-
market stood, up Pleasant Street, and all lying between this and II<«llis Street ;
those of the 35th Reg., all that part of the town that lays between Ilollis Street
and Frog Lane, including the quarters where Lt. Col. Carr lives ; those of the
40th Reg. are to visit Newbury Street, Frog Lane and Water Lane, and all the
Alleys laying between these streets and the Common. Tlie (I'renadiers are to
visit all the lanes laying between Water Street and Bromfield's Lane, and run-
ning between these and the Common — also Common Street ; those of the 49th
to visit Beacon Street, School Street, part of Curnhill, Queen Street, and Trainnnt
Street; those of the 45th to visit Cambridge Street, from .Sliardon's Line,S<)Uth-
wark Court, Hanover Street to the Mill Bridge, and all the Lanes from tliat street
to the Mill Pond, north of Coal Lane — also Wing's Lane and Union Street ; those
of the 17th to visit Coal Lane, Sudbury Street, Tramond Strci^t as far as Earl
Peircy's, and all the lanes between Cambridge Street and the Mill Pond as far as
Shardon's Lane ; those of the 4th to visit Cambridge Street from Shardon's lane
to the westward, with all the lanes leading from thence to Beacon Hill — also
Staniford Street ; those of the Grenadiers quartered in West Boston Meeting
59*
702 PATROL AND CONDUCT
House, to visit Chamber Street, Lynd Street, Green Lane, and all the lanea
leading from thence to the Mill Pond ; those of the 47th to visit their own
quarters ; those of the six companies of Light Infantry to visit Leverett Street
and all the lanes in the neighbourhood of Barton's Point ; those of the 43d
to visit Back Street as far as Prince's Street, Middle Street from that to the
Middle Bridge — likewise Ann Street and Fish Street as far to the northward
as Sun Court, with all the Lanes from Back Street to Middle Street, from Middle
Street to Fore Street and Ann Street, and from these to the Water ; 1st British
Marines to visit Prince's Street, fi-om the corner of Back Street to Charles-
town Feny — likewise Middle Sti'eet to Winnisimot Ferry, and all the streets
and lanes lying between them ; 2d British Marines to visit Fish Street', Ship Street
and Lynn Street, to Charlestown Ferry, with all the lanes from these to the
Water — also all the Streets and Lanes between Sun Court and Winnisimot
Ferry, leading from Fish Street and Ship Street to Middle Street ; those of the
44th to visit King's Street, part of Cornhill, from the Town House to Milk Street
as far as Oliver's Dock, Avith all the streets and lanes between that and King
Street — also that part of Cornhill from the Town House to the Theatre, and all
the Lanes between that and King Street ; those of the 38th Reg. to visit from
their Barracks to Oliver's Dock, Fort Hill Lane, part of Milk Street, the Rope
Walk, Green's Lane, all the cross Lanes within that District ; those of the 23d
Reg. to visit Cow Lane, Long Lane, part of jNIilk Street, Bishop's Alley, and the
Lanes from thence to Marlboro Street, and part of Summer Street, with the lanes
from Cow Lane to the Water ; those of the 65th Reg. to visit part of Summer
Street, Flounder Lane, part of Belcher's Lane and South Street to Windmill
Point, with all the Lanes and Wharfs within that District ; those of the 5th Reg-
iment to visit part of South Street, part of Summer Street, Blind Lane, Short
Street, and all the Lanes leading to the Water, between Short Street and South
Sti-eet ; those of the 52d to visit Achmouty's Lane from Short Street to Liberty
Tree, and all the lanes leading to the Water; those of the Light Infantry to
visit part of Orange Street from Allen's Wharf, vv'ith the Lanes leading from
thence to the Water — also Newbury Street, Summer Street as far as the New
South fleeting-house, Blind Lane, and Pond St.
The paymasters of Regiments to give to Captain McKenzie a List of their
respective Drafts received from the 18 and 59 Regiments, that an order may be
given by the Commander in Chief for the payment of their Bounty Money. Tlie
quarter master of Corps to call on the Dep. Q. jNIaster Gen., where they will
receive an order for 100 pairs of Croopers for their respective corps, for which
they will give receipts and be answerable. Then follows Detail for Guard, etc.
Notwithstanding the regulars were strictly forbidden to destroy houses, fences
or trees, during the siege, they demolished the steeple of Rev. Dr. Howard's
Church, suspecting that it had been used as a signal staff; converted the edifice
into a barrack, demolishing the pews ; the Old South was used as a riding-school ;
Dr. Stillman's Church was converted into a hospital ; the Old North was demol-
ished for fuel, " although there were then large quantities of coal and wood in
the town," and Brattle-street Church was used as a barrack. The regulars com-
menced destroying the fences around Hancock's mansion ; but Gage prevented it,
I
OF BRITISH SOLDIERS.
703
on the complaint of the selectmen. But their direst vengeance was against Lib-
erty Tree, when one of the regulars, in attempting to dismantle its branches, fell
on the pavements, and was instiintly killed. Dr. Pomlxirtoa relates tliut the
enterprise of destroying Liberty Tree was under the direction of Job Williams,
a tory refugee from the country.
Gov. Gage, who was friendly to Howard, relates : " I distinctly rememV>cr a
little circumstance which will evidence his manner. lie and I were walking,
and stopped to watch some young men screwing hay for tlie troops in Boston.
We saw they were about putting some stones into the bundles to increase their
weight. It was rather a merry than a serious fraud, for they were not to be ben-
efited. Ills mild queries soon led them to question tlie right and abanddu the
design, and I doubt whether it was ever done in that neighborhood afterward."
Head-quarters, Boston, 17th Nov., 1775.
Many of His Majesty's loyal American subjects, residing in Boston, with their
adherents, having offered their service for the defence of tlie jilaee, the Com-
mander in Chief has ordered them to be armed and formed into three companiea,
under the command of the Hon. Brig. Gen. Buggies, to be called the Jx>jal
American Associators. They M'ill bo distinguished by a white sash aruund th«
left arm. Hon. Timothy Buggies, Commandant.
1st Company.
Abijah Willard, Captain.
Thomas Beam an, First Lieut.
George Leonard, Do.
Thomas Danforth, Second Lieut.
Samuel Payne, Do.
James Putuimi, Jr., Do.
2d Company.
3d Company.
James Putnam, Captain.
John Sargent, First Lieut.
Daniel Oliver, Do.
Joshua Duuimer Rogers, Second Lieut.
Juhn Buggies, Do.
Stephen Jones, Do.
Francis Green, Captain.
Ebenezer Spooner, First Lieut.
Josiah Jones, Do.
Abraham Savage, Second Lieut.
William Chandler, Do.
Nathaniel Colpin, Do.
HON. THEODORE LYMAN.
The following more extended memoir of the philanthropic Theodore Lyman
principally prepared l)y a gentleman of great literary and political eminence,
who was his intimate friend, was received too late for insertion in the proper
place :
Gen. Theodore Lyman was born on the 22d February, 1792, His father was
Theodore Lyman, a distinguished merchant of Boston. The celebrated Rev.
Joseph S. Buckminstcr, a relative of the family by marriage, was his private
teacher, at Waltham. It was at this period that IMr. Buckminster addressed a
poetical invitation to William S. Shaw, a literary friend, of Boston, to visit him
at the Lyman country-seat, famous for its pastm-es, cataracts, and fish-ponds,
besides the sister deities of the place. "We extract a passage :
" Come, and with loitering steps the walk we '11 rove,
And chat discursive on the themes we love ;
Recall, with memory sweet, those scenes of yore,
Which oft in Harvard's walls we 've acted o'er,
Where first we learnt in friendship to unite.
And linked the chain, unbroken yet and bright ;
Where judgment ripened, where attachment grew, '
And where we learnt to love whom best we knew.
Here art with wealth conspu-es the grounds to grace,
And traces lovelier lines on natiu-e's face.
Enter and gaze where living graces Imk,
And waste an houi- with nature's fairer work.'"
Young Lyman entered Phillips' Exeter Academy in 1804, and was gradu-
ated at Harvard College in 1810. He made a visit to Europe in 1814, and was
at Paris while it was in the occupation of the allied powers. The result of his
observations was published in a small volume, entitled " A Few Weeks at Paris."
On his return to America, he resumed the study of the law, to which he had
given his attention, rather as the completion of a liberal education, than with any
intention to engage in the practice. His health having failed him, he was
advised, with a view to its restoration, to make another visit to Europe. After
passing some time with his uncle, the late Samuel Williams, Esq., a banker of
eminence in London, he crossed to the continent, and joined his friend JMr.
Edward Everett, then residing at Gottingen. Mv. Lyman employed a few
weeks in a tour through Northern Germany, exploring with great interest the
scenes of the recent important military events. In the autumn of 1817 he
returned to Gottingen, and proceeded with Mr. Everett to Paris. About
eighteen months were passed by these gentlemen together in the south and
east of Europe. An outline of their tour is given in om- article on Mr. Everett.
On his return to America, in the autumn of 1819, Mr. Lyman began to take
an interest in public life. He was successively an efficient member of both
THEODORE LYMAN. 705
branches of the Legislature. In 1820 he delivered the municipal oration on tlio
4th of July. In the same year lie pul)lishe(l an octavo volume uih.u tin- st^itis-
tics of Italy, containing the result of his intiuiries and observations in tliat coun-
try in the winter of 1819-20. Cien. Lyman had a taste for military affairs, and
took an active interest in the volunteer militia of the commonwealth. He was
an aid-de-camp of Gov. Brooks, an oHicer of tlie Ancient and Ilonorahle Artillt-ry
Company, and a brigadier-general in the first division. The discipline of the
brigade under his command was greatly improved while he remained in ofiice.
He was chosen major-general, but declined the appointment. In 182G he pu)>
lished a History of the Diplomacy of the United States, in one voluuic, 8vo., of
which a second edition, enlarged to two volumes, appeared in 1S28. This is a
work of considerable research, and of ability as a work of reference.
In 1834 and 1835 Gen. Lyman was mayor of the city of lijston. During his
administration events occurred requiring no ordinary exercise of firmness and
prudence. The peace of the city was disturbed I>y the disgraceful abtjlition riots,
and the burning of the Ursuline Convent in Charlestown produced an excitement
of a very dangerous character in the neighboring metropolis. The vigilance and
discretion of Gen. Lyman were equal to the crisis.
From the time of his retirement from the mayoralty. Gen. Ljniian withdrew
from public life. He had married, in 1820, Mary Kli/.aljctli Henderson, of New
York, and had passed his summers in the countr}-, — first at the country-seat of
Gov. Gore, at W'altham, of which he became the proprietor, and afterwards at
Brooklinc, on the estate formerly of the Hon. Jonathan Mason. Here Gen.
Lyman built a beautiful villa, and I>estowed a good deal of attention upon his
garden and farm. He became an active member of the Horticultural Society, to
which, at his decease, he made the liberal bequest of ten thousand dollars.
After his retirement from }iul)lic life. Gen. Lyman interested himself much in
the public charities of Boston, and gave his time and attention to subjects con-
nected with the moral improvement of the suffering classes of the community.
He was a trustee and a liljeral benefactor of the Farm Schoid, to which, at his
decease, he bequeathed ten thousand dollars. He presided over the Prison Dis-
cipline Society from 1847 until his decease, and was an efficient friend of most
of the public benevolent institutions. His great work was the foundation of the
State Keform School, at Wcstboro. He entertiiincd a very decided opinion
of the necessity of connecting the ailministratitm of justice with measures of
reform. Merely to punish, especially in the case of juvenile delinciuents, was,
in his judgment, alike cruel and inqpolitie. Toward the endowment of the insti-
tution just named Gen. Lyman during his lifetime made a secret donation of
twenty-two thousand dollars, to which, by bis will, the muniiicent suiu of fifty
thousand dollars A\a3 added. His name will descend to posterity as the father
of this admirable institution.
Gen. Lyman was fond of booLs, and cultivated a taste for several branches of
literary inquiry. He collected a very valuable liljrary, with the contents of
which he was well acquainted. AVhen the Boston AthenaHun was removed to
Pearl-street, he took the lead in its arrangement and decoration. He was pros-
perous in his circumstances, having, by judicious management, increased a lai'ge
inheritance. That he understood the true use of money, as a great means of
706 PETER FANEUIL AND THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY.
doing good, is sufficiently apparent from the following sketch. Of a thousand
acts of liberality, known only to himself and their objects, the record is preserved
on high. His hand was never closed on any meritorious application.
Gen. Lyman survived his highly-accomplished wife and a daughter of great
promise. In 1848 he went for a third time to Europe, with his only son, who,
with a daughter, married to R. G. Shaw, Jr., of Boston, are left to deplore his
premature loss. Shortly after his return to the United States, he died at his res-
idence in Brookline, the 17th July, 1849. He was a person of highly-polished
manners, great evenness of temper, exemplary in all the relations, and exact in
all the duties, of life. His friends and the community confidently anticipated
from him a continued career of steadily growing usefulness, and his death was
justly regarded as a public calamity.
[From the Boston Transcript.]
PETER FANEUIL AND THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY.
One may as successfully search for that identical peck of pickled peppers that
Peter Piper picked, as for the original hall that Peter Faneuil built. Like
Rachel's first-born, it is not. After all the reparations, and changes, and hard
hammerings, she has undergone, Ave may as well search within the walls of Old
Ironsides for those very ribs of live oak which, some fifty years ago, were launched
in the body of the frigate Constitution.
In the olden time, the market-men, like the mourners, went " about the
streets." The inhabitants were served at their doors. As early as 1634, Gov.
"Winthrop, in his journal, speaks of a market which was kept in Boston, "on
Thursday, the fifth day of the week." This weekly market on the fifth day is
mentioned by Douglass as of 1G39. (Vol. i. page 434.) This, I think, refers only
to a gathering of sellers and buyers at one spot, and not to any " visible temple "
for storage and shelter. Citizens differed as to the best method of getting their
■provant. Some preferred the old mode, as it was supposed to save time ; others
were in fixvor of having a common point, with a covered building. Parties were
formed ; the citizens waxed wroth, and quarrelled about their meat like angry
dogs. Those who were in favor of market-houses prevailed. Three were erected ;
one at the Old North Square, one where Faneuil Hall now stands, and one near
Liberty Tree. People were no longer supplied at their houses.
It seems very strange that this sensible arrangement should have led to violent
outrage. The malecontents assembled together in the night, " disguised like
clergymen," — the devil, sometimes, assumes this exterior, — and " totally demol-
ished the centre market-house." This occurred about the year 1736-7, or about
the time of Andrew Faneuil's death. Such is the account of good old Thomas
Pemberton. (M. H. C. iii. 255.)
The popular sentiment prevented the reconstruction of the centre market-
ihouse, till, in 1740, July 14, a town-meeting was held to consider a petition (ot
PETER FANEUIL AND THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY. 707
this object, from Thomas Palmer and tliree hundred and firty others. At thid
meeting, it was stated that Peter Fancuil had offered, at his own cost, to build
a market-house on the town's hind, in Dock-square, f^r the use of tlie town,
if the citizens would legally empower him so to do, place the same under prt>per
regulations, and maintain it fur that use.
An impression has somewhat extensively prcvaii.>d that Mr. Fanouil's pri.p.sal
was not courteously received by his Iclluw-citizeus, and that u majority of seven
only were in favor of it.
On the contrary, IMr. Faneuil's proposal was received with the most ample
demonstrations of grateful respect. There were two questions beriro the meet-
ing: First, shall a vote of thanks be passed to Peter Fancuil fjr his lil>eral offer?
Secondly, shall we give up the itinerant system, and have a market-house on any
conditions? Upon the first question, there was but one mind ; on the second,
there were tivo. A vote of thanks to Mr. Fancuil was instantly pa.'^sed, without
a dissentient. But the second question was the vexed question revived, and
excited the passions of the people. Of seven hundred and twenty-seven persons
present, three hundred and sixty-seven only voted in favor of granting the petition
of Palmer and others, giving a majority of seven only.
Accordingly, the work was commenced ; and it was completed Sept. 1(\ 1742,
" on which day," says Dr. Snow, " Mr. Samuel Kuggles, who was employed in
building the market-house, waited on the selectmen, by order of P. Fancuil, Esq.,
and delivered them the key of said house."
Peter was a magnificent fellow. An antiquarian friend, to whom the fancy
has lineally descended through a line of highly respectable anticjuarian ances-
tors, informs me that his father handed down to him a tradition which is cer-
tainly plausible. It runs thus: While the market-house was in progress, —
probably on pajwr, — it was suggested to Peter that, with very little additional
expense, a splendid town-iiall might be constructed over it. Peter's heart Wius
quite as roomy as the market-house and town-hall together, and he cheerfully
embraced the suggestion. The tradition goes a little further. When the cost
was summ.:'d up, Peter scolded — a little. Very likely. Mr. Peter Fancuil was
not an exception, I pi-esumo, to the common rule.
The keys, as I have stated, were presented to the town Sept. 10, 1742, with
all that courtesy, doubtless, for which ho was remarkable. Peter's relatives and
connections are somewhat numerous. The descendant.s of RtMijtinrm, his brother,
are scattered over the country. It will be ecjually grateful to tlicni ami hoiiom-
ble to our forefathers, to exhibit a portion of the recortl.
Sept. 13, 1742, at a meeting, in the new hall, a vote of thanks was moved by
the Hon. John Jeffries, uncle of the luto Dr. John Ji-ffries. In this vote, it is
stated that, whereas Peter Faneuil has, " at a very great ex|x»nse, erected a nol)lo
structure, far exceeding his first proposal, inasmuch as it contains not only a
large and sufficient accommodation for a market-jilaco, but a spacious and most
beautiful town-hall over it, and several other convenient rooms whi.-h may prove
very beneficial to the town for offices or otherwise : as the siiid building Wing
now finished, he has delivered possession thereof to the selectmen for the use of
the town : it is therefore voted that the town do, with the utmost gratitude,
receive and accept this most generous and noble benefaction, for the use and
708 PETER FANEUIL AND THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY.
intentions it is designed for ; and do appoint the Hon. Thomas Gushing, Esquire,
the moderator of this meeting, the Hon. Adam Winthrop, Edward Hutchinson,
Ezekiel Lewis, and Samuel Waldo, Esquires, Thomas Hutchinson, Esquire, the
selectmen and representatives of tlie town of Boston, the Hon. Jacob Wendell,
James Bowdoin, Esq., Andrew Oliver, Esq., Captain Nathaniel Cunningham,
Peter Chardon, Esq., and Mr. Charles Apthorp, to wait upon Peter Faneuil, Esq.,
and in the name of the town to render him their most hearty thanks for so boun-
tiful a gift, with their prayei's that this and other expressions of his bounty and
charity may be abundantly recompensed with the Divine blessing."
In addition to this vote, the citizens passed another, that the hall should be
called Faneuil Hall, forever, and that the portrait of Faneuil should be painted
at full length and placed therein. On the 14th of March, 1744, a vote was
passed " to purchase the Faneuil arms, carved and gilt by Moses Deshon, to be
fixed in the hall."
Pemberton says : " Previous to the Revolution, the portraits of Mr. Faneuil,
Gen. Conway and Col. Barre, were procured by the town, and hung up in the
hall. It is supposed they were carried off by the British." The portrait of
Faneuil at present in the hall was painted by Henry Sargent, from the portrait
presented to the Massachusetts Historical Society by ]\Iiss Jones, a grandchild
of Peter's sister, Mary Ann.
The original building was but half the width of the present, and but two stories
high. The hall could contain but one thousand persons. In the memorable fire
of Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1761, Faneuil Hall was destroyed, and nothing left standing
but the walls. On the 23d of the following ^larch, the town voted to rebuild,
and the state authorized a lottery to meet the exj^ense. There were several
classes. A ticket of the seventh class lies before me, bearing date March, 1767,
with the spacious autograph of John Hancock at the bottom.
The building retained its primitive proportions till 1806, when, the occasions
of the public requiring its enlargement, its width was increased from forty to
eighty feet, and a third story added. A very simple rule may be furnished for
those Avho would compare the size of the present building with that of the gen-
uine Peter Faneuil Hall. Take a north-east view of the hall. There are seven
windows before you, in each story. Run a perpendicular line from the ground
through the centre of the middle Avindow to the top of the belt, at the bottom of
the third story ; carry a straight line from that point nearly to the top of the
second window, on the right, in the third story. That point is the apex of the
old pediment. From that point, draw the corresponding roof line down to the
belt at the corner, and you have a profile of the ancient structure, all of which is
■>vell exhibited by Dr. Snow on the plan in his history of Boston.
Small as the original structure may appear, when compared with the present,
it was a magnificent donation for the times. It may well be considered a munif-
icent gift, from a single individual, in 1742, when we consider that its repairs, in
1761, were accomplished by the aid of the commonwealth, and the creation of a
lottery which continued to curse the community for several years.
A grasshopper was not the crest of Peter Faneuil's arms. I formerly supposed
it was ; for a gilded grasshopper, as half the world knows, is the vane upon the
cupola of Faneuil Hall, — and a gilded grasshopper, as many of us well remem-
PETER FANEUIL AND THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY. 709
ber, whirled about, of yore, upon the little spire that rose above the sumincr-liouee
appurtenant to the mansion where I'etor Faneuil lived and died. That li..u>«
was built and occupied by his uncle Andrew ; and he had some seven acres fur
his garden thereabouts. It was upon the westerly side of old Trcamouni-atrcct,
and became the residence of the late AVilliam riiillips, whose [Kilitical relatione
to the people of Massachusetts, as their lieutena'it-govemor, could not prescr\-e
him from the sobriquet of Billi/.
I thought it not unlikely that Peter's crest was a gra.'^shoppcr, and that oc
that account he had become partial to this emblem. 15ut I am duly certified that
it was not so. The selection of a gi-asshopper, T.ra vane, was made in imitutiun
of their example who placed the very same tiling upon the pinnacle of the Itoyal
Exchange in London.
Peter Faneuil was then in all his glory. How readily, liy the power of imag
ination, I raise him from tlie dead, )jolt upright, with his over portly f .nn, anc
features full of bonhommic ; and speaking volumes about tiiosc five pipes of auilx^i>
colored Madeira, such as his friend Dclancey had ; and that Ix-st l>ook of all
sorts of cookery, of a large character, for the maid's reading ! There he is, at
the door of his English chariot, " handsome, but nothing g-audy," with his arms
thereon, and his English coachman, and his English horses, and that " straight
negro lad " perched behind. I see him now, heliiing in Miss Mary Anne, hia
j^oungest maiden sister ; and, as he ascends the steps, wrapping his cloak around
him, trimmed with that identical " scarlet cloth of the very best 'jualily."'
The vanity of man's anticit^ations, the occasional suddenness of his summons
away, seldom find a more graphic illustration than in the case of tliis noble
hearted and most hospitable gentleman. AVhen he received the grateful saluta-
tions of the magnates of the town, who came to thank him for his munificence,
what could have been so little in his thouglits, or in theirs, aa the idea tliat ho
was so soon to die !
In about five ycai-s — five short, luxurious years — after tlic death of Andrew
Faneuil, Peter, his favorite nephew, was committed to the gnjund, Marcli 10,
1742, Old Style. The event, from its suddenness, and fn)m the amial>le and
benevolent character of the individual, produced a dfcp sen.sation in the village,
for Boston was nothing but a seashore village tlicn. In 1728, some flnirtocn
years before, we learn from Duugla.ss, i. 531, that there were but three thousand
ratable polls on the peninsula. This event was um'xjioctcd by tiio living, and
had been equally unexpected l)y the dead. Death came to IVtcr like a tbiof in
the stilly night. He had not looked for this unwelcome visitor. He liad mndo
no will. By this event, Benjamin was restored to his birthright, and old Andrew
is supposed to have turned over imlignantly in his coRin.
The remains of this noble-spirited descendant of the Huguenots of Rix-hello
were deposited in tlie Faneuil tomb, in the westerly comer of the ( Jranary
Ground. This tomb is of dark freestone, with a frocntono slab. Upon the east-
erly end of the tomb there is a tablet of slate, upon which are sculptured, with
manifest care and skill, the family arms ; while upon tlie fn^'stone slab aro
inscribed, at the top, ^I. M., — memento mori, of course ; and, at the Ixittom of
the slab, — a cruel apology for the old Huguenot patronj-mic, — "Peter Fi-xkl.
1742," and nothing more.
60
710 PETER FANEUIL AND THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY.
The explanation which arises in my mind, of this striking inconsistency, ia
this : I believe this tomb, whose aspect is simple, solid and antique, to have
been built by Andrew Faneuil, who was a wealthy merchant here as early as
1709 ; and I think it quite certain that the lady whom he married in Holland,
and whose beauty is traditional among her descendants, made the great exchange
— beauty for ashes — in this very sepulchre . In this tomb Andrew was buried
by Peter, Feb. 20, 1737, and Peter by his brother Benjamin, March 10, 1742,
Old Style ; and here Benjamin himself was laid, after an interval of two-and-
forty years, where there is neither work, nor device, nor will, nor codicil.
The arms of Peter Faneuil, — I have them before me at this moment on his
massive silver pepper-pot, — he found a place for them on many of his posses-
sions, though I cannot say if on all the articles which came into the possession
of Gillam Phillips, — were a field argent — no chevron — a large heart, truly a
suitable emblem, in the centre, gules — seven stars equidistant from each other,
and from the margin of the escutcheon, extending from the sinister chief to the
dexter ba.es — m the sinister base across moulin, within an annulet — no scroll —
no supporters.
The arms upon the tomb, though generally like these, and like the arms on
other articles once Peter's and still extant, differ in some important particulars,
and seem to have been quartered with those of another family, as the arms of
Andrew, being a collateral, might have been. A hchnet, beneath the martlet,
especially, is wholly different from Peter's crest. Such, j^recisely, are the arms
on the seal of wax upon Andrew's will, in the Registry. Hence I infer that
Uncle Andrew built this ancient sepulchre. Arms, in days of old, and still,
•where a titled nobility exists, are deemed, for the popular eye, sufficient evidence
of ownership, without a name. So thought Uncle Andrew, and he left the free-
stone tablet without any inscription.
Some five years after the testator's burial, the tomb was again opened, to let
in the residuary legatee. Peter's was a grand funeral. The Evening Post of
March 3, 1742-3, foretold that it would be such ; but tlie papers, which doubt-
less gave an account of it, are lost. The files are imperfect of all those primitive
journals. At first, and for years, the resting-place of Peter's remains was well
enough known. But the rust of time began to gather upon men's memories.
The Faneuil arms ere long became unintelligible to such as strolled among the
tombs. That '■'■handsome chariot, but nothing gaudy,''^ with Peter's armorial
bearings upon its panels, no longer rolled along Treamount and Queen streets,
and Cornhill, and drew up, of a Sabbath morning, before Trinity Church, that
Brother Peter and the ladies might sit upon their cushions, in No. 40, while
Brother Addington Davenport gave them a sermon upon the apostolical succession
The good people had, therefore, forgotten all about the Faneuil arms, and before
a great many years had rolled away the inquiry naturally arose, in popular phra-
seology, " Whereabouts ivas it that Peter Faneuil was buried? "
Some worthy old citizen, — God bless him ! — who knew rather more of this
matter than his neighbors, and was well aware that the arms would be but a
dead letter to posterity, resolved to serve the public, and remedy the defect. Up
he goes into the Granary Ground, in the very spirit of Old Mortality, and, with
all his orthography in his ear, inscribes P. Fuxkl upon -the tablet !
A Sexton op tue Old School,
DANIEL WED.^TER. 711
DANIEL WEBSTER AND HIS WORKS.
There is probably no name, since those of Wasliington and Franklin, more
ineffiiceably interwrought into the history of our country than that of Daniel
Webster. However men may differ from him on {.articular questions, — <.n
tariffs or currency, on banks or revenues, — all men agree that no one has lifted
the reputation of the country so high fur great thoughts and classic eloquence.
He has brought to the service of tlie country the most stupenduus intellect it has
ever produced. And when the time comes — which we hoiw may yet be distant
— for the termination of his earthly career, we believe it will be granted by foes,
as well as claimed by friends, that the vciy strongest and greatest man of the
age will have departed from the world. Ilis name will Ix; a tuwer of strength, to
which every American will point with a just pride, in argument f.jr American
intellect. When political animtjsity shall have died away, and rust gathered oa
the sword of party vindictiveness, we believe that all Americans, north and
south, east and west, young and old, Whigs and Democrats, or of whatever faith
or creed, will agree in installing AVebstcr iu the very highest intellectual seat in
America.
For real mental muscle, we think Mr. Webster must be regarded as the great-
est living man. ISIany may transcend him in particular departments ; none, wo
think, can equal him in all. Humboldt may grasp a more minute and extensive
geographical or scientific knowledge ; Wellington, or Scott, excel him in mili-
tary skill ; Kossuth, in versatility ; Clay, in impassioned and spontinctjus dec-
lamation ; and Calhoun, when living, may have wielded a keener metapiiysical
Ecimetar. And so, perhaps, we might run through the catiiloguc of the most
illustrious men of the age ; but in a scale of mental mciisurement, wIhto the
intellect stands up in full, perfect, proportioned and dcvelofjcd stature, ^\'ob8ter
towers above any other man who now treads the globe.
It has been the good furtune of Mr. Webster, mure tln\n of most statesmen, to
record the evidence of his transcendent powers. His speeches, in their jwn-
derous massiveness, are of the chissics of the language. As such, they will ever
remain. They are as durable as the constitution, as the country, jw the lan-
guage. They are immortal.
In hearing Webster, we are impressed with the conviction that ho is not
aroused to the fulness of his power. There seems always l>ohind unmeasured
capability. The plummet never touches the depths of his mind. Thoy are
beyond soundings. In his mightiest effirts, tlie hearer feels that if the rx-casion
were however greater, there is a latent capacity in the orator to meet it ; tliat,
if need should be, he could rise still higher, and \Mjur out his resistless argument
in compacted sentences of yet greater power. The colo.«sid grandtnir and
supremacy of the great harmonious mind of AVebster are iKnlied firth in a head
of unequalled fulness and preponderance. It is a battery of thought, the svinmetry
of whoi?e external proportions makes it a model of the finest and most intellectual
of the Caucasian race. Thorwaldsen, the Swedish sculptor, after jm-^sing in
review the heads of the most eminent men in Europe, and the long list of
fr
12 DANIEL WEBSTEK.
%
antiques, as lie approached the marble semblance of Webster, instinctively bend-
ing before' it, pronounced it the grandest specimen he had ever seen. Nature
has inscribed greatness upon him in her most imposing characters. His erect
and brawny form, his clarion voice, his large and lustrous eyes, and massive,
overhanging brain, proclaim him one on whom
" Every God did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man."
It is extraordinary that Webster should have maintained his health and ability
to think, speak and work, amidst such protracted and gigantic labors. Seventy-
two years weigh heavily upon even those of the hardiest of our race who are
permitted to reach that period, and whose labors may be most favorable to
health and longevity. But when we reflect how much Mr. Webster has accom-
plished, — a professional study and practice of itself sufficient to break down a
sturdy constitution, — six volumes of the ablest speeches that ever glanced from
human tongue, — a life of official toil, as legislator and Secretary of State, — the
excitement of personal homage such as has been rarely tendered to mortal, —
the vast concerns of his own private business, and the constant excogitation, the
working of that mind, which in its wear and tear, requires machinery of supe-
rior texture and power, — and we are amazed that even his iron frame has not
long since surrrendered to these crushing labors. Nevertheless, we see him at
this day with a mind as unclouded and vigorous as ever, delivering the most
splendid arguments before com-ts and juries, — speeches and classical addresses,
as occasions occur, — conducting a most extensive private correspondence ; and,
amidst these and other labors, carrying on the correspondence and liusiness of
the Federal Government, and triumphantly grappling with all the great national
questions that arise. — New York Times.
The recently published Works of Daniel Webster, edited by Hon. Edward
Everett, are an imperishable memorial of his powerful mind ; and the beautiful
dedications prefixed to each volume evince the strength of his domestic and social
affjctions. Tlie first is dedicated to his nieces, jMrs. Alice Bridge AVhipple and Mrs.
Mary Ann Sanborn, tlie daughters of Ezekiel Webster, the brother of Daniel ; and
this not only fur the love i\Ir. ^7ebster bears for them, but from the desire, as he
expresses it, that his brother's name might Ixi associated with his own so long
as anything written or spoken l:>y him should I)e regarded or read ; the second is
dedicated to Isaac P. Davis, Esq., as "an affectionate and grateful acknowledg-
ment " of warm private friendship ; the third, to Caroline Lo Roy Webster, his
wife, as a tribute of his affections, and some acknowledgment of her deep interest in
the productions they contain ; the fiKU'tli, to Fletcher Webster, his son, " his only
surviving cliild, and the oljject of his afiections and hopes ; " the fifth, to J. W.
Paige, Esq., as a grateful token of long friendship. The last we copy entire, to
show the felicitous manner of these dedications :
DEDICATION OF THE SIXTH VOLUME.
With the warmest paternal affection, mingled with deeply afflicted feelings, I dedicate this, the last
volume of my Works, to the memory of my ileceased children,
Julia Webster Appleton,
beloved in all the relations of Daughter, Wile, Mother, Sister, and Friend ; and
Major Edward Webster,
who died In Mexico, in the military service of the United States, with unblemished honor and reputation,
and who entered that service solely from a desire to be useful to Lis country, and do honor lo the State
ia which he was born.
*' Go, gentle Spirits, lo your destined rest :
Whife I, reversed our Nature's kindlier doom,
Pour forth a Father's sorrow on your tomb."
Daniel Webster.
MR. PALFREY IN CONGRESS. 713
MR. PALFREY IX CONGRESS.
As in the articles on Mr. Palfrey and Mr. Winthrop allusions are made to
their political career, we extract from the autobiography of Mr. Palfrey the fol-
lowing passages, as an act of justice, and leave tlic public to judg«! tlic merits iu
the case :
" Complaint was made that, before giving my vote, I inquired of Mr. Win-
throp how he intended to constitute the committees with reference to the ques-
tions of slavery and war. It was represented as inconsistent and indi-con-tus in
me to take that step, inasmuch as, when called upon by the Lilierty party, while
a candidate for election as representative, to give pledges resijecting my future
action, I had declined to do so.
" I cannot admit that there is any ground fur such a censure, in citlior i>f its
phases. When questions had been addressed to me, I had never dreamed uf treating
or of regarding that course as affi-ontive, or otherwise than as entirely respectful,
on the part of the questioner. Any gentleman — such was and is my view — may
properly ask questions, and any one, on his responsibility, may answer them, or
decline to answer. As to which of these courses is preferable, diflorent jwrsons
tliink differently, and the same persons think differently in respect to different
occasions. The latter course had been adopted by me in respect to a communica-
tion from a committee of the Lilierty party ; it was perfectly right that it should
be adopted by Mr. Winthrop, if he saw fit ; — by both of us, of course, under the
same condition ; namely, that our refusal became a fact to be taken into account
by the questioner in determining his own further action. On the other hand, I
have answered questions. When the committee of the Li1)crt^- party a,«k>^d mo
whether I should refuse to vote for a slaveholder for any office, I told them that
1 should not so refuse. I might add, though I do not care to lay any stress ujion
it, that the series of measures referred to in the questions addressed to me by tlio
Liberty party was such, that, whenever canvassed in Congivss, they would lead
to much consideration and debate, to which the legislator should not preclude
himself, by previous engagements, from giving a fair attention ; whereas my
questions to ^Ir. Winthrop related to an act solely his own, to be done within a
few days, and of which the outline, if not most of the details, had no doubt been
fully resolved upon in his own mind. He knew just as well, and as irrovoralily,
on the 5th day of December, the principles, policy, and jilan on which he should
constitute the committees, as he knew on the 13th, when the names were read
from the clerk's desk.
"One of the Boston editors publislidl that it was witliin his knowlriljre that
ray opposition to ^Ir. Winthrop Avas arrangrd lietwcen me ami my frioinKs before
1 left home. I met him soon after at Washington, and VAd him Ikiw clearly he
was mistaken. But what good did that do ? lie could not have known how I
should proceed. No human being knew. I did not know myf^df. I h.id not
spoken to any person of any intention of mine in respect to the choice of sjx^akor,
nor had any one given me advice, opinion, or (as far as I rememl>er) so much as
hint, upon the subject.
60*
THE WILL OF DANIEL WEBSTER.
IN THE NAMK OF ALMIGHTY GOD !
I, Daniel Webster, of Marshfield, in the County of Plymouth, and Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, Esquire, being now confined to my house with a serious illness,
which, considering my time of life, is undoubtedly critical, but being, nevertheless,
in the full possession of all my mental faculties, do make and publish this my last
Will and Testament.
I commit my soul into the hands of my heavenly Father, trusting in his infinite
goodness and mercy.
I direct that my mortal remains be buried in the family vault at Marshfield, where
monuments are already erected to my deceased children and their mother. Two
places are marked for other monuments, of exactly the same size and form. One of
these, in proper time, is to be for me ; and perhaps I may leave an epitaph. The
other is for Mrs. Webster. Her ancestors and all her kindred lie in a far-distant city.
My hope is, that after many years she may come to my side, and join me and others
whom God hath given me.
I wish to be buried without the least show or ostentation ; but in a manner respect-
ful to my neighbors, whose kindness has contributed so much to the happiness of me
and mine, and for whose prosperity I offer sincere prayers to God.
Concerning my worldly estate, my Will must be anomalous and out of the common
form, on account of the state of my affairs. I have two large real estates. By mar-
riage settlement, Mrs. Webster is entitled to a life estate in each ; and after her death,
they belong to my heirs. On the Franklin estate, so far as I know, there is no incum-
brance except Mrs. Webster's life estate. On Marshfield, Mr. Samuel Frothingham
has an unpaid balance of a mortgage, now amounting to twenty-five hundred dollars.
My great and leading wish is to preserve Marshfield, if I can, in the blood and name
of my family. To this end, it must go in the first place to my son, Fletcher Webster,
who is hereafter to be the immediate prop of my house, and the general representa-
tive of my name and character. I have the fullest confidence in his affection and
good sense, and that he will heartily concur in anything that appears to be for the
best.
I do not see, under present circumstances of him and his family, how I can now
make a definite provision for the future, beyond his life. I propose, therefore, to put
the property into the hands of Trustees, to be disposed of by them as exigences may
require.
My atfectionate wife, who has been to me a source of so much happiness, must be
tenderly provided for. Care must be taken that she has some reasonable income. I
make this Will upon the faith of what has been said to me by friends of means which
will be found to carry out my reasonable wishes. It is best that Mrs. Webster's life-
interest in the two estates be purchased out. It must be seen what can be done with
fi'iends at Boston, and especially with the contributors to my life annuity. My son-
m-law, Mr. Appleton, has most generously requested me to pay little regard to his
interests or to those of his children ; but I must do something, and enough to mani-
fest my warm love and attachment to him and them. The property best to be spared
for the purpose of buying out Mrs. Webster's life-interest under the marriage settle-
ment is Franklin, which is very valuable property, and which may be sold, under
prudent management, or mortgaged, for a considerable sum.
THE WILL OF DANIEL AVKESTER. 715
I hare also a quantity of land in Illinois, at Peru, which ought to be inime'Jiately
seen after. Mr. Edward Curtis, and Mr. Blatchfurd, and Mr. Franklin Haven, know
all about my large debts, and they have undertaken to see at once whether those can
be provided for, so that these purposes may probably be carried into effect.
"With these explanations, I now make the following provisions, namely :
Item. — I appoint my wife, Caroline Le lloy Webster, my son, Fletcher Webster, and
R. M. Blatchford, Esquire, of New York, to be tlie E.xecutors of this Will. I wish my
said Executors, and also the Trustees hereinafter named, in all things relating to
finance and pecuniary matters, to consult with my valued friend, Franklin Haven ;
and in all things respecting MarshSeld, with Charles Henry Thomas, always an inti-
mate friend, and one whom I love for his own sake and that of liis family ; and in
all things respecting Franklin, with that true man, John Taylor ; and I wish them to
consult, in all matters of law, with my brethren and highly-esteemed friends, Charles
P. Curtis and George T. Curtis.
Item. — I give and devise to James W. Paige and Franklin Haven, of Boston, and
Edward Curtis, of New York, all my real estate in the towns of Mai-shfield in the
State of Massachusetts, and Franklin, in the State of New Hampshire, being the two
estates above-mentioned, to have and to hold the same to them and their heirs and
assigns, forever, upon the following Trusts, namely :
pirst. — To mortgage, sell or lease, so much thereof as may be necessary to pay to
my wife, Caroline Le Eoy AVebster, the estimated value of her life interest, heretofore
secured to her thereon by marriage settlement, as is above recited, if she shall elect
to receive that valuation in place of the security with which those estates now stand
charged.
Secondly. — To pay to my said wife, from the rents and profits and income of the
said two estates, the further sum of five hundred dollars per annum during her
natural life.
Thirdly. — To hold, manage and carry on the said two estates, or so much thereof
as may not be sold for the purposes aforesaid, for the use of my son, Fletcher Web-
ster, during his natural life ; and after his decease, to convey the same in fee to such
of his male descendants as a majority of tlie said Trustees may elect, tliey acting
therein with my son's concurrence, if circumstances admit of his cxprc-^sing Ids
wishes, otherwise acting upon their own discretion ; it being my desire that his son
Ashburton Webster take one, and his son Daniel Webster, Jr., the other, of the said
estates.
Item. — I direct that my wife, Caroline Le Roy Webster, have, and I hereby give to
her, the right during her life to reside in my mansion-house at Marshficld, wl»en she
wishes to do so, with my son, in case he may reside there, or in his absence ; and this
I do, not doubting my son's affection for her or for me, but because it is due to her
that she should receive this right from her husband.
Item.— I give and bequeath to the said James W. Paige, Franklin Haven and
Edward Curtis, all the books, plate, i)icturcs, statuary and furniture, and other per-
sonal property, now in my mansion-house at Marslifield. except such articles as are
hereinafter otherwise disposed of, in trust to preserve the same in the mansion-house
for the use of my son Fletcher Webster during his life, and after ids decease to make
over and deliver the same to the person who will then become " tlic owner of the
estate of Marshfield ; " it being my desire and intention that they remain attached to
the house while it is occupied by any of my name and blood.
Item. — I give and bequeath to my said wife all my furniture which she brought
716 THE WILL OP DANIEL WEBSTER.
with her on her marriage, and the silver plate purchased of Mr. Rush, for her
own use.
Item. — I give, devise and bequeath, to my said Executors all my other real and
personal estate, except such as is hereinafter described and otherwise disposed of, to be
applied to the execution of the general purposes of this AVill, and to be sold and disposed
of, or held and used, at Marshfield, as they and the said Trustees may find to be expe-
dient.
Iteji. — I give and bequeath to my son, Fletcher Webster, all my law-books, where-
ever situated, for his own use.
Item. — I give and bequeath to my son-in-law, Samuel A. Appleton, my California
watch and chain, for his own use.
Item. — I give and bequeath to my grand-daughter, Caroline Le Roy Appleton, the
portrait of myself by Healey, which now hangs in the south-east parlor at Marsh-
field, for her own use.
Item. — I give and bequeath to my grandson, Samuel A. Appleton, my gold snuff-
box with the head of General AVashington, all my fishing-tackle, and my Selden and
AVilmot guns, for his own use.
Item. — I give and bequeath to my grandson, Daniel Webster Appleton, my AVash-
ington medals, for his own use.
Item. — I give and bequeath to my grand-daughter, Julia Webster Appleton, the
clock presented to her grandmother by the late Hon. George Blake.
Item. — I appoint Edward Everett, George Ticknor, Cornelius Conway Felton and
George Ticknor Curtis, to be my literary executors ; and I direct my son, Fletcher Web-
ster, to seal up all my letters, manuscripts and papers, and at a proper time to select
those relating to my personal history, and my professional and public life, which in his
judgment should be placed at their disposal, and to transfer the same to them, to be
used by them in such manner as they may think fit. They may receive valuable aid
from my friend Geoi'ge J. Abbott, Esq. , now of the State Department.
Item. — My servant AVilliam Johnson is a free man. I bought his freedom not
long ago for six hundred dollars. No demand is to be made upon him for any portion
of this sum, but so long as is agreeable I hope he will remain with the family.
Item. — Morricha McCarty, Sarah Smith and Ann Bean, colored persons, now also
and for a long time in my service, are all free. They are very well-deserving, and
whoever comes after me must be kind to them.
Item. — I request that my said Executors and Trustees be not required to give
bonds for the performance of their respective duties under this AVill,
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Marshfield, and
have published and declared this to be my last AVill and Testament, on the twenty-
first day of October, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and fifty-two.
(Signed) DANIEL AVEBSTER. (Seal.)
Signed, sealed, published and declared, by the said Testator, as and for his last
Will and Testament, in the presence of us, who, at his request, and in his presence,
and in the presence of each other, have set our names hereto as subscribing witnesses,
the word " our " being erased in the third line from the bottom of the fifth page,
before signing.
(Signed)
George J. Abbott,
John Jeffries,
Charles H. Thomas.
i
\
MAYOR CHAPMAN'S WELCOME TO LORD ASHBURTOX,
AT FiU^EUIL HALL, AUGUST 27, 1842.
Your Excellency :
It is my privilege, sir, on this occasion, in common with my associates in the city
government, to represent the city of Boston, and in its behalf to speak the warm an J
hearty welcome with which you are greeted here.
We welcome you, sir, as the representative of your country ; and not yours only,
but in a near sense our own ; — for, so long as there is a tie to link a child to its
parent, America will not forget that England is her mother. We partake in the
honorable pride which must thrill your bosom at the recollection of her gloriuus his-
tory ; and, though the past is common to us, we would yet pay, through you, a trib-
ute of respect to the illustrious queen on whose friendly errand you have come. Long
may she live to preside, like a peaceful star, over the friendly alliance which now
unites our two countries.
We welcome you, therefore, in an especial manner, on this occasion, as the frienj
of peace. We acknowledge, with great joy, that through your instrumentality, in no
small degree, the clouds of discord which lowered over two great nations have been
happily dispersed, and that they who boast a common lineage and speak a common
language shall henceforth know no rivalry but that of friends.
We rejoice at this, sir, for the great benefits which both nations must receive. But
wc glory in it most for the principle which has been e.stablishe<l, and for the noblo
example which it exhibits to the world. It shows that nations do not stoop, when they
submit their differences to reason instead of passion. Yes, sir, you have helpol to
teach the glorious lesson that there are other and better guardians of a nation's honor
than the sword ; and that, in the sight of man as well as God, there is a. loftier dig-
nity in a noble, magnanimous and Christian spirit, than in the proudest array of
hostile armies or navies.
And we welcome you personally, sir. AVe delight to know that your distinguished
rank is the just reward of a long life of activity, intelligence, and virtue. And we
pray that that old age may be serene and happy which has sprung with the alacrity
of j'outh at the call of its country and in the cause of humanity.
We offer to you, sir, the hospitalities of our city. We have not the custom of ten-
dering what is called the freedom of the city, in a golden box ; but we proffer you
that which, if I understand aright, you will prize far higher. In republican simplio-
ity, we tender you the respect and gratitude of a free people.
With these feelings, sir, permit me to present to you the citizens of Boston. And,
fellow-citizens, permit me, in turn, to introduce to you the Right Honorable Lord
Ashburton, the representative of England, the friend of peace, the man ennobled
indeed by title, but far more ennobled as a benefactor of nations.
EOLLS or THE BOSTON EOYS,
DRILLED AT FANEUIL HALL, FOR MARCHING IN THE PROCESSIONS OF THE WASH-
INGTON BENEVOLENT SOCIETY, APRIL 30, 1813 AND 1814.
The youths at these annual celebrations appeared in blue and white uniform, decorated
with wreaths and garlands, marching five deep, each bearing, on his breast, Washington's
Legacy. In the centre of this division of the procession was the Standard of the Rising
Generation, painted by Col. Henry Sargent; as, also, were the banners, from which was
suspended the gorget of Washington, presented to the society April 30, 1813, by Mrs.
Martha Peters (late Custis), of Georgetown, D. C, through the medium of Hon. Josiah
Quincy, and which was worn by Washington at Braddock's defeat. The standard was borne
by Master Albert F. Hall, supported by two aids — Masters Francis Jenks and Ignatius Sar-
gent, Jr. In 1812, when the society was organized, there were one hundred and twelve boys
drilled by Col. Henry Sargent. In the nest two years they were drilled by Lemuel Blake,
Esq., the bookseller. A portion only of these youths paraded more than once.
Amory Jonathan.
Andrews Henry.
Andrews James T.
Andrews John A. G
Andrews James W.
Allen Samuel.
Abbot George W.
Adams George W.
Allen John H.
Amory John.
Austin Israel R.
Ash ton John.
Amory Samuel Linzee.
Augustine Ebenezer M.
Augustine Joel.
Bradlee Fletcher.
Bass Henry.
Bass .John B.
Blanchard James
Barrett George.
Bond Joseph.
Bullard Calvin.
Bullard James.
Baldwin Henry.
Bridge Frederick William.
Bridge Alfred H.
Baxter Edwin.
Bradford Thomas G.
Belcher Edward.
Brewer Stephen.
Bowers Charles.
Boyle James.
Bowes John R.
Bayley James.
Bedford Samuel.
Bulfinch George S.
Brewer William Charles.
Blagge Charles.
Blake Edward.
Blake Samuel P.
Bates Elihu.
Brewer Thomas.
Barrett Francis.
Brown William.
Barrett Charles M.
Blake James.
Brewer Charles.
Booth John G.
Burr Aaron.
Barry Charles.
Bradlee Samuel G.
Baxter George A.
Baxter Edwin.
Barrett George.
Blake Francis S.
Baker Theodore.
Baker Samuel.
Baldwin Henry.
Bond Joshua.
Bellowcs John N.
Bradlee P. Fletcher.
Brazer William.
Bowers John R.
Bullard Otis.
Bedford William.
Barrett Charles.
Bayley John.
Barnard John.
Brewer John E.
Bazin Charles.
Bell Samuel.
Barrus Lorenzo M.
Blake Joseph.
Barnes Henry.
Bumstead Samuel A.
Biokner Alexander.
Benjamin Charles E.
Burbeck Hemy.
Blagge SamueL
Boott William.
Carter William P.
Callender Samuel N.
Callender Edward.
Coolidge Thomas B.
Colburn James.
Clark John.
Cunningham James.
Curtis Daniel.
Curtis Samuel.
Chapman Henry G.
Cutler Benjamin.
Cruft John F.
Church John H.
Crocker Isaac.
Cowden Warren.
Chadwick AYilliam S.
Corlew Elijah J. S.
Church Edward.
Cordwell Robert.
Curtis Henry.
Clark Nathaniel.
Coolidge Samuel.
Clap Bradish R.
Clap Osborn.
Chase George.
Chase William H
Cody Thomas
Coolidge Charles.
Colburn James B
Cooke John C.
Cooke James.
Cooke Charles.
Cordwell Robert.
Coolidge James.
Coffin Joshua M.
Coffin John P.
Carter Joseph 0.
Cotton Edward.
ROLLS OF THE BOSTON BOYS.
719
Carter Henry.
Crocker Isaac.
Davenport John.
Dupee Isaac.
Dennie George.
Dunn James C.
Dall Joseph.
Davis Henry A.
Davis Edward G.
Duggins William.
Davis Amasa.
Davis William James.
Duncan John.
Deuch Lawson B.
Dawes Paifus.
Dawes George.
Dean Thomas.
Ellis Grenville.
Erving James.
Ellis George.
Everett Enoch.
Eaton Joseph B. D.
Ellis Samuel.
Eaton John A.
Etheridge John.
Eliot Frederick AVilliam.
Eaton Ebenezer.
Ellis Francis.
Edwards Richard.
Ellison James.
Fumess Daniel.
Furncss William H.
Farley Frederick A.
Foster Charles S.
Fox Edward.
Fox George.
Fessenden John M.
Fessenden Guy.
FuUock William George.
Foster George.
Farrie Z.
Fcnlcy Frederick.
Foster Samuel H.
Foster Charles W.
Foster Archibald.
Foley James.
Farrie Zephaniah.
Foster James II.
Foster Charles P.
Foster Charles S.
Francis Charles S.
FuUock James.
French Jonathan.
Goddard William.
Goddard Frederick W.
Goddard George A.
Greenough John.
Goodwin .John Bray.
Greene Francis.
Greene Ellis B.
Greene Benjamin II.
Geycr Rodolph C.
Greenough Horatio.
Greenwood Alfred.
Goddard Thacher.
Goodrich Charles.
Greene John R.
Gilbert Benjamin Russell.
Green Mathew.
Gibson William P.
Geyer John.
GotF Davis.
Green John B.
Greenwood Edwin L.
Gardner John L.
Gardiner James.
Gould Samuel.
Gilbert Samuel.
Homes AVilliam B.
Homes Barzilla.
Homes AVilliam.
Homes Henry.
Hunt Henry.
Harris William.
Hickling AVilliam A.
Hickling Charles.
Hall Albert F.
How Stephen B.
Hicks James C.
Hicks AVilliam H.
Hale James.
Hall .Alathew.
Hicks Charles.
Haskins John.
Hayward AVilliam H.
Hall Christopher J.
Haven Joseph.
Homer AVilliam.
Harrington AVilliam
Ilewins Joseph U.
Holden Joshua.
Homer AVilliam F.
Hiitchins George.
Homer ^Michael A. H.
Hammond Samuel.
Haven Charles.
Hale Thomas C.
Hall Theodore N.
Howe George.
Harris John.
Hale James.
Heywood AVilliam.
Hammond AA'illiatn.
Holland George AV.
Howard Eleazer.
Homer Abraham.
Hall Edward.
Harris AVilliam S.
Hancock John.
Hancock Thomas.
Head Francis.
Iluggeford Ilenrj'.
Jackson Benjamin C.
.lenks John.
Jenlts Francis.
.Johnson Daniel H.
Jackson AVilliam.
Jones Edward.
Jennison John.
Jcniiison George.
Jones Thomas.
.Tones Henry.
Kilham AVilliam.
Kreager John.
Krcager Charles.
King Charles G.
Kupfer Charles P.
Lovering Frederick.
Lcvcrctt Frederick P.
Levcrett Charles E.
Lamb John A.
Loland Augustus.
Lewis AVilliam.
liewis Frcilerick.
Licnow AVilliam.
Lamb AVilliam D.
Leeds Henry Morris.
Lyman Charles.
Locke Andrew A.
Lovctt Charles AV.
Locke Joseph.
Loring George.
Loring James Spcare.
Loring Jonathan Heard.
Leeds AV. S. H.
Lewis AVinslow.
Lewis Gustavus.
Lincoln Abraham.
Lincoln AVilliam.
Laeaire John.
Lcland Lewis.
Low John F.
Lcland Francis L.
Lincoln Mitchell.
Livcrmorc Edward St.Loe, Jr
.AlcCondry Emery.
McCondry Frederick.
Messenger Thomas.
Jfanning AVilliam.
Minns Constant Freeman.
Jlinns Thomas.
.Alorso Samuel T.
Moulton George.
JIackay Barnard.
Mutzenbecher John.
Morrill James.
Mack.ay Robert C.
Messenger Foster.
Munroe Daniel.
.Alerriam Nathiiniel.
•Alcrriam AVilliam.
Mcrriam Jub.n.
Miller AVilliam II.
AleXcill Frederick.
McNeill Henry.
Xorwocid George.
Nichols George.
Nickcrson Ebenezer.
Nash Daniel.
Nash Joseph.
Norton Charles E.
Nickels Samuel.
Neill John.
McNeill AVilliam H
Neat George.
Neat John.
Otis James.
Oliver Thomas II.
Osborn George.
Otis George W.
Ouvre Francia N.
720
KOLLS OF THE BOSTON BOYS.
I
Phelps Charles C.
Parker Charles.
Parker Richard Gr.
Peirce John.
Potter William.
Prescott Jonathan P.
Payne Samuel B.
Payne Josiah C.
Perry Charles.
Park John C.
Pope Nathaniel R.
Price Henry.
Phillips Isaac.
Pierce AVilliam.
Perkins William F.
Pottle William B.
Perkins Abijah C.
Perkins Bichard.
Perkins AVilliam.
Peirce John B.
Payson John B.
Pritchard William H.
Potter William T.
Parker Charles A.
Plumbeck Henry,
Parker John U.
Perkins Abijah.
Pollock DaTOl.
Phillips Samuel.
Partridge Henry.
Parker Albert.
Perkins Samuel.
Penniman George.
Prescott Edw. Goldsborough.
Penniman Augustus.
Redman John.
Russell James.
Rupp Joseph.
Rich Benjamin.
Rich Samuel H.
Russell John C.
Rand Caleb H.
Roulstone Michael.
Richardson Benjamin P.
Redman William.
Rogers George.
Rogers Thomas.
Rice John.
Russell Francis.
Roulstone John.
Rupp Joseph D.
Roach James.
Rogers Charles,
Richardson Edward G.
Richardson Thomas.
Reed Lemuel.
Russell Horatio N.
Richards Charles.
Reed Michael.
Russell Cahiu.
Rogers Peter R. D.
Rich Aquila J.
Rogers Henry B.
Rynex A. R.
Spear Josiah.
Sargent Ignatius.
Smith Thomas.
Sullivan James.
Sturgis Russell.
Spooner John P.
Spooner Charles.
Suelling George H.
Swan Benjamin P.
Symmes "William.
Snelling Jonathan.
Smith Samuel.
Stimpson Herbert H.
Simonds Joshua W.
Smith Benjamin.
Stanwood William.
Smith James.
Smith Charles.
Sullivan Thomas R.
Stimpson Samuel.
Stevenson Thomas.
Stanwood David.
Scolfield Arthur.
Spooner Francis J.
Singleton John.
Singleton Clark.
Stimpson Frederick H.
Singleton Charles.
Stevenson George.
Sumner Nathaniel 0.
Stanwood Lemuel.
Salisbury Samuel.
Sargent George AV.
Tucker C. C. C.
Twing AVilliam E.
Tilden AVilliam.
Tileston Robert.
Tucker John.
Thaxter Joseph.
Tupper Alfred.
Tavior John.
Turner Edward A. H.
Turner AVilliam,
Thayer Thomas.
Tuttle Samuel.
Thomas Alexander.
Taylor Henry.
Thayer Richard.
Tileston AVilliam M.
Tilden George AY.
Taylor Robert.
Thaxter Levi.
AVhall AVilliam.
AA'ade Henry.
AVood Samuel S.
AVales Elisha.
AVinchcster Edmund.
AVeld Charles.
AVheeler Benjamin.
AA'endell Henry.
AVright Stephen.
AA'atson Adolphus Eugene.
AVillett AVilliam.
AVhite Henry.
AVinslow Edward.
AVells John D.
AA'elch Benjamin R.
AVilliams Orlando.
AVilliams Francis H.
AVigglesworth Edward.
AA^yman Oliver C.
AVinslow Isaac.
AVaters John.
AValter Lynde M.
AVillis Nathaniel P.
AA'ithington George R. M
AVright Chandler.
AVashburn James.
AA'hiting Ephraim AV.
AA^est Charles.
AVeaver Edward.
AVhitney James H.
AA'hitney AA'illiam.
AVheeler George.
AVeld Eugene.
AVilliams John D. W.
AA'eld George.
AA'inueberger George, Jr.
AVest Edward.
AA'ard George AV.
AA'hitney Jonathan.
Young George.
Young Alexander.
INDEX OF NAMES.
Abercrombie, James, 161.
Abliut, Benjamin, 427.
Alibcitt, George J., 716.
Aliliot, John L., 257, 532.
Adams, Abigail, 1, 2, 41, 128,
C12.
Adams, Anna, 307.
Adam?, Abijali, 232.
Adams, Charles Francis, 27C,
400, 6on.
Adams, Hannah, 23, 56,290,391.
rAdams, John, 3, 7, 11, 18, 19, 26,
» 28, 33, 57, 72, 79, 116, 133, 158,
213, 280, 304, 339, 352, 394,
423.
fAdams, John Cluincy, 149, 154,
206, 233, 271, 3(i0, 385, 414, 465,
495, 560, 578, 599.
AdaniF, Samuel, 11,12, 13, 17, 60,
61, 77, 92, 94, 105, 117, 140, 150,
170, 190, 200, 235, 254, 293, 309,
391.
Adams, Zabdiel, 190.
Ahlen, Elienezer, 445.
Aldcn, Jolin, 567.
Alexander, 380.
Allen, 577.
Allen, Ethan, 35.
Allen, James, 23.
Allen, Jeremiah, 119, 330.
Allen, Joseph, 285.
Allen, Wilkes, 530.
Allen, William, 64, 287, 385.
Allston, Washinjiton, 559, 626.
Ambrose, Hannah, 510.
Ambrose, Stephen, 510.
Ames, Fisher, 146, 200, 203, 206,
286,291,309,383.
Ames, XalhanicI, 292.
Amory, Elizabeth Turner, 584.
Amory, Rebecca, 281.
Amory, llufus Green, 199, 277,
325, 389.
Andrew s, Anna, 300, 307.
Andrews, Uunjamin, 132.
AnL'ior, Oakos, 304.
Appleton, 714.
Api)leton, Daniel W., 716.
Appleton, Dorothy, 339.
Appleton, Isaac, 340.
Appleton, Julia W., 712, 716.
Appleton, N.itlian, 642.
Appleton, Samuel A., 710.
Apthorji, Sarah Wentworth, 129.
Aptlior|>, Charles, 70S.
Arnistr.Mi}r, Sanmel T., 642.
Arnold, 91.
Ashlmtton, 136, 717.
Atkinson, Theodore, 45.
Attucks, Crispus, 20, 21, 37.
Atwood, Cliarles, 477.
Austin, Benjamin, 121, 122, 173,
180, 308, 322.
Austin, Charles, 339.
Austin, ivers James, 584.
Austin, James Trecotliic, 470,
585.
Austin, Jonathan Loring, 172,
471.
Austin, Jonathan Williams, 31,
133.
Austin, Stephen, 370.
Austin, William, 328.
Avery, Samuel, 119, 120.
Habcock, Adam, 198.
Bacon, Francis, 87.
Badlam, Samuel, 330.
Bailey, Ebene/.cr, 582.
Bainbridce, William, 364.
Haker, Elizabeth, 285.
Bakh, Aathaniel, 90, 109.
Baldwin, 91.
Baldwin, Loammi, 186, 498.
Balfour, 3^1.
Ballard, 322.
Ballistcr, Joseph, 673.
Ballister, Sarah E., 073.
Baiicroli, George, 392, 567.
Bangs, 348.
Bangs, Edward, .301.
Bangs, Edward D., 637.
Bangs, Sanmel, 322.
Barker, Benjamin, 2.
Barker, James, :t73.
Barker, Jedediah, 371.
Itarre, 708.
Barren, Joseph, 157.
Barrett, Samuel, .')98.
Barllelt, Ezekiel, ,577.
Barllett, Joseph, 40,5.
Barllelt. Josiah, 107.
Ba.ss, Elizabeth, 500.
Bassett, Francis, 380, 406.
Balchi'lder, Susan, 4,~>l.
Batchelder, William, 451
Baty, llachel, 254.
Baylies, Francis, 303.
Beaman, Thomas, 703.
Bean, .\nn, 710.
Beardmore, Arthur, 170.
Beat lie, 120.
Berk, 450.
Bcecher, Lyman, 576.
Belknap, 111,458.
Bell, 257.
Ben.son, Gporiie, .579.
Benlley, William, 5(VJ.
Berklpv, Georiie, 3K
Bernard, Francis, 4, 23,24, 44,53,
54,75,212.
Bertody, .\melia, 449.
Bigeluw, Andrew, 187, 686.
Bigelow, John P., 1S7.
Bigelow, Tiini'l' '•&.
Bigliiw, Willi. I
Binnev, Amo.-, ,.., ..
Bi.sbv,'Elisha,2.
Bhark, .\nna, 231.
Bla::dcn, George W., 252.
Itlake, 307, 309.
Blake, Franris, a>l.
Blake, George, 2o0, 031, 253, 716
Blake, Joseph, 231.
Blake, I.eimiel, 3<.9.
Blake, William, 25.3.
Blancljard, Kliza C, C42.
Blaiichard, John,2.
Blatchford, 715.
Bliss, 303.
Blodgelt, Samuel, VA.
Blowers, Elizabeth, 321.
Blowers, Jarathniel, 321.
Bolan, John, 5S0.
Boswell. James, 30.
Bowditch, .Nalliaiiiel. 27.5, 411.
Bowdoin, James, 5, l]^ l(yi^ 107,
3.11, 041, 70S.
Bowcn, 10.
Boycr, Samuel, 308.
Brace, Anna Pierre, 3(IS.
Bradford, Alden, 5.1, 101,987.
Brewer, Jonathan, ('>5.
Brickett, James, I6t.
Briggs, George Niiun, 412, 4D8.
Brinlev, 5t;0.
Brock,' |s.iiir, 221.
Bromfield. John, 05<>.
Brooks, Abiuail B., Oil.
BriKiks, ClLirlotte »;rav, 53.V
Bri>oks, John, ICJ, 200, 208, 307,
:CIO, :fA', 037, 7ii5.
Brooks, PeierC, .\T5, nil.
BriHiks, William H., f<«'4<.
Brown, Henr>- Clinton, 552.
Bniwii, Kiislia, 21.
Brown, Ell7.a .Maria, 552.
Brown, John, 2.
Bn>wn, John 11., 40, not. 47, CSl
Brown, I.iiko, 580.
Brown, Penucl, 10.
Brownson, Orestes, <5S.
Br>aiit, 'riiMm.as, 'i
Br\ant, William C, 508.
Buchanan, C, 513.
Buckiiigliam, Joseph T , 3>*.r>, 501
ilnrkminster, Joseph Steven*,
2t.l), :t55, .TJl, i-:7. 533, 7l>L
BiilLird, A.-a. :rr7, til.
Billiard, Davis C.,:t-£L
Billiard, Samuel, "i.
Biirgoj ne, tVT, luT. 174, 375, 506
Burke, .Acdamiis, im.
Burke, Edmund, -iXi
(7al)
722
INDEX OF NAMES.
Burnev, 349.
Burr, Aaron, 200, 263.
Burr, Eben, 445.
Burrell, 4.50.
Burritt, Elilui, 510.
Burton, Warren, 49G.
Bussev, Benja:nin, 198.
Byles,"iMather, .■37, 371.
Byron, Lord, 413.
Cabot, Henrv, 900.
Cabot, Elizabeth, 288.
Cabot, George, 201, 202, 206, 288,
303.
Caine, Major, 40, 43.
Caldwell, ."iol, 373.
Caldwell, James, 20.
Caldwell, James, 21.
Calhoun, 543.
Callender, Eleazer, 257.
Callender, John, 201, 257.
Cambaceres, 138.
Cambell, John R., 580.
Camden, 458.
Campbell, Lord, 321.
Campbell, Thomas, 418.
Campbell, William, 77.
Carew, G03.
Carleton, 101, 343.
Carleton, Emily, 510.
■Carleton, Guy, 199.
Carleton, Jonatlian. 510.
Carr, Col., 14.
Carr, Patrick, 20, 21.
Carter, 500.
Carter, James, 284.
Cary, Thomas Greaves, 053.
Cass, Lewis, 606.
Cavaignac, 332.
Cazneau, 96.
Chamberlain, Samuel, 2.
Champney, Jonas C, 343.
Chandler, Peleg W., 613.
Chandler, William, 703.
Channing, Edward Tyrell, 384.
Channing, Francis Dana, 322.
Channing, Walter, 466.
Channing, William Ellery, 322,
385, 476, 568, 612.
Chapin, E. H., 679.
Chapman, Jonathan, 23, 193, 571,
603, 717.
Chardon, 8.
Chardon, Peter, 708.
Chase, Irah, 456.
Chase, Thomas, 437.
Chatham, 8, 120, 268.
Chauncey, Charles, 10, 23, 32,174.
Checkley, Richard, 23.
Che ever, 508.
Chestertield, 420.
Cheverus, 309, 446.
Child, David Lee, 419, 577.
Child, Lydia Maria, 14.
Chipman, Ward, 199.
Choate, Rufus, 395, .588, 630, 649.
Church, Benjamin, 37, 60, 92.
Clapham, Mary, 38, 59, 79, 122.
Clapp, 407.
Clapp, Asa, 663.
Clapp, Elizabeth, 663.
Clapp, Lucy, 529.
Clapp, Noah, 529.
Clark, 81.
Clark, Henry G., 553.
Clarke, James Freeman, 221.
Clarke, Richard, 8.
Clarke, \VilUam, 2, 560.
Claxton, Timothy, 508.
Clav, Henrv, 261, 434, 592.
Cleveland, 71, 551.
Cleveland, Martha Ann, 13, 615.
Cleaveland, Parker, 615.
Clinton, De Witt, 317, 340.
Clinton, Henry, 103.
Cloucrh, Ebenezer, 334, .391.
Cobden, Richard, 608, 622.
Codman, John, 333.
Cotlin, Isaac, 566.
Cole, Henry, 46.
Collier, William, .578.
Collins, Abigail, 165.
Collins, John, 165.
Colpin, Nathaniel, 703.
Columbus, 359, 640.
Colver, Nathaniel, 276.
Combe, Andrew, 608.
Conant, 81, 83.
Condy, Jeremiah, 222.
Conway, 708.
Cooley, Aaron, 581.
Coolidge, Joseph, 345.
Cooper, Samuel, 7, 9, 10, 48, 87,
108, 117, 122, 126, 128, 157, 174.
Cooper, William, 7, 9, 60, 150, 174.
Copley, John S., 8, 107.
Copley, Richard, 8.
Cordis, Sarah Eliza, 403.
Cotton, John, 459.
Crafts, Thomas, 230.
Craig, James, 207.
Cranch, Mrs., 1.
Cranch, William, 30.
Crane, Mamaret, 495.
Crawford, William H., 451, 452.
Croswell, William, 502.
Crowningshield, 507.
Cruft, Edward, Jr., .570.
Cruikshank, Alexander, 20.
Cruni, 570.
Cummings, David, 588.
Cummings, Sarah, 552.
Cunningham, Nathaniel, 708.
Cunningham, William, 116, 117.
Curtis, iienjamin, 590.
Curtis, Catharine S., 660.
Curtis, Charles Pelham,400, 550,
596, 660, 715.
Curtis, Edward, 715.
Curtis, George Ticknor, 595, 645,
715, 716.
CushiTig, Benjamin, 358.
Cushing, Caleb, 440, 513, 577, 652.
Gushing, Charles, 310.
Cushing, John Newmarch, 513.
Cushing, Mary, 419.
Cushing, Sarah, 310.
Cushing, Thomas, 2, 7, 11, 19,22,
85, 125, 1,57, 935, 612, 708.
Cushing, William, 560.
Cushman, Isaac, 2.
Cutler, Pliny, 576.
Cutler, Susan, 576.
DALnvMPLE, 13, 14, 7.5.
Dana, 61, 668.
Dana, Caroline, 403.
Dana, Edmund, 49, 52.
Dana, Francis, 50, 2.39, 389.
Dana, Richard Henrv, 070.
Dana, Samuel, 303, 559, 662.
Dane, Nathan, 303.
D.anfortli, Samuel, 321.
Danforth, Thomas, 320, 703.
Davenport, Addington, 710.
Davis, 157, 256, 304, 563.
Davis, Amasa, 446.
Davis, Caleb, 43.
Davis, Isa.ac P., 712.
Davis, John, 304, 359, 497, 642.
Davis, Joseph, 2.
Davis, .Marv .'Vnn, 446.
Davis, Solomon, 108.
Dawes, Thomas, 107,110,141, 307.
Dawes, William, 81.
Dearborn, Henry, 360, 363, 391
430.
Dearborn, Henry A. S., 360, 444.
Dennie, Joseph, 301, 370.
Derby, Haskett, 558.
Derby, John, 642.
Derby, John B., ,568.
Derby, Laura, 642.
Deslion, Jloses, 708.
D'Estaign, 102, 103.
Devens, Richard, 82.
Dexter, Franklin, 206, 388.
Dexter, Samuel, 206, 293, 995
301, 315, 350, .355, 370, 383,389.
Dickens, Charles, 272, 497, 573.
Dickinson, John, 423.
Dimmock, 380.
Dinsmore, 2, 262, 284.
Dix, .566.
Doane, George H., 502.
Doggett, 449.
Dorr, 53.
Dorr, Harbottle, 157, 238.
Douglass, 583, 706.
Dowse, Edwcird, 598.
Drake, Samuel Gardner, 28, 36.
Drowne, Samuel, 23.
Dudley, 40, 79.
Duer, Judge, 318.
Duncan, 45.
Dunlap, j'Vndrew, 454, 465, 504,
630.
Dunlap, James, 504.
Durant, Cornelius, 335.
Dutton, Warren, 200, 321.
Dwight, Edmund, 599.
Dwight, Jonathan, 317, 573.
Dwight, Lucinda, 573.
Dwight, Theodore, 208, 388.
Dwight, Timothy, 294, 370.
Dwinette, Justin, 555.
Dwinette, Susan, .555.
Eastburn, 552.
Eastman, Abigail, 426.
Eddy, Thomas, 447.
Edes, Benjamin, 26, 53, 76, 122,
157. .
Edwards, Tommy, 133. f
Eliot, Erdiraim, 137, 256.
Eliot, John, 10, 38, 41.
Eliot, Samuel, 281,288.
Elliot, 453.
Elliot, James H., 328.
Elliot, Simon, 328.
Ellery, Henrietta S., 384.
Ellery, William, 384.
Ellsler, Fanny, 601.
El}-, 373.
Emerson, 508.
Emerson, George B., 466, .533.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 312, 342.
Emerson, William, 126, 311.
Empson, 79.
Endicott, John, 359.
English, George B., 533.
Etheridge, 410.
Euslis, William, 48, 187, 208, 207,
4117.
Everett, Alexander Hill, 64, 67,
480.
Everett, David, 337, .344, 348, 377.
Everett, Edward, 237. 273, 275,
287, :i34, 341, 421 , .535, 583, 600,
645, 052, 087, 704, 712, 716.
Everett, John, 342, 407.
Everett, Oliver, 407, 482, 539.
Fairbanks, Jerrv, 398.
Fales, Lucy Ami C. A., 504.
Fales, SauiucI, 504.
Faneuil, Andrew, 706, 709.
INDEX OF NAMES.
i23
Faneuil, Marv Ann, 709.
Faneuil, Peter, 29, 700.
Farrar, Ephraim 11., 341, 407.
Farrar, Stephen, 342.
Farrar, Timothy, 434, G88.
Faiinr.e, .371.
Fay, Ricliard Sullivan, 524.
Fay, Samuel P. P., 524.
Felt, Joseph Jiarlo\v,28, 117, 29G.
Felton, Cornelius C, 535, 71C.
Fenno, 10, 608.
Fessemion, Thomas G., 151.
Field, 21.
Field, Bamum, 603.
Fields, James T., 668.
Fillmore, Millard, 243, 436, 611.
Fisher, Deborah, 2*2.
Fislier, Jabez, 73.
Fisher, Jolm D., 4CG.
Fislier, War)', 292.
Fisk, Tiieophilus, 555.
Fiske, Josiah J., 598.
Fitzpatrick, 552.
Fleet, Thomas, 20.
Fleminc, 40.
Fletcher, Ellen, 445.
Fletcher, Grace, 434.
Fletcher, Richard, 509.
Flint, Henrv, 37.
Flint, Timothy, 377.
Flucker, Thomas, 41, 78.
Forbes, John M., 339.
Forsvth, 2C8.
Fosdick, David, 679.
Foster, 450.
Foster, Dwi<rht, 201.
Foster, Sally, 494.
Foster, Samuel H., 569.
Foster, William, 200, 4G6.
Fo.v, Charles James, 178.
Francis, Converse, 306.
Francis, Lvdia Maria, 419.
Franklin, Benjamin, 61, 174, 239,
416, 580.
Franklyn, 14.
Freeman, James, 148.
French, Ebcne/.cr, 322.
French, William E., 46.
Frothingham, Richard, 154, 500.
Frotliimjliam, Samuel, 714.
Frye, 128.
Fuller, Henry H., 086.
Fuller, Sarah, 220.
Fuller, Timothy, 333, 494, 538.
Furness, William H., 342.
Gace, Thomas, 15, 3i), 43, 01, 62,
75, 78, 85, 89, 161, 703.
Gale, William, 381.
Galloway, 138.
Gardiner, John, 168, 309, 501, 524,
668.
Gardiner, John S. J., 170,200,293,
35.5, ."iOO, 619.
Gardiner, Lvilia, 667.
Gardiner, Piiscilla, 29.
Gardiner, S\ Ivcster, 169, 172.
Gardiner,William II. ,169,217,342.
Gardner, Juseiih, 35.
Gardner, Elizabeth F., 398.
Gardner, Hannah, 132.
Gardner, John, 293.
Gardner, Samuel P., 398.
Garrick, 226.
Garrison, Abijah, 577.
Garrison, William Lloyd, 577.
Gates, 174.
Gerry, Catharine, 473.
Gerry, Elbridge, 36, 63, 201, 352,
473, 476.
Gibbs, 367, 391.
Gilbert, Benjamin, 20, 342.
Gilbert, Samuel, 2iJ, 342.
Giles, 306.
Giles, Henry, C70.
Giles, Joel, 616, 656.
Gill, John, 26, .53,70.
Gill, .Moses, 128.
Gilman, John Taylor, 436.
Gleason, Joseph, 323.
Glover, 72.
Godiiard, Calvin, 317.
Goddard, Cornelia A., 395.
Goddard, Edward, 2.
Goldthwaite, E/.ekicI, 190.
Goose, Isaac, 46.
Gordon, George William, 452.
Gordon, William, 09, 87, 282.
Gore, Christopher, 231, 256, 257,
432.
Gore, Elizabeth, 257.
Gore, Samuel, 90, 108.
Gorham, Benjamin, 435.
Gould, 43, 394.
Gould, .Vusustus A., 688.
Gould, Hannah F., 517.
Grahame, James, 275.
Grant, Moses, 193.
Graves, Samuel, 62, 85, 132.
Gray, Alonzo, 252.
Gray, Benjamin, 21.
Gray, Edward, 189, 229.
Gray, Ellis, 307.
Gray, Francis C, 385.
Gray, Frc.leric T., 229.
Gray, Harrison, 67, 190.
Gray, John C, 393.
Gray, Samuel, 5, 20, 21.
Gray, Sarah, 307.
Gray, Thomas, 87, 226.
Gray, William, 385, 398.
Green, Aaron, 12.5.
Green, .Vbipail, 29.
Green, Dull', 393, 403, 478.
Green, Francis, 703.
Green, Joseph, 10.
Greene, 102.
Greene, Charles Gordon, 460, 477.
Greene, Gardiner, 8.
Greene, Nathaniel, 4 19, 447.
Greene, Samuel, 477.
Greenleal', 620.
Greenleaf, Benjamin, 477.
Greenleaf. Margaret, 141.
Grcenlea', William, 7, 8, 90.
Grcenoiipli, Thomas, 157.
Greenou;;li, William, 660.
Grociu)U!;h, William H., 053.
Greenwood, 21, 282, 456.
Greiiville, Georjie, .52.
Grice, Hannah, 322.
Gridley, Jeremiah, 90, 128.
(Jritlith, 19,3.
Griswcdd, 317.
Gurney, Jtdin J., 237.
HAi.E,'john, 406.
Hale, Joseph, 2.
Hale, Nathan, 368.
Hall, Joseph, 181,282,307.
Hall, Uowl:iml,69.
Ilallett, Benjamin F., 511.
Hallctt, (JeorL'O, 380.
Ilalley, Ednmnd, 30, 370.
Halliiuell, r.eujamin, 62.
I lamillon, Alexander, 90,202, 326.
Hamlet, 11311.
Ilaiumond, .Mary, 435.
Hammond, Saiiuiel, 49.5.
Hancock, John, 9, 11, 13, 19, .18,
60, 61, 72, b8, 120, 157, 197, 424, ;
708. )
Hancock, Pornthv, 106.
Hancock, Thuin.-i'^, 72, M.
Hardin, Benjamin, 51^.
Harper, 119.
Harris, 5(>8, 557.
Harris, Marearel, 170.
Harris, .Meliilabel, 307.
Harris, Kobert, 307.
Harris, Thaddeus .M., 530.
Harris, Tliadd.'us W., 530.
IIarri>cin, Benjamin, 'Xi.
Harrison, William II., 430, 589.
Haskell, Daniel Soyea, 67i.
Haskins, Kiith, 312.
H:t>tini.'-i, 42.
Hastings, Edmund Trowbridge,
.50.
Haven, Franklin, 715.
Haven, Samuel, 2.53.
Hawke, .Marv, 72.
Hayden, William, 272, 332, 453.
Hayes, .NIordecai .M., I'M.
Hayne, R..bert Y., 439.
H.avward, Benjamin, 184.
Ilavward, Siisann.i, 377.
Ha/.ewell, Charles C, 697.
Heath, William, 61, 023.
Henchman, Daniel, 72.
Henderson, .Man E., 392, 705.
Henley, David, 133.
Henr\-, John, 207.
Henry, Patrick, 592
Henshaw, 61.8.
Henshaw, <'liarles, .508.
Henshaw, Daniel, 560.
Henshaw, David, 362, 478, 564.
Herbert, Georpe, 2.
Hcwes, Samuel, 132.
Hewes, Georpe It. T., 554.
Hichborn, Benjamin, 102, 130,
141, (not) 142, lt.7, 307.
Hicklinp, Catharine G., 500.
Hicklinp, Edward, .500.
Hicklini;, Tli.Miias, 500.
Hicklin-:, William, 5(M).
Hippiiison, Stephen, 110, 334.
Himtiiisdii, Susan, 323.
Hill, Charlotte, 478.
Hill, Hannah, 37.
Hill, Heiin, 4.5.
Hill, Isaac, 450.
Hill, I.iicv, 529.
Ilillard, Gcorpo S., 539, 546, C97.
Hillhouse, 366.
Hilliard, 195.
Hinckley, 102.
llinckU>, Jo-oph, 21.
Hob^oii, John, 2.
Il.dbrook, .\biel, 377.
HolbriH.k, .Miraliam. 90.
Uolley, Horace, 367,. 103, 407, 419,
680.
Hollev, J.din, 370.
Il.illeV, l.utlier, 371).
l|..lmes,J„hn, 24.5, 267.
Holt, 695.
Ilolyoke. Eilward .\iigiistiis. 159.
Homer, .lonntlinii, 1.0.
HiH>d, Charles, 3(3.
lliH>ti>n, Richard, 49.
Hopkinson, Francis, 313.
Howanl, 7ii2.
Hiiward, Simeon, 10.
Howe, James Blako, 530.
Howe, Samuel, .576.
Howe, .>»iisan T., .5.50.
Howe, William, 0, 31, 63, G4, 66,
9':', liy, 167.
ri.iwell, 347
Hubbard, S.tinuci, 394, 397, S€9.
724
Hubbard, Tuthill, 21, 157.
Hull, William, 218.
Huuipliries, 184, 382.
Hunt, 410.
Hunt, James, 284, 471.
Hunt, Warv Le Baron, 323.
Hunt, Samuel, 22, 471.
Huntington, Julia U., 466.
Huntington, Ralph, 466.
/Hutchinson, Ann, 616.
Hutchinson, Edwaril, 708.
'. Hutchinson, Thomas, 8, 11, 14,
V 16, 53, 75, 78, 108, 139, 703.
Hutton, Marjs 524.
Inches, Henderson, 7.
Ingalls, William, 393, 552.
Ingersoll, Joseph, 115.
Irving, 74.
Ivers, Hannah, 174.
Jackson, 114, 167, 209, 228, 315,
316, 326, 586.
Jackson, Andrew, 240, 407, 451,
465, 537, 567.
Jackson, Charles, 206, 294, 448.
Jackson, Francis, 371.
Jackson, Henry, 184.
Jackson, James, 167, 228.
Jacob, Relief, 329.
James, Benjamin, 464.
James, J(i!in Warren, 460.
Jarvis, Charles, 157, 170, 200, 232,
309.
Jarvis, Delia, 135.
Jarvis, 133.
Jarvis, Russell, 403.
Jarvis, Samuel Gardner, 403.
Jaques. Nathan, 106.
Jay, John, 307.
Jefferson, Thomas, 12, 55, 68, 95,
132, 200, 234, 239, 261, 318, 369,
451.
JeflVies, David, 157.
JelTnes, Jolin, 63, 64, 182,707, 716.
Jenkinson, 699.
Jenks, William, 326.
Jennison, Eunice, 464.
Johnson, 131.
Johnson, Joshua, 240.
Johnson, Louisa, 240.
Johnson, IMary, 365.
Johnson, Samuel, 36, 420, 612.
Johnson, William, 716.
Johnston, D. C, 419.
Jones, 204, 507, 708.
Jones, Daniel, 31.
Joues, James A., 477.
Jones, Josiah, 703.
Jones, Stephen, 703.
Jones, Thomas, 84.
Josephine, 138.
Judson, Ann H., 456.
Kent, 624.
Kent, Mary, 1.54.
Kent, JMoodv, 695.
Keppell, William, 16, 37.
Kettelle, 358, 415.
Key, 605.
Kidder, Frederic, 688.
Kilson, 9.
King, Rufus, 137, 318, 534.
King, Thomas F., 678.
King, Thomas Starr, 676.
Kingsbury, Joseph, 296.
Kinsman," Henry Willis, 564.
Kirkbv, \Villiam, 37.
Kirkland, John Thornton, 271,
237, 328, 529.
Knapp, Elizabeth, 377.
Knapp, Isaac, .578.
Knapp, Jacob, 335.
INDEX OP NAMES.
Knapp, Jacob N., 500.
Knapp, Josiah, 377.
Knapp, Samuel L., 202, 250, 419,
442, 445.
Kneeland, Abner, 505.
Knight, Tliomas, 69.
Knowles, Edward, 455.
Knowles, James D., 455.
Knox, Henr\-, 91, 184, 316, 365.
Kossuth, Louis, 332, 538.
Krum, John M., 570.
Kuhn, John, 358.
Lafayette, 102, 107, 187, 336,
367, 391, 415.
Lamartine, A. de, 332.
Lamb, Thomas, 26.
Lamson, 477.
Langdon, 174.
Langley, Joshua, 455.
Lan'gley, Susan E., 455.
Larkin, 82.
Lathrop, John, 3, 10, 135, 255.
Laurens, Henrv, 236.
Lawrence, Abbott, 303, 642.
Lawrence, James, 206.
Lawrence, Samuel, 66.
Lee, Artlmr, 35, 02, 176, 239.
Lee, Richard Henry, 482.
Lee, William, 200.
Lee, William R., 392, 364.
Legare, 543.
Leland, Sherman, 67.
Leonard, George, 703.
Leroy, Caroline, 434.
Lerov, Herman, 434.
Lewis, Ezekiel, 2, 708.
Lincoln, Abner. 355.
Lincoln, Benjamin, 184, 220, 301,
304, 316.
Lincoln, Daniel W., 351.
Lincoln, Elizabeth, 356.
Lincoln, Ezra, 412.
Lincoln, James Otis, 356.
Lincoln, Levi, 271, 301, 331, 347,
351, 378, 494, 637.
Little, Francis Boyd, 393.
Little, Sempronia, 393.
Little, William, 14, 393.
Livermoie, Edward St. Loe, 367.
Liverinore, Harriet, 307.
Livingston, Edward, 242, 453.
Lloyd, Fanny, 577.
Lloyd, James, 198, 228, 391.
Longfellow, 303.
Loring, Caleb, 394.
Loring, Charles Greelv, 393.
Loring, Edward G., 272.
Loring, James, 148, 293.
Loring, John, 21, 358.
Loring, Samuel, 358.
Loring, Thomas, 2.
Lothrop, Samuel K., 217, 307, 444.
Lovell, James, 22, 29, 131, 146.
Lovell, John, 29, 194, 198, 302.
Lowell, 84, 206, 278, 321, 395.
Lucas, 326.
Lumpkin, Wilson, 579.
Lundv, Benjamin, 578.
Liint,' William P., 241, 342.
Lvman, Theodore, 210, 307, 391,
"534, 580, 704.
Lyndhurst, 8.
Lyon, 407.
Lyon, Lawson, 341.
Mackay, \A'illiain, 157.
Mackintosh, James, 459, 562.
Mac Namee, 538.
JIadison, James, 200, 240, 340,435.
Malcom, Howard, 456.
Mann, Herman, 605.
1
Mann, Horace, 242, 244, 477, 493
540, 598, 605.
Manning, William, 148, 293.
Mansfield, 169.
Marett, 84.
March, 427, 432.
Mark, 82.
Markoe, Francis, 521.
Marlborough, 215.
Marshall, Emily, 493.
Marshall, Jolm, 296, 438, 465, 478,
542 555.
Marshall, Josiah, 493.
Marvel, Andrew, 242.
Mason, Jeremiah, 695.
Mason, Jonathan, 139, 448, 705.
Mason, ^Villiam P., 447.
Mather, 274.
Maverick, Mary, 21.
Maverick, Samuel, 20.
May, Joseph, 22, 23.
May, Samuel J., 342.
Maynard, Ncedham, 65.
McCarty, Morricha, 716.
McCaulev, William, 133.
McDonough, Charlotte T., 324.
McDonough, Thomas, 324.
McKenzie, 702.
McKean, 403.
McLean, Louis, 543.
McLeod, 543.
Mead, 508.
Mein, John, 24.
Meredith, David, 170.
Merrick, Pliny, 635.
Messenger, Daniel, 368.
Messer,'603.
Messer, Charlotte, 603.
Melcalf, Theron, 449, 601.
Middleton, Alexander, 32.
Middleton, Mary, 32.
Mifflin, Thomas, 103.
Miller, 323, 496.
Mills, Elijah H., 436.
Minot, George R., Ill, 128, 146,
250, 328.
Mitchell, 83.
Monk, Christopher, 79, 139.
Monroe, James, 240.
Monroe, Stephen, 349.
Monroe, Susan J., 349.
Montague, William, 67.
Montague, William H., 68, 192.
Montgomery, 96, 165.
Mooney, 468.
Moorhead, John, 10, 74.
Morgan, 128, 222.
Morgan, Hannah, 222.
Morgridge, Sarah, 382.
Morris, (Charles, 697.
Morris, Robert, 101, 199, 318.
Morrison, James, 371.
Morse, Jedediah, 27, 117.
Morton, 21, 69, 127, 132, 157, 172,
260, 278, 305, 329, 352, 637.
Moseley, Ebenezer, 514.
Mountfort, George, 121.
Munroe, Isaac, 322.
Murdock, Sarah, 254.
Murray, John, 322.
Mystrom, Louis Adale, 596.
Napoleon, 138, 421.
Newcomb, Joseph Warren, 49.
Newcomh, Richard E., 68.
Newell, 108.
Newhall, Allen, 508.
Nicholas, 332.
Nichols, Francis, 365.
Noddle, a57.
Nonh, Lord, 6, 12, 26, 77.
r I
\
INDEX OF NAMES.
r25
Nott, Eliphalet, 260.
Oatley, TliDiiias, 50.
O'Cunnell, Daniel, 4C8.
Ogilvie, James, 559.
O'Hara, 9.
Olcott, Helen, .588.
Olcott, Miles, 588.
Oliver, Andrew, 16, 708.
Oliver, Daniel, 703.
Oliver, Francis J., 3C8.
Oliver, Mary L., 5G0.
Oliver, Peter, 79.
Oliver, Thomas Fitch, 560.
Orne, A/.or, 109.
Orne, Henry, 382, 393, 568.
Osgood, 542, G86.
Osgood, Dorcas, 362.
Ossoli, Margaret Fuller, 333,495.
Otis, George Alexander, 466.
Otis, Harrison Gray, 119, 170, 189,
206, 252, 268, 280, 303, 308, 310,
315, 318, 325, 352, 475, 485, 493,
534, 568, 586, 696.
Otis, James, 3, 4, 11, 23, 57,74, 79,
117, 156, 195, 197,334,542.
Otis, Joseph, 304.
Otis, Samuel Alievne, 189.
Otis, Sophia H., 323.
Otis, William F., 493.
Oxenbridge, Peter, 125.
Paddock, Adino, 89, 223.
Paddy, William, 269.
Paige, James W., 712, 715.
Paine, Charles, 310.
Paine, Robert Treat, 129, 235, 283,
310, 352, 365.
Palfrev, John, 485.
Pallrev, John G.,72, 249, 272, 290,
485, 048, 713.
Palfrey, William, 485.
Palmer, David, 657.
Palmer, Joseph, 559.
Palmer, Thomas, 707.
Park, Edwards, 224.
Park, John, 3U2.
Parke, Baron, 622.
Parker, Isaac, 281, 330, 355, 378,
569.
Parker, Mary, 580.
Parker, Phebe, 343.
Parkman, 367, 582, 638.
Parr, Samuel, 170.
Parsons, Cliarles C, 206.
Parsons, Theophilus, 117, 206,
239, 286, 290, 379, 389, 615.
Parsons, AVilliam, 342.
Patterson, Robert, 144.
Paxton, Charles, 2, 62.
Payne, John Howard, 485.
Payne, Samuel, 703.
Payne, William, 485.
Payson, Phillips, 314.
Peabody, 377.
PeabodV, Augustus, 493.
Peabodv, Lucrctia O., 482.
Peabody, .Mao', 603.
Peabody, Nathaniel T., 603.
Peabody, Oliver, 482.
Peirce, Joseph, 257.
Pelham, Peter, 8.
Pemberton, Ebenezer, 10,53,326,
703.
Pemberton, Thomas, 706.
Pendleton, 419.
Pepperell, William, 310.
Percy, Lord, 85, 106, 163.
Perkins, Jamos, 20, 655.
Perkins, Mary, 655.
Perkins, Thomas H., 20, 202, 206,
315, 655
Pern', Oliver H., 187.
Phillips, Abigail, >r>9.
Phillips, (Jt'uree, 2.t2.
Phillips, <;renvillc 'I\, 252.
Phillips, John, 248, 2(.8.
Phillips, Jiinathan. 476.
Phillips, Sauiiicl,250.
Phillips, Wendell, 252.
Phillips, William, 709.
Pickam, 8.
Pickard, .Mark, 33.
Pickerings l^^> 208, 326, 453.
I'icknian, lienjamin, 206.
Pickman, Calliariiie Leavitt, 534.
Pickman, Dudley, 524.
Pierce, Daniel, 2, 257.
Pier|)ont, 8, 296.
Pillow, 247.
Pinckney, Charles C, 203.
Pitcairn, 161.
Pitman, John, .Wl.
Pitt, William, 292, 698.
Plumer, 695.
Poinde\ier, Robert, 263
Pulk, James Knoi, 482, 6G3.
Pol'.ard, Anne, 36,5.
Pollard, lienjainin, 365.
Pullard, Jonathan, 365.
Pollard, William, 365.
Polo, Marco, 332.
Pool, Elizabeth, 125.
Pope, Joseph, 301.
Pope, William, 272.
Potter, 508.
Powell, Charles, 118.
Powell, Jeremiah, 101.
Powell, Susanna, 141.
Powell, William, 35, 141.
Power, Thomas, 586.
Pownal, Thomas, 72.
Prentiss, 256, 448.
Prescott, 63, 65, 83, 195, 202, 206,
303, 3ti5, 390, 500.
Prescott, Edward G., 500.
Prescott, William, 195,202.
Prescott, William II., 5W.
Preston, Thomas, 0,14, 18,22,139.
Price, Ezekiel, 42, 157.
Priestley, Joseph, 178.
Prince, Henry, 4.53.
Prince, Joseph II., 453.
Prince, Thomas, 641.
Purkitt, Henry, 3(j8, 554.
Putnam, Geiirge, 3l>t, 586.
Putnam, Israel, t'A.
I'uliiam, James, 703.
Putnam, Jesse, 437.
Putnam, Mary .Ann, 395.
Putnam, Sanniel, 553.
Uiixcv, 1,2. 84, 8(>, 284, 016.
auincy, Josiah, 18, .59, 86, 104,
167, 210, 251 , 258, 288, 328, 331,
368,415,418.
auincy, Josiah, Jr., 495, C58.
(luitnian, 247.
Radclikf, Peter W., 370.
Rand, llenjamiii, 620, 658.
R.-ind, Elizabeth, 412.
Randolph, John, 419, 5: «.
Randulpii, Peyti>n, 93, < '.
Rautoul, Robert, 524, 6-12.
RaWfon, Eliot, 72.
Reed, 62.
Reed, Lunuin, ("56.
Rees, 53, 127.
Recvo, 394.
Revere, Paul. 2.5, 41. 43, 81, 216.
Reynolds, Ed« aril, 252.
Khea, Daniel, 110.
Rice, John, 2.
Rice, John Parker, 570.
Rice, D."H 111, .5177.
Richardion, tleorse, .530.
Richardson, J.iiiie^<, 5'Jd.
Ritchie, Andrew, 325.
RiviiiKlon, 60.
Riibbins, Chandler, G57.
Robinson, 42, 3.'^2.
RiibiuMin, Frederic, 534.
RoclieHtrr, 53.
Rogers, Daniel D., 448.
Rogers, llannali, Ht.
Rogers, Jonhua D., 703.
Rogers, Mirgarel, 572.
Roger-), Nathaniel, 9.
Rogers, William, 2, 13, 35C.
RnterK, William U., 306.
Rolle, Ran. n, 622.
Ross, tharles, -JUi.
Rouillard, 414.
Roiil-.tone, 112.
Rowe, George, 40.
Rowson, Susanna, ICC
Ruceles, John, 703.
Riit'i-les, Timothy. 12, 43, 44,703.
Rugyles, Samuel, 7u7.
Riimroril, 186.
Rush, 7 Ilk
Russell, Renjamin, 109. 113, 14->,
191, 240, 267, -JO-J, 3ul, 3 .5, 554,
559, S-iO.
Russell, Ch,irle.s Theodore, 673.
Russell, Tiiomas, 159.
Sajip^o;*, ElizalH'lh, 586.
Sanborn, Edwin D., 427.
Sanborn, Mar)- .\nn, 712.
Sanders, John, 2.
.Sanderson, 103.
S.argeni, Daniel, 206.
Sargent, Henr>', tr71.
Saru'oiit, John, 7il3.
Sargent, Jonathan, 2.
Sargent, Lucius .Maiilius, 98.
.'^argent, Heiir)', 7'>8.
Sargent, Marj, W4>.
SarL'ont, .Nathan, ot-fi.
Savage, Aliralinm, T03.
Savage, Arthur, tr7.
Savage, Habijah, 355.
Savage, Hope, 377.
Savage, Jame<, SU, 353, 446.
Savage, Samuel, 377.
Savage, Thomas, 354.
Schuyler, Philip. '.C, 100.
Scollav, .Anna \Vr>e, 4(.>3.
Scoll.iy, John, 12H, 157.
Srollav, l.iicv, :}6a.
Scollav, MclTV, 49.
Scott, James, '73, 106.
Scott, John, 8.
SrotI, Mail.tm, 107.
Scott, Walter, :CM, 421, Mi
ScotI, Wiiitiehl, .521.
Sear", David, if, 141,. Tf^.
Sedgwick, 'i'hcodore, 318.
Selfridge, Tlmmas t).. XfX
."Sessions, .Alr\aiii|rr T., I'UIS.
Scwall, ji '. ice.
Sewarti, < >.
Sewell, ."-".iimoi. -I, .Vi7.
Shaw, lA'mupl,337,375,337,403,
411,5-^2.
Shaw, iKikoK, ia.5, 377.
Shaw, RolM-rt (;.. 4.52, 706.
Shaw, S.iiniirl, 275.
Shaw, William .S, 117, 996,319,
aV., 377, 497, 704.
Sha\s. Daniel, 117, 147, 187, 900.
Shcincld, CsT8.
Shclburne, 63, 17S.
726
INDEX OF NAMES.
Shields, 247.
Shove, Edward, 2.
Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., 359.
Shurtleft; Ri^well, 4:J1.
Siinonds, Ephraim, 431.
Skene, 3i3, 35.
Small, John, 64, 66.
Smibert, 8, 30.
Smith, Barney, 483.
Smith, Henry Barney, 483.
Smith, Isaac, 189.
Smith, Jerome V. C, 551.
Smith, Lucy, 186.
Smith, Margaret J., 502.
Smith, Martin, 23.
Smith, Richard R., 551.
Smith, Sarah, 716.
Smith, Tamar, 348.
Snell, 508.
Snider, Christopher, 25.
Snow, 707.
Somes, Thomas, 144.
Southey, Robert, 415, 458.
Southworth, Nathaniel, 2.
Sparks, Jared, 482, 544.
Speaknian, Wary, 147.
Spear, Pool, 9.
Spencer, Ambrose, 195.
Spooner, 305, 371, 703.
Sprairue, Charles, 1, 217, 373, 377,
408.
Spragiie, Charles James, 412.
Sprague, Helen Elizabeth, 412.
Sprague, Madam, 296.
Spragiie, Samuel, 409.
Sprague, Seth, 267.
Stackpole, Sarah Creese, 3C7.
Stackpole, William, 367.
Stanwood, Amelia, 686.
Stanwood, Theodore, 686.
Stark, John, 361.
Starr, Susan, 678.
Staughton, W'illiam, 456.
Stedman, 6.
Steuben, 220.
Stevens, Henry, 304.
Stevens, Samuel, 46.
Stevenson, Andrew, 543.
Stevenson, Margaret, 403.
Stewart, C. S., 337.
Stiles, Ezra, 23.
Stillman, George, 356, 548.
Stillman, Samuel, 10, 222, 373,
702.
Stodder, Amelia M., 412.
Stone, 20.
Stone, William, 2.
Storer, Ebenezer, 88.
Stormont, 175.
Story, Elisha, 557.
Story, Joseph, 269, 287, 295, 329,
362. 363, 430, 438, 505, 534, 541,
543, 555, 021.
Story, Mary Oliver, 596.
Stoughton, AVilliam, 456.
Strong, Caleb, 187, 203, 384.
Stuart, George O., 187.
Stuart, Gilbert, 141, 217, 373.
Stuart, Moses, 226, 600, 649.
Sullivan, 102, 104, 111, 118, 126,
157, 174, 217, 253, 295, 313.
Sullivan, George, 381.
Sullivan, Richard, 382.
Sullivan, William, 111, 202, 206,
313, 355, 308, 379, 403, 448, 473.
Sumner, Bradford, 449, 507.
Sumner, Charles, 277, 505, 5C3,
611, 617, 619, 687.
Sumner, Cliarles P., 19, 325, 618.
Sumner, George, 332.
Sumner, Horace, 3$J.
Sumner, Job, 325.
Sumner, Mary, 398.
Swan, James, 314.
Swan, Sarah Webb, 314.
Swett, Hannah, 362.
Swett, Samuel, 64.
Taney, Roger B., 663.
Ta|)pan, James, 427.
Ta|ipan, John, 20.
Tay, Isaiah, 2.
Taylor, Jeremy, 459.
Taylor, John, 715.
Tavlor, Zachary, 214, 395, 522,
630.
Temple, Elizabeth, 641.
Temple, John, 641.
Templeman, 258.
Tenny, Samuel, 2.
Thacher, 41, 125, 371, 380, 554.
Thacher, George, 201.
Thacher, Oxenbridge, 74, 123.
Thacher, Peter, 106, 117, 122, 256,
323.
Thacher, Peter O., 250, 323.
Thacher, Thomas, 126.
Thayer, 411.
Thayer, Joanna, 409.
Thayer, John, 170.
Thomas, 110,303.
Thomas, Charles Henry, 715, 716.
Thomas, Isaiah, 77, 301, 410, 637.
Thomas, Mary R., 637.
Thompson, Benjamin, 491.
Thompson, George, 579.
Thompson, Thomas W.,427, 432.
Thorndike, Israel, 200.
Thurston, William, 464.
Ticknor, George, 716.
Tileston, 4.50, 464, 531.
Tisdale, James, 285, 559.
Tocqueville, 332.
Torrey, John, 2, 355.
Townsend, Alexander, 350.
Townsend, David, 350.
Travice, Nicholas, 354.
Treadwcll, Daniel, 270.
Trist, Nicholas P., 538.
Troutbec, John, 355.
True, Benjamin, 478.
Trumbull, 66, 75, 103, 120, 190.
Tucker, John, 238.
Tucker, Robert, 46.
Tud(;r, Elizabeth, 355.
Tudor, Frederic, 334.
Tudor, John, 355.
Tudor, William. 1, 11, 117, 133,
135, 147, 157, 229, 260, 292, 333,
335, 355.
Tufts, Simeon, 186.
Tiikev, Francis, 367.
TureU, 108, 229.
Twiggs, 247.
Tyler, John, 452, 519, 567.
Tyler, Lucv, 228.
Tyng, Stephen H., 342.
Upham, 199.
Upshur, Abel P., 436.
Upton, Daniel P., 355.
Van Buren, 569, 611, 663.
Vane, Henry, 459.
Varmiin, Joseph B., 208.
Vaughan, 621, 630.
Vidocq, Eugene, 367.
Vinal, 132.
Wade, John, 507.
Wadsworth, John, 2.
Wain wood, 40.
Wainwright, Jonathan, 590.
Waldo, 303.
Waldo, Samuel, 708.
Walker, Amasa, 508.
Wallace, 40.
Wallace, George L., 7.
Wallack, 285.
Waller, 701.
Walley, Thomas, 250
Walsh, Michael, 557.
Walsh, Robert, 207, 474.
Ward, 40, 128, 195.
Ward, Richard, 2.
Ware, Ashur, 382.
Ware, Henns 33, 328, 486.
Ware, Joseph, 282.
Warfield, Ann Elizabeth, 507.
Warner, 235, 373.
Warren, Ebenezer, 128.
Warren, Edward, 68.
Warren, James, 11.
Warren, John, 29, 46, 69, 157, 592.
Warren, John C, 28, 46, 47, 48,
59, 68, 128, 141, 166, 593.
Warren, Joseph, 23, 36, 42, 45, 61 ,
77, 81, 85, 92, 108, 123, 300, 307,
423, 592.
Warren, Peter, 46.
Washington, George, 34, 39, 48,
65, 94, 110, 116, 147, 16.3, 187,
216, 286, 305, 318, 325, 369, 692.
Waterhouse, Samuel, 33, 73.
Waterston, Robert C, 243.
Watson, Ellen, 304.
Webb, 157, 220.
Webb, Rufiis, 411.
Webster, Caroline Le Roy, 712,
714.
Webster, Daniel, 44, 214, 276, 336,
390, 407, 420, 500, 529, 545, .550,
5C3, 568, 590, 606, 642, 689, 711,
714.
Webster, Ebenezer, 426.
Webster, Edward, 712.
Webster, Ezekiel, 431, 531, 712.
Webster, Fletcher, 648, 712, 714.
Webster, John W., 380, 638.
Weld, Benjamin, 37.
Weld, Daniel, 680.
Welles, Arnold, 49, 142, 368.
Welles, Arnold F., 642.
Wellesly, 256.
Wellington, 215.
Wells, Charles A., 498.
Wells, Samuel A., 391.
Wells, Thomas, 391.
Welsh, Thomas, 154.
Wendell, Jacob, 249, 708.
Wendell, Margaret, 249.
Wendell, Oliver, 2.50.
West, Samuel, 39, 370.
Weston, 367.
Wetmore, Sarah Waldo, 560.
Wheaton, Levi, 623.
Wheeler, Theophilus, 301.
Wheelock, John, 432.
Whipple, Alice B., 712.
Whipple, Edwin P., 592, 664.
Whipple, Matthew, 667.
Winston, Obadiah,'90.
Whitcomb, Chapman, 122, 391.
White, Caroline Story, 652.
White, Edward, 2.
Wliite, Stephen, 652.
White, William, 345.
White, William Charles, 344.
Whitetield, George, 126, 225.
Whitman, 46.
Whitman, Benjamin, 583.
Whitwell, Benjamin, 368.
Whitwell, Samuel, 8, 228.
Whitwell, William, 8.
INDEX OF NAMES.
727
Wibird, Anthony, 2^6.
Wiggin, Julia M., C79.
Wilde, Caroline E., 515.
Wilde, Samiie". 9., 205, 515.
Wilder, Joseph, 2.
Wilder, Marshall P., 552.
Wilkes, 23, 109.
Wilkinson, James John, 020.
VVIllard, Abijah, 703.
Willard, Joseph, 166.
Williams, 92, 113, 136.
Williams, Job, 703.
Williams, Roger, 458.
Williams, Samuel, 4C, 704.
Williamson, 91.
Willis, Benjamin, 5C4.
Willis, Elizabeth, 504.
Wilton, Samuel, tJ8.
Winslow, Hubbard, 576.
Winslow, Isaac, 365.
Winslow, John, 64, 30a
Winthrop, Adnm, 706.
Wiiithmp, Elizabeth, C41.
Winthrop, Julm, 356, 359, 458,
641,706.
Winthrop, Robert G., 237, 247,
544,63-J, 713.
Winthrop, Samuel, 8.
Wiiilhrr)p, Sarah B., 381.
Winthrop, Tliomas L., 381, C41.
Wirt, William, 272. 3C2, 583.
Withetell, Ann, 405.
Wolf ott, 48.
WikmI, Samuel, 428.
Woodbun , Levi, 6ea
Woodburj-, Peter, 662.
Woodman, 324.
WiKids, I^onard, 306.
Worcester, .Ni.ah, "XS.
Worco'iler, Thomas, 434.
Worth, 247.
Worthineton, Franci*, 298.
Worthington, John, 2Q.
Wren, Chri.-loplicr, 45!?.
W'vman, Am
Yot^o, AU\ 342.
Young, Thui:._ . , ,77.
i
i
THE HUNDRED OIlATOItS:
OK,
THE LIVES AND TIMES
OF
EMINENT PATllIOTS AND rOLITTCIANS.
THE HUNDRED BOSTON ORATORS, appointed by the Municipal Authorities and
other Tublic Bodies, from 1770 to 1852: comprLsing Historical Glcaningy, illus-
trating the Principles and Progress of our Republican Institutions. By James
Spear Loring. Published by John P. Jewett & Co., Boston ; and by Jewctt, Proc-
tor & Worthmgton, Cleveland, Ohio. Price $2.50.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
Tliis stately and attractive volume will hardly fail to find its way into hundrctls of
families, who will love to trace the history of some relative or " father's friend." as
bi'ieay sketched on its pages, with well-selected illustrations of tlie intellectual ami
moral power put forth on his generation. Candor, fidelity and discrimination, dia-
tinctively mark those articles we have had leisure to read ; and, though not honorcil
witli the personal acquaintance of the editor, nor familiar with his clianicter as known
by others, he leaves ahighlj' favorable impression of a sound judgment, and a hearty
disposition to do justice without flattery to all of whom he writes. Most of the names
here enshrined in beauty and glory are familiar as iiousehold words ; and the orifiin,
progress and final celebrity, of those who so honorably bore tlicm, arc niatteni of no
common interest to the patriotic mind. A vast amount of valuable hi.storical material
is liere collected and arranged, both in the order of nature and time, with happy
effect, while it is clothed in a style of chaste and simple elegance at once captivating
and improving to the reader. — Congregationiilist.
Mr. James Spear Loring, of Boston, has taken the scries of town orators on the
Massacre, Fourth of July celebrations, and such occasional affairs a.s the arrival of
Lafayette, for a capital chance to indulge in a commendable taste for local hijilor}- an'!
personal biographj'. The array, upon the whole, docs not preserve the san>c imjv- ---
dignity as Lord Campbell's scries of the Lord Chancellors, for instance ; but (li>
hardly to be expected by anybody ; though, on the other hand, it is surprising how
many great men this connecting thread iia.s brouglit into the plan of Mr. I-orin^"'*
work. It is pleasant to turn over Mr. Loring's gossiping pages, lie writes co:i
amorc, to be sure, with a pen full of panegj-ric, which even patriotism wearies of, at
the hundreth repetition ; but wc are accustomed in such chronicles to a little \s\g\ic
enthusiasm, remembering tliat, if there were not a goo«l deal of fliis commodity, no
man could get through tiie labors of celebrating so large a numl)er of mixol m'tablcs
and mediocrities. You cannot expect the critical powers of an Aristotle to be applied
to such an undertaking. Tlie man who puts his foot into such a thing will not boggle
at a puff. Delightful are the unreserved communications of the genuine anti»|uariaa
Facts are facts in his eyes, and one pretty much ;f the same importance aa another
728 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
Every date is an era. Every piece of prose broken into irregular lines is poetry. I^
is astonishing how much a certain species of tombstone verse enters into the New Eng-
land Chronicles. The poetic genius has produced no Spensers or Miltous in that
region ; but well-nigh every country schoolmaster and pai-ish clergyman has paid the
Muse the complhiient of recording his emotions in doggerel. You vfill find, reader,
the Plundred Orators of Boston an excellent parlor-table companion. Dipping into
it at random, as we shall do on this occasion, you are pretty sure to fish up some-
thing quaint and notable respecting some of " the most remarkable men of our coun-
try."— JVcw York Liter anj World.
This large octavo is a compilation of rhetorical and historical matter. The plan is
a novel and a happy one. It affords not only a regular series of pictures repi'csenting
the state of public feeling on national topics for every year during a century past, but
chai-acteristic specimens of the popular style of oratory during that period. Mr.
Loring has not given whole orations ; far from that. He has selected only striking
and characteristic passages from each, — such as exhibit the tone of feeling prevalent
at the time, and display the peculiar powers of the orator. Each specimen is accom
panied with a biographical sketch, more or less extensive. These portions of the book
will be found to contain a great abundance of curious and interesting t;icts, illustrating
the history of the times, and well worthy the attention of all who are interested in
American literature and histoiy. In shoi't, this is emphatically an American book,
and should be found in every American library. — KettdWs Courier.
Thousands and thousands, who will read this work j'ears hence, when the hand
which penned it and the mind which conceived and executed the task have passed
.away, will acknowledge their debt of gratitude. Mr. Loring has, as it were, lifted
from the grave the orators who in their day have delighted and electrified our citizens.
— Clapp's Gazette.
If Boston had no other claim to the name "Athens of America," the ti-anscendent
character of its oratory would be sufficient. This book is as proud a monument of
ability as can bo reared in any other city in the world. It is a work which every
Bostonian might wish to possess, every New Englandcr view with pride, and every
American examine with interest. — Commonwealth.
This work of Mr. Loring, considered in an historical point of view alone, will be
considered a valuable contributio^to the history of Boston ; considered as a biograph-
ical work, it will be of immense advantage to inquirers about those who have stood
forth as public speakers in the metropolis, through a period of the greatest interest,
not only in the history of Boston, but of the country. The author of " The Hundred
Orators " has been most industrious upon his Avork, from the time he formed the idea
of it until it was produced (26th May, 1852). He had, perhaps, before him that excel-
lent maxim of Dr. Johnson, namely, that " a man would never publish, if he waited
to get all he wanted ; that, in groping about for materials forever, he would tire out
his own mind, and hence would never produce anything ; and all he had done would
bo lost to the vrorld." There are many at this day whom we sliould recommend to
inscril)e this sentiment of Johnson on the door they have occasion to open oftcnest
That the author is the first in his field, we take it no one will denj'. —A~cu: England
Gen. and Hist. Register.
" The work throughout," says the learned " Sigma," of the Transcript, " furnishes
abundant evidence of labor and research, and is an interesting and very valuable
OPINIONS OF TUE PRESS. 729
repository of curious and useful information ; for the collection and ingathering of
'■whicli, in its present form, Mr. Loriiig is entitled to the hearty thanks of all ■\vliu feel
an interest in the preservation of the elements of historj', not less than of him who
reads for sheer amusement. It is the work of a gooil citizen, to stretch forth a saving
hand and preserve what he can from the wreck, when, the spirit of disorganization is
abroad. A practical illustration rises hefurc the mmJ, as I write these words ; and I
see good old Andrew Eliot, on the memorable night of Atigust 2*), I'do, gathering up
the flying leaves of Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, which the raob, in the
spii-it of Omar, the abhorrer of letters, were casting to the winds." "This bf>ok
will be coveted," saj-s the etlitor of the Transcript, " not only by every Boston boy,
but by every man of New England descent, througliout the land."
It is wonderful, when we come to reflect upon it, that no one has ever before
attempted such a work as this. We doubt whether there is another city in the world
which could have afforded materials for such a volume. It should be bought by all
who desire to render themselves familiar with the spirit of the past and present times,
as developed in patriotic and oratorical literature. It is a good aii"! inspiring bovk for
young men, and we hope it will be much read by them. — Cambridge Chronicle.
We heartily commend the work, as one of rare interest, and essential importance
for historical reference on points not to be ascertained elsewhere, without latxirioos
research, if they are attainable at all. An ample alphabetical imlez of names adds to
its convenience, and some historical memoranda arc contributed in an apitemlis.
Boston has good reason to be proud of her hundred orators, as all will acknowledge
who examine this fine volume. — Salem Register.
The work attests to the laborious research, industrj', ability and public spirit, of ita
editoi". We know of no historical work which will give the general reader .-o full and
vivid an account of public affairs, from 1770 to 178:', as will be found in this work of
Mr. Loring. We commend the instructive and interesting pages of .Mr. Loring's
great work to all students of American historj'. No private or public libraiy should
be considered as perfect without a copy. — Sc/io»/e;'s Atlas.
Here may be had, besides the biographical sketches, more or less minute, of the
" IIuudre-1 Orators," a collection of curious historical gl»inings, illustrative of the
times, such as can nowhere else be found. These facts and gleanings are certainly
creditable to the industry and perseverance of the author ; while those foml of old
times will find here a treat of rare extracts, as to political views, and of interesting
personal narrative. We cordially commend the volume, not only to Bostoniai;5, but
to all who love to linger on Revolutionary' days. — Boston Post.
It has been compiled with care, and contains much that is curious and interesting,
and will doubtless be received as a valuable addition to many libraries. — HaWt
Advertiser.
This volume is of the greatest interest to Bostonlans, containing, as it docs, a mass
of personal and municipal history and incidents, which has been collected after careful
research and much labor. — Sleeper's Journal.
We are pleased to welcome this handsome volume. The editor has done a goo«l
work by presenting us with much valuable information in regiir.l to the history and
talents of more than one hundred distinguished orators. TIjc work evinces a great
amount of labor, care, and good taste. — Watchman and Rtjler.tor.
730 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
There is more in this volume to subst<aiitiate the claim of Boston to the honorable
title of the Athens of America than we have found in any of her former ■works. One*
hundred orators, some of them the first in the nation, and all above mediocrity, are a
matter to be proud of. There are marks of very great labor, research and care,
throughout the ivork. — Philadelphia Bulletin.
This intellectual gathering, the growth of four years' labor and of persevering
research, is not to be affected materially by the breath of censure or the puff of
praise. It is one of the most interesting books of the season, and it is destined to
increase in interest as the years pass by. We are carried to the times of the Boston
Massacre, and made familiar with the patriot worthies, James Otis and Samuel Adams.
Nor here alone. Their gilded forms and autographs are impressed externally upon
the work ; and on its back behold —
" Lo, Faneuil's dome ! where Freedom's infant days
Learned the first notes of liberty to raise.
■Where the first Otis trod the paths of fame,
And dropt his mantle when he gave his name."
South Boston Gazette.
To the historiographer, the editor and the general student, the work is indispensa-
ble ; and no one can pretend to even a tolerable knowledge of what Bostonians have
done in reference to Revolutionary and political matters, without a careful perusal
of its pages. To the young, who want to know what their ancestors have done, we
commend the book we are noticing ; and the more aged will rise from its perusal with
their memories refreshed and their minds revivified with a life-like restitution of the
events of " auld lang syne." — Tyler's Herald.
A readable book, not only for Bostonians, to whom, of course, it has a special inter-
est, but for all the lovers of biographical anecdote and personal gossip. The plan of
the work is somewhat fanciful, embracing brief specimens of the orations that have
been delivered to " the solid men of Boston," from the massacre by the British sol-
diers, ]\Iarch 5, 1770, to the 4th of July, 1851. These are accompanied with racy
sketches of the lives of their authors, and a profusion of historical and social remin-
iscences, extending over a period of eighty years, foi-ming a curious and amusing
memorial of many of the JIassachusetts mighty men of renown. — ^V. Y. Tribune.
We regard this as a valuable historical work, and one which all Americans, and
more especially all Bostonians, will do well to possess. Beginning with the Boston
Massacre, it gives striking extracts from all the most important patriotic addresses
delivered in Boston down to the j-ear 1852, with biographical notices of the speakers,
containing a great amount of curious and valuable information. — Christian Reg-
ister.
Chapman, the London bookseller, advertises a long list of American books, among
which we observe " The Hundred Orators of Boston," " Works of Daniel Webster,"
" Speeches of Robert C. AVinthrop," &c. At the beginning of the advertisment, the
following significant sentences appear : " To Peopkietors of English Copyrights. —
Mr. Chapman believes that the works advertised in this list are original American
works ; but, should any of them be found to contain English copyright matter, they
will at once be withdrawn from sale. Mr. C. Avill be obliged to English publishers
who will intimate to him cases of this kind, and he will be happy to aflbrd every facU
ity for examining suspected works." — Home Journal.
II
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
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